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3:48
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Aviation Mentor 
Merced Castle Airport used to be a base for B52 bombers and the ramp area was (is) huge. I haven't been there in a while, but the bomber parking area u
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15:05
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Aviation Mentor
Here's a great blog for pilots out there to read, especially
November 11, 2008
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8:48
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Aviation Mentor
Many pilots compare a trip to an aviation trade show as like being a kid in a candy store. I know at least one pilot who consciously leaves his credit cards at home so he won't buy something on implus
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4:49
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Aviation Mentor
"Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another
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10:14
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Aviation Mentor
I make spin training an option for private pilot and commercial candidates, but the regulations in the US require flight instructor candidates to receive ground and flight training in stall/spin aware
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4:07
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Aviation Mentor
As a diversion from recent events, I wanted to get on with some other posts I had in the pipeline.
I received a really cool gift a few weeks ago - a
October 19, 2008
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4:45
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Aviation Mentor
On Friday, I was up at 4am after going to bed at midnight. In the quiet darkness, I was reminded of my freight flying days, but there was no early show-time today. The goal was to stay awake until 10a
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13:00
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Aviation Mentor
I found myself walking through the front door of my house at 5:30pm yesterday, not remembering where I'd been. In actuality, I'd just walked two blocks from the new circuit-training fitness center whe
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4:16
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Aviation Mentor
The new Northern California T-routes I
September 29, 2008
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9:30
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Aviation Mentor
For pilots who fly frequently and need to log their time accurately, kee
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8:01
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Aviation Mentor
I'd been wrestling with this post for several weeks, never quite satisfied with the results. Then I happened to read
this post
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4:26
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Aviation Mentor
At my home airport a Precision Obstacle Free Zone (POFZ) was recently created at
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8:35
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Aviation Mentor
One part of becoming a pilot is learning to deal with your emotional reactions to flight. Here's an example: When flying the traffic pattern and turning from the base leg to final, a lot of the earth
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16:10
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Aviation Mentor
The vast majority of pilots currently flying for the airlines received their training in a civilian setting, though that wasn't always the case. The usual route to the airlines is to earn your various
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1:03
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Aviation Mentor
At the end of any trip comes the inevitable realizations about lessons learned as well as the comparisons and contrasts. Before I get to that, I'd like to ask readers who find my blog useful to consid
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9:29
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Aviation Mentor
Okay, okay. I know I haven't posted lately, but I've been busy. Early morning launches to avoid thunderstorms, crazy hotels, crazy hotel shuttles, crazy food, flakey or non-existent internet connectiv
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18:53
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Aviation Mentor
After nearly ten full days of delay, the planets align and we're able to depart Frank Zappa's ancestral haunts and resume the ferry flight.Goin' back home
To the Village of the Sun
Out in ba
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7:07
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Aviation Mentor
The fascinating thing about maintenance delays in aviation is how so many other things can be affected. I'm waiting for a replacement part that was due to arrive today, but should now arrive tomorrow.
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10:00
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Aviation Mentor
When users have trouble with a technology product, they often blame themselves instead of recognizing the problem is in the design of the product they are using. A popular assumption is "If only I we
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10:15
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Aviation Mentor
The morning fog and stratus pulled back to the center of Monterey Bay, there were only few aircraft in the area, and that gave me time to ponder all the flights I made through this area in my freight
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7:35
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Aviation Mentor
I have a skill that seems to be innate. I've never practiced it, never studied with anyone, and I can't figure out how I could make a living doing it, but I'm good at identifying voices. Sitting in fr
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12:30
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Aviation Mentor
It's been a long while since I've posted, not so much due to my being busy. In fact, I've had more canceled flights in the last three weeks than I can recall in quite a while. Nothing out of the ordin
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10:32
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Aviation Mentor
Nearly two weeks ago, I was asked to do a passenger flight in a Grand Caravan, flying from California to Oregon and back. Since I had plenty of advance notice, I agreed to do the flight and that fligh
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17:47
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Aviation Mentor
Last week, I was set to begin a flight with an instrument rating candidate when we overheard an aircraft inform the ground controller that they could hear an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) on 121
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18:38
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Aviation Mentor
On April 11, 2005, about 1308 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 152, N24779, crashed into a field near Williamsburg, Ohio, after the rudder jammed during spin recovery training. The certificated flight
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3:05
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Aviation Mentor
I had fallen two-plus years behind on entering my flight times into my electronic logbook, but as of last week I am all caught up. Getting behind was a mistake because an electronic record of one's fl
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11:04
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Aviation Mentor
ATC: Cessna 123, say your route of flight.
