Matt`s PPL Diary - Chocks Away!

It's been snowy!

2008-03-24T19:35:00.006+01:00

Having had my pre Easter flight cancelled due to the late arrival of the previous passengers (don't get me started!) and having spent a very snowy weekend away in a cabin on the southern tip of Norway. I was hoping to avoid any snow for my post Easter flight today. It didn't look good when last night a few heavy snow storms rolled in and deposited a fair amount of the white stuff!However this morning the sun was peeping through the clouds and the forecast was for just a few showers in the area. I was determined to get up and so myself, Eirin and the kids hit the clubhouse at 2pm sharp.

Thankfully JAL was ontime, and after checking her out, getting the kids settled in and taxiing away, we were soon sky bound. The intention had been to go over to the local skiing area and see the masses bombing down the slopes, but it soon became apparent that the cloud was a little too low and that there was some nasty looking snow showers in the area. So we settled for a local jolly and me enjoying scarying my passenegrs with some sharp manoeveures.

It was very busy on the GA front, not so much on the commercial and I had to circle Sandnes 5 times before getting further instructions to proceed to finals. A nice touch and go and then a full stop completed a very pleasant flight all round.

I really must get going more to get those hours in this summer to renew my license without having another flight test! Only 9 more to go!
Update:
Also was up flying on Monday night with Kirsten (mother in law to be), Siv heidi (step-neice to be) and Sander (step-nephew to be). Another perfect night for a flight and some more minutes logged.

Getting current again!

2008-02-23T10:51:00.005+01:00

Well, as you can tell its been bloomin` ages since i was up flying. I kinda had lost a bit of interest over the Xmas period to be honest and with the poor weather and dark nights, any flying would have been restricted to just the odd weekend.

But since New Year i have been determined to get back in the air again. After all this year I have to get enough hours under my belt to retain my license. So for the last few weekends i have been trying to get skyward, but have been consistently thwarted. Now i no my limits and 4 months out of the saddle is far too long a time to simple jump in, start her up and off we go. So i decided to re-unite myself with my old instructor Leif.

Today the weather was nasty. Low cloud at 2000ft, 13Knt crosswind and rain and snow showers in the area. I would have stayed in bed to be honest, but Leif was determined to get us up and sure enough at 9am i was back at the flying club prepping JAL for her flight.

The flight itself was good fun, i made all the radio calls without fault, remembered most of the checklists and performed the manoeveures pretty well. We did some stalls which i was well pleased with and also some engine out procedures, skud running over peoples houses at no more the 250ft!!

Back to Sola we went, and I was aware that I wanted to get my 3 landings in to get me current again to take passengers. This wasnt gonna be too easy, as it was very blowy, a 90 degree crosswind and bumpy. We did a normal landing, 2 engine off glide approaches and a full flaps with power landing. I pretty much nailed them all single handedly and without a hint of a bounce. Boy, does JAL land well, or is it just the pilot!

Next up is to get more regular with going up (cost depending), and Leif was also talking about heading upto Voss via Bergen, for a joint trip, sharing the P1 hours.....that sounded great, as Voss is stuck inbetween mountains on all sides and needs some serious side slipping to land on their short runway!

Watch this space, hopefully for not as long as last time!!!

A family day out

2007-11-04T18:01:00.000+01:00

Now the winters drawing in and the clocks have changed, the chance of getting any flying in after work is pretty much non-existent (that being said I am planning on re-newing my night flying certificate in the next few months). So that leaves you taking a chance on the weekend weather, normally not too good at this time of year. Today though was an exception. A cracking winters day with a nice overnight frost.

We decided to take the boys up for a flight. Its the second time I have taken them with me, and I have to say they are very well behaved. They loved the zero g moves and the 2G turns and wanted more and more! Its also good in JAL as you can change the mic settings so you only hear ATC if you want, very handy with two small boys in the back when coming into land!!

We just buzzed about a bit and went into the fjords, it was surprisingly busy for a Sunday, lots of heli and GA activity about. A nice landing in front of the waiting 737 completed a very enjoyable flight for all of us.

A Hat-Trick!

2007-10-06T10:08:00.000+02:00

Business is booming!

We had a visitor from the Calgary office this week who wanted to go flying, so I obliged last night with the usual sight seeing tour. I think she liked it. I've also had some more interest to my adverts and maybe have a flight lined up next week too.

So that's 3 flights in not so many days, as well as time to revalidating my license, which i need to do in the next year.

Glad its co-incided with a nice High pressure sitting over Norway!!

What......2 Flights in a week ??

2007-10-04T08:36:00.000+02:00

Yep....last night i was up again in trusty old JAL. This time thanks to some advertising on the company Intranet for scenic flying tours. It paid off with an enquiry from Roger a drilling supervisor from Cornwall (of all places). He was very keen for a sight seeing tour whilst back onshore and of course i was more then happy to take him for a spin.

It was the usual affair taking in Pulpit rock and stavanger before heading back and he seemed to really enjoy it. The weather was great, a little hazy but good enough visibility to see everything he wanted to see.

Flight wise it was uneventful, although did have to make a couple of delay turns on approach - one on finals which is never nice to do, but the landing was good and i feel like i`m getting to grips with that now.

Oh and a year ago yesterday I passed my Skills Test in San Diego - so that`s me a pilot for exactly one year now........time really does "fly" !!

Jumbo.......

2007-09-30T18:43:00.000+02:00

50 days since my last flight. Not really what i was hoping out of flying this year but finally JAL was back in working order from her engine rust problems in Denmark and I managed to secure a late booking of just an hour on Friday night. And it was a cracking night, clear blue skies and not too much wind. With only an hour to get up and down, plus all the pre-flight it wasn't going to be too complex a flight, just a short bimble and a touch and go was the plan.

