Aviation management in practice
Articles on electronic logbooks, SMS, maintenance tracking and business aviation operations, written by people who fly and operate.
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Stabilized approach and go-around: why the business jet lands fast and long, and why almost nobody goes around
Only 3% of unstabilized approaches end in a go-around, according to the Flight Safety Foundation. The rest continue to landing, fast and long, and that is how most runway excursions begin. The stabilized approach criteria, the 60% rule of RBAC 135, ANAC's Flight Alert on the Cessna 560 at Jacarepaguá, and what separates written policy from the decision in the air.
Read article →Single-pilot IFR: the workload the autopilot does not share
RBAC 135 allows operation without a second in command when there is an approved autopilot and authorization in the operations specifications. What the rule does not solve is the cockpit with a single brain: the FAA automation report found manual flying error in more than 60% of the accidents reviewed and mode confusion as a recurring error. What single-pilot resource management is and what must be ready before the airplane leaves.
Read article →Just culture and voluntary reporting: why pilots do not report, and what Brazilian law already guarantees
RBAC 135 requires the safety policy to state which behaviors are unacceptable and under what circumstances no disciplinary action will be taken. Law 12.970/2014 protects voluntary reports from being used as evidence. Even so, the report does not arrive. What just culture is, where the line falls between error, risk and negligence, and why an SMS without reporting is just a form.
Read article →Continuation bias: the decision the pilot makes with the passenger watching
A NASA study of 19 airline accidents found plan continuation bias in at least nine of them; a Flight Safety Foundation task force saw it in 42% of the cases it reviewed. “Get-there-itis” is not a character flaw, it is a mechanism of cognition that the commercial pressure of air taxi and business aviation feeds every day. How to take the decision off the pilot's shoulders at the wrong moment.
Read article →Takeoff and landing performance: the calculation business and general aviation stop doing
Runway excursion is the second most common type of airplane accident in Brazil and the most common among business jets worldwide. The physics behind it fits in four variables: weight, speed, wind and density altitude. What the FAA handbook and RBAC 91 say, and why the margin disappears without warning.
Read article →Human factors in maintenance: the “Dirty Dozen” and why shops have been making the same mistakes for thirty years
Maintenance and inspection appear as a factor in 12% of major accidents in a classic study and in 20% of prevention opportunities in a Boeing study. The twelve precursors of human error in the shop, identified in Canada in 1993, remain the same. What RBAC 145 requires, what it does not say, and where work order traceability comes in.
Read article →The digital logbook is no longer an alternative: Resolution 773/2025 and why aviation's digitization has no way back
Since January 1, 2026, ANAC Resolution 773/2025 replaces 457/2017 and puts the digital logbook on the same footing as the paper one. What changed, what stays, the operator signature deadlines, and why paper is the last holdout.
Read article →Helicopters don't crash like airplanes: the three accidents that dominate rotary-wing — and what general aviation can do about it
In Brazil, helicopter accidents kill more people than airplane accidents in general aviation. Loss of control, low-altitude collisions and inadvertent flight into IMC concentrate the fatalities — and none of the three is solved with more flight hours. What CENIPA and USHST data show, and what changes in the routine.
Read article →The real cost per hour: why the number you have is probably wrong
Six rules that separate a reliable cost per hour from a guess with two decimal places: only realized cost counts, dollars aren't converted by guesswork, fuel burn only with a unit, distance only when plausible, monthly rate only with a window, and model by the RAB.
Read article →Which part to buy next month: the maintenance shop that learns from its own work orders
The shop finds out about the missing part on the day the aircraft comes in — and the hangar sits occupied waiting on freight. How the purchase forecast is born from the work orders the shop already records: recurring consumption, components coming due and the kit for each inspection, netted against stock.
Read article →Predictive maintenance without a black box: the downtime planned by the aircraft's real pace
A due limit in hours has no date — and the date is what plans the hangar, the part and the crew. How Alis projects each due item by the aircraft's real pace, why it uses the median and not the average, and how nearby items become a single downtime.
Read article →IS 141-006A: how to build a CIAC quality assurance system that doesn't end up as drawer bureaucracy
The five elements of the Quality Assurance Manual, the role of the Quality Manager, what 'independent audit' really requires, and why an untreated finding is what fails the CIAC.
Read article →Duty time in air taxi: the roster that closes on the spreadsheet and blows up in operations
Brazil's Aeronaut Law sets duty limits by crew composition, and air taxi demand never gives notice. Where the roster breaks, why the spreadsheet doesn't flag it, and what to check before saying yes.
Read article →What airlines look for today: why the résumé with lots of hours lost to the pilot with competencies
Selection has changed its axis: hours open the door, competencies decide the job. What PANS-TRG, Doc 9995 and IATA's CBTA white paper say — and why seven of the nine competencies are not flying.
Read article →660,000 pilots by 2044: demand exists, it is training that stalls halfway
Boeing projects 660,000 new pilots in 20 years, 37,000 in Latin America. The bottleneck is not a lack of people who want to fly — it is cost, the hours gap between license and job, and instruction treated as a stepping stone.
Read article →ADS-B in the logbook: the flight that arrives pre-filled — and why a draft, not a record
The aircraft's transponder broadcasts the entire flight; public ADS-B networks listen. Alis uses that trail to create the logbook entry draft — date, times and airfields filled in — and leaves to the pilot what belongs to the pilot: reviewing and recording.
Read article →Digital CIV and the pilot logbook: your career record cannot depend on a notebook
Total hours, currency, IFR, night: a pilot's career is a database that most keep by hand. What the digital logbook solves, the sums you never do again — and the WhatsApp query.
Read article →The IAC 3252 table: how to convert minutes into tenths of an hour, and why dividing by 60 gets 1 in every 6 flights wrong
Converting minutes to tenths of an hour in aviation is not minutes ÷ 60: it is the IAC 3252 table, which cuts the band halfway down. The complete table, the 10 minutes that diverge, and the carry at minute 58.
Read article →The CIAC flies well and sinks in paper: FIP, competencies and theory exam without the physical folder
Instruction happens in the air, but its evidence lives in a folder: unsigned FIPs, competency assessment improvised, and the theory exam on paper. Where the CIAC gets stuck, and what to digitize first.
Read article →Drone (RPA) fleet management: the battery is the engine — and almost nobody controls it like one
Professional drone operation has become a fleet: SISANT, insurance, clients demanding evidence. The maintenance item that decides everything is the battery — charge cycles, service life, retirement — and the control a spreadsheet does not deliver.
Read article →Preparing the aircraft for sale: the pre-buy started years ago — you just didn't know it
At sale, the aircraft is worth what the records prove: intact logbook, exact CTM, directives with evidence. What the pre-buy inspection will look for, what drives the price down — and the manager's checklist for selling well.
Read article →A FRAT filled out on the fly is not a risk assessment: how to structure PAVE before the flight — and where AI really helps
A FRAT that becomes a formality protects no one. What the PAVE framework really asks for, why the assessment fails at data collection — and what AI can (and cannot) do in pre-flight risk.
Read article →De facto operator × de jure operator: the difference that shows up at the worst possible moment
On paper the operator is one party; in reality it is another. Why the gap between the registration and real operational control is costly in inspections, insurance and liability — and how to close it.
Read article →UPRT: the training you hope never to use, and why that is exactly why you need it
An upset is not learned during the upset: the first abnormal attitude of your career can't be the real one. What UPRT is, why conventional training doesn't cover it, the surprise effect, and what a serious course must have.
Read article →SIGRAC: the same portal, two different reports — and almost no one tells them apart
Maintenance shops under RBAC 145 and operators under RBAC 135 send reports through the same SIGRAC, with different deadlines, contents and scope. What each one owes, when it is due and who is exempt.
Read article →RBAC 91 × RBAC 135: the same airplane, two technical controls — what changes in CTM when the operation goes commercial
The aircraft is the same; the regime changes everything: maintenance program, component limits, inspections, reports. What CTM needs to have under each regime — and why the migration from 91 to 135 starts with the records.
Read article →CBTA and EBT up close: how competency-based training works, and why it retired the maneuver list
Observable competency instead of a completed maneuver, evidence instead of tradition: what ICAO PANS-TRG (Doc 9868) and Doc 9995 say, the 9 ICAO competencies one by one, and what changes for instructors, pilots and schools.
Read article →Digital logbook: how to choose the right platform for your operation
Replacing paper has become the standard — the question now is which platform. The two families of solutions, the line-by-line evaluation checklist and the questions to ask in the demo.
Read article →What a flight hour costs, and what an idle hour costs: the math every aircraft owner postpones
Fixed cost, variable cost, the dilution that changes everything, and the calculation nobody does: what the aircraft costs sitting in the hangar. How to build the real cost per hour and the decisions it unlocks.
Read article →Migrating from the paper logbook to the electronic one: the real step-by-step, no romance
Migrating to the eDB is not flipping a switch — it is a process with known steps: regulatory check, authorization, history load, closing the paper and training. The complete roadmap.
Read article →The training gap: what commercial aviation changed in the last 20 years — and general aviation did not
Recurrent simulator, flight data, evidence-based training, a go-around culture: the airlines overhauled training and accidents fell. General aviation stayed with the biennial check. What can be imported — without becoming an airline.
Read article →CTM without spreadsheets: why due-date tracking in Excel breaks, and how to structure reliable maintenance tracking
The failure modes of spreadsheet-based maintenance tracking (airframe hours, ADs, SBs, inspections), what a real CTM needs to have, and how to make the transition without losing history.
Read article →Simple Operator: the category that changed the size of the air taxi bill
What IS 119-004 rev. M created in March 2026, the six criteria that define the classification, the TFAC difference and the eight documents that still apply to everyone.
Read article →SMS in practice: how to get out of the binder and do real operational safety management
What ANAC expects from a working SMS, why most turn into dead paper, and how to structure hazard identification, risk management and indicators into the real routine.
Read article →AD and SB are not the same thing: the difference the audit asks about — and how not to miss a directive
An Airworthiness Directive is law; a Service Bulletin is a manufacturer's recommendation — until it stops being one. Where the confusion gets expensive, and how to monitor ADs without depending on someone remembering to look.
Read article →Electronic logbook: how ANAC acceptance works and what your operation needs to do
Practical guide for operators who want to replace the paper logbook with an electronic one: requirements, the process with ANAC, common mistakes and a checklist.
Read article →TEM and CRM: the two frameworks the airlines use to make errors without crashing — and how to apply them flying solo
Threat, error and undesired state: the TEM model organizes what the flight throws against you. CRM organizes the resources to respond. What each one is, where they came from — and the single-pilot version general aviation can adopt tomorrow.
Read article →The MEL: the document that authorizes flying with an inoperative item, and the misreadings that void that protection
The Minimum Equipment List exists for one specific decision: dispatch or not with inoperative equipment. How it works, the time-limit categories, the (O) and (M) procedures, and the errors that turn protection into a violation.
Read article →Ramp inspections: the logbook errors that lead to fines, and what eliminates each one
The logbook is the first document the regulator opens. The errors that repeat most: blank fields, late entries, missing signatures, divergence from the CTM, and the mechanism that eliminates each one.
Read article →LOC-I and CFIT: the two acronyms that dominate fatal general aviation accidents
General aviation concentrates civil aviation's fatalities — and two categories lead: loss of control in flight and controlled flight into terrain. The anatomy of each, the scenarios that repeat and the defenses that work.
Read article →The work order is the shop's product: traceability, signatures and the customer who never sees the work
In an aircraft maintenance shop, the technical work can be flawless and the work order still unable to prove it. Where the paper work order breaks down — parts, signatures, customer approval — and what to digitize first.
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