Aviation Blog - Page 75

If you’ve ever spent any time around airports, especially General Aviation ones, you’ll probably have noticed aircraft come into land, briefly touch the runway before taking off once again. This maneuver is known as touch & go landing. A rapid combination of two maneuvers, a touch & go landing involves the landing and immediate take-off

Though around long before, the modern aviation industry was born in the so-called “Golden Age of Aviation” – the 20 or so year period during the 1920s and 1930s which saw rapid development of the aviation industry. The period saw unrivaled breakthroughs in aviation which revolutionized how people fly. It progressed from slow and wooden biplanes (an

Have you ever been on an airline flight that did a go-around? Chances are quite a few passengers were freaked out by the experience as the plane seemed like it was making a normal landing, but the pilot suddenly put it into a power climb. It provides the pilot a way of abandoning a landing

Have you ever wondered why there is a tiny jet engine in the tail end of large airliners? What difference could such a small engine make in a huge wide body airliner, right? The APU does not provide any thrust, but is nevertheless indispensable for running and operating the aircraft, as well as for you

Since the inception of aircraft leasing in the 1970s, airlines are turning to leases instead of owning planes. These days, many aircraft markets and businesses use leasing financing. Unfortunately, some lessees are still confused about what is a wet and dry-lease in aviation and why airlines do it. According to the FAA, a wet-lease is

Pilot training and testing are unlike the exams most people remember from school. The closest experience most people have is when they get their driver’s license. To get your driver’s license, you usually have to sit for a multiple-choice written exam and then get in the car with an examiner and drive around the neighborhood.

Besides worrying about how airplanes survive if they run out of fuel, which they don’t, you could also be wondering how passengers survive in planes with closed windows throughout a flight. Where do aircraft get air from? Airplanes bring in fresh air from outside the plane and recycle used air to ensure sufficient oxygen and

The technology found in the cockpits of small planes comes to us thanks to the trickle-down effect. Flashy new toys start in military cockpits, then transport category aircraft, and finally general aviation. By the time it hits GA flight decks, things have gotten miniaturized and much cheaper. Take, for example, the yaw damper. A yaw

One of the most misunderstood jobs in aviation is that of the DPE—the Designated Pilot Examiner. For many student pilots, the DPE that gives their checkride and (hopefully) hands them a license is the first contact they have with the “real” FAA. The problem with that is that DPEs do not actually work for the

Flight physicals can be a source of anxiety for many pilots. For example, should you list your anxiety about a flight physical as a medical condition? However, flight physicals can be straightforward, and any issues found don’t have to be the end of the story. A flight physical is a generic term used to describe