Flight Time–Fernandina Beach

The weather today was forecast to be clear all day. That meant it was time to plan a longer than usual flight. Today, we planned to go to Fernandina Beach, on Amelia Island. I planned the flight in Foreflight and we left for the airport.

At the airport, we pre-flighted the plane and prepared for departure. We took off from runway 32 and climbed to 4,500 feet. At this altitude, we were in cool, smooth air and we were high enough that we didn’t need to navigate around airspaces.

When we reached St. Augustine, I attempted to contact Gainesville Radio to ask about the Special Military Activity airspace. Unfortunately, I could not make out what the specialist was saying. Our radios continue to be a frustrating issue for me. To punctuate the fact that we were close to a military airspace, two F/A-18s departed below us and did a climbing turn in front of us, then around past our right side. I half expected them to pull up beside me and signal for me to land, but I knew I wasn’t doing anything wrong. To be sure, though, I descended to 2,700 feet to go below the airspace floor.

As we approached Jacksonville, we had to continue to maneuver around airspace. Once clear, we flew directly to Fernandina Beach and landed to the north.

On the ground, we taxied to the Bent Wing. Susan had called them from Valkaria, so they knew we were coming. Three ground crew came out to meet us. I parked where they directed me, then shut down the engine. One of the workers came up and asked us if we wanted gas. I decided to top off the tanks, just to be sure. Turns out, getting gas waives the landing fee.

We entered the FBO and met the folks at the desk. We told them who we were and they asked us to set up an account. We gave them our information, then asked about restaurants near the beach. They offered some suggestions, then offered to drive us to Slider’s on the beach. We gladly accepted the offer.

At Slider’s we ordered lunch. While waiting, I called the Flight Service Station to ask about the military zone. This time, I was able to hear the specialist just fine, but yet we still failed to communicate. He had no idea what I was talking about. Apparently, no one knows anything about these special, unnamed airspaces that clutter our charts. And to make matters worse, he basically blamed me for not being able to communicate what I wanted to ask.

After eating, we decided to walk around town and slowly work our way back to the airport. We started our walk on the beach. The beach was OK, but I didn’t find it to be all that special. That said, we found a lot of out of state cars in the parking lot. Apparently, some people really like it.

After a short distance, I was done with the beach, so we started walking towards town. It was around noon, so it was hard to find shade, and it was starting to get hot.

We continued walking until we came across a sign for an Open House. We figured that it might be fun to see a condo near the beach, and it would also be nice to get out of the heat for a few minutes. We rang the doorbell and an agent welcomed us inside. She told us about the amenities and offered us water and cookies. The place was very nice and was selling for $570k.

Eventually we arrived back at the Bent Wing. From the outside, the building looks like an F4U Corsair, which is one of my favorite planes from the WWII era.

Back inside, we asked about a comfortable place to sit. We were directed to the pilot lounge. In the lounge, we found a couch and a couple chairs. One of the chairs was a massage chair. If you haven’t sat in a massage chair, I highly recommend it.

After our nice little rest, we left the lounge and looked around the rest of the FBO. The place had many models and lots of information about the Corsair.

While looking around, I saw the pilots of the Wheels Up King Air that had recently arrived. The pilot’s life is still amazing to me. The pilots talked about how they got to where they are in their careers and how they were in New York the day before, and in Norfolk this morning.

After our chat, we decided to prepare for our flight back home. I reversed the flight plan and checked the brief. The weather was still looking amazing along the route. We took off and headed back along the route we came. This time, we climbed to 5,500 feet and enjoyed the smooth air. The flight would have been a complete joy, but Foreflight started crashing again, repeatedly. With it being so cool at our altitude, I refused to believe that it was a heat issue. I disabled the Bluetooth on the iPad and the problem went away. Somehow, it seems that the device that provides traffic and weather information is causing the Foreflight application to crash.

