Touring Machine Company

Some of the questions on the FAA Knowledge Tests are interesting enough or complicated enough to warrant a full post while others are clear with just a quick reference to the FAR/AIM or one of the FAA pdfs. When I’ve written a post on a topic that is covered on the tests, I’ve started including [...]

Two hurricanes recently hit the Gulf Coast and it’s interesting to see the how the altimeter dropped and wind picked up over the course of a few hours. The code PRESFR means Pressure falling rapidly. I edited out the TNSO, A02, and AUTO so more of the information fits on one line.
I have readings for [...]

METARs and TAFs have been around since before the high-speed internet made data transmission instantaneous so they use a somewhat cryptic method for encoding weather data. However, once you learn how to decode them they aren’t many surprises. Occasionally you see something different. This post is my list of unusual reports. For help in decoding, [...]

The FAA knowledge tests have many questions on thunderstorms—the stages, hazards associated with them, and weather products related to them.
Stages of a Thunderstorm
The best explanation of the stages is found in Aviation Weather pp. 111-112.
For a thunderstorm to form, the air must have (1) sufficient water vapor, (2) unstable lapse rate, and (3) an [...]

Most FBOs have a computer for checking the weather but I can never remember the addresses for METARs, NOTAMs, and TFRs. This is a list of sites I check before returning.
Metar lookup and my home Metars
NWS Local Forecast Fill in your city or zip.
TFRs
Active Special Use Airspace (SUAs)
NOTAMs
NOAA’s Aviation Weather Briefing
GOES
Links for RunwayFinder and AvnWx [...]

This post summarizes FAA Advisory Circular AC 00-54 PILOT WINDSHEAR GUIDE issued 11/25/88. I changed the punctuation a bit and left out a lot of the text. Additions are indicated by brackets [ ]. Bold indicates things I’d like to remember. This document uses windshear as a single word—other documents split it into two words—wind [...]

There are lots of type clubs with forums that have great information. Their serach functions often aren’t great and often you have to belong to the club to search the articles. Sometimes Google can help you find articles on specific topics. If the original link doesn’t work, use the cache. Here are a few sites:

Cessna [...]

The Aviation Safety Network database contains 69 wind-shear accidents, most of which did not result in fatalities. Three accidents—New Orleans in 1975, New York in 1982, and Dallas-Fort Worth crash in 1985—prompted NASA to begin a program to understand and detect wind shear. As a result of the program, wind-shear alert systems have been [...]

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 for taxi.
Tower: [...]

There are lots of mnemonics for remembering to do things in and around the plane. Some important things aren’t really mnemonics but are more like mantras.
Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.—For the big picture of flying.
Radios, Mixture, Master, Mags—For shutdown.
I have my favorite mnemonics for various phases of flight—Why I disike GUMPS—and to remember things like required equipment [...]