This was no lazy sunday! 🙂 After an incredible Muse concert on saturday…my father had the brilliant idea to go flying! We flew to a small grass field, called Sitterdorf (LSZV). It had a short runway of just 1570 feet and both threshold were to be overflown at 60 feet. I looked up the take…
Author: Florian R.
Blogging since my first flight lesson and planning to become a commercial pilot on smaller aircraft - read on to see what I fly today. :)
156.7h – Alps Crossing
The Franklin engine roared to live and accompanied us with its distinctive galloping sound, while taxiing to runway two five. I gave the girls a quick passenger briefing and took off into the blue skies. Crossing the alps will always amaze me. 🙂 The first time without my dad – but with a superb crew…
152.3h – Conversion FAA-EASA Complete
I have passed the practical test – the final piece to complete my conversion! =) =) =) My grin will not disappear for the next days. I am so happy now… All the hassle is over. I finally hold two stand-alone pilot certificates. Winter went on into the first week of April. We had low…
Class Delta Confusion
Does air traffic control ensure separation between IFR and VFR traffic in class delta? The answer is no. Curiously enough 75% of private pilots and 70% of airline transport pilots believe it is not their responsibility. A survey revealed these shocking numbers. An airprox involving a Saab 2000 and a military PC-7 occured on september…
NDB 531 kHz
Yesterday my car had a flat battery. My girlfriend’s dad helped to get it running again. Later, on the way to work, I found out the cooler fan and radio didn’t work anymore. Oh I love this Ford Fiesta…. after work the radio came back to life (who needs a cooler fan, anyway?) and for…
50nm Cross-Country
One of the easy-to-accomplish tasks toward my commercial pilot licence is the cross-country flight time as pilot in command. I need 50hrs and I think I almost got it. Since I work toward a licence the flights have to cover at least 50 nautical miles in a straight line. Funny thing though – Switzerland is…
Blue Skies
During the grey fall days it is hard to believe that there’s blue skies – anywhere above. One lucky Saturday the clouds opened up a bit to let us catch a bit of sunlight. Knowing there weren’t any clouds in the alps, we headed toward them for a $100 fondue. The alps holding back the…
A Never Attempted Flight
Private Pilot Checkflights are very thoroughly planned by the students. A day before mine my examiner told me to plan a flight from Seattle over the mountains to Wenatchee. I spent a half day on this flight plan. I would follow a river and a highway towards the east. Passing Skykomish Airfield I would find…
A Wind Called Joran
“At times Joran south of Jura Mountains”, do you know what this means? I did not and that’s why I made a note on my weather briefing to find out after the flight. On descent into the aerodrome of Neuchâtel nature answered my question – by simply turning my stomach upside down. Flight Planning For…
Flying Like a Skylark
A letter from the Swiss aviation administration stated that I, a young pilot with 110h total time and 444 landings, indeed am a pilot. I told them before but they would not listen. What they were looking for were four solo circuits – done in Switzerland – and a bill in excess of 200$. The…
Let’s Go Flying
Yesterday my girlfriend asked if we would go to the airport’s restaurant on the weekend. I wasn’t sure if I heard right but I agreed without asking why. Anyhow, I really need to give her a bouquet of lilies for this one. 🙂 My father called today and told me that the airplane’s wings needed…
Short Runway at the Lake
Neither have I, nevertheless the airport at Lake Zurich felt as if it was one. After a nice and stable approach over the water – which reminded me of flying floats at 500′ and below – I touched down pretty much on the numbers and I didn’t even need to apply braking on the short…
111.2h – Validation Complete
You come home from flying with a big grin on your face. You take off your shoes and – damn, what’s that smell?! – you probably had your first solo. In my case, I completed the validation process from FAA to EASA by a first solo in EASA-land. Yay! Party time! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfOdWSiyWoc Three landings were…
108.3h – No Pain No Gain
If a passenger would glance at my logbook she or he would never fly with me. I just filled another page and there is only one flight where I did not have an emergency. Although it was all simulated – I had no normal flights. I am longing for the day when I take off…
EASA Changes are in the air
Every pilot is part of the voice of General Aviation. The least I can do today is to re-blog a very good read from AOPA UK; click the link for the original article. There is also a commentary about this issue written by the president of Europe Air Sports (EAS). AOPA reports EASA Changes are…
Swiss Mountain Flying
At the mountainous airport of Saanen you find all kind of people. There is the Glacier pilot with his Maule, working on his engine in the hangar. There is the unknown blonde celebrity on the co-pilot’s seat of a PC-12, desperately waiting for her limousine. And there is the family with their Cessna that borrows…
Lausanne for my Girlfriend
I have been talking about flying for months. My girlfriend, Selina, never flew with me until last weekend. Finally she can’t question anymore if I were a pilot at all! Check out this picture my mom took on the flight home. I believe this flight was a full success. =) In the early Saturday morning…
Precision Flying – First Try
Take a stopwatch and a map then fly a given route as precise as you can. My father and I tried our best at a training event of the Precision Flying Association. This day taught me a lot. The first lesson was learned before even taking of. In the morning there was freezing fog at…
Feel the Freedom
The song in this video ran today on my last.fm radio. It reminded me of this video a former student of Island Coastal recorded – by the way Rosh, if you read this, thanks so much! I remember memories of the float training crystal clear when I hear that song. I feel as back on…
High Final 25
This picture is here to attract people and because Pilatus Porters on high final look badass. Heading straight down to earth and put down right on the numbers. But can you do that in a Piper Tomahawk? That’s the link to this article. Let’s find out. On thursday I had two flight lessons. (Two flight…
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