Land and Hold Short

I’m using this post as a place to accumulate links to different countries’ online Aeronautical Information Publications (AIPs), which include airport directories, diagrams, etc. I’ll start with a few, and add more countries as I have time, or as people leave comments with links:

Afghanistan

http://www.motca.gov.af/important_information.htm

Argentina

http://www.cra.gov.ar/dta/ais/inicio.php

Australia

http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/publications/aip.asp

Brazil

http://www.aisweb.aer.mil.br/aisweb/

Canada

Not available online

China

Not available online

Estonia

http://aip.eans.ee/

Finland

https://ais.fi/ais/eaip/en/

France

http://www.sia.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/default_uk.htm

Germany

Military aerodromes: http://www.mil-aip.de/

Civilian aerodromes: not available online

Iceland

http://www.caa.is/FlugmalahandbokinAIP

Iran

http://ais.airport.ir/Homepage.aspx?site=ais.airport&lang=fa-IR&tabid=0

Iraq

http://www.iraqcaa.com/

Japan

(free account required) https://aisjapan.mlit.go.jp/

New Zealand

http://www.aip.net.nz/

South Africa

http://www.caa.co.za/resource%20center/

Spain

(free account required) http://www.aena.es/csee/Satellite?Language=ES_ES&MO=1&SMO=-1&Section=7&SiteName=NavegacionAerea&c=Page&cid=1043396095624&pagename=subHome

Sweden

http://www.lfv.se/sv/LFV/Flygtrafiktjansten/FPC/IAIP/

United Kingdom

http://www.nats-uk.ead-it.com/public/index.php.html

United States

(The US is the only major country that doesn’t follow ICAO standards by publishing an AIP. The FAA even uses “AIP” to refer to something else, the Airport Improvement Program!!! There are online publications with similar information, however.)

A&FD: http://naco.faa.gov/index.asp?xml=naco/online/d_afd

AIM: http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/ATpubs/AIM/

The very few rich countries who don’t publish free, complete online AIPs — I’m talking to you, Canada and Germany — should be ashamed. Even poor, battered Afghanistan publishes a free AIP online.

The first year I owned my Warrior (December 2002-December 2003), I used it to get my night and instrument ratings, and to fly an abortive family trip to Sault Ste Marie. The second year I owned my Warrior, I decided to do something much more romantic, and used it to whisk my love off to New York City for her birthday in late May.

In a movie, the trip would have been a total surprise, with me taking off her blindfold at the airport, not telling her where we were flying, etc. In real life, that would have been a horrible idea, since she was still very nervous about flying. Instead, I introduced the idea a few of weeks before, and made sure she was comfortable and had time to prepare. My brother and sister-in-law very kindly took in the kids, who were too young to stay home on their own back then.

I’d flown into the NYC area only once before, landing in Caldwell, which is a long way from Manhattan; this time, I decided to try Republic, which is just as far the other direction, but would let us take the LIRR almost door-to-door from the airport to our Midtown hotel (hint to everyone: use Teterboro). We were MVFR to Massena to clear customs, then IFR for the rest of the trip: she experienced her first ILS approach in actual IMC without panicking, breaking out around 600 ft, and we had a wonderful romantic weekend in Manhattan. The trip back was all IFR but in the clear on top, with strong headwinds but smooth air, and she sat in the back reading and relaxed the whole long trip. We flew directly over a break in the clouds a few thousand feet over Manhattan, and could clearly see Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, etc.

After this, while it wasn’t always easy, the whole family was game to fly, and we had several years of amazing family trips to Toronto, Waterloo, Vermont, North Bay/Sault Ste. Marie, Cape Breton/Halifax, Gaspé, and (every March Break) NYC. We don’t all fly together much now, because my kids are getting older and have their own lives, but I’m hoping to squeeze in one or two more some day. In the meantime, I’m so grateful that we had those shared years with all four of us (and sometimes the dog) bouncing around in a little Cherokee, and it all started with a romantic trip to New York City.

The last time I flew was mid September, just before I was due to renew my medical. Things didn’t go as expected, and I had to get through an obstacle course of health, work, and then mechanical issues (this after going through another set of obstacles last spring to renew my IFR rating).

Today I went to the airport with a huge fear of failing again. The last three times, something was wrong, and the plane wouldn’t/couldn’t fly. I arrived hoping that the mechanic had put in the new, fully-charged battery I’d asked for, that the engine heater was working, and that the plane would actually start. I saw the old battery sitting in the baggage area, so I knew Red had put in a new one, and I put the old one in my trunk. The engine was warm to the touch from the heater, so I knew it was good. I uncovered, preflighted, pushed the starter, and — just like last time — the prop turned only a few degrees and stopped.

The battery was flat again, or else the starter was shot. If a second battery was flat, that would mean that something (a short?) was draining it even when the master was off, so yet another round of troubleshooting and maintenance. I plugged in my battery charger (in case it might help), drove back across the field to the shop, walked into Red’s office, and asked him if the battery was fully charged when he put it in the plane. He said yes. Then he added something:

“It was late in the day, so I didn’t install the new battery. I put it in the back of your plane, and meant to leave a note.”

So the old battery was still in the plane, while the new battery was in my trunk. That meant there was still hope I might actually fly. I borrowed a pair of pliers, drove back to the plane, swapped batteries, took the cowl cover back off (I’d put it back on to keep in the heat), and fired the starter.

The prop spun.

The engine fired and kept running.

I did a long, detailed runup and a high-speed taxi first, to make sure that all the controls were functioning properly after maintenance (a “high-speed taxi” involves almost talking off — going fast enough down the runway to take most of the weight off the wheels or climb a few inches, but not high enough that there would be a problem if a control cable snapped, etc.). No problem. I taxied back around and took off, flying four left-handed circuits.

Back in September, my landings were sucking a lot, but after everything I’d been through fortune was smiling on me. I flew four nearly-perfect circuits, with four textbook-smooth landings. I parked the plane, then realized I should top the tanks, so I started it again — the new battery spun it up fast — and taxied over for fuel. Then I started up the engine a third time to taxi back to my parking spot. It probably sounds silly to go on about starting a plane, but I’ve had so many problems since the new year that I was probably more excited about the starts than the actual flying.

So I’m back in the air. I’d like to get up every week or so, even in the winter, to get my chops back — I have no illusions that four successful day VFR circuits in smooth, calm air are enough to prove that my skills haven’t rusted since September.