Monday, April 28, 2008 - 23:30:15 ET

Navaids!

I went on a flight on Sunday to practice some radio navigation work.

It didn't go so well...

It was bumpy as hell, but I decided to see if I could track the Simcoe (YSO) VOR inbound on the 220° radial. Didn't happen. I got confused with the to/from flag. I was actually thinking that I had the right radial dialed in, but instead I had the reciprocal. Whoops! Flying towards the needle to intercept actually had the opposite effect. Damn that to/from flag!

At least I was able to identify station passage when I entered the cone of confusion (I love that term!).

I did a one eighty and tried to track the 190° radial outbound with a little more success.

To get back to the airport, I dialed in the Buttonville NDB (KZ) and had better success. Again, I was able to identify station passage with the ADF needle swung around.

I brought my GPS along for the ride with the idea of plotting my track on VNC chart to review my flying. I scoured the net and found no such service.

gpsvisualizer.com allows you to overlay your gps data on numerous types of maps (and google earth) but no aeronautical charts. You can't do it at skyvector.com, runwayfinder.com, flyagogo.net, or gearsdown.com. Why do people always re-invent the wheel. All these sites pretty much do the exact same thing (my favorite du jour is runwayfinder.com).

Can someone please allow me to upload my GPS data and overlay it over aeronautical charts?

(Yes, I could do it my self by scanning in a chart, rectifying it, then overlaying the data using some tool - i'm lazy)

Update: I did find a way to overlay the charts in google earth, which sufficed.

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Training

Monday, April 21, 2008 - 23:13:31 ET

The Blue Line

I've flown more in the past 21 days, than I have in this past Janurary, February, and March!

This past week especially was a lot of flying. Mainly due to the perfect weather. I'm 1 lesson away from doing my multi-test. Just have to tackle some circuit work, performance take-offs. I packed in three Seminole lessons this week.

I need to spend a few hours on the ground and go through my checklists again, or flows as my FI puts them. It makes perfect sense. The lists are set up to move from one side of the panel to the next. There really is no need to memorize all the items in the list. Just use a flow and move from one side to the next being sure to hit each item in the list.

The multi-rating is pretty unique in that you already know how to fly, you just need to know the specifics about handling an airplane with two (or more) engines. Items like single engine exercises, worrying about Vmc, being more prudent on take-offs (ie, what happens if your engine fails on rotation?), and other items specific to multi-engine aircraft make you a better pilot and you can use some of those ideas in single engine operations as well.

For example. I have been taught to do static take-offs in the Seminole. This means that I apply full power (with the brakes on) and check the engine gauges first before rolling down the runway. If something doesn't look right, I abort right away. It's better to detect something on the ground, than in mid-air, low, slow, and dirty (gear down). You could apply this same idea to single engine aircraft.

Gear.. that bloody gear. I don't have the issue of lowering it, I have an issue raising it. During stall exercises I always forgot to raise the gear during the recovery. The five steps to keep in mind when trying to recover from a stall, or engine failure:

- Control: Fly the airplane, maintain altitude and heading.
- Power: Full power! Mixture rich, props fine, throttle open
- Drag: Raise gear and flaps
- Identify: "Dead foot, dead engine" Identify which engine is the culprit.
- Confirm: Reduce the throttle on the suspected dead engine to confirm its the culprit.

Always, always, always keep the plane above the blue line (Vyse).

In other news...

Even before I can start on the necessary dual work I need for my CPL, the FI I was going to use told me that he's leaving for the "big iron" (not his words). Another casualty at the school. I'm glad it happened now, and not in the middle of my CPL training.

I'm going to need to find someone new.

I learned the other day, that one of my classmates at Seneca is going to be getting his flight instructor rating in the next month or so! He's pretty much where I want to be right now. I'm glad that someone I know made it through fine :)

Comments (2) | Permalink | Category: Training

Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 15:11:40 ET

Old King City Airport

Does anyone have any information about the airport that used to be in King City? I heard someone make a position report "over the old king city airport" the other day and did a quick google search.

