August 2019, marked the end of the FAA Domestic Flight Plan. The ICAO Flight Plan form is required in the U.S. for all VFR and IFR flights. Yet, there are two areas that still create confusion: Item 10. Equipment, and Item 18, Other Information. Many pilots struggle with these codes and ask: 1.) Does ATC […]
Stop If You Need To As with all pilot actions, communications are last. Reference the June 2020 article, “Towered Field Ops,” and the subsequent Readback item in August. When landing, the pilot is expected to taxi completely off the runway, whether or not blocking a taxiway. The airplane should be stopped and the post-landing checklist […]
FAA CERTIFICATION CHANGES MANDATED The FAA must change portions of its existing aircraft certification process but the overall structure will stay in place following passage of the Aircraft Certification, Safety and Accountability Act. The concept of organization delegation authorization (ODA), in which the companies themselves conduct much of the certification oversight, survived the final version […]
Back in the January issue, my Remarks outlined how I try to look at my flying choices through the lens of an accident report if the choices don’t work out. There is a corollary to that and it’s worth exploring; consider this an extension of my January Remarks. I got my private certificate when I […]
Today, GPS is essential to a functioning society. Fortunately, detecting solar activity threats to GPS has evolved apace, as seen at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). Test your knowledge of this rare but consequential phenomenon.
The word “Model” is in the title because it articulates ways to achieve flying excellence without a canned set of rules. Tailor the code to help you become the best, safest aviator possible. Prerequisites The first prerequisite is a clear understanding of the fundamentals of flight. The code is not specific, but those four fundamentals […]
Night had fallen outside my approach control. I was settling into my chair in the radar room when Center handed me a Cessna 172. Remarks showed it was an IFR training flight to one of our Class D satellite airports. I checked the time. That airport’s tower was closing momentarily. We routinely ran non-towered ops […]
When briefing an approach, we might not care what a given “obstacle” actually is. But they do come in all shapes and sizes; the chart symbols indicate as much. So it’s a good idea, especially in unfamiliar areas with lots of obstacles, to know what’s down there, be it metal, dirt, rocks or trees. The Aeronautical […]
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