Pilot's Life Blog

FEBRUARY 11, 2025

Control Mechanisms Airplane Controls In airplanes, pilots manage flight using three primary controls: the ailerons, elevator, and rudder. Ailerons, located on the wings, control roll by increasing lift on one wing while decreasing it on the other, allowing the aircraft to bank left or right.

Torque 52

Torque Lift Airplanes Stability 52

Air

MAY 21, 2025

Drawbacks: For takeoff, a tailwind significantly increases the required runway length and results in a shallower climb angle. Effects: It will try to push your aeroplane sideways off the runway centreline. It is a particularly insidious phenomenon that can be a prime cause of turbulence.

Crosswind 52

Crosswind Wind Shear Groundspeed Flight Computer 52

Photographic Logbook

MAY 19, 2025

Don walked me through engine start and within minutes of bringing the fuel-injected 180 horsepower Lycoming to life, we were taxiing from the 700 Ramp to the departure end of runway 25. As the airplane shuddered in turbulent air roiling from the nearly stalled wings, Don goosed in some power and stomped on the left rudder.

Rudder 60

Rudder Crosswind Airplanes Runway 60

Pilot Institute

OCTOBER 16, 2024

But landing it safely on the runway is a skill. Brief that you will use the right rudder to align the aircraft straight with the runway and the left aileron to counteract drift. Depending on the wind direction and airport surroundings, you may experience some turbulence. Brief the runway conditions.

Airplanes 52

Airplanes Descent Approach Crosswind 52

Plane and Pilot

OCTOBER 2, 2024

While instructors idly watch, airplanes go off the runway, landings become too harsh, structure gets overstressed, and tolerances are exceeded. No flying in winds exceeding 10 knots, no chance of obscuring precipitation, no use of runways shorter than 5,000 feet, no risk of encountering darkness or lowering ceilings.

Wind Shear 52

Wind Shear Runway Crosswind Ceiling 52

Plane and Pilot

OCTOBER 2, 2024

While instructors idly watch, airplanes go off the runway, landings become too harsh, structure gets overstressed, and tolerances are exceeded. No flying in winds exceeding 10 knots, no chance of obscuring precipitation, no use of runways shorter than 5,000 feet, no risk of encountering darkness or lowering ceilings.

Wind Shear 52

Wind Shear Runway Crosswind Ceiling 52

Plane and Pilot

NOVEMBER 10, 2024

On the walkaround, you doubtlessly noted the full-span flaperons (flaps plus ailerons as one unit). pounds per square foot—makes the RV-12 a little” busy” in turbulence, though some of that is attributed to a lack of inertia in roll. Right until liftoff, takeoffs are fairly uneventful. Modest wing loading—10.4 It actually feels slower.

Airplanes 98

Airplanes Knot Pitot Tube Gross Weight 98

AeroSavvy

AUGUST 20, 2021

Upgraded wheel pants, flap and aileron seals, vortex generators, and a 3-bladed prop have been added. Bad data caused by turbulence, turns, and other anomalies was discarded. All of our flying started early in the mornings before afternoon turbulence and storms. After 50 minutes, we were taxiing to the runway.

Density Altitude 52

Density Altitude OAT Airplanes Fixed Base Operator 52

Pilot Institute

MAY 8, 2025

Instead of rolling on wheels, the aircrafts underside makes direct contact with the runway. Depending on your options, you may be forced to land on a runway, a field, or even water. A gust of unexpected turbulence might even throw you off. Strong turbulence will make it difficult to confirm whether the gear has fully extended.

Air Traffic Control 52

Air Traffic Control Runway Pilot Approach 52

Pilot Institute

APRIL 5, 2024

When the wind is blowing across the runway instead of along it, things get more challenging. However, the wind rarely aligns perfectly with the runway. Touching down with the aircraft’s longitudinal axis aligned with the runway. If the pilot makes no corrections, the aircraft gets blown off the runway centerline.

Crosswind 52

Crosswind Longitudinal Axis Aileron Rudder 52

Flying Magazine

MAY 6, 2025

That required the creation of a redesigned, shorter span aileron that resulted in a markedly increased roll rate. In an airplane with a great deal of adverse aileron yaw that challenges a pilot each time the airplane makes a turn? Hofeldt told us that Garmin had licked the yaw issueand we found out that he was right.

Gross Weight 78

Gross Weight Horizontal Stabilizer Airplanes Rudder 78

AV Web

APRIL 15, 2025

Student pilots get a free pass, because theyre adorable skittering off runways in Loss of Directional Control (LODC) events that vex the best among us. During the second landing attempt, NTSB notes, the airplane touched down and bouncedmultiple times as it continued down the runway and subsequently nosed over. Sorta the Wrong Runway?

Pilot 52

Pilot Airplanes Runway Descent 52