As we approached Melbourne, I started a slow descent to 3,000 feet and tuned in Melbourne Tower. I heard a pilot mention “Gatwick” and realized that it was a TUI pilot. Then we saw that there was another TUI taxing for departure. As we crossed over the airport, the second TUI took off to the east and climbed over the Indian River towards the ocean. It was a very cool sight (but not as cool as seeing the F/A-18s)

We continued south for a few more miles and landed at Valkaria. Overall, the flight was a nice departure from the low cloud experiences we’ve been having this summer.

Flight Time–LaBelle

Today was aviation day with Andrew. We planned for breakfast at the airport, followed by a flight to central Florida.

I started the day by planning a flight to LaBelle. But there was also a pancake breakfast on the calendar. And the best part was that the breakfast was at Valkaria. I got Andrew up and we drove to the airport.

Breakfast was better than expected. We arrived around 8:45 and there was not much of a line. I thought we must be too early. My flight instructor was at the grill, cooking pancakes, but there was a table covered with additional covered trays. My instructor asked what kind of pancakes we wanted – I went with blueberry and Andrew chose chocolate chip. When the pancakes were ready, we continued to the table with the covered trays. I was surprised to see that they had bacon, sausage, and scrambled eggs. We got orange juice and walked inside. There we found dozens of people. Turns out we were not early at all.

After breakfast, we drove to the hangar and started the pre-flight routine. Once I was satisfied with the plane’s condition, we got in and taxied to runway 10. Soon we were airborne and heading south along the Indian River. As we turned to the West, Andrew captured a great picture of a rainbow arcing over our wing.

The flight was as expected. The clouds were low and limited us to 1,500 feet. Past Okeechobee, we encountered shafts of rain. Approaching LaBelle, it was difficult to find the airport. Unlike other airports in the area that are alone in fields, LaBelle is in town and surrounded by buildings.

Once on the ground, we taxied to the FBO and parked. The FBO looked nice on the outside, but was even nicer inside. We found that, like Okeechobee, half of the interior was a restaurant – Short Cakes. The counter was covered with pastries and there was an ice cream sign on the wall. If I hadn’t just had breakfast I would have surely got something. We looked at the menu and decided that no doubt we’d come back and eat some time.

We were then greeted by the airport manager. She told us about the town and other local attractions. I asked about the DC-3 parked on the other side of the airport and was about to go see it when a man came from the back and started talking to us. I mentioned that I’m looking forward to some flights up north to see the fall colors. He told us that Michigan is the best place to go for fall colors. Then he proceeded to tell us about many other Michigan attractions. He was clearly fond of Michigan… except for Detroit. I told him about our trip to Mackinac Island when I was about 10 years old. He laughed when I told him about my cousin asking about the liquid on the ground and the carriage driver’s response, “Radiator fluid”. (Mackinac Island has no motor vehicles. Transportation is by horse and buggy).

Even though the stories were interesting, we decided we needed to get going before the weather got worse. Heading back to Okeechobee, we found more shafts of rain and had to make a pretty good diversion to get around them. Meanwhile, the iPad was complaining about being too hot. Even so, Foreflight was more stable than usual, only crashing twice during the flight.

Orlando International Terminal C

Recently we heard about a program offered by Orlando International Airport – Experience MCO Visitor Pass Program. The program allows non-ticketed visitors to pass through security and spend the day in the new Terminal C. I had heard of a similar program at Pittsburgh and thought it would be fun to go see Orlando’s new terminal. Susan signed up online for three passes for my off Friday and they were granted today.

First we needed to pick up Andrew from UCF. He has one class on Fridays, so we planned to be at his dorm right as he returned from class. He met us in the parking garage, then we went to his dorm to pick up everything he needed for a weekend at home – his computer and his dirty clothes.

Our passes were granted for a security passage between noon and 1:00. I planned to be at the airport no later than 12:30. We made a quick stop at Subway, then headed for the airport.

When we arrived, the overhead signs said that all short-term parking was full and to park at the South Economy Lot. I didn’t believe the sign, so I headed straight for Terminal C Short Term Parking. When I reached the lot entrance, I was turned away by two security guards. It appears the sign was telling the truth.

