Part 61 Flight Training

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Lesson 3, To first solo

Getting the airplane ready

Flight: Out West

Practice area Pleasant Lake Gravel pits: west end of the Class D 10 NM Practice area Pleasant Lake Gravel pits: west end of the Class D 10 NM
FAA Detroit sectional, 29 OCT 2026 edition. For briefing, not for navigation: fly from the current chart. Tap the chart to open it full size.

Today's flight

You booked the airplane for 9 a.m., to be out west over Pleasant Lake before the afternoon wind picks up. The night before, you open it in SkyManager and find an open squawk. At the club, the activity sheet shows the last renter didn't refuel, and the tanks look low. The clock is running on your morning.

Two questions before anyone starts the engine. Is it airworthy: legal and safe to fly, with that squawk? And is it ready: enough fuel and oil, nothing the walkaround turns up, everything you need on board? You answer both, with your reasons. Then you fly out west and back, and you put the airplane away so the next pilot finds it ready. This is the check you will run the morning of your own trip.

Every flight

Before every flight

  1. Pilot. Am I fit to fly today? IMSAFE:
    • Illness
    • Medication
    • Stress
    • Alcohol
    • Fatigue
    • Emotion, and eating
  2. Aircraft. Is this airplane ready, and right for today? Documents, inspections and open squawks; fuel and oil on board; weight, balance and performance for today's load.
  3. Environment. What will today's flight meet? NWKRAFT, what 14 CFR 91.103 asks you to know before every flight, then the airspace and the route:
    • NOTAMs and TFRs
    • Weather, against your minimums
    • Known ATC delays
    • Runway lengths
    • Alternates
    • Fuel required, with reserve
    • Takeoff and landing distances
    • Airspace: the Class B limits from the current chart
    • The trip: heading, time, landmarks, wind and runway
  4. External pressures. What is pushing me to go today: a passenger, a schedule, a plan I don't want to cancel? Would I go without it?
  5. If it goes wrong. The takeoff emergency brief, out loud: an engine problem on the runway, after liftoff with runway left, and after liftoff without.
  6. Who flies. Who does what today, and how we hand the controls back and forth.

Who runs it today: You, with the instructor's prompts. This is the first time you run it yourself.

Deeper today: Aircraft. Documents, inspections, open squawks, fuel and oil, each checked and each said out loud with where you found it. External pressures too: the 9 a.m. plan is pushing you, so say whether you would go without it. The trip is yours for the first time: a rough heading to the practice area, about how long it takes, two or three landmarks you picked from the chart, where the Class B ends, and the wind and the runway it means. The instructor checks it.

Recall

From earlier lessons

  1. Who is pilot in command on a dual flight, and why?

    Reveal answer

    The instructor. A student pilot may not act as pilot in command of an aircraft carrying a passenger (61.89(a)(1)), and on a dual flight the instructor would be that passenger. You still make the calls; the instructor holds a veto.

  2. Where do the numbers for your airplane live?

    Reveal answer

    In its handbook (POH) and the club checklist, both linked from the airplane's page on the club's aircraft list. Never on these pages.

  3. You had a glass of wine at 10 p.m. Can you fly at 7 the next morning?

    Reveal answer

    No. 14 CFR 91.17 says nothing to drink in the 8 hours before you fly, and even after 8 hours you must be below 0.04 and not impaired.

  4. What does the every-flight routine spell, and what is inside it?

    Reveal answer

    PAVE: Pilot (IMSAFE), Aircraft, Environment (NWKRAFT, then the airspace and the trip) and External pressures. Then the takeoff emergency brief and who flies.

Why The pilot in command decides whether the airplane is in condition for safe flight, and that decision starts with paperwork you can check in a minute.

Is it airworthy?

  • The pilot in command decides the airplane is safe to fly.
  • On board: the airworthiness certificate, the registration, and the handbook.
  • Inspections: the annual, the 100-hour, and the ELT and transponder checks.
  • The club keeps the records. Ask where to see the inspection status.

Why A squawk is the last pilot telling you something; your job is to decide what it means for today's flight.

The open squawk

  • Read it the night before, in SkyManager.
  • Required for today's flight? Then the airplane doesn't go.
  • Not required: deactivated, placarded "Inoperative", and judged not a hazard.
  • Not sure? It doesn't go until the instructor or maintenance says so. That is a good call.

Why Every item on the preflight checklist is part of a system, and knowing what it does tells you what "wrong" looks like.

The walkaround is a systems lesson

  • Fuel: tanks in the wings, vents that let air in, drains to sample.
  • Engine: oil level, leaks, air intake, belt, propeller.
  • Carburetor or fuel injection? Your handbook says, and it changes the checklist.
  • Electrical: battery, alternator, master switch, lights.
  • Controls, flaps, tires, brakes, stall warning: move each, look at each, know why.

Why Your flight instruments are only as good as the holes and the pump that feed them, and the walkaround is where you check them.

