...revise the definition of “Night”

An update to the FAR was posted recently and was effective October 12th. One of the changes that caught my eye was a revision to the definition of "Night". I thought to myself how could it be that somehow Night has changed. Perhaps the FAA was going to simplify the various night rules. So I read on with curiosity only to find out that the FAA was merely making a correction in the title of the source for obtaining the published twilight time. Specifically they removed the word "American" from the source document.

SUMMARY: The FAA is correcting the title of the publication ``American Air Almanac'' to its current title ``Air Almanac''.
  Background
The former ``American Air Almanac'' was created to meet the general requirements for air navigation in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. In 14 CFR 1.1 the definition of night refers to twilight times as published in the ``American Air Almanac''. The ``American Air Almanac'' publication ceased in 1953 and is currently called the ``Air Almanac''. This technical amendment corrects the title of the publication.

The "Air Almanac" can be found here

A Star among us...

Most of us have been fortunate to have Patti as a flight instructor. We all know the quality of her teaching style and we have come to appreciate her teaching skills. We know how great of an instructor she is and we sometimes even jealously protect our little secret since Patti has another full time job teaching at Norte Dame de Namur University and does the flight training in between. Now Patti has been recognized for her flight training achievements. Patti is now a Gold Seal instructor... this is an FAA honor bestowed only on CFIs that meet the qualifications and high standards of training. We knew we had a star, now she is Gold!



Good Bye to the Airship

No longer will we be sharing the sky with Airship Ventures' airship. Occasionally one would see if slowly making its way up and down the peninsula. As of November 14th the company has ceased operations.

Its a two way street

I happened to be at MHR yesterday for a visit off airport. When I returned to the FBO I saw two buses parked outside. I thought to myself, wow I wonder if this is some special group departing from the FBO. Maybe some sports team or maybe even the latest music group that I would have no clue about. As I was walking into the FBO it was crowded with a group of mostly older men dressed in non-descript work clothes. Then I caught a glimpse of a logo, PG&E. These 100 workers were being staged to go back to help with restorations of the aftermath of the devastation from Sandy. Walking out to the ramp I saw at least 5 news trucks all capturing this news worthy event. Shortly thereafter I was headed out taxing to the runway when it was overheard the ground controllers wondering what all the activity was about. My right seat heard the talk and communicated back that all the commotion was for the PG&E workers flying out to help out in the aftermath of the Hurricane. It was interesting to note that often times I think the controllers know everything that is going on but in this case they had no clue… so it is indeed a two way street.. pilots know things that the controllers don’t and we should never assume that the controllers are these all knowing voices in our heads.

GBT What?

A new NOTAM showed up for SQL that I hadn't seen before.

Navigation NOTAMs

San Carlos CA [SQL]: October NOTAM #6

Navigation GBT out of service

The flight briefer wasn't able to explain it, essentially saying it isn't anything I needed to be concerned about. I asked the tower and they said they really didn't know the details but it wasn't anything that impacted their approaches (e.g. GPS).

The Pilot/Controller Glossary gives some insight:

GROUND-BASED TRANSCEIVER (GBT)- The ground-based transmitter/receiver (transceiver) receives automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast messages, which are forwarded to an air traffic control facility for processing and display with other radar targets on the plan position indicator (radar display).

Looks like it is related to ADS-B.

So that's how they do it!

Has this happened to you? You are planning a flight and calculating the W&B and determined how much fuel you can carry to be within the W&B limits. You get to the plane and find out that there happens to be more fuel than what you can carry or need. You can always tell your passengers that one or more of them can't go or consider other options (reduce the baggage carried) to accommodate for the extra fuel. Another option is to drain fuel. Recently I saw how this can be done. Another member was taking a trip in a 182 with 4 passengers and needed to have the fuel at 50 gallons or less. The plane had about 63 gallons. They requested WVFC MX to drain the fuel. To do that, they cut the safety wire holding the wing fuel drain valve, then unscrewed that drain valve while standing ready with a funnel, attached to tubing that drained the fuel into a fuel container. Once the appropriate amount of fuel was drained the fuel drain valve was quickly screwed back in to stop the flow of fuel. Then the safety wire was reattached with a special tool that puts a nice twist on the wire.


