Well yesterday (the day after my fun cross country trip with Bill) was very frustrating. The day was long and I simmed for 4 hours in the FRASCA. I've always expected the most out of myself, with things like school, hockey, and especially when it comes to flying. Yesterday was just one of those days, when you feel all your hard work hasn't gotten you anywhere. After a good night's sleep I realize that's not the case but in the moment you certainly feel like "how could I do that".
Yesterday, as I mentioned, I flew 4 hours in the FRASCA sim and was conducting more instrument approaches. I was feeling really good about the cross country the evening before and felt like I was really getting precision approaches down. Well during my approaches yesterday Bill started failing things on me again. My first approach he failed my engine, I got a little off course on final but got her back on and landed. The frustration for myself started to build when I couldn't speak with Atlanta approach or tower fast enough to let them know what was going on... or if I did tell them about the emergency I'd forget something else b/c I was to busy focusing on the problem. Then Bill decided to "silently" cut one of my engines off. By silently I mean it wasn't as sudden as it has always been where your nose will swing to one side or the other depending on which engine you lost. This time I felt no difference with rudder pressure but could see that one of my Manifold Pressure needles was pegged to 0lb" I didn't understand that I had actually lost, or was slowly losing an engine because both RPM's were still reading 2300 RPM which is cruise. And in my mind if I had lost an engine 1) I would have felt it in my rudders right? 2) My manifold pressure shouldn't be reading 0 but outside pressure altitude right? Apparently not in all cases... I was so turned around with my engines and whether it was a true emergency or not that I had totally gotten off course and broke out of the clouds with no runway in sight. I didn't crash but I certainly didn't do my job. FLY FIRST. I was really really frustrated with myself for forgetting to FLY FIRST and a little with the simulated situation. Every dog has his day (whether good or bad) right? I kept flying after that after a little break. The next approach Bill failed my attitude indicator and I caught the error right away and was able to stay pretty well on track and landed no problem. Still in my mind it wasn't enough to turn around the thought in my mind of the previous approach which I busted completely. Later that day Bill saw I was frustrated and started to chuckle (he's a light hearted guy) He said, "you got to take it easy, man. Look, you remind me of myself when I was a student going through the program." I asked him "That's a good thing then right?" He said "Yeah... I busted my 'tail' when I was here... I always expected perfection from myself... I pushed myself to be the best pilot I could be. And that's what you do." I appreciated the compliment and agreed with his assessment. It's always nice to know, even when you screw up that your mentor/instructor realizes you're better than that and it happens to the best pilots. Better in the simulator than in the real plane. Bill told me I was further along than my flight partner Jerry and that my passion and dedication to do well here was showing with the instructors and the site manager. After a break we went back into the "box" and simmed for another hour. I left last night at 8PM... No one else was there.
The lesson for me, and for you future pilots, is summed up by this quote I found:
"I was never afraid of failure, for I would sooner fail than not be among the best."
John Keats
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Day 19, Day/Night Cross Country Flight
Sorry for the delay in updating, but today is the first day I've had time since Wednesday to sit down and update the site. Thursday I went with Bill on my day and night cross country. The whole trip took 4 hours, 2 there and 2 back. Although it was supposed to be a VFR flight we filed the flight plan as an IFR flight plan (Instrument Flight Rules vs Visual Flight Rules). The reason we file IFR is because, even if the weather outside is crystal clear you still get priority routing with ATC and there's an added layer of safety since you're always on comms with approach control. They see you and can inform you of any nearby air contacts and so on. So we tool off and I flew Direct from KLZU (the airport) to NELLO intersection (an invisible intersection in the air. Once at NELLO we flew a victor airway to CHOOCHOO VORTAC over Chattanooga TN. Then we headed East toward ROCKET VORTAC north of Huntsville, AB then direct to KMDQ Madison Co. airport our destination.
The best thing about the entire flight was we were lucky enough to takeoff in a brand new 2008 Seminole with less than 300 Airframe Total Time hours. She still had the new car smell. And she flew smooth as glass. She had a hush kit installed which means extra equipment was installed to quite he 2 engine's noise from inside the cockpit. We could have flown with our headsets off and easily used the cabin speakers for radio communications.
As for the enroute legs of my flight they were pretty uneventful, as every good IFR flight should be. The fun part was descending from enroute altitude and being vectored by Approach Control for an instrument approach at Madison Co. and back at KLZU Gwinnett Co. on the trip home. I successfully completed my first instrument approach in an actual Seminole and it was a good feeling.
On the way home, due to 40 knot tailwinds we needed to burn some time since the trip is supposed to be 2 hours long one way. So we were cleared for the full ILS 25 approach at KLZU which means we were not going to be vectored in by ATC and I needed to fly the full instrument approach which is laid out on my Jeppesen approach plates. The approach has me flying to a specific NAVAID along the final approach course and turning outbound from the final approach course then conducting a procedure turn (basically a U-turn in the sky) to come back around and reintercept the final approach course and land. I conducted everything fine and when on final Bill had me go missed (again to burn off some more time plus it was awesome practice). I went missed and followed the published missed approach procedure which has me reintercepting the NAVAID along the final approach course and conducting a parallel entry into a hold turn where you conduct racetracks until further directed by ATC. We had already cancelled our IFR flight plan prior to me going missed on my first landing. I conducted the hold entry and pattern without any hiccups and I was feeling very good about the flight. Bill asked if he could land the Seminole this time since he needed shake some rust (you don't land much at all when you're an instructor since your student does all the flying) I agreed and he took the controls. Once established inbound from the NAVAID (or locator outer marker) he simulated loss of his left engine and idled the left throttle and flew the approach with one engine and we landed.
All in all a very fun, calm, and smooth trip!
Got back to the apartment by 11:30pm
The best thing about the entire flight was we were lucky enough to takeoff in a brand new 2008 Seminole with less than 300 Airframe Total Time hours. She still had the new car smell. And she flew smooth as glass. She had a hush kit installed which means extra equipment was installed to quite he 2 engine's noise from inside the cockpit. We could have flown with our headsets off and easily used the cabin speakers for radio communications.
As for the enroute legs of my flight they were pretty uneventful, as every good IFR flight should be. The fun part was descending from enroute altitude and being vectored by Approach Control for an instrument approach at Madison Co. and back at KLZU Gwinnett Co. on the trip home. I successfully completed my first instrument approach in an actual Seminole and it was a good feeling.
On the way home, due to 40 knot tailwinds we needed to burn some time since the trip is supposed to be 2 hours long one way. So we were cleared for the full ILS 25 approach at KLZU which means we were not going to be vectored in by ATC and I needed to fly the full instrument approach which is laid out on my Jeppesen approach plates. The approach has me flying to a specific NAVAID along the final approach course and turning outbound from the final approach course then conducting a procedure turn (basically a U-turn in the sky) to come back around and reintercept the final approach course and land. I conducted everything fine and when on final Bill had me go missed (again to burn off some more time plus it was awesome practice). I went missed and followed the published missed approach procedure which has me reintercepting the NAVAID along the final approach course and conducting a parallel entry into a hold turn where you conduct racetracks until further directed by ATC. We had already cancelled our IFR flight plan prior to me going missed on my first landing. I conducted the hold entry and pattern without any hiccups and I was feeling very good about the flight. Bill asked if he could land the Seminole this time since he needed shake some rust (you don't land much at all when you're an instructor since your student does all the flying) I agreed and he took the controls. Once established inbound from the NAVAID (or locator outer marker) he simulated loss of his left engine and idled the left throttle and flew the approach with one engine and we landed.
All in all a very fun, calm, and smooth trip!
Got back to the apartment by 11:30pm
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Day 18, Instrument Checkride Set for Feb 16th
Yesterday I did receive my $400+ worth of Jeppesen charts and I don't even have enough bags to carry them and everything else around with me so I'm leaving 2 of the 4 books in the trunk of my car. I finally got to shoot instrument approaches in the simulator yesterday. My instructor likes teaching us through "trial and error" and scenario based lessons. Which I actually prefer... I feel you learn from your mistakes alot quicker this way. For example most of the other students will be asked by their instructors to enter as simple a holding pattern as you can at cruise altitude. I know most of you have no idea what a holding pattern is so I'll try my best to explain. Just imagine a race track in the sky. Traffic Control can order an aircraft to enter a race track pattern (holding pattern) in order to get other airborne traffic on the ground or clear other traffic out of the area before letting you leave the pattern and proceeding on your intended route. There are many reasons why a plane would enter a holding pattern but for ease of explanation I'll use the ones already listed. There are 3 ways you can enter that race track pattern and each way depends on from which direction you are entering the holding pattern. needless to say many pilots hate holds because it means more time enroute to their destination and it means more mental gymnastics you weren't planning on using. Not only do you need to worry about how you enter the pattern but also you need to time your entry (depending on which one your are using) and you have to time your outbound leg of the pattern. All this under IMC (in the clouds) can be a little stressful.
