Hiatus

The month of April will include the final phase of training. It will involve 16+ hour days and very little spare time. Right after that, it's a long awaited family vacation.

I hope all goes well for everyone in April. Best wishes to those up for ratings, in the hunt for the perfect flying job and lurkers considering aviation. Flying is where it's at.

Unless something unbelievable happens, or there's more spare time than expected, I'll be returning to the blogosphere around May 15th.

Happy Easter. Fly safely.

For now, here are a few photos from the recent Vegas trip, courtesy of my friend John.

This mountain called is Vulture Peak, near Wickenburg. The photo was taken right after a pretty gnarly downdraft.
This is John at Bullhead City, with Laughlin in the background.

This is Lake Mojave, just north of Bullhead City. It is fed by the Colorado River, downstream from Hoover Dam.

This is the awesome view of McCarran airport from John's Room. To the right of the Tropicana is the terminal where the 737's depart for Groom Lake and Area 51...oooooohhhh.

Lousy view, huh?

New Friends and Weather Trends

One of the best things about creating this blog is the amount of new friends I've made over the past year. It has been a great way to meet new people that share similar interests.

Last month, one of this blog's readers contacted me about getting together during a visit to Arizona. He was coming out in March for Spring Training and then heading to Las Vegas for a few days of fun. He asked if I wanted to fly up there with him. After working out the details and finding out that neither of us were closet axe murderers, we decided to do it.

Last Thursday, we got together for breakfast before heading over to Stellar to pick up the plane. The weather was looking iffy from Phoenix to Northern Arizona. I had an IFR plan filed to North Las Vegas but had a few concerns. First, what fun is a flight in IMC to Las Vegas? No mountains, no Grand Canyon, no Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. Second, the freezing levels were predicted to be right at the MEA of our flight plan. Third, thunderstorms were developing all over the route.

Southwest had an anytime fare of $238 r/t, which was definitely cheaper than renting a 172. But how much fun would it be? After checking the weather again, it appeared that the low causing the poor weather in Arizona was not a factor 75 miles West of Phoenix. Some quick calculations showed that a VFR flight from Phoenix to Wickenburg to Lake Havasu and then up the Colorado River to Bullhead City, Boulder City and then Las Vegas would be just fine. I decided it was a go. Thunderstorms were building to the South and West moving Northeast. The window of opportunity was narrow.

We took off from Stellar and picked up flight following from Phoenix Approach. By the time we were handed off to Albuquerque, the controller was rude and said she didn't have time for us. Oh well, the weather was clearing and looked beautiful to the west. The winds had shifted and were in our favor the entire way, which was good. Our VFR route was considerably farther. Our ground speed averaged 145kts and at times reached nearly 160kts! We decided to land in Bullhead City to stretch our legs for a while. I had listened to LA Center on the way to Bullhead and by the number of holds being issued, it sounded like Vegas had flow control issues. I only like to fly into Las Vegas with flight following or an IFR plan and figured the easiest way to get through to North Las Vegas would be IFR.

Thanks to the favorable winds, our flight to Las Vegas (airspace, at least) only took about 35 minutes. Las Vegas approach is proud of the desert and wanted to show us as much of it as they could. We saw State Line, I-15, Pahrump and all points in between. It was a very nice tour. Finally, they vectored us to North Las Vegas and we were cleared for the visual 30L.

As we descended, I called up North Las Vegas tower. No response. They were talking to others and answering other callers. I called them another time. Again, no acknowledgement. I tried a third time, again with nothing at all. Finally on the 45 to the downwind, the controller says, "Use caution. There's an unidentified 172 in the pattern that has failed to contact us." I immediately broke in and said, "This is Cessna N*****, I have called three times in the past two minutes with no acknowledgement. I am IFR, cleared for the approach and squawking ****. Please mark the tape." Two other pilots came to my defense and said they had heard me. Finally the controller says, "Fine. Cleared to land 30L" Grump. Why is it so difficult for some people to admit when they're wrong?

