Flying Refresher – Time for Rusty Pilots to Get Current

listen-only mode ladies and gentlemen good evening and welcome to Sporty's webinar on our spring kind of flying refresher knocking the rust off for all those who've been kind of away from it for the winter months or maybe even some of you who have been away from flying several years my name is Eric rocky I am not only your facilitator for the evening but I also serve as president chief instructor of Sporty's Academy and I'm also going to be a presenter this evening joining me is David zit David serves as vice president a flight education at Sporty's Academy our on-site flight school down at Sporty's in the Cincinnati Ohio area and supervises handles everything aviation training related David welcome thanks for being here good evening Eric thank you it's always a pleasure to be here with these webinars absolutely so the way we have the presentation planned I will start things off and then David's going to pick up about halfway through so you're going to get to hear some different topics from both of us so hopefully that will be somewhat entertaining and also just provide a little bit varied perspective for you out there a few housekeeping items before we get started and we will get started right away because we have a lot of content to cover and a fairly short amount of time we are recording tonight's presentation so if you do have to step away for any reason at all we will have the full recorded version available to you and just about a day up on our website it's already stock column slash webinars also feel free via the webinar software throughout the evening to submit questions and then we do plan to carve out some time at the very end of our presentation to answer some of those questions so with that again let's get started I just told you who we were if again at any time you have questions that maybe pop up after the webinar if you want to jot down the website or even the email address fly at Sporty's Academy comm you can reach either of us and I will make a quick a quick plug if you will for our on-site flight school stories Academy down in Cincinnati we'd be happy to have any of you out there the knife to our facility if be it for some proficiency training or whether you're finishing up or certificate or rating we work with clients from all walks of life from all over the globe quite literally at our facility so we'd be very happy to have you contact us any time to begin just so we can learn a little more about who were speaking to tonight we do have a quick poll that I'm going to put in the field and that's going to allow us to just get a little bit again better feel of the type of experience or background level that we are dealing with this evening so I will give just a moment here for the results to come in and it looks like the majority of you out there are licensed pilots getting back into aviation after some time away but close to a quarter of you are just looking to knock some rust off so for that I will say that's great because I think we have some good information some great information as a matter of fact to cover all of those backgrounds out there first and foremost all of you no matter how you responded to that poll question right there you are certainly not alone we all experience it I experienced it David experiences it stayin proficient continuing with your flying activity it's hard quite frankly and it seems like with each passing day which you each passing year it gets more difficult and more difficult because typically we're all taking on more responsibilities more obligations be it family work other factors that that come up in life life seems to oftentimes just get in the way so we are here to kind of provide hopefully a good solid foundation and resources to re-establish that appropriate knowledge base that may allow you to get back into the airplane and we also hope towards the end of our presentation to maybe share with you some strategy or some insight for continuing on a proficiency program because certainly flying is not without risk and should be taken lightly so it does demand that you give it its due attention and maintain a basic level of proficiency in order to say safe out there and absolutely of course it would always endorse if the slightest doubt exists as to your comfort level in the airplane your proficiency level always seek out a local flight instructor even if you're not there for something specific just to again provide an added level of safety and you know certainly we all probably have something more and something new to learn what we're going to cover a little bit tonight we're going to talk we're going to begin and talk a little bit about what it takes to regain your your your legal ability to fly P I see again we're also going to mention a few things that may have changed especially for those of you who have been away from aviation for several years and then we're going to prepare you to returning to aviation and we're going to talk a little air space we're going to talk about some regulatory review and then David is also going to get into some weather and flight planning related information and then again as I mentioned talk more about staying active first of all let's dispel maybe a couple of myths or maybe some things or some concerns that have kept you away or prevented you from taking this step a little bit sooner there is no need once you are a licensed pilot to take another FAA check ride if you take a close look at that F a pilot certificate that you possess it does not come with an expiration date a quick sidebar if you are taking a look at your pilot certificate for those of you who may be with us who have been out for an extended period of time if you still happen there's fear I've seen very few of these but if you still happen to possess an old style paper certificate those are no longer valid rest easy that doesn't mean you've lost your pilot privileges but that does have to be replaced with a new plastic version which can be done online if you just search a replacement airman certificate from the FAA but we do have new plastic pilot certificates that replace those old paper versions in addition to not having to take another check ride there is not another fa knowledge test you are required to take to get back into aviation the only time you would be required to take an additional knowledge test if you were going to be adding a rating or upgrading a certificate say from a private to a commercial what is going to be required is a flight review now while I'll mention the minimum requirements for a flight review and a flight of completion of a flight review just requires that a flight instructor endorse your logbook verifying that yes indeed you have completed these minimum requirements for a flight review which is a minimum one our ground instruction and also a minimum one our flight instruction now the actual length and involvement of a flight review is going to be different for every single person listening it's going to be dependent on how long you've been away it's going to be dependent on the type of flying that you have done and that and that perhaps you intend to do so a flight review there is no pass/fail it's nothing to get anxious about in a flight review situation you're just training to a specific level of proficiency in a specific comfort level so you being ready to satisfy the flight review requirement really is just as much a function of how you feel what your comfort level is what you're failing us to your proficiency level as it is the flight instructors evaluation so it very much is a team effort please do not go into a flight review situation thinking that it should be high stress or or like a check ride scenario it is certainly not that some additional recommendations if you are stepping back especially after an extended period consider some of the many online or video based training materials that are out there and available online certain certainly Sporty's is a good option a wonderful option we have a dedicated flight review program also an instrument proficiency check program if you are an IFR flier they can count as your minimum ground requirement for the flight review if you'd like to brush up on some things ahead of going to seek out a flight instructor the video base format makes it very comfortable and relaxed it allows you to focus on material