Flight Planning

I was at HEF and heard this on ground frequency. RJXXX: HEF ground this is RJ NXXX at APP FBO ready to taxi with ECHO, ECHo, ECho, Echo, echo, ec Jerry Dahl

Anytime you get a group of flight instructors together, the topic of weather will enter the conversation in some form. It may range from how crummy it always seems to be when a CFI has nothing but primary students on the schedule to how miserable it is to preheat a Cessna 152 in the winter […]

Back before Houston’s Hobby airport was given a Class B veil, I had my single engine Beechcraft based there. It was a busy mix of private planes and Southwest Airlines jets. One afternoon, as I was returning to the airport, I was directed to overfly the field and turn final to runway 17. At Hobby, […]

After many years pushing their own electronic flight bag solution, Jeppesen has reached a deal with ForeFlight to make Jeppesen chart and flight data available on the ForeFlight app. “The number-one question I’ve gotten from pilots around the world is ‘when can I get Jeppesen charts on ForeFlight?’” says Ken Sain, Jeppesen COO. A Jeppesen […]

The new BasicMed FAA rule took effect on Monday, and according to AOPA, 1,354 pilots already have completed all the requirements to qualify for the program. Those pilots are now eligible to fly under the BasicMed rules. Another 3,897 pilots have completed the online medical education course quiz, and 2,412 pilots have begun the course, […]

Anchorage Approach:“Skylane X, traffic four miles at your one o’ clock, type and altitude unknown. Possibly birds.” Skylane: We have the birds in sight. Approach: Say type and altitude. Skylane: They’re ducks at 4300 feet, westbound. Don’t get to give a PIREP on ducks every day! William Fraley

I like the Black Knight scene in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The Black Knight is getting beat in a sword fight by King Arthur and losing one limb after the other. He won’t admit he might be in over his head, instead he tells King Arthur, “Tis but a flesh wound.” […]

The National Weather Service is now providing a new product, Graphical Forecasts for Aviation, which is intended to provide a complete picture of the weather that may impact flight in the continental U.S. The webpage, which is built with modern geospatial information tools, includes observational data, forecasts and warnings that can be viewed from 14 […]

About 25 years ago I was hauling cargo in a beat-up C210 at dusk near PFN, FL, and overheard the following: ATC: “Comair 1234, Nat’l Wx Service just advised us they have recently released a balloon in your area and they say “it should be approx your altitude, and it’s pretty large.” Pause of a […]

Some years ago I was flying into a very congested London Heathrow Airport when I heard the following exchange with Heathrow Approach. Heathrow: “Speedbird 123, what is your position in the hold at Lambourne?” Speedbird: “We are just turning outbound at flight level 200.” Heathrow: “Roger, Speedbird, could you possibly cross Lambourne inbound at 3000 […]