Flight Training Tips Online

Update on My Status - Grounded

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Sun, 31 May 2009 17:53:00 +0000

If anyone is still subscribed to this blog, you've obviously noticed that I haven't posted in a very long time. I'm here today to describe my situation in full.

I've been sidelined from flying because I occasionally suffer from depression. There have been a couple of instances in my life in which I have been pretty adversely affected by circumstances in my life, to the point where I have had to seek help. Unfortunately, I've gone through both of these situations during my flying career (I've been flying for about 6 years). Bad timing, huh?

The first time I went through a situation where I sought help from counselors, and I had to get on medication for a few months. I was on an anti-depressant which disqualified me from flying. I did however eventually get off the medication and recovered from my depression. Regardless, I had to report in when I went to get my next medical, and my application was deferred to Oklahoma City and I had to wait on there decision on whether they would give me a special issuance (SI).

Luckily, it did happen, and they did give me medical clearance on an SI. It was a huge relief. For the last 2 years, I've been flying on an SI 2nd Class medical. However, due to some other personal issues in my life, all starting around November of 08', I suffered from some depression again. I was able to fight it off all up until around January of 09'. Then I just had to get some help again. I spoke with a couple of therapists, and tried a couple more anti-depressants.

The bad thing is that this time, the anti-depressants didn't even really help me out, and it turns out, that after I stopped taking them, I ended up feeling a lot better. Crazy how it worked out, but this time the anti-depressants, actually made me feel a little worse. So I didn't even need them at all. I've been off of them completely for around 3 months now, and it is killing me being away from flying. The irony being that I'm grounded now for something that didn't even help me, and this whole dilemma may not even have to exist.

I feel good enough to return to flying right now, but I've got a little bit of an issue to deal with now. The FAA rule is that you have to be off of medication for 3 months, be evaluated by a physician, then the FAA medical staff decides whether you are a safe enough risk to be certified again.

Let me state for the record that I am a down to earth person, and I'm NOT CRAZY. I should be a perfectly acceptable risk for flight to the FAA. I just went through a couple of difficult life situations and sought help. I hope I'm not punished for it by never being able to fly again.

So now, I'm getting ready to contact the FAA to determine what it is I need to do to get my wings back. I know I'll have no trouble getting my physicians writing any form of letter for me stating that I am fine. I guess my only concern is that this is the 2nd time I've been grounded for depression. I hope they don't look at my history and determine that I CONSTANTLY suffer from depression because I don't. There have just been about 2 occasions in my life in which I have suffered. It's not chronic or ongoing, and except for these 2 times. When I'm free from depression (which is 99% of the time) I am a damn good and safe pilot. Both times I've suffered from symptoms of depression, I voluntarily grounded myself. That should speak for itself. I do not fly, unless I am perfectly physically and mentally capable. Period.

So anyway, that's where I'm at. I'm grounded and ready to get back in the skies. It kills me whenever a plane goes over my apartment, or any time I pass by the airports, it is torture. So for the time being, this blog went from being about flight training tips, to a blog about a guy trying to get is wings back. I hope you will all wish me luck and I will post back with any new developments. Until then, treasure every moment you take to the skies, because you never know when something could happen to take your wings away.

Brandon

P.S. To the man in Indy who contacted me about flight lessons, I'd be happy to work with you in the future if I get my wings back.

Online Flight Resources for Training

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 18:20:00 +0000

Well if you’ve been paying attention you’ve probably noticed I didn’t even make one post in the month of December. That’s mainly because I hardly did any flying in the month of December. If you live anywhere close to the Midwest, you probably know that it was one of the worst flying months you can have. Ice storms about every week, freezing levels at the surface, and low ceilings plagued us all month long. Fun stuff.

Therefore I was left with no inspiration of anything to write about. Sure I could pick up my books and pick out one of 300 topics to write about, but I like to provide commentary on topics that go somewhat “outside the books.” When you don’t fly you don’t have those inspirations.

I did however think that it would be nice to post a list of online resources that I use often to help out my fellow aviators. Here goes.

Airnav.com – Basically this is like an online version of the Airport/Facility Directory, but it has much more information. I use it to look up airport and FBO information. If you are staying overnight, it provides hotel and rental car information as well.

Skyvector.com – An awesome website that allows you to look at navigation charts online. Use it if you don’t have Sectional or L-Chart where you’re going, and need to check out airspace information. However, always be sure you posses the current navigation charts with you in the cockpit, wherever you go.

