Eagles in flight: for my friend Bob

I post this video today of eagles in flight in memory of Bob, a wonderful man whom I had the privilege of working with almost 40 years ago. I only recently found out that he died very suddenly earlier this year. We were the same age but he seemed much wiser than I. He was  a very good, gentle, and caring man, devoted to helping others. He had a great sense of humor.

I think that Bob would like and approve of my special relationship with Eagles and Hawks. When I was upset about not being able to get my pilot's license a few years ago, I saw a Red Tailed Hawk sitting on a utility pole. I was telling a pilot friend of mine about the significance of seeing the Hawk on a day when I was distraught over not being able to get a pilot's license. My pilot friend told me that the Hawk was releasing me into her world. So, when I see an Eagle or a Hawk flying, in a way I am flying with them in their world.

Bob, this is for you. Welcome to the world of the Eagle and the Hawk. May you always fly in favorable tail winds.

RIP my friend.


Direct link to video

Reflections on reading about flying

As my regular readers know, circumstances prevent me obtaining my pilot's license. Such is life. Yes, I was very disappointed several years ago when I first realized my dream of being a pilot could never be. I am fortunate to have pilot friends who take me flying from time to time, weather cooperating. I always sit in the right and never fly. But I do get to experience flying from the right seat of a Cessna 172. When I do go flying in the right seat with one of my pilot friends, it is like going home.

I have always enjoyed reading and I have a read a lot of books about flying. Some are novels with a pilot and their adventures as the main theme, Others are autobiographies written by pilots, others are biographies and still others are about aviation history. I get to experience flying through these books, and at the same time learn about different parts of the United States and elsewhere.

Yes, I do enjoy videos, tankers and otherwise shot from the cockpit. I have posted some videos from tankers and helos flying fires on this blog. Those videos are the closest that I can get to sitting in the cockpit of a tanker or helos.

Reading and flying videos are not quite the same as piloting an airplane. But reading about flying helps me to stay connected to the world of aviation. An added plus is that it soothes me. When my pilot friend takes me flying that is really special.

I meant to go into a little more detail in today's blog post, perhaps writing about something else, but time got away in the form of a cracked iPad screen. I am in the process of getting the cracked iPod replaced thanks to Apple Care. I wanted to go to my local Apple Store but it is closed for renovations so I opted to do what Apple calls express replacement where Apple is shipping me a new iPad which should be coming tomorrow by the end of the day. After it arrives and I set up the new iPad, I send the old iPad back to Apple. I was not expecting that Apple would be shipping through FedEx overnight delivery, that is nice. Yes, if anyone is wondering, I have to sign for the shipment. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Update on February 22nd: my replacement iPad came late yesterday afternoon and I am in the process of setting it up.

Saying hello to a Chinook from a safe distance

I went on a wonderful scenic flight, with a great pilot at the controls, this morning to central Pennsylvania. Our destination was an airport, KLNS in Lancaster Pennsylvania where they have a nice pilot/hobby shop on the field. Few clouds, although it was a little hazy up there with minimal winds. A glorious fall day.

There are somethings that I can do from the right seat. I follow along on my aviation chart, looking for visual references to pinpoint our location. The pilot had flight following, which means that the various controllers assigned us altitudes, gave traffic advisories, etc. Traffic advisories are important. The controller gives an advisory by distance and altitude. For example, Piper Cherokee 2 miles at 11:00 at 1,400 feet. Yes, 11:00 is what you think, traffic straight down the nose is 12:00. We look and when we spot the aircraft the pilot says "traffic in sight." When the control determines that the traffic is not a factor, s/he will say so that we can stop looking.Anyway, as it was such a clear day a lot of general aviation aircraft like us were flying. In addition to the Commercial flights and the corporate jets. 

I am getting better at spotting traffic, especially on a day like today when it was hazy. My pilot told me some tricks about finding traffic in the haze. Which worked, sometimes. But I still missed some. The important thing is that he could see what he needed to see. 

As we were getting closer to KLNS, approach/control had advised us of two aircraft. One was another Cessna 172, and the second was a CH-47 helicopter five miles from us at 3,500 ft. We were at 3,000 ft flying west. Now most aircraft I see from the air  are smaller aircraft and if I am lucky they will be the size of a pencil eraser. But not today because of the haze. Anyway, so I was looking for something that if I was lucky might be the size of pencil eraser when I see this large aircraft and I tell the pilot what and where I see the aircraft crossing our path. Turns out that was our CH-47 Helicopter. I had forgotten that a CH-47 is also referred to as a Chinook. If the controller had told us to look for Chinook, I would have known right away what I was looking for. 

