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I remember one time, during my training with an instructor, that I was landing at an airport. The instructor told me to ignore the VASI indicators as it was calibrated for the larger airplanes. Flying in a C172, I found that remark odd as I was under the impression that all VASI or PAPI would…
I was perusing the Transport Canada Instrument Procedures Manual today and noticed a rather interesting exercise: It’s called the VOR Time Check and allows you to estimate the amount of time required to cross a VOR while flying a radial. Here is how you perform it: Let’s say you’re flying the 022 degree radial towards…
Are you able to answer this students question? Why *can* airplanes fly upside down if this is how an airfoil works. Or better yet: Why does the air above the airfoil have to meet up with the air below the airfoil?
On this day in 1920, the first ever flight using a “radio compass” was performed in Virginia. It’s destination? A ship 100 miles off shore. Using only an AM radio station on the ship and a directional antenna on the aircraft, the pilot was able to fly directly to the Navy Ship. Since then ADF…
So I have my first crack at setting up my own personal operating procedures (POPs). The document is far from complete, but I’m looking for some early feedback from you, my beloved readers, as to if I’m heading in the right direction. So without further delay, here is a copy of my POPs, version 1.0.
“…If the engine fails on take-off with insufficient runway remaining, I will trim the aircraft for best glide and try to land withing 30° of the runway centreline.” Ahh, the take-off briefing! This particular line is an important one. It’s not advisable to try to turn around after an engine failure on take-off. This video…
A recent comment about flight plans by a reader has prompted me to write this post about flight itineraries. Pilots have the option of filing a flight plan or a flight itinerary. There are important differences between to the two. It’s important to know what these differences are so you don’t expect a certain level…
Let’s take a look at an example METAR with CRFI data in it: CYFB CRFI 17/35 -22 .34 0201190630 In order, the block of data contains: Airport/Station Ident CRFI Indicator Runway Temperature CRFI value Date/Time reading was taken So the CRFI for runway 17/35 is 0.34. We can use this value now to figure out…
Back in January of 2007, I breifly talked about the Canadian Runway Friction Index (CRFI). With the recent winter-like weather in Southern Ontario I figured this would be a good time to go into more detail. Most progression in aviation safety is usually prompted by a previous accident or incident. The creation of the CRFI…
One thing you need to do that wasn’t really taught (to me) was how to calculate when you’re flying at night (or Legal Night as us pilots like to call it). This is important for a few reasons: – If you don’t have a night rating, you need to know when you need to be…