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Tag Archives: student pilots
The Magic Plastic Wheel
Ernest K. Gann, the aviation writer of the Twentieth Century, once wrote about the plastic E6-B flight computer that resided in his top pocket of his uniform shirt. Other pilots had other favorite places in or on their uniform for … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying, Personal
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Tagged Air Force, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Cessnas, discipline, E-6B, Ernest K. Gann, flight calculators, Flight instructors, flight training, flying, inexperienced pilots, instrument flying, judgment, learning to fly, military service, Navy, pilots, professional pilots, student pilots, training aircraft, whiz wheels
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Ready, Set, GO!
Yesterday, I wrote about my time. Well, there is something more to this time of year than just getting up early and enjoying the mornings. The one great event of this time of year, for all pilots, is the annual … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying, Life in General, Personal
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Tagged Air Force, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, aviators, barnstormers, Cessnas, classic and antique airplanes, Flight instructors, flight training, Florida, flying, friends, homebuilts, inexperienced pilots, kitplanes, Lakeland, learning to fly, memories, oshkosh, Ready Set GO!, student pilots, Sun ’N Fun, taildraggers, training aircraft, young aviators
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Pattern Discipline
Flying the landing pattern is one of those simple tasks that makes use of all the fundamentals of flying. It also uses other skills and disciplines–along with math and physics–and a “dash” of common sense. The start of a good … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Cessna 170, Cessnas, discipline, flight training, flying, inexperienced pilots, judgment, landing, learning to fly, pilots, professional pilots, short field landing, soft field landing, student pilots, taildraggers, training aircraft
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Maximum Cruise Range
Engineers love playing with numbers, equations, and graph paper. They like playing with lines, French curves, straightedges, and their triangles. From all of their frivolous number-crunching and sketching, sometimes they come up with specific useful information. They, the engineers, discuss … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Cessnas, computers, discipline, flight training, flying, judgment, learning to fly, pilots, professional pilots, student pilots
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1 Comment
Cruising, Explained
Sometimes, I think there are pilots who do not understand the relationship between speed, building time, and money. Especially those with only a bit of flight time in their logs. They need to build time; yet, they fly their cross-country … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged 55 percent power, 75 percent power, a “need for speed”, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Cessnas, cruise speeds, Cruising—Explained, discipline, enjoy the ride, flight training, flying, inexperienced pilots, learning to fly, pilots, professional pilots, responsible for the fuel bill, student pilots, the cost of fuel
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4 Comments
Inexperienced Pilots and the Just Highlander
Someone had an interesting query for Google the other day. It was “highlander aircraft inexperienced pilot.” The Google machine brought the Googler right straight to my blog. When I saw the query in the software, I started thinking about it … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flying, Life in General
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Tagged airplanes, airspeed, altitude, flight training, flying, inexperienced pilots, judgment, learning to fly, pilots, professional pilots, student pilots, taildraggers, training aircraft
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3 Comments
Looking Both Ways
In teaching student pilots, I have been amazed that a few will cross a runway or taxiway without looking. At airports with control towers and active ATC, the instances of this happening are more pronounced than at airports without ground control. The … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying, Personal
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Tagged a late Friday afternoon, airplanes, airports with control towers, Cessnas, clearance to our ramp, crossing a runway or taxiway without looking, discipline, Flight instructors, flight training, flying, inexperienced pilots, judgment, learning to fly, look both ways, Looking Both Ways, making the approach to another airport, pilots, professional pilots, similar runway patterns, student pilots, teaching student pilots, the mighty PA-44 Seminole, using the radio
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2 Comments
Precession – Is It Really A Left Turning Tendency?
Flight instructors teach their students about the left-turning tendencies an airplane encounters on takeoff. Unfortunately, some flight instructors may not fully understand the dynamics of takeoff and might pass a misconception or two on to the next generation of new … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Back in the Old Days, Cessnas, conventional landing gear, flight controls, Flight instructors, flight training, flying, full throttle, high power settings, high-angle-of-attack-flight, inexperienced pilots, judgment, learning to fly, left-turning tendencies, Newton’s third law, nosewheels, novice pilots, P-51 Mustang pilots, P-factor, pilots, precession, Precession - Is It Really A Left Turning Tendency?, professional pilots, propeller blade, right rudder, spiraling slipstream, student pilots, students, taildraggers, tailwheels, torque, training aircraft, World War II
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6 Comments
Off to School
Every two years flight instructors must renew their credentials in order to continue teaching. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provides three ways to accomplish this task. The easiest way is by providing documentation of flight activity showing at least an … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Personal
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Tagged 80 percent success rate, Air Force, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Avon park bombing and gunnery, Cessna 150, Cessnas, CFI endorsements, discipline, documentation of flight activity, F-16 Falcons, FAA check ride, first solo, Flight Instructor Refresher Clinic (FIRC), Flight instructors, flight training, flying, friends, Guantanamo, gun sights, judgment, learning to fly, memories, Off to School, pilots, professional pilots, rolling in “hot”, student pilots, The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), training aircraft
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1 Comment
Apples and Oranges
Remember all the times someone told you to keep the apples and oranges correctly separated? There is probably some math teacher somewhere in your past who said you have to keep the apples with the apples and the oranges with … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged airplanes, an accurate estimate of the fuel weight, Apples and Oranges, Cessna 170, flight training, flying, judgment, learning to fly, student pilots, taildraggers, the advantage of using pounds over gallons, The Cessna 170, training aircraft, weight and balance problems
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