The only thing that I can find was this wikimapia.org entry.

Does anyone know the identifier, when it closed, or any other details? I've already got Dave to add it to ourairports.com but we would like more information about it.

Comments (3) | Permalink | Category: Training

Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 13:51:10 ET

Getting serious about the CPL

My goal is to get my CPL by the end of the summer. That said, I need to get on the ball and get organized.

I sat down a while ago and figured out how many hours I need before I have the minimum required for the CPL test. It's totally doable in the next 4-5 months provided the weather this summer is co-operative.

I'm not too concerned about the written at all, since that can be done easily given enough study.

I took a look at the Commercial Flight Test Guide and came up with a list of things that are new and/or that I need to practice.

Here are some of the items that are different than the PPL test:

- Flight planning. You are not given the route ahead of time like in the PPL. You must complete your flight planning within 45 minutes on the day of the test. This excludes weight and balance.

- Engine Failure in Circuit. Have to land the aircraft with no power from circuit altitude to a specified point on the ground.

- Diversion. Must use mental dead reckoning (ie, you cant "follow the train tracks") to the destination at 500' AGL. You can not use navaids.

- Instrument Flying. Recovery from unusual attitudes with a partial panel (no attitude and heading indicators). This means timed turns with reference to the compass.

- Radio Navigation. Use an ADF/VOR/GPS Waypoint to navigate to and identify station/waypoint passage.

- Spinning. Enter and recover from a spin. If needed, identify if the spin becomes a spiral dive and recover accordingly.

That's pretty much it for the new exercises in the CPL test. The rest of them are the same as in your PPL with a few modifications. Such as lower tolerances for error, and in the case of steep turns, two 180° turns instead of a 360° turn. The slow flight exercise introduces a 30° turn as well.

So over the next few months I will be practicing these items along with my FI. Concurrently I'm also getting my Multi Rating done. I'm unsure where I'm going to stick my IFR rating in there.

I would like to do my commercial x-country in the new G1000 Cessna. I have to study and get checked out on that plane first.

Comments (3) | Permalink | Category: Training

Sunday, April 13, 2008 - 18:57:12 ET

Firestarter?

What do you use your expired CFSs for?

I think I'm going to use it to start my camp fires this summer..

Comments (6) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Sunday, April 13, 2008 - 18:06:09 ET

Hello young lady...

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Tuesday, April 8, 2008 - 10:53:28 ET

The G1000 and Log Books

I attended the "ground school" at Toronto Airways for their latest aircraft that has the G1000 avionics installed.

This course is mandatory if you would like to get checked out in the aircraft. I would really like to take this new airplane on my commercial cross country to Sherbrooke, QC. Over the next coming weeks, I'm going to see if I can get checked out.

I keep two log books. One electronic and one paper. I decided to audit my paper log book for errors and found a few.

Most of them were due to time calculation errors (since the excel spreadsheet I use for the electronic version has better math skills than me.)

Here are two errors that I discovered:

1. I forgot to add time under the cross country column for a flight last August.
2. I put the wrong value down for a flight at night last October.

The total number of hours missing is about 2.3.

These log entries appear about 4 or 5 pages back from the current entry in the book.

How would you correct these errors? Strike out all entries for the past 6-8 months or so and start over? As far as I understand you aren't allowed to use things like "white-out" to correct entries, and you must show all errors.

(BTW, for the user who commented about "updating my hours" it's been done. As well, there is a date stamp to let you know when the last time it was updated)

Comments (8) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Friday, April 4, 2008 - 21:09:02 ET

Another CFS Question

Does anyone know what the suffix "H" means to a runway name?

C means Center
L means Left
R means Right
T means degrees True

But what about H?

