Can you smile just a little bit more????

Proud CFI with Faria

First picture..

What a happy pilot!!!

Solo Day for Faria

Congratulations Faria on a great day at the airport. Three very nice solo landings and one excellent aborted takeoff. I'll let her write about what she thinks happened on the aborted takeoff... suffice it to say that since she aborted that takeoff the rest of the flight went just fine, whereas if she had ignored the (aural) red flag and continued with that takeoff roll it would have been a dicey outcome at best. Great judgment and instincts! Photo from my phone, but Herb came by and took some better ones - can you post them?

QOD#26

Name 2-3 things that could cause sluggish acceleration during your take-off roll.

Eric's New Baby

Congratulations on the new plane, a nice 1972 Cessna 150 with a deep, rumbly Continental engine. Note the pink temporary registration certificate in his proud hand.

QOD#25

Good topic. In what section of the POH/AFM would you find information about the psi required for the main landing gear and nosewheel?

Flat Tire -- what to do

I had an experience yesterday afternoon at PAO. The right main tire on N52535 was low, really low.... not totally flat but neither was it just a bit low. I knew from past experience that I could call the fuel truck and they would let me "use" their air compressor to add air....(having a tire gauge and knowing the POH pressure spec is good to know since the fuel truck drivers don't put air in tires) but I was concerned that there might be a bigger problem.... what to do??? ... I ended up walking over to the WVFC maintenance shop. I told them my dilemma and Voila! the next thing I know they are sending out two mechanics with an air tank. They looked at the tire and observed the same thing... it was a bit more than just low... They added air then checked the tire to make sure there wasn't a screw or some other problem with the tire. Nothing found. I also checked and didn't see anything...

I thought I would share in case you ever run into the same situation... the team at WVFC maintenance was a real help.

Flying with a V-22

I had the most exciting morning today flying with this guy. Made two landings in a way to avoid his rotor wash and then a take off while he changed his propellers(?) to be more like a plane.

And to top it off, even got to watch one of the smaller helicopters "sweep" the area to remove debris after the V-22 was gone.

Julia's Perfect Holds

I have to share this picture of Julia's hold entries on the simulator - the first ones she ever did! This is the track displayed on the instructor console. We tried all three entry procedures... direct, parallel and teardrop, and they all came out the same way - the direct and teardrop I could send to Jeppesen to use as perfect examples. The private pilot equivalent would be making three landings to Commercial standards - a normal, crosswind, and no flap - on your very first flight. Honestly, I don't know how she does it!

QOD#25

What section of the AIM discusses the abort plan rule (70% or 71% of Vr by the halfway point)?

Hiller Airshow NOTAMs are out

San Carlos CA [SQL]: June NOTAM #4
Airspace demonstration aircraft 3 nautical mile radius 1500 / below avoidance advised effective from June 19th, 2010 at 02:00 PM PDT (1006192100) - June 19th, 2010 at 03:00 PM PDT (1006192200)

San Carlos CA [SQL]: June NOTAM #3
Airspace demonstration aircraft 1500 / below 3 nautical mile radius avoidance advised effective from June 19th, 2010 at 11:30 AM PDT (1006191830) - June 19th, 2010 at 12:30 PM PDT (1006191930)

San Carlos CA [SQL]: June NOTAM #2
Airspace demonstration aircraft 1500 / below 3 nautical mile radius avoidance advised effective from June 18th, 2010 at 08:15 PM PDT (1006190315) - June 18th, 2010 at 08:45 PM PDT (1006190345)

QOD#24: A Teachable Moment

I'll preface this post by saying "no-one was hurt." So read on and don't worry.

Sanjay got a great example of several things today. Probably the most useful, non-flight 0.3 hobbs time he'll ever pay for. First, the ATIS at PAO was reporting 320 @ 14 knots. A vistual look at the sock from the run-up area indicated more like 020 @ 14. Winds varying from 60 to 80 degrees off the nose. We were in a 152.

