Today I had a good flight with one of our DPEs again, Bill Corcoran. He signed my new temp certificate, this time with a commercial single engine land add-on. The oral was pretty short, during the flight we did the obligatory slow flight and stalls, eights on pylons, lazy eights (he then demonstrated his version, which he appropriately calls the "crazy eights"), chandelles, a short field landing and finally the dreaded power off 180. Got lucky on that last one, during the entire maneuver I thought I wasn't going to make the runway, but touched down right on the 1000' markers.
I got my private in a Katana (Diamond Da-20), so I've never flown a Cessna before. It took me about 8 hrs of flight time to get comfortable in the plane and proficient enough to do the commercial maneuvers. After flying the duchess for so long the cessna feels like a toy tossed about in the wind (you actually have to use the rudder!)
The instructor class continues. Not very exciting to be honest, since we are now flying less and less, while keeping our noses in books more and more. To break the boredom I want to drive to Sun'n'Fun this saturday, it's in Lakeland, about an hour drive. As far as I know, the two biggest air shows in the US are Oshkosh and Sun'n'Fun. Anyways, I'll try to post some pictures next week.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Day 161 ( 257.1 TT, 182.2 MET)
I'm going to stop posting my flight hours, I now think its a bit silly :) On friday I passed the multi-commercial checkride with Bill Corcoran. The oral was short and the flight consisted of a couple of simple maneuvers and single engine operations. He is a pretty nice guy and has a LOT of stories he likes to share with his students (he also has a giant collection of neck ties, if you come to aviator, you'll know what I'm talking about). I need to start working on my single-commercial rating, which is actually harder then the multi because of the additional maneuvers you have to perform (chandelles, lazy eights, power-off 180s). I did my private license in a Diamond Katana, so now I have to learn how to fly a Cessna from scratch.
I am now enrolled in the instructor class. Right now we are covering fundamentals of instruction which is basically psychology of learning, so its hard to stay awake in class. The class is about seven weeks long, so I need take off my flying cap and put on the thinking one.
Above are some pics of a flat we had in Pahokee (KPHK), so we spent five hours at the FBO watching Discovery channel while a plane was flown in from Ft. Pierce with a mechanic and tire. That same saturday, Missionary Flights International (they are based in Ft. Pierce) had an open house and gave rides in their DC-3s. Talked to the pilots afterwards and was shocked to find out that the approach and Vmc speeds for the DC-3 are the same as in the Dutchess, 85 and 65 knots respectively.
All of the planes MFI operates have had the turboprop conversion, as the newer engines are much more efficient then the originals.
Me in the cockpit of a DC-3. The flight deck is almost brand new. I'd love to fly for these guys, but all of the pilots are certified mechanics as well, just in case they break down in the middle of nowhere (they operate in the islands and parts of south america).
I am now enrolled in the instructor class. Right now we are covering fundamentals of instruction which is basically psychology of learning, so its hard to stay awake in class. The class is about seven weeks long, so I need take off my flying cap and put on the thinking one.
Above are some pics of a flat we had in Pahokee (KPHK), so we spent five hours at the FBO watching Discovery channel while a plane was flown in from Ft. Pierce with a mechanic and tire. That same saturday, Missionary Flights International (they are based in Ft. Pierce) had an open house and gave rides in their DC-3s. Talked to the pilots afterwards and was shocked to find out that the approach and Vmc speeds for the DC-3 are the same as in the Dutchess, 85 and 65 knots respectively.
All of the planes MFI operates have had the turboprop conversion, as the newer engines are much more efficient then the originals.
Me in the cockpit of a DC-3. The flight deck is almost brand new. I'd love to fly for these guys, but all of the pilots are certified mechanics as well, just in case they break down in the middle of nowhere (they operate in the islands and parts of south america).
