JasonC wrote:
USA
JasonC 20-Apr-18 14:14 #10
And don’t think about FBOs like European handling. If you buy fuel almost all charge you nothing and give you great service ie crew cars etc. Those that do charge are almost exclusively at the bigger airports.Last Edited by JasonC at 20 Apr 14:14
Airnav has good reviews of most of the FBOs. As always, you have to take it with a bit of salt, because people like to complain more than they like to compliment, but most of the time it will give you a decent impression of what you’re getting into.
A couple of more points:
- IF you get cleared into a Class B airspace (not very likely), you must read back the full clearance
- FBOs: if you use them (and by all means, do!), try to avoid Signature
- I am not familiar with the typical wx in NC, but if it gets as hazy as around here, then knowing about Special VFR (SVFR) is a good thing. Essentially it allows you to fly in almost no viz (1 mile) and clear of clouds, but there are a few things to know about it. Ask the instructor who’ll check you out about it and the associated procedures.
- the flat parts of the US have loads of antenna masts than can be scarily tall. Watch out for them and also for their guy wires that can extend pretty far out.
- if going x-country, get Flight Following (nothing to do with a flight plan, see below)
- if do do choose to file one, be aware that ATC will not close your FP, in fact they don’t even get to see a VFR FP. You have to close it with FSS either over the air or by phone after arrival. In the US it serves purely for SAR. I only file one when flying over some hostile terrain where I know I’ll be out of radar and/or radio coverage. Not likely in your area.
Silvaire wrote:
When departing from an ATC airport in Class D airspace, once leaving that airspace you don’t need to get permission to leave the tower frequency, you just switch.
Not necessarily a good idea in busy airspace, as the controller may have other traffic already on his radar screen but not yet on frequency. Where I fly from (KSMO – Santa Monica) they sometimes want you to stay on their frequency for a while, sometimes they hand you off to SoCal App immediately. Better to call for frequency change.
At least in my experience, flying in the US is more relaxing than flying in the UK. At small airports, everything is done via CTAF and self-announcing, so you can just get in and go, no flight plans or anything else required, though as mentioned calling 1800WXBRIEF is a good idea to check for TFRs, weather, etc. Airspace is usually uncluttered and the class D controllers are helpful and generally accomodating as far as transit requests and so on. Even getting a class B transit is common, if you give them a few minutes of head’s up. i.e. “SLC approach, Skyhawk 123AB five miles east of X at Y feet, request westbound transit”. Flying out of big (class B or some C airports) is more involved, due to taxi clearances, holding short for other traffic etc. It can be fun to play with the bigger equipment, just to say you’ve done it, but in practice I think finding a smaller airport nearby is easier, and involves more flying with less holding/taxiing/faffing about.
The biggest difference, in my experience, is that outside of the terminal areas, you can either get decent flight following where they’ll advise you of traffic and what to do for avoidance, or you can just potter about NORDO if you’re VFR and the spirit moves you. I would advise either flight following or at least monitoring the closest CTAF channel depicted on the sectional.
I think the biggest potential gotcha is that traffic calls may be to/from VRPs that you aren’t familiar with (i.e. The Bench is useful if you fly there everyday, but not to visitors.) Fortunately most of the important VRPs will be marked on the sectional or TAC, and if all else fails just resort to using X miles in Y direction from airport Z.
Based on my limited experience in both the US and the UK, the biggest advantage to the US is that you don’t have all of the airport busy-bodies that make getting from the gate to take-off a 45 minute process, rather than a five minute process.
ETA: Also, I find that the US airspace and radio structure is more clearly laid out than in the UK, especially en route. For instance, when flying around EGTK VFR, it was never clear to me (nor apparently to the people on the ground) when I should switch to Brize or Oxford Approach or Bristol radio.
In reference to the comments above on frequency changes from tower, VFR Flight Following etc do bear in mind whatever you do that only a tiny fraction of VFR traffic in the US is on Flight Following. It is not the norm to switch from Airport Tower to Flight Following as a regular practice and you need to understand that in (potentially busy) Class E airspace much more VFR traffic will be monitoring air-to-air (122.75, another good thing to know about) or nothing rather than using VFR Flight Following with en route ATC.
Most US airports do not have a control tower and the most common type of US flying is to/from airports with CTAF only, with no ATC en route. You will come across lots and lots of planes doing that, flying locally and cross country, at altitudes theoretically up to 18,000 ft and commonly up to altitudes requiring oxygen. Also, within Class E terminal areas surrounding Class B airspace you will find a lot of planes doing training or local flights and few to none of them will be on Flight Following. If by chance you want to reach one of them to resolve a possible conflict, in many areas 122.75 is your best bet, or just turn to avoid.
172driver wrote:
- I am not familiar with the typical wx in NC, but if it gets as hazy as around here, then knowing about Special VFR (SVFR) is a good thing. Essentially it allows you to fly in almost no viz (1 mile) and clear of clouds, but there are a few things to know about it. Ask the instructor who’ll check you out about it and the associated procedures.
I would not recommend using SVFR for a visitor. It only apples to surface airspace areas and you need a clearance. For all practical purposes, it is an IFR clearance where you proceed visually, clear of clouds and 1 NM or better visibility. It requires an IFR rating if used at night. It only applies to flight within the lateral boundaries of the surface area, so does not help for cross country. There is not much use for this in the Carolina’s. Best use for SVFR is California and any where there is clear weather but smoggy or hazy down low. It can be used to climb up to the clearer air.
European ForeFlight subscriptions will be coming this summer, so you might as well subscribe to the basic version which will work for any VFR flights. You can add regions if needed later or change the region. ForeFlight will generally charge you full price when you change the subscription, but then they allow a full credit of the unused part. Trial versions don’t support flightplan filing. With a regular subscription, you can file, activate, and close VFR flightplans directly from within the app. You need internet connectivity, which for most is via cellular, either using the smart phone or an iPad that has cellular service. Most FBO have wifi that extends to the ramp, but not to the runway. My sequence is to file a VFR flightplan, activate it using my cellular service just before I take the runway, close after I land. Flight following is for traffic point outs. If you happen to rent an ADS-B Out equipped aircraft, a portable receiver will display traffic and weather. You can purchase portables for under $200. You will need to have filed a VFR flightplan if you want SAR services.
NCYankee wrote:
Best use for SVFR is California and any where there is clear weather but smoggy or hazy down low.
True. We use it a lot here.
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172driver wrote:
- I am not familiar with the typical wx in NC, but if it gets as hazy as around here, then knowing about Special VFR (SVFR) is a good thing. Essentially it allows you to fly in almost no viz (1 mile) and clear of clouds, but there are a few things to know about it. Ask the instructor who’ll check you out about it and the associated procedures.
I found it interesting that you mention SVFR as a peculiarity for the US when we have the same thing in Europe. My R/T exam dealt almost completely with SVFR clearances alone for example. Or does only Germany have this in Europe?
MedEwok wrote:
Or does only Germany have this in Europe?
No, every country has it. It is also in the International Rules of the Air, so my expectation would be to find it everywhere.
