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Archive for the ‘Flight Planning’ Category

If you follow my tweets very much, you might know by now how I am a huge fan of Fltplan.com.  I think they easily have the best and slickest flight planning services available on the web.   From aviation weather to NOTAMS to approach charts, this is really a one-stop shop for planning and filing flight plans.  You can tell that the owners of the site really have a deep understanding of what pilot’s need when it comes to an online flight planning tool.

One of the features of Fltplan.com that not many people are familiar with is the  ability to file and submit your eAPIS notifications.  APIS is the Advanced Passenger Information System used by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP).  This is the system that collects and stores international traveler information for use both going in and out of the United States.  eAPIS is the system that collect and passes the passenger and crew manifest information to the APIS system electronically.    In May of 2009, the US government required all general aviation pilots to provide aircraft, pilot and passenger information at least 60 minutes prior to departure.

Fltplan.com was the first company to be approved and certified by the Customs Border Protection for general aviation eAPIS notifications.  Here are some of the features:

• Easy to use interface allows you to create an APIS Manifest in less than one minute (using stored aircraft, crew and passenger data).
• Easily print general Declaration forms and Customs Form 178 with your information already pre-filled.
• Accessible from any internet connected computer
• Uses https:// SSL secure technology encryption to protect your data and ensure privacy.
• For use with both IFR and VFR flights.
• You can use FltPlan.com’s eAPIS system for flights to and from Europe. (works outside the flight filing coverage area)
• Designed to be used by all pilots from single-engine piston owners up to multiple jet aircraft flight departments.
• Calculates Border crossing locations and time very accurately using your flight plan data.
• 1 annual fee for unlimited eAPIS manifests and support (most companies charge per notification)

In order to show you just how quick and easy it is to create the eAPIS manifest using fltplan.com I put together a short eAPIS tutorial.  Here are the steps covered in the tutorial:

1) Create a international flight plan

2) Create the eAPIS manifest

3) Click Submit

It really is that easy.  Just watch this short video below to see a demonstration.  If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment or contact fltplan.com for more information:

During preflight this morning I came across an interesting NOTAM:

SGH 11/011 SGH AIRSPACE HIBAL SGH202011 E BND REACHING FL600
WEF 0911141600-0911141800

So what does HIBAL stand for ?

HIBAL is the Notam contraction for high altitude balloon. Most likely, a National Weather Service balloon with radiosonde.   A radiosonde is a small device that is suspended about 80 feet below a 6 foot hydrogen or helium balloon.  The radiosonde consists of sensors and a small radio transmitter.  The sensors are able to read temperature, pressure and relative humidity.  The on board transmitter sends this data back to sensitive ground based equipment for recording.  By recording the GPS coordinates (if equipped) and the direction of the data using radio directional finding antennas, it is also possible to record wind speed and direction.

To learn more about Radiosondes and their uses, NOAA National Weather Service has put together this radiosonde fact sheet.

Back to the NOTAM:

SGH 11/011 SGH AIRSPACE HIBAL SGH202011 E BND REACHING FL600
WEF 0911141600-0911141800

This NOTAM says that between 1600 Zulu and 1800 Zulu on the 14th of November, a high altitude balloon (HIBAL) is being released on the SGH VOR radial 202 at 11 DME (202011).  The balloon is expected to go east bound and reach 60,000 feet (FL600).

Fly Safe.

I received a question last night from Ed and this is what he wrote:

While performing a practice BFR for reinstatement, the P.P. said that current sectional charts are no longer a required item!?  Can not find any reference to this on web or AIM.

This is one of those questions I was SURE I knew the answer to as soon as I read it.  I mean I was positive about my response.  Of course current aeronautical charts are required to be on board, right? Well….

Read the rest of this entry »

This is great follow-up question to a previous post, “Can you use a q-route below FL180?”. The question came to me after posting a link to that post on my Twitter profile.

So what the heck is a Q-route?

Well.  There are primarily three types of airways:

1) VOR Federal airways – This is the airway system that most pilots are most familar with.  This includes your typical low alitudes “V” airways and the high-altitude “J” routes.

2)  Colored Federal Airways – There are still 49 of these airways still in existence.  LF and MF and they can be found mostly in Alaska.  They are designated by their color names Amber, Blue, Green or Red and then either a one or two digit number, i.e. “A 7″

3) RNAV airways – This is the latest and greatest route system found in our nation’s airspace.  The foundation of the RNAV route system started in 2000 with industry operators requesting the FAA to increase the use of RNAV to help navigate the nation’s airspace.  The advantages of the RNAV system?  Reduced mileage, reduction of conflicts between routes, and additional routes within the same airspace.

There are two types of RNAV routes:

1) Q-routes (high) are available for use by RNAV equipped aircraft between 18,000 feet MSL and FL 450 inclusive. Q-routes are depicted on Enroute High Altitude Charts.

