New blog

I think a few people haven't realised that there is a new blog at http://davidson-uk.blogspot.com

Alas, I haven't been terribly good at updating the new blog, but hopefully I'll get some decent things on there soon. If only this horrid UK weather would settle down so I could actually fly.... been back in the UK for 2 months, flown twice. Grrrr......

Mission complete, bugging out and going home

Sorry this is a little late, but it's been a very busy weekend for us. I guess the biggest news is that on Friday I took my Commercial Pilots License skills test. It was quite a day, starting very early in the morning and keeping my nerves on a knife edge until about 5pm.
My test was scheduled for noon, and my examiner was notorious for being incredibly tough. I arrived early in the morning as there was a chance that I could have flown earlier, but in any case I had to be there to sit in on the same briefing as my friend Toddy, who was scheduled to fly before me. The first part of the skills test is a navigation to a destination chosen by the examiner, and asI'd obtained the route the night before, I was able to prepare my plan before arriving at the airport. One of the problems with the route I'd been given was that it wasn't 'quite right'. The destination was an airfield called 'EDS' (how ironic, given I used to work for E.D.S.) - and the normal departure to head down that way would be the 'Gila Crossing transition'. The examiner however had asked for a 'Twin Lakes departure' - and for those who know about these things, know that a straight line from Twin Lakes to EDS takes you perilously close to the Estrella mountains, through the German training area Alpha, and very close to Sky Harbor Class Bravo airspace. I felt I had no choice but to make the journey two legs, with a slight detour south before turning on course to EDS. When I had my briefing I was expecting all kinds of trouble, but he was actually very impressed that I had noticed all these things, and made a PIC decision on where would go. Big sigh of relief...
Toddy went and did his CPL test, which left me with a few hours to kill. Unfortunately for me the winds aloft data was changed mid-morning (a rare occurrence) - which meant I had to re-do all my navigation. Not a major hardship, but slightly annoying.
When Toddy got back (having flown well and passed) - the examiner asked me to go pre-flight the aircraft and get whatever fuel I needed. I headed down, checked everything over and tried in vain to find a fuel truck. None to be found. I trudged back up to dispatch and asked them to radio the fuellers, which they did. Back down to the aircraft, arranged the fuel, and watched while the fueller checked the oil levels - then felt my jaw thud onto the concrete when I watched him drop the oil filler cap inside the engine. Oh My F*cking God! I could have strangled him with the chocks!
Back up to dispatch to tell them what had happened, and to ask for another Seneca - in case they couldn't retrieve the filler cap. I then had to re-calculate the mass & balance, take off and landing distances, and prepare to pre-flight another aircraft. I then found that I was out of CG limits with the new plane, so had to re-do it all AGAIN, accounting for an extra 50 pounds of ballast. All that sorted, and with the examiner being unusually reasonable, I headed down to pre-flight. On the way I noticed a group of mechanics around the original aircraft, and it seemed by fluke they had recovered the filler cap. Woohoo! Back up to dispatch for the original aircraft tech log, and I was good to go. The examiner then showed a moment of weakness in his usual brusque demeanour, and told me to go chill out for ten minutes.
I took the break, then we both headed out for my test. It was pretty hot by then, and the wind was coming from the north east, which meant runway 3 was in use. I never like using runway 3, so wasn't overjoyed by this turn of events, and my worries were confirmed when I made my first slip up when turning downwind after take off. Having only had 10 hours tuition in the Seneca, not all the procedures are automatic, and I found myself levelling off at 2500 feet on downwind, and setting the aircraft up for cruise config. Completely forgetting that in 30 seconds I would be needing to climb up to 5500 feet for the first leg of the navigation. True enough, 30 seconds later I have to change the mixtures, propellors and power back to climb config... damn. At least I didn't leave it in cruise and try to climb...
The Navigation went perfectly I'm pleased to say. Literally to the very second that I had planned, we were directly above where I said we would be. Couldn't have asked for anything better, I was very pleased. When we were reaching the destination he asked me to divert to a small helicopter strip up north. I carried out the procedure for the diversion, then turned on course. This part went really well too, the heading looked good and the distances and times were looking nice too. Unfortunately, at some point during the diversion I lost my folding plotter down the side of my seat, and couldn't retrieve it. This caused a slight problem when he then asked me for a position fix using a VOR and DME. I had to use my pencil as a straight line against the VOR, and get a rough idea of what 10nm was by using the radius of the VOR rose... it worked out ok, but no where near as accurate as I would have preferred.
As we got nearer the diversion area, he was happy that all had gone well, and asked me to put the hood on so I could do some instrument flying. This went ok, not my finest performance but not bad either. I demonstrated turns, climbs, unusual attitude recovery - all that good stuff. As a break to my waffling - here's a short video of an unusual attitude practise. I am flying on instruments, so cannot see outside the aircraft. My instructor takes control and throws the aircraft around a bit to disorient me, then basically sticks it on its side and points it at the ground, then tells me to recover.



