Multi Engine Observation Flight

Flight training can coast a ton. Especially learning how to fly a multi engine aircraft. Flight observations however are free!! That's why I love 'em. For multi engine ground school, our teacher has required us to go on another students training flight and blog about our experience.

Kyle was kind enough to let me tag along on his flight to Ogden today with his instructor, Brad. During the pre-flight, Brad showed me the "poor mans hydraulics" on the rudder and Adam taught me about the purpose of the mass balance horn attached to the ailerons.

To begin the flight we took off from Salt Lake. On takeoff roll, Brad killed one of the engines and the plane violently yawed to the left. Kyle was quick with his reflexes and immediately closed the throttles and maintained directional control of the plane. Kyle seemed as if he practiced this several times because it was as if he didn't have to think about it at all, it was just reflex.

After we climbed out, Brad put Kyle under the hood for instrument flight. Kyle had wanted to tune in his nav equipment and set up his GPS while on the ground, and Brad had told him that although that is a good idea, and should do that if he was really flying IFR, he wanted Kyles workload to be increased for the purpose of the training flight.

Kyle began to tune in VOR's and set up the GPS, get ATIS information, and brief the approach, all while talking on the radios and maintaining altitude and heading. It seemed like we were getting vectors for the ILS in no time because the Seminole is so fast. So fast infact that Kyle really had to work hard to stay ahead of the airplane. While we were approaching wolfe intersection at 150 kts, Brad suggested to Kyle that he slow the airplane down. This would allow more time to be ready for the approach, get before landing checklists done and be at a manageable airspeed for the final. I found this tip to be extremely valuable. I am going to try to remember to slow the aircraft down to insure that I can stay ahead of the airplane. During my instrument training , I was so used to throttle full forward for everything except for after the final approach fix. Even with full throttle in the Alarus, we were lucky to get airspeeds of 90 kts. In the Seminole, if you are not managing airspeed, things come at you twice as fast.

Runway 3 in Ogden was closed, so we circled for a touch and go. It was interesting to see a circle to land and give you an idea of what the challenge would be like if it was IMC weather. Because we were circling to land, Kyle used only one notch of flaps and used some throttle to maintain altitude as we circled.

After the first touch and go, Kyle entered the traffic pattern again to do a short field landing. The short field landing in the Seminole seems to be a bid easier than short field landings in the Arrow. Because of induced lift, when you reduce the throttles, the Seminole can really come down. Also, I assume because of the weight, the Seminole floats very little. Kyle was impressive as he touched down about 10 feet past his point.

After the landings, we headed straight for the VOR. Once again, Brad pointed out how fast the Seminole can fly, and you may need to slow it down so that you will have time to enter a hold properly, or prepare for an approach. Kyle played with power setting and found that 20" map and 2500 RPM gave him a manageable airspeed for setting up for the hold and approach.

Kyle flew the VOR RWY 7 approach with the north arc. Flying the arc helped remind me about how to set up an arc. Turn, time, twist, talk, and throttle. Good stuff. We flew the approach and went missed to hold at the VOR and then headed home.

The lessons that I went away with today is that the Seminole is MUCH faster than what I flown IFR in the past. You need to stay ahead of the aircraft. I want to have the before landing checklist done before my final approach fix. Slowing the airplane down is a good idea to help you have time to set up for the approach as well as help to not shock cool the engines. It was a great flight and I'm glad that Kyle and Brad let me tag along.

Multi Blog #3: Aspen at night

For the third blog post for multi engine ground school we were given an article about at accident at Aspen Colorado. You can read the article here: Aspen Arrival.

Assignment: Read the accident report on Landmark Accidents: Aspen Arrival. Blog about what you thought of the accident. What ere the contributing factors? Where was the error chain? What should they have done differently? How would you deal with a passenger if your job was on the line?

Answer:
Honestly, I was expecting more from this article. Especially from the setup. You had demanding passengers and late departure into bad weather, and the accident boiled down to descending below minimums at night in mountainous terrain. Seriously. If I was in the aircraft, I would not have been comfortable descending below minimums at an airport like that. I understand that there were a lot of contributing factors, however, I think the real important thing on this error chain was simply going below minimums. If they would have flown the approach as published, then everything would have been fine. Shoot the approach, go missed, and head to the other airport. You can always refuel and try Aspen after the snow has passed.

Considering the error chain, the first mistake was the timing. Late passengers showing up, as well as no grace period for bad weather really put the pilots in a pressured situation. I would hope that when charters such as these are scheduled, that the customer is informed that this is flight is not a guaranteed thing. Weather and maintenance can de-rail plans. I would hope that we would have learned this lesson from back in the airmail days.

Allowing the passenger in the cockpit at such a crucial point in the flight was also part of the error chain. Hearing this was like nails on a chalk board! If I was going to shoot one the most difficult approaches in the country in the snow, I would prefer a sterile cockpit!

What would I do differently? Honestly, I probably would have taken off late. I would have taken grief from the passengers, and I would have probably shot the approach. However, I am fairly confident in saying, I would not have gone below minimums and I would have gone missed at the missed approach point when I was not certain to have the runway in site. The article is a bit confusing on what had happened. I am not sure why the first officer said the runway was in sight, when he obviously didn't see it. As the Captain, I would want to see the runway before I continued down. After going missed, I would head to the other airport. I could refuel and possible deliver my passengers later that night if weather clears.

I would attempt to deal with the passengers in as professional way as possible. I would try and educate them on the risks that there "boss" was proposing. I would tell them what the regulations state, and inform them that I will put safety and there lives first, and then dinner parties second. If they didn't want to hear it, I would not argue, however, I would not give in and fly dangerously. I never want to have a job that encourages me to break regulations and take risks. If my boss was saying, "you WILL fly to Aspen," I would be looking for another job.

Take that cat out for a walk!

Such a lovely night for a walk. Scott and I sure thought so. Well appearently, we weren't the only ones! Nicole put the sleepywrap on and got Malaki all snuggled up and hunkered down. As we started on our walk, we noticed that both Zero and Toby were following us. This wasn't too surprising because they usually will follow us for the first 100 yards or so. Well today they just kept on trooting along on the side walk right behind us. We got to the point where we kept coaxing them on so they would come back home with us. They seemed pretty happy to be coming along for the most part, but by the time we were just past the half way point they started to get a little spooked. They were walking up closer to the yards and sniffing bushes. Anytime a car would drive by or a stick would snap they'd get all low to the ground and look around. Zero even made the crying noise cats tend to make in cars at one point. But that did not last long, because they soon recognized where they were and started leading the way home! We were so proud of them trusting us, that we gave them a can of tuna as a reward! We don't know how much they enjoy the walk, they were extremely exhausted once we got in the yard, but we had a great time! We hope they join us more often!

Would you fly single pilot IFR?

This is the second of 5 blogging assignments for my multi engine ground school. For this blog I had to read an article by AOPA safety foundation, "Single Pilot IFR". IFR is Instrument Flight Rules, which is flying off the instruments, not off of reference to the ground. Which can be really tricky. Imagine driving your car without being able to see the road. That's kind of like what IFR flight is like, plus a 3rd axis, plus talking to ATC, etc... This post will contain a lot of aviation jargon, so I'll start by defining a few things.

VFR - visual flight rules - type of flight by flying "visually" with reference to the ground.
IFR - instrument flight rules -- type of flight by flying in clouds with out reference to the ground. Flying off of your flight instruments.

VMC -- visual meteorological conditions - Weather conditions that allow visual flight

IMC -- instrument flight rules - weather conditions prohibit visual flight (fog, clouds, ect..)

When you fly, you are either VFR or IFR. You can fly IFR in both VMC and IMC, however, you may only fly VFR in VMC.

Assignment:
Read the article "Single Pilot IFR." Blog about whether or not you would consider flying single pilot IFR? Why or why not? Blog about at least 1 tip you gained from reading the article.

Would I consider flying single pilot IFR? I have flown single pilot IFR. Well, at least I have filed single pilot IFR, but never in instrument conditions. When I was working on my commercial, we would file IFR for some of the cross countries, but the weather was always above IMC. In fact, my personal minimums were above VFR minimums. I was instrument rated, but I never felt proficient. Considering that I only have .2 or so of actually flying through the clouds. So, yea, I would consider flying single pilot IFR, but I would need to have weather minimums that I could cancel IFR and for VFR if I needed to.

IFR is a challenging thing. Two IFR flights can vary quite greatly in skill needed. It's one thing to say, yea I could fly single pilot IFR on a flight that's familiar in good weather, and it's another thing all together to fly single pilot IFR in an unfamiliar area in icing or turbulence. I hear stories about people flying cargo at night single pilot IFR through icing and terrible weather. That is far from my comfort zone now. I really love to fly IFR, so I think that I will in the future file IFR, however, I am going to make sure that weather is great. The more I fly IFR, the more comfortable I believe I would become. However, I don't fly IFR very often, and never in IMC, so I don't see my comfort level rising anytime soon.

Why? The first reason is Murphy's Law. Flying is one of those things that I just don't feel comfortable taking risks with. If something can go wrong, it very well might. Sure, I could fly a lot of single pilot IFR flights and be just fine. However, there could be that time that I start picking up ice and ATC is asking me to do a challenging hold, and I can't find the right approach plate and my attitude indicator fails and I'm running out of gas and the airport is near minimums. I never want to be in that situation, especially not alone. Flying in IMC straight and level can be tricky enough. Trying to find things, brief approaches or tune radios can make it even harder. Having a second pilot makes a world of difference. Also, it gives you protection because it gives you someone to catch your mistakes, and another mind to help with situational awareness.

Another big factor is aircraft and it's instrumentation. Do you have auto pilot and GPS? Do you know how to use them? Is the aircraft simple or complex? All of this can factor into weather or not you would want to fly single pilot IFR.

The tip in the article that I enjoyed the most was about bringing a handheld com radio. Especially if it can use the aircraft antenna. It's a good idea to save money by getting clearance and listening to atis with out having to turn on the aircraft, but it is even better if you have an electrical failure or com failure.

BYU beats Oklahoma

BYU takes down #3 Oklahoma! I remember reading a Salt Lake Tribune article from earlier in the week talking about how BYU was absolutly crazy for scheduling Oklahoma. The article said that BYU would have been better off playing the Cinncinatti Bangals. BYU did it though. They scheduled OU and they beat them. It wasn't luck either. BYU simply out played them. In fact, BYU made quite a few mistakes. Mistakes that I thought would have killed them. Fumbling on the goal line, silly delay of game taking away a field goal. BYU didn't even have Unga. The defense saved the day. I don't think anyone is questioning BYU's defense now.

It's seems like just a little while ago, Nicole and I were walking away from Sam Boyd stadium with our heads hung thinking what happened? Honestly, I didn't think they were going to pull off a win yesterday. After what Oklahoma did last year, it just didn't seem possible. You never know how a team is going to look until they play a game though. BYU looks good. They played with confidence and passion. It was fun to watch.

The best part of the game for us was watching the defense play. Nicole and I were talking about how in 2006, if BYU's offense fell short, we just knew the defense would stop them and possibly get us the ball.

It was also great to see how well Kariya played for Unga. I know the stats don't show it, but he ran hard and he broke tackles. At one point he carried 4 Oklahoma guys on his back for 5 extra yards.

Now we will have to see how the rest of the season goes. All of thier tough games are at home. BYU has a defense! BYU has a great offense. GO COUGARS!