Over Memorial Day Weekend, my family packed up the club's 172SP and headed for a little getaway to the Cincinnati area. Mrs. Dr. Flying Shrink and I earned our doctoral degrees from the University of Cincinnati, and during our time there we made a number of friends that we have not seen in quite some time. It was time to show why we fly... it's more than just buzzing around and eating pancakes (though that is fun, too).
The first interesting change was my need to dictate strict requirements on what could be taken into the plane. Usually it seems that we are packing for a mid-sized platoon, but this time we had to keep it reasonable. There is only so much physical space back there, and then of course we had weight and balance issues.
Speaking of weight and balance; I figured this based on the Skyhawk fueled to "tabs." We were well under max gross and were good to go with a more aft than usual C.G., but comfortably within the envelope. Despite the club rules about filling to tabs unless the next pilot specifically requests otherwise, someone filled the darn thing completely. This put us about 10 pounds overweight, but by the time the long taxi and run-up were completed we should be fine.
Trimmed for "take off," I start the roll... and the plane lifts off at about 45 knots. Ummm... that's not supposed to happen. There are certain words and phrases that are unwelcome when flying with one's family, but one of those slipped out. Nose down elevator, fix the trim, accelerate in ground effect and then away we go. 3SP was now behaving herself, thank goodness.
"Are we there yet?" "How much longer?" Yeah, I heard these two questions repeatedly from about 15 minutes from take off until 10 minutes before touchdown. But, the flight down was absolutely beautiful in nice, smooth air until about 15 miles from Warren County Airport (I68). Just got a bit bumpy as we made our descent. We had some interesting winds - gusty and shifting direction, but my touchdown was smooth and on center line.
We got tied down and I asked for fuel to those tabs.... sigh. More on that in a minute. Our time in Cincinnati was nice - visiting some old haunts and enjoying old friends. Of course, we had to have Graeter's Ice Cream. If you've not had it, you need to get to that area and get some. We are able to get it in pints here in the Chicago area, but it's not the same as being dipped out at the store.
Saturday had me periodically checking the weather because some nasty convective activity was forecast for our scheduled return time. By 9 pm, I announced that we were leaving by 9 am so that we could make it home. When the alarm went off, Ms. Shrink asked if we had to leave so early. "Honey, we have two choices. We can leave early, or we might not get home today. Looking at Monday and Tuesday, we might not get back then either." Since my mother was coming in for a visit with the grandchildren the following day, sitting in Cincinnati until Wednesday just did not see prudent. In fairness, this was merely token resistance. Ms. Shrink has come to understand and appreciate PIC authority and responsibility.
Pre-flight. Everything looks fine, except... full fuel. I am 97% sure I asked for the tabs but it didn't really matter now. I set the trim much more nose down for the takeoff roll, and the plane still popped up early. But, at least it was rotate speed this time. A little nose-down elevator until Vx and then away we went.
Are we there yet? No.
I was watching as nasty things seem to be brewing to the west and somewhat south of our position. Although I was talking to ATC, I also continually checked the weather observations (on the radios the old fashioned way) to make sure that the observations matched what I was seeing in my direction of flight. As I dialed up Kankakee (KIKK; about 35 miles from my destination), I heard a few terms that I did not like - lightening strikes southeast of the field. As I checked to Flight Watch for a more formal update, someone else was getting the same information and going to the same destination - and things looked good.
Landed without incident or problematic weather. Within several hours, the picture changed substantially. Leaving early was a good call.
Seems the family is starting to see the benefits of being able to fly places, which is great. My children complain much more in the plane because there is far less entertainment available (e.g., DVD player not on board).
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
A Sad Trip... and an IFR training update.
A Sad Flight...
As some of you may know, I have been itching to fly to DuBois-Jefferson County (KDUJ) because it was built on my paternal grandmother's parents' farm. April 27 provided me the opportunity, but unfortunately flying was the only saving grace of the trip. My maternal grandmother died a few days before, and it was her funeral that prompted the trip.
Initially, I had planned to depart on Sunday April 28. However, the forecast weather between Chicago and there was forecast to be MVFR to IFR pretty much the entire day. After scurrying about, securing an aircraft, and reworking my flight planning, I was airborne and hugging the Chicago shoreline by 1745z a day early. Once clear of Chicago's Bravo airspace - a place into which few VFR aircraft are permitted to tread - I climbed to 7500 MSL and settled in for the next few hours in the Skyhawk. Only the foolish do not talk to Chicago departure on this route as it is very near Midway's (KMDW) approach/departure path. My flight was uneventful to Wood County (1G0), although that pattern was very busy with Bowling Green flight students and favoring the shorter runway 18. Sweet landing with a flair over the numbers. The young gentleman who worked my plane was very helpful, and I can't say enough positive about this airport.
After addressing all the issues that necessitate a stop along with a few text messages to family updating my projected arrival time, I was back aloft and smoothly cruising about at 7500. Hearing "cleared through the bravo airspace" is such a strange phrase to me since it never happens in Chicago, but was welcome since it meant no deviations around Cleveland. I crossed just about 5 miles south of Hopkins (KCLE), which was interesting.
Approaching KDUJ, I began listening to the weather only to be reminded why I hate airports with only one slab of concrete or well-tended turf. The winds were shifting between 80-degrees off favoring runway 7 and 80-degrees off favoring 25, and were 12 gusting 17. Great. If landing half-way down the runway is good, then I did great. Not my finest hour and was seconds from the go-around when the mains touched down with plenty of room to slow (along with the wicked upslope on the departure end). Got myself out of the way with just a few minutes to spare for a United commuter to come in.
Coming back to Chicago on Tuesday turned out to take a lot longer than I hoped for. I sat under marginal VFR weather most of the day. I had made provisions for leaving a day later if that was required, though my family was certainly ready for me to be home. At 3 pm ET, the weather seemed ok and my mother took me to the airport post haste. I saddled up and was airborne by 4:15. I had to plan a bit south because there was some nasty, stormy, convective crapola over Detroit, and I was not interested in flying through it. I also took quite a while to get to 4500 because of the clouds. I actually tried to climb over them because they were scattered and I could see the clearing, but at 6500 I still was not quite high enough. Back down... About 1:45 to Findley (KFDY), where I touched down beautifully at about 6:15.
Findley was deserted. Not a soul in sight. Valuable lesson - if you're going to select a stop, make sure that there are either self-serve pumps or someone there to fill your tanks. Since I was totally full upon leaving KDUJ, I knew that I would make it home with about 90 minutes of fuel to spare. Legs stretched and bladder emptied, I was again en-route to KPWK. As I turned toward the west in my climb, I was totally blinded by the sun. Not to panic... got enough instrument training to work though this temporary problem. Then, I noticed something... my rate-of-turn coordinator was inoperative. I can't say when that happened, but I can sheepishly admit I did not pre-flight it either coming or going. Bad instrument student and I'll never do that again. Fortunately, I have done some partial-panel work and knew about how much bank I needed to complete a standard rate turn.
As I approached the Chicago shoreline, I expected South Bend to hand me off to Chicago approach for the last few minutes of my flight. Another quirk of Chicago is that they do not like to accept VFR flight-following hand-offs, and I was reminded of that with the ever-popular "squawk VFR" instruction. However, calling up approach quickly reestablished flight following.
Approaching Chicago Executive was "entertaining." It was unexpectedly busy for 7:30 in the evening, and the winds were "delightful." Although I touched down a bit harder despite than I would have liked, the gusty, squirrely cross-winds made this a few notches above acceptable
This qualifies as my longest cross-country to date: 411 nm PWK-10G-DUJ
4-27 C-172SP N378MA KPWK - 1G0-KDUJ 4.5 hours
4-30 C-172SP N378MA KDUJ - KFDY - KPWK 4.1 hours
IFR Training Update
I have also been trying to get solid IFR training and other hood time ever since the weather became "good enough," with my most recent flight being this morning. A few thoughts on this:
As some of you may know, I have been itching to fly to DuBois-Jefferson County (KDUJ) because it was built on my paternal grandmother's parents' farm. April 27 provided me the opportunity, but unfortunately flying was the only saving grace of the trip. My maternal grandmother died a few days before, and it was her funeral that prompted the trip.
Initially, I had planned to depart on Sunday April 28. However, the forecast weather between Chicago and there was forecast to be MVFR to IFR pretty much the entire day. After scurrying about, securing an aircraft, and reworking my flight planning, I was airborne and hugging the Chicago shoreline by 1745z a day early. Once clear of Chicago's Bravo airspace - a place into which few VFR aircraft are permitted to tread - I climbed to 7500 MSL and settled in for the next few hours in the Skyhawk. Only the foolish do not talk to Chicago departure on this route as it is very near Midway's (KMDW) approach/departure path. My flight was uneventful to Wood County (1G0), although that pattern was very busy with Bowling Green flight students and favoring the shorter runway 18. Sweet landing with a flair over the numbers. The young gentleman who worked my plane was very helpful, and I can't say enough positive about this airport.
