Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.Jason Schappert of MZeroA.com has put together a great 5 minute video in response to a question asked about what a pilot should have in their flight bag. The items mentioned by Jason included:
- Kneeboards. A kneeboard is a simple piece of metal and elastic that has a hook for a pin. Jason uses a ASA-VFR kneeboard which costs around US$10 to keep everything he needs on there including different frequencies that you may need to use, the FAA flight plan, VFR cloud clearance requirements and other important information.
- Headset. Jason uses a Zulus headset but he also mentioned a Bose headset. Both are higher end and very expensive headsets. However, Jason noted that you should not be afraid to spend extra money on a good quality headset – especially a noise canceling model.
- Handheld Radios with an Adapter. Jason noted that not only should you have a handheld radio but you should also have one with an adapter so that you can plug your headset in and hear into it. This is especially useful if the cockpit is loud and you can’t hear the speaker. Jason also noted that there is a new Sporty’s model, the SP-200, which lets you do nav and tune through a VOR
At the end of the video, Jason asked viewers to leave a comment about any important item left out and he will then select the best item for part 2 of his video with the commenter receiving a free Sporty’s flight bag. Already, Jason has received nearly 70 thoughtful comments in response to his contest.
Share and enjoy:
Related posts:
- What’s in your pilot flight bag?
- Top 10 things every pilot needs
- How to ask for and receive VFR Flight following
- How do I know if my flight training is on track?
- A great new flight bag from BrightLine Bags
Tagged as: Pilot Accessories
Saturday, July 31, 2010
What every pilot needs to have in their flight bag
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Congress ready to pass aviation safety measures | The Daily Caller ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is getting ready to pass tough new aviation safety measures that were developed in response to a deadly commuter plane crash in western New York in early 2009, a key lawmaker said Wednesday.
Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said in an interview that he was introducing a bill with the safety improvements on Wednesday. He said he expects House passage on Thursday and Senate passage soon afterward.
Besides the safety measures, the bill extends authority for Federal Aviation Administration programs through Sept. 30, the end of the current budget year. Without that extension, the FAA would have to shutdown on Sunday when current program authority expires.
There is strong support in Congress for the safety measures, which were added to a broader aviation bill that lawmakers have been struggling for nearly four years to pass. With that bill stalled over disagreements involving other issues, House and Senate lawmakers have reached a consensus that the safety provisions should be passed separately from the broader measure, Oberstar said.
The impetus for the safety measures was the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 near Buffalo-Niagara International Airport. All 49 people aboard and one man in a house were killed. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation faulted errors by the flight’s two pilots and deficiencies in pilot hiring and training by Colgan Air Inc., the regional carrier that operated the flight for Continental Airlines.
The investigation also revealed the accident was the byproduct of a financially strapped industry seeking to cut costs by farming out short-haul flights to regional carriers. Those carriers often hire inexperienced pilots at low wages, assign them exhausting schedules and look the other way when they commute long distances to work because they can’t afford to live in the cities where they are based.
The last six airline accidents in the United States all involved regional air carriers.
Friends and family members of the victims of the Colgan crash have been lobbying Congress relentlessly for passage of the safety provisions. As a group, they have made more than 30 lobbying trips to Washington at their own expense over the past 17 months. They’ve met with dozens of senators and House members or their staffs, and attended every congressional hearing with any connection to aviation safety. They’ve also pressed their case in private meetings with President Barack Obama, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt.
The aviation safety measures Congress is preparing to pass are “everything we asked for,” said Kevin Kuwik, a spokesman for the families who lost his girlfriend, Lorin Maurer, in the accident. “The bill cuts right to the core of what caused Flight 3407 to crash.” The changes are opposed by some groups, notably the aviation lawyers groups who see no reason for this change and argue it does not add to safety.
The bill would require that the minimum flight experience for first officers be raised from 250 hours to 1,500 hours — the same level as captains. That could force regional airlines to hire more experienced pilots and indirectly raise salaries. FAA would also be required to update rules governing how many hours airlines may require a pilot to fly before the pilot is permitted rest, and airlines would have to put in place fatigue risk management plans — programs that use scientific research on fatigue to assess pilot hours and alert airlines to schedules that are likely to induce fatigue.
Other provisions address pre-employment screening of pilots, create mentoring programs between experienced pilots and newly hired pilots and provide remedial training for pilots who have performed poorly on skills tests.
___
Online:
Flight 3407 Memorial: http://www.3407memorial.com/
via dailycaller.com
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Los Angeles Lawyers plane crash - to ensure justice for victims
Travel has become very common and customary for different types of people - on any designed for business, leisure and personal reasons. It was reported that a large number of people traveling to Los Angeles in the air, as it is considered the quickest and most cost effective ways to move from place to place.
As air travel will be disseminated among the travelers, it's really practical, and should be familiar with its safety standards andPrecautionary measures. This was a must-know information on purpose for the passengers, passengers and other personnel designated flight.
But despite the warnings, notices, signs and actions, there were several cases of injuries and deaths associated with aviation disasters. How, in fact, reports of air crashes are very disturbing. This knowledge is of great concern to the public.
Together with this, relatives of victims sufferfinancial reward and emotional trauma - has meant a lot of difficulties and worries. Especially in Los Angeles, many families have lost a loved one or had a member who has suffered serious injuries from the air dilemmas.
These setbacks unspeakable following reasons:
Pilot error
Mechanical failure
Bad weather
Stale aircraft
Sabotage or terrorismSo to solve this problem is to approach the governmenttreated with various laws that will help at least to minimize the number of air accidents.
As a result, the Federal Government, the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 established security standards necessary for flight operations. This covers various aspects of aviation such as aircraft, flight operations and pilot behaviors. Consequently, the airline industry took strict measures to ensure safe travel of passengers.
BeyondState institutions have been created to help the various victims. These include:
National Transportation Safety Board - responsible for the investigation of aircraft accidents
Federal Aviation Administration - the agency responsible for civil aviation to ensure
Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated - the possibility of sabotage or criminal actions in air accidents
Red Cross - Answers to relief for victimsHowever, this was not sufficient to prevent air disasters. Accounts of unpleasant air accidents still occur. However, the victim may trust the lawyers on the expertise of the crash in Los Angeles to obtain justice and to buy what they make available legal remedies.
A competent legal advocate with considerable experience in the management of aviation accidents, you can impact on their poor victims on what steps to. To evaluate the merits of thegather evidence and present their case to them in the hearings, a lawyer can that their rights are respected.
