Ready to Hit the Beach? Use These Four Tips When Planning Your Coastal Flying Trip

The weather is getting warmer, and summer is around the corner. It can mean only one thing: beach season! Seeing the ocean and beaches from the air is a great luxury for pilots. Nothing compares with the breathtaking views from a new perspective. Flying the coastline is a bucket list item for some pilots. The memories and views are unforgettable.

Flying is attractive because of the difference in driving time versus flying time. You know this is especially true if you live inland like many of our customers who reside in the North Carolina Piedmont or Triangle regions. Whether you are planning an extended beach stay or a day trip, you should be aware of these four key items when flying to the coast.

“Weather” or Not to Fly

The weather varies greatly, especially in the summer. Flying to the beach during the summer is fun, but quickly changing weather patterns can be challenging.

The sun’s heat causes every coastal weather phenomenon because of the differential heating of the earth and the ocean. That is why your morning at the beach is perfectly sunny, but your afternoon might be a different story. Pop-up thunderstorms appear and change your flight planning in time for your trip back home.

The land and the sea heat differently and at different rates. During the day, the sun rapidly heats the land, so the air above the land will get hotter faster than the air above the ocean. The heated air rises because it is less dense and creates low pressure.

Conversely, the colder air over the water is denser, so it moves to occupy the space over the land. You know this shift as the sea breeze – that cool burst of air that keeps you comfortable as you soak in the rays on the beach. Sea breezes typically happen during the day.

As the day draws toward a close, the reverse happens. The sun sets, the land is no longer heated, and it soon loses its residual heat. Water retains heat, which means the air over the water is warmer and less dense than the air over the land. The land over the water rises, and the denser cool air over the land moves to replace the air over the water. Thus, we have a land breeze.

Planning for the Unexpected

Whether you are flying the pattern for currency or planning a trip to Wilmington for lunch, you need to be aware of the weather. Weather awareness is something you learned in your early days of flight training. Ever-changing weather conditions make awareness of expected wind conditions, runway assignments, and flight characteristics imperative.

When you fly to the coast during the day, you will land toward the ocean because that is where the headwind will be coming. If your beach trip occurs during the evening, you should land toward the land for the same reason. Everybody loves a good cruise at the beach, so keep these wind characteristics in mind to determine your best tailwind for cruise flight.

Coastal fog is another weather issue you will likely encounter. You might also know it as advection fog. Whatever you call it, it forms when warm, moist air blows over a cooler surface. You see this fog with the land breeze when the warm, moist air over the ocean blows over the cooler land. If you are staying overnight at the beach, you might wake up to some fog, but that fog dissipates as the sun heats the land. VFR pilots must wait out the coastal fog, but an instrument-rated pilot can safely handle flight in certain coastal fog conditions.

What About Traffic?

Flying to the coast in North Carolina means you do not have to worry about highway traffic congestion. But flying does not mean you are free of congestion.

The traffic you contend with may not be of the automobile kind, but rather of the airplane kind. Banner-towing companies fly airplanes along the coast all day, making coastal airspace crowded. Seagulls also pose a threat to aviators, especially single-engine piston aircraft.

You and your passengers might enjoy flying the coastline to absorb the breathtaking views and snap a few photos. Who would blame you? It is a remarkable sight. Make sure you check your FAR/AIM before embarking on such a flight. According to 14 CFR 91.119:

Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes:

(a) Anywhere. An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.

(b) Over congested areas. Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft.

(c) Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.

Always abide by these regulations to keep you, your passengers, and the folks enjoying the beach from the land safe.

Over the Ocean

The North Carolina coast (or the nearest coast to where you live) is beautiful, but what if you want more out of your beach vacation? What if it is a tropical flight you desire, such as a hop down to the Bahamas? Time to break out that FAR/AIM again. Both 14 CFR 91.509 and 91.511 list required items to have onboard for offshore flight. Most notably, you must have a life preserver in the plane when the aircraft is out of power off gliding range to a suitable landing spot on land.

