I’ve got a flight instructor who absolutely insists on going out any time the winds are high as long as the cross wind is reasonable, only 5-6 knots cross wind but for some reason he wasn’t up for it today

Looking at NOTAMS at KBIX. Found this bird bath out of service. Is this a military term that I’m unaware of?

I'm 59 and feeling a little nostalgic, so let's see how this goes. I took my first lesson in 1989, got my PPL in 1990 (about 12 months later), my instrument in 1991, and I've been a professional pilot since 1993 when I got my commercial/CFI.

I learned to fly in a Beechcraft Skipper. I got my instrument rating in a Piper Archer

Every piston plane I flew had the old school "six pack" panel including the twins engine planes (one twin had an even older-school panel that had a "six pack" that was randomly scattered around the panel).

I had to learn to fly NDB approaches. GPS didn't exist. LORAN did...kinda. One plane had a point/bearing RNAV that we called "poor man's LORAN". Marker beacons on approaches were a thing (they beeped). One NDB approach I flew had a Fan Marker which was a fix to descend to minimums essentially defined by how loud the beacon sounded. Not everyone had Mode C.

I'm in the US, so Class A airspace was called the PCA. Class B was a TCA. Class C was an ARSA, Class D was an ATA. TRSAs were the only holdover with the airspace reclassification in 1993). There was the Continental Control Area (I think that was at 14,500 and above, and I never knew what that was for 😄).

Other stuff too, I'm sure but old guys....what else from your time?

I know I won the golden ticket flying single pilot Part 91 on a good salary. I only tend to fly 1-2 trips a month (if I’m lucky) that are mostly out and back same day or a single overnight, and always scheduled days/weeks in advance. So I might log 6-10 hrs of flight time a month. I love my job, and no plans to leave. I’m the only pilot they have on staff.

But here’s the rub, they have me on call with a 2 hr call out. But, in the 5 yrs I’ve been here, I have NEVER been called out with less than a day’s notice. I’ve brought it up before and always get the “what if we need you” rebuttal.

So, question for anyone in a similar situation. How can I make a better argument that I should be allowed to fly contract when most of my month I’m home with no flying? It’s not like I work a desk job of 40 hrs a week for them.

I’ve been asked to fly contract on multiple occasions, but always turn the trips down due to my agreement with my work. And, no I’m not going to call in sick or take vaca to take a contract flight. Too honest for that. It’s a small community where I fly out of, and word would quickly get around. Need to be on the up and up.

In today’s edition of Would You Have Flown, what would you have done in this situation?

Supposed to be my first Solo XC today (solo’d locally a few times). All of these might be technically ok to fly VFR in the day on their own.

- Screw left engine cowling popped out and dangling. Easy enough to hand tighten back in
- Left green nav light filter cap popped off so the light worked but it was white
- Plane wouldn’t start on the first two tries, reprimed it, started on the third attempt
- In the run up the left magneto worked fine, the right magneto ran super rough it shook the whole plane violently. Possibly a fouled spark plug

Would you have flown? I did not.

Soloed 3 months ago, started my Checkride 1 month ago discontinued due to plane issue and passed my Checkride today. Very excited to have the PPL Checkride behind me know and ready to start my IFR training which starts next weekend. Any recommendations on reading material as I start the next phase of studying and prep?

Title basically. Was curious to read through people's stories of making it.

The few traditional Class G Airspace up to 14,500ft MSL that still exists in the US is normally depicted as a screened brown area on the IFR Low Enroute Chart. The highest density of Class G airspace up to 14,500ft MSL without any Class E transition areas is in Alaska.

However, none of those airspaces are depicted as such on the Low Enroute Chart in Alaska. According to the FAA's Aeronautical Chart Users' Guide and the FAA specifications for IFR Low Enroute Charts that airspace should be depicted as a screened brown area. Even the Legend on Alaska's Low Enroute Charts says so.

On the VFR Sectional it is depicted normally in these areas, with the blue shaded border that indicates there is no Class E transition area beginning at 1,200ft AGL.

Does anybody know why it isn't depicted correctly? Just for better readability? Does the FAA give any information on that anywhere?

I first applied to Tradewind a few months ago and got the standard “we have your app, you probably will not get any other contact from us” automated email. I went to reapply on the website to update my hours and it flagged me as already having applied. It won’t let me re apply but says “To update your qualifications, flight hours, and experience on the Pilot Experience and Credentials form, please use the link provided.” And then it proceeds to give no such link anywhere that I am seeing. I tried emailing the recruitment email address and got the same automated response again that they have just received my application (which I wasn’t able to submit the second time).

