The best laid plans of mice and men and pilots can go awry. I am speaking here of the need to divert—that is heading to an airport that is not your original destination. The ability to divert safely, meaning to a suitable airport with acceptable weather and sufficient fuel, is a skill you will be demonstrating during your pilot career, both in training and on a check ride.

Why Divert?

There are many reasons to divert, the most common of which is weather. Although you obtained a weather briefing and the forecast was for VFR conditions at the time of your arrival, Mother Nature decided to throw a curveball and now the ceilings are dropping along with the visibility. Or perhaps when you picked up the ATIS or AWOS and noticed the crosswinds or gusts are a bit stronger than you are comfortable with. Or perhaps you have an airsick passenger or that headwind took a bigger bite out of your fuel consumption than anticipated. In all cases the prudent thing to do is divert.

When Planning Your Route

Most pilots learn the art of the divert as part of their cross-country flight training. When planning the flight, select a route that presents options for diversions. Instead of taking that direct route over the mountains, you may want to zigzag a little if there are small airports close by. You do not have to go directly over these other airports, just know that they are out there—perhaps 5 nm from your planned route. If the weather is good enough and your altitude sufficient, you can see them. When using these airports as landmarks on your navlog, write down the pertinent information you will need, such as radio frequencies, orientation and length of runways, etc., so you do not need to fumble with a chart should the divert become necessary.

• READ MORE: Always Be Prepared to Divert to Another Airport

If your aircraft is equipped with GPS, don’t fall into the trap automatically using the NRST (nearest) function. While it is handy, remember that pressing the button to show the nearest airport won’t factor in variables such as weather, airport type, or terrain. The magenta line might direct you into an area of lowering visibility, the side of a mountain unless you climb 3,000 feet (into a cloud deck, no less) or to a grass runway measuring 1,900 feet when you have not learned how to do soft field and short field landings yet.

The Process

Once you have figured out where you are diverting to, put a mark on the sectional for your current position, then measure the distance to the divert field. Fair warning: The large plastic plotter can be clumsy in the cockpit, so you might want to use the mechanical E6-B, as it has a measurement scale printed on the side, and you’re going to use the wind side of the device to determine groundspeed as well.

Pro tip 1: When you put the wind dot on the E6-B’s wind scale, make it heavy and dark enough that you can see just by glancing at it and leave it on the device. That way you won’t have to redo the mark when you are trying to divert. If you are using several different winds for the trip, such as different altitudes, try assigning each one a different symbol (* for winds at 3,000, an X for winds at 6,000, etc.) or use a different color of ink or pencil. Make sure to record the key someplace on your notes—such as the corner of the paper navlog if using that.

Pro tip 2: A typical American disposable pen like a Bic Stic pen with the cap on measures 40 nm on the VFR sectional scale. One of the tools I give my learners is a pen marked off in 10 nm increments, using hash marks cut with a knife and enhanced with liquid paper. Known as “the Magic Pen,” it’s a lot easier to use than the plotter for measuring distances.

Pro tip 3: If there is a VOR on the sectional near where you are at the time of the divert, place a straightedge (like the Magic Pen) horizontally on the sectional lined up with where you are and the airport you intend to divert to, then without changing the angle of the straight end, slide it so it sits over the VOR. Read the heading under the appropriate end of the straightedge.

To reach the divert destination, turn the aircraft to the heading. Determine your ground speed and time en route using the E6-B.

Plan for a Divert, Just in Case

When the instructor signs you off for a cross-country flight, the endorsement will list which airports you can land at, as well as the destination and the fields you could potentially divert to, if needed. The instructor who reviews and signs you off for that particular flight should ask about potential landings that could happen en route along with your choice for a divert. These airports will be noted in the endorsement after the phrase “with landings authorized at (insert names here).”

• READ MORE: Practice Diversions

Learners often ask what happens if they land at an airport they were not signed off for. Will they get into trouble? Was the diversion necessitated by a change in weather? The need to refuel? Because it was getting dark and you have not been signed off for night flight? No, you will not or should not be punished for exercising good aeronautical decision making.

Always Have a Place in Mind 

Every time you fly you should have an idea of where you go “if” you cannot make it to your original destination. This goes for those out-and-back trips to the practice area. Although we’re taught to anticipate a diversion as part of the cross-country training, many learners would benefit from this training as part of their pre-solo. 

What if you could not land at your home airport because of weather, or even a disabled aircraft on the runway? The savvy instructors prepare for this by making sure the learner has been trained to fly to and from at least one other airport within 25 nm of their home field before they are signed off for their first solo. When the CFI endorses the learner for the first solo, the instructor adds the endorsement for the field 25 nm away. 

I do this with my learners and it has come in handy. When there was a noninjury accident at my airport that closed the runway for several hours, two learners were in the practice area and both diverted to alternate airports. It did wonders for their confidence, and I will admit I was very proud of them as learning had taken place.

The post Is It OK to Divert? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Anytime you learn a new skill, there will be a phase where you don’t know what you don’t know. Flying is a prime example of this. Expect the first manifestation to be when you are learning to do a preflight inspection of the aircraft. You may find yourself asking questions like “Is that normal?” and “Is it supposed to be like that?” as you look at the aircraft. These questions should be asked as they are part of the process.

What Is Normal?

On your first preflight inspection, your instructor will likely teach you how to perform it, checklist in hand. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been flying, use the checklist. In addition to providing a logical flow to the inspection, it often offers metrics for normal and safe operations, such as “minimum oil level 5 quarts”.

It is OK, in fact encouraged, to be extra cautious when it comes to potential discrepancies found during the preflight inspection. If you have never flown a particular airplane before, and it is your usual slightly beat-up flight school rental, you will probably find things that give you pause. For example, that crack on the plastic wingtip that terminates in a drilled hole. A good instructor will use this as an opportunity to explain stop-gap drilling.

• READ MORE: Make the Most of the Checklist

Sometimes you will find more than one thing on an airplane that concerns you or have a question about, but you’re so focused on the inspection you may forget that you had a question. This is common. During my student days, I got into the habit of leaving the left wing tied down as a reminder to myself that I had a question for the instructor. Pretty soon my instructors were trained to recognize this symbol. Today my learners use this technique.

There may be a situation where the CFI calls a mechanic for their opinion. The first time I did this was when my learner found a nick in the propeller—a piece of sharp metal sticking up. The mechanic came out and inspected the propeller, then used a file to dress the crack and blade. It was an excellent teachable moment for both the learner and myself, and it taught the learner not to be intimidated by mechanics.

I don’t remember a single time a mechanic became cross with me for asking their opinion on something. One mechanic explained it to me by saying, “These are our airplanes too,” and they’d rather have it be a nonissue than something that creates a problem in the air.

The best flight schools are the ones where the CFIs and mechanics work as a team. This begins by respecting each other’s space and skill sets. I rather enjoyed being called upon to assist the mechanics when they have a task like swinging a compass or taking them up on a diagnostic flight. 

If the school is Part 141 only mechanics can touch the aircraft. I’ve been told that even the replacement of a screw in the cowling by someone other than a mechanic can result in sanctions from the FAA. Under Part 61, this apparently isn’t the case, but you should never borrow a tool without permission. The mechanics I know keep their toolboxes very well organized. A missing tool—or one not put back in the right place and therefore perceived as missing can make a mechanic wonder if they left it in an aircraft—is not a good thing.

I can’t borrow tools without permission. I just can’t. One of the worst punishments I received as a child was when I borrowed my father’s hand tools without permission. I was 7, and let’s just say learning took place.

One mechanic I worked with said I could borrow his tools, but he asked that I return them on top of his toolbox with a note indicating that it had been borrowed and now returned. I respected this.

It is extremely disturbing to find a tool where one is not supposed to be—on the ramp, on the runway, or in the airplane. A former colleague found an Allen wrench on the battery of Cessna 172 during a preflight inspection and, for reasons that still escape me, thought it had been put there for him to find as some sort of joke. I am still not sure why he thought it was about him, and I was horrified. I still don’t get how leaving a tool in an engine could be a joke. 

• READ MORE: Flying Checks: Private Pilots Best Practice Before Takeoff

That being said, I do use colorful plastic toy frogs on the exterior of the aircraft and in the cockpit to check a learner’s preflight inspection and start scenario dialogues. For example, a frog on the fuel selector valve might mean the placard of the valve is missing. Is the aircraft still airworthy? Learning takes place. I always collect the frogs after the inspection. 

Most often, though, the learner’s discoveries of potential issues during the preflight inspection are not serious but are quirks of the airplane. It is often a relief to learn that the dent you found along the empennage has been there for months, and it is important that the instructor validate the learner’s observation, especially when it’s tied to their use of the checklist. During the run-up, the learner observed a rough-running magneto. There was too much of a discrepancy between the magnetos, per the checklist, for a safe flight, and I admit I was proud of my learner when he stated this. That was the day he learned how to clear a bad magneto.

When You Find Damage

Sometimes learners are reluctant to report damage they find for fear they will be blamed for it and billed for repairs. I witnessed a pre-solo learner near tears when she found a wingtip light hanging by a wire. Her CFI called me over to take a look. It was obvious the wingtip had collided with something.

“There’s no way you did this,” the CFI told her. “Something hit it.”

A little bit of sleuthing revealed that the line worker pulling the aircraft to the fuel pump had misjudged the distance between the aircraft wing and fence line. The line worker said he thought he felt it drag, but then it came loose so he didn’t think anything of it.

As it was a daytime flight, the lesson took place. However, a placard was inserted and a note made on the dispatch binder advising renters that the aircraft was for daytime VFR only. The lesson for the day included how to report a squawk. At this school the form included what aircraft, who found the squawk, when, were you solo or with a CFI, phase of flight, and action taken, as in which mechanic or administrator did you notify. Sounds like a lot to do, but, as I was told, there was precedence when squawks were verbally reported to the dispatcher, who wasn’t a pilot and often didn’t understand the issue and its impact on airworthiness. The detailed squawk report addressed this.

Squawks Don’t Just Disappear

Just because something is squawked doesn’t mean it gets addressed. If it doesn’t impact airworthiness or safety of flight, it may be deferred until the next inspection. However, be wary of a school that encourages instructors and renters to fly aircraft with known squawks, such as oil leaks or flat spots on tires with cords showing. Big red flag: If the local designated pilot examiners are reluctant to fly in those aircraft, take note.

If you feel uneasy about the mechanical condition of an airplane, remember you are not being forced to fly it. That apprehension could be from a lack of experience, or you could have a valid concern. It’s always best to err on the side of caution.

The post Knowing What’s ‘Normal’ Is a Big Part of Preflight Inspections appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

I appreciate the convenience of online shopping, but there are just some times you want the sport of The Hunt. I have just returned from Boeing Field/King County International Airport (KBFI) with a new sectional, TAC, and 2024 FAR/AIM and a checklist for a Cessna 182N. One of my clients acquired this 1970s-era Cessna, and is working on her IFR ticket. I was at KBFI for a story, and happened to see the remaining pilot supply store, National Aviation was open and under new management. 

In the past, The Aviator Store was the pilot supply store at KBFI, and National Aviation, located across the way, mostly carried hardware for aircraft, but they did have some sectionals and cockpit supplies for aviators in training. I wasn’t sure if they would have the paper I wanted because digital is so prevalent these days. The new National did not disappoint–the checklist had to be ordered. It is now in my possession, added to my checklist collection organized by make and model. I supposed I could go digital for this too, but I prefer a hard copy as a teaching tool. Digital is wonderful—I use ForeFlight too—but I don’t feel I am doing my job as a CFI if I don’t teach my learners how to use both paper and electronic. 

One of the first lessons a pilot learns is how to use the checklist. It is one of the items the applicant is tested on during their check ride. Show me a pilot carrying a checklist as they preflight their aircraft, and I will show you someone who had good training.

Yet a colleague told me how a family member became concerned watching him as he used a checklist during the preflight inspection. He was taking his folks up for a scenic flight. The colleague had been flying for several years and his father mentioned he thought he really should have this process memorized by now—especially since he was now flying for a regional airline.

Upon hearing this the colleague pulled out his metaphorical instructor cap and explained that checklists are always used—it doesn’t matter if you have 1 hour or 1,000. Develop these habits now, he said, because when you reach that job in corporate or commercial aviation you will nary make a move without consulting the checklist. (Full disclosure: As I helped turn him into an instructor, when I heard this story, I positively beamed with pride.)

• READ MORE: Why Do Pilots Use Checklists?

