One of those days...

Two thumbs up! I must say that today was "one of those days" but in a good sense. It was the day that I needed after a couple of those "seven out of ten" flights that made me feel confident that I would be ready for next week. I need to study an awful lot, but it's what weekends are for. Now that there is football, the weekend has turned into only Saturday.

My roommate, Matty P. came along for the ride as an observer to check up on Manoj and I. He's in the interment phase of flying right now and just wanted to see what the Seminole was all about. With the added weight, we took 10 less gallons of fuel and knew that our short fields and maneuvers were going to be to a little different. When I say different, I mean by how the plane was going to react due to the added weight and shift in center of gravity. Manoj's flight went really well in which it was something that I was faced to compete with. I mean, I didn't need to out perform him, but the standard was set pretty high. He flew the wings off of the PA44.

I executed two short field landings, one with a feather like landing and the other a little on the rough side due to my foot being on the top part of the rudder controls on landing (that's where the brakes are). I did a "textbook" power-off stall and then a power-on stall followed by an emergency descent. It was great. I felt really good about everything. I was back to where I was just a week prior. I guess you might say that I'm just more experienced! I love flying!

There was a graduation that took place today. Another 5 cadets were given their diplomas and 4 bar epaulets. I hope that they are placed right away. We also had a little dinner get together at my house in the evening which turned out to be pretty chill. Some of the new guys came over for Laura's Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes and Deviled Eggs. It was good stuff. Now, I'm about to head off to bed and wake up bright and early for some studying! Can't wait!

Too busy on 125.8

We switched out back at X47 and began our flight over the ocean to practice some maneuvers. I did a power off stall, and a Vmc demo along with an Emergency Descent. I must admit that I need another flight to keep my currency in doing those maneuvers. They weren't that pretty. I was getting mixed up and confused on what things to do inside the plane. So, yes I will end up doing them again tomorrow.

After we were done, we flew around a bit listening in to Daytona approach and got ready for just the VOR-A back into Flagler. After about 10 mins, we just decided to head back because we couldn't get a word in. It was almost as if, they didn't hear us. Our radios checked fine, but due to time constraints, we had to head back. I was a little disappointed in my flight today, but I know that we a little bit more paper flying (sitting in front of a diagram of the inside of the Piper Seminole PA44) I will be able to get the steps down packed. I was even studying at dinner today. Of course right now, I'm not studying at all, but whatever.

We have another graduation tomorrow which should pose for some good fun. Time to talk and get to know everyone again. It's weird knowing that I am the third ranked senior in the Piston stage of things at CAPT. I remember walking in like the little kid who didn't know what was going on. I still don't anything but that's probably because I'm comparing myself to the ones ahead of me. I think that its kind of cool!

Short Final

Today was exciting! Weather was coming in and as we landed in Titusville (KTIX) it started to rain a little bit. It slowly got worse and we knew that we had to switch out quickly. We swapped seats and I began to power up. As I cleared the left and right engine, rain poured down violently but the sky was clear to the east. We called up ground, got clearance, ran up and spoke to tower. Tower advised us that the winds change to 360 and that the storm wasn't too bad at the opposite end of the runway. As soon as we departed, we got a clearance to head east bound along the river but not to pass across the river because we were already edging Cape Canaveral's Restricted Airspace. Weather got better as we climbed out and up to 4400" Taking off in pouring rain was an exciting feeling. I probably wouldn't have done it if I wasn't with my instructor, or if I hadn't looked at radar while on my own.

