Show Notes
You memorized "hot, high, and humid." But have you felt what density altitude does to your airplane? Density altitude sounds simple in ground school. Then you rotate on a hot summer day, and the airplane barely climbs over the tree line. That gap between knowing the rule and feeling the physics is where this episode will help you. In This Episode: • Why the "hot, high, humid" mnemonic can actually get in the way of real understanding • What your airplane actually cares about, air molecules, not airport names • The NTSB accident that shows what happens when a pilot doesn't recalculate for a different atmosphere • How FAA written exam questions on density altitude reward pattern elimination over comprehension • What a sluggish climb on a hot day at a short field actually feels like • Practical steps for hot-weather flying, timing, runway selection, mixture, and talking to your CFI Key Takeaways: • Density altitude isn't three separate problems, it's one thing: air density. Temperature, elevation, and moisture are just the inputs. • At any given airport, temperature is the biggest thing that changes your density altitude between flights. A 7 AM takeoff and a 2 PM takeoff can feel like different airplanes. • The FAA recommends leaning normally aspirated engines above 5,000 feet density altitude. Learn the technique with your CFI before you need it. • If you're planning solo flights on hot, humid days, check in with your instructor first. Resources: Pressure Altitude vs. Density Altitude (Pilot Institute): https://pilotinstitute.com/pressure-altitude-vs-density-altitude/ Your Flight Controls is produced in association with Pilot Institute. New episodes drop weekly. Got a question or a topic you want us to cover? Reach out to us.
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A controller called traffic at my two o'clock, three miles. I was already scanning, and I still found it late. That was on a long trip from Fayetteville, North Carolina up to Flint, Michigan, with flight following on for most of it. This is part two on radio work, what flight following really gives you, how to ask for it, and the order of operations at a towered field once the initial call stops being the hard part. Also: radio work is a depreciating skill. It builds fast with use and fades just as fast without it, and that changes how you should think about practice. In This Episode: • What flight following is in FAA terms — Radar Traffic Information Service, AIM 4-1-15 • The four basic radar services VFR aircraft get, and why separation is off that list • How to make the request, word for word, and what ATC sends back • Setting it up with ground control before you taxi instead of building it in the climb • The three habits that keep the service running once you are in the system • The kneeboard method that cuts down say-agains • The four readbacks the FAA requires at a towered field • Why every runway crossing needs its own clearance, one at a time • What rusty radio work sounds like, and how quickly it comes back Key Takeaways: • Ask for radar traffic information on your initial call to ground or clearance delivery, along with your direction of flight • Write every frequency down in order before engine start, so ATC is confirming your page rather than filling it • Read back the runway assignment, any clearance onto a runway, any hold short, and any line up and wait — every time • Hold at the line until a controller clears you across; crossings are issued one runway at a time • Tell the controller before you leave the frequency, then squawk twelve hundred • If it has been more than a month since you talked to a controller, plan one flight with radio work in it on purpose Resources: Free VFR Radio Call Sheet (Student Pilot Kneeboard) https://pilotinstitute.com/radio-comm-for-beginners/ Your Flight Controls is produced in association with Pilot Institute. New episodes drop weekly. Got a question or a topic you want us to cover? Reach out in the comments.