Last week, the NTSB held a 4-hour meeting about the crash of an Atlas Air 767 that crashed into a Bay near Houston last year. Amazingly everything was going fine until both pilots started making errors, and in just 30 seconds they plunged from 6,000 feet into the Bay. In episode #156 of my Aviation … Read more
If you’re like me, you’re looking for a little comic relief from the nonstop news on the COVID-19 coronavirus. Not that I’m not taking it seriously; I do. I started sheltering at home 8 days ago, while in my county, sheltering at home only became mandatory yesterday. I do a week aviation podcast called Aviation … Read more
John Ferrell There’s been much discussion in our industry of a CFI shortage, yet there’s a huge supply of potential CFIs among the ranks of airline pilots. However, many airline pilots are reluctant to take up flight instruction as a side job because of concerns over their exposure to increased liability that might put their … Read more
The retired 777 pilot I spoke with is not interested in being publically identified and I’ll alternate using he and she when describing this pilot’s comments to me. Note that this pilot flew the Boeing 777 for more than 10,000 hours.
He said that the only way a 777 gets slow is if the autothrottles are not engaged, even if they are armed. Yet she said that Boeing procedures are for the autothrottles to remain engaged throughout the landing until after the aircraft rolls out onto the runway. He also said that the crew would have had to turn off the autothrottles, as there is no autopilot mode that disengages them.
Many look upon the flight instructor position as a stepping stone towards another career goal while earning poverty level wages. Other instructors are able to command six figure incomes and pursue a fulfilling career helping create knowledgeable and safe pilots.
One of the misconceptions in the aviation industry is that flight instructors will always make less than minimum wage and will live in poverty until they obtain a better flying job. Today I want to debunk this myth and help you become a successful flight instructor who has many students and is able to make a great living teaching.
Now that airlines have been given the green light to fly again in Europe, there’s been a mad dash by passengers and the airlines to get back into the air again. Today, I was fortunate to be at Dublin International again and take a photo as the green flag was waved and airliners took to the skies again.
The volcanic ash clouds creating havoc for the airlines in Europe are also creating unprecedented opportunities. With air traffic interrupted, workers are patching runways and as one blogger proposed, general aviation pilots are making low passes at airports they rarely get to fly over. On Tuesday, Irish airspace was closed to all IFR traffic, effectively banning all flights above 7,500 feet, the base of Class A airspace in most of Ireland, and all airline flights. But VFR flights continued with no restrictions. It’s resulted in a few odd things, like the Citation I heard pass twice through Dublin’s airspace. The first time…
The pilots of United Flight 889 initiated the report of their near mid-air collision with a Cessna 182 near San Francisco last week. New NTSB rules may make those reports more common, so don’t be surprised if the number of reported near mid-air collisions rises in the coming year. All pilots are required to receive ground instruction on regulations found in NTSB 830. As of March 8, new rules add to the list of reportable events that require immediate notification of the NTSB. This may ultimately lead to more stories in the press about these events and eventually to theories that the number of near mid-air collisions is increasing.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee reported the passage today of H.R. 3371, The Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act of 2009. One of the biggest changes is that it requires all airline pilots, including first officers, to hold an Airline Transport Pilot certificate, which requires pilots to have a minimum of 1,500 flight hours. It’s unclear if this will improve airline safety or simply raise the cost of becoming an airline pilot.