In th pages of the left column, you can find out about my cell phone apps at MechCheck and Spin-a-Wind. You can also see the email that I received concerning the end of the frappr map. If you wish to download an archive of the frappr map, click on it and follow instructions.
The podcast isn’t over yet, just on a long hiatus. Keep checking back here to keep up to date.

Len

To all of you who have listened to my podcasts, I thank you. I will start up again at some future date, but for now, the news is that the Pilotcast and the Fly With Me podcast are starting again.

Please give a listen to both of these very enjoyable podcasts.

MechCheck is now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch on the iTunes App Store.

Well, it’s my first effort. Spin-a-Wind is now available on the iTunes app store. You can learn about it here.

I had the pleasure of flying with Joe Balzer several times. Many of you probably remember a news story about a Northwest Airlines crew that was convicted of flying under the influence of alcohol. Here is a link to his website, fllyingdrunk.com.

The book about his experiences will be released on July 15th, and is available for preorder on Amazon.com

All of the major news services are talking about the aviation tragedy that happened last night/early this morning. Air France flight 447 took off from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil en route to Paris, France, and lost contact with its controllers over the Atlantic Ocean between Brazil and Senegal.

News reports are talking about electrical problems while in an area of thunderstorms, at 35,000 feet. Having flown in the area of the equator in summer, I can personally attest to the strength of these thunderstorms, sometimes organized in a line hundreds of miles long.

The Airbus 330 uses a fly-by-wire flight control system, which is shielded against lightning strikes.

We all hope for survivors, and our thoughts and prayers go to the families of the victims.

Found this on CNN today:

I had seen this particular Concorde on the ramp as recently as a few weeks ago at Heathrow. This is really sad…

The Times’ Article

Image taken from here

You all know about the crash of Turkish Airlines 1951, a Boeing 737-800 on approach to Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport. The investigators have released a possible cause of the crash.

It seems that a malfunctioning radio altimeter, the one on the captain’s side, was causing the autothrottle system to prematurely retard the throttles. At 1950 feet, the radio altimeter instantly displayed a reading of -8 feet. The autothrottle system thought that the airplane had landed, and proceeded to retard the throttles. This happened twice, first at the 1950 feet, where the captain took over the controls at 40 knots below minimum speed, and again when the captain released the throttles (possibly while struggling with the pitch change). The airplane hit the ground in a stalled condition.

The autopilot and the autothrottle systems both use input from the radio altimeters, but they are separate independent systems. The autopilot is switchable between the captain and first officer sides, and was selected to the good copilot radio altimeter when this happened. However, the autothrottle system is not switchable, and always uses the captain’s radio altimeter as its source.

There is a debate among pilot circles as to whether to blame the crash on the pilots or Boeing. My thoughts are that the dead pilots will probably ultimately be blamed, possibly with the Turkish Airlines training being modified. In any case, I would certainly recommend that when close to the ground, always keep one hand on the throttles, and have the other pilot back you up with her/her hand ready to take over at any time.

And, if the automatic stuff isn’t working, switch it off and fly the airplane yourself!

Be a pilot — not a passenger!

Pilot Chesly Sully Sullenberger testifying before Congress:

It is an incredible testament to the collective character, professionalism and dedication of my colleagues in the industry that they are still able to function at such a high level. It is my personal experience that my decision to remain in the profession I love has come at a great financial cost to me and my family. My pay has been cut 40%, my pension, like most airline pensions, has been terminated and replaced by a PBGC guarantee worth only pennies on the dollar.

Read the whole thing here.