Monday, May 29, 2006 - 22:23:50 ET

Too Hot To Fly

Brian posted a comment letting me know his lesson at 2pm today was canceled because it was too hot. I had a plane booked at 6pm to practice some short field take-offs/landings solo. I was hoping the temperature would be cooler by then.

No dice.

The temperature was 34°C with a dew point of 19°C. Toronto Airways policy for renting planes to students only allows flights between -10°C and 35°C. Needless to say I didn't go up. My trusty E6B tells me that the density altitude for Buttonville would have been 2792', more than 2000' higher than field elevation.

Because of my schedule, I wont be flying until next Monday (June 5th). I hope the weather is good that day, because my Student currency expires June 8th.

When you are granted Solo privileges you also have to remain "current". This means that you must fly Solo for at least an hour in a certain amount of time. With Toronto Airways this is 14 Days. If you expire, then you will need to go up with an Instructor to "prove" that you can go Solo again.

This is also the case with private pilots and renting planes at Toronto Airways. To remain current you can either have "Gold Currency" with is 30 days, or Platinum which is 45 days.

I have been trying to find an "electronic" log book that I can download/buy. All of the ones out there are either US/FAA specific or cost way too much money. I've started the "digitizing" process by creating a crude "log book" using Excel. I want to do cool things like generate graphs and reports. Anyone have any suggestions out there?

33.5 Hours Dual, 5.7 Solo (FYI)

Comments (8) | Permalink | Category: Training

Saturday, May 27, 2006 - 23:24:44 ET

Busy Day!

Today's weather was perfect for flying. Blue skys, light winds, warm weather. The only problem is, everyone else is thinking the same thing: let's go flying.

I have never, ever, ever seen Buttonville this busy before. I had to wait about 10 minutes to take off right from the get-go. This was a normal take off and landing just to get a feel for this plane and the conditions. It was non-stop on the radio and people were stepping all over eachother.

The next time around it was a short field take off and landing. I nailed the take off perfectly. The landing was not so good. This is the warmest temperature I've flown in with 40° of flaps. Reducing the power causes the plane drops like a rock. At least I hit my touch down spot ;)

After two more circuits, I figured out the landing and was nailing them. I take a peek at my watch and figure I have time for one more. I taxi back to the holding bay to find 4 planes infront of me -- crap! I'm listening to tower and the plane that is number 1 to take off cant get a word in. I hear the controller saying "number 5 to land". Five more minutes pass and the controller is telling people in the circuit to change frequencies to 119.9 Mhz. I stay on my current frequency (124.8 Mhz). By this point the controller is telling other planes that they cant enter the control zone and to start orbiting over certain points.

I see the number 1 airplane taxi to the runway and take-off... hmm.. I didn't hear him get permission. I decide to tune to 119.9Mhz. That controller is taking care of landings/take-offs while the other one is taking care of traffic entering the zone.

By the time I'm number 1 for take-off it's been 20 minutes later. I ask to taxi down the runway to get back to the apron, my rental time is up! I scoot down the runway and taxi off on Charlie behind two other planes already there.

I did learn something today.. How to transmit using two radios ;) I had radio one tuned to Tower and Ground.. and I had radio two tuned to 119.9Mhz.

Each year the Canadian 99s put on a "poker run" as a fundraiser. The idea being that you fly to a bunch of airports and pick up a card for $5. Make your hand and hope you win. The majority of the traffic at Buttonville today was because of this event.

No flying tomorrow because its my brothers Birthday. I have a lesson booked on Monday though.

Comments (6) | Permalink | Category: Training

Friday, May 26, 2006 - 15:26:04 ET

John Alexander Douglas McCurdy

John who?!

JD McCurdy, as he is known, was the first person to fly an airplane in Canada. He was schooled at St. Andrews College in my hometown of Aurora, Ontario. He was also the first Canadian to receive a pilots license.

The frame and structure of the Silver Dart (the name of the plane) was made of steel tube, bamboo, friction tape, wire, and wood. The wings were covered with rubberized silk balloon-cloth. It was pretty advanced for its time:

- Was able to take off under its own power, by utilizing a three wheel undercarriage (now used almost universally by all general aviation aircraft).
- Used a water cooled 40HP engine.

However, the most important contribution and innovation was the ailerons. Previously (with the Wright brothers design) in order to turn the plane the entire wing was twisted. McCurdy along with the Aerial Experiment Association devised the aileron "method" of controlling the airplane. McCurdy "considers this to be Canada's outstanding contribution to aircraft development".

You can listen to him speaking about the flight from the CBC Archives.

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Thursday, May 25, 2006 - 22:48:28 ET

Practicing Short Field Take-Offs/Landings

Tonights flight was good. During this time of day the same controller works both ground and tower, so when you're on either frequency you only get half of the conversation sometimes. Someone on the radio jokingly asked him "so do you get paid double to work both tower and ground?"

The first flight I did was a normal take off and landing. Just to get a feel for the winds (which were variable 170°-210° at around 5KTs) and the plane. When I landed I was able to backtrack on the runway back into position. Another normal take-off and landing.

When I got back I had to wait about 5-7 minutes before I could take off again. A citation was backtracking on the runway into position. I was ready to go before him but the controller said no dice because the Citation was ready to go and (more importantly) he was a Medevac... so priority goes to him. After he takes off, the controller asks me if I am good to go now (with the "caution wake turbulence" caveat) or if I want to hold tight for a few minutes.

I decide to hold tight to let the wake turbulence dissipate.

I "backtrack with short delay" onto the runway and take off. The whole idea is to stay in ground effect until you have your 78KIAS. Well, I "popped" up a little too aggressively and missed the whole ground effect portion of the take-off.

The second time was much better.

A different jet (I think it was another citation) was inbound for landing, so the controller asked me to keep the circuit tight so that I could land before he did. I was able to, but couldn't get the plane down fast enough to land, so I had to overshoot. I haven't done one of those in a while, so it was good practice. In hindsight, I guess I could have used 40° of flaps to get me down quicker.. The winds were pretty light and almost head on at that point, so slipping didn't really help either.

The CTV helicopter took off at the runway intersection while I was holding into position. "Caution, possible wake turbulence from the rotor craft" warned the controller. I went ahead because I knew that I would be climbing out above the path of the helicopter.

Just another day at Buttonville...

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Training

Thursday, May 25, 2006 - 00:06:18 ET

Worksheets Complete

Took me just over 4 hours to finish these up. I think these are going to be the final versions of both my Weight and Balance and Performance worksheets. You can download the 2 page PDF to print and use.

Some notes:

- The performance sheets has space to work out some calculations. The idea being that if anything ever goes wrong, you can find out if it was due to a miscalculation.
- The x-wind component graph takes up a lot of room because the source file is low resolution. Ideally I'd like to recreate it in vector format, rather than the bitmap format I got off the net.
- Only one aerodrome per sheet.. which might suck in cross-country planning.
- The graphs on the W&B might be too small to actually use

I'm curious to know what you think.. suggestions or comments are welcome. Just leave a comment.

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Training

Monday, May 22, 2006 - 17:29:56 ET

Confusion About Density Altitude

"Density altitude is pressure altitude corrected for temperature". That is how I've been taught how to calculate density altitude.

Lets take the following scenario:

- Field Elevation: 650'
- Temperature: 8°C
- Dewpoint: -2°C
- Altimeter setting: 30.05" Hg
- ICAO Lapse Rate: 1.98°C / 1000'

I've calculated pressure altitude to be 520'.

To Calculate density altitude:

Pressure Altitude + ((Temperature - ICAO Standard Temp)x100)

ICAO Standard Temperature in this case for the density altitude of 520' would be (15°C - (520*0.00198)) or 13.97°C... Therefore:

520 + ((8 - 13.97)x100)) = -77'

Now, according to my Electronic E6B I get a density altitude of -204'. According to this online density altitude calculator it's -276' (I used 520 as the altitude value).

So who's right? Air density is affected by water vapour content, so shouldn't the density altitude formula include some value with the dew point? The online calculator I used asked for the dew point. Even if the ICAO standard temperature and pressure involve 0% humidity why is my E6B so off (or my calculations)?

Let me know what your thoughts are. If you spot a mistake in my calculations, let me know.

Comments (3) | Permalink | Category: Training

Monday, May 22, 2006 - 14:51:45 ET

Short Field Take-Offs and Landings

The weather the past four days have been really crappy for flying. At one point on Sunday it was gusting up to 35KTs!

That said, I was still able to get two flights in plus a ground briefing. A solo flight on Friday morning and a dual today.

Friday's flight was great. The weather was perfect. Light winds and mainly sunny. I love flying at 8am in the mornings. This was also the first time I flew this particular plane. I was able to get 1 circuit in before it started to get busy. Seneca college students all lined up on Bravo to take off on runway 33. I was number 5 behind them. I wish I had taken a photo of the line-up.

The good thing about this flight is that it was consistent. My landings were pretty much all the same. Next time I go, I'm going to try to see if I can bring the touchdown point a little closer to the threshold of the runway.

Final for Runway 33

Because the weather was no good on Saturday, my FI and I did a ground briefing for some new techniques for landing and take off. We talked about Short and Long Field take offs and landings.

A short field take-off would be used when your runway is shorter than you'd like it to be. What you want to do is get up to speed for climbing as quickly as possible (ie in the less amount of runway as possible). In order to do that you would use "ground effect" to your advantage. Think of ground effect as a "cushion of air" that is lifting your plane off the ground. It is caused by wing tip vorticies that curl under your wing and strike the ground. This allows the airplane to become airborne earlier than normal. You then stay in this configuration (flying along the runway at about 10-20' AGL) until your airspeed reaches your climb-out speed (which is 78KIAS in the 172). To help you with using the least amount of runway as possible, you position the plane at the threshold. With the brakes applied you bring the engine up to full power, then let go of the brakes and boom! off you go.

A short field landing is a little different than a normal landing because you want to use the least amount of distance as possible. This involves using 40° of flaps. What a huge difference this makes in your forward visibility. The more flaps you use the more nose down the aircraft is. This is good because you can see more in front of you. You also use 40° of flaps so that you can be even slower (and use less runway) by the time you hit the runway. The approach speed is only 60KIAS instead of 65KIAS with a normal landing. The idea here is to land as close to the threshold as possible. Once you touchdown, pull back on the control column, flaps up (bringing the flaps up puts more weight on the main wheels to help you slow down), and max breaking. When we practice we do everything except for the hard braking... just to save the brakes.

So today we practiced both short field take offs and landings. The approach is a lot different with 40° of flaps. You have to keep in mind that your power will be higher because of the added drag the flaps create. You can really feel the plane slow down when you go from 20° to 40°. I can, however, see why people enjoy using 40° of flaps on landing.. you really do see a lot more! At first I was getting the feeling that we were dive bombing into the runway. It's just an illusion because your attitude is a lot more nose down than on a "normal" landing. Because of such, you have to pull back a lot more on the control column in the flair to get into that cruise attitude. I can't wait to practice this solo tomorrow.

I'm also designing my own performance worksheet and weight and balance worksheet. My FI has suggested that I start working on doing one for each flight. I think it's a good idea! That way come final exam time, I'm so used to doing it that it will be second nature. I'll post more information about these worksheets when I get them done.

I've been going through the "Flight Test Notes" book that I bought a while ago last night. This book is excellent as it outlines some of the questions the TC Examiner might ask you on your final exam. There are two questions that stumped me for a few days. I was able to get the answer for one on my own, but had to ask my FI the other one:

1. How can you control pitch if the elevator cables were severed?
2. Why are the ailerons and the flaps corrugated?

I'm curious, what are your answers to those questions?

Comments (5) | Permalink | Category: Training

Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 16:40:41 ET

Rain, Rain Go Away...

This week has been horrible weather wise for flying. Extrmely low ceilings and thunderstorms/rain. I really do love thunderstorms, but I love flying more ;)

Looks like rain until Sunday.

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Saturday, May 13, 2006 - 18:10:12 ET

How Do I Turn On The Wipers?

Today's flight was not bad. I didn't have my regular FI today but a "substitute". One of my teachers taught him when he was learning how to fly. We chatted about this particular teacher as we did the run-up and taxi. It was all jokes and reminiscing.

The plan was to do a few circuits with the FI, then solo for the rest of the time. This was the first time I did a landing with a partial panel! The FI decided to cover up my tach and airspeed indicator half way through the downwind leg. Fun! I was able to land the sucker without any problems. All I was doing is keeping an eye on my pitch/attitude (for speed) and listening to the engine for my rpm settings.. piece of cake. Most if it is intuitive by now.

Downwind Leg for runway 15

Once he hopped out of the plane I was on my own. I had to end early though because the rain started getting heavier and it was annoying to look through the rain droplets. These things don't have windshield wipers you know.

Tomorrow, if the weather plays nice, is 100% solo. yay!

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Saturday, May 13, 2006 - 14:04:26 ET

My Checklists

I've created two checklists.

My Cessna 172 Checklist is a modification of the one given to me by my FI. It contains all of the items in the POH plus a few additional ones. These items I needed to do, but would always forget, like recording the hobbs.

My Emergency Checklist is a compilation of all of the emergency checklists in the POH. All of these items need to be memorized. I found it easy to carry around this single sheet than the entire POH.

Feel free to use them yourself.

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Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - 21:37:44 ET

Some Pay Scales

I came across a site that listed pay scales for some Canadian Airlines. Depressing yet exciting at the same time:

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - 20:00:33 ET

Solo.. Complete

"Let it be known that on this 9th day of May, 2006 that Blake Crosby did, alone and unassisted, take an aerodyne into orbit and furthermore did land on the same runway without loss of blood or confidence, thereby completing first solo flight. In honour of this heroic feat of human suffering and endurance I place my hand and seal." ... says the certificate I got from Toronto Airways. They also gave me a mug!

The solo flight went great. I did two circuits with my FI, then she hopped out of the plane. Then I did a single circuit by my self. I wasn't nervous at all just did what I needed to do. When I landed ATC gave me a "congratulations".

So whats next? The next flight is going to be more circuits. First half will be with my FI where we will practice full flap landings (40° flaps), then the second hour will be solo. After that lesson, then its two lessons solo. Once thats done, then it's off to the practice area for some new exercises! Too bad its raining all weekend :(

Comments (6) | Permalink | Category: Training

Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - 16:04:10 ET

Run Away!

I came across this pretty funny video of a radar display (timelapse of course) of FedEx airplanes landing at their memphis hub while a thunderstorm is approaching.

It's funny watching the planes turn around and start holding as the storm is overhead the airport (take a look at the little group of planes to the northeast of the airport.

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Monday, May 8, 2006 - 20:45:36 ET

Student Pilot License Requirements

In order for you to be able to fly Solo while a student, you must be sure to have:

- Your medical certificate
- Radiotelephone license
- Proof of citizenship
- The blessing of your flight instructor

You also need to be able to perform certain tasks, like:

- Memorize emergency checklists for your aircraft
- Perform three consistant landings

I have all the items above .. however didn't bring any of the paper work with me this morning to get my student license. No worries though, a new flight has been booked for tomorrow morning at 7am.

Got a call from Seneca college today. Another one of my classes has been canceled due to lack of enrollment. So.. I'm only taking one class a week (the only one they are offering). There are both pros and cons that I am not going to go into :)

Comments (1) | Permalink | Category: Training

Sunday, May 7, 2006 - 23:04:54 ET

It's Solo Time!

I'm back and very anxious to get back up in the air, it's been way too long. Some interesting things have happened since I was gone.

A window from a Seneca Piper (twin engine) fell off the plane in mid-flight and landed in a car dealership.

One of my classes has been canceled due to lack of enrollment. This semester I will be only taking two: Airport Design (aka Personnel Management) and Navigation.

Seneca doesn't provide exact percentages for their final marks. Only letter grades and GPAs. I'm happy with my final grades:

Aeronautics: A
Meteorology: A
Human Factors: A+
Computer Systems: A+

(A+ = 90-100%, A = 80-89%)

My GPA so far, is 4.0.

The flight back from Cuba was interesting. I flew with Sunwing. According to Wikipedia, their fleet consists of two airplanes. Our return flight was on a Flair Airways aircraft. An airline I've never heard of. Apparently they are a charter company that other airlines can contract or hire on a short time basis to meet demands.

Some Towering Cumulus at 31,000 feet

My flight today went well. The weather was great and the circuit traffic was light. 15 was the active (and thus right hand circuits) and I was able to handle it without a hitch. We also did a flapless landing (must remember that approach speed is higher) and three simulated engine failures. Two of them were done on purpose so that I'd have to land on runway 03 in a light crosswind. The nice controller accommodated that for us and apparantly I owe him a few beers (the funniest stuff only happens on the radio when I dont set up my scanner to record it ;) ).

If all goes well tomorrow morning, I will be going Solo. I just have to finish memorizing the emergency checklists tonight.. eeep!

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