Pilot Institute

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

What Are RNAV Approaches? Area Navigation (RNAV) is a way for pilots to know where they’re going without needing help from the ground. Before RNAV, pilots had to rely on radios (NAVAIDs) and antennas on the ground such as VORs (Very High-Frequency Omnidirectional Range) and NDBs (Non-Directional Beacons).

Approach

Northstar VFR

MARCH 30, 2025

Turns Around a Point This is a classic maneuver that helps pilots learn how to maintain a constant radius around a point on the ground while compensating for the wind. Make sure you're at the recommended altitude (600-1,000 feet AGL) per ACS guidelines. Maintain 600-1,000 feet AGL. Maintain 600-1,000 feet AGL.

Groundspeed

Air Facts

MAY 5, 2025

It is intended to be a flying lesson , but only for those pilots who read it with learning as a mindset. Take into consideration that weather reporting, and the dissemination of these reports to pilots, was not as accurate then as it is now. Also, Trial by Ice is not just another flying story.

VOR

Pilot Institute

NOVEMBER 2, 2024

On final approach, it can be the difference between recovering and crashing. How to Perform a Power-off Stall The FAA’s Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards (ACS) outline the procedure for performing a power-off stall. Because showing sound judgment and preparation is part of what makes a good pilot.

Descent

CFI Academy

MARCH 28, 2025

They go beyond the basic power-on and power-off stalls required for private or commercial pilots, focusing on scenarios that instructors need to teach students about to enhance stall awareness and safety. Perform at a safe altitude (typically 3,000 feet AGL or higher) to demonstrate safely. 65 knots in a Cessna 172).

Aileron

AV Web

DECEMBER 11, 2024

Of course, one pilots partial power failure is anothers partial failure. But if you have enough altitude, you have the energy and flexibility to plan and execute a traffic pattern that puts you on final approach in a position from which to land. Regardless, we were done flying that day. It can be practiced, though.

Runway

Flying Magazine

JULY 16, 2025

Our training for the instrument ticket focused on flying by reference to instruments, how to shoot approaches, holds, etc. By that point pilots were presumed to have mastered the art of landing, so who needed any more instruction on that? (Or, Thus, high-energy approaches continue to be the norm for the GA pilot.

Approach

Air Facts

MAY 10, 2024

Let us not forget that the circling approach maneuver is designed as a last resort, non-precision approach. A high degree of pilot proficiency, competence as well as currency (currency in Circling Approaches specifically). How truly important is this current approach to mission success? Any NOTAMS applicable?

Approach

iPad Pilot News

JUNE 7, 2024

ForeFlight adds wake turbulence alerts iPad Pilot News Datalink weather stole the show when portable ADS-B technology debuted over a decade ago, providing pilots with free in-flight weather imagery in mobile apps like ForeFlight. The post ForeFlight adds wake turbulence alerts first appeared on iPad Pilot News.

Turbulence

Ask Captain Lim

FEBRUARY 19, 2025

Black Hawk on collision patch with CRJ 700 Could pilots of Flight5342have done anything differently to avoid the DC planecrash? This question from Quora explores whether the pilots of American Airlines Flight 5342 could have taken different actions to avoid the tragic collision.

Pilot

Air Facts

SEPTEMBER 25, 2024

In reality it’s neither, but the bigger problem is that most pilots don’t even know what it means. And since 95% of airports in the US are nontowered, most pilots will use some type of pattern entry every time they fly. That means the techniques we use to manage the see-and-avoid process near airports matters. What is the teardrop?

Crosswind

Flying Magazine

MAY 16, 2025

For pilots on their way to enjoy the areas coastline, here is a look at the RNAV GPS Runway 12 approach to get in when the weather isnt quite VFR. Image: Jeppesen] A) Seasonal Easterly Winds Pick the Approach While in much of the country westerly winds prevail, this isnt always the case near the ocean, such as in Vero Beach.

Final Approach

Pilot Institute

DECEMBER 19, 2024

Flying at non-towered airports can feel like stepping into a space where youre both the pilot and air traffic controller. Lets explore the common mistakes pilots make at these airports and how you can avoid them. Its just you and other pilots doing your own communications. Does this sound intimidating? What does IPI stand for?

Pilot

Flight Training Central

DECEMBER 4, 2023

A pilot needs to control the airplane in a manner that the wings support the weight of the airplane as long as practical to minimize stresses imposed on the landing gear by a rough surface or to prevent sinking into a soft surface. Once committed to the landing, the pilot should gently lower the nose-wheel to the surface.

Approach

Fear of Landing

APRIL 19, 2024

The pilot held instructor ratings for helicopter and instrument helicopter, with 872 hours flight time, of which 29 were on type. Five minutes later, about two miles south of Teterboro, the pilot said “What is going on here?” The controller asked if the pilot needed assistance but the pilot said no.

Torque

Air Facts

APRIL 24, 2024

Dad, a seasoned VFR pilot, was at the controls. I, a 19 year old greenhorn with a brand new pilot’s license in my wallet, sat at his right. And it would worsen to a point that would be too much for this new pilot, fresh out of flight training, to remain “unphased.” But the turbulence would continue to worsen.

Turbulence

Chess In the Air

JULY 4, 2022

There’s been a lot of interest in my recent accident analysis “ Invisible Trap Kills Glider Pilot – How To Avoid Microbursts.” Cold downdrafts created by virga displace warmer air near the surface creating updrafts glider pilots can, and should, use to avoid landing in downburst conditions. Absolutely!

Wind Shear

Professional Pilot

AUGUST 8, 2024

Air traffic control instructions often lead to unstable approaches. The request to make a short approach or maintain a higher-than-normal speed to the final approach fix is the most common reason pilots don’t meet stable approach criteria. Houston, we have a problem. Yet here we are.

Approach

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

Pilot Institute

JUNE 26, 2024

Go-arounds are among the easiest tasks a pilot can perform. Pilots avoid go-arounds because it is seen as an admission of guilt. A go-around is a maneuver performed to abort or reject a landing on the final approach or once the aircraft has already touched down. The best choice is to abandon a bad landing and go around.

Wind Shear

Plane and Pilot

SEPTEMBER 2, 2024

With nothing to lose, at a little over 1,000 feet agl, I started a turn to the left, looking for a place to land. It dawned on me what probably happened on my final approach. The post Where There’s Smoke… appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine. That would cut my option of using the engine to get to a place to land.

Threshold

Air Facts

APRIL 29, 2024

This necessitated slowing the airplane down to leave the vertical space to descend another 2,000’ to reach the initial approach fix (IAF) at 2,000′ I requested a descent to the IAF altitude of 2,000’ but was only cleared to 3,000’. After a few attempts, Unicom finally answered with a yes, the Saratoga is at the gas pump.

Descent