Thursday, March 11, 2010 - 20:52:40 ET

Busy, Busy, Busy

The weather in Southern Ontario has been awesome this past week. It's a shame I haven't been up in the air to take advantage of it.

What I have been working on though is a new release of World Flight Planner. It's been taking up most of my time outside of work. I'm working hard with my buddy Doug to get it up to version 1.0.

My rental currency expired last weekend. I tried to get in a flight, however the weather didn't co-operate. This is the main reason why I want to purchase my own plane. Being subject to the 30 day rental currency at the school is frustrating at times.

There is a chance that I will be out in PEI this June for the COPA Convention, showcasing above flight planning software. Let me know if you're planning on attending as well!

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Friday, March 5, 2010 - 18:49:31 ET

UPDATE: Captain Sullenburger's Last Flight

(Update, some users may have had issues playing the clips. It has been resolved).

Captain Sully is no longer flying, as he has retired from US Airways. LiveATC.net has captured his last departure from Fort Lauderdale Airport, and his last arrival at Charlotte, NC.

Listen to the Departure Clip or the Arrival Clip

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Friday, March 5, 2010 - 01:06:15 ET

The Science And Technology of ATC

Ars Technica has a great article on the Science and Technology of ATC.

It is a good primer on everything from transponders, radar, ADS-B, even VHF and HF voice communications.

It contains some pretty neat photos of control centres (in the states). Definitely a good read for pilots and anyone interested in ATC.

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Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - 21:33:57 ET

Flying Cheap

PBS has a pretty good documentary called Flying Cheap. It is a look at regional airlines, specifically Colgan Air who was responsible for the Dash 8 crash last year.

The documentary explains how the big airliners essentially contract out these smaller companies to run their regional operations. The scary thing is, that in the USA, these smaller companies are responsible for more than 50% of all air traffic.

Extremely interesting.

One other video I found interesting was this one of a Piper porpoising while trying to land. It finally took the 7th bounce for the nose wheel to sheer off. There is no shame in overshooting! (thanks Dave, for the link!)

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Friday, February 26, 2010 - 21:58:48 ET

Operation Yellow Ribbon

Operation Yellow Ribbon is the name of the operation that Transport Canada created to handle the diversion of civilian airline flights following the September 11 attacks in 2001.

As a result of Operation Yellow Ribbon, 255 aircraft were diverted to 17 different airports across the country. - Wikipedia

NBC will be airing a documentary of the same name, this Sunday at 7pm as part of the Olympic coverage. It is scheduled to air before the closing ceremonies.

There was a sneak peak of the video on You Tube, but it has since been removed.

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Friday, February 26, 2010 - 17:37:46 ET

Continental Flight 3407

I was going to do a write up about the Dash 8 Crash that happened a year ago. The NTSB has released their final report on the accident.

However, Sylvia at Fear of Landing beat me to it, and did a superb job and summarizing the report.

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Monday, February 22, 2010 - 21:22:30 ET

Feb 23: National Aviation Day

National Aviation Day was declared in 2009 by the Honourable John Baird, MP, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.

This yearly celebration will allow us to remember our past achievements and help chart the course of Canada's aviation and aerospace futures.

To celebrate this day a Career Day and Job Fair at the Canada Aviation Museum is being held tomorrow.

This is a good opportunity to listen to presenters from Air Canada, Transport Canada, Bombardier and others!

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