Dan's Pilot Times

Crazy Crosswinds

Dan — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:42:22 +0000

I’ve landed in some heavy winds in my relatively short time as a pilot (see my other postings linked below), but I can only imagine the types of winds commercial pilots see day in and day out. Apparently there was a storm over Düsseldorf airport in Germany last week, resulting in some great footage of big planes landing in HEAVY crosswinds. I remember during flight training explaining to my family and friends how during heavy crosswinds you are basically flying at the runway at an angle and only at the last second do you yaw the plane in line with the runway. The landings on this video definitely exemplify that quite awesomely. You can just hear how heavy the winds are roaring that day, crazy stuff. Enjoy!

Slow Groundspeed with a Great Headwind – Airbus A330 Hangs in Mid-air

Dan — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 18:26:54 +0000

I remember when I was doing my training for my private pilot’s license, my instructor and I had flown on some VERY windy days (much more windy than I’d be comfortable taking passengers up as a PIC these days). One day in particular, my instructor taught me that if you configure the plane for slow flight and fly straight into a strong headwind, you can actually “hang” the plane in mid-air, creating a zero (or even negative) ground speed situation. Essentially if the wind speed is at or above the airspeed necessary to keep the plane from stalling, you can achieve this situation. I thought it was pretty cool back then to do this in a 2-seater Cessna, but seeing an Airbus A330 do it now is pretty darn amazing! Enjoy (check out around 40 seconds)…

Air Traffic Control Radio Tapes from 9/11 – Crazy Stuff

Dan — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 10:55:18 +0000

I realize I’m a bit late for 9/11 content, but I happened across these when I returned from a cruise. I’m happy to say that the Captain of the cruise gave a remembrance speech and asked for a moment of silence on the anniversary of 9/11 – even at sea. Anyway…

The New York Times compiled recordings of phone and ATC radio communications from the time of the events on September 11th, 2001. Conversations between ATC and the hiacked planes, conversations between NORAD and the ATC centers, stuff like that. It’s actually a VERY cool compilation, putting all the recording with a detailed timeline and description of the unfolding events. The conversations themselves are at times very shocking – from hearing the actual hijacking to authorization from the Vice President to shoot down civilian planes if they don’t cooperate. Scary stuff!

I highly recommend taking a look and listen…

Laser Pointers and Quick Cops

Dan — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:59:21 +0000

I’m happy to report that in my short time as a pilot, I’ve never been hit with a laser while flying. Nevertheless, there are idiots across the country who shine their insanely powerful green lasers at planes and helicopters. And apparently it’s pretty darn often. According to a posting from the Atlantic, there were over 2,800 “events” in 2009. I can only imagine as these high-powered lasers get cheaper each year, these numbers grow. I’ve always known it was illegal to do that, but apparently the fines and punishment can be VERY steep (up to 20 years jail and/or $250,000 fines).

What I think is pretty cool about this whole problem, is how amazingly quick and accurate the response from authorities can be. Check out this video (which shows IN REAL TIME) a police helicopter getting hit with a laser, them pinpointing the source, sending the cops, and arresting the idiot within like 2 minutes! Amazing stuff!

Any pilots have experience getting hit with a laser while flying/piloting?

2011 Hyundai Sonata and Features Airplane Makers Should Copy

Dan — Sat, 21 May 2011 19:37:10 +0000

So I have to admit I haven’t been flying lately because I’ve been too busy with work and purchasing a new car. My new baby, the 2011 Hyundai Sonata (Limited edition, 2.0L turbo, with Navigation system) is fully pimped out…I love it! The navigation system upgrades the audio as well, and that whole package has a ton of bells and whistles I wish the planes I fly had. Small plane manufacturers take note! First off, the navigation system let’s you choose between North-Up and Forward-Up on the moving map. While it’s true a lot of moving map apps for my iPad have this same function – I haven’t seen an in-plane GPS with this feature. Furthermore, the BlueTooth connectivity is amazing. I can stream phone calls (nothing new there) and even control audio from my phone too (streamed through the speakers). How great would it be if airplane comm systems could stream in audio from your BlueTooth device and even let you control it from the control panel? I know some support auxillary in for music, but this is all wireless. There are probably FAA-rules against this, but it’s pretty sweet.

Anyway, I’m ranting…but at least I’m posting again!

Flight Safety Briefings

Dan — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:17:54 +0000

Air New Zealand just launched a new pre-flight safety briefing video, and probably one of the best/funniest I’ve seen to date. All I gotta’ say is that including Richard Simmons to get you “fit to fly” is pretty clever and entertaining. I hope my pre-flight safety briefings are this amusing for my passengers!

Air New Zealand Flight Safety Briefing

Help Write History – Wings Over Wendy’s

Dan — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 01:36:45 +0000

I recently received an email from David Toma, an author of a new book looking for contributions to help launch the publication. Seems like a great concept, combining aviation and patriotism – both things I love. Check out the story:

Wings Over Wendy’s is a book about a group of veteran combat war pilots and aircrew men and women from WW2, Korea, and Vietnam who meet every Monday morning at a Southern California Wendy’s restaurant to honor their service and honor those that never returned from war – Wing’s Over Wendy’s is their story of life, love, sorrow, hope, and love of country. We all need hero’s – and – they are, all our hero’s. Their stories need to be told before their time runs out. These men and women sacrificed for our freedom and this book is for them, their children, and for all of us.

