Last Friday I took the day off from work and headed down to San Jose for AOPA Expo.  I had originally planned to be there both Friday and Saturday, but I decided not to attend any of the Seminars, and stick just to the vendor exhibits.  From what I have heard, the seminars are good but I just wasn’t willing to devote the time to them.  Yes, I know, my loss.

So, did I see anything new and exciting?  Yes and no.  Since my visit to AirVenture in July, there have only been a few new products released.  The first one that comes to mind is the Garmin GPSMAP 696/695, which was just released a week or two ago.  I did get to play with it, and I think it is a great unit with loads of features.  I was however a touch disappointed in the image quality of the IAPs (approach plates).  I had to play with the zoom a bit to get it to a point where I thought the image was acceptable, but perhaps I was doing something wrong.  Overall the unit was very nice, and while I didn’t buy one I probably would if I had a spare $3,300 laying around.

Really the only other new product or service that got my attention was AOPA’s new web based flight planner which is currently in Beta.  I spent about 15 minutes at the AOPA flight planning booth talking with their developers about the new interface, and the features they say they are working on for future releases.   I was really impressed with the new web-based user interface, as it requires no software to be downloaded and is therefore always up-to-date.   I mentioned that one thing I didn’t like with the current flight-planning software was the fact that you cannot modify the altitude of a specific leg.  Not only did they tell me they are working on that, but they said future releases should include the ability to recommend altitudes based on winds aloft.  Cool, very cool!

Overall, I was very impressed with it and after just a brief preview you can tell that a lot of thought went into its design.  I’ve posted a screen shot above, which you can click for a larger version, but you can also play around with it yourself by using the link above.  A huge benefit of making it web-based is that you can now access your profile, aircraft, and routes from any computer with an internet connection.  One of the developers also showed me a paper mock-up of perhaps one of the most exciting proposed new features… an iPhone interface that will allow you to file and close flight plans right from the phone (among other things).  Ooooh, I can’t wait!

Not in the new product department, but I did spend a bit of time in the Scheme Designers booth talking to founder Craig Barnett.  I’ve heard Craig on the UCAP podcast, and it was a pleasure to meet him in person.  He is a really nice guy, and offers a great service at an attractive price.  He walked me through the process of how they design paint schemes for airplane, and I was very impressed with not only the attention they give to detail, but their customer focus.   I’ve got some ideas (colors) in mind for my RV-7, and when I get a little bit closer, I’ll be giving Craig and his team a call to help me make my ideas into reality.

Even thought AOPA Expo doesn’t offer too much for the experimental market, I had a good time, and I am glad I went.   I got to meet up with Paul, a local student pilot who I’ve been been communicating with for several month, and spending time with him talking about avaiaiton was in many ways the best part of my day.

Flight Date: 10.23.08
Flight Time: 1.6 (checkride), 1.7 (to-from KCPU)
Photo Album

It’s taken me two weeks to post this write up, partially because I’ve been busy, but mostly because I’ve been a little burnt out after all the studying and stress associated with the checkride.  Quite frankly, I just haven’t felt like writing about it.  Now that my life is somewhat returning to normal and I have caught up on some personal projects that I had put off while I finished the IR, I feel like I can return to the blog with a little bit more energy and enthusiasm. 

If you’ve read my prior posts then you’ve probably deduced that the checkride wasn’t flown from my home base of Livermore, but instead originated from a small airport in the foothills of the Sierras called Calaveras (KCPU).  Why was it there and not here?  I don’t know the exact answer to that question.  All I can offer is that it is where one of the examiners is based.  It didn’t bother me that it wasn’t local, but it just meant I would have about a 45 minute flight first thing in the morning to arrive in time for the 9am checkride appointment. 

I had taken the day prior off from work, and I used it to fly one more practice flight, prepare requisite forms (8710), gather the necessary log books, and to complete a cross-country flight planning log for the route the examiner had given me a few weeks prior.  Most importantly I used it to relax as much as I could, and completely separate my mind from the chaos of my day job.  I am not sure if it worked, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. 

