I remember being told that the airplane was equipped with a 28 volt, direct current, alternator driven electrical system. "Is that good?" I thought, as a student pilot without a background in mechanical stuff. It could have been a 1.21 gigawatts electrical system and...

I'm not certain what peaked my interest in gliders, but I'm thinking it was a flight simulator. I'm fascinated by the simplicity of it. Not that it's easy. Or simple, actually.  Being a great glider pilot takes a lot of work.  But the systems in the glider are very...

We called it the south practice area. Flying over open fields and farmland in Georgia's lake country was a good place to practice. There are plenty of emergency landing fields, few populated areas and little terrain. It's quiet airspace, too. I'll never forget my...

Basic chair flying can be done anywhere.  You could be actually sitting in a chair, if you like it literal, reading through a checklist and visualizing the steps.  Or maybe you walk around outside with a chalk runway on the ground, checklist in hand, talking through...

In my house, there are not many requests as wholesome as "dad, can I play flight simulator?" A request for a second helping of vegetables might compete, but as a lifelong avgeek, X-Plane is screen time for my 8 year old, Reid, that I can get behind. I recently...

My first experience with a flight simulator was as a kid. It was Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer, sometime in the early 90's. At the time, I was in awe of my big brother's friend who had the computer and joystick. That experience with a flight simulator as a...

We are in the air and on the way to Shelbyville! In part one and part two of our three part flight simulator cross country series, we started up our Cessna 172 in Smyrna (KMQY), just outside of Nashville, Tennessee. We listened to the weather, taxied to the runway,...

In our last Clayviation YouTube session, we began a multi-part series showing each phase of a short cross country flight. We began in Smyrna, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville, and started up the engine. This week, we are going to show the taxi, engine run up and...

I sat in the cockpit, looking over the engine cowling, watching the mechanic as he worked his magic. "Okay try it now," he called, stepping away from the airplane. I ran through the checklist. "Mixture rich, carb heat cold, throttle open a quarter inch." I finished...

Fly along as we do what you’ve always feared – shutting down the engine mid-flight.