The DECIDE Model, the Six-Step Loop That Turns a Bad Feeling in the Cockpit Into an Actual Plan
The DECIDE model gives pilots a six-step loop - Detect, Estimate, Choose, Identify, Do, Evaluate - to turn a bad feeling into a real plan.
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Every article from Radio Hangar - aviation history, technology analysis, flight training, destinations, and news.
The Douglas DC-3, the Gooney Bird, and the Airplane That Made the World Small Enough to Fly Across
How the Douglas DC-3 made air travel profitable, won a war as the Gooney Bird, and still flies for a living today.
TaildraggerThe Forward Slip, the Cross-Controlled Descent Every Student Fears, and Why Confusing It With the Sideslip Costs Points on the Checkride
Learn the difference between a forward slip and a sideslip, when to use each, and why confusing them costs checkride points.
PatternThe Gee Bee R One, the Granville Brothers, and the Fat Little Racer Jimmy Doolittle Rode to the Thompson Trophy at Cleveland in Nineteen Thirty-Two
How Jimmy Doolittle tamed the deadly Gee Bee R-1 to win the 1932 Thompson Trophy and set a world speed record at Cleveland.
TaildraggerThe Hundred and Seventy-Eight Seconds, the Illinois Study on VFR Into Instrument Conditions, and the One-Eighty That Buys Back Your Life
Learn why VFR flight into clouds kills in an average of 178 seconds - and the four-step 180-degree turn that flies you back to safety.
PatternThe Inflatable Heat Shield, NASA's LOFTID Test, and the Umbrella That Could Land Heavy Cargo on Mars
NASA's LOFTID test flew a folding, inflatable heat shield to orbital reentry speed - a drag device that could one day land heavy cargo on Mars.
VectorThe Nearest Alternate Nobody Files - How to Build a Real Fuel and Weather Plan Around 91.169 for Your Night Cross-Country
How to build a real fuel and weather plan around FAR 91.169 so your filed alternate is actually usable on a night cross-country.
PatternThe Nine Seventy-Eight Megahertz UAT, the Universal Access Transceiver, and Why America Split Its ADS-B Onto Two Frequencies When the Rest of the World Uses One
Why the U.S. runs ADS-B on two frequencies - 978 MHz UAT and 1090 ES - and what it means for your cockpit traffic and weather.
VectorThe Ohka, the Yasukuni Betty, and the Cherry Blossom Suicide Bomb Hanging in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
The Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka at the Udvar-Hazy Center was a rocket-powered suicide weapon - here's its grim history and why it matters.
TaildraggerThe Oshkosh Seaplane Base on Lake Winnebago, the Grassy Shoreline Where Floatplanes Come to Roost and the Only Ramp at AirVenture With No Pavement at All
Inside the Vette/Blackbird Seaplane Base at EAA AirVenture, the only ramp at Oshkosh with no pavement - where floatplanes land on Lake Winnebago.
RampThe Pipistrel Velis Electro, the First Electric Airplane the World Ever Certified, and the Battery Math Behind a Fifty-Minute Trainer
How the Pipistrel Velis Electro became the world's first certified electric airplane - and the battery math behind its 50-minute mission.
VectorThe Rotax 916 iS, the One Hundred Sixty Horsepower Turbo That Runs on Car Gas and Flies With a Single Lever
The Rotax 916 iS delivers 160 hp from a turbocharged four-cylinder that runs on car gas and flies with a single power lever.
VectorThe SR Seventy-One Blackbird's Last Flight, March Sixth, Nineteen Ninety, and the Sixty-Four Minute Dash Across America That Ended in a Museum
On March 6, 1990, an SR-71 Blackbird crossed the US in 67 minutes 54 seconds on its final flight to the Smithsonian.
TaildraggerThe Standard Briefing, One Eight Hundred W X Brief, and the Nine Items Flight Service Reads You in the Same Order Every Time
A standard weather briefing always delivers the same nine items in the same order - here's how to follow, record, and act on every one.
PatternThe Steep Turn, the Hundred-Foot Tolerance, and Why the Nose Drops the Moment You Forget to Pull
Radio Hangar explores The Steep Turn, the Hundred-Foot Tolerance, and Why the Nose Drops the Moment You Forget to Pull.
PatternThe Swamp Ghost, the B Seventeen E That Sat in a New Guinea Swamp for Sixty-Four Years Before Anybody Brought Her Home
The story of the Swamp Ghost, a B-17E that sat in a New Guinea swamp for 64 years before its 2006 recovery to Pearl Harbor.
TaildraggerThe TAF, the Terminal Aerodrome Forecast, and Decoding the FM and TEMPO Lines Before You Launch on a Cross-Country
Learn to read a raw Terminal Aerodrome Forecast line by line, including the FM, TEMPO, and PROB change groups, before your next cross-country.
PatternThe Terminal Radar Service Area, the TRSA, and the One Ring of Magenta Where Talking to Approach Is Your Choice, Not the Law
A TRSA is a leftover radar service area where talking to approach control is voluntary - here's why smart pilots participate anyway.
PatternThe Tornado That Tore Through Oshkosh Twenty-Four Hours After AirVenture Emptied Out
A tornado struck near Oshkosh just 24 hours after AirVenture ended - here's what the near miss teaches every pilot who flies to fly-ins.
TowerZeroAvia, the Hydrogen-Electric Powertrain, and the Dornier That Flew Over the Cotswolds on a Fuel Cell
How ZeroAvia's hydrogen-electric Dornier 228 flight proved fuel-cell propulsion can power real regional aircraft - and the hurdles that remain.
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