Cessna 123: Ah ... we're going to do a Bay Tour, fly over the Golden Gate, and then head up the coast to Little River.
ATC: Cessna 123,
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17:24
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Aviation Mentor
Last week was a bit slow, which provided the perfect opportunity to fly a Piper Ar
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17:00
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Aviation Mentor
An online message board has a video of a Citation performing an aileron roll. I won't provide a link to it because I think it's a bonehead maneuver to attempt in a non-aerobatic aircraft. You can sear
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4:00
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Aviation Mentor
Anyone involved in general aviation should already know that the FAA has announced a proposal to change the way in which air traffic control functions are funded in the U.S. The short version is that
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1:37
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Aviation Mentor
My instructor candidate had demonstrated a few spin entries when it happened: His window popped open unexpectedly. We thought it was a benign fluke, but it happened again. After the third unexpected o
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13:20
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Aviation Mentor
It looks like GA pilots and flight instructors are going to be very busy in the coming months because of two changes being proposed. The first change(s) is(are) included the latest federal budget prop
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16:32
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Aviation Mentor
This is great! Not only am I not learning anything new, I'm forgetting stuff I used to know!
Millhouse, from "The Simpsons"
A realization has been creeping up on me over the past
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5:02
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Aviation Mentor
Jim sent me an interesting notice he found about departure procedures in the Fort Worth, Texas area. Rather than have it buried in a comment on the previou
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11:31
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Aviation Mentor
My apologies for the long break from blogging. This was due mostly to my getting sick and then having a spate of unplanned maintenance activities on my Jetta TDI. We're both now in fine fettle, thank
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16:15
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Aviation Mentor
After writing about the changes to the OAK ILS RWY 27R, an approach I fly frequently, I started to apply my Jepp updates this morning. After getting all the new charts inserted in the binder, I turned
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15:44
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Aviation Mentor
A former instrument student of mine sent me email a while back with a question about the Salinas ILS RWY 31 approach. His question had to do with the missed approach and he wondered why the approach c
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14:03
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Aviation Mentor
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12:44
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Aviation Mentor
A while back, I took Garmin to task because it seemed their new WAAS-certified GPS units promised to
increase pilot wo
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16:35
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Aviation Mentor
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8:32
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Aviation Mentor
The week between Christmas and New Year's Eve was set to be a slow one. The week started out with poor weather and the few instructional flights I had scheduled on Tuesday were cancelled. Wednesday, t
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4:31
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Aviation Mentor
Tuesday morning came early because of a charter flight I agreed to accept only the night before. A recently-soloed student pilot I was to fly with that morning agreed to fly on his own. As for my afte
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12:46
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Aviation Mentor
Here's a
link to a Bay Area newspaper article on local blogs. Check it out. It even includes a reference to Aviation Mentor. Aw, shucks .
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16:33
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Aviation Mentor
I don't often fly with pilots more experienced than myself. When I do, I go into sponge mode, carefully observing everything the pilot does and how they handle the aircraft. I may make notes
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13:37
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Aviation Mentor
The weather this past w
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15:16
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Aviation Mentor
Last week, I'm set to do the first flight with a CFI candidate who has been referred to me. After a notice of disapproval, he's been stalled for a couple of weeks. The Thanksgiving holiday didn't help
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10:45
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Aviation Mentor
NDB
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15:37
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Aviation Mentor
Time is a valuable commodity, especially when you are hand-flying an aircraft by reference to instruments. You need to have good aircraft control to hand-fly in the goo or you won't have time
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6:00
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Aviation Mentor
The best way (maybe the only way?) to get good and stay good at reading and preparing for an approach, departure, or arrival is to practice. Sorry, I have no silver bullets. You can always practice in
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12:00
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Aviation Mentor
Reading an instrument approach chart is much like reading music. And as in a musical performance, flying an approach involves executing a sequence of tasks, at the right time, in order to arrive at th
