There is a lot written about transitioning from piston airplanes to jets, but not much about the reverse.

For this pilot, the transition from a Cessna Citation CJ1, 2+, and 3 to a Beechcraft P-Baron was an eye-opener. Training is different. Jet training includes engine failure during takeoff, the so-called V₁ cut.

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This is almost always accomplished in a simulator and usually easily handled by maintaining heading, retracting the gear, pitching to a speed called V₂, and climbing to a safe altitude. In a piston twin, this is “simulated” at a safe altitude by retarding power on one engine, the so-called V_MC (minimum controllable airspeed) demonstration.

• READ MORE: How to Make Sure Your Cross-Country Hours Count

As a practical matter, the Baron is a lot busier than the jet. Taking off with full power means reducing manifold pressure and propeller rpm soon after takeoff. This usually occurs just as the tower gives you a new heading, altitude, and frequency change. Once in cruise, there is the matter of leaning the engines by reducing the fuel flow to each engine while watching the cylinder head temperatures (all 12) and exhaust gas temps.

• READ MORE: What Should a Pilot Do if a Single Engine Quits in Cruise?

In typical jets, the red fuel lever is either on or off, no leaning involved. In descent the piston engine needs to be kept warm, so power reductions are done very gradually. This limits the rate of descent. In the jet, you just pull the power to idle and dial in 2,000 fpm (or more) down and don’t think twice about it.

This column first appeared in the January-February 2024/Issue 945 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post What Does It Take to Transition from a Jet to a Piston Airplane? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: I’m a student pilot about to start my solo cross-country flights. I keep hearing horror stories about private pilot applicants who find out during their check ride that their cross-country time doesn’t count because they measured wrong, or navigated by GPS only, or because they repositioned the aircraft to another airport to give them a 50 nm leg, and that is not allowed. 

Is there a particular way the FAA wants the pilot to measure distances, navigate, and pick a route?

• READ MORE: New Airman Certification Standards for CFIs Is Released

Answer: According to FAR 61.1(b)(ii), to meet the aeronautical experience requirements for a private pilot certificate, a commercial pilot certificate, an instrument rating, or for the purpose of exercising recreational pilot privileges, cross-country flight time must include a landing at least a straight-line distance of more than 50 nm from the original point of departure. Measure that with a plotter and paper sectional, and it’s best if the distance is a bit past 50 nm—like at least 53 nm.

• READ MORE: Is a Medical Certificate Required for a Private Pilot Check Ride?

As far as navigation goes, FAR 61.1(b)(i) navigation for cross-country flights can be ded reckoning, pilotage, electronic navigational aids (GPS), radio aids (VOR), and other navigation systems. Keep in mind that many designated pilot examiners (DPEs) will fail the GPS or ForeFlight to test the applicant’s use of the more basic navigational skills. 

Pro tip: Carry a current paper sectional with you and make sure you can read it. Andexpect to be told to divert to another airport during the check ride using the sectional as your guide.

• READ MORE: The Potentially Deadly Distraction of Social Media

As far as if it is legal to reposition an aircraft to an airport that is not a pilot’s home base, then use it as a starting point to give them a straight-line distance of more than 50 nm, we asked the FAA directly. The answer: Yes, it is legal to do this.

The post How to Make Sure Your Cross-Country Hours Count appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: I’m a private pilot learner flying on a third-class medical certificate. Life got in the way, and I’ve determined that my medical will expire before I complete my training. I’d like to fly using BasicMed, but can I take the check ride with that, or must I renew the third-class medical?

Answer: According to the FAA, “as long as the pilot meets the criteria to fly with BasicMed, they can use it, including on a check ride.”

• READ MORE: How to Find Your Best Ground School Fit

According to FAA Advisory Circular 68-1A, to meet the criteria for use of BasicMed, the pilot needs to hold a current and valid U.S. driver’s license, hold or have held a medical certificate issued by the FAA at any point after July 14, 2006, answer health questions on the Comprehensive Medical Examination Checklist (CMEC), receive a physical examination from any state-licensed physician, and have them  complete the CMEC. Be sure to keep the CMEC.

Finally, the pilot needs to take the BasicMed online medical education course. Keep the course completion document issued to you by the provider.

• READ MORE: Can the Owner of a Certified Airplane Do Their Own Maintenance?

The post Is a Medical Certificate Required for a Private Pilot Check Ride? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: If the engine in a single quits in cruise, what should I do with the throttle, propeller, and other controls to get the best glide?

Answer: Most singles can glide eight times their height above the terrain. If you’re at 7,500 feet and the local elevation is 700 feet, you’re about one and a quarter miles above the ground, so don’t pick a place to land outside a 10-mile radius. Don’t count on achieving the longest possible  lide—better a nearby cornfield than a distant runway.

This Article First Appeared in FLYING Magazine

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Slow to your best rate-of-climb speed. If the prop doesn’t stop of its own accord, let it windmill. To reduce drag from the windmilling propeller, open the throttle fully and set a constant-speed prop to the lowest possible rpm (vernier all the way out).

• READ MORE: Can the Owner of a Certified Airplane Do Their Own Maintenance?

If you’re landing in the rough, turn off fuel to the engine. Slide your seat as far back as you can while still holding the yoke, and make your lap and shoulder belts as tight as possible. Keep the flaps and gear retracted until you’re in position to land, then use full flaps.

Otherwise, touch down on the numbers.

This column first appeared in the November 2023/Issue 944 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post What Should a Pilot Do if a Single Engine Quits in Cruise? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: I just bought a Cessna 172 to finish my private pilot certificate. I’ve been working on cars since I was in my teens, so I think I can do my own maintenance. But doesn’t the FAA limit what a pilot can do on their airplane?

