AviatiorApps.com, the new and improved aviation application list for the iPhone and iPod Touch launched today.  The list I’ve been maintaining here on this site will soon be going away, but don’t worry, I think you find the features on AviatorApps.com much more useful.  So please update your bookmarks.

The initial 1.0 release of the site will be a simple list of the applications, but successive releases will allow you to sort the list by price, developer, data added, and even category.  I’ve also created a separate blog, or news feed, on the site which will allow you to be notified when new applications are released and added to the list.  

Not all of these features won’t be available in the initial release (1.0), but I’ll get there over time.  So as the saying goes… stay tuned!   No promises, but I am hoping the site will go live within a week of this post.

To wet your appetite a bit, here’s a preview of one of the page banners…

This move will free me from the limitations imposed the terms-of-service I agreed to when I registered this blog with WordPress, and will allow me the flexibilty to provide additional content in any form I wish.  Don’t get me wrong, I have no complaints with WordPress and their (free) service, I just want more control and I don’t want to be limited to non-commercial use.

So there you have it… coming to a computer screen near you will be the new and improved directory of aviation related applications and web sites for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

While I don’t know what sort of latency or delay is introduced by the streaming process, it will be fun to be able to sit in the grass at KOSH next week and watch the arrivals all while listening to the tower’s transmissions through the  iPhone.  Ain’t technology great!?!?

Unfortunately, during my hiatus I really haven’t flown too much.  I’ve take an lunch flight once or twice but that’s been about it, and I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t done any IFR flying or flown any approaches in over 6 months.  Sigh.

The good news is that while I haven’t been aviating, I have been making  progress on my RV-7 and as of last week I have a fuselage to show for it.  It’s long way from being complete, but after many months of work I was able to flip the fuselage (or canoe as RV builders call it) upright, which is generally considered a major milestone in the RV building world.  You can see pictures of my progress on my other site.

Another piece of good news is that I have scheduled myself a flight in the Arrow (PA28-200) tomorrow with Nick.  I want to shoot a few approaches, and this will be my first ever flight (as pilot) in a retractable gear aircraft.  I’m thinking I might get a Complex endorsement and checkout in the Arrow as the school has two of them, and they both have my favorite toy; a Garmin GNS 430. 

Does this mean I’ll be back here posting as frequently as I did last year?   Probably not as frequently, but I am going to try to do a better job of staying current and more importantly proficient while I build the RV, which means you’ll probably see more new content from me than you have in the past few months.

Blue skies!

I had an IFR curreny flight scheduled yesterday but old man winter had other plans for me.  Unfortunately, those plans involved the hall floor and a grout brush, but that discussion is outside the scope of this blog.  

While I am instrument rated, and I do want some time in actual IMC, yesterday’s combination of heavy rain and low freezing levels did not allow for a safe and legal flight.  In addition, the winds aloft between 3,000′ and 6,000′ were really cooking along with stations in the area reporting between 30 and 45 knot winds.

Needless to say, I did not going flying yesterday but I don’t think anybody else did either.  Oh well, I’ll try again soon.

In addition to changes in travel, we had a group discussion and decided that we would not camp this year, but instead would stay in the UW dorms.  As I said to a friend… Frank the tank is going back to college!!!  The dorms are a bit more expensive than camping, but this way those of us traveling from afar don’t have to schlep our camping gear on the airlines.  In addition, real bathrooms… enuf said! 

We’ve got a big group going this year so it should be a blast, I can’t wait!

As pilots know, learning to fly is non-trivial. Many express the desire to learn to fly, yet few actually accomplish the goal. One reason is that it’s not easy for a neophyte to figure out what to do to earn a pilot certificate. To help with the problem, I’ve created a free new Learn to Fly ebook.  ~Max Trescott

Maybe you’ve got that curious friend, inquisitive cow0rker or probing neighbor who are always asking you about flying; well this is your chance to help reverse the trend of the decreasing pilot population.  Just head on over to Max’s site, download a copy of Max’s ebook and help us spread the aviation gospel.

I finally got to go flying again and I managed to get a little wet in the process (there’s a joke about getting a new instrument rating wet).  This particular flight added 1.3 in the dual received and PIC columns of my logbook but did not count toward my instrument currency.  The purpose of the flight was a review of the Warrior, which I hadn’t flown in 8 months, but more importantly it was to introduce me to flying approaches with a Garmin GNS 430 GPS.

I have been flying the schools C172Rs which are all equipped with the King KLN89B GPS, which works fine but is a bit outdated.  I’ve been anxious to get my hands on something a bit newer and more intuitive and since the school doesn’t have any G1000 equipped aircraft, the Garmin GNS 430 equipped Warrior was about as good as it was going to get.  While they’ve recently added a nice C172 with a GNS 530 to the line, I’ve been anxious to get my hands back on the Piper… what can I say, I guess I’m just a low wing guy.

The forecast was for rain so before getting airborne Nick and I spent a few minutes looking at the weather, and as luck would have it the radar loop showed a line of storms moving in from the coast.  There was a pretty good chance we were going to get wet, but our big concern wasn’t the rain it was the the low temperatures.   Stockton was reporting 4°c yielding an estimated freezing level of only 2,000′ which isn’t nearly enough as the terrain to the north and east of Livermore exceeds that in several places.  We needed to stay out of the clouds and rain as the Warrior obviously isn’t certified for flight into known icing conditions.  The visibility in Livermore was good with Stockton reporting visibilities of several miles with mist and ceilings of 11,000′, and since the forecasts indicated there was  still a few hours before the rain moved into the area we decided to give it a try as we could always turn around if conditions didn’t look good.

