Piper Warrior

Budget Buys and Early Bye-Bye’s

in this age of information we live in, there’s absolutely NO EXCUSE to ever depart an airport without checking weather including densitity altitude, NOTAM’s, and TFR’s.  It’s your Pilot in Command responsibility under 91.103.  Ask yourself, can I safely land or depart a particular airport given my weight and balance situation?  Can I safely land or depart given the density altitude and runway length?
new england coast

My first and last flying road trip

The plan was for a mid-October trip from Virginia up the coast to northern Maine with a first stopover in Newport, Rhode Island and then Nantucket, Massachusetts. We would complete the remainder of the planning the day by day. Getting to the adventure involved passing by Washington D.C., Baltimore, Maryland and the busy airspace around Newark, Kennedy, and La Guardia Airports.
CIRRUS OVER SOUTH AFRICA

Turbulence and Triumph: Lessons learned about flying (and about life)

Suddenly, the aircraft was jolted by a powerful updraft followed by a downdraft, as I knocked the top of my head on the aircraft and lost some altitude in a matter of seconds. My heart raced, but my training kicked in. I adjusted the throttle and worked to regain control, while staying calm and focused.
pa-32

Who needs pre-buy inspections?

Many findings were serious and could have had tragic consequences. Problems such as pieces of the four-year-old(!) crumbling air filter possibly being sucked into the engine; possible fuel leaks onto a hot engine causing fire; an accidental keyless engine start as a result of an ignored airworthiness directive (AD); an inoperable RadioShack stall horn unsecured and hanging only by wires behind the panel.

Friday Photo: forest fire off the wing

Jim Yares took this photo while flying his Cirrus from Buchanan Field in Concord, CA, to North Las Vegas, NV, via the famous “Trona Corridor”—a VFR path cut through the Edwards Air Force Base complex. This is a great way to get from Northern California to Las Vegas without going high over the hostile mountain terrain of the central Sierra Nevada.
New Cessna 172

So maybe there was a real purpose in flying that day

After I was current again and reasonably proficient, the 16-year-old son of some friends asked if he could go up with me.  I said he could, but only if his parents were very clear as to my experience, the record of the flying club, the kind of plane we’d be flying, Vx, Vy, everything.  They gave an enthusiastic thumbs up and we had a great flight.
Mechanic helping kid

Passing the torch

Pilots are life-long learners, and, per the Feynman Learning Technique, the best way to learn anything is to teach it to someone else. With that in mind, plus a desire to pass the torch to a new generation, some old pilots developed a week-long aviation camp for youth, ages 14-18. 
SGS 1-26

Soaring and the Aviation Safety Reporting System

The NASA ASRS system was created about 34 years ago, with the main purpose of identifying hazards to the overall approach to safety. In doing so, there had to be some caveats which insured its success. Perhaps the greatest one being that whatever information was disseminated through this process could not (BY LAW) be used in any type of enforcement against the reporting source.

Your passengers may not always enjoy flying

Turns out, it wasn't until turning base leg that we hit smoother air. With a 20+ knot headwind straight down the runway, my touchdown was slow and thankfully smooth. Had we made a fuel or bathroom stop, the guys may have ask directions to the nearest Greyhound station.
Windsock

Wind is More than a Number

Those little hills made for fiendish turbulence down low. The lower I got, the worse it became. I’m stubborn and I kept thinking it’s just 20 knots, and I’m a CFI (beating chest). Until I was porpoising down the runway like a first-time student. I went around the pattern a few times but finally got a clue and decided to go elsewhere.
cuban eight

Friday photo: half cuban eight

Half Cuban Eight with a 1 1/2 roll over Springdale, Arkansas.
V-tail Bonanza

Burning Man for Builders

Society will always tell us there’s no such thing as safe enough. We will add more and more sensors, cameras and lidar to things that drive themselves, while news headlines rage of man failing machine, machine failing man. We put in airbags and then a switch to deactivate them.

Challenges in Vietnam

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Firebug told the flight mechanic to use a nozzle of the second fire extinguisher to open the fire door, and if he still saw flames, to discharge the whole fire extinguisher into the compartment. He then told the load master to get the fire extinguisher from the cockpit.
Airplane off runway

Survival gear after the crash…hmm

Or might it be the case that the pilot–you, for example—has mental and cognitive skills degraded by pain after the crash? And maybe all those survival tools and toys that were so appealing and easy to evaluate on a bright Saturday morning are in the moment hard to use, hard to get open from the packaging, or even forgotten?
Citabria on grass runway

The time when I almost landed short

The plane was perhaps 50 feet above the ground, but at least there was a smooth gravel under-run and the wheel pants were off. I had just enough energy to flare with a soft touchdown. I prepared myself for landing short. What an embarrassing end to the second leg of my Private pilot solo long cross-country.

Our Overton Window

ROP leads to higher intra-cylinder pressures (ICPs) and higher heat production. ROP also uses extra fuel, hence more unburned gasses and metals, given the minor imperfection in the state of metallurgy and the myriad of moving parts soaked in that heat which, over time, might not handle this hot onslaught leading to deformation. Conversely, as you go LOP, the CHTs come down due to more complete combustion.
steep turn

Friday photo: knocking off the rust in the practice area

Beautiful skies in the local practice area in a 45 degree steep turn. I remember initially practicing this maneuver over a decade ago with my instructor (Cory) and learning how valuable pitch trim is during the maneuver. That was a big help practicing the maneuver again all these years later. 

Choosing the best IFR route — Advanced IFR, by PilotWorkshops

In this excerpt from Advanced IFR, by PilotWorkshops, follow along on this scenario-based IFR route selection exercise as we plan a flight from Oceana, CA (L52), to Monterey, CA (KMRY), using ForeFlight Route Advisor. As you can see, there are many variables to consider when planning an IFR route including weather conditions, airspace, aircraft capabilities and ATC preferences.
PC-12 crash track

Ignore the YouTube crash detectives—it’s usually pilot error

When a high performance airplane crashes in IMC, the self-proclaimed experts on social media quickly spin elaborate theories about autopilot failure, in-flight icing, structural failure, carbon monoxide poisoning, or some other incredibly rare cause. It makes for good entertainment (“hit that subscribe button!”) but the reality is usually much less interesting and much more depressing.

A Newbie CFI, Disco Fever, and My Inner Voice

I tried to explain that if you corner a car too hard, it may skid.  “Corner” an airplane too hard, it may stall, spin, and crash, in that order.  One day, I had him do a “high speed” (40 knots) practice abort on takeoff, and he stomped on the brakes—but mashed the left one harder than the right. We got pretty darn far left of centerline—I think I could read the words on the vending inside the FBO building—and came to a stop.