Major Announcement: Presenting the AviatorCast Podcast

How would you like to have a weekly flight simulation/real world flight training podcast to look forward to?

Look no further than AviatorCast.

In the coming weeks, we are going to start this free podcast. I’m planning on this being about an hour long, having actual flight training topics that will help you become a better aviator. In other words, we’ll be talking about useful and informative topics, while still being entertaining and easy to digest.

Before I get started, however, I’d like some community feedback.

I’m going to make this SUPER simple. You can type in the comments below and let me know what you’d like to learn more about, what segments would be useful to you, what length you’d like, and so on.

AviatorCast is going to be a lot of fun! It’s something that is simple enough to do, yet really useful. It’ll also make us tighter as a community.

So, please please PLEASE comment below and let me know what you’d like to gain from AviatorCast, and any other ideas you have.

Throttle On!

Chris Palmer and the AOA Crew

P.S. Signup for our email updates to get announcements on AviatorCast.

(Photo from Flickr)

This entry has 102 replies

Great idea, really miss the old ‘FSBreak’ discussions, I’ll be listening…

I think 10-15 minutes maximum. Topics: flying techniques for all stages of flight

10-15 minutes per topic? I was thinking the same thing.

Hi Chris. I enjoyed listening to you and the other guys on FSBreak, so anything along those lines would be great. FS news, reviews would be extremely useful, but I’m not sure that’s your intent judging by the title/description?

We’d mostly like to do flight training topics, not so much FS topics. Plenty of other people are doing great at that.

What are other good FS podcasts?

SkyBlueRadio does quite a bit of good stuff.

It would be nice to begin with the new stuff going on with flight training, and go on from there working towards more challenging ratings, and nice things to do when you achieve different ratings.

Great suggestions!

I am greatfull and eager to learn…

Eager to teach!

I’d love to hear about NATS procedures and how they are carried out both from and to America.

Good to know! Thanks!

I would like to hear how to deal with various situations with ATC. There have been brief parts of the 737 Linework flights have managed some Vatsim contact but limited to who was online at the time of the flight. It would be nice to have some specific training on communication skills whilst flying.

This is a great idea!

Hi Chris, I’d love to watch and learn from a short UK flight in the PMDG 737-800. I’m never sure what my transition altitude should be and I’d like to watch the FMC programming for the flight.
Oldsparky

We teach this extensively in our 737NGX Training. http://www.737NGXTraining.com

Hi Chris,
RNAV approaches always leave me wondering if the approach will work, and you do not know this until in the approach. While an ILS approach is defined and you are confident it will happen.
Geoff

What do you mean if it’ll work or not? What specific challenges do you have with an RNAV approach?

Step climbs and how we conduct them with ATC

Good one!

I’d like to know how to optimize fsx parameters and cfg file to get it as real as it get.
Which kind of addons for weather, texture, landclass, régions,… because fsx defaulf sucks.
And last but not least, which computer configuration should I have for best result?
Thanks

We actually won’t be going over this in this podcast, sorry. This will be mostly about flight training topics, not how to setup a simulator. Check this out for lots of help: http://kostasfsworld.wordpress.com/fsx-software-and-hardware-guide/

High altitude stall recovery procedures AND avoiding Run Way incursions.

Good topics, especially that last one.

i love this idea and also would like you to create a complete VFR and IFR flight with atc communication dialogue for communication training,i need to learn to communicate with Air Traffic Control,i am lacking experience on how to communicate with atc.

Chavez, we teach how to communicate in AviatorPro. You oughtta check it out.

also diversion planning and procedures.

I like the idea of real world aviation training and proficiency topics rendered in (software indifferent) flight simulation.
Because there is a need to address a lot of issues in each podcast, please be sure to provide references that people can access for a more complete coverage of each topic. The information is out there – use the power of the aviation sim community to find and determine the best references.
Perhaps a way to organize and sequence the topics for part of each podcast is the way a CFI would organize and sequence the topics for a student pilot pursuing a series of certifications. So, for example, a part of each of the first 10-12 podcasts would be to address a (sequenced) series of topics that a prospective PPL candidate would learn. Include references the flight sim student should consult. And include recommendations for training in a flight sim to help a flight sim student feel confident she can apply the knowledge.
To make the training more welcoming to new flight sim “students,” recommend avoiding too much discussion of FSX add-ons or structuring the training in a way that assumes the listener has or is supposed to get those add-ons.
Specific topics that I would like to see addressed:
1. Engine management for a cs propeller for all phases of flight
2. How to get an Aircraft Handbook (POH?) at little or no cost, how to read it, and how to make it apply to the flight sim training
3. Trends in the aviation business – are aircraft being used for different purposes in the real world – and how those trends can be reflected in a flight simulator. The idea here is to have a fresh idea of “why we bother to fly in a flight sim.”
4. Echoing Chavez Wallace below – diversion planning and procedures would be fantastic.

