Class Bravo Surface Area

10/25/2009 N8229P

Got to take my Mom and Step Dad Jack up today.  Mom was really interested in seeing her house from the sky so I planned a course using pilotage to get us to Greenville.  My plan was to depart Patterson Northbound to a small airport (Barnhart  Memorial) and then take a heading of about 320° which would overfly Troy, where I am from and where my Mom grew up.  After that I was going to follow State Route41 Northwest to Covington where I would pickup a railroad track to take me into the Greenville area.  The railroad track, which I thought would be kind of hard to pick out was important because I could take it to the intersection of the railroad and State Route 127 which is also an easy intersection to use to find their house.  At that intersection State Route 127 turns from a four lane divided highway to a two lane highway.  So that was the plan to get us into the Greenville area, I hadn’t really planned a way back I was going to see how we were doing on time and how the weather was.  I knew that I could go back the way I came, fly over Dayton’s Class Charlie or go through it, or even go around it on the South side as well.

Me flying N8229P 10/25/2009

We got to the airport around 1410 local (2010z) so I filed for a 1445 local departure.  We had to take the Archer N8229P because all of the Warriors were taken for the day.  For $2 more an hour you get alot better weight and balance characteristics as well as a little faster true airspeed.  I didn’t need the Archer in particular but I think in the long run it worked out better because of the overall length of our flight.  The weather had looked beautiful all day with a broken layer of clouds at about 9000 ft. which really was preventing any convection turbulence from building up, however a couple hours before the flight that broken layer began to go away leaving essentially clear skies.  The winds were forecast to be from the South at around 5 knots and winds aloft were minimal coming from the Southwest at around 9 knots.  After filing we got some headsets and went out to pre-flight the airplane.

It turns out that 29P had not been flown in around a week but pre-flight was smooth with no discrepancies so we loaded up with Jack in the back and Mom and myself in the front.  Got everyone buckled in and acquainted with the seat belt requirements and operation and got ready to start up.  The ATIS confirmed much of the weather that I expected except that the winds were really coming from the Southwest, right down the runway, and not the South but they were pretty light overall.  After setting the altimeter I called Patterson Ground for permission to start the engine.  It’s a military field thing, everyone on the field has to have permission before starting up.  After getting approval to start up I shut the radios off and went through the engine start procedure.  No joy.  The starter turned, although not that well but the engine never fired.  Once more I attempted to start with no luck.  The second time the starter seemed just as weak but the motor did act like it wanted to start.  For the third time I gave it a little more prime and it did reluctantly start.  After starting though I had a pretty high oil pressure reading, but it did gradually start to go down.  It is pretty normal to have a high oil pressure reading until the oil heats up but this seemed closer to the red line than normal.  I gave the engine some extra time to warm up and called for taxi.  Once we got our taxi instructions we taxied, did our run-up check and called tower ready to go.

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10/21/2009 N128AV

Barely two days after I finished my private pilot license I got the privilege of taking my first passenger my wife Stephanie.  Not only was she my first passenger but this was her first time in a light airplane so I had my work cut out for me.  I needed to make sure that she wanted to fly again, and because of that I selected the day at the last minute calling Steph at work and telling her that this beautiful weather was exactly what she needed for her first flight.  She agreed and though I had to do some finagling to find someone to watch our daughter for the evening we were off to meet at the airport after Steph got off of work.

Turning final to 23L KFFO

The winds were virtually non existent all day and a ceiling of broken clouds hovered around 9,000 ft. keeping the air really smooth all day long.  We got to the airport around 1630 local (2030 zulu) and I filed a flight plan for the practice areas and South of the field.  My plan was to take us over to the Kings Island area and back.  Short and sweet, but something that is certainly cool to see from the air.  We were in N128AV a Piper Warrior which I took Steph with me to pre-flight.  I had planned on walking her through the entire pre-flight which I did and she seemed interested throughout.  Once we were done with the pre-flight I asked her if she was ready.  I could see a little nervousness in her which I think dissipated the farther along we went.  We got the engine started and taxied out to the run-up area to finish the before takeoff checks.  I talked her through every checklist and tried really hard to make her a part of the flight, after all this is supposed to be something that we are going to do together.  [Read the rest of this entry...]