Anyways back to my instructor vs others I've seen. Most of the other instructors will start training holding patterns by asking you to cruise out at a specific altitude and ask you do enter a holding pattern with a specific entry... then they'll move on to have you calculate which entry you're going to use based on where the instructor asks you to hold.
Not my instructor. My first ever hold I needed to conduct was off of a missed approach to an airport on a precision ILS approach to KLZU (our airport here). A missed approach procedure is what you as a pilot will conduct if you are under IMC (in the clouds) and on final approach to a runway. At a specific height above the runway (200 ft normally) if you DO NOT see the runway you MUST "go missed" meaning you put full throttle in, pull up, clean your aircraft configuration (flaps up/gear up), and let the tower know you went missed. It does not stop there of course. Every airport that has an instrument approach procedure also has a missed approach procedure, in the even you do not see the runway by that decision height. Since I did not see my runway I went missed, had to follow the published missed approach procedure by climbing on runway heading to 1800ft then do a climbing left turn to 3000ft to an intercept course of the outer marker where I would enter the holding pattern until advised by ATC where to go next or I request to shoot another approach to the same airport. I know most of this lingo may be over your heads but needless to say it was probably the hardest way to introduce someone to holding patterns because I had so much going through my head during the approach to land that once I went missed I had to not drop the ball and quickly keep running with it. Realize where I was and where I was going... an important lesson I'm learning when it comes to instrument flying.
Another great teaching mechanism my instructor used on Jerry (b/c he tends to get very focused on one or two items - tunnel vision if you will). Bill, my instructor, asked Jerry - while he was busy trying to turn to a specific heading after takeoff - to call up Atlanta Approach on frequency 121.5. 121.5 is solely an emergency frequency to be used in the case of real emergency. Jerry, to busy concentrating on everything else he was doing plugged in the frequency and immediately Bill start making a howling siren noise. Lesson learned hopefully. The last training mechanism he used on Jerry was really cool. He asked Jerry to report when inbound from the outer marker on final approach. This is a mandatory report since it was assigned by tower. He forgot to report, again b/c he was to focused on lining up with the glide slope. Jerry broke out of the clouds (this was his 3rd landing on the FRASCA and I thought for sure Bill was going to lower the overcast ceiling to have Jerry go missed. As Jerry continued down to the runway he noticed a Lear Jet at the near end of the runway lined up to takeoff. "Why was that lear jet there, Jerry?" Bill asked... No answer. "Mark? Why was that lear jet there?" "B/c Jerry didn't report when inbound from the outer marker?" "Yep... you gotta let them know" Lesson learned hopefully.
I should be going on my day/night VFR cross country today with Bill. We're flying out to Alabama where I had my checkride... hopefully Clyde my examiner is there so we can say Hi... Never hurts to make sure he remembers me for my next checkride, which by the way has been scheduled for FEB 16TH!! In 3 more weeks I'll hopefully be Instrument rated and can fly in and through the clouds! Woohooo I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow morning.
If anyone wants me to explain something more in deatil let me know, like I said I would think for most of you, alot of this pilot jargon must be over your head.
Anyways back to my instructor vs others I've seen. Most of the other instructors will start training holding patterns by asking you to cruise out at a specific altitude and ask you do enter a holding pattern with a specific entry... then they'll move on to have you calculate which entry you're going to use based on where the instructor asks you to hold.
Not my instructor. My first ever hold I needed to conduct was off of a missed approach to an airport on a precision ILS approach to KLZU (our airport here). A missed approach procedure is what you as a pilot will conduct if you are under IMC (in the clouds) and on final approach to a runway. At a specific height above the runway (200 ft normally) if you DO NOT see the runway you MUST "go missed" meaning you put full throttle in, pull up, clean your aircraft configuration (flaps up/gear up), and let the tower know you went missed. It does not stop there of course. Every airport that has an instrument approach procedure also has a missed approach procedure, in the even you do not see the runway by that decision height. Since I did not see my runway I went missed, had to follow the published missed approach procedure by climbing on runway heading to 1800ft then do a climbing left turn to 3000ft to an intercept course of the outer marker where I would enter the holding pattern until advised by ATC where to go next or I request to shoot another approach to the same airport. I know most of this lingo may be over your heads but needless to say it was probably the hardest way to introduce someone to holding patterns because I had so much going through my head during the approach to land that once I went missed I had to not drop the ball and quickly keep running with it. Realize where I was and where I was going... an important lesson I'm learning when it comes to instrument flying.
Another great teaching mechanism my instructor used on Jerry (b/c he tends to get very focused on one or two items - tunnel vision if you will). Bill, my instructor, asked Jerry - while he was busy trying to turn to a specific heading after takeoff - to call up Atlanta Approach on frequency 121.5. 121.5 is solely an emergency frequency to be used in the case of real emergency. Jerry, to busy concentrating on everything else he was doing plugged in the frequency and immediately Bill start making a howling siren noise. Lesson learned hopefully. The last training mechanism he used on Jerry was really cool. He asked Jerry to report when inbound from the outer marker on final approach. This is a mandatory report since it was assigned by tower. He forgot to report, again b/c he was to focused on lining up with the glide slope. Jerry broke out of the clouds (this was his 3rd landing on the FRASCA and I thought for sure Bill was going to lower the overcast ceiling to have Jerry go missed. As Jerry continued down to the runway he noticed a Lear Jet at the near end of the runway lined up to takeoff. "Why was that lear jet there, Jerry?" Bill asked... No answer. "Mark? Why was that lear jet there?" "B/c Jerry didn't report when inbound from the outer marker?" "Yep... you gotta let them know" Lesson learned hopefully.
I should be going on my day/night VFR cross country today with Bill. We're flying out to Alabama where I had my checkride... hopefully Clyde my examiner is there so we can say Hi... Never hurts to make sure he remembers me for my next checkride, which by the way has been scheduled for FEB 16TH!! In 3 more weeks I'll hopefully be Instrument rated and can fly in and through the clouds! Woohooo I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow morning.
If anyone wants me to explain something more in deatil let me know, like I said I would think for most of you, alot of this pilot jargon must be over your head.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Day 17, Bad Weather = More Simulator and Ground
Well today I should be receiving my Jeppesen Instrument Plates. Basically they are huge leather bound books with every single type of instrument approach for every airport that has atleast one instrument approach in the country. Fortunately ATP won't be giving me every single region of the US but I will still be getting more than I'll ever need while at ATP.
Bad weather lately (should be sunny tomorrow) has postponed my day/night cross country flight I'm supposed to do with my instructor right after I passed my Private Multi-Engine Checkride. So hopefully tomorrow I can plan on that happening. My instructor and I will probably leave for Alabama (again) around 3pm and land around 5pm, eat dinner near the airport, then takeoff to head back to Atlanta around 7pm and be back no earlier than 9pm or so.
Today, since the weather is poor, I'll be working on instrument approaches for the first time in the simulator and probably doing some more ground school. Lots of stuff to memorize... That's the theme for the entire course. Memorizing things won't end until I've finally finished the program with my 3 Flight Instructor Ratings.
Hope to have more for you guys tomorrow evening since the weather will be better.
Bad weather lately (should be sunny tomorrow) has postponed my day/night cross country flight I'm supposed to do with my instructor right after I passed my Private Multi-Engine Checkride. So hopefully tomorrow I can plan on that happening. My instructor and I will probably leave for Alabama (again) around 3pm and land around 5pm, eat dinner near the airport, then takeoff to head back to Atlanta around 7pm and be back no earlier than 9pm or so.
Today, since the weather is poor, I'll be working on instrument approaches for the first time in the simulator and probably doing some more ground school. Lots of stuff to memorize... That's the theme for the entire course. Memorizing things won't end until I've finally finished the program with my 3 Flight Instructor Ratings.
