News & Blog

Flight training has always demanded precision, discipline, and time, but for many, that still means hours in a classroom surrounded by printed manuals, PowerPoint slides, paper-based tests, and a clock ticking slowly on the wall as learners gaze out at the aircraft waiting on the tarmac, eager to take flight, yet having to sift through hundreds of pages of schematics, unfamiliar graphs, and dense text first.

This rigid structure has created challenges for learners and instructors alike: limited flexibility, commuting costs, little room to adapt learning to personal schedules, extra facilities needed for training sessions, and limited personalization in teaching methods.

Performance‑Based Navigation (PBN) has been part of European instrument flying for many years. Today, it is a core operational capability, used daily across controlled airspace and reflected in the privileges attached to the Instrument Rating (IR).

What is new — and highly relevant for training organisations — is the level of clarity EASA now provides on what PBN training within an Instrument Rating course should include. This clarification is formalised in AMC1 FCL.615(a) Amendment 13, which introduces a dedicated Acceptable Means of Compliance describing PBN training elements and syllabus expectations for IR training courses.

For Approved Training Organisations delivering IR training — including modular and integrated pathways — the key question is therefore no longer whether PBN is covered, but whether current training clearly reflects these defined expectations across theory, ground‑based practical training, and flight or FSTD exercises.

Being a flight instructor sounds like the perfect job. Doing what you want 365 days a year, financially lucrative, emotionally rewarding, and getting paid for taking off and touching down with your students. At least that's how it's often perceived from the outside, but is it really that perfect? Can anything really be that perfect? We'll start by taking a look at the myths vs. the sometimes grim reality flight instructors frequently face.

What connects Swiss cheese with decision-making and stress management? Clue: it's not the plight of an Alpine dairy farmer whose cows aren't yielding as much milk as in previous years. These are all things you will learn about as part of Crew Resource Management (CRM) training. Even though these might seem trivial, amusing, or at times bizarre, these are components of a CRM course that have saved many lives and improved overall safety since its formal development in 1979 and widespread adoption in the early 1980s.

Air4, a leading Polish flight school from Gliwice, which offers flight training from PPL(A) to ATPL(A), has partnered with Best Pilot to enhance its training process with Best Pilots's advanced Flight Training Management Software. This collaboration ensures smooth operations and an exceptional and modern learning experience for students.

I Trained on a Cessna 172 — Can I Fly a Diamond DA40?  You're an experienced pilot, yet you will never grow tired of that exhilirating feeling of soaring high in your Cessna 172. She's been a true friend to you, but your head has been turned by a brand-spanking new Diamond DA40, there's nothing stopping you from switching from one to another, is there? After all, they're both single-engine aircraft powered by piston engines and both include glass cockpit systems like Garmin G1000. So, can you just hop from one aeroplane to another? Legally and practically, the answer is: not without Differences Training. Let’s see what this involves and why it’s essential for pilots, instructors, and Chief Theoretical Knowledge Instructors (CTKIs) who oversee training standards.