The ERJ

Jetlink

3 AM Wed morning it began........I boarded a 6 am flight from IAD to IAH on a CAL 737-300. Arrived into IAH(houston-george bush airport) around 830 am. Nice touchdown on 26L and subsequent taxi from hell to get to the gate(those who frequent IAH know what I am talking about). Hopped off the plane and into a shuttle that took us over to Express Jet headquarters. All I have to say is that place is one class act. Everyone there is super cool. The HR rep took us to a room, that I would get to know very well, and gave us all a briefing on the company. Then it was hurry up and wait. 25 of us there to interview so it took them a while to go through paperwork. Once it was all sorted the sessions started. There were three rooms; a jeppesen chart room, a "what would you do" room, and finally an HR room that would decide our fates. I was hit with some very good hard questions in all of the room, but it seemed as though the HR room was where it all happens. I really think your personality and ability to interact with the HR woman and one of the company managers plays a large role on whether or not you get the gig. Anyhow, after a short talk I was told to wait in the hall while they reviewed my bidding. The HR person soon came out and handed me a binder and a poster and said they would like to offer me a position and would I accept. I gladly said I would. Never been happier. Now its just a waiting game to get the final confirmation on the background check and the piss test. Not that I have much to worry about but you know how it goes. Anyways, I am thrilled to soon be a part of the express jet family. It is a dream come true and I have many people to be thankful to.....Once I get a chance to start actually flying I am going to make a video that Ill be sure to post on here. Looks like Cleared for the Visual is about to get a little more interesting.

Third time must really be the charm.

Merry Xmas

Merry Xmas everyone. Hope that everyone is having a nice holiday with family and friends, and that everyone is being safe out there. Whether you are on the airways tonite, or sitting at home with family and friends, I wish you all the best.

Got a gig

So, I had a phone interview with Ram Air Freight based in RDU yesterday. The guy I spoke with told me he would recommend me to be hired to the chief pilot. Sounds like a great opportunity. I will initially start off in the Piper Lance, a strong and reliable aircraft. With all my Arrow time it should be a breeze for me to transition. Once a slot opens up I will move into either a seneca, a baron, or a cessna 402. Its nice to have this lined up, because it really takes the heat off the express jet interview. EXJET is still my number one, and I am still preparing for the interview as though the job was mine.....but a little of the pressure is off. Did I say "a little".....? Cause I am still stressed...lol.

Ram air will be a great spot for me to hone my skills as a pilot flying single pilot IFR missions in all types of weather and at both day and night. Here is a pic of a Lance.

Skylane IFR

I blasted off the other afternoon with a buddy to go to Norfolk international to pick up a buddy of his. We launched IFR into severe clear skies, but an airmet for moderate turbulence along most of the route. It was definitely a bumpy ride, but got better as we made out way south. We were cleared direct casanova, then haney intersection,Richmond Vortac, wakes intersection, direct norfolk. Nice easy trip. Once airborne we were routed west of dulles and then on course to the south direct to Haney intersection. about 15 miles from Haney we were cleared direct WAkes intersection. That took us right over Richmond and a great view of the city. As soon as we were handed off to Norfolk approach control we were assigned a heading and radar vectors to the visual approach to runway 23 at Norfolk. Nice ride in. Sun was setting, ships pulling into the harbor and a nice manly sized a/c carrier steamed into port.

The trip out was fun for me. I sat left seat with Dan in the back. His buddy sat up front with me. I was single pilot IFR all the way home. I loved it. Clearance was norfolk 3 departure, radar vectors to hopewell vor, richmond, coatt 4 arrival and then direct leesburg. I was on vectors for most of the first part of the trip, but as soon as it got dark I was cleared direct to Falko, a waypoint on the arrival. I was at 6000 ft and doing about 100 knots over the ground, right into the wind. It was a long ride home. Once over falko I resumed the arrival and was cleared direct baron intersection, direct Mixnn intersection. This put us on the east side of Dulles, very close to the FRZ that surrounds wash DC. The dreaded no fly zone.

Once abeam Dulles, I spotted the field and got radar vectors around the north end of the field at 2000. My last clearance was, "traffic, 2 o clock passing right to left at 3000, heavy 767 inbound for dulles, caution wake turbulence, you are cleared visual approach to leesburg". AWESOME!

What a great night to fly and put all my skills to test. Even stuck a nice xwind landing in the 182 at night....if I do say so myself. It is nights like this that I live for.

Ive been hitting the books extra hard in anticipation for my interview. Ill keep you all posted.

Good news at last

So, I have been pretty busy the last few weeks at the airport. Quite a bit of stress on me for a variety of reasons, but it looks as though it has all paid off. I am happy to report that most of it is very good news indeed.

I will start from the top....

Robbie, my older (former) student pilot is set to take delivery of a new cirrus SR22 this week. We were under a time constraint to get him his license, and every time we tried to fly weather or something else would get in the way. In any event, Robbie finally got it all together and went to take his private pilot checkride with a local examiner here at Leesburg. Ive never seen a guy so nervous and tense as he was that day. But apparently he did fine, and is now a licensed private pilot. Next on his agenda is cirrus training at Leesburg in his plane, as well as me getting checked out in the aircraft. I will get a day of factory training by a cirrus instructor so that I can feel comfortable in the airplane when we do his instrument.

I also passed 1200 hours. So that makes me officially eligible for alot of 135 single pilot ifr work that is out there. Its mostly freight gigs that involve night runs in barrons, senecas, lances, c210's and caravans. I am sitting at about 1240 right now and 138 multi.

As quickly as I reached part 135 mins I also got a letter from express jet---the regional for continental airlines. I interview on the 27th and am very excited. The other two interviews with comair and eagle were practice sessions for this one. As sad as I was to have not been previously selected at comair or eagle, I am very thankful to have had that practice. Invaluable. The gouges seem to be very jeppesen focused. They ask rather obscure symbology questions, and expect you to have a very indepth working knowledge of the charts. They also provide carrier service to Mexico, so a great portion of the interview involves looking at Mexican approaches and departure procedures. I have been lucky enough to get my hands on an approach plate from Saltillo Mexico that they use on the pilots proficiency check. Hopefully I will get that presented to me in the interview. The very nice thing about the interview process is that I will get to know immediately afterwards whether I was selected or not. No waiting on pins and needles for days wondering.

Everyone keep me in their prayers....perhaps the third time will be the charm.........

Cessna 182--The "Skylane"

Today was absolutely gorgeous. I woke up at 530 am and left in the dark for what I figured to be a windy and cold day. I was dead wrong. Temps topped 65 and winds werent any stronger than an occasional gust to 12...right down the runway. After the last couple of days and the massive nor'easter that moved up the coast I figured today would get the backlash of wind that usually follows. As it turns out there really wasnt a frontal passage associated with that.....so...no wind. nice.

I started the day with some pattern work with Gene. We worked on his landings for an hour or so. Then I had the opportunity to fly the Cessna 182 Skylane over to Front Royal. Jim has been kind enough to let us fly his airplane out at Leesburg while hes been too busy to fly. So, the nice weather was here and he wanted to fly so I took it back out to FRR for him. What a great day. The winds were mellow, the temps standard, and visibility was greater than 30 miles. I knew I needed to make a short field landing at FRR so I took the opportunity to do some slow flight, a power off stall and some maneuvering to get used to the heavier feel of the Skylane. I did a couple touch and goes at Winchester and then headed over to FRR. Before I landed I needed to figure out how to get home via the public road system, so i flew the route Id drive from the airport to I66. A good idea as it turned out to be confusing enough. Some solo stick time in a different airframe was just what I needed. Break me out of the routine.

The afternoon sent me out with Sean to work on ground reference, steep turns, and forward slips and traffic patterns. We hammered out some problems he was having with his landings. Winchester was a bevy of activity and it made it tough to work the pattern. Touch and goes were the only option since there was a line of aircraft waiting to depart. I usually try to do full stop and taxi back when working the pattern to give them a chance to breath. It worked out though.
The rest of the weekend is looking good. Not alot on the schedule but Im sure something will materialize. I am about 15 hours from part 135 single pilot mins. Good stuff.

Read a news article stating that comair lost 12 of its jets. What that means is that Delta outsourced its regional flying for 12 of those jets. All just another cog in the wheel to get out of bankruptcy. Maybe things do really work out for the best after all. At this pace Comair furloughs could be right around the corner. hmmm.....

Interview #2---NOT

Anyone seen Borat?.....................Not. If you saw the movie you will know the reference I am getting at. Anyways, Got a letter today from Comair....Thanks but no thanks is the basic gist of the letter. I suppose there is solice and Cliche in the fact that the experience of the interview was worth the trip.....but geez. What do they look for in these interviews. I felt that most of my answers were pretty straightforward and correct, but I guess it wasnt good enough. So, its back to the drawing board. Third time is the charm right?

I flew with a guy tonite that hasnt flown in 10 years. He is a retired airline captain from a major airline flying airbus 310's. He loved flying and when he retired he got into sailing. Now he misses aviation so much that he wants to get back into it. We hopped into a cessna 172 and took off into an overcast sky but with decent vis. Somehow he had a way with Potomac approach control and they treated him to a class bravo clearance and flight following for the 25 mile flight to Winchester regional. Arrival into Winchester was interesting. He flew a downwind wider than I have ever seen....Airbus 310 style. He wanted to fly final alot faster than 65 knots, and he wanted to flare 50 feet in the air. All classic mistakes made by former airline pilots. I also had a hard time getting him to set power to idle once we were over the runway.

