Touring Machine Company

Foreflight and other iPad apps are great for showing your route on a sectional chart. However, they do not include the entire sectional. This can be problematic when, for example, transiting the Class B airspace over LAX using the Mini-Route. The instructions for each of the routes through the Class B airspace are printed on the side of the chart and not available in the app. In addition, if you are going to use the Special Flight Rules Area transition, you must have a copy of the Terminal Area Chart in the airplane—and Foreflight does not provide the complete chart. However, you can download the charts from the FAA for free (at least for now). The location of the specific charts changes every cycle, but the location where you find them doesn’t.

• Terminal Area Charts
• Sectional Charts
• IFR Enroute Charts

The sectionals and terminal area charts are .tif files and the sectionals are huge ~50Mb. I played around with different ways to display them on the iPad and settled on making PDFs and reading them with Adobe Reader on my iPad and iPod Touch. When you zoom in it can take 30 seconds of so for the image to go from fuzzy to extremely crisp. The IFR charts are provided in .pdf format by the FAA so there is no need to convert them. I used an old version of Photoshop (Photoshop CS) to save the .tif files as Photoshop PDF.

You can download a few that I care about from Dropbox.

• Los Angeles 90 North.pdf Expires 28 JUN 2012
• Los Angeles 90 South.pdf Expires 28 JUN 2012
• Los Angeles TAC 64.pdf Expires 28 JUN 2012
• Los Angeles TAC Reverse 64.pdf Expires 28 JUN 2012
• San Francisco 88 North.pdf Expires 23 AUG 2012
• San Francisco 88 South.pdf Expires 23 AUG 2012
• San Francisco TAC 80 Expires 23 AUG 2012
• San Francisco TAC Reverse 80 Expires 23 AUG 2012

By the way, they display fine on my laptop as well using Preview. Some techniques that didn’t work are:

Reading the PDFs in iBooks caused iBooks to crash—every time.
I tried opening the original TIFFs in the Photos app but they were always fuzzy. It’s possible I wasn’t patient enough to let them render.

As mentioned in other posts, the AIM is useful for finding out all kinds of things about flying. It is not regulatory per se but much of the content involves explanation of the regulations. As they say in the Preface, “This manual is designed to provide the aviation community with basic flight information and ATC procedures for use in the National Airspace System (NAS) of the United States.”. It can be found online at Federal Aviation Administration Aeronautical Information Manual.

I frequently use the AIM to find answers to Knowledge Test questions and general questions of interest. It is sometimes easier for me to search a PDF on my iPad rather than search the web—especially when I don’t have access to the internet. So, I put together a folder of PDFs (one for each chapter) and the compete AIM in one PDF. You can download them from Dropbox. A zipped file (34MB) of the individual Chapters is here and the complete AIM is 47MB and can be found here.

The last change to the AIM was August 25, 2011 and I created the PDFs on October 26, 2011. The title page and relevant portions of the preface were added on January 25, 2012.

On my iPad I installed the Adobe Reader for iPad and it works fine for reading and searching. To get the files onto your iPad (or iPhone) just put the pdf into the files to sync folder for Reader. Sync and you’re done.

Tune, Identify, Twist

That’s how you change to a new VOR and fly a new heading. Newer radios make the Identify part easy by displaying the identifier right on the radio. Old school pilots actually had to learn Morse Code to get their radio license. Nowadays, it’s not particularly useful. But if you want to learn, Aviatrix has some hints.

Part I
Part II

A recent AskTheCFI post had a student pilot asking about the TPA at a field (I66) when it’s not listed in the A/FD. The answers weren’t particularly informative so I thought I’d write short post.

If you look in the A/FD for TPA’s you’ll see that the traffic pattern altitudes are usually either 800′AGl or 1,000′AGL—though because of terrain or noise sensitivity they can be different. In the case of I66 it is not listed in the A/FD (Digital A/FD) so you don’t know exactly what it wii be. The Airplane Flying Handbook states that “The traffic pattern altitude is usually 1,000 feet above the elevation of the airport surface.” As far as I can tell there is no guidance in the FARs or AIM about the TPA at uncontrolled fields. So assume 1,000′ AGL unless otherwise noted.

I’ve found it useful to use the free AOPA iPod app which lists the TPA as 2,034′ MSL (1,001′AGL) for light aircraft and 2,500′ for Heavy aircraft. It’s a lot easier to use than the DIgital A/FD and you can access it in the cockpit. It also has frequencies, noise abatement procedures, sunrise/sunset, contacts, and lots of other good stuff.

As a rough guide for most Cessna tricycle singles, when you get into ground effect you can enter an attitude with the top of the cowling even with the top of the trees in the distance. This will give you a slight nose-up attitude. Then gradually increase backpressure to keep the cowling in that position relative to the horizon until the yoke is in your lap and you run out of elevator authority. Then the plane will touch down nicely. Keep the yoke back to aid with aerodyamic braking. And if you had a crosswind, keep the aileron at the stops into the wind. The common “gotcha” in this situation is knowing when you are in ground effect and ready to begin the flare.

When landing heavy singes, like the Cessna 210, keep a bit of power into the flare. It makes handling much easier and results in a smoother touchdown.

I second, third, fourth… what everyone is saying here. I consider myself a low-timer, so I’ll chime in. You specifically asked about gusts, but I suspect your question falls into the same bucket as crosswind landings. Your mileage may vary, but here are my thoughts: (and corrections are certainly welcome)

On the calm wind days, Step 1 is to really focus on touching down at the right airspeed and on the centerline. A wise man once told me to make that a point of pride, no matter how much experience you have (thanks, Doug).

If you’re reasonably consistent with that, it’s time for step 2: Get a good picture in your mind of what a good crosswind landing looks like. Unless you’re in an Ercoupe, a good crosswind landing will put the nose straight down the runway, with the wings “leaning” into the wind (i.e., a slip). In this configuration, you’ll touch down first on the upwind main, with the other wheels following thereafter. If your instructor has never shown this to you, you might want to get some dual to see it for yourself, but after you see it a time or two, it’s not difficult to start emulating it yourself in mild conditions.

A “eureka moment” for me was to realize that it’s actually pretty hard to crank in TOO MUCH aileron when the first wheel touches down. I’ve never tried it, but I bet it’s impossible to scrape that upwind wing on the ground if you’ve touched down at the appropriate speed (see step 1). So crank in the aileron and it’ll help keep you planted after touchdown.

With a good grasp on those two concepts, it’s no big deal to incrementally work up to higher winds. As for gusts, they just make you dance a little, but the control inputs are essentially the same.

At AMW, we have 60 degree crossing runways. I’ve built confidence by practicing landings on the crosswind runway (which also helps with radio communications and pattern etiquette, by the way), or going to a nearby field. 5 knots crosswind (even at 90 degrees) is barely different than a calm wind landing, so I sort of worked up from there. If you’re doing it right, you’ll find that the biggest defecit is in your confidence, rather than your ability.

By the way, another wise man told me that, contrary to popular belief, it’s okay to slip a Cessna with the flaps down (thanks, Tony). Check your manual, but it probably says that slips w/flaps are not recommended. They’re not prohibited. I’m told that the reason for the “not recommended” is a fairly benign oscillation that can occur if conditions are just right.

Power, Pitch, and Airspeed

There is a wonderful landing exercise I use with my student that instills near-perfect landings nearly every time. This exercise begins on the downwind leg of the traffic pattern.

In a typical training aircraft, e.g., C152, C172, Piper Warrior, setting power at 2,200RPM in trimmed, level flight will produce 90KIAS. Achieving this flight condition while on the downwind leg is the first task.

Approaching the base leg, a power reduction to 1,700RPM with 10 degrees of flaps produces a 600 f/m descent rate along with a slowing to 80KIAS.

Established on base leg, now with 20 degrees of flaps and a slight trim adjustment, further reduces airspeed to 70KIAS.

On final, a power reduction to 1,200RPM and 30 degrees of flaps will place the airplane over the runway threshold at 60 to 65 knots and in the correct flight attitude for a “greaser” landing, every time!

Keep the pattern tight . . .

The power, pitch, airspeed configuration described above assumes a close-in approach instead of the long airliner-type patterns taught by far too many flight schools and CFIs. Simple laws of aerodynamics, instead of yanking, banking, pushing and pulling on the yoke or stick, are used to produce a stabilized approach necessary for smooth landings every time.

