Monday, March 24, 2008

Lost in the clouds... well, not really.

Flight #: 053
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N8340S
Duration: 1.2hrs
Cumulative Time: 59.6hrs

Back to the old TOD again, today. All went pretty well, except for the exit out of McMinneville. Took off in the direction of the green arrows. Came in for a long approach into McMinneville and came to a nice hover on the taxiway. On exit I started a turn and glanced up at the compass and off we headed in the wrong direction. (Red Arrows)


As I left, I saw in front of me a heavy cloud bank. Fact is, I was facing the wrong direction. Rather than re-checking my position I thought I knew where I was and tried to head to the left of the clouds without realizing exactly where I was. Once I figured it out, I looped around and headed back towards the Newberg VOR.

So, there we were... putting along at about 80 knots. I made all my position calls, and we continued on to Hillsboro. Just as I bent over to adjust radio frequencies I saw just at the edge of the cockpit window... a plane! A Fixed-Winger came out of nowhere. We just saw him... He was about 1000 ft above us. Not close enough to be a problem... but WTF! Lets hear some radio communications. How about position reports, dude!

Man, they really are trying to get us.


Thursday, March 20, 2008

WX Fail!


Flight #: 052
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2356T
Duration: 0.5hrs
Cumulative Time: 58.4hrs

Took off this morning to finish off the TOD that was interrupted the day before due to weather. Only problem this time... weather.

Ugh. As we took off, Kristie diverted me to St. Paul... to pick up where we left off. SO, I headed to the Newberg VOR. In case you were curious, this is what Newberg VOR looks like from the sky.

Anyway, headed south and came up to the Newberg ridge, which is where they put the Newberg VOR... imagine that.

Completely covered in a nice puffy sheet of clouds - which, unfortunately, I don't fly through.

Oh well, back home.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

In the groove...

Flight #: 051
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N8340S
Duration: 1.2hrs
Cumulative Time: 57.9hrs

Today I was in the groove, too bad the weather was not on our side.

Another "Triangle" flight, except as we rolled out of Aurora and started to head west I saw, off in the distance, a rather mean looking cloud off in the distance. About 10 miles south of McMinneville. I did some quick guestimating and decided that I couldn't "beat the cloud" to the airport, even if I wanted to try something that stupid. Kristie gave me the ever sought after "Good Decision".

So, once I got abeam St. Paul, I pulled the trigger and headed north, back to Hillsboro.

Despite the diversion, it was a good flight. Good communications, good speed and altitude control.

Finish up this TOD another day.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Triangle of Lost - The full story.

Ok, so I was shaken, grumpy and pissed off after my last XC flight. I got lost, and I hate that. I suppose I really did not feel like talking about it too much. But, I thought about it a lot, and will guarantee that I will NOT get lost on that flight again. I've spent the last few days reading over the all the airports within a reasonable distance and looking both on the sectional map, and Google's satellite imagery.

So, here is the full story. How I got in, how I got out, etc. (Mainly for you, Bob. :)

The planned flight plan is as shown here:
HIO is at the 12 O'Clock position, Mulino at 4 O'Clock, McMinneville at the 7 O'Clock. The part I'm interested in here is at the lower portion of the triangle. So, lets zoom a bit:

So, it all started as I was entering the airspace for Mulino airport (green arrow). There was a 9 knot wind blowing from 130º (black arrow).

When you do your flight planning, you need to know about your airports. Their traffic patterns, runway lengths and directions, etc. Well, I did all that. I knew that Mulino had one runway strip, labeled Runway 14 and Runway 32. If you didn't know, they name the runways so that you can tell which direction they are facing. In this case, oriented to 140º and 320º, respectively.


