Statement from the FAA in Response to the Associated Press Story about Temporary Flight Restrictions over the Gulf of Mexico
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today’s story by the Associated Press contains a number of inaccuracies with regard to the government’s oversight of flyovers in and around the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Since May 28th, the FAA has approved every request to fly over the area–more than 176 requests. While the temporary flight restriction requires pilots to stay above 3,000 feet, the FAA is working with news organizations and granting exceptions so that pilots can fly at lower altitudes throughout the day.
The reason for these requirements is safety, pure and simple. So far, there have been a number of reported near misses over the Gulf due to heavy traffic and pilots flying above the oil spill to give their passengers a closer look.
On Sunday, a helicopter carrying a member of the Associated Press violated the temporary flight restriction around the oil clean-up efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. The helicopter operator was not authorized to fly into the restricted area and was flying at various altitudes well below 3,000 feet. For over 30 minutes, the pilot was not in communication with the Border Patrol aircraft that is providing traffic advisories for all participating aircraft. Border Patrol was forced to divert other traffic in the area, creating a dangerous situation for everyone involved. When the pilot was finally reached he was told to leave the area.
A pilot deviation (an action that results in the violation of a Federal Aviation Regulation) is being filed against the helicopter pilot.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Press Release - Statement from the FAA in Response to the Associated Press Story about Temporary Flight Restrictions over the Gulf of Mexico
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
A First Time for Everything
A First Time for Everything
Next morning the weather looks passable on my iPod Touch, but there is such a paucity of reporting stations, or civilization of any description, around the north shore of Lake Superior that we can't be certain. And I know the GFA is based on the same kind of interpolation I have to do. I know what the weather was like half an hour ago at three five mile circles scattered around the north of the lake, so from that I try to interpolate the suitability for flight between them. While the PIC is in the shower, I pick up the phone and call an expert for a briefing. He starts describing the moisture content, stability and direction of travel of air masses, then interrupts himself. "Did you say Brampton?"
"Yes. I'm in Brampton now; it's clear skies."
"Someone just yelled a NOTAM for Brampton across the room, 'All runways closed."
He isn't able to elucidate the reason for a sudden airport closure, or suggest when they may reopen. In my experience, airports have closed for resurfacing, drag racing, severe weather, special security events, or major accidents. I'm guessing the last, and we decide to drive out to the airport anyway, hoping that everyone is okay and the wreckage is cleared before we want to depart.
As we pull into the parking lot we can see police cars and police officers on the airfield. This is weird, but hey, they are allowed to be there, and the NOTAM says the runways are closed, not the apron. My new guess is that there is some kind of drug bust going on. I live in a country where one is not obliged to cower in terror at the mere presence of law enforcement officials, so while the other pilot makes a few last minute decisions about what to take and what to lock in the trunk, I walk through the unlocked front gate from the car parking lot and into the aircraft parking area.
I'm immediately approached by a young man in a reflective vest. "Where are you going?" he asks.
"Thunder Bay," I reply.
I love to watch the moment of adjustment a person goes through when you give a valid answer to a question, but it is not the same order of magnitude as they were expecting. He asks if I am renting a flying school plane and I tell him, no, a private aircraft, and give the call sign.
Then it's his turn to watch someone react to the unexpected, "Make sure you do a very thorough preflight." He doesn't know if our little one-fifty was one of the victims, but there was extensive vandalism on the field last night, and a number of aircraft were damaged. As I walk further I can see a flying school light twin with all the windows bashed in and a fire extinguisher lying beside it on the apron. Detritus such as engine plugs, aircraft covers and seat cushions are strewn on the grass. A Katana has been pushed up against a hangar. There are footprints on the horizontal stabilizer of an older Skyhawk. The perpetrators have also left broken beer bottles and what looks like a corsage. Evidence suggests that some high school students have chosen to celebrate their putative entry into adulthood by getting drunk and committing a federal crime against thousands of dollars worth of other people's property.
The airplane tied tail-to-tail with ours has been hit, but ours looks good. It's tied down, the doors are still locked, and the only exterior damage is what looks like a long-ago mend to a rear window, probably broken by an unsecured object in turbulence. Not the first one I've seen like that. There are tiedown rings inside and I secure all our cargo as I calculated it should go, with the light objects like our jackets and the engine cover at the back and the snacks and water on top right behind the seats.
