Lesson 20: Stupid pilots and another new airport

Plane: Cessna 150
Instructor: Dave
Route: 40I-MGY-MWO-40I
Weather: Clear, 91 degrees, wind variable at 4 knots

There was no escaping the heat today, and along with the warmth came some bumpier air. I could not wait to get the engine started and feel the breeze off the prop through the open windows while we taxied. Departing from Runway 8, we turned towards Wright Brothers so I could get more experience at other airports. Dave had been telling me before the flight how an examiner who is based at Wright Brothers was just talking to him about some of the crazy (and by crazy I mean people who do stupid things in the air) pilots who fly there. So in a sequence we could not have scripted any better, we were treated to a full display of such wonderful piloting after we landed and departed again from MGY.

I had been calling out our position properly when we first entered the pattern, landed, and was again doing so on departure. Then in came two planes from the North and East who announced over the radio the thought the winds (which were variable and actually slightly favoring Runway 20, which we were using) favored Runway 2 so they were going to land in the opposite direction we just took off from. Of course, any pilot arriving at an airport is supposed to comply with the current traffic pattern and we had clearly "established" that Runway 20 was in use. Anyway, I turned crosswind and then downwind so we were out of their way. Then a third plane called their position on downwind as one of the original two was also on downwind for Runway 2. Dave and I looked to the West and watched these two guys nearly have a mid-air because they were clueless as to where the other was. Having seen enough of that dangerous nonsense, we decided to get the hell out of there and fly over to Middletown. When it comes to the craziness and/or stupidity of some of the folks flying out of MGY, umm, point taken.

Hook Field Municipal Airport (MWO) in Middletown has some history associated with it, as it is where the Aeronca Corporation (the folks who built the Champ, amongst other planes) was headquartered and manufactured aircraft for many years. Here we worked on takeoffs and landings, I did one touch and go, and I did short field takeoffs for the first time. To do a short field takeoff, you taxi as far to the end of the runway as possible, hold the brakes, apply full power, and then let the brakes off while maintaining neutral control pressure. When the plane's ready to fly, you just pull back and off you go into the air. We also had some fun on one landing where I landed just past the threshold and hit the breaks to get us stopped so we could take the first turnoff on to the taxiway, which you can see in the GPS track. Believe it or not, a Piper Cherokee even entered the pattern properly, made the right calls over the radio, and followed us in the pattern for a couple circuits - what a novel idea!

I'm starting to feel more comfortable with the Cessna so now I think that I'm at the stage where I need to focus more on the details. Paying attention to the turn coordinator, holding my airspeed through attitude on climb out, watching my airspeed on approach and final, rounding out and flaring at the right height above the runway... these are some of the main things I have noticed with my flying. There have been a few great landings but I can tell that I got too used to the sight picture (sitting slightly lower to the ground) in the Champ and I have had a tendency to not flare soon enough. Good thing Cessna installed some hefty landing gear to keep me from looking too stupid. My radio work is really feeling good and Dave kept saying I seem really comfortable talking over the airwaves. I can't tell you why, but it just feels natural so far.

Interesting and stupid pilot tricks aside, it was a great day to spend some more time in the old 150 and fly to another new airport. This whole flying thing's fun in itself, but it's a heckuva lot cooler when you end up somewhere other than where you started. Due to the business travel it will be too long until I'm up next, but when that day comes Dave said we'll work on getting me soloed in the trusty old Cessna. Until then, safe flying everyone!

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 1.6 hours
Solo/PIC Time: 4.3 hours
Total Time: 28.3 hours

Lesson 19: Airplane therapy

Plane: Cessna 150
Instructor: Dave
Route: 40I-MGY-40Il
Weather: Haze, 84 degrees, wind 090 degrees at 3 knots

This has pretty much been the week from hell at work - long hours, way too much stress, and finding out about a trip half way around the world on ridiculously short notice. But let me tell you that when I got back on the ground after tonight's lesson I was completely relaxed, happy, and my mind was clear. I've heard other pilots talk about escaping from everything up in the sky and it sure seems like I am able to do the same. And it's a wonderful thing.

