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March 23, 2026March 23, 2026

The Debut of the Dassault Falcon 10X

On March 10, Dassault Aviation hosted more than 400 of its coterie of family and friends for the unveiling of the Falcon 10X ultra long-range jet on a hangar stage at the Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport in France.

After briefings at Le Méridian in Paris, we flew to Bordeaux for the big reveal, which I reported on for AvBrief.com. First, take a read through the teaser in AvBrief, and then the go to the main feature for the full story, including a lot of specs and pics of the phenomenal airplane.

Want to really feel like you were there, sipping Chateau Dassault and horsing down hors d’œuvres? Watch my little unveiling video here.

March 19, 2026March 19, 2026

Integrity and Leadership Kick Off WAI 2026

There’s always an unexpectedly emotional moment within words delivered by the featured speakers at the Women in Aviation International Conference, and my first tears this morning came during the presentation of the colors.

We have friends, family, colleagues in harm’s way right now, and their service must be honored. This integrity and leadership have already become themes at WAI 2026, and we’re barely halfway through the first day.

With 20,000 members spanning 112 countries, these days WAI has earned the international part of its name, though almost 92% of the membership hails from the U.S. or its territories. More than 5,000 people are expected at the conference this year, and by midday on Thursday almost 4,000 had come through the doors at the Gaylord Texan Conference Center in Grapevine, Texas.

WAI CEO Lynda Coffman is entering her third year at the helm, coming out of retirement after decades of leadership roles at United Airlines. That time has been focused on restoring the organization’s financial health, and in a large part, she has led the team to a steadier course, now earning a 4 star rating from Charity Navigator, its highest.

Building cash reserves continues, so that the organization will be able to better withstand the inevitable headwinds—Coffman called out COVID specifically—and fully fund its programming for the growth ahead.

Part of that growth steers WAI back towards its high-water marks in scholarship monies granted. While not yet near the $900K years around 2006, the $530,000 scholarships in 2025 and $610,000 scholarships to be bestowed this year show the strength and resilience of the industry.

WAI CEO Lynda Coffman spent decades of her career at United Airlines in a number of leadership roles before coming out of retirement to lead Women in Aviation International. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

International programs take on focus too, under Coffman’s tenure. Case in point, International Girls in Aviation Day (GIAD) hosted 40,000 girls in 30 countries in 2025, and the addition of International Ambassadors brought WAI to the Dubai Airshow, among other engagements centering opportunities for women around the world.

Very exciting to me: the introduction of the Global Access Program, which Coffman announced during her opening remarks. Launching on April 1, GAP fills a serious one for women and young ladies in economically challenged regions, with adjusted individual and chapter dues for those wanting to participate. Yes, the $49 dues can feel insurmountable when you’re trying to put food on the table, but dreams should not suffer. The 2026 seed funding for the GAP came from the current WAI Board of Directors and their personal donations to lift the program off the ground.

2026 sees the 50th anniversary of the Women Military Aviators association, honoring their service. Also, WAI has introduced two new awards, the Spirit of Service going to Liz Booker, Literary Aviatrix, and the Mentor of the Year to ERAU professor Samantha Bowyer.

A woman with short dark brunette hair in a kelly green jumpsuit smiles and points to the crowd from the stage — USAF Thunderbird Nicole Malachowski gives a shout out to her “she-roes” in the audience at WAI 26. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

Nicole Malachowski Inspires

In a keynote at least in part responsible for the full-to-the-brim general session on Thursday morning, Col. Nicole Malachowski (USAF, ret.) gave us more on integrity and leadership with the story of her path to the cockpit of the F-15E as a Thunderbird.

“I knew I was too short to be a showgirl, so I went with Plan B and became a fighter pilot,” said Malachowski about her childhood in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Just six pilots get to selected to join the illustrious demo team in any given year; Malachowski was picked in 2005.

