I Passed My IFR Exam!

Such a major stress relief knowing that I have my IFR now. I can literally feel all my muscles relaxing now. All last week, every day, I had flight lessons before work to make sure I was ready for Friday afternoon, and it worked out.

Friday morning, we were having MVFR/IFR conditions both at my base (KRYY) and where the test was going to take place (KRHP,) so I was able to talk to my instructor about going with me so we can at least do the oral. He filed an IFR flight plan up to KRHP. I was going to be the PIC, and he was going to be my copilot. It was so nice to actually get some real IFR flying in, since most of the training was done under my IFR glasses. To get some practice in doing a hold, we did the RNAV 9, with the procedure turn into KRHP.

The exam started at 12:30pm, but we got there at about 11:30PM which gave me 1 extra hour of studying.

The oral portion of the exam took about 2 hours. We covered everything from runway markings, to the cross country flight plan that he wanted me to do, to the weights and balance. We went over a lot of the special emphasis areas (CFIT, LAHSO, wake turbulence, runway incursions, SRM, etc.) We also went over a lot of the items in the ASA Instrument Oral Exam Guide, so if you have been studying that, you should be okay.

When the oral portion of the exam was over, we went to the weather room to see if we could get the practical portion of the checkride done. We could! :-)

I got the plane ready and we headed off to KTYS. From KRHP to KTYS, it became very bumpy. As we were approaching KTYS, I called approach for entry into the airspace, and to let them know what we wanted to do. Well, at that time, a lot of the commercial aircraft were coming in, so it became very fast paced with the big boys in front of me, behind me and to the side of me since both runways were being used. We did the ILS, followed by the VOR full procedure with partial panel, and then headed out to do air-work. After we got out of KTYS's airspace, we did partial panel unusual attitude recovery, and steep turns to the left and to the right; which got my stomach messed up. I thought I was going to lose my cookies with those steep turns. Heading back to KRHP, we did the hold procedure, and then the circle to land.

I honestly didn't think I passed (I don't know why... low self-esteem maybe?), but when I shut everything down in the airplane, he shook my hand and said, “Congratulations!” I was beyond speechless! The practical portion of the exam took 2 hours in the air. We decided to play a trick on my instructor. We when went in, the examiner asked me when I'm free to come back. You could see the color drain from my instructor's face, I then said, “You mean for my commercial rating, right? Because, I'm IFR rated now!”

So, while we finished up the paperwork, my instructor filed for IFR back to KRYY. Like going up there, he was the copilot and I was the PIC.

When we got back, we were able to do a night landing as the sun had already done down. Beautiful evening flight for a wonderful day.

Now, it's time to start my commercial rating, and hopefully find a Safety Pilot who wants to join me in some day cross-countries.

8/22/2012 & 8/27/2012 - “What The Hell Are You Doing Here?”

Since about May of this year, I had this trip planned. My Dad's Cousin, Kenny, and myself are (as you know about me) licensed pilots. Well, my father's birthday was August 26. I wanted a nice big surprise for him. So, I thought, since I have my pilot's license, why not go surprise him! That, I did!

The Trip To...

Originally, I was scheduled to leave KRYY on 8/23, but I was able to get the plane early, so I departed from KRYY on 8/22/2012 at around 1PM with 653KB and a full tank of gas. Issues began at first flight. I departed from runway 9, which is the one I really wanted.

Thanks to Google and CloudAhoy, you are able to see my exact course (within reason) thanks to GPS technology (even though GPS Sat 24 has been out of service for about 12 months now, that's not really going to affect me any.) Below the big blue line was my course from KRYY to KPTB. A 400+ mile trip...

I was able to get to a cruise altitude of 3500 feet... for awhile. Headed northbound knowing that there were storms in the North Carolina area that I was going to have to look out for.

I was able to get flight following all the way from Cobb to Petersburg. When I flying north of Greenville and Spartanburg, I did see towering cumulus forming around me. This was a bad sign as they started to get lower and the turbulence started to pick up. Just south of Cleveland, SC I had cumculonubus storm clouds on both sides of me, but at a far enough distance to keep it legal for me to fly. At all times, I was still in the legal parameters to fly VFR.

