Formation Flying Clinic - SATURDAY FLIGHT 2

Upon entering the FBO conference room after Flight #1, I was met by David and Bret, who had just flown together.  David asked if I would consider taking pics of the aircraft he was flying and I told him if his wingman (Bret) would take me up, I would be honored.

About 10 minutes later, I was right seat in Bret's Mooney!

Bret and David had done some flying together already this weekend and they were very comfortable, very close.  We flew the briefed maneuvers then they coordinated flight to best angle the light and get David into a good position for photos.

Can you believe I actually had to ask David to fly further out from Bret?  The problem with the aircraft being so close, is that I was having trouble capturing him, without also including the wing or elevator of the Mooney.

I am still amazed at the level of skill all the pilots at this Formation Clinic have shown.  The rate they developed formation skills and comfort over the course of just a few days, is enviable.  Never at any time did I feel that Bret or David broke concentration from the task at hand or endangered anyone... And I was pleased at the pictures I was able to take.

Actually I have a very cool set of pics from a high speed continuous shoot that occurred as Bret dropped from one side of David (now the lead) and popped up the other side.  I'm no expert, but believe the maneuver was completed near textbook perfect.

We landed as a two ship element and taxied back.

There was time for one more flight today before the heat and wind made it impossible.  I promised Bret that the next flight, I would photograph the Mooney.

Formation Flying Clinic SATURDAY FLIGHT 1

Oh my!  Day 2 of getting up early!

We arrived at the Pagosa Springs Airport at 5:30am.  While I sat in the warm car, looking like I had dragged  my sleep deprived self out of bed too early, Mark pre-flighted 303B for the first of three flights today.

As it turned out, our briefing time had been moved out to 7am and because of a "message mix up" at the hotel, we were an hour early.  Yay, us!  There was now time to nip into town and find coffee and breakfast.

At 7am, we met with Tom.  He was flying his Comanche and was paired with the Bonanza for formation practice.  Tom graciously allowed me to fly with him, affording me the opportunity to take photos of Mark, flying N303B.

Bonanza & Comanche element takeoff

It was a beautiful, calm flight.  The temperature was very pleasant indeed and already I had a better idea of how formation flying should look.  The airplanes were a good match and the still air allowed for closer flying.

Underneath us, Pagosa Springs was catching the morning light and the colors were intense.

We headed toward the designated practice area and Tom gave the command to change to our discreet frequency, from the Pagosa Springs unicom.

Mark flew as #2 in the formation, putting him just behind our right wing.

This is the look of concentration!

Off the Comanche's wing, the valley is filled with low lying smoke from a wildfire just north of Pagosa Springs.  Incidentally, this airplane has been in Tom's family since 1963!  I love that!

Yes, he is close.  It has taken me two flights yesterday and one today, to become ok with this!

The rapidly rising sun glints off Mark's window.

Through the left rear window, Mark emerges after passing under us... From our right side, he dropped back a little and moved down, over and up on the other side.

Our practice area was near Lake Navajo.

Landing gear down and inbound for a two ship element landing.  A two mile final to runway 19, then taxiing back for another element takeoff.

Then it was time to debrief the flight and discuss bits and pieces to practice during flight #2... 

Formation Flying Clinic FRIDAY

This formation flying clinic had been on my calendar for months... but as usual in the busy season, I felt like real estate work had me by the collar and was threatening to not let me leave town.

There is nothing quite like 3 different home inspections (complete with issues) to resolve by midnight on Friday, when you want to leave town Friday morning and fly all day!  Lucky for me, all of it was mostly under control, my clients are super cool and we have this magic internet thing!  :-)

The formation flying clinic is a prerequisite to registering for Bonanzas to Oshkosh 2012.  I am going to co-pilot N303B for this event in July, so I figured it would be a good idea for me to get comfortable with other aircraft flying in close proximity.

Friday morning at the crack of dawn (or so it seemed), Mark and I packed Bonanza N303B with enough luggage to imply a longer-than-the-weekend stay and took off.

I was PIC - but Mark had been the one to do all the planning and pre-flighting, while I worked.  Thanks Mark!  The flight over was 1.8 hours of smooth, beautiful air at 12,500 feet +/- 60 feet :-)  It was easy flying and I loved the newness of flying in the mountains.

