“In the ongoing battle between objects made of aluminum going hundreds of miles per hour and the ground going zero miles per hour, the ground has yet to lose.”
-Pilot words of wisdom
The proper take offs to landings ratio…
Always try to keep the number of landings you make equal to the number of take offs you’ve made.
-Pilot words of wisdom
Pilot stalkers…
How do you know when someone wants to stalk a pilot?
… they request flight following.
Why you should watch your angle of arrival…
The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of arrival.
Small angle of arrival, large probability of survival…
Large angle of arrival, not so much…
Clear…
At one point, we were all primary students, understanding little, questioning even less, but placing complete faith in our instructor. Many of the little things necessary to get through the first few lessons before solo were done by rote, without a great deal of understanding. Such as ensuring anyone on the ground near the airplane was aware the prop was about to spin.
One instructor was working with a pre-solo student. Instead of using the phrase, "Clear prop!" before turning the key, the instructor had simply taught his pupil to use the word "Clear!", presumably shouted loudly enough that those inside the FBO could hear. Of course, primary students rarely fly in poor weather.
One day, preflight complete, the student reached for the key, looked outside the airplane, and shouted, "Cloudy!"
What the propeller is for….
The propeller is just a big fan in front of the airplane used to keep the pilot cool. When it stops, you can actually watch the pilot start sweating…