Two flight instructors, Samantha Bowyer and James “Steve” Rutland, were recognized by the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI) for their contributions to aviation education. The awards were presented during the annual NAFI breakfast at Oshkosh.

Jack J. Eggspuehler Award

Bowyer, an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, was named as the winner of the Jack J. Eggspuehler Award for her role in organizing and executing the first NAFI Summit in Lakeland, Florida, in October 2023.

• READ MORE: NAFI Unveils Newest Flight Instructor Hall of Fame Inductees

Bowyer holds degrees in business and project management and was instrumental in organizing the inaugural event.

Eggspuehler was the founder of NAFI and led the organization for some 30 years. The award that carries his name is the association’s highest honor. Bestowed by the board of directors, it recognizes the member, organization, or industry leader that has gone above and beyond in service to NAFI for the benefits of its members.

Greg J. Laslo Excellence in Writing Award

Rutland, a lifelong fixed- and rotor-wing instructor and author, received the 2024 Laslo award for his contributions to NAFI publications, including its Mentor magazine.

Rutland’s career spans military and civilian aviation. He holds instructor certificates for both fixed-wing and rotor-wing flying and has logged approximately 18,000 hours dual given. His writing contributions to NAFI’s Mentor are seen on a monthly basis.

• READ MORE: King Schools, NAFI Team Up to Offer CFI Training Scholarship

“Steve is one of the most impressive individuals I have ever met,” said Beth Stanton, NAFI’s director of publications and editor in chief of Mentor. “Steve shares his vast experience and knowledge in multiple ways—in the cockpit, classroom, flight simulator, and in writing.”

About NAFI

The National Association of Flight Instructors was created more than 50 years ago to raise and maintain the professional standards of aviation educators. The organization has more than 8,000 members made up of aviation training professionals who abide by a code of ethics.

The organization reaches the aviation community through its monthly magazine, weekly newsletters, podcasts, and MentorLIVE streamed events.

For more information: nafinet.org.

The post NAFI Honors 2 Deserving Flight Instructors appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The symposium was designed to be a way for educators and professionals nationwide to exchange ideas, share experiences, and delve into the world of aviation teaching and training for both pilots and mechanics.

Brian Hough, King Schools’ senior vice president of business development and sales, was the driving force behind Envision Flight Edu-Con at Coast Air Center at Montgomery Field (KMYF).

• READ MORE: Articles by Martha King

“Our vision for this event was to create a unique program that not only offered exceptional educational opportunities for our flight school and university customers, but also connected vendors with an outstanding customer base,” Hough said.

Among the distinguished speakers were King Schools co-chairmen John and Martha King, CEO Barry Knuttila, FAA-designated pilot examiners Mary Schu, vice president of marketing at Redbird Flight Training, and Josh Harnagel, and many other experts in their corner of aviation.

• READ MORE: Articles by John King

“The speakers addressed topics designed to give our customers better tools for operating their businesses better,” said John Dowd, vice president of marketing and public relations for King Schools.

If you missed the event, the individual speakers’ presentations can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQTup63Foj4RTaOw5qbIjfYWBBzgP3xo5

The event also served as a launchpad for the celebration of King Schools’ 50-year anniversary.

About King Schools

King Schools Inc. is recognized as an industry leader in aviation training media. John and Martha King have been teaching since 1975 when they flew around the country to instruct ground schools. 

By the 1980s, they embraced the growing video trend, creating video courses in a spare room of their home. 

Today, King Schools is known for thousands of video-based knowledge courses, from full-blown ground schools to short subject videos. Its reach is so great that it is difficult to find a pilot who hasn’t done at least part of their training utilizing a King product.

For more information visit https://KingSchools.com/EnvisionFlight.

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An Illustrated Guide to Flying by expert aviation author and instructor Barry Schiff introduces key concepts and provides a solid orientation for those new to aviation using the effective combination of succinct words and copious illustrations and photos. The full-color, 216-page book, published by Aviation Supplies & Academics (ASA), came out this week, just in time to tuck it into a budding pilot’s stocking—or get it on your wish list for the new year. It’s a great first read for folks who have been considering learning to fly—or who are really anywhere in the process of initial flight training.

