Matt and I were just talking on the phone about how his club have increased their prices.....again!! I however have been talking to some of the guys here in the Kiev office about my flying antics and have been invited to take up hang gliding. Apart from the rent of the equipment and the initial lessons, it's pretty damn cheap to go fly. And it doesn't matter how much a barrel of oil will cost ;-)
The guys were telling me that the mountains in Crimea are a favourite of the hang gliding community here in Ukraine, but in the Autumn you can get winched up into the winds aloft and manage it that way, particularly in Kiev were the hills are smaller.
So in a few weekends I'm hoping to pay a visit to the hang gliding club and see if they''ll let me join and learn to fly them. I'll let you all know what it's like to fly without an engine as soon as I try it out
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Mid Week Jaunt
Earlier in the week I decided that should the weather behave itself, then I would try and go for a bimble during the week after work. I kept a close eye on the weather forecasts and the weathermen were predicting that it would be good Tuesday, crap Wednesday and getting better towards the weekend. Well, since I'm of to Kiev again on Saturday, that left Tuesday evening the only reasonable window to go fly.
A quick call to Polder to book a C150 for the sortie and a double check of the weather in the morning confirmed that it looked good to go flying. Although, looking out the window during the day suggested otherwise. But true to form, and just as the weathermen predicted, it started to clear-up....woohoo.
I left the office a wee bit earlier than normal and made my way to Lelystad. Reuben, one of the instructors as Polder was still there as he had a theory lesson to give, so he gave me the books to PH-ALI. He and I rolled her out of the hangar and I taxied to the fuel pump. I filled her tanks up, did the pre-flight and settled into the cockpit to get ready.
The wind was pretty strong at this stage, but Reuben was pretty sure it was good to go. I felt OK about it too, that is until after take-off. The wind on the climb out was really strong and pushed me hard to the East on the climb-out. I decided that since I was on my own for this flight, I'd use the time wisely and do some slow flight, stalls, emergency procedures etc since I didn't have anyone else to worry about getting air sick and stuff. So I played around in the sky, even doing some steep turns. After about 20 minutes of that I headed back to see what the wind was like for the landing.
When I got into the circuit it was blowing a hoolie. I had to crab in the downwind leg, took forever in base leg before turning final, and then crab like mad in the final too. Even after touchdown, the plane was being blown about on the roll-out. Retracting the flaps and power on, I took off to see if I could improve the landings. Gradually the wind got less and less, which was a good thing from calming me down, but bad from the perspective trying to nail the crosswind landings.
I have to say that I have never experienced wind as strong as that before and it was blowing 90 degrees across the runway. When I landed and went in to Reuben to pay the bill he asked how it was. I told him about the wind and he reminded me to fly them flapless and faster approach, as the play is more manoeuvrable at higher speeds and less likely to get blown about. I'll file that away for the next time it's windy. But a good evenings flying and nice to be back in the air.
A quick call to Polder to book a C150 for the sortie and a double check of the weather in the morning confirmed that it looked good to go flying. Although, looking out the window during the day suggested otherwise. But true to form, and just as the weathermen predicted, it started to clear-up....woohoo.
I left the office a wee bit earlier than normal and made my way to Lelystad. Reuben, one of the instructors as Polder was still there as he had a theory lesson to give, so he gave me the books to PH-ALI. He and I rolled her out of the hangar and I taxied to the fuel pump. I filled her tanks up, did the pre-flight and settled into the cockpit to get ready.
The wind was pretty strong at this stage, but Reuben was pretty sure it was good to go. I felt OK about it too, that is until after take-off. The wind on the climb out was really strong and pushed me hard to the East on the climb-out. I decided that since I was on my own for this flight, I'd use the time wisely and do some slow flight, stalls, emergency procedures etc since I didn't have anyone else to worry about getting air sick and stuff. So I played around in the sky, even doing some steep turns. After about 20 minutes of that I headed back to see what the wind was like for the landing.
When I got into the circuit it was blowing a hoolie. I had to crab in the downwind leg, took forever in base leg before turning final, and then crab like mad in the final too. Even after touchdown, the plane was being blown about on the roll-out. Retracting the flaps and power on, I took off to see if I could improve the landings. Gradually the wind got less and less, which was a good thing from calming me down, but bad from the perspective trying to nail the crosswind landings.
I have to say that I have never experienced wind as strong as that before and it was blowing 90 degrees across the runway. When I landed and went in to Reuben to pay the bill he asked how it was. I told him about the wind and he reminded me to fly them flapless and faster approach, as the play is more manoeuvrable at higher speeds and less likely to get blown about. I'll file that away for the next time it's windy. But a good evenings flying and nice to be back in the air.
Friday, August 31, 2007
The joys of AOPA membership
OK, so I know there's a lot in the GA community (certainly this side of the pond) on the benefits of being an AOPA member, assuming there are of course any.
Well, I've now found one.
Picture this.....I'm flying back from Minsk (Belarus for those geographically challenged) back to Kiev (Ukraine for same said folks) yesterday and I'm first off the plane into, what I hope, is a small queue at Immigration.
To my horror there's hundreds waiting in line for Passport Control, and from past experiences, this is at least an hour long wait.
Having waited for my flight which was delayed by two hours, I wasn't in any mood to hang around for Immigration. But I remembered two things....
1. They have a special lane for "Air Crew", and
2. I have my AOPA Air Crew card on my which has my photo and "Air Crew" written on it.
"Dare I do it?" I ask myself. Well, they can only say "yes" or "no". So when I go to the desk the Immigration Officer isn't there. "Fear not" I say to myself....I can see the office where they all congregate. So I walk up, knock on the door, produce my AOPA card and explain that I'm "Air Crew" and that there's nobody at the air crew desk. The guys looks at my card and says"No Problem"....and marches me to the front of the queue.....SWEEEETTTTT!!!
I handed my passport, quick review, stamp in the passport and I'm whisked through. Has to be the fastest I've EVER been through an Immigration line anywhere.
I must add however that I'd never have the balls to try this in the EU or US because I know they're more stricter/savvy, plus they can read English, unlike here in the CIS (ex-Soviet Union)....but I'm defo trying it wherever I go in the CIS.
Well, I've now found one.
Picture this.....I'm flying back from Minsk (Belarus for those geographically challenged) back to Kiev (Ukraine for same said folks) yesterday and I'm first off the plane into, what I hope, is a small queue at Immigration.
To my horror there's hundreds waiting in line for Passport Control, and from past experiences, this is at least an hour long wait.
Having waited for my flight which was delayed by two hours, I wasn't in any mood to hang around for Immigration. But I remembered two things....
1. They have a special lane for "Air Crew", and
2. I have my AOPA Air Crew card on my which has my photo and "Air Crew" written on it.
"Dare I do it?" I ask myself. Well, they can only say "yes" or "no". So when I go to the desk the Immigration Officer isn't there. "Fear not" I say to myself....I can see the office where they all congregate. So I walk up, knock on the door, produce my AOPA card and explain that I'm "Air Crew" and that there's nobody at the air crew desk. The guys looks at my card and says
I handed my passport, quick review, stamp in the passport and I'm whisked through. Has to be the fastest I've EVER been through an Immigration line anywhere.
I must add however that I'd never have the balls to try this in the EU or US because I know they're more stricter/savvy, plus they can read English, unlike here in the CIS (ex-Soviet Union)....but I'm defo trying it wherever I go in the CIS.
Probably the best €30 I've ever spent :-)
Monday, August 13, 2007
Unlimited Aerobatics
Whilst Matt was getting used to being back in the saddle and was happy doing Dutch Rolls, I went up for some unlimited aero's in a Yak.
A colleague of mine in Ukraine took me out to Chaika aerodrome and introduced me to the folks who run the school there. My instructor, Anatoly, had pretty bad English, and his was the best. I also met the folks in the ATC tower, which looked like something that you'd find in a Western tower back in the 1950's. Still, they had planes and that's what I was here for.
I climbed into the Yak 52 into the back seat. It's a two seater and the pilots sit in tandem, like in the Citabria I learned my aerobatics in. However, the Yak 52 is a tricycle gear, so no need to worry about flying a taildragger. BUT....it has a retractable undercarriage, so that would cover my complex aircraft certification then ;-)
One of the first things I noticed when I was being strapped into the plane....(first to the parachute and then to the seat) was that nothing on the instruments was in English and everything was metric. The altimeter was showing meters as was the ASI and the artificial horizon was a really old style gyro. But it had a g-meter top right and that's all I cared about today :-)
Anatoly strapped himself in and checked in on the radio. Oh....none of your nice David Clarks here....I was wearing a really old headset with an old analogue style connection to the radioset and they did not have any noise reduction at all. He asked if i was OK and said we'd do a hard routine today. My friend had told him I had done the aero's course and he seems pleased to have someone in the back who wouldn't get sick so easy. We taxied to the hold point. On the way over though, he gunned it over and the taxi was a boneshaking affair. I feared that the prop would hit with the ground as I'm used to taking it slow int he Cessna in Texel, but this guy just belted over the ground. A quick engine check and line-up on the over-grown grass runway and we were soon in the air.
