Monday, November 24, 2008

Solo X/C to Kelso - Just for fun.

Flight #: 111 [Commercial VFR61]
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N227SH
Duration, as PIC: 1.2hrs
Cumulative Time: 135.4hrs

Got a call this morning that told me there was an open helicopter - if I wanted it. Hell, yea!

So, did my pre-flight planning (Weight and Balance, Weather Check, Flight Manifest, and filed my flight plan with Seattle Flight Service) and sped out the door. 227SH was sitting there waiting for me with 47.5 hours left before maintenance - so it was in prime condition.

Day was perfect; cold, little bit of wind from the west and clear to 25k ft.

Nothing particular to speak of, other than the fact that I know understand the frustration our CFIs go though listening to us murder communications - particularly in uncontrolled airports. It is pretty bad. I felt, however, pretty damn good since I was noticing the problems.

You just can't beat the feeling of flying.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

PAX Flight #3: Rod

Flight #: 107 [Commercial VFR61]
Aircraft: Schweizer 300CB
Aircraft ID: N61482
Duration, as PIC: 1.2hrs
Cumulative Time: 132.7hrs


My college computer science professor / adviser / good friend Rod, and his wife Anita were in Portland for a business trip. Weather was nice enough to get Rod up for his first helicopter flight.

"First few minutes were a little weird, but then it was amazing."

'nuff said.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

PAX Flight #2: Becky

Flight #: 106 [Commercial VFR61]
Aircraft: Robinson R22
Aircraft ID: N2223P
Duration, as PIC: 1.0hrs
Cumulative Time: 131.5hrs



Got a chance to take my high-school / long time friend Beck up for a spin. Beautiful day!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Back in the saddle again.

Flight #: 105 [Commercial VFR61]
CFI: Kristie E.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2548S
Duration, as PIC: 1.2hrs
Cumulative Time: 130.5hrs

With the birth of my son, Addison, I've not been doing much flying recently. But, since he's doing really well, and actually letting us sleep reasonable stretches, I got a chance to go up for a bit of a refresher.

Nothing earth shattering to speak of this time, just a nice morning flight to get back in the saddle again.

ps: Just to be clear, I'm skipping a lot of flights in the blog... not because I'm not in to this anymore, but there is a lot of repetition in training, and you don't really want to read about it. So, when something cool happens, I'll be here to post about it. Commercial training is mostly hour building and fine-tuning your skills. IFR is just going in circles (well, pill shaped paterns) with your eyes closed. Really.

Monday, September 8, 2008

PAX Flight #1: Sandy!


Flight #: 101 [Commercial VFR61]
Aircraft: Schweizer 300CB
Aircraft ID: N61482
Duration, as PIC: 1.5hrs
Cumulative Time: 125.4hrs

Today was my first passenger flight. Sandy and I had a very nice flight up to Scappoose, OR and then transitioned through Hillsboro airspace, then on to Twin Oaks.

She seemed to really enjoy it... as did I!


Thursday, August 28, 2008

Robinson Safety Course: Torrance, CA


Flight #: 095 [Commercial VFR61]
CFI: Derek
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N42059
Duration, as PIC: 1.1hrs
Cumulative Time: 116.8hrs

During August 24th to August 28th I was in Torrance, CA for the Robinson Helicopter Corporation Safety Course. The safety course is designed to explain the intimate details of the R22 and R44 helicopters so you learn to safely take the helicopter into the full range of its abilities.

One word... awesome.

Not only did I get to fly around Compton, CA... yup, Compton. As in South Central, LA. Bloods & Cripps. But I got to fly some of the most amazing maneuvers with a Robinson Test Pilot in a brand new R22. See, each time a helicopter leaves the factory, it needs to be ground tested, flight tested, and then maneuver tested. I get to fly (with the test pilot) the helicopter for the maneuver tests. I was the third person to fly this helicopter, and it had 3.2hrs on it. Sweet!

The class was about 60 people from all areas of the world, all experience levels, and all jobs. I was in the class with people from the LA Police Department as well as some guys from Brooklyn PD. People in training, like me, an others that have been flying professionally for 20 years.

Very cool stuff!


Friday, August 8, 2008

VOR Navigation

Flight #: 090 [Commercial VFR61]
CFI: Kristie E.
Aircraft: Robinson R22
Aircraft ID: N856HA
Duration, as PIC: 1.5hrs
Cumulative Time: 109.9hrs

As I'm starting my IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) training, today we did a bit of VOR Navigation. Put simply, a VOR is a radio beacon that broadcasts very focused signals radially out from the center at 1º intervals. Think of spokes on a wheel. The VOR below is south of Hillsboro airport and is named the "Newberg VOR". You can see the center of the blue circle is a box. That is the VOR itself. The blue "clock dial" around the VOR helps you determine the radials that are projected by the VOR. The blue line, pointing NNE is the 0º/360º radial... or magnetic north. Anyway, draw a line from your position to the center of the VOR dot... calculate the º on the VOR... you are on that radial. SO, draw a line from HIO to UBG, you will see that we would be on the 346º radial. Make sense?

Now, it is a little more complicated that that... but not much. Draw a line, perpendicular to the radial you are on, through the center of the VOR. In the diagram below, you will see a red side and a green side. Now, say we want to fly from Hillsboro to the VOR. Since we know we are on the 346º radial... we actually want to fly over the VOR, therefore we want to be 180º off of the radial we are on... on the other side. 346º - 180º = 166º. So, we want to get to the 166º radial.

To use a VOR for navigation you dial in the frequency, 117.4, into your navigation radio, and then look at the instrument. If you were sitting at Hillsboro, tuned in the Newberg VOR (UBG), you might see something like this. The little knob to the lower left actually rotates the compass dial. The vertical line in the middle is ligned up dead center. The arrow is pointing to the radial we want to go to... and the tail is pointing to the radial we are currently on.

Now, in our specific example, we are North of the VOR.
If you split the VOR in half, perpendicular to the radial you are on... If you are on the red side, you are on the FROM side of the VOR. On the green? Then you are on the TO side. Think of it like this... the arrow points TO or FROM the VOR.


So... our indicaor actually would look like this:

We are on the 346º radial of the Newberg VOR, pointed to the 166º radial on the other side of the VOR. If we follow this course... we will cross right over the center of the VOR.

Using this logic, we can fly to/from the VOR to get anyplace... we just have to decide what radial we are on... and which radial our destination is on. There are VORs all over the place... so this is a really handy way to fly.

For my flight, we left HIO, headed to UBG, then to a private airport called Mach-O. About 15nm west of McMinneville (Town / Airport).


Here is what we did...
166º TO (To the Newberg VOR)

220º FROM (To Mach-O)













We then headed north just to explore a bit.


Once we were ready to head back, we dialed in:

244º TO (To Newberg VOR)













345º FROM (To HIO)













Pretty simple once you know the rules, eh?

Monday, August 4, 2008

X/C Diversion and Schweizer Decisions

Flight #: 087 [Commercial VFR61]
CFI: Kristie E.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2548S
Duration, as PIC: 1.3hrs
Cumulative Time: 105.8hrs

Kind of a back to basics flight today. Headed out to Sandy River airport this morning but was diverted to Mulio airport due to low clouds. No biggie, found everything I needed to... first try. Really helps to see the airport first.

Anyway, decided to start flying the Shweizer 300CB as well. Primarily to gain more experience on different machines. Has a lot more lifting power and is not quite as squirmy as the R22... but it is a beast compared to the R22. See...

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Frustration, thy name is ABBA

Flight #: 086 [Commercial VFR61]
CFI: Kristie E.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N956SH
Duration, as PIC: 1.5hrs
Cumulative Time: 104.5hrs

See the airport in this picture?



















No? Really, it is right there. I swear. How about this... you fly 40 minutes to this friggin' airport that some joker named ABBA, btw, to prove how you can find things. Well, I fly around in circles... looking for the airport. NW of the town of Sheridan, OR and at 200ft. Looking, looking.





Give Up?










Scroll down...











Little more...










Take a look.



















Airport my ass. I found it, eventually tho... so there is a bit of positive. Stupid ABBA.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Morning Solo

Flight #: 085 [Commercial VFR61]
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2548S
Duration, as PIC: 1.1hrs
Cumulative Time: 103.0hrs

Wanted to get some solo time in... so I just signed up for it. See, I get to do that now that I'm certified as a helicopter pilot. I get a real kick out of saying that; I'm a helicopter pilot. :)

No thrills, no surprises. Just a 8:00am flight through some beautiful Oregon countryside with the sunrise.

I tell ya, one hell of a way to start the say.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

OR38 - Harchenko

Flight #: 084 [Commercial VFR61]
CFI: Kristie E.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2356T
Duration, as PIC: 1.5hrs
Cumulative Time: 101.9hrs

Another cross country flight (a.k.a. X/C) today. Pretty much the same thing as the others, but we're really branching out into new airports. As I said earlier, Kristie, likes first-time airport flights. Keeps me out of my comfort zone and teaches me better pilotage / navigation skills too.

Was a little bit off today... mostly due to clouds in my way. I started to the north of the Newberg VOR. There were some low lying clouds over the ridge, so I headed west to get around them. This was actually my error... I was not really aware of how far west it took me. So, when I came around, my angle was off a bit, and I ended up being about 5 miles south of Aurora airport. I realized this and decided not to bother to head to Aurora and just find Harchenko. Along the way I saw, what I now know is, a drag strip. From 1500ft, a drag strip looks alot like an airport runway, except no numbers. I knew this was not a runway. I continued on south along I5 and looked for Harchenko. I knew it was to the east of the highway and north of a bit of a mountain. So, when I pased the ridge, I just turned around and spotted it pretty quickly. Not a bad find. Being off course is OK as long as you know how to get back on track.

After Harchenko we headed back home. Along the way Kristie had me climb to 3000ft for a demonstration. 0 airspeed autorotation!

In an autorotation all you care about it keeping your main rotor RPM in the green. As long as that is spinning you are generating lift - which means you can land safely. Now, when you lose an engine, you have to trade the energy from your airspeed or your potential energy from weight for rotor RPM. Say you need 100% energy to land safely. In a normal auto you are at 700ft and 70kts - 50% Airspeed (kenetic energy) 50% Altitude (potential energy). This is a nice setup for a safe landing. But, rarely do you have all the things you want in an emergency - sometimes you will need to convert energy from one type to the other. For example, we did a low airspeed auto earlier (25% Airspeed / 75% Altitude), and that was cool. You nose down a little... gain some speed... then enter your auto normally.

Anyway, in this auto we got lots of altitude (100% potential) and no airspeed (0% kenetic).

So, we climb up to 3000ft and get level. Then slowed down to 0knots and entered an auto. You start to sink... fast. You still have control over your yaw (with the pedals), but you drop. As you are falling you nose down and start gaining speed... as your speed comes up, you pitch the rotor blades a little and the RPM stars coming up. Once you are in the green, you are back in a normal auto and safe.

Really impressive maneuver. Whole point is that you have to think outside the box a little to get the situation back in your favor.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Rental Flight Achievement - UNLOCKED

With my last flight I, now, have met the HAI requirement for renting a helicopter for "non school" flights. So, if you are coming for a visit, and want a thrill... we'll head out for a flight.

Luckily I don't have my Commercial License, so I can't charge you yet.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Logging country, Vernonia Oregon

Flight #: 083 [Commercial VFR61]
CFI: Kristie E.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2356T
Duration, as PIC: 1.4hrs
Cumulative Time: 100.4hrs

The flight to Vernonia was a blast. Mainly because it is beautiful country and it was a perfect day. Sky was clear, had a nice breeze from the west, and I happened to be going out as the temperature was cooling down in the evening. Also, a few milestones for today's flight.
  • first flight to Vernonia, OR
  • first flight in to true logging country
  • first real off airport landing
  • first real pinnacle landing
  • first "brown out"
  • first maximum glide configuration auto-rotation
I kind of have mixed emotions about flying to airports for the first time. You are challenged by the fact that you have never found them before, and it takes some real looking to find the them.

The larger airports, with towers and multiple runways are easy to find. You can seem them for 5+ miles. Their sheer size is the win here. Obviously runway lights are good too. Terminals, ground crews... like Portland International - PDX. Can't miss that puppy.

