Learn to Fly

Insider Series

CONTINUING EDUCATON

Trivia Testers : Climbing On the Prop

True or false: Apart from tilt-rotor or "powered lift" category aircraft, it is physically impossible for a propeller…

⏱ 7 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

High Risk, Part 1

We pilots take pride (and some even revel) in our ability to overcome obstacles -- but sometimes, the…

⏱ 4 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Dick’s Follies #7 — Usable Fuel

Once set into the design, unless changed through the addition of extra fuel tanks, the “fuel hand” you've…

⏱ 3 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Calling the Ball

Getting aligned with a runway in visual conditions is no big deal; it's intuitively obvious when your flight…

⏱ 6 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Trivia Testers : First Blood

Who was the first person in history to write about flying in any mechanical or truly scientific sense?

⏱ 5 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Position and Hold

Turning base to final, I saw a Piper Cherokee sitting on the centerline at the arrival end of…

⏱ 5 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Wheels Up

Just like the arguments over which is the better alternative between high-wing or low-wing, tricycle gear or tail-draggers,…

⏱ 6 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Want to Lose Your Insurance? Bust a Reg

Insurance is what most pilots use to manage the risk of flying -- it's important for you and…

⏱ 4 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Trivia Testers : Hold On There!

A few weeks ago, a Trivia Tester featured the so-called birth of carrier aviation with the world's first…

⏱ 5 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Where The Wing Goes

High, low, or in the middle -- which is better and why (a not-so-serious look). When Otto Lilienthal…

⏱ 7 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Airspace Misperception

I flew for years with the metal image of the "up-side-down wedding cake" as the shape of Class…

⏱ 3 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Trivia Testers : Body By Coke

The average 1970s vintage Cessna 172 has enough aluminum to make the equivalent of roughly how many typical…

⏱ 3 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

VFR Waypoints & Challenge 7 (a life hangs in the balance)

Most all of the iPilot readers who responded to Challenge 6 knew what VFR Waypoints are (apparently, so…

⏱ 3 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Cell Phones In Practice

Cell phones are handy, but there are potential 'gotchas' when using a cell phone to talk to Flight…

⏱ 6 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

More Tales of Unscrupulous Rick

Last week, you read about Tricky Rick, the airplane dealer who tried to sell us a Skyhawk but…

⏱ 4 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Trivia Testers : The Early Bird Gets The… Patent?

How long after their first flight did the Wright brothers submit their first patent application?

⏱ 3 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Aviators — the Coast Guard Auxiliary Needs You!

The easiest way to fly for your country? -- a guest editorial written by Wayne Spivak, ADSO-CS 1SR…

⏱ 5 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Tales of Unscrupulous Rick

There are plenty of honest aircraft dealers out there... and there are exceptions, too. Honest dealers work to…

⏱ 5 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

The Better Student

Flight instructors have many obligations, but so do their students. In addition to teaching, coordinating their schedules with…

⏱ 5 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Trivia Testers : Stalling and Falling

An airplane can be made to stall at any speed. Okay then, at what airspeed will any airplane…

⏱ 4 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Trivia Testers : The First Woman to Fly Across the Atlantic

From the first flight over the ocean to the first landing on the ocean, try this week's 3…

⏱ 5 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Flying With Kids

Children can be the most cooperative, curious, and cheerful of airborne companions -- I said they can be.…

⏱ 6 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Trivia Testers : Landing Downwind

For what reason might you want to land on the downwind side of a runway, in crosswind conditions?

⏱ 4 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Changing the Oil

I changed the oil in the Beech Sierra on a hot, humid morning in July … and found…

⏱ 6 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

The Cheap Annual — A Dangerous Proposition

Ah, it's that time of year again! Spring has rolled past, and with it have come blooming flowers,…

⏱ 5 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Challenge 5 Review … And Challenge 6

I called out the Interactive Pilot readers a few weeks ago by asking them to get off the…

⏱ 4 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Trivia Testers : Taking a Wrong Turn

In a level turn, the number of "gees" a pilot pulls (which is also known as the "load…

⏱ 4 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Look Out Above

When we fly we are accustomed to scanning the ground for obstructions like building cranes, towers, buildings, and…

⏱ 3 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Trivia Testers : There’s No Place Like Home

To completely escape the possibility of a lightning strike in the vicinity of a thunderstorm, an aircraft would…

⏱ 4 min read
LAW

The Last Straw

Remember the Cessna 182 that blundered into the prohibited airspace around Washington DC recently -- the one that…

⏱ 6 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Touch-and-Goes: The Rewards, The Risks

Flaps full. Power to idle. Hold the nose off ... hold it up, hold it up, let the…

⏱ 9 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Invisible Radar Area

Across the United States there are Airport Surveillance Radar sites that do not have boundaries shown on the…

⏱ 3 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Chart Check — Are Yours Up to Date?

I got a real eye-opener from an airport operator the other day. After landing at Brandywine PA (N99),…

⏱ 4 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Trivia Testers : The Size of Thor’s Quiver

Lightning bolts, the worst airship tragedy in history and the first female airline pilot...

⏱ 3 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Interactive Challenge Results — And Challenge 5

It looks like you really did your homework on this one. The Interactive Pilot readers who took challenge…

⏱ 2 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Banking On Airspeed

If there is any one aspect of aeronautical knowledge that has great potential to either expand one’s understanding…

⏱ 8 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Trivia Testers : IL CAPO DI TUTTI I PILOTI DI CACCIA

The highest-scoring, most deadly, boss-of-all-bosses, and root'n-toot'n-est Top Gun fighter pilot ace of all time was...

⏱ 5 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Trivia Testers : Who Takes The Cake?

Tornadoes are the most severe weather phenomena. Which country can therefore be said to have the "worst weather…

⏱ 2 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Is Blue Tougher than Red?

As you study and learn the Sectional Chart symbols for landmarks and airspace you begin to notice a…

⏱ 2 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Steep Turns: More Than Meets the Eye

Steep Turns, also called Steep Power Turns, are another "performance" maneuver that is useful for more than passing…

⏱ 5 min read
LAW

National Parks and ‘Good-neighbor’ Airspace

Flying to one of America's National Parks and seeing the landscape that makes that area special is one…

⏱ 3 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

IFR Advisor Part 2: Checkride Prep

I am a new pilot and would like to immediately start working on my IFR. Several of my…

⏱ 6 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Trivia Testers : Almost Famous Airplanes

Rod Machado is always using poor hapless Two-One-Three-Two-Bravo in his aviation anecdotes. Was there really such an aircraft…

⏱ 3 min read
WEATHER

Line of Storms

The weather briefer told me there'd be 'nothing' between me and home for the 2.5 hour flight --…

⏱ 3 min read
LAW

Presidential Airspace

Did you know that a moving Prohibited Area always follows the President of the United States where ever…

⏱ 3 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Talk Radio

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, many people (as many as one in five) suffer from…

⏱ 7 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

Trivia Testers : Maybe Not Even Steven

For many Cessna singles, why will fuel burn NOT be the same between the two tanks when the…

⏱ 3 min read
CONTINUING EDUCATON

IFR Training: One Guy’s Opinion

'Confused VFR Pilot' writes: 'I'm ready to start working toward my IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) rating, but I'm…

⏱ 6 min read