Wherever you fly, you’ll likely find there’s local weather knowledge that’s important to pilots that may be unknown to pilots from other areas. In the Los Angeles basin, Santa Ana winds and the marine layer (aka June Gloom) are two biggies.
Santa Ana winds are dry strong offshore winds that effect Southern California mostly in the Fall and Winter, but can happen any time of the year. As a perfect example, we’re here in the beginning of May 2013 and getting a classic (and dangerous) Santa Ana wind event. Continue reading
I’m proud to announce that I’ve been recognized as an AOPA Distinguished Flight Instructor for 2018, one of only 8 in the state of California. Distinguished Flight Instructor is a title given to high scoring flight instructors from the Aircraft Owner and Pilots Association (AOPA) 2018 Flight Training Experience Survey. 
I’m proud to announce that I’ve been recognized as an AOPA Distinguished Flight Instructor for 2017, one of only 8 in the state of California. 
Please do me (and yourself) a favor. If you’re not familiar with the “impossible turn”, read on, and get with a good instructor before your next flight (while I hope this article is useful, it’s no substitute for instruction). It’s imperative that you understand the dangers of the impossible turn. An experienced pilot 
Just last Friday, I had another alternator failure. In terms of equipment failures, charging system failure is the one I’ve seen most often. I’ve had a dozen or more failures in 7000 hours of flying. Depending on the situation and airplane, this failure can be anywhere from a non-event up to a serious emergency. Let me describe my recent experience on a VFR instructional flight and discuss some other possible scenarios.