Dead Reckoning

Among the first things student pilots learn is the importance of a thorough walkaround and a California man now has plenty of time to ponder the wisdom of that precaution. Police in Compton, Calif., allege that Troy Long, of Bellflower, described as a “former student pilot,” pulled a gun on staff at the Compton/Woodley Airport when they discovered him taking keys from the hook. They say he then bolted for a Cessna 152 parked outside. As staff called the authorities, Long started the aircraft and made good his escape — except for one thing. He didn’t unhook the chain holding the tail to the concrete.

 

When police arrived they found the 152 straining against its restraint. They had guns, too, and the rest was by the book. Long was arrested without further incident and booked on suspicion of air piracy, which can carry a life sentence.

VFRMAP – Digital Aeronautical Charts.

You can look at flight charts across the US, switch it to High or Lo IFR, road map, etc.

H/T Jeff

I’ve wasted spent my fair share of time playing computer games keeping my flying skills up on computer flight simulators and I always wanted to set up a cool flight simulator with a nice yoke, rudder peddles and multi-engine controls.  So far the most that I’ve done is get a good joystick that has a twist grip for the rudder and hook up a few extra speakers.   Never in my wildest dreams did I consider doing this.

 

Mounting a camera on the outside of an aircraft – Golf Hotel Whiskey.

On the new reality show that I’m on “DANGEROUS FLIGHTS” we mounted up to four go Pro’s on our planes and never had any issues or noticed any decrease in performance.  I’m sure we paid a penalty in true airspeed but it was negligible.