Over the several last months in which I have been writing these articles, I have truly enjoyed choosing a topic each week to write about. Not only have I written 32 whole articles since August, but I have also gained several notable pilot accomplishments. A new license! My MEI was my most fun checkride to take, and my multi students are among my favorite to teach. I have had 4 multi students so far (one MEI, 3 CMEL). More flight hours. I am at 1300 hours total time on the dot

Another topic that is popular in my aviation safety classes is the swiss cheese model and how it plays a role in understanding how accidents really happen. In aviation, accidents are rarely caused by a single mistake. Instead, they usually happen when multiple small issues line up at the same time. This idea is explained by the Swiss Cheese Model, a widely used concept in aviation safety. The model was developed by psychologist James Reason to show how complex systems fail. I

Recently for school I completed several essays and projects on my choice of aircraft. In light of recent aviation events, I chose the MD-11 to gain more insight to its systems and history. I thought it would be a great addition to my aviation articles! The era of tri-jet aircraft was an important time in aviation history. These airplanes, which had three engines, were most popular from the late 1960s through the 1980s. They were designed to solve a specific problem: early jet

Picture this, you are landing at Podunk Airport. Naturally, you tune into the weather frequency to listen to the winds, altimeter, and other things before coming into land. The winds are broadcasted as 160 at 6 knots. A couple minutes later, you are on final. Just as a final check, you plug the weather in one more time, and now it is reading 190 at 7 knots. It hasn't been another whole hour, so how did the weather reading change? You could be listening to an AWOS or an ASOS!

I remember when I was working on my commerial rating and struggling to understand the concept that even though you may be a commercial pilot, at times, you cannot fly for hire. Let's start with what we know. As a private pilot, you cannot operate for hire. You can simply fly around and take passengers along, so long as they are not paying more than the pro-rata share. As you upgrade to obtaining your instrument rating, you are now able to do the exact same thing, except fly i

Flight training is a challenging endeavor to undergo. Whether you are working on private, instrument, or going for a type rating. Each license or rating brings new information, sometimes new aircraft, systems, pushing you out of your comfort zone. This is a good thing! One hazard in aviation training is the idea of becoming complacent, or doing something so routinley that you forgo the use of checklists, thourough preflight, or faliure to double check due to confidence in the

As we move into spring and into summer, here are some items to think about when flying, especially as a flight instructor: Stay hydrated! Don't just chug water an hour before your flight. Hydrate throughout the day and several days leading up to a flight in the heat. Alternate between water and electrolyte supplemented drinks. Keeping your salt content up is important as you start to sweat in those cockpits without air conditioning. Performance is worse! We all know about den

I recently attended WAI 2026 in Dallas! I have never attended WAI before, but I have been to other great conferences such as NBAA in Las Vegas and UAA. They hosted WAI at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas. It was such a well organized event with plenty of opportunity to walk the exhibit floor or go to speaker sessions: Day in the Life of a pilot, Airline Panel, imposter syndrome, etc. There, I spoke with regional airline recruiters from Republic, GoJet, Endeavor, Envoy, P

To prepare to go to a big aviaiton conference soon, I have to polish up my resume! Over the years, my resume has changed drastically. In high school, my resume was heavily focused on education and volunteer work. As I move into professional roles as a pilot, my resume looks a lot different than your typical resume does. Pilot resumes are a different genre of resume all together. They include columns which you would not find on a resume for a doctor, or a barista, or a librari

When I am preparing to fly a new airplane, here are some things I think about to help my transition be as smooth and seamless as possible: Know your V speeds (Vr, Vy, and Vg at a minimum) Emergency procedures like the back of your hand Big system differences (carb vs fuel injected?) Does it require a complex or high performance endorsement? Ask to get a copy of the POH for checklist usage and general information several days before the flight Avionics setup Weight and balance

