Piloting - Page 9

A few terms that might be unfamiliar to US pilots, CAVOK and CAVU, pop up in some international weather reports from time to time. So what do they mean? Both CAVOK and CAVU are abbreviations used in some local weather reports. They mean “Ceiling and Visibility OK” or “Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited.” Neither term is

Aerodynamic center vs center of pressure: the center of pressure moves with angle of attack, while the aerodynamic center stays near 25% of chord at subsonic speed.

The language of aviation worldwide is officially English—it is what all international pilots and air traffic controllers must converse in. But any pilot will tell you that the real language of aviation is the acronym. The OBS is a selector knob on a navigational radio. It stands for the “Omni-Bearing Selector,” and it enables a

Everyone knows that pilots need a lot of training to learn to fly their airplanes, right? Well, not only do pilots have to go to school to learn how to fly, but they also get trained in each different type of plane they fly. Imagine having to go to school just because you bought a

Ask most people what counts as a “cross-country flight,” and chances are most will say you need to fly from coast to coast. A flight from LA to New York? Yeah, that’s about as “cross-country” as you can get! What is the Definition of a Cross Country Flight? (According to FAA) For pilots, the term

The National Airspace System is complex. Getting your first pilot’s license is sometimes called your “license to learn.” For all the technicalities involved in flying a plane, manipulation of the controls is the easy part. SIDs and STARs are one element in a much larger system of routes that airplanes fly. SIDs, or Standard Instrument

Keel effect is the roll stability a plane gets from side area above its center of gravity. How it works, why high wings help, and the pendulum myth.

Turning an airplane seems very easy, even when you’re sitting in the cockpit. Move the control yoke or stick to the left or right, and the plane will follow. Planes are designed to be stable and easy to fly, after all. But when you take a deep dive into the aerodynamics of what keeps a plane

Knowing how high you are is an essential part of a pilot’s job, right? But did you realize that pilots are concerned with many different types of altitude, not just how high off the ground they are? Pressure altitude is one such example. So what exactly is pressure altitude? Instead of referencing something physical, like sea

A flat spin is a spin with the wing at 65 to 90 degrees angle of attack and the nose near the horizon. What causes one, and why recovery can fail.