4/30/08

Whitman Tailwind

Got to fly in a W-10 for a Flight Review yesterday. I'm glad we don't have one.

First, it's small. I barely fit in the aircraft and if I was 2-4 inches taller I wouldn't fit (I'm 68inches tall). Plus side to side it was more cozy than the 152. And the yoke was VERY poorly designed and took up most of the room.

Second, it's fast. I'm talking 160kts in the cruise fast. The Seneca II flys that fast. Sadly, it the Seneca II takes off faster and uses less runway. It's a pretty big runway hog. Climb is decent, but I think it should be flown at a slower climb speed to get closer to Vy instead of 140kts.

Third, it's twitchy. Like REAL twitchy. The small elevator controls result in being thrown into the ceiling (refer item 1). Roll is a little faster than a C152. And in non-issue turbulence in a 152/172, it's throwing you around the cockpit.

Fourth, you can't see squat. There is a window, but has the airframe supports running through your sightliness and you can't see to either side.

Fifth, the rudder is connected to the brakes. Every landing resulted in massive breaking on landing. Decent ground control, but takeoff/landing definitely resulted in using brakes as you kept it on the centerline.

Sixth, the instrument cluster is a cluster fuck. There is NO logical flow of instruments, and even the guy didn't know 100% where they were all. It's almost designed as a vertical 6 pack, except that there was room for a normal 6 pack if you moved stuff around. Plus I had the throttle/mixture sticking out at my face (glad to know I'll impale my forehead on it if we crash).

Overall, I'm not impressed. And I got some ideas of what not to do when I build a Sonex. But it's an airplane and I got to fly another type. Why won't anyone let me do a Flight Review in their G550? ;)

4/28/08

Got to fly a Cessna 414

Talk about a fun experience. Fast, sleek, spacey, great avionics, pressurized, DAMN I want to fly it more :)

4/26/08

Busy, but happy

Wake up at 6AM, look at alarm clock, and decide it's time to suffer for the greater glory of pilots everywhere. I need to prep for my 9AM class on instrument flying.

Stumble over to the computer, find the books and proceed to spend an hour and a half summarizing todays lesson on Word. Todays topic of choice: FAR 1, 61, 91, NTSB 830 (why you don't want to survive if you crash), Chapters 3A and 3B. Make sure it's correctly formatted and hit the print button.

Shower, shave, and brush teeth, the normal guys stuff. Potato chips for breakfast, Pepsi in hand to wash it down, and off to work I go.

Wander into the office and stop by the copier to make 6 copies of todays lesson and a first lesson survey (3 lessons in - I'm lazy). Hit the conference room, realize I had two students in there (hmmm... 15 minutes early?). Notice one of the students brought food (cinnamon rolls!!!) and help myself. Grab a set of whiteboard markers from storage and am ready to teach. Get through Chapter 2C in 90 minutes (OMG, teaching radio navigation is a POS) and then break for 15 minutes.

Chief CFI and another CFI swarm to talk to the students. Get back on track and complete the regulations part of todays lesson (I'm running an hour behind in this class, need to make it up somehow).

Follow up with a BFR for a guy that hasn't flown in 5+ years. HE STUDIED!!! Yes, he was rusty but IMHO he knew his stuff and we flew through it in 2 hours of ground. Weather was 9kts gusting to 29kts (WTF? 20kt gusts?!?! I'm not taking a 172 up in that shit!) so we called the lesson.

Last student canceled due to weather (I'm out of ground topics). Catch up on a little paperwork and then decided to get out of there while I still could.

Wish all days went this smoothly. 5 hours of pay, at work from 9AM to 4PM, I think that's a good day! There were zero snags (how did that happen) except for the being behind in the class, but it'll work itself out next week ;)

4/25/08

*Sigh*

I'm about this > < close to enforce the no-show/cancel within 24 hour rule. The last two weeks have SUCKED and I'm fucking tired of the shit I put up with.

Let me start with this week

Monday: SUCKED, only talked to a student. I earned $8!

