Recent Posts on "Flying" (Jeremy Zawodny's blog)

Quasar Fuel Efficient Light Sport Airplane

According to this AVweb story, a Brazilian-made light sport aircraft could set records for fuel efficiency if it lives up to claims.

Powered by a 121-pound HKS-700E 60-hp 4-stroke engine that promoter GeBe LLC says sips about 1.7-3.5 gallons per hour, GeBe claims the roughly 500 pound aircraft could be "the greenest aircraft on the planet," or, less subtly, "the most efficient commercially available aircraft on earth." The company also calls the Quasar Lite a "2-seat trainer" and likens its handling qualities to "a Pitts in the air." In terms that should prove less subjective, the aircraft's fuselage is composite, its 30-foot-span wings are aluminum and the tail is aluminum structure with Dacron covering.

With 20-gallon tanks, the aircraft's range is listed at 1,060 miles (10 hours at economy cruise) and its cruising speed at 75 percent power is listed at 130 mph with stall at 45 with flaps down. Maximum rate of climb at gross weight is listed at 550 ft/min and Quasar told us when they fly the aircraft it generally climbs 700 ft/min with full fuel and one pilot aboard. Quasar also says they routinely fly the aircraft at 120 mph true burning two gallons per hour.

Drool...

With prices at the avgas pump in the $5.25/gallon range here in the Bay Area, such a plane could sell quite well for casual fliers.

F-16 R/C Scale Model with Afterburner!

Only once have a I seen a scale model fighter jet up close. That was a few years ago in Florida. I watched someone do and engine run-up test on a model F-15 while his friend held it in place.

What impressed me most is how jet-like the micro-jet engines sound. It really does seem like you're witnessing a fighter jet trying to fly.

So it was with some fascination and pleasure I watch this video and wondered how I would feel about test flying one for the first time, knowing how much time and money goes into it.

But it sure would be fun! Especially when it has an afterburner.

Scary Airbus A320 Crosswind Landing Video

Thanks to Thomas Kruse, I present you with the video of an Airbus A320 making a difficult crosswind landing in Hamburg, Germany.

What I wonder is when the pilot made the go-around decision. Everything I've read tells me that the jet engines in use on modern airliners take a few seconds to produce full thrust from and idle (landing) power setting.

I suspect there were a few moments of doubt about whether or not he'd be able to salvage it. Then again, I'm sure the passengers were pretty skeptical at one point too! :-)

$100 Hamburger at Merced and Air to Air Pictures

On Friday I got email from a few other pilots suggesting various fly-in ideas for the weekend. After thinking about it a bit, we opted to join Chris and a few others for a late morning flight to Merced Airport for the proverbial $100 hamburger.

If you're not familiar with the expression, Wikipedia captures it well:

A $100 Hamburger is aviation slang for a private general aviation flight for the sole purpose of dining at a non-local airport. Most often used by pilots who are looking for any excuse to fly, a $100 hamburger trip usually involves flying a short distance (less than two hours), eating at an airport restaurant, and flying home. "$100" originally referred to the approximate cost of renting or operating a light general aviation aircraft, such as a Cessna 172, for the time it took to fly round-trip to a nearby airport. Increasing fuel prices have since caused an increase in hourly operating costs for most airplanes, whether rented or owned.

So, anyway, Kathleen and I headed to Reid-Hillview airport on Saturday morning to get the Citabria ready for the adventure. While there we met Chris and his brother Michael who were flying their new [to them] Citabria 7GBCB (N8643V). Also joining us was Ryan, flying his Cessna 150 from Auburn, and Curtis flying his Cub along with someone whose name I've forgotten.

After getting the airplane ready and briefing the plan, we departed Reid-Hillview and headed down toward Hollister where the Cub had already departed.

As we headed past the Coyote Reservoir and toward Pacheco Pass, Chris began to catch up with us and we began the formation flying and air to air photography.

We got some good shots with the San Luis Reservoir in the background too.

After several minutes of that, Chris took the lead and shot some pictures of us. They're not on-line yet but check his web site (StickAndRudderPhoto.com) or Flickr photostream to see if they appear.

Then it was time to head in for landing at Merced...

Before long, we were tied down and ready to meet up with the others...

We all parked in a row and headed over to the Hangar Cafe for lunch. True to cliche, most of us ordered the burger. :-)

After lunch we spent some time checking out each other's airplanes before heading out. Most of the group headed toward a fly-in at the Tracy airport, but we opted for most sight seeing.

We headed out toward Pine Mountain Lake for a look around and a low pass.

On downwind...

Setting up for the low pass...

And then off toward Yosemite National Park for a look at Half Dome.

First, we saw some very blue lakes with the snow-capped mountains in the background.

Then we flew up the Yosemite Valley...

And then got some good looks at Half Dome.

First from one side...

And then the back side...

Once that was done, it was time to head back home to San Jose.

We had to cross the hazy Central Valley...

And then flew over Pacheco Pass...

Before flying over Silver Creek...

On our approach to Reid-Hillview, including the Eastridge Mall...

All in all it was a fun day of flying.

Ryan, the Cessna 150 pilots, posted his pictures here. Chris sent me a bunch of the pictures he shot of our airplane, but I haven't posted them anywhere (yet?).

I have more pictures of the flight on Flickr.

The Flight Before Christmas

'Twas the flight before Christmas, and out on the ramp,
Not an airplane was stirring, not even a Champ.
The aircraft were fastened to their tiedowns with care,
In hopes that come morning, they all would be there.
The fuel trucks were nestled, all snug in their spots,
With gusts from two-forty at 39 knots.
I slumped at the fuel desk, now finally caught up,
And settled down comfortably, resting my butt.
When the radio lit up with noise and with chatter,
I turned up the scanner to see what was the matter.
A voice clearly heard over static and snow,
Called for clearance to land at the airport below.
He barked his transmission so lively and quick,
I'd have sworn that the call sign he used was "St. Nick";
I ran to the panel to turn up the lights,
The better to welcome this magical flight.
He called his position, no room for denial,
"St. Nicholas One, turnin' left onto final."
And what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a Rutan-built sleigh, with eight Rotax Reindeer!
With vectors to final, down the glideslope he came,
As he passed all the fixes, he called them by name:
"Now Ringo! Now Tolga! Now Trini and Bacun!
On Comet! On Cupid!" What pills was he takin'?
While controllers were sittin', and scratchin' their head,
They phoned to my office, and I heard it with dread,
The message they left was both urgent and dour:
"When Santa pulls in, have him please call the tower."
He landed like silk, with the sled runners sparking,
Then I heard "Left at Charlie," and "Taxi to parking."
He slowed to a taxi, turned off of three-oh
And stopped on the ramp with a "Ho, ho-ho- ho..."
He stepped out of the sleigh, but before he could talk,
I ran out to meet him with my best set of chocks.
His red helmet and goggles were covered with frost
And his beard was all blackened from Reindeer exhaust.
His breath smelled like peppermint, gone slightly stale,
And he puffed on a pipe, but he didn't inhale.
His cheeks were all rosy and jiggled like jelly,
His boots were as black as a crop duster's belly.
He was chubby and plump, in his suit of bright red,
And he asked me to "fill it, with hundred low- lead."
He came dashing in fast from the snow-covered pump,
I knew he was anxious for drainin' the sump.
I spoke not a word, but went straight to my work,
And I filled up the sleigh, but I spilled like a jerk.
He came out of the restroom, and sighed in relief,
Then he picked up the phone for a Flight Service brief.
And I thought as he silently scribed in his log,
These reindeer could land in a one- eighth mile fog.
He completed his pre-flight, from the front to the rear,
Then he put on his headset, and I heard him yell, "Clear!"
And laying a finger on his push-to-talk,
He called up the tower for clearance and squawk.
"Take taxiway Charlie, the southbound direction,
Turn right three-two-zero at pilot's discretion."
He sped down the runway, the best of the best,
"Your traffic's a Grumman, inbound from the west."
Then I heard him proclaim, as he climbed through the night,
"Merry Christmas to all! I have traffic in sight."

Flight Report: Bishop to Mendota to San Jose, California

After landing in Bishop on Sunday night, we hoped to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains at Tioga Pass, cross the Central Valley, and fly home to Reid Hillview Airport in San Jose, California.

But as with other legs on this trip, Mother Nature had other plans for us. There was a good wind coming over the Sierras that cause some mountain wave turbulence and low clouds. So we decided to head south down the Owens Valley toward Mojave, California where we could cross the Tehachapi Pass into the Central Valley and fly home.

But looking along the southern Sierras, we noticed a fair amount of cloud cover and started to become skeptical. But a quick call to Flight Watch near Lone Pine told us that conditions are Mojave were good and Bakersfield was cloudy and rainy, but ceilings were high enough that we should be able to make it.

Sure enough, that turned out to be the case. We crossed the pass easily and then the real adventure began. We had to fly the central valley with scattered rain, low visibility, and lowering cloud bases.

Sometimes the wall of rain was only a few miles away and heading our way.

And then we had to descend a few times to keep from running into clouds.

At one point were were only about 20 miles from Los Banos, where we'd hoped to fly the Pacheco Pass through the Diablo Range so that we could make South County and eventually back to Reid Hillview.

The trouble is that visibility got so poor that we had to turn back short of Los Banos and land at the little Mendota airport. We hung out there for about an hour and a half while waiting for the weather to clear up in our direction of flight.

There's not much to see at the Mendota airport other than an old abandoned sky dive operation. So I pulled out my laptop and watched the satellite weather for a bit. Eventually it cleared up, so we took off on runway 15 and turned northwest for another attempt.

This time we were able to climb quite a bit higher (3,000 feet), listen to the AWOS at Los Banos, and call flight watch to get conditions at Livermore and San Jose. Conditions at all three were decent, so we continued on despite what looked like poor visibility ahead.

Much to our surprised, everything cleared up nicely after another 15-20 miles, and we easily made it through the pass and on our way home.

Before I knew it, we were back on the ground at Reid Hillview.

Mission Accomplished!

In the next few days, I hope to stich together the GPS traces and geotag all the photos.

Previously:

• Flying Cessna 182 N601SF from Michigan to California
• Flight Report: Sturgis, MI to Lebanon, MS to Texarkana, AR
• Made it to Midland, Texas
• Flight Report: Midland, Texas to Flagstaff, Arizona and Bishop, California

Flight Report: Midland, Texas to Flagstaff, Arizona and Bishop, California

On Sunday morning, we arrived at the Midland Airpark bright and early so that we could fly the remaining 1,000 nautical miles back to San Jose. But mother nature had other plans for us.

We found that the airplane had a nice coating of frost on it. The temperature was still in the high 20s, so we maneuvered the airplane to better face the sun and set about figuring a way to accelerate the defrosting process.

After doing some work with warm water, rags, and a long stick, we eventually got most of the frost off and let the increasing temps handle the rest of it.

We departed about 2 hours later than expected and flew along a route of flight that included: Hobbs, New Mexico; Roswell, New Mexico; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Gallup, New Mexico; and Flagstaff, Arizona.

Along the way we saw a big hole in the ground that I eventually recognized at the big meteor crater.

We arrived at Flagstaff airport for a quick lunch and refueling. There was an impressive amount of snow piled up around the airport.

From there we flew on to the Peach Springs VOR (just south of the Grand Canyon) and got some amazing views of the canyon on our way to Lake Mead and Las Vegas.

Flying over Lake Mead was a fun experience.

While talking to Las Vegas approach, we got to watch lots of airliners flying into and out of Vegas. We crossed just north of Las Vegas airport, over flew Nellis Air Force Base (seriously!) and continued on toward Beatty, Nevada.

At this point it was getting dark quickly and we had to decide what to do. Talking to the folks at Nellis Control (I should mention that we had Flight Following almost the entire day), we decided to go direct to Bishop, California. It was getting rather dark and I didn't like the idea of crossing the higher part of the Whites at night (even with terrain awareness on the GPS).

We got handed off to Joshua Center and decided to direct to Independence, California where we could pick up Highway 395 and follow it up to Bishop. From there we'd decide to either press on to Minden or just stay in Bishop for the night.

We arrived over the Bishop airport and decided to just land for the night. We'd had a long day of flying and weren't going to try flying over the Sierras at night. Given the weather, we figured there'd be a good route home on Monday morning.

I slowly spiraled down over the airport and landed at Bishop. The night landing there is a bit freaky because you know you've got big terrain nearby and can't see a damned thing. And the terrain display on the Garmin 430 starts to go crazy as you get down to pattern altitude.

It was quite a learning experience. Soon I'll write up the trip home on Monday (yes, we made it back).

The pictures are here: N601SF: Midland to Flagstaff to Bishop

Previously:

• Flying Cessna 182 N601SF from Michigan to California
• Flight Report: Sturgis, MI to Lebanon, MS to Texarkana, AR
• Made it to Midland, Texas

Made it to Midland, Texas

Just a quick update on the flying. We made it to Midland, Texas tonight after a late start this afternoon waiting for IFR ceilings to lift in Texarkana. We got off at about 2:15pm under 1,000 foot ceilings and flew fairly low until reaching clear skies farther into Texas.

We flew for a few hours into the night so that we could make it to Midland in hopes of getting home on Sunday. It's around 1,200 nautical miles home, but we're planning to leave at 8:00am local time (6:00am California time) and that gives us a lot of daylight and what appears to be mostly excellent flying weather.

Got some flight planning to do and sleep to get. More later.

Previously:

• Flying Cessna 182 N601SF from Michigan to California
• Flight Report: Sturgis, MI to Lebanon, MS to Texarkana, AR

Flight Report: Sturgis, MI to Lebanon, MS to Texarkana, AR

We departed Sturgis, Michigan just after 10am on Friday, aiming for our first waypoint: Champaign, IL. Clouds were at about 2,500 - 3,000 feet above grounds so way stayed fairly low. But, as predicted, the weather continued to improve the farther we flew.

Eventually, the clouds broke up so much that we were able to climb on top and enjoy the view a bit more.

Once we passed Champaign, we set our sights on St. Louis. However, we made better time than expected, and passed over St. Louis to continue on toward Springfield, MO with mostly clear skies.

But biology took its toll and we decided to stop in Lebanon for fuel, food, and a restroom break.

At the Lebanon Airport we were greeted by the friendly folks at Lebanon Aviation Services, who fueled up the plane, offered us food and a ride into town if needed.

In Lebanon I found that our next goal, either Wichita or Tulsa, was unobtainable. Both were under IFR or nearly IFR conditions (low clouds and decreasing visibility) with the rain/ice/snow storm coming in. In fact, Lebanon was expecting several inches that night. With that news, we became rather discouraged and expected to spend the night in Lebanon. :-(

After eating and relaxing a bit, I got back on the computer and began to look at the weather more closely. I found a few destinations that were halfway between where we were and where we wanted to go and noticed that they still had good weather (clear up to 12,000 and 6-10 miles visibility).

With this new information, I called up a flight service briefer to talk about the options. Amusingly, I got the same briefer as last time. He realized I wasn't going away and decided to work with me on finding other options. After studying the weather for Saturday a bit more, he convinced me to shoot for Texarkana, AR or even Shreveport, LA.

Weather at both was diminishing but expected to be good enough for us to get in safely. And they didn't really help us get farther west but would put us in a better position for Saturday as the storms moved out. We'd be farther south and able to start heading across Texas earlier in the day.

So we packed up, hopped in the plane, and flew down to Texarkana, arriving about 30 minutes after sunset. The fine folks at TAC Air helped us with fuel, parking, and arranged a shuttle to the local Holiday Inn for the night. Best of all, there's a good Cajun Seafood restaurant right in the hotel.

This morning we're waiting for ceilings to lift high enough that we can begin the journey across Texas.

More pictures and GPS flight traces to come as time allows.

Previously: Flying Cessna 182 N601SF from Michigan to California

Flying Cessna 182 N601SF from Michigan to California

I'm writing this from gate H2 at Chicago's O'Hare Airport as I wait to board a flight to Kalamazoo, Michigan to pick up a Cessna 182. N601SF is a 1979 model that's sitting in a hangar at Kirsch Municipal Airport in Sturgis.

A few weeks ago I wrote Flying the Cessna 182 Skylane: My Checkout Story and mentioned the airplane waiting to be picked up. After numerous weather delays and cancellations (this is the third "attempt"), it looks like things will be clear enough to make the journey.

Our tentative plan is to set out from Sturgis on Friday morning, aiming to fly as far southwest as we can before dark. Hopefully we'll make it to Tulsa, Witchita, or somewhere in that vicinity. On Saturday, I like to shoot for the south end of the Rocky Mountains, hopefully ending up somewhere near Flagstaff. Then on Sunday, we should have a fairly easy ride back to San Jose,

Back in April of 2006, we had an adventure bringing Citabria N5156X back to California from Texas. This journey is going to be quite a bit colder and hopefully a bit less "interesting" (in a Chinese proverb sort of way).

Anyway, I'll try to post updates: GPS traces each day and photos. I brought along my new Wintec WBT-201 GPS data logger. So I should have some fun geo data to play with. I've experimented with it driving around and hacked together stuff like this so far. More to come.

So far the weather is looking like it'll mostly cooperate. Let's hope it stays that way. :-)

Cool Flying Machines on BoingBoing TV

The other day, Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing and NPR fame pinged me to point out a video they did about a guy (Carl Rankin) who builds cool airplanes and flying machines out of junk.

Yeah, he takes the stuff that we'd normally throw away and turns them into flying machine.

That has Maker Faire written all over it, doesn't it? :-)

Cool stuff.

