This week: turbulence. Some degree of turbulence is almost always present in the atmosphere and pilots quickly become accustomed to slight turbulence. Moderate or severe turbulence, however, is uncomfortable and can even overstress the airplane. Today we’ll talk about its causes and share some best-practices when encountering turbulence. Words and pictures have been excerpted from […]
By ASA
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Posted in Ground School, Weather
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Also tagged airplane, angle of attack, avoid turbulence, clear air turblence, cloud, FAA, feature, fly, flying, flying in turbulence, jet stream, learn to fly, mountain wave, pilot's license, stall, turbulence, what is turbulence, wind
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What’s new in the world of aviation weather products you ask? Well, the “Experimental Graphical Forecast for Aviation” (GFA) of course! As the title suggests, this product is in experimental form at the moment, but is up and running at AviationWeather.gov. The National Weather Service and FAA are asking for your help in surveying this […]
By CFI
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Posted in CFI Briefing, Weather Services
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Also tagged Aircraft, airport, atmosphere, CFI, FAA, FAA Exam, flight training, flying, instruments, learn to fly, pilot in command, Private Pilot, safety
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February 29, 2016 – 9:48 am
Out here in the Pacific Northwest, there’s a saying: if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. Whether or not your weather changes as fast as ours does, knowing what to expect is still critical to flight safety. Radar helps us track weather nearly in real-time and make visual sense of what to expect […]
By ASA
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Posted in Ground School, Weather Services
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Also tagged Aircraft, airport, ASA, atmosphere, FAA, FAA Exam, feature, flight training, flying, learn to fly, Navigation, pilot in command, Private Pilot, safety, Test Prep
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December 28, 2015 – 9:59 am
Out here in the Pacific Northwest, we’re used to what’s generally characterized as “bad” weather. And since we’re setting regional rainfall records right now, let’s talk about weather. Specifically, fronts. As an air mass moves across bodies of water and land, it eventually comes into contact with another air mass with different characteristics. The boundary […]
By ASA
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Posted in Weather
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Also tagged adventure, aerodynamics, Aircraft, airport, FAA, FAA Exam, flight training, flying, pilot in command, Private Pilot, safety, writen exam
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November 9, 2015 – 9:46 am
We’re staying warm this week, but we’ll be talking about ways to keep your engine cool. Today’s post is on your aircraft’s engine oil system. Look for follow up Ground School posts in the coming weeks about your engine’s cooling and exhaust systems. And be sure to check out what we’ve already covered in regards […]
By ASA
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Posted in Aircraft Systems, Ground School
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Also tagged adventure, aerodynamics, Aircraft, airspeed indicator, engine, FAA Exam, feature, flight training, flying, Four Forces, instruments, landing, Lift, Navigation, oil, pilot in command, Private Pilot, regulations, safety, takeoff
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September 3, 2015 – 9:03 am
Let’s recap some of the important information we learned from Monday’s post on carburetor ice. As air flows through a carburetor, it expands rapidly. At the same time, fuel entering the airstream is vaporized. Expansion of the air and vaporization of the fuel causes a sudden cooling of the mixture which may cause ice to […]
By CFI
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Posted in CFI Briefing, Flight Instruments
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Also tagged aerodynamics, atmosphere, carburetor icing, FAA, FAA Exam, flight training, flying, icing, learn to fly, pilot in command, pitot, Private Pilot, safety
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August 31, 2015 – 8:55 am
Today we’re taking a look at carburetor ice with the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. As mentioned earlier, one disadvantage of the float-type carburetor is its icing tendency. Carburetor ice occurs due to the effect of fuel vaporization and the decrease in air pressure in the venturi, which causes a sharp temperature drop in the carburetor. […]
By ASA
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Posted in Aircraft Systems
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Also tagged aerodynamics, Aircraft, airport, altitude, ASA, flight training, flying, instruments, learn to fly, Lift, Navigation, Private Pilot, radio, safety, weather services
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Today we are going to spend some time on the subject of clouds. Understanding the various types of clouds is important to pilots as clouds are direct indicators of the type of weather that one can expect. Having the ability to understand and correlate the meaning of a particular cloud as it relates to weather […]
By CFI
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Posted in CFI Briefing, Ground School, Weather
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Also tagged CFI, clouds, FAA, FAA Exam, flight training, flying, learn to fly, pilot in command, Private Pilot, safety, turbulence
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Today we’ll think about the effect of temperature on the weather. We’ve covered how solar energy from the sun drives all atmospheric and geological processes on Earth, so now we’ll address it’s role in atmospheric stability. Words and pictures in this post come from the FAA’s Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. Atmospheric Stability The stability of the […]
By ASA
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Posted in Ground School, Weather
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Also tagged atmosphere, aviation weather, dew point, FAA, FAA Exam, flight training, flying, humidity, learn to fly, Private Pilot, safety, stability
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The official start to summer is just right around the corner, an exciting time particularly up here in the Pacific Northwest. With summer upon us we tend to see an increase in temperatures and more VFR weather, resulting in an increase in air traffic at and around airports. Changing seasons means a changing environment and […]
By CFI
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Posted in Aircraft Performance, CFI Briefing
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Also tagged engine, FAA, flight training, flying, learn to fly, pilot in command, Private Pilot, safety, takeoff, vapor lock
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