cockpit "stuff" management

i have a check ride coming up (JYO-CBE-PHL) in prep for my long cross country. the first leg is dead reckoning/pilotage (no GPS or VOR, arg!) and i need to be prepared to divert at any time (which means i need to know where i am, how fast i'm moving, how to get somewhere else and how long it will take) so i was practicing a little using ms fsx (microsoft flight sim x) over the weekend. by the time i was done i had my e6-b, plotter, chart (going a long way across several folds just to make it harder), pencil(s), nav log and my watch all spread out.
doing the same in the cockpit with someone in the right seat is going to be entertaining. i'm thinking i might just put pieces of tape on them and stick them to the chief flight instructor i'll be flying with. i'm hoping that the landmarks that i saw (a city, couple of private and public airports, a river) will hopefully help with my poor visual recognition skills and it also clearly showed the smaller mexico farms (1W3) runways just south of CBE which i suspect adds to more care in the approach.

first solo cross country (JYO - CHO - JYO)

i just got back from my first solo cross country. i went from KJYO to KCHO (leesburg, va to charlottesville, va). it went reasonably well. going down i flew via the LDN (linden) VOR and on the way back i flew direct to JYO (ATC flight following both ways) using GPS. i wanted the VOR practice which is why I went via LDN heading down there. it was probably excessive but i flew to 7,000 feet across some of the mountains on the way there but i have to admit, they still looked pretty close. coming back i was cleared by ATC into class bravo airspace (around IAD - Dulles) but i had to refuse it being a student pilot. overall i had one or two hiccups dealing with potomac ATC but i got there and back and nobody came out the worse (as far as i know). the weather was perfect. i think i saw CHO around 15 miles out but i wasn't sure that was what it was until i was around 10 or so (being a bit over cautious i suppose). i suspect that each time i said student pilot (initiating radio contact for each new ATC handoff) the real pilots in the area added a few miles of airspace between me and them.

weather can be worse than the forecast

i've been trying to get a short cross country flight for JYO-CHO (Leesburg, Va to Charlottesville, Va) in for a few days but the weather has not been cooperative. the interesting thing today is that the METARs and TAFs (weather observation and forecast info) do not appear bad but it looks much worse outside the window. the winds aloft are even worse according to another student at my flight school. if i were relying only on the weather forecast info i might have considered planning a flight but based on the mark one eyeball and outside the window combination i'm going to wait another couple of days. friday looks like my next chance. the flight plan i did last night was also to practice some VOR navigation so i'm going:

• JYO->LDN (Linden VOR)
• LDN->CSN (Casanova VOR)
• CSN->CHO (Charlottesville)

i put several checkpoints in the nav log for crossing a railroad, abeam a small town and so on.
for the return i'm going to do it a little differently:

• CHO->CDN
• LDN->JYO

i'm planning on using VOR radials for my navigation but also doing flight plans in the GPS just to be safe.

if you're interested in what things like "winds aloft" look like, here is an example of the current ones for my area (you can find it at: http://aviationweather.gov/products/nws/winds/?area=boston&fint=06&lvl=lo ) :

FT  3000    6000
EMI 3324 2844+06
RIC 2824 2841+11

what the above says is that weather station EMI (Westminster) is observing winds from 330 at 24
knots at 3,000 feet and from 280 at 44 knots at 6,000 feet, +6 Celsius (the range i typically fly in).
RIC (Richmond) has winds from 280 at 24 knots at 3,000 feet and 280 at 41 knots at 6,000 feet, +11 Celsius.

you can find weather info at: http://adds.aviationweather.gov/metars/
enter 'kiad kjyo kokv kmrb' in the text box for airports to check and hit 'submit' with either 'raw' or 'translated' checked. the airport identifiers above are: Dulles, Leesburg, Winchester and Martinsburg. there's a lot of into contained in the output from that and it's interesting to compare the raw and translated output.

e-6b practice, maneuvers work and next solo

i did one dual (meaning with my instructor) and one solo last week to practice maneuvers (been a while), next solo is likely to be to CHO (charlottesville). i spent half a day sat morning with another student going over chart reading, flight planning, tidbits and so on. i am trying to work on my e-6b practice every couple of days. i am more comfortable with it now but i still have an annoying tendency to make little mistakes that take a while to catch.

