If you don't know yet, let me be the first to tell you; PBS will soon be showing a new series "The Aviators".  I'm excited; I've been excited.  I'd like to see what they have to say about us.  I thought about what I'd show and say about aviation if I were given an hour on national tv once a week.  Then I remembered I'm a writer for a reason; I don't speak well in front of people or cameras that link to thousands of people.

What's more, the people behind the show are asking aviators across the country to send in their ideas and stories.  The executive producer reportedly said “If you have an interesting aircraft, aviation business, destination, or story, then The Aviators wants to hear from you."

Now, I don't have any interesting aircraft or even any stories that deserve airing, but some of you might.  If so, drop them a line at info@TheAviators.TV.  They'd love to hear from you.

It broke my heart reading about the tragedy at Castle Airport outside of Merced, California that occured nearly a year ago. It brought back a realization that life is fragile and, sometimes, is thrown away for no reason.

A quick re-cap. Two students of the flight school flew together illegally and against the school's policy on what was supposed to be a solo flight. Upon returning, 26 year old Wei Jin exited the plane and, while attempting to remain unseen by fuel truck personnel, walked right into the still spinning propeller. Unfortunately, he did not survive.

How, you might ask, do two students get themselves in this situation? Neither meant for anything bad to happen, but they set out on that trip knowing they were breaking the law and the school's rule. There's a reason these rules are made. At that point in training, a student is barely able to handle flying the plane by themselves; add in the inherent bad attitudes when trying to impress friends, the complacensy some students fall in to and the pressure of knowingly commiting a crime and you have a recipe for disaster.

I have no clue what the authorities were thinking when they made up these rules, but had these two followed the rule, Wei Jin would might still be alive. Many students feel the pressure to fly their friends. I even wanted to fly a few friends when I started soloing, but I realized that I wasn't ready to handle such a situation. Since then, I've heard a few other stories of would-be pilots breaking the rules: all of them had immediate consequences.  The one below illustrates how, even if nothing bad happens, there are still consequences.

A recently approved cross-country solo student took his girlfriend along on a training trip. Upon returning, two CFIs at the school brought to his attention the FARs he'd violated. Instead of reporting the incident, the CFI's and student made an arrangement where he'd take extra training under the CFIs. When authorities found out, the CFI's lost their right to fly along with the student for conspiracy to cover up an incident.

I know that seems a bit harsh, but look at it from the authorities' point of view. The CFIs get paid for that 'extra training', so it's sort of like they profitted from not reporting the incident.  Will they try to profit from any other incidents in the future that could produce dangerous pilots? Secondly, that student demonstrated that he could and would knowingly violate a FAR; what happens in the future when he's, say, not equipped for Class B airspace and decides to switch off his transponder and fly through it anyway?

The line from that old song "I fought the law and the law won" rings truer today than any time in the past, so remember, know your FARs and don't break them.

We've all seen the video of the tragic medical flight that ended in a crash at the end of the runway into a hotel.  Some speculate that (among other things; W&B) the woman riding with her sick son inadvertently caused the crash by messing with the rudder pedals.  We're not going to re-hash that today, but we are going to talk about a few things you might need to consider when briefing your passengers.

First, you should realize that your passengers aren't accustomed to riding in a plane's cockpit.  The comforting feeling and homely qualities of your plane's cockpit are lost on them; to them, it's completely new.  They aren't use to having a full set of controls in front of them and the sea of gauges and switches is enough to confuse anybody. I always let them know that those controls in front of them are for show and not to be touched at all.

Furthermore, remind them that there are controls they may not realize they are messing with.  The rudder pedals are easy to rest your feet on without knowing it.  Some people even think if they rest their feet on the pedals and follow through, it won't matter.  I once had a tall passenger with me who did just that thinking the weight of his feet wasn't enough to affect them.  While taxiing, I noticed the plane kept pulling to the right; opposite of what is normal.  I glanced over and sure enough, he had his right foot 'resting' on the toe brake.

Last, but certainly not least, make sure your passengers' belongings don't interfere with anything.  A shoulder strap on a purse can easily get caught on a handle and next thing you know, the engine quits because you've been running on just the right tank instead of both.  Small things like camera bags can catch fuel shutoff valves and alternate static ports.

The main idea here is that you want to secure your cockpit.

