Author Topic: Learning to fly  (Read 9711 times)

Offline Golfer

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« Reply #120 on: January 07, 2005, 01:47:50 PM »
aerodynamics for naval aviators isn't bad for a private student.  It's good to pick through it at your own pace and you'll be ahead of the curve when it comes time for more advanced ratings.  Go apologize to that man!  :)

Offline Chairboy

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« Reply #121 on: January 07, 2005, 01:55:37 PM »
Went to class, but was unable to fly today because of weather.  My instructor said that it's fine for us to fly in rain if we have high enough ceiling and good enough weather, but he implied that he sort of drew the line at thunder and lightning.

We spent groundschool going over charts.  Boy howdy, I think learning the different airspace types is going to be a real challenge.  I bought my LAX area chart that I'm studying, he's gonna quiz me mercilessly tomorrow.

An interesting new development, he needs to see my passport or birth certificate to verify citizenship.  It's some new FAA or TSA requirement.  Seems kinda silly, actually.  Since I haven't ever seen my birth certificate, I requested a duplicate copy from King County.

Anyhow, short update because...  no flying.
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis

Offline jigsaw

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« Reply #122 on: January 07, 2005, 02:15:20 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Chairboy
An interesting new development, he needs to see my passport or birth certificate to verify citizenship.  It's some new FAA or TSA requirement.  Seems kinda silly, actually.  Since I haven't ever seen my birth certificate, I requested a duplicate copy from King County.


New thing that just started. CFI is responsible for student verification.

Get a copy of "Aeronautical Chart User's Guide." Excellent learning/reference tool.

If ever have problems finding something at your fbo, try this place http://www.san-val.com/main.htm
They're over at Van Nuys.

Offline Chairboy

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« Reply #123 on: January 09, 2005, 06:16:23 PM »
Went flying yesterday, very interesting experience as it was raining.  It was light rain, visibillity 5 miles, so we taxied to the runup and, after completing preflights, I radioed for a closed left pattern.  This means I'd take off, then turn left after a half a minute or so, then turn left again so I was flying alongside the airport.  Finally, I'd start my descent and come in and land again in a closed rectangle that's maybe a few miles long.

So I got clearance and began my takeoff.  It was raining, and it was fascinating to watch the water blow off my windshield as the propeller spun up to speed.  I passed 60 knots and pulled back the yoke to take off like usual.  As I took off, a wind gust  blew me to one side unexpectadly.  I recovered and got a compliment from my instructor.  I continued my climb, noticing the differences in feel.  The cold air meant that the plane performed great and climbed quickly, but the rain meant I couldn't use my normal landmarks (like the horizon) to set my angle of attack.  Instead, I glanced at my airspeed indicator and artificial horizon to keep my speed up and wings level.

Santa Monica airport has a noise abatement procedure when taking off from runway 21.  After you pass the end of the runway, you make a short left turn until you're over the golf course, then turn back until you're heading for the shore again.  This means that most of your low altitude climb will be at least a little away from houses.

I made a left turn at Lincoln boulevard, flew for a 10 count or so, then turned left again for my downwind leg.  The airport really looks interesting when its raining.  Lots of water flow over the asphalt and taxiways.  We were pretty much the only plane flying because of the weather, so as I reached pattern altitude (1,400 feet at SMO) the radio called out that I was cleared to land.  When you're the only plane, you get really good service!

I began my descent when I was abeam the tower and turned to base.  As I was turning from base to final, my stall horn beeped unexpectadly.  I checked the airspeed, and I had somehow slowed to 60 knots!  My instructor gave it a little power and mentioned that could have been bad if I had stalled at low altitude.  Indeed.

I landed pretty well, then taxied off the runway to a stop.  Immediately, the radio crackled to life and the tower said "Cherokee five eight sierra, stay with me and clear to taxi to two one."  The controller must have been bored because he told us not to switch to the ground frequency and sent us back to the runway for another takeoff without us even asking for it.  As we pulled up to the runway, he radioed "Cherokee five eight sierra, clear for takeoff."  Again, without us even asking.  I took off and landed like this a few more times, each time getting clearances without having to ask.  On my final landing, I pulled off the runway and stopped.  The tower cleared me for taxi to the runway again, and this time my instructor radioed back "I think we'll **** it down for today and taxi to lower southeast."  Tower cleared us, so I radioed back 'taxi to lower southeast, five eight sierra goodday.'  

At ground school I learned about transponder codes.  7700 was emergency, I already knew, but I also learned about 7600 (radio out, so they know to route traffic around me) and 7500, which means "I am being hijacked by an amateur."  It used to just mean "I am being hijacked", but my instructor noted that it's probably not that easy to pull off anymore because hijackers these days know about things like that.  Hence, my interpretation.

