Day 29 ( 91.1 TT, 16.2 MET )

This is the post where I will whine a lot. I don't mean to be so negative all the time, I just want to get the facts out and be realistic for anyone considering Aviator. I waited for my EOC ride for several days, delayed by weather and maintenance problems. Then I waited for a designated examiner for more than a week. Today was finally the day for my multi-private check ride. Got to the airport at 7am, got my $400 bucks ready and waited. The examiner NEVER showed up. He forgot, even though I was on his schedule for more than a week. If a student doesn't show up for a check ride, he/she will be charged a "no show" fee, I wish that would work both ways! Now I have to wait two more days until wednesday. Keep in mind that I haven't flown for a week, and I can't start my instrument flying until I pass this ride.



This is a typical schedule for Aviator. The first 12 aircraft are Duchesses, the rest are Cessnas and Pipers. As you can see, two airplanes are down for more than a week (red) and others for several days (yellow). The aircraft are constantly squawked for different issues, however the instructors DON'T squawk everything, because there would be no airplanes to fly!


On friday I back-sat a flight during which we had a door pop open at 5500'. This is apparently quite normal around here, and most instructors said that it's "good practice". Except we had to fly back to the airport to shut the door, and at the rate we pay, that poor guy paid around $90 for that wonderful "practice" time. During which, as you can see in the picture, he is hanging on to the door with a scared look on his face, and the instructor is flying the plane.

On a different note, an open door in the dutchess produces as much drag and yaw as a failed engine, so if you lose a left engine in flight AND the left door opens, you will have a bad day! (in this case there may not be enough rudder authority to counteract the yaw and roll of the aircraft)

Day 16 ( 86.9 TT, 12 MET)

Finished the multi-private ground class on thursday. The end of course test was pretty easy. Flew a couple of flights late in the day, so the landings were at night. Had a funny moment during an approach: I couldn't figure out why the runway lighting was so dim, and the runway so hard to see. Then I realized that flying at night WITHOUT your sunglasses on is actually a lot easier:) Lots of single engine inoperative practice, in the pattern, at 5000', Vmc demoes and one engine out landings.

On friday I back-sat a night cross-country flight to Daytona Beach, then Okeechobee and back. They had to do ten full stop landings (it was a student starting his commercial training) so we left Ft. Pierce at 8pm and came back 2am.

Tomorrow will be my end of course ride (for my multi private) with a different instructor. If I pass, I will get my real check ride with an FAA designated examiner sometime later this week.

Below is a pic of the night cross-country, short final for 7R at Daytona.

Day 9 ( 80.2 TT, 5.3 MET )

Had some weird weather over the weekend (or so the locals say) so I had to cancel two flights. Spending three hours a day in class, one hour in the "dead bird" (a cabin section of a crashed duchess that was cut off and is now used for chair flying) and trying to fly once a day. Tons of homework. The flight on saturday was in pretty bad weather, and I lost visual of the runway on final. The instructor had to take over control and shoot the ILS approach. On monday did a maneuver I had never done before, which was an emergency descent. Throttles off, pitch for 140kts, and drop out of the sky from 6000' to 1500' over the ocean, while doing S turns. Scary at first, but then get used to it. As long as you clear your ears on time (pressure changes RAPIDLY), it's actually quite fun. The weather improved greatly on monday so I finally accomplished my first unassisted landing.

Today had the longest flight yet, did maneuvers, and worked on the landings. A second instructor back-sat on this flight, and the performance of the plane was not effected one bit by the extra weight. Weather was beautiful today, awesome sunset and views over the ocean. It's too bad I only had seconds to look at the scenery, staying pretty busy flying the plane.

Below is a shot I took while back-sitting one of the flights.

Day 4 ( 76.1 TT, 1.2 MET )

I usually don't post every day, but today is of note. Today was my first multi-engine flight and first in-flight "incident". We took off, turned south and followed the coast. The plane climbs like a beast and I was "behind" the plane for a little while. Did some steep turns, basic stuff. My instructor then proceeded to do an engine out demo. Cut the mixture, prop is windmilling, secure engine, feather, etc. It looks really strange when the prop stops in the air. Anyway, during the restart I heard a popping noise, it was a breaker. Lost the transponder and comm 2. When the breaker was reset, thick, pink colored smoke started coming out of the panel, somewhere behind the transponder. The instructor quickly ran the electrical fire checklist while I flew the plane, and shut off anything we did not need. Then we turned back to the airport. Landed in some moderate rain. Needless to say, I was happy and grateful to be on the ground. Today I got a taste of how old these aircraft really are...

Day 3

Over the last few days I moved into a house at Vero beach with two other guys (the housing is not 5 star, but decent), got a huge pile of books and manuals, and took care of hundreds of small tasks associated with moving to a new location. Had my first class, multi-engine ground, and a general orientation.

So far I have THREE disappointments with the school. FIRST, six months of housing is included in the PRO course as advertised on their website. But, since I already have my PPL, I'm getting five months, something their site fails to mention. SECOND, all of the books and uniform I had to purchase on my own, even though I called a few weeks ago and was specifically promised that the material for ground instruction is provided by the school. And THIRD, besides back-sitting a flight yesterday (tagging along as a passenger), I haven't logged a single flight hour, and I've been here 3 days. Hopefully things will improve once my instructor is back into town.

Below is the house at Vero beach.

Ft. Pierce, FL

As expected the drive was exhausting, but I'm finally in Ft. Pierce. Google maps showed total drive time to be 32 hrs, the GPS 27 hours, and reality turned out to about 30. Visited the beach (I haven't seen the Atlantic in 13 years), and drove past the Aviator school. Staying in a motel tonight, hopefully tomorrow the housing will be assigned so I can unload my overloaded Ford Focus.