The floaties are off and today I moved from the shallow end to the deep end of the pool. I flew my first solo cross country! I will explain again here that a cross-country flight is 50+ nautical miles from your home airport to another airport and back again. That's right, by myself. Just me and my trusty Cessna 172, N5204A, making the trek to the San Joaquin Valley and Modesto where the Gallo wine company is headquartered. If I didn't have to fly back I would be very tempted to go over and have a tumbler or two of some of that lip smackingly good Hearty Burgundy or perhaps a coppa of Carlo Rossi. I will tell you that Ernest & Julio were some of the first to put wine in a bottle with a screw cap. Now some high-end wineries are doing the same and extolling the virtues of screw cap or Stelvin enclosures as they are now called. Bosh mate, those crazy-ass brothers may have been on to something. I digress.....
The instructor debacle continues.
If you have read my previous entries you will note that I have been playing musical instructors with Stan & Dan (not their real names). Stan's wife was in the hospital recently for some major surgery and then lengthy recovery. They have three little girls so he has been pretty much out of circulation these last several months. He turned me over to Dan for my cross-country lessons and this guy was/is really an excellent instructor. I have mentioned in previous posts that while I really respect Stan and his skills as a pilot his approach to instruction sometimes fell a little short of supportive. I don't need my hand held here but his critiques were sometimes a little de-spiriting. 'Your landings sucked today', ouch!
So Dan, YES, Dan! And then No, NOT Dan. His wife was pregnant and giving birth any day. She gives birth and it happens on the day I was supposed to do my first solo x-country. I WAS happy for Jill (wife) and Dan and was also hoping to finish up with him. His baby is now having some post-natal issues and so now Dan is completely out of the mix. I was an orphaned student pilot with a few more ticks on the engine clock until I get my private pilot cert. What to do??
Enter Bob - real name, what the hell I can't keep all of the aliases straight anyway. Bob is a great guy and he is a new instructor as in 'newly minted' and MY new instructor. New, you say, c'mon Russ, a new instructor? Bob has been flying single engine planes since the late 60's and he now has several hundred hours in small single engine planes. I don't care if you flew F-16's if you can't instruct well you are useless! He is a retired United Airlines flight attendant and has ALL the time, energy and enthusiasm. He has recently been through the very rigorous process to become a certified flight instructor. At this point I need an instructor to fine tune my skills and get me ready for the final FAA check ride. So Bob was there - checked out my flight plan and grilled me on every aspect from headings to fuel burn to the 'gotchas' along my route. It was a beautiful Indian Summer day in the San Francisco Bay Area with some light winds coming out of the Northwest. The temperature was 65-70 degrees and I was relaxed.
My flight plan to Modesto was about 62 miles from San Carlos. I used ground references to plan my flight and then cranked on the GPS for the actual flight. I also used the auto pilot function and had fun looking out at the scenery rolling beneath me. Not to worry though, I still keep my scan going outside the plane and a close eye on those needles. I called up Norcal Approach when I got across the bay and then onto the radar screen of a controller who lets me know about other aircraft and their activities in my vicinity. I made it over to Modesto with a perfect decent into the traffic pattern. Having never flown into this airport it was truly a new experience. My radio calls were flawless... almost. When calling up Approach Control they sometimes hand you over to another controller after a period of time and tell you a new radio frequency to do so. When I got handed off mid flight the guy had to repeat the new frequency 3 times!! Damn it was embarrassing but he was saying it really fast and my radio seemed to be cutting out during the critical time he was telling me the new frequency. The last time he said it he did so a little exaggeratedly - 'ooone twooo threee point eeiighht fiiiiiive'. I actually chuckled a little when I repeated the numbers back to him. I don't feel too bad because the commercial pilots are on these same frequencies and I hear them blow it every now and then. I'm a bonafide rookie student pilot! No worries.
When I arrived back at San Carlos Bob was there to meet me on the ramp and shake my hand, what a guy!
The flight was a success and some of the best flying I have done to date. I was ready to do the flight and felt pretty confident I would do well as I was over-prepared. Flying with your tanks topped off applies to more than just fuel. Having as much knowledge and experience as you can get helps keep you out of the trees. It is constantly a work in progress and there is a lot to learn. Even after I get my FAA stamp of approval.
I still get butterflies in my stomach when I get in and strap in for each flight however and hope I always will. A healthy respect for the plane, its capabilities AND yours, are essential to being a good pilot. I'll leave pushing the 'outside of the envelope' to test pilots.
ciao!
russ
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Saturday, August 4, 2007
No-Go on X-Country Solo
When one goes to do a x-country solo you need two things.
They are as follows.....
Your primary instructor must sign off (endorse) your student pilot certificate that you are indeed qualified to fly by yourself more than 50 nautical miles from your primary airport. San Carlos (SQL) in my case.
Once you are at the airport ready to fly your instructor must approve your flight plan and green-light you to go it alone.
I was supposed to do my first x-country solo today however this was not to be.
Instructor #1, Dan, and his lovely wife Jill are in the hospital today as she is going into labor with their first child.
Instructor #2, Stan, is somewhere up in Santa Rosa working on his Lancair plane that he recently bought.
I had EVERYTHING planned and it was a really perfect day for flying. Soooooo very disappointing!
Maybe next Saturday.
later,
russ
They are as follows.....
Your primary instructor must sign off (endorse) your student pilot certificate that you are indeed qualified to fly by yourself more than 50 nautical miles from your primary airport. San Carlos (SQL) in my case.
Once you are at the airport ready to fly your instructor must approve your flight plan and green-light you to go it alone.
I was supposed to do my first x-country solo today however this was not to be.
Instructor #1, Dan, and his lovely wife Jill are in the hospital today as she is going into labor with their first child.
Instructor #2, Stan, is somewhere up in Santa Rosa working on his Lancair plane that he recently bought.
I had EVERYTHING planned and it was a really perfect day for flying. Soooooo very disappointing!
Maybe next Saturday.
later,
russ
Friday, August 3, 2007
Stage II - DONE
As I sit writing this blog I am listening to SF Tower on liveatc.com. Puts me in the mood to write about my aviation endeavors
Tomorrow I make my first solo cross country flight. I will be flying out to lovely Modesto in the Central Valley of California from San Carlos here in the Bay Area. This will be about a 62 nautical mile flight and will take me across the Bay and then over the East Bay hills and then Easterly for a bit. The flight should only take me around 1 1/2 hours round trip with favorable winds. To drive this would take 2 to 2 1/2 hrs one way!!
I was in Italy this last month, July, hanging out on the Amalfi coast with Kristina. Since coming back to SF I have passed my Stage II checks, first with Dan since he has been my primary instructor for my x-countries. Passing your Stage II check-rides means you are endorsed to fly 50 nautical miles, or more, from your primary airport. I like flying with Dan - he makes me feel relaxed and positive about my flying. The second part of my Stage II was with Stan who, while being my primary instructor for the last 6 months, was the final Stage II 'check-ride' instructor. I have to admit I do not like flying with him as much. He says things like, 'that landing sucked' or 'you lallygag on the runway too much'. Definitely things I need to correct but perhaps different language could be used?? My wife has even noticed that I am in a better mood when returning from flying with Dan than with Stan. I may be keeping Dan as my primary instructor until time for the final check-ride.
There was a lot that went into the Stage II check. I had to plan the flight getting weather information with winds aloft for both the SF area and the Sacramento Valley. Then I had to plot the flight with magnetic headings accounting for winds and getting out from under the SF Class B airspace, etc. After I preflight the plane I sit down with Stan and he questions me on the flight plan and any 'gotchas', weather or terrain, that I could expect when flying. He also questioned me on general weather items and flight systems and then finally had me go up to the board and figure the 'weight & balance' of the airplane. This includes the weight of the pilot and passenger, Stan, and then fuel which is 6Ibs per gallon which with a full tank, 56 gallons is 336Ibs. We got our CG or center of gravity and then looked at the graph in the handbook to make sure we were within limits. Everything checked out and we were out to go fly after about an hour of answering questions. Whew!
Going out to the plane I got in and buckled up , Stan got in buckled up and I began going over my checklist. I got to the part 'ties and chocks removed' and... STOP. When I went back in to do my oral exam with Stan I tied down just the tail. I had not removed that tie-down. Would have made for a very rocky start and probably would have failed me. Tie-down on tail removed and final walk around complete. Checklists are our friends and we must use them EVERY time, and I do.
We taxied out to the run-up area to bring the engine up to 1800 rpm, checking magnetos and gauges and all that fun stuff. I then programmed in our flight on the GPS. I have become reasonably good at doing this and though I had my flight plan with lovely headings I was going to make liberal use of my GPS coordinates out to Modesto. I plugged in my radio settings on comm 1 and comm 2 for Norcal Approach and the ATIS for Modesto. Better to get as much radio stuff done on the ground as possible.
I taxied up to the hold line of runway 30 (three zero). I called up tower for a right downwind departure for Modesto and was told that I was cleared to take-off 'without delay'. This means you get on the runway and start rolling ASAP. After passing over the Bay we headed over Coyote Hills in the East Bay and I attempted 3 times to call up Norcal App to get 'flight following' to Modesto. This is the great radar service that puts you on the map with a controller who can advise you of other aircraft in the area. Good stuff!
On these check rides you never actually fly to the intended airport, in this case Modesto. Instead Stan notes that I am following my course both with proper altitudes and headings and then mid flight says 'please divert me to Byron Airport'. At this point I start doing a 360, maintaining my altitude of 5,500 ft. While doing this I have my aeronautical chart out and note where I am. Then I get out my plastic plotter and figure distance and use a VOR radial to figure my heading. I then use my E6B flight computer (glorified slide rule) and figure time and fuel to the airport. This is like trying to change clothes in a broom closet. I still have to fly the airplane and maintain altitude and not get disoriented. You return back to the area where you originated the 360 and get on heading from there. When I looked at the VOR radial I noted 035 when it should have been 305. When I looked at the direction I should be heading and my heading indicator I knew I made a mistake. Stan remained silent and then told me that I need to make sure I don't confuse the headings when I had oriented myself. I flew in to Byron and made the calls to land. Byron does not have a tower so you are merely advising other pilots in the area of your intentions. We landed and then he had me do soft / short field landings and take-offs. I do not feel like describing them but they require some coordination and I managed to do them relatively well. We eventually flew out and back toward San Carlos. Stan informed me that I had passed the Stage II and I felt pretty good about it though had a nagging sense that my flying that day was not as good as it could have been. I was happy I passed but really wanted to have a super sharp day of flying and felt I came up a little short. I landed and tied down, came in and Stan signed my logbook with an endorsement I needed for solo x-country. I will need Dan's final endorsement to take off next weekend when I do my actual solo x-country flight.
This is now the period of time where I get in a few solo x-countries, one being more than 150 nautical miles landing at two other airports. My next stage check will be the final sign off to take my check-ride with the FAA examiner who, IF I pass will hand me my private pilot's certificate.
I recently took my FAA written exam and passed with a score of 93 pts. Not too bad.
ciao,
russ
Tomorrow I make my first solo cross country flight. I will be flying out to lovely Modesto in the Central Valley of California from San Carlos here in the Bay Area. This will be about a 62 nautical mile flight and will take me across the Bay and then over the East Bay hills and then Easterly for a bit. The flight should only take me around 1 1/2 hours round trip with favorable winds. To drive this would take 2 to 2 1/2 hrs one way!!
I was in Italy this last month, July, hanging out on the Amalfi coast with Kristina. Since coming back to SF I have passed my Stage II checks, first with Dan since he has been my primary instructor for my x-countries. Passing your Stage II check-rides means you are endorsed to fly 50 nautical miles, or more, from your primary airport. I like flying with Dan - he makes me feel relaxed and positive about my flying. The second part of my Stage II was with Stan who, while being my primary instructor for the last 6 months, was the final Stage II 'check-ride' instructor. I have to admit I do not like flying with him as much. He says things like, 'that landing sucked' or 'you lallygag on the runway too much'. Definitely things I need to correct but perhaps different language could be used?? My wife has even noticed that I am in a better mood when returning from flying with Dan than with Stan. I may be keeping Dan as my primary instructor until time for the final check-ride.
There was a lot that went into the Stage II check. I had to plan the flight getting weather information with winds aloft for both the SF area and the Sacramento Valley. Then I had to plot the flight with magnetic headings accounting for winds and getting out from under the SF Class B airspace, etc. After I preflight the plane I sit down with Stan and he questions me on the flight plan and any 'gotchas', weather or terrain, that I could expect when flying. He also questioned me on general weather items and flight systems and then finally had me go up to the board and figure the 'weight & balance' of the airplane. This includes the weight of the pilot and passenger, Stan, and then fuel which is 6Ibs per gallon which with a full tank, 56 gallons is 336Ibs. We got our CG or center of gravity and then looked at the graph in the handbook to make sure we were within limits. Everything checked out and we were out to go fly after about an hour of answering questions. Whew!
Going out to the plane I got in and buckled up , Stan got in buckled up and I began going over my checklist. I got to the part 'ties and chocks removed' and... STOP. When I went back in to do my oral exam with Stan I tied down just the tail. I had not removed that tie-down. Would have made for a very rocky start and probably would have failed me. Tie-down on tail removed and final walk around complete. Checklists are our friends and we must use them EVERY time, and I do.
We taxied out to the run-up area to bring the engine up to 1800 rpm, checking magnetos and gauges and all that fun stuff. I then programmed in our flight on the GPS. I have become reasonably good at doing this and though I had my flight plan with lovely headings I was going to make liberal use of my GPS coordinates out to Modesto. I plugged in my radio settings on comm 1 and comm 2 for Norcal Approach and the ATIS for Modesto. Better to get as much radio stuff done on the ground as possible.
I taxied up to the hold line of runway 30 (three zero). I called up tower for a right downwind departure for Modesto and was told that I was cleared to take-off 'without delay'. This means you get on the runway and start rolling ASAP. After passing over the Bay we headed over Coyote Hills in the East Bay and I attempted 3 times to call up Norcal App to get 'flight following' to Modesto. This is the great radar service that puts you on the map with a controller who can advise you of other aircraft in the area. Good stuff!
