Concepts / Mentality / Truisms

Some things never change - no matter how 'creative' we are and it behooves us to listen to history.

• Aeronautical Decision Making (see CRM and SRM)
• Altitude = Airspeed
• Altitude is life
• Always care about your pre-flight
• Avoid roads unless zero other options
• Checklists: do them.  Do what you say, say what you do.
• Compliance Philosophy (FAA)
• Decision Making (see CRM and SRM)
• Emergencies, the "5 Nevers" (see Emergencies)
• Engine Failures (see Emergencies)
• Fly the aircraft until its chocked
• Flying, the "5 Nevers"
• You never have to takeoff
• Never takeoff without seeing the fuel
• Never takeoff without using the checklists
• Never determine you "have to get "there"
• You never have to land on this approach
• Fuel:  know your fuel reserves – day/night, VFR/IFR
• Going around – if you have power and fuel, it’s always an option
• Heavily loaded airplanes are different beasts
• Increased angle of bank = increased stall speed
• Instinct isn't always your friend
• Landing
• Always plan on 1) landing and 2) going around
• Don’t force an airplane to land
• Max crosswind component exists for a reason
• Only mix water with float airplanes
• Personal:  if there is anything making you hesitant to fly…speak up!  There’s always another day.
• Plan, Brief, Do, Review, Renew (with anything)
• Poor judgement can overcome great skill.
• References:  if you’re referencing study material that isn’t in the FAR or AIM or from an FAA source (such as this website), always cross-check it. 
• Situational awareness doesn’t care if you’re in the air or on the ground.
• See more on SA in Resource Management.
• Responsibility
• Take personal responsibility for your flights/checkrides.  Yes, your instructor is accountable for what and how he/she teaches you, but no one can make you study and/or prepare.  This goes hand-in-hand with the PIC mentality.  YOU ARE taking the airplane’s book.  YOU ARE doing the walk-around.  YOU ARE flying the airplane.  The sooner you act like the other person is your spouse, significant other, friend, someone who can give you zero assistance, the better off and prepared you’ll be…for anything.
• Stalls
• Climbing turns: high wing stalls first
• Descending turns: low wing stalls first
• Task Saturation – fall back on a ladder of priorities
• Attain & maintain flying airspeed
• Communicate
• Ensure a clear flight path
• Fly airplane to proper position
• Work avionics and other cockpit technology
• Traffic pattern - never underestimate it
• Treat every propeller like a live one
• Turbulence?  Always a good idea to slow down
• VMC into IMC (have a plan)
• What are you doing now?  What will you do next?  What will you do after that?
• Why good pilots makes bad decisions:
• Wired to make quick assessment, tag it with emotion, made decision, and move on
• We’re inclined to stick with a decision once made
• We’ve done this before (history)
• Self-interest (emotional bond) to stick with it which leads to
• Discounting adverse information (resistance to change)
• Wings always stall at the same angle of attack
• Weather:  If the WX makes you nervous, what makes you think the flight will calm your nerves?
• Weight, balance, performance:  before every flight

- FIG -

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!