Mid-size airports, like Aurora - UAO, paved with one runway are pretty simple as well, but you generally can't see them until you are about 3 miles away. Sometimes they can be tricky because they often look like roads, or parallel big roads. Some have lights, others do not... so you need to focus to get on these.

Small airports are tricky, Twin Oaks - 7S3. They are generally paved, but very small. They really look like driveways. Usually the give away for these puppies are the kind-a-hanger looking buildings on the side. Beat up tarmac, faded paint, etc. Tough.

The micro-airports, like Vernonia 05S, if you can call them airports, are impossible to find. Grass strips, is more like it. These things cannot be see until you are on top of them. Literally the change in color of the grass helps you find the runway, if they have grass, that is. Most of them are dirt road looking things with a faded orange rag blowing in the wind, rather than a wind sock. Man, they can be tough. Vernonia was not too bad because it was the only flat area witin 5 miles that was not covered in clear-cut tree stumps.

Anyway, found it and our first approach was aborted because there were kids, on their 4 wheelers, playing on the runway. So, went around for another approach. This time they were running back on to the runway to pickup something they had dropped/left earlier. Ugh. We did an approach and then just headed north for an off airport landing. Not our average, "hey, go land in the field" off airport... a real live one.

This was incredibly cool. Kristie picked out a clearing on a pinnacle and asked me to land. Took a little maneuvering on my part, but once we got lined up and headed in... it was very impressive. 100ft drop down a slope on my left. 50ft on the right. If you watch Ax Men, this is the place they would put the yarder.

Anyway, came in for a landing, and at about 10ft we kicked up a cloud of dust... causing a mini-brown-out. Generally you would come all the way to the ground here because in a real brown-out your visibility is gone and your last known spot is safe... down.... so you go there. In this case, it was just a little bit obstructed so we immediately took off. Altitude over airspeed in this situation, so you "fall" off the pinnacle into the valley a bit to get some air under you in case of an emergency. Plus, it looks really impressive when you do it.

Tooled around a bit more in the area, and headed back for HIO.

Along the way, Kristie asked if she had shown me a max-glide... she had not, so we set up for it. Situation is this... you get an engine failure and you can't find an open spot anywhere near you... only way far away. How do you get there? Set up for a maximum glide configuation auto rotation. 75knots, 90% RPM... and you literally glide/float to your point. Just the aerodynamics of the helicopter taking over, really, but you can extend your point quite a bit. For every 1500ft in altitude you can glide over a mile. Impressive, right? Did one of those... to test it out. I was a little bit un-nerved during this because <97% rotor RPM, your low rotor RPM warning horn is going off. Ever try to do someting physically/mentally demanding with an horn balring? Remember, I'm wearing a $1000 noise cancelling headset in the helicopter and this thing is LOUD! Anyway, with a little help, Kristie got me to my setup and it was pretty impressive.

After that, headed back home. Nothing to interesting to speak of, honestly... a pretty standard approach and landing. Although I don't undestand why they put the sun directly in your eyes like that when you are trying to land.



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Thursday, July 10, 2008

Solo to Washington...

Flight #: 082 [Commercial VFR61]
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N956SH
Duration, PiC: 1.4hrs
Cumulative Time: 99.0hrs

Ho, hummm... another cross country solo flight into Washington state's Kelso-Longview airport.

Actually, I really like the morning flights like this. Beautiful weather, cool air, not much traffic in the sky. Followed the river all the way up. Beauty!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Flying with the big-boys!

Flight #: 081 [Commercial VFR61]
CFI: Kristie E.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N8361N
Duration, PIC: 1.7hrs
Cumulative Time: 97.6hrs

Today was a totally new experience for me I got to:

  • fly in 12 knot wind
  • talk to Portland Approach and Portland Tower
  • get made fun of by Portland Approach
  • fly into PDX (Portland International Airport), a Class C airspace - WAY cool
All in all, good day.

Started out with wind. So far in my training I have been avoiding, correctly, higher winds. Mainly because there is no reason to make your life tough when flying if you don't need to. But, as with anything, you need to stretch a little to build muscle. And there really is not anything better than wind for a stretch.

There are 5 things that really effect a helicopter's performance. High, Hot, Heavy, Humid and Wind. I'm heavy, so when flying with Kristy we always have this as an issue. We generally don't fly into high altitudes, so this is not a big one. Hot is a big deal in the summer... today was 90º. Humid... its Oregon... so yes. But, not in the summer. The other one, Wind. Today was 12knots... significant in a little helicopter like the R22.

Anyway, this just meant that I had to be on my game with the pedals today... expect the unexpected.

The departure was fine, albeit a little bumpy. I had a heavy right cross wind on pickup, so it was a little messy. Once I got things under control, we headed north for our leg to Happy Valley. I decided to use VFR flight following again, as it is nice to have someone else looking out for you. I called it in, and we were on our way.

Now, this airport is a private airport, and is not to be used for landing, but we can use it as a fly-over destination. Problem is, this little sucker looks like a road between two houses on the side of a mountain. Took me forever to find it. I kept doing circles looking for it. I was focusing on the valley floor, but there really was no point in doing that because it WAS ON THE SIDE OF A MOUNTAIN. Who would put an airport on the side of a mountain? Geez!

Anyway, after my 5th circle over the general area, Portland Approach (VFR Flight Following)
came on the radio. The conversation went like this:

Portland Approach: "November, 956, Siera, Hotel, how do you read?"
Me: "Loud and clear, go ahead."
PA: "How long do you plan to go around in circles up there?"
Me: "Uh, I suppose a little longer. Still looking for Happy Valley Airport"
(Kristy is cracking up, sitting in the passenger seat.)
PA: "Well, would you like a little help in locating the airport?"
Me: "Sure, that would be great, thanks."
PA: "It is at your 9 O'clock, almost directly below you."
Me: "Thanks. Will report in sight."
PA: "I'll be here."
(5 seconds later)
Me: "Happy Valley in sight. Apparently it was hiding from me."

I know they are there to help me... but I was embarrassed. Fact is, this is one hell of a hard airport to find. It is in the middle of the trees... has two HUGE houses on either end... and on the side of a mountain. It even looks like the airport can be used as a road to get to the houses down the hill a bit.

Now I know.

