The PERFECT TRAFFIC PATTERN | Airplane Checkout | Flying a Cessna | Learn to Fly 

Worst checkout? Top this: I was a few hundred hour PPL looking to get checked out in a 172 at the Sebastian FL UNICOM airport (X26, home of Velocity Aircraft). We did the usual takeoff, then airwork (banks, stalls, ect) then back to X26. The brief was a full-stop short-field landing. Now the instructor was young (as was I) and the plane was an early model (40-deg flap) 172 in typical not-perfect shape. So we enter pattern and on final I add in the final 40deg (remember full stop short field landing). Right after this, the instructor changes mind and says change to a touch and go. (Note, my FAIL here was not refusing the last second change) We acceptably touch down and I hit the flaps and give it the gas. (FAIL#2 was not checking for flap retraction this model did not have the in-cockpit needle). About 2/3rds down the runway we liftoff sluggishly and I realize the flaps never retracted. The instructor basically vapor-locks and now I am alone and faced with an ugly abort which is almost sure to crinkle the plane or nurse it around. I choose flight and start thinking/chanting airspeed, airspeed, airspeed. If I has to brush the palm trees - so be it, the aircraft would at least be under control. We did clear the palms OK, and after getting a few hundred feet I calmly asked the instructor to "please reset the flaps breaker" and then the flaps retracted. We brought the plane around, landed, and he signed me off with only a few words. As fast as lightning you had better be prepared to take full controls/decisions and stick to the basics. To this day, I will ALWAYS turn my head on a touch and go with a Cessna to check for actual flap retraction. I've had other instructors scold me for this at which point I relate this story with basically a "go pound sand" message.

In my briefing I always add what I will do if I have engine failure below 1000' and above 1000'. However I like how you briefed 70% of Vrotate power by X. Great video!

I always look for people raising the wing to check the downwind before turning crosswind.

Great video. The pattern has so many little details that tell you a lot about a pilot!

As always thanks for the review I had forgotten some of these points.

Another great tip i am about to get

The instrument corollary to this is the circling approach. If you can fly that well you are probably a proficient instrument pilot.

Awesome video thanks Jason

Great presentation. Thanks

Good stuff Jason

Interesting timing for me on this one. I've been planning my cross-country tour to the West Coast for next summer; I wish I could plan it around the Mountain Flying Adventure but I won't be able to devote that much time (and money) during this trip. But I've been hoping to contact you and perhaps go flying with you in my RV-8 if we get the chance. However, I want to be prepared because I'd want to get the kind of evaluation you summarized in this video. I learned what I suspected: although I'm gaining proficiency in my aircraft I still need to get some of the details down. Time to finally get the ground school app and start reviewing.

The fact that you have to get checkouts in that kind of scenarios speaks volume about the state of general aviation. I was in the same situation as that student when I went to Hawaii and considered taking an airplane; but of course there is no way I'm doing a checkout and all the paperwork just to take it up once while I'm there on a 5-day vacation. Every flight school and every club around the country will want a checkout before they rent an aircraft to you. Doesn't matter if you have 300 hours in the last 6 months of flying that exact make and model in that exact area - they will still cost you a lot of time and money to get to fly that aircraft solo. What that means is that your license basically means nothing. That ultimately demonstrates what aviation community - both people flying and people underwriting insurance documents - think of the quality of pilot training and the quality of pilot testing. GA is already insanely expensive and completely impractical, but completely lack of uniformity of training and randomness of testing puts the last nail in that coffin for sure.

I would sign off an active and experienced pilot that was able to fly two or three pattern circuits and do so really well in an airplane they were familiar with. If the pilot was not familiar with the airplane…say if they flew Skyhawks but were checking out in a Cherokee, I would add slow flight, steep turns and stalls at the least. If someone hadn’t flown in long time and/or was a low time pilot I would definitely expand the scope beyond that.

Awesome perspective

Runway reference from the opposite seat will be lower on the strut, not higher.

I've had a check out similar to what you described in the first segment of the video... the CFI had me fly to another airport 10 miles away, land, fly back to the original airport, and that was it. No emergencies, steep turns, stalls, nothing. It was an odd experience.

Steady ATTITUDE. No wavering up Dan l r hold it rock steady between controlled corrections Yes 2 patterns is sufficient to identify a good pilot.

I would love to take supplemental instruction from you Jason. You speak my language.

I'm planning on starting my private pilot training this upcoming spring and your videos are bringing things to my attention that I didn't even know were things to think about (this video in particular). I love your videos and I try to put your ideas into practice on the home simulator (the Microsoft type) whenever I get a chance. I'm hoping to step into training with an advanced working knowledge base in order to be the safest pilot I can be before the tires even leave the tarmac. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise.

