We open a brand-new book. After a full season on the private certificate, Maya and Rico crack the FAA's Instrument Flying Handbook and start at the beginning — not with an approach or a hold, but with the why. Why instrument flying exists at all, why your own body stops telling the truth the moment the natural horizon disappears, when the instrument rating is actually required, and what it takes to earn it and keep it. It's the philosophy before the buttons: understand why you're learning to trust the panel, and every procedure that follows this season will make sense.

This episode is built from the FAA Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15B) — the handbook Introduction ("Is an Instrument Rating Necessary?", Instrument Rating Requirements, Training for the Instrument Rating, and Maintaining the Instrument Rating) and Chapter 1, "The National Airspace System." Regulations and standards referenced: 14 CFR part 61 (aeronautical knowledge, experience, and recent flight experience requirements for the instrument rating, including minimum total and pilot-in-command time); the requirement to hold an instrument rating to operate on an IFR flight plan in conditions less than VFR minimums, or for any flight in Class A airspace; the FAA instrument rating knowledge (written) test and practical test; and the instrument rating practical test standards (PTS) as the basis for the instrument proficiency check. Handbook edition: FAA-H-8083-15B; regulatory citations current under 14 CFR. Current as of September 2026.

Maya and Rico are AI-generated hosts. Episodes are produced from official FAA public-domain source material. Education and entertainment only — not flight instruction; always consult your CFI and the current FAR/AIM.

Flying by the Book takes the FAA's pilot handbooks and standards one piece at a time and actually makes it stick. In this episode, Maya (a CFII) and Rico (a charter captain) close out the private pilot checkride arc with the practical test itself — how the ACS is built, what the examiner is actually looking for, and what "flying to standards" means when the nerves kick in. From the plan of action to the tolerances on each maneuver to the three ways the day can end.

In this episode:

Sources: Private Pilot – Airplane Airman Certification Standards (FAA-S-ACS-6C), Appendices 1–3 and the Areas of Operation, plus the regulations cited on-air: 14 CFR 61.39, 61.43, 61.45, and 61.107(b). Current as of September 2026 — always verify against the current FAR/AIM.

Maya and Rico are AI-generated hosts. Episodes are produced from official FAA public-domain source material. Education and entertainment only — not flight instruction; always consult your CFI and the current FAR/AIM.

Flying by the Book takes the FAA's pilot handbooks and standards one piece at a time and actually makes it stick. In this episode, Maya (a CFII) and Rico (a charter captain) continue the private pilot oral with Part 2 — weather, your own body, and the decisions that tie them together: how to read a briefing, how the airplane's environment and your physiology can quietly work against you, and the tools that keep good pilots from making bad calls.

In this episode:

Sources: Private Pilot – Airplane Airman Certification Standards (FAA-S-ACS-6C), Area of Operation I — Preflight Preparation, Tasks C (Weather Information) and H (Human Factors), plus the regulations and references cited on-air: 14 CFR 91.17 (alcohol or drugs) and 91.211 (supplemental oxygen); the AIM (aviation weather services and Medical Facts for Pilots); and FAA aeronautical decision-making guidance (AC 60-22 / Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, Chapter 2). Current as of August 2026 — always verify against the current FAR/AIM.

Maya and Rico are AI-generated hosts. Episodes are produced from official FAA public-domain source material. Education and entertainment only — not flight instruction; always consult your CFI and the current FAR/AIM.

Flying by the Book takes the FAA's pilot handbooks and standards one piece at a time and actually makes it stick. Season 2 walks through the private pilot checkride. In this episode, Maya (a CFII) and Rico (a charter captain) sit down for the oral, Part 1 — the Preflight Preparation questions about you, your airplane, and the airspace you fly in: what paperwork lets you exercise your privileges, what makes the airplane legal to fly, and how the National Airspace System is put together.

In this episode:

Sources: Private Pilot – Airplane Airman Certification Standards (FAA-S-ACS-6C), Area of Operation I — Preflight Preparation, Tasks A, B, and E, plus the regulations cited on-air: 14 CFR 61.3, 61.23, 61.56, 61.57, 61.113; part 68 (BasicMed); 14 CFR 91.9, 91.129, 91.130, 91.131, 91.155, 91.157, 91.203, 91.205, 91.207, 91.213, 91.215, 91.409, 91.411, 91.413; and 14 CFR part 39 (Airworthiness Directives). Current as of August 2026 — always verify against the current FAR/AIM.

