Private Pilot Resources - Aviation Blog

3 point landings

2009-12-05T16:04:00.000-08:00

Got 1.1 hours in N5032G this afternoon. Once again had a blast. we got in 10 touch and go and my taildragger landings are definitely improving. 32G has toe brakes and I much prefer those to heel brakes. It also flies much tighter. I feel like I'm finally starting to fly by the seat of my pants. When I glance at the turn indicator it see the ball less and less off center. 172s sure were forgiving and flying taildraggers finally forces me to shape up. One vexing problem remains that I think we finally worked out. I tend to work the ailerons in the flare to stay over the center line, which on occasion brings down one of the wings just slighty at the moment of touchdown. Bad idea. It basically pivots the plane on one front and the back wheel and requires quick, strong aileron correction combined with rudder inputs to get me back on centerline. Taildraggers require a perfectly straight ahead touch down, so next time out that's what we'll try. I'll probably accept being slightly off center line for a while in favor of a full three point contact on touchdown. On the upside, we had several landings today that were just sweet. There is nothing like ever so gently kissing the ground, rolling, applying full power, lifting tail and rotating softly again. It's just an awesome feeling.

Pilot My-Cast: Stay Ahead of the Weather

2009-11-22T15:21:00.000-08:00

Pilot My-Cast: Stay Ahead of the Weather Seems like a nice app for my blackberry. It's $10 a month and seems to provide a pretty good range of services.
Another app for the blackberry curve is AirWx Aviation Weather
Amazing that there aren't a ton of really good aps that would bring together all those free resources and leverage the curve's amazingly accurate GPS.
WXsys is a third choice, but it requires a subscription of almost $14/ month.
But, since it's free and I like how fast it loads on my blackberry, I'm going with http://www.duat.com/mobile. Their standard briefing is very easy to set up on a mobile device. Weather graphics load incredibly fast and are visible even on my blackberry 8330 Curve. The site saves the last 5 requests as links so they are very fast to pop up. Say what you will about government agencies. The FAA really does have it's stuff together.

Taildragger Lesson #3 - Demonstration of the spin

2009-11-22T14:30:00.000-08:00

Saturday was taildragger lesson number 3. The usual turns, stalls and a few landings. Dave demonstrated a spin and I'm trying to get my nerves up to fly one myself the next time we go up. Just in case you're wondering what a spin looks like, check out the above video. I just pulled it off YouTube since it's just a couple of rotations and was close to what we flew, although with the ground whirling around, who can count. Now to what it feels like. First it feels like a stall. The plane is dropping and at least to me it's that stomach in your throat kind of feeling. Once the spin stabilizes, it actually feels like you're flying again (well, one wing is). Not to bad, other than the ground in your face rotation ahead of you. Then comes the spin recovery and oddly that's the one I wasn't prepared for. You'll feel the G's pressing you into your seat as the plane recovers from pointing at the ground back to the horizon.

Tailwheel take-offs and landings

2009-11-14T14:56:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning. Usually I just want to sleep in, yet today I couldn't wait to get out to the airport. Lesson number 2 in flying taildraggers. When I got there at 9:45 Dave was already waiting for me. We briefed our lesson and off we were. As we get in, Dave tells me that he didn't plan on having his hands on the controls. He sounded like he meant it. These were my takeoffs to learn from. Ok, this was going to be odd coming from tricyle gear aircraft. We taxi to runup, complete our checks and off we are. Next thing I know I'm on centerline pushing the throttle full open and we're rolling down the runway. Dave had given me some great advice that I'm sure I heard last weekend, but it just didn't compute until Dave but it into simple terms. Don't hold the rudder down too long, just dance on the rudder peddals, jab jab jab. As I started the roll that began to make sense. Veer right, left pedal jab jab jab right peddal jab, oh boy what a workout, but we're back on center line. Stick forward. Oh boy. Not what I'm used to rolling on the ground. Dave assured me that the prop won't hit the ground and indeed once we get horizontal with the tail having come up, the pressure kind of just keeps it there. Speed builds and we hit 60 (miles per hour that is). Another thing that strikes me as odd as I've always remembered my air speeds in knots. Now I don't hold the pressure on the stick forward any more and the pressure oddly reverses where I have to ever so slightly pull back on the stick as we gracefull lift off. Ahhhhh. Click click, things are starting to make new found sense. Not yet fully, but as Dave encourages me with excitement from the back ever more so with every takeoff. We get to pattern altitude. Abeam the numbers, carb heat on, power off, and we establish a glide at 70. We're flying a much tighter pattern than I'm used to when I was flying the 172 or Archer II. Base, I almost forget to crab into the slight wind up here. We turn to final, short final, it hits me, this is all going to be different. OK, Dave explained 3 point landing, we get down there and we float, float and float. Humbling experience in speed control. We finally touch down and I pull the stick back a bit too fast, we balloon and Dave helps me bring it slowly back down. We finally touch on the mains and I gradually bring the stick back into my lap. This time successfully only to see us veer off to the left. Here we go again with the peddals. Jab, Jab, Jab, back on center line. Aha effect. Now I get this whole jab the peddal thing. Just in time to push both throttle and carb heat forward, push the stick forward again, feel the tail come up, check air speed and gradually apply backward pressure on the stick to rotate again. It takes 3 more tries until I start to feel confident in this sequence. All of a sudden, there it was. That very nice, barley feel the wheels touch down landing that we dream of when we envision it in our minds eye late at night over a nice glass of Cabernet. I hear Dave holler attaboy in the back. Nothing like an instructor that can get excited with you and for you. We do three more rodeos in the pattern and I get a sense that sometimes these planes want a soft touch and sometimes they like a determined hand. Hmmmm, now I get that whole plane naming convention. As we roll off the runway I'm grateful I have ears or I'd be smiling circular. We only clocked 0.9 on the meter, but I couldn't be more excited. These planes require attention, but they are a joy to fly. After all, part of my goal signing up for taildragger lessons was to become a better pilot. I'm definitely focusing on feeling the plane, relying on outside references and flying by the seat of my pants. I'm actually relaxed and enjoying the experience. We should all be so luck to have a guy like Dave introduce us to these fantastic flying machines.

Taming the tail dragger

2009-11-07T17:46:00.000-08:00

So it's been a while since I had taken to the air. 1 1/2 years according to my log book, so I thought it would be a good idea to combine a refresher with learning something completely new. I went down to Aerodynamic Aviation at Reid Hillview and as luck would have it got a flight the same day. Most humbling experience. I hadn't flown a stick before so that took some getting used to. I took to the skies in N53893, a Citabria 7EcA with a 115 HP Lycoming. We went for some airwork that definitely showed some rust on my part. It's hard to stall these birds. No stall horn either. The stick needed to be all the way back and they tip a heck of a lot faster than a Cessna 172 or an Archer. These things require some serious foot work and getting used to different locations for power, trim and instruments took some time. I'm heading back the next two weekends. Today was just air work. I'm looking forward to take offs and landings.

ICON Aircraft: Sport Flying Revolution

2009-07-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

ICON Aircraft: Sport Flying Revolution

Ohhh I want one of these. If it will fly half as well as it looks this has to be one of the most fun planes around.

Terrafugia - Transition® the Roadable Light Sport Aircraft : Photo Gallery

2009-04-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

Terrafugia - Transition® the Roadable Light Sport Aircraft : Photo Gallery

Interesting concept of a flying car....or is it a driving plane?

Two seaters that would fit my mission profile

2008-11-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

2007 AMERICAN CHAMPION 8-GCBC SCOUT
Once again just browsing the web for different airplanes that would fit my mission profile.

The second plane is the Cubcrafters Sport Cub S2, which meets LSA rules. Flaps are available as an option. The engine sips fuel at 4-5 gph and 391lbs payload with full fuel allow you to pack two grown adults and some bagage. A 250 ft takeoff ground roll is impressive. Last, but not least, the panel on this bird is just the perfect mix between nostalgia and 21st century capabilities. Vso is 36 Mph which reduces landing ground roll to a mere 200ft.

GPSed Track "home"

2008-08-28T18:01:00.001-07:00

I'm experimenting with GPS tracking. A nice feature if you want friends and family to be able to track you. A potentially life saving one if things go wrong. The cheap skate in me is trying to use some of the tools I already have, so I loaded the free download on my backberry and tried it out. I'm still working on getting the kinks out. Right now the track cuts out after a few minutes, but it does deliver the tracks to the GPSed web page. I'll also embed a widget in this web site which just shows the latest reported location of the user.