Anyway, once I found it, I requested a transition through PDX airspace to Pierson airport. Pierson is unique in that it is an untowered class Delta airspace, nestled in to a class Charlie airspace.

This means that you need to talk to Portland Tower to get in/out of Pierson.

The Portland Approach operator had me transfer to Portland Tower. I changed frequencies, and asked for the clearance. They granted it, and asked me to head directly from Happy Valley to the downtown Convention Center, then head north and cross over the PDX runways at the tower at 1500 feet. I've got to say, it is incredibly cool to fly over a big airport like this and watch jets landing and taking off at the same time. Generally you don't get to see a jet land when you are directly above.

After watching a few planes, we crossed the river into Washington state, and headed west towards Pierson. Wind was blowing HARD from the west, and I came in for a landing. We pulled off onto the hoverpads and Kristie had me do a few 90º pedal turns in 12knot wind. Tricky, but I pulled them off pretty nicely. Certainly not my best work, but I've never been in 10 knot wind before. So, I felt pretty good.

We headed out, and talked to Portland Tower, once again, to get approval for a west departure. If you look at the map above, you will see that the Pierson airspace "opens" to the North West. If we head out that way, there is no need to cross in to PDX Airspace... and they appreciate that.

Once out of the airspace, we headed west back to HAI.

Landing was, again, pretty hairy in that wind (now 15, gusting 20), but it was good practice.



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Thursday, July 3, 2008

HIO-4S9-HIO

Flight #: 080 [Commercial VFR61]
CFI: Kristie E.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2356T
As PIC: 1.5hrs
Cumulative Time: 95.9hrs

Now that I'm finished with Private Pilot certification, I've learned the basics. Know the rules, and how to stay in them safely. Commercial is all about stretching those rules to the actual limits of the helicopter, the real-world situations, so as to operate safely.

By that, I mean, since a helicopter can operate at 1500ft and have 0 airspeed... I should know how to deal with an emergency in those conditions. I should know, as I do, that I really don't want to operate there, but sometimes I may have to.

Also, there may be conditions, weather or airport closures for example, where I can't get to where I want to... and need to make a diversion.

That is what today was all about.

I had a flight plan for us to fly to Vernonia, OR (05s), made famous by the new show on History Channel - Ax Men. So, at lift off, Kristie decided to divert me with a South departure... and not my planned North departure.

At pattern altitude I got a request from the tower to check out some cloud bases to the south... so we did that for them. After that, she diverted me to Mulino airport. I'd been there before, but after the could base check, I was about 5 miles south of where I had been in the past, so it was a bit of a new path for me.

Anyway, found it without too much trouble. Once we got there, the fun began. We started the zero airspeed auto-rotation training. Think hovering at 1500ft, still... and cutting the engine. WOA! We did not start that today, but we're on the way. Kristie asked me to set up for 1300ft @ 40knots. 600ft higher and 30knots slower than a normal autorotation setup.

The key here is, you are looking for good rotor RPM to land safely. You get that by converting airspeed or altitude to upward thrust on the main rotor. In this case, we have less airspeed than we need, but more altitude. So, what do you do? You nose dive... get some speed, pull out gradually and wind up those main rotor RPMs. Which is exactly what I did.

True is, this was not such a stretch for me... as I'm known for being slow in my autos as it is... so I already know that nosing down gives me airspeed, but reduces the thrust on the main rotor... so I have to correct things on the way down.

Was a cool excercise, and I'm looking forward to doing 0 airspeed ones eventually. Althought, that has to be a little funny feeling when you kill the throttle.

One thing which I forgot to mention is Flight Following. Kristie showed it to me the other day. Think of it as your own personal radar operator telling you where to go. How do you do it? You call up Portland-International, ask them for "VFR Flight Following" to an airport, and they operator will tell you which way to go. They ask you to set your transponder to a particular number, "Helcopter 2356T, sqwak 4096, and Ident.". That way you will appear as an identified dot on his radar. He'll be there watching you all the way. Every so often he will come on the radio and tell you "Airport is 12miles out, at 1 O'Clock. Do you have the airport in sight." Once you have the airport in sight, you let them know, and they let you go.

Cool stuff today. No flights for a few days... holiday coming up.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

2008-07-02: HIO-5S9-2S6-HIO

Flight #: 079 [Commercial VFR61]
CFI: Kristie E.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2356T
Duration: 1.4hrs
As PIC: 1.4hrs
Cumulative Time: 91.4hrs



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Tuesday, July 1, 2008

2008-07-01: HIO-3720-W27-W52-HIO

Flight #: 078 [Commercial VFR61]
CFI: Kristie E.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N7526S
Duration: 1.5hrs
As PIC: 1.5hrs
Cumulative Time: 93.0hrs



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Monday, June 30, 2008

2008-06-30; HIO-SPB-KLS-HIO

Flight #: 077 [Commercial VFR61]
CFI: Kristie E.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2356T
Duration: 1.4hrs
As PIC: 1.4hrs
Cumulative Time: 91.5hrs



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Sunday, June 22, 2008

Lost a friend.

Got some sad news the other day, my long time friend (and helicopter pilot) Bob died from extremely aggressive Cancer.

The obituary gives a little insight into his life... but the short of it is that he was a great guy and will be missed by many. Bob gave me my first job at Systems/Link, and were friends from the first few minutes of the interview. He was just a good guy.

Bob's announcement of his situation is a good example of how he lived his life; honest, direct and to the point.
Dear friends,

They say that sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you. This time it looks like the bear is going to get me...

The short of it is that last week I was diagnosed with a fairly unusual lung cancer. (For Dr. Rob, it's a small cell cancer). Without treatment it is fatal. With treatment (chemotherapy) there are three possible outcomes:

1. The chemo knocks it out entirely. This happens in a very small number of cases.
2. The chemo fails to stop the cancer. Life expectancy is very short, but like number 1, it is a rare outcome.
3. The chemo causes remission. This is by far the most likely scenario, but if the cancer comes back it is very difficult to treat. Life expectancy is on the order of a year or two.

I start the first course of chemo on Wednesday (4/23).

Excuse me for sending this via email, but I wanted to get the word out to my friends before any rumors started.

Mentally, I'm determined to fight this thing any way I can. And as soon as the symptoms disappear as a result of treatment, I aim to get flying again in that beautiful helicopter we own. Adam and Richard: that means that I intend to fly into Adam's fly-in in May!

