What Flight Training Is Building Toward

The purpose of primary flight training is to build and sharpen basic airmanship skills. Airmanship is a broad term. It means sound knowledge of the principles of flight. It means the skill to operate an aircraft with competence and precision, on the ground and in the air. And it means sound judgment that produces the best safety and efficiency. People often compare learning to fly with learning to drive, but that comparison is misleading. An airplane moves in three dimensions, and that demands a different kind of motor skill growth.

Four abilities will grow through your training. Coordination means using hands and feet together, without conscious thought, in the proper relationship, to produce the result you want. Timing means applying that coordination at the proper instant, so every maneuver is one constant, smooth process. Control touch means sensing what the airplane is doing, and what it is about to do, through the pressures and resistance in the flight controls. Speed sense is the ability to sense and react to reasonable changes in airspeed.

You are not learning to fly one make and model. The purpose of flight training is to build knowledge, experience, skills, and safe habits that transfer to any airplane. The goal is a safe and competent pilot. Passing the practical test for your certificate is only incidental to that goal.

Your instructor carries the full responsibility for your training. In the FAA's words, the instructor is the cornerstone of aviation safety. A good instructor uses a syllabus, a written plan of lessons. Your instructor also insists on correct techniques and procedures from the start, because proper habit formation begins on the very first training flight. The syllabus follows a building block method. Each new maneuver builds on the principles of the ones before it.

The Student Pilot Path: Certificates, Medical, and Tests

A student pilot is a person being trained by an instructor for a first full certificate. A student pilot may fly alone only under specific, limited conditions. Before you can be endorsed to fly solo, you need a Student Pilot Certificate. Your CFI usually processes it and submits it electronically through IACRA. The plastic certificate does not expire. It is required, and carried, only when you exercise solo flight privileges. To be eligible, you must be at least 16 years of age. You must also be able to read, speak, write, and understand English. There is no minimum knowledge or experience needed for the certificate itself, but there are minimums before you can solo.

The second step is the medical certificate. Medical certificates come in first, second, and third class. Third class is generally designed for the student, recreational, and private pilot. You get one by passing a physical exam from an FAA-authorized Aviation Medical Examiner. The FAA suggests getting it before you begin flight training. That way you do not pay for training you cannot continue.

You are working toward the Private Pilot Certificate. Most active pilots hold this certificate. A private pilot flies for pleasure or personal business and does not accept compensation. Passengers may still pay a pro rata share, an equal split, of expenses such as fuel or rental. Training under 14 CFR part 61 requires at least 40 hours of piloting time. That includes 20 hours of flight with an instructor and 10 hours of solo flight. The national average is about 60 to 75 hours.

Learning each flight maneuver follows four steps. The CFI introduces and demonstrates it. The CFI talks you through it. You practice it under supervision. Finally, the CFI authorizes you to practice it solo. Two tests stand between you and the certificate. The knowledge test is a computer-based, multiple-choice exam. The FAA recommends taking it after you complete a solo cross-country flight, so your real flying experience works for you. The practical test is given by an FAA inspector or, most often, a Designated Pilot Examiner. The examiner uses the Airman Certification Standards. That document defines the areas of operation, tasks, and standards you must demonstrate.

The Rulebook: Regulations, Guidance, and Your POH

Five sources govern your training and your flying. Learn what each one contains, and you will know where every answer lives. The first two are regulations. Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations is federal law, and violating it exposes you to FAA certificate action, civil penalties, or both. 14 CFR Part 61 governs the pilot. It covers certification requirements, currency, privileges, and limitations. When you ask what your certificate lets you do, or what endorsement you need, the answer is in Part 61.

14 CFR Part 91 governs the operation of the aircraft. It contains the general operating and flight rules for all aircraft. The airworthiness rule you just learned, 91.7, lives in Part 91. So does 91.9, which requires you to operate within the airplane's approved limitations.

The next two sources are guidance, not law. The AIM gives procedural guidance that is FAA standard but not regulatory. Advisory Circulars work the same way. An AC describes an acceptable way to comply with a regulation. It is not the only acceptable way, and following it is not legally required by itself. But guidance is not something to shrug off. The AIM and the ACs show you how the FAA expects the system to work.

The fifth source is the AFM or POH for your specific airplane. It is aircraft specific, legally part of that aircraft's airworthiness, and it governs that airplane's operation. Its operating limitations bind you under 91.9, and cockpit placards carry the same regulatory weight as the AFM itself. A placard is never superseded by assumption. Only documented aircraft records, such as a formal AFM revision or a Supplemental Type Certificate, can change a limitation.

One maintenance rule deserves early awareness. Under 14 CFR 43.3(g), you may one day perform preventive maintenance on an aircraft you own or operate outside commercial rules. The tasks that qualify are listed in Part 43, Appendix A. Anything beyond that list belongs to a certificated mechanic. We will point out examples when we work on the airplane together.

One more rulebook sits outside the FAA entirely. 49 CFR Part 830 belongs to the NTSB, and it defines two words you must never confuse. An accident is an occurrence in which a person suffers death or serious injury, or the aircraft receives substantial damage. An incident is any other occurrence that affects, or could affect, the safety of operations. Accidents require immediate notification to the nearest NTSB office by the most expeditious means available. If substantial damage is confirmed, a written report on NTSB Form 6120.1 is due within ten days. Lesson 9 gives reporting its full treatment. For now, know the two definitions and know that Part 830 exists.

“Except for holders of a sport pilot certificate, the holder of a pilot certificate issued under part 61 may perform preventive maintenance on any aircraft owned or operated by that pilot which is not used under part 121, 129, or 135 of this chapter.”

“Incident means an occurrence other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft, which affects or could affect the safety of operations.”

Category, Class, and the Papers You Carry

Pilot certificates are organized by category, class, and sometimes type. For airmen, a category is a broad classification of aircraft. Airplane is a category. So are rotorcraft, glider, and lighter-than-air. A class is a division within a category, grouping aircraft with similar operating characteristics. Single engine, multiengine, land, and water are classes. Put them together and you get the rating you are training for: airplane category, single engine land class. A type rating names a specific make and basic model of aircraft. Type ratings are required only for certain aircraft, and our trainers are not among them.

Now the paperwork. 14 CFR 61.3 sets the rule: to exercise pilot privileges, you must have your pilot certificate in your physical possession or readily accessible in the aircraft. The same section requires a photo ID, such as a driver's license, a government ID, a passport, or a military ID. It also requires the appropriate medical certificate. You must present these for inspection when asked by the FAA, the NTSB, the TSA, or any federal, state, or local law enforcement officer. That request is called a ramp check. It is rare, professional, and painless if you know exactly where your documents are.

That is why we set the habit now. Bring four things to every lesson: your logbook, your medical certificate, your photo ID, and your student pilot certificate once it arrives. Your certificate never expires, but your medical is time limited. Know both dates.

One more piece of medical awareness. 61.3(c) lists exceptions to the medical certificate requirement. One of them lets a private pilot fly certain operations under the conditions in 61.113(i) while holding a U.S. driver's license, using the alternative medical qualification in Part 68. Pilots call this BasicMed. It is not available to you as a student working toward solo, so plan on your third class medical. But you will hear the term, and now you know where it comes from.

“As used with respect to the certification, ratings, privileges, and limitations of airmen, means a broad classification of aircraft. Examples include: airplane; rotorcraft; glider; and lighter-than-air”

“As used with respect to the certification, ratings, privileges, and limitations of airmen, means a classification of aircraft within a category having similar operating characteristics. Examples include: single engine; multiengine; land; water; gyroplane; helicopter; airship; and free balloon”

“A person may serve as a required pilot flight crewmember of an aircraft only if that person holds the appropriate medical certificate issued under part 67 of this chapter, or other documentation acceptable to the FAA, that is in that person's physical possession or readily accessible in the aircraft.”

Safety Habits from Day One: See and Avoid, Clearing, and Exchange of Controls

Certain safety practices start on the very first dual flight and never stop. The first is collision avoidance. The rules in 14 CFR part 91 set out the concept of see and avoid. The rule is vigilance at all times by each person operating an aircraft. Most midair collisions and near midair collisions occur in good VFR weather, in daylight, and within 5 miles of an airport or near navigation aids. In other words, they happen exactly where we train.

Effective scanning is a series of short, evenly spaced eye movements. Each movement covers no more than 10 degrees. Watch each area for at least 1 second. Your eyes take several seconds to refocus between the panel and distant objects. Peripheral vision, your side vision, detects movement. Movement is usually your first perception of a threat. Here is the critical cue. If another aircraft shows no relative motion but is growing in size, it is on a collision course. Immediate evasive action is required.

Before every turn and before every training maneuver, we clear the area. The point of the clearing turn is simple: be certain the next maneuver will not carry you into another aircraft's flightpath. I will teach you our clearing procedure, and I will insist on it.

Finally, there must never be any doubt about who is flying the airplane. We use a three-step exchange of controls. When I give you the airplane, I say, You have the flight controls. You acknowledge at once, I have the flight controls. I confirm, You have the flight controls. Then we make a visual check that the other person really has them. The same procedure runs in reverse when you give the airplane back. Numerous accidents have occurred because two pilots each thought the other was flying.

Checklists: The Foundation of Standardization

A checklist is a memory aid. It helps ensure that the critical items for safe operation are not overlooked or forgotten. Checklists have been the foundation of pilot standardization and flight deck safety for years. They will be part of every flight you and I ever make together.

A checklist does not have to be a do list. You can perform the proper actions from flow and habit, then use the checklist to quickly confirm that every needed task was completed. The emphasis is on the check in checklist. But a checklist has no value if you are not committed to using it. Pilots who fail to take checklists seriously become complacent. They begin to rely on memory alone, and the odds then sit on the side of error.

At a minimum, use prepared checklists for these phases of flight: preflight inspection, before engine start, engine starting, before taxiing, before takeoff, after takeoff, cruise, descent, before landing, after landing, and engine shutdown and securing. A major goal of primary training is to build habit patterns that serve you for your whole flying career. Steady checklist use is one of the first.

Preflight Assessment: Is This Airplane Airworthy?

Before any flight, you make two determinations. First, the airplane meets its regulatory airworthiness requirements. Second, it is in a safe mechanical condition. The owner or operator is primarily responsible for maintenance. But under 14 CFR part 91, section 91.7, no person may operate a civil aircraft unless it is in an airworthy condition. The pilot in command is responsible for deciding whether the aircraft is in condition for safe flight. That duty is yours the moment you become PIC. So we build the habit now.

The paperwork check comes first. Each airplane has logbooks that record maintenance, alterations, and inspections. Inspect the logbooks, or a summary of airworthiness status, before flight. Required items include: an annual inspection within the preceding 12 calendar months; a 100-hour inspection if the aircraft is operated for hire; transponder certification within the preceding 24 calendar months; ELT inspection within the last 12 months; and compliance with airworthiness directives. Also confirm the required documents are on board or affixed. These are the airworthiness certificate, the registration certificate, operating limits in the form of the FAA-approved AFM/POH and placards, and current weight and balance data.

The visual inspection begins while you are still walking up to the airplane. Note its general appearance. Check landing gear and structure alignment. Look for distortion of the wings, fuselage, or tail. Look for skin damage, and for any staining, dripping, or puddles of fuel or oil. Inside, check that the cabin door works smoothly. Check that seat belts and harnesses are free of fraying and latch properly. Check that the seats lock into their rails. Check that the windshield is clean and free of cracks and crazing.

The exact walk-around sequence and the items to check come from the AFM/POH for our airplane. Each manufacturer sets its own sequence. Typical items include: control locks removed, master and magneto switches off, fuel selector operation, trim set for takeoff, fuel quantity gauges compared against a visual tank check, and flight instruments reading correctly with airspeed at zero. Learn the flow from the airplane's own checklist, not from a generic list.

“Per 14 CFR part 3, section 3.5(a), the term “airworthy” means that the aircraft conforms to its type design and is in condition for safe operation.”

Engine Start and Taxi

Engine start procedures come from the airplane's approved checklist. But some hazard controls are universal. Before start, make sure the ramp around the airplane is clear of people, equipment, and anything the propeller blast could damage. Check what is behind the airplane too. Turn the anti-collision lights on before start. Just before engaging the starter, call CLEAR out the side window. Then wait for a response from anyone nearby. Hold the brakes, and keep one hand on the throttle. That way the airplane cannot lunge forward, and you can set the initial rpm. About 1,000 rpm is generally recommended after start, to let oil pressure rise. Watch the oil pressure. In most conditions it should rise to at least the lower limit within 30 seconds. If it does not, shut the engine down immediately to prevent serious internal damage. Be alert for any sounds, vibrations, smells, or smoke that do not match normal experience.

Taxiing is the controlled movement of the airplane under its own power on the surface. Keep the airport diagram out and in view. Keep your eyes outside the airplane, scanning side to side, near and far. Carefully review your complete taxi plan. Do not expect the same instructions you got last time. If there is ever doubt about clearance from an obstruction, stop and check.

A safe taxi speed gives you positive control. It gives you time to recognize hazards. It lets you stop or turn without relying on the brakes. Taxi slow enough that movement depends on the throttle, so closing it stops the airplane promptly. Test the brakes as soon as the airplane starts moving. If braking is unsatisfactory, shut down immediately. Steer with the rudder pedals, and use brake only to tighten a turn after full pedal deflection. Slow down before turning, and keep the throttle at idle before braking rather than riding the brakes against power. Stop with the nosewheel straight.

Wind matters on the ground. With a quartering headwind, hold the upwind aileron up. Then the wind cannot lift that wing. With a quartering tailwind, hold the elevator down and the upwind aileron down. Then the wind cannot get under the tail or wing and nose the airplane over. These corrections also reduce the airplane's tendency to weathervane, to swing its nose into the wind, and they make steering easier.

Managing Risk Before Every Flight: Hazard, Risk, PAVE, and IMSAFE

Two definitions anchor aeronautical decision-making. A hazard is a present condition, event, or circumstance you encounter. A nick in the propeller blade is a hazard. Risk is the value you assign to the potential impact of that hazard. Different pilots see hazards differently. That is why we use structured tools instead of gut feel.

The PAVE checklist divides the risks of every flight into four categories, so nothing gets skipped: Pilot in command, Aircraft, enVironment, and External pressures. For the pilot, ask: am I ready for this trip? Think about experience, recency, currency, and physical and emotional condition. For the aircraft, ask whether it is the right airplane for the flight. Can it carry the planned load? Can it use the available runways with an adequate margin? Can it carry sufficient fuel with reserves? Once you identify the risks, decide whether they can be managed safely. If not, cancel the flight. One of the best risk controls is setting personal minimums. These are limits unique to your current experience and proficiency. Safe pilots understand the difference between what is legal under the regulations and what is smart, given their own experience.

The pilot answer inside PAVE comes from the IMSAFE checklist. It screens your physical and mental readiness. Illness: am I sick? Medication: am I taking anything that might affect judgment or make me drowsy? Stress: am I under pressure from job, money, health, or family problems? Alcohol: have I been drinking within 8 hours, or within 24 hours? Fatigue: am I tired and not adequately rested? Emotion: am I emotionally upset? Fatigue deserves special respect. It may not be apparent until serious errors are already being made.

Attitude affects the quality of your decisions. Studies have identified five hazardous attitudes that interfere with sound decision-making: anti-authority, impulsivity, invulnerability, macho, and resignation. Recognizing a hazardous thought is the first step toward neutralizing it. When you catch one, label it as hazardous. Then state the matching antidote. Memorize the antidotes so they come to mind automatically. The five attitudes and their antidotes are quoted below, exactly as the FAA tables them.

“The goal of risk management is to proactively identify safety-related hazards and mitigate the associated risks.”

“Anti-authority: “Don’t tell me.” / Follow the rules. They are usually right.”

“Impulsivity: “Do it quickly.” / Not so fast. Think first.”

“Invulnerability: “It won’t happen to me.” / It could happen to me.”

“Macho: “I can do it.” / Taking chances is foolish.”

“Resignation: “What’s the use?” / I’m not helpless. I can make a difference.”

Radio Communications: Technique and Phraseology

Radio communications are a critical link in the ATC system. Brevity matters, but controllers must know what you want before they can do their job. Acknowledge each communication with your call sign. Jargon, chatter, and CB slang have no place on the radio, and good phraseology, standard radio wording, is the mark of a professional pilot.

Two habits fix most beginner radio problems. First, listen before you transmit. If you key the mike while someone else is talking, you jam their transmission, and everyone repeats themselves. Second, think before keying. Know what you want to say, and if it is lengthy, jot it down. Hold the microphone close to your lips, pause briefly after keying so the first word transmits, and speak in a normal, conversational tone.

Initial contact follows a format: the facility you are calling, your full aircraft identification, your position when on the airport surface, and your request if it is short. For example: Columbia Ground, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot, south ramp, I-F-R Memphis. State the aircraft type or manufacturer with the registration number, dropping the N prefix. Never abbreviate your call sign on initial contact. Once ATC shortens it to the prefix and last three characters, you may too.

Use the ICAO phonetic alphabet for letters, and speak numbers digit by digit in most cases: 122.1 is one two two point one, and 12,500 is one two thousand five hundred. Call ground stations by facility name and type: Shannon UNICOM, Augusta Tower, Miami Ground.

One more tool was built just for you: identify yourself as a student pilot on initial contact. For example: Dayton tower, Fleetwing One Two Three Four, student pilot. This alerts controllers to give you extra assistance and consideration. The FAA recommends it on initial contact with each facility.

“The single, most important thought in pilot-controller communications is understanding.”

The Four Fundamentals and How the Controls Feel

An airplane rotates in bank, pitch, and yaw, and it also moves horizontally, vertically, and laterally. The four fundamentals are straight and level flight, turns, climbs, and descents. They are the principal maneuvers that control the airplane through those six motions of flight. Every maneuver you will ever fly is built from these four. A weakness here becomes a barrier to everything that follows.

You fly with pressures, not movements. Airflow over the control surfaces resists your inputs, and that resistance grows as airspeed increases and fades as it decreases. Hold the yoke lightly with your fingers. A common beginner error is squeezing with a closed palm until the sensitive feel is lost. On the rudder pedals, press smoothly with the ball of each foot, with your heels resting on the floor.

The airplane also talks to you through sound and vibration. Listen to the airflow over the airframe and the engine and propeller notes, and feel the accelerations in your seat. That sensory feel takes time, and it never replaces your eyes. But we start building it now.

Straight and Level, Turns, Climbs, and Glides: A First Look

Straight and level flight is flight in which heading and altitude are constantly maintained. Fix a reference point on the airplane against the natural horizon, and check that both wingtips sit level and equally above or below it. The goal is catching small deviations early, so only small corrections are needed.

A turn begins by banking the wings in the desired direction. Banking divides lift into vertical and horizontal components, and the horizontal component pulls the airplane toward the bank. Add slight back pressure to hold altitude. The rudder does not turn the airplane; it cancels adverse yaw so the turn stays coordinated.

In a climb, the climb rate is limited by excess thrust. Best rate of climb, Vy, gains the most altitude in a given time. Best angle of climb, Vx, gains the most altitude in a given distance, and it is used to clear obstacles. Expect right rudder at climb power. A partial power descent at constant airspeed is the normal method of losing altitude.

A glide is a controlled descent with little or no engine power. Best glide speed gives the greatest forward distance for the altitude lost. Any faster or slower increases drag and shortens the glide. Never try to stretch a glide with back pressure below best glide speed. The airplane lands short, and a stall and loss of control are possible.

The Four Forces of Flight

Four forces act on the airplane in flight. Thrust is the forward force produced by the powerplant and propeller; it opposes or overcomes drag, and as a general rule it acts parallel to the longitudinal axis. Drag is a rearward, slowing force caused by disruption of airflow by the wing, fuselage, and protruding objects. It opposes thrust and acts rearward, parallel to the relative wind. Lift is produced by the dynamic effect of air acting on the airfoil, and it acts perpendicular to the flightpath through the center of lift. Weight is the combined load of the airplane, crew, fuel, and baggage, and it pulls downward through the center of gravity.

