Steep Turns, the Forty-Five Degree Bank, and the Altitude You Keep Losing at the Top of the Turn on Your Checkride
Learn why you lose altitude at the top of a steep turn and how to fix it by flying the sight picture, not the altimeter.
Patternflight training
The Base to Final Overshoot, the Skidding Turn, and the Cross-Control Stall That Waits for You Down Low and Slow
The base-to-final skidding turn causes fatal low-altitude spins - here's why it happens and how to keep the ball centered and stay safe.
PatternThe Crosswind Landing, the Wing-Low Sideslip, and the Habit of Kicking Out the Crab Too Soon
Learn the crab-then-slip crosswind landing technique, why kicking out the crab too early fails, and what the ACS demands.
PatternThe Five Hazardous Attitudes, Their Antidotes, and the Self-Talk That Talks You Out of the Approach You Should Never Have Started
The FAA's five hazardous attitudes and their antidotes - the self-talk that catches a bad decision before it catches you.
PatternThe Pipistrel Velis Electro, the First Type-Certified Electric Airplane, and What a Fifty-Minute Battery Really Buys a Flight School
The Pipistrel Velis Electro is the world's first type-certified electric airplane - here's what its 50-minute battery really means for flight schools.
VectorThe Cirrus Parachute Pull Over Lake Erie, Scud Running Into a Box Canyon of Weather, and the Decision Point Where Get-Home-itis Meets the Red Handle
How pilots avoid the deadly VFR-into-IMC trap using personal minimums, pre-set triggers, the 180-degree turn, and knowing when to pull the red handle.
PatternThe Engine Failure in Cruise, Best Glide, and the ABC Flow That Buys You Time When It Gets Quiet
Master the engine failure in cruise with the ABC flow - airspeed, best field, checklist - that keeps a bad day from becoming fatal.
PatternThe Falling Leaf, the Full-Stall Rudder Drill Your Feet Forgot They Knew
The falling leaf drill teaches your feet to control a stalled airplane with rudder alone - the skill that prevents base-to-final spins.
PatternThe Magenta Fade, Class Echo, and Where Controlled Airspace Actually Starts Above Your Wheels
Class Echo is controlled airspace with no tower or controller - here's exactly where it starts above your wheels and the weather rules it demands.
PatternThe Spot That Doesn't Move, the Aiming Point on Final, and How Your Windshield Tells You Exactly Where You're Going to Land
The aiming point is the one spot on the runway that stays still in your windshield - here's how to read it and land exactly where you plan.
PatternAdverse Yaw, the Ball, and Why the Rudder Rolls You Into the Turn Even When Your Hands Are Doing the Steering
Learn what adverse yaw is, how to use the rudder and the ball to fly coordinated, and how coordination prevents the deadly base-to-final stall spin.
PatternCarburetor Ice, the Rough Engine That Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, and the Little Handle Most Students Pull Too Late
Carburetor ice strikes on warm, humid days - learn to recognize it and why full carb heat makes the engine run rough before it recovers.
PatternFederal Aviation Regulation Sixty-One Point Fifty-Seven, Recent Flight Experience, and the Difference Between Being Legal to Carry Passengers and Being Ready To
Radio Hangar explores Federal Aviation Regulation Sixty-One Point Fifty-Seven, Recent Flight Experience, and the Difference Between Being Legal to Carry Passengers and Being Ready To.
PatternThe Glider Coming Home From Competition and What Soaring Teaches the Rest of Us About Energy, Judgment, and Flying Without an Engine
A glider returning from competition captures the energy-management mastery that keeps every pilot alive, engine or not.
TowerThe In-Flight Diversion, the Thumb and Pencil Trick, and the Checkride Task Where the Examiner Closes Your Airport on You
Learn how to fly a diversion under pressure with a simple four-step method examiners want to see on the private pilot checkride.
PatternThe Positive Exchange of Flight Controls, the Three Words That Stop Two People From Flying the Same Airplane at Once
Learn the three-step positive exchange of flight controls - say it, hear it, confirm it, see the hands - so only one pilot ever flies the airplane.
PatternThe Terminal Radar Service Area, the TRSA, and the Airspace That Never Got a Letter on the Chart
A TRSA isn't a class of airspace - it's voluntary radar service drawn in black on the sectional. Here's how to spot it and use it.
PatternClass Bravo, the Upside-Down Wedding Cake, and Why 'Cleared Into the Bravo' Are the Only Four Words That Actually Get You In
Radio Hangar explores Class Bravo, the Upside-Down Wedding Cake, and Why 'Cleared Into the Bravo' Are the Only Four Words That Actually Get You In.
PatternFederal Aviation Regulation Ninety-One Point One Thirteen, the Right-of-Way Rules, and Who Actually Yields When Two Airplanes Are Pointed at the Same Piece of Sky
A pilot's plain-English guide to FAR 91.113 right-of-way rules: who yields in converging, head-on, overtaking, and landing situations.
PatternFederal Aviation Regulation Ninety-One Point Three, the Rule That Lets You Break the Rules, and What Pilot in Command Really Means When Everything Goes Sideways
FAR 91.3 makes the pilot in command the final authority and lets you deviate from any rule in an emergency - here's what that really means.
Pattern