Search Results for: vfr

NOTE: Air Chart Systems atlases, NOS IFR charts and plates, NOS Sectionals, WACs, Terminal Area Charts and other chart products may be purchased online. I‘ve got a confession to make. I’ve flown at least a hundred transcontinental trips during the past thirty years and, more often than not, I’ve flown them with outdated charts. There…I […]

Even when it’s working correctly, the FAA’s notam dissemination is seriously deficientwhen it comes to FDC or flight data center notams. These relate to regulatory and airspacenotifications and, most important, approach procedures and airways. You may have the patience of a Talmudic scholar and Bill Clinton’s eye for twisteddetail but you’ll still miss many FDC […]

Can’t do it? Rubbish! Yeah, I know, the handheld is notFAA-Approved, or TSO-129 compliant. Well, neither is a #2 pencil,but that doesn’t mean you need an FAA-approved pencil (yet) towrite down a clearance, and you don’t need an IFR-approved GPSto use one while IFR, either. I wouldn’t be so hot on this subject,except for the […]

After you’ve looked at the weather maps and read the observationsand forecasts for a flight, a quick glance at the latest satellite images can help bringeven the cloudiest weather picture into focus. Knowing how to interpret the images canalso help keep you away from dangerous weather.

This is a great time for NASA. It’s our 40th anniversary. Yesterday morning, we launched Deep Space One, our first electric propulsion probe; we will turn on that electric engine in about two weeks. In about a month, the first piece of the International Space Station will be launched. And in just five days now […]

NTSB Identification: SEA98FA047. Accident occurred MAR-19-98 at PORTLAND, OR Aircraft: Aerospatiale SN-601, registration: N600RA Injuries: 4 Uninjured. History of Flight On March 19, 1998, at 0918 Pacific standard time, an Aerospatiale SN-601 Corvette,N600RA, owned by R. L. Riemenschneider Enterprises of Redmond, Oregon, and operated byRedmond Flight Center of Redmond, Oregon under contract to the aircraft […]

Anyone who likes checkrides has to be nuts. One of the toughest things about being a DE (FAA Designated Examiner) is knowing that no one really wants to be in the airplane with me, and even when a successful checkride is done,the checkee is probably going to say bad things about me in the bar, […]

Timeafter time, you put the landing gear switch in the “down” position, wait a fewseconds, and are rewarded with those three reassuring green down-and-locked indicatorlights. Then it happens…no green light! You stare at the lights in a few moments ofdisbelief and denial. You feel a knot growing in your stomach. And then you realize youhave […]

Amid-air collision can, as they say, ruin your day. While we all know that we should spendlots of time and effort looking outside for other aircraft, the increasing computerizationof our cockpits – GPSs, FMSs, digital engine analyzers, and other bleeding-edge cockpitgadgetry – is demanding ever more of our time inside. A United Airlines check pilot […]

There are two FARs that dictate the biennial checks for most general aviation aircraft:FAR 91.413 for the transponder and encoder, and FAR 91.411 for the static system andaltimeter. First, notice that I didn’t mention the pitot system. While any sane pilot would liketo know that his airspeed indicator is reasonably accurate, the FARs do not […]