Musings of an old CFI...

Traffic Patterns

2010-09-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

Traffic patterns: How does something so simple get so messed up?

In my travels around the country as a ferry pilot, and working students at and around our home airport, I’m hearing more and more wrong things being said on the radio, and procedures not being followed. I fly from Arlington Airport, a non towered airport in Washington State, and this is an example of what I hear from time to time. The airplane make is obviously fictitious, as I don’t want to single out any person or airplane type. “Arlington traffic, BelchFire 123 departing runway 34 westbound.”

Seems clear enough, or does it. What is westbound? Heading 270? Track 270? 90 degrees from runway heading, that would make it 250 degrees? Somewhere in the westerly hemispherical rule? I have asked pilots and CFIs that use this term, and I have gotten all of the above answers. So when I hear it, I really don’t know where the pilot is going.

OK then, what is the correct answer? Easy. Ever heard of the Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM)?

Chapter 4-3-3, paragraph 6. If departing the traffic pattern, continue straight out, or exit with a 45 degree turn (to the left when in a left-hand traffic pattern; to the right when in a right-hand traffic pattern) beyond the departure end of the runway, after reaching pattern altitude.

OK – easy enough, no such thing as a west or any other direction of departure, only the straight out or 45 degree turn in the direction of the traffic pattern. No crosswind or downwind departures at non towered airports, period.

Well then what about the towered airport? Not so different, except you may ask for and get almost anything that the tower can work out. Straight out, crosswind, downwind turn in the opposite direction of the traffic pattern, almost anything. BUT, when ready for takeoff, do not ask them for a westbound, or any other direction of takeoff. The tower will give it to you, if able, but the other pilots, especially inbound have no idea what direction you are really going. Straight out, crosswind, downwind, now I know where you are going. Remember too, that some towered airports have published VFR departure procedures and they may assign one to you, so in preparation for that airport become familiar with those procedures.

Oh, by the way, if you ask for a crosswind departure, please really depart on the crosswind, and by looking at the drawing above, you will see that it is a 90 degree turn from the upwind. An easy way to remember the 45 or 90 degree departure is to look at your heading indicator or OBS. The 45 or 90 is easy to discern, and when you get to pattern altitude turn to that heading.

That all the harping I’ll do today, so from here on out, I don’t want to be hearing any directions mentioned in radio calls. As always, thanks for letting me vent.

It is all about me.

2010-06-17T14:16:00.000-07:00

People have been emailing, face booking, and phoning asking me what qualifications I have to spew forth this stuff, so here goes – all about me.

My autobiography.

My fascination with flying machines began as far back as I can remember. According to my mom’s story, when I was 3 or 4 years old, I looked up to the sky as a float plane flew past. I exclaimed to her “Look, pantaloons!” At that young and tender age, I was hooked.

We lived on a dairy farm in the Yakima Valley in Washington State, about half way between Grandview and Prosser, actually on the county line between Benton and Yakima counties. At about age 14 my buddy Lance and I would ride our bikes down to the Prosser Airport and work at the airport for flying lessons. We would mow grass, paint fences, wash and polish airplanes, and occasionally we would get a flying lesson from Glen, the old CFI. It was funny, because we could not fly the Cessna 140 because it was too new. We could only fly in the Luscombe, Taylorcraft, or the Cessna 120. It was so cool flying around the lower Yakima valley, noticing the bends in the Yakima River, the different shades of green of the crops, I loved it. I still remember the look and feel, and the smell of the airplane as it was flying.

As I progressed in life, I eventually joined up with Uncle Sam’s Flying Club, The United States Air Force. I was so fortunate to be stationed in the wonderful town of Glasgow Montana. I became an Aircraft Mechanic 43151C and was assigned to be a Crew Chief on the McDonnell Douglas F101 Voodoo. What a great airplane that thing was. Twin Engine all weather Fighter Interceptor. Lots of JP4 converted into noise! That lasted until 1965 when I happily left the flying club, and decided that I wanted to continue in aviation. So I went to Inglewood California and enrolled at Northrup Institute of Technology in their Airframe and Powerplant School to get my A&P Certificate.

