Misadventures in Studentpilotism

Christmas break is drawing to a close and another semester is about to begin. Thankfully, this should be the last semester I spend as a undergraduate! Provided the registrar doesn’t find some long-lost phys-ed course I failed to take as a freshman and I spend another semester here only to complete “Walking and Jogging 101.”

This past fall was an entertaining mix of right seat, learning to talk and fly at the same time CFI hours (imagine rubbing your head and patting your belly) interspersed with charter trips in beefier, faster turbocharged twins encircling the state of Illinois at ten to twenty thousand feet. I loved the early mornings and late, late nights charter flying afforded and I will certainly miss the aircraft, passengers and my instructors. If I had the opportunity to I would take that course again, no questions asked. It was great to get a taste of the future, and although it may be some time before I have the chance to work in a similar capacity it only strengthened my love for aviation.

CFI training is another story altogether. Who knew it would be so difficult to catch back up with flying the single-engine Cessnas, and even more difficult now I’m riding shotgun! It flusters me to even think about the check ride, which is probably a short three weeks away, and I haven’t been in an airplane in four weeks. It’s going to be a flurry of chair-flying in my apartment and sleepless nights with the Gleim as soon as school starts back up next week, with the end result being a shot at my CFI certificate.

There is light at the end of the tunnel though- as soon as the ink dries on my temporary the resumes and follow-up phone calls shall commence. Fair warning: if you own or operate a flight school anywhere north of I-80 near Chicago,  or anywhere near Bloomington or St. Louis, you will be flooded with Bradley Mertes propaganda. I need a job or two, and at least one of them must involve flying. Every airline out of O’Hare and Midway will also be earning themselves a job application for second shift ramp work, and if you own an FBO expect a phone call about line service jobs as well.

Ending this on a positive note- I had the great opportunity to sit in our 737-200 a la 1969 and run over cockpit layout, flows, start up, shutdown, etc the last week of classes last semester. About the only decent picture I recovered from the experience:

Its been a busy past few days but well worth it!

I received a scholarship for next year from Michael R. Peters, founder of AviationInterviews.com!

Each year he donates proceeds from his website to a trust and funds several scholarships for students here at SIUC. I can’t say thank you enough, as this is an exceptional example of “paying it forward,” as Mike puts it.

I had the great opportunity to fly him up to Madison, WI late Friday afterward and managed to make it home by 2:30. In the morning. The lack of sleep was well worth seeing Chicago at night and flying right over home in Bloomington, IL.

Work early Saturday was a blur, and before I knew it Sunday morning had brought a trip up to Waukegan, IL. I made a meal out of free cookies and Coke before climbing back in the plane for the trip home. You know, with all the free food and facilities charter flying offers the airlines may be a hard sell after all this…

O’Hare on our way back:

Now its time for sleep- another early flight up to Springfield tomorrow morning!

Things have slowed up a little bit in our charter department, but I was fortunate to get a recent trip up to Chicago Midway and back.Weather had been sketchy all day- and has been for the past few weeks. By the time I drove out to the airport the main line of storms had moved east and all that remained was patchy rain and layers of clouds. I was psyched to be flying into Midway at all so I was just happy that the storms weren’t going to cancel our plans. This trip would be in the Cessna 421- only my second trip in it and my longest trip so far.

We double checked the weather, filed our flight plans and shot off of Carbondale around 1030am. Instantly we hit IMC and shot through two layers to eventually level out at 17000, skimming the tops of the second layer. Weather at Midway had forced them down to one runway- 13C. Chicago Center began stepping us down and giving us radar vectors in an attempt to slide us in between the long line of Southwest jets and RJs. I leveled off at 7000ft and held headings as best I could- turbulence was moderate and wrestling this 5000lb piece of metal was proving quite the challenge, especially in IMC.

We were hanging on ATC’s every word, but their best efforts to slide us in failed and we were vectored south with instructions to expect a hold.

