Wisconsin Cross-Country Flight

With fall setting in across northern Wisconsin, the trees were starting to turn which made for a beautiful view from the ground but even more spectacular from the air. Having not flown an official cross-country flight in over a year, I decided to fly one. A cross-country flight is any flight to an airport that is at least a straight-line distance of 50 nautical miles from the origin airport. Flying out of Cherryland Airport, I selected Wittman Regional in Oshkosh, WI as my destination.

I awoke early and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise over Lake Michigan while getting a weather briefing so I could complete my flight plan. I arrived at the airport around 8am and was airborne by 8:30am. Shortly after takeoff, I contacted the Green Bay Flight Service Station to open my flight plan for the trip down to Oshkosh which was scheduled to be a short 43 minute flight. After opening up a flight plan, I contacted Green Bay approach and advised them that I wished to transition through their airspace en route to Oshkosh, which they approved. At the same time, I asked if they could provide flight following.

When flying VFR a flight plan provides some protection in case of an emergency by allowing the FAA to know where you were going, when you expected to be there, where you might have diverted to and a few other vital pieces of information that could help them in case of an emergency. Another great service for a VFR pilot is flight following. If air traffic controllers have capacity, they can assist a VFR pilot by providing radar monitoring services. They will advise of any traffic along the route and keep an eye on your position during the flight.

As I approached the midway point of the flight, Green Bay, I took in a great view of Lambeau Field – Home of the Green Bay Packers. While overflying the town of Green Bay I could see Lake Winnebago and the cities of Appleton and Oshkosh off the front of the plane’s nose. A few minutes later, Wittman Regional Airport came into view. I informed Green Bay approach that I had Wittman in view and requested permission to change radio frequencies to contact the Wittman Tower.

During the Oshkosh Airshow, it becomes one of the busiest airports in the world. Today, it was quiet with only a few other planes in the area. I touched down close to my estimated time of arrival. During the flight down I had a headwind but the trip back proved to be quicker with a nice tailwind. I climbed up to 5,500 feet for the flight back to Sturgeon Bay and enjoyed taking in the beautiful fall colors and the great scenery of northern Wisconsin. It was just one of those perfect days to fly where the air was smooth and the view was wonderful.

Biennial Flight Review Passed

It has been two years and a month since I earned my private pilot’s license. As part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s regulations, pilots are required to pass a Biennial Flight Review if they wish to serve as pilot in command of an aircraft.

I had scheduled my BFR a month earlier but during pre-flight, noticed the airworthiness certificate was missing from the plane. I thought it was the Certified Flight Instructor’s way of testing to see if I did a thorough pre-flight inspection. It turned out it was lost and the plane had to be grounded until it was found. It was not found until days later, unfortunately. Happily, this time out to the airport all the paperwork was in order.

For a few days leading up to the BFR I reviewed my Sporty’s Private Pilot DVDs and the Federal Aviation Regulations/Aeronautical Information Manual (FAR/AIM) book that contains all the regulations that pertain to flying as a private pilot.

During the Biennial Flight Review the Certified Flight Instructor does a one hour long verbal flight review that covers regulations and concepts related to flying (e.g., Weights and balances, weather, etc.). My CFI and I spent about an hour and fifteen minutes and for the most part I was able to answer all but a few obscure questions. After the verbal part we went out for the one hour flight review. We departed Sturgeon Bay’s Cherryland Airport for one of my favorite airports, Ephraim Airport. I showed my experience with pilotage, flying from one point to another using maps and ground references, to get us to Ephraim. Once there we took advantage of the beautiful turf strip there. I performed short field and soft field take-offs and landings on the turf. I truly love the nostalgic barnstorming feeling of landing on turf runways. After performing some nice crosswind landings we departed and headed back to Sturgeon Bay where we performed a wide variety of maneuvers demonstrated in most Private Pilot Check Rides or insurance check-outs: Turns around a point, stalls, 45&Deg; bank turns, etc.

When we got back to Sturgeon Bay I new there would be one more part of the test, a landing with a failed engine. Sure enough as I entered the pattern to land at Cherryland Airport my CFI announced my engine had failed and pulled the power out to simulate an engine failure. I cut the pattern short to ensure we would make the runway and brought the airplane down gently. Upon completing the landing I was informed I had passed my Biennial Flight Review.

Flying Along For the Ride

I have had some great aviation experiences over the past few weeks. I recently had the opportunity to fly with the AeroShell Aerobatic Team as they prepared for the 2006 Chicago Air & Water Show. The four plane team performs in their T-6 Texans, a plane used by the military to train pilots for World War II. The T-6 is a powerful single prop plane capable of inverted flight.

We took off in formation and flew out over Lake Michigan where we flew loops and barrelrolls. It was quite an experience flying inverted and flying a loop and I loved every minute of it. This was my second opportunity to fly with a performance team. Last year I flew in the backseat of of T-34, a plane used by the Lima Lima Flight Team. I uploaded some photos and video from the flight and from my time at the Press Day for the Airshow.

Just days after my experience with Aeroshell I was in beautiful Sedona, Arizona for vacation. While there, my wife and I visited one of the most picturesque airports in america, Sedona Airport (KSEZ). While there we could not pass up an opportunity to take in a flight in a Waco bi-plane and seeing the beauty of the Red Rocks of Sedona from above. This was the first time my wife or I had flown in a bi-plane. Like my flight experience with Aeroshell it was excellent. I have always enjoyed flying my Cessna with the windows open but flying in an open cockpit plane is a wonderful thrill.

With some of my aviation rides out of the way it is time for me to get back into the cockpit. This weekend I am scheduled for my first biennial flight review. During the biennial flight review I will undergo an hour of ground instruction followed by an hour of flight time in which I need to prove to a certified flight instructor that I still have the knowledge and skills to serve as pilot in command. It is an FAA Requirement that must be fulfilled every two years in order to continue to act as pilot in command of an aircraft.

EAA Airventure 2006 in Oshkosh, WI

This weekend my wife and I drove up to Oshkosh, WI for the EAA Airventure 2006. Every year since 1970, Wittman Regional Airport serves as the location of one of the aviation world's premier events. It has been estimated that three quarters of a million people attend the show and over 10,000 aircraft fly in for this week-long event. During the week the control tower prides itself as being the busiest in the world.

We set-up a tent in Camp Scholler which is on the EAA grounds and open to EAA members. It was a very hot weekend and when we arrived at 10pm to set-up camp the temperatures were still easily in the 80s.

We got up early and headed over to the EAA Museum to hear Dick Rutan talk about being the first person to fly around the world non-stop. As my readers know, I am amazed by people who have pushed the envelope of flying; like Jerrie Mock's circumnavigation of the world in 1964 or Steve Fossett's trip around the globe this past year which was the first in a jet.

It was nearly twenty years ago that Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager flew around the world without stopping or refueling in their Voyager Aircraft. Dick talked about the five years it took to take the idea and develop an aircraft that could accomplish this amazing flight. The aircraft was designed by his brother Burt Rutan; who recently designed SpaceShipOne the first civilian spacecraft to travel to space and return safely. It took them five years of hard work, dedication and some luck to build and test an aircraft that would be able to make such a flight. Dick spoke of the many close calls they had during the 9 day, 3 minute, and 44 second flight.

Dick explained the importance of events like AirVenture to inspire people to push the limits of our world. He mentioned that before Chuck Yeager flew "Bell X-1" through the sound barrier, it was questioned whether man could build a flying machine that could travel as fast as the speed of sound. It took a man with courage and a pioneer attitude to prove it could be done.

Dick and his brother were inspired by aviation at a young age and worked with a single focus to prove that an plane could be designed and built that could allow someone to fly around the world non-stop. Since then his brother Dick helped design SpaceShipOne, the first civilian spacecraft to travel to space and return safely. Dick hopes he can inspire the youth of America to become the pioneers of the future and that they may develop the ability to travel faster than the speed of light.

At Airventure there were over 5,000 forums and discussions throughout the week. This was the only one that my wife and I attended but it had to have been one of the best of the show. It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to meet Dick after his very entertaining and enlightening talk.

After leaving the museum we headed to the farthest end of the show where the ultra-light airstrip is located. There we enjoyed watching six or seven ultra-lights flying in the pattern. Some looked like Go-Carts with a propeller dangling from a hang-glider. But they flew so gracefully that I decided at some point I will have to give this type of flying a try.

From there we walked along the flight line looking at many of the nearly 10,000 aircraft that flew in for the event. It is just an amazing sight to see the thousands of planes lined up in rows off the main runway. We enjoyed seeing a ton of neat experimental aircraft along with traditional aircraft like the Cessna 172. At the far end of the main runway was an area where all the warbirds were parked. We spent nearly an hour walking through the amazing collection of planes from World War I era to present. I noticed one of the t-34 trainers of the Lima Lima Flight Team with whom I enjoyed a flight with last summer.

After seeing almost all of the planes on display we checked out the exhibit areas. I checked in with the FAA and AOPA and provided them some updated contact information which saved me a few phone calls. I also had the opportunity to check out Microsoft's new Flight Simulator X which comes out this fall. While walking through the exhibit area we saw Chuck Yeager standing next to his P-51 Mustang, Glamorous Glen III.

At 3:30 the airshow kicked off with a ton of great acts. I especially enjoyed watching all the warbirds flying. The World War II bombers never look like they will be able to lift off the runway. It is always a treat to see those historic planes take to the sky. I especially enjoyed Mike Goulian's acrobatic performance in the Castrol Extra.

If you are an aviation enthusiast and have never been to AirVenture you are missing out. Check it out next year July 23 - July 29, 2007. Until then you can check out some of my photos on Flickr.

Flying with Dad

I celebrated the Fourth of July holiday in Door County, Wisconsin. Whenever I am in Door County I try to take in a flight as it is an absolutely beautiful place to fly. The local Fixed Based Operator that I rent from is Orion Flight Service. A friendly operation based at the Cherryland Airport in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

Since it had been more than six months since I flew with them last I needed to take a brief written exam and then fly a check-ride with a CFI. Adam, the CFI, and I met and reviewed the written test then headed out to the airplane. Cherryland has two nice runways. The one running parallel to Sturgeon Bay is the one I have used in the past. The winds were situated such that no matter what runway I chose I was going to have a little bit of a crosswind.

I chose to take off from the runway that runs perpendicular to the bay since I had not flown that pattern before. It is the smaller of the two runways, although is still plenty long and wide at 3,200 feet x 75 feet. This runway lacks a taxiway so I back taxied to the end of the runway.

The flight review went smoothly. I enjoyed talking with Adam about his flight experiences during the flight. He has experience in tail draggers and in float planes which was fun to hear about. He also would love to go to Alaska to be a bush pilot, I can’t blame him for that.

After the check-out ride I had a special opportunity – My father was waiting on the tarmac for his first flight with me. Not sure how nearly two years have passed without me getting a chance to take him flying but it was a fun experience, although short. The check ride had run long so we only had time for about a 30 minute flight. We flew up and down the lake side of the Door County Peninsula and I let him fly for a bit. He seemed to do fine with that. Then we headed back. Unfortunately, I made one of the my worst landing in my two years of flying.

Due to the crosswind I flew the approach a little faster than normal which caused us to balloon a little on the landing flair but since we had plenty of runway left I flew it in ground effect for a couple of seconds to bleed of some speed then let it set itself back on the ground wind side wheel first. But, my foot must have been a little high on the rudder and pressing the break cause when the wheel came down the plane wanted to pivot on that wheel and had I not corrected it I think the plane would have wanted to swerve off to the side of the runway. Not the landing I had envisioned for my first flight with my Dad but I am sure there will be more to impress him with my landing abilities.

Until then maybe I will log some hours working on crosswind landings.

Scenic New York City Flight

A couple of months ago I read a great feature article in Pilot Getaways Magazine about a general aviation corridor that allowed general aviation aircraft to fly along the Hudson River to see the skyscrapers of New York City from Window-height. After reading the article I knew I needed to give this flight experience a try. While visiting some family in New Jersey my wife and I had the opportunity to fly along side New York City in a Cessna 172 SP.

In looking for places to start this flight from I came across Lincoln Park Wings based at Lincoln Park Airport, a single strip runway in Northern New Jersey. Lincoln Park Wings offers a pre-planned scenic flight of the Hudson River in a Cessna 172 complete with a Glass Cockpit. I mentioned I was a private pilot and they ensured me I could fly the route with the Certified Flight Instructor.

This flight would include many firsts for me. It would be my first flight in New Jersey or New York and be my first experience in a glass cockpit. According to Wikipedia a glass cockpit is "...an aircraft cockpit that features electronic instrument displays. Where a traditional cockpit relies on numerous mechanical gauges to display information, a glass cockpit utilizes a few computer-controlled displays that can be adjusted to display flight information as needed."

After spending all of my flight time flying with traditional gauges I expected to be overwhelmed by the glass cockpit displays. But, I found them easy to read and relatively intuitive. I can see how it would take 10-20 hours to master the use of the system but after a little over an hour I was starting to understand where I needed to look to find the relevant information. If you have access to a plane with a glass cockpit I would highly recommend checking it out. You can read more about flying a glass cockpit at CockpitMentor.

Flying in a crowded airspace such as surrounds New York the features of the Garmin 1000 came in handy. It gave a clear visual image of where the different airspaces were located and helped us to ensure we did not violate any of them. The system also tracks other aircraft and would announce if traffic were near which happened occasionally as there is a variety of helicopter traffic in New York. By looking at the device you could easily determine where the traffic was and then look outside the cockpit to find it and ensure you stayed out of each others path.

Many pilots have said that in their early flights in a glass cockpit that they have troubles maintaining their normal practice of conducting visual scans of the horizon for aircraft and get caught up looking at the digital screens. Luckily, having the beautiful scenery of the New York City Skyline ensured I would keep my eyes out of the cockpit.

Our flight took us over some beautiful neighborhoods of Jersey and then over the Hudson River just North of the George Washington Bridge. We flew about 800 feet over the river which put us even with many of the buildings in New York. I am familiar with New York but it is seeing New York from this vantage point that really helped me understand what an amazingly huge city it is. Central Park for instance is much larger than I had ever imagined. We had a great view of the Concorde and SR-71 that are on display with the USS Intrepid Aircraft Carrier Museum. After passing by the city for the first time we came up to a beautiful view the Statue of Liberty before making a 180° turn to go back up the Hudson.

During the flight I had an enjoyable conversation with the CFI, Michael, who is teaching in NJ over the summer between years at Embry Riddle. I always enjoy the conversations I have when I have an opportunity to fly with other pilots. After completing our scenic tour of New York I flew us back to Lincoln Park, playing with the glass cockpit on the way. As, I mentioned before Lincoln Park is a small airport with a runway that is less than 3,000 feet long and only 40 feet wide which leaves little room for error on landings. But, despite making my first landing in over a month we made a smooth landing to conclude a wonderful flight.

I highly recommend any pilot that has the opportunity to fly the Hudson River Corridor to do it, check out Lincoln Park Wings while you are at it. I put up a gallery of my photos from the flight on Flickr.

Itching to Fly

I will spare the detailed excuses and simply say Thirty Eight.

It has been a month since my last flight and man do I have the itch to get out to the airport. But, a busy travel schedule combined with inconsistent weather in Chicago has kept me grounded. My goal is to get an hour or two of flying in sometime in the next seven days.

Memorial Day signifies the start of a busier flying season for me. Since moving to Chicago it has been harder to fly as it takes more time to get out to the airport and to find aircraft rental availability. Though it gets easier as summer starts and the sun is out longer giving more time for daytime VFR. I also take several long weekends to head up to Northern Wisconsin where I will often fly a few times over the weekend. I love flying out of the small airports in Wisconsin.

While on the ground I have been filling my aviation needs with my magazine subscriptions: AOPA Pilot, AOPA Flight Training and Flying Magazine. I also have been enjoying reading many of the aviation blogs listed in my blogroll to the right, checking out podcasts like Finer Points and answering e-mails from my readers.

An aspiring pilot from Michigan wrote me to see what I thought of the Sporty's DVD Pilot Courses. I told him they were well worth the investment and that I found them extremely beneficial while learning to fly but also a great as a refresher between flights. I also had a conversation with a pilot in the UK who has put up an interesting site and blog at ModernPilot.com, check it out.

Well, I am off to look at the seven day forecast and figure out when I log some time in the 172.

Aviation in Australia

I am back from a wonderful vacation in Australia. I highly recommend a trip there if ever you have the chance to visit. During the trip I had several occasions to think about aviation. How can you not when you lift off in a 747 from Los Angeles for a 14+ hour flight that is over the Pacific Ocean for all but 15 minutes of the flight to Sydney?

I had recently read about Australian Aviation Hero Charles Kingsford Smith who was the first to fly across the pacific in 1928. He was an aviator that has largely been overlooked by many historians despite many remarkable accomplishments. One that came to mind while flying to Australia was his flight in the Southern Cross, a Fokker FVIIb-3m with Wright Whirlwind engines, from Oakland to Hawaii on to Fiji then the final leg to Brisbane, Australia. In 1928 it took him over 3 days of flying spread out over nine days. We made our flight in fourteen hours in the comfort of a United Boeing 747.

After arriving in Sydney we had a brief layover before departing for Melbourne. I took the opportunity to head upstairs to the flight deck and introduce myself to the pilots who showed me around the cockpit before our flight. It was fun to see the view from the cockpit of this enormous plane. The pilot mentioned that prior to 9/11 knowing I was a pilot they would have invited me up to the cockpit to enjoy the flight, now that would have been a great time.

Australia is an active country in which the Australians make sure to enjoy their passions whether it be footy, rugby, running, motor sports or flying. While driving the Great Ocean Road near Melbourne (an absolutely amazing and beautiful drive). We came across about 8-10 hang gliders floating over a mountain ridge along the ocean. They must have had the most amazing views. Driving a little further we came across their beach front landing zone. I think I might have to give that type of flying a try some time.

While in the Outback we visited the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Museum in Alice Springs. The RFDS is a not-for-profit charitable service that provides emergency and primary health care services to people who are in remote areas of Australia. Australia is a vast nation with many of the people living in remote locations and the only way for them to receive primary and emergency health care is via airplane. Annually, the RFDS attends to nearly 200,000 patients and provides over 25,000 aerial evacuations using their 40 aircraft fleet.

The RFDS museum is located at the Alice Springs Base one of 22 in Australia. You get to view the operations center from which they plan their scheduled daily flights to provide clinics in different regions of the Northern Territory and where when necessary emergency flights are planned.

Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to do any flying of my own while in Australia. I can imagine it would be a great place to be a private pilot. National Geographic has an interesting article online about Tom Clynes who learned to fly on a 1,700 mile aerial tour of Eastern Australia.

During our return flight from Sydney we learned that this was the final flight for the Captain as he would be retiring after a 21 year career with United Airlines. Upon arrival into Los Angeles the L.A. Fire Department provided a water cannon salute to the Captain and his 747 in honor of his career. Water cannon salutes are a tradition for the completion of a commercial pilot’s last flight.

Speaking of flying, I reserved a plane for tomorrow night and am looking forward to doing some flying of my own. I plan to fly out of Schaumburg in the same Cessna 172 that I flew last time. This plane is equipped with GPS navigation and autopilot both I which I look forward to becoming better familiarized with.

Flying on Autopilot

Why hasn’t anyone told me about this autopilot thing before? Sure, I have heard of planes with autopilot before but had never flown one. On tonight’s flight we flew a Cessna 172 that was nicely equipped with GPS and autopilot. I have only flown an aircraft that has GPS a few times so just having that was nice. I was excited to see how the autopilot worked.

I was flying with Matt, an instructor at Northwest Aviation, since it had been a while since my last flight. We had a perfect night for flying as the temperature was in the mid-fifties. We had 10 miles of visibility and wind was less than five knots. I was surprised that with the beautiful weather the airport was not too busy.

I took off on runway 29 and headed west. Schaumburg’s airport is located under the shelves of O’Hare airspace so we flew under 2,000 ft. for a while. Once we got to the practice area we did some of the basic maneuvers: slow flight, stalls (power on and off) and 45° bank turns. After that we decided to fly to a control towered field, Dupage, for some landings.

On the way Matt showed me how the autopilot worked. We first set the GPS to give us a direct course to Dupage Airport. Once we had the best course we entered it into the autopilot and set the altitude we desired, we turned on the auto-pilot. I let go of the yoke and pulled my feet from the rudders and the plane started to fly itself. It handled the turn to the proper heading and descended to the new altitude and maintained it once we reached it. As I contacted the tower and received our landing instructions and clearances, I would simply give the autopilot new instructions for heading and altitude and it would handle the rest. It was really neat to see. It allows the pilot to concentrate on doing checks for traffic, monitoring the gauges and to handle some navigation tasks. As we turned onto final approach for Dupage runway 20R I disengaged the autopilot and made a nice landing.

We circled around and did a simulated engine out landing before heading back to Schaumburg. It was a great night of learning and flying. It was great to get more experience with a GPS enabled aircraft and to explore the benefits of autopilot. I have a feeling there will be more flights in this plane in the near future.

Preparing for My Next Flight

I have scheduled a plane for Friday evening. For the first time in weeks I have some free time and the weather looks like it will be nice enough to go flying. According to LogbookPro I have not made well on my New Years resolution to fly 24+ hours in 2006 or 2 hours per month. I have only flown .7 hours since January first. I am sure I will have no trouble meeting or exceeding my hours goal as I prefer to fly as it starts to get a little warmer and the days start to get longer.

Heading to the airport on a Friday evening is a perfect way to start a weekend. I look forward to getting back in the air. Since I have not flown much over the winter I plan to take a few refresher flights with a flight instructor. Additionally, I plan to spend a few hours reviewing some of my aviation books and my Sporty's Private Pilot Training DVDs.