This story is from a good while ago when I was in the final stages of my training. It's about a trip I took with my CFI to tour a tower and the exciting side-excursions while we were there.

Jim and I had agreed that it'd be a good idea to take a tour of the tower over at Athens Ben Epps airport (KAHN). I had done most of my training at a uncontrolled field and didn't have to deal much with Class D airspace. Though I'd flown to Athens several times before, I always seemed a bit intimidated by the controllers and a bit wary about talking to them. Jim thought meeting them and seeing what they did would help; plus, it would be fun, so off we went.

The trip had been rescheduled twice, so I was actually excited to hear that we would finally be going. Flying out of Winder, KAHN was all of ten minutes away, but I did the normal cross-country procedures: save for getting flight following, by time I would have made my request, we were there.

Conditions at Athens were less than ideal. Runway 27 was in use and reported a stiff right crosswind. Jim, ever the vigilant CFI, asked if I thought I could do it. "I'd like to try", I responded. I'd never landed in such strong crosswinds, but I believe in learning through experience and Jim was always willing to let me try. I guided her down and touched down right wheel first, then left and gently lowered the nosewheel to the ground as the tower called with a compliment on the landing and taxi instructions. "Good" I thought, "it'll be easier touring the tower if they at least think I'm a descent student".

Securing our plane, we were met with our first unplanned outing. A pair of Airforce Hawker Beechcraft T-6A Texan II trainers sat on the ramp. We cautiously floated their way and took our own little tour. Now, we didn't touch the planes; afterall, they looked really expensive and I'm sure the guys that had flown them there wouldn't have appreciated it, but we did visually inspect them. I imagined what fun it must be to train in such sophisticated and capable craft; "one day", I told myself.

We made our way up to the tower with the maintenance guy that let us in. The top revealed a very unique room. Two men sat in seats in front of a bank of buttons, switches and screens. They introduced themselves and showed us the equipment they'd obviously seen us glaring at. Athens has radar available, but doesn't have all the equipment and requirements to provide radar service. What this means, as they explain it, is they can see you just like a radar facility, but can't say they have 'radar contact' or provide services based solely on the radar.

We stayed as one controller talked us through the system and the other controller demonstrated it with several arriving aircraft. We got a bit of a show as a regional airliner had sent some of it's pilots to do instrument approaches. The large jet screamed over each runway at regular intervals to the delight of a crowd that had gathered near the terminal building.

Before leaving the tower, we learned that the same winds that had made for an interesting landing were now keeping us from departing. No problem, we were two pilots at a moderately busy airport; we'd find something to do. At the terminal, we learned our plane had been moved by the linemen and tied down at a safer spot due to the stronger winds: both a testament to these often forgotten employee's dedication and an assurance that they'd receive a good tip.

As I said, we'd find something to do and soon, something interesting taxiied to the ramp. The Gulfstream jet, I forget what model it was, warranted us removing ourselves from the pilot's lounge and walking out to greet the pilots. We did the normal exchange of niceties and I even helped a pretty lady carry her bag from the plane before we joined the copilot for a smoke break (neither Jim nor I smoke, but we stood with him in conversation).

It turned out that the jet we were looking at happened to be the personal jet of a member of the band REM. The people flying on it that day were the family of the owner of the jet's leasing company. Jim had told me before that another of his current students was the drummer for REM and I didn't know it, but he was supposed to accompany us on this particular trip.  He couldn't because he was busy with 'work': whatever 'work' rock stars generally do.

Now, if you haven't noticed from my Examiner articles, I have a knack for being in the right place at the right time and talking my way into some things I'd otherwise never get to do. That day I was joined by Jim who also has the same knack, so we were soon touring the jet. The copilot walked us around the outside first pointing out the jet's many fascinating features and it's turbofan engines. Then, we got to go inside and experience, at least for a while, the luxuries of personal jet travel. Most interesting to me was when he let us watch him program the FMS and start the APU.

Soon, the winds died down and we set off towards home base. It had been a great day and we landed at Winder with quite a story to tell. I no longer felt timid or inadequate talking to the tower controllers and we'd spent some quality time with some wonderful aircraft. It's things and days like this that I enjoy the most about being an aviator.