After addressing all the issues that necessitate a stop along with a few text messages to family updating my projected arrival time, I was back aloft and smoothly cruising about at 7500. Hearing "cleared through the bravo airspace" is such a strange phrase to me since it never happens in Chicago, but was welcome since it meant no deviations around Cleveland. I crossed just about 5 miles south of Hopkins (KCLE), which was interesting.
Approaching KDUJ, I began listening to the weather only to be reminded why I hate airports with only one slab of concrete or well-tended turf. The winds were shifting between 80-degrees off favoring runway 7 and 80-degrees off favoring 25, and were 12 gusting 17. Great. If landing half-way down the runway is good, then I did great. Not my finest hour and was seconds from the go-around when the mains touched down with plenty of room to slow (along with the wicked upslope on the departure end). Got myself out of the way with just a few minutes to spare for a United commuter to come in.
Coming back to Chicago on Tuesday turned out to take a lot longer than I hoped for. I sat under marginal VFR weather most of the day. I had made provisions for leaving a day later if that was required, though my family was certainly ready for me to be home. At 3 pm ET, the weather seemed ok and my mother took me to the airport post haste. I saddled up and was airborne by 4:15. I had to plan a bit south because there was some nasty, stormy, convective crapola over Detroit, and I was not interested in flying through it. I also took quite a while to get to 4500 because of the clouds. I actually tried to climb over them because they were scattered and I could see the clearing, but at 6500 I still was not quite high enough. Back down... About 1:45 to Findley (KFDY), where I touched down beautifully at about 6:15.
Findley was deserted. Not a soul in sight. Valuable lesson - if you're going to select a stop, make sure that there are either self-serve pumps or someone there to fill your tanks. Since I was totally full upon leaving KDUJ, I knew that I would make it home with about 90 minutes of fuel to spare. Legs stretched and bladder emptied, I was again en-route to KPWK. As I turned toward the west in my climb, I was totally blinded by the sun. Not to panic... got enough instrument training to work though this temporary problem. Then, I noticed something... my rate-of-turn coordinator was inoperative. I can't say when that happened, but I can sheepishly admit I did not pre-flight it either coming or going. Bad instrument student and I'll never do that again. Fortunately, I have done some partial-panel work and knew about how much bank I needed to complete a standard rate turn.
As I approached the Chicago shoreline, I expected South Bend to hand me off to Chicago approach for the last few minutes of my flight. Another quirk of Chicago is that they do not like to accept VFR flight-following hand-offs, and I was reminded of that with the ever-popular "squawk VFR" instruction. However, calling up approach quickly reestablished flight following.
Approaching Chicago Executive was "entertaining." It was unexpectedly busy for 7:30 in the evening, and the winds were "delightful." Although I touched down a bit harder despite than I would have liked, the gusty, squirrely cross-winds made this a few notches above acceptable
This qualifies as my longest cross-country to date: 411 nm PWK-10G-DUJ
4-27 C-172SP N378MA KPWK - 1G0-KDUJ 4.5 hours
4-30 C-172SP N378MA KDUJ - KFDY - KPWK 4.1 hours
IFR Training Update
I have also been trying to get solid IFR training and other hood time ever since the weather became "good enough," with my most recent flight being this morning. A few thoughts on this:
- I have 17.5 hours simulated and 1.5 hours actual instrument time
- 17 instrument approaches
- I am told we have covered everything in the syllabus except DME archs - Flight planning, holds, approaches, flying with and without the autopilot, precision and non-precision approaches, radio work, partial panel and other things to be sure.
- I have been oscillating between our club's Archer and Arrow, though I am hoping to just fly the Arrow from now until the check ride. This has made some things rather interesting - like I have a heck of a time holding proper altitude in the Arrow. These two planes are somewhat similar, but switching out the the Arrow after it's trips to the Bahamas, the avionics shop for a sexy Aspen, and an annual has been an adjustment. Since this is a complex plane, it requires some additional thinking that I'm not used to.
- Critique of today: not bad. We had some bumpy, gusty nonsense but I flew three approaches and two different holds relatively well. My last approach (ILS 2L at KDPA) was quite nice overall, although when my instructor removed my foggles to announce I had in fact found the runway, I lost the glideslope as a transitioned to visual. I am told this problem is common. I was pleased that I was doing a lot more multitasking (e.g., pretty good hand-flying and briefing approaches) and just need to keep working to sharpen, tighten, build fluidity, and drum the 5 T's into my head. Staying above the MDA would also be a good idea...