The savvy instructors teach their learners that the checklist is not a crutch, but a means to ensure that items are checked systematically, and provide the pilot with the metrics for acceptable operation, for example the acceptable level of a power drop when testing magnetos. If you are interrupted during the flow of the checklist, back up three items, then resume.

If you rent aircraft, you probably have learned that checklists grow legs. People put them in their kneeboard or flight bag and accidentally walk off with them. The smart flight schools have extra aircraft-specific checklists available, and often have them for purchase. Buy one of your own and put your name on it in large letters.

In addition to the procedures set forth by the manufacturer (which are often photocopied directly out of the pilot’s operating handbook or aircraft flight manual), on these FBO checklists you’ll likely find a page or two of procedures specifically required at the FBO such as “rotate propeller to vertical position after flight to indicate the need for fuel.”

The FBO-centric instructions can vary, and as the law of primacy is strong, it’s not uncommon to take those procedures with you when you change schools. This can create challenges. For example, one school may have a rule that empty oil bottles need to be placed in the back of the aircraft because the line staff collects them at the end of the week and uses them to determine how much oil the fleet is using, while at another FBO this practice is construed as leaving trash in an airplane. Always ask about the quirky rules and procedures so you don’t become ‘that guy.’

If you are flying at a school with many aircraft, be wary of ‘musical checklists’ where, like the game musical chairs, the checklists can go missing from one airplane and the renter or even the CFI takes one from another to complete the flight. This practice is usually frowned upon greatly.

Some FBOs add the checklist to the checklist. At the end of each flight, the pilot is to walk around the aircraft to make sure it is tied down securely, then pause by the tail and verify the Hobbs and tach numbers are properly recorded in the dispatch binder and the checklist is clipped in the dispatch binder.

Making Your Own Checklist

Some pilots make their own checklists. In many cases it can be very beneficial as you can tailor the checklist to your specific aircraft, needs, and the way you process information.

Begin by referring to the POH or AFM, and use the information there as a template.

Take special note of supplemental information that is aircraft and avionics specific and adjust accordingly. Note power settings, mixture settings, temperatures, fuel flow, and airspeeds for different procedures such for approaches. Include notes on setting up the cockpit before each flight, such as how to load a flight plan and operate the avionics, if appropriate.

• READ MORE: Looking Beyond a Pre-Purchase Checklist

You may want to add additional dialog as part of the passenger briefing for those times when the person sitting next to you is a passenger with a pilot rating. In addition to the briefing you give your non-flying passengers, (sterile cockpit, don’t touch the controls, seatbelts, egress, etc.) let the person know if you want a division of tasks, for example, having them work the radios while you fly.

You may want to include a page of local frequencies so you don’t have to fumble for them during the flight, or even add notes on the VFR approaches into the local airports if they are geographic specific, such as “maintain 1,400 until crossing over shoreline.”

If you create the checklist on the computer, it’s easy to go back into the file and make adjustments as desired or needed. An office supply store will have the means of trimming and laminating the checklist if you so desire. Pro tip: Run the checklist through the laminator twice to make sure it stays laminated.

Making your own checklist is often a good exercise for pilots in training, as it requires them to study the POH, and it shows the instructor how the applicant processes information. This can lead to better instruction, as the CFI can adjust their delivery method, if need be.

Where Checklists Came From

It was an aviation accident that led to the adoption of the preflight checklist. On October 30, 1935 a Boeing 299, the prototype of the B-17, took off on a test flight from Wright Airfield in Ohio. The aircraft reached an altitude of approximately 300 feet, then stalled and crashed. Two of the five men on board were killed. The post-accident investigation determined that the pilot forgot to release a new control lock on the aircraft’s elevator. It was suggested that the pilot was overwhelmed by the airplane’s complicated instrument panel full of dials and switches. There was just too much to keep track of in this modern airplane.

Boeing fixed the issue by creating a checklist with specific action items for engine start taxi, takeoff, and landing. 

The post Make the Most of the Checklist appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Have you ever experienced being bumped from a commercial flight? It happens for a variety of reasons and often leads to someone seeking a pilot certificate with the thought they will never get bumped again.

If only it was that easy.

One of the things you learn when you begin flight training is that sometimes the airplane you are slated to fly that day will be rented to someone else, and you will be put into another airplane, or, in some cases, your flight canceled. Sometimes this happens at the last minute due to maintenance issues, and it’s one of those things you need to be emotionally prepared for. The school should be prepared too, and someone, either dispatch or your CFI, should call you in advance to let you know. Don’t buy the “they were supposed to call you” line. There is no “they.”

Check Rides Take Priority

Check rides will always take priority over all other aircraft rentals. The well-managed flight schools will structure the schedule so that the check ride aircraft is airworthy and protected for the day of the ride and its logbooks in good order and complete.

It is not uncommon for that airplane to be protected a day or two in advance of the check ride, so it doesn’t “time out” on an inspection or airworthiness directive.

Pro tip: You can request a particular aircraft to use for your check ride, but you don’t want aircraft availability to be a hindrance. For example, although the fleet consists of multiple Cessna 172s, don’t limit yourself to “one favorite” if you can fly them all. During your training, fly all appropriate aircraft, so you don’t get in your own way. 

Check the Numbers at Dispatch

Not everyone who works at a flight school knows the importance of not overflying an inspection or an AD, as they may be there just to answer the phones and check pilots in and out.

Ideally, the person who does the scheduling and dispatching double-checks the numbers when an aircraft comes and goes out again— do the numbers make sense? Is that a “0.1” written in the dispatch book or “0.7”? Ultimately, this responsibility lands on the pilot in command, be they flight instructors, learners, or renters building their hours. You do not want to be the pilot who overflies something because the person at the front desk “just handed you the dispatch book,” but you can’t do much about it if the person dispatching you puts in the wrong numbers.

Aircraft on Limited Duty

When an aircraft is approaching an inspection, some flight schools put large, red laminated placards on the cover of the dispatch books with notes such as “100 Hour Inspection Due No Instruction Or No Flight After (insert Hobbs reading)” along with a verbal admonishment and a placard inside the dispatch book to make sure the person who takes the aircraft is aware of the limitations.

If the business has enough aircraft, the ones coming due for inspection will often be out on limited duty, so to speak, such as rented for an hour of pattern work but no cross-country flights.

The professional CFIs take note of this and educate their learners about the upcoming inspections, followed by a lesson in how to find the signoffs for each inspection in the maintenance logbooks to verify the aircraft is airworthy. Teach your learners how to read those books before they need to know how.

Pilot Shortage = Aircraft Shortage

Have you tried to rent an aircraft for fun lately? If the FBO or flight school has clients enrolled in airline access programs that may be difficult or impossible. Even after a learner finishes their certificate, they may have a difficult time finding an aircraft to rent for fun or time building. The priority is given to learners enrolled in the pursuit of a certificate or rating.

Even being enrolled in these programs doesn’t guarantee  access to an airplane for time building. Dual lessons take priority.

Some schools may also have aircraft designated for time building only. These are often the smaller, slowest aircraft, and when it comes to time building, slow is what you want. Fly that crate at 55 percent power and watch the Hobbs meter tick.

Please remember that time building means the Hobbs rolling and those hours going in your logbook. It doesn’t mean booking the aircraft for five hours and, of that, one hour is the total flight time and for the rest of the time the aircraft is sitting on the ramp while you go into town for lunch or attend a festival at the destination.

Learner Limitation

There are learners who, because of their physical size, have a limitation on the aircraft they can fly. I have a few like this, very tall men that, because of their body geometry (read that long torsos), they cannot fit in Cessna 172s with certain types of seats. Think of the learner standing over 6-foot-6 whose CFI tried him in every aircraft in the fleet and came up with two that he could fit into. A note was added to his rental record: “Only Fits In (insert tail numbers here).” Despite this, he found himself shifted to aircraft he didn’t fit in because the person doing the scheduling didn’t read the notes.

If you are the person scheduling, please check the fine print, and CFIs advocate for your learners. If they have a size challenge, gently remind the scheduling staff.

It’s Not About You

Try to avoid being that person who becomes difficult if their “favorite” airplane is not available. Every fleet has an airplane that is not a particular favorite. At my first CFI job, there was one referred to as “Christine” after the 1958 Plymouth Fury from the Stephen King novel and movie, because it was the problem child of the fleet. The transponder failed, the flaps got stuck, etc. It wasn’t necessarily dangerous, but it was annoying. No one really wanted to fly it, but we did if we were assigned to it. If a mechanical issue was found, it became a teachable moment—and we always had a backup plan.

The post The Hierarchy of Aircraft Rental Is Real appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Remember the first time you tried to taxi an airplane? You probably tried to steer with the yoke, inadvertently added brakes, and wallowed like a drunken goose. 

By the second or third flight lesson, you were steering with the rudder pedals and used just enough power to avoid stomping on the brakes. By the third lesson, you used the perfect amount of power to avoid the need for brakes, and you even applied appropriate crosswind correction. 

You did this because learning took place.

This goes to show that the first attempt at performing the skill is often clumsy and slow, but with practice, performance gets better and better. This is one of the reasons there is so much repetition in flight training—especially when it comes to takeoffs and landings. According to accident statistics compiled by the various alphabet groups, landings are when the most accidents and incidents happen. This is why they deserve so much practice.

The Law of Exercise

In the Aviation Instructor’s Handbook (FAA-H-8083-9), you will find the six principles, sometimes called the “laws of learning.” There are readiness, exercise, effect, primacy, intensity, and recency. The law of exercise states that those things most often repeated are best remembered.

It is up to the instructor and, to some extent, the flight school to provide opportunities for the learner to achieve this exercise through practice. And you will note a great deal of that practice happens in the pattern as most primary flight lessons involve multiple takeoffs and landings. This is particularly true if the learner is pre-solo.

Some learners become frustrated with the repetition. “We’ve already done this. Why am I doing this again?” the learner will ask. The best instructors will introduce the concept of the level of learning right off the bat by showing them the airman certification standards, syllabus, and FAR 61.87. You don’t need to go into great detail, just note: “The ACS has the minimum standards you will need to achieve for the certificate or rating, the syllabus shows us what you will learn and the order to how it will be taught and the minimum passing standards for each lesson, and FAR 61.87 has the 15 things you need to be able to do in order to solo.”

It is up to the CFI to detail the link between the required knowledge—for example, how the airspeed indicator works—and the skill being practiced, and this should be noted in the lesson briefing. When the instructor explains the objective of the lesson, expectations, and performance standards—along with how to apply this skill in the real world—this helps with retention and problem-solving.

I will never forget the day one of the private pilots I helped train reported the failure of the airspeed indicator over the unicom. He was in the pattern and returning for landing. His mother worked at the front desk and, when she heard this, she marched back to my desk, sat down, and wanted to know if her son was in trouble. I assured her that he had been trained to fly power settings and visual cues in addition to airspeeds—and he landed just fine, remarking that while the failure of the airspeed indicator was an annoyance, the situation was not terribly challenging as he understood the relationship between power settings and outside visual cues. There is a reason CFIs have their learners practice approaches using engine power setting and outside references and not solely on airspeed indications. We file these under the heading of “just in case it happens to you,” because it has happened to another pilot.

Sometimes, the reason is missing from the explanation. I recently overheard a freshly minted CFI arguing that the chandelle, a maneuver required to be learned by commercial pilots, is antiquated and need not be taught anymore. He had acquired his commercial, instructor, and instrument instructor certificates in one month, as he was destined for the airlines. Apparently, the accelerated program he attended taught the chandelle because “it’s on the check ride.” 

For the unfamiliar, the chandelle is a 180-degree climbing turn. It was allegedly developed during World War I as a means to get altitude quickly for combat situations. Captain Timebuilder knew this, and thus he argued we don’t need to know how to do it anymore.

I disagree. The chandelle teaches pilot coordination and how to avoid a stall-spin accident that can happen with high power setting and nose-high attitude—such as during the upwind to crosswind turn in the pattern. One of the common errors in performing a chandelle is entering a stall—bad news when one is just a few hundred feet agl with no room for recovery.

I learned how to do the chandelle as a student pilot—no, I did not fly in WWI, but I did learn to fly in the Pacific Northwest with its foothills and mountains. Often a climbing 180-degree turn was the best way to gain altitude in order to perform practice maneuvers and negotiate the confined space. I shared this with Captain Timebuilder, who looked dubious. I sincerely hope he gets an education before he collides with something.

Done It, or Done It to Standards

There is a big difference between doing something and doing it well. The more the skill is practiced, the better we perform it, and the better we retain the knowledge associated with it. Friction can occur when the flight instructor and learner have a difference of opinion as to whether the maneuver has been accomplished to the appropriate standard. It can come down to semantics, where the learner argues they have already “done this.’ But was it performed to acceptable standards? Out comes the ACS and syllabus.

