Pilot talking on radio

How to improve your pilot communication skills

Learning how to talk on the radio is important, but many pilots spend far too much time stressing about it. Improving your communication skills is mostly about feeling comfortable and confident. So how do you feel more confident on the radio? There’s not substitute for practice and experience, but there are some habits that can accelerate that process.

Use your iPad to simplify taxiing at large airports

Learning to move around on the ground at large airports with complex runway and taxiway layouts can at first be intimidating, but with proper preparation and some help from the mobile apps like ForeFlight, you'll find that it's really not that difficult to monitor your position and find your way to the runway or parking.
GFA Clouds

Still More Out with the Old, In with the New

Over the last few years, I have written a couple of posts about…
Slow flight from cockpit

Pitch or power? The answer is both!

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"Pitch for airspeed; power for altitude." This is a oft-repeated phrase in initial training, but it confuses as many pilots as it helps. What does it really mean? Does it tell the whole story? Maybe not. The best pilots understand the complex relationship between pitch and power, and use both tools to fly smoothly and safely.

Thinking about a collegiate aviation program? Consider this…

Despite an industry that has been plagued by bankruptcies, mergers…

The first and last time I skipped the preflight checklist

"Lunken tower, this is Cessna Eight Eight Uniform, our windshield is covered with oil, we're returning for immediate landing." I'll never forget making that radio call 14 years ago, and today I can still visualize the oil-soaked windshield as vividly as the day it happened. Even more memorable is how one small, easily-preventable oversight led to this in-flight emergency.

Best-laid plans…

Things don’t always go as planned – a universal truth in…

3 non-aviation apps every pilot should have

While technology and the availability of flight planning and charting apps have replaced sectional charts and highlighters for most students, there is more information to be gained regarding your destination than what the NOTAMs and weather forecasts will provide.

6 tips for pilot proficiency and development

As you’re already aware, earning a pilot certificate is a…
Altimeter

7 little safety habits to consider

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Some aviation tips are in the "commandments" category: never run out of airspeed and ideas at the same time, never take off over gross weight, never fly below minimums on an instrument approach. Those are all true, but that doesn't mean there aren't other, smaller tips that can reduce risk. Here are five I try follow in the cockpit.