Contact Info
Justin Peterson: CFI / CFII / MEI
Phone: 830-200-0051
Email: anonymous.9.11.3@gmail.com
If you are new to aviation... welcome
aboard.
If you want to know the basics of how an airplane flies, try the
howstuffworks link HERE.
Are you are interested in getting your sport pilot's license? Check out www.SportFlyingGuide.com
for starters. It's a very light read and a great indroduction to
aviation and sport flying. There is also a good introduction on the web
at www.sportpilot.org.
Or check out some flying adventures at www.sportflight.com. For some
information on sport pilot training, you could try www.sport-pilot-training.com.
If you are interested in getting your private pilot's license, you should check out www.beapilot.com. For basic info about flight training, you should go to flighttraining.aopa.org. You will need some sort of ground school to accompany your flight training and it is best to start learning before you take your flight lessons. In order to get your Private Pilot license, you will need a minimum of 40 hours of flight training, you need to have taken some ground school and passed a written test, and you need to take an oral and flight test with an FAA examiner. There are a number of ways to accomplish ground school. You can take a Private ground school at a college, purchase a Jeppesen Private textbook and teach yourself, use the CPC kit available at some part 141 flight schools, use the King Schools video course, or use Sporty's video course. The CPC/King/Sporty's course will probably prepare you for your test the fastest. All of the FAA requirements for obtaining a private pilot's license can be found HERE. Here is a list of books that I consider mandatory:
Required Books:
current FAR-AIM (free E-book available: FAR
and AIM)
current ASA or Gleim Private Pilot test prep guide
current Private Pilot ASEL Practical Test Standards (free version
available HERE)
current Private Oral Exam Guide
current Airplane Flying Handbook (free version available HERE)
Private Ground Training:
Sporty's Private Pilot DVD course and Training Course Outline
http://www.sportys.com/courses
or
King schools Private Pilot video/DVD course and Syllabus
www.kingschools.com
or
Jeppesen
Private
textbook
Pilot Supplies
www.pilotshop.com
www.mypilotstore.com
www.pilotstore.com
www.avshop.com
www.sportys.com/pilotshop
www.wingspilotshop.com
shop.jaair.com
www.pilotessentials.com
www.aircraftspruce.com
Documents
Disclaimer:
Aircraft Specific:
General Documents:
College Education
For those who are seeking a degree in aviation as a professional pilot,
check out the Utah Valley State College distance education bachelor's
program at uvu.edu/aviation.
Also,
another excellent choice would be Mountain
State University, WV. Their program is also available through
distance learning and they give more credit hours for flight time at
Cessna Pilot Centers (up to 50 hrs), plus a 20% discount on all future
college tuition for CPC students.
Flight Planning Links
Recommended:
www.duats.com - Great
basic flight planner (and it's free). Also has weather, graphical TFRs,
etc. Must be
at least a student pilot with a medical to access.
www.airnav.com - Find out
everything about airports and navaids. Awesome site.
www.fltplan.com - Free flight
planning service similar to duats.
Has current instrument approach plates too.
www.pdfplates.com - Instrument
approach plates by region for your Kindle, Sony Reader, etc.
dtpp.myairplane.com -
Yet another site for instrument approach plates.
Useful:
www.aeroplanner.com -
Excellent subscription flight planning service. Free if you are a
member of the EAA. Also has
instrument approach plates.
www.flightcalc.com - try it
out, you might like it
www.airrouting.com - for
global flight planning
http://indo.com/distance/index.html
- Find out straight line distances to anywhere on earth.
Weather Links
Recommended:
www.duats.com - FAA approved
weather briefing on the internet
adds.aviationweather.gov -
The best graphical weather site I have visited to date
Useful:
www.accuweather.com
www.weather.com
www.fltplan.com
www.weathertofly.com
www.weatherbug.com
www.weathertap.com
www.wunderground.com
ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/home.rxml
- web-based instructional lessons on weather
Flight Training and General Links
Recommended:
www.aopa.org/asf -
extremely
informative and educational information in online course format
faasafety.gov
- another best of breed for educational information
www.flightinfo.com -
Quizzes, Rules of Thumb, Instructor hints, flight schools, medical
info, forums
www.mypilottests.com - FAA
practice tests
www.liveatc.net - self explanatory
www.slantgolf.com/cfi -
Awesome CFI page for any low-time/aspiring CFI. My highest
recommendation.
www.avweb.com - Interactive
online
magazine. Lots of Articles in archive. Also has
brainteasers.
www.private2atp.com -
Find the cheapest flight time in your area!
www.exams4pilots.org - FAA
practice
tests
www.thecfi.com - message boards
Useful:
www.bestaviationsites.com -
Don't
spend too much time on the internet!