As the Federal Aviation Act provides every victim can be responsible for damages to ask up to $ 75,000 from the party. But with the help of a plane crash in Los Angeles lawyer who can sacrifice much further depending on the factors surrounding her.
Therefore, to reduce their burden of proving the guilt of the parties negligent, youWe recommend that a qualified aviation lawyer. In this way it is also freedom from the cares, the flexibility to faster recovery from their negative experiences.
Come and learn more about air accidents with the help of experts from the Aviation Accident Lawyers in Los Angeles.
What you should expect on your first training flight
Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.Chris Findley, a flight instructor in the Nashville area and the founder of myFlightCoach.com, has written a great post for AOPA’s Let’s Go Flying blog about what you should expect on your first training flight. Chris began his post by saying that you should arrive a little early to take in the sights and sounds of the airport plus chat with your instructor who will also hopefully take a little bit of time to get to know you.
Once you head out to the airplane, Chris noted that if you are accustomed to airliners, a training aircraft will probably feel like a compact car with a pair of wings. The instructor will then do a “preflight” and depending upon how much discussion you have, this should take a bout 10 or 15 minutes.
Then you and your instructor will get into the aircraft and taxi to the runway and do one final check of the plane. After this, you will take-off and more than likely experience a little bit of turbulence. However and if you want to avoid this on your first couple of flights, it may be a good idea to schedule your training for early in the morning or early in the evening before it gets dark as the air will usually be smoother during these times.
Once you reach a safe altitude and are out of the airport vicinity, your instructor will probably let you fly to get a feel for the aircraft. And after about 20 minutes, you will head back to the airport. After you get into the traffic pattern, you will come in and make a landing. Chris noted that this is probably the most exciting and challenging part of the flight – even for long time pilots as landings are both an art and a science.
Once back on the ground, your instructor will then find out if you are really interested in flight training to earn a pilot’s license. And at this point, your flying career will have already begun.
Share and enjoy:
Related posts:
- How do I choose the right flight instructor?
- Flight training pitfalls
- How do I know if my flight training is on track?
- Controlling your flight training costs
- Spin training
Tagged as: Flight Training
Who was David Warren, inventor of the aircraft Cockpit Voice ...
Discussions
11:56 am - TuesdayWho was David Warren, inventor of the aircraft Cockpit Voice Recorder, benefactor of the flight safety
Rome, Italy - A tribute by Italian commander Renzo Dentesano
(WAPA) - Reports of death of doctor in science David Ronald de Mey Warren (20 March 1925-19 July 2010), which occurred July 19 in Melbourne (Australia), inventor of the commercial aircraft's "Sound recording in the cockpit". He was “Known to the world of aviation as the Australian scientist who invented (in 1956) and later developed the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) in the wake of disasters of the first commercial airplane with jet engines, the British De Havilland Comet”.
We recall that between 1953 (May 2nd) and 1954 (January 10th and April 8th) there were, in quick succession, three (then) mysterious air disasters such as a four-engine in Calcutta (India) and in the Tyrrhenian Sea, respectively off Elba island and in Gulf of Policastro. Following these disasters, Dr. Warren, having participated, as an expert, the investigation on Calcutta "Crash" inquiries, conceived the idea of trying to create a tape recorder who could hold the audible sounds and verbal communications in cockpit of commercial aircraft as a valuable assistance to investigators of aircraft accidents, in order to better understand what were the real causes and possible contributing factors of aircraft accidents.
At the time, for these purposes, there was only a primitive recording electro-mechanical flight data, the "Flight Data Recorder - FDR", which could write on special strips of foil through staple connected to five sensors installed on the aircraft, only five flight parameters, as well as marking the time of the event recorded.
Only two years later (in 1956) Warren had already made the first CVR, which was based on a recording apparatus which used magnetic tape and had the ability to record communications and audible sounds in the cockpit and to keep duration of 30 minutes before auto-delete the sounds of first minutes to make the tape usable for the next 30 minutes and so on.
This invention was, in the scientist's intentions, to add a new dimension to diagnosis, to complete the picture which could be formed in the minds of investigators following the reconnaissance of the wreck and of the place where it laid.
Soon after, he devoted himself to join his invention with the new "Flight Data Recorder - FDR”, which in turn also become magnet-operated, and after to operate in digital.
They had many other disasters happened to commercial aircraft before the aeronautical authorities of member countries in ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) would recognize and understand - in their technical meetings on the subject of investigation - how important this new and modern "Recorder board" could be and then decide to require the mandatory installation aboard all commercial aircraft weighing over 5700 kilograms.
So many aircraft disasters occurred, in which were also used recordings by the CVR, could be solved not only relying on the data and the voices of pilots and controllers involved, FDR recorded, but also by other sounds recorded by CVR, such as the engines sound or characteristic noises generated from the cockpit, hit in mid-air by violent hailstorms.
David Warren, eldest son of an European native, was born in a small island next to the shores of the Northern Territory and was orphaned at the age of nine, when his father was killed in a plane crash in 1934 occurred in Bass Strait.
From 1952 (just 27 years old) and up to 1983, Warren was the principal scientist involved in the research laboratories of the organization Aeronautics Defence Australian Government, located in Melbourne and in 2002 was honored with the title of officer of the Order of Australia (AO).
Warren is so worthily remembered in history as a benefactor of the International Civil Aviation air accident investigation capability, and thus also as a benefactor of in pro-safety prevention in flight.
This paper, in my capacity as investigator certified by US NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and as a former member of ISASI (International Society of Air Safety Investigators), wants to be a moving tribute of gratitude to the memory of David Warren, benefactor of flight safety and accident prevention to the commercial aviation world.
See also the news on the subject published by AVIONEWS.
(Avionews)
(00500)100727115640-1119481
(World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2010-07-27 11:56 am)
via avionews.com
What a great contribution to improving safety in aircraft and helping to understand the causes of aircraft accidents. His invention of the cockpit voice recorder has advanced aviation safety and helped protect the lives of pilots around the world.
JetAviator7
Monday, July 26, 2010
Top Ten Reasons to Work For A Regional Airline
Top Ten Reasons to Work For A Regional Airline
Jul 26th, 2010 by Patrick Flannigan.-->
Flying for a regional airline has been bastardized by pilots, the media and passengers alike. Sure, there are a lot of outstanding issues that need to be resolved, but working for a commuter isn’t all that bad compared to other entry-level flying jobs. These are my top ten reasons to work for a regional airline.
