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.

There are nearly endless opportunities after earning a private pilot certificate to build and advance your stick and rudder skills. Many pilots go on to specialized flight schools to learn new flying techniques, like how to fly aerobatics. Join Patty Wagstaff in this week's video tip to see how much fun flying inverted can be, as she demonstrates how to fly an aileron roll in a Super Decathlon over the beaches of St. Augustine.

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.

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.

Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course has been a popular home study tool for decades, and is famous for its relentless pace of innovation. Every year, we add new content, new training tools, and technological enhancements. This year is no exception, with a host of upgrades that make training more engaging and more efficient. Here’s a look at some highlights.

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.

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.

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.

Learning to effectively communicate with a control tower often presents a challenge to student pilots, since it requires additional multitasking during an already busy time of flight. One of the best ways to learn is to listen to other pilots on the radio, and this week's tip follows a Cessna 172 pilot as he works with both ground control and the tower to taxi and takeoff from a Class D airport.