Dr. Mary Ann O’Grady

How much do you know about aircraft icing and the conditions that cause it?  Take this quiz, and see how well you do.

Aircraft Icing Quiz Questions

1.  _____ ice is lighter than _____ ice, has an irregular shape and a surface roughness that reduces aerodynamic efficiency.
2. The three negative outcomes of aircraft icing on the airplane are: _____, ______, and _____ .
3. The three types of structural icing are _____, ______, and _____ .
4. The two ingredients for structural icing are ______ and _____ .
5. The most important effect of ice on the wings and tail is _____ .
6. The three types of icing intensities are _____, _____, and _____ .
7. When this type of icing intensity occurs so that deicing or anti-icing cannot reduce or control the accumulation, the pilot’s only option is to _____ .
8. The type of cloud that produces the most severe icing is a _____ cloud.
9. If a pilot encounters ice in cumuliform clouds during the winter, he or she should _____, or ______ immediately
10. The first places that a pilot should look for the formation of ice on the aircraft are _____, or ______.

Aircraft Icing Quiz Answers

1. Answer: rime, clear
2. Answer: decrease in thrust, reduction in lift, and an increase in drag
3. Answer: rime, clear, mixed
4. Answer: presence of visible moisture, temperatures at or below freezing
5. Answer: reduction of lift
6. Answer: trace, moderate, severe
7. Answer: get out of the icing [conditions]
8. Answer: cumulous
9. Answer: divert, descent into warmer air
10. Answer: leading edges of the airfoils, any objects that protrude into the air flow, such as antennas, OAT probe, etc.

Discussion: Aircraft Icing Conditions

The motivations underlying why rational pilots who avail themselves of all available weather information and data during their flight planning process, yet ultimately decide to deliberately fly into icing conditions are varied. But one key element may be the fact that these PICs lacked sufficient knowledge about icing conditions, and they found themselves navigating into dangerous weather conditions. Aircraft icing has long been classified as one of the greatest weather hazards to aviation. This is because icing is likely to be both cumulative and invisible which can cause the aircraft to slow down, force it downward, and/or make it go out of control. In addition, engine performance can diminish, contribute to false indications on the instruments, and result in a loss of radio communication. It can also freeze the landing gear to a point where it cannot fully extend or retract, and it can prevent the brakes from functioning properly. During the winter months, structural icing is more of a concern for pilots during a flight than induction icing, which is why it’s the focus of this quiz and subsequent discussion.

Only two ingredients are required for structural icing: visible moisture and temperatures at or below freezing. Cooling occurs when lift is produced which can reduce the aircraft surface or skin temperatures to below freezing despite the ambient air temperature being above freezing. Supercooled water is defined as water that remains in a liquid state although its temperature has dipped below freezing. When a supercooled drop of water comes into contact with a cold aircraft, a portion of that drop freezes instantly and adheres to the aircraft’s surface while the remaining portion of that drop is warmed by friction. Aerodynamic cooling can cause that drop to refreeze, however, and it is the manner in which that remaining liquid freezes that determines whether the forming ice is clear, rime, or mixed. If the supercooled large drops flow out and freeze into a smooth sheet of ice, it creates clear or translucent ice that is hard, glossy, heavy, and tenacious. As its accumulation continues, it may build up into a single or double horn-like shape on leading edges of the aircraft which increase drag and a correspondingly inverse decrease in lift.

In contrast, rime ice is created from supercooled small drops where the liquid freezes more quickly before it has had time to spread out over the aircraft’s surface which traps air between the droplets giving rime ice a rough, milky, opaque appearance. Although rime ice is lighter than clear ice, its irregular shape and surface roughness reduces aerodynamic efficiency by reducing lift, increasing drag; and it is more easily removed with aircraft deicing equipment than is clear ice which is heavier and results in a solid sheet configuration. When the supercooled water droplets vary in size or mix with snow or ice particles, a combination of clear and rime ice can form very rapidly into highly irregular shapes that build up on airfoil leading edges. Regardless of which form icing assumes, the amount of the ice accumulation is directly proportional to the amount of liquid water in the clouds with the worst case scenario being a combination of large water droplets, temperatures close to freezing, and clouds having significant water content.

The effects of icing include a reduction in lift, an increase in drag, and a decrease in thrust where the effects of these three factors become cumulative which may require a full power setting and a high angle of attack to maintain altitude. However, this attitude may result in a new problem where ice can begin forming on the underside of the wing which adds more weight and drag so the need to get out of the icing conditions then becomes the prime directive. Depending on the PIC’s experience with flying in icing conditions, any ice may be too much ice but the FAA has categorized icing into three intensities: trace, moderate, and severe. Trace ice is barely visible and is typically not a hazard unless the aircraft is exposed for one hour or more. Trace ice can usually be handled by inflight deicing/anti-icing equipment for durations of one hour or less. Moderate ice accumulates at a rate where even short encounters with it are potentially hazardous, and the use of deicing/anti-icing equipment is definitely required. Severe icing is defined as an accumulation of so much ice that deicing/anti-icing equipment cannot reduce or control its accumulation so the only option for the PIC is to get out of the icing conditions as quickly as possible.

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Reference:

Duncan, P.A. (2016). Rime and Clear and Mixed. Retrieved on March 10, 2016, from
http://avstop.com/stories/rimeandclearandmixed.htm

Additional Quiz:

Do You Know These 5 Aviation Acronyms?

Additional Resources:

Aircraft Icing Safety Advisory – AOPA

Aircraft De-Icing and Anti-Icing Equipment – AOPA

Aircraft Icing Advisory Circular – FAA

The Madness of Icing – Flying Magazine

Mary Ann O’Grady

The term andragogy, which is defined as “the art and science of helping adults learn,” was used as early as 1833 but it was popularized in the United States by Malcolm Knowles in the 1970s (Whitmyer, 1999, p. 1). Originally, andragogy was contrasted with the term pedagogy, which focused on helping children to learn but over time. However, the term pedagogy became so entwined with educational or instructional design that the two terms have become synonymous. According to Knowles, as cited in Whitmyer (1999), andragogy is based upon four primary assumptions regarding adult learners and how they differ from child learners. First, their self-concept shifts from dependence to self-direction. Second, their expanding reservoir of experience serves as a resource for learning. Third, their focus on learning becomes oriented toward the developmental requirements of their social roles. Fourth, they immediately want to apply what they have learned to the challenges of real life. Accordingly, their academic orientation shifts from one of subject-centeredness to one of problem-centeredness as illustrated by the following assumptions:

Topic	Pedagogy	Andragogy
Learners	Dependent	Independent
Subject matter	Only one right way	Many ways
Motivation to learn, change or improve	External and dictated by others	Internal response to personal or career needs
Role of experience	Unimportant, discounted	Resource that serves as a basis for learning, change or improvement Must be integrated
Learner	Requires outside direction	Ability to self-direct
Learning orientation	Subject-centered, Logic-oriented	Life/career-centered Process centered
Objective	Minimum requirements	Self-improvement/betterment

(Whitmyer, 1999)

When entering flight school training, which includes ground school (theoretical), flight school (practical application), and testing (written and practical/flight test with an FAA examiner), the mastery of the course material as well as the practical application is often supplemented by flight training videos. These flight training videos are available through various sources including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and not-for-profit aviation associations. The format of the FAA broadcasts provides one-way videos and two-way audio satellite broadcasts that conduct short training and briefing sessions. All broadcasts that are classified as actual training courses are videotaped and close-captioned and made available as Video Self Study Courses. For example, two FAA videos specifically addressing aircraft certification service/air worthiness directives are available through Keybridge Technologies, Inc., and additional information pertaining to the ATN may be found on the FAA’s website.