So, anyway, I knew this. And since you want to land into the wind, whenever possible, the airports with a control tower will select the appropriate runway for you. In this case, there was no tower, so you have to rely on your knowledge, and the knowledge of the other people flying in the airport. The active runway is suppose to be Runway 14 with the wind coming from 130º. It just is. It also happens to be a right air traffic pattern runway. This means, that you are supposed to make right hand turns all the way to landing. Since I was coming in from the North West, I could have, technically come right in to the runway, almost straight on. But, that's not the cool thing to do. You are supposed to enter the downwind leg at 45º and make your right turns in. The image below shows a left pattern, but you get the idea. Just flip it so that you would land making right turns:

In my case, I would have to fly past the airport to the west, make a wide left turn so as to come in at 45º on the downwind leg and then enter the pattern. As a side note, while you always want to check the weather system broadcast in the area, you only trust what you can see. And luckily for me, there were a few wind indicators in the are for me to look at. Things like wind socks are always nice near an airport... but out west here, people tend to burn leaves and brush. And this day there were two fires going within about 1/2 mile of the runway. So, I was 100% sure of the wind. So, I broadcast my intention to "enter the right-downwind for Taxiway 14". We can land on taxiways or runways. It's cool of us not to take up runway space... and it is safer too.

Ok, enough background. So, I veer off to the right of runway 14 to make my wide left turn into the pattern when we see some dude in an airplane taking off on runway 32. The opposite direction on the runway. Taking off with a 9 knot tail wind. Not smart. Not to mention dangerous. So, I do a go around, and make a right hand turn to re-enter on the downwind. As I get about 270º in my turn, this dude that just took off cuts hard left and comes way too close to my flight path. Granted, I was at 800ft (as I'm suposed to be) and he was probably climbing past 1200, but still... not cool dude. So, I re-announce where I am, and what I'm doing. This wakes the airplane dude up, I guess, and he broadcast a quick "sorry about that, did not see you guys there". Huh? Really? I'm in a bright red helicopter with a giant rotating blade with my lights on... exactly where I said I would be. But, ok... fine. Stuff happens, and we were really not that close.

So, I do another go around. And we hear, on the radio another fixed winger come on the radio " at 1000ft, on the right downwind for runway 32." Kristy says "Screw this place, get us out of here." Basically another dude in an airplane was using the wrong runway, again. This time for a landing. But, rather than making left patterns for runway 32, as he is supposed to do, he's doing right ones. What a mess.

I turn off to the west and we just skip this approach at Mulino. In hindsight, we should have come on the radio with a "Mulino traffic, wind indicators clearly show that runway 14 should be in operation, not 32. Please check wind." But, we didn't. Totally one of those things you think of 5 minutes after you need it. But, all is well, and we're headed north west to Aurora with a bit of a tailwind.

A few minutes in to this leg Kristy says, "The FAA just called there is an accident in Aurora, divert to Lenhardt". Obviously the FAA did not call, she was just giving me a scenario to deal with. I didn't know where Lendhart was, so I had to look a little on the map. (To save you some time, it is the red arrow.)

So, I look it up on the map, estimate my course and direction and head to Lendhart. Eventually I see it off to the left, quite a ways away. I point it out to Kristy, and she gives me the OK to head to McMinneville. So, looking at the map, I head due west. I forgot to correct for wind... and this was my big flaw. I was heading NW. A lot more north than I expected, at least. I also think the wind had picked up a little, cause, as you will see, I was way off.

I was flying along to my next checkpoint, a significant bend in the river. What I was looking for is the blue circled area below. What I was flying over was the red circled area. I was way north of where I wanted to be. As I crossed the river, I saw this town... which, according to my plan, is not supposed to be there. As you can see, it was the town of Newberg. But, when I planned this out, I was not supposed to cross the river and see a town. So, wham, I'm lost.

The lost procedures are "the 5 C's". Calm, Climb, Circle, Calculate, Communicate. So, I take a deep breath, start climbing, and start doing a right hand circle. I start looking at the land, my map, etc. I find a significant feature on the ground below me, an island in the river. OK, great, there has to be an island on the map. So, I look, where I think I'm supposed to be... the blue circle. No island on the map. Shit. So, I conclude that either the island is not big enough to be on the map, or else I'm nowhere near this point on the map. First thing I do is look for an island in the river elsewhere on the map. And I don't see anything withing a reasonable flying distance. So, I'm now sure that this island I'm circling over, now at 3000ft, must not be big enough to show up.

So, screw this river, I think... now I'll look for a town. I should be seeing St. Paul to my south. (Remember, I think I'm in the blue, but am actually in the red circle). Nope, no St. Paul. Only this huge town to the north of the river. Could I be seeing Lafayette? Dayton? Where the F am I! Kristy is with me, of course, and being very calm. She knows exactly where we are... just wants me to struggle through. Which, is a great teaching tool, but it pissed me off. I'm now at 4000ft, circling like a moron, getting all twisted up.


Finally she speak up and says, "What are you using for your fix?" and I said, mention that I'm looking for the island in the river as well as the direction of the bend. "Are you looking for a 'C' to the east or a 'n' shaped bend to the south?". I believe I'm in the blue, so I'm looking for a 'C' to the east, but I'm actually in the red over a 'n' to the south.

This helps, obviously, and I suddenly realize I'm about 10nm north of where I need to be, and bolt to the south. I immediately identify my correct river bend, and see St. Paul and recognize what happened. I am now at about 4500ft and start to descend to my planned 2000ft altitude.

Once I get there I head west, this time, remembering the wind and make it to McMinneville as planned (the green arrow).

So, while not a total crisis, it really did throw me. In our post-flight review we went over what happened, and I had a real chance to look over the map.

Wanna see something? That friggin island in the river I was over? It is on the map, just under the text, "178". Right under the "7". If I had only seen that on the map... this would have been a "Huh? Where am I? Oh, here. Ok, no biggie."


Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Triangle of Lost

Flight #: 050
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N8340S
Duration: 1.5hrs

Cumulative Time: 56.7hrs

Same run through the triangle. Except this time, as we were leaving Mulino, Kristie diverted me to another airport about 15 nm south of Aurora. No problem, I got there... I just got lost leaving.

Ugh. I hate being lost. Found my way, eventually, but man, did that suck.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Triangle of Stress (a.k.a. Triangle of Death)


Flight #: 049
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2356T
Duration: 1.3hrs
Cumulative Time: 55.2hrs


WOAH, this was intense. The triangle of death consists of a cross country (XC) flight to three other airports. Portland-Mulino(4S6), Aurora State(KUAO), McMinnville (KMMV), and then back to Portland-Hillsboro (KHIO).

Round trip of about 70 nautical miles. The truth is, that is really not all that far, and when you are cooking along at 80 knots, things fly by pretty fast.

So, before you even start a XC flight, you need to prepare a flight plan. There is a standard form, and as you can see, it is filled with gobs of information. The one posted here is just the template I use, as it will change depending on wind conditions. But, this gives you a good idea of what is needed.

In flight, you actually fold it and store it in your kneeboard. This way you only look at the details you need to see in flight. Which is mainly the checkpoints, the heading, segment time, altitudes, and communication frequencies.

Once you get this form filled out, you call 1-800-WX-BRIEF, which will connect you with your Flight Service Station. It is a service operated by Lockheed Martin that maintains information, weather data, and other details for a given flight. It is not Air Traffic Control, but a service to give you weather details on your flight plan and to maintain a track of where you should be, and where you might be if something goes wrong. Safety service, really.

So, you call FSS and for our area, they will connect you with McMinneville FSS. You ask for a briefer and then give them details about your flight. They will verify your data; checking to make sure you have the fuel to make it, look into weather along the path of flight, etc. They will also let you know of any special reports that you might be concerned with.

Once you complete this, you can consider your flight plan filed.

Then, it is off to the helicopter. You pre-flight and run-up as normal. Rather than requesting a pattern, you request a departure. In this case we're heading SE, so in this case, I requested a East departure to take off into the wind.

Climb out as usual, and check my first compass heading, and start my timer. As we transition out of KHIO airspace, we call up our buddies at McMinneville FSS to let them know we want to open our flight plan. It goes something like this:

Kristie: "McMinneville radio, this is 2356-Tango on 122.45."
FSS: "
2356-Tango, McMinneville radio, say full call-sign."
K: "November-
2356-Tango."
FSS: "Afternoon,
2356-Tango, What can we do for you today?"
K: "I'd like to open my flightplan."
FSS: "
2356-Tango, what is your departure airport?"
K: "Hotel-India-Oscar."
FSS: "OK, got you here. What was your departure time?"
K: "Approximately 5 minutes ago."
FSS: "OK, so departure at 2122 zulu, confirm?"
K: "Correct."
FSS: "
2356-Tango, your flight plan is now open. We do request pilot reports on FlightWatch at 122.0 if you have them. Please make sure to close your flight plan upon landing. Have a nice flight."
K: "Thanks.
2356-Tango".