Anyway, the Chinook was five miles away at 3,500 feet flying south. It was an impressive sight from the air. Made my day. One of those special moments from a flight that I'll carry with me. I grabbed my camera and got this shot that I am sharing with you. Not a great shot, and with my 55 mm lens the Chinook looked smaller then it did in real life. And you might have to trust me that this is indeed a photo of a Chinook. After we landed I thought of my good friend Matt who loved helicopters. Matt passed about five weeks ago and is flying in favorable winds. He would have loved that I saw a Chinook on a flight. 

CH-47 "Chinook" east of KLNS. We were at 3,000' MSL flying west and the Chinook was at 3,500' flying south. He was about five miles away from us.

Flying today -- east central Pennsylvannia

It has been awhile since I wrote about my scenic flights. I have a few great pilots that take me on this scenic flights. Today I went flying with a pilot I met about six weeks ago. A few weeks ago, we flew up to northwestern New Jersey, almost into New York and followed the Delaware River down south to our home field. I learned a valuable lesson on that flight. Wear dark clothes and put away the aviation charts. When we flew the Delaware River, I had an aviation chart in my lap. Long story short, a reflection of the chart showed up in my photos, ruining most of my pictures.

 Today, after three or four cancellations due to bad weather, we finally flew to Wilkes Barre PA and followed the Susquehanna River south before flying east to return home. This time I had my chart in a black folder on my lap. Most of the photos are of the Susquehanna.

It was a great day to go flying, calm winds aloft, nice fall colors, and the restoration that comes with flying. My pilot and I had a great time. I came back feeling restored, as I always do after I spend time in the air.

Central PA, east of Wilkes Barre.

Central PA, east of Wilkes Barre.

Wind Turbines, Central PA, east of Wilkes Barre.

Wilkes Barre PA, Susquehanna River

Wilkes Barre PA, Wyoming Valley Airport, Susquehanna River

Wilkes Barre PA, Susquehanna River

Susquehanna River, Central PA

Susquehanna River, Central PA

Susquehanna River, Central PA

Susquehanna River, Central PA

Sunbury PA, Susquehanna and West Branch Susquehanna Rivers

Sunbury PA, Susquehanna and West Branch Susquehanna Rivers

Susquehanna River, Central PA

Susquehanna River, Central PA

Scenic flight to Lancaster

It has been quite awhile since I have written about a scenic flight on this blog. This is partly because I haven't been on such a flight in five months. Various things such as end of the year holidays, a cold and then sinus problems that did not clear up until mid-January and finally bad winter weather kept me from flying. So, I went on a scenic flight to KLNS, Lancaster Airport in Pennsylvania with a great pilot whom I have flown with many time before. She and I always have a great time. Upon landing at KLNS we visited the pilot shop where I picked up some aviation charts. The weather was on the cold side, but the Cessna 172P was heated. Winds were light, some clouds at 5,000 ft. Snow still on the ground. I have included a few photos from the flight.

It was wonderful to be in the air again. I was home. I am hoping to go on another scenic flight in about three weeks. And if not, I'll fly in my own way as I have been doing for the last five months preceding today's flight.

Flying west over the Delaware River near Frenchtown, NJ

Over eastern Pennsylvania

Over eastern Pennsylvania

Taking off from KLNS on way home

On approach to home airport, windsock

 

Home again

Scenic flights revisited - radio communications

Regular readers of this blog know that I am not able to pursue air flight training which means that I will not obtain a pilot's certificate. A couple of years ago I did go to ground school at my local airport and then took and passed the FAA private pilot written exam.

It has been awhile since I have written about these scenic rides. In fact, for various reasons until today, it has been a couple of months since I have been on a scenic ride. One exception was when my friends at Downstown picked me up and flew to and from Downstown Airport a couple of weeks ago. I'll talk about that flight in a later post, but today I'll talk a little about today's scenic flight.

I've used these scenic rides to continue with my own studies on aviation. For the most part, I focus on things that I can do unobtrusively from the right seat such as assisting the pilot with navigation if requested, observing the pilot pre-flight the airplane, observing the pilot as s/her flies noting the instruments and flight controls, recognizing ground reference points near my home airport, and the ongoing exercise of looking for traffic.

Since I am not in flight training and am not a student pilot, most of my experience with radio communications has involved listening to the pilot communicating on the radio. Every so often, the pilot might ask me to help out by changing the navigation and communication radios under their direction. I hoped for an opportunity to actually do some radio communications on a scenic flight and have been doing some studying on my own. A couple of days before today's flight, I knew that if all went well, that I'd have such an opportunity today. I bought some notes with me that I reviewed with the pilot prior to the flight, reviewing the different communications that would be required. I had a decent idea of what I would be doing when.

We flew to a small controlled airport in Pennsylvania, Reading Airport. I had handled radio work taking off and landing at this airport on a couple of earlier flights, doing so again reinforced what I had already done. I had the radio frequencies written down on the pad on my knee board, along with the sectional folded to the area of our flight, and some notes on the required radio communications.

One advantage to not being in flight training was that I could focus my attention only on the radios. My respect for student pilots increased as student pilots learn to fly and work the radios at the same time.

Radio communications in aviation, and general aviation is no exception, require certain lingo and phraseology depending on where you are and what phase of the flight you are in. I started off with the radio check at the beginning of the flight, going on the radio during key points in our take-off. All this under the watchful eye and ears of the pilot. I tuned the radios to the VOR radio navigation that we used for navigation, got the weather report for Reading Airport. The flight was short. The pilot and I reviewed (again) the required radio work at Reading.

I listened to the weather (ATIS) at Reading one more time, noting the cloud ceiling, winds, temperatures, runway in use. Weather is very important, and part of the radio communication with the tower at a controlled airport is telling them that we have listened to the weather by saying "we are with you with info lima." Where info lima is the identifier for the particular weather report we heard from ATIS at Reading.

The pilot took the radio as we approached Reading because the controller at Reading approach was having a heard time hearing us. He quickly switched to the other communication radio, resolving the problem.

I talked to ground control when we got to Reading noting the taxiways we were to use to go to the FBO where we had coffee. I handled the radio as we prepared to taxi, took-off, and flew back to our home airport. The pilot directed me to listen to the ATIS weather at KABE to get an idea of the winds at our home airport (about 10 to 15 minutes east of KABE). And all this was under the watchful eye and ears of the very capable pilot who was flying the plane.

As the flight went on, and I kept doing more radio work, my confidence increased. After we landed, I was complimented on my radio work. Radio work is a very big deal, and something that can be a tad intimidating. But that passes with time and experience.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow sharing some of what we saw while we are on the ground at Reading.

August 15, 2012 update: The flight that I wrote about on May 7 was during the week at a time when there was little other traffic. My next opportunity to work on radio communications came on a scenic flight a few weeks later on an extremely busy Saturday morning. I had done the same preparations for this flight as I did for the flight in May. Lets just say that I had a more difficult time with radio communications on that flight, and was glad for the knowledge and graciousness of the pilot.

In hindsight, I should not be surprised that I had a difficult time on that last flight. I do not have the advantage of going on these scenic flights every week, nor am I in flight training. I do not know when the opportunity will arise again to do some radio communications on one of my scenic flights, so I am grateful for the chances that I had.

Reflections on not flying yesterday

When I last posted, I was planning on going a scenic flight yesterday. The flight did not happen and I did not do the dead reckoning calculations that I wrote about the other day. The long and the short if it is that it was too windy. But please bear with me while I elaborate a little on my thought process.

When I read the forecast for Tuesday late Sunday I knew that there was a chance of windy conditions that might make a flight in a Cessna trainer inadvisable. Then again, the forecast was only saying there was a chance. A chance of winds and an even smaller chance of rain showers.

Leave aside the winds for a moment. Temps in the high 30s and low 40s on the ground translated to temps at or below freezing aloft. Trust me on this, I read the winds and temps aloft grids. Temps at or below freezing aloft and the chance of rain. Means freezing rain aloft. Freezing rain and airplanes equal icing. Sometimes the outcome is not good.

Slight chance of showers equating to freezing rain at alitude. No thank-you.

The winds, that was interesting. Interesting because there was a chance that the forecast for the winds would not hold. The gusty winds could make a cross wind landing interesting. Perhaps not impossible but interesting. And the winds aloft would be stronger than on the ground. Winds at 12 kts on the ground gusting to 20. Winds aloft at the time of my flight forecast to be anywhere from 33 to 40 kts. And an equal chance that the winds would not be as forecast. What to do?

My scenic flight could wait. Even if my flight was that important, nothing is so important that it justifies flying when it is not safe to fly. I was prepared to cancel the scenic ride. Better to be safe than sorry. I am the passenger in this flight, I can decide to cancel. No reason for me to pressure the pilot.

I talked to someone at the airport a couple of hours later. He canceled the flight because if the forecast held, it would be too windy for the Cessna trainers. The forecast held, winds started to pick up an hour before they were forecast to pick-up.

And in case you are wondering, there may have been light rain showers yesterday. But the winds were gusting to 20 kts from the south. Which put the winds blowing directly across the main runway at the airport.

I'm glad that I was on the ground.

Scenic flights and other projects

It has been a while since I have written about my scenic flights here. On average it seems like I go on one scenic flight every three to five weeks. It is important for me to fly, to continue my aviation journeys in the ways that I can.

For example, I hope to go on scenic flight tomorrow, if the weather cooperates. And hopefully the weather will. But if the weather looks like it will be marginal visual flight rule (MVFR) weather or worse and not good for a visual flight rules flight then I won't go. I decided that I am going to plan a course using dead reckoning. I had to learn dead reckoning when I was studying for the FAA private pilot written exam two years ago. I figure that the number crunching will be a good exercise, perhaps the pilot will want to use my dead reckoning and perhaps he won't. But I'll get the practice crunching the numbers.

Dead reckoning according the Pilot/Controller Glossary in the 2012 FAR/AIM (note 1):

"Dead reckoning as applied to flying, is the navigation of an airplane solely by means of computations based on airspeed, course, heading, wind direction, and speed, ground speed, and elapsed time."

Most of my previous scenic flights over the last two years have been done where the pilot has used VOR navigation.

I also have a couple of other aviation related projects that I am working on. One involves reading and studying more about weather. Briefly, I'm reading a meteorology text called Meteorology Today by David Ahrens. I like this text, so far I am able to follow along (more or less) reading and studying on my own. Self study of a college level meteorology text may not be everyone's cup of tea.

If not there is another book on weather written for the general population called The Weather Book: An Easy-to_understand Guide to the USA's Weather by Jack Williams. Williams wrote the book based on his work for USA Today on their weather page, he is also a pilot.

Finally, I am always interested in issues affecting aviation safety, and am doing some background reading and research on aviation safety related topics for future blog posts.

And all this is in addition to writing on aerial wildland firefighting as we enter the late winter and spring fire season here in America.
________________________________

Note 1: 2012 FAR/AIM (Federal Aviation Regulations Aeronautical Information Manual). U.S. Department of Transportation: From titles 14 and 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Updated and published by Aviation Supplies and Academics, Inc. (ASA): New Castle, Washington.

Part 9 of 9: Cessna Annual 172P - Reflections

As I write this piece, it has been about four months since I sat in on the annual inspection of the Cessna 172P that I call Red. An inherently stable aircraft, she is also known as a trainer, used by student pilots learning how to fly. I have taken a few scenic flights in Red.

Something changed when I saw Red’s last annual inspection. I saw her up-close and personal, taken apart. I suppose you could say that I saw her naked. But it was more than that. I still remember the love and care that Brent and his apprentice John took with her annual. It is hard to explain what I experienced as I watched them work on “Red.”

Yes, I was assured of Red’s safety.

Yes, I know that Brent and John love what they do, and live out the aviation mechanic creed. I'd like to thank Brent for opening up his shop to me. It was great. I learned a lot from both Brent and John.

I hope that what I have written here along with the pictures give you some idea of what is involved in the annual inspection of the Cessna 172P and similar trainers. I am so glad the Brent opened up his shop, State Line Aviation, to me.

Red is an airplane, loved by many. But if it is possible to bond with an airplane, than I bonded with Red over the course of those three days.

Journey into Aviation thru scenic rides

A quick point of clarification, I have written previously about my journey into aviation including attending ground school and passing the FAA private pilot exam, my first scenic ride, and a series on a scenic ride in the form of a "cross-country" flight. Any flight that I have taken and paid for (except for flights on airlines), are in the form of scenic rides where the pilot may happen to be a certified flight instructor. While I have learned things on every scenic ride that I have gone on over the last 15 months, these flights are not flight instruction because I am not taking flight training with a flight school. As appropriate, I have done my best to revise the posts that I have already written about my journey into aviation and other relevant posts to reflect that my flights are scenic rides (or scenic flights).

Reading takes me into the cockpit

Over the last few months I have taken to reading books by or about pilots with related books about aviators and/or their airplanes. I love reading these books for often I am taken into the cockpit. At other times I may an observer, watching the action. Most, but not all, of the pilots have not flown tankers. That doesn't matter for they are pilots. I may not be able to obtain a pilot's certificate, but when I am reading these books, that doesn't matter. My prior studies at ground school, along with scenic flights serve me well for those times when basic terminology about flying airplanes is not included in a glossary or explained in the text. And when basic terminology is explained, I can draw on that which I have learned and acquire a greater and deeper knowledge about flying.

As I write this, I have some of the books that I have read piled next to me. There are eight books, not including one that was borrowed and since returned to my local library. One, the recent autobiography written by Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger, the captain of US Air flight # 1549 that "landed" in the Hudson River in NYC, is on loan to a friend. Another, Fate is the Hunter, by Ernest Gann, is in my to read pile. From time to time I'll write about some of these books.

I will be writing about Fire Bomber into Hell by Linc Alexander in a few days, stay tuned.

So for me, reading about flying is not only something I do to pass the time or for those subtle ways that I hope it helps to make me a better writer. Reading about flying is about who I am.