Now it's not too often that you are taxiing alongside the active runway when a KLM 747 jumbo is heading for you on route for a touch and go, but thats what happened. Seemingly some pilot training was going on and they were using Sola as their strip to practice some landings. It was an awesome sight, it touched down only very briefly and was up like a shot. I have to confess I'm not too envious of the microlight pilot in front of it.....he must have been under pressure to get down and off the runway asap! This was some event here and it even made the local rag!

My flight was really good. A nice confidence boost and I now know i can leave it a long time and i'm still comfortble enough to get up there! It was a long taxi though, I had to hold 3 times and the last when i was waiting for an outgoing 737, I had victoria flying parachutists facing the other way on the runway to me! Anyway when i did finally manage to get up there, i just did a short flight into the fjords and came back for a touch and go. Landings were spot on. JAL is such a nice plane to fly!

At one point Victoria said hello and started a conversation over the radio. I was a little sheepish, afterall it was the main radio frequency for Sola Tower we were using to have our chat! All good fun though.

Now i know i've said this before. But i really must fly more often. Whether the TB10 is an option or something else comes along who knows. All i know is that i'm pleased just to have got back up skyward again!

A Share!

2007-09-01T15:39:00.000+02:00

Well still no flying. JAL is in Denmark getting some extensive maintainence after some rust was found in the engine during its 200 hours check. I also haven't flown a Cessna for a while, so will really need to go up with an instructor the next time I fly that type.

But on a brighter note, it looks like i'll be getting a share in a Socata TB10. Its housed at Sola and the owner is moving abroad for a few years and is looking for some people to take it on during that time. Hopefully that would ensure some cheapr flying (if i manage 3 hours or more a month) and more availability.

I checked her out a few weeks back. Its a 4 seater that cruises at 115kts or so and has a variable pitch prop, so i'll need to organise a checkout on her. She is in really good knick and unlike the Piper and Cessnas it has all the knobs and whistles in the right place....just like the Grob i flew in the US. S0 thats the plan for the winter. I'm off stateside tomorrow for 10 days, but unlikely to have time for any flying there. Ironically i'm flying again from San Fran to Vegas, only this time i won't be P1!!

Consistency is the key!

2007-08-10T08:33:00.000+02:00

The miserable Norwegian summer broke yesterday and after a cloudy morning the wind picked up and blew them away leaving behind nice blue skies and stiff breeze.

I`d asked Eirin and the boys (4 and 7yr old) along for the ride. Although they had been flying before I wanted to take them up for a spin with me, so we pitched up at the flying club and got kitted out whilst I did the pre-flight.

It was just a brief flight as there was some lingering low cloud over the fjords where I had been planning to fly, but nethertheless it was fun and I did some steep turns and dutch rolls which got the kids (and Eirin) excited. The landing was interesting, by far the best touchdown I have down this summer, but the approach was a little bumpy and gusty due to a still x-wind, so the airpseed was all over the place. I`m beginning to think that i need some more hours in the saddle, flying every 3 weeks is not as much as I want to, nethertheless a combination of planes, weather and it being a very expensive hobby is meaning that i`m not getting the consistency I need at the moment. That`s why i`m going to look for a share at Sola, hopefully increase my monthly flying hours and decrease the hourly rate.....buying outright is not an option unless I get 6 balls and the bonus on Saturday night!

Finally back in the Saddle!

2007-07-22T14:12:00.000+02:00

After what has seemed like an eternity (one day short of 6 weeks in actual fact), I finally managed to get skyward on Friday evening. Its not been through a lack of trying, but either the planes have been technical or the weather has been atrocious. What happened to the great Norwegian summer? Its rained 20 days so far this month, and its only the 22nd!

Anyway Friday was a clear day although the wind was blowing, so I have to admit to being a little uneasy, and if I hadn't have gotten up then I would definately have gone up with an instructor the next time. It's not a case of forgetting how to fly (that's like riding a bike, you dont forget it), but there is so much to know and more importantly so much to know what to do if things go wrong!

In the end it was largely an uneventful flight. I decided not to take pax up, so just headed to the Tau training area, after filing my flight plan (due to lack of ATC personel we have to do this now!). In Tau I was really pleased with my exercises I did, stalls, steep turns and slow flight. All were pretty much spot on so I was chuffed with that given so long out of the saddle.

By the time I headed back in bound to Sola for landing the wind had picked up and was 320/16kts when I was on final to runway 36. Nothing too strong, but not ideal when it was so long since I had last flown! But, actually the landing was spot on and i nailed the speeds so i was well happy when i taxied back to base!

I wont leave it sooo long next time!

Now for something non-flying. I keep bashing on about flying over Pulpit rock, well yesterday I climbed it, and as you can see from the photos it was well worth it for the view!

Arman Flight Tours!

2007-06-09T20:46:00.000+02:00

So, i've decided to enter into the tourism business. Today's inaugural Arman Tours flight was for a friend of a friends, fathers 60th birthday present! The concept is pretty straightforward, the clients want to take to the air, I provide a plane and am the chaffeur for the tour and at the end of the day i get an hour in the log book for free. Being a PPL i'm not allowed to accept cash for flying, so sharing the costs is the way to go and a win-win solution

The route can be tailor made, and today we headed down the coast to Egersund when Atle lived and buzzed his house, before heading north and doing the same with my bosses and Eirins houses! From there its a short hop to Pulpit Rock and a few steep turns later all the pictures have been taken and its back to Sola for a smooth landing.

Its much more enjoyable flying with others, and in particular those who havent been in a small plane before, as you can impart some of that knowledge which you have hopefully retained from the PPL course!!

If your interested check our www.armansflyingtours.com (as if!)

