PilotEdge Forums

zengei wrote:

Bidimus wrote:It turns out Apple Valley has a scary thick red border around it which, if I read the legend correctly, means it's in Class E airspace.

It's Class E brought down to 700 feet AGL rather than 1200 feet AGL. The surface of the airport is still technically in Class G.

Bidimus wrote:Does this mean I call Joshua Dep for clearance before switching over to CTAF to get rolling?

Nope, no clearance needed at all.

Bidimus wrote:The arrival at Bakersfield is simple enough though I'm not sure if I should contact tower or approach at that end. I assume approach.

You can just contact tower when you're an appropriate distance away. Unless you want flight following, then you can contact Joshua App when you're in the air; I don't think you can get flight following on the ground at non-towered airports.

EDIT: Also keep in mind the direct route puts you right through restricted 2515 and over Edwards AFB.

Thanks.

I noticed the restricted. I planned a route over Palmdale at 10500 to go around that with a nice VOR for reference. It also puts me above the special military activity area along the way too. I ran out of time for tonight but I'll give this a fly through online tomorrow after work. Thanks again.

The sneaky thing about those Special Military Activity areas is that unlike nearly everything else on the chart, their boundaries are listed AGL. Given the terrain in that area, you may be looking at much more than 10500 (and oxygen) to clear it. These Special Military Activity areas have been confusing me too (There's one on the first leg of the Poker Run from L52 to KIZA, but I didn't recall anyone mentioning it) - if I have flight following, will they advise of any Skynet drone testing, or do I still need to contact the controlling agency (in this case, Riverside Radio 122.2)?

DavidC wrote:The sneaky thing about those Special Military Activity areas is that unlike nearly everything else on the chart, their boundaries are listed AGL. Given the terrain in that area, you may be looking at much more than 10500 (and oxygen) to clear it. These Special Military Activity areas have been confusing me too (There's one on the first leg of the Poker Run from L52 to KIZA, but I didn't recall anyone mentioning it) - if I have flight following, will they advise of any Skynet drone testing, or do I still need to contact the controlling agency (in this case, Riverside Radio 122.2)?

Doh! You're absolutely right. I hadn't noticed the AGL but it's there. That said it starts at 5000 AGL so 8500 should get me over the Delta, under the Special Military, and over the mountain with a little over a thousand feet to spare. lol Boy this one is getting tricky for such a simple flight.

The special use airspace around KIZA is a corridor to bring awareness to the presence of an IFR military training route. You can largely ignore it. In the real world, the radar controller who is providing flight following would be able to keep you informed of the status of that airspace. You certainly don't need to avoid it (on PE or the real world).

Keith Smith wrote:The special use airspace around KIZA is a corridor to bring awareness to the presence of an IFR military training route. You can largely ignore it. In the real world, the radar controller who is providing flight following would be able to keep you informed of the status of that airspace. You certainly don't need to avoid it (on PE or the real world).

This is precisely the information I was looking for, but didn't have much luck with web searches. Thanks for clearing that up, Keith!

Hi Keith,

Just received by mail the upcoming 'Real World VFR' video sneak peek. Wonderful work! Looking forward to getting my hands on those videos.

The trailer also reminded me of the extended VFR training ratings project. I've been patiently waiting for that release for months VFR flying on PE really makes PE stand out from other services, in my view. What is the project's status?

I feel bad to bring it up really, as I know you needed to finish other projects first that are much more important to PE. I cannot express enough my gratitude for all the hard work you guys are putting into making PE flourish beyond 2015.

I'm still curious though about the new ratings Any ETA?

Tim

Super excited for the new VFR stuff. IFR is fun, and I've finally got to work on the I ratings over the past few days, but VFR still holds a special place in my heart. I find it a lot more fun sometimes to plan a VFR flight where I can duck and dodge complicated airspace and avoid ATC almost entirely. Not the safest in congested airspace where it may be advisable to pick up FF if the controller is able, but it certainly makes for some interesting planning and execution.

Now that Remote Coaching is up and running, when can we expect to see the CAT ratings published, or will they be "pay only"?

Steve,

That would be quite a bait and switch. The Remote Coaching page does say that they are being offered as a "preview" before they are released to the public. This implies that they will indeed to released to the public as planned. I simply need to get the cockpit videos finished. Many of them were done (close to a year ago) but were lost in a 3TB hard drive crash late last year and need to be reshot. There are also a couple that weren't yet shot at all. We're also working on integrating the roster into the main site rather than the separate training site.

I realize they're delayed and that many people are waiting for them, but the only way they could be done by now is if I had dropped several commercial projects to get them done, at which point, the future of the network would no longer be guaranteed. I am confident I had the priorities right.

If there ever is a plan to NOT make them public (there is no such plan), I will announce it, but until then, you should assume that the stated intention to have them replace the V1, V2 & V3 is still valid, albeit, almost comically delayed.

Nelson L. wrote:On the topic of IFR read-backs, does PE simulate "squawk-only" read-backs? Would certainly save me about 30 seconds, and it would be fun to try if I'm certain I got all the info.

It is my understanding that unless a controller requests a full or specific readback, the squawk code is adequate. The initial altitude may be required too, though.