The pilot shortage is real, and it’s affecting every aspect of aviation. For pilots, it means a welcome upswing in opportunities after over a decade of struggle post-9/11 and in …
Read More Transitioning Your Small Airplane Education to Commercial Aviation
There are many paths to having a career in aviation. When most people think of becoming a professional pilot, they usually picture airline or military pilots. However, flight instructors, transport …
The airline industry offers many exciting career opportunities which range throughout the salary scale. If the goal is to simply work around airplanes, the current economic climate and shifting expectations …
Read More Airline Industry Hiring Opportunities: Then and Now
Being a Certificated Flight Instructor (CFI) is a tremendous responsibility. Before becoming a CFI, one must ask oneself if he or she really wants to teach, or if the CFI …
Although commercial aviation is a relatively young industry, it has changed a great deal since its beginnings in the last century. Let’s have a look at commercial crew roles and …
Most people take it for granted that pilots must communicate over the radio with ATC (air traffic control). After all, how else can airplanes know what to do and when …
Read More Don’t Pilots Have to Talk with Air Traffic Control?
A passenger in a small airplane cockpit’s front seat is in an entirely different environment than that of a passenger seated elsewhere in an airplane. Not only does the passenger …
Flying in a small aircraft or even going down the runway is especially valuable for a first-time, front-seat passenger. In this case, they can look down the runway while the …
Read More Some Things that Surprise First-Time Small-Airplane Passengers
Let’s begin with this: You can be a terrible communicator as a pilot, make every mistake I’m about to describe, and still have a safe and comfortable flight. There is …
Aviation is a world of its own. For new students aspiring to become pilots, starting flight training can be much like learning a brand-new language. We asked our flight instructors …
Passengers in big airliners hear certain aviation sounds that have become commonplace in our flying experience. They hear machine made aviation sounds (like the engines humming as the jet flies through …
Read More Strange Aviation Sounds Small-Airplane Passengers (and Pilots) Hear
Even without having ever been in a functional airplane, Leonardo Da Vinci observed, For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for …
Read More Strange Things Small Airplane Passengers See And Feel
Pilots necessarily have a significant aeronautical vocabulary that has been refined for decades. Much of it is formalized in the Pilot/Controller Glossary (Federal Aviation Administration, 2014) and in the Airman’s Information …
In the outstanding TV series Sky King, which ran from 1951 to 1962, “Sky” would rush out to his twin-engine Cessna, the Songbird, start her up, and spring into the …
The world of professional aviation can take many forms from airliners to corporate flying, career flight instructing to skydiving operations. The largest portion of university students hoping to become professional …
Thinking about becoming a pilot? Anyone who wants to fly needs to be taught by a competent instructor. If you’re not in the military, you get to choose who will …
Read More Great Flight Instructor Or Horrible Flight Instructor
People pretty much know how to behave as passengers on a jetliner as opposed to small planes. Sure, some people, the outliers, do ridiculous things like argue with and threaten …
Read More 7 Things Passengers Should Know About Small Planes
Every person over two years of age has some kind of feeling and wonder about airplanes. If an airplane is flying over our heads, and if it is low enough, …
A freshly-minted pilot’s first thought is invariably very exciting: I want to take my friends or family up into the air while I’m at the controls! Of course, there’s another …