Over Lake Norman, ATC advised to me: "653KB, at 1 o'clock you will see traffic, a Boeing 757." I was still at 3500 and he was at 4500 descending to Charlotte. He was so close to me, I could easly read: "US Airways," and see which shades were open and not. A few moments later, "653KB, at your 11 o'clock you will see traffic, a Boeing 757." ANOTHER US Airways Boeing landing. I was also given wake turbulence warnings, but was not hit by any. After passing Lake Norman, I had to start to descend to avoid the clouds, with ATC's permission, I went to 3,300 feet.

Near Salisbury I had a major traffic alert. An aircraft took off from KRUQ and was cutting in front of me... he came out of nowhere... even ATC was caught off by surprise. "(alarm blaring in the background) ... (screaming, and fast) 653KiloBravo... Traffic Warning! Traffic Warning! Fast approaching aircraft at your 1, moving right in front of you, your altitude. Take invasive action!" Me... calm voice "Have the aircraft spotted... taking action. 653KB." Right when ATC had called my aircraft I had the plane spotted. I was able to keep my distance from him. It was pretty intense.

Just southwest of Greensboro, I had to descend to 3000 due to clouds. At all times through this flight, I must mention, I stayed VFR and remained within the FAA legal limits. At no times did I break any FAR rules. Now, when I was approaching Greensboro airspace, I was told, that I didn't have permission to enter their airspace. I was going to have to go around it. That's no problem. But, if you notice below, around the "85" Interstate marker, I got pretty close to Greensboro. What happened was, there was a strong shower right in my path, so ATC gave me permission to divert into their airspace to avoid that area. After passing it, I got back on track over Burlington, and continued my route to Petersburg.  

When I entered Virginia, you can see that I followed I-85 for awhile. Not intentional, it just happened that's what my course was. When I entered southern Dinwiddie I broke off as I was 15 minutes out and had the airport in my sight. I called Washington Approach to them know, and to end my flight following and switched over to the Traffic/Advisory Frequency for KPTB (122.7)

Winds were favorable for runway 5. So passed over Sutherland and a bit of Lake Chesdin. Over the rock quarry, and motorsports park, and made a smooth landing at KPTB.



Kenny was able to get my father to the airport 30 minutes before I landed. When I stepped out of the plane, I was greeted with "What the hell are you doing here?" As he wasn't expecting me to be in the plane. (Kenny told him, he had bought a plane, and it was being flown in.) It was a great birthday surprise for him.

While in Virginia, I was hoping to take both Kenny and Dad on a flight. I was planning on going to Manteo, NC (Nags Head) but both days we were planning on flying, the weather wasn't going to allow it.

I was orginially suppose to return to KRYY on the 28th, but due to a cold front/stationary front drapped over the area and with Tropical Storm Isaac coming in from the Gulf bring more mositure and strong winds it was decided to actually come back on the 27th. Good move, because from NC to FL is drapped in IFR conditions.

Current METAR as of this writing:

KRYY 281147Z 08008KT 6SM -RA BR OVC010 23/22 A3004

Current TAF as of this writing:

KRYY 281141Z 2812/2912 10009KT P6SM -SHRA BKN006 OVC010
     FM281500 09012G18KT P6SM VCSH SCT010 OVC020
     TEMPO 2820/2824 4SM -TSRA BKN025CB
     FM290000 11005KT P6SM VCSH SCT020 BKN040
     PROB30 2900/2906 5SM -SHRA
     FM290900 10004KT P6SM VCSH BKN008 BKN015

So, yeah, it was a good decision to come back yesterday instead of today.

The Trip Back...

Due to a technical error, some of the return flight wasn't captured.

Due to a somewhat low ceiling my intended cruise alitutde was 4500, but I only made it to 2500.

Unfortunately, at that height, ATC lost me on radar when I got near the Virginia board. I was told to call Durham in about 10 miles to see if they could pick me. Luckily they did. I prefer to have an extra eyes in the sky. The photo below is a dam, I believed, associated with Lake Gaston. Below that photo is another of an old rock quarry northeast of Greensboro.

