Captain YS's Flight Log Book |
12/23-12/24/2006 Flying Around Oahu IslandMy last flight of the year 2006 was two circle-island flight around Oahu island of Hawaii. Two and half years ago, I was in Honolulu for honeymoon. I happened to find Washin Air which offered discovery flight tour around Oahu island. The blue ocean from the cockpit of Piper Archer II was impressive and made me decide to resume my flight training. This year, I finally was checked out for Cessna 172 at Pittsburgh Flight Training Center. When I flew two and half years ago, I had not flown for years. I was not able to communicate with ATC smoothly and made a bad landing. This time, I wanted to fly better. I wanted to see the improvement through the two and half years of flight training by myself. The second purpose of the flight was to fly with my parents for the first time. Instead of going back all the way to Japan for holidays, I met with my parents in Hawaii. My home town is located near the north end of the main island of Japan. It gets cold in winter. Meeting my parents in Hawaii is a good option. I wanted to use this opportunity for showing my parents that I was a safe pilot who can come back in one piece. I had another purpose, which is to practice ATC communication of departing from and arriving at a class B airport. I'm regularly flying out of Allegheny County airport, which is a class D airport. Radio communication at a class B airport is much more complicated and faster. I thought departing from and arriving at Honolulu International, a busy class B airport, must be a good experience. Of course, I asked an instructor to fly with me because I'm not used to the area and the airport. (And, I was not checked out for Archer II at Washin Air either.) To prepare for the cancellation due to weather, I made two reservations. Luckily, I could fly both. The following videos are from the first day.
In the morning, I called a flight service station (FSS) for weather briefing. I expected that the instructor of Washin Air should have obtained the briefing, but I called FSS anyway. It's a part of my mental preparation. However, I was surprised when I heard "Welcome to the Lockheed Martin Cleveland automated flight service station." Oh, man! I never thought that the Cleveland FSS was covering all the way to Hawaii! Soon I realized that it was because I called from my cell phone. The area code of my cell phone number is 412=Pittsburgh. No matter where I am, I probably will be directed to the Cleveland FSS if I call 1-800-WX-BRIEF from my cell phone. I called again from the Hotel phone, and I could reach Honolulu FSS. Then I drove to Washin Air, and the instructor told me that he already had finished pre-flight and was ready to go. So everyone got onboard the airplane. I was thinking I prepared well. But, I was not. The instructor told me to contact "Honolulu Clearance" before taxing. I was thinking I was going to contact Honolulu Ground first. I didn't know what to say to the clearance delivery. The instructor then told me to request freeway 4 departure, and tell that we have ATIS information November. OK. I learned what to say. But, Honolulu International was a busy airport, and always someone was talking on Honolulu Clearance frequency. The instructor then told me to transmit as soon as the frequency was available. Wait a sec, in Pittsburgh I was supposed to wait 1 to 3 seconds before transmitting to avoid double transmission. Many things are different in a busy airport, indeed. So, I said "Honolulu Clearance, Piper 9118Z, Request Freeway 4 departure, with November" as soon as the frequency became available. I don't remember exactly what Honolulu clearance told me, but I wrote down "CB, 1500, 124.8, 0252." So, I guess I was told that "Cleared for Honolulu Class B, maintain 1500ft after take off, departure frequency 124.8, squawk 0252," and that should be what I read back. Honolulu clearance called "Piper 18Z read back is correct." Then came the ground control. I should have said "Honolulu ground, Piper 9118Z, Air Service, ready to taxi for take off with November." "Air Service" is the name of the location where Washin Air is located. The ground controller called "Taxi runway 4R via Foxtrot." Believe me, you can easily be lost in this short call unless you study the airport diagram before the flight. The common mistake is that you read back correctly and then forget what you've just read back. However, this time I studied the airport diagram ahead of time, and I knew I had to taxi to either 4R or 4L via taxiways C and D, E, or F. This part was a piece of cake. I read back "Taxi runway 4R via Foxtrot." My preparation worked! :-) Then I taxied to 4R, got take off clearance from the tower and took off. But, I missed the next ATC call for handing me off to the Honolulu approach because the ATC spoke fast. I felt the ATC of Honolulu International was speaking at least 1.5 times faster than the ATC of Pittsburgh approach. The instructor beside me was indeed an experienced instructor, and he immediately realized that I missed the call. He replied to the ATC for this time. I flew to the east, then turned north and followed the coast line of Oahu island. I expected I had to fly through two class D airspaces associated with Kaneohe Marine Corps base and Wheeler Air Force base, but both were already in Christmas holidays and closed. So, there was no class D airspace. I didn't have to worry about getting permissions from the tower. I only had to report position when I was flying through the airspace. After passing Sunset beach, I turned south and headed back to Honolulu International. My next challenge was contacting Honolulu Approach controller. When I came above a residential area past the Wheeler AFB, I called Honolulu Approach "Honolulu Approach, Piper 9118Z, 3 miles north of H-1/H-2 Interchange, 2500, inbound for landing with November." The ATC replied "Piper 9118Z, report H-1/H-2 Interchange." So, I continued on for three miles, and called the ATC again "Piper 18Z over H-1/H-2 Interchange." What I heard next was something like "Piper 18Z, Cleared Bravo North arrival approved, squawk 0277, expect runway 4L." I guess I read back as it is. But, I wondered: What's Bravo-North arrival? It took me a few seconds to realize that the ATC meant "Cleared for (Honolulu) class Bravo (airspace), North arrival approved." Honolulu ATC speaks fast with fewer words. Then I flew above the terminal, and joined left downwind 4L. At that time, I was handed off to the control tower, and cleared to land 4L. On final, the wind was blowing from the right. I tilted the wing go the right and pushed the left rudder. I rounded out, flared, and landed nicely with main landing gears. That's what I thought. But, later the instructor told me that I was pulling the control wheel too much. Actually, I was used to Cessna 172 whose tail is pointing up. But, the tail of the Archer II was not that high. What the instructor told made sense. After decelerating on the runway, the control tower told me to clear the runway and hold short or 4R, which made me panic. I looked at the runway threshold line between 4L and 4R, but the two lines were too close, and there's not even a space that can accommodate a small airplane. In fact, it was not even narrow, but the runway threshold of 4R was inside the threshold of 4L. It was physically (geometrically?) impossible to clear runway 4L without moving in to 4R. The instructor beside me was indeed experienced (or, this might be a common reaction of his student pilot), and he noticed I was confused and told me to stop before the 4R threshold. I was saved. Well, I didn't do perfectly, but I flew way better than two and half years ago. I de-briefed by myself to improve the flight of the next day. On the second day, my self-de-briefing worked pretty well. I could communicate with the ATCs much smoother than the first day. On this day, a different instructor flew with me, and he showed me sea turtles from the air. Of course I couldn't go down too low, but at least I could recognize one turtle with its head and four legs. On landing, I was initially told to land on 4L, but later the ATC switched me to 4R. So, I didn't have to panic when I cleared the runway. On touch down, I eased the back pressure a little bit compared to the day before. I pulled the nose until I heard the stall horn, and kept the pitch instead of pulling more to stay afloat. This strategy apparently worked well. The instructor later told me that the landing was perfect. It was a very nice flight especially as the last flight of the year 2006.