I called up Daytona Approach for flight following and decided that I could fit an approach, the ILS 7L into KDAB, before we headed north for some maneuvers. As I was getting vectored around for the final approach course, we noticed that there was Cat 4 / 5 storms building up right on the approach end. I called up approach for an advisory and they told me that it was okay. I proceeded and my instructor while I was on final cut one of the engines. I proceeded inbound whilst correcting for the adverse thrust. I got off of the localizer a bit but managed to stay on glideslope. I got back to my course heading and went around. Avoiding any weather, we headed north and did some emergency descents, power on and off stalls, slow flight and then saw a huge buildup just west of Flagler (X47). We decided that it would be a good idea to head home. As we were on the 45 degree entry, people were calling around that while there were 5 in the pattern, they wanted to change runways from 11 to 24. The wind was variable as a storm was coming, so 11 was still okay. There was just a lot of traffic and some aircraft even started calling names. As one aircraft went around because of the traffic on runway 11, he decided to just begin landing on 24 while were just landing on 11. As we were rolling on 11 right because 24, we saw the other plane land. It was just ridiculous. Bunch of idiots I tell ya. No respect.

So, about my flight today. I would probably rate it as a 7 out of 10. I didn't feel like I was on top of anything at all. It's such a disappointment to me to know that I'm so close to a checkride and that I'm actually not progressing anymore. I'm actually getting worse. It stinks so bad! Oh well, I have the rest of the week to rebuild my confidence.

Feathering the plane...

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Today was the first day that we finalized the shut down sequence of an inoperable engine. It was kind of exciting to see the plane flying with one propeller spinning and the other just standing still. The shutdown procedure wasn't that difficult either. The restart was a little weird with the fuel pumps on because it gave way to a jolt of fuel and engine propeller spinning that yawed the plane back and forth. Even after that motion, the propeller still wasn't fully on. After restarting, things went accordingly. I departed from St. Augustine and headed south along the coastline.

Along the way, I did some steep turns and had a little bit of a hard time because I didn't have a horizon to use to look outside. I ended up wavering a bit in altitude but after just concentrating on my adjustments, I was able to maintain.

From KSGJ to KDAB, it's 49 nautical miles, so according to regulation, we were just 1 mile short. It was ridiculous. We then just figured that I should head a little bit more south to New Smyrna Beach for a touch and go to complete the distance requirement. The GPS 29 into KEVB was okay but I was getting a little of course when the engine failure occurred. I got back, did a touch and go and off we went. We then headed to KDAB for the ILS 7L and both of these approaches were done with single engine simulation. I wasn't on the dot as I was yesterday, but I wasn't that far off either. On to tomorrow. At this pace, I'll have my Private Multi-Engine License by the end of next week.

There's a picture of the prop in the feathered state on trelijah.

SE Approaches

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So, it was my turn today to execute and complete lesson 9 which encompassed single engine approaches. I decided to keep the first two close (bad idea) and then head over to Orlando, Sanford (KSFB) for the ILS 9L. Before I taxied to the runway, I setup everything and anything I could to keep me ahead of the plane. I had 1 full approach setup with the 2nd on the GPS and the ILS frequency set as the standby nav freq. I felt like it was going to be a good flight. It did take a while, but hey, I rather spend more time on the ground prepping to keep my airwork to a minimal.

We took off to the east over the water from runway 11 X47 and once setup, I called up Daytona Approach for the VOR 17 into KOMN followed by the GPS 23 into KDED. I knew that the engine was going to go out at one point during the final approach leg, but I wasn't sure when. Of course, it goes out when Daytona Approach transfers me to Ormond Tower. I got it under control and didn't lose my heading or directional control. I executed the missed which actually lead straight into the final approach leg into Deland. It was happening so fast. I knew that it was going to happen this way, but instead, I decided to get my Nav 1 setup for the GPS 23 instead of looking at the other set of instruments. I didn't activate the approach on the GPS 1, so I turned to intercept the wrong course. I got it together once Manoj and my instructor noticed that I was turned the wrong way, but I intercepted and got right to it. The engine was cut off right when I was descending from DONGS intersection to the MDA but we changed that to stay above 1000 feet. We broke off early for traffic avoidance and headed for Orlando Class B.

