Congratulations Ken!

Congratulations to Ken on his solo Saturday morning. He made this short movie (about a minute) from the footage I shot with his iPad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z91vQQwNeWU

Congratulations Mark!

Congratulations to Mark Centoni on his first solo this morning at PAO! Calm wind, blue skies and a great flight.

FAR 2012

The FAR 2012 "books" have been out for a few weeks..for those who still get the book. So what's new for the typical GA pilot? Not much. Some minor changes to part 61 and part 91.

These are:

61.57 (d) "Instrument proficiency check" ... additional text was added on who can give the instrument proficiency check (IPC) and other requirements.

61.65 (c) Instrument rating requirements "Flight Proficiency" ... it looks like it corrects a typo in the opening paragraph to refer to paragraph (g) which defines the maximum hours of instrument training allowed in a flight simulator or flight training devices. The 2011 version referred to paragraph (e) in error.

91.107 (a)(3)(iii)(B)(3)(iv) "Use of safety belts, shoulder harnesses, and child restraint systems" ... changed the reference to section 21.8 for seat or child restraint compliance for child restraint system that do not bear a specific label.

91.147 (b) "Passenger-carrying flights for compensation or hire" removes the "by September 11, 2007" for when an Operator must receive a Letter of Authorization.

91.417 (a) (2) (vi) "Maintenance Records" changes the reference for the required forms to section 43.9(d) from 43.9(a) - looks like another typo being corrected.

But... that is just the changes to the "hard copy" FAR as printed by ASA between the 2011 and 2012 editions. There are updates to the printed 2012 book that are current as of 10/12.2011. More to come on that.

New Power Plants and Airports

I just started to notice the following NOTAM for a local airport, Byron, C83

Byron CA [C83]: September NOTAM #246 issued by Oakland CA [OAK]
(O) POWER PLANT 2.7 south EMITTING THERMAL PLUMES avoidance advised 1500 / below

See these great pictures that show the new power plant in relation to the Byron airport as well as a display of the flight paths for a month. As you can see it is close.

In a recent Cal Pilots meeting it was mentioned that they are seeing a number of these new power plants spring up near airports. As I understand, these are not the typical large power plants but are converted jet engines that have a shorter exhaust stak but still generate a thermal plume that can be felt and can impact GA plans. This NOTAM will probably go away once the charts are updated.

Passenger Stories

I had a friend report an interesting passenger story. The story is:

We headed down to South County with a landing in PAO and had to turn back at San Jose. One of my friends was starting to get airsick - thank god he did not puke! I just asked NorCal to go back. They asked if there were any problems and I explained the situation. Flew back to KSQL without incident.

Some thoughts on this:

What's in your flight bag? Do you have air sick bags?

Do you have on your passenger briefing card information on where to locate the air sick bags and to request that your passengers let you know if they are not feeling well?

As always, if in contact with ATC, let them know what you need and use them...

Congratulations Leo!!!

Congratulations to Leo on his solo today! Pictures posted when I can figure out how.