"mastering the e-6b flight computer"

a while back i posted something about a book i found called "mastering the e-6b flight computer" (http://learnthee6b.com/). i've been studying it off and on and am satisfied with it. it has very specific pictures and descriptions of the various things you can do with it. i'm really trying to get proficient at it so that i can use it in-flight (without the manual) when i need to during longer flights. i do recommend the book if you're looking to do the same.

another solo to okv (winchester, va)

i did another solo to okv (winchester, va) today, it went reasonably well but it has been almost 30 days since i last flew (due to a vacation in iceland and work) and the season has changed which means the fall colors make things look different. i am glad i had the gps to rely on beacause i had a hard time visually finding both okv and jyo (leesburg). i was almost on top of both before i realized where they were. because this was a busy travel day jyo was busy on my return and i probably caused some consternation from all the pro pilots waiting for me to finally make it into the pattern for landing. i also had my eye on iad (dulles) bacause i was closer to it than i had intended. i definitely should have practiced using ms flight sim x before doing it today.
oddly enough my landings were pretty good so i am making progress here and there. i am going to ratchet up my frequency of flying though.

aviation podcasts

i recently bought a new ipod with a 160gb disk and was looking at itunes for podcasts to put on it. after subscribing to various npr/c-span/talk shows i searched on 'aviation' and found a number of podcasts that are aviation related. one that i found was at http://www.thefinerpoints.net/ and the current issue covered collision avoidance techniques. it covered a recent midair (both planes survived) and discussed when you should maneuver to avoid a potential midair. these are very interesting to listen to and are perfect for walking your dog or anything else where you're not staring at the tv.
btw, while being a linux purist i still broke down and got the ipod because of it's very easy use/integration with other stuff. in general i use linux whenever i can but i also admit that it can be a pain at times.

first solo to nearby airport

first solo to a nearby airport (KOKV, Winchester Va) and 2 landings and then return home. turned out ok i think.

pay attention and cross check

I decided to do some flying using MS Flight Sim X tonight for practice. I also wanted to do everything as if I were in the plane so I had my chart, airport directory and checklist and did everything correctly on the way from JYO (Leesburg) to OKV (Winchester). I also let it use the local time so it was dusk at takeoff. I setup the autopilot on the way out and let it get me there. I found the airport and landed. Then I had to come back...I was all pleased with myself for doing everything as if it were for real. It was dark as I was about to take off. I bugged the course I wanted for the return, took off and turned on the autopilot again and just panned around. After a while (btw, one thing I didn't do was a correct nav log since it was a shor t flight so I didn't have the leg times written down which would have been much smarter) I thought "hmm, I should be there already". After a while longer I was sure I should have been home so I decided to find myself and tuned the VORs to AML and CSN and centered the needles. I couldn't believe what they were telling me. I was way south of where I should have been. I broke down and took a look at the FSX map because I thought I was reading the VORs incorrectly and I actually was waaay south of where I should have been. I quickly deduced the reason, when I bugged the heading for the return I couldn't see it very well (it was dark and I didn't have the panel lights on) so instead of 117 I had set it to 187 (a profound difference) which pretty much pointed me towards Florida. If I hadn't been pleased with myself and had actually taken a minute to think I would have realized my heading was "just plain stupid" and not make the mistake. Once again I learned, pay attention and cross check everything you're doing, particularly at night.

pattern work at JYO

av-jyo-pattern01
Originally uploaded by DougToppin

i did pattern work at JYO (Leesburg) today. nothing special but i haven't done the pattern in a while and there was a little bit of wind. i did learn a few things though. i also have a garmin forerunner 305 gps heart rate monitor watch. i use it for running/biking and lately i've been taking it along on flights. afterwards, i can download the location points and import them into google earth and see a record of the flight. note the one extended downwind to base turn (the longer track at the bottom of the picture). the plane in the pattern ahead of me did an unusually long downwind leg and i had to extend my downwind to keep from "bumping" into him if i had turned base to final. he was a bit low and i was a bit high so i didn't see him at first. he was making radio calls but i thought the call i was hearing was the one i could see already over the threshold. it taught (hopefully permanently) to look down and ahead in addition to my level more carefully while in the pattern.

the eclipse 500

i think i saw one of these at kjyo when i was last there: http://www.eclipseaviation.com/eclipse_500/
i was in a hurry and didn't write the tail number down.

night cross country to KTHV (York, Pa) and night flying in general

I did a dual (ie with my instructor) cross country to KTHV (York, Pa) last night. We went via the FDK (Frederick) VOR (a radio navigational aid) and on the return used GPS to the STIL intersection (near Brunswick) and then ingress to JYO using the new(ish) ADIZ JYO notch 1227 transponder code. On egress I got flight following (asked ATC to keep an eye on us). The night sky was perfect, zero wind and absolutely calm with a bright moon. Flying at night is a much more pleasing experience. Other traffic is very visible and the air is very smooth. The THV beacon (the rotating light) was not working (which I could not find in the NOTAM list) which made it a bit harder to find. In fact, had my instructor not been there I would not have been able to find it. The runway lights are not PCL (pilot can turn them off/on via the radio) which adds to the difficulty. Since primary training can be done at night (except for engine out and some maneuvering) I may do a few more night flights (already have the minimum required for night landings).

