Renting from Redshirts

N950ME - C172M - 1.3 hours

For Christmas, two of my friends got me a gift card for flying time at a flight school one of them uses. While it is a competitor to the flight school I've used for nearly 12 years now, said other school has a location at Manassas (HEF), while my long time flight school does not. The convenience here is that the DC-3 got moved to HEF, and there have been days when we've returned from a trip and I stop and think "you know, I really want to go flying on my own now." Until recently, that would have meant driving all the way up to Leesburg (JYO), but these thoughts usually came at a time too late to request that the keys to one of the aircraft get left in the lock box. With a checkout at HEF, it would mean walking across the ramp and right into a plane.

With that in mind, I scheduled a checkout with one of the instructors at the school to get checked out in their C172M. The checkout itself was the standard flight school checkout of taking the plane out, doing some slow flight, stalls, landings, and then bringing it back in. The addition of the flap 40 setting in the older M model was now, along with the flap toggle instead of the flap lever. Other than that, the main challenge was the wind of 21015G22 at Culpeper (CJR). Bringing it back in to HEF was a little more challenging as the wind of 19014G22 meant a 30 degree crosswind. I forgot to hold the crosswind correction in on the rollout, so the wind came up a bit, but the reminder from nature was enough to get me to do it from then on.

Nice and simple, and now I'm set and ready to use their aircraft to build time and enjoy some flying of my own after the DC-3 trips.

Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 0.0 - 98.5 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 16.6 (of 40)

A Night Trip to the Beach

N677JA - C172S - 2.9 hours

Today was planned to be a quick flight out to Ocean City (OXB) with friends for dinner, a trip to the boardwalk, and then back home. It was also planned to be in the DA40, but it was being fussy and wouldn't start, draining the battery in the process. Luckily, other aircraft were available, so I was able to swap into one of the 172s.

Taken before the change in plans...

The trip out brought us up toward Frederick (FDK), above some of the Dulles (IAD) arrivals, but below some of the departures. That was definitely a cool experience, as we had an Icelandair 757 fly under us, and an Air France A380 pass over us. Passing Baltimore, the Orioles game was clearly visible, though not in any detail since the stadium is pretty far from BWI, and the fact that games merit a temporary flight restriction (TFR).

After landing at OXB we snagged the rental car I'd arranged, drove to a restaurant on the bay called The Shark on the Harbor and stuffed ourselves full of good seafood. After consuming everything from oysters to shark, we made our way for a quick trip to the boardwalk. Since it's April, though, just about everything was closed, and it was eerily quiet.

The flight home was similarly quiet, as we were all pretty tired. The controller gave us a slightly quicker route through the airspace over Baltimore, which saved us some time and allowed us to get back home sooner in pursuit of sleep. Great flight, and if you're ever out by the airport in Ocean City - admittedly not quite near the rest of the touristy stuff - check out The Shark on the Harbor.

Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 2.9 - 98.5 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 16.6 (of 40)

Practice Approaches

N571DS - DA40 - 2.4 hours

I've been wanting to get some time under the blinders, along with some approaches in recently. With that in mind, I sent a message to Phil to see if he'd be up for sitting right seat while I attempted to follow imaginary lines in the sky by reference to the instruments inside the airplane alone. The route I came up with was Charlottesville (CHO), a hop over the Blue Ridge Mountains and an approach into Shenandoah (SHD), and then a trek back to Leesburg (JYO). Through all of this, the plan was to just string it all together without getting out of the plane. Luckily, that all went as planned.

Departing JYO, we flew to the Casanova VOR (CSN) and followed the V140 airway to just prior to WITTO, where we were cleared to the HOODE intersection and onto the RNAV Z Runway 21 approach at CHO. After briefly setting the wheels down so that I could log the flight as cross country time, we were vectored to OLAJO and onto the RNAV Runway 23 approach. We flew the missed approach toward GABEL, but Potomac vectored us back toward JYO before we got there to avoid wasting time. Closer to JYO, the controller vectored us in for the ILS Runway 17 approach to round out the flight. Luckily, Phil took a few pictures of the flight as having the blinders on makes for boring imagery and flight narratives.

