Category Archives: Pilot Experience Flights

Preparing To Cross The Next Border (Mexico)

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After my European excursion, I was looking forward to the next challenge, which will be crossing another border on the way to AOPA Summit in Palm Springs.
Once again, I enlisted the help of Thierry and Guillaume at Air Journey to help with the route planning and logistics.
Here is the routing, we came up with:

The first leg will be a 610 nm journey directly across the Gulf of Mexico to Merida, Mexico.  This will be my longest overwater leg to date!
In advance of this trip, I got everything prepared I could think of:
On the Plane: A fresh oil change and a quick trip to Lopresti in Sebastian for some long overdue adjustments on the Ice Skates made the plane ready… But to be sure I performed perhaps the most time consuming and thorough pre-flight ever!

In the cockpit: I got my emergency gear ready, including PLB, life jacket.  If I can get one in time, I also hope to have a raft with me. In addition, the usual cadre of camera equipment and miscellaneous gadgets.

Paperwork: Thanks to Guillaume, I received an outstanding briefing pack with all the paperwork required by both US and Mexican governments. But more important than the bureaucratic paperwork, was Guillaume’s detailed instructions, which included photos of what to expect as well as some unofficial commentary 😉

Hopefully, the preparation will have been sufficient and I will be able to post a progress report on the trip sometime this weekend.
Stay Tuned…
== T.J.==

Spotting Castles and Crossing New Borders

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After a couple of weeks of preparation, I was totally ready for my flight in Germany.
While I had read up on the many nuances of flying here, I didn’t really look carefully enough at the map.  I didn’t realize how close Baden-Baden was to France.  In fact, my hotel was walking distance to the French border!
This also meant that it would be easily possible to squeeze in quick trip to France as part of the training flight.  My instructor (Trip) suggested a great little airport on the French side near the border that had an unusual point of interest that most americans seem to like ( more on that later).
With Trip in the right seat, pre-flight complete and the fuel tanks topped off, I was finally ready for takeoff for my first European flight!
The weather was beautiful.  But since we would be crossing a border, we had to file a VFR flight plan.  The ATC communications were quite simple (and in English).  So I handled all of the radios and awkwardly tried to remember to say “November” before my call sign each time.  But interestingly, when you are flying VFR, the ATC communications can also be in local language.  It was wild to hear radio chatter from other airplanes in German, French and English all on the same short flight!
I flew the ILS approach  into Colmar, France, which was tough because of the distracting scenery!  The castle below was just a few degrees right of the localizer:
After landing, I was instructed to park on a grass apron (another first for me)
Just a few minute walk from the airport, we saw the statue of liberty!  Apparently, the original designer of the statue was from Colmar.  So in his honor, the town built a scale replica that is 12 meters tall, and perhaps on better condition than the original!
After a quick visit, we were back in the air doing air work at low altitude flying northbound along the Rhine river.
It was an incredibly scenic ride and we seemed to “find” castles everywhere.  My favorite one was near Heidelberg, which you can see below.

After all the training/sightseeing, I got a little bit of excitement on the final landing.
As we were on mid-field right downwind to the 10,000 FT runway in Baden-Baden, there was a Ryan Air jet on 7 mile final and the tower asked me if I could do an “expedited landing”.  I immediately said “affirmative”.

At this point, Trip decided to throw one last surprise at me.  He pulled the power to idle and announced “I think we have an engine failure.”  So I had to do a power off 180 to a full stop landing!

I think he really just wanted to remind me that this was a training flight and not just sightseeing!

Cheers,
== T.J.==

Things Falling Into Place

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Sometimes things just have a way of falling into place…

For me, this has recently been the case as I prepared for my annual recurrent training.
Usually, I accomplish my recurrent training by attending a CPPP.  But this year I decided to do it with a twist.  Instead of attending the course in Lakeland or Atlanta, I decided to attend the European version of the course in Germany.
This may sound a bit crazy… But since finishing the 50 states, I have been striving to become proficient at international flying and I could think of no better way than combining my usual training with some real world flying in Germany.
Since I started planning this adventure, I have been amazed at  how things have just fallen into place at every step! Here is what I mean:
1. I was concerned if I was would legally be allowed to fly in Germany with my FAA US pilot certificate. It turns out that US pilot credentials are honored worldwide IF you fly a US registered plane ( meaning tail # starting with “N”).  That didn’t seem so hard… So I started planning for flight training @ Baden-Baden Airpark (EDSB), which is just outside of Stuttgart.
2. With the help of a couple of friends from COPA, I located an “N” registered Cirrus in Germany.  As you can see in the pic below, I found one that is quite similar to my own .

Obviously, I will be flying the little plane in the foreground !
3. The next step was insurance.  With a little help from my friendly US based CSIP, this was nothing more than shuffling a little paper.
4. Now I needed to find a way to get there.  Thanks to my day job, I had a ton of air miles waiting to be redeemed and surprisingly it was even available for the dates I wanted!
So now it looks like the trip is really going to happen and I need to study!  European flying definitely has a few nuances and complexities.  But overall, it seems totally doable!
For example, here is the airspace map that I need to learn.
Stay tuned for the PIREP to find out how it goes…

Cheers,

== T.J.==

Seaplane Training

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After almost a month in Colombia for work, I was back in the country and eager to get back in the air!

After 4 weeks on the ground, I was a feeling a little rusty.

But I needed to get over it quickly because this weekend I had some serious new training planned.  For the longest time, I was curious about flying a seaplane and more importantly about landing on water.  I looked into it last year, but didn’t get around to it till now.  Life is short… and I am trying to “get around to everything”!

From my somewhat unscientific research, I determined that there are 2 places in the US that I felt were the “best places to learn”.   One was in Talkeetna, Alaska and the other was in Winter Haven, FL. I know there are many other places to learn.  But these two locations had awesome, long established schools with rave reviews from many fellow pilots.
Since Winter Haven is very close to me, I enrolled in Jack Brown‘s Weekend Seaplane Course.

The idea is simple…. 2 days of intensive ground and air training, after which you should be ready for an an FAA check ride.
I started early Saturday morning by “commuting” in the Cirrus from Tampa to Winter Haven.  Since seaplane flying is all about good, manual stick and rudder flying, I decided to use the short 20 minute flight for a little practice and flew entirely with NO automation!  No flight plan, no approaches, no GPS and even minimal radio! Without GPS, I just looked out the window and followed Interstate 4 until I saw “the right lake” and “the right airport”.

When I arrived, I saw my aircraft for the weekend, which was a Maule M-7-235:

But before jumping in, I had to go through ground school and learn all of the basics, especially how to taxi, maneuver and land.  After a couple of hours in the classroom, it was time to go flying with my instructor, John.  He was a seasoned pilot, who really drilled me on “feeling” if the plane was responding correctly to my inputs.  The first flight was NOT that graceful.  (It was a definitely harder than I expected).
After that flight, we took a lunch break and had a rather intense debrief, where John reviewed the many, many, things I did wrong 🙁
But I was determined to “get it”!  So after some more time in the class, we went for a second flight, where I redeemed myself.  In the afternoon, I things really started to make sense and everything just “clicked”
I did some more studying on Saturday night and was back early on Sunday for more training and test prep.  This flight was rather smooth and my confidence was building.
In the afternoon, I met the FAA examiner and he administered the oral exam, which I passed (but only after sweating through the weight and balance interrogation).   I did the basic calculation and showed that we were legal.  However, the examiner was not satisfied with just “legal”.  He emphasized how critical W&B was in a seaplane and made sure I understood the implications of being outside the envelope in EVERY direction!
Then it was time for the flight test.  It started out OK … I did a rather graceful taxi and takeoff.  But the skies were quite crowded, I had to dodge a helicopter, a Mooney and a Piper Cub!  Not exactly the drama I was looking for during a checkride…
Then it was time for the first landing in a nearby lake.  I did a reasonable job with traffic pattern and the touchdown was pretty good… But it went downhill from there!
Just an hour before, I performed every required maneuver perfectly (including glassy water, rough water and emergencies).  But on the checkride, I was totally behind the airplane and trying to catch up the whole time.  The instructor gave me a little latitude to repeat a maneuver.. But I was definitely NOT on my game.
I just wasn’t feeling it and he certainly sensed it.  We made our way back to base, where ironically, I made a pretty nice landing, and did a more detailed debrief.
Unfortunately, I did NOT pass this checkride 🙁
Cheers,
== T.J.==

Ribbon Cutting Flight In A Cub

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On the way home from Lansing, I decided to make a pit stop @ Dayton Wright Brothers airport.  Partly out of necessity (because I needed one fuel stop between Lansing and Tampa).  But more significantly, it was a great excuse to meetup with a fellow pilot blogger named Steve from the Mile of Runway blog.
 
As often happens when pilots get together, we found an excuse to go for a joyride in “his” Piper Cub.
I say “his” because it is one of several planes that he rents regularly and the one that I was most intrigued by.  This particular plane was a 1946 Piper Cub (NC98286) with 85HP and the most spartan panel I had ever seen!
When I saw this, I was excited to try a pure “stick and rudder” experience in this vintage airplane.  There was no paved runway, no radio, no transponder, no electrical system.  We even wore earplugs instead of headsets!As you can see, I sat in the front seat because the pilot in command typically sits in the back in a cub.

Shortly after takeoff, Steve performed a number of maneuvers that I found rather impressive since he was doing it from the backseat and probably couldn’t even see the instruments.  He later told me “… In a Cub the instruments are not that important because you feel your way around“!

As we were cruising along at 60-70 knots @ low altitude, I felt like I was enjoying the raw essence of flight in much the same way barnstormers did decades ago.  Then out of the blue, Steve gave me quite a surprise, which you can see in the pic below:

He held up a roll of Toilet paper and said “Wanna try ribbon cutting?”. I enthusiastically yelled “YES” Since we didn’t have headsets, I also gave  him 2 thumbs up in case he didn’t hear me.  We then climbed up to ~ 3000 Ft and he tossed the roll out the door, which had been wide open for the whole flight.

We then did a very smooth, spiraling dive to the left and clipped what looked like a white streamer with the right wing! It was more cool than I could possibly describe in words and something I could never do in a Cirrus!!

After that, we made our way back to Red Stewart airfield for a wild landing . I say wild because with no radio and no ATIS, we did (well… really Steve did) a mid field left downwind entry followed by a very steep forward slip to a nice, smooth landing on the turf.  It was wild for me… But Steve later told me that it was a rather typical approach in the cub.

Overall, a wonderful flight experience and one that makes it onto my Top 10 list!

Cheers,
== T.J.==

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.==

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.==

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.==

Night Currency

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The FAA has a bunch of currency requirements for all US pilots.  

The basics are as follows:

  • For VFR Private Pilots: 3 takeoffs/landings every 90 days
  • For Instrument rating: 6 instrument approaches (+ intercepting/tracking/holding) every 6 months 
There are more detailed nuances… But, I won’t bore you with the details.
Since I am a very active pilot, I usually don’t even think about the currency requirements listed above.
However,”night currency” is a different story.  While I have plenty of daytime hours, I have rather little night experience.  To stay night legal/current to carry passengers, the FAA requires 3 takeoffs and full stop landings at night, which is defined as sunset + 1 hour within the prior 90 days.  I go out of my way to ensure that I stay current @ night. Candidly, it is the only currency requirement that I need to actively go out of my way to maintain.
Tonight was a beautiful, clear night with sunset being @ 5:43 PM.  This made for perfect timing for a night currency flight.
Here I am preparing for takeoff (all by myself  ~5:30 PM waiting for the “right” time to takeoff):

Notice that both my landing light and my flashlight are on!

While I was waiting for the “right” time to take off,  I went to check out the Met Life Blimp, which is probably in town for the Outback Bowl on Saturday.

With so many blimps coming to Tampa lately, I feel like a connoisseur.  This one was MUCH smaller than last week’s DirecTV blimp and (even seemed to have half the support staff). One of these days, I am going to find a way to get a ride on one!

Finally, it was time for departure (6:43PM that is).  The plan was simple… First fly to Lakeland, which is the home of Sun N Fun, and a perfect place for routine training/practice.  They have a control tower, a giant 9000 FT runway and a variety of instrument approaches that would keep any instructor entertained.  Best of all, other than the 2 weeks around Sun N Fun, this a sleepy, little airport the rest of the year.  The tower controllers are usually bored and seem downright excited when there is traffic in the area.  While I didn’t need to do any approaches tonight, I decided to shoot the GPS 27 anyway on the first landing.  You can never fly enough approaches.  I find that it hones your piloting skills to have the little triangles on the screen act as almost a scorecard.  First landing was decent …

After a full stop and taxi back, I planned to head VFR northbound ; Do the second landing @ Zephyr Hills, then the final landing back home @ Tampa Exec.)

Unfortunately, the camera was running low on battery after the first landing… So I decided to conserve battery to capture the final landing @ Tampa Exec, which you can see here:

Overall, with my new Mac, I am learning how to edit video better… But obviously I have not learned how to keep the camera charged! 😉

Cheers,
== T.J.==