Introduction and Training Journey

Skates97 said:
Sunday's flight, less than two weeks to my check-ride, maybe the last flight with my CFI before my check-ride.

http://intothesky.us/2016/10/02/last-flight-with-my-cfi/
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Looking good.

Minor item: I wouldn't worry about "style points" rolling directly into a runway by timing the radio calls too much. Not because it isn't cool to try, but because the thing that will kill you rolling onto a runway is the guy landing that you don't realize is there on short final, even at a towered airport.

I'd rather see you clear both directions with a hard look both ways, even if you had to "touch the brakes" to do it.

No big deal, just a technique point. Always look and make a note that you looked. I try to keep eyeballs looking at the final during that last turn toward the runway. It's the last time you'll get a panoramic view of both side's downwinds and the final. (Never assume some jackwagon isn't flying a downwind on the wrong side for that airport. It happens.

Pilots line up on the wrong parallel, someone trashes an engine in the downwind, pilots wander in NORDO even at a towered field, someone taxis out at an intersection downfield, maintenance vehicles get lost. Etc etc etc.

Airplanes can show up at runways for lots of reasons and surprise everyone. Even a departing aircraft ahead of you on a runway has a non-zero chance of having a power problem and returning right back at you, landing downwind. If you need to, head for the grass and get out of the way.

Never assume 100% that the runway is "yours". Always look around a bit. Make that a habit. Many of us have learned that habit the hard way by having an aircraft whiz by our nose right as we were about to enter a runway.

Have fun!
 
denverpilot said:
Looking good.

Minor item: I wouldn't worry about "style points" rolling directly into a runway by timing the radio calls too much. Not because it isn't cool to try, but because the thing that will kill you rolling onto a runway is the guy landing that you don't realize is there on short final, even at a towered airport.

I'd rather see you clear both directions with a hard look both ways, even if you had to "touch the brakes" to do it.

No big deal, just a technique point. Always look and make a note that you looked. I try to keep eyeballs looking at the final during that last turn toward the runway. It's the last time you'll get a panoramic view of both side's downwinds and the final. (Never assume some jackwagon isn't flying a downwind on the wrong side for that airport. It happens.

Pilots line up on the wrong parallel, someone trashes an engine in the downwind, pilots wander in NORDO even at a towered field, someone taxis out at an intersection downfield, maintenance vehicles get lost. Etc etc etc.

Airplanes can show up at runways for lots of reasons and surprise everyone. Even a departing aircraft ahead of you on a runway has a non-zero chance of having a power problem and returning right back at you, landing downwind. If you need to, head for the grass and get out of the way.

Never assume 100% that the runway is "yours". Always look around a bit. Make that a habit. Many of us have learned that habit the hard way by having an aircraft whiz by our nose right as we were about to enter a runway.

Have fun!
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Oh, I am always looking everywhere. Taxiing along and anytime I'm coming up to an intersection of hangars/taxiways I'm slowing down and looking for that plane or more often that car that is on it's way to/from a hangar. We always cross 21 which is only an active runway a few times a year on our way to 26R, even so I am looking for that lost pilot coming in on final before I cross 21, just in case... Even after the tower clears me to take the runway I am looking for planes on final until the point that I am turning to line up on the runway and can't see that direction anymore. I think of it the same way I do driving, just because the rules are there doesn't mean the other guy is paying attention. Just this morning on my way to work I watched a guy blow through a red light right in front of me. When I get the green light I am looking to see if the other guy is going to actually stop. If not, then this morning I would have been t-boned in the driver's door and not been writing about it. I've made it through almost 30 years of driving without an accident by looking for the other guy, by doing the same thing in the cockpit I'm planning on continuing that perfect record.
 
denverpilot said:
Looking good.

Minor item: I wouldn't worry about "style points" rolling directly into a runway by timing the radio calls too much. Not because it isn't cool to try, but because the thing that will kill you rolling onto a runway is the guy landing that you don't realize is there on short final, even at a towered airport.

I'd rather see you clear both directions with a hard look both ways, even if you had to "touch the brakes" to do it.

No big deal, just a technique point. Always look and make a note that you looked. I try to keep eyeballs looking at the final during that last turn toward the runway. It's the last time you'll get a panoramic view of both side's downwinds and the final. (Never assume some jackwagon isn't flying a downwind on the wrong side for that airport. It happens.

Pilots line up on the wrong parallel, someone trashes an engine in the downwind, pilots wander in NORDO even at a towered field, someone taxis out at an intersection downfield, maintenance vehicles get lost. Etc etc etc.

Airplanes can show up at runways for lots of reasons and surprise everyone. Even a departing aircraft ahead of you on a runway has a non-zero chance of having a power problem and returning right back at you, landing downwind. If you need to, head for the grass and get out of the way.

Never assume 100% that the runway is "yours". Always look around a bit. Make that a habit. Many of us have learned that habit the hard way by having an aircraft whiz by our nose right as we were about to enter a runway.

Have fun!
Click to expand...

We took an army of CAP cadets and every senior who wanted to come, up into the Palo Alto tower cab last Tuesday. It was early evening, and light traffic, so the 20+ people in there were tolerable.

The cadets asked questions about the light gun, so one of the seniors (a CFI) asked how often lost comms occurred at that airport. The answer was once A DAY. Every one of us was startled at that answer.

Palo Alto can be very busy for a single-runway airport, but I still find it stunning that there are that many radio problems. And most of them are on the transmission side, like a flaky PTT (that's what my one lost comms was about), so no position announcements will be heard.

The ops log was being filled out at the time, and it showed about 300 operations that day. That was a Tuesday, which the local controller described as being an "average" day (not particularly light). The conclusion is that somewhere around 0.3% of airplanes taking off or landing will be unable to give radio traffic calls. Presumably, it would be somewhat higher at nontowered airports because some pilots avoid Class D if they know their radio is bad.
 
denverpilot said:
Looking good.

Minor item: I wouldn't worry about "style points" rolling directly into a runway by timing the radio calls too much. Not because it isn't cool to try, but because the thing that will kill you rolling onto a runway is the guy landing that you don't realize is there on short final, even at a towered airport.

I'd rather see you clear both directions with a hard look both ways, even if you had to "touch the brakes" to do it.

No big deal, just a technique point. Always look and make a note that you looked. I try to keep eyeballs looking at the final during that last turn toward the runway. It's the last time you'll get a panoramic view of both side's downwinds and the final. (Never assume some jackwagon isn't flying a downwind on the wrong side for that airport. It happens.

Pilots line up on the wrong parallel, someone trashes an engine in the downwind, pilots wander in NORDO even at a towered field, someone taxis out at an intersection downfield, maintenance vehicles get lost. Etc etc etc.

Airplanes can show up at runways for lots of reasons and surprise everyone. Even a departing aircraft ahead of you on a runway has a non-zero chance of having a power problem and returning right back at you, landing downwind. If you need to, head for the grass and get out of the way.

Never assume 100% that the runway is "yours". Always look around a bit. Make that a habit. Many of us have learned that habit the hard way by having an aircraft whiz by our nose right as we were about to enter a runway.

Have fun!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't call this a "minor item." It's very good advice.
 
exncsurfer said:
I would suspect your mock check rides were more involved than your actual check ride will be. Sounds like you're very well prepared. Good luck. Nice job with the write-ups.
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I hope so, but I would rather have it this way than the other way around. Be over prepared and then sail on through...Hopefully :)
 
Skates97 said:
Final write-up of my training prior to the check ride. This was last Saturday/Sunday, my check ride is tomorrow.

http://intothesky.us/2016/10/09/final-check-ride-preparation/
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Well good luck, hopefully the weather will cooperate for you and you won't have to have 3 'night before check rides' like I did, haha. I think I was most prepared the first time, 2nd time a little less, 3rd time, I redid my flight plan winds aloft numbers then I was just like to heck with it, I'm just going, hopefully he has a sense of humor. And that also put my last flight before ride out to 2 weeks as well, but it worked out fine for me, I'm sure you'll ace it.
 
exncsurfer said:
Well good luck, hopefully the weather will cooperate for you and you won't have to have 3 'night before check rides' like I did, haha. I think I was most prepared the first time, 2nd time a little less, 3rd time, I redid my flight plan winds aloft numbers then I was just like to heck with it, I'm just going, hopefully he has a sense of humor. And that also put my last flight before ride out to 2 weeks as well, but it worked out fine for me, I'm sure you'll ace it.
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Thanks, the weather should cooperate but we might not take off until later than planned. The schedule is the oral at 9am and flying around 11am. The morning mist/haze hasn't been burning off until around noon-1pm so there might be a little delay while we wait for that. However by early afternoon it has been great flying weather and that is what the forecast is showing for tomorrow.
 
Good luck! The TAF for Ontario is showing decent conditions around noon-1 pm, just as you said.

Here's hoping your next post is done by a licensed pilot (you!). :D:D
 
Awesome! I was playing golf today in Chino Hills...kept looking up trying to spot a red and white Cherokee.

Congrats, and looking forward to the write-up.
 
Congrats! Have you taken any passengers up yet?
 
exncsurfer said:
Congrats! Have you taken any passengers up yet?
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Not yet... Taking my wife and two boys on a short little hop from CNO to POC for some lunch on Saturday. We'll fly over our home on the way back to CNO.
 
