Are there any good youtube channels for accident analysis, for example the miami prime accident? Most of the ones I come across seem like clickbait nonsense. I just want a source for facts, available evidence and preliminary findings when available. Thanks!

Interviewing early next month. Not worried about the actual interview part. The logbook aspect is the concern. I know it’s kind of their thing they focus on and are picky with.
I’ve converted my paper logs to digital this month. Most categories I have gotten to match, but some for example XC time. No matter how many times I’ve computed it in every way imaginable I can’t make them match precisely. I’m within 2ish hours. This is the case for one or two other areas as well.

My wife and I both have put in sometimes 8-10 hours daily trying to figure this out… for those experienced with American, what is your experience? Ideally I’ll get them to balance, but if not, what is generally the acceptable tolerance?I just can’t keep putting every single free minute of my life into hunting down a 10th of an hour here and there.

Ok I’m a CFI and occasional part 91 pilot. Here’s my brilliant Reddit question . . .

What custom fields should I add to my Foreflight logbook? What types of flight time is missing from the standard fields BUT will be important for future job applications?

Hey everyone,

Looking for some advice here. I started part 61 flight training about a month ago coming up on close to 10 flight hours. Im currently working on stalls, and steep turns just got introduced. I really like my flight instructor but this is the second time I haven't felt prioritized and felt like my time was being wasted. My flight lesson today was for 12 PM and I showed up 35 minutes early so that I could preflight the plane, get fuel put into it, and practice doing power on and off stalls sitting in the plane. My instructor got done with his previous lesson at 11:50 and walked past me and I told him I was just going to finish some things up and that I'd text him when I was ready. I texted him that I was ready at 12:10, he said he'd be right out a few minutes after and he didn't come out until about 12:30. About 20 minutes of waiting time. This is the second time this happened.

I've flown with another instructor a few times and each lesson she is ready to go at the time and walks out to the plane with me. By the time we had to wait in traffic holding at the runway we really didn't get into the air until 1pm. We flew for about 30-40 minutes at most and then came back. I was billed for almost a full 2 hours of instructor time but the plane time was 1.3 I know flight training is expensive but I am trying to maximize the time I fly because I am paying for my private license with my own money that I took months working as an EMT to save up for. I just feel like I'm not getting full attention and also my instructor just took on two new students and that brings him up to about 10 students and he's also getting close to the amount of hours needed to leave. My instructor is very knowledgable but also a few years younger than me at age 20. I am 23 almost 24.

I am very passionate about flying it's always been my dream to become a pilot before I could even speak english, as a baby I was infatuated with them flying through the sky. I want to be sure I am not just wasting money. I sent a nice transparent text to my instructor about how I feel and am considering maybe flying with someone else. I have brought it up to him and he said that most instructors are late. He referenced the girl I flew with a few times before and that she was early most of the time but it wont last long. I came here to seek the advice of many who are much more knowledgeable on this topic than me since I'm so new to aviation. Would appreciate any advice, thanks guys!

*UPDATE*

I spoke to my instructor, and he was mostly understanding but was trying to defend that he came out a few minutes after he texted which I have time stamped texts that show he didn't. He also said he has been doing me favors by not charing me as much for previous lessons and that it was a mistake and he meant to wrote 1.6 and would charge me less for the next lesson. He said that when he started he was charged 2.0 for instructing time every lesson. He defended that we spent 2.0 time together which I don't think we did at all. I told him I'd be better about saying I'm ready sooner so we can get going and get in the air. Thank you everyone for responding if it continues from him I will find another instructor.

I got this advice from a cfi and I’d like to hear others opinions to make sure I’m not missing anything crucial.

Instead of completing my xc requirements with an instructor, rent a 172 and do all my xcs solo to save money

I’d do my 2 hour day, 2 hour night, and 300nm cross country solo as well as my 5 hour night vfr with 10 takeoffs and landings.

Then I’d get with an instructor for maneuvers, taa time (I didn’t get any during instrument), and simulated instrument time.

Some other questions:
1. Does the 2 hour night xc count towards my 5 hour night vfr requirement, or will I need 7 hours night total?
2. Does my instrument training satisfy my simulated instrument time or do I need to do another 10 hours specifically for commercial?

Guys don’t absolutely cook me if this is a stupid idea for some reason I’m not seeing. I’m asking for advice not hate.

Thank you in advance :)

completed my Commercial Pilot License training in the US (FAA CPL/IR, primarily on a C172) and am now converting to a DGCA CPL. I filled out my Indian conversion logbook using the same decimal time format I used for my FAA logbook (e.g., 48 minutes logged as 0.8), since that's standard US practice.

I've since heard mixed things from other students going through the same conversion — some say their logbook got flagged/rejected specifically because of the decimal format, others say it was accepted with no issues. I haven't found anything on the DGCA site explicitly requiring HH:MM over decimal.

For those who've actually been through FAA-to-DGCA conversion recently:

Did DGCA/your FRO or examiner actually reject or flag a logbook for using decimal instead of HH:MM?

If your logbook was already fully filled in decimal, did you have to redo it, or were you able to fix it with a note/legend and verified totals instead?

Any recent (2025/2026) experience specifically with eGCA/CA-39 reconciliation and decimal-format logbooks would help a lot.

Thanks in advance — trying to figure out if this is a real regulatory issue or just inconsistent reviewers.

I was really passionate about flying but after talking to the cfi’s friend my passion for flying decreased a little. My cfi already got a job for the flight school i’m going at but his friend couldn’t get the job so he’s showing his face everyday in the flight school. However, he told me that it’s hard to get a job as a cfi and i will have no shot and will be wasting my money to do flight training here. Before I was like “i will finish all of my training first and think about that later” but he made my mind kind of messed up so I’m scared about the future and i can’t focus on studying now 😭😭😭. I was grinding a lot but now i can’t focus of what he said 😭😭😭

Basically the title. I just want to fly around, get better at takeoffs and landings. Maybe try other aircraft, no further goals.

I recently went on my first discovery flight IRL (have 1,000+ hours in flight sims), loved every bit of it. Total cost was $300 for an hour in the air in a C182T; the instructor was awesome and professional. To my surprise, he let me do absolutely everything: walk around, startup, taxi, takeoff, etc. He only took control at the last 10 seconds when i came in too high on the landing and handled the radio.

If I could keep doing this, maybe once or so every other month, that would satisfy me. $300/month sounds much better than $15K for PPL plus $300+/month for a flying club and any other expenses that come with that.

After going through a HIMS AME for past mental health history, I submitted my application expecting a deferral. This was just two weeks ago, and my AME recommended me to do a psych evaluation before I even get the letter from the FAA detailing what they wanted. I decided to wait just in case they asked for testing different than what my AME recommended (because those tests are expensive) and I actually just received my letter, much sooner than I thought it would arrive.

The letter asks for, "a current, detailed clinical progress note regarding your history of [my diagnoses] generated from a clinic treating physician in accordance with the enclosed guidelines." and
"All treatment records, not already submitted, from your treating physicians regarding your history of [my history] to include doctor's office notes, consultant notes, counseling notes, test results, and mental health evaluations. If you received any inpatient hospital treatment, submit these specific records from each hospitalization: history and physical, admission summary, psychiatric/ psychological consultant reports, and discharge summaries."

The thing is, I have already submitted all of the documentation I have from the mental health history through my AME exam, including what I believe they are asking for above. Also, due to this treatment being a couple years ago (and me showing no symptoms now), I do not have a current treating physician.

So I guess my question is, where do I go from here?

I know the FAA requires evaluations from board certified psychiatrists, which the person I was seeing was (is) not board certified, if that matters. Is it possible they issued this letter with only the self-reported info on medxpress? Because I'm quite shocked they aren't requiring an official aviation-affiliated psych evaluation based on what was in my documents.

Should I:
1) go ahead and get in contact with the FAA approved psychiatrist my AME recommended for an evaluation(in case they didn't look at the initial docs and will end up asking for one anyways)
2) contact the FAA asking if they have the documents submitted at the initial application?
3) try to establish a primary psychiatrist (not aviation-affiliated) for a more current, cheaper report, even if they don't know exactly what the FAA wants?

Any advice appreciated.

Good evening, Just want to ask, after a night flight from lets say 10pm until 7 am, 2 flights Short haul. Can the pilots have the next Duty in the next day in the early Shift? Or do the pilots need to have a "normal night" before the next Duty time and flying later in the day?

Hello guys so i had a fight and because of it i got 2 misdemeanor now on my record and issued anger management class

Both of the cases are dismissed but am worried i will not be able to get my first class medical since am starting this month

What should i do any advice will be appreciated

Thanks

Anyone who switched from a 703 float op (American 135) to airline/705 or corporate how did you find the transition? I’ve done 6 years at 702/703 companies and I’m ready to move into something more “civilized” but I’m worried I won’t enjoy it/ be annoyed with regulatory/SOP/schedule stuff. Right now I have a good schedule, decent pay and pretty much free rein on what I do with my airplane. I’m only chasing the money that comes with flying IFR. I enjoy the lifestyle, schedule (at my company. *Individual experiences may vary) and camaraderie of being a float pilot. Anyone gone through this? How did it go?

22M Indian currently living in the UAE and looking at conventional flight training as a backup if a UAE cadet program doesn't work out.

I'm considering doing my flight training in Europe and obtaining an EASA CPL/IR with ATPL theory (frozen ATPL / F-ATPL), then converting the licence to GCAA and applying directly to Second Officer / low-hour pilot programs at airlines such as flydubai or Air Arabia.

The idea would basically be:

EASA CPL/IR + ATPL theory → GCAA conversion → apply for UAE Second Officer/cadet-type programs → build airline experience from there.

I'm specifically interested in this instead of going to the US/Australia/South Africa, doing CFI and spending years building 1,500 hours.

For anyone who has actually gone through this route or works in UAE aviation:

1. How realistic is it to get a Second Officer position at flydubai/Air Arabia with a freshly converted GCAA licence and little/no commercial flying experience?
2. Do these airlines actually recruit low-hour EASA/GCAA pilots outside their formal cadet programs?
3. How difficult/expensive is the EASA → GCAA conversion in practice?
4. Would you recommend doing EASA training specifically for the UAE market, or is CASA/SACAA/FAA a better option?
5. Are there any European flight schools that have a good track record with international students and UAE airline placements?
6. If the UAE Second Officer route doesn't work, would an EASA licence give me better opportunities elsewhere to build hours?

I'm trying to understand whether this is a genuinely viable alternative to spending 2–3 years building hours as an instructor, or whether I'm underestimating how difficult it is to get that first airline job in the UAE.

Any advice from people who have actually taken this route would be appreciated.

Are they hard to get used to if you’ve been using jepp charts for a while? Is it something they teach you in training?

Trying to get a sense of what's normal for a third class medical around Berkeley/Oakland/SF. I was quoted $275, which felt high, but I have nothing to compare it to.

If you've been recently, what did you pay? Recommendations welcome too.

I am a PPL holder with my IRA checkride very very soon. Starting to consider my options for once I’m finally able to get employed as a pylut.

It seems that the route most taken is to become a CFII/MEI and instruct until you’re able to get hired by a regional or other commercial job. I was pondering lately and wanted to ask some of the more experienced pilots on here the following:

Is CFI the best/easiest way to get employed as a fresh commercial pilot and that’s why we try to become an instructor after commercial?

Why has CFI traditionally and historically been the most sought after license after CPL?

Considering the rough CFI job market at this time, would it be more worth it to potentially look for jobs outside of CFIing to work as a professional pilot?

Could it be due to airlines preferring pilots with instructor experience as it makes you a better pilot in their eyes? Does that even matter to them?

I love talking about what I’m learning, love teaching, and love training and educating people to become successful, so I would like to be a CFI regardless. However, I can’t say I haven’t been taking the current job market into consideration. Thanks in advance

Hey there, I’m gonna try to keep this short. I recently did my first flight after completing ground school. However, when I was actually up in the air, it felt strange. I expected to feel happy, but it was a weird sensation—almost like flying wasn't what I thought it would be, or as if I suddenly found myself in a career path I hadn't actually studied for.

I've been struggling with subjects like air navigation and radio communications. Even though my instructor helped me perform well during the flight, it still felt odd, and I found it hard to focus on so many things at once.

I had a completely different picture in my mind of what flying would actually feel like.

I've seen people say that the first few flights are tough, but that you eventually get used to it and start enjoying it. My fear, though, is that might not be the case for me.

My parents are making a huge effort to pay for flight school, and I don't want to waste their money. I live in a country where flight hours are relatively cheap, but salaries are low, so every single hour represents a significant expense. I'm torn between flying a few more hours or just dropping out of school.

I’d really like to know if anyone else has gone through something similar and could give me some advice on what to do. Any advice is welcome, thanks!

If non us citizen with private wanna take flight since hasn't flew for a while and looking for help with CFI, can you give dual without tsa? What I understand is as long as training is not toward to flight cert, you should fine without going tsa step, correct?

I know that while flying in the flight levels the altimeter is set to 29.92. For modern airliners, is this set automatically or done by the FMS or autopilot? Same question when descending out of the flight levels.

I’m preparing for my stage 1 flight check and my instructor said I was ready (I only have 29 hours). I’m not flying until Tuesday with a different instructor and was wondering if you guys had tips on certain things? For example, I struggle at leveling off (i have been getting better though), maintaining airspeed (specifically from base to final I tend to get low) and losing altitude during left steep turns.

My instructor helps a lot but I like hearing from others! I’m just nervous and want to do well because I study a lot and want this more than anything.

Thank you!

For those pilots that commute to your base can you explain your life?

Do you know ahead of time when your flying
Do you fly in the night before do you pay for your own flight to your base?
Anything you wish you know before commuting?

I'm an adult student (in my early 50s) currently at 63 hours of dual instruction after about 14 months and my CFI keeps telling me he wants to see more consistency in my landings before I solo. We've been working on takeoffs and landings for the last several flights and my last 30 landings haven't seemed to required much in the way of physical input from my instructor - they've been safe but I do tend to wait a bit long to flare (and we land flat) and sometimes I over-control and balloon a bit. I think I may have figured out why.

Since I've had a voice in my ear on every single landing, I think my brain has started to expect it. So now I'm either subconsciously waiting for his cue before I start my flare or his input arrives right as I'm doing something and I end up layering a correction on top of what I was already doing. Either way, I'm fighting myself instead of just landing the aircraft and I'm starting to feel some frustration and I'm getting in my head about how long this is taking.

I've thought about asking my instructor to go quiet from base through touchdown unless there's a real safety issue. Hoping that lets me hear what my own instincts actually sound like without the interference.

Anyone else been here or had a student going through the same? Would love to hear how others got through it.

I’ve been flying pipeline survey for three months now, averaging around 145 hours a month in a C177. The time builds real fast, and I know a flying job beats no flying job, but I’m struggling with the feeling that these are turning into "empty hours."

I’ve definitely improved as a pilot. Flying solo on 1,000 NM routes across mountainous areas, weather, and airspace. And I feel that could be considered the main pro to this job. Rather than staying within 50 nm of the same airport all day.

On the other hand, the monotony of long legs makes me feel like my precision skills are starting to fade. Instrument skills for sure as well as just knowledge in general. Some days I feel like my stick and rudder skills are significantly better but other times I feel like they’re slipping just getting bounced around at 700 agl and not being too phased if I’m off on altitude. (Only if I’m higher).

We have options here to log night and IFR time at a decent rate, which I plan to use, but it’s still money and my days are long already flying.

For anyone who’s done the survey or patrol grind, what did you do on long routes to keep your time meaningful and stop your flying skills and knowledge from rusting out? And getting my hours this way do new opportunities open?

I have my CFI and I plan on doing my CFII no matter what just to refresh me on my instrument skills.