that you believe may be our areas of weakness it allows you to review the material over and over again it can be used as an ongoing resource for your studies regarding carrying passengers another item in addition to the flight review that will be required if you intend to have passengers with you is that you are per FA our 6157 probably everyone remembers this you are required to have completed three takeoffs and landings in the same category and class of aircraft that you would be flying it if you have to be flying in a tailwheel aircraft those landings are required to be to a full stop and also if you intend to be current to carry passengers at night you have to have had three takeoffs and landings between the time period of one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise and those must also have been to a full stop and that's for passenger carrying operations all night I want to kind of point out a careful distinction here in terms of the time frame for your night landings to be completed that one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise the the whole this whole interpretation of what night really is what night really means it can get a little bit confusing the FAA has not done us any favors because there's several definitions that you'll see within the regulations within the aeronautical information manual there's the requirement to have position lights illuminated between the time period of sunset to sunrise there's also the quote unquote legal definition of night for logging purposes which happens to be the end of evening Twilight - the beginning of morning Twilight in this case for landings we're specifically talking one hour after sunset till one hour before sunrise renewing your medical could be on your list of to-do items in terms of coming back into aviation but we have as you see on this slide a big maybe there in parentheses because if you desire to take advantage of sport pilot privileges so hopefully that's not a new term for you sport pilot pilot privileges we'll talk a little bit more about it in just a second but if you desire to just take advantage of those light sport flying rules where you're going to limit yourself to a passenger you're going to be flying in a small aircraft no more than to play single engine in good conditions you may not be required to possess a medical if you're strictly going to fly under those sport pilot rules regardless of whether you're a sport pilot Private Pilot doesn't matter you can self certify for your medical fitness for flight meaning if you possess a valid driver's license if you have determined yourself to be capable and able of flying the aircraft you can take advantage of the sport privileges now if you're going to be flying an aircraft that doesn't fit that sport category you want to carry more than one passenger you're going to be flying instruments at night you want flexibility on altitudes you want to take advantage in other words a full-blown se Private Pilot privileges yes you are still going to need to renew your medical one caution note that's pointed out here on the slide you are not able to self-certify your medical fitness for flight under light sport rules if it is some time in the past you've had a medical revoke denied or withdrawn so that is one caveat to the self-certifying medical rules speaking of medical the medical process quite likely has changed maybe since the last time you've been to see an aviation medical examiner the FA now requires if you're going to see a medical examiner for a first second third class medical that you complete your medical application online at fa med express that's a requirement you can no longer just go into the office and fill out the paper form you have to do it ahead of time online complete in an online account to do so that's all free you can search fa medics to do long term is certainly meant and intended to save you some time because all of your information can be saved and as you go to renew medicals in the future you'll be able to come back to your exact same information and just make any updates that are necessary and do keep in mind the requirements the medical standards for third-class they have not changed in some time so it is a very basic physical if you are over the age of 40 that third class medical is still just going to be good for two years whereas if you're under the age of 40 you get a full five years now on your medical that the duration of the medical certificate special issuance a lot of us have had maybe events in our life or been taking medication that may not allow for a blanket unrestricted medical certificate if you believe you fall into that category I would strongly suggest that you maybe seek out some guidance do a little research ahead of time a great resource for that would be the aircraft owners and Pilots Association AOPA a lot of great medical resources there but certainly seek out maybe some guidance from an organization that you know and trust or read up on some information before you pursue the special issuance class find an AME in your area very easy just google aviation medical examiners the FAA does have a dedicated link where you can search by zip code you can search by city typically there are plenty of options or should be plenty of options close by so back to this light sport aircraft thing so under the light sport aircraft rules which which again is relatively new you can essentially fly anywhere a private pilot could you can also under certain conditions fly in Class B C and D airports you're also not limited to any distance some things that you cannot do under the light sport rules is fly under IFR our fly at night fly over 10,000 feet or any time the visibilities less than three miles and you also also are required to have visual contact with the ground but again what you are limited to is flying an aircraft that meets the sport pilot requirements and while there's a variety of categories for light sport just focused on the light sport airplanes for just a second that is going to be limited to two place aircraft single-engine piston-driven weighs less than 1,000 320 pounds and is capable of cruise flight no greater than 120 knots that's the basic categories so for those private pilots out there again that wish to maybe come back in aviation and not pursue the medical route and just fly under light sport rules you are absolutely able to do that following those same flight review requirements you can allow the medical to lapse but again an important caveat to that if you have had a previous medical revoke denied or withdrawn you can't do the self certifying medical so a few other things that that we've seen big changes in related to aviation in the last several years even going back a little further than that is the new technology and hopefully I'm there's a lot of people out there that will view this newer technology as a real positive first and foremost you should never be in a situation where newer technology is being forced upon you so at any time throughout this process maybe you're venturing back in aviation if something is being kind of pushed on you that you're just not comfortable with that you're not ready to to use you know this can all be done in steps and phases and you know to your comfort level the great thing about some of this new technology which includes everything from color moving maps to to weather these portable GPS units with with information that we never dreamed possible an aircraft now available in these small portable units it's it's really it really does wonders in terms of spatial orientation access to information again it's meant to be a safety enhancement device the other positive thing I would say about most of the manufacturers that are involved in some of the technically advanced aircraft that you'll see glass panel technology that we've talked about so many wonderful great online resources that are available for you to become proficient with this technology online simulation programs video based training manuals you can typically fly online but again this is all meant and intended to make your fine easier and safer however you know how you introduce this type of technology if at all certainly depending upon the individual so by no means are you required you know to take advantage of any of this but these are some of the things that are new that you could see coming back into aviation also kind of revolutionising aviation and probably all of our lives has been the iPad the Apple iPad which is really been widely accepted in so many applications related to aviation so much so that the FAA now does permit the use of iPads as what they term and a full-blown electronic flight bag meaning there's no longer requirement to carry around loads of paper charts and a big flight bag airport facilities directory all of those there's a number of wonderful applications that are out there on the market that replace all of those all of that information that had been previously found on paper so you're just carrying that all around on one device and one device that you likely use in kind of your everyday life so that's been tremendously convenient addition some of the apps you may explore if you haven't begun this process already for flight winged X Garmin pilot AOPA fly Q is another one I'll mention jeppesen all of these flight plan comm all have wonderful applications that are out there in the App Store for all of you iPad users my recommendation would be to aim a we get some input seek some advice to some other pilots that are flying out there see what they like but also most everyone I believe everyone actually without exception does offer some form of free trial period with these applications so when you get to the point when you're looking to possibly introduce the iPad you're flying and look at an application to hold all of your desired information and all of your electronic charts take several for a test drive take them all for a test drive download again you can typically use for free for at least a thirty day period also new to the iPad and part of FAA s next generation has been a dsb technology the automatic dependent surveillance broadcast information which allows you through a portable receiving device to have weather information and other aviation data no domes TFR sent directly to your iPad and overlaid again on some of your favorite applications one of the industry's leading and most popular now is a device that is available from Sporty's and it's known as the Stratus ATSB receiver not only does it do all those great things via the for flight application like hold all your charts etc but the Stratus device receives this free government based ad SB broadcast yes free no subscriptions no XM none of that and it feeds that weather information and other aviation information directly into your iPad overlaid in-flight so in terms of investment it's taken maybe what used to cost tens of thousands of dollars and panel upgrades and for less than a thousand dollars you can get all of that information including traffic including GPS including backup attitude air speed altitude information just like you see in the picture really phenomenal turning our attention to airspace everyone's favorite a quick review of the alphabet airspace class a airspace excuse me starts probably not applicable to most of us including myself out there on the presentation tonight but this is the airspace above what the sectional chart can see this is 18,000 feet up to 60,000 feet essentially not shown on any of the VFR charts of course it's limited to IFR traffic only when you get up into class a airspace it is all the altitudes are based on a standard altitude pressure altitude with the altimeter set at 29.92 you do have to be on an instrument flight plan and possess an instrument rating in order to be up in class a airspace shifting to Class B airspace the solid blue marking on the sectional chart clay Class B airspace generally limited to some of the busiest terminal areas that you'll find in the country usually you'll find a radius of about 30 miles however that can change depending on the specific airspace because most of these are custom-built for the general areas VFR requirements for flight into Class B or that you do maintain three miles of visibility and also stay clear of clouds you are required to have two-way communication capability mode C transponder and also very important distinction between Class B and the other controlled airspace areas you do have to receive a specific clearance into Class B while operating under VFR and there is a speed limit that probably most of us on do not need to worry about all that much also of note around the Class B airspace is that you'll see is the 30 nautical mile mode C veil probably rings a bell from any of you this is the airspace surface on up when operating within even though you may be outside of the airspace itself you are required to have a functioning mode C transponder some noted exceptions or if you do happen to be flying an aircraft that was originally certified without an electric system there is a provision that you can make prior arrangements to still operate Class C airspace a little more common solid magenta takes up much less of a football then the class fees usually five to ten mile ten nautical mile radius or the general dimensions up to about four thousand feet also in terms of VFR operations required to maintain three miles of visibility a thousand feet above clouds five hundred below or 2,000 horses established prior to entering although unlike Class B you're not required to receive a specific clearance Class D airspace the dashed blue typically about four nautical mile radius two hundred not indicated air speed speed limit VFR minimum requirements or at least three miles of visibility the same three one fifty two to rule of course and you also must have two-way radio communications established before entering most of the surface Class DS you'll see house only temporary control towers meaning they're like temporary is not the right word but control towers that are not open 24 hours a day like most towers when the tower facility does closed down in a Class D which again is fairly common it does revert to Class B airspace down to the surface class II airspace denoted a couple different ways on the sectional what you're seeing here with the magenta and the gradient is classy your airspace that starts on the lighter side of that shading seven hundred feet above the ground level on the outside of that twelve hundred feet above the ground same VFR minimum requirements for flight in Class C airspace of the three 150 to rule the - magenta now is showing what Class E airspace looks like all the way to the surface you sometimes will find these it may be slightly busier airports that do have access to some automated weather capability us where you oftentimes will see the Class E airspace all the way to the surface and the cloud and some visibility requirements again all of those options you see they're noted on the screen are all the three 150 to three mile visibility a thousand above five hundred feet below two thousand feet horizontal so that rule that rule of thumb anyway is a a very conservative and safe rule of thumb and something you could apply to any any airspace and maintain a good safety margin and be make sure your remaining legal do also remember as we mentioned that sport pilots even though there are some of these classifications of airspace they technically get down to only a mile of visibility to be legal VFR that does not apply to sport pilots or recreational pilots which are already always required to have visibility of at least three miles some special use airspace that you often see on sectional charts there's an example of a military operations area on the left a lot of military training activity no requirement to obtain clearance while flying VFR however it's certainly a good idea to receive some type of flight following or guidance and also check on the sectional chart itself for its some times of operations so you can be extra vigilant alert for other aircraft an alert area noted on the right oftentimes you'll see in areas where there's um some specific hazard for example a high volume of student training activity which is in the example on the right warning areas warning areas same type of hazards that exist in military operations area only these are located offshore also be aware of the symbology of the air defense identification zone which is noted on the right Crossy that kind of denotes the the border of the United States and crossing an eight is does require that you be either on IFR or defense VFR flight plan prohibited areas just as the name implies prohibited flight activity at all times restricted