The hold never actually came, but instead a series of turns left us in a radar vectored hold somewhere over central Illinois. With each minute-long 180 degree turn my disorientation got worse and worse, to the point where I felt as if the plane was turning sharp left when we were actually straight and level. My PNF gave me the word to just trust the instruments- the mantra every instrument pilot remembers from training. After running race tracks around the sky for 30 minutes, we were finally vectored northeast and cleared for the ILS. By this time I was frazzled and dizzy, but we kept fighting the good fight and established ourselves on the approach. As we neared the DA, I kept trying to run the missed approach in my head one last time should we need it- but luck prevailed and we popped out of the clouds 100ft above DA and my PNF took over to land. Winds were strong and gusty, and we both agreed my one flight in this plane doesn’t exactly set me up very well to grease her onto the runway in this case.

We were both looking forward to kissing the tarmac and grabbing some lunch before meeting our passengers for the return trip, but those plans were quickly foiled when our passengers showed up early. We resorted to eating a couple of complimentary cookies before shoving off for the return trip home, which proved to be far less eventful.

All-in-all it was a great trip and I was able to acquire some valuable IMC time. I snapped a shot of Cicero Ave. on the departure-

Would not want to live there…

 Is it honestly October already?

I’ve been having a great time flying around the state with our charter program and pushing forward on my CFI license. Charter has kept me busy with early mornings and late nights flying actual passengers around- my favorite pastime!

A few weeks ago I set out for a three leg night flight and my first flight in the C340. Our first stop was Mt. Vernon- a fifteen minute flight, to pick up our passenger with a wheels up time to Champaign of 8:30pm. I had been warned that he remains loose with the times he sets, so maybe a little later could be expected.

He shows up at 9:30.

I must confess I just thought it was a kick to be flying at all that night so it didn’t bother me in the least. We loaded up and crawled it to CMI, shot a visual and made a quick turn for home. We’ve had patchy fog setting in every night and worsening by morning, so we knew there was a chance we might have some issues getting into the airport. Of course, a check to the ATIS shows 1/4 mile visibility with 100ft ceilings. We knew our Plan B was to head over to Marion- a thirteen mile difference so not a big deal at all. Their wx was near clear.

Kansas City Center was dead and they had no problem listening to us ramble on about the situation. We were on a first-name basis. I shot down for the ILS and we could see that the fog was all of two small patches, sitting right on the ASOS equipment. Weather was closer to clear below 10,000 and over ten miles visibility. I plopped it down for a decent landing and made it back to my apartment by midnight.

The C340 was pretty well a breeze- it actually flies slower than the C310 I did my multi training in so I had plenty of time to set things up and plan our descents and power reductions, all with the guidance of my supervising charter pilot. Both of the charter pilots I fly with have been a great line of support in transitioning into the 340 and 421 and they keep us students growing as professional aviators.

In the months since my last post I’ve been up in the friendly skies just once- for an insurance checkout at an FBO I planned on renting from. It was your standard intro to the aircraft, policies and procedures. It had been over two months since I had last flown and I did admit to feeling a little insecure but in no time I had found that yes, I am a pilot and that yes, I can still fly.

Minor mental crisis over we worked through basic procedures and headed to a little grass strip belonging to an airline captain my instructor knew about. The last and only time I had ever been on grass was when I was just starting with lessons in 2005 and we made a precautionary landing to avoid fog at home. I sat and watched as my then CFI set the C152 down with ease and quickly arrested our forward movement just short of a corn field. I had always been told that grass will eat your power and drag you to a halt abruptly upon touchdown, so of course I milked the stall warning horn halfway down the field before letting rubber meet turf. Surprisingly it was a gentle touchdown and I could feel the struts bobble up and down with the imperfections on the strip. I just kept aft elevator and a little power in during our taxi and in no time we were back up for emergency practice and then a full-stop back at the airport.

As much as I missed flying this summer I did have a great opportunity to take time to focus on my other life pursuit: horses. I had an internship at an eventing farm here at home and through the generosity of a great group of people I was able to become a better rider and compete at my first recognized horse trials. I had a blast and wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.

Hagen and I on cross-country at Wayne DuPage Horse Trials- 4th place!

Now I’m back at school starting work on my CFI- and what a difference the right seat is! My handling resembles that of an intoxicated four-year-old: this is definitely going to be a challenge. The whole sight picture I’ve worked to perfect over the past seven years is out the window and it’s almost as if I’m learning to fly all over again. Thankfully we have several months and many flights to get it all sorted out but I still sleep eyes wide open at night thinking about tomorrow’s flight.