Cool video. I'm hopefully about to go on my first checkout flight for an actual rental plane! It's a Piper Warrior II, while all my flight training has been in the Warrior III, so I think it'll be a similar enough airplane.🤞 Jason, if you see this, what's your opinion about extra practice flying with an unfamiliar panel in a familiar type?

At least he saved money on the check out. I could see someone checking a pilot out really quick like that if they shown a log book exact same aircraft flown last week or even sooner... and lots of recent flight time. And it always comes down to... are you as the pilot happy with the check out? Do YOU feel safe and ready to rent that plane? If you do... then money and time saved. IF you don't... then say... hey let's do some maneuvers with this plane.... just to make sure there's no quarks in my flying or in this particularly airplane handling characteristics.

Great video. Judging from the comments there is a wide range of views on the ‘right’ way to do things. In my teens I did about 100hrs of gliding which was awesome but then life/career etc made that impractical. In 2019 I got my Private license in a Stearman with 300hp engine and constant speed prop. Big aircraft, tailwheel, constant speed, lots of rudder, crosswinds/sealed runway combo for a bit more of a challenge, busy airport with 200,000 movements per year… and a phenomenally experienced instructor with also many thousands of hours flying low level survey. Good airmanship qualities was a constant theme throughout the training. The navs were done in an Archer which seemed incomprehensibly complex but the skills and approach to getting the basics right in the Stearman massively helped with the transition between the two. The next aircraft was a SR22 which I bought unairworthy and got going. On the surface light years away from the Stearman in how it’s flown. Recently I bought a 1/4 share in an Eagle 150 basic trainer/sport aircraft which has extraordinarily good flying qualities using the Cooper-Harper scale - I work in the aviation industry as the Australian equivalent of a DER so flight test engineering is an area of the professional knowledge. Finally my other ride is a Maule M5-235 which is a whole new level of sharpening skills. It also happens to be somewhat down the Cooper-Harper scale and the 40 hrs in it are nowhere near enough to claim I have that one mastered. Because none of this is enough of a challenge, I added on a rotary wing private license a year ago which challenged me in so many new ways. Now completing my Instrument rating. There are a lot of experiences there since commencing the PPL training in 2019: 150 hrs in the Stearman, 50 hrs in the Archer, 150 hrs in the Cirrus, 40 hrs in the Maule, 25 hrs in the Eagle 150, and 70 hrs in an R44 plus almost done with the IR and a formation endorsement for good measure. The ONE thing that defines my flying, initially because my instructor required it but now out of necessity, is always always focus on the basics. Taxi instrument tests were one thing that slipped by in the PPL training and now for the IR flying it’s much more of a challenge to make that the norm and a habit. Checklist use ALWAYS even when I ‘know’ the aircraft, and review speeds as a deliberate action out loud before the engine starts. Circuits (“Patterns”) as ‘correct’ as I can make them, acknowledging they will never be perfect but I will keep trying. Practice forced landings each aircraft every few months, because it is so easy to forget what to expect with each aircraft type and I don’t want to be cursing a lack of currency in an aircraft when I need it for a noiseless glide approach to a field one day. Steep turns because one day someone may cut you off in a circuit (as I’ve experienced) because they don’t have the discipline and diligence and a 2g turn at 800 ft for the unpracticed is just going to get you especially if you’re also trying to deconflict in the seconds you have available. Landings are always a conscious effort with me talking to myself almost as though I’m self instructing with focus on universal basic principles. That allows me to fly back-to-back a Cirrus, R44 and Stearman and the passengers give a big thumbs up after the wheels/skids touch the ground. This isn’t because I’m a great pilot, I just consciously look to the basics of landing an aircraft. It’s never perfect but always trying and learning. This (unintentionally!) long-winded comment is to highlight why, as a low time pilot with only 500ish hrs, it is essential I aim for consistency in approach to flying, focussing on proficiency at the basics of flying and those things that foster safety. I occasionally fly with other pilots who by their own admission are only comfortable in the 172 they have 400 hrs in but not really interested in something else because they might make a mess of it. Generally they are also the pilots with some less-than-fantastic approaches to, among other things, pattern flying 😊 For me, the things that develop skills and discipline are tailwheel, formation flying, multiple types and IR. Undisciplined patterns would make this journey more difficult and massively degrade safety of myself, passengers and others in the sky or on the ground.

How about full power, pith for 55 and flaps 20, initially, per most POHs for balked landing? Keep em coming.

If I currently fly a very similar airplane somewhere else, then the checkout is just an evaluation of my knowledge and skills. I can see a couple trips around the pattern being sufficient in that situation. It doesn't need to be like a checkride for a new rating. If the aircraft is a different type or is different in some other way (e.g. glass panel v. six pack), then the checkout needs to include some instructing as well as evaluating.