Tuesday: I got to go flying in the old ass 172, and the student sucked it up on the flight... I don't know what to do because he keeps screwing up the "when to go missed" question on ILS/VOR/ADF/LOC approaches. Not the first time I've mentioned this to him, and he agrees, but it just doesn't happen. $150 for 0 gain :( Then a review flight with a post-solo student (fun!), we all survived. I should point this out that it's the highlight of my day.

Wednesday: I actually earned some $$$! First student at 7AM canceled the night before, but then I get a call from the chief flight instructor at 6:30AM wondering if I can take a student at 8AM. Did the random student thing (good job for 2nd lesson). Then my first demo flight no-showed. My 2nd demo flight showed up late, and I KNOW I'm going to be pressed on time. Rush through the demo flight and now I'm 30 minutes late *sigh*. I went straight into the BFR and did an hour and a half of ground. At this point, I'm going to make it to the groundschool if we start the aircraft RIGHT NOW... Doesn't happen because the guy needs to preflight and I hit the bathroom. I ask if we can defer the flight but the guy needs the BFR today (WTF? You have 2 FREAKING YEARS TO SCHEDULE THIS!!!). Of course, the guy brings his own aircraft (so I'm supposed to look over the logbooks but I do the CFI thing and punt and he's PIC and I'm only evaluating). Flight goes well and we do exactly 1 hour of flight time (per the regulations) and I run into the groundschool ~10 minutes late. The Chief CFI is there explaining the 141 vs 61 training (OMFG, I hate this part the most. It takes 30 minutes, confuses the shit out of the students, and at the private level I truthfully don't give a rats ass if you are 61 or 141). Then I run through the lesson (YAY!). Time till sleep: 11PM

Thursday: Look at my cellphone and realize 7 AM student called, and left a message. He's not showing up. Fine, go back to sleep. Invite friend over to play Halo 3 and Xbox, next student is at 5 PM. 5PM student cancels due to weather (rain/clouds) and I play Halo 3 all night. BEST DAY, EVAR!

Friday: Show up to work at 7:30, power is almost out due to thunderstorms night before. I need to print out checklist... Print out checklist and talk to my MEI to do lesson. Electric goes totally down and we decide to cancel due to thunderstorms. Next student cancels due to weather (thunderstorms). Next student shows up and retakes test (volunteered time), and the final student cancels due to weather later on in the day. 0 pay.

I think I've gotten paid for 10 hours this week thus far. After I do my LSAT, I think I'm going to move on to another job. I worked my tail off and have gotten $100 for my troubles, most of it sitting on my ass at the airport. At least at the airlines you get paid a rate that assumes you are going to sit on your ass for 75% of the time and at 135 companies you get paid to sit on your ass explicitly. Total flight time logged this week: 6 hours!

I could almost rent a 152 for the flight time with difference in pay between what I am getting paid and working at some crappy little computer place.

4/24/08

Airline Oversight

I was reading Afternoons with the Mad Rocket Scientist and came across this post http://madrocketsci.blogspot.com/2008/04/your-dose-of-geekery.html

Personally, I think having FAA oversight is vital and necessary. Yes, American Airlines isn't going to initially go skimping on maintenance. But what would keep smaller contract airlines from skimping? And with the smaller guys skimping and undercutting the big boys, who is to say American won't then skimp to keep costs in line? I really don't want a series of ValuJet crashes because everyone is trying to save a buck.

It already happens in the Charter world with scumbags undercutting the premium charter companies. I flew down in FL and IMHO the maintenance is known as bad and fulfills the legal obligations and nothing more. Good charter companies can't compete on price and if someone is shopping for a ticket, they have no way of checking the maintenance quality.

Plus, this issue has been fought with crew rest (maintenance on the pilots if you will). Pilots work long and hard hours, usually in unique environments that place additional stress on them. ALPA has fought long and hard for additional crew rest requirements and has won some and lost some. As it is, the NTSB has it on this most wanted list in aviation safety.

