Mother Nature Creates A "Cessminole"

A few posts back, I posted a few photos of the mishap from a few weeks ago involving a Cessna 172SP and a Piper Seminole. My photos were taken from a distance while taxiing (co-pilot had the controls while I took the photos).

My friend Kim was at Gateway when the storm hit. She took a bunch of close-up photos and was nice enough to share them. Thanks Kim!

What can you say to the person that failed to properly tie down the Seminole other than "Man, it sucks to be you".

Living In Aviator's Paradise Does Have Down Sides

One of them is practice traffic. There is a LOT of it. Yesterday alone, I burned 2 hours dual without fully executing a single approach.

The Stanfield VOR (TFD) is in the Southwest Practice Area. Stanfield is the initial approach fix for the GPS and ILS approaches into Casa Grande (KCGZ). Everyone on God's Green Earth goes here because it is the only uncontrolled ILS approach within a reasonable distance of Phoenix.

The altitude for the procedure hold at TFD is 3,500, with 500 foot increments for vertical spacing. Practice holds are at 6,000 feet and above. Well yesterday, when we were 10 miles out, we called for top of stack and the reply was Seminole N***** is currently top of stack at 6,500. Crap! That means there are already 7 aircraft in the hold. In 10 minutes, we would probably enter at 6,000. At roughly 4 minutes per hold, we're talking about 25 minutes, just to get to the bottom of the stack and go inbound, which is still 5 1/2 minutes from the runway at 90kts!

Since we only have 2 hours total for this flight, we decide to blow off Casa Grande and do the 4R GPS into Chandler (KCHD). After briefing the approach, I try calling Phoenix approach. 30 seconds...no reply. I heard her talking to other traffic. I know we're on frequency. Let's try again..."Phoenix Approach, Cherokee N113ND with request"...let's give them 45 seconds. Again NOTHING. We're coming up on the IAF and bravo airspace, so we circle. Meanwhile, there are NO other aircraft calling on 123.7. We give it a few more minutes and call again. Finally a man comes on and acknowledges us. Must have been a shift change. Anyway, he gives us vectors to an approach fix that is 12 miles from the one we're right next to. We politely ask for vectors to DECTU, which is the fix that puts you on the final approach course. Negative, proceed as vectored. Why? There's no other traffic, nothing going on. OK. Finally we get to DEKTU and approach hands us off to Chandler, who promptly tells us they can't handle any practice approaches. Not even a missed above TPA? NOPE. They vector us out of their airspace and instruct us to squawk VFR. We're going to continue with approaches elsewhere, can we retain current squawk? Negative, squawk VFR. CRAP! Strike two.

OK, let's try the VOR 30C approach for Gateway. Phoenix approach is vectoring us to Gateway. I'm doing partial panel with no DME and things are going great. Just as we're about to enter KIWA airspace, Phoenix tells us that KIWA isn't accepting practice approaches at this time. CRAP X2. At this point, we might as well give up and land. We call up approach and request full stop. To make a long story short, they had two Harriers in the pattern. That's the reason they weren't accepting our practice approach request. Three 10,000' runways and they can't let us do the approach because of two Harriers? To add insult to injury, right after we were acknowledged by Gateway tower, they approved the guy less than 2 minutes behind us for the 30C VOR approach. CRAP X3.

1.8 on the Hobbs, almost $300 and nothing to show for it but frustration. Dang. Oh well, I'm ready for the stage 2 check ride no matter what.

Photos As Promised

About a week ago, a pretty severe thunderstorm hit KIWA. A couple of ATP aircraft, one Piper Seminole and one Cessna 172SP, were nearly destroyed. An 85-90 knot gust picked up the Seminole, turned it upside down and dropped it on top of the 172. From what I understand, someone was attempting to tie down the Seminole when the wind gust hit. Luckily, nobody was injured. Here are a couple of photos of the remains.















A friend has photos of the aircraft when before they were separated. Hopefully I'll have that photo soon and will add it.

Gymnastics, Earthquakes, Shakespeare & Latin

-RANT ON- About a century ago, I was getting close to my stage 2 check, which is a requirement for part 141 instrument training. Well, after 4 maintenance cancellations and 4 weather cancellations, I'm finally ready. One last quick flight tomorrow morning and, weather permitting, it will finally be time for the check.

Stage 2 is the most difficult part of instrument training. Stage two basically involves learning holds and approaches, but it's not that easy. Picture yourself doing a handstand during an earthquake while reciting Shakespeare in Latin and you'll get a pretty good idea of what it's like for a simple minded doofus like me.

