Flight Training

An out-of-the box approach to flying airport traffic patterns is the subject of a new study launched by the University of North Dakota. UND has partnered with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s Air Safety Institute to explore comparisons between the standard rectangular traffic pattern and an oval-shaped one the study is calling a “circular […]

Anyone who wants to fly the Icon LSA now can take instruction in Tampa, Florida, the company announced last week. The new flight center is open at the Peter O. Knight Airport, a general aviation field. The training program is offered not just to A5 position holders but to anyone who wants to sign up. […]

AeroJones, which took over manufacturing and distribution of the Flight Design CTLS line, said it plans to expand early next year with a new facility in Florida. At the Deland Sport Aviation Showcase this week, AeroJones’ John Hurst told AVweb that the company hasn’t settled on a site yet, but the new sport aviation village […]

As simple and straight forward as the visual approach, is sometimes you might end up wishing you were in the soup to minimums. The visual approach has a few traps waiting to grab you. It is important to remember the visual approach is not an instrument approach even though you are still on an IFR […]

In his influential book, Stick and Rudder, Wolfgang Langewiesche states the rudder “. . . causes the greatest difficulty for beginners,” and “. . . even the more experienced pilot often has trouble using it correctly.” Commenting on improper rudder use as a contributing factor in accidents, he states, “In the typical fatal accident, which […]

Women in Aviation International has disbursed more than $10 million in scholarships to help more than 1,300 women advance in aviation careers, and this year they have $662,625 to give away to contenders who apply by Nov. 14. To qualify, applicants must be a WAI member by Nov. 1, so there’s still time, but the […]

As a variation of the old and bold pilots clich, there’s an old Sicilian saying: You can be arrogant; you can be ignorant, but you can’t be both at the same time. It’s appropriate for flying in Alaska, where I live. Every year we revisit the world of midair collisions and year after year, they […]

Last week, I attended a briefing at the local town hall where airport officials briefed a new arrival at the airport, a skydiving operation. As I figured it would, that ignited a minor freakout among the local pilot community, but they listened politely and asked good questions of the operator, who intends to start selling […]

What makes training good? What makes it stick so that when you really need it, you can make the right decision and execute accordingly? Anyone who has earned a flight instructor certificate will remember the Six Laws of Learning as elucidated in the FAA’s dreary Aviation Instructor’s Handbook. My friend John Deakin once told me […]

Compared to landing, taking off is relatively simple. Our instructor lets us make the first takeoff of our very first flying lesson—or at least makes us think we made the takeoff. If everything goes right, it’s easy. But how do you know everything is going right? And how do you know what to do in […]