protzler

I'm not sure I would agree that the iPad a great resource to depend on in primary training. To each his own though. Oh, I know that *carrying* a logbook *with you* isn't required. I take it with me though. It's easier to log the hours as soon as I do them rather than wait to do it later. I know a ton of people that don't carry logbooks on them and quite a few of them admit that not all of their hours exact. Not a problem, but it's one of those things that would bug the crap out of me if I did it. From what he posted, it seemed like he didn't have his license and was looking to get one. Good to hear skyvector is updated. When I originally used it (in 2008/9) I remember them saying that they were going to stop updating. Glad to hear it still is. Research done.

Like a lot of others here I use foreflight for my real world flying. I use it on the first gen ipad, which honestly is clear and fast enough for me. Definitely worth the subscription price in my opinion. I wouldn't count on using it for your PPL though. All the instructors I've talked to prohibit private students from using their Ipad until they're licensed. For logging, I use Logbook Pro. You need to have a paper logbook also though. I only use Logbook Pro as a backup. I take my paper logbook on every flight, and keep it in a safe place at home. For flightsim, both of those are overkill. I think FS Flight Keeper will log your flights for you, without you having to write down anything. And I'm sure the other apps will be sufficient for your purposes. If you want charts, check out skyvector.com. They're expired, but they're still newer than FS's database.

I'd look in to Sky Treks (928-282-6628) to see if they will go up with you. They do charters and the like. If you do it, you'll enjoy the aircraft carrier approach!

Do you end up missing it? I got back from Iraq the day before Thanksgiving, absolutely HATING the middle east. Now I want to go back in the worst way. I was talking to a former Marine coworker who deployed to Afghanistan, and he said, in "military language" of course, that he didn't like it and never had the urge to go back. Then I talked to another guy I deployed with, and he admitted that sometimes he did wish he was back there. So, I've been weighing my options. I could either go back as a contractor and make the money to make it even more worthwhile to be there, or I could volunteer for another deployment. I'm an air traffic controller by trade, so if I go back as a contractor, I would be making big money. I've been thinking about this for a couple weeks, and am giving myself some more time to think before I make any decisions. I don't own a home or anything, and would break the lease on my apartment before I went so that I wouldn't have the bills...ugh, I just don't know. My hope is hearing what those of you that are in my shoes have done. Does this feeling pass?

That's not all that unrealistic at some airports.I'm a controller in the Army. When I deployed this past year to Iraq, we were all super professional on the mic. Then, starting at about halfway through the deployment (when other units started to leave), things started going downhill...actually it was more like someone switched a switch. "Touch-Me tower, this is Nightlong 12, and we're coming in oscar with a big load!" was one transmission, for example. Of course, it wasn't only limited to the aircraft's transmissions. There were a few OH-58's in one sector that directly lined up with the runway operating, and two AH-64's call up: "Tower, gun 32 would like to come in Mike." "Gun 32, tower. Mike's all full up with two guys in him already. Can you reach around and come in Oscar?" "Ohhhh, Mike sounds like a busy guy, but we'd love to come in oscar!"It just went downhill from there, with the end result of us putting up a sign made of glowsticks saying, "Live Nudes" and hanging it from the tower. In addition, we had a couple "dancers" with chemlights attached to their shirts and pants dancing around on top.It should also be said that we started referring to all the different legs of the traffic pattern, as well as places on the airfield, as different things you would find/do in a strip club while the sign was up.So in short, just because it's not all standard doesn't mean that it's not realistic! ;)

Also, OP, check out this site:http://thetruthabouttheprofession.weebly.com/

You don't think that you could get it done at an FBO as quickly as ATP? Why is that? FBO's are just as capable of being a 141 school. Hell, many have a similar program setup, only without the $65,000 price...and without the $2,500-5,000 optional "Regional Jet Training" that you will get for free once you get to your respective airline.

You should stay away from all rating mills (ATP, et-al). To put it simply, if you go to an FBO you'll most likely pay less for the same training, while getting it done in the same amount of time.

Did you see any vampires when you landed by any chance?

Start at the gate, program the fmc, taxi to the active and take off. Usually, with AI I'll just reset it before I get to the runway so that I don't have to wait. After takeoff, usually after passing 10k I'll crank on the time acceleration until I'm on final. Then I land, and SOMETIMES I'll taxi to the gate/parking and shut down, other times I'll just stop on the taxiway and shut down, then turn off the game.

You know, I always wondered why no one came out with a mod of the panel with something like label tape with the text in English over the Cyrillic labels. It'd be realistic, as well as easier for non-Cyrillic reading users.If only I had the time and knew how....;)

It is true. I guess it's technically possible for you to get an interview without a 737 type...I've heard of people getting one, but you need to have one before you get a job offer...or training date. I can't remember which. That being said, with as many high time pilots as there are on the streets, you will definitely need a type rating, and a ton of hours, to even get a call back. What's kind of funny about the whole 'you need a 737 type to be hired at SWA" mantra, is they are the only company I know of where it's acceptable to pay for training. Every other deal and you will have people downright calling you scabs. SWA is a leading company though, for both pay and work rules, and so it's not 'bringing down the industry' like Gulfstream is. Personally, I think PFT is wrong no matter what the company. I will never pay to work. Ever.Sorry I got a little bitter at the end, there...

Loiterers!

