Certificated FIight-Instructor Practical Test Passed!

15 Sunday Jan 2012

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After working toward the goal of obtaining my CFI-I rating for almost a year, on January 4, 2012 it happened.

You may recall from a previous post that last June, I had unfortunately received an “Unsatisfactory” result on the flight portion of my CFI-I practical test due to a G1000 automation “gotcha”.  But finally, after returning to So. Cal. in October after spending the summer at home in NW Montana, I was able to freshen up my proficiency and G1000 “knobology” to a level where I could again schedule the practical test.

As opposed to last winter, I was able to fly my Cessna T182T, Dorothy, from home in Montana to Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, CA and was able to make use of Dorothy to practice for and use during the flight test, instead of Pinnacle Aviation Academy’s Cessna 172S.  Pinnacle’s Chief Instructor, James Trieber, again had to suffer through the practice flights with me as I regained test taking proficiency.  Thank you James!

This time around, Candace C., the Designated Pilot Examiner, scheduled the oral and the flight check ride on two separate days.  Even though I had passed the oral in June, due to the re-take being more than 60 days subsequent, I was required to again go through the oral exam.  Both the oral and the flight test were conducted using the FITS Scenario Based Training and Collaborative Learning (Learner Centered Grading) approach to flight training.

The on-the-ground oral was passed successfully (again!) as was the over 2 hour flight check ride two days later and Candace issued my Certificated Flight Instructor – Instrument add-on.  Obtaining the CFI-I also renewed my expired Certificated Flight Instructor – Airplane (CFI) and my Multi-engine Certificated Flight Instructor add-on (ME-I).

So, almost four years after I re-entered the General Aviation flying arena following more than a 15 year absence, I was able to bring my flying proficiency and knowledge beyond where it had been previously with the CFI-I.

California Here We Come !

10 Monday Oct 2011

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In late September, Chris and I begin the process of closing up our summer home in Bigfork MT and plan our trip south to Carlsbad CA located on the coast in North San Diego County.  We’ve been escaping the Montana winters by heading south for eleven years now and eight of those “heading souths”  involved a long two or three day drive.  Do you know how boring driving the same 1500 mile route on I-15 from Montana to Southern California can be?  Very boring after eleven years!  However, for the past three years we now FLY!

Montana Home

N1189Y

One of the joys of owning a general aviation airplane is the ability to cover long distances in a shorter and more enjoyable time, than driving.  Rather than spending 24 hours of drive time on the interstate, we now make the trip in our Cessna T182T, N1189Y, or better know by the locals as Dorothy.  Flying Dorothy from our home base at Kalispell City Airport in Kalispell, MT (S27) to the McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, CA (KCRQ) involves only 3 cross country flight legs of approximately 3 hours each.  For those reading this post who have no clue about Dorothy or our flying, please read my earlier posts in this blog, My Flying Adventures.

Our route of flight from NW Montana to North County San Diego is usually dependent upon the weather. Do we go west over Idaho, Washington and Oregon and then down through central California or do we go over eastern Idaho, over Salt Lake City, southern Utah, Las Vegas and then into California?   N1189Y is certified for IFR flight and is configured with the Garmin G1000 glass cockpit, Garmin GFC700 auto pilot and WAAS capable.  I hold an instrument rating and am current.  For my non-pilot readers, I apologize for those technical details.

Leaving Montana in late September, early October, can be problematic with weather forecasts of snow, low freezing levels, freezing rain and fairly thick cloud layers.  Even though N1189Y and I can fly in IMC, we still avoid those more serious weather issues.

Due to a winter weather system approaching NW Montana from the Seattle area around our departure time this past September, we decided our first day’s route would be from Kalispell – Missoula MT – Dillon MT – DuBois ID  and overnight in Pocatello ID (KPIH).  This would be the east and south routing and we would avoid the oncoming nasty weather from the west.  On our trips south, we always file an IFR flight plan even though most of the flight will be in VMC.  On this particular departure, we had to climb through a solid overcast to get on top at our planned cruise altitude of 15000 feet.  N1189Y is a turbocharged 182 with onboard oxygen and a service ceiling of 20000 feet.  Once on top and until we were over the MSO VOR and able to make a more easterly heading, we were flying into a 55 knot quartering headwind with a very slow groundspeed.  But boy, when those head winds turned into a 55 knot tailwind it was a great ride with our speed over the ground approaching 200 knots.  Unfortunately though, because of the high Rocky Mountains between Missoula and Dillon MT, that 55 knot tailwind created some uncomfortable turbulence and mountain wave surfing.

