Night Cross Country

I don't think that I will ever be a big night flyer, but flying was sure fun last night. We got to do a lot of new things, see some new sights and even got scolded by air traffic control. In the process, my night flying requirements were met as far as the FAA is concerned.

Rob had me plan a flight from St. Pete/Clearwater (PIE) to Venice(VNC). There is a training requirement for a night cross-country flight of over 100 nm. Whitted is only 43 nm from Venice, so we first flew to St. Pete and did some full stop landings before heading to Venice. We got in trouble at St. Pete.

The tower had us landing on 35R, which is a 9700 foot beast of a runway that the big boys use. At sea level in cool weather the 172 needs about 550 feet to land. My landings were very good last night, but in the dark and at an unfamiliar airport, I missed the first taxiway off the runway on my first landing. We had to motor down the runway a good distance before coming to the next taxiway. On the second landing, Rob decided to fix the problem. After all, he used to work at PIE and was familiar with the place. So I land and am motoring down the runway looking for taxiway "G", golf for you pilots. Rob thinks he spots it and jams on the brakes and turns for it. Bad news, golf is blocked and we are now turned ninety degrees to the direction of the runway. Rob simply completes a 360 on the runway and heads for taxiway "F", foxtrot. About this time the tower controller comes on the radio: "54666 did you just do a 360 on the runway?" I'm laughing and not about to answer him, after all it wasn't my 360. Rob tells him that indeed we did a 360. "Well don't do it again." No crap, we don't usually do 360s on runways.

We got clearance to taxi back to 35R for another trip around the pattern. This time I managed to find taxiway "M", mike, where we did a 180 on the taxiway, with permission, and departed for Venice. I had informed ground control that we were headed for Venice, which could involve transiting Tampa's class B airspace and control came back with a laundry list of instructions which went something like this: "Cessna 54666, taxi to runway 35R and hold, contact tower on 128.4 when ready, left turn to heading 270 on departure, climb and maintain 1600 VFR, squawk 0123, contact Tampa Approach on 119.65 after departing the area." That was a little more in the way of instructions than I was used to, so I had to ask him to repeat. Rob was a bit surprised that PIE ground did all that and had expected to simply depart to the west and request the class B transit with Tampa.

We followed the instructions and after leaving the class D airspace contacted Tampa approach. They told us to climb to 3500 feet and turn to heading 180. This class B stuff is easy, as long as you do what they say. After a few minutes, Tampa approach told us to fly direct to Venice, which took us over my house, and Sarasota International (SRQ). Sarasota International is less than a mile from Sarasota Bay, and Venice Municipal is on the beach, so we were following the coast south. It was beautiful, peaceful and very different from day flying. We had requested flight following, so Tampa informed us of traffic a few times. Once we had Venice in sight, I informed Tampa and requested a frequency change to Venice's ASOS. Tampa cancelled flight following and told me to squawk VFR.

I screwed up my first approach at Venice. On my turn to final, I lost sight of the runway and then picked up the wrong set of lights coming out of my turn. I ended up too high, so we went around. This time I flew the pattern nicely. Venice is an interesting airport. For one thing, it's on the beach. For another, the taxiways don't paralleled the runways. They mostly run around the perimeter of the airport. That means if you want to taxi back for departure, it seems as though you're driving through the boonies. I'm glad Rob knew his way around. I had an airport diagram, but in the dark, I would have been lost.

After departure from Venice, I contacted Tampa approach again. They cleared us through Sarasota's class C and Tampa's class B airspace straight to Albert Whitted. I was sort of liking this class B thing, but Rob told me it could be different during the day. Sometimes they're busy and might tell you to call back later or avoid their airspace all together.

Back at Whitted, Rob killed the landing light while I was on final and made me land without it. That's not a lot of fun. It's hard to see unlit asphalt at night, but the landing was not bad. Next week I'm going to put in some simulated instrument time and we're going over my log book to make sure we have not missed any required training. There's not a lot left. My GPS ground track is incomplete. Not sure what happened, but you can still see where we went.

Happy New Year!!!

lesson 23

Google earth is needed to view the lesson 23 file.

Statistics

Dual Instruction Time: 21.0 Hours

Solo/PIC Time: 13.0 Hours

Landings: 121

Night Flying

No, I haven't lost my mind. The picture is St. Petersburg at night. If it looks dark, that's because it is. I had my first night flight yesterday. My oldest son and brother, who are here for Christmas, rode along. In hindsight, night flying may not be the best way to introduce someone to general aviation.

After taking off at Whitted, Rob had me head west for the Gulf of Mexico. He had a lesson in mind that I had not anticipated. As we got over the beach, he announced that we were headed for the abyss. We flew out over the Gulf for a little instrument practice. I didn't put on a hood or foggles, but over water without land in view, a hood is not necessary for instrument work. Everything was black. I could see nothing outside the plane. Rob had me make a couple standard rate turns to specified headings and practice climbs on the instruments. On my part it took a lot of concentration. After we landed, my son said it was sort of horrifying. Living on the coast, it would be tempting to fly over water to Key West or another coastal destination. Rob wanted to show me what I would be in if I attempted such a thing at night.

After instrument work, we turned back toward the coast and headed for St. Pete Clearwater International (PIE). PIE is class D, and the largest airport I've landed at. We were instructed to make straight in for runway 9, following two other light planes. Traffic is a lot easier to see at night, but the airport is not. I could see the beacon from the beach, but I could not make out the runways until we were fairly close. I was truly grateful for the VASI, without which I probably would have been all over the place on my approach. Rob said I would flare too high because of the difference in perspective at night. He was right and I smacked the runway pretty good. We taxied back for departure to Whitted. Taxiing past airliners was cool.

Back at Whitted, I flew the pattern for five more landings. They were much better than the one at PIE. Rob had me make one with the landing light off. I couldn't see the asphalt until we were sitting on it, but the landing was good.

I forgot to turn on my GPS logger for this trip. I didn't realize that we were going to PIE before the flight or it would have been on. However, Drew did get a good video of my landing at PIE: Landing at PIE Sorry about the quality of the video. Google did it. It is quite good seen at full resolutuion

Next Tuesday we're flying to PIE and Venice (VNC) at night. I want to go to Venice during the day. There's a good restaurant on the beach that's only a short walk from the airport. Guess it will have to wait.

Thanks to all who read this blog. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do writing it. And... Have a very merry Christmas!

Statistics:

Dual Instruction Time: 19.1 Hours

Solo/PIC Time: 13.0 Hours

Landings: 116

Much better

I was back at Albert Whitted today. Nothing like getting back on the horse that threw you. Rob had planned a pre-knowledge test review, and that's what we did. Fun, fun, fun. There's nothing quite like Federal Air Regulations to get my interest. Seriously, we went over the test areas that I thought I might have trouble with. I'm using Sporty's FAA practice tests to help me prepare, and I did subscribe to their "premium" test prep service, for a small fee of course. I tried some of the free online tests, but found some wrong answers in one and decided that I'm getting what I pay for with Sporty's. The premium service has explanations that go along with the correct and incorrect answers, so it's easy to see where you went wrong and makes studying more efficient.

After an hour and a half of review, Rob endorsed my log book to take the aeronautical knowledge test. I'll take it after the first of the year. Then it was time to grab the key for N54666 and get in a little practice. Test review had taken longer than planned, so I decided to remain in the pattern and work on takeoffs and landings. For a while I had the airport to myself. You know it's not busy when air traffic controls clears you to takeoff and you haven't even exited the runway from the previous landing. I goofed up one short field takeoff and a short field landing. Just got distracted and forgot what I was doing, other than that it went pretty well. My GPS track shows a tight pattern that I was happy with.

Next week, night flying. My brother and my oldest son are flying with Rob and I Tuesday night. It'll be a working flight. I have to get in 10 night landings, so we'll knock out a bunch Tuesday. The following night flight will be cross country and we'll get in my class B work. Rob was talking about going to Orlando International (KMCO). That would be fine with me.

lesson 21

You'll need google earth to open the lesson 21 track.

Statistics

Dual Instruction Time: 17.9 Hours

Solo/PIC Time: 13.0 Hours

Landings: 110

Not my best day

Sometimes I feel like I'm starting to nail this flying thing, and then I have a day like today and get a reality check. It's not that I did anything horrible. I just wasn't on the top of my game and didn't perform like I expected. My navigation was fine. I didn't even cheat with the GPS. The weather was mostly clear and calm, a bit hazy with a few clouds scattered at 3000 feet. But, my landings were awful. I haven't flow in over a week, that's a long time off for me, and I'm hoping it was the cause.

It was my second solo cross country flight. Back to Charlotte County (PGD) and Arcadia (X06) then home to Whitted. Rob was not around Bay Air this morning, so CFI Pete looked over and approved my flight plan and endorsed my log book for the flight. No problems on the way to Charlotte County. The haze made finding my landmarks a bit more difficult, but I was tracking the VOR so the landmarks were not as important as if I had been navigating by pilotage. I must have estimated the winds correctly, because my ground speed was almost dead on.

Once at Charlotte County the fun began. About 15 miles out, I tuned their weather advisory channel and got the wind information, numbers in pilot speak. Winds 090 at 5. Cool, sounds like a nice easy landing on runway 9. The problem was that no one was using 9. I heard pilots landing on 4, taking off on 15, landing on 15 and doing something, who knows what on 22. Pilots were practicing instrument approaches from every direction. It's a damned confusing place, pardon my French. The last time Rob and I were there, the situation was almost as bad, and Rob instructed me to use the winds to select my runway, so I announced my intentions to land on 9. Must have been OK with everyone else, nobody said anything to me. Luckily, I seemed to catch a slight break in the activity and entered the left downwind for 9, announced all my turns and got configured to land. Last time we were here, Rob had me do a touch and go, but I'm not supposed to do them by myself. On final, I saw why Rob had me do a touch and go. The "new" runway 9 at Charlotte County is a small resurfaced area in the middle of the "old" runway 9, and the old 9 looks like crap. I didn't want to get off of the resurfaced area, so I announced I was doing a touch and go, and got out of there. My eyes were wide open looking for traffic as I climbed out and set my course for Arcadia. I hope I'm not sent to Charlotte County again.

The flight to Arcadia was as calm and uneventful as the trip to Charlotte County. It was only about a 20 mile flight that went by very quickly. I tuned Arcadia's CTAF and could hear pilots as far away as Clearwater and Okechobee, but no one was announcing anything for Arcadia. After Charlotte County it was a welcomed change. I suspected that the surface winds were about the same, but I overflew the field and got a good look at their wind T, which serves the same function as a wind sock. The winds were pretty much as I had guessed, just a bit stronger judging from the trees and bushes, so I entered the left downwind for runway 5. I flew a nice pattern, announced all my turns and got setup for a slight crosswind. I dipped my right wing into the wind, corrected the nose with left rudder and set her down on the middle of the runway, but.... I bounced... twice. I haven't bounced since I soloed. I was embarrassed, but the good thing was no one was around to see. Maybe I was concentrating on the cross wind and let my speed get too high on final. Who knows. I was not very happy. Taxi back to runway 5, announce my departure and I'm outta there.

I tracked the PIE VOR home on a Victor airway, sort of a highway in the sky. I was alert for traffic as I climbed to 4500 feet, a VFR cruising altitude, but no planes were to be seen. The VOR took me straight to Ruskin where I contacted Whitted tower for the trip home. Control told me to enter right pattern for runway 7 and look for the helicopter departing to the north west. Normal stuff for Whitted. I was feeling comfortable on the downwind and cleared to land, but.. I bounced again. I know my speed was right this time, what is going on? It wasn't a hard bounce, the kind that shakes the plane, just a gentle bounce that put me back in the air by a foot or two. This will have to be fixed.

Tomorrow, Rob is giving me a pre-knowlege test review, after which I'll be able to take the FAA private pilot knowledge test. Most likely, I won't take the test till after the first of the year. Things get kinda crazy around the holidays. I'll also get in a little practice. After today, it's needed.

lesson 20

You'll need google earth to open the lesson 20 flight track.

Statistics

Dual Instruction Time: 17.9 Hours

Solo/PIC Time: 12.0 Hours

Landings: 103