Anyhow, one of the last things he told me what to never quit. He said he was in his 40's flying charter work before he got his dream job. To keep working hard and keep pushing forward and it will pay off. Right now it sure feels like I am sitting idle, but maybe the old saying of "its always darkest before the dawn" is about to ring true. I sure hope so.

The Dream

I have met many different people while instructing, but there is always one thing that we all have in common. People come to the airport because they love airplanes and they love to fly. Some people are luckier than others. Some get to take lessons while other watch, some get to own their own aircraft while others rent, and some get to pursue the dream of being a pilot of something larger and faster while others have to settle for weekends in a cessna or diamond airplane. A student of mine told me other other night that I was getting to do something that he always wanted to do....become an airline pilot. I suppose I have been fortunate enough in this life to be able to easily attain my ratings, safely fly over 1100 hours, and spend my nights and days at the airport introducing others to aviation. Its a dream of a lifetime, and I am getting to live it....however, I have had to make significant sacrifices enroute to where I am right now. Money is only the tip of the iceberg. CFI's are routinely underpaid, and for what we do on a daily basis it is hard to make a living. CFI's are also routinely asked to put their license on the line while giving instruction and signing logbooks. From students that go out to solo, to people you sign off to fly the flight school aircraft, to people whom you arent even giving instruction but find yourself in the right seat.

I wont go into details right now because of pending legal action, but I can tell you that life isnt fair at times. As a country song I listened to tonite said, "god is great, but life aint always good". An incident took place recently involving an aircraft, a brand new owner and a relatively experienced flight instructor. By the grace of god noone was injured, but a mechanical annomaly caused something very serious to happen. Even though this particular instructor had zero time as PIC in this particular make and model, and the pilot/owner had at least some time in this make and model, the CFI is still going to take the heat. A very unfair practice, but oftentimes takes place in the world of GA. In this situation the FAA hasnt placed blame on the CFI, but other channels are trying to do just that. I am hopeful that this will work itself out, but its still hard to say at this point.

I guess what I am trying to get at is that I have given up alot to chase "the dream", and I work hard and try to be safe in what I do. Its just not fair for me to have to deal with situations such as this, but I guess its part of the gig. I didnt make this bed, but I am being forced to lie in it.

So, any new cfi's out there that are willing to hop in an airplane to log the time be wary. Go get some instruction of your own in new makes of aircraft. A couple extra hours is not worth the heartache and hassle of something mush more serious happening. And those that are out there just flying around on the weekends, enjoy and savour the experience. It gets very routine at this level and some of the magic has left what we do. I would give anything to restore that "feeling" again...the feeling of being excited at flying traffic patterns for an hour or just making a trip to the practice area for a short flight after work. Be safe out there.

Interview #2

The trip started out of Reagan National Tuesday afternoon. I boarded a Delta MD88 and departed off of runway 1 into an overcast sky of around 5000 ft. A nice smooth flight and a left downwind and visual approach into the Cincinatti Northern KY airport. I quickly grabbed my bag and boarded a van to the Hotel. I settled in and ordered some dinner and hit the books.

The next morning I met in the lobby for the van to the Comair headquarters. There were 9 others also headed to the interview; all with their blue/black suits on and an armful of paperwork. We were greeted at HQ by a senior captain/ IOE checkairman/part time recruiter. He gave us about an hour long briefing on the company, benefits, the hiring future, and what would go on that day. He did his absolute best to make us feel comfortable and relaxed. With a room full of male pilots going for an airline interview....thats a hard thing to do.

I was scheduled to interview in the morning, and take the cognitive eval test in the afternoon. The other half of the room went to the cog portion first. I was glad to interview before lunch.

A very pleasant senior Captain called me in. I met with her and a guy from HR. They were both awesome and made me feel comfortable. They started in with questions on "why comair?, "tell me about a time you had to think quick in the airplane..", "what would you do if the captain was drinking within the 12 hours rule?" "how would you continue to have success at the regional level?", "Would you ever take the controls from the captain if he was flying and you felt unsafe?". All very basic questions that they used to gauge how your thought process worked. Then it was on to the approach plate questions. She showed me a plate from the arrival into Laguardia. Asked me about holding speeds, and tried to trick me up with some information on the chart. She failed. I knew exactly what she was getting at. Then it was a departure procedure out of JAX, radar vectors to SAV....whats the Departure frequency? Easy. Then, brief me on the ILS runway 4 into LGA. I was a bit flustered at this point due to nerves but I think I did ok. It is all stuff I know how to do. Then she asked me about the fuel system on the Duchess. Lucky for me I had reviewed the schematic on that the night before so it was no problem.

Anyways, it was back on a 737-800 out of Cinci to DCA. I was glad to be home. Anyone who reads this please think about this in the next week. I will find out If I was succesful in the next week, or later if I wasnt successful. I really wouldnt mind working for Comair, and even though the current situation isnt the best, it cant get any worse, and can only get better. AMEN.

comair

Been busy......stll flying alot even though the weather has been getting bad. I got an email last week for another interview...this time with delta connection Comair. They operate the CRJ 200 and 700....50 and 70 seat regional jets. It would be a great place to start a career...not my number 1, but I wont be picky. I soloed Katie last week. She was probably my easiest pilot so far. Very sharp young lady. Did some flying in the cougar with 20 knot winds...hit my head on the ceiling a half dozen times. The heavier twin handles the crosswind a lot better than the cessna. Went with a guy IFR to hagerstown the other night in the Seneca. That was a blast. Its business as usual at the flight school though. One of the instructors has left and another one is part-part time so I am handling most of the students....not a bad gig.

x-country flight plan

So, I am sitting at home on a Friday night pondering my good fortune. I was pretty bummed after the eagle interview, but as the old saying goes, when one door closes another door opens. I spent yesterday in the airplane all day...literally. I maxed out my duty day of 8 hours of flying, and capped my day with an IFR trip up to KFRG. Farmingdale, Long Island, NY. Our clearance was JYO-martinsburg-v214 to baltimore-v268 to smyrna-v16 to kennedy-direct. We took off to the north in the 172 and was soon instructed by potomac approach control to go direct Wooly intersection. we picked up v214 at wooly and was soon overhead of BWI at 5000. We stayed on the airway and once passed smyrna, hopped off the airway for a practice ILS approach at Millville municipal. What a great approach that was. Then it was back onto the airway direct to cedar lake VOR and gave a call to atlantic city approach. We passed about 40 miles west of Atlantic city. The casinos made it easy to spot. Next was mcguire AFB approach and the voice of a young airman greeted us on the horn. Heavy airforce jets crowded the freq. We watched as newark arrivals from the south passed offshore and crossed out path as they maneuvered for runway 4 at newark. Crossing Dixie intersection which is about 15 miles southeast of the Verazano bridge into long island, we contacted NYapproach. It was go time. My student was so pumped. WE passed overhead JFK at 5000. Departure control had numerous aircraft coming off kennedy which were turning NE directly under us. Most were heavy international departures on the canarsie climb--and I think kennedy 4 departure. Pretty friggin cool. Departure stopped their climb at 4000 until they passed underneath. You can blame me when your airline ticket prices go up. IT costs fuel to level off and then start the climb again. We took a visual approach into FRG....we were number 3 for the runway and cleared to land on 32. the sun was setting and the scene could not have been more perfect.

The trip home was pretty much the reverse, except it was night and I was tired. But we still made it home around 1030, and got in our 3 approaches along the way. I think Brett learned alot, and I sure did too.

Another guy of mine needs a copilot to help him get back from California in his new Mooney. Hopefully Ill be flying back from LA to DC in a mooney this time next week. What good fortune. A real cross the country x-c. a test of everything Ive ever learned, both IFR and VFR. Ill post more on that, but in the meantime enjoy these pics.

Morning Dew

I woke up this morning for my 7 am flight to a lovely AWOS report of less than 1/4 mile, and 100 overcast in fog. I called Rob and told him the fog would burn off around 10 per the forecast and that we should fly later once it cleared up. Bob Kierein, the flight service guy, and the weather channel all declared that the fog would clear out around 10 once it warmed up. It never did.

The formation for fog is mainly due to a close dew point/temperature spread. Take a look at the Dulles metars from this morning. You will see that the temp and dewpoint started off eaqual but never had a chance to break apart. After the rain we had the other day and the light winds as this cold front approaches the air is laden with moisture.

