Sommaire pour March 2026 de Flying

MOST PILOTS have a special airport. It isn’t always a home base, but it’s one that carries meaning. For me, there’s Aeroflex-Andover (12N), the small New Jersey field where I began tailwheel training and felt the spark to pursue my PPL. There’s Paso Robles (KPRB) in California, where I achieved said PPL. Years later, Lock Haven (KLHV) in Pennsylvania, home of the Piper Cub, was a memorable stop on my daughter’s very first flight at just 2 months old. Ionia (Y70) in Michigan is where I soloed my favorite Super Cub. And having grown up in New York, I’ve always been in awe of giants KLGA and KJFK too. But the airport holding the deepest meaning to me is Santa Monica (KSMO) in California. Originally known as Clover Field, KSMO…

AIRPORTS ARE always modernizing to adapt to new challenges such as safety and sustainability. Soon, though, they could face one of their greatest challenges yet—the integration of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis, autonomous drones, and other advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft. “[Our] goal is to ensure that future eVTOL operations can be safely integrated into a large-hub airport environment, with standardized procedures to minimize air traffic controller workload and impacts to the legacy aviation operation,” said the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA), which operates Orlando International Airport (KMCO) and Orlando Executive Airport (KORL) in Florida. Orlando International is one of the first U.S. airports to announce plans for a vertiport, which it hopes will be operational by 2028. These electrified takeoff and landing areas form one piece…

ALL PILOTS KNOW THAT FLYING IS as much about where you land as how you get there. Some of the most memorable trips aren’t about where you go after landing, but what’s waiting for you right there at the destination airport. For your next trip, consider airports that are destinations in their own right. These seven facilities have fly-in worthy restaurants, activities, or overnight accommodations. They offer adventure the moment your prop stops turning. HALTER RANCH Halter Ranch, located in Paso Robles, California, is the epitome of a quintessential pilot destination. The winery boasts overnight accommodations, a tasting room and restaurant, as well as the only public-facing runway at a vineyard. The airstrip’s roots date back to 1967, and it was an active general aviation hot spot for many years, as…

Airframe icing is insidious. For general aviation pilots, that means it proceeds in a gradual, subtle way, but with harmful effects. Therefore, icing remains one of the most serious hazards for small and medium-sized aircraft—often invisible, sometimes unexpected, and always demanding proactive risk management even when the aircraft is equipped with a certified ice protection system. In the terminal environment—takeoff, climbout, approach, and landing—icing can escalate from nuisance to emergency in a matter of minutes due to its transitory nature. Recognizing this challenge, the Terminal Area Icing Weather Information for NextGen (TAIWIN) initiative is being spearheaded by the FAA to provide more precise diagnostic and forecast tools for icing conditions within the terminal area. Let’s take a look at TAIWIN with a focus on operational safety—what it is, why it…

“VAN NUYS Tower, experimental November Two Mike Uniform, Sepulveda Pass at 3,000, request transit along the 405, going to Whiteman with Golf.” Traffic on the 405 is heavy. Below me thousands of cars are creeping through the pass between the Los Angeles basin and San Fernando Valley. I’ve been following the Malibu coastline eastward at 3,500 under a shelf of KLAX Class B and above the patches of urban desert left by last year’s wildfires. The Getty Center—a sprawling hilltop museum that generously provides a landmark even to pilots indifferent to art—has now slid beneath my left wing, and I’m dropping down to 2,900 to pass under Burbank’s Class C. Now comes the fun part. “November Two Mike Uniform,” Van Nuys comes back. “Remain east of the 405 below 1,700.”…

EVEN THE best pilots can’t know what local aviators know about flying in and out of their airport, so they’ll call ahead to find out what they know. This is particularly helpful when flying into mountain airports with unusual terrain and congested metropolitan areas. I wrote in a previous column that many bad, and sometimes fatal, landings are rooted in poorly thought-out approaches to landing. I said I’d write in the future about a fatal accident in North Carolina that was preceded by an unusual approach. It’s a cautionary tale that while we can often get away with just showing up at an airport in the flatlands, the same lack of planning at mountain airports can be fatal. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) preliminary report reads: “On September 18,…

“IN THE airplane, I’m not your daughter. I am not 15 years old. You are not teaching me how to drive. I am pilot in command. Am I clear?” That’s how the passenger briefing I gave my father began. I was a 203-hour private pilot at the time and flying twice a week, building up my cross-country time in pursuit of the instrument ticket. Dad was not a pilot. He was a retired aerospace engineer and military man. With the checklist in hand, I did the preflight inspection of the Cessna 152. I made sure Dad understood the sterile cockpit and how to work the seat belts and doors and to keep hands and feet away from the controls, and that when I raised my hand I had to talk…

I OBTAINED my private pilot certificate in 1970 in a Cessna 150. We all remember our first solo. During mine, a United Airlines flight came in and I needed to extend downwind. A little frightening. My wife followed with her own solo a few years later, for safety for our little family of two children. Rules were different back then, and our first family flight was in that Cessna 150, with no seat belts for our 4-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. We progressed in experience in our flying club’s Cherokee 140, Cessna 172, 182, and 205—each requiring more skill. The 182 would land nose first and porpoise if I didn’t slow it enough. A carrier pilot friend had advised me it wouldn’t porpoise if I landed slow enough. The 205…

IN THEORY, the more you fly, the more proficient you become. But you can also become complacent, especially when doing the same approaches in the same airplane over and over again—then one day, something changes. Here are some IFR gotchas to watch for: Failure to Update There are some pilots (and flight schools) that are reluctant to pay for GPS updates for their less frequently flown aircraft, so they let the subscription lapse. However, if the pilot has updated data via Garmin Pilot or ForeFlight on their iPhone or iPad, you can use the hardwired GPS for en route flying, but you should verify the fixes, waypoints, and procedures against the current charts in your portable devices. As far as flying an approach with an expired database, this is possible,…

I reach the top stair to the control tower. It’s just before dawn, the air is still and clear. A glow in the eastern sky radiates an optimistic outlook for today’s weather. The panoramic view is a peaceful, familiar sea of blue and white lights dimming as the sun peeks over the horizon. A scan of the airport perimeter reveals little motion or disturbance. The continuous four-second rotation of the radar antenna array is very reassuring. Closer in and below, plumes of exhaust begin to appear as ground vehicles fire up and reposition for the first wave of air carrier departures. The airport ops vehicle conducts its morning runway and taxiway inspections. The relative calm will not last long—it’s going to be a busy day. The flight data/clearance delivery position…

HOW DOES one go shopping for a Piper PA-32 Cherokee Six and wind up flying home in a 1947 Cessna 195 Businessliner? Ask Chris Thomsen, who was on the lookout in 2013 for an airplane with more muscle than the Piper Arrow he was flying. As his family and baggage requirements grew, the Arrow gradually revealed the limitations of its useful load. The bigger, more-powerful six-place Piper would be a sensible solution. Sensible, yes, but perhaps a bit too conservative. “What I really wanted was a T-6,” Thomsen said. “I have always loved the way they look and especially the way they sound when they take off.” But North American Aviation’s charismatic World War II trainer, with just two seats and an appreciable appetite for fuel, was not the answer…

LIGHT YEARS ago, I was nearby to hear a quintessential crusty, old captain’s response to an inquiry from a passenger that prompted him to say that at the end of the day, all airports were just pieces of concrete to land the airplane. The statement is pure bravado, implying that setting the wheels down on any runway anywhere in the world is routine. Indeed, as well-trained professional pilots, it should be routine. But for those of us that are seasoned veterans of the sky, we know that airports have their own idiosyncrasies. Often, I would be asked a similar question, worded typically as: “What’s the most difficult airport you’ve flown into?” Never quite knowing how to define “difficult,” I smile, and with deference to the captain of days gone by,…

Dex Finger Light This compact light from Sporty’s Pilot Shop has a green beam that can be adjusted for intensity. It’s powered by a rechargeable battery and can be customized for best fit. Garmin InReach Mini This satellite-based messenger can access downloadable maps and U.S. NOAA weather charts. It can also send an interactive SOS message with your GPS coordinates to an emergency response center. Pilot Survival Knife A pilot should always be prepared in case of an off-airport landing in the wild. This knife from Flight Outfitters features a fire starter, LED light, window breaker, and seat belt cutter Aithre Boom Cannula and Adaptor This lightweight adapter mounts to a pilot headset, allowing a flexible boom-style cannula to swing into place when oxygen is needed. It improves comfort without…

OWING TO the novelty of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) technology, the FAA is requiring air taxi developers such as Archer Aviation, Joby Aviation, and Beta Technologies to complete a gauntlet of testing. One of them, Boeing’s Wisk Aero, is building an aircraft that incorporates not just VTOL but another emerging technology—autonomy. Unlike Archer’s Midnight, Joby’s S4, or Beta’s Alia, Wisk’s Generation 6 is designed to fly autonomously from the jump. The all-electric, four-passenger design will use a combination of computers, predictive hardware and software, radar, sensors, and ground links to fly predefined routes, which will be overseen by remote Multi-Vehicle Supervisors. According to Wisk, though, it will be able to detect and avoid other aircraft on its own. Perhaps Wisk’s boldest claim is that autonomous operations will be as…

AS THE Cessna 172 taxied toward the fuel truck, there was something amiss with the marker beacon wire on its belly. It looked like there was a tree branch entangled in it. It wasn’t a big branch, but it definitely should not have been there. A quick conversation with the somewhat sheepish CFI revealed he’d taken the learner to one of the private grass strips the flight school had permission to use for soft-field takeoff and landing practice. As they landed to the south, which the CFI noted he’d been told was the preferred runway, it felt like they had a tailwind. The windsock confirmed this. For departure they backtaxied and took off to the north. According to the CFI, shortly after they became airborne and were heading for “that…

Like most pilots, I’ve always dreamed of a grand trip. A shared passion for challenge, adventure, and flying eventually drives all of us avgeeks to leave our comfort zones and explore. So, to celebrate our graduation from Tufts University and Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts, I decided to fly across the U.S. and parts of Canada in my Cirrus SR22 with one of my best friends and copilot, Dylan Tamaroff. Our goal was to see new places, meet people, discover hidden gems, and most importantly, learn. I wanted to push myself, sharpen my skills, and become a better aviator. While I had around 500 hours and seven years under my belt, I hadn’t flown much outside of my South Florida and Boston bubble. Most of our landings were at…

IMAGINE BUYING a home because it offered access to an airport, only to later learn the property might change hands and the runway could be lost. That uncertainty lingered for decades at Flying Acres Airpark in Kent, Washington, adjacent to Norm Grier Field (S36), formerly known as Crest Airpark. In July 2025, the Flying Acres Homeowners Association (FAHA) purchased the airport through New Crest Airpark LLC, an entity created specifically for the purchase and management of the 64-acre property on behalf of the airpark community. According to FAHA members, the airport sale and purchase was decades in the works. Today there are 116 homes at Flying Acres Airpark. Most of the homeowners have lived there for decades. They raised families, retired from airline careers, and owned multiple airplanes in megabuck…

RECENTLY, THERE have been emails from groups all over the country who have rescued DC-3s and, after years of work, gotten them flying. My friend Barry Schiff was bragging about being asked to fly the newly restored corporate Wrigley DC-3 to Catalina Island in California. No freighter, that one! Probably the saddest thing about the FAA’s revocation of all my certificates and ratings was the loss of my DC-3 and Lockheed Lodestar type ratings. But the truth is there are few if any DC-3s still hauling freight like they were in the 1970s through the ’90s. Assuming I haven’t told you before, and because this year is the 90th anniversary of the DC-3, I’ll relate how this 100-pound lady inspector, then in the Indianapolis Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), earned…