My dilemma is this: Instrument ground school ended today and Commercial ground school begins next Wednesday. From what I'm hearing, in order to begin Commercial ground school, students have to be at least up for their Stage 3 instrument check prior to beginning Commercial ground. If that's the case, we have a problem. I need to fly to Flagstaff, Tucson and San Diego, in addition to successfully completing Stage 2 by next Wednesday.

My argument is this: 1. They initially assigned me an instructor that was about as compatible with me as Ralph Nader is with General Motors 2. I had to cancel four LONG flights due to maintenance problems (2 for things that had been previously squawked and blown-off by maintenance) and 3. I have met every aspect of the training guidelines (Never missed a class, flight, ground brief or stage check).

They need to make an exception. First of all, commercial is much easier than instrument. Second, it won't affect my ability to finish instrument. Third, I can't take a month off from school. Working full-time makes school a real challenge. If I take a month off, it will affect my retention.-RANT OFF-

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About the weather

This week we have seen some pretty amazing weather here in Phoenix. On Tuesday night, my house received over 3" of rain. It was incredible, something you never see in the desert. The lightning was some of the most intense I've ever witnessed. If it wasn't raining so hard, I would have set up the tripod to get some cool photos.

Our house two levels with an atrium in the center. The atrium has two drains that run to the sewer, which we thought was overkill...until Tuesday night. Here are a few photos of the water. Our neighbors across the street didn't opt to have drains installed in their atrium and spent the better part of the night bailing water by the bucket. Ours came within an inch of coming in the house.

Overall, the rain was really enjoyable. The downside was that we lost power at midnight and it didn't come back on until 5 a.m. It was too hot to sleep and I had a 6 a.m. flight and a 7 p.m. flight scheduled for Wednesday. Yeah, Wednesday sucked. Luckily, I had a chance to get a little nap in before the night flight. Thanks K.

Things Are Getting Busy Around Here

Whew! This has been one of the busiest weeks I can recall. Things are starting to get interesting at school. I'm finally done in the simulators and have spent the last three days practicing instrument approaches. For anyone getting ready to pursue and instrument rating, be ready for LONG flights.

I can understand why it takes many people such a long time to earn an instrument rating. Here in Arizona, we're blessed and cursed at the same time with our weather. It's damn hot, but you can count on flying weather almost every day. In addition, there are a dozen or so airports within a reasonable distance of KIWA with instrument approaches. There's a lot of variety.

In one 4 hour flight last night, we were able to shoot the GPS RWY23 for Casa Grande, the NDB RWY4L at Chandler, the VOR/DME RWY5 for Coolidge, the ILS RWY23 for Casa Grande, the VOR 30C and the ILS 30C for Gateway. We also did the published miss for Gateway, Casa Grande and practiced several different holds.

Doing approaches at night is a real challenge for a beginner like me. It's very difficult on the eyes to keep changing the ambient light in order to read charts. Plus, the crap weasel Cadets we use have very poor dash lighting, which doesn't help either. One nice thing about night flying, there are hardly any other aircraft out training, so there is a LOT less holding.

Oh, and it was 40C at 8:00 when we took off and still 36C when we landed at midnight. That's life when you live in Phoenix, which I lovingly refer to as "The Surface of the Sun". We were lucky to get 300FPM climb at Vy. It's times like this that make me wish we had 180HP 172's. We'd at least get 600FPM at Vy, more elbow room and much better ventilation. Oh well...wish in one hand and...you know the rest.

I was supposed to fly this morning and do it all over again except with partial panel (lots of fun). The aircraft had a dead battery, putting us off until tomorrow morning. If all goes well tomorrow and I don't bust any altitudes, it will finally be time for the stage 2 check ride required by CFR Part 141.

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It's Monsoon season here in Arizona and that means high dew point, high temperatures and massive thunderstorms. It was kind of funny on Thursday. We were just finishing up ground school and happened to be talking about weather. When we pulled up the Convective Sigmet (CB) chart, there was a cell headed directly to KIWA with tops at 59,000 feet. About an hour later, it hit brining winds in excess of 85 miles per hour. An ATP Piper Seminole wasn't properly tied down, was blown upside down and on top of another ATP 172SP. Both planes were totaled. Luckily, the person struggling to tie down the Seminole wasn't injured. A friend got some great photos. As soon as I have them, I'll post them.

