Tag Archives: aviating
Hit by lightning
[Update #1 below] The last time I flew was Wednesday 13 July, for my IFR flight test renewal. I arrived at the airport early this morning for a quick business flight to Toronto and found two things wrong with the … Continue reading
Tagged aviating, maintenance, owning
4 Comments
Starting
There are two points in a flight when people outside the plane tend to watch and critique you: when you start the engine, and when you land. Granted, unless you’re hand-propping, a starting error is much less dangerous than a … Continue reading
Tagged aviating, tips
3 Comments
Low wings and the flare
Very often, I see people write that low-wing planes like my Piper Warrior have a longer flare (i.e. they float longer) than high-wing planes like the Cessna 172, usually based on the argument that lower wings benefit more from ground … Continue reading
Tagged aviating, numbers
10 Comments
Renewed
I flew my 24-month renewal IFR flight test on Wednesday morning. It was a very different experience from my PPL flight test in 2002 and my initial IFR flight test in 2003. Back then, I had been in nearly constant … Continue reading
Tagged aviating, system
4 Comments
How airshows hurt aviation
It’s airshow season, and (unfortunately but predictably) the fatalities have begun, with three pilots dead and one missing in two separate incidents over the weekend: a midair collision at an airshow, and a midair collision practicing for an airshow. It’s … Continue reading
Tagged aviating, news
6 Comments
Analog Flying
I was recently reading yet another review about the glass cockpits starting to appear in general aviation aircraft, when one comment struck me — the review mentioned how much pilots rely on the position of needles on analog (steam) gauges, … Continue reading
Icing: Altitude Strategy
I’ve written about icing before, both here and here. Like storm clouds and scud running, icing is one of those things that pilots are supposed to avoid but occasionally stumble into anyway. The Canadian AIP contains some advice for pilots … Continue reading
Tagged aviating, weather
3 Comments
400
Yesterday, during a Hope Air flight, the virtual odometer in my logbook finally ticked around past 400 hours. It was a day of flying extremes. I flew three legs totalling 8 hours flight time (7.2 air time), of which 3.3 … Continue reading
Tagged aviating
2 Comments
Power + Pitch = Stall (?)
Kris Johnson has a posting on holy wars in aviation, including the two variants of the very dangerous teaching that you control airspeed with pitch and power. The idea is that students learn to look out the window (which is … Continue reading
Tagged aviating, numbers, tips
7 Comments
IFR risks
Congratulations to Hamish, who has just earned his instrument rating down in California. Hamish wisely reflects that he wants to ease into IFR flying — no low approaches, etc., until he has a lot of experience. I’m going to be … Continue reading
Land and Hold Short 