Sola Airshow 2007

2007-06-05T09:14:00.000+02:00

This weekend it was the much anticipated Sola Airshow 2007, celebrating 70 years of the airport. I`d been looking forward to it for nearly a year now and it did`nt disappoint one bit, two great days of flying and the weather was good, almost too good!
Myself and Eirin had very important roles, liasing with the press and VIP parking! Thankfully we weren`t worked too hard at all, and manage to see all the show for the two days as well as wander around the static displays snapping away while Joe Public was still outside.As for the flying, the most impressive machines had to be the Mustang (what a noise that makes), the JAS Gripen and the combined F5/F-16 display. They also had the Swiss F5 display team which although very impressive indeed, didn`t really have the best names for their formations - not sure how you can do the "Roger Federer" or the "milking a cow" formation....but seemingly they did! I was also impressed with the Pitts Python and the Polish aero`s champion in the Extra, very good indeed and heightened my hunger for some aero`s action soon! The Catalina was here from Duxford, I was tempted for the share in her that they were selling, until i found out it cost £17,000 lol. The list goes on and and on, and there are some great photos here, much better then my feeble efforts!Hopefully the flying club made some money out of the weekend as there was an army of volunteers helping around the place. It really was a great weekend, and I even manage to chat up these two hot "flygirls"........Last night the need for air time got the better of me and after all that excitement I took JAL up for a spin with a work colleague. We buzzed a few houses and went into the fjords. It was good to be up again, as I had been taking it easy since the states......and I now need to focus on my next flying challenge!

Round Trip Complete!

2007-05-15T04:06:00.000+02:00

After a nice relaxing break in San Diego it was back in the saddle again for the long trip north, back to Livermore. We arranged to do some air-to-air work with John and Janice who had hired a Piper for the morning, it was good fun flying so close to another plane and they got some nice shots of our plane!

After peeling off and going on our seperate ways we climbed upto 10,500ft, primarily to get above the Los Angeles airspace and headed along the coast. The marine layer (fog and low cloud) was hanging about but just off the coast, so we had great visibility as we crossed over the numbers of LAX - mixing it with the heavies! Our first planned stop was to be Santa Barbara, but as we planned our descent we realised the cloud had hung in land there. We tried to get below it, but it was really claggy and we decided to turn back before we got completely lost, and selected Santa Paula as an alternate. It was a small but busy airport, but thankfully clear of cloud and we landed and had a nice lunch there. We decided to make another fuel stop further up the coast as the strip here was very short and we were loaded with bags.

Anyway, by the time we got away the clag had drifted out and we made it north for a quick "Splash and dash" at Paso Robles airport, before heading north on the final leg to Livermore! They were pleased to see us arrive and even more so when we had to settle the account!

So we managed 17hours in 6 days and covered over 2000 miles, stopping at 7 airports, across 3 states! A great trip and a great confidence builder for both of us! The plane was a dream to fly, the navigation aided by the GPS and autopilot and the weather (apart from today) was damn good! A brilliant adventure which we will do again for sure!

So now i`m chilling in San Fran for a few days before we head home on Wednesday. Oh, and i managed to break the 100hr TT mark as well!!

Back where it all began!

2007-05-13T02:32:00.000+02:00

Today we flew from Palm Springs back to Gillespie field in San Diego. It was a trip that brought back memories for both of us, as it incorporated a part of our solo x-country flight, so we didnt reall yhave to plan it that well as we flew on memory!

The airport is still as busy as ever, in fact its the 47th busiest in the states, and thats out of over 700 or so! As for Anglo American, well my old steed - N6ZP -is still in one piece (although i`m sure a few of the Indian studes have tried their best to prang it!), but most of the instructors have left since our time although there were a few familiar faces around!

A burger in the cafe for old time sakes before we headed back to John and Janice`s and into the spa. We are planning on spending a few days here chilling before making the long flight north back to Livermore - all weather dependent of course!

Palm Springs - its Hot!!

2007-05-12T03:29:00.000+02:00

Quick Post. But we have arrived in Palm Springs. Two hours from Vegas across vast wilderness and then a nice landing by yours truly bought us into Palm Springs International. It`s hots. 100`c Farenheit, lucky then that Clay`s friends who we are staying with have a pool, which has been my home for the last few hours!

Tomorrow we head back to Gillespie Field in San Diego, which we are more then familiar with having done our PPL`s there last year!

Grand Canyon!

2007-05-11T02:45:00.000+02:00

Today we headed out to the Grand Canyon. It was my turn to navigate and I was looking forward to some RT work as I havent done much since I`ve been out here! We set off relatively early as it gets bumpy in the late afternoon, and pre-flighted the plane. After a nice take-off, we were vactored over Nellis Air Force base and out over Lake Mead, just north of the Hoover Dam. The flgiht out was a little turbulent and was just over masses upon masses of desert and wilderness. You can`t acutally fly within the canyon boundaries but you can get pretty close.It was windy out there and after a late change of runway, Clay tried an approach but the gusts were all over the place so we went around and tried the other way. This was better and we got down smoothly. Parked up and got a taxi to the Canyon for some sightseeing and food!
After a few hours rest it was back in the plane. We had expected a longer flight back (the one out was over 2hours), but in reality it was a little quicker and after the kind people in Las Vegas Centre routed us direct to Stratosphere we made a nice landing back into North Las Vegas Airport!

So another long day in the saddle, and we`ve the rest of the Strip to see tonight. Tomorrow we`ll head off for Thermal (near Palm Springs), an airport that we both visited on our solo X-countries last year!

Yeah Vegas Baby!

2007-05-10T02:24:00.000+02:00

Not got much time to blog, cos all the sights and sounds of Vegas await! But we made it. Two long flights. We left Livermore at 09.15 and it took a good 2 hours 45mins to make it to our first port of call a small airport south of Mojave called General Fox! A quick stop there included a nice fry up and soon we were on our way again. The first leg was over 200nm and was smooth as silk, but the next leg to Vegas itself was very turbulent and bumpy. Claython did all the nav and radio and I did the flying (i think i got the better deal as he was chatting to a lot of controllers!).
In the states you can request a service called Flight Following, which basically means that someone somewhere is watching an eye on you. A handy thing to have especially considering some of the terrain we flew over!
As we entered Vegas airspace we got the option to vector across the numbers at McCarren, but I choose to find our on way in. Which in the end worked well. Vegas is blowy and everyone knows I dont like x-wind landings, so as i tuned final to R25 a call from the tower told my that i was looking at a 17kt x-wind (above the planes limits). Luckily they had an alternate and a quick decision meant we could get into R12....had to slip it mind you but got down after a little bounce. Once parked we were met by a van and a helpful guy gave us a hand with the bags and we checked in to the terminal....very smooth indeed! We then hired a car and drove down the strip and tonight we`ll see what all the fuss is about!