i am determined to get better using the e-6b

i am determined to get better at using the e-6b so i ordered this:
http://learnthee6b.com/

for anyone that doesn't know what the e-6b is, it is a circular slide rule (that's been around for a long time) that is typically used for aviation related calculations. i seem to do well with it as long as i use it at least once every couple of days. it has a load of functions/capabilities that are surprisingly varied (and it doesn't need batteries).

pleasant surprise - linux and aopa flight planning

i had a pleasant surprise this morning, i've been meaning to try the aopa flight planner (http://www.aopa.org/flight_planner/) but it is a windows application and i (mostly) use linux. i decided to try it using the linux wine program (a windows emulator) and it appeared to work without any issues.

ADIZ JYO Maneuver Area Seminar

Sat. 8-Sep-2007 at 1 and 3pm in the JYO Airport Conference Room.
Topics:
A) New ADIZ Dimensions.The new JYO Maneuvering Area.
B) How to file from and to JYO.
What “Gates” are and how to use them to file.
How to self announce (squawk and talk) on CTAF (122.975).
- using the new transponder codes 1226 and 1227 (you don’t talk to ATC anymore!)
When to squawk 1200 and when not to.
Making sure when inbound you change from 1200 to 1227.
Monitoring Guard Frequency 121.5 (if capable).
C) How to do Pattern Work at JYO
When to use the “Standard ADIZ” filing process (the old way).
D) What to do if your transponder fails.
E) The new “Kinder and Gentler” FAA Enforcement process

CHO (hopefully) this thu afternoon

I'm scheduled to go to CHO this Thu afternoon (but long term weather doesn't look good for it). This will involve filing a flight following flight plan as well as ADIZ flight plan for out and back. I'm also taking JYO -> 2GV2 -> CHO out and CHO -> CSN VOR -> Purcellville -> JYO back so the flight following plans are different. I'm also going to make myself use the E-6B for computations on the way (the GPS will be a last resort).

lions and tigers and flight computers, oh my!

I've been using an E-6B (and I suck at it). I have a flight planning session coming up for a trip from JYO to CHO. So far, each time I've had to use the E-6B I've fumbled with it, gotten the scale wrong, gotten the answer wrong, yadda yadda yadda. I'm thinking that I need a "real" flight computer (ie "easy to use") so I'm looking at the ASA CX-2 since it's available at my FBO store (and I need it for tomorrow). Any readers have any thoughts on flight computers that they'd like to pass along?

prepping for cross country

i flew again today, this time from jyo to okv and then mrb and then back to jyo, full stops at each. there was some crosswind which wasn't bad but the gusts were pretty good. i've still got a ways to go to handle gusts without having to stop and think about it. one thing to note if you fly in this area, mrb's runway is being worked on and has been shortened to 2,300 ft i think. that is a heads up for you for when your instructor asks if you have checked the notams for mrb and you say yes and then you answer his question about runway length incorrectly... i expected all of the airports to be busy being a fri afternoon but they weren't at all.

(another duh moment)

I meant to pass along a lesson learned on my first night flight. When you're clicking on the pilot controlled lighting, don't count the clicks aloud because anyone on the CTAF can hear you.
My instructor pointed this out to me (as i was doing it), duh.

FAA Safety presentation at HEF

I went to an interesting faasafety.gov presentation at HEF (Manassas) a couple of days ago. While there I heard about this site:
http://www.seeandavoid.org/

Using that, you can find military and related airspaces and also see various other things. I think it was put up by the National Guard but I'm not sure. During the presentations there was also some discussion on military activities around Patuxent which was interesting to listen to.

second night flight and a friend overflies

Had my second night flight last night. This time I stayed in the pattern and worked on landings. There was a little crosswind and it was hot so it was a tiring experience (but neat). Also, while working touch and goes we got a radio call on the CTAF from an instructor that left a little while back and went to the airlines. He was in a Dash 8 in the area. That was also pretty neat. I wish there had been more time to find out what it's like making that kind of change.
On crosswind, particularly at night, I'm having trouble keeping a crab angle in once I start it. It seems that as soon as I do something else (like turn in the pattern) I tend to forget about it and have to work out the wind direction again. I also had a little aggravation last night in that I didn't adjust my seat correctly. Being somewhat tallish, it's easy to have the yoke touch my knee which I find very distracting.

night flying (and the adiz)

just got back from my first night flight, it was neat (more later). i did hear that a student flying a cross country out of JYO got lost on the way back and busted the ADIZ. they were intercepted by two F-16s and sent to MRB. i suspect all instructors in the area will be reviewing lost procedures with their students soon.

whew...

