Planning 100hr PiC Flight

Most people quote their total time (TT), however my first aviation goal was to get to 100hrs Pilot-in-Command (PiC) time whilst living here in the US. Progress has been slow over the last few weeks, but right now I sit at 95 hours PiC. It's time to start planning that 100 hour flight.

KBFI and KSEA

Where better place to go than Boeing Field (KBFI) in Washington State. To be honest it was a coin toss between KPAE and KBFI. I have already visited the Boeing Factory at KPAE (by car!) plus I wanted a more challenging arrival. KBFI is located on the approach path to KSEA. Yesterday SEA was landing on 16L and 16C. Aircraft on the approach were switched to SEA TWR right over the top of BFI at about 2000' MSL. I will enjoy the challenge flying into BFI below the traffic.

Transient parking is available at BFI. I plan to visit the Museum of Flight before heading south back to Oregon.

Hoping this flight will take place a week or two before Oshkosh 2013. Failing that, I will take the flight in early August. 

My home airport in Oregon is 7S3. There is a VOR (Newberg) a few miles south. My flight north will take be outbound on the VOR through the class delta of KHIO. I will then pick up flight following with PDX DEP.

7S3 -> SEA (initial routing)

Father's Day at the Boeing Factory

Went back to the Boeing factory today. This time I took my wife and kids for the first time. They loved it. Last month I saw the first three BA 787's. This time I saw the fourth one (BJD) outside the paint shop.

Unloading 787 Parts KPAE

Tried to get a look a the new 787-900 but it was out of sight. However I did enjoy viewing the 747-8, 767, 777 and 787 production lines. At the front of the 787 line was the fourth Aero Mexico order and the first Jetstar (Qantas) order.

Out on the ramp area I saw several finished 787's including two of the other BA's and one Thomson jet. 

Will probably head back again in another month or two to see what progress there has been. I would love to get up there for BA's first delivery flight but I doubt that will happen.

Poor Checklist Execution

Short video showing a non sterile cockpit and then me missing checklist items due to distractions.

Back Flying! (no 6 week break!!)

I'm over my disappointment from last week. Should of, could of, would of. 

Going to go flying again next week! Lesson learnt? Sterile cockpit! It's quite clear from the video that I was not focused during the taxi out. I was talking with the CFI and had cable issues with the MP3 recorder.

In the mean time, I am heading to Seattle this weekend for another Boeing tour. First time taking my wife and kids. Quite excited about spending an aviation day with them on Fathers Day.

Flying above thin layers in OR

Having A Break

Was today’s flight something to beat myself up over? I am going to have to learn to stop beating myself up over mistakes. I hadn’t flown for three weeks since leaving Austin TX. I flew in Oregon with an independent CFI on a familiarization flight. This was my decision. Not screwing around with the wx.

First mistake – I was distracted during the power checks by the aircraft behind me on the taxi way commenting on my nose gear strut over the radio. I proceed to take off without setting my instruments. The DI was 30deg off. I realized the mistake at 300’ as I commenced my noise abatement turn. Uneventful but I’m so annoyed at missing the second step of the before take-off checklist.

Second mistake - Later in the flight I was performing a 360 to lose height. I failed to put the mixture back to rich as I passed through 3000’. I was about to start my pre-landing checks. I would have spotted it then, but the CFI brought it to my attention. I felt embarrassed. I need to learn to stop beating myself up over small mistakes.

I proceeded to go missed at KTMK due to 28021G30 rwy31 (a good decision made by me and not the CFI). At KAST, I went around at 10’ due to not being aligned with the runway centreline (another good decision). Not beating myself up over that. I made good decisions. I returned to Twin Oaks feeling confident that I had at least seen some of the local landmarks. For the first time, I flew VMC on top. It was a small insight into the joys of flying IFR.

What’s the worst that happened today? I identified the instrument issue on departure. I resolved it and continued on-route. The mixture issue would have been identified during my pre-landing check. Yes, it wasn't ideal to descend through 3000’ down to 1300’ with the mixture leaned out.  I’m annoyed that the CFI said it before I spotted it. I should have had a sterile cockpit during the 360 turn.

Why am I beating myself up here? Pride with a having a new CFI on board? 3 weeks too long for a break? Is it time for another break? 

In Arizona, everything was familiar. I was hungry to fly. Not feeling the same here right now.  Seems my mind is focused on more important things than aviation at the moment. I’m deciding to take a break for a few weeks. I am going to go to OSH13 and fly again in August. I will still be current when I return but will probably fly with a CFI.

My parents are visiting Oregon in September. My Dad has never flown with me. In August I will fly to Seattle. In August I will fly pass through 100hrs PiC. In September I will take my Dad flying. Then everything will be good again. By then I will be hungry again.

Pacific West Coast

Navigating Pacific Coast

 After 3 weeks away from   flying, I flew 2.2hrs today. Flew from my new home airport which is Starks Twin Oaks (7S3). Although being cleared to fly by the local FBO, I decided to take an independent CFI with me on a familiarization flight.