On these check rides you never actually fly to the intended airport, in this case Modesto. Instead Stan notes that I am following my course both with proper altitudes and headings and then mid flight says 'please divert me to Byron Airport'. At this point I start doing a 360, maintaining my altitude of 5,500 ft. While doing this I have my aeronautical chart out and note where I am. Then I get out my plastic plotter and figure distance and use a VOR radial to figure my heading. I then use my E6B flight computer (glorified slide rule) and figure time and fuel to the airport. This is like trying to change clothes in a broom closet. I still have to fly the airplane and maintain altitude and not get disoriented. You return back to the area where you originated the 360 and get on heading from there. When I looked at the VOR radial I noted 035 when it should have been 305. When I looked at the direction I should be heading and my heading indicator I knew I made a mistake. Stan remained silent and then told me that I need to make sure I don't confuse the headings when I had oriented myself. I flew in to Byron and made the calls to land. Byron does not have a tower so you are merely advising other pilots in the area of your intentions. We landed and then he had me do soft / short field landings and take-offs. I do not feel like describing them but they require some coordination and I managed to do them relatively well. We eventually flew out and back toward San Carlos. Stan informed me that I had passed the Stage II and I felt pretty good about it though had a nagging sense that my flying that day was not as good as it could have been. I was happy I passed but really wanted to have a super sharp day of flying and felt I came up a little short. I landed and tied down, came in and Stan signed my logbook with an endorsement I needed for solo x-country. I will need Dan's final endorsement to take off next weekend when I do my actual solo x-country flight.
This is now the period of time where I get in a few solo x-countries, one being more than 150 nautical miles landing at two other airports. My next stage check will be the final sign off to take my check-ride with the FAA examiner who, IF I pass will hand me my private pilot's certificate.
I recently took my FAA written exam and passed with a score of 93 pts. Not too bad.
ciao,
russ
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Big Valley
The cross-country work continues...
Stan is still out of commision so Dan and I took on another cross-country flight this morning out to Stockton in the San Joaquin Valley. I've become more efficient with my flight planning and now my time in the air exceeds my time on the ground plotting the charts. It was a really beautiful day in the Bay Area and with a review of my flight plan by Dan while I did my pre-flight on N5204A we eventually hopped in and were off to KSCK (Stockton).
We opened our flight plan on the ground with Oakland FSS (flight service station) and with a right downwind departure we turned East to follow a heading that I had not only charted on paper but had programmed into the GPS before taking off. You can program GPS way points into the system which aren't visible (necessarily) from the ground. They show up on the moving map and make for a nice tidy way to verify certain features against what's outside the window. We flew out at an altitude that did not make for the most expeditious route, 5,500ft, but made for a better way to slow things down while in the climb and get my bearings. I got flight following and am constantly amazed at the amount of air traffic in the vicinity that you don't see but hear about.
I had a really nice flight out and feel pretty comfortable with all of the aspects of a good cross-country. I made a pretty sweet landing at Stockton and we inverted our flight plan and proceeded to make a left crosswind departure out of Stockton for some training on how to use the autopilot feature of our Cessna 172S. Once we climbed out to an altitude of about 3,500ft Dan instructed me on the really easy to use autopilot. Turn it on and once you have achieved your desired heading and altitude you press the altitude button and heading button and the plane is now on cruise control. To adjust your heading and altitude is just as easy and it can really take a load off the pilot as the autopilot flies with very tight tolerances aaaannndd maybe holds altitude and heading better than me at this point. I really can do all of these things pretty well but it takes a lot of work to constantly tweak the controls. FYI, when you fly commercially and except for take-offs and landings that sucker is pretty much on autopilot. I really like the autopilot feature and plan to us it liberally when cruising for distances at a time.
We also practiced diverting to another airport when your primary route and destination must be discontinued for any reason, fog, runway closures, etc. Diverting can be, well, a diversion from flying the airplane. You get out your chart and measure the distance with the straight edge that measures distance and also determine where you are and where the alternate airport is located. You also have to figure time and fuel burn to the alternate airport. You do this by determining where you are and then circle this area until you literally get your bearings. Then move on to the alternate airport all the while flying the airplane and maintaining altitude. This will all be part of the FAA checkride so it's a safe bet I will have done a lot of diverting on the ground to different airports in the area before getting in the plane.
After 'diverting' our flight for a few minutes we took a tack back to San Carlos where I did a few soft field landings and greased those in for a nice day of flying. I really wished we could have stayed out a little while longer. I was fresh and on top of my game. Next week is a little ground school lesson and then a stage check. This will be what's called a Stage II check for my cross-country. This means I will be endorsed to fly to certain airports that are more than 50 nautical miles from San Carlos airport. I cannot wait because I am getting really bored flying to Hayward and Palo Alto. I have also been endorsed to take my FAA written exam this next week. I have been doing pretty well on the practice exams so feeling confidant that I should do OK. It is a lot of work to get your private pilot's certificate. I have over 70 hours of training in the plane and have been attending course classes (ground school) every Thursday for 3 hrs since January of this year. Interesting stuff though and I love to do it all. It is also nice to be learning something complex since leaving college. Keeps the neurons firing on all cylinders.
-russ
Stan is still out of commision so Dan and I took on another cross-country flight this morning out to Stockton in the San Joaquin Valley. I've become more efficient with my flight planning and now my time in the air exceeds my time on the ground plotting the charts. It was a really beautiful day in the Bay Area and with a review of my flight plan by Dan while I did my pre-flight on N5204A we eventually hopped in and were off to KSCK (Stockton).
We opened our flight plan on the ground with Oakland FSS (flight service station) and with a right downwind departure we turned East to follow a heading that I had not only charted on paper but had programmed into the GPS before taking off. You can program GPS way points into the system which aren't visible (necessarily) from the ground. They show up on the moving map and make for a nice tidy way to verify certain features against what's outside the window. We flew out at an altitude that did not make for the most expeditious route, 5,500ft, but made for a better way to slow things down while in the climb and get my bearings. I got flight following and am constantly amazed at the amount of air traffic in the vicinity that you don't see but hear about.
I had a really nice flight out and feel pretty comfortable with all of the aspects of a good cross-country. I made a pretty sweet landing at Stockton and we inverted our flight plan and proceeded to make a left crosswind departure out of Stockton for some training on how to use the autopilot feature of our Cessna 172S. Once we climbed out to an altitude of about 3,500ft Dan instructed me on the really easy to use autopilot. Turn it on and once you have achieved your desired heading and altitude you press the altitude button and heading button and the plane is now on cruise control. To adjust your heading and altitude is just as easy and it can really take a load off the pilot as the autopilot flies with very tight tolerances aaaannndd maybe holds altitude and heading better than me at this point. I really can do all of these things pretty well but it takes a lot of work to constantly tweak the controls. FYI, when you fly commercially and except for take-offs and landings that sucker is pretty much on autopilot. I really like the autopilot feature and plan to us it liberally when cruising for distances at a time.
We also practiced diverting to another airport when your primary route and destination must be discontinued for any reason, fog, runway closures, etc. Diverting can be, well, a diversion from flying the airplane. You get out your chart and measure the distance with the straight edge that measures distance and also determine where you are and where the alternate airport is located. You also have to figure time and fuel burn to the alternate airport. You do this by determining where you are and then circle this area until you literally get your bearings. Then move on to the alternate airport all the while flying the airplane and maintaining altitude. This will all be part of the FAA checkride so it's a safe bet I will have done a lot of diverting on the ground to different airports in the area before getting in the plane.
After 'diverting' our flight for a few minutes we took a tack back to San Carlos where I did a few soft field landings and greased those in for a nice day of flying. I really wished we could have stayed out a little while longer. I was fresh and on top of my game. Next week is a little ground school lesson and then a stage check. This will be what's called a Stage II check for my cross-country. This means I will be endorsed to fly to certain airports that are more than 50 nautical miles from San Carlos airport. I cannot wait because I am getting really bored flying to Hayward and Palo Alto. I have also been endorsed to take my FAA written exam this next week. I have been doing pretty well on the practice exams so feeling confidant that I should do OK. It is a lot of work to get your private pilot's certificate. I have over 70 hours of training in the plane and have been attending course classes (ground school) every Thursday for 3 hrs since January of this year. Interesting stuff though and I love to do it all. It is also nice to be learning something complex since leaving college. Keeps the neurons firing on all cylinders.
-russ
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Hollister
I didn't ride into Hollister on a motorcycle as depicted in the movie, 'The Wild One'. I did however make a bad-ass teardrop in for a nice 45 degree entry to downwind on runway 24. The x-countries continue...
Stan's wife underwent surgery this last week and will be out of commission for several weeks. Stan and his wife have three little girls which means my main flight instructor will be out of commission at least as my instructor for several weeks as he tends to his brood. Enter Dan my interim instructor until Stan is back on line. I like this guy. He differs from Stan in several positive ways and I may retain him as my instructor when I get my instrument cert. His style of instruction has a more finessed touch it. I like Stan but sometimes get a chapped hide from his blistering critiques with slight twinges of impatience. Stan has made me a very diligent pilot and for this I am grateful to have been learning from him. Dan has a good sense of humor which makes flying with him feel more enjoyable and relaxed. I am pretty proficient these days and need a little minor tweaking but otherwise I am really doing some nice flying.
We took off yesterday from San Carlos for a 55 mile trip down to Hollister along the beautiful Santa Cruz mountains with the Monterey Bay off to my right. I had a great preflight and nailed my radio calls to open my flight plan and get flight following from Norcal Approach. One thing I have never had before was clearance into Class B (Bravo) airspace. The Class B airspace surrounds SFO and is airspace that surrounds the bigs like NY, Dallas, Chicago, you get the point. It is taboo to go joyriding in this airspace unless you get clearance from a controller who must say 'YOU ARE CLEARED INTO THE SAN FRANCISCO CLASS BRAVO'. They can call out your tail sign a thousand times but until you here those words keep out. They typically vector (give headings) 747's coming in from the Pacific right over San Carlos. They are at 5,000 ft or more but you don't want to get too close and can't with the airspace restrictions. So anyway I got the Class B clearance. Must have been a lag in big jets coming in from Asia. I climbed out to 5,500 and locked on to the Woodside VOR then Dan showed me a few tricks to lock on to the VOR using my GPS and then enter some way points also right into the GPS as well. This was really helpful and I had a lot of fun cruising down the SF Peninsula. I had the Bay to my left and the Santa Cruz mountains to my right with the Monterey Bay off the right tip of my nose. Damn nice place to learn to fly. You see this stuff on commercial carriers but usually you are staring at one portion of it out a little porthole of a window - usually with some jackass sitting in front with the seat leaned all the way back. It's like flying in bloody steerage class! Cessnas are slower but you get a better view.
We passed over Lexington Reservoir then Uvas Reservoir and over Gilroy before descending in to Hollister for a landing. Hollister is an interesting airport because it does not have a control tower. It is still a very busy airport with glider operations and big tanker planes carrying fire retardant materials to those ubiquitous California wild fires we experience during this time of the year. You gotta watch your tail feathers when maneuvering around that airport.
I made a great landing and took off Northwesterly for our trip back to San Carlos. The flight was great and we were 'stepped down' into Class B airspace in no time to get down to under 3,000 ft for our approach into SQL. As soon as I passed over the salt ponds on the outer edge of the Bay the wind really picked up. Pretty soon I got clearance to land and was angled in to the left crosswind to keep my ground track moving towards the centerline for runway three zero. As I crossed over the runway threshold I powered to idle and kicked in right rudder and left wing low to keep moving down the centerline of three zero. The wind was at max for my Cessna and I had to really fight off getting blown to the right. Dan gave me a little help as I touched down to the right of centerline despite my efforts. I then wobbled around a little bit on the runway like a drunk duck forgetting to keep the yoke to the left which keeps the plane from being being blown further to the right. OY! It really pissed me off that my perfect flight had such a sucky landing to finish. That was some serious wind and I was glad to have Dan in the plane with me. I am going up with Dan again this Friday and will be practicing all my maneuvers which I had scheduled before just to make sure I am sharp for the runup to my FAA check ride. We will be practicing landings and if the winds are right I can get in some good cross-wind landings also.
Good day and despite my sketchy cross-wind landing I felt like I had a really strong flight.
-ciao,
russ
Stan's wife underwent surgery this last week and will be out of commission for several weeks. Stan and his wife have three little girls which means my main flight instructor will be out of commission at least as my instructor for several weeks as he tends to his brood. Enter Dan my interim instructor until Stan is back on line. I like this guy. He differs from Stan in several positive ways and I may retain him as my instructor when I get my instrument cert. His style of instruction has a more finessed touch it. I like Stan but sometimes get a chapped hide from his blistering critiques with slight twinges of impatience. Stan has made me a very diligent pilot and for this I am grateful to have been learning from him. Dan has a good sense of humor which makes flying with him feel more enjoyable and relaxed. I am pretty proficient these days and need a little minor tweaking but otherwise I am really doing some nice flying.
We took off yesterday from San Carlos for a 55 mile trip down to Hollister along the beautiful Santa Cruz mountains with the Monterey Bay off to my right. I had a great preflight and nailed my radio calls to open my flight plan and get flight following from Norcal Approach. One thing I have never had before was clearance into Class B (Bravo) airspace. The Class B airspace surrounds SFO and is airspace that surrounds the bigs like NY, Dallas, Chicago, you get the point. It is taboo to go joyriding in this airspace unless you get clearance from a controller who must say 'YOU ARE CLEARED INTO THE SAN FRANCISCO CLASS BRAVO'. They can call out your tail sign a thousand times but until you here those words keep out. They typically vector (give headings) 747's coming in from the Pacific right over San Carlos. They are at 5,000 ft or more but you don't want to get too close and can't with the airspace restrictions. So anyway I got the Class B clearance. Must have been a lag in big jets coming in from Asia. I climbed out to 5,500 and locked on to the Woodside VOR then Dan showed me a few tricks to lock on to the VOR using my GPS and then enter some way points also right into the GPS as well. This was really helpful and I had a lot of fun cruising down the SF Peninsula. I had the Bay to my left and the Santa Cruz mountains to my right with the Monterey Bay off the right tip of my nose. Damn nice place to learn to fly. You see this stuff on commercial carriers but usually you are staring at one portion of it out a little porthole of a window - usually with some jackass sitting in front with the seat leaned all the way back. It's like flying in bloody steerage class! Cessnas are slower but you get a better view.
We passed over Lexington Reservoir then Uvas Reservoir and over Gilroy before descending in to Hollister for a landing. Hollister is an interesting airport because it does not have a control tower. It is still a very busy airport with glider operations and big tanker planes carrying fire retardant materials to those ubiquitous California wild fires we experience during this time of the year. You gotta watch your tail feathers when maneuvering around that airport.
