Flying

It might not be the biggest anymore but...

Although the Boeing 747 may not be the biggest airliner anymore, it still holds the title of ”sexiest.” And put some nose art on it and there’s just nothing that comes close.

Of course, as I sit here and stare at that picture and think about how cool it would be to command a four engined beast that is the 747, I can’t help but think that the “cool” factor would wear off after a few trips. Especially those long hauls to Australia.

It’s not that I’m not against autopilot or GPS or anything that aids the pilot. Not at all. It’s just that for me, 30 minutes of takeoff and climb and 30 minutes of descent and landing would not make up for four to eight hours of sitting there, letting the computer “fly” the plane.
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fplan for Gentoo

I submitted an ebuild this afternoon for fplan, an open source program that is designed to help pilots plan cross country flights.

There isn’t an easy way to get your hands on any Canadian data (yet) so you have to manually create your own database, but once you do you it’s a pretty handy way to create planning sheets as such:

[dr@aero fplan-routes]$ fplan ybw-ydn.txt

Speeds in knots; Distances in nautical miles
+--------------------------------------------+----+-----+
|WAYPOINT                        IDENT   FREQ|    | FUEL|
|CITY, ST                         TYPE   ELEV|TOTD|  ETA|------+----+----+-----+
|COMMENTS                   LAT LON (DD.MMSS)|REMD|  ATA|  WIND| TAS|DIST|  ALT|
+--------------------------------------------+----+----->    MC| EGS| ETE|FRATE|
|Calgary/Springbank               CYBW 118.20|    | 50.0|    MH| AGS| ATE|FUSED|
|Calgary, AB                   Airport   3937|   0|     |------+----+----+-----+
|                          51.0611N 114.2228W| 550|     |      | 107| 371|     |
+--------------------------------------------+----+----->   077| 107|3:28|  8.8|
|Regina Intl                      CYQR 118.60|    | 19.5|   077|    |    | 30.5|
|Regina, AB                    Airport   1894| 371| 3:28|------+----+----+-----+
|                          50.2555N 104.3957W| 180|     |      | 107| 180|     |
+--------------------------------------------+----+----->   066| 107|1:41|  8.8|
|Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker, V>  CYDN 122.30|    |  4.7|   066|    |    | 14.8|
|Dauphin, MB                   Airport    998| 550| 5:09|------+----+----+-----+
|                          51.0603N 100.0309W|   0|     |
+--------------------------------------------+----+-----+

If you want to use fplan in Canada, I have compiled a small list of airports and navigation aids in western Canada that you are welcome to.
[…]

Turbulent Circuits

In order to remain current for night flying with the Calgary Flying Club, pilots must complete at least 5 takeoffs and landings within a 90 day period. With a holiday in November and Christmas in December, I was getting close to the end of my 90 days.

The surface winds for most of the day were straight down (or just off) the active runway but were 19+ knots, gusting to 25 knots. But by the time I got out to the Springbank airport, things had calmed down considerably, with the wind blowing at 14 knots straight down Runway 25. And at 0300Z when I was holding short at Charlie for 25, it had dropped further to 12 knots.

The first three touch and go’s were uneventful; boring almost (I hate doing circuits). But it was as if Mother Nature was reading my thoughts because circuits four and five brought moderate (leaning towards heavy) chop in the circuit. So much so that I dared not do anything other than shallow turns. In the end, I requested runway 34 and was granted a right turn to join a wide downwind for a right-hand circuit on runway 34.

And, sensing I’d had enough, Mother Nature calmed the winds to 7 knots giving me a reasonable crosswind and a smooth, though somewhat long on the rollout, return to ’terra firma’ as the controller called it.

My PIREP was recorded for evermore as:

UACN10 CYEG 250345
EG UA /OV CYBW /TM 0345 /FL055 /TP P28A /TB MDT CHOP /RM IN CCTS -VIA YEG
FIC-
[…]

Right Rudder Required

For anyone who is interested in realistic flight simulation and hasn’t heard about FlightGear, you should check it out. Version 0.9.8 has just been released and since there isn’t yet an ebuild for Gentoo available, I’ve uploaded it.

When I say that FlightGear is realistic, I mean that it acts very much like a real aircraft does, and there is proper variation depending on the aircraft you are “flying”. I’m not sure what the latest version of MS Flight Simulator is like, but the last version I used, in addition to running incredibly clunkily, was more about cool aircraft and realistic scenery than it was about modelling an airplane properly.

The best example of proper modeling is something that makes proper simulators “less fun” for non-pilots is propellor torque. So as you increase the throttle to take-off power, the engine turns the propellor faster and as a result produces more torque. On a Piper PA-28 (and any other single engined aircraft which has the propellor turning the same way), the increasing torque wants to push the left wing down, which translates into a pull to the left. So to counteract that, the pilot must use a little right rudder. On a somewhat related note, I recall reading when I was younger that the Hawker Typhoon WW2 fighter produced so much propeller torque that pushing the throttle to full power on takeoff could actually flip the aircraft over.

