Mike's Blog

Welcome to the blog! Mike posts regularly on all things flying. From training tips to the latest aviation news, be sure to check back regularly.

Cessna wing strut AD

Posted on February 15, 2018 by - News, Regulation

The US FAA are proposing an Airworthiness Directive (AD) for all Cessna C172, C182, C206, C207 and C210 aircraft manufactured before 1995, including the Reims variants. The AD addresses reports of cracking near the forward cabin doorpost, at the lower wing strut attachment. The cracks are the result of metal fatigue, according to the AD, and could result in the wing strut attach point failing in-flight.

The concerns have existed for 20 years+ and the AD mandates compliance with existing Cessna Service Bulletins SEB-95-19 and SEB-93-5R1, which both date back to 1995.

If adopted as written, the first inspection is due at 4,000hr and will take about 1.5hr to accomplish. It must then be repeated annually or every 1,000hr, whichever comes first. If cracks are found, the repair consists of installing a Cessna service kit to reinforce the area, which is estimated to take about 24 man-hours, at an estimate cost of $2,500-$3,000.

FAA ADs are usually adopted by EASA, so the AD would apply to all EU registered affected aircraft.

Hello pilots

Posted on February 12, 2018 by - News

I am pleased to announce the formal launch of my website https://aiminghigher.aero/

This aims to showcase some of the training I can offer. It will also feature destinations to inspire you with places to go, and provide a one-stop shop for planning links (weather, NOTAM’s etc) and tools like an easy-to-use PLOG. For those attending ground school classes, the website will be the source of the handout and additional reference material.

This is a work in progress, so if there is something you would like to see added or improved, please let me know.

British weather

Posted on February 10, 2018 by - Chat

We all know that forecasting British weather is difficult, even in today’s age of supercomputers. Imagine how it was 70+ years ago.

We’ve just returned from seeing David Haig’s play “Pressure”. This is the real-life tale of two Allied meteorologists tasked with predicting the weather conditions for the D-Day landings.

Scottish meteorologist, Group Captain James Stagg, advises General Eisenhower on the weather conditions likely to prevail when 350,000 troops are to be sent across the Channel in Operation Overlord. Stagg predicted severe storms whereas his US counterpart Irving P. Krick predicts beautiful weather. The future of Britain, Europe and the United States rests on one single forecast. Who did Eisenhower choose to believe, and what happened next? You’ll have to watch the play to find out.

Blocked pitot: the answer

Posted on February 10, 2018 by - Tips

I asked a range of pilots, including experienced instructors, how large they thought the ASI error would be. Invariably, they didn’t really know but guessed at “Ooh, maybe 10 knots, 20 knots?”. The answer is…… the ASI will actually read 140 kt, close to Vne. In other words it over-reads by 75kt! I was in good VMC but you can imagine how things could go badly wrong in IMC, relying solely on the ASI with no visual references.

To convince myself and my sceptical listeners, I ran the maths on a spreadsheet. Using data for the International Standard Atmosphere and carefully converting all units to the SI system, the speed error which I observed proved to be correct. If you want to know more, take a look at http://www.luizmonteiro.com/Learning_Pitot_Sim.aspx which provides an elaborate explanation and a simulator programme to try out the effects.

Blocked pitot

Posted on February 5, 2018 by - Tips

So we all know PUDSOD. If the pitot blocks with a dead fly, it over reads in a climb. But by how much? Suppose you climb 500 ft at 65 kt. What is the ASI reading at the end of that short climb? Answer next week!