ForeFlight Mobile 2.0 for the iPhone Review

Pilots that have an iPhone can now add a seriously powerful new application to their phone that gives them access to a wide variety of flight planning and preparation information.

ForeFlight Mobile 2.0 Preflight Intelligence is the handy pilots assistant that can take you from the start of your planning straight through to filing a flight plan.

Simply open the application and use the Airport Facilities Directory (A/FD) to find your desired destination. The team at Foreflight have made the information in those green Airport Facilities Directories available electronically, and not just for your particular region. They have data for over 220 countries including 25,000 landing facilities. You can review airport data such as frequencies, runway lengths and even view runway, taxiway diagrams and even access to sectional charts. The tool helps you plan a visit to the local fixed based operator, review local lodging options and has information for transportation providers. You can even view the airports location on a Google map to plan getting to or from an airport or to see an aerial view of nearby terrain.

If you are planning a flight you are surely going to be interested in some additional information that is but a tap away. The alerts tab shows NOTAMs for the airport you are looking at. If you are ready to review weather conditions tap the WX button to receive the current weather observation at the airport, which provides the METAR and even a translation for the METAR. From the weather page you can look at various weather data including current winds aloft information and a looped radar image. There is also an option to view forecasted weather data but if a TAF is not published for the airport you are looking at it will not return any data. I would love to see in an update a few TAF reports for airports within a 25-mile proximity of the airport being looked at.

From a higher level you can view national and regional radar images, Airmets, Sigmets and prognostic charts from the weather section of Foreflight.

If you are ready to fly and want to file a flightplan ForeFlight can even help you with that. This is the one part of the functionality that I have not yet used. According to the ForeFlight website you can file new flight plans "in under ten seconds and view your complete flight plan filing history." Flight plan submissions are through a CSC Duats account.

Although, this iphone app will not fully replace all the online resources I use for flight planning it is a valuable tool that will be extremelly handy while on-the-go or at the airport.

If you are an iPhone enabled pilot I highly recommend you check out ForeFlight Mobile 2.0 Preflight Intelligence. It is available through the iPhone App store for a one-time charge of $69.99.

The Wings of Freedom Tour Returns to Chicago

The 19th Annual Season of Wings of Freedom is underway and their magnificent bombers have arrived back in the Chicago area. The Collings Foundation has spent the last twenty years recovering and restoring historic aircraft. Four amazing airplanes will be on display at Chicago airports and also flying paying customers for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The Fleet that arrived in Chicago this week includes a B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator, B-25 Mitchell and a new addition this year a P-51 Mustang. Customers can book flight experiences by visiting the Collings Foundation website. Or come out to one of the local airports during the dates below to see the aircraft and hear the roar of their engines.

• Waukegan Regional Airport - July 16th to 18th
• Chicago Executive Airport - July 18th to 21st
• Porter County/Valparaiso - July 21 to July 23rd
• Chicago/Rockford Intl. - July 23rd to 25th
• W. Chicago/Dupage Airport - July 25th to 28th

The Collings Foundation invited me to fly in their B-17 Flying Fortress as it was flown from Valparaiso to Chicago Executive Airport last year. All, I can say is that flight was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. There are fewer and fewer of these amazing aircraft still in flying condition and it was a thrill just to hear its engine and awesome to experience the plane in flight. I was lucky to be accompanied on that flight by a former WWII B-17 Pilot which made the experience all that more amazing.

If you are in the Chicago area be sure to check out these amazing aircraft while they are in the area. If you are outside of Chicago look up their schedule on the Collings Foundation website.

Becoming an AOPA Project Pilot Mentor

A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail from a reader of this blog who is a fellow Chicagoan that was interested in my opinion of a few local flight schools. After going back and forth through e-mail we had one of those "It is a small world" moments when we realized a few years ago we had both been contributors to the same blog, Chicagoist.com. Peter mentioned that as of late he had really been suffering from the aviation bug. He finds himself looking to sky more and more often and is ready to learn to fly. With the pilot population in decline I wanted to be sure to do all I could do to help Peter achieve his goal of earning a pilots license.

This past week I signed up to be Peter's mentor in AOPA's Project Pilot Program. AOPA developed the program as part of their commitment to growing the pilot population. For me it is an opportunity to support his efforts and share in his experiences and I hope that I can provide him some valuable advice that I would have appreciated while learning to fly. Not to mention it is great having another person to talk to who loves aviation.

