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Bob A Feet posted:Funny you mention that. The King Airs the Navy flies for flight school have one and a relief tube if you simply have to pee. If the Chem toilet is used, it has to be suctioned/cleaned/refilled and noted with a MAF. It's contained underneath a bench seat next to the door/stairs. No curtain. It does have a seatbelt and when you are trying to fill every seat, you use it as a seat. The Navy uses the flight school C-12 to fly students out to Roswell and El Paso for winter detachments when weather is lovely in coastal Texas-- move like 12 students at once and also get cross country training for a few at the same time. Hey, if it's that or making GBS threads your pants, you use the chem toilet.
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May 25, 2017 20:13
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 02:40 |
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They're building a new community right next to Springbank airport too, it's going to be full of people like this I imagine.
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May 27, 2017 20:54
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Question about airports with pilot-controlled lighting: is there a chance that some airports disable these systems after a certain time of night? On two consecutive flights, at two different airports, I've had trouble activating them. Last night, I know the system was working, because the lights were on as I was approaching the airport, and then turned off, evidently permanently, as I was inspecting the windsock. On both of those flights, when I've returned to my home airport (which uses the exact same type of system once the control tower is closed) the system worked exactly as expected, multiple times (I tested the dimming system, just to make sure I wasn't getting lucky for some reason). It wasn't a distance thing either, because I was literally over the airport's beacon and I could see the runway. It's strange, because I don't think I did anything wrong, I tried multiple times, yet I'm still at a loss as to why two separate airports would give me the same issue on two different days. The only thing I can think of is that it was quite late in both cases (night begins at 10:30PM here right now, so these would've both been after 11PM). I've done night landings at both airports in the past, during the winter when night started much earlier. Is there any other thing I could be overlooking?
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May 31, 2017 23:52
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The Ferret King posted:Shot in the dark (haha), but are you sure you were trying on the correct frequency? It's not always on the same one as the CTAF. In this case it is, and even so, I double-checked. Nuggan posted:In my (limited) experience, many of them just suck. The timing to turn them on can end up weird. Someone keys the radio twice and it doesn't flush from their queue fast enough, and now turning them on is offset by a few clicks, etc... It's supposed to flush after 5 seconds, but I'm leaning toward something like this too.
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Jun 1, 2017 15:05
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It'd be nice if Mirabel finally got to relinquish the title of "largest, dumbest airport built in the middle of loving nowhere for no discernible reason."
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Jun 3, 2017 22:00
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But trains! Who doesn't love taking a one-hour train to the airport? The best part is: you still have to get to the train station somehow!
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Jun 4, 2017 01:33
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EvilJoven posted:AAAAAAAAAAAAA flight test on the 15th Hahaha, soft field landings were the bane of my existance during flight test prep too, but I got them down and I nailed it on the flight test. I'm sure you'll ace the flight test!
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Jun 8, 2017 22:07
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Being in pre-flight-test mode is awful. There's a reason I did my flight test on what turned out to be a lovely, bumpy day, after a whole bunch of things had already gone awry to the point we were leaving two hours late, and it wasn't because I wanted to show off -- I wanted that poo poo to be over with, because it's stressful, expensive, and generally poo poo. Once you have that done, though... you never have to fly again if you don't want to, but if you feel like it, you can. Take a month off and relax. And if you don't fly for another nine years, like I did, and then decide you want to again, it's still way easier to get current again than it would be to finish off your license after a huge delay.
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Jun 12, 2017 01:52
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So: my landing light failed on final. No problem; we practiced landing with no landing light. I land perfectly. What we didn't practice was taxiing without any sort of landing light or taxi light. That's significantly more of a nerve-wracking challenge. A wee headlamp, though quite enough to have in the cockpit while flying, does next to nothing. Occasionally you might get a lucky reflection off a centerline. Luckily there was another plane arriving right behind me, and they were able to shine some light on the ramp before I ran into anything.
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Jun 13, 2017 08:37
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EvilJoven posted:Did my full checkride practice. I would have particalled it because I really sucked at the workflow for a precautionary landing because I'd only ever done it the one time during my training and never practiced since then. Good to hear you're enjoying it again. I think everyone goes through periods where it seems like more work than fun, but at least for me, the fun has always come back at some point. So I had a new experience tonight: activating the ARCAL system at a large airport with approach lights and poo poo. That was extremely cool looking! 8.4 hours left before I can apply for my CPL... it's getting really close now.
