AOPA Never Again

I had read many times that pilots must fully understand and master their autopilots, but I didn’t fully appreciate the accuracy of those warnings until, at 1,000 feet agl I clicked off the autopilot on the yoke-mounted switch and turned to enter a left base leg to Runway 8...

The air was smooth in the clouds and our airplane was running great at first, but soon the rpm started to drop and we were losing altitude. We suspected carburetor ice and tried to combat it with carburetor heat and full power, yet we still couldn’t maintain altitude. ... There was no radar coverage in our area and no VORs to cross-check our position. We were getting scared...

The airport I landed at was out of fuel so there was no way I could top off my tank for the remainder of my long flight. I could either abort my plans and return...try again another day, or press on...more than 100 miles away, a long way for a little Cub on skis...

Juan soon let me know all was not well. He said our airplane’s flight controls weren’t responding in a normal manner and he shouted over the laboring engine noise, “Estamos en peril!” (“We’re in peril!”). The stall warning alarm blared out imminent danger as our Cessna 150 neared impact with the rough ground...

A glider pilot runs out of altitude on the worst kind of day...

A turbo-charged Cessna talks and a pilot listens, something just wasn't right...

A student pilot learns that a GPS screen is a valuable tool...but can also be a dangerous distraction...

A hard rain and strangely-behaving communication equipment result in an interesting approach for the AOPA Let's Go Flying Cirrus SR22...

A pleasant summer flight turns into a fuel emergency...

Sever clear air turbulence over mountainous terrain does visible damage to a Malibu...