Update: I forgot about the Cessna 208 Caravan in icing conditions. The aircraft flys like a brick in icing conditions but that hasn't stopped the FAA from revoking it's ability to fly in icing. It's a major cargo aircraft, and thus would be destroyed in value and create huge upsets in the cargo industry if it's FIKI certification was revoked.

4/17/08

Skill is good, reflexes are better, luck is best

Some background on demo flights. A demo flight is a $59 half hour of flight time and a half hour of ground time as a first flight. It's a loss leader and is intended to hook the student into getting their Private Pilots License.

I have a love/hate relationship with them because you can get students out of them but it's frightening for me as a CFI because you have a student with zero experience and skill and literally anything can happen. Sometimes, the student kicks ass and takes names. Other times they try to kill you and you end up flying half the flight to keep everyone from dying.

The student wanted a demo flight, so I gave him a demo flight. The preflight went quick and I explained everything, and I was hoping it would go well. The student was a student in a groundschool of another instructors and I figured they would know something about flying. Sadly, no.

Taxi went ok, not great but not exactly we're going to run into that jet over there. The takeoff went amazingly bad.

We lined up with a position and hold clearance, and then reviewed what we would do. When tower cleared us to takeoff, the student pushed the throttle fully in and start rolling down the runway. Sadly, the student is using the brakes to keep it on the centerline. Brakes are not good to use during the takeoff roll (for the obvious answer and some not so obvious). I tell the student to not use the brakes and we start veering left. Right rudder... more right rudder... even more right rudder...

At this point, we are seconds away from the edge of the runway and about to hit the runway edge lights. My normal trick is to remind the student to pull back because we are at 60kts by this point. So I say pull back ;(

The student takes it literally and pulls the elevator FULL back. This is VERY bad because we are 1) slow 2) low 3) about to run over some runway lights 4) about to stall 5) turning (the student also somehow turned the yoke putting us in a 30° bank). Witnesses said I came within 1ft of hitting the wingtip into the ground. After a successful recovery and a little breather, I put us in a gentle climb and get us to a few hundred feet (it's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I don't trust you).

The student ended up taking alot of photos on that flight. I was happy because when he was taking photos, he wasn't trying to kill us and I was flying.

The ironic/bad part of the story is that one of the witnesses that saw the event was the 2nd highest manager of the line crew. He called the flight school to report me :( I have a bad feeling it's going to get back to my boss/bosses and I'm going to get a lecture :(

And in the end, skill is good to have in aviation. Reflexes are even better to have. And if you have luck you don't need either of the two above :)

Random Student

Definition: Random Student - A student that shows up on your schedule and you don't know anything about what the student wants to do or what's going on. The CFI is in the dark as to what is going on and is most likely happier not knowing.

You are now informed!

4/16/08

'Tis windy

What a warm sunny day! Sadly, not a good day to go flying... Peak wind of 37kts, that's faster than the stall speed of a 152 I could have taken off of the airport like a helicopter if I was flying today :)

Metar at Madison, WI during the peak gusts: KMSN 161753Z 19020G29KT 10SM CLR 19/04 A2971 RMK AO2 PK WND 19037/1723 SLP061 T01940044 10194 20083 58023

Just because it's sunny doesn't mean it's safe to fly. Oh well, it'll clean off the ramp of the dust/salt/gunk that has built up over the winter.

Rain tomorrow, looks like the rest of this week will be a wash.

4/13/08

Instrument Study Stuff

I promised a student a website on ADF training: http://roye.home.netcom.com/flighttraining/

It seems to have disappeared since the last time I saw it. Let me say, it was a VERY good flash trainer on how to use the ADF.

Also, as a bonus there is a good navigation program: http://www.visi.com/~mim/nav/ I sometimes use it in hidden mode and practice flying around blind in relation to the two navaids (press 1 or 2 to change them to ADF's if you want to practice ADF navigation).