At the South Economy Lot entrance, we found a long line of cars waiting to get in. Slowly we crept toward the ticket machine until we reached a point and all movement stopped. We realized that there are two lanes, but the e-Pass lane was out of service. Then we realized that both lanes were out of service. A worker drove up and had all the cars back up. I was thinking, “Now what?”. After a few feet, we could go no further. Luckily, that’s all he needed to get the car at the front of the line past the gate. From that point, the guy handed a ticket to each car that entered the lot.

The lot was extremely full. Cars were parked in places they shouldn’t be parked, like in the space beyond the last spot in a row and in the grassy areas between rows. I was thinking there was no way we’d find a spot. We kept going and going and eventually were directed into a large field. It was more like parking at the fairgrounds than parking at an airport.

We parked, noted our location, then headed for the nearby bus pick-up spot. It was apparent that we’d be waiting a long time. I started to feel bad for the actual passengers in the line, but I had no intention of giving up my spot in line. A bus came, then another came, and we still were standing in the heat. When the next bus arrived, an employee asked if anyone was going to Terminal C, so we raised our hands. She called us straight to the front of the line and we boarded the bus. About the time we sat down, others in the line started to realize that they can get to Terminals A & B from C, so they started boarding, too.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the terminal. On the ride, Andrew checked the status of the security line. The app said it was a 4 minute wait. When we reached the line, the sign said 18 minutes. In reality, it took over 30 minutes to get through. Needless to say, after all of that, we missed our entry window. Luckily, TSA didn't seem to care about the time, or even the online ticket itself. We showed the agent our IDs and he let us in. I guess he had all he needed on his screen.

The first thing I saw when I entered the passenger side of the terminal was Shake Shack. I made a note of that and told myself I’d be stopping there on the way out. The hallway opened into a wide-open space with shops and giant displays.

Terminal C opened almost exactly a year ago. It contains gates for JetBlue on one side, and 10 international carriers on the other. Terminal C also has a Brightline train stop that will soon start service to Miami. The international gates are quite large – large enough for Boeing 777s. We explored the international side first and quickly came upon an Emirates 777 and a Caribbean 737 Max.

At the end of the concourse, we came to a wall of glass. The view from this spot is amazing. The spot is near the end of two parallel runways, and you can see planes descend and land right in front of you.

After watching several planes land, we returned to the market area to look at the displays. The display area had three walls making a circular shape with gaps to walk into the circle. Each wall had giant displays on the inside and outside surfaces.

On the inside of the three walls, there were at least three scenes playing in a loop. The first was a reef scene. The second was a forest scene with fireflies. The third was a scene from Mars. Each wall had cameras mounted in various places, all pointing into the circle. I soon realized that the scenes were interactive. The fireflies joined together and followed along as people walked past the screens. On the Mars scene, collections of rocks spin to life and take on the shape of the person in front of the display.

On the outside of the three walls, there was a fountain scene. At first, the scene was just a wall. But after a few minutes, sections of the wall open and animal statues fill the spaces. Each animal is a fountain and water spills from their mouths to the “water” below. After a few more minutes, the animal statues come to life. First, they started looking around, then they started aiming their spray towards the other statues. Before long, each statue was in on the action. It was quite entertaining.

After watching the displays, we explored the JetBlue concourse. As we walked down the long hallway, we passed three giant wall displays depicting Florida scenes and artwork.

While we explored, Andrew checked the list of arriving flights and saw that a British Airways 777 was arriving soon. We headed back to the international concourse and watched it descend, land, taxi back, and park at the gate.

It was starting to get late and we had nothing more to see, so we headed for Shake Shack. We got a Strawberry Frozen Custard Shake and a “Dreamsicle” Float to share amongst ourselves.

On the way out of the terminal, we stopped for a quick bathroom break. While waiting for Susan, I heard a man with a UK accent. I asked if he had just arrived on British Airways. He said no, he came in on Aer Lingus. Then I asked what brought him to Orlando. I was completely surprised by his response. He said that every year, he comes to America to watch an American Football game and this year, he came to see the Chicago Bears play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

I must say that I enjoyed my visit to Terminal C. The parking situation wasn't the best, but having the option to go inside a passenger terminal without a boarding pass is such a joy to me. This is something I used to do quite often in Seattle, before 9/11. Hopefully, more airports will provide a similar program.

