Land and Hold Short

There is a new version of OurAirports optimized for cell phones and other small devices. This first release includes search, airport lists, comments, and (what’s not available on the regular site) TAF and METAR reports. There are no maps in the mobile edition, and it is not currently possible to leave comments (they’re read-only). Check it out at

ourairports.mobi

(I developed the mobile site over two calendar days and about one person day. Thanks to my very rushed beta testers, Paul, Blake, and Douglas.)

If you’re a pilot, you probably catch yourself thinking “where’s the nearest airport?” when you’re reading about any place online. I have a web site, OurAirports, that can help to answer that question, but only at the cost of going to the site, typing the placename into the search box, and then waiting for the results.

The bookmarklet

To speed things up, I’ve written my first bookmarklet, a tiny bit of code that runs in a browser bookmark.

Find airports

Click on this link, hold the mouse down, and drag it to your bookmark bar (updated so that a new page doesn’t open when you select “cancel”):

The bookmark bar is usually just above the main part of the browser window. You can highlight any text on the web page you’re reading (such as a placename or address), then click the “Find airports” bookmark to open a new window/tab showing the closest airports. If you don’t select any text with the mouse, a dialog box will pop up prompting you for a search string.

Examples

(In each example, the text to select is in italics.)

Airport codes work very well. Select LAX or EGLL with your mouse, then click the “Find airports” link to jump straight to the airport page on OurAirports.

If you’re thinking of visiting the Prime Minister of Canada, highlight 24 Sussex Drive, Ottawa with your mouse then click on your “Find airports” bookmarklet.

I like to fly my family to Manhattan. Teterboro is almost as close as LaGuardia, and a lot less expensive.

I hear that Ayers Rock is very dramatic down under.

Thinking of helping mankind? Perhaps you’d like to fly aid supplies into Darfur or Zimbabwe, assuming the governments would allow you in.

On 11 June, for the first time I failed a flight test, an IFR renewal (private pilots have to refly the IFR test every two years in Canada). I resolved immediately to get my rating back, so I went up twice with a great instructor and fellow Cherokee owner Jean René de Cotret from Rockcliffe, after which he was comfortable signing me off for a retest.

The retest

With Jean’s letter in hand, I did my complete IFR retest on 29 June. Without a rating, I had to scud-run my plane in marginal VFR the 7 miles from Rockcliffe to Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier under a low ceiling to meet the examiner. We zipped through the ground portion: sadly, the simulated emergencies were things I’ve actually experienced in IMC, like a failed ASI, and trying to get ATC’s attention when I have ice accumulating on the airframe, so I didn’t have to think long about the answers.

We took off into actual IMC for the flight portion of the test, which lasted an hour including taxiing, clearances, etc. This time I did the radio work, since we were on an IFR flight plan (many thanks to the Ottawa terminal and tower controllers for reserving me a slot at noon on a busy IFR day!). I was a lot more comfortable talking directly with the controllers, rather than doing simulated radio work with the examiner in VMC conditions. I won’t bore you with a play-by-play, because this was my fifth time flying the IFR flight test, but everything went great (including a shuttle descent in the hold), and I have the IFR endorsement back on my license.

Filing IFR again

I’ve accumulated several hours of actual IMC in the week and a half since that exam, including a flight from Ottawa to Waterloo last Saturday (the return on Sunday was VFR), a flight from Ottawa to Rivière-du-Loup through a low-pressure system on Tuesday, and the return flight to Ottawa through the same low-pressure system yesterday.

I canceled a baseball flight to Toronto City Centre on Canada Day because I don’t like embedded thunderstorms that I can’t see coming (that’s the same reason I waited overnight in Rivière-du-Loup), though I could have flown it with my StormScope and ATC advisories, and have done that before — it’s just that it’s not fun. Without my instrument rating, though, all three trips would have been canceled — it really does make a huge difference in the ability to travel, and I’m feeling much more confident hand-flying in the clouds after a couple of hours of review training. I started on my instrument rating right after I finished my PPL, and have never regretted the choice.