Enjoy, and remember, crashing is bad and if you do it on a checkride you will fail :)

4/11/08

Advanced learning

I find often times pilots can learn from other disciplines. You might be asking yourself what am I talking about? I am saying do pilots learn the bare minimum and then keep learning within one track or do they then go on to cross train with mechanics, helicopter/glider pilots, ATC, weather forecasters, and line guys?

I think the lack of cross training between various disciplines of aviation is a mistake. I went to a seminar on gliders last Saturday and found it VERY informative. And in many ways, it was more informative to me as a powered fixed wing pilot than sitting through the an FAA wings seminar would have been (which are snooze fests IMHO).

The seminar started off with a talk about emergencies and how they can happen ANYWHERE and the need to access the situation is important. For instance, if a gliders rope brakes at 100ft, where are they landing? How can you plan for this situation at your home airfield? What decisions beforehand can you make as a pilot to minimize the risk and come out alive and in one piece? Not exactly applicable to me as a powered pilot, but there are serious similarities that I use in my every day life (ironically, my checkout for doing skydiving included just this very thing).

The second speaker talked about NTSB accidents and common errors to glider pilots. Again, not 100% applicable to me as a powered pilot but still VERY applicable to myself. One accident (CHI07CA291) involved a pilot failing to reset his altimeter. A simple error that destroyed a glider. The next two accidents (LAX60LA929 and LAX05CA294) were easily preventable if the pilot had not reacted in an impulsive way (one of those hazardous attitudes). Plus, a little more training would have resulted in two less crashes and an extra person living today. The final accident was LAX06FA277A. As a powered pilot, I am SHOCKED at the damage the jet took from hitting a simple glider:

The Glider was destroyed totally, the largest piece was a spar sticking out of the Hawker's nose section...


The final speaker was talking about parachutes. I'm interested in parachutes because I am forced to wear one while doing skydivers. I have zero interest in jumping out of aircraft, but if you gotta jump you gotta jump. Let me say it was less interesting than I would have thought and contradicted some things I learned during my skydiver pilot checkout. Still fairly informative IMHO.

4 hours of learning by going to this free seminar on glider flying, and yet I still walked away with a ton of information and new skills that I can use to fly safer in my powered flight time.

If you get an ability to go to other seminars (if it was helicopters, glider, maintenance, ATC, weather, whatever), I would HIGHlY recommend it. Yes, it's not all useful stuff but it will give you a better idea of why other people do what they do, and how you can best react in situations that involve them to keep everyone safe.

Lack of posts

No, I'm not abandoning the blog. It's just that I'm gearing up for teaching instrument ground school this Saturday, working on taxes for April 15th, and typing up MEI stuff (and practicing approaches on MSFS 2k4).

I'm working on several posts, bear with me and I'll spew out some good thoughts :)

4/6/08

Golf Course...

...is open! I'm going to wonder down there Monday and check it out.

4/4/08

Stuff you see from the air

So, I zone out when flying. I will look out my window and wonder WTF stuff on the ground is. 99% of the time, it's obvious but the 1% of the time I don't know what it is. You would be amazed at some places I've driven in a car to answer my question (or maybe not).

For instance, there is ONE green strip maybe 100ft long by 10ft wide (I'm guessing) in Amund Reindahl Park. It's a bright green (almost algae color) compared to the brown grass around it. In google maps, it comes out as a black line oriented North-South:


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My bet is it's some sort of water.

Also, I saw guys out on the Bridges Golf course!!! I might get a few rounds in soon =D The golf course is on the south side of the airport right under the approach path to runway 18.


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This is going to be my hangout during the summer when I'm not working. $17 a round during M-T and $175 for 25 large buckets of balls. They've got my vote!

Finally, there is this mystery. I have no clue what is other than some sort of underground storage. The thing is, the doors are open on the south side and closed on the north side, and I can't tell if it's abandoned or just not being up kept. In google maps, it looks like a grassy place but it's obviously some sort of storage with concrete bunkers with a grass roof...


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Oh, and the bunkers are built on top of a garbage dump... I think they date back to the 50's (we have an old map) but I may be reading the map wrong or it might be some sort of other storage that was torn down and made way for this.