Anniversary Adventure

This weekend, I planned a flight to Fernandina Beach, near Jacksonville. Susan had a meeting scheduled for Saturday morning, so I planned to leave after she got home in the early afternoon. As it turned out, however, the weather did not cooperate, so I re-planned for this morning.

As usual, I got up early and checked the weather and other flight information. The plan looked solid for a 10:00 am departure. I was thinking it would be pretty cool if we took off early enough to see the Atlas V rocket launch from the air. But I knew that plan was a bust as soon as I started to back out of the garage. To the Northeast, I could see the telltale smoke trail of a United Launch Alliance rocket launch. I was convinced that the launch was scheduled for between 10:00 and 10:30. I guess I converted the UTC time to local time wrong. Oh well, its not like there’s a shortage of launches to see around here.

After arriving at the hangar, I started going through my flight bag to pull out the necessary items. It was then that I realized that I left my iPad at home. I was frustrated with myself for making such a dumb mistake, but I considered my options: 1) Continue the flight as planned, but without the iPad, 2) Go home and get it, then continue the plan one hour later, or 3) Cancel the flight entirely. We decided to go home and get the iPad.

If you are wondering why this was so important, let me explain. When I started flying, there were no iPads or moving maps. I used a paper map, landmarks, and time/distance calculations to track my flight. That was plenty good enough back then because I didn’t know anything better, and there were plenty of obvious landmarks in the Seattle area. As time went on, the GPS and moving map were introduced into all the planes I regularly flew. The Commander had a hand-held GPS mounted on the yoke. I became very comfortable knowing my position with extreme accuracy. Flying in Florida is quite a bit different than flying near Seattle. There are many special use airspaces to be avoided and I’m not back to the level of comfort that I had back then. Soon, I will be comfortable enough with the radios to ask ATC for the status of the air spaces and ask for permission to fly through some of them. Until then, however, I choose to avoid them, and that requires precise location knowledge.

At home, I checked the weather again. The forecast near Jacksonville was calling for thunderstorms in the area about the time we would be getting ready to leave. With the loss of the hour, we decided it wouldn’t be worth it for such a short stay. We needed a new destination.

I decided to go the opposite direction. I planned a flight to Okeechobee for lunch. They have a nice restaurant and were open until 2:00. I wrapped up the planning, and we drove back to the airport.

The flight down was quick and uneventful. There were a few planes in the pattern, so I joined in and landed on runway 32. After landing, I headed for the FBO. I wasn’t sure where the restaurant was, so I was busy thinking about what to do once I got there. While I was thinking, I heard voices on the radio, but didn’t really pay attention. I pulled into a nice spot and started shutting down. At this point, I noticed a follow-me golf cart nearby. The driver got out and guided another plane to a spot near me. It was then that Susan told me that he was asking me if I wanted to park or get gas. I remember hearing part of that, but I didn’t realize he was talking to me. After he finished up with the other plane, I went over to ask if he was talking to me. He said yes, but where I parked was fine.

The restaurant is inside the FBO building. We went in, were led to a table, and sat down. The place was nearly full, which is obviously a good sign. Susan ordered a tri-salad (made up of egg salad, chicken salad, and tuna salad), and I ordered an egg salad sandwich.

After lunch, I decided that I didn’t want to go straight back to Valkaria. I looked at the map and found Airglades Airport nearby. I’d never been there before, so I added it to the return route.

After a quick landing a taxi back, we were back in the air. Our final destination was Valkaria. The flight was fine, but my navigation app, Foreflight, started crashing every couple minutes. Each time it crashed, I had to restart the app from the iPad Home screen and select the map view again. This was both frustrating and dangerous. First, it required me to look at the iPad instead of out the window for extended periods of time, and second, it was no longer showing me nearby traffic. This is clearly an issue that I need to get to the bottom of quickly.

