Headset technology has advanced rapidly and the features and choices in aviation headsets can be downright overwhelming. ANR, passive, panel-powered, Bluetooth, TSO’d? You can become an informed consumer without hours of boring research. Join Doug Ranly as he demystifies the world of aviation headsets, shares what’s new, and highlights the features important to you. When you’re ready to purchase your headset, visit Sporty’s interactive buyers guide and see a complete lineup of headsets available for sale.
Topics of the presentation will include:
– Key Terms
– What to Look For
– Big Name Brands
– Real World Tips and Advice
Getting the most out of each lesson involves preparation.
I was recently reminded of what it’s like to be a student again last week after attending the first of a series of guitar lessons. Everything about it was foreign to me, from feeling like an outsider at the music shop to opening a book of sheet music that looked like it was written in a foreign language. Each lesson is only 30 minutes, and takes place one on one with the music instructor in a very small room. The first lesson was over before I knew it, and on the drive home it got me thinking of how similar this was to when I took my first flight lesson 13 years ago. I considered myself a good student at the time, but in hindsight there were many things I could have done better to get more out of each lesson. And having been a flight instructor for 11 years now, I’ve seen both the good and bad habits of students, and how it affects their flight training.
When I got home that night, I sat down and wrote out how I could maximize each 30-minute lesson. I decided out of the gate I would arrive to each lesson early, have the assigned chapters from the Guitar Method book nearly memorized, and ensure that my guitar was properly tuned so I wouldn’t waste any of the instructor’s time with something I could do on my own.
Now of course in music the #1 way to improve is to practice, practice, practice. In aviation you obviously can’t practice flying the real airplane in your living room, but there are many things you can do make the most of the time with your flight instructor.
1. Use a Syllabus or Training Course Outline (TCO) – this is good advice whether you’re learning at a big flight school or from an independent CFI. A syllabus provides a logical order to flight training and allows you to effectively track your progress lesson by lesson. Sporty’s offers its TCOs free of charge for all Primary, Instrument and Multiengine courses: get them here.
2. Prepare for each lesson in advance – I can’t stress the importance of this one enough. After each lesson your instructor will assign you reading material and specific items to study (and if he or she doesn’t, make it a point to ask what you should be reviewing). For ground lessons, make sure to review the appropriate subject areas in advance, and make notes of any areas that you don’t understand. To prepare for flight lessons, review step-by-step each maneuver that is listed in the lesson, and do some “arm-chair” flying where you mentally run through each task with a checklist in hand. A dedicated maneuvers guide can be a big help here.
Seminars are a great opportunity to meet the aviation community.
3. Become part of the airport community – make an effort to get to know the other instructors and students at your flight school, and attend seminars and forums when offered at your airport. In addition to feeling more comfortable each time you arrive for your lessons, you’ll find that other students can offer valuable advice on how they progressed through challenging lessons and tasks during their training.
4. Minimize distractions – if you find yourself continually distracted during ground lessons by the typical activities of a general aviation airport, ask your instructor for a more secluded meeting area. Most schools have designated quiet areas that provide a good one-on-one learning environment.
5. Start with an organized cockpit – make it a point during the cockpit pre-flight to organize the cabin – have your sectionals, kneeboard, A/FDs, pens, iPad and E6B all readily accessible. Leaving the A/FD in your flight bag unreachable on the back seat doesn’t lead to a positive learning experience when your instructor requests a diversion to a new airport.
6. Use a video-based home-study course in conjunction with your training at the airport – This ties in with the 2nd item above. Using a home-study course like Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course will allow you to prepare in advance for both ground and flight lessons, and is much more engaging than just studying text books.
Maintain a consistent schedule and show up to each session rested and ready to learn.
7. Maintain a consistent lesson schedule – try to schedule at least 2 to 3 lessons per week, and avoid long stretches of time in between lessons. You’ll retain the knowledge and skills better, leading to a quicker and less costly path to earning your certificate.
8. Show up for each lesson well rested – this may seem obvious, but you’re wasting both your and the instructor’s time in the airplane if you’re not physically and mentally rested for each lesson.
9. Don’t skimp on the post-flight briefing – the post-flight briefing is one of the most important components of any flight lesson. Here you’ll cover what you did well during the flight along with items that need improvement. Make sure to record the flight times in your logbook (with instructor’s signature), document the flight details in a syllabus and discuss what needs reviewing before the next lesson.
10. Set realistic expectations – don’t expect to execute each new maneuver and procedure to pro-pilot standards during the first attempt. There will be a learning curve, but with proper preparation on the ground and practice in the air, you’ll quickly become proficient. And as you become comfortable with each task, don’t settle for just meeting the FAA minimums – always try to exceed them.
https://media.flighttrainingcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/11110026/172_red-taking-off-copy.jpg9221600Bret Koebbehttps://media.flighttrainingcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/05155154/FTC-logo-horizontal-fianl.pngBret Koebbe2023-09-15 08:55:422023-09-12 14:39:1910 tips to get the most out of each flight lesson
Editor’s Note: Welcome to a four-part series on Chris McGonegle’s experience as a rusty pilot – a relatable category for many. Chris is an Instrument-rated Commercial pilot and product manager with Sporty’s Pilot Shop.
To say that aviation is in my blood would be an understatement.
The house I grew up in lies just over two miles as the crow flies from Lunken Field, so planes overhead were a common sight. I had an aunt who worked as a flight attendant and was able to introduce me to a professional aviator, who in between flight legs one sunny day, gave me a tour of his office. I learned from an early age that balsa wood models and rockets required attention to detail and gentle craftsmanship. For icing on the cake, my father ran thermodynamic stress tests on jet engines for General Electric and would take me to Lunken on the weekends to fly RC planes. To say that aviation is in my blood would be an understatement; it’s practically a building block of my DNA.
Even with all these subliminal signals for me to earn my wings, I never took the steps toward jumping into an airplane and seeing the world with an AGL altitude over 0. People who could fly airplanes had an elite reputation in my mind; one that seemed too far-fetched for me to consider. So my teenage years were filled with school, sports, and summer jobs outside occasionally interrupted by the distinct hum of an engine passing overhead.
In my third year of study at the University of Cincinnati, I decided that I would need a new hobby to freshen up my all too routine days filled with work and studying. I remember sitting in my room trying to decide which musical instrument I wanted to pick up (to the detriment of my friendship with my roommates) and was again interrupted by the sound of an airplane flying overhead…my new path was beckoning and who was I to ignore it?
After researching local flight schools, I coordinated with my dad and we drove out to the Clermont County Airport to investigate how much it would cost and what the required time allotment would be in order to earn my license. I still remember that first time I touched the strangely-designed handle to open the Cessna 172 door and peer into this alien machine. The dials and gauges seemed like hieroglyphics to this caveman and the fuzzy sheepskin seats looked like something out of a disco movie.
