17.9 hours

Teaching student is by far one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do. Specifically teaching my current student to land is even harder. My student has about 18 hours now, and was handed down to me from another guy who left the school. I have been working with him trying to figure out what bad habits he has, and how on earth I am going to break those habits. Let’s see, where should I start?

1) On the takeoff roll, he is reluctant to add full power right away. I watch him eat up half of the runway using partial power before he adds max power. This is fine on a 5000 foot runway, but makes me nervous if we go somewhere shorter. He also doesn’t believe in centerlines like I do. He has a tendency to veer off the runway centerline on the takeoff roll. I have to at times add right rudder to keep us aligned……
2) On the climb out he is good, except that he is a bit absent minded and flustered, and has a tendency to miss his xwind altitude. We turn our xwind at 900 ft msl…..and all too often I have to remind him. His xwind turn is pretty good. But when he turns his downwind he blows through his altitude (1200 msl) and doesn’t configure the aircraft like he should. Can be a bit frustrating.
3) Once we sort out the airplane on the downwind, the fun is just starting. Our base turn is a diving high speed affair. A little scary. It usually takes some coaching from me to sort out the issues on base and final but he usually recovers alright.
4) The last part of the puzzle is the landing flare. Or rather lack there of. He feels as though he needs to land on all three wheels……I do not concur. Those of you who know how to land know that it is customary to land on the main wheels and let the nose wheel fall…this is done through the use of backpressure on the yoke/elevator. Initially he will start to flare normally. Then he will either put in too much backpressure---in which case we balloon 20 feet in the air, run out of airspeed, and drop like a rock. Or, he lets out the backpressure and we drop like a rock and land on all three wheels at once. Not a real healthy thing for the airplane.

Anyways, I just wanted to share some experiences I have had in the pattern the last couple of weeks. Ill keep you updated.

Finally Makin Money

So, Again I apologize for the long gap in posts. Ive been keeping very busy on the airways and in the traffic pattern. I took two of my college friends down to VT for the Boston College game. It was a 745 game on a Thurs night, so i took a half day from work and was wheels up by 2 pm. We landed at BCB in the PA28R-200 Arrow right in front of N1VA---the governors jet. We went downtown for some food and to relive old times. The game was awesome but really cold. We won of course in what was one of teh best games of the year from a hokie fans perspective. We ended up walking back the 2 miles to the airport but it was alright...it warmed us up. An IFR departure into the cold black sky and up to 7000 I went. with temps hovering around freezing at that altitude i was on the lookout for ice. Sure enough like clockwork we began to pick up ice. So back down i went and out of the clouds and ice. the rest of the ride home was uneventful to say the least.. Just another night on the airways.

So, I have my first student since passing my CFI. Pete is a hand-me-down from another instructor who has since left the flight school. He has about 15 hours under his belt and is working on his private rating. Hes motivated and makes my job easier in that regard...but he has some stuff to work on. Nonetheless...this has been a tremendous challenge......I will let you know when he solos.

Comin' to your ci-tay

So, its been a while since I have posted on here so I figured Id do a recap of what I have been up to. Ive been a busy guy. I started working the desk at the flight school. Hoping to get a student lined up soon. Between my day job, working at independence air and the flight school...I havnt had much time for flying. But I did take some pretty cool IFR flights. I went down on 9/11 to see my hokies play Ohio Univ for the home opener. The game started with a b2 flyover...that was pretty cool. The flight down was even cooler. We departed VFR and picked up flight following down to BCB. Potomac approach cleared us up to our cruise altitude and into the Class B airspace. We were at 6500 and over some 4000 ft mountains. Always makes me nervous flying over mountains but its a calculated risk. I was in the right seat and Dan was in the left. His wife erin was in the back. We were about 30 miles SW of JYO and could see we couldnt maintain VFR, so i asked for a popup clearance from approach. The cleared us to join Victor airway 143 which goes from \CSN vortac to MOL vor. After some confusion and the inability to pick up the airway we ended up going GPS direct to BCB. We were in and out of the clouds and had a really nice sunny flight on top of most of the crud below. Some convective stuff made our ride interesting with some bumps, and flying on instruments from the right seat was interesting. Its all good though.

