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What part of an aircraft is the aircraft for registration and regulatory purposes? Is it simply the data plate? If so, does this mean one could theoretically do an extreme Ship of Theseus in aviation? Hypothetically, let's say Bob lands an old 210 a bit hard, he's uninjured but it burst into...

A few weeks ago I had over of those "oh crap, I'm the old guy" moments when a another club member asked "Have you ever used paper maps before?". The question was so foreign to me. Are there actually pilots who've only used electronic sectionals? How does one do the whole pilotage and DR stuff...

2 weeks ago I came the closest to having an accident since getting my private. And of all things it nearly happened with just another 100 feet of taxing left in the flight. Having completed a few stop & goes elsewhere that night, I return to my home field and land. Everything is fine and I...

The pilot smells oil and is losing power but at 1:14 hesitates to declare because "there's a lot of paperwork". Besides that he did a great job. I mean, I can totally understand the fear of paperwork. A lot of federal papers carry a very real danger, financial or otherwise. I wonder if "the...

I have my instrument rating, but unfortunately I can't always find IMC in the Goldilock zone. (Ceilings above mins but below FAF, no storms or ice, etc). So I do a few approaches in the sim to keep current I notice different CFIIs log them differently. Any opinions? "Sim instrument" is a no...

I'm considering a PHEV as my next vehicle. Anyone have experience with them?

You're flying an approach in IMC when you suffer a vacuum failure. You revert to your partial panel skills, but it took a while to detect and recover from the failure. You're working to avoid the dreaded "full deflection". You communicate the failure to approach and hear "Roger Cessna 123...

What's your nomination for most frustrating aviation scene in a movie or TV show?

If you reject a clearance because you're unable, is it still valid once you're able to comply? I was at SBA taxing to runway 15L via B. Runways 25, 15R, &15L are active. I'm cleared to hold short 25 @ B behind a Beech, no problem. Until this.. Ground: Cessna 123, cross runway 25 @ B. Me...

Is there a recommended procedure for clearing fouled spark plugs? Specifically how long should we run at high RPM? Last flight the left mag ran really rough during the runup. So I did what previous CFIs taught me. Increase RPM to ~2000, lean, and waited ~30 seconds. Rechecked and it was...

At what point will it be ok for us as consumers to embrace automation? Continuing the trend, more and more stores have self checkout, enabling 1 worker to watch watch 4-8 stations. At first we were to avoid them and wait in the longer, slower manned lines. But it's that still the case? How...

Yesterday I learned that the FBO is watching us. I was west of 29 Palms (TNP) trying to return but the Banning Pass was looking marginal at best. Like the kind of marginal where you'd have to wonder if a town is densely populated while dodging windmills. I'm 20 minutes from the pass...

The Algorithm figured out I'm kinda working on things. I know they say not to judge a book by its cover, ... But come on. Of all the pictures they could have used to sell training stuff, why this? Pretty sure 1 or more violations are in progress. Can't help but feeling someone is about to undo...

Let's say I'm planning a flight and the departure airport is VMC but I expect IMC in route. I wish to depart VFR to avoid delays. Yes, I could do a pop up but what is the preferred way to file and receive clearance? Do I file VFR/IFR with comments "departing VFR"? Do I file IFR with the...

Why do we have them? To stop knives from cutting our fingertips off. I can't be the only one.

What does partial panel look like in a glass cockpit? It's that even a sensible question? With the old vacuum gauges we cover the AI and HI. Even experienced a real failure once. But most of the planes I've flown with even partial glass have an additional (backup?) AI somewhere.

Just like the super market or Facebook we know companies use subtle mental tricks on us. One such area for me are cell phone screens. Some brands have screens that you just want to stare at but I can't figure out why. Does anyone know if there's some attribute about certain display...

I know there used to be staffing issues due to "The Virus", but have those been resolved yet? It's one thing to hear the same guy work tower and ground at a muni airport, but a bit mind breaking when center or approach has 1 guy (or gal) working 2 or 3 sectors. The inadvertent stepping on...

Walking down the ramp I saw a 152 with a paint scheme so descriptive I just had to smile.

I wonder if I'm the only one who has to fight this illusion on short final? One that made setting up the proper side slip or doing a good crab-kick correctly. The initial tendency to look over the spinner when aligning instead of straight ahead. In the pic imagine the pilot is the blue dot...