Located > that way and down, you'll find my bucket list.  I got the idea from that movie by the same name and thought it'd be cool to share how I'm doing on it.  So far, I've only completed the first one; learn to fly, and that's kinda cheating 'cause I could fly when I wrote the list.  Up next, sky diving!! But don't hold your breath, these aren't exactly things I can do easily; otherwise, they wouldn't be on the list.

My desk is practically my home away from home.  My 'side job', as I call it requires me to be here roughly six hours a day.  My real passion, unpaid passion mind you, is flying.  At this desk, I think about flying and all that entails and hope it transfers nicely to these electronic characters you're reading right now.

Naturally, I've blended the two worlds to make this one slightly more comfortable and of an airport nature.  An altimeter-style desk clock sits on my desk roughly where it would in my cockpit.  Strangely, I've started using my left hand for this mouse, much like I manipulate the yoke left-handed.  I've labeled my broken stapler "inop".  Just as I'd devour weather information, charts and briefings before a flight, I consume pages of press-releases before writing.  Pictures of my little nephew grace the pin-board wall in front of me; nothing to do with aviation, of course, but he's too cute not to mention.

If I could only get the place to smell like the airport: the pilot's lounge, even.  I thought about replacing this creaky old desk chair with a converted aircraft seat.  Maybe I could mount a G1000 panel and use it as my monitor; that's kinda expensive, though.

I guess I'll just have to keep hitting the airport for a little adventure every now-and-then.

I don't own a plane.  Don't have the money, time, nor the patience.  I'm a renter, instead, frequenting flight schools and FBOs that offer their battle-scarred rental planes to those who 'prove' themselves worthy.  Any routine renter can attest to the little quirks that come with renting.  A typical day at the airport renting a plane for me goes like this.

I arrive with the ritualistic greetings to any one of the number of desk people at the flight school.  Niceties exchanged, I'm handed the 'plane bag' for the N number I'm taking.  The plane bag contains the POH, keys and the all-mighty fuel card.  I make my way through the hangar, taking a slight tour of an exposed engine, and out to where my winged steed awaits.

I don't trust the plane.  Not at all.  It's been out of my care for a good week during which it was subjected to the punishment of zero-time students.  A 'walk-up check' proves the wings and empennage are still there.  A good thorough preflight reveals nothing wrong externally: flaps still flap, elevator still elevates and there's no wrinkles or dents in the skin.  Oil's right, fuel looks good (a rareity), and the normally bald flat-sided tires look to be freshly changed.  Let's crank 'er up and wait for a piston to shoot through the cowling.

Brakes, throttle 1/4" in,  fuel pump on -- 5gal fuel flow, pump off, ignition switch -- mixture knob in and she fires on the first try and very near idle; something I pride myself in.  Avionics switch on, and I soon find a problem.  Comm 2's digital display is dead.  No doubt a result of someone starting and killing the engine with the avionics switch on.  I snatch a pen and post-it pad from the side pocket and mark it 'inop'.  I reach down to disengage the parking brake and feel no handle; 'tis gone and nowhere to be found.  Good thing I hold the brakes with my toes anyway.

It's not that the plane's owner doesn't keep the plane maintained, in fact, they do an excellent job.  It's just hard to keep up when so many people, mostly students, fly the plane day after day.  To add to it, some of those people either haven't been taught proper procedures (avionics off before you start or stop the engine) or they don't really care.  Other than the small blemishes, my old friend is ready to go.  Engine's good and strong, airframe is sturdy and I'm itching just as bad as she is to jump in the air.  All part of renting, I guess.

As you might have gleaned from previous post, I've been on a self-study track to obtain my Advanced Ground Instructor certificate.  It's been enthralling.  I've had a great excuse to buy pounds and pounds of books and to fill my head with volumes of information that I hope I'm retaining.

That's mainly for the second step, however.  First, I must take the Fundamentals Of Instruction (FOI) Exam.  I really only have two books to study for that test; the flight instructor manual and a Gleim test preparation book.  I wasn't exactly excited about studying for the FOI test, at least not as much as the knowledge test, so I took to the process slowly.  In just a few short pages, I found that it's very interesting.  Many questions I'd had about CFI's were answered and I picked up a good many tips and techniques of teaching.

