Flight, Aerodynamics, and Airmanship by Dmitry Shteyn.
A visual knowledge hub for how airplanes fly, how weather works, how pilots navigate, and how good decisions are made in the air.
Today from Dmitry Shteyn
- Jul 2, 2026 · Wisconsin · 4 min
Oshkosh: Why the World's Biggest Airshow Happens in Wisconsin
For one week every summer, a small Wisconsin field runs more operations than O'Hare. The story is one part geography, one part sixty years of EAA culture.
- Jul 1, 2026 · Risk & CRM · 4 min
Get-There-Itis: The Bias That Outflies the Weather
Continuation bias is the quiet engine of general-aviation weather accidents. The counter is a diversion plan you commit to before the weather asks the question.
- Jun 30, 2026 · Weather · 3 min
Reading a METAR in 60 Seconds
A METAR looks like an alphabet-soup rebus. It is actually a fixed-order weather report you can read in under a minute once you know the sequence.
The Knowledge Hub
- 01AERO
Aerodynamics
Why wings work — the physics of lift, drag, and angle of attack. How pilots reason about it from takeoff roll to the flare.
Enter hub → - 02HYDRO
Hydrodynamics & Floatplanes
Floats, hulls, step taxi, and glassy-water technique. Where the air-and-water interface changes every rule of the runway.
Enter hub → - 03WX
Meteorology
Pressure systems, fronts, icing, thunderstorms, and the standard atmosphere. Reading a forecast the way a pilot reads it, not the way a phone app shows it.
Enter hub → - 04NAV
Navigation
Pilotage, dead reckoning, VOR, GPS, and RNAV. Reading a sectional and cross-checking the moving map against the world outside.
Enter hub → - 05SYS
Mechanical Systems
Powerplant, propeller, fuel, electrical, hydraulics, and flight controls. How the machine actually works and how it fails.
Enter hub → - 06OPS
Strategy & Tactics
Flight planning, fuel strategy, and diversion logic. The mental model that turns a route into a set of pre-made inflight decisions.
Enter hub → - 07RISK
Risk Management
The hazard-and-risk framework, personal minimums, and the accident chain. Naming risk out loud so it can be broken before it links.
Enter hub → - 08CRM
Crew & Team Coordination
Crew resource management, checklists, and single-pilot resource management. The communication discipline that keeps a cockpit honest.
Enter hub →
Latest guides
All articles →- WI-01 · Strategy & Tactics
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
For one week every July, Wittman Regional in Oshkosh runs more operations than any other tower on Earth. A pilot's guide to the RIPON arrival, the color-coded landings, and the culture that built it.
By Dmitry Shteyn · Jun 24, 2026 · 6 min - WI-02 · Hydrodynamics & Floatplanes
Floatplane Country: Wisconsin's Lakes
Wisconsin has more than 15,000 lakes, one of the highest densities of floatplane operations in the Lower 48, and a working seaplane culture that starts at Vette-Blust and extends up to the Boundary Waters.
By Dmitry Shteyn · Jun 22, 2026 · 5 min - WI-03 · Meteorology
Lake Michigan Weather for Pilots
Lake Michigan and Lake Superior manufacture their own weather. A pilot flying the Wisconsin shoreline learns to expect it — and to fly around it.
By Dmitry Shteyn · Jun 20, 2026 · 6 min - WI-04 · Strategy & Tactics
Wisconsin's Grass Strips and Fly-In Culture
Wisconsin's aviation culture doesn't live at the towered fields. It lives on the two hundred–plus grass strips, private turf, and pancake-breakfast fly-ins that keep general aviation grounded in the community.
By Dmitry Shteyn · Jun 18, 2026 · 5 min - RISK-01 · Risk Management
IMSAFE and the PAVE Checklist
Two mnemonics, one habit: an honest preflight of yourself, the aircraft, the environment, and the pressure to go.
By Dmitry Shteyn · May 19, 2026 · 7 min - SYS-01 · Mechanical Systems
The Pitot-Static System
Three instruments, two pressure sources, one common failure mode. How the airspeed indicator, altimeter, and VSI actually work — and how they lie.
By Dmitry Shteyn · May 12, 2026 · 9 min
From the glossary
Flying the Upper Midwest.
Wisconsin is Oshkosh and EAA AirVenture, the yearly gathering that turns Wittman Regional into the busiest control tower on Earth. It is also lake-effect ceilings, freezing precipitation off Superior and Michigan, and thousands of miles of floatplane water — a proving ground for practical airmanship.
Dmitry Shteyn is a Wisconsin-based aviation educator writing plain-language, visually structured guides to the physics and practice of flying. He also publishes as Dmitry Shteynbuk and Dmitriy Shteynbuk.
His work here spans aerodynamics, hydrodynamics and floatplanes, meteorology, navigation, mechanical systems, and the decision-making disciplines that determine outcomes long before the wheels leave the runway.
Every article is illustrated as a technical figure, defines its terms on first use, and closes with the reminder that this is educational content — not flight instruction. If you want to fly, find a certificated flight instructor. If you want to understand flight, read on.