A lot of really great suggestions here. I won’t be talking about FSX hardly at all, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere. This will be mostly about training aspects.

I would like to learn about principles and reasons of operations. Not just knowing what to click and toggle, but learning why click this first then that and why we should do that. For a simple instance, when starting an engine, why we have to lean it and how to do that, and what to deal with the propeller control and how. Thus we can do things right and properly, and become knowledgeable about an aircraft, not just a operation reciter.
And, throttle on! 😉

Great to know. We try and do that in our training anyway, but will certainly be helpful in the podcast as well.

Hi Chris, With all the sophistication in modern aircraft, one item which I think has become obsolete is the Fix page in the FMC, and I would like to hear and see someone with the knowledge to describe its function in full, just a quirk of mine. Ricky.

Awesome! Good one Ricky. Good to see you hear.

Good initiative! A good topic should be to discuss some Airlines SOP (Standard Operational Procedures).

Good one!

Good idea I am looking forward to this

I am too!

I’d like to see something on the regional differences of flying within different countries. Not necessarily all the details, and maybe focused on VFR to start, but some of the key points and maybe hints on where to look to find this info. Not the most exciting topic, but one of the nice things about a sim is you can take off from anywhere in the world. After following some of the (awesome) cross country flights in AviatorPro, which are North America based, I find myself taking off in the UK with my transponder set to 1200, and I wonder what else I’m doing wrong.

That would be quite interesting! Get someone from those different areas on the show to talk about the differences.

Use of taxiways at major airports such as into and out of terminals

Great one! We’ll do this for sure, eventually.

Great idea! Would rather prefer 30 minutes, because of time constraints And balance between listening and practice. Would also be great to copy some real routes and discuss specific challenges or discuss specific failures.

Will most likely be around an hour.

Love the idea, would want Navigation from simple to the complex.

Looking for flight sim news, since FS-Break is gone.

Not likely on this one, unless it’s some stuff in passing.

The usage of various electronics inside the airplane. For example the MFDs and PFDs in Carenado SR22. Or entering the whole flight plan in the Garmin GPS

We actually have already done a lot of this already in AviatorPro.

Fantastic idea…very welcome news. My only concern is the work load. as a podcast host and producer, I know an hour every week is a lot of work and I would hate to see you burn out…. I feel the momentum shifting away from flight sim so this podcast is a fantastic idea. I’ll be looking forward to every show. Thanks for your dedication.

Thanks, Dave! Would like to pick your brain on getting started with all this. I think it could save a lot of headache, and get our content to the community faster. Can you email me at manage (at) flyaoamedia.com?

VOR navigation

how about airspace rules?

Also a good one.

Flying online with Vatsim and PilotEdge. Some on VOR/DME navigation as it was used with the old large airliners.
Will you keep an archive of your web casts so they can be viewed at any time?

Sure will!

Sounds great!

I’d love to have transcripts afterwards if possible. That’d be a great way to get hearing impaired folks on board as well as people who can’t listen to it for one reason or another.

I’ll do my best on this.

I definitely would like to have training on using CA navigation, such as Vor’s , DME, Performing Procedure turns correctly and back course training.
Thanks for doing this:

Thanks! Great topics.

What a great idea, I am a low and slow flier.. I would like training in dead reckoning and general visual navigation using VOR and NDB. Terry.

Thanks Terry! I plan to be talking about the basics quite a bit.

i would like to see rare operations like diversions for medical reasons or small airport operations something that will help us adapt to very odd siduations

Good idea. Thanks!

You couldn’t have timed this announcement any better. I’m new to civil flight sim and I’ve nearly finished all the episode of another fs podcast.

As for potential guests, I love hearing from developers. I’m a sucker for an origin story.

Content wise, I’d like to learn more navigation skills in G..A. I don’t know if it fits in what you have planned but I also like hardware and tech discussions. Particularly those which enhance immersion such as Oculus Rift and home cockpits.