Our overnight in Pocatello is always at the same motel, it used to be a Holiday Inn, but recently became a Clarion Inn.  The motel provides free transportation to and from the airport and has a great restaurant on site.  The FBO at the airport, The “AvCenter” is a first class facility and also provides a discounted room rate for the motel.

Our  route the next day took us over Salt lake City Class B airspace, once again on an IFR flight plan with a lunch and refueling stop at the Cedar City UT airport (KCDC).  Weather from Pocatello to Cedar City was fine, but the Cedar City ASOS was reporting surface winds of 17 knots gusting to 25 at our ETA.  The Cedar City airport elevation is a little over 5600 feet MSL and the ASOS was reporting a 90 F temperature.  So, density altitude was also a consideration along with the gusty surface winds.  Landing was uneventful and as there is no restaurant on the field at Cedar City, we enjoyed the box lunch brought along from the motel restaurant in Pocatello.

During my weather flight planning for the Pocatello/Carlsbad leg, I learned a Convective Sigmet was issued for isolated thunderstorms in southwest Utah and southeast Nevada, basically between Cedar City UT and Las Vegas NV – our planned route of flight.  On the ground at Cedar City and checking weather radar websites these isolated thunderstorms could be seen.  Standing outside the FBO we could also see the cumulus cloud activity building across our direction of flight.

XM Wx

Even though we departed Cedar City for Carlsbad on an IFR flight plan it was mostly VMC and the cumulus clouds were easily detected.  N1189Y receives XM NEXRAD weather on its MFD display and it assisted me in adjusting our course to avoid the buildups.  On our route from Cedar City, it was necessary for me to ask Las Vegas Center for multiple deviations around the building cumulus clouds – along with all the airline traffic arriving at and departing from Las Vegas McCarran International Airport.  It was interesting to listen in on all the airline pilot requests to deviate around the building storms.

The photo above shows the XM NEXRAD Weather display in our cockpit as we climbed en route from the Cedar City airport.  The white  line with several GPS fixes around St. George UT was our planned course from the Cedar City VOR to the Mormon Mesa VOR east of Las Vegas.  N1189Y is displayed as a plane icon and the magenta line shows the beginning of our deviation to the north away from our planned white course line to avoid the large green and yellow build-up shown to the south.

After several re-routes by Center due to the Las Vegas traffic and weather the remainder of the trip into California was uneventful.

It’s always a treat after leaving the mountains of Montana and on final approach to runway 24 at Carlsbad (KCRQ) to be able to see the sparkling Pacific Ocean just to the west.

On the Way to Cavanaugh Bay

15 Thursday Sep 2011

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Cabinet Mountains

A pilot friend of mine highly recommended a flight to a small resort community in northern Idaho called Cavanaugh Bay. It’s a short hour flight from our home airport, Kalispell City (S27), in Montana.

Cavanaugh Bay (CB) is located on the south shore of Priest Lake near Coolin, ID – a huge recreational lake that straddles the Canadian and Idaho borders. The attraction of CB, according to my friend, is a small resort of housekeeping cabins located right on the lake, a great restaurant adjacent to the resort and both are a short walk from a beautiful 3100 ft grass strip, Cavanaugh Bay Airport (66S). Sitting on the deck of our cabin overlooking the lake with a glass of wine we could almost reach up and touch the airplanes as they made their approach to the landing strip. A really neat experience for a pilot (and the wife) to see.

So, early in September Chris and I decided to take our friend’s advice and fly Dorothy to 66S for a quick get-a-way week end. The photo above is a view of our crossing the Cabinet Mountains that border NW Montana and NE Idaho. We were cruising on a VFR flight plan with ATC flight following at 11500 feet. You may notice that the photo looks a little “hazy”. What’s creating the haze is smoke from wildfires in Montana and Idaho that plagued the northwest all late summer.

Cavanaugh Bay Airport

The grass airstrip is well maintained by the state of Idaho. The calm wind approach is from north to south over the lake. The threshold for runway 15 is almost right on the lake and makes for a very scenic arrival and landing. The photo to the left is looking down runway 15. Tie downs are available and no fee for overnight parking. Not only is the resort close by, but a camping area with picnic tables and a restroom adjacent to the runway is available for pilots. It’s an ideal fly-in destination into the Idaho back country.

On the second day we borrowed the airport’s courtesy car and drove into Coolin, a very small resort community about 10 miles from CB. The main attractions of Coolin are the marina and the general store that carries just about anything one would need. We wiled away an hour or so with ice cream cones and people watching on the general store’s patio.

View from Cav Bay Restaurant

We had lunch and dinner at the Cavanaugh Bay Restaurant, a very short walk from our cabin. The restaurant’s patio is right on the lake and you can watch the boaters, water skiers and fishermen. It was a gorgeous late summer afternoon and we felt our experience at the restaurant was so good that I wrote a Trip Advisor review applauding the great service, food and location. Did I mentioned the restaurant bar had a great selection of local draft beers?

Om Monday we headed back home to Bigfork. The takeoff was from runway 33 sloping downhill toward the lake, which was the opposite direction from our arrival. Even though we again flew VFR on the return flight, flying southeast into the mid-morning sun and wildfire smoke created, in reality, an IFR flight.

Below are some additional photos of the Cavanaugh Bay airport area.

Cirrus Time

01 Thursday Sep 2011

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Bob Duncan and N328RJ

A week ago I had an fun opportunity to fly as “safety pilot”  here in NW Montana.

Bob D owns a 2009 Cirrus SR22-G3 TURBO GTS, registration number N328RJ, and has it hangared at Glacier Park International (KGPI).  KGPI (or FCA as the airlines know it) is the airport that one would fly into commercially if you were visiting the Kalispell, MT area.  Bob currently has N328RJ for sale and is looking for another Cirrus with the TKS Weeping Wing and capability of flying in known icing conditions.

Bob was looking for a local pilot with G1000 avionics experience to fly some practice instrument approaches and learn more about the capability of the G1000.  Dorothy, my Cessna T182T, is equipped with the G1000 and I’ve become somewhat proficient in its operation and am IFR current.

Jim Bob Pierce, owner of Red Eagle Aviation the FBO at Kalispell City Airport had put Bob in touch with me.

I met up with Bob at KGPI and he had filed an interesting round-robin IFR flight plan to practice  IAPs.  We departed  KGPI and flew the ILS into Great Falls, MT (KGTF).  After landing at Great Falls onward to Helena, MT (KHLN) and the ILS Y RWY 27 approach, which incorporates a DME arc for the initial transition.  Then onto Missoula, MT (KMSO) and the ILS RWY Y 11 approach.  Back to Glacier Park International (KGPI) and the ILS 02 approach completed the day.  Lots of good IFR practice for Bob and good right seat G1000 teaching experience for me.

The round robin flights in the Cirrus, landing at each airport, taxiing back for take-off took a little over 4 hours!  I don’t believe we could have done that trip in a car in one day.

This was actually the second time Bob had invited me along as a safety pilot and I enjoyed flying with him.  Bob’s a very good pilot and the Cirrus, which I hadn’t flown before, was definitely a change from my Cessna T182.

Flying Over NW Montana

20 Monday Jun 2011

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A year or so ago, our good friends from Pismo Beach, CA, Barry and Janice Anderson, visited Chris and myself in NW Montana. I first met Barry in 1977 when we were both expatriates and working for Lockheed Aircraft Services on the PeaceLog Program in Tehran, Iran and we’ve stayed in touch and remained friends ever since.

Barry and Janice live in Pismo Beach, CA and he’s an avid stand up paddle boarder. Here’s a link to his interesting surfing blog – What Sup Surf .

One afternoon during their visit, Barry and I were able to go on a scenic flight over the Flathead Valley in NW Montana. We departed from and returned to my home field Kalispell City Airport (S27) in Kalispell, MT. When this video was shot, I still owned N6065D, a 2006 Cessna 172S and hadn’t yet moved up to our current Cessna T182T.

At about 1:30 of the video you’ll notice Barry zooms the shot – the large green areas amongst the trees is our property, Sky Ridge Ranch.

His video of the flight is shown below.

Thanks Barry!

OOPS!

05 Sunday Jun 2011

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I believe a famous quote goes something like “these are the times that try men’s souls”.

Two days ago, June 3, was a day that “tried my flying soul” and at the end of the day, provided me a result that I hadn’t experienced before in my flying endeavors:

A flight test UNSATISFACTORY. An OOPS.

I had scheduled the Practical Test for my CFI-I add-on rating that I’d been training for and I’ve discussed in earlier posts. The oral portion of the test began at 9:00 AM and ended at 2:40 PM. The Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE), Candace C., an experienced international corporate turbine captain, conducted the ground portion professionally and thoroughly. More of a discussion to determine my knowledge as an Instrument Instructor applicant, than “here’s a question, give me an answer” method. Although, lengthy and stressful, the oral was successful and when over, I had gained additional knowledge and insight from Candace’s interaction. I believe that’s the desired result of a professional certification exam, in any field – not only to see what the candidate knows, but to impart some additional knowledge to the candidate during the testing .

The flight test of the practical exam followed the ground portion. The flight portion consists of a number of required exercises that the applicant must complete to a satisfactory level of performance. The DPE has very little leeway on the conduct of the flight – the FAA Practical Test Standard spells out specifically the requirements and to what tolerances the applicant must satisfactorily perform, in flying, airspace/instrument knowledge, ATC communications and instructional ability. In order to “pass” the Practical exam, both the ground (oral) and the flight portion must receive a satisfactory grade from the DPE.

The flight portion began with Candace “flying” in the role of an instrument student preparing for the instrument rating practical exam. My role was the instrument instructor. We departed Palomar-Carlsbad Airport (KCRQ) on an instrument clearance to the Oceanside Airport (KOKB) a short distance away. After the hand-off from tower to SOCAL departure, I requested a non-precision instrument approach procedure, the VOR-A, into Oceanside. This was the scenario Candace had outlined previously on the ground to begin our flight test. The VOR-A requires a course reversal when arriving at the OCN VOR from the direction of KCRQ in the form of a holding pattern. Candace had previously instructed me that we were to request a “hold”, not just a course reversal at the VOR, and then, when ready, exit the hold and begin the instrument approach. See the IAP chart below.

All initially went well as I instructed and Candace flew to the OCN VOR and entered the racetrack pattern hold. SOCAL had kept us higher than the altitude depicted on the approach chart for the hold due to traffic below us, so as we flew the hold, SOCAL also began descending us to the initial approach altitude.

You may recall from previous posts, that my training and this flight was in a Cessna 172S with the G1000 avionics system. One of the technology gotchas with G1000 navigation is when entering a holding pattern, waypoint sequencing must be disabled by pressing the OBS soft key on the Primary Flight Display. Then, when ready to begin the approach and fly beyond the holding fix, waypoint sequencing must be reestablished by again pressing the OBS button. For whatever reason, this was my OOPS! Candace, as the instrument student flying the airplane into the hold, did not disable waypoint sequencing and I, as the instructor, didn’t catch that omission.

As we arrived inbound at the OCN VOR, which is the final approach fix for this approach, and turned outbound to continue in the racetrack holding pattern, the G1000 system, because waypoint sequencing hadn’t been disabled, sequenced to the final approach leg into the Oceanside Airport. As we flew inbound to the VOR/FAF the second time, it became obvious that I, as the instructor, hadn’t caught that error and was unsure of our aircraft’s GPS position relative to the VOR as the FAF. I will always recall the moment when Candace asked -“where are we”? I knew mentally where we were relative to the FAF (correctly), but the G1000 GPS was displaying a different position. At this point Candace could only reluctantly say that my performance was “unsatisfactory” and the flight test portion of the Practical Test was failed.

Obtaining my pilot ratings over the years – Private, Commercial, Multi-Engine, Instrument and Certificated Flight Instructor – Airplane, I had never received an unsatisfactory performance following a practical test. However, this practical test for the CFI-I, did “try my flying soul”, and the disappointment and disbelief will take a while to get over. I can truthfully say, that never again will I forget or fail to notice a student not disabling waypoint sequencing with the OBS soft key when required!

Brain Meltdown!

22 Sunday May 2011

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Thought it was about time to update the blog on my training progress for the CFI-I add-on rating.

The good news is that I didn’t “crash”, but about 10 days ago I did have a melt-down during a training flight with my instructor, James Treiber.  Here’s what happened.

The day before that flight, I had successfully passed the FAA Knowledge exam (written test) for the CFI-I.  Leading up to that day was over two months of studying and reviewing possible test questions with the King Schools CD program, the Gleim Aviation on line test prep software and the Sporty’s Instrument Rating Training Course.  Fairly intensive studying as the score obtained on the written test is reviewed by the Designated Pilot Examiner on the day of the Practical Test (that’s the oral and flight test) and the better one does on the written, the better the Practical Test will probably go.

So, the morning after I took the written, James and I had a scheduled training flight.  James sets the stage for the lesson by asking me to pick two non-precision approaches to fly.  I chose the GPS RWY 24 to KOKB (Oceanside Airport), with a missed approach and then the VOR A to KCRQ (Palomar-Carlsbad Airport) with a full stop.  Looking back, I didn’t realize at the time how much brain power I had used for the written and because of that it would have been best not to have scheduled that training session so soon after the written.

The first approach went fairly well.  These procedures are hand-flown (BAIF-no autopilot) and with foggles on as a view limiting device.  Where the meltdown began was during the climb out on the missed approach procedure and after I radioed SOCAL Approach to let them know I was on the missed.  As we know, the missed approach can be a high work and brain load time.  You make sure you are climbing away from the ground because the runway or runway environment isn’t in sight to land, pushing and twisting various buttons on the G1000 to set up the MAP course and altitude, and then there’s ATC who wants to know “what are your intentions?”!  I was fine until I notified ATC that “Skyhawk 497TC was on the missed”.  The mnemonic memory aid that I use on a missed approach is the 6 C’s CRAM-CLIMB-COOL-CLEAN-COURSE and CALL.  Aha, the “CALL”, that’s when it went downhill.

SOCAL came back immediately with a non-standard missed approach procedure to set us up for our next approach into KCRQ.  Glory B, There is no one else on this earth who can talk as fast as that controller did at that moment in time!  Even to this day, sitting in my easy chair writing this, I can’t recall all that I was directed to do.  Write that clearance down? – forget it!  Memorize it – don’t think so!!  I’m in a high work load time on the missed, receiving a complicated missed approach clearance given at warp speed that I must memorize and mentally visualize  and continue to hand fly (with foggles on you may recall).

Now I know why this is called “training” and James was there with me.  As I sat there with brain meltdown, James acknowledged the clearance and began the button pushing and twisting on the G1000 that would get us on course.  But, we’re not done yet!!

Remember, I mentioned two approaches above.  The missed approach clearance the controller gave us was a set up for the second approach – the VOR A into KCRQ.  Now I had to get us to the IAP, which, at this time was only a little over 4.0 nm away.  Very little distance and time for me to find the new approach chart, brief the approach, set the radios for KCRQ, obtain the ATIS, have KCRQ tower frequency on stand by, remove the first approach, load the new approach into the flight plan window of the G1000, level off at the new altitude and fly the assigned heading (have I mentioned foggles?)!  Fortunately, as you can see on the VOR approach chart, there is a required course reversal in the form of a holding pattern, so during that reversal back to the FAF, I was finally able to become a pilot again and not a passenger.

That flight was a very good reminder of how quickly in the terminal environment a single IFR pilot’s work load can become almost overwhelming – and that was a training flight (thanks James) -what about when you’re a single pilot in actual conditions?  Hmm.  If that happens, then we need to use SPRM.  That’s Single Pilot Resource Management and a subject for one of my future blog posts and an instrument student lesson plan.

By the way, I scored a 96 on the written test.