KIAD 191605Z 18003KT 2 1/2SM BR OVC002 18/16 A2986 RMK AO2
KIAD 191552Z 00000KT 1 3/4SM BR OVC002 17/16 A2986 RMK AO2 SLP110 VIS W 3/4 T01720161
KIAD 191512Z 12003KT 1 1/2SM BR OVC002 17/16 A2986 RMK AO2 VIS W 3/4
KIAD 191452Z 00000KT 1SM BR OVC002 17/16 A2988 RMK AO2 SLP115 VIS W 1/2 T01670161 50001
KIAD 191352Z 00000KT 1SM BR VV002 17/16 A2988 RMK AO2 SLP116 VIS W 1/2 T01670161KIAD 191340Z 12003KT 1SM BR VV002 16/16 A2988 RMK AO2 VIS W 1/2
KIAD 191311Z 00000KT 3/4SM BR VV002 16/16 A2988 RMK AO2
KIAD 191310Z 00000KT 1 1/4SM BR VV002 16/16 A2988 RMK AO2 VIS 1/4 WEST
KIAD 191255Z 00000KT 1/4SM FG VV001 16/16 A2988 RMK AO2
KIAD 191252Z 00000KT 0SM FG VV000 16/16 A2988 RMK AO2 SLP115 T01610156
KIAD 191152Z 00000KT 0SM FG VV000 16/15 A2987 RMK AO2 SLP114 T01560150 10156 20128 53003 $
KIAD 191052Z 32003KT 0SM FG VV000 16/15 A2987 RMK AO2 SLP112 T01560150 $

The problem with this weather is that only the most sophisticated airliners can make it into the airport. Visibility is the controlling factor in shooting an instrument approach in the part 121 world. Larger airports with category 2 or cat 3 approach systems have RVR transmissometers installed for particular runways. RVR is runway visual range. It measures how far you can see when looking straight down the runway. There are usually 3 RVR sensors--touchdown, midfield and rollout. Only two need be operational before the required weather mins go up. Today was one of those days where the RVR was right on the edge. 1/4 mile vis is equal to about 1200 rvr. Imagine landing at 130 knots only being able to see 1200 ft in front of you. And then best part is, if you are inside the final approach fix and the rvr goes below mins you are still authorized to continue on down and take a look and land if possible.

Next time you are in the back of an airliner and you dont see the ground until you are over the runway, tell him/her good work. Your flight crew had their work cut out for them. Here is a wikipedia definition of RVR.

From Aeronautical Information Manual 7-1-16
There are currently two configurations of RVR in the NAS commonly identified as Taskers and New Generation RVR. The Taskers are the existing configuration which uses transmissometer technology. The New Generation RVRs were deployed in November 1994 and use forward scatter technology. The New Generation RVRs are currently being deployed in the NAS to replace the existing Taskers.
RVR values are measured by transmissometers mounted on 14-foot towers along the runway. A full RVR system consists of:
Transmissometer projector and related items.
Transmissometer receiver (detector) and related items.
Analogue recorder.
Signal data converter and related items.
Remote digital or remote display programmer.
The transmissometer projector and receiver are mounted on towers 250 feet apart. A known intensity of light is emitted from the projector and is measured by the receiver. Any obscuring matter such as rain, snow, dust, fog, haze or smoke reduces the light intensity arriving at the receiver. The resultant intensity measurement is then converted to an RVR value by the signal data converter. These values are displayed by readout equipment in the associated air traffic facility and updated approximately once every minute for controller issuance to pilots.
The signal data converter receives information on the high intensity runway edge light setting in use (step 3, 4, or 5); transmission values from the transmissometer and the sensing of day or night conditions. From the three data sources, the system will compute appropriate RVR values.
An RVR transmissometer established on a 250 foot baseline provides digital readouts to a minimum of 600 feet, which are displayed in 200 foot increments to 3,000 feet and in 500 foot increments from 3,000 feet to a maximum value of 6,000 feet.
RVR values for Category IIIa operations extend down to 700 feet RVR; however, only 600 and 800 feet are reportable RVR increments. The 800 RVR reportable value covers a range of 701 feet to 900 feet and is therefore a valid minimum indication of Category IIIa operations.
Approach categories with the corresponding minimum RVR values.
Nonprecision 2,400 feet
Category I 1,800 feet
Category II 1,200 feet
Category IIIa 700 feet
Category IIIb 150 feet
Category IIIc 0 feet
Ten minute maximum and minimum RVR values for the designated RVR runway are reported in the body of the aviation weather report when the prevailing visibility is less than one mile and/or the RVR is 6,000 feet or less. ATCTs report RVR when the prevailing visibility is 1 mile or less and/or the RVR is 6,000 feet or less.
Details on the requirements for the operational use of RVR are contained in FAA AC 97-1, "Runway Visual Range (RVR)." Pilots are responsible for compliance with minimums prescribed for their class of operations in the appropriate CFRs and/or operations specifications.
RVR values are also measured by forward scatter meters mounted on 14-foot frangible fiberglass poles. A full RVR system consists of:
Forward scatter meter with a transmitter, receiver and associated items.
A runway light intensity monitor (RLIM).
An ambient light sensor (ALS).
A data processor unit (DPU).
Controller display (CD).
The forward scatter meter is mounted on a 14-foot frangible pole. Infrared light is emitted from the transmitter and received by the receiver. Any obscuring matter such as rain, snow, dust, fog, haze or smoke increases the amount of scattered light reaching the receiver. The resulting measurement along with inputs from the runway light intensity monitor and the ambient light sensor are forwarded to the DPU which calculates the proper RVR value. The RVR values are displayed locally and remotely on controller displays.
The runway light intensity monitors both the runway edge and centerline light step settings (steps 1 through 5). Centerline light step settings are used for CAT IIIb operations. Edge Light step settings are used for CAT I, II, and IIIa operations.
New Generation RVRs can measure and display RVR values down to the lowest limits of Category IIIb operations (150 feet RVR). RVR values are displayed in 100 feet increments and are reported as follows:
100-feet increments for products below 800 feet.
200-feet increments for products between 800 feet and 3,000 feet.
500-feet increments for products between 3,000 feet and 6,500 feet.
25-meter increments for products below 150 meters.
50-meter increments for products between 150 meters and 800 meters.
100-meter increments for products between 800 meters and 1,200 meters.
200-meter increments for products between 1,200 meters and 2,000 meters.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runway_visual_range"

My next stop

Passed over

So, as quickly as I thought I was airline bound the hope was snatched from me. I received an email from American Eagle mgmt stating that the Captains selection board did not take me. I was pretty bummed as Eagle wouldve been an awesome place to work. With crew bases in LGA, BOS, and SanJuan on the top of my list I wouldve had the awesome priveledge to fly for AAL as their regional carrier. Anyhow, Its back to work here at the flight school. I have several more resumes out there, and if all else fails I will go fly freight when I get part 135 mins. That includes 1200 total time, 500 x-c, 100 instrument and roughly 100 night. I am at about 1070 total time right now. there is an outfit in Richmond that Id like to go fly at. Learn how to really fly a twin aircraft.

In the meantime I am writing this while my student preflights the aircraft. His private pilot checkride is on the 22nd of this month so we dont have much time to get him up to speed. Hes got alot of time scheduled so that will be good for me. the frost has set in as well. We broke out the glycol solution to clean the wings this morning, and will probably be doing it for a few months now to come. It is very important to clean off the frost, snow and ice from the wings before attemting to takeoff. If it is bad enough it could potentially disrupt enough airflow so that the airplane never gets airborne. I broke out the fleece jacket, and will need to find some gloves in the next week. Summer is officially over i guess.

Keep your fingers crossed.....air wisconsin and continental express are my main focus right now.

1000 and in interview

Long time since I have been able to post anything. The flying has been good. Found a little twin time along the way, and have been succesful in getting a couple of my guys through their checkrides. I passed 1000 hours last month, and subsequently landed an interview with American Eagle in Dallas last week. I attended the interview at the American Airlines training academy. I breezed through the HR and tech portions of the interview, and dominated the sim session. I am still waiting to hear on the background check and the captains board. Ive been a stress ball the last two days, and I really hope I get a class date. Its been a long tough road, and it is about time that something pans out for me.

900 hours

Some news to report. I passed 900 hours somewhere in the traffic pattern last week. I am at 930 total time, and have had the good fortune to be able to add to my multi engine total as well with flights in the cougar. The Grumman cougar(GA7) is a nice aircraft, and there arent very many of them around. I heard once that there were only 150 made. A guy even commented while we were arriving into Teterboro last week that "you dont see many cougars". Good stuff.
I have gotten to fly the airplane solo as well which has been a real treat.

I pushed through my third pilot last week as well. Chris passed his private pilot checkride a week before he leaves for college.

While teaching primary students to fly is fun. It carries a certain level of frustration at times, and it is always nice to take a step back and get an easy fun flight. Today I worked with an FAA employee in the g1000 skyhawk. It was a real treat. We flew VFR to Charlottesville and got a chance to work with all the glory of the G1000. We dialed in the autopilot, and took the time to set up a flight plan and get approach to vector us onto the ils for an autopilot coupled approach. Upon reaching the Decisions height we went manual for a touch and go and were on our way back to Leesburg for a GPS approach to a straight in landing on runway 17.

Weather has been gorgeous and I will be at 1000 hours by mid September. I think it is time to get some resumes in the mail.

800 hours

Passed another milestone last week. 800 hours total time. I was somewhere over carroll county, md on my way back from Lancaster when I passed the mark. Larry and I were on his first student x-c since he soloed. It was hazy but a good time.

Lately the weather has been either crystal clear or hazy beyond belief. Its extremely frustrating to have to bag 4 flights a week because the visibility gets so bad...mostly due to haze. The high humidity is really to blame. After the thunderstorms pass through it usually clears up considerably until the rain that just fell evaporates. Kinda interesting to witness the convection taking place.

Last night was interesting. A fellow pilot and I ferried an aircraft up into Hagerstown, MD for maintenance. We were racing to get in before a storm hit up there, and then raced to get out of there. We won that race, but nearly lost the next one. Arriving into Leesburg I checked the AWOS(automated weather observation system). The AWOS reported broken at 5000, thunderstorm, rain, and gusting winds. It was an interesting arrival. I watched as a wall or rain moved from se-nw directly towards us. It engulfed route 7 at the rate of about 1/2 mile a minute. It was a fast moving cell with alot of moisture. We lined up on a 6 mile straight in final to the south runway, and landed uneventfully. As I pulled out the mixture control knob to shut down the engine the skies opened and visibility dropped to 2 miles.