Final Stimulator Lesson

Today we put 2.3 hours on the AST Hawk Hobbs meter. I think I might have mentioned before that I don't care for the demonically posessed crapweasel FTD. I know, it allows you to do multiple holds and approaches in a relatively short period of time, but does it have to be so awful to fly? Could it be less realistic? Doubtful. I guess the good part is that if you can shoot an approach and nail it in the FTD, you damn sure can do it in the plane.

Tomorrow morning, I get to fly a real airplane and then one last FTD lesson. From then on, it's all real flying for the remainder of instrument. My next FTD adventure will at least be in the Level 6 Seneca FTD for my commercial multi engine, which will begin in August and coincide with my commercial.

My 141 stage two check should be next weekend and then it's a bunch of cross countries. I'm hoping for San Diego, either Brown or Palomar for one of the long ones.

Right now, I'm sitting at 82 hours TTL. At this rate, I'll have instrument at about the 100 hour mark. Yikes...

By the way, I got my hard private license in the mail yesterday. Five weeks. That's pretty fast for the Federal Government. I was expecting twelve weeks.

Day Out With The Girls

Today was my wife's first flight with me. She had been in a small aircraft once before, but not with me at the controls. She was apprehensive at first, because it had been so long since she had been in a small plane that she didn't know what to expect.

Since I'm writing this, we obviously survived (a little sarcasm for my wife).

My parents had my boys over for the weekend, so it was just me, my wife and daughter. We decided to head out from Stellar over Sacaton and Coolidge and then into Williams Gateway for breakfast at the Left Seat restaurant, located inside the building where Gateway Aviation is. The Left Seat has pretty decent, reasonably priced food and windows with views of the transient ramp and runway 12R. The people at Gateway Aviation are really nice. Even though we didn't buy fuel, they still sent someone out to direct us to a parking spot, chocked the aircraft and offered a variety of services.

Anyway, after a short breakfast, we were up and on our way back to Stellar. We flew over our house on the way there.

Another benefit of taking my wife was having a personal photographer. I got her a Canon Digital Rebel earlier this year and she has used it almost daily. Great investment. Here are some photos:










HOME!



An interesting side note about the weather. The photos might look a little hazy for Arizona. This morning, the dew point spread was only 4 degrees and there was visible fog over the Superstition Mountains. I wish I had a photo that showed it. It's VERY strange for Arizona, especially this time of year.

The Instructor, Part Two

I wrote a few weeks ago about firing my instructor. Well in the last month, eight guys have gotten airline jobs and left for bluer skies. That left a shortage of instructors and made me either stick with the guy that wasn't working out or take some time off. I don't have time to take off so I made do.

The week following the "mock" firing, his attitude did start to improve. However, over the last 10 days, he has started going back to the negative comments and poor teaching habits. Last week, he told me to make sure and be there early enough for our 6am flight to be in the air at 6am. I got there at 5:15, did weight/balance/performance and pre-flighted the aircraft by 5:45. He showed up at 6:15 and we didn't get off the ground until well past 6:30. I don't mind if somebody is late once in a while, but don't tell me to be early and then show up late. That's not acceptable.

I work full time, have a wife and children to attend to as well as being a full-time student. All I ask is to have my school schedule a week in advance so that I can plan accordingly. I don't put severe restrictions on anyone's time. I just ask for a plan. Deviations happen, but give me a dang schedule.

When I asked him for a schedule on Saturday, he couldn't take 5 minutes to figure it out because he wanted to go watch other guys fly the 737 stimulator. Today, we had to incomplet the second lesson in a row because of poor timing and he forgot to block out time in the sim for Thursday. Now I'm four lessons behind. His attitude was poor again in the sim this morning and I just couldn't take it anymore. I called his boss and politely demanded a new instructor.

Thankfully, my phone rang tonight with a call from my new instructor. He sounds much more personable and said he has heard good things about me and is looking forward to getting instrument done in 4 weeks. Now that's what I'm talking about. Someone with a "can-do" attitude. I sense the negativity washing away and feel like I just lost 100 pounds.

I know I did the right thing. I had a call from another one of his students that heard what I did and he's feeling the exact same way. I feel for him, but it's good to know that it's not just me.

Hopefully, he'll learn something from this. Not everyone is cut out for instructing, but he could do it with an improved attitude.

Out with the bad, in with the good. Patience Grasshopper.

Am I Stupid? (Don't Answer That)

Well I'm getting a pretty good a** kicking working on my instrument rating. I think I should have mastered playing the accordian while riding a unicycle with a blindfold on before tackling instruments.