- King ground school complete and I'm studying for the written. I'm a recovering graduate student, and perfectionism is an important personality trait when pursuing a doctorate.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Letter to the Editor: Flight Training Magazine
In response to a few articles in a recent issue of Flight Training, I wrote the following letter to the editor. I did receive a warm response from Ian Twombly, but only the first two paragraphs were printed in the most recent edition. I wanted to post the entire letter here.
Dear Editor;
Despite fulfilling my dream of earning my pilot certificate nearly a year ago, I continue to enjoy reading *Flight Training* as a source of continued learning and development. In this issue, two things came up that really caught my attention.
First, I was very pleased to see an article that talked about how clinical psychology can have a positive impact on the aviation industry in general and pilot training in particular. My only quibble was to note that if a person has a true phobia of stalls, he or she will evidence panic attacks when exposed to this feared situation. This is far beyond what we typically think of as fear and apprehension, but instead can be paralyzing. However, the general principles of graduated exposure (or finding ways to expose the student to stalls in a fashion that moves from least to "most" threatening) and combating irrational fears with real information *and *experience is a way that any flight instructor could help that person who has a general fear. But please leave the treatment of the true phobias to the licensed mental health professionals. This boundary was implied in the article, but not clear. But thank you for showing that plenty of psychology is involved in pilot
training. This segues nicely into my next point.
I was also very happy to see the articles about women in aviation, and I think it highlighted a number of learning differences that are probably relevant to both men and women. The stereotype put forward in the article is that women need to know why things work and not just how to do things, but many men are the same way. It was not until I understood *why* a stall and its subsequent recovery worked that I was less fearful of doing them. In fact, I suspect that I would have driven many instructors crazy with all the questions with which I peppered my instructor. He also took my fear of stalls seriously, and what is in violation of the injunction to "man up" did many of the things suggested in the article referenced above.
In a very male-dominated community where "manning up" is the expectation lest one lose status by admitting a weakness, I suspect many women *and* men are dissuaded from asking questions or expressing fears that are blocking their progress. My hope is that we might look at how our group culture might negatively impact our interests in growing the female and male pilot population. I bet that is why GIFT [note: a training center that is geared toward the needs of women specifically referenced by the author] is so successful.
I appreciate these women who are paving the way for people like my daughter, a young lady who is not at all afraid of stalls. When I took her on her first flight, she simply could not contain her excitement and exclamations of "cool" and "this is awesome." As we taxied back to the
ramp after our flight, she asked something that was music to my ears:
"Daddy, can I learn to fly an airplane?"
Yes, honey. Yes you can.
--
Dear Editor;
Despite fulfilling my dream of earning my pilot certificate nearly a year ago, I continue to enjoy reading *Flight Training* as a source of continued learning and development. In this issue, two things came up that really caught my attention.
First, I was very pleased to see an article that talked about how clinical psychology can have a positive impact on the aviation industry in general and pilot training in particular. My only quibble was to note that if a person has a true phobia of stalls, he or she will evidence panic attacks when exposed to this feared situation. This is far beyond what we typically think of as fear and apprehension, but instead can be paralyzing. However, the general principles of graduated exposure (or finding ways to expose the student to stalls in a fashion that moves from least to "most" threatening) and combating irrational fears with real information *and *experience is a way that any flight instructor could help that person who has a general fear. But please leave the treatment of the true phobias to the licensed mental health professionals. This boundary was implied in the article, but not clear. But thank you for showing that plenty of psychology is involved in pilot
training. This segues nicely into my next point.
I was also very happy to see the articles about women in aviation, and I think it highlighted a number of learning differences that are probably relevant to both men and women. The stereotype put forward in the article is that women need to know why things work and not just how to do things, but many men are the same way. It was not until I understood *why* a stall and its subsequent recovery worked that I was less fearful of doing them. In fact, I suspect that I would have driven many instructors crazy with all the questions with which I peppered my instructor. He also took my fear of stalls seriously, and what is in violation of the injunction to "man up" did many of the things suggested in the article referenced above.
In a very male-dominated community where "manning up" is the expectation lest one lose status by admitting a weakness, I suspect many women *and* men are dissuaded from asking questions or expressing fears that are blocking their progress. My hope is that we might look at how our group culture might negatively impact our interests in growing the female and male pilot population. I bet that is why GIFT [note: a training center that is geared toward the needs of women specifically referenced by the author] is so successful.
