Pilot Institute

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

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). What Are RNAV Approaches? How Does RNAV Work?

Approach

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

Flying Magazine

APRIL 29, 2025

If you use an AATD for the first part of the experience, when you get into the actual aircraft, point out the airspeed indicator, attitude indicator, altimeter, etc. If the client is up to it, I coach them through some of the radio callsespecially the last one as we clear the active runway. that they just saw in the AATD.

Weather

Professional Pilot

JULY 7, 2025

A lighting the runway with under 1000 ft to go, the pilots breathed a sigh of relief. However, with no room to navigate up the steep glacial valley, the pilots finessed the airplane over the hurdle with no more than 200 ft of clearance. inches of mercury (1013.25 C per km (–3.6 °F/1000

Density Altitude

Plane and Pilot

MAY 20, 2025

Hopefully you know a benevolent brother, altruistic acquaintance, or philanthropic pilot who is prepared to lend you his personal flying machine. I much prefer the American system, where youre either being controlled by an appropriately licensed FAA employee in a tower or operating on unicom and simply communicating with other pilots.

Altimeter

Fear of Landing

JANUARY 17, 2025

On the 29th of December 2024, a Boeing 737-800 operated by a low-cost South Korean airline crashed after an emergency landing and overshooting the runway at Muan International Airport in South Korea. They turned and attempted to land in the opposite direction of the runways operation that day, going north to south.

Thrust

Pilot Institute

JUNE 9, 2025

Holding procedures often leave many prospective IFR pilots in a cold sweat. Pilots use holds for traffic delays, weather, emergencies, planning, or runway changes. Runway Changes (or Closure) Where possible, airplanes normally like to land in the wind. Yep, those runway numbers do mean something.

Airplanes

Professional Pilot

APRIL 3, 2025

Under visual flight rules (VFR) during daytime, a pilot can operate with only basic gauges: an airspeed indicator, altimeter, compass, fuel gauges for each tank, and oil temperature, pressure, and engine RPM readings. Touch screen and cursor controls allow pilot selectable layers of data (including synthetic vision) to be displayed.

Cockpit

Flying Magazine

MAY 28, 2025

Garmin SmartCharts is described by the company as a “charting solution that will provide pilots with a simplified and intuitive experience by producing clear and relevant data to depict a chart tailored for their specific flight operation.”

Approach

Air Facts

AUGUST 1, 2025

It was noon on a clear, cold January day, and I was taxiing to the start of the grass runway at little Thiene Airport for my first solo flight. I was just shy of 13 flight hours toward earning my EASA Private Pilot License in Italy. I taxied alone to the threshold of runway 17. Can you hear me?” Again, I responded.

Runway

Pilot Institute

JUNE 2, 2025

Pilots can let the aircrafts natural damping resolve the issue or make small, well-timed inputs. This could be a wind gust or a pilot making a control input. The motions are gentle enough that pilots sometimes correct them by making small control or power adjustments without even realizing its happening. Why is that important?

Stability

Flying Magazine

MAY 23, 2025

Authorities investigating the deadly crash of a Cessna Citation S550 in San Diego on Thursday are looking at the possibility that a lack of current weather, specifically an altimeter setting at the destination airport, may have contributed to the accident. A lack of a correct altimeter setting can cause a pilot to fly at the wrong altitude.

Altimeter

Plane and Pilot

JULY 1, 2025

The pilot said he refueled the airplane the day before the accident and checked the fuel level during his preflight inspection the following morning. The pilot made a forced landing in the ocean just offshore of the beach, resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage. Probable cause(s): A loss of power due to fuel exhaustion.

Density Altitude

Plane and Pilot

JULY 28, 2025

When it comes to pilot training materials, IFR approach plates, or even logbooks, the name Jeppesen is a common one. The Jeppesen company produces a version of just about everything a pilot could need. And it all started with a little notebook, a basement, and an airmail pilot—Elrey Jeppesen. Thus, the Jeppesen company was born.

