Search results

One additional trick. Especially when departing VFR in mountainous terrain, you may want an initial heading that differs from your direct-to-destination heading. For example departing Asheville I prefer to fly down the valley for 10 miles to avoid flying over peaks. You can ask clearance and...

I'd guess I have about a 75% dispatch rate for any specific day I want to travel. Probably more like 90+% if I give it two days on either side. So far I've found GA a pretty reliable way to travel if I have a bit of flexibility.

Thread drift, but I recently flew into the Moore County airport in Dumas TX and had some great brisket at the airport diner. Nice folks too.

I fly in there a few times a year. I think Signature is the only “official” option, and their ramp person will come out to your plane as soon as you pull up. But you might be able to just taxi to the GA hangars north of Signature and pause in the alley for a few minutes.

Wait… it travels the speed limit? What good is that? The main advantage of a cab is being able to travel 55 in a 30 zone while the driver argues with his cousin on the phone.

Gotcha. My error was thinking that ATC would give me a “cleared XYZ upon reaching <altitude>” after I reported being able maintain obstacle/terrain clearance. Like you say, they would instead issue my IFR clearance immediately at my present altitude, together with a “climb/maintain” to...

This is helpful - thanks. But the distinction between "maintaining terrain and obstacle clearance" and "maintaining VFR" isn't completely clear to me in this context (I did read 7110.65AA). Certainly if I depart an uncontrolled airport after receiving my clearance on the ground, I'm...

I’m not arguing with or criticizing ATC. It was my oversight for not considering the MVA and cloud bases when planning to pick up the clearance enroute. However, I’m guessing I’m not the only one who doesn’t usually pull up the FAA MVA charts during flight planning, so it’s a useful lesson.

Just to tack on a lesson learned from this week's flight. Because of high headwinds aloft, I decided to depart VFR, stay low, and pick up my IFR outside an enroute airport (KMTV). The plan was to cruise down at 2500' until just before MTV, then pickup my IFR and climb to 4000' for the...

I’m surprised it didn’t ask you for a tip anyway.

The MT electric prop is available for the Tigers. The main benefit is improved climb, especially at max gross weight. I think the consensus is that it doesn't improve cruise speed at all. You might also checkout the Facebook pages for Grumman Pilots Associations and Grumman Tiger and Cheetah...

I don’t have cellular, so the only GPS info comes from the onboard GPS via Bluetooth. While this hasn’t been an issue, it’s always in the back of my mind that an electrical failure that takes out my GTN650 would also take out my iPad as backup for navigation. So I keep my iPhone with Garmin...

No advice, but there are a few Facebook groups that might be helpful. There’s East Coast Private Pilots, and I think there’s a New England Pilots group also.

My cousin’s house is that distance from tracks in Roanoke. The rumbling of the train is ok, but the grinding & screeching of the brakes is pretty bad. Makes a bigger difference where the house is located via-a-vis crossings, urban areas, depots, etc.

This is one FAA recommendation that I've never understood. If you are taking off to the east and your on-course heading is to the west, the safest option is to join the downwind just like the other traffic in the pattern, and then just continue to the west (out of the airport environment)...

I like the idea of interviewing old timers and preserving their stories. Probably not a moneymaker but who knows?

Pretty sure it’s MH370

FYI you can also view forecast soundings in Windy.

What skills do you see degrade between flight reviews? Basic plane handling? Or more on the side of flight planning & decision making?

I spent 20+ years in the Federal government, and your points about the contract are spot on. The customer isn't the flying public but the FAA itself, and the performance metrics almost certainly don't have anything to say about politeness or over-the-air demeanor. The good news is that...