I have a multi engine student starting next week. He wants to make trips to Teteboro, NJ, myrtle beach, and BKL in cleveland. I am extremely excited about building some multi time, getting to fly a twin, and to get to fly into some very dense airports. And I dont have to pay a dime. Good stuff.

Passed my first checkride....

...as the recommending flight instructor. I sent my guy Justin for his private pilot checkride last week with a local examiner. I have to admit I was just as nervous as Justin was. My part of the checkride involved a)making sure Justin was well prepared, and b) making sure I filled out all the paperwork correctly. It was my first time, and I really worked hard to make sure it all came together. Justin did fine and he is now a private pilot....licensed to exercise all the privelages associated thereof.

I also soloed Jim last week. He did great. We did a few landings in the pattern, and then I hopped out. I took a few pictures of Jim while he flew in the pattern. He used runway 35, and winds were fairly calm. It was a perfect day to solo. When we got back in the office I cut the shirttail out of Jim's shirt and decorated it. It is hanging on the wall here in the flight school.

So, that makes two solos....one passed checkride, and I am at a 100% first time pass rate for private pilot checkrides. I need 5 checkrides, and an 80% pass rate and I wont have to pay anything to get my CFI certificate renewed in June of 2008. The FAA says that if you do not have 5 signoffs, with at least 4 first time passes within two years, you can either take a cfi refresher course in person or online(3-400$) or you can participate in a diff type of program. If you choose to not refresh your certificate and decide to instruct down the road, you will need to take another cfi checkride. Doesnt sound like fun to me....so, it might behoove you to make sure you take care of getting that refreshed. Also, passing an instructor addon checkride counts as starting over the two year clock. So, I passed two instructor addon rides in FL so I got a new lease on life...its now 2008 vs 2007.

anyways, thats about it for now. Teaching is going good. If you know anyone who needs an instructor shoot me an email.

Boomer town and a stationary front

Last week we endured the wrath of a stationary cold front that stalled out and ran the length of the east coast. The north/south frontal boundary ran up the coast, and was fueled by some very moist tropical air sent northward and up the face of the front by a low pressure system in Florida. This setup was the recipe for about 3 days of non stop rain, flooding, and consequently no flying for me.

This week has been better. Flying has resumed. The only factor we have had to deal with has been the thunderstorms that usually make their arrival around 3-4 pm daily. You sit back, wait them out, and then enjoy the cool calm air after the storm passes.

The flying lately has been rather benign. Nothing crazy to report. I am sending my first student for his checkride on Saturday. Larry finally soloed last weekend. He was pretty excited, as was I. Its a wild experience to say "ok, go ahead and drop me off at the terminal and do three landings to a full stop". I really enjoyed seeing the excitement and smile the experience brought to him. I remember my first solo. To be able to provide that kind of experience to someone else, and to have used my skills to teach that person how to do something so very difficult and intense is just as exciting for me.

back in town

Ive been back in the area about a week now, and am settling back into the routine of being a flight instructor. One part of the routine I really am not enjoying is the fact that when weather moves in, I get screwed.

As I am typing this, the entire east coast is sitting under a stationary front, that is being fed from the south with tropical moisture laden air. Humidity is near 100%. Ranfall totals yesterday were 6 inches at Dulles. The beltway was shut down due to a mudslide that yielded nearly 5 feet of debri and shut down the nation's capital's biggest road all night long. A local airport that was built on the Patuxent flood plain is covered in water. Most of the aircraft based there have water up to the door.

I suppose the fact that I cant fly(and make money) is minor compared to what alot of other people are being subjected to. However, I really am beginning to get frustrated. Larry is ready for his presolo stage check. Jim is as well. Randy is just learning to land and needs all the positive reinforcement he can get. anyways, I guess I will wait it out and see what happens the rest of the week.

Last week I learned a couple valuable lessons. 1) always do a thourough preflight, and 2) always have a sick sack in reaching distance. I picked up 2 aircraft from maintenance last week. One had a spider nest in the pitot tube that took 45 mins to clean out. The other(the pa28 arrow) has take over the pitot vane. I didnt preflight as thorough as I should have and ended up with glue residue partially blocking the pitothole. My airspeed indications were erratic, and before I knew it the airplane was airborne. So, I flew the pattern sans airspeed indications. I fell back on my experience and knowledge to successfully and safely make a normal landing. It wasnt really an event of any sort, but sent me into survival mode nonetheless. Glad that I am armed with those skills when I needed them.
That morning I was flying with a student and he decided it was going to be a rough landing. As I was flaring he decided to show me what he had to eat.....all over his chest and out the window and down the side of the aircraft. It took about an hour to clean.
And the icing on the cake was when Randy and I had a bird strike on the downwind while working the pattern the other morning. The airplane was fine, but the poor bird took a real beating.

just about done

I guess its been close to a week since my last post. Alot has happened. Flew home last Friday on an Airtran 717. Not a bad jet, and the arrival into Reagan-national was pretty interesting. One of my best friends got married over the weekend, so that was the occasion. We all had a blast and it was great to see everyone in one place.
Got back to Ft Pierce Sunday night pretty late. I had about 8 hours left to fly in 3 days. So I relaxed on Monday. Yesterday I hit the airways again. Tropical storm Alberto was kickin pretty hard. I had wanted some actual instrument weather so took advantage of his wrath to go fly. Antoine, the Frenchman, and I boarded the Duchess for what was supposed to be a round robin.....Jacksonville-cecil field, then on to Cross city, then back to Ft pierce. As we neared Jax-cecil we asked Jax approach control for the vor approach to runway 9. He said weather was VFR, then changed that comment with "cecil field is reporting 1 mile, heavy to extreme weather, right over the field". I tried to get holding but he opted to vector us out west and then back into the field. We saw the airport as it emerged from the torrential rain showers. We asked for a visual approach and he informed us that we needed to do an approach since it was still reported IFR. This was probably my one and only chance to request a contact approach. I was about to until he came back saying he talked to the tower and it was VFR....hmmmm...I couldve told him that. Anyways, a contact approach is when a pilot is in pseudo ifr and can remain clear of clouds and reasonably navigate to the airport. Something I learned alot about on my CFII checkride. Usually happens when a pilot is in low vis but is familiar enough with the airport and terrain to make it safely to the runway. Anyways, there was some pretty severe weather moving northeast so we opted to make a beeline back to FT pierce. We hit some pretty decent weather over Daytona and Malbourne. Vis in Vero and Ft pierce was down to about 4 miles in haze so we flew the VOR14 approach at FPR. not a bad flight. The evening flight was to Tamiami. A nice airport south of Miami. Smooth air, decent vis. We were on radar vectors the whole way. Not a bad way to navigate. Makes it easy. The leg home was mine and as we cruised at 6k west of Miami I enjoyed a pretty wild sunset....a bright pink sky...and a sliver of sun between two layers of clouds that lingered over the middle of the state towards Tampa. Its been a blast down here. Time has flown by, but I managed to log 95 hours of twin time, and sit at 715 total time and 105 multi. not too bad.
Its back to work on Saturday. Got some students lined up for the week. Have a couple new ones starting up. Get to use my new ratings too...CFII and MEI.

The summer should be a good one. The airlines are definitely within my grasp. Exciting Stuff.

Cleared direct Seminole....

...was our clearance after passing over Ocala VOR last night. We were on an IFR flight plan from Ft Pierce to Tallahassee. We took off from FPR around 7 and enjoyed a nice sunset from 6000 ft on a heading of about 322. I found it interesting that the VOR nearest to Tallahassee(home of FSU) was named Seminole.......Maybe they can get a VOR named Hokie down in the Blacksburg area. I think there is a Gps waypoint on the approach into Blacksburg named Hokie, but it sure would be nice to get something bigger.
Anyways, we landed at TLH after flying the NDB rwy 36 approach. I dont have alot of experience with ADF navigation, and flying NDB approaches so I am using the time I have left here to get more familiar with them. The planes back home dont have ADF's in them so I never had to do an approach for my checkride.
The NDB is a non-directional beacon that will allow you to track a needle inbound or outbound to the beacon. The ADF is the equipment in the airplane that consists of a compass card and a needle that will always point to the station. The level of precision is alot less than that of a VOR or a GPS so the approaches can be a challenge, especially when executing the approach in actual instrument conditions(clouds).
My time down here has been extremely well spent. I passed my CFII(instrument instructor) checkride yesterday. So now my resume reads CFI, CFII, MEI. I am taking the instrument ground instructor written on Monday so that when I get my ten checkrides with an 80% pass rate I can get my golden seal on my instructors certificate. Ive learned a tremendous amount down here from the people Ive flown with, the airspace, the weather, and the twin engine airplanes we have been flying.
Today we are climbing back into the Duchess for another 6 hours. Probably do Key West and maybe Peter Oknight in Tampa. Weather again is clear skies and its already up to 86 degrees.
Im hopping on an airtran flight to DCA tomorrow for a wedding this weekend. Then its back down here to take that written and finish the flying. My three weeks have flown by, but what Ive learned here and what Ive experienced will stay with my for the rest of my life.
The wonderful thing about aviation is that for the most part everyone has the same goal, and everyone wants to see you succeed. There is the occasional bad seed you run across, but as a whole the aviation community is one big family. Thats they way I like it.

