Pilot Brad’s Flying Blog

Lesson Date: 06.04.08
Flight Time: 1.5 (Elite Sim)

Today we headed back into the sim for more holding pattern practice, however, before doing so Nick and I sat down to talk about a few concepts; wind correction and the 5-Ts.

As I discovered the other day, flying a holding pattern in no-wind conditions is relatively straightforward.  You get yourself to the fix, then initiate a standard-rate 180° turn, then 1-minute of straight and level flight (on the outbound heading), followed by another turn and another 1-minute leg.  Lather, rinse and repeat.  I know, I am over-simplifying a bit, but you get my point. 

Now let’s introduce a nice 20 knot wind into the equation.  You can bet things are going to change a bit.  With the addition of wind, you must correct your headings to compensate for the winds, adjust the times of your inbound and outbound legs, or most likely do both.  All of a sudden I felt as if flying a hold was about to get a whole lot more interesting.  Fortunately, Nick taught me some easy tools to adjust for the winds.

Continue reading ‘IFR Lesson 12: Holds, Wind and the 5-Ts’

Lesson Date: 06.01.08
Flight Time: 0.3 (Elite Sim)

With Stage 1 now complete, it was time to officially move into Stage 2 topics.  With that in mind Nick dove right into the subject of holding patterns.  Sounds like fun… not!  My only prior experience with holding patterns has been as a passenger of an airliner that’s been put into a hold because of weather at the destination airport, so today was all new to me as much if not all of the training will be from this point forward. 

A hold is a manuever which keeps an aircraft in a specified airspace while it awaits further instructions (clearance) from Air Traffice Control (ATC).  An example of when you might instructed to hold is when approaching your destination, if another aircraft is currently on an approach, ATC might put you into a hold until the other aircraft has landed.  From what I hear, holds are fairly rare these days, but of course you still need to have the knowledge and experience.

After a very brief ”What is a hold?” coversation, Nick explained the basic components of a holding pattern.  They are the holding fix, fix end, outbound leg, outbound end, and inbound leg (pictured below).  The holding pattern is basically a race-track pattern based off of a fix.  The holding fix is often a navaid such as a VOR, NDB or localizer, but can also be defined by an intersection or DME distance from a navaid.  The standard holding pattern has 180° standard-rate right turns at each end and legs of 1 minute, but there are charted exceptions and ATC can always instruct you to fly a non-standard hold.  I am not going to go into all the details of holding patterns here, but if you want additional information you may read about them in Chapter 10 of the FAA’s Instrument Flying Handbook.

Continue reading ‘Ground - Holding Patterns’

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending an FAA Aerospace Physiology class at Beale AFB outside Marysville, CA.   While the words Aerospace Physiology might sound a bit intimidating, the FAA simply says that Aerospace Physiology deals with the physical and mental effects on flight aircrew personnel and passengers.  That being said, the primary focus of this class is to teach you about the affects altitude, and decreased oxygen, have on the human body.  Anyone who holds a current FAA Medical Certificate may take the class at about a dozen or so locations around the country, at a cost of only $50.   If you are interested, you can learn more about the training and other on the FAA’s Airman Education web site.

This class is required component of your training and certification if you are going to be flying pressurized aircraft, and the conclusion of the training you are given FAA Form 3150-1, which is often referred to as an “Altitude Card”.  So why did I take the class if all I am flying is non-pressurized C172s?  Why not!  Seriously, I am always open to any form of training on new and old topics alike, and since reduced oxygen can have an effect on the body at almost any altitude I think the training is worthwhile for most any GA pilot. 

Continue reading ‘Altitude Chamber Flight’

A few weeks ago, I showed up for a lesson on what was a fairly windy afternoon.  Nick said that given what he wanted to accomplish, it might not be the best day for us to go flying.  While I never like to hear that, I do understand why he said it and I do trust his judgment.   Before we made the final call, we sat down at the flight schools computers to check the weather. 

