Mark 1 Aviation

Importance of Effective Scan in Collision Avoidance

mark — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:10:51 +0000

This is a great illustration of what students are taught about scanning outside the cockpit. They are taught to scan the horizon for a short distance, stop momentarily, and repeat the process. Doing so is the most effective technique to locate other aircraft. The idea is not to not fix one’s gaze for more than a couple of seconds on any single object.

Until now, we’ve always had to take this advice on faith but now, new technology exists to demonstrate “fixed gaze blindness” (click link below)

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When Pilots Get Lazy … Stupid Things Happen

mark — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:50:26 +0000

A couple of days ago, there was an incident involving two aircraft here in the SF Bay Area which made national news. A single-engine Bonanza struck a Robinson R22 helicopter, causing both to make forced landings. Although both pilots fortunately walked away with minor injuries, the story nonetheless served to reinforce the widely-held notion that flying is inherently unsafe.

The fact of the matter is that, as is true in most cases, this accident was completely avoidable if only the pilots had taken advantage of the resources available to them. During their initial training, pilots are taught how to use “Flight Following”, a free traffic-advisory service available through Air Traffic Control (ATC). Once the participating aircraft is positively identified on radar. it is provided real-time notifications of any other aircraft in the vicinity that could pose a potential conflict. If necessary, ATC will go so far as to recommend a heading to fly to further prevent potential conflict.

If even one of the two pilots, the Bonanza or the R22, had been on Flight Following two nights ago, they wouldn’t have come anywhere near each other because at least one pilot would have been alerted by ATC to take evasive action long before the two aircraft got too close to one another.. The only reason this accident happened is that both pilots were lazy … plain and simple.

While Flight Following is not intended to relieve the pilot of his/her responsibility to ‘see and avoid’ other aircraft, it is cheap insurance to make sure your flight is pleasantly uneventful.

DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT!

Landing Technique

mark — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:03:32 +0000

Demonstrating how to keep the “aiming point” stationary within the windscreen as the plane descends toward the runway. Maintaining a constant pitch assures proper and consistent airspeed control, and keeping the aiming point motionless means that the airplane is on the proper glidepath to touchdown. NOTE: although the aiming point is typically the runway numbers, the airplane should not touch down on the aiming point. Instead you should plan on having the plane actually land on the first 1/3 of the runway.

Holding Centerline During Landing

mark — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:55:59 +0000

Most beginning student pilots, and even many experience pilots for that matter, end up landing well to the left of the runway centerline (rarely do I ever see someone land to the right). Here’s a bird’s-eye view of a commercial jet landing KSJC RWY 30L.
TIP: When you land, concentrate on positioning the centerline between your legs – at worst, the most you’ll be off is less than 2 feet (in a C172)

“Group-Coupon” Offers for Discovery Flights – Beware!

mark — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:13:06 +0000

I don’t normally jump up on my soapbox, but there’s a new scam being perpetrated on the public by less scrupulous flying clubs and flight instructors involving a well-known ”group coupon” service. These coupons claim to offer 50% off the normal price for a Discovery Flight when, in fact, the actual value is much, much less. In order to be able to offer the supposed “50% off”, the flying club must first over-state it’s normal price by a considerable amount. There is one flying club in particular at our airport that is heavily invested in this group-coupon activity, and it’s widely recognized that they are subjecting their coupon customers to distasteful, high-pressure sales tactics in the hopes of signing up new flight students. Often we have people coming through our doors with coupons in hand, mistaking us for that “other” flying club (since the two business names are very, very similar). I wince when I have to point them down the street to the other club, knowing the kind of treatment they’re in store for.

So PLEASE … if you see a coupon offer advertising significant savings off a Discovery Flight, do yourself a favor and look the other way. Nothing in aviation is cheap and, as the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true … it probably is. Now … if you’re interested in doing it right, come in and visit us at Advantage Aviation, Palo Alto Airport and ask to speak to me. I’ll be happy to describe the various Discovery Flight options available, a Basic $199 (2 hrs including 45 minute flight in a standard Cessna 172), or Premium $329 (3 hrs including 1-hour flight in a late model glass-cockpit Cessna 172SP, and both YouTube and DVD souvenier flight videos). I’ve posted a number of Discovery Flight videos both in this blog and on YouTube, so you can get a good feel for the Premium flight itself. I’ve never had anyone walk away from a Discovery Flight disappointed – the videos tell the story.

Another awesome Discovery Flight

mark — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:21:10 +0000

If you’ve ever dreamed of learning to fly, perhaps this will help persuade you to finally act on that dream. There is no other feeling in the world like that of being at the controls of an airplane as you soar above what is, unquestionably, one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Why we fly …

mark — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:20:47 +0000

Views over San Francisco were UNBELIEVABLE today!!! Pictures only begin to tell the story

Thinking About Starting Instrument Training?

mark — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:55:57 +0000

The Instrument Rating is what often distinguishes professionally-minded pilots from the more casual, recreational pilots. To earn an Instrument Rating, pilots must have logged a minimum of 50 hours PIC (pilot-in-command) as well as 40 hours of instrument time (in either actual or simulated instrument conditions … i.e. not being able to see out the windows when flying). Early in instrument training, I have students flying real instrument approaches into a variety of airports. As a post-flight briefing tool, I provide GPS tracks of the flight superimposed onto Google earth with approach chart overlays (see below), a technique I developed which is being offered nowhere else.

When Choosing a Flight Instructor …

mark — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:34:12 +0000

One of the first and most important steps in beginning flight training is selecting the right flight instructor, commonly referred to as a CFI. Too often, people walk into a flying club or flight school and hook up with the very first CFI they talk to, I guess because they have the notion that flight instruction is highly standardized and that one CFI is as good as the next. The truth is that, while CFI credentials, experience, and hourly rate are factors that weigh in the decision, equally important (if not moreso) are the CFI’s instructional philosoply and “bedside manner”, so to speak. The chemistry that exists between the CFI and student goes a long way towards determining that student’s success in acheiving his or her goal. For this reason, I encourage every flight training candidate to take some time and interview several CFI’s before making this very important decision.

As you’ll see in the video below, I place a great deal of importance in making sure that flight training is fun. Over the course of my own flying career, I myself have worked with 14 or 15 CFI’s and can tell you that I’ve seen some very good ones, and some very bad ones. It’s often difficult to know ahead of time how a CFI is going to behave in the cockpit – they may be quite charming and personable on the ground but change dramatically once in the air. If this happens, dump that instructor immediately – remember, he/she works for you, not the other way around.

Very cool!

mark — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:08:04 +0000

If your considering training to fly both airplanes and helicopters, my recommendation is to get your Private Pilot – Airplane license first, THEN add the Rotorcraft – Helicopter. In my opinion, it’s much easier to do it that way than the other way around.