For those who don’t know, I have been training and studying for my Instrument Rating for my pilots license.  When you first get your license you can only fly in weather conditions that allow you to see the ground and or the horizon.  You need to maintain this visual reference to ensure that the plane stays in the proper attitude.  When you loose this visual reference, the forces of three dimensional flight can trick you in to feeling like up is down and left is right.  The next step in the piloting progression is to become instrument rated.  This teaches you how to fly by reference to flight instruments alone.  This is critical if you are going to be flying in and out of the clouds.

There was a lot of reading, learning, and flying that went in to gearing up for the rating.  I took the written test and passed with flying colors a few weeks back.  Today I took the flight test and aced that too.  It certainly doesn’t mean I am invicible or an expert pilot.  I am still not going to go fly in to bad weather, nor do I think I am suddenly capable of handling any scenario.  It does however mean I have reached the next level of proficiency and has removed several restrictions.  Now, I basically have to rely on my own good judgement.

Anyway thanks to Glenn, my instructor for doing a great job, and Lisa for putting up with my stress level.

Plus One Flyers The flying club that Lisa and I belong to recently held their quarterly membership meeting.  This particular meeting was especially interesting in that Craig Fuller, the President of the Airplane Owners and Pilot’s Association (AOPA) was attending as a guest speaker.  AOPA is one of the most influential aviation advocacy groups in the world and is providing a critical service to the general aviation community.  AOPA works to ensure that our privilege to fly as GA pilot’s is maintained and the freedom’s we sometimes take as granted as American Pilot’s is not threatened.  Mr. Fuller is currently leading the charge at AOPA and fighting the good fight for us little guys.

The meeting was well catered and held in the Crown Air Hanger at Montgomery Field.  The general membership meeting was fairly quick and the session moved on to a talk and Q&A with Mr. Fuller.  He have quite a few interesting things to say about the state of affairs in general aviation.  Interestingly, his number one concern is the shrinking population of pilots, and specifically the poor retention rate of those seeking primary flight training.  Getting people to take the first step and begin their training is hard enough.  The fact that the great number of people do not finish the training is startling.  Mr. Fuller’s point here is that there is strength in numbers.  For our voice to be heard in Washington, we need many voices.  We need to do all we can to help grow our numbers and provide a strong and healthy community for which AOPA can advocate.

During the Q&A session I was able to stand up and ask the final question of the night.  I basically asked Mr. Fuller to comment on my concern that, in the long run I hope that flying is something I can share with my children and grandchildren.  Currently there exists a number of threats to GA.  From funding, to the price of fuel, to regulations stemming from fear or terrorism, to bad press from accidents.  I asked Mr. Fuller to speak to those concerns in light of  Lisa and I are currently a lot of money into flying now in the hopes that it will be a life style our family can have for generations.  His main point was that AOPA will do everything it can to secure that future, and that in the end pilot’s will always find a way to fly.  Looking to Europe where these threats have already materialize, people still fly.  They way they fly might be different but they still do.  Pilot’s are a resourceful bunch and will find a way to stay in the air.

It was a great night.  Just another reason why Plus One Flyers is the best flying club in the country.  After the talk, we got an opportunity to take a picture with Mr. Fuller.

So something happend this weekend that hasn’t happened in a long time.  I flew two days in a row.  The first flight on Friday was my first flight of my official instrument rating training.  Glenn and I went up to get some pitch and power settings for N739MH (a Cessna 172N).  We also briefly touched on the instrument scan, instrument preflight, and I did my first VOR check.  It was good to get up and finally start the next phase of my aviation aventures.

The on Saturday, I went up with Kurt in N6253V.  The trip started out fairly normal with  quick trip down to Brown (KSDM) for some gas.  I decided it was going to be a VFR day.  I figure I will be getting enough IFR time over the next several months.  I realized on the way down how little time I have spent looking outside while flying in San Diego.  I still have no clue where anything is.