In steady flight, the sum of these opposing forces is always zero. Lift and weight are equal to each other, and they are larger than thrust and drag, which are equal only to each other. When the flightpath is not horizontal, each force breaks into components. In a climb, part of thrust acts upward like lift, and in a glide, part of weight acts along the flightpath like thrust.

Here is one more definition you will use every lesson from now on. Angle of attack, or AOA, is the acute angle between the chord line of the airfoil and the direction of the relative wind. AOA is fundamental to performance, stability, and control. It is the heart of today's stall work.

How the Wing Makes Lift

Air is a fluid. It has mass and weight, it flows, and it resists flow slightly through viscosity and friction. Air flowing over a wing clings to the surface in a thin boundary layer, and that combined resistance is drag. The standard atmosphere at sea level is 59 degrees F (15 degrees C) and 29.92 inches of mercury. Both pressure and temperature fall as you climb, so air density decreases with altitude.

Density altitude is pressure altitude corrected for nonstandard temperature. It describes what the airplane feels. As air becomes less dense, the engine takes in less air, the propeller gets less efficient, and the thin air exerts less force on the airfoils, so power, thrust, and lift all decrease. High elevations, low pressure, high temperature, and high humidity all raise density altitude and cut performance. No matter its actual altitude, the airplane performs as though it were at the existing density altitude.

Lift itself rests on Newton's laws and Bernoulli's principle. Newton's third law says every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The airfoil forces air downward, and the air forces the airfoil upward. Bernoulli's principle says that as the velocity of a moving fluid increases, the pressure within the fluid decreases. Air moving faster over the curved upper surface of the wing creates a low pressure area above it. Both are at work whenever an airfoil makes lift, and the pressure difference alone does not account for the total lift force.

An airfoil is a structure designed to obtain a reaction from the air through which it moves. The chord line runs straight from the leading edge to the trailing edge. As airflow meets the wing at different angles of attack, regions of negative pressure form above and positive pressure below. The average of that pressure variation for a given AOA is the center of pressure, and it moves forward at high AOA and aft at low AOA. At the wingtip, high pressure air from below spills around the tip into the low pressure above. That creates a tip vortex and downwash, which reduce lift, and this is why some airplanes wear winglets.

The Lift Equation in Plain Words

Lift can be written as an equation, and the equation is worth understanding in plain language. Lift equals the coefficient of lift, times air density, times velocity squared, times wing area, divided by two. The coefficient of lift comes from the shape of the wing and its angle of attack. Air density describes how thick the atmosphere is, and velocity is how fast the wing travels through it. Wing area is fixed by the manufacturer, and the density is whatever the day delivers. That leaves exactly two levers under your control in flight: angle of attack and airspeed.

Notice that velocity is squared, which means airspeed multiplies lift rather than merely adding to it. Double your airspeed at a constant angle of attack, and the wing produces four times the lift. That relationship is why small speed changes matter so much near the runway, and why extra knots on final approach will float you far down the pavement.

The two levers trade against each other continuously. When you hold altitude and accelerate, you must reduce the angle of attack by lowering the nose, or the airplane climbs. When you hold altitude and decelerate, you must increase the angle of attack to keep lift equal to weight. In steady level flight, every angle of attack therefore has one matching airspeed. The slow end carries a limit, because raising the AOA past the critical angle stalls the wing. You felt exactly this trade during today's slow flight work.

Density is the lever the atmosphere controls, and lift varies directly with it. Warm air is less dense than cool air, and moist air is less dense than dry air. At 18,000 feet the air carries only half of its sea level density. At altitude, or on a hot and humid afternoon, the airplane must fly at a greater true airspeed to produce the same lift at a given angle of attack. That is the lift equation working behind the density altitude discussion you just read.

“Lift is proportional to the square of the aircraft’s velocity. For example, an airplane traveling at 200 knots has four times the lift as the same airplane traveling at 100 knots, if the AOA and other factors remain constant.”

The V-Speeds and Where They Live on the Airspeed Indicator

Every limitation speed carries a V name, and most of them are painted on the airspeed indicator in color. FAA certificated aircraft of 12,500 pounds or less, manufactured after 1945, must carry these standard color coded markings. The colors let you recognize a limitation at a glance in the middle of a maneuver. The numbers themselves belong to your specific airplane, so learn them from the POH.

Begin with the white arc, which marks the flap operating range. Its lower limit is VS0, the stalling speed or minimum steady flight speed in the landing configuration, with gear and flaps down. Its upper limit is VFE, the maximum speed permitted with the flaps extended. Approaches and landings are usually flown at speeds inside the white arc.

The green arc is the normal operating range, where most of your flying happens. Its lower limit is VS1, the stalling speed or minimum steady flight speed in a specified configuration, usually clean. Its upper limit is VNO, the maximum structural cruising speed, which you do not exceed except in smooth air. Above the green arc sits the yellow caution range, flown only in smooth air and only with caution. The red line marks VNE, the never exceed speed, and operating beyond it invites damage or structural failure.

One critical speed is not painted anywhere on the dial: VA, the design maneuvering speed. VA is the maximum speed at which the structural design's limit load can be imposed, by gusts or by full deflection of a control surface, without causing structural damage. You find it on placards and in the AFM/POH, and it changes with aircraft weight. Here is the reason. At the same airspeed, a lighter airplane flies at a lower angle of attack, which leaves more room to pull additional G before reaching the critical angle and stalling. More available G means the structure can be overstressed at a lower speed. When the airplane is light, VA comes down, and your speed in rough air should come down with it.

Two more V speeds complete your set, and you already met them in the climb discussion: VX, the speed for best angle of climb, and VY, the speed for best rate of climb. Neither one appears on the dial, and both come from the POH. Memorize your airplane's numbers early, because VX and VY shape every takeoff and VS0 thinking shapes every landing.

“VS0 means the stalling speed or the minimum steady flight speed in the landing configuration.”

“It is important to consider weight when referencing this speed. For example, VA may be 100 knots when an airplane is heavily loaded, but only 90 knots when the load is light.”

Slow Flight

Flying at reduced airspeed is normal in takeoff, departure, approach, and landing. Slow flight training exists so you learn the feel, sound, and visual cues of that regime at a safe altitude. In that regime, control response is degraded, and holding altitude takes more attention. For training and testing, target an airspeed at which the airplane can still maneuver without setting off the stall warning, about 5 to 10 knots above the 1G stall speed. Practice it in configurations that fit takeoffs, climbs, descents, approaches, and go-arounds. Slow flight in a single-engine airplane should be completed no lower than 1,500 feet AGL.

To enter, clear the area, gradually reduce power, and adjust pitch to let airspeed decrease while holding altitude. As speed approaches the target, additional power is needed to hold altitude. Trim as the pressures change. An airplane still trimmed for cruise demands strong aft pressure, and that makes precise control difficult. Slow flight is typically performed and evaluated in the landing configuration: gear and flaps down, with the before-landing checks complete.

Expect the controls to feel different. As airspeed decreases, control effectiveness decreases, and larger movements are needed for the same response. Pilots call it sloppy or mushy. Below the minimum drag speed, you are on the backside of the power curve. There, pitch becomes a more effective control of airspeed, and power controls the flightpath. The airplane also shows speed instability: if disturbed, the airspeed keeps decaying unless you reduce AOA or add power. Torque, slipstream effect, and P-factor produce a strong left yaw at high power and low speed. So hold right rudder, and more of it the closer you get to the stall.

To exit, add power, apply forward pressure as airspeed and lift increase, maintain coordination, and return to the desired flightpath, cleaning up flaps and gear as airspeed allows. Common errors include: failure to clear the area; inadequate or excessive back pressure as power is reduced; insufficient right rudder; fixation on the instruments; failure to anticipate AOA changes as the flaps move; poor trim; and failure to respond to a stall warning.

The Stall: Definition and Recognition

A stall happens when the wing's angle of attack exceeds its critical AOA. Past that angle, the smooth airflow over the upper surface separates, lift decreases sharply, and drag rises. The wing does not totally stop producing lift in a stall; it simply cannot make enough lift to sustain level flight. The critical AOA is a design characteristic. For a given configuration, the airplane always stalls at the same AOA, regardless of airspeed, weight, load factor, or density altitude.

Burn this in: a stall is about angle, not speed. The published stalling speed is valid only in unaccelerated 1G flight, coordinated, at one weight, and at a particular CG. Increase load factor, and stall speed rises. Pull sharply out of a dive at 100 knots, and the AOA can jump past critical despite the high airspeed.

We practice stalls at two levels. An impending stall occurs when the AOA causes a stall warning but has not yet reached the critical AOA. Signs can include buffeting or an aural warning. A full stall occurs when the critical AOA is exceeded. The typical sign is an uncommanded nose-down pitch that cannot be readily arrested, possibly with an uncommanded rolling motion.

Learn to recognize an approaching stall by sight, sound, and feel. Control pressures lighten, and responses slow. The sound of the airflow changes as speed decays. The seat-of-the-pants sense of changing direction or speed warns the trained pilot. Vision alone is not foolproof, since the airplane can stall in any attitude. Most training airplanes add a stall warning device that alerts you before the critical AOA. In most straight-wing airplanes, the wing root stalls first, which preserves aileron effectiveness at the tips as the stall spreads outward.

“An aircraft stall results from a rapid decrease in lift caused by the separation of airflow from the wing’s surface brought on by exceeding the critical AOA. A stall can occur at any pitch attitude or airspeed.”

“It is important for the pilot to understand that a stall is the result of exceeding the critical AOA, not of insufficient airspeed.”

“This critical AOA varies from approximately 16° to 20° depending on the aircraft’s design. But each aircraft has only one specific AOA where the stall occurs.”

Stall Recovery and the Power-Off Stall

The full stall recovery template has as many as six steps, but in our trainer it reduces to four. Reduce the AOA with nose-down pitch control until the stall warning is eliminated. Roll the wings level, add power as needed, and then return to the desired flightpath while avoiding a secondary stall. Reduce AOA first. In numerous cases, pilots put power and holding altitude ahead of reducing AOA, and the result was loss of control. Rolling the wings level orients the lift vector for recovery. But do not chase bank angle before the AOA is reduced; roll control improves dramatically once the wing is flying again. Use rudder to cancel yaw, so a stall cannot progress into a spin.

Some loss of altitude is expected in any recovery. The longer you take to recognize an impending stall, the more likely a full stall becomes. That is why we practice at altitude. Practice stalls so the recovery is completed no lower than 1,500 feet AGL for single-engine airplanes.

The power-off stall simulates an accidental stall on approach to landing. Set up in the landing configuration, hold altitude while airspeed decays to normal approach speed, and then establish a stabilized descent at idle power. Smoothly raise the nose to an attitude that induces the stall. Keep the wings level and the airplane coordinated, and hold that attitude until the stall occurs. Recover with as much nose-down input as needed to eliminate the stall warning. Level the wings, stay coordinated, and add power. Expect right rudder as the power comes in. If you are simulating a stall on approach, finish with a go-around: get a positive rate of climb, then retract flaps and gear as appropriate.

We will also practice power-off stalls from shallow banked turns, which simulate the turn from base to final. Keep the airplane coordinated at a constant bank until the stall. If it slips or skids, one wing may drop first. The recovery procedure is exactly the same no matter which wing rolls off.

“Even so, the pilot should remember the most important action to an impending stall or a full stall is to reduce the AOA.”

“Adding power typically reduces the loss of altitude during a stall recovery, but it does not eliminate a stall. The reduction in AOA is imperative.”

Angle of Attack Indicators

An AOA indicator gives you stall margin awareness: the margin between the AOA you are flying and the critical AOA where the wing stalls. The FAA promotes AOA indicators as a safety initiative aimed at loss of control, the number one root cause of fatal accidents in aviation. Half of fatal maneuvering accidents involve stall or spin scenarios.

The case for the instrument is the weakness of airspeed as a stall predictor. Speed by itself is not a reliable parameter to avoid a stall; an airplane can stall at any speed. Angle of attack is the better parameter. For a given configuration, the airplane always stalls at the same critical AOA, and that critical AOA does not change with weight, bank angle, temperature, density altitude, or center of gravity.

These devices measure several parameters at the same time, and they display the current AOA and how close it is to the critical AOA. If your airplane has one, learn how the device determines AOA and what its display means. Some indicators account for flap position, and some do not. The indicator supplements the stall cues you are learning by feel, sight, and sound. It never replaces them.

Turns, Load Factor, and Your First Look at Steep Turns

Today I will demonstrate steep turns. The aerodynamics you just learned explain why they deserve respect. In a level turn, the wing must produce additional lift to counterbalance the load from the combination of centrifugal force and weight. You get the additional lift with elevator back pressure, which increases the AOA. The steeper the bank, the more the AOA must increase to carry the growing load.

That load has a number: load factor. Say a pilot holds airspeed and rolls into a coordinated, level 60 degree banked turn. The load factor is 2G, and the airplane will stall at a speed 41 percent higher than its 1G stall speed. Stalling speed rises in a turn because you are closer to the critical AOA while carrying more than 1G.

A steep turn is a division-of-attention exercise. You manage bank, back pressure, power, altitude, and orientation all at once, with a reduced stall margin. If at any time the AOA becomes excessive, the airplane stalls, regardless of indicated airspeed. Watch the demonstration with that in mind, because you will be flying these yourself soon.

The Airplane as an Energy System

Every maneuver you fly is an energy problem. Energy management means planning, monitoring, and controlling your altitude and airspeed targets in relation to the airplane's energy state. The goals are simple. Reach and hold the vertical flightpath and airspeed profiles you want. Detect and correct unintentional deviations. And prevent an irreversible deceleration or sink rate that ends in a crash. Mismanaged energy contributes to the three most common types of fatal accidents: loss of control in flight, controlled flight into terrain, and approach-and-landing accidents.

The airplane's total mechanical energy is the sum of two parts. Potential energy comes from altitude, and kinetic energy comes from airspeed. The airplane gains energy from engine thrust and loses energy to aerodynamic drag. When thrust exceeds drag, total energy increases, and you can store the surplus as altitude, as airspeed, or as some of each. When drag exceeds thrust, total energy decreases, and you spend stored energy: descend at constant airspeed, or slow down at constant altitude. When thrust equals drag, total energy holds steady. But you can still exchange energy between altitude and airspeed, trading one for the other in opposite directions.

Your frame of reference is the airplane itself: indicated altitude and indicated airspeed, not height above the ground or groundspeed. Terrain and wind are outside factors you cannot alter. But you manage the airplane's energy to minimize the risks they pose.

What the Throttle Controls, What the Elevator Controls

An energy view clears up the old argument about pitch versus power. Do not ask what controls altitude and what controls airspeed. Ask what controls total energy, and what controls its distribution. The throttle sets thrust against drag, so it regulates changes in total mechanical energy. The elevator adjusts pitch attitude, so it allocates changes in total energy between vertical flightpath and airspeed.

Neither control commands altitude or airspeed by itself, because those two variables are coupled through the airplane's total energy. You coordinate both controls to manage the energy state. Think of the reservoir analogy. The throttle is the valve that regulates net energy flow into the airplane. The elevator is the valve that distributes that flow between the altitude reservoir and the airspeed reservoir.

The elevator has one more role at the edges of the envelope. Picture the backside of the power curve: low speed, high AOA, and little or no excess power. Pushing forward briefly trades altitude for airspeed. That reduces induced drag and frees up excess power, so the airplane can climb again. That counterintuitive push is central to recovering from a deteriorating low-and-slow situation. It echoes exactly what you learned about stall recovery: reduce the AOA first.

“The throttle then is the total energy controller.”

“Thus, the elevator is the energy distribution controller.”

The Three Basic Rules of Energy Control

Every transition you will fly this lesson is one of three cases. Entering a climb, leveling off, starting a descent, changing speed in level flight: the new energy state demands more total energy, less total energy, or the same total energy redistributed. The FAA's three rules are quoted exactly below. They tell you what the throttle does and what the elevator does in each case. Read them slowly, and picture the maneuver each one describes.

Map them to today's flight. Climb at constant airspeed: rule 1, throttle up, and pitch up just enough to hold the speed. Accelerate in level flight: rule 1 again, throttle up, with gradual pitch down to hold altitude. Descend at constant airspeed: rule 2, throttle back, and pitch down just enough to hold speed. Slow down in level flight, as when entering slow flight: rule 2, throttle back, with gradual pitch up to hold altitude. In every case, once you reach the new target, readjust pitch and power to maintain the new profile, and trim off the pressures.

The rules can also combine. At maximum level cruise speed, there is no excess thrust left to climb with. So you first trade speed for altitude under rule 3, slowing to a speed where drag falls below thrust. Then you climb at that slower speed under rule 1.

“Rule #1: If you want to move to a new energy state that demands more total energy, then: Throttle: increase throttle setting so that thrust is greater than drag, thus increasing total energy; Elevator: adjust pitch attitude as appropriate to distribute the total energy being gained over altitude and airspeed: a. To climb at constant speed, pitch up just enough to maintain the desired speed; b. To accelerate at constant altitude, gradually pitch down just enough to maintain path.”

“Rule #2: If you want to move to a new energy state that demands less total energy, then: Throttle: reduce throttle setting so that thrust is less than drag, thus decreasing total energy; Elevator: adjust pitch attitude as appropriate to distribute the total energy being lost over altitude and airspeed: a. To descend at constant speed, pitch down just enough to maintain the desired speed; b. To slow down at constant altitude, gradually pitch up just enough to maintain path.”

“Rule #3: If you want to move to a new energy state that demands no change in total energy, then: Throttle: do not change initially, but adjust to match drag at the end of maneuver as needed to maintain total energy constant; Elevator: adjust pitch attitude to exchange energy between altitude and airspeed: a. To trade speed for altitude, pitch up; b. To trade altitude for speed, pitch down.”

Recognizing and Correcting Energy Errors

Altitude and airspeed store the airplane's energy. So deviations from your targets are energy errors, and there are two kinds. In a total energy error, the airplane has too much or too little energy overall. Altitude and airspeed deviate in the same direction: higher and faster, or lower and slower. Correct total energy errors with the throttle. In an energy distribution error, the total is right but the split is wrong. Altitude and airspeed deviate in opposite directions: higher and slower, or lower and faster. Correct distribution errors by exchanging energy with the elevator. A combined error, such as low but on speed, takes both controls at once: throttle forward, while easing aft to regain altitude without losing airspeed.

Monitor the altimeter and airspeed indicator together. That is how you tell the two kinds apart, and it is why I will keep asking you for both numbers, not just one. Once the deviation is corrected, retrim for the desired profile.

This matters because of the trap at the slow edge of the envelope. Badly mismanage energy and get very slow, and induced drag can rise so high that even full throttle yields no surplus energy. The only recourse is to first trade altitude for speed by pushing forward, which reduces AOA and induced drag. Only then will full throttle produce a climb. Get too low, and there may not be room to reverse the sink. Unintended energy depletion shows up in unstable slow approaches, high-drag go-arounds, and steeper-than-normal turns in the pattern. So the habit of monitoring and correcting energy errors early is a survival skill, not a technicality.

Your Engine: The Four-Stroke Cycle and Dual Ignition

Starting this lesson, the engine start and runup are yours. So you need to know what the engine is doing. Your trainer uses a spark ignition, four-stroke reciprocating engine. Each cylinder repeats the same four strokes. Intake: the piston moves down, the intake valve opens, and fuel-air mixture is drawn into the cylinder. Compression: the valve closes and the piston squeezes the mixture toward the top. Power: the spark plugs ignite the mixture, and the pressure drives the piston back down. That push is what turns the crankshaft and the propeller. Exhaust: the exhaust valve opens and the piston pushes the burned gases out. Even at fairly low speed, this cycle happens several hundred times each minute. In a four-cylinder engine, each cylinder is on a different stroke, so the power flows continuously.

The spark comes from two magnetos, not from the battery. A magneto generates its own current with a permanent magnet, and it fires whenever the crankshaft is turning. Each magneto fires its own spark plug in each cylinder, so every cylinder has two plugs. Two flames improve combustion and give slightly more power. If one magneto fails, the other is unaffected, and the engine keeps running with only a slight power loss.

The runup check proves both magnetos are alive. From BOTH, you switch to one magneto and watch the tachometer. A small RPM drop is normal, because one flame burns the mixture less completely than two. North Aero teaches the typical limits: an acceptable drop is 125 RPM or less, with a maximum spread of 50 RPM between the two magnetos. The POH's published limits govern your airplane. So a 75 RPM drop is healthy. A 200 RPM drop is not. It can mean a fouled spark plug, a faulty magneto, improper timing, or a defective ignition lead. Return the switch to BOTH, taxi back, and have a mechanic inspect it before flight. That is a no-go. One more trap: no drop at all is also abnormal, and the airplane should not be flown.

The magnetos' independence has a dark side. After shutdown, turn the ignition switch OFF before anyone leaves the airplane. Pulling the mixture to cutoff starves the engine of fuel, but it does not ground the magnetos. If the switch is left on and someone moves the propeller, a cylinder with residual fuel can fire. A broken ground wire can create the same hazard even with the switch OFF. Treat every propeller as live.

“A magneto uses a permanent magnet to generate an electrical current completely independent of the aircraft’s electrical system.”

Fuel: 100LL, Contamination, and Why You Sump

Your trainer burns aviation gasoline, and the standard grade today is 100LL, dyed blue. The grade number reflects octane: the fuel's resistance to detonating under pressure. The correct grade is stated in the POH, on flight deck placards, and next to the filler caps. If the proper grade is not available, use the next higher grade. Never use a lower one. A lower grade can push cylinder head and oil temperatures past their limits and cause detonation. Never use automotive gas unless the airplane carries an STC for it.

Water is the principal fuel contaminant. In cold weather it can freeze and block the fuel lines. In warm weather it can flow into the carburetor and stop the engine. That is why you sump. Before every flight, drain fuel from each tank sump and from the fuel strainer quick drain into a transparent tester. Check it for water and dirt. Water shows as a clear blob under the blue fuel, or as a cloudy look when droplets are suspended. If you find any, keep draining samples until no trace appears. Filling the tanks after the last flight of the day keeps moist air out of the tanks and prevents condensation.

Now the hard lesson. In October 2021, a student pilot died at Ukiah, California when water reached his engine during a go-around (NTSB WPR22FA022). He had sumped correctly that morning. So had the pilot who flew before him. Both found fuel that appeared normal. A buckled skin inside the left tank had trapped water above the drain port, where no sump could reach it. A longstanding filler neck leak had let rain in all week. The lesson: sumping is necessary but not sufficient. When an airplane has sat outside through heavy rain, take a larger sample. Check the filler neck area for staining that suggests a leak. If anything in the fuel system's history troubles you, involve a mechanic before you fly.

“Never take off until all water and contaminants have been removed from the engine fuel system.”

Carburetor Ice, Mixture, Cooling, and Oil

Carburetor ice is the quiet engine killer, and it does not need a cold day. Inside the carburetor, fuel evaporates and air accelerates through the venturi. Both effects drop the temperature sharply, by as much as 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Moisture in the air can then freeze inside the throat and choke off the mixture. Ice is most likely when the temperature is below 70 degrees Fahrenheit and the relative humidity is above 80 percent. The FAA icing probability chart shows serious icing at glide power from 20 to 70 degrees when humidity is above 80 percent. That describes an ordinary Salinas morning. The risk is greatest at low power, in descents and while idling on the ground. At low power the engine makes little heat while the venturi keeps cooling.

In our fixed-pitch trainers, the first sign is an RPM drop you did not command. Engine roughness may follow. The response is full carburetor heat, immediately, and hold it. The engine will likely run rougher at first. That is melted ice passing through as water, and it can last from 30 seconds to several minutes. Do not pull the heat back out because it got worse. Keep it full hot until normal power returns. Partial heat, or heat removed too soon, can aggravate the icing. A Riverside, California pilot proved how sneaky this is (NTSB ERA23FA194). His carburetor heat checked fine at runup. Then he sat at idle through a long ground delay and took off without reapplying it. The ice built while he held short, and the engine quit at about 1,000 feet. FAA guidance in AC 20-113 recommends applying carburetor heat briefly before takeoff after an extended ground delay.

The mixture knob matches fuel flow to air density. As you climb, the air thins while fuel flow stays the same, so the mixture grows too rich. Rich enough, and the spark plugs foul and the engine runs rough. Leaning decreases fuel flow to match the thinner air. Descending reverses the problem. Come down with the mixture still leaned and it becomes too lean. An overly lean mixture can cause detonation, rough running, overheating, and a loss of power. So enrich as you descend, and be at full rich before you enter the pattern, where a go-around demands full power. Your instructor will demonstrate the leaning procedure, and the POH governs.

Your engine is air cooled outside and oil cooled inside. Air enters the cowling, and baffles route it over the cylinder fins. In a long, slow climb that airflow shrinks while power stays high. If temperatures rise, reduce the rate of climb and increase airspeed to restore cooling airflow. Extreme heat costs power, burns oil, and can cause serious engine damage.

Engine oil does more than lubricate. It cools the engine from the inside, removes heat from the cylinders, seals the pistons against the cylinder walls, and carries contaminants away. That is why you check the dipstick on every preflight and never fly below the POH minimum. In flight, two gauges tell the story. Oil pressure should show an indication during engine start, and it should sit in the green range. Oil temperature responds slowly. After a cold start it can take several minutes to move at all. A high oil temperature can mean low oil quantity, a plugged line, or a blocked oil cooler. Watch both gauges, and know your airplane's normal.

Attitude Flying and Integrated Flight Instruction

Attitude flying is the skill this lesson polishes. Pitch attitude is the angle between the longitudinal axis and the natural horizon. Bank attitude is the angle between the lateral axis and the horizon. Your eyes reference the wings and cowling against the horizon. Attitude control has four parts: pitch control with the elevator, bank control with the ailerons, power for the required thrust, and trim to relieve the pressures once the attitude is set. Yaw control with the rudder cancels adverse yaw and propeller effects.

We teach by the integrated method, using outside references and flight instruments together. The natural horizon is immediate, accurate, and larger than any instrument. So at least 90 percent of your attention belongs outside, on attitude and traffic, and no more than 10 percent inside. Take quick mental snapshots of the instruments to validate performance, then return outside. The most common beginner error is making pitch or bank corrections while still looking inside. The cure for fixation is a conscious return to outside references.

Trim technique follows one rule: attitude first, then trim. Establish the attitude, hold it with pressure, and then trim the pressure away so the airplane holds the attitude on its own. Trying to fly the airplane with the trim is a common fault, even among experienced pilots. A properly trimmed airplane is a mark of good piloting.

Lead Points: Level-Offs and Rollouts

Precision comes from starting early. Level off before the target altitude, leading by about 10 percent of your vertical rate. Climbing at 500 fpm, start 50 feet early; descending at 1,000 fpm, start 100 feet early. Leveling from a climb, keep climb power until the airplane accelerates to cruise speed. Then set cruise power and retrim: pitch, power, trim, in that order.

Rollout from a turn also starts early. Lead the heading by half the bank angle: 15 degrees early for a 30 degree bank. Bank angle changes what the airplane wants to do. At 20 degrees or less, lateral stability slowly levels the wings. From 20 to 45 degrees, the airplane tends to hold the bank with neutral aileron. Past 45 degrees, overbanking tendency steepens the bank unless you hold opposite aileron, because the faster moving outside wing produces more lift.

The Primary Flight Controls and the Coordinated Turn

The ailerons, elevator (or stabilator), and rudder are the primary control system, and they are required to control the airplane safely in flight. Moving any of them changes the airflow and pressure distribution over the airfoil, and that is how you command motion about the three axes. Ailerons control roll about the longitudinal axis. Turn the control wheel right, and the right aileron deflects up, decreasing lift on the right wing. The left aileron deflects down, increasing lift on the left wing, so the airplane rolls right. The elevator controls pitch about the lateral axis. Pull the control column aft, and the trailing edge deflects up. That creates a downward aerodynamic force on the tail, which pitches the nose up about the center of gravity. The rudder controls yaw about the vertical axis. Press the left pedal, and the rudder moves left, creating sideward lift that moves the tail right and yaws the nose left. Rudder effectiveness increases with speed, so slow flight demands larger deflections. Propeller slipstream over the rudder increases its effectiveness.

Here is why your feet matter in every turn. The downward deflected aileron on the rising wing produces more lift, and therefore more drag. That added drag yaws the airplane opposite the direction of the bank, and that is adverse yaw. It is most pronounced at low airspeeds, where control pressures are light and your inputs are large. Rudder counteracts adverse yaw. The amount required is greatest at low airspeed, high AOA, and large aileron deflections. Manufacturers reduce adverse yaw with differential ailerons, frise-type ailerons, coupled ailerons and rudder, or flaperons. But no design eliminates it, so coordinated rudder is still needed.

All turns are coordinated by using ailerons, rudder, and elevator together. Roll in with aileron toward the turn, with simultaneous rudder in the same direction to cancel adverse yaw. Add elevator back pressure, because a turn requires more lift than level flight, and the steeper the turn, the more back pressure. As the desired bank is established, relax the aileron and rudder pressures so the bank stops increasing. But hold the back pressure to hold altitude. Roll out the same way in reverse: aileron and rudder toward the high wing, relaxing back pressure as the bank decreases. That sequence, flown smoothly, is the coordination this lesson is named for.

Secondary Controls: Flaps and Trim

Wing flaps, leading edge devices, spoilers, and trim systems make up the secondary control system. They improve performance or relieve you of excessive control forces. Flaps are the most common high-lift device. Attached to the trailing edge, they increase both lift and induced drag for any given AOA. That allows a compromise between high cruising speed and low landing speed. The four common types are plain, split, slotted, and Fowler. The slotted flap is the most popular today. It ducts high energy air from below the wing over the flap's upper surface. That delays airflow separation, and it produces a much greater increase in maximum lift coefficient than plain or split flaps. Flap extension may cause a nose-up or nose-down pitching moment, depending on the airplane, so anticipate a trim change.

Trim systems exist because the airplane can fly hands-off only in a narrow combination of attitude, airspeed, and power. The most common installation on small airplanes is a single trim tab on the trailing edge of the elevator. The tab moves opposite the elevator. Set nose-up trim, and the tab deflects down, forcing the elevator trailing edge up and the nose up. The procedure is what matters to you. Establish the desired power, pitch attitude, and configuration first, then trim to relieve the control pressures that remain. If you are holding constant back pressure, you need nose-up trim, so keep trimming until the airplane is balanced. Any time power, attitude, or configuration changes, retrim. An airplane in trim is an airplane you can fly with fingertips, and fingertips are what precise maneuvering takes.

Left-Turning Tendencies: Torque, Slipstream, Precession, and P-Factor

Pilots call the airplane's left-turning tendency torque. It is really four elements, and each one tries to rotate the airplane around at least one axis: torque reaction from the engine and propeller, the corkscrewing effect of the slipstream, gyroscopic action of the propeller, and asymmetric loading of the propeller, called P-factor. Most United States built engines turn the propeller clockwise as seen from the pilot's seat, and all four discussions assume that.

Torque reaction is Newton's third law. As the engine and propeller revolve one way, an equal force tries to rotate the airplane the other way, rolling it left about the longitudinal axis. On the takeoff roll, it also presses more weight onto the left main gear, and the added ground friction pulls the airplane further left. The corkscrew effect comes from the spiraling slipstream. At high propeller speed and low forward speed, the compact spiral strikes the vertical tail and yaws the airplane left about the vertical axis. Takeoff and the power-on stall are exactly that condition. As forward speed increases, the spiral elongates and weakens.

Gyroscopic action is precession. A force applied to the spinning propeller's plane of rotation takes effect 90 degrees ahead, in the direction of rotation. So pitching produces yaw, and yawing produces pitch. It is most prominent in tailwheel airplanes as the tail comes up on the takeoff roll. P-factor appears at high AOA. The descending propeller blade takes a bigger bite of air, with a higher resultant velocity and more thrust, than the ascending blade. The center of thrust shifts right of the propeller disc, yawing the nose left. That is why slow flight, climbs, and power-on stalls all demand right rudder, and why the pressure changes as AOA and power change. Your job is not to memorize which force dominates when. Your job is to apply proper corrective action with the flight controls at all times, and keep the airplane coordinated.

Dutch Roll and Today's Coordination Exercise

Dutch roll is a coupled lateral and directional oscillation. Roll and yaw are about the same magnitude but out of phase with each other, so the nose traces a figure eight on the horizon. It is usually dynamically stable, but it is undesirable in an airplane because of its oscillatory nature. In most modern airplanes, these free directional oscillations die out on their own in a very few cycles, unless the air stays gusty or turbulent. High-speed swept wing designs are the exception, and aircraft with persistent Dutch roll tendencies use gyro-stabilized yaw dampers. Designers actually prefer a touch of spiral instability over Dutch roll tendencies, so most airplanes are built that way.

The coordination exercise we fly today borrows the name. You roll the airplane bank to bank while you use rudder to keep the nose from wandering. It teaches your hands and feet the timing that cancels adverse yaw as the ailerons work. The exercise trains exactly what the aerodynamics above demand: rudder that arrives with the aileron, in the right amount, without you thinking about it. One day your eyes will stay outside on the horizon while the nose holds still through the rolls. When that happens, your coordination is becoming the subconscious habit the Airplane Flying Handbook says airmanship requires.

Common Errors: Turns, Climbs, and Descents

Know these before we fly; I will be watching for them. In turns: failing to clear in the direction of the turn; gaining or losing altitude; not holding the bank constant; turning by instrument reference alone; referencing only the nose instead of the wingtips; making skidding flat turns to avoid banking; holding excessive rudder in the turn; and building proficiency in one direction only.

In climbs and climbing turns: chasing the airspeed indicator instead of setting a pitch attitude; pulling to an excessive climb angle; inadequate right rudder, so the airplane yaws left; fixating on the nose and climbing with one wing low; and pushing over too aggressively at level-off.

In descents and gliding turns: failing to clear; not slowing to glide speed before lowering the nose; chasing the airspeed instead of stabilizing the glide; attempting to stretch the glide with back pressure; and slipping or skidding because rudder forces feel lighter with the power off. Every item on these lists is caught the same way: eyes outside, attitude first, coordinated feet.

Stall Awareness and Recovery

A stall has nothing to do with the engine. It has everything to do with angle of attack: the angle at which the wing's chord line meets the relative wind. As long as the angle of attack stays small enough, the airflow stays attached, and the wing produces lift. Exceed the critical angle of attack for a section of the airfoil, and that section will always stall. The FAA hammers the point in capital letters: a stall is the result of excessive angle of attack, not insufficient airspeed.

Published stall speeds apply only to the specified configuration. Your real stall speed changes with weight, center of gravity, flaps, and load factor. In a level coordinated turn at 60 degrees of bank, the load factor is 2 Gs, and stall speed increases 40 percent. Snow, ice, or frost raises stall speed, so you do not fly with any accumulation.

Learn the warning signs, so recovery becomes instinctive. The controls feel mushy and less effective. The sound of air along the fuselage gets quieter. Buffeting comes just before the stall, and a fixed-pitch propeller loses RPM. The stall warning device alerts you 4 to 8 knots before onset. A warning tells you to increase airspeed by adding power, lowering the nose, and/or decreasing bank.

Recovery is angle of attack first, power second. Reduce the angle of attack at the first indication, so the wing regains lift. Then smoothly apply maximum allowable power to build airspeed and minimize altitude loss. Too much forward pressure unloads the wing into negative G. Hauling the nose up before the wing is flying again causes a secondary stall. Spins are aggravated stalls in a slip or a skid: if a stall does not occur, a spin cannot occur. Your instructor will add realistic distractions during stall work, because that is how these accidents happen.

“A stall is a loss of lift and increase in drag that occurs when an aircraft is flown at an angle of attack (AOA) greater than the angle for maximum lift.”

“A STALL CAN OCCUR AT ANY AIRSPEED, IN ANY ATTITUDE, AT ANY POWER SETTING.”

“National Transportation Safety Board statistics indicate that most stall/spin accidents result when a pilot is distracted momentarily from the primary task of flying the aircraft.”

Spin Phases and the PARE Recovery

You just read that if a stall does not occur, a spin cannot occur. Here is what happens when one does. In a spin, both wings are stalled, but one is stalled more deeply than the other. That lift difference drives the autorotation, and the airplane descends in a corkscrew path at a high angle of attack. A spin moves through phases. The incipient phase runs from the moment the airplane stalls and rotation starts until the spin is fully developed. In a fully developed spin, the rotation rate, airspeed, and vertical speed stabilize from turn to turn, and the flightpath is close to vertical. A flat spin, with the nose near level, may be extremely difficult or even impossible to recover from.

The recovery sequence is worth overlearning, and PARE is how we teach it. Power to idle. Ailerons neutral. Rudder full opposite the rotation. Elevator briskly forward once the rotation slows, enough to break the stall. When rotation stops, neutralize the rudder and pull out of the dive smoothly. Your airplane's POH procedure always governs. Why does rudder come before back pressure? Opposite rudder attacks the lift difference between the wings, which is what sustains the rotation. Pulling back first is the instinctive response, and it is the deadly one. It raises the angle of attack on wings that are already stalled. That deepens the stall and can accelerate the rotation.

Respect the altitude cost. A developed spin takes at least 1,000 feet per turn in most light aircraft. That is why the skidding base-to-final turn is so lethal: there is no room below to recover. Your spin protection at pattern altitude is not the recovery procedure. It is coordination, airspeed, and angle of attack awareness, so the stall never happens. We practice stall work high, after clearing turns, for exactly this reason.

“The first step in recovering from an upright spin is to close the throttle completely to eliminate power and minimize the loss of altitude.”

Ground Reference Foundations: Wind Drift and Ground Track

Ground reference maneuvers combine the four fundamentals into one integrated skill: making the airplane follow a chosen path over the ground. This is the direct foundation for every traffic pattern you will ever fly. Scan across several references rather than fixating on one point. Fixation destroys your ability to judge rate of closure and drift.

These maneuvers happen low, generally between 600 and 1,000 feet AGL, so the setup is a safety exercise in itself. Fly two 90 degree clearing turns, looking left, right, above, and below. Stay at least 500 feet vertically above any obstruction and 2,000 feet horizontally. Keep one or more emergency landing fields in reach. Stay well away from people, congested areas, and livestock. Complete the checklist and make the radio calls. Keep bank at or below 45 degrees, and keep airspeed no greater than maneuvering speed.

To track straight across a crosswind, you angle the nose into the wind. That is a wind correction angle: just enough to cancel the drift. Turning flight adds a wrinkle. At a constant bank angle, the radius of your turn over the ground grows as groundspeed increases and shrinks as it decreases. So to hold a constant radius, you vary the bank. Bank steepest headed downwind, where groundspeed is fastest, and shallowest headed upwind, where it is slowest.

That is why every ground reference maneuver is entered downwind. The steepest required bank comes first, where you can judge it. If it feels too steep, you exit and reposition farther out. You will not calculate correction angles in flight. You read the references and adjust until the drift stops.

Rectangular Course

The rectangular course is a rehearsal of the airport traffic pattern. You fly a constant altitude, constant airspeed path that holds an equal distance from all four sides of a selected field. Fly parallel to the boundaries, about one-half to three-fourths of a mile outside them, so the references are easy to see. Do not crowd the field. Flying too close forces steep banks, which raise load factor and stall speed, especially in the downwind-to-crosswind turn.