I pulled up the usual sources and found that conditions varied greatly in the area, but that the winds definitely seemed to increase as we got closer to the practice area around Stockton, where it was reportedly gusting around 25 knots.  We quicly came to the conclusion that it would be more productive if we stayed on the ground, but as one last check of the conditions Nick showed me a page on the USGS web site where you can see a dynamic graphical model of the  winds in and around the San Francisco Bay Area.  A picture doesn’t do it justice, you have to see it in motion for the full affect.  The best time to look is in the afternoon (Pacific time) when the afternoon winds have picked up.

Pretty neat huh?  What’s interesting to me is that you can see the influence the local topography has on wind speed and/or direction, with areas visible where the wind quickly accelerates or changes direction.   It is simply a model that describes the flow of wind at a given time, so I guess that means that it simply shows you what it thinks the winds are doing based on observed data.  It models the winds at the surface so it is of minimal use for flight planning information, and who know how accurate it really is, but it is cool!

I know, I know, I am way behind here.  As I write this I currently have a backlog of five or six lessons to document.  Shame on me!  Until  about a week ago, I had been putting long hours in on a BIG project at work, and it seems like my entire life has been on hold.  My mind has been so occupied with this project that I have no idea what happened to the last half of May and first half of June.  With the project now somewhat behind me, I am now playing catch-up in all aspects of my life, including this blog.  Don’t worry, I haven’t lost interest, my plate has just been full (more like overflowing).  One thing is certain, I’ve come to realize that my day job is getting in the way of what I really want to be doing! 

No, not that type of traffic, but web traffic.  As in, a lot of visitors to my blog over the past few days.

Where did they all come from?  Well, my friend Doug Reeves, who runs the mother-ship of RV related web sites, VansAirForce.net, said some nice things about my blog on the VAF home page.  Actually, this is the 2nd time he has mentioned it in a few weeks; Thanks Doug!  He is also working on his instrument rating, but he is going to be doing his training in his RV-6.  I am so jealous!

While it may sound like a bunch of butt-smooching, VansAirForce.net is simply one of the best aviation web sites around, and is the definitive source for all things RV.  Doug has devoted a large portion of his life to providing RV aircraft builders (like myself), pilots and fanatics a place on the web to call home, and we all appreciate his efforts very much.  Not only does Doug use the site to serve his fellow aviators, he uses it as a mechanism to to support various charities to the tune of many $$$ a year.  VAF is simply a fantastic web site and I am honored that he mentioned my blog, and proud to be in some small way affiliated with VAF.

By all means, don’t just take my word for it, check it out for yourself.  However I must warn you, prolonged exposure to VAF could result in an RV aircraft in your garage or hangar. 

This cracked me up.  If you don’t find it funny, too bad!

I am happy to report that on May 25th I passed my IFR Stage 1 check.  For those of you unfamiliar withwhat a stage check is, it is simply a flight with a different (usually more senior) instructor where they evaluate your knowledge and skills up to that point in your training.  It is a very common practice in flight schools, and whether you are training for your private, instrument, or some other rating, there are often several stage checks along the way.  This was my first of three checks, and overall it went OK.  Just OK?  Yes, just OK.

I flew the check with Brian, whom I have never met.  He was once an active instructor with the school, but then maybe a little over year ago he got an airline job.  Now he instructs part time and since he doesn’t really have regular students he is often utilized for stage checks.

The stage check started with a round of Q&A on the ground, where I was asked the typical questions about things like the FARs, equipment requirements, currency, and aircraft systems.  This was all fairly easy, and since I had previously been given a copy of the stage check form I was able to brush up on any weak spots in advance.  My knowledge of the required topics was solid, and I quickly found myself done with the ground portion and headed out to the airplane.  I wish I could say the flight portion of the check went as well as the ground, but I can’t, so I won’t.

