Pilot Institute

DECEMBER 31, 2024

Crosswind Landings : Learning no-flap crosswind landings can help improve aircraft control in high-wind conditions. This is important because crosswinds can make it difficult to control the aircraft at low speeds, so a no-flaps landing can teach you how to land with a higher approach speed. More aggressive energy management.

Pilot

Pilot Institute

MARCH 28, 2025

This horizontal component of lift is called Induced Drag. Its called induced drag since it only exists as a consequence of lift. If youre generating lift, youre stuck with induced drag as well. Increased Drag Moving air around is hard work! What Does the Vortex Strength Depend On?

Turbulence

Air Facts

MAY 14, 2025

After closing the speed brakes and raising the gear and flaps, I turned crosswind at the departure end. The G-loading and added drag slowed us below the gear limit speed (240 KIAS). The final turn in the T-38 is a nose-low, 180-degree turn designed to arrive on final one mile from the threshold at 500 feet AGL.

AGL

Air Facts

MARCH 5, 2025

The power reduction, the induced drag of the level turn (2 Gs necessary to maintain level flight), and the parasitic drag of the speed-brakes slows the aircraft below the gear-limiting speed of 240 knots. NOTE: Those speeds are the basic speeds when the fuel remaining onboard our T-38s was 1000 pounds or less. from an unsafe approach.

Pilot

AV Web

JANUARY 22, 2025

Most accounts point outcorrectlyhow decisions about spacing and glide path management, and even whether it was wise to hold the pick-up game contest in winds that caused cancellation of a larger, planned STOL Drag event, may have contributed to this crash. Mayday STOL Drag Races, a slow-flight competition. Those lessons are all valid.

Final Approach

Plane and Pilot

AUGUST 27, 2024

GA pilots find time-tested and more creative ways to skitter off the side of the runway, land short of the threshold, or slide off the far end with the brakes smoking and tires squealing. Add in some crosswind and turbulence from preceding aircraft, and these arrivals can get a bit hairy.

Stability

Pilot Institute

JULY 12, 2024

Key Takeaways Start by setting up your approach correctly to ensure you arrive at the threshold perfectly every time. You can only begin improving the touchdown if you’ve mastered positioning your aircraft above the runway threshold correctly. The crosswind can push you out and mess up your glidepath if you’re not careful.

Descent