The flight home was interesting. We had to wait for the VA TEch police to let us into the airport since we came back after the FBO closed. We did a preflight and everything looked good. We taxied out and did a run up after we got our clearance back to JYO. after the runup and right before takeoff we got a low voltage light on the annunciator panel. So we taxied back, advised ATC and did a quick trouble shoot. We found a popped breaker and reset it. the warning light went off and we did another runup. the breaker held and we departed uneventfully. I later found out that this is a common problem and about half the time the breaker will pop again. I guess we were just lucky that night.

We were cleared up to 7000 but we at max gross wt, and had a hard time gettting up there so we stayed at 6000, much to the shagrin of ATC. I was PIC and made a decision they would have to deal with. The rest of the flight was normal. ATC had us relay a clearance to an aircraft on the ground at shenandoah while we were abeam the airport. A couple of "time-builders" heading out for some IFR training. My night landing left a little to be desired, but we all made it home safe.

Last weekend we took a cessna out to harrass the Gold Cup horse races inVA. We found the event and did a few laps while we watched the partiers below. We headed back to JYO and were greeted with a direct xwind at 15 knots or so. I need to get out and work on my xwind landings, especialy from the right seat. Always learning.

I am headed back down for another game in Blacksburg this Thursday. The hokies are playing tough and they have a big game against Boston College this week....shoudl be a good flight and a great game.

Hurricane Katrina

When I started blogging on here, I wanted to use this to keep a journal of my flight training. I am going to go a little off topic here. The effects of Hurricane Katrina have not only touched those in the city of New Orleans, but I believe they have touched the world. Last Monday the city of New Orleans and the gulf coast, Biloxi and Gulfport and points 100 miles inland were hammered by a massive category five Hurricane. Hurricane Katrina came ashore with 160 mph winds and leveled cities and towns, and left the city of New Orleans under water. I am at a loss for words and would like to express my feelings through this blog. I have been watching the news, monitoring CNN.com and listening to the radio. The feeling of helplessness and pain that I felt for the people affected bythis tragecy is like nothing Ive ever felt. This rivals the events of 9/11 in so many ways, but in so many other ways it is so much worse. with tens of thousands of people without homes(literally) and seeing them struggle to wade through feet of standing sewer water to get to a place that wasnt even safe broke my heart, and the heart of this country. I watched on Fox news this afternoon pictures of the superdome, and the houston astrodome, and the despair on the faces of so many. Then there were the people who were above the law and looted the city, shot at police and helicopters, and killed each other over abag of ice. I demand nothing less than the death penalty for those individuals....that behavior is inexcusable. Around 4pm today the USARMY rolled into New Orleans bringing rations and help. The cavalry had arrived. Ive never felt so proud of our armed forces as I did when the national guard convoy carrying1000 troops and over 9 million MRE's. The 300 helicopters went into action plucking people off rooftops and delivering them to safety. The hours immediately after the hurricane passed the coast guard sprang into action.....I believe this was what they were trained for, and this was indeed their finest hour. God bless the men and woman who were the real heroes in this rescue effort. An effort is underway right now transporting busloads of people to various states' stadiums and centers. The outpouring of support from the rest of the country has been immense: the airlines, the state govts, the sports teams, and the networks. All have been amazing. And when I got home today I watched Condoleeza Rice(sp?) announce that we have received offers of money, supplies, and help from the world. Most notably was Sri Lanka...who is still recovering from their own disaster in the tsunami. I felt a tear fall from my eye when I heard that. Across borders, oceans, and cultural differences the one thing that binds us all together is the human spirit. It is amazing to witness the outpouring of love, money, and energy for people we dont even know. God bless those effected by the storm, and may god be with you in the rebuilding of homes and towns.

First Nephew

Landon was born around 8:30 pm on 8/23/05. The 7lb11oz healthy baby boy was delivered in fairfax hospital, VA. This ranks up there with one of the highlights in my life. Probably as cool as the day I became a liscenced pilot. Landon was a stubborn little guy, and didnt want to join us...but mom hung in there and made it happen. We all figured it would be close to midnight when he would be born, but he decided he had enough and made a run for the door. We were all pleasantly surprised when he came when he did. We rushed to the hospital in time to get a look at him and hold him before they kicked us out. Meredith is recovering for the next few days and will be bringing baby home before the weekend. Thank god for a healthy baby, and a safe delivery. My first nephew has no idea what he is in store for.......solo at age 16, ppl at 17, comm-sel at 18.......commercial airliner at 21. Oh yes, I have my work cut out for me.
(btw...ignore the time stamp on the pic)