Before heading out to the airplane we decided to play around with the GNS 430 Simulator which they have installed on several of the schools computers.   I had been reading about the GNS 430 on my own and using the training simulator at home so it was not entirely new to me, but it was good to have someone with experience explain and demonstrate some of the 430′s features to me.   Even from the small amount of time I had played with them I could believe how much more user friendly and intuitive the 430 and 530 seem when compared to the KLN89B; what an improvement!

After flying a few practice approaches on the 430 sim we headed out to the airplane for a quick trip to Stockton and back.  My plan was to fly the GPS 29R into Stockton and then get vectors back for the ILS 25R into Livermore.  Our minds were still on the forecast rain so in the interest of time I elected to depart off the right downwind of 25R, as opposed to a flying a simulated Livermore One departure, and climbed us up to 3,500′ for our short trip to Stockton.   As we crossed over the hills east of Livermore we could see some light rain or mist in the vicinity of Stockton and what appeared to be slightly heavier rain to the north, which according to the forecast and radar was moving South.   Fortunately there seemed to be a slight temperature inversion as the temps aloft were holding at around 4-6°C, making it possible for us to proceed without much fear of icing.   The rain to the north was still far enough away that we could get into Stockton and on our way home before it hit the Stockton area.  The thought of encountering rain didn’t really bother me, but we  were VFR and needed to maintain the appropriate visibility.  Besides, when the temps are near freezing there is no point in risking any icing.

With Stockton about 15 miles miles ahead I gave NorCal approach a call to request the GPS approach, and was promptly provided a squawk code.  I proceeded to brief the approach and set-up the GPS and since I was already on a direct course to the Stockton airport, setting up the GPS was a simple matter of processing the Procedure button (PROC), selecting the approach and then OXJEF as the IAF.  That was it; with just a few button pushes and clicks of the dial and I was on my way to the procedure turn at OXJEF, it really couldn’t be any easier.

As I got closer to Stockton NorCal cleared me down and told me to cross OXJEF at or above 2,500′ as there was a C172 inbound to OXJEF at 2,000′.   Maybe it was the magenta line on the map but I was right on course and altitude as I approached the fix with the 430 displaying the procedure turn (hold) on the map and flashing ”Teardrop Entry” at me.   Oh how nice!  I was already on a course of 081° so as I crossed OXJEF I didn’t have to turn at all leaving me with only 4 of the 5 T’s (time-twist-throttle-talk).  

I executed the procedure turn and intercepted the final approach course of 291° which was so clearly represented on the GPS’s map page.   Perhaps it was the larger (and color) map page, but it just seemed so much easier flying this approach with the help of the 430 than it has in the past with the KLN89B.   I felt like I had so much more time to focus on flying the airplane, rather than turning knobs, pressing buttons, or looking for relavant information. 

We had been encountering some light rain for the past few minutes and about 4 miles out on the approach the runway lights came into sight right where they are supposed to be, directly ahead.  The approach then culminated in one of the best landings I’ve EVER had with the wheels barely squeaking as I flew it right onto the runway.   With a huge grin on my face it was flaps up, full power and back to Livermore.

After departing Stockton NorCal gave me a vector and I proceeded to set-up the avionics for the ILS into Livermore.  It then became very apparent at just how different (and easier) flying the ILS in this 430 equipped Warrior was going to be.  There was No ADF to tune and identify, and no DME information (from ECA VOR) to be used to identify the TRACY and FOOTO intersections.  There was only the Nav (Localizer) and GPS to set-up and they are even one unit.  I still had turn on the Marker Beacon audio, but all the other stuff was being handled by the GPS.  

The elimination of the ADF and DME information, or should I say the consolidation of it, made the approach feel much easier to set-up and execute as I now had only two instruments to scan for position information rather than four, with all of the required intersections and distances to/from them identified on the map of the GPS.  Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!

The vector I had been given for Localizer intercept slightly odd in that it was 1,000′ higher than normal so I found myself crossing FOOTO a little higher that I typically do.   Rather than dive down to GS intercept altitude, I intercepted high and with  1 notch of flaps and a power setting of 1950rpm I set myself up for a long  final approach.  I had to tell myself that I was in fact still flying and ILS approach, not a GPS approach, and needed to start time as I crossed the LOM.

As I crossed the numbers I thought to myself that there was no way this landing was going to be anywhere near as good as the first.  Logic told me that I had already used up all of my luck for the day while this landing would be acceptable, it would probably be rough enough to offset the beauty of the prior touchdown.  I’ve never been so happy to say that I was wrong… it was another near perfect squeaker!

It was a good flight and while it didn’t count towards my currency, I will at least now feel comfortable going out to shoot some practice approaches using the GNS 430.   I still have a bit of studying to do before I will use it for cross-country flight (in IFR), but I felt like the basic had been covered.

As I drove home, something occurred to me that I hadn’t thought about the entire flight… the weather was just plain lousy.   I had just flown a little over an hour in conditions that a little less than a year ago would have certainly kept me grounded, and I did it without much concern.  Perhaps it was the fact that Nick was with me for this flight, but just maybe it was because I felt like I knew what I was doing.   This is a good thing, a very good thing.