Aspen' Nearly 3 Weeks Picken' Up That Plane Ya'll

Spoilers, really?

So reading this delightful tale of a Band of Bumbrains, many a thought came to my mind.

1. Slap "the boss" in his face.

Actually that's really all that came to my mind initially but really, what a b-word.

Let us list some of the mistakes.

1. The Notam never made it to the tower controllers, kinda important right?
2. The Pilots' decision to even try the approach was illegal.
3. Who lets a passenger sit in the cockpit when you can't find the runway on a sunny day?
4. Excessive sink rate is bad, so is a 49 degree bank with flaps, gear, and spoilers.

You can really go on and on about the mistakes that were made and contributing factors. Obviously the weather contributed as well as the looming darkness. Although the pilots had been there two times previous, this was their first attempt to land at night.

The first thing I would have done was this. I would have walked right up to "the boss" and said, "Sir, I want you to know that because of the time of departure we are now forced to have I cannot garauntee we will get into Aspen. If we don't get there by X time, due to the current weather reports, we will be going on to rifle no questions asked. So if you want to do that we will, or we will just stay here." Some people say the customer is always right, but when it comes to aviation and safety, the customer can stuff it.

I'm all alone.... all by myself.... it's gettin' kinda cloudy...

Single Pilot IFR?

That is a tricky question. It really comes down to whether or not you are comfortable and proficient. I myself, would rather not fly IFR alone at this point. I might be current, but that by no means makes me able to handle bad IFR conditions with ease. I would feel more comfortable having a second pilot there to help share the work load. The article had lots of good points. I liked the idea of tabbing important things, but then I thought that with all those post its everywhere it might actaully becoming more distracting than helpful.

Who knows?

But, for now... SPIFR is something I will not be participating in.

To be wet... or not to be wet... that is the question...

Today, we delve into the wonderful world of the Wet and Dry Sump Oil Systems.

For the purpose of our tale, the wet sump oil system shall be referred to as "Howard". The dry sump oil system shall be referred to as.... "Dwayne".

Let us commence.

Now, Howard is quite a loner. He likes to do everything by himself. He doesn't need any silly pumps or stupid cranks to hold his oil.. he just likes to let it sit in the bottom of the engine.

On the Other hand, Dwayne is a prissy little bitch (Can I say bitch?). He likes to have lots of little slaves working and doing his bidding. Instead of letting his oil sit in the bottom of the engine, Dwayne finds it necessary to have scavenger pumps move his oil to a separate reservoir where the oil is stored.

Now even though Dwayne is causing more work for his minions, he is actually afforded some advantages in his kingdom. He is able to hold as much oil as he wants in his reservoir because it doesn't affect the placement of his engine. Also, the engine has a lower center of gravity. Oil stays cooler in the separate reservoir which is another bonus.

However, Dwayne is a costly date, and maintenance is more involved. Howard, on the other hand is simple.

Howard and Dwayne are like Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson in Shanghai Knights. They both get the job done (for the most part), but depending on the situation one might do it better than the other...

Questions?

Blog Post #1

Multi Engine, the final ground school of my flying career.

I want to get everything I can out of this class. Obviously I want to learn enough to pass the FAA written test, but anything above that would be just dandy as well. I want to feel confident in the airplane after this ground school is over, as well as safer. I want to be able to answer all of my flight instructors questions with the knowledge I obtain in class.

I WANT TO MAKE JULIE PROUD!