As Sporty’s lead aviation course and video producer, Bret is usually flying an interesting airplane, and often with a camera rolling. He oversees the development, production and distribution of over 30 aviation courses from Sporty's, including the Private Pilot Learn to Fly Course. He is a flight instructor and check airman at the Sporty's Academy flight school and a senior captain on a Cessna Citation.
The flight deck of every airplane includes a collection of flight instruments that display important information, like airspeed, altitude, heading and turn information. In this video we’ll go over the standard 6 instruments you’ll find in a Cessna 172 and how to interpret their indications.
Most students today prefer to use an electronic E6B flight computer when planning a flight or preparing for the FAA knowledge test. The electronic E6B is actually the evolution of a mechanical E6B flight computer, often referred to as a whiz wheel. While the mechanical E6B may take a little longer to learn compared to its electronic counterpart, the learning process is a fun challenge.
The rectangular course is one of the most basic maneuvers pilots learn during flight training. While it may sound boring, there’s a lot to learn from this simple pattern. In our latest Video Tip of the Week, we walk through each step of the rectangular course, with in-cockpit video and 3D animations.
Airplanes always seem to want to turn left, especially in a climb. But why does this happen? In this three-minute video tip, we dive into the physics in a way that makes sense for pilots. 3D animations and in-flight video show the effects of P-factor, gyroscopic precession and spiraling slipstream.
Just about every airplane includes performance data in the Pilot’s Operating Handbook to calculate the runway length required for takeoff and landing under various conditions. The FARs require you to determine these distances as part of your preflight responsibilities, but fortunately the charts published for today’s modern airplanes make this task a breeze. This week’s tip takes a look at how perform this calculation using the common “chase-around” style charts.
Not every approach and landing will be by the book during your training, and you’ll inevitably encounter situations when you round out too high, overshoot the touchdown point or bounce after the initial touchdown. This is perfectly normal and learning how to recover from these scenarios will improve your confidence and help you make better landings in the long run.
The week’s tip looks at the Convective Outlook chart, which provides both short and long-term planning guidance for determining the location and intensity of thunderstorm activity.
Take the time to compute the total weight of the airplane and center of gravity (CG) before every flight, based on the number of occupants, baggage and fuel and where each item is positioned in the airplane. This week’s tip takes a look at how to compute a typical weight and balance calculation and how to verify the results are within limits.
Many high-performance airplanes take advantage of turbocharged engines, which allow for cruise operations at higher altitudes into the flight levels. This video shows how these systems work, including the compressor and turbine components, intercooler, wastegate, and engine flight instruments.
The rugged design of a tailwheel airplane and its extra prop clearance opens up the opportunity to land at a wide variety of off-airport locations with soft surfaces, like sand, gravel bars, grass and even mud. A modified soft-field approach and landing technique should be used when operating in these conditions, which allows the wheels to touchdown at the slowest possible airspeed with the wings supporting the weight of the airplane as long as possible.
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