Focus Items (by month)

These are focus items by month.  Perfect for a periodic focus throughout the year.

Jumpstart January ~~~ No Float February

Mixture March ~~~ AOA April

MAYDAY May ~~~ No-Jump June

No-Jet July ~~~ Aimpoint August

Slipping September ~~~ Oscillation October

No-Nose November ~~~ DECEL December

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Maneuvers / Execution / Techniques

Articles:

• 3 common pilot mistakes to avoid (level off, 45 entry, grip). (FP vid).
• Tips to prevent over controlling your plane.
• Tips & tricks from readers (GA News).

Braking: - see Landing (separate page).

Climbs / Descents:

• 5 easy ways to increase drag quickly.
• Need to lose altitude? 5 things you can do to descend quickly.
• Cruise climb speed, what is it and when should you use it?
• When to descend on a long straight-in final. (Vid 246).

Coordination / Rudder / Yaw:

• Conquer the “Driving” Habit! (SAFE).
• Cross-Coordinated. (NAFI).
• Video: The Rudder - It Gets No Respect!

Emergencies:  separate page.

Energy Management:  From AFH Chapter 4 - Energy management can be defined as the process of planning, monitoring, and controlling altitude and airspeed targets in relation to the airplane’s energy state in order to:

1. Attain / maintain desired vertical flightpath-airspeed profiles.
2. Detect, correct, and prevent unintentional altitude-airspeed deviations from desired energy state.
3. Prevent irreversible deceleration and/or sink rate that results in a crash.

• Energy Errors (AvWeb)
• Energy Management. (FAASTeam)
• Energy Management - National FAA Safety Team.  Part 1 and 2.
• Pitch and Power: Energy management is key to mastery of flight.
• Power and Pitch (Aviation Safety).
• Also check Aerodynamics

Final: see Landing.

Go Around(s):

• 8 times or 9 times you should go around.
• NOTE: They mention "bad bounce" - not "bounce".
• Avoiding traffic during a go-around. (Vid 184).
• Botched go around.
• Go-around technique. (Vid 96).
• How to fly a go-around.
• The aircraft will always go UP and LEFT (assuming a single engine piston aircraft)
• The 'binary' go-around.  Have you been instructed, or is it your own notion, that a bounced landing should be followed by a go-around?  If so, be careful of any 'binary' flying.  Physics are binary but how we handle things is usually not.  Here is a video of a bounce into a go around.  The plane could have easily landed from the bounce and if you're going to go around, do it correctly.  The video might be hard for some to watch.
• Also see Landing / My Morsals / Pilot Tips of the Week.

Ground Ops:

• Brief(s) - see Briefs / Debriefs.
• Holding short: How I do it at KFLY (or anywhere).
• Leaning: see Engines / Powerplants.
• Maintenance (MX) - see Systems.
• Parking (for runup): how I do it at KFLY.
• Preflight:
• 5 fall preflight items to watch out for.
• 5 things to look for when you sump your fuel.
• “COWS” (color, odor, water, sediment).  Odor can help if the entire sample is water.
• 9 things that can be easily overlooked during preflight.
• Don't forget to check these 6 small parts on every preflight.
• Knowledge Check/Quizzes:
• You're checking the maintenance logbook... 5Qs.
• Renting an airplane? 8 things you should always check.
• Runup (parking): how I do it at KFLY.
• Taxiing:
• 5 common mistakes pilots make.
• 8 reasons you should use the 'airport moving map' during your next taxi.
• Are you taxiing too rich? (Vid 248).
• How far should you taxi behind a jet?
• Taxi at large airports like a pro. (Flying Mag).
• Tips to handle icy runways and taxiways.
• Safety related.
• Why you shouldn't fly with a dirty windshield.

Ground Reference Maneuvers:

• Chandelle:
• How to fly one. (Sporty's)
• Learn the chandelle maneuver. (Thrust Flight)
• Eights on Pylons:
• How to fly 8s on Ps. (Thrust Flight).
• Lazy Eights:
• See checkrides, Commercial.
• Rectangle course. (King).
• This is one way to do it.  I make the rectangle around a segment of road (just like a runway), not around four roads.
• Turns around a point...
• 4 tips to clean up your turns around a point.
• What’s the point of ground reference maneuvers?
• Why ground reference maneuvers matter. Fundamentals Series (MzA).

Landing: (separate page)

Maneuver Guides:

• C172 (Rick Aviation, 2018)
• C172 (EKU Aviation, 2020)
• C172 S/R (Thrust Flight, 2021)
• Also see Ground Reference Maneuvers above.

Night Flight/Flying:

• 5 tips for better night landings.
• 7 ways to find an airport hidden by nighttime darkness.
• 8 of the most common night flying hazards.
• 9 ways to avoid the hazards of night flight.
• 22 tips you need to know for flying at night.
• Night visual approaches: how to avoid losing SA.
• Quizzes / Knowledge check:
• You're doing 3 night takeoffs and landings... 6Qs.
• The art of night flight. (FAA Safety).
• When can you log night flight and night landings?
• See also Illusions in Human Factors.

Passengers:

• 9 ways to make nervous passengers more comfortable.

Rudder / Yaw / Coordination: see Coordination above.

Slips:

• Forward slip - how to correct a high final.
• Real pilots know how to slip.
• Slipping with full flaps.
• Slips and Skids. (NAFI).
• Stalling in a forward slip. (Vid 53, Vid 153).
• What happens if you stall in a forward slip? (Vid 53).

Spins:  go to Upset Prevention & Recovery Training.

Stalls: +

• 4 ways to get better at stall recoveries.
• Aircraft stalling: 3 basic kinds.
• Avoiding power-on stalls. (ASI vid).
• Avoiding traffic pattern stalls. (ASI vid).
• Cross-controlled stalls: How to prevent them.
• Decelerated stalls - do they exist? (GA News)
• Elevator trim stalls:
• How to prevent it from happening to you.
• Fear of / reluctance to:
• Afraid of stalls? Try a falling leaf.
• Fear of stalling. (MzeroA vid).
• Power-on stalls
• Power on stalls can happen where you least expect them.
• Practicing them.
• Video from Sporty's.
• Quizzes on stalls:
• Any point beyond _____ is where... 6Qs.
• As an aircraft's weight increases... 7Qs.
• Assuming your aircraft's weight... 6Qs.
• What happens when you increase... 5Qs.
• Recovery: 6 common mistakes made by pilots.
• Stall horn fallacy of stall prevention.
• Stalling with the nose pointed down. (Machado vid)
• Stall/Spin classic facts and myths. (1982 vid).
• Weight, how does it affect stall speed? (Vid 163).
• Also see My Morsels.

Steep Spirals:

• Ultimate tutorial on steep spirals. (Thrust Flight vid).

Steep Turns:

• Aerodynamics of a steep turn.
• Article by Aviation Safety.
• How to master steep turns.
• Sporty’s flight maneuver spotlight.
• Steep turns. (AvWeb).
• Video Tip: Steep turns in flight.

Takeoff: +

• 6 common takeoff mistakes, and how to avoid them.
• 10 tips for safer takeoffs and landings. (FAA)
• Aborted / Rejected Takeoff:
• 7 times you should reject a takeoff.
• #2 is a misspeak – half of planned TO distance is better.
• #9 (not in the list) – anytime you think you should.
• Brief (see Briefs).
• Can you take off with another plane on the runway?
• Crosswind takeoffs:
• How to handle crosswinds during takeoff. (Sporty's vid)
• How to make a perfect crosswind takeoff.
• Prep for private pilot exam. (vid).
• Also see Landing.
• Go around(s) - see above
• Impossible turn.
• Improbable turn. (YouTube)
• Knowledge check / quizzes:
• You're flying into Flagstaff, AZ… 5Qs
• Rejected Takeoffs:
• How to safely stop during a rejected takeoff.
• Rotation:
• Questions from the Cockpit: Rotate what, exactly?
• Runway centerline: 
• Should you fly runway heading or runway centerline on takeoff?
• Short/soft field takeoffs:
• Achieving short field success. (FAA).
• Clearing the 50’ obstacle. (Backcountry182).
• How to fly the perfect short field takeoff and climb. (FTC).
• How to fly a perfect soft field approach and landing. (FTC).
• How to make a good one (short field).
• See My Morsels on short/soft fields.
• Takeoff and landing refresher. (Wally Moran)
• Techniques for better takeoffs. (video)
• Wake turbulence:
• Tips to avoid wake turbulence during takeoff and landing.
• Tips to avoid wake turbulence. Vid 21, Vid 62, Vid 162 or Vid 211.
• See also Takeoff Briefing, Performance and Pilot Tips of the Week.

