Why are newest, inexperienced CFIs usually tasked with teaching the most vital lessons on basic aircraft control? Loss of Control is the leading fatal accident causal factor – maybe we should rethink this? The status quo in aviation education is unacceptable! Tradition seems to dictate that the first couple of flight lessons are relegated to … Continue reading “Teaching Maneuvering – The Hardest Job in Aviation!”
Hopefully, every aviation educator has had a student who excelled, passionately taking every lesson further, expanding every thought or skill to a level of excellence. These learners seem like genetic anomalies, where we plant the seeds and watch an almost magical transformation. Other learners need to be dragged along, and never seem to fully flourish. … Continue reading “Inspiring Excellence and Motivating Mastery!”
The ASI Study on stall/spin accidents provides a very comprehensive analysis of the dilemma that has haunted pilots since the time of the Wright Brothers; Loss of Control In-flight followed by stall/spin (crash/burn). Poor flight training is implicated in this continuing carnage: The stubbornly high percentage of stalls associated with personal flying (more than two-thirds) … Continue reading “CFI-PRO™ “Better Training=Safer Flying!””
Basic center of gravity is critical to aircraft control but this is another important concept most pilots (and some CFIs) don’t solidly understand. And confusion about stability and basic flight dynamics seems to be at the root of many of our LOC-I accidents. To simplify all this concept for students, I call it “balancing the … Continue reading “The Basic Physics of Flight Control!”
A recent YouTube highlighted the difficulty pilots experienced flying in ground effect at #OSH22. Control in ground effect is definitely a weak area in pilot proficiency. Even in normal operations, 80% of accidents happen in the take-off and landing phase; low and slow (often with a crosswind too). Practice “centerline slow flight” for increased safety; … Continue reading “Practice in Ground Effect: “Centerline Slow Flight!””
More than 100 people die every day on the US roads in their automobiles. An active co-conspirator in this carnage is the fact that 90% of drivers believe they are “better than average.” As a species humans are notoriously overconfident! And the Dunning-Kruger Effect (a well documented psychological phenomenon) shows that the least skilled are … Continue reading “Calibrating Confidence”
Angle of attack (AOA) is the most misunderstood concept in aviation – just raise the topic casually in a hangar flying session to sample the confusion. Our previous two blogs on tail-down force and the basics of a turn demonstrated the many scary gaps in the average pilot’s knowledge. Some CFI somewhere has failed these … Continue reading “Teaching “Invisible Angle Of Attack””
We discussed the turning stall in the last SAFEblog and revealed the (often surprising) fact that in coordinated flight, with lift equal on both wings, a stall simply falls away from the lift vector and is very benign. There is only a burble and a drop of the nose, but no rolling or sudden departure … Continue reading “Is “Cross-Controlled” Dangerous?”
Read more…(Knowledge Tests) 2019: PVT, AMG (Aviation Maintenance General) 2020: IRA, AMP (Aviation Maintenance Powerplant) 2021: COM, AMA (Aviation Maintenance Airframe) 2022: CFI, IAR (Inspector Authorization) 2023: ATP, RIG 2024: LSP, FEX, 2025: UAS Phase 2, set for completion by June 2019, will set up a process for creating questions, validating those questions and adding … Continue reading “October 2018; e-News “Read More””
Please stand back and take a fresh look at our flight training industry. Why do we have the least experienced aviators (brand new CFIs) in charge of creating our next generation of pilots? Does this enhance safety? Should those “one year olds” really be teaching our new aviators? There is even a push in our … Continue reading “Build Better Flight Educators; New CFI-ACS!”