10/19/2009 I68 N43581

After my long morning I finally had arrived at Lebanon to take my test.  The examiner first wanted to see my Aircraft Registration, and other pertinent documents even before we got inside.  Once we got that all squared away he took me into his hanger (across from his house right on the airport) and showed me around.  In his hanger he had 2 Cessna 172’s similarly painted from distinctly different periods of time.  I’m not a Cessna guy but it was really interesting to see the difference between the two aircraft they didn’t even look the same.  Exact same airplane about twenty years apart completely different.  The examiner also had two Taylorcrafts one completely build, which he said he had been flying this morning, and one which was completely torn apart and was in the process of being restored.  We then proceeded to his office area where he cleared a spot on his desk and we started the oral section of the exam.

He first asked for my application for rating, and my logbook and medical which I handed over.  As I handed him that he handed me another piece of paper and had me draw a diagram of wind correction at various locations during turns about a point on one side and had me list all the the V speeds on the other side.  The V speed question was sort of a shocker to me, I don’t know why, I knew my speeds, Vy, Vx, Va, Vso, but Vne, Vno, and Vfe really threw me for a loop.  I told him that I didn’t have them memorized but I knew where to find them both in the Pilot Operating Handbook and on the airspeed indicator and he was happy with that answer.  The examiner was full of stories it seemed like for every question he asked there was an associated story.  The oral went pretty smooth.  He literally got out his Practical Test Standards and went right down the list.  If I didn’t know the answer I just told him, and he did stump me a few times but I felt pretty confident when he told me that he was satisfied lets go flying!!! [Read the rest of this entry...]

Well after nearly two years I finally completed my Private Pilot Single Engine Land Certificate.  After around two years, 64.6 total hours and two instructors I finally accomplished my goal of becoming a Private Pilot.  I had absolutely no intentions of dragging it out this long, but after a couple of financial obstacles, the birth of our first child and battling the weather a time or two I finally got it accomplished Monday October 19, 2009.

Monday was a pretty long day.  I had planned ahead to have my Mom come watch my daughter early enough to give me plenty of time to get to the airport, review my flight plans, the AIM and FARs, as well as do some general touch up on some of the things that I expected to be asked.  I got to the airport around 0930 and had brought lunch, so I trekked upstairs to the flight planning room and got all of my sectionals, flight logs, and notes out.  I was asked by the examiner to plan a cross country flight from I68 (Lebanon) to KALN (St. Louis Regional) via KDAY (Dayton International).  I was asked to plan from Lebanon to Dayton using current days winds and weather, and to St. Louis Regional using a 30kt headwind.  After doing all of my planning ahead of time all I had left was to calculate my times and speeds for that Dayton leg.  I did all of my estimated time en-route calculations for the first leg as soon as I got there, and looking back on it it would have likely been better to wait until closer to my appointment for more accurate winds.  It was at that time only 0945 and I wasn’t scheduled to be in Lebanon until 1300, and I expected another hour or so after that until we flew, but needless to say hindsight is always 20/20.

After completing this I did a quick check of the weather which was not looking all that great.  The winds had really picked up from calm when I woke up to 16kts at Wright Patterson, and gusting to 22kts at Dayton.  A quick check of Lebanon’s AWOS showed calm winds there the first time I called and ten minutes later gusts of 20kts, and ten minutes after that 4kts.  So here I was faced with these rapidly changing winds, usually aligned with the runway very well but generally very strong.  After some consultation with my instructor and another instructor at the Aero Club I decided that I can handle the winds and I was going to go.  I must admit though that this was not my first decision, and I had actually called the examiner to cancel.  Luckily when I called he was on a flight or I would have likely not gone at all that day.  Regardless this decision making process and the winds in general ended up making me about 40 minutes late for my appointment, which the examiner was fine with. [Read the rest of this entry...]