Since the 1930s, not-for-profit associations have purported their mission statements to include the education of pilots, non-pilots, and policy makers alike, and remain dedicated to protecting pilots’ freedom to fly while keeping general aviation safe, enjoyable and affordable. Such associations continue to meet their education goals by providing flight training videos addressing a number of topics:

• Weather and go/no-go decisions
• Collision avoidance
• Weather and pilot error
• Weather and IFR flight planning
• Weather and VFR flight planning
• Avoiding power-on stalls
• NOAA’s Aviation Weather Center (ADDS)
• Gathering information about weather
• Angle of attack indicators
• Forced landings

The Internet also offers access to information relating to IFR risk management, instrument flying, GPS strategies, practical airmanship, and the strategies for becoming an adequately prepared pilot.

In recent years, the more typical list of instructional videos has been expanded to address more advanced aviation contexts, such as crew tracking, flight simulation, virtual chart plotter, aviation charts, business aviation navigation solutions and business training solutions; fatigue data collection, and mobile TC for the Samsung Galaxy Android Tablet. Updated training products, such as computer software, electronic books, and optional subscriptions that allow access to all the terminal charts and airport diagrams via tablets have begun to replace the traditional hard copy format. Instructional flight training videos appeal not only to novice pilots but also to pilots who are in the process of returning to flying as evidenced by the videos that address the issues of pilot currency requirements, TSA security awareness, the ever-challenging crosswind landings, and non-tower airport communications.

Videos are in a unique position to illustrate both of the two broad categories of practical examples posited by the academic research conducted by the teaching assistant fellows at the University of Wisconsin (1995). First, videos that aid in the explanation of theory and new concepts, and second, videos that illustrate the practical application of basic principles. These practical examples can also be sub-divided into different types based upon the format in which they are being used: analogies, observations, demonstrations that are experimental or mathematical, sensing phenomena, and observing secondary effects. When combined with one or more of the effective teaching strategies (practical examples, show and tell, case studies, guided design projects, open-ended labs, the flowchart technique, open-ended quizzes, brainstorming, question-and-answer method, and software) videos effectively serve to reinforce or anchor the course content for the student.

The guidelines underlying andragogy echo the need for the simultaneous development and presentation of a theoretical and practical foundation since neither one is useful without the other. However, andragogy also reflects adult students’ ability to self-direct as well as their ability to employ multiple means of assimilating the aviation course content. Since the construction of a culture of continuous improvement is a collaborative effort between aviation students and their flight instructors, the access to flight training videos aids in the successful acquisition of the flight school’s learning objectives. Access to advanced technology and the Internet provides aviation students and flight instructors with the capability to conveniently download instructional videos to their computers, tablets, and smartphones. Video programs also allow the production of short videos by flight instructors and their students that can be posted within an online course room or on social media for mutual viewing.

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References:

Strategies for Effective Teaching, A Handbook for Teaching Assistants. (1995). University of Wisconsin – Madison College of Engineering. Retrieved on February 26, 2016, from http://www.engr.wisc.edu/services/elc/strategies.pdf Whitmyer, C., (1999). Andragogy versus Pedagogy. San Francisco, CA: FutureU Press.

Albert Antosca

To those outside of aviation, pilots seem to have their own language, filled with acronyms, jargon, and incomprehensible terms. The more time you spend in the aviation industry, the more accustomed you become to this terminology. Do you recognize these aviation acronyms, and can you pass this quiz from memory?

Questions – Aviation Acronyms

• 1) UTC
  • a. Coordinated Universal Time
  • b. Upper Tail Cowling
  • c. Unmanned Traffic Control
  • d. Universal Temperature Conversion

 

• 2) TRACON (pronounced “tray-con”)
  • a. Trans-continental
  • b. Terminal Radar Approach Control
  • c. Transfer of Control
  • d. Tracking of Navigation

 

• 3) EGPWS (pronounced “e-jip-wiz)
  • a. Exhaust Gas Pressure Warning System
  • b. Environmental Gas Pollution and Water Sterilization
  • c. Endurance Glide Path Window Speed
  • d. Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System

 

• 4) RAIM (pronounced “raim”)
  • a. Rain and Ice Mitigation
  • b. Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring
  • c. Relay Aircraft Interception Maneuver
  • d. Risk Avoidance Integration Management

 

• 5) EDCT (pronounced “e-dict”)
  • a. Emergency Ditching Contact Transmission
  • b. Exhaust Distribution Combustibility Threshold
  • c. Expect Departure Clearance Time
  • d. Estimated Differential Coefficient of Thrust

 

All right.  Put your pencils down, and let’s take a look at how you did.

Answers – Aviation Acronyms

Question 1: “Coordinated Universal Time”

UTC is the standard time used in aviation. Everything from ATC clearances to weather reports are reported in Coordinated Universal Time. This standardization is vital to eliminating the need to convert between time zones or daylight savings time. But wait, why isn’t it abbreviated “CUT”, you may ask. Well, in keeping with the standard abbreviations of other versions of universal time, such as UT1 & UT2, etc., the international community decided to keep the “UT” format.

Question 2: “Terminal Radar Approach Control”

TRACONs are ATC facilities that control airspace in and out of airports. TRACONs control areas at lower altitudes and in smaller areas than “Center” controllers, officially known as Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs), which handle vast sections of en-route airspace. “Boston Center” is an example of an ARTCC, while “Boston Approach” is an example of a TRACON.

Question 3: “Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System”

Have you ever heard that automated voice inside a commercial aircraft cockpit that yells things like “terrain, terrain — pull up?” Well, that voice is part of the plane’s EGPWS. In the 1960s, a series of aircraft accidents prompted the development of automated systems that would help warn pilots of impending collisions with terrain. These systems have made a large impact on commercial aircraft safety.

Question 4: “Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring”

RAIM is a system used to check the integrity of signals received from satellites by your GPS navigation system. This becomes especially important when conducting GPS approaches where accuracy is critical.

Question 5: “Expect Departure Clearance Time”

An EDCT, also simply called a “wheels up time”, is a delay given by Air Traffic Control that is meant to regulate when a particular flight can depart. EDCTs are often part of an ATC Ground Delay Program (GDP) and can be issued due to hazardous weather, airspace congestion, or other factors impacting air traffic management.

