Title: Secrets From The Tower

Author: Bob Richards

ISBN: 097871139

Size: 357 Pages

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

I discovered this book on the LiveATC.net forums and decided to give it a read.

Some people were ordering the book from Amazon.com, while others from the authors site directly at bobrichardsbooks.com. I ordered it at bobrichardsbooks.com and it arrived about a week later.

This autobiography starts off at the authors childhood and it is necessary to talk about it has he references events that happen early on in his life later on in the book. One of the …

I’ve planned a flight to Muskoka and Lindsay today to get ~2.0 solo night hours I need for my rating. The weather for tonight looks spectacular. NOTAMs at all airports are forecasting variable winds at 5 knots or less and sky clear.

I just finished my planning and decided to try out the NavCanada online flight plan filing. My first impressions about the system are that its pretty easy to use. The problem that I have, is that I don’t own an airplane, and I have no idea what plane I’m …

Tonight just involved a few circuits, 1.0 hours worth in fact. I brought my camera along for the ride, and naturally the photos suck. Low light, plus bouncy airplane means a lot of “artistic” photos.

I did take a video which turned out pretty good actually. It starts with me just about to turn right base for 15. The winds were coming out of 190°, which is why you see the plane crabbing to the right a little bit. I also had to do a slip, I was a little …

I was originally going to go to Timmins for my commercial x-country flight. Turns out, from Buttonville, I am 6nm short of the 300nm requirement.

This prompted me to import all of the Canadian Airports into a database, and find out which airports are outside the 300nm radius from Buttonville:

ident | distance

——-+——————

CSR8 | 303.607071759577

CSK4 | 306.64565141515

CSJ4 | 309.204490321305

CSJ2 | 313.525788655308

CYPP | 314.986245713737

CSQ3 | 316.588960555555

CSK9 | 318.249442746549

CSC3 | 319.735132420575

CYRQ | 320.380346522095

CTE5 | 321.523074436644

(for you nerds out …

Another wicked night for night flying. Calm winds at the surface, however, at 3000′, we were grounding over 120KTs.

Tonights lesson was entirely under the hood, to finish up the necessary instrument time needed for the night rating. We intercepted a few VOR radials, and made our way over to Lindsay Airport.

About half way there, I said that this was too easy and to “partial panel” me. So my FI pulls out her instrument covers and pastes over the heading indicator and attitude indicator. Awesome… Nothing like flying by compass.

We “cheated” …

I’ve been busy with other non-aviation stuff this past week. My next flight is slated for Thursday.

With that in mind, have a listen to the longest IFR clearance ever. It’s from JFK. The 88 seconds of instructions can be downloaded here.

On another note, I am also reading “Secrets From the Tower” by Bob Richards. I’m about three quarters through the book and will write up a quick review of it shortly. It’s been a great read so far.

I arrived at the airport a little early, in order to make sure that we get everything in together for a on-time departure.

The weather couldn’t have been better: clear skies, great visibility, and light winds. Not only would this be my first x-country night flight, it is also the first flight in a fuel injected 172 – good ole GIST. It is Toronto Airways newest plane, a 2001 172S. As such it is $30/hr. more expensive.

I brought some snacks for the ride over, which my FI was overly enthusiastic about …