Long IFR XC and long VFR Commercial night XC

Tuesday - February 7th


I was very excited because this was going to be one of the longest if not the longest XC I have ever done. We were supposed to go to Daytona Beach with stops at Jacksonville Craig and St. Augustine. However, when I arrived to the school, my instructor told me that plans had to be changed due to weather.. I got a little disappointed since the weather at PDK was amazingly beautiful. I took a glance at my ForeFlight App and there it was: IFR conditions were forecast for the south of Georgia and Northeastern Florida. We could go the on an IFR flight but the night flight on our return had to be VFR.
We then started looking at the map, the only good option was Meridian, MS. again. the flight had to be over 250nm with 3 different approaches to 3 airports so we did KPDF-KJFK-KTLC-KMEI with an ILS approach to Walker, Co-Jasper (KJFX) a VOR approach to Tuscaloosa (KTLC) and a RNAV approach to Meridian (KMEI). ATP has a policy that this flight must always be to KPDK-KCRG-KSGJ-KDAB, the instructor had to call dispatch to request authorization for this flight and he got approved so off we went.
The flight went smooth and I was able to do all three approaches with minimum intervention from the instructor, I just need a little more experience with the Garmin GNS430.
ATC advised all aircraft that the MOA's were active; Meridian has a lot of military training so ATC was routing us away from those.  A military operations area (MOA) is "airspace established outside Class A airspace to separate or segregate certain nonhazardous military activities from IFR Traffic and to identify for VFR traffic where these activities are conducted.

We landed at Meridian, the marshall showed us the way to park and we went inside Meridian Aviation for some free hot dogs and ice cream, I love this FBO.
Our way back had to be a night flight 300nm total distance at night with the first landing at 250nm from the point of departure. We planned for a flight from KMEI to KWDR, then landing at KLZU and finally at KPDK. I was a little tired but just imagining myself flying at night to 3 destinations on a long cross country.. that was a dream come true.. and just that thought took any tiredness away and 1 hour after sunset we departed Meridian for a night flight, we were routed through a Victor Airway between some active MOA's and after a while we were cleared direct to KWDR; we used pilot controlled lights, landed a little hard and then taxied back for the short hop to KLZU; the tower was already closed there, (they close at 9pm). I believe is mostly because people complain of airplane noise... I wonder why on the first place would you live near to an airport if the airplane noise bothers you. Come on!
Then we landed at PDK; the landing was better than the last two. The seminole doesn't flare as good as the C172; you need to land with a tiny bit of power just like a soft field landing.

On Thursday (actually tonight) I will be doing 10 takeoffs and landings at night at a towered airport. As always, I can't wait! I'm halfway through my instrument checkride already.

 Meridian Aviation

Enjoying the goodies at Meridian

More instrument training and written tests.

Saturday, Feb 4th 2012
So the plan was to fly 2 hours practicing approaches. I was scheduled to arrive at 9:00 am. The weather was very close to minimums so it was very likely that no flight was going to be held today. So my instructor and I decided that we should do some sim work and practice the approaches for our next long XC flight which will be KPDK-KCRG-KSGJ-KDAB and back.. I am so looking forward to that flight, It is a requirement for the Commercial License

61.139(b)(4)(i)
One cross country flight of not less than 300nm total distance with landings at a minimum of 3 points, 1 of which is a straight line distance of at least 250nm from the original departure point.

 On the sim we did a VOR, RNAV and ILS approach to these airports..  after we were done I went into the study room at ATP to study for the written.
Another new is that my instructor got the job at Expressjet! I am very happy for him, he starts in mid March, I'm not sure If I'll be able to finish up my instrument rating before he leaves, I hope I do.  
After 2 hours of studying I went outside to take a break, the clouds were breaking up so we decided to fly. While I preflight N23PE the instructor was deciding on what we were going to do.. we departed at 2:00 pm towards Greensboro, GA (3J7)for a GPS approach to runway 7. This time I managed most of the radio communications. PDK is a beehive airport, with a lot of traffic and a complex diagrams with 4 runways and a bunch of taxiways and different procedures than a normal towered airport. It gets confusing but I was able to get my clearance, taxi instructions and takeoff clearance without any problems.
This flight had some parts with clouds, It is awesome to fly under IMC. I did the approach without any problems and then we went back to PDK for an ILS to 20L. Instructor shut off the engine and I managed it very well.
Sunday Feb 5th
Super Bowl Sunday. Patriots VS Giants.
I stopped by Dunkin Donuts today to get some treats to the people at school. I was not sure If I was ready to take the instrument written test today.  I did a mock test on my Ipad and got a 92% so I decided to take the test so I could get that out of the way.
It took me a little bit more than 2 hours. It wasn't easy. I got an 87 which I feel pretty happy with. Then I took the CFII written also; it is pretty much the same question bank so I decided to do it as well and scored an 84. I feel relaxed now that those are out of the way now. On Tuesday we have scheduled our almost 7 hour flight to Daytona and back. That is going to be awesome!
For now, we are going to our Colombian friend's house to watch the Super Bowl and celebrate!!