Traffic Patterns:

• 6 ways to avoid irritating other pilots on your next flight.
• 8 tips to make a textbook traffic pattern every time.
• Aircraft in front of you isn't turning base. What should you do? (Vid 6).
• Back to basics in the traffic pattern. (NAFI).
• Base to final turn. (NAFI).
• C172, how I execute patterns in a Skyhawk.
• How I tweak it for 'localisms' at KFLY.
• Commit to Pattern Precision (FAA).
• Departure leg vs upwind leg. (Vid 9).
• Final - see Landing
• Fly a perfect pattern. (Pilot Workshops).
• Go arounds (see takeoff section above).
• Impossible turn.
• Improbable turn. (YouTube).
• Knowledge check / quizzes:
• The numbers 4 and 22 on the approach... 10 Qs.
• Non-Towered Airport:
• Fly a flawless traffic pattern at a non-towered airport.
• How to fly traffic patterns at non-towered airports.
• Upwind vs. departure leg. (vid 66).
• When should you reduce power in the pattern? (Vid 212).
• See also Pilots Tip of the Week.

Trim: see Systems / Equipment.

• Should you trim during landing?
• Weber’s Law – how it relates to trimming. (Machado Vid).
• When should you use trim?
• Also check: Systems / Equipment.

Turn performance (radius):

• Optimizing turn performance. (AOPA).

Visual Flight: - how to enforce it

• If you have students who stare at the gauges, my first recommendation is to cover them.  So as not to keep them from recognizing a 30° bank turn, I let them see it.  I cut a suction cup to hide the ADI minus the 30° bank turn.  Why?  Because I want them to hear, feel, sense their energy state by using their nose position.  This is also where the stall warning comes into  effect.
  

Yaw / Coordination / Rudder: see Coordination above.

Flying IS Great - Improve every flight!

Pilot Tips of the Week

 These are provided by Pilot Workshops...

