One of the cooler things about flying is the ability to seek out and accomplish tangible goals. I don’t know about you, but I like having goals that I can strive for.  I think that’s why sports are so popular, because you always have something to shoot for.  As adults, many of our hobbies take…

Setting Aviation Goals: The SMART Approach Having goals is something we should always endeavor to do. Not just for flying, but since we are talking aviation that will be the context for this article. Certainly these ideas can be applied to anything else in life. When President Kennedy announced in 1961 that we would put…

Here are 10 myths that I hear frequently from folks that are interested in flying, but don’t think they can pursue it.   I can’t afford it. I despise the word “can’t.” There is simply no such thing. If you really want it, you can find the way. It really comes down to choices. With…

Last weekend our local EAA and IAC Chapters hosted the annual joint safety seminar. We also have a FAASTeam representative there so we can give FAA Wings credit to whomever attends. The last couple of years, the venue has been PrimeAero at Marysville airport here in Central Ohio. They are gracious hosts and let us use…

How To Be a Pilot – FREE Poster (Share this with your non-flying friends) As another tool to help aspiring aviators,  I have developed a poster that represents a simplified process for how to get licensed as a Private Pilot. It’s generic in nature, but hopefully it will add value to someone that is out…

Ten Simple things you can do to improve your airmanship. I thought it might be helpful to post up a few things that I have found useful, in terms of keeping the rust off and trying to continuously improve the craft. I’m sure you have some of your own methods and we’d love to hear…

Recurrent Flight Training This month, as I have done for almost 2 decades, I found myself in recurrent flight training. As a corporate pilot, recurrent training is not optional – everyone does it, some begrudgingly, some with enthusiasm, some with nervousness. As I mentioned in this article, not coincidentally six months ago, there are not…

Those dang centerlines: pilot proficiency one landing at a time One of the things that I have to constantly remind myself to do is stay on centerline during landing (and takeoff). Seems like a simple thing. In fact, in my vocation its a requirement, especially on checkrides. From my training days, my old primary instructor,…

When you fly you don’t really think about energy management so much. As long as the fan out front is turning, you don’t have to waste a lot of brain cells on the topic. But what about folks who fly without engines, like glider pilots? They are constantly considering the relationship between the potential energy…

Lean times I have been trying to come to grips with proper leaning of my Lycoming IO-360-A1A. It has the stock Bendix injection system and 10:1 pistons so it’s not a standard setup (due to the high compressions pistons). Unlike many of you, I have only recently learned that I should be aggressively leaning on…