Airplane pilots might not think to look towards rotary wing training documents (goodness knows there’s enough reading material about airplanes to last a lifetime) but recently I have been perusing Transport Canada’s Helicopter Flight Training Manual, TP 9982E. Some of the content fits into the interesting general knowledge about aviation category, but some is very… Read more »
We’ve had a lot of windy days this last week at CYTZ. A big low pressure system (one of the last of the winter, I hope) to the north east has been pushing strong northerly winds over Toronto, and when the wind comes over the downtown core it creates a lot of turbulence and gusts around the east-west runway at the Island.
Why does primary flight training sometimes take longer than it should? In this post I identify three traps that students fall into, each one of which sucks time and energy out of the training process, making progress take longer and cost more than it should. And these are three things under the control of you, the student, so the good news is they are all in your hands to avoid, or fix.
THIS POST is a bunch of philosophical points about how to fly better. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope to see you next year.
Dear and wellbeloved student pilots,
Let me get right to the point: to land your airplane in a crosswind you must turn the ailerons into the wind as you touch down. I’m writing you this letter because doing this is proving difficult for some of you, and as a consequence you end up sliding the aircraft sideways across the runway. This is bad for the tires, the undercarriage and my nerves. It has to stop.
If you’re not already involved in the process of getting your first pilot licence or rating – but you want to start – there’s a steep learning curve not for the actual flying process but the for the learning and licensing process. This page is a high-level overview of the steps you need to follow.
FLYING A series of circuits the other week, at CYTZ, with a student, we were asked by the tower controller on duty to check in on the radio mid-downwind, rather than (as previously) in the base turn.
Courtesy of Wikipedia: A leitmotif or leitmotiv (/ˌlaɪtmoʊˈtiːf/) is a “short, constantly recurring musical phrase” associated with a particular person, place, or idea.
Every student pilot is told early on in their flight training something like “pitch plus power equals performance” or “attitude plus power equals performance”.
I’VE BEEN WORKING with some students on two or three manoeuvres that all begin the same way…