This morning's lesson was tough and long. It was lost procedures, divert, VOR use, autopilot use (first time) and soft field landing. A note, if you haven't reviewed doing a full flight plan (with legs, endurance, fuel consumption, heading calculations and so on) then do it. It's been a while since I had done one (ground school specifically) and I defnitely showed it. I had forgotten how much goes into a plan. My instructor had to review a fair amount with me before we left. We flew to to KMRB using MRB VOR then to KOKV. Back at KJYO my "soft field" landing was more like a "at least the plane is on the ground now" type one. Maybe next time...
It is fun though Next lesson: night flying.

firsts... and seconds...

This was my second solo but the first time I left the field and went out to our practice area. The plane was a bit older/beat up than my usual one which was interesting. My new(ish) instructor cycles me through all of the 172Rs where previously I tended to stick with one. My landing could have been better (as usual). I suffixed my ATC calls with "student pilot" and I noticed that on the way back into the ADIZ they were keeping outbound traffic a bit higher than usual...
Maybe that was just my imagination.

ms flight sim x and trackir pro headtracker

I recently bought the TrackIR Pro (http://www.naturalpoint.com/) head movement tracker for use with MS Flight Sim X. I'm pretty satisfied with it so far but it does take a little getting used to. It does allow more natural head movement (leaning in and down to see light switches for example) for some things. In general, I would recommend it but I have the wrong headset for use with it (a Logitech behind the ears style) so I'm going to need to get a new one.

There's a very good review with excellent details at:
http://www.avsim.com/pages/0207/TrackClip/TrackClip.htm

if this doesn't make you want to build a plane...

if the following doesn't make you want to build a plane (rv-9a) and fly cross country then nothing will:

http://www.my9a.com/flight8.asp

Just reading it vicariously was fun. I'm not sure I trust myself to actually build a plane but I can imagine how rewarding it must feel to do it.

16 year olds flying 737s in aus...

So I tried the MS Flight Sim X multiplayer mode tonight. It was very impressive. While I was waiting to fly another user asked if I wanted to fly with him/her. I said sure so I got to ride along (share mode) in a 737 night flying (ILS) from one Australian airport to another and back again. The other user showed me how to setup the GPS and so on and let me fly for a little while. After we got back s/he said they were a 16 year and and wanted to learn to fly someday. Here I am (slowly) working on the 172 and this kid was so far beyond me there wasn't even a comparison.

Flew yesterday morning and started learning short and soft field takeoffs and landings. My instructor demonstrated them and I couldn't believe how smoothly he flies. When I did them I was all over the place. Just more stuff to practice on. I tried them using MS Flight Sim X but these are something that you really need feedback from the yoke with so I don't think it was effective. More on MS FS X later.

check ride for starting cross country

I flew with one of our chief flight instructors today as a check-ride for beginning cross country preparation. I did ok (he was able to walk afterwards and the plane can be used again). The landing was almost perfect and then I had to balloon just slightly but I recovered fine. All in all, it was fun.
One of my neighbors was a C-5 pilot in the USAF and is now a 777 commercial pilot. I now have a great deal of respect for what it took to be able to fly a giant airplane with heavy "stuff" in it anywhere in the world in pretty much any weather any time day or night.

faasafety.gov

If you're not familiar with it, http://faasafety.gov/ is an excellent site for learning and they also have regular safety related events. I went to one yesterday at the Fairfax County Government Center and saw 3 speakers on several topics. Each was excellent and well worth the time.

firsts...

So, for the first time in my life today I flew alone in an airplane. I did my first solo today (in a Cessna 172R, N409ES to be specific). This involved going up with the instructor for a couple of landings so that he knew I could do them ok. Then I went up by myself and did 3 full stop landings. Each landing was decent and I didn't have any fear/concern at all.

ms flight sim x and emergency practice

I decided to buy a new (much faster) computer this weekend and have doing some emergency practice flying with Microsoft Flight Simulator X. One thing that I tried a number of times (and failed each time) was a low altitude engine failure on takeoff with an attempt to turn back to the field. It is very interesting to see how tempting it is to try to make it back at around 400 AGL. I found myself wanting/hoping that I could make the 180 turn but just couldn't make it work.
I should point out that this fits exactly with the adage "don't try to stretch a glide".

instruction expenses and the Wash ADIZ

My new instructor does something differently than my previous one that has a bearing on time spent instructing vs transit I think. Previously, I would depart JYO (inside Washington ADIZ) for the Hoage intersection (outside ADIZ). That requires leaving and re-entering the ADIZ (and the related clearances and ATC contacts). My new instructor has us stay in the ADIZ which has had a few benefits I hadn't realized:

• inside ATC contact and radar coverage (for safety)

• less transit time which leaves more time for instruction

• additional radio traffic (in the background) which I think is beneficial for getting used to it

• since we don't have to re-enter the ADIZ we can start heading back in when we're ready vs waiting for and new squawk code and ATC approval

AOPA Fly-In and Open House - fdk - 2-jun-2007

http://www.aopa.org/special/fly-in/

AOPA Fly-In and Open House

Saturday, June 2, 2007

AOPA Headquarters
Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK)
Frederick, Maryland
8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

flying with a new instructor

I flew with my new instructor yesterday for the first time. I was impressed with his teaching style and professionalism. We went over the basic maneuvers and so on so he could get a feel for where I am. I think I did reasonably well but my landing was not the best. I was a little high so he had me side slip to drop some altitude quickly and the nose was a little canted on landing so I caught one wheel before the other and was off the centerline as a result.

new instructor

Rather than wait (for some unknown amount of time) I decided to be proactive re getting a new instructor. Someone else that went to the same ground school class I did had already transitioned to another instructor and recommended him. I just got a callback from him and he sounds a bit serious/professional. Next flight is in a few days and we're going to go over where I am at, goals and so on.

ch-ch-ch-changes (with instructors)

I got some surprising news today. My instructor said that she had gotten a job with an airline that starts next weekend so this was her last week (and probably my last lesson with her). She and her husband both got jobs with the same airline and were both heading to 6-weeks of RJ training. I was disappointed because I had expected to do at least all of my private training with one instructor. She was getting an instrument instruction check-ride herself after my lesson so I got to ride-along with her and another instructor which was pretty interesting. She flew under the hood almost the entire time to OKV and back so I got to see full instrument flying. I'm not sure what happens with switching instructors but I'm going to find out next week. I'm assuming the new one has to get familiar with me in terms of where I am at and so on so I suppose that puts me back a little.

bringing along a barf bag...

so, i told my instructor that i'd like to do a ride-along during an ifr/night flight sometime so that i could watch. she's getting a lesson tomorrow after mine so i might get to go along in the back seat. it occurs to me, i have never ridden in the back seat of a small airplane. i'm bringing along a few barf bags, just in case...

weather cancel

Could not fly today because of a thunderstorm in our area. Rats. Trying again first thing tomorrow.

leesburg fss move, first try at filing via phone

I've had the (considerable) convenience of being able to file Washington ADIZ flight plans in person at the Leesburg FSS up until now (they moved on 7-May-2007). I'm due to fly tomorrow so I thought I'd try filing by phone for the first time today in case it takes a while. I've been on hold for 10-mins now. Apparently, it takes a while.

flying with someone new

I flew with a new instructor yesterday (mine is out of town) and it was an interesting experience. He is a bit older and thus had a couple of different perspectives on a few things which I found interesting and informative. One thing was that I didn't was that you do not have to use an aviation beacon with your ADF receiver. We did a few of the usual things (which I did 'ok' with I think) and my landing was decent. I wanted to see whether or not I would be nervous with someone else in the right seat (such as an FAA pilot examiner) and I don't think it bothered me at all. The weather was almost rainy but improved right before we took off. I was hoping to fly in some rain because I haven't done that yet but no such luck. This was also the first time that we had to burn the carbon off of the plugs which I had heard about but had never seen done.

flying with a new instructor this weekend

My instructor is out of town for the next few days so I'm going to fly with a different instructor (my first time doing that) this weekend for more practice. It will be interesting to see how that feels (and how I do).

"26th Annual Virginia Aviation Safety Week"

"26th Annual Virginia Aviation Safety Week"
1st in the Safety Week Series at NASM, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Monday, April 30, 2007, starting at 7:00 pm
John Nance talks about 'Beyond CRM - How to Fly and Steady IDI (Intuition Deviation Indicator)'. This FAA Wings approved seminar ends at 9:00pm.
http://faasafety.gov/SPANS/event_details.aspx?eid=14737

flew to FDK (Frederick, Maryland) today!

