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By admin, December 16, 2009 7:35 am

For every person that has bought a flight on the internet and wondered why it is so cheap – this article will explore and hopefully dispel the myths that surround budget airlines. Like everything in life and as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. But is it worth saving that extra cash for your trip or splashing out on this small part of your holiday.?
So, you buy the ticket at a great rate, albeit with some hidden taxes, charges and fee and prepare for a great holiday. As the day of departure approaches, you eagerly anticipate the holiday or trip itself, but you are probably a little apprehensive about the flight. For those who haven’t used budget airlines before, it is hard to know what to expect from the flight.
Travelling by aeroplane can be awkward, irritating and tiresome so you expect a budget airline could be worse. All the worst things about flying will be emphasised by the ‘budget’ part of the flight company. Will you regret this decision that seemed such a good one when you made the booking?
Leading up to the flight, you may get e-mails regarding information that you need to provide to assist a smooth check-in. You can opt for an online check-in, allowing you priority boarding on to the plane. This is a great idea as some flights will not have seat numbers, forcing groups to be separated as the plane fills up.
Providing the information via e-mail enables a quick check-in at the airport with queues reduced to a few people at a time. The whole process is reasonably easy and makes your experience even better as you seem to be able to take more advantage of the duty-free and airport shopping.
Boarding the plane is as difficult as normal airlines, if not more difficult due to the lack of numbered tickets. As you make your way up the stairs, the delays are noticeable as people hunt for enough seats together to keep their families and friends close by. This is mildly irritating, especially in the cold and wind, but also can be a common problem on the more expensive airlines.
Finding a seat is a race and for people travelling in groups is a dog-eat-dog situation. Regular budget fliers are clearly aware of how to take advantage and will punish hesitation in the newer budget travellers. Go in focussed and make sure you grab that seat before someone else does. You will regret it if you delay for only a few seconds as a budget airline is a dangerous place for consideration and politeness.
Once seated, those travellers over a metre tall will notice the considerably small amount of leg-room allocated. As a flier that struggles with my knees on any aeroplane, I was quick to realise that leg-room is at a premium on budget flights. Again, early boarding can rectify this problem before it starts, be quick to grab the emergency exit seats as there is ample room for six footers and up.
As the flight commences, don’t expect a meal. Free food is one of the sacrifices that budget airlines will force upon you. Not the biggest loss, especially as it usually adds a substantial amount to the overall cost of the flight. If you get hungry while flying, take some cash and take advantage of the various snacks available. They may cost a small fortune but what do you expect when you are flying a thousand miles for five pounds.
Don’t expect a peaceful journey. You may feel bombarded with sales pitches and various products will be presented for your perusal. Again, they are looking to boost profits and who can blame them when they get me so far for so little money? If you manage to resist the hot croissant, glass of wine or scratch-cards (for charity, of course) then the flight will still be cheap.
When you land in your chosen destination you may face the next problem with budget flights. It would appear that a lot of the cost of flying could be in the location that you land. The flight may tell you that you are landing in Barcelona or Rome, but you could be a hundred miles from the city. Again, this can be sorted out pretty easily with a train or bus ride – not pushing the cost of travel to anywhere near that of a non-budget airline.
Overall, the cost of flying with a budget airline is certainly the key benefit. Regular fliers with premium airlines will find the flights a little uncomfortable and not as pleasurable but the price certainly makes up for any inconvenience.
As long as you know what to expect, budget airlines tick all the right boxes and sacrifice the luxuries that you won’t miss at all. The flights are cheap and still get you there so what’s so bad about no in-flight meal and restricted leg-room? Budget airlines may be cheap but that’s not a bad thing when they offer such a competitive service to those of us that can’t afford to fly in a winged five-star hotel.

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By admin, November 16, 2009 7:34 am

It has been well documented that traveling on an airplane is statistically safer than traveling by car, and in most studies, it is found to be much safer. What is it about air travel that makes it so safe? When you are in an airplane, the major threats against your flight are weather, mechanical failure and human error. That list is not very long. Furthermore, over the years of aviation major technological improvements have come into play making flying a much safer option for traveling large distances. There are high standards of testing and maintenance with all new technology before it is used on a commercial flight. This makes flying one of the safest ways for you to reach your destination.

Weather can be the most dangerous force acting against your safety on a flight. The same problems of not having traction on snow, rain and ice that occur when driving can occur for airplanes during take-off and landing. Ice can also be a problem for the plane once it is in the air. If the wings freeze over, the plane can have difficulty generating adequate amounts of lift, and could potentially crash. Thankfully, these are all problems that modern technology has solved. Airports and planes are outfitted with some of the best meteorological devices possible. Not only can bad weather conditions be solved before take-off and landing, they can also be dealt with in the air. If the weather is unsafe for take-off, the flight will be delayed. If it is unsafe to land, planes carry extra gas reserved entirely for emergencies. Your flight can either stay in the air until conditions are safe, or be re-routed to another airport where the weather is not as threatening. Among those fancy instruments and gauges in the cockpit, there are monitors that give pilots weather related information. With those tools, and communication with sources on the ground, pilots can avoid most threatening patches of weather. The possibility of wings freezing is, for the most part, outdated. Contemporary planes are designed with systems to combat cold air and precipitation during the flight. One common method of combating cold air is by venting out warmer air to the wings. Airplanes are also designed to withstand direct lightning strikes with minimal damage, and positive lightning (A more powerful form of lightning that has caused difficulties in the past) is now being dealt with through advances in design.