So it’s not a surprise, really, that my second emotional moment came during Nicole’s talk about her favorite part of being a Thunderbird: the autograph line that assembled for her that was 2 to 3 times longer than the lines for the other pilots. The reason? It would be full of young women, 8-21 years old, who came to see someone who looked like them doing what she did.

Her stories backed up the key takeaways she gave us:

Choose an unscripted life.
Believe those who believe in you.
Breaking barriers requires integrity… you must maintain fidelity to who you truly are.

A powerful quote from F-15E pilot and Air Force Thunderbird Nicole Malachowski at WAI 26. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

March 15, 2026March 16, 2026

NCAR and the Ides of March

a senior Vizsla make dog with a whit muzzle licking his chops behind a red stone bench and in front of a stand of pine trees, with foothills behind.

The comment period closed on Friday, March 13, on a letter that solicited “concepts for the efficient and cost-effective operations and management of atmospheric observational platforms, cyberinfrastructure and computing capabilities, and community training on weather and space weather modeling and forecasting” for the National Science Foundation. Specifically, the letter targets operations at the NSF’s National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), located in Boulder, Colorado.

So I’m a little late on this post if you thought for a moment that your feedback would alter the fate of NCAR in any way. Here’s hoping some greater scientific minds than mine have put their two cents in.

NCAR, as it has been operating since 1960, has offered a unique position at the intersection of meteorology, hydrology, solar physics, atmospheric chemistry, machine learning science, oceanography, cryospheric science, engineering, and education. It treats the Earth as a single yet vastly integrated system, and puts the hundreds of scientists who work at the lab and in associated locations into a nexus where they can naturally collaborate in a cross-disciplinary manner.

The center has focused on four areas of critical importance to our healthy existence and economic viability on the planet:

Severe weather
Water cycle
Sun & space weather
Air quality

Its perch on the ledge of the Flatirons overlooking the Boulder Valley in Colorado means that those scientists go to work every day in a location where those areas are not abstract but immediate concerns. The building itself, designed by I.M. Pei, inspires higher thought, and the miles of trails interlinking across the mesa offer active contemplation (via a lunchtime run or hike) for not only the folks who work there but also the community at large.

I’ve personally logged hundreds of miles there during my time living in Boulder County, with pups as companions (including the Fabulous Fred, pictured above on a hike 14 years ago this month on an NCAR trail). There are few places like it, where you can be both within the folds of the foothills and consider the great plains stretching east. You can see a hundred miles in each direction on many days of the year, and watch the weather unfold as it tumbles over the Rockies on its way downstream. Location matters, and grounds the science in everyday reality.

However, the wording of the letter makes it clear that the building itself is at risk along with the unique opportunity those scientists have had to come together over the decades. The missive solicits private or public use of the building… to what end better than it already does?

My relationship with NCAR intersects in other ways: There have been several scientists who were also pilots who I flew with and taught over the years. And air quality projects that make use of the location included in the late 1990s air sampling missions that I participated in as a young flight instructor. Flying a Cessna TR182 equipped with data collection and recording devices up to the flight levels (the low ones), we’d run racetracks at each altitude on the way back down to the Boulder Airport (then 1V5, now KBDU). Now a Gulfstream GV does similar work, but it may not for long, as the letter notes those aircraft may been discharged and the missions put to other aircraft in the future.

When high winds threaten the Front Range (which they do even more regularly now than when I was an undergrad), NCAR’s forecasting informs the population ahead of time. Following the devastating Marshall Fire on December 30, 2021, the power company Xcel Energy now preemptively shuts down power when these intense mountain wave winds are predicted.

I studied mountain wave activity while a student at the University of Colorado, in an aviation meteorology class also tied into the work of our local NCAR and UCAR scientists. That understanding, watching the wave rip rotor clouds into shreds at the foot of those mountains from the ramp at the Boulder Airport, has helped me both teach meteorology to my own students and assess micro and macro weather conditions as I’ve flown across the country. NCAR’s contributions to the study and mitigation of the effects of microbursts on aviation have been profound and lifesaving.

