Articles on how to discover your wings and save money on flying!
Flying can be expensive! Flight schools typically charge about $10,000 for instruction required to become a Private Pilot. The Sport Pilot certificate is less expensive, at about $6,000, but still not cheap. You can fly …
Sometimes nothing seems to go as planned. Even after you’ve spent time planning a flight, something like the weather or another factor can change your plans. That’s okay. In fact, that can be part of …
What if There’s a Problem? (Flight Planning Gone Awry) Read More »
Hopefully, you won’t have any unexpected costs. But you might. Like what? Typically, major maintenance or a repair that isn’t covered by insurance. One way of avoiding major maintenance and repair costs is shopping smart. …
It would be inconvenient; not to mention dangerous; to run a long, weighted string out the aircraft window to see how far you are above the ground. Fortunately, your plane has an instrument that measures …
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 popular ones in the next two sections. Meantime, here is the most important …
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 certificate, which hardly got off the ground for various design reasons. Today’s sport-pilot …
If your plane is excessively worn or damaged making it no longer airworthy, chances are you’ll need to hire an A&P mechanic to do the required work. If you have mechanical skills, an A&P mechanic …
Class A airspace starts at 18,000 feet MSL and goes up to 60,000 feet MSL. Who flies here? Commercial and business jets with pressurized cabins or a supplemental oxygen source. The air is thinner. If …
The magnetic compass is about as simple as an instrument gets. A magnetized metal bar is balanced on a pivot point and points to north. Attached to the magnetic bar is a scale that allows …
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 and some money. Fortunately, it’s not like going to college—or trying to pay …
The airplane’s rudder is a vertical control surface that’s part of the tail section. The trailing edge is movable from the cockpit. Turning the rudder to the left makes the plane’s nose yaw to the …
Other flight guides on this site go deeper into navigation and communication radios, sometimes called nav-com. For now, be aware that sectional and other charts include radio aids to navigation and communication. Aircraft navigation can …
What options do you have? One of the advantages of the new light-sport aircraft rulings is that it limits your options. If you eventually want more options you can step up to higher-performance aircraft and …
This website is presented in a very logical structure to make it easy to find things when you need them. Let’s take a closer look at each section. Sport Flying introduces you to the recent …
Let’s get back down to earth for a moment. Before you get too far into spending money on flying, consider what you want to get out of flying. For many pilots, it’s the thrill of …
For obvious reasons, you need to know what the weather will be like when and where you fly your cross-country trip. Fortunately, the FAA and the National Weather Service (NWS) have you covered. There are …
Look for common flying goals and interests. Make sure your finances approximate each other so that one partner isn’t carrying the burden if another partner has some financial difficulties. Develop a list of what you …
You may be surprised to learn that currently more than 20,000 amateur-built or experimental aircraft are licensed in the United States. And thousands more are parked in garages and hangars waiting for additional work. One …
The FAA (and, prior, the Civil Aviation Authority [CAA]) has regulated aircraft manufacturing for more than 50 years, working hard toward making all aircraft as safe as they can be. In addition, the FAA requires …
Due to recent rule changes and clarifications, some aircraft kits can be constructed using quick-build kits while still complying with the 51-percent rule. Make sure the quick-build kits you select comply with FAA regulations for …