Either by employing advanced technology or a firm “safety-first” mentality, air travel has incorporated defense measures to safeguard its passengers against hazardous weather. However, mechanical failure is another area which needs to be closely monitored. Thankfully, it is a threat that comes into play with extreme rarity. Before take-off every plane is put through a rigorous inspection to ensure proper functionality. Every flight system, every engine and every navigational tool is tested and tried in countless scenarios before it even is allowed to be used for a commercial flight. Every part of the plane is checked thoroughly to ensure mechanical stability. This thorough system has made mechanical failure something that very rarely occurs. That being said, “very rare” is not enough to make the airline industry happy. Therefore planes are also filled with back-up systems that are capable of taking over for anything that may fail, at least for long enough that the plane can land safely.

There are other, smaller concerns which the airline industry safeguards against as well. Even though it is rarely a reason for concern anymore, the prospect of having a bird fly through the engine can cause problems for your flight. Because of this problem, many engines are designed in such a way that the bird will be sucked through a separate compartment preventing damage to the core of the engine. Beyond that, airports take measures to prevent birds from flying in the air above them. Almost all bird related accidents take place during take-off or landing at a low altitude. Strategic placement of airports in areas where birds do not often fly is one action that airports take to avoid accidents.

Airports also have several procedures to minimize the risk of human error. Pilots, flight attendants and the maintenance crew undergo substantial amounts of training in order to prepare for flying. The flight crew is also required to log a very large number of hours in the air before they can fly a commercial jet. Human error can happen, but it is extremely rare. Autopilot and other technological advances make the possibility of human error small.

Because of the high standards of technology, machinery and human elements that have influence on a flight; air travel is one of the safest modes of transportation. Airports take your safety very seriously and have many measures in place to ensure the safety of your flight. You can rest at ease while you fly knowing that trained professionals will be taking good care of you.

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By admin, November 15, 2009 7:32 am

Any licensed private pilot who has tried to earn their instrument rating knows that traditional instrument flight training can be slow, frustrating and unnecessarily redundant. Medford, Oregon-based Certified Flight Instructor Field Morey realized long ago that he needed to get his instrument students away from the distractions of day-to-day life so they could focus on the process of learning IFR mastery.
To separate life from flight training, Morey takes two students at a time on what he calls “West Coast Adventure Flights” spanning six days flying throughout the American West. He has used this technique to teach instrument flying for over 40 years, with over 600 pilots building hours towards their IFR rating while seeing the Western United States from inside Morey’s 2008 Cessna T182T Skylane aircraft.
Morey offers three different IFR adventure flights:
The Alaska Adventure is an incredible area to spend a week of flight training while enjoying the majestic scenery and grandeur of the great America wilderness. On this once-in-a-lifetime trip, is as important as the six days of IFR flight training you’ll receive, much if it in the kind of real-world IMC that is found in Alaska.
After departure from Medford, IFR flight students cross over into Canada and clear Canadian customs using CANPASS. The flight then travels north along the British Columbia coastline, and after clearing U.S. Customs at Ketchikan, the trip has planned stops at Anchorage, Sitka,Yakutat, Cordova, Juneau, and other points of interest. If weather allows, students may also see Mt. McKinley (Denali).
For pilots seeking to learn backcountry flying and operations, Morey offers the Wilderness Adventure Flight, a six-day flight designed as an instrument refresher as well as a chance to learn the skills for operating in the Idaho backcountry.
The course begins in Medford with two flight students and Morey traveling north into Washington, Idaho and Montana to learn the “ins and outs” of operations from mountain strips as well as canyon techniques. On this adventure, pilots get time to hike, fish or just relax and enjoy the solitude of the Idaho Wilderness.
Pilot and flight student Blake Picquet of Fort Worth, TX was one of Morey’s students on this adventure a few years ago. “Never will you find another opportunity to combine a legendary instructor with the panoramic views and intensity of the Idaho backcountry. The result is a trip that will put all your skills to the test…commercial, instrument, and of course, fly fishing,” Picquet said.
Morey also offers the Rockies Adventure Flight, a six-day training session that combines IFR mountain techniques with beautiful scenery from the Rockies and American Southwest. After stops in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona, the training continues in the busy Class Bravo airspace of the Los Angeles and San Francisco regions before arriving back in Medford, Oregon.
One aspect of Morey’s Adventure Flights is the a brand new Cessna 182 Skylane with glass cockpit. The turbocharged Skylane provides the additional performance needed in the mountainous areas along with additional power to climb above the icing conditions during the winter months. The aircraft has a full Garmin G1000 instrument panel and is soon to be equipped with Garmin “Synthetic Vision Technology” plus TAWS-B Terrain and Obstruction Data, GDL-69 Datalink with XM Weather and Radio, and Garmin GFC700 Autopilot, Morey has even outfitted his Skylane with Bose noise canceling headsets to create a quiet training environment.
The training program has proven to be such a success, all trips during Morey’s 2008 training season easily sold out. He has launched a new website that is sure to continue making his West Coast Adventure Flights one of the most popular IFR training programs in the country.