What A CFI Wants You To Know

Headset, kneeboard—seat belt cutter? A flight instructor from Seattle, Washington, has added the latter to his must-haves when he flies, after he experienced an uncommanded loss of engine power and ended up putting the airplane into the water in West Seattle.

Federal aviation regulation (FAR) 91.3 states: “The pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to the operation of that aircraft.”  It seems pretty straight forward—unless the PIC is a student pilot on a solo flight, and they are flying on the endorsement of their flight instructor. […]

Whether the mechanical version, the electronic version, or the app, it can give you important help when you need it.

Knowing how and when and why to do things in the airplane starts with it.

A practice check ride before you meet your examiner could help you pass.

Key questions to ask yourself to get the most out of your flying lessons.

There are skills from day-to-day activities that can help you in the cockpit.

Learning to fly an airplane is not like learning to drive a forklift or a stick shift.

Learning how to access weather reports and interpret them is a foundational lesson.

Despite some of my instructors doing their best to drill into me how important a thorough post-flight walkaround was to end a flight properly, it wasn’t until some self-inflicted embarrassing experiences that I learned my lesson.  If you are familiar with this type of pilot error, you’ll also know that it’s likely you won’t notice […]