Que tal como estan?
Some weeks ago I found a British Airways Captain Blog, who flies Boeing 777s all over the globe.
"The Flying Scotsman" is his Blog title. I found it thanks to Captain Doug Morris' Blog "From the Flight Deck". It is very cool to see how blogs are connected. It creates a net of aviation blogs I always like to read. They give me the motivation I need to continue my career and of course, I learn tons of new things.
Now studying in Hamburg for a german certificate (just one semestre to go), I am, have been, and will be totally concetrated on reaching my goal: To be an Airline Pilot.
I have a PPL and now I'm going to ground school for the PPL-(C), for gliders. Some of my friends have finished CPL training (with IR and MeR), but my goal is to fly for Lufthansa. It's a big goal for a guy born in Guadalajara, Mexico and it requires time and patience. If not training for a license or rating, I study everything aviation-related on the internet, books, etc. Nothing stops me from learning more and more to achieve that goal...
Friday, December 11, 2009
The Standard Instrument Departure
Hi, this post will be about Standard Instrument Departures (SID) or also known as Departure Procedures (DP). It has been a long time since I wrote about charts, so here it is:
Hamburg Runway 23 Departures (German AIP format):
The Jeppesen format is the simplest one, but I want to post different kinds of formats.
On the upper part of the chart, the transition altitude, variation and the airport frequencies are published. The transition altitude is 5000ft. That's standard for Germany. The variation is 1° East. More about transition altitude and variation later.
As we can see, the chart shows a top view of Hamburg and it's departure procedures. It may seem confusing at first, but it's very easy to understand and interpret a SID chart. The lines point to different Fixes or Navigation Aids. Those Fixes or Nav-Aids are the points where we finish the departure procedure and continue flying on an Airway. The departure names are designed with the Navigation or Fix of the departure followed by a number and a letter. For example IDEKO2B: IDEKO is the departure fix and 2B is the number and letter that indicates this departure is from runway 23 at Hamburg. Every runway (and some airports) has the same departure fixes and that's why they assign a number and letter.
We can see some Restricted Airspaces between the fixes IDEKO and ULSEN. Maybe there are some military bases over there or something important. ED-R 31 extends from Ground Level to 14500ft Mean Sea Level.
Our Minimum Safe Altitude (MSA) is 2100 feet, on a radius 25 NM from the HAM VOR. This chart is on a scale of 1:1 000 000, meaning that 1cm in this chart equals to 1000000cm (or 10km) in reality.
So how do we fly a departure?
When making the flight planning and routing, the departure fix or nav-aid is selected. In this example I will choose the BASUM9B (Basum Nine Bravo). Remember that this chart only shows departure procedures from runway 23.
As we take off, we must fly direct to the FU NDB (350.5), or 5.5 DME from ALF (115.80), on the track of 229° to intercept the 235° Radial from HAM VOR (113.10). As we reach 38.0 DME from HAM VOR, we make a left turn to intercept the 208° Radial from LBE VOR (115.10) and fly to BASUM. BASUM is 60 DME from LBE VOR. Our Minimum Altitude on this departure is 4000ft and you can see the 4000 written parallel to the lines.
There are two pages for each departure on the German AIP. This is the second page of this runway departures:
It explains the route to follow of the departures. Shows instructions such as climb to 5000ft and contact Bremen Radar. It also shows remarks for the different departures.
Well, I think I've told everything there had to be explained. I hope you didn't get bored reading this.
Goooood bye.
Hamburg Runway 23 Departures (German AIP format):
The Jeppesen format is the simplest one, but I want to post different kinds of formats.On the upper part of the chart, the transition altitude, variation and the airport frequencies are published. The transition altitude is 5000ft. That's standard for Germany. The variation is 1° East. More about transition altitude and variation later.
As we can see, the chart shows a top view of Hamburg and it's departure procedures. It may seem confusing at first, but it's very easy to understand and interpret a SID chart. The lines point to different Fixes or Navigation Aids. Those Fixes or Nav-Aids are the points where we finish the departure procedure and continue flying on an Airway. The departure names are designed with the Navigation or Fix of the departure followed by a number and a letter. For example IDEKO2B: IDEKO is the departure fix and 2B is the number and letter that indicates this departure is from runway 23 at Hamburg. Every runway (and some airports) has the same departure fixes and that's why they assign a number and letter.
We can see some Restricted Airspaces between the fixes IDEKO and ULSEN. Maybe there are some military bases over there or something important. ED-R 31 extends from Ground Level to 14500ft Mean Sea Level.
Our Minimum Safe Altitude (MSA) is 2100 feet, on a radius 25 NM from the HAM VOR. This chart is on a scale of 1:1 000 000, meaning that 1cm in this chart equals to 1000000cm (or 10km) in reality.
So how do we fly a departure?
When making the flight planning and routing, the departure fix or nav-aid is selected. In this example I will choose the BASUM9B (Basum Nine Bravo). Remember that this chart only shows departure procedures from runway 23.
As we take off, we must fly direct to the FU NDB (350.5), or 5.5 DME from ALF (115.80), on the track of 229° to intercept the 235° Radial from HAM VOR (113.10). As we reach 38.0 DME from HAM VOR, we make a left turn to intercept the 208° Radial from LBE VOR (115.10) and fly to BASUM. BASUM is 60 DME from LBE VOR. Our Minimum Altitude on this departure is 4000ft and you can see the 4000 written parallel to the lines.
There are two pages for each departure on the German AIP. This is the second page of this runway departures:
It explains the route to follow of the departures. Shows instructions such as climb to 5000ft and contact Bremen Radar. It also shows remarks for the different departures.Well, I think I've told everything there had to be explained. I hope you didn't get bored reading this.
Goooood bye.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Jumpseat en CRJ-200
Moin! I'll write this post in spanish. It's about my first jumpseat flight on an airliner and it happened someday in April 2008...
Foto por Victor Garciamontes, Airliners.net
Todo empezó cuando un Capitán de Alma le dijo a mi tío que lo invitaba a volar en cabina a Puerto Vallarta y de regreso. Mi tío le comentó que no podía, porque tenía mucho trabajo y entonces le dijo si invitaba a un "sobrino", osea yo, a volar y respondió que sí. Le habló a mi papá y me dijo justo cuando me levanté.
Emocionado me bañé rápido y me puse el uniforme. Fuimos al aeropuerto a la Terminal 2 en Guadalajara y nos encontramos con el Capitán. Lo saludamos y me despedí de mi papá.
Subimos al segundo piso de la T2 a la sala de los briefings (donde se comentan los planes del vuelo y se coordina con la tripulación. Esperaramos a que llegara el avión de otro vuelo y estuvimos platicando con otros capitanes y sobrecargos.
Ahí conocí al Primer Oficial y la Sobrecargo del vuelo, muy buena onda los por cierto. A la 1:00pm caminamos hacia el poderoso CRJ-200 y ví lo de costumbre en plataforma: ERJ-145s de Aeromexico Connect y CRJs de Alma. Abordamos el avión y mientras el PO (Primer Oficial) hacia el chequeo exterior, el capitán ya estaba sentado haciendo la preparación de cabina. Yo estaba admirando el CRJ por dentro porque nunca me había subido a uno. Caminé hasta atrás y me senté en un asiento. No estan tan mal y el espacio es suficiente para un vuelo corto.
Cuando entré a la cabina me dice el Capitán que me siente del lado del PO y me explicó unas cosas referentes al CRJ. Me dijo que subiera la intensidad de los displays y que programe el FMC (Flight Management Computer). Programé la ruta y el performance. Sí no hubiera sido por el CRJ de Wilco-feelthere (para el Flight Simulator 2004), no hubiera podido programar nada.
Cuando regresó el Primer Oficial y saqué el jumpseat. El jumpseat se saca del lado derecho (en dirección hacia la cabina de pasajeros)), lo desaseguras con un botón y lo mueves hacia la izquierda. El asiento es como los del cine que se baja y si no te sientas se regresa solo. Para asegurarlo introduces un tubo en un seguro rojo grande hasta que suene "click".
Me senté, y el PO copió la autorización con la ruta GDL-V14N-PVR a 16000 pies de altitud. Como despegamos de la pista 10 (en dirección contraria a Puerto Vallarta), con el viraje hacia TUITO (un fijo imaginario de navegación en la aerovía hacia PVR) ascendemos a buena altitud. Eso nos permitió ascender a 18000 pies. Me dijeron si despegan de la pista 10 también pueden ascender a 20,000 pies, volando por la UJ14N (una aerovía).
Yo listo con el cinturón asegurado, procedimos con los chequeos previos de vuelo. Los Checklists se leen rápido y se hacen para asegurar que todo esté listo en la cabina (switches, configuración del avión, etc) Iniciamos el pushback y encendido de motores. APU: on, APU Bleeds: on, PACKs: off, etc. Se presiona Start para que comience el encendido de un motor y se deja de presionar cuando el motor neumático de ignición de marcha a la turbina. Como al 30% de N2 (Compresor de alta presión o turbina), "Fuel: on" (se desasegura el throttle para ponerlo de Fuel Shutoff a ON) y hay ignición. Mismo procedimiento para el segundo motor y se hace el chequeo después del arranque. Rodamos via Golf y Alfa a la pista 10.
Se completan los chequeos ántes del despegue y ántes de nosotros, despegó un Cessna 152 de la escuela de vuelo Provuelo. El controlador nos dió instrucción de entrar a posición y mantener en la pista.
Nos autorizaron para despegar y cuando estuvimos listos, aceleraron al porcentaje de N1 (Compresor de baja presión, o Fan) indicado por el FMS y sentimos la aceleración creada por los dos General Electric CF34-3B1 con un empuje de 8,729 libras (38,83 kN) cada uno.