While on the ground at Brown Kurt suggested we do the “Harbor Tour” on the way back up.  We headed to the south end of San Diego Bay.  We called up North Island and requested the Harbor Transition.  It was really cool.  We flew right up the middle of the bay.  The route takes you over the Navy Ship Yard and the Coronado Bridge.  You get to see all of Coronado (Hotel Del, etc) and you basically buzz the downtown skyline and snag a nice view of Petco Park as a bonus.  From there you head up and around where you get to see San Diego International and the North Island Naval Base along with all of the Sailboats in the Harbor.

On the way out you fly over the Submarines parked on the south side of Point Loma.  As an added bonus, there was an Aircraft Carrier right of Point Loma that we got a great view of as well (see below).  From there you head north up the coast at about 500ft AGL.  While on the way up we saw a few dolphins and got a view of Mission Bay, Crystal Pier, and La Jolla.  From there we gained some altitude and headed back in to Montgomery.  It was the most interesting flight I have had in San Diego thus far.  A big thanks to Kurt!

Back in december, I came across a groupon from Corporate Helicopters advertising the opportunity to take an introductory helicopter lesson for an unbelievable price.  If you think flying airplanes is expensive, double that and you get helicopter rates.  Yikes.  Anyway, I have always wanted to at least try it out and be able to be that one logged hour in my log book, so I purchased the deal.

This past weekend I schedule the flight and got up in the air.  The day started with some ground training on the systems of the helicopter, basic aerodynamics, and maneuvers.  After that I spent a good hour in a simulator getting used to the controls and basics of flight.  After that we pre-flighted a Robinson R22 and got up in the air.

We flew up over the cost and beaches to the Del Mar Racetrack, then up to Rancho Sante Fe, over Miramar and then back to the airport.  The flight lasted about and hour.  To my (and Jeff’s) surprise, I did almost all of the flying.  Jeff got us off the ground and also helped me out with the approach, but other than that he was pretty much hands off for the entire rest of the flight.  Apparently that typically doesn’t happen until the third lesson or so.

After we got back to the airport we did a little practivce hovering.  This is definitely the most challenging part of the initial training.  Being able to maintain precise control in three dimensions while hovering only a few feet of the ground is not entirely easy.  I wasn’t great at it, but managed to get a little better by the end.  Again it typically takes several lessons to “get it”.

All and all it was a ton of fun.  I am not going to run out and get my heli license.  I still have a lot of work to do in airplanes before I even consider that.  I think helicopters might be a little more fun, but they are definitely not as practical.  The case more, have less range and can carry less.  I am totally glad I did it though and it was a great experience.  I didn’t have my camera with me, but here is a shot of the actual Helicopter I flew:

SOLUTE sponsored a corporate chalet at the Miramar Airshow and they gave me two tickets.  Since the family was in town and going to the Zoo, I decided to save my brother-in-law Dan form the zoo experience.  The chalet included food, drinks, and prime seating right on the runway.  Dan and I poked around the airshow grounds and then watched the show.  Here are some pics:

I have had the opportunity to travel to Scottsdale to meet with a business partner on a few occasions.  Normally I have been flying out on Southwest for a day trip (out and back in the same day).  This time Lex recommended that we actually fly ourselves out there in a Cessna.  Lex is a former F-18 pilot and holds an ATP license.

We loaded up early in the morning and made our way over for the meeting.  On the decent into Scottsdale we could already feel the heat.  When we departed after our meeting it was well above 100 degrees.  Yikes.  We were quite happy when we reached our cruising altitude and in cooled off a bit.  Other than the heat the flight was pretty fun.  I got to fly the Cessna 182 RG which was my first aircraft with retractable gear.  Also neat was that the company was footing the bill for the flight.

Doug snapped a few pics of us from the back seat:

Emily was in town (from NY) for a long weekend and as part of the events we decided to take a trip up to French Valley Airport with Kurt.  The 4 of us (Lisa, Kurt, Emily and me) flew from Montgomery (KMYF) up to French Valley (F70) for a brunch at the French Valley Cafe.  Since I hadn’t flown in about 3 weeks, the way up was a little rusty.  However, by the return trip I was feeling much better.  The cafe was pretty nice, not to expensive and the service was decent.  Instead of my normal Eggs Benedict, I opted for a ham, cheese, pepper and tomato omelett.  Tasty.

Good food, good company and good flying.

F70:

I was able to wrap up by Biennial Flight Review, Plus One Flyers Check out, and my Piper Warrior Checkout on Sunday.  Terry and I took N9206N over to Ramona to get me familiar with the Airspace to the east and to do some touch and goes.  Everything was pretty straight forward and went well.  I got my key to the club planes and am good to go.  I think I will probably take one of the warriors out for some solo touch and goes at some point in the near future to get a little more proficient.  Anyway, here is the Bird:

Last weekend I joined the Plus One Flyers flying club here in San Diego.  I would have to say that I am pretty impressed with the club thus far.  Everyone is very friendly and the planes are kept in pretty good shape (and there is quite a wide variety to choose from).  I decided that since I need a Biennial Flight Review, a check out at the club, and an introduction to the airspace around San Diego that I could use a lesson or two with an instructor.  Also, I have pretty much only flow high wing Cessnas (152, 172, 182, 206, etc) so I figured I would give a low wing a shot to broaden my horizons.

I went up with Terry today (who is turning out to be the family flight instructor as he is also doing Lisa’s primary instruction).  The weather didn’t lets us go to the east as we had originally hoped, but we did get a lot accomplished.  I got to see some of the shoreline airspace and got the main flight maneuvers for my BFR out of the way.  All of that was pretty straight forward, and other than hunting for a few of the engine / fuel gauges which are in different spots, it didn’t take to much to get used to the plane.

The wind was such that we had to use Runway 23, which apparently doesn’t happen that often.  It was definitely interesting landing in a new aircraft, on a new runway, with a little crosswind and turbulence and two helicopters and three airplanes also in the pattern.  While this wasn’t the best condition to get a lot of landing practice in, I was happy to get to get familiar with the “other” runway while an instructor was on board, rather than being alone or with passengers.  Actually on the first landing attempt, I just decided to do a go around.  The runway is plenty long for the 161, but I just felt a little high and figured practicing a go around wouldn’t be a bad thing either.

All and all I though it was a good flight.  Terry and I agreed that since we didn’t get to cover the airspace to the east and that I could use a few more landings in a less hectic setting that we would call it a day and reconviene in a day or so.  He seemed worried that I might be disappointed that we didn’t “finish” inone flight, but I feel like I accomplished a lot and he it gives me an excuse to get some more stick time this month and I really like flying with experienced people since I consider my pilots license a “license to learn” at this point.

Anyway, I had fun, learned a few things, and logged some time in a low wing.  Not a bad day.

I haven’t been getting all that much flying time in between the move, work, and Lisa’s flight training.  Fortunately for me Kurt is nice enough to take me up with him when he goes.  I have to admit that going 3 weeks between flights can cause some rust to develop on your skills.  Especially since I am not 100% familiar with the flight characteristics of hist Cessna 182.  I am getting a little better each time, but I am still not as proficient as in the 172.  On the other hand I haven’t logged time in the 172 since some time last fall.

The good news is that I am getting more comfortable operating in the IFR system.  I still get plenty “wrong” and shoot Kurt blank stares quite often when I don’t understand something, but each flight I am getting more an more right.  Today I played with the GPS a little bit while flying under the hood.  As more and more things become mechanical, the multitasking gets easier.  It is easy to get focused on the “IFR Stuff” and forget that you are flying a plane, but that is getting better to.

Today we did a circuit from Montgomery to Ramona to Brown and back.  As a treat today, when we were landing at MYF there was a Blimp launching from one of the taxiways.  I got a few pictures of it from the ground when we were securing the plane in the hanger.