Continue reading ‘IFR Stage 1 Check - Passed’

We covered something new today (5/21), DME Arcs.  Nick spend about 20-30 minutes educating me on the finer points of DME Arcs, and then took me into the Sim for a bit of hands-on practice.  What is a DME Arc you ask?  According to the FAA, DME Arcs provide transitions to the approach course, but are actually part of the approach segment.  Said another way, they are a portion of Instrument Approach Procedure (IAP) that transition the aircraft from the enroute phase of flight to the intermediate or final segments of the approach.  DME Arcs are specified as distances from a VOR-DME, and never based on and ILS or LOC DME as they do not provide omnidirectional course information. 

Flying a DME Arc is akin to flying a control line model; Think of the airplane as having a string, of a specified length, from the wing to the VOR-DME.  You simply fly a segment of a circle, called an arc, a fixed distance from the VOR-DME.  Using the Redding (RDD) LOC/DME BC RWY 16 approach as an example (below), from either of the initial approach fixes (IAF), FOLDS or GARSA, you would intercept and fly the 17nm DME Arc to the approach course of 162°.  Sounds easy, right?

Continue reading ‘IFR Lesson 11: DME Arcs’

I am still playing a bit of catch-up, but I am getting there.  While today is May 30th, the lesson I am writing about here occurred on May 17th, so just keep that in mind as you read even though it may seem at thought the lesson occurred today.

The day’s flight was mostly just practice of all the Stage 1 basic instrument flying skills.  This was no surprise, as early in my training Nick told me would spend a few hours towards the end of stage one polishing my skills, trying to get them as “solid” as possible before moving onto stage 2. 

We started with a simulated Livermore One departure, followed by an exercise in tracking the localizer back course.  You may be asking, how do you fly a published departure that takes you away from the airport and then track the back course?  In our case, after reaching the final intersection of the departure, we turned towards the outbound localizer heading and intercepted the back course, but only after we were well away from the airport and at a safe altitude.  At that distance the needle barely moved, but it was a reverse sensing situation, and that’s what Nick wanted me to experience.

As I said, the majority of the flight was simply practice of my basic instrument flying skills; BAIF, NDB/VOR intercepts, partial panel, steep turns, stalls and unusual attitudes.  When we were done and on our way home, Nick set me up for a partial panel localizer only approach, which was interesting, but turned out pretty good for my first attempt.  Overall everything went very well, and Nick informed me that he is satisfied with my performance and that we will now start in on stage 2 topics, beginning with DME Arcs.   

So it is onto stage 2, but not before I take a stage 1 check flight with a different , and more senior instructor.  Nick went ahead and scheduled it for the 21^st, so I’ve got a little bit of studying to do to make sure that my knowledge is up to par for the oral portion of the check.  It shouldn’t be a big deal, but I’m going to make sure to study up anyway.

I was back in the classroom for another ground lesson with the topic of the day being Clearances.   What about clearances you ask?   We talked about the Elements of an IFR Clearance, IFR Departure Clearances and how to get them, VFR on Top, Clearance Readback, Clearance Shorthand, and Departure Restrictions.

Today’s lesson was very interesting and a lot was covered, but I think the most significant thing I learned was the acronym CRAFT.  CRAFT is simply a tool which can be utilized to assist pilots in the copying (or writing) of clearances as they are given by ATC, with the letters of the acronym representing the major components of an IFR cleareance…

Clearance Limit - Commonly the destination airport
Route - The route of flight to the clearance limit
Altitude - Initial and final climb altitudes
Frequency - The frequency of the radar facility handling departures
Transponder - The transponder code assigned for your flight

CRAFT is a useful tool to assist you in remembering the sequence in which a clearance is given to you and when used in combination with Clearance Shorthand, it is a way for you to quickly write down the clearance as it is given.  Remember the other day when I said I couldn’t keep up when trying to write my clearance down, well I wasn’t expected to that day, but knowing the CRAFT acronym and the appropriate shorthand sure would have helped.  For example, suppose my clearance was given to me as…

Cessna 1234, cleared to the Stockton airport, via Livermore One Departure, Altam, Victor-244, Manteca, Direct, climb and maintain 4000, expect 5000 10 minutes after departure, departure frequency is 123.85, SQUAWK 2246.

