Six Flags Over Georgia

Amusement Parks.... Amusement Parks....

This is bringing back fond memories of happy times during my childhood. Ludo parks and myself : this is a very long story. I guess it all started in 1986 when I first visited Florida and experienced most of the parks over there : DisneyWorld, Epcot Center, SeaWorld, Bush Gardens.... Surprinsingly, last time I visited one was quite some time ago during the Summer of 1991. It must have been either DisneyLand or Hollywood Studios in Los Angeles.

Sure, in the meantime I have been to temporary parks but it is not really the same. The quite famous "Foire de Rouen" in October and November comes with all kind of attractions and is supposedly one of the largest in France. But it does not have the same flavor. November in Normandy often sees mist, bitter colds and freezing winds ... yesterday's outing to Six Flags was a real blast with cool temperatures and a slight breeze. I went there with a few friends of mine and that was a real treat..

It was more than the park itself though. I did not realize it first but as time went by, this place reminded me of something, something I knew very well but to which I could not put a name on. And suddenly it all clicked in my head. No wonder I enjoyed my time there ... it was the same atmosphere and the same kind of environment one may recognize while watching the end of the movie Grease.

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Grease, I watched it at least nine times to look like, to behave and to dance like Danny Zukko. Grease was my very first stage demonstration and I was the one playing Danny for the final "You're the one that I want"(Video here). It was already three years ago ... but I still remember the choregraphy and lyrics as if it were yesterday. One of my friends told me recently that 'memory is selective and you remember mostly the good moments of life'. I guess she is absolutely right...

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I got chills

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They're multiplyin'
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And I'm losin' control

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'Cause the power you're supplyin'
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It's electrifyin'!
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You better shape up

'Cause I need a man

And my heart is set on you

You better shape up

You better understand

To my heart I must be true

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You're the one that I want, o, o, honey

The one that I want, o,o, honey

The one that I want, o, o, oo

The one I need

Oh, yes indeed
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So where are the pics ? Allright, here are they coming. Welcome to Six Flags over Georgia in Atlanta. Enjoy !

Superman... You may not believe it but the entire ride is upside down... From the very begining to the very end, you're looking downwards a bit as if you were skydiving. So smooth and so unusal. Absolutely exciting.

Another picture of Superman showing the upside-down ride. Was it designed by Aussies down under ?
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Next is Goliath. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to try it. Guess I'll do that in a week or two...

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After the exciting roller coasters, something much smoother : the flying chairs. Travelling back in time to Vienna of the early nineteen hundreds...

Getting ready for the ultimate Great American Scream Machine experience...
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We dubbed it the ultimate shaking machine : a roller coaster completely made out of timbers.

Scary...

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First teddy-bear hugging of the night for Greg.... That one was with a duck...

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And second one with a rabbit for a change...
Greg loves teddy bears and it shows....
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And I do too...

Dragon Fly

A few days ago, I wrote a little something about my new toy : an electric powered radio controlled Lancair airplane. It is a really nice bird and I really do not want to crash it. So in the meantime, I ordered another smaller and less complexed airplane.

The reason behind is that I have not successfully flown any radio controlled model for the last four years and my skills are more than rusty. Therefore, I elected to start easy and slowly with a slow and forgiving three-channel model. Three channels to control the electric engine, the rudder and the elevator.

Wing Dragon II : the easy beginner model...

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The box comes as a 'Ready to Fly' so there is not a lot of work remaining to put the plane in airworthy conditions. Basically putting the wings together, setting the elevator, adjusting the servo control rods and screwing the main landing gear.

Straight out of the box...

There is something that will be completly new to me : an airplane with a thrust not aligned on the center of gravity / longitudinal axis. Guess what ? I am pretty sure I will get some strong nose-down pitching moments while adding thrust. Anyway, enough talking now. Here are a few pictures of the model flying. By the way, did I mention she looks cute ?

Friday Flying

And for the first time... it was all good weather. What ? A Friday morning with good weather... Yes that does exist too... Anyhow, cloud-less skies with a light breeze and just a bit of haze around 4,000 ft sounds like a perfect day to go flying. And especially to practise visual flying.

