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Training and Safety Tip: Expect spring winds to shift

AOPA Flight Training
VOL 22, ISSUE 10 March 11, 2022
Training and Safety Tips
Expect spring winds to shift
Sponsored by Aircraft Spruce
Expect spring winds to shift
Changing seasons present challenges including crosswinds at many airports. Students and low-time pilots should expect and prepare for significant changes to wind speed or direction (or both) during even a short flight. Read more >
Technique
Article
Be a do-gooder
What is "public benefit flying"? It's a way to give back by using your aircraft and/or flying skills to help others. Read more >
Flight Training News
Article
Student handles throttle trouble on final
Student pilot Akash Aggarwal was flying solo in January, on final approach to Watsonville Municipal Airport in California, when his engine surged uncommanded to full power and stayed there. Read more >
Five questions
Meet Ramone Hemphill
Ramone Hemphill founded a nonprofit to promote diversity, and appreciates how his own role models helped him get started. Read more >
Flight lesson
When right is left
Air traffic controllers typically maintain impeccable situational awareness, but anyone can get right and left mixed up. If instructions do not make sense, it is a pilot's responsibility to clarify. Read more >
Sponsored by Aviat Aircraft Husky
Flying the backcountry: Risks and rewards
Get ready for safe backcountry flying with AOPA Air Safety Institute Senior Vice President Richard McSpadden and Mark Patey during this AOPA Air Safety Institute webinar March 17 at 7 p.m. Eastern.
Daylight saving time begins March 13
If you live in an area that observes daylight saving time, don't forget to move your clocks forward one hour March 13. Remember that the conversion to Coordinated Universal Time will change, too. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's time conversion chart can help you avoid confusion.
AOPA Live This Week
Vintage Fairchild reborn; Helicopter upset training
Calling out mistaken assumptions about fuel; the restoration of a forgotten Fairchild; and the latest from the big rotorcraft show in Dallas, including aerobatic helicopter pilot Chuck Aaron's new teaching gig. Watch AOPA Live This Week® >
Career News
Article
Winter is still with us
Unseasonably warm winter weather invites complacency, but the impending arrival of spring (according to the calendar) does not mean we are done with winter operations. Read more >
Premium content
CFI for life
Treating flight instruction as merely time-building for an airline job does a disservice to our profession. If you enjoy teaching, consider sticking with it—even after you land your dream job. Read more >
Podcast
'Ask the A&Ps': 'We don't check the accuracy of your fuel gauges'
You might be surprised that annual inspections do not include verification of instrument accuracy. Our expert hosts also tackle oil loss and temperature issues, why we cut the fuel to stop an engine, and the difference between major and minor alterations. Submit your questions to [email protected] for a chance to be on the show. Listen to the podcast >
Video
What it's like to be a corporate pilot
Chicago-based Gulfstream pilot Kim Kissh shares what she loves about corporate flying and talks about some of her other aviation adventures. Watch the video >
Aviation job board
Job of the week: Customer project manager, Bombardier Aviation
Bombardier is seeking a customer project manager based in Tucson, Arizona, who will serve as customer primary point of contact in daily communications; coordinating; and follow-up for items such as time/labor/material quotes, preliminary invoices, progress updates, customer approval and debrief on work packages, resolution of squawks, and warranty issues. Read the full description and apply today >
AOPA career opportunities
Join the AOPA team
Ever dream of turning your passion for aviation into a career? AOPA is looking for a development operations manager, a front-end developer, a Legal Services Plan attorney, a UX/UI designer, an aviation technical writer, a video editor, a mobile app developer, and Northwest Mountain and Southern regional managers. Learn about AOPA career opportunities >
Training Products and Resources
Login required
Aircraft preflight
When is flying a rented airplane at night without a working landing light legal? This AOPA Air Safety Institute quiz will enlighten you.
Note: Products listed have not been evaluated by Flight Training editors unless otherwise noted. AOPA assumes no responsibility for products or services listed or for claims or actions by manufacturers or vendors.
Member Benefits
Pilot Protection Services
Medical retrospectives and hopes for the new year
A pilot and doctor details his medical hopes for 2022. Read more >
Photo of the Week
Big opportunities
Big opportunities
Things are bigger in Texas, including the 800,000-acre sprawl of Big Bend National Park. Find out what AOPA Technical Editor Jill Tallman and AOPA Senior Photographer David Tulis discovered on their adventure. Check out @flywithaopa on Instagram to see more photos from AOPA members and staff.
Final Exam
Question

Where can I go (as an individual) to get open water training with a dunk tank?
Answer
You have one option in Panama City, Florida, and another in Groton, Connecticut, that offers training at its facility and can also dispatch a mobile team to provide training where customers are located. Join the discussion >

This discussion is from our online Pilot Information Center, where you can ask questions, contribute answers, earn badges, and join our growing pilot community online. (Log in to the online Pilot Information Center using your AOPA website username and password to see this discussion.) Did you know that student pilots who join AOPA are three times more likely to complete their flight training? Membership includes unlimited access to aviation information by phone (800-USA-AOPA, weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time) or from AOPA Online. Have a question for our technical services staff? Contact AOPA.
Education & Seminars
Stay sharp with AOPA's webinars, podcasts, and videos.
Upcoming AOPA webinars
Mar 17, 7 p.m. EDT Flying the backcountry: Risks and rewards
Mar 24, 12 p.m. EDT 'Don't Get Rusty' series: Ask a CFI...almost anything
Apr 21, 12 p.m. EDT 'Don't Get Rusty' series: Now you see, now you don't
May 3, 7 p.m. EDT AOPA Rusty Pilots - Webinar edition
See the full webinar schedule in our online Pilot Information Center. (Log in to our online Pilot Information Center using your AOPA website username and password to view these events.) View our recently recorded webinars (registration required).
Latest AOPA Pilot Lounge videos
First paraplegic Cirrus Vision Jet pilot Clayton Smeltz
Aviation writer Martha Lunken
Kim Kissh: What it's like to be a corporate pilot
For a full list of Pilot Lounge videos, see the AOPA Live® YouTube channel.
AOPA podcasts
'Ask the A&Ps': 'We don't check the accuracy of your fuel gauges'
'Hangar Talk': In the Pattern named best flight school
'Pilot Briefing': Week of Mar. 7, 2022
'There I was...': Brian Lenzmeier
'Never Again': Nighttime fuel burn
To see all AOPA podcasts, visit AOPA Online.
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