Day 5 - Into the Wild Blue Yonder

I did not have internet in the apartment until Wednesday and have been quite busy settling in. The last couple of posts were written earlier and all posted only minutes prior to this one.

Day 2 and 3 both consisted of 2 hours of ground training and then 2 hours in the FTD (flight training device.) The FTD is an extremely touchy, overly sensitive, expensive, collection of hardware that I am going to spend 50 total hours in….ahhhh. The hardware has a tendency to produce a lot of heat and the AC in the flight school is set somewhere in the high 70’s. Needless to say, I was sweating by the end of the first day. However, my instructor was kind enough to position a fan on the cockpit the second day, making the experience much more comfortable. The FTD’s main purpose at this point is to offer practice in regards to twin-engine maneuvers and handling characteristics. Near the end of our session on the first day in the FTD, my instructor killed an engine on me. This caught me by surprise and my reaction was expectedly slow. This lead to me ultimately flying the plane upside down and backwards (not very realistic.) After the aircraft eventually settled (crashed) to the poor graphical representation of the San Diego landscape, my instructor advised me that the FTD will begin to do goofy things when it has been on so long. A potential calibration problem.

I also had a chance to meet my FAA examiner. His name is Joe Leoni and he seems like a really nice guy. The instructors at the school say he is a pretty laid back examiner and I can see how that is possible, he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

Day 4 was great! We spent an hour and a half on the ground reviewing many items I had learned prior to acquiring my private pilot’s license. A lot of information I will need to review and have down pat by my checkride next Tuesday.

We spent the next two hours in the aircraft. It was nice to finally get into a real airplane. ATP’s Piper Seminole extensive checklist brings a time enduring startup. From the time we arrived at the aircraft to the point of initial taxi took anywhere from 25-40 minutes. This was of course the first time I had every done this on a twin-engine aircraft. Furthermore, I have no problem spending the time making sure I have checked each item on the checklist, after all, that is what it is there for. The flight itself was a lot of fun. We flew out direct to the coast and straight north to the North West practice area. The radios were buzzing with chatter and the amount of air traffic was much greater than anything I have ever experienced. Not to mention the complexity of the San Diego airspace. This little circle is Montgomery Field and the red lines represent our flight track. Needless to say, my flight instructor handled the majority of the radios excluding everything on the ground, which I had no problem doing. He also gave me headings and altitudes to fly. Once we were out to the practice area we immediately went into practicing maneuvers that I would need to be proficient in for my checkride. This includes steep turns, slow flight, power-off stalls, power-on stalls, Vmc Demo (minimal controllable airspeed without your critical engine), and emergency descent. My instructor also cut the mixture to my left engine. It was little weird seeing that propeller sitting out there not spinning. All and all, the most exciting part was the stalls, as always. One reason, when stalling any aircraft you increase the chance of entering a spin. In a multi-engine aircraft, it is extremely challenging to recover from a spin, therefore the pressure is on to recover from a stall while maintaining directional control. We returned to the Montgomery and I made my first official landing on my own.

Day 5, today, was much like yesterday, 2 hours in the FTD and 2 in the airplane. The flight was much like yesterday; we practiced each maneuver once this time in the Northeast practice area. I am proud to say each maneuver was within PTS (Practical Test Standards.) I am however, a little slow on my memory checklists leading to some slow recoveries. It is after all my second time flying a twin-engine aircraft. We then proceeded to Ramona Airport where I made my second landing in a multi-engine aircraft. We did two more landings at Ramona, two short field landings. The first was a little long, I came in over the threshold at 85kts and no the preferred 75kts. My second landing was within PTS, I touched down just beyond the numbers. We took off from Ramona and flew a straight in final to Montgomery. All and all, it was a very fun day.