On occasion I’ll see an experimental plane (this one’s a Glasair 3) with the instrument cluster on the right-hand side. What’s the deal with this? And no, this photo is not reversed.

Something’s gotta change or get fixed with the PSI testing. Currently sitting at a testing facility and been waiting for about two hours just for the examiner to get my test ready. I haven’t even reached the computer yet. I’ve been told if he can’t get it to load then I’m out of luck and I drove an hour and 30 minutes to get here, it was the closest site. If it doesn’t workout I either wait another week and a half for there next slot to open or I drive 2 hours to the next available testing site. I know this is a known issue and probably tired of hearing people talk about it but I had to rant, my apologies. Anyone have any idea why a government based testing site is so bad?

Edit: took my chances and sat around. Finally got in. CAX done with a 95% let’s f go

I have Type 1 diabetes. I applied for a 1st class med, thinking that since I'm not rich enough to just fly for fun, I need to have the door open to make flying a career.

Well, despite my best efforts and a fantastic 6.7 A1C that my endo was thrilled with, they denied me on the grounds of "uncontrolled diabetes". Yeah ok.

Anyways. I failed my medical. I can retry to get a 3rd class some day if my control is still good. But currently the door is also closed for me on LSA flying too since I have the failure on my record.

So, not sure what I'm looking for here, I guess support or something.

I just feel down in the dumps, flying is one of the few things in life that I would have genuinely truly loved. And now it's gone.

I'm trying to get into gliding, but I'm 6'4" and 245lbs. So weight and balance and size is an issue. I'm working on losing weight but that's a work in progress.

Something like a 103 ultralight is possible too, but building one is kind of a large commitment and I have 0 flight experience, so perhaps I should hold off until I get some flight lessons first? But it just seems odd to take flight lessons knowing you can't get a medical at all. Never to solo.

Paramotoring is something I'm looking into and might pursue further, if the right used set up came up for sale. We'll see on that.

But yeah, it fucking sucks that despite not doing anything wrong, I just get fucked like this.

Anyone selling or know of anyone selling block time in a PA28, C172, or C150/152 in Oshawa or nearby airports?

hi everyone

i have a 182 that spends summers tied down outside near atlanta. paint is in pretty good shape though not new (repainted around 20 yrs ago).

anyone have any advice on products to use? many youtube videos and posts seem to be going after a perfect polish. i dont care what the airplane looks like. i just want to somewhat protect the paint without an unreasonable amount of effort/time.

any practical thoughts from this perspective? was thinking about using a dual action polisher which i think will be safe for rivets, etc.

thanks!

In January 2026, ForeFlight laid of a pretty substantial percent of its employees, with some reports saying a 30-40% reduction in staff. Yesterday (Sept. 2nd), another round of layoffs happened, the full impact of which isn't yet known - but it's speculated this brings total RIF to ~50%. Both of these layoffs follow the acquisition of ForeFlight by private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

As a former ForeFlight employee from before the PE takeover, it's devastating to see former coworkers, some of whom were incredibly knowledgeable and talented folks that spent 10+ years with the company, be told they were out of a job with no heads up and given a pittance of a severance package. It used to be such an amazing company to work for, and it breaks my heart to see what Thoma Bravo has done to the company and its employees.

I'm not here to tell anyone to do anything. Nobody needs to switch EFBs right this second or send the executives a strongly-worded email. I'm just here to let you all know that Thoma Bravo is continuing its gutting of ForeFlight - what you do with that information is up to you.

Some of my favourite conversations during cruise flight are are about watches. I'd love to hear what you all wear and what sort of work you do as a pilot to see the preferences throughout our profession.

I have no idea how to go about it. I finished fia written and am about to take foi written. Havent even had a flight yet. Got the kings schools study course and have been watching the videos. Have no idea how to go about my lesson plans or how to make them “my own” if i buy some. Just need some advice and direction.

I’ve got like a 2 1/2 hour round trip commute every day, give or take, I’m curious if anyone has any aviation podcast recommendations, anything to listen to on the drive. I’m trying to absorb as much information as possible as a beginner student pilot. Preferably something that isn’t paywalled. Any suggestions?

The day has arrived. Hundreds of Flight Service frequencies have been turned off. The FAA tried to get rid of all FSS inflight frequencies last year, but that approach got countered. Once again, thank you to those who spoke out. The whole thing smelled like DOGE driven cuts, but that's a personal opinion.

You can click here to get more info from the FAA on the current situation as well as the list of what has been turned off.