He only climbed to 500 metres (1500ft in old money) and started a routine with knife edge turns right and left, then he did a barrel roll, aileron roll and loop. Afterwards he asked if I felt OK. I said yeah, fine. They he did a spin and asked me to recover. I recovered and he said, OK lets do some more aeros. We did a tail slide, wing overs, and I did a 6G loop with a figure of eight and inverted roll-out at the bottom. He gave me instruction throughout the manoeuvres and said I did pretty good. He then took control and did an inverted spin, followed by a hammerhead, tailslide and inverted figure of eight. I was sweating buckets by the time we'd finished and we only did about 25-30 mins. A quick dump of the flap and we were on final back onto the field (which needs a tractor or herd of cows to keep the grass down).
The only thing I don't like about the Yak is the fumes from the engine which make their way into the cockpit. The smell was so strong that I was getting dizzy when we landed. So what's next? Well, I need to now get a local medical and sit an exam in Russian apparently to be able to fly this beauty solo. So we'll see what happens. But what an afternoon.
A colleague of mine in Ukraine took me out to Chaika aerodrome and introduced me to the folks who run the school there. My instructor, Anatoly, had pretty bad English, and his was the best. I also met the folks in the ATC tower, which looked like something that you'd find in a Western tower back in the 1950's. Still, they had planes and that's what I was here for.
I climbed into the Yak 52 into the back seat. It's a two seater and the pilots sit in tandem, like in the Citabria I learned my aerobatics in. However, the Yak 52 is a tricycle gear, so no need to worry about flying a taildragger. BUT....it has a retractable undercarriage, so that would cover my complex aircraft certification then ;-)
One of the first things I noticed when I was being strapped into the plane....(first to the parachute and then to the seat) was that nothing on the instruments was in English and everything was metric. The altimeter was showing meters as was the ASI and the artificial horizon was a really old style gyro. But it had a g-meter top right and that's all I cared about today :-)
Anatoly strapped himself in and checked in on the radio. Oh....none of your nice David Clarks here....I was wearing a really old headset with an old analogue style connection to the radioset and they did not have any noise reduction at all. He asked if i was OK and said we'd do a hard routine today. My friend had told him I had done the aero's course and he seems pleased to have someone in the back who wouldn't get sick so easy. We taxied to the hold point. On the way over though, he gunned it over and the taxi was a boneshaking affair. I feared that the prop would hit with the ground as I'm used to taking it slow int he Cessna in Texel, but this guy just belted over the ground. A quick engine check and line-up on the over-grown grass runway and we were soon in the air.
He only climbed to 500 metres (1500ft in old money) and started a routine with knife edge turns right and left, then he did a barrel roll, aileron roll and loop. Afterwards he asked if I felt OK. I said yeah, fine. They he did a spin and asked me to recover. I recovered and he said, OK lets do some more aeros. We did a tail slide, wing overs, and I did a 6G loop with a figure of eight and inverted roll-out at the bottom. He gave me instruction throughout the manoeuvres and said I did pretty good. He then took control and did an inverted spin, followed by a hammerhead, tailslide and inverted figure of eight. I was sweating buckets by the time we'd finished and we only did about 25-30 mins. A quick dump of the flap and we were on final back onto the field (which needs a tractor or herd of cows to keep the grass down).
The only thing I don't like about the Yak is the fumes from the engine which make their way into the cockpit. The smell was so strong that I was getting dizzy when we landed. So what's next? Well, I need to now get a local medical and sit an exam in Russian apparently to be able to fly this beauty solo. So we'll see what happens. But what an afternoon.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Lunch in Texel
Well, finally the weather has broken and the sun decided to show his face this summer. The last few weeks have been really depressing, ever since returning from Ukraine I've been bombarded with rain and low clouds and haven't flown at all. It was getting pretty depressing, and even when the boys (my flight school buddies) were over for my 30th birthday party we were all complaining about the weather and had to scrub going flying that weekend.
But this weekend is different. I was chatting to a friend of mine in work, Joe Chapman, and saw that the weathermen were predicting good weather at the weekend. Joe was asking about my flying and I mentioned that is was supposed to me nice this weekend. After calling up Wouter in Polder and checking the availability of a C172, I let Joe know that we were a "go". I also sent an email out to the "Paddyish" Yahoo group to find other people who were interested in going flying with me. I've got a few replies and when I booked the plane I emailed them and asked if they wanted to come along.
With a full plane, and a plan in my head to fly over the city, up to Texel and back, we all met at Lelystad train station and headed off for the airport. When we got there, I got the keys to the plane, checked with Texel to see if the runway was OK. Since it's a grass runway I wanted to know if it was waterlogged with all the rain we had. They told me it was OK and so I went out to pre-flight the plane (PH-GYS...or Gijs) and strap everyone in.
We took off and headed straight from Amsterdam. I called the guys in Schiphol right away to give them notice I was coming. They asked me to squawk and told me to keep clear of the approach ends of the active runways. We settled in to the flight and were soon over the city and the girls in the plane were snapping away with their cameras (Joe forgot his camera). I did a few orbits of the city and descended a little so they could get a closer look. I heard the usual "oh, that's where I live" from the folks in the back. And I noticed again how much more unstable the air is over the city. All those roofs heating up at different rates causing a little turbulence. I then let Schiphol know I was leaving, headed North and contacted De Kooy for radar service to Texel. The wind was very strong and Marina in the front was beginning to feel sick. I asked if she wanted to go back to Lelystad but she asked would we be in Texel soon and I assured her we would, so she said she'd be fine.
A short dash over the water and then setting up for the approach a few minutes later and we were on short final for runway 22. The folks in the back couldn't see the runway until we were almost on the ground. The wind was coming from 260 and was blowing hard at about 22kts. I crabbed into the wind and then kicked the rudder to straighten before touching down. I was once again really chuffed with the landing. It was silky smooth, even with the crosswind. We taxied back and parked outside the restaurant.
During lunch we enjoyed the sunshine and the show of the local skydivers coming in the land and I enjoyed my uitsmijter. I have to say, food after flying, tastes even better....or maybe it's the satisfaction of eating well after getting yourself somewhere new :-) I even enjoyed the greasy spoons in the U.S. :-)
Anyway, with tummy's filled (and the tanks too) we walked back out to the plane to head home. I also love it when we get the looks and stares from people who "drove" over to the island with the ferry and knowing that we're going home in style in our Cessna....I know....I'm a snob, but sometimes it's cool being a pilot (heehee). I took off, turned East and contacted De Kooy again for flight following to Lelystad. I had a bit of a moment when the passenger sitting in the co-pilot seat got camera happy again and was taking photo's from every angel. At one point though she jammed her foot on the rudder pedal without knowing, the plane yawed left and I screamed at her to move her foot. Nothing bad happened as I corrected immediately, but she was a bit sheepish and all apologies. No harm done, but a new learning for me with carrying pax who are unfamiliar with light aircraft.
With a strong tailwind on our way back we were overhead Lelystad in now time. I tracked North and headed for "Sierra" before letting down and carrying out the prelanding checklist. Wouter called when we were in Texel to warn of wind shear, so I was on my toes. I turned on final, again with a crosswind and a smooth landing, although I floated a little because I landed flapless with the wind shear warning earlier.
After a great day flying, we decided to head into town to try out the new "Ice Bar" in Amsterdam. After a cool day we finished having a "cool" evening drinking vodka in -30C from glasses made from ice. :-)
Can't wait for the next weekend of good weather. 
But this weekend is different. I was chatting to a friend of mine in work, Joe Chapman, and saw that the weathermen were predicting good weather at the weekend. Joe was asking about my flying and I mentioned that is was supposed to me nice this weekend. After calling up Wouter in Polder and checking the availability of a C172, I let Joe know that we were a "go". I also sent an email out to the "Paddyish" Yahoo group to find other people who were interested in going flying with me. I've got a few replies and when I booked the plane I emailed them and asked if they wanted to come along.
With a full plane, and a plan in my head to fly over the city, up to Texel and back, we all met at Lelystad train station and headed off for the airport. When we got there, I got the keys to the plane, checked with Texel to see if the runway was OK. Since it's a grass runway I wanted to know if it was waterlogged with all the rain we had. They told me it was OK and so I went out to pre-flight the plane (PH-GYS...or Gijs) and strap everyone in.
We took off and headed straight from Amsterdam. I called the guys in Schiphol right away to give them notice I was coming. They asked me to squawk and told me to keep clear of the approach ends of the active runways. We settled in to the flight and were soon over the city and the girls in the plane were snapping away with their cameras (Joe forgot his camera). I did a few orbits of the city and descended a little so they could get a closer look. I heard the usual "oh, that's where I live" from the folks in the back. And I noticed again how much more unstable the air is over the city. All those roofs heating up at different rates causing a little turbulence. I then let Schiphol know I was leaving, headed North and contacted De Kooy for radar service to Texel. The wind was very strong and Marina in the front was beginning to feel sick. I asked if she wanted to go back to Lelystad but she asked would we be in Texel soon and I assured her we would, so she said she'd be fine.A short dash over the water and then setting up for the approach a few minutes later and we were on short final for runway 22. The folks in the back couldn't see the runway until we were almost on the ground. The wind was coming from 260 and was blowing hard at about 22kts. I crabbed into the wind and then kicked the rudder to straighten before touching down. I was once again really chuffed with the landing. It was silky smooth, even with the crosswind. We taxied back and parked outside the restaurant.
During lunch we enjoyed the sunshine and the show of the local skydivers coming in the land and I enjoyed my uitsmijter. I have to say, food after flying, tastes even better....or maybe it's the satisfaction of eating well after getting yourself somewhere new :-) I even enjoyed the greasy spoons in the U.S. :-)Anyway, with tummy's filled (and the tanks too) we walked back out to the plane to head home. I also love it when we get the looks and stares from people who "drove" over to the island with the ferry and knowing that we're going home in style in our Cessna....I know....I'm a snob, but sometimes it's cool being a pilot (heehee). I took off, turned East and contacted De Kooy again for flight following to Lelystad. I had a bit of a moment when the passenger sitting in the co-pilot seat got camera happy again and was taking photo's from every angel. At one point though she jammed her foot on the rudder pedal without knowing, the plane yawed left and I screamed at her to move her foot. Nothing bad happened as I corrected immediately, but she was a bit sheepish and all apologies. No harm done, but a new learning for me with carrying pax who are unfamiliar with light aircraft.
With a strong tailwind on our way back we were overhead Lelystad in now time. I tracked North and headed for "Sierra" before letting down and carrying out the prelanding checklist. Wouter called when we were in Texel to warn of wind shear, so I was on my toes. I turned on final, again with a crosswind and a smooth landing, although I floated a little because I landed flapless with the wind shear warning earlier.
After a great day flying, we decided to head into town to try out the new "Ice Bar" in Amsterdam. After a cool day we finished having a "cool" evening drinking vodka in -30C from glasses made from ice. :-) Can't wait for the next weekend of good weather. Friday, June 01, 2007
First flight in Ukraine....HOPEFULLY
This week brought it some excitement. I have finally been able to find out what the hell I need to do in order to get my PPL licence validated to fly in the Ukraine. Seems like the usual paper chase required with all Aviation Authorities, and a test to top it off (don't know if it's a flight test or written exam though). So with the help of the guys here, they'll help draft a letter in Russian so I can send it and copies of my logbook and licence to the Ukrainian authorities and allow me to fly here solo. Fingers crossed.
On top of that, we got to talking about airfields I could use etc when the paperwork comes through, and through sheer coincidence we came across an outfit in Ukraine on an airfield near one of my friends that sells completed Jabiru's!! They have a four seater Jabiru J400 for sale for €45k brand new, compared to $180k for a new four-seater C172.
So Oleg (my colleague) and I are thinking of taking a trip down there on Sunday to check out the company and the aircraft and maybe try to get a test flight in it before I decide if this is the right plane for me.
By looking at the pictures on their website, it looks like the avionics are quite Spartan, so I would need to talk to them about having a transponder and GNS430 installed for sure. We'll see what the weekend brings.
I'm hoping though that maybe by the end of the summer I might have actually completed the mammoth paper chase that I'm half expecting and will be able to go solo in a Yak and do some aerobatics at the weekend whenever the rigour of life in Cisco starts to take its toll
I'm hoping though that maybe by the end of the summer I might have actually completed the mammoth paper chase that I'm half expecting and will be able to go solo in a Yak and do some aerobatics at the weekend whenever the rigour of life in Cisco starts to take its toll
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
From San Diego to San Francisco
Well, after 17 hours, 9 stops, 7 airports and 3 states later, Matt and I have finally returned safely to San Francisco and hung up our headsets. We left San Diego this morning together with John and Janis. They had hired a piper for Janis to practice her landings and we decided the night before to do some air-to-air work and try to take some photo's of each other in the air. We got some nice ones, but sadly it's hard to see us in the cockpit :-(
After some flying together, John and Janis said their goodbyes and peeled away and Matt and I continued Northwards towards Santa Barbara. We climbed up to 10,500 feet and flew right over LAX. We were mixing it with the big boys and could see some heavies taking off below us and even came face to face with a 737 climbing out. Pretty cool.
We had checked the weather beforehand and there was still the marine layer (clouds near the coast) hanging about, but we expected it to burn off by the time we got to Santa Barbara. When we got closer, we checked the weather broadcast at the station and they were reporting good visibility. But as we got closer, the clouds stayed put and even when we descended they remained thick. So Matt and I double backed and I found an alternate, Santa Paula. A busy little field in a tight valley. A boy was it busy. There was traffic doing both left hand and right hand circuits. Matt made a nice landing, even after the stress of the diversion and we found a place to have lunch. We spoke to some other pilots dining there and they gave us some handy tips. After an hour (and not much food eaten because I had lost my appetite) we fired up the engine and headed off again. Since the plane was heavily loaded and the runway short I did a short field take-off.
As soon as we took off the weather was much better and we climbed to get over the hills and head to the desert where it would be clearer skies. We then descended for another airport for a quick splash and dash as we didn't want to refuel at Santa Paula because of the weight and runway length. We elected to land at Paso Robles, an uncontrolled airfield with two LOOOONNNGG runways. For some reason the traffic was using runway 19 when the winds were blowing 280 degrees. So I chose to use runway 31, into the wind with less of a drift effect. A long taxi later and we refuelled and headed back off.
Last stop was to be Livermore. On the cruise up there we were back up to 125kts due to the tailwinds and were making excellent time. Traffic was pretty busy again and we had to keep our eyes peeled, but soon we were already setting up for the approach in Livermore. A gentle touchdown and that was us back to San Francisco. We'll take a break from flying tomorrow and have fun on the roller coasters and in downtown San Francisco. But it was a fantastic holiday.
What have I learned? Well, I've learned a lot of things.
Firstly, I have really enjoyed the teamwork Matt and I developed together and the Crew Relationship Management. Both of us enjoyed flying together and if something was misheard, the other was there to help out.
Secondly, good planning is definitely the order of the day. I really loved it when my planning ended up having us over the target/waypoint bang on the minute and the fuel calculations were pretty damn accurate also.
Thirdly, selecting visual references that are closer together rather than further apart, and the same with the radio nav aids. Some areas we flew were over plane desert with little or no reference points. GPS was great here, but we relied on it a bit too much in these cases.
Fourthly, good radio work will get you everywhere with ATC. The more confident you become, the easier and quicker ATC are at dealing with you. It makes both yours and their lives easier.
And finally....USE the guys in ATC. They were invaluable as an extra pair of eyes when trying to keep clear of traffic, and when we got into trouble at Santa Barbara they were a get out of trouble card that we had up our sleeve. The Flight Following service was fantastic. I use ATC in Amsterdam, but will not fly without them from now on.
A big thank you yo everyone, Bob, Ron, John, Janis, Kevin and Bud. I can't wait to see you guys again soon.
After some flying together, John and Janis said their goodbyes and peeled away and Matt and I continued Northwards towards Santa Barbara. We climbed up to 10,500 feet and flew right over LAX. We were mixing it with the big boys and could see some heavies taking off below us and even came face to face with a 737 climbing out. Pretty cool.