Here is one crossing the ridge between CHO and SHD:

Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 2.4 - 95.6 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 1.9 - 16.6 (of 40)

Charter Day

N677JA - C172S - 3.2 hours

"Any chance you are flying to Philly today [laughing emoji]"

As a pilot, a text like that is a great way to start a morning. Of course, after figuring the details out, we planned to meet up at my place to drive to Leesburg (JYO) and fly up to Philadelpha (PHL) so that my two friends could attend a fashion show and avoid having to drive on 95 with an impending snow storm the following day. The end plan was for me to fly them into PHL, drop them off in town in the crew car, head back to the airport to eat and sleep some, and then drive back out and pick them up whenever they were ready.

To keep things easy, we all met at my place and drove together to the airport, stopping by Starbucks for some caffeine. This proved to be somewhat of a critical error, as the coffee made the last part of the trip up to PHL rather painful as we were getting vectored around instead of finding a restroom. It seemed like a good idea at the time. We'd originally been scheduled to fly the DA40, as it is slightly faster than the C172, but the cold weather can take a toll on the battery, making it a tough plane to start. Since neither I nor one of the other instructors could get it started, we swapped the DA40 out for one of the newer 172s and we were on our way. Our route of flight brought us up toward Frederick, over Baltimore, towards Havre de Grace, and then over southern New Jersey before being turned in towards PHL and landing on Runway 35. The ground controller was really helpful in directing us toward Atlantic Aviation. While I knew where I was going, I'd never seen the airport from the ground, so the extra attention from the ground controller was a reassuring as taxiways at larger airports can be slightly tougher to navigate as there are more of them, and more aircraft on them.

It was pretty cold out, so I sent the ladies inside to warm up, and change for the show while I closed up the plane and prepared everything for the late night departure. Despite needing to run inside myself, I stayed out to take in that odd sense of familiarity juxtaposed with the strong foreign feeling that you get when flying small planes into larger airports. Even so, the plane seemed to fit in nicely as I appreciated the cold bite in the air, the moon hanging low, the warm glow of the sunset, and the APUs howling away in the distance.

After they had changed and were ready, I snagged the crew van and we set off into the city. The van being a typical soccer mom minivan, we joked about dropping them off around the corner so that nobody would see them, but the part of town wasn't the best so it ended up being door-to-door service. On my way back, I stopped off at the apparently famous Tony Luke's to grab the necessary Philly cheesesteak, and when I finally got back to Atlantic, I devoured it. The place definitely lived up to all of the hype from the locals. With the hunger satisfied, I grabbed my laptop and took care of work for both the day job and for PMDG before taking some time to lay back, relax, and rest for the trip home. My experience with Atlantic the whole night, I might add, was rather good. I'd definitely go back if I ever have a need to go back to PHL.

I started getting texts around 0230 to coordinate being picked up, and ended up making it into town around 0320. We departed a little after 0400 and made it back to JYO just before 0600 as the sun was just breaking over the horizon. Needless to say, the flight back was rather quiet, both on frequency and in the plane. Despite being incredibly tired and in need of warmth and a bed, I'd say that it was an enjoyable day for all of us.

I have a feeling that if you ask me several years from now how I feel about airport appreciation time - the time spent at an airport while being on call, or waiting for your next flight - I probably won't be as enthusiastic, but this time I actually enjoyed it. I had a 'mission' and I was able to help some friends get to where they needed to go. I don't think I could ask for more than that.

Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 3.2 - 93.2 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 14.7 (of 40)

A Day of Flying

N571DS - DA40 - 0.6 hours || N677JA - C172S - 1.8 hours

After the wind foiled a couple of attempts to get back up in the air - a typical late winter issue in the DC Area - I finally met up with an instructor to get my insurance ride out of the way. For those unfamiliar with aviation, the main entities to keep satisfied are the FAA and the insurance company. The FAA only requires me to fly with an instructor every two years, while the insurance company requires that I fly with an instructor if I go two months without flying. I've been enjoying the DA40 since initially getting checked out in it, so I decided to use it for my ride with said instructor. The original plan was to use it again in the evening to fly some friends around. Unfortunately, someone beat me to the later reservation, but I at least took the DA40 around the pattern for a few laps to get reacquainted. The later flight would have to be in one of the 172s.

After taking the plane around the pattern five times, I brought it back to its spot, tied it down, and ran off to get lunch. With food in hand I began to plan the next flight, which I'd be flying some friends. The original plan was OXB, but we ended up heading down to CHO to watch a UVA basketball game in Historic Downtown with another group of friends.