I've never seen this kind of vandalism at an airfield before. I call back flight services to update them on the situation. The briefer says he's never seen it before either. I ask if they have an UNTIL time on that NOTAM. It's midnight zulu, which is eight pm here, but "midnight zulu" is a default kind of time, not something with a real reason behind it. The weather forecast suggests we can get at least to Thunder Bay today, so only this NOTAM is stopping us. After a bit of waiting around I decide I don't like this NOTAM.
A police officer in blue latex gloves is dusting the rear window of the airplane behind us for fingerprints. I ask whether it is the police or airport management who has imposed or has power to change the NOTAM. Reflective-vest guy is there, and says that it's his responsibility, and that he will change it right now. He picks up his phone and does so. In the time it takes me to call Flight Services to file our flight plan, they have received and propagated the cancelling NOTAM. Excellent. This, right here, is an example of why pilots are so infuriated by incompetent security. Aviation has a lot of rules, a lot of procedures, a lot of things forbidden from time to time. But they are for a reason and in the vast majority of cases when you have a reason that is more reasonable than their reason, you find the right person, you explain your reason, and you go do what you have to do. You may have to prove it is safe, and it may cost money, but it's easier than getting thirty millilitres of shampoo through security in a 110 mL bottle.
We fuel, taxi out and she starts the take-off roll. My flight instructor instinct kicks in and I advise, "Rotate normally and wait. The airplane will take off slowly." I know she's been bombing around solo in this airplane, but we're now close to max weight, and it's worth being tagged as a back seat driver not to be in the plane during a departure stall. She follows my advice, and the airplane rolls along the runway on its rear wheels for a bit before it lifts off and slowly climbs. If a pilot isn't used to this behaviour in a loaded airplane, she may pull back harder on the control column, trying to get it to fly. It may become airborne in ground effect and then stall, crashing back down on the runway.
I have the local airspace on the VTA and displayed on a handheld GPS receiver so I navigate while she flies. We call Toronto Terminal for flight following and they laugh right on the radio as they radar identify us "grounding fifty knots." A voice in the background of the transmission says "... only has four hours of fuel." I have a picture of a crowd of people gathered around a radar scope laughing at our slow-moving blip. Freaking headwinds.
We gain a little speed as we level out at 4500' so we're mostly keeping ahead of traffic on the highway. Mostly. Metropolitan Toronto thins out behind us and Wiarton, where Canada's most famous groundhog lives, slowly comes up ahead. We pass it and continue up the peninsula and then across the water to Manitoulin Island. It's a short over-water stretch, but the briefer said that many pilots choose to go the long way around to avoid it. We're not even out of gliding distance of land, and the beach that we would end up on in the case of engine failure looks more hospitable to me than something we might find between North Bay and Sudbury. But everyone has different risk tolerances.
Manitoulin Island is pretty, with lots of little inlets. I wonder if someday there will be a bridge, making this shortcut available to car drivers, too. Our first stop will be Gore Bay. It's easy to find, and we land and taxi in, parking next to the fuel pumps. There is a white building on uphill next to the apron and I walk up there in search of a phone and washroom. They have both, and sell us the fuel we need.
I'm writing this blog entry tired, and while that's not dangerous like flying tired, it's in danger of being boring, so I'll leave off here and continue the story after we depart, with full tanks and empty bladders.
Labels: aerodynamics, ATC, crime, NOTAM, places, private flying, security, wind
posted by Aviatrix at 00:00
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Specialized Scholarships for Aviation Maintenance | The Delta Online
Aviation maintenance is a highly specialized field of work and requires a high degree of understanding, skills, and professionalism. In the last few years, the aviation industry has witnessed a decline in the number of people venturing into the field of aviation maintenance. Apart from this, the high levels of security risk in the aviation industry, especially after the events of September 11, 2001, have boosted concerns regarding the maintenance and day-to-day wear and tear of airplanes.
In order to boost this dwindling profession, the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA) has launched a campaign to promote a higher degree of professionalism among aviation maintenance personnel. The association is aiming to develop and improve skills, methods, learning, and achievements in the aviation maintenance industry. PAMA has been conducting meeting and seminars at both the national and state levels, and striving to recognize achievements in this field. However, most importantly the association has been collaborating with other organizations in the aviation industry and has been actively addressing the queries of governmental agencies pertaining to maintenance rules and guidelines.
