Airborne diary, Live from the Flight Deck

Winter Operations

2012-02-01T13:32:00.003Z

Transition from Type Rating to line operations wasn't quite smooth, to say the least. With some 50 hours already logged on type, I am kept fairly busy with the flying itself and flight preparation.
The weather we have at the moment isn't too helpful, de-icing on most sectors, freezing conditions (and special checklists for those), CAT II and III approaches, Low vis take-off (LVPs), diversions, ...
However, this environment makes the learning experience very useful.

The worst we had so far was 50 meters reported visibility (and 150m RVR) on take-off, 50 meters VIS / 250 meters RVR on a CAT III approach (we were not visual by 60ft radio-altitude and we saw the runway at the very last second), 50 kts crosswind on the final approach, ...
To give an idea, 50 meters visibility is the equivalent of standing in front of the aircraft and not being able to see the fin or the horizontal stabilizer.

Flying days are very interesting, that's for sure.
I cannot give specific details but I got to fly long sectors (5 hours), short ones (1 hour), I really like the diversity in the flying itself.

On the other hand, the flights can be quite stressful, there is a lot to do especially as I'm learning and very little time to actually enjoy the view or set back, even on longer trips.
Overall, the job is quite a bit different from what I expected, not to say it is not as good as I imagined it but you realise what it is like only when you're actually on the line.
The greatest surprise was the crew-environment, obviously very different from single-pilot flying. The atmosphere in the cockpit does depend a lot on the other pilot, someone you seat next to for 5 to 10 hours on a regular day.
Some flights go by very smoothly and as planned, some other flights don't. Last minute clearance change from ATC, delays, various passenger issues, diversions, anything that doesn't work as expected make it a lot more stressful and difficult to deal with.
In the end, some days are extremely enjoyable while others seem very long and tiring.

Still, every time I look outside, the view is always outstanding and it's never disappointing.

Is there anything better than eating breakfast on top of the Alps at sunrise?

A few scenes from the cockpit

2012-01-22T15:48:00.004Z

I finally bought Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD 11 (the cheapest one), superb software to edit and render 1080p Full HD videos. Camera used is a Sony HX9v (compact camera), soundtracks by Audiomachine. Hope you like it !

View from the Flight Deck

2012-01-13T12:45:00.008Z

Last few days before first scheduled operations in the right hand seat, I got to observe a dozen flights as a transition from Type Rating to Line Training with the opportunity to do some of the tasks I will be doing on my own thereafter.

In the crewroom, gathering airfields and performances charts, weather and various documents we then use in flight. At the aircraft, walkaround (outside check of the aircraft), FMC and navaids setup and once we're ready to go I take care of the radiocommunications for the remaining part of the flight. I also offer to complete the in-flight reports, which most of the crew appreciate as this is not the fun side of the job.

Hopefully it will all help once I start operating from the right hand seat, as there is a lot of getting used to for a young First Officer, and a lot to do in a very limited time scale.
The jumpseat is probably the best place to take pictures so I didn't miss this opportunity either (all pictures are taken with a compact camera, if you ever wonder. I will take my DSLR someday but this camera does a great job in the meantime).
Some of the crew are very experienced and have great stories to share, it is always a pleasure to learn from them.

Airborne life continues...

First Flight at the controls of the 737

2012-01-06T19:20:00.002Z

At the front end of the 60-ton Boeing 737, there is a calm and quiet atmosphere amongst the three crew in the flight deck.
My right hand on the control column, left hand on the thrust levers, I gently advance them onto a mid-position. The mighty CFM-56 engines spool up and some light vibrations start to travel through the metal structure of the aircraft.
The N1 fan blades are accelerating to around 40% of the full thrust setting, and all gauges are in the green as I hit the TOGA button and advance the levers fully forward. The roar from the engines almost immediately arrives to our ears.
Airspeed is rapidly increasing (in fact, very intense acceleration as we're light with no passenger), the Captain announces "80 knots", then "V1" and "Rotate". I gently pull the yoke and seconds later, we're airborne.

This is it! After years and years of achievements and failures, dreams and disappointements, I am flying a Boeing 737NG!

Positive rate, gear up, and away we go.
The feeling is just incredible! The 130 foot long airliner punches through the freezing cold air of this peaceful winter day.
Not a lot of souls onboard, just the three of us and the collegues from the Type Rating course at the back, awaiting their turn and probably as exited as I am.

It takes only 10 seconds from take-off to initiating the first turn, we aim to fly a tight circuit around the airport and come back in for a visual approach on the active runway for a series of touch-and-goes.
Despite the stress related to this being my first flight, the feeling is just outstanding.
Nothing comes close to that. I remember my first solo on the "One Filthy" (Cessna 150) almost 10 years ago, the most memorable event of my life. Well, I think this flight has just overtaken my first solo as the most intense and worth remembering day of my career!

The Captain possesses excellent airmanship and teaching skills. He keeps a clear and calm voice as he talks me through the procedure. He completes the checklists for me as I manually fly the plane on a rectangular-shaped pattern.
Turning final, the centerline is nicely coming in, I ask for flaps 30 and intercept the approach path visually (ILS beams are turned off) and reduce the speed to our pre-calculated approach speed.
The approach is eventless, I'm very impressed with the stability of the aircraft. It is said that the simulators are tougher to fly, I reckon this is true.

The threshold slides beneath us as I flare, the main gear touches the asphalt and the Captain starts to re-configure the aircraft for an immediate take-off (trim back in the take-off range, flaps back in the 15 position), full thrust again and back in the air for another circuit.

After six of them, we make a full stop landing and taxi back the holding point, a couple of handshakes and I leave the seat as one of my collegue seats in for his very first flight.

One hour of pure joy this was, manually flying a 737 in circuits like we would do in a Cessna, there's just no word to describe how great it feels like!

Some 10 years ago, I was taking my very first lesson on the small Cessna 150. I was young and full of hope.
I feel like this first flight on the Cessna was yesterday, and I never stopped believing.

Airborne life continues...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !

2011-12-24T11:51:00.003Z

Boeing 737-3/900 Type Rated

2011-12-18T21:10:00.003Z

Perfect timing for Christmas celebrations, two months and a half after enrolling in the B737 Type Rating course, the group of people I trained with and myself are now qualified First Officers and will start line operations within just a few weeks.

The training isn't complete yet as we still have to complete the Base Training (6 to 10 circuits flown on the actual aircraft, without passengers) and the Line Training which will last around two months.
The Line Training envolves normal operations however the first few flights are supervised by a third pilot (safety pilot) and all flights are flown with Training Captains only.
At the end will come the Line Check which we will have to re-take twice a year from then on.

The LST (Licence Skills Test) goes through the same process and has to be re-taken once every 6 months during recurrent simulator training (RST), to keep current with emergency procedures and failures management.
As pilots, we are tested all the time and in some ways the training never stops.

The Full Flight Simulator sessions (40 hours) included all the aspects of the fixed base training but added much more complete decision making processes and line operations.
We reviewed pretty much all the phases of flight where we could have any kind of engine issues (failure, fire, overheat, abnormal vibrations, high EGT, severe damage, etc ...) whether this is on the ground, on the apron, during take-off, just while taking-off (between V1 and VR), after take-off, in cruise, during descent, on landing, etc...
Some airports have circle to land procedures (visual maneuver) in place and we practiced them in the simulator.
We are now CAT II and IIIA ILS approaches qualified (minimum 50ft cloud base and 200m RVR for autoland on our operations).

We reviewed so many failures or critical scenarios that I stopped counting. The worst we had were probably the loss of all AC power, manual reversion (complete loss of all three hydraulic systems, which makes it almost impossible to move the flight controls and maneuver the aircraft) and double engine failure on take-off.

Next step: First flight on the real aircraft.

Airborne life continues...

B737NG Type Rating - Simulator Phase (2)

2011-11-30T22:58:00.001Z

Learn it the hard way, make the mistakes!

That's what the Fixed Base part of the simulator training (first 10 sessions, 20h as crew and 20h as observer) is all about.

The first 5 sessions were designed to learn and practice normal SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) on A to B flights. All the rest of the training is focused on systems failures, emergencies or non-normal situations, different types of approaches and decision making, on top of the usual SOPs work. The Full Flight sessions (another 40 hours of simulator training) will bring the opportunity to practice again some of the situations we've been through before, but it adds the motion, more realistic airline environment (talking to Ops for example) and our required self-performance is set much higher. Yet the fixed base part feels really tough as every session brings more new stuff. The instructors let us make the mistakes and we learn from them.
It is undoubtedly much more intense than the Instrument Rating (IR) of the initial airline pilot training (which wasn't easy either).

Some of the failures and situations covered in the last five fixed base sessions include:
- APU (Auxiliary Power Unit, used to provide power and bleed air mainly when the engines are not running) Fault, i.e. not working,
- Bleed trip off (bleed air is compressed air taken from the engine compressor stages or from the APU, and is used to provide pressurisation, air conditionning and equipement cooling),
- Soure off (when a power source is no longer supplying energy as it should),
- Aborted engine starts for all kind of reasons (wet start, hot start, hung start, ...),
- Landing gear stuck in the up or in the down position,
- Loss of System A and Loss of System B (those are 2 of the 3 hydraulic systems (the third one is the standby system), driving flight control surfaces but not only, thrust reversers, landing gear, flaps and slats, brakes, spoilers, etc...),
- EEC Alternate mode (Engine control),
- Engine failure, Engine shutdown in flight,
- Engine Overheat,
- Engine Fire,
- Engine severe damage,
- Auto Speedbrake failure,
- Double FMC failure (resuming conventional navigation, manual calculation of speed references),
- Rapid depressurisation followed by:
- Emergency descent,
- Flight deck Window overheat,
- Rejected take-off,
- Passenger evacuation,
- Display failure,
- Stabiliser out of trim,
- ... and a few more.

There is a course of action for each of them, almost all systems are redundant and none of those conditions should develop in an uncontrolled situation. That's if we apply the correct procedure, and those simulator sessions are here to train to do exactly that.
Some of those situations require memory actions (Boeing refer to these as memory items) and a lot of decisions are to be made.

During Full Flight simulator sessions, some of those failures will be practiced again and lots of new failures will be introduced. There will be occasions when several failures will happen at the same time with procedures requiring to do opposite actions, resulting in the crew having to make a (correct) decision.

But the training is not only about failures and emergencies. We have to practice all kind of approaches on each flight, as well as go-arounds, take-off and approach briefings, and all normal checklists.
Amongst approaches we've been flying so far, other than the usual ILS Cat I, we did a few non-precision approaches (NPAs) such as LOC (Localizer only) approach, VOR-DME approach, NDB-DMEs, and circle-to-land (visual circuit after breaking off from the approach on one runway, to land on the same runway in the opposite direction, probably the most interesting type of approach).
There are two ways to fly NPAs, using VNAV (the FMC creates a vertical guidance based on DME, GPS and IRS position) or VS (Vertical Speed) as we would fly an approach on a Cessna.

Airborne life continues...

B737NG Type Rating - Simulator Phase

2011-11-21T16:58:00.009Z

Final straight line to the right hand seat: the simulator phase.

It starts off with the fixed base part, which lasts two weeks and has ten sessions of 4 hours each (2 hours flying, 2 hours observing the other crew), before getting onto the full flight training.
It is called "fixed base" as the motion is not used on those simulator sessions. For this reason, we don't hand fly the plane a lot.
This part is typically designed to help us get to know all the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), do-lists / checklists, the flows, standard calls and the Pilot Flying / Pilot Monitoring tasks.

The first five sessions are focused on normal operations. Basically, we enter the plane configured in the nightover/secure setup. The Pilot Flying (alternatively Captain and First Officer) completes the preliminary and safety inspection flows while the Pilot Monitoring does the walkaround (checks the aircraft externally). This includes FMC basic setup (route planning, departure and arrival, speeds and altitudes restrictions, weather (temperature, winds) in the climb, cruize and descent segments, ...). This can take up to 10 - 15 minutes and those first simulator sessions are there to practice what we've been doing in the Procedure trainer (cockpit mock-up) and FMS trainer.

When both pilots are in the flickdeck and the final loadsheet has received, we complete the final FMC setup, make the take-off performance calculations (and decide of an appropriate thrust setting, e.g. derate thrust, assumed temperature), do the preliminary and safety inspection checklists and get started with the briefing. This would normally take another 10 to 15 minutes.
Then comes the pushback and startup sequences, taxi-out and take-off. For each of those phases, and for each pilot, there is a number of procedures, calls (out loud) and things we have to do. This is what SOPs are all about and it does take a while to remember them all and do it quickly enough. Everything is done from memory and then only we read the checklists, as opposed to do-list only, or checklist only, in general aviation.

Fixed base session 4 was a complete flight from A to B, ILS approach at B, go-around as a result of not being visual by the decision altitude, come back for another approach and land with weather merely above minima.

Fixed base sessions 6 to 10 introduce all kinds of emergencies and failures, I'll come to that in the next post.
Then will come the Full flight simulator sessions (with motion).

Base training (first flight on the real aircraft) is currently scheduled just before Christmas.
I couldn't have wished for a better present.

Airborne life continues...

Boeing 737 Cockpit Scenes in HD

2011-11-15T17:50:00.002Z

From the jumpseat

2011-11-12T18:32:00.017Z

Thrilling reward after four weeks of intense studies, I got to jumpseat a few flights, enjoy the incredible view and do some of the work (walkaround, PA - Passenger Announcements, and ATC communications).

This is not the average day at the office for a huge proportion of people on this planet.
Yet the job of an airline pilot comes with drawbacks, but some of its aspects like the view and the flying in itself are simply extraordinary.

Waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning doesn't look very attractive in the first place, now when it comes to relishing the sunrise over the Alps, this is worth living for.

Airborne life continues...

B737NG Type Rating - Part 2.2 (CBT, SOP, Perf)

2011-11-06T22:18:00.008Z

After a second week of CBT (Computer Based Training) we're now done with the Technical training, assessed with a final exam.
No time to relax though as we had different lectures to attend on RVSM (Reduced Vertical Separation Minima, e.g. 1000ft seperation above FL290), windshear, engine malfunctions, airspace awareness, winter operations, etc...
I'm impressed by the consistency and quality of the training provided.
Both the ground school and the simulator training include almost twice as much hours as a self sponsored type rating (SSTR).

We've started practicing the SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) in the Procedure Trainer, which in fact is a cockpit mock-up. My sim partner is a well rounded guy who worked in the Army as a pilot. Different experience means great conversations, there are so many different paths that lead to the right hand seat of an airliner that in the end, no two pilots share the same story.
Along with the proceduring training, we have a few lectures on SOPs, and I backseated a simulator session, useful to see all this in action.
We still have to do the Performance and Mass & Balance calculations training (and the related exam).

Finally, we spent a couple of hours in the Control Tower (ATC) and the Approach room, talking with air traffic controlers about procedures we, as pilots, might not understand or find necessary in the first place but which are there for a reason. Those guys are doing an amazing job and are there to help us, it's always useful to see both sides of the headset microphone.

Airborne life continues...

B737NG Type Rating - Part 2.1 (CBT, FMS)

2011-10-30T16:47:00.009Z

CBT or Computer Based Training is our self-paced method of learning the technical side of the Boeing 737 Type Rating.

There are a total of 53 subjects to be reviewed as part of the CBT.

They are grouped into main topics, these include:

- Air Systems (Bleed air, pressurisation, air conditioning),
- Airplane General,
- Anti-ice equipment,
- Communications,
- Electrical,
- Engines and APU,
- Fire Protection,
- Flight controls (Primary and Secondary),
- Flight Instruments and Displays (Autoflight, VNAV, LNAV, Flight Directors, Standby instruments),
- FMS (Flight Management System) and Navigation (ADIRU - Air Data Inertial Reference Unit),
- Fuel systems,
- Hydraulics,
- Landing Gear,
- Warning Systems (Warnings, EGPWS, TCAS, ...).

The CBT program is actually very well designed and allows you to manually make inputs into the different systems and see their effects.
The CBT self-learning sequence is spread over two weeks, along with classes and reviews with flight instructors. It is supplemented by the FCOM2 (Flight Crew Operations Manual) which we have to know thoroughly, and which is in fact much more detailed. It is adapted by our company, whom procedures may slightly differ from the Boeing recommandations, with differences among aircraft depending on instrumentation, updates and options.
The CBT however is a Boeing-based program, not airline specific.

An example of how detailed it gets would be the Landing Gear warning activation:
- The horn will activated when the flaps are between 0 and 10,
- Below 200ft RA (Radar Altitude),
- With one engine failed,
- 1 thrust lever less than 20°,
- All gear not down,
OR
- With Flaps between 15 and 25,
- 1 thrust lever less than 34° with 1 engine failed,
- or 1 thrust lever less than 20° with both engines operating,
OR
- Flaps 25 or more.

For every alert or warning light, there can be many different causes and many different actions to be taken, or even combination of warnings that lead to a different condition.
Example:
If the ZONE TEMP light illuminates amber, then CONT CAB indicates a duct temperature overheat or failure of the flight deck primary and standby temperature controls.
ZONE TEMP for FWD CAB and AFT CAB (Foward and Aft Cabin) indicates a duct temperature overheat.
If ZONE TEMP illuminates during Master Caution recall, then CONT CAB indicates a failure of the flight deck primary or standby temperature control.
Either FWD CAB or AFT CAB indicates a failure of the associated zone temperature control.

It can easily get confusing with hundreds of different warning lights in different locations.

We also started learning the SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) in the Procedure Trainer, which I'll explain in the next post.
Finally, we spent a couple of hours in the FMC trainer to have a go and practice all the things this fantastic system has to offer.

So far, this aircraft looks absolutely fantastic!

Airborne life continues...

Boeing 737NG Type Rating - Part 1

2011-10-24T18:05:00.008+01:00

The Type Rating started off with an introduction and welcome into the airline. There are a lot of things to take onboard, such as the rostering system (basically, your work schedual), base allocation, out-of-base work, commuting, duty hours and limits, travel benefits, company's or aircraft manufacturer's amendment to existing procedures, etc...
And paperwork, again! You gotta love paperwork if you want to join an airline!

The next few days were focused on CRM (Crew Ressource Management), accidents studies, error chain, SOP's (Standard Operating Procedures) and their use and situational awareness. The lecturer was well experienced and made it all clear and interesting. Hats off.

Then came the safety and emergency training, lasting a few days. The theoretical part covered Cabin Crew and Pilot's security and safety drills, cabin crew's flight routine, dangerous goods and law, normal and non-normal procedures (FCOM1) and QRH (Quick Reference Handbook).
More enjoyable was the practical training associated with the safety and emergency procedures:
- Ditching drill in a swimming pool,
- Operation of doors using doors mock-ups,
- Fire drills (see picture below),
- Smoke drill (basic walking in a dense smoke environment),
- and finally, the Evacuation drill using the aircraft slides.

We had to sit three exams as a way to check our knowledge.
Quite fun overall.

Airborne life continues...

(Last photo is Nice (NCE) airport as seen shortly after takeoff)

Transiton and B737 Type Rating program

2011-10-21T20:38:00.014+01:00

Glider towing was a very good experience.
Figures-wise, this represents some 1300 tow flights, on a 6 days on / 1 day off pattern, up to 14 consecutive flying days on some occasions.
I had the chance to do tows up to FL120 (12,000ft) for the National Test Pilots School (EPNER in France, equivalent of the British Empire Test Pilots School or the USAF Test Pilot School).

Figures stay figures, however it taught me a great deal of experience. I have had one engine failure on take-off (towing a heavy loaded two-seater glider), one occasion where the glider had its spoilers/speedbrakes stuck in the out position giving us a negative rate of climb on the initial path, several cable breaks, etc...
We operated in some serious weather conditions, with winds up to 40 kts, CBs forming all around on a daily basis, ...
When the airfield was flooded after heavy rains, we were to used the paved runways only.
Landing on the South-East side of the field, the Landing Distance Available was 120m (390ft), not much for this sort of planes.
Overall, an enjoyable and very valuable experience.

As always, good things come to an end, but yet the next step is one of which I have dreamt for years. Hired by a European airline, I started the Boeing 737NG Type Rating a few weeks ago and I should be flying the real aircraft around Christmas, first flights with passengers in January.

Type Rating program:
Week 1: Introduction, which covers topics such as our company's culture, CRM (Crew Ressource Management), SOP's (Standard Operating Procedures), Safety, Emergency Procedures, Survival and ditching training, Dangerous Goods, Fire and smoke drills, Operation of doors, ...
Weeks 2 to 4: CBT - Computer Based Training (Aircraft general knowledge and systems), FMS training (FMS simulator), SOP's training (cockpit mock-ups), Performances calculation, Mass & Balance, RVSM.
Weeks 5 to 10: Simulator training (60h of fixed base and full flight (full motion) simulator, and a further 20 hours as observer) and briefings.
LST: Licence Skills Tests (1 day),
Simulator Circuit Training (1 day),
Base Training (6 to 10 circuits on the actual aircraft, flown without passengers).

Airborne life continues...

A few King Air Be90 pictures

2011-09-28T21:59:00.010+01:00

Getting a pilot job in Europe

2011-09-18T02:29:00.012+01:00

Don’t hold your breath, I am not announcing a major pilot shortage and I don’t think this will ever happen, at least not in Europe.
A lot of schools are advertising their courses with some very misleading comments such as “now is a good time to train, airlines will desperately be looking for pilots by the time you complete training”.
In the past decade, this has been half-true for not even a year, around 2007. They were certainly not desperate but a lot were hiring and the requirements were quite low.
This hasn’t lasted long though and rather than waiting for this sort of economic climate to come back, if you are looking for a job you should focus on what you can do in the current, fairly poor, climate instead.

This post is my own thought on the topic, hence not everyone will agree and share that same opinion. I may have very little experience in the industry, this process did help me get several job opportunities, and this is also the sort of attitude some of my friends had when they got their first pilot job.

Most pilots fresh out of school will just send a couple hundreds of CVs and wait until the phone finally rings. It sometimes works, it did for me, but there are a lot more things you can do to get a pilot job.

Right, first thing first, let’s talk about LUCK.
There isn't any absolute solution, there is no key, but luck does happen and it can be triggered.
Don't think luck doesn't come to you because you are not that kind of person.
Luck is not a simple character trait, it is a skill in its own.
Of course, you can get lucky or unlucky but those who tend to come across luck many times in a row most likely act in order to make it happen.
I'm not blaming those who are not in that position, just enlightening that the lucky ones tend to be the ones who create a positive environment.
A famous Professor did some work on that, you can look it up or google it: Richard Wiseman, Book: The luck factor.
Basically, one way to do that is to trigger opportunities. Which is, to get to meet the right people in the right place, listen to their expectations and position yourself on this demand.
Having a stable and steady life isn't really going to help you get opportunities, for a start.
Create a network, get to be the one that creates links between people (one of them being well-positioned) and help others before expecting others to help you.

Right, how do you do that in terms of real life?
You don’t look for these people, you don’t sell yourself to them. In fact, you shouldn’t need to, you just have to place yourself in a positive environment.
Here are a few examples:
- I worked on a big soaring airfield for 5 months. Within this lap of time, I met at least 50 retired airline pilots, got to talk to them and I eventually met other pilots who heard my name during random conversations. That’s a good start.
I met a Boeing 757 Captain well placed in his company to pass on my CV.
- Just a few days before I left, I received a phone-call from a chief pilot flying light twin-turboprops in remote islands. He got my contact details via a retired pilot I talked a lot with, one of those guys you could spend hours and hours talking to without getting bored as they have so many stories and life experiences to share.
Anyway, this chief pilot was looking for a pilot with glider towing experience because he operates on small trips with steep approaches, the kind of things you do as a tow pilot (I later learnt he had been a towing pilot himself a couple of years back). I realised I didn’t even applied to them as they were asking for a lot more hours than I had.
I turned the job down, having already signed my contract on the 737, but I kept him in my contacts.
- Other experiences, other luck? Probably. I recently met a nice guy at an airshow, I was one of those wearing a yellow high-vis jacket on the other side of the fence, as a photographer. We started talking about photographic equipment, and it is only after a while he presented himself as a member of the recruitment team of a corporate airline. Luck stroke twice, his company was looking for a Learjet first officer.
I am not saying that’s the way you get a job, but that’s at least a good way to get an interview.

Second tip, you need to plan everything.
Do not rely on a single project, you’d better have a second plan and even a third one.
Try to act in order to make things happen, and if they don’t, move on.
You should get organised with a Plan B, a Plan C and a Plan D. Once you have sent in your CVs worldwide, just put Plan A on the side (Plan A: an airline or small operator will eventually get back to you regarding your application, and call you for an interview). Don’t rely on that because it may well take years or even never happen.

Using my own experience, once I finished training, I knew I wanted to build my hours to fulfil the requirements of various operators asking for 500 to 700 hrs.
In case I wouldn’t get a place as a tow pilot, I applied to ground crew jobs on various airports.
I talked to a guy who told me his flying club would be happy to have me for the season, as a tow pilot. I relied on that, and when I went to the airfield, a guy got the place before I did and was already trained. Because the soaring (glider) season had already started, most of the gliding clubs had already found a tow pilot. I applied everywhere, called every single flying club, until one told me “I know this one place that’s looking for a pilot”. That was the National Soaring Centre, offering the best (or should I say, the least worst) conditions in the country.
I got the Chief pilot’s number and called him straight away. He told me they had not far from a hundred of CVs already and a few guys coming at the end of that week, but if I wanted I could pop up and bring my CV the following Monday, a week later.
The next morning at 6am, I was on a train to the airfield, a CV and a headset in my bag. Once arrived, I asked to have a chat with the Chief pilot, who was away for the morning, I waited and finally got to talk to him briefly around noon. He appreciated the move but told me he had already arranged appointments with other pilots the next day. I insisted, told him I was ready to go fly, and probably with a CV as good as the others'. He went flying and I waited until late afternoon for him to land, insisted again and finally convinced him to let me have a go. We went flying and did some general handling, various stalls, steep climbs and steep approaches, short landings and precision landings. Well fun despite the day-long wait, after what he offered me the place without any more delay.
A lot of positions in the aviation industry work like this one, you have to fight for it. If you don’t, someone else will.

Also, be realistic.
I highly doubt more than half of those who train to be commercial pilots will ever get a flying job. Pilot schools either hide statistics or make them look like if everyone is getting jobs. This is really not the case, the fact you complete a pilot course in no way means you will ever get employed as such.
For this reason, when there is an opportunity, whatever that is, don't turn it down unless you have a very serious alternative or very good reasons to do so.
Stop dreaming on excellent and very rewarding Terms&Conditions, as a low-timer non-experienced pilot you stand very little chances to start with more than decent working conditions.

Right, how about if you can’t get a hold of a flying position?
Getting yourself a ground job such as flight dispatcher will certainly help you more than working at MacDonald’s or going back to your old job in a civil engineering office.
Why? I can see two reasons. The first one is the experience you will gain as a ground crew, this is usually not a requirement from the airlines but they do appreciate this kind of background. For you, this is also a good opportunity to discover the airline world from a different perspective, not to mention the fact you’re still seeing airplanes on a daily basis. Then there is the possibility to network. Depending on what company you work for, you may come across lots of pilots working for a lot of different airlines. Some will be uninterested and some others might be training captains or chief pilots, you never know. Always carry a CV with you, in a folder.

- The following story happened to a great friend of mine, he had been dispatching on a busy European airport for a while when he got to see several times the Chief pilot of a major airlines. Having a CV on him as always, he kindly gave it to the chief pilot and mentioned how much he’d like to have a formal interview with him. Unfortunately, the latter refused. On the third occasion he saw him, he suggested again the idea of an interview, and when the chief pilot declined, he told him “right, I’ll keep the load sheet then, unless you changed your mind?” (in a humorous way, of course). He got called for the interview a week later…

So, how about what you read on the internet? In particular, web forums such as PPRuNe?
Those forums surely can be useful as they broadcast aviation news, which is a good way to stay current, knowing who’s recruiting, who’s not and who may well be in a couple of months. You will find there a wide range of interview questions and sim profiles as well, very useful when you finally get that phonecall inviting you for a selection.

However, you will also find a huge amount of gloom and doom, bullying and trolling. If you feel turned down or need some motivating perspective, don’t go on there.
Bear in mind a lot of those people spreading depressing (and often false) news are not pilots themselves, some of those who are pilots may have failed to get employed for various reasons. Some others may have dreamt to become pilots but never tried.
To compensate, they feel better telling you how bad it is.
You’d better spend your time actively looking for a job and networking than wasting it reading depressing comments on PPRuNe.

A lot of these people saw a light when they came across an advert for a pilot school. They were not interested in aviation in the first place, but imagined they just had to pay to get their licences and will soon land a very well paid job on a big shiny jet, full of prestige and glamour. For most employed pilots, this is utterly unreal.
You may land a job on a twin engine jet, but you better be happy to fly single props because this is most likely what you’re going to end on for quite a time, before actually getting your hands on a jet or a turboprop.
You need to be realistic. For a lot of pilots, their lives are nowhere near what people think they are.

The Aviation world is a bit like a lake full of crocodiles.
When a newcomer jumps in the pool, eyes wide open, he has great chances to end up very far from expectations. Some will get interested eventually, and a lot will not.
When those guys end up not getting jobs, while seeing classmates living the dream, they start getting frustrated, they openly blame the schools, blame the airlines and blame those who get jobs.
They also blame the networking or recommending system. It seems unfair to most, because you do bypass the long queue of waiting pilots. Now, you can choose to blame others, or be in the position where others might blame you for succeeding.

Good luck to all those looking for a job.
This certainly is far more difficult than the training itself, and sometimes you do everything you can and it just won’t work. Hang on to it and keep trying.
I know this sounds a lot easier than it is. My advice won’t get everyone a job.
But no book or website dares talking about the real job hunting, how it really happens.

This may open the eyes of those living in a fairy world.

Airborne life continues…

Boeing 737 FCOM, SOPs, QRH, ...

2011-08-15T22:53:00.007+01:00

The First Officer contract signed, I am just days away from jumping into the new and exciting - to say the least - adventure.

Myself and the other people enrolled in the TR course have been provided with a set of documentation relating to the Boeing 737 Type Rating.
Those include the different volumes of FCOM (Flight Crew Operations Manual), accounting for several thousands of pages, FCTM (Flight Crew Training Manual), Ops Manual, Performance Manual, etc...
We are not expected to know everything until then but a lot of these documents is going to be really useful during the Type Rating and we will eventually have to learn a substantial part of its content.

Basically, the FCOMs cover topics from Limitations to SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), Performances, Aircraft systems, Instruments, etc...

I have ordered a technical book that helps understanding the FCOM, and I guess a lot of work is waiting for us.

I am leaving my current job as a tow pilot within the next few days, and although it was a pretty good experience, I am definitely looking forward to flying the line.

To you all, positively looking for a job, I wish you the best of luck.
It is a very tough industry with a rather low demand for pilots, especially inexperienced, and sometimes having the right qualifications with the right profile just isn't enough.

Having had several work opportunities in the last few weeks, I consider myself lucky and will try to post and share some information regarding that in my next post, whether this is a general aviation job or an airline position.

Airborne life continues...

The most beautiful American Airliner

2011-07-27T13:50:00.007+01:00

“Allo, my name is L. from ..., may I speak to Mark ........?”,
“Speaking”,
“We’re please to let you know you have been successful in our selection process”.

The very friendly lady then told me I will be starting the Type Rating course on the Boeing 737NG in October, after an introduction week within the airline.

I have dreamed of such a call for years, the Boeing 737NG has always fascinated me, and this is just about to become real.

Thank you all of you who have showed your support.

I took the assessment recently and as any selection process, most didn't pass. I feel sorry for them, but I guess this is all part of the game.
I prepared a lot for it, spent hours and hours going through the entire ATPL books, I prepared for the simulator assessment and I think it all worked out pretty well on the D-day as I have never flown such a great flight before and I did my best CRM (surely the flights on the Kingair did help a lot on this side of things).

Looking forward to flying the most beautiful American airliner,

Airborne life continues...

Kingair, gliders and tow planes

2011-06-15T18:17:00.013+01:00

As summer is approaching, we get busier and busier, hence the lack of posts on this blog lately.

Towing-wise, I've been checked out on a newly designed aircraft, the MCR-180. This basically is a small and very light aircraft (450 kg / 990 lbs) powered by the classic 180 hp Lycoming engine, driving a 5-blade low-pitch propeller. The performances are truely impressive but the plane is not much fun to fly. It requires a very smooth handling and it is amazingly unstable, especially at low speeds.
Anyway, climb rates make it cheap to operate and this is what glider pilots are after. It wears the number 1 CN and is flown as an Experimental aircraft. As such, we have to make various reports after each flight, as a way to improve or even re-design some of the aircraft.

Gliding-wise, there is so much to explore in the area, it is incredibly beautiful and there's no way to get tired of it. I got the chance to fly the Nimbus 4D, a 26.5m (87ft) wide glider, and fly to Grenoble and back. Sadly, I didn't have my camera on me at that time, I don't think I've ever seen sceneries of such beauty before. The area South-East of St Auban (St Auban is the small city where I'm based) is also very nice, and it is one of the most touristic area of the South Alps region.

I also got to fly the Kingair, again, and it is a very good thing as .. I've got an airline interview coming up, and a good CRM will be of a good help.

Airborne life continues...

King Air Be90 Operations

2011-05-11T22:27:00.019+01:00

Time of day: 5:00 am.
Location: in a cosy bed of a not so luxurious hotel.
The city is still asleep when I open the window, letting in some fresh air as a means of waking up.
What a great day this is going to be. 40 minutes later, a taxi is waiting down below, and we're off to the airport.
It's 6:00 am as we meet with our unique passenger on this first sector, and the captain boards the plane while I do the walk-around.
Minutes later and start-up clearance received, the roar from the engines brings the shiny twin-turboprop aircraft to life.
I've always loved the vibration and noise feeling resulting from the engines rolling over at idle thrust, reminding you of what it feels like to have 1500 hp at your fingertips.
Another three passengers are waiting in Toulouse, and although this is a half hour trip, we'd better get going.
Full thrust applied, we're pushed back deep in our seats while the speed rapidly increases towards V1.
Cleared to 3000ft initially, we're following a SID that ends where the STAR commences.
I'm PM (Pilot Monitoring) on this flight, doing the radio, checklists, and managing the navigation.

Not much time to fully enjoy the view when the sun rises above the horizon, but the intense orange light on the instruments panel is enough to realize how lucky we are to be here.

Toulouse is coming in sight as we are being radar vectored for the ILS runway 32L, runway re-built in 2005 to then accomodate the Airbus A380 tests. 3500m (11,500ft) long, 75m (250ft) wide, it is a lot more than we need to land the Kingair.
While most operators need a 30 min turn-around, we manage a 10 min stop on the apron of the business Terminal (FBO) to pick up our three passengers, joining the three of us already in the plane.

On our way to Paris, cruising at FL220 (22,000ft), we've got plenty of time to discuss the new avionics recently installed. The Avidyne EX600 is actually a superb piece of equipment, capable of centralising information via datalink, display weather information (Metar/taf on any airfield), clouds and cells activity on top of the map, message texting, and an overlay of the radar spots on top of the current map.
All systems are linked to each other. We use the Garmin GNS 530 as a FMS to enter the flight plan, and as a map in flight. The 430 is used as a secondary map and ETAs (Estimated Time of Arrival, for each waypoint) as it displays roughly the same information as the 530, on a smaller screen.
The G600 is used for its obvious purpose: PFD (Primary Flight Display) and ND (Navigation Display), while the EX600 provides us with a complete meteorological service as we need it, and a high def map.

Coming down towards the Capital, I enter the STAR and approach into the FMS for the ILS 25R at Toussus (a General Aviation airfield South-West of Paris).
The procedure takes us right to the edge of the Zone P (Prohibited) surrounding Paris, giving us the chance to enjoy a superb view over the capital and Paris Orly airport.
The ILS approach that follows is pretty much eventless.
On the apron, we unboard our passengers and I get to spend some time catching up with friends and hanging around in the control tower.

6:00 pm, all set up for the engines start-up.
I’m PF (Pilot Flying) on this flight back to the South of France, meaning I get to fly the plane while the Captain is doing the checklists, radio and navigation management for me.
Engines stabilized, I taxi the plane to the holding point for a 25R departure.

Aligned on 25R, I push the thrust levers forward, setting 600 lb-ft of Torque, before releasing the brakes and advancing the levers to 1200 Trq. The feeling that results is a very intense acceleration, the aircraft is almost empty and we are not carrying a lot of fuel. The Captain announces “80 kts”, quick glance at the airspeed indicator and I say aloud “check”, he announces “Rotation” as we reach 95 kts and I remove my left hand from the thrust levers to put it on the yoke and pull it up.
Positive rate of climb, gear up, and the Captain switches on the Flight Director so that I can track the SID tracks, following the command bars.
I fly the whole SID, climb legs, and a further few minutes in the cruise manually, at FL230 (23,000ft). What a pleasure this is to fly!

Half way down the route, we ask for a potential short-cut in the planned route and we get a lucky “direct PPG”.
As the the aircraft needs to have its new avionics tested, I get to fly a procedural hold and a DME Arc to then capture the Localizer of the ILS. Great fun!

Airborne life continues...

Glider release: now!

2011-04-24T22:10:00.012+01:00

Flying towards the bright side of the mountain ridge, I'm expecting the kick in the seat that will give me a hint when I reach the rising air.
The speed looks stable, the glider 200 ft behind me is following my path nicely, and I can now clearly spot the dozen of gliders already flying along the ridge and using the steep slope as a way to gain altitude as the wind is blowing towards it.
It's deep blue pretty much everywhere today, hot as well, a nice soaring day. The glider I will release is going to stay in the air for at least 5 hours and complete a closed circuit of more than 500 km (300nm).
Here it is, the push feeling in the seat, the speed increases and the rate of climb doubles initially before increasing even more.
Looking over my left wing, it looks like we're in a lift. Or it could be the ridge falling down very quickly. My VSI indicates more than 1500 ft/min when the glider decides to release the cable, and the fun begins...

Flaps up with full ailerons deflection well past a normal steep turn, enough to allow the nose to go down and the speed to settle around VNO / VNO + 20.
When we tow the gliders to a close hill, we usually have quite a bit of height to loose over a short distance, giving us some interesting descent rates of 3-4000 ft/min.
Most of the time, the final approach is flown under a path angle varying between 10 and 15% instead of the usual 5%.
Needless to say that flying-wise, it is a lot of fun, and it sharpens the hand flying skills.
We sometimes get to do some formation flying when two tow planes release their gliders at the same time in the same area.

I included two drawings of the airfield configurations. Being a busy airfield, it can get a bit confusing at times with gliders landing everywhere, tow planes taking-off from three different concrete strips, other tow planes landing between them, and the winch in use at the same time.

Airborne life continues...

A month of glider towing

2011-04-12T15:42:00.012+01:00

Roughly 40 hours in the tow planes, 12 hours of soaring, nearly 300 tow flights, not bad for a quiet month.
It's actually getting a lot busier now, and the nice weather does help a lot. We've reached 32°C (90°F) last week, way above the average for this time of year.

The airfield is home of the national soaring centre, we get all the different teams training with us for this summer's championships.
Last week was the female week, and the previous one was focused on the Soaring National French Team.
A dozen of young glider pilots are also here every week-end as part of the "young team".
Also on the airfield are about 30 german pilots along with dozens of pilots from other countries.
Needless to say we get very busy at times, especially around 12:30pm where up to 8 tow planes (3 of them belonging to the French Air Force as they have based 15 gliders on the airfield) and 2 winch launch trucks are used to put all those gliders in the air.
Everything calms down around 3 pm, and we usually get to tow another dozen of gliders between 4 and 5.

Most tow flights last between 5 and 11 minutes, with an average of 8 minutes, and a tow for an aerobatic flight is done in 12 minutes, 11 minutes of which are spent in the climb and the remaining minute is enough to loose 5000ft and land ...

When we are not in the plane, we're either in a glider or in the control tower, or watching the gliders high speed fly-by's which can be pretty amazing!

Airborne life continues...

7 hours in a glider above the Alps

2011-03-29T21:38:00.020+01:00

As well as building my flying hours, I get to fly gliders every now and then and got the chance to do a 7 hr flight across the French Alps, flying a circuit of just over 300 km (160 nm), and a total flown distance of 660 km (350 nm).
We reached an altitude of 15,000ft in a very cold and dry air, using the waves as a mean of soaring. We could have climbed probably up to 20,000ft but it was just too cold.
Needless to say the view from such high altitudes is absolutely amazing!

The glider-towing is going well despite the quite challenging weather. I'm on my way to my 200th tow flight already.
The flying in itself is not difficult, what makes it interesting is the challenge to find a thermal (column of rising air) or release the glider on a ridge with upgoing air, usually surounded by dozens of gliders, most of which are difficult to see.
We use the gliding equivalent of the TCAS, called "Flarm", as a mean of detecting other gliders and tow planes in the area. It does not always work though.

When the airfield is wet (as it has been for the past few days), we use solely the short concrete strips to take-off .. and to land. Some landings look more like an aircraft-carrier landing, and it is possible to stop the plane within a hundred meters (330ft).
The fun begins when we release the glider and make a steep descending turn, well over 60° bank, descending between 2000 and 3000ft/min back to the airfield.
The soaring centre's activity is doubling from this week onwards, and will double again for the summer period.
I've been flying around 2 hours a day lately, which is quite good already, considering we fly pretty much everyday, whatever the weather does to us.

What usually means a "no-go" for a plane pilot, can actually be excellent for a glider pilot.
A strong wind creates waves with very good rates of climb (often well above 2000ft/min of rising air), as well as a rising air along a ridge. We set up a surface wind limit of 40 kts.
A big dark cloud is the place where you want to fly if you are a glider pilot, as those dark cumulus are the sign of a thermal. The darker and the bigger the cloud, the stronger the thermal.
Very interesting flying, and well fun!

Airborne life continues...

Glider towing

2011-03-23T23:04:00.012Z

The time is clearly lacking to upload some pictures, although I have taken hundreds and hundreds in the past two weeks.
I've completed the towing training and started the real work, and it is absolutely great to get to fly everyday! I also got to do a 7 hour flight in a two-seat glider last week-end.

Although we don't fly non-stop from early mornings to late evenings, the days get fairly busy. In the morning, we have the briefings, then we get the planes all ready and make them shine. Around half-noon come the busy times, where most gliders take-off. On a Southerly wind day (usual for the area), we use three different take-off zones, all converging towards the south end of the airfield. At times, 8 tugs (towing planes) are running as the same time, and one or two persons are in charge of all those people in the control tower (rather an inflight information tower).
Things calm down around 2:30pm until 4, when gliders start coming down and more tows are due to be done.
In this time of year, most gliders are landed by 6:30pm, when we refuel and clean the planes before putting them back in the hangars. A final piece of paperwork and we're done for the day.

I'm also starting to get use to the information service in the control tower, and I'll be on my own for the week-end. We basically enter in a computer the take-off and landing times of each glider, their pilot(s), who towed them, etc ... , and we give basic information over the radio, both in English and in French.

Well, very pleased with everything and the flying right in the middle of the French Alps!

Airborne life continues...

Tow Pilot job

2011-03-10T20:59:00.012Z

For many people, including pilots, getting a job during a recession is not an easy task.
For us, pilots, the tough part starts with having to stand out from the crowd.

I've got a few things that could slightly help: an English ICAO Level 6 (which most people of French Nationality don't have), a few flights as a safety pilot on a King Air Be90 and a University Degree related to aviation, but this is usually not enough.
All the rest looks the same as to what everyone's got: a JAA (European) frozen ATPL licence with 250 flight hours.
A great amount of luck is an obvious key factor in this industry, and this is something you can, and have to, trigger yourself.

What are the airlines looking for, other than a nice chap with good CRM skills?
Being type rated and having a reasonable amount of experience on the aircraft is probably the number one element they want to see on your CV, especially right now where there are hundreds or even thousands of experienced pilots previously laid off and looking for a job.
But hey, you can't just go on a random type rating course and buy some 500 hours on the aircraft and hope this is the aircraft your future employer will use, without serious contact beforehand. Some people give it a try but I don't intend to do this with 250 hrs total time. And even if I did, I wouldn't be able to afford it.

Number two key line on your CV is the amount of flying time you've got. And this is something you can work on much more easily that doing an A320 or 737NG Type Rating, and then buying 500 hours in the right hand seat of an airliner full of passengers and hoping that will get you a job.
And this 'number two key line' is what I chose to work on.

I finally managed to get a flying job.
Nothing very impressive, no big airliner with two big jet engines, no uniform with stripes, but hey, a flying job is a flying job, and I wouldn't give it away for anything!
I'm going to be a tow pilot for the European biggest soaring airfield. My job is fairly straightforward: towing gliders up to 2-3000 ft, and getting back to the ground asap, ready to tow the next one, and so on.
I passed the interview and flight test yesterday, and the course starts on monday, which I'm really looking forward to!

Some of my relatives were actually disappointed for me, but this actually more than fulfills my expectations. I am going to have a pretty awesome time flying those little planes, building up my hours (400 flight hours over the next 7 ~ 8 months), and sharpening my flying skills in a very busy environment.
On the plus side, on top of getting paid to do what I love the most, I get free accomodation and free food everyday, and I get to live in sunny South France. I also get to fly gliders (including instruction) for free. And, there's a swimming pool... What else?

Airborne life continues...

Doing the right thing

2011-03-03T22:31:00.016Z

For many years, I've been inspired by a fellow French pilot now flying in the US for the World's largest airline: Delta.
He's kept on writing an online diary since 1998, and although we follow different paths, I share the same philosophy that contributes a great deal in leading to a successful pilot's carrier.

He once said, One of the best advice one could get, would be to not follow someone else’s advice.

If you do, you’re most likely going to end up disappointed and upset because someone not expert in the subject managed to persuade you he was right.

People don’t like to mind their own business. They feel like they have to share their opinion, even though you didn’t ask for it. They talk about a subject they do not master, but think they possess a great knowledge because they read newspapers and magazines.
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so" (Mark Twain).

Those people tell wrong facts, and they tend to spread gloom and doom, this is why you should avoid them at all costs.

I’ve been told by countless people that the French education system was the best in the world.
Funny enough, none of those people experienced any foreign education system.
When I moved to England, I was told so many different stories about the country, the people, their culture and their way to teach; I was actually very surprised to realise most of those fairy tales were deeply wrong. Same happened when I went to the US.
And once again, none of those people ever experienced any of this themselves, however they are glued to their TV every single evening.

So, what's the deal about the French education system?
Some french people believe they possess a greater knowledge than people from other countries, especially America.
Having experienced both the American and the British way to teach, along with the french's, I believe the Americans are much more pragmatic when it comes to education, knowhow based (practical knowledge) rather than our fact-based knowledge.
And as Danny mentionned in his diary (link below), this is why no-one in America will end up flying a 737 with 200 flight hours, while this does happen in Europe.

The know-it-alls wander on the web forums and blogs, spread non-correct and depressing information, and use a confident tone while talking about the job they once dreamed of and failed somewhere along the way. Then, satisfied, they’ll switch off their computer and will walk off to their 9 to 5 job.

Without any doubt, listening to success stories is way more useful than taking any advice from those people.

I've decided, and this is where people started to disagree and shared that with me, to build up my experience in a way that is neither a job nor something you have to pay for, as well as keeping current my IFR and CRM skills as a safety pilot on the Kingair and possibly some other planes.
I have plans and opportunities, and once again, some people felt like they had to bring their own advice, arguing "this is not a good idea", because they have read otherwise in some random magazines.

Turn your back to them and walk ahead, this is probably the reasonable thing to do.

If I had followed any of the advice I received when I expressed my wishes to become a commercial pilot, I wouldn't be here today.
One reason to that: almost everyone whom I didn't ask any advice from, told me I should forget about my wishes and take up a normal carrier instead.
When I started my pilot training, those same people commented on how wrong I was to train in the UK and in the States instead of my own country. Today, I realise this is one of the best decisions I ever took.

