I'm not dead! I made it!

I realize some aspiring pilots may be ending up here in the hopes of finding information on how to further their career, and then realizing that there's a handful of sort of useless posts. Either way, I eventually found work in a PC-12 Pilatus this last summer after instructing a year and a half. If anyone would like any advice / inspiration and you can't locate me on jetcareers (sounddoc) then I'm at pkemble at gmail dot com.

first time squawking a 7000 number...

Recently while giving a lesson in a newer warrior with dual GNS430s, comm 1 decided to no longer transmit after liftoff. My student and I were remaining in the pattern and getting calls in the crosswind which were unanswered by the tower it seemed. My student was on the radio as I'm trying to get him ready to solo. He got distracted by the failed radio, and was in a 1000fpm climb out of the pattern, passing through the downwind. I tried at the same time to answer tower on my radio, while telling my student to descend and turn downwind, immediately. I should mention this was superbowl weekend, so there were a steady stream of business jets departing for Indiana...oh and did I mention there were about 5 other students in the pattern!? So, needless to say it was a busy time, and the expected New England winter bumps weren't helping my student's concentration. I took the controls, and continued to try to communicate with the tower. At this point, I should have tried comm 2, but ATC started to call my traffic and clear me for a touch and go! Without hearing me? This seemed odd, and I later learned that the controller was a trainee. He sequenced me in for landing, I had my traffic, so I did what I thought was best, and squawked 7600, telling my student to watch the tower for light gun signals. We never saw them, so I landed, and taxied off the runway. I changed to comm 2 and they heard us, so we continued the lesson on that radio. On the way back from the practice area, I tried comm 1 again and they heard us, so I just squawked it at the FBO as intermittently working.

The takeaway I tried to teach my student was the seminal aviate, navigate, communicate. In hindsight switching to comm 2 to troubleshoot in the downwind would have been the better idea but I was trying to descend and join the downwind with others in the pattern while the tower was still making calls to me. Instead I aviated and navigated to get back in the downwind. Since I was unable to answer back my clearance right away while concentrating on seeing and avoiding, the first thing I thought was squawk 7600, i.e., take the failure out of the mental conveyor belt that is flying...and lo and behold; that counts as communicate!

...But I never got to see any light gun signals... :(

The FAA recalculates my FOI written to make this the BEST RAPTURE DAY EVER

Got a suspicious and scary looking thin manila envelope from the FAA today....thin letters are usually the bad ones, right? Before opening it I said, 'please let this be good news...' and it wasn't good news...it was fantastic news!!!

I passed!!

With a 72%!

My lowest written test score ever!

You need at least a 70% (only 15 wrong in this particular test) to pass, so I guess I padded it with one question..heh.

What a great day! I don't have to take the test again!

315 total time and counting...

Building more actual instrument time

Today was yet another milestone - this time not marked by failure! I gained my first actual time in the airplane without an instructor present. Around Massachusetts today there were scattered showers, some bumps, but most importantly; not a lot of convection. Claire and I decided to head to KBAF - Barnes / Westfield Ma. as they have a nice little on field restaurant. I filed direct as I knew that with such a short flight (about 45 minutes in the air) I would get an amended clearance which would be largely radar vectors anyway. I'll never forget that feeling I got as I was just about to punch in the clouds. Pitot heat on - carburetor heat on momentarily. You're initial instinct is that you're careening at 150mph into a solid object, but that of course goes in the back of your mind with all the vestibular leans and spatial disorientation. Aware that these fair weather cumulus clouds contain some fair weather bumps, I applied pressure to both pedals and made sure my instrument scan was complete and rhythmic. And there it was - woosh - in the cloud, then almost immediately the rain starts picking up, which incidentally is very loud in a small airplane. I do a quick check of the outside air temperature, and look for any ice - all good. for about 30 minutes we were in and out of clouds and Claire got some great shots below.

Here's the plot to:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N75202/history/20110508/1634Z/KBED/KBAF

The way back was similar, only less actual. It was grey VFR, then went marginal, then just past Worcester we went into a particularly lighter grey, but very thick cloud. The rain was intense. It was also think enough where the wingtips were disappearing in the clouds - with a 35' wingspan that puts the visibility at about 12-13'! Somewhere in there the top of the windshield started leaking as well - a big drop soaked my brand new charts...i'm not complaining though.

