Matt Claiborne

While it may seem like a simple matter, determining how high an airplane is flying is rather complicated. There are at least five different types of altitude that pilots use and think about. Which one is the altimeter reading, and is it even correct? It’s not a question an experienced pilot should have to ponder

Aviation is full of jargon and technical terms. In some cases, acronyms and “alphabet soup” make even the most straightforward concepts cloudy with confusion. Other times, everyday words are used in new and unexpected ways. Defining our Actions When first heard from the jump seat or in a simulator, the Airbus call out of “50…40…30…20…RETARD,

There are two fundamental types of flying in the world. To greatly oversimplify it, the world of airliners and jets is instrument flying (IFR). The world of Cessnas and Piper Cubs is visual flying (VFR). But sometimes airliners fly visually, and some Cessnas fly on instruments. It’s all about the tools the pilot needs to

Most of a student pilot’s time in ground school is spent learning how airplanes fly. Just mastering the basics of straight-and-level, unaccelerated flight is plenty confusing. But comprehending the nuances of the forces of flight requires understanding that the critical stuff happens when things change. Today, let’s take a look at load factor. When an aircraft

Even the most ordinary things in aviation sound fancy, mostly because they get fancy-sounding acronyms. What sounds classier than a gas station and a corner mini-mart? In aviation, that would be an FBO. FBO stands for fixed-based operator and is a business found at an airport. The most common services offered by FBOs are fuel,

Now a dying technology, ADF-based navigation was once the foundation of the airspace system. VORs eventually replaced it and, more recently, it has been made nearly obsolete by GPS satellite navigation. ADF stands for automatic direction finder. Based on simple AM-radio ground stations called NDBs (non-directional beacons), an ADF is an aircraft instrument with a

After 9/11, there was one significant change in aviation that all pilots became very familiar with. It’s changed the way they prepare for flights and made situational awareness even more critical than it always has been. Let’s talk about what role TFRs play in this. A TFR is a temporary flight restriction. TFRs are issued

One of the greatest technological marvels in aviation is used every day, all around the world. It allows aircraft to descend from a safe altitude and navigate directly to the threshold of a runway safely, without any outside visual reference at all. It’s called the Instrument Landing System, or ILS. The ILS, or instrument landing system,

Some terms in aviation stick around awhile. In some circumstances, the term outlives the technology! DME is the perfect example of something that made sense a few decades ago but is quickly becoming oddly outdated. DME stands for distance measuring equipment. At one point, this was a stand-alone radio that read out your distance to

Aviation is full of jargon and technical terminology. For new pilots, it can be a bit daunting to understand. Nowhere is this more true or more evident than when talking with air traffic control. You may have heard the term “squawk” before somewhere. But what does it mean? “Squawk” is the term used to describe any