I briefed the approach which was going to start pretty quickly, called up 121.1, Orlando Approach to ask them for clearance. We got it right away, and began heading in that direction. This time, as I was turning to intercept the final approach course, my right engine went out. Of course, the Glideslope was alive and trying to maintain 88 kias with one engine was getting a little difficult. I raised the flaps and stayed right on it. Runway in sight, I was instructed to complete a single engine landing. I was maintaining directional control but I started to drift to the right of centerline and over corrected to the left. We landed a little to the left and even floated a bit because I had too much single engine power. I was able to make a soft landing but it wasn't what I wanted. I think that I'll try more tomorrow.

I also want to check out Miami because my friend Scott from CA is visiting there. He's on a business trip, but I thought that it might be cool to fly down there and have some lunch or something. We'll see, but I highly doubt it. Anyone want to come?

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I think that I should actually change the name of the new site. I'll just be reviewing everything and anything. That's what its going to be about.

Approaches and Nathan's Hot Dogs

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Manoj and I began doing single engine approaches in the Piper Seminole around the Daytona Beach Area starting with the VOR 17 into KOMN immediately followed by the ILS 7L into KDAB x 2 and then ending with the GPS 11 back into X47 (Flagler County Airport). It was a good time. Of course, we got the engine out right when we turned onto final within 4 miles DME of the OMN VOR. Manoj and flying and trying to maneuver while I was actually just acting as pilot monitoring. Flying those approaches with an emergency on your hands is a bit difficult. I am definitely sure though that with the training that CAPT will give us and emphasis on this kind of flying will only make us better pilots. Its amazing how much "emergency" type situations we are put through. We then continued to KDAB and just finished up the lesson with 1.9 on the Hobbs. I wasn't able to do my lesson because of duty time and the fact that we were having a CAPT BBQ. Nathan's Grilled Hot Dogs, chips and Diet Coke, it was a good afternoon. I actually ate three dogs today. Good stuff.

I told my girlfriend just recently, that here at CAPT, we fly for the fun of learning but about 90% of what we learn and practice is for the "just in case" type scenario. That is a good reason why we, pilots, earn the bucks. Just think of how much training and recurrent training we have to go through. Fly with me, and I'll show you what I know. Of course, there are many others that are much more knowledgeable, but come on, I can get your from point A to point B. Not too many people can.

I also got to ride my friend's Triumph Bonneville 800 cc bike around the block and bit. I then took it back to Flagler Airport's Restaurant called High Jackers which is about 3 miles away. It was a nice ride and I got to approximately 50 mph. Good stuff. It was my first time riding at night, let alone a bike on the street, but I had a blast. Yes, I had full protection and was clicking my lights every time I saw an automobile coming. I would love to ride with other people all the time. It's different riding by yourself because you can hear your own voice all the time. There is no music or nothing. Just the sound of cars, the wind and the feeling of anxiety inside. Maybe I'll get a chance to ride it by the ocean. I've heard that it is a good cruise up the shore.

Here's a picture of the bike:

1 out of 4 PA44s

We have 4 Piper Seminoles at CAPT. This morning there were four but by the time I got to campus 1.5 hrs before our scheduled flight, I found out that all four were down. N923ER was getting a new engine back at main campus, N926ER had a high oil pressure reading, N935ER was also getting the same indications and would be ready later, but it was going to a student who had a DE ride, and N208CA was down for a broken attitude indicator. Seems as if, I have written up almost all these planes for something and I'm only on lesson 9 of private multi. 208CA get a new atttidue indicator but it was a rebuilt one and I guess that it just tumbled again. All four planes should be up tomorrow and ready to go. Manoj and I arne't necessarily using our time wisely because we ended up just hanging out for 2 hours at school doing nothing, went home and watched the rest of Disc 6 of Lost Season 1.

I tried to edit the template of my new Tech blog and posted two reviews and announcements. So far so good. How can I drive traffic to the site now?

This weekend should be fun. We are having a BBQ at CAPT tomorrow at 1700 EDT. It is the first social event that we are having. I look forward to it.

