Spring is finally here and not a moment too soon if you ask me. We are all tired of being cooped up in our houses and eager to get outside for some fun aviating with friends. To kick start the “flying season,” EAA Chapter 932 organized a fly out to Rochelle (RPJ), which was very [...]
The answer to this question is yes and no, because there are different kinds of monitoring of this international distress frequency. In the U.S., air traffic control towers, FSS services, national air traffic control centers and other flight and emergency services continuously monitor the 121.5 MHz frequency. Many commercial aircraft also monitor this frequency which [...]
I think we can all agree it’s been a most unusual year and the Coronavirus has kept many pilots firmly on the ground for a lot longer than they would like. Piloting skills atrophy pretty quickly if not used on a regular basis. So when you do feel comfortable getting back in the air it [...]
The term ʺstabilized approachʺ often appears as something of a buzzword in articles and incident reports, as in, ʺThe pilot failed to establish a stabilized approach.ʺ I get the general idea, but when is an approach actually considered ʺstabilized?ʺ The concept of a stabilized approach was first introduced by the airlines in the 1950s and [...]
“Cleared for the option” is a common phrase used at tower‐controlled airports and an option approach permits the pilot to do any of the following; a full stop landing, a touch‐and‐go, a stop‐and‐go, a low approach or a missed approach. Here is what they all mean. A full stop landing means that you intend to [...]
The answer to this question is whatever is published in the Chart Supplement for any given airport, unless there is no specific traffic paern altitude (TPA) established for that airport. Contrary to popular belief, there is no standard 1,000 foot above ground level (AGL) paern altitude that applies to all airports or all aircraft. Some [...]