The same concepts we use in defensive driving apply to flight operations to help us mitigate risks of violations, incidents, or accidents. A little attention to flying defensively may convert those thoughts into mitigation of potential risks in our flight operations.

If you maintain constant situational awareness and utilize all available resources, that’s conducive to safe general aviation operations. Unlike commercial flights with robust support systems, GA pilots rely on their skills and instruments. Vigilance, monitoring traffic, and staying attuned to changing weather conditions contribute significantly to safety.

Avoiding Distractions During Flight Operations

A distracted pilot turns into one that misses critical checklist items, ATC communications, or loses situational awareness. Any of these lead a pilot down a path that could result in further complications—or worse. Keep interaction with passengers, other tasks you might want to perform during your flight, or even management of the resources used in the flight deck—such as an electronic flight bag (EFB) device—to periods where the workload is minimal and you don’t sacrifice attention necessary to complete more critical tasks.

Keeping distractions to a minimum is especially important during critical phases of flight. Setting up for an approach, taxiing at a busy airfield with complicated diagrams, during the actual takeoff and landing, or receiving an updated weather briefing in flight are a few examples of this.

The sooner you can ascertain a risk is present, the earlier you can make a defensive flying decision and avoid…undesired conditions.

Predicting Risk Ahead and Mitigating It Sooner

More than ever before in aviation, we have the ability to try to predict potential hazards and mitigate them at earlier points in our flight operations. A key example is having onboard weather information continuously feeding us updates. We can use it to look further ahead for weather along our route or see updated climate conditions for our destinations that might hint at our need to initiate an alternate plan if minimums are becoming a concern for us in IFR or VFR conditions. When you do this, you can make a decision hundreds of miles away instead of just getting 20 to 30 miles from your destination and being surprised by an AWOS/ASOS/ATIS broadcast that now shows the weather has degraded significantly. The sooner you can ascertain a risk is present, the earlier you can make a defensive flying decision and avoid proceeding into undesired conditions.

Traffic information systems in our panels—or fed to our EFB—help us predict other traffic that may be nearby through awareness of its position. Taking this into consideration, we can receive clues regarding other traffic sequencing to fly the same approach we plan or help us avoid encountering traffic conflicts that might otherwise result in aircraft coming too close together.

Communication and Coordination

ATC services are generally available to IFR and VFR flight operations throughout most of the country—so use them for most flights. Certainly, most pilots understand they are using ATC services when operating in IFR or VFR conditions while on an IFR flight plan, and they must talk to ATC within certain airspace, typically Class A, B, C, and D. But too few pilots leverage air traffic control when outside of these requirement areas, though its services are broadly available.

• READ MORE: Communicate Like a Pro Pilot

A short cross-country in Class E or G airspace might not require the use of ATC services, but a quick request for flight following along the route can help them communicate with you and potentially other aircraft—and perhaps help you avoid other aircraft sharing the frequency. With ADS-B and transponder service over much of the airspace, it is a good practice to fly with a second layer of protection, helping you enhance awareness of potential risks.

I have a few flight training operations at which I provide tests regularly that will get flight following from local ATC when pilots head out to a practice area to train or test. A training flight introduces the risk of the instructor and pilot becoming distracted from their overall situational awareness while briefing and conducting specific maneuvers. Having ATC communication established can give you the chance to be warned about traffic in the area or if another aircraft is flying into the same practice area. You can then adjust position and altitude or even discontinue a maneuver and reposition if the traffic is going to provide a conflict.

If you are operating near an airport, monitor the local CTAF frequency for an idea of what other traffic is doing, including aircraft flying in or out of that airport. This is especially true if you’ll be flying in the traffic pattern and practicing takeoffs or landings. A good habit is to listen to the local frequency about 10 miles out as you approach so as to have enough time to hear other aircraft sequencing into the pattern. You may fly a few miles to the side of the airport to delay your approach instead of having two aircraft enter the downwind at the same time.

• READ MORE: Pro Tips: Situational Awareness For Private Pilots

Listen while on the ground also. Many times I will be listening to the CTAF, or at a towered field, the ground and tower frequencies as I do a run-up, while waiting in sequence, or as I approach a runway for takeoff. This can help build a mental picture of who might be in the pattern, whether they are likely to be ahead or behind you, or if there are other factors that might cause you to avoid unnecessary communications at a particular time.

For example, I was flying recently and listening to the tower frequency while we were doing our run-up and on the ground-control frequency. While monitoring, I overheard that the tower had an inbound aircraft that was having a gear indicator malfunction and that they were going to “roll services” for the aircraft in case it was needed on the landing. It was a great tip for me to just hang tight for a minute in our run-up area and let the situation play out instead of getting on tower frequency and asking for a takeoff clearance with a potential emergency developing.

The good news was that the aircraft landed without incident, and we were only hanging out for a few extra minutes. By listening in proactively, we avoided adding extra radio communications to the mix and allowed ATC to effectively manage its challenges without extra distraction.