100 nudos en el indicador de velocidad, V1 (velocidad de decisión), Vr (velocidad de rotación), en el aire, V2 (velocidad mínima para un ascenso con un motor). En la carrera de despegue el avión se mueve mucho por la superficie de la pista, pero ya en vuelo el movimiento desaparece. Va uno flotando... casi mágico.
Ascenso positivo: tren de aterrizaje arriba y seguimos la salida por instrumentos GDL1A (Guadalajara uno alfa). Piloto Automático engarzado y el Capitán, siendo el PNF (Pilot Not Flying o Piloto Monitoreando), solicitó un viraje por la izquierda a la aerovía. En el ascenso por la izquierda pude ver el aeropuerto. Volamos directo al fijo TUITO y como despegamos por la pista 10, ascendimos a 18,000 pies. En el ascenso el PO programó la llegada VOR-DME 3 a la pista 22 de PVR en el FMC. Hubo una ligera turbulencia, pero divertida, en nuestro pequeño tiempo de crucero.
En el T/D (Top of Descent) comenzamos el descenso y nos autorizaron a la aproximación final del VOR-DME 3 pista 22. Yo quería que hicieran la aproximación completa con el arco, pero si se puede ahorrar tiempo, mejor. En el descenso y aproximación yo leí el checklist al final de cada checklist siempre se debe de decir: "x checklist complete". Reducciones de velocidad, flaps 8 (en grados), flaps 20 y aproximadamente a 10 millas en final: tren de aterrizaje abajo, flaps 30 y full flaps. Se mantiene una velocidad de referencia y el CRJ es característico por mantener un ángulo debajo del horizonte en la aproximación (ver foto). El aterrizaje estuvo excelente. Efectuado por el Primer Oficial, utilizando solo una reversa porque la del motor izquierdo estaba inoperable.
Rodamos a plataforma y no me acuerdo que posición nos asignaron, pero como había cambiado PVR!! Le construyeron una terminal satelital hay más posiciones. Ahora se ve mas congestionado. Muchos aviones y de diversas aerolíneas y cuando bajaron los pasajeros me salí con el PO a hacer el After Flight y Before Flight Exterior Check al mismo tiempo. Solo sentí el calor y humedad por 20 minutos en Puerto Vallarta, pero no estuvo tan mala esa pequeña visita.
Después abordamos otra vez y me senté en el Jumpseat. Mientras abordaban los pasajeros, hacíamos los checks y esta vez el PF era el Capitán. Pushback y startup. After Startup Checklist y rodamos a la pista 22. Before Takeoff Checklist.
Despegamos y ese mismo feel mágico ya estando en el aire. La salida PVR1B (Vallarta 1 Bravo), pero el Capitán solicitó otra vez por la izquierda directo a la aerovía. Ascendimos a 17000ft o 15000ft no me acuerdo y pasando el volcán de Tequila, ya cerca del bosque de la Primavera, empezamos el descenso. Nos autorizaron a interceptar el Localizador (señal horizontal del ILS= Instrument Landing System) de la pista 10.
Derecho a la pista 10 ya desde la Primavera. Reducciones de velocidad, Flaps, Glideslope vivo y tren de aterrizaje abajo. Before Landing Checklist.
Aterrizamos muy bien otra vez, usando una reversa. Desalojamos por la pista 02, After Landing Checklist y rodamos a la posición via Golf. Se bajaron los pasajeros, metí y aseguré el Jumpseat y salió el Capitán a hacer el chequeo exterior. Me despedí del PO y de la Sobrecargo y tomé pocas fotos con mi celular, el cual ya no lo uso. Después me bajé del gran CRJ-200 y le dí mis gracias al Capitán despidiendome.
Fue una experiencia de nivel. Estuvo muy padre! Todavía me puedo acordar de muchas cosas. Espero que les haya gustado!
Nos vemos, Daniel.
Foto por Victor Garciamontes, Airliners.netTodo empezó cuando un Capitán de Alma le dijo a mi tío que lo invitaba a volar en cabina a Puerto Vallarta y de regreso. Mi tío le comentó que no podía, porque tenía mucho trabajo y entonces le dijo si invitaba a un "sobrino", osea yo, a volar y respondió que sí. Le habló a mi papá y me dijo justo cuando me levanté.
Emocionado me bañé rápido y me puse el uniforme. Fuimos al aeropuerto a la Terminal 2 en Guadalajara y nos encontramos con el Capitán. Lo saludamos y me despedí de mi papá.
Subimos al segundo piso de la T2 a la sala de los briefings (donde se comentan los planes del vuelo y se coordina con la tripulación. Esperaramos a que llegara el avión de otro vuelo y estuvimos platicando con otros capitanes y sobrecargos.
Ahí conocí al Primer Oficial y la Sobrecargo del vuelo, muy buena onda los por cierto. A la 1:00pm caminamos hacia el poderoso CRJ-200 y ví lo de costumbre en plataforma: ERJ-145s de Aeromexico Connect y CRJs de Alma. Abordamos el avión y mientras el PO (Primer Oficial) hacia el chequeo exterior, el capitán ya estaba sentado haciendo la preparación de cabina. Yo estaba admirando el CRJ por dentro porque nunca me había subido a uno. Caminé hasta atrás y me senté en un asiento. No estan tan mal y el espacio es suficiente para un vuelo corto.
Cuando entré a la cabina me dice el Capitán que me siente del lado del PO y me explicó unas cosas referentes al CRJ. Me dijo que subiera la intensidad de los displays y que programe el FMC (Flight Management Computer). Programé la ruta y el performance. Sí no hubiera sido por el CRJ de Wilco-feelthere (para el Flight Simulator 2004), no hubiera podido programar nada.
Cuando regresó el Primer Oficial y saqué el jumpseat. El jumpseat se saca del lado derecho (en dirección hacia la cabina de pasajeros)), lo desaseguras con un botón y lo mueves hacia la izquierda. El asiento es como los del cine que se baja y si no te sientas se regresa solo. Para asegurarlo introduces un tubo en un seguro rojo grande hasta que suene "click".
Me senté, y el PO copió la autorización con la ruta GDL-V14N-PVR a 16000 pies de altitud. Como despegamos de la pista 10 (en dirección contraria a Puerto Vallarta), con el viraje hacia TUITO (un fijo imaginario de navegación en la aerovía hacia PVR) ascendemos a buena altitud. Eso nos permitió ascender a 18000 pies. Me dijeron si despegan de la pista 10 también pueden ascender a 20,000 pies, volando por la UJ14N (una aerovía).
Yo listo con el cinturón asegurado, procedimos con los chequeos previos de vuelo. Los Checklists se leen rápido y se hacen para asegurar que todo esté listo en la cabina (switches, configuración del avión, etc) Iniciamos el pushback y encendido de motores. APU: on, APU Bleeds: on, PACKs: off, etc. Se presiona Start para que comience el encendido de un motor y se deja de presionar cuando el motor neumático de ignición de marcha a la turbina. Como al 30% de N2 (Compresor de alta presión o turbina), "Fuel: on" (se desasegura el throttle para ponerlo de Fuel Shutoff a ON) y hay ignición. Mismo procedimiento para el segundo motor y se hace el chequeo después del arranque. Rodamos via Golf y Alfa a la pista 10.
Se completan los chequeos ántes del despegue y ántes de nosotros, despegó un Cessna 152 de la escuela de vuelo Provuelo. El controlador nos dió instrucción de entrar a posición y mantener en la pista.
Nos autorizaron para despegar y cuando estuvimos listos, aceleraron al porcentaje de N1 (Compresor de baja presión, o Fan) indicado por el FMS y sentimos la aceleración creada por los dos General Electric CF34-3B1 con un empuje de 8,729 libras (38,83 kN) cada uno.
100 nudos en el indicador de velocidad, V1 (velocidad de decisión), Vr (velocidad de rotación), en el aire, V2 (velocidad mínima para un ascenso con un motor). En la carrera de despegue el avión se mueve mucho por la superficie de la pista, pero ya en vuelo el movimiento desaparece. Va uno flotando... casi mágico.
Ascenso positivo: tren de aterrizaje arriba y seguimos la salida por instrumentos GDL1A (Guadalajara uno alfa). Piloto Automático engarzado y el Capitán, siendo el PNF (Pilot Not Flying o Piloto Monitoreando), solicitó un viraje por la izquierda a la aerovía. En el ascenso por la izquierda pude ver el aeropuerto. Volamos directo al fijo TUITO y como despegamos por la pista 10, ascendimos a 18,000 pies. En el ascenso el PO programó la llegada VOR-DME 3 a la pista 22 de PVR en el FMC. Hubo una ligera turbulencia, pero divertida, en nuestro pequeño tiempo de crucero.
En el T/D (Top of Descent) comenzamos el descenso y nos autorizaron a la aproximación final del VOR-DME 3 pista 22. Yo quería que hicieran la aproximación completa con el arco, pero si se puede ahorrar tiempo, mejor. En el descenso y aproximación yo leí el checklist al final de cada checklist siempre se debe de decir: "x checklist complete". Reducciones de velocidad, flaps 8 (en grados), flaps 20 y aproximadamente a 10 millas en final: tren de aterrizaje abajo, flaps 30 y full flaps. Se mantiene una velocidad de referencia y el CRJ es característico por mantener un ángulo debajo del horizonte en la aproximación (ver foto). El aterrizaje estuvo excelente. Efectuado por el Primer Oficial, utilizando solo una reversa porque la del motor izquierdo estaba inoperable.
Rodamos a plataforma y no me acuerdo que posición nos asignaron, pero como había cambiado PVR!! Le construyeron una terminal satelital hay más posiciones. Ahora se ve mas congestionado. Muchos aviones y de diversas aerolíneas y cuando bajaron los pasajeros me salí con el PO a hacer el After Flight y Before Flight Exterior Check al mismo tiempo. Solo sentí el calor y humedad por 20 minutos en Puerto Vallarta, pero no estuvo tan mala esa pequeña visita.
