Montauk Lunch

We flew to Montauk (KMTP) for lunch yesterday. Weather was beautiful. Great visibility and fairly stable air with just some minor light chop from time to time. We made it there in just about 30 minutes which is not bad considering it's a 4+ hour drive.

A call to the UNICOM was made and the active runway was 24. We were told there was a breezy crosswind. Dean had quite a bit of rudder in to compensate. We landed and parked and the woman at the FBO gave us a ride to the beach in a giant pink Chevy Van with the title "Pink Tuna" on the back of it. :)

The beach is actually just over the sand dunes at the end of runway 06. The drive to the beach consists of driving to the runup area of runway 24. There, there's a path through the brush and then up and over the sand dunes. Just as you reach the top of one of the dunes and look back toward the runway, you get the view shown in this picture. The walk is very short. It only takes a few minutes.

We sat on the beach and enjoyed the beautiful day. Even the seaguls were struggling with the wind. It's amazing but you can see them instinctively crab into the wind to get to where they're trying to go.

As we were walking back, a baron buzzed us as it was making its approach to runway 24. It was quite a thrill to be just underneath it. The flight back was uneventful for us but then again...how many people get to fly to the beach on their lunchbreak?

"IFR" to Orange County

As I've mentioned before Orange County NY (KMGJ) has a great new restaurant on the field. Yesterday Dean and I decided to take the ladies out for dinner and shoot for some IFR practice at the same time. BDL's forcast was for 3,000 OVC and POU's forecast was for 2,000 OVC. Both of the TAFs expected it to be a broken layer by the time we were supposed to be departing. Either way, it appeared like it was a nice IFR day. I filed the simplest route I could imagine which was HFD.IGN at 6,000ft. I ran home, went through all of the weather, NOTAMs and other information regarding the trip and headed down for the preflight.

When I got to the airport, the weather was quite nice. Clouds seemed to be scattered not overcast. There was one big dark region in the sky but the radar barely had any echos so I was not worried. The preflight was finished, the ladies showed up and we all got in for departure. I called BDL clearance before we started up just to make sure we weren't going to have to hold for 30 minutes waiting for a release with the engine running. I guess ZNY's computer didn't like my simple route so they cleared me for VEERS.V205.TRESA at 6,000.

As we got in the air, we realized that there were no clouds in the area. They were all well abov 7,000. We flew our assigned route and encountered no clouds until we hit the Hudson River.e There was one big dark cloud loaded with moisture there that we flew through for only a matter of minutes....but it was IFR! The trip was not a total bust anyway. I shot the ILS 03 into MGJ just for the practice and currency.

Dinner was of course great. I had a Chicken Club wrap which was very good. Lisa's hamburger looked like a more than adequate portion for any adult.

We finished eating and then departed VFR this time as the weather was now almost completely clear. I shot the VOR 36 approach back into MMK again just for the currency and practice.

It's funny how often we hope for perfect weather and get a crummy day and then when we want a crummy day, we end up with perfect weather. I guess that's just how nature is...

Right Seat Practice

Went flying with Dean today. I was PIC most of the flight from the right seat. I'm trying to get as much right seat work as I can in preparation for CFI-A. Things seem pretty weird at first but by the end of the flight I feel pretty comfortable.

I did the takeoff and departed MMK to the east for some maneuvers. I did slow flight, a power off stall, a power on stall, steep turns and a chandelle and I think they were all within PTS standards which made me feel great.

I flew back to MMK and did a landing. The landing was fairly soft but right of centerline (as I'd expect) and fairly flat. The next time around I came in faster than I would have liked so I floated a little bit but still landed pretty soft-this time much closer to the centerline. The last landing was just about perfect. I landed just past the numbers and it was a squeaker right on the centerline.

My confidence and comfort from the right seat are increasing but I don't think i'm ready to fly right seat with a non-pilot in the left seat just yet.

Nantucket

After work, I preflighted Dean's Warrior, filled it up and got everything ready for our passengers. We took went with a coworker Tony and his wife Kim. Everyone arrived 45 mins later and got in the plane. The weather was perfect CAVOK.