areas we only restrict flight at certain times so four operates it's in restricted area you must either consult the chart to determine when the areas are actually active or all-source peak directly via radio communication to the controlling agency for additional details also relatively new is the Washington DC special flight rules area the note here if you do plan on operating in or around which has a specific designation on the sectional chart the Washington DC special flight rules area you are required to receive specific training and you are required to have a discrete transponder code and essentially the point to remember is air traffic control must always be aware of who you are and what you're doing when you're operating in or around the Washington DC airspace so if you are based in that area or plan on doing any flying do you seek out which is free online the required specific training for that airspace temporary flight restrictions TFR since the acronym do pop up anywhere at any time and can be on very short notice probably the most popular variety we see is when the president or vice president travels which creates these big zones of airspace that you cannot operate in so always be aware checking Odom's the faa has some good resources out there to take a look at all TFRs that are available in a pictorial format and many of the new applications for use on your ipad also denote temporary flight restrictions also sporting events all major league baseball all NFL football all Division one college football that play and occupy stadiums that seat 30,000 or more people also have TFRs that automatically exist over those venues within a three-mile radius up to 3,000 feet AGL those are always in place one hour before the start of the event - one hour after quick review of regulations if you had an address change anytime recently or since the last time you flew there is a regulatory requirement to notify FAA that's technically required to be done in within 30 days if you've exceeded that still advise you to do the official and notification best way to do that is via the F a website just search F a change of address quick review of your required maintenance inspections annual inspection is required on all aircraft every 12 calendar months the acronym to remember here is a v8 that's what you might remember back from your primary training the vor check every 30 days only applies if you're flying instruments there is a requirement for an inspection on the aircraft every 100 hours if the aircraft is being operated for hire only there is a requirement if for IFR aircraft to have an altimeter and pitot-static system check there's a requirement for all aircrafts they're required to be have an operating transponder to have that transponder checked every 24 months and all aircraft that are required to be using an ELT that also has to be inspected every 12 calendar months quick review of FAA are 90 1.17 related to alcohol consumption you do have to have an eight-hour buffer if consuming any alcohol prior to operating an aircraft you are prohibited from operating an aircraft under the influence or with the blood alcohol content of 0.04 percent or greater also an important note within this regulation and often one that's kind of glossed over is that you are prohibited from operating an aircraft while using or taking any drug that affects the person's faculty in anywhere contrary to safety so a lot of this is really not the time of year for but in the fall winter months when people are taking a lot of cold medication etc if you read the fine print on those bottles oftentimes you'll see that the medication you're taking probably contradicts this regulatory requirement of ninety one seventeen so certainly if you're on any medication take a moment to review the procedures and take a good hard look an assessment of whether you're you're good and safe to operate the aircraft minimum safe altitudes over over congested areas you're required to stay at least a thousand feet above highest obstacle within 2,000 feet horizontally other than can adjusted that goes down to 500 feet above the way you tell the difference is looking at the sectional chart yellow area is congested non yellow shaded areas or other than congested there's also a provision that allows you in sparsely populated areas or over water to simply operate 500 feet from any person vehicle or structure before you fly 91 103 this is what I call the catch-all so when individuals are searching for the requirement that you check whether that you check no times that you do a thorough pre-flight 91 103 really applies to all these things it requires that each pilot in command become familiar with all of the required information the pre-flight catch-all minimum fuel requirements always must have at least thirty minutes of fuel reserve for operations in the daytime at least 45 at night in my opinion these are not conservative enough if you're looking for advice or recommendations my personal minimum is always at least one hour with that I'm going to take a pause and I'm going to turn things over now to David who is going to take us through a weather review David are you with us thanks Eric yes right here we'll go ahead and pick right up from there and continue on with our weather review although the weather system really hasn't changed much in the United States since the 1997 big regulatory changes there's still always a couple things we want to keep in mind we're preparing for getting back out of a period of inactivity in aviation or perhaps those you come back to aviation after several years of inactivity the big thing with weather picture we always want to start and thinking about the surface analysis chart you want to start with a big-picture weather briefing because this is going to explain why the weather is doing what it is doing so the first thing I always encourage my students to do is sit down take a look at the surface analysis chart turn on the Weather Channel pay attention to what's going on with the big picture of the highs the lows the cold fronts the warm fronts etc and when you take a look at that that's going to give us a lot more understanding of the individual smaller picture whether we take a look at say our meet ours and tafs as Eric was mentioning earlier we really have seen a tremendous improvement in a lot of technology that we have available to us in particular flight planning has become so much easier the Mac of my day we used to use a good old fashioned paper sectional put out the plotter make all your earmarks and then get out the grid sheets and use your calculator or your manual e6v and make all your fuel and planning calculations it used to take me hours to get ready for my cross countries nowadays the apps that we have on the iPad for example or the Android tablets you can literally do that flight planning in all those calculations in a matter of minutes and once you're really familiar with it it can even be in under a minute in some cases so if you're interested in that type of technology and making yourself a little bit more familiar with that I encourage you to find as Eric mentioned the free demos are online or consult with the local flight instructor or another pilot to get a chance to see what's out there now we'll go straight on in and dive into decoding a Matar and it's half of course a meet our we're looking at I have a sample in here for us Emmit our is just an observation remember it's a past tense observational weather looking what's happening in the future we're taking a look at what has already happened so meet ours follow the same basic format we've selected one here just to review that covers most of the basics keep in mind of course that meet ours do have certain sections that will appear or disappear depending upon the weather phenomena that are happening that day so this isn't a complete review if you're looking for a complete review I highly suggest you take a look at the aviation weather services book that the FA provides and is available freely on FA gov as well here we're looking at the airport identifiers our first data block followed by the observation time so in this case we're looking at the 14th day of the month at 2015 Zulu the next day of the block for this one is the auto just in this is an automated meat are that a human being was not part of the observation the next data block is the wind's