Advanced skills

Articles to help increase your flying knowledge and practical skills.

19 Apr 2010

Aiming to make safer pilots of us, here veteran instructor Jim Davis looks at extracts from official CAA Accident Reports from his own homeland of South Africa and analyses why things went wrong and how we may all avoid making similar mistakes.

19 Apr 2010

With decades spent in the cockpits of countless aircraft, Jim Davis intimately understands the importance of a solid vital actions checklist. Here Jim explains exactly what is so vital about these actions, and shares tales of the spillage of blood, or near spillage, for almost every one of them.

14 Apr 2010

While night ratings don’t have a use-by date, instrument flying skills do. By Jim Davis.

14 Apr 2010

When you Aviate, Navigate and Communicte, these are not one-off things. By Jim Davis.

14 Apr 2010

In wet weather flying, Jim Davis suggests you fly round, under, or over the weather, but never in the cloud unless you are instrument-rated, current and in a properly equipped aircraft.

14 Apr 2010

If you see some corner cutting there is probably a whole lot more you don’t see. By Jim Davis.

14 Apr 2010

If your instructor doesn’t teach you how to handle emergencies, get another instructor. By Jim Davis.

14 Apr 2010

Most of us feel a bit edgy when the ASI creeps within 10kts of the stall. Jim Davis offers some hints on how to be comfortable and in control – even when the airspeed is 20kts below the stall.

14 Apr 2010

If you are going to do a go-round, do it properly. By Jim Davis.

14 Apr 2010

A whole flock of small bad choices can cause just as much trouble as one big one. By Jim Davis.