Unfortunately, it was something else that I was planning to practise. I wanted once more and once again to do some instrument flying. So how is it done when the sky is plain clear with no cloud in sight and nothing but a bright sunny disk up-above overhead? Well, basically we just wear a special hood that has view-restricting capabilities. It is designed to limits the field of sight to the lower portion of the cockpit.

Welcome to the alienized world...

Of course, that is not perfect. First because you need a safety pilot in order to ensure traffic avoidance when flying under the hood while visual flying conditions prevails. Then even if a pilot cannot technically see outside of the cokpit, the pilot still has some cues about the attitude of the aircraft due to lighting and shadows on the dashboard.

Readers may understand now why I was so eager to fly in bad weather during the past weeks. There is simply no better training or skill-sharpening shall I say than flying in actual instrument conditions i.e. in clouds. But well, for those of us living in places with great weather all-year round, that is not always easy. So this is simply an 'ersatz' and it is how most of the pilots train for their instrument ticket. And it has worked so far.

To come back to the flight itself, we flew to Lagrange Callaway Airport (LGC) next to the Alabama border about 70 nautical miles South of Atlanta and then to Carrolton - West Georgia Regional Airport (CTJ) approximately 40 nautical miles due West of Atlanta. Highlight was obviously on our way to the South while overflying Hartsfield-Jackson International airport. It simply feels gooood to fly right over those big metal Airbus and Boeing jets...

Atlanta International on our way to the South.
Five parallel runways, six concourses and a brand new control tower... gigantic

Radar track of the flight

For those already inquirring about the erratic flight path of the plane, well...no I was not drunk. I just practised a few instrument approaches at Lagrange airport. Hence those curvy radar tracks...

For those already inquiring about the 'diverted status' of the flight, well...no I did not hijack my own plane. I just changed my destination airport mid-flight...

And finally for those wondering whether I made it to the Advanced Flight Dynamics class, well...no, not in time...

Lancair Aircraft Model

I hate to stay inactive and I love to have projects on my hands... So here is a short preview of my on-going project. A radio-controlled electric powered Lancair. A Lancair is a true real world two seater aircraft that may be purchased and built by amateur aircraft builders as a kit...
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As far as I am concerned, I elected for a 1/10th scale of the real bird. It better fits my student-budget... Contrary to usual, I bought the box as an "almost ready to fly" kit and this for several reasons. I do lack time right now with Quals coming soon and secondly here in the United States I do not have all the tools I would require to start the project from scratch. And I do not want to start sanding balsa and plywood inside my rather small university room. Still, there is quite a bit of work to be done before calling it done.

. Nice box that came through UPS late last week...

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As said before, there is still some work to do and once the box is open we have a fair view of what remains to be done. Well...bind all those elements together....which should not be too long. I still need to buy a radio transmitter though...

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The different parts as they come out of the box.

Nice fiber-glass fuselage. Both strong and lightweight...

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Technically, a four-channel transmitter should suffice since the four usual suspects are present in this model : aileron, throttle, elevator and rudder controls. However, I am planning to add some flaps to this model by decoupling the two servos required for the ailerons. By doing so, I will have to use five channels and four servos. The two aileron channels will be mixed so that the actuators will control both aileron and flaps at the same time. When the airplane is in cruise configuration, the ailerons are streamlined in the trailing edge of the wing and act as usual ailerons. During approach, the ailerons will both drop slightly down and increase the curvature of the wing while still performing the functions of ailerons to control roll. This is called the flaperon mode which incidentally may be observed on Airbus A330 and A340 during landings.

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The wing root and fairing may be observed in this picture. The holes drilled into the wing-box allow for the control cables to go through.

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Finally below is a picture of what the project should look like in just a few weeks. Stay tuned for the factory roll-out scheduled for early November. Entry into revenue service is scheduled a couple of days latter on November 10th with Mile High Airlines - The World Most Experienced Airline.

What my Lancair should hopefully look like in a matter of weeks.

