Liz Brassaw
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How to Be a Good Flight Instructor – 6 Helpful Tips
There’s a secret among flight instructors that you might not know. This job is hard. Learning how to be a good flight instructor is incredibly challenging. Most pilots know that flight instruction is often seen as a stepping stone along a pilot’s “typical” career path. Some instructors begin teaching when the ink has barely dried…
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How Long Does it Take to Become an Airline Captain
Today I’m going to share with you how long it takes to become an airline captain. People ask us this question every single day. Unfortunately, the answer isn’t exactly straightforward. I’ll go deeper into every step along the way but I want to start off by noting that your timeline largely depends on the overall…
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Flight Instructor Supplies Every CFI Should Have
As a job, flight instruction straddles a fuzzy zone between professional pilot and professor. You need to have a flight bag full of goodies to do your job correctly. Some of that stuff you will have been carrying around since day one of your pilot training, while other things are new tools you need to teach. Here’s a look…
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6 Tips for a CFI’s First Flight With New Students
For the new flight student, the first flight can be an overwhelming experience. Many students that come into your office may have never been in a small aircraft before. Even fewer have undertaken an exhaustive training program like pilot training. What can a flight instructor do or say to put students at ease and help them…
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How to Stay Organized as a Flight Instructor
One of the most challenging parts of being a CFI is also one of the things that flight instructor training doesn’t prepare you for—dealing with the constant flow of students. It’s incredible how quickly a full flight schedule can make you feel like you’re falling behind. The more flying you do, the more recordkeeping and…
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5 Ways to Help Flight Training Students Get Past Learning Plateaus
Flight instructors know that learning plateaus are a natural part of learning a new skill. It’s happened to all of us at one point during our training. You’re progressing fine, until one day you just can’t get it. Maybe it’s nailing the flare for landing, or maybe it’s reading a specific type of performance chart…
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Airspace Classes: An Airspace Guide for New Pilots
In this article, you’ll learn the basics of airspace classes. This airspace study guide will help you prepare for your written test. An airspace is a region of air that is available for flying aircraft. However, the precise nature of aircraft that can fly in these regions, and the circumstances under which they are permitted,…
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3 Tips to Help you Pass Your CFI Checkride
Almost every pilot who pursues a career in aviation spends at least a little time as a flight instructor. Achieving that title however means you have to pass the ominous CFI checkride. In order to prepare for your CFI checkride you’ll need to attend a CFI academy. In another article, we covered the basics of…
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How to Obtain a Weather Briefing
Every student training for their private pilot license will have to complete a cross-country flight. As part of planning that flight, you’ll need to learn how to obtain a weather briefing. Watch the video below or continue reading for our quick guide on obtaining a weather briefing and the weather briefing types you should use. How to…
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3 Reasons to Build Time as a Flight Instructor
After completing the commercial rating, aspiring airline pilots come to a critical fork in their career- Do I become a flight instructor or look for a job with low flight time requirements? Because a CFI rating is not required at the airlines, some pilots opt to acquire hours through other avenues. This is sometimes due to…
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Why Now is the Best Time to Become an Airline Pilot
In the past people became airline pilots because of a life-long passion. Like teaching, and a few other under-appreciated careers, it was the kind of job that only those who felt it was their “calling” were crazy enough to pursue. The hours were inconsistent, the schooling expensive, the training difficult and the pay not-so-great. That is no…
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A Look Back At The Flight School in 2019
We tend to put our attention on the “now”, living our lives day to day, focused on what our next goal is, or the current problem in front of us. So looking back at the end of the year, it’s often surprising how much has happened. We’d like to share with our followers a look…