I can teach twins

"You fly very well, and that xwind landing was very nicely done", said the examiner as he typed up my new temporary airmans certificate. I am officially licensed to teach students in multi engine aircraft. Just the next step in this venture of mine.

The checkride wasnt bad. Started off with about a 2 hour oral exam, and then we went flying. We went out over the Atlantic for some airwork, then over to Vero Beach for some landings. All in all it was about a 4 hour ordeal with about a 1.1 hr flight. The icing on the cake was the return to Ft. Pierce. Winds were 040 at 15gusting 20. We landed runway 9 so we had a 50 degree xwind component. It was probably the best xwind landing Ive ever pulled off. I think I really impressed the examiner.

Then it was off on a x-c up to Tallahassee FL in the Duchess. A nice evening flight up there and then a night flight back. I flew the first leg up, and we got the visual approach to runway 36. The way home was Adams leg. I was tired, and sat there staring out the window for traffic. A bright star caught my eye. It stood out from all the rest. Mixed in with the various constellations a bright star stood out, shining down on me. Perhaps it was a planet; it certainly wasnt the north star as we were headed south. Maybe it was just a bright star.......or maybe it was a sign that there might be someone from above looking down and taking care of us.

I cant help to think that perhaps that star was David's way of communicating to me that he was there. It was almost as though I could feel his presence in the back seat of that beat up old twin engine airplane. I had a patch with his name and number on it(ktown team made them for their rugby shorts) in my pocket, and have been flying with it all week in my bag. Dave was with me on my checkride today, and he helped me to fly better than Ive flown ever.

As I sat there and thought good thoughts about the day I had just enjoyed on this earth and in the air, and found comfort in the thought that Dave was with me, I looked forward to my future and imagined where my life will take me. Will I end up in the left seat of a 777 some day, or perhaps I will end up in corporate and charter aviation. Whatever or wherever I end up, I will enjoy the journey that is going to take me there. My training for a career in aviation has been amazing, and the people Ive met and things and places Ive seen from the air have left a lasting impression on me that I will never lose.

Tomorrow morning I have an 8 am departure to Key west. We are going VFR and plan to fly the coast at 500 feet. Ill try to get some pics that actually post this time. For some reason I couldnt get the last batch to post.

Instrument instructor checkride is next week.

Space Coast express

For the second time in as many flights I flew to Key West international. Yesterday morning we climbed into the Beech Duchess for a 4 hour round trip and and airport hamburger in Key West. The flight down was nice. We filed for victor airway 3 which goes overhead Miami international. ATC wanted no part of that and sent us direct to Key west almost immediately to keep us west of Miami approach's airspace. We flew at 8000 ft right over Lake Okkachobee(sp?) and then out over the Gulf of Mexico for a visual approach to runway 9 at Key West. The leg home was my leg and we climbed to 11000 ft to try to get over some build-ups west of miami. We ended up penetrating several buildups and got bounced around a bit. Miami arrivals were coming overhead at 13000 on the downwind to Miami international. Saw a 757, and a bunch of southwest 737 aircraft......you are now free to move about the country.
The evening flight was kick a$$. we flew up Victor 3 to Daytona beach....right over the airport and the speedway, then east on a victor airway that sent us about 8 miles off shore. We had a nice haze layer and little or no horizon so it was a good instrument flight. We passed abeam Kennedy space center and got a look at the Vehicle Assembly building and the launch pads. The arrival into Savannah was awesome. We were vectored onto a right base for runway 9, then cleared for the visual into the Savannah airport. The leg back was mine, and again we were bounced around in some cloud buildups. Radar vectors to the ils runway 9 at fort pierce concluded a 5.7 hour flight.

Today is my multi engine instructor checkride. I am nervous about the oral, but I think I will be fine. The flight should be a more fun learning experience than anything else. Here is a pic from the final into runway 9 at Key West. Enjoy....

Free light show

"66366, miami center squawk 3014, turn right heading 360 to join victor 3 northbound..." was all I heard as we departed Ft Pierce last night and was met with a tremendous light show at our 12:00 and 20 miles over the Melbourne VOR. Miami Center informed us of an area of severe to extreme weather over the airway we were to fly. I replied with...."roger that center, we are looking at it.....we'd like to go gps direct to a fix and then on to gainesville for an approach and then to jacksonville Craig municipal for a full stop." This took us west of the storm and gave us a great show as it passed us off the right wing.

Lat night was my first timebuilding flight in the Duchess--BE76. What a sweet airplane. We went to Gainesville for the ILS and low approach, then we went to JAX-Craig(kcrg) for the vor rwy 14 approach. Then on departure from CRG we picked up clearance and shot approaches at Daytona, Titusville, melbourne, Vero beach, and then back at Ft pierce. It was a hell of a night. Even had a door pop open on our takeoff roll from ft pierce. My door----unnerving to say the least and resulted in an aborted takeoff. 5.1 hours total in the airplane....today is a day trip...probably to Key west, and then maybe back up for Fuel and then north to shoot approaches at Titusville-Space coast so i can get a look at Kennedy Space center.

My MEI checkride is scheduled for Tuesday. I still have a written to take for the CFII(instrument instructor) and most likely the checkride for that around June 7 or so. Anyways, I feel absolutely comfortable in the new airplane now. It was tough for about the first 2 hours, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. The Duchess is a very forgiving twin, and flies great on one engine.....is a breeze to land as well.

And then there was 600

Yesterday I hit 600 hours in airplanes. Seems like I was just posting that I passed 500. The hours are adding up quickly. My students are progressing. Im having a blast. Ive got my guys landing the airplane now safely, and some smoother than others. This is by far the most rewarding job I have ever had. I leave Monday for FL. I will try to post some pics from FL when I get down there.

Pattern A

"Ok, Larry, today we stay at home and work the traffic pattern." Larry was excited and very eager as I sent him next door to file a flight plan with flight service. We walked out to the airplane after I explained the traffic pattern to him.

"Larry, downwind power setting is 2000 rpm, 100 knots and 1200 feet. Abeam the numbers we bring the power back to 1700 and put in 10 degrees of flaps below 110 knots. when the runway is 45 degrees off our landing gear we turn our base and put in another notch of flaps....20 degrees. We leave the power in and let the flaps slow us down. On the base I like 80 knots and as we turn final, last notch of flaps and then power as needed to maintain 65 knots and a stabilized approach to the runway....this is where all good landings begin."

Larry was doing great. We took off nicely, he maintained Vy(best rate of climb) until 1200 feet. He pushed the nose over and leveled off, accelerated to 100 knots then brought the power back to 2000 rpm. he flew a nice pattern but it still left something to be desired in the flare.

Larry and I flew about 10 patterns and he had 2 decent safe landings...the rest were either assisted by yours truly or were complete scheauwwws. anyways, for his first real pattern work i was happy at the overall effort. his patterns were square, his descents stabilized and procedures were good. I am sure the flare will come in due time. hes flying with a different instructor this weekend as I will be out of town, so hopefully that will help him.

Reading Railroad

This past weekend was special for myself and a couple friends of mine. I flew myself, my buddy Chris and 2 of our friends up to Reading, PA (KRDG). the Kutztown Univ. up in PA was holding and alumni weekend for grads, and specifically the rugby team that our fallen friend Dave played on had invited us all up for his induction into their hall of fame. It was a really special day and I was glad I could attend.
The morning started at 7 am. I arrived at the airport and printed out the information I would need up at Reading from the internet. I stopped into the Flight service station to file my ADIZ flight plan and get a weather briefing for our flight from JYO to RDG. I planned for a VFR(visual flight rules) route on a heading of 056 direct. The weather was spectacular. Light winds and high pressure dominated. visibility was greater than 50 miles and hardly a ripple in the air. I loaded up the airplane with fuel to the tabs(17 gallons a side). Weight and balance dictated that I not take full fuel due to the fact that I had 2 120# females in the back seat, some bags and a 190# male in front along with me. No problem though. We lifted off and climbed to 3500 enroute to RDG. We transitioned between EMI and LRP, using GPS primarily but backed up the nav with VOR signals. Our arrival into Reading was uneventful. A slight crosswind on runway 36. Winds 040 at 12kts. The heavy airplane sat into the x-wind rather nicely and the thump of the wheels and deceleration was a welcome feeling for my backseat passengers.
After a great day of rugby, food and some adult beverages we were wheels up around 1030 am the next day. The 22 kt headwind from the day before now became a 27 kt tailwind at 4500. After we leveled off GPS showed a groundspeed readout of 152 kts. Not bad for a PA28R-200. Coming back into JYO was uneventful as well. We had to circle north in order to get set up on a left downwind for 35. Winds were calm....a welcome site for my pax.

Student load here has been tremendous. Ive got several guys on my schedule who are hard at work here at the flight school. I am having a blast, and really learning alot. Next up is 3 weeks in Florida to get my MEI and 100 hrs of multi.

