Search Results for: Cessna 172

After a while, even brand-new pilots start racking up logbook entries in a series of different aircraft. At first, we may not care, grateful for the flight time, and not pay much attention to how each aircraft has its own character. Each one also has its own story, reflected in your pilot’s logbook and those […]

The hierarchy of personal general aviation aircraft types has, over the years, come to be defined by certain mainstays. The Cessna 150-152 and light taildraggers have been the stalwarts of basic, entry-level aviation. The Skyhawk and Cherokee families have long served as the go-to solution for economical four-place aircraft—and more-powerful, complex machines like those from […]

July 1, 2020, Brainerd, Minn. Piper PA-18A-150 Super Cub The pilot was receiving flight instruction in his newly purchased airplane to satisfy insurance requirements. During the flight, the two decided they would land in a hay field behind the instructor’s house, touching down beyond a ditch. After touchdown, the pilot “noticed trees at the end […]

Anyone who’s taken more than a couple of flying lessons has been exposed to simulated failure of a single-engine airplane’s powerplant. For ab initio students, the first engine-out drill often is a demonstration that the airplane won’t fall out of the sky and that the situation can be managed to successfully get on the ground […]

Not long ago during my instrument training, my very accomplished instructor and I were doing a VOR 14 Approach at Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport (KMFD). After completing the missed approach the tower controller came on the radio to say, “That was a very good job on the approach.” Somewhat surprised my instructor said, “Gee they have […]

A common problem students and rusty pilots may have with their landings involves floating down the runway, waiting for the airplane to quit flying. We’re often tempted to force it onto the runway, which can result in all kinds of mischief, including landing on the nosewheel of a tricycle-gear airplane. That’s bad, since the nosewheel […]

Most of us spend our time aloft droning along in straight-and-level flight. For the typical pilot, turns are reserved for the traffic pattern or flying an approach, and occasionally for entering a holding pattern or performing a course reversal. And we rarely exceed 30 degrees of bank. On one hand, that’s okay, since our relative […]

p>Beechcraft C90 King Air Antenna Blockage Troubleshot both #1 and #2 GPS systems due to failures. The #2 antenna resistance checked okay, but any time the #2 GPS system was turned on, it blocked all GPS signals to aircraft. With the #2 GPS system turned off, the #1 GPS system operated with no problems. Installed […]

June 1, 2020, Gulf Of Mexico Jabiru J250-SP LSA The private pilot departed with slightly less than 36 gallons of fuel aboard for the 262-nm flight, portions of which were over water. About 1.5 hours into the flight, he noticed that the fuel tank quantities were dropping rapidly. The engine subsequently lost all power, and […]

The dream of achieving a pilot certificate is one that some people think is impossible, particularly if the cost of flight instruction feels like a challenging barrier. While many pilots save up or take out loans to pay their way, there are other roads to the ultimate destination that not only lower the cost—and in […]