Sorry for the delay! I forgot my camera the day I said I'd take them. Anyway, here's a photo of the PAR scope for anyone interested. Also, since I was tardy, I've enclosed a bonus picture.:(

Interesting. Does the controller software have the correct screen for PAR approaches? PAR is when the final controller is able to give you trend information on the glidepath (not glideslope) using a split screen where the top half is dedicated to the glidepath, and the bottom half is dedicated to course. The antenna looks like a Snickers bar on top of a snack-sized snicker bar. It updates much, much more frequently than a normal radar sweep. Are you sure they didn't give you a Surveillance approach ("Recommended altitudes will be provided each mile on final")? If they have the proper interface for PAR approaches, I'd be extremely surprised. I'll take some photo's tonight when I go on shift of our facility. We are able to do PAR's.

I understand what you mean, but I still don't think it'd be realistic (I'm a [military] controller in real life, as well as a pilot). My beloved PCA is an extreme, I realize that, but for our conversation it's valid. There are 5 lanes at PCA. 4 paved and 1 dirt. The dirt isn't visible from the tower (in real life...no idea about the sim), and so is only used in certain circumstances. About a quarter mile west (at most) of the tower is a gulch that is used for pop up training. It's called West Slopes. Things like these, at all airports (PCA is used simply because I know it) are things that controllers controlling that area should know. That being said, I do have to be realistic with my expectations. At smaller airports, things like that can be overlooked (hell, PCA is an advisory tower anyway!), At larger airports though, even if they're ghost towns (PIT for example), I would certainly expect them to know the little intricacies of the field. The sole reason for my demands of that are because I'd be paying (assuming the $20 dollar monthly fee) $120 a year for the service.As far as having one controller manning more than one position, I completely agree and think that's a great idea! Even at larger airports, I could see one person running all positions in the tower. The problem is that you're still going to need a ton of controllers to be able to give coverage to the entire world 24/7. The ONLY way I can see this being a realistic goal would be to still have some form of automated ATC just in case. Because it is inevitable that you'll have coverage gaps that aren't filled. I don't do VATSIM or IVAO. I used to do SATCO along with you, and it was a lot of fun! One day I would be SEA_CTR and the next DAL_APP. I was a controller 3 and loved every minute of it. I would observe on one of them, however I'm in Iraq, and the internet here is atrocious. I'm capped at 30kb/sec, hahaha.I hope you're able to work something out. I like your idea! I just think it needs a little fine tuning.

With all due respect, Ernie, I think you're waaaay underthinking it. Even with a free service, you're still going to have to support it...though I guess you could always say, "If you want support, you will have to pay XXX amount, monthly." It's not the way I would do it, but it is an option...instructionAre you going to limit the airfields that one can get ATC services at in the free version? I'm still not clear on how you would offer ATC services at all those small fields with towers. For example, I want to take off from Picacho Stage Field in Ariona in a H64. It's a small little stage field (that has a tower!) by Pinal in Arizona. No one wants to man that, and if you had somebody that was controlling that airfield, along with 100 other small fields, the instructions wouldn't be realistic to that location. For free, this would be acceptable. However, if I would NOT pay for that. I could get the same experience (offline, for free, with no resources being used by additional programs) using the built in ATC. That leads me into your idea that you could have a few controllers covering all positions for every facility all over the world. I don't see the manning to be sufficient; even with a 'pay for your subscription through controlling' program. Good luck on 24hr manning for all those towers, centers, approaches, flight following, etc! You couldn't really say, "Well, it's past 9pm local! Towers closed." since I may want to switch the time in my sim to 2pm and do pattern work. Again, lets say at Picacho.If you have a plan for all that then awesome! But I don't think it'd be easy. This is all in addition to what the guy that actually did it already said!

What MGH said. But in addition to that, the developer of ATC Simulator, Russell Davis, is creating a tower sim...which I'm sure will be superb, just as atcsimulator was. here is the page for info on that. I can't wait.

It's not? I thought they were still working on it, albeit slowly...I haven't looked in months though, so me being out of date is very likely. ;)

I really enjoyed Marlon Carter's review of RadarBox. However, I noticed at the bottom where it has the likes and dislikes, he left the text from the template he used rather than changing it. It still reads about Aerosoft's airpark add-on.

It has earned the nickname, "Doctor Killer," and I'd assume it's because a lot of people upgrade to one before they're ready. I haven't looked at very many accident reports to see how many hours the pilots roughly have, but I'm pretty sure I've heard that reason before.Another reason is that the V35's tail was suspected to have some problems with the spars leading to in flight break ups. The FAA put out two AD's on the issue if I recall correctly.

Hopefully this will work...if you're a member of AOPA it should. It only -may- otherwise!http://www.aopa.org/apps/iforms/opcosts/OpCosts.cfm?SA=QBased on what you input there, it'll give you a good guestimate of how much it'll cost you per year.Hope this helps! I'd love to own a Decathalon!

Oh the things that happen on night flights that would never EVER happen during the day. I love it!Congrats on the XC! My first XC was the first time I truly left the nest! I flew from CHD to TUS, and had a blast! I remember it was really windy at Tucson too, so we didn't use any flaps. Fun stuff!Congratulations! Where'd you fly to?

I listen to whatever I can tune into on the ADF!

Ahhh, Scott, you are da man!Thanks for bringing back the memories! Funny how bland those charts were, looking back on it!