Using the CRAFT acronym, written vertically down the page on your kneeboard, you would use Clearance Shorthand and copy the clearance down as…

C SCK
R LVK1/Altam/V244/ECA/D->
A 4K 5K/10
F 123.85
T 2246

While the example I give is fairly simple, you see how these methods make the act of copying down a clearance much easier than just trying to write down what the controller says (which is what I had attempted).  While I obviously need a lot of practice before I can perfect the skill, at least I feel like I have set of tools that will help make the process more manageable next time.

If you are interested, you can read a bit more about Clearances and Clearance Shorthand in the FAA’s Instrument Flying Handbook (8.39 MB).   The section on Clearances starts on page 10-3 (pg 51 of the PDF), and Appendix A on page A-1 (page 99 of the PDF) contains a list of recommended shorthand.

I’ve decided to make some small changes to how I title and categories lessons in this blog.  I have been assigning ground lessons a decimal number (e.g. 2.5 or 8.5) that sequenced them in between the flight lessons which I’ve been numbering with hole numbers.  I think it was a bit confusing, not to mention it made the post tiles for the ground lessons really long.   Instead, I will just call ground lessons ”Ground” followed by a description, and they won’t have a number assinged to them.  In additon, I’ve created a seperate categories for “Flight  Lessons” and “Ground Lessons”, and I’ve gone back and changed the old posts to conform to the new method(s).  I think (and hope) these changes simplify things a bit.

Nick had been warning me that our flying has been outpacing our ground work and that more ground lessons were imminent.   Well, it finally caught up with me, so for this lesson and the next I will be stuck on the ground in a small classroom with my instructor.  Yuk! 

This lesson covered the Jeppesen syllabus ground lesson 7 topic;  Air Traffic Control.  We talked about Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC), Processing IFR Flight Plans, Weather Information, Terminal Facilities, Clearance Delivery, the Control Tower, and Approach/Departure Control.  If I to summarize the lesson in one sentence it would be; Who do you talk to, for what purpose, and when?  For example, when departing a class D airport, assuming you’ve already filed your IFR flight plan with FSS (by phone or online) and listened to ATIS, you would contact ground control and inform them that you are going to be IFR.  Ground will then typically coordinate your clearance with ATC, and clear you to taxi to the active runway.  Once your run-up is complete, you would then talk to Tower who would clear you for take-off and departure, but you may have to wait a bit until your route of departure/flight is clear of other IFR traffic.  Once you’ve departed, Tower will then tell you to contact Departure Control on the frequency that was given to you in your clearance by ground (more on clearances later).  You may fly out of Departure’s area and be passed off to Center, who, when you’re nearing your destination will often tell you to contact Approach control, with the process now reverseing itself. 

In my case, Norcal Departure is always involved because I am departing from an airport in a busy metropolitan area with several large airports, but I suppose that if you were in a more remote area not served by Approach you might get passed from directly from Tower to Center.  To tell you the truth I am not sure about that, so if you are reading this and you know, please post a comment and set me straight.

Ok so that’s one lesson down, three to go.  Next topic, Clearances.

Ugh… I’ve been so busy over the past two weeks that I have fallen way behind with my blog updates, but I am going to try my best to get caught up in the next few days.  I am about four posts behind, and I’ve already started a few therefore I should be able to post updates rather quickly, so look for a quick succession of posts over the next few days.

I came across this great video on the EAA web site, and I thought I would share it with you.  In it Paul Poberezny talks about how the EAA was started and what it has meant to him.

If you are interested, the EAA has published many more great videos on their web site, covering topics such as the EAA, Aiventure, chapter leadership, new product announcements and homebuidling skills.  Check’em out!

This is probably one of those never ending debates among instrument rated pilots; Do you prefer NACO (FAA) or Jeppesen plates and charts?

