Yearly Archives: 2011

Holding Pattern Without A Shuttle View

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As everyone knows, today was the day for the space shuttle’s last mission.  I didn’t have tickets to see the launch in person.  But I really wanted to see it.
So I came up with what I thought was a clever plan.  I would fly the Cirrus upto 17,000 FT and go into a holding pattern “near” the launch site.  Of course, “near” meant I had to stay clear of the TFR (temporary flight restriction), which was a 30 mile ring around the launch site.  That would still give me a memorable view and hopefully even some pictures/video.
Unfortunately, this plan didn’t quite work as I had hoped…
The weather in FL was lousy today!  Not as bad as a hurricane or a convective sigmet.  But plenty of clouds, rain and lots of dreary overcast.
Ever the optimist, I filed an IFR flight plan and decided to try it anyway.  I was hoping to get above the clouds where I could get a view.
When I filed the IFR flight plan, I wrote “Training flight: practicing holding patterns @ COKES” in the remarks section.  COKES is an intersection just off the FL east coast near Flagler County airport that was just outside of the TFR.
When I arrived at the airport, I did my preflight inspection under some very nasty looking clouds, which you can see below:
As luck would have it, as soon as I finished my preflight and closed the door, it started raining!

As I waited for my IFR clearance, I watched another Cirrus land in the rain.  I checked all of the avionics one more time and then was ready for takeoff.  Taking off in the rain is bit unusual because there is really not much to see out the window and you have totally rely on instruments moments after rotation.
After I was airborne, the next hurdle was ATC.  They were quite busy today due to the weather and several other aircraft maneuvering to do the same thing as me.  Initially, they only cleared me to 5,000 FT, which was right in the middle of a cloud layer.  Aside from the training/practice value, this was rather unsatisfying.  There was absolutely no view and it was so bumpy I couldn’t even play with any camera equipment.  I asked 3 different controllers for a higher altitude.  Each one told me to “standby” then later said “unable” due to traffic or some other excuse.
Finally, I got handed off to the Daytona Approach control, where I encountered a much more cooperative controller.  Despite my “disguised” flight plan, he knew exactly what I was doing and was eager to help.
He gave me a clearance to 10,000 FT and told me to hold over Ormand Beach Airport.  I happily complied and setup my cameras.  Unfortunately, even @ 10,000 FT, there were too many clouds to see anything.  ATC was unable to clear me any higher due to “inbound international arrivals”.
So after all the effort, I didn’t see or even hear the launch!
But the trip was definitely not over.  I still needed to fly home and the weather continued to add drama to the trip.  You can see both the TFR (with the RED ring) and the weather in Tampa on the screen shot below.

The rain was fairly heavy and I flew the GPS23 all the way down to 450 FT before I could even see the runway!  As I got to the runway numbers, I realized I was a little high.  Since the runway was longer than I needed, I just floated a little and landed slightly long…. You can see for yourself in the video below:
After I got home, I finally watched the launch on CNN…  Even though I didn’t see it live, I got some great weather flying experience today!

Cheers,
== T.J.==

State #37 (NE) and Missouri River Flooding

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On the way back from Sioux Falls, the weather once again played a factor in my route.  I needed to leave SD before the storms arrived and I was also hoping to hit one more state on the way.
I was heading to Lexington, KY and found a routing through Omaha that worked perfectly:
On the way to Omaha, I noticed a very unusually shaped TFR (temporary flight restriction), which is the red outlined area in the picture below:
At first I wasn’t sure what to make of this …. Then I realized that this TFR was over the sections of the Missouri River that were experiencing some major flooding.  The TFR was surface to 4000 FT.  I overflew most of it and saw how just how bad it was first hand:

Omaha, which is right on the Missouri River near the Iowa border, was also affected by the floods.  The airport was still open despite flooded areas adjacent to several taxiways.
After landing, I jumped into a crew car and headed to the Hollywood Diner.  It was simple, regular diner food.  But it did have some unusual decor.  The whole place is decorated like a 1950s diner with tinsel town memorabilia in every wall, ceiling and corner.