Why would you ever put that on your seats? (I’ve jumped in a 172 around midsummer day after the leather seats have had ample time to cook in the sun and realized REAL FAST why sheepskin is a luxury seat cover). I found out during this visit that the University of Cincinnati had an accredited aviation program connected with the airport and after careful research and consideration, I was enrolled in the Academy.
My first flight was early October 2010 and I can still remember looking out the left window, watching the ground shrink beneath me. I’ve always had a fear of heights but something about this metal box gave me a sense of serenity and caused my fear to evaporate. For a truly memorable first flight, my instructor told me I was going to land the plane just as we turned onto an extended final. After what seemed like an eternity, he informed me he was kidding and he would show me a few before I tried. My pucker factor quickly lowered.
Four months later, in mid-February, I was cutting the back off a cheap button down shirt I had purchased from a discount retail store two nights before. A little over a year later, I earned the proud certification of a Private Pilot. In 2012 there were 514 people in the U.S.A. for every one pilot, so my mom associated me with the likes of Chuck Yeager to all her friends and family, but I knew there was much more to my training and learning.
A few months after the proud certification, I found myself scheduled for a solo cross-country in an airplane that had plenty of payload with full tanks. I asked my instructor if I could take someone with me and he responded, “Why wouldn’t you be able to”? It was a push towards strengthening the important skill of aeronautical decision making, while simultaneously reminding me of the benefits of possessing a Private Pilot certificate. All too often I found myself looking at the next challenge rather than reflecting on my accomplishments, and this was my first order to smell the roses.
My Dad was my first passenger after earning my Private pilot certification.
On September 15, 2012, I took up my first passenger. This was easily my favorite flight during training, because I was able to share the exhilaration of flying with one of my biggest supporters. We also enjoyed a great BBQ meal at the end of our second leg before firing up the 172 for the sunset leg home. My flight with dad really reaffirmed this new path in life, which started just under two years earlier, and helped to show that it’s not all work.
A little more than a year after my flight with my dad, I earned my Instrument Rating – one of the most challenging and frustrating things I’ve ever experienced, but I cherish the memories of learning the IFR system and how it improved my aptitude and safety margin in an airplane. In passing I’ve heard the analogy that gaining an instrument rating is the equivalent of earning your master’s degree in aviation and I tend to concur.
According to AOPA, since 2002 accidents involving fixed-wing aircraft inadvertently transitioning from visual flight rules into instrument meteorological conditions were fatal 86% of the time. The recent passing of a basketball legend—in addition to the early death of our 35th President’s son almost 21 years ago—all too grimly relays the importance of understanding the challenge of instrument flight. The confidence I’ve gained from earning the Instrument Rating, in my opinion, is one of the most important side effects of training.
Fast forward another 16 months and on June 24, 2015, I earned my Commercial Pilot certificate. I felt like I had finally made it—the door for monetary compensation was cracked open. Mom was marginally closer to the truth when she compared me to Sully, and at long last I considered myself an aviator rather than a trainee and I was ready to take on the skies! But not before giving myself some time to relax and focus on work and at-home responsibilities to decompress slightly before leaning into the next level of flying… The rust began to accrue.
https://media.flighttrainingcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/05165027/image3-1-scaled.jpg19202560Chris McGoneglehttps://media.flighttrainingcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/05155154/FTC-logo-horizontal-fianl.pngChris McGonegle2023-09-14 12:00:092023-09-14 12:04:14My experience as a rusty pilot
The pathway to a Private Pilot certificate includes many training requirements, including ground school, in-airplane flight training, and a few FAA tests. While it’s the time in the air with your instructor that makes the experience magical, there will be an equal amount of time studying on the ground in preparation for each lesson and for the required tests.
The first test you will take is the FAA Knowledge Test, consisting of 65 multiple-choice questions completed on a computer at an official PSI testing center (five are considered validation questions so only 60 of the questions are scored).
This will test your understanding of the ground and flight topics covered during your home study and training at the airport. You must earn a minimum score of 70% to pass.
You can take this test at any point in your training but our general recommendation is to focus on the written test after your first solo flight and when you’re in the cross-country flying phase of your training. You must receive an endorsement to take the test which can come from a CFI or a home study system like Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course.
I’ve been preparing students for FAA knowledge tests for more than 20 years as a flight instructor and have seen many changes to the test as the FAA continuously updates the focus and content of its questions.
Much of this is for the better as the questions on the test today seem to cover more practical flying topics as opposed to those questions requiring rote memorization of less relevant training topics.
The challenge for students, however, is a lack of transparency from the FAA on what you will see on the test, creating a moving target scenario for the flight training industry.
The old way to study
When I learned to fly 25 years ago, the FAA published the complete set of all questions that appeared on the test, which led to an over-reliance on rote memorization. For example, you could memorize the correct numerical value of a takeoff distance question and answer it on the test without reading the question text.
The Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards (ACS) is the guide for the FAA knowledge test.
By the late 2000s, the FAA stopped releasing all the questions to the public and started writing “parallel” questions. This eliminated the ability to memorize just the answers, but the test composition remained the same and the test was not an accurate indicator of real-world pilot knowledge.
In 2016, the FAA transitioned from the older Practical Test Standards (PTS) to the new Airman Certification Standards (ACS) to create a common standard for both the knowledge test and the practical test (checkride). To accompany this change, new questions were added and existing questions were aligned with the specific Elements listed with each Task in the ACS.
To help instructors and students keep up with changes to the test, the FAA regularly published a newsletter titled “What’s new and upcoming in airman testing,” which included specifics on new topics that were added to the test and old material they were retiring. This provided a good middle ground between the old days of publishing all the questions and pointing someone to the vastness of the ACS to help focus their study.
Unfortunately, for unknown reasons, the FAA discontinued this newsletter in December 2021 and now provides no meaningful guidance on question topics that are added or removed from the test.
The new way to study
Currently, the only updates we receive on new content added to the knowledge test come from student feedback. To be clear, we (Sporty’s) and the aviation industry are not looking for the FAA to publish the specific questions added throughout the year, but rather some general information on the topics of newly added questions (e.g., ADS-B, stabilized approaches, slow flight, etc.).
To make things more confusing, the FAA began publishing a document called “Airman Testing Community Advisory” with some general information on the status of airman testing and FAA handbook publication schedules, but the guidance has been vague regarding knowledge tests.
You will also find a 60-question Private Pilot sample test on the PSI testing website, but most of these questions haven’t changed for many years, with just a few new questions added, making this an ineffective resource.
If there’s a silver lining to the lack of transparency, the general feedback from students is that the new content is focused on practical flying topics like airport operations, flight maneuvers, and takeoffs and landings. I believe this is the right direction for the knowledge test and provides a more practical link between real-world flight training and what is being tested.
