Plastic Pilot

In Switzerland, the route to a private pilot license goes through evening classes to prepare the theoretical examination. These are not always fun and animated - I know, I’ve been the “teacher” for a couple of years in Geneva Aero-Club…
Hopefully, most student groups include one “different” student. It can be someone with a strong sense […]

Each aircraft type has specific performances, and performance can even vary for the same type, depending of the load on board. Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) sometimes use speed restrictions to maintain separation between aircrafts flying along the same route, but as they don’t know all the details of daily aircraft performance, some standards have been […]

I’m not sure of the reason why, but persons planning airports like to put them in challenging places. Look at this Google Earth view of Nice airport. Not only there’s always crosswinds because of sea-breeze, but there are hills in the axis and mountains on the north side.

There is no other option than having all […]

Have you already heard of GBAS and Point Merge ? If not, have a look at the latest issue of the Eurocontrol Experimental (EEC) Newsletter.
GBAS stands for Ground Based Augmentation System. GPS is not precise enough to fly an approach to minimums, particularly in the vertical plane, mostly because of atmospheric perturbations. The “Augmentation” consists […]

Flight simulators are great tools… as far as you use them the smart way. Not all flying skills can be practiced with every simulator. I’m not talking here about full-motion simulators, but of the kind of software that can run on any PC. More precisely, I don’t even consider using a joystick or yoke, but […]

For the last months I’ve been a low time pilot (read about the reasons here), and this will continue at least until summer 2008. The strategy I defined is working fine - I renewed my IFR rating last week. I will move to my new place by the end of march, and I will publish […]

Since I got my instrument rating, the question I heard to most from fellow pilots is “Is it not too hard to maintain it ? How many hours…”
The answer I give is always the same: “One flight a year !”
My Instrument Rating (IR) is based on my Single Engine Piston (SEP) class rating. The standard […]