ADDS Aviation Digital Data Service – This is the website of NOAA and the National Weather Service that provides weather information relative to pilots. Great resource that is free to everyone. I get my METARs, TAFs, radar/satellite, and all other WX information there. It’s basically like a WSI system that you can access from anywhere.

Tim’s Air Navigation Simulator – Although I’ve already posted about Tim’s Air Navigation Simulator, I thought I’d mention it again here. It is an awesome tool that I use and recommend to all of my instrument students. You can practice basic navigation skills, simulated approaches, holds, etc.

Those are the main flight resources I use while conducting the everyday duties of a CFI. If I think of anymore I’ll let you all know. More posts coming soon. Talk to you later.

Preflight Inspection - Does Your Instructor Join You?

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:49:00 +0000

During my student's preflight inspection the other day, I was thinking to myself about how so many of my other instructors never bothered to come out and join me, until it was time to hop in the plane and go. I don't want to come out and say that if your instructor doesn't join you and help you out on your preflight inspection that he/she doesn't care. What I will do is tell you why I DO.

First, I don't want the student to feel like I'm just there to put in my hour or two, and tally up my hours. I always liked it when my instructor came out with me to help me out with the inspection. It gives you a feeling that you fully have their attention, and they are concerned about the lesson.

One of my pet peeves has always been when my instructor sends me out to do the preflight, when all they are doing is just standing around the FBO, shooting the breeze with other people. Or when it is really cold out, and they just don't feel like getting chilly. No I admit, preflight inspections can be uncomfortable when it is below the freezing mark, but if I go and help out my student, it goes a little quicker, and we can fire up the engine and get the cabin heat going that much sooner.

With all that being said, here is the REAL reason I join my student for the inspection: I want to make sure it is airworthy, because my life depends on it.

My body will be in that airplane just like my student's will be, and I want to check everything first hand and make sure it is in good shape to fly. After all, these are STUDENTS that I'm flying with. Students are prone to miss things. Not that I'm not, but if there are two eyes checking everything, it gives us a much greater chance to catch anything that should prevent us from conducting a safe flight.

Once again, if your instructor doesn't always join you on your preflight inspection, it doesn't make them a bad instructor, so don't go and confront them about it. I'm just telling you why I do. I'd love to hear comments.

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving!!

VOR Station Passage Discussion

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:21:00 +0000

During an instrument lesson with one of my students a couple weeks back, he asked me an interesting question while shooting the LOC BC RWY 23 approach into KHUF.

If you look at this approach, obviously it is a localizer back course approach, but his question was concerning the final approach fix. When you look very close, you will notice that the FAF is defined by the VOR station passage. The VOR happens to sit off away from the back course of the localizer, slightly to the left about 1/8 of a mile or so.

In the 172s we fly, we have dual VOR receivers. So to set up for this approach we must set our CDI 1 to track the localizer, obviously. But to assure that we can identify the FAF, we must set our CDI 2 to get the TO/FROM flip, which identifies station passage, and the FAF. At this point, we start our time, and descend to our MDA of 980 ft.

So anyway, my student's question was this. "It doesn't matter what I have the #2 CDI set on, because I'll get the TO/FROM flip no matter what, right?" I then told him no, and that it had to be set up on the final approach course, because you'll get a good clean and fast flip that way. But then I thought, wait a minute, is that right?

That night I went home on got on my trusty little tool, Tim's Air Navigation Simulator, to experiment with this matter. I hadn't studied how this worked in a while, so it was time for a good refresher. Turns out I was right, you do need to set the #2 CDI to match your final approach course, but here is why.

I learned that whatever course you have your CDI set up to, the TO/FROM flip occurs when you pass an imaginary line perpendicular to your dialed in course. For instance, here is our setup on this approach.

You can see, we have our avionics set up to simulate the LOC BC RWY 23 approach that we were practicing that day. We have the CDI 1 representing the localizer back course final approach course, and the VOR (FAF) in the CDI 2 just adjacent to the approach course. The lines indicate the radial we have tuned in.

This next picture will show some drawing by me indicating with this setup on the avionics, where you will get to and from indications on the #2 CDI. The solid lines indicate the radials we have tuned in, but the dashed line indicates where we will get a TO/FROM flip. As you can see, even if you are slightly off course, you will still get a flip. In fact you will get a flip anywhere you cross this dashed line, even if you are not on the dialed in radial.

