Aviation

(see also non-wiki page on aviation)

Aviation Weather

metar cover
METAR & TAF Codes Air Force Pamphlet 11-238 Aircrew Quick Reference Guide

Flight Planning

www.Fltplan.com
Government FAA PilotWeb (NOTAMs, ARTCC Notices, TFRs)
www.duat.com
DoD NOTAMs.
FAA NOTAMs.
Reference approved NOTAM contractions (pdf download).
FAA Instrument Approach Plates
Edwards AFB Ops Online COOL
Sectional Charts and more at SkyVector
Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR lists and interactive maps)

Aviation Operations

GLASS COCKPITS help safety ?

At a January 2012 AOPA Flight Instructor Refresher Clinic, the speaker talked about new cockpit automation, glass cockpits, iPads in aviation, what not. I have a jaded view of why all this stuff is coming into our cockpits. By trade, I'm a Test and Evaluation engineer. I test and teach others to test new military aircraft. One foundational theme is requirements traceability. If, for example, the knob changes, color, one must be able to trace why the knob changes color. When all the new cockpit glitter arrives, I am wired to ask "Why?"

At the January FIRC, the FAA required discussion of Technically Advanced Aircraft (TAA). I questioned the dominant theme that move toward the new avionics is for "safety". I proposed that the ~real~ issue was commercial one-up-man-ship, and the "we can so we will" factor. Your plane won't be bought and you won't get the contract if you don't offer the new stuff.

Nobody could think of any data supporting the presumed move toward safety, and in fact, the anecdotal evidence is that it causes more accidents. Well.. okay.. If it ~were~ saving lives and preventing accidents, there is no data on what didn't happen. BTW, this is a lot like our government's move toward quoting "jobs saved" rather than "jobs created". It's convenient to claim jobs saved or accidents prevents because the numbers are impossible to track, to justify, or to critique.

End of February 2012, AvWeb published an article titled REPORT: NO SAFETY ADVANTAGE TO GLASS PANELS.  The safety records of airplanes with glass panels are about the same as airplanes of the same model with analog cockpits, according to a February 2012 study by the Air Safety Institute, a division of the AOPA Foundation. However, "glass-panel aircraft may be more susceptible to accidents during takeoffs, landings, and go-arounds," the study found. The available data were insufficient to conclude what caused that difference. Some factors, according to the study, might include transition training, a tendency to fixate on the glass panels instead of external cues, or difficulty in interpreting airspeed and altitude from the glass-panel readouts compared to interpreting analog displays. The complete study, which provides an exhaustive and complex analysis of the data, is available online free from AOPA, or available locally).

Two years ago, the NTSB arrived at similar conclusions.

Airport Information

www.airnav.com
www.flightaware.com
www.baseops.net
Federal Aviation Administration - General Information www.faa.gov
Medical Certificate Information http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/medical_certification
Find out what date the FAA is processing Airman Certificates http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/airmen_certification
Lost pilot certificates www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/airmen_certification/certificate_replacement/
Update address - remember you have 30 days after you move http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/airmen_certification/update_address/
Lost Written exam - remember don't loose your written exam http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/airmen_certification/test_results_replacement
Pilot Application form - 8710-1 http://forms.faa.gov/forms/faa8710-1a.pdf
Integrated Airman Certification and Rating Application (IACRA) http://iacra.faa.gov/iacra/
FAA Safety presentations event lists https://www.faasafety.gov/SPANS/events/EventList.aspx
Sign up for the FAA Safety program and review current programs (Wings Program)s http://www.faasafety.gov

Pilot Organizations:

Cessna 120-140 Association - http://www.cessna120-140.org (if desired, membership is $25/yr as of 2012)
Cessna Group - www.cessnaowner.org
Piper Group - www.Piperowner.org
Experimental Association - www.EAA.org
Aircraft Owners Pilots Associations - www.AOPA.org
National Aeronautic Association - www.naa.aero
National Association of Flight Instructors--NAFI - www.NAFInet.org

Titan II missile complex information:

Created by admin. Last Modification: Thursday 14 of February, 2013 21:16:08 EST by brian.