I already passed my FAA test for ground school. Does your website offer training tip videos for flying and maneuvers

Well, sometimes I fly full speed until half way down the final to the threshold … to make it a little easier to everybody else behind me. Because full speed in my case means around 60kts. 😜😜 Just kidding. I aim for landing speed of 52kts before turning into final. During checkrides I also serve beverages and sing for the on board entertainment. I experienced it helps a lot! 😎😁

I can usually tell in one trip around the pattern if I want to be riding with someone or not.

It's all about the little things. If you're getting them right you're probably going to get the bigger things correct.

Jason question from a CFI to a CFI. Why in this video when conducting the go around do you retract flaps so quick and also in a Cessna to 10? Would it not be more appropriate to wait till the airplane is stabilized in a climb before retracting flaps? Due to the short nature of the clip there may be stuff not shown which I understand.

This brings up two issues to me. First is why do I need a check out in the first place? I'm sure it's for the FBO's insurance and so the FBO can make some more money. As long as I legal (physical, Biannual excuse me the Flight Review, etc.), why all of this? Second is there is a difference in being perfect as he describes in the video and acceptable. The check ride is pass or fail so as long as you meet the standard, you pass.

This is good. I am a student pilot and I have a few things I am working on to improve. This has got to be A++ for me before I go do a check ride. Not to just pass the check ride but to be a SAFE PILOT.

some of this is an "Instrument Checkout" not an airplane checkout. you don't need a turn coordinator to fly VFR. No harm in checking it, but many pilots may not have ever used one before, or flew a plane with one equipped previously. I know lots of pilots in my area that learned on and still fly Champs, Cubs, Luscombes, etc. and never flew anything more sophisticated. Basics like tracking centerline, use of rudder, airspeed control (whatever approach profile is used), situational awareness, ground track, altitude control, appropriate use of flaps and slips, etc. are what truly are universal and matter. There are multiple correct ways to fly a traffic pattern and multiple correct ways to do the final approach.

I don't know? A grown man or woman shows up with his logbook, aircraft currency, hours, insurance, current medical, PPL, his iPad/Foreflight, headset, and comes across as a mature adult with many hours, and can "talk the talk" and walk the "basic walk" start to finish, ie; From the moment he walks in the door, pre-brief, paperwork, pre-flight, taxi, run-up, radio calls, knows the significant data points about the plane like Vx, Vfe, speeds, landing distance, pattern work, landings all excellent, I'm not sure that customer/pilot needs anything more? I wouldn't expect a guy like you, for instance, to have to do anything more than two laps, would you, or maybe a bit more like some slow flight? Customers might feel like they are getting gouged on extra rental time? I know at my flight school it's a virtual FBI interrogation before they get near a plane. One "off answer" and reluctance to rent sets in fast, as I'm sure it does at most places. In the end it's what you, as a legally certificated pilot, bring to the table when you walk in the door that should determine if it's two laps or a full check ride. By the way, due diligence is required by both parties. Are the planes well maintained and cared for? Did you really review the squawk logs? Do online reviews indicate a safe operation/reputation? Fantastic video as always thanks so much!

Airspeed control and situational awareness...those are the two big ones...and obviously, they have to be able to land an airplane...lol

I never look at the airspeed indicator in the pattern. I look out the window, fly and land the plane.

Just ask John Denver

It is time that Cessnas are the exception and to be condemned as trainers. Crappy aircraft that most of us do not want to train on, because it is 2023 and these are not the aircraft that most of us would never like to fly. The tech on modern LSA, even homebuilts is WAY better than these pterodactyls. No matter how many modern pieces of equipment you try to bolt onto them. The 1950's over., for about 70 years now

The perfect pattern doesn’t exist. The perfect pattern is where you don’t crash into or interfere with other traffic… all while arriving at the touch down point at a speed that permits a safe touch town… this could require any number of maneuvers. Flying a rectangle pattern with squared off turns might even be dangerous.

there is NO one right way to fly a traffic pattern. It is terrain, DA, aircraft, and situation dependent. Basics like tracking centerline, use of rudder, airspeed control (whatever approach profile is used), situational awareness, ground track, altitude control, appropriate use of flaps and slips, etc. are what truly are universal and matter.

Wow, that is not acceptable. Yikes. But this is good.

Steep turns are a BS maneuver just like short /soft field landings. Its just a way to charge students for things they never do IRL. If you rent, 99.999% of the time grass fields are prohibited. Also, CHASE THE AIRSPEED. Your sight picture is useless unless you have the right airspeed.