In the recent years, PAMA has also established a Student Scholarship Program that recognizes and rewards qualified airframe, power plant, and avionics students who have selected aviation maintenance as a career. The awards that the association provides, may be used for tuition, fees, supplies, or books, which are related to their program
The association also supports another scholarship program – known as the Foundation Scholarship Program. Created to recognize and reward qualified students who have selected aviation maintenance as a career, the PAMA Foundation (PAMF) Scholarship Program awards $1,000 to the recipients. The association awards these scholarships regardless of the color, race, religion, and the national origin of the applicants.
PAMA’s programs operate based on donations received and from the funds raised at PAMA’s Annual Chili Cook-Off. Though the scholarships are not renewable, students have the option of reapplying for the scholarship every year.
Apart from PAMA, the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) also provides scholarships for qualified students wishing to study further in the field of aviation maintenance. The UAA’s Era Aviation, Inc. Scholarship offers two scholarships, each of $2,500. The aid is to help students who are admitted to an aviation maintenance technology program at the university with the cost of tuition, fees, and tools. While one scholarship is awarded to a helicopter maintenance student, the other is awarded to a general aviation maintenance student. Additionally, preference is given to candidates who are intending to follow a career in Alaska itself.
While these two are the more prominent of the scholarships in this field, there are others as well, such as the Helicopter Association International’s (HAI) Aviation Maintenance Technician Scholarship Award Program. This program aims at promoting the choice of helicopter maintenance as a career, and the scholarship is given to five recipients. Apart from this, the first place winner also receives about $1,500 from HAI to assist with the associated expenses.
Overall, the field of aviation maintenance should pick up as such kind of scholarships add to the value of the field, and attract more students to enter the industry. While helping students along financially, these aviation maintenance scholarships are also giving rise to specific skill-based talent in the country.
Click Here To Discover more about aviation scholarships
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Aviation Abbreviations « Aviation
Aviation Abbreviations
I try to make each blog entry understandable in itself, even to people who
aren’t familiar with aviation abbreviations, but some unexplained jargon creeps
in. Sometimes I think that I’ve explained something recently enough, or I’m in
a hurry, or I forget altogether that something is an abbreviation. These things become words unto themselves after a while.Some of the expanded abbreviations don’t match the letters in the abbreviation. That’s just the way life is. If I haven’t expanded a particular abbreviation in the list below then either it doesn’t stand for anything worth expanding, or I forget what it stands for. Definitions given are not official, complete or completely accurate, just enough to allow you to understand them in context. Some of the terms only apply in Canada and/or may mean different things in other countries.
See (or add to) the comments for variation in usage or pronunciation and pedantic expansions on the definitions.
A&P – American equivalent of AME
ADF (eh-dee-eff) – Automatic Direction Finder – cockpit navigation instrument that uses ground-based radio beacons. It can also be used to listen to AM radio.
AME (eh-em-ee) – person certified to supervise and sign for repairs and modifications done to aircraft
AMO (eh-em-oh) – licenced airplane repair shop
ATIS (eh-tiss) – a recorded message broadcast at some airports describing the weather conditions and the runway in use
CAME – Civil Aviation Medical Examiner – a doctor who is licenced to certify pilots fit or unfit for duty
CFS (see-eff-ess) – book listing facilities (runway, frequencies, services)
information for Canadian aerodromes
ETA (ee-tee-eh) – Estimated Time of Arrival – when I think I will get there
ETE (ee-tee-ee) – Estimated Time Enroute – how much longer I think it will take to get
there
FA (eff-eh) – Flight Attendant – a person other than a pilot who is responsible for passenger safety during a flight
FAF (faff) – Final Approach Fix – a point lined up with the runway a few
miles back
FBO (eff-bee-oh) – Fixed Base Operator – an airplane service station at an airport
FO (eff-oh) – First Officer – a pilot who is second-in-command of an aircraft
FSS (eff-ess-ess) – 1. Flight Service Station 2. Flight Service Specialist – Source of
aviation information such as weather
GFA (gee-eff-eh) – Graphical Area Forecast- A regional forecast in the form of a weather map