The two maps below are associated with this paragraph. So going back, I'd have to go through the Charlotte Airspace again. I couldn't be promised it due to traffic volume, so I decided to go north of it. Well, when ATC saw my turn to the west, as presented below, they question what I was doing. They then told me, I could go through the Class-Bravo airspace if I wanted. This would save me about 20 minutes. I took them up on the offer, and you can actually see the sharp line to the southwest that I took. The map, is a VFR Sectional of the airspace that I cut through.

Just west of Spartanburg, I saw these birds flying up at me. I was thinking they were going to go back down or fly pass. Well, they did, except one. One small bird flew directly into my wing. I felt the shutter of the plane, and heard the sound of the bird hitting the metal of the plane. I started scanning my instruments for any abnormalities, felt the flight controls... everything was good, seeing if I was leaking gas, etc. After I determine that everything was still good, I tried to look forward as much as I could to see if he was still stuck on the wing or if there was any damage. I couldn't see any. The photo below the map, is a antenna farm on top of Paris Mountain. (I believe that's the mountain.) At this time in the flight, I was hitting a ground speed of about 130 or so knots. We were traveling!

Over Lake Keowee (upper right on the map below) flew right over the Oconee Nuclear Power Station.

My approach into KRYY...

Overall, I was extremely happy with the trip. I was pretty happy with my piloting skills, and my cockpit management skills. Would I do it again? Yes, but I have definitely learned that I need to get my IFR rating.

Happy Flying!

Instruments and Other Goodies – 7/29/2012

It's been awhile since I've updated the blog, so I thought I would go ahead and do it now... since I can't sleep.

As I've mentioned before, in May I started my instrument training with ground school. On July 14, I started my first practical instrument lesson with the same instructor I had for my PPL. So far, I'm 4 lessons in and really enjoying it. I think getting the IFR will definitely make me a much better pilot.

Per the FAA Regs., I can do about 20 hours of my IFR training in a simulator. This is great as it saves money, plus you can do things in the sim that you can (or shouldn't do) in an actual plane.

My last two sessions we have started adding landing on ILS Runway 27 at KRYY. Even though I haven't had any major formal training (besides ground school, and from what I've been reading) ILS is my current favorite approach. I have also been practicing the ILS at different airports and weather conditions at home on Flight Simulator X.

On 7/21, I found out my current instructor is leaving SFS. So, I've been assigned to another guy. So far, we have had one sit down meeting, and it looks like we will work well together. I'm hoping for the best.

I'm planning at least 2 lessons per week for my IFR training. It wasn't as much as my PPL, that is due to my new schedule.

On July 9, I moved from overnights; which I was on for 8 freaking long years (4 years at my current job, and 4 years at my previous one,) I still wonder how that has shorten my lifespan) to 2^nd shift. Yay!

This Friday, August 3^rd, I'm planning on taking a good friend flying with me for the first time. This will be one of his first times in a Cessna 172. I'm excited about flying, having him along, and seeing what he thinks. I'm hoping it cools down a tad, current temperature for Friday is 94 degrees. I don't like flying when it's hot.

Also, at the end of August is when I do my first 400+ mile VFR flight. I'm so freaking nervous about it, that I'm excited. I'll talk about it more when it gets here.

Other than that, that's about it. See ya on the other side of the cloud!

Pilot Reports from Virginia...

Severe storms (a derecho) moved across Virginia the night of 6/29/2012...

   PIREP 02:45Z 06/30/12
   RIC UUA /OV HPW/TM 0245/FL350/TP B737/TB SEV    
  
   PIREP 02:09Z 06/30/12
   CHO UUA /OV GVE225020/TM 0209/FL060/TP E145/TB SEV/RM SEV UPDRAFTS   

   PIREP 02:16Z 06/30/12
   AVC UUA /OV LVL330015/TM 0216/FL340/TP B737/TB SEV CAT   
  
   PIREP 02:09Z 06/30/12
   SIF UUA /OV GSO030035/TM 0209/FL155/TP CRJ7/TB MOD-SEV 155-130/RM DURD
  
   PIREP 04:12Z 06/30/12
   MFV UUA /OV CCV360005/TM 0412/FL070/TP PA31/TB MOD-SEV

FL - Flight Level
TP - Type of Aircraft
TB - Turbulence.

