Helicopter incidents, accidents, and even fatal crashes are unfortunately still way too common, especially compared to the fixed wing world. Every month or so there are still news articles featuring the latest unfortunate helicopter events. These are then followed by safety reports on how to prevent it in the future, Read more…
Today we go back to basics! The bread and butter of a cockpit instrument panel or Primary Flight Display are the basic instruments. A big chunk of them work using air, the other chunk are mostly gyroscopic. The ones using air pressure are called pitot-static, which we are going to Read more…
Helicopters are fascinating flying machines. If you talk to someone with fixed wing experience about the effects of airspeed on a helicopter, they will look at you like you’re from a different planet. Fixed wing aircraft are for the most part inherently stable, while helicopters are inherently unstable. This means Read more…
Sonic booms: not talked about very much, especially in the helicopter industry. However, the speed of sound and the effects of breaking it, has a massive influence on the design, procedures and aerodynamic of both planes and helicopters. So what is a sonic boom, and how does it effect helicopters Read more…
Turbine engines are used widely across the aviation sector. They come in all shapes and sizes: Turbojets, Turboprops, Turboshafts, and Turbofans. While they all have different characteristics and use cases, they share a lot of similarities at the same time. So what are the most common turbine engine starting failures, Read more…
A common question for both aviators and non-aviators: Why do some aircraft not appear on flight tracking websites such as Flight Radar 24 and Plane Finder, while others look like the pilots are trying to give passengers a roller coaster experience? How is it possible that most airline traffic even Read more…
Right then, on to the next most requested topic: Evidence Based Training (EBT)! You might have heard about it already in the last few years, or you might be in an organisation who has already fully embraced it. At the same time though, there are loads of professionals in the Read more…
Lightning by itself is usually not considered to be a force that can crash airplanes. The last confirmed US crash that was concluded to be caused by lightning was PAN AM Flight 214 in 1967, which crashed due to a lightning strike that hit one of the fuel tanks, causing Read more…
Drones: A threat to some, a living for others. It is very obvious that no matter where you are in the world, drones are becoming more and more common, and are starting to impact the aviation industry globally. To integrate drones into the aviation industry is not something easy to Read more…
Hypoxia: how does it work? It’s a term we all get hammered with during Human Performance and Limitations training during the ATPL’s. For most though, while the facts don’t lie, it sometimes feels like a term that is very distant and one of those things that ‘you know about’ but Read more…
Tail rotor systems are one of the most crucial components onboard a helicopter. While pilots can deal with tail rotor emergencies, there are variables that could be extremely hard to deal with and manage. This is why the structural design and manufacturing of tail rotor systems is taken extremely seriously Read more…
Vortex Ring State (VRS) is one of the most hazardous conditions a helicopter pilot can be in. While it’s part of all the helicopter pilot training syllabuses in the world, it is still present in (fatal) accident reports and discussed widely in the helicopter industry. Lots of pilots have requested Read more…
Pilots come in many variants and there are many variables regarding the traits and personality profiles. But what are the most important skills for professional pilots? There is a lot that comes into this. Things like upbringing, country, company culture, training, and personality all impact in what way student pilots Read more…
We haven’t quite entered the times presented in ‘Ready Player One’ just yet, but it’s actually slowly getting there. Virtual Reality (VR) technology is getting cheaper and more advanced every year since companies like Oculus and Valve made it more mainstream, resulting in companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Google all Read more…
If you went to your AME and said “I have lost my colour vision, I can’t see depth, and my vision is reduced to 2 small circles in the middle of my original field of view”, you’d probably not walk out with a class 1 medical. Somehow though, pilots use Read more…
Probably the most misunderstood and also most ‘scary’ topic for helicopter pilots: the helicopter performance classes. Not only can this topic be extremely confusing, the finer details are also dependent on where you are in the world. There are plenty of extremely experienced helicopter and fixed wing pilots who do Read more…
Over the last few years, any pilot who has flown IFR has been bombarded with this abbreviation: CDFA. But what is CDFA exactly, and how does it work? For some, it’s a technique that is so ingrained that they don’t know any better, especially with PBN peeking around the corner: Read more…
Yep, you’ve read that title correctly. In this article we will be going through the phenomena describing the slowing down of time itself: time dilation! But what is time dilation and how does it affect something we use every day: GPS? Hard to get your mind around or even accept Read more…
From a teeny little breeze that might tickle some leaf on a tree, to a hurricane lifting an entire wall of a building: wind is part of every day life for humans, but especially for aviators. What is wind and where does it come from? For any flight, it could Read more…
Alright, let’s kick things off with the most requested (but not so bite-sized) topic by far: Performance Based Navigation (PBN). Out of all the topics I am planning to cover, you all pointed me at one of the chunkiest one straight away. So what is PBN exactly and what do Read more…
Welcome to ‘Pilots Who Ask Why’! We as pilots (and other aviation personnel) don’t ask “why?” enough when it comes to principles and theory behind every-day tasks. The excellent global aviation safety culture that results from SOP’s and checklists can unfortunately also create an environment where we get complacent when Read more…