GPS (gee-pee-ess) – Global Positioning System – Usually refers to the GPS receiver, an instrument that provides navigation
information
GPU (gee-pee-you) – Ground Power Unit – A cart with its own power that can be connected to
an airplane on the ground to provide power to electrical systems or an extra
boost for starting engines
IFR (eye-eff-are) – Instrument Flight Rules – 1. flying with reference to
instruments alone, 2. IMC 3. capable (pilot, aircraft, etc) of #1IMC (eye-em-see) – Instrument Meteorological Conditions – weather that requires IFR #1
LNAV (el-nav) – Lateral Navigation – A type of GPS approach
MDA (em-dee-eh) – Minimum Descent Altitude – Lowest altitude a pilot may legally descend to before seeing the runway
METAR (may-tar or meh-tar) – an hourly report on weather at an aerodrome
NDB (en-dee-bee) – Non-Directional Beacon – ground-based navigational beacon. Occasionally misused to mean ADF
NOTAM (no-tam or no-t’m) – an advisory of a change in procedure or a non-weather hazard to aviation
PIC (pee-eye-see) – Pilot in Command – 1. the crewmember on an airplane who has ultimate responsibility for the flight, regardless of who is actually manipulating the controls 2. time logged by a pilot while acting in that capacity
PRM (pee-are-em) – Person Responsible for Maintenance – the company official who
is legally liable if the aircraft is not properly maintained
RNAV (are-nav) – navigation not dependent on ground facilities, nowadays usually GPS
TAC (tack) – Terminal Aerodrome Chart – a 1:25,000 chart for VFR navigation in the United States
near a major aerodrome
TAF (taff) – a forecast for weather in the immediate area of an aerodrome over the next 12 to 36 hours
TC – Transport Canada – the regulatory authority that governs aviation in Canada
TSB – Transportation Safety Bureau – the Canadian body that investigates aviation accidents and makes safety recommendations
UTC (you-tee-see) – Coordinated Universal Time – a time that is the same all over the world,
regardless of time zone or Daylight Savings status
VFR (vee-eff-are) – Visual Flight Rules – 1. flying by looking out the window, 2.
weather that allows #1, 3. only capable (pilot, aircraft, airport, etc.) of
#1 (as opposed to IFR)VMC (vee-em-see) – Visual Meteorological Conditions – Weather that allows VFR #1
VNC (vee-en-see) – 1:50,000 scale VFR Canadian aviation navigation chart
VOR (vee-oh-are) – 1. a type of navigational beacon 2. aircraft navigational
instrument that receives its information from 1VTA (vee-tee-eh) – 1:25,000 scale VFR navigation chart for Canada
YQT (why-queue-tee) – if it’s three letters and starts with Y or Z it’s probably a Canadian airport identifier. It doesn’t stand for anything, just represents that airport, which usually I will have already named before using this form. YQT is Thunder Bay. These aren’t usually spoken in conversation unless the name of the airport is longer or harder to pronounce than the identifier.
Z or Zulu (pronounced “zoo-loo” in either form) – UTC
I’ll update this as I use more abbreviations. If any explanations are missing,
wrong or unclear, please leave a comment on this blog entry, and I’ll add, fix
or explain it. Unless you’re just being pedantic, in which case I’ll leave your comment for people who like that sort of thing.
If the jargon you don’t understand isn’t an abbreviation, try this Aviation Dictionary website.
This entry was posted on June 14, 2010, 4:26 pm and is filed under aviation. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Your VOR receiver does not care for your heading…
By Vincent on Jun 15, 2010Your VOR receiver does not care for your heading…
ADF receivers are easy to understand. They measure the direction from where the signal from the station is coming. Then, if you turn right, the needle’s head will go left, and if you turn left, the needle goes right. Easy. But with a VOR receiver, even if you fly a 360, the needle won’t move. Not at all. Even the TO / FROM flag will not see any change.
Back basics: how VOR works?
Many pilots struggle with that and I think this is because the name TO / FROM flag is misleading. Going back to the basics is the best way to understand how VOR works and why they don’t care about the aircraft’s heading. The VOR ground station transmits two signals which can be compared to waves:
- The reference signal is the same in all directions
- The variable signal is different in different direction
North of the station, the reference and variable signals are synchronized. The top of both waves reach the receiver at the same time. East of the station, the top of the variable signal’s wave is delayed and reach the receiver a quarter of the cycle’s period later. By measuring the time difference between the reception time of both waves’s tops, the receiver can know it’s east of the station. South of the stations, the variable signaled is delayed by half a cycle, and so on.