- Safety – Regional airlines are airlines and as such, they are watched very carefully by the FAA for compliance with established rules and regulations. They simply can’t get away with the sort of questionable procedures you might find at any number of night freight and charter companies. Pilots generally experience less pressure from the company to fly when it is unsafe and have plenty of resources to draw upon when that line is crossed.
A portion of American Eagle's ERJ fleet.
- Support and Teamwork – Airline pilots have a large support network comprised of flight attendants, captains, first officers, check airmen, dispatchers, maintenance controllers and members of management that they can draw upon when things get difficult.
- Maintenance – All airplanes run into issues, and it’s good to know that a mechanic is only a radio call away. In many cases airline maintenance will be able to fix the problem on the spot. When it doesn’t work out, items can be deferred and operated under approved MEL procedures. Even when the list of deferrals grows long, it’s rare to find a more impeccably maintained commercial aircraft than an airliner.
- Solid Training – Airlines operate their own in-house training programs designed to keep all pilots on the same page. Pilots are trained and re-trained both in class and in the simulator to cope with any number of emergencies and to ensure a safe and standardized flight deck environment.
- Steady Pay – Flight instructors, charter, and corporate pilots often live from paycheck to paycheck. Though they may be compensated quite well per flight, there are periods of time where business is poor and budgets are tight. Although regional pay is far from what it should be, it is good to be able to count on a guaranteed paycheck from month to month.
One of Pinnacle Airlines' CRJ-200s in flight.
- Benefits – Airline work offers affordable medical and dental insurance in addition to company matching 401(k) retirement plans. Benefits like this are hard to find at Ma’ and Pa’ charters and flight schools and can save a fortune on overpriced hospital bills.
- Free Travel – By flying for the airlines, you are privy to the greatest perk in any industry – free travel! Depending upon the airline, travel benefits could extend to your immediate family and even to your friends with discounted buddy-passes. Want to see Paris on your day off, just hop on the next flight, no problem!
- Having a Set Schedule – After flying for an airline for a while and accruing a bit of seniority, pilots are no longer on call and are awarded set schedules known as lines. After working your life around student and client demands, it is simply fantastic to know your days off a full month in advance.
The CRJ-1000, Bombardier's next generation regional airliner.
- Commutability – When most people take on a big job, they have to relocate to a new city. Airline pilots can live anywhere so long as they can commute into their base. So long as you live within driving distance of a large airport, and don’t mind losing time riding around in jets, there is simply no need to move into domicile.
- Protection – Flying the ‘line offers a level of personal protection for pilots. On the one hand, if the FAA comes after you while operating “by the book” under company guidance, the airline will absorb all or most of the blow. If, on the other hand, you mess up, you do have the benefit of a union representative who will fight to protect your interests. It’s rare that these issues come up, but it’s nice to know that somebody is watching your back.
Related posts:
Posted in: Flying.
Tagged: regional airline · Top Ten
A great article on flying for the regional airlines. This is a great place for pilots to start their commercial career.
John
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Attitude Does Not Equal Authority
Attitude Does Not Equal Authority
The next day there is no delay. I wake, eat breakfast and go. Today I add two litres to the left engine and one to the right. You can tell we're getting close to maintenance when the oil consumption increases, but I haven't burned that much since yesterday. I'm putting more in than what is required just to replace what was there yesterday. A greater amount of oil will, I hope, amortize the cooling job across more oil so I won't need to use the cowl flaps so much. I text my fellow pilot to ask him if he can buy some more oil today. We're almost out. I clean the windows, give a straightforward briefing to a person who my instincts say would not appreciate the silly one, and we go fly.
We're just five hundred feet below the clouds, working fairly near the airport. A little Cessna takes off and joins us up here too. I later looked it up by its registration and learned that it's a privately owned C150 registered to two owners, one in Dawson Creek and one in nearby Pouce Coupé. I wonder who they are, not living together, different last names, but sharing an airplane. Every time the pilot position reports, she is much lower than us, and having recently been in a C150 I think that's because she doesn't want to take the time and trouble to climb this high. They land after perhaps an hour. Probably she was just up for a joyride.
We fly over Pouce Coupé and kill a few minutes trying to decide how to pronounce it. I think it retains close to the French pronunciation (it means "cut thumb") and rhymes with Moose Toupée, but for all we know it rhymes with Mouse Poop. After six or seven hours of equally inane conversation we are overhead the airport ready to land. "Down in six minutes," I tell the FSS guy, and my touchdown is six minutes and six seconds later. My sense of victory is brief, because I flub the flare glancing inside to check my time accuracy. Dork. Smooth landings require follow through.
After I exit the runway I stop on the apron and set the parking brake. As I wait for all the equipment to be shut down properly in the back, I text my flight follower and discover that I am to fly to another destination right away. Then I get a call from the other pilot saying that he will do the flight, to avoid giving me an overlong duty day in case there's a long hold. He's probably been awake for almost as long as I have, but I don't argue because he didn't fly yesterday at all. And his duty day has probably only just started, He may have been napping all morning. I taxi to the fuel pumps.
There are a couple of people standing in the "secure area" square outside the terminal, and some small pieces of furniture possibly symbolically blockading it. I pull around the outer boundary of the square and park at the pumps. There's a guy there in ear defenders, reflective vest, etcetera and as the mission specialist disembarks ear-defender guy asks him how much fuel we are taking. I hear "You'll have to ask the pilot" so I come out and tell him 700-800 litres, but I want to check with the pilot of the next flight first. He's on his way, so I'll start fuelling while I wait for him to arrive. The guy asks me if I want 100LL or jet and I tell him 100LL and then get out my credit card to activate the pump while he unfurls the hose. He tells me that a Hawkair plane is coming in for fuel too.
"Do you work for Hawkair?" I ask.
He gives an answer that I don't remember verbatim but that was roughly equivalent to "I work for you too." It's not uncommon for the operator of a self-serve pump to provide fuel service when he's around, especially when the pump is busy, so this isn't incredibly irregular. I turn on the pump once the credit card has been verified, and he pumps fuel. He momentarily knocks the nozzle out of the tank and sprays fuel all over the wing. Some pilots freak out about this sort of thing, but it's probably about 30 cents worth of fuel. "It happens," I say, to let him know I'm not fuming at him. He puts the nozzle back in the tank and I open the other tanks I want filled. I tell him that I will be right back. After seven hours in a plane, the sound of rushing fuel is not conducive to continued bladder control. I can also see the other pilot approaching from about 30 metres away, so he'll be here to say what fuel he wants before this tank, which I know he wants, is full. I wave to the approaching pilot and head towards the terminal.
