Runway and taxiway signs

The AIM does a fairly good job of explaining the various runway signs and markings. The text in the AIM and the various pictures provide a good basis for learning about these important markings and signage but it is sometimes easier to learn about these by seeing them in context. I am sure we all have looked out the window on a commercial flight at the various airport signs and have gained a better perspective on how they are really used. As another source of learning, the link below is a video that shows actual runway signs and markings in real life context. The relevant part starts at about the 26:40 minutes into the video and continues until about 30:40.
Video

A G1000 Flight Plan Tip

One of the things that seem to be a wasted opportunity is having a better way to load a flight plan into the GPS. We have a lot of great planning tools that we can use before we get into the plane to plan the route of flight but once we are ready to go it always seemed a missed opportunity that you couldn’t just load your pre-planned route directly into the GPS. It takes several minutes to load this into the GPS and is somewhat tedious. I friend of mine found an option to load a pre-planned route directly into a G1000. FltPlan.com allows you to create a navigation log and then download it on to a SD card in a format that the G1000 will recognize. I am not a user of FltPlan.com but it seems like a fairly complete application. A few tips to get this to work:

1. When you create an aircraft profile you have to select the option that it is a Garmin

2. There is a link at the bottom of the navigation page, in fine print, that you click on to download the flight plan

3. Once in the plane, load the SD card into the MFD upper slot, navigate to the Flight Plan catalog, scroll to an unused/free flight plan entry, then select import

Shadows on sectional charts

A tidbit from Air Safety Institute:
Did you know that mountains on the sectional charts are shaded to appear as though the sun is positioned in the northwest? According to NOAA, studies have shown that most people's visual perception has been conditioned to this view.

Noise abatement procedures at other airports

Often times when going to a new airport there will be a note about noise abatement procedures. For example the AFD may have a note that says “Noise abatement procedures in effect ctc arpt manager ….”. Calling the airport manager can be burdensome since they are not always there sitting at their phone waiting to answer your question. Sometimes noise abatement procedures can be found online on the airport’s web site and are in various formats. I ran across a new web site that is targeting to be a central place where airports can document the noise abatement procedures and pilots can have a single source to obtain them. Whispertrack, a firm based in Truckee, CA, just released the first ever online content management and distribution platform that allows airports to create, manage, centralize, publish, print, and electronically distribute airport noise abatement procedures. Whispertrack also claims to integrate with ForeFlight but I have been unable to find that information. It seems like it is still growing as a number of airports, e.g. RHV, MRY are listed with the note that states: "The airport is currently updating their noise abatement procedures. Noise abatement procedures will be available soon.". Nevertheless, this seems like a great direction. Check out  https://whispertrack.com/