coming out of 2 6 0 at 8 knots if we were to get a gusting factor you would see a G and then another 2 numbers indicating additional wind gust factor our next data block is indicating the visibility so we're looking at 10 statute miles of visibility here the meet our system only observes up to 10 statute miles a standard due course so you're not going to see a 20 or 30 SM in most cases you're only going to see the 10 SM and then of course it goes down from there down to you know a quarter mile or less and heavy fog in this particular METAR we're looking at we're looking at clear skies the METAR we're looking clear CLR actually stands for clear below 12,000 feet it doesn't necessarily mean that we're not talking about clouds up in the mid 20s or up 30s we're just talking about clear below 12,000 the next two data blocks are dealing with temperature and dew point in celcius so we're looking at 22 degrees Celsius as our temperature with the dew point being minus 4 degrees Celsius just giving us that temperature dew point spread which is so important if we're looking to find out where it might be possibility of fog or some heavy haze conditions in some cases the last day the block that we'll look at is our altimeter setting observed in inches of mercury the a is your key as I always tell my students as the a stands for altimeter setting and that's just going to be 30 point zero seven so that's what we'll be dialing into the Coleman window there in the altimeter to get correct field elevation in meet ours after that altimeter setting you'll often see our Mk Romeo Mike kilo and then you'll see a whole bunch of additional data blocks that stands for the remarks section of the Matar and that's just getting into some finer nitty-gritty items that we're not going to simply cover tonight because that's going to give us just the basics moving on into TAFEs our terminal area forecast TIFs this is our forecast so in a tap system of course we're looking for in the future meet ours in the past taps in the future same basic format starts us off as that is the airport identifier that we're looking yet and here's our this is the time that the TAF was issued the issued time was the 14th day of the month it's 17 22 now in addition to the issued time taps are also going to go ahead and give us a valid periods of time because we're talking about a forecast in the future obviously I can't predict what the weather is going to be in 30 days from now at least not with any kind of accuracy we need to be able to confine what time frames we're looking at so these two data blocks are going to begin the start and stop period of that TAF point so this reads is the 14th day of the month at 18:00 Zulu is when the tap is going to begin and then we're going to follow that with it's going to end at the 15th day of the month at 18:00 Zulu most of the tap stations in the United States forecast 24 hour period of time so you're normally going to see that same time period like 14 18 15 18 for example 24 hours there are a few stations the very larger their large Class B airports some of those will issue a 30 hour TAF so you get an extra 6 hours out of those particular tasks same basic wind velocity once again winds 2 to 0 at 8 knots coming out of Southwest now with tafs unlike me tars if the meet ours were just going to observe up to 10 statute miles the taps are only going to predict up to 6 statute miles and above so we're looking at there as p6 SM or what I say is plus 6 statute miles that's greater than 6 statute miles 7 8 9 10 whatever the case may be but the TAF will only coat up to p6 SM very similar to the meet our when we used to say clear CLR in the meet our four clear blue 12000 the TAF has the ability to call for sk see or skies clear and that's going to be a cure observation saying all the way up that's pure blue skies the next one is going to be the timeline since we started off on that very first data line there is when the TAF began that first line said okay we're going to begin at 18 Zulu so when is the next time period that I'm concerned with in this particular tap we're looking at the letter F M or from so from the 15th day at 0 300 Zulu that's we're starting the next time period since the Taff started on the 14th day at 1800 Zulu this next line is going to get us at 15th day of the month at 0 300 Zulu and at that time frame we're looking at winds are going to be 3 4 0 at 9 knots gusting to 17 knots there's that G with the additional two numbers then we're going to look at the reduced visibility looks like we're down to three statute miles visibility with light rain now RA is the precipitation that's our rain the minus symbol in front of it indicates light if there was no symbol there it would be indicating moderate and if it was a plus symbol we'd be indicating heavy so that was going to be three statute miles with light rain next datablock there is just going to be a cloud observation we now have clouds coming in at the broken cloud level at 3,000 feet AGL so just add two more zeros at the end there and that's your cloud height there excuse me cloud bases in AGL so broken clouds at 3,000 the TAF system if you're not familiar with it if it's been since 1997 or it's just been a little while since you've read the TAF directly now we're looking at four basic levels of clouds looking at few scattered broken and overcast and those specific definitions can be found once again in the aviation weather services book from the FAA or it also is back in the AI M section of weather next line reads from the fifteenth day at 1700 Zulu we're looking at wind's coming out of three-30 12 knots thankfully the rain has gone away we're now looking at better than 6 statute miles so once again 7 8 9 10 so we're in that category looking better and we're dealing with skies clear now the TAF remember that last line there it says from 15th day of the month at 1700 Zulu that TAF is going to end at the 15th day of the month at 1800 Zulu because that's where the top data line said it's going to start and stop so from 1802 1803 so just a real brief weather overview there for me tars and tafs there's a lot more discriminators and weather phenomena codes out there so please understand that's not a complete separate nation out there for weather briefing sources of course we still have a good ole flight service at Lockheed Martin flight services great service one 800 WX brief to get a telephone call for weather briefing but for those you have a computer a little more computer savvy and like doing your weather briefings on your own time I'd like to recommend that you try aviation weather gov this is the official NOAA National Weather Service observation system for aviation weather and has a tremendous number of resources everything from of course the surface analysis charts the big picture we were talking about down into those meters and tafs winds aloft hermes segments you name it all the major weather products are there including some experimental other products which if you've never seen them before can really give some insight into you know icing conditions turbulence conditions there's a lot neat stuff if they're able to break predict these days if you're making that conversion to iPad or Android tablets or they're a VA ssin based apps get to know your individual app because almost every app on the market integrates weather and weather briefings into its basic functionality this right here is just a quick snapshot of a 4:00 flight application and for flight head was originally started as a weather briefing app it's obviously expanded a lot more beyond that and just has a tremendous number of resources for weather in including for those of you in the audience there that don't particularly love decoding those meet ours and tafs you can see right here here's a screenshot of a meet our for an airport that was dealing with as we zoom in there a little bit there three statute miles with heavy rain and thunderstorms clearly not a good day there at Lake Charles but if you take a look down a little below that it automatically decodes that information for you it's going to go ahead and say heavy thunderstorms rain so that's kind of a really nice feature they go ahead and decode that for you but as I am a flight instructor I will make the disclaimer that you should continue to read that in encoded just to keep your proficiency be in the meter intact