However, let's say that we weren't paying attention to what we had our CDI 2 set on, and we left it on say a 320. Let's take a look at what that scenario would look like.

You can see that you would never get a flip on this setup. If you tracked the localizer all the way in, with a 320 set up on #2 CDI, you would have a FROM indication all the way in. Let's say you had #2 set up on a 140, and you happened to drift off course before you hit the FAF. You would actually get a TO/FROM flip way before you crossed the VOR.

Needless to say this would be very dangerous. You would actually start your descent way before hitting the FAF. They publish those altitudes for a reason, and if you descended before hitting the FAF, you could have some lovely radio towers, or buildings waiting for your arrival. :)

Bottom line is this. Any time you are identifying the FAF by an off course VOR, make sure you have the the published final approach course dialed in on all avionics so you get a TO/FROM flip at the right spot.

Required Inspections for IFR Flight

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:07:00 +0000

Do you have an easy way to remember the required tests and inspecions for IFR flight? Any time we are required to use rote memory to remember academic material, acronyms are a useful tool.

I just came up with one while looking through the Instrument Oral Exam Guide from ASA for the required tests and inspections before we can legally fly IFR. Here you go. A1ATPVE. Kind of has a ring to it. Here's what it stands for.

A-Annual inspection every 12 calendar months.
1-100 Hr inspection every 100 hrs if flown for hire.
A-Altimeter inspection every 24 calendar months.
T-Transponder inspection every 24 calendar months.
P-Pitot/static system inspection every 24 calendar months.
V-VOR accuracy test every 30 days.
E-ELT battery every 12 calendar months.

There you go. Just remember A1 Sauce, Airline Transport Pilot, and I don't know anything for the VE. Let me know if it works out for you.

"Practice Approaches" in IMC

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 18:11:00 +0000

On a lesson a few weeks ago, I decided it was time to introduce one of my instrument students to IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions). It rained on and off all day long, and the ceilings were hanging around the 1,000 ft mark, give or take 200-300 ft.

By about the time our lesson rolled around, there was a pretty decent break in the weather and the ceiling consistently remained around 1,200 ft. There was very very light rain falling at the time, and the radar showed just very light stuff in the vicinity of the field.

I figured these would be good enough conditions for him to get in some practice approaches and if need be I could take over if he got flustered with being in the clouds.

We filed IFR, conducted our preflight, got our clearance and took off. Then wouldn't you know it, we got up there and ATC comes on to tell us that visibilities have reduced to 1/2 mile and the ceiling had dropped substantially (I think to around 500 ft). Also our flight school Chief CFI had called our approach facility and gave us instructions to land because these conditions were below the minimums for the flight school (1,000 & 3).

Now granted, this was far from any sort of emergency situation, but at that point, I knew that this was no longer a training flight. This was real IFR, and we were no longer doing "practice approaches." I took the controls after ATC told us to abandon the VOR approach we were doing and gave us vectors for an ILS. My student was doing fine, but I wanted the controls at that point.

The point of the story is that "practice approaches" in IFR conditions are not practice approaches at all. They are the real thing.

Now I do think it is definitely important for all instrument students to see IMC as much as possible before the checkride, because it is a lot different than being under the hood. Just remember that when you actually file IFR and get up in the clouds, it's time to step it up a notch or two, because this is the real deal. Make sure you are in fact proficient on instruments any time you plan on getting in the clouds. Bottom line...IMC deserves our respect.

Night Engine Failure Strategy & Discussion

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:57:00 +0000

A couple nights ago, while on a night cross country flight I was wondering what we would really do if we happened to lose our engine power. Strategy for putting a powerless plane down at night is a subject that is rarely discussed, which is why I thought it would make for a good topic of discussion.

I can't write about this topic without stating up front how extremely rare that complete and unpreventable loss of engine power is at any time, let alone at night. However, it is something we should be prepared for in case it does happen.

There is of course a classic saying one of my professors always said when referring to an emergency landing at night, and I'm sure it has been quoted by many an aviator over time. "Flip your landing light on, and if you don't like what you see, turn it off."

Makes for a good chuckle of course, but seriously, what is a good strategy for engine out operations at night. A question like this, as well as any other, should always start with a search through the FAA publications to see their take on it.

The Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3) discusses this subject of Night Emergencies at the end of Chapter 10. First of all, it states that just like any other engine failure, the first thing you should do is maintain positive control of the aircraft and pitch for best glide speed. It then states that that you should attempt to determine the cause of the failure, attempt a restart, and communicate your emergency with ATC if unable to restart. Again, this doesn't vary from what you would do any other time.

The extra considerations for night conditions come in when they mention the following recommendations.

If the condition of the nearby terrain is known, turn towards an unlighted portion of the area. Plan an emergency approach to an unlighted portion.

Consider an emergency landing area close to public access if possible. This may facilitate rescue or help, if needed.

Complete the before landing checklist, and check the landing lights for operation at altitude and turn ON in sufficient time to illuminate the terrain or obstacles along the flightpath. The landing should be completed in the normal landing attitude at the slowest possible airspeed. If the landing lights are unusable and outside visual references are not available, the airplane should be held in level-landing attitude until the ground is contacted.

Those are the FAA's guidelines so let's take a close look at what they are getting at exactly and then I'll throw in my 2 cents. They say if you know the condition of the terrain, aim for the unlighted portion. The key words there are "if it is known." What if you don't know the condition? You may be aiming for a forest, when a perfectly lit street is close by. On the other hand, if you know there is a nice level field underneath you, by all means use it. Landing close to public access is important also. What if you needed medical help after landing? This could mean the difference between waiting two hours for an ambulance or 10 minutes. That could be the difference between life and death. I would immediately turn the landing light on as soon as I knew I had to put it down. The sooner you can see any obstacles, the sooner you may be able to take action to avoid them.

I'm also a firm believer that being a safe and smart pilot is all about leaving yourself as many outs as possible. An out is simply a way out of something that is hazardous or has the potential to become hazardous. For instance, a way out of icing conditions may be the ability to climb above the clouds. A way out of thunderstorm hazards may be the fact that you are staying out of the clouds to increase your ability to see and avoid them.

The cold hard truth is that when you fly at night, you simply lose one of your biggest outs: the ability to see the surface of the Earth so you can choose your landing spot more wisely. Knowing this, what can we do to possibly improve our odds in addition to what the FAA recommends? Here's my advice. Pick a high cruising altitude. This will give you more time to troubleshoot and a greater gliding distance, possibly to an airport. It also wouldn't hurt to choose a route which takes you over or near several other airports along the way. If the engine did fail, wouldn't it be nice to know you had an airport underneath you? Also use VFR flight following or go IFR, even if in VFR conditions. ATC may be able to vector you to a good landing spot.

I hope this sheds some light on the subject and if nothing else, gets you thinking about what your strategy would be for night engine failures. I'm not trying to scare anyone out of flying at night, because I think it can be some of the most pleasant and enjoyable flying that there is. But we always must know that potential hazards that exist whenever we take to the skies, no matter what the conditions.

Cross Country Flight Planning Checklist

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:57:00 +0000

When cross country flight planning, I know that it can be a little overwhelming at times. Between calling for briefings, filling out the nav log, filing the flight plan, familiarizing yourself with the destination airports, and so on, it can get a little hectic, especially when you're trying to cram it all in in a short period of time.

Way back when, after I got my instrument rating, and I was really trying to build up cross country time for my Commercial, I decided it would be a good idea to develop a cross country planning checklist. I mean, why not? We use checklists for flying the airplane. It only makes sense to make a checklist for this workload intensive task before we hop in the plane. Besides I needed something to help simplify the process.

We use checklists to make sure we don't leave anything out, and that's exactly why I developed this. I give this to my students, and believe you all should use one as well. Here's the one I use and in this order.

1. Obtain an overall weather picture of the entire region (morning news, Weather Channel, internet, etc.)

2. Select destination based on weather conditions.

3. Select most practical route (check for IFR preferred routes).

4. Check NOTAMs for navigational aids to confirm the flight can be completed according to the selected route.

5. Select checkpoints, measure distances, and fill in navigation log.

6. Fill in true course figures, for all segments of flight.

7. Study weather charts to obtain a thorough understanding of current and forecast weather conditions.

8. Select cruise altitude considering winds aloft, cloud tops, freezing level, turbulence, PIREPs, etc.

9. Obtain weather briefing from Flight Service and make go/no-go decision.

10. Determine alternate airports(s) if necessary.

11. Become familiar with airports of intended landing, with information such as runway lengths and slopes, communication frequencies, airport elevations, traffic pattern altitudes, equipment required for airspace to be entered, etc.

