Milestones

Your first greaser. Your first diversion. Your first flight with family. Solos and checkrides get all the glory, but flying is full of milestones marking growth in skill, judgment, and confidence. At Flight Training, our mission is to empower you to tackle your next aviation challenge and celebrate your next milestone—in initial training and beyond.

This month, we’re unveiling a redesign of Flight Training with a fresh, modern look to support you with practical insight and inspiration through initial training, advanced ratings, and beyond. From a dynamic new cover design to engaging, educational illustrations and inspiring photos to keep you motivated on your journey, this redesign reaffirms our commitment to the philosophy that has guided us for close to three decades: A good pilot is always learning.

Aviation concepts can be complex, so our goal is to present them clearly, with no unnecessary complications. We’ve chosen clean designs and legible fonts that let you focus on learning without visual clutter, worked closely with illustrators to convey important ideas visually, and focused our content on practical tips to help you get the most out of your flying.

Aviation concepts can be complex, so our goal is to present them clearly, with no unnecessary complications.The best flying advice comes from flying experience, and our contributors draw from the wisdom of tens of thousands of hours of flight time. A dozen of our regular contributors are flight instructors, with experience in a wide range of aircraft and operating environments: airline flying, seaplanes, aerobatics, single-pilot IFR, backcountry operations, and more. The rest of us—pilots of all experience levels who enjoy flying everything from vintage taildraggers to modern IFR travelers—offer insights from our own experience and tap into the expertise of pilots and instructors from around the country and here at AOPA. Among the staff at the association, we have 25 flight instructors with specialized knowledge in topics including regulatory interpretations, career development, tailwheel flying, and instructional techniques.

(Did you know you have access to the same wealth of knowledge through AOPA’s Pilot Information Center? AOPA’s staff of experienced pilots, flight instructors, A&P mechanics, and medical certification specialists respond to more than 200,000 member questions and thousands of chats, emails, and letters each year.)

Every CFI has a slightly different perspective: a fresh way of explaining a topic, a warning borne from experience, a personal technique that helps a concept click. At Flight Training, we translate these oral traditions to the page. With this redesign, we were careful to make the space for more real-world insights from pilots who live the general aviation lifestyle every day.

If you’re training for an airline career, you may only have a passing understanding of what general aviation is, let alone the myriad opportunities within this varied segment of flying. In “Zero to Hero,” p. 40, airline pilot Danielle Donovan shares how her experiences within GA while time building prepared her for her ultimate goal of flying for a major airline. But Donovan didn’t leave small airplanes behind when she got her first type rating. She still flies GA, too. And we hope that through Flight Training, you’ll discover the rich and rewarding world of general aviation.

This redesign is built around your next adventure. In addition to offering insights to help you pass your checkride and fly safely, we’ll showcase skill-building destinations, jobs, and experiences and introduce you to fellow pilots who are achieving their goals. Whatever your next flying milestone, Flight Training is here to help.