The FAA is marching toward sole dependence on GPS. The FAA engineers and controllers are screaming from the mountaintops PLEASE do not single thread North American airspace navigation on satellite only. Yes GPS is awesome. Yes GPS has and will change our lives. But the signal is small and...

Finally, there's a free web site that does tracking of IFR flights and maps and graphs and whatnot: http://flightaware.com/ For IFR folks, you can enter airports that you're flying between and get a list of IFR routes that people have flown, which makes flight planning a lot easier. Chip

Ok, here is a hypothetical question about departing from Santa Monica and about IFR departures at uncontrolled fields in general. Suppose it is after 9pm (the tower is closed) but before 11pm (departures still permitted). Assuming that the field is IFR, what would be the proper way to obtain...

The installation of the GNS530 is complete. The learning is just begun. But since I now have equipment which allows it, what is the likelihood of receiving 'cleared as filed' if I file direct to a destination a few hundred miles away? Is this not what 'Free Flight' was supposed to be about? Is it...

This, by no means is as exciting or interesting as some of the other threads I have followed, but serves as a constant reminder to me, how quickly things can change! Wanting to get my plane down to Cameron Park before Feb 1. for an annual, I determined that yesterday was probably my best...

Hi Group, I am currently attending a flying school Part 61. Since I've been playing Flight Sim for about 15 years, on my first lesson I was able to land the airplane right away. Thanks to Microsoft Flight Simulator. I believed that I am a step or two step ahead compared to other student that never...

We recently put a 530 in one of our planes. Garmin says the upgrade to WAAS is only going to be $1500. Sure, that's what they charge for the guts, but what is this likely to run to once the shop starts adding their labour costs, etc. Is another field approval needed, or what sort of paper...

Hello, A couple of quick questions/calrifications: 1) When executing a direct entry to a hold e.g. for the KAPC LOC Rwy 36L missed: "...climb 3000' direct SGD VOR & hold" I have been flying directly to the VOR then, upon watching the to/from

The ILS 16R (http://tinyurl.com/353gd5) at Reno (KRNO) has the notation: "8500 to GS intercept 181 (2) and LOC (8.8)" I don't understand this. It appears this means that GS intercept will occur in 2 miles on a 181 heading and that LOC intercept will occur in 8.8 miles. Neither appears to be true...

I got a much thicker than usual packet from Jeppesen yesterday, and the bulk of the changes were the removal of dozens of NDB IAPs. I had heard that the FAA was looking to decomission a lot of "redundant" NDB appoaches, but was surprised to see that they were really gone so soon. I guess there's...

Have you ever heard of, or have any experience with a thing called the "Transponder Landing System", a form of IFR approach using a transponder? What is it, how does it work, does it work, do you have to have a special "endorsement" to fly it, etc? TDS N2997Y

I was looking at starting my ifr training and realized the 172s in the club I blelong to don't have DMEs. Is that required for IFR flight? I noticed alot of checkpoints and such are distance from navaid. Thanks Mark

1. We know that terror operatives are hiding in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan 2. It is possible that Bin Laden himself is in this area 3. We are running around like crazy raising alert levels, canx flights etc. How about this warning from our US Government: If any terror attack...

Hi All, I tried plugging through the google newsgroups, with no luck. I am currently a instrument *student*, doing my Multi-IFR stuff. I'm Canadian, and some of this stuff isn't really covered in any of our regulations or material from what I can see (unless im missing something), and its a more...

MSA is defined in the AIM as "altitudes depicted on approach charts which provide at least 1,000 feet of obstacle clearance." So, if an MSA is 3000 ft, does that necesarily mean that there is at least one obstacle in the area that is 2000 ft tall or could there be some other reason for the 3000 ft...

off topic i know go to www.google.com type in Weapons of mass destruction and hit the "i'm feeling lucky" button read the error message.

Hello all... I was looking through the online instrument procedures, trying to find a VOR/DME RNAV approach to do the flight test portion of my KNS-80 IFR certification. They aren't that prevalent, and I'm in Virginia, but basically equally close to WV, KY, TN, and NC, which spans a number of sets...

I recently purchased an ICOM IC-A23 radio, and I'm disappointed in its pickup. It gets the weather channels fine, but the reception for both the airport and airplane radios is poor. Aside from standing next to the airport or being right under the airplane, do I have any options for improving...

Question to all who use Lightspeed headsets. I have been using Avcom headsets for the last 4 years. Only complaint is the pressure on the ears, even with GEL cups. How do you like Lightspeed? Pro and Con. What is the best model for the best cost? How do you rate the reliability? Where is cheapest...

In an article at http://avionicswest.com/archive/shootout.htm#2003 about Garmin 530 vs CNX-80, many of the pilots said that they would want a combination of a Garmin 530 AND an MX20. I do not understand. Isn't the Garmin 530 also an MFD capable of displaying multiple inputs, like weather and...