I imagine that you have to give the initial turn point to the 10 Mt Vernon visual a wide birth too.
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Random Griz Aviation Musings
- Thread starter Griz882
- Start date
Exclusively. The only paper is the checklist(s) and the LZ list. Okay, I lied. there's also the RFM behind my seat and and EPs binder (whatever the Germans call it) in the door.
Actually, I can’t. That approach goes directly over the path to land on runway 6 (or to enter the downwind for 24) at VKX. Once I pass the mid-point of Indian Head I have to drop below 1500. By the time I get to the Fort Washington marina I need to be below 1200. Most days (if DCA is bringing flights in from the east) I have airliners flying right over my head! I’ll try to get a photo one day...it is kind of fun and the big kids in the real airplanes just seem to ignore me.
I will add that my biggest worry is the ILS to runway 34 at KDAA (Fort Belvoir). Those guys cut right across the approach to VKX.
I am more worried about Papa Areas and sight seeing myself then locals who know where they are going.
What size iPad are you using? Is it mounted or do you stow it in the door pocket or somewhere else?
The BK-117 I flew was not SPIFR - could be flown dual pilot IFR under Part 91. So it was well equipped for the time. My approach plates were stowed in the pilot door with flip over ring binders. I knew full well though that simply flying the aircraft IMC single pilot with 2 axis SAS was going to be a handful, I always kept the localizer freq to the closest airport dialed in on NAV 1 and the course and GS interception altitude on a post it note to minimize fumbling with charts. If i needed to get vectors for the localizer it was an emergency. The controller could give me everything else. The flight MD sat in the left / copilot seat (no controls installed) and was generally not helpful as a crewmember for tasks other than "write this down".....
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It's a full-size iPad, made circa 1981. Different serial number aircraft will have different nooks and crannies, but our bird allows you to store the iPads in between the left seat and center console, which is convenient if you need to charge them, as the 110v plugs are mounted on the center broom closet. It seems the several other -135s I've flown don't have that nook and they generally get stored in the pilot's door.
Company policy is that they go into a knee board strap when in use. Although admittedly, I couldn't tell you where that's written. It might be in the GOM. But it might not be written anywhere. Realistically, if one weren't able to find the strap, it wouldn't be the end of the world unless you had to hand fly with SAS off. And even then.
Some companies let the left seat tune freqs. Mine doesn't. And no one really has anything to write on handy except maybe their phase sheet, but often that's in the back with the other person. As a VFR-only pilot (at least for the 407 and 135), part of the checkride is IIMC with emergency vectors to the nearest approach. Apparently one 407 pilot in recent history went IIMC, picked up the approach and landed without incident, only to have the FAA come after him because he didn't formally declare the emergency. Ultimately, the company talked the FAA off the ledge.
On the IFR side, we're auto-pilot only except on the check rides, but it's always SAS and AP-Trim on when hand-flying, which makes power changes relatively benign (except the ball). My biggest issue is getting scope-locked on the altimeter tape when hand-flying so I don't bust MDA, which of course causes my CDI to deviate, and then I feel like a Primary student in the T-34 again.
But seriously, hand-flying it is fairly easy, as long as you keep your scan going since Otto isn't going to capture anything for you. But nothing new there.
Sounds like a classic!
I suppose it could be worse... you could always have somebody on your boss' boss' staff asking why you didn't submit an article about it (along with fifteen other articles about random stuff) to Approach magazine.
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I have a response to that, and it might not be what you'd think, but I'll refrain in the public space.
Yeah, a lot of the coastal airports are closed with a NOTAM today. MIA and MCO are open (a few days ago MCO had said they would be closed today), but FLL, MLB, PBI, VRB are closed... among others.
The old ADDS app, "Aviation Weather," has a handy shortcut for airport information for any of the Class B airports in the country- average delays, closures, and sometimes other pertinent info. It's been unsupported on Apple and Android for a few years and you can't even find it in the app store anymore, which is too bad. It's sort of an app version of the mobile ADDS website, and it's not like the same information is available in other places, but it's a really handy app for certain things. I think I've migrated it across three or four phones since they dropped it.
The old ADDS app, "Aviation Weather," has a handy shortcut for airport information for any of the Class B airports in the country- average delays, closures, and sometimes other pertinent info. It's been unsupported on Apple and Android for a few years and you can't even find it in the app store anymore, which is too bad. It's sort of an app version of the mobile ADDS website, and it's not like the same information is available in other places, but it's a really handy app for certain things. I think I've migrated it across three or four phones since they dropped it.
National Airspace System
The Federal Aviation Administration's National Airspace System (NAS) dashboard
www.fly.faa.gov
I'm assuming you just mean the website versus an actual app, correct? I was using it the other night (FF isn't legal to brief from) and found it extremely painful to use, specifically the ICAO format. It seems like on the desktop web version, it explains what all the various codes mean, but on the web version, it only gives you the various alphabet choices but no associated meaning. And I already have pre-built flight plans, but it was still asking me for more codes.
I understand why we're switching to ICAO, but it seems like if we're going to do it, we could at least make it not like writing a flight plan via message traffic. "Comments: DEP/XXX?" I mean really? Can't we figure out a better notation for putting in a departure? It's 2019.
Wait what?
Isn't legal per your GOM/FOM? As far as the FAR's are concerned FF is perfectly legal to obtain an IFR wx brief from. I'm guessing your FOM specifically lists company approved sources and FF isn't on that list....?
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