The guide launches with a brief primer on aviation history, presumably to help orient the reader, and a timeline of key events over the course of that history. Then, the book dives into well-chunked information on basic flight maneuvers, engines, instrumentation, navigation, weather, types of aircraft, ATC, regulations, and performance.

I’ve known Barry Schiff since I first worked with him as a young associate editor at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA). Captain Schiff had retired from TWA after 34 years of flying the line, and he had contributed to AOPA Pilot since longer than I had been holding a pen, it seemed. I’ll never forget the fearsome first time I picked up the phone to query him about a potential error I’d found in his column. Turned out, I was right—and he was eminently gracious about it. He brings this same familiar yet expert style to An Illustrated Guide to Flying.

Guidance from an Expert

I asked Barry about the genesis of the book, and what gap in the market he sought to fill with the guide. “I wanted to create something that would get people excited about the prospect of learning to fly,” he said. “The book obviously is not intended to prepare someone for an FAA written exam or improve their flying skills. Rather, it is intended to expose the reader to what is involved in flying. I would like to think that the book will inspire some readers to head for their local airports, visit their local flight schools, and take that first step toward experiencing that heady adventure of becoming a pilot.

“Simply stated, I am hoping that my book will inspire some readers to begin the exciting process of learning to fly.

“As far as selecting which topics to include in the book is concerned, I wanted to include those subjects that broadly expose the reader to what is involved in learning to fly.”

While there have been other entry-level manuals to explore the flying experience, An Illustrated Guide to Flying hits the mark with the level of the prose involved—neither too full of jargon nor too basic in a way that would condescend to a broad audience. The final chapter, on learning to fly, gives the reader just enough to tease them into doing just as Barry suggests: picking up the phone, heading to the nearest FBO’s website or social page, or dropping by a flight school on their next drive. And that’s the intention throughout—to give just enough information to spur someone on to want to learn more.

You can order the book directly from ASA for $19.95 in either a print, PDF, or eBook format, or from Amazon.

The post Good FLYING Reads: Barry Schiff’s ‘An Illustrated Guide to Flying’ appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Now, there’s an easier way to navigate the system using an app called E-Z WINGS. The Wings Industry Network, a group created to promote aviation safety, introduced the app to the flight instructor community during EAA AirVenture last week in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

E-Z WINGS Streamlines the Process

The FAASTeam promotes aviation safety by encouraging pilots to gain experience and knowledge through earning additional certificates and ratings. The program is divided in the acquisition of knowledge and flight experience. The latter is often a flight review, an instrument proficiency check, or a successful completion of a check ride. To earn credit, flight activities have to be validated by the CFI or DPE involved. That used to mean logging on to the FAASTeam page and wading through what many consider to be a non-user friendly website with pages and pages of tabs and forms.

Now, there’s another way to do this.

“E-Z WINGS is a direct path,” explained John Teipen, the lead director of the Wings Industry Network. “It is a tool designed to work on a smartphone or tablet. With a few button pushes, the CFI or DPE can give the pilot credit for the flight activity.” According to Teipen, the user visits ezwings.net and bookmarks the app. Once this is done, accreditation and validation of the pilot’s activities is done with a few keystrokes.

This news is likely of great interest to DPEs and CFIs, who applaud the concept of flying activities, such as check rides, IPCs, and flight reviews to improve a pilot’s skills, but didn’t like wading through the clunky FAASTeam website to give their learners proper credit.

Reviewing the app at AirVenture, Doug Stewart, a DPE, founding member of the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators, and a self-proclaimed luddite, sang the praises of E-Z WINGS. He said now he can validate the flight activities for the pilot and issue a phase of the WINGS program “with just a few clicks.” “All I need is the applicant’s email address and I note the date, and it’s done in a matter of five minutes.”

Karen Kalishek, the chair of the National Association of Flight Instructors as well being a DPE and the 2019 National FAASTeam Representative of the Year, said, “The E-Z WINGS tool strikes gold as a user-friendly app that addresses a need in the aviation community. As a pilot examiner and flight instructor, I appreciate the thoughtful design which makes FAA WINGS credit issuance a quick and simple process. E-Z WINGS encourages CFI and pilot involvement in the FAA’s WINGS Pilot Proficiency Program and will help to increase aviation safety.”