We tied down, headed over to the FBO to order fuel and check the weather. Things in Arizona had deteriorated. The freezing level had dropped to 6,000 feet, there was a convective sigmet and severe weather from Flagstaff southward. At that moment, I was glad that I planned ahead and brought an overnight bag just in case. This was a just in case moment. There would be no flight home tonight.

We shared a cab with two other pilots from Vail, CO and shared stories about the controller at North Las Vegas and wondered if he was having a bad day. We arrived at NY, NY and met up with my friend's other friends.

My friend's name is John. He's a firefighter and aspiring pilot from Illinois. We met his other friends Scott and son Garrett at the VIP check-in at the hotel. John told Scott about my dilemma and without hesitation he said, "Any friend of John's is a friend of mine. You're welcome to stay in our room." That was a really nice offer, but one I couldn't accept. I did ask if he could use his influence to get me a nice room, which he did. It was a very nice room on the 34th floor with views of the strip. It was only two doors down from their room, which had something mine didn't: a 180 degree view of McCarran airport. A pilot's dream view. You could see the entire airport and almost all ops. Next time I go to LV, I'm staying at NY, NY and requesting a room with that view!

They invited me to hand with them as if they'd known me for years and I was part of the original plan. It was a lot of fun. We played everywhere from NY, NY to Downtown, where the Lady Luck's blackjack tables were good enough to me to cover the cost of the room and some. Not being a huge player, I decided to quit while I was ahead and make my way back to the hotel. John, Scott and Garrett were doing VERY well at the roulette table. I thanked them for their hospitality and went back to NY, NY to get some sleep so I could leave first thing in the morning. No storms in Arizona last more than 24 hours, right?

I woke up at 6:30 a.m. and called Flight Service. The briefer said that things along the same Colorado River route looked good until 18Z, about 11 a.m. Arizona time. The freezing level was forecast to be 8-9,000'. If things got bad, I could file for a pop up IFR clearance.

I got off the ground by 8 a.m. Vegas approach, in usual form, refused to let me transition and gave me another tour of the barren Nevada desert. Thanks guys. Once on course, I headed back the same route I had flown up. Crossing Bullhead City at 7,500', I began to see gray in the distance. I switched on the NEXRAD and saw nothing but ugliness 50 miles ahead. I descended to 5,500 and by the time I got to Lake Havasu, the weather was deteriorating rapidly. The temperature dropped considerably. I pressed on another 10 miles and started to pick up rime ice. CRAP. There was no way to safely go IFR home at that point. I turned around and headed back to Havasu, where apparently every light aircraft pilot in the known universe had decided to divert. There were literally 40 planes at the transient ramp. This confirmed that others agreed with me. It wasn't safe to fly a light aircraft in that weather. I spent an hour there hoping for clearing skies. What I got was deterioration. To the South and East, it was LIFR and the freezing level had dropped to 4,000'.

A note about NEXRAD: The picure it gives you is delayed 5-15 minutes. When there are fast moving/developing storms, it only tells you the weather sucks, not where it is specifically. I have heard of pilots that use it like real radar. That could get very dangerous, very fast. The Garmin G1000 glass cockpit has a lot to offer, but I can see how some of the tools it offers could give the wrong person too much confidence.

If I had to spend the night somewhere again, I didn't want it to be Lake Havasu. The airport is a long way from town, there were no rental cars available and hotels were EXPENSIVE. I got in the plane and flew back to Bullhead. With Laughlin across the river, there was at least something to to. Sun Western Flyers topped off the plane and called the Riverside Resort shuttle for me.

I didn't want to spend more time in a casino filled with acrid, carcinogenic smoke and it was too early to decide about staying over night so I went to a movie. It was "Shooter" starring Mark Wahlberg. It was a typical conspiracy thriller, but better than hanging out in the aforementioned ashtray.