I flew the vectors for and started the ILS11 back into KBED, but we broke out of a scattered layer at about 3500. A few minutes went by and I picked up the runway and canceled IFR. The controller was happy to do so as that meant he didn't have to vector all the pattern traffic around me anymore :)

Here's the plot back home:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N75202/history/20110508/1830Z/KBAF/KBED

And some photos by Claire, some using the retro camera app for Android. Next time I need to bring along the Mino HD to get some decent quality video:

i finally took the 4 minutes to learn microsoft movie maker

And I made this nifty video I plan on giving to students:

Fundamentals of Fail

Update! The FAA has apparently decided to re-calculate my test score, and I passed. Just barely, but still...woo-hoo!

I took the Fundamentals of Instructing written test last weekend (FOI) and only managed only a frustrating 66% (you need a 70% to pass). It's not because I didn't know the material, or because I didn't prepare, but because of a recent change that the FAA has made to their question bank which has AOPA and future CFIs all riled up - and rightfully so IMHO.

What happened is that the FAA had found that applicants taking the FOI had been breezing through it in 15 minutes and getting very high scores. The fact this test requires no calculator and only has one figure, it was an obvious decision to change the question bank as applicants were employing rote memorization to breeze through the test.

Up to now, I'm in total agreement of the FAA changing the test bank - I don't think you'll find anyone that isn't in favor of this. The problem is that the study material is simply the test source, the Aviation Instructor's Handbook. That is to say, there's no study guide, practice tests, etc... provided by the FAA. Naturally that leaves an opportunity for companies like Gleim and ASA to fill in the gaps and make some money as well. So once a year these companies will release books with all the questions and answers (and incorrect answers) that they obtain most likely through the FOIA from the FAA. Because these commercial products are all that exists for applicants to see before the test, naturally they are bought and used, and along the way a good deal of rote memorization takes place.

The problem mostly manifests itself with this particular test, the FOI. The questions are mostly educational psychology based and let's face it, the FAA is not on the forefront in the field. Even more obviously, the non-psychologist writing the test certainly is not. The questions are largely based on semantics and read as though someone without a conceptual grasp on the material had picked a few important looking words and wrote 'main idea' type questions around them. I'll give you an example:

Responses that produce a pleasurable return are called:

• positive feedback
• praise
• reward

Go ahead...figure that one out. There actually is a right answer, and a justification for it, but tell me how anyone who isn't memorizing portions of the study material are getting this question correct? It's complete semantics, and it should have no place in the test. Unfortunately this is not the only question that is similarly dumb.

So now with a changed test bank, ergo; no study materials, what should we future CFIs do? Well, the way I'm looking at it is that the test so far has cost me about $160 total. $140 to take it, and about $20 in prep materials. It's going to take another $140 to take the test, so this little trick of the FAA is certainly costing me. I think what I'd like to do is study the text again, take extremely thorough notes, and try not to fail again. ASA's updates page are far better than Gleim's update pages, plus they represent closer to what I've seen on the test. There's some solace. Maybe I'll pony up the cash and try ASA's prep material? Should I wait for the June/July cycle to do it? Are the FAA going to keep changing test banks?

310 total time and counting...

planes trains and automobiles

it's a banner day in the old logbook. there's a shining .4 (yes, that's 0.4) PIC logged that I didn't have to pay for. I landed my first commercial gig ferrying a club plane from KBED to KOWD - Bedford to Norwood. Well, I should back up and mention that technically my first commercial pilot gig was driving approach plates for the club owner up from Norwood airport to Bedford for his trip to Sun 'n' Fun...0.0 in the logbook, but hey, we all have to make impressions?

I drove up to Bedford this morning (automobiles) flew N813ND, a Piper Arrow down to Norwood (planes) and now i'm sitting on a train back to Boston to head to the day job (trains). check, check and check...maybe I'll try to fit a boat ride in later, as the subway will be covered once I get in town.

The flight itself was very quick, a minute airborn I had the field in sight, and before I knew it I was back on the ground. A hefty tailwind didn't help much either. On top of that, not a moment of smooth air, but what the hell - this is what that commercial certificate's all about, right? free flight time? By my fuzzy math I saved somewhere around $54...not too bad for a Wednesday morning before 9AM.




306.9 total time and counting....

CPL-ASEL-IA...feels good, man...

Punch - it took two concerted tries for the DE to hole-punch, i.e. "mutilate," my plastic credit card-like pilot's certificate. No, I didn't do anything wrong - I just received my commercial pilot's license today - it's not much at the moment, it's just a piece of paper, but oh, those words together...."Commercial Pilot - Airplane Single Engine Land; Instrument Airplane"

So where to now? the regular route - CFI-A (initial CFI-Airplane) with a multi-engine thrown in somewhere along the line. I'm still shopping around for places to do my multi rating, but with hiring expected to pick up at the end of this year (2011) I'm expecting that the schools will pick up their prices accordingly.

the ride itself was pretty standard stuff, very relaxed, got a couple things wrong  / grey area'd here and there, but all in all the DE liked that i knew where to look stuff up (even had my FAR/AIM labelled :D ) and as all checkrides go, it wasn't so much of a Q and A, but more of a conversation where he could find out that I didn't just memorize things, but that I understood them, and could apply them to real world situations...sounds like the fundamentals of instructing a bit, doesn't it :)

turns out i also hit 300 hours somewhere in the middle of a steep turn, or perhaps chandelle too!

300.8 hour$ and counting....

give me casual...meh, that'll do, i guess...

48kts at 3000 feet, oh my!

I opted not to fly yesterday as it was howling all day. Instead I chose today because it was better, and because the winds were set to die down as the day went on. Last week my instructor said he wanted to fly by myself one more time before taking the commercial checkride, and even though i'm okay with all the maneuvers, one more time on a calmer day will be ideal.

Coming out of KBED to the west, it was bumpy from the second i left the tarmac. Immediately weathervaning about 15 - 20 degrees (rwy 29, winds were 320/15/G23 i think?), I maintained the centerline while i took the winter elevator ride straight up. those who fly GA in the winter know what i mean. on the way out to the practice area, i hit probably the worst turbulence I've experienced since going up to portland, ME back when doing my private. BUMP BUMP BA-BUMP...for about a good 30 seconds while trying to write down a squawk code from boston departure. I managed to tighten the lap belt and get a quick bravo clearance to climb up above 3000 where the winds were supposedly smoother. the bumps were so bad, i had a hard time talking as i was fighting with the controls to keep it level. at about 2700 it was like a different day altogether - ride was as smooth as glass, although my groundtrack was definitely cockeyed with the 48kt reported winds. I slowed to MCA to see if I could appear to go backwards :)

anyway, lazy 8s are still right where i want them, so i headed back, and landed with only one notch at 80+ kts given the crosswind. WONK...crappiest landing i've had in months. i pulled off the runway, sat for a sec and thought, 'that won't do...what if this was my checkride?' so i called up ground and asked to head back to the active for pattern work. cleared to takeoff, i did two more crosswind landings, this time paying more attention, and they were nice and smooth - 80-85kts, and two notches of flaps. all in all, a great flight.

291.4 hours and counting...

Here's my PIREP:

And here are some Piper Arrow parts pictures of the legs I snapped during pre-flight...everything in it's right place!

right main

nose gear joints + bottom of the engine

the motor what makes the legs go up and down + the battery

corner office with a view.

lazy eights...think i've got it now

lazy eights have been dogging me since the start of my commercial rating. the last 45 degrees of each turn have been slow and my perception of that segment has been a 5-10 degree bank, NO rate of turn, and a sharp descent.

today that changed - somewhat anyway. i've been rereading the chapters on basic aerodynamics from the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge  (and just realizing that I have an older edition with not such nice graphics as those up there now!) in preparation for my CFI certification looming this winter. As I was doing my turns in the 8's all the stuff I have been reading was fresh in my mind, particularly lift, and it's changes in banks to wings level and the changing airspeed throughout the maneuver. I still find myself wanting to kick the plane over to the 180 degree point, and instead of doing so, find myself leaning in my seat at the end! anyway, i managed to figure out the magic number for Arrow N813ND : 19" of manifold pressure and 2400 RPM. I started with 18" and ended up 200 feet low, but the maneuver was nice and smooth. 19" did the trick! In addition, this guy's method of doing them has simplified the maneuver 10-fold. I've paraphrased the import part below, but give the whole page a read through. there's some good stuff on there:

All in all the first 90 degrees of the maneuver required very little control inputs on my part. After rolling into the initial 5 degrees of bank all I needed to do was to control the pitch attitude with back pressure on the yoke while keeping the ailerons and rudders neutral and the airplane basically did the rest for me.

As I allowed the airplane to return to a level pitch attitude at the 90-degree point and relatively close to the clean configuration stall speed the nose of the airplane sliced sideways through the horizon and into a descending pitch attitude without any significant intervention on the flight controls by me.

The second half of the 180-degree turn was somewhat more challenging as I was required to use the controls more actively to reduce the bank angle and controlling the pitch attitude throughout the descending portion of the turn.

and to make the flight sweeter - my chandelles were ending with some nice wing buffets - but no stall. I think I might just be a commercial pilot afterall.

250-260 hours and counting...

in the system

today i took my first cross country flight as an instrument rated pilot filing IFR. i went to see my folks up in VT, expecting a nice VFR ride, but the early morning fog in KLEB had hung around longer than expected. it was 100 broken when i departed KBED, but expected to lift, so I filed IFR, KBED - CON - KLEB. My clearance was radar vectors to MHT, then direct at 6000. The plane i was in was N6910J, one of the older warriors, but still legal for IFR flight - well, just barely anyway. The DG precessed a good deal, and VOR2 was 3 degrees off, but all within limits for IFR flight. the VFR GPS left much to be desired as well. besides these however, it was VFR the entire way. as I got close to MHT I was given a direct vector of 340 to KLEB. approaching KLEB the tower was reporting 300 scattered on and off as the fog was lifting. as i got close, a plane in front of me got in on the visual 25, and i could see the airport in plain view with only a few puffs here and there in the area. i cancelled IFR and made the smoothest landing I've had in a while into rwy 36 since I was used to that approach. here's the plot:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N6910J/history/20101003/1345Z/KBED/KLEB

and some pics:

everything in it's right place

the fog over NH/VT up ahead

On the way back, I decided to file IFR again, despite beautiful VFR weather. I like it, and it's simpler to a degree than flight following, but that's a topic for another post. instrument rated pilots know what i'm talking about :) I filed for 7000 to make sure that weird fear of heights i had in the tomahawk a year back was gone. my clearance was one i didn't expect - cleared to bedford via the 167 radial of LEB, then BASUU, then direct. I read back and went to work on the map figuring out where BASUU was, and plugged it into the fisher-price GPS. (re: regulations - technically it is only for reference and i am required to use my OBS's to find the fix) once all that was squared away i was off.

BASUU turns out is right between Bedford and Lebanon, next to Manchester. After only a few minutes at 7000 i was directed to 5000 then 4000. Bedford in sight, I was directed to the visual runway 5 - an approach I have never made at that airport despite flying out of there for almost 3 years! The pattern was a mess, the controller mistook me for another warrior and put me on a parallel approach with a cirrus who had to break off. i felt bad, but i was only following orders! they also had traffic landing on a crossing runway, 11, so i landed in the first 6-700 feet of the runway (light trainers, yeah!) and had to accelerate off to the first taxiway, E, to facilitate the folks behind me.

Here's the plot for the trip home:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N6910J/history/20101003/1915Z/KLEB/KBED

All in all, a great flight. 2.5 hours on the hobbs...the part 61 $$$-suck continues...

on the way home at 7000 - laconia is under there somewhere.

looking west at 7000 on the way home

keeping current

i'm usually very good about keeping current, mainly because it's a reason to fly! my regular safety pilot and i made plans to go up tonight and while working out the logistics i realized that my night currency had lapsed. according to the CFR 14 part 61.57.b you need to make 3 takeoffs and landings to a full stop one hour after sunset in order to carry passengers at night. while technically he's also PIC (Pilot In Command) while i'm wearing those awful foggles, he's still a passenger when they're off. there's a grace period where if you're not current that you can carry passengers up to no later than one hour after sunset (and after one hour before sunrise.) Since sunset tonight was at 7:50pm, we would have to be on the ground by 8:50.

the purpose of the flight was to keep my instrument rating current (CFR 14 61.57.c.) my safety pilot doesn't have his instrument rating, but he is current (CFR 14 part 91.109.2.b) in both pilot certificate as well as category and class ratings for the airplane we'd be flying in (P28A - a Piper Warrior.) since he's VFR only, we'd have to conduct the flight as such, but I'm still allowed to file IFR, which makes things a lot smoother for us and for ATC (except for maybe that 10 minute wait for release into the system, i.e. waiting for clearance to actually take off into Boston's airspace.

so i got the weather and filed IFR from KBED to KBED with the routing as KLWM KBVY, and the remark of practice approaches. we took off, and had a great flight - ILS5@KLWM (good) held as published at LWM, LOC16@KBVY, not my best, touch and go and the vectors back to the ILS11@KBED. the last approach was a minor challenge as i was told to keep "max forward speed as is practical" because there was a falcon jet (little business class jet) 10 miles behind us inbound.

my safety pilot got a taste of what an instrument flight (more like an instrument lesson as we just shot approaches) will be like when he finally amasses the money to start on his own instrument ticket. ok, I have about 4 and a half more months to make at least 3 more approaches to satisfy the 6 approaches in 6 months (yes, and holding and tracking a radial...)

here's the flightaware plot:

commercial cross country

beer? check. shower? check. warmed over pizza while watching futurama? check and check. $800+ less in my bank account? ugh, check. yup, this is the aftermath of my commercial cross country which I flew today. here's the flightplan in skyvector. (if it doesn't show up, just move the map a smidge)

It was a great trip despite two near misses - one a cherokee not on with ATC who decided to make a sudden turn into my path, and a corporate jet passing under me by barely 500 feet (thanks for letting me know, NY approach control.) the feeling of that much flying - 6 even hours on the hobbs, and the distance flown made me want to do it all over again. I thought i'd be bored, hungry, need to pee, etc...but not at all - just a great long VFR flight to a lot of new places.

and some shots;

the clouds were at the most innappropriate level - 5500-6000, so i bounced from 4500 to 6500 the whole way:

approaching Newburgh, NY:

here's aeroflex andover airport  (12N) at the end of that lake, and the Stillwater VOR (STW) just at the bottom of the pic:

finally, I made it to KZER!

stopped in for some quick refreshments:

and talked to one of the CFI's there - cool guy. He ran to get the phone about 15 minutes after I landed...asked me if I was N238ND...oops...forgot to close the flight plan in all the excitement!

Leaving Joe Zerbey airport (KZER):

This is Summit Hill, PA; where the graveyard is almost as big as the town itself...I imagine this will be ground zero of the zombie apocolypse:

BEHOLD! the Lehigh Gap!!!

amid the swarms of gliders I was calling out for Allentown approach control, here's a fire just south of Stroudsberg on the Appalachian Trail. If you look at the shadow on the right it looks like a giant eagle took a steaming crap on the mountain:

aaaaaand, Aeroflex Andover on the way back:

Waterbury Ct, starting to approach Hartford Brainard Airport (KHFD):

this is New Britain, Ct - I lived in the brick buildings in the lower corner of this graveyard 11 or 12 years ago in college. 625 Burrit Street - the amazing flooding basement cave!

and here's my favorite picture of the whole trip - Hartford, Ct. while on right downwind for runway 20 at KHFD, my second stop on the trip:

to my surprise, while inbound to hartford, I heard an old tail number, N4336E, I used to fly back in Northampton days in 2000 (while living at 625 burrit street, as a matter of fact...weird conincidence) who was coming for touch and goes at the airport. it's the plane taxiing in the middle:

after tallying up the logbook and taking a 15 minute break, I headed back to KBED. as I neared Boston I took this one last picture approaching our fair city:

life in part 61 training continues...

quick birthday flight

for Claire's birthday, I took her out to KPYM - Plymouth Municipal in the very same place where the "Pilgrims" landed in the "new world" on Plymouth "rock". Alas, no Bravo clearance through boston this time either.