I made a great landing and took off Northwesterly for our trip back to San Carlos. The flight was great and we were 'stepped down' into Class B airspace in no time to get down to under 3,000 ft for our approach into SQL. As soon as I passed over the salt ponds on the outer edge of the Bay the wind really picked up. Pretty soon I got clearance to land and was angled in to the left crosswind to keep my ground track moving towards the centerline for runway three zero. As I crossed over the runway threshold I powered to idle and kicked in right rudder and left wing low to keep moving down the centerline of three zero. The wind was at max for my Cessna and I had to really fight off getting blown to the right. Dan gave me a little help as I touched down to the right of centerline despite my efforts. I then wobbled around a little bit on the runway like a drunk duck forgetting to keep the yoke to the left which keeps the plane from being being blown further to the right. OY! It really pissed me off that my perfect flight had such a sucky landing to finish. That was some serious wind and I was glad to have Dan in the plane with me. I am going up with Dan again this Friday and will be practicing all my maneuvers which I had scheduled before just to make sure I am sharp for the runup to my FAA check ride. We will be practicing landings and if the winds are right I can get in some good cross-wind landings also.
Good day and despite my sketchy cross-wind landing I felt like I had a really strong flight.
-ciao,
russ
Monday, June 11, 2007
Going X-Country
I was just reading my last posting and mentioned something about how the writing was going to be coming along, etc., etc. & blah, blah, blah. I may have mislead here because the writing has really been non-existent. In reality my x-countries have been in a holding pattern a bit due to Stan's unavailability, my unavailability and some cancelled flights due to wedding showers and, oh, what's that? Yes, Stan forgot to show up to one of the lessons!
I neglected to write about the last x-country I flew with Stan that was pretty exciting and beyond the limits of the Bay Area and allll of the flying I do in the vicinity of SQL. By the way a x-country is defined as flight of +50 nautical miles or more. Nice to get out and, well, stretch me wings a bit. We flew to Columbia this last May. Columbia is an old gold mining town in the Sierra Foothills. I can tell you that I spent more time planning for this flight than the length of time the flight actually took. I had to determine weather which includes weather and temperatures at San Carlos, Columbia and the weather aloft in between the two airports. I figured out our course headings, time en route and fuel burn (to-ing and fro-ing) and wrote it down on my flight planner pages. Stan and I briefed and then headed out to the plane which I already had preflighted. I called for a right downwind departure and we hopped across the Bay to Coyote Hills and turned East to a direct heading straight out to Columbia.
I used different types of basic navigation techniques. One called pilotage (used in the 1920's by airmail pilots) requires that you note distinct landmarks along your route from ones you noted on your aeronautical charts like lakes, reservoirs and mountains. We are really lucky to have very distinct land marks in N. Cal with big mountains and large bodies of water like oceans. Dead reckoning allows you to navigate by using elapsed time, true speed, wind direction and compass heading. I was surprised by how accurate these techniques turned out to be. We are also really lucky to have GPS. If the GPS is working and you know how to use it properly YOU CANNOT GET LOST.
When we left San Carlos we called up Oakland Flight Service Station on 122.5 and opened my VFR flight plan., pretty easy. I then learned how to get what's called 'flight following'. You call up Norcal Approach on a certain frequency, 135.65 in this instance and tell them who you are, where and what altitude you are and where you are going. They issue you a special transponder code and become your fairy godmother. The look out for other aircraft that are in the area along your route and will advise you of where they are and how you can avoid them, verrrry cool. This all went well and we sped along with a nice 10 knot tailwind at about 120 knots and were up to 5,500 ft in no time. We cruised on a heading toward a VOR station called Manteca VOR which is a radio navaid. If you tune into a VOR there is an instrument on your panel with a needle that centers when you set your course indicator on one of the radials going out around the VOR station in 360 degree increments. Set the course for 090, for example, and then turn the plane until the needle is centered and you will be on a heading towards that station and you will know where you are. There is even a to/from feature that lets you know when you have passed over the station. Lot's of ways NOT to get lost.... and I'm pretty sure I will find them (ways of getting lost) eventually. It all looks different when you are in the air.
We flew for about 35 minutes when we got close to Columbia and even though I had the GPS working I was really trying to navigate by the dead r. and pilotage. I got one of the bodies of water wrong that I marked as a way point when we were approaching Columbia. What can I say, they aren't labeled like they are on the charts. Then I looked at the GPS and got back on course. Loving the GPS. We made it in and I cut the 45 degree to a downwind too short so I went around and landed, sort of pretty well. This is an airport that does not have a tower so you have to announce who you are and what your stated intentions ar for landing. You sincerely hope that other pilots are doing the same.... sometimes they don't as we found out when we took off again. Another plane decided to take off in the opposite direction of the runway we were about to take off from, basically head on.... niiiiice! But I was looking and we missed him.
We cruised back and it was pretty easy with Mt. Diablo looming 100 miles in front of me I just had to aim for it and scoot to the left a little to make it back in to the Bay Area and back to San Carlos. My attempt at calling up Norcal Approach leaving Columbia was awful and I managed to embarrass my instructor by announcing what a rookie idiot I am to all pilots in the area including the major carriers. These guys are generally on Norcal Approach before being handed over to Oakland tower or SF tower, etc. Stan got pretty hot and lectured me a bit on practicing in my head what I'm going to say before I depress the mic button. If you ever see me in my car and my lips are moving odds are I am not singing along to my car radio however practicing what I am going to say to Norcal Approach or some other facility. Smooth sailing across the California Central Valley however and into the Bay Area with what I would consider a very nice landing back at home base, SQL.
Russ
I neglected to write about the last x-country I flew with Stan that was pretty exciting and beyond the limits of the Bay Area and allll of the flying I do in the vicinity of SQL. By the way a x-country is defined as flight of +50 nautical miles or more. Nice to get out and, well, stretch me wings a bit. We flew to Columbia this last May. Columbia is an old gold mining town in the Sierra Foothills. I can tell you that I spent more time planning for this flight than the length of time the flight actually took. I had to determine weather which includes weather and temperatures at San Carlos, Columbia and the weather aloft in between the two airports. I figured out our course headings, time en route and fuel burn (to-ing and fro-ing) and wrote it down on my flight planner pages. Stan and I briefed and then headed out to the plane which I already had preflighted. I called for a right downwind departure and we hopped across the Bay to Coyote Hills and turned East to a direct heading straight out to Columbia.
I used different types of basic navigation techniques. One called pilotage (used in the 1920's by airmail pilots) requires that you note distinct landmarks along your route from ones you noted on your aeronautical charts like lakes, reservoirs and mountains. We are really lucky to have very distinct land marks in N. Cal with big mountains and large bodies of water like oceans. Dead reckoning allows you to navigate by using elapsed time, true speed, wind direction and compass heading. I was surprised by how accurate these techniques turned out to be. We are also really lucky to have GPS. If the GPS is working and you know how to use it properly YOU CANNOT GET LOST.
When we left San Carlos we called up Oakland Flight Service Station on 122.5 and opened my VFR flight plan., pretty easy. I then learned how to get what's called 'flight following'. You call up Norcal Approach on a certain frequency, 135.65 in this instance and tell them who you are, where and what altitude you are and where you are going. They issue you a special transponder code and become your fairy godmother. The look out for other aircraft that are in the area along your route and will advise you of where they are and how you can avoid them, verrrry cool. This all went well and we sped along with a nice 10 knot tailwind at about 120 knots and were up to 5,500 ft in no time. We cruised on a heading toward a VOR station called Manteca VOR which is a radio navaid. If you tune into a VOR there is an instrument on your panel with a needle that centers when you set your course indicator on one of the radials going out around the VOR station in 360 degree increments. Set the course for 090, for example, and then turn the plane until the needle is centered and you will be on a heading towards that station and you will know where you are. There is even a to/from feature that lets you know when you have passed over the station. Lot's of ways NOT to get lost.... and I'm pretty sure I will find them (ways of getting lost) eventually. It all looks different when you are in the air.
We flew for about 35 minutes when we got close to Columbia and even though I had the GPS working I was really trying to navigate by the dead r. and pilotage. I got one of the bodies of water wrong that I marked as a way point when we were approaching Columbia. What can I say, they aren't labeled like they are on the charts. Then I looked at the GPS and got back on course. Loving the GPS. We made it in and I cut the 45 degree to a downwind too short so I went around and landed, sort of pretty well. This is an airport that does not have a tower so you have to announce who you are and what your stated intentions ar for landing. You sincerely hope that other pilots are doing the same.... sometimes they don't as we found out when we took off again. Another plane decided to take off in the opposite direction of the runway we were about to take off from, basically head on.... niiiiice! But I was looking and we missed him.
We cruised back and it was pretty easy with Mt. Diablo looming 100 miles in front of me I just had to aim for it and scoot to the left a little to make it back in to the Bay Area and back to San Carlos. My attempt at calling up Norcal Approach leaving Columbia was awful and I managed to embarrass my instructor by announcing what a rookie idiot I am to all pilots in the area including the major carriers. These guys are generally on Norcal Approach before being handed over to Oakland tower or SF tower, etc. Stan got pretty hot and lectured me a bit on practicing in my head what I'm going to say before I depress the mic button. If you ever see me in my car and my lips are moving odds are I am not singing along to my car radio however practicing what I am going to say to Norcal Approach or some other facility. Smooth sailing across the California Central Valley however and into the Bay Area with what I would consider a very nice landing back at home base, SQL.
Russ
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Cruisin' the Bay Area
April 29, 2007
It's been over a month since I soloed and have been endorsed to fly to several other airports by Stan. He wanted to do this immediately after the solo so I could get out and do my maneuvers and hop over to other airports. As a student I am allowed to solo, no passengers except my instructor, within a 25 mile radius from my home airport of San Carlos (SQL). Basically I got checked out to ensure I know how to maneuver myself to other airports utilizing ATIS, making proper radio calls and setting myself up to get on the ground in a safe and responsible manner. Pretty darn fun!
The check out went well and I am now endorsed to fly to Palo Alto airport or PAO and Hayward or HWD. He wanted to get me into Half Moon Bay but it was foggy that day but no worries. I have my hands full getting over to Hayward which is fun because I get to cruise out over the Bay parallel to the San Mateo Bridge. Hayward is also an airport that accommodates large private jets and has two parallel runways, one short and narrow and the one for the big jets is HUGE. This is the runway in use most of the time and I feel like a gnat landing on a superhighway. I have to adjust my sight-picture for landings because the width of the runway can cause you to think you are closer to the ground than you are. You have to wait until you literally see the texture of the asphalt before you flare for landing otherwise you flare too high, and I have.
I really like flying by myself and while I understand this is a training exercise and that I need to be 'working' on all of my maneuvers, etc., I take some time to really be aware and enjoy the fact that I am piloting a plane by myself. Thus far I'm doing a pretty damned good job of it. I LOVE talking on the radios these days as well and was a little iffy at times before but now I am talking and sounding at least like I know what I'm doing. One thing I like to do and it is really 'piloty' and geeky but I enjoy saying, 'zero four alpha, g'day or so long', when I depart an airport and after I am told 'frequency change approved' by ATC. Pilots on commercial flights do this when they are talking to major 'centers' en route. Stupid but I like being a geeky pilot-guy.
I am going flying again with Stan this Thursday and it will be a fairly long cross-country flight. We are flying out to a town in the Sierra Foothills, Columbia, which is about 100 miles East of the Bay Area. It's an old gold-mining town and the airport is a mile from town. Stan says we'll fly out and have lunch in town. It takes a lot of preparation to do these cross-countries filling out flight plans and using my flight computer which is really just a glorified slide-rule. I have gotten pretty good at figuring out magnetic heading to compass headings, time, distance and fuel burn, etc. Again pilot geekiness has taken over. I love it!!
I've been lazy with the blogs but with serious cross-country stuff coming up my journals should be picking up.
ciao,
Russ
It's been over a month since I soloed and have been endorsed to fly to several other airports by Stan. He wanted to do this immediately after the solo so I could get out and do my maneuvers and hop over to other airports. As a student I am allowed to solo, no passengers except my instructor, within a 25 mile radius from my home airport of San Carlos (SQL). Basically I got checked out to ensure I know how to maneuver myself to other airports utilizing ATIS, making proper radio calls and setting myself up to get on the ground in a safe and responsible manner. Pretty darn fun!
The check out went well and I am now endorsed to fly to Palo Alto airport or PAO and Hayward or HWD. He wanted to get me into Half Moon Bay but it was foggy that day but no worries. I have my hands full getting over to Hayward which is fun because I get to cruise out over the Bay parallel to the San Mateo Bridge. Hayward is also an airport that accommodates large private jets and has two parallel runways, one short and narrow and the one for the big jets is HUGE. This is the runway in use most of the time and I feel like a gnat landing on a superhighway. I have to adjust my sight-picture for landings because the width of the runway can cause you to think you are closer to the ground than you are. You have to wait until you literally see the texture of the asphalt before you flare for landing otherwise you flare too high, and I have.
I really like flying by myself and while I understand this is a training exercise and that I need to be 'working' on all of my maneuvers, etc., I take some time to really be aware and enjoy the fact that I am piloting a plane by myself. Thus far I'm doing a pretty damned good job of it. I LOVE talking on the radios these days as well and was a little iffy at times before but now I am talking and sounding at least like I know what I'm doing. One thing I like to do and it is really 'piloty' and geeky but I enjoy saying, 'zero four alpha, g'day or so long', when I depart an airport and after I am told 'frequency change approved' by ATC. Pilots on commercial flights do this when they are talking to major 'centers' en route. Stupid but I like being a geeky pilot-guy.
I am going flying again with Stan this Thursday and it will be a fairly long cross-country flight. We are flying out to a town in the Sierra Foothills, Columbia, which is about 100 miles East of the Bay Area. It's an old gold-mining town and the airport is a mile from town. Stan says we'll fly out and have lunch in town. It takes a lot of preparation to do these cross-countries filling out flight plans and using my flight computer which is really just a glorified slide-rule. I have gotten pretty good at figuring out magnetic heading to compass headings, time, distance and fuel burn, etc. Again pilot geekiness has taken over. I love it!!
I've been lazy with the blogs but with serious cross-country stuff coming up my journals should be picking up.
ciao,
Russ
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
I was alone...
