Walk around the aircraft and locate the pitot tube under the wing. The pitot tube will be a small silver cylinder with a narrow, hollow end. Typically, there will be a cover over the pitot tube prior to flight. Remove the cover. Inspect the end of the pitot tube to ensure nothing is inside the narrow opening. A clogged pitot tube results in the steam gauges not reading anything--a potentially lethal situation.
Engage the throttle to move the aircraft, over the runway, or in the air. Do this only after the proper preflight safety checks and take-off procedures. Watch the air speed indicator gauge on the dashboard of the cockpit on the aircraft.
Monitor the air speed indicator after takeoff. Let the air flow over the wings and pitot tube to provide the needed readings to get the velocity treading. The pitot tube is calibrated in a precise fashion to give velocity--or airspeed--readings as the aircraft increases and decreases in speed.
