Pilot Brad’s Flying Blog

It’s Friday afternoon and I am finishing up a few last things at work before I leave for my vacation.  Where am I going?  To AirVenture of course!!!  Every minute that ticks by I can feel myself getting more and more excited.  On Monday I fly to Illinois and hook up with my friend and fellow RV-7 builder Chad.  Then on Tuesday Chad, I and another RV-7 builder Larry hit the road bound for Oshkosh where we will be camping in Camp Scholler with about 5 more of our RV building brothers.    There is a lot of excitement amongst the group and it looks like this turn up to be the best AirVenture yet.  

 Argh!!!  Three more days… I can’t wait anymore!

I am consistently amazed at the content and quality of the AOPA Air Safety Foundation’s (ASF) online courses.  I’ve completed many of them but the one that has most recently received my interest is the course on aerodynamics titled, Essential Aerodynamics:  Stalls, Spins and Safety.  It’s an exceptional lesson that uses great examples to break down many complicated concepts into simple terms delivering it all to you in a truly interactive experience.

This is just one example of the many online courses they have covering a wide range of topics such as Aging Aircraft, IFR Charts and  Runway Safety.  All of which are informative, entertaining, and produced to extremely high standards. 

I’ve really enjoyed the courses I’ve taken and I plan to complete them all.  In my opinion the AOPA is one of the best run organizations around, and these course are just one more reason that $39 per year membership fee is money well spent.   You don’t even have to be a member to take these courses, but you are an AOPA member aren’t you?  If not, why not?

Lesson Date: 07.13.08
Flight Time: 1.9 D

Back at it again today.  On the agenda, more approaches.  I purposely scheduled a bit longer lesson with Nick so that we could squeeze a more than two approaches into a flight.  With this in mind we set out for a variety of nonprecision and precision approaches.  First would be the NDB RWY 29R into Stockton (I hate NDBs), followed by the LOC RWY 29R approach also into Stockton, and finally the ILS RWY 25R into our home base of Livermore.

After our usual simulated Livermore One departure, we switched over to NorCal Approach to find the frequency jammed as usual.   Nick was able to work in our request for the NDB approach into Stockton and ATC promptly issued us a vector.  As I briefed the approach and configured the avionics, we were issued a new vector with instructions to descend.  It had been a while since I’ve done anyting with NDBs and I felt a little uneasy about my NDB intercept abilities.   Did I mention I that I dislike NDBs?

Continue reading ‘IFR Lesson 19: Approaches - NDB SCK (2), LOC SCK, ILS LVK’

Lesson Date: 07.12.08
Flight Time: 1.5 D 

Could it really be this easy?  GPS approaches that is.  I don’t have much experience with GPS, so today’s lesson was quite fun and interesting.  During the years that I owned a Citabria, I thought many times about buying a handheld GPS, but  never did.  Frankly, I never saw the need, and I didn’t want to become dependent on something that wasn’t approved as a primary means of navigation.  It was always my intention to hold out as long as possible, opting to do things the old-fashioned way, by looking at a paper chart.  Now that I am training for my instrument rating I’ve changed my tune and now say… Bring on the GPS!

Before starting the engine, Nick and I spent a little time talking about GPS in general and the GPS receiver in the C172R, the King KLN-89B.  Compared to today’s GPS receivers with their large color screens, moving maps and weather overlays, the 89B is pretty simple.  That being said, it is an IFR certified GPS receiver capable of performing non-precision GPS approaches, so it will do the job just fine.  All of the GPS approaches I will fly in the C172s will be nonprecision approaches.  While precision GPS approaches are increasing in numbers, they require WAAS capable receiver to provide vertical guidance.  The 89B is a getting to be bit old, and WAAS wasn’t even around when the 89B was created.

Continue reading ‘IFR Lesson 18: GPS Approaches - GPS SCK, GPS LVK’

Lesson Date: 07.10.08
Flight Time: 1.2 Dual

During the two weeks Nick was in Alaska, I thought that I would get some studying done for the written exam, and perhaps a flight or two with another instructor to keep my skills sharp.  Well, it didn’t quite work out that way.  Instead, I ended up putting a bunch of time in on my RV project, which was great, but which led to me being a bit rusty.  Not just rusty with approaches, but rusty with my instument flying in general.  It just goes to show you that flying a plane is not like riding a bike, you do need to keep your skills sharp with regular practice.

It was another mildly smoky day, but nothing that would keep us grounded, and Nick filed a flight plan just in case it became substantially worse.  After departing Livermore on the Livermore One departure we headed out to Stockton for another go at the VOR RWY 29R approach.  We contacted approach and were given vectors towards the approach, however the controller became really busy and forgot about us as we came up on the approach course.  Nick tried to contact the controller, but the frequency was clogged, and by the time he got a word in we had already crossed over the approach course.   Once in contact, the controller apologized and quickly issued us a vector back to the approach.  It worked out fine, but it did result in a slightly odd ground track.