Answer: FAR 43.3 permits a pilot to perform preventive maintenance on an aircraft they own or operate, provided it is used strictly for noncommercial operations under Part 91, so no flight instruction or scenic flights.

• READ MORE: What Is the Criteria for Issuing a Convective SIGMET?

Under Appendix A of Part 43, you’ll find a list of preventative maintenance that can be done without supervision of an A&P mechanic. Much of it has to do with replacing something already installed. For example, the pilot/owner is allowed to perform tire changes, service shock struts, lubricate wheel bearings, and replace hydraulic fluid, side windows, lights, batteries, and tray-mounted avionics with the exception of transponders, DMEs, and autopilots. They can also replace, clean, gap, or rotate spark plugs, replace prefabricated fuel lines and nonhydraulic hose connections, and clean or replace fuel and oil strainers and filters.

• READ MORE: Can You Pilot an Aircraft While Wearing a Cast?

If you are attempting this maintenance for the first time, it’s a good idea to have an experienced aviation mechanic (A&P) by your side just to make sure you’re doing it correctly, have the right tools, and don’t accidentally wrench yourself into a corner.

The post Can the Owner of a Certified Airplane Do Their Own Maintenance? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: What is the criteria used by forecasters for issuing a convective SIGMET?  

Answer: During the warm season, convective weather has a huge impact on the National Airspace System (NAS). As the amount of usable airspace diminishes on any given day, this ultimately engenders delays in the system. A departure within busy airspace usually means a delay. In the worst-case scenario, ground stops may be levied depending on route of flight and destination airport. Nevertheless, forecasters at the Aviation Weather Center (AWC) are busy at work issuing advisories to warn pilots of these dangerous convective areas.  

A single-cell, pulse-type thunderstorm is normally easy to spot in the distance and maneuver around while in flight. In this situation, a deviation around such a cell does not eat into your fuel reserves. However, when thunderstorms become embedded, severe, or dense in coverage within an area or along a line, they are considered a significant en route hazard to aviation. This often requires you to plan a more circuitous route, which means carrying extra fuel than if you flew a direct route. It is in this case that an AWC forecaster will issue a convective SIGMET (WST) to “protect” this airspace. 

When you hear “convective SIGMET” during your preflight briefing, don’t think of it as a forecast for thunderstorms. Instead, think of it as a “NOWcast” of organized convection that may be highly challenging or dangerous to penetrate. These active thunderstorms must meet specific criteria before a convective SIGMET is issued. Areas of widely scattered thunderstorms, such as shown in the XM-delivered satellite radar image below, are generally easy to see and avoid while in flight and often do not meet convective SIGMET criteria.

Nevertheless, on any particular eight-hour shift a single forecaster at the AWC’s convective SIGMET desk looks at all of the convective activity occurring throughout the conterminous U.S. on a continual basis. On an active convective weather day, they are likely the busiest forecaster on the planet. This forecaster is given the responsibility to subjectively determine if an area or line of convection represents a significant hazard to aviation using these minimum criteria:

• A line of thunderstorms is at least 60 miles long with thunderstorms affecting at least 40 percent of its length.
• An area of active thunderstorms is affecting at least 3,000 square miles covering at least 40 percent of the area concerned and exhibiting a very strong radar reflectivity intensity or a significant satellite or lightning signature.
• Embedded or severe thunderstorm(s) are expected to occur for more than 30 minutes during the valid period regardless of the size of the area. 

For reference, 3,000 square miles represents about 60 percent of the size of the state of Connecticut.

Will an advisory be issued as soon as the convection meets one or more of these criteria? Possibly. A special convective SIGMET may be issued when any of the following criteria are occurring or, in the judgment of a forecaster, expected to occur for more than 30 minutes of the valid period:

• Tornadoes, hail greater than or equal to three-quarters of an inch in diameter, or wind gusts greater than or equal to 50 knots are reported.
• Indications of rapidly changing conditions, if in a forecaster’s judgment they are not sufficiently described in existing convective SIGMETs.

However, special issuances are not the norm, especially when there is a lot of convective activity to capture. In most cases, a convective SIGMET is not issued until the convection has persisted and met the aforementioned criteria for at least 30 minutes. Given that these advisories are routinely issued at 55 minutes past the hour, any convection that has not met the criteria by 25 minutes past the hour may not be included in the routine issuance. Consequently, there are times where a dangerous line or area of developing thunderstorms could be present without the protection of a convective SIGMET. All convective SIGMETs will have a valid time of no more than two hours from the time of issuance.

• READ MORE: Surviving Thunderstorms: Cut Your Risk

Last but not least, these convective SIGMETs are often coordinated by an AWC forecaster with meteorologists at the various Center Weather Service Units (CWSUs) located throughout the country at the various Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs). At times, a meteorologist at the CWSUs may issue a Center Weather Advisory (CWA) when building cells are approaching convective SIGMET criteria. The goal is not to duplicate advisories when possible and provide the best guidance for pilots.

The post What Is the Criteria for Issuing a Convective SIGMET? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: I am a student pilot and have been flying several times a week. I was just about to go solo, then last week I broke my right wrist and thumb in a skateboarding accident. My instructor won’t let me fly until the casts come off weeks from now. Is this an FAA rule, or is my instructor making up rules?

Answer: FAR 61.53 prohibits operations during a medical deficiency. It can be argued that having broken bones and a cast constitutes a medical deficiency that would prohibit you from acting as pilot in command (PIC), ergo, no solo flight. Your CFI probably doesn’t want to risk the liability. However, you could still do dual lessons, provided you have the strength and dexterity in your right arm and hand, and you’re not in pain or on medication that affects your faculties. On dual flights the CFI is the PIC, so you would not be breaking the rules.

