how's this for an office...

how would you like this be to your office:

http://copterchick.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-havent-seen-rainbow-like-this-one-in.html

a couple of flights and a question

Last week we flew to Farmville, Va (KFVX) and back. That flight went ok but I wasn't happy with how I flew back into KJYO (note to self, again, don't do another midfield crosswind for the 17 downwind).

Yesterday, I went to an IFR refresher (I'm still working on my instrument rating) at KJYO which was great. I heard something in it that I had never noticed. How many of you have ever noticed the barber pole on the altimeter? How many of you what it is for (I hadn't and didn't).

Today we flew to Hanover, Va (KOFP) which went well. As usual, there was at least one interesting experience. Coming back (KOFP-CSN-JASEN-LUCKE-KJYO) at CSN ATC told us that they had an unidentified target low and close on the same heading. I was the pilot-not-flying and spent the next minute or two looking behind us. I finally got a glimpse of a low wing single engine directly behind and below us and maybe close enough for me to see the pilot. They continued doing this for a while but eventually they began to descend and turned toward the ridge. They got to the ridge and then paralleled it very close at an altitude below the top heading north while we kept a close eye on them.
A bit short of the LUCKE gate we headed east and turned to the 45 for the 17 downwind at the first quarry. All-in-all it was a good day. KOFP is just north of Richmond and is a great stop to make in the area.

flight to KPTB and, as usual, new lessons learned

A couple of us flew from KJYO to KPTB (Petersburg, Va Dinwiddie airport) yesterday. You can see a graphic of the router (saved from my Garmin, Forerunner305 gps watch) here. The first aircraft we had reserved preflighted perfectly and looked good. We were about to taxi from the runup area to the holdshort on runway 35 and noticed that the right fuel tank gauge had dropped to zero. We tried several things (cycle master, shutdown/start) and could not get to it change. It was showing the level fine during preflight so we had no idea what had happened to it. Working fuel gauges are required equipment so we had to taxi it back and then were lucky enough to have had another 172S available so we took that one instead. The flight was uneventful with the route we took being KJYO-JASEN-CSN-FAK-KPTB. The KCJR (Culpeper, Va airport) area was busy and we saw 4 or 5 planes around us while transiting over it. We had a PCAS MRX with us and it was helpful in letting us know that other aircraft were in the vicinity. ATC let us know most of the time when we needed to keep an eye out (we were VFR so it was up to us to watch anyway). The pattern in KPTB was a little busy but we were on the 150 radial from the FAK VOR so that put us almost on a 45 degree entry into the downwind for runway 5 at KPTB which made it a bit easier.
The return flight was a little bumpy at points but not bad. The next thing that happened was ATC cleared us to turn to KJYO (below class bravo airspace at KIAD) before we got to the JASEN intersection. This is generally a good thing because it's a little quicker getting home but it does mean that the view is different than we usually get from JASEN so we actually couldn't see KJYO until 7 or 8 miles out. Something like that has happened once or twice in the past and it does teach you to be familiar with getting to your destination regardless of the direction you might end up getting there.
We each got about 1.5 hours of xc (cross country) time. 50 xc hours are required before you can take the practical test for your instrument rating so we each have around 28 hours to go (and way more instrument training).

winds way too high for an end of year flight today

unfortunately, the winds are way too high for an end of year flight today:

KJYO 311340Z AUTO 29021G29KT 10SM SCT065 SCT080 08/M07 A2958 RMK AO2

as a backup, a couple of us might head 0ut to to gravelly point by DCA to watch a few:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asek2Oy1xb8

you can't get much closer than that.

night current again and needed the practice

A couple of us updated our night currency last night at KJYO (at least 3 landings at least one hour after dark every 90 days). One thing that I've been surprised at is what appears to be how few people do that. We do it mostly for the experience and it forces a little more practice (which I always need). I definitely needed it last night.

modern software systems, people and chance

The following article is a fascinating study about the interaction of modern aviation technology and people. It is about a collision of two state of the art, modern commercial aircraft at 37,000 feet over the Amazon in 2006.

http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2009/01/air_crash200901?currentPage=1

I've been in software systems development for almost 30 years and can easily see how some of the contributing factors are possible. Some of the factors from the article include:

• too much information and too many display choices lead to confusion and uncertainty about what you're looking at and what it means
• modern altimeters coupled with an autopilot allow/cause two aircraft to fly at exactly the same altitude increasing the chances for a collision
• much more to look at and play with inside the cockpit reduces the desire to look outside
• TCAS being off at a high (or any?) altitude should result in an audible alert (particularly if the transponder is off/standby) and not just a text notice on a display device
  
• potential language barriers or difficulties should cause more communication and not less

This is a very informative read for anyone associated with aviation and should cause pilots to review checklists and their personal procedures and habits. It also causes me to see more value in the portable Zaon PCAS MRX that a friend I fly with recently purchased. One thing to note with what I just said. It only works for aircraft with a working and "on" transponder which is exatly what was not happening with the private jet in the article.

some videos of the neat details of flying

you can see a few videos of some of the details (all cool) of flying here:
http://aluwings.blogspot.com/2008/12/virgin-nineteen-egll-to-ksfo.html
it's an actual virgin airways flight from LHR to SFO with detailed commentary by the pilot.
it's just a bit more involved than my typical Cessna 172 flight.