Texas Flyer 2010-05-29

I am on Southwest 461, Houston Hobby to LAX. Later I will board EVA Air BR015 to Taipei, and later again on to Hong Kong.

I completed my Seminole Multi-Engine Review Checkout last Monday at Anson Air, Sugarland (KSGR).

Over the week I gained some very useful IFR experience. The Seminole N2094C is equipped with a KLN 89B. A quite capable GPS system. The countdown display to the next point makes it very easy to work out when to descend to reach crossing altitudes. I backed up the routes with my GPS296 for situational awareness and a sanity check, and any appropriate VORs. I received some instruction on using the KLN 89B for approaches. I'd used the KLN 89B before but only for the en-route flight phase.

• Tuesday.
  • VFR (with flight following) to Fort Worth Spinks solo.
  • IFR back to Sugarland via the Fort Worth SID to CLL and the Blubell arrival and a visual solo.
  • Night Review with an Instructor.
    • Night departure from Sugarland.
    • 2 x Landings and departures at Wharton (KARM).
    • Landing and Departure at Houston Hobby (KHOU).
    • 2 x Landings and departures at Sugarland.
• Wednesday (with my Sister as pax.).
  • IFR from Sugarland to Brenham (11R), RNAV rwy 16 to the FAF where I cancelled IFR. We flew around Lake Summerville then landed at Brenham for Lunch in the 50's themed restaurant. Good food, well worth a visit.
  • IFR from Brenham to Georgetown (KGTU), Visual approach.
  • IFR from Georgetown to Sugarland. A very interesting visual approach: held at 3,000 by Approach until 2.5 NM final on runway 17 due to the Citation ahead of me orbiting ahead and a departure below us at 2,000 ft. The circuit was busy so to save more disruption to the pattern I continued with a straight in. No problem! The Seminole descends well with the Gear down and throttled back at full fine. I needed to land long in any case to avoid the wake of the Citation that preceded me. I picked up the power again on short final to stabilize at a normal descent rate before landing after the touchdown point of the Citation.

• Thursday (with my Sister as pax.).

  • IFR from Sugarland to Valley International, (KHRL). I flew the ILS 17R to get down through the scattered cloud with a visual break to 17L.
  • IFR from Valley International to Laredo, (KLRD) with a visual approach.
  • IFR from Laredo to Sugarland. ATC gave me a totally different but shorter route from filed which was good experience for me. I'd filed via SAT but went via CRP.

• Friday, I took the day off.

Flying High Again 2010-05-21

I'm on Southwest 368, San Diego to Houston, Hobby. It is 17:45 (California Time), and out of the window on my Left I can see Gillespie Field, KSEE; my base for the last week. A few hours earlier I was on approach to Gillespie Runway 27R PIC in a Cessna Citation II returning from Prescott, Arizona, KPRC. I went there for Steak and Eggs. A bargain at about USD 4,000. I have just redefined the USD 100 hamburger! Type rating courses and check rides major on flying the aircraft when things fail and maneuvers. After finishing my Type Rating Course I decided to get some experience flying the Citation on a normal flight. It was worth every cent.

I completed my Cessna Citation I/II FAR 141 Type Rating course at Jet Aeronautical yesterday, 20 May 2010. This was the missing objective that I had mentioned in a earlier post.

I received excellent instruction at Jet Aeronautical. I recommended Jet Aeronautical unconditionally. I'd had some TSA trouble in April on my last trip to the US (outside of my control; an apparent change in TSA requirements rendered my fingerprints invalid requiring re-fingerprinting and delaying my Flight Training). Steve at Jet Aeronautical went out of his way to re-schedule my Flight Training allowing me to complete the course as soon as I was able to return: thanks Steve. Jet Aeronautical offer a well paced course and I'll say it again: excellent classroom and practical instruction.

Over the weekend I'll try and relax. On Monday I have a Piper Seminole Checkout at Anson Air. Tuesday to Friday I hope to rent a Seminole to build multi-engine hours.

I have a C-500 Type Rating!

Going To California - Mid April 2010

So it has been a while since I posted, but as usual, I have been busy. I'll try and catch up.

I went to California, USA for a few weeks in April and May. I had two aviation goals: I achieved one and half. I'll document the half later but the one I'll do now.

I completed modules 1 and 2 of Rich Stowell's Emergency Maneuver Training (EMT) course with CP Aviation in Santa Paula earning myself a Wings credit in the process. I was feeling a bit sick the for the first two days but after getting most of the Spins out of the way I started feeling better. EMT is worth every cent done any time and this course is very well constructed and paced. I received excellent instruction.

We stayed at the Santa Paula Inn, which I'm very happy to recommend. The food at the Mupu Grill around the corner on Main Street was always good, again I recommend it if you are in the area.

Incredibly Lex Rooker was staying at the Santa Paula Inn as well so now I know Lex. He was very generous and gave me some of his excellent Pemmican and dried meat. I was inspired enough to dry some meat myself when I got back to Hong Kong. I'm not as good a butcher as Lex so my Jerky is more flayed than cut but it tastes good and handy for taking as a meal to work.

We spent the rest of the time based in La Mesa. I'm going back to California later this month to finish up my second goal.

I'm Going Slightly Mad 2010-02-28

I am back from a flying trip to Thailand; and preparing for another one.

On the last trip flying HSAWS, an AC11, I logged:

• 6 hrs
  • 4 instrument hours
    • 2 IMC; a mixture of Cu, SC, and haze.
    • 2 Hood
  • 5 instrument approaches
    • 2 ILS; VTUQ, VTBU
    • 1 LOC; VTBU
    • 2 VOR DME; VTUQ, VTBU
    • 2 hold entries; VTUQ, VTBU
    • 4 holds; VTUQ, VTBU
  • 6 landings; Bang Phra twice, Best Ocean Airpark, VTUQ, VTBU.
  • 3 go arounds; VTUQ twice, VTBU

The political situation in Thailand is a little unstable now so I may have to change my plans at short notice.

I am reading The Tender Carnivore & the Sacred Game by Paul Shepard. The book lacks references but sometimes Paul weaves external material into the work stating the Author and the Source. He has a passion for the subject of us regaining our humanity and makes good arguments. I can see that his writing is dated in some respects (first published 1973): hints of Freud, and incomplete nutrition knowledge. Often prophetic, he provides explanations for some of our social ills: e.g. adolescent gang culture. I recommend the book to those looking for how our cultures went wrong and how we might live.

I have my course notes for a Cessna Citation Part 141 Type Rating Course so I am again in study mode.

This week I have discovered:

• TaskPaper
• Notational Velocity
• WriteRoom
• Dropbox
• TextMate
• Markdown
• Simplenote
• QuickCursor
• Liquid Tension Experiment on CD

I will use some of these to aid my study. Notational Velocity is particularly useful. I sync it to Simplenote and keep individual text files in a Dropbox folder. I keep my main TaskPaper file in the SimpleText folder. I access my data with TaskPaper, Notational Velocity, SimpleText and SimpleNote on my iPod Touch, or any other computer, anywhere in the world, forever! FX [manic laughter]

This week I have discovered that sadly:

• The Canon Scanner Drivers for my MP996 Do Not Work! Strange. The printer works just fine and I can scan from Print & Fax provided the Canon IJ Network Scanner Selector is running. It worked in 10.5.
• PCCW never calls back.
• The ATMD has an unlimited supply of badly written, unnecessary, and ineffective Operational Instructions.
• Tacky CNY decorations are still up and people are still happy to have their pictures taken with the crappy glitter in the background.
• Alcohol has similar effects on the body as the poison Fructose; my halo slipped! View the presentation about the toxicity of Fructose by Rober H. Lustig, MD. Now when I look at a glass of Red wine I think can of Coke. Woe, woe!
• My apartment is surrounded by Schnauzer manifestations that yap, howl, and cry all day.

I was using Textile but I will give Markdown a go to see how I get on.

Live Long and Prosper.

Angel Eyes 2009-09-24

I am back from another trip to Angeles City. This time for one day of flying instead of two: cut short because of the weather and an extra day of work.

I went to the Charlie One local area with an instructor in a C 172 for about an hour and a half of air work: Chandelles, Lazy Eights, Spiral Descents. The ATC at Clark (RPLC) is chaotic. The Clark Tower frequency (118.7) frequently blocks because of poor radio discipline. Give me one shift in the tower and I'd bark them all into shape! I lost at least 20 minutes waiting on the ground.

I aborted the first departure because the C172 that landed before our intended departure went off the end of runway 02 and onto the grass over run. It just sat there instead of vacating so we aborted our take off and went back to join the queue to depart again.

I achieved some half decent Chandelles. My Lazy Eights were however more like a cross between a Lazy Eight and a Wing Over. I did not expect too much because we were both new the the maneuvers. We did not get a fair crack at the Spiral Descents because of the low ceiling of Charlie One. My short field arrival was not that short but there again ATC instructed us to join for runway 02 with a by now 10 Kts tailwind without any warning about the wind. OMNI usually has to use the same runway direction as Clark and for no good aviation reason.

I met a friend who used to work for Omni on the Tuesday evening. This was our first opportunity to share a coffee and chat since first meeting almost a year ago. High five!