Good Landing… on a flat tire! – 6/13/2012

On 6/13/2012, my buddy Andy Martz and I decided to take 653KB up to KCHA for a quick ride.

It was a pretty nice day; we had somewhat low cumulus clouds so we decided to fly at 2500 up to Chattanooga. Originally it was planned for 4500 but clouds were at 4000. It was a tad turbulent but nothing major.

We landed on runway 2 at KCHA. It was a no thrills landing. Taxied back and had to wait for a US Airways CRJ to land before we were given clearance to take off.

Going back, we went to an altitude of 3500 and scooted on back to KRYY.

It was a standard pattern procedure landing at KRYY’s runway 27. On landing, our back main wheels touched down smoothly, followed by our front gear. No bouncing, no hard landing, it was pretty smooth. As we were slowing down I noticed I was having to give a lot of left rudder. This was very unusual. By the time we got to our taxiway, I had to use all of the left rudder and left break to get her off the runway. I stopped the aircraft to do the “After landing checklist,” and couldn’t get her rolling again. She was stuck.

Our right main tire had gone flat on us. Contacted tower and informed them of the issue. They called the flight school so we could get a tow, but now since we were stuck, taxiway Bravo was now closed as no aircraft could get through. We waited about 30 minutes when they came to put the version of an airplane “donut tire” on. The mechanic taxied our plane back as we rode in the truck back to the flight school.

This could of turned into a much worst situation if the tire had actually blown on landing. We were lucky, and I’m proud at how I handled it.

Maiden Long Distance Cross Country – 5/16/2012

Life gets in the way, and when it does, that's when you kick it in the balls and move on. This post is very late, but better late than never. Life has been very busy for me, so I have not been able to post about two recently flying trips.

All of March I was doing my IFR Ground Lessons. In July I plan to start my actual training. I would love to get the license by mid-August, but a lot has to happen before that can actually happen. If not by mid-August, I would love to have it by November. I'm planning a big flying trip in August and November or December. More details as we get closer. But here is the blog about my maiden long distance cross country trip to KMYR – Myrtle Beach International:

My flying buddy, Andy Martz (who provided the photos featured in this section of the blog) and I had planned on leaving the16^th of May, but weather had us grounded. The morning of the 17^th, the sun rose with not even a single cloud in the sky! We wanted to have wheels up at 7AM (or even before) but due to some complications we had to delay it until 830AM... 90 minutes behind schedule. Our cruise altitude over to KMYR was 5500. We took 653KB instead of the originally planned 707PD due to availability. I would of liked to have taken PD because of the awesome autopilot, but KB is my baby as I did most of my training and solo’ed in her. Plus her magnetos are much better and you don’t have to spend 2-5 minutes at the end of the runway burning them off before take off.

We had pretty much, cloudless skies going over there. We couldn’t due a direct route due to a Military Operations Area (Gamecock … hehe, I said cock…) so we went south of it, and used Georgetown as a waypoint. All in all, it really wasn’t a bad idea, it only added 10 minutes to our travel time, plus we had a good portion of flying over the coast. That was absolutely beautiful.

Our route was: KRYY, KXNO, VAN (Vance VOR), KGGE, KMYR

We had two choices of airports in Myrtle Beach… KMYR (the main, international airport) or KCRE (Grand Strand Airport – North Myrtle Beach.) I decided that KMYR was our main destination airport, but KCRE would be our alternate. I really liked KMYR because if you land on runway 36 you approach the runway over the ocean which is absolutely beautiful! Andy, who is also a photographer, took many beautiful photos while flying over there, and while at Myrtle Beach itself. When we were landing, we had a US Airways Dash-8 Turboprop in front of us, so we had to do some vectors until he was at a safe distance. We did have a nasty headwind when we were landing, but was able to touch down with no problems at all. Smooth as silk!

