A New Angle

Video Link: A New Angle

A new student and I sat in the runup area for RWY5. He was going through the checklist and I monitored the results as he tested the mags and carb heat. It was a busy day at KVDF. A lot of flight schools trainers were doing their circuits and my attention occasionally got diverted to watch them land.  I looked over my student's shoulder to make sure the canopy hooks were in place and then turned to check my own. Out on the runway, all was not well. A plane fouled the right side of the runway, tail sticking straight up in the air. I called on the CTAF to let the busy traffic pattern know that RWY5 was now closed. We went over to RWY36 and took off from there.

I spoke to the airport manager once we got back. A student on her first solo had porpoised and botched the landing. She is fine but the C150 was totaled. I hope she can "get back on the horse", but I doubt it.

In other events, my CFI insurance is up over 20% this year.

I started working with Jeff, a "snowbird" down for the winter trying to avoid the brutal Illinois weather. His Sting experienced an ADSB failure and I helped ferry his plane from SRQ to VDF. We did some testing, worked with the expert on the phone at Garmin and eventually decided to take to the great folks at Gulf Coast Avionics at LAL. We used the ADAPT flight plan app to fly in the Tampa airspace.  Josh took most of the afternoon readjusting the settings to correct the problem.

I'll work with Jeff to help him get his Sport Pilot license before his winter stay in Florida ends. Jeff just passed his Knowledge TEST!

One student has been practicing short field landings. The ACS states:

Touch down at a proper pitch attitude within 200 feet beyond or on the specified point, threshold markings, or runway numbers, with no side drift, minimum float, and with the airplane’s longitudinal axis aligned with and over runway centerline.

How do you measure that? I added a new camera mount to the bottom of the airplane and made a test flight. The video referenced above shows the results. Each centerline stripe has a standard length of 120'. Each space between the stripes is 80'. (The size of the painted runway designation numbers should be 60 feet tall and 20 feet wide.) Link

So, if your intended point of landing is the beginning of the stripe, you must touch down PRIOR to the beginning of the next stripe.

(Watch the video and tell me how I did.) I have gotten a bit busy. The school has seven students now, most are scheduled once a week. The winter weather has been good and Sally is holding up well. (Brakes and tires are keeping me busy.)

And most importantly, we are having fun.

ADSB-Out

It was mandated. All airplanes flying in controlled airspace* must be equipped with "NextGen" ADSB-out equipment. *the ADS-B mandated airspace defined in 14 CFR 91.225 (above 10kft MSL in Class E or within the boundaries of Class B and Class C airspace) including the 30-mile veil. 

An ADS-B Out transmitter alone is not sufficient to meet the requirements of 14 CFR 91.225 and 91.227. Aircraft must be equipped with a Version 2 ADS-B Out transmitter and a compatible GPS position source. There are two types of ADS-B systems available:

• Mode S transponder with Extended Squitter, referred to as 1090ES that meets the performance requirements of Technical Standard Order TSO-C166b
• Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) that meets the performance requirements of TSO-C154c. UAT has the additional capability to receive weather data provided by the FAA ADS-B network and operates on 978 MHz.

Due to the S-LSA restrictions previously discussed, my new mode S transponder with Extended Squitter,  (1090ES), is a Garmin GTX 335. Since the new transponder has the same dimensions as the old, I ASSUMED  it would be a simple "plug and play". Nope.

1. The new mounting box screws did not align with the avionics tray. New holes had to be drilled in the tray. Not trivial if you don't have a right angle drill.
2. The mounting mechanism has moved from the center of the old transponder to the right on the new. The instrument panel had to be trimmed to accommodate this change.
3. The old connector (from the Dynon D100 EFIS) would not fit the new transponder. We did a deep analysis of the old versus new pinout to determine what pins had to be added to the new connector. (This would provide the RS232 altitude information.) New pins were soldered and inserted into the new connector.
4. A new GPS antenna is required which meant a new custom cable had to be built. Holes were drilled through the skin in front of the canopy and the cable was connected to the new transponder.

Thank you CERTUS!

Ready to fly? Nope. It also has to be programmed. This is done by holding the ENTER key while turning the unit on. This brings up a series of configuration menus.  Most are fairly straight forward but some require knowledge greater than mine. Fortunately, there is YouTube, right? That didn't get the job done. Test flights showed that it wasn't working properly (Thank you Tampa Approach for being so patient.) I needed an expert and found Mike. Call Garmin G3X support at 866-854-8433. The last problem was a SIL failure (Source Integrity Level). Mike took me through all of the configuration options and found that I needed to change my "UNK" to IE-7. (Yeah, that doesn't mean anything to me either.)