Danny had below-average grades in French when he was in high school, and since then, he never stopped writing.
I was at the bottom of my class in English just 6 years ago, I never stopped working on it, and I am now close to be bilingual.

Fortune favors the bold, you have to act to make things happen.

Link (in french): http://piloteus.journalintime.com/2010/07/01-un-conseil-important
Thank you Danny.

Airborne life continues...

Airbus A320 - Twilight from the flight deck

2011-02-10T23:08:00.017Z

The view from an office usually gets fairly boring and pretty much never changes. Well, unless you're an airline pilot.
Most people know what the usual office looks like, but they don't realise how good it can get up front in the flight deck of an airliner. We still call it an office since this is where we work, although it doesn't have a lot in commun.

Even when we fly the same routes everyday, the view does change a lot, depending upon the time of the day, and the time of the year.
In fact, the view alone is a great factor in making the flight deck of an airliner an amazing place to be in.

Pilots are often said to be dreamers, or people enjoying a bit of magic. When you get to see such views, you certainly understand why.

The twilight over the French Alps does catch your attention.
The sun is cracking the horizon and you suddenly get that truely superb golden light, spilling an intense orange light over the cockpit.
The Alps shape starts to form over my right shoulder, and Lake Geneva gets in sight.
Almost all the South-East part of France is covered with a thin layer of fog, adding to the beauty of the scene.
This is one of those moments you'd like to last forever, but at 600 miles an hour Paris is coming up very fast.

Airborne life continues...

Paris CDG - ATC visit

2011-02-09T00:00:00.014Z

Thanks to a friend Air Traffic Controller, I got the opportunity to visit the CDG ATC once again (first time was with the International Air Cadets meeting in Paris (IACE)).
We spent a couple of hours in the night-used Central control tower.

During the day, there is one tower in use for each of the two doublet runways. The North one controls runway 09 Left and Right, for wich most aircraft go and depart from Terminal 1 and 3 (long haul foreign airlines flights).
The South one controls runway 08 L and R, for planes taxiing to and from Terminal 2 and S3, the Skyteam hub (mainly Air France).

There is a traffic tower, further East of the Terminal 2 and it is used for ground control only.
And then, there is a fourth control tower, right in the middle of the airport, used at night as a central tower while North and South towers are closed. That's the one we went in, allowing us to chat without disturbing anyone.

Fairly lucky today since the weather was actually good in Paris, apparently it does happen every now and then. I'm being sarcastic actually, the weekly forecast are more spring-like, perfect timing this is!

I managed to get a few decent shots, with quite a few twin-aisle airliners departures including a Singapore Airlines A380, a lot of 772 and 773, a few 747-400 and 747F, the US carriers 757 and 767, lots of ATRs and ERJs, and countless A320 series aircraft.
CDG being one of the busiest airports in the world, there is a lot going on all day long, to my greatest delight!

Airborne life continues...

Boeing 747-200 - European Skybus

2011-01-19T23:17:00.012Z

Just a few pictures I took in the 747-200 Full Flight Simulator at European. We did not get the chance to fly it unlike others as it was in maintenance, but were offered a second free flight on the 737 instead.
Still very impressive inside!

I'm back in sunny France since then, and due to get back to flying the King Air within the next few days.
Looking forward to this.

Airborne life continues...

MCC Boeing 737-200, Phase 2

2011-01-17T17:53:00.014Z

The most enjoyable part of the whole training finally arrived: flying the Boeing 737-200 Full Flight Simulator, in a multi-crew environment.

It would be a tough job to describe all the things we've covered within the 20 hrs flying our pocket rocket, but as a summary, here are the flight details:

Day 1: 2 hrs as Pilot Monitoring (PM), 2 hrs as Pilot Flying (PF),
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) familiarisation, checklists and cockpit layout (The 737-200 shares most of the overhead panel with the NG (New Generation) series (from the 737-600 to the -900)). Radar vectored departure out of London Stansted, standard climb-out procedures, normal manoeuvres, use of speedbrakes, operations of Flight Director and Auto-pilot, ILS/DME back in Stansted.

Day 2: 2 hrs as Pilot Monitoring (PM), 2 hrs as Pilot Flying (PF),
Departure and arrival briefings, crew communications, emergency radio communications and coordination.
Rejected take-off drills: below 80 kts, between 80 kts and V1, at V1, after V1, and go-around procedures.
Use of abnormal checklists.

Day 3: 2 hrs as Pilot Monitoring (PM), 2 hrs as Pilot Flying (PF),
Conduct a commercial flight with emergencies.
1st sector: Dean Cross 4C departure (SID) out of Edinburgh EDI, Talla VOR to 12 DME arc approach and ILS in Glasgow GLA.
2nd sector: New Galloway 2H departure from Glasgow, Lanak 1A to ILS/DME back in Edinburgh.
Use of de-ice and anti-ice, pressurisation failure (slow leak and explosive decompression), emergency descent with the oxygen masks, CAT I ILS/DME to minima.

Day 4: 2 hrs as Pilot Monitoring (PM), 2 hrs as Pilot Flying (PF),
Departure Dover 7R out of Stansted, airways route to Boulogne BNE, About 1D arrival, ILS/DME, go around and missed-approach procedure, visual/DME approach rwy 23.
Low visibility take-off (LVP), situation management, pilot incapacitation, microburst / windshear on final.

Day 5: 2 hrs as Pilot Monitoring (PM), 2 hrs as Pilot Flying (PF),
LOFT (Line Oriented Flight Training).
1st sector: Birmingham BHX to Prestwick PIK, Trent 1G departure, Turnberry 1D arrival, ILS to minima.
2nd sector: Prestwick PIK to Birmingham BHX, New Galloway 1K SID, Chase 2B STAR.
Although there was no emergency to deal with on this last 4 hour flight, the route is short and the workload gets fairly high. The SID have early turns (at 1nm DME), and we were required to hold at destination, and fly the procedure back in Birmingham due to no radar available at destination.

A very interesting week indeed.

Airborne life continues...

MCC Boeing 737-200, Phase 1

2011-01-09T22:06:00.014Z

After a month break, time needed to get our licences issued by the CAA, we're finally back in Bournemouth for one of the last steps of the training: the Multi-Crew Cooperation course.
It's broke down into two parts, starting off with the ground school, followed by 20 hours in a Boeing 737-200 Full Flight Simulator, 10 of which are flown as Pilot Flying (PF), and the remaining 10 hrs as Pilot Monitoring (PM).

It has nothing to do with Captain / First-Officer roles. The aim is, in part, to learn the tasks distribution among the two pilots. As "single-pilot Instrument Rated", we are taught to fly an aeroplane in which we perform all the tasks ourselves. Moving onto the airline, the flight crew is composed of two pilots, and we now have ground handling agents, cabin crew (flight attendants), company staff whom we can speak to over the radio while airborne, etc...
The roles (PF / PM) are usually swapped over every other sector, undependently of who's the Captain and who's the Co-pilot. And despite the designation of Pilot Monitoring (which used to be Pilot Not Flying), he is actually sometimes doing a tougher job than the pilot flying.

The simulator training is done in a Zero-Time Training Device, a six-axis full motion simulator, which allows to go straight on the plane and start the line training after a type rating. Unlike most type rating simulators, there's no need for touch-and-go training prior to flying with passengers.
Why is that useful during a MCC course? Well, it gives that extra bit of realism, and this is basically our very first experience at handling a swept wing jet, on a proper simulator.

As I haven't started the simulator training yet (other than learning the checklists, SOPs and cockpit layout), I can't comment on that part of the course.

However, the Phase 1 - Ground school has been focused on a lot of different aspects. Off the top of my head, those are the topics covered:

Oxygen rules,
Communications among the flight crew, flight attendants and handling agents,
Cabin crew emergency messages,
Leadership / Followership, envisioning, Situation awareness,
Altitude briefing,
Take-off Congifuration Warning (TOCW),
N1 / EPR gauges and icing errors,
Top of Descent (TOD) calculations and corrections,
Non-stabilised approaches and Go Around,
Approach limitations,
Checklists (Normal, Non-Normal and Expanded) and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures),
PF / PM roles,
Handling a jet (flying on attitudes and thrust, Mach/IAS),
Airbus' and Boeing's philosophy on Automation, GPWS and EGPWS, TCAS, Flight director and Autopilot,
Refueling with passengers,
Slot time (reviewing plan, ordering fuel, notams WX, briefs F/A, exterior walk around, cockpit checks, departure briefing, load sheet, push/start,...),
Windshear / Microburst recovery,
B737-200 Flaps schedule (Take-off, Approach, and Go Around),
Conducting effective briefings,
Re-briefing an approach after a runway change,
Workload periods,
B737 Operating procedures (who does what on the flight deck), challenge/response, ...

Paris by night - King Air 90

2010-12-27T20:10:00.019Z

Merry Christmas everyone!

The King Air 90 was standing proudly on the empty airpron tonight. The captain and I preflighted her in the cold winter wind while discussing the weather in Paris. The last few days have been quite snowy with icing conditions and they had to close a lot of major airports in Western Europe. Tonight however was forecast to be clear and cold but snow patches remained on some taxiways and on the runways' edges.

The two PT6 turbines came to life in the silent evening.
I took the controls shortly after take-off until we established in cruise.
We left Carcassonne (South of France) following the SID (Standard Instrument Departure) GAI2W, initially towards Charlie Sierra, the airfield beacon, then turning Northbound heading to the GAI VOR after 14 nm. Further on the way, the control cleared us direct TUDRA.
Although the past few days have been really snowy, today was superbly clear and smooth all around and the visibility was surely above 100 miles.
Toulouse, birthplace of Airbus and ATR, passed under our left wing.
The altitude warning broke the calm atmosphere of the night as we passed 21,000ft, alerting us we had 1000 more feet to go to the selected altitude.
Doing 265 kts TAS (True Airspeed), almost 50 kts of head wind at this level, we entered central France. Darkness suddenly became quite apparent.

At 22,000ft, the ride was glassy smooth.
In the middle of the night, talking helps us to stay awake. The captain, a former long haul airline pilot, has a lot to share. For me, as a young and unexperienced pilot, this is like a dream.
I have ambitions for my carrier, but nothing is easy in the Aviation World. Also, things usually don't go as planned, and this can actually happen to be a good thing sometimes.
You often wonder how you ended up here? What path and decisions did you take to make things like they are? I certainly wouldn't have believe a few months ago I'd be flying a King Air today...

As we approached Paris, shining reflections from the city lights started to appear on the flight deck, and the view outside became simply mesmerizing.
We loaded the approach for the ILS runway 07 via BALOD.
I gazed amazed at the beautiful city, the Eiffel Tower and the skyscrapers forming the business district of La Defense. Departing the group of buildings is one of the main and most famous streets in Paris, the Avenue Charles de Gaulle, leading to the Arc de Triumphe and coming out the other side as Les Champs Elysees. If you have a close look at the pictures below, you should be able to spot all the famous landmarks.

The ATC cleared us for the approach and I got back on the controls, capturing the Localizer above 10,000ft and the Glide Path at 9000 ft.
Still doing just under 200 kts IAS and established on final runway 07 at Le Bourget (Paris executive airport), we passed abeam Les Champs Elysees. I rushed to grab my camera and get a few shots.
I got the runway in sight ahead of us. The captain selected the decision Altitude on the radalt and took care of the thrust and props levers for me.
Altitude came down and the radalt computer announced out loud "500", and seconds later "minimums" as we reached DA (Decision Altitude).
The threshold passed beneath us and the Captain slowly retarded the throttles as I flared the King Air. The tires touched down gently. No need to apply the reverses as the runway wasn't completely clear of snow and we were asked to vacate at the far end, 3000m (10,000ft) further down the long strip of concrete. We crossed runway 09 to slip into the main ‘avenue’ of FBOs and aircraft operators at Le Bourget. Parked between a Learjet and another Kingair, we shut down the two engines, bringing us back to the silent evening, but even colder this time. This is Paris...

Airborne life continues…

4 months of CPL/IR Training in a 5 minute video

2010-12-21T01:39:00.003Z

Airbus A320 and King Air

2010-12-08T10:22:00.007Z

The morning's ride out to the airport felt long and boring for once. I had just got back from England the previous evening with no time to unpack my stuff, and here I was already gone, in a train to Toulouse.
What made it feeling long was the excitement from the fact I was going to fly a King Air for the very first time today.

Two hours later, I was strapped on the jumpseat of an Airbus A320 on my way to Paris, where the King Air and its pilot were waiting for me.
My day was off to a very good start. As always, the view from the Airbus' flight deck was fantastic. I chatted with the Captain and realised he was registered at a flying club just next to where I used to live. Funny how Aviation is a small World...

Landed in Paris, short ride to an airfield nearby and that's where I met the beautiful and shiny King Air 90. Slight disappointment though, while I left Toulouse under a scattered sky in some decent temperature, it was -7°C in Paris with some very cold wind from the far North ... bringing in snow and frost all over.
Not surprised when we saw all that snow and ice on the Kingair's wings. Twenty freezing minutes of de-icing (by scratching pieces of paperboard along the trailing-edge) would have been enough.
As I walked in, I got a quick glimpse at the cabin, revealing two seats on the rear side of the cabin, one in front of the entrance door, and four well-sized seats facing each other just behind the flight deck. I found my way to the front end of the cabin, sat on the right hand seat and started looking at all the needles, switches, circuit breakers and levers around me... There's a lot more than on a Duchess, but clearly Beechcraft tried to keep the same philosophy on the cockpit layout of their aircraft.

Right and left engines started, breaks released and the tires were gently sliding onto the taxiway. With an ANR (Active Noise Reduction) headset on, the sudden hush brought a nice and quiet atmosphere as soon as we turned it on. It's a must-have luxurious device on those planes. It still couldn't completely muffle the roar as full take-off thrust was applied. The take-off in itself was a great moment, especially since this King Air has been fitted with more powerful engines and new four-blade props. Gear coming up, speed increasing to roughly 150 kts IAS, and off we went, following the SID (Standard Instrument Departure) back to the South of France. Cleared to FL210 (21,000ft), altitude armed and autopilot on alt/nav mode. Unfortunately, or lucky-me should I say, the autopilot started overcorrecting the off-track deviations, so we decided to disengage it and I manually flew the plane all the way until touchdown. 1:30 hours at 260 kts TAS enjoying a superb view.

Blue sky overhead and intensely bright, almost alone in the immensity of the sky, it was one of those moments ...
I'd love to show some pictures of the landscapes but clouds have interfered.

The Control vectored us to the ILS 28 at Carcassonne for a MVL (Manoeuvre a Vue Libre, literally Free Visual Manoeuvre or Circle-to-Land in English) on the opposite runway.
Centered on the runway localizer and glideslope beams, we came down at 140 kts until we broke through clouds around 1600ft. Off by 30° to the left, downwind, and early base as we wanted to avoid overflying the beautiful strengthened city. The flaps and gear came down for me, and I soothingly flew it down towards the runway threshold.
I taxied to our parking spot, not far behind a brand new Boeing 737-800, and I must say, I wouldn't mind flying one of those someday.

Airborne life continues...

Instrument Rated

2010-12-01T21:57:00.015Z

7:00am, gorgeous blue sky outside, not even a single cloud up there.
Today is no different from any other training day, other than the fact that an Examiner will be seating next to me on a tough flight for over 2 hours.

Despite the superb weather, the forecast is far from great. Snow expected from 3:00pm onwards, foggy conditions later in the afternoon, I could have hoped better for a test.
We brief the flight, the examiner tells me he'd like to go to Exeter for an Rnav approach on either runway (notherly wind, runway 08/26).
As I brought along all the performance calculations, filled-in mass & balance sheets, he has a quick look on that before we walk to the aircraft while he asks me some general IR-related questions.
Start-up clearance copied, minutes later we're holding short of runway 26 for a north-westerly departure on track to MULIT, our entry in the Airway. It turns out we're number 6 for take-off, and there are at least 4 or 5 planes either in the approach or on the procedure to land.
After more than 20 minutes wait, we're finally cleared for take-off whilst the sky is slowly turning to dark grey as the bad weather comes in. Not looking too good, our plane is not de-iced equipped, the freezing level is ... below the ground level, so basically if we get any ice in flight we're gonna have to land asap and abort the test.

Line-up checks done, 2000rpm on brakes, released, full power and the two Lycoming engines come to life. Soon the back pressure is clearly pushing us a bit deeper in the seats, rotation speed is reached very quickly, pitch up 8°, positive rate of climb, gear up. After take-off checklist, and here I am flying away on an assigned heading to intercept a VOR Radial leading to the Airway.
I was planning to backtrack the NDB to a point 35nm from SAM VOR on the 275° Radial, but ATC wants me to stay on heading until I reached the oubtound track from SAM.

I'm passed onto Bournemouth Approach and further away onto Yeovilton Radar while reaching FL65 as a cruise level. That's a short flight and there's not much time for rest. Quick check to the wings (the examiner is actually doing the look-out as I'm blind behind the screens (to simulate IMC, while we're actually IMC anyway)), no ice, up to now everything seems good. I listen and write down the ATIS, weather at Exeter is still manageable, and I brief the arrival to both the examiner and myself. ATC is busy and I'm issued with a late airway clearance by a Cardiff controler who I'm having troubles to understand due to some strong accent. We're in the airway at FL70 for 4 minutes only, as the Rnav approach commences there. The procedure is loaded and activated in the GPS (which now commands the HSI), and as the Exeter controler clears me for the approach, I turn towards Letsi to then fly towards the Initial Approach Fix. We've got to come down from FL70 to 2800ft altitude in just a couple of miles, I choose not to pop the gear down (which is an excellent airbrake) as the speed is under control. Pre-landing checks, final course selected on the HSI, GPS cross-checked with conventional navaids, and descent can finally start as I reach the Final Approach Fix. One stage of flaps, gear down, props full fine pitch, check 3 greens and throttles back to 14" manifold pressure (3.5° glide slope). Every mile on the descent, I compare my altitude against the published altitudes on the approach plate. Next frequency is set up in the Comm 1 box ready for use, the missed-approach procedure is briefed, I can now focus entirely on the final approach. I level off roughly 30ft above MDA (minimum decision altitude) until the missed-approach point.

Go around initiated, I raise the gear and the flaps, power back to 25"/2500rpm, announce "Exam 09, going around" and at this right time the examiner simulates an engine failure by pulling all the way back one of the engines levers ... Massive yaw soon under control, I'm chasing Vy speed (best climb rate, 85kts), and feather the "dead" engine (touch drills only). I give a quick update to the control, turn onto my go/around heading of 180°, and complete the emergency drill, before getting back on to the navigation.

Climbing back to FL50, here comes the general handling part of the test. For that purpose, we have to cut off the heater while doing the manoeuvers, and we'll find out later it won't start up until we actually land back in Bournemouth. I'm asked to demonstrate two stalls (one in the approach configuration, the other one in landing configuration), there's no stall alarm as the device is probably glued in position with some strong ice so I have to hold it until the onset of the stall, i.e. the buffet feeling in the control column. I then have my primary flight instrument and my two primary navigation instruments taken away (hidden actually) and I now have to turn onto given headings by using time and Rate 1 turns, and recover from unsual attitudes (the examiner takes the control and puts the plane in some deeply nose down/up attitudes just before he hands me back the controls).

The remaining 45 minutes flying in some very cold air with no working heater are not great fun.
I'm still very grateful the examiner was ok completing the rest of the flight given the circumstances.
Other than the extreme cold in the cabin, the hold and ILS procedure (on one engine) are pretty much eventless as the wind drops a lot in the evening. Still not done though, one single engine go around to do a circle-to-land before finally hearing the very pleasing "Congratulation Captain, that's a pass" as we land back on the concrete in Bournemouth.

Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to update my blog as much as I wanted and I have to skip a few very intesting flights, including my 170A pre-test to Guernsey. I put a couple of pictures taken from there below.

That's the end of a 50h course, and the biginning of an exciting adventure as I put my hands on a Kingair for the very first time today.

Airborne life continues...

The IR Journey

2010-11-21T00:02:00.019Z

The usual IR course day is composed of one flight and one backseat, with all the planning that comes along.
Unfortunately this week has been pretty busy at PAT and despite the great efforts to fit me in, I didn't get to fly a lot.
We visited three new airports (Exeter, Bristol International and Alderney), which are all exam routes.

A typical test profile starts off with a 45 minute planning (that's the time allowed to fill in the logsheet, the mass & balance and take-off/landing performances calculations, the flight plan, and a quick study of the route and the approaches procedures).
If some of this is not pre-filled in advance, it is close to impossible to do everything properly in less than an hour.

To make things a bit more interesting, we don't fly the inbound leg as a straight line towards the destination. Instead, we usually depart backtracking a beacon (BIA NDB at Bournemouth), to intercept a radial from another beacon (usually SAM VOR), leading to a waypoint (THRED, MULIT, EXMOR, ...) and/or an airway (N864 between Exeter and Cardiff, Q41 between Southampton and the Channel Islands towards ORTAC), before joining the arrival at destination.

Once there, we either do a procedural approach or a radar vectored (by ATC) approach. A procedural approach is drawn on an "approach plate" and is allocated to one particular type of approach. And there is actually plenty to choose from. They can be "precision approaches" : ILS/DME or ILS only (using Markers), or "non-precision approaches": Loc/DME, VOR/DME, VOR timed, NDB/DME, NDB timed, Rnav (GPS), etc ...
The VOR and NDB approaches usually imply a final track offset to the runway axis, we come down to an angle with the runway, and once we become visual we make a small adjustment in turn before landing. (cf picture below)

Before commencing the approach, we usually go into the "hold", a pattern aiming at delaying the landing time. Not that we need to delay the arrival every time we fly, but as this is one of the not-so-easy parts of the flight, we get to fly at least one hold every flight. The tricky bit being to achieve the inbound track by the beacon, after a correction for the wind in the outbound leg. It probably doesn't speak to anyone who hasn't seen one.

I got the chance to do some rather fast descent to save some time (and money) in a more commercial way. Hence some indicated airspeed of 170 kts, and .. we had up to 220 kts ground speed at some point.
We then fly the approach in itself, and when coming down to DA (decision altitude) or MDA (minimum descent altitude), usually somewhere between 200ft and 400ft above the ground, we abort the approach and go around as if we didn't become visual at that point (which, in reality, would trigger a go around as well). That's where we get a simulated engine failure (the instructor pulls randomly one engine back to idle during the climb out).

After dealing with the engine failure and upon completion of the emergency drills, we then have to follow the "missed approach instructions", which we would have requested before commencing the approach. Heading back home (i.e. Bournemouth airport), we either get radar vectored (if we flew a procedural approach at destination) or fly the procedure if we were radar vectored at destination. Particularity here, the whole approach is now flown on one engine.

If we flew a precision approach (i.e. an ILS) at destination, we fly a non-precision approach back in Bournemouth (usually an NDB approach) or the other way around. The "screens" are kept until DA/MDA, point at which the instructor removes them while we continue the approach a bit further, before going around again, on one engine this time. Continuing visually (VMC), we fly a "circle to land" below a simulated (or real ...) cloud base of 700~800ft, still on one engine.

Other than for that last circuit, the whole flight is flown on instruments (IMC), and unless the weather is absolutely awful, the outside view is hidden by "screens" at all times.
However, the view from the back seat is usually very enjoyable, made up from orange sunrays in the early mornings or late afternoons, exiting clouds surfing, or even exotic landscapes...

Airbone life continues...

Flights to Cardiff and Bristol Filton

2010-11-10T21:24:00.016Z

Bournemouth - Bristol Filton - Bournemouth - Cardiff - Bournemouth, that was the plan for the day.
I flew the first two sectors, and Steve was doing the last two.
First IFR nav ever, that was quite a moment.
Flight plan filled, aircraft preflighted, there we were, walking on the airpron to board our plane with a strange feeling, that feeling you get when you prepare yourself for something new and you don't really know what to expect.
A moment later, cleared for take-off, I applied full power and soon the tires were sliding onto the runway at 75 kts indicated airspeed, our VR.
Positive rate of climb, gear up, 100kt, props back to 2500rpm / 25" manifold pressure, after take-off checklist.
On the climb-out, we picked up a bit of ice but as we punched through the cloud layer, the sunshine got rid of it without any trouble. Blue sky up there, as usual.
Flying roughly 150 kts true airspeed at Flight Level 80, we got handed-over to Yeovilton Radar, Cardiff Radar, Bristol Radar and finally Filton Approach.

I joined for a hold above the airfield followed by a procedure NDB (Locator) on runway 27. Despite it being my very first approach away from Bournemouth, it oddly went fairly well. As I was going around at my MDA (Minimum Decision Altitude, NDB approach), I got a glimpse of the now-stored Concorde, parked just South of the runway.
Incredible piece of engineering it was. Oh well. I had better going back to my flight because a moment later my instructor was throwing an engine failure at me. That's where it suddenly got very busy, Filton Tower asked me to contact the Approach and assigned me a southerly heading, while I was dealing with the simulated engine failure and doing all the drills.
A few minutes later, the City of Bristol was flowing under our left wing, I could get a clear view of the University of Bristol's Memorial Tower, where I studied Aerospace Engineering. Brought back some good memories.

The cruise flight back to Bournemouth was pretty much eventless, and the radar vectored ILS that followed was definitely a lot easier than the previous ones we made with a 40 kts wind.
Back on mother Earth, quick swap of the crew , and we were soon back in the air at sunset, to Cardiff this time. Most of the flight shared the same route, flying into the N864 Airway northbound and leaving at EXMOR, a waypoint a dozen miles South of Cardiff, for a runway 12 ILS approach.
The Welsh capital suddenly emerged as we were descending towards Cardiff International in the cold night. Some shiny orangish reflections got the windshield all illuminated. It does feel quite intense in those moments.
We came back in some smooth evening air to Bournemouth to complete the flight with a procedure NDB followed by a circle to land (visual circuit with a simulated cloud ceiling of 800ft).

Airborne life continues...

Be76 Cloud Surfing IFR

2010-11-03T10:56:00.006Z

Sim check done and dusted, we're finally back in the plane for the last 20 hours of training.
The first few flights are familiarisation with the IFR procedures, holds, vectored ILS, general handling, stalls under IMC (Instruments Conditions), some more partial panel (flying instruments with no Artificial Horizon, no HSI and no RMI), etc ...
Then come the navigations, and finally the test profiles.

I took a few pictures while backseating Steve's flight and made a short video for your enjoyment.

Airbone life continues...

Instrument Rating, 4 weeks locked in a sim

2010-10-27T21:45:00.016+01:00

The IR (Instrument Rating) is probably the most important course towards the airline flying. This is where we're taught all the procedures flown on instruments (and not visually unlike the CPL), flying in all kinds of awful weather.
My flightmate and I started the course the day following my CPL Skill Test. Not much of a break indeed.
We jumped straight onto the FNPT1 simulator (Procedures Trainer) for the first 10h of the course.
The course in itself is designed to teach someone who's never done any Instruments Flying before, from the very biginning. However, as part of the CPL course we did 10 hours instruments, so some of the basis was already acquired. We skipped that and started off with some general NDB/VOR tracking and procedure turns (cf flight sheet below), and the 2nd flight was about holds and ILS Approaches.
Within 10 hours, we managed to cover Bournemouth 26 and 08 hold procedures, ILS and NDB Approaches, Bristol Lulsgate, Bristol Filton, Exeter (both runways, NDB/DME, NDB timed (NDB out) and ILS procedures) and an IFR route (Bournemouth -> Alderney).
It all went really fast, and our very experienced flight instructor (ex airline pilot and crew selection examiner) knows exactly how to increase the level on each flight so that we never get any relaxing time in any part of the flight. We were soon thrown at all kinds of systems failures, emergencies, flight plan amendements, etc ...

Then came the much nicer FNPT2 simulator, still a procedure trainer but type specific this time, looking a bit more alike the Beechcraft 76 Duchess with a decent visual.
That part of the course lasts 20 hours and ends with a sim check which we'll take on monday next week. We basically simulated the flights we'll do on the real aeroplane, from start-up to finish. We mostly used it to get to understand how to fly procedures, how to use the equipement, the ATC, get in the habit of decision making, reading plates, etc ... In that regard, it is really good at teaching us procedure related stuff. But to be honest the flying in itself is not that realistic. It's not a motion sim, the flight enveloppe differs quite a bit from the real aircraft, so do attitudes and power settings, engine failures are pretty unrealistic, but the aim is simply to teach students the drills and the procedures before they move onto the plane where the workload will get much higher.
We did some more procedures, navigations, airway joins, DME arcs, etc ...
PAT (Professional Air Training) is currently the only school in the UK to teach Rnav (GNSS) approaches and we tried that at Exeter.
After 20~25 hours, there's not much more to learn from such a simulator if you're confident with what you've done so far, there's no point really in doing the same procedures all over again and learning them by heart. Most students actually struggle through this part of the IR since everything is new, but to be honest both Steve and I were well ahead of the game, we really enjoyed it and kept up with the tough level our instructor was looking for. He basically took us a step beyond that of the CAA, altitude holding went from the IR minima of +/- 100ft to his minima of +/- 20ft ... Most navaid trackings were down to the degree and decision making became soon entirely ours.

The joy that results from doing a good flight, trying to stay ahead of the plane most of the time, and breaking through clouds at minima to land in some deep fog on a runway far from home, is just incredible. Most people won't get it, but when aviation has been your thing since you were in nappies, reaching that point (quite quickly frankly) is basically achieving a dream.
Having completed the course within 25hr instead of the standard 30, we had a chance to do some LOFT (Line Oriented Flight Training), AP coupled approaches, SIDs (Standard Instrument Departure) and STARs (Standard Terminal Arrival Route).

IR flights chronicles due to start next week, with hopefully some nice pictures and videos from up there.

Airbone life continues...

Some of the pictures include the visit of an ex PAT student pilot who's now flying the Citation Mustang, and a backseat on Sarah's flight to Cardiff.

The World's Most Beautiful Office

2010-10-06T21:18:00.002+01:00

People often ask me what's so special about flying? Why would someone want to be an airline pilot?

There are so many different aspects that it is just impossible to cover them all.
Let me just try to put some words on what it feels like to break through a cloud layer when the sun is setting.

Seating on the runway and waiting for our take-off clearance, the good old Lycoming O-360 engines are rolling over at idle thrust waiting for my hand to push the two thrust levers forward.
The whole city is stuck under a dark grey menacing-looking cloud layer.
Being cleared for take-off, I bring the mighty Duchess to life, all vibrating under the combined 360 horsepower which, all of a sudden, tear the silent evening.
Moments later, I raise the nose by about 5°, announce "Positive rate of climb, Gear up" while lifting the gear lever and pitching up to our climb attitude of 8°. The ground flows under our wings. It's all dark out there, looks like it's going to rain any time soon. Our plane is set in the cruise climb, all systems are in the green, passing 1000ft I bank her gently left on a South-Easterly heading to intercept BIA's 161° bearing.
As climb continues, I loose sight of the horizon and the plane starts bouncing a bit more as we enter clouds. 161 is coming, drift applied and I'm now tracking outbound towards THRED, a waypoint off the shore.

And just before I enter the airway, we punch through the cloud layer into a scene of incredible beauty. The sun is cracking the horizon above a sea of clouds...
An intense golden light is illuminating our faces, my smile is now clearly spreading ... It is one of those moments.

Southampton's VOR 206 radial is coming up as I reach 30nm DME, and turning right I'm now flying down the airway towards ORTAC.

Cruise check done, established at Flight Level 60, I've now got 33 miles to run before reaching ORTAC to enjoy this truely magical moment. This is where our mind focuses for a few seconds on the souls below, probably enjoying some rain right now.
That leaves me speechless.

Does it get any better?
Probably not...

I left behind the VFR charts as the visual flying part is over, it's all about accurately tracking towards and from beacons now, we've got a handful lot of work to do in the simulators but the joy of learning how to actually fly an airliner is truely exciting.
In just a few hours, Steve and I have been learning a lot about NDB holds with and without wind, ILS/DME approaches, IFR navigation, etc ...
We're in the hands of the excellent Steve Y. , our flight instructor, who's constantly monitoring every little movement we make. He possesses excellent airmanship skills and really knows how to pass them onto his fellow students. I can only be greatful to be seating there today.

I remember a few years ago, classmates, flightmates, relatives and other know-it-all kind of people looking down at me and telling me very seriously "don't be ridiculous, pilots are people with incredible mathematical ability, they're the best of the best, this is just not for you".
Looking back at those memories, all I can think of now is compassion for those people, most of which are stuck in traffic jams every morning on their way to some boring work, each day looking similar. Still a long way to go on my side, but I do believe I'll eventually make it to the airline, and whatever happens in between, I won't regret a thing. I gave my life a huge turn, moved abroad, and acted to make things happen. I didn't ask anyone any help nor any money, and like many people did before me, I turned my back to those who like to spread gloom and doom, left them behind, and walked ahead to some promising future.

I'm looking forwards to more and more flights, more and more skills to take onboard, and more magic from the incredible sight above the clouds.

Airborne life continues...

Commercial Pilot

2010-10-03T12:42:00.001+01:00

6:00am. The sky is going from a foggy orange dark to blue dark as the morning sets up, the town is slowly waking up.
Today is different from the other days, I finished my CPL training a few days ago, passed the so-called 170A exam, and it's now time to confirm that I can properly do all what I've been trained for in a professional and commercial manner, and cope with any kind of emergency.

A few hours later, after some time standing at the airport and looking at the weather forecast, I finally meet Captain Dave R. at the CAA test centre.
We both agreed we would brief and prepare the flight as we would normally do if the weather was great, and we will check it again just before going flying.
Today, our flight will take us to Colyton, a small village a dozen miles East of Exeter, in Devon.
We meet again 45 minutes later, discuss the performances calculations under today's conditions, and as we will probably land in Dunkeswell as a diversion, I also check the landing and take-off performances, as well as the mass & balance sheets. We complete the briefing with a few questions regarding Air Law and the Be76 specifications.
The forecast reveals a flyable window of around 2 hours and some decent weather to the West.
We jump in the plane, start up the engines and get the ATIS. We've got some FEW clouds at 3000ft, more than 10k visibility, which for once isn't bad at all. Taxi, line-up and take-off, and I'm soon in the cruise on my first leg towards Colyton.
Bad luck comes soon, and this is exactly what happens in real life, the cloud ceiling gets down to around 1500ft AMSL, it's overcast, there are rains showers and some nasty weather ahead. I take the decision to divert and fly on a North-Easterly heading that will get us in some much better weather. Unfortunately, the forecast are never very accurate and that's what we've got to deal with. I manage to complete all the remaining sections of the CPL Skill Test and pass them all.
Despite the navigation being cancelled, it is still a lot to do and fatigue comes to play eventually. Instrument flying, VOR and NDB tracking, partial panel, timed-turns, unusual attitudes while in IMC without the artificial horizon, stalls in approach and landing configurations, simulated cockpit fire, engine fire and actual shut-down followed by an emergency descent, all kind of circuits, engine failure after take-off, N-1 landing, aborted take-off, etc ...
I finally land the plane about half an hour before the rain arrives in Bournemouth.

Then comes the debriefing, and I'm left in some mixed feelings. That's an incomplete CPL Test but I actually passed everything we could do. A bit frustrating I must say.
The next day turns out to be absolutely awful, and I eventually cancel the test.
Finally, thursday looks slightly better. Same as two days ago, we should have a two hour window to fly VMC, and I decide to give it a go.
I've got a different examiner, a different navigation to plan of course (see below), and a cloud ceiling averaging to around 1800ft. They forecast some nasty weather coming soon so we must go before that.
We're soon flying in some smooth air at 1500ft, below the clouds on our way to Evercreech. A few miles later, the cloud ceiling is down to 1400 ft (with some high ground up to 800ft), there are rain showers on my path and it just gets really tricky. It is still flyable but it just can't get any worse. I have to avoid every localised rain shower, and maintain a 500 foot separation between me and the ground. All this while entering a Military Air Traffic Zone and trying to get back on the exact track initially planned. Evercreech is not hard to find, and I head onto my diversion the examiner just gave me. Alderhot, just North of Bournemouth airport. The weather is getting even worse unfortunately, and although the cloud base enables me to fly reasonnably high, the visibility is now down to just a few kilometers. Track correction at the half-way point as the wind seems to have increased in the meantime, and I finally end up on track and on time over Alderhot. Flight test is complete, the examiner takes control and this is it, I'm no longer a Private Pilot, I just became a Commercial Pilot (or Professional Pilot as we call it in France).

First "real" ILS on the Be76, CPL Test Profile and 737-200 sim session

2010-09-17T22:16:00.002+01:00

We had a lot going on this last few days. That was a pretty busy week indeed, starting with two days of absolutely crap weather (windy, low clouds forming an overcast layer just above the 500 foot mark, and to make it even better, some rain showers pretty much everywhere in this part of the country).
Perfect weather to do the instrument flying bit of the CPL course. Although we were flying instruments in actual instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), we did use the screens as we popped out of the clouds eventually, enjoying (well, when backseating) some nice sunshine whilst people below us were enjoying some rain ...
On the way back of those two flights, we got the chance to do a Radar Vectored ILS, and break out from clouds around 700ft, with the runway magically appearing in sight right in front of us. The feeling resulting from this is really intense, it really is a huge joy after some really tough work keeping the plane on the glide path and centred on the localizer to pop out of the clouds and happen to be correctly aligned and at the correct height.

As Steve and I booked our MCC (Multi-Crew Co-Operation) course at European Skybus on the 737-200 Full Flight Simulator (full motion), we got the chance to get our hands on her for a circuit from London Stansted. We now can't wait to get started with that last part of the training (which should take place sometime between December and January).

Wednesday was the first Test Profile, a two hour flight to Blackbushe (just North of Farnborough, on the edge of London). The way out was made up from two planned legs (visual navigation) with a Matz penetration (Boscombe), joining the circuit pattern at Blackbushe, doing some flapless approach, engine failure after take-off, one engine go-around (N-1), then departing through the overhead to then fly through Farnoborough's ATZ on a diversion leg (unplanned navigation) towards the Coast, doing some radionav position fixes on the way. Then came the general handling part, where we had to show some stalls recovery, steep turns, engine fire drill and emergency descent. And finally, on the way back home, some instrument flying (with the screens), partial panel, unusual attitudes recovery, and VOR tracking (HSI/RMI). Just before joining the circuit pattern at Bournemouth, we had to deal with an engine failure (simulated) and land on one engine.

Thursday, a much more relaxing flight (in a way) practicing general handling, instrument flying and NDB tracking.
And on friday, another Test Profile, to Dunkeswell this time.
If we get along with the weather, both Steve and I should have our 170 test on monday and the CPL skill test should follow within the next few days. Fingers crossed.

Steve flying the approach on the 73

Instrument flying, Navigation and Diversion (CPL)

2010-09-10T00:19:00.001+01:00

The MEP being completed, we jumped straight on to the CPL course, and I must say, it all goes really fast all around.
We started with some navigations (planned legs), flying to small villages like Wedmore, Axminster, Sturminster, Kingsclere, Petersfield, etc ...
Then came the unplanned navigation, basically en-route diversion.
This is the kind of flying a PPL should be familiar with, however the way you fly it as a CPL student is all new, especially if you've been trained in a flying club.
The standard navigation technique we use is known as Dead Reckoning. We do not use radio-navigation for planned legs, and we do not randomly correct if it gets obvious we've been moved off track. Instead, we use one of three heading correction techniques, which aim at coming back exactly on track, or flying direct to the intended destination from the present off track position.

We can either double the track error (in degrees) for the same amount of time we've been flying from the previous turning point, and then continue on half that value for the remaining part of the leg.
If we opt for a quicker way to regaining track, the Standard Closing Angle works best. It is based on 60 / TAS(nm/min), about 25° at 140kt for a Be76 Duchess. For each nautical mile off track, we alter the heading in the opposite direction for 1 min (or 2 min for 2nm, 3 min for 3 nm and so on) by 25°. Then on, we turn back on the previous heading, correcting by the amount of track error (in degrees, this time).
If the mid-point has been passed, the best method becomes the Inverse Fraction. We estimate how many degrees off track we currently are, work out a fraction corresponding to our position along the leg (for example, at 15 nm for a 22 nm leg, we've been flying 2/3 of the whole leg).
The correction to be made is then 1/(2/3) x the track error (in degrees). Say it was 4°, we'd have to alter the heading by 1/(2/3) x 4 = 3/2 x 4 = 6°. That new heading bringing us directly towards the destination without having to regain the initially planned track.
As to make things easier, we draw 10° lines from the planned track on the chart, and from those lines we can get a rough idea of how many degrees we are from the intended track.

That's the navigation bit. Then comes the Matz (Military Air Traffic Zone), ATZ penetration and zone transits. Those are pretty straight forward, but as the frequencies tend to get busy at times (especially Farnborough), with very little time to change from one to another and pass on all our details (e.g. Boscombe to Farnborough, or Farnborough to Southampton), all this while trying to figure out where the destination is, the workload makes a big jump up and getting everything right isn't as straight forward as it seems in the first place.
That's when you get an engine failure (simulated), and have to rejoin a busy airfield with a lot going on. Get the radio out of the way, work out the joining procedure (deadside rejoin, base rejoin, ...), descent to circuit altitude while doing the pre-landing checks, position yourself on final, and at commital altitude (200 ft AGL), you get an asymmetric go-around ... followed by a lot of flapless and asymmetric circuits.
On the way back, you track NDB and VOR radials using your RMI and/or HSI, get a position fix (Tacan (DME) + VDF for example), and then do some instrument flying. The instructor puts on a set of screens that hide the outside view to simulate IMC (instruments conditions). But that'd be too easy, you also get your Artificial horizon hidden, and you also loose the HSI and RMI. You now have to rely on the turn coordinator to check your wings level and your altimeter to check your attitude. As for your heading, and turning through a new heading, you figure it out with the not-so good compass, and do some timed turns (turning at Rate 1 (3°/sec), turning from 010 onto 285 will be 85° left, roughly 28sec, that is if you stay right on a rate 1 turn, which isn't easy when the weather gets gusty).
Later on comes the unusual attitudes bit, where your flight instructor takes control and puts the plane on a very steep climb (or descent) while over-banking the aircraft on wide side, before handing the controls back to you. You're still flying instruments with no artificial horizon, no way to be sure of an even rough attitude, and you now have to bring back the plane to a safe a stable straight and level flight. You are to use the airspeed indicator (speed increasing -> descent attitude -> ease back on the yoke until the speed reverses, and then damp on the speed changes) and the turn coordinator (showing a turn to the left -> you roll the plane to the right until you've gone past the no-turn position by about half a deviation).

The CPL is well fun, but on a 28h course (of which 6h are MEP course), it is a lot to do.
So far, I've been flying 17h, the 5h simulator (FNPT1, cf photos) part is now completed, and the 'in-house' profile test is due for tomorrow if weather permits.

MEP (Multi-Engine Piston)

2010-08-28T19:11:00.001+01:00

Back in Bournemouth (UK) where I'll spend the next 4 months or so, I started my MEP training on the Beechcraft Be-76 Duchess.
Although it isn't quite a big plane, it still feels like a big step forward from the light single engine planes I used to fly up to now.
First of all, with two 180hp rated engines, it is almost 4 times more powerful than the Cessna 150 I used to fly. Each engine drives a constant speed propeller via a CSU and has got a three position cowl flap. The landing gear is retractable, one of the three Be76 the school owns is fitted with an airborne weather radar, they all have autopilots, HSI coupled with the GPS for Rnav approaches, RMI, a cross-feed fuel system, two avionic buses, three trims (elevator, ailerons and rudder), and ... 6 engine levers on the main desk (throttles, full feathering props, and mixture levers).

The flying is also fairly different. As we are training to be airline pilots and doing a CPL course, we've got a whole bunch of new procedures, checklists and briefings.
We now have a "passenger briefing" along with the usual "captain briefing".
There is a total of 7 checklists prior to take-off while there used to be only 3 as a private pilot, each of those having between 15 and 20 items to be checked.
- Before Starting Engines checks,
- Starting - Normal Procedure (Right engine first, then Left engine),
- After Engines Start,
- Taxi checks,
- Power checks,
- Pre Take-off checks,
- Take-off checks.

Lined up on the runway, I set 2200 rpm, give the gauges a quick glance before releasing the brakes as I apply full throttle. The powerful acceleration that follows brings out quite an intense feeling. Speed is alive, a few seconds later we're reaching 75kt as I say "Rotation" and pull the controls to raise the nose, 85kt and not much runway left: "Positive rate of climb, Gear up", and continuing on a 100kt cruise climb. Passing 500ft, I bring back the throttles to 25" of Manifold Pressure, the props are set to a coarser 2500rpm, and I can now do my After Take-Off Checklist.

The MEP course trains us to react to any kind of emergency.
For the purpose of training, we've been simulated engine failures, and been actually switching off one engine in flight (see the video and pictures below).
Emergency fire both on the ground and in flight, emergency descent (2700rpm, throttles on idle, 140kt, gear down and turning on a steep 45° dive, the ground comes very very fast), engine failure and feathering drills, landing gear manual extension, operation on crossfeed, one-engine inoperative landing, one-engine inoperative go-around, etc ...
It would take ages to describe everything, but this is actually very interesting and can be real fun. While most procedures are simply drills (not that easy once in the air in an emergency situation), engine failures usually last until you land.

Here's how it works: you take-off for a normal circuit, and not long after the instructor shuts down one of the two engines (without you knowing which one). You then have to continue the climb to circuit altitude, and land with one engine out. There are additional checks while flying asymmetric and that doesn't help making it easy. When you loose power on one side, the plane immediately yaws onto the "dead" side, then rolls, then loose altitude. You've got to react fast, apply almost full rudder (can be quite painful to your leg), maintain a balanced and leveled attitude, then push forward all remaining 5 levers, then feather the throttle, feather the prop and feather the mixture of the "dead" engine (be sure of which one this is, because as the propeller is windmilling, there is almost no visual sign of an engine failure), you then check for an engine fire, cut off the fuel, switch off the fuel pump, magnetos and alternator, close the cowl flap on one side and open on the other, and finally trim the plane before making a "mayday" or "panpan" call.

Along with the flights comes 7 hours of ground school including asymmetric theory, constant speed propellers and an overview of the Beechcraft Duchess. We then study on our own the POH (Pilot's Operating Handbook), all the relevant figures, the in-depth theory, and take the written exam. I passed and got 92.5%. The practical test will be including in the CPL skill test and I will then be "multi-engine piston" qualified.

Jumpseat Airbus A319

2010-08-12T13:46:00.001+01:00

Another chance to have a glimpse in the real world at what we've been learning all those days stuck in BCFT's classrooms.

In the meantime, I made my way to Bournemouth, UK and am now fully ready to start my CPL (Commercial Pilot License) on the Beechcraft Be-76 Duchess with PAT, Professional Air Training which probably is one of the best modular training provider in the UK.

I'm off to London tomorrow to renew my Class 1 medical and that should be it.

Cap 10C - Aerobatics

2010-08-03T23:53:00.002+01:00

As the South France aerobatic championships took place in the local airfield where I live, I got the chance to fly once again in the lovely Cap 10 after 2 years without flying the beast.
What a joy to be strapped in her, undertaking +4.5/-2.5 G's doing loops, snap rolls, spins, stall turns, negative spins, inverted turns, ...
We also had the chance to watch a demo of World champion Renaud Ecalle and above all had some great fun with the other pilots.

Flight across France

2010-08-01T22:24:00.002+01:00

Back in France with a few more hours to build before starting the CPL, I chose to do a long nav across the country rather than flying around the area with pretty much nothing to see.
A friend to visit in Britanny, and there was my flight plan:
Castelsarrasin airfield (LFCX) -> Villeneuve sur Lot -> Bergerac -> Royan -> Oléron -> Les sables d'Olonne -> Ile de Ré (La Rochelle) -> La Tranche sur Mer -> La Baule -> Golfe du Morbihan -> Quiberon -> La Baule again for a night stop, and back in Castelsarrasin the following day.
I flew a total of 8h30, got refused as well as all the other VFR trafics in the area by the French ATC who are, seemingly, on strike, and had to fly outside all their Class Delta and Charlie airspaces.
I decided to do most of the shoreline flying at the minimum allowed altitude (500ft in France) instead, and that was a good chance to take some pics through the small window of my Cessna 150.

Last landing in the US

2010-07-21T17:17:00.003+01:00

It had to happen eventually.
The usual coastal cloud layer was building up over Montgomery airport, I was coming from the West just in between San Diego class Bravo airspace and Gillespie Delta airspace, at 2900ft, cleared to land about 8 miles from touchdown (welcome to the States!). No way to get the runway in sight, being over the remote layer (it was thin and stable at 1400 to 1600ft) with a strong sun in front of me, and the controler put me on runway 28 R as there was some other airplanes in the pattern doing touch-and-goes 28 L.
Coming back VFR with a poor visibility, when we're cleared for runway 28L, we usually follow the freeway till it leads us to the stadium, turning point to intercept the final path on a 280° heading.
Today, I was on 28R with a well-equiped plane, so I loaded up the GPS ILS approach as a back-up and help for situational awareness and put the ILS frequency 111.7 into the two VOR/ILS instruments (which had been checked and were both current). 30° interception on the LOC, and a bit later on the glide to start the descent at a constant rate. I was doing 100kt on long final, reduced to 85 as I got closer and finally 75kt with 10° flaps on short final. I touched down on the runway markers which are what we aim for, but it doesn't always work that well. Pretty happy with the result.

Some figures from those 2 months 1/2 in the States:
Just over 50 flight hours,
10 different planes flown on a total of around 5500nm (10200km ; 6300 miles).
Lowest outside in flight temperature: about 0°C, highest outside in flight temperature: 47°C,
Longuest flight in a day: 700nm (1300km),
14 States visited (California, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, District of Columbia, New York State, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware).

Last flight in America

2010-07-13T18:34:00.002+01:00

Last chance to fly this week, I had planned 5 flights and had to cancel all of them due to some clouds being too low over the San Diego coastline.
The chance turned up on sunday and I went for a flight with a French friend in the desert. 4 hours between San Diego, Agua Caliente, Borrego Sprins, Ocotillo and French Valley on a shiny C172-180. No better way to end 2 months 1/2 in such an awesome country!
With a temperature up to 47°C, it wasn't cold, so to speak.

Washington DC and New York

2010-07-10T09:23:00.003+01:00

I'm back from a week in DC and NYC, and although this isn't aviation-related apart from the Air and Space Museum visit, I thought some pictures were worth be put on the blog.
I also received my US Pilot Certificate that will replace the temporary one.

Sunset from above the clouds ...

2010-07-10T09:01:00.003+01:00

That was on the flight Atlanta - Milwaukee - San Diego, onboard an AirTran 737-700 at 38,000ft.
The video gets interesting after a 1:22 when I zoomed in towards the clouds.

Flight to Las Vegas: Part 3 - Page and Electric Failure at Night

2010-07-08T08:33:00.002+01:00

Back from Monument Valley for a second fuel stop in Page (KPGA), I updated my weather briefing, which was now forcasting some pretty nasty rain showers for the next one and a half to two hours. That would mean flying back just when the night sets, and so, a night arrival in Las Vegas, which would be pretty impressive from above.

Fair enough, I asked for a drive to the town center, got a coffee, and came back to the airport. Another weather briefing, not showing such a great improvement, although the rain seemed to remain North of the field, with some thunderstorm activity further away.
I asked how much an hostel would cost me for the night, around $200. ouch. A quick glimpse at the en-route weather showed some fairly high cloud ceiling, no thunderstorm anywhere near my flight path, light wind, and clear sky over Las Vegas. Just that dark cloud hanging there, north of the field.

Run to the plane, preflight checks, and that's the part where I did my job too fast.
The reason I'm making a post about this is to help others avoid doing the same silly mistake.
I did my checks faster than usual, and I didn't pay enough attention to the Circuit Breakers. One was actually popped out, or could have popped out later in flight but I will never know. It happened to be the alternator CB, which, once popped out, disengages the alternator circuit, not charging the battery, disengaging also the charging needle, and .. the low voltage light. No way (other than checking the actual CB) to know the battery was no longer charging, so to speak.

Take-off, early left turn to avoid the dark clouds, and I was soon flying in a much nicer sky.
As on the way-out from Vegas, I planned a route via Kanab airfield, only landmark on the way.
As the night was setting, the sky turned darker and darker, I was with L.A Center, they knew about my arrival into North Las Vegas KVGT, and everything was fine until ... the instruments went off. The GPS first, followed by the radios and the cockpit light, all in a sudden.
I was left with no transponder, no radio, no VOR, no cockpit light, no anticol or external light. I tooked my pocket light which was ready to use, a second light just in case, tried to make a call on L.A Center, which they actually got (and eventually called the guys at Kanab airport to ask them to turn on their beacon).

So, at that point in time, I was 5 min after the overhead of Kanab airfield. I had to think quick. No way to continue, Las Vegas is Class Bravo airspace, there's an Air Force Base to overfly, I have no transponder and no radio, that just cannot work. What were my other options? Two other fields on the way, uncontrolled, and .. no way to turn their runway lights on without a working radio.
180° to the left, carb heat on, fast descent, I had to make it to Kanab before it gets too dark. I could clearly see the village, only lights in the area, but ... it was getting really dark and I just couldn't see the airfield. I remembered it wasn't far from a parallel road, but .. where was the road? 360°, still no way to find that runway. At that moment, I was probably around one or two miles from the field ... but when it's dark, it just looks like anything else ... i.e. dark. I finally saw it, turned on a high downwind, then base, high and fast, engine on idle, when I tried to put the flaps out. Well, no electricity, no flaps. No way I was going to do another 360 with an unlit runway ... (at least, that's how it was in my minds when that happened). Still doing 85kts on short final, with a field at 5000ft ... I'm glad I had a 6000ft runway in front of me. They turned on the airfield beacon when I was about to touch down, which at least was reassuring. Not the best landing so far, followed by some pretty heavy breaking. Taxi to the apron, engine off, and .. time to get out of the plane and breath deeply, at last. God, it feels good to be back on Earth.

A great folk from the airfield helped tying down the plane, called a guy from the mechanics, drove me to a motel, picked me up in the early morning (I'm greatly thankful), and helped figuring out what the issue was. We started the engine, by hand, and that's where I finally checked the CBs. That black one, the alternator circuit breaker, was a tad bit popped out. I pushed it, and .. the needle moved ever so slightly to the right. It was charging, the battery was charging. 20 min later, engine still on idle, on the ground, I turned on the radios and .. they were working. I waited a bit, loaded my pax, and finally took-off for Las Vegas. In case we lost electric power again, I did most of the flight with no radio, no transponder nor any radionav equipment. 15 miles before entering Las Vegas class Bravo airspace, I switched everything on and let them know about what was going on. They were very helpful and put me on a direct track to the field. I finally landed on North Las Vegas concrete, drove back to the hostel to pick up my stuff, and flew back to San Diego later in the day.

So ... what if the electric failure happened later in flight? Closer to Las Vegas, with no way to switch on any of the runways lighting system, what would have my options been? The only thing I can come up with would be to go to Henderson, which is class Delta, circling over the field and awaiting for the lighting signals and a visual landing clearance. That would have been my best shot I believe.
I certainly did more than one mistake on that flight. Spending a night in a hostel shouldn't be an option in those cases. Thunderstorm activity, even when not forecast before, should be a no go if it's on the way (although it wasn't on the way here). Doing quick checks, well .. not a good idea either, whatever the reason is. Once the electric devices go off, the first thing to check would actually be the CB. When that does happen, we kind of get .. obsessed with wanting to land as soon as possible. That's how I reacted at least. I tried to stay calm, which I actually did, I remembered to make the call (since I disappeared from their radar when my transponder went off), abort the flight and turn back to the nearest field, quickly let my passengers know about what was going on and the precautionary landing, but I forgot to figure out where was the problem from.
That's how we learn, I guess.

Flight to Las Vegas - Part 2: Monument Valley

2010-06-17T23:32:00.002+01:00

The whole flight was : Las Vegas -> Page -> Monument Valley -> Page -> Kanab (night stay at Kanab due to an electric failure on the plane, which I'll give details in a future post). Kanab -> Las Vegas.
Not a great weather unfortunately, hence the cold-ish pictures, I really have to come back there and see Grand Canyon on my way to Page and Monument Valley under a shiny day.

Flight to Las Vegas - Part 1

2010-06-16T02:16:00.002+01:00

I flew to North Las Vegas airport (KVGT) last wednesday as my parents were visiting the area.
I met them at the airport and we spent my birthday on the strip. What could be seen at first as expensive was actually really affordable.
The hotels are pretty cheap (they hope to take all your money when you go down to play in the Casinos), and ... I put $1 in a slot machine to give it a try and earned ... $40 !!
That's a good way to spend a night isn't it?
I was planning on flying with my parents to Grand Canyon, Page and Monument Valley on thursday but had to cancel due to a pretty bad weather in Northern Arizona and windy day in Las Vegas. That gave me plenty of time to spend in this incredible city with my parents.

For those interested, my flight plan from San Diego to North Las Vegas was:
KMYF (Montgomery Field) -> Julian VOR (JLI) via El Capitan Reservoir (no Class Bravo clearance, I picked up Flight Following a few miles before JLI on the usual 124.35) -> Thermal VOR (TRM) -> Twentynine Palms VOR (TNP) -> heading 028° direct Jotnu, a waypoint at an intersection between two VOR radials, to fly just in between the 2 MOA and East of the Restricted (R-2501) -> heading 005° direct Goffs VOR (GFS) -> Henderson, cleared through the Bravo airspace, and vectored overhead McCarran Airport, and vectored again for a right downwind entry at North Las Vegas, where I was passed onto North Las Vegas Tower -> landing runway 12R. My cruise altitude was 9500ft all the way to Las Vegas. 2h / 250nm flight.

Sedona (KSEZ)

2010-06-03T09:51:00.002+01:00

700nm (1200km) of flight in the day, this is my longest up to date, and what a flight!
It wasn't particularly hard to plan, I simply chose to fly through the 3 VORs along the route (JLI Julian direct PKE Parker direct DRK Drake) and then follow a radial to my destination: Sedona KSEZ. Despite the flight being above the desert most of the time, there were some really nice sceneries, especially over the Colorado River south of Lake Havasu.

I had flight following all the way from San Diego, and on the way back they gave me the ATIS at Montgomery, got me cleared through the class Bravo, and passed me onto Montgomery TWR.
I took the Cessna 172-180 N9488G, which, with only me in, had a lot more power than needed. Climbing at 1000ft/min all the way up to 10,500ft to then fly at 130kt TAS, that's pretty impressive for a Cessna. At some point on the outbound flight, I had 150kt ground speed thanks to a light westerly wind. I greatly recommand Sedona Airport restaurant, especially the local meal with cactus and avocado.
Don't forget to check out the video on a post below.

Big Bear City and La Jolla

2010-06-03T09:23:00.002+01:00

I flew some friends to Big Bear City (East of Los Angeles, up in the mountains ), where the airport stands at some 6700ft above the mean sea level. When we landed, the density-altitude was 8600ft. I took a 180hp Cessna 172 to be more comfortable, even though the runway is large enough. We had lunch there, just before they closed, before heading back to Montgomery (San Diego).

After a short flight along the coastline on sunday, we went to La Jolla, one of San Diego beaches famous for its numerous earless seals sunbathing between the swimmers. It's quite worth the sight!

Videos of the flights to Sedona and to Thermal (Palm Springs)

2010-06-03T08:53:00.002+01:00

LAX Airspace VFR transition

2010-05-27T05:00:00.004+01:00

This is a flight I had to cancel four times due to scattered clouds at 2500ft above LAX, which does not permit doing the VFR "mini-route" transtion.
The ceiling needs to be 3000ft or more, and 3 miles visibility at least.
Monday was the day, I called the weather briefer, we got the meteo en-route, at destinations, Notams and TFR checked.
Straight-out departure runway 28L at Montgomery, heading towards the coast before turning right and climbing to 6500ft. We had "Flight Following" all the way to Los Angeles and that was really helpful, those guys are doing a great job.

First entry point over Los Angeles was the Queen Mary. Then, passed onto Hawthorn Tower, and joining the 128° SMO VOR Radial, I got the pre-clearance message. Reporting over Hawthorn & 405 Freeway, I was transfered onto LAX Tower. "Los Angeles Tower, Cessna 3386E, inbound mini-route". "Cessna 3386E, Los Angeles Tower, squawk 0215 and ident". "Cessna 3386E, you're cleared through the Los Angeles Bravo airspace, , maintain 2500ft, VFR, altimeter 3007".
The track to follow was basically the 128 radial all the way to Santa Monica airport 5 miles North of LAX. We enjoyed an incredible view over the terminals, with airliners landing and departing from everywhere! This is hard to imagine until you've been there.

Over Santa Monica airport, we turned eastbound, descending at 1500ft altitude. We overflew UCLA, Beverly Hills, with Hollywood not far away, Dodger Stadium and downtown LA, another 10 miles to join the pattern at El Monte airport and landing runway 19. We had lunch there.

At that point, we realised that all the photos taken over LAX were extremely bright and almost unviewable. In fact, somehow we went fromthe Aperture priority setting to the Manual mode, and the pre-selected speed was way too low for such a bright day.
The plan was to land at Ontario Intl to then depart back to San Diego, inland. But there was no way I was going to leave without the photos of LAX.

Two hours later and the flight replanned, I landed the Cessna on Ontario International runway 26L, stopped the plane on the taxiway and contacted Ontario Clearance Delivery. "Ontario Clearance, Cessna 3386E, clear of 26L at T, request flight following to Santa Monica via Long Beach and the LAX mini-route transition, 4500ft". "Cessna 3386E, Ontario Clearance, after take-off turn right heading 285, altitude 3000ft or below, first departing frequency will be 125.3, transponder 5111". "Right 285, 3000ft or below, 125.3 and squawk 5111, Cessna 3386E". "Cessna 86E, readback correct, contact ground point niner". "Ground 121.9 Cessna 86E, thank you".

Take-off 26L, in the climb-out, we intercepted the 187° Radial of the POM VOR [110.4], the second VOR was set on the PDZ beacon [112.2], radial 242, which, when intercepted, would be our turning point south of the Bravo airspace. Socal Approach transfered us to Hawthorn TWR, once again, and we soon got cleared into the Los Angeles Bravo airspace. Transiting vertical LAX at 2500ft, we took about more than a hundred pictures, at 70kt with flaps 10° (to get enough time to enjoy the view). Santa Monica in sight, we joined the pattern, made a left base 21, a touch-and-go over Tom Cruise's private jet. 270° over the coast, back overhead Santa Monica airport, inbound LAX mini-route Southbound ... a third time !! Oh yeah, we just love that transition !!

Heading back to San Diego, a Southwest Boeing 737 departing John Wayne flew right below us (we were cruising at 5500ft) and I took one of the best picture I've ever taken !
Arriving in San Diego, a thin cloud layer was forming along the shoreline with the sun slowly coming down above the horizon. What else could we ask for after such a flight?

Flight to the Californian Desert

2010-05-23T01:22:00.002+01:00

After quite a bit of time spent flying along the shoreline or in the area, we headed up to something totally new to me: The desert.
The flight took us across the mountain ridges, less than a hundred miles of San Diego. We flew Northeastbound towards El Capitan Reservoir, and right up the highest summit in the area (Cuyamaca Park at 6500ft altitude). We were cruising at 7500ft altitude and another 2000ft wouldn't have been too much, the wind was blowing straight towards the edge and the downward wind movements just behind it were quite strong. At some point we were full power at the best climbing speed trying to maintain the plane levelled. And at some other point, we were almost powered on idle, trying not to climb ... This is how strong the upward/downward winds get over there ...

Over Cuyamaca lake, we started our descent to the destination airfield : Agua Caliente (L54), which is more a runway than an airfield. There is a strip to land the plane, and that's pretty much it, there's not much else. A road, some snakes, a bit of wind and a crinkling noise from the old road signs to add some oddness to the scene ...
I had a feeling kind of close to what we get watching an horror movie ...
It would have got creepy if the engine hadn't started.

We then flew to Borrego Valley airport, further North. Another desert behind a West-East mountain ridge, a golfcourse, a very small town named Borrego Springs, and an airport in the middle of nowhere ... 5000ft of runway with enough facilities to handle a jet, we landed our Piper Cherokee and parked in front of the local restaurant, where we were the only customers.
And still that clinckling noise from the road signs in the wind that reminds me of horror movies ...
The meal was delicious for such a decent price tag. Back on the apron at a temperature around 100°F (38°C), engine started, a message on "Borrego Valley traffic" to say our intentions to depart South-bound, and here we are up in the air again.

We flew back to San Diego at 8500ft, tried the autopilot, and arrived in a building smog that was moving more deeply inland. The visibility wasn't good at all and this is where you have to rely on your charts and ground landmarks to be sure you're going the right way. At that moment, Montgomery had only runway 23 in service (the one crossing the doublets 28L and 28R) which is used when the wind blows that way. I was cleared to land number 2, entering the pattern via a left base 23. It worked out fairly well and that ended up a pretty busy week quite nicely.

Flying to Los Angeles

2010-05-20T05:47:00.002+01:00

Today, we planned a flight to El Monte through the LAX mini-route and a landing at John Wayne airport on the way back.

We had to postpone the flight twice due to bad weather along the coast. Today was forecasted to be overcast on the shoreline until 13:00. Unfortunately, by the time we were planning on starting the descent, the mini-route was closed and we had to divert to John Wayne (Orange County, CA). If weather permits it, we are flying to El Monte and Ontario Int through the mini-route on friday.

It was still quite an enjoyable flight and having to divert is a good teaching experience. You have to replan the flight, tell the controlers your intentions, figure out how you get to your new destination, get the ATIS and all the information you need within a very short amount of time.
At the same time, the controler asked us to turn through a 090 heading in order to avoid an incoming traffic, and flying Eastbound got us closer to John Wayne Airport. Flaps out, expediting the descent as we had left Flight Level 65 (6500ft) only a minute ago, we were transfered onto John Wayne TWR, we passed our message and we were cleared through the mid-field overhead and left traffic pattern for a Runway 19L landing. As we were on final, a Southwest Boeing 737 was landing on the parallel runway.

On the ground, cleared of 19L, we contacted ground to taxi to the FBO. So, what is a FBO? For a european pilot, that seems totally new. And indeed, this is something we simply don't have in Europe.
On middle size airports like John Wayne, they have 2 FBOs. Some airports have more, some have only one, and some don't have any.
A FBO is basically a handling facility which looks like a could be defined as some kind of a business terminal. The main difference being that any pilot, either leisure pilot or commercial pilot, gets the same services. They are the ones refueling the aircraft, arranging transportation to a hotel, marshalling the planes on the apron, carrying our baggages, or lending a car for a few hours.
In the FBO in itself, they've got everything a pilot would need. Crew rooms, meeting rooms, flight planning rooms, and even a place to sleep when on duty and waiting for the next flight.

We got the keys of a Ford Mustang, this is one of the services that come with it and you do not have to pay for it. That was perfect as we needed to grab something to eat.

Airports such as John Wayne have a Clearance Delivery frequency we contact prior requesting taxi on the Ground Frequency.
This is the frequency that is going to coordinate our flight back to San Diego, and passing our information onto each of the next frequencies, and .. they give us our first clearance. "Cessna 2726E, after departing end-of-runway, turn left Heading 150, climb at or below 2400, departure frequency will be 124.1, Squawk 0240".

Heading to the shoreline via Dana Point (South-West of John Wayne), we chose to come back inland to transit over Miramar MCAS. At that exact moment, a F18 was touching down on the Westerly runway at Miramar. We then proceeded towards the overhead of Montgomery Field a few miles further South and entered the pattern for a 28L landing with 40° flaps, and for once that was a very smooth landing.

Getting to know the San Diego area

2010-05-15T06:02:00.003+01:00

I've been flying everyday this week and that feels just great. I'm now based at Montgomery Field just a few miles North-East of San Diego International.

We've mostly been practicing the R/T which can get fairly busy in the area. Montgomery alone is home of 250,000 aircraft movements a year, operating on three paved runways, between two Class Bravo on a corridor that goes from the Coast to El Cajon (San Diego East).
North of Montgomery is MCAS (Marine Corps Air Station) Miramar, and not far on the South-West side San Diego Int and further South San Diego NAS (Naval Air Station) North Island. There is a VFR corridor that goes overhead Lindbergh (San Diego Int) to further south on the bay, but as a a way of getting used to Flight Following, we've been doing that with Socal Approach. They basically give us heading, altitude and squawk code for the transit until we get to our destination.

We got the chance to overfly the three active US aircraft-carriers, the bay, and do a VFR transition along the coast "at or below 500ft".

Arrived in America

2010-05-08T02:02:00.002+01:00

After something like 22 hours of travel, I finally arrived in San Diego, CA.

I took the BA flight to London from Toulouse, a BA 777 to Chicago and connecting flight with American Airlines to San Diego Int.

I'm going to spend the next two and a half months over here doing my hours building before starting my CPL back in England in August.
I went to San Diego FSDO (FAA) on thursday to get my US certificate, which allows me to fly in the States under the same privileges I have as a Private Pilot in Europe. I currently have the temporary certificate and will get the US licence within the next three months.

I went flying the same day on the Cessna 172 N3386E. I must say, it was quite an enjoyable flight, and the Californian landscapes are definitely worth the sight!
We took off on Runway 28L, went into Bravo airspace over San Diego Int (Lindbergh) airport, flew over downtown San Diego heading towards the Bay, landed on Brown Airport 1 mile North of the border with Mexico, and did some circuits there.

"Cessna 86Echo, request North-East bound departure", and as we leave Brown airspace, we contact 122.75, the Air-to-Air frequency.
"San Diego South-East, Cessna 86 Echo over Otay Lake at 2500, heading North-East bound towards San Miquel, San Diego South-East".

We went over Mont Helix in the El Cajon area (home of the busy Gillespie airfield), picked up the ATIS and contacted Montgomery TWR. "Cessna 3386E, 1 mile East of Lake Murray at 2600, with Hotel, inbound full stop landing". Cleared to land on 28L, and taxi to Gibbs apron.
We could hear and see the USAF F18 on downwind at Miramar AFB (where the movie Top Gun was filmed), it is indeed a great location.

Overall, I find the RT (RadioTelephony) to be easier than that in Europe, it is clearer and the calls are generally shorter. In the next few flights with the Flight Instructor, we're going to fly under Flight Following which is something we do not have in Europe.
Will follow some very interesting flights that will take me to the likes of Catalina Island, LA, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, and many more other places as part of the time building.

ATPL theoretical part completed

2010-05-02T10:57:00.002+01:00

As we got into a great chaos due to the Islandic ash cloud over Europe, our exams results kind of got delayed and I've heard some exams had to be remarked.
We ended up having the results almost a week after that expected.
I passed all my 14 exams first time with an average of 92% and this puts an end to six month of theoretical course and revisions.
I got:
90% in Aircraft Systems/Electrics/Engines,
94% in Instruments,
93% in General Navigation,
95% in Radio Navigation,
88% in Air Law,
100% in VFR Communications,
91% in IFR Communications.

In the 7 first exams, my results were:
86% in Principles of Flight,
100% in Mass & Balance,
89% in Aircraft Performances,
94% in Flight Planning,
96% in Operational Procedures,
85% in Meteorology,
82% in Human Performances and Limitations.

From now on, almost everything in the course is going to be practical.
I flew about 6 hours during my time in France and renewed my PPL for the second time in 4 years.

I'm flying to California in two days, I've got my FAA appointment on thursday and first flights in the States in about a week time.

End of the ATPL course

2010-04-14T16:52:00.001+01:00

I tend not to update my blog too often at the moment but this is going to change very soon, indeed I'll be in the States in less than 3 weeks and from then onwards I'll be flying pretty much everyday, doing long distance and interesting flights over places of the likes of Grand Canyon, Catalina Island and the Californian landscapes, thus except loads of updates and pictures.

Last week, I was with the fellow BCFT students in Gatwick (London) taking my last 7 exams of the ATPL ground course.
As far as my estimation goes, I reckon it went quite well, I'll get the results in about 2 weeks time.
We had Aircraft General Knowledge on tuesday. This deals with aircraft electrics (that will make much more sense during the type rating), aircraft systems (pressurisation, structures and materials, valves and actuators, fuel system, undercarriage, ...) and engines (both piston and turbine). Quite a lot of stuff to know in one subject. Instruments was on wednesday, probably the most interesting subject as this is where we learn all about gauges, digital instruments and needles, EFIS, FMS, flight director, autothrottle, FADEC, EICAS, etc ...
Then came General Navigation followed by Radio Navigation on thursday. GenNav is considered as being one of the hardest subject as it involves lots of maths (simple maths still). It just depends on your background but it doesn't require anything beyond high school. Basically, that's where we learn the calculation of distances along rhumb lines and great circles, grid navigation, IRS, a bit of flight planning, time zones issue and other theoretical stuff. RadioNav, despite a similar name is completely different subject. That's all to do with navigation aids such as VORs, ILS, NDBs, GPS, primary and secondary radars, Radalt and their principle of operation ... It comes with a lot of figures to remember (radio range and wave lenghs, ..), types of errors encountered, etc.
And finally, friday was left with the remaining three exams: Air Law, VFR and IFR communications. The last two were quite basic, however Air Law was tough to learn as this doesn't always make much sense to us since this is the theory which we haven't experienced in the air yet. Things like aircraft seperation depending on aircraft weight (so many different cases I stopped counting), airspace classes, holding patterns, ICAO organisation and world conventions, ... and the list goes on.

So this is it, ground school is finished and we're moving onto the next phases.
I wouldn't have thought the six months would fly so fast! I flew back to France on monday, hence the flight deck pictures. I did two flights yesterday on the Cessna 150 I learnt to fly on. This brings some old memories since my first flights on her were 8 years ago! Did I mention time flies by?

A bit of VFR 'on top'

2010-03-19T22:05:00.002Z

Another two flights in a row last week-end, and that was quite enjoyable in the middle of the final revisions weeks.
I flew the Cessna 172 on saturday and the PA28 on sunday, both solo.

Me: 'G-BJWI at BCFT with Information Yankee, QNH 1030, Request taxi'.
ATC: 'G-WI, QNH correct, give way to a Falcon passing you from right to left to FR Aviation, then taxy behind, to November via Mike, for runway 26 departure'.

Holding at November (holding short of runway 26) after the power checks and 'before take-off checklist':
Me: 'G-WI at November ready to copy clearance'
ATC: 'G-WI, hold position, your clearance is to leave the zone on track to Sandbanks, not above 2000 ft, VFR, Squawk 7010'.
Me: 'Hold position, not above 2000 ft cleared on track to Sanbanks, VFR, Squawking 7010, and ready for departure, G-WI'
ATC: 'G-WI, readback correct, after the landing Citation line up and wait 26'
Me: 'After the landing Citation, line up and wait 26, G-WI'
And here I am, on that 2300m (7500ft) piece of asphalt facing west and ready for take-off.
Feet on the brakes, 2000 rpm, brakes released and full power applied. RPM checked, airspeed is alive, 65 kts, rotation, positive rate of climb, 80 kts.
Passing 500 ft I slightly bank the aircraft left to a heading of 217°, when Tower asks me to contact Radar on 119.475. (VFR Map is included, see below)
Me: 'Bournemouth Radar, G-WI passing 700 ft climbing to 1800 ft, on track to Sandbanks, VFR'.
ATC: 'G-WI, report leaving controlled airspace'.
Me: 'Wilco G-WI'.

Just on time to take a picture of Bournemouth town centre with its beach and pier, Boscombe pier in the background.

Leaving the zone to the South-West, I'm now heading towards Old Harry Rocks a bit further along the coast.

Turning left towards Poole Bay:

Right turn on track to the East (heading 085° with a 12 kts / 350° wind at 2000 ft), I soon reach 'The Needles' as it's called, which are the arm-shaped cliffs of the Isle of Wight (west side).

Left turn to Lymington and then Stoney Cross (a disused airfield now used as a VRP), cruising at 1800 ft as the Solent CTA starts at 2000 ft, just in between Bournemouth CTR and Southampton CTR. There's not much in this area and as the visibility inland isn't very good i'm giving it a better look out to find the grass-now-closed airfield. I see Brokenhurst just below me 3 minutes after passing Lymington, VOR set on the Southampton VOR (Sierra Alpha Mike), radial 260, the needle comes in, and I see my next turning point.
This is the easy part, I now have to track 261° (heading 270 to allow for wind) for 12 min before reaching Blandford. It happens to be aligned on the 260 SAM VOR radial all the way to Blandford.
I check the ATIS, it gives a cloud base of 4000 ft (BKN), I climb on top at Verwood to enjoy the superb view we get over the clouds layer.

Soon time to start our descent as Blandford is in sight, still on the Radial 260 of SAM, I contact Bournemouth Radar for rejoin, 2000 ft, left turn Heading 099 to enter the CTR via Tarrant Rushton (VRP). I'm cleared to join the downwind for runway 26, I turn 111° and the NDB needle is now pointing straight ahead. ILS frequency set (110.50), descent to 1000 ft, before-landing checklist complete, base leg and then final for a runway 26 landing. I put the camera with the self-timer on and it takes the picture right on time as I flare the aircraft a dozen feet above the runway.

Night Rated and Magical Sunset Views

2010-03-06T02:28:00.002Z

Another small step forward, I got my Night Rating on wenesday night after my second solo flight and a fifth stop-and-go landing.
I did it on the Cessna 172, which takes a little getting used to, but is a nice plane to fly.

If the weather permits it (after the awesome blue sky we had all the previous days, I really hope it'll be alright), I should fly this afternoon my first pre-CPL solo nav on the PA28.

I backseated yesterday on the PA28, taken around Bournemouth and enjoying an awesome sunset over Poole Bay (the town next door), and then up to Salisbury further North. It makes us almost forget that we are still doing the ATPL theory and that the next and last 7 exams are in just 4 weeks time.

Blackadder 23 final 26 touch-and-go

2010-02-27T16:36:00.002Z

Not much new in Bournemouth.
I went flying yesterday, backseat on the PA28 and P2 flight on the Cessna 172 doing 1 hour of circuits.
Enjoy the pics.

Cobham's Falcon 20

2010-02-23T20:12:00.003Z

Bournemouth is home of the largest fleet of Dassault Falcon 20 (old French business jet), which are mainly used for various types of military missions with the Air Force and the Royal Navy. As some of ex BCFT students are now flying for them, we got the chance to visit their facility and had a tour (on the ground) of their aircraft.

I thought it could be fairly interesting to share some of the pictures I took, as it is quite a rare aeroplane, particularly when equipped with the 4 pods like the one we went in.
The pods can be anything from laser devices, targets towed, etc ...
There aren't many civilian flying jobs where you get to fly as low as 100 ft in formation with RAF Hawks, Tornados, Harriers, ...

Some flying at Bournemouth EGHH

2010-02-23T20:01:00.001Z

I'm still waiting to do my night solo but we are stuck on the ground at the moment, due to some very nasty weather. Here is the Taf for tonight : 231857Z 2319/2402 13005KT 4000 -RA BR FEW005 BKN009 (4km visi, light rain, mist, few clouds at 500ft, broken at 900 ft). And this is pretty much what we'll have all week and what we had everyday of last week.

I managed to record a video though when I did a backseat on the PA28, just before doing my circuits.

I also recorded some footage on the apron for about 20 minutes, it gives quite a good idea of how dense the traffic can be at times ...