Hope to have more for you guys tomorrow evening since the weather will be better.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Day 16, 8 Hours of FRASCA
Today was my second day of instrument training and it was LONG. I ended up spending 4 hours flying the simulator and 4 hours observing my flight partner today. It was our first time doing any type of instrument training in the sim and it was probably the toughest too. The first 2 hours I spent flying the simulator was basic flying to and from different navigational radials, airports, and airway intersections. My instructor got a little bored once he felt we I had a good understanding of navigating with only your instruments (the simulator monitor was whited out to simulate flying in clouds). So he got bored and cut my engine off on me in the clouds...nice. Then he had me turn with one dead engine to different headings and altitudes. For instance, "Give me a 360 turn and a climb to 7000ft at 700 feet per minute." Not only is that difficult to do with one engine and blind to the outside world, but even more difficult in a simulator that is much more sensitive to your inputs than the real aircraft. Once I did about 30 minutes of these maneuvers he finally brought me in toward our airport in the sim. I ended up breaking out of the clouds 1 mile from the airport and landed with one engine. It was gratifying and intense. I didn't think it could get more tough than that... LOL was I wrong.
Later that evening I had 2 more hours to knock out... This time we did partial panel training. Basically the instructor will fail certain instruments on you while in flight to test your instrument scan. We were told most students end up crashing in the sim the first time because their instruments start to go off and they follow the busted instrument into the ground. I hopped in the sim. The instructor started me off by doing steep turn maneuvers in the clouds (45 degree banking turns for 360 degrees). We did power on and power off stalls and demonstrated slow flight. During my slow flight he cut one of my engines and I immediately heard the stall horn go off do to my loss of lift. I surprisingly corrected by pitching back down to the horizon and adding some operating engine power, then went through my emergency procedures. He told me I did well because some students end up spinning the aircraft down to the ground. Then during a turn he failed my attitude indicator... this is what killed JFK Jr. When your attitude indicator fails(the instrument that shows a miniature plane and indicates pitch and bank) it doesn't just say FAIL on it... it just starts to slowly display a climbing turn even though you may be flying straight and level. If you don't have a good scan of your instruments and you use this failed instrument as your sole source of keeping wings level, you'll start to bank more and more chasing the horizon on the gauge and you'll enter a tight spiraling dive to the ground. Game Over. Fortunately I caught it right away and noticed it did not agree with any of my other instruments. Then 5 minutes later with a failed attitude indicator, my instructor failed my heading indicator, wonderful!! No attitude indicator or heading indicator and I'm in the clouds. I had to use my turn coordinator to roughly guesstimate when my wings were level, and used the magnetic compass and GPS for my heading. OH and did I mention he had turbulence set to 5 out of 10. Basically with the moderate turbulence it made it that much more difficult to keep wings level using the turn coordinator mini airplane because it was bouncing around just as much as the airplane was in the air. As if that wasn't enough my instructor then shut down one of my engines! Wow what a mental workout and a physical drain on your body. The amount of concentration and stamina needed is surprising. Your body wears down pretty quickly when so much has happened and you're faced with doing whatever you can do get yourself down safely. I ended up doing very well and I was pretty proud of myself. Especially because this was my first time in the sim doing instrument training and this, in my view, was pretty advanced training that normally comes further down the line in a normal training syllabus. Hopefully the rest of my instrument training goes as smoothly, though I can bet there will be days that I'll be completely off. I just hope one of those days isn't during my checkride for my instrument rating.
Later that evening I had 2 more hours to knock out... This time we did partial panel training. Basically the instructor will fail certain instruments on you while in flight to test your instrument scan. We were told most students end up crashing in the sim the first time because their instruments start to go off and they follow the busted instrument into the ground. I hopped in the sim. The instructor started me off by doing steep turn maneuvers in the clouds (45 degree banking turns for 360 degrees). We did power on and power off stalls and demonstrated slow flight. During my slow flight he cut one of my engines and I immediately heard the stall horn go off do to my loss of lift. I surprisingly corrected by pitching back down to the horizon and adding some operating engine power, then went through my emergency procedures. He told me I did well because some students end up spinning the aircraft down to the ground. Then during a turn he failed my attitude indicator... this is what killed JFK Jr. When your attitude indicator fails(the instrument that shows a miniature plane and indicates pitch and bank) it doesn't just say FAIL on it... it just starts to slowly display a climbing turn even though you may be flying straight and level. If you don't have a good scan of your instruments and you use this failed instrument as your sole source of keeping wings level, you'll start to bank more and more chasing the horizon on the gauge and you'll enter a tight spiraling dive to the ground. Game Over. Fortunately I caught it right away and noticed it did not agree with any of my other instruments. Then 5 minutes later with a failed attitude indicator, my instructor failed my heading indicator, wonderful!! No attitude indicator or heading indicator and I'm in the clouds. I had to use my turn coordinator to roughly guesstimate when my wings were level, and used the magnetic compass and GPS for my heading. OH and did I mention he had turbulence set to 5 out of 10. Basically with the moderate turbulence it made it that much more difficult to keep wings level using the turn coordinator mini airplane because it was bouncing around just as much as the airplane was in the air. As if that wasn't enough my instructor then shut down one of my engines! Wow what a mental workout and a physical drain on your body. The amount of concentration and stamina needed is surprising. Your body wears down pretty quickly when so much has happened and you're faced with doing whatever you can do get yourself down safely. I ended up doing very well and I was pretty proud of myself. Especially because this was my first time in the sim doing instrument training and this, in my view, was pretty advanced training that normally comes further down the line in a normal training syllabus. Hopefully the rest of my instrument training goes as smoothly, though I can bet there will be days that I'll be completely off. I just hope one of those days isn't during my checkride for my instrument rating.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Day 13, Down Time
Today nothing's going on. I realized a little to late that I had the opportunity today to drive home to Knoxville for the day as nothing's on tap until tomorrow when I start my instrument training. I did take some photos and moives with my digital camera yesterday on the flight back to ATL from Alabama. I'm trying to get those uploaded today since I have time but my laptop is freaking out on me and now I think it has a virus. ARGH. I promise to share the movies with you all ASAP.
Here's a link to my photo album so far. Hopefully this link works for now:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clearedinbound/
Make sure to click on a photo and then click on the ALL SIZES tab above them to enlargen the photos!!
Here are the videos I took of the trip back to ATL:
Here's a link to my photo album so far. Hopefully this link works for now:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clearedinbound/
Make sure to click on a photo and then click on the ALL SIZES tab above them to enlargen the photos!!
Here are the videos I took of the trip back to ATL:
Day 12, Private Multi-Engine Checkride
Well it was one heck of a day let me tell you. Started the day at 7am and finished at 7pm. I was told I'd be flying the enroute flight to Huntsville Alabama (where our checkrides were scheduled) because Jerry had already logged more training time in the Seminole than me and they didn't want Jerry to use up any more flight hours prior to his checkride than he already had. The weather was very poor for what was supposed to be a VFR (visual flight rules) checkride. VFR meaning that the weather is such that you do not have to fly off of your instruments alone, and have at least 3 miles of visibility and at least a 3000ft ceiling. The weather was IFR and we had a 1600ft overcast ceiling with winds gusting to 25 knots (20 degrees off of the runway heading) so the crosswind was pretty noticeable but not bad enough that you couldn't land safely.
So we took off, I was the pilot in command on the left, Jermaine the instructor was in the right seat and Jerry was in the back (he would be flying us back home at the end of the day). We immediately were in the clouds and about 2 minutes later we had broken out on top of the overcast. This being my first time ever flying in IMC (instrument meteorological conditions or with no reference to the outside world) it was quite an awe inspiring moment... Then once we broke out over the overcast and flew on top of what looked like a field of white pillows as far as the eye could see it was awesome. I flew the 1.9 hour trip to Alabama and when we landed, Clyde, our 86yr old examiner was in his office waiting for us. We had been warned that he was a fair but grumpy man who would always let you know the small things you were doing wrong. If you were 25 feet off your altitude he'd let you know even though you given a window of 100 feet.
He immediately reminded me of Andy Rooney from 60 minutes... hunched over his desk in his office chair with papers everywhere. But something was very different about Clyde... For starters he had the radio on. A Bose radio. He wasn't listening to talk radio, or easy listening office music. He wasn't listening to 30-50's music... He was listening to hip-hop. That's right... he was listening to rap and hard rock in the background. Right away I could tell he was "different than the rest". For a few minutes I figured... well he is older, maybe he can't even hear the radio, than I realized he was an FAA Certified Flight Examiner and he could he just fine.
The plan was for Jerry to do his checkride first since I had just landed from a 2 hour trip. Even though in the back if my mind I would have preferred to go first since I didn't want something bad that may have happened on Jerry's checkride to affect mine (i.e. Clyde carrying out is frustration of Jerry's bad checkride, if he had had one, over t my checkride).
