Lesson 26 : IFR and Short Field

Saturday July 25, 2009

This afternoon I got in another .5 simulated IFR under the "hood". After that we practiced short field T/O and landings. I also got some study material for the FAA multiple choice test : software with approximately 9.2 billion questions about all things private pilot. Once I can give Chris an 80% or higher on the test prep software, he'll consider me good to go for the written. So, studying, fine tuning maneuvers, and finishing out the last hour of hood time. Most likely, FAA test date will be neighborhood of the last week of August.

Solo Cross Country #2 : MCN, MLJ, LZU

Tuesday July 21, 2009





Solo Cross country #2 is complete. This morning I flew from Lawrenceville to Macon Regional and from there to Milledgeville and finally back home to Lawrenceville. To preserve the integrity of this document, I'll be honest. Otherwise what's the point .. to look good? I did in fact screw up badly several times on this trip. But the silver lining is I recovered from those several screwups by myself (shamelessly spinning this to 'accidentally' look good). Here are the highlights.

(1) I got the runways at Macon backwards. I was supposed to set up to land on 5, but I set up on 23. Winds were calm so Macon tower told me to go ahead and take 23 at the last minute. I had to respond "unable, too high and fast" which I felt was the safe route. So, instead he had me fly the pattern into the correct runway. Silver lining: adapted safely and responsibly to a suprise situation and asserted my pilot in command judgment.

(2) I turned down the volume on Atlanta momentarily to hear the automated weather anouncement at Milledgeville .. and forgot to turn them back up. After the 3rd time calling them and receiving no response, I said "Atlanta, if you can hear me, I have Milledgeville in sight with Echo." Just then, I realized my error and raised their volume them only to catch the final part of an exasperated controller saying "THREE JULIET ALPHA. IF YOU CAN HEAR ME. FLIGHT SERVICES TERMINATED, HAVE A NICE DAY." Silver lining: What I experienced was a self-inflicted receiver failure, and I responded correctly by transmitting my intentions even though I was not receiving. Added bonus silver lining - the next time Atlanta Departure appears to be ignoring me, I'll know what's probably going on. That won't happen again.

(3) I bounced the final landing at LZU. I had too much energy on final and forced the flare .. all that energy has to go somewhere, so I skipped my way down the runway. Silver lining : I held it together and bad landings like that are the exception with me, not the rule .. and it was a learning experience. I should have let it ride out down the runway. You can't force it - especially a wispy Diamond that would just as soon take off again as touch down.

Remaining items: a few more hours of simulated IFR "hood time" and FAA test prep.

ETA for PPL: Augustish

Lesson 25 : Fine Tuning

Sunday, July 19th 2009

Yesterday, Saturday, I went out solo for some landing practice. However, after the first circuit I decided the winds were too gusty for comfort and called it after 1/2 an hour.

So today I met Chris for some more practice. We did steep turns, soft field takeoffs and landings for about 2 hours straight. The plan is to complete the final cross country on Tuesday. After that I'll need a few more hours under the hood and then I'll be qualified to take the FAA exam for the private pilot license.

After my PPL, I want to go do something different as kind of a celebration before I jump into the instrument rating. I have been considering a trip to Alaska for some bush pilot training - flying around mountains, landing and taking off from "unapproved" runways (aka beaches, gravel roads, mountain tops) and float planes. However in all likelihood it will have to wait until next Spring. I don't think time and resources are going to permit. I could go later this year, but Alaskan cold seasons (September-April) are not good flight training periods as the weather tends to deteriorate quickly. Not to be outdone by fate, I'm eyeing a floatplane school in Winter Haven, FL. A long weekend in the sunny Orlando area is looking like a more reasonable plan B in the near term.

Most immediately though, tommorow is my final, 3-leg solo cross country. Lawrenceville-Macon-Milledgeville and back home.

Lesson 24 : Maneuver Practice

Saturday July 11, 2009

2 hours of practicing S-turns, turns about a point, and soft field takeoffs. All these maneuvers and more will be on the FAA test.

Chris started feeling ill from the S-turns, so we landed and took a break. Of particular note, Chris's LightSpeed headsets are unbelievably awesome. The ANR makes the cockpit silent. Radio communication is crystal clear. Bluetooth link up with iPhone. Comfortable. Lightweight.

I'll probably do another flight lesson, maybe a quick solo, and then get my long cross country done. Closing in on the FAA test.

Lesson 23: My first IFR

July 3, 2009

Under the Hood

Rather than jumping back into another cross country, Chris wanted to do some more training. So today we practiced simulated flying by instruments, aka flying "under the hood." The "hood" is a visor that limits the pilot's visibility exclusively to the instruments in the cockpit. The pilot cannot look outside, thus simulating zero visibility flight conditions.

I'm the computer/technical type, so I have a natural attraction to the instruments anyway. Early in my training, Chris had to actively remind me to look outside and not fixate on the instruments. So, I was right at home. This time I got to stare at instruments with his blessing. I even took off with the blinders on. Apparently I was right of center line, but held that heading during take off.

VOR : Magic Stones and Boxes

We used the VOR equipment to navigate to McCollum field, which was unusually busy. VOR technology was the primary navigation method for aviators starting from the 1960 until GPS was born and began to overtake it. Today, VOR is being phased out by GPS. Regardless, VOR stations are still in use and most avionics packages include a VOR receiver. Numerous explanations abound on the inter-webs on how VOR systems work and they are all wrong.

The truth is .. long ago, wizards created a bunch of magical stones called VOR stones and gave each airport around the world their own stone. The airports loved their stones and even gave them their own names. These stones look in all directions at once. To reveal the stone's wisdom, wizards also created magic boxes bound to the stone's life-force. Using these boxes, you can talk to the stones. The spell to hear the stone's arcane knowledge is as follows:

Whisper into the magic box the name of the stone you want to talk to and a compass direction. For example, "Stone Of Lawrenceville, tell me of your Eastern eye".

A voice will say something like, "I am the Stone of Lawrenceville. Move to your left 100 paces and my Eastern eye will see you."

You move what you think is about 100 paces to your left and again ask the stone, "tell me of your Eastern eye."

The stone replies, "Move to your right 2 paces and my Eastern eye will see you." So you move to the right 2 paces and ask a third time.

This time the stone responds, "I see you with my Eastern eye." That means you are traveling on the stone's West/East line.

If you're uncomfortable with the reality of wizards and magic, here is an alternative crackpot theory on VOR. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZljYaHXvxY

Unusual Attitudes

On the way back, Chris decided to have some fun with me. I would close my eyes and he would put the plane in a steep banking dive or climb. Then he would say "recover", at which point I would open my eyes and get us straight and level. Of course, this excercise had a practical purpose. It served as practice for becoming disoriented and getting reoriented.

I shut my eyes and tried to guess by feeling which way the plane was moving. It was like my senses could detect changes, but could not keep track of their net effect. With my eyes closed, I could feel the first change, i.e. a dive, bank, etc. But then another change would "overwrite" the previous one.

For example, Chris would dive, then bank left, then bank right. With my eyes closed, at the end of the sequence the only thing I felt was that we were in a right bank. When I opened my eyes, I immediately saw that we were in a level/unbanked dive. The right bank just straightened out the previous left bank. Conflicting sensory signals made for a little queasiness, but it was still fun.

So, 0.6 hrs simulated IFR. A little taste of what's to come in the Instrument Rating after the PPL.