"Mile High Airlines is particularly proud to be the launch customer for this new two-seater aircraft that will soon become the flagship of our airline, flying to our most prestigious destinations while introducing new levels of comfort never ever seen before. With our unique two-seat abreast configuration and our completly revamped inflight entertainement, we will introduce a paradigm shift in air transportation and revolutionize the travel experience"

"Celebrations for the maiden flight will start early November. In the meantime, Mile High Airlines is pleased to provide its fans a quick preview of our new advertisement campaign with these songs"

Mile High Airlines - The World Most Experienced Airline
Get Up In The Air
You Can't Beat The Experience
We Fly The World Wants To Fly
Just Say Hello To Pan Am

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Friday-morning flying

Since the weather keeps on being ugly on Friday mornings.... well..... I keep on flying on Friday mornings... Around 8am, the weather was described as overcast at 400ft with wind gusts from 14 to 18 knots and thunderstorms in Southern Georgia moving to the North.

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And as may be infered from this photo, weather was indeed ugly. The tip of the mighty Bank of America pencil-like tower was not to be seen, hiding itself in clouds. Even the smaller AT&T tower -formerly BellSouth- had transformed itself into a cloud-scraper...

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Bank of America tower hidding itself behind the AT&T one and resting in a deep soup of low-level stratus

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Aviation Atlanta minimums for instrument operations call for 200ft above published minimums. ILS at Dekalb-Peachtree Airport missed approach altitude is a mere 200ft above ground so it was technically allright to go for a ride.

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I went to the airport and shot two ILS approaches at PDK. Luckily we broke out of clouds at 800ft above ground. During the manoeuvers to establish the airplane into its final approach path, we reached 4000ft and flew right above the overcast layer. It was plain sunny and shiny up-above with magnificent views over the peaks of the Appalachians just emerging from a napping of clouds.

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So when people ask me why I keep on flying on bad days, I have a new pre-formated reply... Well you know, I am just taking care of my tanning and complexion so I went up-above to a place where the sun shines... After all, paradise is up-above. Right ?

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Baldwin and the Whiffles

Sh-Boom

Hey nonny ding dong, alang alang alang

Boom ba-doh, ba-doo ba-doodle-ay

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Oh, life could be a dream

If I could take you up in paradise up above

If you would tell me I'm the only one that you love

Life could be a dream sweetheart

Hello hello again, sh-boom and hopin' we'll meet again

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Oh, life could be a dream

If only all my precious plans would come true

If you would let me spend my whole life lovin' you

Life could be a dream Sweetheart

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Now every time I look at you

Something is on my mind

If you do what I want you to

Baby, we'd be so fine

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Oh, life could be a dream

If I could take you up in paradise up above

If you would tell me I'm the only one that you love

Life could be a dream Sweetheart

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Sh-boom sh-boom Ya-da-da Da-da-da Da-da-da Da

Sh-boom sh-boom Ya-da-da Da-da-da Da-da-da Da

Sh-boom sh-boom Ya-da-da Da-da-da Da-da-da Da, sh-boom

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Sh-boom sh-boom Ya-da-da Da-da-da Da-da-da Da

Sh-boom sh-boom Ya-da-da Da-da-da Da-da-da Da

Sh-boom sh-boom Ya-da-da Da-da-da Da-da-da Da, sh-boom

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Now every time I look at you

Somethin' is on my mind

If you do what I want you to

Baby, we'd be so fine

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Life could be a dream

If I could take you up in paradise up above

If you would tell me I'm the only one that you love

Life could be a dream Sweetheart

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Hello hello again, sh-boom and hopin' we'll meet again

Hey nonny ding dong, alang alang alang

Ba-doh, ba-doo ba-doodle-ay

Life could be a dream

Life could be a dream, Sweetheart

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Life could be a dream

If only all my precious plans would come true

If you would let me spend my whole life loving you

Life could be a dream Sweetheart

Life could be a dream

Sweetheart

Instrument flying

There are some delightful moments in life, yes truly delightful. What’s more than taking advantage of bad weather to experience ultimate fun?