View my new track "home" started in United States, California, Sunnyvale.

NavMonster - Flight Planning, Aviation Weather and Approach Plates for Pilots

2008-05-12T12:15:00.000-07:00

Flight planning information via the internet is plentyful these days, but every once in a while I run across web sites that sets itself apart in simplicity and usefulness. The below site is one of these. Easy layout and quick navigation to get a very quick overview of the mission.
NavMonster - Flight Planning, Aviation Weather and Approach Plates for Pilots

Garmin G1000

2008-04-20T16:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I finally got sick of every aticle in AOPA magazine or Flying spewing with compliments about Gamin's G1000 glass clockpit. Enough already, I get it, it's cool and it does just about everything short of fixing a cup of coffee. So I kept hoping that maybe just one of those articles would start diving into some meat. Give me just one thing, but in detail. Don't sell me something, teach me something. It wasn't to be. Since I live in the Bay Area I was fortunate to be able to attend a G1000 seminar at my home airport taught by the guy that wrote the book (literally). I attended Max's class about a year ago. It was interesting, but I'm the kind of learner that has to take knowledge in chunks, let it simmer, stew, read a bit and then think about it some more. In the end I found that once I learn that way I retain it for just about ever. A seminar doesn't do that for me. Max Trestcott was nominated 2008 flight instructor of the year, which was good enough for me to invest the $34.95 to buy his book. The book is well structured, with ample pictures and illustrations. I'm a visual kind of guy. You give me just text and you might as well be writing chinese. Why buy the book? Well, you figure that every hour with a flight instructor is about $45 now and the plane is around $120. If I fly, I want to maximize my enjoyment. If I fly to learn, I want to maximize that too and learn the finer points rather than the basics. It's for that reason that I found buying Max's book just made plane sense (no pun intended....well maybe).
I'm about 1/3 into the book now and it's working reasonably well for me. If I can find one fault with it, then it would be that it is focused exclusively on each individual operation. It does a fabulous job at that to where I can close my eyes and literally follow along, but it doesn't teach the logic behind it. I find myself trying to figure out what logic Garmin applied in putting the system together. I'm still trying to boil it down to the dozen or so systematic steps that will let me perform 90% of the operations. Why? Well, I realize that there is no way I'll ever remember every single thing that's been written in a 250 page 8x10 book. If however, I could decode the logic that's been applied by Garmin to guide the menu navigation, data entry and value selection I could just look at what's available on the screen and with prior knowledge of the system's capabilities let it guide me there. Less junk to clutter my brain and better intuitive use in flight.
Here is how I'm remembering it.

The FMS knob is to scroll through a menu or list and select things
The enter button is to select things and get to additional detail screens for whatever has been selected
Range knob to zoom and shift the Inset Map
Every knob you can push to perform a function is labeled as such although I find the labeling sometimes in the wrong place (the triangular course knob on the right side of the PFD bezel has the label below which at least in my mind associates it with the range joy stick).
I'll add other revelations as I read the book here

Since Garmin GNS 530 functions very similar I downloaded the free simulator from the Garmin web site.

Garmin also has all the manuals and quick reference guides for download. Make sure you get the right model.

A nice checklist for the Cessna 172SP G1000 is posted on the Dauntless web site.

Salinas IFR Ride Along

2008-03-26T15:59:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures from a flight with my friend Michael who owns this lovely Skylane 182. Michael is working on his IFR license and on Tuesday evening he allowed me to share a ride on a typical IFR lesson. The plan was for a flight from RHV to SNS with a few practice approaches on the VOR 13 approach and a couple of MARNA holds. After that, a ride over to shoot the Localizer 02 approach into Watsonville. I have had my license for 2 years now, but even as a passenger I had never flown in actual IFR conditions in a GA airplane. As luck would have it, the low clouds moved in and we had a solid layer over the Salinas airport. Only about 800 feet thick, but a fantastic experience. Fantastic as in scary, weird and yet serene. The realization that reliance on what the equipment in front of you tells you is truly the only thing that tells you where you are (provided you can interpret it) and where you're going and how you're getting there (hopefully not inverted). First approach was on a partial panel and we got way off course, declared the missed and headed out to MARNA, second approach with a full panel much better, but as we headed into the clouds I could feel the plane turn right... right... right. We exited the clouds still turning heavy right. It was a fantastic learning experience just watching my friend and getting a feeling for the incredible challenge of managing navigation with zero visibility while keeping wings level, maintaining a heading and managing the descend. If anybody thinks that foggles provide a good simulation of flying in actual IMC...think again. A few hours flying under the hood, no comparison...ever notice that occasionally you get some light or glimse something outside the airplane. Not so in real IFR. It's just dull white like everything outside the plane got erased. Now I've flown through this stuff many times on an airliner, looked outside and thought...I know I wouldn't do it, but I probably could. It finally hit me what the difference was. I didn't have instruments in front of me. This flight had a profound experience on me. Observing from the back it was easy to see how anybody behind the airplane could become disoriented and put the plane upside down even in less than 1000 feet of cloud cover.

The second most valuable experience was learning to understand the clearances and radio communications that come along with flying in the clouds.Turns out that I had been far too intimidated about what might be required. Instructions are very straight forward. request the desired approach from Norcal including whether you just plan to fly the missed approach or to a full stop, Norcal comes back and provides vectors to fly a heading, maintain assigned altitude until established and switch frequencies to tower or CTAF. Establish radio contact on the missed and advise intentions.

All in all a very enlightening experience and encouragement to start my own IFR ticket. I probably wouldn't use it much except in thin layers that were high enough above ground, but just for safety sake it's the way to go. For those of you reading this that have your license, but have never been in IFR other than on commercial flights I can only encourage you to ask around, share a ride (with an IFR training flight, student at the controls, because an instructor makes it look simple) and prepare for a most thrilling experience.

Monterey

2008-03-15T11:11:00.000-07:00

Took the family down to Monterey (KMRY). Just a short hop, but a ton of fun. Last weekend we had spectacular weather. Approach advised 28R and handed me off to tower. I didn't call ahead and asked for taxi instructions to the restaurant. On that side of the field are two FBOs. Million Air and Jet Center. Parking was $30, but gets waved if you buy gas. At Jet Center they also have tickets to the Aquarium and can rent you a car. We didn't need either because we were to meet grandpa for ice cream. The FBO crew gave us a ride over to the restaurant. There is free GA parking on the other side of the field, but I was told no services are available, so arrange for a pickup if you go that route.

Jeppesen Weather Help

2008-03-02T14:21:00.000-08:00

Great resource to quickly review all the different symbols on avaition weather charts.
Jeppesen Weather Help

Bi-Annual Flight Review (BFR)

2008-02-13T17:13:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe that it's been two years since I first got my license. Looking back I am confident that I kept learning and that my skills are pretty sharp, but it was time for my BFR and so I hooked up with Tom Navin at Tradewinds a few weeks ago to knock off any rust that might have been building. Last Saturday we again took to the skies on a georgeous afternoon. The weather in San Jose had been crappy and so traffic at Reid Hillview was busy as everyone took to the skies all at once.

Learning (1): How to hotstart a fuel injected engine with vapor lock. Full power, mixture lean, as she starts, immediately pull power back and and enrich mixture in one fluid motion of the two levers.

Tom and I did our upper air maneuvers and then headed towards the central valley and diverted to New Jerusalem 1Q4. Basically a strip of asphalt in the middle of nowhere. The real bonus being that NOBODY is there. The runway is 3,500 ft. 12/30. Tom gave me some great coaching on short field takeoff and landing. We practiced a near touchdown slow flight down the entire length of the runway to get a feel for slow flight close to the ground. Then we set up for the actual shortfield and I finally got the picture of a nose high attitude and power control of descend to put her down right on the numbers. Another reason 1Q4 is such a great little strip is that it doesn't have a VASI and the approach is over fields with no obstructions. Thus, the FAA rule of no flight below VASI glideslope doesn't apply and you can actually play around some with altitude to get the right feel for it. We then practiced power failure during takeoff. If your instructor hasn't yet played a trick like that on you, do ask. Highly valuable to experience engine loss at 50 feet or so and to land her on the remaining runway. From what I had read before I always got the impression that it required a heavy push on the joke to bring the nose down and pick up speed. Not so in my experience. At 50 feet you're quickly back in ground effect and I experience it as just a slight relaxing of the controls to keep the speed above stall, followed almost immediately by a transition to a roundout. With precious little runway left you don't want to build up excessive speed, so Tom showed me how to ease her back down with the nose up higher than I thought. All in all a great BFR and as always some learning experiences from a truly gifted teacher.

What does a stall & spin look like

2008-01-26T15:54:00.000-08:00

I always wondered what the view out the window would look like in an inadvertent stall spin. After all, enter a stall during uncoordinated flight and you'll soon find out. The weather is crappy today so I'm doing a little armchair flying and ran across some great video clips on YouTube. Somehow it was important for me to actually see how fast the plane appears to point at the ground.

Cessna stall spin
...and another one
........and another one
...and just because it's so much fun

spinning in a Citabria
and spinning in a Decathlon
and in a Vans RV-12 where you can actually see the aileron inputs nicely. This one also has a great demonstration of airflow separation during the stall.

Stall horn testing - Preflight

2008-01-26T14:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I finally got tired of not testing my stall horn during pre-flight. On tab-actuated stall horns such as the one I encountered when I was flying the Piper Archer it sure was an easy task. Turn on master, lift the tab, and hear the horn. Try being thorough though on a Cessna 172 and it's an entirely different story. Theoretically, you're supposed to suck on the opening of a dirty airplane with the wing a head or two higher than you. Sure, that's going to happen...NOT. So as a result it seems to be an accepted practice to just visually inspect the opening for any obstructions. After all, you're not going to fall out of the sky just because the stall horn doesn't work. Or will you. Last week we went out and practiced slow flight. Sure was easy with the stall horn buzzing. Oooops...what if it hadn't worked. It was at this point that it occurred to me that maybe I ought to find a way to check that stall horn on the next pre-flight. A few months earlier I had seen another pilot on my field pull out a strange little home made device. One of the instructors had created it for some of his students, so I decided to have a go at it. Quick run to the hardware store for some flexible plastic tubing (mine is a little too rigid, so select one that is flexible enough). I also picked up a little piece of thick and compact foam that's flexible enough to mold to a surface. I squeezed the tubing into the foam twisting it and cut out a nice little hole with the tubing. A little super glue to attach the foam to the tubing and about 90 cents later you have the perfect stall horn tester. Press the foam to the aircraft leading edge right over the stall horn opening and suck on the tube. Voila! Sure I could have picked up a little pump that the aviation catalogs are selling, but I'm certain those wear out eventually and I, like most pilots, just like things that can't break. No more excuses for not testing the stall horn.

Preflighting a Cessna 172 revisited

2008-01-20T17:40:00.000-08:00

I must have preflighted the 172 over a hundred times now. Every now and so often I take an hour with a CFI for some recurrent training and I usually ask to be observed as I step through my pre-flight. Over the years I've learned that every CFI contributes yet another piece of wisdom that lets me know and understand that machine, which is about to take me aloft, just a little better. Last year it was a mechanic that lubricated a flap push rod that explained how the left flap is tied to the right via cables. By pushing up on the left flap one can test for excessive play in that connection and at the same time observe whether the rollers are actually moving in the tracks. If they don't it leads to excessive wear. Thanks to that same mechanic I now also check for chafing on the top surface of the flaps.

Today's pre-flight was no exception. Tom pointed out three new items that were either new or just not clear to me before.

1) Ever wondered how many static wicks your airplane can be missing and still be flown safely? The Cessna 172 should have 8 of those wicks, 2 on each wing, 2 on the rudder and 2 on the stabilator. They are there to disperse static charge that builds up all around the aircraft and that could interfere with radios. It is safe to fly with a maximum of 3 missing.

2) Tom asked me to explain what I am looking for on the safety wire and what the safety wire is there for. With safety wires you are looking for broken wire, which would indicate that a stop screw has moved or a connection has come loose. On the tail of a 172 one would check for the safety wire to be intact on both sides of the rudder cable connection (that one I knew). You also check for safety wire to be unbroken for the 2 rudder stop screws and the elevator stop screw. A broken wire indicates that the screws have moved and that would allow the rudder or elevator excessive travel.

3) How would you know that the break hydraulic lines are leaking? My answer, look for break fluid next to the tire, missed the point. I had forgotten to set the plane's parking break. The way to get pressure on the hydraulic line so that fluid would be forced out would be to either apply the breaks or in this case just simply set the parking break and then look for leaking. A plane that has set there without a break applied might not show lots of leakage, especially in a training airplane that was just parked. Apparently the hydraulic lines like to fail in the corners where they are bent or where they are rubbing up against the landing gear. Especially when wheel pants are not attached these lines vibrate in the wind against the gear and start chafing over time.

4) I always visually inspect the openings in the plane's cowling to make sure no birds have started nesting. Especially in the fall when nests can appear from on day to the next. What never occurred to me is that the best place for a nest is in between the cylinders where a visual inspection won't find them. If the engine isn't hot, run your hand through that space to make sure no critter built a home there.

Sometimes it takes another pilot or CFI to ask provocative questions to make you think about what to check during pre-flight. Most importantly, always ask yourself "why am I checking this" and "what would this look like had it failed or become damaged".

Off it was to another fun flight. 7 rounds in the pattern. The ceiling lifted to 4000 feet and we headed South for slow flight and stall practice. In March I'm coming up on my first Bi-Annual Flight Review (BFR). I'll be going the Wings route, so look here soon for the next entry on completing the Basic Wings phase in lieu of a BFR.

Salinas Airshow 2007

2007-10-02T08:49:00.000-07:00

Halfmoon Bay KHAF and Bay Tour

2007-10-01T12:57:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we did a wonderful Bay Tour. The weather was perfect, visibility endless and the coast clear of fog. I worked the radios while my fellow Tradewinds pilot John Stratakos took us across San Jose International and up the Bay out to the coast. We passed over Golden Gate bridge and dropped into the San Francisco bay. We cuised around for a while and then I took the plane down to Halfmoon Bay where we stopped for lunch. The airport was busy and folks were out in droves to enjoy the great weather. After a great lunch we headed back along the coast down to Watsonville and back over the hill to Reid Hillview. Total flight time 2.5 hours.

Bay Area Weather

2007-09-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

On the 29th we're planning a quick hop up to Half Moon Bay. It's real close so one would think no problem. Weather is nice here, so it will be the same over there. Not so fast. Half Moon Bay is at the coast and during summer you can bet that it's fogged in at some time during the day. The Bay Area in fact is an accumulation of many different micro climates with huge temperature wind and visibility changes with a 70 mile radius. Lucky for pilots, web cams have sprung up like wildfire. Just search the Internet for keywords webcam. One reason I blog this site below is because I like to have it available to check from the FBO just prior to my flight.

Bay Area Weather
San Carlos Pilots Web site

What are your wings of choice

2007-08-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been doing a lot of armchair flying and browsing the web for "my" perfect plane. Turns out I really have two mission profiles. On one hand I need 4 seats and lots of useful load, short field capabilities and decend speed, on the other hand I am fine with a two seater for the bulk of my missions that burns minimum gas and goes slow, but extremely safe. For either mission I'm on the low end of the price range. I like to fly, but I don't like to feel like the bank is riding shotgun.

So here they are, my two choices for my perfect planes. The first is a Maule MXT7-180. I checked the accident records and there are surprisingly few. It's a safe reliable plane with an incredible useful load and a sensible panel. I actually appreciate that Maule's panels at least to now have the old gauges, but make good use of Garmin GPS. It's a clean and effective layout. The Maule treats passengers right. It comes with a right back passenger door that together with the baggage door makes for a huge opening.

The two seater is an ErCoupe. What a cute little plane. It sips gas and has a reputation of being downlight simple to fly. I just love the trainling link gear.

VFR chart legend - explained

2007-07-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

Say what you will about governmental agencies in general, when it comes to the FAA I'm impressed. Not only is the FAA putting out a ton of free information and tools for its constituency, but the quality of the materials is fantastic. Here is a VFR chart legend I just ran across. This document doesn't just provide the legend itself (which is printed on every chart anyway), but goes into some detailed explanations of the legend elements.

Click here to view the PDF document or visit the FAA Charting Office web site.

VFR Garmin 403/530 Minicourse

2007-07-25T22:12:00.000-07:00

I wasn't quite ready to shell out quite a bit of money to buy a full blown Garmin GPS training CD so I was quite happy to find that AOPA put out a nice little training piece that refreshes the very basic functions like direct to, nearest, dialing COM and NAV frequencies and how to look up some of the most common information. All for free.

