Precog

Anybody have much experience with flying into both a metro class D airport (e.g. Bankstown) and a regional class D airport (e.g. Albury)? Was wondering what are the operational differences between the two? I recently visited Albury ATC tower and was a little surprised by the differences in procedure (im a student pilot). For example, at albury you must explicitly "request clearance" to enter/depart the class D. At bankstown and i think other metro class d airports the requirement is just to establish two-way comms. Also noted that at albury VFR pilots departing into class G were giving a departure report (unlike metro D) when established on outbound track giving altitude and track info.

Anyone using their smart phone for recording the audio?

Good advice Scott... thanks. The audio in your videos sound great.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I might start with trying a small lapel mic in the headset and see how that goes first. Not sure though if it is better to record straight into the gopro (do i need a skeletal housing for this?) or a dedicated voice recorder. What are the advantages of the voice recorder? Is it easy to sync the sound with the go pro video? Wouldn't a smart phone work equally as well?

Hi guys, planning on purchasing a go pro hero3+ silver today but not sure what the best solution is to recording cockpit audio. Was planning to purchase a cable adapter such as the nflightcam but the lack of ambient noise to me seems a bit of a negative. Now, im thinking of just using my ipod earphones inside the headset as i have read others doing. The advantage of this seems to be it records ATC as well as ambient noise and a more realistic sound.... and doesnt cost anything. Does anybody have any experience with this method? Also. are you recording the audio via the go pro, smartphone or separate recorder?

From wikipedia on ICAO airspace definations: "Class C: Operations may be conducted under IFR, SVFR, or VFR. All aircraft are subject to ATC clearance (country-specific variations notwithstanding). Aircraft operating under IFR and SVFR are separated from each other and from flights operating under VFR, but VFR flights are not separated from each other. Flights operating under VFR are given traffic information in respect of other VFR flights. Class D: Operations may be conducted under IFR, SVFR, or VFR. All flights are subject to ATC clearance (country-specific variations notwithstanding). Aircraft operating under IFR and SVFR are separated from each other, and are given traffic information in respect of VFR flights. Flights operating under VFR are given traffic information in respect of all other flights" Nothing in these definitions states that class c must be capable of radar separation.

"And it also looks like a few people here are getting confused between Class C and Class D. Class C is an aerodrome or airspace capable of radar separation. Class D is an aerodrome or airspace not capable of radar separation. ie procedural." This is what Im trying to clarify for my BAK test because i dont think this is exactly correct. For example, Im pretty sure there is no radar in class c airspace just above/around alice springs class D. Listening to the liveATC at Alice for planes in class c around alice it sounds like its all procedural.

That's good to know...thanks Pearo.

Thanks for the replies guys. Now im more confused than ever :) From the flight safety article they state "An Airborne Report is required on first contact with Centre, Approach or Departures after departing a Class C or D aerodrome with a surveillance service (for example, radar or ADS-B). So to me that reads that some class D aerodromes do have radar? If that is the case, how can you tell which ones do and which dont? The fight safety article also says " non-controlled aerodromes allows for two scenarios—one where there is no surveillance available and one where surveillance exists and aircraft identification is expected with the Departure Report." Again, to me that is saying there are some non-controlled aerodromes (class g?) DO have surveillance (radar?) . If this is true, again how can you tell? Based on the radar coverage map that kiwi303 linked too, there is no radar at alice springs even at alititude. So even though you might be in class C airspace, there is no radar at alice springs. So am i right to assume that not all class C airspace has a radar service? BTW, here is the flight safety article im refering too: http://www.flightsafetyaustralia.com/2015/11/demystifying-departure-reports/

Hi guys, was just reading one of the latest flight safety articles on departure/airborne reports and got me thinking - how can you tell if the airport you are departing has radar/surveillance service? Is there an entry in ERSA or something? As i understand its not so simple as some class g and d airports can have radar e.g. bankstown; on the other hand; some class c and d aerodromes don't have radar e.g. alice springs/albury.

Love you podcasts mate...makes work 'fly by' :) I recommended them to everybody