Climb and Maintain ...

The flying adventures of a software engineer in the Pacific Northwest.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Another Commercial Update

I haven't flown this past weekend. The weather has not been very cooperative... Saturday the plan was to go out, practice some maneuvers, including steep spirals, and then come back and work on spot landings. Then, I was going to take the plane to Hoquiam for a $100 hamburger and potentially fly around the Olympics while practicing maneuvers on my own. To finish it off, I'd practice spot landings.

So, what happened? Well, even though most of the Puget Sound was SKC by early Saturday afternoon, Paine Field was reporting 300 overcast. Normally this would not be a problem, since we could get out IFR and find SKC weather just several miles away, and then get back by shooting an ILS approach. Normally. Of course, as luck would have it, the glideslope at Paine is out of service until early November. So we could get out, but we couldn't get back in... Not good.

In slight dismay, I scheduled a flight for Sunday. But that was not meant to be, either. Initially I was encouraged by the weather: 3,900 scattered, and broken above -- plenty good for maneuvers. Alas, when I got to the airport, it went down to 1,400 broken (although it cleared up a bit later -- the forecast for "SKC" never quite came close to being true). What's even more important is that there were numerous PIREP's in the area about moderate and greater turbulence. And, folks were going up to fly only to return after one turn in the pattern... Certainly not ideal weather for flying a small airplane on a training mission.

On the other hand, I did make progress towards the certificate. Mark, my CFI, and I used a portion of the scheduled time to go over the Arrow, pointing out various features, antennas, etc. I now know which antenna on the bottom of the fuselage is for DME, and which one is for the marker beacon. We didn't have a "systems cheatsheet" for the Arrow, but I decided to make one up, basing the formatting on Mark's sheet for the Piper Seminole. We also took off the cowling, and that was really the first time I got to look "up close and personal" at an aircraft engine.

I'm out of town this upcoming weekend for a trip to Boston, but after I get back, I'm planning to do some mid-week flying. I'm also taking the written that week, and Mark says that I should go ahead and schedule the checkride for November 11th! I may be a commercial pilot this year after all!

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Commercial License Update

Finally! I got to be in the left seat of the Arrow, N5250T. During yesterday's lesson, we practiced chandelles, lazy-8's, steep turns, and eights-on-pylons. I was surprised at how well these maneuvers were going for me! The first couple of chandelles were definitely not up to standard, but I steadily improved. Lazy-8's, the maneuver that gave me the most trouble before, seems to be within PTS standards now. Steep turns are looking good! Eights-on-pylons could still use some more work -- I'm having the most trouble selecting appropriate pylons, but that will come with practice.

From talking to the owner of the flight school, the repair bill for the damages was around $30,000. That doesn't include the new engine, a new ignition system, and some service bulletins that needed to be complied with anyway -- so the grand total came out to be around $65,000. Ouch. Gear up landings are definitely expensive. But, this bird now flies perfectly, and at least from the initial flight, I cannot tell that there was any damage history at all. The engine also seems smoother when at idle power.

For now, the plane is still going to be at the same rate -- $99/hour dry (which, with Paine Field fuel prices, works out to be about $135/hour wet). Soon I'll find out if the rate is going to be increasing because of the accident -- the FBO's insurance policy is up for renewal in November.

I'm going up again today to practice the maneuvers. I'll probably be doing more chandelles, a lazy eight, and then I'll try to finish up by selecting (by myself) some suitable pylons. After the lesson I might go somewhere longer, since I need that engine broken-in quickly so that we can start doing steep spirals and pattern work!

I might be a commercial pilot this year after all!

Friday, October 20, 2006

The Arrow is Back!

Great news! The Arrow is back on the flight line, although the engine still needs to be fully broken in. As a result, the FBO wants to avoid rapid temperature changes to the engine, so we're restricted from practicing some of the commercial maneuvers like power-off landings, stalls, and pattern work. But, I'm told that other maneuvers that require more constant power, e.g., chandelles, steep turns, lazy eights, and eights on pylons, can be done! Since I'm anxious to get back to the commercial training, and since the weather this weekend is looking quite good, I've postponed my DA-20 checkout in favor of getting back on track with my commercial license!! Stay tuned for a report on how I'm doing after a 3 month hiatus from the maneuvers. :-)

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Flying Something Different

If you read today's aviation magazines, you cannot articles about "new" piston single aircraft designs, such as Cirrus or Diamond, vs. traditional designs such as Cessna or Piper. Other than sitting in a cockpit of a brand-new, well appointed Cirrus SR-22 (complete with TKS anti-ice, ah, I wish I had one of these at my disposal), I have not had any first-hand experience in these "new" aircraft.

Conveniently, it turns out that a FBO at Boeing Field, Galvin Flying, has a sizable fleet of Diamond DA-20 and DA-40 series aircraft (a couple of the -40's are even equipped with a G1000 cockpit!) They're somewhat expensive to fly (cheaper if you join their Diamond G discount program), but I figure that after my latest gallivanting around the West Coast, I can probably spare a few more bucks to fly a different design airplane. Galvin's price for the DA-40 is actually comparable to what I pay for a Cessna 182 -- and since the DA-40 cruises slightly faster, it might work out to my advantage after all. We'll see...

For now, though, I'm getting checked out in the -40's less expensive cousin - the DA-20. Weather permitting, this will be in a couple of weeks (I wish I could do it sooner, but alas I'm out of town for a business trip next weekend), plus I need to complete an aeronautical knowledge exam, a POH exam, etc. ahead of the checkout appointment. Stay tuned to the blog for a report!

Sunday, October 01, 2006

FAA Humor

To many, the FAA is a love-hate relationship. Never mind that in general, the folks at the FAA will hopefully be helpful, albeit they themselves have to deal with a tremendous government bureaucratic machine. Perhaps we've all read stories about a pilot landing at an airport, and some guy from the FAA opening the door to the FBO for him and saying "Hi, I'm Bob, I'm from the FAA, and I'm here to help."

But, I do think there's a humorous side to the FAA and the airspace system. And that's got to do with intersection and arrival/departure procedure names. Take the following examples from around Las Vegas:
  • In case you don't know where to stay after you land in Las Vegas, maybe the Luxor Two arrival will clue you in. And maybe Grandpa One was created for the lots of older folks in the casinos playing slots...
  • Waypoint names can be fun, too. KSINO, pronounced "casino", says you're almost in Vegas. This one works well with the Luxor Two example above - "Airliner 123, cleared direct KSINO, then Luxor Two arrival"). On the other hand, if we're not satisfied with the generic casino, then Caesar's Palace has a CEASR waypoint (but apparently they are not as cool as Luxor, since they don't have a departure or arrival procedure associated with them). In fact, Luxor must be really cool in the eyes of the FAA, because they get a PIRMD waypoint, too.
  • Casino games: poker is immortalized through the HOLDM intersection and POKRR/CHIPZ waypoints, while blackjack gets a HITME waypoint.

If you have examples from other areas, post them here!