With all of this in mind, I’ve changed my advice to students on preparing for the test. Instead of focusing on the knowledge test as a standalone task, preparation should be incorporated into the student’s comprehensive training plan. Twenty years ago, I recommended students purchase a dedicated test prep book or software program, but today that does more of a disservice.
Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course incorporates a comprehensive approach to preparation for your flight and ground training, along with test and checkride prep.
The best approach is to start with a comprehensive personal study system, focusing on ground school and flight training topics like Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course. The 15 hours of in-flight video lessons and interactive scenarios will help you understand the “why” of how things work in aviation and not just the “what.”
These personal study sessions, combined with the lessons at the airport with your instructor, will provide a solid foundation to prepare you for the FAA tests and be a well-rounded and knowledgeable Private Pilot.
When it comes time to focus on the knowledge test towards the latter half of your training schedule, you’ll find a dedicated test preparation section in Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course. Here you can choose from one of several study modes and select categories of questions to get familiar with the test questions.
When you answer a question, the course provides instant feedback, a detailed topic explanation, and a link to specific FAA reference material for additional studying. This helps to make the study process a learning experience rather than just memorizing answers. You’ll also find lots of performance analytics after you start to build your study history, highlighting your strengths and weaknesses.
Another recent improvement in the course is that the 1,000+ questions in Sporty’s test question database were recently recategorized to align with the Areas of Operations and Tasks in the Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards. This allows you to use the course more consistently and study both video lessons and test prep sessions using the ACS as your guide.
After completing the video training, and when you feel comfortable with the questions from your study sessions, you can take a Practice Test in the course to gauge your readiness for the real thing. The practice tests are generated using the same combination of questions from each ACS Area of Operation as outlined in PSI’s Applicant Information Bulletin to make it as realistic as possible. After completing two practice tests with a minimum score of 80%, the course will generate your official endorsement to take the test.
The key takeaway from all of this is that the days of only studying sample test questions simply won’t work anymore. Because the FAA continues to add new questions without notice, it takes a more organized and comprehensive studying approach to ensure you’re truly ready for both the test and your everyday lessons.
By studying all of the lessons, videos, knowledge test prep, and checkride prep features in Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course, you’ll feel confident in your ability to ace all the tests and start on the right foot as a well-rounded Private Pilot after the checkride.
https://media.flighttrainingcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/11121230/Test-prep-laptop-2-scaled.jpg17082560Bret Koebbehttps://media.flighttrainingcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/05155154/FTC-logo-horizontal-fianl.pngBret Koebbe2023-09-11 12:19:282023-09-11 12:19:28What’s up with the Private Pilot FAA Knowledge Test?
This guide was designed for flight instructors and flight school owners to get the most out of using Sporty’s Learn to Fly, Instrument Rating, and Commercial pilot courses with your students. You’ll learn how to create a free Sporty’s CFI Portal account and how to connect with your students to monitor their progress.
Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course provides a modern, comprehensive training solution for your flight school that is sure to increase enrollment and improve retention and performance. Sounds too good to be true?
Increase Retention Rates – Sporty’s courses cover every element of flight and ground training from start to finish. Our course is designed to be part of your student’s daily training and prepare and endorse students for the FAA knowledge exam. The course is delivered in an easy-to-use online learning management system. Students can choose online or app and study whenever and wherever their busy schedules allow. These courses will keep your student engaged in the training process and excited about returning to the airport.
Cut Overhead – We encourage you to use our included FAA-approved training course outlines as your curriculum. The TCO will allow consistency and quality throughout the training process and provide the confidence to resonate with your customers.
Sporty’s courses will encourage professional lesson presentations every time with little or no preparation. We offer an Instructor Guide to teach ground lessons so the instructor will need only one reference to prepare. Our Maneuvers and Procedures Guide will provide this same guidance in the air. Standardization training will no longer cost you money.
Boost Revenue – More students requiring less ground preparation will mean more time for your instructors in the air and better student performance. Moreover, our built-in ground lessons mean no more cancellations due to weather.
Make money selling Sporty’s Courses to your students
Sporty’s was founded by a flight instructor over 60 years ago, and ever since we’ve worked hard to support student pilots and CFIs. Sporty’s is pleased to offer several partnership opportunities for both flight schools and independent CFIs to generate revenue when using Sporty’s courses with your students.
Sporty’s Dealer Program
Sporty’s has designed our dealer program, to offer high-quality pilot supplies and educational products at an excellent value. Whether you’re looking for an aviation curriculum, which can be found in Sporty’s Pilot Training Courses, or a complete line of pilot supplies, including Flight Gear Bags, kneeboards, logbooks and more, Sporty’s has the products to help your students and your business.
You can purchase eligible items from Sporty’s, including most of our training courses, at a discount and sell them to your students at Sporty’s minimum resale price (the same as customers see in our catalog and on our website).
Flight Instructors also have the option to earn Sporty’s gift cards when referring their students to purchase a course from Sporty’s. After enrolling in the free CFI rebate program and sharing your referral code with your students, you’ll earn a $25 gift card every time one of your students buys a Sporty’s course. These gift cards do not expire and can be used online, in-store or over the phone.
Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course isn’t just for independent studying; a comprehensive CFI portal connects instructors with their students’ at-home study sessions, making the flight training process more organized and efficient.
This suite of tools includes lesson plans, a flight instructor refresher course, a complete FAA library, special CFI offers, and full access to Sporty’s award-winning pilot training courses for you to learn more about what your students are using. Best of all, every feature is free to any active flight instructor.
Register for a free CFI account
The first step to get started is to navigate to and bookmark sportys.com/cfi. This is the portal to all the free resources and access to your student progress. If you already have a Sporty’s account, log in using your email address and password. Otherwise, follow the prompts to create a free account and login.
You will be prompted to enter your CFI credentials when creating your account. These fields are labeled as optional but are required to access some of the advanced features of the CFI portal. Enter your CFI certificate number and the date that your CFI certificate expires.
Monitoring your students’ progress in the CFI Portal
There are two ways to link a student to the student roster in the CFI portal. First, the student can use the “Share Progress with my CFI” option at the bottom left of the main menu in their course. After entering your email address, they will automatically show up in the Students section of your CFI Portal:
The other option is to invite the student from the CFI Portal, using the Invite student button at the top right of the Students view. The student will receive an email and inbox notification in their course, where they must accept the invitation.
Chief CFI: Connect with your CFIs and view all flight school students
Sporty’s CFI portal also offers a powerful feature designed for the Chief CFI and flight school management to connect with individual instructors at the school and monitor all student progress in one location. This feature requires a manual setup step from Sporty’s support team and multiple CFIs from a flight school can be assigned “Chief CFI” privileges.
