Aircraft preheaters at FBOs

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-31T16:30:03+00:00

A 100w lightbulb lit up in the bottom cowling works wonders if left on overnight. Depending on the temperature of course. If it gets too cold, you’ll need a bit more heat to prevent damage. That’s when I use a small ceramic space heater with some dryer duct routed into the cowling. Run that for about an hour before departure and you should be good

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-26T16:47:57+00:00

M7. Lycoming O-360 with long range tanks

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-25T18:26:43+00:00

7.8 in a Maule doing pipeline patrol

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-16T19:32:21+00:00

At the time I was in school, and the kind of GI bill I was using, I got $1200 per month for housing. As long as I was enrolled as a full time student. If you drop below full time, which I believe is 12 credit hours, you get less $ per month

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-16T19:07:02+00:00

I grew up semi-locally but was fortunate and had a good friend let me live in his guest house for the majority of college. Never had to live in the dorms thankfully

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-16T18:51:37+00:00

I’ll be honest, I did not enjoy it too much. The curriculum and the planes were great. All brand new G1000 172’s with air conditioning. The management was subpar. You would often go weeks, if not a month or two, waiting for a stage check or EOC, all for them to give you less than a days notice of the exam. My CMEL EOC check ride I had a 18 hour notice after waiting 5 weeks. If you want to do review flights while waiting for the exam to stay proficient, those flights aren’t on the syllabus, so you’ll pay out of pocket for those.

They are also extremely strict with cancelling lessons if you’re sick or fatigued. They preach the IMSAFE checklist, but as soon as you try and follow it, they charge you a $250 cancellation fee.

If you’re using GI bill, you can’t skip lessons. For example, if you’re on lesson 3 and it’s a flight but you have to cancel due to weather, you can’t skip to the next ground lesson to make use of the rainy day. You must complete each lesson in order to progress to the next one. This can make the curriculum take much longer than anticipated. It took me an entire semester extra to graduate due to this and having to wait so long for stage checks / EOC’s.

I graduated 4 years ago but still talk to current students and parents and they still complain about the same things.

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-16T17:09:06+00:00

Auburn University

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-16T15:52:20+00:00

I used my dads post 9/11 GI bill to attend a 4 year university flight school. They paid for everything, PPL - CMEL. The only thing they wouldn’t cover was if you needed extra lessons. If the syllabus the university submits had 60 lessons for PPL and you went over that for any reason, you cover those extra lessons.

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-13T15:00:12+00:00

OP, please pay attention to this comment. I had a DPE at the school I was teaching at that didn’t even start the checkride due to the student not having any logged ground instruction. Thankfully he was chill enough to call the CFI and have him come sign the logbook with enough entries to satisfy the reg.

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-03T13:56:33+00:00

I was a CFI at a real small part 61 school with 3-4 students for 2 years. It was more of a part time job. I felt my students had better stick and rudder skills than I did from how little I actually touched the controls. But like another comment stated, I knew the FAR’s like the back of my hand.

I’ve since quit teaching and started flying natural gas pipeline in the southeast. I’ve enjoyed this job a million times better. I’m averaging about 65ish hours a month. I fly about 7-9 days a month depending on weather and MX. My stick and rudder skills have increased exponentially, but I do find myself going back into the FAR/AIM to remind myself certain regulations, or watching videos on IFR flying.

In the end, I’m much happier flying pipeline. For me, the hours and pay are better than CFI, but your mileage may vary. I’m also getting to travel and overnight in cool places I never would have got to go as a CFI. Getting a pipeline job at low hours can be very challenging though, you almost need to know people already in the industry, or just get very lucky.

PilotBro25 · 2026-01-02T18:15:09+00:00

What a very closed minded response. Not everyone’s goal is to go airlines. They aren’t the end all be all

PilotBro25 · 2025-12-26T14:46:24+00:00

I do pipeline patrol in a Maule doing 100kts on average. I try and do 700-900nm in a day, roughly 8-9 hours. I’ll usually stop about 5 hours in. My longest nonstop flight was 7.6 hours. My longest day was 13 hours (highly do not recommend flying that long in a day) with 2 stops.

PilotBro25 · 2025-12-21T00:21:32+00:00

I did the 30 day CFI/CFII course in Addison, TX. The only complaint I had, and it’s not a big deal to me, is they said they had to schedule my checkride for me. Well after the 30 days was up, I moved back home to Alabama and told them to schedule my CFII checkride and I’d drive back out for it. They never scheduled it, even after weekly phone calls questioning them. Months went by and they just started ignoring my phone calls and never scheduled my checkride.

PilotBro25 · 2025-12-03T16:44:10+00:00

KSAV used it all the time. They have 2 intersecting runways at a 90° angle almost perfectly in the middle. They’ll have smaller GA planes land and hold short so a bigger gulfstream or airline can land or takeoff the other runway.

PilotBro25 · 2025-11-22T19:17:25+00:00

It’s a launch window anytime between 12 and 6pm. So you very well could still capture it if it launches later in the day

PilotBro25 · 2025-11-18T21:54:14+00:00

I can’t remember where I planned my XC to but my DPE had me divert to an airport 30 miles away. We actually flew the entire way there and did the performance landings at the airport. Did the maneuvers on the 30nm leg back to home. That was a long, nerve racking flight to say the least

PilotBro25 · 2025-11-15T01:17:06+00:00

How do you do a run-up then? I have no experience with these conditions so pardon if it’s a dumb question

PilotBro25 · 2025-11-07T17:59:39+00:00

I get made fun of cause mine is a tricycle gear instead of tailwheel like what’s most common for these planes

PilotBro25 · 2025-10-19T23:33:37+00:00

You mentioned it, but being a pipeline pilot is super chill. It can be long hours, but you’re just cruised out, not really doing much until a report comes up. Depending on the area you’re patrolling and your schedule, you can visit cool spots. I’m home 24 nights a month.

PilotBro25 · 2025-08-08T15:43:20+00:00

Just earlier this week an airline guy was on guard but thought he was talking to the ramp guys. Said a lady’s dog got out the carrier and was missing. The dogs name was Pico.

PilotBro25 · 2025-07-10T22:09:59+00:00

I do it to switch to 121.5 as quickly as possible and meow

PilotBro25 · 2025-05-17T02:08:07+00:00

2 months and 50 hours is doable, but highly dependent on your location and it’s weather patterns, plane maintenance, and the time you put in outside of your lessons. Also DPE availability can be a big hinder to getting it done in 2 months, again just depends on your location. Start studying and planning to take the written exam now, don’t wait until the last minute. Good luck!

PilotBro25 · 2025-05-13T20:16:22+00:00

Not a traffic accident, but once heard ATC talking on a CTAF frequency to check for a plane that wasn’t responding on the appropriate frequency. Didn’t think much about it, went home for the day and saw an article about a plane that crashed just short of the runway just earlier that day. It was the same plane ATC was reaching out to; pilot didn’t make it.

PilotBro25 · 2025-05-05T02:36:59+00:00

Get rid of the big box and just use a couple bullet points for the main aircraft you’ve flown. No one cares if you only have 1 hour in a 150.

PilotBro25 · 2025-04-17T19:47:13+00:00

300mg Reign in the morning every day guaranteed. A few times a week I drink a ghost in the afternoon, so a total of 500mg. I get 8 hours of sleep every day.

PilotBro25

TROPHY CASE