getintoflying.co.uk

Please check out one of the latest aviation blogs coming out of the UK. Jonathan is a Navy Search and Rescue Pilot. He has started a blog with the aim to help people get started with flying either as a hobby or a career.

A mutual friend hooked me up with Jonathan after which I was given the chance to write a guest blog . I chose to write about my recent visit to Luke AFB.

http://www.getintoflying.co.uk/guest-blog-an-english-pilot-abroad

Jumper Away.................

I always enjoy flying to Eloy (E60). It's small non towered airport located approx 30nm south east of my home base. It's a very busy airport for parachute jumping. I believe there are two or three different schools offering jumps.

On Saturday I flew down there for another $100 hamburger flight with a good friend from work. As with most flights, I wasn't disappointed with what was taxing around on the ramp.

Arizona SkyDive Twin Otter

Shorts Aircraft (haven't see one of these for years!)

The Mighty DC3 <3 td="td">

Twin Otter Departing 02 E60

On the way back, I dropped by KIWA for a touch and go. ATC always provides a great service there. 1.3hrs added to my total time.

Short Final 30L KIWA

Departing KIWA

Passing Through 50hrs PiC

Last week I passed through 50 hours Pilot in Command (PiC) time. Wow, what an amazing 50 hours. I can't believe how much I have done.

Seems that I have been taking someone new flying for the first time every week. So far, no one has not enjoyed themselves. Last week was no exception. A work colleague wanted to visit the Pima Air and Space Museum down in Tucson. Seemed a perfect time to take him flying for the first time. I rented a C172 on Friday morning and we flew down to KTUS before spending time touring the Museum and the attached military aircraft boneyard (309th AMARG Boneyard).

This was probably my fourth of fifth visit to Tucson International Airport. I always relish flying to this airport. It offers a real mix of traffic. You have anything from GA aircraft through to civil airliners and fast military jets. 

It's an interesting place to visit from a Air Traffic Control perspective. KTUS lies within Class Charlie airspace. With the mix of traffic, one can always expect some pretty fast paced instructions from ATC. My arrival was no exception. I counted at least four radar vectors due to landing military and civil airliner traffic. For a brief moment, I imagined myself immersed in the cloud getting vectors for an IFR approach to minima!

Arrival Video - GoPro YouTube Video

Departure Video - GoPro YouTube Video

Key Takeaways - Need to work on eliminating my flat landings! Shorten some of my replies to ATC, ref: my initial call to Clearance Delivery.

Enjoy these sample photos from my trip. Here's to another amazing 50 hours PiC!

Air Force One - Kennedy era

Boneyard Photo

Phantoms

Never been as close as this to one of these

F-16 and MD-80 at KTUS

50hrs PiC

Today I flew to KTUS and passed through my first aviation milestone as a Private Pilot. I passed through 50 hours Pilot in Command time. More details on follow on what was a great flight.

KSDL Air Fair 2012

Scottsdale Airport held their annual Air Fair at the weekend. Poor turnout from the Public, but I thoroughly enjoyed the mix of GA, civil and military traffic. Next year, I plan to fly into this event.

L-35

NAS Leemore F-18

Oregon F-15

F-16 Cockpit

NAS Leemore F-18

KIWA always delivers

KIWA is only 10nm from my home plate. But I love visiting there on the weekend. The airport always turns up some great military traffic.

Beale AFB T38A

C-17