iPhone makes everyone a genius.

Patrick Smith, airline pilot and writer, has a great regular column over at Salon.com. Here is an excerpt from his most recent, that I found amusing....

On one of the frequent-flier blogs, an airline pilot writes that only
moments after informing his passengers of a weather-related ground hold
affecting their flight to Memphis, Tenn., he and his captain received a call
from one of the flight attendants. Seems an iPhone-wielding customer in the back
had a challenge. "Some guy with an iPhone says the weather is good," the flight
attendant says, "and wants to know what the real reason is for the delay. Is
something wrong with the plane?"
I like that, "real reason." The
implication, as always, is that the carrier is lying or otherwise withholding
some critical information. There must be some dangerous malfunction they're not
telling us about. After all, "the weather is good," so obviously there's no
reason we can't depart immediately.
Reportedly, the captain responded with a
public address announcement that was sharp enough to elicit audible laughter
from the cabin.
"If the passenger with the iPhone would be kind enough," he
began, "to use it to check the weather at our alternate airport, then calculate
our revised fuel burn due to being rerouted, then call our dispatcher to arrange
our amended release, then make a call to the nearest traffic control center to
arrange a new slot time (among all the other aircraft carrying passengers with
iPhones), we'll then be more than happy to depart. Please ring your call button
to advise the flight attendant and your fellow passengers when you deem it ready
and responsible for this multimillion-dollar aircraft and its 84 passengers to
safely leave."

Equally funny, but for very differnet reasons: When I googled "Iphone pilot", I found this entry in a technology blog, written by a programmer....

At 22:40 EDT I saw the commercial for iPhone that involves a pilot of a plane whose flight was delayed due to weather, using iPhone to check the weather and communicate to control that weather had cleared. (on NBC 4 New York, at 22:40 EDT on 3 Nov 2007)It upsets me that pilots get to use their iPhone to connect to the Internet when a flight is delayed, while the rest of the passengers sit in the cabin not being able to use any electronic devices! I did not purchase iPhone to become a netizen with a first class communicator device with third class communication.I directed this feedback to Apple and the airlines that I have flown recently. This commercial feels like rubbing salt on a wound.

Doh!

The Best of the Av blogs.

The aviation blogosphere has grown by leaps and bounds in the time that I have been a participant. There are tons of aviation blogs covering everything from students learning to fly, to senior Captains pushing the heavy iron. These are my personal favorites.....

Aviation Mentor (http://aviationmentor.blogspot.com/)

I started reading John's writing's back when he was a bay area freight dog. Tales from the line, hauling cargo in a Cessna Caravan always provided John with the opportunity to share a lesson or two for his reader. The Freight Dog blog was put to bed when John left his former employer, and switched gears to full time flight instruction. Now, Aviation Mentor is this CFI's space to share his knowledge, and his stories, sometimes going into a very high level of detail concerning instrument procedures, and adapting to the latest, greatest technology available to GA pilots.

Cockpit Conversation (http://airplanepilot.blogspot.com/)

Aviatrix has been keeping a diary of her flying career for about 3 years now, and manages to keep it fresh and interesting every time she writes. This blog is updated very frequently, and always provides me with some great lunch time reading. Recently, she has crossed the border from her native Canada to come work in American airspace. Keeping track of the subtle differences in verbiage and procedure between the two countries has been amusing and interesting reading as of late. I've read about her highs and lows in the industry, and as a pilot, and I'm glad she's still flying, and telling us all about it.

Aviatrix Logbook (http://www.aeronautrix.com/blog/)

A former computer research scientist turns CFI to build flight hours. Interesting accounts of various students, their progression in training, and the occasional story of somebody destroying a Duchess engine with a bicycle. I must share a sense of humor with the author, because this blog consistently makes me laugh. It's also obvious that she is always rooting for the student, and takes her performance as an instructor very seriously. Good to know! Keeps lots of interesting pictures linked to the blog, too.

Flight Level 390 (http://flightlevel390.blogspot.com/)

Going on 3.5 years now, FL390 is, to me, the master of all aviation blogs. Dave is a senior Captain and line pilot for one of the major's here in the U.S, and clearly loves his job. To boot, he is an exceptional writer. Accounts from the cockpit of the Airbus he lovingly calls "Fi-Fi", and of life on the line are always interesting, and written in such a manner that puts you right in the action, as if you were in the jump seat, along for the ride. After many years on the line, it seems the author has avoided becoming jaded by his job, and is still as impressed and excited by the amazing ability of these machines as those of us that have never been lucky enough to experience it from the left seat, and with the title of Captain.
It's rare that Dave makes an entry without someone commenting on his great writing, or suggesting he should write a book some day. I do hope he takes the suggestions seriously. This guy could write a hell of a good book.
Naturally, Lot's of Dave's curious readers have questions for him. He takes time to answer those questions in his comments area.
When I first found FL390, I found myself going back to the very first post and reading the entire year worth of post's I had missed out on. It's just that good.

Captain Dave, write the book, buddy!

METAR by Google

Text "METAR ICAO" (as in METAR KLAS for example) to "Google" (466453) and get a text message reply of the current METAR in text message form, on your cell phone. Give it a try!

Update

So, flying out here on the left coast got off to a much slower start than expected.

I'll be flying out of Boulder City Municipal, in a rental Piper Warrior II. This is good, because Iw as interested in stepping up to a larger plane than the Tommy, with more seating and a touch more airspeed. She also ha a full deck of Narco radios and a nice GPS, so that will be nothing short of luxury for me.

I managed to get back to Delaware a few weeks ago, and got some flying time in the Tommy. No great tales to tale, other than to say it was great to be back in the left seat and crusing out of N57. I can't begin to explain how much I missed it.

I return to Delaware over the Thanksgiving holiday, and I'm sure I'll get some more seat time then. For now, I'm spending a few hours every night reading the Warrior II POH. I have my instructor lined up to show me the ropes of desert flying, then it will be time to resume normal operations in escaping the patch, and making good use of this hard earned PPL.....