Because the VOR receiver measures this difference in time – or, for engineers, in phase – they are completely independent from the aircraft’s heading. Whatever the heading flown, the received time difference is the same. What the CDI needle and the TO / FROM flag indicate are not direct reading from the receiver, but the difference between an arbitrary radial selected by the pilot and the measured one. Yes, this is the radial selected by turning the OBS knob.
What’s really driving the VOR TO / FROM indicator
Once the selected radial is defined, the VOR receiver splits the airspace in two sectors along a line going through the station, perpendicularly to the selected radial. The part that contains the selected radial is the FROM sector, the other half being the TO sector. Nothing to do with the aircraft’s heading, only its position relatively to the station and the selected radial.
Need an example? Let’s make it easy. The selected radial is 360, the line starting from the station and extending towards North. The perpendicular line is the one going from East to West. So the two sectors are North and South of the VOR. The one containing the selected radial is the one North of the VOR. This is the FROM sector. The part south of the VOR is the TO sector. Whatever aircraft heading, if it is located north of the VOR, the display will show a FROM flag. If the aircraft is in the FROM sector and flies a 360 degrees turn, it remains in the FROM sector. No flag change.
This sounds complicated? May be even scary? Does it remembers you of overheard stories of VOR being sometimes misleading? Yes, VOR can mislead you and a needle to the left can mean you have to turn to the right… but only if you don’t use it the correct way.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Have a look at my homebase for a good overview. Thanks for visiting!
Great post on how to use the VOR, but more interesting were the range radio navigation facilities I learned on!
Saturday, March 8, 2008
The Golden Age of Flight
If you like aviation, then I am sure that you saw the Howard Hughes movie, “The Aviator”, with Leonardo DiCaprio. The movie shows Hughes love of aviation, all the way from making movies about air warfare in World War I to designing aircraft for the Second World War and beyond.
The truth is that Howard Hughes was one heck of a pilot, and he set a number of records, including both the world land speed aircraft record and transcontinental seed record in 1935.
The story follows.
The Incredible Hughes H-1
The Hughes H-1 was designed by Howard Hughes and Richard Palmer who had degrees in physics and engineering. According to Palmer Hughes was “a good man to work for. Back then he was not the recluse he became later in life. He (Hughes) was basically a shy person but, when you got to know him, he was gregarious and fun to be with.” As the chief engineer Palmer was instrumental in starting Hughes Aircraft Company.
The Hughes H-1 was designed to be the fastest landplane in the world, and was built by a team lead by Glenn Oderkirk. The aircraft had a unique design which used flush rivets and joints with countersunk screws on the plywood wings. The ailerons would droop 15 degrees when the flaps were fully extended, and the flaps extended the full length of the wing to improve lift.
Another unique feature of this aircraft was the side windows which lowered into the fuselage, a windscreen which slid forward, and a sat which you could raise to afford more forward visibility for landing and takeoff. This was the first aircraft to have hydraulically retractable landing gear. In fact, the landing gear fit so perfectly that the fairings and door are difficult to see without close examination.
The aircraft was powered by a Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp Junior radial piston engine which was rated at 700 horsepower at 8,500 feet, but which could deliver 1,000 horsepower for high speed flight.
When Howard Hughes set the landplane world speed record of 352.322 mph on September 13, 1935, the aircraft was fitted with the shorter wings. As a result of the lower fuel capacity, Hughes ran out of fuel during his last pass and was forced to belly land the airplane short of the runway. It is rumored that the H-1 reached a speed of 540 mph on that last pass, but this has never been proven.
Hughes broke the transcontinental speed record with this aircraft on January 19th, 1937. He departed
Back in the day Hughes did not need a sponsor, so the only markings on the aircraft were the registration number which was NR258Y. The numbers were painted a chrome yellow on the dark blue wings of the fuselage, and in black on the aluminum rudder.
This aircraft was a major achievement on the road to the aircraft of World War II, and demonstrated that a properly designed radial engine aircraft could compete with the lower drag in-line engines designs despite the larger frontal areas. Below is a photograph of the aircraft in it’s display at the Smithsonian:
