by John on September 2, 2010
Hat tip to Sylvia and her Fear of Landing blog for finding and posting this story about a Ruppell’s Griffon Vulture (which is native to Africa) named Gandalf. The seven-year-old female, who has been the star at the World of Wings centre since 2006, was originally brought from the Sahel region of central Africa as part of a breeding programme. However, it was recently reported that:
Warnings were issued to air traffic over Scotland and England yesterday after a vulture which is capable of soaring at heights of more than 30,000 feet escaped during an air show.
Britain’s air traffic control group to issue the warning. "We made pilots aware of the possibility of seeing this bird as it has a three-meter wingspan and can fly at altitudes used by commercial aircraft," a British air traffic control spokesman says to the Telegraph of London.
Luckily, it was later reported by the BBC that she was found safe and sound after being spotted by a Vet, who had spent time in Africa and recognized the bird, at a disused brickworks near Falkirk. However, one commentator on the PPRuNe Forums noted that:
They are plentiful in Africa and South America for example and I never see an alert put out to that effect. Even if they did make it that high you would never see the things in any event. What avoiding action would you take? Is it TACS equipped?
Someone get a grip FFS 
by John on September 1, 2010
Vincent, the blogger behind the Plastic Pilot blog, has written a short post where he noted how he was recently flying from Frankfurt to Madrid as an airline passenger when it was announced that his flight would be delayed by forty minutes due to “wind in Madrid.” Hence, Vincent checked the latest METAR for Madrid via www.easymetar.com and the reading indicated “34020KT WS R33L WS R33R” and then “340030KT WS ALL RWY” for the next update.
In other words, Madrid was experiencing wind shears – that is, an abrupt change in wind direction and speed over a (very) short distance. As Vincent noted, a typical wind shear starts with an increase of headwinds and updrafts and then it continues with tailwind and downdrafts. In other words, they are not something that you want to experience in an aircraft.
So just how dangerous are wind shears? Check out this video of a passenger plane battling wind shear in Hamburg:
However and to really appreciate wind shears and how they can quickly they can appear and impact a flight, check out this video showing the difference between a normal takeoff at Gatwick and then an abnormal takeoff with wind shear a short time later:
Finally, check out this extreme landing during a wind shear video of a Korean 747 at Hong Kong’s old Kai Tak airport that resulted in a few blown tires:
In other words and if passenger planes are being grounded or tossed around by wind shear, its probably best for you as a general aviation pilot to remain safely on the ground!
by John on August 31, 2010
Todd McClamroch, the blogger behind MyFlightBlog.com, recently had the opportunity during the Chicago Air & Water Show to get a behind the scenes sneak peek at how the US military’s Blue Angels C-130 crew do a professional preflight briefing. The video is well worth watching and Todd wrote that:
We don’t all have the privilege to fly a four-fanned C-130 supporting the Blue Angels, but we can strive to bring that level of forethought, professionalism and preparedness to each of our flights. Whether you are flying with other pilots, passengers or flying solo I think it is extremely valuable to verbally walk through aspects of your upcoming flight including emergency procedures.
He also noted that:
I am fairly particular about who I choose to fly with and one immediate turn-off is when another pilot neglects to provide a preflight briefing. On the flip side, I am immediately put at ease when I share a cockpit with someone who takes time to conduct a proper briefing.
And if you are looking for additional tips about how to do a preflight briefing, Todd ended his post by suggesting a post by Paul on Ask a Flight Instructor for some sample scripts and then a podcast that was done several years ago by Jason Miller of FinerPoints.
by John on August 30, 2010
Christoph Niemann, whose illustrations have appeared on the covers of The New Yorker, Newsweek, Wired, The New York Times Magazine and American Illustration, has created a hilarious visual diary documenting a flight from New York to Berlin (with a short layover in London). We are only posting the first installment but you can see the entire visual diary on his blog here.