I can see the Hawkair on its landing rollout, as I recall it was a small Dash-8. At this point there's a number of people on the ramp in high visibility clothing and ear defenders, plus a woman in a skirt. She's the only one who isn't visibly doing something, so I ask her, over the roar of the turboprop taxiing in, if she knows if it's okay if I cross the yellow square to the terminal without a badge. She says yes, but I won't be able to get out, and I say yes I know. I have the code. I bolt for the toilet. That done, I go out the groundside door, around the building to the codelocked side gate, dial in the code and jog back to my airplane. The person who was fuelling is now gone, the pump turned off and the fuel nozzle left propped in an open tank, and a number of people, including skirt woman, are glaring at me. "There was someone here fuelling me when I left!" I say by way of apology, and take the nozzle out of the tank so I can restart the fuel pump without risking it ricocheting out.
"It's self-serve fuel!" she says. True, and I have no idea why the guy was helping me, but he was. And my coworker should have arrived to take over before he had to flee. Then I realize that he is at the pumps, but skirt woman has him cornered, as she is chewing him out for walking in between the Hawkair and the terminal. "It's a SECURED airplane," she tells him. "It's going to VANCOUVER!" In fact she's so busy chewing him out that I think she failed to see me do exactly the same thing moments ago. I thought she meant I wouldn't be able to get out again because I wouldn't be able to get back through the CATSA people to exit the terminal, not that I wouldn't be allowed back in the yellow square.
The Hawkair turboprop is now parked behind our airplane and although the Jet A hoses reach it in that position, they can't start fuelling until I'm done, because the keypad that controls both tanks is shared. If she would stop hassling my co-worker we could get out of the way faster. My coworker rekeys the fuel pump and we finish fuelling while everyone glares at us. I mean WHAT? Sure the Dash-8 is bigger than me, but there's no reservation system for the pumps. I was here, pumping fuel before it even landed, and so there's no way I can be accused of having cut in front. If there is some reason why it should have priority, the young man with the reflective vest could have told me to push off and wait. Yes, it does take a while to fuel my airplane. But it probably takes a while to fuel a Dash-8 too, and we're departing immediately to Edmonton, with the pilot's duty day ticking. We have every right to be here. We ignore the glares and chat about how he didn't have a chance to buy more oil yet, but it's available at the airport, and how we should get badged so we don't get hassled for doing our jobs. Skirt woman (who wears absolutely no symbolic or official badge of authority, not even a reflective vest or a clipboard) says it wouldn't make any difference. No one is allowed to go between the airplane and the terminal. It's SECURED! Because it's going to VANCOUVER. We remain unimpressed. We've both been to Vancouver.
When I get to the last tank, I give my coworker the nozzle to finish fuelling so that I can remove my gear from the airplane and let him get on his way. I leave the key on the floor inside the rear boarding door and tell him that. Everything done, I wish him a good flight, pick up my bags and the in-flight garbage and very carefully go around the Dash-8, outside the magic yellow square, not between it and the terminal. At no point during my transit am I any closer to the Dash-8 than I was while I was at the fuel pumps. When I re-emerge to her view on the other side, skirt woman comes over to yell at me.
"You're not supposed to be there! If Transport Canada were here ... This airplane is SECURED to go to VANCOUVER!"
I gesture at where my feet are. "I'm not inside the yellow square." I resist the temptation to touch it with my toes.
She says it doesn't matter, that the nearest I'm allowed to be, "is .. is .. there!" while gesturing vaguely westward. She may be pointing at a distant maintenance hangar. It is not clear. She says I need to be escorted if I go anywhere. I literally throw up my hands. "Escort me" I say in exasperation.
"Where do you want to go?"
"A FOD bin."
She doesn't know what that is, but one of the rampees does and gestures for her. She escorts me to a big yellow drum and I throw out my in-flight garbage, and then continue past to the exit gate.
I am in general a law-abiding, cooperative person. I have read all the NOTAM and posted signs for this airport and I have worked at airports large and small all over North America. I was actively trying to comply with the security protocol. Moreover skirt woman had ample opportunity to explain her particular security rules. I initially approached her for instructions. Then she stood around and glared at me for five minutes or so while I pumped gas. She could have spent that time explaining her rules. The aren't the same at every airport. I have had many cordial conversations with security people as I stood just outside the magic yellow square. I was willing to grant her the authority to dictate limitations. Just tell me lady, please, what I may not do; tell me what I need to do. I'm not cowed by the mere presence of an airplane bigger than mine, so without further instructions it's business as usual. She did nothing to indicate what procedure I must to follow in order to respect the "secured airplane," until the third time I crossed the ramp.
Sigh. She probably hates that aspect of her job, and doesn't really like confronting people, so that by the time she does she becomes bitchy and ranting. And now I'm bitchy and ranting, too. My customer also ran afoul of her, but because he didn't have to be on the ramp he just fled to his truck until I was done. We go to Canadian Tire on the way back and rant to each other about the difference between authoritative and bitchy. I buy a flashlight to replace the broken one in the airplane. As we leave we notice the "secure" Hawkair taking off. My customer notes snidely that no one is clinging to the tail, and that's enough to snap me out of my rant.
I finally have a chance to get those groceries I've been needing, at a chain supermarket across the street from the hotel. The appearance of the produce section is a bit of a shock. There is hardly any green, and what there is, is rotten. There are paved roads coming in here, but I guess I'm further north, culturally speaking, than I thought. Despite the paucity of produce, I'm so hungry that most other things look good, and I buy a bunch of stuff I shouldn't. The produce truck pulls in just as I'm crossing the street back to the hotel. I hope they are bringing something fresh and green. Also I was so eager to escape from skirt woman that I completely forgot to hunt down that oil.
The customer calls to say that I have a 05:30 report tomorrow, so I eat some of my groceries and go straight to bed.
His Casket Was Almost Orange!
And here's an update too interesting to leave to the people who follow old comments. A few days ago I posted "His Casket is Actually Orange," a short blog entry on the passing of David Warren, inventor of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. His son, Peter Warren, stopped by the comments, and fortunately father and son share a great sense of humour because Peter answered the blog's flippant questions with both a link to a picture of the coffin (apparently they did consider painting it orange, but went with plain wood), adorned with messages from family, the words "Flight Recorder Inventor: Do not Open," plus his actual last words. "I was a lucky bastard."
I love it. I've never seen anything like it in Canada. Everyone is going to die eventually and I think there's a lot to gain in admitting humour and personality to the last rites.
Labels: airlines, authority, communication, death, food, fuel, private flying, security
posted by Aviatrix at 00:00
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Airshow Sees Aviation Industry Pulling Out of Long Dive - The ...
Jane Wardell & Andrew Khouri
A Dassault Aviation SA Falcon 7X private jet sits on the tarmac on the fourth day of the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, U.K. on Thursday. The Farnborough International Airshow is being held from July 19-25. (Simon Dawson/Bloomberg)
Airshow Sees Aviation Industry Pulling Out of Long Dive
Farnborough, England. There was an even louder sound than the roar of jet engines during the daily flying display at the Farnborough International Airshow this week — a collective sigh of relief from the civil aviation industry.
New plane orders of almost $29 billion suggest the skies ahead are clearing after a deep two-year downturn, although the defense sector is still scarred by savage government budget cuts.
The airshow “confirms the recovery trend we have been observing for a couple of months as air traffic globally has endured,” Tom Enders, chief executive of European plane maker Airbus, said on Thursday, adding that his company planned to set a new sales target for this year.
New orders at the aviation industry’s premier event didn’t come close to the record-breaking $88.7 billion worth of deals announced at Farnborough in 2008 before the global recession hit.
But they easily surpassed orders of just $7 billion at Farnborough’s sister show at Le Bourget, near Paris — the pair alternate years — last year.
“I’m encouraged by the fact that the economies around the world are moving in a positive direction now,” Gary Scott, president of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, said on Thursday, the last major business day of the show.
“I think we all know that Europe is struggling maybe a bit more than the US and both are struggling relative to the rest of the world but it’s all moving in the right direction,” Scott said.
The International Air Transport Association recently forecast that the global industry would make a small profit of $2.5 billion this year, after a huge loss of $9.4 billion in 2009 — a marked improvement from its predictions late last year of more losses this year.
Reports from US airlines for the second quarter this week have shown their strongest quarterly results in three years. After huge losses during the recession, Delta, United and US Airways combined to post profits of $1 billion.
But the rebound came with brutal cost-cutting that included the elimination of hundreds of flights each day by the major carriers. That reduced the supply of seats and drove up fares.
Analysts suggest that the aviation industry rebound will be to a “new normal,” where demand will remain weak, prompting likely mergers and acquisitions and a greater focus on streamlining supply and engineering costs.
At Farnborough, the potential changing face of the aviation industry was reflected in the fact that two plane leasing companies — both created just months ago — were among the biggest buyers.
Air Lease bought 54 Boeing 737-8s worth $4.1 billion according to list prices, 51 A-320 family jets worth $4.4 billion and 10 ATR 72-600 turboprops at $221 million. GE Capital Aviation Services bought 60 A-320s worth $4.9 billion and 40 Boeing 737-8s worth $3 billion. Aircraft makers often give discounts to list prices.
Max Sukkhasantikul, Frost & Sullivan’s commercial aviation consulting analyst, said that the deals indicated that many airlines still don’t have the cash flow or credit available to finance their purchases.
“It certainly shows that airlines are moving increasingly toward the leasing model as they try to defer their assets and focus on their core business, which is transferring passengers from A to B,” Sukkhasantikul said.
Among airline buyers at the show were Qatar, Emirates, Qantas, Aeroflot, PT Garuda Indonesia and Flybe.
EADS-based Airbus narrowly beat Chicago-based Boeing in the traditional race for orders between the two companies at major air shows.
Airbus’s deals totaled $13.2 billion, while Boeing’s commitments came in at $12.8 billion.
Both companies are facing challenges to redesign existing aircraft to meet competition from smaller manufacturers from Russia, China, Canada and Brazil.
Brazil’s Embraer and Russia’s Sukhoi won the race for small regional jet orders, leaving Canada’s Bombardier trailing and without any new orders for its much-touted C-series single-aisle jetliner.
The short-haul planes offered by the smaller manufacturers are being snapped up to meet soaring demand for air travel across emerging markets — feeding a rise in low-cost airline start-ups across Asia and Latin America — before an anticipated later upturn in the United States and Europe.
The renewed cautious optimism in commercial aviation, however, could not dispel the bad news from the defense industry, where governments are cutting budgets after spending billions bailing the global economy. Cuts to Western military budgets have been the talk of Farnborough.
In the United States, the world’s biggest defense market, the Pentagon is looking to trim some $100 billion from personnel and procurement costs over the next five years. Britain, Europe’s biggest defense market, is considering cuts of up to 20 percent.
Associated Press
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Aviation industry's drive for fuel economy spurs progress in ...
NationAviation industry's drive for fuel economy spurs progress in cockpit technology
By: JANE WARDELL
Associated Press
07/22/10 5:55 AM PDTABOVE THE ENGLISH CHANNEL — Flying over the white cliffs of Dover, the two pilots of a Gulfstream 450 jet keep their eyes glued to a flight-deck display, ignoring the almost cloudless sky over the southern coast of England on their descent to a nearby runway.
Honeywell International Inc. pilot John Tuten and his co-pilot Paul Mrocka are testing what the U.S. aviation company calls the "cockpit of the future" — designed not just to improve safety but to boost fuel efficiency as well.
The new cockpit does that by aiding pilot vision, enabling a straighter, shorter path and less time burning fuel.
Instead of conventional screens filled with technical data that pilots have to interpret, the company's Synthetic Vision System converts the data into a three-dimensional "virtual" view of what's outside. The graphical representation of the surrounding terrain, nearby aircraft and runway approaches means that even in zero visibility — in thick cloud, complete darkness or fog — the pilot should be able to see where he's going just as easily as if flying conditions were perfect.
Combined with Honeywell's smart landing technology, which alerts crew if an approach is unstable or at a risky angle, that means faster landings and take-offs — getting planes in and out of the air quicker.
The goal is simple, says Carl Esposito, Honeywell vice president for marketing and product development.
"If you want to reduce emissions, what you need to do is fly less — so the faster you get to where you're going, the more direct you fly, the less emissions," Esposito says as the jet heads back to Farnborough airport, 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of central London.
Both the rising cost of fuel and demand for more environmentally-friendly flying are putting pressure on the aviation industry to come up with advances.