Creating a Chief CFI Account
After first creating a traditional CFI account as described above, email our Sporty’s Courses Support team at [email protected] with the following info:
Include “Setup my Chief CFI account” in the email subject line
Identify your flight school name
Identify your role at the flight school
Include the email address used for your CFI account
A representative from Sporty’s will be in touch and set up your account within 1 to 2 business days.
Connect with your instructors
Chief CFIs will have an additional option on the left side menu in the CFI Portal to connect with instructors at the flight school. Select this option, and use the “Invite Instructors” button to send an email invite out to the instructor (they must first have a Sporty’s CFI account before you can invite them). After accepting, you’ll see all the instructors connected to your account.
You may search or sort this list of instructors much like you can do with the list of students. Clicking on an instructor will drill down into a new list of that instructor’s students. You may now interact with that student’s progress as if you were their flight instructor.
How to renew your CFI certificate with Sporty’s free FIRC
Sporty’s is pleased to offer its online eFIRC free as a convenient, effective, online renewal option. This FIRC was updated and expanded for 2023, satisfies the requirements to renew your CFI and will vastly improve your teaching skills.
Sporty’s eFIRC features an all-new online learning portal, universally accessible for PC, MAC, and mobile devices including iPad and Android platforms via any modern web browser.
There is no software to install. Simply log in anywhere you have an internet connection and begin your flight instructor refresher training. Sporty’s eFIRC is not available through the Pilot Training mobile app.
Enroll in Sporty’s FIRC
Sporty’s FIRC is instantly available to any certified flight instructor verified for Sporty’s CFI portal.
Provided that you have already been validated as a Sporty’s CFI as described earlier, you can start the FIRC course by selecting “FIRC” in the menu on the left and clicking the blue “Access Sporty’s FIRC” button. This button will launch the training course. If you are not signed in or your credentials have not been verified, the blue button will redirect you to complete the CFI Portal registration.
Flight Schedule Pro Integration
Sporty’s Academy developed full Training Course Outlines (TCOs, aka Syllabus) for its part-141 approved flight school at Sportry’s headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, for Private Pilot, Instrument Rating and Commercial Pilot courses. Here will discuss how to use them with your students in Flight Schedule Pro.
Using Sporty’s TCOs in Flight Schedule Pro
Flight Schedule Pro (FSP) offers complete flight school management software to assist with aircraft scheduling, billing and student progress tracking in a syllabus. Sporty’s has partnered with FSP to make all our Private, Instrument and Commercial TCOs available in an interactive format in FSP. If you are an FSP Training Hub user, you will see the option to select Sporty’s as a training partner when setting up a new course,
In addition to saving you time in setting up each lesson, Sporty’s TCOs in FSP include interactive links in the Recommended Study section for each lesson, which allow your instructors and students to quickly jump to the relevant lesson in their Sporty’s online or mobile app course.
For more information
Contact Mark Wiesenhahn, Sporty’s Flight School Courses Sales Coordinator, to start using Sporty’s Pilot Training Courses at your flight school – [email protected]
https://media.flighttrainingcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/05171215/image5.png9011999Bret Koebbehttps://media.flighttrainingcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/05155154/FTC-logo-horizontal-fianl.pngBret Koebbe2023-09-07 10:10:282024-09-27 12:02:03Flight School and Instructor Guide to Sporty’s Pilot Training Courses
Weather was good enough to accept the visual approach.
We were approaching the busy Orlando terminal airspace on a summer Friday afternoon. The typical afternoon thunderstorms were wreaking havoc on the local approach controllers attempting to work a high volume of aircraft into the local Orlando airports with non-standard routing because of aircraft deviating around weather. We overflew the Orlando Sanford Airport to avoid weather to the west before being vectored to final approach for runway 25 at the Orlando Executive Airport. Weather was good enough at this point to accept a visual approach.
After being cleared to land approximately five miles out, we were told there would an aircraft performing a high-speed taxi down the runway prior to our arrival. Minutes later we were told to slow to our final speed as the Falcon tri-jet had not yet begun its taxi. We were fortunate to have about 20 seconds at our 120kt final approach speed to discuss the possibility of a go-around given the slow progress of the Falcon’s taxi run. This discussion involved the steps we would take performing the go-around and the appropriate call-outs. On short final, with the Falcon still on the runway, I called for the go-around.
Go-around power, flaps 10, positive rate, gear-up. The same cadence as we had practiced in training and executed during this real event resulted in a safe outcome in this low-level maneuver with passengers aboard. After being offered several options for our return from the Tower controller, we opted for a visual right-hand pattern and landed uneventfully.
Are you prepared for your next go-around? Go-around are almost never planned and can occur because of the actions of others in the case of a runway incursion or controller miscue. Or they can stem from a faulty approach or balked landing attempt. In any case, go-arounds are a low-level, high workload task in an already stressful environment which is when training and instinctive reactions matter most. Here is how to help reinforce those procedures and affect a positive outcome.
1) Rehearse your go-around procedures on every approach. While fine details may vary slightly, go-around procedures are generally universal in any aircraft from pistons to jets. Apply takeoff (go-around) power while simultaneously increasing pitch to the takeoff/go-around attitude. Retract the flaps to the appropriate go-around setting to reduce drag. If flying a retractable gear aircraft, upon establishing a positive rate of climb, retract the landing gear also to reduce drag and improve climb performance. Upon reaching a safe obstacle clearance altitude, retract the remaining flaps and complete the appropriate checklists.
Even if you are not flying a retractable gear aircraft, it’s certainly OK to maintain a consistent rhythm to the go-around procedures by still calling for gear or verifying the gear position. This will help if transitioning to a retractable gear airplane or perhaps you fly a combination of aircraft. And the same rule applies to flaps even if you may have executed the go-around at the appropriate flap setting.
Rehearse your go-around procedures on every approach.
2) Fly the airplane first! In the aviation hierarchy, we fly the airplane first before navigating or communicating. Aviation, navigate, communicate. When executing a go-around, you are likely trimmed for final approach and not for takeoff power and a climb attitude. Anticipate that additional control force will be necessary when adding power and, in a single engine piston-powered airplane, the left turning tendencies will be noticeable. In many aircraft, the configuration and pitch changes will be significant in a go-around with little margin for error.
In our go-around scenario, the Tower controller (likely somewhat flustered) was providing various options for our return to landing including switching back to approach control for an instrument approach versus continuing in the pattern VFR. These options were being presented to us in our already high task load environment. It is perfectly OK and imperative, that you have the airplane under control before responding to ATC. A simply “standby” will alert the controller that you have higher priorities and will respond when able.
Aviation, navigate, communicate – in that order!
