Flying with Finesse I love it when we refer to flying as art. It distills away all the sorid technical details and leaves us with the one thing that keeps us coming back, our physical connection with the flying machine. This connection should be a major concern for us as pilots. Our handling of the…
How To Fly a Taildragger: 201 We pick up where we left off in 101 and venture into more of the nuances of conventional gear aircraft. If you haven’t read How To Fly a Taildragger: 101 go there first. One area not mentioned in 101 was how gyroscope precession, spiraling slipstream, p-factor and torque effect a…
How To Fly a Taildragger: 101 I have taught dozens of pilots how to fly taildraggers and in this article, I summarize how it’s done. Note: This information should not be used in lieu of actual flight instruction. Also the terms taildraggers, tail wheel and conventional gear are all synonymous. Pontification: Everyone should learn to…
Formation Flying Editorial/Flight Training This article is not a how-to, there are many good resources on the internet for the nitty-gritty details, rather this a high-level overview of formation flying as it relates to the general aviation pilot. Formation flying might be one of the most rewarding things you can do with an airplane, but…
You might wonder how a big aviation university is doing during the recession. After all, airline flying is not the glamorous, big money career it used to be. What’s a college to do? At Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, change is the order of the day.
Arizona Aerobatics Reprinted article by George Norris The sky is a deep Arizona blue and the hint of wind that sneaks around the windscreen in the open cockpit has a nice early morning chill. You quickly check your airspeed and altitude and then start a 40 degree dive for the desert floor 2500 feet below….
This week I get the privilege of repeating a tradition that has gone on for the last 16 years -recurrent simulator training. I don’t know of many professions where you literally put your career on the line twice a year in exchange for keeping the right to practice your craft for-hire. Take a high-level journey…
When you build an airplane, there are many times that you just need an extra hand. This is especially true with a metal airplane that needs to be riveted together. My son, Mitchel, was my right-hand man in that regard. Since it took almost 5 years to build it, Mitchel was just at the right…
Pilot Training Tools By Pia Bergqvist / Published: Sep 21, 2012 When, if at all, would you let a student bring an iPad or other electronic flight bag into the cockpit? Chris Esposito co-founded Orlando, Florida’s first sport pilot flight school, First Landings Aviation, before putting his skills to use at Air Orlando Aviation, where he instructs…
Preflight Inspections: It’s What You Don’t See That Can Hurt You Doing an adequate preflight inspection is one of the tenants to good airmanship. We pride ourselves on knowing every nut, bolt, and screw on our airplanes, but how well do we really do with our preflights? Let’s examine some of nuances and even some…