Aircraft makers and technology companies are battling each other to bring ever more efficiency to the market after pledging last year to cut emissions to 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2050.
The issue has become so urgent that organizers at this week's Farnborough International Airshow — the industry's premier event — devoted one of its five days to environmental issues.
And the star of the biennial show outside London was Boeing Co.'s 787 jetliner, a plane that the Chicago-based company says will use 20 percent less fuel when it enters service later this year, thanks to the lightweight composite materials that make up its frame instead of the traditional aluminium and titanium.
"Airlines are saying to us, we want less noise, we want the same speed, we want the range, but we want the environmental performance," Boeing's chief technology officer John J. Tracy said when he updated the industry on the long-delayed 787's progress this week.
In the next few years, both Boeing and arch rival Airbus expect to roll out new turbofan engines which promise 10-15 percent better performance, while Canadian plane maker Bombardier is marketing its C-Series single-aisle jet as a fuel-efficient alternative to the current duopoly's offerings.
The spotlight is now turning to additions to the plane's frame — the technology that goes aboard the lightweight aircraft to streamline efficiency gain even further.
Honeywell expects to roll out its cockpit technology, currently only available on business and executive jets, to commercial airlines over the next year.
"It's just one of a number of products offered by technology providers in the aviation industry, and with all the implications that cockpit technology has for safety and cost efficiency, it's no surprise that providers are fighting for a share of the marketplace," says Aviation Week analyst Ed Hazelwood.
"I think the new technology in all of the new aircraft helps the pilots a lot in terms of the amount of workload that they have to do when they're flying the aircraft," he adds. "So when the airplanes can give them the data and the information, and convert that data into information so that they can action on it, that's going to make it a lot easier for the pilot to fly the aircraft safely and efficiently."
The Honeywell technology also aids attempts to integrate air traffic control systems in Europe and end the current criss-crossing — and fuel burning — routes that planes must currently fly over the Continent. It could also reduce the amount of time they spend in so-called "stacking," or holding patterns as they wait to land. Analysts say those two measures could improve efficiency on some routes by 10-20 percent.
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via sfexaminer.com
In the pursuit of better fuel efficiency for business aircraft Honeywell is developing better cockpit displays for bizjets. Beyond biofuels aviation companies are seeking better immediate solutions.
Why Aviation Companies Should Be Competing On Value Rather Than ...
I was talking with a fellow passenger on a commercial flight recently about all the cost-cutting on the airlines. He remarked that it's unfortunate that Travelocity and other websites have "trained" consumers to look for the lowest fare from point A to point B. Most consumers don't realize that costs add up when you actually calculate the charge for extra time, extra connections, extra baggage fees, extra lodging to get the "best fare" days, and extra bad airport food during layovers.
The casual customer may end up spending a lot more on a trip than he or she expects to spend.
Hence, the public has acquired the perception that travel is not for the budget-minded. (And who isn't budget-minded these days?) We can’t help but wonder if it’s contributed to the popularity of online meetings, and the newly coined term for family “staycations” for families who vacation without traveling.
In Jeffrey J. Fox's classic book "How to Become a Rainmaker," Fox emphasizes the need to "show them the money" for each deal for each prospective client.
To do this, you have to understand what the customer is actually buying.
What the customer really values
To use the example from the book, let's say you are in a paint store evaluating two brands of house paint. Brand A is $10 a gallon and Brand B is $18 a gallon. Brand A has the lowest price, but Brand B has more pigment, thereby requiring one less coat of paint than Brand A. Which paint is the better value?
If you want a gallon of paint, Brand A is the better value. If you want a painted house, Brand B is the better value, assuming you would use half as much paint – even before you calculate time spent painting!
A key activity of anyone in business is to figure out what the customer is really after, then offer him the best value for his dollar. This doesn't necessarily equate to the cheapest product or the lowest fare.
Most people don’t buy a product or service, they buy the means to meet their agenda.
Very smart people in aviation companies (some of whom also happen to be ABCI clients) have done the hard work of figuring out what their customers really value. It’s more than a difference of semantics –it’s a difference of mindset, and it seems that for the airlines, it’s gotten lost in the recent fray over price.
Examples of value propositions from the aviation field
- Taylor Greenwood understands that his clients aren't necessarily just buying pretty photographs. What they really want is to improve their odds of selling an aircraft that is listed in a sales publication with many others of its type. His client's aircraft has to be noticed first and has to command a better price. This impacts the way Greenwood approaches the job. He's keenly aware that he has to inspire the viewer to buy the aircraft, and focuses on the features most likely to add to the desirability and selling price.
- Aerographs’ clients don’t necessarily just want a fine art print of a vintage aircraft. These clients want to enhance their office with an elegant feeling and a touch of class and nostalgia. These aviation attorneys, tax specialists, real estate agents and insurance folks know that an appropriate piece of art makes a connection with clients and other visitors to the office.
- Summit Aviation’s clients don’t necessarily just want DVDs of aviation regulations. What they really want is the ability to make critical decisions faster, the ability to get more done without hiring more people to do research, and the peace of mind that comes from knowing they're in compliance with the latest in a formidable body of aviation rules and regs.
The Value of Air Travel
In the case of commercial air travel, what customers want is the means to get a job done in a distant city or a nice vacation with the family. If commercial air travel becomes so inconvenient that it gets in the way of the real value of air travel, they lose customers, no matter how cheap a ticket might become.
I used to fly commercial from Salt Lake City to San Francisco to teach business writing seminars. I’d fly out in the morning and be back in time to pick up my son from school. If I couldn’t be on time getting to San Francisco, a roomful of grouchy people would be waiting for me, or more likely demanding their money back and vowing never to have anything to do with my company again. If I was late getting back to Salt Lake, it was even worse - I’d have a grouchy 9-year-old. Precarious as it might sound by today's standards, (with about an hour and a half of margin planned on either end) I was able to keep this schedule up, month in and month out, for several years.
When the on-time statistics started to slip, I started delivering my seminars on the web. I missed being in the classroom with students. I didn’t make as much money – a classroom seat in a seminar commands a higher price than a "virtual" seat in a webinar. But I couldn’t afford the risk.
An airline ticket, at ANY price, was worthless to me if it didn’t get me there and back on time.
Actually, it was worse than worthless if it ruined my reputation with my customers or with my kid.
Now that I know of some cost-effective business aviation alternatives, I would probably do that. Spend less money, enjoy it more, and get full value for my money.
