Entries tagged with “flying” from Garbage In, Garbage Out

SF Bay Area flight pictures

Other than being halfway to my death in terms of years now, today was pretty darn awesome.

On my todo list for where to go once I got my pilot's license, was to visit Santa Cruz, then head north, and follow the coast, up past Golden Gate. The conditions were ripe to do it today - bday vacation day, blue skies, zero fog, kids in school, and wife AFK. To help sweeten the pot, my normal ride at the flying club had no reservations today.

It is nearly a straight line from Sacramento to Santa Cruz, even accounting for the terrain. With the wind, it was only about an hour to make the trek, too. Through the delta, over Livermore, and through the Sunol Pass. Once towards the Silicon Valley, air traffic control had me stay to the side for a few minutes, before allowing me to cross at a 90º angle across San Jose International. Onto the west side of the valley, back into the hills, and over them until I came to the Pacific Coast. At this point, I turned to Watsonville to the south to land. Watsonville is a pretty busy airport!

After a lunch break, I headed north, following the coast. No flight following here, at least not down at 2500 feet. Emergency options out here are limited (you watch for fields, decent but empty beaches, and plan "C" - the ocean). Fairly quickly I was up to San Francisco, and opted to stay below SFO's "class bravo" airspace. Hopefully a few pictures came out of the Golden Gate bridge - I was more busy flying than photo taking. I'll have to take this trip again again when I have a passenger, and let them take photos.

After flying over the GG bridge, it was then over Alcatraz, then San Pablo bay, Carquinez Bridg, and then into the Concord area. The mothball fleet is still out there (you can see it when you're driving on 680) - I flew right over it. From there, it was back through the delta, and home sweet home.

Tonight I got checked out to rent at the San Jose GA airport (Reid Hillview, KRHV). They speciallize in tail draggers, but they do have single Cessna in the fleet; a Cessna 172M.

The "M" is apparently just before Cessna standardized the panel; it shows MPH instead of knots. A few other things are clearly less refined than I'm used too; the fuel and engine data are all on the far right, pretty much invisible at night without a flashlight; and, the flaps are different. I'm used to moving the flaps to the position I want, and the electric motors move things into place. On the "M", instead, you basically have an up/down - the more you want, the more you hold it in.

The other fun part of this was that this checkout was at nigth, in unfamiliar airspace, with a new (to me) instruction, in an unfamiliar plane. Fun! :)

In the end, I'm now able to rent 172's from both Sacramento and now San Jose.

One of my goals when I was learning to fly was to take the plane and go visit the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and the coast line. Yesterday, the weather was pretty darn awesome - and it looked like it was my chance. And, my son wanted to go, too (who kinda freaked on the last trip).

The route was set - Sacramento to Sunol, cross over San Jose International, keep going going going until we hit SANTY intersection near Santa Cruz. From there, we'd hang a left ,and head over to Watsonville airport, and have a chance to use the facilities and stuff. After 4:30p, when the TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction) was lifted (Blue Angels are in town for Fleet Week), we'd go up the coast from the Monterey Bay all the way up to San Francisco; pass the Golden Gate bridge; then turn towards Sacramento, cutting through the Travis AFB area.

Well, so much for the plan. After spending a lengthy time preflighting, explaining to Joshua what I'm doing, answering questions, etc; and after taking the plane over to the fuel pumps for fuel; and after we getting to the runup area, the news came out. While revving the engine up to test it (before leaving the ground!), we found the right side magnetos weren't burning so great. The engine drop was much more beyond tolerance. If we flew, it'd fly - but.. if we lost the left side magnetos we would have been in trouble. So, mission aborted.

We taxied back to park the plane, locked it up, took the keys back to the office. They scheduled it for a look by the mechanic.

The club has 3 Cessna 172's that I'm comfortable with; between this one being down, and my primary being down (windshield replacement, and normal 100 hour maintenance), that left only a single plane in the fleet. We scheduled the remaining airplane for an early evening flight, for a slightly different tour.

Evening came; we got the plane, and I did the normal preflight and fuel up. Everything's a go for this plane, horray! We took off, banking to the south at 600 feet. The fun part on this is that the first time Josh went up, the bank bugged him - he looked out beyond the wing at the wrong time and saw dirt. This time, he was a bit more prepared for it mentally. This time.. he .. also didn't even notice the bank at all, even when I told him we were doing it. He asked me a few minutes later when we were going to do it..

We headed out into the Sacramento Delta, away from typical practice traffic and actual people-going-places traffic. We followed the river towards Rio Vista, checked out the ferry, the bridges in the area, etc. Mount Diablo loomed above the haze, as usual.

