Ajay Raghavendra, Ph.D.
Ajay Raghavendra is an ERJ-175 first officer with a regional airline and a rated UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter aviation officer with the U.S. Army (New York National Guard). He holds a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from SUNY-Albany and graduated with honors from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Fla. campus) with a B.S. in Meteorology and Computational Mathematics. He has participated in two cloud-seeding projects and flew the Cessna 340. Ajay is a strong advocate for aviation safety and education in the general aviation community. He is a FAASTeam representative (FAA Safety Team) with the Albany Flight Standards District Office and works as a CFI and Part-141 Check Airmen in Albany N.Y.
White Jet Trails across a Blue Sky
We often observe aircraft condensation trails (commonly, contrails) at high altitudes. These long cloudy streaks form behind the turbofan engines that power airliners. The...
Going with the flow!
Consider a distance of 100 NM and a true airspeed (TAS) of 100 kt. Under a zero-wind condition, an aircraft will cover this distance...
Taxi, Takeoff, Landing and Ice Skating?
The threats from winter weather are not limited to flight, but also produce potentially hazardous conditions for push-back, taxi, takeoff and landing. Improper ground...
Check HOT before Takeoff
Holdover time (HOT) helps pilots determine the temporal effectiveness of the deicing procedure across a wide range of temperatures and precipitation intensities. Often, colder...
Get Out! You’re on Thin Ice
Professional pilots undergo frequent recurrent training and education. However, some evaporation of knowledge from the classroom is expected with time. This winter, my goals is to...
Foggy Fall Flying
METAR from Buffalo Niagara International Airport (KBUF) on October 26th, 2021 at 0754 EDT
KBUF 260354Z 02009KT 3/4SM R23/P6000FT -DZ BR OVC002 10/09 A2973 RMK AO2 SLP070...
