March 2010 Archives

Wednesday, March 24, 2010 - 03:24:38 ET

Best Flight Bag... Ever!

I currently use an ASA Flight Bag to carry my headset, documentations, POHs, etc.. It is a "duffel style" bag that is large, heavy, and well, kinda sucks (photo).

I came across this new flight bag from BrightLine Bags that simply blows the ASA bag out of the water.

Some of the things I love about this bag:

• The colour coded zippers! Ever asked a passenger to grab something for you out of your bag?:
  Me: "Yeah It's in the big zipper, near the back, on the left hand side"
  You: "Uhh where? what zipper?"
  Now I can just go:
  Me: "Yeah, open the yellow zipper and pull out the chart!"
  You: "Got it!"
• The fact that you can separate it in half so that you don't need to take everything on that short flight/city tour.
• It holds two headsets!
• The pocket on the top of the bag for your sunglasses

The only one problem that I have is the pocket designed for the fuel tester. I don't use that style tester. However, I think I can find a pocket that will hold my GATS Jar.

Sara, if you're reading this.. my birthday is only 6 months away!

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Wednesday, March 24, 2010 - 00:20:02 ET

ILS Replacement in Southern Ontario

Planning on getting an IFR rating this summer in Southern Ontario? I know that Toronto Airways instructors like to use Kitchener/Waterloo to practice ILS approaches.

Turns out the ILS will be unavailable for 2 months between June and August. This is part of NavCanada's ILS Replacement Project.

Your alternatives will be Toronto City Centre (might be too busy now due to Porter) and Hamilton.

The new systems that they are using no longer support localizer back course approaches. These will be replaced with RNAV (GNSS) approaches instead. So for you old schoolers out there without a GPS, say good bye to an approach!

Comments (1) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Wednesday, March 24, 2010 - 00:03:04 ET

2010 Archie Awards

It's that time of year again! When the NATCA in the states honours their Air Traffic controller with the Archie Award.

Check out the audio clips from this years awards!

It's a shame NavCanada doesn't do something similar.

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Tuesday, March 16, 2010 - 17:15:08 ET

TSB Launches Call for Action

The Transportation Safety Board has launched a "Watchlist" and Calls For Action for nine critical safety issues troubling Canada's Transportation System.

Of these nine, five are aviation related, they are:

PROBLEM There is ongoing risk that aircraft may collide with vehicles or other aircraft on the ground at Canadian airports.

SOLUTION
Improved procedures and the adoption of enhanced collision warning systems are required at Canada's airports.

PROBLEM
Fatalities continue to occur when planes collide with land and water while under crew control.

SOLUTION
Wider use of technology is needed to help pilots assess their proximity to terrain.

PROBLEM
Landing accidents and runway overruns continue to occur at Canadian airports.

SOLUTION
In bad weather, pilots need to receive timely information about runway surface conditions.
Airports need to lengthen the safety areas at the end of runways or install other engineered systems and structures to safely stop planes that overrun.

PROBLEM
Implemented properly, safety management systems (SMS) allow transportation companies to identify hazards, manage risks, and develop and follow effective safety processes.
However, TC does not always provide effective oversight of transportation companies transitioning to SMS, while some companies are not even required to have one.

SOLUTION
The integration of SMS practices into day‑to‑day operations must be closely monitored by TC to ensure that industry, as a whole, makes a smooth transition to an SMS environment.

PROBLEM
Data critical to understanding how and why transportation accidents happen are frequently lost, damaged or not required to be collected.

SOLUTION
Global efforts are required to build better recorders, to enhance the quality and duration of their recordings, and to ensure they keep recording when the power supply fails.

I think this is a great step by the TSB to get other agencies (like Transport Canada) to make the changes that are necessary to eliminate these common problems.

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Friday, March 12, 2010 - 21:04:15 ET

CYTZ Tower Now Available on LiveATC.net

Hot of the presses! CYTZ (Toronto City Cent... eerr I mean Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport) tower is now available for streaming on LiveATC.net.

This completes all of the airports in the GTA, with the exception of Downsview. Nothing happens there anyways as it is a private airport used by Bombardier.

On another note, there are issues with the CYKZ feed at the moment that they are trying to sort out.

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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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