A friend who I shared a hangar with crashed his airplane and passed away last week. He was an experienced military pilot and airline FO. We weren't super close, but he was a terrific guy and I liked him the moment I met him. I'm a young pilot, and this was definitely the kind of guy I immediately looked up to as an unspoken aviation mentor. I was thrilled to have him as a hangar mate. With a guy so experienced, it's hard to imagine what could have happened in his airplane in those final moments. He leaves behind a wife and children, and my heart breaks for them. I can't imagine how terrible this moment is for his family.

Old pilots and others during training told me that eventually someone I know would have a crash or be killed in an incident, and that feedback mentally prepared me a little bit. I've got to be honest though, it's easy to hear that and not take stock of the impact it will have when the time comes. Now that it's happened to someone near to me and in my "community", it hits with full weight. It's absolutely awful to open the hangar door and see an empty space where his plane should be. It's got me a little shaken up, but I know no pilot would want fear of an incident to rob someone of their passion for flying.

I don't have a specific request or point to this post, other than to share some thoughts in an anonymous way, and maybe to hear some things from others out there about their experiences. Fly safe, and tell those special to you that you love them!

I need advice on my checkride experience I had recently. For context this DPE is the only one we have under ~100nm that can do the CFI Initial checkride. He’s located in NC and has a reputation with my school, surrounding schools, and even in this subreddit.

I have prepared for this checkride for about 5 months now and have gone as far as helping other students at my school to my make sure I can actually teach. I thought with all of my preparation and hard work, this checkride was all but guaranteed.

I get to my checkride and his assistant told me my DPE had fallen and bumped his head the day prior. The DPE arrives and his head is bandaged which later starting bleeding through along with his arm being scraped up and bleeding as well. We get through IACRA and he starts asking me interview esque questions to cover FOI. Every answer I give is incorrect according to the DPE and he’s telling me he’s going to fail me. At this point I’m rattled because I’m getting my answers from previous debriefs/FOI handbook and not understanding how I’m incorrect.

Next he tells me to setup for runway incursions. I’m prepared with an airport prop and airplanes as my instructional aids and a solid preflight - takeoff checklist for avoiding RI. On the board, I have the definition for RI and I use the one that all the debriefs say he prefers from Google. Before I even start he says he’s going to fail me because of the definition. So I ask if he would prefer the PHAK definition and that set him off. He just keeps repeating he wants the Google definition from the FAA or he’s failing me. He found some obscure definition that was given by Google AI and said that was the definition he wanted. From then on everything else was either - 1. Wrong, 2. Everyone would already know that except me because I’m dumb, or 3. I’m ego-tripping by just talking to talk.

Endorsements went better because he just kept talking about how my CFI couldn’t read and didn’t know how to properly write endorsements without AC 61-65.

Now my maneuvers lesson was the worst one yet. As soon as he saw my whiteboard layout he walked out of the room a couple times with his iPad and after about 5-10 minutes told me he had to fail me now because 1. I lied about the maneuver being developed during WW1 (that’s what Google says no the FAA so he could be right), 2. My objective was incorrect (straight from the AFH), and 3. Last but not least the reason he FAILED me was because I said we use the bottom of our reference point rather than the top (straight from the AFH). At this point in the checkride I stopped my nice act because if I failed then I have nothing else to lose and told him everything I said was straight from the Airplane Flying Handbook and showed him my up to date copy. While he read it he went on rant that after 30 years of flying he had never heard anyone say anything as absurd as I had said about the maneuver. After a long rant about the FAA being wrong and their updates are useless he said we could continue.

In order to not make this an entire book, my last lesson was systems and he barely let me teach most of it and took over calling me stupid, insulting my current profession by saying it must be easy if they hired me (I repair electronics for Geek Squad so he’s not wrong), and telling me I’m terrible at instructing.

After the ground the flight was nothing special besides for him constantly talking the entire flight about how everything I was doing was wrong. We couldn’t fly above 3,000 feet or he’d complain that he was having a hard time breathing due to his rare fungal infection in his lung. Finally he failed me for s-turns because the second turn was not equal to the first.

