AOPA Pilot Magazine
Out of the Pattern: Becoming a Better Pilot
To the Next Level
Oh sure, you can make your way around the traffic pattern and 'round the bend to your favorite $100 hamburger fly-out, but how are your flying skills otherwise? Have you really exercised your flying muscles lately? Afraid to fly with a friend or an instructor because you think you might not measure up?
Come along with us over the next 12 months as we explore ways to stretch our skills, become more proficient, and fly more professionally. As we get out of the pattern for some new challenges, we'll share advice on everything from dealing with emergencies to organizing your cockpit.
Besides interviewing pilots and industry experts for this series, we'll pass along tips for perfecting your flying techniques. But we won't stop there. We'll also put our own advice to the test and send members of the AOPA Pilot staff to fly with the new information in order to find out what really works and what doesn't. We hope that following along with us during this process will help you depart the pattern as a better pilot. — The Editors
December, Ready for Anything, Preparing for the unpredictable can help keep you safe, by Elizabeth A. Tennyson
Every pilot trains for emergencies. We practice coping with them. We listen to — and may even tell — exaggerated stories about how we encountered them and cheated death. But as with much of our flying, we also tend to fall into a routine when it comes to preparing for in-flight emergencies.
November, Gear Up! Everything you need, every time, by Julie K. Boatman
In a vain search for the attitude indicator, you look high and low on the panel. The heading indicator's on the left, the airspeed indicator's on the right, and the attitude indicator? Who knows? Maybe in the glove box? In the 1960s, there was no standard for instrument panel organization — as you can tell from the wide variations among otherwise similar aircraft. In 1973 came a standard "T" configuration for instrument panels in aircraft weighing more than 6,000 pounds, and the "six-pack," as it became known, was adopted by most light-aircraft manufacturers as well. Now every instrument pilot knows where to anchor the scan. Organization lowers the workload, and having the panel remain the same no matter what equipment you fly leads to greater situational awareness and safety. The same can be said for another kind of cockpit organization, the kind you take with you in your flight bag.
October, Getting to Know You, Inquisitive pilots want to know all of an airplane's secrets, by Thomas B. Haines
The benefits of flying the same airplane every time you take to the air are almost too numerous to count. It's a luxury afforded those who own airplanes — a luxury sometimes taken for granted. Renter pilots, though, may face the problem of getting to know a different airplane on every flight. And no doubt about it, each airplane is different. Even those of the same year and model may be equipped very differently, and each has its own quirks, dents, dings, and don't dos.
September, Breaking the Mold, Go somewhere else, do something different! by Julie K. Boatman
You got your private pilot certificate two years ago, and so far the 75 hours you've put in your logbook since then read like a bad novel: Page after page of the same tired, old plot. You feign interest in additional ratings, but really you just like to fly for fun. But the fun is wearing thin, and your proficiency is suffering.
August, Aircraft Care and Feeding 101, Adding to the owner experience, by Steven W. Ells
It was easier than you thought it would be. The loan was approved, and with lots of guidance from those helpful people at AOPA, you are now the owner of your first airplane. Congratulations, and get ready to learn!
July, Precision Pilot, Needles centered and locked, by Julie K. Boatman
Your passengers watch you preflight. Though most nonpilot passengers don't know enough about flying to determine whether you've hit everything on the checklist, by taking into account subtle cues such as your attitude they construct their own sense of how the flight will unfold. Once you get airborne, the stage is set. From watching airplanes crash in the movies, nonpilots may believe that the needles flop around like fish on a dock when the situation is about to get out of control. If your instrument panel looks like an early morning wharf scene when you're supposedly in straight-and-level cruise, you too may be subtly eroding passenger confidence.
June, Weather Savvy, Facing down the clouds, by Thomas A. Horne
What's the biggest impediment to a general aviation pilot's getting the most utility out of an airplane? What's the biggest stumbling block in the process of gaining valuable flying experience? What's the most difficult subject for pilots to learn? What's a factor in so many accidents? You guessed it ? the weather.
May, Into the POH, Aircraft performance is black and white, by Nathan A. Ferguson
Whether you're a bush pilot or a weekend flier, it shouldn't take a ramp check to teach you the importance of having a pilot operating handbook (POH) on board. Even if you never get busted, it goes beyond being legal. These guides provide important numbers ? the envelope your aircraft operates within ? that is if you care to open them.
April, Applied Avionics, Making the most of your black boxes, by Thomas A. Horne
Over the past 10 short years, what began as a trickle of new avionics features and capabilities has evolved into a waterfall. In 1990, loran was the hot new technology, and we all thought a one-line, limited-text display was plenty of information. Today, we have IFR approach-certified GPS receivers (some with the capabilities of high-end flight management systems), huge color displays capable of showing uplinked weather and traffic threats, and more and more avionics "peripherals" ? in-flight telephones, e-mail, personal digital assistants, and more.
March, Consistent Landings, Make the same good landing time after time, by Alton K. Marsh
Do you consistently make good landings? The experts see the traffic pattern as a precise ballet where pilots maneuver and reconfigure the aircraft the same way, every time. To them, a good landing starts on downwind, not in the flare.
February, Playing the Physical Advantage, Fitness tips for safer flying, by Alton K. Marsh
Exercise is either the thing you don't do and feel guilty about, or it is part of your life and you still feel guilty because you don't do it enough. Rather than yell at you about breaking your New Year's resolution (so soon?), airshow performers Patty Wagstaff and Sean D. Tucker have some exercise tips that even couch potatoes will like ? tips to help you to improve your health and become a better, safer pilot. They also offer fascinating insight into the physical training required to fly under high-G loads.
January, Setting the Standards, A little structure for conscientious pilots, by Julie K. Boatman
What does it take to get to the top of a mountain? An expedition requires months, often years, of planning, training, and commitment.What do you think? Send us your feedback!
Sign up for ePilot