c177rg cardinal checkout complete

So, I had probably the best day of flying in some time today in the cardinal. An airplane i struggled with last week felt like an old friend today. We headed out of leesburg up towards Frederick. started with some steep turns, then the stall series, then some gear emergencies. Cessna landing gear systems are different and not what i was used to so learning how to operate the emergency gear extension system was crucial. We then headed back to Leesburg for some landings. I greased the first x-wind landing and then we headed back for a power off landing. I was well within 200 ft of my intended landing spot. Then we finished up with a couple of engine failures on takeoff. when we cleared the trees Ray pulled the power and i landed with no flaps and on the remaining runway. It was a new experience for me and a real eye opener. things really happen fast.

I also got another endorsement. The FAA requires that anyone who wants to fly an airplane with an engine over 200 horsepower, needs to receive and log ground and flight instruction in the operations of a high performance engine. Since the Cardinal was 225 hp we did the training and I was signed off to fly high performance aircraft. Pretty cool huh?

xc trip KHEF-MRH

So, a trip to the beach was in order since summer was quickly coming to a close. I decided to meet a friend down at Emerald Isle in the outer banks North Carolina. I was to take the warrior(pa28140) from manassas(khef) to moorehead-beaufort airport in NC. I filed IFR and got my clearance. The clearance was "arsenal 1 departure to csn, radar vectors to HANEY int, Harcum VOR, Cofield VOR, Newbern VOR, direct. I was in the clouds most of the way at 7000ft. With a nice tailwind I made it down in just over 2 hours. not too bad. As i passed Cherry Point MCAS I picked up the airport. was cleared for the visual and canceled IFR. I landed runway 3 and taxied in to meet my buddies. The way home was equally as fun. I picked up my clearance and departed runway 26 from moorehead. Climbed up to 6000 and was soon cleared direct to cofield and then to Richmond, brooke vor, and casanova before being cleared for the visual approach into manassas. It was a real learning experience for me since i had to divert around several buildups that wouldnt have been a whole lot of fun to fly through. Summer time presents a unique hazard in thunderstorms, and after i flew through the first buildup i decided it would be better to circumnavigate the weather rather than fight to keep wings level and altitude in check while flying through. All in all a great trip. Logged over 5 hours of flight time, 2 landing, vor tracking, 1 hour of actual instrument, and got some great experience talking to ATC. Regardless of what anyone says, Wash Center will, and does, help you out when you need it.

Cardinal c177rg checkout

Washington DC is sitting under some of the hottest weather we have had in a while. Combine the heat and humidity(95 degrees) and some really bad haze and you have a less than ideal day to go flying. None-the-less....my instructor Ray and I headed out to the Cardinal for our first flight since my CFI checkride. He showed me the subtle differences in systems from the Arrow, and the similarities I could relate from my days in the Cessna 172. After a thourough and sweaty preflight we climbed in. I got my ADIZ clearance, and we checked the AWOS. Wow, 2800 ft density altitude. This is gonna be interesting. The higher the density altitude(pressure altitude corrected for non standard temps) the worse(or better) your performance. In this case our performance was much worse. He told me to fly by feel and get to know this new bird with the bigger engine and way nicer avionics. She was equipped with a Garmin 530, dual display, autopilot, TCAS(traffic collision avoidance system) and some nice radios. We headed up to DMW-carroll county MD. My first landing there was terrible. Its been a while since ive bounced an airplane. I bounced the cardinal, about 3 times before we settled down. The next landing was much nicer. we did a soft field takeoff out of there and headed over to 2w2-clearview airport. We are talking about some work. the runway is 1800 ft long, and one side has a slope so you better hope the wind is blowing downhill. We dragged it in over the trees, and put it down in the first 500 ft. rolled to the end and took off on the downhill. I rotated at the published airspeed(55 kt) and climbed out....barely. we cleared the trees by no more than 100 ft. interesting. there was some serious pucker factor. we came back in for another landing and takeoff. these were both much better. One thing i learned about cessna retracts is that you dont pull the gear up while trying to clear something. the mechanical drag of the gear in motion destroys performance. lesson learned. the arrow you got rid of the gear and drag when you were clear of the runway. I experienced a real practical application of short field technique. its just not the same when there is actually an extra 3000 ft of runway in case you mess up. its one shot or no shot. The we headed back to JYO-leesburg. he yanked the power on me abeam the numbers. i forgot how those cessna wings like to fly......full flaps and a slip on the base and I greased her in. So, what did I learn? bigger engine means better performance, but also means more to do. Cowl flaps are there for a reason, and density altitude and hot temps are serious business on a short runway. Oh yeah, and dont pull up the gear till you are clear of anything. Cant wait to take this bird onto the grass strip next weekend, and then on a x-c trip somewhere.