What happens to the fuel that was drained? It doesn't go back into a plane but can be used in some vehicles.
Who pays for the fuel drained? As near as I can tell, the owner eats the cost of the drained fuel.

Destination Rogers field O05

I have this desire to visit airports near water. Airports like Shelter Cove, Catalina, Bryant field, Spaulding, Trinity, and Rogers all have been on my wish list. As usual, I have had a couple of "plans" to get to one of these airports but conditions dictated otherwise in previous attempts. Fortunately I did make it to Rogers field recently and I have to admit the expectations were met. WX conditions, schedule, passengers and plane all came together.

A couple of cool things about Rogers field:
1. They have "free" bikes so once you get to the airport you can go into town... they do have a donation fund for bike maintenance
2. The airport is pretty close to the town of Chester
3. There is the "Pine Shack Frosty" in town where you can get a great burger and a shake - they have lots of flavors.
4. Mountain air ... you know what I mean?

One route to get to Rogers field is to fly to Oroville airport, OVE, and then depart on a heading of 015 which follows feather river and the Feather River highway (highway 70). You will shortly see Butt Valley Reservoir just prior to reaching Lake Almanor.

I will definetley add this to the places for a return trip and maybe plan to stay overnight.

I didn't make this up

This was a PIREP from today.

TRK UA /OV RNO-TRK/TM 2019/FL085/TP C180/TB MOD/RM WOMEN ON BOARD WOULD SAY ITS SEVERE


I wonder how that was called in.

9/11 Arrival Procedure

I always wondered about how the folks that create the FAA arrival procedure come up with the names for the waypoints. Some seem to have special meaning like the waypoints around the Charles Schultz airport (STS). For 9/11, a new arrival procedure was published for Regan National airport. It was called FRDMN ONE. It has some meaningful waypoints.

AIM 2013 Updates

The new FAR/AIM 2013 has been published. There are not a lot of changes but one caught my eye. A slight update to 4-1-20, Transponder Operations and in particular paragraph 3. The change states that the transponder should be turned "on or normal altitude reporting position prior to moving on the airport surface". The interesting thing about this is that the G1000 doesn't go into altitude reporting position until the aircraft is airborne. I wonder how this will change the procedures for G1000 equipped planes. Should the transponder be set to ALT as part of the taxi checklist? Will Garmin update its G1000 to change the default behavior of the transponder?

Palo Alto Airport Day - September 22nd

Mark your calendar for Palo Alto Airport Day. It will be Saturday, September 22nd from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM. They usually have tours of the PAO tower but you need to be a US citizen and you need to sign up on the day of the event. If you are interested, go early and find the booth where you can sign up for tower tours. They are limited in how many they will take. For more information you can visit the Palo Alto Airport Association website at http://www.paloaltoairport.aero/.

San Jose Airport Takeoff Clearance

On a recent flight, we landed at SJC airport on the left runway, 30L. There is some construction there as they seem to be converting what used to be runway 11/29 into a taxiway so the airport diagram no longer matches the actual airport configuration. We exited the runway on Golf and requested taxi back for takeoff. The taxi clearance was taxi to 30L via Whiskey One, Delta, Whiskey. Upon reaching the end of the taxiway we saw the runway entrance sign as pictured below. As you can see, the runway entrance sign is slightly different than the usual sign in that it has both runway #s (12R and 30L) which indicates that this is not the start of the runway, however this is where SJC tower expects you to depart. So your clearance will explicitly state Runway 30L at Bravo, cleared for takeoff. The read back should also indicate 30L at Bravo.

Back Taxi?

