Plane Facts: The World of Pilot Training

Flight training has come a long way over the years and accomplished some remarkable feats in training the millions of pilots who’ve strapped in and taken to the air over the past 115 years.
Our flight-training articles can help you become a better pilot. From getting a license in two weeks to advance flying techniques, our pilot training for general aviators cover all the information you need.
Flight training has come a long way over the years and accomplished some remarkable feats in training the millions of pilots who’ve strapped in and taken to the air over the past 115 years.
When I first heard about Redbird’s Guided Independent Flight Training (GIFT), I was curious. So many recent advances in transportation technology have been moving us toward increased automation and computer-driven decision making. That has its good points and its bad ones, but how does that trend extend to teaching someone to fly? GIFT—a series of more »
We had departed Runway 34 at Westchester County Airport (HPN) for a cruise down the Hudson and were abeam midtown Manhattan at 3,500 feet when the Piper Mirage’s Lycoming TIO-540-AE2A began sputtering and the prop froze upright in the windscreen. In the right seat, Bill Inglis, with more time in these cockpits than just about more »
In some respects, takeoffs can’t get no respect. It seems there are a myriad of mistakes pilots can make on departures, and studies show that nearly one of every five general aviation accidents are directly, or indirectly, related to a poor decision or omission during takeoff. Yet, pilots rarely practice aborted takeoffs, preferring instead to more »
One of the quickest ways to identify an older airplane is to look at the panel.
I was three hours out of Reykjavik, Iceland, on my way to Wick, Scotland, when I sensed, rather than heard, the engine begin to spool down.
Probably the greatest responsibility in aviation is training new pilots.
When I took my first flight lesson back in June 2003 at the age of 48, I was exactly twice the age of my flight instructor and a lot older than almost all of the other students. For the first time in a long while, I’ve been back in flight school lately to work on more »
You could do it that way, and thousands of pilots operate with exactly those simplified procedures every day. As you might have expected, however, there are better ways.
Losing an engine on a single-engine airplane is one of the scariest possibilities in aviation.
Easygoing Gary Meermans, at the time chief pilot for United Airlines, smiled from the right seat as I taxied out at Long Beach for my second hour of multi-engine training in one of the world’s most tired Piper Apaches.
Without meaning to, the majority of the population of the industrialized world (and much of the rest) has become wildly dependent on personal technology.
Drones are everywhere. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are the most talked about segment of the aviation industry, and not a day goes by without something in the news about drones.
Let’s be honest: What aviator wouldn’t jump at the opportunity for a free ATP rating and a free type rating from one of the premier advanced training flight schools in the world—if that was an option? It is.
We made up a quick list that includes general, basic questions that fit any airplane or condition, so they aren’t specific to any given bird.
Once in a while, you’ll hear someone ask why they should take training past what’s required to get a PPL.
You’re on downwind, and you see it: the shadow of the windsock aiming at the middle of the runway.
As owner-pilots, we’re pretty much on our own when it comes to gaining firsthand weather experience, and there’s often a fine line between learning something and getting in over your head.