Airplane Crashes

As pilots it is very important to learn from others mistakes. We need to make sure that the pilots did not loss their lives for no reason, and make sure that this does not happen again. Their are plenty of air crashes that we can learn from. We need to make sure in ground schools that our instructors are bringing this up. If they are not, ask. Also make sure you are going over things that happen on the ground, including running out on a runway during fog. You can learn a lot by going over mistakes. It is a tragedy when someone losses their lives in an airplane crash, we as pilots are the ones who are solely responsible to make sure that it will never happen again. On July 28, 2010 Airblue flight 202 crashed killing all 152 people on board. This could have been avoided if the pilot would have not kept going the wrong way. There are many more, so feel free to comment and leave other incidents or accidents. I know there are many more so go ahead and share your info. If you like my posts please check out the google link on the right side of the page. I get a little money every time you click on it, and many times they have good links for aviation related topics.

What type of school should I go to?

First off you need to ask yourself what do I want to do with this pilots licence? If you answered I want to fly for fun, then you can just go to an airport see if they do training, and if not ask where is the closest. All you will need is a part 61 flight school, they are a little more layed-back. Make sure that they have good maintenance, and nice aircraft. Also if you are going to fly make sure that they have insurance that will cover you in case of a mishap. Next ask yourself how far do I want to go. You will defiantly either need a sport pilot's license, or a private pilot's license. Then you have to see if you will want to fly in weather. (when you can't see the ground) If you do you will need to go get your IFR rating. (navigation based solely on the instruments. If you said you want to do it for a career then you will probably want to go to a part 141 flight school, because these are more exact, and also have the FAA come in periodically to check everything. You will also need to consider going to college to get a degree in aviation. Sure it will be harder and more expensive than others, but it will pay off when it comes to an interview. Take a look at my which school to go to blog to help you decide what school to to. Go to the actual flight school and just hang around there for a while. You can usually see if the flight school is ligit just by sitting there for a bit and seeing how things are done. Here is a link that may also help you with your decision. Choosing Your Flight School

Red Bull Air Race

Red Bull Air Race is the new hit for the aviation industry. The pilots are 15 best in the world. There are many things that they need to be thinking of at one time. They need to know speed, bank, angle, order, height, and G's. Pilots need to keep in mind g stalling which happens when you go past the specific wing loading of you aircraft. When this happens you stall out and many times this happens when the pilots are very close to the ground. They need to stay coordinated at all times during the turn just in case they g stall. If they are not coordinated they will start to go into a spin and there is no way they can recover. Unfortunately Red Bull will not be having races in 2011, they say they are taking a year off. Hopefully they will decide to bring it back in 2012. There are many different rules for these pilots such as the blue gates must be flown through wings level, and the red gates must be flown through knife edge (that is sideways with wings straight up and down). The Red Bull Air Race is very important to the aviation community, because of the fact that it makes aviation cool again, especially for the young people. Red Bull Air Race Website

Headsets

Headsets. The number one piece of equipment a pilot will need for his or her training. There are many different choices and many different companies, but if you are going to spend WELL OVER $100,000 and many times closer to $200,000 for the schooling why use cheap headsets. There is a definite difference between the nice headsets and the cheap ones. I knew someone who had a cheap set who I could never understand unless he had his hand holding the mic to his mouth. Needless to say he did not use those for long. He wasted his money by buying the cheap ones and then having to turn around to buy nice ones. Now which one is completely up to you. The Bose A20 are the top of the line and you will not find a nicer headset. It is well constructed and you will not even hear your plane. ATC's voice will come in so clear you will think they are your co-pilot, but at a price. They are just about $1100 new. On the low end of the spectrum you have the David Clark H10-13.4, which are $320. This is about the lowest that I would go, there are  still plenty of great features, plus you get the great David Clark name and warranty. Anytime you have a problem you can just call the number on the box and talk to a person, and id they can not help you they will have you send it in and they will fix it free of charge. I had an instructor at the school who had their headset for 20 years, then the mic went out so they called the number expecting them to tell her to buy a new set. They told her to send them in and they would fix it. They put a brand new mic on her headset free of charge. Those are the high and low ends, there are many different kinds in-between. If neither one of these look right for you go ahead and click the link and the bottom of this post and it will take you to all 204 headsets on Amazon.com Search Amazon.com for aviation headset,
A few things you might need

Which school to go to

Of coarse there is Embry Riddle, which is known throughout the Aviation community as one of the best, but it is very expensive. There is also University of North Dakota, which has some great programs, and is a little bit less expensive. I like the small class room feel, which is why I did not pick these, but that is just me. There are some benefits and drawbacks between small and large schools. Embry Riddle and UND are both very nice schools, great instructors, and are known everywhere, but these schools are very expensive, and many times you do not even fly the first semester or even year. The small schools you know everyone, cheaper, and many times you start flying right off the bat, but you have to make sure that the school has good instructors, and that there is a airfield somewhere close to the campus. I am around the Ohio-Michigan area so I know that the nice schools around here are Western Michigan University, and Bowling Green State University. I recommend that you just go to the school and look around the airport and just hang out there, you will be able to find out a lot by just talking to the pilots there. Amazon.com has some great products for pilots you can go down to the bottom of the page and I have a link that you can search aviation and there will be things you need. Search Amazon.com for flight bag