Después abordamos otra vez y me senté en el Jumpseat. Mientras abordaban los pasajeros, hacíamos los checks y esta vez el PF era el Capitán. Pushback y startup. After Startup Checklist y rodamos a la pista 22. Before Takeoff Checklist.
Despegamos y ese mismo feel mágico ya estando en el aire. La salida PVR1B (Vallarta 1 Bravo), pero el Capitán solicitó otra vez por la izquierda directo a la aerovía. Ascendimos a 17000ft o 15000ft no me acuerdo y pasando el volcán de Tequila, ya cerca del bosque de la Primavera, empezamos el descenso. Nos autorizaron a interceptar el Localizador (señal horizontal del ILS= Instrument Landing System) de la pista 10.
Derecho a la pista 10 ya desde la Primavera. Reducciones de velocidad, Flaps, Glideslope vivo y tren de aterrizaje abajo. Before Landing Checklist.
Aterrizamos muy bien otra vez, usando una reversa. Desalojamos por la pista 02, After Landing Checklist y rodamos a la posición via Golf. Se bajaron los pasajeros, metí y aseguré el Jumpseat y salió el Capitán a hacer el chequeo exterior. Me despedí del PO y de la Sobrecargo y tomé pocas fotos con mi celular, el cual ya no lo uso. Después me bajé del gran CRJ-200 y le dí mis gracias al Capitán despidiendome.
Fue una experiencia de nivel. Estuvo muy padre! Todavía me puedo acordar de muchas cosas. Espero que les haya gustado!
Nos vemos, Daniel.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
München
Not posting much as you can see. Five weeks ago I planned a trip to München and booked a Lufthansa flight which was cheap. I then googled hostels in München and booked four nights in one. They are called Jugendherberge and there are thousands over Europe. I planned travelling on Thursday 15th of October, but the flights got expensiver and I booked for Friday 16th of October to the 20th. Done.
Then, a school-mate flew from Guadalajara to Hamburg yesterday and I picked him up at the airport. I waited for him to arrive and I thought he lost his connection and was flying on the next flight to Hamburg. I thought right and it appeared his luggage didn't arrive with him and we reported it to Lufthansa. As we finished reporting it, he saw his luggage on the bands. The Lufthansa guy gave us the thumbs up and we walked to the S-Bahn and got home.
The day after, today, I got up at 5 o'clock and got to the airport. As I tried to check in with the automatic machines, they went out of order. I just laughed and the guy behind me said “What did you do?” Nothing of course.
The time for boarding was near and the system wasn’t online. When it was back, I successfully checked-in and got my boarding pass, but then I had to document my bag and there was a long queue to do it. When I was in the middle of the queue, my flight was already boarding. A lady was asking for passengers that departed at 7:30 and I was one of them. She told me to wait at the beginning of the queue and then the lady of the counter told me that I couldn't make it to my original flight, but she would change me to the next flight departing to München. I was happy and put me on the 11A seat (emergency exit of the A320). I was very happy! ? I have long legs, so I thank her. The weather was very poor: Low clouds, rain, poor visibility and very cold. Below (VFR) minimums as we pilots say.
I went through the security checkpoint and the metal detector beeped, don't know why, but I had no guns nor bombs or any stupid things. Probably it was the metal button of my jeans. The terminal is very cool. Very modern and simple. As any airport, they are infested with stores and duty free shops. My gate was 16 and I already knew the flight was delayed, so I walked around there and took photos of other aircraft on the gates. I saw an A320 landing and I knew that was our airplane so I stood in front of the window to see the arrival activities.
15 minutes after, they called for boarding and I walked into the jetway to board the good Luftbus. As I boarded, I asked the lead flight attendant if I could take some pictures of the flight deck and the captain allowed me. I said “moin!” as I walked in and both pilots laughed. The captain seemed to be happy and the first officer was woman. Major cool! I introduced myself and began to talk about my plans to apply for Lufthansa Flight Training and what I was doing in Hamburg. I took some pictures and asked if they made an ILS CATII approach, but they didn't. It was a normal ILS CATI approach. As I was ready to go to my seat, I made the final question: May I fly in the jumpseat? The captain told me kindly “Another day”. It would have been an experience, but maybe next time (On the return flight maybe?).
I got to my seat, checked the emergency paper and the instructions how to open the emergency door and waited until the boarding had finished. The flight attendants began to demonstrate the safety procedures and the pushback began. Packs off, engine startup.
We taxied to runway 33 in Hamburg and we took off. You gotta love those takeoffs! AMLUH5G departure and climbed through the cloud layer and it was a pretty nice sight.
We had turbulence on the climb and I don’t know what our final altitude was, but I suppose it was above 29,000ft. Cabin service began and I drank orange juice. We started our descent and approached to Munchen Airport. It was very cloudy and we landed on runway 26R and we quickly taxied to our stand. I remained on my seat while everybody de-boarded the Airbus and when I got out of the plane I took some pictures. It was the Lufthansa A320 “Wiesbaden”.
After that, we were taken by bus to the terminal and I waited for my bag. The München Airport is very big and modern. After I got my bag, I walked to the S-Bahn station of the airport to get to the Jugendherberge. The airport is not near from the city, so it took a while to arrive. It's very cold in München. Cloudy, rainy, cold: Typical European weather. The Jugendherberge is very nice. It has lots of rooms and the people here are families, bag packing students and groups of friends. I went to the city centre (Marienplatz) and it is very nice, but the temperature wasn’t cooperating. In the night I began to write this post.
The next day I went to the centre to say hi to a class-mate. She's studiing architectur in München and lives with her brothers. Her brothers and I went to the Hofbräu München: A very famous bar and restaurant in München. I drank 1 liter beer and I couldn’t believe that! Haha, I don't drink beer very often.
The next day I went to the Deutsches Museum. There are many technical things to see in there: Cars, airplanes, locomotives, boats, rockets, etc. The funny thing is I couldn’t find the locomotives and cars section. I took many photos and it would have been very cool to have flown all those airplanes in the museum. Then, I went to another museum, part of the Deutsches Museum, in a small airfield located in Oberschleissheim. I took many pictures of different kinds of airplanes, but my battery went dead there. I enjoyed it and returned to the Jugendherberge.
I stayed in München 5 days, but I could have been there in 4. On the second to last day I did nothing. Only chat and watch wimp.com with my netbook.
Last day (20th October): I checked out at approximately 9:00am and went to the S-Bahn to the airport. When I got there, I went to the terrace and watched the activity on the platform. 737s (Bobbys), A330s, A340s, many A320s, Dash 8s, etc. My flight departs at 9:35pm and it’s 12:50am. 8:45 hours to go...
I wrote this part in the actual posting day (03.11.09):
When I decided to charge my cellphone, I began searching for a charger. There were no chargers! I only found one at the exit and I waited there reading the Airbus A320 FCOM (Flight Crew Operating Manual) with my netbook. Many airport employees were riding scooters! It was so cool and it must be fun to ride with a scooter in the terminal :)
When the cellphone battery finished charging, I went to the Lufthansa check-in machines, chose my seat (35F) and printed my boarding pass. I then approached a counter and the guy was bored. He laughed when I showed him my boarding pass and then he documented my bag. Bag free, I proceeded to a Lufthansa World Shop and saw some airplane models. A Hogan model of a Lufthansa 747-400 costed 14€ and I bought it. As I didn't want to stay there, I went to the security checkpoint and this time the metal-detector didn't beep. I then walked through the duty-free shops and searched my gate.
Most of the time before my boarding time I walked through the concourse and watched the activities of the arrivals and departures from the gates. Our nice Airbus A321 arrived the gate and 20 minutes later it was time for boarding. I walked into the Airbus and asked again if I could visit the flight deck. Both pilots were very friendly and asked some technical things about the Airbus. I didn't bother them asking if I could fly in the jumpseat and proceeded to my seat. The Flight Attendants were very friendly as well and I had a first look of how long the A321 was. I chose 35F, the second to last row of seats because I wanted to hear the engine exhaust hitting the fuselage.
Pushback began and the engines began to start. It was a longer taxi to the runway than Hamburg and I always enjoy taxiing. Runway 08L, another aircraft took off and we were ready for takeoff. The sound of the exhaust hitting the fuselage and the acceleration increased. We were flying and turned to the left to the North. Next stop: Home Sweet Home Hamburg :)
The Flight Attendants began with the service and I asked for orange juice. The pretty lady asked me "Don't you want a tea or a coffee?" I responded: "Maybe later" and she said: "No, there won't be later" and started laughing. I laughed too and my face went red. When she returned she asked me again and I said no thanks. Very friendly crew!
We started our descent and I recognized Hamburg at the moment I saw the Alster. We flew from the Southwest and continued heading North for an ILS approach to runway 15. The landing was very good and the taxi to the stand was very very short. It was an amazing flight and after everybody got out of the airplane I said bye to the crew and went to the baggage claim area and it didn't take too long to appear. Then, I walked to the S-Bahn station to my house.
I hope you enjoyed this post! Bye for now.
Then, a school-mate flew from Guadalajara to Hamburg yesterday and I picked him up at the airport. I waited for him to arrive and I thought he lost his connection and was flying on the next flight to Hamburg. I thought right and it appeared his luggage didn't arrive with him and we reported it to Lufthansa. As we finished reporting it, he saw his luggage on the bands. The Lufthansa guy gave us the thumbs up and we walked to the S-Bahn and got home.
The day after, today, I got up at 5 o'clock and got to the airport. As I tried to check in with the automatic machines, they went out of order. I just laughed and the guy behind me said “What did you do?” Nothing of course.
The time for boarding was near and the system wasn’t online. When it was back, I successfully checked-in and got my boarding pass, but then I had to document my bag and there was a long queue to do it. When I was in the middle of the queue, my flight was already boarding. A lady was asking for passengers that departed at 7:30 and I was one of them. She told me to wait at the beginning of the queue and then the lady of the counter told me that I couldn't make it to my original flight, but she would change me to the next flight departing to München. I was happy and put me on the 11A seat (emergency exit of the A320). I was very happy! ? I have long legs, so I thank her. The weather was very poor: Low clouds, rain, poor visibility and very cold. Below (VFR) minimums as we pilots say.I went through the security checkpoint and the metal detector beeped, don't know why, but I had no guns nor bombs or any stupid things. Probably it was the metal button of my jeans. The terminal is very cool. Very modern and simple. As any airport, they are infested with stores and duty free shops. My gate was 16 and I already knew the flight was delayed, so I walked around there and took photos of other aircraft on the gates. I saw an A320 landing and I knew that was our airplane so I stood in front of the window to see the arrival activities.
15 minutes after, they called for boarding and I walked into the jetway to board the good Luftbus. As I boarded, I asked the lead flight attendant if I could take some pictures of the flight deck and the captain allowed me. I said “moin!” as I walked in and both pilots laughed. The captain seemed to be happy and the first officer was woman. Major cool! I introduced myself and began to talk about my plans to apply for Lufthansa Flight Training and what I was doing in Hamburg. I took some pictures and asked if they made an ILS CATII approach, but they didn't. It was a normal ILS CATI approach. As I was ready to go to my seat, I made the final question: May I fly in the jumpseat? The captain told me kindly “Another day”. It would have been an experience, but maybe next time (On the return flight maybe?).I got to my seat, checked the emergency paper and the instructions how to open the emergency door and waited until the boarding had finished. The flight attendants began to demonstrate the safety procedures and the pushback began. Packs off, engine startup.
We taxied to runway 33 in Hamburg and we took off. You gotta love those takeoffs! AMLUH5G departure and climbed through the cloud layer and it was a pretty nice sight.
We had turbulence on the climb and I don’t know what our final altitude was, but I suppose it was above 29,000ft. Cabin service began and I drank orange juice. We started our descent and approached to Munchen Airport. It was very cloudy and we landed on runway 26R and we quickly taxied to our stand. I remained on my seat while everybody de-boarded the Airbus and when I got out of the plane I took some pictures. It was the Lufthansa A320 “Wiesbaden”.
After that, we were taken by bus to the terminal and I waited for my bag. The München Airport is very big and modern. After I got my bag, I walked to the S-Bahn station of the airport to get to the Jugendherberge. The airport is not near from the city, so it took a while to arrive. It's very cold in München. Cloudy, rainy, cold: Typical European weather. The Jugendherberge is very nice. It has lots of rooms and the people here are families, bag packing students and groups of friends. I went to the city centre (Marienplatz) and it is very nice, but the temperature wasn’t cooperating. In the night I began to write this post.
The next day I went to the centre to say hi to a class-mate. She's studiing architectur in München and lives with her brothers. Her brothers and I went to the Hofbräu München: A very famous bar and restaurant in München. I drank 1 liter beer and I couldn’t believe that! Haha, I don't drink beer very often.The next day I went to the Deutsches Museum. There are many technical things to see in there: Cars, airplanes, locomotives, boats, rockets, etc. The funny thing is I couldn’t find the locomotives and cars section. I took many photos and it would have been very cool to have flown all those airplanes in the museum. Then, I went to another museum, part of the Deutsches Museum, in a small airfield located in Oberschleissheim. I took many pictures of different kinds of airplanes, but my battery went dead there. I enjoyed it and returned to the Jugendherberge.
I stayed in München 5 days, but I could have been there in 4. On the second to last day I did nothing. Only chat and watch wimp.com with my netbook.Last day (20th October): I checked out at approximately 9:00am and went to the S-Bahn to the airport. When I got there, I went to the terrace and watched the activity on the platform. 737s (Bobbys), A330s, A340s, many A320s, Dash 8s, etc. My flight departs at 9:35pm and it’s 12:50am. 8:45 hours to go...
I wrote this part in the actual posting day (03.11.09):When I decided to charge my cellphone, I began searching for a charger. There were no chargers! I only found one at the exit and I waited there reading the Airbus A320 FCOM (Flight Crew Operating Manual) with my netbook. Many airport employees were riding scooters! It was so cool and it must be fun to ride with a scooter in the terminal :)
When the cellphone battery finished charging, I went to the Lufthansa check-in machines, chose my seat (35F) and printed my boarding pass. I then approached a counter and the guy was bored. He laughed when I showed him my boarding pass and then he documented my bag. Bag free, I proceeded to a Lufthansa World Shop and saw some airplane models. A Hogan model of a Lufthansa 747-400 costed 14€ and I bought it. As I didn't want to stay there, I went to the security checkpoint and this time the metal-detector didn't beep. I then walked through the duty-free shops and searched my gate.
Most of the time before my boarding time I walked through the concourse and watched the activities of the arrivals and departures from the gates. Our nice Airbus A321 arrived the gate and 20 minutes later it was time for boarding. I walked into the Airbus and asked again if I could visit the flight deck. Both pilots were very friendly and asked some technical things about the Airbus. I didn't bother them asking if I could fly in the jumpseat and proceeded to my seat. The Flight Attendants were very friendly as well and I had a first look of how long the A321 was. I chose 35F, the second to last row of seats because I wanted to hear the engine exhaust hitting the fuselage.
Pushback began and the engines began to start. It was a longer taxi to the runway than Hamburg and I always enjoy taxiing. Runway 08L, another aircraft took off and we were ready for takeoff. The sound of the exhaust hitting the fuselage and the acceleration increased. We were flying and turned to the left to the North. Next stop: Home Sweet Home Hamburg :)The Flight Attendants began with the service and I asked for orange juice. The pretty lady asked me "Don't you want a tea or a coffee?" I responded: "Maybe later" and she said: "No, there won't be later" and started laughing. I laughed too and my face went red. When she returned she asked me again and I said no thanks. Very friendly crew!
We started our descent and I recognized Hamburg at the moment I saw the Alster. We flew from the Southwest and continued heading North for an ILS approach to runway 15. The landing was very good and the taxi to the stand was very very short. It was an amazing flight and after everybody got out of the airplane I said bye to the crew and went to the baggage claim area and it didn't take too long to appear. Then, I walked to the S-Bahn station to my house.
I hope you enjoyed this post! Bye for now.
Friday, September 18, 2009
More glider flying
Second post about glider flying!
I've been many times at Boberg since my first glider flight. Now that I'm part of the club I have to be there every weekend. I've had 7 flights (8 with the first one) as a glider student and on the 5th, I landed without the help of the instructor for the first time.
On the 6th flight, the instructor took off and after 50 meters, I took the controls. On the 7th flight, I had the controls the entire flight. It is very cool to take off and you only have to mantain your heading and climb with an airspeed between 80 and 90 km/h. As you climb higher, the rate of climb is reduced and you have to push the nose a bit to mantain 80 km/h. When the cable is released, you pull the lock three times to ensure it has released and you glide! If you take off with a crosswind, you must fly into the wind so that it doesn't moves you from the climb trajectory. The next step is to find thermals.
One option, tipically used, is to fly below a cumulus cloud and hope there's rising air. You can also search for other gliders flying around in your area and if they are making turns, it means they found one. You fly there and then fly on that same circle with the same direction. You fly on his 9 o'clock if turning left, so that he flies on the other side of the circle.
When you don’t find more thermals and you’re flying below 250 meters, it’s time to land. All flights all made near the airfield so that you don’t land somewhere else. You fly parallel to the runway (Gegenanflug or downwind in english) and check if there are other gliders landing. As you fly abeam 500m from the runway threshold (at your 7.30 o'clock), you start your turn to the Queranflug (Base) and it’s perpendicular to the runway. Then, you start turning to the Endanflug (Final) and apply speedbrakes as required. Normally you descend with 90kmh and use speedbrakes with pitch control so that you don’t get too fast or too slow, or too low or high and make a nice approach. When crossing the treeline, you apply full speedbrakes and land. The flare is extremely easy and the glider stops with less than 20 meters on the ground.
Hope you enjoyed this post! Cya
I've been many times at Boberg since my first glider flight. Now that I'm part of the club I have to be there every weekend. I've had 7 flights (8 with the first one) as a glider student and on the 5th, I landed without the help of the instructor for the first time.
On the 6th flight, the instructor took off and after 50 meters, I took the controls. On the 7th flight, I had the controls the entire flight. It is very cool to take off and you only have to mantain your heading and climb with an airspeed between 80 and 90 km/h. As you climb higher, the rate of climb is reduced and you have to push the nose a bit to mantain 80 km/h. When the cable is released, you pull the lock three times to ensure it has released and you glide! If you take off with a crosswind, you must fly into the wind so that it doesn't moves you from the climb trajectory. The next step is to find thermals.One option, tipically used, is to fly below a cumulus cloud and hope there's rising air. You can also search for other gliders flying around in your area and if they are making turns, it means they found one. You fly there and then fly on that same circle with the same direction. You fly on his 9 o'clock if turning left, so that he flies on the other side of the circle.
When you don’t find more thermals and you’re flying below 250 meters, it’s time to land. All flights all made near the airfield so that you don’t land somewhere else. You fly parallel to the runway (Gegenanflug or downwind in english) and check if there are other gliders landing. As you fly abeam 500m from the runway threshold (at your 7.30 o'clock), you start your turn to the Queranflug (Base) and it’s perpendicular to the runway. Then, you start turning to the Endanflug (Final) and apply speedbrakes as required. Normally you descend with 90kmh and use speedbrakes with pitch control so that you don’t get too fast or too slow, or too low or high and make a nice approach. When crossing the treeline, you apply full speedbrakes and land. The flare is extremely easy and the glider stops with less than 20 meters on the ground.
Hope you enjoyed this post! Cya
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
My First Glider Flight
Moin Moin! I didn’t have time to write in my blog. This post will be about my first glider flght on 15th of August 2009. (Didn't published this one until this day... ups!)
One Saturday I decided to go to Boberg Segelflugplatz, that’s south of Mummelmannsberg (Southeast from Hamburg). Not very far from where I live. I only take my bike and change in one or two stations and when arriving at Mummelmannsberg I ride with my bike to Boberg. When I got to the airfield, there was good activity around. I asked someone where I could make a flight in a glider and I went to a van, where all the members where sitting and chatting.
The place where that van is, is the Start-position and one calls the “catapult” to launch the glider with the cable so that it can fly. I asked someone again if I could make a flight and yes, I could fly that day. I explained that I was already a pilot and I wanted to make the PPL-C, the german glider licence. He told me that I could make a “Schnupperkurs”. It consists of 10 takeoffs (flights) to see if you like gliding. Of course I will like it! I joined the club the next day as a normal member.
When it was my turn to fly, I put the parachute on and I got into the back seat. That glider, the ASK-13 (german glider), is for two: one in the front and one in the back. I strapped myself, but it was uncomfortable inside. I have long legs and the position wasn’t very comfortable for me, but heck! I flew ^^. We closed the “window”, it’s the hatch-window and the pilot explained me some things. We made the pre-takeoff checks and we were ready to go! The takeoff is very cool. The cable pulls the glider very fast and you’re in the air in less than 4 seconds. The climb is spectacular... right after you takeoff, the glider climbs at about 1200 feet per minute or 6 meters per second. Reaching an altitude where the “catapult” can not get you higher, the cable is released automatically (When the cable reaches more than 57°). We glide at about 80 to 90 km/h and the key to remain in the air for a long time is to find thermals. Thermals are the “air-bubbles” of hot air. The sun heats the surface and because the hot air is less dense than cold air, it rises. As this hot air reaches a level of comparatively cool air, where the moisture in the air condenses, cumulus clouds form. They are the puffy ones. When we find a thermal (tipically below a puffy cloud), the variometer indicates a climb and we begin to make A LOT of turns to climb. When turning the glider, you must use more rudder than an engine-powered airplane. I controlled the glider for some time and made some turns. It’s a lot of fun!
It was time to land and we flew parallel to the runway and the pilot took the controls. The landing is very cool I must say. The sound of the air hitting the speedbrake is awesome and you start descending to the grass runway. The landing is very simple and so I finished my first glider flight. No words, it was amazing! I’ve flown all my life in different kinds of powered airplanes, but gliding is so cool! I got out of the glider with a BIG smile and then asked how could I join the club.
The club name is Hamburger Verein für Luftfahrt. HVL in short. You can find more info on www.hvl-boberg.de
I wrote most of this part when I was on the train to Münster. I visited my granduncles there. More gliding adventures and pics next! Stay tuned!
One Saturday I decided to go to Boberg Segelflugplatz, that’s south of Mummelmannsberg (Southeast from Hamburg). Not very far from where I live. I only take my bike and change in one or two stations and when arriving at Mummelmannsberg I ride with my bike to Boberg. When I got to the airfield, there was good activity around. I asked someone where I could make a flight in a glider and I went to a van, where all the members where sitting and chatting.
The place where that van is, is the Start-position and one calls the “catapult” to launch the glider with the cable so that it can fly. I asked someone again if I could make a flight and yes, I could fly that day. I explained that I was already a pilot and I wanted to make the PPL-C, the german glider licence. He told me that I could make a “Schnupperkurs”. It consists of 10 takeoffs (flights) to see if you like gliding. Of course I will like it! I joined the club the next day as a normal member.
When it was my turn to fly, I put the parachute on and I got into the back seat. That glider, the ASK-13 (german glider), is for two: one in the front and one in the back. I strapped myself, but it was uncomfortable inside. I have long legs and the position wasn’t very comfortable for me, but heck! I flew ^^. We closed the “window”, it’s the hatch-window and the pilot explained me some things. We made the pre-takeoff checks and we were ready to go! The takeoff is very cool. The cable pulls the glider very fast and you’re in the air in less than 4 seconds. The climb is spectacular... right after you takeoff, the glider climbs at about 1200 feet per minute or 6 meters per second. Reaching an altitude where the “catapult” can not get you higher, the cable is released automatically (When the cable reaches more than 57°). We glide at about 80 to 90 km/h and the key to remain in the air for a long time is to find thermals. Thermals are the “air-bubbles” of hot air. The sun heats the surface and because the hot air is less dense than cold air, it rises. As this hot air reaches a level of comparatively cool air, where the moisture in the air condenses, cumulus clouds form. They are the puffy ones. When we find a thermal (tipically below a puffy cloud), the variometer indicates a climb and we begin to make A LOT of turns to climb. When turning the glider, you must use more rudder than an engine-powered airplane. I controlled the glider for some time and made some turns. It’s a lot of fun!It was time to land and we flew parallel to the runway and the pilot took the controls. The landing is very cool I must say. The sound of the air hitting the speedbrake is awesome and you start descending to the grass runway. The landing is very simple and so I finished my first glider flight. No words, it was amazing! I’ve flown all my life in different kinds of powered airplanes, but gliding is so cool! I got out of the glider with a BIG smile and then asked how could I join the club.
The club name is Hamburger Verein für Luftfahrt. HVL in short. You can find more info on www.hvl-boberg.de
I wrote most of this part when I was on the train to Münster. I visited my granduncles there. More gliding adventures and pics next! Stay tuned!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Deutschland
One month since I wrote my last post! I've had a great time here in Germany and I'll write things I remember.
When I came to Germany, my brother drove us to Hemer, Southeast of Dortmund. That's the town where all my german relatives live. I slept all the way to Hemer. It's a nice town and I stayed there 10 days. We had some family reunions, etc and went many times shopping to Iserlohn, which is near Hemer. We also visited some glider airflields, but there was no flying. I activated my father's Google Phone G1 in Telecom. It is so cool! It has many applications like Google Maps, games, it has camera, video recorder, automatic gmail alerts, etc. My brother and I went to the ADAC-Fahrsicherheitstraining. It's a course where you learn how to drive and brake in wet surfaces. They also explain many many things about driving safely. It was fun!
One day we went to a football match in VELTINS-Arena, Schalke 04 Stadium in Gelsenkirchen. It was Bayern-München vs. Schalke 04 and it was very cool. After those 10 days, we drove to Münster to stay with other german relatives in Einen, near Telgte. One day we drove to Münster-Telgte airfield. It is small, but nice and you can see lots of light and sport planes. Another day I rode with my bicycle to Münster-Telgte airfield, but when I arrived, no one was there. Quite an experience and very nice landscapes.
After staying 4 days in Einen, we drove to my final destination: Hamburg!
Hamburg is very nice :) when we arrived, we left our bags in the hotel and went to the city centre. There's a lake in Hamburg, the Alstersee. It is very nice and you can sail there. We ate in Alsterpavillon and then we walked around the Alster. Then, we drove to the student-building Paul-Sudeck-Haus and we took a look at it. The area is very nice, lots of trees and not too much traffic. We also drove to the airport and to my future school, the Studienkolleg. It was a good first day in Hamburg.
Some days later, I said goodbye to my mom and sister and stayed with my brother's friend in a student-building or residence, whatever... One day I took my bike and rode to the airport. Sometimes I don't know which way to go and I just take my google phone and check what streets to take. Very handy! At the airport, the views are incredible! You can see the takeoffs and landings pretty good! I enjoy being at the airport and hear the airplanes roaring on the runway. The Emirates 777 flies from and to Dubai and it's a cool experience to watch it land and take off. Many airlines operate from and to Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel airport and it's a Lufthansa Base there (Lufthansa Technik too).
I tested the public transport system on my first days in Hamburg. The HVV or Hamburger Verkehrsverbund has excellent transport routes. You can take your bike with you when traveling in the U-Bahn or S-Bahn or the boats in the Elbe that take you to different stations in the river. You can get a bit confused when traveling for the first time in the U- or S-Bahn, but there are many route maps and notice boards in the stations. If you don't know what subway/route to take, check the boards.
I changed here in Paul-Sudeck-Haus on the 1st of August. It's a good student building and my floormates are cool. I'm on the fourth floor (or third in German) and in each floor, there is a kitchen, living-room, showers and toilets for everyone. Each student has it's own dormitory and I think it has good space.
The supermarket is just three blocks away, the subway station is only one block away. Near the subway station there are lots of grocery stores, restaurants, etc. The nearest bank is several more blocks away, but it's ok with the bike. The Stadtpark is also near here and the airport is just 6.5km away. Heck, you don't need a car in here! Well, if you have a family and/or must go shopping, you definitely need one.
I also decided to build a new desktop computer. It's a lot of fun to build a new PC. I compared prices in two PC stores and made a list. It's a good PC :) but the case will arrive in 4 days or so. I've been waiting more than a week for the case and when I had all the necessary stuff for the PC, I built it without the case. It ran ok and I could install Windows Vista and the motherboard/video card drivers, but I stupidly put the motherboard on the antistatic plastic and I don't know if that was the reason why the monitor doesn't shows anything. Strange, but I'll wait for the case to arrive and then resolve the problem.
One day I went to Finkenwerder. Hamburg-Finkenwerder is where Airbus Deutschland is. They build the A318s, A319s and A321s there. They also build parts for the other widebody planes and send them in the Beluga. When I arrived there, an Airbus A380 was being prepared for its delivery flight for Qantas. It is an experience to see that airplane. The takeoff was awesome! First time I saw an A380 and flying too!
Enough for this post. I'll write about my first gliding experience in the next one. Adios.
When I came to Germany, my brother drove us to Hemer, Southeast of Dortmund. That's the town where all my german relatives live. I slept all the way to Hemer. It's a nice town and I stayed there 10 days. We had some family reunions, etc and went many times shopping to Iserlohn, which is near Hemer. We also visited some glider airflields, but there was no flying. I activated my father's Google Phone G1 in Telecom. It is so cool! It has many applications like Google Maps, games, it has camera, video recorder, automatic gmail alerts, etc. My brother and I went to the ADAC-Fahrsicherheitstraining. It's a course where you learn how to drive and brake in wet surfaces. They also explain many many things about driving safely. It was fun!
One day we went to a football match in VELTINS-Arena, Schalke 04 Stadium in Gelsenkirchen. It was Bayern-München vs. Schalke 04 and it was very cool. After those 10 days, we drove to Münster to stay with other german relatives in Einen, near Telgte. One day we drove to Münster-Telgte airfield. It is small, but nice and you can see lots of light and sport planes. Another day I rode with my bicycle to Münster-Telgte airfield, but when I arrived, no one was there. Quite an experience and very nice landscapes.
After staying 4 days in Einen, we drove to my final destination: Hamburg!Hamburg is very nice :) when we arrived, we left our bags in the hotel and went to the city centre. There's a lake in Hamburg, the Alstersee. It is very nice and you can sail there. We ate in Alsterpavillon and then we walked around the Alster. Then, we drove to the student-building Paul-Sudeck-Haus and we took a look at it. The area is very nice, lots of trees and not too much traffic. We also drove to the airport and to my future school, the Studienkolleg. It was a good first day in Hamburg.
Some days later, I said goodbye to my mom and sister and stayed with my brother's friend in a student-building or residence, whatever... One day I took my bike and rode to the airport. Sometimes I don't know which way to go and I just take my google phone and check what streets to take. Very handy! At the airport, the views are incredible! You can see the takeoffs and landings pretty good! I enjoy being at the airport and hear the airplanes roaring on the runway. The Emirates 777 flies from and to Dubai and it's a cool experience to watch it land and take off. Many airlines operate from and to Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel airport and it's a Lufthansa Base there (Lufthansa Technik too).
I tested the public transport system on my first days in Hamburg. The HVV or Hamburger Verkehrsverbund has excellent transport routes. You can take your bike with you when traveling in the U-Bahn or S-Bahn or the boats in the Elbe that take you to different stations in the river. You can get a bit confused when traveling for the first time in the U- or S-Bahn, but there are many route maps and notice boards in the stations. If you don't know what subway/route to take, check the boards.I changed here in Paul-Sudeck-Haus on the 1st of August. It's a good student building and my floormates are cool. I'm on the fourth floor (or third in German) and in each floor, there is a kitchen, living-room, showers and toilets for everyone. Each student has it's own dormitory and I think it has good space.
The supermarket is just three blocks away, the subway station is only one block away. Near the subway station there are lots of grocery stores, restaurants, etc. The nearest bank is several more blocks away, but it's ok with the bike. The Stadtpark is also near here and the airport is just 6.5km away. Heck, you don't need a car in here! Well, if you have a family and/or must go shopping, you definitely need one.
I also decided to build a new desktop computer. It's a lot of fun to build a new PC. I compared prices in two PC stores and made a list. It's a good PC :) but the case will arrive in 4 days or so. I've been waiting more than a week for the case and when I had all the necessary stuff for the PC, I built it without the case. It ran ok and I could install Windows Vista and the motherboard/video card drivers, but I stupidly put the motherboard on the antistatic plastic and I don't know if that was the reason why the monitor doesn't shows anything. Strange, but I'll wait for the case to arrive and then resolve the problem.
One day I went to Finkenwerder. Hamburg-Finkenwerder is where Airbus Deutschland is. They build the A318s, A319s and A321s there. They also build parts for the other widebody planes and send them in the Beluga. When I arrived there, an Airbus A380 was being prepared for its delivery flight for Qantas. It is an experience to see that airplane. The takeoff was awesome! First time I saw an A380 and flying too!
Enough for this post. I'll write about my first gliding experience in the next one. Adios.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The Trip to Germany Part 2
Hi there again! I’m writing from the airplane now. Just 3 hours to go!
Back there in the bar I saw the 767-200 being towed to our gate. So, I decided to go and hopefully meet the crew. There were not many people, but some started to arrive. I did see the crew, but didn’t meet them. Our scheduled departure was at 5:45pm, but the flight was delayed for 50 minutes. The aft restroom was inoperable and maintenance fixed it. We started boarding and my seat was originally 15C, but when I sat there, a guy asked me if we could change seats, because his wife and kid were on the next seats. I said yes and the good thing was that the middle seat was empty.
Pushback and startup were quick. I think they started the engines before pushing back. I began to chat with the guy on the other seat of my row as we taxied to runway 05R. The takeoff was very cool (of course) and there was some rain and clouds. As we reached cruising altitude (35000ft), the flight attendants gave us the flight kit. I don’t remember at what time after that began giving dinner. The option was pasta or chicken. I chose chicken and it was good.
The 767 is an awesome airplane and powerful of course. I just love when we have light turbulence and you move very cool. It’s just me you know. ^^
Sometime after dinner, I took some pictures and the lights were out so that we could sleep. I cannot sleep very easy on a plane. The “in-flight entertainment” sucked: One documentary about Las Vegas, a cartoon movie and then another shite cartoon movie. I tried to sleep, but did well after all. At about 7:00 GMT everybody started to wake up. I think the breakfast will be soon. Now 8:32 GMT and 2:08 hours to go…
Breakfast was eggs with beans. I didn’t eat them all, they weren’t tasty. We started descending and I could see land for the first time. It was an overcast sky and as we descended through the clouds, the turbulence began. The passengers next to me were nervous hehe it’s funny. The speed brakes came out and then the first degrees of flaps. The plane moved quite cool with the turbulence and there was some wind. The landing was cool and it seems we had some crosswind and some gusts. Major cool! Finally in Europe!
We taxied to the gate and we disembarked the airplane. As we walked in the jetway, I took a last look to our 767-200. It was the XA-MXO. We walked through ways to immigration. The passport control was very fast and we went to take our bags. Everything is very nice and organized, I like it. It took a while to have our bags and then we searched the Easyjet check-ins for our flight to Köln. When we found them, we had to form in the queue. It was quick and we had to check-in all bags. We received our boarding passes and walked to the departure gates. We had to go through security and it was very quick. We had to wait until the departures screen showed our departure gate. We waited some 10 minutes… gate number 2, let’s go!
We walked to our gate through some halls and we waited in the waiting room. There was some small delay and we started to board the cool Airbus A319. I sat three rows before the last one (I had an excellent wing view, but I wanted to seat in the front…). The passenger next to me was African-European and I thought it would be interesting. He was reading a book of Jeet Kune Do (Martial Arts). Pushback started and engines came to life. As you know, I like all kinds of airplane sounds and the engine-start and PTU sounds are very cool. We taxied to the runway and we hold short. We saw some airplanes taking off and landing and we got our takeoff clearance. Germany, here we go.
The takeoff was very cool because we had a crosswind. We turned to the right and looks like we flew over Dover. We crossed the English Channel very quick and I started chatting with the passenger next to me. We had a cool talk and I began to take pictures. Once above land, the descent began very quickly. We used speed brakes to descend more quickly without gaining speed. As we approached the airport, I could see the Rhine and the city of Köln. This landing was also windy (More fun for me! ^^).
We taxied to the gate and went through passport control, where everything was ok and we took our bags. My brother was waiting for us and as we got into the car, my trip was finished.
I hope you enjoyed my trip posts! Stay tuned for more.
Back there in the bar I saw the 767-200 being towed to our gate. So, I decided to go and hopefully meet the crew. There were not many people, but some started to arrive. I did see the crew, but didn’t meet them. Our scheduled departure was at 5:45pm, but the flight was delayed for 50 minutes. The aft restroom was inoperable and maintenance fixed it. We started boarding and my seat was originally 15C, but when I sat there, a guy asked me if we could change seats, because his wife and kid were on the next seats. I said yes and the good thing was that the middle seat was empty.
Pushback and startup were quick. I think they started the engines before pushing back. I began to chat with the guy on the other seat of my row as we taxied to runway 05R. The takeoff was very cool (of course) and there was some rain and clouds. As we reached cruising altitude (35000ft), the flight attendants gave us the flight kit. I don’t remember at what time after that began giving dinner. The option was pasta or chicken. I chose chicken and it was good.
The 767 is an awesome airplane and powerful of course. I just love when we have light turbulence and you move very cool. It’s just me you know. ^^
Sometime after dinner, I took some pictures and the lights were out so that we could sleep. I cannot sleep very easy on a plane. The “in-flight entertainment” sucked: One documentary about Las Vegas, a cartoon movie and then another shite cartoon movie. I tried to sleep, but did well after all. At about 7:00 GMT everybody started to wake up. I think the breakfast will be soon. Now 8:32 GMT and 2:08 hours to go…
Breakfast was eggs with beans. I didn’t eat them all, they weren’t tasty. We started descending and I could see land for the first time. It was an overcast sky and as we descended through the clouds, the turbulence began. The passengers next to me were nervous hehe it’s funny. The speed brakes came out and then the first degrees of flaps. The plane moved quite cool with the turbulence and there was some wind. The landing was cool and it seems we had some crosswind and some gusts. Major cool! Finally in Europe!
