The 14 top links to make you a better pilot

As a pilot there are always sites on the Internet that are very interesting to browse.

These tend to fall into distinct categories

A) Sites related to flying an aircraft or preparing for a flight
B) Sites related to the aircraft itself
C) Other aviation sites

Note: These links are primarily UK based

1) Are you connected to the UK General Aviation Website yet? If not, you should be. It has details of every UK airport, a forum, contact details and - I use this all the time - a flight planning facility which automatically looks up weather and relevant contact details for locations you are flying to, through and from.

2) Need a new chart, headphones, or a GPS? There are lots and lots of aviation suppliers on the web. My personal favourites are Transair and AFE Online

3) The Cessna Aircraft Site For those of us wanting to fly the 150, 172 or even the RG versions!.

4) The Piper Aircraft Site For those of us flying Piper Warriors or Cherokee's etc.

5) The Cirrus Aircraft Site I learned to fly with a guy who had just ordered a brand new Cirrus. Lucky guy....!

6) The Tecnam Aircraft Site you know who you are..

7) The Beech Aircraft Site If you're an MS Flight Simulator fan you'll have flow the Beech Bonanza or the King Air. This is the site

8) Airliners. NETFor loads and loads of pictures of aircraft taken in every conceivable position, location and attitude go to Airliners.Net Check out some of the scary approaches into the old Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong. If video is more your style, check out their sister site

9) Pilot Magazines Web site If you don't subscribe to Pilot Magazine you can still connect to their web site and read some of the articles in there.

10) The Civil Aviation Authority - They who must be obeyed. If you're applying for a license you can check out the waiting times here. If you're looking to buy a plane you can check out the registration details here

11) Irv Lee's Web Page. The layout is a little garish - bordering on ugly, but it has loads and loads of information on it. Irv will give you lots of advice, help you and instruct you - he's also a key Southern England RT License instructor

12) A High Viz Vest with built in plane chock. This is a brilliant idea and I use it all the time. It's a proper High-Viz vest for going airside and a handy chock you can use on your aircraft wheels when you get to your destination

13) The Private Pilot Simplifier - It's the book that has all the answers for you for pilot exams, but it's also incredibly useful when you're in an unfamiliar situation yourself. Get the question, look at the answer and it explains the answer to you as well. Great for those situations when you aren't sure whether your actual altitude increases or decreases with a drop in air pressure (It decreases... "High to low, down you go"))

14) Microsoft's Flight Simulator : I know pilots tend to "pooh pooh" the MS Flight Simulator but I honestly believe that the reason I managed to learn to fly so quickly is because I have many hours of simulator experience. While the feelings etc, aren't as realistic as a proper plane, the mechanics and the focus and attention needed are just as real. Plus you can fly when the real weather is Baaaaad! (See more Sim products in our store)

That's my list. Got any more you would like to add?