Back at the airport, we topped off the tanks and cleaned up the plane in the hangar. For my birthday, I was given a gift certificate for a single scoop of ice cream from a shop in Sebastian, so we headed south on Old Dixie Highway. The road travels very close to the rail line and we've used this route before to spot trains. As we drove, I noticed that both the north-facing and the south-facing signals were green. That meant that two trains were heading our way. I stopped and parked outside Grant Station and waited. Before long, we saw the northbound train approaching. A few minutes after it passed, the southbound appeared.

Back in the car, we continued south to Sebastian. There were so many flavors to choose from. I chose Peanut Butter & Strawberry Jam, while Susan chose Lemon Ice. Since we were down South, I thought it would be nice to go visit some places in Vero Beach. I typed "Cravings" into the GPS and continued south. We parked and started walking toward the park on the beach. At the park, we took off our shoes and started walking north on the beach. We passed by the famous Driftwood Resort, then continued up the beach to the pier and back (3 miles round trip).

When it was all said and done, I can say we had a very pleasant anniversary.

Flight Time–Labor Day Weekend

With my currency renewed, I was anxious to start building some flight time as pilot in command (PIC). This weekend was a great opportunity to get started.

Saturday, September 2

On Saturday morning, I got out of bed early and started planning a flight. I wanted to go somewhere new, but also close. I wanted to avoid all special use airspaces. And I wanted to avoid having to talk to air traffic control (ATC). I chose Palm Beach County Glades (KPHK), which is near the town of Pahokee.

With the planning complete, Susan and I headed to Valkaria. We arrived at the airport around 10:45 and started the pre-flight. Within minutes, we were ready to go. After take-off, we turned onto our route and headed for Lake Okeechobee. As we approached, I could see at least a dozen aircraft on my iPad. Okeechobee Airport is a popular breakfast destination for local pilots. When we reached the shoreline, I turned left and followed it to the South. As we approached the airport, I heard two other pilots in the traffic pattern. One was a Cessna Caravan on amphibious floats flying a low grid pattern over the lake.

After landing, we parked and walked to the FBO. There was a guy behind the desk and another guy in the shop next door, otherwise the airport was deserted. The FBO was nice looking, and the air conditioning felt good. There were nice chairs, a planning room, and showers, but not much more. They didn’t even have a vending machine. Luckily, I had a few peanut butter bars in my flight bag.

After a short break, we walked back to the plane and prepared for our flight back to Valkaria. The trip back was uneventful, but I couldn’t help thinking about how I confused Vero Beach and Fort Pierce back in my FlightSafety days.

Sunday, September 3

After the flight on Saturday, we drove to UCF to pick up Andrew. He was anxious to go for a flight, so we planned to go somewhere on Sunday. As the day progressed, we kept finding other things to do. But then, I remembered that there was a SpaceX launch planned for 7:25 pm. I thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool to watch the launch from the plane?” So that’s what we decided to do.

With plan in mind, we headed to Valkaria. On the way, we were notified that the launch was delayed until after 10:00. We were bummed, but we decided to make the flight anyway.

After take-off, we headed South along the Indian River to gain altitude before turning North towards the Cape. It was at this point that I realized that the door was not closed properly. I asked Andrew if he could close it properly, but there was too much air pressure for him to open the door enough to slam it shut. I slowed down as much as I could, but it was no use. Andrew held onto the door handle while I returned to Valkaria airport. On the ground, Andrew shut the door securely and we taxied back to the runway.

Back in the air, we repeated the plan. We climbed to 5,500 feet, which was higher than the nearby clouds. We flew high over Melbourne airport. While directly above the airport, I called Melbourne Tower and asked how they heard me and they responded, “Loud and clear”. Slowly, I'm rebuilding my confidence in the radios.

By now, it was 7:30 and the sun was scheduled to set at 7:42. I turned around and returned to Valkaria airport. Although I am now current, I am not current to carry passengers at night.

