Flying37

A Pause....

2011-06-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

The other day a casual friend asked me if I still fly. I said "not really".
That felt weird. But it's the truth.
I don't know if I have the energy to keep working at it or not.
Maybe if the financial outlook improved it would be more attractive to me, but the youngest is only a freshman in college so I don't see that improving for awhile.
I don't seem to make the time to even practice on the simulator.
I rarely, rarely check out the forums any more.
Sigh.
I guess I'm taking a break from airplanes for awhile.

Why I Almost Gave Up My IFR Rating- An How A Flight Simulator With Real ATC Saved Me

2011-03-01T19:05:00.000-08:00

I’ll try to make a long story short. I struggled to pass my IFR checkride...failed it twice before finally passing it the third time. It didn’t come easily to me, obviously. The extra tests (and related training) took me far, far over my budget and when all was said and done I had an IFR ticket and no money left to go use my “license to learn”.

It was somewhat depressing. I flew a few VFR flights over the next several months but did not fly IFR. Partly I couldn’t afford to rent a plane and an instructor, and partly I just didn’t feel like it.

Then I read about PilotEdge (www.pilotedge.net) and how they have Air Traffic Controllers in real time, set up like real life. You have to change frequencies as you travel through the system. They offer you shortcuts just the way it’s done in real life. There’s other airplanes on the frequency with you and sometimes you have to wait for a break to get in, just like in real life. It sounded like a way for me to practice and get better without spending a wad of money.

I had played around with Microsoft Flight Simulator X before and it was somewhat helpful for tracking VORs, setting up an approach, and all the planning stuff that goes into an IFR flight. The Beta testing of PilotEdge was up and running, but so far only supporting X-Plane’s flight simulator. At only $29 I figured it was worth trying out X-Plane. And it certainly was. I was able to get a Comanche set up nearly identical to my buddies airplane and then I got configured for PilotEdge.

The experiences I’ve had on PilotEdge have been far more profound than I expected. Each flight I’ve become more and more comfortable flying “in the system” and I’m a much better pilot because of it. The controllers are professional and treat you just like real life ATC.

I can practice as much as I want and I know that the next time I file IFR in real life, I’ll be far better prepared.

PilotEdge

2011-02-16T13:12:00.001-08:00

So, I discovered another really cool tool in my quest to become a better pilot. When flying on X-Plane's flight simulator I can now get live Air Traffic Controllers to talk to me just the way it would happen in real live. PilotEdge is an app that you add to your X-Plane simulator and it ramps up the realism exponentially. I file a flight plan, then pick it up from clearance delivery (or ground if it's a class D airport) and read it back. Then I fly the IFR flight plan but because there's a real controller involved sometimes things are different, like getting a vector, just like it is in real life. This combination of X-Plane and PilotEdge is really going to make a difference in my proficiency.

Simulator Flying

2011-02-16T13:10:00.001-08:00

I spent some time on Microsoft Flight Simulator X awhile back and thought it could be a good tool for training...but I recently purchased X-Plane and I'm blown away by the realism. I was able to take a Comanche 250 and reconfigure the panel to replicate my buddy Ron's airplane so that when I practice, everything is where it should be...practice makes permanent!

Montgomery Field to Big Bear

2011-02-14T15:34:00.001-08:00

Roy and I went flying again, this time a cross country trip from Montgomery Field (KMYF) to Big Bear Lake (L35). We used a flight plan and timed each leg and were somewhat amazed at how close we were in our flight planning.
http://www.bigbearcityairport.com/

WoooHooo!

2011-02-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

Ron and I flew the Comanche from El Monte to Santa Ynez the other day and then took the shuttle over to the Indian casino for lunch. Normally neither one of us is too keen on gambling but this time we pooled our considerable resources ($25) and punched the buttons on a few slot machines.

After trying out 2 or 3 slots with no luck (but no real loses either) we found a cool machine that went into a mode where it played itself...and it kept winning and winning and winning until we had parlayed our small fortune into $226.24!

