The Pre-Flight Briefing - Pilot Shop Blog

If you’re dreaming of becoming a pilot, but you don’t know how to pay for flight school, this post is for you. You don’t know how to find $70,000 for flight training, but here’s the thing: believe it or not, you have plenty of options.

Imagine you’re a freshly minted commercial pilot. Congratulations! One thing on the mind of many newly certified commercial pilots is, “How can I use this new certificate to earn some money?”

If your flight schedule involves an overnight, no matter how much you want to travel light, there’s just no way you’re cramming a change of clothes plus your toiletries inside your flight bag. (And really, do you actually want your dirty socks hanging out next to your headset case on the way home?)

“Make it strong. Make it simple. Make it fast.” These are Mooney Airplane Company’s words to live by as they design their legendary aircraft. The Mooney mentality has developed quite a following with Mooney aficionados - self-described as “Mooniacs.”

What kind of pilot would fly after a drink? Not you, right? Good. Same here, but if we are being honest, how many of us have experienced signs of hypoxia (oxygen deficiency) while at the controls?

Fair warning – if you think you are fully confident in your understanding of maneuvering speed, the article you are about to read may rock your world. When you research this topic, it quickly becomes apparent that many pilots think they have a solid grasp on the concept, but when asked to explain it, the certainty breaks down in the details. Even an understanding based on FAA documentation can get convoluted and confusing.

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.

One of the big debates when it comes to selecting an aircraft is the choice of turboprop vs jet engine. Light jets are more common in private aviation, but Forbes recently reported that charter activity for turboprops had increased by 8% year-over-year.

It’s the worst-case scenario that none of us want to think about. During a winter flight, we had to make an emergency landing in a remote location where there is no cell service. Our radio was damaged in the landing, and the battery in the portable radio is dead.  We were flying VFR and did not file a flight plan, so no one with the FAA will know we are overdue when we fail to arrive at our destination. Now what?

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.

Gliding or “soaring,” as it is often referred to, is one of the most graceful, exhilarating ways to experience flight. Pilots who enjoy soaring are often drawn to the intellectual challenge of reading the air currents like the birds do so they can stay aloft longer and sweep through the skies. No engine, no fuel – just you, your sailplane and the currents.

Piper Aircraft got its start in 1927 with the Taylor Brothers Aircraft Manufacturing Company out of Rochester, New York. The Taylor brothers – Clarence and Gordon – started the company to produce their Taylor Chummy, a two-place high-wing monoplane design.

We have been fooled by the atlas. Its two-dimensional presentation of Earth causes us to think about international travel from a west to east perspective. Hong Kong, for example, is east of New York.

It’s the day you’ve been preparing for and perhaps also dreading. You’re excited to officially become a private pilot, and there is just one more major hurdle you need to jump through in order to do it – you need to pass your checkride.