While I've been to CHO more times than I can count, I hadn't flown with my friends Saba and Kristin before, so I was excited to be able to share the experience. We departed into one of the best sunsets I've ever seen - on the ground or in the air. Pictures, as always, don't do it justice, but Kristin and Saba both took a bunch of great shots. I often brag about how much better flying is than just about anything else, and this was certainly something to be added to the list of experiences in support of that.

The flight was short, made slightly shorter by the straight in landing on Runway 21. The landing was one of my better ones, and I'm pretty sure I caught it on one of the cameras. I'll have to take a look and add it later (I have a lot of catching up to do with the video, as Contour's temporary disappearance ended up deleting all of the videos I had uploaded there). After letting Landmark know our fuel order, we went inside to catch a cab to Historic Downtown to meet up with some friends at Citizen Burger. The food was great. The company was even greater. To cap it all off, the Cavaliers managed to win as well. While I'm no avid UVA fan (go Hokies), it was nice to see an in-state school win against a basketball powerhouse like Louisville.

After the game, we got a ride back to the airport, paid for fuel, and set off back to JYO. The flight back was a little more bumpy, but not terribly so. The highlight of the flight back was when Potomac Approach pointed our airplane out to a Dash 8 who was on approach to CHO. While I wasn't in contact with Potomac, I was listening in, I chimed in after the controller and the pilot of the Dash had finished their exchange to let them know that it was likely me that was being referenced. The controller checked and verified that it was my aircraft that he'd seen on the scope, and then gave both of us pilots an update on what each plane would be doing. While neither of us were at all close to each other, it's an anecdote supporting the use of flight following, or at least paying attention to the air traffic frequency for the area, if it's known.

The rest of the flight was very normal, and actually pretty quiet. I set the plane down on Runway 35. It definitely wasn't one of my best landings. As usual, I caught the nosewheel before settling down on the mains. Typical. It wasn't too bad, though. After putting the plane back in its spot, we braved the cold back to our cars and set off to warmer beds. We were all pretty worn out.

Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 1.8 - 90.0 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.0 - 14.7 (of 40)

So, I've Been Slacking

At the end of the move Rush (great movie by the way), Niki Lauda is preflighting a Lear and James Hunt happens upon him on his way to fly somewhere interesting. The two engage in their typical act of giving each other a hard time, and as part of that conversation Niki encourages James to get into flying because it would add some structure to his life. James then makes a comment about how he thought Niki was going to get poetic about flying. Rather, as the calculating Austrian noted, flying was simply another structured environment into which he could stretch his skills. I can't say I blame him. To a certain degree, I look at aviation the same way.

I've never really sat down to analyze my interest in flying. To me it's always been a passion, but I never understood why. I'd imagine that, for most people, a true passion is just something that's ingrained in them; something that doesn't quite make sense in a logical fashion, but something that has a certain gravity to it. Any time someone's asked me why I got into aviation, I've usually deflected the question with a joke about how, as a kid, I saw Peter Pan fly on his own, tried to do the same myself, fell flat on my face, and realized that I'd need a plane to help me out. I don't think I've ever been able to explain it, and that probably makes more sense knowing that my parents say that I've been enamored with aviation ever since I was a little kid. Occasionally, though, I let myself wander and make decisions that pull me away from flying, which was a partial cause for my lack of flying in 2014. Life is a journey, though, and it's not usually one without mistakes.

Quite a number of things happened in the past year, and none of it personally aviation related. Let me first qualify that by saying that I mean "personally aviation related" in the sense that I made no personal progress towards my ratings. More specifically, I haven't logged a flight since the last post on this blog. I have, however, spent a lot of time in and around planes.

A significant portion of my aviation-related time was spent as part of a crew flying a DC-3. While my stick time is limited to cruise legs here and there, it's my goal to eventually work up the ladder to get the ratings necessary to add bars to the jacket and shoulders, and sit up front. As it stands, though, I'm the radio/nav guy with one bar. I don't object to that in the least, however, as it gives me the opportunity to fly around in a DC-3 and hang out with with a great crew. I had alluded to getting to meet the crew in a post back in October of 2013, but I'm kinda surprised I didn't write more about it since then. If you're interested in following along with those adventures, the plane has a Facebook page. I imagine I'll be including a post here and there about my adventures in that part of my aviation experience. Over time, I have a feeling that it'll become more dominant, just as I have a feeling that I'll eventually drop the "(In Training)" off of the blog title. For the people who believe in continuous learning, worry not - I agree with that mentality, but I do also think that it's worth dropping the qualifier off as soon as I work my way into a professional flying job of some sort. While I doubt that I'll be going into any airline flying, there are definite opportunities around me, which I'm rather lucky to have.