• Avionics / Equipment
• ADS-B failure.
• Ammeter - what it tells you.
• Camera, legality of an external camera.
• Glass cockpit - the distraction.
• Glass cockpit - the secret.
• GPS:
• Cruise crosswind correction.
• Flight plan page.
• Suspending the GPS to hold.
• Tracking heading with GPS.
• WAAS GPS, is it worth the cost?
• Instant Voltmeter.
• Minimum Technology List.
• Simulators:
• Using a SIM at home?
• Uses for a simulator.
• WAAS GPS, is it worth the cost?
• Also see Systems/Equipment.
• General / Planning
• Alternates: filed alternate fallacy.
• Alternates: having a 'fuel alternate'.
• “Avionics … Set” - what does it really mean?
• Can anyone fly a tailwheel?
• Charts - what about paper charts?
• Clearance (IFR) - see Instruments below...
• Cockpit, disinfecting a modern one.
• Debriefing your flight.
• Flying with children.
• Fuel - Selecting fuel stops.
• Fuel - when to stop for fuel.
• Getting back in the air.
• GO-NO-GO, the RON mentality
• Icing - Overlooked icing trap.
• Insight from flying jets.
• Instructors, finding a good one.
• Letters to Airmen (FAA), why they matter.
• Logbooks - digital and paper.
• Maintenance:
• Pulling up to the shop.
• NASA Form - Should you fill one out?
• NOTAMs, do you have them?
• Risk - Is this flight too risky?
• Runways: effects of runway slope.
• Rusty IFR pilot.
• Rusty pilot - getting back in the saddle.
• Sectionals: What does *RP mean?
• Sectionals: VFR checkpoint codes.
• Sightseeing flights.
• Speeds - adjusting for weight.
• Staying hydrated.
• Survival essentials.
• Three Strikes Rule.
• Also see Planning.
• Ground Ops
• "Avionics Set" - what does it mean?
• Carb heat: Runups with a carburetor. 
• Cowl Plug Strap - avoiding a deadly mistake.
• Cycling the prop.
• Fuel, dipping tanks.
• Fuel, Fire, Flight Controls.
• Ground, when to contact after landing.
• Grounding while fueling.
• Ignition - correct check.
• Magneto check - a correct one.
• Magneto check - three different checks.
• Magneto check - inflight mag check.
• Manifold pressure check
• Navigating on the ground.
• Oil:
• Checking for leaks after oil change.
• Leaking too much oil?
• Performance calculations confidence.
• Preflight:
• 360 Check.
• After annual.
• Common omission.
• Nose wheel strut.
• Preflight checklist?
• Preheat, do you leave it on constantly?
• Propeller - inspecting yours.
• Propeller - surprise motion.
• Propeller - turning it by hand.
• Ramp Check.
• Spark plugs, clearing when fouled.
• Starting - priming for a cold start.
• Starting - zero throttle start.
• Taxiing:
• Crossing hold short lines.
• How fast should you taxi?
• Leaning during taxi.
• Tipping line workers, when to do it.
• Tow bar, never forget it.
• Windshield cleaning mistake.
• Also see Maneuvers.
• Takeoff / Landing +
• Common control oversight.
• Crosswinds
• How to think about them, landing errors, too much?
• Departure - turning onto a runway.
• Flaps:
• Flap sink, avoiding it.
• Full flaps all at once?
• Go around:
• Botched go around.
• Common mistakes.
• Giving them the run-around.
• Go around or not.
• Go around safely.
• Landing
• Calculating distance.
• Distances.
• Fly the PAPI?
• Landing behind another aircraft.
• Managing airspeed on final.
• No gear-up landings.
• One-Bounce Rule.
• Power-off 180, prop setting and drag.
• Practice.
• Practicing on a highway?
• Spot landing contest benefits.
• Where does tower expect you to land?
• Lights:
• Lights for day VFR.
• Lights - keeping them on.
• Lights - none on final.
• Takeoff
• Briefing.
• Calculating distance.
• Distances.
• Final runway checks.
• Go/No-Go.
• High terrain departure.
• Intersection.
• Manifold pressure check.
• Performance skepticism.
• Slushy departures.
• When to retract gear.
• Turnback - how to plan for one.
• Wake turbulence, helicopter.
• Wake turbulence separation (ATC).
• See also Takeoff or Landing.
• In Flight
• Altitude(s):
• Assigned under VFR.
• Choosing the best cruise.
• IFR block altitudes.
• ATC - Read back the numbers.
• ATC - right way to contact ATC on initial call.
• ATC - which airspeed?
• Autopilot - climbing or descending.
• Autopilot - using the "Blue Button".
• Best glide simplified.
• Checklists - bold items.
• Checklists - using them in flight.
• Clouds - avoiding them at night.
• Communication
• Abbreviate callsigns.
• 'Any traffic please advise'.
• Comm failure troubleshooting.
