Halloween Party

We had another nice weekend off - on Friday I was in the sim til 9am then that was it until Monday. On Friday afternoon we took Georgia to a place called Lilliput - a nice place just up the road that lets kids play with loads of arts and crafts, and generally splatter paint all over the place without worrying about cleaning up afterwards! Georgia had a great time, and we came away with quite a few things that she had painted.
On Saturday we had planned to go over to Phoenix Zoo, but unfortunately Clare has been suffering with really bad tooth ache, and didn't feel much like going out anywhere as she hardly slept the night before. We pretty much just chilled out around the place most of the day. We went down to the pool but it's just a bit too chilly in the water now. The hot spa is still very nice, but not ideal for Georgia, so we ended up coming back to the apartment. I spent a bit of time reading through some Comms stuff as I still need to do a test before returning to the UK. I also started going through my log book, writing all my flights up in pen. I've done just over 100 hours flying now! Georgia kept trying to 'help', so I ended up having to distract her with my PSP!


At about 4pm we started getting ready to go out to the Halloween Party in Goodyear. We had picked up a nice little outfit for Georgia, so we got her dressed up and headed out. It seemed really odd to be going out for Halloween and have it still be really bright and sunny outside - not what we're used to in the UK that's for sure. We got up to the park quite early so it was nice and quiet, but after about an hour the sun had gone down and a lot more people had turned up. It was a really great event - all put on by the City. There were a lot of activities for kids to do, and Georgia had a nice time going from game to game winning candy for her halloween bag. We even got to pick a pumpkin then decorate it with marker pens and stickers. When I took Georgia into the pumpkin area she sat herself down and just kept saying 'dis one' - and pointing to all the pumpkins.... I think she thought they were all hers!



We left the party and headed home, calling in at Panda Express on the way to pick up some orange chicken, sweet & sour pork and chow mein. Yum!
There's a Trick or Treat event here at our apartment complex tomorrow night which sounds like fun. I think I have a late flight tomorrow so will possibly miss it, but Clare will take Georgia along and hopefully have a nice time.

Advanced Instrument work

It's been quite an intensive couple of days. Our instructor, Scott, now only has Steve and myself to teach, which means more flying time for us. Yesterday morning we were scheduled to fly very early - two flights for Steve and one for me.
Steve took to the air first and flew over to Mobile airport to practise the holding pattern and NDB approach for runway 9. It was a very nice flight - a few Germans for us to dodge over Mobile, but nothing too scary. Steve landed at Mobile and I jumped in and took control. Unfortunately there had been a build up of cloud in the area:



October 25th. Sunny weather, 80 degrees. Love it.



The clouds were very low down, with a base of 3000 feet in some places, which dashed our plans somewhat. We left that area and flew over to the east, to try the hold over the Stansfield VOR, for the Casa Grande runway 5 approach. There were low clouds here too, but I managed to carry out the hold and the approach, but when I flew the missed approach and headed back to the VOR, the cloud condition was much worse. We should have landed at Casa Grande in order for Steve to have his second flight, but instead I just took us back to Goodyear. At least we both got to have a flight, which is more than some of the other guys did. We also ended up taking the plane to maintenance as there was a problem with the primer and the magnetos.

Today I was scheduled for two flights and Steve for one. We almost ended up not flying as the aircraft had a problem with the carb heat, but it mysteriously sorted itself out. I took off and headed over to Mobile and flew the NDB hold. It was very windy this morning, so it made for an interesting flight. Also the instruments in the aircraft were all in disagreement - the compass and GPS seemed to agree with each other, but the HSI and RMI each read something different. This also seemed to affect the ADF - so the non-precision approach was very much that, something not helped by my rather dismal performance.
I landed us at Mobile (barely) - and Steve took over. Steve flew much better, and did a nice job of flying the approach, and subsequent missed approach with a departure over to Buckeye. We landed at Buckeye, took on some fuel, then I jumped in for my second flight. The winds were still quite high, but were predominantly from the north which means a headwind for landing, which is ok.
I flew the VOR hold over Buckeye a few times then flew the approach - went missed approach then took us back to Goodyear. The flight went really well - much much much better than just a couple of hours previous. My approach into Goodyear went really well too, topped off with a very tidy landing. Scott was very happy with everything, and with 3 flights left to go before PT2, he seems confident that all will go well.
Needless to say Steve and I were both completely knackered when we landed - the advanced instrument work we are doing now is much more intensive than any of the other flying we have done - and to do two of those flights in one day takes its toll.

Tomorrow morning I am due in the sim at 6am - my last ever simulator session for the Warrior. Can't say I'll be that sad....

Back online - sane again

Service restored at about 10:00 today, and not a moment too soon. I fear another afternoon and evening with no internet connection would have driven Clare totally insane. Thankfully I had a day off today, so was around to let her have time to chill out and browse the web.
Clare was actually out at a friends house this morning, I was staying in the apartment trying to sort out my flying hours. I've got everything in order now, and have almost 100 hours flying time now. I should bake a cake or something...
I haven't flown an aircraft since last Wednesday. Last Thursday and Friday I had sessions in the simulator, Saturday and Sunday are our Instructor's day off (and also the airshow meant flight restrictions. Yesterday I was scheduled to fly - the plan being Steve would fly first, we would land at Casa Grande then I would take control. Unfortunately the aircraft's ASI was under-reading, and Steve aborted the take off. I have to say I'm very impressed by this - a lot of guys wouldn't have spotted that the ground speed was higher than normal and would have carried on. Steve noticed that we were literally thundering down the runway but with the ASI reading 50 knots. The GPS showed our ground speed to be about 70 knots, maybe more, and he was able to bring the aircraft to a controlled stop.



There was nobody in the Warrior sim, so we grabbed the key and each had an hour in there, so the morning wasn't a complete wash-out. Steve did manage to break the sim (one of the projector lamps went pop) - so that made 2 for 2 for him :-)

Back to business tomorrow all being well. I have 5 flights left to do in the Warrior before Progress Test 2, then hopefully move onto the Seneca. If all goes to plan we'll be heading back to the UK in under 3 weeks... time to order a couple of big boxes to ship all our stuff back.

No TV and no Internet make Clare (something something)

Go Crazy?

Most definitely!

Last week we lost our telephone connection at our apartment. Somebody somewhere decided to cancel it, but after a couple of days we were reconnected - with a different number - just in time to have cable TV and internet die....
We're still waiting to get it sorted, in the meantime I have to come down to the airport and use the wireless internet here to send mails and the like - but it's driving Clare up the wall as she can't connect with her friends on the various forums, and also can't keep up with local friends via email. Hopefully it'll be sorted today.

Other business... it was the airshow this weekend as you have already gathered. The Blue Angels put on a pretty good show (not as good as the Reds though) - I've uploaded a gallery or two to my website. I have some great video footage too, I'll try and put another video sequence together when I get chance.

I'll update this entry once we have internet back at the apartment, and I'll try to remember about the other things that have gone on, such as Steve's abaorted take-off, Georgia painting a masterpiece, destroying the sim, and formation flying with the Angels and Goodyear Blimp....

Signing off for now

S

Angels arrive

A quick post

http://www.davidson-family.co.uk/angels1.wmv

:-)

Enchanted Island

Yesterday we all headed to Phoenix to visit Enchanted Island. It was a beautiful day (as usual) and we all had a really great time. Georgia got to have a ride on loads of great attractions - most of them on her own. I was so proud of her - she happily wandered off and sat on the rides all on her own. She really liked flying in the plane - she was yelling 'Flying!' and 'Weeeee' for the whole ride, it was so gorgeous.
It was a really nice place to be - all the rides were really great for little ones, and the staff were nice and friendly too. There was a little train that ran around the place too, which was really pleasant. Georgia has taken an interest in Thomas The Tank Engine lately - probably thanks to playing on the little train set in Barnes & Noble.I don't mind this at all as I loved Thomas the Tank Engine myself - it's really brought back some nice memories :-)
After a couple of hours, and several goes on all the rides, we headed back home. On the way back along the I10, I noticed an airship in the distance that appeared to be headed for Goodyear. As we got closer, I noticed it was the Goodyear Blimp itself - on it's way to Goodyear in preparation for the big football game on tonight. I managed to get a photo of it parked up at the south end of the airport. I think it'll still be around this weekend when the big Airshow hits town. I'm hoping we will get to go see some of this, as it looks like it'll be quite a show.



As for flying - things are still going really well. I had an early morning flight this morning - I backseated one of the guys over to Casa Grande, then I flew us back. I practised some hold procedures and instrument approaches from a VOR and an NDB, which all went really well. It's amazing how much harder you work when you put the foggles on and fly just off your instruments, but I do really enjoy it. When we got back to Goodyear it was Steve's turn in the sim, so I sat in the passenger seat and watched him track the Eagle NDB to Mobile then fly the holding pattern. I'm starting to appreciate the sim more now, which is good as we'll be doing a LOT more flying in the sim when we get back to Oxford. Only another 4 weeks or so and we'll be back in the UK. Aside from my uniform, I haven't worn long trousers since 26th June.... god bless the valley of the sun :-)

JAA Navigation Test completed

Finally managed to get an examiner available today to test me on my navigation ability. It was the chief flying instructor Tom Armstrong that was available to test me, so that raised the nerve level a bit, but fortunately he is a really nice guy so it helped calm things down somewhat.
We were delayed slightly but eventually made it out just after 3pm, and after a nice take off from runway 21 I took us out towards the south-east, heading towards Lake St Clair. The conditions were very favourable, and I was only slightly off course at the start of the first leg, but noticed it and corrected it accordingly. We didn't quite make it to the lake, Tom decided to give me a diversion when we were about 10 miles out - taking us back up towards the Goodyear area. I did the calculations for the diversion and they turned out to be pretty accurate, and at one point I'm sure he nodded off a little - the aircraft was trimmed out nicely and there wasn't much going on for quite a while.
We reached the diversion point, and he asked me to carry out a practise forced landing after a simulated engine failure. This also went really well, nice and calm and relaxed, and we would have landed on the dirt strip I had nominated. We then headed back to Goodyear, had a nice chat on the way in, then parked up and headed in for a debrief. There were a couple of things he pointed out but I reasoned them out with him and he was very receptive and understanding. I came away from it with a very good mark, and also having learned a few things too. It was a completely different experience to my PT1, that's for sure.
Hopefully now things will go a little smoother. I've changed instructors as I'm now starting the more advance instrument work, and my first flight with him went really well yesterday morning too. I've changed flying buddies too, and am now paired up with one of the guys from the course who already has a PPL, and whom I really like and respect. Not to say I didn't like or respect Toddy.... but it's always beneficial to see how other people do things, and try to learn from them.
Anyway, it's been quite a long day and I'm due in the Simulator tomorrow morning bright and early - but at least I will approach it a little bit more relaxed and happier than I have been all week.

CPL Cross Country

On Saturday I carried out my CPL cross country flight, which took me up to Bullhead City, down to Yuma, then back to Goodyear. A distance of well over 400 miles, which ended up taking most of the day. There were 3 of us that carried out the trip, with 2 other guys doing their CPL but a slightly different route.
The day started at when I arrived in the crew room at 5am, ready to start planning the trip. Toddy and Mandeep were there too, and soon we had our route planned, weather brief, and flight plan filed. We were late setting off as we needed extra fuel in our planes, and Toddy had a problem with the parking brake on his, but shortly after 8am we took off and headed north.
It was a great trip - the weather was perfect, and the three of us had a nice easy flight up to Bullhead City. The door on my plane sprung open at 6500ft, and despite my best efforts I couldn't get it to re-latch properly, but it stayed in place until I landed safely at Bullhead and met up with the other guys.
We parked up, then took the free shuttle over to one of the Casinos on the other side of the river, and had a spot of lunch. After a while we headed back to the airport, and were soon on our way down to Yuma. This was a nice part of the trip, as the Colorado river runs all the way from Bullhead down to Yuma, so we pretty much just followed the river south. It had gotten a bit bumpier as the day had gone on, and we struggled to find calm air for this leg, but it wasn't ever too unpleasant. We contacted Yuma approach and were guided in one by one, and soon were parked up next to Steve and Lee, who had arrived from Ryan airport shortly before us.
We stopped there for an hour or so, grabbed a drink and chilled out while the refuel truck went to work. Soon we were heading back out for the flight back to Goodyear, which went really well.
All in all it was a great day, albeit a very long one. I've got some good pictures and videos of the trip - in the interest of health and safety it's best if I don't put them on my blog, but feel free to email me for the link to them ;-)

Meanwhile, here's a good pic I took of one of the big jets from Sky Harbor that flew overhead the other day, marking out a large 'S' in the sky.

Foul weather

So I get up bright and early, and there's a thunderstorm outside. I'll head down to the airport anyway on the off chance that there's an aircraft available and the storm dissipates... but right now things don't look too peachy...




******** Update ***********************
Arrived at airport, obtained an aircraft (they aren't letting solo flights go) - planned my route etc, then sat and waited for my examiner to arrive. When he did arrive he said he wasn't prepared to fly, so I had a dual lesson flight with Gilbert instead. It was pretty bumpy, but we managed to have a good flight. We had an 18 knot crosswind on landing, which was good fun. Now off to plan for my Commercial Pilot License Cross Country flight tomorrow - have to do at least 300nm with 2 full stop landings. There are 5 of us scheduled for it, starting at 6:30am - should be a good day!

Screwed over, AGAIN

Today I was supposed to carry out my JAA Navigation Test. It was originally planned for 14:30, but in typical OATC style was changed to 15:30, with two hours notice, and no-one informing me.
I headed down to the airport for 14:00 hours, to give myself an hour and a half to do all the planning. Unfortunately, OATC had scheduled the examiner to fly all day, right up to 15:20. This would give me a maximum of 10 minutes briefing time which needs to include the flight planning. Terrific.
What actually happened was that his flight landed late, at 16:00. This meant my navigation test was cancelled, to be hopefully done tomorrow. One thing my examiner did say was that I was supposed to report to him at 08:00 this morning for a briefing and to get my route info, but this information had not reached me.
So, now I have my route information, I am due to meet him at 07:30 tomorrow morning and hope that an aircraft is available. I can't see for one second how tomorrow can go well...

Trip to Yuma for bird watching

Today I had another back-to-back flight with Toddy and Gilbert, so we decided to head over to Yuma - a fairly large International airport just on the Arizona/California border, that is also home to a US Marine Corps fleet.
We had a pretty good flight going over (I flew us over there) - had a couple of laps around the hold then flew the VOR approach to rwy 17. All went pretty well, and soon we were parked up and heading in for a sit down and a drink. But not before Toddy demonstrated to Gilbert how much bigger the British are over the Americans (and Mexicans)



When we came back out we spotted an Osprey coming in to land, and as it happens it parked up right next to us to get fuel. It kept the rotors spinning while it fuelled up, which meant we couldn't leave the parking area until it cleared off. This delayed us, but meant we got some good piccies:



It eventually buggered off, throwing up a huge dust storm in its wake, and we headed back out fo rwy 17, with Toddy in control.



Once we took off, we were able to see all the military aircraft lined up: F-16s, C130s, Harriers, Apaches, FA-18s - it was awesome.




We left the area and headed back over to Goodyear. Toddy had a practise at the NDB approach at Mobile airport, then back for a full stop landing at Goodyear. All in all it was a pretty good trip - and the good thing is we have to go back there solo as part of the cross country trip for our CPL test. Magic!