I gave my son the yoke for a while; let him get a bit of exposure to what the plane will do. Simple soft turns, and keeping the horizon level. Only one turn did I have to really step in, he did fairly well otherwise. He can now tell his friends he operated a vehicle at 100+ mph..

We made it back to the airport just after sunset. California sunsets are always something to see. The airport had turned the lights on, which you could almost see; it was a surreal moment.

Joshua's first trip was fairly traumatic for him. He's a bit clausterphobic, but only when moving vehicles, and he's not so good with heights. He was in the back seat at the time (I had my instructor with me in the front seat) and we didn't make it so far. This time around, kinda rocked. He had front seat, the good window, better view, full communications, had some time with the yoke, and.. did great. He's looking forward to going up again..

As a side note, since I had the plane after office hours, I went back after 9p, took the airplane out again, and got some night flying in, and in particular, night landings in. I can legally take passengers at night again (I have to meet currency requirements to take passengers).

Today was my first flight as a bonified pilot. Today's mission: Not much of anything! I headed out over the Sacramento Delta, following the river towards Antioch. Since I was followin the river rather literally, I confused the poor radar folks a bit, who were trying to keep track of what I was doing (I requested "flight following", which means, any other traffic in the area would result in a verbal alert from the controller to me).

When I was done out there I headed back to Sacramento, overflew downtown, then did the obgligatory trip flight over my house. I learned new terminology from the tower folks at Sacramento International Airport (I live in their airspace) - "Let me know when you're on station." Huh? I'm on the damn frequency, I'm talking to you now!. Turns out, he meant, let him know when I got where I wanted to be and would hold my position, so he could continue routing traffic near (but not too near) me.

I did take a few quick snapshots, but .. they were quick snapshots, witht the point-and-shoot camera, kinda just loosely aimed "down". Some time I'll have to take one of the family members up and do it again, and have them use the good camera, and actually aim.

A few local friends have asked that I take them with me in the airplane after I receive my license. In the event that I take you flying with me, I'm going to ask you to read the following.

(Last updated 9/21/2006)

Before We Go

Light General Aviation (GA) aircraft are very different from commercial airliners. The noise level is much higher, so you will be wearing an aviation headset or earplugs during the trip, and the motion due to turbulence may be more noticeable. There are no on-board toilets. Please make sure you are comfortable before we take off.

Airfield Safety

Please don't stray from the pilot while you are on the restricted areas of the airfield. Keep away from other aircraft, even if they are not moving, especially their propellers. If you hear anyone shout "Clear!" or "Clear prop!" it means an aircraft is about to start: be sure you are nowhere near it. A propeller turning at speed is almost invisible, and in any conflict it will win. It can also throw dirt in your face if you stand too close behind an aircraft. Take care when boarding the aircraft only to step where the pilot shows you - and use the handholds, especially if you have just walked across a muddy field.

On board

No smoking. No alcohol on board. Intoxicated passengers will not be allowed to fly.

The pilot will show you how to open and close the door, adjust the seats and use the seat-belt. Keep the belt fastened whenever the aircraft is moving, and make sure it's tight during takeoff and landing. If you are sitting in front, check that your seat is far enough back to allow full movement of the controls. If you have any luggage, please stow it securely in the back. Please don't put anything on the floor, where it might interfere with the controls.

Once the power is switched on, you can talk to the pilot via your headset. Adjust the microphone so it's just in front of your top lip, and speak at a normal level. From time to time the pilot will need to use the radio to communicate with other stations - please do not talk when he does, or your voice will be transmitted too. Make a note of the aircraft's callsign, which is on a plate on the dashboard. If you hear anyone on the radio using it, stop talking so the pilot can hear them.

In the Air
The pilot is in sole charge of the aircraft at all times: please do anything he asks you at once. Don't touch any of the controls, including the pedals in front of you, unless he asks you to. You can adjust the air vents if you wish. Please make sure your seat is securely locked. If it starts to slip back when the aircraft climbs, just let it go - it will only slide a few inches. Whatever you do, don't grab anything in front of you!

When the aircraft is climbing or descending, you may need to hold you nose and blow gently to equalise the pressure in your ears. Unlike a car, when an aircraft turns it leans over, and you may find this sensation unusual at first. Turbulence may cause the aircraft to bump around a little. This is quite normal so please just relax and enjoy the flight.

If you have questions about anything, please feel free to ask. If you feel uneasy about anything, or too hot or cold, or unwell, please tell the pilot sooner rather than later. But remember that the pilot's first priority at all times is to fly the aircraft safely, so he may not be able to give you his full attention immediately.