The day of the checkride I awoke early, packed my gear into the car and headed to the airport stopping at my favorite coffee shop (Peet’s) along the way for a large mocha and a bear claw.  Yes, I know, it’s not exactly the breakfast of champions but it certainly gets the job done. 

I arrived at the flight school a little bit after 7am to find the keys to the airplane exactly where they were supposed to be left for me.  This was a relief, as I was concerned that someone might forget to put them out, causing me to be late for the checkride.  Being late really isn’t a good way to start off a checkride.  I drove out to the airplane and as I started the pre-flight inspection I was met by one of the flight school mechanics who had a GPS Database update (memory card) to install in the aircraft.   What service! 

It wasn’t long after that I was airborne and headed east, crossing over Stockton along the way.   With safety in mind, I called up NorCal approach and asked for flight following to Calaveras.  It was still very early and their really wasn’t much if any traffic to be concerned with, which is a welcome change from the normally chaotic weekends, and another reason I chose to schedule the checkride during the week. 

With Calaveras in sight, I cancelled flight following and got myself set-up to fly the GPS RWY 31approach into Calaveras one last time, VFR of course.  The procedure turn and approach course intercept went well and ended with a successful landing in calm wind conditions.  As I rolled out long I noticed three deer in the grass only feet from the runway edge.  Rather than risk them getting frightened and running out in front of me, I did a 180 on the runway and taxied back to another taxiway.  As exited the runway I thought to myself… is three deer a good omen or bad?

After shutting down and securing the airplane I headed inside to meet the examiner.  Getting up and airborne early had paid off as I had arrived early and could take my time unloading my gear.  The last thing I needed at this point was the stress of being late.  I hate being late for everything except work. 

Rob, the examiner, arrived a few minutes later and showed me the way to his office where the oral part of today’s torture, ummm exam, would take place.  After a minute or two of small talk Rob offered me breakfast.   Yup, he brought me a breakfast burrito from one of the local coffee shops, and told me that he always likes to bring something for applicants as they often are a little stressed and forget to eat before they arrive.  Can you believe he brought me breakfast?   This was really nice of him, and really sort of tells you just what kind of no-nonsense guy he is.  

We sat down for a bit to talk, where he asked me various questions about aircraft systems, regulations, and various other topics applicable to instrument flying.  Rather than it being strict Q&A it was more of a discussion, often wandering off into other areas of aviation knowledge, but always returning to the must cover topics when necessary.  In fact at one point during our talk, we both got out our iPhones to compare aviation applications.  Needless to say, this approach to the oral made me feel really relaxed.   I like to talk about almost anything aviation related, and so does Rob, so it was a perfect match as far as personalities go. 

One thing that we did spend a fair bit of time talking about was the Autopilot, and the FAA position on its use.  Apparently, years ago the FAA didn’t exactly promote the use autopilots, where today their use is strongly encouraged.  Not only is in encouraged, but examiners want to see applicants exhibit their knowledge and use of autopilots, if the aircraft is so equipped.  At this point in the conversation I made a mental note to be sure to activate the autopilot during the flight. 

I lost track of time but I successfully completed the oral portion and it was now time to go flying.  Rob gave me as much time as I wanted to take a break, grab a something to eat or drink, and prepare the airplane, and that’s exactly what I did.    

We departed Calaveras using the using the Obstacle Departure Procedure, which is a simple climb on the runway heading to 3,000′ then a turn to intercept the 029° radial of the Linden VOR.  Once reaching 1,000′ AGL Rob handed me the hood, which I would wear for the remainder of the flight.  Continuing my climb I flew the departure to near perfection (it’s an easy departure), and once established on an intercept course I made things easy on myself by activating the autopilot.  So far so good I thought. 

Prior to takeoff we agreed that Rob would make the initial call to ATC, and once over the Linden VOR he requested vectors for multiple approaches into Stockton from NorCal approach.  The obliged by providing a code to squawk and a heading vector, which I set into the heading bug of the Heading Indicator, letting the autopilot do the work of holding the heading while I briefed the approach. 

