Highs and Lows (and more Highs)

I showed up almost 2 hours prior to my flight. Aside from the excitement of flying, I wanted to be absolutely sure that I had enough time to do a proper walk around, log check, weight and balance, weather brief, and still leave time to actually sit in the cockpit for 15 minutes and familiarize myself.

I grabbed the full checklist for CFIFA and after the walk around was completed plopped myself into the cockpit. I went through all of the checklist 4-5 times. Making sure I understood how each of the flows went, where every single switch, knob, dial, and gauge was - and what everything actually did. The last thing in the world I wanted was to be overwhelmed by everything again today.

The flight today was with CFI and the weight and balance book listed him at 205 lbs. Add that to myself weighing in at 177 lbs plus 114 lbs of fuel (19 gallons) and the result is a gross weight and center of gravity that is literally closing in on the last 10% of the recommended flight envelope for the tiny DA20-C1. On the way out to the aircraft he quizzed me on the journey log, fuel, weight, oil, and weather. He seemed satisfied with all the answers he was provided.

I watched closely how he set up his headset, clipboard, and other gear before hopping into the aircraft. It was obvious from the previous flight that you must have a method for doing this otherwise you end up all twisted and turned. After climbing in I stowed my map, leather writing book, checklist, and clipboard to my left - sort of wedged between my body and the side of the cockpit. I took out the keys and put them on the seat between my legs. We closed the canopy immediately and I can't begin to tell you how cramped it was.

He had me run through he checklists myself and I asked a lot of questions. When we got to the part where we start the engines I flipped on the primer, stepped on the brakes, moved the throttle to full and counted to 10 (cold start) then back to about 1/4, opened the window and yelled "CLEAR" then went to turn the ignition and immediately noticed there wasn't anything to turn. "Oh shit the key!" I said. I reached between my legs but could not find it. I wiggled around, unable to feel them anywhere. We had to flip off the throttle and primer and I still couldn't find it. It was nowhere to be found. I had to flip off my seat belt, open the canopy, and stand up to find it (right under my butt). Then we started the whole thing over again. Note to self - don't put the keys in the seat!! As a side note - I later mentioned this to my friend "IFR" who told me his trick was to hang the key on the knob which sets the attitude indicator rather than sticking it into the ignition just as an extra precaution. I jotted that one down as another lesson learned.

I was all over the place on the way off to taxiway Alpha. The aircraft can run away from you pretty quickly if you aren't all over that throttle, and my inexperience led me to some serious over steering action. We did manage to make it to the end of the apron without damaging anything or anyone. I was excited when he asked me to make the call to ground. He told me exactly what to say but I decided I'd just say what worked for me. Luckily I recalled information Echo was current. "Ground, good morning - diamond Charlie Foxtrox India Foxtrot at the club with Echo for taxi to the active - destination practice area". "Diamond CFIF Springbank ground, Runway 16 taxi via Alpha cross runway 7/25. Squawk 1052 altimeter 2991". I saw CFI motioning to key his mike and really wanted to prove I could handle the radios so I beat him to it with a splendid and calm response "Taxi 16 via alpha, cross 25, squawk 1052 Foxtrot India Foxtrot". It did feel somewhat natural to say this after making thousands of transmissions on the Vatsim network. As I headed down the taxi way, I was literally all over the place. He showed me how to set my ailerons and elevator for a taxi with a quarter tailwind to which I replied "ya - dive away" which I had learned again from my friend "IFR".

As we pulled up to the runup area there were two skyhawks doing their checks and a biplane taking off (can't remember what type it was). I asked if he'd take control to pull up next to the others and he said "no way - you do it". With some guidance from him I managed to pull up nice and close to the highwing (we're a low wing) without damaging anything. We went through the checklists again when something very "funny" happened. One of the checks during this phase is the ammeter. I2 had flipped the lights all on and off while watching for fluctuations as the load increased. CFI told me he likes to flip the generator off and on. He showed me how he did it by flipping the left switch off and then back on again then asked me to do it. I flipped the generator off and on without any load issues. Then went to flip the right side off and on. Ooops - there's another good lesson. You can't flip the master off. As soon as the aircraft electrical systems starting powering down I flipped it back on again naturally. Whoops - another good lesson. That's bad because you can spike the radios. After a short delay to set the radios again on the GNS430 (it totally rebooted) we taxied out to runway 16.