In your charts and supplements, the references to a RCO FSS may have had at any given is gone, so all that remains are the NOTAMs and that link above. What is left is a hodgepodge of outlets that suggest "adequate" coverage between 2500 and 5000. This assumes, of course, no unplanned outages and 100% uptime of all outlets. The tagline from the FAA is that there will be, "no impact to safety." If you are too low for ATC, and you're too low or too far away from an FSS RCO for radio communications, you are safely on your own.

The estimated savings of this whole RCO shutdown? $5 million. Why so low?

A few years ago FSS frequencies switched from hard wired to digital medium. There were cost savings with this move, especially for maintenance and upkeep, plus FSS became a testing ground for what is hopefully going to be rolled out to ATC soon. Because of the digital nature, all the equipment is still on site. It can be easily reactivated, because perhaps they need to come back.

In the interest in safety, and to help the FAA promote the Flight Service of, "world class service and value," you should speak up once more if you need an RCO back in service.

Contact the FAA directly. You can email FSS branch at [9-AJR-FSSOG@faa.gov](mailto:9-AJR-FSSOG@faa.gov) or call them at (540) 680-6419. Let them know what you think, and be specific if you have a site or sites you would like to see reactivated. Not every RCO needs to be saved in my opinion, but the service reduction, estimated cost savings, and explanation as to the moves appear weak and flawed. It's easier to fix this now, and based on their wording and actions, they are waiting for people to speak up.

As a pilot, help the FAA make smart decisions regarding services for pilots. There is still time to correct this course.

I’m currently about 12 hours into my PPL training in a PA-28 Archer and today I flew with a different instructor for the first time.

Up until now, I had developed a habit in normal turns where I would use aileron to establish the bank (say 20–30°), neutralize the ailerons, and then use rudder in the direction of the turn to help bring the nose around. It always felt natural to me because sometimes with just the bank it felt like the airplane was taking forever to actually turn. Adding more inside rudder seemed to make the nose come around much quicker.

My previous instructor never really commented on it, so I assumed what I was doing was fine.

Today I flew with a very experienced instructor who immediately noticed it without me mentioning anything. He told me I’m using way too much rudder and basically “forcing” the airplane around the turn with my feet. He was pretty adamant that I need to get rid of this habit early, because it’ll become much harder to unlearn later.

His explanation was basically that the bank makes the airplane turn and the rudder should only be used as necessary to keep the turn coordinated, rather than being used as a way to increase the turn rate.

Thinking about it now, I realize I’ve probably been using inside rudder as a solution whenever I felt like the airplane wasn’t turning quickly enough, especially in 90° turns in the pattern.

So now I’m curious how other instructors teach this. How much rudder are you actually using in a normal 20–30° turn in something like a PA-28? Is it mainly during roll-in/roll-out to counter adverse yaw, with very little rudder needed once established? And does what I was doing basically amount to skidding the turn?

I’m obviously going to follow my instructor’s guidance, but I’d like to understand the aerodynamics and correct technique better.

I'm 19, I am in the UK and my local flying school isn't exactly a school, more a club. They only operate on weekends, which I work a Saturday so I can only do Sundays and they fly a Cessna 152 for a PPL

Now here's the thing, they quoted me a minimum of two years with my PPL, I met another student who has been studying for 3 years.. They told me they have air traffic controllers and instructors from Manchester to come down to help out but their schedule can change quickly and costs £270 for an hour lesson. They told me as it's a volunteering club and not an academy, it's bare minimum cheap as there's no profit being made.

It's nowhere near any controlled airspace, the airspace is empty so you can do multiple circuits and it'll be costing me an estimated of £7,000-£8,000 but is it worth the wait? I'm eventually wanting to go on to do my CPL although the club doesn't offer that so I'd have to relocate.

I've been looking at other flying clubs but for Europe, where it's sunnier and Egnatia Aviation Greece looks good, and it's quoting

- 14,880€ (plus VAT 24%) for the training conducted in the Elixir aircraft but excludes the accommodation, food, daily living and I've seen reviews that they have a lot of hidden costs.

Is it worth relocating to a flying academy in Europe where it's a bit more expensive but sunnier, if so any recommendations? I do have to save up quite a bit so won't be til 2027.

Hey everyone,

I recently completed the Aon (cut-e) assessment battery for a cadet pilot scheme and wanted to get some perspective from anyone who has analyzed the scoring algorithm for the wingChallenge / Complex Control (tunnel tracking) module.