March 14, 2007
This past month found me getting out and refining my pattern work and flight maneuvers, slow flight, stalls and engine out procedures have all gone swimmingly ... er.... flyingly well (?) Building confidence in my skills and getting back to the stage checks which allow me to solo. Stan was out of town for 10 days during this time and I was supposed to go up with my ground instructor but stormy weather kept me grounded the entire time. Finally this last week Stan finally signed me off on the first of my stage checks to solo and it was a great flight. I know that I am ready and have no lingering little doubts about my ability to fly the plane, at least around the pattern of San Carlos airport. It is as important that I feel confident as well as Stan, all American instructor.
Saturday - March 10, 2007
The second part of my stage I check took place with another instructor, Jim, who provides a cross-check to Stan's assessment of my flying skills. We sit down before the flight and start going over airplane systems, airspace and one maneuver not related to my certificate, spins. I need to bone up on systems a little. I know the plane has two fuel pumps but got tripped up on which power source drives which pump. There is an engine driven pump AND another pump driven by the electrical system, ie, battery. I was annoyed that I was being grilled on spins until I realized many of the concepts apply to my current certification. It's actually very difficult to spin a Cessna 172 due to what is called positive static stability. This means the plane is engineered to return to straight and level flight. You sacrifice performance in the area of maneuverability and speed but this is OK with me. One of the last items we cover is what documentation I need to carry with me when solo. I list everything and then Jim says I neglected one thing, student pilot's certificate. I respond that this is part of my FAA medical which is good for 3 years. He responds yes your medical is 3 years but the student certificate is only good for 2 years. What?!?!?! I am scheduled to solo tomorrow! As you may know it has been awhile since my last round of lessons before now. More than two years and I am now on the verge of soloing and my student certificate is out of date. So my medical is good but NOT my student certificate. Not a problem when flying with an instructor but a must have for soloing. I will now have to wait until the first of the week begins to even investigate getting my certificate which means another medical. No solo for Sunday. Bloody hell!! We wrap up the oral portion and I go out to pre-flight N5204A.
The flight goes really well and Jim gives me the second, and final sign off for my solo. Calling the FAA examiner first thing Monday morning to get the 'turn head and cough' out of the way.
Tuesday - March 13, 2007
Medical - Done!
Wednesday - March 14, 2007
Not feeling too nervous but more a sense of excitement and wanting to get the solo in the bag. I want to move on to more adventures in flying like cross-country and flying by myself to new and different airports besides San Carlos. I also try not to forget to be in the moment and enjoy the day because I may move on to bigger and faster airplanes but you only solo an airplane for the first time once.
I meet Stan at Diamond Aviation and we go over the written exam I filled out, required by the FAA. Everything is correct except one of the control tower frequencies for Hayward airport across the Bay - no big deal though. I go out and pre-flight the plane and Stan is going to ride with me for three trips around the traffic pattern and then get out, and bye bye birdie. We get up and are going around when the control tower announces there is a helicopter in the pattern. I really don't like getting close to these guys because they are small and really hard to see and have screwed me up in the past. I get a little knot in my stomach and as we round base leg coming down on final I am off to the right of center line a bit looking for this helicopter which had already landed. I get back on runway center line and Stan is looking cock-eyed at me and proceeds to inform me that he almost failed me for the day of my solo. I explained what I was doing and this seemed to agree with him and he mentions I need to keep my head in the game today. I am focused like a friggin' laser beam right now and nothing is going to screw me up.
We touch down and taxi back as a student pilot solo I am not allowed to do touch & go's. Too much going on at once for a student pilot I guess? We taxi back, get cleared to take off and getting on to downwind tower announces they are changing the runways. This means I will have to make a 180 degree turn and get back in the pattern lined up to land. Noooo problem. I turn the plane around and make the 180 getting set to line up for my approach on runway 30. This goes really well and Stan is now gushing about how I handled the situation which surprised me a little. I was thinking, 'who are you and what did you do with my instructor'?? With Stan it has always been tough-love and sometimes his critiques are withering. I am more than prepared to get 5204A around the pattern by myself at this point. I also executed a go around when another aircraft was on the runway which Stan seemed to like as well. Decision making, mate, decision making.
After the third landing with Stan he taxis us off the runway and over to the side of the the taxiway. He shakes my hand as he opens the door and steps out of the plane at which point he says, 'she's all yours, you'll do great.' I felt a really odd sense of calm come over me and it was nice to have the extra wiggle room in the cockpit. I taxied slowly toward the 'hold short' line of runway 30 and called up tower, 'San Carlos Tower, Cessna 5204 Alpha holding short runway 30 for right closed traffic'. Tower responded back '04 Alpha, position and hold'. This means you taxi on to the runway but don't take off just yet. Soon after tower announces, '04 Alpha cleared for take-off' and with that wheels were rolling. As I approach rotation speed of 55 knots I begin to pull back on the yoke and all of the sudden the plane literally popped off the runway. Without my instructor in the plane, note: the weight of my instructor in the plane, the flight characteristics changed. I sail around from crosswind to downwind powering down to 85 knots and 800 ft (traffic pattern altitude) I glanced over at the empty seat and down at the airport below and ahead scanning for traffic and listening to the radio I felt at peace and smiled a really big, stupid, 1st-time-solo smile. For some reason I was also a little gassy. I was somewhat paranoid I might accidentally depress the mic button during one of these eructations and shifted my index finger down on the yoke. I got clearance to land following another Cessna and lined up on final and everything looked great. On center line with 65 knots and red over white on the glide slope I was right on target. As I got closer to the runway threshold I throttled to idle and began to pitch the nose up for my landing flare. With Stan in the plane my sink rate would have been greater but instead I come down and do a little bunny hop off the back tires because the plane is lighter. Not too big a deal but was a little disappointed I didn't grease my very first solo landing. I taxi back and I am ready to go again. Cleared to take-off I ease back a little more gently and 5204A peels off the runway perfectly. I go around and get set up for my landing and totally grease my second landing. Right down the center line in the first third of the runway! Bada-bing, baby! Third time around I nail another great pattern even going long on downwind to allow for traffic on the ground to take-off and another greased landing. Sweeeeet!!! I was REALLY tempted to go around for a fourth time because I did not want to stop flying but figured that may be too audacious a start to my solo career.
I taxi back to the ramp and Stan is standing there arms folded pointing to a good spot to park. I kill the engine and execute my power down sequence. Soon after I pop the door open and Stan shakes my hand, congratulates me and almost immediately says, 'you bounced your first landing but the rest of the flight was really, really good'. That's right home-boy, start calling me the 'Grease-man'.
I get out the tow bar and put the plane back in to it's parking spot and Stan snaps a Polaroid of the occasion. Pretty damn cool. I have been dreaming of this moment since I was first born, I believe. I will go on to get my certificate but this is the moment I truly feel like I have joined the ranks of the breed known as 'pilot'.
I got all my documents and certificates affixed to my log book and heading outside I tell Stan I have something for him. In my trunk I have a bottle of champagne which I give to him as thanks for his great instruction and intolerance of me doing anything less than flying really well. I have definitely earned the right to solo at this point. As we are standing talking my wife, Kristina, walks up and mentions she had been over on the other side of the runway taking pictures of me taking off and landing. She even snapped one of Stan getting out of the plane on my initial solo flight. Pretty cool, thanks KK!!
Next week I start doing cross-country work which I already had begun several weeks ago. Stan will check me out to fly to certain airports and soon I will be hopping over to Livermore for a sandwich at their airport cafe! Exciting, eh??
-russ
This past month found me getting out and refining my pattern work and flight maneuvers, slow flight, stalls and engine out procedures have all gone swimmingly ... er.... flyingly well (?) Building confidence in my skills and getting back to the stage checks which allow me to solo. Stan was out of town for 10 days during this time and I was supposed to go up with my ground instructor but stormy weather kept me grounded the entire time. Finally this last week Stan finally signed me off on the first of my stage checks to solo and it was a great flight. I know that I am ready and have no lingering little doubts about my ability to fly the plane, at least around the pattern of San Carlos airport. It is as important that I feel confident as well as Stan, all American instructor.
Saturday - March 10, 2007
The second part of my stage I check took place with another instructor, Jim, who provides a cross-check to Stan's assessment of my flying skills. We sit down before the flight and start going over airplane systems, airspace and one maneuver not related to my certificate, spins. I need to bone up on systems a little. I know the plane has two fuel pumps but got tripped up on which power source drives which pump. There is an engine driven pump AND another pump driven by the electrical system, ie, battery. I was annoyed that I was being grilled on spins until I realized many of the concepts apply to my current certification. It's actually very difficult to spin a Cessna 172 due to what is called positive static stability. This means the plane is engineered to return to straight and level flight. You sacrifice performance in the area of maneuverability and speed but this is OK with me. One of the last items we cover is what documentation I need to carry with me when solo. I list everything and then Jim says I neglected one thing, student pilot's certificate. I respond that this is part of my FAA medical which is good for 3 years. He responds yes your medical is 3 years but the student certificate is only good for 2 years. What?!?!?! I am scheduled to solo tomorrow! As you may know it has been awhile since my last round of lessons before now. More than two years and I am now on the verge of soloing and my student certificate is out of date. So my medical is good but NOT my student certificate. Not a problem when flying with an instructor but a must have for soloing. I will now have to wait until the first of the week begins to even investigate getting my certificate which means another medical. No solo for Sunday. Bloody hell!! We wrap up the oral portion and I go out to pre-flight N5204A.
The flight goes really well and Jim gives me the second, and final sign off for my solo. Calling the FAA examiner first thing Monday morning to get the 'turn head and cough' out of the way.
Tuesday - March 13, 2007
Medical - Done!
Wednesday - March 14, 2007
Not feeling too nervous but more a sense of excitement and wanting to get the solo in the bag. I want to move on to more adventures in flying like cross-country and flying by myself to new and different airports besides San Carlos. I also try not to forget to be in the moment and enjoy the day because I may move on to bigger and faster airplanes but you only solo an airplane for the first time once.
I meet Stan at Diamond Aviation and we go over the written exam I filled out, required by the FAA. Everything is correct except one of the control tower frequencies for Hayward airport across the Bay - no big deal though. I go out and pre-flight the plane and Stan is going to ride with me for three trips around the traffic pattern and then get out, and bye bye birdie. We get up and are going around when the control tower announces there is a helicopter in the pattern. I really don't like getting close to these guys because they are small and really hard to see and have screwed me up in the past. I get a little knot in my stomach and as we round base leg coming down on final I am off to the right of center line a bit looking for this helicopter which had already landed. I get back on runway center line and Stan is looking cock-eyed at me and proceeds to inform me that he almost failed me for the day of my solo. I explained what I was doing and this seemed to agree with him and he mentions I need to keep my head in the game today. I am focused like a friggin' laser beam right now and nothing is going to screw me up.
We touch down and taxi back as a student pilot solo I am not allowed to do touch & go's. Too much going on at once for a student pilot I guess? We taxi back, get cleared to take off and getting on to downwind tower announces they are changing the runways. This means I will have to make a 180 degree turn and get back in the pattern lined up to land. Noooo problem. I turn the plane around and make the 180 getting set to line up for my approach on runway 30. This goes really well and Stan is now gushing about how I handled the situation which surprised me a little. I was thinking, 'who are you and what did you do with my instructor'?? With Stan it has always been tough-love and sometimes his critiques are withering. I am more than prepared to get 5204A around the pattern by myself at this point. I also executed a go around when another aircraft was on the runway which Stan seemed to like as well. Decision making, mate, decision making.
After the third landing with Stan he taxis us off the runway and over to the side of the the taxiway. He shakes my hand as he opens the door and steps out of the plane at which point he says, 'she's all yours, you'll do great.' I felt a really odd sense of calm come over me and it was nice to have the extra wiggle room in the cockpit. I taxied slowly toward the 'hold short' line of runway 30 and called up tower, 'San Carlos Tower, Cessna 5204 Alpha holding short runway 30 for right closed traffic'. Tower responded back '04 Alpha, position and hold'. This means you taxi on to the runway but don't take off just yet. Soon after tower announces, '04 Alpha cleared for take-off' and with that wheels were rolling. As I approach rotation speed of 55 knots I begin to pull back on the yoke and all of the sudden the plane literally popped off the runway. Without my instructor in the plane, note: the weight of my instructor in the plane, the flight characteristics changed. I sail around from crosswind to downwind powering down to 85 knots and 800 ft (traffic pattern altitude) I glanced over at the empty seat and down at the airport below and ahead scanning for traffic and listening to the radio I felt at peace and smiled a really big, stupid, 1st-time-solo smile. For some reason I was also a little gassy. I was somewhat paranoid I might accidentally depress the mic button during one of these eructations and shifted my index finger down on the yoke. I got clearance to land following another Cessna and lined up on final and everything looked great. On center line with 65 knots and red over white on the glide slope I was right on target. As I got closer to the runway threshold I throttled to idle and began to pitch the nose up for my landing flare. With Stan in the plane my sink rate would have been greater but instead I come down and do a little bunny hop off the back tires because the plane is lighter. Not too big a deal but was a little disappointed I didn't grease my very first solo landing. I taxi back and I am ready to go again. Cleared to take-off I ease back a little more gently and 5204A peels off the runway perfectly. I go around and get set up for my landing and totally grease my second landing. Right down the center line in the first third of the runway! Bada-bing, baby! Third time around I nail another great pattern even going long on downwind to allow for traffic on the ground to take-off and another greased landing. Sweeeeet!!! I was REALLY tempted to go around for a fourth time because I did not want to stop flying but figured that may be too audacious a start to my solo career.
I taxi back to the ramp and Stan is standing there arms folded pointing to a good spot to park. I kill the engine and execute my power down sequence. Soon after I pop the door open and Stan shakes my hand, congratulates me and almost immediately says, 'you bounced your first landing but the rest of the flight was really, really good'. That's right home-boy, start calling me the 'Grease-man'.
I get out the tow bar and put the plane back in to it's parking spot and Stan snaps a Polaroid of the occasion. Pretty damn cool. I have been dreaming of this moment since I was first born, I believe. I will go on to get my certificate but this is the moment I truly feel like I have joined the ranks of the breed known as 'pilot'.
I got all my documents and certificates affixed to my log book and heading outside I tell Stan I have something for him. In my trunk I have a bottle of champagne which I give to him as thanks for his great instruction and intolerance of me doing anything less than flying really well. I have definitely earned the right to solo at this point. As we are standing talking my wife, Kristina, walks up and mentions she had been over on the other side of the runway taking pictures of me taking off and landing. She even snapped one of Stan getting out of the plane on my initial solo flight. Pretty cool, thanks KK!!
Next week I start doing cross-country work which I already had begun several weeks ago. Stan will check me out to fly to certain airports and soon I will be hopping over to Livermore for a sandwich at their airport cafe! Exciting, eh??
