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What are the differences between flying in Europe vs. the USA?

Vincent, the blogger behind the Plastic Pilot blog, is in middle of his Flying Across America project and already he has written a great post outlining some of the differences between flying in Europe verses the USA. Vincent began by noting that the stories about how easy it is to fly there are true and the differences between flying in Europe verses flying in the USA are huge.

Here are some of the differences that Vincent noted:

Airport operating times: In Europe, you must check on airport operating time while in the USA, airports are open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

VFR procedures: In Europe, VFR pilots are requested to approach along certain routes while in the USA there are no VFR approach charts or VFR approach procedures.

Flight following: In Europe, flight following is not available 24/7 whereas it is available all the time in the USA. Moreover, Vincent noted that there are much more advisories from flight following in the USA than from FIC in Europe. In fact, Vincent noted that:

So far, in 16 hours of flight from Florida to Texas, we got the following kind of information:
Traffic information
Weather at our destination
Weather around our position, like the intensity and size of precipitation
Vectors around weather and restricted areas

Vincent then commented that the best part of this is that controller gives information spontaneously.

Vincent concluded his post by commenting that there are plenty of differences between flying in Europe and flying in the USA and he promised to post more about these differences in the near future.

Sample pilot oral exam questions

While cleaning out his home office, one of the bloggers behind the AskaCFI blog stumbled upon an old copy of “Questions from an actual oral exam – Private Pilot.” He then noted that:

I sat in an oral exam for a private pilot checkrider on 11-24-98. The examiner asked the applicant the following questions. Your questions may be much different. Be aware that many of the questions asked were a result of the applicant’s answers to the previous questions.

Hence, we will repeat the questions again here and also note that there is a video of an actual pilot oral exam at the end of the original AskaCFI post:

Private Pilot Oral Exam Questions:

Terrafugia Transition flying car update

We have been following the story of the Terrafugia Transition “flying car” for some time now but recently the Daily Telegraph’s Motoring News section had an update which noted that the flying car will soon go into production thanks to the FAA’s granting of a "light aircraft" designation for the aircraft/car. Normally, a light aircraft can weigh no more than 1,200 pounds but the Terrafugia Transition weighs 1,320 pounds due to the need to have car-related safety features like airbags. Hence, more people will now be able to fly the aircraft.

So far, about 70 people have placed a deposit of $10,000 (£6,650) on the aircraft which will sell for US$194,000 (£129,000) – not a bad price considering its versatility and the fact that it gets a respectable 30 miles per gallon!

Please remain in your seats

Overheard on an American Airlines flight into Amarillo, Texas, on a particularly windy and bumpy day. During the final approach, the captain was really having to fight it. After an extremely hard landing, the flight attendant came on the PA and announced: "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Amarillo. Please remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened while Captain Kangaroo taxis what’s left of our airplane to the gate!"

Tips and secrets for passing your checkride

Jason Schappert has created a short six minute video containing his tips and secrets for passing a private pilot checkride. These tips and secrets included the following:

Know Your Cross Country. Jason emphasized that you should be able to explain true course, magnetic heading, magnetic course and course heading as well as how you calculated any numbers you come up with while navigating or calculating a course. He also noted that you should not only know the frequencies from the airport you are flying from and the airport you are flying to, but you should also know the frequencies of any airports in between. Moreover, Jason also noted that your examiner may divert you to an airport you have never been to and hence, you should be familiar with the layout of all airports in your area.
Have a Backup Plan. Jason mentioned that your examiner or even ATC may divert you from a planned course. Hence, you should have a backup plan ready or better yet, more than one backup plan or route plan to use.
Special Emphasis Areas. Jason then listed about 10 topics that are almost guaranteed to be asked on your checkride. Hence, you should probably know these topics and be prepared to be asked about them.
Navigate the FAR/AM. Jason also emphasized that while you are not expected to know everything in the FAR/AM, you will need to at least know how to look things up.

Keeping the above tips and secrets in mind will go a long way towards helping you to pass your private pilot checkride and not be caught off guard by the examiner.

Sharing airspace with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), also known as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), will increasingly find their way off of the battlefield and into civilian airspace as interest in their use for homeland security, law enforcement, weather studies and for other purposes steadily increases. In fact and for Fiscal Year 2009, there were about 20,000 UAV flights and more than 2,500 hours logged in civilian airspace.

Hence, a recent article by Charles Spence for General Aviation News about sharing airspace with UAVs is well worth reading. Charles noted that safety is a major concern for everyone – especially with the use of drones since unlike other other types of UAVs which are remotely controlled by someone on the ground, drones are programmed to fly a particular mission.

However, Charles noted that a number of government agencies in the USA are currently trying to resolve just how to integrate UAVs into the national airspace system and the FAA hopes to publish a proposed rule by next year. Moreover, the National Association of State Aeronautic Officials (NASAO) and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) are concerned about how much airspace will be restricted and set aside for UAV flights. In fact, the AOPA is insisting that the rules for UAVs must be the same as the rules for VFR operations.

Meanwhile, Charles also mentioned that the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) wants to make it certain that there is a reliable assurance of separation when both manned and unmanned vehicles start to mix in the airspace. However, the NBAA also sees a future where manned and unmanned vehicles can safely mix provided that there is both a basic system to separate both types of aircraft and a failsafe back-up system.

Nevertheless, Charles concluded his article by noting that everyone wants to get things right the first time around as “the uproar when two piloted aircraft collide is nothing compared to public, local, state, and federal government outrage if an unmanned vehicle brings down an aircraft with a pilot, and perhaps others, on board.” Points well taken.