Only in Florida / Good Ins. Approaches

So I'm about to head off to bed when I hear Matt come into the house. I open the door, still brushing my teeth and he says, "Come take a ride with me!" I'm like, alright...something is up. Knowing me, I'm always down for anything. It's 2:17AM EDT! I hop into the truck, we drive north on Belle Terre and low and behold, there is an alligator in the middle of the road. Check it! Yeah it looks like I'm FOB in slippers and all. Hey, it even actaully looks like I'm in the Philippines! =) But no, I'm just in Florida! Believe it!

And my instrument approaches are looking pretty good. I did two GPS approaches and a VOR-A into x47. Good stuff. Tomorrow, we start partial panel as well as Precision Approaches. Should be fun.

Passing

I passed and so did Manoj. There were some maneuvers that were combined during the test that kind of caught me off guard, but I was still able to fly just as well. It was a nice checkride in that I got some night time in and a night landing. The best thing about the flight was that I flew with a damn great pilot. I mean, the confidence level and the way that he handled the plane, it was almost as if the plane was just another part of his body. Amazing aviator!

1st Instrument Checkride

Tonight at 1830EDT, I will be in the Diamond Star DA-40 with Manoj (my flight partner) and a Mr. Mike Schrier showing him that I can fly under the hood safely. I think I also have to demonstrate a DME Arc or some sorts. That should be fun. I'll post later on tonight on how it went. But tomorrow, if everything goes well, Manoj and I will be flying some instrument approaches all around Florida. Who knows, maybe this time we'll hit up the Keys!

FRASCA Time!

So, Manoj and I opted to fly two lessons each in the FRASCA simulator. It was long and arduous, but damn worth it just to stay with the schedule. The very first 20 minutes of my first flight went smooth with almost perfect (98%) 45 degree steep turns to the right and then to the left. After that, Partial Panel work came alive (I love two instruments, specifically, the heading indicator and the attitude indicator) and my sim session just went to...umm...hell? I don't know what else to call it really. I had to take a step back and breathe, then correlate the interpret the instruments that were left working. I was heading westbound but then when the instruments failed, I turned around for some reason instead of maintaining my heading with the compass.

Finally, I got squared away and the instruments came back online, and I shot the VOR approach alpha into Gainesville (KGNV). I also did a 12 DME Arc which I have to say I was rather impressed with. Things went well. Got the simulator to work for me and trimmed that bad boy out. Of course, on the second lesson, which was just a continuation from the first, I saw the two instruments fail on me again. This time though, I was invincible! Bring it on!!! I wanted to keep going, it was sad.

Tonight, I'm just sitting here bored to death in Palm Coast, wanting to go out with some of my friends from back home. I miss everyone. Come visit guys!

FTD

So, doing a DME arc with an HSI is a little different than using an OBS. Being that it may, we have an HSI in the FRASCA simulator (and I'm familiar with one from the other DA-40 in San Diego) I thought that I could have it pegged down. I ended up turning 90 degrees the opposite direction and just messing up entirely. It has to be jotted down as one of my worse flights at CAPT. Then Jenn (my instructor) failed the HSI and the Attitude Indicator, and I was just all over the place for a bit.

Finally, I squared things up and got the aircraft simulator into straight and level flight. I did another DME arc and got it down, and just flew the plane with correct timing and compass turns pretty close enough. Tonight is going to be a fun night on MS Flight Simulator.

3rd Ins.

Today was another (FTD - Flight Training Device) in the Frasca B 142. It sucks doing some stalls and unusual attitude flight recovery w/o feeling the plane but you have to get use to it. Didn't have to wear the stupid instrument goggles though. Got to do a DME 16 Arc into Daytona Beach along with an ILS approach to 7L. We did another approach into Flagler County Airport using the VOR-A and then just going missed. Instrument flying is where its at I tell you.

2nd I-Flight

In the rain and greased the landing. I mean my instructor looked at me, and quietly said, "Like butter!" I have to admit, I was so happy of my landing that I almost forgot to do the after landing checklist. It was just jaw droppingly sweet! I also got to fly underneath some crazy clouds with some turbulence and rain. The rain was cool. You could actually see just spoltches around the Palm Coast Area where it was raining and where it wasn't. It was definitely a great day.

Now I have to finish my report on Airbus and their A380.

1st Ins. Flight...

It was in the FRASCA. I can't complain. It was somewhat necessary I guess to learn how to scan the instruments properly. Jen is a great instructor, so far so good. Manoj and I do have some work cut out for us and I should probably get started on the reviewing. I haven't done any basic maneuvers (slow flight, stalls, etc) in quite a bit.

I started on my presentation too. I chose to write about the Airbus aircraft family concentrating on the famous A380 Double Decker. Check it out! http://www.airbus.com/en/aircraftfamilies/a380/ and then just navigate yourself to the A380 page. Boeing definitely does have it cut out for them competition wise.

FAA Results...

I did poorly in the new CATS test center on campus. I am sad to say that I scored a 92%. This course was my lowest so far but I will not let that get to me and try to be even better in the flight stage.

First day of Instrument Flying is today! Should be fun! There are a lot of thunderstorms though. We might just end up in a simulator. shucks.

On to the FAA Written

After getting a 96% today on my Stage III, I am now allowed to take my FAA Written for Instrument Certification. Tomorrow, I'll have some good news hopefully. Being that I have to match a %100, its going to be a tough one!

miss already ya babe!

Last weekend

This is the last weekend that Adelle is here. It's going to be lonely again, but hopefully I can catch up with some things in the upcoming week. I have Stage III this Monday and then the Instrument FAA Written on Tuesday. We start flight on Wednesday. It should be fun! I can't wait really to start getting up in the air and advancing my flight experience. I'll be studying again this weekend so, no updates till then. Sorry for the lagging!