AOPA Online - VFR GPS Guide: Garmin 403/530 Minicourse

A helpful quick reference is posted here

Garmin made a GNS430 simulator available which can be installed for practice on any PC.

My club's 172SP has a KLN94 installed. A reference manual (User Guide) for it is linked here.

While I'm at it I'm also linking to the manual for the KAP 140 autopilot.

Top 10 Rules of Thumb

2007-07-25T11:21:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while I run across an article that I print out and actually put in my flight bag. This is one of them. Rules of thumb I have found are critical to aeronautical decision making in flight. That being said, use sound judgement when to use a rule of thumb and when it pays to use the a more precise instrument.

Plane & Pilot Magazine Top 10 Rules of Thumb

Amy Hoover's article on Rules of Thumb

My favorites:

Rule of thumb; DA: To determine Density Altitude at a given Pressure Altitude, add 60 feet to the existing PA for every 1° F above standard temperature for that altitude. (Remember: Standard temperature at sea level 15° C / 59°F and decreasing at 2°C/3.5°F per 1000 feet of altitude above sea level). If altimeter setting is above29.92 inches mercury, add another 100 feet of density altitude for each 10th of an inch below29.92 or subtract 100 feet for each 10th of an inch above 29.92. Because the precise effect of humidity involves complex calculations one can compensate by raising DA by 1000 feet on hot humid days and assuming a performance hit by a fudge factor 10%.

Rule of thumb; Abort:An aircraft should achieve 70% of its flying speed by the time it has consumed 50% of the runway or an abort is in order.

Descend rule of three: Number of miles out times three gives you your AGL height (in hundreds of feet) above the airport for a 3 degree descent path

Estimate chart distance: Bend the fingers on your right hand into a U Shape. One of the middle segments will represent 10 miles on a sectional chart (check which one comes closest), or five miles on a terminal chart. Use it to measure approximate distances.

Truckee - Mountain Flying

2007-07-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip my friend Michael and I headed up to Truckee. Michael called me to see if I could fly along as his safety pilot for some IFR practice including some IFR approaches. First we headed to Sacramento Executive for a practice ILS on 20 and from there via Auburn up to Truckee. Some of the peaks around Truckee reach over 9000 feet and so we cruised along at 11,500 and dropped into Truckee for a 45 minute bio break. Truckee has a delightful pilot lounge. Definitely worth a visit. Definitely download the arrival and departure procedure guide before you go. The airport web site for KTRK is quite useful and packed with well arranged information including some waypoints for the GPS. We checked TFRs for Tahoe due to some recent fires and received the green light. Our route back we decided to skirt Lake Tahoe and got a chance to survey the fire damage from the air. You can still see some smoke hanging over the recently charred landscape. The third picture shows South Lake Tahoe as we head out towards the central valley.

Monterrey Bay Coastline to Santa Cruz

2007-07-17T15:49:00.000-07:00

I just got some great pictures from a sight seeing flight this past November.

This shot was taken on the way down to Watsonville along the Monterrey Bay coast.

The other shots are getting N748SP ready, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Watsonville airport, Fraisier Lake and the coastline just north of Santa Cruze downtown.

Welcome to Fergworld, a flying and aviation extravaganza!

2007-04-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while I find a fellow blogger that just has some kewl stuff on his/her site. Here is one such link.

Welcome to Fergworld, a flying and aviation extravaganza!

2007-04-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I took a G1000 seminar to become familiar with its capabilities, working towards a checkout. Max Trescott is an authority on the subject and if you have a chance to attend one of his classes I highly recommend it. He's published a book on the subject and a CD ROM training course is available as well. I also found a nice listing of G1000 manuals by a local club. I figure time spent on the ground will save me expensive instruction in the air and make the time spent actual flying more productive.

G1000 Training CD and Book, Max Trescott
Glass Panel Aircraft

Personal Minimums

2006-10-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

Every pilot should have it, yet many don't. An extablished personal minimum checklist. Know when you're ok to fly and when it's better to stay on the ground. The line easily gets blurred as you push the envelope at the time of making the decision. After all, most of us would rather be in the air than remain with our feet firmly planted on the ground. I just ran across a rather thorough checklist. Complete it today, make a commitment to adhere to the limits you set and check it every time. Click HERE to download your personal minimum checklist.

The FAA has a pretty good workbook that steps through the process of developing a personal minimum checklist posted Here

Interactive VOR, HSI, ADF simulator

2006-10-13T16:19:00.000-07:00

This little tool assist with learing to interpret readings from two VORs. Great for practicing your "lost" procedures. You can set the tool to fly a course at a designated speed or go through turns and watch how the instruments react. You can also hide the plane and play with the instruments to get a fix on your position.

Cell phone weather products - Free or low cost

2006-10-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

A flood of new weather products is hitting the market. Tools are getting more interactive and graphics are getting better. Weather.com did a nice job with it's weather.com - Interactive radar map from The Weather Channel.

Accuweather.com offers several cell phone weather products that are either browser based or small applications that can be downloaded to the cell phone. They support most service providers.

Even the National Weather Service sprung into action. Their products can be retrieved on a cell phone via http enabled devices at: mobile.srh.weather.gov or if your device is WAP enabled at: www.srh.noaa.gov/wml. For surface observations there is a history of the last 12 reports, which I like.

WXWeather isn't free, but a low cost option at $59 per year. They delivers great looking pages and all the contents we pilots care about on a cell.

eMETAR.com in an innovative service that lets you know when the weather meets your conditions to fly. Their servers will watch METARs at airports you specify and notify you when conditions meet your personal minimums.

PilotMyCast is a provider that requires you download a Java program into your phone, and it talks to the network. Pilot My-Cast looks to be a very capable system.

Flight Planning tool

2006-10-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

It seems like every month I discover new flight planning tools. I really like the AOPA flight planner, but it turns out that my company blocks a port in the network that AOPA needs to have open for me to connect to it. Thus I can't do anything while at work. I just discovered a neat web based site that does a great job in delivering some basic data and some not so basic charting. They also allow me to check METARs and Airport information right from my cell phone, which I always have with me anyway. As I hobble along this road of information gathering I am finding that my data sources have to be as mobile as I am and this one meets those requirements so it's getting a spot in my bag of goodies. The tool can overlay weather and sectional charts on the flight plan and allows for output to PDF. What's missing is a way to auto suggest victor airway routes or a way to discover your route from fix to fix.

Practicing ATC Communications in the car

2006-10-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

Gabcast! New Aviators and Private Pilot Voice Cast #2 - Practicing ATC communications with a radio scanner

This is my first Gabcast for newAviator. On my commute to work I practice my radio work by listening to an ATC scanner. It familiarizes me to radio phrasology and gets the ear tuned to very fast communications

Weights and Balances

2006-10-07T00:26:00.000-07:00

It sure is a pesky exercise to calculate weights and balances before every flight. That is, that was the case until I found a free application by Smartsoft out of Norway.

From my cell phone I connected to the Internet and downloaded a very small JAVA application. I had to register my email on the company's site and in return received an activation key 2 seconds later. A very simple setup of your plane's performance envelope and voila, you get a very nice graph that shows you exactly whether your current load is ok. Need a quick check of a cross wind component? No problem. The application does that too. Very simple to operate and it does the trick. Good bye paper and hello safety!!

A big thank you to Ewa and Arne Opheim for making the tool available to all!!

Density Altitude Chart

2006-06-05T12:43:00.000-07:00

Take off and landing performance figures are based on sea level air density at standard temperature (59`F). As elevation increases, temperature decreases at a standard rate. Air becomes less dense, resulting in lower performance figures. Temperatures varying from standard can have drastic additional effects on take off, landing, and climb out performance. A 5,000 ft. elevation airport can suddenly become a 10,000 ft. elevation airport as far as air density is concerned. This is operational or density altitude-the calculated altitude of the air in which the airplane operates and is very important when using high elevation and/or short runway airports.

(Dashed lines on chart above illustrate example.)

HOW TO USE THIS CHART:
To determine conditions at airport you plan to use:

Enter actual airport altitude on diagonal lines marked "Pressure Altitude" (example: 5,500 ft.).
Enter airport temperature along horizontal lines (example: 77`F.).
Carry temperature line to right until it crosses diagonal line (airport altitude).
From this point, drop a vertical line to bottom of chart. Read operational or density altitude (example: 7,700 ft.).

