flight operations

• • Providing a passenger briefing on seats and seatbelts, location of normal and emergency exits, handling of baggage, location of first aid kit, survival equipment, fire extinguisher, and emergency locator transmitter, no smoking policy, and emergency procedures
• Compliance with regulations and instructions:

  • Following commands given by ATC
  • Communicating effectively and using correct terminology
• Responsibilities of the pilot in command:

  • Ensuring the aircraft's airworthiness by proper maintenance, no surface contamination, balanced weight, flying within operating limits, pre-flight inspection, and having checklists on the aircraft
  • Conducting flight planning by checking weather conditions, NOTAMs for departure, enroute, and arrival airports, ensuring all charts and publications are up to date, and filing the flight with NAV Canada or leaving an itinerary with a trustworthy person
• Aircraft separation:

  • Maintaining a lookout for other aircraft to avoid collision
• I'M SAFE checklist:

  • I - illness: not sick
  • M - Meds: none that would cause aviation medical invalid
  • S - stress: no additional stress
  • A - Alcohol: none within the last 12 hours of flight
  • F - Fatigue: must be well-rested
  • E - Eat: had a meal before flight
• Thunderstorm avoidance:

  • Hazards include severe turbulence, wind shear, lightning, icing, heavy precipitation
  • Considerations for mountain flying operations, weather briefing, turbulence, and illusions
  • Effects of mountain flying including glider pilots being drawn to mountains, lift causing turbulence, and air currents caused by air coming down the side of mountains
• Locating thermals:

  • Flying straight at the best lift to drag ratio
  • Being smooth and waiting for one wing to rise
  • Banking into rising air
  • Verifying worth chasing on variometer
  • Flying at minimum sink speed once established
• Types of launches:

  • Aerotow: powered aircraft tows glider into the air
  • Winch: power plant pulls glider into the air with a metal cable
  • Auto-tow: automobile with towing system pulls glider into the air
  • Bungee: elastic launches glider into the air
• Runway illusions:

  • Narrower runway may give the illusion of being too high and may lead to late flare
  • Wider runway may give the illusion of being too low and may lead to early flare
  • Upslope runways may create the illusion of being too high
  • Downslope runways may create the illusion of being too low
• Ground effect:

  • High angle of attack leads to high induced drag
  • Flying near the ground decreases induced drag and downwash, forcing the trailing edge to be parallel with the ground
  • Influential at altitudes no greater than the aircraft's wingspan
  • Low wing aircraft are more affected
• Effects of density, altitude, and humidity:

  • Decrease in density leads to an increase in altitude, temperature, and humidity
  • High density altitude has a negative effect on aircraft performance and leads to a longer takeoff roll
  • Altitude effect: as air rises, it becomes less dense due to reduced atmospheric pressure
  • Humidity effect: presence of water vapor displaces air molecules, decreasing air density
  • Temperature effect: warm air expands and decreases air density
• Wake Turbulence

  • Wake turbulence causes counter-rotating vortices that increase in intensity with greater aircraft weight and decreased speed
  • Distances to maintain behind different types of aircraft to avoid wake turbulence:

  a. Heavy behind heavy: 4 NM

  b. Medium behind heavy: 5 NM

  c. Light behind heavy: 6 NM

  d. Light behind medium: 4 NM
• To avoid wake turbulence on departure:

  • If taking off following a larger a/c, rotate before its rotation point and remain above its flight path
  • If taking off after a larger a/c has landed, then rotate after its touch down point
• a/c’s airworthiness:

  • proper maintenance
  • no surface contamination
  • wright is balanced and safe
  • flying within operating limits
  • pre-flight inspection
  • checklists are on a/c
• The runway number indicates the magnetic heading of the runway, rounded to the nearest ten degrees
• Runways with a magnetic heading within 10 degrees of a cardinal direction are assigned a single-digit number
• Example: Runway 3 (approximately 030 degrees)
• Runways with a magnetic heading between 10 and 18 degrees of a cardinal direction are assigned a double-digit number
• Example: Runway 14 (approximately 140 degrees)