Change Over Point (COP)

2006-01-26T17:14:00.000-07:00

Flying again!
Well no super cool photos for this posting, but I have finally started flying again. Last night I was at the airport with my instructor. I was to meet my requirement for the commercial multi engine, which is 10 take-offs and landings to a full stop. -6 degrees C is pretty nice for the performance of the PA44-180 Seminole, as my density altitude was only 2800 feet, I really like that kind of performance. I was getting a realistic 1500 feet per-minute climb rate. In my limited stable of aircraft that is like a rocket! (Yea, you guys with the jets and turboprops, I don’t want any crap) so that was a lot of fun. After my second landing the tower had me switch runways from 13 to 31 on account the winds had moved, they were 310 at 9, when I changed. I was told to fly my runway heading out and then do a tear drop to come back for runway 31. I was descending thru 500 feet agl (above ground level) when it hit. WIND-SHEAR. Wow, I really had to fly. I bumped my speed up to 90 knots to keep from stalling, and the wings were dipping, I was also getting 500 fpm (feet per minute) up drafts followed by downdrafts. I was about puckered. And as I got closer to the runway, as suddenly as it started it stopped. I told the tower what I had experienced, I took off again and the pattern seemed normal enough, until I got to the same place. I have been in turbulence before, but it was all I could do to control the airplane. The airplane decided to bank like 60 degrees to the right so I decided to add full power for the go around and called the tower to tell them of this potentially dangerous situation, he was kind enough (and I was the only aircraft in the pattern at the time) to allow me a tail wind landing. This was much smoother that the other end of the runway! So we (my instructor and I) decided to call it a night with only 4 of the 10 required landings done. I hope tomorrow will prove a much smother night for flying. But on the plus side of this I got to experience wind shear and I know what to expect.

2006-01-12T08:50:00.000-07:00

No News is Good News?
Well it has been a while since I updated this, nothing new has happened in the flying arena, But I have got all my classes for this semester signed up and paid for. I am taking math 1050 an air traffic control course and an ethics and values course, although, as I have said before, I have serious doubts about needing to know Socrates and have unshakable views on abortion and Devine Command Theory in order to keep an airplane airborne. But I guess if the school says I need it, I need it. I hope to graduate this semester with my degree in Aircraft Sciences. I need to get back in the airplane soon, but I am waiting on the hopefully last student loan to go thru. After this semester I plan to get my CFI, CFII, MEI from ATP in Sin City. But for this semester I need to get that ME COM done. I just need like 10 takeoffs and landings at night, from a towered airport. Easier said than done, right.

2005-12-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Holidays:
Some days I wonder if all the student loans and the long hours studying are going to pay off. I hope that it will. I don’t understand my health class, why I need to know about abortions and how they are done. Is this going to help me at thirty thousand feet?

I need to sign up for my classes soon, I have decided since I only have about nine classes left I will peruse my bachelors degree in aviation science. I can’t believe I am doing that, as much as I hated school back in the day. I hope the added torture will pay off in the long run and maybe open a few more doors.

Christmas was a wonderful day at my house; I am so blessed by my family. My daughter is the best thing I have ever done. I still don’t understand how I could have been involved in the making of such a wonderful being. But thank god for her.

2005-12-23T16:05:00.000-07:00

Failure:
It’s kind of hard to write about experiences you have in an aircraft when you haven’t been flying. So I’ll just leave you with picture. This is during a shutdown of the left engine. And have it feathered. For those who don’t know about feathered propellers, this is where you angle the blade of the propeller so it produces less drag on the airplane and or wear on the engine. And it really strengthens whatever leg you are using to counter the forces wanting to turn the airplane towards the bad engine. I will leave you with the immediate action items during an engine failure:

Maintain directional control

Pitch for blue line (a line on the airspeed indicator denoting the min. controllable airspeed of the aircraft.)

Quadrants full forward (mixture, props, and throttles)

Verify flaps up, gear up.

Fix or feather.

Note the feathered prop in photo.

2005-12-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

Canada:
Kind of a slow day for airplane stuff. So I leave a couple of pictures of my trip this summer to Leithbridge and Tabor, Canada. The first picture is of crossing the border as shown on the Garmin 430 (sorry its so blurry. The next is of the nice clouds I had to dodge because this was to be a VFR (Visual Flight Rules) cross country for my commercial license.

2005-12-16T18:34:00.000-07:00

The End (of the semester):

It has ended. I have successfully ended another semester without permanent damage to my grade point average. I look forward to the weekend off. Next week I will start thinking about self induced torture to put myself thru next term.
This afternoon I needed a haircut, my wife said the hair was really getting out of hand. And after seeing myself in the mirror and pushing down the two inch pile of fluff that is my hair down on my head I had to agree with her. After arriving at the mall where the only person my wife will trust with my hair works. I saw I was around an hour early. I found a very comfortable looking chair where I decided to sit and wait my time before the appointment. That’s when I saw him. I thought the Samurai were only in Japan, but yet here he was, a white, grungy, bad smelling Samurai. Complete with the little topknot or Chasen-gami. His kimono was a dirty dark blue hooded pullover sweatshirt, complete with blue dragons down each arm. He ate his rice bowl from the Habachi-san Japanese from the food court, as his dandruff fell upon his shoulders like the snow falling on Mount Fuji. I wonder if he is from the Provo Yakuza, The feared and great crime syndicate of the Great Salt Lake. I also wonder if maybe he is the last (or first) of his kind. The protector of the new empire. The mall. As the time for my appointment grows closer, I decide this guy is just a dork who thinks he’s cool.

2005-12-15T11:47:00.000-07:00

Beginning:
Starting at the beginning would take way to long and be sort of pointless, so here I am in the middle of things. I am approaching what most would call the middle of their careers and I have decided to change mine. I work for a large telecommunications company as a network technician, fixing phone cables, pressurizing them to keep the water out and such things to keep everyone’s DSL and POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) running.
But I can’t keep from looking up every time I hear the seductive sound of an airplane flying over. If you are even remotely interested in aircraft you know what I mean. Since a young age I have been captivated by the world of airplanes, from the addictive smell of exhaust from a turbine engine, to the ticking of the igniters, even the intricate patterns of the rivets are fascinating to me.
About a year ago I professed this love to my wife, who bravely and fully supported my taking of another mistress. Even though she is petrified of flying, she understands obsession.
So here we are a few student loans and some ratings later. I am working on my Multi-Engine commercial license, still going to college and having a hell of a time with algebra. I really should have paid attention twenty years ago, but girls, tequila and having a good time dominated my life, which is until I met my soul mate, who rescued me from myself and set me on the path to where I am now.
I hope this will be a good outlet for a sometimes frustrating life, and I hope a few people might even read it.