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!

A Licensed Pilot! - 4/19/2012

Well, I am proud to announce, after 9 months of hard work and lots of studying I'm now a licensed pilot!

The date of the test: April 19, 2012 @ 1300

Where: Andrews-Murphy Airport

The test started at 1PM on the 19^th, so my instructor and I decided to meet up at 10AM, and leave by 11AM. Unfortunately, the weather conditions at KRYY was not favorable for VFR flight, we would have to file a flight plan and IFR. Clouds were at around 2,000 feet and completely overcast at KRYY and mostly clear at KRHP. So, I prepped the plane, as my instructor got our flight clearances. It was decided that since I do plan on getting my IFR rating, that I should at least fly until cursing altitude. So, we got clearance to take off from KRYY and head into the dark gray clouds.

It was amazing! At first you can see the ground, and in front of you is this wall of gray clouds and then we enter the gray. No more looking out the window for me, it became all gray, and then it started to get all white. We were in the white part of the cloud, and then we broke through at 5,000feet. It was beautiful. I have included the photos below. After we leveled off, the flight instructor took over and I was able to take these photos. The sky above completely blue and the ground below looking like snow.

                                                                                         

 

 

  

  

 

We went to our cursing altitude of 7,000 feet. It was 49 degrees outside.

As we got closer to the North Carolina mountains, the clouds started lifting and breaking. We went though one cumulus cloud when all of the sudden my stomach felt queasy. I thought it was nerves, but the flight instructor said, “You know what that was?” I was curious what he was meaning... We actually hit an updraft which took us up an additional 240 feet. With clouds being completely around, it was actually hard to notice that we gained that much altitude.

We had a successful landing at KRHP, where we met my examiner. He was an extremely nice guy, very professional, and very relaxing actually. We started our test with the oral portion. I've heard that some examiners are very strict, and it's only question and answer. That's it. But my examiner was completely different, it was like having a good conversation with a friend. We talked about my weight-and-balance problem he gave me, plus other possible solutions. We then moved to the cross-country portion of the trip that he had me plan out (from KRHP to KBHM. In the meantime, we also talked about airspaces, aerodynamics, emergency procedures, CRM, night flying, procedure about drinking and drugs. After about two hours, it was decided that we should go for a flight.

We packed our bags, and headed out to 653KB. I pre-flighted the plane while explaining everything I was doing. I certified that the plane was airworthy, and ready to take off. We first did a soft field take off, followed by a soft field landing. We stopped on the runway and next was a short-field take off. Followed by a short-field landing. The short-field landing was right on the dime per the Practical Test Standards. He was actually quite impressed. After that, we did a normal take off. The next landing was suppose to be a normal landing, but 500 feet from the runway he said, “Abort! Abort! Abort!” Which means I had to preform a go-around with 30 degrees of flaps. Very smooth transition. He told me to get into the landing pattern again for runway 26. When I got to the needed altitude, he told me the next scenario: I'm going to lose my engine, and electrical source. I must land the aircraft with no flaps and at a high altitude. So, I had to time my turn into final for runway 26 perfectly, and then slip the aircraft to several hundred feet above the ground to kill both airspeed and altitude. At that time, level off the aircraft, and center on the line. All of this with no power. After that, using ground effect to bleed off my airspeed. I nailed it with 2,000 feet of runway left. Only problem... I kind of left my feet on the breaks too long and they started to burn. Smelt really bad, but no damage was done.

Next we taxied to the beginning of the runway again for a normal take off, to start our cross-country portion of the test. We made it to my first two checkpoints, and then he decided to divert me over to Blairsville. After finishing all my calculations to make sure we could get there, it was time to start procedures. We first did steep turns to the left, then right. Slow flight with flaps, Stall with Flaps. Next was slow flight without flaps, and next take off stalls. I had to follow the Harris VOR for a bit. After that, we went to about 1000 feet above the ground to do ground reference maneuvers. First was S-Turns next was Turns-Around-A-Point, both left and right. After that, the examiner told me to head back to KRHP. After a successful normal landing, I became a licensed pilot!

Going back to KRYY the weather had cleared up so we were able to fly VFR back.

On the 26^th, I was told there was a slight issue with my paperwork, and I needed to return to KRHP to get it taken care of. On the 27^th, my instructor and I headed back up there. I decided to take my instructor as there were storms in the area, and cloud cover was not VFR friendly. We got up there, and finished all the needed paperwork again. Since we were up there, I was treated to a free burger at a local restaurant in Andrews, NC. I decided to have a Coke and BLT. I love my BLTs.

We flew back that afternoon, under IFR, but I did land back at KRYY as the conditions were favorable for that.

So, now my license says I got it on 4/27/2012. Doesn't really matter in my opinion, the main thing is: I'm now a licensed pilot!