It felt like I hadn't been up in forever and I was expecting to be a bit rusty, especially having only flown the 150 one time. After adding 8 gallons of fuel (4 to each tank) and running through the takeoff checklists, we headed off to work on some maneuvers. The visibility was atrocious thanks to the hot and humid air. We heard 10 miles from the AWOS (that's an Automated Weather Observation System, which broadcasts weather information over the radio) at MGY but that seemed optimistic. And looking into the sun I'd just about dare you to make out anything that wasn't sitting on the cowling.

My steep turns were surprisingly smooth and I only lost about 50 feet of altitude. Take a look at the photo below and you can see where we really slowed down (bright green) while we did some slow flight. Then it was a sequence of stalls, both power-on and power-off. I did a much better job recovering than last time, but it's still crazy just how much the plane wants to drop the left wing (torque tendency) during a power-on stall.

Magenta is fastest (115 mph) and green is slowest (40 mph)

New things are fun and tonight (drum roll, please) we actually went somewhere! It may only be about 10 miles from Stewart but we flew over to Dayton Wright Brothers Airport (MGY) and I got to use the radio for the first time. It's an untowered airport so all you do on the radio is call out your position (called transmitting "in the blind") in the pattern and vicinity so other pilots know where you are. Having listened to ATC on the computer and my nice new handheld transciever I knew what to say, but I was still a little nervous the first time I hit the push-to-talk button. "Wright Brothers traffic, Cessna 60338 is 3 miles East, inbound for landing, Wright Brothers." All went well (aside from calling my base leg 'crosswind' one time - oops) and Dave thought I kicked that radio's butt.

Entering the pattern I turned downwind late so as you can see in the GPS track I ended up way to the right on final but managed to line us up and land. Oh sweet concrete, how different you feel after over 20 hours on the grass. Taking off was so smooth I had to look down a couple times to make sure we were off the ground. We made one more trip around the pattern (I still turned to final late) and then departed to the Southeast towards Waynesville. A quick jaunt to the other side of town is all it was, but it sure felt good. Landing back at Stewart I ended up incredibly high on final so I added full flaps and cut the power to idle and got us down safely.

All told, it was a surprisingly good lesson after a short break in my training. The maneuvers went very well and I had a good first time on the radio. It was great to get up and remember just how damn much I love to be flying. I parked us in front of the fuel pump and turned the key to Off, which made Dave yell out something that sounded like "Garaahgh!" since I should have pulled the Mixture to Lean to kill the engine. Darn it, I knew I was due to screw something up tonight!

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 1.2 hours
Solo/PIC Time: 4.3 hours
Total Time: 26.7 hours

I'm still here, albeit on the ground

Quick update since I've been abnormally quiet on here compared to my usual talkative (writeative?) self. I went on vacation with the family up in Traverse City last weekend so that nixed any flying chances. Tonight I had been scheduled to go up solo in the trusty old Champ but she decided it was time to be less trusty. Actually, I think it may have been scheduled overhaul time. Whatever the reason, N1798E is currently in the shop having a new engine installed.

I have lessons scheduled this weekend in the C150 so I will be airborne again in a few days. Unfortunately (or fortunately for the travel-loving side of me) I found out this morning that I'll be on a plane bound for Japan for work on Sunday, which means some of my upcoming lessons are getting canceled. Long story short, I should be back on my usual 2x or 3x a week flying schedule in about two weeks.

Solo Practice 3: When in doubt, go around!

Plane: Champ
Route: 40I, Local
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 77 degrees, wind 010 degrees variable from calm to 8 knots

Tonight was one of those deceiving evenings when it comes to the weather. It was almost completely calm when I took off and the sky was clearing. The intent was to work on some maneuvers but also to spend some time just enjoying the view from above. Takeoff was smooth and the calm winds made this one of those rare occasions when you can point the nose straight ahead and actually end up right where you've aimed.

