Flying in the USA?

[VFR Transit]

I will soon be doing some Hour Building in Florida, and will be my first time flying in the USA. I am sure that there are not many differences, however can any of the seasoned US flyers be able to help me?

I want to be prepared as much as possible for my time out in the USA, and am sure the BFR will help in understanding the differences. I would like to get advice and tips on flying in the USA.

Are there many differences in?

RT
Airspace
Weather Briefs
Airfield Operations
PPR
Landing Fees

Any information, advice, tips & hints would be very welcome.

I shall be flying a 2 year old G1000 C172 out of Orlando.

Thanks
VFR

[Fright Level]

RT - Yes, they use funny accents over there ;-)
Airspace - Yes, easier
Weather Briefs - Yes, easier
Airfield Operations - Yes, easier
PPR - Yes, none usually required
Landing Fees - Yes, none usually apply!

[DBisDogOne]

FL: You beat me to it!!!!!

[tdbristol]

Recent experience

Not sure I would agree with the previous posters.

I have just come back from two weeks at Orlando Executive (KORL), doing my FAA IR. (With Air Orlando - thoroughly recommend them.)

My experience was:

RT: I found it quite hard to understand ATC for the first two-three days (and they also struggled to understand me sometimes). There is a website (forget which) where you can listen to RT from various towers and control centers (live): this might help.

Airspace: rules quite different and also Orlando is Class Bravo airspace i.e. the most busy (and they really can be busy during the day - little time to get in your call). KORL is Class D up to 1,600ft but you must not go above this without clearance - heavies on their way in to KMCO directly above you. Sanford is Class C. Really need to read and understand the Terminal chart ('TAC') as soon as you get there, as well as the sectional.
I did not find it easier: with the departure/arrival control, 3 different frequencies for these depending upon the magnetic heading you are arriving/leaving (and they don't necesarily give them to you when handing over - you have to know them/look them up).

Weather briefs: just wonderful; great. 1-800-WXBRIEF - get weather for your route of flight (even if just local), NOTAMs, TFRs,... you speak to a real person who takes responsibility for ensuring you have the information.
Also, although departure/arrival control are busy, if there are any TS around or CB of concern they will pretty much automatically tell you and if you ask them they will route you around (VFR or IFR). Same enroute with FlightWatch 122.0

Airfield ops: busy airfields: need to get the ATIS first, then often have Clearance Delivery first, then Ground, then Tower, then departure..
They also often say "contact ground point 4" after you land.This means frequency 121.4
Normally after landing you just get off the runway onto a taxiway and tower tells you to contact ground - you musn't move further until you have. You need to be very careful about taxy and hold short instructions which they rattle off (need the airport map immediately to hand); they pretty much go bananas if you don't do it right. Quite a few times I just sat where I was just off the runway and asked them to repeat/clearify, which made them huffy, but nowhere near as huffy as they got with others who got it wrong.
Other ops like re-fueling, briefing etc in the FBO - great and easy.

PPR: never found any required

Landing fees: none

[Radar]

tdbristol,

Out of interest, how did you organise the training with Air Orlando since, last I heard, they could not issue the necessary paperwork to obtain an M-1 visa.

[B2N2]

From Sporty's or somewhere's else order a copy of:

FAR-AIM (regulations)
Sectional charts (North and South Florida
AFD (Airport Facility Directory)
G 1000 training materials

and start studying........Sporty's Home Page


Electronic version of the FAR-AIM:
Electronic Code of Federal Regulations:

If you go the way of the license conversion you do not need a US medical.
I would still recommend it though because it allows you to register for free with https://www.duat.com/ which is fantastic for (approved) weather briefings and electronic flight planning.
You can find info on any US airport at AirNav
ADDS - Prog Charts is good for weather but not an approved source since it does not register a briefing.

[SkyHawk-N]

Buy charts from here....

- The Original Pilot Shop® :: Free Shipping, Price Matching!

Great service and cheaper.

register for free with https://www.duat.com/ which is fantastic for (approved) weather briefings and electronic flight planning.

You can only do this if you have an FAA student certificate number or FAA licence number.

[englishal]

Yes there are many differences - airspace for one - as well as differences in the rules - VFR cruising altitudes as an example. However, flying is easier in the USA from weather briefing, notam briefing, to airspace transits. RT is easy, the format is the same as everywhere else - who you are, where you are and what you want. You just need to know what you want!

As suggested get a copy of the FAR/AIM 2009 and gen up on it (it is also online somewhere). It contains all the relevent information and the stuff you will need to know.