UPDATE: We did the thrill rides on the stratosphere, unfortunately they arent the same now that i`m accustomed at staring at the ground from 2000ft! And especially after doing aeros last week! Speed at the Sahara is still by far the best ride here!

Tomorrow the Canyon!

Arman & Pender Golden Gate Flying Tours!

2007-05-09T02:46:00.000+02:00

Before the big off tomorrow, we took the opportunity to fly the Bay Tour. There aren`t many cities in the world that will let you buzz the major tourist attractions below 2000ft, but sure enough there we were circling the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz in our own private plane - pretty cool!It was great flying around the city, watching the big boys climbing over the top of us. We then headed down to coast, flying at 1000ft AGL watching all the sunbathers for a touch and go at Half Moon Bay airport....before heading back to Livermore again!This afternoon we planned the route for tomorrow. Its a biggy, 450 nautical miles in total and probably 4-5hours in the seat. We`ll be stopping half way for lunch and fuel. I`ve no idea where we`ll be staying in Vegas, so access to Internet will be limited and therefore you may not get your daily fix of my blog!

Great days flying!

2007-05-08T03:51:00.000+02:00

Well thankfully the wind had all but died off by this morning and I knew it was going to be a fun day. I had three flights line up in all, a mixture of fun and hard work laid aheadl!!

First up was my final EMT lesson with Rolf in the Grob, a plane that i`ve really come to like a lot. Not just because it handles very smoothly but because all the knobs and whistles are in the right place and i like that a lot! As well as him putting the plane into extreme unusual attitudes and asking me to get us back to straight and level, we also did some fun stuff like loops and aileron rolls, and then linked the two manoevures together...which was cool.

Next up was my Biannual Flight Review (BFR) in the Cessna we are going to hire. This is a mini checkride with an FAA examiner and consists of an hours flight and an hours oral exam. I was dreading this as although its badged as a "review" you can still fail these and then i wouldn`t be able to rent a plane!! Anyway, it went okay, the flight exercises were very good, the PFL aced for a change, the landings okay, although one was mega bumpy and had a go around as well! But all in all not too bad. I shared the oral part with Clay, but in truth it was just going over airpsace and regulations etc etc!

That was the preamble to the main event. A blast in the Pitts Special, a 260Hp bullet if every there was one! Its a truly awesome machine and fantastic at aerobatics. I got the full repertoire, consisting of loops, rolls, inverted flight, inverted spins, tailslides, hammerheads, double-hammerheads, cubans and snap rolls to name a few ( apologies in advanced for the youtube content!!). We managed 5 positive G and 2 negative in total...which was some going and the stomach didnt even flinch!! Definately this is the plane for me!!

So we have done with the aero`s for the time being and have planned to take off direct for Vegas on Wednesday after some planning tomorrow, as Reno is in icing conditions just now........next stop the rollercoasters of Vegas, but they`ll be a bit tame compared to the power of the Pitts!

Blowing a Hoo-Ley!

2007-05-07T03:02:00.000+02:00

So this was meant to be a flying holiday, but so far i`ve clocked up more miles in the car! The strong winds from yesterday persisted today and it meant that both flights were cancelled early in the day. Annoying, because it was blue sky and no clouds too....but just too much x-wind to deal with.

So Clay and I decided to head to Napa Valley and take in some wine tastings. We stopped for lunch in Napa and picked up some information before hitting the wine trails. The place itself is truly beautiful, full of grapes (no surprise there then!), but also not spoilt by lots of commericalism.
We stopped at 4 vineyards and sampled the delights, I was driving so couldn`t get to blottered but Clay did well to get through a few glasses.

This evening it was my turn to show off my other passiom, a spot of golf, albeit crazy golf. The putter was hot and i romped home for a 12 shot victory!
All in all a very pleasant day. The winds have now dropped and looking good for 3 flights tomorrow, one the in grob, a checkout in the 172 and a spin in the Pitts....fingers crossed!

Upside Down!

2007-05-05T23:21:00.000+02:00

Well i finally made it upside down today. Just the one lesson, as this afternoons blast in the 260hp Pitts Special was called off as the winds have picked up too much.

I was in the Grob again, and i`m really getting to like it. It handles smoothly and the stick yoke is nice and sensitive to the inputs. After a nice take off, I climbed us out to 6,000ft over the practice area where we re-capped a little on yesterdays manoeveurs, doing some more dutch rolls, accelerated stalls and spins. I felt more at ease today, and didnt get that feeling that breakfast was gonna come back and haunt me!!

We then did some spins and tried adding power and then aileron to try and get out of them. These two are instinctive reactions but a big no-no when you are hurlting towards Earth. The former flattens the spin, like happened in Top Gun and the latter tightens it......

After that, we had a little fun. We did some loop-the-loops and then some aileron rolls. I managed to film two loops, here and here.....before i had a go myself. Actually i found it pretty easy and even managed to beat yesterdays G record, all the way to 4.5g`s! Aileron rolls are also fun although not as stomach churning!

We then headed back to Livermore and landed in a strong x-wind. It was good fun watching some planes come in, as the wind was blowing 20kts straight across making landings somewhat tricky. The plan is to head into either Napa or to the Sequoia trees, as we have the afternoon off now.

Tomorrow, I have another lesson in the Grob, and booked the Pitts again..........!

Up for a Spin!