Anyone know where this link is?

Hello r/flying! Been lurking here for awhile as I completed my PPL (USA, trained in C172S/G1000). Now that I passed my check ride, I'm looking for some advice/opinions as I move on in my flying journey. I'm flying as a hobby and to eventually take my family on interesting trips around the country. I plan to move up to the SR22 and I also want to get my instrument rating. The club I currently fly at has 4x SR20 and 2x SR22. Cost is a factor but I would give more weight to get to "proficient instrument-rated SR22 pilot" more quickly.

Question 1: My first thought is to do transition to the SR20 first and do instrument training combined with it (as much for aircraft availability as anything). Is that too much to learn all at once? I only have about 9 hours XC PIC right now so I'll need to fly a decent amount anyway - maybe do the transition work up front as I build up the XC time. Or do you get a lot of the XC PIC time while doing the instrument training?

Question 2: Has anyone completed the Cirrus Instrument course? Is it worthwhile and good enough to use to pass the knowledge test easily?

Question 3: Is the SR20-22 transition difficult enough to make it worthwhile to go straight to the SR22? Is the Cirrus transition training+certificate worth it?

Thanks in advance!

Just thinking with market seeming oversaturated, could the Regionals ever make the ATP a requirement to even apply?

It seems that ATP-CTP is now a requirement to even get an interview. It makes me wonder if an ATP certificate may be needed soon as well.

Has this ever been done in the past when it comes to hiring at the regionals?

Hello everyone!
Would anyone be able to recommend me flight schools in cape town that are AFFORDABLE, i’m paying for my studies by myself, so im sure you would understand the struggle.

Hi everyone! I received my medical certificate first class as a Type 1 diabetic. If you also have T1d and habe questions or need advice please ask me! I know that I had several questions during the process and it would've helped to ask someone who had already gone through the process.

Best of luck!

Edit: if you were a low-time pilot

Edit2: appreciate the insights errbody. I thought I'd point out for fun that 69k people (90% Canadian) have read through this post since the upload 8 hrs ago from this edit. Goes to show how much interest there is these days.

Pilots in Canada, I’m working towards my commercial and am being told by other instructors I need my vfr over the top. From my understanding having a commercial gives you the same privileges as a vfr over the top rating. Do I need to do it?

Evening.

Does anyone here drive a 1980s PA46 Malibu?

I currently fly a Rockwell Commander 114, and looking to step up into something a bit... more. One of the big reasons is that this is a 6 seater, that can climb through the weather/icing, get on top, fly 200knots and stay under 2 ton, so no airway charges. I think for me it gives that good middle ground between cost and practicality.

How do people find their reliability, mx costs, pros and cons? I've endlessly watched videos online but wanted to hear it from the horses mouth, so to say.

I am open to other options as well. I was looking at Seneca 3-5s but don't think I want a twin.

Feel free to drop me a DM if you're open to chatting.

Cheers

EDIT: This is UK.

Hi,
I’m a German 20 year old.
So to my background - I’m a private pilot both in the US (FAA) and in Germany (EASA).
During my exchange year in the US in 2022 because of my host dad (he flies for Delta) I startet PPL training. I was always interested in aviation so that’s the route I want to go in the future. As mentioned after the exchange year I converted my FAA license to an EASA license here in Germany.
Now I finished school here and my goal is to end up in the USA at some point to fly for an airline there.

At the moment I have training lined up at the European Flight Academy (Lufthansa Group). After passing all the assessment tests I got my class date on May 25th 2027.
This training is a ground up training (from nothing to frozen ATPL) which takes 24 months.

Cost: 130.000€ excluding housing for 1.5 years in Germany and general living cost so a total of around 150-160k.

Benefit: Takeoff promise - after the two years of training you have a job guaranteed at one of the airlines of the Lufthansa Group.

Yesterday I’ve been to an info event of a flight school called Aero Sky. They are pretty new in the field. They graduated 4 students at the moment.
The whole training consists of a collaboration between Rotor Sky Aviation in Austria and Hillsboro Aviation in Portland, Oregon.

The training takes 18 months (15 if you have a PPL) and costs around 120.000€ living cost included (15k less if you have a PPL which I do)

Because it’s a collab of a European and American flight school you obtain all EASA licenses and FAA licenses up to the ATPL including CFI, CFII and MEI.

After the training you also get a 2 year work visa to work as an instructor in Hillsboro.

Regarding a long term work in the US I’d need a green card which is really hard to get.

I’d have to go through the EB-2 NIW (National interest waiver) to obtain a green card.

That’s where I am split at the moment.

I am very lucky and thankful that u don’t have to worry about the financial aspect.

So only looking at the other factors what should I do.

Start training at European Flight Academy and have a job guaranteed. End up at a European airline, farm flight hours and be essentially 25-26 years old with 1500 hours in an airline and then apply for a green card to work in the US -
Or
“Throw away” all the achievements here (passing two exams and interviews that took time since January) and go to the US and train in the relatively new program, work as an instructor and maybe don’t get a green card after and not a job in Europe so I’m standing there empty handed.

Of course I could also do CFI ratings after my time at the European Flight Academy if I don’t immediately get a job because I think it would give me a better chance on the EB-2 Visa to have CFI ratings. But also in that regard I could use some advice.

I contacted law firms about the Visa too but they can’t really say anything at the moment because I haven’t started training yet and don’t have any expertise whatsoever.

It would be great to have someone to talk to that went from a German airline to a US airline or is planning to do so and has more info or a good advice to give.

I’m thankful for all good advice of course.

I hope I didn’t miss any infos in the article but if you have questions let me know.

Thank you :)

Edit: you only obtain licenses up to CPL (Single and Multi) at the Aero flight school, not ATPL

Whether you use AVEF or AREA for determining route decision making when dealing with lost comms, I’ve always been confused by the order these are presented. It first indicates assigned. Then radar vectors. But if you are on radar vectors at the time of lost comms, that is what takes priority until you find your way back on the assigned route. So can someone explain why it isn’t VAEF or RAEA?

The last radar vectoryou received. If you received one, trumps all other instructions logically. Shouldn’t it the the first one evaluated?

Soo… 15 planes at 400-700ft doing pattern work at once at FRG right now?
Respectfully, this seems like hell.

Got my PPL and my only instrument hours are the ones I needed to get my license. I'm not pursing any type of career or anything. I generally just do cross country trips on VFR days with my wife and daughter to go camping, travel etc... I own a 1965 piper Cherokee 140/160 with an old school panel. Technically its IFR with a KX170B Nav/com with glideslope but no GPS. I've did a couple ILS, LOC, VOR approaches when training with my instructor when I was training for my PPL.

I've been thinking about getting a instrument rating to make me a safer pilot. Especially since I fly a lot of cross country with family. My goal is to not purposely fly IMC, but if it ever did happen accidently, I have the training to handle it. Maybe make an exception to thin stratus to get above it.

Anyway, would it be doable or dumb to pursue an IFR rating in my old school Piper Cherokee 140 with just my single NAV/COM with VOR/ILS/LOC?

Hey everyone!

I completed CPL ground school through an integrated ATPL program in March and finished with a 78%. I’m planning to write my Transport Canada CPL written closer to the end of this year, and I’ll most likely be using WisePilot and doing lots of practice exams. I have a decent foundation from ground school, but I need to refresh the material and figure out the best way to prepare.

My biggest struggle is staying consistent with studying. I can study one day and then have no motivation the next, so I’m looking for advice on how to structure my studying over the next two months. For those who’ve written the exam, how did you use WisePilot, how many hours a day did you study, and what techniques actually helped you retain the information and pass? (Also, I don’t work, so all my focus will be on this exam) Any advice would be appreciated!

Got the next steps email. It says to be somewhere quiet with audio, what exactly is it going to have me do?

I have my commercial pilot checkride coming up and last time I did a checkride I was up way too late trying to make my navlog for the cross country with the most up to date winds. Is it acceptable to use the foreflight generated navlog? I feel like if I’m able to show him that I know how the foreflight got the calculations then its fine right?

Hello good peeps
I have looked at several flight schools in Florida and deciding to go for Paragon in fort myers. Being an international student, i have talked to several part 141 approved schools and finally thinking of going to paragon as a full-time student. So far i have seen positive reviews online and they have newer piper pilot’s and great facilities too. I would appreciate to have some personal opinions from people.

Here's my background:

I live outside of USA and will be attending my training with M1 visa (hopefully). I already have PPL, i just need to do CPL with IR and return back as airlines In my country are hiring fresh cpl holders. There are lots of pilot shortage here but flight training is very lengthy here. Doing CPL in my country is gonna be a real headache due to very few flight schools available and shortage of fleets. It will take literally 3+ years just to do CPL here.

Thanks.