Flying the Bay Tour

2006-05-13T23:47:00.000-07:00

Flew the bay tour today. My friend Mike, my son and one of the instructors at Tradewinds as a last minute addition to fill out the plane. What a fantastic flight it was. We were wheels up at 10:15 am on 31L. As luck would have it the same scenario I had written about in my last post. Sure enough the tower forgot to hand us off in time so we flew cross wind and into the downwind leg before we got in touch with San Jose, then broke right and back towards San Jose. Across KSJC at or above 1500 and soon we were with Norcal restricted to 3500 heading up along the Bayshore 101 freeway. To me 3500 feet was a very comfortable altitude. You could make out the terrain very nicely to navigate. Turns out that when we checked in that morning, somebody had taken the other Archer so we flew in N4313G which has a very nice KLN94 GPS.

I throughly studied its manual several weeks before and so with familiar landmarks and the KLN94 navigation to show airspace boundaries it turned out to be a snap. You have to be up on your radio game because calls do come in rapid fire and you're expected to respond in kind, but I had listened to my scanner for months and knew what was coming and to my surprise my responses came a lot faster than even I had anticipated. The marine layer was visible all along the coast, but right at the Golden Gate bridge it opened up with scattered clouds. Two other planes were on the tour, but were leaving the Bay just as we arrived. We crossed the bridge at a right angle and entered a theater of phenomenal views and scenery. Now at our own discretion, clear of class Bravo and North of the Bay Bridge we were clear to descend and went down to 2800 feet and circled Alcatraz, went around Angel Island, enjoyed views of Sausalito, watched a yacht race, flew along the San Francisco piers, saw a huge freighter pulling a tiny tug boat...wait a minute...shouldn't that be the other way around.. and all along enjoyed the fantastic skyline of San Francisco. Below are a few camera shots we picked up along the way. Click on the pictures to get enlarged views.

After about 30 minutes we headed back towards the East Bay, called Norcal to request a class Bravo transition along the East Bay to Reid Hillview. Norcal advised us to stay north of the Toll Plaza (which is where the Bay bridge meets land) and north of the bridge. We stayed to the left of 880 and received a few fectors for traffic, but were allowed to a ssume navigation quite soon. Eventually our radar services were terminated and we squaked VFR. At Embassy suites (little...or not so little pink building right along the freeway and maybe a few miles after the big auto plant) we made our call up to Reid Hillview and landed after 1:30 hours back where we started richer by an experience that few ever get to have and thankful for it all.

I was especially thankful to be able to share that experience with my son who was bright eyed about every little thing we saw along the way, did a great job at pointing out various lakes along the way and was very mindful of my radio work. He fell asleep the last 20 minutes on the way back.

Mike and I spent several hours this evening reliving the experience and we'll talk about it for a while to come. It was fantastic to have an interesting friend like Mike along. Thanks Shawn for joining us on short notice. It made the flight a lot more relaxing. You're an absolute delight to fly with.

Planning the Bay Tour

2006-05-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday Tradewinds sponsored a Wings seminar that focused on flying the Bay Tour safely. I picked up a few pointers that I thought I'd post here. The Bay Tour starts from KRHV with a hand off to San Jose Tower, which usually makes you cross mid field at or above 1500 feet. You then fly west of the 101 BayShore all the way up North and usually get vectored towards the coast, up the cost. Around Golden Gate Park you can usually fly at your own discretion. 3500 feet is generally considered a safe altitude that also affords some spectacular views of Alcatraz, Angel Island and the city. After checking out the Bay continue East, but well North of the Bay Bridge and head back down the East Bay.

Check the weather at:
Web Cams for KON4 and KPIX are in and all around San Francisco. Add itional Web cams are searchable at Earthcam WebCam Network. Of course also check all the usual sources you'd use to be safe and comply with regulations.
Check TFRs for AT&T Park, Cow Palace and Candlestick, which may have events going on.

Have the VFR Terminal Chart out and open during your flight and be prepared for a lot of radio work. Several hand offs as you cross several Norcal frequencies. Be mindful of class Bravo Airspace and never enter without a clearance. Fully read back all clearances. Passengers should be given a special briefing regarding the need for them to keep conversation to a minimum at least until you reach the Golden Gate.

The hand off from KRHV to San Jose can get kind of tricky. Usually tower approves a frequency change at 200 feet after takeoff from KRHV. Do not cross the 680 freeway without contact to San Jose Tower. The tower must call your tail number. "Aircraft calling Reid Hillview" does not give you permissing to enter Class C. If you run out of room after take off from 31R just skirt class C along 680 until tower gets back to you. Takeoff from 31L gets really tight. Just climb on the downwind pattern and fly a few S curves shaking your tail at San Jose and they'll get back to you. When in contact, hang a right turn and head back up towards the field.

On the way up check out Moffett, Palo Alto and San Carlos which are your searest safety fields. Around San Francisco the beach and Crissy Field are just about the only emergency spots.

We'll see how it goes. Tomorrow we'll check the weather and if the fog burns off soon enough we'll head up to San Francisco on the Bay Tour.

Additional information about the Bay Tour is available here.

Runup saves the day

2006-05-09T00:47:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday it was finally time to take the entire family on a fun outing. We were planning to make a 1 hour flight up to Mariposa (MPI), stay for brunch and then head back before the day heats up and turbulence sets in. The kids were excited and we headed for the airport. I had done all the planning and the briefing called for a picture perfect day. Car seat in the plane and family briefed for their first flight we finally taxi out in N4313G. The KLN94 has the flight plan loaded (I love that GPS...I finally read the entire manual on an 11 hour flight to Japan a few weeks ago. Even though the plane is constantly flown, only 3 flight plans were loaded..amazing). We arrive in the runup area and it's getting crowded. We're not alone and everybody is out there welcoming summer to California. I go through the runup checklist. Trim neutral, indicator lights, 2000 RPM, mags check, alternator, vacuum...wait a minute....alternator...no indication of load...odd...no fault indication on the indicator lights...try the landing light in addition to strobes, no popped circuit, cycle the alternator master switch. Still no load indication. Run up again to 2000RPM just to be sure. Only the slightest perception of movement on the needle. Normally you see a definite spike. This archer has a loadmeter, which lets you know you're drawing current on the alternator. I don't have a volt meter on this plane that tells me what the voltage is on the bus...bummer.... as a 12Volt indication would definitely tell me I'm drawing on the battery while 14 volt would tell me the alternator is producing the desired output. I call the office to check if anyone else reported any issue, but at this time it's clear already...we're not going. I have the family on board...no way. They were just great about having to go back and canceling our plans.

After we pack up we decide to make alternate plans and head for the beach instead. One of the perks of living in California. As we lay on the beach of course at least about a dozen planes and two helicopters (see left) soar by overhead to which my honey says..."look they're rubbing it in". Of course, like everyone I start questioning.."but what if I had turned on the pitot heat. That draws a ton of power. Maybe that would have given me an indication". Make a long story short we had a great day at the beach, spotted a group of 5 sea otters and for the first time saw wales spouting on their migration up the coast. Another reminder to make the best of each day and accept the curveballs we receive. I wouldn't have traded that day for anything...well maybe a flight to Mariposa.

I called the club's office today just to find out and to learn from the experience. Turns out that one of the alternator wires had come loose. It took the club's mechanic about 10 minutes to fix so it will never come loose again, but the connection had at best been intermittent. We very likely would have lost alternator power on this flight. We would have lost several of the instruments including the GPS and radios, but we would have kept on flying. Not an experience I would have wanted with the family on their first flight out. A thorough preflight and a no-go decision saved the day. That's why we train. In retrospect, the experience helped me review the electrical system, gain confidence in my abilities and I still would have called it the correct call even if it had turned out to be nothing.

In the process I found that not everybody is familiar with the concept of a load meter (left) vs. an ammeter (right). So here is a little summary.

Ammeter: There are two types, the charge/discharge and the load. The charge -discharge will remain centered so long as the system output can meet the system demand. Beyond this point the needle will indicate a discharge and use of battery power. The load type of ammeter will begin near zero and rise as more electrical load is put online. The voltage warning light will indicate if the load requirement is beyond the alternator's ability to produce. The load meter reflects the actual electrical load as it is turned on. A load ammeter at zero or discharge is saying that you are using battery power The ammeter is an essential element of any pilot's instrument scan. It should be a part of the pre-takeoff, prelanding, and checkpoint checklists.
A pretty good summary on electrical systems is posted here.
Still in the mood to learn more? Here is a writeup on electrical system failures.

