fcheblog  -

2010-06-23 21:44 | fche blog flying dive dive dive

Last night, I renewed my IFR privileges for another two years, after passing a flight test with my friend Charlie Rampulla. One mistake I made may be interesting reading for other pilots.

2010-05-17 16:16 | fche blog flying criss cross pause

During last night’s return flight from KCMH, there was a brief air-traffic-control “teaching moment”.

2010-05-07 22:48 | fche blog flying odd flow

Here in southwest Ontario this afternoon, there was an unusual weather pattern. Looking straight up, one could see clouds moving in opposite directions. It was like an animation in a planetarium (remember those?): standing still, but the whole upper hemisphere rapidly shifting/rolling, with some smaller foreground objects moving in other directions. This is the first time I noticed this in a natural steady-state setting.

2010-04-10 07:37 | fche blog flying hollywood plot idea: assassination by ILS

This unfortunate disaster made me wonder whether such an event is possible as a form of assassination.

2010-03-29 16:10 | fche blog flying private flyers: customs/entry airports in the USA

This fine document serves as the master copy of where private airplanes may land within the US for customs clearance purposes. It is delightful for reading on paper, but not helpful for geographical flight-planning purposes. Say, this humble canadian wants to visit the Shenandoah Caverns: where best to land to clear customs? Good luck answering that one by just looking at the CBP document, unless you have an encyclopedic knowledge of towns within a few-hundred-mile radius of any random point.

As I have found no other web site with this data, I’ve started a wee google map where some of the CBP-staffed airports are graphed. The map is currently open to public edits, so is just aching for a transcription slave to fill in the other airports and contact info. Please help! I hope eventually airnav.com or ourairports.com or runwayfinder.com or some other aviation-oriented community database site, or even the CBP itself (gasp!), will supplant this.

2010-03-16 12:55 | fche blog flying aopa letter

My humble brag(*) responding to AOPA’s airplane/car naming coincidence article(*) refers to this pair of beasts.
Now you know.

(*): AOPA member-only links. Pieces transcribed below the fold.

2010-02-15 20:11 | fche blog flying ignored advice

Yesterday, a brief flight from Buffalo, NY, to Toronto had an excess of drama. Even music from the intercom — sesame street silly songs — was not funny.

2009-11-09 12:26 | fche blog flying difficult question

What’s better? A 75-minute flight to the nation’s capital, with a huge smooth tailwind? Or a serene 120-minute night flight back, passing high by the nation’s largest city, seeing city-sized mosaics of yellow and black?