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Kategorie: Aviation at large

LiveATC

LiveATC

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Visibility: undetermined
Temperature: 19°C
QNH: 1013hPa
Location: subway
Equipment: the mighty iPhone

I am listening to American 142 heavy being cleared for take-off from runway 31 right by New York departure control. A Boeing 777-200 from JFK to London Heathrow. I understand about every other word of the fast exchange of information, carried out by trained professionals with a lot of routine on a less than clear connection.

The voices in my head are thousands of miles and half a dozen time zones away and are brought to me by LiveATC.net on the mighty iPhone. LiveATC is a free service that lets you listen in on ATC, the Air Traffic Control.

Luftsportgerät

I am working on my radio license at the moment. Every pilot has to have one of several levels of radio licenses in order to be able to participate in the elaborate system of communication in the air. With my sports pilots license I only had a small section of the theory test to cover radio communication. With this limited radio license I can not fly into the controlled airspace of larger airports.

Now I have to get the next license because flying in controlled airspace is part of the requirements for the private pilots license I am working on.

The trick of the efficient radio communication is standardization. There is only a limited number of things I can communicate to ATC. For this I have to use standardized phrases in a standardized order. If everybody knows what can be said, it is much easier to understand what is being said. This makes possible the rapid exchange of information despite interferences on the radio.

For a low time student, this means practice, practice, practice…

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on February 20, 2012 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/liveatc/)

roger, Roger!

roger, Roger!

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Just back form a morning of radio training. My head hurts from reading back winds and headings and from avoiding traps like not requesting clearances to cross over virtual runways.

This is gonna be fun when combined with some flying!

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on November 2, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/roger-roger/)

RE: Bird strike

RE: Bird strike

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The repair work on the “Wild Thing” has started. The engine and the wind screen have been taken off and the aircraft looks rather sad like that.

I am looking forward to finishing the tail wheel endorsement next spring!

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on October 18, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/re-bird-strike/)

Work-Fly-Balance

Work-Fly-Balance

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y tilbo

Visibility: almost unlimited
Temperature: 12°C
QNH: 1034hPa (very high pressure)
Location: EDAY
Equipment: MD3 Rider (D-MALJ)

I am very busy at work right now. I am a new father and I am getting a private pilots license (PPL). My good friend asks me how I do it. I say that flying is the reason I can do it!

I am very flexible at work which means that I am working all the time. Work and private life overlap a lot. I have a work computer and a work phone at home and I answer emails at night. This is my own choice and I am not stressed about the situation as work is my own company and I love what I do.

However, a hobby is good for me. I used to fill idle time with work as I can always find something to do. Now I have an airplane magazine in my pocket and the PPL theory training program on my computer. When I go to the airport, I switch off the mighty iPhone. I can not check email and I can not be reached.

The aircraft demands my full attention and I enjoy focusing on something not work related. It relaxes me and I am energized and in a good mood for the rest of the day.

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on October 14, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/work-fly-balance/)

Bird strike

Bird strike

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A bird brought down my beloved “Wild Thing” and brings my tail wheel endorsement to a sudden halt! Fortunately nobody was hurt – except for the bird, that is…

The pilot, who flew the plane, is a flight instructor with a lot of experience on the “Wild Thing”. He could land it safely on a field.

Unfortunately the aircraft was damaged quite severely. Until it is repaired, I will not be able to finish the training on the tail dragger.

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on October 6, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/bird-strike/)

Licence talk

Licence talk

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Visibility: about 10 metres
Temperature: 21°C
QNH: undetermined
Location: my desk
Equipment: the trusted Mac

I was at the airport yesterday and talked to two of the other flight schools about a “Private Pilote Licence” (PPL).

I have a “Sports Pilots Licence” (SPL) right now. It lets me fly “ultra light” aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of 475,5 kg. I can fly VFR (visual flight rule) in the day time in Germany and a number of neighboring countries, that Germany has mutual agreements with.

From my SPL I can trasition to a PPL-N, the national version of the private pilot licence. That will let me fly single engine piston aircraft with two seats and a maximum take-off weight of 750 kg. I can fly VFR in the day time in Germany only.

