Light gun signals from the tower.
| LIGHT | ON GROUND | IN AIR |
| Steady Green | Cleared for Takeoff | Cleared to Land |
| Flashing Green | Cleared to Taxi | Return for Landing |
| Steady Red | Stop | Yield, Continue Circling |
| Flashing Red | Taxi Clear of Runway | Airport Unsafe, do not land |
| Flashing White | Return to Start | NOT USED |
| Red/Green | Exercise Extreme Caution | Exercise Extreme Caution |
Acknowledge instructions by wagging your wings (day) or flashing your landing light (night).
Or Nav Logs or Navigation Logs. Say you’re planning a VFR flight and are getting frustrated with getting certain flight planning software to print. Maybe you’d like to download a PDF file of a navlog and just print up a blank. Well, you might be me. Except that I already looked up a few for you. You can find navlogs at:
I’m sure there are more. I’ll add them as I find them. If you have a favorite, leave a URL in the comments.
As long as we’re covering the basics, even though this should be easy to find now it’ll be just that much easier. Here is your aviation alphabet.
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Phonetic Alphabet:
Alfa
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliet
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whiskey
X-ray
Yankee
Zulu
0 Zero
1 Wun
2 Too
3 Tree
4 Fow-er
5 Fife
6 Six
7 Sev-en
8 Ait
9 Niner
Now practice all that with a West Virginia accent and you’ll be Chuck Yeager.
I must include one of the classics: GUMPS.
G as on fullest tank, and boost pump on
U ndercarriage (gear down and locked)
M ixture full
P rop to takeoff pitch
S witches and Seat Belts (landing lights, etc.)
A good suggestion for those of us who fly with the gear “down and welded” is to press the toe brakes on the U to make sure there’s hydraulic pressure. I also like to say “gear down” while reaching up to pull down a phantom switch. I figure it can only make the transition easier.
Some learn it as CGUMPS, with the C meaning carb heat.
Nearly as easy to remember as the sandwich: BLTT is a handy mnemonic for that last-minute checklist as you take the runway for takeoff.
B oost pump on
L anding light on (assuming it’s dark out)
T ransponder to ALT (for those of us without the fancy GPS units that turn it on automagically)
T ime of takeoff (hack the clock!)
My first instructor, who got me through my instrument rating back in the day, taught a simple mnemonic to remember for unusual attitude recovery. You’re in a TRAP:
T hrottle
R udder
A ileron
P itch
It has worked well for me. But after reading a recent IFR Magazine I realize it needs help. First, you need to push to unload. But PTRAP isn’t as catchy.
As for the rudder, IFR has this great disambiguation: Step on the sky, or Put your Foot in the sky. Even if the sky is just the blue part of the artificial horizon.
One part of my BFR which drove me nuts was trying to memorize all the VFR minimums. Pilots have to memorize so much random stuff it’s no wonder we come up with so many strange mnemonics. This ditty is my contibution to the oevre. You’re on your own to remember that the miles are all statute. If it helps you, forgive that it doesn’t quite scan.
Alpha Not here,
Bravo 3 and clear.
(3 mi and clear of clouds)
Charlie, Delta and Echo played Golf at night, using 3, 1, 5, 2 to avoid a fright.
(3 mi, 1000 above, 500 feet below, 2,000 lateral)
Golf in the day is 1 and clear, and below 1200 at night
(below 10,000 day, and below 1200 AGL at night)
while Echo and Golf over 10 is 5, 1, 1, 1, all right.
(Above 10,000 feet: 5 mi, 1,000 feet above, 1,000 feet below, and 1 mi lateral)
The bit about golfing at night is, obviously, because the minima in Golf airspace at night are the same as they always are in Charlie, Delta and Echo – below 10,000 feet. See why this is hard to memorize?
NB: Yes, I know it should be VFR Minima, not VFR Minimums. I’m optimising for page hits. Sue me.
Update: I tweaked the bit about Golf because I had neglected Golf during the day below 10,000. This stuff is really hard to memorize. I hope this bit of purple verse helps.
My latest instructor taught me an alphabet mnemonic for an engine-out emergency. His version went to E. I added the F. While I fly Pipers, which have the advantage of being able to operate the flaps without electrical power, this should translate well to just about any light aircraft.
The order is important, especially at low altitudes. If you lose power on takeoff, you want to push now.
Engine Failure: ABCDEF
A Airspeed (Vg) (And hit the carb heat)
B Best Field: Set up for 1000 ft AGL left base on a good landing spot
C Check systems: Carb heat, Mixture full, Throttle full, Fuel Pump on, Primer Locked, Switch Tanks, pull checklist
D Declare: Mayday on 121.5 unless already established with ATC
E Egress: Prepare door by propping it open, tighten seatbelts
F Fire: On final, Master off, Mags off, Fuel off
Again, I think the order is important. A friend of a friend was flying his classic Beechcraft across the San Francisco Bay from San Carlos to Hayward last year when it lost power. He and his nine-year-old boy survived the ditching just fine, and even stood on the poor plane until it sank. Then they started swimming for shore. Fortunately they were picked up by a boat in the area. I remember reading that he said he went through all the engine restart procedures and then set up a best glide speed. I hate to second guess a guy who apparently did just fine, but I often wonder how much closer to shore he might have ditched if setting pitch for best glide were the first thing he had done.
Not a BBQ recipe, but a way to remember what equipment is required for VFR flight.
TOMATO FLAMES plus FLAPS for night.
T achometer
O oil pressure gauge
M anifold pressure gauge for each atmosphere engine
A irspeed indicator
T emperature gauge for each liquid cooled engine
O il temperature gauge
F uel level gauge
L anding gear position indicator
A ltimeter
M agnetic heading indicator
E mergency locator transmitter (ELT)
S eat belts
And, of course, for night:
F uses
L anding lights
A nticollision lamps
P position indicator lamps
S ource of power
