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In aviation we often use memory aids to help us remember the ever growing list of items a pilot should know. This can include everything from checklist items, to required equipment, to regulations. One of the most popular memory aids that instructors use for their students are mnemonics. One that I would like to discuss […]
Most of us will jump at any chance for some left seat time and another entry in the logbook. For better or for worse (mostly for worse I think), we judge pilot ability on total time. But not all your aviation experience shows up in the logbook, and not all your learning takes place in the left seat.
Manageable Goals Makes it Fun and Keep you Focused Our extensive experience in aviation education; including more than 20 years managing our own flight school, has taught us that customers learn most effectively when the training process is divided into manageable steps. These steps or modules should build on previous information, creating a building-block approach […]
Trust your gauges. Trust your gauges. Trust your gauges. I can still hear the chant from my instructor during my instrument training. Even when VFR, I always find myself leveling off by looking at the attitude indicator and verifying with visual reference and other non-direct indicating instruments. It`s a tough habit to break (which isn’t […]
When I was in high school, I did a project which involved interviewing military veterans. There were four veterans I interviewed – two who were in the Vietnam War and two in Korea (one was my grandfather). The main focus was to interview them about their personal experiences, and about combat. To do this I had to […]
There are many ways to calculate airplane weight & balance with an iPad, but the best method we’ve found yet is with the Aviation W&B Calculator app. Available for $9.99 in the app store, this app makes it a breeze to perform routine weight & balance calculations. After instantly calculating takeoff/landing weight and center of […]
TAFs are a valuable pre-flight planning tool, and they are created by experts who carefully consider a variety of different models and weather reports. But don’t be seduced by the precision of these forecasts. As you conduct your pre-flight weather briefing, consider the TAF a single data point, and nothing more.
You’re in the third hour of a cross-county flight which will push your landing in to the night hours. Your destination is a first time visit and ATC instructions will require a non-standard pattern to the unfamiliar airport. Or perhaps, arriving at a pilot-controlled airport, the temptation to fly a non-standard arrival is too great due to the lack of activity at this late hour. Sound realistic or something that has happened to you ?
When stressed learning to fly approaches, it is very easy to get behind the airplane. During my IFR training, it was not uncommon for my instructor to ask me, “What is the next thing to do?” And sometimes it was difficult, if not impossible, to answer! In any stressful situation, the human mind easily can […]
Takeoff performance calculations start with a chart from the airplane’s POH but there may be more to the story. We’ll take a look at one of these charts along with the conditions and notes on the chart that many pilots overlook. We’ll also address what to do when the runway just doesn’t fit the mold defined by the chart.
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