The Pre-Flight Briefing - Pilot Shop Blog

Non-pilots sometimes see aircraft come in for a landing, briefly touch down to the runway, and then just as quickly accelerate and take back off. These non-aviators are often confused by the maneuver and wonder what the pilot was doing. Fellow pilots will recognize that the aircraft was executing a touch and go landing.

A ramp check, or ramp inspection as the FAA officially refers to it as, is something many pilots dread. Of course, we all need to remember that flying is a privilege, not a right, so you can be questioned by authorities within reason. Most inspectors won’t harass you or draw out the inspection. A standard ramp check should be relatively quick and straightforward.

Are you a general aviation pilot with a third-class medical certificate? Would you like an alternative to visiting a designed aviation medical examiner (AME) every few years in order to maintain your medical clearance? How would you like the ability to have your personal physician conduct your medical exam?

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.

The sport pilot license, or certificate, is the FAA’s newest addition to the pilot certificate line-up. Developed in 2007, the purpose of the sport pilot certificate is to make flying more affordable and easily available to everyone. Now students who aren’t yet able to afford the time investment or cost of a private pilot license have a quick and inexpensive alternative.

On the hunt for an aircraft plan or kit that strikes that just right balance of affordability, performance and dependability? The Hummel H5 is a definite must-consider contender. It is brought to us by a small American company committed to providing plans and kits with flexible building options for customers on a modest budget who are looking for a way to get up in the air and enjoy flying.

Small commuter flying got a whole lot more enjoyable with the release of the Cessna 340 in 1972. The pressurized cabin of this light twin piston engine business aircraft was designed for optimum passenger comfort while the twin turbocharged engines delivered on performance.

Canada is home to plenty of rugged wilderness that just begs the adventurous pilot to come explore it. With towering mountain summits presiding over turquoise blue lakes and an abundance of wildlife, the lure of the Canadian wilderness is all but impossible to ignore, so perhaps it is only natural that a Canadian company was the maker of arguably the best bush plane in history – the De Havilland Beaver DHC-2.

Usually when we talk about airplane stalls, we are referencing aerodynamic wing stalls. A lesser discussed and potentially more lethal type of aerodynamic stall is a tailplane stall. As a pilot, it’s important to understand the unique situations in play leading up to and during a tailplane stall so that you can successfully prevent, recognize, and recover from these dangerous types of stalls.

“Step on the ball!” You probably remember your flight instructor drilling this into you during initial flight training as a student pilot. When making a turn, we know that the ball (or white triangle if we’re flying a modern glass cockpit) of the turn coordinator is supposed to stay centered. If it’s off to the right or left, we are flying an uncoordinated turn and need to adjust our control inputs.

Graveyard spiral – even the name sounds deathly ominous. Clearly if you have the misfortune to enter this type of spin, your fate is already sealed and you are doomed, right? Not so fast. Is this scenario dangerous? Absolutely. Have many pilots including John F. Kennedy Jr. died after going into a graveyard spiral? Yes. Do you have to be one of them? Definitely not.

If you’re designing an aircraft that travels at speeds capable of generating sustained flight, it only stands to reason that you would build in some sort of means of stopping said craft when it returns to the ground, right?

So, you want to learn how to fly an airplane? Wonderful! As you dip your toes into the world of aviation and decide to earn a pilot’s license, you may wonder which type of license – or certificate as it is generally referred to – is right for you. One of the entry-level choices that may be a good fit is a recreational pilot license.