Once over the lake I made four steep turns, going from a right turn directly into a left turn and then repeating the process. These were some of my best yet since I stayed within 50 feet of altitude throughout the entire 720 degree maneuver, kept my speed pegged at 60, and rolled out right on the original heading. Feeling good about those, I did a few power-on stalls. It's sometimes hard to get a feel for stalling the Champ since it wants to fly so ridiculously slow but I was not totally satisfied with my stalls tonight. I did not pull back to raise the nose fast enough to bleed off the airspeed quickly and get a nice, clean break at the moment of stall. As far as the recovery goes, I did an alright job lowering the nose and gaining back airspeed but it could have been smoother. Maneuvers complete, I decided to fly around for a little while.

Heading towards the North at around 3,500 feet, it was getting a little cloudier and I started to feel some bumps that likely were downdrafts from the clouds. Then it started to drizzle ever so slightly and I decided it was time to descend and turn back where I came from. I could feel the winds picking up and could tell they were a little shifty because I felt the plane trying yawing. I flew over the road I drive to get to the airport from my apartment and then headed South past Stewart. It still felt gusty and there were certainly more pockets of rising and falling air than when I took off. Once sufficiently South of the airport and at 3,000 feet, I turned around and descended to 1,800 and made a 45 degree entrance to the downwind.

My approach was a little high and fast but I got her slowed down and made a soft landing, albeit a little long thanks to the extra speed. There was a slight crosswind now but it was still pretty light and variable and I decided to head back up for some more practice in the pattern. Oh how Mother Nature can throw us a curveball in an instant. Back around the pattern and on final, I was too fast and the crosswind had picked up to I'm guessing 8 knots or so and was blowing directly across the runway. Not that I haven't landed in that sort of weather before, but not by myself, and the weather hadn't switched like that in the middle of the flight.

Floating down the runway and using a side slip (right wing down into the wind) to keep her straight, things just didn't feel right. I had enough room to land but made the wise decision that it would be best to try again, so I applied full power and made my first-ever go around. Next time around I still wasn't perfect (still floated too much) but the approach was more stabilized and I made a soft landing on Runway 26. The windsock was blowing straight across the runway so I taxied back and called it an evening. All in all, some very valuable weather and on-the-fly decision-making experience makes this a great flight in my book.

I purchased a great little suction cup mount for my camera last weekend to help with taking videos in the plane. Hopefully this will aid me in not filling half the frame with the glareshield from now on. Check out some footage from tonight below, including - in this order - takeoff, flying around the pattern, steep turns, stalls, and landing. Oh yea, just for the record, I don't like how crappy and compressed Blogger's video uploader makes the videos look!

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 1.0 hours
Solo/PIC Time: 4.3 hours
Total Time: 25.5 hours

2008 National Cherry Festival Airshow

Over the Fourth of July weekend, my good friend and old roommate Rob and I went up to Traverse City, Michigan to catch one heck of an awesome airshow. They only hold it every other year, but it's totally worth the 500 mile trek from Dayton. I have heard it's one of the best sites to see the Blue Angels perform, and I can't really argue to the contrary.

Although I have not written about it in quite a long time on here, photography is something I love so combining it with airplanes equals way too much fun in my mind. Rob and I have already been to Louisville and Traverse City this year and will be going to Cleveland and NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach before the 2008 airshow season is out. Not that you're probably surprised to hear of such an aviation obsession from me.

So long story short, we spent three entire days out in the Northern Michigan sun watching airplanes zoom around the sky making tons of noise. And as always, I took lots of photos and videos. The weather was perfect all weekend and the performers put on an excellent show. In particular, the F-15 demo by the Oregon ANG and the Blue Angels (who never disappoint) stood out.

I've posted some photos and videos below, and you can click on any of them to open up the higher-resolution versions over at Flickr. You can also see the entire airshow collection on my Flickr page. And while you're at it, check out Rob's photos too - he's an amazing photographer.

Such a tight diamond from the Blues

Fat Albert low over Grand Traverse Bay

Such precision at closure rates of 1000+ knots

There's just something I love about the A-10

The Aeroshell T-6 team puts on a pretty good show

Seriously, don't flinch...

USCG rescue demonstration

Oregon ANG F-15 with a killer performance


Video compilation of the Blue Angels' performances