Pilot's Life Blog

MARCH 15, 2024

One of the first things an aspiring pilot learns in flight school is the various sections of an aircraft. If you’re wondering how to become a commercial pilot in Arizona , this in-depth guide to important aircraft parts will help in your pursuit. Contact our flight instructors today for more information about enrolling.

Horizontal Stabilizer 52

Horizontal Stabilizer Aileron Air Traffic Control Lift 52

Airspeed Junkie

AUGUST 2, 2024

Pilots and flight schools favor this aircraft for its ease of use and dependable performance. Cockpit and Avionics Sitting in the cockpit of a Cessna 172, one is immediately struck by the advanced Garmin G1000 NXi avionics suite that dominates the instrument panel.

Knot 52

Knot Cockpit Pilot Gross Weight 52

Vintage Aviation News

JUNE 17, 2024

From there, volunteers are continuing their work on the fuel tanks and building the aircraft’s rudders. Outside of some additional paint work in the cockpit and radar operators’ position and the installation of the pilot seat, the inside of the aircraft is nearly complete.

Cockpit 105

Cockpit Rudder Tail Hangar 105

Air Facts

SEPTEMBER 13, 2024

The many analyses and videos on these topics have been done in what can best be described as laboratory conditions—carefully selected ideal conditions of pilot, airplane, and environment. None of these achieved enough altitude to have permitted a successful impossible turn, but there were pilots who tried, anyway.

Runway 66

Runway Gross Weight Airplanes Pilot 66

Plane and Pilot

SEPTEMBER 5, 2024

The dirt and gravel on the floor and the contents of the ashtray were now making their way to the top of the cockpit. Turning back to Lawson, I looked around the cockpit and checked the instruments for anything out of order. I then checked all the controls, elevator up and down, ailerons right and left, rudder right and left.

Descent 86

Descent Lift Runway Cockpit 86

Vintage Aviation News

JULY 19, 2024

This early canopy limited visibility for the pilot, leading to later models adopting a more streamlined, blown canopy for improved situational awareness. The limitations of the early canopy are clearly seen in this near-pilot’s eye view. We had to do some welding on that. They were also in good shape.

Tail 119

Tail Firewall Approach Flight Deck 119

Air Facts

APRIL 10, 2024

Like many local GA airports, we have a group of pilots (mostly older, retired aircraft owners) who congregate most days in one hangar or another. Somebody once said that there are two things that pilots hate; the way things are and change.) Rudder stomping landings in the Cessna 180 that hated to stay in a straight line on the ground.

General Aviation 52

General Aviation Pilot Cockpit VOR 52

Vintage Aviation News

AUGUST 29, 2024

From daring rescues of downed pilots as enemy forces closed in to handling a crazed water buffalo aboard a C-123K transport, seasoned veterans share their unforgettable and extraordinary experiences. As the new guy pilot, I was assigned the Number Two position in a four-ship formation, our flight leader’s right wingman. What the….?

Drag 52

Drag Thrust Pilot Rudder 52

Chess In the Air

JUNE 24, 2022

About 90% of accidents could have been prevented by the pilot. Most can be avoided by diligent pre-flight preparations; by paying attention to what’s happening around us; by staying disciplined and flying within one’s margins; and by avoiding basic piloting mistakes through regular practice.

Pilot 52

Pilot AGL Wind Shear Runway 52

Photographic Logbook

OCTOBER 10, 2023

Humphries soloed after just over three hours of instruction, making him the first military pilot to fly a government owned aircraft. A Curtiss JN ("Jenny"), one of the most prolific trainers of American WWI pilots. Forward flight was stabilized by a conventional rudder and elevator arrangement. Top down view of the Jenny.

Airplanes 52

Airplanes Tail Cockpit Rudder 52

Vintage Aviation News

APRIL 26, 2024

At the controls was a 27-year-old former USAF fighter pilot determined to capture the spirit of the barnstormers and pioneer aviators, of the wind in the wires and the carefree “pick a field and land for the night” era. They are all a part of the pilot and he is a part of them. Donner told us aviation is in his blood. .”

Airplanes 105

Airplanes Aileron Tail Hangar 105

Vintage Aviation News

MAY 6, 2024

In this new guise, with its cockpit pushed four feet further aft, N5111N was designated as a Boeing Model 299Z. With a crew of three (pilot, copilot & flight engineer) and four volunteers aboard, Liberty Belle took off, bound for Indianapolis. Between 1950 and 1965, the aircraft amassed 994 flight test hours.

Tail 126

Tail Airplanes Cockpit Firewall 126

Plane and Pilot

SEPTEMBER 15, 2024

The J-4’s cockpit is wider than the more common J-3, and the second generation brought about the replacement of the open cowl with exposed exhaust ports with a fully enclosed cowl. I watched the stick flutter to and fro in sync with the rudder pedals as Wilkins fought to maintain the centerline, all the while pushing in the throttle.

Runway 72

Runway Crosswind Rudder Approach 72

Photographic Logbook

MARCH 10, 2024

It was evidence that high wing pilots who buy low wing airplanes need to process their surroundings in a different way. These were days before the proliferation of AWOS/ASOS stations and the advent of ADS-B (FIS-B) weather displayed on a tablet in the cockpit. (A These kinds of events change a pilot's behavior. What's that?)

Airplanes 52

Airplanes Knot Runway Avionics Master Switch 52

Air Facts

SEPTEMBER 9, 2024

The many analyses and videos on these topics have been done in what can best be described as laboratory conditions, carefully selected optimum conditions of pilot, airplane, and environment. Was this a power loss after takeoff, whether or not the pilot chose to fly an impossible turn? Would a visual AOA indicator have helped?

General Aviation 73

General Aviation Pilot Approach Runway 73

Vintage Aviation News

JUNE 10, 2024

After graduating from DePauw University, where he earned his private pilot’s license through the US government-sponsored Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP), Vraciu enlisted in the U.S. Vraciu would recall later that in fact, he and his fellow Hellcat pilots were looking forward to this mission.

Cockpit 128

Cockpit Tail Pilot Stability 128

Professional Pilot

JULY 3, 2024

Cheyenne IV/II Reposition Pilot & A&P Pilot Tong Aircraft Service Fort Lauderdale FL D ealing with millennial pilots who think they know it all is the most challenging situation I can experience. Having pilots take pictures of the PFD and MFD will usually highlight other systems that might be part of the issue.

Pilot 40

Pilot Runway NOTAMs Cockpit 40

iPad Pilot News

MAY 29, 2024

Tips for using aviation apps with home flight simulators iPad Pilot News Are you stuck at home and separated from your airplane or just experiencing an unlucky stretch of bad weather? Many flight simulators today integrate directly with EFB apps including ForeFlight, Garmin Pilot, FlyQ, and Stratus Insight.

Rudder 52

Rudder Approach Firewall Pilot 52

Jetwhine

JANUARY 17, 2024

I’ve been flying jets for years as a corporate pilot, but not real jets to some … like fighter jets. When opportunity knocked with an offer to fly an Aero Vodochody L–39 Albatros (one “s” in the Czech spelling)—a single-engine bird still used as a basic trainer for some nation’s fighter pilots—I jumped at the chance.

Knot 52

Knot Rudder Pilot Jet 52

Plane and Pilot

SEPTEMBER 8, 2024

In 1928, he founded the Spartan School of Aeronautics to train pilots and mechanics and the Spartan Aircraft Company to design and build aircraft. Though not a pilot, Skelly saw a need for a fast and reliable executive travel machine. The post Spartan 7W Executive appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

Rudder 79

Rudder Stability Airplanes Aileron 79