As things change in any great way, I'll let you all know...

--
Bob
"It takes infinitely more knowledge and skill to stop, and then land, than it does to land, and then stop!" Dr. Sergi Sikorsky (son of Igor Sikorsky)
http://www.bobanddusty.com

Bob died, one month after his first treatment.


He went out on his terms, and you can only respect that.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Check Ride: The details.

Flight #: 076
Examiner: Dale Morris
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N956SH
Duration: 1.3hrs
As PIC: 1.3hrs
Cumulative Time: 90.1hrs

This was the day I've been training for... a long time to get here, but I was prepared. Thanks Kristie! Oh, and while I was having my Check Ride Kristie was getting married... so big weeks for us both.

Anyway, the Check Ride for Private Pilot Rotorcraft:Helicopter is broken into three distinct parts; the FAA written, oral and flight examinations. All the previous HAI tests (oral, written and flight) were all based on this format so that I would be prepared for whatever I was thrown. Thankfully, I was well prepared. I took the day off from work, as this is really an all day thing.

Before we get into details, lets talk Dale. Dale, or "The Dale", as he is known around Hillsboro Aviation is somewhat of a legend. Dale is the toughest SOB pilot that has ever walked the earth. He's 22ft tall, carries a double bladed axe, and hangs out with a giant blue ox, named Babe. Nah, that's Paul Bunyan, but Dale has a similar mystique about him. Dale is certified to fly almost everything, both as a pilot and as an instructor. He flew in Vietnam, he worked for the FAA as a crash site examiner, and now he is the gatekeeper to pilot certifications at Hillsboro. He knows his stuff, as you can imagine. He also is a hard-ass; plain and simple. Dale is known for telling stories, with somewhat of a poetic license on the details, mind you, that usually start with statements like:
  • "...this pilot I knew took his fiancee, which he just asked the night before, for a flight..."
  • "...just got his private pilot license, just like you are doing now, the day before..."
  • "...the FAA has a recording of the tower communications of this flight..."
...and end with a "punchline" like this...
  • "...they pulled her from 10ft of water. Fingernails torn off, because she could not remove her seat belt."
  • "...they brought back only the heart. Which is the only thing that did not burn completely to ash."
  • "...and he died because he skipped that step. His death generated that FAA rule."
Severe dude. Now, I don't doubt the truth of the stories he tells. I'm sure they are all true... he's seen a lot of things in his life so far; but he does like to give you a bit of a shock.

Dale is also known for going for the weak spot. If you show a crack, he'll dive in and rip you apart. I've been told (and this could just be part of the myth) that he's kept candidates for 8 hour oral exams before... because they showed a weakness and he was on them like a junkyard dog. Along the same lines, Dale is known for his signature tag-line, "Prove it.". Which basically means you have to be prepared to back up every statement with actual written regulations in the FAR/AIM or Helicopter Manuals.

As I said, Dale is one serious dude.

FAA Written Exam
I took and completed this some time ago to get it out of the way. Got a 90%. Even though the test is out of the way, all the content on the test is directly applicable to the FAA Oral Exam. Passed, and behind me.

FAA Oral Exam
I arrived 15 minutes early, prepared, but nervous to meet Dale. At about 9:15, 15 minutes late, I got a call from HAI dispatch saying that Dale would be at least 20 minutes late. Great, this is exactly what I needed... a traffic-delayed, pissed off Dale.

Dale arrived at 9:45, about 45 minutes late. He came right in to the exam room, and I learned that he did not drive here today, but flew. So, clearly the upset at traffic thing was not going to be a problem. Turns out, Dale lives at the base of a mountain with his own private airfield. He and his wife both fly, and do most of their medium/long distance flying on their own. When Dale has a Check Ride week, he flies down to HAI for a few days.

First impressions... nice guy. No double bladed axe either.

Anyway, we jumped right in to things and he started by giving me a scenario. It was something along the lines of this,
Flash forward one week. I have my Private Pilot license and a buddy of mine is coming in to town. He wants to go to a flight to the coast for a quick tour of things.
No problems here. Lots of things to talk about... so I did. I talked about:
  • the rights and privileges of a Private Pilot,
  • the documentation I had to have on me for the flight,
  • the fact that I could pay "no less than my pro-rata share for the flight",
  • the methods and data I would gather for filing my flight plan,
  • the air spaces I would have to cross/enter and the visibility, cloud clearances of each,
  • the safety briefing I would give to my passenger before the flight
Along the way he threw in some additional details and scenarios to deal with. Things like indicator lights coming on, other traffic, weather conditions, etc. All in all it went really well. I was a little rusty on the minimum visibility requirements to land at an airport (not the airspace requirements), but knew exactly where it was in the FAR/AIM. I think if I could not locate it in the rules he would have dove on me a little, but since I did, we were good.

He then went in to his stories. And, the myths are true... he tells stories in the most graphic and gory details you can imagine. The moral of all the stories are:
  • Private Pilots know nothing. They think they know everything. That is what gets them killed.
  • The rules are there to be followed. Each and every one is put there because of a (near)fatal accident of another pilot.
  • You will have an accident / failure. Question is not if, it is when.
We continued talking about general rules, mostly in the context of stories and experiences he had. Dale likes to talk. He's seen a lot, and he likes to tell you about it. Each of his stories generated new questions, and we would talk about the decisions the pilot made correctly/incorrectly, etc. Very conversational.

We reviewed my logbook, and I learned that I did a few things incorrectly along the way, which he helped me correct. Nothing too big, but I neglected to list the actual airports I visited during my "Triangle of Death" flights.

That lead to some further questions about regulations, required documentation kept in the helicopter, carried on my person, etc.

Then he asked me if I had any questions for him. I did. I wanted to know about the Robinson Factory Safety Course that I am required, by the FAA, to take once I have my Private Pilot Certificate. The conversation turned helicopter-technical, but very friendly. He told me that even if the course was not required, it would be highly recommended gave me this as an example, the H/V (Height & Velocity) diagram that is in the Robinson R22 Flight Manual.