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Jun 19, 2017 09:45
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So, question about airports with mandatory frequencies: from everything I've read and heard, when there's no ground station in operation (in Canada, at least), you're meant to join the circuit in the same way you'd do at an uncontrolled airport (i.e. you should join on downwind, not base or straight in), but it's not law that you must do so. Last night when I was flying out of Lethbridge, which usually has a ground station but it was after-hours at this point, there was an airline flight on approach that declared they were joining right base for the runway the wind favoured. In this case, I had just departed, and there was an automated weather observation being broadcast so there was no ambiguity as to which runway to use. In that circumstance, is it acceptable to approach in whichever way you find most convenient? Does it matter that they were probably on an IFR flight plan? I did the same thing at a different MF airport previously (AWOS available, but no ground station) but I looked it up and it seemed like it was frowned upon.
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Jun 20, 2017 01:36
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EvilJoven posted:IIRC even at MF airports, if it isn't an actual control tower, the people manning the radio are there to advise only. In the end what you do is up to you. Radio procedures are mandatory but you can pick whatever runway you want. Yeah, that was my understanding, I'm just curious why another aircraft was ignoring the "should" bit. I guess it's a bit harder to fly a circuit in a Beech 1900 than a Cessna. Ultimately it was both safe and legal though, so it's more just for my curiosity than anything.
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Jun 20, 2017 16:57
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EvilJoven posted:It was legal. I wouldn't call that safe. They probably were on an IFR flight plan, and it was safe in this specific case regardless. It was after midnight and we were the only two aircraft in the area at an MF airport with an automated weather station. I wonder if their company SOPs have anything to say about it.
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Jun 20, 2017 17:31
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Riatsala posted:Pardon me if this isn't the correct thread to ask, but can anyone weigh in on hot air balloons? I'm not interested in being a pilot, but I recently went to a festival that was ostensibly a ballooning meet, and the balloons were grounded the entire time. Weather conditions were clear and sunny, high humidity, gusts of 7-10 miles per hour, with a wet field. Not a single balloon launched. I'm guessing the wind wasn't blowing the right direction. Or maybe it was too fast. Or the upper winds were forecast to be much stronger than they were on the ground. Balloons suck, IMO. If you really want to be at the relative mercy of the elements, take up gliding -- at least you have actual control, and you don't need to burn fuel.
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Jun 22, 2017 03:27
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Winds 6G21 at 350 when I was originally cleared to the circuit for 35. 070 at 10 when I touched down (perfectly straight and on the centreline, I might add). Nailing a crosswind landing is probably my favorite thing, maybe because I struggled with them for so long, and I don't often get good practice flying out of an airport with two perpendicular runways.
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Jun 25, 2017 02:40
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EvilJoven posted:Oh my loving god what the gently caress is wrong with these people? Hey at least it was an old woman who probably literally didn't know any better. I'm more concerned about the Air AsiaX pilot who actually made an announcement and asked the passengers to pray. Do what you gotta do in the cockpit, but that is unprofessional as gently caress. Now this is how you do an announcement in an emergency: Speedbird 9 posted:Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.
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Jun 27, 2017 23:10
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:Why's that? I agree with everything you've said, but the reasoning here is opaque to me. Just a guess, but I'd say so you push/pull the nose toward the speed you want instinctively.
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Jun 27, 2017 23:50
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Out of curiosity, how often do commuter/transport pilots get tested on CPL-flight-test-level basic airmanship? I imagine basic skills like stall recovery could be allowed to atrophy to a certain point because recurrent training focuses on other, more advanced emergency scenarios. On the same subject, how often should I be working on flight test items like steep turns, slow flight, stalls, forced/precautionary approaches now that I'm done with my CPL flight test and just need to build time? It's been over a month since I did anything beyond basic cross-country flight and circuits, and I feel like I should maybe be keeping my skills sharp even though it's a long while before I'm legally required to do anything.
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Jun 28, 2017 04:31
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fordan posted:There was. But the FAA's novel interpretation of laws Congress passed specifically regarding model aircraft means the FAA regulations requiring participation in the registry were struck down by the courts. Careful, if you speak about it too much you'll summon the idiot libertarian drone pilot who was always bitching about how the FAA was infringing on MAH RIGHTS. Seriously, though, why the the US seem drawn towards always doing the worst version of everything? We have drone regulations in Canada and they're fine, although they do poo poo up the NOTAM pages with tons of warnings about unmanned aerial vehicles in the middle of buttfuck nowhere. I guess that's better than a simpleton flying a drone in the approach path of a busy airport.