I think the most difficult thing for me to grasp is holding pattern entries. Everyone seems to have a trick for figuring out direct/parallel/teardrop...but I've been shown so many different "easy" tricks that it's proving difficult to master. I'm especially having trouble with NDB holds. DUH.

The only thing that has really helped me is the ASA Holding Pattern Entry Wheel. It only takes about 2 seconds to figure out pattern entry, however it is a crutch and I don't like depending on it.

Today, I got a little better and did about ten sample problems on the board, but made several errors in the FTD. Have I mentioned how much I hate the AST/Hawk? I really do. WITH A PASSION. I put nearly 3 hours on the Hobbs today and left feeling like I had just brought a knife to a gunfight. The thing is a POS. With no wind, the rudder trim has to be 3/4 left to maintain directional control. Right turns are light to the touch, left requires manhandling. The timer is unreadable, but they're too cheap to replace it. Oh yeah, the DG precesses without being programmed to.

With VOR's, localizers, DME, GPS and radial fixes I have no problem doing the pattern once I figure out the entry. NDB's are still giving me hell. If I figure the bearings correctly, then I forget which leg to time or make wind corrections in the wrong direction. CRAP. Aren't NDB's supposed to be history? Can we all write letters to our senators to speed up the retirement of NDB's? I'd even vote for Hillary if she'd promise to retire all thd NDB's.

If anyone has an easy method for figuring out NDB holds, please HELP!?! I don't know why it's not happening for me. I hope it clicks soon.

Four more FTD lessons before flying again. CRAP. At least I'm going flying in a 172 Wednesday. I'm glad to have something to look forward to right now, because I'm going insane!

Check Ride...Check

This morning was my instrument stage one check. It was only 78 degrees and smooth as glass this morning.

The check inspector that I went with really gets into unusual attitudes. They were pretty extreme. He actually said he was impressed how quickly I recovered, especially with a partial panel. That made me feel good and gave me confidence through the remainder of the lesson. Everything went well for once and started the day off right.

I really am struggling with holds, approaches and en-route procedures. I think it's because I got behind with the stage one check and wasn't practicing what I was learning in class in an aircraft.

For the last two days, I kept studying the Gleim. I must have done 8 practice tests and never got better than a 70. Most were in the 65 range. However, cramming came through again today and I got an 86. Not as good as stage one, but much better than I expected. Passing is 80, so anything over that is 100% to me. Another 98 would have been nice, though. The good part is that I got an 86 and had comprehension vs. memorization.

Now it's time to try and double and maybe even triple up ground briefs, sim lessons and flight lessons over the next 7 or 8 days so I can be ready for stage 2 check by the 15th. Commercial ground school starts August 9th and I want to have my instrument rating by August 12th.

This sure is happening quickly. It seems like just two weeks ago that I started on my private license, but it's been 13!

The biggest downside to working and going to school full-time is missing out on experiences with my children. To try and make up for it a little, I'm taking them to a matinee show of the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus tomorrow. My daughter and youngest son haven't been feeling well. I really hope they are up to it.

Good Day Flying

Today, I had to fly to Wickenburg. Since I have a Stage I check ride and a Stage II written exam tomorrow (no stress there), I couldn't do the usual overnight in Wickenburg. Dana, another student at my school and a really nice person is always looking for someone to timebuild with.

I called her and told her that I was going to Wickenburg and back Wednesday and asked her if she wanted to go with me and have a $100 hamburger in Prescott. She agreed and we met early this morning at Angel Air.

There were thunderstorms last night and this morning it was pleasant. 75 degrees, broken at 8000 and overcast at 10,000 with scattered light showers. The flight to Wickenburg was beautiful. The rain felt so good and the temp at 7500 was 55. Nice.

Wickenburg was a little interesting. We ended up having to drive to Surprise (3o miles away) for a computer part, which put a damper on real work. Finally around 1, we were ready to head to Prescott (PRC). We get to the airport and the battery is dead. Strange. It was showing 28 volts and the ammeter was positive on our flight up. I did leave the master on for about 10 minutes after we parked, but that shouldn't have been enough to kill the battery.

Luckily, Wickenburg Aero service was open. The A&P towed the plane to his hangar, and gave us a jump. After he figured out that he was only giving the Cessna's 24 volt battery 12 volts, it started right up, showed positive charge and we were off to Prescott.

The flight from Wickenburg to Prescott is spectacular. Wickenburg's elevation is about 2,500 feet MSL. It's part of the Sonora Desert and is basically at the foothills of the Bradshaw Mountains where Prescott is located. The topography along the route is amazing. Our route took us over Yarnell (a little artsy town at 4,800 feet MSL), Peeples Valley (where there are a few gorgeous thorobred farms), Kirkland Junction, Wilhoit and into Prescott. Very nice flight.

