Higher education. For every stage of flight.
Understand aviation.
Prepare for your
next lesson.
Free aviation references, customizable lesson plans, and training syllabi for student pilots and flight instructors.
Choose your Next Step

Learn a flight-training topic
Prepare for your next lesson with clear explanations and source references.
Choose a topic →
Prepare for a checkride
Review the knowledge and tasks for your certificate or rating.
Choose my preparation hub →
Prepare to teach
Build your next ground or flight lesson with structured plans and references.
Find a lesson plan →Trivia of the Day
Trivia rolls over daily at midnight, Mountain Standard Time.
Private Pilot Question of the Day
For ATP pilot-in-command privileges, how does first-class medical-certificate duration differ when the pilot was under age 40 versus age 40 or older on the examination date?
The 12th month when under 40; the 6th month when 40 or older.
Commercial Pilot Question of the Day
Which component converts piston reciprocating motion into rotating output through the connecting rods?
The crankshaft.
Instrument Rating Question of the Day
When is leg timing normally unnecessary in a TACAN or DME-defined hold?
When the clearance or procedure specifies the leg by distance and the distance equipment determines the outbound endpoint.
Sport Pilot Question of the Day
What are the limitations of VFR radar traffic services?
Radar traffic services depend on coverage, equipment, controller workload, and communications; the pilot remains responsible for terrain, weather, regulations, aircraft control, and seeing and avoiding other traffic.
Flight Instructor Question of the Day
In a tailwheel airplane whose propeller rotates clockwise as viewed from the cockpit, what yawing tendency can occur as the tail is raised during takeoff?
Gyroscopic precession can produce a left-yawing tendency as the airplane pitches nose-down.
Flight Instructor Instrument Question of the Day
What does an ATC side-step clearance authorize?
Fly the cleared instrument approach serving one of two parallel runways separated by 1,200 feet or less, then visually transition for a straight-in landing on the specified adjacent runway.
Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Question of the Day
Which six-step aeronautical decision-making model provides a logical process for responding to a changing situation?
DECIDE.
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.