The diagram illustrates the safe (unshaded) speeds and above ground level height in which to operate a helicopter. Basically, this describes how to fly safely. Looking at the graph to the right, you can see it is safe to fly at 5ft above the ground at 40knots. But, unsafe to be at 200ft at 40knots. Why? Well, in case of an emergency you will need to get into an autorotation to land safely. And, the two things you need in an autorotation are altitude and velocity. You convert both of these into rotor RPM to generate lift and get you to the ground safely.

At 200ft/40knots you don't have enough "fall time" to speed up the rotor sufficiently to generate enough lift to stop your descent.

At 5ft/70knots you are going too fast to be able to flare and slow the helicopter before you fall to the ground.

So, he asked, "Then is 300ft/40knots safe?". I quickly said, "Yes.". Bzzzt... well, sorta.

Dale said this is exactly why one attends this course. The course is given by Robinson test pilots... the best in the world, by his calculation. They created this graph through actual flights. Hundreds of them to fill in the graph. They would climb to 20ft/20knots, kill the engine, and try to land. In this case, the would hit the ground like a bag of rocks. If the helicopter would still fly, back up, and 20ft/30knots, and so on. While 300ft/40knots is technically safe, it is safe for a Robinson test pilot... most likely not me. The tests were also performed in helicopters at the top of their game, the ones at HAI are pretty well "worn in", to say the least.

I told him I was already signed up, August 25-28th, and he was impressed and called an end to the oral exam. Told me to go ahead and pre-flight the helicopter and that he was going to have lunch.

All in all, great session, I thought. He was tough, and I could clearly see where he would chase you down like a dog if you mis-stepped. I had really prepared for the exam and he really seemed to like most of my answers.

I packed up, and headed out to good ol; 956SH for the flight exam.

FAA Flight Exam
I had been told to just relax on the flight with Dale... that he likes to give "extreme critiques" during the flight, but to just let them float past you. Only be concerned for the "take me back to HAI" comments. That means you failed.

Anyway, pre-flight went well, liftoff was perfect and we headed out to the west practice area for our maneuvers. At my first checkpoing, "1 West" or the Hillsboro stadium, he asked me to divert to Skyport Airport. I located it on my map, set a new course, and headed for it. As soon as I had the airport in sight, I told Dale, and he asked me to climb to 2000 ft and show him settling with power.

I began my climb, did some S turns to check for any surrounding traffic, oriented myself into a tailwind attitude, and then started to slow down. I got the first onset of vibrations at about 20knots, mentioned that we were coming up on settling with power. Continued to slow, and got a quick drop of about 50ft, quickly recovered and was at about 1900ft in straight and level flight. Perfect execution.

Dale then asked me to turn around for an off airport landing, and I headed to the general area he was pointing out. About 2 minutes later he announced, in the calmest most relaxed voice, "Simulated Engine Failure", and began rolling off the throttle. Now, I knew he was going to do this, at least once, in the exam... but I'm used to Kristie. Her method is a little bit different. More along the line of "ENGINE FAILURE!!!" and killing the engine. I've got about 1/2 second to slam the collective down and get in to an autorotation. With Dale... cake. By the time he finished the second sylable of "engine" I was already lowering the collective. Took us in to a perfectly smooth autorotation. Once I told him my landing spot, he had me recover and we continued on to our off-aiport location.

We came to a nice area, surrounded on three sides by high trees.
He asked me to land. I did my off-airport check (PAWOTFEEL), making sure to be aware of obstacles, wind, turbulence, etc.... I landed nicely.

Wind was such that I had to do a max performance take-off into the direction of the trees. I told him so, and he agreed. I lifted off, and then told him I was going to back up a bit and hover back towards the "mouth" of the area to give myself more of a safety margin for takeoff. That was a genius move. He was very impressed that I would make such a decision. All credit goes to Kristie, of course, cause she taught me everything... but that is the kind of thing Dale really likes. Working outside the box. Anyway, I took off, with plenty of room to spare.

Once I climbed to altitude, he asked me how much power I was allowed to pull, maximum, and I told him. He then asked me to head back to HAI to go in to Charlie pattern for more maneuvers.

I checked weather at the airport, talked to the tower and requested clearance back in to the pattern. I was given permission, and we flew the 5 minutes back to the airport.

Once I got there, he asked for a normal approach to the 2nd pad. I executed this, and landed within 4 feet of my desired spot (the requirement). He then asked for a normal take-off and a running landing. I did. Running landing was a little sloppy at the end, but within requirements. I'm supposed to say on the center line all the way down, but was about 1ft off to the right by the time we stopped. All I got was a "Pass, but nothing to write home about.".

Dale then asked me for a autorotation to any pad of my choice. I came around, set things up, and killed the throttle. Slid right in to an autorotation... but I was going to overshoot my spot. So I called a go around. A go around is pretty much like a do over when you were a kid. Once you call do over, all rules go out the window and all bets are off. Same thing with a go around. If you are not feeling right, or something is off, doing a go around means that you just want to try again. Dale can't ding you on the maneuver, can't fail you for making a good decision, etc. So, I got to try it again.

This time I started a little earlier, entered nicely, and was very focused on not dropping below my safe speed. So much so, in fact, that I was a bit high. I suppose you would rather be a bit fast than a bit slow, but still, was not perfect. I got another "Pass, but again, nothing to write home about." comment out of Dale. Which was fine... I hit my spot, I did it safely... done.

Next, Dale asked for a hover autorotation. Oh boy, my nemesis... the hover auto. I set up, executed... and it was crap. Well, not totally crap, but it was a lot bumpier than my normal. He gave me a look and said "That the best you can do?". I told him no, and said that I could do better and he said "Then show me on that is better." So I did. This time, it was not as a rough of a landing, but my attitude was off... I was still withing the 10º heading I specified, but still not great. He was satisfied tho.

We then went to the edge of the north helipad for a slope landing. If you could really call it that. Think of parking your right tires on a curb. What would that be... 3º slope? maybe? Anyway, that is what he wanted... and that is what I gave him. Simple, fast, done.

Then I got what I had been longing for... "OK, lets head back to the ramp, you are all done.".

Success!

Got clearance from the tower, headed back to the ramp and shut down. As soon as the collective was fully down, he came on the intercom and said, "Congratulations.".