Altimeter

Air Facts

JUNE 23, 2025

Two pilots landed successfully. The third one saw the runway but couldn’t land. The previous pilot couldn’t see anything, and conditions weren’t improving. I looked at the altimeter: a round gauge, a needle moving counterclockwise, and unreadable numbers. Then the runway. So did the altimeter. Then grass.

Altimeter

Vintage Aviation News

DECEMBER 25, 2024

Photo Bruce Gordon] The story for those not familiar, goes: “On Christmas Eve 1957, a young RAF pilot Freddie is flying home from Germany to England. Sculthorpe is still used on occasion by the USAF, but only the runways survive – albeit they are the longest runways in the county – and only a stones throw from West Raynham.

Cockpit

Simple Flying

JULY 23, 2024

On a foggy winter morning in February 2009, Turkish Airlines Flight 1951, using a Boeing 737-800, was on a seemingly routine final approach into Amsterdams Schiphol Airport when it suddenly stalled and fell out of the sky about a mile from the runway.

Altimeter

One Mile at a Time

JULY 20, 2024

Around 2hr50min after departure, the plane was on approach to runway 10 at Tampa Airport. As the plane was coming in over Tampa Bay, while around four miles from the runway, it descended as low as 150 feet, according to ADS-B data. Worst of all, the pilots didn’t even seem to realize what was going on.

Air Traffic Control

Aerotime

DECEMBER 20, 2024

In the previous installment of this two-part article , AeroTime took you through the initial stages of a routine commercial flight, from the pre-departure checks carried out by the pilots and cabin crew, to what is happening outside the aircraft, and from engine startup to taxi and take-off.

Cabin Crew

iPad Pilot News

DECEMBER 17, 2024

ForeFlight vs. Garmin Pilot: 3 key differences to help you decide iPad Pilot News There are a handful of full-featured aviation Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) apps available today for pilots, both free and paid, which provide just about every preflight and in-flight resource you’ll need for both VFR and IFR operations.

Pilot

Flying Magazine

MAY 13, 2024

It has long been said that the private pilot certificate is a “license to learn” as it is the foundation of a person’s flying career. Subscribe Now Featured I am not a DPE, but for several years I have been a check pilot providing mock check rides for applicants at the request of their CFIs.

Pilot

Flying Magazine

MAY 30, 2025

The altimeter started slipping. For VFR pilots beginning instrument training, the cockpit gets crowded fast. You likely became introduced to an EFB as a student pilot and probably use one for basic flight planning tasks as a VFR pilot, but using one in instrument flight is different. His scan fell apart within seconds.

Pilot

Fear of Landing

DECEMBER 6, 2024

Mooneys are amazing and Mooney pilots are maybe just a little bit crazy, is what Im saying. I want to start by apologising to all Mooney pilots for that, because their comparison to the pilot in this case was most unfair. The pilot that day was just a little bit crazy in completely his own way.

Approach

Flight Training Central

SEPTEMBER 9, 2024

What is the headwind component for a landing on Runway 18 if the tower reports the wind as 215° at 30 knots? Determine the pressure altitude at an airport that is 1,300 feet MSL with an altimeter setting of 29.6. What true airspeed should a pilot expect at 9,000 feet on a standard day with 65 percent maximum continuous power?

Density Altitude

iPad Pilot News

NOVEMBER 5, 2024

Top Apple Watch features and apps for pilots iPad Pilot News The Apple Watch has come a long way since the first version was released over seven years ago. Get the watch app here. Altimeter+ Display an altimeter flight instrument on your watch. Get the watch app here.

Pilot

Plane and Pilot

SEPTEMBER 21, 2024

We both had a good chuckle, then we lurched out of the parking spot as I tested the toe brakes for the first time and began to waddle our way to the runway in the mighty Cessna 150. How they came to a stop holding short of the runway generally gave a preview as to how they would handle a plane for the rest of the flight.

