Recent content by Witmo

If I already had a commercial ticket, I'd go for the commercial glider. You'd save a checkride and flights if you ever decided to get the glider instructor rating. As for stick and rudder skills, it's like anything else flying-wise: all additional experience adds to skills. I don't see any...

When departing from a controlled field vfr, if you want flight following be sure to mention it to clearance delivery if they don't ask. If you haven't requested flight following, dept control will just tell you to squawk 1200, radar service terminated once you're clear of their airspace.

You're right, I missed that part. I suppose a single flight might be doable with you getting training in airborne shutdown and restart procedures and doing some takeoffs and practicing a few landings with power and without.

Nothing silly at all. A motorglider is much different than a pure glider. For one, it probably has an electrical system. Motorgliders vary considerably in design from some that could be mistaken for an airplane with a conventional propeller out front to some that look (and are) like high...

https://www.foxnews.com/us/air-force-instructor-pilot-killed-ejection-seat-activated-ground RIP

If you're vfr and given a direct to xxx, if you've let the CDI drift off center, it's your choice whether to intercept the original track or just hit direct to again and do a better job keeping it centered. I don't believe ATC projects a couirseline for your aircraft from the point you're given...

Huh? I was responding to John Collins who claimed that a Bonanza could not successfully land with the gear and flaps down from a normal landing.

But a "normal pattern" doesn't preclude using the engine so why couldn't an A36 make the runway from a "normal pattern" with the gear down and full flaps?

Don't Bonanza A36s have engines? Even without an operable engine, I suspect more than a few commercial pilots could demonstrate a successful power-off 180 in a Bonanza.

I don't agree that stuck valves are always caused by worn out valve guides/stems. Excessive deposits in the guide will stick the valve. One source of deposits is excessive lead build up. Dropping the valve and reaming out the guide will fix it.

What do you expect the controller to do other than grant the request? If the pilot were to declare an emergency, he can pretty much do anything to safely land.

Could be the explosion took out some flight controls. Looked like the left aileron might have departed. Nothing the crew could have done. RIP

I don't know if this was mentioned earlier but the entire camera crew had walked off the set earlier that day (before the accident) because of their substandard accommodations and the lack of compliance with firearm safety protocols. The union rep had brought this to the attention of management...

Don't forget the invasion stripes!

I would think that retired fighter pilots might gravitate towards aerobatic airplanes where they could fly upside down and pull some occasional g's. Not that some gliders aren't aerobatic but you have a different level of aerobatics in powered aircraft. Powered aircraft also provide the...