Fly Because I Can

Today I had a friend who wanted to go up for a quick flight. We went up for a quick flight in the local area. He was impressed with the experience and is considering getting his licence too.

Flight time: 0.8

Total time: 80.5

I'm a Pilot!

Now that I'm a Pilot, I need to start building up some cross country time in preparation for my instrument rating. Today I decided that I would fly up to Sedona. I looked at the weather and it was looking pretty windy up there so I decided to head South down to Ryan Field.

This was a very different flight. I had no maneuvers to practice. Nothing to remember for my oral exam. The only thing I had to do was safely fly the plane to Ryan Field and get some breakfast!

Besides my first flight, this was the best flight ever. This flight had no purpose other than for me to do something I actually love. Fly. I actually noticed some of the landscape around me. Took in the 50 mile visibility and cleared my head! What a great flight!

Since I had not been the the restaurant at Ryan, I asked the ground controller for a progressive to the restaurant. He told me that would be easy - just follow the blue line. Next to the yellow center line on the taxiway, there is a blue line too. Apparently the blue like takes you right to the restaurant! I like that plan! Had an egg sandwich and the best home fries ever!

Got back in the plane and flew back to Mesa. I was having so much fun that I felt like the time passed too quickly. It was a great day!

Flight time: 2.2

Total time: 78.1

Checkride

Last night, the FAA examiner called me and asked me to plan a flight to Nogales, AZ (right on the US-Mexico border). He and I were to meet at the FBO at 07:00 to begin the examination. I slept fairly well - my head was filled with thoughts of adiabatic lapse rate, density altitude, LAHSO, pilotage, mountain obscuration, gyroscopic procession, emergency procedures... No sheep...

Today in about 4 hours, I'm either going to get in my car as a Private Pilot (Airplane Single Engine Land) or I was going to get in my car really pissed off as a Student Pilot about to enter retirement... I had worked very hard to get to this point - managing a career and a family of 5. Financially and from a time perspective, I was running out of ways to continue the process. At 6:30, I was at the FBO getting the weather so that I could finish my flight plan. I ran into one of the instructors and he said that there was a temporary flight restriction (TFR) down by Nogales - probably wouldn't affect my flight but the examiner might be impressed if I made mention of it... Thanks!

The examiner showed up right at 07:00. The first thing we did was go over my log book. He was checking for all of the appropriate entries, making sure I had logged all of the required flight time, and that I had all of the appropriate endorsements. It all looked good.

Next we logged into IACRA. This is a pretty cool system developed by the FAA to eliminate the paper 8710 forms. I had filled out all of the information on the electronic form and signed it electronically. My instructor had also signed the form electronically. It automagically checks my written test score to see that I passed and it even validates my medical certificate. It is actually very cool!

After the paperwork was out of the way, we spent 5 minutes talking about why I wanted to be a pilot and we exchanged information about each other. He is a retired FBI agent. Outstanding. He disclosed that he likes to do these things "by the book." Speaking of books, he had a 3 inch binder with the test standards plus oral exam questions. My palms were a little sweaty at this point.

Thus began the oral portion of the exam. Talked about the airplane (Piper Archer) and it's systems and instruments. This probably consumed 45 minutes. Then we were on to density altitude and weight and balance. 15 minutes. Flashcards on airport markings and signage. 10 minutes. Brief discussion of physiological aspects of flying such as, hypoxia, hyperventilation, carbon monoxide, spatial disorientation, night vision, etc... 20 minutes. Terminal area chart and sectional chart review including identification and definition of different airspace classes. 20 minutes. Review of my flight plan and a quick pit-stop and then we were off to the plane. It's 09:00.

While I did the pre-flight, he was watching planes takeoff and land. Didn't ask me what I was doing or any questions about my pre-flight. When I was finished, he said, "Why don't you clean the bugs off of the windscreen?" Bugs on the windscreen? Hey, it’s a rental! I ran into the FBO and bought a can of window cleaner and spit-shined the windscreen...

Once on board, we admired the clear view that we had through the windscreen, I performed the engine start checklist and we were about underway. I asked him if he would like a passenger briefing and he said that he didn't need one. I also proclaimed that I was the (Student) Pilot In Command and asked if he would like to check his brakes. He said that he didn't need to check the brakes. We talked about sterile cockpit and that unless he was instructing me to perform a maneuver, I shouldn't expect to hear much from him. Fine by me. Furthermore, unless I had a question about a maneuver or something on the checkride, I should limit my conversation to the tower. Alrighty then.

Taxied to the run-up area and performed a run-up. Everything looked good. Performed my takeoff briefing and requested takeoff clearance from the tower. Basically the checkride is half over and I know I’m capable of flying the plane and performing the maneuvers. What was I forgetting? Flaps 10, landing light on… Archer 4 1 8 2 Lima, Falcon Tower. Cleared for takeoff on runway 4 right. Right turn approved. This is it!

Once airborne, I was turning crosswind to begin my flight plan and there was a huge structure fire in my planned route. There were tons of black smoke billowing up in my route of flight. I mentioned that I needed to divert a little to avoid flying into the smoke. This would probably add a couple of seconds to the time en rout to the first checkpoint. He simply nodded his head.

My first checkpoint was Williams Gateway airport (IWA). I obtained permission to transition their class delta airspace and overflew the airport. Next checkpoint was the north edge of the town of Coolidge (we were flying southbound). At Coolidge, I was told to divert to Phoenix Regional Airport (A39). I started my turn, set the timer, got out the chart and estimated the distance, estimated a heading, and calculated the time en route. Hit it right on the money. He asked me to perform a slip to a landing and do a touch and go.

Back in the air, he told me to fly out over the test tracks and when I was ready perform a steep turn to the left. I said that I would do a clearing turn and he simply told me that the area was clear and to perform the maneuver. When I was about ready to roll out of the steep turn, he said that I was clear on the right and roll right into that steep turn. Now on this one, I picked up about 20kts of extra airspeed and lost about 150 feet during my turn. I don't think he looked at the instruments once during this turn. Either he sensed that I immediately corrected during the turn by reducing power and adding back pressure or he was oblivious. I’m guessing the prior.

I know that I exceeded the tolerances on that turn but I think he is supposed to stop the flight if I am not going to pass. Or is he? Anyhow he then pointed to a clump of trees and asked me to do turns around a point. This is a relatively easy maneuver - even when it is a little bumpy. At one point he simply said, "Please center the ball." I had become a little uncoordinated in all of the turbulence.

"Climb to 4,500 and configure the plane for slow flight." So I configured for slow flight at 4,500 feet and was cruising along at 60kts when he said that he wanted me to give him 50kts and not lose any altitude. 50kts? We always practice slow flight between 55 & 60 kts. I wonder if he knows what he’s doing? 50kts. OK. With all of the data I have crammed into my head right now, I’m frantically trying to remember Vso (stall speed in a landing configuration) for this plane. We’re still airborne. At least I have that going for me. To add to the chaos that has erupted between my ears, the stall warning horn is screaming and we were getting kicked around pretty good.

Next he asked for a power-off stall. I lost about 150 feet and he told me to clean it up for a power-on stall. Done. Then he handed me the hood. Once we were situated, he told me to look straight down while he took the controls. He did a series of climbs, banks, turns, descents and told me to take the controls and fly straight and level. Done. Then we did a couple of climbs, descents, and turns. Slow flight and recovery.

"Now, locate the Stanfield VOR and fly me there." Tuned the frequency to the Stanfield VOR, centered the needle and began to fly. He asked me if I was sure that I was tracking the Stanfield VOR. I checked the chart and compared it to the frequency on the NAV radio and concluded that I was sure this was the Stanfield VOR. He asked, "How can you be totally certain?" "I could listen to the Morse code identifier." "OK let's do that." So we listened and heard dashes and dots – honestly I don’t really know if they matched the dots and dashes for the identifier for the Stanfield VOR. It was a WAG. "OK you can take off the hood."

I had just pulled the hood off of my head and simultaneously he pulled the power out of my engine and said, “Your engine just quit.” Great. Establish best glide, locate a suitable landing point, and attempt engine restart – switch fuel tanks, fuel pump on, cycle the magnetos, attempt restart. “Restart successful! Full power.” No dice. Apparently, no sense of humor either. OK, finish the checklist. Mayday, mayday, mayday… Now we are in the middle of the desert and I found a nice deserted, straight, and flat gravel road with no electrical lines for the landing point. We are descending to the point that I can identify various bugs on the ground (no, they’re not on the windscreen) and I’m starting to get a little nervous. When we practice this maneuver, we never went down this low. I would say we were about 100 feet AGL when he said, “OK, full power.” At least we didn’t actually cross the line between simulated and actual emergency…

“Let's head back to Falcon Field.” We were flying back and he said that he wanted me to do a short field landing, a soft field landing, a power off 180 to a landing, and a normal landing. At Falcon Field, there were 4 or 5 other planes in the pattern so the tower was busy (There are 2 parallel runways at Falcon Field and they use the longer and wider one, 4R/22L, for full stops and the shorter and narrower 4L/22R for practice and helicopter traffic. The controllers at Falcon are some of the best! There is a lot of training activity at the airport and they do a great job keeping everything running smooth. Kudos to Falcon Tower.). So my first short field landing was a little on the firm side but passable - I stopped before the first exit within a couple hundred feet of my touchdown point. Next we went back up for a soft field landing. This was the worst one that I ever performed - I think I may have even landed with the nose wheel first! When we were airborne, he had me request a short approach. That request was turned down because there were multiple aircraft in the pattern. He said OK lets see another soft field landing. This one was perfect. Though he kept saying, “Keep the nose wheel up!” I was a little irritated. I finally blurted out that it was up and it had not touched the ground. I’m not too sure where that outburst came from – it was probably not appropriate considering what I had riding on this flight. I’ll blame it on global warming – it certainly wasn’t stress related… He said, "Fine, tell the tower that we want to terminate."

I taxied back and parked. He simply said, "You tie it down and I'll get started on the paperwork." About 10 minutes later, after having successfully removed my foot from my mouth, I walked into the FBO and he handed me a piece of paper and said that I needed to sign it. The top of the paper read "Temporary Airman Certificate!"

I was probably more relieved than excited. 4 months, countless hours of reading, listening, flying, and round trip travel to and from the airport, which is a 50 mile round trip commute for me, finally paid off.

Paid my $400.00 and said thank you. Did I mention that I am a PILOT?!

Flight time: 1.8
Total time: 75.9 Hours

Flights: 57
Dual Received: 56.5 Hours
Solo: 19.2 Hours
Pilot In Command: 21.0 Hours
Cross Country: 16.3 Hours
Simulated Instrument: 3.1 Hours
Takeoff & Landings (day): 270
Takeoff & Landings (night): 11
Flown 5 different planes and 3 different types of aircraft.

One More Day...

My final flight before my checkride tomorrow. I am totally spent. My head is full of information (getting ready for my 2 hour oral exam) and to be quite honest, the last thing I really want to do is fly.

After some coaxing, RC talks me into going up for a little practice. We did a couple of maneuvers and I said that I was simply burned out and really didn't want to do anymore practice. Instead, we made a leisurely flight over to the Salt River Canyon. It is some spectacular country and perfect for taking my mind off of my eminent checkride. Headed back to Falcon for some touch and gos and go try to get a decent night's sleep.

Flight time: 1.1

Total time: 74.1

Touch Up...

This flight is intended to be a touch-up on some of the areas in which I could use some work - my checkride is a week away!

Emergency procedures. Engine restart procedure - remember to cycle the magnetos after switching tanks! Power off 180s on approach. Nailed the first one that I tried but then heard from the controller that the good folks over at Boeing would rather we didn't do that short of an approach over their building. They manufacture the Apache attack helicopters right there and don't really want anyone crashing their party. So to speak.

While I respect Boeing's wishes, if I lose my engine on downwind, the last thing I'm going to be thinking about is overflying their plant! Did some touch and gos and that was about it. Both RC (my instructor) and I are confident about my flying.

Flight time: 1.2

Total time: 74.6

Windy!

Flew up to Deer Valley for lunch with a supplier. Good flight in and nothing to report. Had a nice lunch and a good flight back. A little bumpy but that's the desert for you. When I checked the ATIS for Falcon Field on my way back, they mentioned that the winds were ar 17kts gusting to 26.

Where did this come from? I had variable at 5kts on the way out an hour ago! This would be interesting. I had to come in and manage the crosswind. I made my landing and quite frankly I think the winds were overstated... I was tying the plane down and a couple of gusts actually moved the plane an inch or two.

When I walked into the FBO, my instructor was there. He took one look at my headset bag and asked if I just flew in this. I said that I did but it was relatively calm when I took off. He shook his head and said that he was glad I was safe but he didn't want to know any more about it.

When we finished talking, I went back outside in time to see a Cessna 150 scrape his wing on the runway while landing. I guess I'm glad to be heading to my car no worse off than being reprimanded by my instructor!

Flight time: 1.0

Total time: 71.8

Solo Cross Country

Today is the day of my long solo cross country. It is really the last thing I need to log before my checkride. I planned to go from Falcon Field (KFFZ), to Lake Havasu City (KHII), to Blythe, CA (KBLH), and back to Falcon Field.

The first leg of my trip began at 6:00AM (13:00 Zulu) and was going to take me over SDL and DVT into the mountains towards the Colorado River. It was a beautiful morning and the scenery was incredible. I was hitting all of my checkpoints pretty much right on. All was well until my coffee spilled all over the right seat AND my logbook. Oh well, at least it looks used now. When I came within 12 miles of Lake Havasu, I radioed that I would be making left traffic for Runway 14. This would allow me to fly by the airport for observation.

Suddenly a voice came over the CTAF frequency saying that winds were calm and that the calm wind runway was 32. OK that's fine I can go straight in for 32 - oh, but wait, I read a NOTAM that said straight in approaches were not allowed. Cool! Fly out over the lake and make left traffic for 32.

Landed and had to pee really bad so I taxied to the FBO. Pee'd got a bottle of water and ended up putting a quart of oil in the plane - it was down under 5 quarts.


Off to Blythe. This is a really cool flight because you can basically fly down the Colorado River the entire way. It is a nice flight. Short too. Unfortunately, the airport is a total hole. I took a picture of the sole hangar at the airport. It has definitely been on this earth longer than I have. Made a quick bathroom break and headed back to Phoenix.

Upon leaving, I contacted Los Angeles Center for flight following. They were great. They handed me off to Albuquerque Center. All was going well and then I was handed off to Phoenix approach. Then Phoenix approach cleared me into Class Bravo airspace at 4500 feet for one of the west to east VFR transitions. I wasn't expecting this but I'm willing to try anything once. I then got handed off to another controller. I switched frequencies and the following exchange took place:

Phoenix Approach, Archer 2 8 7 Hotel Papa is with you at 45oo feet.

November 2 8 7 Hotel Papa, Phoenix Approach. Care to tell me why you're with me at 4500 feet when the previous controller cleared you to 5500 feet?

Phoenix Approach, Archer 2 8 7 Hotel Papa. I wrote down and read back 4500 feet. Since the controller did not correct my read back, I think I'm cleared to 4500 feet.

November 2 8 7 Hotel Papa, Phoenix Approach. Negative. You were not cleared to 4500 feet. Cancel Class Bravo clearance, radar service terminated, squawk 1 2 0 0, frequency change approved!

So I got that going for me. Which is nice...

Flew out, around, and under the Class B airspace the rest of the way. Still a little peeved about the controller's nasty attitude but they're in charge. I guess. Successfully completed my last solo cross country and I had a lot of fun too!

Flight time: 4.1

Total time: 72.4

More Practice for Checkride

Now we're getting serious. My checkride is scheduled for 4/22/08! I still have a 150nm solo cross country to do to meet all of the qualifications. Today we practiced everything, including a no-flap landing. There is light at the end of the tunnel and if I'm lucky, I might end up becoming a pilot after all!

Flight time: 1.2

Total time: 68.3

Stage Check!

Today I did a stage check. This is a simulated checkride with a different flight instructor. Even though this was "just practice," I was still a little nervous. I had planned a cross country flight to Payson. At our first checkpoint, he diverted me to Sky Ranch.

Then it was on to steep turns. Good. S-Turns. Good. Turns around a point. Good. Slow Flight. Good. Power off Stall. Good. Power on Stall. Good. Emergency engine out. Good.

Simulated instrument work. Straight and level flight - good. Climbs and descents - Good. Turns to a heading - good. Slow flight - good. Unusual attitudes - good.

Back to the airport for a soft field landing. Not good. Short field landing - good. Power off 180 (short approach with a slip) - not good. Missed the runway. Normal landing to a full stop - OK.

Feedback from the CFI was that my emergency procedures needed a little more memorization - it was good that I used the checklist; however, he felt like I should have memorized all of the emergency procedures. Also recommended work on my power off 180 and soft field landings.

It was a good flight with a fresh perspective from somebody that I hadn't flown with before.

Flight time: 1.6

Total time: 67.1