The final leg of the journey was from Omaha to Lexington.  This part of the journey was smooth and uneventful.  Even had a moderate tailwind most of the way.
Cheers,
== T.J.==

Scenic Trip to Cedar Key

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This morning I woke up and  looked outside to find typical weather for FL.  Sunshine as far you could see ; Clear blue sky ; AND a perfect day to go flying!  After my recent CPPP training, I have been sufficiently brainwashed into treating every flight as an opportunity to practice something.

So this morning, I decided to practice short field landings @ Cedar Key Airport, which is a small island airport just west of Ocala.  For a civilian pilot like me, who will likely never get to land on an aircraft carrier, this is as close as I will get.  As you can see in the Google map below, the sole runway  5/23 has water on both ends!

In addition to having a 2300 FT runway, which is short 4 me, they also have NO instrument approaches!  As many of you know, my comfort zone is IFR in Class B airport environments.  So going to Cedar Key was perfect for today!  This gave me a scenic place to fly and gave me some practice outside of my normal comfort zone.

After an uneventful preflight, I departed VFR @ ~ 9AM.  With the music on, I stayed under Tampa’s class B airspace and flew westbound first till I got to the coast.  Then, miraculously without GPS,  I followed the coastline northbound and didn’t get lost!  During the entire journey, I didn’t even talk to ATC!!  

Before attempting Cedar Key, I wanted to practice a landing first on a longer runway.  So I did a “stop and go” @ Crystal River Airport.  The runway there was about double the length of Cedar Key.  Since I handled that with no problem, I felt ready for Cedar Key.

I easily found Cedar Key Airport but felt almost distracted as I approached for landing.  I was trying to concentrate on airspeed and attitude, while I kept getting distracted by sights out the window.  But other than the distractions, the landing was quite easy with calm winds and no surprises. You can see the landing for yourself in the video below:

After I landed and found a place to park, I realized how small the place was.  There is no fuel, no services and only about half a dozen parking spots on the tarmac and a another half dozen in the grass.  I didn’t even see an FBO terminal.  Instead of an FBO, I was greeted on the radio when I was about 5 miles out by a very friendly cab driver/ tour guide named Judy.  She drove her car right up the taxiway and picked me up next to my plane.  

She showed me around the island a bit, which only takes a few minutes because it is so small.  Then suggested a quaint little place for brunch.  After a quick bite, I took off again and circled around the island to get some more pictures before going home.

Cheers,
== T.J.==

Training Mission Accomplished!

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This past weekend was fun, educational and downright grueling!  As expected, the ground portion of the CPPP covered some specific topics, like in-flight weather, engine management and aviation safety.  The stats around Cirrus accidents and parachute deploys were quite a surprise to me.  However, the flight training was the really significant part for me this year.
The instructor I was assigned (named Cliff) was a former military pilot and a very seasoned instructor. I had met Cliff a few months ago.  But never had the opportunity to fly with him before.
The plan was to cover VFR work on Saturday, such as stalls, slow flight, unusual attitudes, emergencies etc and IFR work on Sunday, such as procedures, holds, precision flight etc.  Sounds simple right??.  (That’s what I thought)
From the beginning, Cliff’s military background was blatantly obvious. After he carefully watched me do the entire pre-flight, we taxied out to runway 27.  Seconds after we started to move, Cliff noticed I was a few inches off of centerline and ~ 1200 RPM.  He immediately insisted that I get “exactly on centerline” and “exactly @ 1000 RPM”.  That was just a hint of the level of precision that Cliff demanded of his students.  After the run up, he gave me the instructions for the flight and we were quickly cleared for takeoff.
After departure I was to join V97 as soon as practical and track to the Rome VOR using NO GPS and NO AutoPilot.  The “no auto pilot”, I expected… But the “No GPS” hurt.  I felt like I couldn’t use any R9 magic and I don’t remember the last time I tracked a radial to an old fashioned VOR!
After I eventually got to the Rome VOR, we did some slow flight, stalls and unusual attitudes. Again, I thought to myself “Simple enough”. However, I didn’t realize the level of precision he required.  As a result, it took me 4 attempts to do one of the maneuvers until I did it “well enough” for him.  Even his technique for simulating emergencies was a bit interesting.  He pretended to be a panicked passenger repeatedly yelling “Smoke in the Cabin” when we were ~ 5 miles from landing.  I had to retrieve the right checklist and stay focused despite his distractions. After surviving Saturday, I was looking forward to Sunday’s IFR flight because that is more of my comfort zone.
On Sunday morning, I was prepared to spend the entire flight under the hood.  Luckily (or unluckily) the weather was not very good and most of the flight was in actual IMC.
My level of precision was more to Cliff’s liking on Sunday 😉  I was doing great and feeling rather proud of myself for flying so well in the clouds.     Then Cliff decided to change everything!
1. First, he blanked out my PFD, which is the left IFD screen on the R9 … (No problem… I just flew while looking at the right screen.)
2. Then he pulled the autopilot circuit breaker… (No problem… I just flew by hand..)
3. Then he pulled the circuit breaker on FMS keyboard … (No problem.  This was the first time I flew with this many things “failed” at the same time… But I did reasonably well)
4. Then he told me I had to fly the ILS27 back to McCollum Field in this condition… Yikes!  Just flying straight and level in this condition was OK.  But flying an ILS in actual IMC with 3 items failed, really pushed me!!!  I struggled to keep up with the radios and frequency changes using only backup instruments.
Fortunately, both Cliff and I survived!  Here is what the resulting GPS track looked like on Flightaware:

After a short break, I flew home and finished the weekend with ~ 10 hours on hobbs and a huge feeling of accomplishment!  Hopefully, I wont have to experience any of those emergencies for real.  But if I do, I now feel just a little more “ready”.
Cheers,
== T.J.==

Off To Training In Atlanta

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It’s that time of year again.  Like most pilots, my insurance company “requires” (or should I say “financially encourages”) me to take annual recurrent training.  The first few years of plane ownership, I would simply follow the basic FAA Wings program and do some 1-1 training with a local flight instructor.  This was enough to satisfy the insurance company and the FAA.  However, I rarely found it to be very significant.
Last year, I found a much better approach.  The Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) sponsors a 2 day program called the Cirrus Pilot Proficiency Program (CPPP).  I attended one in Lakeland, FL last year and found it to be very worthwhile.  The program entails about 10 hours of ground school and 6 hours of flight school.  This weekend there is a CPPP in Atlanta.
So this morning I flew from Tampa to Cobb County McCollum Airport on the north side of Atlanta. The flight was uneventful until I got close to Atlanta Hartsfield’s Class B airspace.  Then it got interesting!
The ATL Approach controller was busy orchestrating ~ 8 different aircraft and seemed a bit grumpy.  Every plane on the frequency seemed to be in the wrong position.  For about 10 minutes, there was not a single break on the radio with every transmission being rapid-fire instructions for heading and altitude changes.  When he finally got around to me, he seemed in a hurry to get rid of me.  He gave me a heading change, an altitude change, the Turbo 2 Arrival Procedure and a frequency change!  I repeated the whole thing back and was happy to change frequencies.  Thankfully, the next controller and frequency seemed to be much calmer.
I then tried to pull up the Turbo 2 procedure chart only to realize that it didn’t exist!  However, there was a TRBOW 8 procedure.   I confirmed with the controller, who laughed and told me (in his southern drawl) “there’s only one Turbo procedure ’round here and it’s Turbo 8”  As you can probably tell, not only was this frequency calmer, the controller was much friendlier.  In fact, when he gave frequency changes, it was often accompanied with “Good Day Y’All”
After he vectored me to a straight in RNAV GPS 27 approach, I flew a rather good approach but the landing wasn’t great.  It was smooth but a little left of centerline.  Luckily, the long, wide runway was quite forgiving.  The line crew @ Preferred Jet Center towed me into a parking space next to 4 other Cirrus planes.  Made for a cool picture today:

By the time “school” starts tomorrow, there should be 2 dozen more Cirrus planes on the ramp.  Hopefully, I can get an even cooler picture and some videos sometime this weekend.
Cheers,
== T.J.==

Learning New Tricks In Hilton Head

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After 300+ hours flying behind the R9 screens, I thought I knew everything there was to know about R9.  But at the risk of sounding like an “old dog”, yesterday at the R9 User Group Meeting in Hilton Head, I learned a couple of cool new tricks!