We taxied to the gate and we disembarked the airplane. As we walked in the jetway, I took a last look to our 767-200. It was the XA-MXO. We walked through ways to immigration. The passport control was very fast and we went to take our bags. Everything is very nice and organized, I like it. It took a while to have our bags and then we searched the Easyjet check-ins for our flight to Köln. When we found them, we had to form in the queue. It was quick and we had to check-in all bags. We received our boarding passes and walked to the departure gates. We had to go through security and it was very quick. We had to wait until the departures screen showed our departure gate. We waited some 10 minutes… gate number 2, let’s go!
We walked to our gate through some halls and we waited in the waiting room. There was some small delay and we started to board the cool Airbus A319. I sat three rows before the last one (I had an excellent wing view, but I wanted to seat in the front…). The passenger next to me was African-European and I thought it would be interesting. He was reading a book of Jeet Kune Do (Martial Arts). Pushback started and engines came to life. As you know, I like all kinds of airplane sounds and the engine-start and PTU sounds are very cool. We taxied to the runway and we hold short. We saw some airplanes taking off and landing and we got our takeoff clearance. Germany, here we go.
The takeoff was very cool because we had a crosswind. We turned to the right and looks like we flew over Dover. We crossed the English Channel very quick and I started chatting with the passenger next to me. We had a cool talk and I began to take pictures. Once above land, the descent began very quickly. We used speed brakes to descend more quickly without gaining speed. As we approached the airport, I could see the Rhine and the city of Köln. This landing was also windy (More fun for me! ^^).
We taxied to the gate and went through passport control, where everything was ok and we took our bags. My brother was waiting for us and as we got into the car, my trip was finished.
I hope you enjoyed my trip posts! Stay tuned for more.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Trip to Germany Part 1
Good morning! Today I began my journey to Germany. I'm writing now from the Mexico City airport and I'll be waiting here until it's 4:00pm.
I woke up at 5:30am and took a shower. After having a quick brakefast, we drove to the airport and proceeded to the check-in where everything went fluently. I said good-bye to my dad and we went through the security checkpoint. Strange they didn't say anything about my netbook and monitor. The original gate for our Mexicana Click flight 7473 was number 10, but it was changed to number 14. We still had a jetway :D I listened my scanner while waiting and then our beautiful Fokker 100 arrived. It was 5 minutes late, but what the heck!! ^^
I asked the captain if I could take a look into the flight deck and I did :) He told me that it wasn't allowed, but I could visit it when cruising. Pushback and start was very quick. The taxi to runway 28 too. We began the takeoff roll and I enjoyed the awesome symphony of those Rolls-Royce Tay 620-15. Of course, like every takeoff and ascent, it was amazing.
Just after leveling at FL330, the captain got out of the flight deck and told me to come in. He explained me the whole flight-deck panels and the MCDU (Mulifunction Control Display Unit) with all it's pages. We began our descent and just before passing through 17,000 feet, I returned to my seat (17,000ft because MMMX is at 7300ft and 10,000 AGL is the sterile flight deck rule).
We made the famous ILS-DME 05R approach procedure and landed. Taxiing to Gate 8 was pretty long and when the plane stopped and turn the engines off, the passengers started to disembark. I wanted to say good-bye to the captains, but the door wasn't open. I got out of the airplane and the flight-deck window was open, so I said bye to the crew hehe. It was funny.
After that, hmmm first impressions the Terminal 1 of Mexico City Airport: No platform/runway view, the concourse is very narrow and there are just too many stores!! Holy ...!! It's a mall.
But oh well... we are waiting and eating now in the restaurant/bar "Sala 21". Our flight to London-Gatwick (Boeing 767-200) MXA1594 departs at 17:45.
Next post in London! Have a good day.
I woke up at 5:30am and took a shower. After having a quick brakefast, we drove to the airport and proceeded to the check-in where everything went fluently. I said good-bye to my dad and we went through the security checkpoint. Strange they didn't say anything about my netbook and monitor. The original gate for our Mexicana Click flight 7473 was number 10, but it was changed to number 14. We still had a jetway :D I listened my scanner while waiting and then our beautiful Fokker 100 arrived. It was 5 minutes late, but what the heck!! ^^
I asked the captain if I could take a look into the flight deck and I did :) He told me that it wasn't allowed, but I could visit it when cruising. Pushback and start was very quick. The taxi to runway 28 too. We began the takeoff roll and I enjoyed the awesome symphony of those Rolls-Royce Tay 620-15. Of course, like every takeoff and ascent, it was amazing.
Just after leveling at FL330, the captain got out of the flight deck and told me to come in. He explained me the whole flight-deck panels and the MCDU (Mulifunction Control Display Unit) with all it's pages. We began our descent and just before passing through 17,000 feet, I returned to my seat (17,000ft because MMMX is at 7300ft and 10,000 AGL is the sterile flight deck rule).
We made the famous ILS-DME 05R approach procedure and landed. Taxiing to Gate 8 was pretty long and when the plane stopped and turn the engines off, the passengers started to disembark. I wanted to say good-bye to the captains, but the door wasn't open. I got out of the airplane and the flight-deck window was open, so I said bye to the crew hehe. It was funny.
After that, hmmm first impressions the Terminal 1 of Mexico City Airport: No platform/runway view, the concourse is very narrow and there are just too many stores!! Holy ...!! It's a mall.
But oh well... we are waiting and eating now in the restaurant/bar "Sala 21". Our flight to London-Gatwick (Boeing 767-200) MXA1594 departs at 17:45.
Next post in London! Have a good day.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Airbus A321 Videos
Hello! I found these Youtube videos. They are awesome! The quality is :o no words.
Remember to check this channel: http://www.youtube.com/mmmpetersen It has a lot of HD videos. Excellent MD-80 videos too.
Remember to check this channel: http://www.youtube.com/mmmpetersen It has a lot of HD videos. Excellent MD-80 videos too.
Monday, July 6, 2009
The Airport Diagram
Hi, in this post I will show you three different types of chart formats: Jeppesen, AIP Germany and NACO. Who's first?
Bremen Airport (Flughafen Bremen) EDDW:
This is a German AIP (Aeronautical Information Publication) chart format. On the top left of the chart, you can see the coordinates and elevation of the airport. Top right, the chart number and the airport name.
This is a German AIP (Aeronautical Information Publication) chart format. On the top left of the chart, you can see the coordinates and elevation of the airport. Top right, the chart number and the airport name.
Bremen has two runways: 09/27 and 23, which is only for VFR takeoffs for airplanes no more than 5700kg (05 is not available for takeoff and landing). Runway 09/27 is 2040 x 45 meters long and runway 23 is 700 x 23 m long. You can see the taxiway designators in letters and the CATII/III holding points. The CATII/III holding points are used when the CATII or III approaches are in use (So, when there's very low visibility). Inside the green area is in responsability of the DFS (Deutsche Flugsicherung. The german ATC), because they manage all departing and arriving traffic (Takeoffs and landings). The apron control is resposible outside the green area, because they control the traffic on the apron=platform. The lights are drawn at the centre/edges of the taxiway or runway. The big X means, that taxiway or runway or area is not available/usable. Oh, I forgot something. The small box on the bottom left is the intersection takeoff distances. For example, if we want to take off from runway 27 E intersection, we would have a TORA (TakeOff Runway Available) of 1610m. A TODA (TakeOff Distance Available) of 1670m and an ASDA (Accelerate-Stop Distance Available) of 1610m. Quite simple.
Now the NACO format chart; San Antonio International Airport KSAT:
And the Jeppesen format of Guadalajara International Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla) MMGL:
Of course, there is the Mexican AIP format, but they don't publish it online.
Hope you liked this post :) Good bye.
Bremen Airport (Flughafen Bremen) EDDW:
This is a German AIP (Aeronautical Information Publication) chart format. On the top left of the chart, you can see the coordinates and elevation of the airport. Top right, the chart number and the airport name.This is a German AIP (Aeronautical Information Publication) chart format. On the top left of the chart, you can see the coordinates and elevation of the airport. Top right, the chart number and the airport name.
Bremen has two runways: 09/27 and 23, which is only for VFR takeoffs for airplanes no more than 5700kg (05 is not available for takeoff and landing). Runway 09/27 is 2040 x 45 meters long and runway 23 is 700 x 23 m long. You can see the taxiway designators in letters and the CATII/III holding points. The CATII/III holding points are used when the CATII or III approaches are in use (So, when there's very low visibility). Inside the green area is in responsability of the DFS (Deutsche Flugsicherung. The german ATC), because they manage all departing and arriving traffic (Takeoffs and landings). The apron control is resposible outside the green area, because they control the traffic on the apron=platform. The lights are drawn at the centre/edges of the taxiway or runway. The big X means, that taxiway or runway or area is not available/usable. Oh, I forgot something. The small box on the bottom left is the intersection takeoff distances. For example, if we want to take off from runway 27 E intersection, we would have a TORA (TakeOff Runway Available) of 1610m. A TODA (TakeOff Distance Available) of 1670m and an ASDA (Accelerate-Stop Distance Available) of 1610m. Quite simple.
Now the NACO format chart; San Antonio International Airport KSAT:
And the Jeppesen format of Guadalajara International Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla) MMGL:
Of course, there is the Mexican AIP format, but they don't publish it online.
Hope you liked this post :) Good bye.
The ILS or LOC Rwy 12R
Hi, this is a NACO (National Aeronautical Charting Office) Chart:
When I saw a NACO chart for the first time , I was overwehlmed. There is just too much information in the chart! But no worries :) I'll explain it step by step.
HEADER:
Top left part, the city: San Antonio, Texas. Top right, the approach and airport: ILS or LOC RWY 12R, San Antonio INTL (SAT). Left from it, a small box with the ILS identifier (LOC/DME I-ANT and the frequency 110.90 Mhz), the approach course is 124º. Runway 12R landing distance is 5519 feet (1672m), touch-down zone elevation is 797 feet and airport elevation is 809 feet ASL.
