Cassandra, working on her Sport Pilot ticket on the Florida coast, writes: I’ve just started my flight training, and have learned about the two different ways that altitude is expressed: AGL and MSL. Above Ground Level is self-explanatory, but I’m having a harder time wrapping my head around Mean Sea Level. I mean, I get that it’s the altitude above sea level, but what’s the “mean” all about?
Questions from the Cockpit
Questions from the Cockpit: ADM for Dummies
The dad of an airline-bound student pilot writes: I know I probably shouldn’t, but I find myself reading about pretty much every small airplane crash online, and much of the time I find myself shaking my head and asking myself, “What was the pilot thinking?” So that’s my question: Don’t they teach pilots to think in flight school? Or is it all just about how to operate the controls?
Questions from the Cockpit: Who was first?
Lucas, a private pilot from Connecticut, writes: “There seems to be some disagreement here at the hangar. Was the Cirrus the first airplane with a full-frame parachute?”
Questions from the Cockpit: Are there decelerated stalls?
Megan, a commercial pilot candidate in Arizona, writes: I’ve just been introduced to accelerated stalls, and it made me wonder if there is such a thing as a decelerated stall. I checked my training books and couldn’t find anything, and when I checked in with Uncle Google, all I got was stuff about car engines stalling when decelerating. I asked my flight instructor and he said, “I don’t know, but I know who would know…”
Questions from the Cockpit: Right vs. Left
Galen, one of our pilot readers, writes: Hello, I have always wondered why the left magneto is to the right on the keyswitch, and the right magneto is to the left.
Questions from the Cockpit: Where’s the other end of the tape measure?
Where is AGL measured from? As with most things in life — and aviation — it depends.
Questions from the Cockpit: Why are pilot watches so big?
Linda, an FBO employee in California, writes: What can you tell me about pilot’s watches? It seems like all the pilots I see — especially the men — wear HUGE watches. Is this something they actually need? Or is it a style thing? And are they as expensive as they look?
Questions from the Cockpit: I reckon so
Phillip, working on his commercial ticket in Florida, writes: “Settle a bet for us here at the flight school: Why is dead reckoning called dead reckoning? Online, there seems to be a lot of difference of opinion about the origin of the term.”
Questions from the Cockpit: In defense of running out of gas
While I agree that it sure seems like a lot of airplanes are running out of gas, to be honest, I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often. And the reason for that boils down to two issues: First, there’s no way to know how much gas you have in your tanks, and second, there’s no way to know how much gas you’ll need for your flight.