Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2025 i Flying

LAST ISSUE, I told the story of my PPL check ride—a major milestone in my flying journey, notwithstanding an adrenaline-spiking moment on final. The check ride is every student pilot’s ultimate achievement, but before that comes an even greater one—the first solo. My solo flight was nearly 20 years ago at Santa Monica Airport (KSMO) in California. I’d been training with my CFI, Liz DeStaffany, in a good old steam-gauge Cessna 172. We’d meet at dawn before Los Angeles rush-hour traffic could derail our plans. One February morning in 2006, our efforts paid off. After several routine patterns with Liz, she had me taxi to transient parking, and she hopped out. Just like that, I was alone in 47B. Takeoff was smooth, though my heart raced with equal parts nerves…

MORE THAN 1,600 university students, engineers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and other participants are vying to design and build a new generation of emergency response aircraft. And the competition is heating up. September marked the submission deadline for Stage 2 of GoAERO (Aerial Emergency Response Operations): a three-year challenge that has tasked nearly 200 teams with creating automated aircraft for disaster relief, aerial firefighting, casualty evacuation, and any number of emergency scenarios. Up for grabs is $2 million in prize money—and the opportunity to save countless lives. “The need for innovation in emergency response systems has never been more urgent,” Gwen Lighter, founder and CEO of GoAERO, told FLYING. “Existing systems are often outdated and overwhelmed, unable to meet the scale and complexity of today’s crises…We must develop and deploy new technologies…

“SIT DOWN, shut up, and hold on” might work as a passenger briefing in an action movie, but in the real world, it falls short of adequate. Or even legal, for that matter. The FAR in question is 91.107: Use of safety belts, shoulder harnesses, and child restraint systems. Its only real requirement is that, before takeoff, “each person on board is briefed on how to fasten and unfasten that person’s safety belt and, if installed, shoulder harness.” That’s it for Part 91 operators. (If you’re flying 135 and/or 121, see FARs 135.177 and 121.571.) The good news is that, for the most part, there’s no limit to how far beyond that bare minimum we can go. But we also could come up with a plan, or maybe even a…

NO, THIS doesn’t address the anxiety you might feel while shooting an instrument approach to minimums or the intense pressure to keep your speed up after a slam-dunk vector to the final approach course into a busy airport. In this case, I am talking about atmospheric pressure. Pressure is not something we ordinarily dwell on before or during a flight. But if you fly in a location where the mountain peaks are plentiful, then you should become better acquainted with how much the altimeter setting can truly vary in mountainous areas even when the weather is tranquil. Of all the weather elements measured by sensors at airports, atmospheric pressure is perhaps the most underappreciated, but the most important, especially to any pilot flying under IFR. In fact, pressure is the…

IT’S A beautiful afternoon in late July, and the smell of freshly cut grass wafts across the airfield. White puffy clouds scud across the sky, sending shadows racing across rolling fields of corn and wheat. Hawks thermal far above, and a faint whoosh and flash of white wings signals that their human counterparts have taken notice. A Rotax engine roars, and a smart little LSA accelerates down the grass strip, sleek glider in tow. Another tow plane lands in the opposite direction and comes to a stop near a gaggle of high-performance sailplanes at the runway’s end. This little slice of aviation heaven is Zbraslavice, Czech Republic, and this is the first practice day of the 13th FAI Women’s World Gliding Championships (WWGC). My wife, Dawn, and I are here…

INA FEW months I will have survived 75 trips around the sun. I’ve been a licensed pilot for 57 years and have accumulated over 8,000 hours in a variety of aircraft. I attribute my love and passion of aviation to the days my father would take my brother and me to Armonk Airport, a small now-defunct field in Westchester County, New York, where he kept his Ryan Navion. Notwithstanding being younger than 8, I still remember sitting in the cockpit of the Navion, and if we were lucky, my dad taking us aloft. I recall the old hangar, the smells of aircraft oil, fabric, and dope, and the WWII trainers parked inside. The airport manager, Dave Finger, let me play inside the Link instrument trainer kept in a corner, which…

ONE OF my favorite parts of home flight simulation is getting to try new hardware. Compared to when I entered the hobby, a pilot now has many more options to choose from when outfitting their sim with the latest flight yoke, avionics system, throttle, and rudder pedals to match their goals and budget. Personally, this era of expanded flight sim hardware choices has culminated in the completion of my own home simulator, a near switch-for-switch replica of a Beechcraft Baron G58 cockpit, complete with a G1000 PFD and MFD built by RealSimGear. Although I am very happy with the results, I have always wanted to compare my sim to one the FAA has approved for actual flight training duties in the real world. I finally had the opportunity to do…