If you fly from Elon Aviation’s main campus at the Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport (KBUY) to Dare County Regional Airport (KMQI), you will fly over the Albemarle Sound to reach the island. Make certain you hug the shoreline in case of an emergency or carry a life preserver.

Few of us do not enjoy a pleasant beach getaway. Coastal flying is an excellent way to make a required cross-country flight more interesting. Flying to the coast is also a great family day trip. or as a destination to take the family for a day trip. Keep your beach trips safe and fun. Make sure you watch the weather, abide by the regulations, and adhere to all your usual aeronautical decision-making tasks.

How Successful Pilots Learn

Last week, you discovered the best study strategy to get the most out of your ground school training experience. But do you know how you learn? Having an awareness of how you learn can help you succeed both in the air and on the ground.

As in any other field, flight instructors are challenged to understand the different ways people learn. When your CFI understands how you learn, they can deliver the information so you may absorb it better. The result is a more customized learning experience.

What is Learning?

Before we discuss how you learn, we need to determine what is learning. Learning is a change in behavior that occurs through study, instruction, or experience. You have engaged in learning from birth. Learning is a fundamental part of our lives.

Educators and educational researchers have further classified learning into learning theories.

• Behaviorism says that learning is predicted based on reward (success) or punishment (errors).

• During cognitive learning, you change how you think, understand, or feel. This learning is also called “critical thinking” “problem solving” “reflective thought.”

• Information processing theory likens your brain to a computer. Your brain processes incoming information, stores, and retrieves it, then generates a response.

• The constructivism learning theory suggests that you build skills and knowledge from your experience. You might equate new information about aircraft engines to what you know about a car engine.

How We Learn

A commonality among the learning theories is that your brain is taking in information. You move through four levels of learning as you process new information.

• Rote Memorization is what I call procedure. When you learned to ride a bike, you sat on the seat, placed your feet on the pedals and your hands on the handlebars, and pushed with your feet. You followed a specific set of directions to accomplish a task.

• Understanding enables you to explain why you executed the procedures you learned. Your flight instructor teaches you to put your feet on the pedals (procedure). Understanding helps you connect what your feet are doing on the pedals and the movements you are making with the rudder (left and right).

• Once you learn and understand a new procedure, you move to the application level of learning. This is usually the point in flight training where you can perform a maneuver and remain within a specified limitation.

• As you progress through flight training, you notice that each lesson builds upon previous lessons. This helps you build correlation. When you correlate your learning, you associate new information with previous learning. You begin to figure out why are you doing what you are doing.

Your CFI will use scenarios to gauge your correlation of the subject matter. Be they real or theoretical, the scenarios your instructor produces could come from their experience or that of someone they know. Scenarios help reinforce the information you have learned, and they help prepare you for situations should they arise. Learning the procedure and moving forward is not enough. As the old saying indicates, practice makes perfect.

I have shown you what learning is and how you learn, but why do you need to know this information? Your instructor should know about learning and will guide you, right? In theory, yes. However, learning a skill such as flying an airplane requires teamwork between you and your instructor. Your instructor must do their part, but you must also do yours.

Determining Your Learning Style

Doing your part can include discovering your learning style. Your instructor can adjust and deliver information effectively based on your learning style.

Left Brain v. Right Brain

Helping your instructor understand how you absorb information starts with your brain. You have heard people describe themselves as “left brained” or “right brained.” The diagram below from the Aviation Instructor’s Handbook overviews the characteristics of a left-brained or right-brained individual. You use both sides of your brain in nearly every human activity, but you process information with the “brain” you are.

Aviation Instructor’s Handbook (2020), Figure 3-14

The ILS

In aviation, ILS refers to the Instrument Landing System. ILS can also refer to the Index of Learning Style developed by Richard Felder and Linda Silverman in 1988. You can assess your own learning preferences via a survey hosted by North Carolina State University. The Aviation Instructor’s Handbook also summarizes eight basic learning styles as seen below.