12/11/2006 Earning Cross-Country time by flying to FranklinThis flight was my last flight from Allegheny County Airport of this year. Now I am accumulating cross-country time, and in this flight I flew to Franklin to earn some more cross-country time. The forecast predicted scattered light rain, but none of them seemed to be reaching the ground. The weather briefer said the rain should not be a factor. But, there's danger of icing in cloud. So, as far as I understood, it was supposed to be ok to fly into the light rain. Nonetheless, I wanted to avoid flying into the rain if possible. Despite my wish, the airplane ended up with flying into a light rain when I was flying at 3000ft. I immediately turned on the carburetor heat, and began descend. Luckily, when I descended to 2800ft, the rain stopped. I was curious if I flew out of the rain, or the rain was not reaching 2800ft. So, I tried to climb back again to 3000ft, and the rain drop started hitting the wind shield. So, I descended again and stayed at 2800ft. Wind was calm at Franklin. I thought I was going to make a straight-in approach to runway 3. But, when I came close, a twin-engine jet reported taking off from runway 21. I changed the runway to runway 21. Joined left downwind, did one touch and go, and headed back to Allegheny County airport. Making one landing at an airport 50nm away from the departing airport qualifies entire flight a cross-country flight. One touch and go at Franklin satisfies this requirement. By the way, when I departed from Allegheny County airport, there was a funny happening. When I called the tower "Allegheny Tower, Cessna 172RQ, ready to take off 28 from A5, north departure," the tower replied "Cessna 172RQ, you can take off now, but a flock of turkey is on the north of runway 28. Would you like to wait until we chase them away?" So I waited until they chased them away. When I was training in Arizona, I heard that there were frequent incident of a coyote on the runway. But, this was my first time to hear that a flock of turkey was near the runway.
11/23/2006 Erie International AirportOn Thanksgiving day, I flew to the Erie International Airport. I flew N430U, which is the most popular Cessna 172 of PFTC. Usually it is very competitive to reserve N430U because many students like to fly N430U. However, all the instructors of PFTC were apparently off on this day, and most students could not fly without an instructor (unless already checked out for solo.) I took advantage of this opportunity and reserved N430U for six hours and flew it to the Erie International Airport. In this time of year, Pittsburgh is supposed to be cold. But, maybe thanks to the global warming, Pittsburgh was unseasonably warm. And, the sky was clear. In general, even when I hear 10 miles visibility in the weather report, it means that I can see something beyond 10 miles clearly or obscured. In Pittsburgh, usually anything beyond 6 miles away is obscured. However, on this day, the air was clear. I could clearly see from the Carnegie Mellon campus and the Cathedral of Learning of the University of Pittsburgh, all the way to the downtown. It was a very nice flying condition.
I asked flight following service and flew to the Erie International with no difficulty. It was my first time to see Lake Erie from this altitude. The view was magnificent from the cockpit! Below are the movie of the landing and take-off at Erie International airport (click to play the movie,) and some photos.
11/19/2006 Cloudy PittsburghAs I have written in the previous articles, I've been trying to fly twice a month this year. But, I reserved four times for this month. The weather in Pittsburgh is pretty bad in winter, and I expect that I will need to cancel many flights. So, I decided to fly a little more this month before the weather gets really messy. For the first flight of this month I flew with my instructor toward the FAA wings program, and this time was the second flight of November. I was planning to fly to Erie International airport for this one. However, the weather turned out bad. The weather briefing indicated the icing condition en-route. The Cessna 172 I reserved does not have de-icing equipment, and if I fly into the icing condition, the airplane will become just a mass of ice and metal and fall into the ground. I decided to cancel the flight and called PFTC. But, I was suggested to fly because the condition around the airport was not that bad. Clearly the weather condition did not allow me to fly to Erie International airport. But, I also wanted to fly as often as I can before winter. I thought about it and decided to fly around Pittsburgh. The wind was from the north, and the runway 31 (sub-runway) was in use. Cloud condition was 1400 scattered, and 2400 overcast. In VFR flight, I need to maintain 500ft under the cloud. But, I also need to stay at least 1000ft above the tallest building when I fly over a congested area. It meant that if I come directly underneath a scattered cloud, I would violate either the 500ft-below-cloud rule or the 1000ft-above-ground rule. I had to dodge with the scattered cloud. I took off and headed north. Thought about flying to Franklin to make it a cross-country. But, the weather looked really bad, and I gave up and came back to the Allegheny County Airport for touch & goes. To me, landing is the most interesting part of flying. I feel really good when I do it perfectly. Today, the sub-runway was in use, and it was a good practice for me. Below are the videos from take-off and landing (click to play.)
The pilot gets very busy during the landing. About 10 miles from the airport, I contact the control tower. Then perform the pre-landing check, making sure fuel (tank) selector both, mixture rich, carburetor heat on, magneto both, master switch on. Then start descending to traffic pattern altitude, which is usually about 1000ft above ground level. Then join the traffic pattern as directed by the air traffic controller, and turn and descend to the runway. During this process, I need to put some charts and papers aside, reply to the ATC when I was told something, and check airspeed, engine RPM, altitude, heading, etc. simultaneously. It's overwhelming even in Cessna. It should be much busier in an airliner. When you hear a story of a pilot who forgot lowering the landing gear and made a belly landing, you might think what a dumb pilot he/she is. As a pilot, I cannot think that way. I will never forget to perform any necessary step if I can land in the same way every time. But, let's say I am told to fly a different pattern when I am about to perform the pre-landing check. I fly my airplane as directed by the ATC, and easily forget to perform the pre-landing check. If I were approaching to a busy airport, I would be directed by an ATC to fly a complicated path which may totally be different from the pattern I am used to. In such a situation, it is very easy to forget one of the procedures to follow. In Cessna 172, I don't face a danger of a belly landing because the gear is welded. Instead, when I try to turn off the carburetor heat during touch and go only to notice it is already off, I hate myself for my forgetfulness. In this flight, in one of the touch & goes I forgot performing the pre-landing check on downwind leg, but I noticed it when I turned to final. I didn't have to hate myself this time because I did it just in time. Flying technique is one of the difficulties of the landing. But, another difficulty, maybe the true difficulty of the landing is this: I need to be able to do the procedure automatically, but it is not enough, and I always need to monitor myself so that I do not skip a procedure even when I need to take a different pattern from the pattern my body remembers. I will truly be a good pilot when I am able to do it in every landing. I continue practice to be a better pilot. By the way, I like inventing (?) gadgets maybe because I'm in the Mechanical engineering department. From the last flying movie, I felt that the picture quality of my digital camera was not very good, and I thought about adding a UV filter. But, of course, there is no UV filter that fits a retractable lens of my portable digital camera. So, I put chopsticks on my UV filter using shrink tubes, and put a tube of a wrapping paper in between the chopsticks, and fixed it to my digital camera by rubber bands. I think it is somewhat effective :-)
10/31/2006 Cross-Wind Landing PracticeThis year, I've been trying to fly at least twice a month. However, I had to cancel the second flight reservation of October due to weather. So I re-scheduled the second flight for October 31st. I wanted to go for a cross-country flight if I could reserve an airplane for four hours, but I could reserve only for two hours. I decided spend the two hours for landing practice. However, in the morning, the weather turned out windy. Until then, my self-limitation of the cross-wind component was 8kt. I had been restricting myself from flying in over-8kt cross-wind. The ATIS was initially reporting 10kt cross-wind. So, I was expecting I should cancel the flight. The ATIS report fortunately changed to 8kt cross-wind a little before 8am. I decided to go for flight, and took off about quarter past eight. This time, I used my "clampod" (Clamp + Tripod) and took some videos from the cockpit.
Below are the two clips from the video.
The active runway was runway 28. Initially the wind was 190 at 8 (8kt wind from south.) However, soon the weather report changed to 200 at 10 which exceeded my self-limitation. But, I was thinking I could handle up to 12kt cross-wind (I was taking 4kt safety factor), so I continued on the traffic pattern. On downwind, the wind was indeed strong. With calm wind, I was supposed to keep heading 100 on downwind to fly parallel to runway 28, but this time I had to keep 110 to stay on downwind. (i.e., I had to turn heading 10 degree to the upwind to counter the cross-wind.) Naturally, I expected that I would be pushed from behind on base and would have to turn earlier than normal not to overshoot the runway. As you can see in the video, I turned early, but the wind didn't push me as much as I guessed, and I ended up with undershooting the runway. So, I kept the heading parallel to the runway and let the wind push me to the extension of the runway centerline. When I came to the extension of the runway centerline, I banked to the left to counter the cross-wind, and I pushed the right rudder keep the heading parallel to the runway as soon as the side motion stopped. This technique is called "Wing-Low." Actually, I was not thinking about how much bank angle I was taking. Instead, I was concentrating on adjusting the bank angle according to the cross-wind. (I'm supposed to do so.) It was interesting to see how much bank angle I was taking in the video. This time, I did ten touch & goes, and landed. So, I did eleven landings in total. Although every landings had a little room for improvement, I did pretty well overall. Especially, I didn't feel much difficulty in 10kt cross-wind plus turbulence. I decided to raise my self-limitation of cross-wind component from 8kt to 10kt. And, the clampod video turned out to be very useful for self critique. I will use it again when I fly on my own. 10/07/2006 Cross-country to Franklin, Venango Regional Airport (KFKL)When last time I flew to see leaves changing color from the air, it was too early. So, I tried again. I flew to the Venango Regional airport, which is about 50 miles north of the Allegheny County airport.
I went to the airport early and finished pre-flight before PFTC opened. This time the dispatcher came early, so I tried to leave early. However, I got a problem with GPS. The airplane I flew was N172RQ, which is equipped with Garmin GNS430 GPS receiver. GPS is very convenient for navigation. Especially, the class B airspace boundary on the map helps me avoid accidentally busting class B airspace. The primary mean of navigation was Franklin VOR, and as long as I followed the course I was supposed to be well outside the Pittsburgh class B. However, I use all the equipments available to ensure the safety of the flight unless I'm with an instructor. I don't try simulated GPS failure when I'm on my own. However, when I started the engine and turned on the avionics, GNS430 didn't show the map. GNS430 looked like in a different mode. The problem was, I didn't know how to change the mode. I tried different buttons and dials, but couldn't figure out how to show the map. I took Pilot Operation Handbook, but it didn't include a manual of GNS430. After trying buttons and dials for more than five minutes, I finally made GNS430 show the map. I ended up with taking off at 8:30am. The forecast was predicting possible fog. Luckily there was no fog around the Allegheny County airport, and the sky was clear. The forecast of the Venango Regional airport was also predicting possible fog until 10am. My plan was to take off and head to Franklin, and if I couldn't see the airport I was planning to come back to the Allegheny County airport. I took off, and this time flew a little closer to Carnegie Mellon University. I was using GPS to make sure I don't bust into the Pittsburgh class B. It's fun to see where I work from the air.
On the way to Franklin, strong wind (25kt according to the forecast) was blowing from 2 o'clock. I could feel that the airplane was flying to its side. But, the turn coordinator ball was at the center, so I could see this crab angle was due to the wind. Sometimes I see the ball a little off center when the wings were level, and in such a case I struggle to see if the crab angle was due to the wind or due to the side-slip. So far, I have never experienced such a problem in 2RQ. As we flew to the north of Pittsburgh, we could see the leaves turning red or yellow gradually. When I came close to the Venango Regional airport, I could see remaining patches of fog. I tuned to the AWOS (automated weather reporting) of the Venango Regional airport, and it indicated that the fog was gone already. The airport was supposed to be visible already. When I came to 10 miles from the airport, I found it, and began approach. The wind was favorable for runway 12, but when I flew overhead, the pavement of runway 12-30 didn't look in good shape. The wind was very weak, so I decided to use runway 3. I joined left downwind runway 3, and then landed. "Look-Up" -> "Level off" -> "Power Back." The landing was so easy.
I parked the airplane, and walked into the terminal. I found that it was Annual Apple Fest day, and we could have free breakfast there. Lucky! :-) After having breakfast, we took off and headed to the north. When I came close to Meadville airport, I headed south to home.
When I came back to the Allegheny County airport, it was 11:30. My airplane reservation was until 12 noon. So, I practiced some touch and goes. However, today's ATC kept telling me to turn base too early. What it means is that the stroke line of the below picture is the normal left traffic pattern of runway 10, and the dashed line was what I was told to follow.
In traffic pattern, we usually begin descend at the place called 'beam' where we see the touch down point 9 o'clock (3 o'clock for right traffic pattern.) When we see the touch down point 45 degrees behind, we turn to 'base' and continue descend. Then we are supposed to be at the right altitude when we turn to final. The traffic pattern altitude is usually 1000ft above ground. So, in downwind, base, and final, we are supposed to descend about 330ft each. From beam to touch down, it takes about 2 minutes. Today, I was told by the ATC that the ATC will tell me when to turn to base. It is not unusual when the traffic pattern is crowded. The ATC wants to make sure all the airplanes are separated by safe distance and wants to control the airplanes more precisely. When I was told by the ATC "I call for base", I expected I would have to extend downwind, so I didn't start descending when I came to beam. However, the ATC told me to turn base way too early. What exactly he said was "2RQ, turn base, cleared for touch and go." I didn't think he meant that I can turn to base any time. I took it as "turn base immediately." I think my interpretation was right. Since I was expecting to extend downwind, I haven't started descending. Therefore, I started base leg 330ft higher than usual. And, since I turned to base early, I was very close to the runway. If I descended 330ft on base, I still had 660ft to lose on final. Losing double the altitude in shorter distance was impossible. I even thought about going around. But, I decided to aim at the middle of the runway. The runway 10 of the Allegheny County airport was 6500ft long. The Cessna 172 can stop with less than 1/3 of the runway. Nonetheless, due to steeper approach I couldn't reduce speed less than 75kt, which is 10kt faster than ideal speed. The airplane floated for long distance after rounding out. I didn't feel comfortable with it. I did five touch & goes, and if I remember right at least three times the ATC told me to turn base too early. As a Pilot-In-Command, I have an authority to deviate from the ATC instruction if I feel it risks the safety of the flight. But, I didn't feel it was that much a risk. So I followed the instruction. But, it was clearly not the safest approach. First of all, I could not use half the runway. Was there any better option that I could take? I don't know yet. In fact, this time there's no accident. So, maybe my decision to follow the ATC instruction while keeping go-around in mind (in fact, I always need to keep go-around in mind) was the right option. I could have asked the ATC for a permission to extend downwind. However, extending downwind may have compromised the separation between other airplanes in the pattern. Anyways, always I experience something new in every flight. That's one of the exciting part of the flying. I'm sure by accumulating these experiences I can become a good pilot. This flight was fun, and gave me good experiences. 10/02/2006 First flight training toward the FAA Wings Program certificateI was supposed to fly on Saturday. However, the weather was not cooperative. The forecast predicted on Friday wind 170 at 13, good visibility, overcast 3500ft. The visibility and cloud were ok, but it was windy. I was supposed to fly with my instructor, however, it seemed to be too much cross-wind. Even if the Allegheny tower let us use runway 13, cross-wind component exceeded 8kt, which is my current self-limitation. If I had to use runway 10, the cross-wind component would have exceeded 12kt. Practicing soft-field/short-field landings in such condition seemed to be too much for me. However, on Saturday morning, the wind didn't get as strong as forecasted. I went to the airport, did the pre-flight inspection, when the low cloud moved in to the airport area. Ironically, the wind was less than the forecast, but the cloud was lower than the forecast. I had to cancel the flight, and re-scheduled for Monday. And, today, I was supposed to fly N596CS from 8am to 10am. The forecast predicted clear sky, little wind, and 4 miles visibility. It looked good for a VFR flight. However, when I woke up this morning, Squirrel Hill area was covered by dense fog. It was way below 4 miles visibility. I was worried about the visibility around the airport. When I came to the airport, there was no fog over the airport, except east side. The ATIS was calling, visibility 8 miles over the field, but 1.5 miles east side. If I accidentally flew into the fog, I would violate the federal aviation regulation. To fly VFR, visibility needs to be 3 miles, and the ceiling needs to be 1000ft. I finished the pre-flight inspection and waited. Actually, I was waiting not only the fog to clear up but also PFTC to open. I came to the airport about 7:30am so that I could take off as soon as I get the ignition key. But, I ended up with waiting until 8:10, only to know that N596CS was grounded for maintenance, and I was assigned to N430U. I had to do pre-flight all over again. Anyway, the fog was still hanging there. I did pre-flight while I was waiting for the fog to clear up. The fog over the runway was almost clear. But, the ATIS was still calling low visibility east side of the airport. I talked to my instructor that we would be able to stay above the fog, so we should be ok. But, he said that in case of emergency and we need to land the airplane outside the airport, the fog would be an issue. It made sense. It was 8:50am. Unless I flew an hour, it doesn't count toward the flight training for the FAA Wings Program certificate. I was about to give up, when the fog finally gave way. My instructor gave go for flight. I quickly started the engine and taxied to runway 10. To get the FAA Wings Program certificate, I need to have an hour of take-off/landing practice, an hour of maneuver practice, and an hour of instrument practice. Today, I planned to have take-off/landing practice. Main issues were short-field and soft-field take-offs and landings. The soft-field landing is same as the normal landing until the very last moment. And, after touching down I need to keep the nose off the ground as long as possible, and I should apply a little power at the time of touch down to make the impact softer. The short-field landing uses slower approach speed on final. I need to maintain 61kt instead of 65kt and need to touch down within 200ft from the aiming point. The touch down can be a little harder than the normal landing as long as I land on the main landing gear. After touching down, I apply full brake and retract the flaps. Keeping the back pressure to the control yoke also increases the effectiveness of the brake. I started with the soft-field take-offs and landings. I raised the nose gear while take-off run, and when the airplane took off the ground, accelerate in the ground effect. Raise the nose and climb when the speed reaches 65kt. I did somewhat ok. But, the airplane went up and down while I was supposed to stay in the ground effect. Well, it was not too bad considering that I haven't done it for long. I did ok in the soft-field landing. However, I noticed that the airplane was skidding toward the runway on base leg. The wind was calm on the surface, but the wind may have been blowing from the west above 200ft AGL. I was feeling a little uncomfortable with the skidding on base, but I could do the (sort of) good soft-field landings twice more. After the third soft-field landing, I switched to the short-field landing. I was using runway 10, and the wind was blowing from the west on base, meaning that the airplane was pushed toward the runway before descending enough, so it was not good for a short-field landing. The first attempt of the short-field landing was failed. It was just like a normal landing. Since I was too high on final, I couldn't decelerate to 61kt. I tried in the traffic pattern to see if it was a wind or a rudder adjustment problem. I confirmed that the airplane was not slipping to the side on downwind. And, when I turned to base, the airplane was again sliding to the left. Now I was almost certain that it was the wind, not the rudder adjustment problem. But, I allowed the wind to push me toward the runway this time, and failed to do a short-field landing again. It was a little better than the first one though. For the third attempt, I extended the downwind a little to fly farther away from the runway so that I would be at the right altitude after being pushed to the runway on base. It was better than the second attempt, but not still quite a short-field landing. For the last one, I took crab angle on base against the wind. This worked the best. Finally, I made a nice short-field landing. After the fourth short-field landing, the tower told me to change the runway to runway 28. I turned as directed by the tower to join right traffic 28, gave way to another Cessna 172 of PFTC, and ran out of time. I practiced a no-flap landing for the last one. I came back to PFTC, stopped engine, and looked at the hobbs meter. It showed exactly an hour. Short-field landings were disturbed by the wind, but soft-field landings were good. At least the last short-field landing was good enough. This time, "look up" -> "level off" -> "power back" strategy worked just fine. My landing attitudes were very stable. Today's flight training gave me more confidence. Today was no holiday. So, I drove to my office after flying. It was a sleepy day because I woke up early. Well, nonetheless, I wrote several hundred lines of code today. Not bad. 09/26/2006 It was too early for watching leaves changing color...Events since the last update of this page: On Saturday 9/9, I was supposed to fly a cross-country flight. However, the weather was not in favor. Pre-flight briefer told me thunderstorm everywhere. The storms were scattered, and the sky above the Allegheny County airport was clear. So, I just did touch & goes. I could practice short-field and soft-field landings because I flew with my instructor. I think it was good. By the way, the "Look Up" -> "Level Off" -> "Power Back" strategy works very good for me. I never made a bad flare since I came up with this strategy. Thursday 9/14, I attended the air safety seminar organized by Air Safety Foundation. The theme was emergency procedures. It was a good opportunity for me to think about various emergency situations. I was told in my training that if the engine quits during the take off, never turn back to the airport. However, if I have 1000ft AGL, I should be able to return to the airport safely. And, even with 700ft AGL, if the airport has a parallel or crossing runway, I have a good chance to come back. The Allegheny County airport has two runways in addition to the main runway. I keep it in mind from now on. Also, the speaker talked about the ComAir CRJ accident that took place about a few weeks ago in Lexington. Since the topic was so fresh, it gave a very strong message to me. No matter what, I must avoid fatal accident at any cost in the airplane in which I'm acting as a pilot-in-command. It was a very good seminar (and it was free!) I'll attend the seminar again when it comes close to Pittsburgh. And, I finally purchased a new headset, Lightspeed QFR SOLOc. I'm not particularly superstitious, but whenever I get a new item that I would use very long time, I talk to it "I'll take good care of you. So, please serve me well." I did the same for my new headset. I believe that if I use it well, it will pay me back. Today, I took to the sightseeing flight. The objective was watching red and yellow leaves from the air. My instructor told me that leaf-watching flight was an annual event of his family. That sounded interesting to me. So, I decided to make it our annual event, too. I reserved N596CS from 8am to 10am. To use the 2-hour window fully, I went to the airport early, and finished pre-flight inspection before 8am. But, nobody showed up until 8:15am. So, I ended up with taking off at 8:30. The air of the early morning was very smooth. Virtually no turbulence. When the air is smooth, it is very easy to trim the airplane. I maintained almost exactly 3,500ft as I planned, and flew north. However, it was a little too early for leaves to change color. Leaves were still green. I'll try again in October.
On the way back, I called Pittsburgh Approach and asked VFR flight following. VFR flight following is not at all difficult. However, I am still reluctant to call an approach controller, especially when the approach controller is busy dealing with many airplanes. But, ATCs are there for helping us pilots. So, it is nothing that I should hesitate to ask. This time, I exerted my courage and called Pittsburgh approach, and asked VFR flight following to the Allegheny County airport. Initially, I didn't get any response, maybe I was too far. I finally got a response from the ATC when I was about 7 miles north of Butler County airport. Almost immediately, the ATC cleared me for class B. So, I could fly straight to KAGC by GPS navigation from there. In that case, I could fly almost directly above the downtown, and should have been a fun. But, I spared the downtown over-flying for the future time, and took the originally planned path to the airport. Then came back to the Allegheny County airport and did some touch & goes. At the time, the ATC of the Allegheny tower had changed, and I heard a female voice. I could recognize her voice. She is a very good ATC. She has a very calm voice, and tells me exactly what I need, and never overwhelm me by saying too much information at one time. I feel safe when I hear her voice on the radio. This time, I tried to maintain the speed more precisely on final. The approach speed on final should be 65kt to 70kt, and I was maintaining somewhere in between. This time I tried to maintain exactly 65kt. Just 5kt difference, but it makes considerable difference in necessary runway length to stop. Also, I tried to apply a soft-field landing technique, which keeps the nose off the ground as long as I can. This way I can use the aerodynamic drag as an additional brake and can stop in shorter distance. I did four touch and goes and landed, and in every landing, I could maintain 65kt. For the last landing, I could keep the nose gear off the ground long, and could stop in a short distance (shorter than before.) My fourth solo flight from AGC went very well. This flight increased my confidence. I could communicate with the approach controller smoothly (sufficiently smooth), and the landings were much more stable than before. Next flight will be September 30th with my instructor for the first flight training toward the FAA wings program. And, on October 7th, I plan to fly to Franklin by myself. 08/25/2006 South Practice AreaFor the past two flights, I was staying in the traffic pattern. This time, I flew to the practice area, about 10 miles from the airport. I flew N172RQ, which the primer lever came off last time. Originally, I reserved an airplane for the next day (08/26) morning. However, the forecast indicated strong crosswind. So, I changed the reservation to this day. However, when I woke up, TAF forecasted wind 200 at 9. The crosswind component was going to exceed my own limitation. In fact, I was thinking about raising my limitation from 8kt crosswind to 10kt crosswind because I did so well in a strong crosswind the last time. I had to face a difficult decision, if I should raise it now or after several flights more. I was relieved from the decision when I saw a new TAF at around 8:30am. The forecasted wind was 200 at 6, within my current limitation. The purposes of this flight were to navigate to the practice area and come back safely, and to brush up landing flare. Navigation was easy because 2RQ was equipped with GPS. It is easy to come back to Allegheny County airport with visual references. From south practice area, I can just follow Monongahela river to the north, and the airport will appear on my left. However, if the visibility is bad, there's no appropriate VOR station for approaching the airport from the south. From the south west, I can use Allegheny VOR, but because the VOR station is not located in the airport, it is not very convenient. But, in the worst case (GPS failure + low visibility) I can fly to the Allegheny VOR, and then turn north east to find the airport. I did pre-flight inspection and started the engine. The primer lever didn't come off this time :-) I made a minor mistake when I called the tower (I forgot telling the departure heading) but I took off safely, and headed south.
I could fly farther, but I stayed in the practice area. I don't push my envelope at once. I gradually expand my area. At 5pm, I headed to the airport.
I flew back to the airport and did five touch and goes and landed. The crosswind this time was much weaker than the last time, and I used full flaps. Four of six landings were satisfactory. In another two, once I bounced. And, once I landed nicely, but was shaken left and right as if the airplane were still in the air. The wheels were on the ground. I didn't think it was so gusty. I had no idea why my airplane was shaken. Anyways, "Look up" -> "Level off" -> "Power Back" seemed to work well. A drawback is that I end up with using the runway slightly longer because I pull the throttle a little late. But, I think this approach is still advantageous because there is no ambiguity on the timing of looking up. I'll stick on this method for a while, and may try to pull the throttle earlier after gaining more experience. 08/19/2006 Second Solo Flight from Allegheny County AirportActually, I flew a cross-country flight last weekend. But, I did pretty bad. I was used to use GPS or visual reference, like free way, and it has been a while since I used VOR as the primary means of the navigation for the last time. I made silly mistakes in VOR radial setting on the way to Franklin Venango Regional airport and back to Allegheny County Airport. But, what frustrated me was four bad landings out of five in total (one at Venango, and four at Allegheny.) I felt I suddenly became a poorly skilled pilot.
