Last week, all pilots and passengers miraculously survived a midair crash at Centennial Airport, near Denver, CO. A Cirrus SR22, which was flying a right traffic pattern to runway 17R, hit a Metroliner that was on a long final to runway 17L. The Cirrus, which was flying a shallow, continuous turn from downwind to final, … Read more
There are so many lessons to be learned from this accident, so please listen to this episode of my podcast.
If you don't listen to the Aviation News Talk podcast, I encourage you to subscribe here for iPhones and here for Android phones or listening on a desktop computer. In the most recent episode, I talk about the tragic crash of an SR22 last month in Illinois. I was initially struck by the large number … Read more
Somatogravic illusion affects all pilots, and it continues to kill them in five specific situations. Part of the reason Somatogravic Illusion is so successful in killing pilots is that it is rarely taught to pilots. And to help you learn about how it kills pilots and the five specific situations for where you should … Read more
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
I'm excited about a new video I just posted of my interview with Dr. Catherine Cavagnaro. In it, Catherine talks about some of the debunked theories of lift that some flight instructors still talk about and then about how lift really works. She explains stalls and then shows videos that show how a skidding stall … Read more
Normalization of Deviance. According to aerobatic national champion and air show pilot Michael Goulian, if a pilot or an organization gets away with deviant behavior, over time it becomes normalized and can lead to disaster. You've probably heard of Normalization of Deviance in connection with NASA and the loss of both the Challenger and the … 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
In the latest episode of the AviationNewsTalk.com podcast, a listener asked about the best way to load an instrument approach when flying with vectors to final. You can play it here on an iPhone or iPod, or on an Android or web browser. I talked about it in far more detail in the podcast, so I encourage … Read more
California and the southwest are in the grip of a heat wave, and temperatures are forecast to reach 120 degrees in Phoenix today for just the fourth time in history. Of course when the temperatures soar, it's harder for planes to take off and American Airlines has already canceled over 30 flights scheduled to fly in … Read more