Good suggestions. Thanks! I don’t plan on talking to developers too much, but I may have an interesting twist when I do.

I am new to Aviation Sim and have a complete set of Saitek.Would like to know more about the software side how to download and intiate.

Like to learn more on SID/STARS/RNAV (selecting the right ones and understand how to read them).
Also, I think for those new and wanting to fly with VATSIM, it can be intimidating to do so. I think learning how to communicate with ATC/Ground (terminologies, phraselogy) will give novice some fundamentals to hit the ground running, er.. rolling.
Thanks. Great idea with AviatorCast.

These are things I plan on talking about quite a bit.

I really need to learn the ins and outs about landing the big planes. Sometimes I get it right and then the next time i fail…

Have you checked out our other training packages? I think you’d be surprised how much you can learn from those.

As i don’t have much time to fly at the moment I could fit in a podcast, so this announcement is very welcome, I would ask that bearing this in mind you maybe duplicate some of the key topics found elsewhere on the videos and website , that way you can say that we have no excuse for not being in the loop!

There really are limitless topics!

I would like more articles/information on how to setup PMDG/FSX with hardware such as a MCP etc..?

You mean like an actual hardware deck? Or are you talking about how to simply setup the MCP?

Hi Chris,

I was thinking more about the actual hardware, I see a lot of addon`s around and to be honest find it all a little confusing as to how I would start to setup with the PMDG 737. I would also like more information about multi monitor setup etc. Forgive me if this is a little out of the boundaries you wanted to offer, I just feel there is a lot more that could enhance the flying experience and a great deal of information/misinformation out there, a clear well defined path of how to do these things would be fantastic.

as ever, thanks Chris.

two ideas: (1) you could suggest nice “cross country” trips (for example you mentioned some mountain flying in Alaska…) (2) I would like to know more about the differences between various aircrafts, so that I could pick the right one for the right trip.
Thanks!

Good ideas!

..great and very welcome idea …. I’ll be more than happy to be part of this initiative

We’ll be happy to have you!

Your old podcast got me into Orbx, FTX, Vatsim. So, keep abreast of major developments in FSX.

We will most likely be talking about flight training in general. As far as things that make the training more realistic with software and so one, we will talk about those.

A great idea. How about “Special Maneuvers”, like “Side Slipping”. I would love to learn how to do that, so I can make safe landing using real weather with Rex and Physics X.
Or, flight planning/fuel calculation using weather forcast and tools like Topcat.
How about a flight with failure handling, like a dead engine,

Yes, this Podcast can provide great opportunities. I just hope, that with me living in the US, the times will work for me to attend.

Keep in mind that although we will do this live (maybe, still haven’t decided) it’ll be available whenever. So no worries on timing.

Good subjects too.

What a great idea Chris… very exciting. Just something from the top of my head. could you please explain more about the prop rpm? how low should you go during flight and why change the setting in the first place…just to reduce drag (and therefor increase speed)? Should it be generally set to the same setting as the MP setting (e.g. 25 squared)?

Good topic!

Cannot wait

Hi Chris,

How about differences in flight operations between the US and Europe? Diversion procedures (now that the PMDG777 is very popular)? perhaps inviting experts to talk about the future of desktop simulation (i.e Xplane, Prepar3D, FSX)? and, from a tech point of view, tips and suggestion to upgrade hardware (PC, monitor, headset, etc)…

Thanks a lot Chris and the AOA team…

I want to make a suggestion of teaching proper instrument and navigation procedures. A GPS is a good piece of navigation equipment, but an aviator shouldn’t rely too much on a GPS- for example if a failure should occur, you will have the knowledge o get to your final destination.

I don’t know if this has been mentioned before, but something i’d say is to keep podcast out of Itunes… well… at least not Itunes exclusive, because for those of us not having an Apple device makes it harder to get them. An RSS feed to download the podcasts would be great!

The correct way to get the podcast to itunes is through an RSS feed anyway. So that shouldn’t be an issue.

Any update on the start date of the podcast? Really looking forward to it.

This week 😉 Look out for a blog post about it, and I’ll share details.

Fabulous….at last, a simmers podcast. Been searching for one of these for years. If u do find one they just don’t last.
Topics for me? How do you fit them all in?
Fsx (it’s slow demise) xplane, prepar3d, hardware, software addons. I’ll leave decision to you (aoa)
I think having a few contributors would be a great idea, either live with you or simmers uploading their thoughts.
Anyway, great idea.