But it works.  I am 2020 compliant!

Learning to Land a PiperSport

https://youtu.be/BFL6eDEdCDg

Fog. Low ceilings. Gusty wind. Broken Airplane.Student unavailable. CFI unavailable. All of these "reason codes" kept me on the ground for a month. Finally, we had a "Go" day.

It was a "BIS" (Back In the Saddle") Flight so I wanted to make it an easy flight for the student to recover the feel of the airplane. Skip had previously been based at Peter O. Knight (KTPF) just south of Tampa and north of MacDill AFB. So I decided to let him fly me to a familiar airport.

Peter O. Knight Airport is an airport on Davis Islands, five minutes from downtown Tampa, Florida. Built as a Works Progress Administration project, it was Tampa's main airport from 1935 to 1945, and is still used by general aviation operators today because of its proximity to the central city. The airport was named for prominent attorney and businessman Peter O. Knight, namesake of Holland & Knight.

Tampa's annual Gasparilla Pirate Fest- a Mardi Gras-like festival held in January, includes a Pirate Flotilla that sails up the channel into Tampa - the symbolic beginning of the Pirate's reign over the city. The flotilla passes directly alongside the airport, making the airport an ideal viewing area for this event.

The winds were from the south so we took off already heading in the right direction. I told him to stay to the east side of I75 until we were ready to cross the bay. Since we would be under the Class B shelf I reminded him to stay under 1200Ft.

I learned something. I thought you had to be in contact with ATC to be tracked on FlightAware. Nope. We went from one "uncontrolled" airport to another and only made our normal position reports. No ATC. I was surprised to find this: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N674PS
Be careful out there. Don't bust any airspace. Somebody IS watching!

We did a few landings then departed to the west toward Plant City. We practiced a Simulated engine failure (3Ps) then headed for home. A VERY nice landing back at home plate.

He's gettin' it.

Quality time with Sally

https://youtu.be/gPGYrRuuvhM

The student was "No-Show". He had looked at the weather and decided there was no way I would let him fly with Tropical Storm Nester bearing down on us. His text message failed and I assumed he was on his way to the airport. Never assume.

So the preflight was done. I had a good hour of useable fuel. The winds were light out of the north and the cold front had dropped our Florida Autumn Temperatures by about 10 degrees. I taxied from the ramp to the run-up area for RWY5 then waited my turn to get into the pattern.

Two busy flight schools keep the airport busy. Add in some Police helicopters and a few corporate jets and the pattern can get downright interesting.

Spongy Brakes

One of my more advanced students started to complain about weak brakes as we taxied back in after a flight. I took the airplane, checked brake pressure and found nothing abnormal. Later, another student lodged the same complaint. We had practiced simulated aborted takeoffs and I attributed the problem to hot brakes. Again, when I took the airplane there seemed to be nothing wrong. When another student complained I knew I was missing something. I took the LEFT seat to taxi back to the hangar after the debrief and found out the right brake was spongy.

I learned that the two independent brake systems have their master cylinders behind the rudder pedals on the pilot side (#1 & #2).  This means the reservoir can get low on the pilot's side before I notice a problem in the right seat. There isn't a common brake reservoir to simply add fluid. Fluid must be pumped in from the low spot in the system.

I needed to assemble some parts to make a kit to add fluid to the right brake system. The first step was to get some kind of a "pressure pot" to push the fluid into the system from the lowest point. Certus lent me theirs, a sophisticated version of a garden pump sprayer. ACE Hardware had everything else.

Problem:  As I tried to loosen the valve it wouldn't budge. More pressure started to loosen the entire fitting so I held that in place with another wrench. I applied more pressure and it gave. Unfortunately, it sheared the valve off.
Fortunately, it was broken in the shut position but I now had to get another valve. Ace Hardware doesn't carry them. Certus does. FedEx delivered it this morning.

The replacement was easy. The original fitting replaced, I tested the valve to insure it worked properly and was relieved to see a drop of fluid when I loosened the valve.

The trick is to get the fluid started into the system then check the brake reservoir to see it get filled. I lined the cockpit floor with rags, opened the valve and stood by the cockpit watching bubbles come out of the vent hole on top of the cylinder. In a few moments, I had a steady stream of fluid spilling over on my rags so shut the valve.

I sat in the left seat and pushed on the toe brake. Good.

I cleaned everything up and did a thorough preflight. I pulled Sally out and checked the right brake for any drips. The taxi test went well. I did a full runup without issue. Then taxied back to the hangar and checked again. No runs, no leaks, no errors.

I put Sally back on the flight schedule.

The Check Ride

The weather hasn't been good. While that's bad for all students it's particularly difficult for students nearing the end of their training. These students need to keep a particularly sharp edge and cancellations allow some rust to set in.  Last week we canceled once but did a Mock Check Ride stressing the Oral Exam. This week we canceled Tuesday, canceled Thursday and flew early Friday before the "reverse flow" thunderstorms hit. We practiced a few maneuvers and got a solid landing in. Saturday we finished the preflight and weather briefing and waited for the mist to dissipate delaying our 8:00 AM take off. We called the Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) to let him know we would wait for VFR then be on our way.

It was less than an hour's flight up to Marion County. Low clouds along the way kept us at 1500' and we made a few course corrections to avoid the virga. There was some traffic in the pattern already as we listened on CTAF. Bruce made a normal pattern entry and a nice landing on RWY23. Troy was waiting at the FBO as we taxied up. Bruce secured the airplane and I shook his hand, wished him luck as he exited the airplane. The start of another adventure.

Troy toured us through the small building then gathered the necessary paperwork and talked with us as he pecked away at the computer. He explained the process then invited me to wait in the Pilot's Lounge as he closed the door behind me. The Oral Exam started at 9:00 AM.

As I waited alone in the lounge I thought about what we had done together. He had some prior time in a Cessna but we essentially started from scratch. An overview of my syllabus is:

1. Introduction/high work. Ground procedures. Basics of flight, slow flight and stalls, steep turns.
2. Low work. Ground reference maneuvers
3. Landing pattern. Circuits and emergencies. Ground school complete, Knowledge test taken
4. Solo
5. Cross Country. Planning, diversions, soft field, short field techniques. More emergencies
6. Night Flight. Even for Light Sport guys, this is an important awareness.
7. Final requirements. Mock Check Ride flight(s).
8. Check Ride

They came out of the room at 10:30 AM. Thumbs up. The clouds were rolling in. Bruce did a weather check, it was still VFR. Troy was willing to go. They went out to preflight Sally. For me waiting in the lounge, it took forever. The engine started at 10:50 AM.

The weather channel was on TV. The flight home could be interesting. Outside the broken clouds were building into monsters. It was hot. It was humid. I was sure that Bruce was roasting. Finally, I could see Sally in the pattern. I couldn't see the runway but they obviously did a go-around. Was that good or bad? I waited. A long wait and they taxied back in. Engine shut down at 12:10 PM.

The debrief was concise. Bruce had done well. I asked the new Aviator to check the weather and asked Troy for feedback. Bruce had no weakness with the oral. He mentioned two things that I could stress in my syllabus:

1. S-turns: Bruce was rusty but did well once he got set up. I should review all PTS information on the low work (my #2) before the check-ride.
2. Short Field Takeoff (my #5): He wanted to see the transition from ground effect to Vx to Vy more clearly.

I can do that.

We all agreed that we should be having fun doing this. It is hard work, expensive, and on days like this very stressful. But it should always be fun.

The flight home had us maneuver around some strong rain cells but was otherwise uneventful. I got in some SIC time.

A Solo X-Country Flight

Requirement: 1 solo cross country flight of at least 150nm total distance with full-stop landings at 3 points and one segment of at least 50nm between T/O and landings

We got up an hour early to avoid the tempermental Florida weather. The weather "Guessers" had said we could expect a "reverse flow" today, which means the thunderstorms start in the morning instead of the afternoons. At 5:00 AM everything looked good, but there was some convection offshore in the gulf. TAFs said not to expect them until afternoon. I gave the "Go" and planned for an 8:00 AM departure.

Preflight Completed.

Sally was in good shape. I added just a bit of oil to bring it up to 3/4s, cleaned the canopy and added 5 gallons to bring it up to about 25 gallons total. Leo arrived at about 7:00 AM. We briefed the flight and let him loose. He was airborne at 8:00 AM.

I listened to my handheld radio while sitting in my truck. I enjoyed a hot cup of coffee and snacked on Belvetta crackers. I checked the weather on my phone. Checked the time. Checked the weather. Mostly flight school planes in the pattern today. Hmmm, little puffy low cumulus clouds were starting to form over Tampa. His enroute weather still looked good. Metars and TAFs were still good. What time is it? More coffee.

Then he reported in just 5 miles south. (Ahead of schedule.) I got to watch my student complete a MAJOR accomplishment in my airplane.

The debrief was great. The excitement just popping as he told the stories of his adventure. General Aviation at its best. Not a perfect flight, but a good one. Experience gained, lessons learned.

Good job Leo. Good job Sally.

Today was the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, the longest cross country that was ever done by mankind. "Pilots take no special joy in walking. Pilots like flying." Neil Armstrong