AV Web

JULY 1, 2025

Senior pilots (many were career professionals stepping down into GA) liked what they saw in the new LSA market: modern two-placers with far more tech than the average Skyhawk or Cherokee—not bad machines for golden-years fun. Today, the difficult insurance market is forcing plenty of aging pilots out of retracs , twins and turbines.

Gross Weight

Flying Magazine

JUNE 30, 2025

CubCrafters offered to bring FLYING the first of the kitbuilt NXCubs to north Idaho and turn us loose with it for two weeks to fly into the backcountry—introducing pilots of all experience and skill levels to the airplane. At the forward CG limit, the maximum gross weight is 1,690 pounds, giving a useful load of only 245 pounds.

Gross Weight

Flying Magazine

JULY 11, 2025

Besides having the desire, the curious sim pilot will need to dedicate some free time to learning the basics of the airplane’s operation and systems, and it is here that the PMDG DC-6 really shines. This allows the DC-6 to be flown by both the novice and advanced sim pilot, making the DC-6 approachable despite the complete systems modeling.

Flight Deck

Air Facts

SEPTEMBER 13, 2024

The many analyses and videos on these topics have been done in what can best be described as laboratory conditions—carefully selected ideal conditions of pilot, airplane, and environment. None of these achieved enough altitude to have permitted a successful impossible turn, but there were pilots who tried, anyway.

Gross Weight

Airspeed Junkie

AUGUST 2, 2024

Pilots and flight schools favor this aircraft for its ease of use and dependable performance. First introduced in 2005, this all-glass cockpit revolutionized the flying experience for pilots by providing a comprehensive and intuitive interface. This article explores the Cessna Skyhawk C172’s features, evolution, and lasting appeal.

Knot

Plane and Pilot

NOVEMBER 10, 2024

Sometimes it’s emotional—the Beech Starship, what few of them are still in the wild, inevitably wow viewers of both the pilot and nonpilot persuasion. The canopy provides plenty of headroom for even taller pilots, while the view over the nose is equally generous. But successful? Not at all. How did any given airplane sell?

Airplanes

Pilot Institute

MARCH 29, 2024

Key Takeaways Slow flight trains pilots to handle the aircraft at speeds just above stalling. Common mistakes include neglecting clearing turns, delaying stall recovery, and misusing the rudder. That’s why it’s crucial for pilots to learn aircraft control at low speeds. Pilots use reference stalling speeds instead.

Lift

Plane and Pilot

OCTOBER 4, 2024

With your fresh pilot certificate, what fun steps can you take to continually grow as an aviator? The question for the new private pilot is simple: Is that a doorway to go through or one that you never open, limiting your flying career? One is with other pilots. Ride with other pilots and learn from them.

Crosswind

Pilot Institute

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

Steep turns should be one of the most fun maneuvers pilots learn. But for many pilots, flying coordinated turns while keeping altitude and speed steady is hard enough. In maintaining a properly coordinated steep turn, the pilot must use the opposite aileron to maintain bank. Induced Drag Induced drag is a byproduct of lift.

Lift

Pilot Institute

MAY 4, 2024

Short field landings are a true test of a pilot’s skill. They are also one of the most feared maneuvers during the private pilot checkride. Whether you’re new to short field landings or a pilot needing a refresher, this essential guide is for you. The POH lists landing distances for specific gross weights.

Weight-Shift-Control

Photographic Logbook

MARCH 10, 2024

It was evidence that high wing pilots who buy low wing airplanes need to process their surroundings in a different way. These kinds of events change a pilot's behavior. How many pilots grab the housing of their alternator to give it a good shake on every preflight? Don't tell anyone I gave you that tow bar!" I said it was dodgy.)

Airplanes

Plane and Pilot

MAY 28, 2025

After catching up, as well as meeting our photographer and photo pilot, Clinton and I got down to business. It can hold the extra gross weight. It’s 2,300 pounds, but when you add floats, it will get [bogged] down, so you need an airplane that can [carry] the weight. It was time for ground school.

Rudder

Flying Magazine

MAY 29, 2025

These days, the Aerostar gets high marks from owners for the same reasons pilots liked them early on. The airplane gets a gross weight boost to 6,356 pounds ramp weight. The nosewheel has its own steering control and isnt connected to the rudders. Better yet, field support is good thanks to the Aerostar Corp.

Knot

Flying Magazine

MAY 12, 2025

That was a process with the FAA he noted, but because the aircraft has a gross weight of just 900 pounds, it qualifies as a light sport aircraft (LSA), and that is how McCartney has been flying it for the past five years. A little more right rudder…thats good, McCartney said. Learning would take place.

Weight-Shift-Control

Flying Magazine

MAY 6, 2025

Now, release the brakes and feel yourself pressed into the seat as you discover less right rudder is needed than you expect. Adventurous aerobatic pilot Frank Christensen, owner of Christen Industries, which built the Pitts Special series and the Christen Eagle II aerobatic biplane kit, watched as biplane sales fell during the early 1980s.

Gross Weight

Plane and Pilot

OCTOBER 3, 2024

When spelled geoduck it represents a grotesque, oversized mollusk, or clam to we pilot simpletons. Much depends on the aircraft’s weight, pilot skill and, surprisingly, “how much abuse you want to experience. Checking the oil is the main attraction to the pilot. The airplane will handle more than you want to.”

Airplanes

Plane and Pilot

DECEMBER 16, 2024

The landing gear box had to be substantially stronger with the two-piece gear, so we were able to see a weight savings with the one-piece gear. With the F2, the rudder and vertical stabilizer are changed, with the rudder becoming a much smaller surface than before. More lessons learned. Well see about that.

Rudder

Plane and Pilot

NOVEMBER 13, 2024

Kilo Charlie was in need of a modern glass-panel trainer, adequate for a student and instructor, IFR capable, with low operating costs and, most importantly, capable of presenting well to this generation of prospective student pilots. Maximum Gross Weight: 1,587 lbs. Empty Weight, Standard: 959 lbs. Wing Area: 128.1

Knot