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Plastic Pilot

April 30, 2008
14:00
Minimum clean
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

Each aircraft type has specific performances, and performance can even vary for the same type, depending of the load on board. Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) sometimes use speed restrictions to maint
April 29, 2008
14:00
Open Letter to Flight Instructors
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

Dear Flight Instructors, As a private pilot with instrument rating, I spent several dozen of hours seating beside one of you in a light aircraft. I want to thank you for the excellent job you do. I
April 28, 2008
14:00
The Four Forces - The True Version, not the PoF one
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

The core of the “Principles of Flight” course (a.k.a. PoF, a.k.a. Aerodynamics) is the chapter about the four forces. This piece of propaganda and disinformation has been designed to make
April 27, 2008
14:00
A Piece of Engineering !
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

I’m not sure of the reason why, but persons planning airports like to put them in challenging places. Look at this Google Earth view of Nice airport. Not only there’s always crosswinds bec
April 26, 2008
14:00
What your passengers should know…
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

During the breaks of the IFR theory classes, we used to walk by the tarmac of the airfield where the courses were held, and look at planes. One one particular day, an instructor was beside the runway
April 25, 2008
14:00
Hard times for Thielert
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

Thielert, the German company producing the diesel engines that equip the DA40 and the C172 TD, is facing up with a severe financial crisis. I don’t understand all the details of such things, but
April 24, 2008
14:00
Two Web Wonders
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

I’m always amazed by the infinite variety of the web, and by the excellent content some put there just because they can. Research work for this blog frequently leads me to new discoveries, and t
April 23, 2008
14:00
New flying projects…
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

When I listed smart things to do when non-flying, making p
April 22, 2008
14:00
Do you write your own check-lists ?
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

Today’s topic is checklist - yes, one more time. My question is rather
April 21, 2008
14:00
I’m a Visionary !
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

Do you remember my 1st of April post ? The one about how research on fish skin cou

April 20, 2008
14:00
In-flight photograpy challenges part II - 3 easy tips to improve your pictures
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

With digital photography, it’s very easy to modify and improve pictures using simple software. I will show how to easily improve an in-flight photograph using Photoshop, or any other imaging sof
April 19, 2008
14:00
Starting Second Year
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

Exactly one year ago, I was in Cannes, working on my G1000 familiarization and preparing for my instrument rating renewal. In the evening, I connected my laptop to the hotel’s WiFi network, and
April 18, 2008
14:00
Is the G1000 really a step forward ?
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

The G1000 glass cockpit is good looking. It’s cool, and it’s certainly the leading edge in nowadays avionics for light aircrafts. But it is really a step forward ? Does it improve the safe
April 17, 2008
14:00
It’s always stupid, Mr. Murphy
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

There are no elegant, or smart aviation accidents. Loosing someone is always tragic, whatever the circumstances. I don’t want to judge anybody, my aim is simply to highlight how quick and silly
April 16, 2008
14:00
Don’t Cross At The Zebra
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

If you have kids, you know how important (and hard) it is to explain them to cross roads at the zebra-crossing only. What has this to do with aviation ? It’s all about runway markings, kids, and
April 15, 2008
14:00
Top Three Moments in a Pilot’s Life
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

Each flight is an event, but some are more memorable than others, and are never forgotten. Some are common to all pilots, some are more personal. The ranking probably also varies amongst pilots, for m
April 14, 2008
14:00
Short Take-Off Video
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

In a recent post, I mentioned the exceptional descent
April 13, 2008
14:00
Fisheye Fun
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

I don’t know a lot about photography, but I like to fly with good photographers in the right-hand seat. I already mentioned that I had the occasion to fly with a serious amateur photographer. I
April 12, 2008
14:00
Love and Money - Owners and Renters
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

Love and money don’t go together. This is particularly true for persons which are in the middle range of the money scale. This became obvious to me when I heard that a generous owner would have
April 11, 2008
14:00
ICAO Language Skills Certification - Good or Evil ?
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

I can no longer speak french - my mother thongue - with ATC on radio. Not only because I now live in Germany, but also because of new ICAO rules. A lot has already been said on that (check by

April 10, 2008
14:00
Four Aviation Developments
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

The race towards aviation improvement never stops. Improvements pop-out here and there nearly every day, mostly aiming at a better flow of traffic, or to reduce fuel consumption… but not only. H
April 09, 2008
14:00
8000 feet, on base, for landing - On Airspace Watch
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

Winds aloft were not favorable. Our C172 was hardly reaching a groundspeed of 80 kts at FL100. We were VMC, and the flight destination airport was anyway not equipped for an IFR approach. We cancelled
April 08, 2008
14:00
G1000 Synthetic Vision Certified
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

Once again, Garmin announced a spectacular improvement to its already spectacular G1000 integrated avionics suite: synthetic vision ! This new enhancement uses a terrain and obstacles database to disp
April 07, 2008
14:00
Weather vs. Poker
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

Some non-flying skills can make our flying better. This topic has been in the air on this blog over the last days, and here is a new development: common points between weather and poker. The first sim
April 06, 2008
14:00
Modern Planes Are Green Part 6 - Fuel Cell Plane
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

The first “Fuel Cell” powered manned plane ever flew recently, Boeing anounced on 3rd of April. The airframe was a Diamond Dimona, modified by Boeing Reserach & Technology Europe (BR&a
April 05, 2008
14:00
Readers Challenge: Origin of the “Joystick” word
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

Today’s post is rather short, but I’m certain some of you will spend time on this. This is something I always wanted to know, but I never dared to ask: what is the etymology of the “
April 04, 2008
14:00
Natural Born Pilots
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

As for any skill, reaching a good level of flying is a mixture of talent and work. For some of us, flying seems simply natural. Give a talented pilot the controls of an aircraft, and he will land it s
April 03, 2008
14:00
Nose-up. Always.
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

One of the benefits of our new house is my office. It’s located in the attic, and is my all my own space, filled with plane books, models, photograps, plus my computer. No TV, no radio, no distr
April 02, 2008
14:00
In-flight photograpy challenges part I - Autofocus
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

Taking pictures from a plane is challenging. Thanks to digital photography, it’s possible to rely on a “shoot a lot” strategy, hoping to find a couple of good shots in the series. I&
April 01, 2008
14:00
News from the labs: fish skin helps reducing drag by 13 percent
» ‎ Plastic Pilot

A PhD student working on fish skin to improve water processing in the laboratories of a well-known chemical firm in Geneva recently made an important step forward. His work explains how the surface st

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