Back on the ground, we teamed up on the clean up tasks. Susan cleaned the windows, while Andrew wiped down the leading edge of the wings and I cleaned the struts and propeller.

Monday, September 4

On Monday, we planned a flight to DeLand to have lunch with Mom. This flight plan was the most challenging so far. It involved flying over three Class D airports, flying through an Alert area, avoiding Orlando’s Class B airspace, and avoiding Daytona’s Class C airspace.

With the plan in the iPad, we headed for Valkaria. We quickly prepared the plane for flight and were on our way. Along the way, the traffic advisor on the iPad reported nearby planes. In one case, there was a pair of planes heading in the opposite direction at our altitude. That may have been the closest I’ve come to another plane before seeing it.

Along the route, we listened to the control towers and to Daytona Approach. Andrew kept himself busy taking pictures of the Cape. We arrived at DeLand airport as a skydiver plane was releasing jumpers.

On the ground, we found a place to park near The Airport Restaurant and found Mom. As we ate lunch, we watched the skydivers gracefully fall from the sky and land nearby in the grass.

After lunch, we showed Mom the plane, then departed DeLand. The flight back was a little bit rougher than the way up due to the building convective activity.

Back in Valkaria, we cleaned up the plane and returned home. Andrew packed his things, then we were off to UCF (in the car) to drop him off.

Over the three day weekend, I put 5.8 hours in my logbook.

Valkaria Flyers–Week 3

This week continues my journey back into the pilot seat. The plan was to fly a lesson doing pattern work, then fly another lesson doing a long cross country into complicated airspace.

Friday, August 25

Last week, I scheduled a block of time with my instructor for early Saturday afternoon, and talked about flying after work during the week. The weather all week was drier than usual and we scheduled for 2:00 pm on Friday. This lesson was all about the traffic pattern.

Before this lesson began, I had to first leave work early. This was not an off Friday, so I packed some shorts and grabbed my flight bag when I left the house in the morning. Around 1:00, I was ready to go fly, but my instructor needed a little bit more time. I was already in check-out mode, so I drove to the airport and started prepping for the flight.

The flight started with a quick flight south to Sebastian. Once there, we entered the pattern and started with some normal landings. After three of these, we transitioned to short field takeoffs and landings. Then we did a no flap landing, followed by a power-off 180 to the runway. These went very well and I was able to fly the plane while managing all of the radio calls.

Saturday, August 26

On Saturday morning, I planned a flight from Valkaria to St. Petersburg. I took into consideration all of the special use airspaces along the route and avoided Orlando, Tampa, and MacDill Air Force Base air space. The weather looked good, for the most part, with afternoon showers along the East Coast. There was also a temporary flight restriction (TFR) for a baseball game in St. Petersburg.

I planned the trip on paper maps with a straight edge and a highlighter, and also on my tablet with ForeFlight. My intention was to fly one direction using old school tools, then return using the tablet.

At the airport, I started prepping the plane for the flight. When my instructor arrived, I told him about the weather and the TFR. He checked the weather again and we decided to postpone the flight until Sunday. Since we were already at the hangar, we discussed my plan and agreed that it was pretty good, with only a few adjustments.

Sunday, August 27

Today, I invited Susan to join me on the flight. I picked her up from Sunday School and we drove to the airport. Before leaving the house, I picked out some casual clothes for her and found her headphones in a bag in the garage. I also updated my flight plan with the latest forecasts before leaving the house. There was one concern – thunderstorms were forecast for Lakeland about the time we would be returning home.

When I got to the hangar, I updated the weather again. Now the forecast was for visual conditions with thunderstorms in the vicinity. The baseball game TFR was in effect today as well.

We decided to take the flight. We left Valkaria and turned Northwest, hoping to climb to 4,500 feet, but the clouds were too low and the coverage was too great to allow that, so we stayed low at 1,500 feet. As we passed Melbourne, I contacted Orlando Approach and requested Flight Following. They set me up with a transponder code and we continued on our route. Within minutes, we started hearing other pilots being directed for practice instrument approaches. I noticed that I could barely hear what they were saying. Soon we were told to transfer to another Orlando Approach frequency. I did, and again, the radio seemed very noisy to me. I was having a very hard time understanding anything being said.