12. Calculate course heading(s) and ground speed(s) and fill in navigation log.

13. Calculate density altitude, takeoff and landing distances, weight and balance, and necessary performance figures from charts.

14. Fill in remaining times to calculate time enroute, and select point to start descent.

15. Calculate total fuel burn and fill in navigation log.

16. File your flight plan.

Phew! There you have it. There really is a lot to do before a cross country flight isn't there? Yes, there is, but you know what? This is the right way to do it. Never forget the importance of all of this planning. Of course it can be a bit tedious, but if things start to go a little sour in the air, you may end up being sorry you didn't plan sufficiently.

Print this off and use it. Modify it and put in your own notes if you wish, but make sure you get this stuff done one way or another. When you get in the cockpit, you'll feel confident and more ready to handle any sort of curveballs that should arrive. Good luck and have fun. Cross country flights are why we learn to fly and are my favorite part of being a pilot. So long!

Go Visit Your Local Tower Today

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:04:00 +0000

That's right, if you have not made it a point to take a tour of your local control tower (if you have one), you need to look into doing this. I just took one of my students up to our local tower and TRACON facility yesterday, and it was downright impressive.

With security the way it is nowadays around airports, I'm not sure if everyone out there would even be able to do this or not, but definitely check into it. Ask around your airport if anyone else has been to the tower before. I have the luxery of working at an airport that serves a flight school, and there isn't any airline traffic at our facility. Therefore our controllers are very encouraging to us to visit so we can see how it all works up close and in person.

Our freindly host (a veteran controller at KHUF) showed us around the tower, explained a little bit about what seemed like the 50 computer screens, talked to us about handoffs from approach to tower and other facilities nearby, explained the tower radar screen, and more. The coolest part was that he did this all while working and talking to aircraft on the radios!!

Then we got to go down to the TRACON room. (Our airport is Class D, but also has an approach facility, that usually coincides with Class C). There were three big radar screens with each of them occupied with a different controller, and like the tower, many many computer screens with various information. I could have sat there and just watched them do their work for about an hour or two just because it was that interesting.

The main point is that it gave me a tremendous new respect for what these guys do for us, and it was really cool to get a glimpse into this whole other side of the aviation industry. Go visit your local tower today!

Tim's Air Navigation Simulator

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:44:00 +0000

Just like MS Flight Simulator, there is another useful tool you can use if you don't have the setup to run MSFS. This one is just a bare bones, basic navigation simulator that you can use on your computer, and a few keys on the keyboard.

It is called Tim's Air Navigation Simulator, and you can access it here: http://www.visi.com/~mim/nav/. I've used this many times while working on my instrument rating and CFII. It has really come in handy. You basically fly the plane with the arrow keys on your keyboard, and you have two instruments that you can set to be a DG, HSI, RMI, CDI, or ADF. You can practice VOR and NDB procedures for basic instrument work. I really like to use it when practicing holds. You can even set a wind out of any direction and velocity. This is excellent to use for holds, and getting the hang of NDB navigation. I'm telling you, try this thing out. It is very useful. So long.

The Power of MS Flight Simulator

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:00:00 +0000

If you’ve been in flight training for any significant amount of time, and haven’t ever been much of a user of Microsoft Flight Simulator, now is the time to make that change. Even if you don’t have a computer that can take advantage of all of the fancy graphics and visual effects, you can still use this as a valuable tool while learning to fly.

It is “unreal,” how realistic this “game” has become. The truth is, it’s not a game if you make it into something more. This program has advanced into an almost lifelike and very realistic simulation. I mean check out this YouTube video to get an idea how cool this program is.

Pretty awesome, huh? I have owned MSFS 5, 98, 2000, 2002, and 2004 versions. I haven’t branched out and bought FSX yet, mostly because 2004 is so realistic that it still serves all of my purposes. The power, really comes in when using it to work on instrument training. You can set weather conditions to anything you want. I would never take my students out and takeoff in zero zero conditions, but hey, why not try it on FS?? You can really put your skills to the test. I like to set it to low ceilings and visibilities, but also throw in some nasty crosswinds or turbulence as well.

