We were on an out and back — Dulles to Newark, Newark to Dulles. Our assigned aircraft had just come out of maintenance. The captain flew the Newark leg. No issues. I flew us back to Dulles. We landed uneventfully on Runway 19R. I applied the reverse thrusters, and then I applied the brakes. That’s […]
Human Factors
Night vision
Night vision is a perennial problem for pilots. Nature did not design us for night operations. Our eyeballs are too small, our pupils too narrow, and the rods in our eyes that allow us to see in the dark are located 20° off center. That is why to scan for traffic at night, we must […]
Our own slice of airport heaven
I just signed a lease on a tie-down spot at my local airport today. Got a good deal too. Paid a year in advance, so that scored me a 10% discount. For the first time in my 50 years on the planet and my 20 years flying around it, I finally have a place of […]
Unstable approaches
Three and a half years into writing this column, I finally found where all the general aviation reports to NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System have been hiding. Usually, when I query the ASRS database, I get at least six reports from airline pilots for every one report submitted by a GA pilot. Not true for the […]
Rationalization vs. reason
I came over the fence at 100 mph in the Cessna 172. Even the traffic reporter sitting to my right knew I was way too fast. I saw her hands tighten around her seatbelt harness, her knuckles whiten. Halfway down the 3,000-foot runway, I’d only bled off 20 mph. Normally I’d have firewalled the throttle […]
Pilots school ATC trainees
A Cessna 162 Skycatcher appeared to be slowly floating right to left across my windscreen directly in front of me, half a wingspan above me, about 40 feet away. Tower had just vectored me into the Skycatcher’s path by amending one instruction with another to proceed “direct to the numbers” of Runway 34L. I banked […]
Taxiway landings
Harrison Ford landed on Taxiway Charlie at John Wayne Airport last month. Everyone who knows I am a pilot and an aviation safety columnist contacted me as soon as they heard about Ford. My mother even chimed in, certain the actor should be stripped of his license, as this was his fourth accident. I explained […]
Local procedures
I remember flying into an unfamiliar airport once and the pilots on frequency chiding me for not knowing the name of their airfield. Didn’t make sense to me. I made each callout using the FAA-charted name. When I wondered aloud what the deal was, the FBO manager told me: “That’s not our local procedure.” Ignorance […]
Cognitive dissonance
I was downwind to base, getting checked out in a light twin, when my instructor asked me if I’d done my GUMPS check yet. Most of my flying has been in large transport aircraft, so, no, I hadn’t. I’d forgotten. I fumbled my way through GUMPS, three times, before I remembered that the “U” is […]