Yes, I feel a personal hit when I think of the Boulder community losing NCAR, and the effect that loss will have when its mission is broken into pieces because it fell into the cross-hairs of an administration bent on restructuring and retribution.

Maybe there’s still time to fight for science, for both our aviation family and our world.

February 20, 2026February 20, 2026

GAMA: Big Wins for BizJets, A Strong Year in 2025

A panoramic view of the stage at the GWU auditorium lit in deep royal blue and orange flanked by two podiums with men speaking from behind them

The total take hit $31 billion for airplanes and $4.7 billion for rotorcraft, topping $35 billion overall for the first time, and an increase of 14.6%.

With the official kickoff of the general aviation year, I made my first contribution to AvBrief.com, with my report and a beginning analysis of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association 2025 Report press conference and gathering in Washington, D.C., on February 18.

To read the story, please visit the site, and if you like what you see, support the cause by leaving a comment and signing up for the free newsletter. (You can do that on this site as well!)

February 18, 2026February 18, 2026

An Unsung Heroine and Shepherd of General Aviation History Retires

Dorothy Cochrane, longtime curator for general aviation and women in aviation for the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, retired in 2025 after a career of championing the importance of light aircraft within the aerospace legacy.

Her retirement lunch took three times to occur. The first time, it fell victim to the government shutdown in October. The second time, to the great blizzard of January 25 in Washington, D.C., where the NASM sits on the National Mall after its extensive restoration.

The third time, on Tuesday, February 17, a crowd of colleagues gathered to share cake and stories with Cochrane and her family and friends. We celebrated a person uniquely responsible for identifying and preserving the stories and importance of general aviation for the present and future generations to understand.

Not only did Cochrane help colleagues such as Chris Browne, current director of NASM, comprehend better the role of GA in the grand aviation scheme of things, but more than that, help the literally millions of people that come to the museum and come to the Smithsonian’s websites seeking experts—to learn more, to become educated, and to go out into the world with that knowledge.

Cochrane earned her private pilot certificate in 1994, and that’s really how I became privileged to know her: We both belong to an informal group of pilots in the D.C. area who regularly fly out for lunch and other shenanigans.

She threatened to retire for several years, but one project in particular kept her engaged: the development and bringing to life of the first NASM gallery dedicated to GA, the Thomas W. Haas We All Fly section on the first floor of the museum on the Mall. You owe it to yourself to return to the NASM to see it—there’s something within its walls that will resonate with you no matter what your relationship is to aviation, even if that has been limited to watching the feats of Dusty Crophopper from Planes (one of her proud acquisitions).

She joked at her party that she stayed on to revamp the Pioneers of Flight only as an aside in importance to her, compared to We All Fly. However, among her other key acquisitions was the Lindbergh “Bird” that Anne Morrow Lindbergh once flew. The Lindberghs feature prominently in the Pioneers exhibit, as you might expect.

But more so than the one-of-a-kind artifacts she’s obtained for the collection over the years are the priceless relationships with pioneering humans that have advanced flight. Like Eileen Collins, Patty Wagstaff, and Sean D. Tucker.

You may know their names, but please now know Dorothy’s, as she leaves a legacy in general aviation from which we can all benefit.

NASM Director Chris Browne thanked Cochrane on behalf of the decades of colleagues and constituents with whom she collaborated over decades of service. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

February 15, 2026February 15, 2026

Julie Boatman Joins AvBrief as a Contributor

We started our support of AvBrief.com the very day that it launched in August 2025.

Now, we’re pleased to have the freedom to join officially as the primary coordinator of the digital publication’s general and business aviation OEM coverage. I get to do one of the things I love most—fly new aircraft and report on the teams that bring them to life—and do so collaborating with a couple of the best journalists in aviation, Russ Niles and Larry Anglisano. The group of contributors they have attracted to the fold is only surpassed by the number of subscribers that they have been adding every day.

It’s real aviation intelligence. Nothing artificial.