Click for larger

UPDATE: I've confirmed that this does mean "helicopter" as this airport is a helicopter only airport. See my thread in the avcanada forums for more info

Comments (4) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Friday, April 4, 2008 - 13:26:25 ET

Airports, Aerodromes, and Grass Strips

A friend of mine mentioned that it would be cool to have "a million dollars" to have his own airport. I told him that all you need is space to land an airplane and you can do just that, legally.

Without referencing anything, I told him that you are allowed to land on private property as long as you have permission. If you own the land, then there should be no question as to the legal ramifications of landing an airplane on your parcel of land.

The conversation ended there but I decided to look further into things like getting your "airport" listed in the CFS.

Let's start with the most basic of aerodromes. A grass strip on your farmland. It's literally just a 3000 foot by 50 foot strip of mowed grass. Just enough to get your 172 airborne and land safely.

Since the winds in Canada are primarily from the west, your strip is orientated in an east/west direction. Runway 27/09.

You own the land. Therefore you have the right to land and take off your aircraft from that grass strip. Your friend asks you if he can use it to, you say "yes". He is now legally allowed to land on your grass strip.

After a summer of take-offs and landings at your grass strip, your neighbour starts complaining that what you're doing is illegal.

CAR 602.14(2) states that you are allowed to fly "low" and close to people or property as long as you are conducting a take-off or landing. As long as you're not buzzing your neighbours house, what you are doing is totally legal.

Yes, your grass strip is technically an "Aerodrome".

The following year you've added a windsock so that you can tell which direction the wind is coming from. You also would like to add your aerodrome to the CFS so that fellow pilots can find information about your grass strip.

Since there is a windsock now, the minimum requirement for registering an aerodrome, you put your request in to the Minister to add your aerodrome to the CFS. CAR 301.03 outlines what minimum requirements are needed before you can register your aerodrome.

Technically, you don't even need a windsock if you are able to determine the wind direction by means of smoke, or ripples in water.

Your little grass strip is now a registered aerodrome. It will appear in the CFS and on aeronautical charts.

I have noticed a few such aerodromes in the CFS. Particularly New Liskeard (CPX3) aerodrome. This aerodrome interests me because it is close to Cobalt, Ontario. The town my girlfriend grew up. I think it would be cool to visit her family one day by plane.

Anyways. Pretty much anyone can have a registered aerodrome in Canada. If you'd like to run an airport, well thats a different cup of tea.

Registration means it appears in the CFS and is registered with the Government as an aerodrome. The registration of an aerodrome with Transport Canada is handeled by each regional office of TC. The registration form for an aerodrome in Ontario can be found here.

Certification means that it is an airport and compiles with CAR 302. this includes things like having an Airport Operations Manual, application for a certificate, and minimum obligations of the airport operator.

Comments are welcome.

Comments (3) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Wednesday, April 2, 2008 - 23:24:03 ET

Memories

I was originally planning on going on a night flight tonight to Welland Airport but things went downhill ever since I left work.

I wont go into details, but suffice it to say I didn't end up going because I wasn't mentally prepared for a flight.

I did, however, decide to finally mount some of my early flying photos into a frame to start displaying in my office at home. In this frame I have the obligatory "you've gone solo!" shot, my student permit, and an interior shot of the 172.

I plan on displaying each phase of my flying accomplishments and have them progress along my wall.

I have two lessons booked in the Seminole on Saturday. It will be the last two lessons with my FI as he got a "real flying job". No worries, there is another instructor at the school who teaches the multi conversion so my training wont be interrupted.

I have a lot of posts lined up, both technical and non. I'm saving them for a rainy day.

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Wednesday, April 2, 2008 - 12:27:07 ET

C-150 Atlantic Crossing!

I've been busy lately with non-flying items. However, I did get a flight in on Saturday to a new airport: St. Catharines! More on that in a later post.

However, you can take a look at the photos in the album.

In the mean time, check out this article of a pilot who flew a Cessna 150 across the Atlantic. Holy Cow!

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things