One of my CFI graduates, who is also a professional music teacher, compares this discussion with musicians learning a piece of music. The first time the learner plays it, the tempo can be off, the phrasing off, wrong notes will be played, etc. But they did play it. Perhaps not very well, but they did play it. With a little practice, it gets better. Flying is the same way.

CFIs will and should allow learners to humble themselves to some extent, as long as there isn’t physical damage or injury or broken FARs. You often learn more by your mistakes. The first time I did this was with a learner who insisted that she didn’t need to use the checklist during the preflight inspection as her previous instructor at (insert name of an aviation college here) didn’t make her do that. “Make her?” I thought as I went back inside the FBO and watched from the window. On that particular day, not only did she leave the cowl plugs in, she also left the control lock in. She was perplexed as to why the control surfaces wouldn’t move.

The post Practice Makes Pilots appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Most of us learn from our mistakes. That includes CFIs who, as freshly soloed learners, had an experience that taught them to make sure their learners would be better prepared if they encountered a similar challenge.

For me it was the importance of providing training so the learners could fly to airports within 25 miles of their home field. This training is done before their first solo. After the first solo, I endorse them for solo flight to these auxiliary fields. This is just in case something goes sideways and they can’t land at home.

I learned the value of this when I was training for my private pilot certificate, and the MVFR we took off with started leaning toward the IFR as a rain squall moved up from the south. We were doing maneuvers over the Puget Sound in Washington state when my CFI pulled up the ATIS for the home field and we learned the field—which was behind us—had dropped to IFR, and unfortunately the airplane we were in was VFR only.

Uh-oh. The weather briefing had reported rain coming from the south, but it wasn’t supposed to be there for a few more hours. I did a 360-degree turn so we could look for VFR as we discussed options. The weather was better to the north. I could see the nontowered airport some 10 nm away.

“Best forward speed!” the CFI called out dramatically as I applied full throttle. A check of the AWOS reported VFR conditions that were changing but fortunately stayed MVFR until we were parking on the ramp. That’s when the ceiling dropped and the skies opened up like a fire hose.

The CFI called the flight school to let it know we were safely on the ground and would head back after the squall passed.

As we sat in the lobby, I remarked that I had never been to this airport before. The CFI asked what I would have done had he not been on board, as my solo endorsement did not cover this airport.

I replied I would have done whatever I needed to do to get safely back on the ground. It was better, I said, to break a rule and do the paperwork than to try to press on VFR into IFR. That was the answer he was looking for.

Neither of us was prepared for how quickly the weather went sour. Then the CFI let the bomb drop, saying in hindsight, we probably shouldn’t have left the pattern in MVFR conditions in a VFR only airplane. This led to a discussion about understanding the limitations of the equipment and always having a backup plan. I learned very important things from this flight: Don’t trust the weather reports, know the limitations imposed by your aircraft equipment, and always make sure your primary learners have solo privileges at two auxiliary airports before you let them out of the pattern.

How It Is Done

The FARs allow the learner to be endorsed for solo at airports within 25 nm of their home airport provided the CFI has given them training to and from these alternate airports as well as in the traffic pattern. This would mean they are familiar with the airport frequencies and any idiosyncrasies of that airport, such as pattern altitude and traffic direction. A good way to handle this is to include knowledge required from all three airports in the pre-solo knowledge test. I include the “you cannot land at (insert name of home airport) because of a disabled airplane on the runway, what do you do?” scenario, and they must reply with a narrative explaining their decision process.

This has proven to be very useful because sometimes things happen.

There was one day when our home airport was closed because of an accident. No one was seriously hurt, but the runway was closed because there was an airplane on its back. I was more than 100 miles away on a cross-country flight with one of my commercial candidates when my phone exploded with texts from my post-solo learners: “Crash at Thun Field, not me, not me!” one proclaimed. After I landed with the commercial candidate, I called a friend who worked at the airport. It was not one of my flight school’s airplanes, I was told, however, the runway was going to be closed for at least another hour.

When I returned at the end of the day, two of my learners were waiting for me. They were both very excited to tell me how they dealt with the situation. They were on solo flights when they learned the runway was closed. One headed back to the practice area for more steep turns then to the nontowered airport to the north, where he practiced touch-and-goes for the better part of two hours. He was preparing for his check ride and took the forced diversion in stride.

For the other learner, it was her first time out of the pattern. She orbited over a lake to get her wits and take stock of the situation, determining how much fuel she had aboard, what her options were, etc. As she did this, an eagle appeared on her right wing. As she marveled at this, a second eagle appeared on the left wing, as if they were flying in formation. She took this as a positive sign then remembered she’d been signed off for two other airports. She chose to go to the one with the restaurant.

The post Always Be Prepared to Divert to Another Airport appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Of all the maneuvers you will learn during your primary flight training, the touch and go will be the one you practice most often. 

The touch and go is a variation on a normal landing. Instead of bringing the aircraft to a complete stop, after the aircraft touches down, you add full power to takeoff. It is sort of a modified go-around. 

There is a lot happening quickly in the touch and go, so much so that it is easy to get behind the airplane. So many tasks happen almost simultaneously—you must add power, maintain control of the aircraft, lift off, possibly retract flaps, climb out, and retrim the airplane. Did I mention control the aircraft? Failure to do so on the “go” part of the touch and go can result in a very bad experience.

During the go-around, a momentary lapse of attention, such as failure to add enough right rudder, can put the airplane off the side of the runway. Failure to retrim can trigger a power-on stall. Improperly retracting flaps—like all at once—can result in a sink that will definitely get your attention while you are trying to climb away from the runway.

Because there is so much happening during the go part, many instructors teach a full-stop landing first so the learner understands the importance of maintaining direction control of the aircraft and cleaning it up post-landing.

You never want to rush the clean up. This is particularly true when flying an aircraft with retractable landing gear. There have been instances where the pilot of a retract initiates the go part in a hurry, and the retraction of the flaps when the landing gear is in transit results in increased drag, and the aircraft settles back on to the runway on its belly.

As a young CFI, I witnessed this at my home field. I was in a straight-legged Cessna 172 with a learner sharing the pattern with a Cessna 182RG belonging to a local flying club. A year earlier, the 182RG experienced a gear-up landing that was the result of the “gear and flaps coming up at the same time” scenario. On that day, there were three aboard the 182: a CFI and two CFI candidates. Thankfully, no one was injured.

The club 182 was on final while we were on downwind, and I thought to myself, “Oh, good, they got it flying again.” A moment later, the 182 pilot announced touch and go. The “touch” part looked fine, but on the go part, the airplane appeared to settle on the runway then went off to the left into the grass. Fortunately, no one was injured. I learned later it was the same scenario: two CFI candidates and a CFI training them.

The incident resulted in a safety meeting at my school. The chief CFI—and the owner of the flight school—made it a rule that we would not practice touch and go in retractable gear airplanes at gross weight with full flaps. In addition, during a touch and go we would verbalize gear up and locked and positive rate of climb then retract the flaps. For the unfamiliar, it takes longer to read that sentence than it does to perform the process.

Teaching Touch and Go

The above mentioned mishaps probably happened because the pilot in command was rushed: get the gear up, get the flaps up but didn’t consider the drag that would result in simultaneous retraction.

The settling of the aircraft when flaps are retracted in one movement is not just limited to retractable gear aircraft, and most of us learned this during solo flight. I demonstrate it to my learners at altitude during a maneuver I call “faux pattern.”

Faux Pattern

Take the airplane up high enough that you can fly the airspeeds and procedures that will safely allow a stall and recovery. You will be losing 1,000 feet in this maneuver.

1. After clearing the area, set up the aircraft on a cardinal altitude (north, south, east or west). You will be flying a rectangular pattern. All turns will be made in 90-degree increments.

2. On the first leg, designated as downwind, note the altitude and apply the prelanding checklist. Designate an “abeam point of touchdown,” activate carburetor heat if applicable, and reduce power to the setting that allows you to achieve the airspeed appropriate for your aircraft on downwind per the POH. Hold the heading as you add the first notch of flaps and trim to hold the airspeed in the descent. Pro-tip: Count the number of turns of the trim wheel. It may be top to bottom on a vertical wheel and a complete circle if using a Piper-style trim actuator.

3. When the aircraft has descended 200 feet, add the next notch of flaps, achieve the appropriate airspeed, and initiate the “base leg” turn, focusing on maintaining coordination and rolling out on heading.

4. Repeat the process for the turn to final. As the aircraft rolls out on the final approach heading, stabilize the speed then reduce the throttle as pitch up so the aircraft is in the same attitude required for landing. Power to idle and hold the attitude and heading until the stall warning horn activates.

When practicing for a touch and go, the activation of the stall warning horn in the landing attitude signifies the touchdown. The pilot then initiates the go procedure. Up at altitude it is the same as the go-around, per the procedures published in the POH.

Stress aircraft control, staying on heading, and gaining altitude while cleaning up the airplane in an expedient manner and backing up the process with the appropriate checklist.

I demonstrate the maneuver once to my clients and warn them of full-flap retraction in one move. Then I have them perform the faux pattern and experience the full-flap retraction. The sudden sinking when the flaps are pulled out in one fell swoop definitely gets a learner’s attention.

We do two or three faux patterns, and when we both feel comfortable with the learner’s performance, we head back to the pattern. More often than not, the learner does an excellent job, having practiced beforehand.

Touch and Go on First Solo?

There is nothing in the FARs that would prevent a learner from doing their first solo as a series of touch and goes. However, there are some flight schools that advocate the first solo to comprise full-stop landings, with a taxi back for takeoff. This gives the learner a chance to confer with their CFI (who is probably on the ramp, radio in hand watching every nanosecond of the flight). On other occasions, such as when the pattern is busy, touch and go may be the way to go.

The post The Art of the Touch and Go appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

One of the first definitions a fledgling aviator learns is that of pilot in command (PIC).

The PIC is the person who:

• has final authority and responsibility for the operation and safety of the flight;
• has been designated as pilot in command before or during the flight; and
• holds the appropriate category, class, and type rating, if appropriate, for the conduct of the flight.

Authority and responsibility for the operation and safety of the flight means you’re the one responsible for the passenger safety briefing. Don’t take anything for granted as it is highly likely your passenger will be someone who has never been in a small aircraft before.

Failure to brief your passengers can result in risky behavior. They don’t know what they don’t know, and you don’t want them to do anything foolish or dangerous during the flight—like reaching for ceiling-mounted trim actuator and cranking it furiously because they mistake it for a window actuator and they want fresh air in the aircraft, or, worse yet, grabbing the yoke and attempting to “play fighter pilot.” You also don’t want them to be frightened by things  seasoned pilots take in stride, like light turbulence, crosswinds, other aircraft in the pattern, and operations at a nontowered airport.

A thorough and thoughtful passenger briefing can address these things.

Sample Briefing

It is often best to conduct the briefing outside the aircraft before the engine starts. Once inside the aircraft, the excitement of an airplane flight can reduce attention spans. Begin the briefing by stating your role as PIC and your responsibility for the safety of the flight. This is very important when flying with someone who you have grown up with. For example, the first time I flew with my father I began the briefing by reminding him I was no longer 15 years old, and he was not teaching me to drive. Dad was a military man, and he appreciated the checklist I used for passenger briefings. It covers safety belts, cockpit safety, traffic and talking, and emergency procedures.

Let them know that seat belts need to be kept on when the aircraft is in motion and demonstrate how to put them on and take them off. Show the passenger how to adjust them. Make sure they are on tight. A great many aircraft have the lift-latch style seat belt and, for someone who has never been on an airliner and only ridden in cars with push-button style seat belts, there will be a learning curve.

Caution the passengers not to touch the flight controls. This includes the rudders. Make sure they understand those are not footrests and don’t put your foot underneath them. You may want to slide the passenger seat back as far as you can safely do so to facilitate the separation.

Demonstrate how to put on and take off the headset, and position the boom mic in front of their lips. Explain the concept of a sterile cockpit on takeoff and landing—no unnecessary talking—as that is when you will be task saturated and need to focus on flying the airplane.

Instruct the passengers how to look for and report traffic using the analog clock, pointing to the cardinal numbers such as 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 9 o’clock, and so forth.

Advise the passengers that when there is a radio transmission they need to stop talking because it may be something important. You can help them by holding your hand up to signify they must be silent.

Demonstrate how to open and secure aircraft windows and doors. Tell them that when they depart from the aircraft to stay away from the propeller by walking away on a 45-degree angle toward the rear of the airplane.