The A symbol means: Alternate Minimums not standard. Civil users refer to tabulation. USA/USN/USAF pilots refer to appropiate regulations.
The T symbols means: Takeoff Minimums not standard and/or Departure Procedures are published. Refer to tabulation (The Tabulation is a page in the approaches booklet where the Alternate and Takeoff Minimums of the airports are published. Take-off minimums in KSAT for example, in page 7).
The missed approach procedure is to climb to 3100ft via the heading 124º and intercept the SAT 160º Radial outbound to EMBOW intersection and hold. EMBOW int is abeam the SAT 160º Rdl and the SSF 097º Rdl, so it's a bit difficult to know where it is if you don't have a GPS. The box below is the communication frequencies.
In the PLAN section, they've included the MSA. The IAF navaid (Navigation Aid) for this approach and the reference point for the MSA, is the ALAMO NDB (AN with frequency 368). So, how do we fly this approach? The San Antonio ATC will give us radar vectors to REUBE (another IAF). If there is no radar for some reason, we will have to fly direct to the AN NDB and follow the ILS backcourse. We will have to tune the ILS frequency (I-ANT 110.90) and proceed with the backcourse approach:
"When you fly a "conventional" Localizer Approach, or any approach for that matter, a needle deflection to the left means that your desired course is to the left, and that you as the pilot must correct the plane's heading to the left to recapture the approach course. The opposite applies for right deflection of course.
However, in a Localizer Back Course, if the needle deflects to the left it means that your desired course is to the right, and that you must correct in the opposite direction to recapture the desired approach course. In other words, left is right and right is left."
As we fly on the 124º backcourse (heading 304), we will have to make a procedure turn over HASDO (13.7 from I-ANT=The ILS' DME) so that we intercept the normal approach course of the ILS. The PT is shown as a thick line with a 259 and a 079. The 259º is the outbound leg of the procedure turn and the 079º is the inbound leg of the procedure turn. As we see in the PROFILE section, we must maintain 3200ft in the PT and when reaching HASDO, we must descend to 2800ft. As we fly over AN, we capture the Glideslope and descend to our minimums.
In the MINIMUMS Section of this format, we see the different types of categories divided in columns. For a Straight-In (S-) ILS approach to Rwy 12R, we need to see the runway by 1009 feet ASL or 200ft Decision Height. The 1009/18 means that 1009 is our Decision Altitude and 18 is 1800ft RVR. The 200 is our DH. What is in brackets is for military use.
If the GS is unserviceable, we would have to refer to the S-LOC 12R (Straight-In LOC approach) minimums. Our MDA would be 1440ft and RVR 2400ft. Minimum Descent Height is 631ft.
If we want to make a sidestep to the parallel runway (12L), our minimums would be 1600ft and with a visibility of 1 mile. 803ft above airport elevation.
On the left side of the Minimums section, we can see an airport diagram. This small diagram shows the runway lengths, the tower location, etc. The booklet also gives us an Airport Diagram page. It is very important to see the location of the taxiways, terminals, hangars, etc.
You can get a bit confused with this chart format and it takes a while to fully understand the content.
Most of the NACO charts are sold in booklets and they issue a new cycle every 56 days (for Terminal Procedures Publication and Airport/Facility Directory). You can find the Terminal Procedures Publications HERE and the Airport/Facility Directory HERE.
Taken from the National Aeronautical Charting Office - NACO http://naco.faa.gov/ (USA ONLY)
When I saw a NACO chart for the first time , I was overwehlmed. There is just too much information in the chart! But no worries :) I'll explain it step by step.HEADER:
Top left part, the city: San Antonio, Texas. Top right, the approach and airport: ILS or LOC RWY 12R, San Antonio INTL (SAT). Left from it, a small box with the ILS identifier (LOC/DME I-ANT and the frequency 110.90 Mhz), the approach course is 124º. Runway 12R landing distance is 5519 feet (1672m), touch-down zone elevation is 797 feet and airport elevation is 809 feet ASL.
The A symbol means: Alternate Minimums not standard. Civil users refer to tabulation. USA/USN/USAF pilots refer to appropiate regulations.
The T symbols means: Takeoff Minimums not standard and/or Departure Procedures are published. Refer to tabulation (The Tabulation is a page in the approaches booklet where the Alternate and Takeoff Minimums of the airports are published. Take-off minimums in KSAT for example, in page 7).
The missed approach procedure is to climb to 3100ft via the heading 124º and intercept the SAT 160º Radial outbound to EMBOW intersection and hold. EMBOW int is abeam the SAT 160º Rdl and the SSF 097º Rdl, so it's a bit difficult to know where it is if you don't have a GPS. The box below is the communication frequencies.
In the PLAN section, they've included the MSA. The IAF navaid (Navigation Aid) for this approach and the reference point for the MSA, is the ALAMO NDB (AN with frequency 368). So, how do we fly this approach? The San Antonio ATC will give us radar vectors to REUBE (another IAF). If there is no radar for some reason, we will have to fly direct to the AN NDB and follow the ILS backcourse. We will have to tune the ILS frequency (I-ANT 110.90) and proceed with the backcourse approach:
"When you fly a "conventional" Localizer Approach, or any approach for that matter, a needle deflection to the left means that your desired course is to the left, and that you as the pilot must correct the plane's heading to the left to recapture the approach course. The opposite applies for right deflection of course.
However, in a Localizer Back Course, if the needle deflects to the left it means that your desired course is to the right, and that you must correct in the opposite direction to recapture the desired approach course. In other words, left is right and right is left."
As we fly on the 124º backcourse (heading 304), we will have to make a procedure turn over HASDO (13.7 from I-ANT=The ILS' DME) so that we intercept the normal approach course of the ILS. The PT is shown as a thick line with a 259 and a 079. The 259º is the outbound leg of the procedure turn and the 079º is the inbound leg of the procedure turn. As we see in the PROFILE section, we must maintain 3200ft in the PT and when reaching HASDO, we must descend to 2800ft. As we fly over AN, we capture the Glideslope and descend to our minimums.
In the MINIMUMS Section of this format, we see the different types of categories divided in columns. For a Straight-In (S-) ILS approach to Rwy 12R, we need to see the runway by 1009 feet ASL or 200ft Decision Height. The 1009/18 means that 1009 is our Decision Altitude and 18 is 1800ft RVR. The 200 is our DH. What is in brackets is for military use.
If the GS is unserviceable, we would have to refer to the S-LOC 12R (Straight-In LOC approach) minimums. Our MDA would be 1440ft and RVR 2400ft. Minimum Descent Height is 631ft.
If we want to make a sidestep to the parallel runway (12L), our minimums would be 1600ft and with a visibility of 1 mile. 803ft above airport elevation.
On the left side of the Minimums section, we can see an airport diagram. This small diagram shows the runway lengths, the tower location, etc. The booklet also gives us an Airport Diagram page. It is very important to see the location of the taxiways, terminals, hangars, etc.
You can get a bit confused with this chart format and it takes a while to fully understand the content.
Most of the NACO charts are sold in booklets and they issue a new cycle every 56 days (for Terminal Procedures Publication and Airport/Facility Directory). You can find the Terminal Procedures Publications HERE and the Airport/Facility Directory HERE.
Taken from the National Aeronautical Charting Office - NACO http://naco.faa.gov/ (USA ONLY)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Time to turn for Procedure Turns
Hello. Yesterday a friend asked me "If you're in a NDB approach, how do you know when to start the procedure turn?"
There's no table for the MAX TIME TO TURN and no DME station. Some VOR/NDB approaches require a procedure turn at 7 or 8 nautical miles from the station, so I've come up with a formula:
If we're flying at 130kts (130 nautical miles per hour) Ground Speed (GS), we divide it by 60. The result would be 2.166666 NM/minute.
If we have to start the procedure turn (PT) at 8NM from the station, we would have to divide it by 2.166666 NM/min. The answer: 3.69 (decimal) or 3:41 minutes (sexagesimal*).
8/(GS/60) and if you want to have an easier formula: (8x60)/GS. Replace the 8 with a 7 if the PT must be made at 7NM.
If the PT must be made at 8NM: 480/GS
If the PT must be made at 7NM: 420/GS
When flying at 100 kts GS and at 7NM a PT must be made, it is: 420/100=4.2 minutes, or 4:12 minutes.
Of course, we could have the different tables in our kneeboard:
If the airport we are arriving at has a DME, then our problems are solved :)
Next post will be a NACO (National Aeronautical Charting Office) chart explanation. Cya.
*Our results are decimal seconds. For a sexagesimal number, we must multiply it by 0.6 (Example: 0.79 minutes. 0.79x0.6=0:47 minutes)
There's no table for the MAX TIME TO TURN and no DME station. Some VOR/NDB approaches require a procedure turn at 7 or 8 nautical miles from the station, so I've come up with a formula:
If we're flying at 130kts (130 nautical miles per hour) Ground Speed (GS), we divide it by 60. The result would be 2.166666 NM/minute.
If we have to start the procedure turn (PT) at 8NM from the station, we would have to divide it by 2.166666 NM/min. The answer: 3.69 (decimal) or 3:41 minutes (sexagesimal*).
8/(GS/60) and if you want to have an easier formula: (8x60)/GS. Replace the 8 with a 7 if the PT must be made at 7NM.
If the PT must be made at 8NM: 480/GS
If the PT must be made at 7NM: 420/GS
When flying at 100 kts GS and at 7NM a PT must be made, it is: 420/100=4.2 minutes, or 4:12 minutes.
Of course, we could have the different tables in our kneeboard:
If the airport we are arriving at has a DME, then our problems are solved :)
Next post will be a NACO (National Aeronautical Charting Office) chart explanation. Cya.
*Our results are decimal seconds. For a sexagesimal number, we must multiply it by 0.6 (Example: 0.79 minutes. 0.79x0.6=0:47 minutes)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)