Flight Training

Now that previous columns have littered the runway with theory and attempted to explain manifold pressure, propeller RPM, and mixture, I’d like to present some suggestions for in-flight techniques to extract better performance from these engines. Some of it will be a little repetitive from prior columns in an attempt to make this column more […]

Early inmy consulting career, I began to notice certain approaches and traits that were common tosuccessful professionals. On the flip side, while working with struggling professionals, Isaw a commonality in their mistakes. The area where the successful professionals excelledwere often the areas where struggling professionals made their mistakes. All technical experience and expertise being equal, […]

I was working as a disk jockey for a small radio station inWashington, Ind., where I grew up. And since my program schedule didn’t start until 6:00PM I had most of the day off. Now you have to remember that a small town has shall we saya limited menu of things to keep a 22-year-old […]

The manifold pressure (MP) gauge is a very simple instrument, but what it does is a mystery to many pilots. Simply put, if you do not fully understand what that instrument is telling you, you cannot possibly understand the engine, engine management, power settings, or troubleshooting. Quiz Time First, allow me to pose a few […]

Growing up in Ohio, I lived andbreathed airplanes. We rode our bikes out to the grass strip at the edge of town to watchthe flying and play around the hangers. We built countless model airplanes. Throughout itall, the idea of actually learning to fly never occurred to me, even when my collegeroommate took lessons. I […]

The instrument rating checkride was the next morning. I wasready. N8236N was washed and polished and oiled and fueled and I had the logbooksthoroughly analyzed. There were bookmarks (these were the olden days, kids, we didn’t havesticky notes) to note the location of all required inspections and ADs. The static systemand altimeter had been freshly […]

The author in a moment of self-assessment following his first taildragger lesson in the Citabria. We tricycle-gear drivers don’t know jack about flying. Tricycle gear makes nearly every landing a greaser. (Well, if you’ve ever seen one ofmine, we’ll call every landing “survivable.”) And, once we’ve learned to fly, wenever much worry “whence the wind.” […]

After you’ve looked at the weather maps and read the observationsand forecasts for a flight, a quick glance at the latest satellite images can help bringeven the cloudiest weather picture into focus. Knowing how to interpret the images canalso help keep you away from dangerous weather.

So, last July, Kal says to me: “Ohhh-kay.” (Honest,he’s straight from the cast of Fargo – maybe that comes from growin’ up inNorth Dakota.) “You’ve done pretty well on the practice IFR patterns with me playin’ATC. Now it’s time for you to do the real thing.” Two weeks earlier I had passed my first flight […]

Several years ago our local sheriff tried to check out in a Cessna L-19 Bird Dog he had obtained for the county following some major thefts at local farms. It did not go well. OK, that’s an understatement. He set some sort of record for groundloops on landing. He went through two instructors trying to […]