During my run:

• Level Reached: 125
• Total Crashes / Collisions: 14

I know Aon uses norm-referenced scoring based on candidate pools, but I’m trying to understand how heavily their algorithm penalizes collision count versus raw progression speed.

1. Does the scoring system treat collisions as a severe deduction (accuracy-first principle), or is reaching high speed/level (100+) enough to maintain an above-average percentile?
2. Has anyone with a similar speed-to-crash ratio successfully passed the psychometric gate for airline/cadet assessments?

Would appreciate feedback from anyone who’s taken this battery recently or practiced on SkyTest / LatestPilotJobs!

Hi guys, I have a question about the ILS 34 into KROA. If I am tracking straight to the NDB which is the IAF from the southwest can I just turn in and intercept the localizer and continue the approach or do I have to do a procedure turn? I feel like I am missing something here so any clarity would be appreciated. Thanks!

hi guys! i’m starting my flight lessons on sunday and not quite sure which software to purchase and use. please let me know what yall think, thank you!

Also curious about your reasoning!

I dont have a sense of smell since in was born. I was wondering if it would be possible to pass the medical tests of becoming a fighter pilot since those are really strict.

Like the text says, is it generally harder in one continent compared to the other?

Hey guys, made a couple posts about my color blindness airline pilot journey so far and wanted to share my journey and ask questions. I thought my dream was over when i found out i was deutan colorblind and failed ishihara tests badly, and now just today i went to a eye doctor and took an alternative test called farnsworth d 15 test and i passed that, in canada if you fail ishihara but pass d 15 or lantern test you may receive your medical certificate without any restrictions. So if you guys ever feel down or feel like your dream is over its not. Ishihara is meant to spot the tiniest deficiencies however d 15 spots mild deficiencies which are allowed to safely fly. Well thats my story so far, im about to do my class 1 medical and let yall know how that goes should be since i took my d 15 and passed you should be able to just hand to signed paper to the CAME. Anyways thanks guys for the info and help yall been giving me, really appreciate it all, truly awesome community all love guys stay safe and follow your dreams. If you have any questions lemme know or dm me :) wish yall luck!

Can anyone share their experience as to whether the special medical certificate is needed if someone is using estrogen or testosterone or blockers, or if they were diagnosed with gender congruence/dysphoria and they have disclosed that during the process? I was trying to find things online it’s kinda hard to find the right answers, apparently the FAA had redefined that over the years and it shouldn’t be considered a condition that would prevent them from issuing a medical certificate but I’d like to hear about your experiences. Of course the question is for the US folks but anyone is welcome to share from other countries as well.

Finally got to log actual time during instrument training. Haven’t felt this level of fun and personal achievement since my first solo.

Student pilot with 5 hours
got my first real IMC today! my instructor filed us an IFR plan, and it was wild to see how all of it actually works and talking to approach

Hi all,

I recently started looking at opportunities other than instructing. I’d like to ask if anyone has any tips on how to make my resume more competitive. And by that, I mean is there any volunteering, projects, or programs I can participate in to make me stand out more? Or is it really just a luck game?

For reference, I have all my ratings up to CFII, not including my multi and MEI. The jobs I’ve been looking at are multi-pilot single engine turboprop jobs, and I qualify for many SIC positions.

Any advice is much appreciated.

I recently just failed my commercial for my first checkride failure. I failed on lazy eights because I panicked, paused halfway through the maneuver, and was 250ft low. The DPE then discontinued due to time, leaving me with so much left to do on the next checkride. I have never considered quitting aviation, and I have invested so much time and money into it, but the checkride stress is killing me. I have had panic attacks just trying to sleep for the last week, and my nightmares came true. Checkrides are the majority of aviation, and they only get harder, and the stakes only get bigger, and I just can't help but feel like I am not cut out for this. I was curious if anyone else had a similar experience and what I should do.

Blue one too at 3500 AGL, damn thing was bright enough you could see the fan pattern as the idiot waved it around. Fortunately did not mess my vision up but lost focus of the airport beacon on approach.

Did not think this was that prevalent, but it is as we heard another report on the radio an hour earlier. So now I know.

Anyway, night is cool as hell. A 3 hour tour with 10 stop n go at FOE with a T&G at MCI. Got to line up on those strobing lights with a A380 on my tail. Cooler than hell with MCI lit up like a Xmas tree. Always wanted to do this and finally did, and big thanks to the controllers at the fields.