Enter downwind. With the wind on your tail, groundspeed is highest. So the turn onto base begins with a relatively steep bank, and it finishes shallower as the tailwind becomes a crosswind. You turn more than 90 degrees, to crab toward the inside of the course. The turn to upwind starts medium banked, and it is less than 90 degrees because you were already crabbed. The turn onto crosswind rolls in shallow, with groundspeed building from its slowest. It again finishes at less than 90 degrees, with a crab held toward the outside. The final turn back to downwind is medium banked and more than 90 degrees, with groundspeed increasing throughout.

The logic never changes: higher groundspeed means steeper bank. Roll slowly when the wind would drift you into the course, and roll quickly when it would drift you outside. The AFH's common errors list is a ready-made self-critique: failing to clear the area, to establish and hold altitude, to assess wind direction, or to establish the wind correction angle; uncoordinated aileron and rudder, producing slips and skids; rough control usage; poor division of attention; and badly timed turns.

Tracking a Road and S-Turns

Your first exercise is the simplest. Track a straight road, railroad, or river, flying directly over the line while holding enough wind correction angle to cancel drift. Scan from far ahead to close in. Once you can hold the line, offset and fly a parallel path no more than three-fourths of a mile from the reference, still crabbed, still parallel.

S-turns put that skill into turning flight: two opposite but equal half circles across a straight-line reference. Enter downwind. Cross the road at a 90 degree angle, and immediately begin a 180 degree constant-radius turn. Roll quickly to the steepest bank of the maneuver, then shallow the bank as groundspeed falls. Time the rollout so the wings come level exactly as you re-cross the road at 90 degrees. Then immediately roll into the opposite turn. That turn begins upwind, with a gentle, shallow bank that steepens as the wind comes behind you.

Throughout, the airplane's heading leads its ground position on the downwind half and lags it on the upwind half. That happens because you hold a wind correction angle inside the turn. The common errors mirror the rectangular course list, and they are attention failures more than hand-flying failures. These maneuvers exist to build division of attention.

Instrument Introduction: The Pitot-Static Instruments

Three of your instruments run on air pressure. The pitot tube senses ram (impact) pressure, and it feeds only the airspeed indicator. The static ports sense undisturbed ambient pressure. They feed the airspeed indicator, altimeter, and vertical speed indicator. Check both on every preflight.

The altimeter is an aneroid barometer: a pressure gauge with no liquid inside. Sealed wafers expand as static pressure drops and contract as it rises, driving the needles. It measures height above a given pressure level. So it is only honest with the current altimeter setting in the window. Fly from high pressure toward low without resetting, and you are lower than indicated. Colder than standard air does the same thing: from hot to cold, look out below. Know the five kinds of altitude. Indicated altitude is read directly with the current setting. True altitude is the actual height above sea level. Absolute altitude is the height above the ground. Pressure altitude is the indicated altitude with 29.92 set. Density altitude is pressure altitude corrected for nonstandard temperature, and it is the one that drives performance.

The vertical speed indicator compares direct static pressure against static pressure delayed through a calibrated leak. Needle direction gives instant trend information. But the rate indication lags 6 to 9 seconds, so do not chase it. The airspeed indicator measures the difference between pitot and static pressure. Indicated airspeed is what you read. Calibrated airspeed corrects installation error. True airspeed increases over calibrated about 2 percent per 1,000 feet, and groundspeed is true airspeed corrected for wind. The color arcs encode limits. White is the flap operating range, from VS0 to VFE. Green is the normal range, from VS1 to VNO. Yellow is smooth air only, and the red line is VNE. The numbers for your airplane come from the POH only.

Blockages matter. If the pitot tube clogs but its drain stays open, the airspeed indicator drops to zero. If both clog, trapped pressure makes the airspeed indicator behave like an altimeter, misreading as you climb or descend. A blocked static system corrupts all three instruments. That is why your airplane has an alternate static source. Expect slightly different readings on it, and check the POH for corrections.

“Trapped static pressure causes the altimeter to freeze at the altitude where the blockage occurred. In the case of the VSI, a blocked static system produces a continuous zero indication.”

Instrument Introduction: The Gyroscopic Instruments

The attitude indicator, heading indicator, and turn coordinator work because a spinning rotor obeys two properties. Rigidity in space keeps the gyro fixed in its spin plane while the airplane rotates around it. Precession makes a deflecting force act 90 degrees later in the direction of rotation. Precession lets an instrument sense rate of turn. It also makes gyros slowly drift, as bearing friction nudges them.

These instruments run on a vacuum or pressure system, or on electricity. Most airplanes split the sources, so a single failure still leaves bank information. A failing vacuum system means sluggish, unreliable gyros, so scan the suction gauge.

The attitude indicator is the only instrument that shows pitch and bank directly and instantly. A miniature airplane flies against a gyro-stabilized horizon bar. Under the hood, it is your substitute for the natural horizon. The heading indicator is a mechanical aid to the magnetic compass. Friction precession, plus the Earth's own 15 degrees per hour of rotation, makes it drift. So check it about every 15 minutes, and reset it to the compass in straight-and-level, constant-speed flight.

The turn coordinator senses roll rate first, then rate of turn. The second index mark is a standard rate turn of 3 degrees per second. Below it sits the inclinometer, which reports coordination. Ball inside the turn means slip, and ball outside means skid. The fix either way is to step on the ball. You will use these today for turns to headings and descents under the hood. So know what each one tells you, and how quickly to trust it.

“Rigidity in space refers to the principle that a gyroscope remains in a fixed position in the plane in which it is spinning.”

“Precession is the tilting or turning of a gyro in response to a deflective force. The reaction to this force does not occur at the point at which it was applied; rather, it occurs at a point that is 90° later in the direction of rotation.”

Airspeed Limits, Compass Errors, and Required Equipment

You met the airspeed color arcs earlier in this chapter. Now attach exact meanings, because examiners love this instrument. The white arc is the flap operating range. Its bottom is VS0, the power-off stall speed in the landing configuration. Its top is VFE, the maximum speed with the flaps extended. Extend full flaps above VFE and the loads can damage the flap hinges and tracks, or deploy the flaps asymmetrically. The green arc is the normal operating range. It runs from VS1, the stall speed in a specified clean configuration, up to VNO, the maximum structural cruising speed. Above VNO lies the yellow caution arc: smooth air only. The red line is VNE, the never-exceed speed. One critical speed is not painted on the dial at all: VA, the maneuvering speed. It lives on a placard and in the POH, and it decreases as the airplane gets lighter.

The magnetic compass is honest only in straight, level, unaccelerated flight. Magnetic dip tilts the card during turns and speed changes, and the errors are predictable. On east or west headings, acceleration swings the indication toward north, and deceleration swings it toward south. Remember ANDS: Accelerate North, Decelerate South. In turns, the compass leads through south and lags through north. So let the card pass your target on southerly headings, and roll out early on northerly headings. Remember OSUN: Overshoot South, Undershoot North. This is also why you reset the heading indicator to the compass only in steady, wings-level, constant-speed flight.

Your pitot tube can ice over in visible moisture, and the airspeed indicator dies with it. That is what pitot heat is for. Verify it is operational before flight, and turn it on before entering visible moisture. The POH gives the procedure for your airplane. The preflight matters just as much. Inspect the pitot opening on every walkaround, and keep the cover on when the airplane is parked so insects stay out.

Finally, know that the required instrument list is regulation, not opinion. For day VFR, 14 CFR 91.205(b) requires items including: airspeed indicator, altimeter, magnetic direction indicator, tachometer for each engine, oil pressure and oil temperature gauges, a fuel gauge for each tank, safety belts, and an anticollision light system on newer airplanes. You will study the full list, and the rules for inoperative equipment, later in the course. For now, know the rule exists and where to find it.

“For VFR flight during the day, the following instruments and equipment are required: (1) Airspeed indicator. (2) Altimeter. (3) Magnetic direction indicator. (4) Tachometer for each engine.”

Spatial Disorientation: Trust the Instruments

Today's hood work has a life-or-death reason behind it. Your inner ear senses turns with fluid-filled canals. In a prolonged, constant-rate turn the fluid catches up with the canal walls, and the sensation of turning fades to nothing. Rolls slower than about 2 degrees per second never register at all. With a horizon in view, your eyes override these false signals. Take the horizon away, in cloud, haze, or a dark night over water, and your body starts to lie.

Two illusions matter most right now. The leans is the most common. You level the wings after a gradual turn you never noticed, and it feels like banking the opposite way. So you lean, or roll back toward the original turn. The graveyard spiral is the killer version. In a prolonged turn you feel wings-level while altitude bleeds away. Sensing the descent, you pull back. With the wings still banked, pulling tightens the spiral and steepens the descent. This pattern killed a 310-hour private pilot in haze off Martha's Vineyard in 1999. It also killed an airline transport pilot and flight instructor near Minden, Nevada in 2018. Certificates and hours provide no immunity.

The defense is absolute: when your body and your instruments disagree, the instruments win. Caught nose low and turning, reduce power first, level the wings on the attitude indicator, and only then raise the nose. Raising the nose while banked tightens the turn and loads the wings. And as a VFR pilot, your best move is to never need this skill. If the horizon ahead is dissolving, turn around while you still have one behind you. We go much deeper on illusions and instrument flying in Phase 2.

“Spatial disorientation specifically refers to the lack of orientation with regard to the position, attitude, or movement of the airplane in space.”

The Go-Around

A go-around is a normal maneuver, not an apology. ATC instructions, a runway hazard, overtaking traffic, wind shear, wake turbulence, mechanical trouble, or an unstable approach are all valid reasons to reject a landing. The maneuver becomes dangerous only when it is delayed unduly or flown improperly. The AFH names the two sources of delay. Landing expectancy is the anticipatory belief that things are not as threatening as they are. Pride is the mistaken belief that going around admits failure.

Power comes first. Apply full or maximum allowable takeoff power smoothly, without hesitation, and hold it until flying speed and controllability are restored. Abrupt throttle movement can make some engines falter. Carburetor heat comes off for maximum power, as applicable.

Attitude comes second. The airplane is trimmed for low airspeed, so the sudden power pitches the nose up and yaws it left. Expect considerable forward elevator pressure and sufficient right rudder. Do not pitch up for a climb the airspeed cannot support. If airspeed is insufficient, it may be necessary to briefly lower the nose. Once climbing, trim roughly, then fine tune the trim when things stabilize.

Configuration comes third. Stop the descent and set the climb attitude first. Then retract the landing flaps partially, or to the takeoff position, as the manufacturer recommends. Do it in increments, so the airplane can accelerate. Dumping full flaps at once can settle you back into the ground. Gear, where applicable, comes up after the flaps and a positive rate of climb. Finally, respect ground effect. The apparent cushion near the surface is borrowed performance, created by reduced induced drag. Climb out of it too soon, and you may be unable to climb at all. Common errors: failing to recognize the need; indecision; delay; late or abrupt power; improper pitch; wrong configuration sequence; premature climb out of ground effect; and inadequate right rudder.

“The proper execution of a go-around maneuver includes three cardinal principles: 1. Power 2. Attitude 3. Configuration”

“Power is the pilot's first concern. The instant a pilot decides to go around, full or maximum allowable takeoff power should be applied smoothly, without hesitation, and held until flying speed and controllability are restored.”

Emergency Landing Concepts and the Emergency Descent

This lesson introduces the elementary forced landing and the emergency descent. A forced landing is an immediate landing, on or off an airport, required because further flight is impossible. Engine failure is the classic example. A precautionary landing is a premeditated landing while flight is still possible but inadvisable. Reasons include deteriorating weather, being lost, fuel shortage, or developing engine trouble. Ditching is either one done on water.

The AFH identifies three psychological traps: reluctance to accept the emergency, undue concern about getting hurt, and the desire to save the airplane. All three delay the actions that keep you alive, like lowering the nose to maintain flying speed and committing to the best field within reach. The airplane is dispensable. Let the wings, gear, and fuselage bottom absorb the energy, so the cabin stays intact.

Physics sets the priorities. Destructive energy rises with the square of groundspeed. So touching down at the lowest possible controllable airspeed, under control, is worth more than any perfect field. A typical light airplane cabin protects its occupants at 9G forward. At that deceleration, a 50 mph touchdown needs only about 9.4 feet of stopping distance.

The emergency descent gets you down fast, for a fire, loss of pressurization, or anything demanding immediate descent. Unless the manufacturer says otherwise: power to idle, and propeller to low pitch. Set gear and flaps as the POH recommends for maximum drag. Never exceed VNE, VLE, or VFE, as applicable. Descend in a 30 to 45 degree bank, for positive load factor and traffic scanning. Recover with enough altitude to level off or land.

“The success of an emergency landing is as much a matter of the mind as of skills.”

“The overall severity of a deceleration process is governed by speed (groundspeed) and stopping distance. The most critical of these is speed; doubling the groundspeed means quadrupling the total destructive energy and vice versa.”

“An emergency descent is a maneuver for descending as rapidly as possible to a lower altitude or to the ground for an emergency landing.”

Pilot Authority and the Decision to Ask for Help

In an emergency, you are in charge. The AIM states the rule bluntly: the pilot in command is directly responsible for the operation of the aircraft, and is the final authority over it. In an emergency that requires immediate action, you may deviate from any rule in 14 CFR part 91 Subparts A and B, as far as needed to meet that emergency. If you use that authority and deviate from an ATC clearance, notify ATC as soon as possible and get an amended clearance.

An emergency is either a distress condition or an urgency condition. Pilots rarely hesitate over true distress, because fire, mechanical failure, and structural damage are clear. The trap is the urgency condition: a situation that is not yet perilous, but could turn catastrophic. The AIM's standard is earlier than most students expect. It deserves memorizing.

The moment you are doubtful about position, fuel endurance, or weather, ask for help rather than waiting until the situation becomes distress. Radio, radar, direction finding stations, and other aircraft are ready and willing. The AIM is unusually direct about the cost of pride here: delay has caused accidents and cost lives. Safety is not a luxury. Take action.

“The pilot-in-command of an aircraft is directly responsible for and is the final authority as to the operation of that aircraft. In an emergency requiring immediate action, the pilot-in-command may deviate from any rule in 14 CFR part 91, Subpart A, General, and Subpart B, Flight Rules, to the extent required to meet that emergency.”

“An aircraft is in at least an urgency condition the moment the pilot becomes doubtful about position, fuel endurance, weather, or any other condition that could adversely affect flight safety.”

Distress, Urgency, MAYDAY, and PAN-PAN

The two conditions have precise definitions in the Pilot/Controller Glossary, quoted below. Distress means serious or imminent danger that needs immediate assistance. Urgency means concern about safety that needs timely, but not immediate, assistance, a potential distress condition. Match the radio signal to the condition. Say MAYDAY for distress and PAN-PAN for urgency, each preferably spoken three times to open the transmission.

Those words carry legal weight on the frequency. Distress calls have absolute priority over all other communications. The word MAYDAY commands radio silence on the frequency in use. Urgency calls have priority over everything except distress. Address the facility you are already talking to. If you are not receiving services, call the facility responsible for the area, and if nobody answers, broadcast to any station. The emergency frequency is 121.5 MHz, and its military counterpart is 243.0 MHz. Direction finding stations, most civil towers, military towers, and radar facilities guard 121.5.

When a distress or urgency condition exists, the AIM tells you to act at once. The steps are not necessarily in this order. Climb if possible for better communications and radar detection, and squawk 7700 if you cannot raise anyone. Then transmit as many parts of the emergency message as needed, preferably in order. Start with the MAYDAY or PAN-PAN signal and the station you are addressing, then your aircraft identification and type. State the nature of the problem and the weather. Give your intentions and request. Report your position and heading, or your last known position if lost. Add your altitude, your fuel remaining in minutes, and the number of people on board, plus anything else useful.

After contact, comply, cooperate, and ask questions when you do not understand. Do not change frequency unless you absolutely must, and if you do have to change, say where you are going first.

“A condition of being threatened by serious and/or imminent danger and of requiring immediate assistance.”

“A condition of being concerned about safety and of requiring timely but not immediate assistance; a potential distress condition.”

“The initial communication, and if considered necessary, any subsequent transmissions by an aircraft in distress should begin with the signal MAYDAY, preferably repeated three times. The signal PAN-PAN should be used in the same manner for an urgency condition.”

Radar Services and Flight Following

Flight following is the everyday name for radar traffic information service. A radar facility advises you of targets close enough to your position or route to warrant attention, so you know where to look and can act if needed. Traffic is issued as a clock position based on your ground track. You also get distance in nautical miles, direction of movement, and type and altitude if known. For example: traffic 10 o'clock, 3 miles, westbound. The controller sees your track, not your heading, so your crab angle can shift where the traffic actually appears. Search a wide arc around the called position.

Understand what the service is not. It never relieves you of see-and-avoid responsibility. It is also workload permitting: radar limitations, traffic volume, controller workload, and frequency congestion can all prevent it. Controllers have complete discretion to provide it, decline it, or terminate it, and vectors away from traffic come only if you request them. While receiving advisories, monitor the frequency at all times. Tell the controller before you change frequency. Squawk 1200 afterward if applicable.

Terminal radar facilities offer basic radar service for VFR aircraft. It adds safety alerts, traffic advisories, and limited vectoring on a workload permitting basis. At certain locations, it also adds sequencing into the pattern. This lesson's flight goes to another airport, so flight following is the professional habit to build. It gives you an extra set of eyes and a recorded position for search and rescue, and it means a controller is already talking to you if an emergency starts.

“This service is not intended to relieve the pilot of the responsibility for continual vigilance to see and avoid other aircraft.”

“Many factors, such as limitations of the radar, volume of traffic, controller workload and communications frequency congestion, could prevent the controller from providing this service. Controllers possess complete discretion for determining whether they are able to provide or continue to provide this service in a specific case.”

Emergency Services: Radar Help, 7700, the ELT, and Search and Rescue

Radar-equipped ATC facilities can give vectors and navigation help to a VFR aircraft in difficulty, whenever you can talk to the controller and are within radar coverage. The guidance is advisory. Responsibility for flying the airplane safely stays with you, and a vector is not permission to violate the regulations. The AIM's guidance for a VFR pilot facing weather is specific. If a course of action permits flight and a safe landing in VFR conditions, choose VFR rather than accepting vectors into instrument conditions. If continued VFR flight is not possible, and you are not instrument rated, say so and declare a distress condition.

In a distress or urgency condition, squawk 7700 with altitude reporting and establish communications immediately. Code 7700 normally triggers an alarm at every control position. But you may be outside radar coverage, so keep squawking and keep trying to make contact.

The emergency locator transmitter, or ELT, is required for most general aviation airplanes. When armed, it activates on its own under crash forces and then transmits continuously for at least 48 hours. Satellites no longer monitor the old 121.5 MHz analog signal. The 406 MHz digital ELT is registered to you. Satellites detect it almost instantly, and it gets a response in minutes rather than hours. That is why the FAA and NOAA strongly encourage the upgrade. Monitor 121.5 in flight when able, and again before engine shutdown, to catch ELT activations, including your own.

Search and rescue works best when someone knows to start looking. A filed VFR flight plan is the most timely sign that an aircraft is overdue. A search begins if you have not closed the plan within one half hour after your ETA. Closing the flight plan after landing is your responsibility. It is not automatic. For flight over uninhabited terrain, carry survival equipment that fits the climate and terrain, and know how to use it.

The Emergency Landing, Start to Finish

Lesson 4 introduced the concepts. Now build the full sequence. Know the three types: a forced landing is immediate, because flight cannot continue. A precautionary landing is premeditated, made while flight is still possible but inadvisable. A ditching is either one on water. A precautionary landing made early, with power available, is generally far less hazardous than the forced landing it prevents. Fight the three psychological traps: reluctance to accept the situation, fear of injury, and the urge to save the airplane at the expense of the people in it.

Control what matters most. Loss of attitude and sink rate control at touchdown is the most critical error. A high sink rate with a flat touchdown, a very nose-low attitude, or a steep bank near the ground each turns a survivable landing into something worse. Touch down at the lowest possible controllable airspeed, wings level, using every aerodynamic device available.