Defensive Flying and Safety Culture

Thinking proactively and defensively—and acting as such—is part of a personal safety culture. It is a mindset for our operations that serves to help us identify, avoid, and mitigate risks before they cause problems. It is also one that we can espouse and allow to serve as an example for other pilots.

This is especially relevant when we are trying to foster a safety-centric environment within flying clubs, flight training operations, corporate flight operations, or even just among peers. The goal is to encourage open discussions, share experiences, and learn from each other’s mistakes to collectively enhance safety standards. We can all share ways we can be more proactive and defensive in our flying activities.

Developing the ability to recognize potential risks and being adaptable in handling unforeseen situations are essential traits of a defensive general aviation pilot.

• READ MORE: Best Pilot Kneeboard Options in 2024

Embracing and implementing principles of defensive flying significantly contribute to mitigating the risks inherent to flight operations. It is part of a commitment to safety and a mindset that helps ensure each flight, regardless of scale, remains a secure and enjoyable experience for pilots, passengers, and those within the airspace. Each pilot who operates in this manner helps elevate the safety standards within the overall aviation community. Defensive flying in GA is a fusion of skills, adaptability, and a proactive approach to safety. 

The post Risk Mitigation Through Defensive Flying appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

This was back in 1996. A recently released National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report puts a modern twist on pilots showing off. It turns out we don’t need Mom, Dad, or a Tomcat jet fighter to bend our safety sense. We don’t even have to do anything that feels extreme.

It was May 17, 2021. The weather in Michigan was good. Summer felt close. A 23-year-old pilot departed the Clare Municipal Airport (48D) in a Cessna 182, flying low and slow for two hours. He had a passion for aviation, already logging more than 600 hours aloft. The week before he had obtained his commercial multiengine rating, taking another step closer to his goal of becoming an airline pilot. He landed at the Romeo State Airport (D98) in Ray Center, purchased fuel, and departed from there at noon. An hour later, cruising at 500 feet, suddenly, with no warning and no radio call, the Cessna crashed into a dirt field.

He was flying pipeline patrol. This is a big business. There are loads of commercial pilots in high-wing planes flying above oil and gas pipelines. They are looking for leaks (apparently you can see changes in the vegetation around the leak) and right-of-way encroachments (such as construction activity, trees, or repetitive riding of ATVs causing erosion). Sometimes they fly with an observer, sometimes solo. On this day, the accident pilot was alone in his employer’s 182.

The 1965 Cessna 182H with a 230 hp engine had been flying for the pipeline patrol company for years. NTSB postaccident examination of the wreckage “did not reveal any evidence of a mechanical malfunction or failure that would have prevented normal operation of the airplane.” Likewise, autopsy results showed no medical issues for the deceased pilot. And the accident wasn’t tied to a metrological event. Ten miles away, the official observation was 74 degrees, scattered clouds at 5,500 feet, visibility 10 miles, wind 210 degrees at 5 knots. But the reason for the crash was obvious. It was even marked on the sectional chart.

Close to the field with the main wreckage was a 1,049-foot-high radio tower. The left wing and left cabin door were found by the tower’s base. The NTSB determined the probable cause for the accident to be “the pilot’s failure to maintain adequate visual lookout to ensure clearance from the radio tower and its guy wires.” Radar data shows the Cessna maintaining about 450 to 500 feet above ground level tracking the pipeline northwest. He had been maintaining the normal position, to the right of the pipeline. That’s standard operating procedure for airplanes and helicopters following roads or pipelines. Then he turned a little left, coming out of position and crossing over the pipeline. He wasn’t where he should have been. This was the side with the radio tower.

He saw it too late. The Cessna suddenly pitched up, climbing at 1,500 fpm. But it still collided with a tower support guy wire. The left wing separated from the fuselage at the wing root, falling almost straight down. The rest of the plane impacted in a field, a third of a mile from the tower.

That’s the “how” of the plane crash. But why did the pilot come off track? Why didn’t he see the tower earlier?

After the accident, the NTSB found that “it is likely the pilot was distracted while he used his mobile device in the minutes before the accident and did not maintain an adequate visual lookout.” Managing distractions is an airmanship task, requiring taking charge of our attention. And, down low, attention must be outside the cockpit. The mobile device the NTSB referenced was a smartphone, and this pilot wasn’t just texting or snapping photos, he had an audience. He was posting videos on Snapchat.

• READ MORE: Handheld Avionics

For those who don’t know, Snapchat is a social media messaging, photo, and video sharing platform popular with younger generations. Its defining feature is immediacy. Content is only available for a short time before becoming inaccessible, and after 24 hours it’s automatically erased. Several people were watching the pilot live on Snapchat. They were following his progress on the app’s map. Shortly before the accident, a video reportedly depicted the terrain ahead of the airplane’s position, including wind turbines and cornfields.

By the time the NTSB investigator in charge found out about the Snapchats, the platform had already deleted the footage. The agency was able to obtain screenshots of the Snapchat map, showing the pilot’s position as a jaunty, red biplane, and interviewed two people who had been watching online.

