Noel Wien, the Standard Biplane With No Brakes, and the First Man to Fly the Alaska Bush Where There Were No Maps
How Noel Wien flew a brakeless 1924 Standard biplane across an unmapped Alaska and wrote the rulebook for bush flying.
TaildraggerAll Articles
Every article from Radio Hangar - aviation history, technology analysis, flight training, destinations, and news.
ODP Versus SID - The Two Instrument Departures, Why One Needs a Clearance and One Does Not, and the Obstacles Hiding in the Fine Print
ODPs protect you from obstacles and need no clearance; SIDs organize traffic and must be assigned. Here's how to tell them apart and fly them safely.
TowerOperation Chastise, the Dambusters, and the Bouncing Bomb Barnes Wallis Skipped Across a Reservoir to Break the Ruhr Dams
How the Dambusters used Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb to breach Germany's Ruhr dams in 1943 - the physics, the flying, and the cost.
TaildraggerPardo's Push, the F-4 Phantom That Shoved a Crippled Wingman Halfway Out of North Vietnam With Nothing but a Windshield and a Tailhook
The true story of Pardo's Push, when an F-4 pilot used his windshield to shove a crippled wingman out of North Vietnam in 1967.
TaildraggerPilot's Discretion Descent - How to Build Your Own Descent Profile When ATC Hands You the Timing
Learn when to start a pilot's discretion descent and how to build a smooth profile using the 3-to-1 rule and groundspeed math.
TowerRadio Dead on Downwind, the Light Gun Signals, and How a Tower Talks to You When Your Voice Is Gone
Learn what light gun signals mean and how to handle a radio failure at a towered airport, step by step.
PatternRead Back the Hold Short, the One Instruction You Must Say Back Word for Word, and Why the Runway Is the Deadliest Place on the Airport
Why you must read back 'hold short' word for word - the one radio call that keeps pilots on the safe side of the deadliest line on the airport.
PatternRight Rudder, the Four Left-Turning Tendencies, and Why the Nose Swings Left the Moment You Push the Throttle
Why the nose swings left on takeoff - torque, P-factor, slipstream, and precession - and how to master right rudder.
PatternRoscoe Turner, the Waxed Mustache, and the Lion Cub Named Gilmore Who Flew the Air Races Strapped Into His Own Parachute
How showman Roscoe Turner and his flying lion cub Gilmore won three Thompson Trophies and helped sell America on aviation.
TaildraggerSpecial VFR, the One Clearance That Lets You Legally Leave a Control Zone With One Mile and Clear of Clouds, and Why It Rescues You as Often as It Kills You
Special VFR lets a VFR pilot legally leave a control zone with 1 mile visibility clear of clouds - here's how to use it without getting killed.
PatternThe FAA Lets You Get an IFR Clearance Right Inside ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot, No Radio or Phone Call Required
The FAA now lets GA pilots request, receive, and cancel IFR clearances directly in ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot - no radio or phone call needed.
TowerThe GUMPS Check, the Five-Second Flow That Keeps You From Landing With the Gear Up and the Tank Half-Chosen
The GUMPS check is a five-second before-landing flow - gas, undercarriage, mixture, prop, seatbelts - that catches what workload made you forget.
PatternThe Maximum Elevation Figure, the Big Blue Numbers in Every Quadrant of the Sectional, and How to Build a Cross-Country Altitude That Clears the Rocks You Cannot See
Learn what the Maximum Elevation Figure (MEF) on a sectional chart really means and how to use it to plan a safe cross-country cruise altitude.
PatternThe NEXRAD Age Indicator, the Mosaic Lag, and Why the Radar Picture in Your Cockpit Is Always Older Than the Timestamp Says
Your cockpit datalink radar can be 15-20 minutes older than the sky, even when the timestamp says two - here's why, and how to fly it safely.
VectorThe Privacy ICAO Address, Why ADS-B Out Broadcasts Your Tail Number in the Clear, and the Anonymity Program the FAA Built to Give It Back
ADS-B Out broadcasts your tail number in the clear once a second - here's how the FAA's PIA and LADD programs try to give privacy back.
VectorThe Republic P Forty-Seven Thunderbolt, the Seven-Ton Jug That Could Dive Faster Than Any Piston Fighter and Fly Home Full of Holes
The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was WWII's heaviest single-engine fighter - a 7-ton 'Jug' built to dive faster and survive more than any rival.
TaildraggerThe Swamp Ghost, the B-17E That Ditched in a New Guinea Swamp in Nineteen Forty-Two and Waited Sixty-Four Years to Come Home
The Swamp Ghost, a B-17E that ditched in a New Guinea swamp in 1942, sat untouched for 64 years before its recovery.
TaildraggerThe Three-P Model, Perceive, Process, Perform, and the Loop You Run Out Loud When the Flight Stops Going According to Plan
Learn the FAA's Three-P model - Perceive, Process, Perform - a continuous loop for making safe decisions when a flight stops matching your plan.
PatternTriple Tree Aerodrome, the Seven-Thousand-Foot Grass Runway in South Carolina They Call the Augusta National of Turf, Where the Mowers Run Like a Golf Course and the Whole Field Is One Big Handshake
Triple Tree Aerodrome in Woodruff, SC has a 7,000-foot manicured grass runway and a fly-in culture unlike anywhere else in aviation.
RampA Japanese Destroyer Fires Its First Tomahawk, and Why a Pacific Missile Test Belongs on Every Pilot's Radar
Japan's first Tomahawk launch from the destroyer Chokai signals more Pacific naval exercises - and more sanitized airspace pilots need to watch.
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