I appreciate these women who are paving the way for people like my daughter, a young lady who is not at all afraid of stalls. When I took her on her first flight, she simply could not contain her excitement and exclamations of "cool" and "this is awesome." As we taxied back to the
ramp after our flight, she asked something that was music to my ears:
"Daddy, can I learn to fly an airplane?"
Yes, honey. Yes you can.
--
Saturday, March 16, 2013
The Rain, the Cold, and the Presidential TFR
Yesterday, I attempted to take a little fight for myself in our club's Archer. You know, the weather gods are just not being very kind to me these days.
I was hoping to be wheels up by 11 am, but marginal VFR weather that was scheduled to clear up before another system worked its way into the area late afternoon pushed back my departure time. Adding to my joys was a campaign stop of the president to push for green energy technology, and apparently Argonne labs was the place this had to be accomplished. So much for sequestration, right?
Finally getting more clear weather (or so I thought given the weather observations), I pulled out the plane and was finally wheels up with my unique squawk code and heading southwest toward Illinois Valley Regional (KVYS) where I intended to so some landings, some air work, and then a return to DuPage. I had a few extra stops on my flight plan just in case the humor was on me.
As I lifted off of 20R at DuPage, I immediately noticed complete CRAP to the west. As I leveled off at 3500 (4500 would have put me in Bravo airspace) and started to get trimmed out for the ride, the next piece of bad news hit... rain on the windscreen. Now, I've never really flown in rain before and they were light showers. Had it been 50 degrees outside and getting stuck somewhere was not a big deal, this could have been a fun experiment. But the icing SIGMET and near freezing temperatures at the surface really got my attention. Just as Aurora Municipal (KARR) was passing under the nose of the aircraft, I asked the center controller about the weather en-route or to see if I needed to go off frequency to get it. He informed me that I would be in rain showers all the way there but that my destination was reporting decent VFR weather. The controller was probably kind enough to help me out because I transmitted in the blind for him to a helicopter that was out of communication.
After another few minutes, I decided that this trip was just not worth the risk of continuing into IMC or becoming a test pilot with iced wings. It was still wet rain that was just sliding off the plane, but who knows what I would have flown into. On a normal day as a VFR pilot, I could just make a 180 and return to my departure airport with no problem. When flying under a presidential TFR, it is always best to get a clearance for such things so that there are no unpleasant surprises waiting for you on the ground.
With my clearance on the tape, I completed a 180 and returned direct KDPA. Winds were calm so I was given my choice of runway. Since I had to put fuel in the plane before putting her to bed, the best choice would have been 15/33 or 10. But because I could not see that well, I wanted the one with the brightest lights and chose 2R, or 2L, or whatever... It got questions from the controller and changed, and probably sounded like a complete idiot as I clarified that I was cleared to land 2L. Well, I knew it had a 2 in it. I said to the controller, "better to sound silly and land on the right piece of concrete." His reply was "roger, that."
So, here we are again. Complaining about winter and early spring flying weather. I got all of .6 in the logbook with one landing (that was nice, flare on the numbers and on center line) rather than what I had planned for. I also got weathered out of an instrument lesson on Tuesday, though I did fly with another club member last Saturday and got four practice approaches and other hood time in.
Will this lousy winter NEVER end?
I was hoping to be wheels up by 11 am, but marginal VFR weather that was scheduled to clear up before another system worked its way into the area late afternoon pushed back my departure time. Adding to my joys was a campaign stop of the president to push for green energy technology, and apparently Argonne labs was the place this had to be accomplished. So much for sequestration, right?
Finally getting more clear weather (or so I thought given the weather observations), I pulled out the plane and was finally wheels up with my unique squawk code and heading southwest toward Illinois Valley Regional (KVYS) where I intended to so some landings, some air work, and then a return to DuPage. I had a few extra stops on my flight plan just in case the humor was on me.
As I lifted off of 20R at DuPage, I immediately noticed complete CRAP to the west. As I leveled off at 3500 (4500 would have put me in Bravo airspace) and started to get trimmed out for the ride, the next piece of bad news hit... rain on the windscreen. Now, I've never really flown in rain before and they were light showers. Had it been 50 degrees outside and getting stuck somewhere was not a big deal, this could have been a fun experiment. But the icing SIGMET and near freezing temperatures at the surface really got my attention. Just as Aurora Municipal (KARR) was passing under the nose of the aircraft, I asked the center controller about the weather en-route or to see if I needed to go off frequency to get it. He informed me that I would be in rain showers all the way there but that my destination was reporting decent VFR weather. The controller was probably kind enough to help me out because I transmitted in the blind for him to a helicopter that was out of communication.