Flying the Cessna 182 Skylane: My Checkout Story

A couple months ago, we bought a 1979 Cessna 182Q (N601SF) that's currently sitting in Michigan. It's been having a bit of work and upgrades performed, and that's a good thing on several levels. We've been so busy that I haven't had the time to go pick it up (and by "pick it up" I mean "fly it back to California") or even fly one locally to get the hang of it.

Unlike the Citabria I fly, the Cessna 182 "Skylane" is bigger, faster, and more complicated. It has a 230 horsepower engine, 4 seats, flaps, a constant speed propeller, and a much more populated instrument panel. Oh, and it has the little wheel on the nose, too.

The original plan was for me to fly out with an instructor and bring the airplane back, while getting 182 experience and my insurance requirements along the way--much like I did for bringing Citabria N5156X back to California in April of 2006.

However, scheduling problems have conspired against that, so I went with the backup plan: getting checked out locally in a 182 and taking a more experienced pilot to make the journey with me--someone with an instrument rating, just in case we need it (this time of year, odds are that we will).

Since I have over 100 hours of tailwheel time already, the insurance company only requires that I get 4 hours of dual time (instruction) in a 182 before they're willing to insure me. That shocked me at first, but by the time I had a few hours in the airplane I began to understand why: it's pretty easy to fly.

Overall Checkout

In looking at the local options, I found that Shoreline Flying Club, based at KPAO in Palo Alto, was my best option. They had a 1980 Cessna 182 (N5302N) on the line, have no monthly dues, an no initiation fee. Granted, the avionics are different, but the airplane and engine were virtually identical to the 1979 model that we'd purchased.

I scheduled several hours on both Sunday and Monday of last week to fly with William Hightower. When we first met, I explained my background and experience a bit, and then told him that my main concern was learning how to takeoff and land the 182. I reasoned that I could figure most everything else out along the way.

He agreed and we planned to fly on Sunday from Palo Alto airport down to Hollister airport so that I could get some practice on a big runway at a familiar and relatively quite airport. That'd let me focus on the airplane and not dealing with tons of other planes and/or controllers.

I spent most of the fight down there understanding how to trim the airplane and getting a sense of what it feels/sounds like at various power settings and whatnot. Down at the airport, we shot about seven full stop landings in the light crosswind on runway 31 before returning back to Palo Alto under a 1,500 foot cloud layer.

Much to my surprise, I was already fairly comfortable in the airplane after about 2.4 hours behind the controls.

On Monday we did basically the same thing, but we headed to South County airport instead. There we experimented more with landings in different flap settings--everything from zero flaps to the full 40 degree flaps (that was fun!). I also performed a simulated engine-out landing and a soft field takeoff. On the way home I got to play with the simple auto pilot a bit as well.

We ended the day with another 1.8 hours of time logged, enough to make me and the insurance company comfortable with my ability to keep from doing anything too stupid in the 182.

On both days, we did some other air work on the way to/from our destination. That included turns, stalls, slow flight, and the usual stuff one would expect in a new aircraft checkout.

Here are thoughts on a few specific aspects of the checkout that I was concerned about.

Flaps

For some reason, I figured that flying with flaps would be more complicated that I thought. In reality, however, it was not a big deal at all. In the 182 it seems like flying the takeoff with 20 degrees is almost always ideal, and landing with either 20 or 30 degrees works well unless you're in unusual circumstances.

Beyond the few minutes near the ground, I never had to think about the flaps. I did manage to forget to retract them to extend my glide during a simulated engine-out landing, but that's the only time they managed to surprise me. Given a good checklist for takeoff and landing (which I have), I don't really anticipate any problems.

I must say, landing with FULL FLAPS the first time is quite an experience. :-)

Constant Speed Propeller

My biggest concern was the extra workload associated with having a constant speed propeller. For whatever reason, the various material I'd read beforehand made it all sound far more complicated than what it really is.

The bottom line is that I don't have to think much about touching the prop control until we're safely away from the airport and getting into cruise mode. And then, like the flaps, I don't have to worry about it again (during normal operations) until entering the landing pattern when I'd start to reduce power, slow down, and so on.

Autopilot

Knowing that this particular airplane had mostly original equipment, meant that I could test out the simple Cessna 300A "Navomatic" autopilot. That's exactly what N601SF has too.

On one flight, I set the heading bug on the direction gyro to something about 15 degrees off our current heading made sure that the HDS SEL button was pushed, and turned the autopilot on. As if by magic, the airplane turned to that heading and then flew wings level (minus a small rudder trim problem) on course without me having to touch anything.

That's pretty cool. I can definitely see how this is going to be useful on longer flights now. Even without the altitude hold feature that fancier S-TEC autopilots have, it means you can fly mostly hands-free for a good stretch.

Conclusion

I no longer think the insurance companies are crazy for requiring so little time to fly a Cessna 182. And if you happen to be in the Bay Area looking for a smaller flying club with no dues and a good selection of airplanes, checkout Shoreline Flying Club.

Fighter Jets with More Seats?

It's funny. As an aviation and military aviation buff, I enjoy seeing how technology makes it possible to do things that we'd only imagined a few years ago. Automated In-Flight Refueling of an F/A-18 Fighter Jet is a recent example of that.

That sort of automation is consistent with the amazing growth in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) like the popular Predator. And with all this fancy new technology, I expected to see a next generation fighter that's self-flying and remotely controlled to some degree.

But then I came across something completely in the other direction!

Under the heading of Cyberwar Spawns New Combat Aircraft, I learned that the military is building new 2 seat versions of the popular F/A-18, F-16, F-22, and even the F-15 fighter jets!

Even two aircrewmen may not be enough as cyber, intelligence and air combat commands have joined forces to promote new fighter designs that can conduct at least three missions at the same time.

New two-seat versions of the F/A-18, F-16, F-15C, F-15E and F-22 with advanced active, electronically-scanned array (AESA) radars will be expected to wind their way through enemy air defenses, invade networks, shoot down opposing aircraft and find very small targets and bomb them with precision.

Planners also see two-person crews as crucial in establishing local area networks so that in the event of nuclear, electronic or computer attacks (which could blackout command and control of today’s network centric forces) even a few of these aircraft could quickly begin communicating, gathering intelligence and counterattacking.

That's right, they're adding seats!

Huh. Who'd have thought?

Now, the important question here: Who can get me a ride in one of those jets? :-)

Bad Pilot Decisions: Three Emergency Landings in One Day!

A few weeks ago this story caught my eye and I've been meaning to write about it ever since. A pilot (William Supan) flying his Piper Tri-Pacer from the Modesto Airport was taking a passenger (Jinhua Lin) for a first airplane ride. He had to make an emergency landing due to smoke coming out of the engine.

Upon landing, he apparently found a problematic hose clamp and went to the nearby Wal-Mart (not Wal-Mart Aviation Supply!) to get a replacement. He '"fixed" the problem himself, didn't get a mechanic to double-check his work, and went up again. As you might expect, the cockpit started to fill with smoke again, so he declared an emergency and landed a second time.

He checked and found that the hose had a cut in it. Apparently he replaced the hose (who knows what he used for that), because he took off a third time. But this time the engine caught fire and he made a third (and very bad) emergency landing. His passenger was spooked enough that she jumped from the plane on the runway and ended up in the hospital. That third landing cause substantial damage to the airplane (he bounced a few times and went off the runway), but the ensuing fire pretty much finished off the job.

Yikes!

In aviation safety training, it's often said that every accident is the result of a series of bad decisions, not just a single one. In this case, it's almost painful to read the story--seeing one bad decision after another, you can't help but to wonder what the guy was thinking.

I think The Modesto Bee story had a great line in it:

Ian Gregor of the FAA indicated that officials were surprised that pilot Wil-liam Supan, 52, of Pleasanton would try to take off a third time after having been forced to land twice because of smoke in the cockpit.

Hell, anyone with the smallest shred of common sense should have been surprised by that!

See Also: AVweb coverage

Instrument Flight (IFR) Training Ground School, Week #1: VFR Refresher

Last night I attended the first night of a 10 week course (3 hours for 1 night each week) to prepare for the FAA's Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) knowledge test. As part of reinforcing what we cover each week, I'm trying to write up a quick summary of each night's topics.

Sometimes typing things is a good way to refresh them in my own mind. Besides, you never know who might stumble onto this later and find it useful.

Introductions & Overview

Most of the first night was spend on introductions (meeting each other and our instructor), an overview of how the class will work, and some refreshers on various topics we all learned during our private pilot training.

Books

The main text for the course is the FAA's Instrument Flying Handbook which is available for free on-line. In addition, we're going to use the ASA Instrument Rating Test Prep for practice questions.

For additional reading, he suggested Jeppesen's Instrument/Commercial Manual and the FAA's Instrument Procedures Handbook. I'm told that those two do a better job of understanding the whole air traffic system and rationale behind why IFR operations work the way they doing.

Since I tend to remember things better when I understand why they work the way they do, I'm tempted to pick up those as well.

Finally, I have the King Schools Get It All Kit for the Instrument Rating. I've used their videos in the past and found them to be far superior to those from Sporty's.

VFR vs. IFR

We spent a bit of time discussion the pros and cons of VFR vs. IFR flight, generating a list that looked something like this.

Pro IFR:

• Safety
• Charts have altitude info you need
• Get through weather
• Don't get stuck as often

Con IFR:

• Longer routes (takes more gas and time)
• Have to deal with controllers and radio
• Higher workload

Human Factors and Aeronautical Decision Making (ADM)

We spent a fair amount of time reviewing human factors, including medical issues, illusions, disorientation, night vision, and stress. We also talked about the FAA's IMSAFE (Illness, Medical, Stress, Alcohol, Fatigue, and Eats) self-assessment checklist.

In the real of ADM, we briefly recalled the FAA's DECIDE (Detect, Estimate, Choose, Identify actions, Do, Evaluate) model for dealing with situations. Everyone has to learn it, but few people actually think through it that way in reality.

Cockpit/Crew Resource Management (CRM)

Cockpit or Crew Resource Management is going to be a much more important skill to develop in IFR flight than our normal VFR operations. There's more paperwork in the cockpit, instruments to watch, and radio communication to deal with. So having a logical and predicatable system for organizing the physical objects (checklists, books, charts, flight plans, etc.) and other information is critical.

Having your flight plan handy is good for when the controller says "cleared as filed" rather than giving you a set of waypoints to copy down. :-)

Aerodynamics

We concluded with a review of basic aerodynamics, including: indexing the airplane performance (for speeds and descent rates), angle of attack, flight path, pitch attitude, lift/drag/thrust/weight, and the various V speeds that come into play. We also talked a bit about the region of normal command and aircraft speed & pitch stability when using trim.

Other Stuff

I learned that following the VASI exactly at an airport will set you down at the 1,000 foot mark on most runways. That could be a very useful bit of trivia.

We also had chances to share stories about being, uh... surprised by weather in our flying.

Automated In-Flight Refueling of an F/A-18 Fighter Jet

This is one of the coolest things I've heard about in a while and I've been meaning to post about it for weeks now. You see, one of the trickiest thing that many fighter pilots have to learn (aside from carrier landings if you're in the Navy, that is) is how to re-fuel in the air.

Modern aircraft have incredibly capable autopilots that use a mix of GPS and inertial sensors to get a very accurate idea of where the plane is and where it is going. But re-fueling has always been a manual job--until now.

A DARPA project to figure out if computer could do the job has proven successful.

Sierra Nevada Corporation in Sparks, Nevada did most of the software work to tie in the optical sensors that fed into the navigation system (the "Autonomous Airborne Refueling Demonstration (AARD) system") once the jet was close enough to the fuel line. There's also an excellent write-up by the pilot in the front seat of that photo (the one with his hands up) in the current issue of Air & Space Magazine

Autonomous in-flight refueling. Who'd have thought?

Henry Coe State Park Fire Pictures

On Monday afternoon while flying back from Columbia (pictures), we noticed what looked like some dark clouds over the Diablo range. But as we started to cross the valley and go closer, it became clear that we were looking at a pretty good sized fire.

And, worse yet, I realized that if we wanted to fly straight back to Reid Hillview airport, we'd have to go through a lot of thick smoke.

So we diverted a bit to the north, flying over Tracy and Livermore before heading to San Jose. Along the way, we got a pretty good view of the fire and snapped the pictures you see here.

We were impressed by how close the fire is to to the Lick Observatory. They're probably not getting a very good view of the sky with this going on.

As of today, the fire in Henry Coe State Park is still burning rapidly and over 1,200 fire fighters are working to contain it.

Citabria, Champ, and Decathlon Flickr Photo Group

The other day I realized that there wasn't a Flickr Group dedicated to some of my favorite airplanes. So I created Citabria, Champ, and Decathlon on Flickr (a Yahoo service) as a group dedicated to pictures of the Aeronca, Bellanca, and American Champion tailwheel airplanes.

Of course, I'm a little biased since I own half of a 1969 Citabria 7KCAB (serial #181).

Anyway, if you're an owner, fan, or photographer of these birds, feel free to join the group and invite others :-)

A Lunch Flight to Half Moon Bay

On Sunday we decided that it was time to get back in the air again. After putting a new tailwheel spring chain on the airplane (the right one this time--last time it was the left), we headed out toward the south, aiming for Watsonville and ultimately the Pacific coast. The plan was to fly up the coast roughly 60 miles to Half Moon Bay Airport.

Before too long were we on the ground.

After arriving and tying the plane down at the far south end of the field, we walked through the path to the gate that leads to some of the nearby shops and restaurant. The nearest establishment to the airport is Mezzaluna, a nice little Italian place. They make a fantastic meat sauce.

We spent a bit of time walking by the ocean and checking out a few of the local shops before heading back to the airport for the flight back home. With full bellies, we decided to take out time and do a bit more sightseeing and photography along the way.

Along the way we got some excellent shots of the coast, including a lighthouse.

And the part I had most fun with was along the coast near Watsonville. We dropped down a few thousand feet, slowed the plane down, and put the camera out the window.

On the way home we swung by Frazier Lake Airport to play on their wonderful grass airstrip a bit.

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon! :-)

Full pictures are available here: Half Moon Bay Lunch Flight on Flickr.

In Parowan, Utah for the Week

Much like two years ago, I'm on the road back to Parowan, Utah for a week of glider flying and visiting the Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park.

I drove to Bakersfield, California last night after picking up my glider from Hollister. In about an hour I'll set out on the roughly 8-9 drive from Bakersfield to Parowan, Utah where I'll be staying at Victoria's Bed and Breakfast for the week.

I'm basically on vacation for my last full flying week of the year (no pun intended, but time really is flying this year), so posting here will be light. But I'll try to get some interesting and/or amusing tidbits online.

Last time I went away for a week, Yahoo got a new CEO, so who knows what will happen this week...

See Also:

• Back From Utah (2005)
• Pictures frmo Cedar Breaks, Utah (2005)
• Benchmark Road and Recreation Maps (2005)

Glider Landing in Thunderstorm [video]

As promised, here's another video of a hairy glider landing. This one occurred when a Genesis 2 pilot came back to land at CCSC during a thunderstorm during a contest.

According to what I've read, he was getting bounced around quite a bit and hit a ton of sink right near the field. As you'll see, it was raining pretty hard and the field appeared to be soaked. That's part of what made the resulting ground loop pretty uneventful--well, that and the fact that the Genesis has a very small tail boom.

Other pilots who landed shortly before this one simply stayed in the gliders, partly to stay dry and partly to keep "flying" them if the wind kicked up.

Last season I witnessed a Genesis 2 pilot come back to Truckee as a storm approached and watched him almost not make the runway because of massive sink.

Yikes. Fly safe, guys...

Glider Landing in R/C Field Video [video]

I've come across some interesting glider landing videos recently. The first video is of a 1-26 making a short landing in a radio controlled model airplane field. On the audio you can hear a lot of concern about the fence and I was worried about a ground loop from the tall grass under his left wing. But the pilot performed a skillful landing and didn't damage anything.

Enjoy.

Oh, I was rather amused that he was ticketed for landing there. I guess that's not much to complain about if it's the worst part of the land-out.

Up next is a landing on some very wet grass.

180 Day Parachute Repack Cycle in the Works

Those of you not interested in flying or aviation may not care much, but some long hard work by my favorite parachute riggers (Allen and Darrin Silver of Silver Parachute Sales & Service) may be coming to fruition soon.

On behalf of the Parachute Industry Association & United States Parachute Association, they have petitioned for an exemption to the current FAA mandated 120-day repack cycle. Currently, glider and light airplane pilots like me have to get their parachutes repacked every 120 day by a certified parachute rigger such as Allen. Their goal is to move from a 120 day repack cycle to 180 days.

Many other countries around the world have been using longer (up to 360 day or 1 year) repack cycles and have found that to work rather well. Modern parachutes are built of amazingly durable materials that will last a long, long time if treated properly. The main purpose of these periodic repacks (when the parachute hasn't been deployed) it to have an expert take the time to examine the material and look for signs of wear or aging.

The full documentation of the proposed rule changes is available on-line in Document FAA-2005-21829-9.

Feedback Needed

The abstract says:

The FAA is considering rulemaking to change the packing interval for certain types of parachutes. Currently, the FAA requires that most parachutes may not be used or carried aboard an aircraft and available for emergency use unless they have been packed within the previous 120 days. New reliability data from the parachute industry and other sources indicate it is time to review the packing interval, and the FAA is asking for public comment on a proposal to lengthen the interval from 120 to 180 days. The effect of the proposal is to ensure the rules reflect the safest parachute packing interval. In this rulemaking, we are also proposing several correcting amendments to the rules related to parachute operations. DATES: Send your comments on or before August 20, 2007.

And that last bit is important. The FAA would like to hear from pilots or parachute jumpers with opinions on this matter. I, for one, plan to voice my support for this change.

Please pass the word if you know of other pilots or jumpers who might be interested in seeing this rule change go into law.

A press release was issued on this last week, but I've been unable to find a copy on-line. So I'm including the text below for reference.

CONTACT:
Allen Silver
Silver Parachute Sales & Service
510-785-7070
Fax 510-785-9231
Allen@SilverParachutes.com
www.SilverParachutes.com

Longer Parachute Repacks on the Horizon

Hayward, CA, 22 May 2007 — Silver Parachute Sales & Service is spear-heading a multi-organizational effort to extend the repack cycle of emergency parachutes from 120 days to 180 days.

A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the 180-day repack has just gone out for public comment. All pilots who use emergency parachutes are encouraged to comment on this NPRM.

Two years ago Allen Silver and Darrin Silver; working on behalf of the Parachute Industry Association & United States Parachute Association; petitioned for an exemption to the 120-day repack cycle. “We're discovering that the newer parachute materials perform better when handled less frequently,” says Allen Silver, a master rigger with over 40 years experience in the field of parachutes. “Right now, twenty-five other countries safely use repack cycles of 180 days or longer.”

In a letter dated August 10th 2005, the FAA stated that since such a large group was requesting the exemption, it would be appropriate to initiate a rule change project. This is good news for everyone who wears a parachute. Darrin Silver notes, “In addition to the safety benefits, pilots will now see reduced maintenance costs on their parachute equipment and can make it through an entire airshow or contest season without the downtime of having a parachute repacked!”

Comments regarding the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking [identified by Docket Number FAA–2005–21829] may be sent using any of the following methods:

DOT Docket Web site:
Go to and follow the instructions for sending comments electronically.

Fax: 1–202–493–2251

Mail:
Docket Management Facility
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE.
West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12–140
Washington, DC 20590–0001

For additional information on the proposal to extend the parachute repack cycle to 180 days, contact Allen Silver at 510-785-7070 or visit www.SilverParachutes.com.

About Silver Parachute Sales & Service
Silver Parachute Sales & Service has been serving aerobatic and glider pilots worldwide since 1972. They are dedicated to providing in-depth, personal parachute service to aerobatic and glider pilots. Silver Parachute Sales & Service specializes in emergency parachutes and offers complete rigging services including repack & recertification, major repair & alteration, as well as manufacturing the AcroBelt five-point ratchet restraint system and S.M.A.K. PAK parachute survival kits.

Flying as Therapy

People often ask my why I like to fly. There's no simple answer other than "because I enjoy it" but that doesn't really answer the question. I like the view. The freedom to go almost anywhere. The art of putting technical knowledge to work in real-time.

But most of all, flying relaxes me. When I'm in the cockpit I am rarely thinking about work or the random complications that life throws me way. It was for that reason that I set off this afternoon on a little sight seeing flight from San Jose to the Monterey Coast.

The last few days have been interesting (in the Chinese proverb sort of way) and educational (in a "I learned something about myself the hard way" sort of way), so the 2.2 hour trip was a good way to get out today.

I assume that everyone has a hobby or activity that helps to escape the "real world" for a little while. If you don't, make it your goal to get one.

What's your way of getting away from it all?

In and around Phoenix... What to do?

As previously noted, I'm in Phoenix for a few days. In between the conference here and heading to Las Vegas on Sunday for MIX07, I'm spending a bit of time today at the Estrella Sailport (Arizona Soaring) where I'm scheduled to fly their Genesis 2.

I did a brief checkout in their Grob 103 yesterday along with another pilot friend who moved out here from the Bay Area last year. Conditions are looking decent for today, so I'm hoping for a couple hours of soaring around terrain that I don't get to see very often.

My flight to Vegas on Sunday isn't until about 5pm. What should we do on Sunday morning/afternoon?

Visiting the Arizona Wing CAF flying museum is one option. But there's probably time to do more than that. Ideas?

Broken Citabria Tailwheel Chain

Yesterday (Sunday) was looking like a potentially good day for some aerial sight seeing if the clouds stayed high enough. The plan was to fly up to the northwest and visit the area around Clear Lake, probably stopping at Lampson Field for fuel and whatnot.

But a funny thing happened as I was half way through a 180 degree turn in the run-up area at the end of runway 31R at Reid-Hillview airport. I felt what I can only describe as a "pop" in the left rudder pedal and then the steering began to feel funny. It was as if the tailwheel had somehow spun around too far or become jammed.

I figured it would straighten out on its own, so I finished the turn and ran through the run-up procedure. But then as I taxied over to the hold line so I could call up the control tower, it still didn't feel right. I tried a 360 degree turn and found that it felt like I'd lost almost all turning authority on the left side. I could still use the brakes, so it was still possible to steer with differential braking.

I suspected that there was a problem with the tailwheel spring and decided it was worth a look. A quick call back to the ground controller and we were cleared to taxi back to parking to check out the problem.

Here's what I saw upon walking to the rear of the plane.

The metal fastener that attaches the short chain from the spring to the tailwheel steering mechanism had come off. It looked like a simple fix, so I went to the car and grabbed the tool bag that I just happened to think to bring along.

But after about two minutes of fussing with it, I realized that the metal fastener had actually broken, so there was no way to fix it. We needed a replacement.

At that point I assumed the trip was off and called our mechanic. Much to my surprise, he was able to drop by and repair the problem. As expected, he had spares on hand. The entire repair took about two minutes.

Our mechanic rocks.

Within 20 minutes, we were in the air and had a nice flight up I-680, over Napa Valley, across Lake Berryessa, over to Davis, and landed at Yolo County Airport, (I just like saying "Yolo") right at the time that some parachute jumpers were landing. If you're ever there, check out the little outdoor eating area adjacent to the parachute operation. They've got good beer, not that I could have any.