Funny thing, as I was finishing up the A&P I learned how much – or little – A&P Mechanics earned, so I took a slight detour into auto repair instead. They made lots more money. I started out working in a gas station in Westchester, CA. that is near Inglewood and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). I became somewhat accomplished in many phases of auto repair, but wasn’t really happy. So, I took another detour for a few years.

I found a very different job at a little company also near LAX called IBM. I worked in the copy center making copies of documents for different departments, and ended up as the office supply room supervisor. This was for the Federal Systems Division of IBM and as they were being phased out, I took a transfer to Thousand Oaks, CA in a different division doing some accounting type work, and after a year or so I was again transferred to LA. Commuting in my El Camino was becoming very expensive and coincidently a coworker told me of a great little car he just bought that got 30 MPG, and thought I should look at one too. So I did, and immediately purchased this cute little 1969 Toyota Corolla.

Great little car, nimble, fairly quick, and pretty agile. As it turned out I started doing some closed course slalom racing, and naturally things needed repairing from time to time and I became well acquainted with the Toyota Dealer in Thousand Oaks. So much in fact that I quit IBM and went to work for the Toyota store there as a line mechanic.

Pretty good gig, and Toyota turned to Datsun, and Datsun turned into British cars, ending up in Oxnard at the Jaguar dealer.

I realized that working for wages was a pretty silly way to go, because the shop was keeping half of the money I brought in, so I rented the service bays in a gas station back in Thousand Oaks; the first of my entrepreneurial experiences. I worked for myself for several years building my repair business, and being self-employed was good. I liked that a lot, no one to answer to except the customers. I tried to treat them well, and they liked it.

As luck would have it, eminent domain would dictate my next move. The new Simi Valley Freeway was being built and they needed the land where my shop was located. Now what? Well, my parents still lived in Washington State, but had moved to Snohomish, and urged me to relocate there. “Why not!” says I. So I pack up all my stuff into a rental truck, and head north. Two trips in the truck, and then pack up my Toyota Land Cruiser FJ45, with the Corolla in a trailer hooked to the back for the final trip. I also had a baby kitten, LeRoy that I adopted that was my traveling companion. When I would stop to eat I would bring the coffee creamer for LeRoy to lap up. After three trips up I-5 LeRoy had graduated to hamburgers.

We (LeRoy and I) moved into a small rental house in Monroe WA, and I immediately got a job at a car repair shop. But, having had a taste of being self employed that didn’t last long, and soon I had my own shop again.

In the mean time my dad learned to fly and took be for a few flights. He ended up purchasing a Cessna 172, and reported to me that he knew I wanted to complete my certificate so if I would replace the fuel I could use his plane. He also knew a Flight Instructor in Monroe that was cheap. He would fly me over to Monroe from Snohomish and I would take my lesson until I soloed, then I would fly myself over there. WOW, what a deal. Thanks Dad!!

I was just finishing my Private Pilot Certificate when one of my customers mentioned something called the GI Bill. I checked into it and realized that I could fly for darn near free. Good old Uncle Sam would pick up 90% of the total invoice, plane, fuel, CFI, Ground School, the whole thing. But, there was a catch. I only had a short time to complete my training as this GI Bill was being phased out. I had all this money to spend, and a short time to do it.

I went down to a company called Seattle Flight at Boeing Field in Seattle and found that they had these planes called Piper. Hmmm, low wings, they sure looked more sleek that the high wings I had flown so far. After my first flight I was hooked. Now this is what flying is supposed to be like. Sitting up high on top of the wing, instead of being slung under it like a hot air balloon basket, just feels right.

I quickly finished my Instrument Rating, and needed some extra time to qualify for the Commercial Certificate so I did some Cross Country flying. Back to California, several times building time. Remember I had all that money to burn up, so I was flying the Arrow, Cherokee Six, and the Lance for this cross country flying. Then I added a multi engine rating, and still had $$$ to burn and was almost out of time, so I did the MEL in the Piper Navajo. Fun!! My multi engine Instructor insisted, if I was going to be flying these bigger airplanes, I needed to fly them heavy. I would call all my friends and say “Hey, do you want to go flying?” and we’d fill up all seven seats and go do steep turns, slow flight stalls and engine out maneuvers. Didn’t know I have seven friends, did ya? Ha!

