8-31-00
Piper Warrior
Solo Flight

     Long is away for two weeks, so any flying is going to be solo practice in the local area. Today I practiced landings at Sullivan County and Monticello. My first landing was pretty poor. Lately I've been noticing that my flare is too late, so I decided I would concentrate on starting it a little earlier. Well I did that, ended up doing it TOO early and stalled the plane onto the runway from about 8 feet up. Not good. Although it didn't bounce, it sure felt like a ton-of-bricks landing. I was fairly upset with myself for that. The next few were better, especially when I reminded myself to try to keep the plane from touching the ground.

    I also simulated a low go-around because I've never actually had to do one. No problem. The Warrior has enough pep that it develops pretty good thrust even with full flaps down. And it was fairly warm today, so I think I got a fairly good idea of what the plane can do in that situation.

    There was nobody around for the most part at Sullivan or at Monticello, so I decided to try a straight-in approach at Monticello. This had the added allure of saving me a bit of time going around the airport to enter on a 45. Being careful of the power lines that are near the approach to runway 19, I did a pretty good landing. Did two more at Monticello before calling it quits.

9-1-00
Piper Arrow
Observed ILS Approach

     I was at the airport today taking some photographs for a web site, and met John Needles. He got his instrument rating at Monticello, and was there today for some maintenance work on his Piper Arrow. The Arrow has a 200 hp Lycoming engine, retractable gear, and a constant speed prop. Although technically not considered high performance (it would have to be 201 hp for that!), it is classified a complex airplane. John and I got to talking while they worked on his plane, and he graciously offered to take me up with him as he tested the plane.

    John explained some of the particulars of flying a plane with retractable gear and a variable speed prop, and talked a bit about instrument flying. There was a low overcast today, and by the time we reached altitude, the conditions really were actual IFR.

    The Arrow is a nice machine. It climbs well even at a low angle of attack, which John explained is the result of the extra horsepower. The retractable gear and prop controls add a level of complexity, but that was nothing compared to the instrument flying that John demonstrated for me. Being almost completely ignorant of IFR procedures, I was very interested to see what it took to fly a precision approach. I won't try to chronicle the entire procedure, but here are the basics: He used the ADF to intercept the Monga NDB near Sullivan County Airport. Then he executed a series of standard rate turns at specified altitudes and headings to set us up on the ILS approach. When we got on the glide slope we began a 500 foot-per-minute descent. The glideslope instrument in the airplane showed us our horizontal position (as when tracking a VOR, but more precise), as well as our position with regard to the glideslope. John explained that the "decision altitude" for this particular approach is 1653 feet - which means that if you don't see the runway at that point, you have to abort the approach. Today we were able to see the airport some time before the decision checkpoint.

    Satisfied that the approach had been successful we declined to land, and John dropped me off at Monticello in ever thickening clouds. It was a new experience for me to land at Monticello in bad weather. Being a student pilot I rarely see anything but high clouds. Once on the ground I reflected on the heavy workload that IFR pilots must manage. Right now it's all I can do to manage a comparatively simple aircraft under VFR rules. Very interesting to learn about a new plane and a new way of flying today. It may have given me a glimpse into how I will be spending next summer! Thanks John - I owe you some sushi!

9-5-00
Piper Warrior
Solo Practice

     I hadn't intended to fly today, but when I saw the beautiful weather as I left work, my car just started heading for the airport of its own volition. Practiced stalls, turns around a point, and landings at Sullivan County. Nothing unusual to speak of. Stalls are good, turns around a point still stink.

    The only exciting part came on my return to Monticello. My approach just didn't feel right, and I landed with a bit of a shimmy. So I made my first actual go-around, and then flew a much better approach for my landing.

9-7-00
Piper Warrior

     Went up with my colleague Fred Saltzman in his IFR-equipped Warrior. First time I've flown right seat in a long time. Felt funny, but OK. I did one approach to landing, but Fred asked me not to actually touch down. Neither of us were entirely confident that I could do a clean landing from the right seat. Fred also flew the ILS approach into Sullivan County - second time I've observed that. I want to fly right seat more often so it's not so alien to me if/when I ever try for a CFI some time in the far flung future.

9-13-00
Piper Warrior
Stewart International

     Went up again with Fred so he could practice flying from the right seat. That's pretty tough when you've had over 1000 hours in the left seat, as Fred does. He did several landings with no problem, except that he tended to drift to the right of center. It's tough to judge your position from the right side.

    So after a few landings Fred said, "Let's go somewhere. You fly." So I asked to go to Stewart International to get introduced to controlled airspace, which in this case is Class D. So off we went with Fred coaching me on what to say to ATC and when.