Hi Chris,
Thank you for the AviatorCast. I appreciate you passing along your knowledge of aviation. You have a great passion for flying which is really cool and you have worked hard to master what you enjoy. You mentioned that FSX isn’t there for kids to buy at BestBuy and play around with it. I was in the S.F. area last Summer and my 10 year old nephew has an interest in learning about aviation and flight sims. I drove over to Best Buy and The Microsoft Store in Marin County to see if I can find a copy of FSX to get him started. Apparently, neither store stocks Microsoft FSX. I think it would make a really cool hands-on demo exhibit at the Microsoft store to show off how FSX works; maybe include the add-on products that really makes it interesting and realistic. With a fully built-up cockpit mock-up to get people interested in aviation and the marvelous software, it would be great to see.
Throttle On, Sir!
Herman

it would be great learning people about how airliners work, like ive seen on vatsim that very few know how to fly charts. If a controller goes offline, they should follow charts as if theres a communication problem. Unfortunately, most only knows how to tune a frequency and land with ILS or navigate using the fmc’s. Ive also noticed about two weeks ago someone knowing exactly what a HOLD was, but did not know how to fly TO IT and HOLD THERE, he didn’t understand what atc was saying when they told him to hold at a certain VOR and when arriving to the VOR to turn to a certain heading and turn back when *** DME from the VOR and repeat the HOLD until further notice. I can go on and on about people, knowing HOW to fly a plane, but not knowing or understanding how the rules, charts, atc, airport rules and specifications, works. Sorry if you guys already had a topic over this, im still new to you guys.

Hi
Looking forward to learning more
Thanks

Hey Mike, the first episode is already available.

I’m an avid aviation fanatic.
Raising our children and putting them through college didn’t leave me enough time or finances to pursue my pilots license. Being at an age where retirement is just around the corner my life long dream of piloting an aircraft is no longer viable. I have begun the world of Flight Simulation. My second love is working with wood so I’ve decided to home build a replica 737NGX 800. Over the past serval months I have read and purchased a high end computer with graphic card monitors, and I should be a share holder with “GoFlight” for the hardware I’ve purchased.
YES THE QUESTION IS COMING :o)
Could you possibly do a segment on “Peter Dawson’s “. A tutorial on “Key Mapping” would clear up some on going problems I have with my EFIS from G/F and VRInsight

Just want to congratulate you on your podcast, looking forward for episode 3… great job!

Thanks a million!

Look no further than AviatorCast.

Throttle On!

Share this:

Related

This entry has 102 replies

Henry says:

Mark Lemmens says:

Chris Palmer says:

Ryan says:

Chris Palmer says:

DaveL says:

Chris Palmer says:

Paul says:

Chris Palmer says:

Paulek says:

Angle of Attack says:

Mike_Donovan says:

Angle of Attack says:

Phil says:

Angle of Attack says:

oldsparky says:

Angle of Attack says:

Geoff says:

Chris Palmer says:

Mike_Donovan says:

Chris Palmer says:

ouldmoos says:

Chris Palmer says:

Bryan says:

Chris Palmer says:

Chavez Wallace says:

Chris Palmer says:

Chavez Wallace says:

Richard says:

Chris Palmer says:

Daiyang Gao says:

Chris Palmer says:

Ricky says:

Chris Palmer says:

Galeno Garbe says:

Chris Palmer says:

Tom Gailey says:

Chris Palmer says:

Stuart Chalmers says:

Chris Palmer says:

Ed K says:

Chris Palmer says:

Wim says:

Angle of Attack says:

David says:

DaveL says:

Chris Palmer says:

Jens F says:

Chris Palmer says:

Dave Kent says:

Angle of Attack says:

liew says:

JJ says:

Chris Palmer says:

signmanbob says:

Chris Palmer says:

signmanbob says:

Anonymous says:

Chris Palmer says:

Vtflyer says:

Angle of Attack says:

Teecee3 says:

Chris Palmer says:

weston hall says:

Chris Palmer says:

StiC says:

Chris Palmer says:

Lawrence says:

Peter Chan says:

Chris Palmer says:

charles says:

Chris Palmer says:

Markc1290 says:

Chris Palmer says:

scrunge49 says: