The Pattern - Hopefully to be Repeated

What follows is an imperfect description of an imperfect traffic pattern lesson. I'm on the ground, so its OK. I'll be perfect as soon as possible!

Preflight (initial, interior, exterior)... Move seat forward so I can press the rudders fully and reach the controls. Seat belt, harness, strap on knee board, headset plugged in. Close door, leave window open, its HOT. Start Avionics On, radio check, ATIS, altimeter set. Taxi, Pre-Taxi

Reid-Hillview Ground, Cessna five two four niner two at Squadron2 with Pappa. Ready to taxi for closed traffic.

Cessna five two four niner two, taxi to runway three one right via Zulu.

Three one right via Zulu, five two four niner two.

... stay on the center line. No faster than an old white guy can run. An airport old white guy, not a marathoner old white guy. Stay on center line, adjust throttle to 1000 RPM, go around the waiting Cessna, turn and face the tower, straighten the nose gear. Close window. Run-Up, Pre-Takeoff, Takeoff Abort plan ready! Taxi up to hold line.

Reid-Hillview Tower, Cessna five two four niner two ready on the right.

Cessna five two four niner two, cleared for takeoff runway three one right.

Cleared for takeoff runway three one right, five two four niner two.

That part only happened once the rest is repeated for each time through the pattern. We did a couple times on three one right, then the tower told us to go to three one left and make left traffic. The description below is the sequence for the best and last time through the pattern, left traffic for three one left. I won't mention some of the other ones. *smile*

... taxi onto runway, line up with center line, feet off breaks, onto rudder, power on full, stay on center line, right rudder, more right rudder, stay on center line, 55 mph, pull back slightly, plane off the ground, more right rudder, fly just off the ground, let airspeed build, pitch up to Vy... slowly. Left hand on yolk, right on throttle. Keep Vy pitch, trim if needed. Wings level, fly straight, Vy pitch, right rudder, Vy pitch. 500 ft AGL. Upwind leg done.

Time to do crosswind leg - look left, pick target point, look straight, no right rudder and turn left. Vy pitch, Vy, Vy. Wings level when aimed at target. Check airspeed (Vy) and track.

Time for downwind leg - Look left under wing, pick target point, look straight, no right rudder and turn left. Vy pitch, Vy, Vy. Wings level when aimed at target. Check airspeed and track. Check altitude... 1,100 ft time to level out, pitch for straight and level, pull power slightly, trim. ... he will do radio calls ... I fly ... aviate, navigate, communicate. Stable in level flight, check distance from runway. Runway approx half way up strut is approx 1/2 mile away. We are now free to move about the cabin (ha!) about 30 seconds. Abeam the numbers, time to reduce power, carb heat on, reduce power all the way, engine on idle. Do not let the plane lose altitude. Need some left rudder. Speed below 85kts, 10 degrees flaps, do not let nose rise, need some right rudder. Speed down to 70 knots, nose down a bit to pitch for 65. Trim 1-2-3-4-5-6. Look over left shoulder, runway about 45 degrees behind.

Time for base - look left under wing, pick target point, look straight, left rudder, left aileron, keep pitch for 65, do not stare at air speed gauge. Wings level, check airspeed and track. Glance at runway... draw center line out from the airport, should run through the middle of the instrument pack. Airspeed and track. (PS, if you turn too early for base, you end up too high on final, keep that in mind next time).

Time for final - look left under wing, pick target point (runway center line). Look straight, left rudder, left aileron, keep pitch for 65, do not stare at air speed gauge. Turn. Roll out of turn, right rudder, right aileron... line up with extended center line. Keep pitch for 65. Correct line up makes it look like we're too far right... but don't go too far right. If it ain't right, fix it. Check VASI, can't do power off approach *on* glide slope. White over white is OK. 10 degrees more flaps. Keep pitch for 65. Keep eyes on runway, getting closer... wait and wait. OK, now start round out slowly. Very slowly, eyes move to the end of the runway... stare at the end of the runway. Plane does a bit of a sink, keep the nose up, fly just above the runway, pull back a bit more. scrch! gear on runway, keep nose up and up and up... slowly let nose down. Slide feet up to brakes. Slowly slow the plane, get off runway, turn onto Yankee.

He says that I did it an unassisted landing he didn't touch the controls once. It doesn't hit me right away.

Cessna five two four niner two, terminating.

Five two four niner two cross three one right to parking, continue monitoring this frequency.

Time for after landing checklist. Flaps up, carb heat off, power back to 1000 rpm. He has flight controls, I clean up. I have controls, stay on centerline, debrief on the way. Taxi to parking spot, avionics off, mixture full lean, mags, master. securing checklist Headset off, window open, door open. Out and park the plane, tie down and finish securing plane.

In the end we did 5 takeoffs and landings in an hour, two of them I did unassisted (physically anyway). The last one was best... almost just like I visualized it when "couch flying" for the last two weeks.

Pitch for airspeed. Look straight. Stay on center line, if it ain't right, fix it! Close isn't good enough and I sure was reminded what happens when it isn't right... Absolute heaven! I have spent the last 10 years with people telling me to accept less than perfect, its OK. Now I'm being pushed to strive for perfect. I love it...

and... for those few brief seconds in the pattern I realize... I'm flying the airplane and turning and going up and down and not scared to death. I'm an awkward bird, but getting a bit more graceful all the time. I'm not going to be able to fly much over the next few months, with travel and weather planning to interfere. So I know I'll be doing a lot more pattern work, and each time will fall back a bit then go forward a bit, just like today. Today was a pattern I hope to see repeat.

Up

I remember when I was a kid - teenager really - when I had access to a vehicle and some modicum of freedom when not babysitting. Living in Albuquerque, NM. Albuquerque is one mile high.. it sits at the base of mountains that go another mile up. I believe the elevation at Sandia Crest is over 11,000 ft (Ok, 10,678ft - I was close).

I remember when I would want to get away, I would tend to go up. Sometimes I'd go up to the whitewash... a white rock face in the Sandia Foothills scoured clean by run off from occasional storms. Other times I would drive up I-40 East Bound, then head half way up the back of the mountain... to a spot where I could park and watch the stars. I remember a cement plant near that place that really lit up the night. When I was really really upset, I'd drive all the way to the top of Sandia Crest.. watch the sunset or hike.

I've been learning how to fly and remembering how much I like being Up above it all. When I learned there's a possibility that I won't be able to get my pilots license due to medical problems.. my first instinct was to find the tallest place I can (around here that means 3000 or 4000 ft) and climb up. As New Model Army sing in their song High:

All these things you fear so much depend on angles of vision
From down in the maze of walls you can't see what's coming
But from high on the high hills it all looks like nothing
But from high on the high hills it all looks like nothing, nothing

Flying is a physical, mental and I'm finding emotional challenge. When I'm up in the air, it all does look like nothing... and feel like nothing. I don't have time to think of problems at work or medical worries or anything but the challenge and joy of flying. It has a similar affect on me to running. During and after a long run, its all nothing.. my angle of vision is changed, if only for a while.

It will be close to two years before I can reach my goal, the license for me to fly what I want and WHEN I want (within reason). And its hard for me to be willing to wait. The craziness in my job, the overwhelming aspects of my life leave me briefly when I run or fly. I haven't been running much recently, I've been flying. Now I know that I have basically 3 more lessons before winter sets in. Then its catch as catch can for flying for me.. just trying to find time back in town that works for me as well as the CFI.

Well... enough rambling. Anyway... right now I really want to go Up. Its a full moon tonight, I love flying at night when the moon is out. The land looks magical from Up above the Earth on a moonlit night. Maybe I'll dream Up.. I won't get there tonight otherwise.