This next part gets a little tricky. You don’t want to use the words “fire” or “crash” because that’s what the passengers are going to fixate on, but this emergency information is too important to skip.

Instead, let them know what to do if there is an unscheduled off-airport landing—like if you find a spider on board—to wait for the airplane to come to a complete stop then remove their headset and seat belt, open the door, and egress the aircraft, heading away and toward the rear at a 45-degree angle. Use hand gestures to demonstrate these actions as you speak. 

If there is a fire extinguisher on board, point to it and announce that as the pilot in command you will use that fire extinguisher to dispatch the hostile spider. Subliminally, you have shown them where the fire extinguisher is.

Airsickness is another difficult subject since you don’t want to plant the thought in their head. Pro tip: Stash resealable plastic bags in the back pockets and side pouches of the aircraft. Have one or two within your reach that you can hand to the passenger if the need arises. You might find it beneficial to offer the passengers a piece of mint gum or a Tic Tac before the flight begins, saying that it will help keep their ears clear—mint is also a natural stomach soother, putting you ahead of the problem.

When They Don’t Listen

Sometimes the passengers don’t listen and that makes your job more difficult. For example, you may be trying to return a radio call, and the passengers are chatting away although you have your hand up to signal quiet.

Pilots who have experience with this can get creative when dealing with troublesome passengers. I was aboard a Cessna 172RG tasked with taking two local newspaper reporters to a nearby airport where two World War II bombers were on display. I was working for an aviation publication at the time doing a story about the bombers and agreed to pull double duty as “copilot” for the flight. A friend of mine, another CFI, was acting as PIC.

The passengers, a couple of 20-something nonpilots, cracked inappropriate jokes all the way through the preflight briefing. When we got them strapped into the back seat, they were loud, kept talking about accidents, and wanted us to buzz the tower for kicks. When we were in cruise flight, one of them started rocking side to side and shouting about how we were going to crash.

The PIC asked him—then told him—to stop, then sort nudged me and mouthed the words, “Play along.” I nodded.

The PIC brought the manifold pressure back far enough that the gear warning horn activated.

“That’s the wing warning!” the PIC cried, looking at me anxiously. “Oh, crap! I think one of them might be loose. Check your side!”

“Aye, aye, captain!” I shouted and intently peered out the window while he did the same on his side.

He let the warning horn sound for another 10 seconds, then he restored power. “Huh. False alarm,” he mused.

I looked over my shoulder at the two reporters. Their eyes were huge. They didn’t say a thing for the remainder of the flight.

I am reasonably certain learning took place.

The post There’s Risk in Failing to Brief Your Passengers Before Flight appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Full disclosure: I never enjoyed math class. Especially story problems. They seemed cruel and unusual punishment. My attitude changed when I became a pilot, learned how to use a mechanical E6B and the performance charts in the pilot operating handbook (POH), and learned to fly instruments using the power-performance concept. These were practical applications of story problems.

Since you can’t or shouldn’t have your head buried in a calculator when you are flying, it behooves you to be able to do some quick math in your head. 

Calculating Reciprocal Course

Let’s start with an easy one: determining the reciprocal course. 

For example, the airplane is flying a heading of 030. You need to fly the reciprocal, and

the only navigational aid you have is the whiskey compass. Add 200 to 030 

(200 + 30 = 230), then subtract 20 because the reciprocal is 180 degrees off the initial heading. You need to fly 210.

Determining Bank Angle for a Standard Rate Turn

I learned this one from a World War II aviator. To calculate the bank angle for a standard rate turn, take the indicated airspeed, divide it by 10, then add five to the value. For example, if the indicated airspeed is 100 knots/10 = 10 + 5 = 15 degrees. Verify this with the attitude indicator and the turn coordinator the next time you fly. 

Time to Climb

Presuming that climbs will be made at 500 fpm, subtract present altitude from target altitude then divide by 500.

For example, the airplane is at a traffic pattern altitude of 1,500 feet msl. The target altitude is 5,500 msl. 5,500 – 1,500 = 4,000. Divide 4,000/500 fpm = 8. It will take approximately eight minutes to get to target altitude.

Descent Rate

Although we’ve never had an airplane stay stuck up there yet, you don’t just pull the throttle back and let gravity take over during a descent. 

Descend to pattern altitude too soon, and you might put yourself in a risky position should there be an uncommanded loss of engine power when you are beyond gliding range to the airport. Delay the descent and you’re behind the airplane, fighting to slow down and get down. Planning is key. You need to determine when to start your descent and the rate of descent.

The Math Behind a Stabilized Descent

Three degrees is the usual angle of descent—when you look at an instrument approach plate and note a descent angle greater than 3 degrees, you can expect an obstacle in the path. 

The time of descent is based on ground speed. In addition, you need to determine the rate of descent.

There are a few ways to determine this:Take your ground speed, divide it in half, and add a zero to the end to determine how many feet per minute you need to get stable descent. 

For example, if your ground speed is 100 knots, divided in half that gives you 50—add another zero, and you get 500 fpm. 

Either refer to the POH or experiment to determine the appropriate power setting and pitch to achieve this. If you pursue an instrument rating, this is a skill you will need because a stabilized constant rate descent will keep you on a  glide slope. For VFR pilots, a stabilized descent keeps you on the PAPI or VASI.

Although there are apps that will do these calculations for you with the push of a button, it’s a good idea to practice them every now and then to make sure you don’t forget how. If the avionics go Tango Uniform or the portable electronic devices overheat in the cockpit—we’ve all been there—you will be happy you remember.

The post Math 101 for Pilots appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

When are pilots the most dangerous? This is a topic of discussion at many flight schools and anytime you get a group of seasoned CFIs together. Based on anecdotal evidence, there appear to be a few times in their aviation careers where pilots might get a little too complacent, or too cocky and overconfident, resulting in an accident or incident.

50 Hours After Private Certification

An experienced CFI once told me: “They are at their sharpest when you sign them off.” I share this knowledge with my learners, and I caution them to work hard to maintain their skills. It is not uncommon for the private pilot—as they gain more hours and experience—to become more relaxed, and procedurally, they may start to get sloppy. It starts slowly. Maybe it’s forgetting to use the checklist during the preflight inspection or engine run-up. Or maybe it’s using the “look out the window” technique to check the weather.

For the pilots that don’t pursue additional certificates or fly on a regular basis, their skills and attention to detail may wane until just before their first flight review. That’s when they practice again with great intensity with the purpose to pass the review.

It can be alarming when they realize how much their skills and knowledge have degraded. I encourage these pilots to make a list of their soft spots and the things they want to work on and bring those to their flight review. You can’t fail a flight review, but you can practice things until both you and the CFI are satisfied you are flying to the level of your certificate.

Losing Your Landings

Sometimes working toward an additional certificate can create soft spots in other areas. For example, the learners’ procedural skills increase during their training for the instrument rating because they have to stay two steps ahead of the aircraft. However, their landings may suffer because most instrument approaches are practice approaches followed by missed approaches. You just don’t do as many landings for the instrument rating as you did for private pilot certification. Expect this, and take action to prevent it.

Set aside a few hours to focus on pattern work to keep from getting too rusty.

Failure to Practice Pilotage

If the pilot is enrolled in a Part 141 program, there is often a black hole where the learner needs to build hours to qualify for the commercial pilot certificate. The pilot often flies multiple cross-country flights usually to the same airports over and over again, often following the magenta line. Basic pilotage skills are lost. It can be especially challenging if the training organization limits where the learners fly to. When you fly to the same seven or eight airports, it is easy to see why some pilots burn out during this phase and start to zone out in the aircraft, often letting it arrive someplace well before their brain gets there.

Overconfidence Can Kill

Overconfidence can sneak up on any pilot. It often manifests as the “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” syndrome, when a low-time, low-experience pilot tries to do something beyond their capabilities, like flying into the backcountry or doing a mountain crossing in an underpowered airplane. It can bite higher-time pilots as well, such as those with thousands of hours flying a turboprop or light twin who decide to attempt a cowboy maneuver like flying between buildings or doing a buzz job at an airport for sport.

Milestone Metrics

Reaching certain metrics, such as 500 or 1,000 hours, can also inspire a pilot to do something silly. If the majority of those hours are so-called junk hours—the same laps in the pattern at the same airport and no stretching of skills or practicing maneuvers or proficiency—they might as well not be in the logbook at all.

CFI Challenges

If the pilot is pursuing the flight instructor certificate, there will be a learning curve as they adjust to flying from the right seat. Once certification is acquired, their basic VFR skills may soften a bit because CFIs usually don’t do much of the flying beyond demonstration of a maneuver—especially landings. CFIs need to make time  to stay proficient.

Many CFIs, unless they have their instructor-instrument rating, will find their instrument procedures get rusty as well. CFIs are required to have an instrument rating, but it is very common for instructors to have their instrument skills become soft because they don’t have the time—or money—to practice instrument procedures. Some flight schools try to thwart this by giving their CFIs an allowance for proficiency flights.

When a CFI-rated pilot reaches 750 hours, this appears to be a time when they take more chances, sometimes with poor results. Why? It is pure conjecture, but it might be because the pilot, if a time builder, is at the halfway point to the minimum hourly requirement for the airline transport pilot certificate.

Pretty much every flight school has a story about the 700-hour-ish pilot that ran out of fuel, flew VFR into IMC, and got themselves in a situation with a learner, or took an airplane without permission at night to get some more hours. And the list goes on.

Tedium

For those building their hours as instructors, the 1,000-hour mark can be dangerous.

Although you’re keeping busy, training and endorsing  people for check rides, the road to 1,500 hours can seem very long, and it’s easy to get bored with teaching and burn out.

If you are a CFI and this is happening to you, please find a time-building program that is something other than teaching, because just going through the motions with learners isn’t fair to them—and might even be a little dangerous.

The post When Are Pilots the Most Dangerous? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Are you familiar with the Swiss cheese model for accidents? It teaches us that when all the risk factors—the holes—line up, accidents happen. 

The model can also be applied to check rides, except instead of the holes being risks, they are requirements for the check ride to happen. Sometimes it can feel like the holes will never line up, and you may feel like you’ve wasted hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars. If you have ever felt this way, you are not alone.

Getting everything in place to make a check ride happen is a lot like herding kittens (I have experience with both—I know of what I speak). Sometimes, it seems like the aviation kittens are on the other side of several shots of espresso with a Red Bull chaser.

Think of all the things that have to line up for a check ride to happen: The applicant has to meet the requirements both in tasks and experience. The logbook must be totaled up and tabbed. The aircraft maintenance logbooks must be available, and the applicant must know how to find the appropriate information to prove the aircraft is airworthy. The applicant must be proficient and meet the FAA airman certification standards. The designated pilot examiner must be available. The applicant’s Integrated Airman Certification and Rating Application, or IACRA, must be filed and the application for a check ride sent to the designated pilot examiner (DPE) several days in advance. The weather must cooperate. The applicant must have the examiner’s fee (north of $700 for most rides) in cash. You may have one, two, or three of those—but the rest aren’t quite there yet. 

It can get discouraging, and sometimes, we can get in our own way. FLYING has some suggestions to help you overcome those often self-imposed obstacles.

1. Don’t Wait on a Particular CFI

Learners can get very attached to their instructors, so much so that they are willing to wait for that CFI to become more available. As a result, they put their training on hold or stretch it out, making it difficult to learn and retain the skills and knowledge.

I saw this with a private pilot candidate whose CFI was flying part time for a charter operation and teaching part time at the flight school. The pre-solo learner’s training had been two or three flights a week, then it dropped to once a week, weather permitting. Proficiency was quickly lost. Eventually the owner of the flight school persuaded the learner to fly with a career instructor.

2. Accept the CFI May Move On

It is a fact that most people become flight instructors to build their hours, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise when the CFI leaves. It is the nature of the industry.

Make it less painful by insisting your CFI uses a syllabus—and that you have a copy of it—and that they sign your logbook at the end of each lesson. If the CFI tells you “no one here uses a syllabus” or “I’ll sign it next time,” find a more professional instructor. If you find a career CFI, metaphorically speaking, wrap around that CFI like a spider monkey going up a palm tree. Hang on to that person and get the job done.

3. Don’t Wait on a Particular Airplane

Every learner has a favorite airplane in the rental fleet. While it is true most flight schools put check rides at a higher priority than regular lessons, you don’t want to wait for your favorite airplane to become available—or, worse yet, go out on maintenance. That “minor thing” found during its 100-hour inspection can easily turn into a “several weeks in the hangar waiting on a part” saga. 