Landing
Before and during landing, there may be events that you were not expecting: a surprising number of changes of direction and engine speed, and sometimes you may feel you are leaning over, or notice that the runway is not where you expected to see it. Sometimes, just as you are expecting to touch down, the pilot will "go around" for another approach. And in the final stages of landing, you may hear a buzzer sounding. All these things are quite normal and nothing to worry about. However, it is the period when the pilot's workload is highest, so please don't distract him.

The flight is not over until the aircraft is parked and the engine stopped. Don't unfasten your seatbelt or open the door until then.

In Case of Emergency

If anything unexpected happens, remember that the pilot has been trained and tested in dealing with emergencies, so please remain calm and do whatever the pilot tells you to do.

Our flight plan today includes allowances for diverting to a different airfield in the event of unexpected bad weather.

In the unlikely event of engine failure, the aircraft glides gently down, and can be safely landed in a small field. In case of an of field landing, the pilot will provide you with instructions for a safe landing. You may be asked to open your door ajar in the event of an off-airport landing. Most importantly, make sure that your seat belt is securely fastened and that you comply with the pilot's instructions.

Common Questions...
Am I fit to fly? If in doubt, ask the pilot. It's not a good idea to fly if you have a bad cold or sinus problems, as the changes in air pressure can be painful if you can't "pop" your ears. Scuba and flying do not mix - separate them by 24 hours.

What should I wear? Wear clothes that are comfortable, but not too bulky. Skirts and high heels are not advisable. Dress as you would for a long journey in a small car. Sunglasses or a peaked cap are a good idea, as it may sometimes be necessary to fly with the sun in your eyes.

Can I eat on board the aircraft? Yes, however, please be considerate of the types of food you bring on board. Please avoid bringing food likely to cause a mess. Also, avoid consuming large amounts of fluids as there are no restrooms on board the aircraft. Ginger (ginger cookies, etc.) has been shown to ease motion sickness.

Can I take photographs? Yes, but don't expect too much from the results, and please don't bring a lot of equipment. Aircraft windows are rarely of optical standard, and there will be a good deal of vibration from the engine. The pilot will try to help you to get a good view, but remember that his first priority is always to fly the aircraft safely. This may mean not going as close as you would like to places of interest, or approaching them from the ideal direction.
How can I help? The most useful thing you can do to help is to keep a good lookout, and tell the pilot if you see other aircraft. Use the "clock code" - 9 o'clock is to your left, 12 straight ahead, 3 to your right.

About the pilot:Jason Fesler is a private pilot. I do not fly commercially; I am not a charter service; I do not care about schedules. You are welcome to look at my log book at http://www.logshare.com/log.jsp?email=jfesler@gigo.com
. You are allowed to pay a portion of the flight costs; I am legally required to accept only up to your share of the costs.

Is there risk with flying? Like everything else, life is a risk. You should consider the risks, and decline to fly if you are uncomfortable. The NTSB maintains statistics about general aviation; the DOT maintains information about driving. I am trained in emergencies, and most emergencies are non-events. But, stuff happens.

Schedules: I do not care about schedules. If the weather is bad, we don't fly. We will not compromise safety for the sake of being somewhere at a specific time. Most airports have car rental options if it is required. With general aviation, you fly when you're NOT in a hurry.

Today I'm officially a private pilot.

The test started out with an oral exam. The DPE (Designated Pilot Examiner) did explain that he wasn't looking for 100% knowledge on what he was to ask, but that he didn't want guesses (otherwise known as BS) either. I did fairly well here; tho a few things did come up that I didn't know. He made notes on those, and discussed them post-test, but .. overall, I passed the oral just fine, no worries. Topics included airspace, regulations, aerodynamics, medical factors, and my intended flight plan.

The flying test was actually fairly short. We took off from Sacramento, requesting flight following (and then cancelling it shortly thereafter; he was testing my radio skills). This was a bit amusing, as the radar guy thought I was going to Pine Mountain Lake direct, instead of my indirect route. As such, he vectored me to avoid traffic that I would have never hit on my own.

Actual skills put to test: take offs and landings (normal; short field; soft field); turns around a point and S turns; steep turns (45 degree bank); flying instrument only, including going to bad attitudes and then recovering; radio work; navigation (including diversions). One of my steep turns was pretty marginal. However, the examiner was in a good mood, and let me try again, and I nailed it.

My big fear, the soft field landing, I managed to squeek a great landing in. Several tries yesterday all sucked; but the one with the examiner worked out. Turns out that I could use more flaps, and land slower, when doing soft field landings, which the DPE suggested.