CFI called tower and told him we needed a short delay. Tower told us to hold short for landing traffic that was just turning base. CFI acknowledged and I could immediately tell he was a bit frustrated. "I did say short delay didn't I?". I laughed and decided not to try and tell him how I perceived the event due to my "experience" as a virtual air traffic controller. We took the runway and he told me - "your control on takeoff. Go full throttle, keep it on the centerline and rotate at 55 knots. Will you need any rudder to keep it straight?". "Yes, I'll need some right rudder for sure". I advanced the throttles slowly... too slowly because he quickly told me "All the way - all the way". As soon as the engines spooled up we took off down the runway - immediately turning LEFT. "Right Rudder! Right Rudder!" he yelled at me. I applied some right rudder but it appeared to make no impact. "Right Rudder! Right Rudder!". OK - so I needed to go harder on it. I pushed pretty hard and naturally we were now zig zagging across the centerline to the right. I eased up and again we went left prompting him again to yell "Right Rudder! Right Rudder!" At about this time we were somewhat near the middle and he said "Ok rotate smoothly". I pulled back on the stick gently and nothing. I pulled a bit more and still nothing. CFI again prompted me "Pull back harder" so I yanked it back - the aircraft rotated and immediately took off into the sky. I continued the rotation until I couldn't see the runway, the horizon, or anything in fact except for the clouds in the sky. This didn't feel right so I eased the nose down again. CFI pulled back on the stick and said something about "Nose up attitude! More Nose up!" followed again by "Right Rudder! Right Rudder". Soon after he put up the flaps and told me to hold 75 knots. I'll admit I was somewhat lost wondering if I actually had just taken off and then realized that I had - and it sucked.

CFI didn't seem the least bit perturbed. He asked me to trim out and pointed to traffic at our 2 O'clock which I had not even thought about looking for. A second later the tower pointed out the traffic to us and I quickly keyed the mike and replied "Got the traffic at 2 oclock high, foxtrot india foxtrot". ATC asked us to follow wide behind him and turn on course "not above 6500" to which I replied "Follow behind the traffic and on course at or below six point five, fox india fox". The radio work still flabbergasted me. I probably need to drop the American "at or above/below" and use the Canadian phraseology - but that will be really tough for me to do after 10 years (and thousands of hours) of virtual ATC/flying with FAA phraseology.

Once on course I settled in quickly. I was relaxed within minutes, setting the trim as required and started using flexes in my finger muscles to make adjustments to the aircraft rather than the last flight's fist and arm motion. Once at the practice area we did a lot of exercises with straight and level, turns, climbs, and descents. He was constantly asking me to take my hands off the controls to show how well I trimmed, and also asked me constantly where we would land if glided from our present position. I have not read anything about gliding but do remember something about seeing stuff in the middle of your windshield is good - top is bad, bottom you will overfly - so I went with that.

After a while he added in throttle control to my duties and I found it VERY difficult to mess with the throttle. Since it was completely new it required a lot of my attention. We moved from that into turning climbs, turning descents, descents at specific speeds, and turning descents at specific speeds. I think I did pretty well at controlling the speeds, but I did NOT do a good job of holding my altitude while turning. CFI spent a lot of time simply tapping his finger on the altimeter without saying anything. This was surely something I was going to have to work on. At some point towards the end of the lesson it started to get pretty bumpy and I again performed a move that left us in a negative g force situation. I immediately felt ill again and told CFI who blasted the air vent on me and said we'd head back.

He made the radio calls on the way back and I was able to spot all of the traffic. We were given an eastern heading and told to follow traffic at our 2 that was on base. I turned us final nicely and of course lost all site of the traffic. CFI set the flaps, power, and asked me to maintain a descent at 60 knots. I held it perfectly while keeping us aligned with the runway. He ran through the landing checklist while I focused on the descent speed. Again he asked "if we keep descending at this speed where will we land?". "Middle of the runway I replied". "Ok let's hold it and see". I held it all the way in and as we crossed over the threshold he told me "I'll help you out a little with the rudder and throttle on the landing". What? I'm landing? Umm.. Ok I've done this thousands of times in the simulator so let's not think to much and just do. As we got a few feet from the runway he cut the power and asked me to pull the nose up a bit. I gently raised the nose and we touched down literally smooth as glass! Though I was quite pleased with myself the euphoria was quickly interrupted by him again loudly saying "Right Rudder! Right Rudder!". We exited the runway, taxied past the hold short line and came to a stop for the checklist.

