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Weird airport names

Last year, Skyscanner.com, a discount flight website, scoured its database of more than 10,000 airports around the world and picked a few of them that were found to be the funniest, rudest or weirdest sounding airport names. On the list are:

Batman Airport (BAL), Turkey
Useless Loop Airport (USL), Australia
Mafia Airport (MFA), Tanzania
Moron Airport (OZP), Spain
Desolation Sound Airport (YDS), Canada
Deadhorse Airport (SCC), USA
Atlanta Beaver Ruin Airport (JAO), USA

Hence, we would like to ask our readers: Are there any other airports that you can think of that were left off of this list?

Father Scott’s VFR rules and personal minimums

We have recently written about the need for pilots to set personal minimums for every flight but a recent post by Father Scott Garrett for the Alaska Dispatch’s Bush Pilot blog is well worth reading because Father Scott is the pastor of the Holy Rosary Mission in Dillingham, Alaska, and he uses a 160 Cherokee Warrior to visit many of the remoter areas of his parish. Given the unpredictable weather of southwest Alaska and after flying in the Bristol Bay area for five years, Father Scott has acquired a few rules or personal minimums that he will follow religiously before deciding whether to fly or to continue a flight.

To being with and in order for Father Scott to fly in VFR weather, there must be at least three miles visibility and a ceiling of 1000 feet or otherwise its IFR. Here are the rest of his rules.

1. Avoid having to request a "Special VFR." (SEE NOTE BELOW).
2. Takeoff only if departing or arriving destination is reporting VFR conditions.
3. Find out if the weather system is moving in or out.
4. Use multiple weather media, i.e. Dillingham FSS, Kenai FSS, weather cam.
5. Turn around if the ceiling gets below 500 feet.
6. Do not fly unless there is at least 3 miles visibility and 500 foot ceiling.
7. Do not fly if wind is blowing at 30 knots or greater.

Father Scott further added that when the weather looks marginal, he will personally visit the weather professionals up in the Dillingham Flight Service Station to talk to them about their weather data. After that, he will feel much safer if he decides to head out into the Alaskan wilderness. Moreover, he has convinced himself that he does not want to get stranded again in one place for more than three days (like what has happened in the past).

And while you may not be an Alaskan bush pilot, Father Scott’s advice and personal minimums are well worth taking a closer look at to see how they can help to make you a safer pilot.

Readers’ poll: What is the scariest UK airport and why?

The Dallas Morning News’ Airline Biz Blog has recently posted a list (along with videos for each entry) of the top 10 scariest airports in the world according to SmarterTravel. However, only one UK airport, Barra Airport on the Isle of Barra in Scotland, was mentioned. The reason? Its actually a beach.

Hence, we want to ask our UK readers and regular UK flyers: What are the scariest airports in the UK and why? Is Barra really that scary compared to some of the other airports mentioned where there are volcanoes, buildings or even birds to navigate around? Feel free to post your comments below.

Just watch this…

Hat tip to Ted for posting this joke on the Plastic Pilot blog last year:

A USAF C-5 Galaxy is being escorted across the Atlantic by an F-16. The F-16 pilot is feeling rather proud of himself and executes a roll just off the wingtip of the much larger C-5. The conversation that followed is priceless:
Fighter Jock: “What’dya think of that?”
C-5 Pilot: “That was alright… but just watch this…”
Ten Minutes Elapse…
C-5 Pilot: “What’dya think of that?”
Fighter Jock: “Like what?”
C-5 Pilot: “I just got up, stretched my legs, took a piss and grabbed a cup of coffee…”
Fighter Jock: “Oh…”

The top 10 aviation attractions in the USA

If you are planning a vacation to the US, Travel site TripAdvisor has recently unveiled its list of the top 10 aviation related attractions in the US that were selected according to traveler ratings and TripAdvisor Flights experts. These attractions give visitors the opportunity to learn more about all aspects of aviation from airplanes and gliders to the space shuttle:

The National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC . Easily the number 1 aviation related attraction in the world, the National Air and Space Museum houses the original 1903 Wright Flyer along with one of the largest collection of historic air and spacecraft in the world. And the best part is that admission is free.
Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum, New York, New York. Centered on the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, this floating museum offers a number of exhibits for aviation enthusiasts. The deck and hangar bay of the ship has a collection of some 30 aircraft plus a Concorde supersonic jet that is on loan from British Airways is on the Intrepid pier and can be explored inside and out. Admission is US$22 for adults and US$17 for children.
Wright Brothers National Memorial, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Located on the site where Wilbur and Orville Wright achieved the first successful aerial flight over one hundred years ago, visitors can re-trace the routes that the Wright brothers used to test their first aircraft. In addition, an on-site museum offers a collection of models, tools and machines used by the brothers. Admission is US$4 for adults and free for children.
National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Florida. Military aviation buffs would be interested in visiting the National Naval Aviation Museum which boasts more than 4,000 aviation artifacts and 150 aircraft from the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Admission is free.
Museum of Flight, Seattle. This museum is the home to more than 85 aircraft ranging from antiques to examples of modern aviation. In addition, the museum features a number of unique exhibits, including an air traffic control tower at Boeing Field, flight attendant uniforms from the 1930s to the 1980s and even an Air Force One aircraft that carried presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. Admission is US$15 for adults, US$8 for youths and free for children 4 and under.
Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, Arizona. As one of the largest aviation museums in the world, the Pima Air & Museum features more than 300 aircraft and spacecraft in its collection plus more than 125,000 artifacts of modern aviation. Aircraft on display include the B-29 Superfortress, SR-71 Blackbird and World War II German V-1 “buzz bomb.” Admission is US$13.75 for adults, US$8 for youths and free for children 6 and under.
Boeing Aircraft Factory Tour, Everett, Washington. Visitors here can actually take a tour of the production facility to get a bird’s eye view of how aircraft are made. The tour also covers the production of several Boeing models, including the 787 Dreamliner, plus features an aviation museum. Admission is US$15 for adults and US$8 for children.
Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii. Built in the aircraft hangars that survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, this museum offers tens of thousands of square feet of aviation exhibits including a large collection of military aircraft dating from the World War II era. Visitors can also use the museum’s flight simulator where they can simulate take offs and landings on aircraft carriers and take part in a aerial battles. Admission is US$15 for adults and US$8 for children.
Gravelly Point Park, Arlington, Virginia. Just north of the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and across the Potomac River from Washington DC, Gravelly Point Park is a great place to watch planes take off and land as they pass right overhead. Admission is free.
Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon. This museum is the home for a wide range of aircraft, from cargo planes and commercial jets to bombers and spacecraft. The museum also houses Howard Hughes’s famous wooden “Spruce Goose,” the largest plane of its time. Admission is US$20 for adults, US$18 for youths and free for children 4 and under.

We would also like to ask our readers in the USA: Are there any other aviation related attractions worth noting and visiting that should be added to this list?

A personal minimums guide and checklist

Chris Findley, a flight instructor and the founder of myFlightCoach.com, has written a great post for the Let’s Go Flying blog about personal minimums. Chris began his post by telling the story of how a student of his once showed up to a training session knowing what the current weather was like but not knowing what the predicted weather was going to be. This led to the discussion about personal minimums and as Chris pointed out:

They are a way for you and I to think through the conditions of a flight and determine, outside the pressure of the moment, what is safe and reasonable for us.

Chris noted that this will obviously be different for each and every pilot and that it will depend on factors such as a pilot’s training, experience, physical condition and health along with atmospheric conditions, aircraft and type of flight. However, he also added that what is most important is that a pilot thinks through these things ahead of time in order to be able to make a good go/no-go decision.

Chris then noted that flight instructor and ATP Darren Smith has written a great personal minimums checklist (which can be downloaded here) broken down into four simple categories:

1.) Pilot: How many takeoffs/landings have you had in the last 90 days? Hours in make/model of aircraft? Are you familiar with the terrain and airspace? Physically, have you been ill or are you taking any medication that might impair your skills? The old “I’M SAFE” acronym comes to mind– Illness, Medication, Stress, Alcohol, Fatigue, Emotion. Have you eaten?
2.) Aircraft: Fuel reserves in place? Experience in type? Aircraft performance- weight, density altitude, performance charts? Equipment on board-functioning properly, updated if necessary, required documents and inspections?
3.) Environment: Wind? Crosswind? Adequate runway? Weather forecast? Ceiling/Visibility?
4.) External Pressures: Alternate plans if you can’t complete the trip by air? Plan if you are delayed? Other pressures to complete the flight?

In the case of one new pilot that Chris knows, his personal minimums checklist is simply:

Wind: X knots headwind, X knots crosswind
Ceiling: X,XXX ft
Visibility: X miles
Thunderstorms:for XX miles
Experience: X Takeoffs and Landings within XX days.

And for him, if these conditions are not present at the time he plans to take off, he remains on the ground.

Chris ended his post by saying that personal minimums give pilots a framework for making both good and solid decisions and then he mentioned an old adage well worth repeating again:

Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than to be in the air wishing you were on the ground.