Savannah to Dulles on a crj-200

So, my day starts off yesterday(Sunday) in lovely Savannah Georgia. My plan was to take the 1230 flight home which still had seats open. However I decided to stay longer. After some careful thought I figured trying to get on the 730 flight was my best option. There were 4 seats and two listed. So, I showed up an hour earlier than departure and learned there were actually no seats on the 7:00 flight but the 930 was wide open. So, they book me on the 930 and I wait. An hour or so passes and its getting close to boarding time, and I don’t see anyone in the gate area. I soon learn that the flight was canceled and that I would have to come back in the morning for a 6 am departure. Lovely. As I called my friend to come scoop me I sat pondering what would happen to me in the morning. There were seats, and there were plenty of flights, but you really never can tell when flying stand-by. I woke up this morning and was so tired. I made my way to the airport-ksav- and was given a seat. 11b. great, no window but it would do. I figured I could sleep most of the flight. Not so. The departure was great. Nice smooth rotation and we were quickly at altitude in the crj-200. one of Bombardiers finest. I settled in for the hour or so flight. As we passed over Richmond(which I identified with a skillfull eye) and joined the arrival routing, the woman behind me decides its bathroom time. this is where the story gets good. She decides that she was too big to get out of the seat unaided and every time(total of 3) she uses the back of my seat as a crutch. She would use my chair to support her weight and launch me backwards as she climbed out. The flight attendant has been doing her best all flight to help this poor woman, but is obviously at her wits end. The lady cant buckle her seat belt….so the FA brings her an extension, being as political as she can…..but I could tell she didn’t get much sleep and was worn out. She finally gets settled(I think) and I can see the runway at Dulles to my left out the window. We are on a downwind leg for landing to the south on 19Left. She decides its bathrrom time again. Runs in there coughing up a storm. The flight attendant comes back again. (mind you were in a critical phase of flight close to the ground) and tells her to sit down. The lady responds frantically that “shes seen shows in tv about airline tragedies”. Im not sure what that had to do with her seatbelt not being on, but nonetheless as the aircraft settled in over the runway and began the landing flare she went into nervous shakes, and ultimately let out a huge shriek as the wheels touched down. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer flight……….minus this lady. I didn’t want to stare on the plane so I got a good look at her in the terminal. It was an interesting sight.

Anyways, that was my Sunday/Monday. 6 hours in the terminal, 1 great flight, 1 freakin weirdo lady, and a non-rev nightmare and im home. Who could ask for more?

I AM OFFICIAL

Saturday July 30th, at 830 am we departed Leesburg airport for Frederick municipal airport to take our checkrides. Myself, another commercial candidate and his instructor climbed in the arrow and departed IFR to FDK. ceilings were low so we requested the ILS approach to runway 23. For those that dont know, and ILS is an approach to landing in low visibility conditions which gives you runway centerline guidance and keeps you on a 3 degree glidepath to the runway. You are allowed to descend to within about 200 feet of the ground before being required to fly the missed approach. Anyhow, we broke out of the clouds right at decision height(dh) and landed uneventufully. We parked and I met the examiner inside. She ran me through about a three hour oral exam. We talked about everything from runway markings to lesson plans to aerodynamics. It was thorough and a good learning experience for me. The clouds were still hanging around so I sent in my buddy to get his oral out of the way. I went and grabbed a crabcake sandwich. Oh how i wish i were done.

The flight started uneventfully with a softfield takeoff with a tailwind at high density altitude. we climbed out and went north of the field to do some airwork. We started with steep turns, slow flight, stalls and then a lazy eight. then we did eights on pylons, turns around a point, and then back to the airport for a power off landing. After the engine out we came back around for a soft field landing on a short field. I was officially a CFI. To date of the coolest feelings I have had in aviation.

So, nowI am on to my multi engine rating and to find a couple students. Exciting stuff.

I was offered a position flight instructing at the flight school I trained at. I will start in a few weeks.