AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2015 - 12

LETTERS
"What a fine article by Rod Machado
('License to Learn:
Fewer Feathers').
It tickled a few
good memories. In
the 1960s, my own
Buttercup and I flew
low in my old-very
old-PT-23. Lack of
commentary on the
scenery could not be
blamed on the low
wind as no intercom
existed and exhaust
f ro m t h e ro u n d
engine easily outdid

HANGAR TALK

To meet unrestricted performance, a localizer is required
to meet a standard service volume of +/- 10 degrees out to 18
miles and +/- 35 degrees to 10
miles of centerline as depicted.
Note that if the IFR procedure requires intercepting the
localizer at a distance further
out, then the localizer would

12 | AOPA PILOT June 2015

License to Learn

Fewer feathers

By rod machado

Sometimes low is the way to go
my hangar once housed a Bonanza a36. That
was followed by a Cessna P210. Now a Cessna 150
nestles there. This is a bird of a different feather,
meaning that it has fewer feathers. As long as you
don't have to go anywhere high and fast, then feathers are overrated.
Last December, my wife, Princess Buttercup, and
I flew from San Clemente to Carmel, California,
in our Cessna 150 Landomatic. We chose to fly at
a lower altitude on this flight, but not because we
wanted to experience the sensation of speed. If that
had been our goal, we'd have driven. For us, the
ultimate in-flight entertainment center is an airplane window. Looking outside provides us with as
much pleasure as cats feel when staring at fish in an

We chose to fly at a lower altitude on this flight.
For us, the ultimate in-flight entertainment
center is an airplane window.

ROd MAchAdO

is an experienced
CFI living in
Southern
California.

aquarium. It's a pleasure that never grows old-yet
it can grow stronger if you're slightly closer to the
Earth's surface.
It seems to me that there's a minimum altitude
that provides both safety (assuming you're familiar
with your route) and an optimal sightseeing experience. From 1,000 to 1,500 feet above the ground offers
a sense of forward motion (a rarity in the 150, regardless of wind direction) while providing sufficient
surface detail to inspire lively cockpit commentary.
High-wing airplanes inspire a lot of commentary;
low-wing airplanes are fantastic, too-just don't
expect as much commentary.
As an aside, high wings also keep us in the shade-
one of our darker pleasures. Years ago, someone asked
me what I used for sunblock while flying. I informed
him that my peeps call it a wing. As a teenager, I
worshipped the sun. Now I hate it. Oh, don't get me
wrong. As a celestial body, it's tops in its field, especially at noon. I just can't wait four billion years for
it to stop irritating my skin. Fortunately, the wing of
a Cessna 150 has an SPF rating of about one billion.
It's the type of sun protection I've come to expect
from solid objects.
One of the fun challenges of flying at lower
altitudes is navigating by pilotage. For some pilots,

this means using their origami skills to fold, bend,
and tear a sectional chart until it matches the terrain below. Of course, I'm just kidding; pilots don't
actually need to be origami qualified to perform this
action. On this trip, Buttercup and I didn't use our
origami skills on a sectional chart, mainly because
you can't fold an iPad.
Silly me. I forgot to mention that we used a digitized sectional chart, generated by Wing X Pro
software, on our iPad's moving-map display. This
made navigation by pilotage easy, especially since
we didn't turn off the little blue airplane icon that
followed us around everywhere we went. Was that
cheating with GPS-or was it using a symbol with
benefits? You make the call.
Some pilots enjoy using flight following when
operating at lower altitudes. If you're one of them,
then be prepared for ATC to play games having names
such as "radar contact lost" or "radar service terminated." When the game starts, I tell ATC that I'd like
to remain on my present beacon code and continue
flight following with the next available controller, or
when radar contact is reestablished. More often than
not, the controller consents. Frequently, this makes
the resumption of radar service a bit more likely-and
a bit easier on you.
Keep in mind that when flying at these lower
altitudes, you're more likely to encounter Class D
airspace. If you're near a Class D airport, make it a
point to listen to its ATIS broadcast. You might discover local events that could affect your flight, such
as glider, parachute, or balloon operations. You don't
want to bump into anything, much less a balloon.
Despite the airbag, someone's getting hurt.
I recall one ATIS broadcast that mentioned a
model rocket convention north of the airport. Can
you imagine a bunch of kids, raised on sci-fi movies,
watching a tiny airplane overfly their launch pad at a
low altitude? "Look, Billy, it's a miniature, featherless
Klingon Bird of Prey! Launch when ready."
Flying high and fast is great. If, however, you fly an
airplane with fewer feathers, it's time to embrace your
plumage. Fly an occasional trip at a slightly lower altitude, but only if you can do so safely. Sometimes low
is the way to go.
AOPA
web