Monday, February 13, 2012
Day 134 ( 220.8 TT, 145.9 MET )
I'm soon to finish my time building (27 hours left). I'm kind of taking my time with this, I lost a week sailing (see post below) and will lose two more with the trip to Colorado this week. To be honest, I'm a little disappointed with this phase of the flight training. I thought I would visit all these glamorous places, but the way Aviator has it setup, you fly at night 90% of the time. No romantic scenery, and not a living soul in any of the closed airports you land at. I wanted to fly to Colorado in a duchess, but the school didn't let me (too many maintenance issues, and they did not want to fly out mechanics that far again if we broke down in Colorado. I say again because two weeks prior a plane broke down in Vegas, but it seems like they always break down in Vegas). Also I wanted to stay in Colorado for 3-4 days, and they started crying about how much revenue they would lose on a plane sitting on the ground for that long. Right.
I also tried to move out of the school housing (you save $200 - $300 a month by living somewhere else), but the admin people said that they would charge me $5K if I moved out early (I HAVE to stay with them for 5 months per the contract). I argued that most of my classmates moved out months ago. The housing was overfilled back then they said. Now there are too many empty rooms and they are losing revenue, so they can't let me go. I'm so disappointed with this school, a school that puts so much emphasis on their revenue and so little on it's customers (us, the students).
Two guys from GoJet visited the school last week. They setup interviews for guys with 800hrs or more. Only several instructors have that kind of hours around here, so it was kind of depressing for the rest of us.
On a more positive note, we did manage to get some interesting flights in on the weekends. Visited a warbird museum in Titusville (right on the field at KTIX), flew to Craig (KCRG, jail right next to the runway), landed at Whitted Field (KSPG, cool approach over the water and great restaurant on the field), also Venice (KVNC, great food at Sharkys on the Pier, my windiest landing, 19kts, gusting 28) and finally Tallahassee (KTLH) which has the coolest FBO I've seen yet. For $40 landing fee you get a brand new BMW as a crew car for a few hours. It took us five minutes to figure out how to start the thing (hey it doesn't have keys, ok?)
Above is us on final into KTLH. On top of the panel you can see the Dual GPS receiver that feeds nav data to my iPad. I can't fly without that thing anymore, especially in the planes without GPS. It's not that I can't navigate using VOR/NDB, it's that Aviator doesn't have any planes with decently working NAV or ADF receivers. I still remember the flight from Savannah, GA. Middle of the night, over the Atlantic, the coast is somewhere in the fog to the west, and we can't pick up a VOR that's barely 20 miles away. Below are pics of the pier in Venice, me in the plane, and an updated map of my flights.
I also tried to move out of the school housing (you save $200 - $300 a month by living somewhere else), but the admin people said that they would charge me $5K if I moved out early (I HAVE to stay with them for 5 months per the contract). I argued that most of my classmates moved out months ago. The housing was overfilled back then they said. Now there are too many empty rooms and they are losing revenue, so they can't let me go. I'm so disappointed with this school, a school that puts so much emphasis on their revenue and so little on it's customers (us, the students).
Two guys from GoJet visited the school last week. They setup interviews for guys with 800hrs or more. Only several instructors have that kind of hours around here, so it was kind of depressing for the rest of us.
On a more positive note, we did manage to get some interesting flights in on the weekends. Visited a warbird museum in Titusville (right on the field at KTIX), flew to Craig (KCRG, jail right next to the runway), landed at Whitted Field (KSPG, cool approach over the water and great restaurant on the field), also Venice (KVNC, great food at Sharkys on the Pier, my windiest landing, 19kts, gusting 28) and finally Tallahassee (KTLH) which has the coolest FBO I've seen yet. For $40 landing fee you get a brand new BMW as a crew car for a few hours. It took us five minutes to figure out how to start the thing (hey it doesn't have keys, ok?)
Above is us on final into KTLH. On top of the panel you can see the Dual GPS receiver that feeds nav data to my iPad. I can't fly without that thing anymore, especially in the planes without GPS. It's not that I can't navigate using VOR/NDB, it's that Aviator doesn't have any planes with decently working NAV or ADF receivers. I still remember the flight from Savannah, GA. Middle of the night, over the Atlantic, the coast is somewhere in the fog to the west, and we can't pick up a VOR that's barely 20 miles away. Below are pics of the pier in Venice, me in the plane, and an updated map of my flights.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Day 114 ( 162 TT, 87.1 MET )
I have a confession to make. I signed up to facebook. Yep. I resisted for as long as I could, honest. But it seems these days it's impossible to stay in touch with people any other way. So now you will see share icons on these posts, so share away!
