When a prospective pilot walks into our flight school at Sporty’s, one of the most common questions we hear is, “Should I learn to fly with steam gauges or a glass cockpit?” Like most questions in life, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but the prevailing wisdom suggests it’s better to start on steam and transition to more »

Bringing a speeding airborne airplane to a halt seems a simple enough process. Just plop it onto the runway, push on the brakes, and wait for it to slow down. If only it could be that simple. Alas, as with all things aeronautical, there’s a little more to it than that. Early in my career, more »

It was a rare sunny February day in Seattle. Between the long months of gray and rain starting sometime in October and ending somewhere in May, there was one day on the weather app showing a sun symbol, and that was my instrument check ride day. As the date got closer, I figured I was more »

What is maneuvering speed, and why should you care? Perhaps more importantly, what should you know to maximize your flying safety? The widely accepted definition of maneuvering speed (Va) is the speed at which an airplane will stall before exceeding its maximum load limit. But wait!  There’s more…to the story. Maneuvering speed has been masquerading more »

My plan to fly my Mooney from Sacramento, California (SAC), to Kerrville, Texas (ERV), was ready for action. The plane was due for its annual inspection in six weeks’ time, so I decided to have the annual performed before my trip to Texas to avoid any maintenance issues while en route. Still, after the inspection more »

One of the great truths of flying is the admonition, “He who stops getting better stops being good.” We must constantly strive for the perfection we may never achieve, just to keep our skills sharp. Becoming satisfied with being almost good enough means that we’re no longer trying to stay on centerline, on altitude or more »

The ancient and honorable art of slipping an aircraft to achieve a desired flight path is an excellent tool to keep in one’s kit-bag of aviation tricks. Once employed regularly to adjust a landing approach, slipping has become an infrequently used maneuver, chiefly because modern airplanes have been fitted with effective wing flaps that can more »

The home stretch of the quest for a helicopter rating add-on to my airplane commercial was the most intensely challenging and rewarding aeronautical experience I have ever had. Fifty-plus years and several thousand hours of flight experience—time that included crop dusting, bush flying in Africa, King Air charter work in the Northeast, advanced glider aerobatics, more »

“If you’re going to fly low,” said my first flight instructor, “you had better know how to do it right.” We then cranked up the old Aeronca Champion and went out for a low-level dual excursion around the countryside. As I found out during his pre-planned route, things looked different from a traffic-pattern perspective. We more »

When it comes to high-risk flight, we usually think VFR into IMC, low-level maneuvering or run-ins with thunderstorms. Rightly so, too. Those scenarios, along with the ever-present villain “loss of control” lurking nearby, are the riskiest in flying. Training, on the other hand, is, statistically speaking, the safest aviating you can do this side of more »

There is a subtle yet profound difference between the learning of something and the knowing of that thing. You can learn by reading, but you don’t begin to know until you begin to try to do. Part One of this three-part series ended with my first sustained “controlled” hover—nothing steady or rock solid about it, more »