A typical Q-route

1) T-routes (low) are available for use by RNAV equipped aircraft from 1,200 feet above the surface (or in some instances higher) up to but not including 18,000 feet MSL. T-routes are depicted on Enroute Low Altitude Charts.

A typical t-route

So now a good follow-up question would be, “Can you file and use a Q-route below FL180?”  and you see, we the staff at askacfi.com have thought ahead and already answered that one for you and you can read the answer to that question here.

Here’s a question from Brandon, who’s working on cross country planning:

When you track a VOR and log the VOR heading, what do I log that as? I know you put it under Course (Route), but what is that called, Magnetic Course? If so, how do I get from Magnetic Course to Magnetic Heading, or are they the same thing?

There are a lot of different terms that we use when we plan flights: course & heading; magnetic course (MC); magnetic heading (MH); true course (TC); wind correction angle (WCA); the list goes on… but which goes where? The key is to remember the difference between plotting a course and flying a heading. In a no-wind situation, heading and course match. With wind, you still want to track the same course over the ground, and to do that you’ll need to crab your heading into the wind.

Getting back to the basics of your question, though, is what to call a VOR course. Whether you refer to it as your magnetic course, your outbound radial, or an OBS setting, it’s the same number. Charted airways are always depicted in terms of magnetic north. As shown above, your MC or OBS setting (red) differs, often significantly, from your TC (blue).

The second part of your question – how to get from MC to MH – is a little more complicated. Chances are, when navigating with a VOR or on an airway, you’ll be starting with a magnetic course. In the example above, we’d be flying from Paine Field to Port Townsend on the 270° radial, which gives us an MC of 270. Variation at the PAE VOR, set when it was constructed (thanks, Sarah, for reminding me of this!), is 20°E, which we add to get a TC of 290 – notice how much larger the blue angle is than the red one. Now you can go back and use your E6B to find your wind correction angle and true heading – but don’t forget, you now need to subtract variation to get what you need in the cockpit: magnetic heading.

Confused yet? It’s confusing stuff, and best explained one-on-one by your instructor with a series of examples. If you’re looking for additional study materials, it’s worth pulling out the manual for your E6B flight computer or checking out Gleim’s article on an alternate method for doing the math.

Here’s the question Paul just sent me:

Special VFR at night requires, amongst other things, that the pilot be IFR-rated. But it strikes me that there is no requirement for the pilot to be IFR-current – is that true? Seems dangerous to me.

Well, Paul (great name by the way).  I agree with you that it would be VERY dangerous for any pilot who is not IFR current to operate under Special VFR at night.  Fortunatetly, I believe that the regulations do require that recent instrument flight experience be met as per 61.57.   Let’s look at the two requirements for Special VFR at night.

1) Pilot

According to 14 CFR 91.157 Special VFR operations at night (in airplanes) requires that “The person being granted the ATC clearance meets the applicable requirements for instrument flight under part 61 of this chapter.”

So let’s look at the instrument flight requirements under part 61 which, in summary says that in order to act as PIC of an aircraft on an instrument flight plan you must:

a) Hold an appropriate instrument rating on your pilot certificate and

b) Meet the recent instrument experience requirements of 61.57(c) (6 approaches, intercepting and tracking)

2) Airplane

The aircraft must be equipped for instrument flight as required by 91.205(d)

So…

Again, this is just my interpretation, but I do think that 91.157 is requiring that a pilot who receives an ATC clearance for Special VFR at night be fully IFR rated, equipped and current.  The reason being of course is that there is a greater chance at night of a Special VFR clearance turning into a full blown IFR flight plan.  If the FAA did not require the pilot to be instrument current, than they would have no provision for enforcement action when a pilot illegally operated on a IFR flight plan.

I hope this helps answer your question.  Thanks again for asking and always…

Fly Safe!

I don’t know about you, but an ICAO flight plan can be rather confusing and intimidating at first glance. However, once you go through it a couple of times, it really isn’t that bad. There are a couple of fields that are different and take a little explanation but that’s why I’m here!

In order to help you, I’ve created a short video tutorial describing and explaining the fields found on a FAA form 7233-4 or International Flight Plan form. I have to add a disclaimer. This is not a authoritative all encompassing, everything but the kitchen sink video. This is a very basic, here-is-how-I-did-it, kind of video. I ask that you check, use and consult all references provided by the FAA (not me).

Here are some links to references to use while watching the tutorial:

FAA Form 7233-4 International Flight Plan Form (pdf)

FAA Letter to Airman concerning the change (pdf)

Advisory Circular 90-100A – U.S. RNAV Operations (pdf)

Flight Services – ICAO Flight Plans (the FAA printed version of this tutorial)

Roger’s Runway – If you have a Garmin 430/530 there is some more information here pertaining to RNAV capability

Doc8643 – ICAO Aircraft Type Designators

Information about what to put in Box 18 when filing RNAV