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Anders Clark

Republic Airways recently filed for bankruptcy, but few people were aware of it. That’s in part because Republic Airways is not a recognized name in air travel. However, many people fly with Republic on a regular basis and just aren’t aware of it. Republic operates a variety of flights for Delta Connection, United Express and American Eagle, the big airlines’ affiliates for shorter flights and / or less popular destinations. In fact, as many as half of all Delta, United and American branded flights are in reality handled by regional airlines like Republic. Most people who fly with any regularity have likely flown with Republic or one of many other unknown regional airlines.

According to Republic’s CEO, there were several problems that led to the bankruptcy filing, but the primary issue was “…grounding aircraft due to a lack of pilot resources.” And they’re not alone in this problem. Last October, Seaport Airlines, another regional airline, dropped most of the routes it was flying from its Memphis hub, also due to a lack of qualified pilots. But this pilot problem isn’t limited to just the smaller regional airlines, and it is slowly spreading to more known and established names. SkyWest, which also handles flights for Delta, American, and United, reduced their flight capacity last year. And during SkyWest’s third-quarter earnings conference, President Chip Childs did acknowledge that they are “not immune” to the shrinking number of pilots and, in a transcript provided by Seeking Alpha, that to address the problem, they would need to manage the problem “from the very, very beginning.”

The idea of a “pilot shortage” may surprise those outside the industry as most people assume that there is intense competition for the job of an airline pilot, with the associated high salary, perks and glamour. So what gives? Well, those inside the industry point to two things. First, Congress enacted regulations in 2013 that increased the number of required flight hours for first officers (or co-pilots) from 250 to 1,500 in order to fly for a commercial airline. And there’s a large commitment of time and money involved in accumulating those extra flight hours. Second, while the salaries at and jobs at the big commercial airlines are competitive, newly minted pilots who start flying for the regional airlines can make as little as $20,000 a year. And with consolidation among the major carriers, they hold a strong negotiating position over the regional airlines, which makes it difficult for the regionals to raise wages.

So, for pilots, a low-salary job with a high barrier to entry isn’t very attractive. And when you consider that regional airlines operate roughly half of all the flights in the country, many pilots begin and end careers at the regionals, never able to make the jump to the major airlines. In addition, many young pilots have started signing up for foreign airlines, attracted by higher salaries and reduced requirements.

Forbes, in a recent article, provided an argument that this is not a short-term problem:

“Here’s some hard reality that’s now firmly in place. There is no “pilot shortage”—that term implies a situation where there is the possibility of correction. It isn’t “correctable”—the new regulatory barriers to entry to the pilot profession are effectively permanent. And that means that the availability of this resource will be different than in the past—read: a lot less. Result: less flying of smaller airliners. Less service at smaller local airports.”

Up until now, the effects of all this are being felt primarily by the smaller airlines. But with the pilot pipeline shrinking, and drawing in qualified pilot candidates becoming more and more of a problem, the major carriers may start feeling the effect of the pilot problem soon. In another recent piece from Forbes, they estimate that in the next 20 years, the number of available pilots will only meet two-thirds of the demand. And this could mean the major airlines will have to start dropping routes.

Many regional carriers have been lobbying Congress to change the 1,500 hour rule, but the feeling is that they’re not likely to, as it would make them look like they are prioritizing airline profits over the safety of passengers. In the meantime, the regional airlines are working hard to boost recruitment, including approaching and pitching high school and college students aviation career opportunities. Some in the industry say that with luck, the problem may start to correct itself to a degree. With fewer candidates, salaries will eventually have to go up to draw them in, which should start to make the job more competitive again. But until the issue is addressed and conditions start to change, regional airlines and passengers will continue to take the hit.

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^{Featured Image by Caribb}

Anders Clark

The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is a widely flown, well-known aircraft. It’s used pretty extensively by flight schools to train student and prospective pilots and companies have even created flight simulators modeled on it. If you’ve spent time flying, chances are pretty good you’ve flown in one, or even flown one. And you’ve probably heard or know that the Cessna 172 has a reputation for being a solid all around aircraft.

However, here are five things you probably didn’t know about the Cessna 172 Skyhawk.

The Most Popular Aircraft Ever

As of 2015, more than 43,000 Cessna 172’s have been built, making it the most produced and successful aircraft in history. Who’s in the number two slot? That would be the Ilyushin II-2, a two seat Russian combat aircraft produced during World War 2, with just over 36,000 made. The next closest aircraft that is still being produced, however, is the Piper PA-28, with a little under 33,000 at last count. With that kind of a lead, and 172s still rolling off the line, it seems like the Skyhawk might not be giving up the title anytime soon.

So, What Exactly is a Skyhawk?

I mean, is there a groundhawk? Deep thoughts aside, where did “Skyhawk” come from, and what makes a Cessna 172 a Skyhawk? Well, the first 172 rolled off the line on 1956, but it wasn’t until 1960 that the term “Skyhawk” first entered the scene. For the new 1961 model of the 172, Cessna wanted to develop a deluxe version that they could offer alongside the basic model. So, they called the deluxe version the “Skyhawk.” Technically, “Skyhawk” still refers to the deluxe model, while the basic model is just the Cessna 172. However, this distinction isn’t usually recognized, and for most people, all 172s are the Cessna 172 Skyhawk.

You Want to Build a What?

The Cessna 172 actually began life as a variant of the Cessna 170, a taildragger. As the story goes, a few Cessna engineers designed a nosewheel installation for the 170, and even went ahead and developed a mock-up. However, a manager happened to drop by the shop on the weekend, saw the mock-up and was not pleased. The following Monday, a memo went out from the vice president of engineering ordering that the nosewheel variant was to be destroyed. The brave engineers didn’t follow orders, however, and hid it.

In the mean time, the Piper Tri-Pacer with a tricycle configuration had been selling well, and Cessna started wondering if maybe there wasn’t something to that. They even rented a Tri-Pacer so they could do a first-hand evaluation of the airplane. Finally, they decided it was time to move forward with a tricycle-gear version of their 170. The engineers whipped out their mock-up, things moved forward, and what started as a variant became a new model. And guess what? They weren’t wrong. In the 172’s first year, Cessna built more than 1400 of the aircraft.

The Cessna 172 Took a 10 Year Break

Being popular isn’t easy work. So in 1986, the Cessna 172 decided it was time to take a sabbatical, and figure out a new direction in life. It spent the next ten years reflecting … OK, OK, that’s not what happened. What actually happened was that towards the end of the 1970s, aircraft manufacturers were getting hit with more and more lawsuits, and it was costing them huge amounts of money. During the period from 1978 – 1988, aircraft manufacturing overall declined a devastating 95% and over 100,000 people in the industry lost jobs.

Cessna, Piper, and Beech, who at the time produced over 50% of all general aviation aircraft, were the hardest hit. Cessna, who’d been making aircraft since 1927, posted their first annual loss in 1983, and by 1986 was forced to shut down production on all single engine aircraft, including the 172. Finally, in 1996, after the General Aviation Revitalization Act went into effect, Cessna was able to restart single engine production, and they brought back three models, the 172 and 182 in 1996, and the 206 in 1998.