It was then that it really hit me. I landed the plane! I landed the plane! Oh my god I landed the plane! I was on cloud nine! CFI asked me to call ground for taxi and I felt so cool as I started my transmission "Ground, CFIF on Delta for ..." this is when my excitement overcame me and my voice cracked like the adolescent kid from The Simpson's. "tHe fLyiNg clUB". Ground must have laughed at that point - keyed his mike and said "FIF taxi to the club via Alpha". I composed myself and keyed the mike for my response "Foxtrot iNDiA foxTrot". Same thing again. CFI chuckled and I said "sorry - I'm a bit excited". He didn't seem to mind.

After shutting down on the apron he explained to me how I need to tow the aircraft back into its parking position. This was fairly simple to do but I learned two lessons. First - if you don't pay attention while doing this the wingspan can easily hit the fence (it didn't but I had about 8 inches of clearance and didn't notice until I was 8 inches from it). Second - you need to center it relative to the tie downs or you are going to be retying a bunch of knots!

On the way back to the office I replayed the flight and thought about what I did right and wrong. I really needed to get better with the throttle, I really needed to pay more attention to my attitude while turning so that I didn't deviate from my altitude, and I really needed to have a smoother transition from level flight to descent.

My head was spinning a bit for a few hours after the flight. I started to wonder if perhaps I suffered from some sort of inner ear imbalance that could cause vertigo due to turbulence, altitude changes, or pressure. Looking this stuff up on the Internet only made me worry more. I have a flight booked for tomorrow morning and I'm scared as hell that either I'll have some sort of airsickness or that some medical condition will cause me to fail my medical (which is in fact scheduled for next week).

Only time will tell.

Did I mention I landed an airplane?

I2: The Return

I was really excited that I'd be flying with I2 again. During the discovery flight she seemed so calm, cool, collected, and in control. Her voice prompts were quiet and not obtrusive.

During the work day I couldn't stop thinking about the flight. At one point I logged into the online booking system just to make sure nothing had changed. Good thing because I was listed with I2 but without an aircraft! That was weird. After some investigation it looked as if CFIFA didn't have its maintenance from the day before completed, so now it was booked into the shop for the rest of the day. I'll admit it now - I totally freaked out! After a reassuring conversation with my friend (who I'll call IFR since he just got that rating) I put a call out to dispatch to find out what was up. Turns out the system automatically bumped me and the maintenance guys didn't think to check. As luck would have it there was another diamond available - CGFFC. Phew.

I showed up early enough to get all the pre flight items done. Journey Log, walk around (by myself), fuel, oil, and weight & balance. When I2 was ready to go we did a quick brief about what we'd be doing that day and headed for the aircraft. We went through the checklists together but she did pretty much everything. Once airborne she handed the controls to me and we headed for the practice area. Ghost Lake and the dam were instantly recognizable - as were the Petro Canada station, and Gas Plant. Still could not see those power lines.

Again - I'll admit that I was freaking out. I had a lot of trouble figuring out where everything was and my eyes and brain were totally overloaded. When I took control of the aircraft I had the full death grip going and it took me a long time to settle down. She handled the power and most of the radio work, I just worked the stick. Once I was finally settled down we worked on flying straight and level, turns, climbs, and descents. She kept reminding me to trim out the aircraft. Then when flying straight and level she would sometimes mess with the trim and make me react or correct. The flight was bumpy - really bumpy. Now remember that I have next to zero experience flying in a small plane - so perhaps really bumpy was actually light turbulence - I don't really know. It didn't bother me all that much until we started doing power off descents...

For this exercise I2 would pull the throttle back to idle and then tell me to hold the attitude until we hit a certain airspeed, then descend to X altitude. One of these times just as I was about to push down on the stick we got a big bump that threw us into a nose up attitude (a bit) as I was already pushing down we went what I can only describe as "weightless" for a brief second or two. I didn't feel so good a lot after this. Pretty much the entire remainder of the flight I felt as if I had been drinking the night before. Not quite ill enough to start telling the instructor to dawn a plastic body suit, but enough for me to start worrying what would happen if I started to feel worse.

As we headed back I2 had me maintain an altitude and follow highway 1A through Cochrane. We were setup for a 45 to join the final for runway 16 when we got changed from outer to inner tower's frequency. The first thing we heard when we checked in was the tower controller yelling at someone who was told to extend downwind but was instead turning base. It was at that point the tower controller said "here's why" and pointed us out as traffic. The response on the frequency after that was a different voice - obviously the instructor. I spotted the aircraft immediately as well as the three who were in the pattern behind him. We followed another aircraft in on final (though I lost the traffic after a while and couldn't even see him on the runway) and about a mile out I2 took control and set it down so gently you could barely tell we were on the ground.

