The skills required to pass an instrument rating checkride in an airplane with analog instruments, for example, have little in common with the tasks IFR pilots perform using modern, glass-panel avionics. And the autopilot foibles, programming errors, and vertical navigation mistakes that are so problematic in today’s instrument environment get scant attention during IFR training because the advanced avionics complicit in those blunders are seldom found in IFR trainers.
Want to make learning to fly even more fun? Do it in your own airplane. Renting is common for most students, but you don’t have to be most students. Owning your training airplane is a great way to get fully engaged in aviation, have continuity throughout your training, and maybe even save some money. Here’s how to do it.
It bit hard and deep, that flying bug. Somehow you succumbed to that wonderful illness of aviating and earned those coveted FAA ratings years ago, maybe in your 20s.
A good friend we’ll call “Bob” (because that’s his name) recently passed his multiengine checkride.
As in most multiengine training, one-engine-inoperative procedures centered around the mantra of “identify, verify, feather, secure.”
The skills required to pass an instrument rating checkride in an airplane with analog instruments, for example, have little in common with the tasks IFR pilots perform using modern, glass-panel avionics. And the autopilot foibles, programming errors, and vertical navigation mistakes that are so problematic in today’s instrument environment get scant attention during IFR training because the advanced avionics complicit in those blunders are seldom found in IFR trainers.
When cold, a carbureted aircraft engine may not generate sufficient heat to vaporize the fuel in its cylinders, resulting in an engine that won’t start. A manual fuel primer injects vaporized fuel directly into one or more of the engine’s cylinders to aid in starting. Fuel-injected engines do not require a primer.
Want to make learning to fly even more fun? Do it in your own airplane. Renting is common for most students, but you don’t have to be most students. Owning your training airplane is a great way to get fully engaged in aviation, have continuity throughout your training, and maybe even save some money. Here’s how to do it.
Learning to fly is challenging—arguably, one of the most challenging tasks you’ve ever undertaken. But the thrill of success and the satisfaction of accomplishment far outweigh the hard work and effort you’ll invest in the process.
Drones flew through the air and guests took turns piloting a flight simulator during the opening of an aviation technology program at Hereford High School near Baltimore, Maryland, powered by the AOPA High School Aviation STEM Curriculum for youth.
The airlines are on a pilot hiring binge but, ironically, there’s a scant amount of comprehensive reading material aimed at pilots aspiring to fly turbine-powered airplanes.
When you pass your checkride, you’ll gain the privilege of flying passengers. And while sharing the joy of general aviation is unique and worthwhile, passengers are a new and potentially distracting factor to deal with in flight. Here are some tips to make your post-checkride flying a success.
I had just earned my instrument rating, and decided to take my first solo IFR flight, since the weather was perfect to fly through clouds below the freezing layer for some time in actual instrument conditions.
Lisa stood on the edge of the action at the hangar cookout in a way I immediately recognized. She didn’t know anybody, wasn’t sure how to integrate herself into the group, and probably felt a little out of place.
I was deep in the flare, steadily increasing the back-pressure on the control wheel as I held the airplane off the runway to achieve a full-stall landing. All three tires touched the runway at about the same time with a slight bounce, and the airplane coasted to a stop without the need for brakes.
