On Regrets and Clean Hands

Our class last week made me regret the fact that I didn’t take auto shop in high school or bother to learn much about my car.  We were talking about aero engines, magnetos, fuel systems and oil and all those other mechanical things that help get the airplane off the ground.  I generally have a good handle on what we’re covering in most classes but I am quite behind when it comes to the mechanics of an internal combustion engine.  Sure I understand the principles, but my hands don’t usually get very dirty!  Most of the guys in the class were talking about differences and similarities to cars or equipment they’ve worked on or other such things.  I have some catching up to do.

Understanding these things is pretty important.  Knowing basics and more about the engine can be a life saver when troubleshooting a problem in flight or, perhaps knowing when a flight ought not to occur at all.   Knowing what all the gages are telling you and what potential problems could arise is a useful thing.  I think I’m beginning to develop a greater appreciation for what’s going on under the hood of my Neon.

I’m still a bit reluctant to get my hands dirty, though!

Clear Skies

What’s Going On?

Yet another story about a careless pilot makes me want to rant a little.  I was a little annoyed to read the account of a United Airlines pilot arrested before taking the controls of a 767 full of people on an overseas flight.  This incident added to the one about the Northwest pilots overshooting Minneapolis back in October within a couple of days of a Delta flight that landed on a taxiway in Atlanta made me wonder what’s going on with the state of pilot professionalism.

These three examples are inexcusable as far as I’m concerned.  How does someone get to the point where he would even consider flying after drinking.  Or does flying get so dull that you could become distracted enough in the cockpit to forget basic airmanship?  I really hope not.  I’m going after my dream because I am in love with the idea that flying is an incredible experience.  I hope I never get to the point where I take the miracle of flight for granted!  Now I recognize flying a highly automated airliner on predefined routes could become routine but doesn’t the fact that there are a whole bunch of people depending on you to make wise decisions and apply your training with some sense of responsibility?  These weren’t even remotely excusable.  Equipment didn’t fail, but their judgement did.

There have also recently been a few crashes here in Northwestern Ontario one of which had some fatalities.

I know a number of people who are afraid to fly and spend a lot of time explaining why it’s perfectly safe in an airplane.  Each time something like this happens someone inevitably says, “See?  That’s why I’m afraid to fly.

All of us who are student pilots should commit to really taking our training seriously and become the best and safest pilots we can. 

Pilots and students:  Know the aircraft. Know the weather. Know your personal limitations.  Know the regulations.  Be disciplined about every aspect of your flight.  Don’t compromise.  You must never stop learning.  Seek out training opportunities and resources such as The Finer Points podcast and others.

Safety and eliminating careless mistakes is up to us.

End of rant

Clear skies

Airventure in 3:34

My annual trip to Oshkosh with my dad and a few others has been one of the things that has kept my dream of flight alive.  It is an experience like no other in the aviation world.  In fact, there are few other events to compare with it in any world.  The inspiration that comes from such a concentrated group of people in love with all aspects of flying is incredible.  The EAA has just posted a video that captures the week in time lapse from a camera in the tower.  If you are a pilot or have an interest in aviation, you really need to get to Airventure some time.  It should almost be mandatory for pilots!  My dream is to some day be able to have the skills to fly in to the show.

I wish I could figure out how to embed the video but wordpress won’t seem to let me.

Check it out here

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Visualizing Airspace

So I’ve been playing with Google SketchUp and was trying to figure out a project to do so I could learn how it works.  I decided to use my VNC and mark out the airspace around Thunder Bay (CYQT) just for fun.  We haven’t covered all of this but I think I understand how it works.  The blue area is the class D airspace around the airport.  The green is Class E which I think is considered transitional airspace.  I need to clear that up in my own head.    Both the Delta and the Echo airspace in this case need transponders.  In the Class D you must have permission to enter and then maintain contact with ATC.

If you have any further info on this or can clarify how all this works, leave a comment.  As I said, we haven’t covered this in detail so I’m a bit fuzzy on it.  This is a work in progress and just for fun but I’m open to suggestions on improving it.

If you’d like to download the .kmz file and view it in google earth, be my guest.  http://bit.ly/2Ey4OO It’s simply a work in progress and is not super accurate – certainly not for navigation and flight planning.

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Flying Colours (and several other bad clichés)

Flying Colours
Well, I couldn’t get too far in this exercise of blogging without letting slip a few tired phrases, but last Monday after several weeks of preparation, our ground school class wrote the PSTAR.  Transport Canada provides a study guide which is fairly comprehensive – basically all the possible questions – so with a bit of study, it’s fairly easy to get 100%.  In order to pass you have to get 90% so that should be one indicator that it’s quite doable (either that or you have to be an excellent student).  I studied fairly hard and with one online study guides suggested by Sham (from the class) and one that Katie (an aviation student at Confederation College) told me about, I did quite well.  Flying Colours so to speak.

What A Drag (sorry)
Actually it’s not really a drag at all.  After a break we finally got to move away from Law and procedures and get into theory of flight.  I’m a physics nut so I love all the talk about opposing forces and people like Bernoulli and Newton.  It’s quite fascinating and, actually quite amazing it works at all!  A couple of weeks ago (okay a month) I posted a link to a video about the aerodynamic differences between a typical GA aircraft and a high performance aircraft like an F-16.  Check it out.

If anybody wants more discussion about aerodynamics and the theory of flight, drop me a line or leave a comment.

On another note, the other missing piece of the puzzle after the PSTAR arrived in the mail this week: My class 3 medical.

Clear Skies