We hear it every day from those who are cursed to tread the pavement their entire lives. “Gas is going up again! I don’t want to pay $4 a gallon for fuel!” I got news for you, my unairworthy friends: according to 100LL.com, the average price of Avgas in the south central United States is $5.64 a gallon. Before your tongue falls out of your mouth, be glad you don’t live in the northeast. There, it’s $5.91 a gallon. God bless the south.
HPA is excited to announce this upcoming event… We have organized a group event for the altitude chamber at NASA on January 30, 2012. This will be a great learning experience that you won’t want to miss!
Before we dive into any holding scenarios, I want to address ATC communications within a hold. A lot of pilots have difficulty with what is in an official hold clearance, what needs to be read back, and when and what to report. First, the actual hold clearance. According to the Instrument Flying Handbook, this is what to expect in a holding clearance:
”November Four Seven Two Mike Charlie, hold as published on the VOR, maintain five thousand, expect further clearance in thirty minutes.” Those dreaded words no IFR pilot wants to hear. In yeoman’s terms, a hold clearance screams “DELAY!” This is when the pilot turns to his passengers and says, “Well folks, you might want to get comfortable. Just hope none of you have to go to the bathroom.”…
The direct to key is an aid to VFR pilots and a must for IFR pilots. On VFR cross countries, I encourage all VFR pilots to still create flight plans for VFR flights, utilizing paper and pencil planning, then plugging it into the G1000 using user defined waypoints and the like. On local VFR flights, the direct to key is awesome for going to closer airports or just getting a heading back to home base.