The last post was likely sent 35 seconds before the accident. He was 1.5 miles southeast of the tower, heading right toward it. If you’re playing with your phone, you’re not flying the plane. The NTSB concluded that “contributing to the accident was the pilot’s unnecessary use of his mobile device during the flight, which diminished his attention/monitoring of the airplane’s flight path.” He was too busy showing off.

Airline pilots impose a “sterile cockpit” below 10,000 feet, where phones are put away, and they don’t even talk about anything other than the flight. My glider club bans GoPros in the cockpit for the first month of the season. Professional YouTube pilots have assistants and set up multiple cameras that need no attention in flight.

Hollywood pilots extensively plan film shots and use professional aerial videographers.

After that F-14 crash, an NTSB investigator told me: “The most dangerous thing for an airplane is a camera.” Maybe pilots trying to be social media influencers should ponder this question—who is their camera really influencing? 

The post After the Accident: It’s Not Worth Showing Off appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

The problem is, those retracted wheels eventually have to be extended, in order to taxi to the ramp unaided. And pilots, being creative in their ability to ignore warnings and signals sent by the airplane, will find ways to land with the gear up. The increased maintenance and risk of loss associated with flying with “limber legs” were always present. Insurers, mechanics, and lenders began discouraging a later generation of pilots from buying such complex airplanes. Accordingly, Cirrus and other next-gen manufacturers have built fast singles with the gear firmly fixed in place.

However, many of the retractable-gear Beech, Cessna, Mooney, and Piper legacy fleet is still around, able to be purchased by new owners, and it behooves us to periodically revisit the cautions and techniques needed to operate them without incident. The FAA merely requires a logbook endorsement attesting to proficiency in operating one type of complex airplane; further training in other retractables is at the discretion of the pilot. 

You must avoid such laid-back transitions.

Study how the landing gear system works in any retractable-gear airplane you’re going to fly, what to do if it malfunctions, and what maintenance is required to keep it in tip-top shape. Get through training from knowledgeable instructors familiar with that type of aircraft, not just a few trips around the pattern but coverage of the plane’s limitations and requirements in all phases of flight.

When it comes to avoiding unintentional gear-up landings, make sure you understand how the airplane acts when it’s being forced to approach the ground without wheels. Yes, all retractable-gear planes were built with gear-up warnings that activate when power or speed is reduced with wheels retracted. Those can malfunction, or be masked behind the stress of passenger or ATC interaction.

What won’t malfunction is the airplane’s unnatural buoyancy in the absence of drag from the extended gear. If you’re reducing power to idle when a normal approach requires several inches of manifold pressure, you may be trying to land gear-up. If the airspeed remains fast as you roll out onto final, it may be because the wheels are still stowed. Listen to what your retractable-gear steed is telling you.

Checklists or GUMP rituals are fine, but make sure you’ve actually “done” the list, not just read it. I follow two rigid procedures to avoid landing gear-up. First, I never descend below normal traffic pattern altitude without assuring that the gear is down. You may think you moved the switch or handle, but did it really actuate, confirmed by indications and feel of the aircraft? Second, I always do a short-final check, when the approaching runway numbers are visible—gear-down, stabilized, cleared to land.

Flying retractable-gear airplanes is still a worthwhile endeavor, but it does require another element of risk management. Keep the gear system in tip-top shape, keep your skill at handling the extra piloting chores sharp, and never ignore the possibility that you missed that vital gear extension.

The post Gear Down Before You Go Down appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

Ahead of us some 1,000 feet down the runway there was a bald eagle standing on the centerline, scarfing down the carcass of what looked like a large white rabbit. We brought the aircraft to a stop as the bird stopped its feeding frenzy and hopped toward us, spreading its wings and obviously saying, “Come at me, bro!” in eagle.  

We had three choices: We could try to scare the bird away by heading toward it and run over the carcass in the process, go off the runway to the side and take our chances in the grass area that needed mowing, or we could do a 180-degree turn and taxi back. I chose door number three and in taking the aircraft demonstrated the pivot turn to the learner.   

As he taxied us back to the ramp, I got on the unicom and reported that there was an eagle parked on the runway. That brought out the airport manager with his truck and big shovel. He scared off the bird by waving the tool, then picked up the remains of the white rabbit and flung it into the woods on the east side of the airport. The eagle flew after the carcass. Within 10 minutes there was a warning on the one-minute weather about wildlife in the vicinity of the airport.   

The airport manager later told me that as it was May and the carcass was that of a white domesticated rabbit and figured it was a pet Easter bunny that had been dumped. Sadly, this happens a lot and pretty much condemns the animal to death. He also noted that there is no such thing as one rabbit, suggesting the abandoned pet was pregnant when it was left and likely mixed with the wild population, resulting in more rabbits. Their presence attracts the higher predators such as coyotes and eagles—two animals you definitely don’t want to hit with an aircraft. He was right. In the following weeks, there was an uptick in coyote and eagle encounters at the airport.  