The coolest opportunity I have with flying this semester is Air Carrier Operations Practicum; that’s right, I get to play airline pilot!  We essentially fly the University Cessna 340A and 421c RAM on scheduled in-house charter flights around the state with a charter pilot. So far I’ve had a hop up to Springfield in the 421 with a quick, one engine still running drop off and return. I flew cruise on the way up and the entire flight on the way home, sitting right seat meandering all over Kansas City Center’s radar as I tried to stay straight and level in the clouds. Landing was only slightly unnerving- I had help lining up center line and touchdown was smooth as glass thanks to the trailing-link landing gear.

Procedures throughout every phase of the flight were remarkably different than the typical flight training practices. In training we fly to meet performance numbers, like airspeed or rate of climb, and sacrifice smoothness or comfort a little. Charter teaches you to fly in the safest, most efficient manner possible while keeping passenger comfort a very high priority. I honestly think it’s going to be a great experience and look forward to picking up my high-altitude endorsement here in the next couple of weeks.

As of 9:45am Wednesday, April 8th I am officially a multi-engine rated pilot.

It took a long eight months to complete but it feels great to finally have it over and done with. The course was simply the most fun I’ve had in an airplane thus far in my training: to have that power resting in your hands is truly a rewarding experience.

The checkride involved an immediate engine failure on takeoff roll, another engine failure right after takeoff with a quick return to the airport and then basic maneuvers and instrument approaches. Even though it all felt straight forward I managed to get myself yelled at during the GPS approach. The way I’ve been taught to fly did not sit well with my examiner’s real-world perspective and as a result I was on the receiving end of a massive schooling in proper course reversal through a hold procedures. Past that an inop ADF made my life a hell of a lot easier allowing me to use the GPS to track to the IAF for the ILS 18L back into KMDH, flying outbound with the HSI was also a piece of cake thanks to it’s no-brain display.

During the ILS to final landing he had me change things up a bit: I normally drop the landing gear a dot above glideslope and keep power at my 120kt setting, letting me down on the GS and keeping speed around 120. He had me set out 15 degrees of flaps and drop gear, necessitating more power. His reasoning was to keep forward pressure on the nose, a point he reiterated with the addition of full flaps about a mile before the runway. At this point I’ve got the nose pointed at the ground and the engines are roaring with power as I attempt to maintain blue line (106) plus ten up to near the threshold. I’m guessing the point he was making was that you might be less likely to encounter an unrecoverable condition should an engine fail around this time. You’re nose is down but angle of attack is still higher, so I’m going to require his clarification on this to figure it out.

That being said, I’m now looking forward to a summer of fun personal flying and then to the fall, when I start my CFI training.

After beginning this multi-engine rating course last August, I’ve finally taken one giant leap in completing it. This morning I met with one of the charter pilots for the University and spent an incredibly informative two hours passing my oral check. Rather than hold me over the coals and accept those typical, canned check ride answers he made it a point to force me to think and answer honestly. I actually felt confident going into this: a feat I’ve rarely accomplished on any other oral check. Flight planning was a weight and balance shift with emphasis on fuel burn changing the CG location and how to prepare for that. From there, aerodynamics with a big hit on Vmc and all associated situations segued to systems for another 45 minutes. Nothing nit-picky, all very straight-forward and overall it beared the hallmark of any good checkride: I actually learned something from the whole experience.

Now I’ve gotta get back to practicing flows on my couch and flying approaches in my desk chair like all normal people. I mean pilots.

The dryspell is over.

After taking a break from flying the Cessna 310 for 11 weeks, I had the opportunity to head into the skies tonight for my XC. It went better than I could have expected and was truly one of those great flights I will never forget.

I planned and filed us up and back to Springfield, IL leaving Carbondale around 6pm. The clouds had been 15,000 to 25,000 scattered to broken all day and I figured we would be swimming below them the whole flight. As I began preflighting it became obvious that things were changing, and a quick call to the ASOS confirmed my suspicions: bases were now 3,400 broken and overcast at 4,300. I’m thinking “oh great, low clouds and dropping temperatures = icing. Time to scrap the flight and go home.”

Thankfully, I was wrong. We took off and shot through the low layer to break out at 5,000 on our way to 7,000.The last orange and purple colorings of the sun were fading, giving way to the darkness of night. My classroom truly has an exceptional view.