language going beyond basic observations meet ours and tafs we do of course have other forecast and warning systems out there including segments which come in two different varieties we have convective segments and non-convective segments convective segments of course are dealing with convective activities such as thunderstorms for example mostly aircraft and all this audience what we're talking about are probably going to want to try to avoid cygnets of any variety because that is stands for significant meteorological information so convective going to be the thunderstorms non-convective we're looking at severe conditions like severe icing severe turbulence these are the type of things that general aviation aircraft really don't really any aircraft of that size but i mattr really are capable of handling and then in the next category we have air mats air mats or now we're dealing with more the light to moderate type conditions so they come in three varieties Sierra tango and Zulu and the formal formats there sierra dealing with IFR conditions or mountain obscuration so forecasting large areas of flow line clouds tango dealing with moderate turbulence and or surface winds greater than 30 knots and Zulu indicating moderate icing conditions and also in the air module also gives a freezing level forecasts so you get a chance to know where that icing might begin beyond that the National Weather Service now also makes specific icing forecasts themselves in addition to the air meds it was originally an experimental product on aviation weather gov and is now an officially approved product whereby you get a chance to see a graphical representation of areas of icing intensity as well as icing probability and if you've never checked this product out go to that EPA ssin without the aviation weather gov or take a look at your particular app because most of them have it integrated at least I knew for flight app does and Garmin and get a chance to take a look at that of course for most of us in the country we're slowly starting to get out of the icing season thankfully but if you haven't looked at a tremendous amount of resource information their area forecasts FAS are still around still very useful especially if you're trying to look for cloud tops one of the few products out there that still predict cloud tops and general areas so a lot of information along with giving you a forecast area for airports that are not otherwise served by TAF winds a la forecast still best information for trying to extrapolate wind information for making that time fuel distance calculations for your cross-country flying in addition to the aviation weather gov website there are a lot of other flight planning tools available on the internet for example flight plan comm and all these are the websites were listing here all free but flight plan comm for example is a service whereby you get a chance to file your lockheed-martin flight service flight plans directly from an internet provider and in addition to filing your flight plan for you has a tremendous amount of planning tools really sophisticated algorithms and being able to calculate time fuel distance of course and then arrival and departure times based upon weather information as specifically the winds just a great service I use it all the time myself in addition a opa s airport directory which if you're an AOP a member we all used to get those in big books once a year that is all gone digital now you get straight from AOP A's website and if you're not an AOP a member you can also go to air navcom has a tremendous airport directory and some fuel price information for those of you looking try to get the best fuel price in your area VFR map comm is a digital charting service along with skyvector those two companies they're do a digital charting service so you can take a look at the current charts for an area that perhaps you're not very familiar with or you just simply wanted to plan a long distance flight and you don't have yet have that sectional chart with you speaking of whether an enroute Eric head originates with a DSP out there but not to be forgotten is the simple flight service call with radio flight service is still a fantastic opportunity to be able to get in route weather briefings file your flight plan over the radio if you need to do so activate and close your flight plan which is really a great recommendation for safety as well as for flight tracking information along with TFRs and special use air place airspace status such as the restricted airspace that Derrick was referencing to earlier you can also get and receive PI reps which if you haven't filed a flight plan recently or anytime soon over the phone you're always going to hear the same thing that pilot reports are being requested PI reports are still the best observation tools that forecasters have to see what's going on out there and we are the best observers of that information out there in flight you can also update your flight plan ETA you can make changes and of course flight service is also there in case of an emergency they can really help out the two images we have there are just some charting reminders the image over on your right there Leesburg radio they're at one to two point two or one to two point six are both remote communication outlet frequencies rCOS for Leesburg Brady in flight service so if you were to pick up the radio and give them a call and either one of those frequencies is turn leesburg radio Leesburg radio give them your tail number your approximate location and they'll get back to you in the bottom left-hand corner though we have the more the older-style vor data block which is still very prevalent across the country whereby you have to tune one radio and talk on that one and then listen on a different radio and this one is always an element of confusion because it's not the most logical thing that they put on the chart but as you can see there we're looking at the ocean side view are its San Diego radio is who we be talking to a San Diego flight service that's the block underneath and we would tune our transmit communication radios on one to two point one that's our communication frequency and we're going to transmit on one to two point one and flight service is going to receive on one to two point one so that's what that R stands for is flight service will receive on that frequency and then we and the pilot we're going to go ahead and tune in one 15.3 tune that into your nav radio side turn on your audio panel and tune up the vor and then you're going to hear flight service talk over top of the vor frequency at one 15.3 so that one's an element of confusion one to two point one you transmit one one five point three you receive if you're not familiar with flight following you probably heard the term before but maybe you don't use that often just want to clarify for those you what that is that's a free VFR radio radar advisory service that's where ATC is going to follow along literally tracking your movements on the radar screen they're not going to be giving you instructions on which way to go it's not like an IFR flight plan but they're just getting another set of eyes this is really helpful and congested airspace where you're dealing with a lot of traffic targets especially if you're going over long distances where sometimes our traffic scanning techniques perhaps get a little complacent it helpful to obviously keep an eye around for terrain or other obstacles and it's always nice to be in touch with ATC in the event that you did need some kind of assistance there already on the radio they already know who you are if you do want to participate with flight following of course it's all voluntary you do need a working transponder because ATC is going to need to follow along your specific target they need to know who you are then you're going to contact the whatever controlling center that you're with for air traffic control and you're going to request flight following services they're going to ask what type of aircraft you are they're going to ask what altitude you're interested in and they're going to ask of course what your destination or route of flight is now ATC is only have to provide that workload permitting they don't have to do flight following for you but most air traffic controllers if they have the time are happy to do so as they know it helps us pilots and it allows