One of the most frequently asked questions is how much trouble would a pilot be in if they accidentally hit a bald eagle—or any animal for that matter. The answer is none. However, the FAA has provided us with guidance with Advisory Circular (AC) 150/5200-32B.   

According to the AC, pilots are asked to report encounters with all birds, bats, and terrestrial mammals larger than 2.2 pounds. That means if you hit a rabbit, muskrat, armadillo, fox, coyote, domestic animal, deer or something else with hooves, the FAA wants to know about it because it helps the agency create wildlife management plans to make airports safer.   

Additionally, biologists want to know about these things because it can help them track migratory patterns.  

An increase in animal activity at an airport can also be a clue that there is something else happening on the property.  

For example, when deer and elk started appearing en masse on the north end of the airport, the manager realized there was likely a hole in the fence against the tree line. There were thick trees on both sides of the fence, so getting to it involved making your way through a lot of slash and uneven terrain. But someone did it and had cut the chain-link fence intentionally.  

Based on the tire tracks that appeared to be from ATVs—and the number of hangars that were broken into—it was suggested that someone was accessing the airport to steal tools and anything else they could sell for scrap metal. 

If You Hit an Animal

The AC has instructions on how to file a report and with whom. Pilots are asked to do this when “bird or other wildlife remains, whether in whole or in part, are found: (1) Within 250 feet of a runway centerline or within 1,000 feet of a runway end unless another reason for the animal’s death is identified or suspected.”  

In addition, the FAA wants to know about it if “the presence of birds or other wildlife on or off the airport had a significant negative effect on a flight,” such as forcing the pilot to abort takeoff or the aircraft leaving the pavement to avoid a collision.   

You can report the event online at the Airport Wildlife Hazard Mitigation website or via mobile devices.

The Worst Thing to Hit

According to the AC, the animal encounters that are likely to result in the most damage are  white-tailed deer, snow goose, turkey vultures and Canada geese.   

I have encountered all of these, fortunately from a distance. Mostly we have geese in the Pacific Northwest, and airports invest a lot of time and money into methods to deter the birds from roosting there. This includes noise cannons, using an airport dog to chase them away, or having someone drive around in a golf cart to chase them away.  

There are some airports that disguise ponds on their property by filling them with black or gray plastic balls (think the ball pit at a kid’s amusement center). From the air the birds see the black and gray and assume that it is cement, not water, so they do not land.  

If you see a gaggle of geese near the runway, notify airport personnel before you take off or land. The staff will likely chase them off before you take the runway. Bonus note: If you land at an airport and see plywood dogs mounted on revolving poles in the airport grass infield, that’s a good indication they have bird issues. Birds see the faux dogs moving in the wind and avoid the area.  

Avoiding Birds

You can decrease your chances of having a bird strike by avoiding places they congregate, such as bird sanctuaries. Pay attention to the altitude restrictions noted on the VFR sectional and terminal charts, especially along coastlines.   

Most birds fly at 2,500 feet or less, so flying higher than that can mitigate your risk. Be careful with flocks of starlings and seagulls as their numbers can create serious issues if you fly through them. If you see them on the ground, don’t buzz them. They will likely launch in a panic with disastrous results.  

Unfortunately, most of our knowledge about bird strike avoidance is theoretical and anecdotal. Some pilots believe that turning on the landing light will deter birds because they will see and avoid the aircraft.  

If you see a bird approaching head-on, pull up, being careful not to stall the aircraft. The birds often dive to avoid aircraft—so do bats. But sometimes you just don’t have the time to react. I speak from experience.  

I was flying with a learner on downwind at an altitude of 1,000 feet agl when we saw a red-tailed hawk heading right for us. It had descended into the pattern, and it was going the opposite direction. It had its belly toward us, and it was flapping wildly. There was a thump, followed by a shudder in the airframe, and we felt and heard something roll over the top of the aircraft. I took the controls and gingerly tested the rudder and elevator while my learner looked outside for damage. We didn’t see any, and the landing was normal. After landing we discovered a small dent, and some blood and feathers stuck to the top wing next to the air vent.  

We had noted where the strike took place, including the altitude and our airspeed at the time of impact. This information was used to fill out the FAA Bird/Wildlife Strike Report.   

We were lucky because we were not going too fast, and the bird did not hit the windscreen. The higher the speed, the greater risk of structural damage. GA aircraft windscreens are definitely not designed to withstand bird strikes.  

The most important thing to remember if you encounter a bird strike is to fly the airplane. Pilots who have experienced bird strikes that resulted in significant damage tell stories of the aircraft “flying a little wonky” because of a big dent in the wing or tail and having trouble maintaining altitude if the windscreen is compromised.  

But they lived to tell the story. That’s what’s important.

The post Avoiding and Surviving Bird Strikes appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

Over the years, the collected data has proven invaluable, aiding decision-makers in strategic planning and revealing trends. The inaugural survey in 2021 focused on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent reports have addressed the aviation industry’s recovery and operational efficiencies.

• READ MORE: Redbird‘s New Flight School Survey Digs Up Fascinating Data, Including: How Much Does It Cost?

