mrshoe
1st Jul 2007, 18:29
During the last 14 days, I have spent the mornings in the Library and the afternoons at my home study learnig about Air Navigation. The past 2 days have been all about revising and doing excercises on Basic Navigation Theory and Flight Planning. Every morning before my work day starts, i look at TAFS/ METARS, Uk low level wind spot charts (form 214) and the forecast weather below 10,000ft amsl (form 215). Weatherjack, AIS, NATs and The Met office websites are the ones that i use mostly. I have found these sites which wil give information on the UK sunrise and sunset times - I couldn’t use my internet skills to get a copy of the Air Almanac - try the U.S. Naval Observatory and Canterbury Weather
If you wanted to get an overview of Uk winds check this site called XC Weather
I have created my own template flight log which is a cut and paste of several versions. It needs a tiny tweek. I have found planing pretend cross country flights a great way to understand the theory as I have not flown an aeroplane for over 31 days. Weather has been the main factor for the lack of flying. I have a new ICAO 1:500:000 and CAA 1:250:000 maps - some difference between the 2 maps are the height to which certain airspace is shown and the CAA map has more detail.
It is starting to make sense and i know that once i get back in the air and learn air navigation i will get the answers to areas that i am finding slightly taxing. These taxing issues should not be causing me problems as they are meant to be skills that can be used in flight to keep things simple. I have always had problems with simple things. I am not good with mental maths and am trying very hard to master Dead reckoning, calculating pressure density, dealing with compass errors, calculating off track angles. I have been writing a list of questions to present to my instructor for help….
CAA Safety leaflets: I recommend student pilots to visit the CAA website and download the safety leaflets.
I have downloaded the following leaflets:-
Wake vortex
weight and balance
flight in controlled airspace
Good airmanship
RT
And i have the following literature from AIP and AIC - AIP Altimeter settings region - AIP flight planning - AIP general rules for flight procedure and GET MET. They are extremely helpful and make good reading in the bath or the park.
If you wanted to get an overview of Uk winds check this site called XC Weather
I have created my own template flight log which is a cut and paste of several versions. It needs a tiny tweek. I have found planing pretend cross country flights a great way to understand the theory as I have not flown an aeroplane for over 31 days. Weather has been the main factor for the lack of flying. I have a new ICAO 1:500:000 and CAA 1:250:000 maps - some difference between the 2 maps are the height to which certain airspace is shown and the CAA map has more detail.
It is starting to make sense and i know that once i get back in the air and learn air navigation i will get the answers to areas that i am finding slightly taxing. These taxing issues should not be causing me problems as they are meant to be skills that can be used in flight to keep things simple. I have always had problems with simple things. I am not good with mental maths and am trying very hard to master Dead reckoning, calculating pressure density, dealing with compass errors, calculating off track angles. I have been writing a list of questions to present to my instructor for help….
CAA Safety leaflets: I recommend student pilots to visit the CAA website and download the safety leaflets.
I have downloaded the following leaflets:-
Wake vortex
weight and balance
flight in controlled airspace
Good airmanship
RT
And i have the following literature from AIP and AIC - AIP Altimeter settings region - AIP flight planning - AIP general rules for flight procedure and GET MET. They are extremely helpful and make good reading in the bath or the park.