After another few minutes, I decided that this trip was just not worth the risk of continuing into IMC or becoming a test pilot with iced wings. It was still wet rain that was just sliding off the plane, but who knows what I would have flown into. On a normal day as a VFR pilot, I could just make a 180 and return to my departure airport with no problem. When flying under a presidential TFR, it is always best to get a clearance for such things so that there are no unpleasant surprises waiting for you on the ground.
With my clearance on the tape, I completed a 180 and returned direct KDPA. Winds were calm so I was given my choice of runway. Since I had to put fuel in the plane before putting her to bed, the best choice would have been 15/33 or 10. But because I could not see that well, I wanted the one with the brightest lights and chose 2R, or 2L, or whatever... It got questions from the controller and changed, and probably sounded like a complete idiot as I clarified that I was cleared to land 2L. Well, I knew it had a 2 in it. I said to the controller, "better to sound silly and land on the right piece of concrete." His reply was "roger, that."
So, here we are again. Complaining about winter and early spring flying weather. I got all of .6 in the logbook with one landing (that was nice, flare on the numbers and on center line) rather than what I had planned for. I also got weathered out of an instrument lesson on Tuesday, though I did fly with another club member last Saturday and got four practice approaches and other hood time in.
Will this lousy winter NEVER end?
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Flying? What's that?
I intended to take a short flight today, so of course we are getting slammed with a nasty snow storm. Such has been my luck since December. So, I might as well talk about a few flights that I did manage to get in despite the weather.
2013 opened with my first instrument training flight, which doubled as a transition to our club's Archer. Since I had all of six tenths of an hour in any Piper as of that morning, this was an interesting challenge.
First, some thoughts on the Archer. As anyone who flies both Skyhawks and Archers will tell you, these planes just fly differently. If the Skyhawk feels like a truck compared to the Diamond DA-20, the Archer is like a cement truck. It just feels heavier and tighter in the cockpit. Things just work a bit differently, and approach to landing just felt like I was going to slam it into the ground. Flaps work pretty differently as well. I don't like that lever.
Instrument flying that day consisted of developing a good scan, being able to track navigation aids and compass turns. Given that this was a new-to-me plane, I think I actually managed these tasks fairly well. I felt like I was doing ok with these, and got a few challenges tossed at me as a result - like a simulated circling approach. My first and second Archer landings were not so bad - it felt rough but it was still respectable.
Then, a bunch of scrubbed flights ensued along with many of the club planes being down for upgrades, annuals, or a trip to the Bahamas (that is our club Arrow, so I'm not flying that one yet... soon. Very soon). I think if I could have 1 hour in the log book for every scrubbed flight, I'd have a solid 15 hours.
Then, I took a little currency maintenance flight in a Skill plane from KUGN to KJVL. You can see that my ground speed was awesome with an IAS of 118 kts on my way back to Waukegan, but you know what that means for my flight there.
I was over the Illinois/Wisconsin border, and this is a shot of Lake Geneva looking from the south. It's a nice little place that many Chicagoans sneak away to in order to relax.
It was bitter cold that day, and there is a restriction on pattern work when it's that cold. I sneaked in an extra trip around the pattern at JVL. Three greased landings.
The following week, I took my children on a flight from KUGN to KMSN to the Jet Room. Whether had been forecast to be marginal all week, and I was scheduled to fly in the G1000-equipped Skyhawk. So, I decided that I would plan a flight to a familiar place to increase our chances of going. But we had a BEAUTIFUL day. The Jet Room was again a big hit - in the picture below I already lost my sausage
There was a sweet jet that taxied up as we were getting ready to depart, which increased my already pretty sexy curb appeal.
The Banana enjoyed her time with "her airplane" on the way up to MSN, but the Boy chose to sleep. He was asleep before takeoff, I think. Things had been good, but about 20 feet AGL the Banana let out a blood-curdling squeal because her ears were hurting thanks to a cold. Fly the plane. Fly the plane. Fly the plane. We had a great day, but mine was not over.
After taking my children home, I went and had my second flight of the day. Only a month and a half later do I finally get to have my second instrument/Archer-transition lesson. New plane, slow flight under the hood, stall recovery under the hood, a few flurries, long time since last flight, and night time all conspired to make it an interesting trip. I did ok with my scan and tracking, and had some ok landings at DKB. Most fun was on my last approach I was about to touch down and the instructor told me to go around. But slow flight felt like a disaster... I simply could not hold altitude. I know that I got so focused on holding altitude and not losing airspeed that I let everything else go to hell, and of course I could not hold altitude either. I didn't like the power setting I was told, but what do I know? I flew the ILS to runway 10 at KDPA, but then circled to land for 2L. I was low on my glide path the whole time, which was really starting to agitate me. Still had a nice landing despite this, so that's good. Yeah, I'm a little focused on landings because I have struggled with them so much that I'm pleased that I feel like I'm improving in this area.