88 Hangar Queen - Part I

N88HQ is the tail number on a Cessna 182 at our flight club... properly, phonetically, pronounced this plane is "8 8 Hotel Quebec".. but she's fondly known as "8 8 Hangar Queen" because she is always in the hangar being fixed. Not her fault, we don't have many 182s at the club and so people are more used to flying 172s and 152s and don't know how to fly her well. So people make mistakes flying her, break something, and off she goes to be fixed.

Friday evening we are going to fly good old 88HQ to WLW via GOO. I arrive at the flight club and the mechanics have just finished putting the cowling back on the plane and fueling her up after the latest repair. Jeff pre-flights the plane and I get the luggage together. Katie and our friend, Paul, fly with us. The stop at GOO (Nevada County Airport) was to spend some time with friends that moved to Grass Valley, have dinner with them and deposit our child for the weekend so she could spend the weekend with her BFF from Kindergarten. I (and I think we - Jeff was PIC of the flight) knew that we would be landing at WLW (Willows Airport - our final destination) after dark... one doesn't leave San Jose around 5:45 PM, eat dinner for a couple hours and land another hop away before dark - this becomes significant later.

We fly from RHV (Reid Hillview - our "home" airport) to GOO without incident. (We did note the cylinder head temp and oil temp gauges were inoperative or inaccurate on the way out, but we had enough other information on the state of the engine Jeff figured we could continue.) We meet up with our friends and have a wonderful dinner. They drop us off at the airport and leave with Katie. Its well past dark. We (Jeff, Paul and I) hop in the plane, start up the engine and go through the initial and taxi checklists for the next leg to WLW. We turn on the taxi lights "as required"... hmmm... no lights. Turn off the switch, check the fuses, turn them on. No lights. Park the plane, turn off engine, get out, and see if we can find a way to reach into the cowling of the plan and feel or see an obvious plug that is unplugged. We knew what the issue was right away, the mechanics didn't plug in the landing/taxi lights after doing their work and Jeff didn't catch that fact on his pre-flight inspection.

So, what do you do? You know you need to get somewhere and it is a dark, but moonlit night, and you don't have the lights that are normally used to illuminate the runway directly in front of the plane when landing. You are 140 miles from home and 60 miles from your destination. Well, I knew with my current level of knowledge I certainly wouldn't fly and attempt a landing without landing lights. Jeff wasn't so unsure about his capabilities. He tells me he could land w/o the lights. Well, he's PIC and I'm just a 13 hour trainee. So, I have to trust his judgment. We get back into the plane and he sits for a second. Then he says, its best we don't go. At that moment we both say at exactly the same time "That is the right decision."

It was the right decision for two reasons:
1) while Jeff may have been able to land without landing lights, that puts our flight with an extra risk that we really didn't need to accept... who knew what else may go wrong on the flight. Flying is all about managing risk.
2) it turns out the FAA specifically disallows attempted landings at night w/o landing lights. So attempting such in a non-emergency situation is illegal.

We called our friends, they came back to the airport and picked us up.. we spent the night at their place, borrowed their car and drove back to the airport at 5:00 AM. Timed our flight to take off just after sunrise and landed safe and sound at WLW. There we were... able to fly to our ultimate destination (WLW) safely with plenty of time for breakfast and getting to the track on time.

I think one of the things I like about flying is the significance of the decisions made by the pilot. Yes, we could have taken off and maybe landed w/o those pesky lights. However, we didn't because of the additional risk (or likelihood of failure) created by the attempt... especially if something ELSE went wrong. If you make an incorrect decision (or risky decision) the wrong day at the wrong time with the wrong future circumstance, you, your passengers and innocent people on the ground can die as a result. There are not too many roles that have THAT level of impact... aside from the health care field.

More to come later... The race weekend and The Intrepid HQ and her further adventures ....

Special Things Katie Says

I was thinking today about some of my favorite moments with Katie over the years and the things she's said. I thought it would be good to record those little sayings before I forget. So here are some of my favorite Katie Bug Quotes.

Giving pre-race instructions before autocross race approx 4 years old.

