Cross Country - CAVU

Today I decided to spend a little time flying. The "good flying" days are about over for us folks in Phoenix. Especially those of us NOT flying high performance aircraft and aircraft without air conditioning. The heat is bad but the density altitude is worse.

I was going to head up to the tall cool pines in northern Arizona. Flagstaff (KFLG) was looking nice. Unfortunately, the field elevation is 7015 ft and the density altitude was already 8,500 (Strike 1). At max weight, 180 hp doesn't work real well unless you're OK with the 100 ft per minute climb on takeoff. Not to mention that the winds were gusting to 22 kts (Strike 2). Also the briefer at flight services said that the outlook was for moderate turbulence later in the day (Strike 3).

So? Down to Tombstone? Active MOA (Hit by a pitch). OK back to Ryan. At least the restaurant is good. The weather was pristine. I didn't feel even the slightest bump and the ceiling and visibility were unlimited. It was unusually clear today - I could see the field 30 miles out at 7,500 feet.

I was a little high and fast on my approach to runway 6L. Since there is no VASI or PAPI, I had to rely on my skill as a pilot - in this case, lack thereof... After the third or fourth porpoise, I cleared the active runway and taxied to the restaurant (while trying not to make eye contact with anyone or anything). Fortunately, the restaurant at Ryan Field does not have a view of the runway and I was able to shake off the shame and embarrassment on my way inside. I had the confident look of a seasoned ATP as I casually walked in and sat down. I even looked up at the sky and nodded my approval of the weather - how cheesy can you get?

Once again, I was treated to a first-rate breakfast prior to my return to Falcon Field. I left the restaurant and made amends to N4182L for the abusive landing (I think the plane and I are back on speaking terms - the runway is still pissed).

The flight back at 6,500 feet was perfect. Clear air the entire way (little bit of wake turbulence from a B737 on climb-out). Phoenix approach told me to stay clear of Gateway's (KIWA) class delta airspace. This was odd - I transition through it all of the time without as much as a complaint from them. Oh well, I don't mind the extra flying. About 10 miles south they terminated radar service and told me to contact Gateway tower for clearance to transition their class delta airspace. OK then.

Changed frequencies and tried to contact Falcon Tower for landing clearance. Falcon and Gateway's class delta airspace are adjacent to each other. Unfortunately Falcon tower was unusually busy and they denied me entry into their class delta and told me to call back in 5 minutes! Don't they realize who I am? Whatever ego-boy. Eventually they called me up and said to enter a left base for runway 22L. Seriously, in over 300 landings at KFFZ this has never happened to me before and I'm not taking anything at all away from the controllers there. They are the best. Since I was so far out (turned a 3 mile final), I had better make a good landing to redeem myself (and keep N4182L happy and in one piece).

I love the sound of the screech on a good landing! Wow! It was a great day of flying. One of those days where you are thinking to yourself, "Can we go again?"

Flight time: 2.1

Total time: 90.0

Mother Nature's Not Happy

This has been the strangest week I have seen in the 20 years that I have lived in Arizona. Last Sunday, it was our first day over 100 (there are usually about 120 of those every year). Last Monday was our first day over 110. Today it was raining and windy and cold - 70 degrees (yeah, it's all relative).

Word for the day: AIRMET


Icing

• Turbulence


• Mountain Obscuration


• IFR

Throw in a Convective SIGMET for good measure and it simply isn't a good day for the cross country flight I had planned... A friend of mine, who is also a pilot, and I decided to go up and see if NOAA and the National Weather Service were accurate in their reporting.

ATIS information at the airport reports winds at 15kts gusting to 20kts and a ceiling at 8,000 feet. We went up and flew in the local practice areas. We were in the southeast practice area and there was no turbulence and it was decent flying - at least 7 miles visibility. We went up to the northeast practice area near Fountain Hills and the ceiling was dropping like a rock. At 3,000 feet (about 1,500 feet AGL) visibility was quickly dropping too.

Time to head back. Wind check on final for 22L had sustained winds 150 at 17kts (which is the maximum crosswind component for the Archer). Other than drifting a little to the right of the center line, it was a great landing.

Too bad we couldn't fly more - we learn to treasure days when the temperature (and density altitude) is so low!

Flight time: 0.7

Total time: 87.9

Complex Aircraft 2nd Flight

My second flight in the Arrow was a lot like my first. The biggest difference between the flight characteristics of the Archer and Arrow is with the larger engine and landing gear on the nose, the additional weight causes the Arrow to pitch down with no power. In other words the nose is a little heavy.

When landing, I'm used to cutting the power over the threashold and flying in ground effect just before my flare. With this plane, if you cut the power, it tends to pitch down - abruptly. So I have to work on keeping a little power in on final approach.

I should have one more flight and then get my endorsement.

Flight time: 1.2

Total time: 87.2

Complex Aircraft Endorsement

A complex aircraft is defined as an aircraft having retractable landing gear and a controllable pitch propeller. I found a Piper Arrow that was renting for a decent rate and scheduled a flight with a CFI to begin the process of my complex endorsement.

Really you have two more levers - a landing gear lever and a propellor control lever. Since I have had some time in the Cirrus, I was familiar with manifold pressure and quickly adapted to the additional instrument.

The flight went really well. We spent about a half hour on the ground going through systems (landing gear is controlled by a hydraulic system) and the V speeds along with the manifold pressure and RPM settings that correspond to different stages of flight in the traffic pattern.

Flight time: 1.3

Total time: 84.4

More Cross Country - back to Ryan

Today I wanted to go cross country. I wanted to head down to Tombstone but there was a fire in the area and I wanted to stay clear of the area... So I went back to Ryan for a quick hop. On the way back, I saw 2 F-16 fly across my windscreen at an incredibly high rate of speed! That was cool (Tucson Approach told me they were coming). They were far enough away that I never felt their wake turbulence but close enough to have some fun watching them scream by!

Flight time: 2.1

Total time: 84.7

Sedona

Today my friend SP and I decided to fly up to Sedona for breakfast. Another beautiful flight to a beautiful airport. Great breakfast too. At about 10:00AM we needed to head back to the Valley of the Sun.

The automated weather briefing had a remark that the density altitude was 6,900 feet. Hmmm. That's pretty high. Didn't seem that warm out. The field elevation is just shy of 5,000. Well, if I can reach 70% of Vr halfway down the runway, we should be OK. Also try a short field takeoff. Full power, full brakes. RPMs are all the way up and release the brakes. Rolling. Slowly rolling. Thin air...

We used ALL of the runway and were maintaining 5,000 feet turning crosswind for a left downwind departure. Thank God the runway sits 500 feet above the town! It took a lot of time to climb up to 7500 feet for the trip home. If any new pilots are reading this and don't think density altitude and weight and balance are important, think again!

This wasn't a really close call but it is unnerving for a new pilot. Once we picked up some altitude, the flight was nice. It was good to get out of town for a couple of hours...

Flight time: 2.1

Total time: 82.6