Flight

The next step is the Instrument Written exam learning from Aero-America in Des Moines Iowa

    If you have followed my blog for any length of time you know that I am getting back into flying after a bit of an absence.  This past New-years I set a few goals.  You may notice that a new rating was not on my list of priorities.  As I have trained and improved my flying skills I have found that the best way for me to advance my skills is to advance up the latter a little bit.  In order to do this I decided that I if the opportunity came along to attend a ground school I would take it.  After floating a few requests Steve Davis and the Aero-America team came through and hosted a 25 hour intensive test prep course.  I thought I would take the next few minutes to capture my thoughts and impressions of the class

    As someone who has made teaching and instructing an important part of my career I am always interested in watching and learning from other instructors.  In this case the first hurdle for me was to realize that this was not a class to help me learn all of the intricacies of instrument flying.  That will take weeks, months, or years.  This class is all about the exam.  The class used the Gliem test review book.  Steve followed the structure of this book very well.  Davis built a great simple power point presentation we reviewed lectures, and as a group we answered every question in the entire FAA pool.  In two and a half days we answered over 800 questions.  All in all the course was a great introduction to the technical aspects of instrument flying.  

    One thing that made this course so unique was the environment and attitude of the instructors.  Steve takes the position that each of his students has paid for an all inclusive event.  Just like a cruise ship meals, snacks, and drinks (no cocktails) are provided, and this stuff was not cheap.  Instead of providing cheap deli trays we ordered off the menu of a local brew pub.  Sodas and snacks were always available.  

All things considered this was a great course.  I took the written monday morning.  Unfortunately I did not pass.  I missed a passing score by two questions.  When I was done I called up steve, and he immediately made time to review my test results.  We talked for over an hour, and went over my weaknesses.  Right no I am going to study a few practice tests. I plan on taking it again on Saturday.  

Trying out my Scheyden sunglasses for the private pilot

As a private pilot sunglasses are important.  Being able to see the instrument panel in all conditions helps to ensure a successful flight.  Unfortunately many sunglasses are difficult to manage while flying.  When the sun changes you may need to take off glasses hats and headsets which can be a real pain.  The folks at scheyden have created a pair of glasses that makes the transition from light to dark easy.  Their unique flip up design is just great.  The only two downsides are the fact that you look like Johnny 5 when the glasses are flipped up, and cost.  Cost is easy to manage because Scheyden offers significant discounts.  Its not hard to find 30% off through some of your favorite Bloggers, and podcasters.    As for the look, I do love robot movies

4.5 logged in a long cross country from Des Moines to Chicago

I had a great long day of flying today.  With Ryan by my side I logged 4.5 in the Mooney.  We flew from Des Moines To PWK (Chicago Executive).  While there we got to visit with Rod, and Scott.  Lots of fun

It's all about the people

Oshkosh is over, and the bloggers and pod casters have started pushing out their content.  One of those podcasters is a new friend named Bill Williams.  Bill publishes the Student Pilot Cast. In this podcast he records his flight experiences, and shares those lessons with the world.  We met Bill at one of the very popular meet ups.  At this event we sat next to each other sharing stories, and generally hangar flying.  As the event went on the digital audio recorders came out, and it became apparent that Christine and I would be featured on a podcast.  Episode 29 is a capture of the fun conversations that took place that night.  Enjoy,

Is the COIN the end of the Predator??

    As a pilot I have been pretty well resigned to the fact that UAV's are  of the future of aviation.  The famous remote controlled military platforms have made a name for themselves in the combat zones of Afghanistan and Iraq.  Taking over the role of the old observer controller aircraft as well as the light attack platforms the predator is sold as a one size fits all solution in which aviator pilots are no longer placed in harms way.  With an incredibly long loiter time, range, and virtually unlimited capabilities the nail appeared to be in the coffin of the sole of the pilot.  

    This weekend I was fortunate enough to attend the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual fly in at Oshkosh.  One of the significant airframes in attendance was the Predator B.  This homeland security airframe made history by straying from the confines of Military operations areas, and restricted airspace's.  This predator flew into Oshkosh for the show.  I approached this bird and talked with the crew.  I hate to say it, but I was not impressed.  the crew on hand fielded questions, and discussions about the predator.  

One question in particular was a concern, and I wanted to get your opinion on it.  When asked how safe a predator could bee with out eyes looking out a wind screen the pilot stated that the Predator had a great TCAS System.  For those of you not familiar with TCAS it is a system that reads the transponder transmissions from other aircraft in the area.  Those pilots who regularly fly TCAS know that these systems although excellent supplements are no replacement for a visual scan around an airframe.  After all many aircraft in the world do not have transponders, and there is not a flock of birds alive that contains this equipment.  

The second point of concern related to the amount of crew necessary to reposition this aircraft for display.  According to the staff at this display it took three complete crews to make this transfer possible.  One crew at the departure point. A different crew handled the in route phase, and yet a third crew maneuvered this predator to its arrival at OSH.  This does not seam to be the manpower saving platform that was advertised.  

With these experiences in mind I was surprised to see the resurrection of the Air Force COIN program.  Coin stands for Counter Insurgency aircraft, and the Iraqi government is in the process of purchasing several of these airframes.  The concept of a single engine propeller driven aircraft similar to the A-1, P-51, and other aircraft of old is interesting.  If done properly a COIN bird could be cost affective, functional, and extremely capable.  

To top things off our Air Force is currently flying the Texan II as a primary trainer.  This trainer meets the basic specs of the COIN program.  It will be interesting to see how this evolves.  

More blog posts about the COIN program

 This is where the Predator crew manages the aircraft

With everyone home from #OSH09 its time to share some pics

Thats enough for now.  If you would like to see more of our trip check out my flickr feed

There is nothing like a trip to Oshkosh

This year has been an exciting, and educational one.  Just 12 short months ago I made the commitment to start   flying again.  At about the same time the aviation world began to embrace the social media concept.  During the infamous 2008 Air venture a gathering of Podcasters, and web site developers.  That same year Rod Rakic launched www.Mytransponder.com.  

In the months since pod casters, bloggers, and other social media folks have had a big influence on my return to flight.  This weekend I had the chance to Enjoy Oshkosh with some of the famous...  well internet famous personalities in the aviation industry.  

In the next few days I will get a chance to update this site with some pictures, and thoughts from the trip.  in the mean time take a look at my Flickr feed.  

Visiting the Iowa aviation museum

today was a great sunny morning.  Unfortunately there were just enough clouds that I decided that flying was not going to be a good idea.  Instead Christine and I drove down to the Iowa aviation museum in Greenfield Iowa.  This little piece of Iowa had some really fun aircraft and  .

Fly Iowa 2009