As Toyota used to say "Oh, what a feeling!"

Flying Again

2011-02-13T08:20:00.000-08:00

After finally completing my Instrument Rating my flying dropped to practically zero. The move to San Diego's North County (Escondido) put me about 2 1/2 hours away from my home base airport (El Monte) and the beautiful Piper Comanche that I regularly flew with my buddy Ron.

I thought I would be renting airplanes down here but the way I drained money into the IFR rating there wasn't much left for fun flying.

I did manage to meet up with a guy I met on the Purple Board (http://www.purpleboard.net/forums/index.php) and we flew around the San Diego area and out to the Anzo Borrego Desert where we landed at a remote airport (the name escapes me). That airport was a trip because the ground rises pretty steadily to the north (I think it was north) and there's a mountain to the south and west...So....if you take off to the west and turn to the north the ground continues to rise at about the same amount that your airplane is climbing...an interesting feeling to say the least. My new flying buddy, Roy Rodgers, has done extensive mountain flying training with a CFI that's an expert in the field so I was able to trust his judgement.

Roy is an Electrical Engineer and he brings that certain thoroughness to flying that you would expect. I love it. He verbalizes everything he's doing and that, to me, goes a long way toward building trust. I never once think that Roy might do something dumb.

I'm hoping that Roy will help me get to know the intricacies of the complex airspace around San Diego.

Analyzing A Flight

2011-02-13T08:12:00.000-08:00

One of the cool things about PilotEdge is that you can look at all the parameters after the flight to see how you did. Altitude, direction, air speed, etc... Check out this link.
http://peaware.pilotedge.net/flight.cfm?id=280

My road to the instrument rating...

2010-09-09T20:07:00.000-07:00

My Road To The Instrument Rating

After getting my Private Pilot certificate in November of 2006 I decided to take a break from studying and just enjoy flying. I certainly did that. Averaging about 100 hours a year in a Piper Cherokee 140 and then a Piper Comanche 250 (more on the switch later) brought me up to about 440 hours when I passed my Instrument check ride in September of 2010.

It’s the details in between that might be of interest. After spending about $6000 getting my Private Pilot certificate I was in no hurry to spend more money on airplanes. I’m not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination and it was difficult enough to get to where I was at that point.

As luck would have it I found an airplane-owning pilot who wanted to pair up for trips to local and distant airports for fun and he insisted on paying for all the expenses. I got to fly half the time in exchange for arriving at the hangar early and getting everything ready, fueling the plane, keeping the airplane tidy after flights, helping out with new technology (a succession of GPS units, for example), pulling the airplane in and out of the hangar and other dirty or heavy work.

After a year of fun and frivolity I was ready to get started on the IFR (instrument flight rules) rating, starting with the written test. I bought a book or two and settled down for a few months of mind-numbing reading. To say that it’s a daunting task would be an understatement. The FAA has a way of wording things that leave you completely befuddled. I found other books by authors who tried to help me grasp the complexities of flying “in the system” with doses of humor, interesting graphics, memory aids and mnemonics. They helped, but I still couldn’t grasp the overall picture or the minutia of details.

After some time I decided to enroll in an IFR ground school at the local community college. This helped quite a bit. At the end of the class I received a certificate that allowed me to go take the written test. I passed with an 80, and it irked me that my score wasn’t in the 90s as all my practice tests had been.

I wasn’t ready to start spending money in the airplane yet and the college’s next semester had a class offered that was focused on simulators. While enrolled in the class I found a local CFII to work with me on the simulator so that I could log the maximum allowable simulator time in preparation for the IFR check ride.
Once the semester ended and I had accrued the maximum number of hours in the simulator it was time to start training in a real airplane. My friend’s Cherokee 140 was perfect for basic instrument training with a glide slope and a second VOR, but no DME or anything else to “complicate” things.

I found an independent CFII to train me in the 140 and we got going at a rate of about two or three flights a week. This was the perfect low-budget setup for me as the CFII was charging me only $25 an hour and I only had to pay for the fuel during training.
Then my buddy got the itch to get a bigger airplane and sold the 140. He bought a Comanche 250. This is a bigger, more complicated airplane. And it hadn’t flown in years. A lot of work needed to be done. A lot. First, it was painted. That takes weeks. Then the panel was rearranged and straightened out. That took forever. Then the interior had to be completely redone in leather. In the end, the airplane turned out to be a real beauty, but it took about six months for the metamorphosis.

I didn’t want to wait to continue training and I didn’t think doing it in a high performance/complex airplane made sense. So I went back to where I did my primary training and found an instructor and got back into the Piper Archer I knew very well. After 4 lessons the instructor moved and I was assigned a new CFII. After 2 lessons with him he switched to nights. I moved with him even though it meant getting home at midnight after training (oh, did I fail to mention that I moved 90 miles away from the airport during this time?). After three different instructors in two airplanes, and a total of about 2 ½ years of studying, I was ready for the check ride.

Or, maybe I wasn’t. It was an awful display of my talents and I did not pass. I was given a “notice of disapproval”. I’m not going to go into every last detail but here’s the Cliff Notes. An Airmet Tango for turbulence had been issued earlier in the day and it turned out to be a doozy. In the holding procedure my altitude fluctuated from 150 feet above the assigned altitude to 125 feet below. I was flown far enough off my path on the ILS approach that I had a full-scale deflection. Either one was good enough for a failure. I elected to discontinue and that meant that on my retest everything would have to be done again...save for the oral exam because I nailed that. I had been very nervous about all the things that I didn’t know, but impressed myself with the way I pulled answers out of the back of my head and never once asked to consult my notes or books. I would not need to redo the oral portion of the exam.

It’s hard to call your family and tell them that you failed the check ride, but it’s even harder to call the CFII and explain that you didn’t pass. More training was needed, obviously. We flew about five more times and it looked like I was rock solid. The Designated Pilot Examiner gave me a new date for the flying portion of the check ride (no more questions!) and I even snuck in one last lesson the morning before the test. Everything looked perfect.

Except for the Airmet Tango issued just an hour before my check ride. I put that out of my mind and actually did a very nice job of flying...save for two issues. One, I was on an ILS approach and the localizer went beyond ¾-scale deflection. Well, that’s what the examiner said anyway. I’m convinced that it did not, and that from the right seat it could LOOK like the needle went beyond ¾-scale, but from my seat it did not. I’m somewhat convinced that if that was the only issue the examiner would have bought my story. But there was a problem entering the holding pattern.

After the ILS and on the way to the hold (already approved by ATC), ATC asked if I wanted “another” ILS to an airport I hadn’t been to yet. I said, “no, we are going to hold at Paradise at 3500 feet” and a moment later ATC came back with “so you want another ILS into Chino?” One more time I said “no, we are going to hold at Paradise at 3500 feet”. We were almost to the VOR when ATC gave me a Vector to fly. Then another Vector...then another. I lost track of where I was and when he dumped me off virtually right at the VOR I turned to enter the hold in the opposite direction of where I was supposed to go. Now, I can’t blame ATC for me getting turned around and not having situational awareness, but if I had just headed straight to the VOR like usual I would have been fine.

Anyway, I got my second “notice of disapproval” and that’s not a good thing. The FAA starts to wonder what’s going on. You cannot use the same DPE and no CFII will sign you off a third time because another failure would lead to an investigation of both the pilot and instructor. That’s a lot of pressure.