[BelArgUSA]

Info for USA private flying

Visit this site - PilotPointer.com >> Pilot specific information server. Easy access to a multitude of aviation related topics - news weather jobs entertainment search databases links -
Contains a lot of information sources for private flying in USA...
FARs, AIM, NOS/WX Briefings, FBOs, airport info etc.
xxx

Happy contrails

[dont overfil]

VFR
You're with some of the good guys at Air Orlando. I've rented from several in the area but they are the best and with modern aircraft.
The RT is probably the hardest part but your ear soon tunes in and if it makes you feel any better they struggle understanding us.
Read the books. Rod Machados is the easiest read and a good laugh.
Have fun.
DO.

[BackPacker]

Out of interest, how did you organise the training with Air Orlando since, last I heard, they could not issue the necessary paperwork to obtain an M-1 visa.

Hour building is not training. No visa required: can all be done under the Visa Waiver Program (assuming you qualify for that, but most Europeans do).

[Contacttower]

I'll have a go expanding a little on what has already been written....

RT:

Quite fast paced in Florida with Orlando and Daytona Beach frequencies often being almost constant talk with a huge variation in the standard of RT and basic English which can be quite frustrating sometimes.

There is no concept of QFE just the "altimeter setting" for each airport in inches of mercury (29.92 is standard and equals 1013 millibars) which gives height above mean sea level. No flight levels until 18,000ft so one doesn't have to worry about transition layers/levels etc.

'Flight following' which is generally given by approach and center frequencies to aircraft enroute is roughly equivalent to the UK radar information service. With traffic information as well as information pertinent to the safe conduct of flight being provided.

There isn't really an equivalent to A/G or AFIS frequencies; airports are either controlled or have CTAF (common traffic advisory frequency) on which aircraft simply transmit their intentions to each other with no ground station being involved. Those airports that are controlled though usually have a full complement of frequencies ie ATIS, ground and tower and those in class C or B airspace will have their own approach frequency as well.

It's a common practice to add the type of aircraft to your tail number (registration) so if you are a PA28-161 and have N81344 as a tail number for example you would call up as "Warrior 81344" and once the controller has shortened the callsign it would be "Warrior 344" (drop the first two digits).

To be honest I'm not really a fan of Florida RT; there are an awful lot of aircraft over that state and often it seems the controllers are completely run off their feet. Radio discipline is quite sloppy and the American pilots seem to have the bizarre habit of suffixing their calls with "sir" instead of their callsign.


Airspace:

In Florida and in fact most of the US everywhere is class E above 1200ft AGL which means VFR traffic and IFR traffic mix quite a lot. Because of this it is recommended to always be in contact with ATC and above 3000ft one should always fly the correct semi circular altitude for track. IFR traffic must be on a flight plan or pop up clearance and be in contact with ATC at all times.

Uncontrolled airports are class G up to 700ft AGL (above that airspace is class E again). They don't have ATZs as such but the area of class G around them (usually with a radius of 6NM) could be considered as being roughly equivalent to an ATZ.

The next level up is the class D airport; the airspace is usually arranged as a circle of about 5NM radius around the main runway up to about 2500ft (although often lower if there is a higher class of airspace above).

Then there is class C around busier airports which usually consists of an inner ring of 5NM from the surface up to 4000ft and an outer ring extending to 10NM from 1200ft to 4000ft. The rules of transiting class D and C are essentially the same....in order to enter you just need to have established two way communication; no clearance as such is issued (although ATC may tell you to keep to clear of airspace if its very busy).

Class B which around major airports like Orlando International, Miami, Tampa etc is essentially the same rules as D in the UK.


Weather:

As several have already commented is covered by phoning 1-800 WX BRIEF before flying. The the 'briefer' as the operator is called is able to provide all weather and NOTAMs as well as file both VFR and IFR flight plans.

There is also the national weather website which has most weather info on it AWC - Aviation Weather Center.

Enroute one can contact local Flight Service Stations which again can provide most weather. There is also 'Flight Watch' (which is available in theory at least everywhere in the USA on 122.0MHz) and 'Hazardous Weather Information' (often transmitted on various VOR frequencies) which again are there to provide weather information (and collect it from aircraft in the case of Flight Watch) to enroute aircraft.


Not a huge amount to say about the other three points....all airports worth visiting have a FBO (fixed base operator) which will provide fuel, computer, phone, lounge and snacks.

No PPR as such so as long as an airport isn't notamed as being shut one can assume it is open.

No landing fees except Miami International which I think has a seasonal landing fee.

[Fright Level]

Sorry need to clarify a couple of CT's points:

There is no concept of QFE just the "altimeter setting" for each airport in inches of mercury (29.92 is standard and equals 1013 millibars) which gives height above mean sea level. No flight levels until 18,000ft so one doesn't have to worry about transition layers/levels etc.