Earn Those Proficiency Wings

For pilots participating in FAASTeam events in the FAA’s WINGS program, there are incentives and rewards for participation in each phase of the program, from snazzy lapel pins and more importantly, sometimes there is a reduction in pilot insurance costs—because the pilots who participate in these events are demonstrating a commitment to ongoing education and safety, making them, in theory, a reduced risk.

David St. George, a DPE and the director of SAFE, said approximately 70,000 checkrides are given in the United States each year. “A lot of people do the online courses, but too few people do the flying portion required to complete a phase of the WINGS program,” he said. “Many people don’t know that successful passage of a check ride is an activity that qualifies as a WINGS credit. E-Z WINGS makes it easier for the DPEs to log in and approve people’s credit, which can lead to them becoming committed WINGS users, and adopting a safety mindset.”

The post E-Z WINGS Makes Getting Credit for FAA WINGS Activities Easy appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

With that overarching concept in mind, NAFI announced this week in Oshkosh a future NAFI Summit: Flight Instruction Excellence at EAA AirVenture. 

The event will be dedicated to professionalism in aviation education and training, and it’s on tap for October 2023 at a location yet to be finalized. Three possible venues are under consideration.

NAFI will host current and prospective certified flight instructors, aviation leaders, industry advocates, government representatives, and media at the summit—and FLYING has offered its full support. 

According to NAFI president Paul Preidecker, “NAFI Summit will represent a significant extension of the work NAFI has done throughout our 55-year history to promote excellence in flight instruction through mentorship, education, and advocacy.”

The NAFI Summit will bring stakeholders in the flight instruction community to:

• share best practices, relevant business skills, and instructional techniques;
• offer networking opportunities;
• feature keynote speakers “addressing the vital role of flight instructors, with an emphasis on continuous improvement in safety and customer service.”

At the press conference at Oshkosh on Wednesday, NAFI chair Karen Kalishek commented on the growth the organization has seen, including increased participation in its forums at Oshkosh. “Here at AirVenture, we’re having a phenomenal year…this year we almost doubled the number of onsite presentations…we’ve had several that were standing-room only.” 

That bodes well for the content-focused summit that NAFI is planning. Mark your calendars for October 2023.

The post NAFI Launches Prep for 2023 Instructor Summit appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Teaching someone to fly can be a life-altering experience on the same level as teaching someone to read, swim, or ride a bike. All these skills increase a person’s confidence and give them a sense of freedom. But as anyone who has been through the flight training process will tell you, learning to fly is a lot more than learning to control an aircraft. Flight training changes you as a person, especially when you have a flight instructor who makes a profound, positive difference in your life.

Anxiety and Age

Graham Diamond, of the United Kingdom, began his flight training at the age of 70 in a Cessna 152. He spent a winter studying for the knowledge portion of the training, then went shopping for an instructor. He found Ravel Banwarie at The Pilot Centre in Denham, London.

The first challenges the pair faced were Diamond’s anxieties over risk and his rate of progress.

“I had lost my brother-in-law, an experienced Canadian Pacific captain, in a GA accident some years previous,” Diamond explained. “The professionalism of the flying school and Ravel’s insistence that I understand and adhere to the correct procedures quickly dispelled any anxiety, and I felt able to proceed with confidence through the flight training.”

“Concerns should be met with empathy and compassion,” Banwarie said. “Sit down and understand your student, be patient, open-minded, and willing, which will also inevitably lead to the breakdown of barriers they came in with. Next, develop a plan and adapt (the plan) as the process happens. Yes, there will be difficult moments, but with good communication, resilience, and a desire to succeed on both sides—and I emphasize the both—the end result will be improvement and success.”

As the flight training progressed, Diamond, like so many learners, had his share of learning plateaus and sometimes found himself feeling overloaded in the cockpit.

“I leaned heavily on Ravel to get me through these,” Diamond says. “Probably the biggest personal challenge, however, was sustaining my self belief through the ‘two steps forward and on step back’ middle stages of the flight training. Added to this self-doubt was the fear that, at my age, I was simply not up to the challenge. Ravel was quite brilliant in demanding excellence, initially praising effort and coaching me through to a belief that I could cope with this training and emerge as a competent and safe pilot.