When the movie ended, I called Flight Service. The weather had mostly cleared and short of a few scattered thunderstorms, the route home looked good. That was all I needed to hear. I was ready to be home.

The flight home was smooth and easy. It felt good to see the lights of Phoenix. Timing was nearly perfect. A pretty big thunderstorm had just dissipated near Stellar. The winds were still strong, but the lightning and heavy rain had subsided. I managed to grease the landing with a 15 knot crosswind on a very wet runway in the dark, which tells me I'm finally getting comfortable with Cessna's. They're not difficult in crosswinds, just different.

I made it home in time to read to my kids and kiss them good night. A perfect end to an eventful two days. It felt good to be home...for a few days at least.

John took some cool photos. As soon as he gets them to me, I'll post them.

John, Scott and Garrett from Illinois: You're all first class individuals and it was a pleasure to meet you all. I hope to see you guys again sometime.

Gentlemen...Toss Your Cookies

Er ladies, actually. More on that in a few.

Last night, a friend called me in a panic. "I need to get to Grand Canyon Airport tomorrow. My car is in Tusayan and I lost my ride there. Can you take me?" I'm really not in too much need of single engine time, but she's been a good friend and has helped me a lot this past year. It would also be an opportunity to fly. Why not?

We set off this morning, planning on an 11 a.m. departure. Of course this being general aviation, our departure time was closer to 1 p.m. The hot weather that California was experiencing last week had found its way to Arizona. By noon, it was 96 degrees. Did anybody tell Mother Nature that it's only March? It's not even Spring yet!

My wife and daughter came along for fun. That put the G1000 172 I had reserved at max gross weight. Density altitude for the airport was about 4,000'. We took 3,000' of runway to get airborne and best climb was about 500' per minute. We hit clear air turbulence over Sky Harbor and lost nearly 400 feet. Climb performance was terrible. It took nearly 20 minutes for us to climb to 8,500'. By that time, we just told Albuquerqe Center that we were going to stay at 8,500' instead of 10,500' we had requested. We didn't want to take another 15 minutes to get to 10,500.

There was quite a bit of turbulence and my wife was beginning to turn green. Cue Sic-Sac #1. She threw up the Dramamine she had taken as a precaution. That happened over Cottonwood airport so we decided to land there for some fresh air and water. Cottonwood has a nice little terminal. There was nobody there, but a nice selection of complimentary cookies and a cold water fountain to refill our water bottles. My wife decided that a snack of cookies might make her feel better. A few minutes later, the color was back in her face and we headed back to the plane.

We departed on runway 14. Density altitude was an issue again and Cottonwood's runway is only 4,200' long. A short field takeoff was definitely in order. Lean for DA, flaps 10, max brakes, full power...and then everything started to move...in slow motion. Finally we hit rotation speed and the plane just didn't want to climb. I can't believe how close the subdivision is to the end of 14. We could see the whites of people's eyes following us as we skimmed the neighborhood at best rate of climb (not much).

We climbed out Northbound over Verde River Canyon, using thermals to climb when possible. The air was really rough. Bweelchhh. BWEELCHHH. My wife was literally tossing her cookies...the one's she ate in Cottonwood. I thought she was going to kill me when I asked her if she was tossing her cookies, but she was too busy throwing up. At this point, she was not looking good, but there really wasn't anywhere to land. My wife said she could make it to the Grand Canyon, so we pressed on. It took us all the way to I-40 to make 8,500' again.

Soon enough, we were on approach to Grand Canyon Airport. Winds were 180 at 16, gusting to 25. We were cleared to land on runway 21. The gusty crosswind called for 20 degrees flaps and 75 knots on final. It was a little bit of a fight, but patience prevailed and she settled down nicely. We taxied quickly to transient parking where my poor wife promptly melted out of the plane.