-russ
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Missed Approach to Solo
This last Thursday was meant to be the initial stage check for my solo (there are two) from Stan my instructor and a second check-ride from another instructor. The second instructor basically verifies student pilot competency. I sat down with Stan for an hour and had an initial oral exam with regard to my knowledge of rules & regulations as well as airplane systems. I have been taking a three hour ground school class every Thursday night from another instructor as well as reading anything I can on flying. I did pretty well with a few items I needed to read up on but not too shabby.
We had N5204A reserved for 2 1/2 hrs with an hour gone reviewing the oral exam we hustled out to the ramp and got in. I had arrived before the oral exam and completed the pre-flight so we just needed to start up and get going. I definitely consult my checklists but am much more quick and efficient these days in my pre-flight to take-off. I do my run-up sequence and call up tower for a Bay Meadows departure. We fly out and turn left at the standard departure point, Bay Meadows, and soon we are in the practice area for maneuvers just south of Crystal Springs. I actually fly right over my apartment building on the way out and even as I write this I am hearing the throaty growl of piston driven airplanes crossing overhead. Invariably more student pilots headed out to practice their maneuvers over Crystal Springs looking like a bunch of drunk ducks. We go through the maneuvers one by one and everything is going according to plan. Then Stan adds a new maneuver, power - off and power - on stalls while turning. I am nailing my stalls wings level and have no trepidation about going sideways for a stall or two. I do them pretty well and actually get a little too aggressive on the power-on stalls. Stan tells me to shallow my bank angles because the FAA examiner will be looking for something a little less steep. My emergency engine out goes pretty well but I turned too soon coming from base to final lined up on a field I had identified as a good emergency landing field. I definitely could have slipped it in but want perfection on these types of maneuvers. Engine outs don't allow for go-arounds!
He tells me to take us back to SQL and I get ATIS info and call up tower "San Carlos tower, Cessna five two zero four alpha, two miles south of Crystal Springs, two thousand five hundred (feet) with information golf, landing." We are cleared back into SQL airspace and I get my altitude and airspeed set up for a smooth transition to cross midfield at or above 1,200 ft as instructed to enter a right downwind landing for runway 30. I enter the pattern and get told to extend the downwind portion of my traffic pattern. Eventually I am cleared to turn right base and then another right which puts me on final for the runway. My approach thus far has been going well although we have a new controller who likes to give really piecemeal instructions so I have to manage this and it's a little distracting. He told me to turn base then cleared me for the option and said 'continue your approach'. This all happened within the space of about 10 seconds and I had barely started making my turn to base and paused for a second wondering if he meant me to keep extending my downwind. Stan quickly and sternly said he means for you to continue flying the approach to final. Stan seemed to be a little annoyed at the controller, and me for that matter, but for all of the multiple bits of info we were getting. I have the utmost respect for controllers but sometimes you gotta double check what they say versus what things look like outside the cockpit windows.
I am proceeding down the glide slope with my angle and airspeed looking pretty good, I thought. As I approach the runway threshold however I am way too low and slow and have to execute a last second go-around and Stan says, 'there goes your solo for Saturday'. OUCH!! I feel pretty disappointed but fly around the pattern for a few more touch-gos and we get down on the ground and he says he wants to see much better pattern work before he signs me off for a solo. I totally understand AND agree and while disappointed (read very disappointed) I want everything to be buttoned up before I go it alone. We debrief and I am at it again the next day, Friday. Looking to clean up my pattern work and stick my landings. My landings are actually looking really good it's getting thrown the curve-balls that I have to adjust to. I am now really in a slump and my pattern work is looking just plain bad. I am not getting set up well for my final approaches. While I am making the landings, safely, if you were to trace the outline of my patterns they would have looked like someone on LSD drew the lines I was flying. OY!! When we get into the terminal building Stan puts up EVERYTHING wrong with the way I am flying. It's quite a list. I make notes and leave feeling like I really need to have some sort of 'come-to-Jesus' moment with myself. I think I might just be self sabotaging my solo!
Earlier today we went flying again and we started off pretty well and then my pattern started falling apart again. Stan was barking out all of the things going wrong and I began to wonder if I needed to reevaluate this whole flying endeavor of mine. After one missed approach Stan tells me he wants to hear me call out my airspeed every ten seconds. Initially I felt it was somewhat punitive and got a little resentful. I took off and maintained 75 knots, best rate of climb and began calling out my airspeed. Turning crosswind to downwind I was calling out my airspeed EVERY ten seconds and was hoping to really annoy the hell out of Stan. I began calling out everything I was doing and seeing and the process of getting the Cessna around the pattern. Even when he was telling me something I was calling out the airspeed info between words like Rainman, 'yeah, definitely 85 knots, 85 knots, definitely 85 knots!!'. All of the sudden I was in front of the plane and flying really well. When I say in front I mean I had altitude and, of course, ALL of my air speeds nailed as well as calling out other planes and those pesky little helicopters that are hard to see. I knew that I KNEW what to do I just needed to explain it to myself. From then on my pattern work looked less like a Jackson Pollack and more like a Da Vinci. Interpretive flying apparently does not work very well while in the pattern. I was executing crisp, clean patterns and even good cross-wind landings reacting to everything with confidence and smooth steady control inputs. I felt like I had a breakthrough moment. I was relieved and excited and know that I have A LOT more work to do but feel pretty confident about today's flight.
Stan liked what he saw in the second half of today's lesson so much that he is moving forward with the second part of the Stage One check ride and putting me with another instructor to verify I am a competent pilot to solo. I am excited that it will be my ground instructor who is a really good guy and gets lots of compliments by his students on his training techniques. We'll see how it goes. -russ
We had N5204A reserved for 2 1/2 hrs with an hour gone reviewing the oral exam we hustled out to the ramp and got in. I had arrived before the oral exam and completed the pre-flight so we just needed to start up and get going. I definitely consult my checklists but am much more quick and efficient these days in my pre-flight to take-off. I do my run-up sequence and call up tower for a Bay Meadows departure. We fly out and turn left at the standard departure point, Bay Meadows, and soon we are in the practice area for maneuvers just south of Crystal Springs. I actually fly right over my apartment building on the way out and even as I write this I am hearing the throaty growl of piston driven airplanes crossing overhead. Invariably more student pilots headed out to practice their maneuvers over Crystal Springs looking like a bunch of drunk ducks. We go through the maneuvers one by one and everything is going according to plan. Then Stan adds a new maneuver, power - off and power - on stalls while turning. I am nailing my stalls wings level and have no trepidation about going sideways for a stall or two. I do them pretty well and actually get a little too aggressive on the power-on stalls. Stan tells me to shallow my bank angles because the FAA examiner will be looking for something a little less steep. My emergency engine out goes pretty well but I turned too soon coming from base to final lined up on a field I had identified as a good emergency landing field. I definitely could have slipped it in but want perfection on these types of maneuvers. Engine outs don't allow for go-arounds!
He tells me to take us back to SQL and I get ATIS info and call up tower "San Carlos tower, Cessna five two zero four alpha, two miles south of Crystal Springs, two thousand five hundred (feet) with information golf, landing." We are cleared back into SQL airspace and I get my altitude and airspeed set up for a smooth transition to cross midfield at or above 1,200 ft as instructed to enter a right downwind landing for runway 30. I enter the pattern and get told to extend the downwind portion of my traffic pattern. Eventually I am cleared to turn right base and then another right which puts me on final for the runway. My approach thus far has been going well although we have a new controller who likes to give really piecemeal instructions so I have to manage this and it's a little distracting. He told me to turn base then cleared me for the option and said 'continue your approach'. This all happened within the space of about 10 seconds and I had barely started making my turn to base and paused for a second wondering if he meant me to keep extending my downwind. Stan quickly and sternly said he means for you to continue flying the approach to final. Stan seemed to be a little annoyed at the controller, and me for that matter, but for all of the multiple bits of info we were getting. I have the utmost respect for controllers but sometimes you gotta double check what they say versus what things look like outside the cockpit windows.
I am proceeding down the glide slope with my angle and airspeed looking pretty good, I thought. As I approach the runway threshold however I am way too low and slow and have to execute a last second go-around and Stan says, 'there goes your solo for Saturday'. OUCH!! I feel pretty disappointed but fly around the pattern for a few more touch-gos and we get down on the ground and he says he wants to see much better pattern work before he signs me off for a solo. I totally understand AND agree and while disappointed (read very disappointed) I want everything to be buttoned up before I go it alone. We debrief and I am at it again the next day, Friday. Looking to clean up my pattern work and stick my landings. My landings are actually looking really good it's getting thrown the curve-balls that I have to adjust to. I am now really in a slump and my pattern work is looking just plain bad. I am not getting set up well for my final approaches. While I am making the landings, safely, if you were to trace the outline of my patterns they would have looked like someone on LSD drew the lines I was flying. OY!! When we get into the terminal building Stan puts up EVERYTHING wrong with the way I am flying. It's quite a list. I make notes and leave feeling like I really need to have some sort of 'come-to-Jesus' moment with myself. I think I might just be self sabotaging my solo!
Earlier today we went flying again and we started off pretty well and then my pattern started falling apart again. Stan was barking out all of the things going wrong and I began to wonder if I needed to reevaluate this whole flying endeavor of mine. After one missed approach Stan tells me he wants to hear me call out my airspeed every ten seconds. Initially I felt it was somewhat punitive and got a little resentful. I took off and maintained 75 knots, best rate of climb and began calling out my airspeed. Turning crosswind to downwind I was calling out my airspeed EVERY ten seconds and was hoping to really annoy the hell out of Stan. I began calling out everything I was doing and seeing and the process of getting the Cessna around the pattern. Even when he was telling me something I was calling out the airspeed info between words like Rainman, 'yeah, definitely 85 knots, 85 knots, definitely 85 knots!!'. All of the sudden I was in front of the plane and flying really well. When I say in front I mean I had altitude and, of course, ALL of my air speeds nailed as well as calling out other planes and those pesky little helicopters that are hard to see. I knew that I KNEW what to do I just needed to explain it to myself. From then on my pattern work looked less like a Jackson Pollack and more like a Da Vinci. Interpretive flying apparently does not work very well while in the pattern. I was executing crisp, clean patterns and even good cross-wind landings reacting to everything with confidence and smooth steady control inputs. I felt like I had a breakthrough moment. I was relieved and excited and know that I have A LOT more work to do but feel pretty confident about today's flight.
Stan liked what he saw in the second half of today's lesson so much that he is moving forward with the second part of the Stage One check ride and putting me with another instructor to verify I am a competent pilot to solo. I am excited that it will be my ground instructor who is a really good guy and gets lots of compliments by his students on his training techniques. We'll see how it goes. -russ
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Prelude to Phase II
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Getting close to phase II which means - solo!
I feel like my flying skills are coming along nicely. Since my last entry I flew out to a small airport in San Jose, Reid – Hillview, that required me to transition through San Jose International Airport airspace, Class C (Charlie). I realized that when I pushed the button to talk I was in the company of professional pilots with A LOT more experience depressing that talk button. These are men and women on tight schedules with a plane load of passengers needing to get wherever they are going ASAP. I spoke a little fast and probably sounded like a rookie but what the hell, I am. I also transitioned through Moffett Airfield airspace which was interesting. Moffett Airfield is a NASA facility and operated by the Feds. This is the airport where Air Force 1 usually arrives and departs out of the SF Bay Area. These controllers, all of them, were really patient and pretty nice to the f.l.a.p. (!#$%ing little airplane pilot) flying through their airspace.
I have been flying quite a bit and working on the basic maneuvers required to safely fly by myself. We flew out to Half Moon Bay a week a go and practiced more landings there as they have a niiiice long runway for me to take my time and get all of my control inputs set before my landing flair. I think it was at this time I really got the whole landing process and what that looks and feels like. I was relaxed and had a blast working on perfecting my landings. Kissing that asphalt runway with my mains after a perfect approach is the BEST!
This last week I had one flight that looked great on the maneuvers like power off and power on stalls, emergency landing procedures and slow flight. Stan said my steep turns were some of the best he has seen with a student pilot. These require a 45 degree bank angle turning 360 degrees right then left. It’s pretty interesting because you are pulling a couple g’s when doing them. I didn’t go above or below fifty feet of my assigned altitude which I was pleased with. When we got back to the airport however my pattern work looked really crappy. I was landing pretty well but fiddling with my power settings and having to adjust too much. To borrow a clichéd infomercial line, you want to ‘set it & forget it’, making small corrections as you travel down the glide slope.
I went flying yesterday and we just worked the pattern. Stan mentioned he wanted to see a tight pattern and pilot in command decisions being executed without him having to prompt me. It was also raining yesterday and provided a good training opportunity. The Cessna 172SP does not have wiper blades for the windscreen. You gotta look past the water drops to see what’s happening. The runway conditions are going to be different with diminished braking and the possibility of hydroplaning. I am feeling relaxed and really ready to nail my pattern work and am interested to see what flying in the rain looks like. I am doing pretty well and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I mentioned to Stan these would not be conditions I would voluntarily go up in. It stopped raining midway through and so we cruised around the airport for about 9 touch – n – gos.
On the ground and in the post-flight briefing Stan tells me that I am ready to get a pre-solo check-ride. Actually it will be two check-rides, one with Stan and one with another instructor who will provide another set of eyes to confirm I am ready to go it alone. Stan mentions to me I did a good job today. I feel pretty good about that as he is stingy with the compliments.
If all goes well (and weather holds up) I will solo this next week and move on to Phase II, cross - country work and other maneuvers like short-field landings, etc. Phase III is getting ready for the final FAA check-ride.
Getting close to phase II which means - solo!
I feel like my flying skills are coming along nicely. Since my last entry I flew out to a small airport in San Jose, Reid – Hillview, that required me to transition through San Jose International Airport airspace, Class C (Charlie). I realized that when I pushed the button to talk I was in the company of professional pilots with A LOT more experience depressing that talk button. These are men and women on tight schedules with a plane load of passengers needing to get wherever they are going ASAP. I spoke a little fast and probably sounded like a rookie but what the hell, I am. I also transitioned through Moffett Airfield airspace which was interesting. Moffett Airfield is a NASA facility and operated by the Feds. This is the airport where Air Force 1 usually arrives and departs out of the SF Bay Area. These controllers, all of them, were really patient and pretty nice to the f.l.a.p. (!#$%ing little airplane pilot) flying through their airspace.