“Ravel taught me that 90 percent of the demands on me as a pilot can be anticipated and that a good understanding of the behavior of the aircraft, flight situational awareness, ATC procedures, and rigorous preflight planning are achievable paths to manage in-flight workload and free brain space for the unexpected,” he added.

This process began by reframing the concept of multitasking, as the very term can be intimidating to some.

“Multitasking is a myth, as studies have shown,” Banwarie said. “Task prioritization is key, and this is what I teach. There are multiple tasks involved when flying an aircraft, but with effective instruction and experience, one learns to prioritize which task is the most important at that particular time. A lot of the workload can also be reduced by prior planning and strategizing on the ground. Many of the demands involved can be anticipated on the ground.”

Banwarie taught Diamond to use his age as an advantage, noting that many older learners have life experience that has an aviation correlation.

“To all the mature students reading this, and like I said to my student, break down those mental barriers. Why see it as a negative? Instead, see the positives: you are experienced in life, have already made many important decisions (demonstrating decision-making), have communicated and learned how to communicate (demonstrating effective communication), and have faced many obstacles and overcame them (demonstrating resilience).” All these things, Banwarie noted, can be applied to the aviation learning process.

It worked, said Diamond, who at the age of 73 is the proud holder of a private pilot certificate.

If you would like to share your story about an exceptional CFI, hit us up at editorial@flying.media.

The post The One Who Taught Me to Fly appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

PDC sessions were created to broaden an instructor’s understanding of topics necessary to become successful teachers. NAFI said in a release: “This year’s speakers are all well-known in their fields assuring the highest quality content available to flight instructors at each event. The roster of presenters includes award winning aviators, an expert meteorologist, airline captains, entrepreneurs and business leaders, Master CFIs, DPEs and other valued experts.”

Bob Meder, NAFI’s chairman, said, “Over these past four years, I grow more grateful to the outstanding presenters who come to the NAFI tent volunteering to share their expertise with guests at the PDC. From rough beginnings, the PDC has become a must for flight instructors seeking high-end proficiency training during AirVenture.”

The post NAFI Announces EAA AirVenture Professional Development Sessions appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Once you have determined what kind of pilot you want to be, you can follow our step-by-step path toward achieving your aviation goals. No matter what type of flying you choose, the basics stay pretty much the same. As you move through these steps, however, keep in mind that your experience is the most important gauge to monitor in order to ensure your success—what works for one of your peers, or even a mentor, may not be the best option for you. So, trust your gut when it comes to forging your way into the skies.

Find the Right Flight School

The flight-training organization you choose for your aviation education is so important, we place it first in the lineup to help ensure your success. Your choice of school depends a lot upon the goals you have set, as well as your location—whether you’re willing to relocate to attend flight school—and the way you plan to fund your lessons.

Here are questions to answer as you search online or through other resources to find the right match:

1. Does the facility appear clean, well-maintained and welcoming? You want to spend your time at a place that reflects pride and positivity in its daily operations.

2. Do the aircraft appear well-maintained and tidy? Ask what kind of maintenance program the aircraft follow, whether they are maintained in-house or by a local provider. Either is fine, but there should be no hesitation in the answer.

3. Do the flight instructors follow a standard syllabus, or are they free to conduct their own training regime? Too strict of a program may be stifling to some people, but there should be a certain amount of oversight, even in a small operation.

4. Does the flight school or training organization ask you for cash up front or a large deposit (more than 10 to 20 percent) to begin your training? Any more than this amount raises a red flag as to the organization’s financial practices and may hint at cash-flow problems down the road.

5. Does the general demeanor of the place reflect positive attitudes on the part of the staff and students or clients? One person’s complaints may be unique, but hearing negative comments from multiple sources doesn’t bode well for a good training experience.

Plan a Reasonable Schedule

Not only does learning to fly take money, it also takes time. Even a sport pilot certificate, the shortest path to the sky, involves a commitment of time and energy that you want to ensure you’re ready to make before embarking upon the mission.

Perhaps you’ve set a challenging goal before, such as completing an advanced degree, launching a business or training for a charity race. Each of these requires a certain amount of time each week, even each day, devoted to the exercise or study needed to get to the goal. Learning to fly, like training for a marathon, is not something you can cram in at the last minute. The most successful pilots-to-be set aside time every day for an hour or two—or at least three times per week for a bit longer. If you’re not ready to commit to at least this amount—let’s say 10 to 15 hours each week—consider waiting until you can commit to the process.