them to track the traffic a little bit more accurately radar services is the big disclaimer at the bottom there do not relieve us as pilots of the responsibility to see and avoid collision avoidance is still always our responsibility even if we're receiving flight following services and with that I want to kind of carry run over into radio communications and traffic pattern most of us are probably all familiar with a ZZZ if you're not familiar with Pappy's I want to input this here for you it's a precision approach path indicators work very very similar to a vast do they're coming a lot more prevalent these days at most airports it's a four light system in most cases whereby we're dealing with just a slight bit more precision on that high or low indication of course we have all whites you're too high if we're dealing with equal amounts of red and white we're all right and if we're reds and reds you'll soon be dead those are the old expressions to kind of help people remember but as the graphic shows there you're also dealing with a subtle change in between each one of the extremes there unlike the baz YZ where we're just dealing with those three runway incursions our big topic for the FA and have been for about the last ten years you receive any of the fa safety emails from FAA safety gov you'll see that runway incursions is very large topic and if you're not familiar with the term it's one that we definitely weren't throwing around 15-20 years ago very often it's just simply that on an aircraft a vehicle or some piece of equipment gets onto an active runway in such a way that's going to create an issue of potential hazard whereby you know a truck pulls out onto an active runway when an airplane is getting ready to land that would be a runway incursion and the best thing you can do to prevent that runway incursion to simply know where you are at all times keep your situational awareness about you know what the runway and taxiway signs around you mean and if you're looking for a great review there there are color reprints in the AI M if you don't have a current version the I am I highly recommend you get one you can go on the FAA website they do have one online or the book formats are normally around ten dollars you can buy the whole FA raim combined knowing where the signs are know where you are as the best way to get yourself out of trouble prevent yourself rather from getting there in the first place speaking of trying to keep your airplane out of trouble it's always a good idea to use the lighting on your aircraft as another layer to try to keep you visible to other aircraft as some general rules of thumb hearson just catches things you should try to be using in your aircraft as the ones we use here it's forties Academy if the engines about to be running or is currently running the rotating beacon should always be on that's an easy indicator to anybody around that the engine is about to start or is currently turning if you're going to cross a runway you want to turn on all the sectarian exterior lights because you're obviously trying to see an avoid you want to make sure everybody sees you before you go across the runway when you're entering the departure runway you want to turn on all those lights except the landing lights unless you need that landing light to be able to see where you're going and then once you begin the actual takeoff run go ahead and flip that landing light on and that gives that clue that you're now beginning to move I talked a little earlier about collision avoidance and long cross-country flights and our complacency but remember that collision-avoidance is always our responsibility as a pilot in command at non-towered airports and while you're in route you that traffic collision avoidance is solely us piloting command is the only one doing that at the towered airports of course we have air traffic controls going to help us out with their radar but at the end of the day it is just us as the piloting command that are solely responsible collision avoidance scanning techniques this hasn't changed still the same book mantra you want to scan in a systematic pattern left to right or right to left in 10 degree increments to hopefully be able to increase the possible Billee spotting that traffic and be very cognizant of where your aircraft and your particular blind spots might be if you're dealing with the high wing of course you're looking for above the wings on either side or obviously large blind spots and low wing of course is that descending scenario so just when you're trying to avoid that collision avoidance some simple good tactics you should be doing you wanna make sure and use your radio whenever possible announce your position an incoming airport at least 10 miles out and then you want to announce each key point in the pattern the unfortunate thing is not everybody uses a radio or maybe they don't have a radio for example I fly an aircraft that does not have an electrical system I even though I do carry a handheld you can't always expect able one else to be on the radio same time so keep that vigilance in traffic scanning in your traffic patterns here's just basic review of the different traffic pattern legs and the standard pattern entry it's often confused a lot of people have their own methods of how to enter the traffic pattern we're specifically looking most cases for the 45-degree to the downwind leg as an entry and then for departures there were only two that are officially listed in the am is a straight out departure or the 45-degree part that you see there on the screen two alternative pattern entries that we kind of adopt it's 40s Academy are the midfield crosswinds then most people find two basic options you can do midfield crosswind and above 500 feet above the traffic pattern circle around descend and then enter in on that 45 or if the traffic is light and you want to be at pattern altitude you can cross the midfield and then simply merge with the downwind but keep mind that you need to yield to the other traffic because they are more like the old term of position and hold if you familiar the position hold command it is now line up and wait as an official ICAO change so ATC will no longer tell you to position and hold it when I use the term line up in weight means the same thing and as a good recommendation you should only be doing line up and wait at tower controlled airports because if you line up and wait non-towered Airport and the likelihood is your aircraft after you can't see behind you on on final so that kind of wraps up most of our important big key concepts for the rusty pilot perspective now that you're back what are some things you can do to continue to stay active so flying clubs of course are making a great resurgence here in the United States a OPA is doing a very good job of promoting flying clubs local airports are really starting to take it back again take a look in your area to see if there's a flying club that maybe is popped up that you're not familiar with as there are great options and alternatives for saving a few dollars on your flying expenses as well as creating a social network for you to be with other pilots to help encourage you to stay current as you like charity or volunteer flying there are so many different organizations out there that are looking for pilots just like you to help people get around the lists are so long I can list them all but take a look online you'll find them EAA chapters Experimental Aircraft Association along with women in aviation International those chapters also very prevalent most airports and then the good old-fashioned fly out or fly in always a great time it's 40s we try to get a couple aircraft together a couple times a month to get a chance to fly out to breakfast it's one of our things we enjoy doing as you're getting back in the left seat remember some of the things we were talking about tonight aviation apps are the wave there's so much information out there it's very easy to get a hold of and the amount of information in that tablet in your hand on those websites is going to impress you if you're not familiar with them already Opa has kept up with the times and they have a tremendous number of website resources along with their own dedicated apps and we'd like to make two plugs for iPad pilot news.com if you're an iPad user and you're not familiar with iPad pilot news check it