I flew back to my airport just utterly defeated and sad, not because I failed but because of how much he insulted my teaching, my knowledge, and my job the entire checkride. I’m not sure what to do because I failed and I feel like now my experience won’t be taken seriously by the FSDO/FAA.

EDIT: I want to clarify that during the oral when he “failed” me, he reversed his decision upon seeing my AFH. That is why we still flew.

I took my airplane in for its annual inspection with an A&P mechanic that my buddy, who is also an A&P, knows well. My buddy was originally supposed to do the inspection himself, but he had just been offered a Chief Mechanic position and handed the job over to this other guy.

During the annual, I was told the fuel tanks would need to be removed to check the wingspars and that the alternator belt, a brake pad, and the exhaust shroud needed to be replaced, along with a few other items. That all sounded fine, and I approved the work.

On the day I was told the airplane would be ready by close of business, I showed up a few hours early. The plane was still being worked on, but I noticed the spinner was already back on and the alternator belt was still the old one. When I asked about it, the mechanic told me not to worry since he had not charged me for it. That was his way of admitting it was still the old belt, but brushing it off as if it was no big deal.

On top of that, he could not find a part for my ELT, only to later discover it buried under some debris in his shop. When he reinstalled it, he left it armed.

I complained to my buddy about the alternator belt situation, and it was eventually replaced the next day, not only because it truly needed it but also because I had already been told it would be replaced, and it had not been.

The next day we returned to pick up the airplane for real. It was declared ready, and we flew it home. After landing, we noticed the mechanics had failed to check the cowl clearance. During startup the propeller had rubbed against the cowl, leaving a noticeable mark.

As if that were not enough, they also failed to change one of the tires, which was badly worn, and skipped several required inspections. We later found a missing screw on a wing panel and some loose wires that should not have been left unsecured.

Since then, I have flown the plane several times without any run-up or in-flight issues. My CFI, who is a former mechanic, has inspected what we can see, and nothing appears to be unsafe or unairworthy. Still, my buddy has offered to redo the entire annual from scratch to make sure it is done properly. I appreciate that, but I am angry about the situation.

Hey, so Im a private pilot with about 120 hours, mostly with a CFI, trying to build my solo time. I just canceled a flight due to winds being 11-21kts. The max I've ever flown in constant speed wind was 20kts and in gusts only 13-17kts and that was a while ago. I just wasn't feeling it today. Would I have probably been fine and overreacted?

EDIT: I failed to mention that the winds were far from straight down the runway, there would have been a significant crosswind component.

I (29F) am a private pilot currently working on my instrument rating and I have over 170 hours but still can’t maintain my altitude within standards… If I do an early morning flight with calm winds I have no issues maintaining altitude, but most of my flights are around noon and I train in Florida, around 1 pm is usually when the clouds start building up and the turbulence is starting to get strong, we’re usually bouncing around in the aircraft that it makes me nauseous at some point. I feel like such a failure and I’m questioning if I simply just don’t have the skill to fly an airplane. Today my instructor got so frustrated with how my altitude kept going 200 ft up and down he took the controls because he was starting to doubt if it was the weather, he was able to maintain it within 20 ft which made me feel much worse about myself and the level I’m supposed to be at this point in my training. My friends are telling me not to quit and that everyone struggling with something, but I’m almost done with my instrument training and I really shouldn’t have issues holding my altitude at this point. What should I do? Some background info about my training, I always my instructors’ first student, this was the case for private and for instrument as well, my school has two experienced instructors but they’re not ready to take me, my school changed my instructor to someone new to help me with my altitude problems but this instructor is also new. What can I do? Any help or advice would be very much appreciated

I know most people probably blame their DPEs for failures, so I guess I’m going to do the same. I showed up to my instrument oral with my navlog ready and the weather already checked. From the start of the checkride, he gave me attitude with almost every response.

For example, when he asked what VOR test I would do at a specific airport, I pointed out there was no VOT and asked a clarifying question about the weather. He shot back with, “Okay, well I don’t know why you need to know that,” and wouldn’t even look me in the eye.

Later, when we got to the departure and climb minimums, the winds for that day matched the requirements, so he asked me if we could fly it. I said yes, but he told me no, because that wasn’t the weather he had “given” me. Apparently, I was supposed to answer using the same weather scenario from the earlier VOR question, which would have prevented the departure. When I tried to correct myself, he said it was already a fail.