Thursday night, I was coming back from a Hustle party when I noticed on the Internet that they were forecasting aweful weather for both Friday and Saturday. Ding ding… I took my phone and reserved a Cessna. After all this is the right time to practice some instrument flying and shoot a few instrument approaches...

Last time I filed an instrument flight plan was in May when I was doing my training in Mississippi. I have never flown IFR around Atlanta before, nor have I flown in really-bad actual instrument meteorological conditions.

So I was absolutely excited and when I woke up Friday morning it was over the top. Low clouds, overcast layers as low as 500ft and mist. Even the top of the mighty Bank of America tower was imerged in a low clouds layer. Sure that sounded exciting so I packed my stuff and off to Marta.

Upon reaching the airport, I checked one last time the weather and started doing the preflight. Well 500ft ceiling is enough to practice a few ILS (Instrument Landing System) approaches. Lawrenceville was forecasting 800ft ceiling in mist which should even be enough for non precision approaches such as a LOC (Localizer) or NDB (Non Directionnal Beacon) approach.

Half an hour later, I took of from Dekalb-Peachtree Airport and just a few seconds later we were in the soup. Climbing to 4000ft, we eventually reached the top of the overcast layer which must have been around 3900ft. Skimming along the top of an overcast layer in clear blue sky, how exciting. I guess that’s what made me fall in love with airplane. That’s the magic of flight.

Soon enough, we were descending to shoot an ILS approach at Gwinett County Lawrenceville Airport (LZU). And here comes another sight that is truly amazing. Having been in clouds for about 20 minutes, having only seen plain white and raindrops on the windshield, the sight of the runway lights suddenly appearing right in front of the aircraft while breaking out of a 600ft-high overcast layer has simply no equivalent I can think of. And I am not bragging, I honestly think there is no ‘ersatz’ to that. Along with this memorable experience comes an immensely profound sense of achievement. It is hard to explain because after all it is just plain maths. Still there is this touch of magic to it.

Anyway, after a touch we continued with non-precision approaches as the ceiling was clearing a bit. First a NDB approach with a holding pattern and finally a localizer approach. Around 12:30pm, it was about time to head back to Atlanta as I was supposed to go to my Advanced Dynamic Class at Georgia Tech at 2pm sharp. Return trip was uneventful with a cruise entirely in the soup followed by an ILS approach at Dekalb Peachtree Airport (PDK). This time, we broke out of the clouds at 1500ft above ground.

Touchdown was a few minutes after 1pm. Headwinds and funny radar vectoring during our return trip did not really helped us ... I reached Georgia Tech at 2:15pm…well too bad for the flight mechanics class... Guess I’ll have to catch it later…

Part of the flight that was under radar coverage
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N6204F

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I did not get a chance to record the approach. But here is what it looks like.

Similar ILS approach in a Cessna 172

Just a thought...

Claude François

Le Vagabond

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Comme un enfant qui a perdu son père
Et qui le cherche en courant sur la Terre
J'ai voyagé dans vingt pays
Et j'ai vingt fois recommencé ma vie
Tous les métiers, je les ai fait je crois
J'en ai gardé un peu de muscles au bras

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Hier encore, un débutant
Et tout a coup au premier rang
Je ne me sens jamais chez moi
Toute ma vie, je resterai je crois

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Un vagabond qui passe et chante
Et qu'il faut mieux ne jamais rencontrer
Un vagabond sans importance
Et qu'il faut mieux ne jamais aimer

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Je vais dormir quand les autres se lèvent
Je suis un fou qui embrouille ses rêves
Toujours à part, toujours déçu
J'ai cru aimer, je n'ai pas su
Et je me dis que malgré moi
Je ne serai toute ma vie je crois

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Qu'un vagabond

Qui passe et chante
Et qu'il vaut mieux ne jamais rencontrer
Un vagabond sans importance
Un chien perdu et jamais retrouvé

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Oui, un vagabond sans importance
Je suis perdu, laissez-moi passer
Ohohoh laissez-moi passer

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Fruity diet

Highlight of the week was my trip to Atlantic Station ... to buy a mixer. Or blender. Or whatever it might be called. I have been longing to get one for about a year...