2007-05-05T04:30:00.000+02:00

Literally......!

Well thankfully the weather cleared up in the morning and although is was by no means great, it was still flyable. So I met up with my instructor, a guy called Rolf Peterson who i kid you not is most likely on the wrong side of 65!! He`s an aerobatics pilot who also flies gliders competively as well!

I`m flying a Grob, which is a low wing airplane similar to the Piper but smaller, faster and more manoeveurable. There are a lot of toys at Attitude Aviation and some serious harm to my wallet could be done in the next few days or so! I snapped away and below are some of the weapons they have at there disposal.

I had two flights today and as I type this i`m exhausted. Flying is tiring enough but when you are also being thrown about, upside down and pulling 4g (did that once today)....the body is struggling to keep up.....I am old you know! (remember Rolf is double my age!!!). The first lesson consisted of some familiarisation with the area and we found a nice hole in the could through which we climb. This enabled us to do some basic skills such as stalls, tight turns, rudder turns, dutch rolls below a nive steep spiral descent back down. A nice landing and back for some lunch - a whooping burger that Clay had got me! In heinsight not the best idea for both of us as the pace was gonna step up in the afternoon!

This arvo, we headed north a little to a training area then and we focussed on spinning. Starting with incipient spins which we needed to catch a second of so after they developed, and then moving onto fully developed nose down spins in which we managed 3g+ most of the time and once 4g when i felt a lot of blood rushing somewhere! It is actually really good fun, and above all we are learning techniques that one day could get us out of some nasty situations.

Tomorrow I have another trip with Rolf and we are going to do loops and aileron rolls. I cancelled another lesson later in favour of an hour in the very very fast and equally expensive Pitts with a pilot who races at the Reno air races. I`m going to ask for some no-hold-bars aeros.....so a lighter lunch tomorrow (or some bananas?)

Here are some of the toys as promised.....and these are just a few!

My trusty Grob Bavarian 115C

Claython`s dragging his tail in this

L-39 Firecat - a snip at $2200 per hour

A Classic Waco Bi-Plane

A very clean and Nice 172SP that me and Clay are planning to rent

A Super Decatchlon

Downtown................

2007-05-04T16:54:00.000+02:00

OK, I know this is meant to be a flying blog, but the difference between this flying holiday and the last time i was out this way is that this time we have no fixed schedule and are totally flexible. We don`t have any pressure to get up in the air and clock up masses of hours, so today was a relaxing "tourist day" and we took in some of the San Fran sights!

After pitching up at the school first thing (so its not a totally non-flying post!) where we sorted out our agendas and got registered, we headed towards Oakland as we had an appointment with the FSDO to have our JAR PPL`s validated. Some good Nav skills from clay got us there with plenty of time and we were both pleasantly surprised at how easy the whole process was. Within 30mins we had our "Temporary Airmes Certificate" and the proper FAA license will be sent out in the post!

From there we headed over Bay bridge into downtown and a nice lunch on the waterfront we tried to get a boat to Alcatraz but they were all fully booked. We hung about Fishermans Wharf for a bit and saw the Sealions and then set about trying to find the worlds steepest street Of course i had to give it a go, and in fact managed to safely navigate the numerous hairpins whilst filming it at the same time!! Next we took in the Golden Gate Bridge, although looking a bit rusty, it was an awesome (hear that word a lot here!) sight and well worth the visit.

A nice steak and a few drinks later and we headed back to the hotel. We are both due to this morning (Fri), but the weather is very overcast so we will see. Its due to improve from tomorrow. I have choosen to stay with the EMT course in Grob and Clay`s opting for the full aero`s in a Citabria. Should be great fun!

Business Class and the Toon Army!

2007-05-03T05:40:00.000+02:00

We were up bright and early and made it in good time to Schipol to check-in for our flight. There was a slight delay of an hour or so, but time pasted quickly and soon it was time to board. I have to confess, it did feel good standing in the Business class queue of two (me and clay), next to the economy class queue of 300 or so! We got some funny looks, but who cares!

All boarded, we took our seats and were promptly met with the first glass of bolly. After playing with all the buttons on the seat, going up and down like a yo-yo, a few more glasses were downed! It was spacious, good fun, and they certainly looked after us.

I had noticed this guy in the departure lounge who looked familiar, i commented to Clay but couldn`t quite put my name on who he was. Anyway we were in 79A&B and he and his wife were next door in 79 J&K. I was reading my aerobatics book, when during the first meal he asked me about it and we got talking. It soon dawned on us that he was loaded, as he started talking about the private jets he had owned in the past. He also had a thick North East accent, and my mind was rattling away to who he was. Anyway, he asked me where i was from and i replied near Brighton, this was followed by the following conversation:

Him: So i see your football team aren`t doign so well?
Me: Too right, another nothing season, i presume you are a Newcastle fan they arent upto much either?
Him: Well yes I am , I own them!

It then clicked, he was the chairman of Newcastle although I could only think it of Freddie Shepard at the time and it wasn`t him. So rather timedly i asked his name and he replied " Sir John Hall" (who also happens to own the metro centre in Newcastle and was worth over £100million). So the next hour or so was spent talking football. We dicussed how Michael Owen is only interested in playing for England and not Newcastle despite his $5 million wage, the good old days in the Keegan era, Bobby Robson, and how Abramovich has wrecked the league - a particular bug bear for Johnny boy. I cheekily suggested he should invest in the Seagulls....but he wasnt tempted! We drank a fair bit of port and had a really good laugh, for a multi-millionaire he was a rather nice chap!

We were certainly hob-knobbing and got a little pissed before the films started and the obligatory snooze developed! The flight all in all was great, and getting through customs and getting the car a breeze.
We called into Attitude Aviation on the way to the hotel and what a place (more to follow tomorrow). At the hotel we`ve just had a couple of hours on free beer and wine and now its time to catch up on some sleep. Tomorrow we are going to the school to discuss our schedules before heading into town for the rest of the day and evening!!