Reading Railroad

This past weekend was special for myself and a couple friends of mine. I flew myself, my buddy Chris and 2 of our friends up to Reading, PA (KRDG). the Kutztown Univ. up in PA was holding and alumni weekend for grads, and specifically the rugby team that our fallen friend Dave played on had invited us all up for his induction into their hall of fame. It was a really special day and I was glad I could attend.
The morning started at 7 am. I arrived at the airport and printed out the information I would need up at Reading from the internet. I stopped into the Flight service station to file my ADIZ flight plan and get a weather briefing for our flight from JYO to RDG. I planned for a VFR(visual flight rules) route on a heading of 056 direct. The weather was spectacular. Light winds and high pressure dominated. visibility was greater than 50 miles and hardly a ripple in the air. I loaded up the airplane with fuel to the tabs(17 gallons a side). Weight and balance dictated that I not take full fuel due to the fact that I had 2 120# females in the back seat, some bags and a 190# male in front along with me. No problem though. We lifted off and climbed to 3500 enroute to RDG. We transitioned between EMI and LRP, using GPS primarily but backed up the nav with VOR signals. Our arrival into Reading was uneventful. A slight crosswind on runway 36. Winds 040 at 12kts. The heavy airplane sat into the x-wind rather nicely and the thump of the wheels and deceleration was a welcome feeling for my backseat passengers.
After a great day of rugby, food and some adult beverages we were wheels up around 1030 am the next day. The 22 kt headwind from the day before now became a 27 kt tailwind at 4500. After we leveled off GPS showed a groundspeed readout of 152 kts. Not bad for a PA28R-200. Coming back into JYO was uneventful as well. We had to circle north in order to get set up on a left downwind for 35. Winds were calm....a welcome site for my pax.

Student load here has been tremendous. Ive got several guys on my schedule who are hard at work here at the flight school. I am having a blast, and really learning alot. Next up is 3 weeks in Florida to get my MEI and 100 hrs of multi.

Red Baron

I apologize for the delay in any and all updates. Since my being laid off I have been extremely busy....even more-so than before. Its true what people say about things happening for a reason. My untimely departure from my former emplyer was a tremendous blessing in disguise. I have had the opportunity to work full time at the flight school now, and am extremely happy about it.

So, lets back up. Almost immediately after coming on full time my schedule was filling up. I have 3 new students, not to mention the students I was already working with. I also have 2 commercial students in the arrow, as well as 4 people who are planning on starting up in June. Things have worked out even better than I couldve hoped for, affirming my decision to make this a career. Things just fit too well right now.

Last week saw some good stuff happen. I started the week with some private students. Ive been working with Larry on teaching him to land. If any cfi's out there can give me some tips on teaching the landing id appreciate it. Hes at about 8 hours right now. Then I put Justin under the hood for some stalls and slow flight. Our asst chief attended a conference with a group of local DE's(designated examiners--guys who do the checkrides) and they all stated that the number one thing that private candidates dont do well are stalls and slow flight. So, I have vowed to work on that with my guys. We did a landing at Carroll County and then headed home. Tuesday I did a night flight with a guy from the Royal Navy stationed in DC on govt business. Funny listening to him on the radios. I worked with him in the pattern at Frederick, and then tried to score a landing at Dulles. The controllers wanted no part of us as it was still early and there were still several departures heading off of KIAD. So, back to Leesburg we went for a few more circuits.

Wed evening I re-soloed a guy who had soloed a year ago. I met him in Jan, and subsequently had electrical failure with him in the airplane that same day. He went on a stage check last weekend and had another electrical failure in the airplane with our chief pilot. Its not our planes....it must be him. He did great on the solo, and next up is the long dual x-country flight up to Lancaster and then to New Garden(N57). New Garden is a small little airport west of Philly, just outside the Philly Class Bravo airspace.

Thursday I was charter pilot for a couple who wanted a ride to Bay Bridge airport for lunch. We were wheels up around 1030 and headed northeast. We went direct Gaithersburg, direct to Tipton/Ft Meade, direct to Lee-Annapolis, then east across the Chesapeake Bay landing on runway 29 at Bay Bridge. It was a nice trip. We could see the Washington Capital building, the Washington monument and the runways at National airport. Visibility was greater than 30 miles at 2000 ft. Pretty nice.

I flew two more flights after I got back from Bay Bridge. So, long story short. Ive got 539 total time now, with a ton of dual given. The logbook is filling fast. Ive never had so much fun in my life, and nothing has felt as rewarding. I think Larry's solo will be next. That will be a real solo;The first person I have taught to fly start to finish.

Yesterday I rode back seat in a Beechcraft Baron. What a sweet airplane. My chief was giving some instruction to a new owner in order to meet insurance requirements. We got to altitude, shut down an engine, feathered it, and flew around on one engine for a while. then it was stall time, emergency descent and the localizer approach into Winchester. They dropped me off so i could wait for the Arrow to get out of maintenance. The 5 hours wait for the arrow was worth the ride in the Baron.

I will post some pics tomorrow of the Baron and of my trip to Annapolis.

ATC

I talk to ATC every day, and most of the time they are very helpful. From time to time though they can have attitudes, and you forget that they are people just like you and I. You forget that they can have bad days, good days, and sometimes they just dont feel like talking. I try to always exchange pleasantries with ATC, and when they do me a favor I always thank them. They perform a service to pilots and passengers alike, and are always appreciated. I found this link on another Blog....it was overheard on an Air Canada flight into Vancouver...I hope you all enjoy.

http://www.futurastudios.com/atc-marry-me.html

Le Chandelle

Chandelle....a French word meaning a sharp climb or evasive action, or something like that. Chandelle is also a maximum performance maneuver that every commercial pilot candidate must perform. When I say commercial, I mean the commercial rating...not the guy in the front of the airliner taking you to Florida. The FAA has a commercial pilot certificate, requiring a pilot to have 250 hours of total time to include a night requirement, some instrument time, a couple cross country flights and training in specialized maneuvers outlined in the practical test standards.

Tonite's Commercial candidate will endure my wrath while learning to perform the Chandelle. This is a maneuver designed during the early war era of flight in which was used to allow the pilot to reverse course 180 degrees and gain the maximum amount of altitude possible. I think this was used in dogfights early on, and probably came in useful if a pilot became boxed into a canyon or valley.

The maneuver as I teach is is split into two sections. The first section is 0-90 degrees. You roll into a 30 degree bank, apply full power, begin to pitch up. I teach constant bank and changing pitch. The pilot is maintaining the 30 degrees of bank, and is increasing his pitch attitude simultaneously. In the second part (90-180 degrees) the pilot is maintaining the max pitch-up attitude but beginning to roll out of his bank. Ideally you complete the maneuver 180 degrees from where you started, and with your airspeed just above the stall speed. You may get a few indications of an impending stall, but you dont want to stall it. Recovery is simple...maintain your altitude and level off back at cruise airspeed. Piece of cake.

Teaching this maneuver is a blast. I absolutely love teaching in the PA-28R Arrow. The airplane is a hoss, and with 200 hp and a three bladed prop it will really get you somewhere.

Half way

Last night I totaled up a page in my logbook. I officially broke 500 hours in airplanes. I am at 504.1.

KLNS-v143 mulrr-aml-d->KJyo

Yesterday was very eventful. I was scheduled to do a BFR for a gentleman, then head up to lancaster, PA(klns) with a guy who needed to pick his airplane up from the shop. I was supposed to fly the plane back to Leesburg from KLNS. We were wheels up enroute to KLNS at 410 pm We were enjoying the 35 knot tailwind we had at 3500 ft. The GPs was showing a groundspeed of 147 knots. Not bad for a Cessna 172.

After landing I dropped off Charles and taxied over to get some dinner with a friend at the terminal restaurant. I amused myself while I waited for her by watching the crew of a USAir beech1900 unload the PAx and luggage. I made a quick call to Flight service to file my flight plan and get a briefing. Bad news. Severe weather warning on the DC area for all night. The first briefer told me not to try to come back until noon the following day. I made a second call after dinner and the briefer confirmed that same news. So, I made the prudent decision to spend the night up in Lancaster and leave first thing in the morning to get back in time for my desk shift at the flight school.

I woke up this morning in the Holiday Inn express to low ceilings and moderate rain showers. It looked like I would have my work cut out for me, but at least I had slept in a Holiday Inn Express, right? I called FSS and got the weather for my destination, departure point and enroute...and chose to file an IFR flight plan. Since all my charts were in the airplane I had to come up with something off the top of my head. I proposed a wheels up time of 0630, 6000 ft and a route of klns-westminster vor-martinsburg vor-direct to leesburg. My clearance was quite the opposite. I was told to fly victor airway 143 which runs from lancaster vor to martinsburg vor. I was to stay on that airway until MULRR intersection. I could identify that with a cross radial off the Westminster VOR. then I was to go direct to Armel vor and the direct to JYO. My takeoff clearance was to fly the runway heading and maintain 6000 ft. I was soon up in moderate rain beating on the windscreen. Climbing at 79knots I was soon in the clouds. I didnt break out on top until about 5500. I leveled off at 6000 and was soon given a heading to fly to intercept the airway at delro intersection. I stayed on the airway until MULRR and anticipated a heading to fly to get into Leesburg. I had my ipod in one ear and was jamming out to some music when ATC came on directing me to first fly heading 230 "vectors for the localizer 17 approach"...but quickly ammended that yo fly GPS direct to STILL interesection. That is the Initial approach Fix for the approach...where it all begins. I was soon cleared for the approach and intercepted the localizer inbound. the approach calls for you to maintain 3000 until established and inside STILL. Then descend to 1800 until the Final approach Fix-WARDE Int. after WARDE you can go to 1100 until 3 miles from the runway...and if you have dme you can go down to 820. I didnt need to worry about going that low as i saw the runway around 1100 ft and canceled IFR. I made a normal straight in approach to landing and taxied in, tied down and made a dash for the office. Its a cruddy day here.

