217 Vol 3 WTF?

[GW]

Warning Rambling Story Switch: On

Ok so I'm flying my check ride the other day and I'm in the middle of circling to land and the Evaluator asks me, as I'm maneuvering, "what's the obstruction clearance limit for this type aircraft?" I'll make no excuses, I blurted out 1.5 miles, unfortunately I was flying a Cat C aircraft that day (and every other day I fly for that matter) so I f'ed that one up. D'oh!

Anyway, I get home and decide to look up the values for the review I obviously need, I pull out my trusty 11-217 Vol 1 dated 3 January 2005, turn to page 348 and low and behold it tells me to "see AFMAN 11-217 Vol 3 Supplemental Information for radii of circling approaches".

So I say to my self: "Self, that's funny I didn't know there was a Vol 3 for the 217, hmm, lets check out e-publishing.af.mil, they'll have it, they've got everything."

Short story long I can't for the life of me find any mention of an 217 Vol 3 anywhere (note, I’m not talking about 217 Vol 2, I checked there too) except inside the 217 Vol 1. WTF?

Now I'm just a lowly tradition guard guy but I'm pretty sure they're not handing out Vol 3 in secret, does anybody know anything about it? Or is this just a gross typo designed to confuse the slowest kid in class (read: me)?

Thanks.

GW

Edit: I kant spell

[ 29. December 2005, 11:46: Message edited by: GW ]

[Herk Mafia]

I wanna say that the Vol 3 is an instructors manual. Could be wrong, but for future reference, A-E is 1.3,1.5,1.7,2.3,4.5

[LJ Driver]

They haven't released it yet.

[GW]

Well, that's what I thought at first, but Vol 1 is a year old (as of today as a mater of fact) and how long does it take the AF to release "supplemental information"?

I think I just answered my own question.

Thanks LJD.

GW

[Guest SpectrePilot]

Here's a tip for all you young pilots out there: Continue to keep yourself a fairly updated edition of FAR/AIM around. Hell, buy some extras for your friends.

As most of you remember, here at Corpus they issue one to every student. I never saw one again, anywhere, in any AF squadron during the 10 years since I graduated.

You see, the Air Force feels it must re-create its own publications on every topic already known to man. Then there's the MAJCOM, Ops Group, and Squadron Sups to go with it.

Long story short: when it comes to instrument procedures and pretty much everything else involving stateside non-tactical flying, the FAR/AIM is the Bible from which 11-217 is copied in the first place, and will never steer you wrong.

Much better written, easier to understand, and lots of gee-whiz information to boot. Get one, study up a little, and you'll know more than most any AF-bred IP in your active-duty squadron.

(Oh, and speaking of UPT-issued crap, don't throw away your whiz-wheels either! Nothing a Nav hates more than a pilot with a whiz-wheel...)