You can then file IFR on the flight planner, and get some really good practice with ATC procedures. Pull out your approach plates, and request practice approaches. Get vectors, or why not do the full approach? Request a hold, fly the published missed, take a cross country, or anything else you can conjure up in your mind.

The point is this. While physically you’re not sitting in an airplane, you are still practicing nearly the same procedures that you will in real life. And for you VFR only guys, there’s no reason why you can’t practice your slow flight, stalls, steep turns, or even take VFR cross countries. Branch out to other areas and fly at basically any airport in the world to break up the monotony and get used to procedures other than your home airport.

You can pick up FSX on eBay for less than $20. If you have a computer, make the investment. It's worth it. So long.

IFR Workload Reduction

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:00:00 +0000

Becoming a solid instrument pilot is all about becoming a master at workload management. Picture this. You’re being vectored for an ILS approach, and you’re in the soup (instrument meteorological conditions, “IMC”). ATIS has reported ½ mile visibility with heavy rain, and you hear the controller speaking with other aircraft as they execute their missed approach procedures because the visibility was too poor to land. You can’t see a thing outside your windows except the color of dark grayish rain filled clouds, which are soaking the windows quite nicely. You’re getting knocked around pretty bad in the clouds, and you look out the window and see a thin layer of ice forming on the wing strut.

Sounds like a good time doesn’t it? I guess that all depends on what you consider a “good time,” but let me ask you this. What’s the first thing you should be concentrating on at this point? Let me answer: FLYING THE AIRPLANE. What’s the last thing?? How about fumbling around with approach plates, twisting dials, trying to identify a localizer, trying to brief the approach just before crossing the final approach fix? I’d rather focus 100% of my time making sure I was flying the best approach I could, so I had a good chance of getting the bird on the ground safely.

You absolutely must have every single task completed that you can possibly complete as early as possible when flying IFR, so that when the time comes that the weather turns sour and the stress level starts to rise, you’re prepared mentally to handle it.

What does this mean? For starters, pick up ATIS for your destination airport ASAP. Before takeoff, I put the destination ATIS/ASOS in the COM2 radio so I can listen in as soon as possible. This can literally mean on short IFR hops that right after takeoff I’ve already got the destination ATIS/ASOS while we’re still in the climb. That way, I know what approach to expect, and I can begin studying the approach plate shortly after.

I like to scan the approach plate for my frequencies and the final approach course so I can get that all punched in. After the initial scan and frequencies are set, I conduct a thorough brief of the whole approach, and commit some items to memory. This includes minutes, minimums, and missed. This includes minutes from the FAF to the MAP, DH or MDA, and the missed approach procedure.

For the approach plate itself, make sure you have a technique to hold the approach plate, so it is not a distraction. This can be on your kneeboard, a clipboard on the yoke, etc. Just holding the approach procedure booklet in your lap usually won’t do.

Hopefully these suggestions will help you on your way to reducing your workload as approach time rolls around. The approach is usually the most stressful of the entire flight. Help reduce it, by following this advice. I’d love to hear your comments or suggestions. Feel free to post comments. So long.

IFR Radio Communications, A Whole New Ballgame: Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:00:00 +0000

Well you’ve managed to catch your clearance on the ground to your destination airport or some other clearance limit. Up until this point, you’ve most likely spoken with the ground/clearance delivery, tower, and departure controllers working the airspace at your departure airport.
Now let’s look at how to handle the approach and landing communications while on an IFR flight plan.

Approach

As you proceed closer to your destination airport, you will eventually be handed off to the facility which serves your destination airport. On your initial callup, be sure to tell them you have the current weather, and tell them which approach you’ll be expecting to conduct. Here is an example callup.

Hulman Approach, Cessna 536HF, level 5,000, with Delta, looking for the back course 23 approach.

You will either be on radar vectors or be conducting the full approach, depending on where you are or what you’ve requested. Be sure to adjust your avionics accordingly to have them set up for the approach as soon as possible.

ATC may also require you to report certain positions during your approach (especially during practice approaches). This could either be the IAF, procedure turn outbound or inbound, FAF inbound, etc.

While approaching a controlled airport, ATC will simply hand you off to tower, usually somewhere around FAF inbound. When approaching an uncontrolled field, you’ll be instructed to change to advisory frequency.

Eventually you will be given your approach clearance which allows you to conduct the procedure published on your approach plate. This will usually consist of a turn to a certain heading, and an altitude to descend and maintain until you are established on a segment of the approach. They will then clear you for the approach. Be sure to read back the heading, altitude, and the approach you are cleared for. An example clearance could sound like this.