I found something cool, I can actually watch a recording of sorts of my flight online.  If I go to http://www4.passure.com/lax.html and select 'January 8, 2005 at 10:16 AM' and watch the Santa Monica airport (which is a few inches above LAX (which is in the center of the page)) you'll see a plane suddenly appear after about half a minute.  Click on it, and it will say 'General Aviation' and list the altitude.  I was able to watch myself takeoff, do the dogleg over the golf course, and do my pattern flight to landing.  A few minutes after landing, I take off again, and so on repeated.  It's amazing what technology can do.

Today, weather wasn't so great.  Rain, visibility five, but a ceiling of 1,000 feet.  Since I need to climb to 1,400 to do even a pattern flight, it was right out.  Instead, learned about weather and things like katacraptic winds (or something like that).

Hopefully it will clear up tomorrow.  My intstructor thinks that, because of all the rain and groundschool we've had lately, I'll probably get to do mostly just flying this week.  Hot diggity!

I also went out and bought my first green airport book, the one that lists all the info for all airports nationally that I use for planning.

In the meantime, DAMN YOU RAIN!  (shakes fist at ceiling)
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis

Offline Chairboy

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« Reply #124 on: January 11, 2005, 06:46:21 PM »
Had a great flight today.  LA has been hit by some severe storms over the last few days, but today it cleared up and looked great.  Of course, there was a lot of wind, but it was still a good day to fly, especially compared to the last few.

I made a different radio call, "Santa Monica Tower, Cherokee 8258 Sierra holding short of runway two one, request climbing two seventy."

I took off with something like a 20-25 knot crosswind, and that was a wild ride.  We had climbed past 1,000 before hitting the end of the runway, the plane went up like an elevator.  I made a right turn at the shoreline and circled back over the airport in a climbing, 270 degree spiral.  As I leveled out at 3,500 feet, I was heading straight for Los Angeles International Airport.  I aimed for the middle of the airport and set my transponder to 1201 and tuned in 128.95mhz and called out 'LAX corridor, Cherokee 8258 Sierra on southeast transition at thirty five hundred feet, one mile north of LAX.'  This was the first time I flew south instead of north, and it was amazing.  I flew over LAX in a special corridor that's set aside for general aviation, and it was an incredible new experience.  I flew over the airport and was looking down at 747s landing, other big planes taxiing, and truly, it was spectacular.

I exited the corridor and we flew over near Long Beach and did some review maneuvers of things I hadn't done in a long time, and I nailed 'em all.  It was very satisfying.  The steep turns (45 degrees) were still disconcerting, but I was able to pull them off without problems.  The view of the harbor was great too, I look forward to being able to snap a bunch of pictures.

I did some more time under the hood and did good at maintaining altitude during things like turns, then did some climbing and descending turns by instrument only.  I'm feeling really comfortable with these skills and I know that if a cloud forms in front of me that I can't dodge, I'll be able to safely turn around and fly out, even if I can't see.  It's not the same as an instrument rating, but it's just enough to hopefully get out of trouble and trust the gauges.

I climbed to 4,500 feet (the altitude for the northwest transition corridor over LAX) and called out my location and intention.  A minute later, we hear another call on the radio from a Cessna that's making the same transition, and he gives basically the same location where we're at.  Puzzled, my instructor calls back to him 'Cessna, where are you?'  He responds 'Assuming you're the Cherokee transmitting, I'm at your, uh, 8'oclock.'  I turn and look over my shoulder, and just coming into view past the control surfaces is a Cessna 172, and he's close.  It was like we were flying in formation, he had to be less then 100 away.  My instructor radios back "Oh yeah, we see you."  Technically, since we were the plane on the right, we should have had right away, but he ended up passing us, thankfully while diverging.

I began the descent once we left the corridor, watching for traffic that might be entering the corridor at 3,500 coming right at us.  Out over Brentwood I made a 270 degree descending turn to my left and entered the downwind pattern with landing clearance.  The winds were really picking up, and it was an exciting approach.  Winds were over 20 with gusts to 30 at the runway, so I asked the instructor to assist with the landing.  We came down and floated a while, and bounced a bit, but since most of the wind was coming right at us, we ended up touching down at a really low ground speed.  As I drove off the runway, I commented that I had taxied faster then we had landed, and the instructor agreed, noting the effect that winds have.  

As we taxied back to the parking, my instructor went over what we did in the flight and said that he was really happy to see me doing all the maneuvers so good after such a long gap.  I felt pretty darn good too, and we taxied and parked the plane.

Spent more ground school talking about the weather.  The whole thing is making a lot more sense to me now.  Before, I knew basically what cold and warm fronts did, but now I've got a good idea on how storms are created, and how to plan my flights to keep an eye on things like cloud formation.

Also learned a neat trick in my book.  If I know the dewpoint and the temperature, there's a simple equation I can do that will give an altitude of where to expect clouds.  I tried it out, and it works.  It's the damndest thing!

sKool iz gud!