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Jul 3, 2017 23:08
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EvilJoven posted:God drat it TC just shut down my flight school because their maintenance guy took a position with a different outfit and TC decided that the school didn't deserve the normal time period that operations are normally given to find replacement staff. lovely loving timing for you too. Thanks, Trudeau  ! 
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Jul 5, 2017 21:26
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EvilJoven posted:They should hopefully be online by Friday. IDK if I should reschedule my test because I'm not going to get any practice time or just go for it and hope I pass. My folks visit in two weeks and I really really wanted this poo poo done so I could take them flying. How long since your last flight/recommend? I expect you'll be fine, but it's all about how you personally feel. If you feel like you can pass the test, then go for it. You don't get a recommend unless your instructor is confident you'll pass, so chances are very likely you'll pass, barring a random fuckup, which can happen whether you flew two months ago or two days ago. When I partialled my RPP, I had flown the day before. I made a better landing my first time after not flying in 10 years. I flew out to Drumheller today. Holy gently caress is that area cool to see from the sky, you really understand why they discover fossils and poo poo in abundance. Do your flight test so you can fly to cool places and see neat things!
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Jul 5, 2017 23:34
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It's crazy, thinking about how much I've learned just in the past few months building time toward my CPL, and thinking about how much I still don't know. Even if I could get a regional FO job or something right after completing my multi/IFR, I don't know it would be a good idea. I had a conversation with the assistant CFI from my FTU (ironically, right before he left for a job at a regional) and he said, "yeah, I've got over 2000 hours and there's still so much to learn and improve upon." I don't want to say that Sully is right, but I'm not sure he's entirely wrong either. The fundamental problem with the industry, as I see it, is that pilots really do benefit from experience, and experience is loving expensive, no matter who ends up paying for it.
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Jul 9, 2017 03:57
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The vast majority of pilots don't want to be managers. The vast majority of mechanics don't want to be managers. The vast majority of competent managers don't want to be involved in anything as complex, regulated, and with such low profit potential as aviation. What do you get when you put all of these things together?
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Jul 9, 2017 04:10
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I remember doing my first night flight and expecting everything to look like it did on FS X. It's a wee bit of a shock when you realize FS X doesn't simulate "gently caress you, we're only paying for 2-4 threshold lights on each end, and you best loving believe nothing's as bright as on the sim." Nor does it simulate "we decided not to re-paint the centreline". That was fun too!
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Jul 13, 2017 04:37
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EvilJoven posted:If poo poo went as wrong or generally was as difficult in flight simulators as it does and is in real aviation I might still find flight simulators interesting. I take it your 5 hours instrument was done under the hood and not in a simulator? Either that or our sim is particularly hosed. It's loving impossible to trim that son of a whore properly, and the strange elastic feel on the controls makes everything 10 times harder. Fake Edit: The autopilot in the sim once managed to get itself into slow flight unintentionally. For what it's worth, it did very well. Real Edit: I think simulators are lovely and difficult, but sadly not in a way that would ever prepare you for actual problems you'll face in flight. PT6A fucked around with this message at 05:12 on Jul 13, 2017 |
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Jul 13, 2017 05:10
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e.pilot posted:This is pretty much every non-full motion sim ever, if you have any over controlling tendencies it will magnify them immensely. What kind of sim are you flying? Yeah, I phrased that badly. I meant to say that the things that any sim makes difficult/challenging aren't really things that, once you learn to deal with them, will improve your flying skills. The things the sim does well, as you describe, will definitely improve your flying skills.
