I am afraid that the lack of time will turn this blog into a “photo blog”. Sorry, but that is the true reality.

Anyway. Day two – Solo VFR routes in pairs. That means that two students fly together (the second one more or less just for company and fun). On the photo I am the one having fun, and my colleague (on the left) is fighting some heavy thermals on 4500 feet.

Total time today: 02:10
Total time logged: 53:30

Meanwhile you could take a look at that video of a touch and go at Gorna. This was not my landing. I am just shooting from right seat!

UPDATE: Yes! That is a dead bug on the windscreen!

UPDATE2: Flikr uploads only first 1:30 of the viedo. So this video shows nothing! No time to fix things now… Sorry

Total time so far: 48:40 hrs

UPDATE: Actually there was something new these days! A draft report was issued on  the ASB incident saying that carb ice was the reason the engine seized. Since I teach piston engines I am willing to accept such a guess but I thing that it is still a guess. What I mean is that the investigation committee is not right to blame on the pilot, because carb ice could never be proved and only suspected! Anyway, it is not my call.

Since the incident LZ-ASB never flew again as it’s engine worked its overhaul hours. Since the other plane’s structure worked its as well ASB and ASA’s engine will be put together and the rest will wait for overhaul someday, maybe. So nex flights will be on LZASB. I am actually glad that I did the last landing of LZASA.

Today I flew about 2 hours – VFR progress test. Now I am a bit tired and I will be going to bed. I hope I will have some tim to write tomorrow. If not I’ll be back after my first solo visua routes!

Stay tuned…

Total time logged today: 02:40
Total time so far:  48:20 hrs (equvelenet to a PPL is I was on a modular course)

Later that same day I was on the train Gorna-Sofia headed home. Yes I did only two flying days out of three but that was company descision – I fly more one day and none on the next. So here I am home agan.

Total time for last session: 6:50
Total time so far: 45:40

I took another student with me on my Gorna-Gorna flight. He did dome pictures and videos I’ll be posting here as soon as I get them.

Where: Gorna (LBGO)
When: 21.07.2009
What: Watching Enstrom 280FX air taxi

Yes, that is the new kid in town. Not very new though! That little chopper is well known in the FTO, its students as well. The problem is they stopped flying some 9 months ago as the only-one-helicopter-instructor left the FTO. Now they have a new one and they did go up the air again.

As to me, it was my first flying day out of three. I came here with two other guys who are not my original flying mates. This happened because the third guy of their group couldn’t come and they called me to be a substitute. No problem!

This, however, means that I am some 9 hours ahead of the guys I came with. By means of exercises, they are still flying visual routes with instructor and I had to begin solo visual routes under supervision (not actually a solo – there is an FI onboard, but he does nothing!)

Considering all that and the fact that I last flew a week ago, and that I’ve already did a Sofia flight I was chosen to fly another one, this time both ways.

The idea behind that flight was that our chief FI had to go to the office in Sofia and stay there a day. Besides one of the students that fly on the red monster pictured above took advantage of the vacant seat behind and flew with us as well.

That meant only one thing – we are heavy! Just 30 minutes before the flight out of Gorna I had already filed a flightplan and I was trying to fill in a balance sheet form. The problem was that we were quite heavy on takeoff at Gorna and could come too heavy for landing at Sofia. Payload (CFI and deadheading student and their baggage) were a constant in that equation. What I was able to play with was fuel.

I needed 50 litres of fuel for the leg to Sofia, 25 litres holding reserve, 60 litres for alternative fuel and reserve. That was a total of 135 litres. For the way back I needed another 50 litres or a total of 185 litres.

The calculations looked right untill the totals showed that that nasty 5 litres of fuel were just too much! Groose! If we wanted to takeoff (at maximum take-off wight) and land at Sofia with maximum take-off weight we had to land at Gorna some 5 litres below minimum reserve and alternative fuel. That was approved by the CFI and here we went.

At the end everything went just ok and we landed with exactly 60 litres which is the company minimum for landing! That was some very good fuel planning.

The news is that I will be doing “Sofia” again tomorrow – to get the CFI back again! That is more than pure luck and obviously I am starting a regular route LBGO-LBSF. Nice

Anyway I will be choosing another route to there so I log exactly 3 hrs tomorrow.

Total time logged today: 02:30 hrs
Total time so far: 41:20 hrs

I had the oppurtunity to stay at Gorna for today and fly today, but I could’n as I scheduled a Cessna 100 series ground training classes (I am the theoretical instructor) today morning, so I had to go.