Responses to the survey will be accepted until February 23 and will be unveiled at the 2024 Redbird Migration Flight Training Conference on March 5 through 6 at the Lone Star Flight Museum in Houston. Firecrown Media CEO Craig Fuller will be a featured speaker at the event, along with retired NASA astronaut Charlie Precourt and Helicopter Association International president and CEO James Viola. 

Kyle, Texas-based Redbird Flight, known for delivering innovative training devices worldwide, encourages learners, pilots, instructors, and organizations to contribute to this vital snapshot of the industry.

For more information about the survey and conference, visit Redbird Flight and the Redbird Migration event page.

The post State of Flight Training: Redbird’s Annual Survey Is Live appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

Everybody has memories of the original Microsoft Flight Simulator software versions. Then not too many years later, computer programmer Austin Meyer developed his Archer II simulator which morphed into the famous X-Plane simulation program we fans have grown to know and love. Today, when talking of PC civilian sims, most of us immediately think of just two. MSFS2020 and X-Plane 12 dominate the market. However, others exist for military and civilian fans and won’t be neglected in future articles.

But I want to focus on how both X-Plane and MSFS can benefit newly certificated pilots and students alike, so I will look at a few scenarios the fairly new pilot would benefit from flying virtually in a snapshot of both sims, both pros and cons.

Slow Flight, MCA, Stalls, and Spins

For this scenario, I started by using X-Plane 12, basing the simulation at Alpine Airport (46U) in Wyoming, for a somewhat high-altitude challenge (airport elevation is 5,600 feet msl), along with variable weather conditions. After starting up the Cessna 172XP in a realistic manner—partially leaned for takeoff and using live weather—I climbed up over the local area to roughly 2,000 feet agl to practice slow flight and minimum controllable airspeed (MCA). I noticed the X-Plane 12 Cessna handled all this quite realistically from what I remember years ago as a CFII: full flaps, with speeds in the 50- to 60-knot range. Then I flew some MCA with the stall horn beeping and mushing controls, watching the vertical speed indicator stay at zero with power but not too much back pressure to induce a stall—just an aerial dance of working feet, pitch, and throttle.

Slow flight and MCA were extremely realistic and accurate in XP12 as if the aircraft was alive and reacting to the world as it should.

Soon I decided to go all the way into some stalls at a fairly unsafe altitude. At only about 1,500 to 2,000 agl, I started with power-off and power-on stalls, both in turns and straight ahead. Then it was time to see if the airplane spins as I remember from CFI training days. The feeling of the flight model during this was very high and precise.

Power to idle, then back pressure into a squealing stall horn and a turn rolled me rapidly into a left-hand spin—shockingly real and startling.
Sure enough, the back pressure in a turn did the trick, with a fully breaking stall—horn screaming—and bam, the rapid roll into a spin was shockingly real. The recovery inputs felt natural and realistic—slightly sloppy but well modeled—and I recovered at about 300 agl after probably two rotations. It’s certainly not the way we teach in the real world, but having poor risk management skills is the norm on a PC. The fluidity of X-Plane 12 aerodynamics is on full tilt here.

I tried the MSFS2020 Cessna 172XP, at the same airport for the same tests, and the same live weather, only this time as MSFS interprets it.

MSFS never used to model spins nor have a really high-fidelity flight model, but in this test the modeled airplane produced a realistic spin. This was prompted by a power-on stall that resulted in a rapidly winding spin. Sounds of the stall and spin were pretty much on par with X-Plane 12, with the exception being the stall horn X-Plane 12 sounded more realistic and dynamic.

Once airborne in the MSFS 172, I tested slow flight, MCA, and spins in the same manner. Where the MSFS franchise was never known for realistic flight modeling in the past, it is clear this newest version represents a breakthrough. It felt very similar to X-Plane 12’s reactions, with still a wee bit of the “flying-on-rails” feeling we know from previous MSFS versions—but a massive improvement overall in flight modeling for this scenario. I was impressed it spun—and spun well. Recovery was realistic and responsive.

Failure and Emergency Training Scenario

No pilot training would be complete without failure and emergency options, and this is where X-Plane has always smashed the competition, with hundreds of possible failures and emergencies you can either precisely set to occur or randomize each and every option for a nerve-wracking experience.

In this example, I set up a bird strike to occur at exactly 200 feet agl. Despite this setup, I was still startled when it happened. The results were unknown until the engine oil pressure and temperatures started trending to the bad side. I cheated by looking outside and was shocked to see fire and smoke trails.

The scenery is compelling, but the overall lack of failure scenarios and a slightly less fluid flight model makes the emergency practice slightly less beneficial and startling. It’s too predictable since you must pretend a failure or emergency is unfolding. But the visual beauty and accuracy of the world around you are awesome. You’ll gain knowledge, crisis handling, and emergency off-airport planning in either sim.

The birds came out of nowhere fast in the simulation. I had nowhere to go and was coping with a big startle factor at that. You could cope in real life far better by having had the ability to experience that sudden event in simulation.