“Far too many pilots begin watching the airspeed indicator, looking for takeoff speed. Bad move, in my opinion. I absolutely do not care what the speed is. My only concern is to allow the airplane to lift off and fly when it wants to. How? In the vast majority of these nosedragger aircraft, if you wait until some decent speed (visually, or by ‘feel’), then lift the nose until the nose gear strut extends fully, that attitude will serve you well for the liftoff and first few hundred feet of climb. Play with this a bit, see if you can lift the nose, feel where the strut “tops out,” then where it actually lifts the nosewheel off. There’s a pretty obvious difference in ‘feel’ between those two points. If you do this a couple of times, you will begin to see the exact attitude you need for the liftoff by looking at the cowling and the runway—while you look on down the runway for that deer, or another airplane pulling onto the runway. Once you know that ‘picture,’ you’ll use it, and the little ‘bump’ (as the nose strut reaches full extent) out won’t be needed.”

Hold that attitude after liftoff, eyes still outside…

When you are sure there will be no further contact with the runway, reach for the gear switch, feel it, think about it, and move it, but don’t look at it. If it’s a strange airplane, then wait until you have more ground clearance, then “peek for it.” Get out of the habit of looking down for it. Stay outside the cockpit. Sometime after the gear is up, and before reaching pattern altitude, glance at the airspeed, and make sure you’re roughly at the speed you want. If there’s a small error, who cares? If it’s larger, then make a mental note to correct that attitude on the next takeoff. If it’s really off, you forgot the pitot cover. None of these are problems, for that attitude will keep you out of trouble.”Link

Abort-Analysis Checklist

If we take the above and boil it down into an abbreviated mental checklist of parameters that must be met or we save the day by aborting the takeoff, we get something along the following lines:

Lineup Check

Are the trim tabs, flaps and fuel selector(s) properly positioned? If no, abort. If yes, continue.

Takeoff Roll

At full throttle, is the rpm is in the acceptable static range on a fixed-pitch prop airplane? With a constant-speed prop, are the manifold pressure, rpm and fuel flow where they should be for the elevation and temperature? For a turbocharged engine, are manifold pressure, rpm and fuel flow at redline? If not, abort. If yes, continue.
Airspeed indicator off the peg and moving without jerking within 5 to 10 seconds of going to full power? If no, abort. If yes, continue.
At the mid-field point on the runway, has the airplane reached at least 71 percent of the published speed for raising the nose? If no, abort. If yes, continue.
At the published speed for raising the nose for takeoff, can the yoke/stick be moved aft and does the nose begins to come up? If no, abort. If yes, continue.

It’s up to the airplane to demonstrate to us, as pilot in command, that it is capable of performing on takeoff. It’s up to us to assure that it is doing what it’s supposed to do and, if not, to abort the takeoff and live to fly another time. Aborting a takeoff isn’t a failure on the part of the pilot; it’s a pilot showing the right stuff by recognizing the wrong stuff and taking action to keep people alive. Link

§ 91.113 Right-of-way rules: Except water operations.

(a) Inapplicability. This section does not apply to the operation of an aircraft on water.

(b) General. When weather conditions permit, regardless of whether an operation is conducted under instrument flight rules or visual flight rules, vigilance shall be maintained by each person operating an aircraft so as to see and avoid other aircraft. When a rule of this section gives another aircraft the right-of-way, the pilot shall give way to that aircraft and may not pass over, under, or ahead of it unless well clear.

(c) In distress. An aircraft in distress has the right-of-way over all other air traffic.

(d) Converging. When aircraft of the same category are converging at approximately the same altitude (except head-on, or nearly so), the aircraft to the other’s right has the right-of-way. If the aircraft are of different categories—

(1) A balloon has the right-of-way over any other category of aircraft;

(2) A glider has the right-of-way over an airship, powered parachute, weight-shift-control aircraft, airplane, or rotorcraft.

(3) An airship has the right-of-way over a powered parachute, weight-shift-control aircraft, airplane, or rotorcraft.

However, an aircraft towing or refueling other aircraft has the right-of-way over all other engine-driven aircraft.

(e) Approaching head-on. When aircraft are approaching each other head-on, or nearly so, each pilot of each aircraft shall alter course to the right.

(f) Overtaking. Each aircraft that is being overtaken has the right-of-way and each pilot of an overtaking aircraft shall alter course to the right to pass well clear.

(g) Landing. Aircraft, while on final approach to land or while landing, have the right-of-way over other aircraft in flight or operating on the surface, except that they shall not take advantage of this rule to force an aircraft off the runway surface which has already landed and is attempting to make way for an aircraft on final approach. When two or more aircraft are approaching an airport for the purpose of landing, the aircraft at the lower altitude has the right-of-way, but it shall not take advantage of this rule to cut in front of another which is on final approach to land or to overtake that aircraft.

