Search Results for: vfr

Way back when the CAA (predecessor of the FAA) decreed that forty hours of training and practice wasa sufficient amount of experience and training for the PrivatePilot Certificate, it no doubt was. In fact, it was easy to preparea student for the responsibility of the Private Certificate withinthe allotted forty hours, thirty-five under FAR Part […]

NOTE: Since this comparison was originally written, Garmin introduced itslower-priced GPS III Pilot which also has ground-mapping capability. We’ve reviewed thisunit in a separate article. Lowrance subsequently introducedits own lower-priced unit, the AirMap 100, which we’ve also reviewedseparately. Quick Links Ground Mapping … What’s the Big Deal? Hardware Comparison Software Comparison GPS Receiver Performance Summary […]

A pilot who requests flight following (VFRtraffic advisories) or who flies IFR on a cross-country can expect to talk to a number ofATC controllers. Each controller works a sector of airspace, and as a pilot approaches theborder between sectors, the controller instructs him (or her) to contact the nextcontroller on the appropriate frequency. Complying with […]

It wasn’t exactly what I hadexpected. Let me explain. I am a 1,500 hour pilot with about half those hours in a V35A Bonanza Ihave owned for seven years. I fly about one hundred hours per year – a combination of VFRand (mostly) light IFR in our usually mild Central California climate. I have participatedin […]

Since the editors of AVwebon this great new medium have been gracious enough to permit me to use this space to writeanything I please (so long as it is in reasonably good taste), I intend to take fulladvantage of their kind offer. The freedom to speak my mind is absolutely wonderful! Sincemy writing has often […]

The flight instructors handbook says that the more intense is theexperience, the better it is remembered. During one of my early lessons, my CFI allowed me to experience an intense moment which senta jolt of terror through my nervous system which has ingrained in mean important concept that I will never forget. During my preflight […]

I remember my first flight in a Level D simulator. It was abusiness jet, and I was lost among the electronic flat-panel displays, auto-throttles, andflight management systems. Totally “where-the-heck’s-the-airspeed-indicator”lost. Apparently I wasn’t the first person to stare confusedly at the glass cockpit like itwas a wall of televisions at an electronics store. “That’s why you […]

Let’s take a shot some of the common aviation myths and “Old Wives’ Tales” (OWTs) so common in this wacky business, some of which I intend to make the main subject of future columns. Many people equate a gift of gab, gray hair, hours aloft, or years in the business with pilot quality. High-time, or […]

For nearly a year now, I’ve been hearing rumors of asmaller-sized aviation GPS from Lowrance Avionics to supersede the rather hefty AirMapthat they introduced in 1996. I was concerned that Lowrance might be following the lead ofthe Garmin GPS III Pilot, a unit that I don’t care for one bit. When Lowrance introducedtheir 12-channel AirMap […]

Using mnemonics is an effective way to learn airspaceclassifications, and nothing suits Class B airspace better than the letter B. Class Bairspace surrounds “Big” airports in a shape that looks like a big upside downwedding cake. Class B airspace isn’t reserved only for big airplanes, however. Flying toand from a Class B airport or transitioning […]