The first approach would be the ILS RWY 29Rinto Stockton, and while I flew the vectors leading up to intercepting the approach course perfectly, the approach itself was mediocre at best, with me chasing the needle almost the entire way down the approach to DA.  At this point I strarted thinking that things weren’t going so well, vocalizing my opinion of my poor performance to Rob, who assured me I was doing just fine.  Upon reaching DA, I did what every instrument pilot is supposed to do when they don’t have the runway in sight, and that is to go missed. 

Rather that the published missed, I flew the alternate procedures ATC had given me prior to the approach which would vector me back around for another approach.  As I did before, once on the prescribed heading and at the right altitude, I engaged the autopilot while I briefed for the VOR RWY 29Rapproach into Stockton.  I was vectored onto what  was essentially a long and very wide downwind leg, at which time Rob brought out the little black covers for the AI and HI.  Grrrr…. I hate partial panel. 

As with the approach prior, I flew the vectors provided by ATC almost perfectly, but again I thought the actual final approach was a bit rough.   The FAF for the VOR approach is actually the VOR (ECA), which means the needle gets progressively sensitive as you near the fix.  On this occasion I found myself watching the CDI swing to full deflection as I got within 1nm or so of the fix (VOR), so rather than chase the needle I just held my course with a slight correction and hoped that once I had passed the station the CDI would swing more or less to the center.  Once I emerged from the cone of confusion, the CDI did in fact come off the peg but stopped its motion about halfway (5°) from center.   The good news is that I was able to correct and complete the approach, finishing it off with a touch-&-go before departing for Calaveras.  Rob was still issuing me instructions, so I took it as a good sign that I was still in the green with regards to the checkride. 

The GPS RWY 31 approach into Calaveras was going to be the final approach of the day, so again after engaging the autopilot I briefed the approach by programming the GPS to take us direct to the IAF.  Once at cruising altitude, Rob told me it was time for something I am pretty good at; unusual attitudes.  After disengaging the autopilot Rob took control of the airplane and had me close my eyes.   I could feel the airplane banking sharply back and forth, and the wind noise began to increase dramatically.  Rob then said, “OK, recover”, and I opened my eyes to find us in a steep bank to the left, nose low and accelerating rapidly.  I quickly executed the appropriate actions by first leveling the wings followed by a good amount of steady back pressure to get us out of the dive, and within moments we were once again in straight and level flight with the speed bleeding off rapidly.  With the nose low unusual attitude successfully completed, Rob repeated the exercise but this time with a nose high attitude, which I again recovered from perfectly. 

Back in cruise mode I got us back on a direct course to the IAF for Calaveras, reviewing the approach one last time.  The gotcha on this approach is that you must remember to put the GPS into OBS mode prior to reaching the IAF and starting the procedure turn.  If you forget to do this, leaving it in LEG mode, once you’ve crossed the IAF the GPS will automatically sequence you to the next waypoint as if you were crossing it inbound on the final approach course.  This can be a total bummer, especially for an approach like this where the IAF and FAF are the same, with no other waypoints between the FAF and the runway.  In other words, if you forget to activate OBS mode, you’ve pretty much blown the approach before it even begins. 

Well, I am happy to report that I did remember to activate OBS mode, and the approach turned out to be the best one I flew all day.  Shortly after touchdown, Rob happily announced to me that we were done and that I had passed.  Whooohooooo! 

I parked the airplane and we headed inside to do the final paperwork.  Minutes later I Rob’s handed me my new temporary paper certificate, and shook my hand to congratulate me for a job well done.   I didn’t think my approaches into Stockton were very good, but I certainly wasn’t going to argue that point. 

Before I departed Rob and I had a nice conversation about various aviation topics and he gave me a few very useful pointers that he thought might help me in the future.  I was very appreciative of his help and told him so, thanking him for his no-nonsense approach to the checkride.   He was very calm and professional, and didn’t make anything harder than it had to be, which I think is the way it should be.  Before leaving Rob paid me a very nice compliment by encouraging me to go on to seek my CFI, stating that he felt I possessed a great deal of knowledge and had a great way of explaining things simply and clearly. 

As I emerged from the airport building two F1 Rockets completed a few passes of the runway.  Then as I loaded up the C172 for the flight home, an RV-9 taxied past me on its way to the runway.  I really think someone was trying to tell me that it is time for me to get back to work on my RV-7. 