3) Carefully consider your options for return. Depending on the cause of the go-around, returning to the same airport may not be the best option. Weather, traffic volume or airport conditions can affect your options. It’s good practice to have some basic awareness of alternate airport options even when flying VMC. If the cause of the go-around was a disabled aircraft or strong crosswinds, that likely will not be resolved quickly and you may not have the necessary fuel to wait for conditions to improve. In small, piston aircraft a go-around may not affect your fuel status a great deal, but in larger aircraft, one additional trip around the pattern can eat into fuel reserves quickly.
Also consider that a go-around can be unsettling for passengers not familiar with the aviation environment. It is hard to not notice a big increase in power and climb away from the airport when a landing was anticipated. If time and workload permit, explain the scenario to the passengers which could also influence your next move.
It is my opinion that we do not practice or execute go-arounds frequently enough as a community. We attempt to salvage poor approaches of balked landings when a controlled go-around is the better option. My challenge to you is to at least rehearse your go-around procedure on your next flight and, when the conditions allow, execute a go-around. After all, don’t we want more time in the air?
https://media.flighttrainingcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/10122151/Airplane-on-final.jpg6751200Eric Radtkehttps://media.flighttrainingcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/05155154/FTC-logo-horizontal-fianl.pngEric Radtke2023-09-04 08:55:052023-07-10 12:23:12Are you prepared to go around?
Webinar video: aviation headsets
/in Webinars/by Eric RadtkeTopics of the presentation will include:
– Key Terms
– What to Look For
– Big Name Brands
– Real World Tips and Advice
10 tips to get the most out of each flight lesson
/in Tips and technique/by Bret KoebbeGetting the most out of each lesson involves preparation.
I was recently reminded of what it’s like to be a student again last week after attending the first of a series of guitar lessons. Everything about it was foreign to me, from feeling like an outsider at the music shop to opening a book of sheet music that looked like it was written in a foreign language. Each lesson is only 30 minutes, and takes place one on one with the music instructor in a very small room. The first lesson was over before I knew it, and on the drive home it got me thinking of how similar this was to when I took my first flight lesson 13 years ago. I considered myself a good student at the time, but in hindsight there were many things I could have done better to get more out of each lesson. And having been a flight instructor for 11 years now, I’ve seen both the good and bad habits of students, and how it affects their flight training.
When I got home that night, I sat down and wrote out how I could maximize each 30-minute lesson. I decided out of the gate I would arrive to each lesson early, have the assigned chapters from the Guitar Method book nearly memorized, and ensure that my guitar was properly tuned so I wouldn’t waste any of the instructor’s time with something I could do on my own.
Now of course in music the #1 way to improve is to practice, practice, practice. In aviation you obviously can’t practice flying the real airplane in your living room, but there are many things you can do make the most of the time with your flight instructor.
1. Use a Syllabus or Training Course Outline (TCO) – this is good advice whether you’re learning at a big flight school or from an independent CFI. A syllabus provides a logical order to flight training and allows you to effectively track your progress lesson by lesson. Sporty’s offers its TCOs free of charge for all Primary, Instrument and Multiengine courses: get them here.
2. Prepare for each lesson in advance – I can’t stress the importance of this one enough. After each lesson your instructor will assign you reading material and specific items to study (and if he or she doesn’t, make it a point to ask what you should be reviewing). For ground lessons, make sure to review the appropriate subject areas in advance, and make notes of any areas that you don’t understand. To prepare for flight lessons, review step-by-step each maneuver that is listed in the lesson, and do some “arm-chair” flying where you mentally run through each task with a checklist in hand. A dedicated maneuvers guide can be a big help here.
Seminars are a great opportunity to meet the aviation community.
3. Become part of the airport community – make an effort to get to know the other instructors and students at your flight school, and attend seminars and forums when offered at your airport. In addition to feeling more comfortable each time you arrive for your lessons, you’ll find that other students can offer valuable advice on how they progressed through challenging lessons and tasks during their training.
4. Minimize distractions – if you find yourself continually distracted during ground lessons by the typical activities of a general aviation airport, ask your instructor for a more secluded meeting area. Most schools have designated quiet areas that provide a good one-on-one learning environment.
5. Start with an organized cockpit – make it a point during the cockpit pre-flight to organize the cabin – have your sectionals, kneeboard, A/FDs, pens, iPad and E6B all readily accessible. Leaving the A/FD in your flight bag unreachable on the back seat doesn’t lead to a positive learning experience when your instructor requests a diversion to a new airport.
6. Use a video-based home-study course in conjunction with your training at the airport – This ties in with the 2nd item above. Using a home-study course like Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course will allow you to prepare in advance for both ground and flight lessons, and is much more engaging than just studying text books.
Maintain a consistent schedule and show up to each session rested and ready to learn.
7. Maintain a consistent lesson schedule – try to schedule at least 2 to 3 lessons per week, and avoid long stretches of time in between lessons. You’ll retain the knowledge and skills better, leading to a quicker and less costly path to earning your certificate.
8. Show up for each lesson well rested – this may seem obvious, but you’re wasting both your and the instructor’s time in the airplane if you’re not physically and mentally rested for each lesson.
9. Don’t skimp on the post-flight briefing – the post-flight briefing is one of the most important components of any flight lesson. Here you’ll cover what you did well during the flight along with items that need improvement. Make sure to record the flight times in your logbook (with instructor’s signature), document the flight details in a syllabus and discuss what needs reviewing before the next lesson.
10. Set realistic expectations – don’t expect to execute each new maneuver and procedure to pro-pilot standards during the first attempt. There will be a learning curve, but with proper preparation on the ground and practice in the air, you’ll quickly become proficient. And as you become comfortable with each task, don’t settle for just meeting the FAA minimums – always try to exceed them.
My experience as a rusty pilot
/in Get Started, Personal stories, Tips and technique/by Chris McGonegleEditor’s Note: Welcome to a four-part series on Chris McGonegle’s experience as a rusty pilot – a relatable category for many. Chris is an Instrument-rated Commercial pilot and product manager with Sporty’s Pilot Shop.
My Experience as a Rusty Pilot – Part I
My Experience as a Rusty Pilot – Part II
My Experience as a Rusty Pilot – Part III
My Experience as a Rusty Pilot – Part IV
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My Airborne Beginning
To say that aviation is in my blood would be an understatement.
The house I grew up in lies just over two miles as the crow flies from Lunken Field, so planes overhead were a common sight. I had an aunt who worked as a flight attendant and was able to introduce me to a professional aviator, who in between flight legs one sunny day, gave me a tour of his office. I learned from an early age that balsa wood models and rockets required attention to detail and gentle craftsmanship. For icing on the cake, my father ran thermodynamic stress tests on jet engines for General Electric and would take me to Lunken on the weekends to fly RC planes. To say that aviation is in my blood would be an understatement; it’s practically a building block of my DNA.
