I was just reviewing the new Elmira One departure procedure. I think the government has let GPS go to their heads. Unless I'm reading it incorrectly, it specifies the initial heading out to TWO decimal places! The procedure is pretty trivial as it basically says to fly runway heading to 4000...

Hi guys. I've been doing my training, took the written yesterday and have my checkride in 2 weeks. Couple of questions. 1) The tolerance for MDAs on the test is +100/-0. The natural response to this is of course to target the altitude MDA+50ft, giving 50ft buffer in either direction. My question...

I flew with my boss for steak at Harris Ranch last night in his A36. On the way, we got to talking about GPS systems. He's got a Garmin 396, and was telling me that it (and the 496) would talk to the GNS430W the same way as the GDL69A, complete with showing the weather on both screens...

For photography dorks only.... Nikon D3 SLR camera: http://www.dpreview.com/previews/nikond3/page8.asp (scroll down to see Virtual Horizon) It may be time for you Canon users to go Nikon. After all, can your 1D Mark III save your bacon in hard IMC?

USA Today says Crossfield missing in a 210 over Georgia in TS. Anybody have details?

Hello, I am a VFR pilot and I currently have a 96C in which I loaded some 700 user waypoints, neede in Italy to find VFR reporting points and airstrips. My new club's airplane will have a Garmin GNS430. I contacted Garmin in order to know if it would be possible to load waypoints through the serial...

I got my instrument rating at an accelerated school in California. Overall, I think my instruction went well, and I was very happy with the results. I passed my checkride in a Piper Lance, and had no troubles. There was one part though that never quite made sense to me. My instructor told me to...

I'm looking for suggestions for a school to do an IFR finish-up course in December or January. I live in Massachusetts and while I don't mind flying actual IFR there's entirely too much ice in the clouds around here that time of year. A break from the winter chill wouldn't be bad, either. Dave...

I have acquired a KX-155, KLN-89B and a 209A indicator. The 209A has a built-in relay to switch between the GPS and NAV. I'm trying to figure out what 'annunciation' is _required_ for this setup. The MD41 annunciator is about $950. I can get the control head only for about $700. The real...

Jack Cunniff wrote: Did you ever wonder what an airport environment would look like before you got there? Sure you did, it's part of preparing for a flight. I know this sounds like spam, but I'll bet that folks are really going to be impressed with Google's new Earth viewer, downloadable...

I've recently earned my instrument ticket, and feel that I still need to learn more about weather. I've been looking at several resources for study and would like recommendations on which ones are good/bad, which ones are best, other suggestions. Jepp Aviation Weather Buck Weather Flying Sportys...

VFR this time. The French Aviation Authority publishes really excellent VFR approach plates. They are very serious about it - the revision cycles are monthly, and the level of detail and accuracy is impressive. Nevertheless, there is one airport I don't really want to fly into. Something...

This is my second year using the Jepp paper approach plates and performing the tedious year-end checklist for my Northeast US subscription. The first year I needed exactly 40 sheets sent (their limit for my region), do mostly to my filing mistakes throughout the year. As a goal, I vowed to do...

A few questions came up in ground school that had me stumped. Any insight is appreciated. Why do some approaches say Radar required when all the fixes can be identified using other equipment required for the approach? For example, VOR-DME-A at 3G3. When a holding pattern is published in lieu of a...

Last weekend I flew my first Angel Flight from MRY down to SMO. There was the remnants of a cold front that passed through the day before between the Bay Area and LA so there was plenty of clouds hanging around, mostly build-ups over the mountains with tops 90 to 110 and some lower layers BKN30. So...

Any of you use "No dips no Stars" in the remarks section of the flight plan? All comments appreciated, pro and con. Hank 172 driver

I'm an instrument student looking for another pilot to fly with to allow me to log sim instrument time. You could be another instrument student or possibly just someone looking to build XC time. I own a '79 Cessna 152 based at MWC (Timmerman) and I will charge my co-pilot nothing more than 1/2...

"Michael 182" writes: What is the state of the art (or science) with downloading near real-time weather (five minute updates) in a GA plane? I just started to look into this, and came across WSI in flight. They appear to offer an uncertified service for...

Santa delivered Flight Simulator and a Cyborg joystick this year. I plan to use it to help maintain instrument currency when I don't have time for the real thing. I'm finding the learning curve for FS to be a little steep initially and it is taking a while to get things like the joystick...

Most RNAV approaches have the notations: "GPS or RNP - 0.3 required", and "DME/DME RNP - 0.3 not authorized" 1. The "or RNP .3" seems to imply some navigation unit other than gps can have rnp .3 Any idea what? 2. If an FMS with rnp .3 is able to conduct this approach, wouldn't it need a gps...