I had my final portion of the medical exam done yesterday – the audiogram. I passed, but not with the results I had in mind. The results showed that I had some hearing loss in the higher frequencies. “loss” is an extreme word in this case. The graph dips down just a little bit for…
This made it into my inbox today. After every flight, Quantas pilots fill out a form, called a “gripe sheet,” which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems; document their repairs on the form and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said…
I just got a copy of “Visualized Flight Maneuvers Handbook” (for high wing aircraft) today and had a chance to take a look at it. You can consider this book to be a cheat sheet for all the maneuvers you will need to do to get your license. They cover everything from pre-flight to some…
Welcome everyone. This website is now officially live! :) I just sent out an email to all my friends letting them know. Feel free to read any of the previous posts! There are still a few bugs with the site that I will be working on in the next few days. I encourage everyone to…
Just discovered another difference between American and Canadian airspace rules. In the states you do not need to file a VFR flight plan regardless of where you are going. In Canada, you must file a VFR flight plan if your destination will be further than 25NM away from your aerodrome of departure. I also noticed…
If you are flying under VFR you can pretty much do what you want. Climb, descend, turn, at will. You don’t need to let anyone know (unless you are in uncontrolled airspace… where you have to announce your new heading/altitude on the UNICOM frequency to let others know in case there is a conflict). What…
So I had my medical exam today. I opted to get tested for a Category 1 Medical Certificate (which is the one with the most restrictions). The event was pretty painless: – Answered questions about my family history, if I am taking any medication, and how much alcohol I drink each week (I said “maybe…
I’ve been reading a lot of other peoples blogs about their training. From what I gather… a lot of circuit practice happens. I keep on reading terms like “downwind leg” and “final approach”, etc.. So I figured I might as well explain them to you as im sure you will need to understand at least…
The aviation industry is littered with acronyms. I am actually struggling right now to increase my internal glossary to be able to parse all of these three and four letter words. A commercial pilot is not one that fly’s for the big air carriers – those are known as Airline Transport Pilots and they are…
I got a workbook the other day (the companion workbook to “From The Ground Up”). I started working on it. I know I will probably be doing this again when school actually starts, but I can’t wait. Answering the questions in the book actually makes what i’ve read sink in. I’ve been able to answer…