So I have been trying to get out and do some solo flight in the Archer so that I could work on maneuvers, stalls, steep turns, and slow flight under VFR. Landing practice would be good, too. But here we are again back to complaints about the weather.
Maybe Friday, or the fly-out to KMIE on Saturday.
2013 opened with my first instrument training flight, which doubled as a transition to our club's Archer. Since I had all of six tenths of an hour in any Piper as of that morning, this was an interesting challenge.
First, some thoughts on the Archer. As anyone who flies both Skyhawks and Archers will tell you, these planes just fly differently. If the Skyhawk feels like a truck compared to the Diamond DA-20, the Archer is like a cement truck. It just feels heavier and tighter in the cockpit. Things just work a bit differently, and approach to landing just felt like I was going to slam it into the ground. Flaps work pretty differently as well. I don't like that lever.
Instrument flying that day consisted of developing a good scan, being able to track navigation aids and compass turns. Given that this was a new-to-me plane, I think I actually managed these tasks fairly well. I felt like I was doing ok with these, and got a few challenges tossed at me as a result - like a simulated circling approach. My first and second Archer landings were not so bad - it felt rough but it was still respectable.
Then, a bunch of scrubbed flights ensued along with many of the club planes being down for upgrades, annuals, or a trip to the Bahamas (that is our club Arrow, so I'm not flying that one yet... soon. Very soon). I think if I could have 1 hour in the log book for every scrubbed flight, I'd have a solid 15 hours.
Then, I took a little currency maintenance flight in a Skill plane from KUGN to KJVL. You can see that my ground speed was awesome with an IAS of 118 kts on my way back to Waukegan, but you know what that means for my flight there.
I was over the Illinois/Wisconsin border, and this is a shot of Lake Geneva looking from the south. It's a nice little place that many Chicagoans sneak away to in order to relax.
It was bitter cold that day, and there is a restriction on pattern work when it's that cold. I sneaked in an extra trip around the pattern at JVL. Three greased landings.
The following week, I took my children on a flight from KUGN to KMSN to the Jet Room. Whether had been forecast to be marginal all week, and I was scheduled to fly in the G1000-equipped Skyhawk. So, I decided that I would plan a flight to a familiar place to increase our chances of going. But we had a BEAUTIFUL day. The Jet Room was again a big hit - in the picture below I already lost my sausage
There was a sweet jet that taxied up as we were getting ready to depart, which increased my already pretty sexy curb appeal.
The Banana enjoyed her time with "her airplane" on the way up to MSN, but the Boy chose to sleep. He was asleep before takeoff, I think. Things had been good, but about 20 feet AGL the Banana let out a blood-curdling squeal because her ears were hurting thanks to a cold. Fly the plane. Fly the plane. Fly the plane. We had a great day, but mine was not over.
After taking my children home, I went and had my second flight of the day. Only a month and a half later do I finally get to have my second instrument/Archer-transition lesson. New plane, slow flight under the hood, stall recovery under the hood, a few flurries, long time since last flight, and night time all conspired to make it an interesting trip. I did ok with my scan and tracking, and had some ok landings at DKB. Most fun was on my last approach I was about to touch down and the instructor told me to go around. But slow flight felt like a disaster... I simply could not hold altitude. I know that I got so focused on holding altitude and not losing airspeed that I let everything else go to hell, and of course I could not hold altitude either. I didn't like the power setting I was told, but what do I know? I flew the ILS to runway 10 at KDPA, but then circled to land for 2L. I was low on my glide path the whole time, which was really starting to agitate me. Still had a nice landing despite this, so that's good. Yeah, I'm a little focused on landings because I have struggled with them so much that I'm pleased that I feel like I'm improving in this area.
So I have been trying to get out and do some solo flight in the Archer so that I could work on maneuvers, stalls, steep turns, and slow flight under VFR. Landing practice would be good, too. But here we are again back to complaints about the weather.
Maybe Friday, or the fly-out to KMIE on Saturday.
Monday, December 31, 2012
2012 In Review
2012 turned out to be a reasonably good year for my aviation adventures. First, the numbers:
Accomplishments major and otherwise:
Goals for 2013
Happy flying!
