Category Archives: General
Almost flying
The Bendix is unstuck, I can placard the ELT U/S for 30 days (and stick close to home) while trying to find a new antenna to replace the one knocked off by ice and/or wind, and I have new, better … Continue reading
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If Flight Simultor were more realistic …
… every time you started the program, something different would be wrong with the plane: flat strut, weak battery, missing ELT antenna, broken intercom, stuck Bendix, etc. (I’ve dealt with all of those over the past 12 months). You’d then … Continue reading
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Where am I?
This morning, I took my first stab at supporting the W3C Geolocation API in OurAirports and ourairports.mobi. If you’re using a geolocation-aware browser, such as Firefox 3.5 or recent versions of Safari, and you authorize OurAirports to know your location, … Continue reading
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Composing with navaid idents
I need to reward (and re-word) myself with a bit of silliness, after roughing in the first navaid pages on OurAirports, so here is a sentence made up entirely of valid navaid identifiers, with one small cheat at the end: … Continue reading
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OurAirports: comm frequencies, weather, runways, and notams
OurAirports now includes pilot info pages with comm frequences, live weather, runway information, and live notams — for now, it’s accessible though the “Pilot info” tab at the top of each airport page, but I’ll be redesigning the site over … Continue reading
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ourairports.mobi
There is a new version of OurAirports optimized for cell phones and other small devices. This first release includes search, airport lists, comments, and (what’s not available on the regular site) TAF and METAR reports. There are no maps in … Continue reading
"Find airports" bookmarklet
If you’re a pilot, you probably catch yourself thinking “where’s the nearest airport?” when you’re reading about any place online. I have a web site, OurAirports, that can help to answer that question, but only at the cost of going … Continue reading
Back in the clouds!
On 11 June, for the first time I failed a flight test, an IFR renewal (private pilots have to refly the IFR test every two years in Canada). I resolved immediately to get my rating back, so I went up … Continue reading
I failed…
In spring 1976, I failed grade 7 French. It was my delinquent year — I was almost two years younger than the other kids, starting the school year in 1975 still aged 10, and as hormones pulled my slightly-older friends … Continue reading
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Flying and concentration
When I was up practicing holds today, I realized something important: it’s not concentration, but lack of concentration that makes a good pilot. Sure, on the ground concentration can be a good thing: you check weather and NOTAMs, plan your … Continue reading
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Land and Hold Short 