So 95% sure next step is instructor rating but just wanted advice/confirmation if you don't mind. Another retired firefighter who has been flying bush planes for quite a while suggested float rating and fly in the bush. If you're considering the float rating and instructor rating, you can pm me abo...

This is a fair perspective, but let me offer a counterpoint. If you're chatting around the clubhouse, your conversations are essentially private. This is not true of internet forums. There is an audience, and that audience likely includes people with a genuine desire to learn. This means that trolls...

They tell you , but they can't show you . Sure they can. there is lots of evidence that you can observe yourself to demonstrate the Earth's curvature. There's no need to take anyone's word for it. Watch a ship disappear over the horizon -- from the bottom to the top. Observe the fact that you see d...

Well, maybe to you with a more in-depth perspective of function it was. What is a perspective of function? ... I'm still confused to how the erection system can distinguish between tiny changes in precession from gravity and aircraft movement in the same axis? The erection mechanism in an AI is a l...

Quick question for the ME pilots of Avcanada: with an an engine failed on a multi-engine aircraft (non-centerline thrust) and the ball centered, are you flying coordinated? No. Why limit yourself to multi-engine airplanes? If you're in *any* airplane, with the ball centred, does that mean you must ...

http://xkcd.com/562/

Can anyone recommend any books, or websites that have sample test questions like the TC Sample test? I found that very useful to highlight areas where I need to review and refresh my knowledge, so I was hoping there are other resources like this out there. Hi Steve. I'm a little biased, but you mig...

(D) one dual cross-country flight under simulated or actual IMC conditions of a minimum of 100 nautical miles , the flight to be conducted in accordance with an IFR flight plan to include at, two different locations, an instrument approach to minima. Is the 100nm requirement a radius from the origi...

... but I'm curious why not ... With regard to the "why?' of pitch-up/deep-stall, the following graphics are taken from Dan Raymer's Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach . The original source is NACA technical notes (TN 1093 and TM x-26, as noted in the graphics). http://i.imgur.com/bSTba1Z.jpg h...

Ball just measures the local direction of acceleration - neither slip nor yaw. That's true, but the measure of lateral acceleration is used as a proxy for slip (despite the fact that it's not always accurate). <self-promotion class="shameless"> Read about it here: http://www.flightwriter.com/2012/0...

It would result in very unpleasing stall handling characteristics, and be graphed something like this, http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo252/PilotDAR/Jims%20DAR%20Testing/ControlforceSM1019Flaps30_001.jpg ... which I recorded during a flight test in a Cessna like derivative aircraft. This was de...

photofly wrote:Bill Crawford, who wrote that document, runs an unusual attitude training course, with an academic ground school attached. Who's up for a trip down to Plymouth?

Sign me up! That course has been on my wishlist for ages.

Were the force which the horizontal tail exerts around the pitch axis to change from a downward force to an upward force ("lifting"), the pilot would experience control reversal, which is extremely disconcerting, and not approvable. It would result in very unpleasing stall handling characteristics,...

There's no pitching moment about the centre of pressure, by definition of the centre of pressure. Since I'm taking moments about the CP, there's no contribution to the total moment from the wing, only from the weight of the aircraft acting at the centre of gravity, the pitching moment of the fusela...

In a piston engine, fuel burn is approximately proportional to power People like to talk endlessly about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin (about 10th order consideration) but I find it odd that rarely do practical subjects get discussed ... I'm not sure if I missed some subtle sarcasm...

At a (sensible) fixed Indicated airspeed your MPG figure gets worse as altitude goes up, but you'll get there faster. That depends on what you mean by "sensible". Best range occurs at a fixed AOA, and therefore a fixed CAS. So ignoring the effect of the climb, your best range doesn't change with al...

Not to mention landing from a curving approach is oh so much easier. It's not that difficult and is amenable to training. In any case, it doesn't need to be oh so easy. It needs to be something a low time student pilot can learn and retain -- so that 2 years after getting a license and flying once ...

Was this rhetorical? Yes. But thanks for the reference, anyway. You're welcome! Are you writing in praise of the "overhead 360" method? Yes. I'm advised by a reliable source, that upon research, TC is about to remove the "circuit" pattern from the forced approach in the forthcoming new edition of t...

A clever guy once said, "you should make things as simple as possible, but no simpler." (Who was that?) Perhaps the pass rate for the exercise is so low because we've made it too simple? ... <snip> ... Remember "as simple as possible, but no simpler." Maybe - just maybe - teaching people that it's ...

Another point this student picked up on: I now have a better understanding of why my instructor stressed so much that recovery from a spiral dive should be separate and distinct control movements. That's a good point. There's also another good reason to separate your roll and pitch during a spiral ...

As i'm sure many pilots in the infancy of their training, finding as much info to help learn the topics, especially the really important ones, sort of becomes an unending quest. Hi SharkBait. I'm not very familiar with the Sharper Edge products, but if you're interested in exam prep material, I wou...

Va and Vb are the airpeeds you should know if you are flying near turbulance. If you are over Va you can seriously damage the airplane or fall out of the sky when the control surfaces or wings fall off. Vb is a good reference speed for turbulence if it's published. Va is not. Vb is normally higher ...

Meh. Full flap slips in a 172 is part of flying and learning all about the limits of the flight envelope of the particular aircraft. If it's not unsafe, and you can do it with regular flight controls then have at it. All part of flying with confidence, verve and flair. +1. And you almost quoted the...

Apparently all the young instructors at the big city thought these maneuvers were dangerous "cowboy" stunts which they would never do. It would invalidate their insurance. :roll: Wasn't there another thread recently where the 100 hour solo was discussed? Maybe these two are related... http://www.fl...

For maximum performance, shouldn't we do as we do in a twin with a failed engine on the left side, and input a slight bank towards the right (for a US engine) and reduce the right rudder input? Strictly speaking, yes. But (a) you would need to know how much bank or how much ball offset, otherwise y...