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Find a lesson plan →Trivia of the Day
Trivia rolls over daily at midnight, Mountain Standard Time.
Private Pilot Question of the Day
What is the composition of the lower atmosphere that is most relevant to flight?
Dry air is mostly nitrogen and oxygen with small amounts of other gases; variable water vapor drives many weather processes.
Commercial Pilot Question of the Day
How can excessive priming interfere with a piston-engine start?
Excessive priming can make the fuel-air mixture too rich to ignite and allow fuel to accumulate, creating a fire hazard. Evaluate the indications and follow the aircraft's flooded-start procedure instead of continuing to add fuel.
Instrument Rating (Airplane) Question of the Day
What primarily causes wind?
Horizontal pressure-gradient force, modified by Coriolis effect, friction, and local terrain or temperature effects.
Instrument Rating (Helicopter) Question of the Day
How should a pilot control the risk of an OEI go-around or rejected landing in a multiengine helicopter?
Determine before the approach whether the RFM, weight, density altitude, wind, configuration, obstacle environment, and available power support the maneuver. Establish an early decision point, maintain the prescribed OEI speed and rotor RPM, use the approved power and configuration sequence, protect directional control and limits, and do not attempt the maneuver when actual performance cannot provide a safe escape path; use the safest available landing plan instead.
Sport Pilot Question of the Day
For a normal seaplane landing, what determines the proper water-contact pitch attitude?
Use the aircraft-specific landing attitude appropriate to the float design, water surface, wind, and approach technique. Contact the water in that attitude with directional control and without forcing the floats onto the surface; discontinue the landing when the attitude or surface assessment is unsafe.
Flight Instructor Question of the Day
What hazards can automation and portable electronic devices create?
Mode confusion, bad data entry, outdated information, distraction, battery or mounting problems, interference, and loss of manual situational awareness.
Flight Instructor Instrument Question of the Day
What instructional risk can arise with a fast learner who makes few errors?
The learner may become overconfident or dismiss error correction. The instructor should require continued analysis and progressively higher performance without inventing deficiencies or using unfair criticism.
Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Question of the Day
How should a pilot plan food and fluids for a long flight, and respond if missed meals or dehydration impair concentration?
Plan appropriate meals, accessible fluids, and breaks before flight. If concentration or physical condition deteriorates, change or end the flight safely and address the deficiency; do not rely on caffeine or determination to establish fitness.
Advice of the Day
Maintain a consistent flight training schedule. Long breaks in any kind of training, but especially aviation, will cause a dramatic loss of progress.
System of the Day
Cabin Heating and Cooling Systems: Cabin Heating and cooling systems provide conditioned air for comfortable operations during various weather conditions
Maneuver of the Day
Emergency Descent: Emergency-descent training teaches pilots to descend an airplane as rapidly as possible within its operating limitations.
Emergency of the Day
Engine Failure: The total loss of power requires immediate actions which depend upon speed (life) and altitude (life insurance)
Mishap of the Day
ERA14LA450: The NTSB determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be: The pilot's inadequate preflight planning, which resulted in a takeoff with the airplane's center of gravity aft of its limit and led the airplane to exceed its critical angle of attack and experience an aerodynamic stall during the initial climb.