Wings Over Wendy’s, is a book project written by David Toma, who is seeking funding contributions by launching the effort on Kickstarter.com – Kickstarter is a web site dedicated to helping creative individuals and it is a new way to fund creative projects. If funding is successful then those patrons that pledge to support the project will receive rewards for their effort. The funding is to help in hiring a researcher and copywriter to interview and compile the histories of these brave men and women.

Please visit the Wings over Wendy’s website -if you click on the updates tab it will lead you to an article from the Daily News here in Los Angeles.

Please take a look at our web site on Kickstarter and should you decide to become involved, please know that your pledge will be greatly appreciated . Sponsors will be listed and each person will receive a credit in the book. In addition, each sponsor will receive a copy of the book and various rewards are offered for specific levels of sponsorship. We would be most grateful if you would help to support our project and to spread the word about this worthy project to your family, friends and associates.

Thanks and God Bless, David
Wings Over Wendy’s
David Toma
Facebook Page for Wings Over Wendy’s

Blizzard of 2011

Dan — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 10:38:26 +0000

I know I haven’t written here in a while, but frankly that’s because I haven’t flown in a while. Granted, I did fly in December (a bunch of times around the pattern just to keep my landing skills up), but that wasn’t exciting enough really to blog about. I’m also know I’m not the first person to write about the “Blizzard of 2011″, but frankly it’s SOMETHING. Furthermore, this blizzard is the main reason why I probably won’t be flying this weekend…I’m sure Westosha will still be cleaning up and getting the runway and taxiways in decent shape.

I guess there isn’t much to say other than “WOW, there was a LOT of snow!” Check out these pics. I hope everyone else has had better weather so they can fly more…I actually have not flown in 2011 yet…I miss flying!!!!

The Future of Payment for CFI’s?

Dan — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 10:38:02 +0000

I just learned of this awesome new service called Square (www.squareup.com) – and here’s the link to the free iPhone app. It’s basically the first company to bring credit card payment/acceptance to the masses. It’s a free credit card swiper/reader that attached to iPhones and iPads and allows anyone to accept credit cards on the fly (pun intended, I guess). They only charge a fairly nominal per-transaction fees, no monthly or device fees. As a website business owner who DOES pay monthly “merchant fees” to accept credit cards elsewhere, this service is definitely a game changer. I WISH Square would offer to pay me to promote their product, but frankly, I’m doing it for free because I want all CFI’s to start accepting payment via credit card. (I HATE writing checks!) How great would it be if you can earn credit card points/miles while flight training?

Who knows, maybe I’ll even start getting reimbursed for av-gas costs via credit card too! I’m seriously thinking about just signing up for one….who else in aviation is as well?

Night Flying – Been a While

Dan — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 10:44:09 +0000

It has been a while since my last blog post because it has been a while since I’ve flown. Things have been crazy busy with work, along with enjoying the unseasonably warm weather on the boat/water, instead of in the plane/air. Finally I got to fly this past Friday evening – and it was great to get back in the sky. My wife and I flew down to our usual fly-in date place, Pilot Pete’s restaurant at Schaumburg airport. I bolted home from work so we could make it to Schaumburg before the sun went down. It had been over 90 days since my last night flight – so I knew after dinner I’d have to do 3 full-stop takeoffs and landings alone before Lisa could join me back to Westosha. The flight to Schaumburg was fine, skies were very clear , winds calm, and the landing was smooth. Dinner was great (as always) as night set upon us.

After dinner I left Lisa down in the little terminal area while I did my 3 laps. It was nice to practice at a fairly well-lit airport – all three full-stop TOLs went fine and my confidence was up. I picked up Lisa and drizzle began to fall. I was surprised by this rain because skies appeared clear and weather reports (along with my pre-flight briefing) called for clear skies and no precipitation. After looking at my trusty iPhone weather map, it looked like just a small raincloud above the O’Hare area so we decided to continue back home. The flight back was fine, but apparently some very high-level clouds were creeping in, causing drizzles along the way. I wasn’t concerned because visibility was still great (20+ miles easily), and the clouds were very high, probably at 20,000 feet. Nevertheless, the cloud cover did block the almost-full moon, causing the Westosha area to be PITCH DARK – and the winds starting picking up. I radioed the lights on at Westosha and those dim lights were the ONLY things we saw around there – it was DARK. I’m sure glad I had practiced just minutes before, otherwise that final landing would have been EXTREMELY stressful. Happily, my glide and approach was on the money, and the landing was quite smooth, even with the light rain and small gusts of wind. No doubt, the law to have recent night landings before taking up passengers is a good one! The rain stopped as I fueled up and we were able to tie up the plane without getting wet.

All-in-all, a fun night. I logged 1.3 hours of pilot-in-command time – 0.8 being night.