My taxi skills are horrible. I was all over the taxiway. I had no clue how to work the throttles properly during taxi. If I drove like this in my car I'd get pulled over within seconds, and within moments I'd have been asked either to walk a straight line, touch my finger to my nose, or to blow into a small apparatus with an LED readout on it.

The debrief was very positive. I had excellent radio awareness, turned well, understood the use of trim, and my situational awareness improved with the flight. I had to think more about the relationship between power and attitude. I should read up on takeoff and landings as well. After the debrief I had a quick discussion with I2 about how to handle an instructor I might not be interested in working with due to Chemistry - and she told me it happens all the time and just to change the booking.

Three things I wanted to mention that stuck in my brain:

I2 asked a few times if I was "having fun". She's of the opinion that this entire learning experience should be fun for everyone, since we're doing something we love to do. Great attitude in my opinion.

I2 kept talking the entire flight about "the picture". She asked me to memorize what it looks like when in cruise, descent, and climb attitude so that I could simply look at the window at "the picture" and know that I'm doing it right.

So all in all, the flight was fun but I'm upset about two things. First of all, my performance wasn't all that great. I was also REALLY freaking out for much of the flight. The Diamond felt so foreign to me. I need to show up for my next flight and just sit in that cockpit for 20 minutes to familiarize myself with the location of everything.

Second - It's two hours later and I still don't feel good. My assumption was that it had something to do with not really eating much this day. I hope I feel better next flight.

Finally - I was unable to snap any photos while flying of the mountains on the western edge of the practice area - but they ARE there and they ARE spectacular.

Virtual CYA226

Five sleeps. Five whole sleeps. Five nights of anticipation waiting for the next bit of training - would I actually make it to the skies this time? The suspense was killing me.

Talk about a case of shpilkes.

Unable to sit around and wait, I just had to find a reason to sit down at the simulator so that I could learn something. There isn't a solid DA20-C1 out there for X-Plane 9 yet, but I do have a nice payware version of a Skyhawk that truth be told - was the aircraft which lit a fire in me to fly GA aircraft in the simulator.

OK - well I could do a flight out of CYBW and follow the power lines out to the practice area. This would at the very least give me an indication of some landmarks and/or elevation to find my way there, and define the boundaries of the practice area. Also would help with some map familiarity.

I plugged in the yoke, fired up X-Plane, selected the C172 Skyhawk, and set myself at CYBW starting at the flying club. After a quick weather briefing I yanked out the charts to make sure I knew my way around the airport and then folded up the VNC. Wait a second! These Canadian charts are WAY different than the American ones. Hmmm... Going to have to do some reading to truly understand this one. At least I can make it out the practice area and poke around.

After jotting down a few questions to be answered by self study I pulled out my checklists for the C172N. OK so .. we can't do a virtual walk around so we'll go with pre engine start, engine start, taxi, and now the runup prior to take off. Following the list and feeling a bit proud of myself (though I'm not familiar with the C172 checklist, the C172 panel, or to be honest ANY checklist or panel - so this is taking a long time) I move down quickly: Brakes Set, Doors closed and locked, Controls free, instruments set, both tanks selected, mixture lean, trim at takeoff, bump the RPMs up to 1700 and set the mixture and magnetos.. OK the drop off is not too high, and now the carb heat. The carb heat.... hmmm the... the.... the.... Oh my goodness where in the world is the carb heat? Hmmm.. what do you know - this isn't a C172N after all it is a C172S and it comes with a fancy fuel injected engine. You learn something new every day.

After departing runway 16 to the NW I started my search for the power lines. Hmm nothing doing. I wondered if I needed to be closer to the ground but wanted to stay at a more realistic altitude (6500). I took a long look at the Rivers, Lakes, Roads, and elevation. There are some easy to identify lakes on the VNC that correspond well to the simulator. Sadly missing from X-Plane appear to be the Gas Plant, Dam, and Petro Canada station (huge truck stop). I guess we will have to figure out where these are supposed to be or make friends with a scenery designer quickly!

Once I reached the SE corner of the practice area I planned on flying the border all the way around to get a feel for the terrain. It was flat and full of trees for the most part, with a small river running through the middle of it. I also spotted 2 roads which made it easy to determine the western boundary within a few miles. Turning north now is when I noticed it. OMG - we are right beside the mountains here. These are spectacular on X-Plane, one could only imagine what they look like for real.