I had a new tower instruction on a flight with a friend today. He was PIC and we had landed at RHV and were cleared for left closed traffic with the option from runway 31L. He flew the appropriate pattern and landed on 31L. As we slowed down and were about to turn off the runway RHV tower gave a clearance of back taxi 31L clear for takeoff 31L. Until this experience, back taxi is mainly used at non-towered airports that don’t have a taxiway.

Survival gear requirements over the water

I listened in on a webinar about aviation safety equipment and at one point the speaker said it was the law that you had to have a life preserver if you flew 50 NM or greater from shore. The reference he was citing was FAR 91.509. 91.509 states:

a) No person may take off an airplane for a flight over water more than 50 nautical miles from the nearest shore unless that airplane is equipped with a life preserver or an approved flotation means for each occupant of the airplane.

That seems to be pretty clear however, this FAR is in the section that applies to large aircraft (>12,500) and turbine powered multi enginge so in reality it doesn't apply to most GA aircraft.

Not to say that you should only carry survival gear when it is mandated but just to claify that there is no FAR regulation for small GA aircraft to carry survival gear.

Survival gear requirements in Alaska - Firearm or no Firearm?

I may get a chance someday to cross a border, likely US/Canada but I don’t think I’ll get to Alaska anytime soon…. But I have heard that there are survival gear requirements that are different when you are in Alaska. Searching the FARs doesn’t produce any regulations about this. But there is a state specific law in Alaska that requires certain survival gear. From what I have uncovered, the law used to require a firearm but it was changed in 2007 to remove that requirement when it was updated. As near as I can tell the following is the current survival gear requirement.

Firearms have not been required since Sept. 27, 2001.

ALASKA STATUTES Sec. 02.35.110. Emergency rations and equipment.

An airman may not make a flight inside the state with an aircraft unless emergency equipment is carried as follows:

(1) the following minimum equipment must be carried during the summer months:
     (A) rations for each occupant sufficient to sustain life for one week;
     (B) one axe or hatchet;
     (C) one first aid kit;
     (D) an assortment of tackle such as hooks, flies, lines, and sinkers;
     (E) one knife;
     (F) fire starter;
     (G) one mosquito headnet for each occupant;
     (H) two small signaling devices such as colored smoke bombs, railroad fuses, or Very pistol shells, in sealed metal containers;

(2) in addition to the equipment required under (1) of this subsection, the following must be carried as minimum equipment from October 15 to April 1 of each year:
     (A) one pair of snowshoes;
     (B) one sleeping bag;
     (C) one wool blanket or equivalent for each occupant over four.

ATC Terminology - Primary Target

Having flight following is a real handy service. Most of the time ATC will provide complete details on the traffic such as: traffic, 2 O'clock, 3 miles, 6,500, moving North West. They can do this because there are multiple pieces of information about the "target". Radar can identify that there is something out there and then if there is a transponder with altitude encoding there will be altitude information. Flying in the Bay area we always hear the complete details because we are so close to B and C airspace where transponders are required. However, if you venture beyond the area, it is not uncommon for planes not to have transponders and hence you may get a report of "Traffic" with ALTIUDE UNKNOWN. Often times you may hear ATC call the traffic a primary target, meaning they have identified it only by a radar return but have no transponder information. This does make it more difficult to locate traffic because you have no idea if it is 4000 feet below you or at your same altitude. If needed, you can always request ATC to provide vectors to avoid the traffic.

Congratulations Stoo!

Congratulations to Stoo on his first solo this calm April morning!

Having a BLAST?

!CARF 01/104 (KZOA A0032/12) ZOA AIRSPACE STATIONARY AIRSPACE RESERVATION FOR A BLAST ZONE WITHIN A 0.17NM RADIUS OF 3729.40N/12149.14W,AND A 0.085NM RADIUS OF 3729.51.N/12149.9W AND A 0.062NM RADIOUS OF 3730.0N/12149.5W FOR THE DEMOLITION OF EXPLOSIVE. ALL NON-PARTICIPATING AIRCRAFT ARE ADVISED TO AVOID THE NOTAMED AREA SFC 980 FT AGL WEF 1201232100

 

This was an interesting NOTAM since it seemed in the neighborhood. After checking the specific coordinates it is at the Calaveras Reservoir Dam. Work is occurring to replace this earthen dam since it was identified as seismic unsafe. Unlikely that anyone would be flying below 980 FT AGL over this area.