• Delay duration on frequency change.
• Should you monitor 121.5 (Guard/Emergency)?
• Using callsign on CTAF.
• CRM - keys to good CRM.
• Decelerating - right time to slow down.
• Descents:
• Mixture during descent.
• Departure - high terrain.
• ELT - what's better than one?
• Emergencies +
• Airspeed indicator, flying without one.
• Alternator failure at night.
• Checklist memorization. Version 2.
• Counteracting panic.
• Declare or not?
• Ditching in water vs trees.
• Emergency return in IMC.
• Engine failure #1 Rule.
• Engine failure (simulated) - dangerous practice?
• Engine out to a field.
• Field landing.
• Fire extinguisher - how to use it.
• First action for any emergency.
• Forced landing at night.
• Forced landing priorities.
• Glide ring, old school.
• Landing spot.
• Military mindset.
• Off-field landing choices.
• Open door in flight.
• Partial power loss.
• Split flaps.
• Staying sharp on procedures.
• See also Emergencies.
• Fatigue, the impact of.
• Flaps...
• Extending while banked.
• Slipping with full flaps.
• Flight following...
• Benefits.
• Changing altitude.
• Flight following and ATC.
• From non-towered airports.
• In an emergency.
• Is it a clearance?
• See also Cross Country.
• Fog - un-forecasted.
• Fuel gauge accuracy.
• Fuel gauge inaccuracy.
• Glass cockpit - the secret.
• Gliding distance.
• Hypoxia below the O2 altitudes?
• IMC - can a VFR pilot survive in IMC?
• Instruments - overreliance.
• Involuntary Control Inputs.
• LAHSO clearance.
• Leaning - simple method.
• Learning the numbers of your aircraft.
• Military Operations Area (MOA).
• Mistakes - Letting go of them.
• Navigation...
• Can't find the airport?
• Finding the airport.
• Tracking heading with GPS.
• VFR Through a TFR.
• See also Cross Country.
• Passengers - should they stay quiet?
• PIREPs, what to include.
• PIREPs: what to report.
• Play the game of “What If?”
• Practice every flight.
• Propeller, how to move it quietly. (silent prop)
• Propeller, overspeed.
• Right-of-way: rules and realities.
• Rudder:
• Rudder coordination.
• Rudder coordination exercise.
• Rudder use on climbout.
• Slips...
• Left or right?
• Slipping to comply with ATC?
• Slipping with full flaps.
• Slow flight - getting there quickly.
• Spins - will training really help?
• Stalls:
• Cross-control stall.
• Fear of stalls.
• Stall speed while banked and descending.
• Stalling while slipping.
• Staying ahead of the aircraft.
• Steep turn secret.
• SVFR - when it makes sense.
• Thermals - when they turn turbulent.
• Traffic, finding it.
• Traffic pattern / pattern operations:
• Traffic pattern, departing it.
• Traffic pattern ground track.
• When to announce each leg in the pattern.
• Where is the upwind leg?
• See also Maneuvers - Execution - Techniques.
• Trim - five-second rule.
• Trim - set trim in one shot?
• Instruments (IFR) +
• See also Instruments and Approaches.
• Approaches:
• Activating.
• Are circling approaches still useful?
• Declutter approach charts.
• Fly to one airfield, land at another.
• Practice in VMC.
• Preparing for one.
• Simple fix to a common problem.
• Second attempt.
• Visual do's and don'ts.
• ATC - anticipating cancellation instructions.
• Bearing pointers, using them.
• Circling to land in low visibility
• Clearance - airborne IFR.
• Clearance - copying IFR.
• Clearance - non-towered airport.
• Clearance - writing down clearances.
• Clearance Delivery - using published phone numbers.
• Contact approach in practice.
• Departures:
• Graphic ODP - what is it?
• Must you fly the ODP?
• Glideslope - the secret to a perfect one.
• IFR Routes - preferred routes.
• IPC (airplane) vs simulator practice.
• Missed approach, multiple.
• Standard-rate turn - a secret.
• Vectors to final,,,
• Getting custom vectors to final.
• Using vectors to final.
• VOR phase-out.
• VOR tests.
• Weather:
• ATIS/AWOS - a better way to get it.
• Clouds to avoid?
• Forecast, MOS - what is it?
• Lightning - how far is “Distant Lightning”?
• No ice in snow clouds?
• Outlooks, Watches and Warnings.
• Rain - flying through heavy rain.
• SIGMET, Convective
• What conditions warrant a Convective SIGMET?
• TAFs - why they get amended.
• Turbulence:
• Hidden pockets.
• On warm days.
• Reducing speed in turbulence.
• Underused turbulence prediction tool.
• VV in a METAR.
• See also Weather.

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