FSA member Opt-in

You made a series of reasonable decisions in the name of comfort and safety, only to create a situation where you’re tight on both fuel and options. Will you wager your last hour of fuel on making just one landing at the airport beneath you or take the chance on making it to an alternate? Watch the video and decide.

Scenario/Video

It’s no secret that many private pilots are uncomfortable with crosswinds. What seems like an issue with physical coordination comes from an incorrect or incomplete understanding of the concepts. We’ll cover common mistakes and practical fixes in this video.

Video 14:14

Thinking like an IFR pilot offers advantages, even on a short VFR flight in great weather. We’ll show you how to reduce your workload–and avoid surprises–by incorporating some simple techniques into your routine.

Video 25:34

SIDs are essential for organizing and optimizing complex traffic flows and clearance delivery. Learn how finding the right SID can simplify your life.

Manual Download

Instrument pilots must have a solid understanding of their aircraft’s performance profile. Countless pilots have wasted valuable training hours—and struggle to this day—because their instructor skipped this first critical step. Here’s the step-by-step process for creating the essential performance profiles for each airplane you fly. It will help you fly IFR with more precision, and reduce your workload in every phase of flight.

Video 25:59

The most important meeting of your life is just one simple LPV approach away. However, encroaching weather is putting on the squeeze, so you speed things up with a tight intercept. Should you salvage this situation—or go back into the worsening weather? Watch the video and decide.

Scenario/Video

The WIRE briefing method gets the most important parts of the approach dialed in right away, followed by all the details you need and none of the fluff. It includes, however, often overlooked items such as creating real-world missed approach points given actual conditions versus the published minimums. The technique gets demonstrated on an old-school VOR approach with no GPS or moving map available—which is a great way to keep your mental map sharp.

Video 23:31

This flight starts at Los Angeles International, so the briefing handles the complexity: the latest ATC phraseology for SIDs and clearances, planning for a big-airport Standard Instrument Departure that must be flown quickly and with precision, and the best use of automation. The situations encountered span from task saturation, autopilot issues, surprise issues from ATC and a surprise circle-to-land.

Video 45:54

This video is flown in the sim by CFII Ryan Koch. Ryan also provides some helpful narration during this flight. The ability to see what the exercise looks like, and flies like, from the multiple camera viewpoints a sim can generate, give you a good perspective for a successful outcome.

Video 6:08 and Manual Download

During one of the Real World flights, Keith will make a night departure from an airport surrounded by mountains. It’s a scary departure if you aren’t prepared, so Keith is happy to work it out in the sim beforehand. He practices an IFR technique that he will need to keep him away from the terrain surrounding the airport.

Video 7:09

Glass-panel instruments have many benefits, but you need to know how to take advantage of them—and avoid some pitfalls. In this lesson, Mike practices climbs, descents, and turns using Garmin G5 electronic flight instruments. You’ll learn how much easier it is to precisely hold attitude with glass, how to adjust your scan for the logical layout of pitch and bank information, and how to set bugs to get simple visual cues instead of having to interpret numbers.

Video 19:52

Pattern work at a non-towered airport can be fun, but juggling everything can be overwhelming. On a practice flight in the San Juan Islands, Ty gets a workout flying the airplane, making quick decisions, and communicating.

Video 29:59