Anyhow, I now have a license to learn.. and to fly about freely in the sky. Horray!

I'm currently taking time off from work, and spending a couple of weeks boning up on anything and everthing. My checkride is set for the 19th, and I really hope to not have to do that twice.

My current emphasis on practice is softfield landings. I'm required to know how to do them, and to do them well; I'm also required to not actually use a soft field, when using the planes at the flight club I'm at. Go figure! Soft field landings require a soft and slow touchdown of the main wheels, while keeping the front nosewheel off the ground, until you've lost as much speed as possible. This is because the nosewheel structurally is not nearly as strong as the mains.

The first week is done; one week left to continue practice and study!

When flying, you're not supposed to follow another plane too closely. Not just due to the laws of man, but also the laws of physics. They leave behind wake turbulance, which is a disturbance in the air generated by the wings of the plane pretty much any time the plane is off the ground. The slower, heavier, and cleaner the plane is flying, the more disturbance it is leaving behind.

This weekend we did 360 turns, at a tight 45 degree angle. Those can be fun - you basically feel the effects of a couple G's. As it turns out, if you do a 360 turn, at 45 degrees, and you do it correctly - you run into your own turbulance, and get a nice bump confirmation.

.. and leap with your hands out in front of you.

Today was my "cross country" solo. 260 miles round trip, no instructor. Just me, the plane, and every other plane out there. Even the birds stayed out of the way!

So, one of the things I have to do, as a step of getting my private pilot's license, is a 100 mile night flight. That's a minimum, not a maximum. This is with my instructor, not solo (apparently, there are no solo night requirements for the license; any solo night work I do will be after I get my licenes).

Destination: Chico. Bonus destination: Red Bluff. (It happened to be fairly close..). Pilotage was not going to get us far, as you can not see the terrain at night. You can see the twinkles of cities; and depending on the highway, you might see that.

For the night flight, I had permission to depend on radio aids; that is, tuning to VOR radio stations to determine my position relative to those stations, and using them as my way points. My route followed I5, which is a fairly busy freeway, even up north. This would help me keep track of where I am should my radios fail. (The route direct to chico would have had me travelling a big giant void).

Weather Saturday night was great. Cool on the ground; hot as heck above ground for the first 1500 or so feet. Then cool again at altitude. Clear skies and great visibility. (Cool is relative. It had been 108F that day..).

Lessons learned on this particular trip:

• USE the checklist for landing. Don't run it from memory. In my final landing of the night, this bit me - I have the DAYTIME landing list in my head perfect. ... However, at night, it helps to turn your landing light on. It helps you judge where the ground is, and when to flare. I flared late and we hit a bit hard :(. On the bright side, I'm supposed to practice landing with my landing lights off.. this counts!
• My favorite light is no longer in stock at Frys. Grr. I need a few of them. Super bright white, and a pretty darn bright single led red, single unit. I remembered to tape the one I have on the white side, so I don't accidentally use it. That would kill my night vision.
• My instructor was playing with the white light portion of my LED flashlight. He could see the ground from several hundred feet in the air. It could make a useful backup light should my landing lights fail. Not enough to see usefully, but to help gauge the ground level.
• The chart is freaking impossible to read. In particular, you can't make out the magenta or yellow on the chart under red light. I think next night flight around, I'm going to photocopy the chart so I have a black and white copy with me, and see if that helps with contrast.
• My VOR work (using radios for reference points) needs improvement.
• I need to more carefully look at the terrain around airports before flying there. Parts around Red Bluff were pretty black and unlit, and we had no moon, so I had no depth perception of the surrounding area. I had to modify my pattern approach accordingly to stick to the area that was definately not hilly. Instead of entering on a 45 to the downwind, I entered almost directly on the downwind direction itself.
• Wow, that heat saps the heck out of climb ability. I think I need to add some padding to what my book says about times and distances to climb on a hot day.

All in all the trip was fairly uneventful. Things were peaceful. With no moon out, there wasn't much to look at other than the pattern of lights from I5 and the occasional city. I don't think I'd do this again for pleasure - nothing to look at.

On the flip side, I didn't have any orientation issues that can be associated from night flight. Due to lack of things to look at, night flight can be close to instrument flight. You have to trust your instruments a lot more and your visual reference a lot less.

Thursday was my first night flight. It was spectacular. All around me, the cities were lit up like they had Christmas lights all over. Visibility was great - from Sacramento, I could see the lights at Lincoln and Auburn while flying at 2000 feet. Airports were very distinguishable with their beacons running, occasionally pulsing a bright white or green.