We had checked the weather beforehand and there was still the marine layer (clouds near the coast) hanging about, but we expected it to burn off by the time we got to Santa Barbara. When we got closer, we checked the weather broadcast at the station and they were reporting good visibility. But as we got closer, the clouds stayed put and even when we descended they remained thick. So Matt and I double backed and I found an alternate, Santa Paula. A busy little field in a tight valley. A boy was it busy. There was traffic doing both left hand and right hand circuits. Matt made a nice landing, even after the stress of the diversion and we found a place to have lunch. We spoke to some other pilots dining there and they gave us some handy tips. After an hour (and not much food eaten because I had lost my appetite) we fired up the engine and headed off again. Since the plane was heavily loaded and the runway short I did a short field take-off.
As soon as we took off the weather was much better and we climbed to get over the hills and head to the desert where it would be clearer skies. We then descended for another airport for a quick splash and dash as we didn't want to refuel at Santa Paula because of the weight and runway length. We elected to land at Paso Robles, an uncontrolled airfield with two LOOOONNNGG runways. For some reason the traffic was using runway 19 when the winds were blowing 280 degrees. So I chose to use runway 31, into the wind with less of a drift effect. A long taxi later and we refuelled and headed back off.
Last stop was to be Livermore. On the cruise up there we were back up to 125kts due to the tailwinds and were making excellent time. Traffic was pretty busy again and we had to keep our eyes peeled, but soon we were already setting up for the approach in Livermore. A gentle touchdown and that was us back to San Francisco. We'll take a break from flying tomorrow and have fun on the roller coasters and in downtown San Francisco. But it was a fantastic holiday.
What have I learned? Well, I've learned a lot of things.
Firstly, I have really enjoyed the teamwork Matt and I developed together and the Crew Relationship Management. Both of us enjoyed flying together and if something was misheard, the other was there to help out.
Secondly, good planning is definitely the order of the day. I really loved it when my planning ended up having us over the target/waypoint bang on the minute and the fuel calculations were pretty damn accurate also.
Thirdly, selecting visual references that are closer together rather than further apart, and the same with the radio nav aids. Some areas we flew were over plane desert with little or no reference points. GPS was great here, but we relied on it a bit too much in these cases.
Fourthly, good radio work will get you everywhere with ATC. The more confident you become, the easier and quicker ATC are at dealing with you. It makes both yours and their lives easier.
And finally....USE the guys in ATC. They were invaluable as an extra pair of eyes when trying to keep clear of traffic, and when we got into trouble at Santa Barbara they were a get out of trouble card that we had up our sleeve. The Flight Following service was fantastic. I use ATC in Amsterdam, but will not fly without them from now on.
A big thank you yo everyone, Bob, Ron, John, Janis, Kevin and Bud. I can't wait to see you guys again soon.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Sun, sea, babes and turbo's
Well, our $100 burger plans changed a bit. Matt was jaded from flying and Janis' friend wasn't moving from her hotel until 2pm, which would have put paid to any plans of going anywhere for lunch. So instead we had a really pleasant late lunch (English style with a proper bacon and eggs fry-up) and then met Kevin at Montgomery airport to check me out in the 182.
Janis dropped John, Matt and I off at the airport and Kevin walked me through the plane. It was a beauty. A 2005 Cessna 182 with a Garmin 1000 glass cockpit and a turbo engine. John and Janis also lent Matt and I their Bose noise cancelling headsets to try them out. With John and Matt in the back seat, Kevin and I in the front, just like the old days, we ran through the checklists and fired up the engine.
We taxied out to the run-up area, but during the run-up I was no longer able to hear Kevin on my headset. We swapped headsets and it soon became apparent that there was something wrong with the intercom system my side. A quick faff about with swapping headsets (I eventually connected mine into Matt's side in the back) and we were ready to head off.
We took off so quickly, the plane leapt into the air and we were climbing easily at 100 feet per minute, something that the C172 struggles to do. We climbed to 3,500 feet and the Garmin system was beeping to let me know we had a thousand feet to go. Kevin had me fly to Alpine and do some air work, so steep turns and stuff to get used to the feel of the plane. It really is a heavier plane to fly than the C172. The first steep turn had Kevin correct me and remind me that I was no longer flying an aerobatic plane, but I soon got the feel for the plane again, but I was having a wee bit of trouble nailing the altitude, climbing, then descending to correct etc. But when I rolled wings level I wasn't too far from the altitude I started at. So not too bad.
After the airwork, we headed off to Brown airport, near the Mexican border. We did some touch and go's, Kevin doing the first landing, and I did the rest. The first landing was a greaser, the second was with a few wee hops, but still soft, and then we headed back to Montgomery via the San Diego VFR corrider (which takes you right over the city and San Diego airport). We then brought the plane down slowly and made an approach to Montgomery field. The last landing I was a little fast, flared a little high after having to sideslip the plane in and then ended up getting a little slow. Kevin was quick on the controls in case I botched the landing but we came down eventually. I was a really embarrased by that though, thinking to myself I should have known better. But the guys were very magnanimous and said they thought I did well. (Thanks guys for your kindness, but I know it sucked).
We tucked the plane away for the day and then Kevin signed me off on my logbook to endorse my logbook to say I can now fly turbo aircraft. Cool....thank you SO MUCH Kevin.
The rest of the afternoon was spent by the beach in Mission Bay. Kevin, Matt, John, Janis, Janis' friend Annette and I spent the day in the sun drinking beers, talking about planes and everything else and Matt, Kevin and I were enjoying the view on the beach. :-) A wonderful finish to a great day.
Oh, I almost forgot. I am now officially in Karma receivership. We went to the supermarket to get some food for dinner tonight, and John and I spotted one of those electric carts that disabled people use to move around the store. John went to sit in it, but then decided not to. But I sat in it and saw it was working, so I scooted around the supermarket in it. The guys were pissing themselves laughing, and of course everyone in the supermarket was ever so nice and moving out of my way, But I think I'm now going to hell :-)
Janis dropped John, Matt and I off at the airport and Kevin walked me through the plane. It was a beauty. A 2005 Cessna 182 with a Garmin 1000 glass cockpit and a turbo engine. John and Janis also lent Matt and I their Bose noise cancelling headsets to try them out. With John and Matt in the back seat, Kevin and I in the front, just like the old days, we ran through the checklists and fired up the engine.
We taxied out to the run-up area, but during the run-up I was no longer able to hear Kevin on my headset. We swapped headsets and it soon became apparent that there was something wrong with the intercom system my side. A quick faff about with swapping headsets (I eventually connected mine into Matt's side in the back) and we were ready to head off.
We took off so quickly, the plane leapt into the air and we were climbing easily at 100 feet per minute, something that the C172 struggles to do. We climbed to 3,500 feet and the Garmin system was beeping to let me know we had a thousand feet to go. Kevin had me fly to Alpine and do some air work, so steep turns and stuff to get used to the feel of the plane. It really is a heavier plane to fly than the C172. The first steep turn had Kevin correct me and remind me that I was no longer flying an aerobatic plane, but I soon got the feel for the plane again, but I was having a wee bit of trouble nailing the altitude, climbing, then descending to correct etc. But when I rolled wings level I wasn't too far from the altitude I started at. So not too bad.
After the airwork, we headed off to Brown airport, near the Mexican border. We did some touch and go's, Kevin doing the first landing, and I did the rest. The first landing was a greaser, the second was with a few wee hops, but still soft, and then we headed back to Montgomery via the San Diego VFR corrider (which takes you right over the city and San Diego airport). We then brought the plane down slowly and made an approach to Montgomery field. The last landing I was a little fast, flared a little high after having to sideslip the plane in and then ended up getting a little slow. Kevin was quick on the controls in case I botched the landing but we came down eventually. I was a really embarrased by that though, thinking to myself I should have known better. But the guys were very magnanimous and said they thought I did well. (Thanks guys for your kindness, but I know it sucked).
We tucked the plane away for the day and then Kevin signed me off on my logbook to endorse my logbook to say I can now fly turbo aircraft. Cool....thank you SO MUCH Kevin.
The rest of the afternoon was spent by the beach in Mission Bay. Kevin, Matt, John, Janis, Janis' friend Annette and I spent the day in the sun drinking beers, talking about planes and everything else and Matt, Kevin and I were enjoying the view on the beach. :-) A wonderful finish to a great day.
Oh, I almost forgot. I am now officially in Karma receivership. We went to the supermarket to get some food for dinner tonight, and John and I spotted one of those electric carts that disabled people use to move around the store. John went to sit in it, but then decided not to. But I sat in it and saw it was working, so I scooted around the supermarket in it. The guys were pissing themselves laughing, and of course everyone in the supermarket was ever so nice and moving out of my way, But I think I'm now going to hell :-)
Sunday, May 13, 2007
$100 burger trip today
John and Janis took Matt and myself out to dine at a really really nice Indian restaurant last night, and my instructor Kevin and his girlfriend also joined us. Over dinner we asked Kevin if he happened to have a Cherokee available for John and Janis to use as the one they would have used is booked solid today. The conversation then turned to all of us going somewhere for a $100 burger somewhere and Kevin said he'd try and get a C182 (bigger brother of a 172) for tomorrow and we'd all fly in the two planes up to somewhere like Big Bear or somewhere else that's nice for a spot of lunch and another chat of all things flying. Better go grab my shower and give Matt a shout (he wanted a lie-in today).
Back to sunny San Diego
We left Palm Springs this morning and flew down to San Diego where we learned how to fly. We had a few problems with the handler in Palm Springs, they never refuelled the plane and we had to wait for the refueller and then they tried charging Matt a $27 handling fee!!! What handling??? There was nobody there to meet us from our plane when we arrived, they never refuelled like we asked them and they basically did bugger all. Anyway, since we uplifted fuel there (quite pricey I might add) they waived the handling fee.
As I was preflighting the plane I saw three F-18's coming in to the ramp near where we had parked. SWEET!!!
I was doing the flying today and took off and was told to fly a heading to the North and then we were cleared to resume own navigation to Gillespie. On the way out though the ATC controller was having a REALLY bad day. He was giving out to the other pilots because either they read back everything incorrectly, didn't know where they were or spoke really bad English or had bad radio's. It reminded me of the grumpy controller back at Gillespie in San Diego.
We didn't need to plot this route at all as it's quite close to Thermal airport which both Matt and I flew into on our long cross country. We were pretty much flying the route by memory and I tuned int he Julian VOR (navigation beacon) and followed it up the Borrego Valley and then the reverse bearing to the top of El Capitan reservoir and then towards Gillespie airport. The air was really really smooth so I flew her by hand the entire way leaving the autopilot off and just trimming for the altitude and checking the headings on the VOR beacon. It was a really nice flight.
Coming in to approach we could hear from the radios that Gillespie was as busy as ever. We were positioned behind traffic and then cleared to land on runway 27R. It's a nice long runway, but my landing was spot on and right on the numbers, and before we knew it were were parked up alongside the cafe for a nostalgic burger and fries. We then met my friends John and Janis (who are kindly putting us up for a couple of nights) and we did some catching up. I also gave my old instructor Kevin a call to let him know where we were at and he dropped by to say hello. We're planning to go out for some beers later tonight.
We parked the plane then in John and Janis' new hanger and then headed off to their hot tub and pool and just relaxed again in the sun. Tomorrow the plan is to do some air to air flying and take some nice shots of each other from the air. Looking forward to it.
As I was preflighting the plane I saw three F-18's coming in to the ramp near where we had parked. SWEET!!!
I was doing the flying today and took off and was told to fly a heading to the North and then we were cleared to resume own navigation to Gillespie. On the way out though the ATC controller was having a REALLY bad day. He was giving out to the other pilots because either they read back everything incorrectly, didn't know where they were or spoke really bad English or had bad radio's. It reminded me of the grumpy controller back at Gillespie in San Diego.
We didn't need to plot this route at all as it's quite close to Thermal airport which both Matt and I flew into on our long cross country. We were pretty much flying the route by memory and I tuned int he Julian VOR (navigation beacon) and followed it up the Borrego Valley and then the reverse bearing to the top of El Capitan reservoir and then towards Gillespie airport. The air was really really smooth so I flew her by hand the entire way leaving the autopilot off and just trimming for the altitude and checking the headings on the VOR beacon. It was a really nice flight.
Coming in to approach we could hear from the radios that Gillespie was as busy as ever. We were positioned behind traffic and then cleared to land on runway 27R. It's a nice long runway, but my landing was spot on and right on the numbers, and before we knew it were were parked up alongside the cafe for a nostalgic burger and fries. We then met my friends John and Janis (who are kindly putting us up for a couple of nights) and we did some catching up. I also gave my old instructor Kevin a call to let him know where we were at and he dropped by to say hello. We're planning to go out for some beers later tonight.
We parked the plane then in John and Janis' new hanger and then headed off to their hot tub and pool and just relaxed again in the sun. Tomorrow the plan is to do some air to air flying and take some nice shots of each other from the air. Looking forward to it.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Palm Springs
After a quick(ish) dash across the desert, Matt and I made it safely to Palm Springs. We were cleared through Las Vegas' airspace and then made our way safely to Palm Springs International airport....probably the biggest one we'll have visited on this trip. The descent down from the hills and onto the approach was pretty bumpy. My friends Bob and Ron (with whom we're staying with overnight) were telling us that they've had a few experiences with approaches in commercial flights into Palm Springs. Matt set the plane up for probably the best landing of the trip so far by either one of us.
We've spent the day at Bob and Ron's place (an absolutely stunning house at the foothills of the mountains) and Matt and I recharged our batteries and relaxed by horsing around in their pool. I've been spoiled by Ron and Bob's spectacular cooking (for which they're highly renowned) and of course their cocktails. I'm dreading the bill in the morning (only kidding) for the 5 star treatment they gave us during our stay. It's been nice to be able to just chill during our holiday. I think San Diego will be similar when we meet John and Janis there.
I've captaining the flight to Gillespie so it should be fun. I can't wait. Back to our old stomping ground. I'm looking forward to hearing the grumpy traffic controller on the radio too...hee hee.
Bob & Ron, I cannot thank you both enough for your hospitality. I hope I can extend the same to you when you're in Amsterdam next. Once again, thank you both SO much.
We've spent the day at Bob and Ron's place (an absolutely stunning house at the foothills of the mountains) and Matt and I recharged our batteries and relaxed by horsing around in their pool. I've been spoiled by Ron and Bob's spectacular cooking (for which they're highly renowned) and of course their cocktails. I'm dreading the bill in the morning (only kidding) for the 5 star treatment they gave us during our stay. It's been nice to be able to just chill during our holiday. I think San Diego will be similar when we meet John and Janis there.
I've captaining the flight to Gillespie so it should be fun. I can't wait. Back to our old stomping ground. I'm looking forward to hearing the grumpy traffic controller on the radio too...hee hee.
Bob & Ron, I cannot thank you both enough for your hospitality. I hope I can extend the same to you when you're in Amsterdam next. Once again, thank you both SO much.
Friday, May 11, 2007
The Grand Canyon
Today was my turn in the left hand seat and for Matt to navigate and do the radios. We got up early and I checked the winds and updated the navigation plot for a trip out to the Canyon. The ground handler in Vegas had already topped off the tanks so I preflighted the plane and we set off for the Canyon.
We used flight following again and ATC vectored us out over Nellis Airforce Base (I got a nice view of the jets parked at the base) and out over Lake Mead. We then did a dog leg around the restricted airspace over the Grand Canyon area, but we got quite close for some nice pics from the air.
The route is over endless desert with little or no civilization to see....just scrub, hills, canyons and that's it. As we neared the Canyon the heat had already started to heat the desert floor and I was getting some thermals that had us bounce around the air.
Eventually we arrived over Grand Canyon airport and I got a wind check the runway in use was showing a tailwind so I asked to opt for the other. But then when I tried to land it I had a tailwind float me down and I couldn't stick her on the runway, so I did a go-around and came in on the other runway. By the time I had turned around and approached for the second go the winds had died down. A nice landing and taxy back to the parking area had us ready to go see the sights.
We took a taxi to the Canyon's visitor centre and made our way over to the ridges to take lots of photo's. We also went to grab something to eat and I had a very tasty burger and lots and lots to drink as it was pretty hot outside.
After a few ours of enjoying the sights, we got a taxi back to the plane. Matt went to pay for the fuel and I did the pre-flight again. The heat was pretty intense and so the plane used up a good chunk of runway. But soon we were back in the air and heading back the way we came. Once again the turbulence was quite strong as the thermals were now in full effect. A few times I got around 1500 feet climb rate on the VSI (vertical speed indicator) and a few times I was in full power and still descending!!!
Las Vegas Approach cleared us into their airspace and gave us a pretty cool ride into the city. We were asked to fly directly to the Stratosphere hotel (the one we're staying at here) and we had 4 helicopters to the city flights 500ft below us on our right. Pretty cool!! We were then vectored for the approach and I took us in for a landing. This time there was a strong crosswind and I had to use a lot of rudder to land us. I landed slightly left of the centre-line but it was a gentle landing. All in all a great day out in our little plane. Matt and I are off now to take pics of Vegas at night and Matt's got some money burning a hole in his pocket at the roulette table :-)
Palm Springs tomorrow...think I'm navigating and Matt's flying, but we've been there before already, so should be an easy flight.