As I was completing the run-down procedures, he asked me why a post-flight was necessary. I came up with some crap about wanting to leave the helicopter in good condition for the next person, and to make sure there were no problems I needed to report. "Is that all?". I jumped out of the helicopter and began my post-flight. He followed around asking why I was touching all the bearings and looking at the teletemps. It was then when it struck me... you do a post-flight to check the condition of the helicopter when it is still hot. If you have a bearing near-failure in flight, land, and don't check during a post-flight... the bearing will cool down and probably fail your next flight. If you check at the end of your flight, you will know instantly when you touch a 200º bearing that it is bad... right then and there.

After I gave him a "better answer", he told me a story about a pilot that had just come in from a mission... landed and was tempted to skip the pre-flight in order to head to a party that was going on in the hangar. The pilot did a quick post-flight and ended up touching a tail rotor bearing that was red-hot. Burned the hell out of his hand. The mechanic that investigated told him that the bearing was completely seized up and the tail rotor was minutes away from catastrophic failure. If the post-flight would have been skipped it would have surely come apart at lift-off the next day.

I finished with my post-flight, and on the way back to do the log-book signing, Dale tole me that last story was a true story about him in Vietnam. And he said, again, that the rules are there to save your life... his surely would have had a turn for the worse if he ended up skipping the post-flight.

That's it... we signed the logbook, got my temporary Private Pilot certificate signed, and we were done.

I've got to say, while Dale is one tough examiner, he does not meet the mean, rude, crude, dude reputation that is whispered around the airport. I can see he hard-ass side, no doubt, but he's a really nice guy. I really came in prepared for this because of that reputation. And that is the point, after all.

We got along quite well. In fact, he invited me up some day for "the best damn home-made ice cream you've ever had. I'm not bragging, you understand, it is a fact."

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

I'm a certified FAA Pilot: VFR141 Rotocraft:Helicopter!

I made it!

I passed my FAA Oral / FAA Flight Exams - a.k.a. Check Ride.

A lot to say about it... but another day. I'm beat.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Stage 2 Progress Check - Flight - Pass

Flight #: 074
CFI: Anders A.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N956SH
Duration: 1.0hrs
Cumulative Time: 87.4hrs

Redid my flight, and we're golden. Next big milestone is the FAA Check Ride flight / oral examination. This is going to be tough, but I'm ready for it.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Stage 2 Progress Check - Flight - Fail

Flight #: 070
CFI: Brian W.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2223P
Duration: 1.5hrs
Cumulative Time: 83.0hrs

Well, not a total failure, but I have to retake it. Pretty big let down, and I'm pissed. I want to fly well, and today was certainly an off day. The mistakes I made were stupid, plain and simple.

Mistake 1) Made a poor weather decision.
This time of year, in Oregon, is rather odd - weather wise. You swing from perfection to total crap in an hour. It just so happened that I was on the down swing for this progress check. Morning started out nicely and it turned crappy fast.

Skies were overcast at 4000ft (more than enough for this check) and wind was 9knots. A little bit of wind is not bad, but this was about where I start to think... "eh... maybe a pain". Not anywhere near problematic, but not a calm day either. The biggest issue with wind is gusts, and changing wind direction. Radar did show a storm brewing about 12+ hours away, so I decided to go for it.

Mistake. Not that it was unsafe, but why should I shoot myself in the foot? I should have just called it off and waited for a better day. Stupid.


Mistake 2) Selection of a bad helicopter.
2223P sucks! Well, not really, but the radio is crap and it pulls a LOT of power in a normal hover.

First, the power. Since I'm still pretty heavy, and you can't pull too much power in flight (for safety reasons), you need to keep an eye on your gauge. In most helicopters a casual glance down at your manifold pressure gauge is enough... in 2223P... you have to STARE at it. It is always on the edge. I spent a lot of my brain cycles on this gauge... and I needed them elsewhere.

Next, the radio. I literally had to make 30% of my calls twice... the tower could not hear me. Again, it happens from time to time, but having to do things twice in a testing situation is rather unnerving. Time for a new radio, 2223P.

Mistake 3) Was not completely aware of wind.


The first two... luck of the draw.

This one... my real and honest errors. The wind changed on me by 180º, mid flight. It happens, but I'm supposed to be able to recognize this. Not only from the behaviors of the helicopter, but the fact that there are windsocks and other wind indicators out there.

See, a helicopter can deal with almost any wind from any direction - in flight. At takeoff and landing, wind is a very big deal. Since a helicopter generates its own down-wash turbulence, you get the best lift if you are moving in such a way where your motion moves (or if the wind blows) the down-wash out of your way. If the wind is head-on, your down-wash is blown away... a nice thing - out of your path of travel. If you have a tail wind, it blows it right into the air you need to be in a few seconds. Making your point of greatest lift farther away and, therefore, take-off harder. If you know it is there, you can deal with it... sometimes you will just have to deal with it. But it makes things difficult and potentially dangerous.

Same thing for a landing. I've talked before about settling with power - the condition where the helicopter gets caught in it's own down-wash... and loses lift quickly. This is really the most dangerous and common thing out there.

Anyway, the red/yellow/green diagram above is literally what I think of when making wind decisions.

Green, is good news. If the wind is coming from any of those directions, you are good to go. You'll get into ETL easier (get maximum lift here), and you don't have to worry about the helicopter being blown around.

Yellow is iffy. When the wind blows from this direction you can, potentially, lose some of your tail rotor effectiveness; LTE - Loss of Tail-Rotor Effectiveness. The wind blows the rotor-tip turbulence vorticies into your tail rotor. This, in turn, reduces the force generated by the tail rotor and you will yaw right. It is easy to compensate for this... you just have to be aware and ready for it. Otherwise you yaw to the right abruptly.

Red... red is bad news and should be avoided whenever possible. Couple things can happen from the different areas.

If a strong wind is blowing from 270º you are in a settling with power state in the tail rotor. The tail rotor's job is to produce thrust away from the blades and to the left... thus counteracting the torque from the main rotor. The main rotor is turning counter-clockwise, and therefore the helicopter wants to turn clockwise to counteract that. The tail rotor is pushing the opposite direction - keeping you straight. If a strong enough wind forces the turbulent air back into the tail rotor blades... it "falls" through the turbulent air it just created and you start yawing to the right.