Once all 4 of us were crammed in his small office, Jermaine asked Clyde what number examination these two checkrides were going to be in his logbook. Clyde opened up his drawer and pulled out his big logbook, flipped to the last checkride entry and said "These will be my 8,562nd and 8,563rd checkrides" and looked up at us.... My jaw was on the floor. This man had more checkrides than most airline pilots have hours of flight. Clyde had reaffirmed my initial thoughts that he was different than the rest. He's been around and seen it all. Photos of his life and family littered his office walls. Photos of meeting Chuck Yeager (first man to break the sound barrier), Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, and John McCain. Photos from his days in NASA and plaques given to him from NASA were all around. Now I could feel myself starting to get nervous about the checkride, especially b/c I was second to go.
Jerry was first to go and had already passed his oral portion. Jermaine and I went out to get a hamburger for lunch as soon as we saw Jerry and Clyde takeoff. Shortly after returning to the airport and eating my big greasy Hardee's hamburger, we saw Jerry landing and taxiing to the ramp to park the Seminole.
Jerry came in and gave of us the news that he had passed his checkride. I was relieved to find this out as I assumed things went well in the plane and Clyde would be evaluating me as if I had gone up first anyways. Problem was it was extremely bumpy they said. I immediately thought of the 1/3lb greasy burger I had just finished scarfing down and how bad it would be for it to come back up during my checkride. Again I got nervous. Clyde asked if I was ready so I went out to preflight the airplane. Jermaine wished me luck and my flight exam was about to begin.
Before I move I should explain that before my oral exam Clyde inquired about where I was from, and what I was doing before I decided to attend ATP flight school. I had informed him that I was prior active duty as a Naval Officer and that I had attended the Naval Academy. He immediately took an interest and told me his grandson was currently applying to enter the Naval Academy.
So back to the plane... I was already seated in the plane ready to start running through my checklists to start up the engines when Clyde came out. I saw him stop by his car (about 50 ft directly in front of my plane) and he came around and gt in the plane. As I went through my checklist I fired up the engines and was about to conduct a brake check. This is where I let the plane roll forward and step on the tow brakes, and then allow my passenger to do the same from his side to make sure we both have positive brake pressure. I decided to make my move and see if Clyde had a sense of humor so I told him, "Sir, at this point in my checklist I'd normally conduct a brake check and have you do the same but in the interest of not rolling into your car if we don't have brakes, I'll go ahead and turn 90 degrees to left and do the brake check facing that way." He immediately started laughing and said, "8562 checkrides and no one's ever said that to me before! That's OK, son, I won't let you hit my car." I laughed back with a "Roger that, sir!"
As soon as I started to taxi out to the active runway Clyde started asking me about the Academy and how I got in and so on... For a few minutes I thought he was testing my situational awareness skills to make sure I don't skip over something vital on my checklist prior to takeoff. Having that thought in the back of my mind I stuck to my lists while answering his questions. Last thing I want to do is piss the man off. I did my run up and we were ready to go fly. "OK give me a short field takeoff and keep it pretty," Clyde told me. I replied,"I'll do my best, sir." As I brought the nose onto the center line of the runway I stepped on the brakes, brought engines to 2000RPM check my engine instruments, everything was reading in the green. I held the brakes and pushed the throttles full forward. Just as I released the brakes Clyde grabbed for my mixture lever and started to cutoff the fuel to one of my engines. I immediately brought both throttles to idle and slammed on my brakes keeping my nose down the runway. I slammed on the brakes so hard I heard the mains skid slightly on the pavement. "GOOD! Best one of those I've seen lately, go ahead takeoff!" Clyde said. I got my throttles back to full forward and took off. The rest of my maneuvers went smoothly. I made an occasional mistake here and there that I caught but nothing worth Clyde mentioning as he never brought up anything.
We headed in to do my landings. The first landing I needed to display was a short field landing. Basically I come in at a steeper approach and slower airspeed and you have to aim for the numbers on the runway. Your main landing gears are required to hit directly on the numbers or up to 200 feet past the numbers. Immediately after landing you need to take your flaps out and brake hard (without skidding) and pull full back on the flight controls to increase drag across the airframe to assist in stopping within 1000ft. This was the maneuver/landing I was most worried about because I had only tried it 3 times in the Seminole before this moment. I came around on final and stuck her down right on the numbers and stopped at the first taxi exit off the runway. "Good job," Clyde said. Coming from him that was a huge compliment. "Thank you, sir," I replied. OK this time do a normal take off and we'll do a single engine landing. I took off, came around the pattern and let the plane down right on the center line with both engines idled out. "OK, last one, give me a no flap landing, have you done one before?" Clyde said. "No sir, not in a Seminole."
He told me just take her around and feel the plane out just above the runway, let her down as soft as you can and keep her nose up as long as you can. As I entered base I followed my memorized gear down before landing checklist... gear down, fuel selectors on, flaps 25 degrees, mixtures rich, props full forward, fuel pumps on. I steadied up on my base leg and immediately realized my flaps were down and they should be up. CRAP... I turned to him and calmly said, "I'm sorry sir you wanted a no flap landing correct?" He nodded slowly and I said "I'm just going to take these flaps out slowly then." PHEW no biggie... I rounded on final gently put the wheels down and slowly pulled back on my yoke and amazingly wheelied the Seminole all the way down the runway until the second to last taxi way.
That's when the greatest thing happened. Clyde... this retired NASA engineer, this super pilot that can pull twins out of flat spins, this man that has almost as many checkrides given than I have DAYS ON THIS PLANET, turns to me and says "I have to tell you I have nothing negative to say about this checkride. And I always have something to say... that's pretty good, son." And as if that compliment wasn't enough he says, "you land this Seminole better than anyone I've seen in LONG time that's going for their private multi-engine, I mean you only have 6 landings before today. All I can say is congratulations on a very enjoyable flight."
I couldn't believe that I had gotten these compliments from the examiner everyone said would undoubtedly be grumpy and would point all the small thing you do wrong. I couldn't believe I had just received such compliments from a man that aviation has been his entire life. All I could say in the moment was "Thank you, sir... that means alot to me."
As we taxied back to the ramp to park the plane he asked me if I was married and started talking to me about his son and grandson again. I knew, at that moment, I had experienced a much different checkride than Jerry, and many others before us. I could tell he liked me and respected what I've been through in my 29 years. And I respected him for what he had been through in his 86 years. For a second on the taxi to the ramp it felt like we were old buddies shooting the breeze.
Once we all got back to Atlanta. Jerry came up to me and told me how badly his checkride had gone. He thought he had busted for sure. Clyde wouldn't stop yelling at him and said his landings were very poor. I believe Clyde even took the controls from him and showed him how to land the plane!!! Part of me was shocked that he had had such a bad experience (partly b/c Jerry had passed his checkride after all, and partly b/c Clyde showed know discontent when we were flying together). But another part of me now realizes I shouldn't be so shocked. I knew my checkride was different, something about Clyde wasn't matching up to what everyone else had warned me about, and now it had just been verified.
Needless to say Jan 23rd 2009 was a great day in my aviation career. And certainly will be one of the few days I'll never forget. Thanks to everyone that has been keeping up with me so far and offering words of encouragement. I've had little time to celebrate this small victory as I'm preparing to dive head first into my instrument training. My next checkride will be about 3 or 4 weeks from now, and may or may not be with Clyde. It will be far more difficult and require much more skill.
Here's to looking forward to 4 weeks from now.
So we took off, I was the pilot in command on the left, Jermaine the instructor was in the right seat and Jerry was in the back (he would be flying us back home at the end of the day). We immediately were in the clouds and about 2 minutes later we had broken out on top of the overcast. This being my first time ever flying in IMC (instrument meteorological conditions or with no reference to the outside world) it was quite an awe inspiring moment... Then once we broke out over the overcast and flew on top of what looked like a field of white pillows as far as the eye could see it was awesome. I flew the 1.9 hour trip to Alabama and when we landed, Clyde, our 86yr old examiner was in his office waiting for us. We had been warned that he was a fair but grumpy man who would always let you know the small things you were doing wrong. If you were 25 feet off your altitude he'd let you know even though you given a window of 100 feet.
He immediately reminded me of Andy Rooney from 60 minutes... hunched over his desk in his office chair with papers everywhere. But something was very different about Clyde... For starters he had the radio on. A Bose radio. He wasn't listening to talk radio, or easy listening office music. He wasn't listening to 30-50's music... He was listening to hip-hop. That's right... he was listening to rap and hard rock in the background. Right away I could tell he was "different than the rest". For a few minutes I figured... well he is older, maybe he can't even hear the radio, than I realized he was an FAA Certified Flight Examiner and he could he just fine.
