|
Like all good aviation stories this one begins with a beautiful day. Waking up to the sun shining through the bedroom window in the middle of winter is one of a pilot's greatest joys. Making it through the tumultuously inconsistent weather from June until August with only a fly every now and then is like a drug addict popping aspirin rather than the stuff that will get them into trouble with CASA. But today was a good day to fly!
 It wasn't long before I'd booked my favourite Archer for a flight with my wife around Melbourne and Port Phillip Bay. I thought that it was about time that I'd had a good work-out in controlled airspace and so I purposely planned to fly around the CBD which would require an airways clearance from Essendon.
This brings up an interesting point. I've never really understood the reticence that many private pilots have about going into controlled airspace. I've chatted with a host of pilots that seem to do everything they can to avoid entering a "zone" so they don't have to talk on the radio. Personally, I've always taken the view that my taxes have paid for the air traffic controllers so I want to get my money's worth.
I've never spoken to an air traffic controller yet that wasn't helpful, polite and willing to crawl across broken glass for a pilot in trouble (more on that later). They're incredible human beings that when you think about it they have one of the most boring terrifying jobs in the world. Boring because it must be the same routine over and over again and terrifying when it's not. I think that if it was me directing thousands of people around the sky then I'd end up as a person with a bipolar disorder. Thank goodness I'm not in charge!
Air traffic controllers are like the policeman standing at an motor vehicle intersection telling the traffic to stop with the power of their hand. It's simply amazing. The policeman puts their hand up and a lumbering, eighteen wheeled monstrosity grinds to a halt. In reality despite all of their physical training the policeman can't stop the truck but the force that they represent can. Likewise, an air traffic controller softly speaks into their microphone and an A380 carefully dodges around a Piper Warrior.
Which brings me to my point. If you're a private pilot and avoid controlled airspace then you're not only wasting a lot of fuel flying around Class-C airspace but also avoiding the safest place to be. My experience has been that in controlled airspace you have someone holding their hands beneath you the whole way, making sure that your safe from all the big stuff and not going to collide into mountain. So why fly more dangerously around controlled airspace when you can have a nice chat with a very pleasant person while they look after you. How good is that!
So back at home, I powered up my PC (actually I didn't as I always leave it on) and began planning my flight for the day in my electronic flight planner. Some may ask why I don't manually plan my flights anymore? I have a really simple answer, working out distances with a ruler and course headings with a protractor is a lot of fun but when you want to get a job done quickly then flight planning software is the only way to go.
I submitted the plan via the software and called up to make sure that everything was done correctly. I know that I'm a bit of a geek (I run downwind.com.au after all) but speaking to someone on the phone gives me that warm fuzzy feeling that everything is OK.
After tossing everything into the back of the car I noticed that my youngest decided to tag along. The weight and balance still checked out so we headed off to the airport, pre-flighted the aircraft and was quickly airborne.
Read the next article in the series in a few days time. It covers an experience in controlled air space and handling pressure in the cockpit.
Trackback(0)
|
Articles 
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