A couple of pro tips:

1. For a very short flight like that, call ATIS on the phone for the destination airport, before you leave. It's in the A/FD and just about every app. For Brackett, it's (909) 596-1523. You can save a little Hobbs time by calling the departure airport as well prior to engine start. It's not ideal to be fumbling around with multiple frequency changes in very cramped space. At a minimum, load destination weather and tower into COM2 before takeoff, but it's best not to have to listen to a minute or two of ATIS while airborne at all.

2. ALWAYS have the airport diagram handy at an unfamiliar airport. Brackett has transient parking marked right on it.

3. Learn how to approach and land without the PAPI. It's a useful skill. There are still quite a few runways that don't have them.

4. Airplanes handle a bit differently with the different load. Don't be afraid to go around if you aren't happy, especially early in your career. High approaches can lead to PIOs, particularly if the runway isn't very long.

5. Individual houses are quite difficult to spot unless you're William Randolph Hearst. Try the school instead.

6. Consider taking the family on a scenic trip. If it isn't too windy, maybe Palm Springs, or Beach Cities (Torrance, Long Beach or Hawthorne).

7. Cessnas are more comfy for passengers, especially with windows that can be opened. Now is a good time for a transition. You'll find it easy; 172s fly rather similarly to Warriors. Except they climb better (than Warriors, not Archers), and the view is better. Not so friendly in the pattern; you'll have to learn to lift a wing. And the kid will have an easier time seeing over the panel, useful for when he wants to fly (it's gonna happen -- go to at least 3000 AGL the first time, and make sure you trim well).

8. At this stage, your family needs demonstration of good ADM, though they probably can't verbalize that. They want to know you're a safe flier. Demonstrations of judgment and anticipation of comfort and safety issues can help set them at ease. They are going to judge you almost entirely on your landings and whether or not you make them queasy; they just don't know anything else. So, tell them "this landing is going to be firm" if you anticipate it. If you don't, practice, so you get it down. I used to give that warning for short-ish fields, but I don't much anymore, since I can do a soft field landing well inside 2000 feet these days.
 
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A couple of pro tips:

1. For a very short flight like that, call ATIS on the phone for the destination airport, before you leave. It's in the A/FD and just about every app. For Brackett, it's (909) 596-1523. You can save a little Hobbs time by calling the departure airport as well prior to engine start. It's not ideal to be fumbling around with multiple frequency changes in very cramped space.

Not too concerned about an extra couple tenths on the Hobbs meter, if I can't afford that I probably shouldn't be flying. No fumbling around with frequency changes, those are easy to do and there's a lot more room than when I was flying with my instructor... I had already programmed the ATIS as the alternate in COM2 before taking off and the tower for Brackett in the alternate for COM1 before taking off. All it required was pushing a button to change frequency. Cramped space? I'm not sure the size of the people you fly with but we had plenty of room.​

2. ALWAYS have the airport diagram handy at an unfamiliar airport. Brackett has transient parking marked right on it.

Yes, my mistake and Ground was nice enough to kindly point me in the right direction.​

3. Learn how to approach and land without the PAPI. It's a useful skill. There are still quite a few runways that don't have them.

Good point, something else to practice. There's a few around here that don't. I'll have to make some hops over to them.​

4. Airplanes handle a bit differently with the different load. Don't be afraid to go around if you aren't happy, especially early in your career. High approaches can lead to PIOs, particularly if the runway isn't very long.

Not afraid of going around. There was plenty of runway, barely even touched the brakes when exiting.​

5. Individual houses are quite difficult to spot unless you're William Randolph Hearst. Try the school instead.

Try the school? Never had a problem spotting my house from the air. Even flying on commercial airlines into John Wayne, approaches from the East most of the time pass by our neighborhood. They are moving a lot faster and are a lot higher, but I can still spot my house. Maybe some people have problems picking individual houses out, but I never have. My wife and son were both able to pick it out as well...​

6. Consider taking the family on a scenic trip. If it isn't too windy, maybe Palm Springs, or Beach Cities (Torrance, Long Beach or Hawthorne).

There are other trips planned.​

7. Cessnas are more comfy for passengers, especially with windows that can be opened. Now is a good time for a transition. You'll find it easy; 172s fly rather similarly to Warriors. Except they climb better (than Warriors, not Archers), and the view is better. Not so friendly in the pattern; you'll have to learn to lift a wing. And the kid will have an easier time seeing over the panel, useful for when he wants to fly (it's gonna happen -- go to at least 3000 AGL the first time, and make sure you trim well).

No interest in flying a Cessna, some people like them and some don't. I won't be transitioning to one. I have other plans.​

8. At this stage, your family needs demonstration of good ADM, though they probably can't verbalize that. They want to know you're a safe flier. Demonstrations of judgment and anticipation of comfort and safety issues can help set them at ease.

They were at ease and both enjoyed the ride. Neither felt unsafe, and I think I know them well enough to know when they are feeling unsafe. I'm not sure how you can critique what they were feeling by reading my write up.​
 
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