Bret Koebbe

When departing or approaching an airport, it's important that you choose a runway that allows you to takeoff or land into the wind. This week's tip looks at someone common wind direction indicators found on the ground at many airports, along with how to use the radio to tune into automated weather reporting systems.

A big part of the go/no-go decision relates to your health and well-being as a pilot. This week's tip takes a look at various personal factors, including illness, fatigue and the effects that medication and alcohol can have on your decision-making before and during a flight.

Collision avoidance skills are emphasized early on in the flight training process, and it's important that you make an effort to keep your eyes out the window as much as possible when practicing maneuvers. This week's video takes a look a few tips you can incorporate on your next flight to help spot nearby traffic, along with some new technology innovations that allows you to display nearby traffic right on your favorite aviation iPad app.

The electrical system is a critical component of today's modern airplanes, distributing and supplying power to the lights, avionics and digital flight instruments. This week's tip takes a look at the various elements that make up the electrical system in the popular Cessna 172 training airplane.

The soft-field takeoff technique will be required when departing from runway surfaces made of grass or dirt and will allow you to keep as much weight off the nose wheel as possible during the takeoff roll.

While you can technically learn to fly and earn your private pilot certificate in just about any type of airplane, you'll quickly learn that certain models are better suited for flight training than others. Here we'll take a look at the most common airplanes used for pilot training and some of the differences among them.

As you start to feel comfortable with takeoffs and landings after solo, your flight instructor may have you practice touch and gos during landing practice. This week's video tip takes a look at the maneuver and some factors to consider to help execute them properly.

Sporty’s Pilot Training app is your single source for the best aviation training, on iPad, iPhone, Android, and on your smart TV. Join Bret Koebbe from Sporty's Video Production team to learn about how to access your Sporty's Pilot Training Courses on AppleTV and Roku. It's an easy way to watch the latest aviation training videos from the comfort of your couch.

During your flight training you'll learn all about the 4 forces acting on the airplane in flight, including lift, thrust, weight and drag. This week's tip takes a closer look at the aerodynamic forces that cause the rearward force of drag, including a breakdown of parasite vs. induced drag.

Weather plays an important part in aviation and is something pilots must evaluate before every flight. In our latest video tip, we'll take a look at the weather variables you should be evaluating when making the important go/no-go decision.