IFR Magazine

On any given day, per National Air Traffic Controllers Association statistics, theres an average of 87,000 flights over the U.S. Dozens of these pilots may be on the same ATC frequency. They could be dodging weather, descending into complex terminal airspace, or conducting military operations. Perhaps theyre just out for a sightseeing flight or training. As they fly, theyre checking in, replying to instructions, taking frequency changes, and making requests.

A cloud is the visible manifestation of liquid water droplets or ice. It forms when humid air cools sufficiently for water vapor to saturate and produce condensation-the dewpoint temperature. On a dry summer day in California, this temperature might be 20 degrees F, and the weather remains clear. On more humid summer days in California, the cloud formation temperature might be 50 degrees, producing morning clouds along mountain peaks. When air is chilled to the dewpoint, the humidity becomes 100 percent and from the texts we expect saturation to occur. But in real life this doesnt always happen. If a given volume of air doesnt contain condensation nuclei-microscopic bits of dust, pollen, etc.-the relative humidity may exceed 100 percent without producing clouds. But for the most part, this relationship between temperature and dewpoint is correct.

After a long struggle and many failed attempts by general-aviation advocacy groups, new federal legislation was passed this summer that mandates changes in the way private pilots are medically certified. The B-29 Doc took to the air in July for the first time in 60 years, following thousands of hours of restoration work by scores of dedicated volunteers. With a deadline of 2020 looming for the owners of more than 100,000 general-aviation aircraft to install ADS-B capabilities, the industry and regulators are creating incentives to encourage owners to upgrade sooner rather than later. On July 4, Siemens completed the first public flight of its hybrid-electric motor installed in an Extra 330LE aerobatic airplane, from an airfield near Dinslaken, Germany.

From a flight plan perspective, waypoint sequencing is suspended at the hold waypoint. Thus, the CDI is always showing an error relative to the inbound course. But, as you near the hold and for each turn in the hold, you get an annunciation telling you what to do. In addition, if you have GPS steering to your autopilot, the autopilot will fly the hold, even though the CDI shows a large error on the outbound leg. While creating the hold is straight forward, there are some nuances to exiting the hold. If you select the hold from the flight plan, you have an option to simply, Exit Hold. Selecting this will have you complete the present circuit and then proceed to the next leg.

While that statement naively looks solely at the cost of distribution, ignoring the cost of development and maintenance, theres also some validity to it. After all, with paper were not only paying all the back-end costs, but also the cost of printing and distribution. Shouldnt the data alone be a lot cheaper? And with multiple devices that use that data, why should we have to purchase multiple copies? Shouldnt there be one aircraft data subscription shared across all the devices?

After several years of work, the FAA has released new Airman Certification Standards for the private pilot and instrument ratings. Piper Aircraft in June announced that its $2.9 million M600 six-seat single-engine turboprop is now FAA certified, and features an all-new wing, Garmin G3000 touchscreen avionics, and a new interior. At the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition, held in May in Geneva, Textron announced new details about its clean-sheet single-engine turboprop design, and said its now accepting letters of intent from buyers. Icon Aircraft CEO Kirk Hawkins said in May that deliveries of the long-awaited A5 light sport aircraft wont begin until at least next year, citing delays and difficulties in setting up the production line and supply chain. The FAA says it will offer $500 rebates to aircraft owners who install ADS-B Out systems, but the program, which starts this fall, is limited to one year and 20,000 owners.

If you need realistic switches and levers in realistic locations, youll need a bigger budget. Much bigger. Flight Training Devices (FTDs) put actual avionics, or near-exact replicas thereof, in realistic cockpits. If one of these sims offers a G1000, thats a real G1000 display. The Level simulators at the sim centers and airlines are of this type. These can cost as much as many airplanes (like $250,000 and up). In partnership with a flight school that might work, but its not what most of us put in our basement.

At my airline we have ACARS, a datalink with the ground that we use to get various flight-related information. We also get text versions of weather and ATIS. The ATIS text is the same thing that the controllers program into the automated, synthesized-voice Drunken Dutchman recording that you also hear on VHF. Since the automated voice seems to struggle with the pronunciation of certain words and acronyms, the controllers have gotten adept at programming the text so the voice is more legible over the air. At Seattle then, the audible RNAV GPS becomes RNAV JEEPY ES on the ACARS printout.

Certainly following the airways and the MEAs, and then descending over an initial approach fix or hold would be best. I was just thinking of a case when we werent on an airway, like between Keflavik, Iceland (BIKF) and Narsarsuaq, Greenland (BGBW). We wanted to make sure we were above the OROCA and MSAs for that area when we were descending. I guess we could have stayed at our filed FL170 until over the hold, but given that the airport is at sea level we wanted to start a prudently safe descent beforehand.

Aviation is a small world; there are a limited number of topics on which one can write. Additionally, journalism is a specific enough trade that when you combine it with aviation, you have a very small world indeed. Thus, its inevitable that there occur certain overlaps and (gasp!) even certain duplications. Granted, this one innocently went too far, but just how many unique articles can be written about a single, odd approach without covering the same ground?