Throwback Saturday - First Solo Flight, March 2014

Checkride Debrief

Here are some notes I took after my checkride at KPWG. Hopefully this will come in handy for you folks getting ready to take your checkride.

Flight Examiner Brief:

-Plan a VFR cross-country as follows: KPWG-KDWH-KPSN.
-Have your cross-country navigation logs (winds, estimated times en-route,  etc.) and flight plan forms completed prior to your arrival for the practical.
 Also bring with you a weather briefing packet for the trip. You can either call the F.S.S. or use FAA approved on-line resources.  Be prepared to discuss your findings.
-Plan the second leg (KDWH-KPSN) as if you would fly it at night (i.e. pick check points that you would easily identify at night, and make appropriate FAR compliance considerations, forced landing options, fuel requirements etc.). When you select check points for the first leg (KPWG-KDWH) try to find points that are not too far apart, preferably no more than 10-15nm(ideally) apart, as the landmarks/checkpoints allow, (only for the first leg). Doing so will shorten the cross-country portion of the flight. The navigation portion of the flight will NOT include the use of GPS, so pick your checkpoints wisely!
-Examiner weighs 190 lbs. We will take 20 lbs. of luggage as well. Please compute weight and balance, take-off and landing distance data for the flight. Be familiar with the rest of the Performance and Limitations Area of Operation.
-Please review the current Private Pilot Practical Test Standards (PTS), (available at faa.gov), in its entirety. Do not leave any stone unturned! Don't forget to review the Areas of Special Emphasis, including, Stall/Spin Awareness, Wind-shear/Wake Turbulence Avoidance, Runway Incursion Awareness/Avoidance (under Pre-flight Procedures, Task F, in the PTS) and Night Operations (Area Of Operation XI).
-Be able to locate the AROW (including the equipment list) for your airplane

Checkride day:

Theoretical
-Reviewed Aircraft logbooks
-Reviewed Pilot logbook
-Aircraft systems (how many vacuum pumps, what are electrically operated systems, etc)
-How to get weather for a larger area than a TAF (Answer: Area Forecast)
-What is wind shear and why is it dangerous
-Couple of questions on weather and visibility
-Identify a couple of air space categories on a sectional chart
-How does a spin occur, how do you fix it?
-Expiration dates of medical certificates, other currency questions
-Where to find info on how high to fly over restricted airspace (It's on the sectional)
-Lots of questions on aircraft limitations (Section 2 of the POH for the Cessna 172)
-Reviewed flight plan to Houston Hooks, also checked W&B calculations, takeoff and landing distances
-Did NOT review plan from Hooks to Palestine
-Runway/taxiway lights/markings, some general questions on Hooks as the destination airport

Practical
-Normal take-off from McGregor, no GPS, TOC was 3500
-Just past town of Chilton diverted to Marlin
-Short field landing in Marlin within 200 feet of the second center stripe
-Used traffic pattern at Marlin in lieu of ground reference maneuvers
-Soft field/short field take-offs and landings in Marlin
-Examiner pulled power at 1600 after take-off from Marlin, wanted to see if I was going to waste time with transponder and radio calls
-Ended up simulated emergency landing straight ahead into a field
-After that back towards McGregor
-Tracking to Waco VOR
-On the way: Unusual attitudes, steep turns, hood work, slow flight, power on/power off stalls, emergency descent
-Landing at McGregor simulated deer on the runway, performed go-around

Wooooaaaaaaa

Happy Holidays from Chuck Norris

Airspace made visible

Very cool!

UK 24 from NATS on Vimeo.

Night landing at KGTU

First time exercising my pilot privileges ...

 

... with my gorgeous co-pilot

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yup, I'm a pilot!

Austin TRACON and Tower Visit

A big thanks to the entire team at the KAUS TRACON facility. I recently went for a tour and everyone was very welcoming and took time to answer all my questions.
I wasn't allowed to take pictures but below are some photos I found around the interwebs that give a good idea of what it was like.

Georgetown Airfest 2014

Pictures and Video from Georgetown Airfest 2014

Checkride woes

Tomorrow the wind is gusting up to 30+ knots. Had to reschedule my checkride yet again. Maybe fifth time's the charm?

You don't see this every day

Rescue training Ops in Austin

Flightdeck Gallery

Circuit of the Americas in Austin

Ford Tri Motor

Saw this 1929 beauty yesterday at McGregor Executive. She'll be in Georgetown, TX next weekend for the KGTU Airfest.  http://airfest.georgetown.org/ http://www.flytheford.com
 

KGTU (Georgetown, TX) on LiveATC

By the way, KGTU is now on LiveATC. Listen in and you just might hear yours truly going up.
http://www.liveatc.net/search/?icao=kgtu

You think you're safe until ...