We flew out to the pacific west coast where we tried to land at KTMK and KAST. Had to call the approach off at KTMK 2nm on final due to a wind at 28021G30 on rwy 31! KAST wasn't much better. I performed a go around at 10' on rwy 31 due poor correction on my part in a crosswind. We proceeded back to 7S3 via KHIO delta airspace. 

Overall I was happy with the majority of the flight. With a 3 week break, I was already a little bit rusty.

Twin Oaks Airpark

N5440H

Mastering Clearance Delivery

The majority of my 95hrs PiC time has been flying in and out of delta airspace. Most Private Pilots want to land at the airports with the big airliners and/or military traffic. This normally involves visiting either a class charlie or bravo airport. In Phoenix, I had two choices with KTUS and KPHX being on my door step. One difference between charlie/bravo vs delta is the requirement to make an initial call to a clearance delivery frequency. 

KCHD and KIWA Class D  (under KPHX class B)

Looking back, I realize that I made hard work of those initial radio calls. Most initial calls to ATC should involve (a) who you are, (b) where you are and (c) where you want to go. The clearance delivery call should not be that different. My issue has been failing to get  all the information into the initial ATC call.

As you will see from the following charlie example (KTUS ), the controller had to come back to me more than once requesting information. I should have been able to give them all the information at once. In this case it was the (a) aircraft type SKYHAWK, (b) my location and (c) I needed flight following. 




As I gained more hours in the air away from the delta airspace of CHD, my calls started to improve. Here's another example but this time from a class bravo airport (KPHX). Almost perfect but I failed to say "Phoenix Clearance Delivery". I only said "Clearance Delivery". I'm a perfectionist! (let's not mention the part about Chandler!)



In Austin, I finally nailed the call to ATC on two occasions. However I didn't record it, therefore you will just have to believe me!

Welcome from Cutter Aviation at KPHX

#letsgoflying

Have a C172 booked for Sunday. Going to have my second flight in OR. Good news is that I will be taking along the MP3 recorder and GoPro. Expect it to look a little different that the video below!

Fav. Photo

Love taking photos whilst I am out and about flying. One of my favorite photos was taken at Coolidge back in February. Thanks to Chrisk48 for taking this photo. His timing was perfect, just like my landing!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisk48/8441916624/

Texas Flying - Wx Woes

Friday was the day after getting checked out in N733CP, I was starting to keep an eye on the weather for my Saturday trip. The TAF showed OVC009 until 11:00L. I had the aircraft booked from 7am till 10am. In my mind I was not flying on Saturday. I was already disappointed. I perked up after lunch on the Friday when we were allowed to finish early. I went straight onto the online booking system and secured 733CP for a couple of hours that afternoon. Took a work colleague with me. Had a couple of delays at the airport but we departed 17L at KAUS at 14.15L. 

Holding Short 17L KAUS

By the time we got airborne, the wind had increased.  The visibility was quite poor. Ended up cutting the flight short. Flew only 0.7 hours. Again, I failed to film with the GoPro (sorry!). My colleague from India had never been in a small aircraft before. He had an absolute blast up there despite the short time. 

As with my checkout flight, I received several vectors from a very helpful Approach Controller. I did make one mistake. Rather than saying "Austin Approach", I said "Austin Arrival". I was a bit tongue twisted that afternoon.

The flight on Saturday was cancelled. However I did go to an aviation event in Hondo Texas. I will blog about that next. There was one other attempt at flying after the weekend. I will blog about that too.

Circuit Of Americas

N733CP

Exploring Texas - Getting Checked Out

Spent several years before I had a pilots license traveling around Europe, Japan and the US on business. During my spare time on the trips, I tried to keep the weekends aviation theme based, for example, visiting a museum or an airport for some spotting. But now being a Private Pilot, I can get checked out for a rental. This is what I did on a recent trip to Austin, Texas. 

I had some great plans to fly over the one weekend. However, low visibility and wind ruined my flying plans. However I did get to fly twice. A little bit of research and a visit to KAUS, I came across a couple of rental options. Ended up going with Above & Beyond Aviation based out of Atlantic Aviation on the east side of KAUS. After finishing work at 4pm, I ran over to the airport to meet the CFI that the owner has assigned to me. Flew 1.3hrs in SKYHAWK 733CP which was a C172N. Not the prettiest on the outside but flew lovely. Great value at $99 an hour wet!

KAUS Airspace (skyvector.com)

Prior to the flight, I hadn't spent much time studying the Texas sectional. I soon  realized why most of the runways were orientated North/South in Texas. Wind was almost always 17014G20!

Flew to Lockhart which is 20nm south of KAUS. There we did 2 touch and goes followed by some stalls and steep turns. KAUS airport lies within class charlie airspace. One of the fun parts of charlie airports is getting radar vectors from ATC. I had already experienced this heading into KTUS back in Arizona. I was inbound back to the airport at around 18:00L. ATC were very busy with inbounds for 17L and 17R. I received about 5 heading changes from ATC and was cleared for a "high speed" approach to a left base 17L. I landed behind a C152 and in front of a Challenger jet. After landing, I received praise from the CFI. He signed my logbook and I was approved for rentals over the weekend.