On VATSIM I strive for realism as much as practical.  I agree wholeheartedly that there is a fine line between the “ultra real”, and “as real as practical”, but if you don’t know the reason behind the procedures that you are following, and think real hard about how this exact same situation would be handled in the real world you are not really simulating anything.  So lets talk about a couple of situations, their real world purposes, and how they can be effectively simulated on VATSIM.

First thing first is the clearance delivery portion of a flight.  Every ARTCC teaches some sort of preferred routing procedure at a minimum on their major fields, but some even on their minor fields.  If a pilot files for an initial fix that isn’t a departure gate according to your facilities procedures should he be denied that routing, or be allowed to fly what he has planned for.  Well this begs a couple of situational questions before making a decision.  What does you airspace look like at the moment, do you have expected arrivals approaching the fix that the pilot has filed for, does it in any way affect other traffic, can (note the key word can, not do you want to) you allow this pilot to fly as filed?  If you answered no to the first two questions then you don’t even have a decision to make here the pilot should be allowed to fly what he has filed.  A brief explination prior to giving the clearance of the standard procedures at the field and how they pertain to his flight may be warranted but if the pilot still wants to fly as he has filed then they should’nt be denied.  If the answer to one of these questions is yes then you have some ground for requesting the pilot fly a different route, or even allowing the pilot to fly the route requested only after all of the potential conflicts have been mitigated.

Now lets look a runway selection and noise abatement procedures.  A pilot gets assigned a runway with a slight tailwind component and asks for a runway more closely aligned with the wind because he is not comfortable taking off in that condition.  What do we do here?  If you selected the runway for noise abatement then this is pretty simple, as long as there is not already an arrival or departure flow that will be interrupted by the usage of a different runway then give it to them.  If one aircraft violates noise abatement on VATSIM the city of Cincinnati will not fine the airport for disturbing the peace, there are no people living in the virtual city of Cincinnati to even notice the extra noise.  What is the harm?

Arrivals tend to have the most questions when it comes to runway selection and airspace entry.  You are operating a class charlie or class bravo facility so you have complete discretion as to whether or not to allow VFR aircraft entry into your airspace right?  Well kind of, but not really.  You can deny an aircraft because of operational needs, and workload.  Now granted workload is an individual thing and what may be too many aircraft in your sector may be just getting started in my sector, and even if we deny entry for workload reasons we still need to let that aircraft have the option to wait out the traffic and come in when the workload diminishes sufficiently.  Telling an aircraft to remain clear of the class bravo airspace and to expect further in ten minutes is completely acceptable, it’s kind of like holding a VFR aircraft.

I am a huge advocate of learning flying skills on the network as they are taught in real life going from small “simple” single engine aircraft and then moving on the the bigger “complex” aircraft but there is no real way to enforce that.  Something interesting happened to me last night while controlling Indianapolis Center where a pilot, flying for a well organized Virtual Airline, didn’t understand a visual approach.  After I cleared him for the visual approach, and it should be noted that I use visual approaches whenever possible, he replied and said that he was going to have to make a couple of turns to get aligned with the runway.  Now he never requested an ILS and accepted the visual approach clearance but had he requested it I wouldn’t have hesitated to give him vectors to final on the ILS.  Landing an aircraft is a tricky thing to learn and the ILS seems, at least on VATSIM, to be the simplest approach to use because it gives you that all important glide slope information.  This being the case if it helps a newer pilot learn how to better operate his aircraft then by all means if it can be done it should be done.

VATSIM is a conduit of aviation education to the world, and in order for it to work best as many people who can have access to the system need to have access to the system.  If you are hassling a pilot to the point where they disconnect what have you done to better the network.  Sure your facility can now say it has operated using completely real procedures but you have lost the chance to teach a pilot something they didn’t otherwise know, and lost that piece of traffic flying through your airspace.  This is someone who now will likely not return to your facility in the future.  So balance the equation before denying a pilot’s request for something unusual.  Can it really not be safely accomplished or do you just not want to do it.