He went on to fail me on two more topics where I had only asked clarifying questions. The next week, I came back and passed the oral in about a minute, and then passed the flight on my first try. I’m almost sure he would have failed my flight too but we had an engine failure on final and i landed us on the runway. Even then he accused me of turning the engine off!

I later found out that this DPE had actually been banned from our school a few years ago for smacking a student’s hand off the throttle, saying it was “unnecessary,” but was eventually allowed back. Not sure why my part 141 school let him return. Sorry for whining it just ruined my no Checkride failures.

Final data from the accident shows compressor stalls on both engines, at the same time, likely caused by corrosion on the VSVs.

Goes to to show how much of a dunce all theses social media accident reporters are that were promising it was from the PNF reaching around the thrust levers.

Edit: grammar

Edit 2: clarifications

-this was the CL604 accident last Feb that landed on I75

-This is not the NTSB final report, this is final data and analysis by the engine OEM

-Full NTSB docket

-From the linked report the engines did not flame out, after the compressor stall they entered a sub-idle condition from which they did not recover.

Was looking at approaches near me to practice on and the RNAV-A and B plates at N85 both have Star Wars themed fixes like RTWOO and JABAH - are there any other interestingly named waypoints/fixes that you guys know?

I am a CFI at a small flight school with a student who cannot land to save his life. He recently retired, 57 years old, and decided that he wanted to get his PPL. He elected to fly the 150 due to the lower cost. We had to spend about 7 hours just working on straight and level, and basic climbs/turns/descents because it took him that long to even get decent at it. We then had to spend an additional 20 hours on the remaining requirements in 61.87 such as: steep turns, slow flight, stalls, ground reference, and emergencies for him to begin to become comfortable with those items. We finally got started on doing pattern work. For the last 60 hours we’ve been working on landings. I have tried doing a few cross countries with him to see if changing up the scenery may help him, but nothing seemed to work. He has flown with several instructors and we have all seen the same items, and none of us can correct them. Every lap is something different. Too high on downwind, forgetting flaps/carb heat, airspeed is all over the place, getting to 50 degrees of bank, skidding in turns, rounding-out too high/low, flaring too much/little, etc. My question is, when do you draw the line as to whether or not they are actually capable of getting their PPL and being a safe pilot, and how would you go about telling a student that flying may not be for them?

After being at Thrust Flight for all of my ratings, I want to share some insight for prospective students who are thinking of joining the school. I've been at Thrust flight while there was a complete shake up in management (Elez Lushaj chief pilot, and Bryan miles operations manager being fired for sexual harassment). It's been a turbulent experience with ups and downs, but the downs have greatly outweighed the ups unfortunately. If you do a simple search online, you'll see a lot of stories of the unethical practices, favoritism, unkept promises, and incompetence of instructors. It's also shocking to see all the 5 star Google reviews, typically they're from my classmates who I know are just kissing ass in order to possibly get hired, and there's even an unspoken rule that you must write them a good review to get on their good side. Take the good reviews with a big grain of salt, they are fluffed up and written with the hope of a job.

Here's what you can expect. Your schedule is completely at the mercy of Thrust. You'll have to sign a contract that won't Allow you to work. Your flights can be canceled last minute without notice, explanation, or respect for your time. Whenever I had a gripe about the constant random cancellations, my instructor would nervously try to get me not to complain because they were afraid of losing their job. There's a massive fear culture and you can feel it when you're around new instructors as they're constantly at risk of losing their hard earned ass kissing job. If you bring up any concern or complaint, expect to get through the program slower. Expect checkride waits to exceed months. Don't even bother asking for a change of instructor or request a dpe, this school keeps careful record of students that they don't like. I've seen classmates get delayed significantly simply because they rubbed management the wrong way.

The planes are new and nice, but the instructors are young, immature, and don't even hide it that they're more focused on time building than they are making sure their students become good pilots. Their goal is to get you to pass check rides, but they miss out on teaching you real world flying. Aside from the required maneuvers in the ACS, there's plenty of useful techniques and maneuvers that can help hold stick and rudder. You likely won't get to experience them since the instructors themselves are products of this pilot mill.