I had to look at my options, and I narrowed it down to four. The first option was to quit and I considered it. All the extra lessons and extra check rides were costing me a whole lot more money than I ever expected and it made me question my reasons for doing this in the first place. Ultimately I decided that I’m not a quitter. The flight school had another instructor for me and wanted me to start with two hours of ground school and then 4-6 flights to get me to where he was confident enough to sign me off. That added up to a lot of money. Another option was to stick close to home and go train with the CFII who helped me out in the simulator. After one training flight in a Cessna 172 the CFII talked to a local DPE and he said there was no way any DPE in the area would allow me to just do the hold and the ILS and then sign me off with an instrument rating. There was no way I wanted to do the oral again. The fourth option was to go to another state and finish it up using a CFII that I had never met for one lesson and then immediately taking the check ride with a DPE who was recommended to me by a friend. One hour-long lesson, a DPE who was willing to sign me after one hold and one ILS and a half-priced charge looked pretty good. I chose door number four.
My buddy and I flew the Comanche the night before from our home ‘drome of El Monte to North Las Vegas airport, which took about an hour and a half. The next morning I was at the flight school bright and early at 7. The instructor texted me at 7:50 saying that he was sorry he was late, a student was squeezing in a few touch ‘n’ go’s before my lesson. The extra time was probably good for me as a super-cushy couch allowed me to calm down.

The lesson went great. We were in a Cessna 172 with a Garmin 430 so lots of things were different. I had prepared though. I had Googled “Garmin 430” and found some very helpful videos that clearly explained how it worked. I felt confident and the CFII only made me more comfortable. He had a can-do attitude and was full of helpful tips. We did the hold, did the ILS and I was good to go. No mistakes, practically perfect. He signed me off and the DPE showed up right on time. Back out to the same airplane and do the hold and the ILS again. Practically perfect again. No big deal, I felt like saying. The DPE signed me off and gave me my temporary airman’s certificate that identifies me as an Instrument Rated Private Pilot.

An hour later I was piloting the Comanche from KVGT to KEMT using ATC for flight following. I have nearly always used flight following when on cross country trips but this time I made sure of it because the weather back at El Monte wasn’t so hot and I wanted to be able to request the VOR-A approach if needed. Before we ever got near El Monte we could see that an instrument approach was going to be needed. The whole San Gabriel valley was under a blanket of fog. Thanks to the weather on the Garmin 696 in the Comanche we were able to get the weather at El Monte way before we could get a radio signal for the ATIS. Conditions improved during our flight from a 1700-foot ceiling to a 2000-foot ceiling.

We entered the clouds at about 4000 feet and the entire approach was in a thick blanket until we broke out as we got to approximately 2000 feet...and the airport was just in front of us and to the left a bit (just like it should be). It was an exhilarating experience. Well, that’s not true...it scared the living daylights out of me to tell you the truth. Flying for nearly six minutes in a solid cloud bank without an instructor in the right seat was a bit unnerving. I imagine that goes away after 50 or 100 approaches in “actual” IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions)...haha.

My plan now is to take a break for a few months and then hit the books for the Commercial rating. We’ll see how that goes.

Gee, has it been that long since I posted?

2010-09-09T20:05:00.001-07:00

February 21, huh? Well, I've been away from the blog but I wanted to provide an update. We did in fact get the Comanche back out of Napa after the bad weather. It was actually a harrowing experience as we came back a week later and found the fuel tanks full of water. It took a lot of work to get the airplane ready to fly out of the private air strip and it caused some puckering on the first take-off. But, everything worked out fine.

Tough Go/No Go Decision

2010-02-21T17:30:00.000-08:00

I flew up to Napa this past week with my buddy and his Comanche. We flew in to a private strip (Pope Valley, 05CL) that's in a vineyard. I've been there several times and it never gets less spectacular. We flew over Lake Berryessa and then a bit west to the landing strip. We flew over a lot of clouds on the way there but (just as our XM weather told us) it was clear where we needed to go.

Got picked up by Ron's brother who owns a vineyard and B&B (Rust Ridge in the Chiles Valley). We made an awesome meal of New Mexico style green chile with homemade tortillas. Lots of wine of course.

Got up the next day and had a great breakfast with the guests, fixed the ranch's powered gate, and a few other little maintenance items. All the while keeping an eye on the weather. The fog was supposed to burn off by 10 a.m. but by noon it was still not looking good.