We picked up my friend's car and set out looking for a place to eat. Maybe some food would make my wife feel better. We ended up at The Grand Canyon Lodge. It was one of the few places that had table service today. The main dining room was closed, so we had to eat in the bar. My daughter thought it was cool because a few of the bar stools are western saddles. (She loves horses and just started riding lessons this morning.) We finally had to tell her that it was against the law for her to sit at the bar to get her back to the table.

While waiting for our food, my wife warned me that she might not be getting back in to the 172 again today. Crap! I'm a pilot, not a logisitcs expert. Let's see, we have two boys at home with a 13 year old babysitter, no clothes or toiletries (very cheap at The Grand Canyon I'm sure), no hotel reservations and the 172 through 8 p.m. I went to the front dest at The Grand Canyon Lodge and inquired. $179 plus tax! Not bloody likely.

My friend called her office to update them on her whereabouts. She is a pilot for Air Grand Canyon. I have to give them a plug and say what nice people they are. When they found out about my wife's condition, they immediately started making calls to find a hotel for us. They found us a room at the Holiday Inn Express and got us the local rate of $69.

After eating, my wife said she felt better. Well enough to fly home. I knew she would feel better and the front seat would make a huge difference. We stopped by the Air Grand Canyon terminal and they set us up with a fresh supply of barf bags. We thanked them for their courtesy, said goodbye to my friend and headed back for Phoenix.

It was nearly sunset and the winds and temperatures had come down. We departed out. I lazily set the GPS course for Phoenix, dialed in 9,500' and sat back to enjoy the ride. It had been a long day and it was time to let the plane work for me. Just like I was telling my daughter earlier about the horse she was riding. It knows where to go and what to do, you just have to let it know who's boss.

The flight home was much smoother. Our route took us over Williams, Clarkdale, Jerome and then in to the Phoenix Metro area. By the time we got back to Phoenix, it was completely dark. I love night flying. We came in over Lake Pleasant to Deer Valley airport and then the East transition over Sky Harbor. By 8:30, we were on the ground at Stellar. Some of us more glad to be on the ground than others.

---

Next week, it will be time to start studying CRJ systems again. I leave for Colorado in less than two weeks for the last phase of my flight training. I alsow plan on getting checked out in the top secret multi engine plane I discovered. It sounds too good to be true. We'll see.

Also, someone that I met through this blog is coming to Arizona next week too see some Spring Training games and visit with friends. We're going to fly to Las Vegas together on Thursday. That should be a lot of fun.

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait...and Wait, Right?

RIGHT!
---
The checkride actually happened today. I feel like I won the Powerball jackpot. The stars were aligned. Whatever. It happened. It's over. I feel good.

Last night, I wanted to make sure everything was set for the checkride. I drove over to the airport, did a pre-flight and practiced emergency and maneuver flows. It was a few hours well spent. Feeling better prepared allowed a good night's sleep.

The checkride was scheduled for 9, so I got there around 8 to do W&B, performance and get the paperwork in order. That was a good thing. He showed up 20 minutes early and asked if I was ready. Yes I was.

He briefed the checkride: normal takeoff straight out, head towards Coolidge Airport (P08) and climb to 5,500. After reaching 5,500', 2 steep turns, slow flight and stalls. After that, VMC demo, emergency descent to Coolidge and pattern work. Depart Coolidge to the north for a single engine ILS approach into Gateway.

We taxied out and on the takeoff roll, he cut the mixture on the right engine. Done. Takeoff after that was fine. This particular DE is an Airbus check airman and is BIG on checklist usage. I practically had the checklist glued to my hands to ensure proper usage. Climb checklist complete. We hit 5,000' and he asked me to perform steep turns to the left and right.

Flying with a DPE can be like playing "Simon Says". The way they give you commands tempts you to do the maneuver without proper setup. I made sure to take a deep breath and remember to configure the aircraft and do clearing turns. Clearing turns before every maneuver. The steep turns were fine. +/- 20 feet for both turns. He asked me to transition in to slow flight from the steep turns, again trying to get me to do it without doing a clearing turn. No dice. Once in slow flight, all he asked for was a 110 degree turn to the right. He said since I held my altitude exactly, there was no need to climb or descend. Good.