This weekend he joined me and two other members of the Chicago Aviation Meetup Group for a seminar on Takeoffs, Landings and Low Altitudes Maneuvering at the DuPage Airport. Although the seminar was bit disappointing it was a great excuse for some aviation enthusiasts to get together at an airport. The four of us, two pilots and two perspective pilots, stood at the flightline fence enjoying a conversation on aviation and even judging a few landings. While at the airport we stopped in to The Pilot Shop where Peter picked up a logbook which will come in handy in the coming weeks as he takes his first introductory flight.

Peter has setup a blog, Flying in Chicago, dedicated to his aviation adventures. I hope you will check it out.

A Private Pilots View

One of the things I love most about being a pilot is to be able to see the world from a unique perspective. We live in a world of beautiful sites. Yet, there are limits to what can be seen without the ability to get airborne. Whenever I fly commercially I love sitting in a window seat so I can check out amazing landscapes and look for sights that might otherwise be missed by those on the ground.

Since learning to fly I have enjoyed on several occasions discovering something from above that I would surely have missed or been unable to see from the ground. Things like corn mazes, shipwrecks and Civil War Munitions Factory.

While enjoying the Fourth of July holiday in Door County, WI; My wife and I decided to spend an afternoon flying. It was during this flight that we enjoyed checking out another beautiful view that we would have missed without the aid of the airplane. We overflew Moonlight Bay, from the ground it is just another beautiful bay along the Door County Peninsula. But, from above it was an amazing mixture of colors. The bay had a rust color close to shore that then melted into the deep blue of Lake Michigan. We circled the bay and snapped a few photos to share with the family. Cynthia and I have been by Moonlight Bay before while visiting nearby Cana Island Lighthouse. But, had no idea how drastically different it looked from the sky. You can view a wonderful ground level photo of Moonlight Bay on Flickr that shows how drastically different it looks from the ground.

This was just one of many highlights during the flight. When we arrived at Ephraim we thought we were the only airplane in the area as the radios had been silent and no one responded to any of my calls to the Ephraim CTAF. As we started to enter the pattern for the asphalt runway their I spotted a tail dragger taking off from the turf runway. Shortly after taking off he abruptly cut into the pattern for the asphalt runway and proceeded to land, completely oblivious to my presence, despite my frequent radio calls. I made a few more radio calls without a response from that plane. It was apparent they were not equipped with radios or simply were not using them. I decided to circle and setup for a new entry into the pattern to ensure there was plenty of separation between me and this plane. Just about then another airplane chimed in that they were inbound for landings at Ephraim and commented they would follow us in the pattern.

As I was about to turn on to final approach to land, I noticed that the radio-less plane decided not to clear the runway and wait at the end before back taxiing and started to slowly back-taxi on the active runway. So, I decided to perform a go-around. I gave the inbound airplane and update on the situation. From that point forward the two of use would share updates with each other about what this other plane was doing. After another ride around the pattern we landed at Ephraim.

There we were met by my older brother and two of his three kids. They were in the area and knowing we were planning to land there decided to stop in to watch. I enjoyed showing the kids the plane and letting them sit in the cockpit. While we were on the ground the airport traffic picked up and four or five planes arrived while we were enjoying our time on the tarmac. The pilot that had shared the pattern with me, the one that I had been in frequent communication with on the radios, stopped over and introduced himself and thanked me for the updates. It was nice meeting the pilot and putting a face to the voice on the radio.

On the flight back to Sturgeon Bay we had an aerial view of the 2008 Door County corn maze and also checked out a 1,000 foot ship leaving dock in Sturgeon Bay and heading out into Green Bay. All in all it was a fun afternoon of flying!

A Rain Shortened Rental Checkout Ride

I just returned from a relaxing extended weekend in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Through a combination of long weekends and if I am lucky a full week vacation I usually enjoy 10-20 days up in Northern Wisconsin. So each year I get checked out to rent a Cessna 172 from Orion Flight Service at the Sturgeon Bay Cherryland Airport.