Get experience in all the appropriate airplanes in the fleet and arrange to get at least an hour or so in the one you will be taking your check ride in before the big day.

4. Be Ready to Travel

It may come down to going out of the area to finish your check ride. There are programs around the country that offer this service, and they often have an examiner on staff. You need to come in with the knowledge test complete and enough training and experience to pass the oral exam and the check ride. The CFIs at the “finish-up” program will likely require you to fly at least three hours with them to ensure you are ready for the check ride before they give you the endorsement. Once you have that, you have 60 days to take the check ride. If the weather turns sour and you need to return home, you can take the check ride at home. You don’t have to return to the finish-up program.

• READ MORE: The Great CFI Lesson Plan Debate

I stress this because I know of a private applicant who traveled out of state to finish, ran into a mechanical challenge, and had to return home. His out-of-state-CFI told him he would have to return to take the check ride because the CFI’s signature was not valid out of state. This is incorrect. The CFI certificate is a federal authorization that has no such limitation.

If you have to return home before completing the check ride, understand that once you have the endorsement, you can call a DPE and set up your own check ride. Most of them are good about walking you through the process, have a website with information, or will email you instructions.

You will want to keep flying to stay sharp, so check with all the schools within a reasonable radius of your home airport—don’t forget to ask about independent instructors who have their own aircraft as well. You might even find a friend who holds a CFI certificate and will fly with you for the price of fuel. Have that CFI friend go over expectations for the check ride. They may even recommend a DPE.

5. Make Sure Both You and the Airplane Are Ready

Have your CFI go over the aircraft maintenance logs, registration, and weight and balance to make sure they are in order and the aircraft is airworthy. Have them go through your logbook as well to confirm you meet the qualifications for the check ride. 

Many DPEs charge an additional fee if the check ride has to be discontinued or cannot begin because either the airplane or the applicant is not ready. And some of them can be rather nasty about it and vow not to return to the flight school.

6. Be Wary of Those Who Take Advantage

It is not uncommon for applicants to finish their training, get the endorsement, then have the airplane incur a maintenance issue. Instead of waiting for it to be fixed (it can take months), find another flight school that will allow you to use one of its airplanes for the check ride. 

Reputable schools will basically perform an aircraft checkout, which usually involves an open book test on airport and flight school procedures, weather, FARs, and aircraft systems, followed by a flight of about an hour with a qualified CFI. Your previous CFI already gave you the check ride endorsement, so you don’t need that from the new flight school CFI.

• READ MORE: What If the CFI Forgets to Sign Your Logbook?

If the owner of the school or chief CFI says you can’t use their airplane for a check ride unless one of their CFIs signs you off because of “regulations” or “insurance reasons,” it’s likely an effort to pad the bill.

7. Be Prepared for Frustration

Learning plateaus and pre-check ride frustration are part of the process, and like the challenges that often accompany puberty, we all go through them. Although it can be tempting to quit, sometimes you just have to make like Odysseus and tie yourself to the mast. Just get through it.

Remember, it is most often the things we don’t do in life, such as finishing a certificate or rating, that haunt us the most. Don’t let giving up on your pilot certificate become a regret.

The post 7 Ways to Control Your Check Ride Destiny appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

I just replaced my push-to-talk switch—again I keep it and the portable intercom I bought many years ago in a special bag within  my flight bag. The portable intercom runs on 9-volt batteries or via a cable connected to the cigarette lighter. It and the PTT have saved many flights when the yoke-mounted PTT failed. If the learner can’t hear the CFI or vice-versa, the flight doesn’t happen.

Headsets are another item that can fail and create communication issues. After the mic on my David Clarks failed, I invested in a backup headset. Acquisition was easy. Hang around at a general aviation airport, and you will likely find someone or someone who knows someone who has an old pair of (insert brand here) that they are no longer using because they have upgraded or are hanging up their wings. The spare headset can become the one you provide to your passenger. They can often be acquired for low cost or no cost. It might need a little cleanup, such as new ear seals, but that is a relatively easy thing to do. Test the headset before you need it, either in the aircraft with the master on or take it to the avionics shop if there is one on the field. 

Make sure you put your name on your headset using a label maker or ink but never engrave it, as this can void a warranty. If you borrow a headset, or anything else from another pilot, make sure you know who it belongs to and that you have permission to use it. Warning (parent voice is being deployed): This is something you should have learned in kindergarten. Don’t be that person who keeps it until the owner of the object catches you with it and then tries to talk your way out of it. 

“They told me I could use it” translates to “I took it without permission” or “I found it and kept it even though I know it wasn’t mine” because there is no “they.”

When Borrowing Tools

I am uncomfortable doing this without express permission. Aviation mechanics I have worked with have told me stories about someone borrowing a tool and the awful feeling of discovering it is missing and wondering if you left it in an airplane. 

At a Part 141 school, only designated persons are permitted to work on an airplane—even tighten a screw—so don’t go borrowing a tool. Get an authorized maintenance person to do the adjustment. 

Under Part 61, talk to the individual mechanics. Some will tell you hands off, no matter what. Others will ask you to leave the tool on top of the box with a note stating you borrowed it and what it was used for.

Borrowing Teaching Supplies

The borrowing of teaching supplies happens a lot. When I was teaching my first ground school, I had to borrow the FAR/AIM from the chief ground instructor’s office. When I went to put it back after class, the door was locked and I didn’t have the key. I wrote him a note explaining I had borrowed the book and where I hid it in the classroom. I slid the note under the office door. I apologized for not asking permission first—this was before Google, so I could not look up the regulation online.

The chief sent me an email thanking me for the signed note, saying that apparently people saw “please take” signs all over his office. This, I learned, is part of the culture of some flight schools as it is not uncommon for CFIs to share a desk or for there to be communal briefing rooms, tables, and desks for the learners and renter pilots to use. 

If you find something in these communal spaces—a headset, a PTT, flashlight, yoke clip, etc.—it’s not yours to keep. Please turn it over to the front desk, let the CFIs know, or leave a note on the whiteboard in the classroom as to what you found and where, so the wayward object can find its way home. 

This goes for car keys too. One of my learners was two hours late for work—his wife had to come get him—because when his keys were found in a briefing room, the dispatch person put them in their desk and didn’t tell anyone she had found them. They weren’t discovered until the next morning when the morning desk person opened the draw to put her purse away.

If you misplace something and your name is on it, you have a better chance of getting it back. But it’s not a guarantee. I had the awkward experience of having a flight review candidate return a headset to me that I had lost 10 years prior. The flight review candidate told me the CFI he trained with at a now-defunct flight school had given him the headset. I had worked there as well, and the headset was the spare I kept in my desk. Apparently my former coworker borrowed it without telling me. I had been looking for it all these years. It still had my name on it. Most annoying is that he knew where to find me as our paths had crossed over the years.

Renting Equipment from the Flight School

There are some flight schools that have headsets as well as intercoms and PTT for rent. If you rent one of these items, make sure it gets back to the school. If you accidentally walk off with it, let the school know you’ve got it and will be returning it. It will be most appreciative.

The post It’s Common Sense: If You Borrow It, Return It appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

“Why are we getting noise abatement procedures?” a CFI asked during an airport safety meeting. “We’ve never had them before.”

“There are two more flight schools here,” the presenter said. “The pattern is a lot busier, therefore noisier.” The subtext was someone—most likely several someones—somewhere had complained, and now it was up to the pilots to make things better.

Does this sound like your airport? The busier an airport gets the more likely it is that noise abatement procedures will be created.

Volunteer to Fly Quieter

Noise abatement procedures have become an integral part of pilot training. Airports that were once out in the sticks—surrounded by orchards and cornfields—now have residential subdivisions and industrial parks at their borders. It’s the homeowners that often complain the loudest—and don’t try using the argument the airport was there first. While it is often true, it doesn’t do much toward mollifying the person complaining.

According to the FAA, most noise transgressions at airports are caused by transient aircraft. Ignorance of the procedures does not excuse you from using them, as FAR 91.103 states, “each pilot in command shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight,” and if the airport has noise abatement procedures, these are part of that available information. Fortunately, most airports have voluntary noise abatement procedures. Note the key word is voluntary. Noise abatement procedures should never compromise the safety of the flight.

As part of your training, you will be taught to look for and follow these procedures as long as they do not impact the safety of the flight. Many airports publish noise abatement procedures on websites or in paper brochures that contain annotated photographs with textual descriptions and cautions to observe over flying-noise-sensitive areas and to remain clear of certain airspace. There are often altitude restrictions, such as “do not descend lower than 2,000 feet over populated areas,” or cautioning the pilots to reduce power to lessen the noise signature as soon as possible. These are living procedures, in that they may be adjusted from time to time.

If there is a noise abatement departure, there will likely be a noise abatement arrival. They are often based on geographic landmarks that are easy to recognize, such as the Reservoir Arrival or Gravel Pit arrival. Expect to see altitude restrictions and advice to fly the PAPI (precision approach path indicator) or VASI (visual approach slope indicator).

In other cases, when a housing project, shopping mall, or other development is proposed near an airport, the developers work with the FAA and airport sponsor, such as the city or county, to come up with some noise mitigation. Those efforts could include creating a greenbelt that aircraft should overfly when they are in the pattern or adjusting the pattern slightly to avoid a specific noise sensitive area, such as a hospital. In the case of the latter, instead of flying a rectangular pattern, one end may look more like a slightly tweaked parallelogram.

The federal 1990 Airport Noise and Capacity Act requires that local noise abatement ordinances be approved by the FAA before enacted. If the noise abatement policy is enforced by a local ordinance and has been added to the city’s municipal code, it is possible pilots who exceed noise limits or perform prohibited or restricted activities—such as touch-and-go landings or low approaches—can be cited.

First-time violations usually result in a warning letter being sent to the registered owner of the aircraft. Just because you are a renter and not the owner of the aircraft, don’t expect to be off the hook for violating the noise rules. You may lose your rental privileges for willfully breaking the rules, especially when the flight school or the aircraft owner who put their on leaseback gets a poison pen letter from the airport sponsor.

Encroachment and Noise Go Hand in Hand

Savvy airport groups try to work with their community, especially their elected officials, to stay ahead of potential noise issues that could impact the airport. These might be adjusting the power setting after reaching a particular altitude or agreeing not to do repeated touch and goes before noon on weekends.

The most challenging aspect of this is often fighting against the stigma that all pilots are rich and airplanes are expensive toys. To combat this trope, encourage the flight students and CFIs from the local schools to attend the meetings and speak up.

Sadly, it is not uncommon for noise complaints to come from a specific neighborhood, even a specific person, who often calls the airport manager with the enthusiasm of a teenager trying to win concert tickets from a radio station. There are people who make it their business to stalk airplanes. ADS-B and publicly available airplane-tracking applications, along with surveillance cameras, make it very easy to record airplanes. The anti-airport people will often take these screen captures and images to the FAA, local television stations, or social media and show the alleged bad behavior of the pilot.

Please note it is very difficult to determine the altitude of an airplane from a Ring camera or iPhone video, especially when the camera has zoomed in on the aircraft or the video is distorted by copying it from a TV or computer screen. The noise signature is also distorted in these cases. Yet there are pilots who find themselves having to answer to alleged infractions based on this “evidence.”

For pilots, noise abatement procedures can mean more planning. Google Earth makes it easy to study the pattern and approaches before you fly them. And there are times when you will adjust your flying technique as well, such as better planning of a descent so as not to “drag it in.”

When I was working on my commercial certificate, King County International Airport/Boeing Field (KBFI) had a curfew against repeated takeoffs and landings after 10 p.m. It was summer, and I was at the tail end of the five hours of night VFR as indicated in FAR 61.129. All I had left to do was seven takeoffs and landings, with each landing involving a flight in the traffic pattern at an airport with an operating control tower. I had done three already on a previous flight. I read the KBFI notice to air missions (NOTAM) advising the 10 p.m. curfew. I had approximately an hour and 20 minutes to get it done. I lurked west of KBFI until the timer went off in the cockpit, letting me know it was officially a loggable night. I made contact with the tower and was advised that the curfew would be kicking in shortly. I acknowledged this, and around the pattern I went. As I was lifting off after the last landing, the tower control announced the curfew was now in effect, then asked, “Did you get them all done?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Good job!” he replied, then cleared me to the south.

The post Keeping It Down to Head Off Noise Complaints appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

One of the first things an aspiring aviator learns is that pilots do a lot of reading. Sometimes it is to gain knowledge, other times to refresh knowledge, often examining the last revision in an FAA-published text. 