My colleagues that stayed had some nice weather and they got to fly even today. No regrets though! This four flying days I did were the most productive ones since the start of my training (which was on february). My last flight the day before yesterday was my solo VFR route checkride and I passed it. Next time I go flying I’ll be flying “solo under supervision” which generally means I will be flying with my flight instructor but I wont be able to ask him where I was if I got lost – neat, eh?

I am now expected to go back flying a week from now on next Monday. That’s if everything goes as planned. Untill then I’ll be doing some work back home.

Time last flight session: 09:10
Total time logged: 38:50
Time left: 170:10

Location: Final rwy 27 at LBGO
Route: LBPD-LBGO
PIC: Not me!

I had the flight out of Gorna, and my colleague is now about to return us safely to base after the weather almost went “Non-VFR” on the way back.

Today was my fourth day and tomorrow is my last. So far I’ve logged almost 10 hours which happens to be my most productive stay. Besides, I had the opportunity to visit airport’s I’ve never flew to. If tomorrow I fly to Varna (as planned) I will have flew to all five international airports in Bulgaria.

Now it is time for rest!

Location: Over Stara Planina mountain
Altitude: 6500 feet
Route: LBSF-LBGO

As I wrote yesterday, we planned a flight to Bulgaria’s capital Sofia. Today that plan proved right and about 9:00 in the morning I was airborne. The way out of Gorna I was dedheading and my colleague was flying. My flight was the return.

The flight out was uneventful for my colleague. What we noticed, though, was that some clouds were forming over the mountain and over Sofia. That could be a problem on the way back (my flight).

We stayed in Sofia for about 30 minutes, during which I had a small rendez-vous with my girlfriend on the apron. She gave me my camera and a few clean t-shirts, so I wont have to do laundry.

Exactly at 11:05 I was on Zi-zi and called Tower for startup. The guy there gave me clearance and later cleared me to taxi to holding point of runway 27 via N, J and H. That meant the longest taxi I ever did, but hey – that’s exactly what LBSF means .

About ten minutes later I was at the holding point waiting for the government Tupolev 154 (they now have two new A320 and are going to sell that one) to land, as they were doing some flight tests with it. That was perfect show from the first row.

But no time to admire the 154, as I got clearance to lineup shortly after the “big guy” landed. Seconds after he vacated the runway I got clearance to takeoff and in about a minute later we were airborne.

As we headed towards the mountains some severe clouds showed in front of us. I consulted with my instructor, and we decided that we are able to avoid the clouds from one side and continue safely.

That proved right and only 10 minutes later we were passing by the clouds in almost perfect VFR and heading to the base airport of Gorna. As I fly towards it I think with the back of my brain about how effective these few days were by means of flying.

The first one was the first for the day as early as 0415UTC (07:14LT). I departed Gorna on time and flew all the way over some big Bulgarian cities back to Gorna. Weather was perfect with some bad clouds coming from the west but still quite far away. Approaching the airport for landing I tried to build a good high profile descend with the idea that I would like minimize horizontal parts of the approach. It worked fine and there was only a minute or so of horizontal flight prior to landing.

The landing itself was nice with a light crosswind that made me use some left rudder on touchdown. Total time for the flight was 01:30.

Anyway. There was not much time to waste as I had to deadhead for the next 2:30 hours. My colleague was going to fly to a small grass field near the city of Varna. From there he planned to Bourgas and then again back to Klimanci (the grass field). From there it was my turn back to Gorna.

Deadheading is OK with me, as I have time to look around from the air. Something I just do not have time for while flying. Anyway too much deadheading could be quite exhausting. My total “in-air” time today is 5 hours which is a little bit more than I could appreciate. Anyway I couldn’t miss the “grass experience” on any cost, so I had to put up with the facts.

Taking off from a grass strip i a little different than the “several-kilometers-long” runway. Although the grass runway is surprisingly flat, the airplane tends to jump several times on it before reaching the airspeed of 60 knots that is it’s Vr or take-off speed. Add to that the reduced lenght of that particular strip and the picture becomes clear. That was some very precious experience for me!

The flight as a whole was even more uneventful that the one before. Unfortunately this time I was not able to plan my descend as I’d liked due to some restrictions. Nothing to be sorry, though – I’ll be planning that my whole piloting career.

Tomorrow is a big day! Me and that very same colleague of mine are going to… guess where, YES, Sofia – the capital of Bulgaria (and my own town) and its biggest airport. On the way to there I’ll be deadheading. On the way back I’ll be flying! Great news!

Training continues….,