As this point, they know where we are, where we are headed, how much fuel have, and when we are expected back.

Then the fun begins. It is all about communicating when flying. Make sure everyone knows where you are, and you know where everyone else is. Rather than explain every little detail; look at the first image above. I'm flying the triangle, clockwise. Every time I'm 10, 5, 3, 2, 1 nm from an airport (the blue or magenta circles, with or without the handles) I'm talking. I'm also checking weather for each of the airports I intend on landing. Basically, constantly. When you get to an airport, you need to let everyone know your plans. Where are you coming from? What altitude are you at right now? Ascending, descending? What direction are you traveling in? What are your plans? Landing, approach, etc, etc. Lots of communication.

Keep in mind, I'm hauling ass too... not time to dilly dally and check out the scenery. I'm checking speed, altitude, traffic around me. Am I over my checkpoints? How's the fuel?

Anyway, there is a lot of stuff going on here. Granted, I'm stuffing a lot of action into a small 70 nm flight here... but the point is that this is supposed to be intense. It is supposed to give you a bit of stomach acid so that you know how to deal with stuff when it comes up for real.

Anyway, we got back, landed, and closed the flight plan.

It was really cool, but really stressful.

I got to be honest, I was feeling pretty big after all my solos the past week. Big man, flying a helicopter. Now, I've got my ass out of the baby pool and into the deep sea.

So much for the feeling of superiority. This is intense!




View Larger Map

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Ramp Solo. Nothing but net.

Flight #: 048
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N956SH
Duration: 1.4hrs
As PIC: 1.4hrs
Cumulative Time: 53.9hrs

Today was the 100% solo. It is called a ramp solo since it starts and ends on the ramp. Good name, eh?

Anyway, I did it all. Kristie showed up at 7:30am to sign the board (part of the rules), and headed home. Funny to see her out of her flight gear. Kind of like seeing your teacher at the store... just out of place. A woman walking up in a hooded sweatshirt... almost didn't recognize her.

Flight was the same as all the other Charlie pattern flight, except for one thing. I was the only one there. Just me. Zipping around at 60knots in the cool morning sky.

I can't really describe it. It was fun and I was pumped full of adrenaline the whole flight. Even though I was excited, it was relaxing at the same time. Only other time I felt something similar was being with my friends on vacation; out in our individual kayaks on a still and calm lake at sunset up in Canada. You are supremely aware of everything going on around you. Everything looks different, even though you have seen it all before. Things are calm, but you are alert and full of energy.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about... that's ok. We'll go on a flight some time, and I'll show you.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

1st Solo Flight - Pictures


Apparently there is a tradition at HAI where they take a Polaroid of all students completing their 1st Solo flight. They then post the photo in the school up on a large board. There are probably hundreds of these already. Nice tradition.

Well, as you may know, Polaroid stopped making their instant film. Sad, I know. It just so happens that all the film was used up by the day I did my solo. So, I get to be the first digital 1st Solo pic.



2nd Solo

Flight #: 047
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N8340S
Duration: 1.1hrs
As PIC: 0.5hrs
Cumulative Time: 52.5hrs

The second solo... beautiful. This time Kristy got a chance to take some video... which you probably already saw below. Beautiful day.

I got a few questions about the details behind a "supervised solo". Basically what happens is this:
  • I complete the pre-fligh check.
  • I sign us up on the flight board.
  • I run-up, lift off into a hover, and then head over to Charlie pattern. Kristie is along for the ride, but not on the controls.
  • We execute a few patterns, usually 3, and then set down on the taxiway.
  • Kristie then radios the tower, and the other two helicopters in Charlie pattern that "8340S is a student solo for the next 30 minutes." If cleared by the tower, she jumps out and sits down in the grass just outside the pattern in Charlie. She bring a hand-held radio to keep track of my tower communications, etc... to make sure I don't request clearance to fly to Brazil, I guess.
  • I then lift off into a hover, request Charlie, and fly patterns for the next 30 minutes.
  • After 30 minutes, or when Kristie flags me down, I settle back on the taxiway, pick her up, and then head back to the ramp.
  • I then to the shutdown, post-flight check, and sign us off the board.

That's it. The point of it all is to give me PIC (Pilot in Command) time in a safe environment that I already know.

Next flight... 100% pure solo.

2nd Solo w/ Video

Flight #: 048
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N8340S
Duration: 1.1hrs
As PIC: 0.5hrs
Cumulative Time: 52.5hrs








Thursday, March 6, 2008

1st Solo!

Flight #: 047
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N8340S
Duration: 1.2hrs
As PIC: 0.5hrs
Cumulative Time: 51.4hrs

Nothing to say but... it was awesome! Same feeling you get when you first have your learner's permit and your dad tells you he's going to jump out and has you run a few circuits in the high school parking lot. "I can't believe I'm doing this on my own!"

Kristie snapped a bunch of digital pictures... which I'll share as soon as I get them.

Feels really good.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Supervised Solo - Wind FAIL

Flight #: 046
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2356T
Duration: 0.8hrs
Cumulative Time: 50.2hrs

Friggin wind!

I'm allowed to only fly a solo, at this point, if the wind is under 5 knots. And, it was... when we left the ramp. We bolted over to Charlie pattern, did a few circuits and set down on the taxiway. Kristie had her foot out of the door, ready to leave me to my solo, when the tower came on with "Wind 260 at 7".

WHAT!

It was just 3. No way. As I went down to listen to the ATIS weather frequency, they came back on with "Wind 260 at 9".

MFer!

And that was the end of the supervised solo.

Punk ass wind. You suck.


Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Good to go, SOLO!

Flight #: 044
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N956SH
Duration: 1.0hrs
Cumulative Time: 49.4hrs

Well, officially passed Stage 1! Conditional Pass - Definitively Closed.

Short flight today, consisting entirely of Kristie killing the engine on me and yelling "Engine Failure" on me. I nailed it every time. A few 180 Autorotations as well to make sure I kept my airspeed up in the green. Again, nailed it.

Thankfully we finished quickly as we got a burst of freezing rain as we crossed the runway heading back to parking.

I'm cleared for solo flights!

Saturday, March 1, 2008

The triangle of DEATH!

Weather has been a bit dicey in the past few days. Now that I've passed Stage 1, we took the opportunity to knock out the last Ground Lesson. I was WAY ahead on ground due to the moist Oregon winter. Might as well knock it all out.

Now that Stage 1 is out of the way it was time to start talking Cross Country flights. Cross Country flight just mean that we deal with more than just our local airports. There is a special circuit that CFIs have set up for your first cross country. Funny story behind that...

Kristie tells me were about to start off on solo and cross country flights.
Since the ground training center at Hillsboro is rather small, you can easily overhear what is going on in each training cube. Here is a transcript:

Kristie: "Were going to start off with [quietly] The Triangle of Happiness". Gareth happened to be right across the hallway.

Gareth: "What did you call it?!"

Kristie: "Nothing, don't bother us."

Gareth: "Did you say, 'Happiness'?"

Kristie: "[Embarrassed] Yes."

Gareth: "It's not called the 'Triangle of Happiness'... It is called..."

CFIs in hearing distance:
"The Triangle of Death!"

Kind of reminded me of Finding Nemo and the initiation scene.



Anyway, I'm psyched for this. The "Triangle of Death" consists of flying to two airports before heading back to Hillsboro. It is a well known circuit and has some good distinct pilotage landmarks. Simply, you fly from Hillsboro(KHIO) to Mulino(4S9) to McMinnville (KMMV). About a 70 mile round trip covering some interesting land.

Part of the ground lesson was to start a flight plan. I had to get it into nice digital format: Hillsboro Flight Plan Document - Triangle of Death

Next week looks to have some hairy weather as well... so it may be a while before we get to make the run.