The post Can You Pilot an Aircraft While Wearing a Cast? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: I have just returned to flying after a several-year gap. I know the FAA has rules about what pilots need to do to establish VFR and IFR currency but haven’t been able to find any information on how proficiency is established. Does the FAA have rules on what a pilot needs to work on?

Answer: In a manner of speaking, the metrics for proficiency are found in the airman certification standards. The ACS lists the tasks and knowledge required for airman certification.

For example, if you hold a commercial or private certificate, you are expected to maintain traffic pattern altitude plus/minus 100 feet and the appropriate airspeed within 10 knots. These are minimum standards. It takes practice to do this.

• READ MORE: When You Go Back to Flight School, Don’t Lose What You’ve Learned

You can do three takeoffs and landings and be off altitude and off speed and you will still regain currency. But if you find yourself constantly high on downwind and playing “chase the airspeed” all the way down, you are not proficient. The FAA doesn’t have a recommendation on how much time we need to regain proficiency. That is left up to each individual pilot.

The post What’s the Difference Between Currency and Proficiency? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: I just started my flight training and the airplane has inoperative instruments in the panel. These are round dials, and they have “INOP” stickers over them. The CFI didn’t seem concerned, but I wonder, is this airplane even legal now?

Answer: The answer to your question lies under both FAR 91.205 and FAR 91.207. FAR 91.205 lists the instruments required for daytime VFR flight, where most flight training starts. 

In order to be legal for daytime VFR flight, the aircraft needs a functioning airspeed indicator, oil pressure gauge for each engine, manifold pressure gauge for each engine, altimeter, temperature gauge for each liquid-cooled engine, oil temperature gauge for each engine, working fuel gauge, landing gear position indicator if the aircraft has retractable landing gear, magnetic compass, and safety belts. If the aircraft was certificated after March 11, 1996 it also needs to have an anti collision beacon.

• READ MORE: IFR vs VFR: What’s the Difference?

Under FAR 91.207, you will see reference to an emergency locator transmitter (ELT), which is required on training aircraft with certain exceptions, such as when the aircraft is being ferried to a place where repairs or replacement can be made or when it is engaged in training operations conducted entirely within a 50 nm radius from the airport from which local flight operation began.

That’s an awful lot to remember. So, you will likely be learning the phrase—A TOMATO FLAMES—to recall these items:

• Anti Collision beacon (if aircraft certificated after March 11, 1996) 
• Tachometer
• Oil pressure
• Magnetic compass
• Airspeed
• Temp gauge for engine
• Oil temp
• Fuel gauge
• Landing gear position (if appropriate)
• Altimeter
• Manifold pressure gauge (if appropriate)
• ELT
• Seat belts

The post Do Missing Instruments Ground an Airplane? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: My community held a fly-in airport day last year in April, and this year, we were told we aren’t going to have it again because the county is planning an airshow for August. Aren’t they basically the same thing?

Answer: Not at all. An airshow involves aerial acts that require an aerobatics box, oft-paid performers and announcers, the designation of a show line (to keep the viewing public out of harm’s way from performers), along with procedures and staff for emergencies, just to mention a few things. The FAA needs to approve the event, and a NOTAM is issued. Airshows usually charge a fee for entry.

The airport sponsor needs to approve the airshow before it happens, along with the FAA, which has guidance here.

An airshow usually takes about a year to plan. For example, the airshow in Grant County, Washington, is held on Father’s Day weekend, and by August 1, they have started planning for the next year.

Fly-ins do not typically have paid performers, although they may have fly-bys of aircraft in the pattern, or Young Eagles rides taking place. Fly-ins require permission from the airport sponsor, such as the county, city, or port, making arrangements not to disrupt regular activities at the airport—like flight school operations. Usually, you do not need FAA permission—or have to issue a NOTAM about the fly-in.

A fly-in is more like a car show with aircraft on static display—and often the two are paired, classic cars and classic airplanes. Usually there isn’t a fee to enter the fly-in, although they are often cast as fundraisers for aviation or civic organizations and donations are appreciated. Many aviation fly-ins have a pancake breakfast for a price, and that money is considered a donation.

Both an airshow and fly-in require the organization putting on the event to obtain an appropriate level of insurance, often determined by the airport sponsor. Sometimes, this can be the killer of the event, as the amount of insurance required by the airport sponsor risk management team is beyond the capability of the organization that wants to put on the event. This is particularly true if the fly-in is a fundraiser for a non-profit. Both events also require attention to infrastructure, such as getting an adequate number of porta-potties, parking assistance, first aid stations, etc.

In both cases, approaching the airport sponsor well in advance (at least a year to six months out) with a plan on when the event will take place, what activities and exhibits to be at the event, how many staff and volunteers you will have working the event, the footprint of the event on the airport, how you will address the issue of not interrupting regular airport operations, and how many people you anticipate having will go a long way to making your event a success.

The post What Is the Difference Between a Fly-In and an Airshow? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: Is flying through snow an icing hazard?

Answer: There is an opinion in the aviation community that flying through snow is not only an icing hazard but also against FAA regulations for pilots in aircraft without a certified ice protection system. Keep in mind that each weather system is unique, and there are many exceptions to the general view presented here.

Let’s discuss some of the many factors associated with flying through snow.

Snow falling out of the base of a cloud means there are fairly deep, saturated conditions aloft. To produce snow typically requires that the cloud top temperature (CTT) be sufficiently cold. That usually means a CTT of minus-12 degrees Celsius or colder—the colder the air, the more likely the precipitation type is snow. In this situation, ice crystals can dominate any supercooled liquid water in the cloud and lead to the development of snowflakes in the cloud aloft. If you are flying through snow below the cloud base, does that imply icing conditions exist? Just to be clear, this is not a discussion of flying in the clouds producing the snow but below the cloud base. 

