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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 [...]

My Favorite: “In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child travelling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are travelling with more than one small child, [...]

On the CPA forum there was a discussion of how crowded the air-to-air frequency, 122.75, is in certain areas. Several people suggested using 123,45 or 122,85. Neither of these are approved for air-to-air communication. I found an FAA showing frequency bands for aviation (shown below) but it doesn’t go into detail about the band we’re [...]

In honor of Talk Like a Pirate day, (Sept 19th) I thought I’d put up some phrases you can use to sound like a pilot. Pilot: We’re preflighted and ready to go. We’re ready to bore some holes in the sky. Instructor: OK Let’s kick the tires and light the fires. Pilot: Barnstormer 1EE ready [...]

I recently refurbished an older Cherokee with a very old radio. I’v also been working on some older Cessnas with very old radios and I got to wondering if they were still legal for flight. I remember reading somewhere that old radios used 360 channels and are no longer legal for flight. Current radios have [...]

§ 91.183 IFR communications. Unless otherwise authorized by ATC, the pilot in command of each aircraft operated under IFR in controlled airspace must ensure that a continuous watch is maintained on the appropriate frequency and must report the following as soon as possible— (a) The time and altitude of passing each designated reporting point, or [...]

Communication between ATC and aircraft is facilitated by the use of a phonetic alphabet to refer to numbers and letters. This avoids confusion between similar sounding letters (p/b, t/d, m/n) and numbers (3/t, 9/5). From the FAA site. Phonetic Alphabet Letter Pronunciation Letter Pronunciation Letter Pronunciation A Alpha J Juliett S Sierra B Bravo K [...]

I’ve been listening to the JFK tower and approach and LiveATC. They show up in iTunes so you only have to find them once and don’t need to download the Real or Microsoft players. It is interesting to listen to the takeoffs and landings at parallel runways like JFK, Las Vegas, or LAX. Landings usually [...]