First flight out - private pilot

2006-04-01T20:55:00.000-08:00

The past two weeks have been low broken and overcast clouds with lots of vertical development. Today finally a one day break and I got a chance to take to the skies. I headed out to the airport around 2 pm and lifted off at 3pm for a flight down to Hollister 3O7. Relatively close to home, but just perfect for a Saturday afternoon fun ride. Two laps in the pattern and a stop over at South County E16 with 3 laps there to practice some soft field landings and once the wind kicked up one cross wind landing. After a total of 2 hours airtime a straight in arrival to 31L. What a blast. Amazing how quick we become flight junkies. I really had missed not being up there for two weeks.

Yeeehaaa!! I passed the checkride!!

2006-03-19T12:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at 5 pm it struck me. I'm a private pilot. It has taken almost 1 year, countless hours of studying and lots of frustrations followed by the biggest highs imaginable, but yesterday I passed by checkride with flying colors. It was an incredibly beautiful day for flying. Winds were 12 to 15 knots and no more than 20 degrees off the runway. The sky was dotted by small white puffy cumulus clouds around 5 thousand feet and I had planned a flight to South Lake Tahoe. We took off from Reid Hillview heading out north over Calaveras reservoir towards Livermore.

About 6 weeks ago I had taken a stage III checkride with the same examiner, so I had an idea what I would face during the checkride (great idea Lucy). If you can afford it and you can find an examiner that also teaches, I can only recommend this approach. I learned a ton during my stage III check. Most important (and everyone will tell you this, but you have to experience it) do NOT under any circumstances let the examiner (or anybody else for that mater) rush you. The examiners' job is to try to rush you to. Most of us that have been students for a while have an aha moment. We are pilots in command. The only ones that will be making decisions on this and any future flight. We did our upper air maneuvers outside of Livermore airspace and diverted to Tracy (TCY) for our landings. There were a few planes in the pattern, but they soon departed and we were able to do a short approach mixed in with short field and soft field landings. I had brushed up on the shortfield with my instructor Jake last week and it paid off. I couldn't have been off more than 10 feet from the numbers. On the way back we requested flight following and cruised at 3500 feet with the sun's rays shining through broken clouds and incredible visibility. A normal landing and taxi back to Tradewinds concluded a fantastic experience. Since I knew what to expect I could actually enjoy this ride, occasionally take in the scenery and savor it as an experience.

There are some good learning experiences above and beyond what you find in the typical prep CDs and documentation that I thought I'd share so that they will help others in pursuit of their dreams. First, and obvious, you want to get as high a score as possible on your written. When the examiner quizzes you'll want to at least know where to find the answers. Make sure you know how to work the index on the FAR/AIM and know approximately what sections you'll find your subjects in. Have a written passenger briefing ready. I have some examples posted on this site. It makes life so much easier and again shows you are prepared. Make sure you use the same briefing again in the plane.

Only let the examiner give you one maneuver at a time. If your plane has a GPS in it, make sure you are thoroughly familiar with it. It beats having to find VORs, dial them in, identify them, plot your position, calculate time to get there. You can get it all from the GPS. All you'll need is fuel burn and that you can do in your head. I'm not advocating you replace your VOR navigation skills, but supplement them.

It would be a good idea to visit the most likely airports for diversion on training flights just to be familiar with them. As it was, I had never been to Tracy and it wasn't a big deal to check the AFD and map for pattern, TPA and communications information. Make sure you know any emergency drills in your sleep. Engine out with restart, fire, alternator failure. Always wip out your checklist on any emergency, run through from memory and then run through the checklist again. Even on a checkride you can learn. I discovered that Vx is best speed of climb without flaps. Check your POH for short field takeoffs over a 50 foot obstacle. It will likely give you earlier rotation and a slower speed for the 50 foot climb than Vx. In the Archer II it's 45 to 54 knots depending on weight. It states " Continue to climb while accelerating to the flaps-up rate of climb speed...of 64 KIAS". The examiner will be looking for that lower speed on the initial climb.

A big thank you to Jake, Ken, Nofal and Lucy at Tradewinds for getting me ready to call myself a private pilot today. I will once again call on your combined experiences to get my instrument rating soon. I've found it incredile helpful to learn from several instructors. It made for a slightly longer process, but I firmly believe it makes me a better pilot today. Everyone had some golden nuggets to contribute. Some people are worried about the cost of switching instructors or finishing up under some magical number of hours. I was less worried about cost, because I enjoy the process of learning and flying is inherrently expensive. Having passed my checkride, I can't wait to get back up there and explore the world from above.

Getting ready for stage 3 check

2006-01-28T19:50:00.000-08:00

I'm in the final throws of getting ready for the checkride. Last weekend I spent some time with CFI Jake to go over my log book to mark off everything against the FAR's private pilot requirements. Over the past weeks I have been reading the practical test standard. Jake and I used the sectional to play through scenarios covering airspace.

This weekend we took to the skies again to put on the finishing touches. And what a ride it was. There is nothing more helpful in training to have your CFI introduce little surprises. After all I'd rather experience them with my CFI in the plane than later on my own. So when we practiced another engine out I thought ok, piece of cake, I'm ready for this. Oppps do you hear that noise? I think the door popped open. I think it's pushing out quite a bit. Then came the air. Papers on my kneeboard started flying and drag jumped up big time. I dropped the nose slightly to keep up speed, but it definitely took me longer to establish a proper glide and make decision on my approach pattern or run through the checklist. Definite distraction. I finally got in the groove and made a nice 45 entry and short approach to E16. Actually flying with the door open was a huge learning experience that one can describe, but that you can only experience when you do it. Jake threw in a few more curve balls, each of which paid off in lessons learned. We practiced several soft field and short field takeoffs and they were decent, but when Jake demonstrated one it finally clicked. Don't be shy to have your CFI demonstrate. Sometimes it helps to pick up little things you might have missed. I find demonstrations even more helpful the farther I come in my training.

Next weekend we're off to our stage III checkride. I'm preparing a flight plan to Porterville (KPTV) a little airport outside of Vasalia. I'll go up with John Pyle who is a seasoned aviation veteran and checkride pilot.

In the meantime I am reviewing the GPS manual. The plane I'll use for the checkride has a Bendix/King KLN94 and user manuals are posted at Honeywell's web site. We tried it out on our last flight and there are some amazing capabilities packed in that little thing that I wish I had had on my cross country.

Crazyaviation - Videos of pretty amazing stuff

2006-01-27T17:24:00.000-08:00

I just had to bookmark this site. It contains a collection of some pretty amazing footage. Visit Crazyaviation for some funny and some not so funny videos.

2nd X-Country - Fresno

2006-01-15T18:55:00.000-08:00

After heavy rains on Saturday the weather cleared up and we had clear air and incredible visibility. Great day to start the second cross country trip to Fresno - Yosemite International (KFAT). I had prepared a plan that would take me at 5500 feet to the right of South County (E16) so I could maintain a nice view of it and on to Los Banos (KLSN), intercepting the Clovis VOR which would take me only a few miles from Fresno. During my climb I opened the flight plan and requested flight following. From South County I headed east over the hills. A band of clouds was right at my altitude. The first one low, the other higher. I climbed over the first and decended under the second. Light turbulence, but I mainained my heading and advised ATC that I'd be resuming 5500 as soon as I was passed. My dead reckoning worked out perfect and I crossed right over Los Banos (KLSN). The view here is from 5500 feet.