After leaving the tower we got a chance to go downstairs and have a look around the radar room.  Before going into the radar room we got a chance to view the machinery which runs the radar scopes.  According to our guide this is one of the oldest operational terminal radar system in the United States, and Dayton controllers seem to like it that way.  The dependability and reliability of the older ARTS III system seems significantly better than the newer STARS system which may be easier to modify and maintain but many of the Dayton controllers hearts lie with the older system.

Before we got to see the actual radar room we got a chance to see the back end of the radar system which was quite an adventure.  Housed in a room just behind the radar room was a huge bank of computers towering at least six feet tall and twenty feet long which power the old ARTS III system in use.  This stack of computers was surrounded on the floor and ceiling by air conditioning vents which remain in operation regardless of the outside temperature.  If the air conditioning units in this room were to fail we were told components in this computer would literally melt.  This huge system is replaced by three boxes the size of a desktop computer in the newer stars system.

Once in the radar room we could immediately tell that traffic was pretty light by the number of controllers working actual aircraft.  Only two positions were open in the TRACON while we were there, and a number of the scopes were sectioned off and being used for training scenarios.  Of the scopes on the active side one was being used to show us around and one was being used to do some testing on the system.  We got a chance to see much of the functionality of the ARTS III system and the communications system being used.  At the touch of a button controllers could have their pick of videomaps up on the screen depicting everything that they need.  They could run these over top of each other or with just a single map.  I really like the functionality here where at the press of a button, no sorting through menus as in VRC.

One thing while we were in the radar room that I found extremely interesting was the lack of formality in controller to controller communication.  Many times controllers would just lean over and talk to another controller when coordinating, but even when talking to other facilities the initial request may be formal but after initial contact the controllers just used plain English.  This is something on VATSIM that I think we tend to over formalize.

All in all this was a unique experience and I am certainly glad that I got to do it before the TRACON moved out and the new tower was built.  Anyone who hasn’t gotten a chance to tour an FAA facility I highly recommend it it is a great experience and provides a wealth of knowledge for pilots both real and virtual.

After going over the basics of air traffic control, talking about the career in general and discussing some particulars about Dayton’s airspace we were escorted onto the elevator and up to the tower cab.  I must admit that security is considerably higher than I originally imagined.  We had to go through numerous locked doors and a secured elevator before we made it to the tower cab and that is not considering the security check point.

Once we reached the tower cab the first thing that came to mind is the small size of the cab in general.  It was extremely small but all three controllers had their own section of space to work in.  One thing about the close quarters was that it definitely allowed for quick and easy coordination.  The workstations of the tower cab face to the East overlooking the departure end of runways 24L and 24R as well as all of runway 36/18.  As you looked out the tower cab to your left was the clearance delivery position, in the middle was the ground and off to your right was the local controller.  While we were there traffic was pretty sparse and only clearance delivery and local were in operation with local also taking responsibility for ground.

Clearance delivery had about 10 flight strips in front of him all containing ground stops and EDCT information for various airports which had flights departing Dayton.  The biggest surprise about the clearance delivery position to me was that he seemed to be in more communication with the airlines themselves than the aircraft.  Much more coordination behind the scenes for this position than I initially imagined.  All of the coordination with the airlines is regarding the ground stops and departure clearance times.  Sometimes the controllers get this information prior to the airlines but surprisingly the controllers say that generally the airlines know before them.  This position though it seems simple has a lot of background and leg work that goes into it.  On a busy day the clearance delivery controller can get pretty busy coordinating with the airlines and various controllers.

Ground was not staffed but was combined with local and at Dayton seems to be one of the easiest positions to work in the tower.  Aircraft exiting runway 24R are given two simple instructions which get them back to the ramp, and there no real issues with getting arriving traffic around departing traffic.  The hardest part about ground is keeping track of which aircraft is where.  There are no data tags to look at and no ground radar keeping track of where the aircraft are just the controller and a pad of paper.