Aviation Instructor’s Handbook (2020),
Figure 3-15

I took the questionnaire to see what it provided me. It took me 10 minutes to complete. I tried to answer based on my first thought and not overthink the questions, which I tend to do. Keep in mind, I have been teaching for a while, and I have learned how I like information delivered to me. Still, I struggled with some questions. I encourage you to take this test for yourself. The site also offers links with further detail of your results. Below were my results:

What does this mean? According to the site, the numbers result in the following:

“According to the model on which the ILS is based, there are four dimensions of learning style, with each dimension having two opposite categories (such as active and reflective). The reported score for a dimension indicates your preference for one category or the other.

If your score for a dimension is 1 or 3, you are well balanced on the two categories of that dimension, with only a mild preference for one or the other.

If your score for a dimension is 5 or 7, you have a moderate preference for one category of that dimension. You may learn less easily in an environment that fails to address that preference at least some of the time than you would in a more balanced environment.

If your score for a dimension is 9 or 11, you have a strong preference for one category of that dimension. You may have difficulty learning in an environment that fails to address that preference at least some of the time.”

Sensory Receptors

The more popular learning styles are based on the three sensory receptors: vision, hearing, and touch. This is called VAK or Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic learning styles.

Aviation Instructor’s Handbook (2020), Figure 3-16

You generally use the entire VAK to interpret information, but you might rely on one sense more than the others.

How Your CFI Can Help

In aviation, we equate higher-order real-world thinking skills with Aeronautical Decision Making (ADM. To develop your ADM, your instructor will use problem-based instruction (PBI) to include real-world problems, student-centered learning, authentic scenarios, active learning, and customized instruction for you.

This all can seem complicated if you are a new learner already overwhelmed by the processes and procedures associated with flight training. Therefore, your CFI must work to understand you and how you learn. They also need to deliver scenarios in such a manner that you become a safe pilot and that you enjoy a more rewarding experience.

I am always learning new ways to deliver information to my students. I find it challenging when I encounter someone who does not think or learn the same way I do. This is when, as an instructor, I talk to them about it. I encourage them to let me know how they like to absorb information. I want to know how I can help their learning experience.

Think about you absorb information. Do you tend to learn from videos or graphics? Or do you prefer charts and data? Do you like to talk to others? Do you need a study partner? Do you learn better on your own?

Talk to your instructor. Help them understand how you like the information delivered. Use them as your study partner. Help them understand what motivates you. Answer the questions, “Why do you want to learn to fly?” and “What are your goals?” This easy conversation can lead to a more positive and rewarding flight training experience for you.

Kathryn Roberts recalls standing in a field at age four and being able to reach up and touch the wheels of her father's plane while he seeded the local farmer's field. Aviation was always part of her childhood and life, as her father was a former crop duster and Piedmont Airlines captain. However, Kathryn sought another form of horsepower, competing as an equestrian and managing horse barns. But a flight lesson during her senior year at Clemson University changed her career path forever. Learn more about Kathryn and the rest of the Elon Aviation staff at www.elonaviation.com.

How Successful Pilots Study

You have made the decision to learn how to fly! After your First Flight, your flight instructor outlines the training curriculum and sends you home with your home-study course. Becoming a pilot is a multi-faceted learning endeavor. You will need to become knowledgeable in aircraft systems, aerodynamics, weather, law, medical factors, risk management, and psychology. If you are like the rest of us, you are not an expert in all these fields when beginning flight training.

How does one become knowledgeable? In our field, most learning happens through home-study. Of course, you will engage in several one-on-one or small group learning sessions during your training. But unless you are enrolled in a collegiate aviation program, you are not likely to be in a large traditional classroom setting akin to primary and secondary education.

Home-study courses are usually online videos, books, DVD courses, audio recordings, or a combination thereof. Whichever method you use, you need to know how to study effectively. One key aspect of studying is converting information into knowledge. Your home-study course is full of information that is the refined data about the subject matter at hand. Knowledge means that you understand the information well enough that you can draw the best conclusions for a given problem or scenario. How do we study so we can transform the information presented to us into workable real-world knowledge?

