r/flying

I absentmindedly shut off my engine with mags versus mixture. Should I be concerned about anything on the plane or just take it as a lesson learned?

1. Parked
2. Set rpm 1000
3. Avionics, master, mags - off
4. Engine kicks twice makes nasty thunk noise then dies
5. Finished shutdown
6. Quick visual inspection seemed nominal
7. Restarted the engine and seemed to run normal at 1000 rpm for a few minutes
8. Increased to 1500 rpm and ran normal and passed mag check
9. Shut down correctly

My plan is to check the exhaust and engine bay during pre-flight, do a longer than normal ground run up, and then exercise the engine in the pattern for ~30 min Any reason this is a bad idea?

So I am 100% happy all the time. I am a rare specimen and glad I am never sad or having to talk to someone. But let’s say hypothetically* *a pilot wants to talk to a therapist.

What is the best way to go about it? Payment in cash so their name isn’t on it? It’s so frustrating how the FAA is against mental health. Sorry this question may be asked all the time.

Throwaway account since I usually don't rant-

Don't get me wrong. Some of the best people I've met have been in Aviation. Instructors who would go above and beyond for their students. And people at the FBO who give some of the best flying and .life advice you can get

Although now that I'm an instructor with a good amount of hours, I'm struggling to work with and stay sane with a lot of the people I'm seeing around the airport and on social media. I'm not sure if I'm just letting everything get to me but I swear I'm seeing so much more of these pet peeves.

1. People acting all high and mighty since they started flying, which has literally no barrier to entry aside from some money and decent health. This has been the case forever but flying seems to be getting more snobs and people flashing it on social media more than ever. It seems to be more in style than ever.

2. CFIs acting like this job is the most hellish work on earth. Yes, it's low paying and the hours are weird, but sitting in the right seat and instructing is comically easy compared to what many people go through every day without the "carrot on the end of the stick" of the airlines.

3. No one is owed a job at the airlines, yes it sucks that it cost a lot of money, but that's not the job markets problem.

4. People making aviation their whole personality and acting like flying a 180hp 50 year old plane is the most difficult task in the world. You got a pilot license, not a PHD. It's a lot of work and patience to get it done, but let's be real, it's not that intense.

Sorry for the rant, most of you are lovely people. I think I've just been getting a little too much cringeworthy aviation content on my feeds recently.

Hey guys, at 135 flying piston aircrafts around having a blast building time. I wanted to know what it is like flying medvac, as I see a ton of adds. Love to know from medvac pilots

I'm just curious since right now I'm just a PPL student so I can't fly high above the clouds just yet but are you able to see the stars clearly and even the Milky Way itself when you are flying in the cockpit in like an a320? I searched up images of it but I'm not sure if they are actually real or not.

Hey there!! I was home for the weekend for thanks giving to see family. I am currently in my second month of commercial helicopter piloting school and I love it I’m living the dream. Last night my brother needed someone to DD him home from the bar so I went to pick him up, hours before picking him up I had a beer with friends. On my way home I was pulled over for a routine check and I blew a 0.021. Now in Alberta that number is below the legal and warning limit but this is where the problem is, I was under the impression that my GDL was already removed but it turns out it was still active and according to the Alberta GDL program you can’t have anything in your system until it’s removed. I was given a IRS which is not a criminal charge. Because of this my car was impounded for 7 days, my drivers license has been suspended for 30 days, and I was fined 240$. I am a student pilot and I’m scared of the impact this will have on my future and future career, can I get some insight on knowledge for this type of situation?

I know this question has be asked into oblivion, but I’m going to be moving up to the Anchorage area late February. I’m currently working at a 135 in JAX flying PC-12s just shy of 1200 hrs. I’m not sure what my total will be by February but I’m not sure where to start in terms of looking for any flying job up there. No AK which makes the cargo 135s tough to get into, and I feel like I’ll have to many hours to get looked at by a flight school. Any tips/advice for my poor soul?

Edit: I am moving because of family reasons, not because I want to be spontaneous and live the AK life for a season and leave. I plan to live in the area for the foreseeable future.