And as soon as Sunday evening I was preparing my first home-made smoothies : two oranges, one banana, one apple and ice cubes. The whole process is merely a matter of cutting everything into small cubes and then pressing 'liquefy'. In less than one minute the smoothie is ready. For more sophisticated receipes, milk might be added but that is not on my schedule right now.

Gone are all those so-called diet beverages. I am about to start my very own fruity-drink diet exclusively composed of smoothies and juices. Sure there are sugar and calories in those preparations, but at least there are vitamins. And no preservatives, no aspartame. And the joy of preparing it yourself !

Added to my recent exclusive fruit-diet, I should loose a few more pounds over the next three weeks. The ultimate goal is to loose fifteen pounds before the end of September. Cumulated with the ten pounds I have already lost since mid August, I should be in a better shape than last Spring...

So in a nutshell, everyone is invited for a smoothie time !!

Arrivederci Luciano

Luciano passed away. How sad, really sad. Heaven has a tenor as some newspapers were quoting this week.

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Luciano Pavarotti had a special place in my mind : I spent so many evenings in my childhood watching his performances in operas ranging from Verdi's Rigoletto to Puccini's Tosca. Often compared to his fellow tenors Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras, he was still a step beyond. He had the suavest voice of the three certainly due to his italian origins.

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Linking a three minute long opera excerpt would not pay any tribute to him nor to the music itself. La Traviata is not only the Brindisi aria, Turandot is not Nessun Dorma, Rigoletto is not La dona è mobile and La Bohème is not O suave fanciulla.

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Luciano Pavarotti also sang popular music from times to times but in Italy Opera is popular music. So here is a link to a song from Napoli. Arrivederci Luciano.

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Caruso - Pavarotti

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Qui dove il mare luccica,

E tira forte il vento

Su una vecchia terazza

Davanti al golfo di Surriento

Un uomo abbraccia una ragazza

Dopo che aveva pianto

Poi si sciarisce la voce

E ricomincia il canto

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Te voglio bene assaie

Ma tanto tanto bene sai

E una catena ormai

Che sciogliei sangue dint'e vene sai...

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Vide le luci in mezzo al mare

Penso alle notti la in America

Ma erano solo le lampare

E la bianca scia di un'elica

Senti il dolore nella musica

E si alzo dal pianoforte

Ma quando vide uscire

La luna da una nuvola

Gli sembro pi dolce anche la morte

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Guardo negli occhi la ragazza

Quegli occhi verdi come il mare

Poi all'improvisso usci una lacrima

E lui credette di affogare

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Te voglio bene assaie

Ma tanto tanto... bene sai

E una catena ormai

Che sciogliei sangue dint'e vene sai...

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Potenza della lirica

Dove ogni dramma é un falso

Che con un po'di trucco e con la mimica

Puoi diventare un altro

Ma due occhi che ti guardano

Cosi vicini e veri

Ti fan scordare le parole

Confondono I pensieri

Cosi diventa tutto piccolo

Anche le notti la in America

Ti volti e vedi la tua vita

Como la scia di un'elica

Ma si é la vita che finisce

Ma lui non ci penso poi tanto

Anzi si sentiva gi felice

E ricomincio il suo canto

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Te voglio bene assaie

Ma tanto tanto… bene sai

E una catena ormai

Che sciogliei sangue dint'e vene sai...

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Te voglio bene assaie
Ma tanto tanto… bene sai
E una catena ormai
Che sciogliei sangue dint'e vene sai...

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Labor-Day road trip

I am back from my Labor Day road trip with some nice pictures to share. It was an ambitious trip since I had planned an aggressive and tight schedule. Nonetheless, I tried to stick to it which means that I had to cover long journeys with early wake-up and late arrivals. But I am a warrior and I like that...

Friday Evening

Picked up the car at Atlanta - Hartsfield Jackson Intl and off I went to North Carolina through Greenville, Charlotte and Greensboro. Lot's of night driving and not a lot to see but I was expecting that. I finally arrived at Greensboro around 2am.

