Learn to Fly

Insider Series

INSIDER SERIES

What to pack for a trip to EAA AirVenture® in Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Are you heading to Oshkosh, Wisconsin for a fun filled week of aviation, aviation and more aviation? This…

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Trivia Teaser …and speaking of aeronautical societies…

Question: What and when was the first technical society for the purpose of both establishing initial credibility for…

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Trivia Teaser: More Than A Rubber Band

Question: Who was the first person to build a rubber band powered airplane, and what was so special…

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Trivia Teaser: Fixed Wing Fuselage

The first modern configuration airplane in history, comprising a fixed wing, fuselage, with horizontal and vertical tail surfaces,…

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Trivia Teaser: Air Resistance

The first person to correctly state the relationship between air resistance and velocity was?

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Trivia Teaser: Wind Tunnels

The first person to propose the use of wind tunnels to gather aerodynamic data was?

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Trivia Testers: Air resistance and velocity

The first person to correctly state the relationship between air resistance and velocity was

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Trivia Teaser: Wind Tunnels

The first person to propose the use of wind tunnels to gather aerodynamic data was?

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Trivia Teaser: Safety First

If it is not possible to get a departure clearance from ATC, and you absolutely must take off…

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Trivia Teaser: Go Ahead, Make Your Day

True or False: America actually had a designated airplane the sole function of which was to be shot…

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Trivia Teaser: For want of a shoe…

True or false: Taking off in a jet airliner with a deflated tire can cause a fire.

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Trivia Teaser: The first bad apple

The first case of unlawful interference with a civil airliner occurred where?

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Trivia Teaser: Just a spoonful of sugar…

True or false: It has been calculated that to carry regularly the weight of just one small sachet…

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Trivia Teaser: Best Altitudes

For a 50-minute flight, what is the most theoretically efficient altitude to climb to?

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Trivia Teaser: Quick! What’s that number, again?

You are flying a Normal Category aircraft. During cruise, ATC informs you that moderate turbulence is to be…

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Trivia Teaser: Best glide, but with a wrinkle

A pilot is in gliding flight at the optimum indicated glide speed and then enters a turn. To…

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Trivia Teaser: Keeping it centered

True or false: NASA and the USAF designed tailless aircraft. In such aircraft, would it be correct to…

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Trivia Teaser: Muddying up the waters

True or false: A departing airliner may stir the fog near an RVR sensor.

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Trivia Teaser: The men from the boys

Special crew qualifications were required to land using a rather infamous approach to the southeast into Hong Kong…

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Trivia Teaser: The real first swept-wing fighter

Question: America’s first swept-wing fighter was?

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AVIATION ADVENTURES

Flying Carpet: Sea and Sand

We had endured a long dry spell here in Arizona, and I'm not just talking about lack of…

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AVIATION ADVENTURES

Flying Carpet: Festival Flying

“Hey, Dan, check out that ’39 Chevy. It’s just like the one I owned in high school –…

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AVIATION ADVENTURES

Flying Carpet: Pilots of wind and water

'See where the river breaks over that wide rock?' said our guide, Donny. 'We need to be careful…

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Two Props and a Pink Slip

I have survived five checkrides in my 18-year flying history, and I dreaded every one. Only one, my…

⏱ 10 min read
AVIATION ADVENTURES

Flying Carpet: Sky King and the Old Apache

Twin-engine airplanes weren't available for rent at my old home airport of Lafayette, Indiana, so when I decided…

⏱ 7 min read
AVIATION ADVENTURES

Lunch on the Lawn with Sean

I thought I was doing fine flying loops and rolls, even a hammerhead, in the brand-new Pitts S2C…

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AVIATION ADVENTURES

Flying Carpet: Of Tanks and Tennis

“I wonder if there’ll be time to land at the Patton Museum.” “I hope so,” said my wife,…

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Trivia Teaser: More Last Words

Question: You've seen the Trivia question about the first words spoken by mankind on another heavenly body, but…

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Trivia Teaser – Built to Last

Question: True or false: Some airport signs are built to withstand the equivalent of an F5 tornado.

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AVIATION ADVENTURES

Goodbye, Don

Don was at the island that Saturday, his bit of paradise on the Canadian side of Lake of…

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IFR Alternates and Minimums Made Easy

Flight under instrument flight rules (IFR) is largely procedural. There’s little room or tolerance for zany spontaneity; if…

⏱ 7 min read
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Filling the Gaps

Efficient in quickly developing pilots, traditional aviation training nonetheless leaves significant knowledge gaps that contribute to the vast…

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Trivia Teaser – Unseating Misconceptions

Question: True or False: There has actually been a scientific study done to disprove the theory that a…

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The ILS

Most pilots with instrument ratings would probably agree that when it comes to an uneventful passage through haze,…

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AVIATION ADVENTURES

Cowboy Pilot

'Howdy Greg, My name is Baldy and I am a working 'wagon trash' cowboy in northern Arizona. Have…

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Non-Precision Approaches

I don't know about you, but you might say that I have an approach/avoidance conflict with some non-precision…

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Trivia Teaser – The Lure of the Straight And Narrow

Question: You experience an engine failure at a fairly charitable altitude (say 4500 feet) during a cross-country flight.…

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PIREPs: Word from Above

I was in the right, front seat of a 1999 A36 Bonanza as we launched on an IFR…

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Trivia Teaser – That little bend in the road, down thar

Question: Why is it that when you are flying over the Midwest, you'll see an endless rectangular array…

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Rosetta Stone

If you’re instrument rated and current, you almost certainly own at least a modest complement of IFR charts…

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AVIATION ADVENTURES

Mustangs in the Great Plains

Flying across two-thirds of the U.S. in an old airplane can seem like crossing the Great Plains in…

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Trivia Teaser: Sticking Points

Question: True or false: The viscosity (or 'stickiness') of a gas actually increases with increasing temperature (unlike a…

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More Lies My AWOS Told Me

A funny thing happened this morning on the way to the traffic pattern. Actually that’s an untruth; it…

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Trivia Teaser: Thin Is In

Question: The advantage of a high aspect ratio wing was first recognized in?

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AVIATION ADVENTURES

Aerial Road Trip

Crowds. Craziness. Music. It’s enough to justify a road trip. I’m not talking Woodstock here, but AirVenture, that…

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Deviating from the POH

An instructor friend of mine wrote: You mentioned in a recent presentation that the only things that are…

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Hot Stuff

At last, I was on my own in a retractable-gear airplane. What’s more, this Cessna’s numerical descriptor started…

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AVIATION ADVENTURES

No Wonder We Fly!

We aviators know how privileged is our view from above — we thrill to Earth’s vigor, form, and…

⏱ 6 min read