CFI Pay Rates

Last week I posed a question on Air Safety Institute’s Facebook page (yes, we have one) asking how much a CFI should be paid. The answers were fascinating.

Here are a few...

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Cross Country Planning?

The widespread availability of sophisticated GPS receivers, digitized aviation charts, and internet-based weather information is changing the way student pilots are learning cross-country flight planning. The introduction of new technology and techniques always raises questions: Should student pilots be taught to use paper charts, plotter, pencil, and a slide rule E6B or encouraged to switch entirely to electronic charts, calculators, GPS and computer-based weather briefings? Don’t throw out that plotter and slide rule just yet ...

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Welcome Back Pilots (and non-pilots too)

A lot of people in aviation are worried about a looming pilot shortage. Plane & Pilot magazine decided to do something about it.

Over the past few years many general aviation pilots have hung up their headsets. A new microsite managed by the magazine aims to lure them back into the left seat – by harnessing the power of marketing.

The site – WelcomeBackPilots.com – offers good deals, promotions and other incentives aimed at...

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Aviation Pocket Protector Stuff

A calculus professor once told me the only tools a real mathematician needs are a pen, a piece of paper the size of a postage stamp, and his or her brain. That may be the case if one is sitting at a desk, quietly contemplating the theoretical. Controlling an aircraft that is hurtling through the air at two miles per minute or more while simultaneously listening and talking on the radio? That endeavor has the unfortunate side effect of dropping everyone's IQ by several points, which is why...

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Aviation Insurance - Need to Know

As the owner of a successful aviation insurance business for over 30 years I encountered many occasions where pilots found themselves in difficult situations with respect to an aircraft owner and the owner’s insurance company.

It is interesting how often a “good” friendship or flying job turns sour when you...

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Airplane Ownership - 4 Ways

Aircraft ownership in the United States can take many different forms depending upon the type of aircraft and the purposes of use intended for the airplane. The way you will want to own a personal aircraft may differ greatly from the way a corporation will want to own an aircraft.

The primary reason for determining the best way for anyone to own an aircraft has to do with...

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Catch a Cessna Skycatcher Review Here

While the rest of the world was fixated on the Paris Air Show, I was schmoozing with the folks at the Cessna Aircraft Factory in Wichita Kansas. I met up with Cessna’s piston-engine chief pilot, Kirby Ortega, for a flight in Cessna’s LSA: the Skycatcher.

The Cessna 162 Skycatcher is a sharp looking high-wing and it's a fun plane to fly. It’s easy on the controls, exudes stability and is very docile. Think of it as a snappier and faster version of the 152 fitted with a fancy glass cockpit by Garmin.

In cruise, the Skycatcher handles just like you would expect any high-wing Cessna to fly...

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TreeTop Flyer

This is one of my favorite flying videos. It has all the elements: low level flying, speed, a great airplane and the perfect soundtrack. The airplane pictured appears to be a Van’s RV-4, a popular and...

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Panic Button?

There’s no small amount of irony in the fact that Rockwell Collins announced it’s new “One Touch Safe Mode,” button at the Paris Air Show this week … at least it was ironic to me.

The button, integrated into the avionics giant’s popular Pro Line Fusion integrated flight deck avionics system, is designed as a fail safe to grab the flight controls from the pilot and right the airplane should the pilot – or pilots – find themselves unable to do so.

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First Time Flyers

A lot of people have never been in small planes and there is a certain apprehension about going up in one for the first time.

Some of this is understandable; these people have only been exposed to general aviation as a result of news reports when an accident occurs. They just don’t have the familiarity with the thousands of flights a day that take place without incident.

In a way, it would be like asking someone...

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Dangerous or Different?

How do we determine is something is dangerous? Is there a universally known definition or just a matter of opinion?

Webster defines the term as follows: dan·ger·ous – adj – able or likely to inflict injury or harm

If we stop and think about the literal definition of dangerous, we realize that it applies to most things in our life. We start off each day with dangerous acts…

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More Flying Cars!

General Aviation News has recently reported that the US’s FAA has accepted Moller International’s application for an Experimental Airworthiness Certification for the M400 Skycar – the last step in the federal regulatory requirements process just prior to an actual flight test.

In case you are not familiar with this flying car idea, the M400 Skycar differs from the more well known Terrafugia Transition flying car...

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Private Aviation - Not So Private

Security and confidentiality have long been key benefits of corporate aviation. By blocking aircraft identification or “N numbers,” private operators in the States could reduce risks large (think kidnapping and sabotage) and small (eluding fans and journalists). That may be changing.

A recent FAA notice of proposed modification (NPM) would greatly limit...

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Five Ways to Fly for Free

Perhaps the greatest challenge to future professional pilots is overcoming the financial hurdle inherent in flight training. According to recent estimates, a private pilot’s license in 2010 will cost between eight to ten thousand dollars, with the commercial pilot certificate topping out at forty to sixty thousand! The dirty little secret...

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Phoenix Air Special LSA

Phoenix Air USA imports the beautiful Phoenix Special Light-Sport Aircraft, a performance motorglider that can cruise swiftly and serve both functions with excellent creature comfort. Given its clever wing extension design, you get two aircraft in one!

Is Phoenix an especially smooth and graceful LSA cruiser, or an efficient motorglider affording an easy ride to thermal lift and soaring play? Happily, the answer is....

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How realistic should impossible turn practice be?

Last month, I practiced Barry Schiff’s maneuver for the impossible turn at altitude and recorded it on AOPA Live. As expected, many pilots wrote in offering their own advice.

The most common suggestion was to make the practice maneuver more realistic. Schiff recommended turning 270 degrees and noting the altitude loss. That’s because in a real emergency, a pilot is going to...

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Listing of Special Light Sport Airplanes

For the following aircraft, EAA has received a copy of the airworthiness certificate (FAA form 8130-7) verifying that the company has received at least one Special Light-Sport Aircraft (S-LSA) airworthiness certificate.

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Miscommunication leads to a CFI and a student pilot wrestling for control

General Aviation News will often reprint excerpts from the USA’s National Transportation Safety Board, include a June 2009 report about an incident involving a flight instructor and a student pilot that occurred in a Challenger II aircraft in Moses Lakes, Washington.

According to the accident report...

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What do you avoid?

For many of us summer brings longer stints of flying weather. The spring rains give way to the typical summer days with calm wind and clear mornings followed by hazy, hot and humid (and usually still flyable) afternoons. This time of year is a popular time for people to re-enter the cockpit and begin flying again. For others of us, it’s a good time to regain currency and/or confidence by logging some summer hours.

So here’s the question: As you look ....

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Always Wanted to Fly?

We Share Airplanes is focused on sharing the great value of flying and learning to fly, using the new breed of Light Sport Airplanes (LSA).

These planes can comfortably whisk two people away for adventure and sightseeing at more than 100 MPH. Designed for flying in good weather the training requirements put these planes in reach of any person who has ever dreamed of flight. You can qualify in just for a SportPilot Certificate with just 20 hours of training.