If wind is coming from behind, pretty much at any angle between 270º and 90º your helicopter acts like a weather vane and tries to flip around and point into the wind. Makes it very hard to maintain your heading.

If you have wind from behind, and are trying to take off it is quite hard to find ETL, or the point where you have increased lift. If you happen be taking off with a tail wind... and you do get into ETL and start to climb... then a gust of wind appears out of nowhere you drop out of ETL and lose that lift. Bad.

If you are trying to land in a tailwind, you are very susceptible to settling with power. You just don't know where ETL is and not having that information is very dangerous.

During my flight, the wind literally flipped around on me... full 180º change. So, I was coming in for a landing with a headwind on one approach... all was good. Took off, went back around, and all of a sudden it was a tail wind.

My real mistake... is not checking the wind sock constantly. To my credit, I was watching a smoke plume about 1 mile north of the pattern. But, apparently the wind shift was a local phenomenon and my smoke plume had no bearing on where I was flying.

Back on the horse...

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Stage 2 Progress Check - Oral

Hillsboro overly prepares you... and do they ever mean it. I've taken so many friggin tests I'm about to go blind. I just finished my Stage 2 Progress Check Oral exam. 4 hours of hard questions. Passed it, although I do need to go back and review some areas. In particular, FAR/AIM Section NTSB830 - Accidents.

Why? Well, here is the question I was asked:

"We are flying out in west practice area. I ask you to do an off-airport-landing, and we get into a tight space. Just before touch down, the main rotor blade clips a pine-tree and disintegrates on impact. The cyclic shakes violently and breaks my pinky finger. What do we need to do?"

So, I start off explaining that this was an accident and we should begin following the rules set forth by NTSB830. Bla, bla, bla.

BZZZZZT!

Nope, wrong. Here is what it all means

An "Aircraft Accident" is an occurrence which causes "death of serious injury" and there is "substantial damage" to the aircraft.

Ok, so now we need to look up the terms there...

Fatal Injury is:
"Fatal injury means any injury which results in death within 30 days of the accident."

Serious injury
is an injury which:
"Serious injury means any injury which: (1) requires hospitalization for more than 48 hours, commencing within 7 days from the date the injury was received; (2) results in a fracture of any bone (except simple fractures of fingers, toes, or nose); (3) causes severe hemorrhages, nerve, muscle, or tendon damage; (4) involves any internal organ; or (5) involves second or third degree burns, or any burns affecting more than 5 percent of the body surface."
And substantial damage means:
"Substantial damage means damage or failure which adversely affects the structural strength, performance, or flight characteristics of the aircraft, and which would normally require major repair or replacement of the affected component. Engine failure or damage limited to an engine if only one engine fails or is damaged, bent fairings or cowling, dented skin, small punctured holes in the skin or fabric, ground damage to rotor or propeller blades, and damage to landing gear, wheels, tires, flaps, engine accessories, brakes, or wingtips are not considered substantial damage for the purpose of this part."

So, by this part, this would not be considered as substantial damage, nor would it be considered a serious injury. So, while it would suck, it would not be considered an accident, and it would not require immediate notification.

OK, if that is what you say.



Monday, May 19, 2008

Stage 2 Prep-Flights

Flight #: 067, 068
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Cumulative Time: 80.1hrs

I'm circling the runway on my Private Pilot : Rotorcraft : Helicopter license... so close. I've been doing a few flight here and there to make sure I pass the FAA Check Ride. Mostly working on the "tough" maneuvers like [straight-in, hover, 180-turning] autorotations. Supposedly this is the point where everyone needs work.

No doubt, I can get safely to the ground in an engine failure condition... I just need to make them perfect. My issue now is keeping the nose level and not over-speeding the main rotor.

What is an over-speed, you ask? Well. The main rotor is rated up to a certain RPM. Go below the limit (a rotor RPM below 80% plus 1% per 1000ft of altitude) and your main rotor will stall out. Meaning that you will not have the ability to get it spinning again to generate lift. This happens, you check-out.

If you go above the limit, 104% you get in to over-speed territory. An over-speed introduces increased stress on the bearings, joints, bolts, connectors, blades, etc... and since the rotor is what keeps you in the sky, you need to be very conscious of any excess of stress.

As my dad always says... "Be good to your boat-oar, and it will be good to you." Which I've adapted to "Be good to your main rotor, and it will be good to you."

Anyway, there are really two types of rotor over-speeds. Minor and major. A minor over-speed would be a rotor RPM of 105% to 110%. This would require squawking the ship, and having it inspected by a licensed mechanic. Over 110%, you replace the blades, rotor hub, and send the engine back to Robinson for a full rebuild. BAD NEWS.

All that being said... if you are ever in a real emergency, have an engine failure at altitude and need to bring the ship in for an emergency landing... rotor RPM is really not a concern. If you get the helicopter to the ground, and you can walk away... success. An over-speed is not an issue.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Off for a week to Maui...


Now that the written exam is under my belt... we're off for a bit of family vacation. Where? Maui. Oh, and look at that, they have an airport with helicopter operations.


Monday, May 5, 2008

Private Pilot : Rotorcraft : Helicopter : FAA Knowledge Exam

Passed - 90%!

All the prep payed off... passed with flying colors.

Got a few questions which were some real stumpers, tho.

If you were interested, I looked up the missed questions when I got home:








































Friday, May 2, 2008

Smoked 'em!

Finished up my two HAI written exams today.

Stage 2 Written Exam: 90%
Final Exam: 96%

FAA Written Exam is on Monday. Then, away for a bit of a vacation - Maui for a week. Then, prep for my FAA Oral and FAA Checkride.

The end of my Private Pilot training is nearing an end... I can almost taste it.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Maneuver Practice

Flight #: 062-066
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: Various

Past 5 flights have all been maneuver practice... just honing the razors edge. The final result of it all:
  • my normal approaches are rock solid - landing withing 3ft of desired point
  • autorotations are passable, not perfect, but passable. I still need to work on my entry speeds... I keep slowing down without trying.
  • air-taxi / quick stop - perfect.
  • hover autorotations - damn fine. I've learned to roll off the throttle S L O W L Y, and all else is smooth.
  • running landings - passable, need to work on my speed control here.
  • running takeoff - perfect.
  • max performance takeoff - perfect.
Feelin' good... feelin' really good.