Snow is considered visible moisture. It can be mixed with other precipitation types that may include rain, freezing rain, or ice pellets. In general, snow falling from the base of a cloud doesn’t represent a significant airframe icing hazard unless it is mixed with other types of precipitation such as freezing rain. It can be an issue with induction icing but not airframe icing. In the unlikely case that snow does adhere to the airframe, an exit plan should be executed. 

• READ MORE: What Is Mixed Icing?

Outside of a mixed-precipitation scenario, snow is usually classified as wet or dry. Wet snow occurs when the static air temperature is at or above 0 degrees Celsius. That is, the snow falls into an atmosphere warmer than freezing and begins a melting process. Although liquid water doesn’t necessarily freeze at a temperature below 0 degrees Celsius, snow must begin to melt at a temperature warmer than that. If the temperature is warm enough, it will completely melt the snowflake into a raindrop before reaching the surface. You may have experienced this while driving in your car. You’ll see the wet snowflake splat on your windshield and quickly melt. Wet snow can begin to accumulate on grassy surfaces or other vegetation but usually melts quickly on other surfaces.

Moreover, because you are flying at an airspeed where kinetic heating occurs on the leading edge, even at a static air temperature of 0 degrees Celsius, snow will typically not accrete on the leading edges of the wings and horizontal stabilizer as a result of this kinetic heating driven by adiabatic compression. This is typically referred to as ram air rise. And certainly, with a static air temperature above 0 degrees Celsius, ice is very unlikely to accrete with the additional ram air temperature rise. In fact, even at a static air temperature of minus-1 or minus-2 degrees Celsius, accreting ice is difficult at best. Once the static air temperature gets colder than minus-3 C, then you are no longer dealing with wet snow since no melting is occurring.   

Certainly, wet snow can be problematic while taxiing. Or, if you pull your airplane out of a warm hangar, even dry snow will melt and begin to collect on some surfaces and may accumulate over time. It is recommended that you never depart with any of the aircraft surfaces contaminated, including wings and the horizontal stabilizer. Doing so may cause the aircraft not to develop the lift necessary to take off and climb, creating a risk of impact with terrain. 

Another metric to use is the Current Icing Product (CIP) found on the Aviation Weather Center website. CIP utilizes a recent three-hour forecast from the Rapid Refresh (RAP) model for parameters such as temperature, moisture aloft, supercooled liquid water content, and other useful model data. This is mainly to “seed” the forecast for these items, given that observational data is rather sparse throughout the atmosphere for these important parameters. Nevertheless, it combines this with surface observations, ground-based radar, pilot weather reports, satellite imagery, and lightning to produce an hourly analysis of icing probability, icing severity, and supercooled large-drop icing potential from the surface through 30,000 feet.  

CIP looks for information about the presence or absence of six precipitation types—freezing rain (FZRA), freezing drizzle (FZDZ), ice pellets (PL), rain (RA), drizzle (DZ), and snow (SN). A report of any of the first five means that altitudes below cloud base need to be considered for possible icing and SLD, because subfreezing liquid precipitation may be present. However, in an observation in which only snow is reported at the surface, ice crystals are clearly present beneath and within the lowest cloud layer, and those are not considered an icing threat, especially below the lowest cloud base. 

For example, if an airport is reporting an overcast sky at 2,500 feet and only snow is being reported, the CIP algorithm will remove any possible occurrence of icing from the cloud base down to the surface, regardless of what other sources may say. This is because snow not mixed with other precipitation types, such as freezing rain, is not seen as an icing hazard…even wet snow.  

Is it legal to fly through snow in an aircraft without a certified ice protection system? First you may want to read this letter from the FAA’s Office of the Chief Counsel. An excerpt  states: 

The formation of structural icing requires two elements: 1) the presence of visible moisture, and 2) an aircraft surface temperature at or below zero degrees Celsius. The FAA does not necessarily consider the mere presence of clouds (which may only contain ice crystals) or other forms of visible moisture at temperatures at or below freezing to be conducive to the formation of known ice or to constitute known icing conditions. There are many variables that influence whether ice will actually be detected or observed, or will form on and adhere to an aircraft. The size of the water droplets, shape of the airfoil, and the speed of the aircraft, among other factors, can make a critical difference in the initiation and growth of structural ice.

Yes, snow is definitely visible moisture, but will it adhere to the airframe? Dry snow is not going to adhere to the airframe while in flight. Wet snow, as mentioned above, is more of an induction icing or ground icing concern than airframe icing while in flight. 

Sometimes it’s not about airframe or induction icing. Flying through falling snow can also be very disorienting at times, especially when the snowfall is moderate or greater, or you are flying at night. It will often lower flight visibility to 3 sm or less and can make runways extremely slick. Landing while it is snowing on a snow-covered runway can lead to a flare at an altitude higher than normal, making for a hard landing.      

One last point. Often when snow falls into a fairly deep, dry layer below the cloud base, it can sublimate on its way down. This usually occurs with the onset of precipitation as a weather system approaches. Evaporation and sublimation are both cooling processes, and they will lower the temperature of the dryer air. An atmosphere that is a few degrees above freezing can lead to melting wet snow, and this process can quickly move the temperatures to below freezing, allowing for snow to reach the surface instead of melting.

The post Is Flying Through Snow an Icing Hazard? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: What is the ideal age to start flying?

Answer: This seemingly straightforward question has a complicated answer that begins with more questions: Why do you want to fly? Is it a bucket list item? Are you wanting to make a career change? Are you looking for an initial career?

