The Pre-Flight Briefing - Pilot Shop Blog

Calling all aircraft trivia buffs – what are the most produced aircraft of all time? Consider about both fixed wing and rotor craft from both the civil and military sectors worldwide. Then gather your pilot pals around, make your guesses and then read on to discover how many of the top twenty-two aircraft you named.

Everyone who holds at least a private pilot’s license has had to learn about and practice recovering from stalls. You may recall that during ground school, you were taught about angle of attack, critical angle of attack and various types of stalls.

Do you have what it takes to thrive in a fast-paced aviation job where your actions and decisions can mean the difference between safety and tragedy for hundreds of people?

The FAA bills ADS-B as, “an environmentally friendly technology that enhances safety and efficiency, and directly benefits pilots, controllers, airports, airlines, and the public.”

On the other side of the fence are those who see ADS-B as a complex, confusing, and expensive alternative to standard radar.

Keep reading for ADS-B answers and more, plus we will share our recommendation for an easy, low cost product solution that will have you ADS-B compliant.

Have you ever wondered why some planes can do acrobatic stunts while others can't? It all comes down to stability.

In this guide, we'll explain the basics of flight stability and how it impacts how an airplane flies. We'll cover three types of stability to help you understand how an aircraft behaves.

By the end, you will learn everything you need to know about flight stability characteristics and their importance in the design of aircraft.

As you prepare to land a Cessna 172, your heart starts racing when you notice a large jet in front of you. Before you can react, a powerful force slams into your plane, causing it to lurch to the side and roll uncontrollably. After regaining control, your passenger asks you what had happened.

All you can manage to say is, "Wake turbulence."

While driving, a simple call to roadside assistance can easily solve any car troubles. However, with airplanes, even minor mechanical or electrical failures have the potential to be catastrophic.

Unlike cars, there is no breakdown lane in the sky, making aircraft inspections invaluable for preventing and addressing airworthiness issues before they become dangerous.

In this guide, we will cover everything you need to know about aircraft maintenance and inspections for your plane's airworthiness. Get out those aircraft logbooks and get ready!

As pilots, we often focus on the technical aspects of our job, like testing the engine during the run-up process. Understanding a particular engine type and how it works can greatly benefit a pilot. In this guide, we'll take a deep dive into turboprop engines and piston engines.

Are sectional charts becoming obsolete? With the advancement and widespread adoption of electronic flight bags since receiving FAA approval in the early 2000s, there has been a growing movement towards ditching traditional paper charts.

Before we jump on this bandwagon, let's weigh the pros and cons of both paper and electronic aviation charts. After all, when it comes to safety in the cockpit, we want to make sure we're making the most informed decision.

So, is it time to say goodbye to paper charts or do they still have a valuable place in our arsenal?

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.

Learn from their misfortunes and remain one of the pilots who has “not done it” by learning and using the GUMPS checklist before each landing.

As you're peacefully navigating on your flight path, you notice unexpected clouds forming below. Thankfully, you have an IFR rating and the necessary equipment for instrument flying. Unfortunately, you realize that you didn't file an IFR plan with flight service. But don't panic! The FAA has a solution for situations like this: a pop-up IFR clearance.

In this guide, we'll cover 7 of the important details you need to know about requesting this type of clearance.

For new student pilots, weather reports can be tricky to understand. They use terms that we don't often hear in our everyday lives. One of those terms is "cloud ceilings". This may seem like a strange phrase, but it's actually very important for new pilots to know if they want to read weather reports (METARs) correctly.

In this article, we'll break down what cloud ceilings are and help you understand them better.

Unless you're a commercial pilot for an airline, the term "Pre-Departure Clearance" may be unfamiliar to you. But what exactly is it and how does it affect private pilots? Although it has some similarities to an IFR clearance, there are also significant differences.

In this guide, we'll cover everything you need to know about a pre-departure clearance, from what they are to how to request them.

The idea for the helicopter has been around since the 15^th-century when Leonardo da Vinci sketched his diagram of an “aerial screw.” Additional theoretical designs were conceived over the following centuries, but first-generation working helicopters weren’t built until the early 1900s around World War I. These early models were unstable and unreliable. It wasn’t until 1939 that Igor Sikorsky finally produced the first truly functional and practical helicopter—the VS-300.

The term "Contact Approach" might sound pretty straightforward—simply contact approach control on the designated frequency.

Unfortunately, that'd be the wrong assumption, this phrase refers to a specific type of approach request that IFR pilots must become familiar with in case they need it during landing at their destination airport.

In this article, we will get into all the details and clear up any confusion surrounding contact approaches.

As your jet plane turns onto the runway you eagerly anticipate the takeoff. Suddenly, you are startled by a loud bang and flash of fire from one of the engines. What's going on? Is everything alright?

In this article, we'll delve into the world of compressor stalls—what they are, how to handle them, and how to avoid them altogether.