Before departing for Livermore, I looked around for those three deer, but they were nowhere to be found.   I guess they were good luck after all.

Now that I have a little more free time, I am in the process of putting together something I have wanted to for a few weeks… a list of aviation related iPhone applications and web sites.  I’ve made it a seperate page (tab above) on my blog, and while it’s currently just a simple list I am hoping to put together some sort of table that will summarize the features of each and identify any associated costs.

It’s simply a first cut and I have a few more to add, but if you know of any that are missing please leave a comment to this post with the names and a link if you have it.

I did it, I managed to successfully pass my Instrument Rating checkride.  I am pretty tired so I am going to keep it short right now, but overall things went well.  I’ll put together a full report in the next day or two (with pictures), but right now it’s time for an adult beverage.

In the meantime, here is a shot I took on the way home from Calaveras, CA (KCPU) which was where the checkride took place.

It’s the night before my checkride and I just finishing up some last minute preparations and I thought I would post a quick update.  I had hoped that I would be able to bring my blog up to date prior to the checkride, but I’ve now accepted the fact that it just isn’t going to happen.  You’ll just have to live without me ranting about my recent flights (#34-40) and my stage 3 check.

This morning we launched early and flew another simulated checkride, during which Nick captured some good pictures which you may view here.

Now I am going to have a bowl of my favorite ice cream (Dreyer’s Loaded Mint Choc Chip) and call it a night.  I’ll catch you all tomorrow.

Lesson Date: 09.24.08
Flight Time: 0.9D

I had a senior moment just prior to my lesson.  I was in my office sitting at my desk thinking about my scheduled lesson at 4pm.   I thought to myself that I needed to start winding things down around 3:30 and would depart for the airport at 3:45pm.  The problem with that is that on a good day my office is an hour from the airport, and leaving at 3:45 was not going to get me there on time.   Nick and I have been flying almost every Wednesday after work, sometimes at 5pm sometimes at 4pm, and what I had done was planned my departure for a 5pm lesson, not a 4.  D’oh! 

I realized this at about 3:30 and quickly threw my laptop in my bag and ran out the door to get there as soon as I could.  I called and warned Nick about my tardiness, and told him to meet me at the airplane.  I arrived only about 30 minutes late, so the day was not completely lost.

We climbed in and departed, skipping the Livermore One departure which I am not completely familiar with, and headed back out to Tracy for a run at the VOR A followed by the ILS 25R into Livermore.  It was another one of those Tracy-Livermore combos that I just love so much!

The flight went OK, I don’t remember doing anything wrong but I really feel I could have performed better.  I’ve come to realize that I my performance during the week always seems less than that of the weekend.  I don’t seem to be able to change the gears of my mind from work to flying as quick as I would like to, and rushing to the airport today certainly didn’t help.  Oh well, it is what it is, and I certainly wouldn’t come running right from work to hop into the cockpit for hard IFR flying.  I do know my limits.

Lesson Date: 09.21.08
Flight Time: 1.3D

Nick had scheduled my Stage 3 check for the 4th of October so it was definitely time for more practice.  With that in mind we headed out to do something I hadn’t done in a few weeks, holds and arcs.   I was a tiny bit rusty, but overall they went very well.  I started the turn on the first arc a little late, causing us to be inside the arc by about 0.5 nm (the wind wasn’t helping either), but I was able to correct and completed the maneuver within the required performance requirements. 

With the holding and arcing exercises successfully completed, I requested vectors for the GPS RWY 26 approach into Tracy.  The controller was very busy this day and was a little late in providing me the clearance, dropping me off only a mile or so south of the OMWAP IAF with the instruction to proceed direct OMWAP.  We were right at OMWAP as I got it dialed into the GPS, and I blew right through it (OMWAP) northbound before I realized that I had essentially missed the IAF by about 1/2 mile… sigh.  In an attempt to salvage the situation, I turned outbound on a direct entry for the course reversal, and decided that since I was way wide that I would make my intercept turn at 1/2 standard rate.  This actually turned out to be a fairly good idea, as it allowed me to more easily intercept my the final approach course.