After that, I have the small matter of an extremely hard Advanced Ground Instructor Knowledge exam. 100 questions, 2.5 hours and a whole plethora of aeronautical knowledge areas to cover.  I'll let you know how I'm doing on that a little later.  Right now, I'm thinking I'll take the FOI test Friday... all unforseen obstacles aside.

Don't worry, I'm not going to brag about any 'skills' that I may or may not have.  I just thought about my personality, life-style and how they seem to fit aviation.  I've come to the conclusion that some great architect of life thought it would be neat if he/she/it/they (whatever your belief) were to mold me to fit aviation and were gracious enough to lend me the enjoyment to go along with it.  Here's what I got.

I love going fast and my vehicles, both past and present, can attest to that.  In a plane, the slowest I can go is still breaking most ground-based speed limits.  I'm happy with that.

I love to travel, but I hate taking those winding, out-of-the-way paths that add unnecessary hours and miles to my trips.  In a plane, I can go more or less directly to my destination at twice the speed: less time, less distance, more enjoyable.

I enjoy meeting new people and making friends.  Airports are a wonderful place to meet some of the nicest people around.  I'm still looking for that young, gorgeous, single and lonely lady pilot who owns a Pitts.

I can make the best of a bad situation.  Often times, weather or some other delaying force keeps a pilot grounded at an airport miles from home.  I'm okay with that; I can have as good a time at an airport waiting for weather to clear up as I can on the trip I've just taken (sometimes I can have a better time).

I enjoy a good challenge.  Learning to fly was the most challenging thing I think I've ever done and continues to offer new challenges daily.

Physically, I'm well-fitted to most general aviation planes; tall enough to easily check the fuel and stall-warning horn, yet I fit comfortably into the pilot's seat.  I also fit rather well into the weight and balance figures: nice round numbers often do ;) haha.

Someone said that it takes a special kind of person to fly a plane, but I'm not so sure.  I think most people could be taught to fly a plane, but that it takes a special kind of person to live the lifestyle of a pilot.

If you read my article here, you know that lasers are fairly dangerous to aircraft operations.  At the least, it irritates a pilot; the worst case scenario, however, is a crash that takes hundreds of lives.  So, what do we do when a green or red light flashes into our eyes on a quiet evening flight?

First, fly the plane.  Just as with any emergency, you want to keep the plane under control and safe.  Your vision may be severely interupted for a while, so be careful.  Notify ATC immediately; whomever you may be talking to at the moment.  Not only can they help keep you away from other aircraft while you recover, they're instrumental in reporting the incident and advising other aircraft in the area of the laser activity.

When you're on the ground, you'll want to officially report the incident.  The form for doing so can be found here.  It's a one page thing you fax in that can potentially help prevent a catastrophe.

Hopefully you'll never have to deal with this, but if you do, you'll have the tools to handle it.

This year the Reno air races somehow didn't hit me like they normally do.  Perhaps the mad dash of events I've covered and attended lately crowded them out of my mental calendar or, just maybe, the fact that I've never attended the air races has left me with a lack of excitement that's appropriate for such a great gathering.

That's right, I've never attended.  I've wanted to for many years but, somehow, it eludes me continuously.  How do you cover an event you're not attending?  Good question; you start by reading page after page of press releases and making sure a few friends and distant acquaintances remember your phone number.  It's nowhere near as good as being there, but you have, in the end, just enough information to realize that, unless you want to publish a table of race results, there's not much you can say.

That's why I'm going next year.  That's right, nothing can stop me.  Sorry, can't attend your birthday party dear sister-in-law; I'll be watching the air races (which reminds me, I should get her something).  What, your wife's having a baby; sorry, you're my best friend but I can't be there 'cause I'll be in Reno.  Sorry, Mr. President; you'll have to find someone else to help Bruce Willis save the earth from that meteorite.  I'll be in Reno.

Okay, maybe the last one's a stretch, but you get the idea.

I found myself trying to cook this morning.  That's right, I 'tried' and, must admit, failed horribly.  What was supposed to be pancakes and eggs morphed into a blob of half-burnt, half-mushy paste and dried-out eggs.  No harm, breakfast quickly turned into a banana as I got ready for church.  My normal fumble for my shoes caused me to stumble across my new, yet already worn-in, FAR/AIM book.  It briefly made me think; I can fly a 1.5 ton hunk of metal at 200 miles an hour through a boiling mass of air; yet heating up a bit of batter and scrambling eggs is beyond me.  Guess I just haven't earned my stove rating.  Just an observation I found universally harmonic.