Put your helmet on. Put your gloves on. Put your boots on. Go round and round really fast and come back and see me!

In Kindergarten:

You know... when you think your brain sparkles.

Disagreeing with the parents plans for the day (age 4 or so):

I don't like that plan!

Singing after realizing the dead battery on the Jeep was probably her fault:

Don't blame me, I didn't drain the battery.

After I had to replace my cell phone resulting with a great picture of Diamond Head being lost (note, she hadn't learned how to type or use a computer yet):

Its OK Mom. Just to to hawaiipictures.com, I'm sure they will have your picture there.

When daddy was talking about losing weight (Katie age 11 whispered to me):

I don't want daddy to lose weight. I don't want him to be a different person.

Not a quote but still cool... we were flying to Thunderhill in a Cessna 172 and the flight was turbulent. Katie knows I don't like turbulence. She didn't say anything. She just put her hand on my shoulder to make sure I was OK.

I will post other things as I remember them. I love that kiddo!

The week of listening dangerously

I highly recommend "The Years of Talking Dangerously" great book made up of commentaries mostly (wholly?) broadcast on NPR by Geoffrey Nunberg. Some how it seems even more fitting read of American culture and class and political struggle sitting in England than it is back home.

A little note on the Queen's English.

Here a "scheme" is just a plan or a programme back home it has more sinister connotations. Chips are French fries and crisps are chips (or did I get that backwards?) You put your luggage in a boot and your trash in a bin and your appointments in a diary. Toast is white or brown - not white or wheat. And you never put sweets and savory's on the same plate (still not sure what that means though I gave myself away as American by doing it!). Kit is hardware not a Transam. Not to mention, those zeds of American English are supposed to be s's.. not z's. Which is a PITA when you work in a specialization of optimization (or is that specialisation of optimisation?).

Warwick castle is pronounced "Warick" not "war-wick". Portsmouth is "portsmuth" not "ports-mouth" and Gosport is "gos-port" not "go-sport". Of course, maybe this is just a reflection of the people I am spending time with :) English accents are rather varied as well. Quite lovely to hear. I wonder if the variety of American accents are also pleasing to the ear (I doubt it).

"Brilliant!" usually does mean they really think it was a brilliant idea. "Lovely!" is also a good idea or plan/scheme. But, both terms can be used to indicate sarcastic intent. Another thing I noticed... um, Ummmmm, uMMMMmmmm, umhum and nuhum all mean different things. Tone tells you if its casual agreement, mild interest, intent interest, a positive yes, or negative no. I do like the "um" to indicate, "yes, I heard you and agree". I am happy my husband seems to be taking up the practice. It is better than silence or mild grunt.

It is nice being a relatively fresh ear in an ancient country. I hope I visit the UK many many times in the future... and I hope I never lose my appreciation for the sound of the Queen's English.

Run I did

yep... I put together a good week of running this week. Track Tuesday, weird not-quite-elliptical-thing Wednesday, Run Thursday, rest Friday, Run Saturday. Saturday was a particularly good run... was supposed to get up at o' dark 30 again, but my friend had to run later... so he asked if I wanted to run later. And I agreed (sleep is good and this friend runs closer to my pace). The sleep was good. This morning was the first time I got to wake up naturally (no alarms) and that was good.

The run was very cool... around the Lexington Reservoir. 12 miles total. Very hilly.. but very nice. It is good to feel like a runner again.

Flares

We use a lot of flares in the Santa Cruz mountains... "we" in the royal sense of course.

Its a habit I picked up driving up and down the mountain road.... lit flares in/near the road means something blocking the road up ahead (around that blind turn). But its the burned out flares I see as I go up and down these mountain roads that are more interesting to the imagination. I see a burned out flare, then two, then three.. come around the blind turn... then there may be a scarred hillside, a telephone pole with extra duct tape holding it together... a fence down in someone's yard. Sometimes there's no sign at all but the remains of the flares. I have to wonder.. what happened here between the time I left for work and the time I've returned?

Usually I never know.