Monthly Archives: October 2004
Abnormal Airports
Anyone who flies in private planes knows what a normal airport looks like: it has one or two runways, an FBO, and maybe a restaurant and a little terminal building used by a commuter airline a couple of times a … Continue reading
Tagged places
Comments Off on Abnormal Airports
Winterization
With Halloween and the end of Daylight Savings Time closing in, it’s time to start getting my plane, my house, and myself ready for the winter. A lot of pilots put their planes away until spring but I like to … Continue reading
Thumbing It: Altitude
Following my 1:60 rules of thumb, here are some rules of thumb that apply to altitude. Some of these, like pressure altitude, are basic stuff from any ground school, but some are not well understood. Density altitude is especially useful, … Continue reading
Do you like your ADF? (Not as much as these guys.)
The ADF radio, vintage 1940’s AM radio-direction-finding technology, inspires a lot of love and hate among pilots. Some pilots twitch violently when they remember the trauma of partial-panel NDB approaches during instrument training, some love the simplicity of the little … Continue reading
Blog: Yankee Alpha Foxtrot Bravo
I have complained to people that it’s hard to find good aviation blogs: they all seem to be rants about politics, hype about technology, or moaning about teenagers’ social lives. Fortunately, I have found one exception, Hamish Reid’s Yankee Alpha … Continue reading
Tagged web
Comments Off on Blog: Yankee Alpha Foxtrot Bravo
French Navigation
After reading my posting on the Rule of 60, Malcolm Teas kindly pointed me to a 1996 Usenet posting by Barry Silverman (originally written ten years ago, in October 1994) describing the French method of teaching pilot navigation. He also … Continue reading
Review: "Practical Risk Management for Pilots" and "Practical Risk Management for Weather" (King Schools)
I recently ordered my first two CD-ROMs from John King and Martha King, who are very well known for their training down in the U.S.: Practical Risk Management for Pilots (USD 49.00) and Practical Risk Management for Weather (USD 49.00). … Continue reading
Posted in General
Comments Off on Review: "Practical Risk Management for Pilots" and "Practical Risk Management for Weather" (King Schools)
Thumbing it: Playing with the Rule of 60
I enjoy the numbers in flying. That’s not to say that I’m one of those people who try to calculate everything to five decimal places like the FAA and Transport Canada (unrealistically) require on their tests; rather, I like the … Continue reading
747 Crash at Halifax
I woke up to the sad news that a Boeing 747 carrying cargo and seven crew members crashed and exploded during takeoff from Halifax this morning. The only positive note in all of this is that no one in the … Continue reading
Tagged news
Comments Off on 747 Crash at Halifax
In Praise of the Altimeter
My Warrior’s altimeter is probably the simplest instrument on the panel, really nothing more than a calibrated barometer. It doesn’t even tell me my real altitude — on a very warm or very cold day it can be off by … Continue reading
Land and Hold Short 