This engine had really taken a hit. Time to secure and shut down or choose to delay your response to see what might happen next.
I aimed for a road along the shore with some scrubby areas that could provide a safe landing site, although there were houses and bigger trees at the far end of the view.

With a comparable setup in MSFS2020 but without failure modeling, I cut the engine at a similar location and altitude. The scenery is more realistic as it’s based on true Earth images that load by default as you fly. Subscribing to Ortho scenery photorealistic terrain is possible on X-Plane 12 as an option.

I made a safe touchdown in MSFS in a grassy area, dodging road traffic. This is where MSFS takes the cake, “off-roading” with very photorealistic scenery by default. X-Plane will provide similar scenes via downloads and simple installations but by default isn’t as sharp as MSFS.

Convective Dangers and Weather Modeling

Simulating thunderstorms is a thrill, especially when the danger and risks involved can be simulated realistically. Fortunately, both simulations do this quite well now—a new breakthrough for MSFS and an old tried-and-true risk/danger model for X-Plane reworked and improved for X-Plane 12. I manually set up thunderstorms to begin developing, with a trend toward deteriorating weather, so storms would slowly increase in coverage and intensity, making for some cloud shots as well as danger. I know X-Plane has an advantage here.

I looked toward the bad weather and compared it to what I saw on ForeFlight. It’s easy hooking up any X-Plane session to ForeFlight to get the exact thing you’d see in real life. ForeFlight can be added to X-Plane 12 readily.

The depiction on radar, based on my area, was pretty realistic, I must say. What I really wanted to test was the weather over time, and a particularly fun exercise in X-Plane 12 is to park somewhere, use the outside view, and watch and wait. You’ll see and hear the weather forming around you and moving in.

MSFS does something similar, yet I felt the special effects, especially the audio world of these storms approaching, in X-Plane 12 was a bit more dramatic. The things that really caught my attention were the violent wind and rain noises. The rain sounds in X-Plane 12 are loud, especially in flight. Hitting rain at twice highway car speed is dramatic; at 500 knots in a jet it is mind-blowing. I recall once icing up so severely during an X-Plane 12 session that I had to set it down in the bush, with smoke billowing about. I waited, listened, and heard severe wind, rain, and hail lash the cockpit. The water was pouring over my view outside my broken world. The view out the window was scary, and I was trapped and needed rescue.

Iced-over windows as thunderstorms in high altitudes can quickly turn rain into snow and hail as happened to me in this manually set scenario.

What is this?! I had left for lunch while “tied down” as storms were approaching only to return to my horror to see the severe weather had dropped the temperatures from 20 degrees Celsius to about 5 degrees with snow or hail covering the ground. The windows actually had some ice clearly on them. The airplane had been blown far off the ramp into the grass. What amazing realism, danger, variability, and great fun this was. I wish I had stuck around to watch. On second thought, another advantage in X-Plane 12 is replay mode.

Convection building in MSFS2020 is okay. There are great skies and graphics for sure—just slightly less exciting and it just quite doesn’t have that feeling of danger I got with X-Plane 12.

Both sims have amazing weather. The realism of storms in X-Plane 12 wins in my opinion. The turbulence and dangers are genuine, with consequences. The daytime chop, thermals, and under-cumulous base roughness are all better modeled in MSFS2020, which recently had a massive weather engine redo. The cloudscapes and textures looked almost photorealistic in MSFS currently and are beautiful, but thunderheads in X-Plane 12 form, tower up, and stand more realistically than MSFS.
In X-Plane 12, using live weather was far too smooth in thermals, or sunshine versus shade. I felt that a few jumps, jarring, and/or nauseating motion was needed in X-Plane 12 when flying on a sunny day down low. All this can be tweaked by manually setting conditions.

Our two front-runner civilian sims undergo frequent enhancements and refinements. By using either sim or both, as many of us do, any level from beginner to airline pilot can find something to enjoy and use as a tool of proficiency, exploration, and adventure.

There’s never been a better time in the past 40 years to enjoy this hobby since almost daily there’s something new to discover.

The hottest links to visit often for X-Plane and MSFS include www.x-plane.to, www.x-plane.org, and www.flightsim.to. Don’t forget to grab the Honeycomb Starter set from our friends at Sportys as well to launch your sim into the next level of realism and precision.

Finally, I am a huge advocate of both XPRealistic and FSRealistic add-ons, as both sims need that extra sound, vibration, head action, and motion thrown in. 

Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in the August 2023 issue of Plane & Pilot magazine. 

The post Dueling Flight Sims appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

50 Hours After Private Certification

An experienced CFI once told me: “They are at their sharpest when you sign them off.” I share this knowledge with my learners, and I caution them to work hard to maintain their skills. It is not uncommon for the private pilot—as they gain more hours and experience—to become more relaxed, and procedurally, they may start to get sloppy. It starts slowly. Maybe it’s forgetting to use the checklist during the preflight inspection or engine run-up. Or maybe it’s using the “look out the window” technique to check the weather.