Last week the FAA announced an update to the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, also known as the PHAK, or FAA-H-8083.

“This handbook supersedes FAA-H-8083-25B, Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, dated 2016; the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge Addendum A, dated February 2021; the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge Addendum B, dated January 2022; and the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge Addendum C, dated March 2023,” the FAA said.

In English, that means FAA-H-8083-25C is now in effect. The agency calls this a minor update to the PHAK, adding that a new version of it is slated to be released in June 2024. Mark your calendars now.

The PHAK and the companion book, the Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), are the backbone of many private pilot ground schools. Both publications are available as paperbacks or downloadable as a PDF from the FAA.

If you need to know it to be a safe pilot, you’ll find it in the PHAK. Expect to learn about aeronautical decision-making, aircraft construction, principles and aerodynamics of flight, flight controls and aircraft systems, weight and balance, aircraft performance, weather theory and weather services, airport operations, navigation, airspace, and aeromedical factors.

The Airplane Flying Handbook (AFH) covers the how-to of flying an airplane, beginning with ground operations, basic flight maneuvers, energy management, altitude and airspeed control, upset prevention and recovery, takeoffs and departure climbs, ground reference maneuvers, airport traffic patterns, approaches and landings, performance maneuvers, night operations, and emergency maneuvers.

The AFH also features several chapters to help a pilot transition to another type of aircraft—, for example, complex airplanes, multiengine, tailwheel, turboprops, and light sport.

Do Not Fear the FAR/AIM

Ready for more literary aviation acronyms? You will want to have a current copy of the FAR/AIM, the Federal Aviation Regulations and Aeronautical Information Manual, at your fingertips. 

In paperback, it is a big, thick book that can intimidate wannabe pilots. You do not—I repeat do not—have to memorize the information in the book, but you do need to know how to look up things in it. Even searching the PDF format isn’t exactly intuitive, so in your first time through the book in either electronic or paper form, you will want to have certified flight instructor (CFI) with you to help you determine what needs to be tabbed for quick reference.

If you decide on the paper version, there are companies that sell it pre-tabbed. You can go that route, but if you are a kinetic learner, you will likely get more out of tabbing it yourself. Grab some note cards and start writing and taping them in the right places—again under the guidance of your CFI.

Full disclosure: I still use a paper FAR/AIM. When the new version is released (around the first of the year), I spend an hour or so transferring the tabs from my old one or making new tabs as necessary. It’s a good review for me and a chance to see what has changed. I find this physical action helps most learners as well. For the private pilot candidate, we make a ground session of it, beginning with Part 61.1, applicability and definitions. This is where you find category and class with respect to both aircraft and airmen. These definitions are found on pretty much every knowledge test.

Part 61 covers the experience and knowledge required for the certificate or rating you seek. For the private pilot certificate, begin with FAR 61.81-61.95 that covers student pilots. Yes, the FAR/AIM still uses the word “students.” Pay special attention to FAR 61.87, solo requirements for student pilots. It lists the 15 things that must be taught before the learner can be signed off for solo flight.

This is the first FAR I have CFI candidates tab because “What do I need to teach them before I solo them?” is a frequently asked question.

For the learner pilots, going over FAR 61.87 line by line helps them understand what each lesson is about, and when paired with a syllabus, provides a plan of attack. FAR 61.89 student pilot limitations is another important one to review and tab, as pretty much every instructor can tell a story about a learner who violated one of the limitations because they didn’t know they existed.

Part 91 contains general operating and flight rules. It is often said that Part 61 walks you through the experience and knowledge you need to acquire the certificate or rating, and Part 91 contains the rules that, if broken, could cost you that certificate or rating. In this section you will find information on airspace, required equipment, and flight rules.

Putting it all Together

Most aviators, either by necessity or temperament, are lifelong learners. It starts with preparation for flight reviews and goes all the way up to type ratings. Get used to it.

The post How to Keep Your Aviation Library Current appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

There is a honeymoon phase after the check ride. You have that new certificate or rating in your pocket and it is natural to want to relax and do some fun just-for-you flying, like buying $100 hamburgers, make fly-out camping trips, attend fly-ins, and take trips to visit friends and family.

The fun flying continues until you realize that it has been a while since you practiced a skill—like stalls or steep turns—that you learned months, perhaps even years earlier, and you’re a bit fuzzy about the setup and recovery.

Or maybe you encountered a situation that taxed your skill set, like an attempted crosswind landing that took multiple attempts, or that practice instrument approach where you were so far behind the airplane that it landed five minutes before you did.

These are the times the prudent pilot seeks out dual instruction. A pilot’s desire for more training is often done as a confidence builder. You learned how to perform those tasks years ago, but without regular practice, they can get a bit rusty.

Recently I flew with a learner who has a great deal of cross-country flight experience, but very little of it involves towered airport operations. This is not uncommon, because the majority of airports in the U.S. are non-towered. The learner wanted to remedy that, and they asked me to come along wearing my CFI hat.

Tower communications can be intimidating. You have to fly the airplane, keep an eye out for traffic, and communicate effectively when there are dozens of pilots in the same airspace doing the same thing.

Tower communications usually begin with the enroute pilot listening to the weather. For the single-engine piston trainer, listening to the automated weather 10 miles out is a good plan because it allows you to stay ahead of the airplane. Make sure to get the automatic terminal information services (ATIS) designation if appropriate, and noting altimeter setting, winds, and runway in use along with any special items such as “caution, mowing operations in progress.” I am a big advocate of listening to it twice. On the first pass write it down, then listen at least once more to make sure you didn’t miss anything.

After you get the weather, switch to the tower frequency and note how busy it is. Don’t wait until you’re right on the edge of their airspace to call, especially if they are busy. It’s a good idea to consult the local VFR sectional as there may be a note such as, “Contact Approach within 20 nm.”

On initial call up, let the controller know your type of aircraft, tail number, where you are—including altitude—what your request is, and advise that you have the ATIS or weather. The controller may ask you to identify yourself by pushing the appropriate transponder button. They have the option to either accommodate your request or tell you to steer clear of the airspace—and yes, they can do that. Arguing with the tower controller isn’t going to change the situation, so don’t even try.

Be prepared to answer the controller’s questions, such as type of aircraft. There are a lot of Piper and Cessna models out there, both twin and single-engine. Sometimes you hear disturbing things on the radio, such as the pilot, when asked what his aircraft type was, replied “I don’t know, they gave it to me at the flight school.”

The First Call Up

Some airports have designated VFR reporting points. They are mentioned in the chart supplement and marked on the VFR terminal area chart with a magenta pennant. In some cases VFR departures and arrivals are printed on a panel of the chart. For example, “When arriving from the south stay below 1,500, contact Tower over the gravel pit.”

In our case the reporting point was over the Tacoma Dome. To the unfamiliar, it looks like an upside-down teacup next to Interstate 5. On this particular day, Information Papa was current, winds were 340 at 8 gusting to 17. Runway 35 in use. The altimeter setting was 30.04. Although we did not intend to land, the wind and runway in use were noted since that would help in spotting traffic. Look at the runway and then widen your gaze to the extended centerlines. That’s where the airport traffic will be.

We requested a transition of their airspace, east to the west.

The request was granted at or above 2,000 feet. Sometimes the controllers will tell you what part of the runway to cross over. Often it is the approach end of the runway in use because that’s where traffic is at its lowest altitude, or it can be at midfield.

We were instructed to cross at midfield, and it was a nonevent.

Following Instructions

The ability to follow instructions is critical for a pilot, but for the pilot who does not have much experience with getting vectors—that is an assigned heading and altitude— it can be confusing. For example, let’s say you are on a heading of 270 degrees and the controller instructs you to turn to a heading of 180 degrees. Do you turn left or right? According to air traffic controllers, the controller will state the direction of turn in the clearance—”Turn left to heading 180 degrees”—when it is necessary. You’re still responsible for making sure the area is clear before turning,

Sometimes, the controller will ask you to state your intentions. This can be one of those funny moments during training. How many of you have heard the “state your intentions” query answered with “I want to be a professional pilot” or something close to it? 

“State your intentions,” means the controller is asking what you want to do next. Leave the pattern? Full stop landing? Go missed approach? Be clear and concise when you answer. “Low approach followed by departure to the east,” tells them everything they need to know.

Practice Coordination

Away from the pattern out in the practice area, put yourself through some basic maneuvers, such as steep turns and standard rate turning, focusing on holding altitude and bank angle. If you haven’t done a steep turn in a while, don’t be surprised if the aircraft bobs up and down like a dolphin at feeding time. Practice managing upon power setting bank angle and trim. Practice power on and power off stalls, both immanent and full stall, in both straight ahead and in turning configuration.

First Pancake Syndrome

If it has been awhile since you flew in the pattern for multiple approaches, you will notice that each approach (up to a limit) gets better. This is often referred to as the ‘first pancake’ syndrome, as the first lap in the pattern, like the first pancake poured on the griddle, is a test of conditions, and adjustments will be made. On the first takeoff you drifted right and on final approach you were high. On the second lap around the pattern your takeoff and climb out were spot on because you adjusted for the crosswind. To deal with being high on final, you reduced engine power slightly earlier than the previous time and added a notch of flaps earlier. It is very satisfying to have each approach and landing get better with each trip around the pattern.

Practice What You Don’t Use

Practicing emergency procedures is like training for and practicing first aid and CPR. These are skills you hope you never, ever need to use, but if the situation presents itself you’re glad to have them. Power-off approaches to a landing, emergency spirals, pitching for best glide while your troubleshoot—all these should be reviewed.

Don’t forget to throw in some specialty takeoffs and landings, such as soft-field and short-field operations. It may have been months since you landed on grass, or perhaps the flight school you rent from prohibits landing on anything but pavement unless it’s an emergency. You still want to have those skills in your back pocket, and ready to go.

The post Keeping Practice Up to Stay Out of That Rut appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

One of the most polarizing discussions among CFI candidates is the topic of lesson plans. Specifically, should you make your own? Or is it OK to purchase premade lesson plans from a third-party provider? 

Aeronautical Knowledge for CFIs

FAR 61.185 lists the aeronautical knowledge required for flight instructors. There you will find it written that the person applying for a flight instructor certificate is to receive and log ground training from an authorized instructor, and that ground training will include the learning process, elements of effective teaching, student evaluation and testing course development, lesson planning, and classroom training techniques. It’s all there in black and white—lesson planning.

Chances are good you never saw or perhaps even heard about the use of a lesson plan in aviation until you began your CFI training. The best CFIs are knowledgeable and glib, and knowledge rolls out of their mouths like fat fish. But they also know when it is time to refer to their notes—that is, the lesson plan.

The designated pilot examiner (DPE) who administers your CFI check ride will likely want to see it so they know you have a plan. It can be helpful to refer to if you get stuck during the oral portion of your check ride or when doing ground instruction with a learner.

What Is a Lesson Plan?

As noted in the Aviation Instructor’s Handbook, a lesson plan allows the CFI to organize their thoughts and present the information in a logical manner. It should not, however, be used as a script. The elements of the lesson plan should include the objective of the lesson, equipment required schedule, instructor’s actions, learner’s actions, common errors, and completion standards and references. (CFI candidates: The acronym to recall this is Only Elephants Should Ingest Lemon Candy Corn Really!)

The lesson plans should cover all skills, tasks, maneuvers, and knowledge required for the certificate or rating the instructor is teaching. Refer to the current airman certification standards to make sure this is accomplished.

Premade Lesson Plans vs. from Scratch

Buying premade lesson plans saves the instructor candidate time because someone else has done all the work. It’s a shortcut, which may be totally appropriate for your situation, or it may send up a red flag to the DPE or even a potential employer who may wonder what other shortcuts the applicant takes. 

If you opt for premade lesson plans, you’ll have to make sure they cover the requirements from the airman certification standards for the certificate or rating to be taught, and the instructor knows where to reference the material. For example, know where to look in the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge or Aeronautical Information Manual to verify what is being presented.

For some, the act of making the lesson plans helps them learn the material or refresh their knowledge on the subjects to be presented. The laws of learning come into play here, as the law of exercise states the more we practice something, the better we are able to retain the knowledge and perform the skill. The CFI who refreshes their knowledge by creating lesson plans can improve their skill in delivery.

Other CFI candidates opt to use the premade lesson plans and modify them for their teaching style and environment. If you go this route, it will take some time to figure out what works best for you. 

Hard Copy or Digital?