New Site

So, after finally getting the will and time to start something up, I decided just to create a review site of my own. The link is to the right under "My Tech Rants." So far, I have one piece of hardware reviewed and I will continue just to write up what other things I buy or read about. If you have any recommendations, just comment below and I will think about it.

What a nickel can do...

"I just spent the last 10 minutes looking for a nickel because I needed to make 65 cents to purchase a lemon iced tea.

That in a nutshell can probably be a statement that sums up my life nowadays.. I am in office space."

A friend sent me an e-mail talking about what he has been up to lately. I thought of it amusing knowing that it's what I'm going to be saying except that I'll be at some Crash Pad (place where pilots hang out between trips like an apt. or a house) typing and editing my blog. Umm...maybe also working at a TGIFriday's or something. Better get some experience now!

One out of two engines again...

Today was a great day of flying and dodging clouds. We are getting some bands from the now Hurricane 5 storm called Rita, but nothing too much. Of course, I washed my car Sunday night and what do you know, it rains. It hasn't rained in like two weeks and just for some reason, the sky opens up. Oh well.

Flying was fun today. I've been so excited lately at the controls. I feel a tingle which reminds me why I am doing this. I love flying! Anytype of flying for that matter. Andy told me one day that any type of flying should be fun and after that, I realized that even though it is hot and miserable sometimes, you have to make it enjoyable.

We ran quite a couple of engine out scenarios this time in the plane right after take-off, aborted take offs and single engine climbs. It was stressful at first, but I have to say that I was able to handle it prtty well after a couple of tries. We also did some short field takeoffs and landings. My first landing was really smooth but the last two were kind of tough because I was trying to hit a spot on the runway. I chopped off the power on the first landing a little too soon, landed quickly and right on if not by a couple of feet too far foward but it was a little hard. The second was a little long with a glide going but smoothly than the last. We aborted the next time around and just taxied back in.

All in all, the flight was excellent. I'm looking forward to getting my Private Multi and doing some approaches tomorrow. Should be fun. Single engine approaches, I might add.

Flying w/ one out of two engines

Instead of flying, my crew found it necessary to begin single engine (one engine out / one engine operating) instrument approaches on the simulator. Being one lesson behind in the plane side of things and the day being a bit crummy from yet another onslaught of hurricane madness (this one is named Rita) it seemed like a brilliant idea anyways. Manoj flew first even though there was a preemptive notion that I might have a possibility at flying in the evening because I just wanted to observe the lesson. I did get a little bit of a cheat sheet, but when it was my turn at the controls, things were a little different.

I got various situations like an overspeed propeller and just a few other scenarios that weren't proposed earlier. I knew when the RPMs gauge was reading high that something was out. I didn't react right away because it felt like a different situation was at hand rather than just an engine out. It was in fact different in all aspects of recovery. I mean, I wasn't suppose to speed up the propellers like you do in an engine failure. Instead, retarding both the throttle and the propeller of the good engine to match the current amount of thrust was what was suppose to be done. I did it and we moved on to he single engine ILS approach into KDAB 7L. I have to admit that I did pretty well and was able to stay within 10 degrees of the localizer. I tracked it inbound and was able to land on the first shot. We then took off again and executed the NDB 29 approach into KEVB and then the back course back into KDAB. The last approach caught me off guard because I didn't wasn't 100% in front of the aircraft. I was put back a little bit not descending at my points right away at the radial intersections. I did get the plane down, but I would have probably ended up really long. I did lose the glideslope, but I wasn't suppose to be using it anyways. That threw me off a little bit. But all in all, I look forward to doubling up tomorrow to finish lesson 7 and 9.

Come to think of it, the class ahead of us who are in the commercial multi-engine phase of things are finishing up with their Designated Examiner checkrides this week. Today, a fellow student took up N208CA from which we failed the attitude indicator yesterday and on their run-up they noticed that it didn't spin up. So once again, it caused the plane to be returned to maintenance and the student now has to wait till tomorrow for the ride. That must have been a little scary.

Down and out!