Online Interactive Video Courses

Let us start with the most common form of home-study today, the online interactive video course. We use such a program at Elon Aviation. Of course, when you sit down to complete a lesson, your environment should be free of distractions. You cannot pay attention to your video lesson with the television playing in the background. Tell the kids they will have to wait a little a while for help with that new math.

The human brain is not like a sponge. You cannot learn by osmosis. Letting the video play while you stare at the screen is not learning or studying. Learning is an interactive process. One of the great things about our online course is that it is interactive. It includes quizzes that give instant feedback about how well you understood the presented concepts.

You may find it helpful to take notes while watching the video. The act of physically handwriting notes -- not typing on your computer -- can help reinforce learning and remembering.

If writing does not seem to help, speaking may be best for you. Try explaining the concepts to a friend, a family member, or even your dog. I can speak from experience. When I passed my flight instructor test, I thought I was hot stuff and had instantly joined the ranks of the experts. After about two weeks of providing flight instruction, I was embarrassed at how little I really understood, and that the FAA even let me be a private pilot! Explaining complex topics to people is a fantastic way to enhance your own knowledge.

Text-Based Courses

If your home-study course is a textbook or you are augmenting your interactive online course with texts, try utilizing reading comprehension strategies. Have you ever read a page in a book and then realized you have no idea what you just read? Dr. Bill Klemm, Professor of Neuroscience at Texas A & M University, suggests reading with purpose, reading with the proper mechanics, being judicious with highlighting, thinking in pictures, rehearsing frequently, and staying within your attention span.

Reading with Purpose

Reading with a purpose employs the learning principle of readiness. You must get your head in the right space to be receptive to what you are reading.

Reading with the Proper Mechanics

Dr. Klemm describes reading with the proper mechanics as physically moving the eyes in a disciplined way. Focus on one “fixation point” to the next fixation in a left-to-right sequence; these points should be on several words per fixation rather than one letter or word.

Be Judicious with Highlighting

If you need to highlight the text you are reading, do so judiciously on only the key points. Highlighting entire blocks of text does you no good when you go back to review.

Think in Pictures and Rehearse Frequently

As you read, think in pictures. As you pause in your reading, form a mental picture of what you read to strengthen the associations for future recall. Use these mental pictures to rehearse frequently, which will further enhance your understanding. If you do not take the time to pause and rehearse, there is no way for you to remember what you read 10 pages ago.

Stay Within Your Attention Span

Finally, you need to know what your attention span is and stick to it. If 20 minutes is your limit, study intently for 20 minutes then take a break to refocus. Unless you are super-human, no one can be productive in an hours-long study session.

Studying should not be a chore. You chose to learn to fly for any number of reasons. Enjoy the journey. Enjoy learning. A good pilot never stops learning. You will make your aviation journey much more enjoyable if you can learn how to study effectively sooner in your training rather than later. For those of us that are not straight out of high school or college and are learning to fly, this may mean relearning how to study.

If one method is not working for you, try another. Sit down with an experienced flight instructor to discuss your study habits. No one is more of an expert on you than you, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to learning.

Regardless of the studying method you use, you will have to figure out how to turn the information from videos, texts, or lectures into usable knowledge. When you are with your flight instructor or pilot examiner for an assessment, know that we are looking for knowledge rather than information. We commonly use problem-based scenarios to determine what level of learning you have attained. Because knowledge is critical to your success as a pilot, you must implement good study habits.

Next week, Kathryn Roberts will introduce you to ways of learning, learning styles, and how to determine your personal learning style.

Should You Cut Corners in a Preflight?

ou are ready to go flying, and the anticipation only grows as you arrive at the airport. The airplane awaits you on the ramp, and the weather is perfect for flying. You are tempted to check only a few items on the plane before takeoff. You have places to go! Perhaps the flight before yours was a discovery flight. If the experienced CFI already preflighted before his flight, then the plane must be fine. After all, you are only going up for pattern work to maintain currency.

