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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

(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

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.

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 …