Fun Day Out Around the Pattern

You may remember that one of my new year’s resolutions was not to lose any of my currencies this year. Well, losing my job in the first week of the year put paid to that and this Sunday I found myself not current in anything; first time I’d ever not been current to take passengers.

So today I went up to get my PIC back by doing some touch and goes around the field. The winds were high driving over but not too bad for my first time around. I was making right traffic on 28R, winds were picking up and it was getting busy, a couple of people making circuits with me and a steady stream of inbounds but the tower was doing a great job of sequencing. Winds were picking up, by my third landing the winds were 230 at 14kts and I struggled with my rusty crosswind skills.

Just as I was wondering why we weren’t using runway 23 the tower announced the switch. Someone in front of me offered to do a 360 and switch rather than land, tower accepted and then offered me the same. I do a 360 and am told to extend my new downwind. You have to be careful, extend too far and you will be in MCAS Miramar’s class Bravo. Now there’s a citation and a king air on the ILS to 28R, I’m no match for them. I get a turn to base and then a go-around before I’ve finished the turn. This time I have to extend upwind and rather than make a left crosswind I get a right 360 before the turn. By the time I am done, things seem sorted out and I make a normal (in terms of pattern at least) approach and landing on 23.

A very interesting ‘welcome back’ after 3 months away. I really do want (and need) to stay more current. Fortunately I should start a new job in the next couple of weeks and will then get my CFI up with me for my IFR currency.

Lenticular Clouds

Sandwiched between here in Brawley and San Diego is a little mountain range of about 5500 feet or so at its peak. This regularly means that travel between here and there, whether by plane or car, can be a little bumpy. Coming back from lunch today I looked to the west and could see two perfect looking lenticular clouds. To pilots that means strong winds and likely nasty turbulence so it was no surprise when a couple of hours later it was blowing a treat outside in the yard.

The closest weather-reporting airport to here is Imperial and a look at the METARs show the winds from 270° at 27 knots gusting to 33 knots. All the airports on the other side of the hills are showing 6 – 8 knot winds, so I think we would not be enjoying the flight home if we up there today.

Lenticular Cloud
[Image from Wikipedia]

Preliminary NTSB Report

This week the NTSB published the premiminary report on last week’s fatal mid-air collision over San Diego. It doesn’t really reveal much other than to confirm that the two planes took off within a minute of each other, both heading to the same nearby field.

Preliminary information supplied by the Federal Aviation Administration indicates that the Cessna 172RG was issued a takeoff clearance at 1638, and was subsequently handed off to the Southern California Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility. The Cessna 182Q had been in the traffic pattern at Gillespie performing touch-and-go landings and takeoffs and departed the traffic pattern at 1638 southbound toward Brown Field. The airplanes collided about 2,300 feet mean sea level (msl) approximately 3 miles south of Gillespie.

At first I had surmised that the 182 simply caught up with the 172 and didn’t see it but an eyewitness report confirms that they collided head-on, instead:

A witness, a professional airline pilot, … noted two airplanes were flying at an estimated 1,800 feet msl. One airplane was flying southwest bound, the other was flying east. The airplanes were in the Gillespie Field class Delta airspace when the airplane flying eastbound impacted the airplane flying southwest bound. The eastbound airplane impacted the right side of the southwest bound airplane.

A terrible accident, no doubt about that, but a reminder that see and avoid applies at all times whether VFR or IFR. Be extra vigilant when working near busy airports. We all know it, just need to make sure we all do it.

Nasty Mid-Air Collision

Yesterday two planes collided near the airport from which I fly, killing all occupants of both planes. A third plane may have been involved in the accident and is missing from the airport. The accident happened over a fairly dense population area but fortunately no body was seriously injured on the ground. There is a chilling picture in the San Diego Union Tribune article showing one of the planes falling out of the sky in flames. Too early of course for the NTSB report but once again we are reminded to be extra vigilant when operating close to an airport.
Update: Re-reading the articles I’m going to speculate that the 182 caught up with the 172 after take-off and didn’t see it. When I was getting my high performance endorsement in the 182 I was shocked at just how quickly we caught the proceeding traffic and, more alarmingly, how quickly we lost sight of it in the pattern. Of course the media is notoriously crap at reporting the facts, especially in an aviation accident, so it could all change in a day or two.

Winter Blues

I’m still looking for work so haven’t been able to justify getting in a plane since Laughlin in December. I’ll go up pretty soon though just for some pattern work, and I have a friend willing to pay half towards a Catalina buffalo burger.

Fortunately there is plenty of aviation to be had just a few miles down the road from me. At least twice a day, the world-famous Blue Angels strut their stuff overhead in rehearsal for this year’s shows. From now until their first show here on March 11 we get treated to some great shows in the sky. There is a spot fairly close to NAF EL Centro which gives a great view and, more importantly, a great feeling as those jets roar above your head.

New Certificate Number

Like many people, when I got my initial certificate I used my social security number as my airman id. Only in the last few years has it really sunk in just how little one should use that for any purpose so when I got an email from my flying club today containing a link at which I could change it, I went straight there. My new certificate will be in the mail shortly with a shiny new identification number. If you want to do the same, and you probably should, try this link at the FAA website.

A Little Delay in Those Goals

I went out last Monday and bought the Gleim Commercial Pilot Written Exam CD; I do currently possess a written exam pass but it expires in February and there’s no way I will get up to scratch in time for a checkride that early. So I shall study some more and retake the test.

But then Tuesday, somewhat out of the blue, I got laid off. The circumstances of that event can be the subject of a rant on my main site but suffice to say that I won’t be doing much flying at all until I am re-employed. Still, it does give me plenty of time to re-read the books.

Currently blowing a gale outside, my local field doesn’t have weather reporting but the nearest one, about 15 miles south, is reporting steady 17 knot winds. Seems like a lot more here.

The “Pennsylvania 2”

I am sure everyone remembers the furor last spring when a plane not only strayed into the ADIZ around Washington DC area but also into the FRZ over the capitol building itself. The media had a field day over it, the PIC of the flight had his licence revoked, and pilots everywhere shook their head in amazement that anyone could be so clueless.

Well, AOPA published an interview with the two ocupants of that flight in their magazine and online http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2006/flight0601.html (AOPA membership required) and frankly I was amazed at the tone of the article. Rather than portray the flight as careless (or clueless), they try to convince us that it was a simple chain of small mistakes. The student pilot involved does his best to say he had nothing to do with it – what kind of pilot will he make where he cares not about the actions of the PIC? He also says this has convinced him never to fly without a handheld GPS – no, it should convince you to fly using pilotage and the navigational aids certified for use in your craft. Handheld GPS’ are great, I use mine all the time, but it is a backup not an ‘essential’.

I am surprised that AOPA chose this tact, it looks too much like protecting our own rather than exposing the ugliness for all to examine and learn from. ADIZ incursions are 50 a day, air space will only get further restricted if this continues. By saying these are simple mistakes does the rest of us an injustice and only hurts future general aviation. I’d rather see more consequences and people make more of an effort to keep it legal.

In futre I suggest they use TFR Check

Flying Abroad

Two Christmas presents I received from my family were UK aviation-related: a chart of the southern England airspace, and a handbook containing runway diagrams and airport information for every UK airport. They were both fascinating reading but one thought struck me right away: I didn’t understand a thing I read! Loads of acronyms in replace of our Class D, C etc, and other air space designations I didn’t recognise. It all looked very difficult to get from A to B. I would definitely a comprehensive ground session before getting near any British cockpit as PIC. I had always been under the impression that what we used here were ICAO standard terms but there is obviously more than what I thought I knew.

My Dad has said that next time I visit home he might treat me to a pleasure flight with an instructor, would be fascinating to do.

New Year Resolutions

I didn’t do much flying this year, the sorry events back home had the hobby on the back burner, so next year I need to get back into it. Therefore I am setting myself the following goals (in no particular order though clearly some things are more important than others):

  • fly more often well we’d all like to do that I’m sure!
  • sort out my landing technique flying more might achieve this but I still have issues with flaring too high or landing too flat
  • finish my Commercial I was about halfway through it this year and I would like to complete it, going to have to retake the written again as it expires in Feb
  • take a long trip I think there is a lot of experience to be gained from planning and executing a week long trip, somewhere new and unfamiliar
  • be current all the time no more losing any of the currencies

We’ll see how well I do.