My dad was born in 1933. He put himself through college in the ROTC, graduated from Ohio State in 1954, and joined the Air Force. He learned to fly in T-35s, then went on to fly bombers (B-25 and B-47) during the Cold War. In 1964, he went with American Airlines as a flight engineer, then FO, and eventually made Captain. He flew Boeing 707s and MD-80s. He went all over the world. He loved to fly. It broke his heart when he was forced to retire at 60. He bought a beautiful Cessna 172 and flew sight seeing trips along the NorCal coast.

I got interested in learning to fly and finally started training in Jan 2025. I passed my PPL checkride 10 days ago on Tuesday Sep 29. He couldn’t fly with me because of his health, but he was very excited that I passed.

He died 2 days ago at 92. He was a pilot through and through. Our conversations about flying were some of the best we ever had. I wanted to honor him here with a community who knew something of how he lived.

I’m trying to find a decent option for a kneeboard for my iPad. I have an 11inch iPad and just want to know what people have used and worked for them. Thank you!

Hello all,
I wanted to start off by saying that I recognize that independent instruction requires a lot of work. Lots of advertising, and a bigger focus on quality of instruction. In most cases it seems like a decent monetary investment as well even if I do not buy my own aircraft to use. (I would be looking to use student-owned aircraft to train in)

The main draw to this is that I would like to focus my effort on more personalized instructing, as my flight instructing experience so far has been pretty fast paced and I do not usually have long term students due to the nature of the business.

I am also aware that ATP minimums of 1500 hours is no longer the golden ticket, and I believe I would find a lot of enjoyment in sticking with instructing for longer. I enjoy teaching and think I have the motivation to continue to pursue this specific line of work. I have my gold seal and some of my best memories in aviation so far has been helping my students learn. Yes I would like to progress to larger aircraft eventually, but I want my job now as a CFI to be more meaningful as well.

Is trying to self advertise as an independent CFI too high of a risk considering today’s market? Or would I have a chance if I applied myself enough?

I have been flying with a Garmin 375 and 275 for about 18 months, but about two months ago I started getting terrain alerts when I take off and land at my home airport. I have not been able to turn it off. I was told that the alert should be automatically suppressed when landing and taking off at an airport (this airport is an established airport, so that is not an issue). Has anyone else had this problem and what did you do about it?

Hello all, I'm honestly just looking for advice. I fly at a 141 University and i'm about 18 hours in. We're expected to solo at 15... but I still just don't feel ready. My CFI assures me I'm doing fine, but i'm not sure what's going wrong. I can do the maneuvers for the most part, and i can take off and land (mostly, i do bounce a bit bc we are short field) but I still am making mistakes I'm terrified i'll do solo. I still fixate on instruments and get a little distracted and pitch/roll to slightly odd attitudes when looking at instruments.

Currently I fly 3-4x a week for a minimum of an hour and a max of 2.5.

My worst fear is causing an accident or dying or worse, hurting/killing someone else. I'm running lower on flight fees than i should be at this point in the semester and I'm getting stressed.

Is this normal? Is my uni rushing me? Am i the problem? Any advice is appreciated.

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Hi,
Going to RTAG this next weekend, going to be clean shaved, suit, printed Resumes, ETC. My question is should I bring my physical logbooks that I have from when I was student through CFI? My 121 hours are all in an electronic logbook and I plan to print those off, but do I need to bring the others with me?

Thanks in advanced!!

Does it make sense to take advantage of Canada's subsidized tuition programs to get a degree in aviation and then move into the US to work? If we assume somebody can get into the united states (green card, spouse, or citizen) could a graduate of lets say, Seneca:

1. Have their aviation degree recognized in the united states
2. Attain better job prospects/salary by applying to work in US

I am asking because the job market for pilots in Canada seems quite small, not just for regionals but also instructors, all other jobs etc. If we use crude logic and assume that more job postings in USA mean more open positions, then a subsidized education in Canada and subsequent job offer in the US offers a more lucrative path than pure employment in Canada or pure education in US. Similar to how many doctors get trained in Canada and move to the US because its cheaper.

Is this a thing?

Hi everyone I'm a private pilot and just studying for the commercial and foi and IR and AGI,IGI.

Just a quick question so am I cooked if I really wanna learn the material and not use shepherd and just memorize is all and forget it all the day after??

Am I the only one guys?

Ps: I got a pretty high score on my ppl beacuse i memorized like shepherd but I feel the difference between knowing it and memorize it for the written.

Please any advice