pfactor | flying and stuff

Chopper 101 - a guide for fixed-wing pilots

2007-10-07T20:23:00Z

There are a lot of helicopter operations at our local airports, and as a fixed-wing pilot I found this article called Chopper 101 extremely helpful.

It explains why helicopters do things like fly right traffic when airplanes are flying left traffic, what a helicopter traffic pattern looks like (and therefore where to look for a helicopter in the pattern), and what an autorotation is.

That article should be required reading for all non-helicopter pilots.

AngelMap source code available

2007-10-06T23:55:10Z

The source code and documentation for AngelMap is now available on the new AngelMap project page hosted at RubyForge. The code is released as open source under the GNU General Public License.

The project page also provides a place to report bugs, request features, or post to forums about AngelMap.

AngelMap Released

2007-09-27T05:02:01Z

Nancy and I have been members of Angel Flight West for just over a year now. It’s an organization that links up volunteer pilots with people who need air transportation for medical or humanitarian reasons. Pilots review a list of mission requests and choose which ones to volunteer for. The problem is the list is … just a list. I wanted to see the list of available missions on a map.

To make a long story short, I developed an application called AngelMap which plots the Angel Flight West mission list on a Google Map. Please check it out and let me know what you think. Either post a comment to this article, or drop me a line via the contact form.

Alternative Feed URL

2007-09-13T21:36:12Z

For some reason, Google Reader doesn’t seem to pick up the RSS feed when you point it to http://pfactor.com/rss. It does work if you point it to http://feeds.feedburner.com/pfactor. I’ll try to figure out why this is, but in the mean time if you’re having problems with the RSS feed you can try using http://feeds.feedburner.com/pfactor and see if that works for you.

Sunrise Flight

2007-09-09T03:26:17Z

We’re still in the process of breaking in the new engine. It’s got about 15 hours on it and still running as smooth as silk. Today’s plan was to get up early and get in the air right around sunrise. The air would be nice and cool, plus the early start would help us avoid the flurry of activity that is typical for a beautiful Saturday morning like this one.

Switching to the Mac

2007-09-08T20:25:54Z

I don’t know what really made me do it. It was probably a combination of curiosity, those hilarious Mac vs. PC commercials on TV, and the fact that it was time to upgrade my home computer. I know several people, who (just like me) were long-time Windows users, and have switched to the Mac and simply love it. They said things like, “Things just work,” and “Once you go Mac, you’ll never go back.” Although these are people whose opinions I trust, I was still somewhat skeptical as I clicked the “add to cart” button on Apple’s online store.

New Engine: First Test Flight

2007-08-30T00:07:18Z

After what seemed like forever, the Lycoming factory rebuilt engine is finally on the Mooney and the first test flight went off without a hitch on August 13th. Well, that’s not 100% true. There was a hitch, but not with the engine.

Engine Update

2007-07-14T16:10:30Z

The good news is the factory rebuilt engine arrived on schedule, and in great condition. The other good news is the propeller and governor came back from overhaul with no problems. There’s always a chance that the propeller overhaul shop will find a crack or corrosion in the blades that requires replacing the entire propeller.

The bad news is when the mechanics pulled the old engine off, and they inspected the engine mount they found one of the lower U-shaped brackets on the mount was weak and it actually broke off in the mechanic’s hand as he inspected it.

Weather Radar: Check the Fine Print

2007-06-18T21:28:26Z

On one particularly beautiful Saturday morning, in preparation for a local flight with a student, I obtained most of my weather information by just looking out the window. The sun had risen above the peaks to the east and the sky was bright blue canvas devoid of clouds. The large American flag that I use for my visual wind check was relaxing against the flag pole. Today would be a great morning to fly, and perfect conditions for my soon-to-solo student. When I checked the weather radar image on ADDS, I was surprised to find lots of activity on the display. That couldn’t be right — radar only shows precipitation, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. What was going on?

Why Don't You Write?

2007-05-29T03:34:13Z

You haven’t seen any flying stories here for a while because we’ve been dealing with some maintenance issues with the Mooney. Here’s a quick update for those who have been wondering what we’ve been up to.