Aeronautical Decision Making, Crew Resource Management, Single Pilot Resource Management While these might be big fancy titles, the actual concepts they represent are actually much more simple, and probably something you already do to some extent subconsciously. The whole idea behind these concepts is to reduce GA accidents. The diagram above shows where GA accidents… Continue reading ADM / CRM / SRM Pr Copy
Topic Category: Student Pilot
Spatial Disorientation Pr Copy
Spatial disorientation Spatial disorientation results from the brain not properly interpreting the signals it is receiving from the rest of the body. Remember, flying is not natural for humans, this is partly what makes it so great! The body uses three integrated systems that work together to ascertain orientation and movement in space. Vestibular system—organs… Continue reading Spatial Disorientation Pr Copy
Risk Matrix / Hazardous Attitudes Pr Copy
Avoiding Risk… In this topic we’ll talk about two different ways to avoid risk. The first is using the risk assessment matrix as described in the video above. The second is avoiding hazardous attitudes and being able to recognize and remedy them when they appear! Risk Matrix The video above does a good job explaining… Continue reading Risk Matrix / Hazardous Attitudes Pr Copy
Medical Factors Pr Copy
Medications and the FAA Obviously, lots of us take medications for one thing or another. If you are training for your Sport Pilot Certificate it is especially important you are familiar with what is and is not allowed by the FAA as you may not be regularly seeing an AME (aviation medical examiner, basically a… Continue reading Medical Factors Pr Copy
Weather Briefings Pr Copy
VFR Weather Briefings It’s always nice when someone else helps you to decipher the weather. In the old days, it was standard to always make a phone call and have a professional weather briefer decipher the weather maps for you and help you understand the full weather picture that you were looking at out the… Continue reading Weather Briefings Pr Copy
Graphic Forecast Area Pr Copy
Graphic Forecast Area Tool We used to have something called “area forecasts”. Don’t worry, you’re not missing out on much. They were several pages long of coded information you had to try and decipher to figure what kind of weather there was out there and where it was (imagine a METAR or TAF that was… Continue reading Graphic Forecast Area Pr Copy
PIREPS Pr Copy
Pilot Reports This isn’t a report card of how good of a pilot you are (but good pilots do know how to read PIREPS). A PIREP is either information volunteered by a Pilot to ATC or requested from the Pilot by ATC (ATC then enters it into the system). It is simply a report of… Continue reading PIREPS Pr Copy
Radar Summary Charts Pr Copy
To sum it up, ya there’s a lotta rain out there…. Watch the video above, and after that, take notes below. What you need to REMEMBER: Colors vary based on the provider, always check the decibel levels of radar returns to determine true intensity of the echos The direction of cells is displayed with barbs… Continue reading Radar Summary Charts Pr Copy
AIRMETS / SIGMETS Pr Copy
AIRMETs and SIGMETs The big scary warnings of when not to fly! If you remember almost nothing from this TOPIC, then just REMEMBER these two things: AIRMETS are bad news for little GA airplanes and you should avoid flying in or near an area covered by an AIRMET SIGMETS are very bad news for any… Continue reading AIRMETS / SIGMETS Pr Copy
Surface / Prog Charts Pr Copy
Surface Analysis and Prognostic Charts Surface analysis and Prog charts are my favorite way to get a big picture view of what the weather will be doing over the next few hours and into the next few days even. One thing you will learn about weather forecasting as you study aviation weather is that although… Continue reading Surface / Prog Charts Pr Copy