SPL vs PPL

Ultra lights have come a very long way from the “lawn chairs with wings” that they used to be. Modern ultra lights like my trusted “Rider” or the “Wild Thing” are quite capable and very economic. They are fun to fly and range from very simple fun flyers to high tech flying machines. Modern ultra lights can exheed 150 knots cruise speed with retractable gears and adjustable pitch propellers.

In the PPL world, the development is much slower. The reason for that is the very different certification process. It makes the equipment much more expensive which means it is also more expensive to get the PPL and later charter aircraft.

So why do it?

The PPL-N has no big advantage over the SPL in itself. But it does open the door to a whole new range of options which are not available in the ultra light class.

The most obvious change is weight restriction: While I start in a similar weight class, I can get a two ton rating which will allow me to fly larger aircraft. Single engine aircraft with up to two tons covers most of the market. So I will be able to charter airplanes with four or six seats.

I can get extra ratings which will expand possibilities and safety like a rating for night flight, for controlled visual flight and even a rating for instrument flight (IFR).

And some day, in the distant future, I can get the international version of the PPL which will let me charter aircraft all over the world.

So after I have the tail wheel endorsement (which should be soon), I will go back to “ground school” for the PPL theory. Stay tuned for more licence talk!

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on October 3, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/licence-talk/)

RE: when in doubt, don’t!

RE: when in doubt, don’t!

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It was the exhaust manifold!

It was cracked, hence the sound. This may or may not have been a safety issue – but it is a good feeling that I did not imagine the rough sound.

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on September 21, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/re-when-in-doubt-dont/)

when in doubt, don’t!

when in doubt, don’t!

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Visibility: about 50 km
Temperature: 23°C
QNH: 1011hPa
Location: EDAY
Equipment: MD3 Rider (D-MASL)

It is a fair deal: My friend with his American death missile (I borrowed that term from Captain Dave) uses it to shoot us to the airport and I take over from there. The day is nice and the airport is busy.

I pre-flight the trusted “Rider” and he snaps the first pictures. I feel great! We get aboard and I run the engine start check list. All is clear, the starter cranks but the engine does not start. Strange. I try again, nothing.

The Rotax engine usually starts up right away with a very characteristic “bang”. The airplanes of the flight school are used often and are very well maintained. They have two good technicians.

After another one or two attempts, the engine finally come sputtering to life. It runs lousy, though. I decide to keep it running for a bit to see if it was just flooded. And sure enough after a few moments it runs almost normal. Temperature and oil pressure are good but is there a funny sound? I am not sure.

I check in with the tower and the friendly voice on the air asks me if I think my engine sounds funny. That does it for me, we are staying on the ground today.

We are sitting on the terrace of the airport restaurant having a beer instead of a pleasure flight. As we watch everybody else take off, I think that it is not easy to actually cancel a flight when in doubt.

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on September 10, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/when-in-doubt-dont/)

Make better landings

Make better landings

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Light airplanes either have two wheels just a bit behind the center of gravity and one in front, or they have two wheels way in front of the center of gravity and a much smaller one at the tail. This sounds like a minor difference but it does make for dramatically different handling.

In the tricycle configuration, the airplane just rolls on the ground much like a car. On take-off it will accelerate until it has reached a critical speed at which it can be lifted off the ground.

The tail wheel aircraft will start flying from the tail to the front during the take-off run. The steering on the ground is done with the tail wheel. So it handles much like a car in reverse. It takes some practice!

The landing is either straight on the two main wheels until the tail settles down or on all three wheels at the same time. Each way has its own complications, but I learn the three point landings first.

Make better landings

Alan Bramsons book “Make better landings” was recommended to me as a good resource. Unfortunately it has been out of print for a long time but I could find it online. The chapter about tail wheel landings was a very good preparation for the first lesson on the actual thing.

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on August 26, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/make-better-landings/)

Airport test

Airport test

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I will be testing our new Airport!

In July of 2012, the new airport “Berlin Brandenburg International” (BER) will open. Before that, there will be a series of tests for the new terminals.

Yours truly signed up as a volunteer for the test programm and I was accepted. So next February (!) I will spend a day at the new airport pretending to travel.

 

(originally posted on July 3, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/airport-test/)