more flying and another lesson learned (a close call entering the pattern)

a couple of us flew KJYO (leesburg) - 8W2 (new market) - W45 (luray) - KFRR (front royal) - KJYO today. the weather was good but pretty hot/sunny down in new market. the flying went well in general but i learned (as usual) a lesson. coming back into JYO from the south for runway 17 i usually do a midfield crosswind rather than go around leesburg and come in from the north and entering the downwind on the 45. my instructor warned me about being careful with inbound traffic from the north and potential conflicts entering the pattern from the crosswind and that's exactly what happened today. we were listening and talking to a cirrus coming from the north calling over the water tower and quarry while we were getting close to the crosswind. as i was turning cross to downwind it was right in front of me above and to the right. i had all of my lights on (he had none btw) and i never saw it. the pilot not flying did see it and advised me to turn immediately onto the downwind. the cirrus was watching me (visual and on his TCAS) and entered the downwind 500 feet above me and extended his downwind while i landed. we were talking to each other the entire time but i don't think that made much of a difference. because of the ADIZ, once you're coming in for a crosswind entry to 17 you can't really do anything else w/o a potential ADIZ violation. i think the cirrus thought that he would make it to downwind before i did. i think that in the future, i'm likely to start going around leesburg again (takes 5 or 10 minutes longer) when coming from the south if it's likely that there will be anyone coming back in the same time frame.
does anyone else have opinions on that in this situation?
i also am interested in the portable TCAS units i've seen advertised. i'm not sure it would have told me anything more than the radio did today but i can see the potential value in them. anyone have opinions on that as well?

night currency and instr gnd school

last night was the 2nd instr ground school night. it's from 6:30pm-10pm and feels a bit long by the end of it (particularly since i have a tough boxing class from 6am-7am on the same days). my night currency was coming up so a couple of us did 3 landings at JYO after class (which meant getting home after midnight). the weather could not have been better for flying. there was zero wind and it was extremely peaceful. it is always tempting to depart the pattern and just head on out somewhere.

a little more xc and a little more lesson learning

today, another pilot and i were going to fly KJYO (leesburg)-KGVE (gordonsville)-W78 (south boston)-KPTB (petersburg)-KJYO. there was some weather coming in from the south later in the day but we thought we could make it. the other pilot flew the first leg (to GVE). GVE was very interesting. it's a short narrow field (2,300x40) which is the shortest field we've ever landed on. we found the field without any trouble but being the passenger i got to watch the approach. it definitely looks short from the right seat and i was watching the end of the runway pretty closely. he did an excellent short field landing. the people managing the airport were very nice and offered us ice cream but we figured we'd better be on our way. i do recommend stopping there but definitely be prepared for a short field landing.
the next leg (to W78) was much more eventful. the weather was coming in a bit quicker and visibility was coming/going. we could still see well enough to be legal VFR but we were just a bit uneasy. we were also maneuvering here and there to avoid running into any small puffs of cloud. as we passed KFVX (farmville) the visibility was getting worse so we opted to divert to KFVX. that's where the fun (and the lessons began). we were not as prepared for a divert as we usually are and had a little trouble with the CTAF and runway. i was flying this leg and was very annoyed with myself when i realized that i was on final for the wrong end of the runway. all i had to do was look at the heading indicator and it would have been obvious. anyway, when i realized what i was doing i did a go-around and just went onto the downwind and turned back and landed correctly (a decent landing). i learned a couple of things from this experience. we've gotten in the habit of the pilot not flying having the sectional and AFD and the PIC just flying. this means that you can't cross check any errors. the pilot should always have a sectional on his kneeboard to refer to no matter what.
the next interesting thing is that in the KFVX restaurant we met Sara Parmenter (http://www.doav.virginia.gov/vaap.htm). she's Virginia's Honorary Aviation Ambassador and has been a pilot for 56 years (she's in her 80's). she was there with her cessna 140 having some lunch. we got to talk with her for a little while, take a few pictures of her and get her autograph. she's very nice and you should stop and talk to her if you get the chance.
after checking the weather radar we decided to go ahead and head back to JYO due to a time constraint. i flew back and we were just ahead of the weather the entire way back and had a good landing (we walked away and they could use the plane again).
all in all it was an excellent day and, as usual, a few new learning experiences.
i will get around to posting the pictures soon. i also have a little bit of video (taken with my new flip mino recorder) of the clouds.
we are both looking forward to starting instrument ground school tomorrow night. today was a perfect example of potentially limited visibility affecting a trip. having IFR available if necessary would have kept us going on to our planned destination.