The plan was for Jerry to do his checkride first since I had just landed from a 2 hour trip. Even though in the back if my mind I would have preferred to go first since I didn't want something bad that may have happened on Jerry's checkride to affect mine (i.e. Clyde carrying out is frustration of Jerry's bad checkride, if he had had one, over t my checkride).
Once all 4 of us were crammed in his small office, Jermaine asked Clyde what number examination these two checkrides were going to be in his logbook. Clyde opened up his drawer and pulled out his big logbook, flipped to the last checkride entry and said "These will be my 8,562nd and 8,563rd checkrides" and looked up at us.... My jaw was on the floor. This man had more checkrides than most airline pilots have hours of flight. Clyde had reaffirmed my initial thoughts that he was different than the rest. He's been around and seen it all. Photos of his life and family littered his office walls. Photos of meeting Chuck Yeager (first man to break the sound barrier), Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, and John McCain. Photos from his days in NASA and plaques given to him from NASA were all around. Now I could feel myself starting to get nervous about the checkride, especially b/c I was second to go.
Jerry was first to go and had already passed his oral portion. Jermaine and I went out to get a hamburger for lunch as soon as we saw Jerry and Clyde takeoff. Shortly after returning to the airport and eating my big greasy Hardee's hamburger, we saw Jerry landing and taxiing to the ramp to park the Seminole.
Jerry came in and gave of us the news that he had passed his checkride. I was relieved to find this out as I assumed things went well in the plane and Clyde would be evaluating me as if I had gone up first anyways. Problem was it was extremely bumpy they said. I immediately thought of the 1/3lb greasy burger I had just finished scarfing down and how bad it would be for it to come back up during my checkride. Again I got nervous. Clyde asked if I was ready so I went out to preflight the airplane. Jermaine wished me luck and my flight exam was about to begin.
Before I move I should explain that before my oral exam Clyde inquired about where I was from, and what I was doing before I decided to attend ATP flight school. I had informed him that I was prior active duty as a Naval Officer and that I had attended the Naval Academy. He immediately took an interest and told me his grandson was currently applying to enter the Naval Academy.
So back to the plane... I was already seated in the plane ready to start running through my checklists to start up the engines when Clyde came out. I saw him stop by his car (about 50 ft directly in front of my plane) and he came around and gt in the plane. As I went through my checklist I fired up the engines and was about to conduct a brake check. This is where I let the plane roll forward and step on the tow brakes, and then allow my passenger to do the same from his side to make sure we both have positive brake pressure. I decided to make my move and see if Clyde had a sense of humor so I told him, "Sir, at this point in my checklist I'd normally conduct a brake check and have you do the same but in the interest of not rolling into your car if we don't have brakes, I'll go ahead and turn 90 degrees to left and do the brake check facing that way." He immediately started laughing and said, "8562 checkrides and no one's ever said that to me before! That's OK, son, I won't let you hit my car." I laughed back with a "Roger that, sir!"
As soon as I started to taxi out to the active runway Clyde started asking me about the Academy and how I got in and so on... For a few minutes I thought he was testing my situational awareness skills to make sure I don't skip over something vital on my checklist prior to takeoff. Having that thought in the back of my mind I stuck to my lists while answering his questions. Last thing I want to do is piss the man off. I did my run up and we were ready to go fly. "OK give me a short field takeoff and keep it pretty," Clyde told me. I replied,"I'll do my best, sir." As I brought the nose onto the center line of the runway I stepped on the brakes, brought engines to 2000RPM check my engine instruments, everything was reading in the green. I held the brakes and pushed the throttles full forward. Just as I released the brakes Clyde grabbed for my mixture lever and started to cutoff the fuel to one of my engines. I immediately brought both throttles to idle and slammed on my brakes keeping my nose down the runway. I slammed on the brakes so hard I heard the mains skid slightly on the pavement. "GOOD! Best one of those I've seen lately, go ahead takeoff!" Clyde said. I got my throttles back to full forward and took off. The rest of my maneuvers went smoothly. I made an occasional mistake here and there that I caught but nothing worth Clyde mentioning as he never brought up anything.
We headed in to do my landings. The first landing I needed to display was a short field landing. Basically I come in at a steeper approach and slower airspeed and you have to aim for the numbers on the runway. Your main landing gears are required to hit directly on the numbers or up to 200 feet past the numbers. Immediately after landing you need to take your flaps out and brake hard (without skidding) and pull full back on the flight controls to increase drag across the airframe to assist in stopping within 1000ft. This was the maneuver/landing I was most worried about because I had only tried it 3 times in the Seminole before this moment. I came around on final and stuck her down right on the numbers and stopped at the first taxi exit off the runway. "Good job," Clyde said. Coming from him that was a huge compliment. "Thank you, sir," I replied. OK this time do a normal take off and we'll do a single engine landing. I took off, came around the pattern and let the plane down right on the center line with both engines idled out. "OK, last one, give me a no flap landing, have you done one before?" Clyde said. "No sir, not in a Seminole."
He told me just take her around and feel the plane out just above the runway, let her down as soft as you can and keep her nose up as long as you can. As I entered base I followed my memorized gear down before landing checklist... gear down, fuel selectors on, flaps 25 degrees, mixtures rich, props full forward, fuel pumps on. I steadied up on my base leg and immediately realized my flaps were down and they should be up. CRAP... I turned to him and calmly said, "I'm sorry sir you wanted a no flap landing correct?" He nodded slowly and I said "I'm just going to take these flaps out slowly then." PHEW no biggie... I rounded on final gently put the wheels down and slowly pulled back on my yoke and amazingly wheelied the Seminole all the way down the runway until the second to last taxi way.
That's when the greatest thing happened. Clyde... this retired NASA engineer, this super pilot that can pull twins out of flat spins, this man that has almost as many checkrides given than I have DAYS ON THIS PLANET, turns to me and says "I have to tell you I have nothing negative to say about this checkride. And I always have something to say... that's pretty good, son." And as if that compliment wasn't enough he says, "you land this Seminole better than anyone I've seen in LONG time that's going for their private multi-engine, I mean you only have 6 landings before today. All I can say is congratulations on a very enjoyable flight."
I couldn't believe that I had gotten these compliments from the examiner everyone said would undoubtedly be grumpy and would point all the small thing you do wrong. I couldn't believe I had just received such compliments from a man that aviation has been his entire life. All I could say in the moment was "Thank you, sir... that means alot to me."
As we taxied back to the ramp to park the plane he asked me if I was married and started talking to me about his son and grandson again. I knew, at that moment, I had experienced a much different checkride than Jerry, and many others before us. I could tell he liked me and respected what I've been through in my 29 years. And I respected him for what he had been through in his 86 years. For a second on the taxi to the ramp it felt like we were old buddies shooting the breeze.
Once we all got back to Atlanta. Jerry came up to me and told me how badly his checkride had gone. He thought he had busted for sure. Clyde wouldn't stop yelling at him and said his landings were very poor. I believe Clyde even took the controls from him and showed him how to land the plane!!! Part of me was shocked that he had had such a bad experience (partly b/c Jerry had passed his checkride after all, and partly b/c Clyde showed know discontent when we were flying together). But another part of me now realizes I shouldn't be so shocked. I knew my checkride was different, something about Clyde wasn't matching up to what everyone else had warned me about, and now it had just been verified.
Needless to say Jan 23rd 2009 was a great day in my aviation career. And certainly will be one of the few days I'll never forget. Thanks to everyone that has been keeping up with me so far and offering words of encouragement. I've had little time to celebrate this small victory as I'm preparing to dive head first into my instrument training. My next checkride will be about 3 or 4 weeks from now, and may or may not be with Clyde. It will be far more difficult and require much more skill.
Here's to looking forward to 4 weeks from now.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Day 11, Last Flight Before AMEL Checkride
Hey, everyone, thanks for the comments you're all leaving! I'll definitely try not to give my examiner a heart attack. As for his age (86) he apparently is a rediculously skilled pilot even at his age. I won't go into great detail about all the stories I've heard of him giving the other ATP students checkrides but the one feat everyone knows about and mentions is that he seems to be the only pilot anyone here knows of that has successfully pulled a twin engine aircraft out of a flat spin.
For those of you who don't know, a flat spin is when the aircraft will fall vertically straight down to the earth but with wings level and spinning about the aircraft's center of gravity. This situation in most any airplane is difficult to get out of but especially in a twin engine. Anyways, I'm looking forward to meeting him and hopefully things will go smoothly tomorrow.
