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
What flight procedure must a VFR pilot follow before entering and while operating in Class B airspace?
The pilot must obtain an explicit ATC clearance before entry, maintain two-way communication, and comply with the clearance and ATC instructions while operating in the airspace.
Commercial Pilot Question of the Day
The latest surface analysis places the departure airport beneath a high-pressure center. What conclusion is justified for the entire VFR cross-country?
Use the pressure pattern as context, then assess route-specific observations, forecasts, and hazards for the flight times.
Instrument Rating Question of the Day
A planned flight exceeds the pilot's established personal minimums, but passengers insist on departing. What is the appropriate response?
Maintain the established minimums and change, delay, or cancel the flight. Passenger pressure is an external pressure, not a reason to reduce safety margins.
Sport Pilot Question of the Day
What does the selected heliport symbol identify on an FAA Sectional?
A selected heliport, with blue or magenta color indicating towered or nontowered status.
Flight Instructor Question of the Day
What aircraft separation does ATC provide to participating VFR aircraft in Class C airspace?
After two-way radio communication and radar contact are established, ATC provides approved separation between VFR and IFR aircraft. Applicable wake-turbulence separation is also provided; VFR-to-VFR separation is not generally provided solely by Class C service.
Flight Instructor Instrument Question of the Day
What limitation can remain when obtaining an inflight weather update by radio from Flight Service or ATC?
Frequency and coverage limits, workload, ambiguity, and an incomplete request can delay or omit information important to the decision.
Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Question of the Day
What geographic area is covered by the body of a Terminal Aerodrome Forecast?
Within five statute miles of the center of the airport's runway complex.
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
Lazy Eights: Lazy Eights develop coordination throughout a range of airspeeds and altitudes to reach accuracy points with planned attitude and airspeed.
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.
