A Summer Wasted

Since the departure of I5, things have been extremely frustrating for me.

An attempt to transition to a new instructor has not worked out. Between my schedule (only available weekends), his schedule (just became the chief instructor at the club), and the weather - we had 10 bookings that didn't work out.

I finally got back into the air with a different instructor for some instrument time. It had been nearly 3 full months (05/13 - 08/07) since my last flight. I followed that up with a few flights with the "Chief" that went great.

On one particular evening (08/19) I was excited to show up at the club and see a brand spanking new DA20C1 sitting on the ramp. It had just arrived a few days earlier and still had the original paint job. When I peered inside and was immediately excited to see a glass panel. Turns out the club had replaced FIFA with a G500 model of the Diamond. After my flight that evening I downloaded the manual from Garmin (and a simulator you can run on your computer) and went through the entire manual and learned every feature. All of the "experience" flying fancy cockpits on my flight simulator were definitely advantageous in helping me understand the logic and flows.

The next week (08/26) "Chief" offered to do our flight in the G500 diamond (GYFC). I had come out a few days earlier and spent 90 minutes sitting in her on the ground and going through the various flows - of course I was up to it. There had been a rash of forest fires in BC on the other side of the mountains - and the wind had blown the smoke to our side. Air quality was an issue everywhere in town as you could smell the smoke and it literally blotted out the sun. "Chief" mentioned that he had flown a few times earlier in the day and the night before. There were some places were it was completely clear.

There are two things that I realized shortly after takeoff:

1) Transitioning from steam to glass isn't as simple as I had expected. There was definitely some extra time that my brain needed to process the information. The scan also had changed since gauges such as the Tachometer had been moved. This would take some practice and experience before I truly felt comfortable.

2) If I was in the airplane alone, I would have called for a landing after making my crosswind turn. The visibility was poor and the horizon was extremely obscured.

The first thing "Chief" said was "This is a great example of marginal VFR". It was challenging to keep the aircraft straight and level without the help of the horizon. Adding to that the fact that my brain had to process information differently due to the G500 - the result was a large increase in pilot workload. What normally would have been a simple flight out to the practice area turned out to be extremely challenging indeed.

I made a decision right then and there. I need to schedule some time (before or immediately after I get my PPL) in an IFR certified aircraft with an instructor so that I can practice flying IMC. The experience was both eye opening and a great experience. My friend Keith summed it by saying "it's really a good lesson to see how you could get yourself killed as a VFR-only pilot, all while being in legal weather".

Things were crystal clear out at the practice area. We did precautionary and forced landings then headed back into the smoke enroute to YBW. The ground reference was non existent so it was a nice opportunity to use the G500 to help navigate us back to the airport.

I flew solo on 09/02 and 09/06. Both times I hit the practice area and worked on reviewing what I'd need for my flight test: Steep turns, stalls, slow flight, forced, and precautionary landings.

My totals are now at 65.3 hours (18.5 solo). My family is out of town for the week so I have a full week of flying scheduled - including my second solo cross country for the 11th.

Getting called up from the minors...

Over a burger before my solo XC, my instructor Matt (AKA "I5") informed me that he landed a job and his last day would be May 27. Naturally I was extremely happy for him - while at the same time sad in a selfish way that I'd be losing "my" instructor. Turns out he will be moving up to Red Deer, Alberta (hey I just flew there yesterday) to work for an outfit that flies into clouds and "sprays" them to prevent hail. Weird job but he's pretty excited about making 3x what he makes as an instructor and getting to fly a King Air 90.

Anyhow, since I'll be in Vegas May 16-21 and I5 is booked solid the next week - it looks like my regular Thursday booking this evening May 13th will be my last with him. We flipped through my PTR (pilot training record - or for now my log book) to see how many flights we've done together. To be honest I don't remember how many - but I do know that my first flight with him was September 3, 2008. That day we did (for the first time) slips and forced approaches and he helped me overcome my "lean-a-phobia". Tonight was the 50th entry in my log book. I'm fairly certain that 40 of those flights were with I5. It will be tough to see him go but this is how things go with those instructors who are desperately looking to move up the food chain.

The good news is that before the flight he said he wanted to review "what was left" for me. He said that this evening we would focus on forced approaches, stalls, and slow flight since those have traditionally been my weaker areas. Then he said that "regardless of how I perform" he would recommend me for my "mock flight test" which identifies areas you need to improve upon - solo. After that and 1-3 flights solo to work on whatever I want I'd get a recommendation for my flight test. Guess I was closer than I thought. Although the "Syllabus" at the club says you need to go on 2 solo cross countries, transport Canada only requires you to fly 5 hours of solo cross country time which includes a flight of more than 150nm with 2 full stops at an airport other than the departure or arrival airport. I've already got that under my belt. I also meet all of the other "minimum hours" criteria with the exception of instruments which still require another 1.2 hours. I guess I was closer than I thought.

On to the flight. It was hot, sunny, and windy today. Perfect weather for crazy thermal bumps in the foothills of the Rockies (I'm convinced now that in terms of winds and bumps - Calgary is the WORST place to fly in the world, but hey! The scenery is worth it). At about 4pm some TCUs and a broken layer formed. It rained for about 30 minutes and then the clouds went from broken (ish) to scattered (ish) yet still kept the sun in check. The temps cooled back down to about 7C and the winds at the surface and aloft were light and variable - perfect conditions for a lovely evening flight.

We decided to head to the south this time because I had only been down there once and it was under the hood. He sat quietly and just let me fly, communicate, and navigate. I somehow figured out the landmarks for all of the terrain and managed to stay away from the "soaring" area that was active. We continued south - chatting, flying, navigating, and confirming our location. Before we knew it we were WAY south and then headed east. We circled a few areas to confirm our position and ended up near High River, Alberta.

At this point I5 asked "do you want to land at High River?". "yep - let's go for it". I pulled out the CFS and we made everything work. I landed on a runway that was going completely uphill (or so it seemed to a newbie like me). We went to the ramp and got out. The airport was deserted - of people. We checked out a dozen aircraft sitting on the ramp including one super cool crop duster with a massive rotary engine. It looked as if it had a tiny prop below the body. My assumption is that it worked like a Ram Air Turbine except that it provided hydraulic power for the stuff the farmer is spraying.

We ended up hanging out there so long that it was soon getting dark. I5 talked about the reciprocal route back until I mentioned "Why not just head north along the highway and go through the city. He quickly countered with "we can't do a city tour without prior authorization from terminal". Obviously he forgot that I carry by blackberry with me. I still had the number to Calgary terminal (from my last city tour).

Five minutes later we were rolling on runway 06 (headed up hill) and shortly followed Highway 2 towards Calgary. Downtown was AMAZING at dusk. In fact it was FAR easier to see landmarks in the dusk than during the day. We continued over the city and headed back for home base. Tower had to keep us up at 5500 (1500AGL) for a straight in (landing west and not his airspace) so I got to perform a great forward slip almost down to the threshold.

After taxiing back I5 told me that may have been the best flight he's had in over a year with a student. He mentioned that it reminded him why he likes to fly.

After we completed the paperwork I took I5 for a beer at a local pub and bought him a steak sandwich to boot ;)

Solo Cross Country

The stars fell into alignment today and I finally had a chance to fly my first solo Cross Country. I honestly can not remember the last time I flew solo. I'm not even sure it was in 2010 (I just looked and it was January 2010).

Since the dual XC back at the start of April I've managed to get an hour of sim time in to do partial panel work, and two dual flights with I5.

I literally had the day off so took advantage of it. I was at the club by 1030 and after Q&A with I5 I started on the planning. The planning took a long time. A really really really long time. Either it is a LOT of work, I'm terribly slow at it, or a sad combination of both.

For a while I thought the flight gods were conspiring against me. The diamond (yes "the" - FIFA is no more and now GMTZ is out for a few weeks with a cracked canopy) was late getting out of maintenance (a 50 hour). Then when it finally did there were guys doing some sort of work to the hangar doors which couldn't be opened.

Ok - cut to the chase. I flew the XC and things went great. I knew where I was, the planning all came together, had no issues with procedures (US equivalent of Class C, Class B transition, FSS "controlled" airport, and an uncontrolled airport), had the aircraft under control and above all managed to keep everything organized. The final hit on the Hobbs time was 3.0 hours. The bastards forecast the winds aloft as 9900 but they were full of it! It was gusty up there and things were made more fun by the "summer bumps". It wasn't like the last flight where I was ready to puke, In fact I didn't feel the bumps at all - maybe I was so concerned with keeping my heading and altitude. Damn those ridiculous gyroscopes! Can't they just keep in line with the compass!

A few key highlights:

- Using only 2000 feet to land and roll out at CYQF. I came in high and fast and forgot about to anticipate the extra float with 160 lbs missing from the aircraft. (Oh - I did soft field landing procedure and just let her roll until I exited at about 2000 feet).

- Getting a bit lost on the second leg but verifying my location and proving it over and over by using a combination of water, highways, towers, and a gas plant.

- Nailing the uncontrolled field procedure (cross midfield at 1500' to check the windsock, sweet procedure turn to join midfield downwind).

- Cross wind landing at CEN3.

- Holding my own in Class B airspace with a busy departure controller speaking with heavies and me.

- Getting a super cool "direct the tower and a midfield downwind" with weird altitude and speed restrictions to help a REALLY busy tower controller get his sequencing right.

- Holding a great approach speed and angle so that I could flare where I wanted to for a somewhat controlled touchdown. Again making the taxiway 2000' down the runway with the nose wheel still somewhat off the ground for most of it.

- Parking on the ramp at CEN3 and getting out to stretch - remembering Keith Smith's blog from his first solo XC about "trying to look as cool as possible".

This was all good except there was NO ONE at the airport (tiny field). The problem with this was that I had to pee pretty badly after downing over a liter of water for the first two legs. Having been unable to figure it out and seeing no signs of life I just walked to the grass and whipped it out to drain. Of course this was immediately followed by a lady coming out of some building (which I was sure was condemned) taking a look at me from a few thousand feet away (obvious what I was doing) and then just continuing on with her business. I stopped, shook, zipped, and ran back to the safety of C-GFFC.


At this point - all I can really think about is that the flight truly was a climax of all the skills I have learned to date in my flight training. I felt comfortable making every decision that was made today - even the ones that weren't entirely obvious and required some analytical skills, risk assessment, and above all common sense.

Tomorrow night I5 and I are taking a Skyhawk out for some instrument work and "familiarity" with the 172.

FIFA

Flying weather has been brutal out here. In fact it is SNOWING here right now. This has caused many planned flights to be scrapped. Such is the life. On the other hand the days are long enough now to fly in the evenings.

After a week or so of thinking about the solo cross country flight I realized that while the experience of the cross country was excellent - the experience I had with the instructor (not my usual) was anything but excellent. It was really a discussion I had with my friend Keith that helped me understand this, and it was validated by I5 the next time we flew.

I've been working on the instrument portion of the syllabus - partly due to the weather and also partly due to the requirement of flying every 14 days or I lose my solo currency. So If I'm flying with my instructor it may as well take care of the instrument AND my currency. So far it has gone very well. X-Plane has turned out to be very good for simulating some of the failures and practice in standard rate turns. On Mr. Smith's suggestion I will in fact be taking a flight in one of our IFR rated aircraft the next time we have a booking that is canceled due to IMC - so that I can experience it for real.

The other day we planned on some instrument work but it was far too windy and bumpy. We also wanted to stay close to the field due to TCUs in bound. We planned on flying the pattern but when we called ground up were told they already had too many planes in the circuit. A quick phone call to Calgary Terminal and we were issued a squawk code for a city tour.

This was monumental for me because I had always wanted to fly over the city but had never had the chance. It was well worth the wait. When we checked in with the approach controller he gave me "maintain 5000, oh you said you were at 5500 umm you can have 5 or 5500 if you want, if it is a problem I'll let you know". I took advantage by responding with "OK, we'll take a block between five and fifty five hundred". I5 loved that.

We were essentially able to do whatever we wanted as long as we stayed west and south of the international airport (which is conveniently in the NE corner of the city. I followed the rivers - identified shopping centers, major streets, our reservoir, interchanges, the LRT, major parks, even stores like IKEA were easily spotted from the air. Circling back I did the old "fly over your house" thing but didn't do any buzzing of course. It was a bit weird because there are two communications towers near my home and I was quite concerned with them.

Following this I flew to my brother in laws house. Under average traffic conditions this drive would normally take 40-45 minutes. I think I made it there in about 5. The final fun as flying over downtown. It was super cool and something I really want to do again.

I left the airport at about 510pm that day. It was pretty busy in the club when I came in and when I left. There were a number of guys who had their solo cross country's canceled and were trying to get signed out to fly in the circuit. The next morning while taking out the garbage my neighbor came running over and said "thank god you are all right". The look on my face apparently said "What the heck are you talking about?". She told me about a crash at the airport the following evening and she knew I had been flying.

I ran inside and googled to find out that a student pilot flying solo had crashed just off the runway. Apparently they were doing stop and go's in a diamond and on one of the go's lost control, clipped a wing, went inverted and crashed in a field a few hundred feet west of the runway. The last report I had said the pilot was in critical condition but improving. It felt weird to hear that an accident had happened when I was there - hey it could have even been me in there.

When I learned it was a diamond, I found a photo of the wreckage and could easily make out the callsign "C-FIFA" on the tail of the aircraft. I stopped to think about how much of a connection I felt with the aircraft themselves. I knew small things about each of them that made them unique. Then things got a bit weirder....

Later in the day I googled "Springbank accident" and found a thread at AVCanada discussing the incident. At first they didn't know much then as details emerged they were posting. Soon they discovered that the callsign was C-FIFA and the aircraft was a DA20C1 purchased from Diamond 3 years earlier. A few posts down someone said that they had visited CYBW in September and took a few photos of C-FIFA. I actually felt some joy in my heart as I looked at the photo of FIFA taxiing along. Then I did a double take. OMFG! That is ME IN THE COCKPIT.

Total weirdness. To make a long story short I sent an email to the author asking if he would provide digital proofs of the photo so I could hang it on my wall with my others (first flight, first solo, cross country, and a few others). I mentioned this to a friend of mine (BP) and we pondered if it was weird to hang a photo of myself in an aircraft that no longer existed and he came up with a gem about "remembering the lesson to be learned every time I see it". This was good advice - providing we learn what the issue was.

EDIT: The pilot made a full recovery and plans to fly again once he gets medical clearance. The photographer sent me original digital copies of the photo and it now hangs proudly on the wall of my office.

Dual Cross Country

It had been over 2 months since my last flight, but with the family out of town for Good Friday I just had to take advantage and get some air time. Between my schedule, I5's schedule, and the weather we haven't been able to book a time for the XC. We had two false starts but today I won't let anything (except for a snag, defect, or weather) stop me. I5 isn't available but I4 has gratefully offered to work the XC with me.

The route for today is Springbank (CYBW), Red Deer (CYQF), Three Hills (CEN3) and back to Springbank. I can't even begin to explain how many hours it took me to plan this flight. I have no idea how one is supposed to plan these in fewer than 45 minutes for a flight test!

With all of the planning, filing, briefing, inspecting, and signing behind us we actually moved on to my favorite part - the flying. Departing to the south I was expecting a right hand turn to downwind and then on course but instead received a left turn on course from tower. We found our initial set heading point that I had become more familiar with during the past few flights with I5 and started completing our ground speed and enroute checks.

It was windy and it was bumpy. I mean really windy and really bumpy. About 15 minutes into this flight I could have easily stuck my head out the window and expunged my breakfast. Lucky for us my head wouldn't fit out of the 8" x 4" windows installed in the Diamond - and there was no way I was cracking the canopy. I decided that redirecting the air would be the course of action and kept my head in the game. It was definitely a struggle to keep things straight and level.

We came up on my descent point just past the prison in Bowden and before I knew it we were in the descent and calling Red Deer Radio (FSS). We were told runway 16 was preferred and that another aircraft was on downwind. We spotted both, entered the downwind and touched down. We taxied over to the run-up bay and shut down for some air and a few minutes to prepare for the next leg. It was great to be safe on the ground somewhere other than CYBW!

The next two legs were somewhat uneventful. The turbulence and winds didn't get any better, resulting in a rough circuit and crosswind landing at Three Hills. The flight back didn't get much better as the instructions I received from Calgary terminal were not only different from what I had expected, but also counter-intuitive (from my perspective).

We put GMTZ back on the ground safely and after 2.8 hours of flight time I realized this had been my longest time spent in an aircraft. Actually, I can't remember the flight time when I did my Lincoln Park (N07) - Andover (K12N) - Beltzville (14N) - Butter Valley (7N8) - Lincoln Park flight; but that flight was split between the right and back seat - and I didn't really have a clue what was going on.

The debrief was short and sweet - I4 said most of the issues he saw were a result of the conditions we were flying in and the rust on my "wings". He said it was a great job based on the time I had taken off and had no worries about my ability to go on a solo XC safely.

I wanted to jump up and down screaming "Yahoo!" but then realized that I still was not feeling well. This continued during the drive home (I almost had to pull over) and well into the evening, even after I had rested, fed, and re-hydrated. I shot I4 an email telling him to scrap my flight for the next day. I just knew I wasn't going to be up to it. I guess the Solo XC was going to have to wait for at least another week... or so I thought....

Sundre

I jumped out of bed at 6:00 AM ready to take on the day. This was the day that I would finally leave the confines of 25nm from home base and head on my first cross country. As I darted downstairs to get the coffee on I realized that things might not turn out as expected. The weather did not look good out the window and after checking the weather from NavCan I was certain this would be canceled. Being the eager glass is half full (please please be half full) person I am, I headed off for the airport. I5 told me right off the bat that we would not be making the cross country today. The weather was reporting freezing fog and mist at Red Deer - hardly a safe scenario for flying. The weather was good in the vicinity of YBW (and improving) so we decided to head up highway 22 and work on diversions.

We followed our planned route to Lockend Lake and then it happened; I5 told me that the ceiling had come down and we would need to divert with a limited altitude (can't remember what it was). He suggested Sundre, Alberta. My workload went off the chart (as always the first time you do something) and I focused on flying a little rectangular pattern while I worked out the details. I remembered what was drummed into me - "Triple D, TAF G" which meant "Draw, Distance, Direction, Time, Altitude, Fuel, and Gyro". I planned to follow two highways that would be nearly a direct course. There was even a Gas Plant to help me verify I was on course.

Enroute I pulled out the CFS to review the information about Sundre. After reviewing it and jotting down the runways and frequencies I decided to cross midfield at 500' above circuit and check the windsock. I had a lot of trouble finding the actual airport. Why in the world was it so hard to find a chunk of pavement in the middle of endless trees and snow? It would of course have been easier if I5 hadn't "failed" the GPS but I suppose this is one of those things where you have to learn the hard way. After crossing midfield I descended on the upwind side and joined a left downwind midfield.

It wasn't until I turned final that I started realize there was something I had missed:

1) The CFS said "No Winter Maintenance"

2) I couldn't find the field because it fit in perfectly with the other 5,000,000 acres of snow, trees, more snow, and more trees with snow.

3) The runway was white during the cross over.

Yes - the runway was not plowed and in fact was complete packed snow and ice. No matter - I still managed a lovely touch and go. Our 10 second visit to Sundre was one I will never forget.

After getting back on the ground, I realized that this would have been an excellent photo opportunity. Here's an aerial shot of Sundre covered in snow (not taken by me) that I found on the internet.

Lesson learned: Read everything in the CFS. Take some time on the ground to review information about potential stops along the way in case you need to divert or make a pit stop. Make sure you are familiar with the CFS sections for each airport.

It's all up to you

There are many factors that can affect your confidence level.

The inspection was complete, paperwork was filed, a review of my plans with I5 was behind me, the aircraft was on the ramp, and the solo flight had been signed out - but for some reason I kept coming up with reasons to head back into the club from outside. First I forgot something, then I needed a drink, then I needed a bathroom, then a quick question - what in the world was happening to me? I climbed into the aircraft to sit down and think about it. Was I feeling well enough to fly? Did I know how I planned on practicing precautionary landings? Did I know the procedures to get out and back from the area I was going to conduct the exercise? Did I get enough sleep last night? The answer to all was yes and after a few moments of reflection I figured my self doubt was merely due to the fact it has been close to 140 days since the last time I took the skies on my own - with no one else to lean on. Having resolved myself to the fact that it was indeed "all up to me", I made the decision that I had the skill and training required to face the task and was only facing some butterflies. The final call was "Go".

Today I was headed north up highway 22 between Cochrane and Cremona, AB. Lots of nice flat terrain and fields where I could work the exercise. Remembering that I had some trouble identifying landmarks last flight I spent time reviewing the charts in detail and about an hour with Google maps looking around the area at different roads and towns using their map and satellite views. Pretty useful information but of course before I knew it I was trying to zoom in on military installations as if I was some sort of a CIA analyst right out of "The Hunt for Red October". I had the YBW VOR tuned in just for extra help and reviewed the GPS "quick start guide" just in case (the quick start guide is about 30 pages long - I can only imagine the actual manual). I identified as many landmarks as I could enroute - bends in the highway, roads, towers, elevation, and such and felt pretty confident about being able to find my way back. As I got ready to find my place to work the procedure I made a mental note of a few terrain details so that I wouldn't get all discombobulated again.


During our brief I5 and I went through a few scenarios of where I could work in case things got busy out there. This was a good thing because I followed (and pretty much caught up to) a Skyhawk who was headed to the same area. Trying to be proactive, I had tuned to the advisory frequency of 127.6 on Com2 prior to getting release by ATC so that I could hear what was going on and get an advance picture of the area. As it turns out the Skyhawk would be staying west highway 22 and I planned on working east of it and south of the town. After making my broadcast I witnessed what was in my opinion an example of excellent airmanship. Another aircraft was north of me already established in the area. Rather than making me fly from my present position PAST his position to work north of the town, he offered to move north and let me stay south. This blew me away and as a result I made a counter offer to stay south of a smaller town which would give him about 6 miles to work with north/south. This was accepted and appreciated. It really felt good to hear someone so accommodating and felt even better to try and make his day by reciprocating. The only issue was trying to make sure I didn't bust one of the outer rings of the Calgary Terminal airspace. Thank goodness the GPS has the rings depicted to it only took a moment or two to find a few landmarks that became my southern boundary.

While on the subject of airmanship - I also witnessed what I thought was a bit on the "lame side". I know that the frequency I was on covers a fairly wide area and for the most part in the past it has been interesting listening in to what people are doing. At the same time it takes some skill to filter out the blabbery that goes on while still staying alert for anyone who announces your area, or that sounds in someone's voice that sets off your spidey sense screaming "this person has no clue where they are or what they are doing". Anyhow - seems like a few guys were out on a joy flight of some sort and decided that 27.6 would be the equivalent of aviation twitter. "Hey Joe - are you up the air yet?". "Ya Bob I'm here, Bill is with Ted in his plane at about my 6 O'clock where abouts are you at?". "Aww we got going a bit early so we'll just circle over here for ya". "Ya, sure sounds good eh. Hey Bill! It's Joe - are you back there somewhere". I suppose you get the message. This went on pretty much for the entire time I was on the frequency. Now let me just say that while I appreciate the ability to keep things a bit informal from time to time on the CTAF - these guys should have at least had the courtesy of having a second frequency where they could babble all they wanted while at the same time monitoring 27.6. This is in fact exactly what we did during a 2 aircraft group flight I took part in around the Manhattan area in April 2009. Then again - no one bothered to ask them to try a new frequency including myself. This is very typical of Canadians to be honest - sometimes we are simply too polite (and then bitch about it afterwards).

Back to flying - the precautionary went very well. There were two mistakes made that need to be corrected (and are a bit noobish). When I made my first "low pass" to inspect the field and get a grasp on its length I thought to myself "wow, it isn't so easy to identify potential problems with the surface during the low pass - I know I'm a good distance and speed from the field.. hmmm..." It was then that I realized I was making the "low" pass at 1000 AGL when it should have been more like 300-500 AGL. Whoops! That problem was corrected. I decided to make the final approach after looping around, made the radio call, briefed my "passenger", verbally stated where we would touch down and landing type, and verbalized engine shut down. Then I went to full power and best angle for the overshoot. Hmmm - aircraft doesn't sound right and isn't performing right. Let's scan the instruments, OK let's scan the engine, ok let's scan the - whoops! Flaps still in landing configuration. Good thing I was holding 58 knots! At that point I recalled a mental image of I5 showing me Full throttle and when your hand is up there flip the flap to takeoff! Didn't happen again.

Once it was time to head back I circled for a bit while I made sure I knew where I was and where I was going. After figuring the safest way to get on the other side of the highway without conflicting with anyone I levelled at 5500 and made my way back. After jotting down the ATIS I started to figure out where I would make the call to ATC. Hmmm.. where exactly should I make that call? I know that something changed with the floor of the outer rings and now realize that my VNC is out of date. OK - I'll just check in before I get to the outer ring with my distance from the lake. The lake.. the lake.. the lake... hmmm all I need now is Robert Plant to scream "Where is that confounded Lake!". Well thanks to my map reading skills and the landmarks I noted earlier I figured out my position and made my call without sounding like a .. well like a student pilot on his first solo in 140 days!

I was told to proceed direct to Cochrane and join the right downwind for runway 25. Soon after confirming that I realized that I couldn't see the town. I look on the map, I looked out the window, I looked on the map, I looked out the window, I look at the GPS, I looked at the map, and I looked out the window. For the life of me I could not figure out where the town was. Continuing along for a moment or two I realized the best course of action right now was to slow down and tell ATC I couldn't see the town. As I cut the speed back to a "Skyhawk's pace" (lol) the controller had already figured out. "FFC, fly heading 160". "160 for FFC". I learned something else here (aside from being unsure where you are); it is important to recalibrate the DG with the compass when you are level and have a chance to do so - because you don't want to be all flustered doing it while ATC is proving you with a vector. Luckily I'm sort of anal on procedures and had done this during my level off check ;)

The next call I got from ATC was a change to another frequency. When I got to 20.7 and was about to key my microphone I realized that I wasn't exactly sure how to check in. While I certainly assumed this guy new I was on an assigned heading I decided to add it to my check in "Tower, FFC checking in, heading 160 assigned.". He didn't skip a beat - "FFC, proceed direct the tower and join the downwind for runway 25 - altitude at your discretion".

Sidebar: I mentioned this scenario to I5 afterwards. He says that he's asked ATC this in the past and they would prefer if you just checked in - since they are sitting next to each other anyhow. My reply was that this was an assumption that they actually passed on the information and we'd be better off to let them know we're on an assigned heading, unless it was a standard procedure for everyone. Apparently they don't want the frequency to be congested. I agree with that completely - but also think it's probably because most people would check in with a novel rather than "heading 160 assigned". I suppose there might be better phraseology for passing this information to a controller - and well to be honest.. I'm the pilot in command here and I think it is in my best interests to let ATC know this. Also sounds like a good habit to be into (if on an assigned heading that isn't standard) to let the next controller know for times when I'm being passed between facilities rather than just two guys sitting next to each other. Would love to hear any comments people have on this.

Meanwhile back at the ranch: "FFC, proceed direct the tower and join the downwind for runway 25 - altitude at your discretion". It was about 930AM at this point and the sun was in the general direction of the airport - making it impossible to actually spot the tower. I aimed the aircraft towards the tower as per the GPS and continued on. Eventually I did spot the field and confirmed I was headed in the right direction. Once established in the circuit ATC told me I was "#4" and where my traffic was. "Looking for the traffic" was the first call, "still negative traffic" was my second and I think at that point he realized I couldn't see jack to the east. It was truly amazing how blinding that sun was. I had absolutely no clue where the traffic was except for the little "scope in my brain" that drew the picture based on the story tower was telling with each transmission.

Approach was stable and the landing was standard except that without the excess 150+ lbs of I5, the Diamond would prefer to just keep flying rather than land - thus I floated quite a way before finally settling onto the runway.

Getting back to the ramp I realized I wasn't sure where to put the aircraft (I usually ask about this before I go solo). I taxied the entire ramp looking for a place to shut her down before finally settling with the "half assed" spot next to the pumps. The rampee didn't appear fazed when I told him I "only" had half tanks available. My guilt evaporated when back inside the ramp the guy who had the aircraft next asked how much was in the tanks and appeared extremely pleased that it was full - phew. I need to have a better understanding of shut down positions for the aircraft so I don't act like a newbie.

Then again - I am the flightnewbie after all!

I've got flights booked the next 3 weeks - Dual Diversions, Ground Brief, and then the dual cross country. Looks like the "standard" cross country at the CFC is CYBW - Springbank, CYQF - Red Deer, CEN4 - Three Hills, CYBW for a total of about 160nm. I've also received a list of where I can plan to fly my solo cross countries - there are some interesting destinations in there specifically CZPC - Pincher Creek (close to mountains and Glacier National Park in Montana) and CEG4 - Drumheller (in the Alberta Badlands and home of the Royal Tyrell Museum for you Dinosaur fans).

Solo Re-Certification

I don't know if it's a Transport Canada rule or a rule at the flying club, but as a student permit holder, if I haven't flown in the past 2 weeks (dual or solo) then I am no longer current to fly solo.

Discussing this with a friend (who has often scratched his head at the amount of "retraining" I seem to always be doing), I was reminded to make sure I did a good job of communicating what was important to me, to my instructor. With this in mind, I made I indicated to I5 right off the bat that my goal for the flight was to demonstrate whatever exercises were required to convince him that I was good to go solo again. This would allow me to pick back up where I left off back in September with the training. He agreed this was a good plan.

The specialty of the day was soft field and it went just fine. I remembered to ask for a rolling start, stay off the brake, and keep the stick all the way back from the hold short line. The Diamond's nose wants to really POP off the runway when it reaches about 30 knots so you have to be prepared to get it back down to "just off" the pavement otherwise face the potential of explaining a tail strike for the rest of your life. It of course did pop off the ground but I recovered nicely even as I5 started to reach for the stick. I really tried to focus on keeping my track aligned with the runway as I climbed out. This is something that I do an OK job of in all phases of flight EXCEPT the departure phase. The only commentary I received from I5 was that I needed to anticipate reaching the target speed for rotation out of ground effect. I didn't rotate until we hit it (come on now - ground effect is so cool!) and as a result we were pretty fast on departure and it took a little while to get everything settled in for a perfect climb out.

Once established in the practice area we did some more steep turns and then stalls. Power off stalls, power on stalls, stalls with flap, stalls while turning, and finally climbing turning stalls with flap. It was a lot of stalls - that's for sure. The thing is that the diamond just doesn't want to stall. You always get the decrease in aileron control and you always get the stall horn. Yet the buffeting, wing drop, and nose drop is not very obvious. I'd like to go and try this in a different trainer one day to see what the real difference is.

We decided to "slip" out the side of the practice area and work on some forced approaches. I5 took the controls and as I was verbalizing some of my thoughts about the forced approach procedures while admiring the mountains I5 started getting aggressive on the controls. We were in a REALLY steep turn, the engine was racing, the airspeed was increasing, we were losing altitude, and the G-Forces were kicking in.

I5 looked over at me and said "What is happening?" My first thought was to say "You've lost your f***ing mind" but my training kicked in and I said "We're in a spiral dive". He quickly replied with "Good, your control - recover".

Before I even had my hand on the stick I had pulled the throttle back and then leveled the wings. As I eased out of the dive I remembered that the aircraft will want to climb. By the time I was pushing forward on the stick I glanced over and noted the airspeed near 160. The airspeed bled off, power was applied and everything was back to normal. It was weird afterwards thinking about how automatic it had become. I suppose that I'm reaching the point in my training where he might try and pull the unexpected on me. I'm happy he did that!

We did a few forced approaches after that during which I5really prompted me to go through EVERYTHING I needed to do. During the first one I did a good job of the flying aspect but was really weak on everything else (cause check, mayday call, passenger briefing, engine shutdown procedures). As we climbed back out he went through it all with me and gave me some pointers regarding the flight test. He did tell me I had done well enough for a 2 or perhaps a 3 out of 4 on the flight test. Ya - that's something else - everything I do, I5 now relates to what I would score on the flight test and adds what I need to do for full marks.

The second went much better as I ran through everything much quicker. It seems like yesterday that it was next to impossible just to trim and stay at glide speed - now I can do it without even paying much attention to it.

Since we had slipped out of the practice area to the east, we had a different checkpoint to get back into the control zone. I incorrectly identified the highway below us (thought it was highway 22) and then was unable to spot Cochrane Lake. Things really look different in the winter! It will certainly take some time to get used to identifying some of these landmarks. I made a mental note that I need to spend some time on google maps looking at the roads in the area to get a good sense of it for my next flight.

On final for runway 34 I remembered to actually focus on a point for the approach. I had realized some time ago that I really depend on the PAPI (Precision Approach Path Indicator) sometimes to get my approach correct. I told myself that it would be useful at some point to make note of "the picture" when things were high, low, and just right so that I could recreate the picture when I fly places where there are no VASI or PAPI to help me out. (Yes, I have considered that I will one day fly "somewhere else"). I decided that the numbers would be a great aiming point. Turned out the approach was pretty stable. I definitely have gotten past that point where I'm constantly adjusting the power. Fairly good job on reducing the sink rate in the flare and keeping the nose off the ground for as long as possible.

After a short debrief I was officially "re-certified" to fly solo again. I had a few hours to kill and was considering getting my solo precautionary landing flight out of the way, but after weighing all factors I realized that I was pretty tired and would be best off to come back another day.