Pick terrain from the general area down to the specific spot, remembering that appearances from altitude deceive. Do not keep changing your mind. As a general rule, do not change fields more than once. Dense crops and brush absorb energy and act like arresting gear. Now configuration: flaps lower touchdown speed, but they cost glide distance if extended early, so use them on final, once the field is made. In a retractable, gear position follows the AFM/POH and the terrain. Shut off the electrical system before touchdown to reduce fire risk, but only after you no longer need electrical power. And never let configuration tasks compete with positive control of the airplane on final.

Plan the approach around wind, the field's dimensions and slope, and the obstacles on final, and accept that the three rarely cooperate. Sometimes the unobstructed approach beats the into-the-wind approach. In trees, use normal landing configuration and minimum controllable groundspeed into the wind. Contact the branches nose-high at minimum indicated airspeed, but not below stall. On water or snow, expect to lose depth perception over a smooth surface, and fly it on rather than flaring blind.

“A precautionary landing, generally, is less hazardous than a forced landing because the pilot has more time for terrain selection and the planning of the approach.”

“Experience shows that a collision with obstacles at the end of a ground roll or slide is much less hazardous than striking an obstacle at flying speed before the touchdown point is reached.”

Engine Failure After Takeoff and the Turn-Back Trap

If the engine fails during the initial climb, the first action is always the same: lower the nose and establish the proper glide attitude. Landing straight ahead, or with only a slight turn, is usually the lowest risk option. The turn back to the runway has a name in aviation: the impossible turn. The AFH's arithmetic shows why.

In the FAA's example, the engine fails at 300 feet AGL. Allow a realistic 4 seconds of reaction time. A standard rate turn needs a full minute to reverse course 180 degrees. After the reversal, you are offset thousands of feet to the side of the runway. You still need to turn roughly 45 degrees more, about 225 degrees of total turning. At a typical gliding descent rate, the airplane arrives well over a thousand feet lower than where the failure occurred, far below a 300 foot starting point. A tighter, steeper turn shortens the path, but it raises stall speed close to the ground, invites an accelerated stall or a cartwheel, and finishes with a fast downwind touchdown.

The maneuver is an unacceptable risk for students, low-time pilots, and anyone who has not trained for it in that make and model at a safe altitude. Practice at altitude tells you your real altitude loss, and you should assume the high end of whatever you practiced. The takeaway for this stage of training is simple. Brief the failure options before every takeoff, and default to lowering the nose and landing mostly straight ahead.

“The pilot should not attempt a turn back unless a successful turn back will result.”

Emergency Descents, Fires, and System Failures

The emergency descent gets you down as rapidly as possible without exceeding structural limits. Set power to idle and the propeller to low pitch, with gear and flaps per the manufacturer's recommendation for maximum drag. Bank 30 to 45 degrees for positive load factor and traffic scanning. Keep airspeed inside VNE, VLE, and VFE as applicable.

Fires come in three kinds. An engine fire is usually fuel on a hot surface. The generic response, always subordinate to your POH, is mixture to idle cutoff and fuel selector off. Let the engine burn the fuel already in the lines, and do not restart if the flames die. Plan a forced landing. An electrical fire announces itself with the distinct odor of burning insulation. Isolate the faulty circuit if you can; otherwise, turn the master and alternator off and land as soon as possible. A cabin fire makes two demands at once: attack the fire, and get on the ground quickly. Mind your vents, because opening them can feed the fire.

Two quieter failures round out the set. An electrical system failure is usually the alternator, and battery endurance depends entirely on load. So shed everything nonessential, tell ATC while you still have a radio, and land at the nearest suitable airport. A blocked or partially blocked static system is sneaky, because the instruments lie in a consistent, believable way. Confirm it with the alternate static source, then use the alternate for the rest of the flight.

Finally, the door that pops open in flight. It is a distraction, not an emergency. A cabin door opening seldom if ever compromises the airplane's ability to fly. Fly the airplane, climb to pattern altitude, and land normally. The accident record on open doors is a record of pilots who stopped flying, not doors that caused crashes.

“A fire in-flight demands immediate and decisive action.”

Flight Control and Landing Gear Malfunctions

The flaps can fail you in two ways, and the simple one is refusing to extend. In light airplanes, a no-flap approach and landing is not particularly difficult or dangerous. But plan for it. A no-flap landing can require up to 50 percent more runway. Fly the pattern in a relatively nose-high attitude to hold altitude, and fly it wider and longer, because losing altitude is harder without flap drag. Do not dive at the runway to fix a high final. On final, the nose-high attitude can hide the runway and can feel like the edge of a stall. Expect considerable float in the round out. Do not force the airplane on at high speed, and do not flare excessively, because the tail can strike the runway.

An asymmetric flap, or split flap, is the harder failure. One flap moves and the other stays put. The clue is a pronounced roll toward the wing with the least flap deflection, right as the flaps run. Counter the roll with opposite aileron. The extended flap drags on its side, so the yaw takes substantial opposite rudder, and you are now cross-controlled. Nearly full aileron may be needed at approach speed. Do not land with a crosswind from the side of the deployed flap, because the extra roll control it demands may not be left. Fly the approach faster than normal. Then fly the airplane onto the runway with a safe margin above the flaps-up stall speed, because an excessive flare invites an asymmetric stall.

Most elevators run on two cables, an up cable and a down cable, and losing one usually costs you part of the pitch control, not all of it. Lose the up cable and the yoke comes aft with no response, but forward yoke still lowers the nose. Trim becomes your other pitch control. Apply considerable nose-up trim, hold the attitude you want with forward pressure, and release that forward pressure to flare for landing. Lose the down cable and the logic reverses: nose-down trim and back pressure. Even a broken linkage that leaves the elevator free to weathervane can be managed, because the trim tab can raise or lower the elevator within limits. Trim tabs are weaker than the normal linkage at low airspeed, but usually effective enough to bring about a safe landing. A fully jammed elevator leaves only combinations of power and flap extension for limited pitch control, and a landing in that condition is genuinely problematic. Declare the emergency.

In a retractable, confirm the gear has truly failed using both the normal and the alternate extension methods in the AFM/POH before accepting a gear-up landing. Then set up the best outcome. Pick an airport with crash and rescue facilities if you can, and do not hesitate to ask for the equipment to stand by. A smooth, hard-surface runway usually causes less damage than rough grass, though pavement can spark. Consider burning off excess fuel, which cuts both landing speed and fire potential. If only one main gear leg refuses to extend, burn fuel from that side when practicable, so the lighter, unsupported wing can be held off until the last possible moment. On the rollout, stay off the brakes unless they are absolutely necessary to avoid a collision.

“The roll encountered in a split flap situation is countered with opposite aileron. The yaw caused by the additional drag created by the extended flap requires substantial opposite rudder resulting in a cross-control condition.”

Inadvertent VFR Flight into IMC

Today's hood work is not about precision instrument flying. It exists for one hard reason: a VFR pilot without instrument training who flies into cloud typically loses control in about 10 minutes. The condition is defined by capability, not weather. Any time you cannot maintain attitude control by reference to the natural horizon, you are in instrument conditions. That is a genuine emergency. The goals, in order, are recognition and acceptance, maintaining control, and obtaining assistance.

Control comes from believing the instruments and disbelieving your body. The inner ear generates false sensations in cloud and cannot be trusted. Keep the wings level and trim for hands-off level flight. Make small, smooth changes, no more than one bar width of pitch on the attitude indicator. The turn is the most dangerous maneuver, because over-controlling the bank leads to the graveyard spiral. Use the smallest practical bank angle, never more than 10 degrees, and make large heading changes a few degrees at a time.

For a climb, raise the miniature airplane no more than one bar width, add power in small increments, and expect a left-turning tendency. For a descent, reduce power in small increments, keep the wings level, and never let the descent rate exceed 500 feet per minute. Avoid combining maneuvers. Do not turn while climbing or descending. Then get help. Confess the situation to ATC, and do not let a controller's pace rush you. It is reasonable to ask the controller to slow down. When you regain visual conditions, give yourself time to reorient before landing.

The Decision-Making Process

Some situations, like an engine failure, demand an immediate, memorized response. Most do not. Usually you have time to detect that something changed, gather information, and assess risk before acting. The FAA gives you structured tools so the analysis actually happens. The 3P model is the continuous loop: Perceive the hazards, Process their impact on flight safety, and Perform the best course of action. You perceive with the PAVE checklist: Pilot, Aircraft, enVironment, and External pressures. You process with CARE, and you choose risk controls with TEAM.

The 5P check is Plan, Plane, Pilot, Passengers, and Programming. It applies the same discipline at key decision points: preflight, before takeoff, at the midpoint of the flight, before descent, and before entering the pattern. The easiest place to cancel a flight is the first of those points, not the last.

The DECIDE model, quoted below, expands the same idea into six steps for a developing problem. The first step is where most errors live: detecting the problem correctly. The same open door is a nuisance in VFR conditions and a genuine workload problem in the clouds. So estimating the need to react depends on the situation, not just the malfunction. When time is short, experienced pilots use automatic decision-making. They recognize the situation as familiar and take the first workable option, rather than comparing every alternative. That skill is built from training and experience. That is what this review flight is for.

One more idea worth keeping: failure to make a decision is a decision. A pilot who says the flight will probably be okay is due for a reality check.

“DECIDE means to Detect, Estimate, Choose a course of action, Identify solutions, Do the necessary actions, and Evaluate the effects of the actions.”

Situational Awareness and Workload

Situational awareness is more than knowing where you are. The definition below spans all five risk elements, before, during, and after the flight. It demands knowing why things are happening, not just what. A pilot who holds the overall picture does not fixate on one factor that seems significant while the rest of the flight deteriorates. Monitor radio communications for traffic, weather discussion, and ATC activity. That simple habit keeps your mental picture current.

The obstacles are predictable. Fatigue, stress, and work overload cause fixation on a single item. They shrink your awareness of everything else. Many accidents trace to a distraction that began as a minor problem, while the pilot neglected basic aircraft control. The countermeasure is workload management. Prepare for high-workload phases during low-workload phases: get frequencies and checklists done early, and listen ahead on ATIS or CTAF. Recognize overload by its first symptom: working harder while accomplishing less. Answer it by stopping, thinking, slowing down, and prioritizing. Flying the airplane always comes first.

“Situational awareness is the accurate perception and understanding of all the factors and conditions within the five fundamental risk elements (flight, pilot, aircraft, environment, and type of operation that comprise any given aviation situation) that affect safety before, during, and after the flight.”

“Fatigue, stress, and work overload can cause a pilot to fixate on a single perceived important item and reduce an overall situational awareness of the flight.”

Common Errors Review: Slow Flight and Stalls

Before the review flight, self-brief against the FAA's own error lists. In slow flight, the same errors keep coming back. Pilots fail to clear the area. They mismanage the elevator as power is reduced. They use too little right rudder and fixate on the instruments. They do not anticipate angle of attack changes as the flaps move. They manage power poorly, trim poorly, and fail to respond to a stall warning.

In stalls, the error list is really one lesson repeated: angle of attack comes first. Pilots get in trouble when they try to level the wings before reducing angle of attack. They add power before reducing angle of attack. They relax the nose-down input before the stall warning is gone. Or they haul back too soon and trigger a secondary stall. The other classics: failing to recognize the impending stall, losing rudder coordination through the stall and recovery, and using so much forward elevator that the airplane unloads into low or negative G. Fly this review with those specific traps in mind. Grade yourself against them.

Common Errors Review: Ground Reference, Go-Arounds, and Emergencies

The ground reference error lists from the rectangular course and S-turns repeat the same failures. Pilots do not clear the area for hazards at the start and throughout. They do not establish and hold altitude. They misread the wind direction and miss the wind correction angle. They fly uncoordinated aileron and rudder, which produces slips and skids. They make rough control movements, divide their attention poorly, and time their turns badly. Every one of them is an attention error before it is a stick-and-rudder error.

For go-arounds, the list starts before the controls move: failure to recognize a condition that warrants rejecting the landing, indecision, and delay. Then come the mechanical errors: late or abrupt power, improper pitch attitude, the wrong configuration sequence, climbing out of ground effect too soon, and inadequate compensation for torque and P-factor.

For the emergency procedures portion, remember the mindset from Chapter 18. Accept the situation promptly. Fly the airplane first. Put it down under control at the lowest possible controllable airspeed. Bring the emergency checklist for this airplane and know where your hands go first. The POH procedures govern.

Prior to Takeoff

Takeoff is short but hazard dense: about twenty percent of all yearly general aviation accidents occur during takeoff and departure climbs. More than half come from some failure of the pilot. Before going to the airplane, check the POH performance charts and decide whether a safe takeoff and climb is possible for the conditions and location. High density altitude means the air is thin. It reduces engine and propeller performance, increases takeoff rolls, and decreases climb performance.

Complete all run-up and pre-takeoff checklist items before taxiing onto the runway. As a minimum, check the engine instruments for proper indications, and check all controls for full, free, and correct movement. Decide your options for an engine failure after takeoff, including the preferred direction for an emergency turn. Make certain the approach and takeoff paths are clear by announcing on the CTAF or receiving a takeoff clearance from the tower. Avoid taking off immediately behind a large, heavy airplane, because of wake turbulence. Pick ground references aligned with the runway to hold alignment through the climb out.

Normal Takeoff and Initial Climb

Take off as nearly into the wind as possible. A headwind gives you airspeed before you begin accelerating, and it lowers the ground speed needed to reach flying speed, which shortens the roll. Steer the nose-wheel onto the centerline, then advance the throttle smoothly and continuously to takeoff power. Abrupt power can yaw the airplane sharply left from torque. Keep your feet on the rudders, not the brakes, and check the engine instruments. Use rudder against torque and P-factor, and hold aileron into any crosswind. Look far down the runway at two aligned points. Outside references, not the instruments, tell you how the airplane is responding.

As the controls become effective, apply gradual back-elevator pressure to raise the nose-wheel slightly. This rotation establishes the lift-off attitude. Do not force the airplane off, because excessive angle of attack can make it settle back or stall. In strong, gusty wind, stay on the ground slightly longer for an extra margin of speed, then rotate smoothly and positively.

After lift-off, hold the pitch attitude for VY, the best rate of climb speed. Once a positive rate of climb is established, retract flaps and gear if equipped, and keep takeoff power until at least 500 feet above the surrounding terrain or obstacles. VY plus takeoff power buys the most altitude in the least time. Control airspeed with small pitch changes referenced to the natural horizon, and keep the climb path aligned with the runway.

Crosswind Takeoff and Ground Effect

Begin the takeoff roll with full aileron into the crosswind, which keeps the upwind wing from rising. Relax the input as the ailerons become effective. Use rudder, typically downwind rudder, to stop the airplane from weathervaning into the wind. If the upwind wing rises, more surface is exposed to the wind, and the airplane can skip sideways in small bounces that impose severe side stresses on the landing gear. Hold enough aileron that the airplane sideslips into the wind just enough to counter drift immediately after lift-off.

With a significant crosswind, hold the main wheels on slightly longer than normal, then make a smooth but very definite lift-off. The downwind wheel lifting first is preferable to side-skipping. Once climbing, transition from sideslip to crab: point the nose into the wind, level the wings, and keep the ground track over the runway centerline extension. Check drift often, because the wind can change markedly within a few hundred feet of the ground.

Ground effect is improved performance very close to the ground, normally up to a height of about one wingspan. Reduced wingtip vortices cut induced drag about 25 percent at a height of one quarter the span, and about 50 percent at one tenth. Here is the trap: the airplane may seem able to lift off below the recommended airspeed, then be unable to climb out of ground effect. That risk grows at high density altitude, high temperature, or maximum gross weight. Lift off at the recommended speed for adequate initial climb performance.

The Airport Traffic Pattern

Traffic patterns keep traffic moving into and out of an airport safely. Make all pattern turns to the left, unless approved visual markings indicate right turns. Pattern altitude is usually 1,000 feet above the airport elevation, and where no tower operates, that common altitude is the key factor in minimizing collision risk. No pattern, service, or procedure ever diminishes your responsibility to see and avoid other aircraft, from ramp-out to ramp-in.

Departure: fly straight out from lift-off. Staying in the pattern, turn crosswind beyond the departure end, within 300 feet of pattern altitude. Leaving, continue straight out, or exit at 45 degrees after reaching pattern altitude. Crosswind: fly perpendicular to the runway extension, angled into the wind to hold the ground track. Downwind: fly parallel and opposite the landing direction, one half to one mile out. Complete the before-landing checks and hold altitude until at least abeam the approach end, then reduce power, descend, and turn base about 45 degrees past the approach end. Base: position for a gradual descent, with the ground track perpendicular to the centerline and drift correction in. Final: verify you are lined up with the correct runway, not a taxiway or road. Before turning final, confirm no one is established on final. The lower aircraft has the right-of-way, but no one may use that rule to cut in front of or overtake another. If the turn to final would create a collision hazard, go around.

At a nontowered airport, always enter at pattern altitude, preferably on a 45 degree angle to the downwind at midfield. Arriving from the upwind side, announce and cross midfield at least 500 feet above pattern altitude, or 2,000 feet AGL where large or turbine aircraft operate. Fly about 2 miles clear, then descend and return on the 45. The alternate midfield crosswind entry is not for busy patterns. Typical piston singles fly 70 to 90 knots on downwind. Per the NTSB, the most probable cause of midair collisions is failing to see and avoid. Most occur at or near uncontrolled airports, below 1,000 feet, between aircraft going the same direction, and most reported midairs happen on final or short final.

See and Avoid: Your Eyes and Your Scan

See and avoid is a regulatory obligation, VFR or IFR alike, and AC 90-48E exists to help you meet it. Your eyes have hard limits: refocusing from the panel to an aircraft a mile away takes 1 to 2 seconds. The FAA's reaction time chart totals 12.5 seconds from seeing an object to the airplane actually moving out of the way. The eye can focus on and classify an object only within about 10 to 15 degrees, so you tend to disbelieve motion caught in your peripheral vision. Two converging aircraft appear virtually motionless to each other, until one suddenly blooms into a huge mass in the window. Haze, glare, and empty-field myopia make everything worse. Empty-field myopia means your eyes relax to a near focus when the sky looks blank. So move your head, not just your eyes, around windshield posts.

In a climb, adjust pitch to see over the nose. In cruise or descent, make gentle shallow bank turns to clear ahead and to the sides, and occasionally check behind. In the pattern, keep scanning and clear your airframe's blind spots. High wings restrict visibility above and low wings restrict it below, so the worst case is a low-wing airplane flying above a high-wing airplane. Traffic advisories and cockpit displays never relieve the see-and-avoid responsibility.

“When weather conditions permit, regardless of whether an operation is conducted under instrument flight rules or visual flight rules, vigilance shall be maintained by each person operating an aircraft so as to see and avoid other aircraft.”

“Effective scanning is accomplished with a series of short, regularly spaced eye movements that bring successive areas of the sky into the central visual field. Each movement should not exceed 10 degrees, and each area should be observed for at least 1 second to enable detection.”

Wake Turbulence in the Pattern

Every aircraft generates wake turbulence in flight, because lift is the cause. The pressure difference across the wing rolls the airflow up behind the wingtips into two counter-rotating vortices that trail behind the airplane. Most of the energy is concentrated within a few feet of each core. The wake begins when an airplane rotates for takeoff and ends at its touchdown point, and that detail drives every avoidance procedure. The vortices are invisible, and they can impose rolling moments that exceed your ailerons' authority. Short wingspans have the hardest time countering the roll, and a trainer is a short wingspan.

Strength is set by the weight, speed, wingspan, and wing shape of the generating aircraft. Vortex strength grows with more weight and with less speed, and a dirty configuration actually hastens wake decay. So the greatest vortex strength comes from an airplane that is heavy, clean, and slow. That describes a large airplane right after rotation or on approach. The vortices sink at several hundred feet per minute, weakening with time and distance, and within 100 to 200 feet of the ground they spread laterally at 2 or 3 knots. Wind changes the picture. A crosswind of 1 to 5 knots can hold the upwind vortex in the touchdown zone, and a tailwind can push the vortices forward into the touchdown zone. The AIM prints its warning in capital letters: the light quartering tailwind requires maximum caution.