Somewhere near Bartow, Susan noticed a plane on a converging course. I adjusted my heading to fly behind it. At this point, we realized that Orlando Approach was trying to contact us. We had missed their traffic advisories completely. My instructor told him that we were having difficulties hearing him. He then handed us off to Tampa Approach.

We changed to Tampa Approach and tried to raise them, but were unable. Then we tried going back to Orlando Approach. Again, we were unable to raise them. We tried radio one and radio two with no luck.

At this point, we realized that it was futile to continue. My instructor dialed in 7600 into the transponder, which indicates lost communications. We looked at the chart and decided to land in Lake Wales and give Approach a call to let them know what had happened.

After landing, my instructor called Orlando Approach and told them what happened. They understood the situation and no further action was required. In the meantime, The Cessna Caravan ski diver plane took off. We stuck around long enough to watch the jumpers and the Caravan return to the airport.

The new plan was to simply get back to Valkaria without talking to anyone. We already knew that the special use airspace was inactive, so I planned a direct flight. On the flight back, we had to maneuver to avoid some heaving downpours. About 8 miles West of Valkaria, we could see a heavy downpour approaching the airport from the South. The pattern was clear, so I decided to do a long, straight in approach to beat the rain.

Back on the ground, I topped off the fuel tanks, then taxied back to the hangar. The rain had arrived and was coming down pretty hard. After shutting down, we ran to the hangar and waited for the rain to subside. My instructor told me what paperwork he needed from me to complete the flight review and was on his way. Susan and I stayed behind to wipe down the plane and put it away right.

On the drive home, I started questioning everything. Should I have bought into this partnership, knowing that the plane was not really capable of IFR flight? Did I now find myself in the same situation I was in with the Commander – partners who were unwilling to make necessary upgrades? What were we going to do about the radios?

It’s very easy at times like these to lose faith in the dream of a future in aviation. Perhaps I will see things differently after going back to the office tomorrow morning.

Valkaria Flyers–Week 2

Ever since I sold the Commander 114 back in July 2014, I have been away from aviation. This week marked my return to the pilot’s seat. Last week, I scheduled time with a flight instructor for two sessions. Our sessions were intended to get me current and comfortable again, complete my flight review, and satisfy the insurance company requirements.

Friday, August 18

On Friday, our flight session was scheduled for noon. Being summer in Florida, I was a little concerned that the afternoon thunderstorms may come in and shorten our flight. According to the aviation forecast, the storms were expected to start around 3:00 PM.

I arrived at the hangar about an hour early. I wanted to have the preflight complete so we could start the session as soon as possible. I completed the checks before noon, then waited for the instructor to arrive. At 12:05, I sent the text, “Hi. It’s David. I’m at hangar 76, chillin’”. A few moments later, my instructor called and told me that he was in Stuart with a Cessna 172 and a bad battery, but he was driving back to Valkaria and would be there in an hour. I was concerned about the weather, but what could I do? Things happen.

At 1:17, he texted that he was two exits away. During that time, I called Susan and walked back and forth along the row of hangars. To my surprise, I found a restroom in the south hangar that was open to tenants. That was good to know, because the alternative was a porta-potty located outside the gate.

Eventually, the instructor arrived, he parked, and after we said our hellos, he started the preflight brief. Considering that I didn’t know him, and he had just rushed up the interstate while thinking about his busted Cessna, I wanted to make sure that he was relaxed and ready to focus on me and our flight. He appreciated my concern, grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, and got down to business. I told him that I was hopeful that our first flight could be more like a Discovery Flight and less like a hard-core flight review, given the amount of time I had been away from the controls. He agreed and that’s exactly what he was planning.

With the brief complete and the weather checked one more time, we started the flight. I started the plane and taxied to the run-up area. After the run-up, I taxied to the hold short line of runway 10, made the final checks, and started taxiing onto the runway before I realized that, hey, I need to make a radio call before entering a runway! I stopped just before entering the runway and made my call, After the call, I realized that I said “Runway 10 (ten)” instead of “Runway 1-0”. The rust was pretty apparent already.

