Florida Aviation

It was great to participate in the Wings and Wheels event at St. Augustine Airport this February! Florida Aviation met with so many aviation enthusiasts and we had a chance to show our G1000 to potential students 🤩 It’s always great to see people’s eyes light up when they talk about their dream of flying and how they can truly make it happen! And we can help you make it happen with our team of CFIs/CFIIs and our fleet of Cessnas and Pipers ✈️ Come take a discovery flight with us if you haven’t yet, and see what it’s like to be at the flight controls (with an instructor always there and in full control, of course!) You might just fall in love with flying 🧑‍✈️ 🛫 💗

Working on your first few VFR XC nav logs? Is it taking forever and you’re getting tired? By all means, take a break- but don’t ever start guessing columns… least of all fuel burn! ‼️ Fuel burn is EXTREMELY important with all flight planning. Your CFI knows what your fuel burn will be, but they’re counting on you knowing it too. And they’re counting on you knowing it through calculating it 🧮 From the private pilot stage through the airlines, fuel burn remains paramount information in the preflight planning stage. It’s vital you get used to it as a student pilot 👩🏼‍✈️ 👨🏼‍✈️ ✈️ 🛫

Got an initial private pilot coming up? ✈️ 🧑‍✈️ Don’t rush yourself on the oral! You can take your time to think and look things up in the FAR/AIM and other books/material allowed by the DPE. It’s an open book test, and you have the familiarity with the material already if you’ve made it that far. Sometimes nerves can get in the way though and your mind may just freeze. That’s okay! Just look it up and keep it moving 😎

If you are lucky enough to have trained at a controlled field, you know how mind-bending it can be to go to an untowered field for the first time. Just remember to look, listen, and announce yourself and what you’re doing. If you’re a student, you can mention you’re a student and other pilots will be graceful with any odd radio calls you might make (we’ve all said a few strange things on the radio in the early hours!) ✈️

Know your personal minimums! Never fly with winds that you’re not comfortable with, even if they’re within your plane’s maximum demonstrated crosswind component. It’s about what you, as the pilot, as equipped to do. That goes for student pilots as well as licensed pilots. This is part of the PAVE checklist that every pilot evaluates before making a flight 🧑‍✈️ ✈️ 🛫

Becoming an instrument pilot happens in stages. Everyone has a tendency to rely on mental crutches at first (peeking over the foggles is a common one!) But if you really put the work in, it pays off! The first time you’re rated, current, and flying in IMC nice and easy, youll feel the undeniable benefits of IFR training ✈️

Trim is an early lesson student pilots learn, but it can still escape you when you’re new and not used to flying yet. There can be a lot of struggles with over controlling and over correcting until trimming becomes an instinct. The sooner that happens, the better! ✈️

Aviation lovers get it- flying has a special place in our hearts! 💞 To all pilots today: Happy Valentine’s Day to you and your plane 😁🥰 ✈️ 👩🏼‍✈️ ❤️ 👨🏻‍✈️

New pilots tend not to believe that 1-800-WX-Brief is really at their service 24/7, but they are! Don’t hesitate to call them, they want to hear from pilots! Sure, most electronic flight bags have the information you need, but there’s always value in talking to a briefer ☁️ 🌧️ ✈️ 🌞 ⚡️ ❄️

Part of what a CFI does at times is self-editing 😆 No matter what, a CFI is always doing his or her best to communicate clearly and preserve their students’ enthusiasm. Not always easy when they need to give critical feedback 😳 Over time, these 5 conversation fillers seem to have evolved naturally 😁 ✈️