Here's an example of doing everything right and still almost ending up dead.

I was flying from Georgetown up to McGregor Executive for my checkride yesterday. Beautiful day and blue skies. My flight instructor was in the right seat to tag along. Once airborn I requested flight following as usual for that extra safety factor. Good thing we did because we had to divert around Salado due to parachute jumpers.

The rest of the flight was uneventful until we got to McGregor. We called the airport in sight and ATC had us switch to UNICOM for landing. Typically you might get Waco approach but not today.
I started calling out position reports about 10 miles from the airport. With the wind 170@9 we entered a left downwind for runway 17. Frequently calling out updates to my position we eventually got a call "McGregor traffic, I'm 3 miles to the east of the field". I don't exactly recall what else the update included but that put the other plane near us and we started scanning the sky primarily to our right (east). We also followed up with a call of "McGregor Traffic, Skyhawk is abeam the numbers Runway 35 on a left downwind for runway 17". We didn't get any further radio calls from the other plane but kept looking out the window for the traffic since we knew it was close.

Then just a few moments later my instructor yanked the controls hard right. At exactly the same time I saw the other plane changing course and turning right .. we were on track for a head on collision, he was headed straight for us. Wheew .. disaster averted, but only by about 200 feet.

When I reviewed the situation on the ground with my instructor it turned out that we did everything "right". We called out our positions, selected the appropriate runway based on the winds and flew the proper pattern. We weren't able find the other guy to figure out why he was flying a right downwind for runway 35 when the conditions were not appropriate to land there. Also he was flying a right downwind at an airport where both runways are designated left pattern (the default unless otherwise specified). The one thing the other pilot did right was to turn right immediately upon spotting the impending collision.

That flight was a stark reminder to never ever let your guard down when flying, even when you're communicating with other planes and you think you're safe. Always expect the unexpected and be ready to react and rely on your training. The saying goes "Live and learn", Live being the key word!!

And no, I didn't get my PPL yesterday but that's because there was apparently a miscommunication and the examiner never showed up. Will try again tomorrow :)

Update: Checkride examiner just called to reschedule. Now hoping to finally get it done on the 10th.

Live Entertainment in Chicago

He can play planes and fly pianos! Or was it the other way round? :)

Flightdeck Gallery

ERJ 170

Airport Design

One of the coolest airports I've seen:
http://interestingengineering.com/madeira-airport-an-award-winning-structure/

Cool Livery

Caught this out of the corner of my eye while running through Newark on Sunday to make my connection to Austin. Had to stop and take a picture. What a cool retro livery.

http://www.airlinesanddestinations.com/more/continental-paints-737-in-the-blue-skyway-retro-livery/

Flightdeck Gallery

Boeing 757-200

EDDH Gate C04

Flightdeck Gallery

Boeing 737-800

Gate 16, KAUS - KEWR

ATC Humor

ATC Humor:
https://soundcloud.com/sebastiankt/atc-humor

Big Boy Service in Waco

Watch out for that .. Antenna Array

Waco Departure: N422LC, are you familiar with the large antenna array with a maximum height of 2500 feet at your 2 o'clock?
N422LC: Affirmative, however I think I'll be climbing a few hundred feet right now (as I am at 3000 feet).

Lesson learned: Don't be in a hurry, always review your route of flight for any obstacles on your sectional. Even if you've just flown the opposite direction

Pre Solo Cross Country Checkup

A quick dash over to Taylor with my instructor for a pre Solo Cross Country Checkup.

Flightdeck Gallery

Southwest Boeing 737 - Steam Gauges

 

They let me fly this thing?? Nope .. they sure didn't :)

 

First Solo Woes

So .. first solo last Friday departing out of KGTU.
Wind was 6 knots on the ground but man, as soon as I got up there it was nothing but shake, shake, shake.
I have about 150 landings under my belt but for some reason I almost broke the plane every time I came in for a touch 'n go I almost gave up and called it a day.

To calm things down a bit decided to just fly over to T74 and hang out over lake Granger for a bit. Spent some time just circling and making sure all was well with the plane as well as with my head.

Then back to KGTU and finally managed a better landing.
The rest of Friday night I was pretty bent out of shape over what happened. A good night's sleep fixed the problem though and now I'm ready to head back up and show that plane who's boss