I'll be flying the first leg of the flight tomorrow morning from the ATP location in Atanta KLZU to Huntsville Alabama KMDQ where the examiner is located. That reminds me I need my $350 cash he wants before he starts grilling me with systems and aerodynamic questions. Yeah that's right... 86 yrs old and collecting $350 cash twice a day for 6 days a week for most of the year... you do the math...
Man I wish I was an examiner super pilot.
I'll let you all know if I'm a freshly minted Multi-Engine pilot some time tomorrow night when I get back into town here in Atlanta.
Wish me luck.
For those of you who don't know, a flat spin is when the aircraft will fall vertically straight down to the earth but with wings level and spinning about the aircraft's center of gravity. This situation in most any airplane is difficult to get out of but especially in a twin engine. Anyways, I'm looking forward to meeting him and hopefully things will go smoothly tomorrow.
I'll be flying the first leg of the flight tomorrow morning from the ATP location in Atanta KLZU to Huntsville Alabama KMDQ where the examiner is located. That reminds me I need my $350 cash he wants before he starts grilling me with systems and aerodynamic questions. Yeah that's right... 86 yrs old and collecting $350 cash twice a day for 6 days a week for most of the year... you do the math...
Man I wish I was an examiner super pilot.
I'll let you all know if I'm a freshly minted Multi-Engine pilot some time tomorrow night when I get back into town here in Atlanta.
Wish me luck.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Day 10, 2nd Multi-Engine Flight
Well I just got done with a 2.3 hour flight in the Seminole working on normal and short field takeoffs and landings. Also worked on engine out procedures on roll out and in the pattern, single engine landings.
Alot of work done today but well worth the time because the Seminole is such a different aircraft to land than the typical high wing single engine Cessnas you earn your private pilot's license in. The Cessna is a VERY forgiving airplpane and wants and needs to be put gently down on the runway. The landing gear on a Cessna are much more delicate than those of a Seminole. So in a Cessna you typically pull back on the controls and land with a very nose high attitude and with the stall warning horn going off in your headset, gently letting the wheels hit the runway... Not so with the Seminole. Due to the aircraft's weight, you DO NOT want to hear that stall warning horn going off as you flare her out over the runway. If you drop your airspeed so low, in the Seminole, that you hear the horn, she falls like a rock and you'll smack the runway hard. With the Seminole you learn that you want to use only a little flare as you round out over the runway with good speed and just let the plane gradually descend onto the runway. Where you normally touch gears in a Cessna at 55-65 knots you touch gears down around 65-75 in a Seminole.
The engine out procedures are pretty cool. The instructor (like the examiner will) just chops one of your throttles randomly (on takeoff rollout, takeoff around 500 above ground level, and in normal cruise flight). You need to demonstrate the you have positive control of the aircraft and can quickly go through the emergency engine out checklist without referencing the checklist b/c in a real emergency (loss of engine on takeoff) you don't have time to flip through a checklist. Thankfully I've studied hard and have the checklist memorized and have done well with dealing with engine outs on takeoff, cruise, and landings.
Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures for you today but sonon enough I'll get some pictures taken and uploaded. I fly tomorrow to polish all my maneuvers, landings, and emergceny procedures down before my checkride on Friday.
Alot of work done today but well worth the time because the Seminole is such a different aircraft to land than the typical high wing single engine Cessnas you earn your private pilot's license in. The Cessna is a VERY forgiving airplpane and wants and needs to be put gently down on the runway. The landing gear on a Cessna are much more delicate than those of a Seminole. So in a Cessna you typically pull back on the controls and land with a very nose high attitude and with the stall warning horn going off in your headset, gently letting the wheels hit the runway... Not so with the Seminole. Due to the aircraft's weight, you DO NOT want to hear that stall warning horn going off as you flare her out over the runway. If you drop your airspeed so low, in the Seminole, that you hear the horn, she falls like a rock and you'll smack the runway hard. With the Seminole you learn that you want to use only a little flare as you round out over the runway with good speed and just let the plane gradually descend onto the runway. Where you normally touch gears in a Cessna at 55-65 knots you touch gears down around 65-75 in a Seminole.
The engine out procedures are pretty cool. The instructor (like the examiner will) just chops one of your throttles randomly (on takeoff rollout, takeoff around 500 above ground level, and in normal cruise flight). You need to demonstrate the you have positive control of the aircraft and can quickly go through the emergency engine out checklist without referencing the checklist b/c in a real emergency (loss of engine on takeoff) you don't have time to flip through a checklist. Thankfully I've studied hard and have the checklist memorized and have done well with dealing with engine outs on takeoff, cruise, and landings.
Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures for you today but sonon enough I'll get some pictures taken and uploaded. I fly tomorrow to polish all my maneuvers, landings, and emergceny procedures down before my checkride on Friday.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Day 9, Internet Problems
Sorry I haven't been able to update the site over the last 3 days or so. The WiFi Internet I was getting at my apartment as gone down (hopefully temporarily) so for now I need to use Panera Bread's WiFi service during lunch or after my long days at the airport in order to update you all on whats been going on.
Thankfully there hasn't been much to report since the last few days I have not been able to get up in the air at all due to other students ahead of me in the program needing the available instructor's attention because of their upcoming checkrides.
As for my first checkride. I've been scheduled for Friday in Alabama to do my Private Multi-Engine Land Checkride. My examiner's name is Clyde and he's an 86 year old retired NASA engineer that helped develop certain maneuvering speed mathematical equations. So to say the least, he can be very thorough during his oral exams and flight exams as well.
Tomorrow I'm scheduled to fly for only the second time and I'll be updating you guys tomorrow on how it goes. As for now I need to head back to the airport since my lunch hour is ending.
Thankfully there hasn't been much to report since the last few days I have not been able to get up in the air at all due to other students ahead of me in the program needing the available instructor's attention because of their upcoming checkrides.
As for my first checkride. I've been scheduled for Friday in Alabama to do my Private Multi-Engine Land Checkride. My examiner's name is Clyde and he's an 86 year old retired NASA engineer that helped develop certain maneuvering speed mathematical equations. So to say the least, he can be very thorough during his oral exams and flight exams as well.
Tomorrow I'm scheduled to fly for only the second time and I'll be updating you guys tomorrow on how it goes. As for now I need to head back to the airport since my lunch hour is ending.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Day 6, Long Days...
Today I showed up at the airport hoping to fly in the late afternoon to do 2 hours of pattern work. I still need to go through short field takeoffs and landings, and simulated engine outs on takeoff. Unfortunately the weather did not permit it as an overcast layer came into the area around 3pm. So I ended up studying most of the morning and afternoon. And Jerry and I quizzed each other on aircraft systems and multi-engine aerodynamics. Then starting around 5pm I started a 2 hour FRASCA simulator session with Bill, my assigned instructor for my private multi-engine certificate and instrument rating. The session went well as I've been showing up early or staying late to use the simulator on my own to refine my maneuvers since the simulator is much more difficult to fly than the real aircraft. Good news I've nailed down all the procedures for the required maneuvers. Now I just need to fly a couple more times to refine my maneuvers and make sure that when I show up for the checkride, that everything goes as smoothly as possible. Sorry there's not much more to report today, like I said a slow day. I don't think tomorrow will be much different either as it's supposed to be overcast but we shall see.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Day 5, My First Flight!
Today was the first day I wa able ot get up in the air in a Piper Seminole. I actually woke up earlier than the rest of the students, headed over to the airport and hopped in the FRASCA simulator to work for an hour on my in-flight maneuvers. I was Feeling pretty good about my memorized checklists and procedures. Around 8:00am my instructor showed up and we spent a couple of hours in the FRASCA observing Jerry, my flight partner, work his maneuvers. He is getting better at the FASCA sim but you can definitely see where "old dogs don't learn new tricks". He's definitely not a sim flyer yet...must be due to him being older and his generation not flying sims much.
Once Jerry was done in the sim, I went out to preflight one of he Seminoles with the flight instructor. The outside field elevation temperature was around 20 degrees so it was very very frigid. So cold we spend a good 10 minutes trying to get both engines started up. Once they were started we taxied out and I conducted my very first flight in the Seminole. The heater the Seminole uses is a fuel combustion heater. Basically fuel from the fuel tanks are routed to the nose of the aircraft where it is mixed with air and ignited. Basically the aircraft has an industrial strength heater in the nose and while the pilot has a control lever to manage the amount of heat being blown into the cabin, there really is 2 settings... off and burning hot. While it was 20 degrees outside.. within minutes I was sweating in the airplane.
