Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2016 i Flying

CHART WISE: 5 ESSENTIAL BRIEFING ITEMS In our new monthly series Chart Wise, we go in-depth to explore the nuances and vagaries of instrument approach procedures. We’ll start with the basics – how to properly brief an instrument approach. Start by looking at the briefing strip, or the lines of boxed text at the top of each approach chart. This information consists of the communications frequencies you’ll need listed in the order you’ll use them: the navaid frequency; final approach course; minimum altitudes and MDA/DH; airport elevation and touchdown zone elevation; missed approach procedure; minimum sector altitudes; and important notes. While you should review all the information on each approach chart, the five items mentioned above are essential for every approach briefing. 1 AIRPORT NAME AND APPROACH You want to…

I AN A IRPLANE FOR THE AGES FIRST FLOWN ON DECEMBER 17, 1935, THE DOUGLAS DC-3, AN ITERATION OF THE DC-1 AND DC-2, MARRIED RELIABILITY WITH PERFORMANCE AND COMFORT IN A WAY NO OTHER AIRPLANE HAD BEFORE. So much greater than the sum of its parts, an apt description for an airplane that has earned the right to be called “timeless” more so than any other. The Douglas DC-3 saw service for the airlines and in wartime (World War II, Korea and Vietnam), hauling cargo and corporate officers alike in every corner of the world. Hundreds still fly today, connecting us with an aviation thread that continues on. Douglas Aircraft Co. entered the nascent aviation industry in rooms behind a barber shop on Pico Boulevard in 1920s Los Angeles at…

“Where’s that airplane?” If there is one question I get asked most by CNN viewers these days, this is it. From politicians and CEOs to doormen and cabdrivers, time and again they want to know, “What happened to that airplane? Where is it?” THE FOLLOWING IS EXCERPTED FROM THE NEW BOOK THE VANISHING OF FLIGHT MH370 (BERKLEY PUBLISHING). Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 — with 239 people aboard — departed from Kuala Lumpur during the late evening of March 7, 2014, bound for Beijing, China, and has never been seen since. Despite the largest aviation search in history, virtually nothing was found of the aircraft in the wake of its disappearance. Sixteen months later, thousands of miles from the flight’s path, a piece of an airplane’s wing washed ashore on Reunion…

Cash prizes have been big motivators in aviation. The first flights across the Atlantic, the first man-powered flight, the first flight into space by a nongovernmental program — to name a few — were brought about, or at the very least hurried along, by the lure of a big payday. Not to say that honor and accomplishment are not powerful motivators in themselves — but talent and courage are not necessarily diminished, and can be augmented, by a seasoning of avarice. With this history in mind, the Experimental Aircraft Association will be offering an annual prize of $25,000, called the Founder’s Innovation Prize in honor of the late Paul Poberezny, “to solve the problem of fatal loss of control accidents in amateur-built aircraft through innovation.” Second- and thirdplace prizes will…

PABLO DEZONTINI HOW FAST CAN YOU GO? Thanks for your January issue. Many of us Brazilian pilots and air traffic controllers almost cried when we saw a Brazilian-built plane on its pages — Anequim [“Anequim Project,” January 2016]! Thanks also to Les Abend and his opinions about our old-fashioned military ATC [“Lunar Eclipse or a Guy Named Joaquin,” Jumpseat, January 2016]. We need [these] opinions to try to change our structure and service. DORAN JAFFAS Pilots Under Pressure Regarding Robert J. Young’s account of a stuck throttle leaving him frazzled and prematurely declaring an emergency [“Learning to Breathe the Hard Way,” I Learned About Flying From That, January 2016]: I guess I am fortunate to have had several engine inconveniences during my 30-plus years of aviating. It struck me at…

AN AIRCRAFT WITH A MULTITUDE OF FUNCTIONS THE SKIGULL QUICKLY CONVERTS FROM LANDPLANE TO SEAPLANE TO SKIPLANE THROUGH A NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN RETRACTABLE LANDINGGEAR SYSTEM. WHEN LEGENDARY AIRPLANE DESIGNER BURT RUTAN ANNOUNCED HIS RETIREMENT IN 2011, A COLLECTIVE GASP RANG THROUGH THE AVIATION INDUSTRY. AIRPLANE ENTHUSIASTS wanted to see more of Rutan’s ingenious and sometimes whacky designs. Fortunately it wasn’t long before a sigh of relief followed the shock when details emerged of Rutan’s latest project — SkiGull. SkiGull is the 47th aircraft designed by the award-winning engineeer or produced by one of his companies. This most recent airplane was conceived as a retirement chariot of sorts to carry Rutan and his wife, Tonya, who is also a pilot, around the world. Never one to shy away from challenges, Rutan wanted an…