The Cessna 172 Holds a World Record

Yeah, that’s right, the Cessna 172 holds the world record for flight endurance.

Short version:

A mere two years after the 172 hit the market, a Las Vegas businessman was approached by one of his slot machine mechanics (and WW2 bomber pilot) about funding a bid to break the flight endurance record as a promotional stunt to advertise his casino. The record had just been broken and re-set a few months previous, by a pair who flew for 50 days continuously, in a 172 dubbed The Old Scotchman. The businessman agreed, so the slot mechanic, Robert Timm, found a co-pilot, John Cook, and an aircraft, a modified Cessna 172. And on December 4^th, 1958, at 3:52 PM, they lifted off.

64 days, 22 hours and 19 minutes later, Timm and Cook landed. And their record still stands today. Some time after the flight, Cook was asked whether he would ever consider trying to beat the record, to which he replied “Next time I feel in the mood to fly endurance, I’m going to lock myself in a garbage can with the vacuum cleaner running, and have Bob serve me T-bone steaks chopped up in a thermos bottle. That is, until my psychiatrist opens for business in the morning.”

For the long version, check out this article.

And there you have it. Five things you may not have known about the seemingly unassuming, but actually quite amazing Cessna 172 Skyhawk.

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John Peltier

Don’t helicopters look fun to fly? Well, they are! You can take them anywhere and do anything with them. Okay, that may be a stretch and there are some limitations. But when compared with airplanes, helicopters can do anything.

If you’re interested in learning how to fly helicopters, take an introductory flight. Get some time on the controls and see what it’s like to fly one of these complex machines. If you have fun (and you mostly likely will), you should pursue your private helicopter license!

Why You Should Get Your Private Helicopter License

Obtaining your private helicopter license is the first step in going on to fly helicopters for a career. We do need to discuss the cold, hard truth of helicopters first: they’re expensive to fly.

Many pilots who get their private fixed-wing license do so because they want to take their families on little vacations on the weekends, or to travel faster than if they were driving. And in airplanes, you don’t need to be rich to do this.

The same doesn’t hold true for helicopters. Operating costs for a two-seat piston helicopter can be between two to three times the cost of a four-seat piston airplane. A four-seat piston helicopter can be between $500-$600 per hour to rent. This makes “renting a helicopter for the weekend” a hobby for the wealthy as it quickly adds up.

If money is a non-issue for you, then by all means, recreational helicopter flying will soon become one of your favorite hobbies!

But for the rest of us, getting a private helicopter license is a stepping-stone to future employment as a helicopter pilot.

What You Can Do With Your Private Helicopter License

As previously mentioned, you’ll be able to rent helicopters and fly on your own once you have your private license. The FAA does place some restrictions on what private pilots can do.

• You have to pay at least your fair share of operating costs when flying with other people. Meaning, if you end up paying $600 for the rental and fuel, and there are three of you, you need to pay at least $200 of that.
• You can only fly in connection to a business if the flight is incidental to the business, i.e. you’re not specifically hired to fly for that business. You’re also prohibited from carrying passengers or cargo for hire.
• You can fly for charitable events. Sometimes non-profits will auction off rides for charities for example, and you can do this as a private pilot.
• One of the neat things about helicopters are their search-and-rescue capabilities. You can be reimbursed for your operating costs (but not for your time) if you participate in a search under the direct control of the agency in charge.

Steps in Getting Your Private Helicopter License

Selecting a school is one of the most important things to do in getting your license. You shouldn’t go to the school that’s the closest, or the cheapest. They may seem like the best choice for you, but they’re not the right reasons.

You need to do some research. Make a list and visit some schools if you can. At a minimum, call the school and talk to an instructor. Ask about their safety record, financing options, graduation time and rate, time-building opportunities, and job-placement opportunities. Once you are satisfied with the answers, then you can ask about price.

Be prepared to temporarily move if you need to – nothing will set you up for success more than selecting the right school!

Once you decide on a school, they’ll give you a list of the books and supplies you’ll need to purchase. Then you can start training!

Here are the requirements for your private helicopter license, straight from the Federal Aviation Regulations:

• Be at least 17 years old
• Be able to read, speak, and write English
• Be endorsed by an instructor who certifies that you are prepared for the written knowledge test
• Pass a written knowledge test
• Be endorsed by an instructor who certifies that they conducted your required training and that you are ready for the practical test (the check ride)
• Meet aeronautical experience requirements outlined in the regulations (flying time and conditions)
• Pass the practical test (check ride)
• Hold at least a student pilot certificate (medical clearance)
• Comply with all applicable Federal Aviation Regulations

You can complete your academic training via a home study course or in the classroom with an instructor. The latter is recommended because it’s much easier to ask questions as they come up, or have things explained differently. Knowledge areas that you’ll need to learn and will be tested on include physiology, emergency procedures, helicopter systems, weather, chart reading, navigation, and regulations.

A private helicopter license requires 40 hours of aeronautical experience. These 40 hours must include:

• 20 hours of training from an authorized instructor
• 10 hours of solo flight training to include
  • 3 hours cross-country
  • One cross-country over 100 miles with landings at three points
  • 3 takeoffs and landings at an airport with a control tower
• 3 hours of cross-country flight training in a helicopter
• 3 hours of night training to include a cross-country over 50 miles and 10 takeoffs and landings
• 3 hours of training within 2 months of the practical test

Remember that these numbers are minimums! Only a few pilots will actually get their license right at 40 hours. Most pilots will require somewhere around 50 hours before they’re ready for the practical test.

Costs for Getting Your Private Helicopter License

This is usually the first question that potential pilots will ask about their training. It’s a difficult question to answer because of all the different variables involved with helicopter flight training.

First, operating costs vary from school to school. This is a function of fuel costs at different locations, hangar & office rental costs, employee wages, etc.

Second, you are a big variable in the cost. Your motivation and dedication to your training will help keep costs down! And as mentioned earlier, many pilots don’t complete their training right at 40 hours. So it’s difficult to say how much training you will need, and this makes a difference on the total cost.

Make sure to be consistent in your training. Don’t take breaks for weeks at a time if you can avoid it. There’s that saying “two steps forward and one step back” – this is what will happen if you take large breaks during your training. You’ll have to go back and revisit some things that you already completed. Training a few days a week is an optimal pace. It’ll cost you more money upfront but will save you money in the long run. Training as the money becomes available isn’t a good choice.

But to give you a ballpark figure for an R22 (a two-seat training helicopter), a private license should run you between $12,000-$15,000.

After You Get Your Private Helicopter License

Build time when you can so that you can reach the ultimate goal of getting a commercial license! Ways to build time include pursuing your instrument rating or going flying with another pilot and splitting costs.