Even with all these subliminal signals for me to earn my wings, I never took the steps toward jumping into an airplane and seeing the world with an AGL altitude over 0. People who could fly airplanes had an elite reputation in my mind; one that seemed too far-fetched for me to consider. So my teenage years were filled with school, sports, and summer jobs outside occasionally interrupted by the distinct hum of an engine passing overhead.
In my third year of study at the University of Cincinnati, I decided that I would need a new hobby to freshen up my all too routine days filled with work and studying. I remember sitting in my room trying to decide which musical instrument I wanted to pick up (to the detriment of my friendship with my roommates) and was again interrupted by the sound of an airplane flying overhead…my new path was beckoning and who was I to ignore it?
After researching local flight schools, I coordinated with my dad and we drove out to the Clermont County Airport to investigate how much it would cost and what the required time allotment would be in order to earn my license. I still remember that first time I touched the strangely-designed handle to open the Cessna 172 door and peer into this alien machine. The dials and gauges seemed like hieroglyphics to this caveman and the fuzzy sheepskin seats looked like something out of a disco movie.
Why would you ever put that on your seats? (I’ve jumped in a 172 around midsummer day after the leather seats have had ample time to cook in the sun and realized REAL FAST why sheepskin is a luxury seat cover). I found out during this visit that the University of Cincinnati had an accredited aviation program connected with the airport and after careful research and consideration, I was enrolled in the Academy.
My first flight was early October 2010 and I can still remember looking out the left window, watching the ground shrink beneath me. I’ve always had a fear of heights but something about this metal box gave me a sense of serenity and caused my fear to evaporate. For a truly memorable first flight, my instructor told me I was going to land the plane just as we turned onto an extended final. After what seemed like an eternity, he informed me he was kidding and he would show me a few before I tried. My pucker factor quickly lowered.
Four months later, in mid-February, I was cutting the back off a cheap button down shirt I had purchased from a discount retail store two nights before. A little over a year later, I earned the proud certification of a Private Pilot. In 2012 there were 514 people in the U.S.A. for every one pilot, so my mom associated me with the likes of Chuck Yeager to all her friends and family, but I knew there was much more to my training and learning.
A few months after the proud certification, I found myself scheduled for a solo cross-country in an airplane that had plenty of payload with full tanks. I asked my instructor if I could take someone with me and he responded, “Why wouldn’t you be able to”? It was a push towards strengthening the important skill of aeronautical decision making, while simultaneously reminding me of the benefits of possessing a Private Pilot certificate. All too often I found myself looking at the next challenge rather than reflecting on my accomplishments, and this was my first order to smell the roses.
My Dad was my first passenger after earning my Private pilot certification.
On September 15, 2012, I took up my first passenger. This was easily my favorite flight during training, because I was able to share the exhilaration of flying with one of my biggest supporters. We also enjoyed a great BBQ meal at the end of our second leg before firing up the 172 for the sunset leg home. My flight with dad really reaffirmed this new path in life, which started just under two years earlier, and helped to show that it’s not all work.
A little more than a year after my flight with my dad, I earned my Instrument Rating – one of the most challenging and frustrating things I’ve ever experienced, but I cherish the memories of learning the IFR system and how it improved my aptitude and safety margin in an airplane. In passing I’ve heard the analogy that gaining an instrument rating is the equivalent of earning your master’s degree in aviation and I tend to concur.
According to AOPA, since 2002 accidents involving fixed-wing aircraft inadvertently transitioning from visual flight rules into instrument meteorological conditions were fatal 86% of the time. The recent passing of a basketball legend—in addition to the early death of our 35th President’s son almost 21 years ago—all too grimly relays the importance of understanding the challenge of instrument flight. The confidence I’ve gained from earning the Instrument Rating, in my opinion, is one of the most important side effects of training.
Fast forward another 16 months and on June 24, 2015, I earned my Commercial Pilot certificate. I felt like I had finally made it—the door for monetary compensation was cracked open. Mom was marginally closer to the truth when she compared me to Sully, and at long last I considered myself an aviator rather than a trainee and I was ready to take on the skies! But not before giving myself some time to relax and focus on work and at-home responsibilities to decompress slightly before leaning into the next level of flying… The rust began to accrue.
My Experience as a Rusty Pilot – Part II
My Experience as a Rusty Pilot – Part III
My Experience as a Rusty Pilot – Part IV
What’s up with the Private Pilot FAA Knowledge Test?
/in Tips and technique/by Bret KoebbeThe first test you will take is the FAA Knowledge Test, consisting of 65 multiple-choice questions completed on a computer at an official PSI testing center (five are considered validation questions so only 60 of the questions are scored).
This will test your understanding of the ground and flight topics covered during your home study and training at the airport. You must earn a minimum score of 70% to pass.
You can take this test at any point in your training but our general recommendation is to focus on the written test after your first solo flight and when you’re in the cross-country flying phase of your training. You must receive an endorsement to take the test which can come from a CFI or a home study system like Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course.
Much of this is for the better as the questions on the test today seem to cover more practical flying topics as opposed to those questions requiring rote memorization of less relevant training topics.
The challenge for students, however, is a lack of transparency from the FAA on what you will see on the test, creating a moving target scenario for the flight training industry.
The old way to study
When I learned to fly 25 years ago, the FAA published the complete set of all questions that appeared on the test, which led to an over-reliance on rote memorization. For example, you could memorize the correct numerical value of a takeoff distance question and answer it on the test without reading the question text.
The Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards (ACS) is the guide for the FAA knowledge test.
By the late 2000s, the FAA stopped releasing all the questions to the public and started writing “parallel” questions. This eliminated the ability to memorize just the answers, but the test composition remained the same and the test was not an accurate indicator of real-world pilot knowledge.
In 2016, the FAA transitioned from the older Practical Test Standards (PTS) to the new Airman Certification Standards (ACS) to create a common standard for both the knowledge test and the practical test (checkride). To accompany this change, new questions were added and existing questions were aligned with the specific Elements listed with each Task in the ACS.
To help instructors and students keep up with changes to the test, the FAA regularly published a newsletter titled “What’s new and upcoming in airman testing,” which included specifics on new topics that were added to the test and old material they were retiring. This provided a good middle ground between the old days of publishing all the questions and pointing someone to the vastness of the ACS to help focus their study.
Unfortunately, for unknown reasons, the FAA discontinued this newsletter in December 2021 and now provides no meaningful guidance on question topics that are added or removed from the test.
The new way to study
Currently, the only updates we receive on new content added to the knowledge test come from student feedback. To be clear, we (Sporty’s) and the aviation industry are not looking for the FAA to publish the specific questions added throughout the year, but rather some general information on the topics of newly added questions (e.g., ADS-B, stabilized approaches, slow flight, etc.).
