Plane and Pilot

JULY 31, 2025

Cockpit Revolution: Steam Gauges to Glass Thirty-three years ago, my Skipper’s panel was a cluster of analog “steam gauges”—altimeter, airspeed, and attitude indicators, their needles prone to subtle quivers. The 2013 ATP 1,500-hour requirement for airline pilots raised training costs by turning flight schools into airline pipelines.

VOR

Air Facts

MAY 5, 2025

The general prognosis indicated no icing in the clouds, no turbulence and a quartering headwind from the west resulting in a mere five knots of headwind component. Instead of a gentle breeze out of the west, we had over 20 knots of headwind blowing out of the south. Obviously, the winds aloft were nowhere near forecast.

VOR

Fear of Landing

FEBRUARY 21, 2025

The following is CCTV video of the crash as posted on X : New surveillance video captures the moment a Delta Airlines jet crashed at Toronto Pearson International Airport, with 75 passengers on board leaving 18 injured. Those of us who could get ourselves down did, and then helped others.

Runway

Pilot Institute

MAY 26, 2025

airline accidents between 2009 and 2018. ” This usually means the wind change is stronger than what the aircraft is built to handle safely, like sudden airspeed changes of more than 15 knots or vertical speed shifts over 500 feet per minute. Horizontal wind speed changes by 40 knots or more over 150 miles. Sound familiar?

Turbulence

Aerotime

DECEMBER 20, 2024

Modern commercial airliners have complicated cabin air conditioning systems , as well as other electrical cabling and pipework that keep all the systems on the aircraft functioning. EQRoy / Shutterstock This is a regular source of passenger frustration on certain airlines. All of this hardware needs to be accommodated somewhere.

Cabin Crew

Plane and Pilot

SEPTEMBER 21, 2024

When thinking of ways to display your mastery of flight, most of us dream about buttery-smooth landings, or maybe maneuvers flown so precisely that the altimeter needles might as well have been just painted on. As an airline first officer for the better part of the past 16 years, I didn’t do much with brakes on the jet.

Rudder

AeroSavvy

OCTOBER 26, 2020

Airlines are upgrading older cockpits with newer displays, so this old indicator will soon become a relic. V MO on the 767 is between 340-360 knots (depending on aircraft serial number). Airspeed Pointer The airspeed pointer shows the indicated airspeed in knots as generated by the Air Data Computer.

Pitot Tube