Maya and Rico are AI-generated hosts. Episodes are produced from official FAA public-domain source material. Education and entertainment only — not flight instruction; always consult your CFI and the current FAR/AIM.

Flying by the Book takes the FAA Airplane Flying Handbook one chapter at a time and actually makes it stick. In this episode, Maya (a CFII) and Rico (a charter captain) open Chapter 18 — Emergency Procedures: what actually keeps you alive when things break. From the engine that quits at 300 feet to a jammed control, a cabin fire, or a VFR pilot who flies into cloud, they walk through the decisions, the configurations, and a few frankly alarming numbers worth memorizing before you ever need them.

In this episode:

Sources: FAA Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Chapter 18 — Emergency Procedures, plus the standards cited on-air: 14 CFR part 23, §23.2615(b)(2), and the FAA Airman Certification Standards (Emergency Operations tasks); cross-referenced with the Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15). Current as of February 2025 — always verify against the current FAR/AIM.

Maya and Rico are AI-generated hosts. Episodes are produced from official FAA public-domain source material. Education and entertainment only — not flight instruction; always consult your CFI and the current FAR/AIM.

Light sport is aviation with the weight — and some of the barriers — stripped out. Chapter 17: what makes an airplane a light-sport airplane, what sport pilot privileges do and don't include, and the flying qualities of very light machines: wind sensitivity, quick energy bleed, and why 'simple' still deserves real transition training.

In this episode:

• What counts as light-sport: the category, the limits, the paperwork

Sources: FAA Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Chapter 17. Also referenced: **Handbook edition:** FAA-H-8083-3C (Airplane Flying Handbook); 14 CFR Part 1, §1.1 — definition of light-sport aircraft (weight, speed, stall, engine, gear, prop, occupant criteria); 14 CFR §47.3(b) — aircraft registration requirement; 14 CFR §61.101(i)(3) — recreational pilot night operation for additional certificates/ratings under instructor supervision (5 statute miles visibility); 14 CFR §61.303 — pilot certificate / medical or U.S. driver's license eligibility table for LSA; 14 CFR §61.315 — sport pilot privileges and limits, including §61.315(a) endorsement and §61.315(c)(5) no-night-flight limitation; 14 CFR §61.413 — flight instructor-S limited to instruction in LSAs; 14 CFR §91.205(c) — instruments and equipment required for VFR night operations. Current as of August 2026 — always verify against the current FAR/AIM.

Maya and Rico are AI-generated hosts. Episodes are produced from official FAA public-domain source material. Education and entertainment only — not flight instruction; always consult your CFI and the current FAR/AIM.

Jets aren't just faster — they think differently. Chapter 16: spool-up lag and why jet power demands anticipation, swept-wing behavior near the stall, high-altitude aerodynamics and the narrowing margin between too slow and too fast, V-speeds and the takeoff decision, and the energy discipline jet flying demands.

In this episode:

• Spool-up lag: why jet thrust arrives late and approaches are flown ahead of the airplane

Sources: FAA Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Chapter 16. Also referenced: **Chapter taught:** Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Chapter 16 — Transition to Jet-Powered Airplanes.; **Handbook edition:** FAA-H-8083-3C.; 14 CFR 91.117(a) — 250 KIAS speed limit below 10,000 feet MSL.; 14 CFR 91.213(a) — inoperative instruments/equipment; MEL requirement for turbine-powered airplanes (incl. 91.213(a)(3)(ii) and 91.213(a)(5)).; 14 CFR 25.125 — landing distance definition (transport category).; 14 CFR Part 25 — airworthiness standards, transport category airplanes.; **Episode description disclosure:** Maya and Rico are AI-generated hosts. Episodes are produced from official FAA public-domain source material. Education and entertainment only — not flight instruction; always consult your CFI and the current FAR/AIM.. Current as of August 2026 — always verify against the current FAR/AIM.