We did a power off stall and a power on stall in takeoff configuration. PTS. Done. Next, he had me go under the hood, vectored me all over the place and then cut an engine. Then we did a full feather, shut down and air restart. The air restart was a little hairy. The starter just wouldn't get the prop going, so I had to dive 1,500 feet while engaging the starter to get it going again. Finally that was done. Air shut down/restarts are not my favorite task in these old Senecas.

He told me to take off the view limiting device and climb back to 5,500'. Once there he said, "There's smoke in the cabin. Do the right thing." Power out, props forward, gear down and descend at 140 MPH towards the nearest landing site. I recovered at 1,500' AGL and we entered the pattern at Coolidge for pattern work.

I felt blessed today. The winds were light and variable, never more than about 6 knots. The first landing was just normal on runway 23. Since we were the only aircraft at the airport, we taxied to the other end and took off on 5. Next time around was a short field with a 50' barrier at the threshold. I picked the 1000' markers and nailed them. It felt great. Then we taxied to the end of 5, turned around again to 23 and did a normal takeoff. He said we were going back to Gateway for the ILS. First he cut the mixture on the takeoff roll again. Then at about 300' AGL, he cut my left engine. Directional control, airspeed 105, gear up, establish zero side slip, mixture rich, props forward, full throttle both engines. Identify dead engine. Verify dead engine. Feather affected engine. Even though it was nearly 90 degrees, with zero side slip and Vyse the plane was able to get within 200' of pattern altitude. The single engine pattern landing was pretty straight forward. There were no surprises other than when he cut the engine when I was expecting to return to Gateway.

Again, we landed on runway 23 and turned around and departed on 5. He said, Things are going well, all you need to do is the ILS 30C at Gateway with single engine and you've passed. I want to see you nail your airspeed, configuration and center the damn needles all the way down. At DH, go visual and do what it takes to land. There will be no go-around or do-over. Do you understand?" I replied, "Yeah, do it right and go visual at DH!"

He cut the engine well before LOC & GS intercept. The aircraft followed my lead and the needles came in. Airspeed was a little fast, but some trim took care of that. We settle right on the glideslope. Perfect rate of descent. At 1,580' DH, I called minimums and took off the shades. It looked great. I put in 25 degrees of flaps and greased it on the 1000' markers dead center. At that point he said that's where most people bust. They don't follow his instructions to go visual at the DH, they hesitate and then ask him what to do and they bust. What's funny is that most instructors make you wait until DH and then tell you to go visual. I can see someone could easily make the mistake.

After landing, I hurried a little too much to the nearest taxi way and had to break a little harder than I liked. He said he noticed that a lot of pilots do it at Gateway. I think it's because the nearest taxiway from runway 30C is over 5,000 feet from the threshold. Due to the number of ILS approaches on that runway, the tower is always asking pilots to expedite. Today they didn't and habit took over. It really wasn't that big of a deal.

Taxiing back he said, "Congratulations. You did a great job. Get me back to the ramp in one piece and I'll get the paperwork started." That was good enough for me.

When we debriefed, he said the only issue he took with my flying was that I took my hand off the throttle and put it on the glare shield a few times. That's a bad habit and one I will definitely break. Other than that, it couldn't have been a better checkride. Everything went my way today. I didn't make any of my typical mistakes, no matter how much my attention was divided. Today was a good day.

Private: 45 days

Instrument: 75 days

Commercial SEL initial: 105 days (about 45 days worth of work including cross country time building)

CMEL add-on 60 days (about 7 days worth of real work and 50+ days wasted on maintenance problems)

Overall start to finish in 10 1/2 months. It really hasn't been that long. Best of all, not a single checkride bust, although I walked the tightrope on instrument.