GND Mode

Setting the ground-speed recognition function that activates airborn/ground modes the GTX 330.

This seems to work only while power is on. It does not remember to go into GND mode on the next flight.

Maneuvering Speed

Many POHs give the maneuvering speed at max gross weight, but the lighter the airplane , the lower V_a. A general rule is to decrease the speed by 1/2 the percentage decrease in weight.

You can find Maneuvering Speed in the POH or on the aircraft’s Type Certificate Data Sheet. For my Cessna 210 it is 135 MPH (117 Knots) at 3,800 lbs. Flying alone with full tanks the weight is about 3,000 lbs. The percentage decrease is 800/3800 = 26%. Divide by 2 to get 13%. A 13% reduction is 117 MPH (102 Kts). Empty weight on the 210 is 2,300 lbs so V_a when empty is reduced by 20% (1500/3800÷2) and is 108 a reduction of 27 MPH. Every 100 lb reduction from max gross weight is about 2 MPH reduction in V_a.

For my Cheorkee 140 maneuvering speed is 129 MPH (112 Knots) at 2,150 lbs. Flying alone, with tanks at the tabs, the weight is about 1,850 lbs. The percentage decrease is 300/2150 = 14%. Divide by 2 to get 7%. A 7% reduction is 120 MPH (104 Kts). That works out to about 3 mph per 100 lbs.

A general rule of thumb then is that, in normal operations, you should reduce V_a by about 2-3 MPH for every 100 lbs below max gross weight.

If you can’t find the maneuvering speed, a general rule of thumb is that it is 1.7 times V_s1 (Clean stall speed). For the 210 V_s1 is 80 so V_a is 136 MPH. For the Cherokee V_s1 is 64 so V_a is 109 MPH. On most airplanes, this speed is around 6:30 on the airspeed indicator.

True vs Magnetic Winds

Text is True
Anything you read (METAR’s, TAF’s, FD’s, Wx Charts) is True
Anything your hear (ATIS, ASOS) is Magnetic

This is a phenomenon that happens frequently in coastal California. John Lindsey’s daily weather report triggered this post. “At 5 a.m. this morning’s low at the Paso Robles Airport was 45 degrees while the temperature at the San Luis Obispo County Airport was 63 degrees. Temperatures at Avila Beach and Diablo Canyon were even warmer, both reporting 68 degrees due to adiabatic heating.”

Here’s the METARs for Paso Robles. Notice how it follows a normal cooling pattern overnight. (We’re Zulu -7.)

KPRB 171653Z 10008KT 10SM CLR 12/09 A3020 RMK A02
KPRB 171553Z 17003KT 5SM BR CLR 07/06 A3019 RMK A02
KPRB 171453Z 00000KT 6SM BR CLR 07/06 A3018 RMK A02
KPRB 171353Z 00000KT 8SM CLR 07/06 A3018 RMK A02
KPRB 171253Z 00000KT 8SM CLR 07/06 A3018 RMK A02
KPRB 171153Z 09004KT 8SM CLR 08/07 A3018 RMK A02
KPRB 171053Z 10005KT 10SM CLR 10/07 A3018 RMK A02
KPRB 170953Z 11006KT 8SM CLR 10/08 A3019 RMK A02
KPRB 170853Z 10006KT 9SM CLR 11/08 A3020 RMK A02
KPRB 170753Z 10010KT 9SM CLR 11/08 A3021 RMK A02
KPRB 170653Z 10009KT 10SM CLR 12/08 A3021 RMK A02
KPRB 170553Z 10013KT 10SM CLR 12/08 A3021 RMK A02

And here’s San Luis Obispo

KSBP 171656Z 32008G17KT 10SM CLR 19/12 A3012 RMK A02
KSBP 171556Z VRB05KT 10SM CLR 17/11 A3011 RMK A02
KSBP 171456Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 16/10 A3011 RMK A02
KSBP 171356Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 17/10 A3009 RMK A02
KSBP 171256Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 17/10 A3009 RMK A02
KSBP 171156Z 01006KT 10SM CLR 17/09 A3010 RMK A02
KSBP 171056Z 31012G17KT 10SM CLR 18/10 A3010 RMK A02
KSBP 170956Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 18/09 A3011 RMK A02
KSBP 170856Z 32011KT 10SM CLR 17/09 A3012 RMK A02
KSBP 170756Z 35007KT 10SM CLR 17/09 A3013 RMK A02
KSBP 170656Z 31011G17KT 10SM CLR 17/09 A3014 RMK A02
KSBP 170556Z VRB03KT 10SM CLR 18/08 A3014 RMK A02

