Climb Into It, Dive Away From It - Positioning Your Flight Controls for Wind While You Taxi
Learn the 'climb into it, dive away from it' rule for positioning your flight controls for wind while taxiing on windy days.
Patternflight training
David Cummins Sworn In as the Eighth TSA Administrator and What a New Chief Means for General Aviation
David Cummins was sworn in as the eighth TSA Administrator - here's what a new agency chief means for general aviation pilots.
TowerFAR Ninety-One One Fifty-One, the VFR Fuel Reserve Rule, and the Thirty and Forty-Five Minutes That Have to Still Be in the Tanks When the Wheels Touch Down
FAR 91.151 requires 30 minutes of fuel reserve by day and 45 at night still in the tanks when you land - here's how to plan it.
PatternFAR Ninety-One One Seventeen, the Aircraft Speed Limits, and Why Two Hundred Fifty Knots Below Ten Thousand Is the Rule Every Pilot Quotes and Almost Nobody Reads All the Way Through
FAR 91.117 caps you at 250 knots below 10,000 feet - but the 200-knot limits near busy airspace are the ones that actually bite light aircraft.
PatternManeuvering During Slow Flight, the Twenty Sixteen ACS Change, and Why the Stall Horn Should Never Sing
How the 2016 ACS changed slow flight: fly just above the stall warning, not through it, and build the reflex that saves lives on final.
PatternPARE, the Spin Recovery That Fits on Four Fingers, and Why the Airplane Stops Fighting You the Moment You Stop Fighting It
PARE is the four-step spin recovery - Power, Ailerons, Rudder, Elevator - but coordinated flight is what actually keeps you out of a spin.
PatternThe Area Forecast Discussion, the Forecaster's Plain-English Notes That Tell You What the Numbers Won't
The Area Forecast Discussion is the free NWS product where forecasters explain their confidence and doubts in plain English - here's how to use it.
PatternThe Five P Check, Plan, Plane, Pilot, Passengers, Programming, and the Five Decision Points Where You Actually Run It
The Five P check - Plan, Plane, Pilot, Passengers, Programming - is a 15-second in-flight tool to catch the slow risk drift that kills capable pilots.
PatternThe Pipistrel Velis Electro, the First Type-Certified Electric Airplane, and the Liquid-Cooled Battery That Made a Regulator Say Yes
How the Pipistrel Velis Electro became the first type-certified electric airplane - and why liquid-cooled batteries made EASA say yes.
VectorThe PIREP, the One Weather Report Written by a Pilot Instead of a Computer, and How to Read One, Trust One, and File the One That Saves the Next Person
Learn to read, trust, and file a PIREP - the only weather report written by a pilot - and why it can save the next person's flight.
PatternThe Soft-Field Takeoff, the Ground Effect Shuffle, and Why Getting Off the Ground Early Is the Whole Point
Learn the soft-field takeoff step by step: get airborne early, stay in ground effect, accelerate, then climb - and pass your checkride.
PatternThe Wind Correction Angle, the E6B, and Why You Point the Nose Off Course to Fly a Straight Line
Learn how the wind correction angle works, why you point the nose off course to fly straight, and how to solve it on an E6B.
PatternAny Traffic In The Area, Please Advise - The One Radio Call The AIM Specifically Tells You Not To Make, And What Good Pilots Say Instead
Why 'any traffic in the area, please advise' is the one call the AIM says never to make - and what to say instead.
PatternShould You Reduce Flaps In Strong Winds, and What Actually Changes When You Do
In strong or gusty winds, reducing flaps generally improves control and reduces float - but it costs runway. Here's the aerodynamics and the trade-off.
TowerThe DECIDE Model, the Six-Letter Loop the FAA Built to Slow You Down When a Flight Starts Going Sideways
The FAA's DECIDE model is a six-step loop that helps pilots catch changing conditions and act before a bad decision chain forms.
PatternThe In-Flight Engine Fire, the Memory Items You Cannot Look Up, and the Forward Slip That Keeps the Flames Off the Cabin
How to survive an in-flight engine fire: the memory items you must know cold, and the forward slip that keeps flames off the cabin.
PatternThe Steep Turn, the Forty-Five Degree Bank, and the Back Pressure Most Students Fight Instead of Trusting
Master the steep turn by leading with back pressure and power, flying the horizon, and keeping the ball centered through 45 and 50 degrees of bank.
PatternThe Trim Wheel, Relieving Control Pressure, and Letting the Airplane Fly Its Own Airspeed
Stop muscling the yoke on final. Learn how to trim off control pressure and let your airplane hold its own airspeed hands-free.
PatternAdverse Yaw, the Nose That Swings the Wrong Way When You Roll, and the Dutch Roll Drill That Finally Marries Your Hands to Your Feet
Understand adverse yaw and master the Dutch roll coordination drill that finally connects your hands to your feet for cleaner turns.
PatternFAR Ninety-One One Oh Three, Preflight Action, and the Two Words 'All Available' That Turn a Fun Cross-Country Into a Safe One
FAR 91.103 requires pilots to review 'all available information' before a flight - here's how to actually do it on your next cross-country.
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