After studying every weather site I know on the internet, we finally called the weather briefer. Icing at 6000 feet all down the valley. Winds gusting to 31 knots over the Gorman pass. Rain expected in about 3 hours. Conditions expected to be okay back at the home drome...and it looked like maybe we could get out of Pope Valley and then get up above all the nastiness. It was tempting.

But, we didn't get fuel on the way up and were planning to get fuel at Modesto on the way home. Ron was sure that we could make it back on what we had. But with IFR conditions most of the way down the valley I wasn't real comfortable with the idea. What if we got home and couldn't land and had to divert a long way away? And 31 knot winds aren't my favorite.

We really needed to get home though. I was supposed to pick up my daughter at school that day in the shiny new RV (it's a test one I'm doing a story on for a magazine) and go camping for her very first time. Ron had work to do at home.

Ron's brother and sister-in-law were leaving in an hour to go to San Francisco to visit her mother and attend some wine industry gala thing. We were either going to fly out of there or be stuck there for a couple of days. Oh, but there was one more option....the one we took. We hitched a ride to SFO and got on a Virgin flight home.

We'll go back to get the airplane this coming week.

A look at the new interior of N7720P

2010-01-14T19:06:00.000-08:00

Rock 'n' Roll Diner

2010-01-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

Flew to Oceano on the California coast the other day in the newly restored Comanche. Ron and I took my daughter Elizabeth and her friend Chantal along with us. We had breakfast at the Rock 'n' Roll diner. It was good and the ambiance was fun.

This is exactly why we wanted a bigger, more robust airplane. We took off with full tanks (90 gallons) and four adults...the Comanche climbed out at 1100 feet per minute like it was no big deal.

The Cherokee 140 that Ron used to own could only carry about a 160-pounder after the two of us got in it.

Landing Gear Checkout

2010-01-14T18:19:00.000-08:00

While Comanche N7720P was being worked on Ron and I went over for a landing gear "seminar". While the airplane was on jacks were were taught emercency procedures for when the landing gear won't go down. It's really a big help to be able to actually do it over and over until it seems like no big deal.

taking off from kemt (el monte) runway 1

2010-01-14T13:50:00.000-08:00

Landing the Comanche at Jean, Nevada's 0L7 Airport

2010-01-06T22:43:00.000-08:00

We finally got everything sorted out and took the Comanche on a cross country trip. From El Monte, California to Jean, Nevada took 1 hour and 18 minutes. That, my friends, is fast! (especially when you compare it to the Cherokee 140 we used to fly in).

Flying Again!

2009-12-19T18:01:00.000-08:00

After a grueling 5 month wait...I'm flying again! My flying buddy Ron sold his Cherokee 140 just after I completed my IFR cross country flight (that was back on July 29, 2009) and bought a Comanche 250. The Comanche needed a lot of work to get it back in flying shape as it had been sitting for 12 years.

The airplane has been repainted, had a new leather interior installed, the panel retooled, new fuel cells installed, and much more. I will be presenting N7720P as soon as I shoot some beauty shots of her.

My first flight was just the other day and it was with my CFII Steven Wilson to begin the familiarization process and get signed off to fly a Complex and High Performance airplane. That should take somewhere between 5 and 10 hours...but Ron's insurance company wants me to get 10 hours of instruction logged before they will let me fly the airplane anyway so we're going to have some fun and do some learning at the same time.

After the Complex and High Performance instruction is complete I will get back into the IFR training and finish that up as soon as possible.

2009 Miramar Air Show

2009-10-04T10:45:00.000-07:00

I attended my first-ever MCAS air show at Miramar in San Diego, California on Friday, October 2. The show ran from the 2nd to the 4th. Billed as the "World's Largest Military Air Show" but also considered one of the top 10 best airshows by those in the know, the amazing display of aviation hardware and flying skills is the kind of thing that everyone should attend at least once.