www.rodmachado.com

20 | AOPA PILOT April 2015

our vocals. In the
end, Mr. Rod might
agree, it's really just
about having fun."
Carroll Files
AOPA 7453765
Catonsville, Maryland

have to meet an extended service volume or ESV. This ESV
is proven usable by FAA Flight
Inspection when commissioning the localizer or new or
updated procedure. I mention
this because at Los Angeles
the 25L localizer has to play to
48.5 nm and the ILS on Runway
24 R and L, and Runway 25,

have ESVs to in excess of 40
nm. If I remember correctly
the localizers at Los Angeles for
Runways 24 and 25 have ESVs
good to 70 nm.
Also if a localizer fails to
have good signals all the way
out to +/- 35 degrees of centerline, then flight inspection will
issue a notam pronouncing the
localizer unusable outside of X
degrees left or right of course."
Pilots should always check for
notams regarding navaid performance, or lack thereof at their
intended destination.
Other good practice is
always intercept a glideslope
from below at the proper altitude and cross-check the GS
intercept altitude. Otherwise
you may be in for a very steep
and fast descent trying to keep
up with the needles.
On a glideslope you will have
reversed sensing (fly-up indication is actually flying down and
vice versa) at 9 degrees, three
times the normal glide angle,
and a normal glidepath at 15
degrees, or five times the normal glide angle. That is a very
steep descent angle for even the
best STOL aircraft.
I know of a very experienced charter pilot who,

during a checkride under the
hood, turned inbound early
prior to the lead radial. He had
announced "localizer alive"
and turned inbound on a false
course and began the stepdown descent. The check pilot
allowed him to continue until
he was about 150 feet above the
pine trees on the mountain and
then had him take his hood off.
Needless to say he was totally
surprised that had he done that
in IFR conditions-he and his
passengers would have died. He
did not make that mistake again.
Jim Nulle
AOPA 571084
Foxpark, Wyoming

Erratum
We wrongly identified the
helicopter on our table of contents page as a Bell 407 (April
2015 AOPA Pilot). It is a Bell
206 JetRanger. Thanks to our
many readers who caught our
mistake. AOPA Pilot regrets the
error.
We welcome your comments.
Editor, AOPA Pilot, 421 Aviation
Way, Frederick, Maryland 21701
or email (pilot@aopa.org). Letters may be edited for length
and style before publication.

The Piper M600 may be all new-fangled with
its Garmin G3000 cockpit, upgraded Pratt &
Whitney engine, and supple leather seats, but
the rollout of it and its other M Class stablemates was a throwback. "With a glitzy light
show, smoke, and big-airplane reveals, I was reminded of airplane unveilings from the 1990s,"
says Editor in Chief TOM HAINES, who was at
the Piper factory in Vero Beach to witness the
spectacle ("BEST IN CLASS," page 50). "I was
at Piper for the reveal of the Piper Meridian in
1999 and countless others at aircraft companies around the world. Companies pulled out
all the stops to impress customers and guests.
The biggest bash that I can recall: The rollout
of the Israel Aircraft Industries Galaxy in Tel
Aviv. What a party! We haven't seen much of
that as companies cut back on such extravagances. It's nice to see Piper amp up the presentations again. Let's put away the sackcloth.
GA should celebrate our successes more."

http://www.rodmachado.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2015