We used flight following again and ATC vectored us out over Nellis Airforce Base (I got a nice view of the jets parked at the base) and out over Lake Mead. We then did a dog leg around the restricted airspace over the Grand Canyon area, but we got quite close for some nice pics from the air.
The route is over endless desert with little or no civilization to see....just scrub, hills, canyons and that's it. As we neared the Canyon the heat had already started to heat the desert floor and I was getting some thermals that had us bounce around the air.
Eventually we arrived over Grand Canyon airport and I got a wind check the runway in use was showing a tailwind so I asked to opt for the other. But then when I tried to land it I had a tailwind float me down and I couldn't stick her on the runway, so I did a go-around and came in on the other runway. By the time I had turned around and approached for the second go the winds had died down. A nice landing and taxy back to the parking area had us ready to go see the sights.
We took a taxi to the Canyon's visitor centre and made our way over to the ridges to take lots of photo's. We also went to grab something to eat and I had a very tasty burger and lots and lots to drink as it was pretty hot outside.
After a few ours of enjoying the sights, we got a taxi back to the plane. Matt went to pay for the fuel and I did the pre-flight again. The heat was pretty intense and so the plane used up a good chunk of runway. But soon we were back in the air and heading back the way we came. Once again the turbulence was quite strong as the thermals were now in full effect. A few times I got around 1500 feet climb rate on the VSI (vertical speed indicator) and a few times I was in full power and still descending!!!
Las Vegas Approach cleared us into their airspace and gave us a pretty cool ride into the city. We were asked to fly directly to the Stratosphere hotel (the one we're staying at here) and we had 4 helicopters to the city flights 500ft below us on our right. Pretty cool!! We were then vectored for the approach and I took us in for a landing. This time there was a strong crosswind and I had to use a lot of rudder to land us. I landed slightly left of the centre-line but it was a gentle landing. All in all a great day out in our little plane. Matt and I are off now to take pics of Vegas at night and Matt's got some money burning a hole in his pocket at the roulette table :-)
Palm Springs tomorrow...think I'm navigating and Matt's flying, but we've been there before already, so should be an easy flight.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Viva Las Vegas!!
Well we finally made it. After a mammoth almost 5 hour cross country flight from Livermore, Matt and I safely navigated ourselves across the mountains and deserts of California/Nevada to land safely here in Sin City.....Las Vegas.
We took off from Livermore at around 9:30 this morning. I elected to do the navigation today and let Matt fly. While Matt checked the fuel and pre-flighted the plane, I was busy checking the winds and weather and on hold with ATC on the phone for a half an hour trying to file our damned flight plan. But eventually we were all set to go.
We flew out of Livermore and I immediately called the folks in ATC to activate our flight plan and ask for "Flight Following". This is a Radar Advisory service that you can get from start to finish along your route and you just get handed over from one controller to another as your flight progresses. We wanted to do this in case we got into trouble at all along our route. And it was nice to have an extra pair of eyes watching out for traffic conflictions and advising us (we got close to a couple of other aircraft during our flight) and steering us out of trouble.
In order to break the monotony and also spare our legs, we decided to have a stopover at a small airport int he arsehole of no-where in Lancaster, California. The airport is called General Fox and is in the middle of "Hickville". But it had a nice greasy spoon where Matt and I could top up both the planes tanks and our own with some food :-) Yummy.
A breakfast and coffee later we were ready to head off again on the second leg to Las Vegas. On our way down to General Fox, I was glad that we had the GPS and autopilot as it took the strain off of trying to maintain a heading and gave us peace of mind with the navigating. But when we were climbing out over the desert the far side of the mountains, the autopilot was having trouble maintain a heading and Matt was having trouble keeping altitude because the air would thermal us up at a thousand feet per minute and toss us about a bit.
But eventually, after about 4 hours or so and 15 controller handovers later we came into range of Las Vegas. We were cleared for our descent and routed West over the city to our destination airport and when we were about to turn final the wind changed and the controllers asked if we wanted to change the runway. I looked at Matt and he said yes, so I confirmed and we changed at the last minute. We were a little high, but Matt side slipped the hell out of the plane and landed beautifully. The two boyo's had arrived in Vegas.
We then rented a car and drove out to the hotel. We're staying in the Stratosphere (see the pic) and after a quick shower we went and hit the strip. A few first impressions....I am amazed at how many fat people there are here. And also how damn hot it is here. And the casino's have brought tacky to a whole new level....I've never seen such tat and tackiness in one place....but I guess that's Vegas for you.
Matt and I went on some of the roller coaster and thrill rides (we both weren't very impressed after having performed loops and aerobatics in Livermore) and then grabbed dinner and had a quick look about the strip.
Tomorrow will see us fly to Grand Canyon (I'm flying, Matt's navigating) and then back to Las Vegas to see some of the strip all lit up. Off to bed now as I have an early start tomorrow.
We took off from Livermore at around 9:30 this morning. I elected to do the navigation today and let Matt fly. While Matt checked the fuel and pre-flighted the plane, I was busy checking the winds and weather and on hold with ATC on the phone for a half an hour trying to file our damned flight plan. But eventually we were all set to go.
We flew out of Livermore and I immediately called the folks in ATC to activate our flight plan and ask for "Flight Following". This is a Radar Advisory service that you can get from start to finish along your route and you just get handed over from one controller to another as your flight progresses. We wanted to do this in case we got into trouble at all along our route. And it was nice to have an extra pair of eyes watching out for traffic conflictions and advising us (we got close to a couple of other aircraft during our flight) and steering us out of trouble.In order to break the monotony and also spare our legs, we decided to have a stopover at a small airport int he arsehole of no-where in Lancaster, California. The airport is called General Fox and is in the middle of "Hickville". But it had a nice greasy spoon where Matt and I could top up both the planes tanks and our own with some food :-) Yummy.
A breakfast and coffee later we were ready to head off again on the second leg to Las Vegas. On our way down to General Fox, I was glad that we had the GPS and autopilot as it took the strain off of trying to maintain a heading and gave us peace of mind with the navigating. But when we were climbing out over the desert the far side of the mountains, the autopilot was having trouble maintain a heading and Matt was having trouble keeping altitude because the air would thermal us up at a thousand feet per minute and toss us about a bit.
But eventually, after about 4 hours or so and 15 controller handovers later we came into range of Las Vegas. We were cleared for our descent and routed West over the city to our destination airport and when we were about to turn final the wind changed and the controllers asked if we wanted to change the runway. I looked at Matt and he said yes, so I confirmed and we changed at the last minute. We were a little high, but Matt side slipped the hell out of the plane and landed beautifully. The two boyo's had arrived in Vegas.
We then rented a car and drove out to the hotel. We're staying in the Stratosphere (see the pic) and after a quick shower we went and hit the strip. A few first impressions....I am amazed at how many fat people there are here. And also how damn hot it is here. And the casino's have brought tacky to a whole new level....I've never seen such tat and tackiness in one place....but I guess that's Vegas for you.
Matt and I went on some of the roller coaster and thrill rides (we both weren't very impressed after having performed loops and aerobatics in Livermore) and then grabbed dinner and had a quick look about the strip.
Tomorrow will see us fly to Grand Canyon (I'm flying, Matt's navigating) and then back to Las Vegas to see some of the strip all lit up. Off to bed now as I have an early start tomorrow.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Sight seeing the San Francisco Bay
Today was the first day that we had our 172 to ourselves, so just to get a feel for her and get ourselves used to ATC again in the US, Matt and I took her for a spin around the Bay Area.
We had started up "Sierra Papa" and taxied out to the run-up area was and Matt commented about trying not to twang the Pitts that was already there. And then I remembered we had no renters insurance. D'oh!! We called ATC and asked to taxy back to Attitudes hangers and we shut down the plane and went to organise the insurance.
20 minutes later and $350 lighter in my pocket, we were ready to go again We fired up "SP" and taxied back out and got ready to fly in the sky's of San Francisco by ourselves.
Matt was do the flying and I was doing the navigating and radios. I made a couple of cock-ups, but nothing major or dangerous, just a silly mistake here and there. But we got to talk with San Francisco Approach (called NORCAL Approach) and they kept an eye on us on radar until we were out of their region.
The flight we took was North from Livermore towards Walnut Creek and then West direct to Angel Island. From Angel Island we overflew and circled the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz and got some nice views of the city.