Check out the video link below for my interview with Russ about the new role and the first assignments I’ll have for AvBrief.

Julie Boatman Joins AvBrief

JulietBravoFox Media will continue to serve our incredible media relations and marketing consulting clients as we enter our third year since relaunching the agency in February 2024.

It’s an exciting time to bring new ideas and technology to pilots, and I’m thrilled to get to work with the very best in the business. Please join me by signing up for AvBrief’s free newsletter here.

January 29, 2026January 29, 2026

A Disaster at DCA, 77 Years Later

A look at history reveals the deeply embedded congestion issues confluenced with the pressure to utilize a close-in transportation hub.

I’ve been on that flight, essentially, more than a couple dozen times.

A direct Piedmont Airlines, or Envoy, or SkyWest flight into Washington National airport—KDCA—from some point on the map. Often Charlotte or Chicago, but also LaGuardia, Chattanooga, and Philly.

And Wichita, too.

So I’ve had ample time to contemplate both sides of the equation in the steep ramp-up in flights that American Airlines and others have made into DCA over the past three years. There’s the me that wants to get directly to where I’m going, and the me that has done a double-take at the stacking of aircraft on crossing taxiways and runway ends that it apparently takes to accommodate that increase in flights.

I took a picture once because I thought for sure a runway incursion had at least a 50/50 chance.

A snap from the window seat of a CRJ waiting to take position for Runway 19 at DCA in Washington, in February 2023. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

I took other pictures because at its heart, I love DCA, though because of 9/11 I never have flown into it as PIC. I love the River Visual, the finesse it takes to stick the landing, and the central location. The close-in economy parking. The quick check-in by the North Security area.

But it turns out, DCA has been an accident waiting to happen for a long time. In fact, an accident similar to the one in which a PSA CRJ700 collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that took 67 lives last January 29 happened there, in the late 1940s.

After a nighttime landing at DCA, in February 2023. [Credit: Julie Boatman]

Eastern Air Lines in 1949

Eastern Air Lines Flight 537, N88727, was a Douglas DC-4 aircraft en route from Boston, Massachusetts, to Washington, D.C., by way of a few stops on the old airmail route on November 1, 1949. But a horrifying accident took place near the approach end of Runway 3 (now 4) at Washington National that day. The DC-4—often taking on the role of regional airliner in that day—struck a military aircraft. This time it was a P-38 Lockheed Lightning undergoing an acceptance flight test trial for the Bolivian Air Force.

At 300 feet and a half-mile from the threshold, it killed the 55 passengers and crew aboard the DC-4 and—amazingly—only seriously injured the pilot of the P-38, a Bolivian national by the name of Erik Rios Bridoux.

According to the Wikipedia entry, “at the time, it was the deadliest airliner incident in United States history.”

But even with that dramatic loss of life in the heart of the nation’s capital, it wouldn’t be the trigger that set in motion real change in the governance of aviation in the U.S.

What Does It Take to Make Real Change?

That distinction would go to the much more well-known Connie vs. DC-7 mid-air that took place over the Grand Canyon in 1956, which took the lives of 128 people between the two aircraft.

There’s a symmetry here: a keystone accident preceding the bigger one that turned out to be the last straw.

The 1956 mid-air has long been identified as the catalyst for creating a federal aviation agency with coordinated national air traffic control—now the FAA. Perhaps the accident on January 29, 2025, is the similar catalyst that help mitigate issues of congestion and staffing shortages at one of the nation’s most critical airports. Because it does not compute that the denizens of D.C. (myself included) will want to give up their direct flights, regardless of their political clout.

But it can’t be a catalyst without continuous funding support for ATC, disentangled from the machinations in D.C. As Rep. Rick Larsen, D-WA, ranking member of the House’s Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, said in December 2025, “We have to avoid history repeating itself.”