You will also find a 60-question Private Pilot sample test on the PSI testing website, but most of these questions haven’t changed for many years, with just a few new questions added, making this an ineffective resource.
If there’s a silver lining to the lack of transparency, the general feedback from students is that the new content is focused on practical flying topics like airport operations, flight maneuvers, and takeoffs and landings. I believe this is the right direction for the knowledge test and provides a more practical link between real-world flight training and what is being tested.
With all of this in mind, I’ve changed my advice to students on preparing for the test. Instead of focusing on the knowledge test as a standalone task, preparation should be incorporated into the student’s comprehensive training plan. Twenty years ago, I recommended students purchase a dedicated test prep book or software program, but today that does more of a disservice.
Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course incorporates a comprehensive approach to preparation for your flight and ground training, along with test and checkride prep.
The best approach is to start with a comprehensive personal study system, focusing on ground school and flight training topics like Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course. The 15 hours of in-flight video lessons and interactive scenarios will help you understand the “why” of how things work in aviation and not just the “what.”
These personal study sessions, combined with the lessons at the airport with your instructor, will provide a solid foundation to prepare you for the FAA tests and be a well-rounded and knowledgeable Private Pilot.
When it comes time to focus on the knowledge test towards the latter half of your training schedule, you’ll find a dedicated test preparation section in Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course. Here you can choose from one of several study modes and select categories of questions to get familiar with the test questions.
When you answer a question, the course provides instant feedback, a detailed topic explanation, and a link to specific FAA reference material for additional studying. This helps to make the study process a learning experience rather than just memorizing answers. You’ll also find lots of performance analytics after you start to build your study history, highlighting your strengths and weaknesses.
Another recent improvement in the course is that the 1,000+ questions in Sporty’s test question database were recently recategorized to align with the Areas of Operations and Tasks in the Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards. This allows you to use the course more consistently and study both video lessons and test prep sessions using the ACS as your guide.
After completing the video training, and when you feel comfortable with the questions from your study sessions, you can take a Practice Test in the course to gauge your readiness for the real thing. The practice tests are generated using the same combination of questions from each ACS Area of Operation as outlined in PSI’s Applicant Information Bulletin to make it as realistic as possible. After completing two practice tests with a minimum score of 80%, the course will generate your official endorsement to take the test.
By studying all of the lessons, videos, knowledge test prep, and checkride prep features in Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course, you’ll feel confident in your ability to ace all the tests and start on the right foot as a well-rounded Private Pilot after the checkride.
Ready to get started? Check out a demo of Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course here.
Flight School and Instructor Guide to Sporty’s Pilot Training Courses
/in Tips and technique/by Bret KoebbeThis guide was designed for flight instructors and flight school owners to get the most out of using Sporty’s Learn to Fly, Instrument Rating, and Commercial pilot courses with your students. You’ll learn how to create a free Sporty’s CFI Portal account and how to connect with your students to monitor their progress.
Why use Sporty’s Courses in your flight school
Make money selling Sporty’s Courses to your students
How to enroll in Sporty’s CFI Portal
Monitoring your student’s progress in the CFI Portal
Chief CFI: Connect with your CFIs and view all flight school students
How to renew your CFI certificate with Sporty’s free FIRC
Flight Schedule Pro Integration
Why use Sporty’s Courses in your flight school
Increase Retention Rates – Sporty’s courses cover every element of flight and ground training from start to finish. Our course is designed to be part of your student’s daily training and prepare and endorse students for the FAA knowledge exam. The course is delivered in an easy-to-use online learning management system. Students can choose online or app and study whenever and wherever their busy schedules allow. These courses will keep your student engaged in the training process and excited about returning to the airport.
Cut Overhead – We encourage you to use our included FAA-approved training course outlines as your curriculum. The TCO will allow consistency and quality throughout the training process and provide the confidence to resonate with your customers.
Sporty’s courses will encourage professional lesson presentations every time with little or no preparation. We offer an Instructor Guide to teach ground lessons so the instructor will need only one reference to prepare. Our Maneuvers and Procedures Guide will provide this same guidance in the air. Standardization training will no longer cost you money.
Boost Revenue – More students requiring less ground preparation will mean more time for your instructors in the air and better student performance. Moreover, our built-in ground lessons mean no more cancellations due to weather.
Make money selling Sporty’s Courses to your students
Sporty’s was founded by a flight instructor over 60 years ago, and ever since we’ve worked hard to support student pilots and CFIs. Sporty’s is pleased to offer several partnership opportunities for both flight schools and independent CFIs to generate revenue when using Sporty’s courses with your students.
Sporty’s Dealer Program
You can purchase eligible items from Sporty’s, including most of our training courses, at a discount and sell them to your students at Sporty’s minimum resale price (the same as customers see in our catalog and on our website).
Apply to be a Sporty’s Dealer here
Sporty’s CFI Rebate Program
Flight Instructors also have the option to earn Sporty’s gift cards when referring their students to purchase a course from Sporty’s. After enrolling in the free CFI rebate program and sharing your referral code with your students, you’ll earn a $25 gift card every time one of your students buys a Sporty’s course. These gift cards do not expire and can be used online, in-store or over the phone.
Register for Sporty’s CFI Rebate Program here
How to enroll in Sporty’s CFI Portal
This suite of tools includes lesson plans, a flight instructor refresher course, a complete FAA library, special CFI offers, and full access to Sporty’s award-winning pilot training courses for you to learn more about what your students are using. Best of all, every feature is free to any active flight instructor.
Register for a free CFI account
The first step to get started is to navigate to and bookmark sportys.com/cfi. This is the portal to all the free resources and access to your student progress. If you already have a Sporty’s account, log in using your email address and password. Otherwise, follow the prompts to create a free account and login.
You will be prompted to enter your CFI credentials when creating your account. These fields are labeled as optional but are required to access some of the advanced features of the CFI portal. Enter your CFI certificate number and the date that your CFI certificate expires.
Monitoring your students’ progress in the CFI Portal
The other option is to invite the student from the CFI Portal, using the Invite student button at the top right of the Students view. The student will receive an email and inbox notification in their course, where they must accept the invitation.
Chief CFI: Connect with your CFIs and view all flight school students
Sporty’s CFI portal also offers a powerful feature designed for the Chief CFI and flight school management to connect with individual instructors at the school and monitor all student progress in one location. This feature requires a manual setup step from Sporty’s support team and multiple CFIs from a flight school can be assigned “Chief CFI” privileges.
Creating a Chief CFI Account
After first creating a traditional CFI account as described above, email our Sporty’s Courses Support team at [email protected] with the following info:
A representative from Sporty’s will be in touch and set up your account within 1 to 2 business days.
