Does your SPOT Leave Crumbs?

Flight 8 member Chuck O’Dale’s followers did not get the 1300 miles of bread crumbs promised by his SPOT. He is still waiting to hear SPOT’s explanation. He wonders if he inadvertently disabled the bread crumb feature. If so, folks should be aware how easily and unknowingly this can happen. If not, then why, and how often, does SPOT disable this important safety feature without the knowledge of users?

Chuck notes that, “the people that I rely on to check on my position reports got the following message:

Feed with Id: 0bf8QgAGfWBUNBPU9KmvdPDTACicaqCFm not found.”

On the positive side, Chuck also notes that OK messages were received, but not his position reports. And all the bread crumbs were ultimately stored in his SPOT account.

Is SPOT the ELT supplement that many of us believe it is?

2013 CAHS National Convention and AGM Update

By Conference Chairman Tim Dubé

The Canadian Aviation Historical Society (CAHS) returns to Ottawa-Gatineau for its 50th Convention and Annual General Meeting, 11 - 15 September 2013 – the Big Five O in Ottawa, Ontario.

Celebrating 50 years is a BIG deal and the Big Five O promises CAHS members just that – a BIG deal! In addition to two-days of historical presentations – you’ll have to wait for the Program and Registration Form for our list of speakers and their subjects – the Big Five O will include a number of special events and tours. These begin on Thursday evening with a BBQ and tour of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum (CASM), with the bonus of seeing the ongoing restoration of Canadair C-54GM North Star 17515. On both Friday evening and all day Saturday, the CAHS will be special guests at Vintage Wings of Canada’s Wings Over Gatineau-Ottawa air show. On Sunday, CAHS members will return to the CASM to be witness to the annual Battle of Britain parade and flypast. The Big Five O wraps-up on Sunday evening with an early-Autumn Harvest Feast and the presentation of CAHS awards.

Headquarters for the Big Five O will be the Albert at Bay Suite Hotel in downtown Ottawa. Each newly-renovated, one-bedroom suite includes one or two queen-size beds, a spacious living room (some with a pull-out couch), private bath, and a fully-equipped kitchen. We have secured a rate of just $139.00 plus taxes, per night, single or double occupancy. Make your reservations now by calling 1-800-267-6644 or 613-238-8858 and asking for the “CAHS Annual Convention” Group Rate. Final planning is underway now and we expect to have the Registration Forms, with full program details and costs, in CAHS members hands by mid-June.

External links

• PDF of this full announcement
• More information will be posted on the CAHS Events webpage
• CAHS Homepage

Flight 8 Diaspora May Update

A month ago I described that I was working on boosting Flight 8's presence on Diaspora (D*), attracting new followers there.

By the 10th of April I had managed to attract 120 followers. In pursing this strategy of following anyone interested in aviation subjects we now have 217 followers and growing each day.

As I previously reported D* is a very active, interesting and dynamic on-line community, with lots always going on. The focus does seem in general to be more European, left-leaning and oriented towards issues like free software, politics and human rights, but Flight 8 does create lots of aviation content there. This should make the community more interesting to a greater number of people and hopefully attract more users to come and join us there.

Of course, since all my posts are public, anyone can search for and read them without signing in or creating an account, just by viewing Flight 8 on Diaspora.

Anyone who would to join D* can sign up for an account on any one of a number of pods. My personal account is on Diasp.org and that seems to be a good pod. The Flight 8 account is on the main pod: joindiaspora.com.

External links

• Flight 8 on Diaspora (no need to log in to view the Flight's public posts)
• My personal account on Diaspora (also no need to log in to view my public posts)

Further to: Can You Trust the TC AIM?

On 4 April 2013 I posted a complaint about Transport Canada’s AIM, specifically with respect to inconsistencies between two sections dealing with proper radio techniques. See http://copa8.blogspot.ca/search?q=eighteen for details.
Well Transport Canada agrees with my comments as noted in Ron Carter’s message to me. Thanks Ron Carter for getting back to me in a timely fashion.

“Dear Mr. Shaw,
As you are aware, the concerns you expressed in your submission of April 5, 2013, were entered into the Civil Aviation Issues Reporting System (CAIRS) and were assigned file number GO-2476. Your concerns were with respect to the current AIM, which says to say “runway eighteen” on one page but says to use digits, as in "runway one eight" on another page. As a result of my review of the file I would like to take this opportunity to provide you with the following information:
I believe RAC section 4.5.6 “Use of MF and ATF” has it wrong, and the wording in RAC 4.5.6 will therefore be amended to read as follows: "runway one eight", effective October 17, 2013.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for sharing your views, as all comments we receive are appreciated.
Sincerely,
Ron Carter
Chief of Flight Standards / Chef des normes de vol Telephone / téléphone: (613) 998-9855 Facsimile / télécopieur: (613) 954-1602 TTY / ATS (613) 990-4500 ron.carter@tc.gc.ca Transport Canada | Place de Ville (AARTA), Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N8 Transports Canada | Place de Ville (AARTA) Ottawa (Ontario) K1A 0N8 Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada