In the Spring of 2013, I got the chance to fly with my friend Andrew Blanchard. He was a student at Purdue University and at the time was well on his way to his instrument rating and was home for the summer. We decided to take a quick trip to Martha's Vineyard for lunch and I particularly like that trip because it's beautiful and it's just enough miles to qualify as a cross-country. We also agreed to share cockpit duties, with Andrew handling the radios and some G1000 functionality. He has a lot more experience than I do, so it was a chance to learn from him. As you'll hear in his radio-work, he's very comfortable with it and I enjoying listening to his calls. We had a tough time raising Providence Approach about half way through the flight but we eventually got them and stayed with them until we were handed off to Cape Approach for the trip across the Bay into MVY. We also swung fairly wide to the east of the airport and so this particular approach into 24 was lower and flatter than I usually do. But it was smooth and cool and all in all a lot of fun. There are three HD cameras and ATC audio on this video. Enjoy!
Here is the 4th and final video from my trip with Paul Santopietro in his Bird Dog, from Katama on Martha's Vineyard to Cranland, then Sherman and back to Katama. This day of flying was in August of 2012. The first video posted was the landing back at Katama, which is here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nSITC... . The next was the landing at Cranland - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59rvtK... followed by the departure from Cranland -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW919E... which happened just before this video begins. This is the approach and landing at Sherman (PVT). I love my reaction when first seeing this private grass strip. Then we get a nice overhead view with a tight pattern and then a landing through the nearby trees. A pretty cool flight and a dramatic approach and landing. There are moments, especially early on when the front camera is quite shaky and soft because it had come loose on take-off. But I left it in, so you can see that this sometimes happens. Enjoy!
I recently got back to the 172 at Norwood and did a check-out ride with a great CFI, Kevin Baird of East Coast Aero Club. This is the first of several videos I will edit from that flight. After heading out to the practice area to do a quick stall, and a practice engine out, we headed back to Norwood to so some pattern work. This video is the return from the west to an approach and landing on Runway 35 at Norwood.
A few posts ago, I showed a cool quick turn landing approach. It showed a pilot who really knows his plane in a dramatic sweet landing. Here is that same landing from inside the plane. Wow. (Thanks to contributor Mike Jones for this one.)
Most new pilots are “interested in hearing what we have to say on this podcast because they can’t wait to move their careers forward”. I can’t blame these “newbies” in the industry with all the negative feedback they get from their boss and the other older pilots working at the airport, I too would want to move on.
In August of 2012 I got to ride along on a fun trip from Katama 1B2, a grass strip on Martha's Vineyard to Cranland in southeastern Massachusetts. This trip was in a Bird Dog, Cessna L-19 with my friend Paul Santopietro, a CFII who specializes in teaching tail wheel flying. There will be many videos generated from that trip, but this one is simply the landing back at Katama. I say simply, but you'll see a pretty tight dramatic turn through base to final onto Runway 3. The whirring sounds you hear are the motors adjusting the flaps in the Bird Dog. Paul really knows this plane and it's fun to experience flying in it first hand. There are three HD cameras and communications audio in this short approach and landing video. Enjoy.
A very informative post from my friend and co-host, Carl Valeri who is THE Expert Aviator.
I received the following question concerning lost communications in Class B or C airspace while VFR.
“Carl,
I do not see any guidance in the AIM pertaining to radio failure procedures while VFR within Class B or Class C airspace. The AIM does cover Class D VFR radio failure procedures. Any insight you have is greatly appreciated."
Another in a series of trips around the pattern at Norwood. This time it's Runway 35. There is nothing very unusual about this particular trip and video except for the way I chose to display the cameras. Keeping them all in view the entire time gives you a "live" perspective on the flight, something closer to the situational awareness you need to have when you fly. As usual there are three cameras and ATC audio on this video. I'd love to know what people think of this editing approach. Enjoy!
This video is another trip around the pattern at Norwood in the Cessna 172SP N13151. This is a pretty large category on my channel, so if you're interested in pattern work, you can check out my other similar videos. 151 is a plane I've flown a lot and really like. I had flown with a CFI a week or so before this flight to work on my pattern approaches. This trip around was part of a series of landings I did to practice what I'd learned. The winds were light slight crosswinds and we were using the main runway at KOWD, Runway 35 this day. The flight was later in the day and the late afternoon sun makes for some beautiful video. I especially love the shadows of the plane that I was able to incorporate into the take-off and landing portions of the video. In this video I tried to say out loud the airspeeds I was aiming for during each part of the pattern. I did this for a couple of reasons, first because I find that I am often coming in too hot and I really wanted to get those speeds under control. Secondly I did this as a way to give you a sense of what I'm doing with the plane as I fly the pattern. One little note: near the touchdown point, you can hear the tower call to a Cirrus and he almost says the familiar 168SR but then catches himself. 168SR is the Cirrus you can see in many of my videos and it flies a lot at Norwood. There are three HD cameras in this video along with ATC audio. Enjoy.
Captain Scott is generating a lot of cool videos about flying but this series showing some examples of early PPL flight training are just great for beginners.
Carl Valeri of expertaviator.com spoke with Fox 13 Tampa Bay concerning the Pilatus PC-12 Plane Crash in Polk County, Fl. This was a sad event and will take up to a year for the NTSB to investigate. The primary question is why the plane departed controlled flight and if the structural failure was prior to or after the loss of control.
Recently published on YouTube, this video explains ICON Aircraft's spin resistant design elements. Their press release announced that their A5 will be the first production aircraft in history to be designed to and completely meet the Federal Aviation Administration's full-envelope Part 23 spin-resistance standards once production starts (although it is not a Part 23 certified aircraft). They comment that this is a tremendous safety advancement that can significantly reduce the number of loss-of-control accidents resulting from stall/spin scenarios, which are the most significant cause of fatal General Aviation accidents. Thanks to Sam DeBartolo for bringing this to my attention.
Here is a fascinating aticle from the Telegraph in England about what really happened on the flight deck of Air France 447.
In the early hours of June 1 2009, Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris went missing, along with 216 passengers and 12 crew. The Airbus A330-200 disappeared mid-ocean, beyond radar coverage and in darkness. It took a shocked and bewildered Air France six hours to concede its loss and for several agonising days there was no trace. It was an utter mystery. No other airliner had vanished so completely in modern times. Even when wreckage was discovered the tragedy was no less perplexing. The aircraft had flown through a thunderstorm, but there was no distress signal, and the jet was state-of-the-art, a type that had never before been involved in a fatal accident. What had caused it to fall out of the sky? (More)