The Aviation Funding Solvency Act (HR 6086) is part of the current proposition to achieve this goal. It “provides continuing appropriations to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) if (1) an appropriations bill for the FAA has not been enacted before a fiscal year begins, or (2) a law making continuing appropriations for the FAA is not in effect,” according to the entry on congress.gov.

During the National Transportation Safety Board meeting on the PSA/BlackHawk mid-air on January 28, the NTSB reviewed several recommendations it would make within its final report, most pointing the finger at the FAA for issues of system and culture that persist at DCA.

So far, only one has already been addressed—the rendering permanent of the TFR closing the helicopter route that placed the Black Hawk in the path of the PSA CRJ700. The remainder hangs in the balance as we teeter towards another government shutdown—particularly if HR 6086 doesn’t come to fruition in advance of that stoppage.

We have the technology tools to help mitigate one cultural issue—the regular reliance on visual separation by the DCA control tower. With the final report yet to be released, we can push for the increased staffing that will almost certainly boost sagging morale, and potentially decrease persistent mental fatigue levels amongst our friends at ATC.

While the DC-4 disaster at DCA didn’t prompt change back in 1949, perhaps nearly 77 years later we’ll see a hauntingly similar regional-and-military mid-air lead to real solutions. Surely we’ve come that far along in all of those years.

January 15, 2026January 15, 2026

The TBM 980 Captures a New Era

A Daher TBM 980 single-engine turboprop airplane in flight over the mountains in southern France, with a charcoal grey top and white base with flash orange accents.

With the snow capping the Pyrenées to the south, my last visit to Tarbes took place on a chilly day in November 2021. I was meeting up with Margrit Waltz, who readied a new TBM 940 for its ferry flight across the ocean.

At the time, I didn’t realize that the next TBM had already moved onto the production line, the serial number (SN) that would become the first TBM 960. That model debuted in April 2022, and I had a chance to fly it from Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo down to Daher’s then HQ in south Florida, at KPMP, Pompano Beach.

Now, nearly four years later, Daher debuts its latest, the TBM 980, and what looks like a similar aircraft has changed significantly under its gorgeous skin.

Similiarly, Daher may look like the same company if you just glance at the buildings collected on the ramp at LFBT, but so much has changed. The company has three locations now in Florida—at KSUA where the TBM will soon be built on a new line, and at KFLL where the new U.S. headquarters is located. And the Kodiak’s home base in Sandpoint, Idaho, now churns out Kodial 900s as well as the 100 Series III.

And…just in time to kickoff 2026, the TBM 980 takes the stage.

The sixth 900-series turboprop launched by Daher since it took possession of the aircraft model line in 2014, the TBM 980 integrates the Garmin G3000 PRIME that the avionics OEM debuted in late 2024 on the competing Pilatus PC-12 Pro. But this is more than a makeup game. The G3000 PRIME replaces the previous G3000 with three 14-inch touchscreens and app-based functionality to evolve the flight deck experience to match what most pilots carry in their pockets.

The first integrated flight deck into the TBM series took off when Garmin and then-SOCATA signed the contract to put the G1000 into the TBM 850 at NBAA 2005. It was the beginning of the end of “federated” avionics—the separate boxes that worked in concert that we used to know so well.

Twenty years and 1,000 TBMs later, the flight deck now integrates into the pilot’s life. “When you pick up an iPad, you don’t read a manual, you pick it up and use it intuitively,” said Nicolas Chabbert, Daher Aircraft CEO, at a livestream event on Thursday, January 15, in the evening from Daher’s main hangar in Tarbes. The PRIME drives closer to that mark than any flight deck thus far.

The presets are contextual, allowing for the phase of flight to drive them. And that’s just the beginning. There’s a joystick to aid in selection, rather than a button for scrolling, and the ability to check in on the airplane remotely via Garmin PlaneSync.

Guillaume Remigi, test pilot, said at the event that the biggest surprise he discovered during flight test was how much he appreciated the touchscreens. Rather than being a novelty, they became natural and intuitive, he found.