Flight over Amsterdam!

2007-05-02T09:31:00.000+02:00

Am writing this from the Business Class lounge at Schipol. We are all checked in for our seats upstairs, but have a slight delay to endure first - lucky the drinks are free then!

I arrived in Amsterdam last night and met Claython at Schipol. A quick stop at his house was followed by a train journey out to Lelystad airport where he`d book us an hour in a C150. This is his local airfield and the best bit is you can fly from there over the heart of Amsterdam and at less then 1000ft to boot!

After a smooth take off we headed out over the city and did some nice turns, taking in the red light districts and some other of the more familiar sights (canals etc !!). It was pretty turbulent over the town and a bit gusty, but was a great flight - and good fun calling in and listening out on Schipol tower. We then headed back and Clay made a smooth landing on R05. A couple of beers in the local bar followed, talking about our trip before heading back to his for some kip.

So in 12hours or so we`ll be in sunny CAL-I-FORN-I-A....can`t wait!!

One week to go......but whose counting!!

2007-04-24T19:21:00.000+02:00

So in one week i`ll be in the Dam, and a week tomorrow Claython and I will be California bound quaffing back the "bolly" in business class!

Thankfully all the paperwork is done and the experience was a lot easier this time then when I went across for my PPL. All being well next Thurs or Friday will be our first flying day and the plan is to try and keep the blog up-to-date as much as possible.

Not sure if i`ll get up before the big off, will just have to see how the weather pans out here.... hopefully it`ll be a damn sight better on the other side of the globe then it is here!!

A great weekends flying!

2007-04-15T21:20:00.000+02:00

What a weekend not a cloud in the sky for most of it, so ideal flying conditions. So I managed to bag two great flights!

On friday night I had LN-JAL booked and had planned a short bimble down the coast to get familar with the plane as I was still fresh to her. In the event it happened to be my first flight with pax, as Jonny (a fellow PPL-er) had just returned my steed and offered to come up for the ride. Initially I was a little apprehensive as I hadn`t planned for pax, but in the event it was great of him to come, and meant I could finally get some photos.

We routed down the coast to Egersund (the furthest I`ve been), then inland to Ålgard and over my bosses house before heading up over Hommersåk and then into Sola for a touch and go. The landings were pretty good and Jonny filmed the fullstop which was great, although I did stray a little from the centre line.

So all in all a really nice flight and a confidence booster for future pax flights.

This evening, I joined my pilot friend Victoria for a flight in the amazing Saab Safir. These are old planes used for training military pilots in Scandinavia. They have none of the luxury of the Archer, but this is the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to flying, real seat of the pants stuff. The planes are fully aerobatic as well and check out the "Top Gun" helmets that you just have to wear! Victoria has about 30hrs on this type so I was just along for the ride, but what a ride it was.

We departed R18 and headed for Ålgard where we did a turn and headed up to Hommersåk buzzing a couple of friends houses who were out waving. We then headed to Tau and Victoria performed some 2g turns, stalls and serious rudder work by trying to prevent a stall, it was really good stuff. I had control for a while and the plane was a pleasure to fly once it was setup correctly. We then headed to the coast, circled out house and went back to Sola for some touch and goes. Thats where the real fun starts as the Safir drops like a stone when you put in flaps and the poor visilbility means that you have to look out the side window to just your height. The landings were great, and after 4 we called it a day. What a great plane, pilot and friend, I`m definately going to take the checkout course on this in the summer - anyone for aeroabtics?

Piper Checkout

2007-03-31T15:26:00.000+02:00

Got checked out on this little beauty this morning thanks to Leif. She`s the club Piper Archer (LN-JAL) and was a real joy to fly, not just because it has all the gadgets and mod cons (GPS, Autopilot, leather seats!), but she handles really well.
The checkout consisted of going to the training area and completing set moves, before heading back to Sola for 5 touch and go`s, a mixture of flapped and flapless ones. All went well, in fact 5 of my best landings ever (am i sounding like a convert??). We had a little mis-understanding with RADAR in the training area, in which we got a telling off for no fault of our own, but apart from that it passed off relatively un-eventfully.

The timings good too, as two of the 172`s are currently in for lengthy annual services and the 3rd is pretty much chocker blocker in terms of booking. The club are trying to get more people to use the Piper and this gives me a good option to fly as well as the 172`s when they are fit.

Sure it is more expensive, but you get what you pay for i guess.

Get-Up-There-Itis!

2007-03-30T19:05:00.000+02:00

Had my first taste of it today. I had a planned flight to go to ENHD and back so a nice hours flight up the coast. However just before I was gonna crank LN-FAW up for the flight I realised that the plane only had 10mins left on the hours before its service. So all pre-flighted, fuelled and ready to go, what I should have done was saved the cash and quit the flight there. Instead I planned a circuit before coming back to base...

....in the event it took a little longer as ended up holding for ages and ages as it was Friday night rush hour at Sola! One landing later and I was back where i was a few mins ago with lighter pockets.

Still a lesson learnt i suppose!

Encounter with the AWACS

2007-03-22T19:19:00.000+01:00

Got up for a solo bimble this evening. The wind was freshening, but the visibility was great so I excitedly made my way to the club.As I was refuelling LN-FAW, I heard an almighty roar from behind and looked down R36 to see a ruddy great big AWACS coming in for a touch and go. It made the most immense noise and was an awesome sight. It continued to do T and G`s whilst I was finishing off the final checks.

Anyway, i got up for an hour. Went to the training area and practiced various manoevueres, which were great before heading back to Sola via the scenic route. It was a great flight, and made better cos the AWACS was back up in the sky and I was number two behind it!! Obviously I needed to give it some room cos of 4 big engines muck the air up a lot, but I made a really smooth landing which was the best for ages.

So all in all, very chuffed and going to go further afield next. Up to ENHD for a T and G there!

Paperwork......

2007-03-13T22:07:00.000+01:00

......from the FAA has arrived. So me and Clay are a "go-go-go" for a May departure. Counting down the days now!

Congratulations........

2007-03-07T09:27:00.000+01:00

.....to Michelle on becoming the Sola Flyklubb`s new Chairwoman at the AGM last night. Michelle has helped me enormously since coming to Norway as I`m forever asking questions about this and that and i`m sure i get annoying sometimes!! And, she also developed the English version of the website for myself and other non-understanding foreigners which has been a god-send!!!

Am looking forward to a great years flying. Who knows, more planes, lower prices ??? lol!

3rd time lucky!

2007-03-04T12:57:00.000+01:00

Having tried on two previous attempts to see the "world famous" Pulpit Rock today was to be the day. Before it was either too cloudy looking down or too foggy looking up, so hadn`t managed to see it at all.I had IKY booked with Leif, as i wanted him to show me some mountain flying and what can be done around that area. So with a nice departure made we routed out to Sandnes and northwards towards the Lysefjord - narrowly missing an eagle on the way!It was great visibility, a bit choppy as the wind was blowing off of the mountains, but the secnery was breathtaking. Sheer vertical falls of over 3000ft, its a base jumpers haven. It was great flying over Pulpit rock, seeing some mad people teetering on the edge - they`d just walked two hours to get there, I was there in 20mins. Anyway, I was snap happy and here are some of the best shots.
After that, we headed back to Sola for some more x-wing T&G`s. A mixed bag as usual, I just can`t seem to nail them completey everytime, either too fast, not enough control inputs - but thats where experience helps out I guess.

Hoping for some more solo time this week if the weather is good.

Second 1st Solo!

2007-03-02T17:24:00.001+01:00

5 months almost to the day since my PPL Skills test in San Diego, all the factors were there...good weather, a working plane, a working pass and nothing stopping me.

Having watched the wind die down all during the day I was full of nervous anticipation at the thought of my first solo in Norway. Afterall it had been a while and a frustrating time at that. I had booked LN-FAW as the others were ill or booked up. When I arrived at the club the conditions were good, a little overcast with light rain showers but not that heavy gusty x-wind which I seem to have become magnetically attracted too!! I pulled FAW to the refueller, filled her up and did my pre-flight. By this time the anxiousness had all gone, and I was beginning to remember the feeling of being able to fly on your own - how you wanted to fly and not being limited or inhibited by instructors with a gazillion more hours then you.

I called tower, only to be told to call ground. Everytime I had flown previously at Sola the ground frequency was closed.....this would be the only time it wasn`t!!!! Anyway, I got clearance for my flight, a departure from R18 to Orre the relatively familiar surroundings, as I wasn`t going to stray too far. Take off was great, very controlled and a nice departure. In fact the flight itself was great. I headed to Orre, did some dodging of rain showers, a few steep turns and slow flight before making my way back to Sola.

I called tower and got told to join "right, downwind for 1-8" which i duly did. I was then extended on a long downwind while a heavy took off, before I got routed to finals and landing back on terra firma. The approach was great, I nailed the speed and even though there was a minor x-wind, this didn`t put me off. The landing itself wasn`t great, I didn`t expect it to be, I flared a little late and had a bounce, but she settled back down after that.....so 2 landings for the price of 1!!

So 50mins logged as PIC again. I`m so chuffed, and can`t wait to get back up again...possibly next week, but we`ll see, after all there is no rush!

Long time......no blog!

2007-02-28T22:01:00.000+01:00

It`s been a couple of weeks without an update, so thought i`d put pen to paper tonight while it howls outside.

I haven`t flown. I`ve tried and got close but as usual both a combination of planes not being available (my bugbear!) and the weather has so far thwarted the latest 3 attempts. I had planned a weekend lesson, but that was scrubbed due to heavy snow. And this week I was hoping to get up on my "tod" for the first time, but due to me having an unerring knack of booking planes on windy days - i`ve grounded myself. As the old adage goes:

"Better to be down here wishing you were up there, rather then up there wishing you were down there"......if that makes sense.

On the trip front, well, I more or less have the next few years planned already!! Me and Clay`s plans are progressing nicely along for our May sortie. See the picture below of Claython`s dining table, with the route for our US trip plogged out......it`s 2m long (hope theres no copyright on the piccie as I pinched it from his blog!). We are both waiting to hear back from the FAA with the license validation info.........and then its off.....2 months tomorrow in fact!
France in August is coming along nicely and seems like we will get through their airspace with no altitude reporting as long as we learn some pigeon French!

And, an early plan is in the offing for getting our floatplane ratings in the lakes and mountains of Canada next year........with a spot of fishing a long the way!

Plus the flying club party a week on Saturday and a taxi trip with Victoria to Haugusend in IKY the following day (so I can catch my Ryanair flight to blighty!)

So all-in-all a fairly busy time on the flying front, even though I haven`t left terra firma!

Le Tour avec Le Machine!

2007-02-17T14:24:00.000+01:00

It`s great being a private pilot. Suddenly there`s no need to travel using "no frill airlines" for your holidays, and rather then a "fly-drive" holiday, post-ppl trips turn into "fly yourself" holidays ......
And so I jumped at the chance when a fellow AAA graduate, Mark "the machine" Nulty offered a seat on his forthcoming trip. The Machine got his ppl in two weeks in San Diego whilst I was out there. It was an incredible feat, doing all the flying and exams, plus night rating in that time was surely a super human feat, and the way he kept bashing those exams passes out was just like a machine - and hence the name stuck. Mark owns a share in G-BPVA (VA for short) a lovely C172 in Barton near Manchester, and he had it booked for 10 days in early August for a trip south through France to the Cote D`Azure and back - and of course was needing a wingman.