If you’re planning to become a professional pilot, you’ll need to dedicate at least some time every day toward the goal—or better yet, set aside up to three years in which you pursue the dream full time, as you would any vocational certification program.

Collaborate with a Good Instructor

Your instructor is highly likely to be the most important person you’ll interact with during your flight training. Here are a few points to consider when you’re looking for the right person, or when you’ve been assigned one by the training organization with which you’ve enrolled.

1. Interview a few instructors before you settle on one.

2. Look at the instructor’s use of learning tools, such as a syllabus, flight simulation and good briefings.

3. Expect an instructor to be willing to train on your schedule to a reasonable extent.

4. Treat your instructor as a professional in terms of their time—and yours.

5. Be open to an instructor outside of your demographic.

Pass the Knowledge Exam

Maybe you’ve heard—or maybe this is the first time you’ve been advised—that you’ll need to pass at least one knowledge exam and one practical test in order to secure your first pilot certificate, whether it’s to become a sport or private pilot.

The knowledge exam is often called the “written test,” though chances are strong you’ll take it online unless your part of the world still delivers these on paper. Many training organizations ask you to take your first exam either before you begin flying or soon after you start. We share with you the merits of this in “Navigating the ACS” (the FAA’s airman certification standards), so you can prepare yourself for this important step as well as the check ride—and leverage the education you gain while studying.

Read More: Learn to Fly

Fly Toward Your First Solo

Your first solo flight is the primary rite of passage that new pilots and seasoned professionals remember most about learning to fly. A solo can be any flight you take without the instructor in the airplane; that person has supervised your training and has signed you off to fly a short segment on your own. The purpose behind the solo flight? To instill you with the confidence in your own piloting skills so you can move forward in training and completing your pilot certificate.

In order to fly solo for the first time, you will need to have completed all of the knowledge subjects called for in the regulations, passed a written test on these areas, and logged time in all of the aeronautical experience exercises required. You’ll have proved that you know how to land—obviously—but also that you can deal with basic malfunctions and abnormal situations.

When your instructor steps out of the airplane and you take off alone for the first time, it’s a feeling you will never forget.

Spend Time with a Mentor

While your instructor has a lot to offer you in terms of guidance, there comes a time in nearly every pilot’s experience when they need support from someone else. For this, you should seek out a mentor, a pilot who has already been flying for a while and can both commiserate with you and answer questions you want a second opinion on.

Your mentor can also be someone in the company you wish to work for, who can assist you in choosing the right methods of training and goals to achieve along the way—and prepare you a bit for life as a professional pilot.

Build upon Your Skills

After you’ve soloed, you’ll grow your experience by taking on new maneuvers and flying to destinations beyond the traffic pattern. For many pilots, the first cross-country flights—or those to another airport at least 50 miles away (in general)—represent the best visualization yet of why they’re learning to fly: to travel to an exciting locale, fly people to a new airport, or see the world from above.

You’ll also learn how to fly the airplane in more-challenging conditions, such as into airports with unpaved or short runways, crosswinds, and through a wider range of emergency situations. Each of these areas prepares you for life as a skilled, safe, competent pilot.

Prep for the Check Ride

If you’ve completed a well-planned course of training—with lessons following a syllabus that uses the ACS as its foundation—in theory, you should be well-prepared for the practical test, which pilots call a “check ride.”

If only it were that straightforward—it should be. But because you are a human with a wide range of past experiences and differing ways that you learn best, your check ride preparation needs to address not only the subject matter at hand but also how you ready your physical and mental state. To do this ensures that you will perform well and demonstrate the knowledge, skills and risk-management techniques you’ve learned through your training.

Create Your Next Goal

Once you have your certificate, you may have a long list of trips you want to take and folks you’d love to introduce to flying. Or maybe you hit the wall, and you find that you had enjoyed the structure of the training course—or even needed that series of to-dos to get you out to the airport and away from competing demands.

The best way to make sure you keep flying after the check ride is to set your next goal. It doesn’t have to be another certificate or rating (though you may choose to jump right into instrument training, for example). If you identify an airplane you’d like to fly next—such as gaining a tailwheel endorsement, seaplane rating, high-performance signoff or new aircraft type as we outline in “What If?”—you can work toward that next challenge.