The first thing we did was head SE from the field to get out in the open where there was less air traffic so we could conduct maneuvers. The days was crystal clear and you could see the Smokie Mountains on the horizon. Once we were out in the open I started my maneuvers. Steeps turns, slow flight, power off stalls, power on stalls, Vmc or slow flight loss of directional control with one engine recovery, engine out procedures, air start procedures, and emergency descents.
I was able to take a photo after we fully secured our right engine in flight. The photo is below. You can see the fully feathered prop parallel to the wind to reduce drag.
I hope to be able to get back up in the air for a second flight as soon as tomorrow since Sunday is not looking like a good day to fly.
Once Jerry was done in the sim, I went out to preflight one of he Seminoles with the flight instructor. The outside field elevation temperature was around 20 degrees so it was very very frigid. So cold we spend a good 10 minutes trying to get both engines started up. Once they were started we taxied out and I conducted my very first flight in the Seminole. The heater the Seminole uses is a fuel combustion heater. Basically fuel from the fuel tanks are routed to the nose of the aircraft where it is mixed with air and ignited. Basically the aircraft has an industrial strength heater in the nose and while the pilot has a control lever to manage the amount of heat being blown into the cabin, there really is 2 settings... off and burning hot. While it was 20 degrees outside.. within minutes I was sweating in the airplane.
The first thing we did was head SE from the field to get out in the open where there was less air traffic so we could conduct maneuvers. The days was crystal clear and you could see the Smokie Mountains on the horizon. Once we were out in the open I started my maneuvers. Steeps turns, slow flight, power off stalls, power on stalls, Vmc or slow flight loss of directional control with one engine recovery, engine out procedures, air start procedures, and emergency descents.
I was able to take a photo after we fully secured our right engine in flight. The photo is below. You can see the fully feathered prop parallel to the wind to reduce drag.
I hope to be able to get back up in the air for a second flight as soon as tomorrow since Sunday is not looking like a good day to fly.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Day 4, Learning to Hate the FRASCA
Today was a rude introduction to the FRASCA (the static Flight Training Device). We spent several hours this morning discussing the required flight maneuvers you must demonstrate to the examiner in order to pass the flight portion of your Private Multi-Engine Checkride.
We are required to memorize all 7 checklists for the maneuvers so that we can conduct the maneuvers and their revcoveries smoothly with no hesitation in flight.
Memorizing checklists is difficult enough for most people, but to conduct the maneuvers in a static flight simulator where you have zero sense of flight dynamics (bank, pitch, or roll) is even harder, especially when you are required to not only conduct the maneuvers as per the checklists but maintain within FAA parameters during the maneuver as well (+/- 100 feet of altitude, +/- 10 knots of airspeed, +/- 20 degrees of heading).
I was the first to pilot the FRASCA today (again...) I spent 2 hours chasing my airspeed, altimeter, and headings while painfully going through my checklists in my head while conducting the maneuvers. I definitely struggled, as I believe most do there first several times on the FRASCA. But by the end of the 2 hours I was more stressed than I've been in quite some time. Not to mention I wasn't feeling very good about myself and the progress I thought I had been making. Once I was done with my 2 hour session we broke for lunch.
After lunch Jerry, my student pilot partner, had his shot in the sim. Jerry really struggled with the sim as well, and ended up only getting through 2 of the 7 maneuvers before the instructor pulled the plug. While I felt bad for Jerry, I felt a little more comfortable with myself seeing as how I had gotten through the entire list of maneuvers and without someone going ahead of me in the FRASCA (meaning I didn't know what to expect).
Tomorrow Jerry will be going through his maneuvers in the sim again, all 7 this time. Then I'll be flying a Seminole for the first time since arriving to ATP. I'll have to show my instructor I can do the maneuvers in the real thing this time, but better...
I'll let you all know how it goes tomorrow! I'm excited.
We are required to memorize all 7 checklists for the maneuvers so that we can conduct the maneuvers and their revcoveries smoothly with no hesitation in flight.
Memorizing checklists is difficult enough for most people, but to conduct the maneuvers in a static flight simulator where you have zero sense of flight dynamics (bank, pitch, or roll) is even harder, especially when you are required to not only conduct the maneuvers as per the checklists but maintain within FAA parameters during the maneuver as well (+/- 100 feet of altitude, +/- 10 knots of airspeed, +/- 20 degrees of heading).
I was the first to pilot the FRASCA today (again...) I spent 2 hours chasing my airspeed, altimeter, and headings while painfully going through my checklists in my head while conducting the maneuvers. I definitely struggled, as I believe most do there first several times on the FRASCA. But by the end of the 2 hours I was more stressed than I've been in quite some time. Not to mention I wasn't feeling very good about myself and the progress I thought I had been making. Once I was done with my 2 hour session we broke for lunch.
After lunch Jerry, my student pilot partner, had his shot in the sim. Jerry really struggled with the sim as well, and ended up only getting through 2 of the 7 maneuvers before the instructor pulled the plug. While I felt bad for Jerry, I felt a little more comfortable with myself seeing as how I had gotten through the entire list of maneuvers and without someone going ahead of me in the FRASCA (meaning I didn't know what to expect).
Tomorrow Jerry will be going through his maneuvers in the sim again, all 7 this time. Then I'll be flying a Seminole for the first time since arriving to ATP. I'll have to show my instructor I can do the maneuvers in the real thing this time, but better...
I'll let you all know how it goes tomorrow! I'm excited.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Day 3, Train Yourself Day
Today I showed up this morning ready to start learning and practicing all of the Multi-engine maneuvers that I'll need to display to the examiner during my checkride next week. Unfortunately the whole day was shot due to the schedules of the instructors... all of them were busy instructing and flying with other students further along in the program. I had been warned that there will be days like this I just didn't realize it would happen so quickly. I've also been warned by the site manager that many students, when faced with days where it seems like instructors won't be available, just take off and go to the movies, UGA football games, or stay out all night and party... I ended up studying all day. And I'm glad I did because I'm feeling even more confident that while ATP is an extremely accelerated program, I'm learning everything I need to set a good foundation for the remaining 87 days I have left.
So... not much to report this day, but I did take some more photos for everyone to see the aircraft and training facility that I'm at. I hope to get them ALL uploaded and viewable soon for you.
ATP Piper Seminole
So... not much to report this day, but I did take some more photos for everyone to see the aircraft and training facility that I'm at. I hope to get them ALL uploaded and viewable soon for you.
ATP Piper Seminole
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Day 2, The Flood Gates of Info Open
Day 2 and today was when I truly felt the steep learning curve kick in. In 8 days +/- a day or two, you're expected to go from a single engine private pilot (and in most of our cases, a private pilot that hasn't flown extensively in quite some time) to a brand new multi-engine pilot. To the non-pilot that may not seem like to big of a deal... after all what's different other than you have one more engine than you did before right? Which just makes for a safer aircraft to fly right? WRONG.
Today I realized just how much information I'm going to be sucking up and learning before being able to quickly spit all this new info back to an examiner next week. To shed some light on what I've gone trough in the last two days of ground school and 1 hour logged on the FRASCA flight training device:
Word of advice for those following my blog that wish to - or are already scheduled to - start ATP's Career Pilot Program. On top of trying to complete as many of the 5 FAA written exams that you can prior to your start date, just as importantly make sure you deifnintely study the Seminole Suppliment that ATP sends you.
I studied it myself but only bothered to memorize the minimum that they ask you know before starting, which was the V speeds, Emergency Engine Out Procedures below 3000ft, and answers to all the oral questions supplied.
Make sure you know more than that though. Make sure you know and memorize definitions and/or explanations for all V speeds, Critical Engine, Engine, Proper, Landing Gear, Brakes, Vacuum Pumps, Fuel System, Heater, Electrical System, Single-Engine Service Ceiling, and Single Engine Absolute Ceiling. Don't just understand what these are but know these items cold (memorized definitinos/descriptions) so that you can spit it out to the examiner 7 days later when you do your checkride.
Also get very familiar with instrument placement on the panel as well as all switches so that when you run through the extensive before engine start, after start, taxi, run up, and before takeoff check lists you know where everything is and you reduce the amount of time in the aircraft.
You'll only get 2-4 hours of flight actual flight time in the air before doing your checkride so nail these things down before showing up and you'll be WAY ahead of the game.
