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 does the letter L in an airport data grouping on an FAA Sectional indicate?
Airport lighting is in operation from sunset to sunrise.
Commercial Pilot Question of the Day
What does center of gravity mean in an aircraft loading calculation?
The point at which the aircraft would balance if suspended, representing the location of its total weight resultant.
Instrument Rating Question of the Day
If a pilot cannot safely or legally accept an assigned radar vector, what should the pilot do?
Advise ATC promptly that the pilot is unable, state the reason or need as useful, and request or propose an acceptable alternative.
Sport Pilot Question of the Day
Why can continuing to use an autopilot that depends on a failed attitude source be unsafe?
The autopilot may use the same erroneous information and command inappropriate aircraft control.
Flight Instructor Question of the Day
What operating restrictions must a pilot consider before entering Class C airspace?
Two-way radio communication must be established before entry and maintained inside, required transponder and ADS-B equipment must be operating unless a deviation applies, and applicable speed and weather minima must be observed.
Flight Instructor Instrument Question of the Day
Question unavailable.
Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Question of the Day
Two airports have the same density altitude but different field elevations. What does their shared density altitude indicate about the air at those airports?
The air density is equivalent at both airports, so other factors being equal, their density-related aircraft performance effects will be similar.
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
Chandelle: Learn how to perform a chandelle, a maximum-performance 180-degree climbing turn, including entry, pitch and bank coordination, rollout, ACS standards, and common mistakes.
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.
