dublinpilot,

you are also cleared for a 'stop and go' which is subtlely different from a full stop which is usually taken to mean leave the runway after landing. You can use a 'stop and go' for night currency without the hassle of a taxi back. Of course you need a long enough runway, but most in the US are plenty long enough.

Thanks guys.

Something to be sure that you understand is the '45 deg join'. It's quite well described in the FAR/AIM, but I'm surprised how many UK pilots who have flown there don't seem to understand it. What the FAR/AIM doesn't mention is the common use of VRP's for joining, often at 2 mi 45 deg to the downwind abeam the tower. Studying the chart will often reveal these VRP's before you get there so that you can be primed for a possibly unintelligible place name that the controller says.

Sorry for the late acknowledgement, but thanks very much for the replies everyone, I appreciate it. I ordered some charts to get used to the area and was horrified to discover they're not laminated as standard like the ICAO ones. Guess that'll be pencil then.

Cheers

Ginger ;)

Which is MUCH better ;)

Laminated charts are a pain and hard to fold, and as the FAA ones expire every 56 (?) days it is no biggie. Also I use one of those "magic" pens to draw my route. One side is like a highlighter, the other end is an eraser so when you draw over the marks with the eraser end it disappears. (actually saying that, since starting to fly G1000 aeroplanes I don't bother drawing on the paper map any more ;))

They charts expire every 6 months or so. It's the facilities directories that expire every 56 days.

Well I arrived back on Monday after a week in Florida at Ormond Beach. 20 hours got me a PPL revalidation checkride, an FAA multi rating and a UK night rating (CAA instructor was over there with me), which seemed like good going. Granted the multi will be pretty much useless over here unless I win the lottery, but it will stand me in good stead for ATPL training when/if I get there. Also it was great fun to fly a 'proper' aircraft with foldy wheels and two throttles.

As for radio, well it was easy as anything, I shouldn't have worried. I did enjoy being cleared for landing and take-off each time, as I rarely fly from fully controlled fields in the UK. Equally pleasing was a regional airport tower that had a radar picture, weather station and ATIS rather than just a walkie-talkie and a windsock. The transition from Seminole to C152 every day (multi in the day, single for night) was tricky at first as they required completely different styles of landing. To top it all off I got to take a 172 into Orlando Sanford to catch the flight home :) . Great experience and very interesting.

Ginger ;)

Good book
 

Hey Guys,

I've been flying in the US for a few months after finally getting round to dusting off my old poo brown book. I picked a book entitled "The pilot's radio communication handbook" by Paul Illman - you can get it off a website named after a south american jungle. Its a bit pricey ($35), but with the current exchange rate is well worth it.

I recommend it since it is one of the few books that go into depth about multicom, unicom and flight service stations which I found are the things that are most different over here. Who would of thunk you can transmit on one frequency and get a reply listening to nav1!

I found this book well written, easy to follow and also gives a nice overview of US airspace to boot. The only thing it can't help you with is the "Noo Yawk" controllers who sayeverythingveryfastandwithoutanykindofpause.

Cheers,

Gareth.