Índex per June 2017 a Flying

An angle of attack indicator offers a visual indication of the amount of lift the wing is generating at a given airspeed or angle of bank. The AOA delivers critical information visually or through an aural tone to indicate the actual safety margin above an aerodynamic stall. AOAs are created around one of two systems, either a lift reserve indicator or a normalized AOA. An LRI is normally accurate in a single configuration, usually near the approach angle of attack. The advantage of a normalized AOA is that the angle of attack measurement is accurate in all aircraft configurations. The normalized AOA is in use on Dassault’s Falcon 7X and 8X, the Airbus A380 and nearly every jet produced by Embraer. Both AOA configurations consist of a heated wing probe…

• AVOID THE ANVIL (DOWNWIND) SIDE OF A THUNDERSTORM BY AT LEAST 1 MILE FOR EVERY KNOT OF WIND AT THAT FLIGHT LEVEL. • AVOID ANY THUNDERSTORM BY AT LEAST 20 MILES. • THREE STAGES OF A THUNDERSTORM CUMULUS MATURE DISSIPATING RELEVANT DISCUSSION: AIM 4-3-7, 7-1-10, 7-1-22 through 7-1-30, P/C Glossary, FAA-H-8083-25, AC-00-6, AC 00-24, AC 00-45, AC 00-63, FAA-H-8083-6t THUNDERSTORM AVOIDANCE WITHOUT ONBOARD RADAR: 1. Maintain VFR conditions on top as long as possible to observe and avoid buildups. If getting on top is impossible or becomes impossible to maintain, the best option is to descend as low as possible to what may be VFR conditions below the clouds. 2. Maintain VFR conditions below the bases to observe obstacles and avoid the rain shafts. Never fly directly below a…

Among the various fascinating denizens of the air sharing our friendly skies, there are a great many creatures of habit — but perhaps none quite to the degree of the common airline pilot. This species, to which I belong, takes great pride and comfort in its everyday routines, the highly scripted rituals of flight and furrow, heavens and hearth. Which explains why I am feeling distinctly out of place as I enter the Boeing 757’s expansive cockpit (newly clean-shaven, polyester uniform a bit too pressed and starched) after a six-week absence. The captain, a silver-haired, strong-jawed man who was very likely born with four stripes on his shoulders, turns from his freshly prepared nest to exchange introductions and pleasantries. As I settle into the right seat, he naturally inquires about…

TOMATO FLAMES? Are you kidding? I’m sitting with my friend and CFIPaul Sallach in the restaurant at the Inn at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, California, nibbling on a turkey BLT while doing the ground portion of my flight review, what people used to call a biannual flight review. All is well thus far. I know my airspace and cloud clearances. I know what I need to know about sunset, sunrise and the beginning and end of civil twilight. And I’ve got all the buttons, switches and functions of the Cirrus Perspective by Garmin avionics suite dialed in. But TOMATO FLAMES? Seriously? A short while ago, I alighted here at the lowest airport in the continental United States and could feel that the air was quantifiably thicker by my little…

ANGLEOFATTACK GETTING CURRENT It’s time for instrument currency! It’s been several years, but it came back fairly quickly. Unfortunately this is about all I saw of the scenery along the way, as I was under Foggles for the remainder of the time. HEATHER JAMIESON NOAA’S GRAPHICAL FORECASTS I used to love the text-based products [“NOAA Replaces Text-Based Area Forecasts with Graphical Forecasts,” April 18, 2017]. When they started issuing plain-text translations on some Web services, I used to look down on them. It was total pilot snobbery though. (However, once you know all the codes, they are really easy to read and copy down.) Whatever we can do to get the most information in the clearest way into pilots’ brains trumps my feelings of superiority every time. YOUR SHOTS KEITH…

In early April, 10 years after the first Diamond DA50 made its public debut, the latest version of the airplane was introduced. The DA50-V will be a five-seat model slotted in the middle of the DA50 series, which will also include the four-seat DA50-IV and seven-seat DA50-VII. With the slogan “Be Unique,” the exterior of the DA50s will be fully customizable. The first DA50-V has a bold, gold-and-black paint scheme covering its sleek composite fuselage. It is powered by a turbocharged, jet-fueled 260 hp Safran/SMA diesel engine, which should provide the airplane with an impressive range, in excess of 1,000 nm, as it burns only 6.8 gph at 50 percent power. At higher power settings Diamond says the airplane has reached speeds up to 173 ktas. A payload of 1,256…

In an era of satellite-based precision approaches, a pilot’s understanding of how to find the destination airport using a nondirectional beacon might seem a waste of time. But in the United States, hundreds of NDBs remain in service, according to the FAA. Alaska alone has 70. Flying an NDB approach requires considerably more pilot attention because of the navaid’s rudimentary functionality. An ADF receiver can perform only a single task: make the ADF needle point right at the station. It offers no distance information, nor any visual warning should the station’s reliability wane. Pilots flying an NDB approach must monitor the audio Morse code ID of a station during the entire approach to ensure a continuous signal. Because nondirectional beacons operate in the frequency spectrum near the AM broadcast band,…

I had to cancel a flight the other day and go airline, and I was mad at myself. Not because I made the wrong decision — a cutoff low aloft meant the weather along my route was really ugly — but because my priorities were out of whack. I had squeezed flying into a narrow window to accomplish a mission, and in the process I had reduced the airplane to nothing more than a tool. It’s easy to understand why I fell into this trap. After all, it seems like life in the 21st century is all about removing inefficiency from everything possible, whether it’s a company’s supply chain or a family’s schedule. We celebrate UPS drivers for avoiding left turns because it saves a few seconds per trip. Such…

IIt’s an aviation reality that pilots understand all too well. Just because an airplane has four seats (or six or eight or 19) doesn’t mean you can fill them all, top the tanks with fuel, throw your baggage in the back and still hope to remain within legal weight and balance limits. For pilots with growing families (or golfing buddies they want to take along on trips), a six-seat airplane can make perfect sense. You’ll be able to carry most everything you need, the costs typically don’t rise to astronomically high levels for a used step-up airplane and you’ll probably even be able to fly a little faster, higher and farther in the higher-performance model. A used six-seater such as a Beech Bonanza or Cessna 206 might also be the…

Mooney has attained certification for the M20V Acclaim Ultra and M20U Ovation Ultra, solidifying the company’s return to the marketplace as the maker of the fastest single-engine piston airplanes in production. The turbocharged Acclaim’s top speed is 242 knots. Compared with the previous Acclaim and Ovation, the Ultra models have several significant upgrades. The most notable change was the addition of a door on the left side of the fuselage, providing much easier access to the pilot’s seat. Both doors are also much wider than the previous version. Along with that major modification, the metal fuselage was replaced with a composite section. The engine cowl was already composite for optimal aerodynamics, but the remainder of the airframe is constructed of metal. In addition to the modified fuselage, Mooney has added…

“I LEARNED ABOUT FLYING FROM THAT” NO. 916 I AM NOT INSTRUMENT RATED AND THOUGHT IT BEST TO ALTER MY PLANS RATHER THAN DEAL WITH POTENTIAL FOG AND LOW OVERCAST ON THE RETURN FLIGHT THAT AFTERNOON. On the morning of December 29, 2015, I was planning a flight in my flying club’s Piper PA-28-235 from Northwest Regional Airport (52F) in Roanoke, Texas, to Clark Field Municipal Airport (KSEP) in Stephenville. The idea was to have lunch at a favorite barbecue restaurant. I planned to depart 52F and land at Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (KFTW) to pick up my passengers and then continue on to KSEP. We would then return to KFTW later that afternoon. This would be my passengers’ first flight in a GA airplane. I called Flight Service…

Soaring is quite unlike any other kind of flying. Plunk yourself down in an open field on a warm, sunny day, as I did last fall, and watch a hawk, wings outstretched, wingtips moving only slightly to adjust the flight path as they trace seemingly endless patterns across the sky in search of a meal. Natural soaring is silent, so quiet, in fact, that a hawk circles unnoticed unless eyes happen to turn skyward. In an airplane, soaring is often a silent activity as well, once the airplane leaves the ground. But for pilots who get to try it, soaring is equal parts science and emotional experience in a continual search for the next thermal of rising air required to keep their airplane aloft. A glider, or sailplane — the…

I just like the way it looks. When that big Boeing turns onto the ramp and switches off its taxi lights, the lights do not snap off like a table lamp. No, they extinguish with a languid, gradual disappearance, signaling disappointment at the notion of being no longer needed. I just like how it looks. Come to think of it, there are a lot of things in aviation that hold a special visual sentiment. Our own Cheyenne has its good side and its not-so-good side. There are more windows on the right side of the airplane, so it looks longer and more sleek than the left side, where the door, without a window, makes it look stubbier. That door, though, when open at night, lights up with the most elegant…