East Carolina Aviators

Embraer and Boeing are partnering on the sales and marketing of Embraer’s KC-390, a multi-mission mobility and aerial refueling aircraft.

Embraer and Boeing are partnering on the sales and marketing of Embraer’s KC-390 - a multi-mission mobility and aerial refueling aircraft with advanced capabilities in the medium-sized airlift market.

Under the agreement, Boeing is the lead for KC-390 sales, sustainment and training opportunities in the U.S., UK and select Middle East markets. Embraer will manufacture the aircraft and collaborate on sales, sustainment and training.

“The KC-390 is an extremely capable aircraft that continues to attract interest by several nations, and Boeing’s military transport expertise is ideal for teaming in the international market,” said Luiz Carlos Aguiar, President and CEO of Embraer Defesa & Segurança. “This agreement strengthens the level of cooperation between both companies and the defense industries of Brazil and the United States.”

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Boeing today highlighted its twin-aisle family, noting that with the offering of the 777X, it will have an airplane serving every major segment of the market. The 747-8, 777 and 787 Dreamliner families of airplanes offer a complete family with a high degree of commonality that will deliver superior value for operators.

In a briefing at the 2013 Paris Air Show, Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager, Airplane Development, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, outlined the company’s strategy for its environmentally progressive, reliable airplanes in the context of evolving market demand and volatile fuel prices.

“Our development focus to complement and extend today’s twin-aisle family means we offer a full array of airplanes that match seat count and range to the needs of the market,” said Fancher.

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With the closure of around 149 control towers around the United States, it isn’t a bad idea to review and refresh your knowledge about operations in a non-towered airport.

PilotWorkshop.com put together three short videos, featuring Bob Martens, with the objective of quickly reviewing some of the procedures pilots should pay attention to.

The 29 minutes of videos cover the following topics:

• Non-towered Airport Challenges;
• Non-towered Airports: Safe Approach; and
• Non-towered Airports: Traffic Patterns.

You may watch the videos by visiting the following URL: http://pilotworkshop.com/nta/.

www.737simguy.com

Air traffic controller James Price has spent the past decade building a full-sized Boeing 737 flight simulator in his garage.

“My Flight Deck is actually a real B737-100 shell cut just aft of the cockpit door. I have cut, stripped, cleaned, and repainted the entire section,” says James on his website at www.737simguy.com.

The website, maintained by James, is going through a redesign process, but visitors can find a link that redirects to the “old” pages containing information about the simulator.

The crew from Tested.com visited James and had the opportunity to see and experience the simulator first-hand.

You can watch the interview videos below.

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The Tales of a Pilot we are sharing today was submitted by Sanjay Govindan, a student pilot who has recently completed his first solo flight. Congratulations, Jay!

Sanjay after his First Solo Flight

When I was growing up in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, only the rich like the ruler of my state (Sultan) could afford to learn to fly.

It had always been my childhood dream to learn to fly but my parents could not afford it. They were making $375 a month.

Our Sultan had his own private runway on his palace ground, with a fleet of Cessnas. I loved watching our Sultan fly around just like other village kids.

My first experience on an airplane was in 1990, on Malaysia Airlines, during my college summer break. I flew from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Senai International Airport in my town. It was only a 45-minutes flight on a Boeing 737 (I think), but it was the best experience ever!

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Today’s Tales of a Pilot is written by Israel Mueller, a student pilot and creator of East Carolina Aviators. Israel is currently working on his Private Pilot license, flying a Diamond DA40 at KPGV (Greenville, NC). Check out his story and the video below.

I think the story I’m submitting today is a good example to show that everybody makes mistakes. It’s an eye-opener for both learners and experienced pilots.

I’m a student pilot and, as “expected”, I find myself doing the dumbest mistakes! My instructor does a great job of nicely pointing them out and correcting me, by the way. Sometimes I don’t really notice them until I review my flying videos at home – they are a fantastic learning tool to me.

Today I went to KPGV and my instructor and I stayed around the pattern doing some touch-and-go training. The winds were calm, visibility and ceiling were great. A really good day to fly! Although the winds were calm and any runway could be used, most aircraft were using runway 20 for take-off and landing. And that’s what we were doing as well.

Halfway through my training, while I was on downwind, the instructor pulled the power to simulate an engine failure. I proceeded to turn left to attempt landing on runway 20. My turn ended up being a little too steep, but it looks like I would have made it safely to the ground. Instead of touching down, we did a go around.

At this point, we were aware of an aircraft approaching the airport to land. The pilot of the aircraft announced a straight-in approach to runway 20. I announced my upwind position on runway 20 and repeated my intentions on crosswind.

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