The Pre-Flight Briefing - Pilot Shop Blog

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.

Every pilot has a library. Some are bigger than others, but they all include at the very minimum the basic textbooks that got you through your certification training. If you have a little more space to play with, you may find yourself wondering what books you should add to your collection.

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.

Our physical human senses are well-adapted to provide us with information about what is happening in the world around us. Usually this information is accurate, but don’t get complacent. Our senses are not fool proof and they can be tricked, especially during flight.

For new pilots making their first nighttime approach to landing, when the runway comes into sight, it can easily appear as a complex and confusing sea of lights and colors. While we may not be able to take away all the butterflies that come with tackling that first night landing, it pays to dedicate some time prior to the flight for reviewing all the airport runway lights you can expect to see. Knowing their configuration, spacing, color, and purpose has the power to bring clarity to the confusion and to train our eyes to pick out and understand what we are seeing as we make that approach to landing.

How perfect and infallible is your memory? Would you bet your life on it? Probably not, but if you are taking off for a flight without having gone through a preflight checklist, you are indeed betting your life on your memory.

Pivotal altitude is the specific altitude at which, when an airplane turns at a given groundspeed, from the pilot’s point of view, the plane’s wingtip seems to pivot around a single fixed reference point on the ground.

Are you a student pilot getting ready to log your first cross country flight? Perhaps you have been flying for a while and want to check in to see what tips other pilots have when it comes to cross country flying. Either way, you are in the right place.

A pilot kneeboard is one of the cockpit essentials that every pilot from a first-time student to a seasoned ATP needs for each flight. At its most basic, a kneeboard is an organizational system that straps onto your thigh and serves as a readily accessible and highly visible place to organize charts, documents, paperwork and digital devices. Styles vary and your choice of kneeboard will depend on what tools you will be using most in your cockpit.

Before we get into our list of the easiest planes to fly, it is only fair to point out that the concept of ease of flying is inherently subjective. Yes, there are certain characteristics that most pilots will look for and most designers will incorporate on an aircraft that is easy to fly, but there is no universal checklist. We are all different and our perceptions of the relative ease of flying a given aircraft will vary.

The “squawk sheet, “gripe sheet,” or “aircraft discrepancy log” as it is more officially titled is intended as a communication tool to pass vital aircraft performance concern information between pilots and maintenance engineers.

You are planning your flight and need to check surface weather conditions at your destination airport. But which system do you use? AWOS? ASOS? What is the difference between the two and how do you know which system an airport is using?

For decades, the stereotype has been that men fly the aircraft and women serve the beverages. Times and beliefs are steadily changing, but the gender gap between men and women in the cockpit is still very wide. If you are looking for some inspirational female pilot role models and mentors for yourself or a young aspiring female aviator, go follow the Instagram accounts of these fantastic women.