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Category Archives: Flight Instructing
Close Calls, Near Misses, and Collisions
I have been following the blogging of a new student pilot from Down Under. Dave refers to himself as a middle-aged pilot learning to fly for the first time in Sydney, Australia. As with pilots all over, he is now … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying, Life in General, Personal
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Tagged a middle-aged pilot learning to fly, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, and collisions, Cessnas, close calls, Close Calls Near Misses and Collisions, danger and fright, engine failures, first solo, flight training, flying, inexperienced pilots, instrument flying, judgment, learning to fly, MidLifePilot’s Flying Blog, near misses, pilots, professional pilots, student pilots, Sydney Australia, taildraggers
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1 Comment
Pipers and Cessnas
It is an age-old aeronautical debate, that of the low wing versus the high winged airplane. Both types have their advantages and each performs equally well, with almost the same performance statistics. So, which holds more positives than negatives? That … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged Cessnas, ease of servicing, glare inside the airplane, low wing versus high wing, Pipers, Pipers and Cessnas, refueling steps, student pilots, the age-old aeronautical debate, The Cessna 172, the Piper Cherokee, traffic avoidance, whichever one you like the best
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5 Comments
Flying at (Density) Altitude
I am a Florida boy who learned to fly at mean sea level. As such, I do not care for a couple of things. The first is cold, the second is high density altitude. Many pilots do not understand the … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying, Personal
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Tagged airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Cessnas, discipline, flight training, Florida, flying, friends, inexperienced pilots, judgment, learning to fly, memories, military service, mountains, Navy, pilots, professional pilots, student pilots, taildraggers, training aircraft
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9 Comments
A Lesson With Two Engines
Yesterday, I finished my piece about flying with Maurice by giving him thanks for a great flying lesson. It got me thinking about other great lessons I learned in airplanes with other flight instructors and I thought of another, with … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying, Personal
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Tagged a great flying lesson, a great lesson, A Lesson With Two Engines, a loss of power, a moment of hesitation, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Cessnas, checklists and running the radio, flight training, flying, following procedures, judgment, learning to fly, multi-engine airplanes, multi-engine flight instruction, one of the best lessons in flying twins, pre-takeoff checks, professional pilots, something wasn’t quite right, surprise in the cockpit is never a good thing, training sortie, turn in the direction of the inoperative engine, twin Cessnas
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1 Comment
Flying the Ercoupe with Maurice
Down at the airport where I first worked as a flight instructor, my friend Maurice kept trying to get me to fly in his Ercoupe. For the pilots unfamiliar with the Ercoupe, it is a lovely little airplane powered by … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flight Instructing, Flying, Life in General, Personal
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Tagged a slight wind right down the runway, airplanes, Cessnas, Ercoupe, flight training, flying, Flying the Ercoupe with Maurice, inexperienced pilots, judgment, landing in a crosswind, learning to fly, learning to fly in tailwheel airplanes, Maurice, memories, no rudder pedals, perfectly calm days, S-turning on final, slipping the airplane, taildraggers, take her around the patch, the limp windsock, the windsock, Time to fly the Ercoupe, training aircraft, watching a tailwheel pilot fly an Ercoupe
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Comments Off on Flying the Ercoupe with Maurice
Unbridled Student Excitement for Flying
Nothing is better than sitting in the office and having a student drop by to talk about flying their first aerobatic flight. When they become so excited they have a hard time containing their enthusiasm, it truly is an amazing … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying, Life in General, Personal
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Tagged a combat veteran of the Middle East, aerobatic flight, Air Force, air show airplanes, airplanes, Beechcraft Bonanza, commission in the Air Force, connecting to my own youth, discipline, enthusiasm for flying, eternally grateful, F-16 Fighting Falcon, first solo, flight training, Florida, flying, flying in the military, formation flying, friends, going vertical, inexperienced pilots, judgment, learning to fly, military service, pilots, professional pilots, pulling 6g’s, slow rolling, student pilots, Sun ’N Fun, taildraggers, tailwheel flying, talking about flying, training aircraft, Unbridled Student Excitement for Flying
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2 Comments
What Sun ’N Fun Is All About
Sun ’N Fun is all about camaraderie. Pure and simple, it boils down to people who like flying and building airplanes getting together in fellowship. There is not one group of people to better “hang out” with than those who … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flight Instructing, Flying, Life in General, Personal
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Tagged a bunch of backyard tinkerers, airplanes, at the hangar one evening, barnstormers, camaraderie, Cessnas, Continental engines, controlling the finances of the project, Experimental Aircraft Association, fellowship, flight training, Florida, flying, friends, homebuilt airplanes, inexperienced pilots, learning to fly, Lycoming engines, open cockpit biplanes, people who like flying and building airplanes, pilots, professional pilots, seeing the light, sitting underneath the wing, student pilots, taildraggers, Tampa, the last of the sunset, training aircraft, What Sun ’N Fun Is All About, “homemade” airplanes, “store-bought” airplanes
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1 Comment
The Smell of Sunshine
To me, traveling from one point precisely to another is fascinating. Navigation is easy to understand when traveling on the surface of the earth. It is a simple matter of following directions. In other words, you can travel down Highway … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flight Instructing, Flying, History, Life in General, Personal
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Tagged a little too cocky, becoming lost, checkpoints, determine direction, draw a line on a chart, following directions, Fort Meade, going from point A to point B, holding airspeed, Lake Wales, measure distance, navigation, navigation at sea, new student pilots dependent on GPS, Piper Cub, setting a heading, technology failure, the compass rose, The Smell of Sunshine
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4 Comments
Teaching Stalls, Part II
Yesterday, we hit the basics of teaching stalls. Today, let’s go a little more in depth. First, some important questions. Why should we learn how to stall? Why should we learn how to recover from a stall? What is the … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged a bona fide short field, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, at what airspeed?, Cessnas, confident of the recovery procedures, controlling the airspeed, discipline, excess speed, flight training, fly with confidence, flying, how?, inexperienced pilots, judgment, landing rollout, learning to fly, pilots, practicing stalls and stall recoveries, professional pilots, recognize the stall, short runways, student pilots, taildraggers, Teaching Stalls Part II, the basics of teaching stalls, the inadvertent stall, the landing area, the moment the wheels touch down, the warnings of impending stall, training aircraft, when the wing is flying again, when?, why?
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2 Comments
Teaching Stalls, Part I
One maneuver scary to many student pilots is The Stall. This maneuver comes in a variety of flavors—there is the power off stall, the power on stall, the approach to landing stall, the accelerated stall. It is no surprise this … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged a bona fide short field, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, at what airspeed?, Cessnas, confident of the recovery procedures, controlling the airspeed, discipline, excess speed, flight training, fly with confidence, flying, how?, inexperienced pilots, judgment, landing rollout, learning to fly, pilots, practicing stalls and stall recoveries, professional pilots, recognize the stall, short runways, student pilots, taildraggers, Teaching Stalls Part II, the basics of teaching stalls, the inadvertent stall, the landing area, the moment the wheels touch down, the warnings of impending stall, training aircraft, when the wing is flying again, when?, why?
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2 Comments