After streching our legs, we enjoyed lunch at the Susie's Skyway restaurant. The food there is good, inexpensive and there are alot of window seats. We watched several Great Lakes Beech 1900's fly in and out of the tiny passenger terminal.

After lunch, we decided to call up the Prescott Flight Service Station and ask for a tour. The weather kept them from being too busy and they obliged. The center manager is the last FAA employee on the premises. Everyone else is now a Lockheed Martin employee. They are building a new FSS in Prescott Valley that will consolodate many of the FSS's that are being closed down. When it's open and up to speed, they expect to have about 400 employees covering the Western US.

It was a neat experience to see the FSS and I recommend a visit to anyone that is able. Being able to visualize the place your communicating with and meeting the people that work hard to keep pilots safe humanizes it. Hopefully, I'll be a better pilot for it.

Back to the transient ramp. Will the plane start?...Yes! Back to Stellar via Prescott Valley, Dewey, Humboldt, Black Canyon City, Deer Valley and the North/South Sky Harbor Bravo transition. A little more rain, a gruff controller at Phoenix approach that just couldn't seem to get our tail number correct and a smooth, uneventful landing at Stellar.

1.6 PIC w/bravo for each of us, check. Nice weather, check. Interesting experiences, check. A good day overall.

U-Fly-Mike Review

NOTE: At the end is a link to an update on the U Fly Mike after 30 months of heavy use.

After 25 hours with my new Bose® QuietComfort 2 headphones and U-Fly-Mike adapter, all I can say is, "WOW"!

Comfort: Compared to my David Clark® headset, there is absolutely no comparison. They are much lighter. I have worn them for 4 hours continuously without any discomfort. The mic is extremely easy to position and, unlike other headset mics, doesn't need to be eaten to be effective. It works for me 1/4-1/3" away from my mouth without having to adjust the squelch.

Ease of Use: The QC2's come in a nice case with a space for extra batteries and there's room for the U-Fly-Mike. I never forget to turn them off, because the power light and switch is right in front of you when you put them away. The U-Fly-Mike plugs in easily, yet firmly into the 3.5mm headset receptacle and comes with an extra o-ring to ensure a tight fit for heavy users.

ANC effectiveness: The QC2 headphones are easily quieter than my David Clark® H10-13S at nearly half the weight. I have tried a friend's Aviation X headset and would say that the QC2/U-Fly-Mike combo is about 95% as effective.

Overall: This is an excellent buy. For under $500, you get nearly the same performance as the Aviation X headset, with excellent Bose® ANC. As an added bonus, they are multi purpose. I can take them with me on business trips and use them with my iPod. How cool is that? I got about 15 hours out of the first AAA, which was off-brand and supplied by Bose® . That is a little less than half the advertised battery life when using them strictly as headphones. There is a small mesh pouch that holds 4-5 AAA batteries in the case. I'm sure that the Duracell batteries will last longer and there might be longer life in a quieter, pressurized cockpit.

The only possible down-side I see is that they are not as sturdy as purpose-built aviation headsets. If you put them in the case after every use and don't throw them in a flight bag, it probably won't be an issue.

One more thing: They U-Fly-Mike adapter also has a 3.5mm input jack so you can hook up a portable music device to your headset. I haven't used it yet because I'm either flying with an instructor or through highly congested airspace.

To see how it's held up over the last 2 1/2 years, click on this U Fly Mike Update

Ready For Instrument Stage One Check Ride

I finished the stage one review lesson this morning. The air was smooth and every maneuver went perfectly. My instructor deemed me ready for stage two, which I cannot start until the stage one check ride is complete.

The things that were giving me a difficult time, especially NDB to/from intercepts and tracking are working out now. Today, I did 2 NDB tracks with partial panel. It felt good.

Hopefully, my phone will ring today and it will be scheduled for tomorrow or Monday at the latest.

I think I overheard a runway incursion on the radio this morning. At IWA, runway 30C (the ILS runway) has been closed since April. It just reopened last Wednesday. There are some new pilots that might think of it as just a big taxiway. Since the runway has been closed, I think some people have gotten a little careless with hold short lines and it sounded like someone blew right through a hold short. I heard the controller yelling and don't know if the pilot was paying enough attention to stop on time. It sounded like he was already crossing the hold short when ground went midieval on him. It must suck to be him right now.

Hopefully, I heard incorrectly.