The weather was excellent and Hilton Head is only 270 miles away… So the plan was for an early morning journey, which would get me there in time for the 08:30 planned start.  The trip there was a rather uneventful flight.  A direct climb to 17k FT using the IAS climb feature of DFC100, followed by a totally peaceful IFR flight.  In fact, the skies were so empty at that hour, that I was making “excuses” to talk to ATC just to ensure that my radio was working properly!

When I got closer to Hilton Head Airport, I checked out the charts and found something unusual.  Instead of the typical cadre of precision approaches,  they had something called the “Broad Creek Visual Approach” procedure.

I had never heard of a “Visual Approach Procedure”.  But it looked rather simple and I was eager to try it.  I asked ATC for a descent and a clearance for this funky approach.  They cleared me “as requested” and told me to “Report when I had the lighthouse in sight”.  Moments later, I saw the infamous lighthouse and proceeded to follow the approach course at 1500 FT along the water.   It was quite a sight following a river at such a low altitude.

I found it quite ironic that in order to get to a user group for a very high tech product, I flew a very old fashioned (and low tech) flight along a river using a lighthouse as a landmark!

After the meeting, I was so excited about the tips, tricks and “gems” that were discussed and was eager to try them myself in flight.

The one “gem” that intrigued me the most, was the idea of a “Pseudo Approach”.  The basic idea is that when flying to any runway (regardless airport ground equipment), you can use R9 altitudes constraints / course offsets in conjunction with the DFC100 Vertical Navigation features to create a simulated GPS approach with a glideslope.  Obviously, this is not a legal FAA sanctioned procedure.  Nor is it as accurate as a real published instrument procedure.  However, when the real thing is not available, it is certainly much better and safer than having nothing. Here is a short video clip that shows my first attempt doing this:

Now after learning a few R9 tricks, I can’t wait till next months’ CPPP training course in Atlanta so I can hopefully learn some cool Cirrus tricks!

Cheers,

== T.J.==

Bahamas Practice Flight

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My international radio license arrived yesterday in the mail. Earlier in the week, I saw online that it had been approved. But didn’t get the official paper in the mail till yesterday.
That meant that today was the day for the long overdue Bahamas flight!!
It was really perfect timing because the plane is going down for a “good type of maintenance” tomorrow. (Will tell you more about that in a separate post later this week.)
Back to today’s plans…
Before doing this flight with family or friends, I wanted to try it solo first.  So the plan was simply to fly there, maybe grab a bite, and fly back.  Not a terribly interesting trip… I just wanted to practice the legal/aviation parts without alarming or inconveniencing any passengers.  Once I felt comfortable doing this type of flight (without getting arrested, fined or meeting F-16s enroute), then I would be ready to do it again with passengers.
While I could have easily flown direct from Tampa Executive (KVDF) to Grand Bahama (MYGF), I chose not to.  Instead, I decided to stop @ Fort Peirce (KFPR) to make sure I had everything in order (paperwork, fuel, lifejacket,etc). On the return trip, I would have had to stop somewhere for customs clearance anyway, and I have heard through the grapevine that the FBO and customs office in KFPR is excellent.  So I thought it would be a good idea to stop there and check out whatever local procedures they may have.
In hindsight, it was totally not needed!  After I landed in Ft Peirce, the staff at the FBO confirmed that I indeed had everything in order.  After a top off and a rather easy “hot start”, I took off and pointed the nose straight to the water.  After climbing to 7000 FT, the next ~ 100 miles was directly over water and the view was consistently like this:
This was the first time I was over water for this long.  As you can see, I had my lifejacket handy (just in case)

Thankfully, I didn’t even need to open the packaging.
After about 80 miles over the water, I finally caught my first glimpse of land and it was spectacular:

As I got closer to Freeport, Bahamas, the Bahamas ATC controllers cleared me for the VOR DME 24 procedure!  This took me quite by surprise.  Other than initial instrument training, I had NOT flown a real DME arc in a VERY long time.
I keyed it into the R9, which happily complied, and I saw the following screen:

The screen looked odd to me and I felt like I was operating slightly out of my comfort zone.  I flew halfway through the 12 DME Arc at 4000 FT.  Then the ATC controller broke off my approach and cleared me to land with an “expedited” descent.  I am not sure why… But suddenly, he seemed to be in a hurry.  I did my best to comply and did a 1000 FT/min descent and fought a 15 KT crosswind on final.  When I was finally on the ground, I breathed a sigh of relief and really felt like I “earned” that landing!
I wasn’t sure what kind of ground operations to expect.  At this point, I must admit, I was a little nervous.  But it turned out to be quick and painless.  One of the line crew marshaled me into a parking spot and I was immediately greeted at the plane. They escorted me to a small building where they checked my passport and my paperwork.  The whole process took no more than 5 minutes!!  I was so impressed at how professional and efficient they were.
With similar ease, I filed my flight plan for the return trip and waited an hour to depart as required.  I landed back at Ft Peirce and cleared customs, which was totally painless and also took less than 5 minutes!
Overall, it was so easy, I really didn’t need a practice run.  But now I am even more excited to go back there with passengers and stay for awhile!!
Cheers,
== T.J.==

Back To Normal IFR (Sort Of)

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The past 2 weeks have been quite an unusual flight pattern for me.  No X-Countries, No IFR or VFR flight plans, not even enough altitude to require oxygen!
No the plane was NOT grounded…  In fact, I had numerous flights.  But they were all short “flight-seeing” journeys that gave me the chance to share the experience of flight with several of my friends and colleagues visiting Tampa from around the world.  In a way, it felt like a “warm-up” for the WFIF event next Saturday.  I realized that sharing the experience of flight was as cool for me as it was for the passenger, who got to “see the runway” for the first time.
But yesterday (Sunday’s) journey was supposed to be a bit more “normal” for me.  I was planning an IFR trip from Tampa, FL to Frederick, MD, which is just outside of DC.
When I checked the weather Saturday night, it didn’t look very friendly:

I checked again on Sunday morning and even called Lockheed FSS to get a thorough briefing.  After listening to the ‘laundry list” of AIRMETs, SIGMETs, and PIREPs, my conclusion was that it was a go!  However, I was prepared for a lot of heavy IMC flying with as many diversions as needed along the way.
While this trip is “barely possible” non-stop in my plane… It is a bit too close for my comfort.  So I planned a quick fuel stop in Duplin County, NC.
The first leg was the easier of the two.  Going from Tampa Executive Airport to Duplin County Airport, is almost a comfort flight for me.  I have flown this route a dozen times and even know when to expect ATC quirks along the way.
What I wasn’t really expecting was the impact of the winds aloft.  My route was fairly straightforward, as shown below:
When I was ~ 20 miles south of Gainseville, I was level at 17K FT and first noticed the winds.  As you can see from the picture below, it was a direct 90 degree crosswind @ 62 knots!

While I have flown in strong winds before, this was the first time I flew in that strong a direct cross wind.  Even with a healthy crab angle, I could feel the auto-pilot straining to maintain the ground track.
Luckily, I was following V441 which soon turned to the right and made this X-wind turn into a VERY helpful tailwind that allowed me to reach a ground speed of 241 KTs, which is the highest I have recorded in this plane!

Shortly after takeoff, the radar images looked even uglier!

As I approached Frederick, the weather was simply NOT cooperating and no amount of deviation seemed to help.  The rain was getting heavier and the ATIS declared conditions barely above the minimums for the GPS23 Z approach.

Luckily, this airport has a nice long 5000+ FT runway and a low LPV approach that still made it possible to land.  I have landed in light rain and mist before.  But never anything like this!  In addition, to the heavy rain, there was a strong gusty wind about 20-40 degrees off from runway heading.  After reaching the FAF (final approach fix), I disengaged the autopilot and “fought” the winds all the way down to the runway.

