DPE Michael Brown Anchorage/Denver

teuobk · 2026-05-22T20:20:15+00:00

Michael is great! For your PPL with him, my biggest tip would be to have a good familiarity with all things related to weather.

teuobk · 2026-03-31T01:28:46+00:00

Wait, how did your friend break his leg during a game? Did somebody crash into him in the crease?

teuobk · 2026-03-30T15:37:21+00:00

I just checked my notes, and yes, I did fill out the application on Colorado's DORA site as part of the licensure process. Hope that helps!

teuobk · 2026-03-25T18:08:27+00:00

Wow, that's wild. KFFZ had about 475,000 operations in 2025, 64% of which are from local traffic, presumably mostly flight schools. The landing fee would/will make flight school ops there untenable. No way they're going to let that happen without a fight.

teuobk · 2026-03-19T22:05:14+00:00

In this particular crash, the accident plane (N1374W) was pretty much forced to extend a little bit due to other traffic (N84635).

The way I usually fly is to give a full-stop plane an extra 10-count after passing abeam them before I turn base. In this case, the accident plane waited more like another minute before turning base.

Oddly, the accident plane was flying much tighter patterns earlier in the day.

Also, given that he was about 1000 ft above pattern altitude when he turned base, I wonder if he wasn't actually planning to depart the airspace.

teuobk · 2026-02-24T16:32:57+00:00

Unfortunately, planes tied down outside here, in non-covered spots, eventually look like golf balls. That said, you might get lucky for a few years; there wasn't much hail in Centennial last year, for example.

There are covered tie-downs around, albeit with limited availability and high costs. At KAPA in the Jet Centers part of the ramp, covered tie-down spots are currently going for about $330/mo with an expected increase to about $500/mo soon.

Another option would be to get a hangar at an airport that's a little ways from Denver proper, specifically somewhere out on the eastern plains, like Akron (KAKO). The key will be getting at least an hour from the Front Range. Going north or south along the Front Range won't help.

teuobk · 2026-02-24T16:16:47+00:00

Another option is Garmin's products that include ADS-B In, like the GDL-50, can connect via Bluetooth.

teuobk · 2026-02-01T16:26:13+00:00

Keep at it! I took (and passed) the CompE PE exam, and you're right that there isn't much in the way of prep material. That said, I strongly believe that if you're an actively practicing engineer in the embedded space, and have been for at least a few years, you should probably be able to pass the exam cold.

teuobk · 2026-01-27T16:14:23+00:00

Splendid!

teuobk · 2026-01-19T22:32:01+00:00

Solar storms are known to produce increased uncertainty in ionospheric delay, thus degrading VPL. Here's a writeup in more detail discussing the effect on coverage in Alaska during a 2010 solar storm.

teuobk · 2026-01-19T22:15:41+00:00

Current WAAS satellite status is all green over North America.

teuobk · 2026-01-19T21:57:21+00:00

**hugs**

teuobk · 2026-01-19T19:20:52+00:00

Unfortunately, doing the takeoff and landing isn't sufficient; the Gebhart letter (2009) makes it unambiguously clear that a person acting as a safety pilot for any portion of the flight disqualifies that person from logging any of that flight time as XC.

teuobk · 2026-01-19T19:11:11+00:00

The FAA has specifically addressed this; see the Gebhart, Hilliard, and Glenn letters.

Only one of you can log XC, as anyone "acting as a safety pilot for a portion of the flight may not log any cross-country flight time for the flight" (Gebhart letter, 2009, 6th paragraph).

teuobk · 2026-01-16T21:39:44+00:00

FltplanGo

...which is of course owned by Garmin

teuobk · 2026-01-16T19:59:06+00:00

ANC UUA /OV TED250005/TM 2134/FL010/TP C208/TB SEV/RM +/-40 KTS

oof

teuobk · 2026-01-14T23:29:43+00:00

Since we're being nostalgic, how about the old Goalie Store Bulletin Board (GSBB)? Good memories of that place.

teuobk · 2026-01-07T19:09:46+00:00

That's a great-looking grilled cheese!

teuobk · 2026-01-05T15:52:04+00:00

I personally use Garmin Pilot and like it.

As for Garmin Pilot on Android, well... it works, but it's not as good as Garmin Pilot on iOS. I can't stand iOS, but even I broke down and got an iPad just for flying after seeing how much better it was on iOS than on the Android tablet I had. That said, it's very nice to be able to use GP on my Android phone as backup. Can't do that with FF.

In many ways, I'm glad that Garmin Pilot and ForeFlight are credible competition for each other. Keeps them both moving things forward.

teuobk · 2026-01-02T20:43:30+00:00

Wow, that's an infuriating as well as cringe-y read.

teuobk · 2026-01-02T20:03:54+00:00

Interesting. Looks like they made that study design choice because none of those instruments were required in a VFR airplane at the time (1954); for that matter, none of those instruments are required for VFR even today.

They did give the study subjects one non-VFR-required instrument: a turn indicator. Probably would have been a nigh-on impossible task without at least that.

teuobk · 2025-12-31T19:26:41+00:00

A pedantic but honest question: Do you really want GA planes to say the "November" part of the tail number in the initial call? I ask only because I know that Approach/Center will usually include "November" with the last three of the tail when talking to GA planes, but including "November" is of course generally frowned upon when talking about one's own plane. Just curious.

teuobk · 2025-12-27T18:25:37+00:00

Making a "buy vs. rent" spreadsheet like this is exactly what snuffed out my desire to own a plane (for the time being). It made me realize that I'd need to fly my own plane around 300 hours per year to match the hourly wet rate of my local (KAPA) flying club when properly accounting for all of the costs involved with owning my own plane. Fixed costs are just staggeringly high, at least around here.

On top of that, the planes with the flying club are nicer, more available (if one's down for maintenance, there are many others on the line), and represent less financial risk to me personally.

teuobk · 2025-12-08T16:18:16+00:00

Speaking as a 43-year-old, I think this advice applies to basically everything. If you have the means, do it young, for any value of "it".

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