We took off and climbed to 7,500 for a great view of Groton, Providence, Newport, Martha's Vineyard and of course Nantucket. Enroute we had some problems with the alternator kicking offline. Turning it off and then back on again seemed to solve the problem so we started turning off unnecessary electronics to try to take some load off of it. That only made things worse. Now it kicked offline every minute or so. We started turning things back on putting even more of a load on the system and it was fine for the rest of the flight. Dean confirmed that as long as there's a moderate load on it, it stays online. In any case, it didn't affect the flight after making the adjustments so we continued on.

We began our comfortable descent and stared out the window at how pretty and natural the island looked. We reported a 4 mile right base for 24, landed and parked. We were in a row with Citations, Gulfstreams and King Airs. We looked so small and out of place. "Small plane but BIG pride" Dean said. We checked in with the FBO and grabbed a cab into town. I've never been to Nantucket before however I have been to the Vineyard and they're very similar in a lot of ways however I must say that Nantucket wins the trophy for natural beauty and wealth. I could not believe the size of some of the houses as well as the landscape of the property etc.

Tony showed us the Maria Mitchell House with the astronomy dome. Apparently that woman did a lot of work both related and unrelated to science for Nantucket. He said that she even saved the church from burning down at one time. Tony's love for Nantucket was obvious as he was enthusiastically giving facts and details about anything in sight.

We had dinner at The Atlantic Cafe which was very good. We walked around a bit more and saw some people playing guitar out on the street. It felt like a Friday night not a Tuesday night. Everyone was just having a blast....maybe they're all on vacation-who knows?

We grabbed a cab back to the airport. The cab driver gave us some interesting facts about the island as well. "There's not a single stoplight or flashing light on the island and the fastest speedlimit is 45."

We got back to the airport and did a preflight and departed. Again, the weather was perfect. For the first time in my life, we could very easily see the entire outline of the Milky Way in the sky. To the average person, it looks like a streak of clouds but it's really billions of stars in the galaxy. Everyone in the plane was completely amazed by it. Aside from that, the flight home was extremely quiet and relaxing. ATC was not busy at all. We flew from MVY to GON without hearing a single transmission. I asked PVD_APP for our groundspeed just to see if our radios were even working and they were.

We landed back at MMK, tied up the plane and all decided that there's nothing cooler in the world than flying. "Who would have though this morning at work that tonight we'd be eating dinner on Nantucket" was Tony's phrase for the night. That's the beauty of flying.

Orange County NY

Dean, Joe and I went to Orange County NY (KMGJ) on Friday for lunch. It's very easy to find as it's just west of Stewart (KSWF)'s airspace. The airport is a great little airport. It has two runways, both adequately sized for most GA aircraft. It's nicely situated in a farm area next to a hill. It has a "Super Unicom" that i've never seen before. If you click the mic three times you get airport advisories. If you click the mic four times, you get a radio check as the computer transmits "transmission received" over the frequency.

Aside from the airport grounds itself, there's some other great things about the area as well - namely food. On the field is Rick's Runway Cafe which has just been redone. The inside is very clean and very well decorated. The menu is great and the food is certainly on par. Joe and I had a decent sized sandwich and fries and a drink for less than $10. Dean had a big salad for about $4.00.

I recommended it to Andy and ended up going there yesterday with him for breakfast. The weather in the morning was forecast to be CAVOK after 10am but before then, there was a layer of clouds and fog from 600ft up to about 1,500ft so we had to depart IFR. As soon as we got above the clouds, we cancelled IFR and continued the trip VFR. I had a very good egg sandwich. He had chocolate chip pancakes that were very large and looked great.

The airport has a certain personality that's very likable. It's busy but ironically things seem slow paced. We saw a couple of Chinese fighter planes from WWII and watched a couple of Navy guys flying in in a pair of YAKs doing breaks on the way in.

I'm definitly keeping this airport on my list of places to visit for a quick trip.

I'm a Commercial Pilot!

Well I did it! I passed my checkride with "flying colors!" (Pun intended). The checkride was scheduled for 8am. I stayed up last night preparing for the oral portion for about three or four hours until I finally decided that sleep was probably as important as the studying.

I planned my cross country to Lancaster four different ways even though he only asked for two. First, he wanted the best performance. He said "Get us there as fast as possible." Because of the Arrow II's engine, I had the option of using 75% power at 4,500ft. or 65% at 6,500ft. Taking climb time, winds aloft and aircraft performance data, I found that it would take us 1hr and 31mins to get there at 4,500 feet using 75% power. That's what I expected since it is essentially "full power." But then I tried it at 6,500 feet at 65% power and found that it only took 3 minutes longer. I printed both flight plans out.

A similar option existed for best efficiency. It was more efficient to go up to 6,500 and use 55% power than to stay at 4,500 and use the same 55% power. Again, the difference was marginal so I printed both.

I got to the airport around 7am and the smell of sewage from the treatment plant across the street was making me nauseous. The air was completely still and the smell just wouldn't lift. I began my preflight which was very easy since I had the aircraft fueled and ready to go the night before. Right around 8am the examiner's blue C-172 touched down and taxiied over.

We got right into things as he organized his notes and checklists. Paperwork was first. He verified my hours, the application and my logbook. He had me prove to him I was legal and current. Next he had me prove the aircraft was legal and current. I showed him all of the maintenance logs and we moved right along. Next we went over every performance chart in the POH. He had me explain to them what they each displayed and had me show him the results for the current conditions (takeoff/landing roll, climb performance etc.). Next it was cross country planning time. He was very happy with the planning and was impressed that I did a little extra work. I said that while picking 4,500ft was 3 minutes faster, it'd be much safer to take the 6,500ft plan since the 2,000 feet would save on gas and would be much safer in the event of an engine loss. We went over some other things pertaining to what a commercial rating is good for, its limitations etc. After about 40-45mins we were done. "Excellent job so far. Let's go flying now!" he said.

As we walked toward the aircraft, I did another walk around and told him I was checking to be sure the aircraft wasn't accidently damaged while we were inside. "It was out of my sight so anything could have happened to it" I told him. I pulled the chock out and we got in the plane. I gave him a passenger briefing describing the horns and lights he might expect to hear and see. I told him how to operate the door and the seatbelt as well as the fire extinguisher. I started up, taxiied and did my runup. We departed and began the cross country. I reached the top of my climb just about exactly where I predicted and verified it with the visual reference points...exactly 7 mins after departure. Now it was time for the maneuvers.

First we did power off stalls, then power on stalls, then steep turns in both directions. We went from one maneuver into the next. There was no break at all in between. He then asked for an emergency decent. I banked the aircraft about 60 degrees, pulled the throttle and began circling the area below. I was getting about 1500fpm descent rate. He stopped me and asked how I could descend faster. "Flaps and gear down?" I asked? "Sure that'll help add some drag but I would just nose it down and keep the airspeed less than Vno." So I tried that and i was easily getting 3000fpm. Wow, how had I come this far in aviation and never done that before? I wasn't even near Vno yet i couldn't push the nose down any harder. That plane can sink! Now that we were down low, we did Chandelle's to get back up. One to the left, then one to the right. Then it was Lazy Eights time. To the left, then back to the right again. "Keep doing more" he said as he started covering up instruments. Before I knew it, he covered my attitude indicator, airspeed indicator, DG, and VSI. "It's an outside maneuver so you don't need those anyway" he joked. So I kept doing lazy eights and they kept getting better not worse. I suprised myself. Then it was time to lose some altitude with steep spiral descents. I found a bridge and began circling at 60 degrees of bank holding best glide. Immediately after my third revolution he said "Ok let's do some eights on pylons." I picked out my reference points and began the maneuver. I went through it twice and then he said "Ok maneuvers were great...Let's do some takeoffs and landings."

Back to the airport for a short field landing. Pattern was completely normal and winds were calm so it was nothing out of the ordinary. I planted it right at the top of the numbers and got off of the first taxiway. Takeoff was to be a short field takeoff. Next time around he asked for a soft field landing. Again, normal pattern and I landed just past the numbers and held the nose off. Now time for a soft field takeoff. As I approached the numbers on downwind, he pulls the engine on me and I immediately begin aiming the aircraft at the numbers. The gear was already down so I pitched for best glide and started going through the checklists. I could tell he thought I was crazy because the plane was coming down about 1200fpm but I know this plane and was sure I would make it...you just have to turn toward the runway immediately and can't fly any sort of pattern whatsoever. I landed nice and soft on the numbers and taxiied off of the runway. "Wow I can't get over the descent rate of that aircraft! Are you sure 105mph is the best glide airspeed in that plane?" I reassured him that I was positive. He wanted to go up again and do a test. Again on downwind he pulled the throttle. "This time try 95mph instead." Sure enough, the plane was descending at about 700fpm and I actually had to slip it to get it down on the numbers again. We concluded that the POH's best glide airspeed was obviously accurate for gear up situations but for gear down, the best speed is much lower. That's an interesting and useful thing to know.