The procedures all flow from one idea: stay at or above the other airplane's flight path, and touch down beyond where its wake stopped. Landing behind a larger aircraft on the same runway, stay at or above its final approach path, note its touchdown point, and land beyond it. Landing behind a departing larger aircraft, note its rotation point and land well before that point. Departing behind a larger aircraft, rotate before its rotation point, then climb above its climb path until you turn clear, and avoid headings that cross below and behind it. After a larger airplane makes a low approach, missed approach, or touch-and-go, let at least 2 minutes pass before your takeoff or landing. Know the legal hook, too. When a controller issues traffic, tells you to follow an aircraft, or you accept a visual approach clearance, you have accepted responsibility for wake turbulence separation.

Your ground module anchors this with the Kansas City Saratoga accident of June 12, 2006. A Piper Saratoga flew a visual approach to runway 01R while a Boeing 737 landed on parallel runway 01L. The Saratoga crossed the 737's flight path twice. The second crossing was 600 feet below where the 737 had passed about two minutes earlier, directly in the descending vortex core. Both sides of the stabilator and the left wing separated in flight. The NTSB's probable cause pointed at speed: the Saratoga exceeded maneuvering speed at the encounter. At or below VA, a vortex encounter is a violent upset you can recover from. Above VA, the same encounter can break the airplane. You already fly VA for steep turns and stalls. Fly it near wakes too.

“Since the turbulence from a “dirty” aircraft configuration hastens wake decay, the greatest vortex strength occurs when the generating aircraft is HEAVY, CLEAN, and SLOW.”

“Pilots should fly at or above the preceding aircraft's flight path, altering course as necessary to avoid the area directly behind and below the generating aircraft.”

Base, Final, and the Stabilized Approach

Base placement sets up the landing. With a strong wind on final or steep flap settings, position base closer to the approach end. Descend on base with reduced power at about 1.4 VSO, and hold off on full flaps until you are established on final. The AFH does not recommend full flaps until the final approach is established. On final, align the longitudinal axis with the centerline and set the final flaps. Fly the manufacturer's recommended approach speed, or 1.3 VSO if there is none, and land in the center of the first third of the runway. Pitch and power work together: if you are too high, lower the nose and reduce power, and if you are too low, add power and raise the nose. Never stretch a final with back-elevator alone, because pitch alone drives angle of attack up and airspeed down, toward an excessive sink rate or a low altitude stall.

The aiming point is the one spot that does not appear to move in the windshield. The runway's shape confirms the glide path. Stabilized, it keeps the same trapezoidal shape, only larger. Going shallow, it appears to shorten and widen, and steepening, it appears longer and narrower.

For a typical piston airplane, the criteria are these: a constant glide path, typically 3 degrees, to the touchdown zone, and centerline tracking, with bank normally limited to 15 degrees once established. Airspeed within plus 10 or minus 5 knots of the recommended landing speed. Landing configuration set, the airplane in trim, and a descent rate generally of 500 to 1,000 fpm. If approach considerations force a descent rate over 500 fpm, reduce it before 300 feet AGL. Power no lower than the AFM minimum, with briefings and checklists complete. Pilots typically go around if not stabilized by 500 feet above airport elevation in VMC. An approach that becomes unstabilized below 300 feet AGL warrants an immediate go-around. Never retract flaps to fix an undershoot, because the sudden loss of lift aggravates the unstable condition.

“A stabilized approach is one in which the pilot establishes and maintains a constant-angle glide path towards a predetermined point on the landing runway. It is based on the pilot’s judgment of certain visual clues and depends on maintaining a constant final descent airspeed and configuration.”

Round Out, and What Goes Wrong in the Flare

The round out, or flare, is a slow, smooth transition from approach attitude to landing attitude. It bends the flightpath parallel to, and a few inches above, the runway. Start at 10 to 20 feet in a normal descent, applying back-elevator gradually so the airplane keeps settling slowly as speed decreases. Done right, landing attitude and touchdown speed arrive together as the wheels touch. Started high, flare more slowly. With full flaps, the nose travels through a greater pitch change, so raise it faster. Once the round out begins, never push the elevator forward, only relax or hold the pressure, and add a little power if the sink becomes excessive. Keep one hand on the throttle throughout.

Faulty approaches first. On a low final, apply power immediately while raising the pitch attitude. Never pitch up without power, and never retract flaps to fix it. On a high final, lower flaps as required, reduce power and lower the nose, or use a forward slip. A sink rate beyond 800 to 1,000 fpm is excessive, so do not dive at the runway. On a slow final, add power while altitude remains, and if you are too slow and too low, go around.

Now faulty flares. If you round out high, hold the attitude until the airplane settles again, and go around if the nose ever needs lowering close to the runway. A late or rapid round out can trigger an accelerated stall just above the runway, so recover with prompt power. Floating means excess approach speed, and ballooning means the flare made the airplane climb. Go around if you cannot land in the first third, the airplane drifts, or the balloon is excessive. A slight bounce can be cushioned with power and repitched. A severe bounce or porpoise is an immediate go-around: full power, directional control, nose to a safe climb attitude. Never touch down drifting or crabbed, because side loads can fail the gear and start a ground loop. When the landing is in doubt, go around.

Steep Turns and Accelerated Stalls

Steep turns are 360 or 720 degree turns at 45 to 60 degrees of bank. You fly them to develop control smoothness, coordination, division of attention, and a constant traffic scan. Load factor is the load the wings carry compared with the airplane's weight. In a level 45 degree bank the load factor is 1.41, and at 60 degrees it is 2.0, doubling the airplane's effective weight. Standard category airplanes are designed for a load factor of 3.8, and a level 75 degree bank exceeds that limit. Stall speed rises with the square root of the load factor, so a 50 knot level stall becomes 60 knots at 45 degrees of bank and 70 knots at 60. Fly the maneuver at or below maneuvering speed, VA, or operating maneuvering speed, VO. At those speeds, the airplane stalls before the design load limit can be exceeded. Expect the overbanking tendency to require deliberate opposite aileron.

Flying it: clear the area, pick distant rollout references, and set the entry speed. Roll smoothly to the target bank, adding smooth back-elevator pressure and power, generally before 30 degrees of bank. Watch the nose and the wings against the horizon together, because the nose alone will not hold your altitude. Fix a nose-low deviation by shallowing the bank first, with coordinated aileron and rudder, then raising the pitch. Pulling with elevator alone steepens the bank and stresses the airplane. Lead the rollout by about half the bank angle, removing any added power and trim as you finish.

An accelerated stall is any stall above positive 1G. Load the wing in a turn, a pull-up, or an abrupt flightpath change, and the stall arrives at a higher indicated airspeed than the familiar 1G number. It happens most often during improperly executed turns, pullouts from steep dives, or a base-to-final overshoot. Demonstrations use about 45 degrees of bank. Never fly them with flaps extended, because flaps lower the design G-load limit, and never fly them above the recommended speed, VA, or VO. Coordinated, the airplane stalls much as it does wings level, with a sharper buffet. Uncoordinated, the bank may change until the angle of attack is reduced. Recover at the first indication: apply forward elevator to reduce the angle of attack and eliminate the stall warning. Level the wings with ailerons, coordinate with rudder, and adjust power. Accelerated stalls are more aggressive than 1G stalls, and they arrive at unexpected speeds and attitudes. A delayed recovery can become a spin or another departure from controlled flight.

Soft and Rough-Field Takeoff and Climb

Soft-field technique gets the airplane airborne as quickly as possible, which eliminates the drag of tall grass, soft sand, mud, and snow. The same technique protects the gear on a rough field. The core idea is to transfer the airplane's weight from the wheels to the wings as rapidly as possible. Do that by establishing a nose-high pitch attitude, a relatively high angle of attack, as early as possible. Lower the flaps before starting if the manufacturer recommends it. Keep the airplane moving with sufficient power while lining up, because stopping on mud or snow might bog it down.

On the roll, apply takeoff power smoothly, and as rapidly as the powerplant can accept it without faltering. Hold enough back-elevator pressure to establish a positive angle of attack and unload the nose-wheel. Held nose-high, the wings take more and more of the airplane's weight as lift develops, which minimizes drag from surface irregularities or adhesion. Flown accurately, the airplane virtually flies itself off the ground, but it becomes airborne below a safe climb speed because of ground effect.

That is the critical moment. After lift-off, gently lower the nose with the wheels clear of the surface, and let the airplane accelerate. While transitioning out of ground effect, the airplane will tend to settle back onto the surface even with full power applied. So it is essential to remain in ground effect until at least VX. After a positive rate of climb is established and the airplane accelerates to VY, retract gear and flaps if equipped. With an obstacle ahead, climb at VX until it is cleared, then VY. The common errors: too little back-elevator on the roll, and climbing too high after lift-off instead of leveling low in ground effect. Add letting the airplane mush back on, and climbing out of ground effect before reaching sufficient climb speed.

Crosswind Approach: Crab and Wing-Low

Most landings happen with wind at some angle to the runway, so every pilot needs a working crosswind method. There are two: the crab method and the wing-low (sideslip) method. The AFH recommends wing-low in most cases. A combination may be used, and testing standards allow either, so learn both. Crosswind landings are a little harder than crosswind takeoffs, because control effectiveness is decreasing as you slow rather than increasing as you accelerate.

In the crab method, a coordinated turn establishes a heading into the wind that keeps the wings-level ground track on the centerline. Hold the crab until just prior to touchdown. Then use rudder to align the longitudinal axis with the runway. The crab is easy to fly down final, but it demands judgment and precise timing. Remove the crab too early or too late, and the airplane touches down with a side load. On a long final, a good option is to crab at first, then transition smoothly to wing-low before the round out.

In the wing-low method, first use rudder to align the airplane's heading with the runway. The airplane starts to drift, so note the rate and direction, then lower the upwind wing just enough with aileron to cancel the drift. Bank controls the sideways movement. Rudder keeps the longitudinal axis aligned, and both are adjusted continuously to hold the centerline. Ground track and longitudinal axis stay aligned with the runway through final, round out, touchdown, and rollout, which protects the landing gear from side loads. Landing while holding a bank feels odd at first, but the upwind wingtip is not going to strike the ground.

The stronger the crosswind, the lower the upwind wing must go, and the more opposite rudder it takes to keep the airplane from turning. That is the built-in limit. If the required bank is such that full opposite rudder does not prevent a turn, the wind is too strong to safely land on that runway. Make the landing on a more favorable runway there, or at an alternate airport. Flaps are used on most approaches for their stabilizing effect, with the amount varied for handling characteristics and wind velocity.

Crosswind Round Out, Touchdown, and Rollout

Fly the crosswind round out like a normal one, except the drift correction continues all the way through. As airspeed decays in the flare, the controls lose effectiveness and the same correction becomes inadequate. So gradually increase rudder and aileron deflection to keep the drift canceled, and keep the upwind wing down throughout. Level the wings, and the airplane immediately starts drifting. The whole objective is a touchdown without side load.

If you crabbed all the way down, remove the crab the instant before touchdown with rudder. With wing-low, simply maintain the correction. The initial touchdown occurs on the upwind main wheel, and the downwind main settles as momentum decreases. In gusty or high wind, make prompt adjustments so the airplane does not drift as it touches. Some airplanes have nose-wheel steering interconnected with the rudder. In those, relax the corrective rudder pressure as the nose-wheel touches down, or the offset nose-wheel will swerve the airplane.

The rollout is where the crosswind keeps working on you. The airplane has more side area behind the main gear than ahead of it, so it tends to weathervane. That means it tries to swing its nose into the wind. As ground speed decreases, the relative wind lines up more and more with the crosswind component, so the tendency grows as you slow. Maintain direction with rudder or nose-wheel steering. Keep the upwind wing from rising with aileron. The ailerons lose effectiveness as you decelerate, while the crosswind gains leverage. So keep feeding in more aileron, and hold the control fully toward the wind as the airplane stops. Tire side loads from drifting can even lift a main wheel and tip a tricycle-gear airplane toward a roll-over. Ailerons, rudder, or steering can prevent that, but brakes cannot. The common errors: landing in wind that exceeds the maximum demonstrated crosswind component, touching down drifting or misaligned, abandoning the controls on rollout, and excessive braking.

How Much Crosswind Is Too Much

Takeoffs and landings in certain crosswind conditions are inadvisable, or even dangerous, so weigh the reported surface wind against the available landing directions before you commit. Before type certification, every airplane is flight tested for crosswind control. It must be satisfactorily controllable, with no exceptional degree of pilot skill or alertness, in 90 degree crosswinds up to a velocity of 0.2 VSO. That is two-tenths of the stalling speed with power off in landing configuration. The PHAK gives the scale: an airplane that stalls at 45 knots must be capable of landing in a 9 knot direct crosswind. The demonstrated crosswind velocity is placarded in airplanes certificated after May 3, 1962, and it is published in the AFM/POH. Determine that number for every airplane you fly. Avoid wind conditions that exceed its capability.

The crosswind and headwind component chart turns a reported wind into the two numbers you use. The headwind component is for performance, and the crosswind component is for controllability. First find the wind angle, the difference between runway heading and wind direction. Take the PHAK's sample problem: runway 17, with wind from 140 degrees at 25 knots. That gives a 30 degree wind angle. Follow the 30 degree line to the 25 knot velocity arc, then read straight down and straight across: 22 knots of headwind and 13 knots of crosswind. Use the chart to pick the best runway when more than one exists, and to keep the airplane inside its tested limits.

Slips: Sideslip Versus Forward Slip

A slip occurs when the bank angle is too steep for the existing rate of turn. Unintentional slips come from uncoordinated rudder and aileron. Intentional slips are a tool. Use them to dissipate altitude without increasing airspeed, and to adjust the ground track in a crosswind. Use them to descend rapidly in forced landings, over obstacles into confined areas, or when flaps are inoperative or not installed. A slipping airplane is actually flying somewhat sideways, which markedly increases drag. And because the airplane is banked, the vertical component of lift is reduced, so it descends rapidly with no increase in airspeed. Most airplanes naturally resist slipping, so an intentional slip requires deliberate cross-controlling of aileron and rudder throughout.

There are two types, and what separates them is what the airplane's path over the ground does. Enter a sideslip by lowering a wing and applying just enough opposite rudder to prevent a turn. The nose stays pointed straight down the runway, while the airplane moves somewhat sideways toward the low wing. That is the crosswind landing tool. In a forward slip, the wing is lowered and enough opposite rudder is applied to yaw the nose the other way. The airplane keeps flying its original path over the ground, with the nose pointed off to the side. Bank angle sets the amount of slip, and in a forward slip, the steeper the bank, the steeper the descent. Power is normally at idle in a forward slip. Control airspeed with the elevator. With a crosswind present, slip into the wind by lowering the upwind wing.

In most light airplanes, available rudder travel limits how steep a slip can get. The practical slip limit is the point where full rudder is required to maintain heading, even though the ailerons could steepen the bank further. To end a slip, level the wings and release the rudder pressure at the same time, while readjusting to the normal glide attitude. Release the rudder abruptly, and the nose swings quickly into line while the airplane builds excess speed. Two cautions. Because of pitot and static port placement, airspeed indicators in some airplanes read with considerable error in a slip. So recognize a proper slip by the attitude, the sound of the airflow, and the control feel. And some airplanes carry slip limitations on duration, fuel quantity, or flap position, so consult the AFM/POH. A slip also differs from a skid in a stall. An airplane stalled from a slip shows very little of the yawing tendency that turns a skidding stall into a spin. It may do little more than roll toward wings level.

“In a sideslip, the airplane’s longitudinal axis remains parallel to the original flightpath, but the airplane no longer flies straight ahead.”

“A forward slip is used to dissipate altitude and increase descent rate without increasing airspeed. In a forward slip, the airplane’s direction of motion continues the same as before the slip was begun.”

Forward Slip to a Landing

The forward slip to a landing is flown as a complete pattern maneuver. It earns its place in the Private Pilot ACS for a practical reason. In a real engine failure, the slip gives you options flaps cannot. You can establish it faster than flaps deploy, and you can remove it without penalty to shallow the descent. Retracting flaps on an approach, by contrast, can cost altitude you do not have.

The profile: plan the descent so a forward slip can be used on final, with flaps usually remaining retracted. Abeam the landing point on downwind, reduce power to idle, and slip on downwind if the descent rate is insufficient. Make a coordinated turn to base, and keep evaluating height. Continue the slip on base if still high, then make a coordinated turn onto final. Established on final with sufficient height, use the forward slip to set the approach path to the aiming point. As the round out begins, remove the slip and transition to a normal landing.

Memorize the common errors before you fly it. They are poor airspeed control, reacting to erroneous airspeed indications, and carrying excess power while trying to lose altitude. Add slipping in the same direction as the crosswind instead of into it, a late transition to the sideslip in a crosswind, and touching down misaligned or off the centerline.

Soft-Field Approach and Landing

Landing on rough or soft surfaces, such as snow, sand, mud, or tall grass, has one objective: touch down as smoothly as possible, at the slowest possible landing speed. Let the wings support the airplane's weight as long as practical, which minimizes gear stress on a rough surface and keeps the airplane from sinking into a soft one.

The approach resembles a normal approach into a long, firm field. Fly it at the same final approach speed used for short-field landings, because higher speeds cause excessive float in ground effect. There is no reason for a steep descent unless obstacles are in the path. The major difference from a normal landing: carry a degree of power through the level-off and touchdown. Let airspeed dissipate slowly while you fly the airplane 1 to 2 feet off the surface in ground effect. Flaps aid a minimum-speed touchdown and are recommended whenever practical. On low-wing airplanes, though, the wheels can throw mud, stones, or slush that damages the flaps. Either way, do not retract them during the rollout. Total concentration on controlling the airplane matters more.

Touch down at the lowest possible airspeed, in a nose-high pitch attitude, with the wings still carrying much of the weight. After the mains touch, hold back-elevator to keep the nose-wheel off the surface. Use elevator and engine power together to control how fast weight transfers from wings to wheels. Conditions may warrant keeping the mains just touching, wings still supporting the airplane, until you reach a firmer surface. Until the weight is on the wheels and the nose-wheel is down, you can still apply full power and take off if you elect to abandon the landing. That assumes obstacles and field length permit it. Once committed, gently lower the nose-wheel, using a slight power addition to ease it down. Do not use the brakes, because braking loads the nose gear and can dig the nose-wheel in. The surface itself decelerates you, and on a very soft field you may need added power just to keep moving. The common errors: excessive descent rate or airspeed on final, rounding out too high, and poor power management. Add a hard touchdown, and letting the nose-wheel fall instead of controlling its descent.

Reading the Airport: Signs and Surface Markings

Every sign on the airport uses a color code, and the colors carry the meaning. White letters on a red background are mandatory instruction signs. They mark an entrance to a runway or critical area, or an area where aircraft are prohibited. The most common is the runway holding position sign, such as 26-8. The numbers are arranged to match the thresholds: the threshold for runway 26 is to your left, and the threshold for runway 8 is to your right. The no entry sign is also red and white. Yellow letters on a black background are location signs, and they tell you which taxiway or runway you are on right now. Black letters on a yellow background, with arrows, are direction and destination signs, and they point toward intersecting taxiways and toward destinations such as runways, ramps, or fuel. Runway distance remaining signs are black with a white numeral, showing the landing runway remaining in thousands of feet. Your ground module boils it down to one line. Red always means stop or get a clearance first. Yellow means information.