Cessna 536HF, turn right heading 330, descend and maintain 2,200 until established on the final approach course, cleared for the NDB Runway 36 approach at Sullivan County, change to advisory frequency is approved, cancel IFR on the ground via this frequency or Flight Service.

Your readback should sound like this.

330, 2,200 until established, cleared for the NDB 36, change to advisory, and we’ll cancel on the ground, 6HF.

This gives them everything they need to know. You would then conduct the procedure on your approach plate, and call up advisory frequency and announce your location and intentions just as you would on a VFR flight.

If you are at a controlled airport, they’ll instruct you to contact tower sometime after clearing you for the approach. If you’re doing the ILS 5 at KHUF, your initial call could sound like this.
Hulman Tower, Cessna 536HF ILS 5.

Tower would then eventually clear you to land or give you missed approach instructions if you are doing practice approaches. Repeat back your instructions.

Landing

After being cleared to land or given missed approach instructions, you will continue the approach and either land, or go missed if the weather is bad enough. Practice approaches will always terminate with a missed approach unless it is your last one.

Always report going missed to tower if at a controlled airport. Tower will then tell you to contact departure. If going missed at an uncontrolled field, announce this via CTAF, and contact departure (the last controller you spoke with) as soon as possible (before entering controlled airspace again).

If you are able to land, you need to make sure your IFR flight plan gets cancelled. At controlled fields, tower will close the plan for you. At uncontrolled fields, you need to make sure it gets cancelled yourself. You may cancel IFR when you are on the ground or in VFR conditions. Cancel using the frequency ATC told you to use, or call Flight Service to cancel.

Summary

There it is. That should hopefully get you on your way to sounding like a seasoned professional. Take pride in your radio communications. As time goes on, you'll get more and more satisfaction and confidence from working with those guys on the ground. They are what make the system work like it does. As we say on the radio, So Long.

IFR Radio Communications, A Whole New Ballgame: Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:33:00 +0000

If you’ve read my last post about IFR radio procedures, you should have a bit of a better understanding of ground communications before departure. Now let’s take a look at right after takeoff, and the enroute phase of your flight.

After Departure

At some point after becoming airborne, ATC will instruct you to contact departure. The whole idea when being handed off from one controller to another is to inform them of the instructions you were assigned by the last controller. This gets you both on the same page as to what you are doing and what you are expecting as your flight progresses.

You will then switch to the departure control frequency assigned in your initial clearance, and tell the departure controller you are flying the instructed heading and altitude. When IFR your initial callup should sound like this.

Hulman Departure, Cessna 536HF if climbing through 1,500 for 4,000, heading 180.

When conducting practice approaches VFR, you were most likely not assigned an altitude, so you can say this.

Hulman Departure, Cessna 536HF climbing through 1,500, VFR, heading 180, looking for vectors for the ILS 5.

If you are on VFR flight following on a cross country to Champaign, you could say this.
Hulman Departure, Cessna 536HF is VFR to Champaign.

The idea is to just communicate and let them know you are complying with the instructions given to you by the ground and tower controller.

Enroute

Enroute communications is pretty straight forward. Usually you will just be handed off from controller to controller as you pass through the different terminal areas or ARTCC sectors. The procedures are similar to the departure controller. If you are still in a climb or descent, while being handed off to another controller, be sure to state this in your first transmission. If you are at your assigned cruise altitude, perhaps 5,000, say you are “level at 5,000.”

Before you reach the ATC facility which serves your destination airport, you need to listen to the weather at your destination airport. This will either be ATIS or ASOS, and the frequency is listed on any approach plate for the destination airport. It is a good idea to copy this information down on your kneeboard, and if the airport has an ATIS, take special note of the current approach in use, so you can begin to set up your avionics and brief the approach. Commit as much of that approach to memory as possible in the enroute phase while the workload is still low. The more time you have to study the approach before you conduct it, the better approach you will fly.

The next post will pick up with the approach phase and finish up after the landing. So long.

IFR Radio Communications, A Whole New Ballgame: Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:11:00 +0000

It seems like one of the biggest problems my instrument students have is learning how to communicate with ATC in the IFR environment. After all, learning to talk on the radios in certain phases of a flight can be a little intimidating to a private pilot, who is just starting to work on their instrument rating. (I know it is because I remember how tricky it was for me.)