Never stop studying. You’re a brand new pilot now, and there’s a lot of knowledge to maintain! Not only that but a lot of it will be changing – the FAA changes airspace and regulations every year. Stay on top of it! A good idea to stay disciplined about this is to have one study topic per week. Make a calendar and tackle this topic throughout the week. This won’t just make you a better pilot, but your life could depend on it!

It’s never too early to start researching potential employers. Don’t get too hung up on one because it’ll still be a few years before you have the experience necessary to apply for these jobs, but it’ll give you a good idea of what’s out there and what you want to focus on during your training.

Getting your private helicopter license is an achievement that you should be very proud of – you worked hard for it and put aside part of your life to pursue this dream. You’ll never have more fun flying than during your helicopter training. Make the most of it!

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Shawn Arena

Okay, you have checked another box in your journey to earning your private pilot certificate. You and your instructor have set up a ground training schedule and an aircraft has been selected for your training. The next logical step then arrives, as you ask yourself, “So, HOW do I fly airplanes?” I’ll now provide you with an overview so you can answer that question.

Some Un-Learning is required

Since we spend our lives in a limited dimensional world on the ground, learning how to fly airplanes requires what I call ‘un-learning’. “What do you mean by that?” you may ask. As you are learning (or have learned) from your ground component of training, an aircraft operates in multiple dimensions as it is supported by the flow of the air around it.

To conduct many ground-based activities (like driving a car or riding a bicycle) much muscle input is required to accomplish the task. In an aircraft, however, very subtle yet direct muscular inputs and keen hand-eye coordination are required (as your flight instructor will remind you). Another piece of un-learning you’ll encounter is, since an aircraft is not designed for ground operations per se, that you use your feet instead of your hands to smoothly direct the aircraft while on the ground. You will quickly realize that while on the ground, your hand movements on the control yoke are basically useless.

A Quick Physics Lesson

Since the aircraft is designed to operate efficiently in the air, four forces of physics act upon it: Lift (Up), Gravity (down), Thrust (forward), and Drag (backward). In learning how to fly airplanes, you will find out (sometimes the hard way) that all four of these forces have to be in balance with each other. If one is not in agreement with the others, the aircraft will do something that you may not want it to do.

Today’s training aircraft are forgiving, allowing the student to get ‘a feel for the aircraft’. You will understand what your instructor means when he or she states, “Relax, become part of the aircraft, and things will become easier.” As each lesson progresses, the answer to the question “how do I fly airplanes” will be ingrained and easier to realize.

Flight Controls Management

As you gain confidence with every lesson, that hand-eye coordination will become second nature AND you will also realize the vestibular ‘feel’ in your body. Remember that sinking feeling you have when riding an elevator down? In an airplane, that feeling is magnified. Similarly, when that same elevator is rising quickly you feel a strange force pushing down on your body, and the same feeling (again magnified) is what your body feels in an airplane. Congratulations, you just discovered positive and negative g-forces!

That is where management of the flight controls comes into play. You pull back on the yoke or control stick and you go up (Lift), you push down and you go down (gravity). You accelerate the aircraft through the thrust control, you go forward (thrust), and you slow the airplane down, and drag (and gravity) take over. As you progress on how to fly airplanes, management of ailerons, rudder, flaps, and trim tabs become more important to control the pitch, yaw, and roll actions – THAT is how you fly airplanes! It is all about a smooth coordination of each of those individual three axes, that the aircraft operates.

Skyward

As you progress through the basic training, a better understanding of physics, flight control, and hand-eye coordination management enlarges your physical world. It is so powerful that all five of your senses (yes, I mean all five) will forever be changed because you have experienced something very few people get to do in a lifetime. That physical (and physiological) impact on your body is something you will enjoy and treasure the rest of your life!

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When packing a backpack for a camp-out, Boy Scouts keep in mind the motto “Be Prepared.” It’s a good motto for a pilot career too.

Vern Weiss

Do you want to know who makes good pilots? Mechanics. They know aircraft systems inside and out and, as pilots, often pull a rabbit out of a hat in an emergency. They know the nuances and intricacies of systems beyond the level of many pilots. Pilots responsibly grind through emergency checklists until the last item is completed. When the checklist is done, that’s it. The End. But a mechanic knows all those little weird-isms of valves, solenoids, doohickeys, thingamabobs and thingamajigs. When a checklist hasn’t fixed a problem they tap into their knowledge from back in their troubleshooting days “working the floor” and, as pilots faced with inflight emergencies they sometimes devise impromptu procedures that can make them heroes.

Pilots make extraordinarily good instructors. Don’t waste my time with a teacher who’s never “been there, done that.” They’re good because they are calm and confident about their abilities. They’re knowledgeable because they’ve flown, over and over, the scenarios they’re teaching. Weak instructors get rattled (“Ohmygosh!Ohmygosh!Ohmygosh!”) and can make a big deal big deals out of nothing. Experienced pilots can separate the wheat from the chaff and impart to students the important stuff patiently, in real-world terms and in an orderly fashion.

Many dispatchers (also called flight controllers) are pilots, either private or possess some degree of commercial training. This provides them with perceptions, common sense and judgment that is worth a lot in the planning and decision-making they do. Dispatchers are unsung heroes. It’s dispatchers who respond to unplanned crises and quickly respond with safe and legal alternatives for a flight crew. When pilots radio them with some problem, the pilots look to the dispatchers for solutions often requiring a bucket-load of calculation and research. You can’t do that if you don’t know your stuff and know it well.

Maybe you can see where I am going here. The more talents you have, the better you will be at your job and the more your window of opportunities will expand, too. Pilots who have non-aviation schooling in professions dealing with numbers are outstanding with performance charts. Flight attendants who have a background in elementary education handle the broad spectrum of passenger personalities and problems on an airplane well.

The Unpredictable “What If?” of a Pilot Career

There’s another very important reason to be dualistic, the unknown. What if you train as a pilot, immerse yourself in your pilot career and then, wham-o…you lose your medical and can no longer fly. Or what if you train to be a mechanic and your airline is gobbled up by a bigger airline and closes your maintenance base? You’ve got 9 kids in school, a house you love that you paid-off last week and your wife bursts into tears at any suggestion of leaving the community. What’s more, you’re only 3 years from being fully vested in the airline’s retirement plan and you really want to stay with the company rather than lose those benefits.

Or maybe you became an engineer and after a few years have grown to be bored by it and would like to try something else. Defining yourself by one job classification is the same as backing yourself into a corner. Pilots are taught to always have a back-up plan which is sound thinking whether you’re a pilot or in any other career. One of the best aviation ground schools I have ever been in was taught by a pilot who had lost his medical but had a degree in law. Not having a medical did not preclude him from teaching in the simulator but, holy cow his presentations in ground school interpreting the regulations were academy award winning.

Spirit of St. Louis aviator Charles Lindbergh was once asked by his son what career field he should choose. Lindbergh’s answer was to do something no one else was doing. This tangential strategy can be applied to one’s own career by preparing for your chosen pilot career but also working on something else perhaps unrelated to it. It’s not uncommon to find mechanics who are also real estate agents or pilots who are accountants. If you are training in any field of aviation and your school is affiliated with a college it is worth looking into a degree in something else while finishing your aviation training. You’ll have the added benefit of accumulating college credit toward your degree for your aviation training. For pilots it’s worth mentioning here that most airlines don’t care what your college major is, they just want a degree.

