Flight #: 055
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N7526S
Duration: 1.4hrs
As PIC: 1.4hrs
Cumulative Time: 62.5hrs
Well, I did it. A fantastic solo cross country flight in the "Triangle of Death". Since I was not with Kristie for this, I typed up a debrief for her... so rather than re-typing it all... here it is.
From: Chris
Subject: X/C Solo - Triangle of Death
Date: April 2, 2008 10:58:10 PM PDT
To: Kristie
Kristie-
Wanted to give you the full details of the flight today. In general, it was a great flight, but I really did not have the time to tell you all the details - coming back so late and all and stepping on your next flight.
So, here are all the details:
- Preflight. No issues, although I want to have you run me through the transponder in 7526S. It is different than the others and I want to make sure I know how to flip it over in case I need to squawk 7600. I'm sure I could muddle through it, but I did not want to screw around this time.
- Lift off. No issues, all good.
- Hover at cone. No issues, all good.
- Takeoff. Glad we talked about this the other day, since it was the exact situation we discussed. Wind from the north and I wanted to head south. So, crossed 30, got to 700ft and then looped around to my heading once I was out of the airspace.
- Return to HAI. It was exactly at this point where I noticed I had the old flight plan in my kneeboard, and the one you "cleared" was in my folder under the chair seat. So, got to be honest here, I really thought about flying on the old one as it really had all the details that I needed for the flight. Stupid mistake, I know. But hey... I ended up doing the right thing. Actually, it was a good experience in and of itself. I contacted the tower and requested an approach to HAI. Immediately the controller asked "Is this a return back to the airport?". I said yes, and then a prompt, "Do you need any assistance?". That was kinda nice... since it was clear he was ready to help if there was an issue. I didn't tell him I was just a retard and forgot to take my new flightplan out from under my seat. Approach was normal, no issues at all on the way in. Thanks for checking in tho to make sure it was not a big deal.
- Takeoff - Take 2. Same as before, same wind, same north departure.
- 1st Leg. Stayed at pattern altitude for the 1-2 miles out, and then climbed up to 2000ft. As I crossed the ridge I flopped over to FSS and activated the flight plan. Dude was a little chatty, and I was not in the mood to have a conversation, but no issues. It was at this point where I realized I was clipping along at just under 90 knots. Man those things act differently when you are without a passenger.
- Checkpoint: 5 & 205: Came in a little to the south, but was able to correct my angle a bit so that I crossed right over. I also switched over to Aurora's CTAF. Wow, it was busy. Took a few minutes before I could get a word in.
- Checkpoint: River-bend crossing: I was keeping it between 80-90 knots for the whole flight. It was a little faster than on the flight plan, but then again, I did start a little late. I "last call"'d Aurora and checked weather one last time before switching over to Mulino CTAF.
- Checkpoint: Mulino: Pretty busy here as well. No communication issues. Came in a little low to the pattern, 700ft, but decided not to correct since I was already on a nice approach. As I was entering the downwind a F/W was just landing on 32. I announced that I was coming in for a landing on Taxiway 32. As I turned final, the F/W was taxiing at me, so I corrected announced the change and corrected to the runway. Was a bit of the "race car swerve" you hassle me about, but I was not sure what else to do in that situation. Go around would have been an option, but since it was all clear I just went for it.
- Hover Taxi @ Mulino: Rather gusty, actually, once I got down. I hovered over to the taxiway and set down to deal with the carb-heat and then immediately headed out on taxiway 32.
- Checkpoint: Aurora: It was insanely busy, as you had mentioned. Lots of traffic, and chatter, but it was rather organized actually. Crossed midfield at 2000, no issues.
- Checkpoint: St. Paul: Switched over to McMinneville and quickly heard that this was going to be the craziest part of the whole flight. People were being idiots. A number of people were making approaches to Runway 35. I heard someone ask about the active runway, and it was clear that it was Runway 4. Someone, not sure who, but someone with a very authoritative sounding voice went in to a rather long discussion about why runway 35 was not being used and that 4 was the active. Literally seconds after the woman stopped talking, some F/W said they were turning final for 35. Christ.
- Checkpoint: McMinneville: I did as we did before, got to 700 ft as soon as I could see the airport. Announced and crossed the extended centerline of runway 22. Still people were bickering about which runway to use. Some dude finally came on and said "I assume everyone understands that 4 is the active and not 35 and will be correcting their patterns so that we don't have two intersecting active runways." At this point I was about to enter the downwind for 4 and just let the rest of the world know. It is really clear when you hear HAI students and CFIs on the radio... they all speak the same way. Kind of nice where you here some dude "taking off on the runway". I came in for a hover, and since I was not in carb-heat yellow, just took right off again without a set down, knowing that time was tight.
- Checkpoint: Newberg VOR: Headed off for the VOR, way off to the west. Spotted Chehalem's barn right away... thanks for that trick. Flubbed my call here. Reported East and not South West. But, caught it right away and corrected. It was about here where I realized that I was never going to make it back on time and tried to call base on 122.85. I guess i was out of range, cause my first two calls did not get answered, so I just figured I was either doing it completely wrong and needed a different frequency, or had to wait till I crossed the ridge. As I was checking weather at HIO, I looked over the flight plan to see if there was any notation on this situation. Nope. Soon as I crossed the ridge I tried it again, and got DC. So, must have been in the radio-shadow of the ridge.
- Checkpoint: Twin Oaks: Spent some time talking to Twin Oaks, while being far off to the west. No issues, all good.
- Checkpoint; Goal Posts: As soon as I was abeam Twin Oaks, and there was not traffic on the radio / in sight, I did as you suggested and got on to HIO's Tower. Announced when I was 6 miles out... just to be safe. Hit the goal posts, dead on this time... knowing that I had to correct west a bit, followed the road up to the church.
- Approach: All good, no issues here.
- Landing: A tad skewed on the set-down, but did not bother to correct. Purely a rushed choice here. Only a few degrees, not awful; would have corrected if I had more time.
So, a pretty good flight in my mind. Felt a bit rushed... cause I was. Felt a bit stupid about the return to base thing, but really did not want to fly with the wrong flight plan. Plus I know I would have gotten hit if I tried it with you there. Surprisingly, it was not stressful at all. We'd done this a few times, and I felt pretty confident. Once I got past the forgotten flight plan, which I corrected, there was nothing else to be concerned about.
That's it... did I miss anything you want to hear about?
See you tomorrow for the night flight... 730pm. I'll have both flight plans ready and filed.
Later,
-c
Looking forward to the night flight. HIO to Albany, OR (S12)
Flight #: 054
CFI: Kristie H.
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N2223P
Duration: 1.5hrs
Cumulative Time: 61.10hrs
Weather has been total crap for the last week. Hailstorms, almost daily. When it was not hailing, it was 25 knot winds. Of course, all this was with 500ft cloud ceilings too.
So, as you might guess, not a flight.
Today, however, was perfect. 50º, sunny, with calm winds. Perfect for my pre-solo "Triangle of Death" flight. Pretty uneventful flight, actually... but that is a good thing. Only issues were that I had the wrong frequencies in... twice. Stupid stuff that I caught as soon as I did not hear anybody on the channel... but still. 135.65 when it should have been 135.67, and 129.09 instead of 129.9. Just need to double, triple, quadruple check myself.
Oh, and apparently the common "report 1 mile south" reporting point used by the tower is not actually 1 mile south. I was about 2 miles south of that point and said "3 miles south" when giving my current position... and was promptly corrected that I was actually 4 miles south. Huh?
Here is how it all works. Portland Hillsboro Airport is a Class D airspace, which means there is a 3D cylindrical solid, centered on the tower, with a 4 mile radius, extending from ground level to 2500ft above ground. In this case, the airport is at 208ft sea level... so therefore it actually extends from ground level to 2700ft. Before you enter Class D airspace, you have to let them know you are coming... and what I told them was that I was already inside their airspace. Not cool. The sectional map shows it like this:
Obviously a map does not represent the real world perfectly... so if we were to draw the same airspace on a satellite map you would see something like this.
Anyway, the point here is, the 2 mile ring actually touches on something all the pilots and CFIs call "The Goal Posts". 
The goal posts are two cell towers that act as a great visual reference for your way back home from the south. From up close, they look like... well, goal posts. You can click on the image for a larger view, but they are there. And, they are pretty easy to see from a few miles out.
So, as you are headed north, back to HIO, you thread the goal posts and head straight in to the airport. You just follow the road in at 700ft and you will come right in line for an approach to the ramp. Nice and easy. Just like this:
All seems pretty easy, except that they call the goal posts, "1 Mile South". So, I reported where I was in reference to those goal posts... I was telling them that I was already in their airspace. Turns out, while I was reporting my position incorrectly, I was actually not violating their airspace at all... I was actually just on the edge.
See, the "1 Mile South" point is actually 2 miles south.
You learn something new every day. I suppose I should have picked up on this already. Nothing like a mistake to get you focused on getting it right next time.
So, all in all, fantastic flight. The proof? Kristie cleared me for my Solo Cross Country!
Hoping for nice weather tomorrow.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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
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.