This story appeared in the 2021 Learn to Fly Special Issue of Flying Magazine

The post What to Expect Ahead of Your Flight Training appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Every pilot takes a unique path in learning to fly, based on circumstances, location, access—and just plain luck, in certain cases. You’ll make a positive approach, though, because you’ve identified a resource in Flying that lays out the path for you by considering where you’re starting, where you’d like to go and these key steps along the way.

1. Know What Kind of Pilot You Want To Be

In order to map out the best route, you need to know your destination. For many of you, the answer seems clear: You want to pursue aviation as a career, whether civilian or military, or you want to fly your own airplane to use for business, travel or fun. While those options might appear at first to be a dichotomous choice, they really prompt further questions.

If your choice is to become a professional pilot, you may have an idea that being an airline pilot is your go-to career. However, the aviation profession offers far more variety than just the airlines. Choosing to look into business or corporate aviation makes your path distinctly different—perhaps not at first, but certainly after you’ve achieved your initial pilot certificates and ratings. There are many other professions open as well, including medevac (flying either airplanes or helicopters), charter flying in remote locales (requiring specialized skills) and flight instruction.

Perhaps you want to fly for your own pursuits; that decision leads to more questions. Do you want to learn to fly for fun and fly locally with friends? Do you want to buy your own airplane and learn to fly in it, if possible? Do you want to use your certificate to travel, maybe to locations that require you to land on water or snow? All of these options—and more—are possible, and having that answer ready when you’re starting the next step will help both you and your training organization or instructor understand how to guide you best.

2. Find the Best Flight School

The flight training organization you choose for your aviation education is so important, we have devoted an entire article (“How to Choose the Right Flight School”) in this issue to helping you decide. The bottom line? Your choice of school depends a lot upon the goals you have set in the first step, your location—whether you’re willing to relocate to train—and how you’ll fund your lessons.

You can use our outline to help you ask the right questions as you search online or through other resources to find the right match.

3. Plan Your Schedule Well

Not only does learning to fly take money—and the desire—it also takes time. Even a sport pilot certificate, the shortest path to the sky, involves a commitment of time and energy you must ensure you’re ready to make before embarking upon the mission.

Perhaps you’ve set a challenging goal before, such as training for a marathon, planning a charity event or completing a certification course at work. Each of these requires a certain amount of time each week, even each day, devoted to the exercise or study needed to get to the goal. Learning to fly, like training for a race, is not something you can cram in at the last minute. The most successful pilots-to-be “train” every day for an hour or two—or at least three times per week for a bit longer. If you’re not ready to commit to at least this amount—let’s say 10 to 15 hours each week—consider waiting until you can dedicate the time.

If you’re planning to become a professional pilot, you’ll need to commit at least some time every day toward the goal—or better yet, set aside up to three years in which you pursue the dream full time, as you would a college degree.

4. Work With a Good Instructor

Your instructor is likely to be the most important person you’ll work with during your flight training. We cover this topic in detail as well (“Finding a Great Instructor”), including what to do if you have an instructor who isn’t working for you.

5. Take the Knowledge Test

Maybe you’ve heard—or maybe this is the first time you’ve been advised—that you’ll need to pass at least one knowledge exam and one practical test in order to secure your first pilot certificate, whether it’s to become a sport or private pilot.

The knowledge exam is often called the “written test,” though chances are strong you’ll take it online unless your part of the world still proctors these on paper. Many schools ask you to take your first exam either before you begin flying or soon afterwards. We also talk about the merits of this in (“This Is Only a Test”), so you can prepare yourself for this important step—and be able to leverage the education you gain while studying.

6. Strive For Your First Solo

The rite of passage that new pilots, and seasoned professionals, remember most about learning to fly has to be the first solo flight. The solo flight is one that you take without the instructor in the airplane; instead, that person has supervised your training and signs you off to fly a short segment on your own. The purpose behind the solo flight remains evergreen: to instill you with the confidence in your own piloting skill so you can move forward in training and toward completing your pilot certificate.

In order to fly solo for the first time, you will need to have completed all of the knowledge subjects called for in the regulations, passed a written test on these areas, and logged time in all of the aeronautical experience exercises required. You’ll have proven that you know how to land—obviously—but also that you can deal with basic malfunctions and abnormal situations.