out it's a free resource as webinars good to do things information about training with your iPad and unlocking some of those features that you may or may not know about along with learn to fly here calm great blog system there are a lot of different pilots contribute to that along with talking about topics about staying current or beginning to learn how to fly or just hearing some some stories about how the people keep current on their own self and with that we'll turn the floor back over to Erik to show you what what questions might have popped up during the point of the presentation david thanks a lot a lot of great information there let me start with a maybe clarifying a topic that I began with earlier and and David jump in here feel free to contribute as you wish but it seems though there may be a little confusion sorting out the difference between getting current for sport private sport pilot privileges versus for example private pilot privileges so one point I want to make perfectly clear is that there's not a distinction in terms of flight review a flight review is a flight review now it's possible an instructor may tailor a flight review slightly different for someone who is seeking private pilot privileges versus sport pilot privileges so you want to know that ahead of it but in order to get current no matter which path you are choosing you must complete a flight review the second step to getting current is determining or not whether you need a medical certification if you intend to just fly using sport pilot privileges a formal FAA medical is not required if you still intend to utilize private pilot privileges you would have to then go down the path of medical now David let me um I posed a question to you if you could and not a not a kind of maybe black-and-white answer here but there's some questions about what to be expected in a flight review especially for some of the folks that have been away for quite some time what should they expect that an instructor is going to lead them through or what maneuvers might they be asked to perform in a in a flight review you know that's that's a really great question because as we pointed out a flight review is going to be a different thing for different people what you should normally expect from your flight instructor first and foremost is a very brief conversation at the beginning of your flight review outlining your previous experience and talking about what it is that you do with your regular flying the flight instructors goal is to take that flight review and make it meaningful to you so if you're a local area pilot we want to focus on local area topics if you do a lot of cross countries we're going to focus a little bit more on the weather regulations that kind of thing as far as the maneuvers are concerned the regulations do not specifically require the flight instructor to do any particular set of maneuvers but as a general of thumb I would suggest that you would expect and be familiar with maybe going back through some slow flight maybe a stall or two you know maybe it's deep turn if you feel like those but for sure you want to make sure and be able to review normal and abnormal landings along with normal abnormal and emergency procedures for the aircraft that you fly David thank you very much another question actually I will pose back to you as well in terms of medical classes of medical could you give us a quick recap on the durations there was some question about what occurs for example if you possess a second class medical what happens at the end of year two whether it you can still use that medical or whether you have to go get a brand new one sure well that's going to be dependent upon the medical certificate holders age that's a big keys because the FAA made a distinction there between above age 40 and below age 40 if we're dealing with the second-class medicals for example and we're dealing with going beyond the to your reference we're talking about let me just back up maybe a little bit if we're dealing with above 40 and your class 1 or a class 2 medical after your first or second class medical privileges have a exceeded it then we'll drop down to third class medical privileges but remember that above 40 your third class medical will not be good for beyond 24 calendar months from the original date of the examination sometimes there's confusion as to people think that it gets additive it's not you're dealing with a cumulative amount of months there so if you're dealing with the individual time periods know that above 40 no matter what class you're getting it's not going to be beyond 24 calendar months now if you're below the age of 40 and we're dropping out of first second class privileges down into this third class privileges you have the third class privileges up to five years up to 60 calendar months but remember that's cumulative from the original date of the medical not to be consumed as additive David thanks for that clarification the other thing I'll point out related to the the ages the the age has to do with when you take the medical exam so on the date when you take that medical exam if you are under the age of 40 you have your 62 your five calendar 60 calendar months five years duration if you are 40 or above on the date of examination you're down to the 24 months and again as David pointed out that's certainly cumulative David could you clarify the difference or why you would want in the in the related to VFR flight following how does that differ from a VFR flight plan Oh excellent excellent question the the VFR flight plan is really an action that's only going in with flight service Lockheed Martin flight service will open and close those VFR flight plans for you and that flight plan is only being used for the purposes of search and rescue if you were to be overdue on your flight plan then Lockheed Martin would then initiate the actions looking for an overdue aircraft and it's really used as a safety item as far as you know going overdue or not being found now flight following on the other hand is really like we mentioned is another pair of eyes predominantly used for traffic collision avoidance while you're doing a cross-country or local area maneuvering it does not have that flight plan feature in terms of a specific overdue aircraft but that being said if you drop off the ATC radar unexpectedly they likely will begin initiating a lost aircraft procedure as well David thanks for that with that we're going to kind of bring it into the questions I know we're a little bit over the time period thanks to all of you who have certainly stayed with us for the duration as a quick reminder this webinar presentation in its entirety all the slides etcetera everything we've said even the question/answer has been recorded and we do intend to make that available and live on our website free of charge you can access it as much as you'd like in the in the next few days you can check back Sporty's comm slash webinars to view we would certainly very much appreciate you having having you back for a future presentation our next scheduled free webinars coming up on April 30th and that's on a weather fly so again another great topic going into the spring flying season we will have a very short survey that you will be given the option to complete at the conclusion of the presentation five short questions we're always looking to see what topics might be of interest so we'd appreciate just a couple minutes of your time if you could possibly complete that one other quick note if you happen to be attending the big Sun and fun fly-in in Lakeland Florida which is the week of April 22nd coming up just around the corner week of April 20th excuse me Sporty's will be their very large presence I will be there personally as well David we'd certainly look forward to meeting you in person and answering any follow-up questions you may have with that on behalf of David and the entire sporty team again my name is Eric and we certainly appreciate you joining us this evening and have a great night safe fun you

Channel: Sporty's Pilot Shop

Views: 72,006

Rating: 4.9191375 out of 5

Keywords: Pilot (Profession), Flying, Flight Training, Rusty Pilot, Pilot, Aviation, Airplane, Refresher, Aircraft, Runway, Cessna, Landing, Airport, Plane, Flight

Id: k7qWkCtmYBw

Length: 73min 22sec (4402 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 20 2015