I'll start by saying that the biggest way to become smooth on the radios is practice, practice, practice. But beyond the act of doing it yourself, you can gain a tremendous amount of help with your "lingo" by listening to the pros. Check out http://www.liveatc.net/ and navigate to any Class B airport's Clearance Delivery or Approach/Departure section. You can hear clearance after clearance and readback after readback until you can't stand it any longer. This will get the pilot's language burned into your brain.

I've also decided to post a guide that I typed up for my students that should ease the learning curve when getting started on your way to that instrument rating. Let's start with discussing ground communications, and I'll post the remaining phases of flight in the next couple of posts.

Before Departure

If flying on an IFR flight plan, the first thing you’ll need to do is pick up your IFR clearance. Listen to ATIS, and call up ground (or clearance delivery if the airport has one) and tell them you’re ready to copy your clearance. An example call up would sound like this.

Hulman Ground, Cessna 536HF is at the Air Center ramp with Alpha, ready to copy IFR to Evansville.

Your clearance will contain certain elements using the CRAFT acronym.

C – Clearance limit. This is the furthest point which ATC will clear you. Most of the time it is your destination airport, but if delays are expected, it will be a fix where you’ll be expected to hold.
R – Route. This is the route in which you’re supposed to fly to your clearance limit. Many times they’ll say as filed, but sometimes they will give you instructions such as radar vectors to an airway, or a certain published departure procedure.
A – Altitude. Usually ATC will clear you to an intermediate altitude, and tell you to expect your requested cruising altitude (from your flight plan) in 10 minutes.
F – Frequency. This is the departure frequency.
T – Transponder. Your squawk code.

Here is an example of a clearance.

Cessna 536HF is cleared to Evansville as filed, climb and maintain 4,000, expect 6,000 10 minutes after departure, departure frequency is 125.45, squawk 4523.

Copy the clearance on your kneeboard using some form of shorthand, and then repeat the clearance back to the controller. If you repeat it correctly, they’ll say “readback correct”, and give you taxi instructions.

If you are at an uncontrolled airport, you should contact the clearance delivery frequency on your charts, or you may even have to pick up your clearance on your cell phone, if you cannot reach ATC from the plane. They’ll give you a release time, which means your clearance is released into the system and you are allowed to takeoff. They may also give you a clearance void time, in which your clearance will be void if you do not takeoff and contact ATC before that time. A clearance from an uncontrolled airport will sound something like this.

Cessna 536HF is cleared to the Evansville as filed, climb and maintain 4,000, expect 6,000 10 minutes after departure, contact departure on 125.45 before entering controlled airspace, squawk 4523, clearance void if not off by 1930Z, time now is 1910Z.

After reading back your clearance, you’ll then switch to CTAF and communicate with other aircraft in the vicinity of the airport announcing your intentions. After departing, you should then contact departure before entering controlled airspace (usually before climbing through 700 ft AGL, the floor of class E, consult the sectional chart to be sure).

For practices approaches, just call up ground like any other VFR callup and tell them you would like practices approaches, and give them your first approach request.

For VFR flight following, ATC needs your destination airport, and your cruising altitude. They will then give you a squawk code and a departure frequency.

For IFR departures when clearing you for takeoff, ATC will always give you a heading to fly after takeoff. Sometimes it is “runway heading.” In this case, fly the heading of the runway you just departed from. Do not compensate for wind drift to try to maintain runway centerline, just fly the heading you are instructed to fly. As usual, wait until you are 500 ft AGL, or beyond the departure end of the runway (whichever comes last) before turning to your assigned heading.

That should help you while on the ground. Check back for my next post on the other phases of flight. Before long we'll have you sounding like the big dogs ; )

Hello, and thanks for visiting!

noreply@blogger.com (Brandon) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 01:16:00 +0000

Hello fellow aviators, and welcome to my blog! I've started this mostly as a hobby, that will hopefully allow me to meet and connect with other pilots that fill the skies, such as yourself. I also would like to help pilots improve their flying skills by sharing what I know.

I don't know it all my any means, but I do feel like I have gathered a decent amount of expertise in my years of flying that I believe would be valuable to pass along to others who may be working on that next certificate or rating. I look forward to hearing from you all, so feel free to post comments, or write me.

Happy flying!