I have been flying quite a bit and working on the basic maneuvers required to safely fly by myself. We flew out to Half Moon Bay a week a go and practiced more landings there as they have a niiiice long runway for me to take my time and get all of my control inputs set before my landing flair. I think it was at this time I really got the whole landing process and what that looks and feels like. I was relaxed and had a blast working on perfecting my landings. Kissing that asphalt runway with my mains after a perfect approach is the BEST!
This last week I had one flight that looked great on the maneuvers like power off and power on stalls, emergency landing procedures and slow flight. Stan said my steep turns were some of the best he has seen with a student pilot. These require a 45 degree bank angle turning 360 degrees right then left. It’s pretty interesting because you are pulling a couple g’s when doing them. I didn’t go above or below fifty feet of my assigned altitude which I was pleased with. When we got back to the airport however my pattern work looked really crappy. I was landing pretty well but fiddling with my power settings and having to adjust too much. To borrow a clichéd infomercial line, you want to ‘set it & forget it’, making small corrections as you travel down the glide slope.
I went flying yesterday and we just worked the pattern. Stan mentioned he wanted to see a tight pattern and pilot in command decisions being executed without him having to prompt me. It was also raining yesterday and provided a good training opportunity. The Cessna 172SP does not have wiper blades for the windscreen. You gotta look past the water drops to see what’s happening. The runway conditions are going to be different with diminished braking and the possibility of hydroplaning. I am feeling relaxed and really ready to nail my pattern work and am interested to see what flying in the rain looks like. I am doing pretty well and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I mentioned to Stan these would not be conditions I would voluntarily go up in. It stopped raining midway through and so we cruised around the airport for about 9 touch – n – gos.
On the ground and in the post-flight briefing Stan tells me that I am ready to get a pre-solo check-ride. Actually it will be two check-rides, one with Stan and one with another instructor who will provide another set of eyes to confirm I am ready to go it alone. Stan mentions to me I did a good job today. I feel pretty good about that as he is stingy with the compliments.
If all goes well (and weather holds up) I will solo this next week and move on to Phase II, cross - country work and other maneuvers like short-field landings, etc. Phase III is getting ready for the final FAA check-ride.
Mini - Cross Country
Sunday - January 22, 2007
San Carlos Airport (SQL)
9:30am
I love waking up on days when I get to go fly. I feel excited and usually get a few butterflys. I am scheduled to be down on the flight-line at 9:30am this Sunday morning. This is usually when I am finishing my first cup of coffee and watching my political talk shows, ‘Meet the Press’ -none better. Soap Opera’s can’t compete with the series of dramatic events unfolding in our nation’s capital, I digress. It is a really windy day which irks me because it’s a lot of work to fly in windy conditions. It’s been clear and calm all friggin’ week, why today!
I get down to Diamond and get out to N21591 and preflight. Stan comes out right as I wrap up my final walk around and we get in. We are going across the bay to an airport in Livermore which is situated in what is called the East Bay. I knew we were going to be flying to Livermore (LVK) and have memorized the radio settings – atis 119.65, ground 121.6 and tower frequency is 118.1. Stan is impressed as he had me take out my map (sectional chart) and before I could feel too proud of myself there were a few more frequencies I needed to get. We would be crossing the bay and flying right over Hayward Executive airport transitioning to Livermore.
We preflight and run-up the engine then with clearance from the tower we are lights, camera and action! We will be exiting SQL via a departure route known as the Belmont Slough. This is an area of the bay situated just north and east of SQL. As we follow this departure point we sail out over the San Francisco Bay and have I mentioned it is really unbelievable beautiful! I have also mentioned the close proximity of San Francisco airport and how close it is to SQL. We are now passing just a few hundred feet below BIG jets on final approach to SFO! I call up Hayward tower and say, ‘Hayward tower, Cessna two one five niner one, mid-bay, transitioning to Livermore.’ They come back with ‘five niner one maintain one thousand five hundred (feet) or below and squawk 0124 (on the transponder).’ The plane’s transponder registers a unique signal which the air traffic controller can best identify me by. This is the little dark green blip on their radar which transmits heading and altitude. As we cross over Hayward we also pass right underneath a Southwest Airlines 737 on final to Oakland. It is amazing the number of big airports in such close proximity to where I am training. Not to worry as we follow the lanes of the highway in the sky.
It has been pretty smooth sailing up to this point and as we pass over Hayward it gets a little choppy. As we head further inland it is steadily getting more turbulent and then the East Bay Hills loom before me. Before we climb out to 3,000 we pass by the outer ring of the Class Bravo for SFO. We climb out to 3,000 and it is windy as hell and we are getting bumped around pretty good. As we pass over the top of the hills there is a lot of turbulence coming in all directions. I got so busy flying I forgot about even getting motion sickness. I did not mention that before we took off we plugged our course into the flight computer which is attached to the GPS on the instrument panel. Once you plug in the airports you are flying to the moving map pops up and shows you exactly where you are. A directional line also shows you where you are going with the proper heading and airspace information. It tells you what heading you are on and whether you are off course or not. This is very cool! I LIKE!!
So back to the turbulence. I must admit it is unnerving flying in this kind of wind which is about 16 knots and gusts up to 26 knots. I was getting jostled around so much that my control inputs, throttle, etc and radio settings became moving targets. I adjusted to this and got everything done necessary to call up Livermore tower as we passed into the next valley. I called up Livermore ATIS and got the wind conditions, runway in use and the information designation of ‘foxtrot’. I went to call up Livermore tower and the winds began to die down somewhat, only somewhat. ‘Livermore tower, Cessna two one five niner one, at 580 / 680 interchange landing with information Foxtrot’. I got the response ‘five niner one report abeam the control tower maintain one thousand four hundred (feet).’ I fly alongside runway 25R (right) and when I’m abeam the control tower I announce my position as promised and they clear me for a landing (with the option) on runway 25R. ‘With the option’ means I can do a touch – n – go, go around or full stop landing. If it were really busy they could deny me and say full-stop landing.
I make several rights and I’m lined up for 25R and am looking good on my approach with good altitude and airspeed. Because of the winds I have a crab-angle in and we are sliding down to the runway sideways but straight down the centerline. As I get closer to the runway numbers I pull power and then pull back on the yoke and then straighten the nose out with my left rudder peddle. I give it a little right aileron to tilt the plane right so that I stay over the centerline and not get blown to the left side. We are down and a little off of centerline but not too bad really. Stan puts the flaps up and I give ‘er full throttle and we are off again to work the pattern. It is windy as hell and I am fighting the plane to make my patterns square and put in my crosswind corrections so that we get configured correctly for another shot at 25R. We come back around and I get lined up, crab-angle in and glide slope is red over white (good), approach speed is 65 knots (good) and then we get down on the deck and the winds are variable at this point so that it is beyond my capabilities and I relinquish the controls to Stanb so that we get down safely.
Stan and I agree this is too complex for beginning cross-country flying and we head back to SQL. We fly straight out and to the North of the East bay Hills. It is not as gusty here and as we crest the hills we have to descend quickly to get back under the Class Bravo airspace for SFO. We cross back over Hayward and then the beautiful bay towards the outer marker for SQL on the western edge of the bay. The outer marker for SQL is a big, sexy cement plant. I have already called up tower and have a clearance to land. We immediately enter our base leg and then a quick right to final approach and back on the glide slope. Everything looks good as I put in 30 degrees of flaps and a power setting low enough to allow me to lose some altitude quickly. I got red over white and slowly come down to the numbers on the end of the runway. I put in some left rudder but we drift just a little to the left because of not enough right aileron and land ok but not on centerline. As we taxi back Stan says it was a hell of a day flying and that I did a pretty good job handling the plane in the rough wind. I know that I would definitely NOT go out into that sort of wind alone or without a lot more experience.
I had some fun flying out of the safety and comfort of SQL a bit and programming an actual flight to another airport is very cool. I look forward to doing it again next weekend!
San Carlos Airport (SQL)
9:30am
I love waking up on days when I get to go fly. I feel excited and usually get a few butterflys. I am scheduled to be down on the flight-line at 9:30am this Sunday morning. This is usually when I am finishing my first cup of coffee and watching my political talk shows, ‘Meet the Press’ -none better. Soap Opera’s can’t compete with the series of dramatic events unfolding in our nation’s capital, I digress. It is a really windy day which irks me because it’s a lot of work to fly in windy conditions. It’s been clear and calm all friggin’ week, why today!
I get down to Diamond and get out to N21591 and preflight. Stan comes out right as I wrap up my final walk around and we get in. We are going across the bay to an airport in Livermore which is situated in what is called the East Bay. I knew we were going to be flying to Livermore (LVK) and have memorized the radio settings – atis 119.65, ground 121.6 and tower frequency is 118.1. Stan is impressed as he had me take out my map (sectional chart) and before I could feel too proud of myself there were a few more frequencies I needed to get. We would be crossing the bay and flying right over Hayward Executive airport transitioning to Livermore.
We preflight and run-up the engine then with clearance from the tower we are lights, camera and action! We will be exiting SQL via a departure route known as the Belmont Slough. This is an area of the bay situated just north and east of SQL. As we follow this departure point we sail out over the San Francisco Bay and have I mentioned it is really unbelievable beautiful! I have also mentioned the close proximity of San Francisco airport and how close it is to SQL. We are now passing just a few hundred feet below BIG jets on final approach to SFO! I call up Hayward tower and say, ‘Hayward tower, Cessna two one five niner one, mid-bay, transitioning to Livermore.’ They come back with ‘five niner one maintain one thousand five hundred (feet) or below and squawk 0124 (on the transponder).’ The plane’s transponder registers a unique signal which the air traffic controller can best identify me by. This is the little dark green blip on their radar which transmits heading and altitude. As we cross over Hayward we also pass right underneath a Southwest Airlines 737 on final to Oakland. It is amazing the number of big airports in such close proximity to where I am training. Not to worry as we follow the lanes of the highway in the sky.
It has been pretty smooth sailing up to this point and as we pass over Hayward it gets a little choppy. As we head further inland it is steadily getting more turbulent and then the East Bay Hills loom before me. Before we climb out to 3,000 we pass by the outer ring of the Class Bravo for SFO. We climb out to 3,000 and it is windy as hell and we are getting bumped around pretty good. As we pass over the top of the hills there is a lot of turbulence coming in all directions. I got so busy flying I forgot about even getting motion sickness. I did not mention that before we took off we plugged our course into the flight computer which is attached to the GPS on the instrument panel. Once you plug in the airports you are flying to the moving map pops up and shows you exactly where you are. A directional line also shows you where you are going with the proper heading and airspace information. It tells you what heading you are on and whether you are off course or not. This is very cool! I LIKE!!
So back to the turbulence. I must admit it is unnerving flying in this kind of wind which is about 16 knots and gusts up to 26 knots. I was getting jostled around so much that my control inputs, throttle, etc and radio settings became moving targets. I adjusted to this and got everything done necessary to call up Livermore tower as we passed into the next valley. I called up Livermore ATIS and got the wind conditions, runway in use and the information designation of ‘foxtrot’. I went to call up Livermore tower and the winds began to die down somewhat, only somewhat. ‘Livermore tower, Cessna two one five niner one, at 580 / 680 interchange landing with information Foxtrot’. I got the response ‘five niner one report abeam the control tower maintain one thousand four hundred (feet).’ I fly alongside runway 25R (right) and when I’m abeam the control tower I announce my position as promised and they clear me for a landing (with the option) on runway 25R. ‘With the option’ means I can do a touch – n – go, go around or full stop landing. If it were really busy they could deny me and say full-stop landing.
I make several rights and I’m lined up for 25R and am looking good on my approach with good altitude and airspeed. Because of the winds I have a crab-angle in and we are sliding down to the runway sideways but straight down the centerline. As I get closer to the runway numbers I pull power and then pull back on the yoke and then straighten the nose out with my left rudder peddle. I give it a little right aileron to tilt the plane right so that I stay over the centerline and not get blown to the left side. We are down and a little off of centerline but not too bad really. Stan puts the flaps up and I give ‘er full throttle and we are off again to work the pattern. It is windy as hell and I am fighting the plane to make my patterns square and put in my crosswind corrections so that we get configured correctly for another shot at 25R. We come back around and I get lined up, crab-angle in and glide slope is red over white (good), approach speed is 65 knots (good) and then we get down on the deck and the winds are variable at this point so that it is beyond my capabilities and I relinquish the controls to Stanb so that we get down safely.
Stan and I agree this is too complex for beginning cross-country flying and we head back to SQL. We fly straight out and to the North of the East bay Hills. It is not as gusty here and as we crest the hills we have to descend quickly to get back under the Class Bravo airspace for SFO. We cross back over Hayward and then the beautiful bay towards the outer marker for SQL on the western edge of the bay. The outer marker for SQL is a big, sexy cement plant. I have already called up tower and have a clearance to land. We immediately enter our base leg and then a quick right to final approach and back on the glide slope. Everything looks good as I put in 30 degrees of flaps and a power setting low enough to allow me to lose some altitude quickly. I got red over white and slowly come down to the numbers on the end of the runway. I put in some left rudder but we drift just a little to the left because of not enough right aileron and land ok but not on centerline. As we taxi back Stan says it was a hell of a day flying and that I did a pretty good job handling the plane in the rough wind. I know that I would definitely NOT go out into that sort of wind alone or without a lot more experience.
I had some fun flying out of the safety and comfort of SQL a bit and programming an actual flight to another airport is very cool. I look forward to doing it again next weekend!
Landings - Part Deux
Sunday – January 14, 2007
San Carlos Airport (SQL)
10am
After spending the rest of Saturday doing mental touch – n – gos and obsessing like a mental patient on what I was doing wrong. I realized I just had to relax and fly.
My first landing today went pretty well and we were landing on runway 12 instead of 30 because of a slight shift in winds. After 2 landings on runway 12 the runway direction changes and we are landing on 30. We make a 180 degree turn and head the other direction in the pattern and with each landing I was on the cusp of setting those mains down whisper soft and straight down the centerline.
We did about 12 landings today each one getting close and the very last landing I greased it! I nailed everything from beginning to finish both in the pattern and then on final touch down the mains set down straight and sweet. Flyboy Stan tells me as I’m walking out of Diamond, ‘that was a great landing, you should stoked’.
Chuck Yeager I may not be but I am pretty stoked!
San Carlos Airport (SQL)
10am
After spending the rest of Saturday doing mental touch – n – gos and obsessing like a mental patient on what I was doing wrong. I realized I just had to relax and fly.