It’s always good to have a hard copy of a document in addition to the materials you create digitally. It’s not that difficult to print the lesson plans. If you don’t own a printer, an office supply store or library probably has one you can rent. Just bring the lessons in on a thumb drive. Keep the hard copy lesson plans in a safe place because if the worst happens and the thumb drive disappears, the hard copies can easily be scanned.

Be careful about using “inherited” materials from other instructors, as you don’t know if they are up to date. An instructor I knew during my primary training “gifted me” with her old lesson plans. They were hand typed and in big binders. She had been out of the CFI business for a number of years, and I was coming up on 10 years of actively instructing when the exchange took place, so they really weren’t useful to me or any of my clients except as a cautionary tale. There were some things that had changed. For example, the duration of the third-class medical certificate for a pilot under 40 at the time of examination has increased to 60 calendar months.

Looking at these binders that were thick as the Gutenberg Bible, I was glad my lesson plans had been created on a laptop computer and the files saved. It’s a lot easier to go into a digital file and make changes than sift through pages and pages to find a place to put correction tape.

The post The Great CFI Lesson Plan Debate appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The private pilot from a nontowered airport intended to fly to a towered airport to work on his radio skills while performing takeoffs and landings. At 10 nm out, he listened to the airport’s ATIS, noted the information for winds and runway in use, and set the altimeter. When he was approximately 6 nm out and over a VFR reporting point, he called the tower to request entry for touch and go.

“Cannot accommodate you at this time. Steer clear of the (insert name of airport) Class Delta airspace.” was the reply.

He looked at me. “Can they do that?” he asked, wondering if he had done something wrong as he turned away from the Delta. “Why won’t they let me in?”

“Listen to the tower frequency,” I said. “Note how busy they are.”

As we flew away from the airport, we continued to listen. The airport had three Part 141 flight schools and accommodated lots of business jets. The pattern was full, I explained.

The learner asked what happened at nontowered airports when the pattern got too full—in particular, who made that call? “It’s really up to the pilots flying,” I replied.

Have you ever been at a nontowered airport where the pattern became so packed that you opted to either land or divert to another airport? That’s a skill all pilots should develop. And as summer usually brings the best weather, resulting in the more aircraft in the sky, be ready for it.

Head on a Swivel

Scanning for traffic, especially in the vicinity of the airport, is one of the first skills a fledgling aviator learns. You can probably picture the illustration in the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge that demonstrates how to scan for traffic by dividing the sky into 10-degree segments. When two pilots are on board, such as is the case during an instructional flight, both should be scanning for traffic.

The “90-seconds-outside, 10-seconds-inside” rule needs to accommodate the use of ADS-B if the aircraft is so equipped. It is easy to be distracted by the diamonds indicating traffic targets on the display. The ADS-B installation requirement a few years back was supposed to make our crowded airspace safer, and I would like to think it has. Some pilots, however, are more likely to have their eyes on the screen rather than out the window during a flight. For optimum safety there needs to be a balance between the two.

Please, Look Before You Turn

With the exception of “more right rudder,” admonishing the pilot taking instruction to clear the area before turning tops the instructor list of Most Often Used Phrases in the Cockpit. At best, failure to do clearing turns will result in check ride failure. At worst, a midair collision. 

During a stage check, a learner informed me that he relied on ADS-B to clear the area because looking out the window and flight following made him nervous. He spent so much time with his head down that a few times he came close to flying into controlled airspace without a proper clearance. 

To get him to look outside more, his CFI adjusted the range on the screen so that he was forced to look out the window to find landmarks and practice pilotage. These flights are sort of the aviation version of a scavenger hunt. The CFI finds a landmark on the VFR sectional and instructs the learner to take them there, keeping in mind appropriate altitudes and airspace entry requirements if applicable. “Tell me when you’re over it,” the CFI says, then sits back and lets the learner fly.

Pretty much every place you fly will have that one landmark that is elusive, such as the airport that is easily disguised by ground clutter. In my part of the world, there is an airport that is located near a prison and a fairgrounds, but my clients swear it has a cloaking device because it can be difficult to see from the air.

One of my learners was determined to find it—he used dead reckoning and a radial off a VOR for orientation. “I should be right over it,” he said. He entered into a standard rate turn to the left while he scanned the area. He was correct—he was directly over it. He noted the value of placing the landmark on the left side of the cockpit to make it easier to see in the future.

TRAFFIC!

ADS-B can add anxiety to the cockpit learning environment. I think of ADS-B more like the warning on a car GPS app that there is a speed check ahead. It gives you another tool to manage the situation, especially in VFR conditions, which, according to the FAA, is when most midair collisions happen. It has given us a list of places where midairs are most likely to happen. The short version is “any place where aircraft congregate,” such as  airports, the flight school practice areas, over VFR checkpoints (look for the magenta flags on the VFR sectional), and VORs.

• READ MORE: Watsonville Midair Collision Victims Identified

Flight schools located at or near airports with instrument approaches often educate their renter and learner pilots about the IFR fixes and may encourage the use of flight following. You do not necessarily have to be using flight following to benefit from it. By passive listening the pilot who is flying in the vicinity of an IFR fix will hear when an IFR aircraft has been cleared to their location—know they are going to have company in a moment.

Staying Ahead of the Airplane

Recently, the midair collision between a Cessna 340A and a Cessna 152 that took place at Watsonville Municipal Airport (KWVI) in August 2022 was a topic of discussion at my home airport. How could that happen on a VFR day? They were both on the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF), so they heard each other, yet still collided. Didn’t they have ADS-B?

It is a sobering lesson that even if the pilots are in communication and the aircraft do have ADS-B, the warning of traffic doesn’t help when the pilot loses situational awareness.

Three people and a dog were killed when the aircraft collided on final. It happened in the afternoon on a VFR day. The pilot of the 152 was in the pattern, and the 340A, a multi-engine aircraft about twice the size and speed of the smaller airplane, was attempting to perform a straight-in landing.

According to the recorded radio transmissions, the pilot of the 152 had turned final when he noticed how quickly the larger aircraft was coming up behind him. He announced a go-around. Witnesses on the ground reported the pilot of the twin veered to the right at the last second, but it wasn’t enough and the aircraft collided.

At this time, the National Transportation Safety Board has not released the final report on its investigation, but the preliminary report notes the speed of the larger aircraft indicates that it probably wasn’t configured for the approach, as it was going too fast for gear and flap deployment. In short, it appears the pilot was behind the airplane. Getting behind the airplane is a distraction that leads to poor situational awareness. If you are in the pattern and getting behind the airplane, and you have the fuel and weather to safely depart the pattern and reenter when you’re ahead of the aircraft, you may select that option. The life you save may be your own.

The post Situational Awareness Is Key Inside, Outside the Cockpit appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

One of the first surprises for many people learning to fly is that not every airport has a control tower. In fact, the majority of them don’t. 

The FAA recognizes this and has released a new advisory circular (AC) covering nontowered airport operations. While ACs are not regulatory in nature, they offer guidance for best practices. Much of the information should be a review for most pilots, as it is also covered in The Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge and Chapter 4 of the Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM).

However, the Advisory Circular AC 90-66C, released last week, is a must-read for flight instructors and pilots who operate at one of the 20,000 nontowered facilities in the U.S.

Nix the Straight-In Approach

One of the areas that is emphasized in the AC is a caution against performing a straight-in approach to a nontowered airport when there are other aircraft in the pattern. This practice deprives the pilot doing the straight-in the opportunity to ascertain the location of other aircraft that may be in the pattern. This type of approach can also put a pilot behind their aircraft as they lack the situational cues used to mark the configuration process, such as reducing the throttle and lowering landing gear and flaps.

The AC suggests that flying a straight-in might increase the possibility of a midair collision. One of the most violent and recent midairs at a nontowered airport occurred in Watsonville, California, on August 18, 2022. A Cessna 340A attempted a straight-in approach and collided with a Cessna 152 that was flying the pattern. The 340 is a twin nearly twice as large and twice as fast as the 152.

According to the preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report, the accident happened when both aircraft were on approach to Runway 20 at Watsonville Municipal Airport (KWVI) just before 3 p.m. The pilots were in communication with each other using the airport’s common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) prior to impact. Both pilots stated their intentions to land at KWVI. Investigators noted the ADS-B record shows the 340 approaching the airport at approximately 180 knots. The normal flap extension speed for the aircraft is 160 knots, and the landing gear extension is 140 knots, so it is unclear if the aircraft was actually configured for landing at the time of the accident.

The 152 was ahead of the 340. In his last transmission, the pilot of the 152 noted the larger, faster airplane was closing on him and announced intentions to go around. The pilot of the 340 indicated he was looking for the 152.

One of the witnesses to the accident said the 340 appeared to roll right at the last second to avoid the 152, but it was too little, too late, and the aircraft wings collided. Carl Kruppa, 75, and Nannette Plett-Kruppa, 67, from Winton, California, and their dog were aboard the 340. Stuart Camenson, 32, from Santa Cruz was piloting the 152. All were killed in the crash.

Traffic Pattern Operations

Your CFI will tell you to keep your head on a swivel and self-announce your positions and actions in the pattern. 

The AC notes: “All traffic, whether IFR or VFR, should, at a minimum, monitor the CTAF. For departures a minimum of 10 minutes prior to taxi and arrivals a minimum of 10 miles out from the airport, you should broadcast your intentions. The importance of air-to-air communications cannot be overemphasized. Failure to follow this communication protocol has contributed to near midair collisions (NMAC), and as such could be considered careless and reckless operation of an aircraft.”

It is frightening to have a close encounter when the other aircraft is not talking to you or does not appear to have seen you before you took evasive action to avoid a midair in the pattern. One of the chilling factors of the Watsonville accident is that both pilots were in communication with each other and self announcing, yet the accident still happened. 

The AC stresses “the FAA does not regulate traffic pattern entry, only traffic pattern flow. This means that when entering the traffic pattern at an airport without an operating control tower, inbound pilots are expected to observe other aircraft already in the pattern and to conform to the traffic pattern in use. If there are no other aircraft present, the pilot should check traffic
indicators on the ground and wind indicators to determine which runway and traffic
pattern direction to use.”

The AC reminds us that proper entry into the pattern, including altitude, is important as well. You do not want to be that pilot who over flies the airport at pattern altitude instead of pattern plus 500 feet (if appropriate) and nearly has a midair after cutting off an airplane on downwind.

Exiting the pattern is another area of concern. Prior to advancing the throttle for takeoff, the pilot has announced their intentions such as “departing to the east via the crosswind.”

The AIM notes departing on the crosswind is good practice, and there are pilots who will remain at pattern altitude until past where they would normally turn downwind and then make a turn away from the airport. The AC emphasizes the need for pilots to avoid unnecessary radio communications. That’s a polite way of saying: Don’t get into an argument over the radio. There are some pilots who will aggressively correct the radio phraseology or flying habits of another pilot over the air waves—and it can get ugly. Don’t engage with these pilots, and do not be this pilot.

A few years ago, there was a pilot at my home airport who lectured student pilots—and anyone else he found fault with—over the radio when he objected to their phraseology. He was not an instructor. The FAA got wind of this poor behavior and placed a telephone call to the pilot. He was reminded of proper radio usage, and it was suggested that if he felt that strongly about it, he should become an instructor.

State Your Position

I’m a big fan of position reports that include the aircraft location in relation to the airport and the aircraft’s altitude: “(Insert name of airport) Cessna 172 Romeo Bravo 3 miles to the west over the gravel pit, 1,500 for landing Runway 34 (insert name of airport).”

The AC rightfully notes that reporting instrument fixes as the aircraft’s location may be confusing to VFR-only pilots. Instead, use the fixes’ position in relation to the airport (for example 4 miles to the south at 1,700 feet) along with your intentions.

Pro tip for other instructors: If the airport has an instrument approach, it’s a good idea to show the approach plate to the VFR pilots with an overlay of the VFR sectional. They may be surprised to learn that the place they love to fly the most is an initial approach fix for the airport, and that’s why they see so many airplanes out there. Note the altitude the IFR traffic is supposed to be at and plan accordingly.

Right of Way

There are many rights worth dying for—right of way is not one of them. Flying in front of another aircraft—especially one that is faster or close to your speed—can be and often is deadly. Remember the right-of-way rules you were required to learn.

The AC reminds us of the rules. Remember, if you think that other aircraft is too close to you—or they are not making radio calls and you don’t know what they are doing—instead of playing chicken, depart the pattern and reenter on the 45 degree to midfield downwind.

Don’t forget to check the VFR sectional updates for the letters “RP” for Right Pattern. It doesn’t matter if the airport has used left traffic for millenia, the FAA is perfectly within its rights to establish a right-hand traffic pattern if the situation warrants it—like there has been a change in what is on the ground below the original traffic pattern. It might be a temporary situation, like construction involving cranes, or something more permanent, like the establishment of a nursing home or subdivision.

