The instrument ground school will soon come to an end, so I thought it might be time to start flight training. I had a lesson in the Redbird FMX full motion simulator which will be the training device for my first ten hours in instrument meteorological conditions. We called it an introductory flight but there…
Tag: aviation
PIREPs for Europe
PIREP Pro could improve your weather briefing. Download this app on your phone and you will be able to issue PIREPs simply by a few clicks. In America pilot reports are an important source for general aviation pilots for studying the actual weather – because it might not behave as forecast. Here in Europe you…
What’s that burning smell?
My father and I were returning from an interesting day of flying. We flew into small grass strips with mountainous obstacle approaches. We had a lot of fun until, on downwind to our homebase, my father asked: “What’s that burning smell? Is it from the outside or inside?” In this instant I realized there was…
Schmerlat Fly-in
Just returned from a great ‘airfield-gardenparty’ in the north of Switzerland. 🙂 Normally the sailplane field of Schaffhausen is closed to visitors. This weekend they have organised a small airshow and every arriving oldtimer received 20 litres of aviation gasoline as a welcome gift! My dad, my girlfriend and I spent the day having pic-nic…
Skynews.ch Magazine 09/2013
News! Read the latest story of myclimbrate.com in the september edition of SkyNews.ch (aviation magazine). They even have an app for your iPad – click here. The article is about the fly-out to Greece I talked about last time. I apologize for not blogging the last weeks. I am a student now and do not…
Oldtimer Fly-Out Greece
Back from 11 days of flying: From Switzerland to Greece. The journey is 20.4 hours in my logbook and I have many stories to tell. Coming soon…. 😉 Approach to Losinj Croatia
163.8h – Aviation Sunday
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…
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…
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 $100 fondue. The alps holding back the…
A Wind Called Joran
“At times Joran south of Jura Mountains”, do you know what this means? I did not and that’s why I made a note on my weather briefing to find out after the flight. On descent into the aerodrome of Neuchâtel nature answered my question – by simply turning my stomach upside down. Flight Planning For…
Flying Like a Skylark
A letter from the Swiss aviation administration stated that I, a young pilot with 110h total time and 444 landings, indeed am a pilot. I told them before but they would not listen. What they were looking for were four solo circuits – done in Switzerland – and a bill in excess of 200$. 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…
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…
50hrs Floatplane Course Completed! =)
Wow, I flew 50 hours on floats. I am so happy my smile goes all around my head! I spent more time on floats than on wheels. My total time is 102.2 hours and in 150 hours I’m gonna have my first job! Yay! The only problem is now my lack of money. On my…
46.5h – You Can’t Beat Circuits *video
Tons of landings again. 3.5 hours nonstop up and down. During the last four flights I did more than one hundred landings. That’s totally crazy. My landings became pretty good now but I still didn’t like most of them. Tom’s trick is to fly a perfect arc until you are on the water. In order…
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