In case you have ever had a bad day at the airport – this video shows that things could have been much worst. Luckily, the incidents shown in the video do not look particularly serious and hopefully all the pilots (and passengers) involved were able to walk away as safer and better pilots.
Inside Hugh Hefner’s 70s Playboy Jet
Three top PC flight planning tools
I have been using Jeppesen FliteStar for about ten years for my VFR and, later, IFR flight planning. It takes a bit of learning but it is a powerful tool for flight planning and viewing instrument approach plates.
However, there are two big problems with it. First, it is hellaciously expensive. For VFR and IFR planning with digital IFR and VFR plates for Europe, it was costing me around €1,800 a year. Even in the context of an expensive hobby, that’s a lot of money. Bill Gates thinks that’s a lot of money.
Second, their billing is so obscure and their accounts department so incredibly unhelpful that it is impossible to change plans or figure out what, exactly, you are paying for. Or at least, that was my experience. For example, when I changed plans last year (it took three months to do this), they kept sending me an invoice even though they actually owed me money.
As a side issue, I was using Homebriefing.com to actually file my flight plans. I can’t get my head around AFPEx (even though I work with computers all day). Also, it doesn’t work on my iPhone which makes it useless if I’m abroad. Homebriefing is great and they have helpful people at the end of the phone to sort out problems but for an infrequent user, it feels like you have to hand over money every time you log on. Either my annual subscription has expired or I have run out of coupons for flight plans. Arghh.
So what am I using now? I looked at a few things but here is my plan from now on:
VFR Flight Planning
I’m going to use SkyDemon. It’s easier to use than Jeppesen, integrates NOTAMs and weather to produce a lovely trip kit and really attractive maps that filter out information you don’t need (e.g. airspace above your planned cruising altitude). It includes charts for most of Europe and they look very clean and easy to use.
It feels like a simple, quick, efficient way to pull together everything you need for a VFR flight without wasting time or hopping between programs. It costs £119. You can (optionally) renew your subscription to charts etc. for £59 a year after the first year.
IFR Flight Planning
I’m going to check out RocketRoute. It combines IFR route planning with plates and online filing for flight plans. It is like a combination of the functional bits of Flitestar, Jeppview and Homebriefing.
Jeppesen’s tool for automatically planning an IFR airways trip never really worked very well and I often ended up refining them manually. This is why I really like RocketRoute’s AutoRouter. It produces valid routes between airfields quickly and then automatically validates them with Eurocontrol (which Jeppesen did not do). I think I’ll need to buy Jeppesen paper airways charts in case it generates routes that don’t work for my circumstances but that’s not a big expense – £10 a year or something. Once you have set up your aircraft, you can reuse them in flight plans cutting down on the amount of time it takes to file plans in future.
RocketRoute supplies two types of plates: Pooleys iPlates which are the familiar VFR plates in electronic form. It also grabs the latest IFR plates from the various European AIPs. This is less satisfactory than using Jeppesen plates because they do not share a standard format from one country to the next. However, they are free, in English and usable. Since the planes I fly have glass cockpits with Jepp plates onboard, these printed plates are belt-and-braces (and a legal requirement).
Once you have filed your plan, you can download or fax a briefing pack with a plog, ICAO flight plan, METAR/TAFs, NOTAMs and plates. Print it out and away you go. It really couldn’t be much easier. I can also access it via my iPhone to send delay notices and change flight plan details overseas.
It costs €144 a year for up to 50 filed flight plans plus €35 for online access to Pooleys VFR plates. Trip support (e.g. telephone filing of flight plans, slot booking etc. costs €5-€35 depending on what you ask them to do. It would be useful to have this to fall back like a personal flight department.
Easier, faster, cheaper
So, I’ve ditched Jeppesen, saving €1800 a year and picked up a VFR and an IFR flight planning system that costs me about €300-ish this year and a bit less next year. That’s a big saving and I think the end result is, actually, a better, more flexible system.
LSAs for empty nester pilots: The Jabiru 230
On Thursday, we noted an article by Meg Godlewski for General Aviation News about LSAs for empty nester pilots (e.g. pilots whose kids have grown up and do not need a large aircraft) where the Czech made TL3000 Sirius was profiled. Meg has since written a follow-up article profiling another potential aircraft for empty nester pilots – the Jabiru 230 built by Jabiru USA Sport Aircraft of Shelbyville, Tennessee.
The Jabiru is a high-wing composite aircraft that has some pilots questioning whether its actually a light sport design because it appears to be big and roomy. In fact and according to the company, the Jabiru 230 has similar flying characteristics to a Skyhawk and numerous customers have transitioned into it from Cessna 180s, 182s and Cardinals. Moreover, the company says that the aircraft can out-cruise and out-climb a Skyhawk and plus out-climb a 150 and 152.
However, the company also adds that the main challenge for pilots will be the fact that they have to use their opposite hands to fly due to the V-shaped stick in the center of the cockpit. Specifically, the throttle is on the far left side of the panel and on the far right side. Hence, this can be a challenge for pilots who have been flying Cessnas.
On the other hand, pilots who have a significant amount of taildragger experience will have a much easier transition because the Jabiru 230 is a “rudder-happy airplane.”
Meg ended her article by noting that the Jabiru 230’s price ranges from about US$125,000 up to US$151,000 – not a particularly small amount of money for an aircraft but potential buyers should also factor in the operating costs of flying a smaller aircraft.
Either way, if you are an empty nester pilot looking for another potential aircraft, Meg’s entire article about the Jabiru 230 and her previous article about the TL3000 Sirius are both well worth reading.
Amazing video of a Boeing 737 sliding on ice
Hat tip to David Parker Brown of the AirlineReporter blog for finding this amazing video on NYC Aviation’s website of a SAS Boeing 737 that was taxiing after touching down in Norway when it began to slid on a slick ice-covered taxiway. As you can imagine, this probably was not fun for the flight crew and the passengers inside!
Imagine what could have happened if this was a much smaller general aviation aircraft on a busier stretch of airport tarmac…
Are LSAs the perfect solution for empty nester pilots?
Meg Godlewski has written a great article for General Aviation News about how light sport aircraft (LSAs) are increasingly attracting a different kind of pilot: The empty nester. According to Meg, the empty nester pilot is an aircraft owner who previously owned a much larger aircraft (e.g. a Bonanza or a Cessna 180) that could accommodate a whole family. However and when the children grew up, there was no need to have the extra seats and so these pilots are now choosing aircraft that are more in line with their space needs and often tighter budgets.
Hence, LSA’s are the perfect solution because after all, they were originally intended to be used by flight schools and student pilots as they tend to be more economical to operate.
Meg then wrote a detailed review about the TL3000 Sirius (as in the star system and not “Cirrus” or “serious”), a ready-to-fly composite high-wing built by Czech aircraft maker TL Ultralight, which she described as being perfect for empty nester pilots because the aircraft was designed for pilots who are getting out of the Cessna 170 or 180 series (but who still want an airplane with similar flying characteristics). Specifically, the aircraft was designed for cruise flight and has a useful load is about 250 kilograms (560 pounds) – approximately 2 people, 45 kilograms (100 pounds) of gear and half tanks. At gross weight, a user will get three hours of flight – which is probably the right amount of flying time for most pilots.
Depending on the options you choose, Meg noted that the TL3000 Sirius will cost anywhere from US$115,000 to US$152,000. Hence and if you are an empty nester pilot looking for a potential aircraft, Meg’s entire article is well worth reading as the TL3000 Sirius, and aircraft just like it, are well worth considering.