Along the way I was getting "mountain flying" lessons:

• Approaching a peak/saddle at a 45 degree angle to allow for easily turning around, before or after clearing it.
• Flying down one side of a valley, closer to terrain than you would think, to allow room to turn less sharply, as needed.
• How to tell if I was going to clear a peak, but monitoring a bug spot on the windscreen.

Landing in Pagosa Springs (KPSO), we were met by the organizer, Jim Lane, who ushered us into the conference room where a briefing was already underway.  In fact, within 20 minutes, Mark was part of a "walk through" which outlined the plan for his first 2012 formation clinic flight.  

And 15 minutes later we were flying.  It was an effort for everyone to get a flight in, before the afternoon heated up and brought with it, turbulence.  I think we were too late. 

The combination of turbulence, temperature and 4 aircraft that were just too different in performance, pretty much terminated this first effort, early. The Lancair was overheating as it slowed to keep formation, while the Bonanza struggled to keep up at 9,500 feet.

During a quick debrief and it was agreed that flying later might work... When the air was cooler and calmer. In the meantime, Weebs spent an hour going over safety and other issues that might result in the need for Plan B. (I took good notes and will write up a separate post about this.)

6:30pm: Bonanza N303B flew with other Bonanzas.

The day ended with a generous spread of absolutely delicious home cooked food.  A hangar party!

The company and conversation was wonderful and I was really enjoying getting to know these men and their wives.  Good people.  Interesting people.  Superb pilots with stories and lessons that I was grateful to walk away with.

Next stop: Pagosa Hot Springs.  Heck, yes!  Well deserved.  

We were exhausted and nothing beats finishing the day bopping from one pool to another, finding the perfect temperature for sitting, soaking and chatting about the day.

And I almost forgot... At 10:30pm I got my first introduction to Sonic!  From the oversized front seat of our rented Dodge Ram 1500, I slurped back a chocolate malt!  It was a warm night.



Tomorrows plan involved a super early morning and lots of flying...

Rocky Mountain Sunsets Move Me!

A perfect Colorado evening.  The air was calm and the sky was oh so clear.

NOT flying would have been a crime!

At just after 8pm, we took off from Runway 29.  The sun had dipped behind the mountains just minutes before and the colors were beginning to saturate the sky.

Almost an hour of zipping back and forth along the Front Range at 10,000', lay ahead.  I did most of the flying and Mark spent most of his time behind the lens.

Thanks Mark, for sharing your photos!

Three States, One Morning

At the beginning of this year, one of my resolutions was to keep up the skills that I worked hard to learn as a student.  I developed a chart of skills and resolved to tick them off each month, thereby solidifying the skill and not losing confidence.

I would like to report that I'm on track... But I'm not.  :(

Like everyone, I have good excuses for why I have not flown enough and practiced my skills enough this year.
-Work
-Budget
-Weather
-Being out of town...

The truth is, despite the good excuses, I could have done a better job of maintaining and improving my flying skills.

Just like I feared, I have lost some confidence when it comes to solo cross country flying, controlled airspace communications, flight planning and various maneuvers.
Come on!  Surely I am not the only one who hates practicing power-on stalls?

I digress...
The real story here, is that today I planned and executed a solo cross country.  My first for a long while.  Too long!

It brought back so many memories, for sure.  I had almost forgotten how I am unable to sleep quite as well as I should, because of the endless thoughts of weather, fuel, flight planning and filing, checklists for gear and tasks and the anticipation of an early alarm clock wake up.   (No, I'm not a fan of the forced wake up and seldom use an alarm.)

On top of this, I was flying the C172, which I realized, had never taken me further than 20 miles from KLMO before... AND... I was going to navigate with GPS instead of pilotage.  Yes, my little head was quite full.

The plane was pre-flighted, fueled, topped off with another quart of oil and ready to go just after 8am.
I climbed in, started her up and proceeded to double check my communication and navigation devices.

The route:

KLMO - fly by KFNL - "comfort break" at KCYS - touch 'n' go KIBM - touch 'n' go KFMM - KLMO
About 225 miles.

I wouldn't say everything went exactly as planned, but I arrived in Cheyenne roughly on time, communicated reasonably effectively with ATC and landed safely with a gusty cross wind.   I was loving the ease of a GPS while simultaneously wishing I had indeed done all the manual calculations that I used to... just in case!

The next airport, Kimball Nebraska, is one I had been to before.  It's cute.   As I got closer to it and realized it was gusting higher than Cheyenne and exhibiting a moderate cross wind, I made the decision to fly over, rather than touch and go.
The same thing happened with Fort Morgan.  I simply didn't need to land... and had very little urge to taunt the Gods into teaching me a lesson!

Back on the ground in Longmont, I realized I had been gone for three and a half hours.
Time flies when you are having fun. :-)

This was my biggest solo flight so far.  It felt good and I learned a lot.


Top 5 Lessons from flight: 

1. Don't be afraid to refer to yourself as "Student Pilot" when you want ATC to be more patient with you.

2. Double check the GPS is communicating with the Ipad again, after separating the two during a stop.

3. When seeing and avoiding becomes necessary, keep "seeing them" for a while longer. You may have to avoid again...and again!

4. If I had flown another 25 miles, it would would have fulfilled the minimum 250 mile solo flight I will need before getting an instrument rating.

5. When I hear an alarming (and unexpected) beeping sound in the cockpit, mid flight, I am later unable to sleep well until I have determined exactly what it was trying to tell me!

Mt Rushmore and Jewel Cave

Continued from the post Mt Rushmore: "Lofty Idea, Colossal Endeavor", this is the story of my flight from KLMO to KCUT and back.

When I last wrote, I was turning in for the night. Fabulous Custer County Airport allowed camping.  The air was calm and the moon full.  It was a beautiful night, despite the 30 degree temperature.

Fast forward (although, let me tell you it didn't feel fast) 3 hours.  I had tossed and turned on a blow-up mattress trying to find a warm spot and was growing fairly tired of it.   The air mattress was cold... It was giving up all my precious body heat to the wintry ground.

Fifty feet away, the cozy FBO beckoned and shortly after 3am, I relented.  With my sleeping bag in hand, I unzipped the tent and clumsily stepped outside. Mark probably heard the sound of hiking boots running across the ramp and the closing of the door behind me!

That dark brown leather sofa had my name all over it and there I spent the next 4 hours, dead to the world.  :-)

Sunday was a much warmer day than Saturday.  Like Colorado, it appeared that South Dakota's weather could jump or plummet 30 degrees in a single day.  Gone was the icy cold wind and instead a calm, sunny day welcomed us.  Easter Bunny had visited me (I knew I had been good!) and first things first...we had a little pre-breakfast (chocolate) snack.

We found on of the only restaurants open in Custer and sat down to eat.  The food was good and hot and fast.  The cinnamon roll was to die for and big enough to share!

Jewel Cave, our next stop, was not too far away.  By 10am we had ourselves booked on a tour of the cave and were wandering around, exploring the hills and taking in the geology info that covered the walls of the visitors center.

I wished I had tucked another cinnamon roll into my backpack!

Jewel Cave:
This cave is the second longest in the world and to date, over 150 miles of cave have been explored and surveyed.  It is estimated that about 95% of the cave is yet to be found!
Luckily there are some thin, smart people willingly crawling around on their bellies, dragging their own water in (and out) of Jewel Cave, mapping more of it.

Our cave tour lasted about 90 mins.  Ranger Lydia did a wonderful job of teaching us the history of the cave as well as pointing out its unique features.  Mark and I took more pictures than the rest of the tour group put together.

Fun times!  But alas, they couldn't last all day... we had to go home.

But return from Custer without doing a fly-by of Mt Rushmore?  Not likely!
I flew and Mark communicated with Ellsworth Airforce Base.  Wonderful Shannon at the FBO had given us these no-brainer directions:

Once within the limits of Mt Rushmore, Mark flew and I pointed my camera right out the little left seat window.

Awesome.  Now, I was ready to go home.

As we left the Black Hills and flew over the roads leading southwest toward Cheyenne, we couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry for the two Coloradoan girls we had met earlier in the day.

They were down there somewhere... driving home to Loveland.

Mt Rushmore: Lofty Idea and Colossal Endeavour!

Sometimes people ask me why I learned to fly.

... Because it's wonderful, is the short answer.
But I know they want a different answer.  One that explains how exactly how I plan on using my new skills and freedom.

I want to go places and see things.  I want to go quicker and further and see things from the air as well as the ground!

Mt Rushmore has been on my bucket list for a LONG time.
It's iconic.   History and art, blended.

Last weekend, I crossed Mt Rushmore off my bucket list.  I also completed my longest flight as Pilot in Command and added almost 4 hours to my time logged in N303B.

We left Longmont (KLMO) around 9am and arrived at Custer, South Dakota just about 1.8 hours later.  The air was definitely not smooth.  I was pleased to have a co-pilot with infinitely better skills than I, when the time came for an approach over trees and a gusty touch-down!

Landing at Custer County Airport, we were welcomed by Shannon Stites, FBO manager.  She and her husband Mark, had been instrumental in the organization of this trip.  The FBO was now base-camp.  We had a rental car, campsite, showers, TV (and movies!), microwave, computer and printer.

The temperature was dropping and expected to be at 30 degrees overnight.  The FBO was a tropical 65... My kind of warm.

We set off sightseeing.  First stop, the Crazy Horse Memorial.
"A work in progress" is the understatement of the year!  One day, this will be the world largest sculpture, until then, it will employ generations of people who are enthusiastic about blowing stuff up.
See the hole in middle?  It is 10 stories tall.

Crazy Horse today

Historical photo of Crazy Horse sculpture

There is a lot of history here, for sure. The original sculptor was the apprentice to the artist that created Mt Rushmore.  He toiled at the face of Crazy Horse for years, while raising 10 children with his wife.  Today, long after his death, 7 of those kids and his (much younger) wife, continue work on the monument.

Mt Rushmore was everything it promised to be and once again Mark and I enjoyed a short presentation about its "construction" and artist.  We then walked the Presidential Trail and sampled the delights of the cafe.  Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Mt Rushmore

Mark under Mt Rushmore, on the Presidential Trail

Wild turkey

Finally on the list of Saturday activities... A scenic drive along The Needles Highway.  This curly 1-2 lane road ran through Custer State Park.

With abundant wildlife and countless view points, the land seemed to really come alive as the sun got lower.

The Mitsubishi Endeavor... nice vehicle!

Believe it or not, this tunnel wasn't one of the smaller ones.  I saw one sign that said the tunnel was just over 10 feet wide and only 8 feet tall!

The Needles Eye

Later that evening we took advantage of the really nice FBO, getting hot showers, heating up quiche and watching a movie, while awaiting the full moon to rise.
Yes, full moons are among my favorite things too, so a walk to the end of the runway and back just before turning in, was in order.

It had been a really great day but I was exhausted.
Easter Sunday was just around the corner and we had a plan to explore a cave tomorrow, before flying home.

New Year's Resolutions

What a year 2011 was!

We saw a British Royal wedding, a massive earthquake in Japan, the birth of the "occupy" movement, the death of Bin Laden, Kim Jong-il and Moammar Gadafi. We remembered 9/11 on it's 10th anniversary and celebrated the miraculous recovery of Gabrielle Giffords.

On a personal note my year was an interesting one.

There were mountain camping adventures, the exploration of a few new states, pushing my own limits of learning and comfort with aviation and re-connecting with my passion for photography.
I found myself a little more reclusive, enjoying my quiet time and less motivated to host events than I have been in previous years.

Looking back on resolutions I made for 2011, I can honestly say I kept them.  All three of them!
It seems that in making my 2011 resolutions simple, achievable and a very short list, I had few problems remembering them or maintaining the momentum needed to carry them out.
Ok, admittedly that resolution to do ab-exercises was left until November... but never-the-less, I did them!

So... what does 2012 have in store for me? Lots.
All the good things I tried and liked last year, are on the cards for this year again.

I have a resolution to spend more time with my girlfriends in 2012.
Apparently it's all too easy to let work, babies, hobbies and the quiet enjoyment of being at home, come between myself and my friends... and before I know it, months have flown by and I feel a bit out of touch.

There will be flying, of course.
In 2012 I resolve to begin the process of becoming instrument rated and to fly more with friends.
It's also time to add back a bit of "structure" to my flying.
My goal is to maintain the skills I learned last year while developing new skills. As such, I have come up with a plan/checklist to track progress and hold myself accountable. In short... the goal is to do each thing on the list at least 2x/month.

I wasn't kidding when I said the list of resolutions is short.
There is something to be said for under-promising and over-delivering... Even when it's to yourself!


PS:  For a pdf copy of the above checklist, feel free to contact me.