The AC has an entry about helicopter operations. Helicopters fly lower than airplanes in the pattern and often fly opposite traffic. If your airport does not have helicopter operations, this can come as a surprise to the fixed-wing pilots.

The AC also suggests pilots make their aircraft as visible as possible in the air, using landing lights and strobes. One of my best instructors told me that seeing an aircraft is a definitive thing. You either do, or you don’t. “I think so” is not an acceptable answer. Have fun out there—but be careful.

The post Operations at Nontowered Airports Can Be Tricky appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

June is a big month for flight schools. Many introductory flights are given as graduation, or Mother’s or Father’s Day gifts—and often the recipients of these first flights will turn into flight students. If you are the receiver of one of these presents, expect a post-flight pitch for flight training.

Often the first question asked is, “How much does it cost to get a private pilot certificate?” The short answer is, “It varies.” 

According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the price tag for a private pilot certificate can run from $6,000 to $20,000. There are several variables that can impact the cost, the first being geography. If you are in a high-rent part of the world, expect the price of flight training to be higher than that found in a more rural area.

Some of the variables that go into determining the cost are somewhat controllable by the client and instructor—others are not. It’s important to make the distinction.

What the Client Can’t Control

Aircraft Availability

Note the size and diversity of the fleet. Some FBOs and schools use specific aircraft for private pilot training and others, usually with more advanced avionics that are the designated instrument trainers. They may also have complex and high-performance aircraft. Be wary if the school representative tries to put you in one of these more advanced aircraft right off the bat, as that can easily deteriorate into a too-much-airplane, not-enough-pilot situation for the learner. 

The ratio of aircraft in the training fleet to learners/renters is critical. You do not want to be in a situation where there are three airplanes and 40 people vying for them, especially when the school’s policy prioritizes certain learners over others. 

For example, learners that are part of an airline development program or paying with funds from Veterans Affairs may be more frequently scheduled than the learner paying out of pocket. If you are suddenly pulled off the schedule with no notice or explanation—such as an airplane going in for maintenance or someone needing it for a check ride—it’s likely due to this preferential scheduling.

Maintenance

Find out who performs the maintenance for the aircraft. If there is only one part-time mechanic serving a fleet of three or more plus outside aircraft, you might think twice, as this can drag out even routine work and make the aircraft unavailable.

Cost of the Airplane You Will Train In

When flight schools create their marketing materials for training advertising an all-in cost, they may calculate it using the most inexpensive aircraft in their fleet—for example, a Cessna 152, which rents for $145 an hour, as opposed to the Cessna 172, which rents for $163 an hour.

The applicant reading the school website sees they will need at least 40 hours of time in the air to qualify for the certificate. Crunching the numbers, the applicant comes up with $5,800 for aircraft rental alone.

Then the applicant visits the flight school. The staff, taking note of the applicant’s size, suggests they train in the Cessna 172, driving the aircraft cost up to $6,520. You can’t blame some people for thinking they are being upsold. I have witnessed this a few times. Onewalk-in customer accused the school of false advertising, although the small print on the website and paper brochures included a notation that the numbers were based on the smaller airplane. Trying to mollify the would-be customer, the school owner handed the CFI on walk-in duty the keys to both the 172 and the 152, saying “Go see if he fits in the 152.” The CFI could see that the customer, because of his long legs, was not going to fit in the airplane. Not by a long shot—he was over 6-foot tall and (ahem) sturdy. That didn’t stop the customer from trying, however. Despite the CFI’s warnings not to do so, the customer, trying to fit in the cockpit, used his legs to try to push the seat back farther than the metal stops on the seatrails. He pushed so hard it snapped the metal catch on the back of the seat.

Savvy flight schools also advise the learner that the 40-hour figure is the Part 61 minimum time required to qualify for certification and, according to the FAA, the national average is approximately 75 hours. The flight schools that consistently have learners finishing sooner—say at 55 to 60 hours—will be sure to tell you that.

The bottom line is that the more time in the aircraft, the greater the expense. This also happens when you stretch out the lessons, perhaps only flying once a week. It’s not like learning to play a musical instrument where once-a-week lessons are followed by practice at home. Flying less than twice a week means you will spend more time (and money) relearning things rather than absorbing new things. To optimize progress and retention, try to fly at least three times a week.

Weather

The better the weather, the more VFR-flyable days and the faster you can complete your training. If there are certain times of year when VFR flying slows down quite a bit, plan your training around it, if possible. For example, in some parts of the world, winter is a great time to fly because winters, although cold, often feature clear days. In other parts of the world, winter days are known for low visibility because of fog and rain. Summer can also present challenges. In some parts of the world, by noon it can be too hot for the airplanes to get off the ground, so summer flying is limited to early morning and late evening.

What the Client Can Control

Ground School

While flying is the more fun part for most people, ground school is the backbone of your aviation education. Find one that works with your learning style and schedule and put in the effort to learn the material to the level of application and correlation—not just to pass the knowledge test. You don’t want to be the learner who doesn’t grasp the relationship between angle of attack, airspeed, and stalls and tries to stretch a glide by pulling back on the yoke or stick. If you opt to do an online, self-paced ground school, commit to a specific time for study. For example, set aside a few hours each day. This could be an hour in the evening and 30 minutes during your lunch hour at work. Make notes as you study—if there is something that perplexes you, ask your CFI about it. The good ones will be able to apply a flight lesson to help you grasp the concepts eluding you.

The Right CFI

If you are a driven learner, you should find an equally driven instructor—one with a proven track record for getting the learners through the training in an expedient manner. This is the CFI who uses the airman certification standards from day one, along with a syllabus,  insists on pre- and postflight briefings, and may assign homework. This CFI will keep you apprised of your performance. Remember that despite the CFI’s excellent credentials, if you have a personality or learning style conflict, it is in your best interest to make a change as soon as possible.

Be sure the CFI has time for you in their schedule. It can be discouraging when you feel like you can learn from the CFI you did the intro flight with, but they don’t have room on their schedule. Rather than wait for them to have an opening, ask the FBO to put you on their standby list and ask for a recommendation for another instructor with a similar teaching style.

Club Specials

Some flight schools offer a discount if the learner puts X-number of dollars down and keeps a positive balance. Before you commit you may want to try renting from the FBO for a time, and if it works out and the instructor is a good fit, then join the club. Be sure to find out if there is a refund policy and get it in writing.

Applicant Attitude

You may have wanted to be a pilot since you were a child, but unless you have the time and resources to take lessons, can follow directions, and have the self-discipline to study, certification won’t happen. Learning to fly may be a bit of a culture shock for some, as it is like no other form of education and there are no participation trophies. You either learn the material and the skills or you don’t.

The post What Does It Cost To Earn a Private Pilot Certificate? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The first lesson for a private pilot begins with the preflight inspection.

Checklist in hand, the fledgling pilot follows the CFI around the aircraft to learn what is normal and what is not. By the third lesson most learner pilots are doing the preflight inspections by themselves—and some CFIs watch from a distance.

I am one of those instructors. After the third lesson I sometimes salt the aircraft with strategically placed toy plastic frogs—the kind you get from a dollar store. A frog on the fuel cap, a frog on the horizontal stabilizer, a frog on the fuel selector—could mean the cap left off overnight, a dent, and the fuel placard missing. These issues spark a discussion. If these conditions existed, would the aircraft be airworthy?

The salting of the airplane with frogs is random during dual instruction. This encourages focus and attention to detail during preflight inspection. It has worked—many years after he left my charge one learner found a bird’s nest in the tail of his aircraft and another won the preflight inspection contest at EAA AirVenture.

The only time I ran into issue with this method was when coworkers and students at a particular school decided to help themselves to the frogs, lizards, and other creatures I used for this purpose and put them in airplanes to “scare” their fellow pilots. Although I was not responsible for people stealing toys out of my desk and using them irresponsibly, I took the items home anyway.

There is a learning curve to the preflight inspection. The task is often intimidating to the learners. One learner insisted she did not have the experience to inspect an airplane and handed the checklist back to me. Another was afraid to remove the cowl plugs because he thought they were necessary for flight—he was confusing them with spark plugs. In both cases learning took place.

Every flight school has a story about someone who walked into a strut, or a (thankfully) still propeller blade, or the edge of the Cessna wing. Teach the learners to make sure there isn’t someone standing under the wing of the high wing aircraft on the other side of the cockpit when they move up the ailerons to check the hinges because the aileron coming down on the other side will bonk that person on the head pretty severely if they are in the right position beneath the wing.

It is important learners understand the preflight inspection is a physical experience. You will climb up on wings to check fuel. You will kneel, squat, or crawl under the aircraft. The latter is especially true when working with a low wing airplane, such as a Piper Cherokee. You may also get grime stains on the front of your pant legs just above the knee as you lean against the aircraft during the preflight inspection. Wear them with pride.

Is This OK?

Primary learners can be hyper-vigilant when it comes to oil streaks on the belly, dings, cracks, nicks, and scratches in an airplane. This is a good thing. You’d rather have them err on the side of caution. The smart instructors introduce their learners to the mechanics at the school from day one and encourage them to ask the mechanics if they see something that could be an issue with the airplane, or if they have a question and the CFI is not around. CFIs often consult the more experienced CFIs or instigate the search for a mechanic when the learner finds something. It’s important the learners see the CFI asking questions because this teaches them it is OK to do so.

It is also important the learners understand that if they find something wrong with the aircraft, they will not be expected to pay for it.

I write this because apparently there are some schools that do this. I had a learner who allegedly missed a 6-inch crack in a spinner on the school’s Cessna Cutlass RG (retractable gear). The learner claimed he didn’t notice it—I was skeptical—how could anyone miss that? It started at one of the screw attachment points and propagated around the cone toward the pointy end. I was amazed the spinner had not separated from the aircraft. The mechanic who removed the spinner cone noted it had been repaired before on the crack line and showed us the repair weld that had failed. Now the entire spinner needed to be replaced. The entry into the maintenance logbook read “too much time since new.”

The learner was very concerned he was going to be made to pay for the part—he told of how this had happened to someone at his last school—then suggested I should pay for it since I noticed it. That made the mechanic laugh, and he gave me the damaged cone to use as a teaching aide in private pilot ground school.

When damage is discovered during a preflight inspection, it starts an internal investigation at the fixed base operator (FBO) or flight school. Check the dispatch records. Who was the last pilot who flew it? Was it a renter or was it an instructor and learner? Discussions are had—did you notice X,Y, or Z when you flew the airplane?

This is particularly true if the damage grounds the aircraft. People become immediately defensive. Even a call to a learner who was on the schedule to fly an airplane and has been moved to another plane can result in an outburst of “Do they think it was me? Are they going to make me pay for it?”

Although it would bother me greatly if I found out one of my clients was responsible for the damage or knew about it and didn’t report it, my greater concern is having healthy airplanes for the clients. Also, I have been around the industry long enough to know sometimes aircraft damage is done by non-pilots on the ground.

A Cherokee at my home airport suffered tail damage when the muggle hired to mow the grass in the tiedown area broke protocol and tried to use the riding mower instead of the push mower close to the aircraft. The mower blade hit the tail, bent metal, and took a chunk out of it. And he didn’t report it. When the aircraft owner found the damage during his preflight inspection, he reported it to the airport manager, who used security camera video to track down the culprit.

Sometimes the answer is yes, the pilot noticed the damage and flew the aircraft anyway because they didn’t realize it made the aircraft unairworthy, but they made it back so what’s the big deal?

This becomes an opportunity for education, such as the time a renter pilot noticed a crack in the tip of the propeller when he landed at his cross-country destination and flew the aircraft back to the base airport. The crack was about a quarter-inch long, when he found it, he said. It was larger when he landed at the FBO at the end of the flight. The chief pilot, owner of the business, and chief mechanic met with the renter and explained the danger of flying an aircraft with a cracked propeller.

According to the chief pilot, the pilot could have lost a propeller tip in flight that would have resulted in an unbalanced propeller and likely result in a substantial control issue. What made it even spookier was the school determined the crack had been in place before he left the home airport. The learner had taken a photograph of his children standing in front of the airplane that morning. The digital image was blown up on the computer, and you could see the crack in the propeller blade. When the renter pilot told me the story—several days after the event—his voice was shaky. He had not noticed the crack until he reached the destination. To say he learned from the experience is an understatement.

The post When You Find Something Amiss appeared first on FLYING Magazine.