I had an abbreviated rental checkout ride this weekend with Orion. When I arrived at the airport it was obvious that the weather would prevent the CFI and I from spending too much time in the plane. I reviewed my past flying experiences with him, during which he took note of the fact that I have been flying somewhat consistently as of late and had also recently passed a biennial flight review. I think the combination of the recent flight experiences and his comfort with my pre-flight and first trip around the pattern convinced him we could do a brief rental checkout ride in lieu of the inbound storms.

So we decided to simply conduct a few landings. I performed both short field and soft field takeoffs and landings in addition to performing a simulated power out landing. It was at that point that we decided it would be best to end the flight before the storm got any closer. As we made our last trip around the pattern the rain started and by the time we began tying down the airplane a full fledge downpour had started.

I wished the storm had not abbreviated the flight as I would have preferred to fly north to Ephraim to perform real soft landings on the turf runway rather than simulating them on the asphalt. I guess that leaves me something to do on my next trip up north. Speaking of flights up north, I am planning to book a plane at Chicago Executive well in advance late in the summer in hopes of a weekend with great weather so I can make my first VFR weekend trip up to Sturgeon Bay.

Fighting the Decline of The Pilot Population

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has recently focused on two important issues to pilots. One is the ongoing fight against user fees, the other is fighting the decline in the pilot population. The organization recently reached out to the current pilot base through a survey, looking for creative ideas to get more adults to experience the fun and challenge of Flying.

The goal is to attract more adults from the age of 35 to 65 to stop dreaming about flying and to start learning to fly. There are many ways people are achieving the goal of inspiring others to fly. There are those who volunteer their time to fly Young Eagle flights to introduce children to aviation. There is a also growing population of bloggers and podcasters that are writing about their love affair with aviation and inspiring their readers to learn to fly or to fly more often. Additionally, there are those who share their passion for aviation through film like the like One Six Right or two films in the works, A Pilot's Story and a yet to be named film from the Director of One Six Right.

In addition to publishing my blog I attempt to grow interest in aviation by managing the Chicago Aviation Meetup Group. It is a group of more than 50 aviation enthusiasts. We get together every few months for activities like touring a control tower, checking out a flight school's flightline, or flying to a local airport for lunch.

When I learned that AOPA was holding a Pilot Town Meeting in Chicago and that there was going to be two sessions one for current pilots and one for prospective pilots I knew it would make for a great Aviation Meetup Group event. We had several of our members make it to the event and most exciting was that we had three that had not yet taken their first flight. At that meeting they were given a free voucher for an introductory flight as a gift from AOPA.

Phil Boyer, President of AOPA, commented in his President's Perspective about the Chicago Aviation Groups participation at the town meeting saying groups like ours "take hangar flying to a whole new level". I hope other aviation enthusiast will create aviation enthusiast groups like the Chicago Aviation Meetup Group to help foster an interest in general aviation in their own neck of the woods.

Crosswind Landings: Just Do It

In preparing for my short cross-country flight last weekend I knew I would likely be encountering some strong crosswinds landing conditions. I was comfortable that the crosswinds would be within the planes demonstrated crosswind limitations and also within my personal comfort levels. Before flying though I decided to look around for some articles or videos about crosswind landings as a refresher.

The best advice I found came from Budd Davisson's website Airbum.com. In "Crosswind Landings: The Real Time Video Game" he makes an interesting point about crosswind landings stating "Crosswinds are also a subject that in my humble opinion, are a) intellecutalized to much, b) not instructed nearly enough, c) avoided entirely too much and d) intellectualized too much."

From what I have seen from my own experiences flying or hanging out at the airport or on aviation forums I think this point is spot on. I know many student pilots who don't seek out opportunities to practice crosswind landings enough. I was lucky that my CFI loved deviating from our current lesson plan if she spotted a windsock at an airport flying perpendicular to the runway. We would drop in and work on crosswind procedures before returning to the lesson at hand.

While in the height of training I got to the point where I did not need to intellectualize the crosswind landing process too much, I could simply fly it and instincts and experience guided me. Budd explains his strategy for crosswinds in simple terms "Don't think about them! Do them!". He equates flying crosswind landings to playing a video game "if the picture you see in the windshield isn't what you want it to be, do what ever is necessary to make it right. Don't over-think it. Do it! If the airplane is drifting to the left, as seen in the windshield, do the natural thing. Lean into the wind by dropping that wing. Then, since part of any landing in any airplane, tailwheel or otherwise, should be to keep the tail lined up behind the nose, as the nose tries to move off the centerline, you use what ever rudder is necessary to keep it there, which is usually (surprise, surprise) opposite to the aileron you're holding. Don't think about it. Do it."