Connect with your instructors
Chief CFIs will have an additional option on the left side menu in the CFI Portal to connect with instructors at the flight school. Select this option, and use the “Invite Instructors” button to send an email invite out to the instructor (they must first have a Sporty’s CFI account before you can invite them). After accepting, you’ll see all the instructors connected to your account.
You may search or sort this list of instructors much like you can do with the list of students. Clicking on an instructor will drill down into a new list of that instructor’s students. You may now interact with that student’s progress as if you were their flight instructor.
How to renew your CFI certificate with Sporty’s free FIRC
Sporty’s eFIRC features an all-new online learning portal, universally accessible for PC, MAC, and mobile devices including iPad and Android platforms via any modern web browser.
There is no software to install. Simply log in anywhere you have an internet connection and begin your flight instructor refresher training. Sporty’s eFIRC is not available through the Pilot Training mobile app.
Enroll in Sporty’s FIRC
Sporty’s FIRC is instantly available to any certified flight instructor verified for Sporty’s CFI portal.
Provided that you have already been validated as a Sporty’s CFI as described earlier, you can start the FIRC course by selecting “FIRC” in the menu on the left and clicking the blue “Access Sporty’s FIRC” button. This button will launch the training course. If you are not signed in or your credentials have not been verified, the blue button will redirect you to complete the CFI Portal registration.
Flight Schedule Pro Integration
Sporty’s Academy developed full Training Course Outlines (TCOs, aka Syllabus) for its part-141 approved flight school at Sportry’s headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, for Private Pilot, Instrument Rating and Commercial Pilot courses. Here will discuss how to use them with your students in Flight Schedule Pro.
Using Sporty’s TCOs in Flight Schedule Pro
Flight Schedule Pro (FSP) offers complete flight school management software to assist with aircraft scheduling, billing and student progress tracking in a syllabus. Sporty’s has partnered with FSP to make all our Private, Instrument and Commercial TCOs available in an interactive format in FSP. If you are an FSP Training Hub user, you will see the option to select Sporty’s as a training partner when setting up a new course,
In addition to saving you time in setting up each lesson, Sporty’s TCOs in FSP include interactive links in the Recommended Study section for each lesson, which allow your instructors and students to quickly jump to the relevant lesson in their Sporty’s online or mobile app course.
For more information
Contact Mark Wiesenhahn, Sporty’s Flight School Courses Sales Coordinator, to start using Sporty’s Pilot Training Courses at your flight school – [email protected]
Are you prepared to go around?
/in Tips and technique/by Eric RadtkeWeather was good enough to accept the visual approach.
We were approaching the busy Orlando terminal airspace on a summer Friday afternoon. The typical afternoon thunderstorms were wreaking havoc on the local approach controllers attempting to work a high volume of aircraft into the local Orlando airports with non-standard routing because of aircraft deviating around weather. We overflew the Orlando Sanford Airport to avoid weather to the west before being vectored to final approach for runway 25 at the Orlando Executive Airport. Weather was good enough at this point to accept a visual approach.
After being cleared to land approximately five miles out, we were told there would an aircraft performing a high-speed taxi down the runway prior to our arrival. Minutes later we were told to slow to our final speed as the Falcon tri-jet had not yet begun its taxi. We were fortunate to have about 20 seconds at our 120kt final approach speed to discuss the possibility of a go-around given the slow progress of the Falcon’s taxi run. This discussion involved the steps we would take performing the go-around and the appropriate call-outs. On short final, with the Falcon still on the runway, I called for the go-around.
Go-around power, flaps 10, positive rate, gear-up. The same cadence as we had practiced in training and executed during this real event resulted in a safe outcome in this low-level maneuver with passengers aboard. After being offered several options for our return from the Tower controller, we opted for a visual right-hand pattern and landed uneventfully.
Are you prepared for your next go-around? Go-around are almost never planned and can occur because of the actions of others in the case of a runway incursion or controller miscue. Or they can stem from a faulty approach or balked landing attempt. In any case, go-arounds are a low-level, high workload task in an already stressful environment which is when training and instinctive reactions matter most. Here is how to help reinforce those procedures and affect a positive outcome.
1) Rehearse your go-around procedures on every approach. While fine details may vary slightly, go-around procedures are generally universal in any aircraft from pistons to jets. Apply takeoff (go-around) power while simultaneously increasing pitch to the takeoff/go-around attitude. Retract the flaps to the appropriate go-around setting to reduce drag. If flying a retractable gear aircraft, upon establishing a positive rate of climb, retract the landing gear also to reduce drag and improve climb performance. Upon reaching a safe obstacle clearance altitude, retract the remaining flaps and complete the appropriate checklists.
Even if you are not flying a retractable gear aircraft, it’s certainly OK to maintain a consistent rhythm to the go-around procedures by still calling for gear or verifying the gear position. This will help if transitioning to a retractable gear airplane or perhaps you fly a combination of aircraft. And the same rule applies to flaps even if you may have executed the go-around at the appropriate flap setting.
Rehearse your go-around procedures on every approach.
2) Fly the airplane first! In the aviation hierarchy, we fly the airplane first before navigating or communicating. Aviation, navigate, communicate. When executing a go-around, you are likely trimmed for final approach and not for takeoff power and a climb attitude. Anticipate that additional control force will be necessary when adding power and, in a single engine piston-powered airplane, the left turning tendencies will be noticeable. In many aircraft, the configuration and pitch changes will be significant in a go-around with little margin for error.
In our go-around scenario, the Tower controller (likely somewhat flustered) was providing various options for our return to landing including switching back to approach control for an instrument approach versus continuing in the pattern VFR. These options were being presented to us in our already high task load environment. It is perfectly OK and imperative, that you have the airplane under control before responding to ATC. A simply “standby” will alert the controller that you have higher priorities and will respond when able.
Aviation, navigate, communicate – in that order!
3) Carefully consider your options for return. Depending on the cause of the go-around, returning to the same airport may not be the best option. Weather, traffic volume or airport conditions can affect your options. It’s good practice to have some basic awareness of alternate airport options even when flying VMC. If the cause of the go-around was a disabled aircraft or strong crosswinds, that likely will not be resolved quickly and you may not have the necessary fuel to wait for conditions to improve. In small, piston aircraft a go-around may not affect your fuel status a great deal, but in larger aircraft, one additional trip around the pattern can eat into fuel reserves quickly.
Also consider that a go-around can be unsettling for passengers not familiar with the aviation environment. It is hard to not notice a big increase in power and climb away from the airport when a landing was anticipated. If time and workload permit, explain the scenario to the passengers which could also influence your next move.
It is my opinion that we do not practice or execute go-arounds frequently enough as a community. We attempt to salvage poor approaches of balked landings when a controlled go-around is the better option. My challenge to you is to at least rehearse your go-around procedure on your next flight and, when the conditions allow, execute a go-around. After all, don’t we want more time in the air?