The weather was great so we headed up to FDK (Frederick, Md) today. This was my first time there. Previously, I had said that this was a towered airport and it's not. I had always assumed that it was so I had actually not checked to be sure (duh).
FDK is my first airport with more than one runway which was actually tougher than I expected. It is also much busier with both GA (General Aviation) and glider operations. There were always at least 3 other aircraft in the area while I did one go-around and two touch and goes. The go-around was supposed to have been a landing but I was too high coming in on the first approach. The second approach was too low and I realized what caused me to be low. The runway I was using (30) is 75 feet wide while I'm used to 100 feet. It being narrower (which my ground school instructor warned me about) can cause you to drop lower to make it look the same as a wider runway (which means pay attention to what your instruments are telling you as well as your eyeballs). An interesting thing about multiple runways is that it kept confusing me to see the wrong one when I was in the pattern making turns and I wanted to run parallel to the wrong one for a moment. Also, FDK is very close to P40 (Camp David) so you cannot enter that space no matter what which means make sure you know where you are unless you want to experience an intercept from a military aircraft.
Even though I had made notes on airport frequencies and runways I still did not have a good mental picture on approaching to the airport as to the correct runway to use. It would have been better for me to have a picture sitting in front of me when I was about 3 miles out.
We had a bit of crosswind on the return to JYO (Leesburg) but I actually landed pretty well (for a change).
Here's a tidbit, the plane I used yesterday had a stuck dipstick and I couldn't figure out how to check the oil. My instructor showed me a little trick. You can use the control lock (which has just the right bend in it) as a lever to twist the dipstick. It worked like a champ.

flying lesson - more practice

We didn't fly to FDK today because the weather looked not so good (and turned out to be not bad at all). We went to the practice area and did a little stall work, steep turns and so on. We had a late start because my usual plane was supposed to be reserved so I had reserved another one. The tach was stuck on it (which I noticed pretty quickly when we started) however so I had to get another one (my usual actually was available) and file a new flight plan. I did a better job using the trim this time so I wasn't constantly messing with the yoke. I also still need to get the hang on adding/reducing power on steep turns. My landing was ok but I leveled a little high so it was just a bit harder than it should have been. While I was doing the pre-flight a helicopter was doing practice fast approaches and descents to the runway. The first one I saw made me think he was going to hit the runway. I was pretty impressed with how skillful the pilot was in coming down pretty fast with forward speed and then suddenly leveling and shooting down the runway. And I just realized that I forgot to check 121.5 (ELT) on shutdown again (even though it is on my checklist). I'm going to have to tattoo that onto my arm so that I don't forget again.

next flight - another new airport

My next lesson should be to a new airport (my second towered one) which I'm looking forward to. It will be to FDK which means a different direction and so on which will be interesting. So, if you're going to be up that way keep your head down...

Doug

"personal jets"

a recent diamondaircraft.com ad for the d-jet says "flying a jet used to be a job for trained professionals - until now" and ends with "be a jet pilot". in my opinion. if you are flying a jet you should be a trained professional. flying high and fast isn't something casual that a rich person should be able to do by writing a check. some of the cirrus accidents have been attributed to less experienced people buying a higher performance aircraft than they were prepared for. of course, if i were rich i would feel completely differently about this.

flying lesson - nice weather and the da-20

The weather was so good and my instructor had 8am openings for Sat and Sun
so I flew twice this past weekend. On the Sun lesson though I decided
that I wanted to contrast the 172 with the DA-20 so I reserved one
for Sun. I had flown that for my discovery flight but I had forgotten
how different many aspects of it are. If you haven't flown a Diamond
(and if you're interested) some of the differences are:

pre-flight is noticeably different (I definitely needed help from my instructor)

fuel is in a single tank behind the cockpit (so half the fuel and no left/right/both selector)

trim is on the stick and the selection indicator is a set of LEDs that show gross movements only, I kept hitting the trim to get the indicator to move for a while before I realized that the trim was actually moving each time I hit the switch even though
the LED was not changing

rotate and best climb airspeeds different

has a fuel pump that is on for the entire flight

has a stick rather than a yoke which really doesn't make any difference (originally I thought it would)

no steerable nose wheel and I did a bad job of steering using the brakes, it required much more finesse than I expected and the brakes didn't seem to have much travel

I tried to get familiar with the DA-20 checklists Sun night but didn't do a good enough job on it in advance

low wing and canopy definitely make a difference in the in-flight view

gauges are in a different position (on the right) and harder to see quickly

radios are different and I fumbled with them each time I had to tune

gps also displays other traffic which is neat but the practice area was busy and it was a little distracting

cockpit definitely a bit tighter and it would be difficult to reach anything you've stored behind you while in flight

All in all it was very interesting to contrast them but I'm happy with the 172.

flying lesson - crosswind landings with some gusting

Flew yesterday, did a few T&Gs with a little crosswind and some gusting. One of the gusts happened after I had gone to idle and was crossing the threshold. It blew me a good ways to the right. My instr was clearly ready to grab the yoke but I recovered reasonably well I think. At least they could use the plane again. Definitely taught me to ""don't stop flying until the airplane has stopped on the ground".