While this was supposed to be a normal IFR flight, the weather (as often happens) made it anything but normal!
Cheers,
== T.J.==

Photo Opps And Dodging Airspace

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Today was one of those traditional $100 hamburger days. An IBM colleague of mine (Richard) was visiting from Spain. He has heard me rave about flying for years and I thought today was the perfect day to show him firsthand.
The plan was either to fly to Key West or Palm Beach, both of which are gr8 $100 Hamburger destinations. When Richard learned that Disney was right on the way to Palm Beach, the decision was clear. He had just bought a new camera and was eager to try it out en route over Disney. However, I warned him that there is a temporary flight restriction (TFR) over Disney, which may hamper the photo opportunities.
Interestingly, the Disney TFR is not so temporary. In fact, it seems to be a permanent restriction that prohibits all aircraft from surface to 3000 FT. (I guess Mickey doesn’t want anybody buzzing Cinderella’s Castle).
But I had a trick up my sleeve that I was hoping would result in a legal way to get into that TFR airspace.
When we were ready for takeoff at Tampa Executive there was a broken cloud layer @ ~ 5000 FT. We climbed through a nice big whole in the clouds @ ~ 1000 FT/min and enjoyed a smooth ride at 5500.

Now it was time to setup for my TFR trick. The Kissimmee Airport has an instrument approach procedure (RNAV GPS 15), which cuts right through Disney’s TFR!  As long you get the appropriate clearances from ATC, you can get low enough to get some gr8 views of Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Downtown Disney.  We got cleared down to 2300 FT, which was comfortably below the clouds and enabled Richard to put his new camera to the test.
After our Disney flyby, we went missed approach on the procedure and continued direct to Flagler County Airport , where we had lunch @ Hijackers.  On the way back, we had more airspace to deal with.  The restricted area just north of Orlando was active and the Orlando approach frequency was too busy for us to pick up flight following or even a clearance into class B.  As a result, we climbed through another  “whole in the clouds” to get on top of the class B @ 10,500 FT.  After clearing the Orlando airspace, we needed to descend and fortunately found another nice big whole in the clouds.  In order to maintain VFR, we needed to do some steep turns and 360s to make it through the whole.
Then moments later, we actually saw a skydiver near Zephyr Hills under a bright red canopy!
So in the end, Richard still needs a lot of practice with his new camera.  But as you can see, overall mission accomplished for today!
Cheers,
== T.J.==

Annual Done! Cleared for Takeoff!!

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As promised, the guys at Leading Edge came through and finished the annual today right on schedule! Reminds me of the old A-Team quote “I love it when a plan comes together” 😉
So now it is time to turn my attention to planning the next journey.  Tomorrow, I am planning to go to the EAA Fly-In in Vero Beach, FL with a couple of friends.  While Fly-Ins are always fun, this one has a special twist.
My friend Anupam, who is a pilot and Cardinal owner, is also going to the same fly-in.  So we have decided to attempt a brief formation flight.  (Not a true formation flight… More of an aerial photo shoot)
My route is shown below:

This is a very short 113 nautical mile trip… (But that does not count the detour for formation work.)
Anupam’s Cardinal is based in Plant City Airport.  So we can’t do a true formation takeoff.  Instead, my plan is to rendezvous with N-29LK in a holding pattern over the Winter Haven Airport.  Why there you ask… First, it is sort of on the way.   Second, it is clearly between Tampa and Orlando’s class B airspaces, which means we won’t need to worry about ATC clearances.  Third, it is in a scenic area with lots of lakes that should make for a good photo opp.
I read up on formation flying and found that there were surprisingly few rules constraining this activity.  The basics are laid out in FAR 91.111.  However, there is a bunch of training material available about how to do it well and do it safely.
Our plan is rather simple.  We will fly at prearranged altitudes (with 500 FT separation) until we can see each other.  Then establish radio contact on the 122.75 frequency.  I used to think that 123.45 was the appropriate air-to-air frequency.  But it is NOT.  While 123.45 is usually quiet, it is definitely NOT designated for this type of conversation. The correct frequency is either 122.75 or 122.85.
After we have established visual and radio contact, then we will proceed “together” to Vero Beach (of course with a few maneuvers for the camera)
Hopefully, I will be able to post some cool photos and/or videos tomorrow.
Cheers,
== T.J.==