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Before taking off, it's important to perform a walk-around examination called a "pre-flight." This is a visual inspection of the aircraft to verify that the airplane components are in good working order. Your instructor should provide you with a highly useful operating checklist for the specific plane and this checklist will tell you exactly what to do in each phase of flight, even pre-flight. The basics of pre-flight: Check control surfaces. Remove any control locks and make sure your ailerons, flaps, and rudder are moving freely and smoothly. Visually check your fuel tanks and oil. Make sure they're filled to the specified levels. To check the fuel level, you'll need a clean fuel measuring rod. To check oil, there's a dipstick in the engine compartment. Check for fuel contaminants. This is done by draining a small amount of fuel into a special glass container tool, and looking for water or dirt in the fuel. Your instructor will show you how. Fill out a weight and balance sheet which helps ensure that you are not flying outside the capabilities of your airplane. Your instructor will show you how. Look for nicks, dings, and any other type of body damage. These small imperfections might inhibit your aircraft's flying ability, especially if the prop is compromised. Always check props before an engine start. Use caution around airplane props. - If there are electrical issues with the plane, the prop could turn over unexpectedly, causing severe injury. Check emergency supplies. Although it is not pleasant to think about, prepare for the worst. - There is always the possibility of something going wrong with the aircraft. Make sure there is a supply of food, water, and first aid items. Also ensure that you have an operating radio, flashlight, and batteries. A weapon may be needed along with standard repair parts for the plane. When you take your seat in the cockpit, all of the systems and gauges will look complicated, but they'll look much simpler once you become familiar with what they do. In front of you will be a flight control that looks like a modified steering wheel. This control, more commonly called the yoke, works like a steering wheel in a car. It controls the pitch of the nose (up or down) and banking of the wings. Get a feel for the yoke. Push to go down, pull to go up, and use left and right to roll, unsurprisingly, left and right. Don't use too much force when flying. - It doesn't take much to control the plane. They are usually located between the two seats in the cockpit. The throttle is black, and the mixture knob is red. In General Aviation, they are usually just push/pull knobs. Thrust is controlled by the throttle and the mixture knob adjusts the fuel-to-air ratio (lean or rich in gas). On most aircraft, there are six primary flight instruments located along two horizontal rows. These indicators are often referred to as the six pack and show, among other things, altitude, attitude (orientation of the aircraft relative to Earth's horizon), compass heading, and speedboth forward and up or down (rate of climb). Top left - The "Airspeed Indicator" shows aircraft airspeed, usually in knots. (A knot is one nautical mile per hourabout 1.15 MPH or 1.85km/h). Top center - The "Artificial Horizon" shows the aircraft attitude, that is, whether the plane is climbing or descending and how it is banking - left or right. Top right - The "Altimeter" shows the height (altitude) of the aircraft, in feet MSLfeet above mean, or average, sea level. Lower left - The "Turn and Bank Indicator" is a dual instrument which tells how fast you are changing the compass heading (rate of turn) and also whether you are in co-ordinated flight, This is also called the "Turn and Slip Indicator" or "Needle Ball." Lower center is the "Heading Indicator" which shows your aircraft current compass heading. This instrument should be calibrated (usually every 15 minutes). To calibrate, adjust the instrument to agree with the compass. This is done on the ground or, if in flight, only in straight and level flight. Lower right is the "Vertical Speed Indicator" which tells how fast you are climbing or descending in feet per minute. Zero means that you are maintaining altitude and are neither climbing nor descending. Many small planes have fixed gear, in which case you will not have a landing gear control knob. For airplanes that do have a landing gear control, the location varies, but it usually has a white rubber handle. You will be using this after you take off and before you land and taxi the plane. It may deploy any non-fixed landing gearwheels, skis, skids, or floats beneath. These are a set of pedals at your feet used to control the rudder which is attached to the vertical stabilizer. When you want to make minor adjustments to go left or right on the ''vertical'' axis, use the rudder pedals. Basically, the rudder controls the yawing aspect of turning the aircraft. Turning on the ground is also controlled by the rudder pedals and/or the brakes, not by the yoke.

Summary:
Perform an inspection of the aircraft before getting in. Locate the flight control (column) in the cockpit. Locate the throttle and fuel mixture controls. Familiarize yourself with the flight instruments. Locate the landing gear controls. Place your feet on the rudder pedals.