For the pilots that don’t pursue additional certificates or fly on a regular basis, their skills and attention to detail may wane until just before their first flight review. That’s when they practice again with great intensity with the purpose to pass the review.

It can be alarming when they realize how much their skills and knowledge have degraded. I encourage these pilots to make a list of their soft spots and the things they want to work on and bring those to their flight review. You can’t fail a flight review, but you can practice things until both you and the CFI are satisfied you are flying to the level of your certificate.

Losing Your Landings

Sometimes working toward an additional certificate can create soft spots in other areas. For example, the learners’ procedural skills increase during their training for the instrument rating because they have to stay two steps ahead of the aircraft. However, their landings may suffer because most instrument approaches are practice approaches followed by missed approaches. You just don’t do as many landings for the instrument rating as you did for private pilot certification. Expect this, and take action to prevent it.

Set aside a few hours to focus on pattern work to keep from getting too rusty.

Failure to Practice Pilotage

If the pilot is enrolled in a Part 141 program, there is often a black hole where the learner needs to build hours to qualify for the commercial pilot certificate. The pilot often flies multiple cross-country flights usually to the same airports over and over again, often following the magenta line. Basic pilotage skills are lost. It can be especially challenging if the training organization limits where the learners fly to. When you fly to the same seven or eight airports, it is easy to see why some pilots burn out during this phase and start to zone out in the aircraft, often letting it arrive someplace well before their brain gets there.

Overconfidence Can Kill

Overconfidence can sneak up on any pilot. It often manifests as the “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” syndrome, when a low-time, low-experience pilot tries to do something beyond their capabilities, like flying into the backcountry or doing a mountain crossing in an underpowered airplane. It can bite higher-time pilots as well, such as those with thousands of hours flying a turboprop or light twin who decide to attempt a cowboy maneuver like flying between buildings or doing a buzz job at an airport for sport.

Milestone Metrics

Reaching certain metrics, such as 500 or 1,000 hours, can also inspire a pilot to do something silly. If the majority of those hours are so-called junk hours—the same laps in the pattern at the same airport and no stretching of skills or practicing maneuvers or proficiency—they might as well not be in the logbook at all.

CFI Challenges

If the pilot is pursuing the flight instructor certificate, there will be a learning curve as they adjust to flying from the right seat. Once certification is acquired, their basic VFR skills may soften a bit because CFIs usually don’t do much of the flying beyond demonstration of a maneuver—especially landings. CFIs need to make time  to stay proficient.

Many CFIs, unless they have their instructor-instrument rating, will find their instrument procedures get rusty as well. CFIs are required to have an instrument rating, but it is very common for instructors to have their instrument skills become soft because they don’t have the time—or money—to practice instrument procedures. Some flight schools try to thwart this by giving their CFIs an allowance for proficiency flights.

When a CFI-rated pilot reaches 750 hours, this appears to be a time when they take more chances, sometimes with poor results. Why? It is pure conjecture, but it might be because the pilot, if a time builder, is at the halfway point to the minimum hourly requirement for the airline transport pilot certificate.

Pretty much every flight school has a story about the 700-hour-ish pilot that ran out of fuel, flew VFR into IMC, and got themselves in a situation with a learner, or took an airplane without permission at night to get some more hours. And the list goes on.

Tedium

For those building their hours as instructors, the 1,000-hour mark can be dangerous.

Although you’re keeping busy, training and endorsing  people for check rides, the road to 1,500 hours can seem very long, and it’s easy to get bored with teaching and burn out.

If you are a CFI and this is happening to you, please find a time-building program that is something other than teaching, because just going through the motions with learners isn’t fair to them—and might even be a little dangerous.

Editor’s note: This story originally appeared on flyingmag.com. 

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Skyborne Airline Academy is raising the bar—and pay—for its certificated flight instructors (CFIs), it announced this week during EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

The Vero Beach, Florida-based flight school said it is now offering pay from $37,000 to $43,600 per year, in addition to “premium pay,” which ranges from $44.50 to $69 per hour for certificated flight instructor-airplane (CFIA), certificated flight instructor instrument (CFII), certificated multiengine instructor (MEI), and check instructors after flying 58.3 hours a month.

• READ MORE: The Great CFI Lesson Plan Debate

CFIs will also have access to medical, dental, and vision benefits, an employee contribution 401(k) retirement plan with an employer match, and up to 18 days of paid time off and nine holidays each year, the school said.

News of the compensation package comes as school officials said they recognize the role CFIs play in meeting the surge in need for commercial pilots.

• READ MORE: Choosing the CFI Route

“Record numbers of passengers are now flying across the U.S., and at Skyborne Vero Beach we understand CFIs are crucial in nurturing and mentoring the next generation of aviators required,” Ed Davidson, managing director at Skyborne, said in a statement. “Our commitment to raising compensation for flight instructors reflects our dedication to those who teach and recognition of their expertise. Certified (sic) flight instructors with Skyborne will have the opportunity to advance their careers as program managers or continue their teaching journey as standardization instructors or check flight instructors, which enables them to lead the way in developing a higher standard of training for future CFIs.”