Continue reading ‘IFR Lesson 17: Approaches - SCK VOR, LVK ILS’

Lesson Date: 06.25.08
Flight Time: 1.3 

If you’ve been watching the news lately you know that there have been a bunch of fires in California, and while those fires are some distance from here and have not had a direct impact on me, the smoke from them has turned the air a gray-brown color.   For days we’ve been dealing limited visibility and only limited views of a very fuzzy and undefined sun.  When I arrived at the airport, Nick told me that he had already been up several times that day and that visibility was poor, but that for what we want to accomplish we should be fine.  The visibility are reported was VFR, but we elected to file an IFR flight plan just in case the conditions worsened.

The topic of the day was nonprecision approaches and the flight plan was simple, fly the VOR RWY 29R approach into Stockton and then head back to Livermore for the ILS.  Before departing we took a few minutes to talk about a few of the details of nonprecision approaches that we didn’t cover the other day, with the more important concept discussed being the differences between a Decision Altitude (DA) for the precision approaches and an Minimum Descent Altitude (MDA) for nonprecision approaches. 

Stockton VOR RWY 29R Profile View

Continue reading ‘IFR Lesson 16: Nonprecision Approaches’

Lesson Date: 06.22.08
Flight Time: 1.1 Dual

Onto two new subjects today; Enroute charts and Instrument Approaches.  While I have been flying practice approaches and using the charts since the beginning of my training, the approaches have really been more of an introduction to concepts than formal approach training.  With this in mind, Nick and I sat down for a bit of ground work to talk in more detail about both.

The first thing we covered today was the enroute charts, with the conversation somewhat limited to the various altitudes and distances identified on them.  Let’s see, for altitudes there’s the MEA, MOCA, MRA, MCA, MAA, and MORA.  Did I miss any?   In addition to the altitudes, we also talked about navigation changeover points and other distance notations before moving on to the fun stuff; approaches. 

Continue reading ‘IFR Lesson 15: Enroute Charts & Approaches’

Lesson Date: 06.18.08
Flight Time: 1.4 Dual

For the most part, today’s lesson was a repeat or do-over of last weeks.   Think of it like a flying Mulligan.  The goods news was that my big project was now behind me and I felt like I could get my mind back into flying. 

We started with our standard departure; the Livermore One Departure, however on the way to the ALTAM intersection, Nick told me he wanted me to hold North of ALTAM on the 177 Radial of the Sacramento VOR.  This sounded easy enough as I was already on my way to ALTAM and SAC was already dialed in to NAV 2.  I crossed the fix and turned to a heading of 357° for the parrallel entry.  It was a windy today and I was really having a hard time holding course, and ended up getting blown a bit further away than I had intended, but I was able to correct.  It took me a go around or two to get into the hold properly, but I got it done, and I had even remembered to go through the 5-Ts in the process. 

We headed out to the practice area and again entered another intersection hold.  The winds were very strong today, but the air was smooth.  During one hold I was holding 15° of crosswind correction on the inbound leg, which then led to 45° of correction for the outbound (using the 3X rule).  When it is windy we often have a lot of mechanical turbulence caused by the terrain, so today’s windy but smooth conditions were a great experience and allowed me to really see the crosswind corrections at work without having to fight the bumps to hold course.

Things were going much better today than last weeks flight, and I was a lot more confident and positive about my performance.  My mind was engaged, and I felt as if I had much more control of the situation.  Nick even made a comment about me being more like myself today.  

I performed several more intersection holds, then ended the flight with a few DME Arcs.  Everything went  well and and Nick told me that at the next lesson we will start in on Approaches.  Sweet!

Lesson Date:  06.11.08
Flight Time: 1.3 Dual

After a few sessions in the sim, it was back into the cockpit today for more holding practice.  Lucky lesson #13 as it turns out.  I really wish I could say the day went well, but I can’t.  I’ll be honest, it was probably the most frustrating flight I’ve ever had.  I mentioned in an earlier post that I had been putting in long hours at work and a huge project, and I think my mind and to some degree my body, was elsewhere this day.  I know I was tired and a bit pre-occupied with my work, but I figured the flight would be a good diversion from what had so far been a very busy week.   Hindsight being 20-20, that decision was probably a mistake.

We departed Livermore and ne our way to the practice area Nick gave me instructions to enter a hold 10 DME West of a given VOR.  I was already on an Easterly course to the VOR, and we were already fairly close to the fix so I quickly attempted to sketch it all out and determine the best entry.  We were west of the fix headed east so I figured the best entry was direct, and drew a little diagram on my kneeboard showing what I intended to do.  During the time I had taken to sketch the scenario we drifted off course a bit with the CDI  now showing several dots off center.  I was within two miles of the fix Nick has chosen and I didn’t have much time to correct, but I figured I could make it happen.  I didn’t want to admit it, but I was already feeling a bit rushed by everything today.

Continue reading ‘IFR Lesson 13: DME & Intersection Holds’

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’