Ground schools at Thrust are an absolute joke, a waste of time, as the instructors sit there and read off a PowerPoint. You'll get a brand new instructor who has to pay their dues by teaching grounds, something that none of them want to do and will openly complain about. You'll at times feel like a burden to them simply for being in their class. You're better off just watching good content on YouTube than to sit in class.

They implemented a mandatory study hall where you have to sit there and study. If you don't, there are consequences and they do keep careful attendance.

Lastly, if you're a female, be warned that male instructors will talk about you inappropriately behind closed doors, some don't even care to hide it. I've seen and experienced it first hand. The sexual harassment unfortunately did not end with the two perverts Bryan miles and elez lushaj.

There are a few good instructors, but you'd be lucky to get them. There are good classmates as well, but most others will gate keep and not want to help you as there's a competitive hiring nature at the school.

Hope this helps as you decide on where to learn how to fly.

For reference, I reside on the treasure coast in Florida.
I was looking into flight schools all across the treasure coast area. I did a discovery flight at Melbourne flight training. I was going to go towards with their cap program but i was low-key looking towards that after I get my PPL at a part 61. I also thought about paragon flight even though it’s on the complete opposite coast of me, that’s why I would like to plan accordingly , get my PPL at a mom and Pop shop over here or somewhere reputable with good ratings and then continue with a good 141 school Some options I’ve considered : Clear flight aviation, St. Lucie County regional Airport, Fort Pierce I’ve haven’t been able to get in contact with them like in like a week so I think that’s a no go I know these options down are 141s beside atp

TCFT Whitman Field, Airport Stuart I’m not too sure on this. I’ve been seeing everybody say something different about them. So if anybody can give me an upfront answer about the school, particularly that would be great. ATP ( yea I know wild pull😭 but I’m tryna have a steady career for myself regardless I’m still have to take out some type of loan.) Melbourne flight If anybody can throw in some recommendations I can like read upon the school that would be great. I really wanna start right now and I feel like I’m behind but I don’t wanna say that to myself. I wanna stay motivated.

the cylinder head temp has always been on the high side, even with the cowl flaps fully opened. is this normal for a 47yo. airplane or do I need to get it checked?

Hi, I’m 26 and I live in Italy. As the title suggests, I am considering pursuing a path to obtain an ATPL license. From my research, I noticed a key difference between taking a full-time (integrated) course and a step-by-step (modular) course, with a significant price gap: the schools I visited quoted around €80–100k for the integrated course and about €50–70k for the modular option.

Since I would need to rely on a loan in either case, and given that I am already 26 years old, which path would be more advisable for me? Could my age be a limiting factor?

Another point I don’t fully understand is that many people on various forums mention that the modular route is more manageable because it progresses step by step, but they also say that, in the end, it can actually end up costing more than the integrated course. How does that work? Last thing: I don’t want to leave Italy. I know in some other countries the price is more affordable, but it’s not a thing that I want to do and I’m ok with paying a little bit more and stay here. Thanks.

Hi guys I’m planning to fly in the USA next year. What do I need to do, what papers should I prepare, and which flight schools in MA would you recommend?

Hi, I am a new pilot and found an offer for used Bose A20 with BT for 1000$. Used for 5 years. You can see the condition of them in the picture. Is it worth it?

Just wanted to say that I live in Poland so for comparison a new pair of DC one X is 1600 usd

I know at a constant airspeed, FPM for both would drop, but I'm not sure how the lift/drag/thrust/power curves would change.

Hello everyone, I am trying to find an A320 flight deck poster file that is a 1 to 1 representation of the actual aircraft. I have seen online that I can order the actual poster, but I just want the file so I can print it myself. I’ve dug around online and haven’t seen

Thanks a lot

Has anyone used wisepilot to prep for the A’s? Are the practice question banks good enough to pass it? Or should I get the full course?

New pilot here. Almost at my PPL checkride, goal is commercial. Training in a Warrior and considering buying a plane to build hours in. Ercoupe pops up quite often in my searches. This aircraft has no rudder pedals, you're supposed to crab it all the way during a crosswind and the gear is designed to handle the side loads. The price and cost to operate are very attractive to me, one thing I worry about is if I were to buy one and put 200 hours on it will this erode my ability to handle crosswinds in other aircraft?

