Plane and Pilot

JUNE 23, 2025

After a shallow turn from downwind, the Bonanza was positioned on base at a proper altitude and airspeed and with a constant descent rate. While it wasn’t a particularly hot day, Big Bear’s density altitude was reported as 8,200 feet, resulting in a higher true airspeed compared to indicated airspeed. Fast or slow?

True Airspeed

Air Facts

MAY 5, 2025

This particular 172 normally cruised at 120 mph indicated airspeed, but with the ice it would barely do 90 mph and that required full throttle! 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. I didnt know.

VOR

Photographic Logbook

JULY 11, 2024

At one point, we entered a region of sufficient turbulence that I disengaged the autopilot to hand-fly. Caught in series of up and down drafts, the autopilot pitched the Warrior aggressively to maintain altitude and the indicated airspeed trended too high in each updraft. Sometimes I have good luck switching to runway 10." "If

Ceiling

Air Facts

SEPTEMBER 9, 2024

Optimum” glide was not the issue here, and a visual AOA indicator would have had no value. This descent used the same technique that (would have) had value in many of the NTSB accidents involving engine failure after takeoff. That produced a strange traffic pattern with roller coasters at the corners.)

General Aviation

Chess In the Air

JUNE 24, 2022

Under normal circumstances Shmulik would have had sufficient altitude to delay the landing by several minutes: his glider’s minimum descent rate in still air was just 100 fpm. Even a more typical descent rate of 200 fpm would have allowed Shmulik to hold for about 5-7 minutes before he would have had to proceed with the landing.

Pilot