FAA Potomac TRACON tour (yesterday)

I visited the FAA Potomac TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control) facility in Warrenton, Va yesterday. It was pretty interesting but I've been around technology like that in the past so it was not that new to me. However, I was impressed with the controllers that gave the overview, tour and the Q&A. They were very informative and clearly very interested and passionate about their jobs and responsibilities. One interesting point that they made was that they were willing to give tours whenever instructors wanted to bring students there. As a student (private pilot at KJYO) I am always interested in doing that kind of thing. They also said that controllers actually knowing the pilots in their airspace was always helpful.

flying lesson - a bit of everything and crosswind landings with some gusting

Flew this morning, did a number of things (some actually ""ok) and then got to do some crosswind landings with gusts. That was entertaining. My instructor says I'm over correcting in the gusts and that makes it feel worse than it really is. She did one approach and landing so I could watch and I was amazed at how little correcting she did in the same conditions. At least I didn't have the ""grip of death"" on the yoke this time.

passed the FAA Private Pilot written exam

I passed the FAA Private Pilot written exam today (and am pretty pleased about it). I was stressing a fair amount and was not looking forward to it at all. For anyone not familiar with it, it consists of 60 questions drawn from a total of 600 questions and you have 2.5 hours to finish it. The questions come from a wide range of subjects including navigation, airspace, federal requirements, weather, aerodynamics, aeronautical charts and aircraft performance. I missed 4 questions (score was 93) so I need to do some more review but I'm happy for now. My plan for the remainder of the weekend is to not work and not study. I do get to fly tomorrow evening which I am looking forward to.

flying lesson - landings

Shot touch and go's yesterday afternoon. Did ok but had some crosswind and (at least) a couple of them were not level so one wheel touched before the other. I wish we had a video camera system out there to record them because I'd like to see what they looked like after the fact. It's hard to remember what was going on at the time so some sort of record would be useful I think.

flying lesson - towered airport (first time)

I flew for the first time to KMRB today and had a couple of observations on it if anyone is interested:

* KMRB is a towered National Guard airport (first time for me), a few new radio responses from the tower that I had never heard before
* you do not announce traffic pattern movements since it's towered (and it was hard for me to not say my turns in the pattern since I've been doing it at a non-towered airport for many months now)
* there is no visual glideslope indication there (and I'm used to PAPI)
* there is construction going on on the far end of the runway so there are people/vehicles down there which is unusual to see during touch and gos
* there was a construction vehicle with it's lights on at the far end of the runway (using 26) and I kept thinking it's lights were the glideslope indication
* my usual aircraft was busted so we took another one, it's trim is much more different than my usual, I had to keep fiddling with it

In the future I am going to keep a little camera in my headset bag. If I had done that I would have been able to take a picture of the Yak-18A that took off ahead of me. Here is a little info on what I think I saw:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakovlev_Yak-18

flying lesson - crosswind takeoff, emergency procedures, ground ref maneuvers

Flew today, did some ground ref maneuvers and then we did a little emergency procedure practice when my instructor pulled the throttle to idle and I had to do an in-flight engine out thing. I need to take the FAA written exam this weekend but work stress (which is happening now) can really impact my performance on that so I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet.

flying lesson - landings

Flew yesterday afternoon in the evening. I scheduled it at the last minute because because my instructor was available and I was supposed to go this morning and the forecast was not good for today. I did pattern work and did 9-landings. Some of them were even ok. I'm glad I did it because my instructor called this morning and said ceiling was expected to be 1,500 at 0900 so
we had to cancel. Had fun flying yesterday and was looking forward to today. Ah well, more time to study ground school material for the FAA written test

flying - VOR radials/intersections and ""how do you spell ...?

Today, while studying for the upcoming ground school test, I've been listening to Potomac ATC. For the first time I've heard at least 5 pilots ask for the spelling of the TICON airspace fix when they were directed to it. I tried to find it on my chart and had no luck (so I'm assuming that the pilots were doing the same). I also came to the revelation (I think it's correct) that the Victor airways are just matching VOR radials.

weather, weather, weather

Could not fly today because of weather again so we went over ""stuff"" that will likely on my upcoming ground school test. Also bought the new set of aeronautical charts for the area (they expire every so many months).
The airport manager on duty today is the wife of a professional pilot and they are interested in selling their airplane (a twin) since they do not use it often (I think they have two). While that would be nice someday I'm not getting my hopes up. If I can just keep getting training and learning I'll be happy (which of course implies being able to pay for it).

flying lesson - the simulator

Went to fly this morning and discovered (while filing the ADIZ flight plan) that the runway was closed due to the ice/snow we recently received and not expected to open until noon. We bopped over to the Frasca simulator (my first time on it). My instructor screamed in fear a lot less and needed a smaller sedative afterwards so I guess I did ok.