When your instructor steps out of the airplane and you take off alone for the first time, it’s a feeling you will never forget.

7. Check In With a Mentor

While your instructor has a lot to offer in terms of guidance, there comes a time in nearly every pilot’s path when he or she needs support from someone else. For this, you should seek out a mentor, a pilot who has gone before you and can both commiserate with you and answer questions you want a second opinion on.

Your mentor can also be someone in the company you wish to work for, who can assist you in choosing the right methods of training and goals to achieve along the way—and prepare you a bit for life as a professional pilot.

8. Build Your Skills

After you’ve soloed, you’ll grow your experience by taking on new maneuvers and flying to destinations beyond the traffic pattern. For many pilots, the first cross-country flights, or those to another airport at least 50 miles away (in general), represent the best visualization yet of why they’re learning to fly: to travel to an exciting locale, fly people to a new airport or see the world from above.

You’ll also learn how to fly the airplane in more-challenging conditions, such as into airports with unpaved or short runways, crosswinds, and through a wider range of emergency situations. Each of these areas prepares you for life as a skilled, safe, competent pilot.

9. Prepare For the Check Ride

If you’ve completed a well-planned course of training—with lessons following a syllabus that uses the FAA’s Airman Certification Standards as its foundation—you should be well-prepared for the practical test, which pilots call a “check ride.”

If only it were that straightforward—it should be. But, because you are a human with a wide range of past experiences and differing ways that you learn best, your check-ride preparation needs to address not only the subject matter at hand but also how you ready your physical and mental state. To do this ensures you will perform well and demonstrate the knowledge, skills and risk-management techniques you’ve learned through your training.

10. Fly Into Your Next Goal

Once you have your certificate, you may have a long list of trips you want to take and folks you’d love to introduce to flying. Or maybe you hit the wall, and you find you enjoyed the structure of the training course and needed those to-dos to get you away from competing demands.

The best way to make sure you keep flying after the check ride is to set your next goal. It doesn’t have to be another certificate or rating (though you may choose to jump right into instrument training). If you identify an airplane in which you’d like to check out—for example, gaining a tailwheel endorsement or a seaplane rating—you can put that goal in front of you to work toward. We look at a number of options out there and help you make a plan in “After the Check Ride.” After all, the idea is to keep flying!

This story appeared in the Learn to Fly Special Issue of Flying Magazine

The post The Path To The Sky appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

There are a few moments in life that are truly memorable. It might be the day you held your first driver’s license, a crazy party to celebrate your 21st birthday, your very first kiss or the birth of a child. For most pilots, the first flight lesson is an experience that will trigger the limbic system and be cemented within memory for a lifetime.

My first lesson came when I was 29 years old. Like most pilot candidates, learning to fly was a lifelong dream. But, for many reasons, I had dismissed my dream as unattainable until that day. As a result, I knew literally nothing about flying. Throttle, mixture, yoke, attitude indicator? I had never heard of even the most basic components of the cockpit.

Because of my complete ignorance, my first lesson took more than three hours. Even though it was a late afternoon in August—when the days are still long—my instructor, Jason Van Camp, and I didn’t climb out of the Cessna 152 until it was getting dark. Fortunately, Van Camp had the patience and commitment as an instructor to guide me through this challenging first step in a very positive way. Yet my most prominent memory was the feeling of being overwhelmed. What today feels almost as easy as driving a car seemed then to be nearly unachievable. Had it not been for my total focus and excitement at this new venture, and the incredible patience of Van Camp, the experience might have turned me off. To prevent this, I would recommend some homework before climbing into the left seat for the first time.

You might be aware that pilots use checklists during several segments of flight, such as preflight, pre-start, taxi, before takeoff, cruise, etc. The pilot’s operating handbook for a given airplane includes checklists specific to each aircraft’s make and model. Condensed, laminated, easier-to-use checklists are also available through various pilot shops. Once you know the type of airplane you’re going to fly for your first lesson, track down a checklist and go through each segment to get an idea of what you should look for. Make yourself familiar with the cockpit environment and the components listed in the checklists. Because Van Camp had to show me each component in the checklists, it must have taken us at least an hour and a half before we even got the propeller spinning. By comparison, an experienced Cessna 172 pilot can get through the preflight and pre-start checklists in about 15 minutes.