For those that have no idea what I am talking about, there are two producers of instrument terminal procedures and enroute charts; the National Aeronautical Charting Office (NACO) a branch of the FAA, and Jeppesen.  While they both contain the same information, they present that information in slightly different ways, and some prefer the NACO way, while others swear by the Jepps.

Now that I have entered into the instrument procedures phase of my training, it is time for me to make a selection and purchase some charts.  My instructor Nick prefers the Jepp charts, and was encouraging me to go that route, but before I made a decision I wanted to do a bit of research and talk to some instrument rated friends.

Continue reading ‘NACO or Jeppesen?’

At the time that I sat down to write this, the referenced lesson was alread a week old, so I hope I can remember everything that happened.  I’ve been meaning to update the blog more regularly, but I have just been so darn busy.  Yes, I am whining, and if you visit here often you’ll get accustomed to it.

There was some debate as to whether or not we would fly today or do more ground instruction, but it was a little foggy this morning and Nick thought it would be a good opportunity for me to get some actual time (in IMC), so we went flying.  I had showed up a few minutes late for the lesson, which is very unlike me, but it worked out fine as Nick used the time to file and IFR flight plan for our flight (KLVK to KSCK) and was ready to go by the time I arrived.

After I pre-flighted, we strapped in and he briefed me on the Livermore One Departure while walking me through the set-up of all the radios.  The Livermore One departure is simply a climb at runway heading to 1200′, followed by a right turn to 020° to intercept the 060° Radial from the Oakland (OAK) VOR to the ALTAM intersection.  It sounded simple enough, so with Nick’s guidance I called Ground and asked for our IFR Clearance.  I listened intently, pen in hand, as the the ground controller came back and started rattling off words and number so fast I couldn’t keep up.  I heard, “Cessna 624QF cleared to Stockton via Livermore One Departure blah blah blah…” and that was about it.  By the word “departure” I had realized there was no way I was going to be able to write all of it down and gave up trying.  Fortunately, Nick was busy copying it and was able to read it back to the controller.  This was OK, and Nick was expecting me to get it as we haven’t yet talked about departure clearances or the shorthand needed to write them down quickly.  For today’s flight, all that mattered was that he got it right, and he did.

Continue reading ‘IFR Lesson 9: An Instrument departure and 0.1 actual’

Today was the a ground lesson, and with it we officially entered into Stage II of my IFR training.  OK, since I have yet to have my Stage I check, maybe it’s truly official, but the topic today was a Stage II topic; Instrument Landing System (ILS) basics and approach lighting systems.  I found today’s discussion interesting as we covered a bunch of stuff that was all new to me.  Sure, all this IFR stuff is new to me, but many of the Stage I ground topics are just more in depth versions of topics covered for the Private.  Yes, I know I am simplifying a bit here.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but when I am mention “Stages”, I am referring to the stages as outlined in the Jeppesen Instrument Syllabus.  It’s a bit odd that I am using the Jeppesen syllabus and text book from ASA, but since I am doing all my training uner Part-61of the FARs, it doesn’t really matter what syllabus/text combination I use.  While the syllabus is generally intended for Part-141 use, it can be used for Part-61 training by using it as a guide, rather than following it exactly.

OK, back to the ground lesson.  Nick brought me up to speed on the basics of the Localizer, Glide Slope, Marker Beacons, and Approach Lighting Systems.  Prior to our lesson, I was supposed to have read the chapter in the book that covered these topics, but things didn’t shape up the way I would have liked and I was unable to read ahead beforehand.   I’ve really got get better at getting my studying done in advance.  Anywhoo… We looked at a few approach plates and with what I learned today I am starting to be able to make a bit of sense of all the strange lines, symbols and numbers they contain. 

There isn’t much more I can say about today’s ground lesson, and I am not going to go into the detail of the ILS here, but I do have another lesson scheduled in a few days.  Nick tells me that we really should have another ground lesson to talk about Departure Procedures, but we might go flying if the weather cooperates and I am able to get some actual IMC experience.  Guess which I would rather do?

