I had my handheld radio on today listening to the local traffic at a nearby airfield. This is what I heard.
Airport Unicom, what is your active runway?
For some reason I get all worked up whenever I hear someone ask this. Let’s lay down the situation. This airport has no control tower. There is an ASOS on the field. So why do I hate hearing this so much?
There is no such thing as an “active” runway at an airport without a control tower. You are free to use whatever runway you choose. Normally speaking you should use the runway most closely aligned with the current winds. In this case the airport has an ASOS so why not just tune in, listen to the winds, and figure out on your own what the best runway is?
So what he meant to say was something closer to “Which runway is most of the local traffic currently using”? Perhaps he just wanted to go with the flow so to speak.
Perhaps…. someone should break the chain if the majority of the local traffic isn’t using the runway most closely aligned with the winds. So many times I’ve approached an airport and everyone is using the runway that was aligned with the winds an hour ago…. but not any longer. Everyone just keeps following along.
In my opinion, you just need to break the cycle. There shouldn’t be any reason to ask the local Unicom what the “active” runway is in most cases. Listen to the ASOS and figure out where you should land. If everyone else is going for a different runway, break the chain and help out everyone arriving behind you.
So I’ve flown a ton of Cat III approaches to minimums…. well at last in the simulator. ;) Nonetheless this is a truly amazing video showing from the pilot’s perspective what it is like to fly to a runway in really, really poor visibility conditions.
In England recently an airliner was flown without a pilot in the cockpit to test technology that would turn an airliner into a UAV. The flight lasted about two hours and was designed to see if you could control a fleet of UAVs flying in a pack from one command center.
“The big burning question at the MoD is how to operate UAVs in attack missions in the future,” says Kevin Williams, project manager at Qinetiq. “We wanted to see if a fast-jet pilot, flying a Tornado perhaps, could control a pack of four UAVs in deep, target attack situations while still doing his own job.”
I’m flying commercially next week and there had better be two pilots up on the front. :)
Robert Gibson, often known better as Hoot Gibson, is a fairly well known name in aviation circles. Hoot flew on five Space Shuttle missions and was commander on four of them. Hoot is even married to shuttle astronaut Rhea Seddon and was inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame back in 2003. After orbiting the earth dozens of times Hoot has recently been serving as a pilot for Southwest Airlines. Today was Hoot’s 60th birthday… a bittersweet day if you are a commercial pilot.
Regulations enacted in 1959 call for mandatory retirement for pilots at age 60, so today Hoot flew his last flight as a commercial pilot. Currently there are efforts underway to change that regulation and make the retirement age 65, but groups like the Air Line Pilots Association are fighting against the change. Currently the USA has allies in France, Pakistan, and Columbia who also object to the change.
Regardless of what happens in the USA, the International Civil Aviation Organization appears to be making a change on their own to raise the age limit to 65. Ironically, this could lead to a situation where foreign pilots over 60 could legally fly in the USA while pilots from the USA would not be able to fly in the same airspace.
Hoot says he still runs about four miles several times per week. Here’s to you Hoot, and may you have several more successful flights! Keep the blue sky up!
I love toys and wish this toy combination was one of my own. Here is some great footage of an RC B-29 Bomber. But this is no ordinary R/C aircraft. Strapped to the belly is an X-1 Rocket which makes an incredible in-flight launch. The B29 also comes equipped with “pilots” who make an emergency ejection and lots of cool acrobatics.
Looks like Piper is jumping onto the Personal Jet bandwagon with the newly introduced Piper Jet (known as the PiperJet). The single engine turbofan will be capable of reaching speeds of 360 knots and altitudes of about 35,000 feet. You and five of your friends will be able to fit in the cabin (or six of your friends if you don’t want a toilet). The PiperJet will transport you about 1,300 miles and can store about 800 pounds of fuel.