Then we headed South towards Half Moon Bay where there is a little uncontrolled airfield. We checked the winds and determined the runway we should use, gave out a call to any traffic about who we were and what our intentions were.
Matt made a nice approach and landing. We did a touch and go and then climbed out and flew back North.
We then tuned in the folks in NORCAL again and kept a listening watch before heading back to Livermore. Even though the weather was hot on the ground and like a sauna when not flying, the air vents in the plane when flying were good enough to keep us cool. But we've realised that a full on 4 hour flight non-stop would be hard on the legs so we've plotted our route to Vegas tomorrow with a stop-over for some food and a stretch of the legs.
So tomorrow is the big day....our ULTRA LONG cross country to Las Vegas. I can't wait
We had started up "Sierra Papa" and taxied out to the run-up area was and Matt commented about trying not to twang the Pitts that was already there. And then I remembered we had no renters insurance. D'oh!! We called ATC and asked to taxy back to Attitudes hangers and we shut down the plane and went to organise the insurance.20 minutes later and $350 lighter in my pocket, we were ready to go again We fired up "SP" and taxied back out and got ready to fly in the sky's of San Francisco by ourselves.
Matt was do the flying and I was doing the navigating and radios. I made a couple of cock-ups, but nothing major or dangerous, just a silly mistake here and there. But we got to talk with San Francisco Approach (called NORCAL Approach) and they kept an eye on us on radar until we were out of their region.
The flight we took was North from Livermore towards Walnut Creek and then West direct to Angel Island. From Angel Island we overflew and circled the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz and got some nice views of the city.
Then we headed South towards Half Moon Bay where there is a little uncontrolled airfield. We checked the winds and determined the runway we should use, gave out a call to any traffic about who we were and what our intentions were.
Matt made a nice approach and landing. We did a touch and go and then climbed out and flew back North.
We then tuned in the folks in NORCAL again and kept a listening watch before heading back to Livermore. Even though the weather was hot on the ground and like a sauna when not flying, the air vents in the plane when flying were good enough to keep us cool. But we've realised that a full on 4 hour flight non-stop would be hard on the legs so we've plotted our route to Vegas tomorrow with a stop-over for some food and a stretch of the legs.
So tomorrow is the big day....our ULTRA LONG cross country to Las Vegas. I can't wait
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Flying upside down and straight and level
Todays flying was a mixed bag. I started the morning with a new instructor who was to take me up in the Citabria and perfect some of my aerobatics manoeuvres and then take me back to try my landings in the taildragger.
Yuichi is the name of my instructor and he is a competetion aerobatics pilot. He currently owns his own Pitts (see pic below) and also takes up pilots in the tandem Pitts to get them checked out in the Pitts. He has a very mellow air about him and he told me that to him, aerobatics is just like a cross country flight to him, in other words easy. So I felt right at ease in the cockpit.
We took off headed to the practice area and tried my hand at some barrel rolls, aileron rolls, knife edge climbs, loops and a few spins. I had lots of fun and tried filming a loop which I'll upload to You Tube later.
We then flew home and I did a really nice landing, albeit pulling back on the elevator a bit too soon in the flare. But it was pretty smooth.
The afternoon brought back the steady flying of the Cessna. Matt and I had our Biennial Flight Reviews (BFR) in the Cessna and our instructor also took the time to explain the GPS functions etc in the plane as we'll be taking this particular plane on our trip to Vegas and Grand Canyon.
I was asked to demonstrate slow flight, steep turns, a practiced forced landing (PFL) and various types of landing and take-offs (soft field, short field etc). All in all it went well, although my PFL ended up with me side slipping the plane a lot just to get it down into the runway as I began my descent too close to the field. But I would have landed it on the runway and that's the main thing.
Matt then went up in the Pitts with Yuichi to let him loose and see if he could make Matt get sick. Happily he came back safe and sound and not the green colour I was expecting. In fact, he was shouting "More, more" when they were flying. Seems he enjoyed it.
We're planning to do a Bay Tour next and then head off firect to Vegas tomorrow. Will keep you all posted.
Yuichi is the name of my instructor and he is a competetion aerobatics pilot. He currently owns his own Pitts (see pic below) and also takes up pilots in the tandem Pitts to get them checked out in the Pitts. He has a very mellow air about him and he told me that to him, aerobatics is just like a cross country flight to him, in other words easy. So I felt right at ease in the cockpit.
We took off headed to the practice area and tried my hand at some barrel rolls, aileron rolls, knife edge climbs, loops and a few spins. I had lots of fun and tried filming a loop which I'll upload to You Tube later.
We then flew home and I did a really nice landing, albeit pulling back on the elevator a bit too soon in the flare. But it was pretty smooth.
The afternoon brought back the steady flying of the Cessna. Matt and I had our Biennial Flight Reviews (BFR) in the Cessna and our instructor also took the time to explain the GPS functions etc in the plane as we'll be taking this particular plane on our trip to Vegas and Grand Canyon.
I was asked to demonstrate slow flight, steep turns, a practiced forced landing (PFL) and various types of landing and take-offs (soft field, short field etc). All in all it went well, although my PFL ended up with me side slipping the plane a lot just to get it down into the runway as I began my descent too close to the field. But I would have landed it on the runway and that's the main thing.
Matt then went up in the Pitts with Yuichi to let him loose and see if he could make Matt get sick. Happily he came back safe and sound and not the green colour I was expecting. In fact, he was shouting "More, more" when they were flying. Seems he enjoyed it.
We're planning to do a Bay Tour next and then head off firect to Vegas tomorrow. Will keep you all posted.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Tasting the grape
Well, all the flights today were cancelled because the wind was so strong. It was blowing directly across the runway and beyond the crosswind limits of the airplanes in the fleet, so Matt and I were grounded. So in true European style, we decided to go drinking. We drove up to Napa to try some of the wines there and try out a few wineries.
I was the lucky one due to the fact that Matt was driving, which meant I could do the drinking :-) We got a coupon from the Information Office and that listed about 8 wineries that would let us sample lots of wine for free.
Driving around the area we enjoyed the scenery and the gorgeous homes and architecture of the area. Thankfully, even though it's busy with wine tasters and tourists, it hasn't been destroyed or over-run with too many buildings or people.
We then headed back and Matt had a great idea of playing mini-golf. So a short change of clothes and a short drive to the mini-golf course we were ready to do battle. I started off quite well but then lost form and ended up losing something silly like 12 strokes behind. Hmmmmm I just hope I fly better than I putt :-) There are two seperate golf courses, so we will do battle again tomorrow evening :-)
Our BFR checkrides are scheduled for tomorrow. I've brushed up on my studying and feel OK about the oral part. Will see how well my flying holds up with an instructor though.
I was the lucky one due to the fact that Matt was driving, which meant I could do the drinking :-) We got a coupon from the Information Office and that listed about 8 wineries that would let us sample lots of wine for free.
Driving around the area we enjoyed the scenery and the gorgeous homes and architecture of the area. Thankfully, even though it's busy with wine tasters and tourists, it hasn't been destroyed or over-run with too many buildings or people.
We then headed back and Matt had a great idea of playing mini-golf. So a short change of clothes and a short drive to the mini-golf course we were ready to do battle. I started off quite well but then lost form and ended up losing something silly like 12 strokes behind. Hmmmmm I just hope I fly better than I putt :-) There are two seperate golf courses, so we will do battle again tomorrow evening :-)
Our BFR checkrides are scheduled for tomorrow. I've brushed up on my studying and feel OK about the oral part. Will see how well my flying holds up with an instructor though.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
It's blowing a gale out there....
....Well, not quite, but Matt and I have had another lesson scrubbed because of the wind. I just hope that the wind will calm down enough, or at least blow straight down the runway instead of across it, so that we can get checked out on the Cessna and continue the second part of our adventure.
We're going to head to the school anyway to look at the large regional map they have. I spoke to an old pilot over breakfast and he told me to be careful of Reno because it's a high altitude airport, is prone to icing this time of year and we could find ourselves in trouble. Based on that info, Matt and I are going to find out if it's possible to route direct to Las Vegas via a more Southerly route. We'll wait and see.
This is reminding me of the last few days in San Diego last year were I was sitting around waiting for the weather to improve. Hope it does and that it improves quickly.
We're going to head to the school anyway to look at the large regional map they have. I spoke to an old pilot over breakfast and he told me to be careful of Reno because it's a high altitude airport, is prone to icing this time of year and we could find ourselves in trouble. Based on that info, Matt and I are going to find out if it's possible to route direct to Las Vegas via a more Southerly route. We'll wait and see.
