upcoming FAA Safety Events: KJYO and KHEF

here are a couple of upcoming FAA Safety events in my area (KJYO Leesburg and KHEF Manassas). The second one (Tenerife) is a must see. You can find them at faasafety.gov.


12/6/2008
9:00 AM
EA2722152

That Looks About Right: Practical Performance Planning for GA Pilots
Flight Planning and Aircraft Performance Planning
Ironically, the heavier the aircraft the more critical the balance of
weight for takeoff and landing...
Knowledge CreditElective CreditBasic Credit 1.00 WINGS

Leesburg, VA


and

12/20/2008
11:00 AM
EA2722142

The Sole-Surviving Crewmember Speaks!
Runway Incursion - Account of the Tenerife, Los...
First Officer reports seeing both rotating beacons of KLM B-747
aircraft appear overhead the cockpit window...

Manassas, VA

since the weather is bad. how about some F-86!

the weather is bad here so if you remember the F-86 you might like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQL9Kxxd88s

(i found that at: http://www.fearoflanding.com/flying-around-the-web/military-history/ )

new aviationweather.gov flight planning tool

take a look at the new aviationweather.gov flight planning tool at:
http://adds.aviationweather.gov/fpt_application/

i was able to show winds/icing/... add overlays for TAFs, show VORs and so on. this compresses numerous pieces of information into your planned route.

back in the saddle (soon)

i got back from a week long vacation in germany a few days ago (excellent as always) and will be back in the air to build some XC hours this weekend. after that it's back into some instrument training in the plane.
while waiting for a connection at LHR i saw a TV with an ad for this site:
http://pilotseye.tv
it was pretty neat watching actual aircrew flying from the pilot's perspectives. it reminded me of when (as a kid flying in USAF MAC and other aircraft) i could go up into the cockpit. i do miss those days.

first instrument night lesson

my first instrument lesson in the plane was tonight. the weather was calm and perfect for flying around the practice area. did steep turns, unusual attitudes, localizer approach back to KJYO and all under the hood. it was a neat experience. i'm looking forward to more.

KJYO - KLNS - KJYO

a couple of us flew from KJYO (leesburg, Va) to KLNS (lancaster, Pa). it is in the 90-mile range one way so it qualified as cross country and is a scenic flight. i was the pilot not flying outbound and it was a very busy radio traffic day. ATC (potomac) was so busy that they refused our flight following request so we tried harrisburg with more success. the outbound route was KJYO-LUCKE-FDK-EMI-VINNY-KLNS. we flew using VORs so that we would have to identify intersection and the route. KLNS has an excellent pilot shop and it's very difficult to not buy all sorts of stuff but i'm budgeting a bit more carefully so i walked away with some plastic protector sheets for my approach plates ($5.00). i flew the return back to KJYO (KLNS-KFDK-JASEN-KJYO) and it was uneventful with a decent landing. it was a bit more choppy at 4,500 but tolerable.

(another) dumb mistake last weekend on a short flight

last sunday a couple of us were going to fly down to south boston airport, virginia (w78). visibility was poor immediately out of leesburg (kjyo) so we elected to divert to martinsburg (kmrb). i was the pilot not flying so i had to pull out the AFD and sectional to get freqs,course and so on (because i hadn't planned on a potential divert so early in the flight). i also set the new desination into the GPS (here's where the mistake was). in my hurry, i put in a destination of MRB (note the missing K). we continued on our way getting setup for the approach. after a little while we were looking for the airport which should have been right off the nose and wasn't.... eventually, we realized the airport was off to our left. this was because MRB is the VOR and KMRB is the airport so we were on a direct course to the VOR, duh. there was an airshow at KMRB and the airspace was closing about 30 minutes after we landed to we had to head right back out again and go home or else stay for another 5 hours.
i learned 2 lessons from the above:

• be prepared in advance to divert at any time during your flight (from takeoff to landing)
• don't forget the K when putting an airport into the GPS, i had never realized how easy that would be to do