During last weeks flight I had two crosswind landings. When entering the pattern I thought about this article and reminded myself to fly the plane like a video game and the result were two nice crosswind landings.

The $150 Eggs and Toast - A Visit to Kealy's Kafe

Over at ReportingPoints, the AOPAPilot Blog, Nate Ferguson recently wrote a post asking whether the $100 hamburger should be renamed the $200 hamburger due to the rising cost of aviation fuel. For non-pilots, the $100 hamburger is slang for a flight in which a pilot is looking for an excuse to fly so he or she takes a short flight to a neighboring airport for a bite to eat, the cost of the flight and the burger were said to be about $100. There is even a book dedicated to the best places to get the proverbial $100 hamburger.

Since I had the Cessna booked for a morning flight I opted to go in search of some breakfast. John Keating had written about a brunch destination, Kealy's Kafe, on FlyingChicago.com so I decided to check it out. The cafe is located in the terminal building at Janesville Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport. Janesville is just over 50NM miles away which means that the flight time could be logged as cross-country time that could be used towards the cross-country requirements for an instrument rating, something I would like to pursue in the future.

I was excited, but also a little apprehensive about the flight. When I checked in with the Flight Service Station to get the weather I learned that I would encounter gusting crosswinds at both Janesville and upon my return to Chicago Executive. Luckily both airports have multiple runways, allowing me to select the runways that would minimize the crosswind factor of the winds.

Enroute, I flew over Dacy Airport which offers two turf runways. Not far from Dacy Airport is Twin Garden Farms. They sell the best corn I have ever had, Mirai Corn. Each year in late Summer my parents drive out and pick up bushels of corn for the family. Seeing that it only took about 20 minutes to fly to Dacy, I might have to look into flying there this year and bring back some corn for the whole family.

After a turbulent-at-times flight, I arrived at Janesville. The flight took about 45 minutes from takeoff to engine shutdown. When I arrived there was only one other airplane parked outside the restaurant. I seemed to have arrived at the right time, for pilots in the area getting there by 10am is the way to go. After my arrival a flight of seven Van's Aircrafts came in together. Following them were three other planes that arrived for brunch. I ordered two eggs and toast which was served promptly and were quite good.

On the flight back I had a tailwind that allowed me to cut ten minutes off the return leg. The return flight went smoothly though I was a little worried to hear that Chicago Executive was reporting crosswinds and windgusts of 20kts and adding to that was a report of low level windshear. The main concern is that as you are preparing to land if there is a major change in wind direction you can immediately lose lift and therefore lose altitude rapidly. To counter the crosswinds and the concerns of windshear I opted to use only 20° (instead of 30°) and also flew a faster approach speed then normal. The plane bounced around a bunch on final but I was able to put the upwind wheel down first and then settle the plane safely on the runway.

In the end the $4.95 eggs came out to be closer to the $150 eggs when you factor in the cost of the plane and fuel. So, I agree with Nathan at AOPA that it might be time to increase the cost of the $100 Hamburger. I think $150 - $200 might be more accurate in our current economy.

Private Pilots License - A License to Learn

Every pilot has heard it at some point that a Private Pilot's License is just a license to learn. Although the statement is a bit of a cliché, it is a very valuable statement. Paul Craig's book "The Killing Zone: How and Why Pilots Die" speaks to how the hours of flying between earning a private pilots license and hitting the 500 hour mark are the most dangerous hours for a pilot. It turns out a pilot is often a safer pilot while actively working towards earning his or her license then he or she is in the next 400 - 500 hours of flying. I think that is because to many pilots are actively involved in training and learning before earning their license and many do not continue to stay proficient in their knowledge and continue to learn about flying after earning their Pilots license.

I continually enjoy going back to my Sporty's Private Pilot Flight Training DVD Course for refresher training. I also enjoy reading aviation blogs and listening to aviation podcasts like The Finer Points to keep aviation topics and best practices top of mind.

I have found that learn best when I have a combination of clear explanations and also great visual references. My interest in seeing something visualized drew me to Rod Machado's Private Pilot Handbook that boasts over 1,200 illustrations and photos that help visualize aviation concepts.