www.aerodyn.org - advanced topics
in aerodynamics
www.jetcareers.com - forum
Aviation Job Links
aeroindustryjobs.com
aeps.com
airforce.com
airjobsdaily.com
airjobsonline.com
atlasaviation.com - very
good
avemp.com
avianation.com
aviationcareer.com
aviationemployment.com
- awesome
aviationemploymentboard.net
aviationinterviews.com
aviationjobsearch.com
aviationjobsonline.com
jobs.aviationweek.com
aviationoutpost.com
avcrew.com - very good
avjobs.com
bestaviation.net/jobs
careerbuilder.com
careerjet.com
careers.aero
climbto350.com - very
good
corporatepilot.com
findapilot.com
flitejobs.com
fltops.com
jetcareers.com
job-applications.com
jobofmine.com
jsfirm.com
nationjob.com/aviation
pilotcrewjobs.com
pilotjobs.com
pilotswanted.com
planejobs.com
skyjobs.net - free
upas.com
$100 Hamburger Links
www.fun-places-to-fly.com
www.100dollarhamburger.com
www.fly-low.com/burger
www.aircraftcamping.com
Using Handheld GPS for Air Navigation (last updated
Feb. 2008)
If you are looking at aviation model
handhelds, I recommend the Airmap
600c. It's the best bang for the buck for low priced aviation
handhelds - about $500. If you want to go even cheaper, consider using
a non-aviation model handheld with custom modifications. You can get a Garmin
eTrex Legend for about $130. Then you can go over to www.aeroplanner.com, look
under products and select DataChunks. This allows you to download
airports and navaids under your chosen criteria for up to 300 miles
from
your departure airport. (Alternately you could download the same stuff
at http://navaid.com/). Then you can
transfer them to your handheld GPS
without too much hassle using open source programs such as GPSBabel
or EasyGPS. Instructions are found HERE.
Don't
forget to visit the Cockpit GPS website at www.cockpitgps.com. Lots'o good
info there.
Note: if
you happen to get an older model Etrex Legend from garmin with a serial
cable instead of USB you will not be able to use open source programs,
such as GPSBabel or EasyGPS to load waypoints into your
GPS. Instead you will have to acquire a copy of Garmin's proprietary
MapSource program. If you didn't get a MapSource CD with your GPS CLICK
HERE.
Experimental Thoughts (last updated 2006)
One experimental airplane I have been looking into is
the Cozy Mark IV. It cruises at 210 mph on 180 HP and seats
four. It has a range of potentially more than 1300 statute
miles. It has a planned empty weight of 1050 lbs. Plus it
looks cool, kind of like the old Rutan Long EZ. Here is the
website: www.cozyaircraft.com
. It has a 3000 hour build time. The airframe is built by
plans and cost about $15k. The real investment comes with the
powerplant and avionics.
Another good looking cross country canard is the
Velocity SE. It can cruise a little faster, as it has a
retractible landing gear option. But it is heavier and the kit
cost $30K. It has a lower build time than the Cozy (claimed at
1500, although I suspect more). Here is their website: www.velocityaircraft.com.
My absolute all-time favorite scratch-built conventional design would
have to be the Sonerai
for it's beautiful simplicity and economy. It's the perfect airplane
for simple VFR flying. It is an all-metal wing with chromoly/fabric
fuselage design. It does +/- 6 G's when solo occupied!
www.vansaircraft.com
is one of the most popular kitplanes in the industry. Check them out.
Another
kitplane that's gaining momentum is Glasair/Glastar (www.newglasair.com). Thousands of
these kits are already flying. They are very high performance.
Powerplants (last updated 2006)
I have been watching www.deltahawkengines.com for quite some time now. This company looks like it just might become enormously successful. All of their benefits are inherent in the design and the components are already proven in the industry. This engine has a BSFC as low as .36 lbs/HP/hour. Take into consideration that Jet A / diesel weighs more than Avgas and you have one hell of a range. They cost $25K brand new. This engine also, of course, has a few drawbacks such as lower useful load (with full fuel) and higher minimum starting temperatures. I will not go into all the details because you can look for yourself on their site.
www.smaengines.com - SMA, another aviation diesel engine manufacturer that is gaining popularity in Europe. Their engines are extremely efficient except for one thing... they weigh almost 150 lbs more than a comparable Lycoming or Continental. They are 4 stroke, which is one reason they weigh so much for their power output.
Thielert Aircraft Engines (TAE) www.centurion-engines.com has some interesting aerodiesel engines. They are used in the new Diamond Twin Star. The Centurion 1.7 is a geared (1:1.69) 4 stroke 1.7 Liter turbocharged 4 cylinder with dual channel FADEC. Full operating weight is less than 300 lbs, which is pretty light for a diesel. It makes 135 HP up to the mid teens. The BSFC is 153g/HP/hour not including a 3% (approx.) loss through the gearbox.
Other aerodiesel manufacturers include Zoche (www.zoche.de) and D-air (www.dair.co.uk). Also checkout www.dieselair.com.
My Topics
The Rudiments of the Modern Global Positioning System
Crash Investigation - Valujet 592
How is engine failure determined as a cause in an aircraft accident investigation?
Aircraft
Safety - Hydroplaning
Exercise Physiology for Pilots