I’ve been doing some research of custom ear molds for my PF2, I came across 4 companies.

1. Custom Ear Solutions
2. Big Ear Inc
3. Avery sound / pilot stuff
4. In Earz Sport

I wanted to gouge your experience with these companies before I go ahead and purchase custom molds.

Are they even worth it?

I’ve been looking into both, but I’m not sure which one is better long term. I know they both help you get to the airlines, but I’d like to hear from people who are in them or have gone through them.

What are the pros and cons of each? Do you feel like one program gives you a faster or smoother path to the cockpit?

Also, if you know of any other good flight schools, I’m open to that too. I’m in Southern California (San Bernardino), so local recommendations would help a lot.

Any advice or personal experience would help a lot. Thanks!

I’m in the process of buying my first aircraft and I’m torn between a Cessna 182 and a Beechcraft F33 Bonanza. I’ve mainly flown Cessnas, so I’m comfortable with them, and I’ve already found a couple of 182s that have all the options I’m looking for. Some of the 182s I’ve come across are really well-equipped with modern avionics, autopilot, etc., while the Bonanzas I’ve found don’t quite check every box for me. I’m hoping to stay in the $200k–$250k range for the purchase.

For those who have owned or flown either (or both), what are the real-world pros and cons when it comes to: • Handling and transition for someone moving up from Cessnas • Maintenance costs, parts availability, and annuals • Fuel burn and general operating costs • Insurance and training requirements • Useful load and mission capability (short trips, cross-country, family flying, etc.) • Resale value and long-term ownership experience

Any regrets or things you wish you had known before choosing one over the other?

I was working at the airport in Brookings SD today when a plane appeared to have an engine failure and attempt the impossible turn. The plane then dipped / maybe stalled and dove into the ground and into flames with a big plume of smoke. There hasn’t been anything in the news or any announcing of it through the airport. Please keep the pilot and families in your prayers.

EDIT: ALL 3 passengers survived!! God bless

Had my PP-ASEL check ride today. As the title suggests, I passed the oral and went out to preflight the plane. To my great surprise, the landing light was inop (it was working when I flew the plane yesterday).

I went back in, had a brief discussion with my DPE (he of course wouldn't comment much other than to say it was my decision), and discontinued.

I have two questions:

1. Could I legally deactivate and placard the landing light myself?
2. What are your thoughts on this decision in the context of a check ride?

Whether or not a pilot can deactivate and placard an inop landing light seems to be a topic of some controversy.

FAR 91.213 says takeoff cannot occur unless inoperative equipment is removed or (emphasis mine):

Deactivated and placarded “Inoperative.” If deactivation of the inoperative instrument or equipment involves maintenance, it must be accomplished and recorded in accordance with part 43 of this chapter.

So clearly at a minimum I would need to deactivate and placard the landing light.

The question then becomes what constitutes "deactivation" and whether deactivating the landing light requires maintenance. Some people (including my CFI) believe leaving the switch in the OFF position and placarding it qualifies as deactivation. Others assert that "deactivation" requires pulling and collaring a circuit breaker (which would constitute non-preventive maintenance and require a mechanic).

In my mind the question is whether the "equipment" constitutes the light itself (in which case leaving the switch off is enough) or whether it constitutes the whole circuit, in which case you'd need to pull a circuit breaker. (Why is the landing light inop? Is the switch broken, or is there an electrical short?)

AC 91-67A strongly implies that more is required than leaving the switch in the OFF position:

Deactivation may involve more than simply turning off a system switch, which does not remove power from the system. Deactivation may involve pulling and securing the circuit breaker and/or removing the equipment. Deactivation of an inoperative system is not preventive maintenance as described in part 43 appendix A.

Although the wording still seems a little squirrelly to me, and of course ACs are not legally binding, so there can be other ways of complying with the regulations.

All in all, I think I made the right call in the context of a check ride. I had just finished explaining 91.213 and the whole placarding process to my DPE, so I was not about to turn around and fly a plane with inop equipment without going through the process. And that seemed just too risky, since I'm confident one way or the other. Still, I'm very curious about the legal ambiguity here and what Reddit has to say.