A friend of mine invited me to sail with him from Punta Gorda to Key West. I agreed, since he ensured me that the trip will take only two days. A couple of nice time builders flew me to Punta Gorda and off we went sailing the gulf of mexico. The entire ordeal took seven days! Several of those we spent grounded waiting for high tide (I guess nobody onboard knew how to read a marine chart), and one day I spent sea sick (some pilot I am). Below is a picture I call "studying hard on deck, in Key West"
Once we sailed into Key West, I called my buddies to pick me up. They flew in late Friday night. I threw my stuff onboard and bummer, one of the main tires went flat. It didn't happen on landing or taxi, it just deflated siting there on the ramp. So we found a hotel and stayed the night. Saturday morning, Mike (owner of the school) flew in a mechanic with a new wheel.
On the way back my friend wanted some excitement and decided to hug the coast instead of a straight shot to Ft. Pierce. Because of Miami international airport, ATC made us follow the coast line, at 500' or below (that way we don't disrupt the traffic into MIA). Below are a couple of shots of us whizzing by Miami beach at 300', doing 130kts !
A friend of mine invited me to sail with him from Punta Gorda to Key West. I agreed, since he ensured me that the trip will take only two days. A couple of nice time builders flew me to Punta Gorda and off we went sailing the gulf of mexico. The entire ordeal took seven days! Several of those we spent grounded waiting for high tide (I guess nobody onboard knew how to read a marine chart), and one day I spent sea sick (some pilot I am). Below is a picture I call "studying hard on deck, in Key West"
Once we sailed into Key West, I called my buddies to pick me up. They flew in late Friday night. I threw my stuff onboard and bummer, one of the main tires went flat. It didn't happen on landing or taxi, it just deflated siting there on the ramp. So we found a hotel and stayed the night. Saturday morning, Mike (owner of the school) flew in a mechanic with a new wheel.
On the way back my friend wanted some excitement and decided to hug the coast instead of a straight shot to Ft. Pierce. Because of Miami international airport, ATC made us follow the coast line, at 500' or below (that way we don't disrupt the traffic into MIA). Below are a couple of shots of us whizzing by Miami beach at 300', doing 130kts !
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Day 98 ( 153.3 TT, 78.4 MET )
My visit to Colorado was awesome! It snowed right when we landed in Denver international. Had a wonderful Christmas with my family, ate a LOT of food. Came back to Florida before new years, which I now regret, there was nobody here at school, so we didn't do much flying. This was the first time I celebrated new years alone, just me and Times Square on a small TV :(
I'm now flying off my commercial maturation hours (18 hrs with an instructor before you start time building with another student). The planes brake down a lot, and during the last week alone we squawked 3 different planes in 2 days. On a flight from Key West on Friday night, I had to use my flashlight to light up the instruments because all but two bulbs were burnt out. And by the end of the flight I couldn't feel my fingers because the heaters don't work in any of the planes (I heard a rumor that the 100 hour inspections are cheaper and faster without having to maintain the heaters).
I got a kneeboard for the iPad on Christmas, and I've started to use it on long flights. It is a better tool than I expected. Not only does it replace a TON of paper maps, plates and diagrams, it's also extremely easy to change flight routing on the go. For example I filed an IFR route from Jacksonville that was changed by the flight center and was given a different route. I just found the new fix and dragged the course over it and thats it. My instructor wants an iPad now too.
Below is a quick shot of a twisting river on the way to Savannah, Georgia. Also I've attached a screen shot from ForeFlight with my recent x-country flights.
I'm now flying off my commercial maturation hours (18 hrs with an instructor before you start time building with another student). The planes brake down a lot, and during the last week alone we squawked 3 different planes in 2 days. On a flight from Key West on Friday night, I had to use my flashlight to light up the instruments because all but two bulbs were burnt out. And by the end of the flight I couldn't feel my fingers because the heaters don't work in any of the planes (I heard a rumor that the 100 hour inspections are cheaper and faster without having to maintain the heaters).