Airport lighting is kinda interesting. Look for the gap where you think the airport should be, and where the beacon claims there is an airport. Switch to the right communications frequency, then tap the transmit button a number of times. Depending on how many times you tap it, the lights will light up at various intensities and stay lit for 15 minute. All the lights - runway, approach, taxi, etc. Runways that used to belong to the airforce are particularly impressive with their size and quantity of lighting.

My instructor says landing at night is identical to landing at the day. Technically, he's right. Same air speeds, engine speeds, attitudes. That said, when you can't see the ground, there's a bit of a panic that runs through one's head. You have to put a fair bit of faith into the hands of the people who designed that airport, and the charts around that airport.

One item that helps is that some airports have lighting systems that will let you know if you're on the right glide angle coming into the airport. The lights are all red if you're coming in too low; and all white if you're too high. Half red half white means you're on the right path. The number of lights and positioning of such vary with which system is used, but the basics are the same. They are actually very low tech - they just have blinders on them such that you can only see the light if you're on the correct glide angle. For more information, see the VASI entry at Wikipedia.

At the end of training, we received clearance to circle around downtown Sacramento once. Sacramento's skyline is much more findable during the day than at night, as it turns out. At least from 2000 feet, it is not super impressive :-). It was still a neat experience and on the list of things I wanted to do once I got my license. So, we snuck this in a bit early :)

This one took a few days to get posted, because it took a few days to digest my feelings on it.

Last Sunday was my first solo. After a few good landings, my instructor got out of the plane, and had me run a few take offs and landings on my own. The first two were good. The third, was not.

On the third pass, I hit the flaps too soon, lost too much altitude. So, I ramped up the power, and got back up to the proper angle on final. My air speed went up as well, so I started compensating. Power out, full flaps. My approach was a bit high, but still managable.

At flare out, something went not quite right, which I still don't quite know what happened. Perhaps I flared too soon. In any case, I landed fairly hard, bounced back upwards much more than I liked, and decided it was not worth saving. Cram the power! Cram the carb heat! Hmm. Flaps. I'm at full flaps, which means, I'm not going to get off the ground like this. The right thing, would have been to level out, then reduce to half flaps, and wait until I was far off the ground. The wrong thing, is fit the flaps fully, while close to the ground. This had me still descending, as I still hadn't had enough forward speed. I tipped the nose down for a moment, just to get speed back, and leveled out again - then climbed out normal, and did a go around.

The fourth approach, was spot on; but that third approach definately left a shadow for the day.

I know not to slam the flaps all the way on a go around, but .. I still did. I mixed things up a bit with a touch-and-go (which, you fully retract the flaps, once you're on the ground), which we had done prior; and, I overreacted, knowing that full power plus full flaps wasn't going to get me off the ground.

The cool thing, I didn't panic during the event. The uncool thing, was that the rest of the day (and all freaking night), I kept replaying things in my head, trying to figure out what why I went wrong. It took a few days to fully digest; but now that I recognize what happened, I'm feeling much better about it.

Finally! Seven-three-niner-golf-yankee got off the ground. My first few scheduled days of flight lessons were cancelled due to weather. I'm not sure why, since this California, but we seem to be getting rain, wind, and fog out here.

First lesson is designed to cover the basics. Last week I did get a bit of the lesson early, so I've had instruction on preflighting. Today, I got to do it nearly solo. The checklist was missing from the binder, so I broke out the POS, er, POH. Turns out, the checklist in the POH is pretty different, and certainly suboptimal. I went ahead and checked out the plane, and when the intructor came back with the checklist, went over whatever was missing. Note to self: there are 3 chains holding the plane down..

Other basic instruction involves getting around and off the ground; and simple things like going up and down (intentionally), turning, and for bonus points, turning without intentionally loosing altitude.

Much of the point of today was look/feel during those operations, such that there is not a high dependence on the instruments and more looking out the window.

Our practice area was over the Sacramento Delta. We left south Sacramento, and travelled southwest, and stayed in the region bounded by I-5, 680, 80, and roughly Walnut Grove. The view from up there is definately something. After a fresh rain in the middle of the night last night, visibility was excellent - we could clearly see downtown Sacramento from 20 miles away.

The air was pretty smooth - mostly. When we got near the hills by 680, it was impressive at how far away they were yet how much we were impacted by the winds. I will definately want mountain training before going up into the hills flying. This probably means Auburn is out for my first solo cross country..

Tomorrow, it will be a reitteration of today, plus rudder control. The instructor had the rudder to day, to minimize how many things I had to manage and get aquainted with.