Colors code the pavement the same way. Runway markings are white. Taxiway markings, closed areas, and holding positions are yellow, even when they are painted on a runway. Runway numbers come from the magnetic direction of the runway: the whole number nearest one tenth of the centerline's magnetic azimuth. Threshold stripes mark the beginning of the runway available for landing, and sometimes that threshold is displaced. A displaced threshold is marked with a 10 foot wide white bar across the runway, with white arrows leading up the centerline to it. The pavement behind it still works for takeoff in either direction, and for the rollout when landing the opposite way, but you may not touch down on it. A yellow demarcation bar separates a displaced threshold runway from a blast pad, stopway, or taxiway in front of it, and yellow chevrons mark pavement you may not use at all.

The most important marking on the airport is the runway holding position marking: four yellow lines across the taxiway, two solid and two dashed. Hold on the solid side. At a towered airport, stop before it and do not cross without an ATC clearance. Exiting after landing works in reverse, because you are not clear of the runway until all parts of the aircraft have crossed the marking. At a nontowered airport, the separating is your job, so make certain the runway and final are clear before you cross or enter. The taxiway centerline is a single continuous yellow line. Some airports add dashed lines on both sides of it for the last 150 feet before a hold line, a built-in warning to be ready to stop. Taxiway edge lines come in two types: a solid double yellow line means do not cross, and a dashed double yellow line means the pavement beyond it is meant for aircraft. The Comair 5191 thread from your ground modules lands here. The signs and markings at Lexington were all correct, and the crew did not use them. Read every sign, every time.

“They consist of four yellow lines, two solid and two dashed, spaced six or twelve inches apart, and extending across the width of the taxiway or runway. The solid lines are always on the side where the aircraft must hold.”

Airport Lights: Beacons, Runway Lighting, and the Glide Path

At night, the rotating beacon tells you what kind of airport you found. White and green is a lighted civil land airport. A military airport also flashes white and green, but with dual peaked, two quick, white flashes between the greens. White and yellow is a lighted water airport. Green, yellow, and white is a heliport. The beacon carries a daytime message too. In Class B, C, D, or E surface areas, a beacon running during daylight often means the field is below basic VFR, with ground visibility under 3 miles and/or a ceiling under 1,000 feet. Treat that as a cue, not a report. Many beacons run on photocells or time clocks, so do not rely on the beacon alone. Check the weather.

The runway is outlined in white edge lights, in high, medium, or low intensity systems. On instrument runways, yellow replaces white in the last 2,000 feet or half the runway, whichever is less, as a caution zone. The lights at the runway ends are split: they show green outward to mark the threshold for landing traffic, and red toward the runway to mark the end for a departing airplane. Runway end identifier lights, or REIL, are a pair of synchronized flashing lights beside the threshold. They give rapid, positive identification of the approach end when the runway is buried in surrounding lights, lacks contrast with the terrain, or visibility is reduced. Taxiways are the blue ones. Blue edge lights outline them, and green centerline lights mark the middle at some airports.

At many airports, you run the lights. Pilot-controlled lighting works by keying the microphone on the published frequency, often the CTAF, listed in the Chart Supplement. Key the mike 7 times within 5 seconds for the highest intensity. Five clicks selects medium, and 3 selects low, and on some systems 5 or 3 clicks also turns the REIL down or off. The suggested technique never changes: key 7 times first, then adjust down. Each activation buys 15 minutes of light. Key the mike again as you approach, even if the lights are already on, so the clock restarts with you on final rather than in the flare.

Two light systems give you a visual glide path. Each VASI light unit projects white in the top of its beam and red in the bottom. On a two-bar VASI, on the normal 3 degree glidepath, the far bar shows red and the near bar shows white: red over white. Both bars white means high, and both red means low. The VASI provides obstruction clearance within 10 degrees of the extended runway centerline out to 4 NM, so do not start down it until you are visually aligned with the runway. The PAPI packs the same idea into a single row of two or four lights, normally on the left side. Read a four-light PAPI by the count. Two white and two red is on glidepath, about 3 degrees. Three white is slightly high, and four white is high, above 3.5 degrees. Three red is slightly low, and four red is low, below 2.5 degrees.

“In Class B, Class C, Class D and Class E surface areas, operation of the airport beacon during the hours of daylight often indicates that the ground visibility is less than 3 miles and/or the ceiling is less than 1,000 feet.”

Wind Indicators, the Segmented Circle, and Taxiing in Wind

At an airport with no tower, the field itself reports the wind. The wind direction indicator can be a wind cone, wind sock, tetrahedron, or wind tee, usually near the runway and often at the center of a segmented circle. The sock is the best of them. It points downwind, away from where the wind is coming from, and you land into the wind. It also reports speed, because the sock stands out straighter as the wind strengthens and swings back and forth in gusts. Be careful with a tetrahedron or wind tee. They can swing with the wind, but they can also be manually set to the runway in use, so treat them as landing direction indicators and confirm with the sock.

The segmented circle marks the traffic pattern. It gathers the wind indicator, landing strip indicators, and traffic pattern indicators in one visible spot. The L-shaped pattern indicators, arranged in pairs, show which way to turn for each runway when the pattern is not standard left traffic. Your ground module's rule: the short leg of the L represents the base leg. Overfly, read the wind, pick the runway most nearly into the wind, and use the L for that runway to confirm left or right traffic. Then check the sock once more on final. This is the same verification habit the Watsonville and Lexington cases teach: assess what is actually happening at the airport instead of acting on a pre-formed plan.

Wind works on you during taxi too, and this crosswind lesson is the day to build the control habit. In calm wind, hold the ailerons and elevator neutral; they are not steering devices on the ground. The aileron rule is the same for every airplane North Aero flies. Quartering headwind: hold the upwind aileron UP, stick into the wind, so the wind cannot lift the upwind wing. Quartering tailwind: hold the upwind aileron DOWN, stick away from the wind, so the wind from behind cannot get under a raised aileron. One memory line covers both: climb into a quartering headwind, dive away from a quartering tailwind.

The elevator is where gear type matters, and you will fly both types here. In the Warrior, tricycle gear, hold the elevator neutral in a quartering headwind and DOWN in a quartering tailwind. In the Citabria or Decathlon, tailwheel, usually hold the stick FULL BACK in a quartering headwind. That presses the tailwheel down and keeps its steering effective. If the headwind is strong enough to threaten to lift a wing, ease the stick closer to neutral. In a real tailwind, go stick forward, same as the Warrior. That presses the tail down and keeps the wind from getting under an up elevator and lifting the tail into the propeller. One tailwheel exception: in a light tailwind, prop wash can put a net headwind over the tail, and back stick may steer better. Sample the wind and put the elevator where it does the most good. The tailwind case is the dangerous one in both types, so memorize the pair.

“When taxiing with a quartering tailwind, the elevator should be held in the DOWN position, and the upwind aileron, DOWN.”

“At the same time, elevator should usually be held full back to add downward pressure to the tailwheel assembly and improve tailwheel steering response.”

Where Your Radios Get Their Power

Most aircraft have either a 14 or 28 volt direct current electrical system. The basic system has several parts: an alternator or generator, a battery, a master/battery switch, an alternator/generator switch, a bus bar with fuses and circuit breakers, a voltage regulator, an ammeter or loadmeter, and the wiring that ties them together. The engine-driven alternator supplies current to the electrical system and keeps a sufficient charge in the battery. The battery stores electrical energy for starting the engine, and it provides a limited supply of power if the alternator fails.

Here is the point that matters most in this scenario. The master switch feeds every electrical circuit except the ignition system. Your engine runs on its own ignition, so it does not care that the alternator died. What dies is everything electrical: radios, lights, the turn indicator, fuel gauges, pitot heat, and the rest of the equipment fed by the bus.

Many aircraft have a split master switch with a battery half and an alternator half. The alternator half lets you cut a failed alternator out of the system. Once you do that, the battery is all you have, and every item you leave on shortens the time until the radios go quiet.

The ammeter is how you catch the failure early, and its zero point sits in the center of the gauge. When the pointer is on the plus side, it shows the charging rate of the battery. A minus indication means the battery is losing more current than it is getting back. Some aircraft use a warning light instead of an ammeter, and others use a loadmeter, which shows the percentage of load on the alternator. In any of these cases, the PHAK sends you to the AFM/POH for the right action, so know your airplane's electrical failure checklist before you need it.

“A full-scale minus deflection indicates a malfunction of the alternator/generator. A full-scale positive deflection indicates a malfunction of the regulator. In either case, consult the AFM/POH for appropriate action to be taken.”

“With the alternator half of the switch in the OFF position, the entire electrical load is placed on the battery. All nonessential electrical equipment should be turned off to conserve battery power.”

The Normal Rules for a Towered Field

Class D airspace sits around an airport with an operating control tower. The regulation calls that airport the primary airport. Anyone operating in the Class D area must follow 91.129, on top of the basic airport rules in 91.126 and 91.127.

The core requirement is two-way radio communication. For an arrival, you must establish communications with the tower before you enter the airspace, and you must keep talking to them the whole time you are inside it. The AIM adds the practical technique. Make your initial callup about 15 miles from the airport. And unless the tower authorizes or directs otherwise, fixed-wing pilots approaching to land must circle the airport to the left.

Runways and taxiways are clearance territory. Under 91.129(i), you need an appropriate clearance from ATC to operate on a runway or taxiway at a towered airport, or to take off or land there. Keep that word clearance in mind. Nothing in the lost communications procedure removes the requirement for a landing clearance. It just changes how the clearance is delivered: by light instead of by voice.

“Arrival or through flight. Each person must establish two-way radio communications with the ATC facility (including foreign ATC in the case of foreign airspace designated in the United States) providing air traffic services prior to entering that airspace and thereafter maintain those communications while within that airspace.”

“No person may, at any airport with an operating control tower, operate an aircraft on a runway or taxiway, or take off or land an aircraft, unless an appropriate clearance is received from ATC.”

ATIS: The Recorded Half of the Conversation

Before you call a tower, you listen. ATIS is the continuous broadcast of recorded noncontrol information in selected high activity terminal areas. Its job is to unload the frequency, because routine information gets recorded once instead of read to every airplane. The broadcast lives on its own VHF frequency or on the voice channel of a local NAVAID, and the Chart Supplement shows which airports have one. Pick it up when cockpit duties are least pressing, well before the airspace boundary. In this lesson's scenario, that habit pays twice. You want the airport information on board while your battery still works.

A full ATIS gives you the airport name, a phonetic letter code, the time of the latest weather in UTC, wind direction and velocity, visibility, obstructions to vision, sky condition, temperature, dew point, altimeter, a density altitude advisory when appropriate, and the instrument approach and runway in use. Expect gaps. If the ceiling is above 5,000 feet and visibility is better than 5 miles, those items may be dropped, so silence about the sky means at least 5,000 and 5. The recording is remade with each hourly or special weather observation, and whenever pertinent data such as the runway in use changes.

The letter is the handshake. Each new recording carries a fresh phonetic code letter. On initial contact, tell the controller which one you heard, such as Information Sierra received. That one word tells the controller exactly what you already know, so they can skip everything current in the broadcast. If you acknowledge an old letter, or none at all, the controller reads you the pertinent information. One trap: saying you have the numbers means only that you received the wind, runway, and altimeter. It does not indicate receipt of the ATIS broadcast and should never be used for that purpose.

“Pilots should notify controllers on initial contact that they have received the ATIS broadcast by repeating the alphabetical code word appended to the broadcast.”

What the Rule Says When the Radio Fails

The regulation anticipates exactly the situation in this lesson. Section 91.129(d) covers communications failure in Class D. Suppose the radio fails in flight under VFR. The pilot in command may operate the aircraft and land if three conditions are met. First, weather conditions are at or above basic VFR weather minimums. Second, visual contact with the tower is maintained. Third, a clearance to land is received. If the failure happens under IFR, the pilot must comply with 91.185 instead.

The same three-condition test appears in 91.126(d) for towered airports in Class G airspace. And 91.127(c) applies the identical language to towered airports in Class E airspace. Those sections also contain the general communications rule for any airport with an operational control tower. You must establish communications before 4 nautical miles from the airport, up to and including 2,500 feet AGL.

Notice what the rule does and does not give you. It does not let you land simply because your radio died. You may continue and land only in VFR weather, only while you can see the tower, and only after the tower clears you to land. In practice, that clearance arrives as a steady green light. That is why the light gun table later in this chapter is memory-required knowledge.

“Communications failure. Each person who operates an aircraft in a Class D airspace area must maintain two-way radio communications with the ATC facility having jurisdiction over that area.”

“However, if the aircraft radio fails in flight, the pilot in command may operate that aircraft and land if weather conditions are at or above basic VFR weather minimums, visual contact with the tower is maintained, and a clearance to land is received.”

Lost Communication Procedures

The PHAK breaks the problem into three cases based on what still works: receiver dead, transmitter dead, or both dead.

Suppose the receiver is inoperative and you need to land at a towered airport. Stay outside or above the Class D airspace until you have figured out the direction and flow of traffic. Then advise the tower of your aircraft type, position, altitude, and intention to land. Continue, enter the pattern, and report your position as appropriate. Watch for light signals from the tower.

Suppose the transmitter is the dead half. Follow the same procedures, and also monitor the appropriate ATC frequency, because the tower can still talk to you. During daylight hours, acknowledge their transmissions by rocking the wings. At night, acknowledge by blinking the landing light.

Now suppose both receiver and transmitter are gone, which is where a dead battery leaves you. Remain outside Class D airspace until the flow of traffic has been determined. Then enter the pattern and watch for light signals.

After you land, the problem is not over. Radio malfunctions should be repaired before further flight. If repair is not possible, you may contact ATC by telephone to request a VFR departure without two-way radio communications. Be aware that no radio (NORDO) arrivals are not accepted at busy airports.

“If a receiver becomes inoperative and a pilot needs to land at a towered airport, it is advisable to remain outside or above Class D airspace until the direction and flow of traffic is determined.”

Light Gun Signals, Complete and Verbatim

Towers control no-radio traffic with a directive light gun. It emits an intense narrow beam of red, white, or green light. The table below reproduces TBL 4-3-1 exactly. Learn it cold, because in the air a light signal is the only instruction you will get.

Steady green. Aircraft on the ground: Cleared for takeoff. Aircraft in flight: Cleared to land. Vehicles, equipment and personnel: Cleared to cross, proceed or go.

Flashing green. Aircraft on the ground: Cleared for taxi. Aircraft in flight: Return for landing (to be followed by steady green at the proper time). Vehicles, equipment and personnel: Not applicable.

Steady red. Aircraft on the ground: STOP. Aircraft in flight: Give way to other aircraft and continue circling. Vehicles, equipment and personnel: STOP.

Flashing red. Aircraft on the ground: Taxi clear of the runway in use. Aircraft in flight: Airport unsafe, do not land. Vehicles, equipment and personnel: Clear the taxiway/runway.

Flashing white. Aircraft on the ground: Return to starting point on airport. Aircraft in flight: Not applicable. Vehicles, equipment and personnel: Return to starting point on airport.

Alternating red and green. In every case, on the ground, in flight, or for vehicles: Exercise extreme caution.

The AIM is honest about the limitations. The pilot may not be looking at the tower when the signal is aimed at the aircraft, and a light signal can only transmit approval or disapproval of your anticipated action. There is also a night technique for getting the tower's attention. Between sunset and sunrise, turn on a landing light and taxi to a spot where the tower can see it, clear of the active runway. Leave the light on until signals are received.

“During daylight hours, acknowledge tower transmissions or light signals by moving the ailerons or rudder. At night, acknowledge by blinking the landing or navigation lights.”

Is This an Emergency? The AIM's Answer

The AIM opens its lost communications section with a dose of realism. It is virtually impossible to write procedures for every possible situation. So pilots facing a situation not covered in the regulation are expected to exercise good judgment. If the situation demands it, do not be reluctant to use the emergency authority in 14 CFR 91.3(b). That rule lets a pilot deviate from the flight rules to the extent required to meet an emergency.

Now take a failure that happens in VFR conditions, or where you meet VFR conditions after the failure. The rule the AIM points to is simple: continue the flight under VFR and land as soon as practicable. The AIM's note adds that practicable does not mean as soon as possible. You are not required to land at an unsuitable airport, and you keep the prerogative of exercising your best judgment.

Set the transponder to talk for you. Squawking code 7600 tells any radar facility that can see you exactly what your problem is. The AIM does caution that you may not be in an area of radar coverage.

Before accepting that the radios are truly gone, try to reestablish contact. Attempt the previously assigned frequency, try a Flight Service Station, and remember that 121.5 MHz is available. The AIM says there is no priority among these actions. If the capability exists, do all at the same time. In this lesson's scenario, the battery is dying. So this troubleshooting happens early, while you still have transmit power.

“Whether two-way communications failure constitutes an emergency depends on the circumstances, and in any event, it is a determination made by the pilot.”

“If an aircraft with a coded radar beacon transponder experiences a loss of two-way radio capability, the pilot should adjust the transponder to reply on Mode A/3, Code 7600.”

Flying the Mumble, Start to Finish

Put the pieces in scenario order. First, catch the failure: the ammeter shows a discharge, or the low-voltage light comes on. Run the POH electrical failure procedure and shed every nonessential load so the battery lasts as long as possible.

Second, use the battery while you have it, and tell ATC what is happening while you can still transmit. Squawk 7600 and plan your arrival. Decide now how you will enter, because when the battery dies you lose the ability to coordinate anything.

Third, fly the PHAK procedure at the towered field. Remain outside or above the Class D airspace until you have determined the direction and flow of traffic. Then enter the pattern and watch the tower for light signals. Confirm the weather is at or above basic VFR minimums, and keep the tower in sight. Those are two of the three legal conditions for landing. The third condition is the steady green light: your clearance to land.

Fourth, acknowledge every signal, wings by day and lights by night, then land and clear the runway. Do not fly again until the radio problem is fixed, or until you have telephone authorization for a NORDO departure. In the debrief, be ready to explain each decision in terms of the regulation and the light gun table. That is exactly what your instructor is going to ask about.

After the Emergency: NTSB Notification and Reports

The Mumble ends with a safe landing. Some flights do not, and 49 CFR Part 830 defines what you owe the NTSB afterward. The dividing line is the accident definition, quoted below. Watch its three elements. The clock runs from the first person boarding with the intention of flight until everyone has disembarked. The triggers are death or serious injury to any person, or substantial damage to the aircraft. A serious injury includes hospitalization over 48 hours starting within 7 days, a broken bone other than a simple fracture of a finger, toe, or nose, severe bleeding or nerve, muscle, or tendon damage, any internal organ injury, or serious burns. Substantial damage means damage that adversely affects structural strength, performance, or flight characteristics and would normally require major repair or replacement. Then comes the list of what does not count, and it surprises people. Damage to landing gear, wheels, tires, flaps, engine accessories, brakes, or wingtips is not substantial damage. An incident is any other occurrence that affects or could affect the safety of operations.

An accident requires immediate notification of the nearest NTSB office, by the most expeditious means available. So do certain serious incidents, even with no damage at all. From the 830.5 list, know these: flight control system malfunction or failure, a required flight crewmember unable to perform normal duties because of injury or illness, in-flight fire, an aircraft collision in flight, failure of an internal turbine engine component that throws debris, and damage to property other than the aircraft estimated over $25,000. An overdue aircraft believed to be in an accident triggers the same immediate call. That last item is the machinery behind the VFR flight plan search you learned in Lesson 5.

Notification is the phone call. The report is the paperwork. After an accident, the operator files NTSB Form 6120.1/2 within 10 days, or within 7 days if an overdue aircraft is still missing. For a serious incident, a written report is filed only if the NTSB asks for one. Until the NTSB releases the wreckage, preserve it. Move it only to remove injured or trapped people, to protect the wreckage from further damage, or to protect the public from injury.

“Aircraft accident means an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and all such persons have disembarked, and in which any person suffers death or serious injury, or in which the aircraft receives substantial damage.”

“Engine failure or damage limited to an engine if only one engine fails or is damaged, bent fairings or cowling, dented skin, small punctured holes in the skin or fabric, ground damage to rotor or propeller blades, and damage to landing gear, wheels, tires, flaps, engine accessories, brakes, or wingtips are not considered “substantial damage” for the purpose of this part.”