    When we were about 15 miles out Fred spotted another plane in their pattern. Then I thought, "He spotted a plane at Stewart from this far out?" Yup - one of the big C-5 transport planes the Air National Guard has based at Stewart. What a big bird!

    So I called up ATC as we approached, and geez, but they talk fast! Ironically, they asked me to fly a right pattern to the big 11,000 foot runway. Ironic because usually I'm in the right-hand seat when I fly with Fred, which would have made this much easier! So I made a terrible turn to final, but I had come out pretty far on downwind and had time to get back on track.

    Now the funny part. Stewart's big runway has a tremendous displaced threshold, and people often land on it by mistake thinking it's part of the runway. The controllers are apparently very touchy about this, and Fred cautioned me several times to be sure I landed past the numbers. As I lined up on final approach Fred noticed a truck on the threshold. He keyed his mic and said, "Stewart Tower, Warrior 9605 Charlie - do you realize there's a car on the runway?"

    The controller came back in a nasty tone. "Sir, that is the THRESHOLD. What you need to do is land past the numbers, on the RUNWAY." Fred shook his head incredulously and mumbled an affirmative. Never did find out what the truck was doing there, but I guess all they were concerned about was that we landed past the numbers.

    Fun trip, and it may save me from making a few mistakes when I go there with Long.

9-20-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Long Tan

     Long got back the other day, and informed me that he has been hired by an airline! So I now join the ranks of the many who have become suddenly instuctor-less in the middle of training. But I'm not worried because a new instructor is already lined up. Stu is a nice guy, and I have already flown with him once. I think we'll get along fine, and if things go well I'll get him to teach me instruments next summer.

    Today Long and I finished up my basic instrument training. The object of the lesson was for me to recover from "unusual attitudes" while under the hood. So I did some basic instrument turns and climbs to get back into the feel of instrument flying. Then Long took the airplane while I closed my eyes and put my head down. He maneuvered around a bit, then told me to open my eyes and recover the plane.

    I didn't find it that difficult. The hard part was sitting there with my head down while he twisted the plane around. He had some real G-forces going there, which isn't too comfortable when you don't have visual cues. Makes you queasy. The surprise was when I opened my eyes to find that he had covered up the attitude and heading indicators. I soon found that navigating by compass is a pain in the ass. You have to remember that in addition to the errors due to magnetic dip, the plane turns around the compass. That means that you fly opposite where you want the compass to turn. Weird.

    And so ends the basic instrument portion of my training. Now it's on to controlled airspace, night flying, and a few more cross country flights.

9-22-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Long Tan

     Took a trip to Stewart International and got some more practice with air traffic control. Having a kneeboard and the flight guide entry for the airport made things a lot easier. Once again I had to fly a right-hand pattern, but to the smaller runway. When I reported abeam the tower as instructed, they had me make a 360° circle to wait for other traffic, then cleared me to land.

    My girlfriend was in the plane too, and the three of us went out to dinner in Newburgh. Afterwards Long suggested taking a sightseeing ride down to the Statue of Liberty. We took off in darkness, which was new for me. Then we received a clearance to fly down the Hudson River into Manhattan. This was one of the most spectacular experiences I've ever had! It was a clear night and all the buildings were lit up, and it was just incredible. As we passed by Yankee Stadium, Long asked for permission to overfly the field. Surprisingly, they said yes! So I took us over the stadium, and was surprised and thrilled to see that there was a night game in progress! We could see the players on the field, and the crowd in the stands, and it was unbelievable! Then we got to the statue and did a few circles so we could take pictures. On the way back we flew up the East River and over Central Park, which was quite dark. We were just breathless as we picked up the Huegenot VOR to head back to Sullivan County.

    Click HERE to see photos from this flight.

    Night flying is interesting. Much easier to spot traffic because of the lights. I rather enjoyed it, although I found landing a bit disorienting. Long and I will do a bunch of night touch and go's some time in the next few days.

9-27-00
Piper Warrior
Solo flight

     Did my solo flight to Stewart International's Class D airspace today. I had no problem dealing with ATC, but my actual stick & rudder skills were pretty bad. I'd like to blame a significant crosswind, but probably shouldn't.

    I got to Stewart without any trouble, and since they weren't busy they allowed me to do some touch and go's. Flying the right-hand pattern didn't give me trouble today (come to think of it, that's the first time I've flown right-hand traffic solo...). Two of my landings were pretty bad, one was fairly good. I paid more attention to the crosswind, put in a good sideslip and held it throughout the flare, and landed nicely. After that I asked for a full stop landing so I could taxi around, get my breath, and practice dealing with the ground people for departure. No problem with that, and off I went toward Monticello.