Chapter 2

So, Last Friday I learned a very valuable life lesson; make sure you know who your friends are...and be wary of those who are out to get you.

Friday's weather was spectacular. The sun was out, it was 70 degrees and I didnt have to work. I was called into the boardroom around 10 am on Friday morning and told that "I had other priorities and that my mind wasnt at the company"....The Branch manager and company VP, along with my dept manager proceded to bring up 4 or 5 small things I'd done in the last few months, and told me my work was unacceptable and that "effective immediately I was terminated". Well, I have to admit this didnt come as any shock to me. The management of George Mason mortgage in Fairfax VA is as bad as it gets, and when they heard that I had plans of pursuing a career in aviation and would be leaving in May, they took it as a threat and looked for a way to get rid of me. They acted very aggressively towards me in the boardroom, as though they expected a fight from me....but i simply and quietly walked out of the room. I packed up my desk and walked outside. I was free!

I spent the rest of the day enjoying the weather. I made a few calls and within an hour I had applied for unemployment and was on the schedule full time at Aviation Adventures in Leesburg, VA. I am not in chapter two of this journey.

May 14 I am hitting the road south and will attend Ari-Ben aviation in Ft Pierce FL for 3 weeks of timebuilding. Ill leave Ft Pierce with 100 hours of time in a multi engine aircraft, and be able to instruct in multi engine aircraft back up north in VA. The magic ticket to the airlines is multi-time. Most require at a minimum 100 hours. By spending this time in FL ill meet those mins. Im very excited.

I am planning trips to key west, FLL, PBI, MCO, Tampa, and as many other small airports as I can squeeze in.

I am still pretty bitter about the whole firing thing.....but I am sure that in a year I will look down from the right seat of the CRJ-900 that I am FO on and laugh at the people still at GMMLLC......the office is a large building sitting under the rigth base for 1R at KIAD. anyone know how to drop blue ice?

Ten miles.....not necessarily in the air either

So todays been a pretty good day so far. I started the morning off with a ten mile run in downtown Washington DC. The Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Miler was organized to benefit the childrens miracle network, and with over 10000 strong in the race it was a huge success. This weekend was the peak of the blossoms, so downtown was packed with tourists, but we managed to run a ten mile course weaving through the streets of dc and over the memorial bridge, and then back down rock creek parkway to finish up along side the Potomac River. I finished at a respectable 1 hour 53 minutes. Not bad for a "clydesdale".....

I am at the airport now killing time before my afternoon flight. The weather is absolutely gorgeous and the winds are light. Its going to be a great day to fly. I have my jamaican buddy scheduled for some airwork and landings so we will see how it goes.

This morning i kept myself amused while running by watching the jets depart from DCA. They were in a north operation and were climbing out right overhead, while keeping the east bank of the potomac to their right. Prohibited areas over the capitol, mall, and white house make it an interesting departure for most airliners out of DCA. The arrival into national is even better from the north. In good weather the jets will fly the River Visual to rwy 19. Some of the smaller RJ's or turboprops might take a straight in to rwy 15 or 22. I highly suggest stopping by gravelly point and checking it out sometime. For aviation buffs its a good time.

Here are a few pics from the ride we took the other night....chris jami and myself in the captains chair. Spring weather is among us here...im excited for the weekend. time to do some great flying. enjoy!!

First timers

So I guess spring is supposed to be here by now huh? Well, Mother Nature is having second thoughts on that I guess. The forecast for the weekend is for rain and snow tomorrow. And possibly on Sunday as well. It is pretty annoying when you are only able to fly with students on the weekends and the weather consistently does not cooperate. Whether it is the wind, the clouds, or now precip and freezing temps….its enough to make a guy like myself want to move to Florida. I think I can handle thunderstorms and hurricanes better than I can deal with a winter full of gusty crosswinds and ice filled clouds. But I digress.

The weekend is slated to be a good one, if the weather cooperates. I am scheduled to work the dispatch desk on Sat morning until around noon. I’ve got one of my better students lined up for a flight to tune him up for his re-solo. He’s new to town and needs a new solo endorsement from myself. Easy flight. Late afternoon I have a new student who has about 30 hours, but wants to finish his license. This should be an interesting flight. Flying with new people always keeps me on the edge of my seat.

Speaking of new pilots, I took my friend Chris and Jami up in the airplane last night. We loaded up the c-172 and headed west towards Front royal and Winchester. We were headed into Winchester (kokv) for a touch and go and I asked Jami if she wanted to try a landing. She was excited so I said I would handle the rudders and the power, she could do the flare. I carefully watched her and coached her every movement. As we came over the grass I said, keep bringing us down; we crossed the threshold at a beautiful height and I explained that ill being the power back and I wanted her to level off, then I told her to keep the airplane at this height and not let it sink. She started to instinctively flare the airplane. I was in utter amazement. Granted she did not have to worry about maintaining airspeed on final, or putting in flaps or steering on the ground after touchdown, but she still did a whole lot better than a lot of students I’ve seen. I think we might have a new student on our hands. I gave her a logbook with her first 1.5 in it.

It was great to get back in the left seat and I enjoyed being the sole manipulator of the controls for a change…..

We took our friend Dave flying as well. We had a picture of him on my clipboard propped up on the instrument panel in cruise flight. As his girlfriend sat next to me I watched as she held the picture in her hands. Dave had been flying with me once before, and he wanted me to take him flying back in January. I guess he finally got to go back up with me again.

things that go bump in the day

Wheels up and back in the sky once again. Right on schedule, the weekend arrived and the winds fired up. Saturday saw the worst of the weather pass through. Winds on the surface were gusting once again to 27. But more dangerous were the winds aloft. Moderate to severe turbulence below 8000 ft all over the region, and a mountain wave that, according to a pirep, was quite severe. A driver of a Cessna 172 reported a descent over 500 fpm while trying to cross the ridge. He had full power and was pitching the aircraft for Vx…or best angle of climb. Not sure how he got out of it, but that alone was enough for most of the instructors, myself included to cancel our flights.

Sunday was forecast to be better, however the forecast changed and those winds hung around. The severe turbulence was gone, and the mountain wave wasn’t as vicious so I decided to give it a shot. My first flight of the morning paired me with a private pilot….from Jamaica….that hadn’t flown in 4 years. No problem. I told him it would be bumpy but if he didn’t mind a few bumps we could go. So we headed out and I showed him the preflight. We hopped in the airplane and departed off runway 35. I requested a vfr climb to 3000 and a class bravo clearance, and Potomac departure was able to accommodate. I wanted to get out of the low level bumps as soon as I could. It worked, sort of. We headed over to Winchester and flew around. Let him get used to the airplane, as all his ppl training was done in a Cessna 150. He came to me with .8 of an hour in a 172. We did an hour in the practice area and headed back. I briefed him on the landing, and asked if he wanted to try to land it. We agreed that I would help him on the controls as it was a pretty gusty crosswind. To be exact I wrote down the winds…280@16knots gusting to 27. The wind was 70 degrees off the runway heading(350) and nearly exceeded our xwind capability of the aircraft. We were almost test pilots. He did a great job on final until over the grass. We went below the trees and lost our wind. He had let us get slow and the windshear bit us. I felt the sink, called for some power, he didn’t respond so I took controls, went full power and got out of there. he asked me to do the landing the next time around and I totally greased it. My biggest fear was botching another landing with a student, for the second week in a row.

My second student is a guy that ive been trying to fly with for a while now. We first flew together back when we had the electrical failure, and have only had one other flight in the pattern between then and now. So we headed out into the wind. Nice takeoff and climb out. Headed west via rt 7 and used some pilotage to have him find Winchester airport for me. We did a few maneuvers in the area and then headed over for a couple landings at Winchester(kokv). Winds were 16 knots but right down the runway. Made it nice and easy for him to have good landings. Made my job easier too. We departed the airport back to Leesburg and I wanted him to learn how to enter and exit the ADIZ. He made his intial call up to Potomac and we were rudely dismissed. As we circled outside the ADIZ we watched the airliners entering the downwind for rwy 1L at KIAD. The controllers were busy. One large jet after another, and no sqwawk code for us. So I tried two more freqs before we finally got a code. So, my teaching moment was kinda ruined and I had to kinda ad-lib to get us back home. But at least got to see what to do when that happens. I will say it again, the ADIZ is a good thing for national security, but damn it’s a pain in my a$$ every day that I fly. Nine times out of ten it’s a piece of cake with no problems. But that tenth time it really bugs the crap out of you. Some controllers act as though they are god…..and treat smaller GA aircraft as though they aren’t worth their time. Ok, end rant.

So we ended the flight with a pretty wild time on final, and a pretty long touchdown. But it was a safe landing on the centerline and the plane will fly again.

Overall not the best weekend of flying, but I did get some time in the logbook. Broke 490 total time, so I am slowly getting closer to the elusive 1000 hrs. I have a pretty good feeling that once I start teaching full time I will fill the pages in my logbook pretty fast.

Total time=490.7 Multi time 9.8 1hr PIC multi. That is soon to change.