So, what's next? Well, I've flown below the clouds, in the clouds, and above the clouds. I've decided that it's time for me to get licensed to fly in and above them without the instructor. I will start IFR Ground School on 4/30/2012, with flight training starting in a couple of weeks. I'm wanting to look for funding for my IFR license, but it shouldn't be as expensive as my private pilot's license. I am planning my first maiden flight for mid-May to Myrtle Beach. I'm extremely excited about it, but the days I'm looking at going, it appears the weather might not be favorable, per the long term weather models. I really do hope it stays nice.

Well, that's it.... for now... See you below the clouds, and soon in and above them!

As the Pilot-In-Command... - 4/18/2012

As the Pilot-In-Command, it was my decision today to cancel the Oral and Checkride today. The weather was too nasty. The cold front moving through the area stalled out causing us to have a very low ceiling and heavy rain. The rain did move out by 1PM, but the ceilings were still too low.

It was my decision if we still wanted to try it, and I didn't want to risk it. So the flight instructor and I called the examiner, and he agree that it was a good decision not too.

The test has been rescheduled for tomorrow 4/19/2012.

Also, as expected, I was really overthinking the approach into runway 8 yesterday. It was nerves.

The Final Countdown – 4/17/2012

As of this posting, we are little under 24-hours from when I'll be at the flight school pre-flighting 653KB to fly up to KRHP, God willing and after many prayers (and so far a lot of anxiety attacks) I'll be coming back as a licensed pilot.

Yesterday, I went up with another flight instructor (as mine was sick.) We were going to do a complete mock-checkride but weather decided to have it's own say in it. When I was preflighting the plane, I was looking to the SW towards Paulding and it was very dark, plus I was losing visibility also. I went to talk to the instructor about it, and he told me to get a standard weather briefing. By the time I was done it was drizzling and when I got back into the flight school it started to pour. So we waited it out for about 30 minutes when the rain moved out, but there was another system with low clouds behind. We decided to do some pattern work. Winds were at about 280 @ 3. We did a short field takeoff, with no issues. Short field landing, landed right before the numbers! Right on mark, but didn't do the normal breaking due to wet runway. Did a rolling 10 degree flaps take off. Next was a short field landing and took Bravo 3 off. When we were taxi'ing to the runway we got an advisory from ATC: winds shifted from 270 to 090 and is now gusting to 15 with sustained at 8. Well, that came out of nowhere.

To add to the shift of the winds, the clouds started to collapse on us. We couldn't even get to our breakaway altitude before we were in the clouds, so we did a right turn instead of left (as it would of taken us into the clouds) and had them chase us back to the runway. Another soft field landing with a crosswind nailed! I pray to God that I can nail those landings like that tomorrow, they were right one the dime! I was impressed with myself actually.

The one thing I still need work on is my ground reference maneuvers. I'm very concerned about those and think that will be what gets me busted.

Right now, weather is a bit of a concern. It looks like we will have IFR conditions for a portion of the day. If need-be, the flight instructor will fly up there, and hopefully by the time the Oral portion is completed the weather would have been broken.

Right now, the forecast is this:

KRYY – Showers before 11AM. High 68. Winds Northeast @ 5.

KRHP – Showers before Noon, otherwise cloudy. Highs 67. Winds East @ 5-10.

Oral doesn't start until 1PM.

In my earlier blog I mentioned how I wanted the winds. Well, winds out of the east means using runway 8. I've never done an approach on 8 before, but I'm trying to figure out how to enter it as it's a right traffic pattern, but it's in a valley. Do we overfly the airport's runway, and then enter at the 45? I'll talk to the instructor about this tomorrow.

Below is a map of the area. Red is the approach onto Runway 26. Blue is one route you can do to land on Runway 8. Yellow is the other route. After looking at it, it looks like Blue route may be the best, but that's a lot dropping of altitude and sharp turns to enter at the 45 angle. Will still talk to the instructor about it tomorrow. I really think I'm over thinking this.

Well, I have actually finished reading the Oral Prep book for the 4^th time, so I'm done with it. Going to look over my cross-country and weight-and-balance, make sure that is done, pack my flight bag, and have a restful evening. No studying after 530PM. I need rest, both physical and mental.

Will report on what happens when I get back. In the mean time... Happy Flying!

Final Countdown Playlist

Well, like playing a sport; before the big game you want to pump yourself up. Many people do it by listening to their favorite song(s) or artist. So, here is my playlist for tomorrow in order of pumping-up-ness (1 getting you ready - 7 getting the blood pumping hard) :

1. Exodus – Apollo 100
2. Come On Eileen – Dixie's Midnight Runners
3. Classical Wind – Apollo 100
4. Our House - Madness
5. Beetoven9 – Apollo 100
6. Maniac – Michael Sembello
7. Rhapsody In Rock – Apollo 100

Rhapsody In Rock; I listen a lot usually before flying, but I think tomorrow I'll need an extra boost. By the way, if you know who Apollo 100 is, you get 20 Extra Cool Points. Also, I should note: I don't like the song "The Final Countdown," but do like the 80s film "Final Countdown" though.