This is reminding me of the last few days in San Diego last year were I was sitting around waiting for the weather to improve. Hope it does and that it improves quickly.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Advanced stalls and preparing for the spin
Today's flying was more about preparing me for landing the sucker (when the winds are not so strong) and more advanced stalls.
Again we donned our parachutes as we were preparing for entering spins and stuff. I took off, flew us over to the training area and then watched Ed show me the Slipping and Skidding stalls. They were fun, and only small rudder inputs would get you into trouble eventually and then we almost entered a spin. Good fun and the stomach was behaving itself too.
The we did some advanced stalls (high angle turns putting a high load on the wing resulting in the wing stalling and having to recover the airplane. We then flew to Byron airport to try and do some touch and go's (went OK but not great) and then flew back home. This time though the winds had picked up and were pushing the crosswind limits on the plane.
I did the approach, having to crab considerably and then Ed took her in for a landing. Just on touch down thought eh wind gusted to 28kts and Ed had a time trying to keep her on the ground and land safely. He told me afterwards that had he known earlier the wind was that strong he'd have gone around.
The plan was to do more aerobatics in the afternoon, but I got a call from the school that Matt and my flights have been scrubbed for the day as the wind has picked up a lot. Oh well...guess it's a day out in Napa Valley drinking wine, or out to La Honda to see the Sequoia trees.
Again we donned our parachutes as we were preparing for entering spins and stuff. I took off, flew us over to the training area and then watched Ed show me the Slipping and Skidding stalls. They were fun, and only small rudder inputs would get you into trouble eventually and then we almost entered a spin. Good fun and the stomach was behaving itself too.
The we did some advanced stalls (high angle turns putting a high load on the wing resulting in the wing stalling and having to recover the airplane. We then flew to Byron airport to try and do some touch and go's (went OK but not great) and then flew back home. This time though the winds had picked up and were pushing the crosswind limits on the plane.
I did the approach, having to crab considerably and then Ed took her in for a landing. Just on touch down thought eh wind gusted to 28kts and Ed had a time trying to keep her on the ground and land safely. He told me afterwards that had he known earlier the wind was that strong he'd have gone around.
The plan was to do more aerobatics in the afternoon, but I got a call from the school that Matt and my flights have been scrubbed for the day as the wind has picked up a lot. Oh well...guess it's a day out in Napa Valley drinking wine, or out to La Honda to see the Sequoia trees.
Loop the loop
Started the next sortie with some general ground school about the aerobatics manoeuvres we'd be doing before we set off. This flight would consist of some loops and some aileron rolls. Both of which consist of yours truly flying upside down :-)
Before we would go anywhere though, we had to don our parachutes. I was a little apprehensive because of the fact that the parachute has no reserve in it. I've done over a thousand jumps and am not worried about parachuting....because I know I have a reserve if it all goes wrong. But Ed was going on about how the plane was our reserve.....sorry Ed, don't think you quite get it. The parachute is our reserve if the plane is fucked....what happens if the parachute itself fails. Hmmmmm....anyway, I digress.
We took off (actually I did the take-off, yay) and headed off to the training area. Weather was a little better, clouds were higher than the morning. So were were able to climb and get plenty of height beneath us. We did some slipping stalls first, they were fun and I was able to hold the plane in the stall for ages, although my legs were getting tired cause the rudder is a wee bit heavy.
We then decided we'd do some aero's. Ed showed me the loop first. We would descend and pick up speed to 140, then level, then pull hard hard hard and stop, relax the elevators and float over the top of the loop, then pull a wee bit harder again and level when we completed. So it was my turn.
I was a bit apprehesive with the descent at first. Partly because the illusion with sitting so high is that the nose is diving quite considerably, but it's not really. Then I levelled and pulled hard hard hard and relaxed, floated and then pulled hard again and levelled out at the bottom. Good fun. I did anopther one and I realised that I relaxed a bit too much on the float over the top and then pulled a wee bit too hard on the roll back. But it was still good fun.
The next move was the aileron roll. This consists of a descent to 130, pull level, pull nose up 30 degrees and apply full aileron (no rudder input) so that you roll 360 degrees and end back where you started. A few of those had my stomach wondering why it was left behind a few hundred metres back. So I called it a day and we flew home. But a good intro into aero's and Ed seemed at ease with what I produced saying it's just a case of more practice. Sweet!!!
Before we would go anywhere though, we had to don our parachutes. I was a little apprehensive because of the fact that the parachute has no reserve in it. I've done over a thousand jumps and am not worried about parachuting....because I know I have a reserve if it all goes wrong. But Ed was going on about how the plane was our reserve.....sorry Ed, don't think you quite get it. The parachute is our reserve if the plane is fucked....what happens if the parachute itself fails. Hmmmmm....anyway, I digress.
We took off (actually I did the take-off, yay) and headed off to the training area. Weather was a little better, clouds were higher than the morning. So were were able to climb and get plenty of height beneath us. We did some slipping stalls first, they were fun and I was able to hold the plane in the stall for ages, although my legs were getting tired cause the rudder is a wee bit heavy.
We then decided we'd do some aero's. Ed showed me the loop first. We would descend and pick up speed to 140, then level, then pull hard hard hard and stop, relax the elevators and float over the top of the loop, then pull a wee bit harder again and level when we completed. So it was my turn.
I was a bit apprehesive with the descent at first. Partly because the illusion with sitting so high is that the nose is diving quite considerably, but it's not really. Then I levelled and pulled hard hard hard and relaxed, floated and then pulled hard again and levelled out at the bottom. Good fun. I did anopther one and I realised that I relaxed a bit too much on the float over the top and then pulled a wee bit too hard on the roll back. But it was still good fun.
The next move was the aileron roll. This consists of a descent to 130, pull level, pull nose up 30 degrees and apply full aileron (no rudder input) so that you roll 360 degrees and end back where you started. A few of those had my stomach wondering why it was left behind a few hundred metres back. So I called it a day and we flew home. But a good intro into aero's and Ed seemed at ease with what I produced saying it's just a case of more practice. Sweet!!!
Intro to the world of taildragging
So yesterday was my introduction to flying a plane which drags its arse on the ground.....hence the name "Taildragger". They're much more difficult to handle on the ground that a typical Cessna. This is basically because the plane has a tendency to weather-cock into the wind like a big wind-vane, and also the tricycle landing gear configuration is inherently more stable.
My instructor is a guy called Edward Doerr. A very young and VERY dry guy who barely cracked a smile. I asked him when we made our introductions "So is it Ed or Edward" to which I got a sharp reply "Edward will do just fine thanks".....Hmmmmmm. Fair enough.
We did the walk-around and checked out the plane during pre-flight. A few little extras to look at versus the Cessna. And then we climbed in. I'm sitting in the front seat, and it has a very good view. I started the engine and Edward (I'm gonna call him Ed in my blog, screw it) taxied out. He gave me control and let me taxy the rest of the way, which I managed without any problems.
The weather was pretty crappy the first day of flying (on Friday) so we were buzzing through holes in the clouds and eventually climbed above them. When we reached the training area I was then shown some stalls....the usual power on and power off stalls and then shown how differently this plane handles versus the Cessna. We did some Dutch rolls, steep turns and a few other moves and then headed back to Livermore. Ed did the landing (it's apparently difficult in a taildragger) and I taxied us back to Attitude's hanger.
A good first intro into the plane. Next flight will be the start of the light aerobatics.
My instructor is a guy called Edward Doerr. A very young and VERY dry guy who barely cracked a smile. I asked him when we made our introductions "So is it Ed or Edward" to which I got a sharp reply "Edward will do just fine thanks".....Hmmmmmm. Fair enough.
We did the walk-around and checked out the plane during pre-flight. A few little extras to look at versus the Cessna. And then we climbed in. I'm sitting in the front seat, and it has a very good view. I started the engine and Edward (I'm gonna call him Ed in my blog, screw it) taxied out. He gave me control and let me taxy the rest of the way, which I managed without any problems.
The weather was pretty crappy the first day of flying (on Friday) so we were buzzing through holes in the clouds and eventually climbed above them. When we reached the training area I was then shown some stalls....the usual power on and power off stalls and then shown how differently this plane handles versus the Cessna. We did some Dutch rolls, steep turns and a few other moves and then headed back to Livermore. Ed did the landing (it's apparently difficult in a taildragger) and I taxied us back to Attitude's hanger.
A good first intro into the plane. Next flight will be the start of the light aerobatics.
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