Like most parents at this time of year, I’m making my daily trek to Wal-mart to buy school supplies for my kids. Even if you don’t have kids, I’m sure you can remember being sent home with a list of needed school supplies that ranged from protractors to rulers. Good times.

If you are just starting your flight or ground pilot training, you may find yourself overwhelmed by all the different supplies and accessories that are available for the beginning pilot. One look at a Sporty’s catalog or website will have you convinced that there are a lot of things you need to buy in order to become a pilot. When you get a little bit of experience under your belt, you’ll be more convinced that companies make a lot of money selling pilot supplies that are absolutely not necessary. So in my role as your online ground instructor, I’ve prepared a “Flight School Supply List.” Only the things you need and nothing you don’t. So here we go. Don’t show up to class without them:

(the items link to mypilotstore.com an affiliate of Askacfi.com)

• Good sunglasses. You can get an artifical heart, lungs, hip and just about everything else except your eyes (for now anyway). Take good care of the ones you have by investing in a good pair of sunglasses, just don’t lose them. My personal recommendation? Serengeti Salto S-Flex. Great lenses and comfortable with even the stiffest headset.
• Headset. If you are just starting out, don’t buy a headset until you solo. Until then, borrow a pair from your flight school or instructor. Once you’re ready to make that investment, don’t waste your money buying anything but the best set available. There are only two headsets I recommend, David Clark or Bose. This is not an advertisement but the advice of someone who has tried just about every pair of headset out there and has learned that Bose X is by far the quietest and most comfortable headsets I have ever worn. The runner-up and value award going to David Clark H10-13.4 The number 13.4 represents how many ounces they weigh. You can’t break em either, I’ve tried.
• Basic Logbook. Don’t get anything too fancy. Just a good basic logbook. All flight schools will have one for sale.
• Books. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of books you can purchase. Here are the 7 books you’ll need to purchase (in order of importance):
  • 2009 FAR/AIM Book
  • Private Pilot Practical Test Standards
  • Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge
  • Private Pilot Oral Exam Guide
  • Aviation Weather Services
  • Aviation Weather
  • Jeppesen Private Pilot Manual or the one used by your ground school
• Basic Aluminum E6B Flight Computer just get a plain old E6B. Learn the basics before purchasing an electronic flight computer.
• Simple Fixed Plotter (for cross country flight planning). As simple as possible.
• Current VFR Sectional for your area if you fly in a really busy area, the appropriate terminal chart would also be recommended.
• Flashlight. Don’t get the biggest, heaviest, or most expensive flashlight (you’ll lose it) just one that is small and bright enough to comfortably take with you in your flight bag. Smith and Wesson makes a nice small bright 6 LED Flashlight that is pretty good.
• Good flight bag. There are a myriad of options when it comes to flight bags. Get one that isn’t so big you’ll never use after training but one that can at least hold a toothbrush, toothpaste and a pair of skivvies for your cross-country or short overnight. The Sky High Gear Freedom VII Flight Bag is pretty well recommended.

I think that just about covers it. You’ll be tempted to add more stuff to your shopping cart, but don’t. You’ll only rack up more costs to your flight training which is getting too expensive as it is. I wish I had this list when I was going through flight school. I was the favorite customer of my local pilot store and they saw me coming from a mile away. My shelves and flight bags are still packed with all kind of useless junk like fancy kneeboards and holding computers. Just stick to the basics and as your flying expands you can slowly add to the list (but you won’t need to add much).

Feel free to comment if you think I forgot something or have a recommendation of your own.

Fly Safe.

I’ve mentioned before that one of my favorite monthly reads is the “Callback” safety bulletin produced by NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System. I just received notice in my inbox that this month’s bulletin, “Short Takes” is available for viewing. Here is the URL to read the safety bulletin for yourself:

http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/publications/callback/cb_344.htm

As the email they sent to me describes, many of the descriptions from aviation incidents include the word “short”. In fact, they state that in over 17,000 of the ASRS narratives the word “short” appears somewhere in the incident. Short takeoffs, short landings, short approaches, short layovers, short rests, short staffing….you get the picture. Here’s an example from a “short field takeoff and landing” incident:

Because of recent heavy rains our landing strip had a wet area in the middle of the strip. This necessitated short field landing and takeoff procedures. My approach was a few feet to the left. My left wingtip caught some cornfield plants causing my plane to turn to the left and skid to a stop.

This has made me think about how I operate and how the word “short” might play into my operation. And more importantly what steps I can take to minimize this. I’m all in favor of long layovers and long runways.

Enjoy the read and feel free to comment about you can take steps to minimize the word “short” in your flying.

Fly Safe (and long).

I love getting questions from readers and my favorite questions are the ones I don’t already know.  Such as the question I received lately from Jon regarding the max altitude on Tango routes:

Hi Paul. I’ve always wondered. On the Jacksonville sectional here in Florida we got a few T-Airways where the MAA is 15 000 feet. Now, the only reason I know of for a MAA restriction on an airway is because you can get several VORs on the same frequency etc, however, since this is a GPS airway, I don’t understand why an MAA would exist. Any ideas?

Well, this took a little digging but I found the answer! The first thing we need to do is understand why T-routes (pronounced “tango routes”) were established and how they help you.

Tango routes were established by the FAA at the request of AOPA in order to help pilots navigate around or through busy terminal areas.  RNAV (GPS) was utilized because using ground based NAVAIDS for these routes would have resulted in some seriously inefficient flying.  The FAA used RNAV to develop a point-to-point low altitude route system and designated this route structure, Tango Routes.  Tango routes enable the GPS equipped pilot to efficiently fly around or through busy terminal Class B and C areas.  They also help to reduce controller workload by being able to assign these routes to appropriately equipped pilots instead of having to provide manually intensive radar vectoring.  Here is an example of a t-route from an enroute chart (graphics courtsey of skyvector.com)

So now to answer our question, why do T-routes have a Maximum Authorized Altitude (MAA)? The reason is not because of radio reception or being able to get multiple frequencies but because of the airspace and the agency that controls the airspace above the route.

For instance, let’s take a look at our example from above.  In this case our MAA is 15,000 feet. Why?

Well, it might be for a couple reasons:

1) A T-route by definition in a low-altitude route.  It is designed to assist those pilots who are flying in some busy terminal areas who wish to stay out of the way.

2) The controlling agency above.  Because Tango routes are primarily terminal (in that they don’t involve the ARTCC centers) it might be that Jacksonville Center starts at 16,000 feet and in order to provide seperation to the airliner traffic above they limit the MAA on the T-route to 15,000.

3) The airspace above.  T-routes can also be designed to keep pilots out of a Class B airspace.  While that may not be the reason in our example, this can also be a limiting factor for the MAA on a T-route.

The important thing to remember is that to fly a t-route you will have to have an instrument rating, on a instrument flight plan and be IFR GPS equipped.   With all that control, all you really have to worry about is maintaining your assigned altitude.

One other thing to notice on a T-route is that because it is not dependent on receiveing traditional line-of-sight radio signals the MEA or Minimum Enroute Altitude is a lot lower.  The lower MEAs can be a significant benefit in route planning and avoidance of icing to keep you below the freezing level.

I hope this helps Jon and whether you are flying a V route, J route, Q route, Y route, or T route remember to…

Fly Safe!