The BBC is reporting that NASA and the Japanese Trade ministry has completed topographically mapping 99% of the earths surface.

The awesome thing? The sample rate is 30m! Let’s do some math.

Surface area of earth: 5.10072 × 10^14 m^2

99% of earths surface area: 5.0497128 × 10^14 m^2

If there is a sample taken every 30 meters, than there should be approx 1.6832376 × 10^15 samples.

That’s a pretty huge database! Granted, you can make some assumptions. For example, that the majority of the earth is covered in water and thus has an elevation …

NavCanada has released an Olympic Website that contains all the information a pilot needs to know while flying around Vancouver during the Olympics.

You can expect to have a lot of restricted airspace and “unusual” procedures during the games. To stay up to date, keep an eye on the AICs and the NavCanada website.

I’m taking up another couple for a city tour tomorrow. It’s his wifes birthday and he wants to take her on a sunset flight of the city. I will be sure to post some photos before the weekend.

I am heading off on vacation next week overseas. I’m going to bring along my scanner on the airplane. My plan is to pick up some Air to Air comms while over the ocean. They usually use 123.45 Mhz, right?

I also got a copy of the Toronto Airways Rental Rates as well as …

Last Sunday I took a co-worker and her wife on a flight around the city for their 1st wedding anniversary. The visibility was great, the winds not so much. It was gusty and bumpy. We still had a great time though.

My passenger took some video of me landing. It’s hard to tell but I was crabbing into the wind the entire time down as it was (if I recall correctly) 12 knots gusting 20. The tower also warned of a -10KT wind shear on short final. Since we were landing …