All this time, my car shop was still going strong, but it had a downside. The location was 61^st and Bothell Way in Kenmore WA, and if you k now that location, it is just a chip shot from Kenmore Air Harbor. Those Beavers taking off every day were making me crazy, so I naturally ended up with my Single Engine Sea rating. It was so much fun. I got to have my check ride with the immortal Bill Fisk the renowned seaplane pilot and author. Boy did I learn a lot from him. Coincidently, he was a customer of mine at the top of the hill at my car shop. He drove a 1963 Falcon Ranchero.

So by now I have Commercial Single and Multi Engine Land, Commercial Pilot Single Engine Sea, and Instrument Airplane Rating. But wait, I still have some GI Bill money left and time is really running out now. OK, I might as well burn the money working on a Flight Instructor Certificate (CFI), but I knew that I would never want to teach.

By now, I was ready for a change of pace, so I went up to Snohomish Airport and started working on my CFI. As luck would have it, I got Mr. Bob Hummel as my CFI. Bob was a retired Airline Captain that worked his whole airline career with Pan American Airlines. He cut his teeth flying Clipper Ships and then graduated to jets as they phased out the big flying boats. He was type rated in just about everything, and finished his career in the Boeing 747. Boy did I learn a lot about flying and teaching from him. Very useful things like how to figure radius of a turn based on your true airspeed, and the formula for why pivotal altitude works like it does. I flew nearly every day with him, and received my CFI and CFI-Instrument from him, along with a checkout in the Aeronca Champ. This was before the FAA had the Tailwheel endorsement.

I said before that I really didn’t want to teach, but since I had the certificate, I did take on one student and did a couple of flight reviews. I found out how much fun it was to teach and thought I would maybe continue for a while. It’s funny how some things work out because a few days (it could have been weeks) later I saw an ad for a flight instructor at a flight school on Paine Field in Everett, WA. Pretty handy as I was living in Martha Lake. I interviewed for the job, and actually got it. More about the interview in a bit. The flight school was SkyTrek Aviation and they were the Grumman American Dealer in the Northwest. Yes, the dreaded American Yankee folks.

During the interview, the Chief Flight Instructor (who as it turned out was one of my dad’s instructors) asked me during the interview what my goals in aviation were. As those of you that know me, I can be a bit of a smart aleck sometimes, so after a minute of thought I said “Well, in two years I’ll have your job, and in three years I’ll own this place.” Remember, that I am not very comfortable as an employee, but do pretty well being self-employed. The owner of SkyTrek then asked me how serious I was about teaching there, as I did own my own auto repair business still, so I asked him to give me a week to close my business in Kenmore and I would be there full time. I did that! That was in 1976. Since I moved to Washington State in 1972, I think I moved pretty quickly. 0 to being employed as a CFI in just over four years, and keeping my business open at the same time.

SkyTrek Aviation was a FAR part 141 flight school, and we had authorization to teach and be reimbursed under the GI Bill. Since the GI Bill was in the process of being phased out, (well as it turned out it was only changed around not phased out) we had monthly audits by the VA as well as quarterly audits by the FAA for the 141 certificate. In addition we had a 135 certificate under a different company that we flew banking material to Oak Harbor three times a day. We had a fleet of about 20 Grumman airplanes and one old Mooney Mk 20C that we used in our commercial program.

With all of this, the job of becoming chief flight instructor took a bit longer than the two years as I boasted in the interview because the Chief CFI had to be a CFI for two years to qualify. Then I had to fly a checkride with the FAA and pass an oral on all of the courses for which we had approval. Private, Instrument rating. and Commercial. It actually took about 30 months, so I was six months late. By now, Grumman had produced the first of their twin, the Cougar (GA7), and we were lucky enough to sell one and have it on leaseback. I started flying it some and promptly applied for and received my Multi engine instructor rating. Along the way, I also added Basic, Advanced, and Instrument Ground Instructor Certificates, and with the MEI I qualified for and got the Gold Seal added to my CFI Certificate.

The SkyTrek Management was very innovative in trying to improve the Grumman airplanes, and was getting into the Supplemental Type Certificate Business. This means that we could improve the airframe to make it more aerodynamic, or install a bigger engine, or install a better propeller, and then sell the rights to that modification to customers. Those customers would then bring their planes to us for the modification. It got to be such a big business that the owner decided to get rid of the flight school and concentrate only on the maintenance and modifications. I bought the flight school portion from him, right at the three year mark that I had boasted in the original interview.

I operated the school under the name of Skytrek Pilot’s Association until 1986 when I sold it.

During that ten years, I amassed about 6000 hours of flight time some 5000 as a CFI, and the rest flying in the charter business, and picked up both single and multi engine Airline Transport Pilot Certificates. I never wanted to fly for the airlines, but I wanted to have the ATP so I could better prepare applicants for that Certificate. We did graduate a few ATPs, and one of my ATP students just retired after twenty years with Continental Airlines.

After that, I did some consulting on Paine field, worked for the original owner of Skytrek in his modification business for a while and ended up (somehow) at the Boeing Company, where I stayed for the next 13 years. Back working for the man. It was a good job, and since I was now married and raising a family it was good to have steady income. I did a variety of things there, starting out with a flashlight and mirror as a Quality Inspector. During the interview with the Boeing Company, they asked what inspection experience I had since I was applying as an inspector, so I told them ten years. I figured that a preflight inspection counted…

I worked what they call line Quality Control (QC) for about a year, but got really tired of crawling around inside the wings, and the center section inspecting where the wings join the fuselage, and transferred to a Quality Assurance (QA – Boeing’s new name for quality) administrative position as an auditor. Then moved over to QA Planning where we would write the instructions for the line QA people to inspect. Later, I went to customer planning where we would add inspections to the planes that the customer wanted to see, then functional test planning where we wrote the actual jobs that would functionally test the airplane, control movement, gear retractions, and my favorite, the emergency escape slide deployment. That was fun to witness, but I never got to jump out onto one of the slides. This was all on the 767 and 777. Lots of jobs – I told you I was not a readily satisfied employee – I get bored too easily.

During this time I kept my hand in instructing both in the classroom and as a CFI with BEFA, the Boeing Employee’s Flying Association. Boeing offered after hours ground school to all of the employees that wanted to attend, and I was hired by the education division to teach the course. Cool, because as a SPEEA Represented employee I was paid time and a half for teaching! I would have done it free – but I took their money. I also taught students in the three planes that BEFA kept in Everett, a Cessna 150, a 172, and a Piper Warrior.

My swan song job there was a Project Manager of something called Ship Side Support, back on the 767-400. Typically, the QA department inspects all of the workmanship of the shop and if they find something out of spec, write a rejection tag. The “tag” goes to engineering for disposition, back to QA, and then back to the shop for repair. In the Ship Side Support model, the design engineers were actually on the factory floor, and when the shop ran into a problem, they, QA, and engineering would resolve the problem, correct the drawing, issue new manufacturing instructions and we would drive on, cutting sometimes weeks out of the assembly process. Worked great and saved a bunch of time and money.

At the same time, I started having problems with the BEFA Scheduling system and got bumped from a couple of flights that I really wanted, so in October of 1999 I went out and purchased N1854T with part of my 401K money and started teaching again, just to support the plane. I thought I could fly for free if I would teach a couple of students.

During the winter of 1999, SPEEA the union for engineers went out on an unprecedented strike and being a faithful union guy I walked the picket line. Well, looking in from the outside seemed natural so I emailed my boss and said that as soon as the strike was over I would officially retire. In March of 2000 that is what I did. Free at Last. 13 ok years, retirement paycheck, a fat 401K – life is good

Since I was teaching ground school, and had my own plane to teach in, getting students was pretty easy, and after I retired, word of mouth worked well, as I bribed the person that took over my job teaching ground school. Well, I didn’t really bribe him, but I did encourage him to pass out my business cards.

I stayed busy teaching, and actually bought a motor home to use as a mobile office and kept it at the airport. The management at the airport was not too keen on this as they thought it was unfair to the other flight schools that had higher overhead. I pointed out that I had complied with all of their requirements (of which there were many) and they had authorized me to teach on the airport. Since the motor home was my only way to get to the airport since I did drive it there every day and home every night, they really couldn’t say anything. They conceded. Soon after that I got a second Cherokee, this time a 180 that I had on leaseback. Coincidently they were parked side by side on the east ramp at Paine Field.

By now I was getting pretty busy with students, and I thought that if I had a second CFI to help with the load it would be a good thing. But, since I didn’t want the extra overhead I thought that I could get the new CFI to become authorized by the airport, like I had done then he or she could teach in my planes and all would be great. I put an ad in the paper for a CFI Wanted. I got a great applicant, sent him to the airport and of course they asked “What airplane do you have?” to which he answered “I’ll be teaching with Dave in his Cherokee.”

“Whoa!” says the airport. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck this just might be a flight school. The airport manager then approached me and said that he admired what I was trying to do, but this has gone too far. You see, by now I had four airplanes, as I had purchased a Cherokee Arrow, and Piper J3-C Cub. The airport made me move out of the motor home into an office they just happened to have.

During this same time, I heard about a program called Master CFI. The more I checked into it I found out I qualified to become a Master Flight Instructor, and applied to become one. Here is an excerpt from their website:

To help put this achievement in its proper perspective, there are approximately 93,000 CFIs in the United States. Fewer than 700 of them have earned Master accreditation thus far. As a measure of the prestige conferred by this title, the last 15 National Flight Instructors of the Year were Master CFIs. In addition, the FAA has approved the accreditation as an alternate means for CFIs to renew their flight instructor certificates.

The Master Instructor designation is a national accreditation recognized by the FAA and industry that is earned by a candidate through a rigorous process of continuing professional activity and peer review. Much like a flight instructor's certificate, it must be renewed biennially. This process parallels continuing education regimens used by other professionals to enhance their knowledge base while increasing their professionalism. Simply put, the Master Instructor designation is a means by which to identify those outstanding aviation educators, those "Teachers of Flight," who are demonstrating an ongoing commitment to excellence, professional growth, and service to the aviation community.

Through their dedication to excellence, Master Instructors have earned their "black belts" in aviation education. They truly represent the crème de la crème of the aviation industry!

Since 2001, I have qualified for and received the MCFI Status the next 4, two year periods. It is a great honor for me.

So that started it – I am now a full-fledged FBO, and soon there after I did hire my first CFI. I’m pleased to say that he is still with me. The next big step was the decision to start doing our own maintenance again with the help of some certified A&Ps. When I only had 54T, I did my own 100-hour and annual inspections but now with 4 airplanes all being worked on by a local shop, charging retail rates it was a bit of a stretch financially. What to do? As it turned out, a charter company in the same building as my office was moving so I carefully weighed my options, looked at the bank account and signed a three-year lease on 14,000 square feet of hangar and office space. My long range plan was to eventually grow into the space especially during the winter months.

It’s been said that God takes care of fools, and I think that may be the truth, because during the first winter, I was contacted by a person that had a contract with Boeing to assemble the tooling that was to go inside the DreamLifter. Since he didn’t have a facility large enough to do the job he asked if he could rent our place. Well, OK! That saved us the first winter. By the next winter, I had subleased half the hanger to a tenant with a Pilatus PC12, so we were good for the remainder of the lease. Eventually I was starting to get some retail customers and the rent was getting paid – every month.

By now, the lease was getting within a year of renewing so I had some thinking to do. Since we already said God takes care of me, He really did it this time. I met this girl at a networking meeting that I attended on a weekly basis, and it turned out she was pretty savvy in the business climate, and since her future was now at stake too (we were now married) we decided to not renew the lease, but instead move the whole operation to the Arlington, WA airport.

Since we made that decision, we needed a place to move into. We found through a friend a facility that was going to be up for lease on January 1^st, but our lease with Snohomish County was over in October – Luckily, they let us rent the existing place on a month to month basis. We finally got to start moving near the end of December (during 3 feet of snow on the ground). There was a huge down side because the new facility was in horrible shape. The tenant that was leaving had been there for more than 20 years and didn’t keep it very clean. Remember that the no smoking law is new, so there was a lot of tobacco residue everywhere, carpets were shot, and it was just a mess. Two weeks later we were ready to start setting up the office and shop.

We have been here for a year and a half now, and we really like it. The economy has slowed general aviation significantly, but I think that flight instruction is increasing again, the maintenance shop is filling up, and pilots are renting airplanes. Things are looking up. Arlington is a great airport, it has friendly management, and we have good neighbors. As it turns out, one of our neighbors used to work on my dad’s Cessna 172, 40 years ago. And that brings us full circle.

Our fleet today consists of 1, Piper J3 Cub; 2, Cherokee 140s; a Cherokee Arrow; and a Cirrus SR20.

Well, that does it. That’s me – and I hope you enjoyed my story. However, just one more thing, here is a bullet list of my resume:

• Certificates

– ATP SEL/MEL

– Commercial SES

– CFI, CFI-I, MEI, BGI, AGI, IGI, Gold Seal, & MCFI

– FAAST Representative

• Experience

– 10,000 TT – 7500 as CFI all GA

– CFI since 1974

Aviation Community Involvement

– Washington Pilots Association - VP Paine Field Chapter

– Washington Pilots Association – State director at large

– FAA Safety Team

– Angel Flight

– Aviation Academy

– Challenge Air

· Most Recent Awards

· Phoenix Aviation Managers – Aviation Safety Excellence Award

· AOPA Special Citation

· Everett Area Chamber of Commerce – Prestigious Award of Excellence – Dick Stevens Community Caring Award

How do they do that?

2010-04-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

First off, sorry to add thoughts so slowly. Lots of excuses, none of them good, so - - - sorry.

How do they do that? Do what? Well, I see advertisements all over the place saying something like learn to fly for $3900.00, or learn to fly for $60.00 per month. While doing your research be sure to ask this question to the school: "What are all the costs in learning to fly?"

Yes, I will teach the you in lesson one how to fly, but the you will not very proficient at it. Flying is really only a few things: straight, turns, up, down, fast, slow, and landing. Of course landing is just going slower and slower close to the ground, and pretty soon the plane falls out of the sky from an altitude of one inch. I digress...

Let's look at what all the costs may be.

First the airplane cost. The absolute minimum time required under CFR Title14, Part 61 says 40 hours. Multiply this time the hourly charge for the plane. Don't forget the sales tax in the state of Washington - maybe your state too, and fuel if they have a "dry" rate.

Second is the Certified Flight Instructor (CFI). The same regulation says "at least 20 hours of instruction." Again multiply times the hourly rate. As of today (4/13/2010) no sales tax on this service.

Third is Ground school. You need to pass the knowledge exam so you must study somehow. There are several ways, ground school is the formal classroom style. There are CD ROM or DVD courses for purchase, you may be able to just buy the material on e-bay and do home or self study. No matter how, there will be some expense for you. And then the Knowledge exam its self is around $100.00.

Once you finish all of the schooling, there is the Practical Flight Test, or Check Ride as it is called. This is done by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or a designated representative of the FAA. If you can get an appointment with the FAA, the check ride is free, but odds are the FAA will send you to a Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE). The DPE will charge from $350 - $500 .

Not done yet. For all certificates (not license) except the new Sport Pilot Certificate there is a Medical Exam that is done by an FAA Designated Medical Examiner. This will be in the $100.00 range.

There is some time before and after your flight that you are talking with your CFI. This time is valuable and charged for by the CFI or flight school. It is called Pre-flight and post-flight pilot briefings. During this time, the CFI will be teaching you how the maneuvers that you will learn on that flight are to be done in theory, the aerodynamics of the maneuver, and what the completions standards for the maneuver is. This is usually between one tenth of an hour up to a couple of hours on some flights. This is usually charged at the same rate as the Flight instruction.

So, when a flight instructor or flight school says, "Yep, I'll teach you to fly for four grand..." start asking questions, and if the total real amount is in the $8K - 10K ball park they are most likely telling the truth.

OK, so how do they do that? Easy, they leave out all the extras that you really need. I'll do the same thing. 40 hours in my Cherokee 140 that rents for $98.00 per hour times 40 hours is $3,920.00. Oh ya - plus fuel, and sales tax - the real cost is $98.00 for the plane, $31.50 for fuel, plus $8.33 for state sales tax, and lo and behold the plane by its self is $137.83. See how it adds up?

Ask lots of questions!

How do I ___________ ?

2010-01-24T14:17:00.000-08:00

I see this question all the time on many different forums, I hear students asking the instructor, and if often cringe when I hear the variety of answers. Example today was a comment "I don't like the "G" in GUMP." The poster went on to say that I would never change tanks on downwind.

Others that I hear often, "What is your technique for executing a short field takeoff in a abc or xyz brand of airplane?" Then the responses start, with "Well, I do it like this." Then poster two says "No, no, if you do that, this will happen. Do it like ........"

So what is the answer? Well the first place to look is the manual that the factory that built your plane. There is most likely a section on how to do what you are attempting. In the first example, it would be a landing checklist. Many airplane manufactures provide an abbreviated version on the panel somewhere.

In the second example, there is usually a section on normal, short and soft field take off procedures. And in many manuals there is a short version and an amplified version.

I guess the bottom line is the manufacture's engineers probably have a better way of doing things than even the most experienced of us. A few years ago, I sent a student for a Private Pilot Practical Exam, and the Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) asked for a Short Field take off. The student set the flaps per the book, and instead of stopping at the end of the runway, applying the brakes, applying full power, etc like several airplanes recommend, he added full power entering the runway, and upon reaching Vx made a positive rotation and went flying. The DPE said to return for landing and proceeded to inform the applicant that his technique was all wrong and to try it again using "Know practices for a short field takeoff." The student said no, because the book says to do it the way I did it. The DPE insisted and said he would show the applicant. OK - Your plane.

The examiner did it like he knew it should have been done, and upon brake release almost crashed the plane off the left side of the runway. It was a plane with a castering nose wheel, and the correct technique was as the the applicant did it.

Even the "pros" learn something from time to time.

Use your checklist, and airplane manual. It was written by the real authorities.

When it rains, it pours!

2010-01-14T12:06:00.000-08:00

In ours business, winter time is usually a bit slower than the summer, and this year is no different, but it never ceases to amaze me how we'll be wondering how are we going to pay the rent for next month, and then the miracle happens.

Our business is kind of like the old milk stool, The flight school, the shop, and the scenic flights all have their share of the total business. If one of the legs is a bit low, the other two help to share the load. This winter has been weird, because both the flight school side and the scenic flight side are low, which is normal, but usually the shop is busiest during the bad weather of winter. That's the weird part, the shop has sat empty all winter. But, then comes the miracle! I get a call totally unexpected from someone in Virginia asking if we can do an annual on his Archer II that he just purchased. I asked him where the plane was currently located, and he said that it is in a small town north of Seattle called Arlington. Oh, good, because that's where I am. We pulled the plane down to my hangar this morning. The battery was dead...

Then, another customer of the flight school asked if we can do an annual on his Cessna 172? When do you need it? Well it turns into a pumpkin the end of January. OK - we'll get it going next week after the Archer - hmmm things are picking up a bit.

No sooner did I hang up the phone with him, and a third customer calls and needs his 172 done this month too! Wow! Who says you don't get what you wish for. Thanks!

Lift is going to be OK, and the rent gets paid again.

Welcome to my first post.

2009-12-31T14:09:00.000-08:00

It has been said that ol' Dave has forgotten more than most CFIs will ever know. When I heard that, it really took me back a bit, and frankly scared me. Wow, what have I forgotten - nothing important I hope - hmmm, I'd better get back into the books and refresh myself.

I guess maybe it's OK after all as I don't think it was meant to be taken literally. What I do like to talk about is why airplanes fly. No, I'm not going to bore you with Bernoulli and that stuff, but if we pull back on the yoke, what is really happening to the plane.

I must qualify. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says that elevator (pulling or pushing the yoke or stick fore and aft) controls altitude. Engine speed (power) controls airspeed, aileron (moving the yoke or stick left or right) controls bank, and the rudder points the nose. OK, OK I know except, except, except and I'm not here to argue that here, but to tell it the way you should tell it to the next Examiner you fly with.

So now you know where I'm coming from. Agree or disagree, that's alright, but it is how the FAA wants it to be, and how it is to be taught. If you learn it, do it, and teach it this way, it works.

It is amazing to me how many CFIs teach one way for primary and then change it all around for the advanced ratings like instrument. It makes me crazy!

Well, that's it for now. More next decade! See you then.