Summer Internship

A Sneak Peek of My Summer Internship at Epic Flight Academy By Cilia Salam Finding an Internship During the summer of 2021, I had the opportunity to do a summer internship with Epic Flight Academy. I had been trying to earn some work experience in the new normal of COVID-19 before I graduate with my master’s degree in the fall semester. At the beginning of the spring semester, I started applying and looking for internship opportunities. Like any other ambitious and enthusiastic ERAU aviation student, I was looking forward to an internship at a major airline. With uncertainty caused by COVID-19, the airlines had little to no availability for an intern. I ended up looking at local flight schools upon … Read more

Jul 20

What is an Airfoil? A Beginner’s Guide

The definition of an airfoil (or aerofoil in the UK) is a structure with curved surfaces, such as an airplane wing, fins, and horizontal stabilizer, designed to provide the best ratio of lift to drag during flight. The meaning of airfoil is the same for all aircraft. Let’s consider the stubby, short wings of my Grumman compared to the long, flowing wings of the Epic Flight Academy’s Cessna 172SP. You may wonder how my little bird would have enough wing to leave Earth’s gravity. You can compare this to an egret flapping frantically to rise a few feet from the sand. Its tiny wings are capable of supporting what appears to be an oversized body. However, a hawk’s strong wings … Read more

May 30

Cross Country Flight Planning

(Photo above: Epic Flight Academy student (pictured) with her instructor on a cross country flight) Captain Judy’s Corner: The Art & Science of Not Getting Lost Cross country flight planning is something every pilot must know. Even though it was 30 years ago, I vividly recall soloing in the Cessna 150. Exhilarating, yet terrifying, describes this memorable day. There was nothing in life that prepared me for the intensity. My flight instructor assured I was ready. I knew I was ready, but I was anxious all the same. Leaving the airport environment on a solo cross country was as exciting and distressing. I prepared, studied the routes, check points, and unfamiliar destination airport environment. Nonetheless, I consistently got lost. Preparing … Read more

Mar 19

Understanding Yaw: Expert Insights from Captain Judy Rice

What is yaw? What does ‘yaw’ mean? The official definition is a twisting, or rotation of up to 360 degrees, of a moving ship or aircraft around a vertical axis. To define yaw is to describe an airplane, boat, or even a fish with the nose or front moving side-to-side through the air. Motion determines the meaning. Do cars or motorcycles yaw? Ground vehicles move in two dimensions and do not yaw. However, even wind turbines have yaw motors, which help generate as much wind power into electricity as possible. Yaw rate sensors are used in aircraft to measure yaw rate, the angular velocity around the plane’s vertical axis. Yaw rate directly relates to lateral acceleration of the plane as … Read more