There is something about owning anything vintage—be it a car, motorcycle, or boat—that makes a person want to look for other owners with the same passion. But this is particularly true of aircraft owners who gather in type clubs. Many of these clubs are dedicated to what we now call vintage airplanes. Before the invention of the internet, they kept in touch with a monthly, quarterly, or bimonthly newsletter often created on a manual typewriter and sent to club members. Dues were collected via check and paid for paper and postage, and the club officers were volunteers. The Swift Museum Foundation began this way. It was started by Swift owner Charlie Nelson more than 40 years ago, well before the world was connected online. Nelson placed an advertisement in Trade-A-Plane…

LOOKING TO step up from a high-performance single into the world of cabin-class piston twins? Of course, you would consider the Cessna 340. With a biz-aircraft-like presence on the ramp—and generating big invoices at the shop—the 340 series is a sizable leap in complexity and high-flying performance. Although not without its shortcomings—most notably certain loading limitations and a complex fuel system—the 340 is nevertheless an impressive and flexible airplane capable of business missions while serving double duty for loading up the family for go-places traveling. When shopping, start with a good prepurchase evaluation and lots of upkeep money in the operating account—especially for 340s with higher-time engines and neglected maintenance. Save for training, too. Smaller than a 414, and much larger than a 310, the 340 came around 1972 as…

AS WE approached a 2-mile final for Runway 09 at our fuel stop of Red Wing, Minnesota (KRGK), my hand reached forward in a motion born of habit. With barely a glance, I pinched the lollipop-shaped landing gear handle between two fingers and moved it into the down position while glancing at the amber in-transit light. It didn’t illuminate. The visceral feel of the wheels thudding into position and the gentle push against the seat belt as the airplane slowed wasn’t happening either. The three square green lights underneath the landing gear handle were not lit. Crap. Out of instinct, I rotated the instrument panel light dimming knob up and down, knowing it was probably an effort in futility. (The Piper Arrow dimming function is notorious for blanking out the…

HAVE SOME questions about MOSAIC, the Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification? You’re not the only one. Since the rule was announced, aviation groups such as the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) have been inundated with queries about what MOSAIC means to the flying community. Well, here goes. New Definition for LSA Under MOSAIC, the weight and airspeed limitations of the original light sport aircraft (LSA) rule—a weight of 1,320 pounds (1,430 for seaplanes) and a speed limitation of 120 knots have been removed. LSAs are now defined by stall speed. Aircraft with flaps-down stall speeds of up to 61 knots and a clean (flaps up) stall speed of up to 59 knots qualify as LSAs. The aircraft can now fly as fast as…

YOU PROBABLY remember your first solo—when it was, where it was, and what airplane you flew. After the first solo, there were additional solo flights where you practiced takeoffs and landings or went to the practice area to work on the maneuvers you learned with your CFI. Eventually, you flew solo cross-country flights. What these flights likely had in common was butterflies in your stomach the first time you did them, and you, and you alone, were responsible for the safety of the flight as PIC. The nerves disappeared when you realized you could fly the airplane by yourself and didn’t need a CFI sitting next to you as a human security blanket. Flying by yourself is one of the major confidence builders in aviation. Yet, sadly, fewer pilots are…

IN SEPTEMBER, I talked about what I call the myth of activating the approach. Many pilots seem to feel they need to activate something in their GPS to fly an approach. As I pointed out, I often hear pilots say, “Now I have to activate the approach,” when in fact their GPS is already set up correctly for it. If you’re under that impression, please go back and read that column in FLYING Magazine Issue 962. A related subject is confusion over the purpose of an autopilot’s APR, or approach, key. My friend Jim Pitman, who’s an airline pilot and DPE, recently sent me the following email: “I’m finding that most instrument pilots and flight instructors think the APR key has something to do with waypoint sequencing and ensuring a…

MOAB, UTAH, IS ONE OF THE MOST picturesque locations in the Mountain West. The town is teeming with red geologic formations that strike a stunning contrast between land and sky. The array of sandstone formations is the result of salt deposited from migrating seas hundreds of millions of years ago. There are a myriad of named arches, buttes, and canyons that provide the area with a distinct look. Moab’s history is hallmarked by its mining days, and it now boasts more than 3 million visitors per year. The area’s uniqueness has also been showcased on the big screen, with a handful of major movies having been filmed there, including an upcoming Godzilla flick set to release in 2027. The famed giant reptilian is not far off from the creatures that once…

PRACTICALLY ALL airplanes—flying wings and biplanes are exceptions—have two wings in tandem. Unless the wings are nearly the same size—a very uncommon arrangement—only one of them is honored with the name “wing.” The other is demoted to the rank of “stabilizer” or “canard.” Canards raise uncomfortable philosophical and anatomical questions by conflating the “tail” and the “nose,” but at least they have had the salutary effect of dispelling many pilots’ mistaken belief that they understand longitudinal stability. The convenient analogy between a conventional empennage and the feathers of an arrow falters when the feathers are found on the pointy end of the arrow. Setting canards aside, as much of the world has done, we find designers in doubt about where to put stabilizers. Should they be on the midline of…