by John Zimmerman | Feb 20, 2026 | John's blog
Use it or lose it: the instrument rating is not an insurance policy Air Facts Journal One of the saddest things in aviation is a pilot with an instrument rating who’s afraid to use it. They look at a 1500-foot overcast and realize their $15,000 investment has become...
by John Zimmerman | Dec 10, 2025 | John's blog
Go-arounds don’t have to be hard Air Facts Journal “What happened?” It’s the question most pilots dread, because it usually comes from a well-meaning but uninformed person when they read about an airplane crash. Even worse is when the crash involves a celebrity and a...
by John Zimmerman | Oct 14, 2025 | John's blog
Guard frequency in the age of social media Air Facts Journal Yes, this is an “old man yells at cloud” article. Yes, I can already hear the jokes about the “guard police.” I don’t care. It needs to be said: Guard frequency (121.5) has become a national embarrassment, a...
by John Zimmerman | Sep 8, 2025 | John's blog
Why are spatial disorientation accidents on the rise? Air Facts Journal Spatial disorientation kills. All pilots know this intuitively, but the statistics back up the gut feel: 94% of fixed-wing general aviation accidents involving SD are fatal, a shocking number that...
by John Zimmerman | Jun 4, 2025 | John's blog
The aviation community is alive and well Air Facts Journal General aviation can feel old fashioned, but sometimes that’s exactly what we need. I experienced our community’s unique hospitality on a recent trip to Virginia, and it took a non-pilot to remind me just how...
by John Zimmerman | Apr 11, 2025 | John's blog
The Starlink era is here—will we regret it? Air Facts Journal The dawning of a new technological era is rarely apparent in real time. Sorry to say, in spite of what you read on LinkedIn or watch on YouTube, every press release does not constitute a revolution. Having...
