The Pre-Flight Briefing - Pilot Shop Blog

When we gaze up at the sky and see birds or planes gracefully gliding across it, we never take a moment to appreciate just how intricate science makes this possible.

A key factor in getting these machines airborne is the aerodynamic shape of their wings: airfoils. In this article, we will delve into the world of airfoil camber, exploring its effect on aerodynamics and how it works to produce lift and power flight.

It happens to everyone, even the most experienced of pilots - a bounced landing. Although they can be unnerving, it's important to stay calm and know that with the right technique, you can recover from one and avoid them in the future.

Here's what you should know and do to help bounce back from one and land safely during your next flight.

Imagine you have designed an excellent aircraft. It’s reliable, economical and requires minimal maintenance. Customers love it. There’s just one problem – your plane is a two-place design, and your company doesn’t yet have the strong four-place offering that customers are looking for. What do you do? Simply stretch the design, add two seats, and make a couple of tweaks for weight and balance, right?

New private pilots are used to flying into smaller airfields and in uncontrolled airspace, but when your flight plans take you to a major city with a large, busy airport, you will need to know how to navigate the crowded skies and runways. That’s right, it’s time to brush up on your Class B airspace knowledge.

Unlike the other five classes of airspace, Class G airspace is uncontrolled. It simply exists anywhere that is not designated as Class A, B, C, D, or E. Class G airspace will be found bordering Class E airspace which is another type of airspace that often needs a bit of explanation.  While IFR traffic is controlled in Class E airspace, once you enter Class G, both VFR and IFR traffic are uncontrolled.

You dream of a life of adventure, of getting paid to travel the world accumulating stamps in your passport and photos for your Instagram page. So how are you going to make that dream a reality? It’s the question you secretly dread. After all, you aren’t an Instagram influencer, a well-known travel writer, or the recipient of a generous trust fund. Working on a cruise ship is out because just taking a water taxi ride is enough to make you nauseous.  You don’t have a pilot’s license and you have no experience as a flight attendant. What’s left?

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.

Learning from the fatal mistakes of others is unfortunately a reality in the aviation world. The more we study and review what went wrong on other flights, the better prepared we will be to manage or avoid similar dangers on our own flights.

The pitot-static system is a pressure-based aircraft system that measures and compares ram air pressure and static pressure. That data is then transmitted to aircraft instruments in the cockpit, giving the pilot information on aircraft altitude, airspeed and vertical speed.

An aviation headset is one of the first pieces of equipment proud new student pilots will purchase. Not only does a headset serve as a communications device, but it also provides noise reduction and noise canceling features. These functions reduce background noise and cabin noise as well as decrease the risk of hearing loss over time.

The airspeed indicator tells a pilot their horizontal velocity, and the altimeter advises pilots of their current altitude, but how does a pilot know how fast that altitude is changing? For this you need to consult your aircraft’s vertical speed indicator (VSI).

On the ground, speed is relatively simple to measure, and vehicles like cars only measure one type of speed. Once you take to the air though, other factors like air density and wind come into play and must be accounted for. Accounting for and quantifying the impact of these factors is what led to the definition of the four different types of airspeed.

Airport signs and airport markings are the guides that help us to navigate the intricate network of aprons, taxiways, runways and other aircraft movement surfaces.

You can’t fly an aircraft that’s not airworthy — it’s the law. This rather black-and-white statement about safe aviation makes sense. But, in reality, the world is not black-and-white. Situations arise that may require you to move a plane that does not meet the legal definition for airworthy.