Saturday

Things become interesting as I head towards the Atlantic coast through the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina's cotton fields and Virginia's tobacco fields. Cotton plants were just blooming offering their nice white plumets while tobacco fields were magnificent with those huge light-green leaves.

Weather was on the party with a bright sunny sky. I finally reached Virginia Beach just in time to make a splash in the ocean. Man, I like the oceans...I must have been a sea-cow in a former life. Later in the day, I drove up to Norfolk to gaze at those three large aircraft-carriers mooring inside one of the largest US naval base.

Sunday

Early in the morning I drive past Nasa Langley heading towards Kitty Hawk. If Kitty Hawk itself has nothing exceptional to offer, the name by itself should raise the eyebrow of any aviation addict. Indeed this is the very place where the Wright Brothers succeeded in their first flight attempts. December of 1903 or the conquest of the third dimension opening a new era for Mankind.

Orville and Wilbur Wright monument

Stones marking the length of the four first flights. The first hop by Orville was 120 feet long, the next one by Wilbur, then Orville and finally Wilbur again reaching more than 500 feet.

The Wright's Flyer being launched. Orville is at the command while Wilbur assists pushing and balancing the right wingtip during the very first take-off.

I continued to drive South along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore until I reached the city of Cape Hatteras. The landscapes are magnificent offering miles and miles and miles of endless sand dunes. More than eighty miles of beach stretch along this narrow strip of land thirty miles East of North Carolina's coast.

Sand dunes with a strong easterly wind blowing sand

A few miles later, I reached Cape Hatteras where I pay a visit to the Cape Hatteras lighthouse and boarded my first ferry of the day to Ocracoke Island. A mere thirty minute ride in one of these old-fashioned ferries.

Cape Hatteras lighthouse

Once on Ocracoke Island, I elected to go surfing for a while and take a nap on the sand dunes while waiting for my night ferry. However, the windy conditions deterred me from laying for too long there and I took the car again just after sunset for another ferry ride.

Sunset on Okracoke sand dunes

This crossing was slightly longer : two dozen miles to reach terra firma again or two hours and a half of ferry-time heading South West to the coast of North Carolina.

Man I like boats and I just love ferry trips

This was a night journey starting around 8:30pm. In the middle of the night, away from any source of light-pollution these crossings are simply bewithching offering cristal clear skies with great views over the Milky-way, the Big-Dipper, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor and Polaris. The ferry finally reached mainland at Cedar Island in the middle of nowhere but it is still a long way to get to my bedroom. I finally arrived in Wilmington around 2am after wandering off the streets for half an hour looking for my Motel...

Monday

Off I went on the road again to reach South Carolina and the resort station of Myrtle Beach. However for me this was not vacation-time... I really really needed to submit my report for the lab so I went hunting around hotels searching for a non-secured wifi connection. Well I was kinda lucky and after just a few minutes I found my victim network...used their wifi connection directly from my car...and sent my report. If only Elena knew...thirty seconds later I was in the sea surfing.

In the mid-afternoon, I brought back everything into my car and started my long journey back home. Columbia first, then Augusta in Georgia where I took a shot of the enabler: a 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt.

Chevy Cobalt.
36.7 MPG at 75 MPH. Quite impressive for a non-hybrid car...

End of my trip in Atlanta around 10pm after exactly 1509 miles, an exciting week-end and loads of fond memories. Stay tuned for the next one...

Flying

As a first entry into the journal, I wanted something substantiate and something about aviation. Listening to people not familiar with aircraft operations, I have noticed that there is one source of confusion that is recurrent: Visual Flight Rules and Instrument Flight Rules. There are some subtle differences between the two and if not understood correctly, the whole concept of visual flight might be difficult to grasp.


VFR and IFR
VFR stands for Visual Flight Rules and IFR stands for Instrument Flight Rules. These are two different sets of regulation concerning flight. You are either flying under VFR or under IFR and the good news is that those two sets are acknowledged worldwide. Well almost…bar the UK but what are the Brits doing like anybody else?


