californiaflightschool.com Blog

We enjoy great weather and mostly clear skies year round in Van Nuys which makes scheduling flight training a pretty predictable affair. Once thing to keep in mind during our summer months is that the hot weather does cause the density altitude to go up into a range where pilots need to take special note.

A temperature of 30 celsius will take the density altitude already up to roughly 2800 feet, and most aircraft engines do better when leaned out for the best air to fuel combustion ratio at an altitude starting at 3000 feet.

Even with the long runways that are available in Van Nuys, you should definitely consider your leaning procedures to get the maximum performance and climb rates.

Flight training in Van Nuys offers a lot of advantages, but you do need to be aware that the summer heat can dish out some performance problems for aircraft.

The Private Pilot Ground School schedule for August has been set:

Date: Tuesday 03rd of August 2010, Time: 7pm to 9pm
Seminar
Topic: Aircraft Performance P005
FAA Private Pilot Knowledge Test
Prep: Density Altitude and Computations, Takeoff/Landing Distance,
Cruise Power Settings, Crosswind Components

Speaker: Uwe T. Kerner, CFI/CFII/MEI/AGI/IGI
Location: Van Nuys
Airport
Fee: Call

Date: Tuesday 10th of August 2010, Time:
7pm to 9pm
Seminar Topic: Weight And Balance, Aeromedical, ADM
P006
FAA Private Pilot Knowledge Test Prep: Weight And Balance,
Aeromedical, ADM, Weight and Balance Definitions and Computations,
Center of Gravity Graphs and Tables, Hypoxia, Hyperventilation, Spatial
Disorientation, Vision, Carbon Monoxide, Aeronautical Decision Making
(ADM)

Speaker: Uwe T. Kerner, CFI/CFII/MEI/AGI/IGI
Location: Van Nuys
Airport
Fee: Call

Date: Tuesday 17th of August 2010, Time:
7pm to 9pm
Seminar Topic: Aviation Weather P007
FAA Private
Pilot Knowledge Test Prep: Causes of Weather, Convective Currents,
Fronts, Thunderstorms, Icing, Mountain Wave, Wind Shear, Temperature/Dew
Point, Fog, Clouds, Stability of Air Masses, Temperature Inversions.

Speaker: Uwe T. Kerner, CFI/CFII/MEI/AGI/IGI
Location: Van Nuys
Airport
Fee: Call

Date: Tuesday 24th of August 2010, Time:
7pm to 9pm
Seminar Topic: Aviation Weather Services P008
FAA
Private Pilot Knowledge Test Prep: Weather Briefings, METAR, PIREP, Area
Forecast, TAF, Weather Depiciton Chart, Radar Summary Chart, EFAS,
Winds Aloft, Significant Weather Prognostic Chart, TWEB, Airmet and
Sigmet.

Speaker: Uwe T. Kerner, CFI/CFII/MEI/AGI/IGI
Location: Van Nuys
Airport
Fee: Call

Date: Tuesday 31st of August 2010, Time:
7pm to 9pm
Seminar Topic: Navigation, Charts and Publications
P009
FAA Private Pilot Knowledge Test Prep: Longitude and Latitude,
Airspace and Altitudes, Identifying Landmarks, Radio Frequencies, FAA
Advisory Circulars, AFD.

Speaker: Uwe T. Kerner, CFI/CFII/MEI/AGI/IGI
Location: Van Nuys
Airport
Fee: Call

More details and sign up information is available on our website.

The Bendix King KAP 140 autopilot functions similar to any autopilot
that came before it, and even the more advanced Garmin GFC 700 autopilot
can be operated with the basic knowledge of the KAP 140.
One thing
to keep in mind with the G1000 setup is that the HDG and NAV functions
are integrated/coupled to the G1000, but the ALT altitude bug is NOT!!
That is important to remember, unless you want an ugly surprise one day.

You should use and learn the basic operations of this autopilot
from left to right, starting with the Autopilot AP on/off button, the
HDG heading and NAV navigation button, and finally the ALT altitude
button.
We will remember the buttons in terms of “HOLD”, so let’s get
started.
After takeoff, when a safe altitude has been reached (1000′
AGL works):
Press AP, which HOLDS the wings level (called roll mode)
Press
HDG, which HOLDS  the heading (bug)
Press NAV, which HOLDS the CDI
of your HSI (GPS or VOR) centered
Press ALT, which HOLDS your CURRENT
altitude (NOT the altitude in the autopilot display!)

So, by
now, you are flying either a heading or nav track, leveled off at the
altitude at which you pressed ALT.
Now, you wish you fly up to a
certain higher altitude and you preselect this altitude with the
concentric two altitude rotating knobs. The display shows “ARM” but
nothing happens! What’s going on?
Well, you have not told the
autopilot “HOW” it’s going to accomplish this climb! You must press ALT
to go to VS Vertical Speed mode, then select the desired climb rate with
the UP and DOWN buttons, resulting in VS and ARM to be displayed, and
there it is, the autopilot with capture the desired altitude.

Remember
that whenever ALT mode alone is displayed (not ARM), all the autopilot
is doing is holding the CURRENT altitude, which is of course exactly
what you would expect. For the autopilot to be SEEKING the altitude it
needs to be in VS (vertical speed) mode AND in ARM altitude mode.

The recent Barack Obama visit in Chicago and the associated Jurassic size flight restrictions caught a few fliers unaware.

The Chicago Tribune reports that there were three aircraft in violation of the TFR.

We are pretty sure that this visit was not planned or announced a long time ago, as new security measures make these notices more “last minute” than they used to be.
Still, a quick DUATS check or FSS call should have done the trick there, we think.

AOPA sends email notifications to their members in the area, maybe they need to add cell phone text message notifications too. Of course any and all that will not work if we pilots don’t make the least amount of effort, and for some turning on their cell phone to read a TFR text message may already be too taxing.
Of course all this will suddenly and tragically change if someone with a itchy trigger finger intercepts a threatening GA aircraft and makes history and a precedent.
I bet FSS caller volume will go up sky high after that….

There is an Avweb story about the folks from a San Diego flight school that managed to invent a new kind of criminal behavior in Flight School operations.

We have heard the stories about the automotive spare parts and the home depot fix’em up solutions, hey, how else are you supposed to charge $90 per hour for that decrepit old plane and turn a profit?

What’s new here is that the operators of this flight school apparently chose to issue fake immigration paperwork to foreign students.

A pretty smart model too you see, for all they are apparently receiving for their efforts is “probation and fines”. Might all be worth it in the end if you stash the profits away where nobody can find them!

Add that to your list of “what will they do next”. At least these guys came up with something new!