When the person asking the question is a teenager, we need to take a look at their age. You can earn a glider certificate at 14, solo a powered airplane at 16, and become a private pilot at age 17. But that doesn’t mean a teen has the maturity to accept the responsibility of being a pilot. In addition, teens are notoriously overscheduled these days. If they are taking a heavy course load at school, playing a sport, or involved in a lot of extracurriculars such as band, robotics club, etc., this may not be the time to start flying lessons. They need to be able to focus on the task, and that’s tough to do when you are spread so thin. 

As flying skills are perishable, for teens seeking training in powered aircraft it is often best to schedule flight lessons a few months ahead of their 16th birthday and/or when the weather in your part of the world is best. You don’t want the training to drag out for too long. However, I have worked with teens as young as 14 for whom flying lessons were a reward for doing well in school—straight A’s will get you into the cockpit or ground school, but the teen will have to do the work once they get there. When their birthday on the calendar caught up with their training progress, they earned their certificates.

• READ MORE: Age Is Just a Number When It Comes to Flight Training

For the person seeking a career change, the question pivots to: Do you have the time and money to devote at least 10 hours a week to learning to fly? Don’t forget to factor in study time as well as commuting to and from the airport. Take a serious look at your adult responsibilities, such as simultaneously managing your present career and family obligations, before you commit.

Even if you select an accelerated program, anticipate at least two years of training before having the certifications and experience needed to be hired as a pilot.

Bucket List

If flying is simply the thing that has tugged at your heart for a long time, take consolation. There is no upper-age limit for learning to fly. For a sport pilot certificate, you can use your driver’s license in lieu of a medical exam. If you wish to be a private pilot, as long as you can meet the requirements of a third-class medical certificate, age isn’t a factor. In fact, as a retiree, you may be at the point in your life when you have the time and resources to do what you want. Many people learn to fly when they set aside their primary career and open up their world to the next thing. You could be one of them.

The post What’s the Ideal Age to Start Flying Lessons? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: Do pilot hours ever expire?

A commercial applicant at my flight school was told by the Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) that a 300 nm flight he did in 2000 was “too long ago to count toward the experience required,” citing FAR 61.129: Aeronautical Experience for Commercial Pilots.

The DPE told him he would have to do another 300 nm cross-country flight to meet the experience requirements before he was allowed to take his check ride.

The applicant was on the professional pilot track years ago but diverted to another career when the industry tanked after 9/11. He has since returned to flying and regained currency and proficiency.

• READ MORE: Guard Your Logbook

Answer: The short answer is no. The hours of aeronautical experience don’t expire. Per the FAA: “Regulations do not time-limit aeronautical experience for commercial pilots who are applying for a certificate.” Either the DPE was mistaken, or there was a miscommunication. This is why it’s important to keep track of your logbook and make sure everything—be it flight, ground, or AATD—is properly logged and signed off. You don’t want to have to pay for those hours twice.

The post Do Hours Logged Ever Expire? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: I am a recently soloed student pilot, and the loss of the door plug from the Boeing 737 Max 9 has me wondering what I’m supposed to do if it happens to me when I am flying solo? Do I declare an emergency? Will I get sucked out of the airplane?

Answer: As with most training aircraft, your Pipers, Cessna 100 series, Cirrus SR20/22s, and Diamonds are not pressurized, so there won’t be an “explosive decompression.” That’s not to say it won’t be loud and startling if it happens. It will.

The most important thing to remember is to fly the airplane, especially if it happens on takeoff. Don’t try to reach over and close the door. If you have a runway ahead of you and can safely land, do so. If you are out of usable runway, fly the pattern and return for landing. Once you are safe on the ground and at a full stop, close the door. If you are at a towered airport, letting ATC know you have a problem can be beneficial as it will likely give you priority if able. As far as declaring an emergency, if you feel your life is endangered, then do it.

• READ MORE: NTSB Identifies Part That Failed on 737 Max 9

You won’t be sucked out of the airplane if the door pops open, since you’re wearing your seat belt, per FAR 91.107, aren’t you? That’s not to say loose objects like sunglasses, cellphones, or sectionals won’t get pulled out. Arrange your cockpit accordingly to prevent this from happening.

The post What If the Door Comes Open During a Flight Lesson? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: What is mixed icing?

Answer: To answer that question, let’s look at the three icing types that pilots are asked to report. These include rime, clear, and mixed. What icing type accretes on your airframe depends on many environmental factors. Let’s briefly discuss each of these factors as it relates to the type of icing.  

Rime icing is a rough, milky, or opaque ice that is typically formed by the rapid freezing of supercooled liquid water drops onto the airframe. The rapid freezing helps to allow air to be trapped inside the ice, making it appear whiter. If you grew up with an old freezer that required regular defrosting, that ice buildup is similar to the appearance of rime ice. In other words, it has a frosty appearance.

First and foremost, rime icing is most common when temperatures are relatively cold, allowing the freezing process to occur rapidly. Small drop environments also tend to help with rapid freezing as do low liquid water contents. One place that this tends to occur is in stratiform clouds because the drops tend to be small and the water content tends to be low. But even in these clouds, if the temperatures are close enough to freezing, or the water content or drop size increases a bit, the icing could become more mixed or even clear. 

Keep in mind that the colder it gets, the more likely it is that any ice accreted would be rime. Remember, these are just tendencies. There’s no guarantee of what kind of ice you’ll get based solely on temperature or the type of cloud. There are many factors that come into play that are sometimes difficult to quantify or predict.

Clear icing is a glossy or translucent ice formed by the relatively slow freezing of supercooled liquid water drops. This tends to occur in clouds with a high liquid water content and larger drop sizes with rapid accretion like you might find in a cumuliform-type cloud. Clear ice also tends to occur in the warmer subfreezing temperature range and in  a large drop environment produced by freezing rain and freezing drizzle.