We ate at Plane Jane's cafe, a favorite of mine as it's all day breakfast food. As we were heading in, a news helicopter asked a plane on final if they could film them coming in. As it turns out the helicopter was filming stock footage for a news report of a crash that happened an hour or so before. the footage is at 1:38 in the link. so, no fuel leaks and no fire? one engine cuts out and then the other? poor fuel management, i'm guessing - glad they're safe, but could have been a lot worse. the news lady was at the airport after we left (as it's night) but the cafe is in the building behind her...huh...neat.

I practiced a few steep turns for the commercial ticket with Claire too - 60 degree banks - she loved it! it was all topped off by a fantastic red sunset setting over the storms off to the north as we headed back to KBED.

actual actual parts 2 & 3

i've had two more flights this weekend in some horrible moisture, but calm winds. on the first, we set up for the ILS29 at KORH (worcester). the approach is a bit nerve racking as the airport lies on top of a ridge. as we're coming down, the trees on the hill start to become noticeable around 200' above the DA. at the DA (missed approach point on an ILS) all I can see are trees climbing into the clouds - no runway or lights! a real missed approach! on the vectors back around Brigitte asks the tower if they wouldn't mind turning on the lights...a few seconds later the controller says 'there you go, you should make it in now.' sheesh...sure enough we saw the same thing the next time around, only this time there were runway lights shining through the clouds. this means we can continue another 100' below the DA. that was enough and we landed with no problem.

the next day, KBED was right at minimums as we departed. again the air was smooth, but nevertheless it was all business. Did the following:

ILS5 at Lawrence (KLWM) holding at LWM VOR on the published missed,
vectors to the ILS35 Mancester International (KMHT - 737s and airliners, oh my!)

on the way there I snapped this:

Something I hadn't realized about Manchester before is the runway has a huge dip in the middle.

from Manchester we received vectors to the ILS14 at Nashua (KASH) On the way there, we were between layers. very cool false horizons and a feeling like you're in a barren winter wasteland with all the white.

Finally we did the GPS11 at KBED, missed to the ILS11, and landed back down. Here's a brief and not too exciting video of the GPS approach. you can just make out the runway at the end:



The cool thing was, we did touch and goes at all the airports. Here's the ground track:

actual actual!

Yesterday i was psyched to get in touch with Brigitte, a CFI i had flown with before who had a cancellation and had caught wind that i was looking for some actual IMC.

the first thing i noticed was the lack of VFR traffic on the radio and around the airport. it was just us and a whole lot of corporate jets who i imagine were being rerouted from nearby logan int'l. the weather itself was between 600-1000 AGL throughout the region, isolated rain showers and calm winds. I filed to go from BED to BED with LWM and BVY as the route. i copied our clearance, taxied out, did the run up, set the radios and we departed 11 starting our turn at 500AGL to 050. just after liftoff Brigitte said, 'no looking out, don't worry about the outside, you're on instruments now'. it was tough not to look outside at around 1200 as i noticed some clouds now beneath us, yet the ground was still there. then at 1600 or so, just like that, we were in the proverbial bowl of milk. Brigitte took the plane for a few seconds so i could look around and see just what it's like to have no reference to the ground. awesome.

after that, it was pretty much like a very relaxed lesson. we shot the ILS5 into KLWM, breaking out around 1000 which was pretty anti-climactic as it was a normal VFR approach. we broke off early, going missed, then held at the lawrence VOR for a few turns. my 5 T's were consistently lacking on the 2nd T; time. i kept forgetting to start the timer! part of that was due to the dual garmin 530s displaying a nice purple racetrack to fly around.

we were then vectored for the localizer 16 at beverly (KBVY) after ATC blew us through the final approach course, they turned us around and we set up from the other side. the ATIS was reporting 600 broken and something few below that. the MDA for the localizer is 580'MSL. this was going to be fun. Brigitte said, 'let's do a touch and go on this one, if we don't have to go missed for real.' this was going to be lots of fun. 780 winds by on the altimeter - '200 to go' i say. 'continue' says Brigitte. just at 600 feet I call the PAPI (part of the runway lighting) in sight. glancing at my approach plate (should have done this before the final approach fix!), i see the runway should be on the right side of the lights. i'm starting to make out the runway and we continued in for a touch and go - touching down near the threshold to allow as much usable runway as i could. after leaving Beverly, we went missed as published, held at WITCH for about 4 turns and then headed back to Bedford.

On the way, between layers I managed to snap this (the G1 is a great phone, but not when it comes to taking pictures...)

The ILS11 at KBED was pretty uneventful, although we were at max forward speed for a bit (Brigitte's call) as the parade of business jets was still going on. we broke out at about 450' above the decision altitude and landed. on the roll out i learned something about not using the brakes on a wet runway too...something i'd never had to deal with.

Two more flights in this weekend's crap weather lined up!

imc in the regs for an instrument rating...just a thought

it's been 2 months that i've had my instrument rating yet the column in my logbook for instrument time remained a blank. i have something in the vicinity of 40-45 hours simulated instrument. since my goal is to one day be doing this for a living, i wanted to get my feet and ticket wet. at 141 schools you have a schedule, you fly everyday, no matter the weather and skirt around the CB cells. it's training towards what you'd experience on the job. you learn to make decisions in the air. a friend who went to a 141 school ft. pierce, forida said on a daily basis he had to make decisions on whether to fly his little BE-76 in between cells, or head back home, or worse; both. one of the drawbacks (and a big one if you want to build a career) of part 61 schools is that on top of flying 1400% less frequently (once a week v twice a day) the weather keeps you on the ground much more often.

i want to experience the worst of the worst in weather, i want to know my limits so I can accurately set them; something much safer in the long run than guessing what they might be and finding out for sure when it's too late. i want to continually push them until i'm comfortable with the idea of IMC, right down to the legal minimums. if i end up doing small cargo, that's all usually done at night, and a lot of it single pilot IFR. don't get me wrong, i'm not talking about getting in a 152 and making a b-line for the nearest icy thunderstorm, but i'd like to have more of a chance to practice ADM, aeronautical decision making...it's time to get that instrument ticket wet.

instrument rated!! the beard goes!!!

WOOO!

what a feeling. i finally got the instrument rating last sunday on the 11th on my checkride re-test. he just had me do the GPS29 at Hanscom starting with vectors to JAYSE. piece of cake! well almost...check out this METAR:

KBED 111556Z 28020G28KT 10SM CLR 19/02 A3006 RMK AO2 PK WND 28028/1555 SLP191 T01890022

fun, huh? and that didn't account for the cold front that blew through just before we launched. as the DE and I were holding short waiting to take off, there were a few business jets coming in. on top of that the pattern was crowded (sunny sundays...) and what's more, the tower called a low level wind shear alert, +/- 10 knots at 200 feet.

awesome.

i joked with the DE, "so let's see...wind shear, check, busy airspace and busy radio frequency, check and check, wake turbulence, check. oh, and gusts to 28...check...and let's not forget i'm nervous about busting a 2nd time. check."

all in all a pretty benign approach that went well within standards (i caught the step down fix this time). we got bumped around a great deal, but there was no wind shear thankfully, and i managed to land pretty smoothly, albeit left of the centerline after .7 hours on the hobbs.

eh, whatever...i have an instrument rating now :)

and so, the "rating beard" got shaved:

busted checkride - how to deal

did you just bust a checkride? i know how it feels, i did too! it was my instrument checkride, nonetheless. it feels like being dumped, fired and arrested all at the same time. that sinking feeling in your stomach...'am i one of those pilots that you hear about? did i just seriously bust a checkride? what about my flying career? how will i handle this in job interviews?' maybe there are more tears, or swears, but that's pretty much what it's like.

after my bust i started reading around the web about busts, and most advice is correct. the DE did it to keep you and your passengers safe, but it's a learning experience, you'll fix what's wrong, and you'll get it right. one of the CFIs i'm friends with had this great advice, "and now you'll have a great story for the interview." he's right - what a great opportunity to tell your future employer about an experience that made you a better and safer pilot!

now here's hoping you or i don't bust the re-test...mmmkay?

CFR Ch14, §61.49, a.k.a.; busted...

On March 26th I attempted my instrument checkride. Here's a brain dump to help those who might be about to take their's (and hopefully not bust):

oral test:

jepp charts:
-enroute chart, the MCA/MRA are sometimes listed right at the fix / vor, (i knew) but also sometimes listed as a note (black number in a circle, like a footnote).

