Flying in a Twin

March 28, 2012

Today I had an opportunity to do something that I have never done before. Outside of flying with the airlines as a passenger, I've never flown in a smaller multi engine airplane like this one today. It was my school's trainer, a Beechcraft Duchess (BE-76).

BE-76

The first time I looked at the cockpit, I was in awe. So many instruments, so many controls. Curiosity had captured my heart. As a private pilot I can earn my multi engine rating now, however I chose to earn my instrument rating first. Instrument is vital if you plan to be a commercial pilot, which I do.

BE-76 Cockpit

I met with two instructors Aaron and Mark. I consider all the instructors at my school as friends. It's sort of a wierd relationship that we have; I'm a student, but co-worker, and a friend. Mark mentioned over the weekend that they were going to build multi engine cross country time, and he invited me to tag along. They decided that they wanted to fly to Peoria, IL. then to Mattoon, IL, stop to eat lunch and then fly home. I was just a passenger along for the ride, so I agreed with the plan. Aaron filed an IFR flight plan from his iPad. Even though it was a gorgeous, clear, sunny day, filing IFR allows for ATC to be an extra set of eyes to watch over and guide you.

I jump in the back seat and buckle in. I've never flown in this airplane before so I was slightly nervous. Aaron fires up the left engine, then the right. The vibrations and the roars of the two engines have got me excited. This will be fun. He taxis out to runway 36 and prepares for takeoff. I now understand why using your checklist in the plane is just as important as using it during your preflight inspections. When you reach high performance, complex aircraft, the checklist is vital. Aaron then states his plan for takeoff. It was interesting that they announce a plan in case of an emergency, which is not something required to say in my single engine plane. Aaron is in charge of flying for now, and Mark handles the radios. Mark calls St. Louis approach to open their IFR flight plan. The controller is a bit busy so he asks if we can take off VFR and pick it up in the air. No problem. The area is clear and we are ready for takeoff. I watch as Aaron increases the power. We start rolling down the runway, then before you know it, we're airborne. I felt like a little kid; all I could do was smile. This is soooo awesome!

Five minutes later, we picked up our IFR plan from ATC. We were then told to fly north at 4000ft. I get out my little note pad and start taking notes about anything from ATC instructions, to personal observations. Fifteen minutes later, we were allowed to climb to our cruising altitude of 7000ft. Flying this high was a first for me. The air was so smooth that you could hardly tell you were flying. We cruised along at roughly 125 knots (about 144 mph). Shortly thereafter, we were asked to contact Springfield as they would help us get to Peoria, IL. At 65 miles into this leg's 109 mile flight, Springfield asks us to descend to 6000ft. Five minutes later, down we go to 5000ft. Aaron makes flying this plane look so effortless. After 45 minutes into our flight, we're told to contact Peoria Approach. Peoria is a Class C (charlie) airport, meaning that it's the second largest type in regards to size and traffic. I've only been into a Class C airport once. At 25 miles out, the controller gives us a set of instructions to get us on course for the ILS approach into runway 31. We started picking up turbulence at 3500ft but Aaron still makes his turns and descents and brings us down nicely. The wheels gently touch down in the center of the runway. I snap pictures like crazy. We continue to roll as they prepare for takeoff. I hear the engines getting louder and feel the vibrations getting bigger. I look outside and we're 50ft off the ground.

The air was smooth again above 4000ft. We turn to a southeast heading that will take us to Mattoon, IL. After 20 minutes of flight, we contact Champagne approach and give our intentions. Sixty miles away from the airport, they switch pilot duties. Mark flies the plane and Aaron manages the radios. As we cruise along at 5000ft, we hear and feel a small thud. "What was that?" we all say. We look around the plane and check all the gauges. Everything appears to be alright so we continue on. The controller then vectors us north of the airport and sets us up for the ILS into runway 29. We descend down to 3000ft and make a series of additional turns. We are cleared for the approach and have the runway in sight. We no longer need ATC services so we cancel the IFR flight plan. Mark lands the plane beautifully and taxis it to a restaurant on the field.

Restaurant at Coles County Airport (Mattoon, IL)

After turning off the plane, we climb out. As Aaron walks towards the front of the plane, he sees something hanging underneath the right engine. "Oh, that's got to be what we felt in the air," he says. A panel that protects part of the engine had broke loose. It's not a big deal so we decide that after lunch, we will just take it off and put it in the back storage area. 

