Category: Flying

Meteorite report grounds firefighting aircraft in Colorado

 

I have no words to express how I feel about this, Ok maybe a few.  I could go on and on about how much I hate the way society is trying to make every aspect of life risk free and ensure we all arrive at death in perfect condition but this one takes the cake.  Some brain dead official hears about an airline pilot reporting a meteorite and decides to ground all the fire fighting aircraft in the interest of “SAFETY”  Never mind the absurdity of trying to ground planes in time to avoid a freaking METEOR I just wish I could have been there when the pilots found out why they weren’t going flying.

A short video from Capnaux of what it’s like to be an airline pilot.  When I first quit my office job as a property manager and took up flying my eventual goal was to become an airline pilot.  I worked long and hard toward that goal but along the way I started to be seduced by the adventure of general aviation and the lure of the airlines started to wane.  What finally killed the dream was a flight from Cyprus to London in the jump seat of an Airbus 310.  I’d just finished ferrying an Aerostar, the plane not the mini-van, and was lucky enough to get a ride up in the cockpit with the pilots, obviously this was before 9/11.  The beginning of the flight was great.  The start up was filled with lots of switches thrown and knobs turned. Check lists read off with “Roger, check and engaged” reply’s flying around the cockpit.  The co-pilot pushed the throttles forward and the big jet shot into the air.  WOW! what a blast! it was like being on the flight deck of a shuttle launch, for about 30 seconds.  Then the co-pilot engaged the auto pilot, slid his seat back and started filling out paperwork.  And that was pretty much it for the rest of the flight.  The captain was a skydiver so he and I talked jumping for a while but when the conversation dragged I went back into the cabin and drank beer with the flight attendants.  I went back into the cockpit for the landing and was disappointed to see that they left the autopilot on until short final.  The co-pilot did the landing and even though he’d only flown a grand total of 2 minutes that day the captain still spent the entire time taxiing back to the gate bitching him out for the shitty landing.  After thanking the crew for the ride I walked off the Airbus vowing to never ever take a job as an airline pilot.  I’m not saying it’s the worst job in the world, it’s just not for me.

 

Good stall spin video.

 

Russian plane ‘downed after pilot’s attempts at aerobatics’ – Telegraph.

Splashing a new airliner all over the side of a mountain while showing off for prospective buyers isn’t going to look good on the resume.

I would love to have something like this to work on.  It’s the same thing as an Airstream trailer only lots bigger and WAY cooler.  I wonder how much he paid for it and how in the world he got it out there.

 

Do Cirrus pilots have a safety problem? – Golf Hotel Whiskey.

A good article about how Cirrus pilots think that just because they are rich enough to afford the best plane on the market, in their opinion, that makes them great pilots.  I think part of the problem is student pilots these days go to flight schools with brand new aircraft, have young clean cut instructors in shiny uniforms and only fly in good weather.  They never run into any real problems during training and are totally unprepared when it happens out in the real world.  The sky doesn’t care how much money you have in the bank or how beautiful your wife is, only how good a pilot you are.

The list of things I want to buy when I win the lottery is starting to get kind of long and on the top of the list is an Extra 300, or comparable aerobatic plane.  I would love to own a plane that you could yank and bank almost as hard as you want.  It would be nice to have two seats so I can take my friends up, and make then sick.

 

I was hired to ferry a Super Cub on tundra tires from Florida to Minnesota last spring and after the trip I really wish I’d turned the trip down.  I had so much fun in that plane I don’t think I’ll ever be happy again until I have one of my own.  Years ago a friend of mine used to let me borrow his cub whenever I wanted to and he encouraged me to touchdown on the water with it.  It just had regular wheels on it and even though he did it with me it it I never had the guts to do it myself.  I got within inches multiple times but I would always chicken out.  I think with tundra tires I’d be brave enough…..or not.

Are you a pilot who cancels too many flights? – Golf Hotel Whiskey.

John Zimmerman has written an interesting post for Air Facts Journal in response to comments from their “Go or no go” series to ask the question: Do you cancel too many flights? To first put things in perspective: John says that the comments the series has received are revealing because a number of pilots appear to be uncomfortable flying in anything less than clear skies and unlimited visibility. In fact, he might even go so far as to say that the aviation community has beaten everyone over the head with the risk management stick so much that some pilots are afraid to fly in IFR.

 

The article covers a trend I’ve been seeing in aviation for the last few years, namely the wuss factor.  Pilots these days are so safety conscious they won’t go an “take a look”.  I talk to guys who worked hard for their IFR rating but still only fly when it’s clear and a million.  I’m not saying they should go up and do something stupid or beyond their abilities, but come on, go get your plane wet once in a while.

If you’re a pilot who use’s the autopilot a lot you should take the time to watch this video.  The speaker makes some great points about how some pilots get so dependent on the autopilot that it actually increases work load in some critical situations instead of reducing it.  I personally never use the autopilot to fly approaches, even in low instrument conditions.  I like to hand fly the plane as much as possible not only to keep my skills up but because I like flying approaches and don’t want to share the fun with a damn electronic box.