flying lesson - unusual attitude recovery

Flew this evening. Did a little stall and hood work and then unusual attitude recovery (first time for me). Was pretty neat. Interestingly enough, I didn't get queasy during the attitudes but did feel it a little bit after coming down. Landed pretty well in a decent crosswind. Unusual attitude recovery means that you put on the hood (you can only see the instruments) and close your eyes. The instructor then takes the controls and maneuvers into a bank and/or nose up/down attitude and you open your eyes and have to immediately return to normal flight.

flying lesson - a few basics and getting lost (again)

Flew late yesterday afternoon. Weather was perfect. We did a couple of basic maneuvers (slow flight, steep turns and ground maneuvers). I think my instructor intentionally had me end up a bit futher north than usual and I didn't realize it. Towards the end she said ""so, do you know where we are?"". I looked around some and didn't have a clue so I pulled out my trusty chart, looked at it some, looked around some more and then had the revelation that I still didn't have a clue. Damn that's annoying. Once she gave me a couple of clues I realized where we were and we started heading back in. Landing was a good one and it was the first dusk landing for me which was neat too.

e6b practice...

Last Thu night while at ground school I had to try a couple of quick e6b calculations and even though I had practiced Wed night (after learning them Tue night) I still sucked at it. Tonight, I just going to sit here and try a few of them again and again and again....
For anyone that doesn't know, the e6b is a circular slide rule type flight computer. It does a boatload of stuff and I need to get at least somewhat competent at it.

flying lesson - landing at another airport and hood work

I flew this morning (was lucky enough to slip in between bad weather). For the first time we went out a ways and did a couple of touch and go's at another airport and then I flew back under the hood. The first landing was great and the second only so so. I think I was thinking on the 2nd one and the first one just kind of went by. In ground school last night we got a little pop quiz on using the flight computer which I did terribly on. Clearly, this weekend is going to involve a number of test exercises with it.

ground school - weight/performance...

Had another ground school class tonight. This one was aircraft performance, weight/cg and flight computer stuff. This stuff is fun.

flying lesson - crosswind takeoff and landing

Flew this morning. Winds were right on the line and it was the bumpiest flight yet. I should have reviewed power-off stalls because when my instructor said do one I kind of went ""duh.....throttle back and stall?"". That would be wrong. Next time will be better. Also got the chance for a crosswind takeoff and landing. That was neat. Getting better, slowly, but getting better.

David Clark headset

I had ordered an aviation headset (David Clark H10-13.4) which arrived yesterday. Excellent! I had to put it on and go walking around the house making a ""zoom zoom"" sound."

flying lesson - emergency procedures

Had another lesson today, we covered:
* emergency engine-off landing procedures (attempt restart, pick a field, ...)
* some (more) slow flight
* landing was so-so, I overshot the turn to final and had to angle backwards a bit, more practice ahead

flying lesson - flying in da hood

Went flying this morning (after discovering a dead battery in my car that kept me from going to boxing). The plane just would not start (got really cold here last night) so they brought out the heater and warmed up the engine some. Kicked over right away then and away we went. Had some chop between 2,500-3,500 so we headed up to 4,000. Once we got outside the ADIZ we did some slow flight, power on/off stalls and then out came the hood (goggles really) and I went on instruments. That was pretty neat (we both came home and they could use the plan again so I'm assuming that was successful). One thing though. while waiting for the external heater to warm up the engine I didn't ""go"" one last time. We were delayed almost an hour altogether. By the time we started heading for home I was wishing I had ""gone"". After landing (some crosswind), parking and tiedown I hurried along to the potty. I wish that they had a potty outside in the plane parking area. Then again, the world is just one big men's room so....

flying lesson - ground ref maneuvers and boinga boinga boinga

Today's lesson (in excellent weather) was ground reference maneuvers. We did turning around a location on the ground and S-turns. Then we did a few touch and go's when we got back. The first 2 were ok. The next was a full stop and I got my money's worth because I had 2 really good bounces (hence the ""boinga...""). This was caused by my lowering the nose too quickly so that the main gear and nose touched down at the same time (which is wrong). Still, I was way more comfortable with comms and pattern flying this time. Damn this is fun. My instructor graduated from an aviation school. When I was her age, I thought the USAF was the only way to learn to fly professionally. If I could go back to that age I would look at going to an aviation school rather than a university. I've wanted to fly my entire life but didn't pursue it once the USAF ROTC said ""your eyes suck".

flying lesson - review power on/off stalls, slow flight

Today (in perfect weather) we went out to review power on/off stalls and some slow flight. Damn this is fun. Only saw 2 other planes out today. Nobody got in my way. Was an excellent flying day.