VFR
Visual Flight Rules mean that your flying is done using visual cues from the outside. In other terms, you are using the horizon to maintain pitch, roll and yaw control and you are using landmarks on the ground for navigation. You barely need any instrument even though the rules require at least an airspeed indicator, an altitude indicator and a magnetic compass. This is because the airspeed, altitude and heading cannot be easily inferred in flight.

However this does not mean that the pilot shall not use other instruments. If the instruments are there on the dashboard, it would be foolish not to use them for navigation. These are nonetheless no primary instruments but what is called supportive instruments.

These rules are the ones used by the vast majority of general aviation pilots all over the world.


IFR
Instrument Flight Rules are a set of rules that allows the pilot to fly only by reference to his instruments. Consequently more instruments are required to fly and the requirement consists of an airspeed indicator, an altitude indicator, a compass, a turn coordinator, a gyroscopic attitude indicator, a clock, a two way radio and an adequate navigation equipment. That’s a whole lot more but this is the price to pay to bust clouds. In return, you are allowed to fly without reference to the horizon which means into haze, fog and clouds.

Instrument flying is more demanding mentally than visual flying and requires perpetual concentration by the pilot. However, navigations are a lot easier because contrary to landmarks that may or may not be seen, navigation information provided by instruments is not subjective.

These rules are the ones used by all airlines' pilot as well as a minority of general aviation pilots. This is especially true in Europe where the cost of IFR flying is usually prohibitive. It is a pity as instrument flying with proper experience is regarded as very safe.


VFR and VMC, IFR and IMC
VMC stands for Visual Meteorological Condition and IMC for Instrument Meteorological Condition. This is used to describe the weather. Indeed, visual flight rules stipulate minimum requirements in term of visibility and ceiling to be able to fly. If those minima are met, the weather is VMC. If not, the weather is IMC.

This only suggests which set of rule to use for flying. For instance, when the weather is VMC, a pilot can elect to fly under VFR or IFR. However when IMC is prevailing, a pilot must fly IFR.

A good example is airlines' pilots who are constantly flying under the instrument set of rules whatever the weather might be. On the other hand, many general aviation pilots are grounded as soon as the weather deteriorates because they are not properly qualified to perform a flight under IFR.


VFR at night
Night flying is not restricted to instrument rated pilots contrary to what one might think. At night the horizon may still be visible and may be used for attitude reference while city lights, antenna lights and roads make good visible cues.


Final Words
Finally a good example of the differences between the two regimes of flights may be seen on the charts used by pilots. The charts shown below depicts the exact same area of Atlanta and are drawn at the same scale.

VFR charts as shown in the link below contain a lot of landmark information and topographic information. Antennae, cities, airports, lakes, river....

Atlanta VFR Sectional Chart

On the other hand, IFR charts such as the one shown below are slightly more austere and only show airports, navigation beacons and airways in between.

Atlanta IFR Enroute

Welcome to all

This journal is a step in a new direction as I am steering towards another life. Painful pages have been turned but the book of life has plenty more to offer.

I finally elected to start from scratch a new blog and leave the former one alone. A difficult decision as I had been using the former for ages: so much written over there and so much about what I was going through. Certainly too much...

Before heading to new and happier horizons, I would like to quote these slightly modified lyrics. This song, along with many from the motion picture Grease will forever have a special place in my mind. During these exquisite moments, I certainly learnt how to perform on a stage but most of all I learnt how to share my emotions.

From Olivia Newton-John
Grease

Guess mine is not the first heart broken

my eyes are not the first to cry

I'm not the first to know

There's just no getting over you

You know I'm just a fool who's willing

to sit around and wait for you

But baby can't you see there's nothing left for me to do

I'm hopelessly devoted to you

But now there's nowhere to hide

since you pushed my love aside

I'm out of my head hopelessly devoted to you

Hopelessly devoted to you

Hopelessly devoted to you

My head is saying fool forget her

My heart is saying don't let go

Hold on to the end that's what I intend to do

I'm hopelessly devoted to you

But now there's nowhere to hide since you pushed my love aside

I'm out of my head hopelessly devoted to you

Hopelessly devoted to you

Hopelessly devoted to you