Another operational improvement sure to be well-received by pilots is the ability to operate without adding Prist to the fuel. The Prist-free option had to be validated in hot and humid weather conditions, so the test pilots related during the livestream how they flew to Agadir, Morocco, leaving the aircraft outside overnight, experiencing temperatures ranging from +40C to -50C in the desert, and up to 90 percent humidity on the coast.

An enhanced interior features a new passenger display through which the folks in the back can see flight data… Chabbert likened it to Concorde, though perhaps not into the Mach numbers!

The new TBM will be Starlink Mini-capable, and to preview this, Daher’s Michel Adam de Villiers and longtime TBM pilot and superfan Dr. Ian Fries called in during the event from in-flight over Florida. Fries is the first publicly announced customer to purchase the TBM 980, which will be SN 1634, ready in March—Number 6 for Dr. Fries. That said, SN 1627 and SN 1628 are already poised to depart for their first customers.

Frankly, I can’t wait to get my hands on the new yoke—and on the touchscreens—either.

December 30, 2025December 30, 2025

Garmin’s Autoland Activation in the Wild

Canva filter in purple and neon orange with Autoland sequence display shown on a display in an instrument panel.

I’ve been thinking about the first activation of the revolutionary Garmin Autoland system “in real life” for more than a week.

I recall clearly sitting as a silent witness to the compelling initiation and execution of the Autoland sequence several years ago. A couple of times, in fact.

Both of these activations happened in demo mode and were not the full “in the wild” experience. The first took place before the system was certificated, at Garmin’s flight department headquarters at New Century AirCenter (KIXD) near Olathe, Kansas, in August 2019, in a Piper M600 modified for testing.

My second experience took place in the Beechcraft King Air 200 used as the test bed for the currently deployed aftermarket system on that airframe, away from Garmin’s home base, and with a Garmin flight demo pilot in the left seat, and me in the right seat. The tower had been advised of the demonstrations taking place, but we otherwise slotted into the regular stream of traffic at a busy airport. No total clearing of the airspace took place, because it was understood by ATC not to be an emergency.

You can see essentially the same demo I sat through here, on AvBrief.com.

A lot has been said about the circumstances surrounding the event, which happened over the Rocky Mountains on December 20, 2025. That activation occurred not with a push of the guarded Autoland button, but when the pilots of N479BR [operated by Buffalo River Aircraft Services] experienced a pressurization emergency at 23,000 feet after taking off from Aspen (KASE). The Garmin integrated system sensed the loss of cabin pressure and activated the Emergency Descent Mode (EDM). The EDM protocol commands a descent to 14,000 feet. If no response is sensed from the pilots after 60 seconds of inactivity, the Autoland system engages thereafter.

The pilots of the ferry flight had no passengers on board, and elected to allow Autoland to progress to its conclusion, which ended in a safe, apparently textbook approach and landing at Rocky Mountain Metro Airport (KBJC) in Broomfield, Colorado.

My friend and colleague Max Trescott happened to be flying in a Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet in Colorado at the same time as N479BR activated Autoland, and he managed to record much of the comms on Guard, sharing this with listeners on the podcast NTSB NewsTalk he produces with another former colleague of mine, Rob Mark.

As it turns out, the King Air leveled at 18,000 feet instead—my assumption is that the aircraft stopped at 18,000 feet because of MEAs along the mountainous route, until you reach the relative flatlands of the Front Range near KBJC. The audio that Max replays on the podcast illuminates one interesting situation for pilots who remain conscious and compos mentis during the Autoland engagement: The crew reported they could only transmit on Guard; it’s true that a pilot (or passenger) can’t change the radio frequency once activated—you’d need to disengage Autoland in order to do so, and recommence flying.

Autoland can easily be deactivated by pressing the autopilot key on the a/p control panel, or the a/p disconnect switch on the pilot’s control yoke or stick. So, the question on many a commenter’s mind is why the pilots rode the system out to its conclusion rather than disengaging Autoland once they were descended below 14,000 feet msl. Some bemoan the giving over of command to the system too easily—and the potential for piloting skills to erode further as we let automated systems handle the hand-flying to a greater and greater extent.