- Time for 2012: 78.0 hours
- Pilot in Command Time: 67.3 hours
- Cross-Country: 57.8 hours (55.8 PIC)
- Simulated instrument time: 1.4 hours.
- Zero real instrument time (thank goodness)
- Night flying: 0.4 hours (3 laps around the patch at KPWK to be night current/legal for a fly out that never happened.
- Total time as of 12/31/12: 131.0 hours
Accomplishments major and otherwise:
- Passed Private Pilot SEL checkride on March 25, 2012
- Transitioned from DA-20-C1 to C-172.
- First trip "going somewhere," which included a landing at the now closed Blue Ash Airport (KISZ).
- Longest Cross-Country to date: Chicago Dupage (KDPA) - Burke Lakefront (KBKL) in Cleveland (295.9 nm straight line, although it obviously took a bit longer to avoid nasty airspace problems and flying over open water). This was a trip I did not write about, but I basically flew a Cessna 172P N62681 to Cleveland to visit my sister and her boyfriend. Being an avid Pittsburgh Steelers fan, I had to resist the temptation to toss something into Browns' stadium while on approach to 6R. I also learned some fun facts about how some Cessna's don't exactly drink evenly from both tanks. This plane also had the least sexy avionics I'd ever flown - no GPS, radios did not allow for swapping frequencies, and it was the first carburated aircraft I'd flown.
- Gave 3 first flights (Ms. Dr. Flying Shrink, the Banana, and the Boy) and 1 second flight to a person who had not flown with me before. My children have learned the joys of the $100 ice cream run.
- Joined Fox Flying Club out at KDPA. I have to say that I have mixed feelings about this because I really love the folks out at Skill. However, Fox lets me fly for at least 1/3 less than I was paying there and the planes are very well maintained (as they are at Skill). I am maintaining currency at both locations for now because sometimes I need another option.
- My two downsides are that day in September I won't rehash, and December 2012 has been a TERRIBLE month for flying. I've logged all of 1.7 hours in December, with six (!) weathered-out flights. Five of these were training/transition flights to our club's Archer, and one was a club fly out to KEYE for dinner. I was really looking forward to this latter adventure as both a community-building time as well as a chance to do a nice night cross country with a more experienced pilot.
Goals for 2013
- Fly at least 100 hours (do all GA pilots say this?)
- Fly at least 15 hours at night
- Fly at least 70 cross-country hours
- Complete my instrument rating.
- On this score, I have already procured the King's ground school offering and Rod Machado's IFR Survival Book for the iPad. I also met with an instructor for a little ground school to talk about my scan and compass errors. I'd have already started the training if I could have gotten at least one solid VFR day for that Archer transition so that my instructor would know that I can "follow directions." Scheduled for a flight tomorrow at 09:00 local, so we'll see. If we can get this going, it's reasonable to be done by April since the lovely and gracious Ms. Dr. Flying Shrink has agreed to a twice-a-week flying schedule. Ok, it was more like "negotiated" but still...
- Complete Complex Endorsement and required transition training in our club's Arrow. I intend to accomplish this while completing the instrument rating to save [quite] a few bucks. Beyond the required training for the endorsement, there seems to be no specific requirements other than really being sure you don't land gear up. Might as well use it to complete my instrument ticket.
Happy flying!
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Saying Goodbye To an Old Friend
I recently decided to allow my "club currency" in the Diamond DA-20 to lapse. The company requires that one fly the plane at least once in the preceding 60 days to be considered current. Yet I realized that I was only really flying this plane in order to maintain said currency.
Although it is not the plane in which I had my first flight (that was a Skyhawk), I completed virtually all of my training for the private pilot certificate in this plane. Even still I have flown this type more than any other as of this writing (77.9 of 120.0 hours). It's the plane in which I gave the Banana her first flight (shown above) as well as her first taste of stalls, steep turns and ground reference maneuvers.
I confess to feeling a bit sad about this. I've created many memories in this aircraft - most of them good: my first solo and solo cross country, my check ride, landings sweet and otherwise, and of course my first shots of the Chicago skyline came from the left seat of this plane. I also prefer not to think about a solo where I darn near killed myself (at least it seemed that way) when I thought I was going to lose directional control on the runway, or coming ridiculously close to a certain biplane that did not seem to be making radio calls in the pattern at Dixon (C73).
Goodbye, old friend. You've been a trusted companion. Yet it seems our times in the sky have come to an end at least for now. I'll always remember our last dance - that beautiful squeaker on 16 at PWK with gusty winds 80 degrees off the runway. A fitting way to go out.
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