There are things that can happen short of a catastrophe that having experience in or knowledge about other areas might prove to be a lifesaver to get you over a rough patch. I know an airline pilot who broke his arm and couldn’t fly. It wasn’t permanent but he’d be out for several months so he took a temporary assignment in crew scheduling. Another pilot was furloughed and worked on the ramp. When he was recalled to flying status he told me he’d have to renew his gym membership because he’d never been in that good of shape. One pilot with whom I have worked had a degree in education and worked as a substitute teacher on days off. If things went sour in his pilot career he could always return to the classroom full time. Cockpits are full of real estate agents, lawyers, building contractors, writers, radio announcers, you name it. Captain Jim Tilmon spent 29 years with American Airlines. On his days off for over 25 years he “moonlighted” on Chicago television as an on-camera meteorologist. His degree was in music.¹

Whether you want to do something to fulfill personal or professional initiatives on your days off or just want something to keep in your back pocket as a hedge against unemployment, it’s not a bad idea to be thinking about back-ups.

As a flight attendant your airline experience would be appealing in any hospitality career field, restaurants, hotels et cetera.. And mechanics often use their skills in automobile repair. Although it’s nice to rake in a little extra “funny money” in a sideline, if the bottom should fall out of your airline job there’s peace of mind knowing you can do something else.

Up until now we’ve been gloomily musing about alternatives in the event that your chosen pilot career interest is taken from you. But there are other reasons for a back up plan that are not necessarily due to misfortune. A colleague of mine was looking to hire a manager of standards for his airline. He was inundated with applications from pilots who had passed retirement age. In spite of the accepted hyperbole that seems to surround any discussion about retirement, retired airline jocks no longer allowed to fly begged him to “get me out of the house.” “I can’t stand the boredom.” “I miss the airlines.” Retirement isn’t for everybody and while some employees dream of the day their lives become filled up with fishing poles, rocking chairs and motor homes, others don’t. A former pilot with 30 years and 30,000 hours of Part 121 experience is perfectly suited to set and supervise the technical intricacies of airline standards and one of them ended up being his choice. The airline benefited by filling the position with someone of vast experience while an ex- pilot no longer felt cut adrift and is able to keep his juices flowing.

Let’s talk about moonlighting. Some airlines have strict policies prohibiting outside employment. You certainly don’t want to jeopardize a solid high $$$ job by picking up (what may amount to) loose change on days off.

Two cautions should be mentioned here. Aside from most airlines prohibiting its pilots from outside flying for compensation there’s other risks. Under FAA Part 121 you are limited to flying 100 hours per month and 1,000 hours per year. Any flying you do outside of the airline must be reported and included in those maximums or you are violating the regs. Airline do not look kindly on pilots running up against the 30 hours in 7 days regulations either. Say you fly for a local company on your day off and earlier this week you flew 3 hours one day. The next trip sequence that begins tomorrow on your airline schedule is built to 28 hours. Legally you must drop some portion of your schedule to be legal. With your outside flying, you’d end up flying 31 hours in 7 days and that’s a no-no. In airline vernacular not being able to fly because you’ve flown the legal limit is known as “timing out.” Sometimes “timing out” is unavoidable such as when delays bloat the legal schedule and 28 hours becomes more. In those cases the airline must remove you from finishing your trip schedule. They do not like doing this but they recognize it as being just one of those unavoidable things that can be caused by weather, ramp delays and so forth. However your outside flying would not be received by your employer with the same yielding attitude.

Another risk of outside flying is involvement in an incident, accident or violation. The serious ramifications to your airline job should be obvious. What a sorry situation you’d create for yourself to get caught-up in some violation that puts a substantial airline job on the chopping block.

Naturally a potential injury is something no one wants but becoming injured on a second job is probably worse because it is avoidable. One pilot for a major airline (with a strict policy against outside flying) was moonlighting as a fill-in pilot on a private corporation’s jet. After completing a short trip the pilot was helping the tug driver hook-up the tow bar to push the jet into the hangar. Long story/short…the pilot’s hand got jammed while fastening the tow bar to the tug and was crushed. After re-constructive surgeries and a year of physical therapy the pilot got his medical back but the airline fired him. In this same vein, a mechanic who gets hurt working part time on somebody’s car is taking a chances. So, although many airline employees do have gigs on the side, most are careful about risk-taking and stay comfortably far away from any window of vulnerability. There is no reason to be too scared to get out of bed in the morning; just use common sense and be careful. It is something to keep in mind.

There are no guarantees, assurances or absolutes in a pilot career. Even as you are preparing for what hopefully will be a successful pilot career it’s a good idea to keep a backup plan in mind just in case your career needs that first aid kit that is found in the Boy Scout’s backpack.

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Sources:

1 – http://www.tilmongroup.com/images/JAT%20Full%20Bio%20January%202013.pdf

John Peltier

Looking for an exciting aviation career? Forget airplanes and fly something that doesn’t need a runway! A career as a helicopter pilot will afford you the ability to travel all over the world and get paid to do things that seem like they only come out of the movies.

But the first step – you need to get your commercial helicopter license.

If you want to fly helicopters, getting a commercial helicopter license is more or less mandatory unless you’re swimming in money. Unlike general aviation airplanes, helicopters cost much more to rent (around $250/hr just for a two-seater) and have more stringent insurance requirements. And this is after the more expensive training. This makes helicopter flying a hobby for the rich, whereas the rest of us need to find another way to fly them. But why complain about an opportunity to get paid to do it?

What You Can Do With Your Commercial Helicopter License

Many helicopter jobs require a fair amount of time in the cockpit to be eligible. But it is possible for you to start making money almost immediately after getting your commercial helicopter license.

Some schools have tour operations going on in addition to flight instruction, and pilots can start flying tours in piston helicopters after receiving their certificate.

Many commercial helicopter students will also go directly into flight instructor training, and this is a great way to build hours for a couple of years before transitioning to jobs in larger turbines.

From there, your imagination is the limit. Fly medical supplies into the African bush. Drop off scientists in the Arctic. Fight fires. Make movies. What do you want to do?

Steps in Getting Your Commercial Helicopter License

The first thing you should do is research schools. And don’t pick a school based on the price! This can get you in trouble with substandard training and/or safety.

You should be prepared to move if needed – don’t pick a school just because it’s close to home either. You should actually make visits out to these schools and interview the staff. Ask about their safety record, job placement opportunities after training, and get some feedback from some of the other students. Check out their equipment also, both simulators and the actual aircraft. Are they clean and in a presentable condition? This reflects greatly on the school. Some schools may have financing available either directly or offered through a third party, and you should inquire about this too if you’ll need financing.

