Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions from my in-flight electrical fire blog. A few comments of particular note came from pilots advocating the use of fire containment bags in the unlikely event of a lithium-ion battery fire. While I concur that these bags are great for safety, the FAA does not seem to...Read More

Settling back into Gleim life this past week following a fantastic, though hectic Oshkosh, I noticed that one particular model airplane was getting a lot of flight time around our house: a wonderful old diecast DC-9 we found on a morning stroll through the Air Venture marketplace. This morning, I watched my oldest son zooming...Read More

Our summer flying poll showed dehydration tied with low-level wind shear as one of your main concerns during the summer months. Pilots should constantly be aware of the effects of human factors in flight. Many pilots do not realize that lack of hydration can affect their coordination and cognitive abilities. The case studies below are...Read More

In our summer flying poll, the 3rd most concerning weather phenomena during the summer is low-level wind shear.  Our previous 2 blogs discussed thunderstorms, which often can cause low-level windshear, but thunderstorms are not the only cause of it. A Case Study [The following are excerpts from Accident Number: ERA17FA174] On May 5, 2017, about...Read More

Last week’s blog dissected what thunderstorms are and their potential hazards. This week, we review the importance of obtaining weather information and why we should remain clear of thunderstorms. A Case Study [The following are excerpts from Accident Number: ERA16FA309] On September 3, 2016, about 0950 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 172N, N6091E, was destroyed...Read More

Thunderstorms Part 1: Defining what a thunderstorm is, the types, and the hazards What is a Thunderstorm? It’s a cumulonimbus cloud that contains lightning.  But lightning isn’t the only concern: wind shear, downbursts, hail, and heavy precipitation can often exist within a thunderstorm. You probably recall that a thunderstorm forms when there is: Sufficient water...Read More

50% of the participants in our poll found density altitude as their chief concern during the summer months, so let’s break it down. A Case Study: A Commercial Pilot and the Unsuspecting Danger of Density Altitude [The following are excerpts from the NTSB Final Report for accident number WPR17FA171.]   On July 29, 2017, about...Read More

A large component of drone safety is proficiency.  The FAA defines “proficiency” as the state of art of being proficient; performing in a given art, skill, or branch of learning with expert correctness; adeptness, and skillfulness.  In a nutshell, proficiency implies operating with skillfulness and expertise. The technical definition is less important than how you...Read More