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Follow Wheels Up on Twitter: twitter.com/Wheels_Up
via blogs.forbes.com
This is a great example of what we need to do to promote aviation to combat the attacks on general aviation and the use of corporate aircraft.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
More Evidence Pilots Can't Count to Three
More Evidence Pilots Can't Count to Three
Exactly eight hours after I put my head down on the pillow, the alarm tells me to wake up and go back to work. I get out of bed, switch on the computer, and put on my clothes while it reloads windows. And I see that the weather gods have rewarded me for my scrupulous adherence to duty time laws, as the fog at Regina has not materialized. Why should weather gods care about duty time? I don't know, but I feel virtuous so I accept the reward.
Breakfast will be a meal replacement bar out of my flight bag. A "company note" (flight itinerary) will stand in lieu of a flight plan. I call down to the front desk to let them know I am looking for an airport shuttle. It's on another mission and won't be back for over half an hour. Aargh. I come down to the desk and check out, asking about taxis. It turns out there's one sitting outside. That will do.
I ask the driver to take me to the airport, but not the passenger terminal, the Kelly FBO, "It used to be the Shell," I explain. He asks me which airport. "The big one, the international, Winnipeg International ..." Damnit, it has another name. Which dead politician or war hero is this one named after? "The one Air Canada flies into." Good thing he asked. I'd have hated to end up at a cropdusting strip or one of the flying school fields around here. I put my head down and start texting my flight follower. Then I look up. We're approaching the passenger terminal. "This is the wrong side," I explain. "I need to be on the other side of the runways, where the Esso is." The Esso hasn't changed names lately, I hope.
"You said the big airport," he counters.
And my realization dawns. To non-pilots the airport is not the place with the runways. It's the terminal. To him this is two separate airports, the one with the big airplanes and the one with the charter planes and scruffy pilots like me. He drives back around the runways and I'm at the FBO only a little later than I had planned. I've yet to find the perfect words to explain to cab drivers where I need to go.
I paid for my fuel last night, so I just go through and preflight the airplane. No water in the fuel, lots of oil in the engines (or maybe not and I added some). All the airplaney bits are still attached in the right order. I load my flight bag and overnight bag into the airplane and secure them in place, then open the CFS to get the clearance delivery frequency and check on any special departure procedures. And there is one I hadn't planned on. Aircraft not on a VFR flight plan must call flight services at least 30 minutes prior to departure, in order to obtain a transponder code. Sigh. I shut down. They're doing this everywhere now. I call clearance delivery and see if I can get away without one, but he is unbending. I call flight services on the radio and ask if I really have to wait half an hour. "Try in five minutes," he recommends. I start up again and then a guy comes by in an Esso truck and signals for me to shut down. I do so and he tells me there's something on the ground by the plane. I open the door and look and it's the little bag in which I keep my wallet, licence and passport. It fell out of my flight bag while I was loading. I thank him profusely and check to make sure my head is screwed on.
Restart the engines. Clearance delivery has my transponder code, ground gives me a prompt and easy taxi clearance, and tower clears me for takeoff. Vroom into the sky I go, approved for a left turnout. There's a little bit of mist over the ground, in low spots, but other than that it's a lovely day. I climb out to some bush pilot like low altitude and level off. I hear a call from a flight number "911." I think it may be that company's standard medevac flight number, but they do have a 9-1-1 of sort. They also have just taken off and are requesting a return for landing because of fuel leaking visibly out of the tank caps. Someone else is having one of those mornings. They decline all emergency services, fire trucks and other offers of assistance. I think I would have left off the reason for my return in my request, and just let ATC be curious.
About 50 miles outside of Regina I make a call to traffic on 126.7. It's not strictly necessary, as I'm going to call tower in a few minutes and they will provide traffic information in the vicinity of their control zone, but it's what I'd do in the bush approaching an airport, so I do it here. A voice answers with my real name, recognizing my voice even though it's been a long time. It's a mentor, my very first aviation mentor. The guy who gave me a postcard with an A319 on it on my first cockpit visit. He is so awesome. He gives me his phone number and I promise to call tontight.
I copy the Regina ATIS and call tower. They sequence me and ask me if my destination is apron II. I look at the airport diagram in the CFS and see apron I opposite the terminal, apron IV way down taxiway Charlie, and II and III down that way too. I'm not sure which of II, III or IV is right, but it's down that way, so I answer in the affirmative. I'm cleared to land, do so and then call ground.
Ground gives me taxi instructions that don't gyve with my destination. I look at the CFS diagram now that I'm not flying an airplane, and realize that the area I'm looking at isn't marked II and III, but is marked III in two different places. Apron II is off on the opposite side of the terminal. I call back and admit that I can't count past two and need to taxi the other direction, which he approves. It's twenty to eight as I pull up, but there is no one waiting impatiently for me. I've made it. I shut down and fill out the journey log.
Labels: ATC, communication, emergencies, publications, sleep, terminals, weather
posted by Aviatrix at 00:00
This is what makes flying general aviation airplanes so much fun, particularly up North of the border.
This is the "real" world of aviation!
Dawson Something
Dawson Something
After picking up a part in Regina, and stuffing it in the nose locker so it will be available wherever we are for the next maintenance, I'm going to Dawson Creek. That's Dawson Creek in Northern British Columbia, not to be confused with Dawson City in the Yukon, Dawson's Creek on the WB network, or just plain Dawson all over the place, including a crater on the moon. Yeah, not going to the moon this trip. The O2 bottle only holds about ten hours of supplemental oxygen. The CFS tells me that there are two aerodromes in town, but I am not going to accept dispatch to the one that has a 2000' sloped turf strip and is operated by the Flying L Ranch, so there's no need to call the client to confirm the landing site. The Flying L Ranch sounds like a cool place, but so does the main Dawson Creek airport. It has two separate prepared landing surfaces: one for landing on wheels and one for landing on floats. That is, there's a runway-shaped water-filled trench to the left of the main runway. There's no tower, but the mandatory frequency there is remoted to Peace River radio from 1330Z to 0530Z, which means that when I call, a guy in Alberta will answer.
Weather looks agreeable between hither and yon, despite a steep pressure gradient so I depart, with the addition of another crew member who happens to have been working in the area on his other job, making it an easy pick up. I'm not quite sure what happened to his vehicle. I know a pilot who can tell you off the top of her head how much it costs to ship a car by train from one part of the country to another. Others just own semi-abandoned cars in various places. There ought to be a special pilot car insurance rate for people who only get to use their cars when they aren't flying in another province.
