flight training

Welcome back to FLYING‘s in-depth coverage of SAFECON 2023. Fasten your seatbelts for “Episode 4: The Ground Simulator,” where the battle of brains, nerves, and teamwork unfolds right before your eyes. First, we take you inside the cockpit of a Frasca RTD (reconfigurable training device) with Garmin G1000 panel for the ground trainer event. This isn’t just […]

The National Intercollegiate Flying Association’s (NIFA) Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON) is the Super Bowl of collegiate aviation. This year, 28 of the best teams, having won their regional competitions, made their way to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, ready to display their skills both in the air and on the ground. Here at FLYING, we’re excited to […]

For more than a century, the National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) has inspired collegiate aviators to strive for excellence through competition. NIFA’s history stretches back to post-World War I, when collegiate flying clubs organized their first intercollegiate competition in 1920. Some of the current coaches and judges had their own experience with the annual Safety […]

On June 1, the National Gay Pilots Association (NGPA) announced the commencement of the most generous scholarship cycle in its history. The NGPA is offering over $500,000 in scholarship funds to its membership this year, honoring its 25-year anniversary milestone in supporting the global lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other (LGBTQ+) members of the […]

Mistakes are part of the learning process. With flying, often these mistakes can be expensive, even deadly when they result in incidents or accidents. When something happens, be sure the authorities investigating it will come back to the flight school—and the certified flight instructor (CFI) to see if there were any red flags. Liability: Part […]

The aircraft fleet at Southern Illinois University Carbondale is expanding this month. University officials announced they would be taking delivery of seven glass cockpit Cessna 172s earlier this month. The aircraft were slated to be ferried from Independence, Kansas, to Southern Illinois Airport (KMDH). Several SIU aviation program officials, including director José R. Ruiz, chief flight […]

The flight instructor is the first gatekeeper when it comes to aviation safety. It is incumbent on the CFI to teach and model good habits for mitigating risk—and you can’t do that without understanding where the risk is coming from, and when and where during the flight training process we are at a higher risk […]

Spring is the most fickle season when it comes to weather in the Pacific Northwest. One day it is unseasonably warm, with temps in the 80s, ,and people are wearing short pants and polo shirts. The next day the temperature is in the 30s, and light snow is falling or there is a hail shower. […]

With the return of spring, they start making plans to increase their flying and that often means getting the rust off their IFR skills. A lucky few are doing so as part of the inaugural Spring Proficiency class, an immersive proficiency clinic for instrument rated pilots slated for April 24 through 28 at the EAA […]

Don’t let someone pressure you into doing something foolish. You probably heard this sentiment (or some form of it) as a child—as a pilot, foolish mistakes can be deadly, and sometimes very public. You may know someone who did something foolish with an airplane and ended up on the local or national news. This isn’t […]