We dodged a bit of rain on the way there and back, but overall it was a good trip. Hopefully some of the pictures turned out well.

Lee Vining Airport Tips

Back on April 1st I posted Yosemite from the Air and Lee Vining which contained some pictures from a flight over Yosemite National Park and on to Lee Vining.

Just for the record, Lee Vining is a little town in the high desert located along highway 395 where highway 120 descends down from Tioga Pass on the eastern edge of Yosemite National Park. It's also not far from Mono Lake.

As a follow up to my Silver Springs Airport Tips, here are a few tidbits about Lee Vining Airport.

• Remember what you learned about diminished engine performance at high density altitude airports. Lee Vining is at an elevation of 6,800 feet, so even on a moderate Spring day you're going to wonder where the horsepower has gone. Lean the mixture as needed.
• There is always a crosswind. I don't know whose bright idea it was to build a basically north/south runway right next to a big east/west mountain pass where there's almost always a westerly wind. But what's done is done.
• The runway is about 50 feet wide, so keep it on the centerline. There's not a lot of room for mistakes.
• When landing on runway 34, expect to hit some bumps and good sink on right base to final. Looking at the surrounding terrain, I suspect it is often present.
• When descending to land, you may circle the airport to determine which way the runway slopes. In doing so you'll probably convince yourself that it seems to slope both ways. Actually runway 34 is slightly downhill. About 2/3rds of the way to the north end the slope increases noticeably.
• The good news is that you have a slightly downhill takeoff on 34. Since your plane won't climb worth a damn anyway, this is helpful.
• The airport has a roughly 3 foot high barbed wire fence around it. Should you decide to attempt to walk down to the lake, you'll need to go over or through the fence. It's not that hard, actually. You can find places where both are possible if you look around a bit.
• The lake, however, is much farther from the airport than it seems.
• And the brush gets a lot thicker the closer you get to the shoreline.
• In the other direction, it's an easy walk into town along highway 395. There's ample shoulder room on both sides of the road (since it gets snow in the winter months).
• In town you'll find several places to eat as well as a visitor's center and some funky little shops.

The rest of the pictures are in my Mono Lake photoset on Flickr.

A Soaring Struggle

Earlier this week I started paying very close attention to the weather forecast for today (Thursday). There was a cold front coming into the area, expected to exit late on Wednesday and I was hoping that it would provide the classic post-frontal soaring that we glider pilots long for in the Bay Area.

It did. Sort of.

Everything was looking good except for the wind. The pressure gradient was still strong and that set us up for a 15-20 knot wind out of the north/northwest. But there were predicted to be good cumulous clouds (indicators of rising air), so I figured it was worth cashing in a day of my accumulating vacation time.

As I drove to the airport this morning, the clouds looked amazing. I was kicking myself for not having started an hour sooner. But I'd seen days like this before and wasn't too worried.

However, as I was assembling my glider, the clouds started to vanish. The atmosphere was beginning to dry out a bit. They didn't completely vanish, but I'd say their intensity was reduced by a good 60-75% or so.

Uh oh.

Around 12:45pm I launched off runway 31 at Hollister, following the lead of the few pilots who had launched before me. Before long, I was off tow at 3,300 and struggling to stay up. The lift was hard to find and hard to stay in, but I kept at it. It took an hour to get above 3,700 and I nearly had to land once. But eventually it got better.

I maxed out around 6,000 feet and managed to fly around and explore a bit. But after two hours of the 20 knot headwinds and ripped thermals, I'd had enough of bouncing around and headed in to land.

All in all, it wasn't the day I hoped it would be. But it was certainly good practice. I'm really hoping that the Spring soaring season is going to kick off soon. We could really use a few good days.

Silver Springs Airport Tips

On Sunday I flew out to Silver Springs airport where my sister picked me up for Easter dinner back at their place in Fernley, Nevada.

The airport web site is clearly a marketing device. Especially the facility page which touts the airport as being "a 24 hour, fully operational airport capable of accepting 737s" and such.

Here are a few observations from my first visit to Silver Springs.

• There aren't many turnoffs. As you can see, there's one at each end of the runway and another in the first bit of runway 23. But if you land past that, it's a long taxi down to the end, so you'll need to do a 180 to taxi back. The runway is 6,000 feet long.
• Though there is no AWOS on field, after you key the microphone and make an inbound call an automated system will provide basic AWOS or ATIS style information (winds, active runway, etc.). If it doesn't, try three clicks on the microphone.
• Despite the impressive things said on the web site (noted above) and the massive runway, there's no fuel available on-site. So if you're flying that 737 in, make sure you've got lots of Jet A or, in my case, 100LL.
• The new taxiway and tie-down areas are in great shape. It's very smooth, clean, and well marked. But there are no tie-down chains so bring your own ropes. I was glad to have a set with me.
• There's a prominent gate at the airport entrance off of the highway. But I'm not sure why, since it's a 24-hour facility.

Have you been to Silver Springs? What did I miss?

Unexpected Things I Did Today

While there's a lot of my life that's fairly routine, today began and ended with things I didn't know I'd be doing just a few days before.

First, I started the day by hanging out with soon-to-be-famous Tim Ferriss (read his blog for more about what he's up to). We got to talk about writing books (his comes out in a few weeks), travel, flying, and so on. I now owe him a ride in the Citabria.

Then I headed up to San Carlos this evening to give an hour long talk on soaring at EAA Chapter 20 (that's the Experimental Aircraft Association). Their previously booked speaker had cancelled at the last minute, so they asked me.

I think it went pretty well. I'll post slides and pictures soon. At least one member has promised me a flight in his RV and I plan to take advantage of that. I was especially impressed by how many of the members had been up for a glider ride in the past. Two of them even have glider ratings.

There appears to be a law of conservation of aircraft rides involved in both events, somehow. You give one, you get one. I'm cool with that.