One regret. I didn't record anything on the GoPro and MP3 recorder. Could only find about 5 seconds of audio on liveatc.net  due to all the frequencies being very busy. 

N733CP

See Ya

Ever listened to liveatc.net a heard a rather over enthusiastic see ya from a Pilot? Happens all the time.

Here's my attempt. I get about a 50% success rate in the controller returning the see ya.

Blogging More

I think I need to blog some more about my flying experiences rather than just posting photos.

Looking back at Sedona

Whilst I flight plan for my next Texas flight, I have been looking back at some of the flights I took over the last 12 months. 

One of the best had to be Sedona, AZ. Talk about beautiful scenery on approach. I departed CHD in the early morning and flew up the east side of the PHX class bravo. Picked up flight following with PHX DEP and was then handed off to ABQ CTR. Video picks up as I check out with ABQ CTR a few miles south of KSEZ.

Last Flight Arizona

Took what was probably my last PiC flight in Arizona for the remainder of 2013. Flew 3.4hrs PiC with 4 landings/2 airports. Route was CHD -> DVT -> PAN -> DVT -> CHD. I picked up @cholubaz from Deer Valley (DVT) and then we flew to Payson (PAN) for breakfast.

PAN ended up being my 30th airport visited in the US. PAN has a pattern entry similar to that in Ireland. I had to fly overhead perpendicular to the runway and then join a left downwind for landing. Crosswind was 90 degrees off the nose which resulted in a crosswind component of 12-15ts. 

Dropped @cholubaz back at DVT and then my last class bravo transition over PHX back to CHD.

I am not going to miss the bumps and heat in Arizona :)

Big shout out to Chris for taking these photos.

Turning Overhead Payson

Final 06 Payson

Landings at DVT

Overhead Payson Airport

Last Flight Arizona

Flying on Saturday for what will probably be my last flight in Arizona before the move to Oregon. Right now, I am looking at the WX and considering which options are available.

Hasn't flying in Arizona been amazing?

Visiting KPHX

Another great flight into KPHX this week. All low hour Pilots should try their hand at flying into a class bravo airport. It's made easier for me by a very helpful TRACON.

First Oregon Flight

I have spent the last 12 months flying the same two aircraft from the same FBO. Today I took the plunge and got checked out in Oregon. Not sure why I was worried. Flew 1.2hrs in a C172D to two different airports. ASI was in MPH and knots. Simple conversion. Hardest part was figuring out there all the other traffic was. I don't know the landmarks well enough yet. I will be landings on runways less than 3000 ft long. Have been used to longer runways in Arizona. Time to focus on my short landing techniques! I performed five landings today. Slipped on three of them (20deg of flaps!) and performed one go around. The CFI was impressed that I chose to slip without being prompted. She was also impressed with my decision to go around. She wasn't impressed with me landing left of the center line though!!

It's going to be great learning to fly in a new state. God I love aviation.

Cub at Twin Oaks Airpark

Inside 08Y

08Y Pre Flight

Last Flight KTUS

Flew into KTUS for probably the last time in 2013. If you have been following my blog over 12 months, then you will know how much fun I have had flying into the airport. Flying into KPHX was rewarding in terms of work load on the radio etc, however, flying into the class charlie KTUS airport has to be up there with the best. How many other airports can you be sharing a pattern with another C172 whilst an F-16 departs on the parallel runway with an American Airlines MD-80 on a 5 mile final to the same runway?

I'm going to miss you Tucson Airport!

F-16's KTUS

MD-80 11L KTUS

My First Crew Car!!

Serious Biz Jets @Atlantic FBO

Departing 11L KTUS (11'000' runway!)

Boeing Factory

Two years ago, I never thought I would be visiting the Boeing Factory in Seattle. Moving to the US has brought so many aviation opportunities for me. I started working up in Portland, Oregon three weeks ago. Found myself with a couple of days off whilst waiting for work stuff to happen. Decided to visit the Boeing Factory at Paine Field which lies just north of Seattle.

To be honest, I was under the impression that the tour would last fifteen to twenty minutes with minimal views of the factory floor. I was blown away by the ninety minute tour!

First part of the visit was to the 747-8 assembly building. Stood very close to a Lufthansa 747. Amazing to see the 747 still in product albeit in -8 version. I'm yet to see one fly though.

Then the tour moved to the 777 building where several 777's were being built. The 777 assembly moves a few inches an hour!

Finally the tour finished up at the 787 assembly line where I was welcomed by a ANA 787 and the second and third British Airways 787's. On the way back to the tour start location, I passed very closed to the first BA 787 which was waiting for it's paint job!

Got talking to a fellow British guy up there. Turns out it was @Planeinsight on Twitter! Ended up spending a couple of hours with him touring the perimeter of Paine Field! Ended up standing about 500' from the runway where we watched one of the Dreamlifter's depart! First time seeing one of the them!!

I will be sure to visit Seattle again in the very near future to see one of the BA 787's flying for the first time.

BTW, the tour is $18. Great value for money. Only negative part is that no cameras allowed during the tour.

The First British Airways 787!!

Dreamlifter departing KPAE

JAL 787

Dreamlifter arriving at KPAE