Ok time for the VOR to come alive. NAV 1, tuned, VOR identified, VOR...nada. Nothing on NAV 1...well maybe I'm too far out. I continued on my heading, cross checked to the very few landmarks out there in the central valley ...VOR ...nothing.... Try NAV2 and voila, the CDI starts to swing in. Approach hands me off a couple of times. I set the DME and watch the miles tick away. Approach advises to make left traffic for 29L. Great. consulting the pattern entry map I drew up...I'm set...or am I...Just as I am in my turn to the airport approach asks whether I am planning to land Fresno. Hint 1: If approach asks, I must be somewhere different than I thought. Approach advises a vector and where to look for the field. Now I'm getting nervous (partly because they're not exactly nice about it)...the tone raises my stress levels about 5 notches and now the hair on the back of my neck is straight up as I frantically search for the field. 8 miles, 5 miles, I should be able to see it. Hmmm that could be it, but I can't make out a runway. It looks all wrong. Approach hands me off to tower. They're obviously not too happy..great...finally I see the field...still looks wrong...Then I hear the words. Can you make right traffic short approach 29L... click, click click... now I get it. They vectored me to the other side of the field, didn't bother to tell me to change the approach and I was looking for a way different picture. So nothing I saw made sense to me. Finally I'm able to respond N6413C right traffic 29L, short approach affirmative. Thankfully the landing is just about perfect. On to ground and requesting progessive taxi instructions...again they're not too happy about it. I park in front of the GA tower, which I find has been closed. No restrooms. So much for Fresno. I decide to get a weather update and head out. Since it was getting late I rewrote my flight plan to land in Madera (MAE). One the way out I did my callup with "student pilot" appended. Ahhh they're a little nicer...much appreciated. I squak the squak code and get altitude restriction to at or below 2000. I taxi out, run my pre takeoff checklist in the runup area and call tower. After takeoff I get handed off to approach and a few minutes later request frequency change. Heading, map...everything matches...ok confidence back. I see the field ahead and check the ASOS. Wind straight down the runway..great. I switch to Madera 122.8. Only one guy in the pattern. Left 45 entry 30..stable approach and smoothly kiss the ground. Taxi back to departure, set my frequencies in the runup area. On the way over I already checked that I was crossing the outbound radial from Clovis and the CDI had swung in and out. With confidence I take off in an 11 knot headwind. Airborne I notice that my TAS is ok, but I'm not making much ground speed. Surface winds must have kicked up. Left turn to depart on the cross wind to the west. I intercept the 267 degree radial from Clovis to Los Banos and finally have my confidence back. Enough to call Approach and request flight following. Approach asks me to wait 4 miles and contact Approach on 120.95. I'm back on track and 20 minutes later cross Los Banos just like I had before and assume my new heading of 261 degrees to South County. Times are coming out perfect on my flight log. Left is a picture of San Luis reservoir.

I come out right below Anderson reservoir exactly where I should have, check ATIS for Reid Hillview (KRHV) and start my desent to UTC, arrive at UTC 3500 and call the tower, which advises me 31L, report 3 miles. I confirm and write down the instructions. I continue my descend, come up on 3 miles and finally get to jump in and announce 3 miles. Tower asks me to leave class D airspace. I break right and climb back out over UTC. Over UTC tower gets back to me. Apparently too many aircraft in the pattern and he didn't remember that he cleared me to 31L...I check my log...I had even written it down and confirmed with my call sign. Taking notes helps. The best part...at my home field the tower is actually nice...even through a mixup like this. Better safe than sorry I start my second approach again cleared to 31L. About 4 miles out I get cleared to land just before sunset. Stable approach and smooth landing. I get cleared to cross the right and switch to ground as we chat about what might have happened. Biggest lesson learned, a tower controller that keeps his cool and is actually nice through a tense situation can make a hell of a difference. Great end to an exciting flight, the lessons of which I won't soon forget.

FAA - Flight Safety Program & Seminars

2006-01-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

When it comes to safety seminars, ever wonder what's going on outside of your club in the area you live in. I have to admit, the FAA is one of the federal agencies that provide some of the best tools to their constituents. This site lists all of the events, lets you search by ZIP code, offers registration, maps and nice event descriptions.

Federal Aviation Administration - faasafety.gov - Flight Safety Program

Aviation Podcast

2006-01-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

Podcasts are sound or video recordings that can be downloaded to an MP3 player or listened to online. Over the past year a significant number of podcasts sites have been added to the net and not surprisingly pilots are jumping into the mix. Here are a few aviation related podcast sites that I have found. The sites provide some interesting content that spans the spectrum from humor to anecdotes and interesting learning from fellow pilots.

The Finer Points - An Aviation Podcast
Pilotcast
Aero News
General Aviation Weekly

New podcast directories are springing up all over the web and you can use them to discover a world of aviation broadcasts. Just search for "podcast directory" in any search engine or visit Yahoo at http://podcasts.yahoo.com/search?p=aviation&c=b

Want to publish your own aviation podcast? Here is one provider that seems to make it easy for folks to record and publish. https://www.libsyn.com. A fantastic tutorial that describes how to get set up for creating your own podcasts is found here

My Flight Blog: Google Maps and Flight Tracking by fboweb.com

2006-01-06T14:36:00.000-08:00

Just saw a great post from a fellow flying blogger. It describes a new service from FBOWEB that visualizes 3D flight tracking.
My Flight Blog: Google Maps and Flight Tracking by fboweb.com

The Flight Log and Plan

2005-12-28T12:17:00.000-08:00

Over the past few months I've used several pre printed flight plan templates. This week I finally put together a format that actually worked for me by throwing out elements that did nothing for me and adding items that I felt were missing. Now I have a flight plan template that allows me to record all information I will need. It provides space on the right for recording ATIS in the air (on the right I'll have the knee board under it so I can actually write), lists all the elements in order that I will need to file a flight plan, log a pirep or obtain a briefing. Since I haven't seen any templates posted by anybody else I thought I'd attach mine in Excel format. Enjoy. New Flightlog. The other sheet that comes in very handy is the WX- Weather recording sheet, the creation of which I have to credit entirely to one of my instructors, Jake Hauserman.
Several additional flight logs are posted in the free materials section of Dauntless Software. Click here to visit.
Sometimes I just want to check charts while I am online. http://skyvector.com/ lets you search by airport identifier, VOR or Fix to display the right chart. You can also zoom or reposition the charts to view just the amount of detail necessary to satisfy your curiosity.
A pretty good collection of flight planning and weather links can be found at http://www.atlasaviation.com/flight_planning.htm

Airspace

2005-12-27T11:03:00.000-08:00

I usually don't have any trouble memorizing and absorbing the knowledge required to either pass the written or prepare for the upcoming checkride. However, when it comes to airspace that's another story. I can read all of the regulation, review the graphical charts and illustrations and still I am struggling with recalling the details. I'm fine on the basics. It's the exceptions that drive me nuts. I just came across another study tool from AOPA that will hopefully fill some of the gaps. Check out the new flashcards. Happy holidays.http://download.aopa.org/asf/airspacecards.pdf

Free IFR Flight Tracker: Status, Tracking, History, Graphs, and Maps

2005-12-16T08:40:00.000-08:00

Amazing the tools one can find by browsing the blogs of fellow flyers out there. I just ran across this nifty tool for IFR flight tracking. It tracks your IFR flight history with graphs and maps. I thought I might find any flight plan, but the tool is limited to IFR. http://flightaware.com/

1st Solo Cross-Country

2005-12-15T17:46:00.000-08:00

There is only one first solo cross country and today was the day. It was rather hazy, but made for a spectacular and smooth flight to King City (KKIC). My route took me from Reid Hillview to South Country, from where I then tracked to the Salinas VOR. I chose to fly high at 5,500 feet to stay out of the muck. Once I got above the haze layer the visibility was wonderful. On my leg from South County over to Salinas I had a fantastic view of the Monterrey coast line. A few miles before Salinas I picked up Salinas ATIS and then monitored the tower. Over Salinas (SNS) I tracked outbound to King City following highway 101. Communications went without a hitch. Flight following terminated and I closed the flight plan once I had the field in sight. I closed out the flight with a soft field landing that made me smirk because I could hardly feel the wheels touch. There are some days where everything just comes together. This was one of those days. I met some nice folks down there at the airport. A great instructor from Nice Air based at my home field offered to take the picture shown here. The return flight was smooth and straight forward. Over Salinas I heard an ELT go off, which was kind of unnerving. Have to find out what that was all about.

Two small investments that made all the difference

2005-12-14T22:31:00.000-08:00

On past flights I always had a little challenge about where to keep my timer. Off and on I missed my times to switch tanks. Not by much, but enough that it was a problem. I finally bought a yoke clip and now wish I had bought one right at the beginning of starting to fly. What a difference it made. I now have my flight timer right in front of me and can even clip on a map. The other piece I bought was a small plotter, which is way better to handle in the cockpit than the large one I use for flight planning. The clip, which has a medium high stem and fits very sturdy on the yoke was about $ 17.00 and he plotter about $ 6.00.