The Miramar flight line was filled with static displays ranging from current and historical military equipment to plenty of good food and refreshments...plus souvenirs galore. The U.S. Navy's legendary Blue Angels joined the Canadian Snowbirds (appearing for the first time at Miramar) as the highlight of the precision aerobatic demonstration.

Other performers, including civilians like Bill Leffin in his T-6, showed off the range and agility of their airplanes too. The static displays included the humongous C-5 Galaxy transport plane and even tiny Cessna airplanes that were used for training "back in the day".

Marine Corp Air Station Miramar strives to be a good neighbor in San Diego and participates in numerous community relations activities both on and off the installation. MCAS is open for tours through the Consolidated Public Affairs Office.

More miramar Photos

2009-10-04T10:26:00.001-07:00

more Miramar photos

2009-10-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

More Miramar Pics

2009-10-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

Cherokee 140 sold

2009-08-31T13:33:00.000-07:00

yep, the deal is done, and Ron sold the Piper Cherokee 140. got $33,000 for her (was asking $35,000). New airplane deal is in the works, more to follow.

Long Cross Country For IFR requirement before Checkride

2009-07-29T23:24:00.000-07:00

Had a great time on the long cross country IFR trip today. Went north because the CFII wanted to make sure we got out of the TEC area (for whatever that's worth, decided to stop over-thinking it).

We took off at 9:00 am bound for Santa Barbara. Went well, minus the one time when I got all frustrated trying to figure out where I was (ATC took us off the eastbound EMT departure procedure and vectored us back westbound toward V186)...just a brain fart that was multiplied by my frustration. Funny how you can have 4 out of 5 things going right and you start focusing on that one thing that's not right and pretty soon you've got 4 things screwed up.

Anyway, I recovered from that and had a nice flight. A good portion of it was over a thick cloud bank. Did the ILS to runway 7 and had actual. Broke out about 400 feet above the minimums (actual, just what the Double Eye was hoping for).

We went to Atlantic to bring the fuel back to the tabs (we're both fatties so we can't fill 'er all the way up, so took off from EMT with fuel to the tabs) and, while they were exceptionally nice and the Otis Spunkmeyer cookies were delish, they were really busy and it took about 30 minutes from the time we pulled in till we pulled back out.

Next stop was Santa Maria. Was originally going to go to San Luis Obispo but realized they only had a VOR approach for me (can't do RNAV, no DME for the Back Course) so Santa Maria graciously offered her Localizer approach to runway 12. Nice, little flight there, interesting approach. Had lunch at Pepper Garcias. I've read both good and bad about the place on the Red Board, but we enjoyed it.

Took awhile to find someone to let us back onto the airport though as no one with a key could be found. Someone in operations pulled the short stick and had to come let us in. The longest leg of the trip was SMX to EMT and it was really nice to get that much time under the hood with time to think and plan. I could get 2 or 3 steps ahead and be ready to identify intersections, nail my altitude for giant stretches, hold my headings accurately...well, I'm exaggerating about the headings...the CFII told me I was busted once when I was blissfully tooling along 15 degrees off the heading (I argued that I was on the radial, was merely finishing up my course correcting, etc., etc....he didn't buy it).

Somewhere before Van Nuys we were vectored in a big 360 to make room for an Eclipse that was bearing down on us.

The VOR-A approach into El Monte was about as dead-nuts as I've ever done it. Right on course, timer went off at exactly the right place, I held my altitude and airspeed nearly perfectly the whole way...even joking with the CFII (when he mangled a sentence and used a wrong term I set him straight and said, "Don't worry, I'll get you through this.").

Total flight time 4.7 hours. Won't be flying for a couple of weeks as I'm heading out to Hawaii for vacation, but when we get back we'll be doing our Check Ride prep...I think I'm getting close to being ready....

Detail Photos of N6794J (for those interested in buying her)

2009-07-22T09:32:00.000-07:00

More photos of N6794J

2009-07-22T09:28:00.000-07:00