Save Money Flying Your Airplane!
Flying can be expensive! Flight schools typically charge about $10,000 for instruction required to become a Private Pilot. The Sport Pilot certificate […]
What if There’s a Problem? (Flight Planning Gone Awry)
Sometimes nothing seems to go as planned. Even after you've spent time planning a flight, something like the weather or another factor […]
Unexpected Costs
Hopefully, you won't have any unexpected costs. But you might. Like what? Typically, major maintenance or a repair that isn't covered by […]
Altimeter
It would be inconvenient; not to mention dangerous; to run a long, weighted string out the aircraft window to see how far […]
Official Sky Inspector
So you now have your sport-pilot certificate and you're itching to go flying. Any old excuse will do. I'll cover the most […]
Private-Pilot Certificate
For most of the past century, the entry level for new pilots was the FAA private-pilot certificate. Then came the ill-fated recreational-pilot […]
Repairs
If your plane is excessively worn or damaged making it no longer airworthy, chances are you'll need to hire an A&P mechanic […]
Classes A and B Airspace
Class A airspace starts at 18,000 feet MSL and goes up to 60,000 feet MSL. Who flies here? Commercial and business jets […]
Magnetic Compass
The magnetic compass is about as simple as an instrument gets. A magnetized metal bar is balanced on a pivot point and […]
The Run Up
Somewhere just short of the runway you will perform a final check (called the run-up) of all systems by following your craft's […]
Getting Your Sport Pilot Certificate
So what's it going to take to earn your sport-pilot certificate? Just like earning anything worthwhile, it's going to take some effort […]
Rudder
The airplane's rudder is a vertical control surface that's part of the tail section. The trailing edge is movable from the cockpit. […]
Flight Navigation (Nav-Com)
Other flight guides on this site go deeper into navigation and communication radios, sometimes called nav-com. For now, be aware that sectional […]
Calculating Costs
What options do you have? One of the advantages of the new light-sport aircraft rulings is that it limits your options. If […]
How to Use This Website
This website is presented in a very logical structure to make it easy to find things when you need them. Let's take […]
Navigating By Sight
You probably want to fly for one or both of two reasons: You want to see things from above. You want to […]
Cut the Costs of Owning an Airplane
If your own a small general aviation aircraft you know that ownership, maintenance and repairs can be expensive. Fortunately, many smart aviators […]
Do You Really Want to Fly?
Let's get back down to earth for a moment. Before you get too far into spending money on flying, consider what you […]
Preventive Maintenance
Preventive maintenance on aircraft involves simply replacing some components with exact replacement parts and doing some lubrication. Here are a few of […]
Checking the Weather
For obvious reasons, you need to know what the weather will be like when and where you fly your cross-country trip. Fortunately, […]