My first landing today went pretty well and we were landing on runway 12 instead of 30 because of a slight shift in winds. After 2 landings on runway 12 the runway direction changes and we are landing on 30. We make a 180 degree turn and head the other direction in the pattern and with each landing I was on the cusp of setting those mains down whisper soft and straight down the centerline.
We did about 12 landings today each one getting close and the very last landing I greased it! I nailed everything from beginning to finish both in the pattern and then on final touch down the mains set down straight and sweet. Flyboy Stan tells me as I’m walking out of Diamond, ‘that was a great landing, you should stoked’.
Chuck Yeager I may not be but I am pretty stoked!
Landing Practice
Saturday - January 13, 2007
San Carlos Airport (SQL)
10am
Touch – n – go’s baby!!
I am operating in what is called the ‘pattern’ of the airport. This means that when I take-off I call for ‘right-closed-traffic’ and then make a series of right turns to a landing. Basically the ‘pattern’ is a rectangle with the runway as one side of the rectangle. When I take off my climb-out speed must be 75 knots for best rate of climb (Vy). If you had an object at the end of the runway that you needed to clear like power lines, trees, etc you would go with best angle of climb (Vx) which is 65 knots in the Cessna 172SP. You are still going full throttle in both instances but the more you pitch up the nose of the plane the slower the airspeed basically sacrificing your airspeed for that higher climb rate.
I take off flying best rate of climb and straight out maintaining 75 kts until the Oracle campus is just to my right. I make a right turn over the diamond shaped pond in the middle of the campus and at the designated pattern elevation, 800ft, reduce power and maintain 800 ft and 85 kts. This is tricky however to turn and maintain a heading, lower the nose and pull back power all at the same time. I do this pretty well however if there is a crosswind you have to adjust the plane for that and I drift a little off course the first time. I adjust the plane on the second leg or downwind leg and visually fix the runway right in the middle of the wing strut as a reference. I am all the while looking inside at airspeed, altitude and heading adjusting for those crosswinds. We get sequenced from the tower, ‘two one five niner one you’re number two following a Katana turning base to final’. This means we need to visually identify the Katana (brand of plane), number one to land, and adjust the timing of a right turn to the base leg and then final right turn to final approach to land.
When the numbers of the runway you are going to land on appear abeam the aircraft – on the right in this instance – you power down, flaps to 10 degrees and angle the nose down slightly, about 3 degrees. This is IF you don’t have a ton of ‘tin’ in front of you landing as well. The flaps help slow the plane down and allow you to descend without picking up any airspeed. We extend our downwind leg a little until the Katana is flying on final approach passing back under my right wing. We then turn base leg and flaps 20 degrees then soon after we’re on final. When you turn final you want several things to happen. The airplane should be lined up with the runway and more specifically the centerline. There is a glide slope indicator that sits to the left of the runway that you can see from several miles away. This instrument has three different color combinations. If you are white over white you are two high, red over red too low and red over white just right. You also need to adjust for crosswinds which means putting the plane in a ‘crabbing’ position. If you are headed North for instance with a crosswind out of the NW the nose of your plane needs to be angled in that direction to keep the airplane traveling North. You are traveling straight but the airplane is cocked to the left a bit, essentially sliding sideways. As I travel down ‘the glide slope’ I must watch airspeed, which should be 65 kts and where the centerline of the runway lies. Stan is talking to me the entire time and I’m looking pretty good except as I get closer to the threshold of the runway I pull power to idle which I don’t do soon enough and start to get the nose pointed down the runway on the damned centerline AND level out at the right time to flair the plane to set the mains on the runway. I drift down like a dead leaf and we settle with a bump and slightly sideways because I’m not getting the rudder input set properly. We do this ALL afternoon. In my defense it was the first set of touch n go’s I’ve done in two years and there is a ton of airplanes landing or just passing through SQL airspace on their way somewhere else. Tower does a good job of separating and sequencing but when you have a lot of other airplanes in the pattern the rectangle I spoke of starts taking on all sorts of odd geometric shapes. Going long on downwind leg means you have to adjust power and altitude for your base leg and final approach and I am doing well to keep all of that configured when there is no other traffic in the pattern. Buggar all!
When we come to a full-stop landing and taxi back to the ramp at Diamond Stan says that did not go as well as he had hoped. I was a little dejected and was wondering about this whole business of flying. Was I good enough? Do I got any of that right stuff to even fly a small single engine aircraft? I know theoretically what needs to be done to land well however my body is not responding.
My touch – n – go’s were a little…. touch – n- go.
San Carlos Airport (SQL)
10am
Touch – n – go’s baby!!
I am operating in what is called the ‘pattern’ of the airport. This means that when I take-off I call for ‘right-closed-traffic’ and then make a series of right turns to a landing. Basically the ‘pattern’ is a rectangle with the runway as one side of the rectangle. When I take off my climb-out speed must be 75 knots for best rate of climb (Vy). If you had an object at the end of the runway that you needed to clear like power lines, trees, etc you would go with best angle of climb (Vx) which is 65 knots in the Cessna 172SP. You are still going full throttle in both instances but the more you pitch up the nose of the plane the slower the airspeed basically sacrificing your airspeed for that higher climb rate.
I take off flying best rate of climb and straight out maintaining 75 kts until the Oracle campus is just to my right. I make a right turn over the diamond shaped pond in the middle of the campus and at the designated pattern elevation, 800ft, reduce power and maintain 800 ft and 85 kts. This is tricky however to turn and maintain a heading, lower the nose and pull back power all at the same time. I do this pretty well however if there is a crosswind you have to adjust the plane for that and I drift a little off course the first time. I adjust the plane on the second leg or downwind leg and visually fix the runway right in the middle of the wing strut as a reference. I am all the while looking inside at airspeed, altitude and heading adjusting for those crosswinds. We get sequenced from the tower, ‘two one five niner one you’re number two following a Katana turning base to final’. This means we need to visually identify the Katana (brand of plane), number one to land, and adjust the timing of a right turn to the base leg and then final right turn to final approach to land.
When the numbers of the runway you are going to land on appear abeam the aircraft – on the right in this instance – you power down, flaps to 10 degrees and angle the nose down slightly, about 3 degrees. This is IF you don’t have a ton of ‘tin’ in front of you landing as well. The flaps help slow the plane down and allow you to descend without picking up any airspeed. We extend our downwind leg a little until the Katana is flying on final approach passing back under my right wing. We then turn base leg and flaps 20 degrees then soon after we’re on final. When you turn final you want several things to happen. The airplane should be lined up with the runway and more specifically the centerline. There is a glide slope indicator that sits to the left of the runway that you can see from several miles away. This instrument has three different color combinations. If you are white over white you are two high, red over red too low and red over white just right. You also need to adjust for crosswinds which means putting the plane in a ‘crabbing’ position. If you are headed North for instance with a crosswind out of the NW the nose of your plane needs to be angled in that direction to keep the airplane traveling North. You are traveling straight but the airplane is cocked to the left a bit, essentially sliding sideways. As I travel down ‘the glide slope’ I must watch airspeed, which should be 65 kts and where the centerline of the runway lies. Stan is talking to me the entire time and I’m looking pretty good except as I get closer to the threshold of the runway I pull power to idle which I don’t do soon enough and start to get the nose pointed down the runway on the damned centerline AND level out at the right time to flair the plane to set the mains on the runway. I drift down like a dead leaf and we settle with a bump and slightly sideways because I’m not getting the rudder input set properly. We do this ALL afternoon. In my defense it was the first set of touch n go’s I’ve done in two years and there is a ton of airplanes landing or just passing through SQL airspace on their way somewhere else. Tower does a good job of separating and sequencing but when you have a lot of other airplanes in the pattern the rectangle I spoke of starts taking on all sorts of odd geometric shapes. Going long on downwind leg means you have to adjust power and altitude for your base leg and final approach and I am doing well to keep all of that configured when there is no other traffic in the pattern. Buggar all!
When we come to a full-stop landing and taxi back to the ramp at Diamond Stan says that did not go as well as he had hoped. I was a little dejected and was wondering about this whole business of flying. Was I good enough? Do I got any of that right stuff to even fly a small single engine aircraft? I know theoretically what needs to be done to land well however my body is not responding.
My touch – n – go’s were a little…. touch – n- go.
Day 2
Saturday, January 6, 2007
San Carlos Airport (SQL)
1pm
Driving out to the airfield I run through all of the maneuvers in my head, especially those nettlesome power-on stalls. I get to SQL and do a little of what they call ‘desk flying.’ This is where you visualize the maneuver and physically place your hands in each of the control positions pushing and pulling those imaginary control inputs. I have the image in my head of how these maneuvers should go and feel pretty confidant walking into Diamond. I grab the keys to the plane and see Stan and he gives me the go ahead to go out to the ramp and preflight N21591. Preflight done and everything is ‘check’ we get in and take-off and I am feeling relaxed and in control. I am flying really smoothly and leading with a little rudder making graceful, coordinated turns. I begin to really appreciate the area I am flying in which is the San Francisco Peninsula - with the Pacific Ocean to one side and the Bay to the other with SF looming in front – really beautiful! We make a left at Bay Meadows and head out to Crystal Springs reservoir just east of the hills that precede the ocean. We begin the maneuvers and slow flight, check, emergency landings, check, power-off stall, check, POWER-ON STALL…. five attempts later and finally I am popping the plane up and stalling like a champ. Smooth application of power, pitch-up, stall and nose back to the horizon after a controlled drop in the nose of the plane giving it a little loving right rudder. I am starting to get a feel for the subtle nuances of power, pitch and the smooth application of control inputs. You start to realize what the horizon looks like as well as using your peripheral vision to take clues from the relative angle of your wings. You really get the idea of operating a vehicle in three dimensions.
I call up tower and head back only to make another less than par landing. There is a saying that ‘any landing you can walk away from is a good landing’ and I AM getting the plane on the ground and between the lines of the runway. HOWEVER, I want those main wheels (back wheels) to kiss the earth and the nose wheel to lay down right on the centerline of the runway. Anything less than that will not be satisfactory. Not a bad day of flying all in all.
Touch –n- go’s next weekend!!
San Carlos Airport (SQL)
1pm
Driving out to the airfield I run through all of the maneuvers in my head, especially those nettlesome power-on stalls. I get to SQL and do a little of what they call ‘desk flying.’ This is where you visualize the maneuver and physically place your hands in each of the control positions pushing and pulling those imaginary control inputs. I have the image in my head of how these maneuvers should go and feel pretty confidant walking into Diamond. I grab the keys to the plane and see Stan and he gives me the go ahead to go out to the ramp and preflight N21591. Preflight done and everything is ‘check’ we get in and take-off and I am feeling relaxed and in control. I am flying really smoothly and leading with a little rudder making graceful, coordinated turns. I begin to really appreciate the area I am flying in which is the San Francisco Peninsula - with the Pacific Ocean to one side and the Bay to the other with SF looming in front – really beautiful! We make a left at Bay Meadows and head out to Crystal Springs reservoir just east of the hills that precede the ocean. We begin the maneuvers and slow flight, check, emergency landings, check, power-off stall, check, POWER-ON STALL…. five attempts later and finally I am popping the plane up and stalling like a champ. Smooth application of power, pitch-up, stall and nose back to the horizon after a controlled drop in the nose of the plane giving it a little loving right rudder. I am starting to get a feel for the subtle nuances of power, pitch and the smooth application of control inputs. You start to realize what the horizon looks like as well as using your peripheral vision to take clues from the relative angle of your wings. You really get the idea of operating a vehicle in three dimensions.
I call up tower and head back only to make another less than par landing. There is a saying that ‘any landing you can walk away from is a good landing’ and I AM getting the plane on the ground and between the lines of the runway. HOWEVER, I want those main wheels (back wheels) to kiss the earth and the nose wheel to lay down right on the centerline of the runway. Anything less than that will not be satisfactory. Not a bad day of flying all in all.
Touch –n- go’s next weekend!!
Back in the Saddle
Friday, January 5, 2007
San Carlos Airport (SQL) California
12pm
I arrive at the FBO or fixed base operator, Diamond Aviation, at about 11:50 so I’m not rushed to meet my flight instructor, Stan (all-American flyboy). Stan was my instructor in 2005 and I have about 9 hours logged with him. I already have about 29 hours logged as it is in everything from a very small, and slow, Cessna 150 to my current ride, the Cessna 172SP with 4 seats and a more powerful 180hp Lycoming engine - giddy-up! The number of hours needed to obtain a private pilot’s certificate is 40 hrs – 20 with instructor and 20 solo. I’m going to be working on about 70 hrs when all is said and done. To me it’s all about being up in that tin can sitting in the left seat.
At the counter I check the ‘squawk’ sheet listing all aircraft at Diamond. This has information on required inspections and any f.y.i notes left by previous pilots on certain aircraft. The aircraft I will be flying today is N21591 and everything looks ok. Stan walks in about this time and we sit down to discuss the maneuvers I will be performing. These are all maneuvers I have done previously with Stan, mca or minimum controllable airspeed which is slow flight, turns, stalls (both power-on and power-off) and emergency landing procedures. He diagrams the maneuvers on the melamine board and I scribble notes and it is all coming back to me.
We walk out to the flight-line and up to N21591 parked on the ramp. I unlatch the door to the cabin and take out my official Cessna 172SP checklist card. If you thought getting into a small single engine airplane and just taking off was a simple matter, think again. There are more than 100 checklist items before you taxi up and take off. Stan used to send me out to preflight the plane myself. With so much time elapsed since the last time I went flying he wants me to make sure nothing has slipped since last time two years ago. I take off the control lock on the yoke (control wheel) and turn on the ‘master switch’ or electrical system to put the flaps down and check the fuel gauges and avionics cooling fan. Everything is ‘check’ and I turn off the electrical master and take my inspection to the airframe outside. I walk around checking all of the control surfaces and physical condition of the plane as well as visually verify fuel on board. Fuel gauges on Cessnas are notorious for being inaccurate. Once you verify fuel quantity you can calculate your fuel flow while in the air to ascertain fuel onboard at any given time so damn the gauges – let’s go flying! We climb into the very cramped cockpit and begin engine-start procedures. I have gained a little weight since the last time I went flying and I’m feeling the squeeze. I can assure you that when pilots talk about ‘pushing the outside of the envelope’ they are not talking about the size of their ass. This will be a good motivator to lose some weight.