Today I realized just how much information I'm going to be sucking up and learning before being able to quickly spit all this new info back to an examiner next week. To shed some light on what I've gone trough in the last two days of ground school and 1 hour logged on the FRASCA flight training device:
Word of advice for those following my blog that wish to - or are already scheduled to - start ATP's Career Pilot Program. On top of trying to complete as many of the 5 FAA written exams that you can prior to your start date, just as importantly make sure you deifnintely study the Seminole Suppliment that ATP sends you.
I studied it myself but only bothered to memorize the minimum that they ask you know before starting, which was the V speeds, Emergency Engine Out Procedures below 3000ft, and answers to all the oral questions supplied.
Make sure you know more than that though. Make sure you know and memorize definitions and/or explanations for all V speeds, Critical Engine, Engine, Proper, Landing Gear, Brakes, Vacuum Pumps, Fuel System, Heater, Electrical System, Single-Engine Service Ceiling, and Single Engine Absolute Ceiling. Don't just understand what these are but know these items cold (memorized definitinos/descriptions) so that you can spit it out to the examiner 7 days later when you do your checkride.
Also get very familiar with instrument placement on the panel as well as all switches so that when you run through the extensive before engine start, after start, taxi, run up, and before takeoff check lists you know where everything is and you reduce the amount of time in the aircraft.
You'll only get 2-4 hours of flight actual flight time in the air before doing your checkride so nail these things down before showing up and you'll be WAY ahead of the game.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Day 1, Indoctrination
Well I can't say there were really any less surpruses today than there were yesterday. The first surprise came when I pulled up to the ATP hangar at 7:55am this morning. As I got out of my car there was an older gentleman messing with the keypad to unlock the door. I could tell he must be new to ATP as well since he was having difficulty typing in the right code.
I walked up to the door where he was still working on the pad and gave him the correct code. I asked if he was new, and indeed he was, turns out today was his first day as well. His name is Gerald and is 45 and has been an engineer for Chrysler for the last 27 years.
After introducing ourselves and figuring out we were starting the same 90 day program together we met the site manager. The manager is a great guy and I can tell he's truly dedicated to creating the best learning atmosphere for his ATP students. Gerald and I took a 50 question Indoc exam where I missed 3 questions and Gerald missed 12. I could tell Gerald wasn't happy with his score but I tried my best to assure him I had taken the same exam during my initial ATP interview and didn't do to hot my first go at it. I also told him that he's obviously as dedicated as I am to succeeding and that I'd help him as much as possible in the book knowledge area.
The great thing is that for most of the day (8 hours) we went over aircraft systems in great detail and Gerald really showed his strengths over me when he had no problems describing engine systems and components, hydraulic systems, and electrical systems. Gerald was able to turn to me and tell me he'd help me in any way he could to help me nail down the aircraft systems. So together we're going to make a good team.
Tomorrow we'll be discussing multi-engine aerodynamics and getting hands on for 2 hours with the FRASCA which is a fight training device (basically a static flight simulator modeled exactly after the Piper Seminole).
I prmosie to take some photos ASAP.
I walked up to the door where he was still working on the pad and gave him the correct code. I asked if he was new, and indeed he was, turns out today was his first day as well. His name is Gerald and is 45 and has been an engineer for Chrysler for the last 27 years.
After introducing ourselves and figuring out we were starting the same 90 day program together we met the site manager. The manager is a great guy and I can tell he's truly dedicated to creating the best learning atmosphere for his ATP students. Gerald and I took a 50 question Indoc exam where I missed 3 questions and Gerald missed 12. I could tell Gerald wasn't happy with his score but I tried my best to assure him I had taken the same exam during my initial ATP interview and didn't do to hot my first go at it. I also told him that he's obviously as dedicated as I am to succeeding and that I'd help him as much as possible in the book knowledge area.
The great thing is that for most of the day (8 hours) we went over aircraft systems in great detail and Gerald really showed his strengths over me when he had no problems describing engine systems and components, hydraulic systems, and electrical systems. Gerald was able to turn to me and tell me he'd help me in any way he could to help me nail down the aircraft systems. So together we're going to make a good team.
Tomorrow we'll be discussing multi-engine aerodynamics and getting hands on for 2 hours with the FRASCA which is a fight training device (basically a static flight simulator modeled exactly after the Piper Seminole).
I prmosie to take some photos ASAP.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Arrived in Atlanta
Well, it's the night prior to my start date at ATP's Gwinnett County location just NE of Atlanta and the surprises have already begun! Earlier today I had been text messaged (before leaving Knoxville to drive to Gwinnett County (Lawrenceville, GA) by the ATP housing department in Jacksonville FL. The text message simply reconfirmed my apt# and the name of my two roommates (one of which also was from Knoxville). The first surprise was that I had 2 roommates instead of just one. So immediately Kendra and I figured I was in a three bedroom apt and no big deal.
I arrived to the airport around 6pm to pick up my key to my apt and noticed the apt# on the key was different than the number the Jacksonville HQ had given me. I assumed the number on the key was correct and that I may have been shuffled around last minute.
Of course when I got to the new apt# I knocked to see if my roommates or (someone else) was in... no answer, so I tried the key and no luck. So I went over to the original apt number and knocked on the door... I didn't hear anything right away so I started to jiggle the key in the lock thinking to myself it HAD to work if the other apt lock didn't open. After jiggling the key for a couple seconds in the lock with no luck, I heard a woman on the other side of the door yell "What is it! It's locked..." Taken aback by a woman's voice on the other side of the door I asked, "Does Scott and Gordon live here?" To which she answered "NO!" Realizing the lady was scared for her life and at the same time hearing her lock the second deadbolt on the door I quickly said "OK, thanks, sorry, bye" and I left at quickened pace.
Finally I thought I'd give the new apt one more try before calling the ATP airport manager up to find out what's going on (is this some new guy prank or something?). Much to my shigrin the lock on the new apt did open after some hassle with the lock and key. WOOHOO I'm finally in an apartment but my two roommates were nowhere to be found...
I walked inside and dropped some of my bags off and quickly realized that there were only two bedrooms in the apt... huh?? I have two roommates though. I walked into one bedroom and immediately saw two tiny twin beds crammed into one 10x12 room... Oh MAN we share ROOMS too! Walked over to the other room and saw two more beds. What's this 3 of the 4 beds had linen and blankets on them?! But I only have two roommates right? Turns out NO I have 3 roommates...
So to make a long story longer, my literal roommate is actually an instructor for ATP and lives with his girlfriend most of the time so is rarely in the apt, my other two roommates are cross country flight partners and are still in Jacksonville. Haven't had a chance to meet any of them yet but I look forward to it.
Well it is 10pm I'm going to study a little bit, shower, and hit the bed for my first day tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have fewer surpirses tomorrow :P
I arrived to the airport around 6pm to pick up my key to my apt and noticed the apt# on the key was different than the number the Jacksonville HQ had given me. I assumed the number on the key was correct and that I may have been shuffled around last minute.
Of course when I got to the new apt# I knocked to see if my roommates or (someone else) was in... no answer, so I tried the key and no luck. So I went over to the original apt number and knocked on the door... I didn't hear anything right away so I started to jiggle the key in the lock thinking to myself it HAD to work if the other apt lock didn't open. After jiggling the key for a couple seconds in the lock with no luck, I heard a woman on the other side of the door yell "What is it! It's locked..." Taken aback by a woman's voice on the other side of the door I asked, "Does Scott and Gordon live here?" To which she answered "NO!" Realizing the lady was scared for her life and at the same time hearing her lock the second deadbolt on the door I quickly said "OK, thanks, sorry, bye" and I left at quickened pace.
Finally I thought I'd give the new apt one more try before calling the ATP airport manager up to find out what's going on (is this some new guy prank or something?). Much to my shigrin the lock on the new apt did open after some hassle with the lock and key. WOOHOO I'm finally in an apartment but my two roommates were nowhere to be found...
I walked inside and dropped some of my bags off and quickly realized that there were only two bedrooms in the apt... huh?? I have two roommates though. I walked into one bedroom and immediately saw two tiny twin beds crammed into one 10x12 room... Oh MAN we share ROOMS too! Walked over to the other room and saw two more beds. What's this 3 of the 4 beds had linen and blankets on them?! But I only have two roommates right? Turns out NO I have 3 roommates...
So to make a long story longer, my literal roommate is actually an instructor for ATP and lives with his girlfriend most of the time so is rarely in the apt, my other two roommates are cross country flight partners and are still in Jacksonville. Haven't had a chance to meet any of them yet but I look forward to it.
Well it is 10pm I'm going to study a little bit, shower, and hit the bed for my first day tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have fewer surpirses tomorrow :P
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