I asked my instructor to take some pictures, I'll post 'em soon.
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis

Offline Chairboy

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« Reply #125 on: January 11, 2005, 11:44:40 PM »
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis

Offline bunch

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« Reply #126 on: January 12, 2005, 02:01:02 AM »
Chairboy, I did my long X/C  VUO-->EUG-->SLE-->VUO
Stopped for 11 gallons of 100LL & an order of fries (Roscoe's Landing) at SLE.  Big fun, easy VFR navigation & a transition through the PDX class C...VUO is the world's oldest continuously operating airport & they have a nice muesem there a quarter mile walk from the transient parking area.  Tillamook has a great museum also.  So does McMinnville.

Offline Golfer

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« Reply #127 on: January 12, 2005, 12:14:25 PM »
I thought College Park, MD was.

Offline bunch

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« Reply #128 on: January 12, 2005, 02:34:29 PM »
CGS was shut down for several months when the TFR was put over DC, even now it is a farce of a public airport.  SFAR 94 expires soon, so hopefully CGS will be fixed back to it's former glory.  Great Museum there & an excellent library also.

Offline Golfer

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« Reply #129 on: January 12, 2005, 03:22:38 PM »
Ah...I am one of those who will gladly 'forget' about the TFR around DC and not count that as the airport not operating.

Offline Straiga

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« Reply #130 on: January 12, 2005, 04:29:18 PM »
Hey Jigsaw,

Sorry to respond this late. But we use GFMS (globle flight management system) In the L1011 and DC-10 we had a HT-9100 by honeywell and in the B-767 we have the pegasus.

I can also talk about overwater opps if you want in RVSM airspace, to give you some Idea what its all about.

Striaga

Offline Chairboy

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« Reply #131 on: January 12, 2005, 04:53:25 PM »
Today was a great flight!  I flew up the coast to Camarillo, first time I landed at another airport.  On short final, there was an agriculture helicopter right under my glide slope that wasn't talking to tower, so that was a bit hairy.  I just increased power and climbed over him to stay well clear, then got back into the glide path and landed without incident.

Weather was great, skies clear and low winds.  I'd fly in this weather anytime!

We taxied back to the beginning of the runway, admiring the prairie dogs or whatever those rodents were that lived between taxiways, then held short of runway 21.  I requested clearance, and they had me hold there as a bunch of traffic suddenly appeared out of nowhere.  We had to wait like 5 minutes while some guy in an experimental chattered back and forth with the tower, then at least three other planes landed before he cleared me.  I took off, did a closed left pattern loop around the airport, then did my first touch and go.  After taking off, headed back up the 101 to Malibu canyon, then crossed over to the ocean.  Instructor had me do the mountain crossing under the instrument hood and gave me various altitude adjustments and heading changes to keep me occupied.  Over Pacific Palisades, I started an uneventful approach and landing into Santa Monica.  

Great stuff, and my instructor told me to go ahead and get my medical out of the way because I'm just about ready to solo.
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis

Offline Dnil

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« Reply #132 on: January 12, 2005, 06:20:22 PM »
Little story.  I am under the hood working on my instrument rating.  Just the instructor and me in the mighty 172 headed out to the practice area.  As we switch from tower to practice area and make the call, we get a response from another group in a 152 headed our way in the same practice area.  Now I am under the hood and not supposed to be looking out, the instructor is the safety pilot and scanning for traffic.  When I hear the call the hairs stand up on the back up my neck, they are in our area and headed toward us and I am head down, not a comfy feeling.  After 2 exchanges between my aircraft and the other and neither one seeing each other something makes me look up.  As I do, I see a 152 headed straight for me, I tell the instructor I have the plane and make a pretty sharp turn and dive a little to get out of the way.  The 152 screams over head and we continue on with me muttering something under my breath.  

When we get back on the ground after the flight and talk to the other guys, no one except me had seen it.  Now its 4 licensed pilots, 2 intructors with a minimum of 2k hours each and another pilot during some commercial license work.  The only guy to see and avoid the collision is the one who is supposed to be under the hood.  Still love the hell out of it though.

Offline cpxxx

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« Reply #133 on: January 12, 2005, 06:34:35 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Chairboy
Here are some pics from flying:

http://hallert.net/misc/flying01-11-05/index.htm


Chairboy, you bear an amazing resemblance to Andy C.. a pilot I flew with back in '89 in  Tennessee.  He was from North Carolina though.  A crazy guy, loved low flying, aerobatics, fast driving and Ford Mustangs.  I have some great photos of Mississippi barges taken at nought feet and from upside down Cessnas.  Fearless until he saw even a small amount of blood at which point he passed out cold.  I guess he's flying for the airlines unless he augered in from some of hairier exploits lol.
 
If you turn out half as a good a pilot as him you'll be doing well.  The physical resemblance is remarkable.

Offline Straiga

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« Reply #134 on: January 12, 2005, 09:16:31 PM »
http://hallert.net/misc/flying01-11-05/index.htm

The fifth picture in showing LAX if you look at the second terminal from the left terminal 2, you will see a plane at the left corner it looks really white, thats the plane I fly for Hawaiian Airlines B-767-300ER.

Straiga