Paso Robles

KPRB 181453Z 08007KT 8SM CLR 08/07 A3009 RMK A02
KPRB 181353Z 09009KT 9SM CLR 08/07 A3008 RMK A02
KPRB 181253Z 08008KT 9SM CLR 08/07 A3008 RMK A02
KPRB 181153Z 10005KT 8SM CLR 08/06 A3009 RMK A02
KPRB 181053Z 11005KT 9SM CLR 08/06 A3010 RMK A02
KPRB 180953Z 00000KT 9SM CLR 07/06 A3009 RMK A02
KPRB 180853Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 08/06 A3010 RMK A02
KPRB 180753Z 09009KT 10SM CLR 09/07 A3010 RMK A02
KPRB 180653Z 09010KT 10SM CLR 10/07 A3011 RMK A02
KPRB 180553Z 10010KT 10SM CLR 10/07 A3011 RMK A02
KPRB 180453Z 11009KT 10SM CLR 11/08 A3010 RMK A02
KPRB 180353Z 11008KT 10SM CLR 12/08 A3011 RMK A02
KPRB 180253Z 11009KT 10SM CLR 12/09 A3010 RMK A02
KPRB 180153Z 12008KT 10SM CLR 13/09 A3009 RMK A02
KPRB 180053Z 11011KT 10SM CLR 14/10 A3008 RMK A02
KPRB 172353Z 10014KT 10SM CLR 17/10 A3007 RMK A02
KPRB 172253Z 11013KT 10SM CLR 19/11 A3007 RMK A02
KPRB 172153Z 11008KT 10SM CLR 21/12 A3007 RMK A02
KPRB 172053Z 09004KT 10SM CLR 20/11 A3010 RMK A02
KPRB 171953Z 11005KT 10SM CLR 18/11 A3013 RMK A02
KPRB 171853Z 11007KT 10SM CLR 17/11 A3018 RMK A02
KPRB 171753Z 09009KT 10SM CLR 15/10 A3020 RMK A02
KPRB 171653Z 10008KT 10SM CLR 12/09 A3020 RMK A02
KPRB 171553Z 17003KT 5SM BR CLR 07/06 A3019 RMK A02

SanLis Obispo

KSBP 181456Z 34017G24KT 10SM CLR 16/06 A2997 RMK A02
KSBP 181356Z 34011G24KT 10SM CLR 16/06 A2996 RMK A02
KSBP 181256Z 32007KT 10SM CLR 15/06 A2998 RMK A02
KSBP 181156Z 35004KT 10SM CLR 14/06 A2999 RMK A02
KSBP 181056Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 13/06 A3000 RMK A02
KSBP 180956Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 13/06 A3000 RMK A02
KSBP 180856Z 34010KT 10SM CLR 16/06 A3001 RMK A02
KSBP 180756Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 16/04 A3001 RMK A02
KSBP 180656Z VRB06KT 10SM CLR 14/07 A3002 RMK A02
KSBP 180556Z 01005KT 10SM CLR 13/08 A3003 RMK A02
KSBP 180456Z 28007KT 10SM CLR 17/08 A3004 RMK A02
KSBP 180356Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 16/11 A3004 RMK A02
KSBP 180256Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 17/12 A3003 RMK A02
KSBP 180156Z 30004KT 10SM CLR 18/12 A3003 RMK A02
KSBP 180056Z 34008KT 9SM CLR 21/13 A3002 RMK A02
KSBP 172356Z 33010KT 10SM CLR 23/14 A3002 RMK A02
KSBP 172256Z 32012G17KT 10SM CLR 24/14 A3002 RMK A02
KSBP 172156Z 35010KT 10SM CLR 24/13 A3002 RMK A02
KSBP 172056Z 33014KT 10SM CLR 24/13 A3003 RMK A02
KSBP 171956Z 28010KT 10SM CLR 23/13 A3006 RMK A02
KSBP 171856Z 30010G18KT 10SM CLR 22/12 A3012 RMK A02
KSBP 171756Z 31011G17KT 10SM CLR 21/12 A3013 RMK A02
KSBP 171656Z 32008G17KT 10SM CLR 19/12 A3012 RMK A02
KSBP 171556Z VRB05KT 10SM CLR 17/11 A3011 RMK A02