We taxiied back and as soon as I cut the engine he said "Congratulations...You're ready to be a commercial pilot." It's a great feeling to be done! As I cleaned up the aircraft and handed him my logbook, I told him the total time was 1.2hrs. "That's it?! That's the fastest commercial checkride I think i've ever done!" We went inside where he handed me my new paper certificate. He kept my old plastic license which I was hoping to keep as a souveneir. Oh well...

No rest for the wicked! Time to get in gear for CFI and CFII!

Commercial Written......Check!

So I took the written exam today at Hummingbird Heliport. It was infinitely easier than going to East Haddam like I had to do for my Instrument written back in 1999. I walked in, showed them my ID and within a few minutes I was working on the test.

For the most part, it was everything that I expected. It's essentially a Private Written but with a heavy emphasis on aircraft performance and Commercial CFRs. I went through the whole exam in 45 minutes and then went through the ones that I flagged to return to. There was about 10 of them that I wasn't sure of the answers to. I had them all narrowed down to 2 possible answers and depending on the interpretation of the question, it could be either of them. I did my best and walked out of there with an 89%.

Not the best score in the world but certainly passing and acceptable. When I got home, I looked at the classifications for the questions I missed and they were mostly in the areas that I had originally flagged. I suspect my educated guesses weren't the greatest.

I called the FAA Examiner and scheduled my checkride for this Thursday! I better hit the books and prepare for the oral exam. He wants me to plan a flight to Lancaster PA and he wants it planned twice. First for best performance and again for best efficiency.

Flying to Kankakee

Dave, Laura and I flew up to Kankakee IL or Con-cocky as Dave pronounces it. It started off as a beautiful morning, clear skies and calm winds. Dave flew out there and as we started getting closer it started to get a little bumpy but not too bad. As Dave sets up to land, one of the two planes in front of us reports wind shear on final and warns us to be careful. Neither Dave nor I really took much interest in that because we’ve been up in far worse conditions than this. The guy in front of us lands and we watch him as we turn final. It looks okay at first and then you see the guy drift all the way over to one side of the runway. As he’s rolling out, he starts talking on the radio to the previous aircraft and says “Wow that was a difficult landing. I had full right rudder in and i barely got it down.” Dave and I look at each other like “What is this guy talking about…the wind is almost down the runway?!” By this time, Dave is just about over the runway threshold and the previous guy is so busy talking on the radio that he’s not getting off of the runway. Now technically, he was far enough down the runway that we could have landed and he wouldn’t have been a problem but a good pilot never takes that chance so Dave hits the throttle, mutters some expletives and goes around. The next time around Dave plants it on the runway. No big deal, no need to get excited or worried. So we go inside and take their courtesy car which is a Ford Taurus from the 80’s. The damn thing pulled to the right like a shopping cart. Anyway, we drove to Burger King, had lunch and then I flew us home. On the way back, Laura sat in the front seat and I let her fly a bit. It was real bumpy at this point but she still had fun. Dave on the other hand was in the back seat not feeling too hot. I think he had a bug and the bumps and swaying of the plane just made it worse. I landed back at Purdue which was VERY busy because of the Illinois Vs. Purdue game that day. Quite a few people were flying in to attend the game. That was the extent of my weekend.

Where'd They Put the Damned FBO?

Well today was a rather interesting day. I went flying with Dave. We went to Eagle Creek airport in Indianapolis. Because navigation is my forte, I very efficiently led us to the wrong building once we landed. In my defense, the FBO moved since I had last been there so whatever. The weather was fairly good but the ceilings were getting lower and it was raining in some parts of the state very lightly.