The point is, that to an inexperienced pilot or someone with no flight experience, the first time they use FlightGear they are likely to run off the side of the runway during their takeoff roll. And this can perhaps lead to a “this game is dumb” reaction. Of course, it’s not a game per se anyway, it’s a simulator and simulators are designed to simulate something. You get where I’m going with this.

So whether you are a pilot or not, go download FlightGear and try it out. And don’t forget the right rudder.
[…]

Airline Marketing for Dummies

I’m not entirely sure why but most of the people responsible for marketing at major commercial airlines (within North America) are morons. At least I think they are.

I just saw that Delta has rebranded their aircraft and Air Canada did the same last month. And I remember that shortly before Air Canada bought out money losing Canadian Airlines in 1997 that Canadian Airlines threw away their trademark chevron logo for a flying goose.

I’ll take this opportunity to mention that I used to work for Canadian Airlines in high school as a baggage handler and I loved that airline with a passion. And unlike a lot of people I also like Air Canada. But when a company is losing money, and not just a little money but piles of money, the last thing I expect that company to do is gloss themselves over. Canadian’s stylized goose was pretty cool but what they should have done is spent some of that rebranding money on figuring out how to reduce costs and operate at a profit. But perhaps they are trying to make people think that things are fresh and new and that something has changed and that as a result people will switch to flying on their airline instead of the airline next door.

A company that all airlines could learn from, as far as I’m concerned, is Qantas. They have had the same distinct and world recognized logo since I can remember. And instead of rebranding their entire fleet, they simply rebrand a couple aircraft in a spectacular way, and keep the logo. Nice. And moreover, they continue to spend money improving things that directly affect me - better food, better seats, etc.

I’ve never actually flown on Delta so I can’t comment on them, but I can comment on Air Canada. I flew on AC shortly after the start of their rebranding campaign, which is either a hit or miss with people due to Celine Dion’s involvement (people either love her or hate her, there’s no inbetween). As far as I was concerned nothing had changed – the plane had the old logo and the crew had the old uniforms. Not that it concerned me. I don’t fly Air Canada because of how their aircraft look, I fly on AC because they have a number of flight times to choose from, their flight costs are pretty much on par with the rest of the field, they have in flight entertainment, they have some sort of meal that consists of more than a package of nuts and because the in flight crew is 100% professional.

I mention the crew professionalism because the last thing I want at 37,000 feet is a crew that’s all about having a good time – I want a crew that is friendly but in a professional way. And as a huge supporter of bilingualism, I hate being told (pay attention here WestJet) that “they are doing the safety briefing one more time in French because they have to.” And even then, 9 times out of ten, all they are doing is playing a recording; WJA should focus on hiring more French speaking crew (but not at the cost of quality). And I absolutely detest it when they mention that something is done “because that evil entity Transport Canada says they have to” – Transport Canada exists to ensure the safety of all involved in aviation and is a big part of the reason that Canada’s aviation safety record is so good.

Anyway, I digress. I’m not sure if the airlines have smart marketers but the CEOs ignore their advice or if the airlines have simply hired the bottom of the marketing/PR/communications barrel. In either case, the airlines need to take a long, hard look at all these rebranding campaigns – all they are to most people are a big waste of shareholder money.
[…]

Ya, we'll do all that

I’ve been listening to the air traffic control feeds courtesy of www.liveatc.net recently, and yesterday I discovered that they are now featuring Toronto frequencies.

In aviation, it is fairly common for the pilot to read back all (or at least the key parts) of an ATC instruction, and in some cases (such as hold shorts) it is mandatory. Today, while listening to Toronto ATC, a controller issued a somewhat long instruction covering an altitude to level off at, a turn and a speed adjustment. Instead of the typical read back followed by the aircraft’s callsign, I heard:

“Ya, we’ll do all that. United 123 Heavy.”
[…]

Airline vs Airline UK

I’ve been watching a lot of Airline and Airline UK on A & E lately because it’s consistently entertaining. The only other show that makes me laugh more is Spike TV’s MXC, which is another story altogether.

I find it rather amusing how different the two shows are. I don’t mean the premise of the two shows; that is basically the same. Both shows follow a discount airline’s employees around as they handle various issues, ranging from weather problems to drunk passengers. The difference between the shows is the level to which people get out of control, mostly relating to alcohol. It’s almost as it’s acceptable to a point in the UK to be drunk when flying. On Airline, 9 times out of 10 you don’t get past the gate if there’s even a hint of alcohol on your breath. On the UK version, it’s the complete opposite; and they’ll only kick you off the plane once you’re on the aircraft if you really misbehave. In one episode, there is some large group going to mainland Europe for a stag or something and they are all drunk, yelling at each other and grabbing at the flight attendants. And all this while the safety demonstration is going on. I can’t even imagine this happening in North America, on any airline whatsoever.
[…]