Well, after flying for 2.0 hrs, we landed at Gainesville and planned to switch out. I rested for a bit and took a breath then got ready to head back out. After I started to engine and ran it up for a while, I noticed that the Attitude Indicator didn't spool up. Of course, we checked the vaccum pressure gauge and that checked out okay, and we just continued to finished up the runup. After that was completed, the attitude indicator didn't read normal. We decided to head back and taxi to the Gator maintenance hanger and get it checked out. So there we were, just hanging out. Of course, this meant that I wasn't able to finish my lesson and that I have to finish it up tomorrow. That's how the Piper Seminole rolls seems to be.

Instruments not in the green!

On takeoff, instruments were in the green, but as soon as we started climbing the left oil pressure gauge increased to levels that were critical. We turned around, rejoined the 45 back into runway 24 (X47) and landed. We ran it up a bit, but then the right gauge started acting funny. We grounded the plane and maintenance checked it out. More or less, I didn't fly today!

Audio Blogging!

This is my first audioblog! It's freaking awesome the way that this is setup. I was always wondering how the heck to do this! Now, if I can only start posting videos directly so that you can watch them via Quicktime. Like I said, I don't have that much free time on me, but when I do, I'll find the way!

Flying is fun!

I've just been so excited about flying lately. The multiengine factor is awesome! I can't help but think that I am so close to the end of Private Multiengine. I'll be logging PIC (pilot-in-command) time after next week. I better start hitting the books big time. Of course, I had to get myself into the show Lost! Watching all the episodes of season 1 before next week's season's premiere. Thanks Jojo!

Anyways, some of the latest news around the block is that Northwest and Delta both declared bankruptcy. Microsoft set a date for Nov. 22, 2005 for the Xbox 360 and Nintendo just revealed their "new" idea for a controller today. Take a gander!



You can read about it at http://cube.ign.com

SD to Phoenix to SD and back again!

So, flying in last night from a great weekend in San Diego, I felt like I was home. I have to say that the house and bed that I have here in Florida is home. It was great seeing all my friends again, attending FCI Training, and then just eating all different kinds of food. That's always my favorite thing to do. And to think of it, I only gained 2 pounds! I have to make this entry short. I have a lot to clean, but hopefully I'll have some time to reflect on everything! I have three loads of laundry to do, I forgot my deordarant in SD, so I have some shopping to do as well. Come back
later!

FCI is Amazing!!!

Everyone really has to go out here and experience what I am going through now. I wish that I could post some vidoes. I'll see if I can do that in the future. If anything, I'm going to convert all 5 of my tapes into a DVD. The aerobatics and all the formation flying, everything is just ridiculous! So far, my stomach is handling everything better than what I initially thought. Today, I'm sitting here waiting to go up for my final two flights for eval. and spin training. It should be a blast. Here is another pic of my and my pilot in the plane.

This next picture of us taking off in formation and Manoj and "BJ" cutting away in the takeoff formation after a low approach.

Look...

Two things today. FCI Training is awesome. Anyone and everyone needs to do this kind of training. I should have a DVD hopefully by the end of the week. Here's the plane and the pilot that I flew with.



As I predicted, there is a Tropical Storm heading directly for Flagler Beach. I live 5 miles from this point of impact. Should be crazy. It has the potential of becomming a Category 1 Hurricane by the weekend.



I also went to SD earlier this week and then I'm going to be there this upcomming weekend. Give me a call.

Here's a pic of Adelle and I at the top of Mt. Soledad. I never take pix in SD. It's weird being a tourist.

Multi-engine

I'm loving the plane so far. It's so different actually flying the plane and just controlling two separate engines. It's great. I have to admit though that I miss the single engine, but we're on our way to the top! I'm leaving for SD on Sat. and will be there till Monday when I leave for Phoenix, AZ for FCI Training. I'm going to be spinning around, upside down, and just flying acrobatic style with some retired military pilots in an Xtra 300. I can't wait. It's going to be crazy puke-age around!
Hopefully not, but we'll see. Till then! See you in SD!