While my experience in high altitude ops is limited, I can’t help but think back to a cross-country flight I took back in 1995 in a friend’s Cessna T303 Crusader—you don’t hear enough about these classy airplanes imho—where we elected to fly at FL250 on oxygen masks headed from Colorado to Chicago. As a climber and well acclimated by years of living at 10,000 feet, my friend in the left seat took off his mask and ate lunch while I stayed on the gas and the controls from the right. About 5 minutes later, he donned the mask again, and I took my turn.

I got about three bites into my granola bar when I found I couldn’t chew anymore. The hypoxic effects took only that long to sink in. So yes, a pressurization event at FL230 is no joke to me. After years of flying in Colorado, I know hypoxia is insidious, and that a pilot can feel giddy and overconfident as a result. That would lead me to choose to monitor a fully and correctly functioning Autoland system while I monitored my own condition and that of the airplane while on supplemental oxygen. That’s me.

Frankly, I’m more surprised the first irl activation took this long to occur. As a corollary, the Cirrus SR20 obtained certification on October 23, 1998, and the first Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) “save” took place not quite 4 years later, in an SR20 on October 3, 2002. Autoland gained its first cert on the Piper M600/SLS Halo in May 2020—so we took 5.5 years for that fateful button push. And that’s for a system you can reset. Once a CAPS is deployed, the cat is out of the bag, literally.

I think about it this way: The Autoland sequence began at an altitude where pilot incapacitation remained a serious concern. With the system flying the airplane, the crew could focus 100 percent on their own health, and running checklists and other troubleshooting, maintaining greater situational awareness. In your everyday flying, if the autopilot is making a coupled approach well, do you click it off just to prove you could hand fly the airplane?

We have a conscious choice to keep our skills from eroding in the face of a capable “auto-whatever,” whether it’s CAPS or Autoland or just a really great autopilot. The advent of tools that leverage technology requires more from pilots than just accepting them carte blanche and allowing them to take over every time. And we need to practice our hand-flying skills regularly.

But during an abnormal or emergency situation, when you need to access all of the resources at your disposal, it surely makes sense to me to keep Autoland engaged as long as it’s performing as promised.

There’s always the little red button on the yoke.

December 17, 2025December 17, 2025

Happy 90th Birthday, DC-3

A polished silver and blue Douglas DC-3 twin radial engined airplane sits on the green-brown grass at an airfield with a blue sky and clouds behind.

For the past 20 years, we’ve celebrated December 17 in our household a little differently than most aviation enthusiasts and pilots, who rightfully note the Wright Brothers’ achievement of powered, controlled flight in 1903.

Even if you are from the segment of folks who question the Wrights’ place in history to the extent it has been sanctified, you cannot question that the first flight of the Douglas DC-3 line, the inaugural Douglas Sleeper Transport, took place on the afternoon of December 17, 1935. Carl Cover, the chief pilot and commander of the test flight noted it in his logbook. He was not prone to hyperbole, so NX14988 sits on a single line there without fanfare.

The cool, clear day heralded the uneventful flight, and the airplane itself went on to delivery to American Airlines a few months later.

You can read all about it in my story posted by our friends at Vintage Aviation News, “The Mighty Douglas DC-3 Celebrates 90 Years Flying.”

Tomorrow, we’ll also be hosting the “Throttle Thursday” installment of the DC-3 Society’s 90th Anniversary commemoration week, with a great line-up of DC-3 pilots and crew, including Nicholas Cerretani, Paul Bazeley, Brooks Pettit, Sergio Alen, Mark Stewart, and Daniel Wotring.

Check it out here, or drop me a note and I’ll send you the Zoom link and password.

However you celebrate DC-3 Day, lift a favorite glass (filled with scotch if you’re a Douglas) to toast the man who made it possible, and the crew that flew the DST that glorious day.