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Jul 13, 2017 18:32
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SomeDrunkenMick posted:I feel you on the sim, all the fnpt2 time I did was on one that absolutely refused to trim level. You got to pick a rate up or down slightly and work with that. I know it's only a procedural sim but it was a relief to get back under a hood in a real plane with controls that weren't so ridiculously sensitive. Yeah, sims are great for practicing procedures and getting used a good scan going, and there's certainly advantages to sims that you can't reasonably reproduce in a real plane (vacuum failure comes to mind -- if it actually happens, your scan needs to be able to deal with instruments that are showing a faulty reading, not ones that have been covered up with sticky notes) but the actual feel of flying a plane is something that they aren't yet able to reproduce (certainly not at the Redbird FMX level). One thing I wish I'd practiced in the sim is an unexpected vacuum failure; we only did it after being told it was going to happen. I suppose as I haven't actually begun an instrument rating, that would count as something I'm so unlikely to have to deal with as to not merit dealing with at this stage, since it's basically a contingency within a contingency, but I think it still would've been "fun" to see how long it would take me to notice and correct. I do remember my instructor talking me through an NDB approach in the sim, telling me there was no wind, and then saying at MDA as I'm looking for the runway "Fooled you! I added 15 knots of crosswind, the runway's a mile to your left! Don't trust me, trust your instruments" so she wasn't completely above loving with me
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Jul 14, 2017 02:16
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EvilJoven posted:So after a kinda crappy mock test that got broken in half a month ago, the weather screwing with my test twice and then transport Canada shutting down my school for two weeks I finally got to flight test. That sucks. Although, to be honest, if you failed the ground portion, it's a little bit your fault but it's a lot your instructor's fault. My instructors did a prep session with me and two mock "ground portions" before signing my recommend, to make sure that I was confident and would pass with no problems, they didn't just throw a POH at me and tell me to get crackin'. Anyhoo, you gotta do whatever works best for you, and if you don't want to finish off your license, that's a valid choice. I think the sunk cost thing is more for people who are reasonably sure they will want to complete the license at some point down the road, if you're probably not going to do that then there's no reason to continue spending money.
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Jul 18, 2017 17:41
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Haha, I'd be terrible in that plane, I'm almost always high/fast rather than low/slow.
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Jul 19, 2017 01:44
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100.3 hours pilot in command... Now I just have to fill out some paperwork for Transport Canada and I'll have my CPL! Also got some valuable experience in low visibility this evening -- forest fire smoke meant that visibility was down to 4SM in some places, which is below anything I've dealt with before. Definitely teaches you to be more mindful as you're navigating since you can't see major landmarks from far away. I found the trick was estimating what I should be able to see if I were on track in, say, 5 minute intervals, and being more proactive in general about major checkpoints. One of the things I'm really enjoying about being a pilot is the way you get to/have to challenge yourself within your limits, and improve little by little each time. Way more fun and satisfying than computer janitoring! And our new Seneca has finally come back from maintenance, so it looks like my timing is just about perfect to start my multi/IFR.
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Jul 19, 2017 05:27
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Also, fly every sort of plane you can. It's not like if you take one flight in the DA20 and hate it, they'll force you to do the rest of your lessons in it. I flew a 152 because I thought it would be cheaper and availability would be better, and it turns out I didn't like it. Lesson learned, and at least I got some experience flying a thing that wasn't a 172.
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Jul 19, 2017 06:20
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Is this a sign that I picked the right time to finally pick up my CPL? To be honest though, now that I've basically got it I'm freaking out about how little experience I have and how little I know. I got a high pass on the flight test and the written, and I've never had an "oh gently caress, what do I do?" moment, but it just seems there's so much poo poo I still don't know... I was originally going to do my instructor rating before multi/IFR but now that I'm at the decision point I think I want to do the latter first, just so I have that much more experience before I start training new pilots.
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Jul 20, 2017 04:44
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Jesus, that's frightening. I'm glad everything worked out okay.
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Jul 24, 2017 05:20
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Michael Scott posted:My friend and I are booked for a discovery flight on Saturday, in a 172, with a flight school that has a terrible website. All money that could be spent on a lovely website is spent on planes instead, that's probably a good sign rather than some slick-rear end website designed to sucker people in
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Jul 25, 2017 23:44
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Haha, after currency conversion the rate for the C172N is exactly what I pay. And our fuel is more expensive up here from taxes, so I must be getting a wicked deal.
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Jul 26, 2017 01:09
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MrYenko posted:Ya, not Steve Ricks; gently caress that guy. Chris is amazing. It's so weird to think that, at every level of aviation, there's always That Plane that has weird loving issues and you just don't like flying.
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Jul 29, 2017 02:07
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Michael Scott posted:Had my discovery flight in the 173! It was awesome, I did get pretty airsick though due to the up/down movement while over land. Have to figure out a way to get over that. It will probably go away the more you fly and get used to it. To start, try to fly early in the morning if you can, it will tend to be less bumpy.
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Jul 29, 2017 22:54
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The OP needs updated, I'm now officially a commercial pilot!
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Jul 31, 2017 20:04
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Captain Apollo posted:Congratulations man. Glad you saw it to the finish! Thanks, both for the congratulations and for helping talk me into it in the first place!
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Jul 31, 2017 22:29
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 02:40 |
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Is it my imagination or do those taxiways look like they're as wide as the runway? Is that normal at large airports? Holy gently caress I have so much to learn before I actually get a job... 
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Aug 4, 2017 02:03
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