Pitot, static and vacuum

  • Pitot tube: feeds the airspeed indicator. Cover off, hole clear.
  • Static port: feeds the airspeed, altimeter and vertical speed. Clean and dry.
  • Vacuum pump: spins the attitude and heading indicators in most trainers.
  • Turn coordinator: usually electric, so something still works if the vacuum fails.
  • Your handbook's systems section says which feeds what in your airplane.

Why Two ways an engine stops, running out of fuel and water in the fuel, can both be found on the ground before you start it.

Fuel and oil

  • The legal minimum: enough to reach your landing, plus 30 minutes by day. The club wants more.
  • Look in each tank with the fuel stick. Don't trust the gauges alone.
  • Sample every drain. Water that keeps coming means not ready.
  • Oil: check and fill the way the handbook and club checklist say.

Why Frost you can barely see can keep a wing from lifting, and a cold engine is hard to start and easy to hurt.

A Michigan winter morning

  • Frost, ice or snow on the wings or tail: all of it comes off before flight.
  • Check the fuel vents, the pitot tube and inside the spinner for ice and snow.
  • Near or below freezing, preheat the engine the way the club's rules say.
  • Not sure it's clean? It isn't. Wait, or move it into the sun or a hangar.

Why Most starts are routine, and the few that aren't need a decision you made before you turned the key.

Starting the engine

  • "Clear prop!" out the window, wait for an answer, brakes on, hand on the throttle.
  • Oil pressure rising within the time your handbook gives, or shut it down.
  • A starter that keeps running, smoke, or a burning smell: shut down.
  • Hard or flooded start: your handbook's procedure, resting the starter between tries.
  • Fire during start: your handbook's emergency section. Know it before you need it.

Why Every runup item asks a system a question, and you should know what a wrong answer looks like.

Taxi and runup

  • Taxi: test the brakes, hold the controls for the wind, walking speed, eyes out.
  • Magneto check: each magneto alone drops the rpm a little. Too much, rough, or quits: don't go.
  • Carburetor heat: pull it and the rpm drops, which proves the ice-melting heat works.
  • Fuel selector and mixture where the checklist says.
  • Anything abnormal: stop and decide, don't hope.

Why The next pilot trusts their flight to how you leave the airplane, and an airport stays safe when every pilot watches it.

Putting it away and locking up

  • After landing: clear of the runway, stop, then the after landing checklist.
  • Secure it: controls locked, everything off, pitot cover on, tied down.
  • The club's rules: refuel, clean the bugs off, activity sheet, SkyManager check in, key back.
  • Anything wrong goes in SkyManager as a discrepancy, in detail.
  • Lock up, close the gate behind you, and report anyone who doesn't belong.

A real accident

In March 2015, the pilot of a Cessna 150 at Flushing, Michigan, found water in the fuel during the preflight. He drained about a quart each from the right wing, the left wing, the belly drain and the engine strainer, thought he had removed it all, and ran the engine for five minutes at runup power. He took off, and at about 400 feet the engine lost power; the forced landing went through trees and the airplane was substantially damaged. The NTSB found the probable cause was loss of engine power due to fuel contamination, with the pilot's inadequate preflight as a factor. The decision point was on the ramp: that much water meant the airplane was not ready, and a runup that sounds normal doesn't prove the fuel is clean. Today you sample every drain, and if water keeps coming, the airplane stays on the ground and the squawk goes in SkyManager. NTSB report GAA15CA020

Your calls

Decision points

  • The open squawk: is the item required for this flight, and if not, is it deactivated and placarded? Go, or a different airplane?
  • The low tanks: how much fuel this flight needs with the club's reserve, and refueling before you go, even if it costs you the 9 a.m. start.
  • Anything the walkaround finds (water in a sample, low oil, frost, damage): fix it, squawk it, or both.
  • After start and in the runup: oil pressure that won't rise, or a magneto drop out of limits. Shut down, or go?

The whole flight

Also on this flight

Part of the flightWho
Every-flight routineYou, with prompts
Squawk list, documents and fuel decisionYou decide; the instructor checks
Preflight inspectionYou, once through, explaining each item's system out loud; the instructor watches and asks
RefuelingYou, with the instructor
Engine startYou, with the instructor
TaxiYou, the whole way out and back; the instructor talks on the radio
RunupYou: every item said out loud with what it checks
Takeoff and climbInstructor; you follow on the controls
Out to the practice area and backYou fly: the trip only, no airwork yet
Back to KARB, pattern and landingInstructor
After landing, parking and securingYou: the whole sequence, without a prompt by the end
Refueling, activity sheet, check in, squawksYou
DebriefBoth, you first

The standard

Ready to move on when

  • You can say which documents and inspections make the airplane airworthy and where you checked each one (91.7, 91.203, 91.9, 91.409, 91.207, 91.413, 91.417), in the spirit of ACS task I.B.
  • You can decide what an open squawk means for today's flight, with a reason from 91.205(b) or 91.213(d).
  • You do the preflight with the club checklist, explaining each item's system as you go, including which instruments the pitot tube, static port and vacuum pump feed, with the instructor only asking questions (ACS I.G and II.A).
  • You can say what you would do about frost on the wings, a hard or flooded start, a fire during start, and oil pressure that doesn't rise.
  • You start, taxi and run up with the checklist, saying what each runup item checks, keeping the cabin organized and eyes outside while moving (II.B, II.C, II.D, II.F).
  • You put the airplane away and lock up to the club's rules without being reminded of a step (XII.A).
  • The fuel rule is 91.151. The standards are in the Private Pilot ACS; today is about doing them with prompts, not perfectly.