In the meantime, I found this cool video on YouTube that shows what an Stage III ILS approach in extremely low visibility looks like from the cockpit of a B737.  While I am no expert, I would estimate the visibility to be below 1000′, and while I sure won’t be flying in these conditions it sure is cool to watch someone else do it.

Today’s flight was a potpourri of basic instrument flying, yes I said potpourri.  Rather than start something new, Nick decided that it would be best if we went up and practiced everything in one flight to prepare me for my IFR Stage 1 check flight.  With this in mind, I donned the hood and we covered topics such as… 

• Basic Attitude Instrument Flying (BAIF)
• Power-Off & Power-On Stalls
• Steep Turns
• Constant Rate and Speed Descents
• VOR Intercepts
• Intercepts with Partial Panel
• Unusual Attitude with Partial Panel
• Localizer Interception

It was sort of strange up there today.  We arrived at the practice area and dialed in the Approach frequency only to find it eerily silent.  This was so unusual that for a moment we thought we had a comm failure.  Nick told the controller that would be practicing in the area, and asked for traffic advisories, to which the controller happily agreed to provide.  We flew around the practice area for about 15 to 20 minutes in mostly silence, but all of a sudden the frequency (and the Zaon MRX) lit up and we were avoiding traffic left and right.  The controller who minutes ago had plenty of bandwidth, was now busy dealing with a jammed frequency and asking new aircraft to call back in a few minutes.  It was like when you go to the store and on your way in past the cash register there is nobody in line, but by the time you’ve picked up what you need and headed to headed to the front to check-out, a long line of people has now formed, and you get that, “Where did all these people suddenly come from?” feeling. 

Just before the peak of activity we had asked for the ILS into Livermore and the controller had begun to issue us vectors to intercept the localizer.  However, as it got increasingly busy it was obvious that he was looking to offload some of his workload so he basically shortcut us to the FOOTO intersection, and told us to contact Livermore tower.  Oh well, so much for that.

Despite the chaos of the heavy traffic, it went very well overall and Nick is pleased with my progress and performance.  I don’t yet know when my stage check will be, and I am told we will now be spending an hour or two on the ground talking about approach procedures.

Today was more NDB intercept practice, but this time in a real airplane.  At 1.0 hours on the hobbs it was a relatively short flight, but that’s OK I accomplished what I needed to do.  Nick had be intercepting inbound and outbound tracks to Stockton NDB, some with full panel, others with partial panel (AI and HI covered).  I did fine, but I still don’t like NDBs, and I could use a little more practice.  While I may jump on FSX to work on the NDB stuff a bit more, Nick tells me that during our next few flights I will be putting it all together; working on my BAIF, Partial Panel, Timed Courses/Turns, and VOR and NDB skills.  Then it’s time for a stage check with another instructor.

On the way home it was time once again for me to practice my localizer tracking skills, and I am happy to report that I did very well, with only very minor swings of the needle.   When Nick told me to remove the hood, I once again found myself about a mile out on final, but this time I was right on centerline.  Solid, right Nick? 

The one interesting, and slightly freaky, thing that did happen today was that we heard someone declare an emergency on the Approach frequency we were monitoring.  The pilot of a C182 told the approach controller he was having engine trouble and was descending for an emergency landing.  The last transmission we all heard from him was that he was at 800′ and would be landing on a road.  I have to hand it to the pilot, from what we could hear he was surprising cool and collected and appeared to be handling the situation quite well.  The approach controller was very helpful and directed another aircraft in the vicinity to circle overhead to survey the situation, as well as alerting local authorities.  A minute later the other aircraft said that he had located him and that it looked like he had landed fine.  Nick and I, who had been listening very intently, both let out a big sigh of relief as the Approach controller responded back that the pilot of the downed aircraft had just called from his cell phone and that all was OK.  Shortly after, a CHP helicopter was on frequency and on his way to assist along with ground emergency units.  Scary, but I am glad it ended well.  Today I found mention of the incident on a local news web site.  Kudos to you Mr. Pilot, whoever you are.