Even though the western sky was clear, spotted clouds lay along our flight path and consequently I spent a majority of the flight without the foggles on earning some actual time. At this point it became obvious my instrument scan was a little rusty as we frequently deviated heading + or - 10 degrees and altitude 100ft. This all while I’m trying to re-program the GPS for our direct clearances and ready an approach plate for the approach.

About 40 miles south of KSPI the clouds gave way to mostly clear skies. We were routed under a Citation and retarded the throttles to reduce speed. I needed 2.0 on the Hobbs meter for the trip and the 310 flies this trip in about 1.5 to 1.8. Back under the foggles we flew radar vectors to the ILS runway 22, touched down in a stiff crosswind and taxied back to runway 13. The landing was more of a controlled “plop,” but all three wheels remained intact so no harm, no foul, right?

A quick return flight with a nice chunk of actual instrument time led to a no-brainer radar vectors to the ILS 18L. We rolled a touch-n-go and that’s when the fun began. Winds were gusty and out of the west-southwest, and wrestling a 4,700lb piece of metal with my bare hands proved to be quite the match. Just slowing down and configuring for the pattern was fun enough in this plane, added to that the extra job of adding a crab angle into the wind at night and I’m quietly soiling myself over in the left seat while my instructor acts like we’re on a ride at an amusement park. I managed to stabalize things out smoothly so that by the time we’re on final it’s a pretty straight, clean shot to the threshold. The landing this time around jarrs my bones considerably less and we taxi on in to put the plane to bed.

It was surprising how well things went after my break.  My new instructor is excellent- very practical and a total no BS kind of guy. This week has brought spring break and again I’m not getting any flying done but come next week we’ll be back up zipping around the sky.

I’ve been living the past week in celebration of the reinstatement of my medical- it only took six weeks but hey not a problem, right? Going from leaving for Christmas break a mere few days from a checkride and now coming back and praying that you remember everything is an entirely stressful situation. I don’t want to waste my instructor’s time or my money, so of course the logical action for me to take now is to, you guessed it, study!

At this moment procedures and V-speeds are plastered on my bedroom walls and lately I find myself trying to practice flows in my Jeep while swerving through traffic. Maybe not the safest option but I get the job done.

And this evening, as I prepare for my first flight back in the Cessna 310, a night cross-country up to Springfield, IL (KSPI), I am again faced with the dreaded task of manual flight planning. I loathe interpolation, and of course there is no shortage of this stimulating activity involved in performance calculations. From pounds of fuel to taxi, climb, cruise, descent, approach, missed approach and back to another airport (bearing in mind the E6-B requires you to convert pounds to gallons for every calculation) to take-off roll, accelerate-go and accelerate-stop distances, true airspeed versus calibrated airspeed versus groundspeed and the resultant time between checkpoints to figuring pressure altitude at cruise based upon ground barometer readings I just want to light the whole mess on fire. Lets just head off to the airport, fill every tank on the airplane to the brim, check the windsock and simply jet off to our destination knowing the range of our aircraft is far greater than the distance we plan to fly. I call this my new revolution in flight planning and expect a great following amongst recent flight school grads.

I digress; even though this tedious process may be a chore, I know there is nothing else I would rather be doing. Every day I get to keep living my dream proves to be the best day of my life.

A special thanks to Capt. Denny Flanagan who FedEx’d me a whole case full of great United merchandise! Aviators like him who show support to up-and-coming pilots are the reason why I’ve been able to stick with this path for so long.

Finally, the FAA has released me off medical hold following surgery and I am now a pilot again. Those eight weeks were among the more tortuous in my life, but I am glad to be back to flying.

Rolling back to the airport I found my instructor is now also waiting on his medical to be released.In the meantime I’ve been reassigned to two different instructors who will collectively finish my up here by spring break. Earning my multi rating has been an entirely long process but at the same time has been one of the best flying endeavors I have yet embarked on. The power and speed afforded with muliple engines is addictive. Moving back to instruct in the single engines is going to be a tough step, but at the same time I enjoy teaching aviation so I’m sure I’ll still love it.

I also have some more photos, posts, etc. at http://iflyforfun.blogspot.com/