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 […]
Aviation Safety Reporting System
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 […]
FAA updates ASRS program
A blog post by attorney Greg Reigel at GlobalAir.com notes that the FAA has updated its Advisory Circular for the Aviation Safety Reporting Program, sometimes known to general aviation pilots as the “NASA” form as NASA officials administer the program. The update provides a bit of leniency for pilots and others in aviation. Previously, incidents […]
Increasing safety one report at a time
Some pilots call it a “Get Out of Jail Free” card. Others call it a “Cover Your Butt” card. But what the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) is all about is improving safety for all pilots. In our last print issue, we debuted a new feature in which we run a variety of general aviation-related […]