The air route traffic control center (ARTCC) encompasses the en-route air traffic control system air/ground radio communications that provide safe, expeditious movement of aircraft operating on instrument flight rules (IFR) within the controlled airspace of the center. ARTCCs provide the central authority for issuing IFR clearances and nationwide monitoring

By Chris Webb History is full of famous quotes regarding travel, journeys, and destinations. A Chinese proverb once said, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” Ralph Waldo Emerson was quoted with saying “life is a journey, not a destination.” Both quotes have one thing

By Chris Webb Editor’s Note: Ah, the elusive perfect landing. We have all been there, right? Nice stable approach, airspeed and altitude nailed, no wind and we are lined up with the numbers as precisely as can be. 50 feet, 20 feet, 10 feet, the swish. A small gust

By Steven Daun, National Chief Pilot Winter is here and with it comes significant variation in the weather. It is important to note that when we discuss “winter weather” we are not just speaking about it being cold outside. Winter weather encompasses many different topics. For this article, we

Chapter 2 of the “Single Pilot In the IFR Environment” reviews how an IFR clearance is picked up in different situations, such as a controlled field vs an uncontrolled field and what our options are. We also discuss Flight Planning, IFR Currency as well as PIC responsibilities. FLIGHT PLANNING

By Chris Webb I’ve seen all sorts of logbooks over the years; big ones, small ones, green ones and orange ones. I’ve heard myths and rumors of what logbooks ought to be. I have seen them with various colors of ink, cross-outs, white-out and even taped in pages. There

By Dr. Mike Bliss As part of the continuous path of how to become a pilot, we should always be looking for new ways to broaden our knowledge base and refresh what we already know. One easy way to do that is by planning flights to new and various

It’s that time of year again. School’s out, family vacations are in full swing, and beautiful flying weather is ahead of us. We’ve been fortunate to have an unusually wet spring season, which means the once brown fields of winter should now be nice and green as we fly

The most common reason for problems on an IFR departure is the same as for any other phase of an IFR flight, and it’s not one that keeps you from getting a commercial pilots license: mental disorganization. One contributing factor to mental disorganization is that the pilot doesn’t know