CFI Notebook
CFI Notebook
The Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) Notebook provides "Higher" education, bridging the gap between flight training and the airplane, enhancing your aeronautical experience with articles, multimedia, lessons, and references.
Get into it by reading our notebook articles or following along with our lesson plans.
Review the CFI Notebook
The CFI Notebook is an instructor's guide to navigating the sea of resources to provide helpful guidance for their students and themselves. Our notebook aims to enhance pilots' aeronautical knowledge by explaining various topics and referencing their sources to enable further learning.
Instructors recall this knowledge when building lesson plans. More important than knowledge is connecting the topics so that the student can appreciate the "why" behind the facts.
CFI Lesson Plans
Trivia of the Day
Trivia rolls over daily at midnight, Mountain Standard Time.
Private Pilot Question of the Day
In typical nonmountainous areas where Class E has not been designated at a lower altitude, how high can Class G airspace extend?
Class G can extend up to, but not including, 14,500 feet MSL. Class E begins at 14,500 feet MSL.
Commercial Pilot Question of the Day
Are prohibited area times of use listed on a Sectional Chart in local time or Coordinated Universal Time (UTC/Zulu)?
Local
Instrument Rating Question of the Day
What temperature range is most conducive to clear-ice formation?
Clear ice is most commonly associated with temperatures from 0°C to -10°C, particularly when large supercooled droplets and high liquid-water content permit water to spread before freezing. Clear ice can form outside this range, so these temperatures are favorable conditions, not absolute limits.
Sport Pilot Question of the Day
In level flight in an unpressurized airplane, what instrument indications should a pilot expect after selecting an alternate static source vented inside the cabin?
The altimeter and airspeed indicator will generally indicate slightly higher, and the vertical speed indicator will momentarily indicate a climb before returning to zero.
Flight Instructor Question of the Day
What type of special-use airspace informs nonparticipating pilots of areas with high volumes of pilot training or unusual aerial activity, such as parachute jumping or glider towing?
Alert areas.
Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Question of the Day
What type of airspace contains unusual, often invisible hazards to aircraft, such as artillery firing, aerial gunnery, or guided-missile operations?
Restricted Airspace
Advice of the Day
Maintain a consistent flight training schedule. Long breaks in any kind of training, but especially aviation, will cause a dramatic loss of progress.
System of the Day
Cabin Heating and Cooling Systems: Cabin Heating and cooling systems provide conditioned air for comfortable operations during various weather conditions
Maneuver of the Day
Soft Field Takeoffs: Soft field takeoffs are used to obtain maximum performance when departing from a soft or rough runway surface
Emergency of the Day
Engine Failure: The total loss of power requires immediate actions which depend upon speed (life) and altitude (life insurance)
Mishap of the Day
ERA14LA450: The NTSB determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be: The pilot's inadequate preflight planning, which resulted in a takeoff with the airplane's center of gravity aft of its limit and led the airplane to exceed its critical angle of attack and experience an aerodynamic stall during the initial climb.
