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.