Where are VASIs located on a field that doesn't have an ILS ? Is it a certain number of feet from end of runway ? Does it depend on runway length ? If you want to land on a short runway when is it safe to dip below VASI ? Must there be a certain number of hundreds of feet from the threshold...

Hello all, I'm just curious as to when the last time was that you used your ADF for actual navigation? Are NDBs common in the US? It seems as though every little airport has an ILS! -dr

You're 4 miles SW of ROYCE. http://www.naco.faa.gov/d-tpp/0710/00198IL12R.PDF Approach says "Cessna '1GS,cross ROYCE at or above 2 thousand, cleared visual approach runwy 12R. Contact the tower on 118.7." On initial contact, Tower says "Cessna '1GS, runwy 12R, cleared to land." Do you still...

You are coming from northeast of SFB. ATC says "Cleared direct UDUZI, maintain 4000' until established, cleared RNAV 9L approach." http://www.naco.faa.gov/d-tpp/0710/00917R9L.PDF When do you descend below 4,000 and to what altitude? -- Dan

FAA Order 8260.19C, "Flight Procedures and Airspace," Paragraph 852(d) (1): (1) Fix altitudes established on ILS for LOC-only use should be coincident with the glide slope when possible. Where the fix altitude is not within feet of the glide slope, annotate it for LOC use as follows: MIN ALT...

I took a short XC today after a layoff of a few months due to real life constraints and weather. I filed IFR even though it was VFR because I wanted to get back into the groove of communicating with ATC. I filed for 5000 going east. On the ground, they told me it would be faster if I took off VFR...

I was reading the review of various hoods in Consumer Aviation (January 1999 - yeah thats 5 years ago !). They recommended Thunderhead and Best Hood among non-foggle solutions (I don't like foggles because whatever is wrong with me any eyeglass-wear just fogs up quickly). I have ordered Best Hood...

I was reading the review of various hoods in Consumer Aviation (January 1999 - yeah thats 5 years ago !). They recommended Thunderhead and Best Hood among non-foggle solutions (I don't like foggles because whatever is wrong with me any eyeglass-wear just fogs up quickly). I have ordered Best Hood...

I was looking at Phoenix AZ on the low altitude en-route chart, and there is a cluster of GPS waypoints charted all around the VOR (in the Class B). I assume those are for GPS instrument approaches. Is there a reason why those are charted on the en-route? -- Paul Tomblin ...

Yesterday I was on an IFR flight about 50 miles from destination. The area was getting covered with TS, including my alternate 20 miles futher west. Home base was 150 mi to the east. I realized I might have to reverse course to escape, but did not have enough fuel to get home for sure. So, the...

The ongoing "discussion" of the LEX accident reminds me of an incident I experienced many years ago of potential pilot error. I was a passenger on commercial flight on a smaller airplane (make and model not recalled but it was twin-engine turboprop). As we were making the approach to land, I...

"FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said the crash of Comair Flight 5191 might have been avoided if the CRJ-100 had been equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). Blakey told reporters at a news conference at UPS's headquarters in Louisville that ADS-B's LCD screen (not...

Okay, I've been watching the transition to glass cockpits in GA aircraft. Clearly, the cost savings and simplification that comes from integration is neat, and the reliability of an all-electrical system is (probably) going to mean more safety for all of us. But one thing bugs me -- the tapes. I...

I fly out of Palo Alto, CA, and I have never heard an IFR clearance read over ground whose route section did not start "when able, right turn to 060 with 1 mi of the airport, radar vectors san jose, v334 sunol ..." My clearance starts out this way whether I file a flight plan to the east, north, or...

Since my son was born 10 years ago, and my daughter 7 years ago, it seems like my annual vacations have consisted primarily of playing "People Transporter" and "Bill Payer" with absolutely no time for myself. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and I love doing it for the kids but after 10 years...

this group used to be the busy??? icing couldn't be that bad!!!!!

This morning I flew into Erie (KERI), a class D airport in northwest Pennsylvania along Lake Erie. Weather was low IFR with 500 foot ceilings, 4 mile visibility, and winds out of the southwest. An ILS to runway 24 was in...

I'm trying to improve my database generators for CoPilot and other programs (see http://navaid.com/ and http://xcski.com/~ptomblin/CoPilot/ for details). The problem I'm trying to deal with is that the FAA is totally inconsistent on how they name waypoints, DAFIF isn't any better, and there are...

From the AAAE's cable TV program... ****** AAAE "AVIATION NEWS TODAY" TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW WITH REP. DON YOUNG HOST: Big topic of conversation on Capitol Hill this week. The FAA Reauthorization bill, conference report. Just before the August break, the

Callback #318 http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/callback_issues/cb_318.htm ³Minimum Fuel" Does Not Mean Priority Handling Recent ASRS incident reports reveal a common misunderstanding involving use of the phrase ³minimum fuel. Pilots may tell ATC that they have ³minimum fuel with the expectation that they...