 The Propeller Brand

Thank you for reading.

This weekend at ATP

There were clear skies on the forecast for Saturday and Sunday. A cold front was coming from the NW on Saturday afternoon and gust winds were expected that day.
On Saturday I arrived and preflight N21228 for an IFR XC to Washington, GA (KIIY). We were going to practice the VOR/DME RWY13 which is an arc around AHN VOR and then do a couple of holds around RAYLE after going missed.
I remember my last cross country just a couple of weeks ago to Meridian, MS being bumpy but this one, holy cow, it definitely felt like a boat on the sea. The Seminole moved from side to side and I was wearing the foggles so when we were going back to KPDK I had terrible motion sickness. It really felt bad, I got home and had to go to bed.. slept for an hour and when I woke up again, the headache didn't go away. I had to use my mom's advise for severe headache which works flawlessly. Went to the bathroom and vomit and like magic, the headache disappeared!! :D
I was ready for next day..I was scheduled to be at 1:30 pm but my instructor sent me a text message early in the morning letting me know that that his other student cancelled on him if I wanted to fly early. I knew that we had calm winds and they were going to pick up in the afternoon so I decided to get there early.
It was lesson 2-3, ATP has a very structured program which I like. It has its lessons designed so you can fill the requirements for your licenses and go step by step into getting the knowledge you need for your checkride. There is a lot of self study, probably 95% but If I have a question about something I can go and ask my instructor for explanation. ATP has also a different scenarios for the sim, which I think is pretty cool.
So this sunday air was smooth and we went to Rome, GA for a VOR/DME Rwy 1 approach and an ILS approach. The instructor killed my engine on the ILS and it caught me off guard, the CDI went all the way to the left so If this was a checkride I would have failed. I must be alert for ILS approaches and go full throttle at the first indication of failure. At the end I was able to recover and establish in the Localizer.
Looking forward to this weekend, if the weather is good on sunday we will go to a 300 nm XC to fulfill the requirements for the commercial license, probably to KDAB. Can't wait!!

 This was the Saturday plane that we used for our KIIY flight.

 This one we used for our Sunday. A 1979 Seminole - N23PE

 Left landing gear of the Piper Seminole.

A Las Vegas local Gulfstream II; has been parked at PDK for a while now.

Approach chart VOR/DME RWY 13 to KIIY

10th & 11th day at ATP - Instrument training

This past weekend was below minimums all day. No flying :( so we did some cool training at the sim. I practiced DME arcs into Winder and Washington, GA. Did two single engine ILS and two scenario  training.
First one was at RDU, holding at the VOR with teardrop, parallel and direct entries and the second scenario was departing with a SID from  Dallas, TX at KGKY to Meridian and diversion to KADS due to lower than mins at KMEI. Very cool.

 I'm still studying for my Instrument written which I hope to take during the first week of February.

When I got my private pilot license...

This has been a slow week.. I have been studying hard for my instrument written watching videos and taking mock tests. There are thundershowers in the forecast for tomorrow so it will be a sim day. I hope I can fly on sunday.


So today I'm just going to post some pictures from when I got my private pilots license. I went to Superior Flight School in 2008 at their third location in KFTY. The main school is at KRYY and they also have a location at 47A (now KCNI).
4 months after I started, the school announced that they were going to close their KFTY location and my instructor told me he was not getting a relocated at KRYY because they had plenty of instructors up there.
So well, there was a change of airport and a change of instructor, which turned out better than I thought.
I did my first solo on December 30th 2008 on N707PD and got my private in June 26 2009. Here are some cool pics of that journey.

1st flight lesson at KFTY

 That's me on my first takeoff and who would have thought, there's an ATP seminole that I would fly 3 years later.

My first solo flight on December 30th 2008

My first solo cross country to Gadsden, AL (KGAD)  on March 30th 2009

My instructor took me once to visit the KRYY control tower. That was very cool

Getting my Private Pilot License at KRHP on June 26th, 2009.

7th 8th and 9th day at ATP

Saturday January 7th - My instructor and I were supposed to go on a XC flight to either Meridian or Bowling Green. The weather was not good so instead I was at the sim where I got introduced to ILS procedures. I like the fact that the school uses Jeppesen Charts because It helps us to get more familiar with those since those are the ones used at the airlines.
I was at the sim about 2 hours doing ILS and missed approaches and I used the rest of the day to continue on the Instrument Ipad courseware.

Saturday January 14th -
After my last lesson I went on a business trip to Cancun. It was great and now I am back to get back on track on this instrument journey. The weather was beautiful all over the south so I knew today we were going to do the cross country flight that couldn't be done last week.
I arrived at the school and before going out, my instructor had me practice the VOR/DME - arc approach to Winder, GA at the sim, which I did pretty good. Still, there is a lot of procedures that I need to memorize and I need to get more fluent on the Garmin 430 options, but I'm getting there.
My instructor told me today that he has an interview for ExpressJet in two weeks, I am very happy for him but at the same time I'm also a little anxious of who is going to be my new instructor. He is a great instructor and takes the time to make sure I understand things right and that I have the right material to be ahead of the game.
So I went and preflight N518ML, filed on our flight plan and off we went to KMEI (Meridian, MS). It was a bumpy afternoon flight, the airplane moved all over the place and above that we had a strong headwind that had us fly at less than 100 kias, It took us a long time to get there.
This airport is used for military training, as you can see in the pictures. The FBO at Meridian  is awesome, they have popcorn, waffles, hot dogs, and a pilot lounge with leather sofas and a big screen TV. Loved it!
At night we planned our return flight and flew with a 200 knot tailwind and smooth air. It was perfect. Flying  near Birmingham and approaching to Atlanta at night, it was the most beautiful feeling. Night flying is definitely one of my favorite things.

Sunday January 15th.
Today we went flying again. We practiced single engine ILS, and even though I knew my instructor was going to close the throttle, it was not easy to control the airplane since you are only seeing the instruments and you get confused on which engine is the one that failed; but first thing to remember is. Full mixture, Full Prop, Full throttle and then it will become easier to identify the dead engine.
We also filed IFR and flew from LZU up to the AHN VOR, did the arc approach into Winder, went missed and continue to PDK. My instructor is filing IFR so I can get more familiar with the communications.
My next lesson is on Wednesday afternoon, I will be very likely  practicing approaches and flows at the sim and taking some quiet time to study for my instrument written.

 Military Trainers at KMEI

The ATP hangar at KLZU

6th day at ATP and Multiengine Rating!!

What a windy morning we had at KLZU yesterday. I arrived at 8 am and met with my instructor to review the performance charts, maintenance books and be ready for my check ride at 1:00 pm. It was freezing cold and the wind made things worse.
At 9:00 am we took off on N2088K to practice all the maneuvers. We landed and the DPE arrived a little later than 1:00 pm. He lives in Dublin, GA and flies his bonanza to do check rides in Georgia.
I aced my oral; we talked about systems (all of them), Critical Engine and PAST, Vmc, and he popped up some private pilot questions;  Fred (the DPE) digs deeper into the subject until you don't know the answer but i believe he actually wants to teach you something. He is a very intelligent person but when you go up in the air you better maintain your altitude or he will yell at you. I did all my maneuvers within limits but at the end I didn't know if I passed or not. He looked pissed off. After we landed he just said: "secure the airplane, I'll see you inside"
When I got back to the office he just looked at me with a smile, but never said anything.. he congratulated me, and said that for the instrument rating he will want to see more precision on altitudes and headings and he also said "you have very good flying skills". He yelled at me like 50 times in the cockpit and at the end he tells me I have very good flying skills?
He then gave me two certificates two sign, one for him and one for me. I am so happy to be a multiengine private pilot now. So far I have logged 8.7 hours in the seminole and I am looking forward to the second stage of my career training...
The instrument rating.
My next flight is scheduled for Saturday; today I went back to work. It is supposed to be a late afternoon cross country and a night return home so It will be interesting and I'll try to get pictures of that.
Today is a milestone and I want to thank my girl for supporting me in this journey.
I don't have pictures today sorry.