Moreover, larger drops such as those found in freezing rain and drizzle tend to exist at warmer subfreezing temperatures. Studies have shown that freezing rain only exists down to about minus 12 degrees Celsius, while freezing drizzle can exist at much colder temperatures, sometimes as cold as minus 21 degrees Celsius. However, the frequency of freezing rain and drizzle drops off sharply with decreasing temperature. In-flight studies suggest that the colder the situation, the smaller the drops tend to be outside of convective activity. 

Mixed icing can be thought of as a transition between clear and rime icing. Another way to get mixed icing is to fly through multiple icing situations, some that produce ice that’s more on the rime end of the spectrum and others that produce ice that’s more on the clear end of the spectrum. The overlap of these types can give it a mixed look. For mixed icing to build on its own, it comes down to that energy balance. If you’re somewhere between the energy balances that form rime and clear ice, then the resulting icing can have characteristics of both types.

Perhaps the most common occurrence of accreting mixed icing is during a climb or descent. For example, as the aircraft climbs, it may initially be accreting clear ice because of warmer temperatures. But as the temperatures get colder in the climb, rime ice begins to accrete over the clear ice, creating that mixed look. Essentially the altitude change takes the aircraft through multiple icing environments over a given time. Pilots will report this as mixed icing.

As shown in the pie chart above, rime is definitely the most common type reported. The reason rime ice is so common is because it occurs over a broad range of environmental conditions. Clear ice, on the other hand, occurs over a much narrower range of conditions, so it is observed less frequently. Mixed ice can be thought of as a transition from rime to clear ice, also occurring over a narrow range of conditions, so it is also relatively uncommon.  

Pilots are encouraged to report the type of icing they encounter. So, understanding where these types accumulate on the airframe can help you provide the best report. Rime icing tends to be closer to the immediate leading edges, thanks to the rapid freezing process. It’s the reason most ice protection systems are located on the leading edges of the airframe, where rime ice generally accumulates. Clear ice tends to extend farther back on the wing’s surface and sometimes well beyond the leading edge. If the aircraft has boots, then any ice accretion behind the protected surface can continue to accumulate, creating an ice ridging situation. Ice protection systems that employ TKS fluid do a wonderful job limiting runback ice since the fluid is dispersed well behind the TKS panels. These are generalities that hold true a lot of the time, but there are exceptions, especially as the complexity of the icing environment increases.

Making a good pilot weather report (PIREP) as it relates to airframe ice is critical. Reporting ice during a climb or descent without reporting the altitudes that you witnessed ice accretion is not helpful. Instead, provide the icing type along with the altitude range where icing was experienced. And be prepared to also provide the outside air temperature since it’s required anytime you report ice. It’s important to be sure you are reporting the static or outside air temperature and not the total air temperature—sometimes called the “ram” air temperature.  

The PIREP shown from the EZWxBrief progressive web app (ezwxbrief.com) is an example of a good icing report. The pilot of a Cessna 208 reported light, clear rime ice with a temperature of minus-10 degrees Celsius. But the remark in the report is the key. The remark (RMK) of “LGT CLEAR ICING 051-031” suggests that ice accretion was witnessed between 5,100 and 3,100 feet msl. About the only improvement I can suggest is to mention whether the icing was in the cloud or below the cloud within precipitation. 

The post What Is Mixed Icing? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: I went out to the local airport to sign up for flying lessons and noticed there isn’t a control tower there even though the airport has a terminal building and an airline that flies in. Aren’t airports served by the airlines required to have a tower because it makes them safer?

Answer: Having an airline service the airport isn’t the criteria used by the FAA  to determine if the facility needs a control tower. Rhinelander/Oneida County Airport (KRHI) in Wisconsin, for example, does not have a control tower, yet it is served daily by a regional airline connecting to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (KMSP).

The FAA uses the number of aircraft operations—that is how busy the airport is—to determine if a tower is warranted. This is very similar to how cities monitor traffic on streets and install traffic lights to replace four-way stop signs when traffic increases.

The majority of the airports in the United States are nontowered because they don’t have the traffic to necessitate a control tower. Pilots learn to fly in and out of both towered and nontowered (also known as pilot-controlled) airports as part of their training. Pilots are taught to see and avoid other traffic—no matter what kind of airport they are at. While tower controllers will provide traffic advisories if able, pilots don’t rely on them to report when someone else is out there.

• READ MORE: Who Controls Offshore Airspace?

Additionally, not all towers are open 24/7. Busier airports, such as airline hub locations like Seattle, Atlanta, New York City, etc., have full-time towers, while smaller, less busy airports may have part-time towers. Tacoma Narrows Airport (KTIW), located 15 nm south of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (KSEA), has several busy flight schools, so there is a control tower that operates from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. PDT.

Pilots are taught to check their sectionals (a map for pilots) and other airport information listed online or in an FAA text called the Chart Supplement to determine if a facility has a control tower and, if so, learn its hours of operation and radio frequency to contact it.

The post Why Don’t All Airports Have Control Towers? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: Who was the first to make a ‘blind’ takeoff and landing?

Answer: The first “blind” takeoff and landing—that is, flight without being able to see outside the airplane—was performed on September 24, 1929, by U.S. Army Air Corps pilot Jimmy Doolittle.

The aircraft took off from Mitchel Field in Long Island, New York, and Lieutenant Doolittle flew over a set course.

Doolittle piloted an Army Air Corps NY-2 Husky, a two-place, open cockpit biplane. For the purpose of the flight, the back cockpit was covered with a fabric hood. Doolittle relied entirely on a directional gyro, artificial horizon, (adjustable) sensitive altimeter, and radio navigation to maintain situational awareness.