After the instrument work was done, it was time to demonstrate some general handling - steep turns, clean stall, base-to-final stall, and final approach stall. All of these went ok - we had a near miss at one point though when I had to break out of the steep turn early to avoid an aircraft on a collision course with us. The examiner hadn't spotted it, and started to chastise me for levelling the wings without him saying so, when the closing aircraft buzzed right past us...
Once I'd finished all those, it was time to use the GPS and navigate to Chandler Airport for some pattern work. Again I made a slight error by calling Chandler Tower a bit too soon, but my instructor had always said to make sure I was too soon rather than too late, so it could have been worse. I entered the pattern at Chandler with no problems, and set myself up for the first approach. This was a two engine approach with a two engine go around. No problems there, so back round for a flapless approach with a touch and go. Again, no problems - only this time on the climb out he covered the throttle quadrant and 'failed' one of my engines. I brought the aircraft under control then identified the 'dead' engine, carrying out the proper procedure. I then flew the circuit asymmetrically, and as previously briefed waited until ACA (Asymmetric Committal Altitude) before flying a single engine go around. I then flew another circuit with one engine, only this time brought the aircraft in for a touch and go (regaining the use of my 'dead' engine for the landing and take off).
We departed Chandler to the south west, and upon reaching 3500 feet he told me my right hand engine was on fire. This time I was required to shut the engine down completely on my own, following the necessary drills. After a short while he then asked me to restart the engine - offering no assistance at all, which makes it that much harder as you need one hand on the starter, one hand on the throttle, and one hand on the control column....
With the engine started, it was time to head back to Goodyear. I made a note of the current ATIS, then called up Goodyear Tower and told them who I was, where I was, and what I wanted. They told me to enter for left traffic for runway 21, which prompted me to question them as the ATIS had just said runway 03 in use. I think my examiner was impressed that I hadn't just blindly followed ATC's instructions. One problem with the approach back to Goodyear was I had to avoid the airspace near PIR (Phoenix International Raceway) as there was NASCAR racing in progress. This meant a direct left base entry instead of the usual downwind entry - which meant no way of knowing when to start the timer and lower the gear and flaps. It all worked out ok as it happens, and I got us back on the ground safely. I was then asked to go back to full power for a take off, and as soon as we were on full power he then adopted the brace position and called out 'STOP STOP STOP' - which had me shutting the power off and bringing us to a halt on the runway (or near enough - he was satisfied I would have stopped us safely and squarely)
Off the runway, and it was back to parking. On the way back to parking I pointed out that I had been receiving intermittent failures on the gear down lights, and he said 'That's your landings son, it's a runway not an aircraft carrier'. Cheeky bugger! I had been instructed to plonk the plane down on the runway and not grease it (When I later told my instructor about this he just said 'if he told you that, you must have been doing something right')

And that was that. Back into his office for a debrief, and to be told I had passed. I could have hugged him! This now means I am a fully fledged Commercial Pilot, and a good step nearer to an airline. I'm so relieved it's untrue, but also a little bit sad. No flying for a few weeks now, and probably won't fly in Phoenix for a very long time, if at all. It's such a good feeling to be done with it all though. I was the fifth guy from our course to finish, and I finished a day earlier than the timetable planned. Considering I started 3 weeks late due to the TSA problem, I'm really pleased. I've really pushed myself these last few weeks, but as a good friend says - 'You only get out what you put in'.

The only damper on Friday was the problem that manifested regarding all of our return flights to the UK. There had been a slight error regarding our return dates, which meant a lot of stress on my part, and me setting my alarm at 4am Saturday to try and get hold of people in the UK to get things resolved.
The rest of Saturday was really nice. We did a quick trip to Walmart to buy a couple of extra cases, then went round to visit Damien, Aine, Joshua and Clare. We all had a dip in the pool, then drove down to TGI Fridays for a bite to eat. Or lots of bites - as the portions are monstrous! A rack of ribs with Jack Daniels sauce later, and I was suitably stuffed.

Yesterday (Sunday) - we did a bit more last minute shopping at Target then headed to Barnes & Noble for the last time. We said our goodbyes, then headed home. Jeroen came round a while later, and we all drove down to Johnny Rockets for some quick tea. We were a bit disappointed to find the table top jukeboxes out of order, but the food and service were up to their usual high standard. We had a lovely meal, then back to our place for a chill out.

This morning I was up quite early, so headed down to the airport to get my logbook stamped and signed, and also handed in all the bits of gear (headset, maps etc)
I called in and saw a couple of guys too. I bumped into 'big' Steve and had a nice chat with him, then headed round to see 'little' Steve for a chat with him. He has his CPL this coming week too, and I'm sure he'll do brilliantly. I feel very fortunate to have been his flying buddy for this last month or so. He's a great guy, and a fantastic pilot. Steve - it has been an honour and a pleasure to fly with you. I wish you all the very best for your last few flights and your skills test, and look forward to seeing you back in Oxford in a couple of weeks.

This afternoon we drove down to Arizona Mills for a wander round, treating Georgia to a ride on the horsey carousel, and also to some Haagen Daaz. We bought a few more things in the outlet shops, then drove back home. We still have a bit of packing left to do, but we should be on time for tomorrow afternoon - when we will say goodbye to our apartment and drive to Phoenix Sky Harbor and hopefully get the BA 747 back to Heathrow.

It's been a hell of a journey these last 20 weeks. We've had some great times and some bad times, but it has mostly been incredibly enjoyable and exciting. I still can't believe I came over here in June having never flown an aircraft, and leave here in November a fully fledged pilot. Or 'Pirate' as Georgia says - 'Daddy Pirate'. I guess she'll be disappointed when I don't bring out the parrot, eye patch and hook...

One thing I do know for sure is I am incredibly thankful to my wife Clare. I couldn't have gotten through these last 12 months without her by my side. She has been my rock - and I can't even begin to say how much I love her. I am so glad we stuck to our guns and kept our family together - it has been expensive, yes - but also so rewarding. I look forward to the next few months, as we take our little adventure back home to the UK. This will be the last entry I make here, but you can follow our progress at my other blog HERE

To all those who have been following us, I thank you, and hope you stay tuned to see what adventures befall us in the coming months.

Adios Amigos

Simon.

Final Week

Well peeps, we are now into the final week of our time in Goodyear. Last weekend we finally made it over to Phoenix Zoo, which was really nice. It was a very hot day (32 degrees and bright sunshine - nice for November eh) - but it wasn't too oppressive. The rest of the weekend went really well, it's been nice having a regualr weekend off these last few weeks. We of course found our way to Barnes & Noble, letting Georgia play with the train set there, and topping up at Starbucks :-)

Back on Monday for more flying in the Seneca, and the pace started to heat up. I had two lessons on asymmetric flying, which was pretty cool. We had a long briefing beforehand where Tom explained everything that would happen, then we headed out to the practise area and gave it a go. Basically the exercise involved shutting an engine down in flight, controlling the aircraft then identifying the dead engine (Tom covers the throttle quadrant when he pulls the throttle on one engine). I've got some good pics and vids of that flight, I'll try to put them on my website at some point.
The rest of the flying in the Seneca has gone pretty well; both Steve and myself have been flying every day, often twice, and are thoroughly exhausted. On Tuesday my last flight of the day over-ran slightly, which saw us coming back to Goodyear as the sun was setting - it was truly awesome. I feel pretty lucky to have seen that, as it's always been clearly day or night flying, not in-between.



Today I took my good buddy Jeroen up as passenger (Steve wanted time off to go study the checklists). Jeroen enjoyed the flight I think, and was good for me to listen to how he thought the flight went. Tomorrow I have my very last lesson in the aircraft, which should be about 2 hours long. I also have to squeeze in 3 hours in the simulator too, and if all that goes well then I have my CPL skills test on Friday. If that goes well, I'm finished, and we'll be heading home shortly afterwards.
Time to dig out my jeans and fleece :-(

Ah, almost forgot - the simulator. The sims are notorious for not being entirely accurate, and this is really apparent first time in the Seneca sim. First time I had a go I found myself weaving all over the runway on take off - partly due to uneven power on the separate engines, but mainly thanks to the hyper sensitive rudders that have zero feel. Anyway, here's a clip of Steve's first ever take off in the Seneca Sim. Sorry Steve....

Unlucky with aircraft - first flight in the Seneca

Something I forgot to mention about my PT2 the other day: The last week or so has seen Steve and myself squawking plane after plane for some fault or another - a pattern which has followed me to PT2 and also onto the Senecas. For my PT2 I arrived at the airport very early and went to pre-flight N203F. I had flown that plane the previous day with my instructor Scott, and was aware that the Pitot heat was inop, and also the front tyre was very worn. When I went to preflight it also turned out to have a missing oil dipstick (later found lying in the bottom of the engine bay), and also incredibly stiff controls and trim. I told Tom (examiner) that as PIC I was happy to fly, and he concurred so off we went. What then happened was on the take-off roll, just as the airspeed reached 60 knots the airspeed indicator starting fluctuating wildy between 40 and 80 knots. I called out that I was aborting the take-off, but as I started to reduce the power the ASI seemed to smooth out. I told Tom that given we had plenty runway left I would apply max power and try again, which I did. This time the speed held steady, and I kept a close eye on it as I pitched for 80 knots for the climb out. I think Tom was fairly impressed that I made both decisions so quickly and decisively, I think maybe some other guys may have either not aborted the take off in the first place, or if they did abort they would have not been brave (foolish?) enough to try again when things looked ok. Anyway, I was just glad that I appeared to have made the right decision. Interestingly the fault re-appeared later in the flight when I was carrying out stalls - on the recovery back up to cruise speed the ASI went mad again when passing 60 knots. Also on the way back into Goodyear I had quite a challenge - numerous aircraft in the pattern, a few inbound from the north and east, and an airship departing Goodyear at low level. It meant I was diverted quite a lot from the normal arrival procedure, and actually flew right over the top of the airship at one point. Tom was again impressed that I wasn't phased by any of it, and just got on with the job in hand, then landed safely back at Goodyear once cleared to. Steve and Scott were waiting for the aircraft when we got back, so we told them about all the problems before they flew. As it was Steve's last two missions before his PT2, and having already had a flight cancelled that morning, they did fly the plane but later took it to maintenance when they got back.

So, as previously mentioned yesterday was my first flight in the PA34-200 Seneca. Tom Armstrong (chief flying instructor) is my new instructor, which is fantastic news for me. Things didn't run quite according to plan, my 9:30 flight became a 14:30 flight due to various problems. After having carried out the pre-flight on one aircraft the lesson was cancelled due to Tom being needed in a meeting. A couple of hours later we tried again, but had to take a different aircraft, which meant a fresh pre-flight, but the battery turned out to be dead, which meant a trip back to Dispatch to get yet another aircraft. Third time a charm, and having gone through all the checks I was soon taking to the skies in N555L. What a fantastic aircraft! So much nicer than the Warrior, as you would expect - much heavier, but with 2 x 200hp engines instead of 1 x 160hp engine, the acceleration on the take-off roll is pretty impressive. Especially when those turbos kick in....
My first flight was a basic introduction to the handling and feel of the aircraft - we flew out to the practise area and pretty much just threw the plane around the skies for a bit. Cruise speed and rate of climb are much better than the Warrior, so you get to where you want to be much sooner, which is nice. It's also much less susceptible to being thrown around by thermals, which makes things easier and more pleasant. We came back into Goodyear, and Tom demonstrated the new landing technique required. It was a great flight, and thanks to Tom's infinite patience and superb teaching technique, left me feeling pretty good about the whole thing.

This morning I was scheduled to fly at 08:00, but noticed that the barely trained monkeys who do the schedule has put Tom down to do a navigation test at 08:30. This unfortunately for me meant my flight was moved back (so much for AP256 getting priority...) - and it was nearly 11:30 before we were good to go. I bumped into Steve in the crew room and asked if he wanted to back seat, and he jumped at the chance. It later turned out that Steve also has Tom as his instructor, so we will be staying as flying buddies for this last part of the course.
We headed outside and carried out the pre-flight, then went through the much longer start up procedure. Just as I rolled the aircraft forward to taxi, I noticed that we didn't have three greens for the landing gear - so no fly. Circle round, park up, shut down, stomp over to Dispatch to get another Seneca....
Finally sorted, into N555L again, and off we went. This second lesson was an introduction to pattern work in the Seneca, so with my first class passenger (and part time cameraman) comfortably seated down the back, I took us off and flew round and round in the pattern. It was very enjoyable, despite the much higher workload, and I soon started to feel pretty comfortable. There are a couple of pictures here, and also a video of one of the landings as viewed from the aft passenger seat. You can see how much faster, flatter, and steadier the approach is, with a very positive touch down as the extra weight settles down.



End of the day, end of the week, and things are looking good. If all goes to plan I'll have my last flight next Thursday with my CPL test on Friday - and if that goes well we could be on the plane home on Saturday. More likely to be Monday I would have thought - we're not in a rush to get back to sunny England, that's for sure.
This could be our last weekend here, so we are hoping to make the most of it!

Single engine flying complete

Yesterday I had my PT2, which is the last test that is carried out in the single engine PA28-161 Warrior. The test requires you to track towards an NDB, enter the hold as published, fly the hold then fly the approach to the airfield. All of this is done with the foggles in place, so you are flying on instruments only - making it pretty tricky. Once at the missed approach point you fly the missed approach procedure then the examiner gives you further instructions so you can carry out some instrument procedures. For this part of the test the examiner covers over some of your instruments and asks you to carry out some turns using just a compass, then takes control and puts the aircraft in an unusual attitude while you look away - then asks you to recover. Experience some pretty good G-forces while doing that, it's good fun.
Anyhoo, that all went well and I'm pleased to say I passed with a good mark, so am now finished flying the Warrior. I've changed instructor again, and now the CFI himself is my instructor (he was also my examiner yersterday). This morning I had my first lesson in the Seneca sim, going through the new checklist procedures and what not. Dispatch for some reason had me scheduled for a solo sim at 20:00 instead of 08:00, and a solo flight in the airplane at 21:30 instead of 09:30. Would have been interesting, my first ever flight in a Seneca done solo at night.... useless muppets.
My session in the sim went pretty well - it's considerably trickier to get the take-off roll right due to the imbalance between two engines, but once airborne things went pretty well. After the sim we headed out to the aircraft and carried out pre-flight, but the actual flight has been delayed due to Tom being needed in a meeting. There's a new instructor just joined here and he will be spending time back-seating my flights, so I showed him around the place for a while before heading back to the crew room to get a coffee and update my blog.

Back on the home front things are ok. We went to the 'trunk-or-treat' for Halloween the other night, Georgia had a great time scaring people into giving her candy.
One nice things G has just started doing is copying our parenting techniques. If I ask her to do something and she refuses I tell her I will count to 5 then help her to do it. Last night I had my PSP and she wanted it - so she said "Dadd, share! Count three - one, two, three, go!"
I was laughing so much, I can't believe she could have picked up on that and be sooooo cheeky! She must get that from me :-)

Well, I need to go read some more about the Seneca and hopefully take to the skies soon!

Laters

S.

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!

Little ol' me and an International Airport

Yesterday I managed to get two of my solo navigation flights back-to-back on the same aircraft (N268ND) - so I planned a route that would take me north up to Lake Havasu and Bullhead International Airport. It was a fantastic flight - flying over areas that were new to me, and upon reaching Lake Havasu my breath was taken away. What an awesome place, and from 4500 feet up I had a good view of the lake, the city, and the old London Bridge. For those not familiar with the tale:

In 1962, London Bridge was falling down. Built in 1831, the bridge couldn't handle the ever-increasing flow of traffic across the Thames River. The British government decided to put the bridge up for sale, and Robert McCulloch, Founder of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and Chairman of McCulloch Oil Corporation, submitted the winning bid of $2,460,000.
The bridge was dismantled, and each stone was carefully marked. Everything was shipped 10,000 miles to Long Beach, California, and then trucked to Lake Havasu City. Reconstruction began on September 23, 1968, with a ceremony including the Lord Mayor of London, who laid the cornerstone. On October 10, 1971, the bridge was dedicated.
This first photo is a view of the city and the lake as I approached from the south.

I transitioned over the top of Lake Havasu airport and continued north towards Bullhead City International. I called them up and asked permission for a full-stop landing, and when granted a straight in approach I began my descent and prepared for landing. Fortunately everything went really well, and the ATC ground controller was very nice and gave me excellent directions to the parking facility. I parked up, and while tying the aircraft down a guy on an airport buggy came over and offered me a lift. I hopped on, and was driven over to a building where I could arrange fuel, grab a drink, and have a chat with some other pilots. Once the fuel was taken care of, I got a lift back to the Warrior and got everything ready for departure. ATC were again very good with me, and in a matter of minutes I was airborne again, heading south back to Phoenix. I took a different route back, travelling down the west side of the lake - here's a pic of the lake, showing London Bridge:



Another great picture I took was this next one, it's the Colorado river as it runs south out of the lake. It's a great picture, it looks kinda like an artists impression to me - too flawless to be real. Maybe I'm just getting all emotional in my old age:



I made it back to Goodyear safe and sound and only ten minutes later than I should have been. Quite an achievement in itself that, especially as I was late leaving due to me needing full tanks.
I'm really glad now that I planned this trip - it let me take in some awesome scenery but also gave me the opportunity to do a full stop landing at a busy airport - something I have to do again to get my CPL in a couple of weeks time.

I've taken all the video clips I took and put them together into one clip, unedited. Feel free to take a look, but it's probably a bit dull apart from the view.



One last thing. The other day I was playing with Play Doh with Georgia, and knowing how much she likes my laptop I made her a little one. Her reaction shows she didn't think much of it compared to mine:

Takes after her mum

So we buy Georgia a great big tub of foam shapes to play with, and she tips the whole lot all over the floor. Fair enough, no worries. Does Clare struggle to get her to tidy them back up? Does Georgia use diversionary tactics to avoid tidying up? Does she therefore take after her mum? Oh yes... :-)

Border run

As planned, Gilbert, Toddy and I had an early morning flight this morning that took us down to the Mexican border at Nogales International Airport. I arrived in the crew room just before 5am, and started printing out the necessary paperwork: local weather reports, winds aloft data, airport data and instrument approach procedures. Toddy arrived soon after, and we set about organising everything.
After a slight delay (change of aircraft needed) - we took off from Goodyear at 06:50, and got handed over to Phoenix Sky Harbor Departures, who gave us radar vectors towards Tucson. Here's Toddy and Gilbert looking (almost) convincingly as if they know what they're doing...



The flight down went really well, and when we arrived at Nogales Toddy did a couple of test runs using the approach procedures. We then landed, parked up, and headed inside for a coffee refuel while the Warrior was also refueled (not with coffee, although it might have helped the poor performance....)
Here's a shot of Nogales International Airport main building. It sounds impressive, but I've seen bigger sheds in B&Q...



Once refueled, it was my turn to hop in and drive. I took off on runway 21, then followed the missed approach procedure before heading back in on the correct radials, then executed a touch-and-go before heading back 'oop north' towards Goodyear.
All in all it was a great flight for Toddy and me, and a great laugh for the three of us. I can honestly say I will be gutted when we move onto another instructor for twin engine training.
Mind you, the take off performance upon leaving Nogales does make me wonder if Gilberto hadn't smuggled a couple of immigrants over the border...

Grand Canyon by helicopter

As I mentioned earlier, after the helicopter flight at the canyon we got to take away a DVD of the flight. I also took my camera along, and have just hastily patched the clips together to make one video, and here it is. You can occasionally make out some of the sounds from the cabin, but the proper DVD is better as it had the intercom patched in.

A tough week

As some of my family and friends know, it has been a very tough week this week. After a great week last week, everything went rapidly downhill shortly after saying farewell to my dad on Tuesday as I headed down to the airport to do my Progress Test 1.
Without going into detail, let's just say that the test was a complete farce, and I came away from it madder than I have been in a very long time. So mad, it prompted me to compose an email to OAT's Managing Director/President, Anthony Petteford - something I had not had to do since starting the course.
Fortuntately, some of my grievances have been addressed - Anthony was very receptive to my complaints, and even phoned me at home in Goodyear to discuss the matter in detail. There are still a couple of issues that need sorting, one of which hasn't been brought to his attention yet - a matter regarding a certain member of staff and her opinion on how I manage my family/career.
A very good friend of mine recently joined us out in Goodyear, and after only a few days here he had posted an entry on his blog concerning this woman (and also one of the guys in Dispatch) - so I know it isn't just me that thinks she is a stony faced, condescending, ignorant, obtuse little oxygen thieving witch who for some reason has managed to hold onto her job despite numerous complaints.
Moving on.... with all the stress I've had this week surrounding OATC, this has also had an impact in other areas of my life. While taking the mini van back the other day I cleared all of the (numerous) pockets and cubby holes, except for one. And what was in that one? My PDA case, SD card, charger, and compact flash GPS receiver. Balls balls balls. Fortunately the guy at Hertz tracked the minivan down at Sky Harbor airport, and retrieved all the items except for the GPS receiver. I am really gutted about this - I only bought it a couple of months ago, and know I have no way of getting it back, even though it's pretty clear that someone at Hertz has pocketed that but returned the other items. I really hate myself for being so forgetful - it's not something I normally do, but this event coupled with losing my Ray Bans has really bugged me. :-(
One half decent thing was that Hertz had failed to arrange a replacement vehicle (Vee-Hick-Ull) - and all they had was a Dodge Charger - normally very expensive to rent due to the spec (5.7 litre Hemi V8, 350hp, 390lb ft etc) - but I pointed out it wasn't my fault they had no cars, so I have ended up with the Charger for the same money I was paying for the cheaper cars. With Paul Herbert renting a yellow V6 Mustang, all we need do now is organise a time to go recreate the car chase scene from Bullitt - but it looks like someone beat us to it. Review here, video here. Maybe I'll just see if I can get it resprayed to look like a modern day General Lee and get a Dixie horn fitted. Dammit, someone has already done that too!





On my list of toys to get when I have money again is a General Lee, Knight Rider KITT, an A-Team van, and possibly Street Hawk (but if I'm honest Street Hawk bike is a bit pants). I'll settle for a replica Airwolf instead then. Clare just looks at me funny when I tell her this, but I don't think it's too unreasonable, is it?



Yesterday I was due to have a solo nav flight in the afternoon, but winds in the area were gusting to 30 knots, so the flight was cancelled. I carried out the flight this morning at 6am (good old Gilbert, still getting me the prime slots) - and it was really hazy, very poor visibility. Fortunately my navigation planning worked out really well, and the flight overall was very enjoyable and relaxing. Here's a pic of the area east of Phoenix, heading towards Kearny:



Family-wise everything is still going good. The pool where we are living has been out of use for the last few days, but is ok now I believe. Clare has been extremely supportive this week, and I again feel incredibly lucky to have her on side through all of this. I really couldn't have done it without her help.
Georgia is still having a great time here. She was missing her Grandad for a couple of days, but is now happy that she'll get Grandad for Christmas (or 'Mismas' as she says). She also keeps asking for a bike, so we'll have to see if we can have a word with Santa about that. Here's a picture of her taken the other night - ready for bed but posing with her new sunglasses on. Rockstar!



Clare and I just finished watching Dave Gorman on DVD. We went to see the show live at Bolton a couple of years ago with my good pal Gareth - and even though we know what happens it still makes us howl with laughter. Anyone in Goodyear who reads this can borrow my copy if they like, and anyone in the UK (or Ireland) should go obtain a copy - it's top stuff. Mr Gorman, you owe me advertising money :-)

I have another 6am flight tomorrow - back to back flights with Toddy, which means we should be heading somewhere further afield similar to our trip to Payson 2 weeks ago. Can't wait!

Adios

Simon

Vegas, Canyon, Route 66

It's been a very hectic last week or so! After the shambles surrounding OATC it was really nice to jump in the minivan and hit the road. We had a really pleasant drive from Phoenix to Las Vegas, stopping half way for a spot of lunch, and taking in the awesome sight at Hoover Dam on the Arizona/Nevada border. We unfortunately didn't have the opportunity to stop, which was a bit of a shame.


Once we arrived in Vegas we took a drive along the strip before heading to The Mirage, where I had booked us a couple of nights. When we checked in however, we were told we could have a complementary upgrade to the Penthouse Suite if we wanted - all 2000 sq ft of it, complete with living room, bar, bedroom with motorised TV built into the bed, bathroom the size of our house.... utterly awesome, and what a result!

We had a great time charging around the suite for a while, before heading out for a look around. My dad headed into the Casino to try his hand at Blackjack (he won loads, the jammy bugger) - while Clare, Georgia and I went to get some refreshments. We all met up again a while later and headed out for a wander outside to watch the Volcano outside the Mirage, before calling into the Venetian for a wander along the canal - ending up in a mock-up of St Marks square where we treated ourselves to nice italian sorbet. We then took a stroll along the strip, taking in the awesome sights along the way - The Wynn Hotel, Treasure Island etc.
The next day we had a lazy morning in the suite before all heading out down the strip the other way, past Caesars Palace, Bellagio, New York New York. Clare and I had a ride on the rollercoaster that takes you around the Manhattan skyline - a really good trip that even I enjoyed, and I normally find rollercoasters duller than dishwater.
At least now I can say I've seen the Statue of Liberty etc, and save myself an expensive trip to the real big apple. :-)
That night Clare and I went to watch the Phantom of the Opera at The Venetian, leaving Grandad on babysitting duties. We had an incredibly time - it was an utterly amazing show that really took our breath away. We both agreed the trip to Vegas was worth it just to see that show, let alone anything else.
The next day we packed up and headed back out of Vegas and onto Route 66, for a long drive along the famous highway for 100 miles from Kingman to Ash Fork, via Peach Springs. Another 'thing to do in life' ticked off.
We arrived at the Grand Hotel, just south of the Grand Canyon - checked in then jumped back in the car to drive up to the rim, just in time to catch the sunset. I won't even try to explain it, but hopefully some of the pictures I took will save me a few hundred words of (more) waffle. Here's a picture of the three of us on the south rim, just as the sun was setting.


That night we stayed in the Grand Hotel, which true enough did look pretty grand from the outside, but wasn't really anything special inside - especially after a couple of nights in Vegas...



The following morning I set my alarm for daft-o'clock, dragged my dad out of bed and the two of us headed up to the canyon for sunrise. We found ourselves a really nice spot, and hung around for a while watching the sun rise majestically over the Canyon.
Dad and I headed back to the hotel, grabbing an early morning coffee then sat around chilling out (I whupped him at chess) - waiting for Clare and Georgia to wake up. Once everyone was up, and Georgia was dressed in her new Grand Canyon clothes that her Grandad had bought her, we all had a nice buffet breakfast before checking out and heading back up the Canyon. All four of us had a nice wander around the main sights at the south rim, thankful that the weather was perfect - and had warmed up a little from the 3 degrees it had been at 6am.
We then headed down to the Grand Canyon Airport, where we checked ourselves in for a helicopter ride with Maverick Helicopters. We were obviously all a bit concerned with how Georgia would handle the flight, but as it turned out she absolutely loved it! It was an incredible trip - so much better than just standing at the edge, and we got to see so much more of the canyon. We also got a DVD of the entire trip - multiple camera angles and sound from the headsets (Georgia making airplane noises and saying 'weeeeeeee' a lot)
Here's Georgia with her David Clark headset on, looking cool as a cucumber:


And here's a shot of the Canyon from overhead the Colorado River, 1 mile up:



More pictures to be uploaded to my website in the next day or two.
Georgia actually fell asleep in the helicopter for the last ten minutes, which bodes well for me taking her flying next year when back in the UK. My dad loved it too, and I really can't wait to be able to take him flying as well - I'm under orders to teach him how to fly once I'm qualified!

We left the Canyon at about 15:30 - heading along the top road via Desert View, then back home to Goodyear via Flagstaff and Sedona. I drove all the way back, a mere 260 miles and 4.5 hours - I guess I was still on a high from the whole trip.
One note is how Georgia took everything in her stride so much better than we all expected. She was brilliant for the long car journeys, loved seeing all the bright lights in Vegas, had a great helicopter flight, and most importantly got on amazingly well with her Grandad. All in all it was a fantastic trip, and although it was nice to get back to Goodyear and chill out by the pool, it was also quite sad to leave all that good stuff behind.

Back to reality and I had a solo navigation flight yesterday and my PT1 today. Unfortunately my dad was also due to go back today too, and thanks to crappy scheduling I couldn't take him to Sky Harbor and say goodbye there. After waiting 3 weeks for my PT1, and despite officially still being on leave, I couldn't take the risk and cancel it in case it was another 3 weeks before I got another one. As it turned out, I wish I had - but that's another story.

Dad: I hope you had a good flight home. Thank you for everything you did for us while you were here - we all had an amazing time and will miss you. See you in November.

Love

Simon, Clare, Georgia

x x x