Maya and Rico are AI-generated hosts. Episodes are produced from official FAA public-domain source material. Education and entertainment only — not flight instruction; always consult your CFI and the current FAR/AIM.

The turboprop is where piston habits meet turbine reality. Chapter 15: how a gas turbine actually makes power, free-turbine versus fixed-shaft designs, torque and ITT limits, beta range and reverse thrust, and what changes about engine handling when there's a fire section instead of cylinders.

In this episode:

• Gas turbine basics: compressor, combustor, turbine — suck, squeeze, burn, blow

Sources: FAA Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Chapter 15. Also referenced: **Handbook edition:** FAA-H-8083-3C; 14 CFR 91.211 — Supplemental oxygen requirements (referenced in the chapter's high-altitude ground-training outline); **Other references named from the chapter:** RVSM (Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum) operations; RNAV/RNP and RAIM; example engines cited by the handbook — Garrett TPE331 (fixed-shaft constant-speed) and Pratt & Whitney PT-6 (split-shaft/free turbine).; **Episode description disclosure:** Maya and Rico are AI-generated hosts. Episodes are produced from official FAA public-domain source material. Education and entertainment only — not flight instruction; always consult your CFI and the current FAR/AIM.. Current as of August 2026 — always verify against the current FAR/AIM.

Maya and Rico are AI-generated hosts. Episodes are produced from official FAA public-domain source material. Education and entertainment only — not flight instruction; always consult your CFI and the current FAR/AIM.

Tailwheel airplanes aren't harder to fly — they're just brutally honest. Chapter 14: why the aft CG makes a taildragger want to swap ends, ground loops and how they start, three-point versus wheel landings, and the rudder discipline that tailwheel flying installs in every pilot who learns it.

In this episode:

• Why taildraggers swerve: the CG behind the mains and directional divergence

Sources: FAA Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Chapter 14. Also referenced: **Handbook edition:** FAA-H-8083-3C (Airplane Flying Handbook).; **Regulations cited on-air:** 14 CFR 61.31(i) — tailwheel endorsement: training + logbook endorsement from an authorized instructor covering normal/crosswind takeoffs and landings, wheel landings (unless manufacturer recommends against), and go-arounds.; **Episode description disclosure:** Maya and Rico are AI-generated hosts. Episodes are produced from official FAA public-domain source material. Education and entertainment only — not flight instruction; always consult your CFI and the current FAR/AIM.. Current as of August 2026 — always verify against the current FAR/AIM.

Maya and Rico are AI-generated hosts. Episodes are produced from official FAA public-domain source material. Education and entertainment only — not flight instruction; always consult your CFI and the current FAR/AIM.

A small multiengine airplane flies almost exactly like a single — right up until one engine quits, and then it becomes a completely different animal. In this episode Maya and Rico take on Chapter 13 of the FAA Airplane Flying Handbook, “Transition to Multiengine Airplanes.” They unpack why losing one of two engines costs you fifty percent of your power but eighty to ninety percent of your climb, decode the two most important markings on the airspeed indicator (the red line VMC and the blue line VYSE), and walk through exactly what your hands and feet do when an engine fails after takeoff. Along the way: feathering propellers, why VMC is not a fixed number, finding zero sideslip, and the one ground rule that never changes — the manufacturer’s AFM and POH always win.

This episode is built from the FAA Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C), Chapter 13 — “Transition to Multiengine Airplanes.” Regulations and references cited on air: 14 CFR § 23.2135(c) (current definition of VMC); 14 CFR § 23.149 (historical VMC determination, including the 5-degree bank and 150-lb rudder-force conditions); 14 CFR § 23.2005 (certification levels and performance-level classification); 14 CFR § 23.2120(b) (single-engine climb-gradient certification, 1.5% at 5,000 ft); and amendment 81 FR 96689 (effective December 30, 2016). Multiengine-class Airman Certification Standards tasks for the VMC demonstration and in-flight feathering/unfeathering are referenced. Current as of June 2025.

Maya and Rico are AI-generated hosts. Episodes are produced from official FAA public-domain source material. Education and entertainment only — not flight instruction; always consult your CFI and the current FAR/AIM.