At home, before the next flight

Chair fly it

  • In Basic Flight Maneuvers (Airplane Flying Handbook, chapter 3), read these sections: The Four Fundamentals, Straight-and-Level Flight, Trim Control, Level Turns, Climbs and Climbing Turns, and Descents and Descending Turns.
  • In Aerodynamics of Flight (Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge), read the opening section, Forces Acting on the Aircraft.
  • On the current Detroit sectional or terminal area chart, find KARB, Rossettie (75G) and the Chelsea Proving Grounds, and read the Class B floor over KARB and where the edge is to the west. Bring the numbers; you fill in the limits block next time.
  • Sit in a chair with the checklist and fly a level-off: climbing, ease the nose to the level picture, let the speed build, set cruise power, trim. Say each step out loud.
  • Before lesson 4, check the squawks and the weather for your booked airplane.

After the flight

Debrief

You go first, then the instructor. Three points at most, and you write down one thing to work on next time.

  • Your first time deciding an airplane was ready to fly: what did the squawk and the fuel tell you, and how did you decide?
  • Which system on the walkaround do you understand least?
  • What will you check at home the night before next time?

Notes for teaching this lesson

Before the flight

  • Pick or set up a real decision: an airplane with an open but non-required squawk, a placard, or tanks the student must refuel. Brief it as a finding, not a trick: before solo every surprise is briefed.
  • Leave time: the first student-run preflight, refuel and securing take much longer than yours. Plan about 0.7 hours of flight. If refueling eats the block, the flight is just out west and back, and that's fine: the lesson is done when the ground parts are.
  • Know where the club shows inspection and airworthiness directive status for the airplane, so the student can see it, not just hear about it.
  • Brief at the airplane, not the table: Pitot, static and vacuum during the walkaround, Starting the engine before you start it, Taxi and runup at the runup area. A Michigan winter morning is for cold days only.
  • Background for questions: 91.7 (the pilot in command decides airworthiness), 91.203 and 91.9 (documents and the handbook on board; weight and balance is part of the handbook), 91.409 (annual within the preceding 12 calendar months, and a 100-hour when used for hire as the rule describes), 91.207 and 91.413 (ELT and transponder), 91.417 (the owner keeps the records), 91.205(b) and 91.213(d) (required equipment and inoperative items), 91.151 (30 minutes by day, 45 at night). The club's operating rules warn that critical airworthiness items may be in the squawk list, and that telling a mechanic isn't enough: it goes in SkyManager.
  • Systems background: the Airplane Flying Handbook, chapter 2 covers the walkaround (including ice and snow in the spinner), "clear", oil pressure after start, starter limits and preheat. The PHAK's Weather Theory chapter, under Dew and Frost, says frost can drastically reduce lift and must be removed before flight. The Flight Instruments chapter covers the pitot-static and vacuum systems.
  • Airport security: show the student the club's gate and key rules, and where to report something odd at KARB.

In the air

  • No airwork today beyond what the trip needs: the four fundamentals are the next lesson.
  • Let the student taxi with your feet near the pedals. Watch for riding the brakes, taxiing too fast, and heads down in the cabin while moving.
  • On the runup, watch for skipped items when something new comes up. Ask "what does the checklist say next?" and "what is that item checking?" instead of reading it for them.

Curveballs

All briefed before the flight: before solo nothing is a surprise.

  • A non-required item placarded inoperative: the student finds the placard and decides.
  • A document to find: "Show me the registration and the weight and balance."
  • Low tanks and a 9 a.m. clock: the student works out the fuel and refuels, even if the start slips.
  • In the runup, you name a magneto drop out of limits ("pretend it dropped too far"): the student says what happens next.
  • In winter: a light frost on the wings, and the student decides how to get it off or whether to wait.

After the flight

  • Have the student do the whole securing sequence, including the activity sheet and the SkyManager check in. Ask what they would write as a squawk if anything looked wrong.
  • Common errors: trusting the fuel gauges, sampling only one drain, not reading the squawk list at all, adding oil without checking the handbook's guidance, and saying "clear prop" without waiting for an answer.
  • In the debrief, praise a conservative call if they made one (a different airplane, waiting for fuel or maintenance). End on something they did well.