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    AVIATION   

"...And once you have tasted flight, you will walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you long to return."           - Leonardo DaVinci

BIG NEWS! VIRGIN GALACTIC UNVEILS 'SPACESHIPTWO'
 Virgin Galactic’s Sir Richard Branson has unveiled a model of SpaceShipTwo. The full-scale version will carry six tourists at a time more than 62 miles up into space. Both the rocket and the four-engine launch aircraft, WhiteKnightTwo, also unveiled in New York on Jan. 23, are more than half complete at Scaled Composites where Burt Rutan pioneered civilian spaceflight with SpaceShipOne and won a $10 million X Prize in the process. For $200,000 you can depart on a 2.5-hour flight that ends with a few minutes of rocket-powered flight, capped by five minutes of weightlessness and a view from space. Initially, the suborbital flights will depart from Mojave, Calif., but could eventually spread to launch sites around the world. Read more on AOPA Online.

How To Get Your Private Pilot's License

More helpful links at the bottom of this page

Featured Article from AOPA re: "Flaps"

LIFT, DRAG, AND FLAPS
Flaps increase a wing's lift and drag. The increased lift allows flight at lower airspeeds, and the increased drag permits steeper approaches. But that's not the whole story. Lift and drag team up differently at different flap settings. Understanding how they vary is necessary to know what kind of performance to expect from your aircraft. The changing influence of lift and drag as flap deployment changes also explains why the immediate partial retraction of flaps is required during go-arounds after a full-flap approach in many aircraft.

"Flaps represent a way to increase the approach angle because the lift generated by flaps is accompanied by an increase in drag. Although it varies with the exact type of flap (Fowler, slotted, unslotted, simple hinged), it is generally assumed that as flaps are extended past 15 degrees, they begin generating more drag than lift," wrote Budd Davisson in the February 2008 AOPA Flight Training feature "Controlling your approach path: Drop flaps or slip the ship."

The acceleration-inhibiting drag prevalent in intermediate to full flap deployments is the reason that go-arounds may require immediate flap reductions. "In a balked landing (go-around) climb, the wing flap setting should be reduced to 20 degrees immediately after full power is applied. Upon reaching a safe airspeed, the flaps should be slowly retracted to the full up position," says the pilot's operating handbook (POH) for a 1980 Cessna 152, a trainer with flap settings of 10, 20, and 30 degrees. (Note that it is the lift provided by the first flap setting that enables the Cessna 152 to make better short-field and soft-field takeoffs with one "notch" of flaps extended.)

In flight, understanding the performance and control implications of flap settings helps a pilot to choose among the options available when facing a given set of runway and wind conditions, as discussed by Alton K. Marsh in the August 2004 AOPA Pilot feature "The flap about flaps." Always observe the airspeed limitations on the use of flaps as depicted on the white arc of your aircraft's airspeed indicator and as noted in the POH. Also note any cautions in the POH about combining slips [see the Feb. 24, 2006, Training Tips] with flaps.

The right amount of flap extension, at the right time, will give you the best performance.

More Articles Here

The Allure of Flight: When asked, I am always hard-pressed to decide what my is favorite thing - or even my top ten things - in life. Certainly, though, any attempt to articulate that list would see flying within the top three.

Man's desire to fly, and his envy of the birds who do so without the noise of an engine or the fear of falling from the sky, is as old as mankind itself. Whenever my explorer's heart is tempted to lament the completeness of the mapping of the Earth, I am reminded that, if I had been born a few hundred years earlier, I would not have had the opportunity to fly. I would have hated to miss that.

Go to any General Aviation airport on a nice weekend morning, and you'll meet a collection of old pros and young wanabes sitting around strategically-placed picnic tables that offer a good view of the ramp and the runway. They'll be drinking coffee or sweet tea - and it will have been one of their turn to bring the donuts or breakfast biscuits. They will likely have known each other for years, but they'll welcome you if you are just curious about flying. They will answer your questions, and probably throw in a few stories to wash it down. I have met some amazing people while "hangar flying," from B-52 WWII pilots like Waldo in Rome, GA (RME on the charts), and his buddy, Major, a retired Baldwin piano salesman who kept a Cessna Cardinal in a private hangar there. When I went to school in Rome, I would sit with Waldo and Major and learn. Major even took me up occasionally and let me fly his Cardinal over my school.

I started flying in 1990 at the Naval Air Station in Atlanta. That's where I soloed and had some REALLY memorable flights - after all, where else does a student pilot share the pattern with fighters and C-5s? On my first solo flight, I was chased out of the pattern by two Harriers doing a simulated invasion of the airfield! I took a long (agonizing) break from flying when college money got tight (c. 1992) and didn't pick it up again until 2001. I finished my Private license until 2003. I worked at PDK airport when I took it up again, and met so many great people as I became enmeshed in the PDK family. Pilots are unique people, because they combine no nonsense practicality and precision logic with a life-loving passion for what they do. Chief among them in my book is Rodney. We met just as he retired from Delta Air Lines, and I started flying his plane. I got my license through him, and he's one of my favorite people besides.

Flying is one of the only things that totally holds my attention. When I'm up there, I NEVER think about what else I might be doing if I weren't flying. I don't want to be anywhere else. It's 100% fulfilling - and more so every time I go up. There's always more to learn, and new certifications (ratings) to obtain.

PILOT TRAINING

Licenses, Ratings, and Endorsements: There are all levels of pilots, and each possesses a certain combination of licenses, ratings, and endorsements that certify him to operate various aircraft under certain conditions. 

  • A license is the standard pilot certification that allows you to fly with passengers. The Private Pilot license (see below) is the first of these. From there, one adds

  • "Ratings" and "endorsements" that qualify a pilot to operate specialized equipment under specialized conditions; or, at the commercial level, for hire.

  • Every pilot - private or professional - will possess a certain combination of these licenses, ratings, and endorsements.

  • I have listed almost all of the available Licenses, Ratings and Endorsements in the order that they are most commonly acquired, and in a commonly accepted, linear progression of seriousness / difficulty.

Private pilots are governed by Part 91, the least stringent set of the FAA regulations. The performance standards for such pilots, and the maintenance standards for the aircraft they fly, are high but nowhere near as high as for commercial and charter pilots.

  • What is a Private Private Pilot License?: A Private Pilot is certified by the FAA to carry passengers, locally or cross country, during the day or at night, but only when the weather and visibility conditions are ideal, and not for hire (although it is legal for passengers to equally share expenses). Ideal visibility conditions are known to pilots as "VFR" conditions, for Visual Flight Rules. There, now you know your first bit of lingo. You're on your way! Note: There are lesser licenses ("Sport" and "Recreational") that place more restrictions on your flying, but I do not consider them worthy of mention. Why would you pilot an aircraft with minimal skills and certifications - especially with passengers?

  • Cost: Yes, I know you probably did a word search on this page for "cost," didn't you? I don't blame you. Your Private will cost you about $3,500 to $5,000 - depending on rental and fuel rates and your rate of learning - if you know how to be highly disciplined and efficient about your training. If you fall prey to the common mistakes, then double that number, easily.

The Next Steps (not necessarily in this order)

Endorsements: (Flight Instructor Awarded "add-ons")

  • Complex Endorsement: A sign-off that certifies a pilot to operate aircraft with retractable landing gear, and/or a variable pitch (constant speed) propeller.

  • High Performance Endorsement: A sign-off that allows a pilot to operate a plane of 200HP or more

  • Other Endorsements include Tail Dragger and Seaplane.

Ratings: (More involved than an endorsement...FAA Examiner Awarded)

  • Instrument Rating: This is your ticket to fly when you can't see out the windows (IFR conditions, for "Instrument Flight Rules). It certifies a pilot to navigate and fly the aircraft without ground or horizon references. As you may have figured out already, it is called "Instrument" flying because the only way to keep the plane wings-level and flying towards its destination is by reference to instruments and a network of radio navigation beacons. Many Private pilots will pursue this rating just to be better prepared to deal with unforeseen weather or visibility restrictions; and to keep them from getting stranded at a cross country destination if weather moves in and prevents them from taking off again to go home. Thus, it is only practical to fly cross country (point A to point B) for more than a one day stay, if you have an Instrument Rating. It will also lower a pilot's insurance premiums considerably, and is just an all-around good idea.

  • Multi-Engine Rating: Although one could get this rating right after getting the Private License, most people get the Instrument Rating first. Just like it sounds, the multi-engine rating certifies a pilot to fly aircraft equipped with more than one engine. In fact, to be technical, the Private Pilot License could be called a 'single-engine license' - it is just understood. Flying multi-engine aircraft is all about knowing how to manage the induced yaw that results from the loss of one engine, and then landing safely. In short, an ME rating is wholly about emergency procedures.

Professional Levels: (FAA Examiner Awarded)

  • Commercial Rating: Allows a pilot to fly for money or for hire. Without this, it is only legal for a pilot to accept money as a reimbursement of expenses SHARED EQUALLY between passengers and pilot (ex: one pilot and three passengers go to Florida for the weekend...the Private Pilot is legally obligated to pay 1/4 of the flying costs. The passengers CAN cover those costs up to 3/4). A Commercially rated pilot, however, can have ALL expenses paid and - if he is part of an FAA approved charter certified outfit - may even make a profit.

  • Instructor Ratings: Certified Flight Instructor (CFI); Certified Flight Instructor, Instrument (CFII); Multi Engine Instructor (MEI); Multi Engine Instructor, Instrument (MEII): These ratings certify a pilot to instruct others in obtaining these ratings. Note: A flight Instructor trains a student and logs their training IN PREPARATION for the FAA Check Ride. A Check Ride with a certified FAA Flight Examiner is the required final step before obtaining any rating or license. An instructor is the final authority, however, for Endorsements (see above)

  • Airline Transport Pilot (ATP): Self Explanatory. Fly for the airlines. Highest standard of proficiency. Candidates need a minimum of 600 hours to apply, plus all course work, prerequisite ratings, instruction, and check rides. Thus, the "get-it-all-in-six-months" commercial pilot training programs that exist out there can't take you all the way through ATP because their programs typically see pilots finish with about 200-300 hours total time. Note: 600 hours is nowhere near what the airlines want to see from you when you apply, it's just the FAA minimum for the rating. Regional airlines, however, are more likely to hire low time pilots.

  • Type Ratings: Once you get all the licenses and ratings needed to fly bigger airplanes, you have to be certified in the TYPE of airplane you wish to fly. A Type Rating becomes necessary when the aircraft meets or exceeds 12,500 pounds. Many regional, medium-sized aircraft manufacturers (like a King Air or Pilatus, for example) intentionally keep the plane's weight under 12,500 just so that pilots need only the standard ratings.

  • Note: Most pilots become instructors so that someone else pays for their hours while they build their time. It's not a lot, but at least the cash flow is "IN," rather than "OUT" for them while they are building time in prep for bigger and better things. Plus, instructing can be fun and is always the best way to become truly proficient yourself - when you have to teach something.

My Aviation Gallery

Aviation Links

AOPA and AOPA's Air Safety Site: Every Time I read anything from these sites, I think "How did I ever fly without knowing that?"

 

CATS testing centers Or, if you are Fred Flintstone,  call at 1-800-947-4228

Private Pilot and Recreational Pilot FAA Written Exam for the FAA Computer-Based Pilot Knowledge Test

Gleim's Test Prep Books: By far the best option. There's one for every license. There are a lot of test prep resources on the market, and some videos may help, but this book really is all you need. Know too that ground school is not a requirement for getting your license. If you have just a little self-discipline, this book is genius. All possible questions are in here, word-for-word, with the wrong and right answers spelled out completely...with the reasons the wrong answers are wrong explained fully. All charts and references are inside the book, so there's no flipping back and forth between books like with the ASA equivalent. The Red Book is easy to tote around and whip out every time you just have a spare ten minutes.

Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge: Once you pass the FAA Written Test for your Private Pilot license, get this book.

Student Testimonials on YouTube here