Private Pilot Ground School
Classing Up

Registration is now in progress for a Private Pilot Ground School.  The class will commence at 6 PM on Wednesday, Sept. 15, and run every Wednesday for 12 weeks.   Click the registration button on the right to sign up!

Come visit us at the Simsbury Fly-In!

Come on out and visit us at the 25th Anniversary Simsbury Fly-In at the Simsbury Airport (4B9) on Sunday, Sept. 19. We will have a booth there and we would love to see you all! There will be antique aircraft and car exhibits, seminars, formation flying, a skydiving demonstration, and more.

For more information, visit the Simsbury Fly-In Website.

Premier's Newsletter is a Growing Success

Thank you to our many new subscribers and to our loyal customers who have shared the newsletter with your friends and peers!

If you've been wondering what you've been missing, fill out your name and email information in the space to the right to receive the next edition. Then, check out these informative training articles:

From "Standing Lenticular Clouds"

Every region of the country has its unique challenges for pilots. I tend to think of the Northeast, where Premier Flight Center is located, as the “Airspace Capitol of the World”. Yup, if it’s the complexities of airspace you want, you’ve got it here! Pilots who venture out in the American West have a whole new challenge facing them – mountains, and all of the complexities of mountain weather! Below are some awesome shots of one of those mountain weather spectacles, standing lenticular clouds.

As one alert reader observed, “fabulous pictures, and from what I have read, best taken from the ground.” He's right, and let’s review why. Standing lenticular clouds are associated with a phenomenon known as mountain wave turbulence. Read More...

From "Light Gun Signals - The other way to communicate"

Most pilots learn to interpret light gun signals during their student pilot days. Yet, when I conduct flight reviews, or help students pursue an advanced certificate or rating, they often confide that they hope that they’ll never have a radio failure and be forced to interpret light gun signals from a control tower. Most pilots claim that they forgot about light gun signals at the conclusion of their student pilot days!

Just another self-deprecating remark? Perhaps, especially since most of them end up able to fumble through the meanings of most of the signals as they think them over.

Apparently, many of us pilot types only think about the meaning of light gun signals when some flight instructor asks about them!

Perhaps more interesting though is that, although we know the light gun signal meanings, we don’t have much insight into situations that would result in receiving one light gun signal over another.

For example, why would you get a “Flashing Red” signal? Read More...

From "On Guard!"

There’s an old adage – “Pilots don’t get lost, they just get temporarily disoriented.”

The good news is that modern radios are very reliable, and pilots don’t normally “lose” their comms either, they just get a bit disoriented about where they are. The most common problem that is seen is with the volume knob!

Really now, it’s not ever a good idea to turn down the volume, especially while you’re out flying around because you’re very likely to forget to turn it back up when you’re ready to chat with the tower about your return to the airport. You’ll think you've had a radio failure. You'll be glad you recently read the above article. Meanwhile, after your second or third call to them, the tower will know what you’ve done and be waiting patiently for you to catch on.

As an instructor, I know how busy the tower frequency can be and what a distraction to teaching all of that chatter is when you’re out working in the practice area. Yet, I never turn down the volume to avoid the intrusion of the radio. I’m far too likely to forget to turn it back up, and I don’t want to teach a student to turn down the radio lest they too forget to turn it back up! So what’s an impoverished flight instructor to do? How about something useful with the radio?
Monitor 121.5 MHz! Read More...

From "Speaking of effective radio communications..."

When I began the process of studying for my CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) certificate, I worked with a few highly experienced pilots who were wonderful teachers. One will always hold a special place in my heart. First, and foremost, he taught me an amazing amount about teaching people to fly. Secondly, after I earned my CFI, hired me!

Anyway, this particular instructor often observed that “if you poll people, one of their most common fears is the ‘fear of flying’; after that, it’s the ‘fear of public speaking’. So, what do we do? We put them in airplanes and make them talk on the radio!”

Okay yeah, it’s probably not very clever of us “instructor” types, is it?

Many students attribute their apprehension toward radio communications to a desire to “sound professional.”

That is an admirable sentiment, but the desire to sound good should be a low level concern. Instead, all pilots should desire to communicate effectively. In fact the greatest enhancement to professionalism on the radio will be found by each pilot who learns to speak concisely and accurately!

It is certain that there are proper phraseologies that should be used, but since we cannot learn or invent a specific phraseology for every situation, I tell my students, when all else fails, just use English! Read More...

Both aircraft are equipped with advanced total aircraft
Ballistic Recovery Systems.
(Only the Cirrus is pictured.)

Call or come in to find out how you can
expand your flying today!