Pilot Shop Blog — Training
Aircraft Category and Class: What is the Difference Between Them? 0
What category and class of aircraft are you certified to fly? Now, what are the category and class of your private plane? One of the most confusing aspects of aircraft category and class designations is that there are actually two different sets of designations, depending on the frame of reference – pilot or aircraft.- PilotMall.com Editor
- Tags: Student Pilot Training
Types of AIRMETs: Complete Guide on These 3 Conditions 0
As a responsible human being and pilot, before you commit to a flight, you naturally will want to check the weather. An AIRMET is one of the sources that pilots use to gather the meteorological information needed for flight planning and decision making.
Wake Turbulence Avoidance: All the Details to Keep in Mind 0
You are setting up your approach for a landing in your Cessna 172 when you realize that a large jet is in the pattern just ahead of you. Before you can react, your whole plane is violently shoved to the side and rolls as if pushed by an invisible hand. You quickly right yourself and resume course as your understandably flustered passenger asks, "What just happened?" Your answer? "Wake turbulence."
Class D Airspace: Everything You Need to Know 0
As a pilot flying out of a smaller airport just big enough to have a control tower, you will quickly become familiar with Class D airspace. This type of airspace is one that most general aviation pilots will encounter and need to be well-versed in.
How to Read a TAF (Terminal Aerodrome Forecast) 0
For all the new pilots wondering how to read a TAF, you are not alone. Pull up a terminal aerodrome forecast, and you will quickly realize that the entire thing is written using codes or acronyms that must be deciphered and decoded. The good news is that TAFs and METARs use many of the same abbreviations, so once you learn one, the other will be much easier and quicker to grasp.
How to Read an Altimeter (Complete Guide) 0
A cockpit can be outfitted with all the gauges in the world, but if a pilot is not comfortable reading them and using that information to make an informed decision about flying the aircraft, what is the point? An altimeter is one of those key gauges that every pilot must be competent using.
ILS Approach: Instrument Landing Systems Explained 0
When you make the leap and decide to earn your instrument certification, one of the first new systems that your CFI will be introducing you to is the ILS, or instrument landing system. The ILS has been around and being used to help IFR pilots land for more than fifty years.
Circling Approach: How to Accomplish It and What is it? 0
When we visualize our landings, we usually picture ourselves aligned with the runway centerline as we fly the final approach. Most of the time, that is exactly what the reality looks like, but what happens when we are flying an instrument approach and that approach is not aligned with the runway we wish to land on or conditions do not permit us to land on the aligned runway? Now what can we do? The solution is to execute a circling approach.
Special VFR Clearance: Everything You Need to Know 0
Perhaps this sounds familiar: you are at your local airport running your preflight and you notice that although the weather at your destination is excellent, and conditions en route are also good, some low clouds are lingering nearby. Everything is clear in your direction of travel, but the rotating beacon is on. Due to the clouds, the airport is now operating under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), and you were planning for a Visual Flight Rules (VFR) trip.
Dutch Roll: Everything You Need to Know About It 0
A Dutch roll – it sounds delicious, but do not start licking your lips and drooling over the thought of some new scrumptious pastry delight just yet. Rather than describing a dessert, the Dutch roll is the name given to a series of aircraft motions that in most cases pilots enter into unintentionally.
GUMPS Check: Checklist that Every Pilot Needs (Crucial) 0
Pilots just love their checklists, don’t they? Part of being a pilot is managing and methodically working through a series of checklists designed to keep us safe through each phase of our flight. We know they are vital and that properly following the checklists significantly cuts our risk of preventable and potentially catastrophic critical fails.
Coffin Corner: Reaching Beyond the Limitations 0
The bearer of an ominous name, coffin corner sounds eerily spooky, but it need not be. The airplane behaviors within coffin corner are all governed by several known aerodynamic factors. Once the interaction between these factors is explained and understood, coffin corner becomes much more predictable and navigable for the skilled pilot.
