The NFL season is done. College football is long over. The NBA and NHL are firing up, but we’re not quite sure where each team will wind up. Baseball is far in the future. And it’s cold outside. Do I really want to warm that engine block while my fingers freeze? It’s that time of year for some who don’t fly professionally or don’t do FIKI when we are unsure what to do with ourselves.
It’s also one of the most important times of the year when we can relearn that stuff we might have forgotten. We can gain different perspectives, find out what’s new and learn how other pilots fly safer.
Dianne White discusses this month how, even in our tech-rich environment, with seemingly endless ways to improve flight safety, we can lose stick and rudder skills.
Have you ever taken off from Teterboro, landed in St. Maarten, and then jetted to Reno, NV? Well, Ed Verville chronicles his holiday flying routine so that we can understand how to better accomplish some of those departure and arrival procedures we don’t see very often.
Mindy Lindheim takes us behind the scenes in Orlando’s busy TRACON (terminal radar approach control facility), and Rich and Tigre Pickett dissect Aeromech’s new Starlink STCs for the Citation 560XL and King Air aircraft. We also hear from Dale Smith about the critical importance of a thorough post-maintenance pre-flight inspection.
Our cover story details the journey Dr. Amir Yazdan has taken to fly the perfect airplane… for now. Find out what led this busy physician to his prized possession and what he might be flying in the future. To close, David Miller takes us all the way back to the airplane that started his ownership adventure, the Beechcraft Baron.
Many thanks to these great writers and pilots who help us stay sharp during the dark winter months. And let’s look forward to the first hints of spring next month.