• READ MORE: When VFR Turns into IFR

Lieutenant Benjamin Kelsey was in the front seat acting as a safety pilot. For the duration of the flight, Kelsey kept his arms in the air to show he was not flying the aircraft.

Doolittle landed the airplane after approximately 15 minutes using the instrument landing procedure that had been developed.

This column first appeared in the October 2023/Issue 942 print edition of FLYING.

The post Who Made the First ‘Blind’ Takeoff and Landing? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: On an airline flight from New York to St. Thomas, I noticed that we ventured 400 miles offshore. Who controls this airspace, presumably beyond VHF and radar range?

Answer: Most traffic between the Northeastern U.S. and the eastern Caribbean uses this routing, several hundred miles shorter than following the East Coast. The airspace is called the Western Atlantic Route System, known by its acronym, WATRS. It uses 12 published airways labeled (from west to east) L451 through L462. Most are oriented north-south and spaced 60 nm apart. The availability of Bermuda as an engine-out alternative makes these routes usable even for non-ETOPS aircraft.

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WATRS is controlled by New York Oceanic FIR, which owns a huge swath of the western Atlantic between 21 and 45 degrees north. The small portions of WATRS that are within radar and VHF coverage operate similarly to domestic airspace. Elsewhere, nonradar position reporting procedures apply via high-frequency (HF) radio on 3,000 to 22,000 KHz. HF is not subject to the line-of-sight limitations of VHF because it bounces signals off various layers of the ionosphere. Signal propagation varies, with usable frequencies changing with sun angle and transmission distance—and interference from solar storms.

When propagation is poor, the few marginally usable frequencies become congested. You are not speaking directly to ATC but communication specialists at ARINC who relay your position reports and requests to the controllers. All this means that weather deviations must be requested well in advance, and emergency contingency procedures envision the likelihood of delayed communications. In recent years, the increased use of controller-pilot data link communications (CPDLC) with satellite communication (SatCom) has eased the com difficulties in WATRS airspace. CPDLC provides automatic position reporting and instantaneous text communication with ATC.

This article first appeared in the July 2023/Issue 939 print edition of FLYING.

The post Who Controls Offshore Airspace? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

If you frequently use aviationweather.gov for your preflight planning, by now you’ve noticed a new look and feel to the Aviation Weather Center website. That’s because on October 16, the website received a long overdue facelift. There were a lot of changes—some of them for the better, but also some for the worse. Here’s a brief summary of a few of the more significant alterations.

• READ MORE: NOAA Changing Weather Site

Overview

A majority of the weather data will appear on the graphical forecasts for aviation (GFA) webpage. This is the heart and soul of the new site. Here’s a brief description of the purpose of this page as posted in the GFA help on aviationweather.gov.  

“The GFA webpage is intended to provide the necessary aviation weather information to give users a complete picture of the weather that may impact flight in the United States (including Alaska & Hawaii), Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and portions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The webpage includes observational data, forecasts, and warnings that can be viewed from 18 hours in the past to 18 hours in the future. Hourly model data and forecasts, including information on clouds, flight category, precipitation, icing, turbulence, wind, and graphical output from the National Weather Service’s National Digital Forecast Data (NDFD), are available.”

What’s a Progressive Web App?

Let’s begin with the good news. Like my website, EZWxBrief, the Aviation Weather Center (AWC) decided to build its website  as a progressive web app (PWA). The aviationweather.gov legacy site was very clumsy and nearly impossible to use on a mobile device such as an iPhone. Developing this as a PWA offers a very responsive design, and that means it works reasonably well on those smaller hand-held devices in both portrait and landscape orientations. 

No, you won’t find this “app” in the App Store or Google Play Store. Instead, you should install the PWA on your device to have the best user experience. Not to worry, it literally takes just a few seconds and applies to any device, not just handhelds. 

Here’s the installation process. Simply open a browser that supports a PWA such as Chrome, Safari, or Brave and enter “https://aviationweather.gov” into the browser’s address bar. On your hand-held device, locate the “Share” icon (sometimes called a “Bookmark” or “Send to” icon). This is an icon that’s shaped like a square with an upward pointing arrow in the center. Please note that not all browsers support progressive web apps. A tap on that icon and you have finished step one of three to install the app. 

Next, you’ll be shown the “Share” menu. Scan down that menu using Chrome or Safari and tap on the “Add to Home Screen” selection.

During the third and final step, you’ll be able to name your PWA icon. You are free to change the long default name from “AviationWeather.gov” to AWC or whatever you like. When you’ve chosen the name, tap on the “Add” button in the upper-right corner. This will add an Aviation Weather Center icon to your home screen with the name you chose. Even better, when the Aviation Weather Center makes future updates, they will be available the next time you restart the app. It’s actually easier than installing and updating native apps.

Just like any native app, tap on that home screen icon and the aviationweather.gov site will open up. You’ll notice that it doesn’t have any browser bar or other browser controls, which frees up valuable screen real estate on smaller devices. Essentially, it will have the same look and feel as a native app without the overhead of Apple or Google. 

You can do the same installation on your desktop or laptop computer, but the process is a bit different. Once again, open up your browser and type “https://aviationweather.gov” into the address bar, and you will see an Install button appear at the end of the address bar for any website (and browser) that supports a PWA.

Clicking on the “Install” button will provide the prompt below to install the app.  Once done, you’ll see an Aviation Weather Center icon on your desktop. By the way, you can also always uninstall the app at any time for any of your devices.

One of the issues that is apparent with the site on some hand-held devices is that the app will crash or reset when using a rapid, pinch-and-zoom gesture on the interactive GFA map. This is evidently an issue with Leaflet (the software it uses to render the maps), and the workaround is to avoid any rapid, pinch-and-zoom gestures. Just slow your roll and you’ll be fine.  