Additionally - and probably slightly more significantly - I accepted a position with Precision Manuals Development Group, or PMDG. Like the DC-3, I've also mentioned PMDG here on the blog before, as I'd started to help them test their software back in 2013. The current position is a paid one, which has afforded me more of an opportunity to get back up and flying (though I haven't made any posts about the flights yet). Unlike most of my other jobs, this one also has a lot of potential to let me grow into using some of my other talents.

The first two projects I helped with as a member of the team were updates to existing products - the 737 and 777 - to bring them into new simulators (Lockheed Martin's Prepar3D, and a reboot of Microsoft's FSX in Steam). Next up is a ground-up rebuild of the 747 product, and an entirely new project: the DC-6.

Like the DC-3 opportunity, I'm really excited to see where this goes. On that note, I'm headed off to discuss just that with the owner. Look for some posts about the recent flights sometime in the near future.

Freezing and Flying

N172HF - C172S - 1.1 hours

When I went up for my BFR, my intention was to fly down to Raleigh (RDU) for another ice hockey game, but the weather didn’t end up looking too great. In order to make sure a plane was available, I had booked the flight well in advance. I felt bad having reserved the newest plane in the fleet for a flight I wouldn't be taking so I ended up just editing the reservation to push it back by about a week. Luckily, my pilot friend Katelyn wanted to join, so I could continue to get more simulated instrument time. We flew together nearly two years ago, on a quick flight down to Luray (LUA).  Even though she had flown more recently than that flight, it had still been a while so she wanted to go back up and get the feel for it again. That said, we worked it out where I would get simulated instrument time and approaches in between Leesburg (JYO) and Winchester (OKV), and she would get some landings in to get the feel for it again.

I was able to escape work a little early to make the long trek out to JYO (it takes forever now that my office is in DC), but Katelyn ended up getting stuck in traffic. Jokingly, I told her that I would sit there and pass the time taking pictures of myself with the plane. Once I finally got to the plane, however, that joke actually sounded like a good idea since I’m pretty sure this blog now has over 200 photos in it (the videos take that number even higher), and I’m pretty sure I’m in maybe 10 of them. In an effort to make said author less faceless, here’s a picture of me and an ironic statement all in one.

If you're not getting the ironic statement, look at the tail versus my apparel

I was able to get the plane all set up prior to her getting there, which ended up working out, as we departed as night time officially started (for logging it, anyway). As soon as we departed, we went directly to CLADD to fly the ILS Runway 32 approach into OKV. On the way, I pointed out some of the features of the G1000 as we both joked continuously about how it really felt like cheating based on the equipment we learned to fly with. Since she’d flown with Garmin equipment, though, she picked it up pretty quickly.

I flew the approach down near the minimums, but with the flight path vector (FPV) and runway showing up on the Synthetic Vision display, it really felt like I was just flying in a low detail version of Flight Simulator (side note, I was recently part of a Washington Post article on that very topic). I made the first landing since I flew the approach down so low.  After the landing, I took back off, and passed the controls over to Katelyn for a few laps of her own.  Three landings later, I took the controls back to fly the LOC Runway 17 approach into JYO (the glideslope has been out for a while, so it’s LOC only for now).

Compared to the approach I flew at the end of my BFR, this one looked really good. Then again, the approach I flew during my BFR wasn’t aided by Synthetic Vision displays, or a cue that factors in wind drift for you. I seriously feel like I’m cheating using something like that. Don’t get me wrong – I think it’s an awesome tool for the practical environment, but I think I’m going to stick to doing it the hard way for my training. It’ll help me appreciate the G1000 with SVT more, and it’ll keep my skills sharp for all of the fleet.

In the end, it was 1.1 total and 0.7 of that with the blinders on. Not bad since the only major obstacle between me and the instrument rating is all of the simulated instrument time.

Hours:
Pilot in Command Cross Country (PIC XC): 0.0 - 88.2 (of 50)
Actual/Simulated Instrument (Act/Sim): 0.7 - 14.7 (of 40)