Fly Corps Aviation

BREAKING NEWS! 20 new WIOA slots now available at Fly Corps! Contact Brandon for more info or to apply! RTAG - The Veteran to Aviation Charity

Another great day at Fly Corps with some WIOA passes! Congrats to Fly Corps CFI and Army UH-60M pilot Patrick Macatangay in his ATP! Andrew Pangle on his PPL!... Great job gentlemen! RTAG - The Veteran to Aviation Charity

Check out our latest Quick Tip with Chip, and make sure to subscribe to our new YouTube channel! https://youtu.be/qy0cGtjvSX4

Congrats to Brandon Hower for his first solo today!

In addition to the check rides, we had two initial solos today! Congrats to Andrew James and Thomas Whitaker!!

You will find yourself having to add oil to the plane from time to time. Find out what the the "Fly Corps" way of adding oil is with this Quick Tip. https://youtu.be/Fqt9hiFSqOM

Nothing quite like cloud surfing in a Skyhawk!

Welcome to the Fly Corps family Adam! https://youtu.be/0luarFCT0m8

With the weather cooling down in South Georgia, pitot heat becomes increasingly important. Watch this week's "Chatting with Chipper" to refresh on when you should use pitot heat. https://youtu.be/MGBCwZYYk6o

This Thursday’s pilot etiquette post is about being punctual. Being on time is important for a pilot, especially when trying to take-off at a certain time or meet a certain ETA. When we are late, we begin to get flustered and feel rushed which inevitably leads to mistakes. You may not plan your flight properly. Your weather briefing may not be as thorough as it should be. You might forget parts of the preflight or the engine run-up. Your comms might be rushed and you may forg...et important parts in your transmission. Ultimately, being late and being behind causes you to make easily avoidable mistakes. As a student pilot, punctuality is a must for flight lessons. The plane is only reserved for a limited amount of time, and being late not only wastes your time but also your instructor’s time. Everyone runs late or gets stuck in traffic from time to time, but do not make this a regular occurrence. If this does happen, at least let your instructor know. Aside from making mistakes and wasting time, it is not professional and very inconvenient for the other person when you are late. Especially if the other person is a passenger! We have said before that pilots are constantly being examined on how they conduct themselves. Punctuality is one of these factors, so always strive to be a little early!

It’s been an amazing 2 years operating our 141 program. We have had so many aviators graduate one of our many courses and I wanted to say thank you to each and everyone of you. The dedication and hard work our entire staff has put into the 141 is second to none. We have grown as an organization and as individuals throughout these last two years. That being said, we have completed our renewal process and we are ready for expansion and some fine tuning!!!!! This process cou...ld not have been completed as professionally as it has been without the best team in the region working on it. Thank you to all of the Fly Corps staff. Each of you played a role in making and continuing to make Fly Corps the most successful flight training institute in the area! A special thank you to Barry Shughart, Derek Bradley, Catrina Griewahn, Lynda Williams and Brian Wiliamson for all the hard work y’all do. Plus everyone else!!

We have a new additon to our fleet! 5208W is a 1961 Piper Cherokee 150. Visit our website for more information! https://www.flycorps.com/aircraft-1

Congrats to all of the successful checkrides this weekend as we welcome two new instructors to Fly Corps!!!!!!

Many student pilots ask whether they should learn to fly in a low wing or a high wing plane. Both planes have their pros and cons. Find out more in this week's "Chatting with Chipper." https://youtu.be/pGE9m4ViVoU

Today’s pilot etiquette tip is all about tipping! I am talking about helping out the line personnel that do so much for us. I am not sure about you guys, but I have most of the line guys’ phones numbers at the main airports I go to saved. I will text or call and let them know I am coming. By doing so, the line guys or girls are ready for me, and the service is amazing. I get ice, papers, faster fuel service, use of crew cars overnight etc. In return, I will bring them food o...r gifts throughout the year for their service. I will also give them gift cards and/or cash tips. My home base line personal get a holiday gift from me in December. I have also given free flights to these hard working unspoken heroes of aviation! It’s simple. If you take care of people, they will take care of you! On a day trip with no luggage, a tip of $10 to the crew is acceptable. If I have a huge group traveling with me or a lot of luggage, a $20-$50 spot is the way to go. At the end of the day, the plane would not go far without the line crew, and they work hard for little pay. It’s our duty to take care of others and a $10 spot goes a long way to saying thank you and I appreciate you.

Every pilot knows how to do the magneto check during the engine run-up. An in-flight mag check can also be done and may be necessary during an emergency. Watch this week's "Quick Tips with Chip" to learn when you might need to do a mag check while airborne. https://youtu.be/IOtBMvi_nrc

Today’s Tech Tip is ironically about using too much technology in the cockpit. The days of pulling out a paper chart are slowly going away as the use of Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) is becoming more common. EFBs such as ForeFlight offer weather and traffic information at the tip of your fingers on an iPad or even your phone. While technology certainly helps with spatial awareness, you should always be focused on what is actually going on with your aircraft. ForeFlight has ...many helpful features that help measure distance and estimate your time of arrival. Looking at all of this information creates a lot of time where the pilot is head down in the cockpit. We all know that this is not good. Instead of getting caught up with all of these features, simply fly the aircraft. You should already have most of the information like an ETA before you take off. Software like ForeFlight is there to supplement your flight. Glancing at this information can certainly helpful, bu so not let this technology and access to information distract you from simply flying the aircraft. Weather and traffic information is perhaps the most useful feature of EFBs. This information does not beat looking outside and observing the current conditions though. Always scan for traffic even if you can easily see it on your iPad. As for the weather, one of the first lessons about weather during ground school is to be aware of the current conditions. For example, if the winds aloft are a lot stronger than what ForeFlight was reporting at takeoff, set the iPad to the side and once again, simply fly the aircraft for the conditions you are experiencing. Don’t forget that weather information on an EFB can be delayed up to fifteen to twenty minutes, but your eyes observe conditions in real-time and they don’t lie. Keep scanning! This brings us to autopilot. Autopilot is very useful, especially on long legs when you are flying straight and level. However, using autopilot can make your flight more difficult sometimesespecially when the weather conditions are not what you expected. At times like these, do not rely on automation, as hand-flying the airplane is most likely going to be easier. Technology is a great resource inside the cockpit and out, but it can become distracting. Just remember that doing things the old-fashioned way may be more helpful at times.

As a student pilot, you are taught how to handle certain emergencies. However, sometimes it may be difficult to know how you will react when an emergency occurs. In this video, Chief Aviator Chip Griewahn goes through some emergencies that he has experienced. It can be helpful hearing about others' emergency situations to compare how they handled the situation and how you would have handled it. https://youtu.be/FHVRlODuTWQ