Cross Section Tool

To replace the Java Flight Path Tool that required you to download Java onto your computer (Java isn’t permitted on iOS devices), the AWC added a cross-section tool that now runs on any platform. You will see an icon on the right to start this tool. It’s the icon just under the settings icon (cog wheel).

You simply define a route, such as KMCI.KMEM.KAVL (note the periods in between the identifiers), and you can plot this path on the GFA map as a great circle route or view it as a cross section. Currently, the only variables you can plot on the vertical cross section are temperature, wind speed, turbulence, and icing.

Reduction in Static Imagery

The overall new design of the website is radically different from its legacy counterpart. Perhaps the most significant long-term effect is that the AWC decided to terminate the generation of dozens of static images that were available on the legacy site. Many flight planning websites, and even some of the heavyweight EFB apps referenced, scraped many of these images off of the AWC site. Consequently, you may have noticed back in the middle of October that these apps had to scramble to delete those from their own static imagery collections. The imagery collections that were depreciated included: 

• Lowest freezing level forecast from the Rapid Refresh (RAP) model
• TCF, eTCF, ECFP convective forecasts
• RAP/NAM Wind/Temperature graphics
• PIREP plots
• Satellite regional plots

Although you can still find access to prog charts, G-AIRMETs, as well as icing and turbulence static imagery within the decision support imagery page (https://aviationweather.gov/graphics), the AWC has a goal to eventually eliminate all static imagery.

Missed Opportunities

Your opinion  may differ, but I find the user interface for the decision support imagery to be very antiquated and clumsy. Even on large screens, you have to constantly scroll up and down, and it requires an immense amount of button clicks or taps to get what you want. It’s very exhausting and tedious to use. In fairness, that page suggests it was “designed for Center Weather Service Unit meteorologists who build information packages on desktop computers.” Instead, AWC suggests that pilots utilize the interactive map page (https://aviationweather.gov/gfa).

The issue here is that the DSS page gives you a vertical resolution of 2,000 feet for icing and turbulence forecasts. If you use its interactive map, you only get a 3,000-foot or even 6,000-foot vertical resolution despite the fact that the native vertical resolution of the icing and turbulence products is 1,000 feet. It is understandable that browsers have hard limitations, and this was likely a tradeoff to providing something that has a reasonable performance. 

While the Aviation Weather Center removed the regional satellite imagery from the site, it has been incorporated as a separate layer into the graphical forecasts for aviation (GFA) tool. Currently there isn’t a replacement for the color infrared satellite imagery. That is something it will be adding in the future.

Another deficiency is that the site doesn’t acknowledge when the layer you are viewing is void of data. For example, if you pull up the center weather advisories (CWAs) on the GFA tool, you may get a blank map. Is the map blank because there are no CWAs active, which happens more often than not? Or perhaps it’s because your browser or internet connection is being finicky? The lack of any data or advisories is just as critical as the presence of them. AWC doesn’t provide any acknowledgement or banner to alert you when this occurs.  

If you are looking to travel outside of the U.S., some of the weather guidance on the GFA tool, such as icing and turbulence, stops at the border. While this was also true with the legacy GFA tool, it still represents a shortcoming given that much of this guidance is available over a good portion of Canada and northern Mexico. The National Weather Service (NWS) has a directive that it can’t show forecasts outside of the U.S., especially over Canada and Mexico. Pilots are supposed to go to the respective website/services for those countries to receive that forecast information.

This is inconsistent since some decision support graphics (i.e., static imagery) clearly show forecasts for icing and turbulence in Canada and Mexico. Moreover, if you plot a route from International Falls, Minnesota, to Caribou, Maine (through southern Ontario and Quebec, Canada), the cross-section view shows this guidance.

Finding HEMS

If you are looking for the helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) tool, it has been integrated into the interactive GFA and rebranded as the GFA-LA tool (with “LA” for “low altitude”). When viewing the GFA, click on the helicopter button in the upper-right part of the map to switch the GFA from general aviation mode into low-altitude mode, which offers expanded capability from the HEMS tool.

Final Thoughts

There’s no doubt that there are winners and losers with this update. I’ve read hundreds of comments on social media posts and other aviation forums that despise the new site and those that simply love it. The biggest advantage is that the site is very responsive on hand-held devices with the occasional glitch that I’m sure will be resolved in time. The dismantling of nearly half of the static imagery is truly a loss and will likely be felt for months, if not years, to come. As a matter of fact, I am in the process of finding replacements of these image collections for my own website, EZWxBrief. 

Lastly, if you are still hanging onto a glimmer of hope that AWC will bring back the legacy site, don’t hold your breath. While there are still some growing pains with this new version, the Aviation Weather Center is fully committed to this new release—so just get used to it. 

The post Aviation Weather Center Website Upgrade—the Good, Bad, and Ugly appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Question: How do transport-category jets navigate the North Atlantic?

Gone are the days of navigating with a sextant. Until the early 1980s, my former airline actually utilized a sextant viewing port aboard the Boeing 707 as a secondary means of verifying position. This remained until the airplane was retired from service. Even inertial navigation systems (INSs) have virtually become extinct. Today, inertial reference systems (IRSs) that include laser-ring gyros operate within three separate onboard inertial reference units (IRUs).

Position data from the IRUs is combined with GPS position, VOR position, and DME position. The combined data is processed by two separate flight management computers (FMC) that communicate with each other to provide a more accurate real-time position in addition to numerous other complex functions.

Failures are rare, but the IRS is capable of navigation with only one IRU and one FMC, albeit on a restricted basis that does not allow for low visibility approaches because of accuracy degradation.

The post How Do Airliners Navigate the North Atlantic? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.