The following content I write below is not for actual flight training. I'm not a certified instructor, obviously. Therefore, you shouldn't use the following method without consulting your instructor. I'll not take any responsibility when you get any problem, including an accident, by using the method described below. For a week I have been thinking why I made bad landings. The conclusion was the timing of shifting my line of sight from the touch down point to the other side of the runway. When you round out and flare, you are supposed to look all the way down the runway. If you fail to shift your eyes away from the touch down point, and keep looking close to the airplane, you cannot perceive the altitude and direction accurately. To be accurate, you will tend to overly control the airplane if you look too close. This phenomenon can be explained by the controls theory, but I don't talk about the controls theory this time. I knew I was supposed to look all the way down the runway. But, the problem was when. On final approach, I look at the touch down point and the air speed alternately. When the airplane comes to roughly 30ft, I round out, or start raising the nose, and gradually reduce power. Then, the airspeed decreases, and the airplane start sinking because the wing cannot produce enough lift to support the airplane. I raise the nose more to counter the loss of the lift, and try to keep the airplane afloat as long as possible. After several seconds of floating, the airplane softly touches down the ground. I didn't know exactly when I should start looking at all the way down the runway during this process. So, I was inconsistent. Sometimes I shifted my eyes at the beginning of round out, sometimes during round out, or when the airplane is leveled off. After thinking about this issue for a while, I came to the conclusion. The right timing of shifting my eyes from the touch down point to all the way down the runway is when I no longer need to look at the touch down point and the instruments, which is at the beginning of round out. After starting round out, I don't look at the instruments. The touch down point is hidden by the engine cowling, so it doesn't make sense to try to look at the touch down point any longer. It makes the most sense to start looking all the way down the runway at the beginning of round out. During the round out, I need to control the back pressure so that the airplane becomes level at three or four feet above the ground. So, I need an accurate height perception during round out. Shifting eyes during round out was too late. My instructor at that time might have been thinking it was obvious, and he never told me. And, considering that I could do good enough landings over and over again during my training for private certificate, I was probably doing it with instinct. So, I did intensive training with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004. Well, I'm writing YSFLIGHT by myself, but it doesn't mean I don't use other flight simulators. I loved Air Warrior when I was an undergrad. Long time ago, I was hooked up with Strike Commander. I played it from the beginning to the end more than ten times. Recently, I played all the missions of MS Combat Flight Simulator 1 and 2. I liked the carrier landing of MS Combat Flight Simulator 2. I also purchased MS Combat Flight Simulator 3, but it omitted take-off and landing, which is a very important part of the flight simulator. So, I stopped playing after few missions. In both YSFLIGHT and MS Flight 2004, landing flare is much easier than the real airplane. In YSFLIGHT, it is because the ground effect is not taken into account. But, MS Flight is similarly easy. Maybe it also doesn't take ground effect into account. But, the propeller output is more accurately simulated in MS Flight 2004. I think it has a big table of power output at different altitude and air speed. It's something I cannot make. YSFLIGHT is simply employed the approximation, F=P/v. As a result, in YSFLIGHT, the propeller responds to the throttle input quicker than the real airplane. In the real airplane, the propeller responds with some delay. So, for this practice, I used MS Flight 2004. I adjusted the instrument panel position so that the field of view becomes close to the real airplane, and saved the flight on final of RW 28 of Allegheny County airport. (Actually, being able to save flight at any point and can restart any time is a good feature. Maybe I should add the same feature in YSFLIGHT.) I practiced "Look up" -> "Level Off" -> "Power Back" over and over again. My reservation was for Saturday morning. The forecast was telling that the weather will deteriorate Saturday afternoon. If the weather had changed earlier, I had to cancel my flight. I checked TAF late Friday, and it said during 10am and 12 noon Saturday, wind 200 at 8. For safety, until I have more experience I do not fly without an instructor if the cross-wind component is 8kt or greater. So, the wind speed was marginal with respect to my self guideline. 80 degree off from the runway direction. So, the cross-wind component was just below 8kt. But, other than that, the ceiling and visibility was VMC (visual meteorological condition). Saturday morning, I looked at the TAF as soon as I wake up. The forecast has improved. Wind 200 at 7, VMC. I also called 1-800-WX-BRIEF, and made sure the forecast was VMC, and drove to the airport. The ATIS was telling wind 200 at 8. There was a discrepancy between ATIS and forecast. But, still a little less than 8kt cross-wind. I decided to fly, did pre-flight, and got on the airplane. This time I flew N430U, Cessna 172 with GPS. When I started taxing, the ATIS changed the report and was saying 200 at 7. No problem. Go for flight! So, I took off RW 28. Initially I was planning to fly to the south practice area and come back. But, the visibility was worse than I expected, and I decided to remain in the pattern. ATIS was saying visibility 6 miles, but I thought it was 4 miles or so.
When I turned to downwind, the tower called "Wind 200 at 12." It exceeded my self flight restriction limit. But, I was already in the air. I had no choice but landing. I took about 5 degree crab angle to the right. I did pre-landing checks, began descend, turned to base, and then turned to final. I chose not to lower the flap full down because the cross-wind was strong. I pushed right rudder, and tilted the wing a little to the left. I told myself "just as practiced" and continued descend. And, "look up", "level off", and "power slowly back". The flare was surprisingly easy. Since I shifted my eyes to all the way down the runway at the beginning of the round out, I could level off at exactly the right altitude! That's it! It was the timing! I finally pulled the engine to idle. I felt a nice soft shock of the main landing gears kissed the ground! After the third touch & goes, other student pilots joined the pattern. Also, there were some incoming traffics. The airport suddenly got busy. In one of the touch & goes, the tower told me to extend downwind and the tower would call for base turn. So, I extended downwind. But, I had to wait very long until I was cleared to turn to base. And, while I was extending downwind, I noticed that the attitude indicator was not right. When I bring the artificial horizon level, and keep the ball center, the airplane was turning left. The real horizon was obscured by the mist. "Am I in vertigo?" I felt. I flew with ground reference. When the tower told me to turn base, I was three to four miles away. I turned 180 degree, but I couldn't see the airport clearly. For the first time in my pilot career (well, just 110 hours flying time though) I asked the tower to turn the runway light on. Then, I found the runway. It was just like straight in approach. I made another good landing.