I run through some final checks and then in the age old custom of prop-driven airplanes yell out the window, ‘clear prop!!!’. I fire up the engine and bring in about 1,000 rpm and then run through departure procedures. First we get ATIS or automated terminal air service on the radio. This advises us on wind, wind speed, visibility, temperature / dew point, atmospheric pressure which you set your altimeter to and runway in use. You are then assigned a specific letter A - Z which denotes the time of the report so the tower knows you have current information. With current information O (Oscar) we call up San Carlos ground control. I remember the procedure so I tell Stan I’ll make the call, “San Carlos ground, Cessna two one five niner one at Diamond with Oscar ready to taxi to runway three zero”. We are cleared to runway 30 and I throttle up and begin to taxi following the yellow centerline of the taxiway. The runways at SQL are 30 on one end and 12 on the other end. Basically this is the magnetic heading of the runway, 30 being 300 (just add a zero to runway headings) with 360 as magnetic north. So runway 30 is heading 300 or N – NW and runway 12 is heading 120 or S – SE.
To steer the plane you maneuver the front wheel with the rudder peddles. The brakes are on the topside of the peddles. When you take off you move your feet down slightly to keep them on the rudder peddles but off the brakes. Taxiing takes some practice as the plane tends to wander and one must constantly ‘dance’ on the peddles while simultaneously braking. The plane is light so the wind sometimes pushes you around and you have to hold the control yoke down and in during certain windy conditions. Like a lot of things in flying it is not like driving a car and requires you to pat your head and scratch you belly at the same time. We pull up to the part of the taxiway where we will do our engine ‘run-up’ just prior to taking off.
I pull out my card and begin to do final checks on the instruments and gauges. I then run the rpm’s up to about 1800 from 1000 to check the mags or magnetos (dual ignition system) and run a few other diagnostic checks on engine pressure and vacuum system which runs the gyroscopic gauges. With preflight done we taxi up to the runway hold line of 30 and I make the call, “San Carlos tower, Cessna two one five niner one, holding short at three zero for Bay Meadows departure”.
We are told there is a Piper on short final (approach)and we are cleared though need to expedite our take-off. I quickly turn on my landing lights, the transponder and push the fuel / air mixture knob in and throttle up and onto runway 30. This is called ‘lights, camera, action’. Take-off or ‘rotation’ is about 55 knots and with a little right rudder depressed I focus my eyes down the runway. A few glances back inside to my airspeed indicator needle and at 55 knots I pull back slightly on the yoke. I ease the plane off the runway keeping a little pressure on right rudder peddle. Pressure must be applied to the right rudder peddle to counteract what are called ‘left turning tendencies’ in single engine prop driven planes. This occurs for several reasons. The propeller turns clockwise which means there is considerable torque being applied to the plane when on the ground. Basically the force of the prop turning hard right torques the plane left causing it to veer slightly to the left if not for a little right rudder input. This only happens on the ground. When taking off the slipstream of air winding around the plane hits the left side of the tail fin or vertical stabilizer. This also turns the plane to the left so again right rudder input is necessary. This is most pronounced when taking off – high angle of attack, high power and not very evident in straight and level flight however.
We fly straight out at 1,500 ft staying to the right of Hwy 101 and at the Bay Meadows horse track turn left heading in a Westerly direction toward the Pacific and Half Moon Bay. These are standard departure procedures so you don’t go into what is known as Class B or Bravo airspace. Class Bravo is San Francisco airport’s airspace and literally SQL sits right underneath San Francisco’s final approach. You must remain at or below 1,500 ft until Bay Meadows which is a specified departure point to the West. I am flying in very close proximity to some of the world’s biggest aircraft at one of the busiest airports in the world!
We soar out over the Pacific and it is a spectacular, clear day. The winds however were screaming out of the Northwest at about 20 knots and the ride out was a little choppy. I am reminded this ain’t no ride in an over-sized jumbo-jet. Stan has me execute the maneuvers and all goes well except for my power-on stalls. A power-on stall is a maneuver meant to simulate taking off and pulling too far back on the yoke or otherwise stalling the wings. A stall in a plane does not mean the engine stalls as we typically know it. What happens to a plane when it pitches up at a certain angle beyond its aerodynamic capabilities is the smooth air going over the top of the wing detaches and the nose drops. You can recover from this as long as you ‘break the stall’ by pushing the yoke in first then pull back slightly to get the nose above the horizon for a stabilized climb with the essential right rudder input. To execute a power-on stall you slow the plane down to 55 kts simulated take off speed and then apply power to full throttle while pulling back on the yoke until the plane’s wings ‘stall’ and the nose drops, then yoke in and slow climb out. You have to keep in the bloody right rudder, left turning tendencies, Russell! It’s a damn scary thing to do because you have to pitch the plane up at a high angle of attack and then wait for it to stop flying for a second. You also have a stall warning blaring in your headset. What happens if you don’t do all of this smoothly with a little precious right rudder is the plane breaks hard left and the nose falls so you are suddenly staring sideways and down at the earth below you. It is startling and somewhat horrifying if you’re not used to it. To get out of that you have to immediately give a lot of right rudder that you stupidly did not apply enough of in the first place. I did this several times and I could tell this was very annoying to my all American flyboy instructor. I realize that I don’t really want to stall a plane that is flying along perfectly well, thank you.
We did a couple of more power-on stalls that had me looking like a wobbly goblin out over Half Moon Bay. I wondered what some surfer below must be thinking as my tinker toy of a plane is going through wild gyrations over the Pacific. Dude, I’m the unintentional acrobat.
I check ATIS and call in to SQL tower to let them know our landing intentions and head in. Stan sets me up for my landing configuration and I fishtail it in for a slightly sideways landing back on 30. All American Flyboy doesn’t seem to thrilled and mentions something about doing a bunch of touch and go’s (landing practice) next weekend. We taxi up to the ramp at Diamond and I run through my power down sequences and kill the engine. My friggin’ arms are fatigued and my shirt is soaked from sweat. I’ve been arm wrestling a Cessna 172 all afternoon. Stan mentions I flew well just coming back and we head in to the terminal to debrief the flight and then, oh yeah, I gotta pay for this whole exercise.
I tell Stan thanks and see ya tomorrow for another workout.
San Carlos Airport (SQL) California
12pm
I arrive at the FBO or fixed base operator, Diamond Aviation, at about 11:50 so I’m not rushed to meet my flight instructor, Stan (all-American flyboy). Stan was my instructor in 2005 and I have about 9 hours logged with him. I already have about 29 hours logged as it is in everything from a very small, and slow, Cessna 150 to my current ride, the Cessna 172SP with 4 seats and a more powerful 180hp Lycoming engine - giddy-up! The number of hours needed to obtain a private pilot’s certificate is 40 hrs – 20 with instructor and 20 solo. I’m going to be working on about 70 hrs when all is said and done. To me it’s all about being up in that tin can sitting in the left seat.
At the counter I check the ‘squawk’ sheet listing all aircraft at Diamond. This has information on required inspections and any f.y.i notes left by previous pilots on certain aircraft. The aircraft I will be flying today is N21591 and everything looks ok. Stan walks in about this time and we sit down to discuss the maneuvers I will be performing. These are all maneuvers I have done previously with Stan, mca or minimum controllable airspeed which is slow flight, turns, stalls (both power-on and power-off) and emergency landing procedures. He diagrams the maneuvers on the melamine board and I scribble notes and it is all coming back to me.
We walk out to the flight-line and up to N21591 parked on the ramp. I unlatch the door to the cabin and take out my official Cessna 172SP checklist card. If you thought getting into a small single engine airplane and just taking off was a simple matter, think again. There are more than 100 checklist items before you taxi up and take off. Stan used to send me out to preflight the plane myself. With so much time elapsed since the last time I went flying he wants me to make sure nothing has slipped since last time two years ago. I take off the control lock on the yoke (control wheel) and turn on the ‘master switch’ or electrical system to put the flaps down and check the fuel gauges and avionics cooling fan. Everything is ‘check’ and I turn off the electrical master and take my inspection to the airframe outside. I walk around checking all of the control surfaces and physical condition of the plane as well as visually verify fuel on board. Fuel gauges on Cessnas are notorious for being inaccurate. Once you verify fuel quantity you can calculate your fuel flow while in the air to ascertain fuel onboard at any given time so damn the gauges – let’s go flying! We climb into the very cramped cockpit and begin engine-start procedures. I have gained a little weight since the last time I went flying and I’m feeling the squeeze. I can assure you that when pilots talk about ‘pushing the outside of the envelope’ they are not talking about the size of their ass. This will be a good motivator to lose some weight.
I run through some final checks and then in the age old custom of prop-driven airplanes yell out the window, ‘clear prop!!!’. I fire up the engine and bring in about 1,000 rpm and then run through departure procedures. First we get ATIS or automated terminal air service on the radio. This advises us on wind, wind speed, visibility, temperature / dew point, atmospheric pressure which you set your altimeter to and runway in use. You are then assigned a specific letter A - Z which denotes the time of the report so the tower knows you have current information. With current information O (Oscar) we call up San Carlos ground control. I remember the procedure so I tell Stan I’ll make the call, “San Carlos ground, Cessna two one five niner one at Diamond with Oscar ready to taxi to runway three zero”. We are cleared to runway 30 and I throttle up and begin to taxi following the yellow centerline of the taxiway. The runways at SQL are 30 on one end and 12 on the other end. Basically this is the magnetic heading of the runway, 30 being 300 (just add a zero to runway headings) with 360 as magnetic north. So runway 30 is heading 300 or N – NW and runway 12 is heading 120 or S – SE.
To steer the plane you maneuver the front wheel with the rudder peddles. The brakes are on the topside of the peddles. When you take off you move your feet down slightly to keep them on the rudder peddles but off the brakes. Taxiing takes some practice as the plane tends to wander and one must constantly ‘dance’ on the peddles while simultaneously braking. The plane is light so the wind sometimes pushes you around and you have to hold the control yoke down and in during certain windy conditions. Like a lot of things in flying it is not like driving a car and requires you to pat your head and scratch you belly at the same time. We pull up to the part of the taxiway where we will do our engine ‘run-up’ just prior to taking off.
I pull out my card and begin to do final checks on the instruments and gauges. I then run the rpm’s up to about 1800 from 1000 to check the mags or magnetos (dual ignition system) and run a few other diagnostic checks on engine pressure and vacuum system which runs the gyroscopic gauges. With preflight done we taxi up to the runway hold line of 30 and I make the call, “San Carlos tower, Cessna two one five niner one, holding short at three zero for Bay Meadows departure”.
We are told there is a Piper on short final (approach)and we are cleared though need to expedite our take-off. I quickly turn on my landing lights, the transponder and push the fuel / air mixture knob in and throttle up and onto runway 30. This is called ‘lights, camera, action’. Take-off or ‘rotation’ is about 55 knots and with a little right rudder depressed I focus my eyes down the runway. A few glances back inside to my airspeed indicator needle and at 55 knots I pull back slightly on the yoke. I ease the plane off the runway keeping a little pressure on right rudder peddle. Pressure must be applied to the right rudder peddle to counteract what are called ‘left turning tendencies’ in single engine prop driven planes. This occurs for several reasons. The propeller turns clockwise which means there is considerable torque being applied to the plane when on the ground. Basically the force of the prop turning hard right torques the plane left causing it to veer slightly to the left if not for a little right rudder input. This only happens on the ground. When taking off the slipstream of air winding around the plane hits the left side of the tail fin or vertical stabilizer. This also turns the plane to the left so again right rudder input is necessary. This is most pronounced when taking off – high angle of attack, high power and not very evident in straight and level flight however.
We fly straight out at 1,500 ft staying to the right of Hwy 101 and at the Bay Meadows horse track turn left heading in a Westerly direction toward the Pacific and Half Moon Bay. These are standard departure procedures so you don’t go into what is known as Class B or Bravo airspace. Class Bravo is San Francisco airport’s airspace and literally SQL sits right underneath San Francisco’s final approach. You must remain at or below 1,500 ft until Bay Meadows which is a specified departure point to the West. I am flying in very close proximity to some of the world’s biggest aircraft at one of the busiest airports in the world!
We soar out over the Pacific and it is a spectacular, clear day. The winds however were screaming out of the Northwest at about 20 knots and the ride out was a little choppy. I am reminded this ain’t no ride in an over-sized jumbo-jet. Stan has me execute the maneuvers and all goes well except for my power-on stalls. A power-on stall is a maneuver meant to simulate taking off and pulling too far back on the yoke or otherwise stalling the wings. A stall in a plane does not mean the engine stalls as we typically know it. What happens to a plane when it pitches up at a certain angle beyond its aerodynamic capabilities is the smooth air going over the top of the wing detaches and the nose drops. You can recover from this as long as you ‘break the stall’ by pushing the yoke in first then pull back slightly to get the nose above the horizon for a stabilized climb with the essential right rudder input. To execute a power-on stall you slow the plane down to 55 kts simulated take off speed and then apply power to full throttle while pulling back on the yoke until the plane’s wings ‘stall’ and the nose drops, then yoke in and slow climb out. You have to keep in the bloody right rudder, left turning tendencies, Russell! It’s a damn scary thing to do because you have to pitch the plane up at a high angle of attack and then wait for it to stop flying for a second. You also have a stall warning blaring in your headset. What happens if you don’t do all of this smoothly with a little precious right rudder is the plane breaks hard left and the nose falls so you are suddenly staring sideways and down at the earth below you. It is startling and somewhat horrifying if you’re not used to it. To get out of that you have to immediately give a lot of right rudder that you stupidly did not apply enough of in the first place. I did this several times and I could tell this was very annoying to my all American flyboy instructor. I realize that I don’t really want to stall a plane that is flying along perfectly well, thank you.
We did a couple of more power-on stalls that had me looking like a wobbly goblin out over Half Moon Bay. I wondered what some surfer below must be thinking as my tinker toy of a plane is going through wild gyrations over the Pacific. Dude, I’m the unintentional acrobat.
I check ATIS and call in to SQL tower to let them know our landing intentions and head in. Stan sets me up for my landing configuration and I fishtail it in for a slightly sideways landing back on 30. All American Flyboy doesn’t seem to thrilled and mentions something about doing a bunch of touch and go’s (landing practice) next weekend. We taxi up to the ramp at Diamond and I run through my power down sequences and kill the engine. My friggin’ arms are fatigued and my shirt is soaked from sweat. I’ve been arm wrestling a Cessna 172 all afternoon. Stan mentions I flew well just coming back and we head in to the terminal to debrief the flight and then, oh yeah, I gotta pay for this whole exercise.
I tell Stan thanks and see ya tomorrow for another workout.
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