Active from January 23, 2012 at 2100

 

 

 

 

Non-towered airport approaches

Here are two different approaches to a non-towerd airport approach. I think they have different advantages. These are GPS logs from an actual flight. The approaches were flown by two different pilots.

airport signage #2

You just landed at Oakland North complex and as you exit the runway you see this marking... so does this mean prepare to take a right turn?

Airport Signage #1

There was a really interesting FAA Safety Seminar the other night on airport signage. It was a good review and clarification of some points that weren't clear to me. Below is an interesting image of some airport markings that are interesting. Most of these are familiar but the placement of them I think is unique at this airport. Does anyone agree?

Double Parking?

One of the things that I would like to do more of is actually experience more of the airport environment than just the runway and taxiway. In a recent flight to Ukiah the plan was to land and than walk to town to go visit the “Coffee Critic”. A friend of mine is really into coffee and this is supposed to be one of the places that have been doing specialty coffee for a long time. The challenge this time was that all the transient parking spots were full. At UKI the tie downs are just in front of the terminal building and every one of them had a plane in them. So I trolled the ramp looking for alternative spots with no luck. Not knowing what to do I decided I’ll just park on the end of the row of the planes in transient parking. This to me felt a little like double parking. As I got out and was pushing back I noticed an airport vehicle driving toward me. My first thought was here comes the enforcement patrol that is going to tell me that I can’t park there. The truck pulled up, slowed down and the driver rolled down the window. I was bracing myself for what I thought would be a lecture about following airport rules and just what was I doing…. However, the driver politely asked if I needed fuel and said that go ahead and park on the end because the transient spots were full. I thanked him and said that I was good on fuel…. I had left San Carlos with full fuel so I really didn’t need fuel. I think next time I’ll want to support the local airports and make a point of stopping for fuel. It is refreshing to see people at the airport looking out for pilots that are new to the airport. Can you imagine what would have happened if this was a car trying to park in an unmarked spot? I can only imagine instead of getting a friendly and helping hand the car would have probably been ticketed and be towed.

Chico, KCIC, Class D

I’m sure the teacher will understand the phenomenon about the expectations we create based on our experiences. Flying in the Bay area with several class D airports like SQL, PAO, LVK, and RHV I have been accustomed to expect certain things. Among these things are that these airports have weather information broadcast aka ATIS and they provide sequencing, separation and traffic advisories with common requests such as requesting aircraft to IDENT, calling traffic at 2 o’clock, 1 mile two thousand five hundred feet opposite direction, etc.

These expectations don’t apply at all class D airports. In particular, I had a chance to fly into Chico airport, KCIC. Chico is a class D airport with parallel runways, one of which is 6724 feet long and 150 feet wide. It has several instrument approaches, instrument approach lighting and commercial airline service via United Express. On many accounts it is a major airport.

However there are number of differences at this class D airport compared to the ones I fly out of routinely (SQL, PAO). The first is when you tune in their WX, 119.675, you get their AWOS and no identifier such as Tango. It provides wind, ceiling, altimeter etc. The second difference is that they don’t have access to radar. So when you call in to report you let them know you have the numbers/one mimuter weather and your position. If you report you are 10 miles south of the airport, they take your word for it and provide a pattern entry based on your report. Unlike SQL or PAO they can’t "see" you until literally they physically see you. To confirm your actual location instead of the tower asking you to IDENT, you might hear a request to rock your wings. I can only imagine the controller in the tower with his binoculars looking out the window confirming that the plane they see is really the one they are talking to.

Although I am sure during my flight training I had experienced some of these differences before, I probably was not in a position to absorb those differences. As one CFI said, there is nothing much better for a learning experience than going out on a trip to someplace new.