Blockquote>”The PiperJet breaks the mold in offering an unparalleled blend of performance and luxury,” said Piper President & CEO James K. Bass. “In designing this revolutionary aircraft, we have assembled the finest team of engineers and designers and conducted an extensive consumer research effort to ensure that the PiperJet will be second to none. In effect, every measure has been taken to make sure that the PiperJet answers what our customers have told us they want and need in a jet, because at the end of the day, it’s not about being first to market, it’s about getting it right in the first place.”
Want one? You can pick one up soon for about $2.2 million.
So what do you get when you cross some nerdy equipment, a video camera, an RC aircraft, and the dream to fly? this video from France. As the person on the ground turns their head, the camera turns to “see” what is happening from the perspective of the RC aircraft.
The latest release of X-Plane (currently 8.50 RC-1) has built in support to use a real Garmin G1000 connected to the simulator! The G1000 has an ethernet port that you can use to connect the Garmin to your computer. Then from within X-Plane you can turn on the hardware option for the G1000 and use the real G1000 hardware within X-Plane. Cool! Now if I could only afford a G1000….
A couple of Saturdays ago Jay Strokes had a busy day. An avid skydiver, Jay jumped out of a plane 641 times in 24 hours. Jay would bail out of the plane at about 2100 feet, spend about 40 seconds floating back to Earth, and then would jump on the plan again for another ride.
Volunteers would help Jay get out of the old chute, put a new parachute on, and then climb back to 2100 feet. About 130 volunteers were required for the record.
Someone forwarded me a link recently to this NPR story where listeners were asked to send in clips of their favorite sounds and talk a bit about why the sound had meaning for me. A reader wrote in talking about the sound of gyros spinning down after a flight. Pretty much everyone here knows that sound well. As the reader points out, the slow winding down coincides greatly with what the brain is doing at the same time.
The clip made me think about all of the other senses that appear in General Aviation and how they greatly add to the experience.
Sights: One of the most memorable sights for me was seeing the perfect rainbow for the first time. I had heard of them, but had never seen one until cruising across upstate New York at about 8,000 feet. I looked down across some broken clouds below and there it was… A perfect rainbow in a complete circle… not just an arc.
Sounds: I would agree that the sound of gyros spinning down is a treat, however I’ll say that the sound of a float plane approaching for landing is special. With the power back you can hear the “whistle” of the floats being dragged along and the splash at touch down is quite special too.
Touch: My favorite touch sensation flying is the feeling of the yoke during a soft field take-off just as you’ve left the ground and are still building speed in ground effect.
Taste: Other than $100 hamburgers, there are not too many tastes specifically tied with aviation. But my most memorable aviation taste are those HUGE drumsticks everyone eats at Sun-n-Fun. mmmmmm….
Smells: There are lots of nice, and not so nice, aviation smells. 100LL comes to mind. However I think the smell I most often associate with flying is the smell of new sectional charts. I don’t know if the smell comes from the ink or the paper… and I can’t really even describe the smell, but it is a smell I will always associate with aviation. I’m almost embarrassed to say this but whenever I get a new sectional chart I always open it up and take a whiff… just to make sure it smells right.
Have any favorite aviation senses of your own? Share them in the comments below!
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Robert Gibson, often known better as Hoot Gibson, is a fairly well known name in aviation circles. Hoot flew on five Space Shuttle missions and was commander on four of them. Hoot is even married to shuttle astronaut Rhea Seddon and was inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame back in 2003. After orbiting the earth dozens of times Hoot has recently been serving as a pilot for Southwest Airlines. Today was Hoot’s 60th birthday… a bittersweet day if you are a commercial pilot.
Looks like Piper is jumping onto the Personal Jet bandwagon with the newly introduced Piper Jet (known as the PiperJet). The single engine turbofan will be capable of reaching speeds of 360 knots and altitudes of about 35,000 feet. You and five of your friends will be able to fit in the cabin (or six of your friends if you don’t want a toilet). The PiperJet will transport you about 1,300 miles and can store about 800 pounds of fuel.
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