Local was not very busy but that gave him a chance to talk to us about some of the tools which he uses.  The local controller actually talked to airport ground vehicles more than he did aircraft.  One thing that we discussed in pretty good detail is the use of radar in the tower cab.  Dayton Tower has a DBRITE display slaved off of the TRACON radar in the cab for local to use.  This is just another tool to the controller for finding aircraft locations, and coordination.  The local controller still needs to have their eyes in the sky to sequence their traffic and generate their spacing.  We did however get a couple of arrivals in while we were in the cab and got to see some of the coordination which takes place.  TRACON handed the aircraft off to local more than 13 miles away from the airport on a visual approach.  Because of the minimal traffic local was able to give a landing clearance to that aircraft just after the handoff.  Local saw on the DBRITE who was coming and from what direction allowing them to know what to expect and when to expect it.

I recently got a chance to visit with the controllers at Dayton International Airport and have a look around their facilities.  This was an interesting opportunity to talk to people who practice this craft every day with real aircraft.  Unfortunately I was unable to get any pictures while we were there, but what we learned certainly made up for the lack of photos.

After we arrived we were taken back into the office areas where they explained a little about the history and facilities at Dayton.  Dayton has more satellite facilities than any other Class Charlie TRACON facility by its size of airspace.  The satellite facilities get more traffic than the primary field.  As recently as 3 months ago Dayton TRACON handled more evening arrivals and departures than any other TRACON in the United States.  With Dayton International handling about 60 in and out and Wilmington handling nearly 120 in and out a night.  With the departure of domestic operations by DHL at Wilmington those numbers have dwindled to considerably lower now.  Dayton TRACON operates an 2 ASR-9 antennas one located just north of Dayton International and one located on the field at Wilmington.  The Wilmington ASR-9 was purchased and installed by Airborne Express during their tenure at Wilmington to allow for simultaneous independent ILS operations for their arrival push in the evenings.  As of the time of our visit Dayton TRACON still used the Wilmington ASR-9 in the evening hours despite Wilmington operations decline.  The data from the 2 ASR-9 antennas are sent to an ARTS III-A radar terminal system, which was described to us as the oldest system of its size currently in operation in the United States.  The computer which powers the scopes is easily 16 feet long, 8 feet high and 4 feet deep and contains a whopping 6 MB of memory.  Installed in the 1960’s the technology was described as old but extremely reliable.  With enough parts in house to maintain this equipment it seemed to be the consensus that the ARTS III system may have its downsides but the reliability over the newer STARS system make it the preferred system.

It was also confirmed that sometime in 2010 Dayton TRACON will be going to Columbus.  The new tower facility being built at Dayton will not include a radar room.  Dayton will still maintain a primary TRACON function but those controllers will be located in Columbus instead of Dayton.  This is supposedly a cost saving measure by the FAA but the benefits are et to be proven.  Combination of TRACON facilities seems to be the new trend in FAA facilities, but regardless of how financially sound an idea it is it certainly does take away the local flair from the radar controllers.  Controllers who are also pilots will no longer be flying in the airspace that they control, they will now be flying in the Columbus area instead.  Eventually your controllers wont have the local knowledge of the airspace that they once had.  Another downside of moving the TRACON is that you leave controllers in Dayton who are now just tower controllers.  Once the TRACON leaves those left at Dayton will lose their radar ticket and essentially be Class Delta tower controllers working in Class Charlie airspace.

More to come from the tower and TRACON later.

The VFR traffic pattern is the basis for flight training and sets very similar foundation for controllers.  The traffic pattern can offer huge benefits to your controller training by allowing you to practice talking to aircraft and an understanding of how traffic flows within your airspace.  I used to hear all the time a vZID controllers moan and groan when someone wanted to remain in the pattern, or even fly the radar pattern, but now that they are receiving a considerable amount of training on these skills many controllers actually look for that pattern traffic.

