Back in Service

The airplane is back in service after some re-seal work on the propeller hub. Leading up to the repair a pattern of oil started to appear on the propeller extending away from the hub after each flight. After further investigation the o-rings inside the propeller hub had worn flat and were no longer capable of containing the lubricating oil stored inside. With the repair complete, I was able to make a short scenic flight to verify that the oil leak has indeed stopped.

Instrument Currency

Not much flying last month due to some travel, airplane maintenance, and a cold that won't go away. The 182 started leaking oil from the prop hub and after further investigation the seals in the hub had failed so the prop assembly is in the shop for some repair work. At least a complete prop overhaul wasn't required. While the prop was in the shop I needed to do some research in the logbooks to find out airplane total time (TTAF) and the number of hours on the current prop (SMOH). This was a good exercise in learning a little more about the history of the airplane. Also turns out that some of the parts in the propeller hub will be covered by the manufacturer.

Since the airplane is down for another week, I booked some time on the Frasca at ATC to log some instrument approaches as part of the required instrument currency requirements under FAR 61.57. In the sim under the tutelage of my CFII, I logged three approaches and a hold. Overall, the session went well and I was surprised how much of the details of flying an approach came right back to me after being away from an airplane for a month.

AOPA Aviation Summit

Last week I attended the AOPA Aviation Summit in Tampa. Compared to the 2007 AOPA conference in Palm Springs, this years event had many more airplane manufactures represented and there seemed to be more vendors present on the convention floor. I sat in on a couple of the keynotes and some instructional seminars. One of the keynotes was a round table discussion by the leaders of various segments of general aviation and how they were all unified in their fight against the attack on GA and business aviation by the media and Washington D.C. Another take away from the discussion is that 100LL fuel will eventually go away and how the engine manufacturers are working on how other fuels perform with existing GA airplane engines. I attended Max Trescott's seminar on night flight and another seminar on single pilot IFR. Both offered a lot of safety tips and things to pass on to future students.

Lastly, I am in the market to buy new headsets and took the opportunity to try out some of the top ANR headsets out there. I visited the Bose, David Clark and Light Speed booths and got the sales pitch for each model and was able to try out each unit with simulated engine noise in the background. So far I'm leaning toward the Bose headsets, but I kind of like the idea of having built in Blue Tooth in the Zulu model. The DC X11's are by far the lightest of the three, but they don't seem to have enough ear clamping pressure to provide a tight seal around the ear to keep out background noise. My Telex headsets after a while start to move around on my ears during long flights, so I believe that the X11's would have the same problem. I forgot to try out the Clarity headsets, so I'll need to try them locally to see how well they work before I make a decision.

Trip to Bandon, OR

We've always wanted to investigate the Bandon Oregon area to compare it to the other Oregon Coast cities that we've been to, so I left work a little early and we loaded up the airplane and headed south 260 miles to North Bend, OR (KOTH). The crew at Coos Aviation had a car waiting for us and pointed us toward highway 101. I had made a reservation at the Red Lion in advance so that we had accommodations arranged before we left Renton. Turns out there were some nicer places to stay near Bandon as opposed to North Bend. We spent a day and a half exploring the area around Bandon and found some nice beaches, a light house or two and the world famous Bandon Dunes Resort. The area is also know for its sand dune parks and we saw lots of ATV's on trailers heading for the dunes.

Oyster Festival

We flew over to Shelton for the annual "OysterFest". Shelton (KSHN)is about a 20 minute flight from Seattle and the festival provides a shuttle bus from the airport to the festival grounds. If you like oysters this is the place to go. You can get oysters raw, fried, grilled, steamed, etc. My favorite is an oyster grilled on the 1/2 shell.

A Pair of I's

Finally got the CFII rating completed today. The practical started with the examiner asking me about how I would approach teaching a new instrument student. This expanded into things like what I can do as a CFII, teaching evaluating weather for an IFR flight, instruments required for IFR flight and how to detect instrument failure, and a discussion of instrument systems. We then talked about obstacle departure procedures and I was asked to interpret the DP from KEAT. After that we went into approach procedures and we discussed the ILS approach at KAST. The two things the DE was interested in was why do we have to time the ILS approach and what would we do if we lost communications as we neared KAST.

After the oral portion, we departed KBFI and picked up an IFR clearance to KTIW. The DE flew the ILS approach and my role was to treat the DE as my student who was just about to take his checkride. The examiner setup the airplane for the approach like a pro (he's a captain for an airline) and he made some "mistakes" along the way. He purposely let the glide slope deflect 3 dots and started to make large corrections near the DH. Both are mistakes that students would make. Afterwards the DE asked me for my critique and also wanted to know if as a student, I would sign him off for a check ride. My answer was that since his performance was within PTS that I would sign him off. My answer wasn't wrong, but he felt that if a student is in check ride prep mode, that a large needle deflection on an ILS approach isn't acceptable for a student who is about to take a practical. If a student makes such a big mistake during a practice check ride, then they probably aren't quite ready.

Next up, it was my turn to fly a partial panel GPS approach. This was straight forward and while I was flying I was asked to talk about how to navigate by compass, both timed turns and using the compass directly taking into consideration dip errors. At the MDA and about 1.5 miled from the MAP, I was asked if we could legally land. The answer I gave was yes, because we could make a normal approach and landing from our current position.

After that we headed out VFR and did some unusual attitude recovery with me doing the recovery and with me putting the airplane into an unusual attitude and the examiner doing the recovery. The examiner gave me some tips on how to setup unusual attitudes and mentioned that when you do teach them, you really need to put the airplane in an attitude that simulates what may happen to a new instrument pilot if things go awry in the clouds.

CFII Practical Exam Prep

The day is near and I've been reviewing all of the instrument regs and making sure all of my ground briefs are in order. I have one more training flight scheduled before the exam and will use that flight to just tighten up my approaches and get in more practice teaching/talking while flying. Learning to teach while also handling (and flying) all aspects of an instrument approach has made me a better instrument pilot by forcing me to stay ahead of the airplane/approach. A lot of things that weren't clear when I was getting my instrument rating are much clearer now and I wish I had known then what I know now. One example is the primary/supporting method of attitude instrument flying. I remember my CFII telling me which instruments were primary for pitch, bank, etc. But it never really clicked as to what that was all about at the time. In the end my instrument scan worked, but I never really understood the logic behind the primary/supporting method. If someone would have just simplified things by teaching me that the primary/supporting method applies to what you are doing at the time (straight and level, turns, climbing/descending turns, etc.), I would have picked up on flying by reference to instruments a little quicker.

Additionally, at the time I didn't even know about the control and performance method and after studying that as a CFII student, I now believe that that method is a much simpler way to fly on instruments. The control/performance method moves the scan focus back to the attitude indicator (where it should be) and this makes holding heading and altitude much easier.

Angel Flight Mission #7

I signed up last minute to fly some coolers of blood from Sequim, WA. (W28) to Boeing Field. It was a perfectly clear day, so I invited one of the 182 partners along to act as safety pilot while I got some right seat hood time in preparation for my CFII check ride.

"Whiskey" 10

It had been a few weeks since we made a family flight so we were looking for either a destination that we hadn't been to or some place new to fly to. We thought about going to Roche Harbor, but then remebered that we had just driven to Langley the week before and met one of the residents that flys out of W10. It turns out that there is a local coffee company (Mukilteo Coffee Roasters) that has a cafe and restaurant within walking distance of the airport. The airport comittee has also provided bicycles for use by visiting pilots to commute the two and a half miles into town.

For this trip we were just interested in the Cafe, since the kids aren't quite ready for a bicycle ride into town. I checked the winds at nearby Paine Field and made note of the warm temperatures for density altitude considerations. The winds were out of the North at 10-15 KTS and with the warm temps, I knew that it would be a bumpy ride on final into the airport. Plus the runway is surrounded by 50' trees, so once below the tree tops the transition can be a bit tricky. As predicted the bumps started to increase once in the pattern and then a couple of wing dips as we approached tree top level. All in all an uneventfull approach/landing but not the type of conditions that you would take passengers who are new to small planes.

Finding the cafe is easy, just follow the fancy signs. The coffee and food are worth the trip and on a nice day, there is a nice deck to sit out and enjoy the Pacific NW weather and a fine latte.

Interestingly, I had landed at this airport when I was a student pilot with only 10 hours. Looking at my logbook, my instructor took me here on my ninth flight on August 28, 2003. Almost six years to the day I returned to one of the first airports that I had landed at early in my pilot journey.

A Case of the "Blues"

The Blue Angels were in town this week for their annual appearance at Sea Fair and there are various TFRs in place to cover the official show and practice sessions. I had a colleague in town who had just earned his private pilot certificate a few weeks prior and we had been planning to take a flight at some point during the week, but with the hot temperatures that Seattle was experiencing, it wouldn't have been fun being in an airplane when its 90+ degrees. The temps started to cool by the end of the week so we decided on a flight Friday morning. As luck would have it, the temps got low enough overnight to allow a marine layer to roll in and this forced us to cancel our early morning flight due to low ceilings. As the morning passed on, the clouds began to lift but with the TFRs kicking in later in the day, we'd only have a small window to get airborne and return before the airspace closed. I diligently checked the TFRs on DUATS and called FSS just to make sure there were no surprises.

We got to the airport about 11:30 and were airborne shortly after. We made a quick loop around the Puget Sound area and then landed back at Boeing Field with 30 minutes to spare before the airspace closure. We tied the plane down and hung around until the start of the Blue's practice session.

A Busy Week

This week was quite busy with aviation related activities. I had another CFII ground session and we worked through teaching an instrument procedure to a new instrument student. Secondly, I had two training flights as a CFI with a student and finished off the week with flying at the Challenge Air event. I think I logged about 7 hours this week and it sort of felt like I was really flying for a living. In reality the hours I logged isn't even close to what a full time CFI or pilot for hire would log in a week, but I am starting to get a glimpse of what it would be like to be a full time pilot.

Challenge Air

Today I participated in one of the Challenge Air events in Everett, WA. (KPAE). Challenge air holds these events around the US, and they are held to give kids with special needs an opportunity to fly in an airplane. Along with 20+ other pilots, we were tasked to fly a child and family members on a short 15-20 minute flight. This was the third annual event and was held at the Castle and Cook hangar. There were 135 kids signed up for flights along with 100's of volunteers helping things go smoothly. The challenge Air folks setup all kinds of activities for the children as well as assigning each child to an airplane. The kids got to take a short ground school and then were given a boarding pass and after pilot/ground crew introductions, they and their family got to walk out on the tarmac via a red carpet and through a cheering crowd to their assigned airplane. At the completion of each flight, I got to sign a certificate commemorating their flight and pin a set of wings on each "pilot".

I flew 5 flights for the day and all of my passengers were flying for the first time. I let each one operate the controls at various points of the flight and the looks on their faces were priceless. It was interesting seeing each child's personality come out when they operated the flight controls, where control inputs ranged from hesitant (shy/timid) to almost full control deflection (kids with lots of energy). All of the families were so gracious and appreciative of everyone involved and I could tell that these flights meant so much to them and their children.

I think that just for a short time while the children and parents are flying above the Earth looking at the world go by from 2500', that these flights give the parents and the kids a brief diversion from all of the issues that come along with caring for a special needs child.

Altitude Bust?

I was recently on a United Airlines flight from KSEA to KDEN and discovered that channel 9 of the in flight audio has the cockpit communications between the crew and ATC. The in flight magazine says that the channel will be broadcast at the discretion of the captain. So, I dialed in and started listening prior to push back. After takeoff the flight was handed off to departure and the controller assigned the flight an altitude of 9000' feet. The pilot manning the radio acknowledged 9000'. After a few minutes I felt a sudden nose down motion and that rolling stomach feeling that you get when you suddenly stop climbing and apply heavy nose down pressure. I thought to myself, either there was a traffic conflict or the pilot just blew through his assigned altitude. Sure enough, one of the pilots called ATC and said something like "Approach, United xxx confirm altitude". The controller came back with "United xxx, descend and maintain 9000' ". I'm not going to pass judgement on the pilots seeing that I wasn't in the cockpit, but it's nice to know that even the pros make a mistake occasionally.

Pancake Fly-in at Desert Aire

Flew over this morning for the annual pancake breakfast hosted by the folks at Desert Aire (M94, near Mattawa, WA.). Desert Aire is a retirement/fly-in community with their own golf course and bordered by Priest Rapids Lake. Seattle was cool and overcast with 50 degrees while the temps over in Eastern Washington were a balmy 80 and nothing but sun. The flight over was spectacular and once climbing on top of the overcast layer, all of the Washington (and some Oregon) peaks were visible. It was interesting how the cloud layer just ended about 50 miles East of Seattle. The second photo shows the border of the cloud deck as I was heading West back to Seattle at 8000'.

Breakfast for Dinner

I was just itching to go fly the 182 from the left seat, since the last two flights were from the right as a CFI. The ceilings finally lifted around 3:00 pm so we loaded up the car seats (and the kids) and headed North to Harvey Field (S43). The Buzz-Inn is located on the field and there are several Buzz's located around the Seattle area. The menu is quite extensive and they serve breakfast all day long. Usually when we fly someplace for breakfast we arrive after breakfast is no longer served, so it was a treat to see that the breakfast menu at the Buzz was fair game. We both ordered the Denny's equivilent of a Grand Slam and got mac-n-cheese for the kids.

While doing the pre-flight for the return one of the jump planes from the skydive operation at Harvey departed, and soon after there were three canopies descending for the airport. The ceilings were around 3500', and these jumpers looked like they knew what they were doing, so my guess is that it was the staff getting in a last jump of the day.

Angel Flight Mission #6

I had another opportunity to use the airplane for charitable giving by flying some coolers of blood from Lopez Island (S31) to Boeing Field (KBFI). Once again I forgot my camera, so for the second Angel Flight in a row, I don't have any photos to document the trip.

Angel Flight Mission #5

Today was my fifth Angel Flight Mission and for this flight I was to pick up some coolers of blood from the Elma airport (4W8) and deliver the coolers to Boeing Field. I ended up taking one of the 182 partners along, so I assumed CFI duties and let him fly all three legs since he wanted some short field practice into Elma and to get some experience flying into Boeing Field.

First Flight Review as a CFI

Today I started the flight review process for one of the partners in the 182. He hadn't flown in the 182 for about six months so we started off with him getting re-acquainted with the airplane. After a few touch and goes, we headed North for some simulated emergencies and some air work. We still need to do the ground portion of the review and we're planning on at least one more flight before I sign him off.

Trip to the Oregon Zoo

The nice weather finally arrived for the Memorial Weekend so we loaded up the airplane and flew down to Portland (KHIO). From there we hopped on the Max for the 25-minute ride to Washington Park. The plan was to spend the day at the zoo and see how much energy everyone had at the end of the day, before deciding on whether or not to fly back or spend the night. We ended up staying until the Zoo closed so I called the local Holiday Inn Express and booked a room. The Hotel is just two train exits from the airport, so it is really convenient. I would have rather stayed downtown, but for $89/night you can't beat it.

First 1.8 Hours Dual Given

Yesterday I had the opportunity to fly for the first time as a CFI for hire. One of my friends was adding an additional pilot to his C172 insurance and he asked me to fly with the new pilot. My student was a newly minted private pilot and my task was to evaluate short/soft/normal takeoffs/landings, simulated engine failures and teach prop/throttle operation. It was nice to be sitting in the right seat and getting paid (and being able to log the time) as well as watching my student go through the ups and downs of learning the operation of an unfamiliar airplane. I witnessed pilot overload, reaching a learning plateau, and some of the other things that are called out in the FAA's fundamentals of instruction text.

Annual

The 182 went in this week for it's annual inspection. The mechanics are doing a very thorough job and found a few non-conforming parts on the mixture control. It's interesting how non-aviation fittings and assemblies end up in an airplane. It baffles one's mind how a trained A&P can use a part from a hardware store or something that looks like it will fit, instead of using an FAA approved part. In any case, the correct parts are now in place. Most of the maintenance items are minor but a couple of note were a damaged gascolator which was letting some unfiltered fuel into the system and some corrosion where the nose gear strut attaches to the firewall. The gascolator is being replaced and the strut attachment is being re-enforced with new screws.

I also learned about FAA form 337 and STC certificates that have to be accounted for each modification. I spent an hour or so sorting through a box of airplane documents looking for relevent maintenance papers. After this annual, all paperwork will be in a easily accessable binder, which will make the paper trail portion of future inspections mush easier.

$100 Pizza

Last night, there was a fly-in to Orcas Island (KORS) for pizza. The event was organized by one of the flight schools at Boeing Field. I didn't count all the planes, but there must have been at least six and probably 15-20 people by the time everyone got situated at the restaurant. The restaraunt was just a short walk from the airport, and the view from the deck was a typical beautiful evening San Juan Island view. I knew most of the folks there and I dined with another pilot and his friends that he brought along for the adventure. Coming back was a picture perfect night with a half moon and the emerald city glowing. I had a chance to work on my night IFR skills and was able to log 1.1 hours of night pic.

http://portofinopizzeria.com/

IFR Currency

I needed three approaches to extend my 6-month IFR currency so I booked some time with my regular CFII (who is also an Airbus FO). I planned for a couple of ILS's at KTIW and a GPS approach at KRNT. Overall the flight went well, but had a brain freeze on the first missed approach. The KTIW ILS-17 missed approach calls for a climbing right turn to intercept a radial from the SEA VOR. I read what was on the approach plate, but proceeded to follow the missed approach heading displayed in the GPS. The lesson learned here, is that when in doubt, fly the instructions that are printed on the approach chart. Now that I'm a CFI, my self critique is a lot more thorough and my instructor holds me to a much higher standard when flying approaches.

Scenic Flight Around Vero Beach, Florida

We recently took a family vacation to Florida and had a chance to see the Vero Beach area from the air. One of my friends is training to be a CFI at Flight Safety Academy and he took me up in one of the FSA fleet trainers.

182 Right Seat Checkout

Spring has finally arrived in the Pacific NW and we've had two days of sunny and 60 degree weather (3 inches of snow fell two days ago in my neighborhood). I had planned to go out and do some instrument approaches for currency, but with the perfect weather I opted for a check-out from the right seat in my 182. So I grabbed my regular CFI and went out and demonstrated the usual things (slow flight, stalls, simulated engine failure, etc.). Having just recently completed my CFI training in a C172RG, flying the 182 from the right seat went pretty well (considering that prior to today's flight, 100% of my hours in the 182 were in the left seat).

Father Daughter Flight

I flew my four year old to the Jefferson County Airport (0S9) for pie and ice cream today. This was her first flight with just Daddy.

Fun Flight

Its been almost three weeks since my CFI practical, and between the weather and having a cold I haven't been able to fly. So yesterday, with a break in the weather and my sinuses being clear, I was able to take the 182 for a fun flight. The weather was ok, with 4000' ceilings and scattered showers, and I didn't want to just go out and practice maneuvers (since that's all I have been doing for the last few months), so I decided to fly a short cross country. I ended up going to Chehalis, WA. (KCLS), for a few touch and goes. I'm looking forward to making a few fun flights over the next few weeks without having to be in training mode.

CFI Checkride

After seven hours of oral questioning, teaching a few ground briefs, three breaks, and some flying the rating is done. I now get to carry a second pilot certificate giving me single engine airplane instructor privileges.

The practical started at 8:00 am with me greeting the FAA inspector and she reviewed my logbook endorsements and completed the IACRA work. We talked about the process of the practical and she mentioned there is a new Aviation Instructors Handbook coming out soon (if not already) and that there would probably be a new CFI PTS shortly after.

She started by asking me to explain the purpose of a critique and give examples of good and bad critiques. I was also asked to explain the difference between critique and evaluation and when you would use each. We then went into talking about part 61 and she asked me “what if” and “what would you do” type questions as they relate to part 61. Some examples were:

o As a CFI can you log cross country time when giving dual and flying from KBFI and KRNT? (a CFI can, and logging the time will come in handy for meeting part 135 pre-requisites)
o If a student comes to you with 20 hours of training given in Canada, does the flight time count toward a US private certificate? (yes)
o Duration of medical certificates (note new durations of 12 months and 60 months for under 40)
o Difference between simulators, flight training devices, PC trainers, etc.
o Duration of a temporary certificate
o Applying aeronautical experience from ultra lights
o How you would conduct a flight review and what area have to be covered
o Student pilot endorsements
o How long is a student pilot certificate good for? (61.19)
o What endorsements are needed when a post solo student switches from a C172 to C182?
o Private pilot endorsements (my first answer was the obvious logbook endorsements, but I left out signing the 8710 and making sure the medical and 90 day solo endorsement was current)
o If a student had logged 5.0 hours solo cross country from KBFI-KBLI-KFHR-KBFI would it count toward the solo cross country requirement? (The distances are ok, but 5.0 hours for this particular flight isn’t normal. Further questioning of the student revealed that the student had done pattern and maneuver practice during the cross country)
o How much sim time can be used toward a private certificate (61.109 {k})
o Endorsements for a commercial (usual + the complex and possibly high-perf, current flight review, medical and 8710.)
o Commercial pilot privileges (119.1)
o With your CFI certificate can you instruct sport pilot students (yes)
o When do you have to carry your CFI certificate? (When giving dual, apparently some CFI’s don’t carry theirs and some had been told to keep it in a safe place.)
o How do you renew a CFI certificate (61.197)

After we went through part 61, I was asked to explain aero medical factors. This included explaining how to obtain a medical certificate, what would someone do if they had a medical condition that might prevent them from flying (the example was someone with a glass eye or someone on depressants). After that I explained hypoxia, hyperventilation, etc. Also threw in some stuff on IMSAFE.

The next topic was to explain how to obtain weather information and help a student make go/no-go decision. I took the approach of talking about looking at weather from a high level, like the Weather Channel down to METARS. Also explained FAs, TAFs, winds aloft, PIREPS and SIGMETS/AIRMETS. Then relating all of the information to how it applies to student limits of ceilings, visibility, and winds. I then discussed how to get a briefing and use what he briefer says to fill in gaps that weren’t clear from gathering the information manually. Also, talked about how an instructor should “transfer” the responsibility of obtaining the weather to a student (but still staying in a supervising role).

Lastly, for my ground brief the examiner choose steep turns (commercial PTS standards). I had already prepared a brief for that and refreshed my memory while I took a short lunch break. I started by explaining that a steep turn is a performance maneuver and that the airplane is flown close to its load limit factor during the maneuver. I explained on the white board about how an airplane turns (horizontal/vertical lift) and how additional load is added when in a turn and level flight is maintained. Drew the load factor graph and showed the lift vector above the airplane and the centrifugal force and weight below. I then went on to explain the setup portion of the maneuver and common errors. She had me skip explaining how to fly the maneuver. This was the last task for the oral portion.

I dispatched the airplane and told the examiner that I had verified that the airplane was airworthy by looking at the aircraft logs. She had me skip the pre-flight brief and I just did a pre-flight and off we went. The first task was to teach my “student” how to taxi. Her first trick was to stand on the breaks as I applied power. I figured that out and re-briefed my student that when I say “my controls”, that also applies to feet as well. I got a taxi clearance and headed to the active runway. Part of the way to the runway, I got confused as to which runway the ground controller told me to go to, so I stopped and clarified. It turned out that I wrote the correct runway down, but had mixed it up in my head. The key take away is that stopping and clarifying didn’t count against me, but if I had taxied to the wrong runway, that would have been bad or probably a busted ride.

I was asked to teach a take off, so I choose a normal takeoff and my student flew us off the runway and into the downwind. I then demonstrated straight and level flight and was asked to climb to 2500’ to teach power off stalls. I explained, demonstrated, had my student explain and perform. Thinking back, I forgot to evaluate her power off stall.

Next up were steep turns, and I flew and then she flew. It was a bumpy day and my first attempt started off bad with an updraft causing a 150’ altitude increase. I reset and the next one was within standards but at the end I got distracted and let the altitude drop just after I pulled the power back to complete the maneuver. I called myself on this and she then flew a steep turn and I critiqued.

Lazy eights were next, and I picked my 45, 90, and 135 points and came up a little high on my first turn to the left, but nailed the turn to the right. I pointed out my mistakes and we moved on to having me pull the power and walk my student through a simulated engine failure. This went smoothly and I requested a go around when I though we were to getting to close to some houses. After we climbed back up, I demonstrated an accelerated stall. After that I demonstrated turns around a point and eights on pylons. There wasn’t much wind so these went smoothly.

After that we headed back to Boeing for landings and on the way back my student put on a hood and I taught a constant airspeed climb on instruments. She was looking for whether or not I knew what the primary pitch and bank instruments are in a constant airspeed climb. My first landing was to teach a slip to a landing and we got into a discussion about using flaps or not and I referred to the placard by the flap lever that says something about avoiding extended slips with full flaps. She also asked me to tell her why we would want to slip, and I went through things like cross wind landings, loosing altitude on final, etc. She wasn’t getting the answer that she was looking for, so she said we’d talk about it on the ground.

My slip demonstration was with no flaps and I performed a side slip to loose altitude and broke off the slip once we were back on a normal glide patch. She didn’t seem pleased with my demonstration and after we landed asked me if airspeed is higher or lower during a slip. I was still a little frazzled over the last discussion about slips, so I mumbled something and it obviously wasn’t what she wanted to hear. She said we’d talk about it afterwards but had one more takeoff and landing to do. I taught her a short field takeoff and started to teach hear how to do a soft field landing but on the down wind she wanted to show me how a slip should be performed. At this point I was thinking that I was going to get to go do some remedial training in slips.

After her demo of slips we taxied back, parked the airplane and went inside for the debrief. She asked me to get my books and tell her why we would want to slip. My previous answers were valid, and there was a bullet item in my slip ground brief that mentioned that we use slips when there is no electrical power (i.e. no flaps available). This was the magic answer and we had a short discussion of how I need to teach my future students to do slips with and without flaps and that slips need to be taught to continue all the way to touchdown. She pointed out that slips with full flaps are useful for engine failure situations where you may want to be high for an emergency landing point (since you don’t want to come up short), and a slip will allow you to stay high until your landing spot is assured.

After that she told me congratulations and she completed the IACRA process and I was issued my temporary CFI certificate. The total time of the exam (flight, oral, and breaks) was 7 hours. The take away from the experience is that even when you think you’ve failed a task, just keep plugging away and explain why you did what you did. It’s my feeling that the examiner is looking at how you perform on the exam as a whole and if you mess up here and there, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve failed the check ride. I also had her endorse my logbook for a BFR (since a new CFI certificate doesn’t reset the BFR).

Checkride Tomorrow

I've flown three out of the last four days getting ready for the practical tomorrow. Today I spent the whole day studying the oral material and I'm ready for anything the examiner can throw at me. The weather looks like it will cooperate and at the end of tomorrow another step in my pilot journey will be accomplished.

End of Course Flight

Flew for 2.0 hours yesterday going through maneuvers and proving to the check airmen that I could perform each maneuver to PTS standards and that I could explain the how and why of each maneuver and do some teaching in the air. We got in everything except power off 180 landings, power on stalls and short field takeoffs. I also had to brief turns around a point before the flight and brief the pre-flight at the airplane.

We had a debrief after the flight with the check airmen and my CFI and there were positives and negatives of the flight, but the take away was that my flying doesn't quite have the "finesse" required that a flight instructor should exhibit. I felt that this critique was subjective and is contrary to what the FOI topic on critique talks about. I've noticed that some of the feedback that I get from instructors (past and present) seems to contradict some of the techniques described in the FAA instructor book.

So moving forward, I have a flight scheduled for today and tomorrow, and my goal is to eliminate any doubt as to my ability to fly to PTS standards. The practical is still scheduled for Tuesday, so I expect that the flights will go well and the practical date won't have to be moved out.

Countdown to the CFI Checkride

The first bit of news is that the practical exam has been moved up to Tuesday March 3rd. I've been re-learning all of the FOI material and practicing giving ground briefs on various subjects. I've been trying to get an end of course flight in with another instructor, but the weather hasn't cooperated so I've had to scrub two flights. Hoping to get a break in the ceilings this afternoon, but one never knows what the weather will do around Puget Sound. The forecast is for some snow tonight and tomorrow, with things drying out late Thursday thru the weekend. I'd rather get the last few flights leading up to the practical exam out of the way sooner rather than later, but that's the way things go.

CFI Practical Exam Scheduled for March 5th

The practical date is getting near and I'm starting to ramp up my instructional knowledge of the PTS subject areas and refine my flying. Yesterday I flew a 2.4 hour training flight going through every maneuver and working on my teaching skills. Today I had a mock practical/end of course evaluation from a different instructor. We had planned to do three hours of oral questioning and a similar block for flying, but ended up going through almost everything ground related from the PTS. This turned out to be more like what the actual oral part of the practical will be like, so it was worth the extra time. I'll get the flight portion in early next week.

Almost There

I've spent the last few flights working on getting lazy 8's down and running through most of the PTS maneuvers. I flew a couple of days ago with a different instructor, just to get a different perspective on how to fly lazy 8's. I think I've finally figured out how to fly them consistently and plan to do some solo practice this weekend.

We've set a goal for a March 1st check ride and I'm scheduled for a two part end of course/practice practical oral and flight next week. I've been re-learning the fundamentals of instruction the last few days and working through the all of the PTS tasks. I've also been busy printing all of my ground briefs and relevant AC's and getting them organized binders.

Two more flights and the check ride is on the Horizon

This week I presented one ground brief on high altitude operations and flew a couple of flights. Both flights went well and I started playing the role of CFI again for the first part of the flights. I hadn't instructed in a while and I was suprised how smooth it went and how much I've improved since the early dual flights. It's a big help having taught a manuever/concept in the classroom before teaching it in the air.

The second half of my flights were just maneuver proficiency and my lazy eights and chandelles are starting to get more consistent. I actually nailed a lazy eight on my first attempt (but the subsequent attempts dropped off in quality). So still some more refinement required. Another interesting excercise was a lesson in teaching slips. The excercise starts with having a student apply full rudder in one direction and then keeping wings level with opposite aileron. Then repeat in the other direction, then back and forth until the direction change is smooth. The next excercise is to "draw" a square with the nose by using full rudder/opposite aileron/elevator to draw a square in the sky. Once the square is mastered, try a circle or diamond. Then continuing with the slip exercises, doing a side and forward slip while mainting a constant airspeed and ground track.

We talked about setting a date for the checkride and I'm in the process of estimating what amount of study time I'll need to be ready for the oral part of the exam. There are approximately 70+ subjects as outlined in the PTS and I'm thinking I'll need four weeks or so to prepare.

Training Update

Two more flights in the logbook (#19 and #20) and one flight was spent mostly on lazy 8's and the second flight was 100% pattern work doing power off 180's, short field landings, no flap landings, etc. Also presented a ground brief on airspace.

I spent most of the weekend creating outlines for the PTS task areas that I don't yet have ground briefs for. This at least gives me some bullet points to talk about if I'm asked to present something during the oral exam and I don't have an an actual brief written. My plan is to have a brief for all the PTS tasks, but some of them like pre-flight and taxiing are self explanatory. All in all I have 62 docs written (either full briefs or outlines).

A Productive Training Week

I had the last week off from work so my plan was to dedicate 3-4 hours per day for flight training. Whether I was doing actual training or studying/preparing ground briefs I was able to stick to that goal. This week consisted of three flights, two ground sessions, taking the CFI written exam and a bunch of hours in the library. The flying is coming together and I'm getting close to getting lazy 8's down. The performance of the other maneuvers are pretty good with refinement needed here and there.

The next few weeks of training will focus on refining the maneuvers to a commercial level and getting my ground teaching skills/knowledge up to a level where I can pass the practical exam.

It seems like I've been training for the CFI certificate for a long time but looking back at my logbook, I've gotten a lot accomplished since August. Here's a breakdown:

18 flights (including spin training) - 25.5 hours
35 ground briefs written and presented
FOI/CFI written exams passed
Countless hours in the library