Touring Machine Company

The KSBP Crepe3.PRB departure is fairly straightforward so we’ll start with that. The NACO chart is shown below. Click here for PDF version or here for a larger version in a new window. The first thing to note about this departure is that it has a minimum climb gradient (275′ per nm to 1700′ with [...]

Some of the symbols on the chart stick in my mind but I have trouble remembering others, especially the ones that are not as common. Before throwing away a chart, put it to use refreshing your memory on the symbols. Pick a grid section and highlight the different symbols. If you can’t name it, look [...]

You probably have your favorite weather sites for flight planning, but I’m guessing you haven’t been using these. Here is a great place to start—the Standard Briefing page of the National Weather service. However, this has got to be used to be the coolest weather site around. ADDS is Beta testing HEMS, a Java-based tool [...]

Roll over each instrument to see it labelled. Beginning students should name and roll until the names become second nature. Adjusting the Kollsman altimeter. Here are some examples of real aircraft that you can do the same thing with.  Commanche  Cessna T210  Cessna T182RG

The Federal Government has lots of good stuff on its web sites. Most of it is easy to find with a quick search if you’d even think of looking for it. This page is a collection of pages you might not even think to look for. You can search on their site with the search [...]

A vertical stabilizer provides lateral stability to minimize yaw. The vertical stabilizer is sometimes referred to as the fin. There is a part of the airplane that extends along the top of the fuselage and connects to the vertical stabilizer. In some airplanes, like the Pilatus below this part looks like it could have a [...]

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 [...]

Once you have your pilot certificate it never expires but there are things you need to do to exercise all of the privileges associated with your certificate. I thought I’d put all of the currency rules in one place and annotate them. Biennial Flight Review §61.56 A pilot needs a Flight Review every 24 months. [...]

The winds along the Central Coast of California are sometimes strong, but usually onshore so runways are pretty much lined up with the wind. When they vary in direction it is usually because of thermal activity so they are fairly light. In the fall the Santa Ana’s can be very strong and from directions where [...]

The night before she gave me a cross country assignment (Mojave) and four problems to work out. Weight and Balance, Crosswind component, Takeoff distance, and density altitude. We started out looking at the documents. She wanted me to show her that we were legal to fly. She needed to see the AR(R)OW docs and the [...]