Yes, it's called QNH. As most of Florida is less than 100' AMSL, no UK pilot need be concerned about setting the QNH for landing anyhow.

'Flight following' which is generally given by approach and center frequencies to aircraft enroute is roughly equivalent to the UK flight information service although controllers will usually identify you (or "radar contact" as they say).

With a squawk and "radar" contact, their flight following is more like our radar information service where you are positively tracked. UK FIS is a bloke sat in a dark room with no radar writing down how many planes he's spoken to in Essex/Kent etc and passing the area QNH or local METAR to you. Completely different to US flight following.

[gfunc]

A book that helped me get used to the US way of doing RT is "The pilot's radio communications handbook" by Paul E. Illman. It's relatively short and easy reading and has info about airspace and filing VFR flightplans. It's available on the jungle theme online shopping giant.

A couple of things that I found different was talking to the flight service stations by transmiting in one frequency and listening for the reply on a nearby VOR frequency on the nav box. Also it took me a while to get use to the whole CTAF at uncontrolled airports, my top tip is to listen out (and transmit when its your turn) for the name of the airport at the start and end of a transmission since there is often more than one airport operating on the same frequency.

A nice site with the current sectionals online (for free), so that you can get an idea of the lay of the land is here : SkyVector.com - Aeronautical Charts - Flight Planning

All the airfield info (a la Pooley's) is available from the FAA for free in the the digitial airport and facilities directory (AFD): http://www.avn.faa.gov/index.asp?xml=naco/online/d_afd

Cheers,

Gareth.

[Contacttower]

With a squawk and "radar" contact, their flight following is more like our radar information service where you are positively tracked. UK FIS is a bloke sat in a dark room with no radar writing down how many planes he's spoken to in Essex/Kent etc and passing the area QNH or local METAR to you. Completely different to US flight following.

Yes I'd agree that the flight following is probably more like the RIS service on reflection; although FL have you been to the FIR department at Swanwick recently? It doesn't really fit your description I have to say....

[B2N2]

From the registration page of www.duat.com

Student Medical Number

So we're both right......

You can only do this if you have an FAA student certificate number or FAA licence number.

If you get a Third class medical on the Yellow piece of paper it states:
Student pilot Medical Certificate.
That number allows you Duat registration......

[SkyHawk-N]

If you get a Third class medical on the Yellow piece of paper it states:
Student pilot Medical Certificate.
That number allows you Duat registration......

Yes....and no

My third class medical number wasn't recognised by them, and as my piggyback FAA licence number is relatively new that also isn't recognised by them. I have to send in copies to substantiate my claim for access. All very fustrating when it's just a weather site.

[BackPacker]

Who mentioned hour building? tdbristol said he did a FAA IR...

Sorry. Missed the "tdbristol" word and thought the question was in relation to the first post in this thread, where "hour building" is mentioned in the very first sentence.

[Fright Level]

although FL have you been to the FIR department at Swanwick recently? It doesn't really fit your description I have to say

No, still waiting for an invite to a TRUCE day down there

[Airbus Girl]

taxiing - if you have any problems (and yes, they do talk far too fast!) ask for "progressive taxi". They will keep an eye on you, and as you get to each intersection they will say, "turn left" "turn right" etc. Nice.

ctaf - this is a slightly different concept, and sometimes you get someone on the ground. Its a bit like a more colloquial version of Air-Ground radio that is used at some airfields in the UK. Just be aware that if someone on the ground answers and tells you the weather, it may or may not be correct!!! Sometimes its the cafe owner and they will say "wind is westerly, they just landed on 27" which actually means that half an hour ago one aircraft that was practicing crosswind landings landed on that runway, even though the wind is northerly. But it gives you an idea. Then make calls like you would on UK Air-Ground frequencies (although a lot of pilots seem to use them as ATC these days!!!). Most important thing - always use the airfield name at start and end of your transmission because there are often other airports using the same frequency.

Don't be afraid to talk on the radio and ask stuff. And if they give you a heading, they want you on it now, not after you've had a think about it, looked at a map, etc.

Everything is done on QNH. Very sensible. You will need to know the height of the airfield though, because this is what your altimeter will read when you land. Don't forget, could be embarrassing.


No-one uses the "November" prefix in the radio call.

Airfield ops: busy airfields: need to get the ATIS first, then often have Clearance Delivery first, then Ground, then Tower, then departure..
Normally after landing you just get off the runway onto a taxiway and tower tells you to contact ground - you musn't move further until you have.

.

This is the same as any other big airfield in Europe and if you have a JAA RT licence then you should know this procedure already....