instrument training soon

one more thing, i start instrument ground school next week. 2 nights a week for 5 weeks, 4 hours a night. i suspect it will be tough. i know a couple of people that did it on their own but i think i learn better in a structured environment like a class. i also think that you learn more by hearing personal experiences from others and from discussion. then again, i also seem to think that i'm younger and better looking than i really am.

got some landings in and housing construction at KJYO

a couple of us wanted to do a little flying yesterday, maybe JYO (leesburg)-OKV (winchester)-FRR (front royal)-OKV-JYO. we only had from 1-3pm because of time constraints. when we got to JYO there was a thunderstorm predicted (and on the radar) that was directly in our path during the times we thought we'd be out there. because we had to be done and out of there by 4pm at the latest we couldn't afford to wait out any weather at OKV or FRR. we decided to do some pattern work at JYO instead. we each got in 4-landings (all ok or better). i had the last 4 and got some crosswind work and a little gusting just before the threshold of 17 at JYO. also, there's been a lot of new house construction right around there and there's an interesting optical illusion of being too low on base and final because you're over the houses (at least it looks that way to me).

stall warning horn, EGT and "never seen that before"

i decided to go out for a few landings today at KJYO (leesburg). it was pretty hot but i wanted the practice. during the preflight i discovered that the stall warning horn didn't work (used the inhale test on the wing opening) which i'd never seen happen before. since i was just going to do pattern work i decided to continue (i would not have done that if i was leaving the pattern). while taxiing the run-up area i noticed that the gps had powered itself off so i turned it back on thinking that might have toggled it myself. at the run-up i noticed that the gps was off again so something was wrong with it. once again, since i was just going to do pattern work i continued with the run-up procedures. when i did the run-up i then noticed that the EGT (exhaust gas temperature) needle pegged itself (which i had never seen happen before). i pondered that a bit and pulled the throttle out to idle. after a few seconds the needle dropped back to normal. i did the run-up again and, once again, the needle pegged itself. i kept checking the oil temperature and pressure gauges and they appeared pretty much normal. after a few tries of run-up and watching the needle i decided that 3 issues were enough so i called potomac (i had already gotten my ADIZ transponder code) and told them i was delaying takeoff due to an issue. i taxied back to the ramp and put the chocks and went to ask if i should really abort. a maint guy said that the EGT reading was probably not an issue but the stall horn was. i went back and tied down and called potomac to cancel (was a ADIZ flight plan).
i am continually uncertain about the EGT in terms of leaning and general indications. some percentage of the times that i fly the EGT seems to not be a reliable indication of engine temperature. i suppose that the oil temperature gauge is the best thing to check. i'm still pretty cautious about gauge issues. i definitely don't feel like i'm at a point where i can ignore unusual things that i haven't seen before. i'm probably being overcautious so it's time for some more reading i think.

KFDK fly-in and duat.com

frederick municipal airport in maryland (KFDK) had a fly-in today and i drove up to it. the weather was very hot (upper 90's) and unpleasant. it was as interesting as last year but the heat was very uncomfortable. i went to one seminar called "the top 5-mistakes that pilots make" which was interesting but it was standing room only and i was in the back leaning against the wall which detracted from it somewhat.
while walking through the exhibitor tent (and looking for a vendor that might have had a Vertex Standard VXA-300 transceiver with a good show price) i discovered that there's a duats.com and a duat.com for filing flight plans. i've used duats.com for more than a year relatively successfully but i've always thought that the user interface left something to be desired. i just experimented with duat.com and am much more impressed with it so i'm storing in it right now some typical routes that we use in the area. i never did find anyone selling the vxa-300 at any price better than what i've found online. since my xc flights are getting longer now i'm thinking that a portable transceiver is a good idea (if anyone has any comments on the vertex vs icom transceivers please pass them along).

really bad weather

KIAD 041837Z 041918 19009G15KT P6SM FEW045 BKN130 BKN250
TEMPO 1921 VRB40G60KT 1/4SM +TSRAGR BKN020 OVC035CB
FM2100 24005KT P6SM SCT080 OVC120
FM0800 20003KT 5SM BR OVC120
FM1300 27008KT P6SM SCT050 SCT150