As tempting as it may be to skip some steps in the preflight, you should never take shortcuts in a preflight. The preflight is no place for complacency. Always be diligent about doing a thorough preflight every time you take to the skies. Being proactive and diligent during the preflight inspection gives you the chance to find identify concerns before you realize you should not have taken off in the first place.

A thorough preflight allows you the time to give your airplane a detailed inspection. Follow these pointers to prevent you from cutting corners in this important part of your flight.

Heed the Checklist

Back in your early days of training, you learned that each airplane comes with a checklist. That checklist is a prescriptive set of steps by which you should preflight the plane, among other things. Items do not appear on the checklist by happenstance. The checklist gives a certain order in which you should inspect different items as you conduct your walkaround. By closely following the checklist, you find yourself developing a routine to inspect the various parts of the airplane.

When you are preparing for a road trip, you likely make sure your car’s tires have air, the fuel tank has gas, the engine has oil, and everything is in good working order. To omit any of these steps could present problems quite literally down the road.

Likewise, you should check that items such as flight controls (ailerons, rudder, and elevator), fuel, oil, tires, brakes, engine, and the propeller are in good condition. Ensuring that each of these areas is working properly and is free of problems assures you that you will have a safe flight.

Use Your Non-Checklist Checklist

If you have been flying for some time, you have probably been jostled about in the airplane by turbulence, crosswinds, or other factors. Imagine what all those bumps and vibrations are doing to your airplane.

Screws, rivets, and inspection panels can really take a beating in flight. For that reason, you should thoroughly inspect them during preflight, even though they do not appear on the checklist. Losing an inspection panel would not lead to any sort of catastrophe, but nobody wants to land and realize they need a new panel because the original one is gone for good. Taking the time to remedy loose screws before your flight will save you time and headache in the future.

If you own your airplane or rent the same one frequently, you come to notice its nuances. You will begin recognizing issues before they arise, allowing you to be proactive in resolving these issues early.

Check Your Work

A loud jet took off during your preflight. You have an inquisitive passenger who asked about each item you were inspecting. These distractions provide an opportunity to have missed something obvious during your preflight, like the fuel strainer you left on the ground when you set it down to check out something else on the plane.

But what if the fuel strainer was not the only thing you overlooked? What if you left the pitot cover on or heard a loud thump as you ran over the chocks you forgot to remove? These things are not major and may result in a little bit of embarrassment, but they highlight why you should take a step back and make sure you did not miss anything.

I always like to go through the checklist line by line to be sure I did not miss an item by accident. Once I am satisfied, I look at all the parts of the plane. I like to walk in front of the airplane and give it one last look before climbing inside. It gives me the opportunity to see if any chocks or tie downs remain in place, to verify that nose plugs are removed, and to make sure all doors are closed.

Take Your Time

You have looked forward all day to this flight, and you cannot wait to get in the air. Perhaps you are rushing to avoid incoming weather. Maybe you feel pressured to leave as soon as possible to please your passengers or to arrive at an event on time. Rushing through the preflight means you are certain to miss important items that you need to check. Being airborne and wondering if you have the correct amount of oil is not worth the few extra seconds it takes to remove the dipstick and verify you have enough oil for your flight.

A deliberate and intentional preflight allows you the time to mentally focus on the flight ahead while ensuring your airplane is ready for the upcoming flight. By doing a diligent preflight you have set yourself up for success for your upcoming flight.

Now, Do It Again

Now that you feel comfortable with the condition of your airplane, you depart to your first intended fuel stop. Before departing this first fuel stop, you need to complete another thorough preflight. You will focus on four key areas during this preflight: oil, fuel, overall condition, and tie-downs. Do you still have enough oil for your next flight? Is the fuel you received the correct type and is not contaminated? Was the overall condition (exterior of the plane) affected during the previous flight? Are the tie-downs detached from the airplane?

You should never cut corners in a preflight. By being thorough, you take a big step toward maintaining safe operations with your airplane. While you cannot anticipate every little thing that could happen in flight, you can reduce the risks by proactively checking areas that are within your control. This peace of mind allows you to focus your energy and attention on other important tasks during the flight. A little extra time spent before the flight means a more enjoyable flight experience.