After flying the rest of the approach we went missed (alternate missed) to the north and entered a climbing hold at the TRACY intersection which, you’ve heard me say several times, serves as the IAF for the ILS into Livermore.  I dislike flying approaches into Tracy for the simple reason that we always go missed, and it always leads us to flying the ILS into Livermore.  After applying power I have  to quickly locate TRACY, fly the hold while climbing, get ATIS for Livermore, and set-up all the avionics for the ILS.  Is it impossible, no, it is just a lot to do in a very short period of time.  I always manage to get it done, but it isn’t always pretty.

The reward for today’s flight was the beautiful ILS I flew into Livermore.  I really am getting good at this ILS thing. ;)

In my desire to make my blog current, I almost forgot to mention that I made it to the Reno Air Races this year.   My friend and fellow RV-7 builder Chad came out from Illinois for his first visit to the races and I am glad to report that they did not disappoint either of us.

Chad flew in to San Jose on Wednesday, and after a quick bite to eat I gave him a guided tour of the Livermore airport.   It was a weekday so it was a little quiet, but we stopped in and paid a visit to several of the local builder/restorers so Chad at least got to see some really cool stuff.  I think he was impressed and maybe even a little jealous of all the great general aviation activity we have here in Livermore. 

On Thursday we made a day of it by driving up to Reno stopping at Skeeter’s Hot Dogs in Pollock Pines for lunch, and then again at Lake Tahoe.  This was the first time Chad has been to Lake Tahoe, so he just had to dunk his feet in the frigid water.   I just don’t know how people go swimming in that lake… brrrrrr!  Unfortunately, earlier in the day a Republic Seabee had landed and sunk a few yards from shore and we watched as the salvage boat made an inspection. 

We spend the next two days (Friday and Saturday) at the races, cruising around the pits soaking in the sights and sounds of the Air Races.  If you’ve never been to the races, you don’t know what you are missing.   The Unlimited Gold races both days proved to be very exciting with the crowd cheering and hollering as the racers came down the home stretch sometimes three abreast.  Nothing beats the sound of three warbirds blasting by at close to 500 mph!

We had planned to leave after the races on Saturday, but we were delighted when we learned that a group of our fellow RV fanatics and Vans Air Force forumites based at Reno Stead would be hosting a BBQ on Saturday evening after the “official” race activity had concluded.  The location of the BBQ was absolutely amazing!  It was at a hangar that is off-limits during the actual races because it is beyond the show line and overlooks the entire ramp.  It was quite simply the best seat in the house and from it we were able to enjoy the perfect weather, the evening flight activity, and some really good hangar flying with our RV friends from all over the country.   I hate to use the cliche, but it really doesn’t get any better!

You can view my entire photo album here.

Lesson Date: 09.20.08
Flight Time: 1.6D

More approaches!!!  I was back at the approach game, however in preparation for the checkride I would now be spending a lot of time flying them partial panel… yuk!  With that in mind the first approach I flew during this flight was the VOR 29R approach into Stockton partial panel.   Let’s just say my compass skills were a little rusty, but I managed to get it done.

After going missed on the VOR approach we got vectors back around for the GPS 29R approach, and again I stumbled a little bit when setting up the approach in the GPS.  I just don’t find the combination of dials and buttons on the KLN89B user friendly at all, but I guess I just really needed more practice.   

After the GPS approach, we went missed once more and got vectors back for the ILS into Livermore, which I am happy to say I flew to near perfection.  At least I was able to do something right on this flight.

Lesson Date: 09.17.08
Flight Time: 1.3D

Another day, another three approaches.   This was another attempt at running the gauntlet by departing Livermore, then flying the ILS 29R into Stockton, followed by vectors for the VOR A into Tracy and then the ILS 25Rinto Livermore.  It’s fast paced, and while I still could stand some improvement I am showing signs of improvement especially in tracking the ILS into Livermore. 

Here is a diagram of our ground track.  It is intended to show the proximity of the three airports, a rough estimate of our flight path, and to provide you with a sense of how each approach relates to each other.