The light on the panel read “OIL1.” It was telling us we had low oil pressure in the left engine. We didn’t believe it. In 14 years of flying our old Falcon 10, we had never seen an oil light come on. We looked down at the oil-pressure gauge to reassure ourselves that there was nothing wrong with the engine. To our shock the gauge confirmed the low oil pressure. It was hard to believe this extraordinarily reliable airplane was letting us down. Each of us knew what we needed to do. It was Martha’s job as captain and designated pilot flying to fly the airplane. As copilot and pilot monitoring, it was my job to run the checklists and take care of the problem. We both knew the first…

A CLASSIC AIRLINER, the first DC-1 flew for Transcontinental & Western Air (better known as TWA). The next customer airlines upped the stakes with the introduction of the DC-3 and its appointments for serving passengers, back when the height of elegance could be found on a Christmas menu on board American Airlines Airmail Route No. 2. Skip the champagne, though; no alcoholic beverages were served. The joy of coming full circle spread across the veteran pilot’s face. The last time retired Maj. Earl Neal flew a C-47, he piloted one back from Europe after surviving the Allied forces’ invasion of Normandy. Neal had the solemn duty to participate in Operation Market Garden — just like the C-47 he flew in to mark his 100th birthday, N5106X. On October 2, 2015,…

VISUAL FLIGHT RULES (VFR) Visual flight rules are rules set by the FAA for pilots who fly using strictly visual references. The minimum weather conditions that allow for VFR flight vary depending on the airspace in which you fly. FLYING CONTRIBUTING EDITOR SAM WEIGEL AND HIS VFR-ONLY PIPER PACER SERVED AS OUR PHOTO MODELS FOR THIS FEATURE. THE PACER LAUNCHED INTO MADE-TO-ORDER MARGINAL VFR CONDITIONS: RAIN SHOWERS, SCATTERED TO BROKEN CLOUD COVER, AND LOWERING CEILINGS. Part of the joy of flight is discovering some intriguing new spot on the ground. And when you do, you have the ability to descend to explore further. But the only way you can truly explore from the air is when you are flying without the constraints of air traffic control. You have to fly…

GLACIER HOPPING Bob Breeden (pictured) and his son, Bobby, had spent the day flying their Super Cub around Alaska’s Denali Park. “We landed by a gorge where the glacial ice terminates against a mountain,” Bobby said. “We were careful not to stay too long, but we were mesmerized by the translucent ice dancing in the sunlight. The natural beauty of Alaska is enchanting enough to draw me back for the duration of my lifetime.” ELEVATION: 100 FEET…

The rudder travel limiter of the Indonesia AirAsia Airbus A320 began acting up in January 2014. Attempts to fix it were unsuccessful, and failures became increasingly frequent. In the course of 74 flights between December 19 and December 27, 2014, the airplane’s electronic centralized aircraft monitoring system, or ECAM, reported more than 30 faults. Many crews, evidently advised that the system, which limits rudder deflection above 160 kias, was unreliable, simply left it alone if a fault occurred. On December 25, however, the captain of a departing flight in that aircraft, observing the fault annunciation just after pushback, summoned a maintenance technician. The technician resolved the problem by pulling and resetting the circuit breakers on the main flight computers. The pilot asked whether he could always use that technique to…

You may think that flying an 80-year-old icon is a fantasy that can never come true. But at least two organizations in the United States regularly deliver flight experiences and real type-rating training in the airplane, making that dream a reality. Aerometal International, based in Aurora, Oregon, offers several different packages in its DC-3, including ground school, type ratings and historically focused study centered on the original U.S. Army Air Force C-47 manuals from 1943, or vintage airline-style training based on what you might have gone through as a pilot learning to fly the line in 1937. Contact Paul Bazeley at 661-717-6639 or visit aerometalinternational.com/ftraining.html. The folks behind Elite Flight Services in Griffin, Georgia, have conducted flight training in the DC-3 since 2001, and the company’s recently refurbished DC-3 is…

FLYING magazine’s new avatar If this illustration reminds you of a certain American aviator who made history by becoming the first to fly nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean, good eye. Our new avatar is none other than Lucky Lindy himself. When word of Charles Lindbergh’s successful landing in Paris reached America, publisher William Ziff Sr. began making plans to launch a new magazine called Popular Aviation to capitalize on the frenzy over the historic flight. With the outbreak of World War II, the magazine’s coverage expanded to military aviation, and the publication was renamed Flying. In recognition of Lindbergh’s significant contributions to aviation, and with the gracious permission of the Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation (lindberghfoundation.org), we have created this illustrated avatar to grace the pages (both print…