    The crosswind situation had actually worsened a bit since I had left. It was variable, around 8 knots gusting to 14. So I got a little jumpy considering that I didn't feel all that good to begin with about my skills today. Entered the pattern at Monticello having first checked for traffic. Then just as I was getting to the key position, I heard another plane call out the same position as me. I quickly looked around and was startled to see another plane about 300 feet off my right wingtip! They asked if I was Long. I said no, and asked what they intended to do. Without answering, they veered off to the right. I announced that I was aborting my approach, powered up and went around the pattern. This little encounter shook me up, and after setting up again I flew a terrible pattern. Got blown away from the runway, and then almost tried to overcorrect. It's so tempting to just bank a little further over to get back on final, but it has been drilled into me that this is a BIG no-no. So I went around again, and flew a better pattern the third time around.

    I would say I "arrived" rather than landed. Came in too high, bounced, and had to brake hard as I was running out of runway. But I got there in one piece. Long told me I should have come in the other way because the wind was slightly favoring the other direction. So actually I had made matters worse for myself by coming in with a slight tailwind. Good lesson today on watching for traffic, and taking the time to do the arithmetic on which runway the wind favors.

    NEXT DAY: I have been bothered all day by my flight yesterday. A day's perspective has brought the following insight: Between the crosswind and the other plane crowding me in the pattern, I allowed myself to succumb to "get-down-itis". I was so desperate to land that I conducted a poor procedure - one that I would normally have aborted. I should have gone around on that last approach instead of forcing the plane onto the runway. There shouldn't have been any rush - I had plenty of gas, and could have set up another approach at my leisure. Or even more sensibly, gone to Sullivan County and used the big runway. In any case, it was poor judgment and I hope I have learned from it.

9-29-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Long Tan

     I met Long at Sullivan County Airport for my introduction to night flying, which was actually my second time doing it. We stayed in the pattern and just worked on landings. It's almost like flying under the hood. A bit disorienting, but I enjoyed it. We did several normal landings, and then did some with various flap settings.  One aspect I found challenging was simply the addition of a step to the landing procedure - you have to turn on the landing light. On my third landing I forgot to turn it on, and then couldn't figure out why I couldn't see the runway centerline! Dumb!

    The really fun part came when we started turning out lights in the airplane on purpose. We purposely kept the landing light off for an approach, so I had to use only the runway lighting. Then we turned off all the cockpit lights! Long had had me listen carefully to the engine at the crucial power settings so I could estimate where the power was without checking the gauge. So I took off and flew the pattern with no instruments whatsoever. I found it challenging to judge altitude throughout the whole lesson because there is little at night to give you a real reference as to size. Long said it was better to be high than low, especially at night. So I kept it high and did the approach, being careful to keep the nose down and the airspeed high enough to not risk a stall. Challenging, but fun.

    Throughout the lesson I found myself coming close to being overloaded. In addition to remembering extra bits of chores (landing lights, etc.), Long and I were chatting in an effort to simulate what might happen when I have a talkative passenger along. So there were a few times I was late taking out flaps, or starting a turn.

    Then he started cutting the throttle on me. Out of three times I got us down OK twice. On the unsuccessful attempt he had cut the power as I was coming abeam the takeoff end of the runway in the downwind leg. I wasn't sure what to do in this situation, thinking that I wasn't far enough down the runway to safely execute a 180 and land. So I tried to cut in toward the runway and land straight ahead, but would have run out of room.

    Overall, it was a very enjoyable lesson. I really liked flying in the blacked-out cockpit - that may have been what it felt like to fly in the 1920's or 30's. Made a few nice landings too.
 

10-1-00
Piper Warrior
Solo Flight

      Had hoped to make my cross country to Norwich/Eaton Airport today, and all looked good. Perfect weather forecast and conditions from the briefer, and it sure looked great outside. But Long returned from flying with another student to tell me that there was a great deal of haze in the air. What? I called weather again and they kept calling for unrestricted visibility. Then another pilot came down to say that he had tried to go Elmira (not far from Norwich), and couldn't get through the haze

     So instead I tried to go over to Dutchess County Airport in the other direction to practice with Class D airspace. But as soon as I left the traffic pattern and gained some altitude, I could see the haze hanging over the ridge near Wurtsboro. So I turned back and tooled around the traffic pattern at Monticello for a while, working on landings.

     Today was Long's last day, and I bid him farewell with the gift of a set of juggling balls. Stu will be here in about two weeks, and I hope to make a push to finish my training in November. If the weather holds, I may be able to do it.