I ARE A PILOT...
The Saga continues.......
I received my Private Pilot-Airplane Single Engine Land certificate
on Sunday, October 15, 2000 after 55 flights. The details of
those
flights, my learning experiences, and my infamous check ride are in my
student logbook. The saga continues now as I use the
privileges to
scoot over the countryside.
Flight 56/October 21, 2000-.
Sons Chris and Shawn joined me for a flight this morning. It
was
originally planned for tomorrow, but the forecast said fog.
Today
was supposed to be too windy and tomorrow was supposed to be
great.
Sheesh, can't the weather guys make up their minds? So I
called and
a plane was available at noon. We left Felts Field at about
12:20
p.m. and cruised to the west through the Spokane
International/Fairchild
AFB Class C space. Even though we were below their altitude,
I did
use radar services from Spokane Approach just to make sure we were out
of the way of the big guys. We flew over the Grandparent's
ranch
at Reardan, took some aerial photos, and headed back. At our
departure,
the wind at Felts Field was 8 knots. It had increased to
around 10
knots as we headed back. We got into the downwind for the
landing,
turned base, then turned to final approach. A new wind
number:
now 15 knots directly across the runway. "Ummm, boys, this
landing
may be a bit bumpy, " I said. I worked the controls for a
cross wind
landing. Wing down. Looks good. A little
gusty.
Slight balloon. Quick correction. Nice touchdown on
the right
main, then left main, then the nose wheel. Whew!
The kids were
impressed. Especially Shawn since the last landing I did with
him
on a dual flight was a little gamey. Only a couple
of problems:
I forgot to dial in the transponder code, (the tower reminded me on
climb
out), and the plane took an inordinate amount of left
rudder.
I did notice new screws on the rudder and it looked like maybe the
ruddder
had been replaced. My left foot got tired. Maybe
the stabilizer
trim was set wrong. I forgot to mention it, so I called later
and
told them. All in all a great flight. I think the
kids will
like to go again. Me too. (0.8 hours Certificated Pilot In
Command/60.8
hours total time) (Wow)
Flight 57/November 5, 2000-The sun was out and the
wind was
low. Ya gotta fly when you can during this time of
year. Called
in to see if there was a plane. Yep, 94CA was open all
day.
Shawn and I arrived a about 10:00 a.m. and pre-flighted the
bird.
Hmmm. It seems that the rudder trim tab is just as wacky as
it was
two weeks ago. We'll see. We take runway 21 Left,
and turn
toward the south and our house. Shawn snaps an aerial
view.
Arggh! I still need lots of left rudder pressure.
If I take
my foot off the pedal, the plane slips to the right. The
squawk book
said this had been adjusted. Yeah, right! Plus,
there's a pinhole
in the windshield and it's spitting little tiny drops of water at
me!
Well, it still flies. We continue south for a few more
minutes and
I climb to 4,000. There's a few scattered clouds at about
4,500.
Shawn is impressed at being this close to the little fluffy things but
my left foot is getting tired. It's time to turn
back. I'm
assigned 21 left and make an OK approach. I'm a little fast
and float
down the runway a bit. Nice touchdown. Taxi back
and park.
Shawn admits later that he closes his eyes as we are descending to the
runway. I squawk the rudder again. (0.8 hours this
flight/61.6
hours total time)
Flight 58/November 10, 2000-About 25 years ago my
boss had a
Cessna 150 (I think) and took me and a co-worker (my old roommate)
flying.
(Not at the same time, of course) He and I have been talking
about
flying ever since. Today was the day. Mikey and I
hit Felts
Field about 9:40 am. Winds were variable at 10-15 knots, but
mostly
down the runway and the air temp was about 25 F. They had
59AM in
a hanger with a heater to warm things up. I did the
pre-flight and
explained everything as I went. We hopped in and went
throught the
pre-start checklist. It was cold and took several attempts to
get
her fired up. I let it warm up for a few and we taxiied to
runway
3 Left. An uneventful takeoff and good climb rate due to the
cold
weather. We headed south from the airport, turned to the east
toward
Idaho, then flew over the Coeur d'Alene Indian Casino, then headed
back.
Mikey enjoys the flight, takes a few photos, asks some questions, and
seems
to be having a good time. About 5 miles out, I called in to
the tower.
Winds were about 15 knots at 030. No problem. I
advise we would
like to do a couple touch and go's and am assigned runway 3
left.
A couple minutes later I hear tower advise another aircraft that winds
are now 050 at 20 knots. I decide that we won't do touch and
go's
and ask for a full stop. Tower assigns us back to runway 3
right
for a full stop landing. As I begin to enter my right
downwind, tower
advised that wind was now 060 at 25 knots. Arggh! I
now ask
for runway 3 left because I decide I might want the extra 75 feet in
width
and additional 1,500 feet in length for my highly-skilled, perfectly
refined,
and expert pilot crosswind landing technique. In other words,
I was
looking for a lot more room to try and land this puppy without mowing
the
lawn. A little high on the approach, more flaps, good
approach, a
little more power for the head wind, on the center line, and "bop" we
land
just a little faster and harder than perfect. Of course, we
get some
nose wheel shimmy after it touches down. Mikey is
impressed....and
alive! (0.8 hours/62.4 total) PLUS, see Mikey's thoughts
on his flight
plus a photo.
Flight 59/November 28, 2000-Low clouds and
fog. Day after
day after day. Yesterday, the fog lifted and it was
beautiful.
I'm at work. Today, low clouds and fog are predicted with
partial
clearing later. In a flash of optimism, I put my flying stuff
in
the trunk. At 12:30pm, it is still low clouds well below
minimums.
Oh well, I have a meeting anyway it the basement conference
room.
At 2:00pm, the meeting is over and I return from the dungeon.
The
sun is out, skies are clear, no wind. Oh well, I do have work
to
do. I wander back to a co-workers office to discuss
something.
Of course, he is a student pilot trying to get his ticket after a
21-year
break between lessons. The conversation drifts toward flying,
as
usual. "We should go", he says. He'd love to sit in
the right
seat. "I need 3 touch and go's to maintain currency", I
said.
After a short (very short) discussion, we both turn in vacation slips
for
2 hours and we're off! Hit the airport. the plane is nice and
warm
in the hanger. I pre-flight it inside, we roll it out, and
zoom down
the taxiway. Of course, everyone else has the same
idea. Three
aircraft in the pattern, and one's a turboprop. He's a little
faster
than me. I do 3 touch and go's. Ted hangs out in
the right
seat to watch the veteran pilot at work (hee-hee). Landing
number
one is a little hard with my usual "level off slightly high and run out
of airspeed" trick. Number's two and three are
perfect. I do
well at seeing the traffic and traffic awareness, (like the twin who
magically
appeared behind me on the downwind with no notice). All goes
well.
A good flight and Ted is impressed, (I think, or perhaps he's just
thrilled
to be alive). (0.4 hours/62.8 total)
Flight 60/December 1, 2000-Fog lifted by around 11
a.m.
Tommy was back in town and he was depressed that 457BC hadn't been in
the
air since my checkride. It was time to warm it up.
We departed
Felts Field at about 2:00 p.m. and flew to the south. High
clouds
with some ground fog. Tom took the left seat since it is his
plane
and I have more hours in it's left seat than he does. We flew
to
Tekoa and Colfax. Eyeballed a few farm airstrips on the
way.
We split up the pilot duties and I got my first taste of right seat
flying.
The one instrument that's hardest to see is the turn coordinator and I
have to look to find the controls for my left hand to adjust.
Very
smooth air except for a couple of bumps by Steptoe Butte. During the
flight,
Tom takes the controls and flies over a farm house/wheat ranch-his old
homestead. After about 4 passes, his dad finally comes out
onto the
porch and waves. I handle the pilot duties up to Spokane but
Tommy
gets to land. I decide I like the left seat better.
(0.5 hours
PIC/63.3 total)
Flight 61/January 7, 2001-We tried to fly yesterday
but it was
foggy all day. Reserved a plane for 1pm today.
Chris and Shawn
joined me. Even though we are the ONLY people scheduled for
the plane
today it was low on fuel and oil and we had to wait while it was
serviced.
The sun was out and we lifted off at 1:20pm in 59AM. Flew to
the
east toward Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Reached the town and then
turned
south and followed the lake to Worley and the casino. Then
flew back
to the west over Rockford and Fairfield. We then turned
north, flew
near the house and into right base for Felts runway 3 right.
A little
hot on the landing, couple of bounces. Need to spend the next
few
flights just doing touch and go's! (1.1 PIC/64.4 total hours)
Flight 62/January 24, 2001-I played hookey from
work, taking
a little extra time at lunch for some landing practice. A
fellow
employee (and student pilot) joined me for a few circuits in
59AM.
We had to look in three hangers before we found the plane.
Got it
pre-flighted and climbed in. I looked in my bag for my little
notebook
and it was gone. Along with that was my super custom
checklist.
Shoot! I must have left it in the plane the last time
out.
Opened the handbook for the official version and got going.
Weather
was good with calm winds and cool temps. Up and around for
landing
number one-and it's good. Landing number two-another
greaser!
Number three-ditto. And number four to a full stop-on the
money!
All four patterns were consistent, too. My passenger graded
the four
landings as ok, (although he did mention that his instructor (Dennis-I
flew with him once early last year), would have found fault with some
of
my technique. I payed special attention to looking over the
nose
cowling at the end of the runway to judge my flare. This is a
good
thing and helped avoid my traditional smack-and-go landings.
Still
need more practice to firm up this process, but I am
optimistic.
A great day! (0.6 PIC/65.0 hours)
Flight 63/February 12, 2001-I tried to get in the
air on Saturday
with Tom. We got up, alright, for only three touch and go's
until
the fog and snow rolled in. He did most of the work so I
didn't even
log a minute of the flight. Yesterday, the sun was out but
the runway
was icy in the morning (no instruction in icy landings for me,
yet).
It got gorgeous later in the day, but everyone saw that and there
wasn't
any room to squeeze one more plane in to the
pattern. Today
(Monday), was different. The fog lifted at about 11:00 a.m.
so Ted
from work and I zipped over to the field. I picked up a plane
at
Felts Field Aviation instead of Custom Aviation. It took them
a few
minutes to find my rental papers, but that was settled and I got the
keys
to Cessna 51215, a mid-70's 172 (aren't they all?). It took a
while,
and seven shots of prime, to get it started plus a little extra effort
to locate some of the instruments and buttons for me. Also,
the airspeed
indicator in this aircraft is calibrated in knots. This is
only my
second flight in a knotty plane. With a little help from Ted
on the
knots/mph conversion, I made 4 reasonable landings. A little
high
on the flare, but settled down gently. Good flight.
(0.7 PIC/65.7
total hours)
Flight 64/February 19, 2001-The
fog cleared about
noonish. Shawn and I checked out 59AM for no good reason
other than
to experiment with the law of gravity. Good news.
It is a law,
but it can be ignored as long as there is fuel remaining. We
headed
to the south practice area with flight following and I just played with
altitude control, coordinated turns and traffic spotting.
Departure
advised of a couple of other aircraft in our area nad we spotted them
easily.
On our way back, we spotted son Chris' car in the driveway.
Oh, boy...he'll
be bummed out when he finds out we went flying without him!
We returned
and I made a grade C landing on 3R. The same slightly high
flare
but settled nicely. Doggone this is fun. We can't
wait for
the weather to become a little more consistent so we can get a little
farther
out of town. The way the fog has been rolling in and out, I'm
a little
hesitant to get too far from the home field. (1.0 PIC/66.7
total
hours)
Flight 65/March 1, 2001-Tom got back from vacation
yesterday
and got his new GPS unit. Time for a test flight. I
got to
the field at about noon and he was tinkering. Rats.
The cigarette
lighter outlet in the plane is inoperative. The previous
owner must
have disconnected it to keep passengers from lighting up. So
no test
of his new GPS system. Oh well. I take the left
seat and we're
off to the south. Just some lazy floating around.
We pull out
my little GPS and play with it instead. It's the first time
I've
seen it in aerial action. Of course, we prove that you must
pay attention
to flying. We get into the gizmo and I lose 200 feet in
altitude...but
we are having fun. We putz around for about 45 minutes and
head for
the barn. We test my little aircraft transceiver on the way
in.
The tower can hear us about 5 miles out, but it was scratchy.
It
probably needs new batteries. I have been playing with it a
lot.
Into the downwind leg. I make an approach to runway 3
left.
A little balloon because I'm carrying too much power. The
next attempt
to a full stop is a little better. Tom tells me that I can't
do the
"set the nose cowling on the end of the runway" trick in a
172. The
cowling is too low and I'll flare too high. That's why I've
been
making those high flares. I get the new picture and am able
to make
both landings OK, even in the gusty crosswind. Good
flight!
I haven't been up with Tom for a normal flight since my
checkride.
He pronounces me a safe pilot. Whew! (1.1 PIC/67.8
total hours)
Flight 66/March 7, 2001-The weather is
great! Almost 60
degrees and no wind. Lunchtime touch and go day. I
grab my
buddy Mikey (our selected victim from flight 58 above), and we check
out
Cessna 172/N51215 from Felts Field Aviation. After a short
wait for
a quart of oil, we taxi out to runway 3 Left. Liftoff at
12:25 p.m.
There's a few bumps in the air. Around the pattern and trying
my
hand again at knots versus MPH I make the approach for landing number
one.
I touch just a little harder than I want too. Mikey thinks
its OK.
Around for number two. A little fast (knots and miles again!)
and
a slight ballon and bounce. Mikey thinks it's OK.
Now number
three and I think I'm getting these knot things. On the
center line
and just a squeek from the tires. Now Mikey knows what OK
should
be. Up for number four. I hear the tower talking to
another
plane in the pattern for 3 Left but I can't see them. It
turns out
that they are right behind me. Time for a full-stop
landing.
A few bumps and gusts on final. Number four is another
squeeker just
to the left of center. Mikey is impressed! Now, of
course,
I have screwed up by showing him what a good landing should
be. He'll
never accept those sloppy smackeroos like I showed him the last time he
was up. (0.5 PIC/68.3 total hours)
Flight 67/March 23, 2001-A fabulous day for
flying. Chris
(eldest son) and I took off in N96617 from Felts Field Aviation around
9:45 a.m. We took off from runway 3 left and turned north,
then west
and headed across the north side of town and followed the Spokane River
out to its confluence with the Columbia River (about 40 nautical
miles).
This is the location of one of our favorite summer camping
spots.
Well, in order to keep the Californians lights on this winter, the
river
level is really low. And to keep their air conditioners on,
we may
have to water ski on the sand this summer.
Oh....sorry....back to
the flying thing. The skies were clear, but there was a haze
level
at around 4,000 feet which kinda screwed up our view. Chris
handled
the chart and the GPS duties to keep track of our location.
We used
flight following until well out of the Spokane/Fairchild AFB Class
C.
Spokane Departure terminated our radar service about 2/3 of the way
there
which I expected. The air was smooth and we saw everything we
needed.
We turned around at Two Rivers (the campground) and headed
back.
The haze made it hard to see our landmark towns and home. We
made
contact with Spokane Approach about 20 miles out and they advised us of
some helicopter traffic at our altitude crossing our path a few miles
ahead.
Because of the haze we never found the chopper, but Approach advised
that
they were no longer a factor (a good reason to use radar service around
here). We came over the northwest part of town and made
contact with
Felts Tower. We also noted some inbound traffic a couple of
miles
to our northeast. We got our sequence for a left base to
runway 3
left. It was a little bouncy on final approach, but I made a
smooth
landing. Chris was impressed. Taxi to
parking! (1.1 PIC/69.4
total hours)
Flight 68/April 14, 2001-A repeat of the above
flight only this
time the passenger is my brother-in-law, Tim. We again use
N96617
and take of on runway 21R with winds at about 5-7 knots at 180 degrees,
and head to the northwest. It's a little choppy today but the
visability
is much better. We tried to use the GPS, but I think the
batteries
are dead. That's why you just can't trust those
things. We
were on VFR Flight Following from Spokane Departure so all is
well.
We reached Two Rivers in about 25 minutes and turned back toward
Spokane.
I called Approach just north of Reardan and got set up with a squawk
code.
About 5 minutes later, they called and had me ident the transponder and
said they had been calling us for 5 minutes. I never heard
them.
Perhaps I tripped the wrong switch on the audio panel or something, but
we were OK and called Felts Tower for landing. Wind was now
15 knots
at 230. Entered a right downwind for 21R and as I was turning
to
base leg the tower asked me to take 21 left. OK.
Now the winds
are variable at 5. I line up, descend, flare a little high,
and settle
to the runway. Good flight. Tim is happy.
(1.1PIC/70.5
total hours)
Flight 69/April 20, 2001-A cross-country flight with
Tom in
457BC. We leave Felts Field at around 10 a.m. with Pullman,
WA (PUW)
as our desination. No reason, just because we can.
It's a little
bumpy. Tom has his GPS mounted on the yoke and it's kind of
hard
to see. Easy cruising to Pullman as the bumps
subsided after
we got out of town but we have a pretty strong cross-wind/tail-wind
that's
helping along. We are flying somewhat sideways. No
problem.
Out ground-speed, as measured by the GPS is around 115 knots.
The
trip down is fairly uneventful. I haven't done an
uncontrolled field
for quite a while. Tom instructs me on calling the unicom
frequency
for an airport advisory and they tell us that runway 23 is the
active.
I'm a little fast on my approach, slight balloon, but perfect
touchdown.
We fly over the town of Pullman, then turn north toward home and cruise
at about 105 knots ground speed. I let Tom take the controls
and
I pulled out my portable GPS. They read within one degree and
one
knot of each other, but, why would they be different?
Hmmm.
Technology run amok. One of the plans was for me to do some
stall
work, (it's been awhile). I do a power on and power off
stall, the
latter with a turn. They're OK. Back towards
home. We're
close to the class C so we call approach and get a squawk
code. Checking
into the Felts ATIS, the winds are 22 knots from 040 degrees and I set
up for runway 3 Right. Working into my final
approach. Looks
good. Oh, oh. Too high, too slow. Tommy
saves a crappy
landing. I can't believe that this landing was sucking so
bad.
I'm depressed. I just wasn't paying attention.
Shoot.
Back to remedial landing class! At least we survived, but
barely,
(1.5 PIC-Cross Country/72 total hours)
Flight 70-April 24, 2001-After last Friday's dismal
performance,
it was time for some solo work. I checked out 59AM from
Custom Aviation
just before noon. A Piper was in the pattern for 21
Right.
The tower told me to taxi to 3 Left with some strange instructions
regarding
the multiple hold short lines. When I arrived at the run-up
area
I discovered what they meant. the paint crew had carefully
painted
new hold short lines so you can't legally enter the run-up area from
the
taxiway without clearance. OK. So I get set to go
and look
at the sock. I had assumed that the wind was favoring runway
3 now
and that's why I'm down here. Wrong-o. The Piper is
still using
21. So I ask the tower why I'm down here and do they want me
to take
off in a tail wind. He replies, "I guess the wind is 230 at
10 kts,
why don't you taxi to 21 Right." Oh goodie. A one
hour lunch
and I'm taking the airport scenic tour at a dollar a minute.
So I
start dragging to the other end a mile away. Then he has me
cross
over the short runway and back taxi down 21 Right.
A-ha. The
paint crew is in the 21 Right run-up. In retrospect, why
didn't he
have me take off on 21 left then make right traffic for 21
Right?
Well, I finally make to the end of the runway after 2/10 of an
hour.
And off I go. It's windy and bumpy. A perfect day
for my landing
practice. I carry 30 degrees of flaps a little extra power
for the
gusts. The first attempt, I balloon a bit from the power, but
make
an acceptable landing. Second time around. Shoot,
all that
taxi fun has blown my time for this deal so I call for a full
stop.
Landing number two, same procedure. Some extra
float. A perfect
touchdown. I'm back! I feel much better.
Crappy conditions
and decent landings. (0.5 PIC/72.5 total hours)
Flight 71/May 6, 2001-A gorgeous day in the
60's. Just
a couple of clouds hanging around. Chris, Shawn and I are up
at about
1:25pm in N33334E, a Cessna 172 N from Felts Field Aviation.
We climb
out and head south, over our house and through the gap toward Rockford,
then to the east. It's kind of bumpy with thermals.
We turn
to the west when we reach the south end of Coeur d'Alene Lake and then
foolw the main part of the lake up to the City of Coeur
d'Alene.
The air is smooth over the lake. Shawn takes a couple of
pictures
here and there. When we reach the city, we turn to the west and head
for
home, now just 30 miles away. I call in to the tower about 15
miles
out, around the State Line. It's a little early but I wanted
them
to know I was out here. About 6 miles out, tower advises us
of traffic.
I see one and Shawn catches the other one just off our nose about a
mile
at 11:00. We are on a straight in final approach to runway 21
left.
I'm trying to maintain 70 knots (remember, I'm used to MPH), but it
keeps
zipping up to 80, down to 65. It's still bumpy, but the field
is
reporting calm winds. We cross the fence at around 70 knots,
a little
fast but it'll have to do. I touch down at around 65 knots, a
little
balloon, correct, and touch down. I make the intersection and
taxi
to parking. An intense flight, lots to pay attention to, but
fun.
(0.9 PIC/73.4 total hours)
Flight 72/May 18, 2001-Slightly breezy with 10 knot
winds at
210 degrees. No problem. Mikey and I pre-flight
51215 (I was
supposed to have 96617, but there was a snafu). We taxi to
runway
21 right and wait for a University of North Dakota Piper to do a stop
and
go. We zip into the sky and come around for a touch and
go.
The tower asks us to extend our down wind and we comply.
Oops!
When I finally get turned around to final I am way over in the pattern
for the left runway. I'm about 3 miles out so I scoot over to
a proper
approach for 21 right. I decide that there are way too many
people
in the pattern so after this touch and go, I advise the tower we will
turn
to the north. There's a headwind so I float a little on the
touchdown,
but I make it after some effort and a little balloon and we plop onto
the
runway and back into the sky. Mikey and I putz to the north
of Spokane
and flutter around the north practice area for about 40
minutes.
There's a little haze but very few bumps. After about 40
minutes
of sightseeing and lake identification, we turned toward the
airport.
I call the tower over the Kaiser/Mead and advise that we are
inbound.
The tower instructs us to a base for 21 right. We are way to
the
west so I ask for a downwind approach. OK by them.
We come
over Beacon Hill into the downwind at about 3,100 and set up for the
landing.
Turn base and final and meet some headwind (17 kts). I add
some power
and we squeek perfectly onto the runway. I turn off at the
first
intersection, hold short at the left runway for landing traffic and
roll
over to parking. What a fabulous flight and Mikey liked
it!
Good landings and the passenger was not scared at all. And no
problems
with the knot thing! After we tuck the plane away, we wander
over
to check out the new Cesnna 172/Skyhawk Millenium Edition that's
sitting
on the tarmac. If we just had $175,000 lying
around! (1.0 PIC/74.4
total hours)
Flight 73/June 7, 2001-If it gets beyond two weeks
between flights,
I get this little twitch and my mind tends to wander at work a
lot.
So, in order to stave off any abverse effects, I needed to
fly. This
required a lunch-time touch and go session. Because, as I
understand
it, the aircraft will not fly level without a passenger in the right
seat,
I invited my designated passenger, Mikey, along for this short
ride.
We checked out 96617 at around 11:30 a.m. Weather was
great.
Taxi to Runway 21 Right at Felts Field. Wait for some landing
traffic,
then it's time to defy gravity again. Up and around to the
downwind
leg, tower says to extend downwind. This time I pick a point
on the
ridge ahead as a reference so I don't get off the right
track. Tower
calls my base and I turn to my base and final approach leg.
It's
a looooong approach, but all is well. Nice touchdown and
rollout.
Hit the throttle and we're back in the air. Hmmm. I
say to
myself, "Why won't this plane fly?" I'm not climbing very
fast and
the airspeed is not increasing. "Why won't this plane
fly?"
A quick scan. Doh! I left the flaps down at their
20 degree
setting. I flick the switch and the flaps go up, plane starts
flying,
airspeed up, good deal. Then Mikey says: "Hey Al...how come
we went
farther to the west before you turned the plane?" "Well gee
whiz
Mikey....ya got me. Somebody in the cockpit forgot to put the
flaps
up. You just can't get good help
nowadays." Another good
touchdown and takeoff (without flaps this time!). We head
around
for another circuit and I advise tower that this will be a full
stop.
Just a little bounce on this one. Success! One
landing for
every takeoff. (0.4 PIC/74.8 total hours)
Flight 74/June 15, 2001-Ted T., my co-worker who
also has the
flying infection, and I planned a flight to Sandpoint, Idaho this
morning.
Great visibilty, no wind. The idea was that he would fly from
Flets
Field to SZT and I would take the leg back to SFF.
We took
off at around 7:25 a.m. with Ted at the controls. He made a
couple
of touch and go's to refresh his memory (both were great, now I'll have
to have a perfect landing!), then we turned to the northeast.
When
we reached about 6,000 feet, we were able to see over the mountains
into
the Sandpoint area. Uh, oh! Fog! We ain't
going there!
After a couple of minutes of depression, we diverted to the Deer Park
Airport.
Another good landing by Ted. We found the facilities to
deposit our
morning coffee then I took the left seat. We discussed our
next move.
"How about Chewelah?" This is a nice airport about another 20
NM
north. "Why not." We pulled out the chart, figured
out the
trip. Fired up the GPS and hit the air. I climbed
to about
5,500 feet and we looked out to where Chewelah should
be.......Fog!
We ain't going there! OK...new plan, we'll just fly
around.
I cruised up north toward Loon Lake, turned west, over Springdale,
turned
southwest, over the Spokane River, and followed it to the west a
bit.
I then turned toward the east and home. I called into Spokane
approach
as we were getting close to the GEG Class C. This was
interesting
to Ted because he had never come back into town from this
direction.
I got a transponder code from approach and aimed for the north side of
Spokane. As I got a little closer, I started a slow descent
to get
under the Spokane International approach pattern. As we got
over
the metro area, I was down to 3,200 feet which was just right and
Approach
handed me over to Felts Tower. When I was a couple miles
northwest
of the runway 21 Right downwind leg, they cleared a Beech Baron to take
off and turn north. I called in and asked if they were going
to cross
in front of us. Of course, they were already on their
crosswind and
I spotted them. A good approach to landing and a reasonable
touch
down on 21 right. Just a darn pleasant flight! Ted
put 0.8
on the hobbs and I got just a little less. This is such
fun!
(0.7 PIC/75.5 total hours)
Flight 75/July 8, 2001-Yikes! Three weeks
and two days
since my last flight. Will I still remember how?
Chris, Shawn,
and I had scheduled N96617 for 10:00 a.m. Then, yesterday
Chris got
a better offer: Go to Priest Lake with his girlfriend and our
jet
ski. Poo on him. It's just Shawn and I.
So, what do we
do? We go to Priest Lake too! Only at 7,500 feet
MSL.
We leave SFF at 10:21 a.m. and arrive over Priest Lake about 30 minutes
later. A little bumpy below 5,500 feet but smooth as glass
after
that. We take a slow turn over the south end of the lake and
the
Cadagan cabin (good friends) and back to Spokane. Still
smooth until
we descend to about 5,000 feet, then it's bouncier than a City of
Spokane
street. I make a long final to runway 21 right and a smooth
touchdown.
Fun! (1.2 PIC/76.7 total hours)
Flight 76/July 27, 2001-Double yikes! Just
short of three
weeks since my last flight. At this rate, I'll reach 100
hours in
2003. I had scheduled N96617 for 8:00 a.m. When I
arrived,
I was informed that it was out for maintenance and I had
51215. OK.
This one flies OK but the intercom squelch is touchy. Oh
well.
My passenger today is Wayne Steppe. Former co-worker and
pilot dreamer.
Wayne has about 5 hours of instruction from a zillion years
ago.
I do the pre-flight and while I'm at it 96617 rolls into a tiedown and
a male and female hop out. Some maintenance! We hop
in, fire
up the engine and wander over to the 21R runup. I wait for
landing
traffic then get a clearance to position and hold on the
runway.
We wait. The other plane turns off. We
wait. Tower givces
some flight following instructions to another plane. We
wait.
I finally call the tower and remind them we are ready to go on
21R.
Cleared to take off. Right turn. Look for an
incoming helicopter.
Spot it. Climb behind him on the way to 6,500 feet.
Nice day.
Smooth air with some haze. About 60 degrees at
altitude. We
head for Newport then turn to the east over Priest River then south
toward
Pend Oreille Lake. I had intended to fly over Coeur d'Alene,
however
there is a lot of traffic at the CDA airport and their going every
which
way on opposing and crossing runways. Good place to avoid
today.
We turn to the west and skirt the north side of Mt. Spokane.
Wayne
handles the controls for a few minutes and does a good job holding
altitude
and a shallow left turn. It's time to head back. I
take the
plane and start my descent. I have 3,500 feet to lose in
about 15
miles. Down we go and here come the bumps. It's
warmed up a
bit and it's bumpy below 5,000. I cross the ridge for my base
leg
at 3,000, turn base over Millwood and end up using 30 degrees of
flaps.
A lot of bumps as we cross the river, over the grass, then over the
pavement.
A good, smooth landing. Taxi to parking. I shut
down and open
the door. It's windy out here! This was another fun
flight.
(1.1 PIC/77.8 total hours)
Flight 78/August 11, 2001-Chris, Shawn, and I were
booked for
51215, a mid 80's Cessna 172, at 10am this morning. We rolled
into
the parking lot at 9:55am and it was nowhere to be seen, I
thought:
"I hope they get back soon so we won't be rushed." We step
into the
office and the lady gives us the bad news: 51215 is in the
shop,
you'll have to take 326ME. Darn! Cessna 326ME is a
2001 Cessna
172S Mellenium Edition. It has a total of 114 hours on the
clock.
I, of course, am extremely depressed that we won't be in 51215 with
it's
crappy intercom and slightly crazed windshield. It's a new
plane
so I go through the checklist carefully. Everthing on the
pre-flight
is pretty close, so we hop in. This equipment has fuel
injection.
There is a different starting procedure with an auxilary pump instead
of
the primer on the dash. I follw the instructions and run the
pump,
push in the mixture until the fule flow meter shows movement.
Turn
off the pump. Start the engine.
Not! Try it again.
Not! Third time's a charm. We have
ignition. Call for
taxi. Told to wait a couple of mintues. Get to
taxi.
Do the usual run up. Call for clearance. Pleas hold
short.
One of the runways is closed for paving so things are a little
busy.
Plus there's a pilot out there who is lost and can't seem to get it
through
his head that we are using runway 3 today. We get
clearance.
And we're off! We climb out and turn north toward Priest
Lake.
We're going camping here tomorrow so we thought we'ed check out the
beach.
Climb to 7,500 feet and have smooth air. Some haze but
visability
is great. We fly about 2/3'rds up the lake and take
a few pictures.
We make note of several shallow areas we did not know
existed. Turn
to the south and back toward home. The bumps start at about
5,500
feet, 10 miles out. At this point the radio lights up and
there are
three aircraft all in our area heading for the field. We
start looking
everywhere. We finally find the closest one as we enter the
downwind
leg for the airport. I stayed well to the east and he was
farther
west so he's in the pattern before me, but at least we found him
(Thanks
Shawn. Good eyes!). I work the down wind,
one notch of
flaps, turn base, turn final. It's bumpy. Airspeed
ok.
Over the threshold. A little balloon.
Correction. Uh
oh! Lose lift a few feet above the ground and
Smack-O! Shoot!
A crappy landing! In retrospect...where was the second notch
of flaps,
Mr. Hot Shot Pilot? One notch just didn't cut it at 60
knots.
Stupid! Oh well. At least we survived. At
least everyone
survived.....except my ego. Back to remedial touch and go
school
for me. I feel bad that I smack-o landed the new
one. Oh well,
just take a few bucks off the $164,000 list price. (1.5
hours/79.3
total)
Flight 79/August 29, 2001-Landing
practice. I grabbed
Tom and 457BC for lunchtime touch and go's. We did
five. It
was warm, a little bumpy and, with Runway 3L as the active a 3-5 knot
quartering
tailwind. On the downwind for landing number one, the tower
asked
me for a right 360 degree turn to provide spacing for a turbo behind
me.
This was a first. With only one runway available due to the
construction,
it can get a little busy. My landing was reasonable, but a
little
fast. Number two, another OK touchdown. Number
four, Tom called
for an engine out procedure when we were about mid-field on the
downwind.
No problem. On number five, it got interesting. As
I was turning
into the downwind, we heard another pilot on about a two-mile final in
a Cessna call that his engine was running rough. A moment
later,
he stated that it quit. He was able to glide in for a dead
stick
landing on 3L while we were on the downwind. I watched him
roll past
taxiway Delta and wondered where I was going to land. He was
able
to slowly roll off the runway at Taxiway Charlie and was out of my way
for my landing. Tom and speculate that it might be an "out of
fuel"
problem and the guys at the Flight Standards Office might take time
from
their lunch to wander out and check his tanks. If not, he's a
hero.
Now on to my problem. Hmmm. It's busy, another
plane in the
pattern, more coming. It's time for a short-field landing and
stop
to make Taxiway Delta. A good approach, still too fast, full
flaps.
Too much float. So what happens? Tommy dumps the
flaps on me,
the plane starts to drop. I pull back hard.
Touchdown.
On the brakes and turn into the first taxiway. I hate it when
he
teaches me things this way! It drives me crazy!
(0.8 hours/80.1
total)
September 11, 2001/All VFR Flights stopped-No flying
for me
or anyone for awhile. The terrorists took care of that.
Flight 80/September 21, 2001-VFR was restored
yesterday.
We took to the air today. I spent 20 on hold with Flight
Service
just to see if all was well. Mikey and I checked out N96617
from
Felts Field Aviation. We asked for ATC flight following just
for
the heck of it and took off to the south. We turned east at
Rockford
then flew over Worley and the south end of Coeur d'Alene
Lake. We
turned north at Harrison and flew to the city of CDA then back to the
west
and home. A decent landing with full flaps on the short
runway, (the
long one is under construction). (0.9 hours/81 total)
Flight 81/September 30, 2001-Chris, Shawn, and I to
Pullman!
The weather was fabulous. No wind. No
bumps. I saw Jim
Benning at the field getting ready to give a checkride to an
unsuspecting
prospecitive pilot. We did the pre-flight and taxied over to
3R.
Three Left is still under construction. We used flight
following
for N96617 and headed south over our house and through Mica
Gap.
A quick 35 minutes to PUW. I came into the downwind opposite
the
threshold so went out over WSU to lose altitude. A perfect
greaser
landing on runway 5 and we taxied over to the FBO. A quick
bathroom
break and back into the air toward home. About half way there
the
boys heard a squealing sound from the speaker. It took us a
few minutes
but we found the culprit: the hand microphone button was
stuck on.
Chris must have tapped it with his leg. I bet the guys at
Seattle
Center were impressed. Uneventful over the Palouse, through
Mica
Gap, over the house, and over the freeway to a right downwind leg to
3R.
I was a little to hot on final (as usual) and floated in, then
ballooned
once to a moderatly bouncy landing. Taxi to the
ramp. The prospective
pilot has a major smile on his face as he fired up his C-150.
He
must have passed (Jim said he did good). So did we.
Still one
landing for every takeoff. 100% survivable. (1.5
hours this
flight/82.5 total hours).
Flight 82/October 13, 2001-Tom and I set out for a
fun flight
this morning. With Tom at the controls we turned south for
Colfax.
I took over a few minutes into the flight from the right seat while Tom
fiddled with his IPAQ GPS. We dodged a few low clouds and
reached
the Colfax area. Today's mission, take pictures of the new
McDonald
Park baseball fields in Colfax. With me still flying, it was
time
for some slow flight with very steep turns while Tom opened the window
and took some shots. I circled the field three times, Tom
took the
pix and we were done with that. I turned south toward the
Snake River
for our fishing reconnisance. This was dangerous as we were
flying
toward Lower Granite Dam. We kept a close lookout for F-16's
approaching
at Mach 2! We flew over the river, then east, then north,
staying
a few miles away from the dam. I crossed the river over the
Wawawai
County Park and turned toward home. When we passed Colfax Tom
regianed
the control and flew around the family ranch house getting his mother's
attention. The wind came up and it was a little
bumpy. We crossed
through Mica Gap, called Felts Tower, got set up for a base leg
entry.
Wait! We forgot the Mariner Corn Field! Screw the
approach,
we call the tower and deviate to the east to see the corn maze that is
in the shape of the Seattle Mariners logo. It looks
cool. Oops!
someone else has the same idea. 94CA, a rental from Custom is
doing
the same thing. We spot them, they climb, and we turn toward
the
field. An hour and a half for the plane, and I flew for about
a half
hour. Good practice for right seat work although I don't feel
comfy
there at all. In Tom's plane, the IPAQ GPS on the yoke blocks
my
view of the turn coordinator and I just can't scan the instruments
easily.
ned more practice and maybe a few landing from the right some
day.
(0.5/83 total hours)
Flight 83/October 13, 2001-In the quest to start the
flying
club/partnership, Ted T. and I have been trying to get 7097Q into the
air.
Ted's in Seattle but today is the day. My mission:
see if all
the stuff works. Chris Arp from Custom is at the controls to
start.
We get flight following and take off the the south practice
area.
The transponder encoder is not feeding an altitude. The ADF
won't
come on. The LORAN comes on but I don't know how it
works.
Both radios work, the VOR works and best of all, the engine is
smooth.
I take the airplane for a while to get the feel of it. I can
trim
it out and it flies fine. It looks good.
(0.2PIC/83.2 total
hours)
Flight 84/October 25, 2001-Ted and I fire up 96617
at about
10:30 a.m. Our goal: touch and go's at Coeur
d'Alene.
Ted's at the controls as we lift off to the east. We come
around
Newman Lake and look for the CDA airport. It's there but a
nice cloud
layer is hanging out at pattern altitude. After some
consultation
among ourselves, we change the plan: off to Deer
Park! We cruise
past Mt. Spokane and spot Deer Park. We are pretty sure that
the
long runway is closed and we'll try for the newly paved short one,
(3,100
ft.). We find the DEW frequency, 123.0 on our custom
checklist sheet
and make our calls. We do see the "X" that signiifes that the
main
runway is closed. It's really hard to see so we're glad we
had a
clue beforehand. Ted comes around to runway 4 and puts it
down, then
back up. Around again and we're on the downwind, then Seattle
Center
comes across the air and says we're on their frequency. Hmmm.
Ted
lands and we taxi around to a wide spot to change places. Ted
calls
Flight Service on his cell phone to confirm the frequency.
Maybe
it's the number two radio. Hmmm. we'll use the
number one radio.
I hop into the right seat for our return. Taxi around to
runway 4,
throttle up and I go around for a touch and go. This is the
shortest
runway I've attempted one. I come around and touch it down,
flaps
up, power up and we're off. It seemed fine. Ted
says that was
a good landing other than the FAA violation! Huh!
Ted tells
me that I touched down about 50 feet ahead of the displaced
threshold.
Oh shoot! Well, that will have to be our little secret and
I'll deny
it ever happened. I turn south and head for Felts
Field. I
have a little trouble seeing my landmarks in the haze and end up a
little
to the east so I call and get a left downwind entry for 3R.
Enter
the downwind and I'm instructed to extend to allow for a twin that's
waiting
for an instrument flight clearance. I finally get clearance
to turn
base, then final, full flaps, looks good. Hmmm a little cross
wind,
a little slow, more speed, oops a little slow, more speed, correct for
wind, a little slow, more speed. Sheesh Al, land the
plane!
Stall horn. Nice touch and roll out. OK.
The landing
in Deer Park was an "F" grade and the one in Spokane was a "D+"
grade.
Ted gets 0.7 on the hobbs with a half hour for me. (0.5
PIC/83.7
total)
Flight 85/November 9, 2001-A fine day with just a
little mist
here and there. I keep an eye on the dewpoint and the spread
makes
it up to 5 degrees or so. I con my buddy Mikey into a lunch
flight,
(actually not much arm twisting rquired). He's waiting for me
as
I pull into the parking lot. I pre-flight N99917 and we take
off
from Felts Field (SFF) and head to the north. Climb to 6,500
feet
and take a turn around 5,800 foot Mt. Spokane then fly south over Coeur
d'Alene, Idaho. We keep an eye out for a Lear Jet coming into
Coeur
d'Alene airport (COE) and turn back west to Spokane. there's
some
traffic around but not to busy. The tower sets me up for a
right
downwind approach. I'm just past abeam the threshold when
they advise
me that they would like me to turn base and land as soon as possible to
make room for a Centurian that's on a five-mile final. I
advise OK.
I drop to full flaps, do a steep turn, descend at about 80 knots, line
up for final, slow to 65 knots, cross the threshold at 60 knots, and
set
the little airplane with no bump, bounce, squeek, or klunk.
One of
my best arrivals. I guess it just takes the fear of another
airplane
landing on my tail or flying an extended downwind to Seattle to
motivate
the pilot. This was a fun one. (0.7 PIC/84.4
total).
Flight 86/November 11, 2001-The weather was just too
nice.
They have been predicting rain every day this weekend but it never
came.
After church I called just to see if there might be something to
fly.
N51215 was open at 1pm. I took Shawn on the same flight I did
with
Mikey on Friday. The parallel runway is finally open after
two months
of resurfacing construction! Took off from it. New
concrete
is nice and smooth. Cold air with a 700 fpm climb to the
northeast.
The Mt. Spokane snow recon tour. No snow, but good
flying.
Smooth air, but a little hazy and the sun was a little lower than a
couple
hours earlier for the Friday flight.
Coming back toward
Spokane from Coeur d'Alene, the sun was right in our eyes.
Tower
advised a C-210 climbing out on an IFR heading. I caught him
right
away to my right and above us. No factor. Made a
downwind for
3R. Full flaps. Good airspeed.
And.....nailed the landing
right on, no bump! Yessss! Shawn was
impressed. He's
seen a few real spooky landings in my career. (0.8/PIC/85.2
total)
Flight 87/December 2, 2001-Today there is a nice
weather window
between two storm systems. I called Tom to see if we could
take 457BC
out for a flight before he leaves for Tokyo. OK.
So, today's
hazard? There's a flock of Canadian geese roosting between
the parallel
runways. I start my roll and hang over to the right
side. The
geese must be used to us. They don't even flinch.
We're off
the ground at 11:05 a.m. and head for the south practice
area. On
the way, we hear the tower talk to someone on the ground who is heading
out to do something about the geese. The comments was, "those
geese
won't be bothering anyone for the rest of the day."
As we head
south, I call Spokane Approach at Tom's suggestion to check the
transponder
encoding. Hmmm. It's about 100 feet off and the
radio shop
guy said it was right on. I just putz around then turn to the
east
with the thought of going over toward Coeur d'Alene lake.
There's
a lot of wind up here and it takes quite a crab to follow the field
section
lines. As we get toward the mountains it's gets a little
bumpy so
I do a 180 and head to the west for a while, then turn south.
We're
just flying and chatting. Very fun. After about a
half hour,
I decide to head back to the airport for some touch and go
landings.
I call in at Mica Gap and tower gives me runway 3-right. I
waited
a minute then decided I wanted the left runway, asked for it, and I'm
OK'ed
for a right downwind to runway 3-left. I do the pattern, line
up
on final, correct for the crosswinds and proceed to do one of the
finest
crosswind landings in my career. Tom's comment was, "I can't
find
anything to critcize. Who taught you how to fly?"
Around the
pattern, line up for number two. I get just a tad slow on
final,
but it's another greaser. Number 3 was also
perfect. On the
next downwind, I call for a full stop. Rats! A
little bounce!
But still OK. I turn off at midfield, cross the right runway
and
turn on to taxiway Bravo. Oops! A Stearman and
another plane
also just turned onto this one at the other end. I pull over
into
the Custom Aviation fuel ramp and wait for them to pass then continue
my
taxi to the hanger. Great flight! (1.0PIC/86.2
total)
Flight 88/December 22, 2001-Well, the airplane club
deal fell
apart this week with one of the partners bailing out at the last
minute.
So, I'm depressed. The only antidote: anti-gravity
experimentation.
I call Felts Field Aviation. Nothing available, they're a
little
short on equipment. N96617 is in the shop, N51215 has a nose
gear
problem, and N3334E is out all day. Only the Millenium
Edition is
open at $102/hr. I say no. Then I think, "What the
heck" and
call back for the plane at Noon. Shawn and I arrive and do a
long
pre-flight. Then, just like last time, this darn
fuel-injected plane
does not want to start even as we go through every procedure from the
book.
On the 5th try it finally coughs to a start. With everything
we have
to deal with, it takes over 2/10's just to get to the runway.
We
use flight following and head to the west over town. Shawn
has the
still camera and the video. We circle the farm at Reardan
twice and
take some shots. On the way back, Shawn tries his hand at the
helm.
He does not like to turn. Over the stadium and into a right
downwind
for runway 21R. A little high on the flare but I get it to
settle
in with just a bump. Shawn tried to film the
landing. We'll
go to the video replay and see how we did. Our second trip in
N326ME.
It's a nice plane but the extra cost and the hassle of the fuel
injection
(although no chance of carb ice problems) really doesn't justify
renting
it. (0.8PIC/87 total hours)
Flight 89/December 23, 2001-I conned Tommy into
flying today.
It didn't take much, he wanted to play with his GPS and I wanted to
play
with his plane. The GPS is mounted on the pilots yoke so he
took
the left seat. He took off and flew up toward Deer
Park. I
took over from there and just did steep turns etc. for a
while. We
headed back toward Felts and were over Kaiser Mead.
Whoops!
There's a plane! At our altitude and going right across my
path at
a 45 degree angle. It was maybe 1/4 mile off the right
nose.
I saw him and turned right. (It was Lou Sherry the CAP guy in
his
Citabria. We talked to him afterword on the ground.
He didn't
see us until I turned and he saw the wing.) A big
first! It
was lesson day. I did two touch and go's from the right
seat.
Not pretty, but survivable. It's hard to just glance at the
airspeed
indicator etc. from the right. This is a good
thing. I've been
wanting to learn this for a while. A good (although
unplanned) lesson.
(0.7 PIC/87.7 total)
January 5, 2001-Not a flight where I was pilot in
Command, however
it is a big occasion. The member 's of our "Felts
Field Flyers" group went over to Everett to look at another
possible
aircraft. We met Don Wilcox and his 1964 Cessna 172
E. After
crawling over the plane in the rain for an hour or so, the skies
cleared
so the four of us split up a couple of touch and go flights.
Thge
end result: Our Felts Field Flyers club will be the proud
owners
of this bird, N3082U, pending its passage of an annual
inspection.
Wahoo!
Flight 90/January 13, 2001-Our first flight of the
new year.
Chris and Shawn joined me in N51215. A realization:
this aircraft
does not have a 4-place intercom. I guess we've never rented
this
puppy with three of us. Bummer. Shawn was in the
back with
a headset, but no plugs. We'll keep that in mind.
There were
a lot of low clouds around so we took off to the north. A
scattered
layer was hanging around at about 3,000 feet so we flew around a few
clouds
here and there. This just felt a little to low, so after
about 20
minutes we headed back for a few touch and go landings.
Number one
was a greaser, numbers two and three were a little high on the flare
and
I settled it in. No smackers, but they could have been
better. Boy
that Lycoming vibrates more than the Continental in the 1964 mentioned
above. (0.7PIC/88.4 Total)
Flight 91/February 2, 2002-A really big
day! We are off
to Everett to pick up our little plane. One of the partners
rented
a Cessna 182 to get us there. We zip over to the big city in
two
hours and one minute. Our plane is there and we get it ready
and
up in the air for home. I come back in the 182 in the right
seat.
I put in about 25 minutes in control as we are VFR on top over the
Cascades
and into Eastern Washington. (0.4 PIC/88.8 total)
Flight 92/February 2, 2002-The second half of the
really big
day. Ted and I take the helm of our new baby. It's
a happy
homecoming for Cessna 172E N3082U. It's a busy day in the
pattern
at Felts Field, but we gotta take her up. I hop into the left
seat
and fire it up for some quick pattern work. It's my first
trip with
manual flaps. Good take off, I find the trim wheel on the
floor instead
of the console, around the pattern, good approach and reasonable
touchdown.
Carb heat off, power up, where the heck are those darn flaps.
Ted
helps. Sheesh! Up again, on the downwind, lotsa
traffic.
We hear ATC yelling for a go around! Some yah whoo has
crossed 21L
in front of a landing plane. My downwind get extended while
they
clear this up and I call for a full stop. We pull off the
runway
and switch to ground control on the radio just in time to hear the
final
comments as the controller chews out the offender. We pull
over by
the tower and switch seats (and also wait for the dust to
settle).
Ted climbs in and does three touch and go's. This is good and
we
like our new old little plane. It does need a wash and wax
job but
looks good to us. (0.5PIC/89.3 total)
Wow! A plane of our own! This calls for a new
logbook web
page to continue the saga as a pilot and plane owner. OK, we
realize
that it's not all mine and I have three other buddies in this, but it's
kinda mine. Go to the
"Now that we own one,
where did we go," logbook page. (otherwise known as
logbook #3)
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