-departure procedures, if there is no SID, then use the ODP, if there's no ODP, then there's no obstacle, climb to 400 (standard TERPS clearance) then proceed on course, and use an approach plate to find the pointy things. didn't know there was a thought process like that, from one to the other to the other. can't remember that in any of the books either, fwiw.

Q: along an airway, a higher MCA is coming up, but you have not yet received clearance, frequency is congested, what do you do?
A: climb anyway, they know you have to, you're 'doing their job' as the DE put it.

i was good on the FARs as far as currency, VOR checks, alternates, and alternate minimums, able to catch MEAs and other critical altitudes and their meanings. i had a very good grasp on the weather and was able to answer the few questions there without a problem. other than that, nothing much significant.

practical test:

did my usual instrument checks during the taxi, and during the run up he said he had a clearance to give me. 'standby,' as i was in the middle of the mag check. we departed rwy 5 at KBED, and the foggles went on at 400 agl. the right arm broke in the process, which I had hoped was a good sign. he gave me instructions to turn to 250, and climb to 2000, matching the clearance from before, and then up to the expected 3000. i did well, headings and altitudes assigned, 1 unusual attitude recovery (which was a level climb at 500 fpm, with surprise covered AI...piece of cake.)

we were south of the minuteman airport (6B6) and would set up to do the VOR/DME RWY21 approach there. instructions were to intercept the 021 radial MHT (030 on the OBS - good) head to EGORE, one hold at EGORE at 3000, no problems, got cleared to do the approach while in the hold, now i can descend as i'm on a published leg, all went well. he had me go visual a mile out, and circle to land, giving me a ceiling of 1100MSL. i almost busted the MDA because i had the field in sight, but saved it remembering that i'm not in a position to make a normal landing. i also made sure to remain within 1.3nm of the runway end at 90kts, on a very short final to rwy3, we went around, and set up for the NDB/GPS5 at KLWM. confusion set in with ATC and their clearances at this point. the DE was doing all the radio work up to this point. he requested the GPS approach, they said NDB approach, I corrected them (GPS), but he said, 'no NDB', 'but i'm using the GPS overlay, correct?' correct. i set up the radios, ID'd LWM and MHT, turned MHT to 165 to identify KRIED, since I already had the GPS and ADF and marker for HAGET. the DE covers the AI and the DG for some partial panel fun. i tracked okay inbound using the GPS. as we're nearing HAGET he said they're using runway 32, so let's use the appropriate minimums. confusion started to set in, as i'm behind things at this point due to wind corrections using the GPS ground track / approach course. so down to 680 still? i thought "appropriate" meant we'd go missed early to avoid traffic. ok, i just passed and identified HAGET (the final approach fix) at this point, so i started timing, and descending. 'i want you to use the appropriate minimums', 'oh, circling minimums, okay, 720 is our new MDA.' continuing downward to 720 for my dive and drive, I hit the deck and started to track the magenta line on the GNS430 using the desired track, bearing and ground track, while making sure not to go below my MDA of 720. i got to the MAP, started to fly the procedure, but he took the plane and explained that I wouldn't get my instrument rating today, because unfortunately there are no do-overs in the practical exam. he said it was a simple mistake, but an important one: there's a step down fix at KRIED where you have to be at 920, but I was already at circling minimums of 720. 200 feet below MDA with no corrections or admission of error is a bona fide checkride bust. he gave me the option to stop for today, or if I'd like, I can get the precision approach out of the way back at KBED. one of the main things you learn while training for instruments is to shrug off bad approaches or mistakes, don't dwell, just concentrate on doing the next thing correctly. i said of course i'll do the precision approach.

we got vectors back to do the ILS29 at Hanscom. it was probably the sloppiest (but within standards) ILS approach i've flown. the wind was all over the place, plus knowing I busted didn't help. but i was able to keep a good attitude and just wanted to get that approach over with. i already failed, so what's the worst that can happen?

once we were tied down, he went over the retest procedure, told me i just need to log additional training, whether that's 15 minutes of ground, or 3 hours of flying, it doesn't matter. schedule a retest with him, and we'll just do that one approach again, full panel.

what really made me feel a little better was that before getting out of the plane he looked at me and said, ' everything else you did was fine, it was a small mistake that i'm sure you will never make again, especially now. don't worry, the sun will rise again tomorrow!'

it sounds corny, but it really did make me feel a lot better.