The restaurant was packed, however we seemed to be the only plane on the ramp. The food was delivered quickly and sure was delicious. I may just have to come back with family. After eating, we had a mechanic come out with a couple tools to remove the piece. We thanked him for his services and got on our way. 

We departed the airport at 1:30pm and decided to fly back under regular VFR. At 4,500ft we noticed that it was still pretty bumpy. This was going to be an hour flight back home, so we wanted it to be smooth. Mark climbs us up to 6,500ft and levels out. Much better. We could see the Litchfield airport below us 45 minutes into our flight. It was our cue to start a descent to avoid Lambert Airport's class B airspace. We go down to 4,500ft and sit back as the turbulence knocks us around again. Less than ten minutes later, we can see everything. We see Alton airport, downtown St. Louis, the Mississippi River, and even our home airport. Mark descends down to 2,500ft to avoid the next ring of Class B airspace. Aaron listens to the local weather and makes his initial radio call to let traffic know that we're inbound. Just a few miles out, Mark descends to pattern altitude of 1,200ft. Although this has been a really fun trip, I'm kind of excited to be back home. Mark and Aaron play Rock-Paper-Scissors to decide on who gets to land the plane. Mark wins. He enters the traffic pattern and goes through the pre-landing checklist. He turns downwind, then base, then turns onto final. Again, he touches down like a pro. 

Our total time in the air was 3.3 hours. That was some serious fun. I joked around with Mark who is actually my CFII (instrument instructor) that I was going to forget about instrument training and get my multi engine rating. That was waaaaay too cool. But in all reality, I'll wait a while until I need it. So for now, I'll tag along on other flights and keep learning through observation. No matter what, I'm still in the air and I'm still smiling :)

Me during the cruise

Getting Better!

March 25, 2012

It's a partly cloudy morning with the sun shining through the breaks in the clouds. A bit hazy but that's not to stop us. The preflight inspection today went well. I meet with my instructor and decide to do the same lesson as yesterday. We walk out to the plane and climb aboard. I turn the key and the engine comes to life. The goal today was for me to fully handle both the radio communication with ATC and carry out the approach alone. Mark taxis out to the runway while I set up the radios. For the first time, I knew exactly what frequencies to use, where to find them and what order I'll need them. I programmed the radio accordingly.

We depart the area and head southwest. I'm feeling pretty confident and looking forward to seeing how this lessons goes. I listen to Spirit Airport's ATIS frequency to get the weather and runway information (currently named Foxtrot). Now prepared to call up St. Louis Approach, I press the push-to-talk button. "St. Louis Approach, Skyhawk five-three-niner-four-four is about five miles to the north of the St. Louis VOR inbound for the Localizer approach for 26Left at Spirit." He gives me a set of directions then asks if I'm flying a Skyhawk (I guess he missed that part). "Affirmative, and I have Foxtrot." Mark, my CFII gives me a thumbs up. I smile. It appears that the sun is heating the ground quickly. We get knocked around quite a bit as the thermals develop.

The controller puts us on course for the approach, but the wind from the north is stronger than he expected. It blew us right through the approach course. He called us again and said sorry for the bad directions, he didn't know what the wind was doing up there because it was clear that the course he gave us didn't work. He asked if we would be ok to try again. We tell him that was alright with us. He has us fly south, then turn left to east, then do a 180 degree turn back west. "I'll get it right this time," the controller says. We laugh it off and continue flying inbound. We get the clearance to carry out the approach and to contact Spirit's tower. The wind is directly from our right, blowing us left. I'm still fighting the turbulence. I knew that once I was at the final approach fix (named Eaves intersection) I could set up to land. Problem was that I didn't remember how to find out when I was at Eaves. Mark races to program a GPS to help us identify where Eaves was. By time he got it set up, we were already passed it. I didn't know this, but Mark did since he was able to see outside. When we arrived at the missed approach point, I looked outside and saw that I was still too high. I called the tower and told them I was going missed (doing a go-around).

We switch back over to St. Louis Approach so that we can try again. This time, everything was looking good. I was keeping the needle centered, indicating that I was in line perfectly for the runway. I was making majority of the radio calls confidently. We're told to recontact Spirit's tower. About the time we reach Eaves, Spirit tells us that there's a Mooney airplane on final approach. I'm wearing foggles so Mark looks for it. Once he makes visual contact, the tower tells us to lower our speed and to not descend under 1500ft. Problem is that for this stage of the approach, I should be at around 1100ft. The Mooney finally lands, but it's too late for us. We're too high to have a successful approach.

We go missed again and contact St. Louis Approach. The poor controller is overworked right now. All of the airports were busy and he was apparently the only one working this frequency for all general aviation traffic. He tells us that we have to continue flying the runway heading for a while to allow for aircraft separation. What seemed like forever, we finally got the ok to turn north and head home. He kept us under his radar watch for traffic advisories. Mark and I got another laugh on our way back as we constantly hear an airplane from the Creve Coeur airport making radio calls on the wrong frequency. The controller was getting very agitated with the pilot and continuously tried telling him that he's on the wrong frequency. The pilot never responded but kept making his calls. From the time we left Spirit airport to the time we arrived at our home airport, the situation never got fixed. It was very amusing to us, but we knew the controller was beyond annoyed.

My landing wasn't bad. Once inside the building Mark and I discuss the days lesson. Even with the complications, he rated my performance as slightly above average. I was very pleased. We've now practiced Lesson 18 four times (which is normal). However, Mark said I'm ready to advance to Lesson 19 (there's 23 in this stage). Yay for new stuff!!

A Good Preflight

March 24, 2012

On my drive to the airport, I find myself slightly distracted by the large, towering cumulonimbus clouds that have developed above most of the city. I began preparing myself for the potentially bumpy flight caused by the unstable atmosphere.

During my preflight inspection, I watch the clouds as I inspect everything from the propeller to the rudder. I turn on the master switch from inside to check certain instruments and test the flaps. Testing the flaps is not a requirement listed on the checklist, but just good pilot practice. Today I found out why. As the flaps lower, I hear this horrendous sound of metal shredding. This is definitely not right. I raise the flaps and cringe as I hear the sound again. This needs to be brought to my instructors attention. I finish the preflight and go inside to get Mark, my CFII.

We arrive at the plane and I tell him to listen. The flaps go down, sounds normal. "Of course, now it works right," I say as I try to prove that I'm not crazy. Then there, that sound again. I look at Mark. His full attention has been diverted as he quickly tells me to leave the flap down. He looks underneath and says, "oh, yeah well that's why. Here come look." I race to the right side of the plane and look under the flap. There's a yellow piece of metal shredded into two pieces inside of the right flap by some of the linkage. It was mangled to the point that I had no idea what it even was to begin with. We knew it was not safe to fly. We looked around the ramp to see if any other Cessna 172s were available. After seeing just one airplane parked, we go inside to check the schedule. Lucky for us, it was available.

After what should've been an hour into the lesson, we begin another preflight on the alternate airplane. This one was the Traffic Watch plane, a180hp airplane that is only available to students on the weekend. We conclude that it's safe to fly. We depart runway 27 and head west. We're going to practice the Localizer at Spirit Airport. A localizer is as sensitive as an ILS, but doesn't provide the vertical guidance. We listen to the ATIS frequency to figure out which runway they're using and what their weather is. As we're flying, Mark makes a comment about the rain. I say, "Oh it's raining?" I look up and sure enough, we hit a small pocket of light rain, which didn't last. Now it's time to contact St. Louis Approach. I make the call, and to my benefit, he could actually hear me this time. The controller vectors us around to line us up for the approach. Once cleared for the approach and at the final approach fix, I can set up to land. Decrease speed, drop a notch of flaps and descend. We switch over to Spirit's tower frequency and notify them that we are inbound. I follow through with the approach by following the direction the needle on my instrument tells me. It it moves to the right, I turn to the right, if it moves to the left, I turn to the left. The goal is to get the needle to stay centered, as that will take us straight to the center of the runway.

I was a bit surprised that there wasn't as much turbulence as I expected. The clouds were still building just a 1000 feet above us. I stayed focus and didn't do too bad tracking the Localizer. When Mark told me to look up, I was fairly close. Not needing to land, we go around. The second try was a little embarrassing. When Mark had me look up to see the runway, I was pretty far off to the left. I wouldn't have made the landing without having to do some drastic measures. Not the safest thing to do if I were flying under instrument conditions, or even regular VFR (visually). We climb back up to altitude and call it a day. We thank Spirit for their assistance and begin flying northeast towards home.

I'm trying to learn to identify parts of the city from the air, so Mark told me I could take my foggles off again. We started off gawking at all the big houses underneath us. As we continued on our route, we flew right over my old apartment, my old college, my current home, then workplace. I feel like I'm getting pretty confident to fly the area solo or with passengers now. That's been a goal of mine for a while. Once back at the airport, I tell Mark he can do the landing. I usually can pick up some good information by watching a real professional do it. Naturally, his landing was perfect.

Up I go again tomorrow!

A Wave From Above

March 18, 2012

With five other airplanes in the airport pattern, my CFII and I weren't sure we would ever get in the air. One plane landing after another, we sat somewhat impatiently at the runway hold line. If only we could just cross the runway in use, we could eventually squeeze ourselves in to traffic. Our opportunity came when a plane was on a long final approach. With just enough time to cross, we rolled across the runway and got in line to takeoff. After another plane landed and one took off, it was finally our turn. "x-x-8-2-Golf you are cleared for takeoff. Climb and maintain 2000 fly heading 270," Mark stated as he played the roll of ATC. I repeat his instructions to confirm that I understood.

During the climb, I listen to Spirit Airport's weather and terminal information frequency. After receiving the current weather conditions, it states that the runways in use are 26L (left) and 26R (right). We now have "Information Whiskey." I call up St. Louis Approach and once again they couldn't clearly hear me so Mark took over. The controller vectored us around to line us up for the ILS approach into Spirit's 26L runway. Now with the clearance to carry out the full approach, we contact Spirit's tower to let them know we're inbound. The wind was from our left, pushing us to the right. I continuously corrected for the wind. The two needles on my instrument that guide me to the runway said that I still needed to fly more to the left and needed to keep descending. For some unknown reason, I already felt low, causing me to be overly cautious in my descent. Perhaps it was because I couldn't see with the foggles on in addition to knowing that was was only flying 200ft above subdivisions and businesses. My CFII assured me that I was ok and to trust my instruments. I kept on course then hear Mark tell me to look up. The runway was right in front of my eyes and the plane was lined perfectly with the centerline. That never gets old!

With no need to land, we start our climb. The controller in the tower told us to continue our climb and fly the runway heading. We had to wait for a helicopter to depart the area before we could begin our turn. Moments later, we get the controller's approval to turn right. She tells us to recontact St. Louis Approach and to have a wonderful day. I love working with controllers who are as friendly as her. St. Louis Approach told us to remain at an altitude below 1700ft and continue on our northeast heading.

Shortly after departing Spirit's airspace, Mark asks me an unusual question. "Do you want to fly back with your foggles off?" It caught me off guard and I quickly found myself weighing the pro and cons of flying back under regular VFR (visually- foggles off). "But keeping the foggles on is good practice," "But I would love to look outside and see the city!" I thought to myself. I knew we'd be flying right over my house, so I decided to take the foggles off. I kept trying to guess which highways we were flying over, and I kept guessing wrong. The most obvious things on the ground look so different from the air. Mark knew the area well enough that he pointed out the local mall. I then asked where the library was since I live near it. A mere second later, his finger points to the right as he says, "right over there." "Oh!" I say. "Well then... hey there's my house!" Excitement rushed through my body as I continue on my way and fly right over my workplace. I wave to everyone below. This is the kind of flying that I really like.

We arrive back to our home airport and make it a point to perform some extra landings. Lately, I've felt like I've lost my "touch," so I wanted some help. The Cessna 172 is just an all around bigger, heavier plane, making it harder to land. On final approach I'm still a little too high and a bit too fast. I do my best to correct then pull the power out to idle as I'm over the runway. Mark tells me to level out and to keep it off the ground. My eyes are focused just feet in front of us as I feel like I need to watch the propeller to make sure it doesn't hit the concrete beneath us. Mark tells me, "eyes down the runway. Now gently flare. Keep pulling back. Let the airspeed die." The wheels touch down. "Not bad," I say. "One more try?"

Now on our second time around the airport pattern, I focus harder on my speed control. I turn onto the base leg and drop a second notch of flaps. Maintain 75 knots. Turn onto final, more flaps, 65 knots, line up with runway centerline. This one is already looking better. Power to idle, glide it in, level out, look farther down the runway, slow down, flare. Now that was a soft landing! I'm now determined to make every landing that nice. I just have to wait six days to try again...

Flight Log to Date
Hours flown: 106.8

VOR Approaches

March 4, 2012

It was a beautiful morning to fly. The winds were light from the west with a mostly clear sky. I was determined to master these approaches, and with the light winds I could actually focus on the lesson more and spend less energy fighting turbulence. I was excited.

As we're getting ready to turn onto the runway for takeoff, another plane comes in to land. We wait our turn until we hear the pilot announce on the radio that his front tire went flat. He was stuck on the active runway and had to wait for line service to tow him back to the hangar. I turn off the airplane and wait patiently, along with two other planes. About five minutes later, the runway is clear and we're free to fly. We takeoff from runway 27 and climb to 2,500ft. My CFII, Mark has me make a left turn to get us flying in the general direction of our desired airport. We listen to the weather report and then contact St. Louis Approach. "Skyhawk xx43D 5 miles north of the St. Louis VOR, inbound for the VOR-Alpha approach in to Creve Coeur. I have the local weather," I say. The controller didn't hear me, so I repeat my statement. This time he understood half of what I said, but told me that my radio wasn't coming through clearly. Mark then took over the radio communications, which had better success. I was a bit bummed, as I felt like I knew enough and was comfortable enough to handle all the radio talk this time.

The controller gives us vectors (directions) to Creve Coeur and gives us the clearance to enter Class B airpspace, but he must have missed which approach we were asking for. He told us to turn right to an East heading. This didn't quite make sense, so Mark asked him to confirm his instructions. The controller said his request was correct so we continued our flight to the East. When the controller gave us another strange heading to turn to, we knew something was wrong. Mark figured out that  he was giving us directions to track a GPS approach, not the VOR-A approach that we requested. After another radio call was made, the mistake was fixed and we got on the right course for the VOR approach.

After positively identifying the Foristell VOR by listening to the Morse Code, the controller has us intercept the radial that we'll follow to the airport. The air is so smooth that I could maintain altitude and heading without any effort; it was nice. I'm lined up perfectly with the approach, just cruising along until we reach the final approach fix. The controller gives us the clearance to carry out the approach, which means we are free to turn to whatever heading we need and descend as necessary. At the final approach fix, we slow down, descend and lower flaps. Looking good. As we get close to the missed approach fix (the point where you decide to land or not), Mark says that's far enough and we end the approach.

After ending communications with ATC, we fly north back over the Mississippi River into Illinois. We're going to follow the VOR approach into Smartt Airport. Mark asks me if I feel up to the challenge of doing the entire approach alone. After a deep breath, I say yes. We fly outbound for several miles, then get ready to make my procedure turn inbound. I read my chart and thought I need to turn right to a heading of 163, but I was wrong. This picture shows what I would've done, had I made that turn.

Wrong approach method

As you can see, it would have put me on the east side of the correct inbound course and running parallel to it. I would've had to intercept the course again to get back on track, which would've made things more difficult had I really been flying in instrument conditions. Mark corrected me, by telling me to fly this: 

Correct approach method

As soon as he got me on the right track, I was good to go. I followed it right in to the airport. Since we didn't want to land on the runway it was taking us to, we followed the procedures for a circling approach. Mark told me to take my foggles off. The airport right was out my window, only 400ft below me. We maintain altitude and follow the traffic pattern around to set us up for a landing on runway 27. The light winds made for a wonderful landing. It was so nice that I wanted to do another. We had a half hour of time left, so we took to the skies once more. Mark complimented me on the takeoff then we climb to pattern altitude of 1,200ft. Turn left onto the downwind leg, set up to land, turn onto the base leg, drop more flaps, turn left onto the final leg. Looking even better than the first landing, I come in to land. The wheels gently kissed the runway. I smiled.