When we were about 20 miles out, I called over to the FBO to make sure our rental car was waiting, which it was. We landed and there was a “Follow Me” truck at the beginning of the taxiway. I had a feeling we needed to follow him, but being the newbie, I had to ask ground if I should follow him. I think I was able to give them a chuckle, but I rather be safe than sorry. They have a beautiful FBO; I requested a top off of the fuel.

We were departing the next day, on May 17^th. I wanted to depart at 1PM, but needed to file my flight plan and do all the calculations. So, I got up around 8AM, and sit on the balcony of the hotel watching the sea while doing my calculations. We departed the room around 1045AM, and headed back to the FBO/Airport.

When I called to file my flight plan, I was told to expect Severe VFR Conditions (which means, an extremely beautiful day to fly.) So, we were both excited about flying again. I would of loved to have stayed at the beach longer, but due to time (and finance restraints) we only stayed the weekend. We got back to 653KB and she was ready for us. Both tanks were filed. They gave us a discount on fuel since I was a new pilot and customer. Current gas price was $6.44, but only charged me $5.77. I thought that was very nice of them. And with AvGas, you will take any discount you can get.

We took off from runway 36, so we weren’t able to fly over the ocean again, but I planned for us to use Georgetown again, so we flew up the coast for a bit. Coming back home was a good challenge. Nonstop turbulence. We were flying at 4500 feet, and had light to moderate continuous turbulence. I filed two Pilot Reports noting the turbulence, and when I got home later, saw many other people reported the same thing on our route.

At one point, we probably caused some alarms to go off in ATC (we had flight following coming and going.) There was another VFR flight going northward at our altitude. ATC said to us: “653KB, Immediately Climb! To 5000! Climb! Climb!” I put in full throttle and started to climb. ATC: “Traffic at your 9 o’clock,” Right when I reached 5000, we spotted the plane (and they spotted us.) They were right at our old altitude. ATC then told us we could resume our planned altitude. I will admit, it was pretty cool seeing him so close to us.

Flying from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach took us 2 hours and 40 minutes. From Myrtle Beach to Atlanta took us 2 hours and 15 minutes. To give you an idea… if we drove it, it would have taken 6.5 to 7 hours.

When we got back to KRYY, we were both hungry and exhausted. So after we loaded up my car, we drove to the other side of the airport and had a late lunch at a restaurant on the field. Price and food was quite good actually. It’s called the Elevation Chophouse.

Photos provided by Andrew Martz:

$100 Hamburger – 5/1/2012

On May 1^st, a buddy of mine and I went for my very first $100 Hamburger at KLZU (Gwinnett County Airport.) We ate at the restaurant on the field, The Flying Machine. I thought it was pretty good. Instead of the standard Pilot Burger, I went for the BLT. I'm a big fan of BLT's.

For those who don't know what a $100 Hamburger is: It is aviation slang for a general aviation pilot needing an excuse to fly. A $100 Hamburger typically involves flying a short distance (less than 2-hours,) eating at an airport restaurant and flying home. The term “$100” originally referred to the approximate cost of renting or operating a light general aviation aircraft.

This was my maiden short-flight with a passenger. The other time I had a passenger was with the instructor. Both landings (at KLZU and KRYY) was flawless. It was bumpy going over at 3500feet. When we were eating, I was checking the weather reports and the ceiling had dropped to 4500 which disappointed me. I was hoping to fly back at 4500. By the time we were done eating the ceiling had risen to 5500 and higher so going back at my planned 4500 was no problem. It was turbulent going over, a little more than I expected, but coming back at a higher altitude fixed that issue.

Last night was my 3^rd night of IFR Ground School. Next Monday we start to get into the niddy-griddy of it all. Right now it's just reviewing everything from Private Pilot Ground school. I'm working on getting funding for my IFR training and that should be completely by the end of the month. I really hope to accelerate my training to have my IFR by the end of November.

Also, I have planned out my maiden cross-country flight. It will be next week, from KRYY to KMYR (Myrtle Beach, SC.) It will be a short weekend trip, but I'm so much looking forward to it. I'm a bit concern about the weather right now, if it gets rained out, I'm going to push it to the following week until I can actually get it in.

Happy Flying!