At that moment, the ATC of the Allegheny tower changed. The voice had changed from a female voice to a male voice. After the eighth touch & go, I was again told to make right traffic. But, I didn't hear further instruction. So, I turned base as usual, when I heard the ATC calling another airplane "You are number two, follow number one Cessna on two miles final." "Wait a sec. I am on base. Did he forget about me?" I called him and told I was on base. He made me number one, and changed the sequence accordingly. After the ninth touch & go, again I was told to make right traffic. And, I turned to base as usual, then I saw a Cessna on final, on collision course. He apparently forgot about me again. I knew I had no chance to make the landing. I applied the full throttle, and went around. For the last landing, I had to follow a twin engine jet. The tower told me to beware of wake turbulence. I made a higher glide slope, and landed at about deeper by one third of the runway length. Again, "Look up, level off, power back" worked! Now I am much more confident in landing than before. I guess I will be more consistent from now on. I may become busy in September. So, I made another reservation for the next Saturday. 07/23/2006 First Solo Flight from Allegheny County Airport!Finally, I flew solo from Allegheny County Airport (AGC)! Of course, I did my solo when I was training for my private certificate. But, that was in Arizona, long time back. This was my first time to take off from Allegheny County Airport without an instructor. I flew Cessna 172, N172RQ. My first solo since 1997.
I was supposed to fly on 07/22 (Sat). However, the rain forced me to postpone by one day. Rain was not too bad, but the forecast expected some passing thunderstorms. I didn't take a chance. So, my new reservation was Sunday 07/23, 4pm to 6pm. Since it was my first solo from AGC, I stayed in the traffic pattern, and did touch and goes. I came to PFTC at about 3:30pm. At that time, 172RQ was still in the air, and I had to wait until 3:55pm or so. I did pre-flight inspection, and was following engine start checklist, when the primer lever fell off, and the spring flew out of the socket where the lever was in. It was just like a cartoon :-( The primer lever didn't look broken. So, I tried to put it back in place. However, the lever didn't go in fully. The spring was apparently jammed. I came back to the PFTC building, and asked them to lend me something to pick the spring and take it out of the hole. To my disappointment, the dispatcher told me to cancel the flight, and leave a note to the mechanic. I was disappointed and came back to the airplane to tie it down. At that time, a guy came to me and told that the primer lever coming off was a common problem, and he could fix it. So, he did a quick fix to the primer lever. Actually, the primer lever did not go in fully, but at least I could prime and start the engine. I decided not to touch the lever in flight. I left the ramp and taxied to the runway with an hour delay. Well, a Cessna beside mine apparently had a dead battery, and the pilot was unable to start the engine. I was luckier than him. At least I could start the engine. I was concerned about the lever, and was thinking to cancel the flight if I see a slightest sign of the engine problem. But, during the run-up, I didn't see any problem, and I decided to go. I tuned for the tower frequency and called "Allegheny Tower, Cessna 172RQ, A5, ready to take off 28, closed traffic" only to notice that I forgot switching the radio selection. So, I ended up with calling it to the ground controller :-P A small mistake ;-) Anyways, this time I called to the tower at the correct frequency and got the take off clearance. Finally, I am truly a pilot-in-command! I briefly looked at my wife sitting beside me, and started a take-off run. At 55kt I pulled the control wheel, and the airplane kicked the ground and took to the air! I immediately felt the buffet. I didn't hear the stall horn, but just for pre-caution, I kept the nose a little low, and climbed.
Then, I joined the left downwind, I turned to the base, and to the final nicely. My first landing in nine years as a pilot-in-command came pretty well! I say it was not perfect. There are always some points that I could improve. But, it was smooth and satisfactory.
After the second touch & go, I heard on the radio "2RQ, MRT." What's "MRT?" I called back "2RQ, did you call me?" The controller answered "2RQ, Make Right Traffic." I don't know if he said 'Make Right Traffic" fast, and sounded to me like "MRT," or he really said "MRT." As I wrote in the previous article, I was not good at making right traffic pattern, compared to left traffic pattern. I often felt the runway was farther than actual because I cannot see the runway well from the right traffic pattern. So, I did some practices of right traffic pattern last time. (If you have something you are not good at, the best solution is practice until you are comfortable.) It was a good opportunity to see how effective my previous practice was, and it turned out, I did ok. I bounced a little on touch down, but I made a nice traffic pattern. Then it became windy. The wind direction was almost head wind and no much cross-wind component. But, the airplane was shaken a little. And, on touch down, at least once I thought I leveled off nicely, but the airplane sunk suddenly and touched down before I pulled the stick more to keep it afloat for smoother landing. The wind speed might have been changing. I just need more practice to be able to react to such sudden sinking. After the fifth touch & go, it was 5:35pm. My reservation was until 6pm. I decided to do one more touch & go and land. I wanted to fly a little more. I always feel like that way :-) Next flight will be August 12th with my instructor. I'll fly a cross-country flight. My plan is to fly once with an instructor and once solo per month for a while. 06/24/2006 Cross-Country Flight to Port Meadville (GKJ) airport. 05/02/2006 11/26/2005 Cross-country Flight to Ohio State University airport 11/11/2005 Biennial Flight Review and Flight Log Book 05/27/2005 and 06/25/2005 04/10/2005 Photos from a flight from Allegheny County Airport --/--/---- Photos of Allegheny County Airport. I'm planning to fly from this airport in the near future. --/--/---- |
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