Training
Every training post, newest first.
What actually happens on a Discovery Flight
A $175 Discovery Flight at Page Field is a real first lesson, not a sightseeing ride. You do the walk-around, you fly the Cherokee 140 yourself from the left seat, and it goes in a logbook with your name on it.
The written and the checkride are two different animals
One is 60 multiple-choice questions you can study your way through. The other is a working pilot deciding whether you are one too. Students who understand the difference early stop wasting money on the wrong preparation.
What to do when the airplane gets ahead of you
Task saturation is the moment there is more happening than you have attention for. It happens to every student, usually around the tenth hour, and there is a specific set of moves that gets you back in front of the airplane.
Risk management and decision-making, in plain English
Almost nothing that goes wrong in a small airplane is a surprise. It is a chain of small accepted risks, and aeronautical decision-making is simply the habit of noticing the chain while you can still break it.
What NWKRAFT means, and why every flight starts with it
NWKRAFT is how pilots remember the preflight information the FAA actually requires: NOTAMs, Weather, Known ATC delays, Runway lengths, Alternates, Fuel, Takeoff and landing distances. Seven letters that turn "I think we are fine" into "I know we are fine."
Moving the airplane on the ground is a skill, not a formality
Taxiing is where new students are most surprised: you steer with your feet, you brake with your toes, the wind still has hold of the wings, and the yellow lines mean specific things. Here is the whole job.
Towered, non-towered, and why no two airports run quite the same
A tower changes who you talk to, not how you fly. But even two towered fields run differently — the way we get out at Page Field is not the way we get out at Miami Executive, and knowing that difference is the difference between a smooth departure and a confused one.
How to talk on the radio without sounding like a student
Every radio call is the same four things in the same order: who you are calling, who you are, where you are, and what you want. Get that shape into your head and the rest is vocabulary.
IMSAFE: how a pilot decides they are fit to fly today
Before I touch the airplane I run six letters on myself — Illness, Medication, Stress, Alcohol, Fatigue, Emotion. It takes about fifteen seconds and it is the single easiest way to keep a bad day on the ground.
Ready to get in the air?
Book a Discovery Flight, or talk it through with me first. I answer my own phone, and five minutes is usually enough to know.
Serving Cape Coral · Naples · Estero · Punta Gorda · Bonita Springs · Fort Myers Beach · Lehigh Acres · Immokalee