The fuel number is listed in the CFS under "Military" for some reason. Maybe I misread it. They agreed to sell us fuel even though we carry no firearms or bombs, and came fairly quickly.
Dawson Creek is north and west of here. I flew and he manned the charts and radios. We passed fairly close to Saskatoon, so gave them a call to position report and update the weather. I initially just tuned the YXE ATIS for a local altimeter setting, but it was almost an hour out of date and it's always good to talk to someone en route; the FSS will volunteer SIGMETs and other hazards. We check the charts carefully looking for the new boundary between Edmonton and Winnipeg Radio before we call. We identify ourselves and position report, saying we are VFR between Regina and Dawson Creek. Our request is very standard "an altimeter setting and current weather at destination." We at first assume we have a Winnipegger on the line, as he had to ask for the ident of the reasonably large airport that is our destination, but then the conversation got weirder.
Us: It's Yankee Delta Quebec.Him: Dawson Creek altimeter two nine nine three.
Us: [Silence]
Him: Did you want the rest of the weather?
Us: Yes please
Him: [reads entire METAR for YDQ]
Us: Thank you
Him: [Silence]
Us: [to each other] He's not going to give us a local altimeter setting?
We call back and ask for a local altimeter setting and he provides one. That probably doesn't sound weird to most people, but usually you can't talk to an FSS without being given at least one, and often a whole string of altimeter settings for the route ahead. An altimeter setting is the FSS version of "hello." It was especially relevant that day because of the rapid change in setting along our route. Newbie, I guess.
We could see we would clip the edge of Edmonton's control area. I gritted my teeth as I reached for the CFS, hoping that they weren't one of the zones that have started demanding advance codes for transit. I'm going to have to start making that a part of my VFR flight planning now. I look at where I'm going and where I'm coming from, but I am too often guilty of assuming that the old rules apply for VFR transit. Calgary, I learned the hard way, insists on an advance telephone call for a transponder code. Edmonton, fortunately, doesn't yet, but I promise to check each new edition of the CFS before each planned transit through their airspace. We looked up the appropriate frequency for Edmonton Terminal and let them know where we were and where we were going. No problem. They gave us a squawk code (and an altimeter setting) and cleared us through their airspace. We saw three different airports we've worked out of in the last year or so and then we passed out of their airspace to the north and they cleared us en route to squawk VFR. And updated our altimeter setting.
I was flying at 6500', a VFR altitude appropriate for going west, high enough to be out of the daytime turbulence but not so high as to require oxygen or turning on the heater. As I continued east a layer of daytime cumulus cloud was starting to form, building to just about my level. I dodged a few, and then as the layer thickened, mused about my choice, "Up or down? the eternal question." Down would put me into more turbulence, closer to control zones and terrain. Up requires me to increase the power for the climb and then readjust everything again, and the cumulus tops will build another couple of thousand feet before destination, requiring me to do it all over again. Pilots, if you haven't gathered already, can be really lazy. You want me to move levers? It's not a really difficult choice, just a topic of conversation. Pilots can be hard up for those, too. I got a new altimeter setting form flight services. It is higher, good news weatherwise, but putting in a higher altimeter setting shows me at a higher indicated altitude. If I descend again to an indicated 6500' feet I'll really be in the cloud tops. So I take the head start and climb to 8500'.
This works fine for a while, and then the clouds, as predicted, build back to my level. By this time I'm in the vicinity of Grande Prairie. We won't be in their zone, but call them for traffic advisories anyway. Their new altimeter setting puts me back in the tops again, so I descend back to 6500', which is now cloud-free, thanks to the fact that cloud bases tend to gradually rise during the day, and that my new 6500' is a few hundred feet below my old 6500', thanks to the rising pressure. People who have blindly memorized "from high to low, look out below" without close regard for the underlying physics may need to stop and ponder that for a moment. We report the altitude change and call clear as we continue to the west. They thank us for checking in. It's good when towers do that. Sometimes pilots are ambivalent about calling an air traffic agency we don't have to, and when the controlling agency's response sounds like we've bothered them or that they couldn't care less, it results in subtle pilot behaviour modification. But every one who acknowledges the utility of just knowing there's an airplane out there beyond their sphere of control reinforces our motivation to call.
Now we're almost at Dawson Creek. We call the FSS and the guy in Peace River answers us, as advertised. He can't see the traffic out here in BC, but he keeps track of it. There's someone in a single departing, something else small and slow arriving, shouldn't be any conflicts. Then a medevac faster than us checks in behind us. We're almost overhead and hear a five miles out call. Is this going to work out? Oh phew that five mile call was the slow, departing traffic, not the incoming medevac. We land, after jokingly lining up on the water runway for a photo op, then call clear and taxi for fuel.
It's a more civilized-looking airport than we expected. It has a classy new passenger terminal with a big yellow "secure area" square painted on the apron outside of it, a little tower building (probably vacant, seeing as the radio service is remoted to Alberta) and lots of paved apron. There are two fuel pumps either side of a sign that gives prices (good prices, too) for avgas and jet, but while the right tank has a Jet A sticker on it, there is no avgas marking on the left tank. Weird. The paper cover of the journey log tears on the seat pocket as we take it out to record the flight. Grr. I always buy the hardcover version when I have a choice. But they keep replacing this one before it's full, dunno why.
We unload the airplane and I give the receipts for the ferry fuel to the customer: they are responsible for that. The Regina receipt is just a truck fuel ticket, not a credit card receipt, because the truck driver didn't process the credit card, just called in the information. Client needs a proper receipt. I didn't bring a CFS in from the plane, but the fuel number is in the recently called list in my phone. They fax a copy of the credit card receipt and everyone is happy.
Dinner is at some chain restaurant where they casually offer you garlic bread with your entree, then charge you $3.50 for it. One slice.
I did get a chance to call the airline captain who was one of the first to encourage me in all this. As I was approaching Regina, he had been just leaving, ferrying a smaller airplane in the other direction. I believe that brings his home collection of aircraft to five. He's well, just retired, still happily married to his original wife, and having a great time. I'll see if I can get out to see him when work and other aspects of life let up around ... January I think.
Labels: ATC, costs, flight plans, food, fuel, landing, paperwork, pressure, publications, safety, weather
posted by Aviatrix at 00:00
As always, flying aircraft around Canada can be a challenge, even for more experienced pilots.
JetAviator7
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