After making it back to my starting point on the SE corner over Ghost Lake, I recalled that most GA aircraft check in over the Ghost Lake dam for sequencing to CYBW airspace. Hmmm no dam. Oh well I guess fly a bit further SE and check in over the Gas Plant. Oh ya, that doesn't exist either. I'll have to follow Highway #1 until it meets up with #22 and check in over the Petro Canada Station. Oh ya - not station either. Note to self - must bribe scenery designer for Dam, Gas Plant, and Petro Canada station.

After an extremely uneventful landing on runway 16 I started taxiing back to the club ramp. It was then that I noticed something. The default X-Plane taxiways are completely well.. wrong, just plain wrong. Luckily I don't need a scenery designer for this sort of thing and I already KNOW a guy who is a machine at upgrading X-Plane airports. Will have to give him a shout.

Not sure if the experience was worth it at all. I think tomorrow night I'll spend my free time in the evening reading the FTM and From the Ground Up.

Only 4 more sleeps.

Lesson 2: More Ground?

I was very excited when I arrived at the club. Lesson #2 on the club's syllabus started with the words "Today you will go flying". My grandfather would have written something about me being full of "piss and vinegar" or something along those lines (I never did understand that phrase).

After a short briefing with the CFI we reviewed the aircraft's journey log. A friend of mine from the US (who recently became IFR certified) asked about the Journey log which I assume means it is different in the US - so I'll describe what I know about it:

Each flight must be recorded in the Aircraft Journey Log. The CAR (Canadian Air Regulations) say that the log must always be within 25nm of the aircraft - thus for flights less than 25nm it stays in the club. Each row in the log details the date, point of departure, crew names, and times for takeoff, landing, and airtime. The row also contains the total air time since manufacture, and the ending time on the Hobbs meter. The total flight time must also be recorded. If you did a cross country and landed at 3 airports - each would have its own entry. The right side of the log is where you specify any defects and sign the row with your pilot name and license number.

The front of the log book is where any notable maintenance items are located. We did note that the aircraft had a scheduled engine maintenance coming up and as per the Hobbs meter we were still 16+ hours away from that maintenance. There were some defects which had since been closed: a parking brake and ADF issue.

With that we headed out for the walk around. C-FIFA was waiting patiently for us. This inspection was FAR MORE in depth than the previous one. There appears to be a HUGE difference between I1 and the CFI. We started in the cockpit, flipped on the batteries, and checked the lights, fuses, and flaps. He explained how the ELT works and where the rescue hammer was. I was scratching my head wondering why this wasn't reviewed during the previous lesson with I1. During the walk around - he actually explained to me WHAT I was looking for when checking each of the control surfaces. I was shown how to "reach" the horizontal stabilizer for inspection (I'm short and it's a "T" configuration). Also interesting was the inspection of the wooden propeller and checking the bolts for the flaps and ailerons. Then we got to the "hole".

I explained how during the session with I1 I was told that this hole had something to do with the Pitot Static and I was pretty confused by the answer. Bzzzzzt! The Pitot Static is located "here" under the wing. CFI said "Suck on the hole". I just stood there and replied as honestly as possible "Is this one of those new student pilot jokes?” Again he said "Just suck on it'. So I put my lips on the hole and started to suck. Within a fraction of a second - I could hear a "horn" going off in the cockpit. Stall Horn! Wow - that sure is a simple answer.

Another thing that was unanswered from my previous session was with respect to the fuel injected continental engine. Since it doesn't have a carb - it doesn't have carb heat - but what about the possibility of the air intake getting iced up? The answer again was simple - there is an alternate air intake that can be utilized. Not sure what one is supposed to do in the event that gets iced too. Hopefully you get yourself safely on the ground by then.

It was at this point I learned something that upset me. We were NOT going to be flying today. Rather than look like a fool who had just had his heart crushed, I simply shrugged my shoulders said OK and followed him upstairs to the briefing room. Once we arrived he expanded on the task at hand. Apparently many instructors don't spend "enough" time going through some of the foundations of flying - and some discussion about these concepts now would pay dividends later. For the next 75 minutes we reviewed straight and Level flight, coordinated turns, climbs, and descents. There was much discussion about yaw caused by torque and slipstream and the relationships between power, attitude, and performance. I have to say that I really enjoyed his style of teaching. Very interactive. Any time I didn't grasp a concept we used visual representations to drive the point home.

The briefing room time ended with a review of the various checklists performed at different phases of flight and a discussion on compass errors (Lead/Lag, Accelerate/Decelerate). We headed downstairs to do another Weight and Balance - where I learned that the DA20's reference datum was not the firewall as communicated by I1, but in fact was the leading edge of the wing at the rib root. Ok - that's good to know!