The final phase of jet training starts in 2 weeks. That will take 30 days. After that, I'll need another 50 hours of multi engine time and it will be time to set up interviews at my top four choices.

I hit the jackpot on a place to build multi-engine time. More on that another time. This is already way too long-winded.

Nice Landing

Here is a video of an ANA Bombardier Q400 with a nose gear failure. Kudos to the pilots. Very nice landing.

"Family Time" (Building)

I had a few hours coming my way in a 172 and decided to take my sons with me to Palm Springs today. My wife and daughter are both under the weather, so a trip for the boys was a good idea.

My wife is still a worry-wart. To appease her, I filed IFR so she could see the progress of our flights on FlightAware. That keeps my cell phone from ringing 384 times before I land.

There was a quartering tailwind and velocity changed alot enroute, so there were a lot of corrections to stay on V16. It was a nice, rather boring flight. Why Palm Springs? 1. Almost everywhere in Arizona had Airmets & Sigmets for turbulence and most airports north of Phoenix had wind gusts >25 knots. 2. I still had the headset that was loaned to me the last time I was in Palm Springs when my Bose headset was lost. (long story-see Dec. 2006 if you care) I had mailed it to the person that loaned it to me and the post office returned it after 5 delivery attempts. Today was a good day to return it.

Palm Springs Approach instructed me to maintain best forward speed for spacing. Descending, I had 135 knots indicated until configuring on a 2 mile final. That was the most exciting part of the flight.

It was HOT in Palm Springs. 95 degrees! Phoenix has been warm the last week and they say it's going to hit 90 next week. This must be what is coming our way. That is why March is my least favorite month in the desert. The temperatures are on the rise. 100 can happen in March. It's depressing to know that the oppressive heat is on the way. By June, I'm used to it and actually enjoy it. It's the re-acclimatization part that makes March suck.

We parked at Signature Aviation (expensive but worth it) and they gave us a ride to the terminal and offered a crew car. Very nice. I've always been treated well at Signature Aviation, no matter what the airport. They treat you the same no matter what plane you're flying, which I think is smart.

The boys were starving and there's a Fatburger near the airport. Fatburger is always a treat for the kids, so off we went.

We got back to the airport, turned in the car, returned the headset, filed IFR back to Phoenix and made our way to the airplane. When the fuel was topped off, Signature took the time to clean the windshield without being asked. Another nice touch.

The sun was setting when we took off and it was dark within an hour. I always like coming back to Phoenix from the West at night.

A nice trip with the boys and 5.0 total/1.5 night added to the logbook.

On the Signature ramp at KPSP

Man, do I love Falcons

Just departed KPSP on the Palm Springs 4 departure - 2,000 for 9,000

Departing Coachella Valley. The large body of water is The Salton Sea.

Sunset over the Colorado River looking South from Blythe, CA. Sorry for the blur.

That's enough for tonight. Still hoping for the checkride on Thursday. Positive vibes are always appreciated.

Un Freakin' Believable

Oral 9 a.m. - Pass

Flight 11 a.m. - Did anyone really think the plane would fly?

"CHECKRIDE! CHECKRIDE!"

Message to villagers: Next try, Thursday 3/15 9 a.m.

Damn.

The Boy Who Cried "Checkride"

There once was a pilot boy who was bored as he sat on the hillside watching the village airplanes. To amuse himself he took a great breath and sang out, "Checkride! Checkride! The checkride is happening!"

The villagers came running up the hill to wish the pilot boy good luck on his check ride. But when they arrived at the top of the hill, they found no checkride. The pilot boy laughed at the sight of their angry faces.

"Don't cry 'checkride', pilot boy," said the villagers, "when there's no checkride!" They went grumbling back down the hill.

Later, the pilot boy sang out again, "Checkride! Checkride! The checkride is happening now!" To his naughty delight, he watched the villagers run up the hill to wish him good luck.
When the villagers saw that there was no checkride they sternly said, "Save your excited song for when there is really a checkride! Don't cry 'checkride' when there is NO checkride!"

