Flight log 8/21/2010

I had originally planned to take a trip to Martha’s Vineyard this weekend but when I started receiving emails from the FAA regarding upcoming TFRs for President Obama’s planned vacation I figured I should make other plans.

Earlier in the week Gary from the Northeast Flyers had invited me to his lunch run at Georgetown DE. As always it would give me one more chance to meet some fellow pilots and explore a new airport so I made the call to go for it. All I had to do now was figure out who I was going to take. My wife isn’t much of a flyer, so unless we were going on a real trip I wasn’t even going to try. Her friend expressed interest but at the time I was still waiting on responses from some of my fellow pilot friends. As I got the answers back it started to look more and more like this trip was going to be with my son. After all Steven loves to fly with his daddy so all in all not a bad deal. Read the rest of this entry »

Watch as Sean D. Tucker performs in the Oracle Challenger III at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

Video: SOUTH BASS ISLAND, OHIO- Small plane ditches into the waters just off South Bass Island late Friday morning following an engine failure.

Watching this video along with my recent experiences flying over Lake Michigan and Lake Erie  has made me seriously consider carrying life preservers on ALL over-water flights. Take note as to how quickly the airplane sank.

Thankfully the pilot executed the emergency landing flawlessly and efforts by the ferry crew led to all four occupants surviving without injury. Read the rest of this entry »

AOPA president Craig Fuller interviews legendary airshow performer Sean D Tucker. Watch as Sean gives us some insight into how he got his start in aviation. You just have to love his enthusiasm!

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Once again Slickhutto has outdone himself with another great AirVenture music video! Check it out and subscribe to his YouTube channel. This guy is going places! Read the rest of this entry »

Well it really came down to the wire on this one but at 16:00 local we made the final GO call for our trip to Oshkosh this year. We had delayed the trip due to conditions at the north 40 aircraft parking grounds since we are flying in Frank’s Cirrus SR22 and the wheel pants go for around $2000 each! But everything changed when I got a last minute hard surface parking reservation at the Baslier FBO. So as of now we are a go for launch!

I will post facebook updates so check in using our facebook page to the right. We are departing tomorrow morning Friday 7/30.

Lots of pictures and video to come

Yet another cool video from our friends at YouTube.

Check out this short video outlining some of the advantages of the F35 over previous STOVL aircraft. The F35 truly takes  short take off and vertical landing to a whole new level! Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry »

Yet another chance to meet-up with my fellow pilot friend Gary http://gmflightlog.blogspot.com of the Northeast Flyers and also get some more IFR experience along the way. I had originally planned to fly our Cessna 182RG since I had just earned my complex / high performance endorsements and logged the required 10 hours in the aircraft, but due to a failure of the gear warning system the aircraft was grounded so we took our trusty friend N159SP. Read the rest of this entry »

On Monday 6/7 my friend and fellow flying club member Stephen asked if I would like to fly to Hamilton NY for dinner on Friday night. As I am always looking for a chance to fly under the hood and check out new places I agreed.

The original plan was to leave work and head directly to the airport but since I left my camera and change of clothes at home I stopped by the house on the way. As soon as I got in I saw my son. I was hoping to avoid running into him since he always makes me feel bad about flying without him. What can I say, he loves spending time with his daddy and his daddy loves spending time with him. Sure enough, after checking with Stephen to make sure it would be ok to take my son I quickly got him ready and ran to the car just in time for rush hour traffic!

On our way to the airport I called Stephen and asked him to get the airplane ready. I wanted to fly IFR on the first leg since there was an overcast layer at about 4000 feet. As I pulled into the airport Stephen informed me that he was still waiting on fuel and on top of that my overcast layer was quickly breaking up. Read the rest of this entry »

This is something that has gotten my attention especially since we are in the initial phases of upgrading our Cessna 182RG avionics.
Source credit AOPA: http://www.aopa.org/advocacy/articles/2010/100527adsb.html?WT.mc_id=&wtmcid;&WT.mc_sect=tts
The FAA on May 27 published its final rule mandating what owners will be required to have on board their aircraft in order to operate in the new satellite-based air traffic control system known as NextGen. By 2020, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Out (ADS-B Out) will be required equipment in all airspace that currently requires a transponder. Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to Jason Schappert of MzeroA.com. This is one of the best videos I have found on the subject.
My favorite method of determining holding pattern entries.
Just a few things I would add: (please let me know your thoughts and or tips)
1. Ask yourself “where am I in relation to the holding fix?” Are you proceeding direct to the fix? If so continue with the method mentioned in this video. If on the other hand you are on an airway and still need to make a turn before reaching the holding fix this method will not work out well. Wait until you are inbound to the fix before using this method. Read the rest of this entry »

(UPDATE 5/15/2010) During the days leading up to this trip I had been working on my planned flight to London Ontario Canada for the Diamond Aircraft Factory tour with the Republic Flyers. I had even canceled this flight at one point so I could stay an additional day in Toronto.  Unfortunately due to a strong low to our north witch was bringing with it 40+ knot headwinds, low IFR conditions and embedded thunderstorms I had to scrap that flight (see flight to Canada not to be for more information).

The night before, a cold front came through which cleared the air of the thunderstorms but also brought with it stronger surface winds. As the flight neared it became obvious that I would have to contend with some wicked winds at least during our return trip, so the day before I called Ed and asked his comfort level with flying with his niece on a windy day. He assured me that she was a veteran flyer and bumps have never been an issue. I also knew that my son responds well to bumpy air (he falls asleep) hopefully he breaks this little habit before becoming a pilot himself.

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Well I hate this but as they say “it is better to stand on the ground wishing you were in the air then to be in the air wishing you were on the ground”
After spending way to much time and money getting ready for my flight to Canada for the (Diamond Aircraft Factory Tour with the Republic Flyers) I have decided to pull the plug. The final nail in the coffin was when my estimated time in route (ete) went from 3:30 to over 4 hours due to a strong headwind thereby requiring an en-route stop in hard IFR conditions. Read the rest of this entry »

I originally discovered this video at www.aviationchatter.com and found it quite educational so I figured I would share it with our viewers.

A number of years ago NASA conducted a study on tailplane icing and made this video for all pilots. It outlines some of the distinct differences in both the symptoms and recovery techniques used during a tailplane stall due to tailplane icing. You never know, someday you might need to know the difference.

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While in route to Martha’s Vineyard my friend and fellow flying club member Stephen and I experienced an alternator controller failure (basically a voltage regulator). It wasn’t a big deal since we were in day visual conditions and the engine does not require electrical power to operate. I have learned a few things from watching the video.. Read the rest of this entry »