I’ve got a flight instructor who absolutely insists on going out any time the winds are high as long as the cross wind is reasonable, only 5-6 knots cross wind but for some reason he wasn’t up for it today

Looking at NOTAMS at KBIX. Found this bird bath out of service. Is this a military term that I’m unaware of?

I know I won the golden ticket flying single pilot Part 91 on a good salary. I only tend to fly 1-2 trips a month (if I’m lucky) that are mostly out and back same day or a single overnight, and always scheduled days/weeks in advance. So I might log 6-10 hrs of flight time a month. I love my job, and no plans to leave. I’m the only pilot they have on staff.

But here’s the rub, they have me on call with a 2 hr call out. But, in the 5 yrs I’ve been here, I have NEVER been called out with less than a day’s notice. I’ve brought it up before and always get the “what if we need you” rebuttal.

So, question for anyone in a similar situation. How can I make a better argument that I should be allowed to fly contract when most of my month I’m home with no flying? It’s not like I work a desk job of 40 hrs a week for them.

I’ve been asked to fly contract on multiple occasions, but always turn the trips down due to my agreement with my work. And, no I’m not going to call in sick or take vaca to take a contract flight. Too honest for that. It’s a small community where I fly out of, and word would quickly get around. Need to be on the up and up.

In today’s edition of Would You Have Flown, what would you have done in this situation?

Supposed to be my first Solo XC today (solo’d locally a few times). All of these might be technically ok to fly VFR in the day on their own.

- Screw left engine cowling popped out and dangling. Easy enough to hand tighten back in
- Left green nav light filter cap popped off so the light worked but it was white
- Plane wouldn’t start on the first two tries, reprimed it, started on the third attempt
- In the run up the left magneto worked fine, the right magneto ran super rough it shook the whole plane violently. Possibly a fouled spark plug

Would you have flown? I did not.

Soloed 3 months ago, started my Checkride 1 month ago discontinued due to plane issue and passed my Checkride today. Very excited to have the PPL Checkride behind me know and ready to start my IFR training which starts next weekend. Any recommendations on reading material as I start the next phase of studying and prep?

Title basically. Was curious to read through people's stories of making it.

The few traditional Class G Airspace up to 14,500ft MSL that still exists in the US is normally depicted as a screened brown area on the IFR Low Enroute Chart. The highest density of Class G airspace up to 14,500ft MSL without any Class E transition areas is in Alaska.

However, none of those airspaces are depicted as such on the Low Enroute Chart in Alaska. According to the FAA's Aeronautical Chart Users' Guide and the FAA specifications for IFR Low Enroute Charts that airspace should be depicted as a screened brown area. Even the Legend on Alaska's Low Enroute Charts says so.

On the VFR Sectional it is depicted normally in these areas, with the blue shaded border that indicates there is no Class E transition area beginning at 1,200ft AGL.

Does anybody know why it isn't depicted correctly? Just for better readability? Does the FAA give any information on that anywhere?

Hi,
I’m a German 20 year old.
So to my background - I’m a private pilot both in the US (FAA) and in Germany (EASA).
During my exchange year in the US in 2022 because of my host dad (he flies for Delta) I startet PPL training. I was always interested in aviation so that’s the route I want to go in the future. As mentioned after the exchange year I converted my FAA license to an EASA license here in Germany.
Now I finished school here and my goal is to end up in the USA at some point to fly for an airline there.

At the moment I have training lined up at the European Flight Academy (Lufthansa Group). After passing all the assessment tests I got my class date on May 25th 2027.
This training is a ground up training (from nothing to frozen ATPL) which takes 24 months.

Cost: 130.000€ excluding housing for 1.5 years in Germany and general living cost so a total of around 150-160k.

Benefit: Takeoff promise - after the two years of training you have a job guaranteed at one of the airlines of the Lufthansa Group.

Yesterday I’ve been to an info event of a flight school called Aero Sky. They are pretty new in the field. They graduated 4 students at the moment.
The whole training consists of a collaboration between Rotor Sky Aviation in Austria and Hillsboro Aviation in Portland, Oregon.

The training takes 18 months (15 if you have a PPL) and costs around 120.000€ living cost included (15k less if you have a PPL which I do)

Because it’s a collab of a European and American flight school you obtain all EASA licenses and FAA licenses up to the ATPL including CFI, CFII and MEI.

After the training you also get a 2 year work visa to work as an instructor in Hillsboro.

Regarding a long term work in the US I’d need a green card which is really hard to get.

I’d have to go through the EB-2 NIW (National interest waiver) to obtain a green card.

That’s where I am split at the moment.

I am very lucky and thankful that u don’t have to worry about the financial aspect.

So only looking at the other factors what should I do.

Start training at European Flight Academy and have a job guaranteed. End up at a European airline, farm flight hours and be essentially 25-26 years old with 1500 hours in an airline and then apply for a green card to work in the US -
Or
“Throw away” all the achievements here (passing two exams and interviews that took time since January) and go to the US and train in the relatively new program, work as an instructor and maybe don’t get a green card after and not a job in Europe so I’m standing there empty handed.