I recently enjoyed coming across a website that uses flash animations to animate aviation concepts, FirstFlight.com. The site is managed by Trevor Saxty, a Gold Seal Flight Instructor with single, multi-engine and instrument ratings. The site is sure to point out that "the online lessons are not a substitute for study of the Pilots Operating Handbook/Airplane Flight Manual for the airplane you intend to fly."

The lessons available on the site, which range from how to perform a pre-flight of an airplane to flying a cross-country flight using radio navigation, are a great complimentary resource for aviation education. What makes the site unique to the many websites and books focusing on aviation education are the animations that help visualize some of the aviation concepts. For $49.99 a pilot can access the site for six months and have unlimited access to the content during that time frame. Interested in checking out the site? Trevor allows free access to Flight #7 Advanced Takeoff and Landing Techniques. Click on the image below to visit Flight Seven and check out some of the animations.

Confidence Sky-High After Successful Cross-Country Flight

Pilot and author Rod Machado published a great article, "Keeping your head in the game" in the May issue of AOPAPilot. In it he writes, "Currency is what the regulations require to remain legal to fly; proficiency is what pilots require to remain confident." I read the article a week or two ago and it really resonated with me. In the article he explains that pilots can take a year or more away from flying and not see a large degradation of their core piloting skills. The biggest loss is to their confidence. He states that if a pilot has not flown enough to be confident they start asking themselves questions like "Will I be able to keep up with the ATC? Can I handle any crosswinds during landing? What if I have an emergency?"

I think this is exactly where I found myself going into 2008. I had not flown in several months; throughout most of the winter. Although I felt like my flying skills were still well intact, I saw my confidence diminish. So I set out a plan for myself to take several flights this spring with a CFI to bring back currency, proficiency and most importantly, confidence. The goal was to work towards a biennial flight review. I completed the biennial flight review just a few weeks ago and was thrilled to feel after that flight like my confidence was as high as it was when I was flying three days a week when I was earning my license.

The only aspect of flight I still had a little apprehension around was flying a cross-country from Chicago Executive that would require me to fly around the busy airspace of Chicago. It had been a long while since I had planned a cross-county flight, filed a flight plan and flown a cross-country flight. So I scheduled one more flight with my CFI. I decided to fly from Chicago Executive south of the busy Chicago airspace to Champaign's University of Illinois-Willard Airport.

After departing Chicago Executive Airport I called up the Flight Service Station to open my flightplan then switched over to Chicago Approach and requested and received VFR Flight Following. Whenever I fly along the lakeshore I find it very valuable to use the flight following services if they have capacity to support it, which provides just another level of safety in avoiding air traffic.

After flying by a beautiful view of the Chicago skyline I headed towards Lansing airport before turning southwest and heading away from Chicago. About fifteen minutes after passing Lansing I had the skies to myself. I don't think I saw another plane until I was within 20 miles of our destination. The arrival into Champaign was uneventful, I was proud that after pulling off the taxiway and logging my arrival time that I flew the flight within five minutes of my calculations for my flightplan.

My CFI graduated from the University of Illinois just last year. He was kind enough to give me a brief tour while we were there. We borrowed a courtesy car from the FBO and journeyed into town. We enjoyed a $100 hamburger at Murphy's in the heart of the U of I campus. After lunch, on the way back to the airport, I called up the Flight Service Station to get an updated weather report so I could finalize the return flight navigation log. Champaign's main runway, 14L/32R, is a massive runway that is over 8,100 feet in length. With little traffic at the airport the tower was kind enough to save us time burning expensive fuel taxing to the end of the runway. Instead I turned the plane onto the runway at the midway point and still had 4,000 feet of runway ahead of me.

The flight back was uneventful right up until we arrived back at Chicago Executive. As we approached the airport I found where all the airplanes in Illinois were hiding. The controller was masterfully directing at least six or seven planes that were within a few miles of the airport and also managing the five airplanes waiting to depart. I had to slow my downwind leg then fly a 360 degree turn to allow for additional spacing between planes before landing.

Since moving to Chicago a few years back I am at the height of my flying confidence, proficiency and currency. I am looking forward to flying some fun cross-country flights this summer and building up my cross-country time and possibly pursuing an instrument rating in the near future.