What Happens in an Annual or 100-Hour Inspection? (Part 2)

Last week, you learned that the difference between a 100-hour inspection and an annual inspection is when they are performed and who can perform them. You also learned that the inspection process is extensive; not a bolt or wire or the airplane goes uninspected. This week, you will find out what happens during the second phase of an inspection.

Service Items

The second part of the 100-hour or annual inspection is the service items. Maintenance facilities that can assign two mechanics to an inspection can allow one mechanic to focus on the inspection, while the other works on service items. At Elon Aviation we have both an Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) mechanic and an Inspector Authorization (IA) working together to complete our 100-hour and annual inspections.

Service items on a normal inspection are usually consistent from inspection to inspection and aircraft to aircraft. Each inspection must address items on the discrepancy sheet, which the mechanic compiles during the run-up at the beginning of the inspection. The inspection must also address the list of required service items. Once an item is completed, one mechanic signs the list, and a second mechanic will verify the work and countersign.

Service items typically start with the oil change, which involves draining the engine oil, replacing the oil filter, and checking the oil filter screen for fragments and particles, which may indicate more serious issues within the engine. The mechanic pours new clean oil in the engine, making sure to add only the proper amount of oil for that aircraft.

Next is a compression check on the aircraft cylinders to make sure they still hold the proper pressure. The oil change and compression check are best completed while the engine is hot, for this allows the oil to drain quicker and the cylinders to be hot and expanded a bit to ensure they still hold compression at proper heat while the engine is running.

As in the inspection, the inspector or mechanic doing the servicing items develops a flow the order in which to accomplish every task. A detailed list of items helps track what has been done already. Certain areas have more service items than others. Some tasks can take few minutes; other tasks require half a workday. One quick task is checking the Emergency Locator Transponder (ELT). This item needs to be properly checked every 12 calendar months for proper operation and for determining when the battery is due to be changed.

In contrast, servicing the bearings on the landing gears takes significantly longer to accomplish. If the plane needs to be placed on jacks, then setting it on jacks is time-consuming. The time spent is well worth the effort. With the plane lifted on jacks, the wheels and tires are relieved of weight, making it easier to remove the wheels and tires.

The oil change, compression check, ELT inspection, and bearing servicing, along with other service items all maintain the aircraft’s continued airworthiness and safety. Thus, it is important to do them every 100-hours or annually.

The last tasks that usually happen during a 100-hour or annual inspection are the repairs required by the discrepancy list. Such repairs include installing a screw missing here, replacing worn hardware there, and are generally the small things left over after any replacing or repairing other parts of the plane.

A typical 100-hour or annual inspection for a small training aircraft can take about three days, but it may take longer depending on the aircraft and the steps the A&P or IA uses to accomplish the inspection.

After the inspection process is completed, the mechanic reinstalls the inspection panels and cowlings and runs the engine up again to ensure that everything was put back correctly and that everything seems to be working normally. After the aircraft receives a clean bill of health, the A&P or IA includes a proper writeup in the maintenance logs and the aircraft returns to service. The process starts all over 100 hours or one year later.

It all seems like a lot of work, but it is a process that keeps aircraft safe for those operating them. If a mechanic loves their job and is passionate about the aircraft they are working on, then their service will help keep the aircraft they maintain flying decades from now.

As the Inspector at Elon Aviation, I take it upon myself to thoroughly inspect every aircraft that comes into my shop. I know it is important to keep these planes maintained and airworthy not just for me, but also for our customers. I hope to see these aircraft continue to fly for many years to come.

You could say Joseph Cala was born to be in aviation. According to his mother, Joseph's first word spoken was "airplane." During his childhood, he and his parents frequented the local airport to watch planes take off and land. But it was his experience flying a plane at aviation camp when Joseph was 14 that sealed his fate: He would pursue an aviation career. Learn more about Joseph and the rest of the Elon Aviation staff at www.elonaviation.com.