We ended the session by looking at the VNC (VFR Navigational Chart - same as a US sectional) and discussing the various routes to and from the practice area. Finally we did a full weather briefing. I think CFI was a bit confused why I was able to read a METAR and TAF, nor how I knew what SLP was or that cloud altitudes were reported AGL rather than MSL - we didn't get into why I knew it. He did provide a great overview of some other weather items I've never looked at: Icing conditions, turbulence, and winds aloft. Very interesting stuff indeed.

Before shaking hands I asked what my tasks were before the next lesson. He told me to review the Flight Training Manual sections 6-9 (Climbs, Descents, and Turns) and the POH. Then he told me to show up 20 minutes before my next lesson to check the Journey Log, Inspect the aircraft, calculate weight & balance, and check the weather. Heck - I'm going to show up HOURS before my next lesson to make sure when my instructor shows up I'm ready to hit the skies!

Next session is in 5 days with a new instructor. Can't wait.

Lesson 1: Ground Briefing

I arrived at the club promptly at 0755 ready for my lesson at 0800. I'll admit I was a bit sluggish. and my caffeine wasn't kicking in yet. When I arrived home after work and got the kids to bed and ate supper, there were a lot of domestic duties waiting for me. By the time everything was completed and I sat down to review the required materials for the lesson, I was already tired and it was already 1030pm.

The material in the Transport Canada Flight Training Manual (FTM) was interesting, complicated, and somewhat dry. The Basics of flight, Newton's Laws, Bernoulli's principles, Angle of attack, adverse yaw, types of drag - wow this was going to require several readings to fully grasp the concepts.

The instructor (I'll call her "I1") told me we would head up to a briefing room and that there would be lots of talking (by her) today. She wasn't kidding. We reviewed all of the documentation that Patch had provided me with earlier in the week. It took nearly 30 minutes to review it all. Then we headed back downstairs to review the process "before" we go flying. First there was the journey log. I can't recall the specific details of this log (but I will soon) but each aircraft had one of these logs where a pilot indicated details about their flight such as departure and arrival (each leg), time in the air, and any defects noted. Then we grabbed a jerry can and headed out ot the apron.

My first impression of CFIFA (A DA20 C1) was that it looked like a spaceship. I mentioned to I1 that it looked "freaky" and she didn't seem very impressed. We popped the alien like cockpit bubble window open and I got my first peak of the interior. It was small! REAL SMALL! Two tiny seats with a control stick for each pilot. A raised section behind the seats for "cargo". We started the inspection in earnest - aircraft documents, fire extinguisher, ELT, and "make sure the cockpit is actually here" was another mentioned. I had no idea if that was a joke or a lame blow off. We checked the wheels and brake cables for any noticeable problems. Up and down the leading edges making sure the lights were all there, the control surfaces on the trailing edge and their hinges, etc. I can't honestly say that I got the feeling this was a thorough inspection and this will be brought up during my next lesson. I need to be sure that I fully understand WHAT I'm looking for during this inspection.

We checked the fuel - it reminded me of these blue liqueur drinks I used to order by the pitcher while spending summers at Lake of the Woods in Kenora, Ontario. There were three extremely interesting things that I noted during this walk around:

1) The engine actually has what appeared to be a "block heater" that allowed it to be plugged in when it was really cold here in Calgary.

2) The wings were very different than the 172's. They had little stall strips on the leading edges and the wing tips had some sort of curve to them. My brain flashed me a diagram of drag types and something about vortices. I'll have to look that one up and ask about it next time.

3) There didn't appear to be a Pitot Tube on this aircraft. There was a funky little hole about the diameter of my pinky finger (no I didn't stick my finger in it). When asked if I knew what it was I said that I'd have to guess. "Pitot Tube?" Nope. "Deicing boot?" Nope. "RS232 communications port?" No (the joke was lost on I1). To be honest I didn't really get what I'd consider to be a great answer. I1 said something about it being an instrument that supplied air pressure information for the Altimeter, VSI, and Airspeed indicator. Hmmm... more questions for the next instructor and some reading required by myself.

After the inspection we did a mock weigh and balance. Thank goodness I read the section on Center of Gravity twice the previous night. It all seemed to make some sense to me. Calculate all of your weights and multiply by something else and you get another thing. As you can see - I don't grasp it all. What I do know is the end result is knowing what your gross weight is which allows you to determine if you are within the boundaries allowed by the aircraft for flight (or types of flight). Second - you can determine the center of gravity which is defined as inches behind or in front of the "Reference Datum" which is a point usually at the firewall or the spinner. Seems like we had something like 9 inches behind the firewall. I realize now that I should step on a scale so I can properly calculate the weigh and balance next time I fly.

We headed back to a briefing room and reviewed 3 topics: Ancillary controls, attitudes, and taxiing. Ancillary controls consist of Carb Heat, Mixture, and Environmental controls. The Carb heat was a bit confusing at times for me but a diagram of the exhaust manifold made things somewhat clearer. My understanding is that when you divert the exhaust heat to the carb you will get a decrease in RPM as the engine says "hey it's hot in here!". If you have ice the result should be followed by an increase in RPM as the ice gets turned into water and now the engine has to deal with getting rid of it. From my X-Plane icing tests a few months back I recall that the engine also runs rough with the carb heat on - can't remember if it is rough period, or only rough when it has lots of water to deal with.

Mixture was next. The standard Air to Fuel ratio is 14:1. Perhaps it was optimal not standard. It sounded like for the most part that is where we want things to be. If the ratio is decreased or increased it has effects on the engine. We reviewed how to lean the mixture and find the "elbow" on the performance curve. My understanding is that normally you go full rich when taking off or other critical phases of flight - now it appears that we actually lean our mixture for takeoff at the airport here - seeing how we are nearly at 4000 MSL.

Two questions came out of the ancillary review:

1) CFIFA is fuel injected so thus there is no carb and thus no carb heat. The engine has to get air from somewhere - so I assume there is an air intake somewhere. Is there a possibility of ice forming in that intake and if so - how do we identify and clear it?

2) Do we actually lean the engine here on the ground prior to takeoff and other critical flight phases? If so - what phases require us to lean our engine?

Attitudes was next. The only issue I had with this was understanding the actual axis' that was involved with each of the attitude changes. Elevator controls pitch on the lateral. Rudder controls yaw on the vertical or normal. Ailerons control roll on the longitudinal.

The final section had us reviewing taxiing. How the brakes/rudders are activated. Differential braking, et al. Made a lot of sense to me and I doubt I'll have issues with it once I get a feel for the aircraft on the ground thanks to my CH Pro Pedals. The one thing that had me shaking my head a bit was cross wind taxiing. A quarter headwind requires you to taxi with ailerons turned IN to the wind, while a quarter tailwind requires you to taxi with ailerons turned AWAY from the wind. There has to be an easy way to remember this so if anyone reading this has one - please let me know. I asked about elevators during taxi and was told it wasn't required - contrary to what the FTM says.

With that - I booked a number of lessons in the next 3-4 weeks and headed for the office. Tomorrow I am scheduled to hit the skies with the club's Chief Flight Instructor who apparently loves the DA20. My plan is to review the materials from Lesson 1 again and read ahead about Lesson 2. I'll also come armed with questions.

Welcome to the Machine

I've never liked being an outsider.

For my entire life I've managed to easily adapt to different scenarios, people, and organizations through a freakishly god given chameleon like ability. Part of it must be a genetic thing because my mom, dad, and brothers share the same trait. The thing I can't figure out is if this is simply due to a natural desire to be a part of a group, or a fear of being different or alone. In my mind, this can be paralleled to the software world the same way some people might categorize certain functionality as a feature, while others call it a bug.

For a moment I almost had a panic attack. A mere five feet from the door to the club doubt invaded my mind and stomach at the same time. I can't be a pilot. I'm a wannabe. Why would anyone want to train me? What if they don't let me join the club? Did I leave my lights on? I know you are saying to yourselves "I thought you were a chameleon", but hey; just because I'm good at adaptation doesn't mean I can't be a social butterfly while at the same time feeling self doubt on the inside. I realized I had been standing there for close to two minutes when the door opened. A man stepped out, smiled at me, held the door and asked "Going in?. Again -my brain posted an image of a teenaged Tom Cruise saying "Sometimes you just have to say what the [heck]". I smiled, said thanks, and stepped inside. Welcome to the Machine.

While walking up to the dispatch counter at the Flying Club, the first thing I noticed was the buzz. The place was literally buzzing. People behind the desk on computers, the phone, helping people, and filling out forms. Pilots chatting, sitting at the computer checking weather, and filling out forms. People outside the huge windows taxiing in, taxiing out, doing inspections, and filling out forms. Instructors in fancy uniforms talking to people, checking stuff on clipboards, and well - wouldn't you know it - filling out more forms. I suddenly realized two things: This was going to require me to fill out a lot of forms and there was a business opportunity here.

The chief dispatcher whom I had spoken with a few hours earlier was ready for me. I'll call him "Patch". Even with all the action going on around the reception area, Patch took the time to walk me through the entire process. We went over the club policies, the safety procedures, the guidelines, currency requirements, the training syllabus, and my club membership. It goes without saying that I had to fill out a number of forms.

Then the question came up that I had been dreading.. what type of aircraft do you want to train in? Well - I had always thought that when my time came it would be in a Cessna Skyhawk 172 - probably around the same vintage as myself. Yet after some discussion with Patch, we decided that we would try and book time in one of the club's three new Diamond DA-20 C1 Eclipses. After all, I could always change if I didn't like it. Even better, if I'm the type who is ok with adaptation - I could train in both and in the end be checked out for both. Adaptation? My middle name.

Once the forms were filled out I was presented with a bunch of material. Aerodrome chart (or AF/D for FAA pilots), the PPL Training Syllabus, DA-20C1 checklist, C-172N Checklist, Pre Flight inspection routines, T/O briefings, Passenger safety briefing, a document about required aircraft documents (AROWILL), Club safety regulations, club currency regulations, and a radio help sheet. I also picked up a copy of the FTM (Flight Training Manual) issued by Transport Canada, and the ever popular "From the Ground Up" reference guide. I decided not to fork out even more money on the POH for the 172 or DA20 at this time.

I thought I was done at this time, but Patch had other ideas. Again - this was in a room that was full of people all interacting with each other. The other "Patchees" working at the time were constantly asking Patch questions or for help on things. He still turned to me and said "Let's take you on a tour of the club". We toured the dispatch area, apron, maintenance hangar, restaurant (it's licensed!), and headed upstairs. The upper floor consists of some briefing rooms, a certified Transport Canada examination room, a day room, washrooms, a boardroom, a classroom, and a massive lounge area. Ahhh... the Lounge area - leather couches, big screen television, stereo, pool table, foosball (million dollar game for those in the know), a kitchen, and a huge deck that overlooks the club's ramp and paralells runway 16/34. I was amazed how much time he spent telling me about the club, the people, the history, the events, the board, and the staff. It was impressive.

90 minutes later, Patch and I headed back downstairs to the same hurricane of activity. He passed me off to a "patchee" to make some bookings. Tomorrow at 8am for a ground briefing and the following day for 2 hours with an instructor and a DA20 with the registration C-FIFA.

I said thanks to Patch and his patchee and was almost shocked to hear 4-5 people say "Goodbye Ian". I could barely conceal the smile on my face as I walked down the hallway, opened the door, stepped outside, and headed for the parking lot.

A duet with Bono

It's been nearly a year since I took the discovery flight.

Commitments at home (boy #2) and commitments at work (promotion) have left me in a state where even if I wasn't drop dead exhausted, I'd still have no time available for flying.

This reminds me of a few other turning points in my life: moving to a new city, getting married, buying a home, and starting a family. As the roadsigns of life warn you of potential curves or forks in the road ahead it is always easier to say "now isn't convenient" and stay on the path you are currently traveling. If I've learned anything from each of the turns I've made it's that you need to make a leap of faith sometimes. A parallel on this philosophy was made in a movie of my adolescent years "Risky Business" where the lead character says "Sometimes, you just have to say what the [heck]".

I lost my father less than 2 months ago, and I couldn't help but wonder what kind of regrets he had with his life. The time he changed degrees, sold his business before it boomed, opportunities missed or opportunities lost. Since then I've been trying to set priorities in my life. My family and finances are all secure; my professional life is still on a positive trajectory and satisfying; I've got a great group of friends and I am involved in community organizations (giving some back); so this leaves me with my personal satisfaction. Flying is something missing in my life. For 10+ years I've been involved in aviation only in the simulated world. I still love it, but it just isn't the brass ring. I've got to get off my butt, stop making excuses and just do it.

It started by ME picking up the phone. After a short conversation I was "booked" to meet with the chief dispatcher for the club paperwork, an orientation, and everything else I need to get going at the club with my PPL training. Wow - that was easy.

A few hours later I had "one of those moments": the windows were unrolled as I blasted down the highway through the Alberta foothills against a clear blue sky at 120 km/h. Everything was green, the sun was shining, and with the stereo volume cranked I was able to belt out "A Beautiful Day" along with Bono.

The stars were certainly aligned.