Arrow Time

It’s been a pretty crazy couple of weeks for me, but I think the dust has settled and we are all moving forward. There is definitely something to be said for having someone on your side upstairs. This past weekend was tremendous for me as far as the flying goes. Sat morning I made my way out to the airport for a 10 am show with a student who was signed up for his first lesson ever. Huge responsibility for me. My first student from scratch. He was excited, motivated, and ready to fly. I took him out, showed him the Cessna we would be flying, and we started in on the preflight. I had him read the checklist item and I showed him what we were looking at. After the preflight, we climbed in and I taxied us out of parking. Once on the main taxiway headed out to runway 35 I let him take the controls. I showed him how to taxi using the rudder petals to steer and to keep us on centerline. We did the run-up and then we took the runway. I had briefed him on the takeoff. I kept us going straight with my feet and kept an eye on the airspeed. When we hit 60 knots I had Ahmed gently pull back on the yoke. Before he knew it we were airborne. He was really pumped. I let him fly us west staying under the Dulles class B airspace, and had him climb us out up to 3000 as soon as we could. Once clear of the ridge and the ADIZ boundaries, we went up to about 4000 to get above the thermals. Nice smooth air for his first flight. We did some turns, climbs, descents…..he had a huge grin on his face. After about an hour we headed back to Leesburg. After a brief delay getting back into the ADIZ we got our code and I had him descent us down to around 1500. He was a little unnerved by the thermal activity as it was a nice warm day in the DC area. I took over a mile outside the pattern and landed us on runway 35. He complimented me on the landing…..glad he didn’t know otherwise. I had a little bounce to it. I guess its all good right? So he’s signed up for his second lesson. He’s all set to get started. I am as well.
My afternoon was a checkout in the arrow. The PA28R-200. Retractable gear, constant speed prop. We headed off on a x-c he had planned up to Chambersburg PA—N68. A nice little skydiving strip. We landed, taxied in, and right before departure back out we were bombarded by about 6 parachuters. Pretty cool to see. After departure, we headed over for a landing at Hagerstown (khgr) and then a landing at Frederick (kfdk). Full stops at each. Then we headed home for a nice smooth landing back at Leesburg. As usual, a gorgeous sunset on the way back southwest bound. Something I have really found enjoyment in. Nothing better than a nice sunset over the Blue Ridge Mountains at the end of a long afternoon of flight instructing.

Sunday was the morning of my 8k race in DC. St Patty’s day 8k to benefit the Special Olympics. I used the opportunity to raise money for the family of my friend who had just recently passed. I was very successful, and thank all those that helped me with my effort. I also had an excellent run, finishing at my best time to date.

The afternoon I spent with my commercial student. We went up in the Cessna to get him back in the saddle. It’s been a while since he’s flown so we went through the PTS and did all the maneuvers he would need to know. For not having flown in a while he did exceptional. After the airwork I told him to take us to Winchester (kokv) for some landings. We were on the edge of some weather and it was moving in. On about a 3 mile left base for runway 32 at Winchester I asked him what he thought about the weather. He said “Let’s go back to Leesburg”. I concurred. I told him that’s exactly what I am looking for him to do with his commercial training. Start making good decisions based on experience and knowledge that he has….no longer relying as much on a cfi for guidance. Growing exponentially as a pilot, and eventually a CFI. We are going to get into the Arrow next time. I am excited to teach him about the gear and the constant speed prop. It’ll be a real experience for me.

the morning after......

With the passing of a good friend, come many mixed feelings that each personal interprets and processes differently. I experienced a whole spectrum of feelings. It started with doubt and disbelief. How could the lord take someone so young and strong so quickly? It didn’t seem fair, and certainly could not be true. It was as though we were all waiting for Dave to walk into the party at any minute. Then those feelings of disbelief and shock blended into feelings of sorrow and grief. We realized that he was not coming back and it was a hard thing to deal with. But, but the grace of god we were all blessed with a large group of friends and a family to lean on. We cried, we laughed, we told Dave what a punk he was…..and at the end of the day it made us feel better. Now that the wake and the funeral have passed we can move on with the mourning process and move forward. This is my first death of someone so close to me as an adult, and it was very difficult. But seeing a church filled with close to 1000 people, from as far away as Korea, it really touched my heart. My feelings are slowly turning now to a mixed feeling of great joy in knowing that Dave is with the lord in an awesome place, but very sad in that we will never live with him on this earth again.

In my attempt at gaining some assemblance of normalcy, I went out to the airport Saturday morning to work my dispatch shift. A guy called looking for a flight review. I offered to do it for him in his own aircraft. He flew a TB-20….a Trinidad. A very nice aircraft that would’ve been a joy to fly if it were a hair bigger. But I enjoyed messing with the avionics and letting him show me how to operate the autopilot. His BFR consisted of the standard ADIZ departure. Once over Winchester we did some stalls, slow flight, steep turns. Being an obvious master of his own airplane, I decided to shift gears and see if this guy really knew how to use his avionics. What a blast. 6 miles south of the Martinsburg VOR we set up the radios to fly the ILS approach to runway 26. We crossed the Initial approach fix and turned outbound before making the procedure turn inbound and intercepting the localizer. The winds were strong and you could see the autopilot was crabbing the nose of the airplane quite a bit to the right to maintain on the center of the localizer. We reached mins and cut off the autopilot and put the bird down in a fabulous x-wind landing. Dip the right wing to maintain runway centerline, but straighten the nose with left rudder and land on the right wheel. A complex yet graceful maneuver when done with finesse.

The second time down the localizer was a real treat. The Martinsburg airport lies in between the Blue Ridge Mountains. There are ridges to the east and west of the airport. Field elevation is 700ft, and the tops of the ridge reach about 2k. Not the Rocky Mountains but big enough to set the scene for a great sunset. As we came down the final to the west runway, the orange ball of sun sat teetering upon the ridge waiting to set. As soon as the sun dips below it is only a matter of seconds before it disappears behind the horizon. The absolutely gorgeous sunset and the chance to fly in the plane reminded me how luck I am to be alive and to be able to chase my dream. The setting sun was somewhat metaphorical in symbolizing the end of Dave’s life, and the eventually beginning of our lives anew. Bringing with us the strength, wisdom and inspiration that Dave left us with. His 29 years of life allowed him to see and do much more than many people see or do in a lifetime. I anticipate spending my next 30 years in much the same way. And when we meet again, I will tell him about all the great places I have flown and foreign lands I have seen. And how he inspired me to be a better person. For this I am thankful.

UPDATES

Its been a couple of weeks since I last posted on here, and I apologize for that. There isnt too much to report. I am axiously awaiting my last day at my job(may 12) so that I can head down to Ft Pierce Florida to fly a be-76 beech duchess around for 100 hours. When I get back I will be a full time CFI and probably be working at the Outback again to make ends meet. I was a cook there in college. Its decent money and I do alright at it, and nothing lasts forever right? Why is northern VA so damn expensive. Ive been weathered out quite a bit in the last few weeks due to winds, but I did get a chance to take my student into KIAD-dulles international a few weeks ago one late weekend night. the tower let us land and taxi back on rwy 1R. Huge thrill for my student. Had an A320 land while we were taxiing back. Pretty cool to be that close.

Anyways, not too much new to report in the world of aviation for me.....but I do have some rather sad news to report to my friends here. A very good and longtime friend of mine, Dave, passed away Friday March 3 at around 630 in the evening.

Dave had been living in Korea and was exposed to TB. When he returned to the states he went for a physical and the strain was detected using one of those TB tests noone ever thinks is worthwhile. No big deal right? Give him some antibiotics and the strain would die off before ever developing into full blown TB. So, the DR gave him some meds and said, hey, be careful this hurts x percent of patients livers. Great news doc, but it might help to tell him that he needs to have blood drawn every month to check for liver enymes(damage).

Two weeks ago Dave's liver began to fail. He got very ill and went to the hospital. The ER docs sent him home with some medication, thinking he had the flu. A few days later he was incoherent, delirious, and his urine was dirt-brown. Dave was in some trouble. He was quickly sent to the ICU and a plan was devised. He improved with some meds, and the idea was to try to regain some liver function using mass amounts of IV fluids. Two days after being sent to the general hospital floor, he was back in the ICU. This time he was out of consciousness. He had moments with his eyes open, but his pain was so severe the doctors chose to sedate him, verses giving him pain meds as to avoid further liver damage. Dave needed a liver, in a bad way.

He would never even get a a chance to accept one.

Last night we all stood vigil outside ICU 1 at Inova Fairfax Hospital. His parents, relatives, church people, friends, rugby team, and girlfriend were there praying beyond belief that he would pull through. Around 5pm Daves fever shot up to 106. His breathing was labored. He needed to be put on a ventilator. The cause of the fever was his brain squeezing under tremendous swelling out the bottom of the skull. This was the end for Dave. At 6 pm EST, March 3 Dave was removed from the ventilator to determine if he could breath on his own. He was pronounced brain dead.

Dave was 28, in excellent physical shape. He was an excellent rugby player, a smart kid, a friend to all, a great boyfriend, and a better son than his parents could have ever asked for.

More than all that though Dave was our friend. We all shared special moments with the guy in the last 15years, and we will miss him so very much.

Dave's parents, his sister and her husband and their newborn and 14 month old, and Dave's girlfriend were so thankful that we were all there for them. They had no idea that Dave had so many people that loved him. He is in a better place now..........

................We will miss you buddy.

We celebrated Dave's life like he would've wanted us to.....we toasted a pint in his memory last night.

Dave Bailey 12/24/76 - 3/3/06