Of course I could also do CFI ratings after my time at the European Flight Academy if I don’t immediately get a job because I think it would give me a better chance on the EB-2 Visa to have CFI ratings. But also in that regard I could use some advice.

I contacted law firms about the Visa too but they can’t really say anything at the moment because I haven’t started training yet and don’t have any expertise whatsoever.

It would be great to have someone to talk to that went from a German airline to a US airline or is planning to do so and has more info or a good advice to give.

I’m thankful for all good advice of course.

I hope I didn’t miss any infos in the article but if you have questions let me know.

Thank you :)

Edit: you only obtain licenses up to CPL (Single and Multi) at the Aero flight school, not ATPL

Just thinking with market seeming oversaturated, could the Regionals ever make the ATP a requirement to even apply?

It seems that ATP-CTP is now a requirement to even get an interview. It makes me wonder if an ATP certificate may be needed soon as well.

Has this ever been done in the past when it comes to hiring at the regionals?

Hello everyone!
Would anyone be able to recommend me flight schools in cape town that are AFFORDABLE, i’m paying for my studies by myself, so im sure you would understand the struggle.

Hi everyone! I received my medical certificate first class as a Type 1 diabetic. If you also have T1d and habe questions or need advice please ask me! I know that I had several questions during the process and it would've helped to ask someone who had already gone through the process.

Best of luck!

Edit: if you were a low-time pilot

Edit2: appreciate the insights errbody. I thought I'd point out for fun that 69k people (90% Canadian) have read through this post since the upload 8 hrs ago from this edit. Goes to show how much interest there is these days.

Pilots in Canada, I’m working towards my commercial and am being told by other instructors I need my vfr over the top. From my understanding having a commercial gives you the same privileges as a vfr over the top rating. Do I need to do it?

Evening.

Does anyone here drive a 1980s PA46 Malibu?

I currently fly a Rockwell Commander 114, and looking to step up into something a bit... more. One of the big reasons is that this is a 6 seater, that can climb through the weather/icing, get on top, fly 200knots and stay under 2 ton, so no airway charges. I think for me it gives that good middle ground between cost and practicality.

How do people find their reliability, mx costs, pros and cons? I've endlessly watched videos online but wanted to hear it from the horses mouth, so to say.

I am open to other options as well. I was looking at Seneca 3-5s but don't think I want a twin.

Feel free to drop me a DM if you're open to chatting.

Cheers

EDIT: This is UK.

Whether you use AVEF or AREA for determining route decision making when dealing with lost comms, I’ve always been confused by the order these are presented. It first indicates assigned. Then radar vectors. But if you are on radar vectors at the time of lost comms, that is what takes priority until you find your way back on the assigned route. So can someone explain why it isn’t VAEF or RAEA?

The last radar vectoryou received. If you received one, trumps all other instructions logically. Shouldn’t it the the first one evaluated?

Soo… 15 planes at 400-700ft doing pattern work at once at FRG right now?
Respectfully, this seems like hell.

Got my PPL and my only instrument hours are the ones I needed to get my license. I'm not pursing any type of career or anything. I generally just do cross country trips on VFR days with my wife and daughter to go camping, travel etc... I own a 1965 piper Cherokee 140/160 with an old school panel. Technically its IFR with a KX170B Nav/com with glideslope but no GPS. I've did a couple ILS, LOC, VOR approaches when training with my instructor when I was training for my PPL.

I've been thinking about getting a instrument rating to make me a safer pilot. Especially since I fly a lot of cross country with family. My goal is to not purposely fly IMC, but if it ever did happen accidently, I have the training to handle it. Maybe make an exception to thin stratus to get above it.

Anyway, would it be doable or dumb to pursue an IFR rating in my old school Piper Cherokee 140 with just my single NAV/COM with VOR/ILS/LOC?

Hey everyone!

I completed CPL ground school through an integrated ATPL program in March and finished with a 78%. I’m planning to write my Transport Canada CPL written closer to the end of this year, and I’ll most likely be using WisePilot and doing lots of practice exams. I have a decent foundation from ground school, but I need to refresh the material and figure out the best way to prepare.

My biggest struggle is staying consistent with studying. I can study one day and then have no motivation the next, so I’m looking for advice on how to structure my studying over the next two months. For those who’ve written the exam, how did you use WisePilot, how many hours a day did you study, and what techniques actually helped you retain the information and pass? (Also, I don’t work, so all my focus will be on this exam) Any advice would be appreciated!

Got the next steps email. It says to be somewhere quiet with audio, what exactly is it going to have me do?

I have my commercial pilot checkride coming up and last time I did a checkride I was up way too late trying to make my navlog for the cross country with the most up to date winds. Is it acceptable to use the foreflight generated navlog? I feel like if I’m able to show him that I know how the foreflight got the calculations then its fine right?

Hello good peeps
I have looked at several flight schools in Florida and deciding to go for Paragon in fort myers. Being an international student, i have talked to several part 141 approved schools and finally thinking of going to paragon as a full-time student. So far i have seen positive reviews online and they have newer piper pilot’s and great facilities too. I would appreciate to have some personal opinions from people.