I got a kneeboard for the iPad on Christmas, and I've started to use it on long flights. It is a better tool than I expected. Not only does it replace a TON of paper maps, plates and diagrams, it's also extremely easy to change flight routing on the go. For example I filed an IFR route from Jacksonville that was changed by the flight center and was given a different route. I just found the new fix and dragged the course over it and thats it. My instructor wants an iPad now too.
Below is a quick shot of a twisting river on the way to Savannah, Georgia. Also I've attached a screen shot from ForeFlight with my recent x-country flights.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Day 78 ( 142.7 TT, 67.8 MET )
I passed the instrument check ride today! I feel like a giant rock fell off my shoulders. I don't know why I stress out over these check rides so much, sometimes I think my hair will start turning white. The ride was with Max Krull, and he is a great examiner. The oral was about 2hrs, flight about 1.5hrs. Compared to McColgan (see Day 38 below), he is what a good examiner should be. I don't feel like I got an easy pass, we covered most of the key knowledge areas, and at the same time he actually taught me a few things. On wednesday I'm flying back to Denver for Christmas, and boy I miss snow! Finally I will get to see my family and maybe even get some skiing in. Below are a few shots of my recent flights:
Above is a picture of Venice, Florida, which has water canals running between houses and entire neighborhoods - just like the real Venice in Italy!
Above are pictures of flight on top of a cloud layer and then in between two layers. Now I will move on to my time building stage, which is said to be the funnest part of this whole program.
To everyone reading this blog, Merry Christmas!
Above is a picture of Venice, Florida, which has water canals running between houses and entire neighborhoods - just like the real Venice in Italy!
Above are pictures of flight on top of a cloud layer and then in between two layers. Now I will move on to my time building stage, which is said to be the funnest part of this whole program.
To everyone reading this blog, Merry Christmas!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Day 67 ( 134.7 TT, 59.8 MET )
Well I'm almost done with my instrument training. Passed stage III check today. Still have to pass the end of course with Pierre (he is easily the most experienced pilot in the school, former fighter pilot and holds a PhD in aerodynamics), and then the check ride. With memories of my last check ride still fresh, I really don't look forward to it, even though I will do it with a different examiner. I really hope to finish before the 21st (I'm flying back to Denver for Christmas, can't wait), so that I can begin my time building early next year.
There are major issues with the planes right now, a lot are down for maintenance and inspections. They even tried to shut down flight operations for wednesday, so that the mechanics could "catch up". A lot of flights were canceled, including my stage check. That almost caused an uprising (most students don't like to sit at home and pay rent, while the school deals with their ancient fleet) so by noon all of the available planes were back up.
On a more positive note, today's flight added 1.5 hrs of actual flight in meteorological conditions to my logbook. These hours are hard to come by here in florida, since it's been mostly clear these past two weeks, but really windy and turbulent. Anyways, we took off in pretty gloomy conditions, it was getting ready to rain. Miami center assigned us to 5000', and we broke out of the "soup" at about 4500'. It's a different world up there. Its a perfectly calm, blue sky with the blinding sun illuminating a white carpet of clouds below. Its in moments like these that I remember why I wanted to be a pilot in the first place. Sorry, I don't have a picture to post, I was really busy navigating, but a picture wouldn't do the view justice anyway...
There are major issues with the planes right now, a lot are down for maintenance and inspections. They even tried to shut down flight operations for wednesday, so that the mechanics could "catch up". A lot of flights were canceled, including my stage check. That almost caused an uprising (most students don't like to sit at home and pay rent, while the school deals with their ancient fleet) so by noon all of the available planes were back up.
On a more positive note, today's flight added 1.5 hrs of actual flight in meteorological conditions to my logbook. These hours are hard to come by here in florida, since it's been mostly clear these past two weeks, but really windy and turbulent. Anyways, we took off in pretty gloomy conditions, it was getting ready to rain. Miami center assigned us to 5000', and we broke out of the "soup" at about 4500'. It's a different world up there. Its a perfectly calm, blue sky with the blinding sun illuminating a white carpet of clouds below. Its in moments like these that I remember why I wanted to be a pilot in the first place. Sorry, I don't have a picture to post, I was really busy navigating, but a picture wouldn't do the view justice anyway...
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