I was recently asked by a student pilot about the best way to prepare for the written knowledge test.  After asking which one he meant (he was going to take the Private Pilot), I hesitated for a moment.  The best answer I could give him was, 'it depends'.  Now, that's not just the lawyer in me, it's a truly objective answer.  People learn differently and should prepare for the test accordingly.

Some people learn best by soaking in the knowledge as they apply it.  These people should spend a good time with their instructor going over material and performing calculations, navigation logs, and performance data.  A good ground school with a small student to teacher ratio would do these students a world of good.

Others learn best by studying the material.  Not just memorizing (which we'll talk about later), but learning.  These people usually digest the written material in home-based study programs while using their instructor as a guide.  I fit best in this group; the best way for me to learn is to buy a book or two on the subject and soak up the knowledge.

Last, and perhaps most prevalent and dangerous, is the group that memorizes the answers.  The question bank the FAA uses is readily available in many free websites.  If you take the test four or five times a day for a few weeks, you begin to recognize the answers through sheer repetition.  This is dangerous because a person who does this and moves on to get their license has not been proven to possess the required knowledge.  These examinees (is that a word?) are easily spotted.  A test center I spoke to stated that these students usually complete the test within 25 minutes never using an E6B or the booklet of figures.  They also routinely come out without any scratch-work paper (I had a full page front and back of WB and navigation calcs).  Impressive, right?  Not when you ask them a simple question the next day that their test says they should know and they get it horribly wrong.

So what did I tell the student who asked me?  Well, he told me he fits in group two that I mentioned above, so I advised him to follow the system I did.  I told him to study his material, take the practice test at Sporty's website, and see where he has trouble.  Study everything again, paying more attention to those problem areas, then take the test again.  Do this until you make a consistant high 90's score.  When you go to take the actual test, you'll be use to the procedure and more than prepared.

When I first started writing about aviation in a public venue, I was overly excited that I had decent numbers popping up.  The first day, I had all of four people read something I wrote, but by Thursday of that week, I was seeing numbers in the hundreds; pretty good for an unknown beginner.  That's why when Friday rolled around and only about ten people viewed my work(maybe the original four and six friends), I was a little disheartened.

Chocking it up to the ups and downs of writing, I headed for my refuge; the airport.  Not just any airport, this is the airport I trained at and the one with the nicest people you'll ever meet.  As I pre-flighted good ol'e 'Charlie Fox', I looked around at the activity surrounding me.  A piper had just slipped the surly bonds over on 31 in front of a line of at least four waiting aircraft.  Behind me on the grass, a group had gathered to watch two men prepare a glider and over at the mechanic's hangar they'd opted to work out in the light instead of in their normal darkened cave.  "This", I thought, "is what happened to all my readers, they're out doing what I have the privilege of writing about every day".

I smiled widely in only the way a blessedly dimpled face can do.  These were exactly the type of people I wanted to be writing for.  The kind that were, perhaps, unable to fly during the week but went out on the weekends and holidays actively enjoying the world of aviation I love so much.  Mushy, I know, but it was a thrill to realize that maybe one or two of the people at that airport that day had read something I'd written and, just maybe, had learned something or been inspired to come to the airport.

So, to those few who are reading this on a Friday, go flying!  If you're not a pilot, I suggest going on a Discovery Flight at a local flight school; it might just change your life.  Yours truly is heading to the airport just as soon as I click publish.

Maybe not, but they most certainly don't have a problem throwing us under the bus to boost their ratings.  I can just imagine two or three people sitting in an office at their headquarters thinking about what controversy they can drum up to draw readers' attention.  The 'ahaa' moment had to be when they linked us already politically battle-scarred aviators with the use of tax money to maintain public airports.

I know, I know; it's ridiculous.  It's akin to me running out to the local fire department and complaining about how much the new truck cost and how much money is wasted on keeping this 'barely used' fire department open; after all, my house has never burned down and when was the last time they were called out to an emergency?

Not that airports are emergency related.  Emergency services tax everyone, airports only tax those that use the NAS.  If you've read my Examiner Article on the subject, you've seen my road system analogy.  Maybe one day, the news outlets will refrain from picking on aviation when they have nothing else to do.

I would like to take this time to remind them of another not-so-obscure federal system that collects much more money from people that will never see it.  On average, I send around two to three hundred bucks a month to this system and will never see any benefit from nor return of this money.  What system, you ask?  They call it Social Security, USA Today should write about that a little more.

The 2010 additions of the FAR/AIM book have started arriving to those who'd pre-ordered.  Yours truly was perhaps more excited than he should have been.  For one thing, I enjoy new books -- even if they're mostly the same thing I've already read many times.  In what has become a yearly ritual, I sat down and flipped through the book to find major changes.  Here's what I got:

61.3  The age limit on international carrier pilots has been moved... in a way, at least.  The rule used to state that once a pilot reaches their 60th birthday, they can no longer serve as a pilot in international operations.  The changes now state that someone over 60 but not yet 65 can serve as a pilot as long as there's another pilot on the deck who is not yet 60.

61.23  Most people know about the changes in Medical certificates.  There's a table of the changes here.

105.43 The time line for the use of single harness, dual parachute systems has been extended by %50.  In the past, the parachute has to have been packed by a certified rigger, the person making the next jump, or someone under the rigger's supervision within the last 120 days.  That figure has been changed to 'within the last 180 days'.

AIM

5-1-3 NOTAM System Changes
They've done away with the NOTAM-L category.  More than that, they've restructured the system to include four categories instead of the old three D, L, and FDC NOTAMs.  The four new categories are NOTAM D, NOTAM FDC, Pointer NOTAMs, and Military NOTAMS.  FDC and D NOTAMs remain the same except for D NOTAMs will now, presumably include local notices.  The pointer category is meant to point out relevant NOTAMs by cross-referencing key words.  Military NOTAMs will, of course, consist of military notices.

7-1-31 TAF Format Changes
There's no big change here.  It states that the new TAF format has two different time formats; one's a six digit number with the first two being the date, second two the hour, last two the minute.  It also notes that some TAF's have a 30 hour forecast period while others have a 24 hour period.

Vintage Day first popped up on one of several resources I keep an eye on. I'd never heard of it before and soon I was on the host museum's site (Candler Museum). It looked exciting; a quick check of the calendar, call to a friend who I thought would want to go, and it was set. I was going to the first ever Vintage Day.

I've been to first occasion events before. The atmosphere is usually one of semi-controlled chaos and misguided enthusiasm; all carried out with the best of intentions, mind you. As I arrived at the Peachstate Aerodrome, however, things resembled a more aged event: like it had been an annual gathering for quite some time. Volunteers handled the ever-growing crowd skillfully and the other provisions seemed to be well thought out.

The event was for car enthusiast as much as it was for aviation fans and I happen to be both. The friend I'd brought, we'll call him Bob (actually, I really do call him Bob; he's my sister's fiance and a friend), was more of a ground-based car lover, so we headed for the old fords.

The collection was amazing, but I have a bad habit of being easily distracted; especially when airplanes are flying around. We soon headed for the rows of winged structures that stretched the distance of the field. Cubs seemed to be the most popular with a good dozen or so parked together, seemingly eager to jump back into the sky. A hand full of Stearman (besides the one I got to fly in) showed up early in the day with both the familiar blue/yellow paint job and some unique, yet nice, paint schemes.

The star of the exhibit was the museum's DC-3 sitting proudly among it's smaller comrades. A few volunteers were shuffeling people into the plane for a quick tour and I jumped on the chance. The cabin was what you'd expect an airliner of the era to be; small, yet pleasant kind of like a nice bus sitting on a steep hill. I sat in a window seat near the wing root and peered out at the engine. It must have been quite the experience riding in this thing across the country: the noise of the engines and wind whipping by. Back then, you could actually see the pilots.

The cockpit was typical with it's forest of guages and switches. My single-engine piston driver mind understood most, but not all, of the controls as the nice volunteer pointed them out. As the heat took over in the cockpit, I headed back out in time to grab a very late lunch and head for home promising that the next event I attend, I'm flying. A flight home at the end of the day is much more exciting than a long drive.

I apologize for the long intervals between post. Looking at my Google Analytics, it seems a good number of you have checked in and I've neglected to bring new content. I think you'll find my account of Saturday's Vintage Day above intriguing.