A basic understanding of the flight controls is also helpful for your first lesson. What does the yoke do? Which direction on the throttle gives you more or less power? What on earth is trim? A review of the instruments or primary flight display is also helpful. Where can I tell what speed I’m flying? Where is the altimeter? What does the attitude indicator tell me? You can refer to the FAA’s Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge to get familiar with the basic flight controls and instruments; you won’t be quite as overwhelmed, and you’ll save yourself some money on instruction time.

Some schools demand that you complete the ground school and written test before you even get inside an airplane. While some basic knowledge is helpful, I don’t recommend this. The written test expires after two years, and a lot of the information you need to learn for the written test won’t make sense before you start taking the controls. Just focus on the basics before the first lesson—then you can get to the written exam, and the two will make sense.

Be prepared to be amazed. Van Camp gently lifted the two-seater off Runway 21 at California’s Santa Monica Municipal Airport. I could not believe it when, shortly thereafter, he gave me the controls and allowed me to start maneuvering the airplane over the beautiful sand beaches of the Pacific coastline. That first lesson included very basic maneuvers: straight-and-level flight, the use of trim, turns at various degrees of bank angle, climbs, and descents. I was amazed that I was looking down at the mountains of Malibu while actually flying an airplane.

My first lesson also included a very important aspect that, in itself, made a lasting impression. The sun was starting to set, and there was a marine layer off the California shoreline. Van Camp told me to turn the airplane toward it. He made me close my eyes and, after opening them again, guess our attitude. Were we level, in a bank, climbing or descending? I don’t quite remember my guess, but I do remember being completely off. That first lesson made me realize I had to trust my instruments because my inner ear would fool me when the outside picture didn’t provide any reliable information.

Other than gaining some familiarity with the components of the airplane, it’s extremely important you know your flight school and your instructor. Here is one place I did the right thing. Before starting my first lesson, I visited all of the flight schools at the Santa Monica Airport. In 1999, there were at least five. The school that gave me the best feeling by far was Justice Aviation, a Part 61 school, which provides greater flexibility compared with a more structured Part 141 school. I was still working full time, so I needed flexibility. I also liked the fact that the school had a large fleet of airplanes and allowed overnight rentals.

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What really sold me on Justice, however, were the people. The owners, Sharon and Joe Justice, were warm and caring, and their personalities percolated down through the front-desk staff and instructors.

During my “research visit,” I spent a long time talking to a CFI candidate by the name of Andrew Sampson. He gave me some good advice and insight into what becoming a pilot would entail. Because he wasn’t certified yet, I was assigned to Van Camp for my first lesson.

Van Camp and I hit it off great, and he gave me a terrific start to my training. But after just a few lessons, he was hired by Mesa Airlines and went off on his way to flying jets. Fortunately, by then, Sampson had finished up his certificate and took over as my instructor.

Sampson was a great CFI with an amazing sense of humor, which made it even more enjoyable to come to the airport. And fortunately, because Sampson stayed with the school for some time, he was able to help me complete both my private pilot certificate and instrument rating.

Before that first lesson, make sure you meet with your instructor. Ask yourself: Can I see myself spending dozens of hours basically attached to this person in a small cockpit? Will the instructor stick around, or is he or she likely to take an airline job in the next month? Is the instructor professional, on time, courteous? Don’t allow your dreams to fade if you get a bad instructor on that first lesson. There are plenty of good ones out there who are passionate about helping you reach your goals.

You might be reluctant to fly with a newly minted instructor, but not only are new CFIs current on all of the regulations, they have just been tested by a designated examiner. Moreover, a new instructor could be more motivated to fly frequently than a more seasoned one. The ink on Sampson’s certificate hadn’t dried before I started flying with him, yet he gave me a fantastic start on my career.

There are several things you can do to help make your very first flight lesson a happy memory. While there is a lot to learn when it comes to getting a pilot’s certificate, your first lesson should be mostly about having fun. There is plenty of time for learning.

This story appeared in the Learn to Fly Special Issue of Flying Magazine

The post What to Expect: Your First Lesson appeared first on FLYING Magazine.