Rudder

Northstar VFR

OCTOBER 27, 2024

Friends and fellow pilots who had gone before me and passed their commercial checkrides all commented that the commercial checkride was the easiest regarding the oral exam and the practical (flying) portion. Here are 10 questions you may encounter on your commercial pilot oral exam: 1. The FAA isn’t out to get you on your checkride.

Longitudinal Axis

Pilot Institute

DECEMBER 12, 2024

Key Takeaways MDA applies to non-precision approaches, requiring pilots to level off at a minimum altitude. Pilots use special paths called IFR approaches to help them line up with the runway. Minimums are the lowest height you can go without seeing the runway. Radio altimeters display height above ground, not altitude.

Altimeter

Northstar VFR

JULY 28, 2023

Most people aren't pilots , though. Pilots know that weather has an intense impact on flying. Altitude (without sounding like Captain Obvious) might just be the most important thing to a pilot. An altimeter is standard in every aircraft, and its sole job is to inform the pilot of how high in the sky they are.

Density Altitude

Pilot Institute

NOVEMBER 5, 2024

Runway visual range (RVR) under 2,400 feet triggers a SPECI, and another is issued if it rises to 2,400 feet or more within 10 minutes. Well, these events can quickly affect visibility or runway conditions so much that they call for a special report. Runway visual range (RVR). Let’s look at each weather condition. Visibility.

Altimeter

Pilot Institute

DECEMBER 12, 2024

For example: Pilot: Seattle Approach, Cessna November Four Five One Romeo, Two Zero miles west of Seattle VOR, at 8,000, with Sierra, to land. Pilot: “Dallas Clearance Delivery, Cessna November Four Five One Romeo at the east ramp. The departure runway and the departure procedure. Heres an example. Radar vectors to GAYEL.

Approach

Photographic Logbook

MAY 19, 2025

He is a high energy, enthusiastic aviator who flies for NetJets to put food on the table and provides aerobatic and upset recovery training under the Tango Whiskey umbrella while instructing aspiring rotary wing pilots with BAC Helicopters owned by my mechanic Ray. How much altitude did you lose?" One thousand feet," I reported back.

Rudder

iPad Pilot News

JUNE 3, 2025

Garmin SmartCharts: a pilots guide to interactive instrument charts iPad Pilot News For all the cutting edge features found in modern EFB apps, nothing is more important than charts. and any adjustments to be made (runway lighting out of service, remote altimeter setting, etc.). That changed last week.

NOTAMs

Air Facts

DECEMBER 30, 2024

This was the actual conversation that started the journey for this green commercial pilot. The year was 2017, and I was two months into my first pilot job flying skydivers in the C182 at a small Canadian drop zone, when my boss approached me with this question. “What? I saw tumbleweeds blowing by and just had to laugh.

Weather

iPad Pilot News

MARCH 27, 2025

Pilot’s aviation app directory 2025 Edition iPad Pilot News iPad Pilot News has helped pilots discoverover 100 quality aviation appssince the invention of the iPad in 2010.Here AOPA Magazine Delivers AOPA’s monthly magazines to AOPA members, including AOPA Pilot and AOPA Flight Training.

Weather

Pilot Institute

OCTOBER 16, 2024

Landing an airplane can be one of the most nerve-wracking tasks for a student pilot. But landing it safely on the runway is a skill. As a pilot, you will need time to master it. A pilot must consider several things before landing. Brief the runway conditions. Are you landing on a grass runway?

Airplanes

Plane and Pilot

SEPTEMBER 21, 2024

We both had a good chuckle, then we lurched out of the parking spot as I tested the toe brakes for the first time and began to waddle our way to the runway in the mighty Cessna 150. How they came to a stop holding short of the runway generally gave a preview as to how they would handle a plane for the rest of the flight.

Rudder