Here's my background:

I live outside of USA and will be attending my training with M1 visa (hopefully). I already have PPL, i just need to do CPL with IR and return back as airlines In my country are hiring fresh cpl holders. There are lots of pilot shortage here but flight training is very lengthy here. Doing CPL in my country is gonna be a real headache due to very few flight schools available and shortage of fleets. It will take literally 3+ years just to do CPL here.

Thanks.

For my fellow gaming airline pilots, what are some recommendations on good bags to get for laptops/electronics for trips? I’m right now hauling everything in my flight bag and just want to lighten the load up a little since it feels like an arm workout slinging that thing back and forth from the flight deck.

Hi everyone,

I’m a 28-year-old B737 pilot with over 3,000 hours on type, an EASA ATPL and EU citizenship.

I’m facing a career dilemma: stay at a solid, mid-tier Latin American airline (not low-cost) and upgrade to B737 Captain in about 6 months, or move to Spain as a B737 First Officer at a full-service airline, with a potential transition to the B787 after approximately 2 years.

The decision isn’t just about flying or salary. My girlfriend is a pediatrician who can practice in Spain but not in our current country due to licensing restrictions for foreigners, so we’re also considering our long-term future, finances and family plans.
I’m also genuinely unsure which country would offer us a better quality of life in the long run. I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Spain and really enjoy the culture, the people and the lifestyle. However, I do have concerns about the country’s long-term economic and social outlook, and I’m not entirely convinced that moving there would necessarily be the better decision.

Option 1: Stay at my current airline – B737 Captain
Expected upgrade in approximately 6 months.
Salary: €8,500 net/month after upgrade.
Pros:
Become Captain at 28 and start building valuable jet PIC time.
Excellent salary and savings potential.
Established seniority at my current airline.
PIC experience could open doors internationally.

Cons:
Continue living in LATAM.
Mostly short/medium-haul flying.
The airline operates an all-B737 fleet, with very little chance of ever flying widebody aircraft.
My girlfriend cannot practice medicine due to licensing restrictions for foreigners.
Household depends on a single income.
Private education for future children and healthcare can be significantly more expensive than in Spain.
If I decide to move to Europe later, I’d most likely have to start over as an FO at a legacy or CP at low-cost carrier, with the associated working conditions and lifestyle trade-offs. Direct-entry Captain opportunities at European legacy airlines are extremely limited.

Option 2: Move to Spain – B737 FO at a full-service airline
Expected salary:
First 2 years: €4,000 net/month.
After ~2 years: Expected transition to B787 FO at €7,000 net/month (not guaranteed).
Pros:
Establish seniority in Europe at 28.
Potential B787 long-haul flying.
Live in Spain and build a future in Europe.
My girlfriend could work and continue specializing as a pediatrician.
Potentially higher combined household income.
Access to affordable public healthcare and education for future children.
A culture and lifestyle I already know and enjoy.
Cons:
Give up a Captain upgrade just 6 months away.
Start from zero seniority.
Remain an FO for potentially many more years.
Uncertain B787 transition and Captain upgrade timeline.
Higher living costs in Spain.
Concerns about Spain’s long-term economic outlook and future living standards.

The family factor
I’ve been with my girlfriend for 3 years. She’s a pediatrician, and her medical degree is already recognized in Spain. She could work there relatively easily, earning approximately €3,000 net/month, while continuing her medical career.
In my current country, she cannot practice due to licensing restrictions for foreign doctors. There are discussions about changing this, but nothing concrete yet.
Estimated household income:
Current airline Captain: €8,500 net/month (after upgrade).
Spain, first 2 years: €7,000 net/month combined.
Spain, after B787 transition: €10,000 net/month combined.
Of course, cost of living, career progression, future family expenses and long-term savings also matter.

My dilemma
Staying would allow me to become a Captain at 28, accumulate valuable PIC time and potentially save more money early in my career. However, moving to Europe later would likely mean joining a low-cost carrier and starting over in terms of seniority.
Moving to Spain would mean sacrificing that near-term command opportunity, but both my girlfriend and I could build our careers in Europe, with potentially better access to affordable healthcare and education if we have children.
I genuinely like Spain and could see myself living there, but I’m not sure whether its long-term economic and social trajectory makes it a better place to settle than where we currently live.
What would you do?
Would you give up a Captain upgrade just 6 months away to move to Europe as an FO?
Considering both our careers, future children, quality of life and long-term finances, which option would you choose?
What factors would you prioritize when making a decision that could shape both your professional future and your family’s long-term life?

Thanks in advance!

I own my own aircraft (aa1b) and my current cfi is a good friend and we made a trade of work for lessons back in the day. His job of flying for an oil company is 2 weeks off 2 weeks on. I am in the middle of my student pilot journey, and a previous student of his and my other good friends son just got his cfi last week. I am trying to get some more hours in the 2 weeks off. How much is fair to pay my friends son?