Pattern entry instructions must be given to all arriving VFR aircraft.  Any leg of the pattern including the upwind leg may be used for entry.  Another unique entry into the pattern is to have an aircraft overfly the field to enter a downwind on the opposite side of the runway than they are currently on.  This is useful particularly when you have an aircraft departing a runway at the same time another aircraft is going to enter the upwind leg.  These two aircraft, once turning crosswind wont be able to efficiently achieve the necessary separation.  by having an aircraft overfly the field and preforming a 270 degree turn, hopefully at standard rate, it gives ample time to enter the pattern at a point where appropriate separation can be achieved.

Now now that the aircraft is in the pattern we need to begin thinking about reporting points.  First let me say that there is no reason to require a reporting point to aircraft anywhere, they serve only one operational purpose and that is to remind the controllers of the position of an aircraft.  In a busy pattern you may not need reporting points because you are going to be paying such close attention to the position of the aircraft in the pattern.  Don’t issue these instructions unless you need to.  A perfect example of a good time to issue a pattern reporting point is when you have multiple departures on the ground asking for clearance and taxi instructions and one aircraft in the pattern.  The report will serve as a great reminder as to where that aircraft is and that you need to also keep watch on his actions.  That being said a reporting point can be a number of places in the pattern not just midfield downwind.  Some good reporting points include any leg of the pattern as well as abeam a threshold point.

Sequencing in the tower is one of the most difficult tasks a local controller has.  Judging lateral distances from the tower is extremely difficult to do without some sort of radar display.  This is one of the most useful things that a tower radar display has to offer to a local controller.  Being able to judge lateral distance between aircraft is one of the largest benefits that tower radar displays have to offer.  Giving an aircraft an instruction to extend their downwind leg and calling their base really can’t be done without the use of tower radar display.  You just cant judge the lateral separation of these aircraft accurately from your vantage point in the tower cab.  The best way to simulate this in real life is to take a long stretch of flat interstate.  Imagine this stretch of interstate with no distinguishable landmarks, kind of like the sky, and use the cars as the aircraft in your traffic pattern.  Now call the base leg turn for a car in the lane closest to you about a mile away from you following a car in the lane farthest away from you.  This is extremely difficult to do.

Visual separation in the traffic pattern is your friend.  Why are we constantly issuing sequencing instructions to VFR aircraft in the pattern.  They are VFR, and are required to see and avoid other aircraft.  To more efficiently separate our traffic in the pattern simply give appropriate traffic advisories to your aircraft and put the burden on their shoulders.  Sequencing instructions such as 360°, or 270° turn are most appropriately used to create holes for departures, and aircraft entering the traffic pattern.  These instructions when used to separate traffic can be helpful, but many times lead to even greater spacing and separation issues.  When pilots maintain visual separation of other aircraft the traffic pattern becomes much more efficient.    After all this technique is used thousands of times a day at those pesky uncontrolled fields.

The traffic pattern can be your best friend or your worst enemy.  The big thing to remember is that even though the traffic pattern is yours to control sometimes letting aircraft separate themselves is the best way to operate.  Don’t give instructions to an aircraft just because you can, give them because you need to.

VATSIM is all about learning don’t get me wrong but if you don’t know what you are doing just admit it.  I recently was controlling Indy Center when a pilot departed not once, not twice but three times from a Class Charlie airfield without contacting me once.  He would get up in the air, I would contact him asking what he was doing and he would restart his flight over and over again.  There is nothing wrong with not knowing the correct procedure, but if you don’t know just ask.  Many times when I am flying I don’t know whether an approach is covering my class delta I make sure that I call them up anyway.  It is a huge headache to be controlling 30 aircraft with this one rogue pilot just flying around as he pleases.  Better safe than sorry is the correct mentality when flying through airspace which may be controlled.

Most controllers will do anything they can to help new pilots out, but the worst thing to do is to cause a bunch of headache while they are controlling and wait for them to offer their assistance.  Set a good initial relationship with the controller and by all means very seldom will you be turned down for assistance.  Cause a bunch of heartache for the controller and require them to give you unwarranted assistance and you are doing nothing but setting yourself up for failure.  Don’t be afraid to ask, after all we are all learning.