Membership: Cast Your Vote

Flight training Experience survey closes August 14

August 1, 2017

From AOPA CFIs

Let’s get down

When it’s time to plan your descent, consider these basics

Q. My instructor has asked me to plan our first cross-country flight. My pilot’s operating handbook has information on climb planning, but it does not have any details on descent planning. When should I start my descent, and how quickly should I descend?

A. Pick an airspeed and a descent rate that fall within the aircraft’s performance envelope. Some pilots prefer to maintain a descent airspeed around the same value as cruise, and others might elect to allow the airspeed to climb to the top of the green arc, when descending in smooth air around maximum structural cruising speed (VNO). Either way, plan on lowering the nose, making a power reduction, and re-trimming at your desired speed.

Descent rates can be chosen based on your aircraft performance as well as picking a value that allows for easy mental math. For example, a 500-feet-per-minute descent rate means you’ll descend 1,000 feet every two minutes. This value works well for typical training airplanes. Subtract your destination airport pattern altitude from your cruise altitude, and use that result to calculate how long it will take you to descend. For example, if your cruising altitude is 8,500 feet and pattern altitude is 1,500 feet, you need to descend 7,000 feet. At 500 feet per minute, that will take 14 minutes (7 × 2). Leave some time to stabilize at pattern altitude.

Passenger comfort also should factor into your choice of descent rate, since the air pressure changes that occur with a descent of 1,000 feet per minute or greater might cause discomfort as the ears attempt to equalize.

Questions? Call the Pilot Information Center at 800-872-2672.

Whether you’re preparing for your first solo, brushing up on regulations, or taking a flight review, AOPA wants to hear from you. The annual Flight Training Experience Survey is available until August 14, 2017 (www.aopa.org/ftsurvey). Your constructive feedback helps AOPA identify the best flight training providers—think of this as a customer satisfaction survey.

Part of AOPA’s You Can Fly program, the Flight Training Experience Survey is based on AOPA’s research into the optimal flight training experience and focuses on educational quality, customer focus, community, and information sharing. Individuals who have taken flight training within the past 12 months are encouraged to complete the survey, which consists of 31 questions about flight schools and 25 questions about flight instructors. The questions are designed to measure the overall performance through the eyes of their customers. A panel of AOPA employees evaluates the responses.

The Flight Training Experience Survey is conducted online and includes measures that prevent ballot stuffing. Individuals can nominate up to one flight school and one flight instructor per year. In 2016, this resulted in reviews of 789 flight schools and 1,515 flight instructors. Awards are selected in each category for the following regions: West, Southwest, Midwest, Southeast, and Northeast.

“Our goal with the Flight Training Experience Survey is to provide schools and instructors with insight into what their customers are seeking,” said Chris Moser, AOPA director of the flight training initiative. “We introduced ‘report cards’ last year to give schools and CFIs even more detailed feedback into their strengths and potential areas for growth. As we expected from the passionate and dedicated people in the flight training industry, we’ve heard from quite a few folks who are glad to know what they should keep doing—and what they can focus on to serve their customers in even better ways.”

www.aopa.org/ftsurvey

Recognize your CFI

When filling out your survey, remember to ask your CFI for his or her certificate number. The survey will ask for the last four digits of your CFI’s certificate number, ensuring the best instructors get the recognition they deserve.

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