Once you decide on a school, the next step is the actual training. If you already have your private helicopter license or are starting from scratch, be prepared for a lot of study and hard work! You should really put as much focus as you can into the training – this will set you up for success further down the road.

Here are the requirements for your commercial helicopter license, straight from the Federal Aviation Regulations:

• Be at least 18 years old
• Be able to read, speak, and write English
• Be endorsed from an instructor who certifies that you are prepared for the written knowledge test
• Pass a written knowledge test
• Be endorsed from an instructor who certifies that they conducted your required training and that you are ready for the practical test (the check ride)
• Meet aeronautical experience requirements outlined in the regulations (flying time and conditions)
• Pass the practical test (check ride)
• Hold at least a private pilot certificate
• Comply with all applicable Federal Aviation Regulations

The aeronautical knowledge required for the test includes things like airspace definitions, aviation weather, emergency procedures, aircraft systems, and so on. You will learn all of this in ground training and/or a home study course.

Your are required to have at a minimum 150 hours of flight time (aeronautical experience) that includes:

• 100 hours in powered aircraft, 50 of which is in helicopters
• 100 hours of pilot-in-command time, which includes:
  • 35 hours in helicopters
  • 10 hours cross-country flight in helicopters
• 20 hours of training which includes:
  • 5 hours training of flying the helicopter by only reference to instruments
  • One 2-hour cross-country during the day, longer than 50 miles
  • One 2-hour cross-country during nighttime, longer than 50 miles
  • Three hours preparing for the test with an instructor within 2 months of the practical test
• 10 hours of solo flight (an instructor may also be present) which includes:
  • One cross-country, landing at three points, with one segment longer than 50 miles
  • 5 hours of night flying with 10 takeoffs and 10 landings

The numbers may seem big, but it goes by fast! You can also combine certain requirements, like doing some of your instrument flying training during one of your cross-country flights. So long as you have the total 150 hours of flight time, you’re good.

Costs for Getting Your Commercial Helicopter License

This is a common question for students seeking their commercial helicopter license, but it’s not an easy one to answer based on all the variables.

For one, fuel costs vary around the country. Second, different operators are looking for different profit margins and this has a big impact on the variation in pricing. Third, other operating costs are factored in also, such as the school’s hangar rental, insurance premiums, employee wages, etc.

And finally, a lot of it depends on YOU. The minimums are just that, minimums. Don’t be upset if your instructor won’t sign you off at exactly 150 hours! It’s very rare for a student pilot to get signed off at the bare minimum. And instructors won’t just keep you flying so that they can make a buck – they were in your shoes once upon a time also and want to keep costs down for you.

One great way to keep costs down is to keep your training consistent – don’t take breaks for weeks at a time because that will set you back slightly with each break. Flying a few days a week is a great pace – enough to keep you on top of your training but not too much to get burned out. It is reasonable to get your license in approximately 9 months at this pace, starting from zero experience.

If you’re looking for a ballpark figure, a private pilot license will cost you around $12,000-$15,000 and a commercial helicopter license on top of that will cost another $30,000-$33,000. So, somewhere between $42,000-$48,000. Again, that varies greatly from school to school and with student progression.

After You Get Your Commercial Helicopter License

Don’t stop there! As we mentioned previously, working as a flight instructor is a great way, if not the best way, for new commercial helicopter pilots to build hours required by other employers. Flying as an instructor also makes you a better pilot. It’s great résumé fodder when you go for that next job.

Having an instrument rating is another piece of the puzzle that employers are looking for. While most helicopter pilots won’t actually fly in instrument meteorological conditions during their careers, having instrument training again makes you a better pilot and shows employers that you’re dedicated to becoming the best pilot. It’s another great investment that will pay dividends in the future.

And never stop studying! The brain can only hold a finite amount of information, not to mention that a lot of that information changes with the industry.

The bottom line: getting your commercial helicopter license requires a lot of hard work and dedication, but you’ll have one of the most satisfying, intense, fun jobs that you can imagine!

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Anders Clark

Don’t think the continuing pilot shortage is having an effect on the aviation industry? Tell that to Republic Airways, a major feeder airline who has just declared bankruptcy in New York. Republic flies smaller regional jets for three major carriers, Delta Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines. And they say that the continuing pilot shortage caused them to ground so many planes that filing for bankruptcy became their only option. “We worked hard to avoid this step,” said CEO Bryan Bedford.

Interestingly, Republic Airways is relatively healthy financially speaking, reporting an overall profit for eight straight quarters. They are literally declaring bankruptcy because they don’t have enough pilots to cover all their scheduled flights. In addition, it has been reported that they are also leasing a large number of smaller airliners, in particular 50 seaters, that have become a cost drain to fly and are not favored by major carriers. According to a statement released by Republic Airways regarding the bankruptcy, this appears to be a move on Republic’s part to find a way to re-size their business and better match the size of and aircraft in their fleet with the number of available pilots.

“Over the last several months, we’ve attempted to restructure the obligations on our out-of-favor aircraft – made so by a nationwide pilot shortage – and to increase our revenues. It’s become clear that this process has reached an impasse and that any further delay would unnecessarily waste valuable resources of the enterprise. Our filing today is a result of our loss of revenue during the past several quarters associated with grounding aircraft due to a lack of pilot resources, combined with the reality that our negotiating effort with key stakeholders shows no apparent prospect of a near term resolution.” – Republic Airways CEO Bryan Bedford

Currently, Republic has an estimated 240 jets in their fleet and operates roughly 1,250 flights a day to around 100 cities in both the US and Canada. They employee an estimated 6,000 staff, including about 2,100 pilots. But, over the first three quarters of last year, the number of hours Republic has been flying dropped by around 5%. This has caused at least one of the majors, Delta, to file a breach of contract suit against them for failing to operate all of the flights they had contracted to fly.

So, what does this mean for regional carriers? Right now, they operate 45% of the nation’s flights, and are the only provider of flights to many smaller cities. And like Republic, many are starting to feel the bite of the continuing pilot shortage. Industry experts say one of the key concerns is pay. In the past, pay has been so bad that regional pilots can make as little as $23,000 a year. In response to this, Republic has started paying new pilots at $40 an hour, under a contract that went into effect this past November. And while this increase in pilot salary is a marked improvement, industry experts point out that you also need to consider flight hours. Regional pilots can only fly an estimated 1,000 hours a year, meaning that an impressive hourly wage doesn’t equate to as much pay as it may appear to.

Another key concern is the recent change to the number of hours required to fly as a first officer. In 2013, the FAA announced that first officers would now be required to hold an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate, which requires 1,500 hours of total flight time as a pilot. Prior to this, they were only required to hold a commercial pilot certificate with 250 hours of flight time.

The industry has dealt with pilot shortages in the past, but most of them didn’t last long. But these changes have many industry veterans convinced that unlike those past shortages, this one isn’t going anywhere soon.

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^{Featured Image courtesy of Republic Airways}

Wilson Gilliam Jr.

When a pilot opens his or her certificate wallet, the Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate is usually the one on top. It is a diamond on a black cloth. ATP certification is a significant accomplishment, as the requirements for both the written and practical tests are demanding.

I could have used all of that ATP weight shift knowledge when Target Stores hired us to fly tours around the parking lot of a grand opening in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Passengers of all sizes stepped up to be next on board and I (the pilot) just kept waving them on. I do remember politely gesturing for one excited, portly gentleman to move to the back of the group until I had burned off a little more fuel. Every take-off was a running, bumpy, pavement scratching event and the two-seat helicopter strained to clear the rooftop shingles of a nearby apartment complex. That’s the takeoff over 100 foot obstacle problem on the ATP test.

Some professional pilots never venture into ATP training. This could be due to the relatively high costs of flight training and a necessity to generate some income to offset those expenses.
According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, ATP pilots slightly outnumber those with commercial ratings. This means that nearly fifty-percent of pilots with “for hire” airmen certificates do not have ATP certification.

It’s important to note that an increasing number of employers require the ATP. This requirement seems to be more prevalent in the fixed-wing world. Helicopter operators have a focus on “type of operation” experience but are now beginning to require ATP certification as well. In any case, planning a long-term aviation career without ATP certification could reduce your competitiveness with other job candidates.

Should a pilot attempt ATP training as soon as they are eligible? Of course, this is a personal choice and is regulated by the experience requirements in Federal Air Regulations (FARs), Part 61. ATP training is a definite plus. The route to getting the experience required for certification can be varied. I suggest becoming a CFI/CFII first.

I earned my ATP rotorcraft helicopter rating license well after I had been teaching flight students of various experience levels. In my estimation, both the CFI and the ATP are important for different reasons.

I realized that I didn’t know much about flying until I started providing flight instruction. When an instructor becomes more comfortable in the cockpit, threats to safety stress levels begin to subside and openness to outside stimuli is heightened. Stress creates a narrowing of focus, understanding and reactionary response.

Unnecessary stress in the aircraft can interfere with teacher or student learning. I can remember when I was taking fixed-wing lessons, trying to earn my initial instrument rating in a Beechcraft Sundowner. My instructor had just taken a new pilot position with one of the local commuter airlines. Like many students, I remember having trouble visualizing my position when entering holding patterns. To be honest, all of the VOR radial dialing and cross-checking left me thoroughly confused most of the time. Out of the corner of my foggles, I could see my head shaking instructor. The thought of a new career was apparently blinding my CFII to my primal difficulties with direct, parallel and yes, good old teardrop maneuvers. Stress increases, attention is focused on the threat and the student (me, in this case) doesn’t learn, nearing resignation.

As a new flight instructor gains confidence, aircraft control stressors are reduced and a whole new world of sensory data opens up. The instructor should be prepared for this new experience and realize that that it is an unbelievable learning opportunity. Being able to see most of the flight environment simultaneously permits the new instructor to recognize control input lag versus performance, traffic conflicts and allows some forecast of student accident chain potential.
This is why an experienced flight instructor makes an excellent ATP. A flight instructor combines the developed ability to discern multiple input channels with well-honed aircraft control skills. I contend that simple, point A to B commercial experience counted toward the ATP experience requirements is inferior to comparable hours of dual instruction given. For highly developed situational awareness and control skills, consider becoming a flight instructor prior to training for the ATP.

The additional knowledge gained from ATP training challenges the pilot to think on many different levels at once. The ATP experience is an opportunity for increased situational awareness. Rote learning becomes less prevalent as causal relationships and risk mitigation becomes the norm.
Choosing an experienced and dedicated flight school is another important step in the ATP process. Some of the most proficient students I’ve ever taught started with me with zero experience and became ATP certificate holders. But, they all had one thing in common – they were all flight instructors for at least one year.

ATP certification doesn’t guarantee that you will be a great pilot. Some of the best have never held an ATP. If you decide that the ATP is for you, consider becoming a CFI/CFII first. Absorb your world for a single year and then get your ATP. I think you will find that this approach is within a few degrees of being perfect.

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^{Featured Image by Jonathan Gross}

Shawn Arena

So, in your journey to earn your pilot certificates, you have most likely (a) enrolled in a flight school, (b) been presented the ground and flight curriculum you will follow and, (c) been assigned a flight instructor. The next step is the actual flying. At this step, you will most likely be learning in one of the more common types and models of flight training aircraft.

Flight Training Aircraft You May Be Using

The general aviation industry has a proud and safe reputation of providing successful flight training in time-tested training aircraft. Typically as you acquire the feel for the aircraft and the flight environment, you will be flying a ‘2-place’ trainer (i.e. 2-place is industry speak for 2-seats). While many 2-place aircraft are available, two of the most popular 2-place aircraft are the Cessna 152 and the Diamond DA 20.

Cessna 152 and Diamond DA 20

Over the past 40 years, the Cessna 152 has trained more pilots than any other type of aircraft. Cessna purposefully designed the 152 with the student pilot in mind. This aircraft model is reliable, very forgiving in the landing phase, and allows the student to learn the basic airmanship skills needed to progress in the training process. While the interior is tight, the student-instructor relationship is forged nicely, in a cost effective environment.

The Diamond DA20 Katana aircraft is an Austrian-designed, Canadian built 2-place training aircraft that has been in the general aviation fleet since 1991. Designed with the same mindset as the Cessna 152, the Katana design takes advantage of the technological advances in manufacturing using carbon-fiber composite construction for the airframe that not only reduces the aircraft weight but allows for a more aerodynamic flight.

Unlike the Cessna 152, which uses the yoke style control column, the Katana uses the central control stick system that is placed between the pilot’s legs. Another difference is the 152 is a high-wing training aircraft and the Katana is a low-wing configured aircraft. Regardless of the types and models of aircraft used in flight training, you can be assured of a safe, strong, and very stable aircraft that as you move forward in your career will be looked upon with nostalgia.

Moving Up to the Next Level of Flight Training Aircraft

Prior to your private pilot checkride, you will be introduced to one of two 4-place aircraft that not only will maintain that basic aircraft feel but will allow you taking family and friends along for rides.  They are the Cessna 172 aircraft or Piper Warrior/Cherokee aircraft.

Both aircraft are two of the most commonly available for training or rental uses at flight schools. Utilizing the same safe, sturdy, and reliable foundation of the 152 and Diamond Katana, both are great transition aircraft for instrument flight training.

The Piper Warrior/Cherokee is Piper Aircraft’s answer to the 172. The main difference between the two aircraft is the 172 is a high-wing aircraft like its predecessor, the 152. The Warrior/Cherokee is a low-wing aircraft, like the 2-place Diamond Katana. The choice between high-wing and low-wing is personal preference.

In Conclusion

The bottom line is with either 2-place or 4-place types and models used for flight training, you will initially gravitate to either the high-wing or low-wing aircraft configuration through the early and maturing stages of your flight career. After a bit, however, you may want to explore the other type and may find it just as exciting as your first training aircraft. So go out and flight test each for yourself!

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