After takeoff, we climbed while flying south along the beach. For the next 30 minutes, I worked on climbs, descents, and turns while getting used to power settings and trimming. The Piper Cherokee is a very stable plane and flies very nicely, making me feel like I actually knew what I was doing.

Next up, we started doing simulated landing patterns by flying “downwind”, “base”, and “final” legs while several thousand feet above the river. The goal was to get comfortable with the pre-landing checklist and slowing the plane down to the proper speeds while descending. We practiced this maneuver three times, then decided to head back to the airport. The approach into the airport was just like we practiced, but he guarded the controls just to make sure I didn’t do anything that we might regret.

Back on the ground, I taxied to the fuel pump, feeling pretty good about how things went. I was beginning to feel like I could fly, but I wasn’t feeling like a pilot yet. Being a pilot is much more than just driving a plane in the sky. It is all about seeing the big picture, knowing what to expect next, and being prepared to handle any situation that may arise.

After topping off the tanks, I taxied back to the hangar. Now the real challenge began – getting the plane into the hangar without banging into anything. This sounds like an easy enough task, but the first time doing anything can be a challenge. We ended up getting it in, but it was about six inches off the line on the floor. The instructor debriefed me and went on his way, while I stayed behind and wiped down the plane. I was feeling pretty good about my first flight back after such a long time away. As for the weather, there was a shaft of rain just west of the airport throughout the flight, but it never got close enough to cause us any concern. It finally started raining on my drive home.

Saturday, August 19

Our flight on Saturday was scheduled for 11:00. I arrived at the hangar around 10:45 and started the preflight. The instructor showed up and we started briefing the upcoming flight. As we talked, I kept interrupting with questions and we kept going down rabbit holes. We must have talked for over an hour before we were ready to go fly. I walked down to the restroom and when I got back, my instructor looked concerned. He told me that we may have talked too long and that the weather over the beach was looking pretty bad. I looked and said, “We can always just stay in the pattern”. He agreed and we went flying.

After the run-up, we departed to the east, then turned south along the river. The plan for the day was to work on uncommon maneuvers, like steep turns, emergency descents, and simulated engine failures. We started by climbing to around 4,500 feet, passing near some semi-transparent floating objects. The horizon was mostly obscured, so we skipped the steep turns. I had brought along a seat cushion, so I worked on updating my sight picture given the new sitting position. The clouds along the beach were pretty thick, so we headed west to do an emergency descent. I chose a small pond with no houses nearby as my center point. I slowed the plane to flaps speed, pulled full flaps, then began a left turning steep turn over the pond. We descended beyond 2,000 feet per minute in a nice, tight spiral. Then I leveled the wings and we did a turn to the right, then to the left while continuing to descend rapidly.

Next, we climbed back up and practiced engine failures. The first thing you must do during an engine failure is slow to maximum glide speed. In the Cherokee, this is simple to achieve by setting the trim to full up. With the plane trimmed this way, you maximize the glide ratio, thus giving yourself more time to troubleshoot the problem and/or find a suitable place to land. During the first “failure” I was able to find the cause and we continued to fly. During the second “failure” we could not restart the engine, so we continued to a simulated emergency landing at Valkaria Airport. I was a little high, which is always better than the alternative, so I made an S-turn to lose a little bit of altitude before turning final.

After landing, I taxied back and took off again. This time, the instructor showed me an example of energy management and how to slow the plane down while in ground effect. He followed that with a go-around, then I flew the plane one more time around the pattern for a normal landing.

After topping the tanks, I returned to the hangar. This time, I was able to put it in right on the centerline. We debriefed the flight, then I wiped down the plane and went home. After this flight, I felt more like a pilot, but I still have a ways to go. Next up, we’ll do a day of pattern work, then a cross country flight. After that, I should get my flight review endorsement and be cleared to go explore the world.