Winter Flying

Flying small aircraft in the winter presents some challenges. It’s not only the cold that affects performance. With snow on the ground, things appear differently. Familiar terrain can be unrecognizable, at least until you pick out the landmarks such as roads and railroad tracks that carve up the countryside. But take a look at Lancaster County, PA with snow on the fields.

Looks chilly down there. Winging along, I came upon Chester County’s airport, a familiar and welcome sight as you can see here.

Chester County has a long and wide runway which is good for practicing maneuvers. It’s also easy to find whether there’s snow or not. Despite the winter weather, I’m looking forward to a couple more cross country flights. I’ll post the photos and commentary here as always.

Published in: on January 15, 2011 at 12:20 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Sasha, Avionics Supervisor

When visiting my local avionics shop the other day, I met Sasha, the shop cat. During the winter months, it seems she prefers the office. Take a look.

She’s settled into her perch there, probably atop the accounts receivable. It’s good to know there’s a cat around to calm the nerves and keep any potential trespassing vermin under control. Special thanks to the good people at Penn Avionics for doing a great job with the instruments in the airplane I fly, and for having such a pleasant cat.

Published in: on January 8, 2011 at 12:03 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Old Instruments

In the oldie but goodie category, we have the following instruments which were removed from an airplane. Below you’ll see the gyro compass, turn and slip indicator, and VOR dial.


You can go a long way with these three. In fact, early aviators went great distances with much less. Today’s technology uses GPS and flat panel displays to make the cockpit of your average general aviation plane seem like something out of a science fiction movie. Still, the fundamentals apply. Anyone who forgets them quickly learns the old rule that aviation is not so dangerous as it is unforgiving. Always do your checklist!

Published in: on January 7, 2011 at 2:43 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Plane Panorama

Today was the day to test out the new little digital camera. It’s been about 4 years since I bought a new camera. Plenty has changed and improved. This time I decided to go with the Sony DSC-TX9. This is a fine device. Uploading photos to my Mac is a little different than before. But it works. So, I went out to my friendly neighborhood airport to test the panorama function. You simply press the shutter button and turn to the right. The camera automatically takes the photos and assembles them into a finished piece. Take a look by clicking on the photo to open it in a separate window which will give you the entire sweep.

This was a challenging test because of the low angle of the sun, the different light levels, and the subject matter. You see a little bit of lens flare on the right of the frame. This is not the camera’s fault. In fact, it dealt with it very well, exposing for the bright sun and somehow still capturing the details in that last plane. In a word: impressive. I would recommend this camera for all your general photo needs. It’s barely the size of a deck of cards. With a single SD card you can shoot about 500 photos. The battery is easy to slip in and out for recharge. Not bad for one low price. Enjoy the sights.

Published in: on October 31, 2010 at 10:41 pm  Leave a Comment  
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