Training & Sims

For years Ive been suggesting to NACO to stop using nonsense five-letter identifiers that were impossible to pronounce and usually led to confusion in actual IMC, and replace them with numerical identifiers. I read Decembers Need a Sim Instructor? with great interest because I have a FlyThisSim TouchTrainer BATD with a current LOA. BWI was recently clearing departures to fly the TERPZ FIVE from Runway 15R. The plan view of the procedure has the notation in the top-right corner of the first page: Top Altitude 4000.

Loss of control in-flight (LOC-I) is the leading killer in GA, with more fatal accidents than the next six causes combined. The Colgan 3407 and Air France 447 crashes brought LOC-I to the forefront. Were forced to ask how we can lose control of perfectly good airplanes. The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics identified LOC-I as the most significant cause of commercial aviation fatalities worldwide.

Recently, a reader asked about a puzzling approach at Chatham, MA (KCQX). The RNAV (GPS)-B is perfectly aligned with Runway 24 and the descent angle is a routine 3.05 degrees, yet it has only circling minimums. Approaches most often just have circling minimums if the alignment to the runway exceeds 30 degrees (for most procedure types) or the descent angle is greater than 3.77 degrees (for Category C and below). So, whats up at Chatham?

Each year we pause in the quest for aviation excellence to examine those whove boldly gone where others with a mere dram of sense wouldnt. This review covers 2012, the most recent year for which the NTSB offers probable cause to improbable silliness. Only non-fatal events are covered because we assume its bad form to ridicule the dead. Contestants are limited to the USA, because, hell, we invented flight, even though France claims the naming rights. Plus, few other countries offer our freedom to fail.

On a musical note and for enjoyment of all the Parrotheads, Palm Beach International Airport (KPBI) recognizes avid pilot and aircraft owner Jimmy Buffett in the BUFIT ONE RNAV DEPARTURE which has waypoints JIMEY and BUFIT. Luca F Bencini-TiboWeston, FL Flying IFR southbound from a private airstrip near Sudbury, Ontario, I had the following exchange with Center: …

Do ATD simulators replace the requirement of sim instructors? Weve clearly stated in a previous article that an instructor signoff is not required if youre using a simulator (ATD) to maintain your instrument currency, but now the FAA has changed its mind. Ultimately, what matters is the necessity of logging instrument time, which an instructor is mandated to sign on while you fly. The whole point of maintaining currency is to log proof of compliance, so no- sim instructors are here to stay.

Alexis de Tocqueville, a 19th-century French historian, described the United States as a great experiment. He called it an attempt to construct society upon a new basis, founded on theories previously unknown or impracticable. Another great experiment is occurring, this time in aviation.In 2006, ICAO quietly passed the Multiple-Crew Pilot License (MPL). ICAO recognized that many countries trained airline pilots using ab initio programs. These zero-to-hero courses put people with no previous flying experience into the right seat of an airliner in the shortest time possible. The MPL-supplanting the normal path through private and commercial licenses-replaces most piston flying with advanced simulators.

The FAA raised concerns this summer over the escalation of pilot reports of drone encounters, with 650 reports in the first half of the year, nearly three times as many as in all of 2014. Encounters occurred at altitudes up to 10,000 feet and were reported by aircraft from helicopters to airliners. Conflicts with firefighters also were on the rise. In August, the Transportation Departments Office of Inspector General said it would launch an audit to scrutinize the FAAs procedures for allowing drone operations in the national airspace.

A poopy day at the airport finds you and your buddies sitting around engaged in a serious session of hangar flying. You decide to amaze the other airport bums with some interesting factoids about METARs and maybe even win a beer bet in the process.

Meadows Field in Bakersfield, California (KBFL) lies at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. For purposes of instrument flight, we call this area a huge temperature inversion waiting to happen. And when it does, the minimal visibility means well want to know exactly where we should squeak the tires at the landing end of a precision approach. At KBFL, its not where youd expect at first glance.

When I trained for my private pilot certificate, 91.103 was drilled into my head. Each pilot in command, it says, shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight. The core of that is straight from the Boy Scouts: be prepared. Now, as an air traffic controller, it concerns me when pilots arent aware of major issues affecting their flight. Sometimes we controllers have to be the voice of reason, preventing a pilot from doing something that may not be in his best interest. Other times, we have to hold his hand and walk him through a new situation. Thankfully, the vast majority of our operations are routine. Its the remainder that can make things interesting. Facing an underprepared or overzealous pilot can test a controllers knowledge of his rules, his airspace, and his ability to think outside the box to find a safe, legal solution.

You can do a lot with an instrument rating and appropriately equipped aircraft-slice through clouds, take-off zero-zero and fly VOR, ILS, GPS and even (if you care) NDB approaches. None of these operations require special qualifications beyond the instrument rating. For example, many of us got instrument ratings before GPS, yet were authorized to fly GPS approaches. But, there are things an instrument-rated pilot cant do, even with certified equipment. Wanna fly a CAT II approach? Sorry. How about an ILS CAT I SA or RNAV (RNP)? Nope, cant do those either. What gives?