Every two years, whether you’re current or not, you have to complete a biennial flight review with an instructor.

The BFR is not a test – there is no such thing as a pass or fail. Your instructor simply needs to feel confident that you’re a competent pilot before endorsing your logbook.

The FAA has given the nod to the TouchTrainer – a home-based basic avionics training device (BATD) based on the X-Plane software with which you can stay instrument current in the comfort of your own home.

You can even log up to 10 hours toward your instrument rating with this system, as long as you have an instructor by your side.

Jeppesen recently announced what the company calls “blended learning” — a complete training solution, offering students, instructors and flight schools flight training programs designed to work together to make the process of learning to fly more efficient.

The solution combines courses that have been in existence for years with recently released offerings.

Have you ever advanced the power, gathered momentum on the runway and pulled back on the yoke or stick at the appropriate airspeed – only to be greeted by a shaking in the controls as you lift off that makes your mind start thinking about pre-stall buffets, your uncomfortably high angle of attack and proximity to the trees?

For those of you who are flying yourselves to the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In this week, the experience begins with carefully studying the fly-in notam.

With the swarm of airplanes flying in to the show it’s critical that everyone is on the same page.

When practicing 45-degree banked turns for your flight review or a practical test, where do you tend to focus most of your attention? On the attitude indicator? The altimeter? The vertical speed indicator?

If you answered yes to any of these, you’re looking in the wrong place.

How can you tell if you’re on a collision course with another airplane?

Your biggest clue will be that there will be no relative motion between your airplane and the other aircraft. If you can maneuver in such a way to make the other aircraft appear as though it’s moving relative to your location in the sky, you have altered course enough to avoid running into each other.

Max Trescott was selected as the 2008 National Flight Instructor of the Year.

Based in Palo Alto, California, he publishes aviation books and software, including Max Trescott’s GPS and WAAS Instrument Flying Handbook and Max Trescott’s G1000 Glass Cockpit Handbook.

Approaching an unfamiliar airport VFR can present a challenge even in CAVU conditions, particularly if you don’t have a glass panel in your cockpit.

But your heading indicator can help you quickly visualize the orientation of the runway, which makes it easier to find the airport and figure out the best way to enter the pattern.

I learned to fly at Santa Monica Airport (KSMO), which has one runway, 3-21. So, as a budding pilot, any time I would go to an airport with multiple runways such as Van Nuys (KVNY), which has two parallel runways or Long Beach (KLGB), which has five intersecting runways, there were some extra thinking and planning required prior to taking off.