In mid-March, I plan to transition through the Atlanta class Bravo and land at PDK (Peachtree Dekalb Airport). The Atlanta bravo is a monstrous airsapce, and surrounds likley the busiest airport in the U.S. Below the bravo also sit some very busy class D airspaces such as PDK, Dobbins AFB, RYY, and FTY, all within a couple miles of each other. I plan to file IFR from my home airport to PDK, stop for a an hour, and then make the trip back home. Although I fly out of a class B

Checkrides are an open book test, meaning, you can utilize any FAA resource to help assist you complete the checkride. My favorite resources consist of the PHAK (pilot handbook of aeronautical knowledge) and the AFH (airplane flying handbook). Both are great resources! However, if you show up to your checkride having neither opened either book before, you are doing yourself a great diservice. These items are some of the best study materials to help prepare yourself for checkr

In honor of recent IFR weather, I decided to cover filing and cancelling IFR flight plans in this article. To file, the most efficient way according to yours truly, is through ForeFlight. The way I start is by pressing the FPL (flight plan) tab on the Maps page, and route out my plan there. Once I have picked the altitude, route, departure time, and plane, I then import it into the Flights tab. From there, I can get a weather briefing, check out performance aspects of the tri

As my last semester of college has ramped up, finding time to be a student while being a flight instructor becomes difficult. However, it is entirely manageable, and here I'll explain how efficient study habits made my life easier while obtaining my ratings. To my students who are going through their ratings, whether in school or not, I understand the stress that comes with that. However, I sense that a lot of them are making their life harder by not setting aside the proper

Recently, I had the opportunity to fly a brand new 182 still in the engine break in phase. It had everything a pilot could want in it: full glass cockpit, autopilot, air conditioning, heated propeller, oxygen, ADS-B in, and was even turbocharged. However, while reading the POH on the best procedures for engine break in, something caught my eye. Among learning to lean the mixture using the turbine inlet temperature gauge and other things, unless my memory is at fault, it actua

Unlike the U.S Postal Service, rain, sleet, or snow can limit us from operation. Early morning cold starts, buildup of frost or ice on wings overnight, or flying through freezing or below freezing temperature aloft can pose problems for GA aircraft. Frost, a common nuisance to see on the aircraft during a cold morning block needs to be removed before flight. Besides the risks of flying with frost, the regulation 91.527 states that " No pilot may take off an airplane that has

Since I started my flight instructor job back in late June, I have accrued over 700 hours, mainly comprised of dual instruction given. Here and there in my logbook are sprinkles of solo time from when I flew to get my high performance endorsement, strict PIC time, or dual recieved when working on my MEI among other things. Before my first day, my of my bossess told me to be ready to "survive the first 500 hours of dual instruction". I am lucky to say I have in fact survived t

As we begin our new year, and I continue to build my experience as a flight instructor and reaching the mid-900 mark, I have come to realize how quickly I am approaching the end of this transitional period in my life from general aviation to commercial operations at an airline. I expect by fall of this year, I will have surpassed the 1,500 hour minimum, marking my eligibility for ATP. Now by all means I do not expect to go from 1,499 and then to 1,500 and expect to have a CJO

On April 19th, the MSAA hosted our second annual Fly-In and Career Day! This year's Fly-In was bigger and better! Over 650 attendees and exhibitors came out to the MSAA Fly-In, an event hosted at Signature Aviation FBO and International Paper Corporate Hangar. We are deeply grateful towards our sponsors and exhibitors: Air Line Pilots Associaton (ALPA) Air National Guard AirVenture Flight Center Alpha Eta Rho Aviation Fraternity Army National Guard AviNation Collierville High

Another month, another event! In March of 2025, MSAA members had the opportunity to meet with FedEx Corporate Aviation Executives and tour their facility and see their fleet up close! Cheif Pilot and Assitant Cheif Pilot, Jim and Calvin welcomed us to their hangar where we attended a presentation highlighting FedEx's corporate aviation sector. Chad, FedEx's head of Safety and Operations, joined us for the presentation and answered questions about Part 91 operations, lifestyle