During our pre-take-off briefing we talked about the required yoke input during the take-off roll and I asked him what would happen if he took that out at any time during the take-off roll and attempted to steer the plane down the runway with the ailerons neutral. The short answer to this question was, with a 12 to 13 knot crosswind component, if we do that we will crash.

Good. Don't do that.

Then he noted that the motor glider taking off before us did not seem to have any aileron deflection at all. I had a look and had to concur... maybe a small amount, but not what you would expect for the conditions. Well, it doesn't look right to me but I don't fly motor gliders. So we watch the motor glider's take-off roll, watch his slow acceleration, watch him begin to weathervane almost right away, watch his tail swinging to the left and watch his initial attempt to correct the condition by hitting left rudder (and, I think, pulling power to idle at this point to abort the take-off), so now tail swinging left, then nose yawing left, right wing rising, left wing dipping precariously close to the ground, speed slowing but not slowing quickly enough... watch his desperate attempt to re-correct by hitting right rudder so that the plane might at least escape a ground loop, even if it ends up traveling diagonally across the runway.

And for as close as he was to striking that left wingtip on the ground, I have to say that the pilot did an amazing job of getting the plane back under control, ultimately coming to a rest just off the right side of the runway.

I think Sanjay will probably never forget the sight of that. But what could cause a very experieced, well-respected pilot flying his own airplane, which he has owned for years and with which he is very familiar, to fail to correct for a 12 to 13 knot crosswind? It is virtually inconceivable that he would have simply forgotten. I don't have the answer, but I have some ideas and in the interest of learning from the woes of others rather than having to experience them ourselves, let's see how many possible causes you guys can come up with. That's your Question of the Day for today. Before posting any reply, please remember that this is an experienced pilot who deserves our respect and that the only point of our conjecturing is to learn from a realistic scenario, and not to criticize. With that in mind, what could cause such a thing to happen?

Magneto Check - RPM Drop

A quesiton came up about what actually causes the RPMs to drop when the magneto check is performed. What actually is happening with the engine that causes the performance degradation such that the RPMs drop? I am curious how others would explain this. Would you please post your comments here?

Thanks...Herb

You think your Cessna can be sensitive during landing?

A Question

Here's a question that came up during our post-flight talk this morning: What are some benefits and drawbacks to performing touch-and-goes as opposed to complete landings resulting in turning off onto the parallel/taxiway?

QOD#23 Picture

This prog chart helped me to think about QOD#23.

Thank you!

... to my wonderful students for the beautiful flowers to brighten up my sickroom. Aren't they pretty? You guys are the best!

Patti

QOD#23

QOD #23: An area is outlined in green on a prog chart. There are no precipitation symbols indicated in this area, and it is notated "NP". Explain.

Question 22 goes to Eric. Current standings:

Herb 10+
Faria 5
Luke 2
Julia 2
Eric 1

QOD#22

QOD #22: What does the "O" in AROW stand for? What is the FAR that establishes that requirement?

Question 21 goes to Herb. Current standings:

Herb 10+
Faria 5
Luke 2
Julia 2

QOD#21

QOD #21:
When practicing engine failure procedures in the pattern (short approach), sometimes 200 feet + 200 feet = more than 400 feet. How is that possible?

Question 20 goes to Julia. Current standings:

Herb 10
Faria 5
Luke 2
Julia 2

QOD#20

Yay! Question 19 finally got an answer and the final point goes to Julia.

QOD 20: What is the Summer Solstice and what are one or two reasons why pilots care about it?

Herb 10
Faria 5
Luke 2
Julia 1

Congratulations Herb!!!

Congratulations to Herb on a great first solo flight this morning!

I didn't have my camera with me so the photos are from the phone - a bit faded.

Ever feel like you need LOTS of right rudder to land???

Watch this - you'll be surprised when you finally see where the runway is.