PalmFLYING.com | Navigation

2005-12-12T17:29:00.000-08:00

Found a great collection of affordable Palm software that handles everything from navigation to wind calculations. Great for pilots that already have a hand held device and hand held GPS as a backup to regular navigation. I wouldn't rely on it, but good enough to cross check.
http://www.palmflying.com/navigate.html

Weather Resources

2005-12-10T20:49:00.000-08:00

I finally scheduled my solo x-country for the coming Thursday. In preparation I thought I'd list all my weather sources so they are accessible through this site:
1-800-WXBRIEF and DUATS being the only FAA approved sources, but there are otehr great sites that help get the overall picture:

Weather Underground at http://www.wunderground.com/US/CA/San_Jose.html.
NOAA's National Weather Service http://adds.aviationweather.gov/
Present Weather Sympol descriptions http://adds.aviationweather.gov/metars/wxSymbols_anno1.pdf
AOPA Weather http://www.aopa.org/members/wx/
Pilot Weather Briefing http://www.pilotweatherbriefing.com
Naval Research Laboratory Satelite Products http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/projects/sat_products.html
Our local Lick Observatory provides great insights to weather development around my local field at Reid Hillview. Webcams from up high come in handy when the mornings are overcast with low ceilings. http://mthamilton.ucolick.org/techdocs/MH_weather/
UNISYS Weather...who would have thought http://weather.unisys.com/
AOPA's Weather training http://www.aopa.org/asf/online_courses/skyspotter/

I also found a real kick butt flight path tool by aviationweather.gov which can be launched from http://adds.aviationweather.gov/fpt_application. It's all the other tools on steroids as it overlays all the information, lets you choose altitude and time segment.

Here is the METAR and TAF decoder

Here are the Surface Weather Chart Symbols

Weather.com offers a desktop weather realtime application that gives a very nice quick overview. The application can be downloaded at: http://desktopfw.weather.com/services/desktop/help/downloads.html

CRM - Cockpit Resource Management

2005-11-29T13:54:00.000-08:00

Sunday's flight was once again a blast. We set up for a flight to King City (KIC) via Salinas (SNS) and diverted under the hood just before reaching Salinas to Watsonville (WVI). Once again the importance of CRM became clear in my training and so I thought I'd log a few more observations.

Even a sectional chart can become a nusance during flight. Mine always got in the way. Folding the map properly so it shows the general area of flight including some inches either side for diversion is generally a good practice that saves valuable time.

The radio frequency log I put together that lists all used frequencies in order of their use (as well as a few I might not use) once again sped up my radio and navigation work. So did the preprinted ATIS form I keep on the same sheet. The only refinement I will make is to not only log VOR frequencies, but also the radials I want to intercept. I had it on the flight plan, but this way I won't have to flip back and forth. Ultimately I'll probably merge the two into one piece of paper.

Check the volume on the radios (voice and NAV) prior to flight by pulling the squelch. Our COM1 barely registered with 3/4 of the volume up. I had to change radios to read ground until we had that figured out. It ended up readable cranked all the way up.

I was using a stop watch to track when to switch tanks. Would have been great had I had a place to actually mount the thing. Next time I'll slap a piece of velcro on the joke and stick it there. This time I tried just timing the tank change, but I think I'll go back to writing down the actual time of the next change as well so I can back it up with my wrist watch. I inadvertently stommed the times (because it wasn't mounted) and lost track of my time to change.

My watch wasn't tight on my wrist and had turned. I had to twist my arm in order to read the time while keeping one had on the joke during our diversion. Hard to write down time of heading change if I can't get to the bezzle of my watch. Next time I'll also synch my watch to that of my passenger. It makes for interesting and unnecessary conversation when two watches aren't showing the same time.

This time I had my short ruler ready. Much easier to use in flight than that wieldy big one and always accessible in my knee board.

Out of all this an idea is starting to develop for a CRM checklist prior to flight. Just to check that all the pieces are in place. Will have to think about that one.

After our laning in Watsonville we headed back to Reid Hillview. En route we were rewarded with a magnificent sunset. An end to yet another glorious outing.

Federal Aviation Administration

2005-11-27T10:10:00.000-08:00

Preparing for my flight to King City (KIC) this afternoon I found yet another good FAA resource. Posting it here for future reference.
https://pilotweb.nas.faa.gov/distribution/atcscc.html

Use Google Earth to visualize the flight

2005-11-22T14:08:00.000-08:00

Especially as a beginning pilot it is easy to get lost. Features and landmarks look very different from the air and even from different altitudes. Last night I prepared for an upcoming flight to King City California from my home airport Reid Hillview. I found two great tools that allow me simulate my flight and get a picture of how my route and destination might look like from the air.

Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/) is a free tool from Google that uses incredible satelite imagery to map every spot on the globe. It offers a very realistic view of how my approach to King City might look like. I also discovered features such as major landmarks that will be able to assist me in navigation. On my way from Reid Hillview (RHV) to King City (KIC) I'll pass a major mining operation. Great to know!! I was also able to preview alternate landing sites that I might have to find in case of any emergency. Some of them are small private strips, but because Google Earth labels all airports they were very easy to find.

The other tool is Microsoft Flight Simulator (http://www.microsoft.com/games/flightsimulator/). Here all depends on the maps you have loaded, speed of your PC and especially your graphics card. You can use flight simulator to actually fly your route. Again use the software to get feedback on your planning of checkpionts and waypoints as well as general terrain. What's really neat is that you can use actual weather to simulate flight conditions. Megascenery provides improved visual details for MS flight simulator via high resolution maps for select cities and areas.

A nice site to review information of the destination airport (aside from the airport facility directory that is to be checked in any case)
http://www.airnav.com/airport/KRHV

Aviation Acronyms

2005-11-14T16:31:00.000-08:00

Acronyms are used throughout aviation. I've found that when I have to make quick decisions they are most helpful. However, they should be well balance with use of checklists. Each at its own time. For the longest time I had problems getting down an efficient emergency flow. After a particularly bad training scenario my instructor Jake Hauserman suggested using the acronym CarbSOFAST. Now I can whip through the flow and then get on to the checklist if enough time remains before the plane has to be on the ground. I practice these flows on my drive to and from work (usually when parked at a red light) which gets me curious glances from fellow commuters.

Engine Out Emergency

Carb - heat on
S - Speed berst glide
O - Outside: landing spot, wind direction
F - Fuel: pump on ; mixture rich ; primer locked
A - Air; This is the throttle. Envision the butterfly valve letting all the air in
S - Spark; check the magnetos and verify they are on both
T - Trim (for berst glide) , Transponder (set to 7700), Talk (declare and emergency)

This flow works particularly well in a Piper Archer. You start on the right, go to tanks on the left and then immeridately come back over to the right.

Also check out this site that has more of the same:

http://www.scottsasha.com/aviation/acronyms.html

Here is a Word document to download that contains a fair number of acronymns.

Passenger Brief

2005-11-14T11:04:00.000-08:00

During a Wings seminar last week the subject of passenger briefs was raised. Many of our seasoned pilots had wonderful suggestions on what should be included in a passenger brief. I soon found that short of writing these suggestions down I would forget much of it when I actually had to deliver the information to non pilots. The feedback also cautioned about giving too much or too apocalyptic a briefing lest we intend to scare passengers out of their minds. A web search for prewritten passenger briefings came up with a rather short list, which I am including here.

A great summary that one pilot provides to his passengers:
http://secureav.com/briefing.doc

I have adapted my briefing from the above template with some additions from the below collection. Passengers flying with me are encouraged to read this briefing

A more generic (and shorter) passenger briefing card:
http://www.dauntless-soft.com/PRODUCTS/Freebies/SafetyCard/

Suggestions for Canadian bush pilot passenger briefings:
http://ebushpilot.com/sbriefing.htm

Commercial briefing card of a Montana Charter Company
http://www.paragonair.com/public/aircraft/180_PX_Brief.pdf

Civil Air Patrol passenger briefing card
http://www.vawg.cap.gov/safety/passenger_briefing.htm

Incorporated into the checklist for a Piper Archer:
http://www.seattleflight.com/PA28%20Checklist.asp

Last, but not least, I got some great input from some veteran fliers to consider passenger comfort in the briefing. One of the guys had a novice passenger assume the white nuckle position when he slipped his plane on final. Somehow his guest hadn't anticipated that you can fly an airplane "sideways". Other passengers have their anxiety levels raised when we apply or reduce power. The point being, we owe it to our passengers to provide an explanation before we execute maneuvers that might feel second nature to us. That goes for pre-flight briefings as well as shorter briefings throughout the flight.

2005-11-13T21:20:00.000-08:00

Practice at South Country (San Martin - E16) Airport

2005-11-12T21:24:00.000-08:00

Watsonville, CA in May 2005