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PilotEdge has been proudly hosting SimVenture Oshkosh for four years now, and each time it only gets better. It’s a unique opportunity to emulate the flight procedures associated with the famous EAA AirVenture event. You’ll have the chance to fly into the virtual Oshkosh, guided by the actual Oshkosh air traffic controllers, using your very own flight simulator. Pretty neat, right?

Each year, the real-life Wittman Regional Airport (KOSH) in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, becomes a buzzing hub of more than 10,000 aircraft arriving for AirVenture. To handle this incredible influx of air traffic, the Experimental Aircraft Association collaborates with the FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association to develop specific VFR arrival and departure procedures.

If you’re a real-world pilot, SimVenture represents a golden opportunity to brush up on your nonstandard VFR skills. Whether you’re a seasoned AirVenture attendee or new to the game, these procedures can be quite unique, and SimVenture offers a platform to practice and familiarize yourself with them, building confidence and contributing to safer real-world flights.

For flight simulator enthusiasts, SimVenture can make your dreams of flying into AirVenture come true, even if it’s in a virtual setting. This is your chance to experience the thrill of one of the most realistic flight simulations you’ve ever experienced.

The first SimVenture in 2020 was created as a response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, offering aviation lovers an exciting activity they could safely enjoy from home. It quickly became a massive success, with more than 1,000 virtual arrivals into Oshkosh.

By 2021, the event transitioned to a more training-focused approach, allowing pilots to use SimVenture as a rehearsal for the actual AirVenture event happening just a week later. This strategy continued into 2022, recording well more than 2,000 arrivals throughout the event.

And now, here we are, gearing up for SimVenture 2023. We are thrilled to be a part of this grand event with a virtual booth, joining you in exploring the virtual skies at SimVenture. So, mark the dates—July 13-16. Let’s celebrate our shared passion for aviation, learn, engage and, above all, have a great time. Can’t wait to see you there! Happy flying!

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A lucky few are doing so as part of the inaugural Spring Proficiency class, an immersive proficiency clinic for instrument rated pilots slated for April 24 through 28 at the EAA Pilot Proficiency Center. The center, located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, opened in its new location last summer. Learning will take place through scenario-based training and the use of 12 Redbird LD advanced aviation training devices configured as Cessna 172s.

The trainees will brief the scenarios, file as they would ‘real world’ and fly them virtually.

The flight instructors for the event have been recruited from the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators and the National Association of Flight Instructors. Several have served as instructors during the Pilot Proficiency Center held during EAA AirVenture, and some helped create the scenarios that are being used for the course. For example, I had the opportunity to create the Pacific Northwest scenario based on my experience working with IFR candidates.

Class size is limited. The ratio of clients to instructors will be 2:1 to encourage focus, optimum learning, and individualized attention.

There are two classes, April 24 through 26, and April 26 through 28.

About the Missions

The flight simulation exercises and scenarios have been designed specifically for the Spring to Proficiency clinic. The missions emphasize procedures and decision-making and include dynamic weather, enhanced scenery, and live ATC and traffic through the PilotEdge network.

Spring to Proficiency was developed through the technical efforts of Billy Winburn, president of Community Aviation, and Jason Archer, curriculum developer and Gold Seal Instructor who oversaw the creation of scenarios in concert with area experts.

“There are over a dozen sim scenarios set in three areas of the country: Pacific Northwest, Greater Denver, and Southern California. We’ve worked with local experts to get a realistic reflection of the contemporary environment. Each scenario is set in late April to correlate with the time of the actual clinic,” said Winburn.

“Spring to Proficiency is a Community Aviation program clinic,” he continues. “We’ve developed the syllabus, custom flight simulation exercises and scenarios and instructors (CFI’s).  The EAA has provided its own support [along with] sponsorship from Boeing. Most of the CFIs have been recruited from the Oshkosh area while other instructors are veterans of the PPC in past years. They are familiar with the venue and the Redbird flight simulation training system.”

According to Winburn, trainees who seek a complete instrument proficiency check will have the opportunity to complete the process in a Cessna 172.

“Trainees will have completed all of the requirements for an IPC in the sims at the clinic, short of an approach with a circle to land,” Winburn said. “This maneuver will be among the flight activity in the hour-long flight in a 172 with an instructor from Pilotsmith out of Green Bay.

“Flights will be available to clinic attendees Wednesday and Friday afternoons, at the conclusion of each clinic respectively,” he added.

At the conclusion of the event, the scenarios will remain on the AATDs at the EAA facility and will be available for trainees on demand.

“We are presently refining a system where folks can purchase the syllabus on-line and then schedule time with an instructor, qualified to teach it, and meet them there to fly the program. We also plan to expand the offering to select flight training centers around the country.” says Winburn, adding that other clinics are in development at the EAA PPC addressing other aspects of aviation such as mountain flying and weather and one based on Rich Stowell’s “Nine Principles of Light Aircraft Flying.”

This article originally appeared on the FLYING website.

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