“A report on an incident for which immediate notification is required by § 830.5(a) shall be filed only as requested by an authorized representative of the Board.”

What a Stall Actually Is

Everything in this lesson rests on one aerodynamic fact: the wing stalls at an angle of attack, not at an airspeed. The angle of attack, or AOA, is the angle between the wing and the oncoming air. The advisory circular defines the stall cleanly, and it adds a warning that matters when the engine fails at low altitude. If you do not recover in a timely and appropriate manner by reducing the AOA, a secondary stall and/or a spin may result. All spins are preceded by a stall on at least part of the wing.

The PHAK says the same thing from the other direction. The stalling speed you memorize from the airspeed indicator is not a fixed value. It moves with weight, load factor, and configuration. What never moves is the critical angle of attack, which for most designs falls between roughly 16 and 20 degrees.

Why does this AC exist? Because a stall/spin at low altitude is one of the deadliest events in general aviation. The AC traces its origins to a study of accident data. That study found stall/spin accidents caused about one-quarter of all fatal general aviation accidents. NTSB statistics show that most stall/spin accidents happen when a pilot is momentarily distracted from the primary task of flying the aircraft. An engine failure after takeoff is precisely that kind of distraction, and it arrives at the worst possible altitude.

“A stall is a loss of lift and increase in drag that occurs when an aircraft is flown at an angle of attack (AOA) greater than the angle for maximum lift.”

“The stalling speed of a particular aircraft is not a fixed value for all flight situations, but a given aircraft always stalls at the same AOA regardless of airspeed, weight, load factor, or density altitude.”

G Loading and Stall Speed: The Math That Saves You

Load factor is the ratio of the lift the wings produce to the actual weight of the airplane and its contents, expressed in G. The relationship you will feel in flight on this lesson is simple and unforgiving: stall speed rises with the square root of the load factor. The AC's example makes it concrete. An airplane with a normal unaccelerated stall speed of 45 knots can be stalled at 90 knots under a load factor of 4 G's.

Banking is how pilots most often load the wing without realizing it. The PHAK explains why: in a level turn, centrifugal force adds to the aircraft's weight. The wing must produce enough extra lift to balance both, and you get that lift by pulling, which raises the angle of attack. And the AOA must keep increasing as bank increases. So the stalling speed of an aircraft is higher in a level turn than in straight-and-level flight. PHAK Figure 5-39 charts exactly how load factor and stall speed climb together as bank angle steepens.

Now run the relationship the other direction, because this is the life-saving half. If increasing load factor raises stall speed, then reducing load factor lowers it. When the engine quits and the nose is high, pushing forward does two things at once. It reduces the angle of attack directly, and it unloads the wing, dropping the stall speed well below its 1G value. Your instructor will demonstrate this at altitude, so you can feel how an unloaded wing simply does not stall. That is why the immediate response to a power failure on departure is to lower the nose first, before anything else.

The AC also warns about the trap hiding in the turn back. In a steep turn or spiral, the chance of stalling the airplane by raising the load factor is much greater than in normal cruise flight. A tight, pulled-around turn at low speed is exactly how the impossible turn kills.

One footnote so the numbers never confuse you. This AC rounds the 60 degree bank figure to 40 percent. The PHAK rounds the same square root of two to 41 percent. Same physics, same lesson.

“The stall is the result of excessive AOA - not insufficient airspeed. For example, at a 60° banked turn in level coordinated flight, the load factor is 2 G's and the stall speed increases 40 percent over the straight and level stall speed. A STALL CAN OCCUR AT ANY AIRSPEED, IN ANY ATTITUDE, AT ANY POWER SETTING.”

“The aircraft's stall speed increases in proportion to the square root of the load factor. For example, an airplane that has a normal unaccelerated stall speed of 45 knots can be stalled at 90 knots when subjected to a load factor of 4 G's.”

Emergency Landings: The Mindset

The Airplane Flying Handbook's emergency chapter opens with a rule of precedence you should internalize. Its guidelines are generic. If anything in the chapter conflicts with the manufacturer's recommended procedures for your make and model, the manufacturer's procedures win. Your POH engine failure checklist and glide speed are the real numbers for this flight. This chapter builds the judgment that surrounds them.

The emergency landing section exists to remove the panic from the decision. Its objective is to instill one piece of knowledge: almost any terrain can be suitable for a survivable crash landing, if the pilot knows how to use the airplane structure to protect themselves and their passengers.

Hold on to that idea during the pattern work in this lesson. The airplane is replaceable. A landing straight ahead into rough terrain, flown under control and as slowly as the airplane will fly, is a survivable event. The accident record's typical consequences come from fighting that reality. One killer is making a 180 degree turn back to the runway when available altitude is insufficient. The other is stretching the glide to reach a better looking spot, without regard for minimum control speed.

“If any of the guidance in this chapter conflicts in any way with the manufacturer’s recommended procedures for a particular make and model airplane, the manufacturer’s recommended procedures take precedence.”

Engine Failure After Takeoff

When an engine fails during the initial climb, the AFH is direct about the first action: lower the nose and establish the proper glide attitude. If the engine does not restart, the next step is the decision this whole lesson trains. Land ahead, or turn back toward the point of departure? In the AFH's words, there is not much time to decide and a lot to consider.

The handbook's baseline answer favors straight ahead. Landing into the wind, under control, at the lowest possible speed minimizes the risk of injury. Turning back requires a more complex analysis and consideration of risk. The AFH allows one exception: at some urban airports with numerous hazards in the departure path, a pilot might turn back. But only if certain the airplane can reach the field from its current position, and only if the pilot has trained and practiced the turn back maneuver.

In the air, you will fly the failure at each pattern position, using the standard pattern leg names. Departure and upwind run along the extended centerline. Crosswind is at right angles off the takeoff end. Downwind runs parallel and opposite the landing direction. Base is at right angles off the approach end. Final runs along the extended centerline to the runway. Each position changes your altitude, your geometry, and therefore your options. Upwind low: land ahead, no turn back. Crosswind: evaluate the wind and pick from what is in front of the wing. Abeam the numbers on downwind: you may have the altitude for a modified pattern to the runway, and it becomes a judgment exercise. Base or final: hold glide speed, adjust the aim point, and commit.

“Continuing straight ahead or making a slight turn gives the pilot time to establish a safe landing attitude, and the landing occurs under control and as slowly as possible (assuming a takeoff made into a headwind).”

The Impossible Turn

The FAA has run the numbers on the turn back, and they are sobering. In the handbook's traditional example, an airplane climbs to 300 feet AGL when the engine fails. After a typical 4-second reaction time, the pilot elects to turn back using a standard rate turn of 3 degrees per second. At a glide speed of 65 knots, the turn radius is 2,100 feet. So completing the 180 leaves the airplane 4,200 feet to one side of the runway. It needs another 45 degrees of turn to point at it. The total change in direction is 225 degrees, which takes 75 seconds plus the 4-second reaction time. Gliding down at approximately 1,000 fpm, the airplane descends 1,316 feet. It arrives 1,016 feet below the runway. This example is why a turn back, if attempted, requires a higher bank angle. A standard rate or shallow turn consumes too much time, requires too much distance, and generates an unacceptable solution.

But the higher bank angle is its own trap, and this is where the G loading section pays off. If the airplane strikes the ground during the turn, cartwheeling could occur. If the pilot does not lower the nose enough during the turn, an accelerated stall and fatal crash may occur. Even a successful turn often sets up a downwind approach. The increased groundspeed there can rush a pilot not trained for landing downwind. The added kinetic energy also raises the likelihood of serious injury if the field cannot be made.

If you ever intend to have the turn back in your toolkit, the AFH says to earn it. Know the expected altitude loss in the turn for your specific make and model, and know whether the airplane can physically glide back after the turn. Train for it by practicing turns in both directions at a safe altitude, after a simulated failure. Determine the better direction to turn back, usually into a crosswind. Predict the altitude remaining after the turn, and know the distance to the landing zone. That is exactly what you will do on this flight, at altitude. You will fly it with a 45 degree bank and then a 30 degree bank, so you can see the altimeter tell the story.

The bottom line belongs to the handbook. A turn back at low altitudes presents an unacceptable risk for student pilots, low-time pilots, untrained pilots, and pilots without adequate proficiency. The same is true for pilots flying airplanes with insufficient glide performance to return to the field.

“Turning back to an airport after a low-altitude engine failure, also known as “the impossible turn,” presents many challenges, and a pilot who attempts to turn back without due consideration and training will need considerable luck to prevent disaster.”

“The pilot should not attempt a turn back unless a successful turn back will result.”

Where Stall/Spin Accidents Live in the Pattern

The advisory circular maps the danger zones, and they line up with the positions you will fly on this lesson. Many stall/spin accidents have occurred in takeoff and climbout conditions, particularly during go-arounds. A common causal factor is the pilot's failure to maintain positive control, due to a nose-high trim setting or premature flap retraction. High pitch attitude, high power, low airspeed: that is your departure profile, and it is also the go-around profile.

Many stall/spin accidents have also occurred in approach-to-landing conditions, in power-off situations. One example is a crossed control turn from base leg to final approach, resulting in a skidding or slipping turn. Another is trying to recover from a high sink rate on final using pitch alone.

The base-to-final skid deserves special attention, because it is the same error that kills in the turn back. Stall/spin accidents have occurred during the turn from base to final because the pilot attempted to rudder the airplane around. The pilot skids the turn to avoid overshooting the runway, or to avoid using excessive bank angle in the pattern. The lesson for your engine-out pattern work: stay coordinated and keep the nose down. Accept an overshoot or a different field rather than tighten a low turn with rudder.

Emergency Descents

The last tool in this lesson's kit is the emergency descent, for the day the problem is not a quiet engine but something that makes altitude the enemy. The need for the maneuver may come from an uncontrollable fire or a sudden loss of cabin pressurization. It may come from any other situation demanding an immediate and rapid descent.

Fly it by your POH, because configuration, airspeed, and bank are make-and-model specific. That is why the AFH's precedence rule from the start of this chapter applies here too. The handbook supplies the definition and the urgency. Your airplane's manufacturer supplies the procedure.

“An emergency descent is a maneuver for descending as rapidly as possible to a lower altitude or to the ground for an emergency landing.”

The Three Weather Briefings

Before every flight, gather all information vital to the nature of the flight, including an appropriate weather briefing. To get the right briefing, you need to know which of the three types fits your situation: standard, abbreviated, or outlook. The briefer also needs some facts from you, starting with whether the flight is VFR or IFR. Give your aircraft identification and type, departure point, estimated time of departure, flight altitude, route, destination, and estimated time en route. That information goes into the flight plan system. It can be referenced later, including when an aircraft is overdue or reported missing.

A standard briefing delivers a set list of items, in order and as they apply to your route. It starts with adverse conditions that might make you cancel or change the plan. It includes a VFR flight not recommended statement when the briefer judges VFR doubtful. Then comes a synopsis of the big weather picture. Current conditions follow, though they are omitted if departure is more than 2 hours away. After that come the en route forecast, the destination forecast, and forecast winds and temperatures aloft. The briefing closes with NOTAMs, known ATC delays, and closing items such as the frequencies for opening your flight plan.

Take the VFR flight not recommended advisory seriously. The Aviation Weather Handbook stresses two things about it. It is advisory in nature, and the final decision on whether the flight can be conducted safely rests solely with the pilot. Still, it is a briefer with all the data in front of them telling you the picture looks doubtful. Weigh it against your experience, your ratings, and your airplane.

This lesson's scenario is exactly why the follow-up habit matters. An outlook briefing the night before is planning material, not a launch decision. A standard briefing near departure time, plus an update if you get delayed, is what keeps a closing airport from surprising you.

“A standard briefing provides the most complete information and a more complete weather picture. This type of briefing should be obtained prior to the departure of any flight and should be used during flight planning.”

“An abbreviated briefing is a shortened version of the standard briefing. It should be requested when a departure has been delayed or when weather information is needed to update the previous briefing.”

“An outlook briefing should be requested when a planned departure is 6 hours or more away. It provides initial forecast information that is limited in scope due to the time frame of the planned flight.”

Self-Briefing and Flight Service Today

The current Aviation Weather Handbook reflects how pilots actually brief now. Historically, Flight Service was the primary source for preflight briefings. Today, growing numbers of pilots use online weather resources through government or commercial providers, and you do not have to call anyone to be legal.

If you do prefer to call, the handbook encourages a self-briefing first. And 1-800-WX-BRIEF remains the number for the contiguous United States. FSS specialists are qualified and certified as pilot weather briefers by the FAA. They are not authorized to make original forecasts. But they are certified to translate and interpret available weather into what you can expect at departure, en route, and at destination. Ask questions. The briefing is considered complete when the pilot has a clear picture of what weather to expect.

The FAA contract provider's website is 1800wxbrief.com. There you can review weather, receive online preflight briefings, file flight plans, and set up notifications and alerts. All briefings provided by Flight Service, online or voice, are time-stamped and archived for 45 days. The handbook also suggests a final weather check right before departure, using online weather apps when possible. In this scenario, that check is the last chance to catch the system that will close your home field.

“Pilots may receive a regulatory compliant briefing without contacting Flight Service.”

“Conducting a self-briefing before contacting Flight Service provides familiarity of weather conditions applicable to the route of flight and promotes a better understanding of weather information.”

Reading a METAR

The METAR is your snapshot of what a station is reporting right now. On a diversion, it is how you compare candidate airports. METARs are issued on a regular schedule unless significant weather changes occur. A special report called a SPECI can be issued at any time between routine reports to capture rapidly changing conditions.

A METAR reads in a fixed sequence. Take the PHAK's example: METAR KGGG 161753Z AUTO 14021G26KT 3/4SM +TSRA BR BKN008 OVC012CB 18/17 A2970 RMK PRESFR. The station identifier is a four-letter ICAO code. In the contiguous states, a three-letter identifier is preceded by K. The date-time group 161753Z means the 16th day at 1753 Zulu. AUTO flags an automated source. COR would flag a corrected report.

Wind is five digits, and the first three are the true direction the wind is blowing from. The last two are speed in knots, with G and a number for gusts. So 14021G26KT is wind from 140 at 21, gusting 26. VRB means variable direction. If direction varies more than 60 degrees with speed above six knots, a V group shows the extremes. Visibility is in statute miles (3/4SM). Weather comes as qualifiers plus phenomena. The plus sign means heavy, so +TSRA BR is a heavy thunderstorm with rain and mist. Sky condition, temperature and dew point, and the altimeter setting follow. That wind group is the heart of this lesson's runway decision. Practice pulling direction and gusts out of the string quickly.

“A METAR is an observation of current surface weather reported in a standard international format.”

Reading a TAF

The METAR tells you what is, while the TAF tells you what is expected at an airport. It uses the same descriptors and abbreviations as the METAR, so learning one teaches you both.

A TAF can be a routine forecast or an amended forecast (TAF AMD). It carries the ICAO station identifier, a date and time of origin, and a valid period group such as 0812/0912. In that group, the first two digits are the day and the next two are the starting hour UTC. Then come the ending day and hour. Forecast wind uses the same five-digit style as the METAR (15011KT). Forecast visibility is in statute miles, coded P6SM when greater than six miles.

The scope matters for diversion planning. A TAF covers only the area within five statute miles of the airport. Usually, only larger airports have one. The grass strip you are weighing in this scenario probably has no TAF. It may have no weather reporting at all. That means you will be reading the nearest reporting station and your own eyes. That is not a reason to avoid the field. It is a reason to think, and to keep the paved crosswind option alive until you have seen the windsock.

“A TAF is a report established for the five statute mile radius around an airport.”

“Each TAF is valid for a 24 or 30-hour time period and is updated four times a day at 0000Z, 0600Z, 1200Z, and 1800Z.”

Lost Procedures

A diversion in deteriorating weather is how pilots end up unsure of their position, so the lost procedures belong in this lesson. The PHAK's guidance is common sense executed calmly. And the stakes are real: getting lost in flight is a potentially dangerous situation, especially when low on fuel.

First, climb, being mindful of traffic and weather conditions. Altitude buys you radio and navigation reception range and radar coverage. If you are near a town, you may even be able to read its name on a water tower.

Second, use what is installed. A VOR or ADF receiver can fix your position by plotting an azimuth from two or more navigational facilities. GPS, panel mounted or portable, can give you position and the nearest airport directly.

Third, talk. Communicate with any available facility, using the frequencies shown on the sectional chart. A controller may offer radar vectors. Facilities can also provide direction finding assistance. In that case, the controller has you hold down the transmit button. Your transmissions let them plot your position and issue vectors. None of this works if pride keeps you quiet. Asking for help early is the airmanship move, not the embarrassing one.

“If a pilot becomes lost, there are some good common sense procedures to follow. If a town or city cannot be seen, the first thing to do is climb, being mindful of traffic and weather conditions. An increase in altitude increases radio and navigation reception range and also increases radar coverage.”

The Divert Decision

The hardest part of a diversion is not the navigation: it is the willingness. The PHAK is blunt about where the danger lives. If you are worried about missing a meeting, be realistic about how that pressure will affect you. It shapes not just your initial go/no-go decision, but also your inflight decisions to continue the flight or divert.

Build the decision before the flight. The PHAK recommends developing a list of good alternatives during your planning. In marginal weather, identify a reasonable alternative airport for every 25 to 30 nautical mile segment of your route. It also recommends preflighting your passengers. Prepare them for the possibility of delay and diversion, and involve them in your evaluation process. That way, nobody in the airplane is pushing to press on.

The chapter's cross-country example shows the technique this lesson wants you to copy. With the destination doubtful, the pilot picked a specific point in the trip as the place for the final continue or divert decision. That point was an en route navaid between the destination and the alternates. The pilot also managed family expectations by promising a phone call on arrival, instead of a hard ETA. A predetermined decision point converts a creeping, pressure-soaked judgment into a simple question you answer once.

Personal minimums do the same work one level up. Develop them in a non-flying environment, when there is no pressure to make a specific trip. Once developed, a personal minimums checklist gives you a clear and concise reference point. Use it for your go/no-go and continue/discontinue decisions. In this scenario, your crosswind personal minimum may be the single number that chooses between the grass strip and the paved runway.

“Your mental willingness to follow through on safe decisions, especially those that require delay or diversion is critical.”

“A good rule of thumb for the processing phase: if you find yourself saying that it will “probably” be okay, it is definitely time for a solid reality check.”

CARE and TEAM: Working the Problem in the Air

The PHAK's 3P model runs a continuous loop: perceive the hazards, process their impact, perform by acting, then start again. The CARE checklist is the processing tool. For each hazard you perceived, work through Consequences, Alternatives, Reality, and External factors. Apply it to this scenario. The consequence of pressing on to a closed airport is arriving with fewer options and less fuel. The alternatives are the grass strip into the wind, the paved runway with the crosswind, or another field entirely. The reality is the actual wind, your actual currency, and your actual fuel. The external factor is everyone waiting for you at home.

The TEAM checklist is the performing tool, and it gives you four ways to handle each risk. Transfer: should this decision involve someone else, such as a call to your instructor? Eliminate: is there a way to remove the hazard altogether? Accept: do the benefits of accepting the risk outweigh the costs? Mitigate: what can you do to reduce it? Choosing the grass strip eliminates the crosswind hazard while accepting an unfamiliar surface. Choosing the pavement accepts the crosswind while eliminating the surface unknowns. Landing at a third airport with better wind and a phone might beat both.

The goal is to take action and then keep evaluating the outcome. Once you have selected a course of action, the process begins anew, because the new circumstances require their own analysis. The decision-making is a continuous loop of perceiving, processing, and performing. On the flight, expect your instructor to ask you to narrate that loop out loud, starting the moment the weather closure appears.

“For each hazard that you perceived in step one, process by using the CARE checklist of: Consequences, Alternatives, Reality, External factors.”

“Perform risk management by using the TEAM checklist of: Transfer, Eliminate, Accept, Mitigate to deal with each factor.”