Question of the day

[steingar]

On 8/16/2019 at 6:33 PM, gsxrpilot said:

I know! It's like a damn virus or something! I'm a pilot, a pilot's gotta fly... There's nothing I can do about that.

My friend Bruce Chien likens it to Herpes.  It never goes away.

[Ned Gravel]

11 hours ago, bradp said:

I’m an everyone else is actively or passively trying to kill me category. 

Ned I gotta ask - primary target not even an unverified altitude readout and NMAC or whatever - why not just take a quick vector and avoid the unknown by a few miles?  

Centre only told me to look, cancelled my clearance for the RNAV approach, and then cleared me “not below 3500’ on present heading”.because of traffic coming out of my destination drome.  So in a shallow descent, we started looking.  Looking into the sun, we did not see them until we were about a mile apart. 

Not certain about NMAC in Canada.  

[flyer338]

I am sort of in the middle. I feel my life is at greater risk in the car on the way to the airport. Of course there is always the person who is making a straight-in approach to an uncontrolled field; that is the one I watch out for. 

We are an elite group. According to the FAA:(https://www.faa.gov/data_research/aviation_data_statistics/civil_airmen_statistics/media/2018-civil-airmen-stats.xlsx)

As of 12/31/2018 there were 633,317 active pilots, of whom 167,804 were students, and 99,880 hold commercial certificates. Of the commercial pilots, 91,076 have instrument ratings. Making them an elite within an elite. 

[JimB]

On 8/20/2019 at 5:52 PM, flyer898 said:

I am sort of in the middle. I feel my life is at greater risk in the car on the way to the airport. Of course there is always the person who is making a straight-in approach to an uncontrolled field; that is the one I watch out for. 

We are an elite group. According to the FAA:(https://www.faa.gov/data_research/aviation_data_statistics/civil_airmen_statistics/media/2018-civil-airmen-stats.xlsx)

As of 12/31/2018 there were 633,317 active pilots, of whom 167,804 were students, and 99,880 hold commercial certificates. Of the commercial pilots, 91,076 have instrument ratings. Making them an elite within an elite. 

I also found the wiki info interesting

As of the end of 2017, in the US, there were an estimated 609,306 active certificated pilots.^[29] This number has been declining gradually over the past several decades, down from a high of over 827,000 pilots in 1980. There were 702,659 in 1990 and 625,581 in 2000. The numbers include:

• 120,546 student pilots (128,663 in 1990 and 93,064 in 2000)
• 220 recreational pilots (87 in 1990 and 340 in 2000)
• 5,157 sport pilots (did not exist until 2005)
• 174,883 private pilots (299,111 in 1990 and 251,561 in 2000)
• 104,322 commercial pilots (149,666 in 1990 and 121,858 in 2000)
• 152,933 airline transport pilots (107,732 in 1990 and 141,596 in 2000)
• 19,927 glider-only pilots (9,567 in 1990 and 7,775 in 2000)
• 15,511 rotorcraft-(helicopter)-only pilots (7,833 in 1990 and 9,387 in 2000)
• 554,177 male pilots end of 2014
• 39,322 female pilots end of 2014

[Hank]

4 hours ago, JimB said:

• 554,177 male pilots end of 2014
• 39,322 female pilots end of 2014

Hey, ladies are now up to 7%!! Woo-hooo! That includes both my Primary CFI from '07 and my CFII from '10.

Nope, just 6.6%. Stupid me divided women by men rather than Women ÷ (Women + Men) . . . . .

Edited August 22, 2019 by Hank

[Greg Ellis]

On 8/18/2019 at 1:37 PM, lamont337 said:

Funny you mention that. On 2 recent local flights I too was amazed at the volume of traffic in ForeFlight with Stratux. 

I took this screenshot of my I-pad (Wing X pro and Clarity ADS-B receiver) about 6-8 months ago coming back to FWS ( Fort Worth Spinks) from Missouri.  Made me re-think my direct-to magenta route.

[wishboneash]

Where do you get these numbers? I'm just wondering because when I search the FAA Airman database, I find pilots listed who are relatives of mine who are either no longer flying, or have actually passed away. My grandfather is still listed in the database and he passed away in 1996.

The FAA airmen database lists this as *active* pilots (approx 633k) for Dec 2018.

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

[steingar]

Traffic always looks worse on the iThingie.  Traffic isn't shown to scale.  I remember seeing this giant conga line of aircraft approaching Oshkosh, truth is we had trouble spotting very many of them.

[N201MKTurbo]

Outside of the traffic pattern, the big sky protects us more than flight following, and real time traffic.

Mid air collisions are an insignificant factor in the accident statistics, yet it is the thing we fuss about the most.

[Yetti]

3 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Outside of the traffic pattern, the big sky protects us more than flight following, and real time traffic.

Mid air collisions are an insignificant factor in the accident statistics, yet it is the thing we fuss about the most.

I have been on flight following and ATC called in a hurried voice and a beeping in the background making a strong suggestion to climb now.....  .   A purple RV passed under me soon after.  It left an impression

 

[irishpilot]

When traveling cross country from point A to point B, I'm either on an IFR clearance or flight following. I also have ADS-B in the cockpit as an additional tools. The higher you go, as in the teens, the less dense the traffic is. If you've ever had a problem or IFE, you've got someone at 1g able to help you.

Also, I run my 12:1 range ring on Foreflight which gives me an easy visual depiction of what my engine-out airfield options are. As an extra proxaution at night or in IMC, I run my Nav 2 (430W) on the nearest page for quick navigation.

These are just some techniques I use to give me some options should I need them.



Fly Safe,
Safety Forum Mod

[Ned Gravel]

47 minutes ago, irishpilot said:

When traveling cross country from point A to point B, I'm either on an IFR clearance or flight following. I also have ADS-B in the cockpit as an additional tools. The higher you go, as in the teens, the less dense the traffic is. If you've ever had a problem or IFE, you've got someone at 1g able to help you.

Also, I run my 12:1 range ring on Foreflight which gives me an easy visual depiction of what my engine-out airfield options are. As an extra proxaution at night or in IMC, I run my Nav 2 (430W) on the nearest page for quick navigation.

These are just some techniques I use to give me some options should I need them.



Fly Safe,
Safety Forum Mod
 

All of the above. +1.  Exactly the same for me.  

[GeeBee]

If you want to understand the value of TIS on ADS-B see this cockpit view from a C-150 as it collides with a ANG F-16. The F-16 is under control of Charleston approach control and they still collided.

 

[PT20J]

On 8/16/2019 at 12:42 PM, gsxrpilot said:

Where do you get these numbers? I'm just wondering because when I search the FAA Airman database, I find pilots listed who are relatives of mine who are either no longer flying, or have actually passed away. My grandfather is still listed in the database and he passed away in 1996.

GAMA publishes statistics yearly. Lots of interesting stuff in there. FAA defines “active” as having current medical certificate. 

https://gama.aero/facts-and-statistics/statistical-databook-and-industry-outlook/

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