But the pilot boy just grinned and watched them go grumbling down the hill once more.
Later, he saw a REAL checkride scheduled in ink and a working plane about his ramp. Alarmed, he leaped to his feet and sang out as loudly as he could, "Checkride! Checkride!"

But the villagers thought he was trying to fool them again, and so they didn't come.
At sunset, everyone wondered why the pilot boy hadn't returned to the village. They went up the hill to find the pilot boy. They found him weeping. "There really was a checkride scheduled! My mind has scattered! I cried out, 'Checkride!' Why didn't you come?"

An old man tried to comfort the pilot boy as they walked back to the village.
"We'll wish you good luck again in the morning," he said, putting his arm around the youth, "Nobody believes a liar...even when he is telling the truth!"

---

New day and time: Friday 9 a.m.

One Can Only Have So Much Patience

...before going absolutely postal. More maintenance problems cancelled yet another check ride opportunity.

Last Friday, I took the plane up for a final flight before Saturday's check ride. During the flight, we noticed that the standby vacuum instruments were acting unusual. The suction gauge was reading correctly, but the DG was rotating like the second hand on a clock, the attitude indicator and the VSI were also performing erratically. CRAP.

91.213 - which basically states that no person may take off in an aircraft with inoperable instruments unless: blah blah blah (short for all the exceptions)

When we landed, we discussed the situation with the chief pilot. We reviewed 91.213 and determined that it was too gray to make a decision. There were arguments for and against. The head of maintenance isn't an avionics A&P. All avionics work is sent to another facility at a nearby airport. Therefore, he couldn't disable and placard them INOP. Also, since the flight would include instrument work we didn't want to go by 91.205 (required equipment). Lastly, they do not have a MEL.

My decision was to consult the DPE. The chief called him and the DPE called the check ride. I'm glad he made the decision. I'm also glad we noticed the instruments before the flight ended. The problem didn't present during the Instrument Cockpit Check. It would have been a bad start to a commercial check-ride to tangle with 91.213.

Actually it ended up being a good thing that the check ride was cancelled. We had ferocious winds Saturday with gusts to 30+ knots. Not good check ride weather anyway. That doesn't excuse the sorry state of the Seneca.

As of today, the problem is solved. I don't know if they found the problem and fixed it or had the gauges properly placarded "INOP". Here's to hoping it limps through long enough for another check ride date.

Speaking of going Postal, here's a hilarious commercial for Nicoderm.

Cautious Optimism

The news yesterday was a check ride had been scheduled for Saturday morning at 9 a.m. As of today, guess what? Both Senecas are down again. I have one last review flight scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. The word is that one of them is down with a fairly easy fix and that it will be up by tomorrow. However, Saturday is another 24 hours away from then, and 24 hours in Seneca time is equivalent to a millennium in real life.

Thankfully, the one that is supposed to be on line has better avionics. Better meaning a DG that processes less than 40 degrees in 5 minutes. I know that technically an ILS can be completed with no vacuum instruments, but I don't want to invite it.

Right now, I'm 100% confident about flying a single engine precision approach in a CRJ down to Cat II minimums using the stand by instruments and no flight director, but a single engine approach in a Seneca with iffy avionics is another issue entirely. The Seneca that is supposed to be up has a Garmin 430, so after I set up the single engine approach, a little GPS overlay for backup is in order.

I would really like to get the multi add-on finished. The time it has taken due to maintenance issues is bordering on ridiculous. If Saturday falls through because of maintenance, other options will have to be considered.

March is officially multi-engine time building month.

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Last weekend, I took my six year old son to Wickenburg with me. We took a pretty nice little Archer. He said the best part of flying is being with me. That really mixed up my emotions. On one hand, it's just nice to hear. On the other hand, I about cried realizing how much time I've had to spend away from home between work and school. My new resolution: spend every spare minute of every spare hour and day with my family. My children are so much fun to be with.