So a route was born and here it is. We`ll depart Barton bright and early on the 30th July and head down to the Isle of Wight to Sandown for a bacon sarnie, before pushing over the Channel heading for an airport in the heart of France called Chatearoux Deols. This should take 4 hours flying time in all, and therefore we should have plenty of time to get adjusted to the "French ATC" if they aren`t on strike! This airport will be our first over night stop. We`ll be "winging" the accomodation and may bung a tent in the bag depending on weight or make do with B&B`s on route. We`ll also need to organise customs at this airport, as this is mandatory for any cross borders flight.
After a few glasses of vin rouge, the next morning we`ll depart south for Marsaille, a major international airport. Flying here at Sola, it shouldn`t be too tricky for us to get in as i`ll be used to the hurly burly of big jets. Both mine and Marks skills should complement each other nicely as he is well accustomed to short field take offs and landings from Bartons boggy grass runway. The only sticking point maybe the fact that VA only has a Mode A Transponder and not an altitude indicating Mode C one - we are hoping that by filing flight plans for each leg we will get approval for this and will have to make do with reporting level on a regular basis! From Marsaille we`ll head to Nice and buzz past Monaco and possibly into Italy for a day trip, before heading Westwards to La Rochelle. We`ll need to fill up VA with some gogo juice on the way so we plan to pop into Perigeux on our way.

The following day we`ll head up the westerly coast to an island just outside of Brest and to the airport called Ouessant we`re we`ll overnight and plan our trip the next day back to blighty. From Ouessant we`ll route to St Marys on the Isle of Scily, this maybe the most challenging leg as we will need to rely heavily on our GPS as it will be across a large expanse of water (lifejackets on!). If the weather is a problem then we will head to Penzance as an alternate. We`ll then head back to Barton via Haverfordwest and Caernafon in Wales.

In all we think the trip will take between 5 and 6 days. It`s a total distance of 1800nm`s so between 20-25hrs in the saddle depending on winds. I can`t wait. I`ve got two great trips to look forward to in the next 5 months with two great pilots and friends.......now i just need to save some money to finance it all!!!!!

At last a pass.....class!

2007-02-15T19:35:00.000+01:00

After 3 months, I popped into the airport this morning and low and behold had my mugshot taken and a card was issued there on the spot. Of course it wasn`t that smooth as they had misplaced my original form, but luckily i was okayed in the system, so it was all systems go.

And the best thing was that slightly below the photo, it says "Pilot"........sort of brings it home now!

So I`m aiming on the week after next for my first solo jaunt (wind dependant). It`ll be a local flight to a training area and I may do a few touch and goes, but we`ll see what the conditions are like.

Also looking for any offers on sharing a flight upto Haugesund on the 11th March, as I`m off to the UK.....any pilots out there let me know!

Flying in a winter wonderland............

2007-02-11T15:59:00.000+01:00

...well not quite. But it was darn chilly. Minus 2oC and very icy when we taxiied IKY out to R18.

Yesterday was a glorious day, no wind, snow capped mountains and un-interrupted visibility. This is the pilots nirvana, and its called CAVOK (Ceiling and Visibility OK). Today, thankfully was much the same, certainly the clouds and vis were fine, but overnight a stiff breeze had picked up blowing from the East, over the Norwegian mountains and straight out to sea over Sola Airport. I`d noticed in the morning, that no one else has flown today and was expecting it to be called off. The wind was only between 14 and 16kts, but because it comes off of the mountains its very turbulent, hence why the wise folk stayed in bed this morning.

Anyway, Leif declared it ideal for x-wind training, and I begrudgingly agreed. I know its a weak area on my flying, more to do with confidence of being blown about rather then the actual physics of getting the beer-can down on the hard stuff - so i was half-hoping that a bimble into the fjords was the order of the day. Unfortunately no such luck and the next hour was composed of continuous "full limit" x-wind landings - which i needed. The limit of a C172 is 17kts and today the wind was consistently at 16kts - so we we`re "on it".

Having frozen my hands to the propellor on towing it to the re-fuelling station, it soon heated up when in the circuit. We did 11, mainly right hand circuits in all, and with that stiff wind blowing it`s not just about nailing the landing as the whole circuit "management" is demanding. At the end I was pleased, I felt more comfortable with the whole x-wind experience. Right enough, I hadn`t greased every one but the majority were okay, and safe if a little "un-gainly"!!!

We retired to the clubhouse for a nice warm cup of hot chocolate, before the hard work started (thanks Michelle and Victoria!!) - re-arranging the club house furniture!!

A good days flying and the confidence restored......now consistency is the key!

Rusty..........................

2007-02-04T17:20:00.000+01:00

Two months and 17 days since I last flew in the daytime - and since then only a night flight which was too windy for me to do anything on . So not surprising to learn that I was a tad rusty today.

Despite low cloud and drizzle, I was keen to get up seeing as the last 3 weekends had been cancelled for various reasons. I had IKY booked and even though the cloud was low (around 1300ft) we decided to head into the fjords before a few T&G`s back at base. The first part of the flight was uneventful, infact it was spectacular. After a smooth (ish) departure from Sola we routed down towards the "famous" Lysefjord and the Pulpit Rock. It was soon clear that we wouldn`t be seeing the Pulpit rock (a flat plataeu of rock with a 2000ft sheer drop to the fjord below!) as the cloud was a lot lower then the tops of the fjords and we were flying right into it. This was the second time i`ve tried to see Pulpit Rock, the first was from a boat, and we could barely see the sides of the fjord let alone the top cos of the fog. Today it was low cloud. Perhaps third time lucky

Nethertheless it was spectacular flying through the fjord with rock either side. And what was more exicitng was the tight 60 degree hairpin turn needed to make it back out.

We then headed back to Stavanger and routed back via a few VRP`s to approach Sola from another angle. R36 was the active and the wind was around 280/11-13kts....so the x-wind component was varying between 10 and 13kts....quite stiff (for me at least). And, to be honest it showed. The first was okay, having got the airleron down and applied the opposite rudder we landed not too shabberly, but the problem i`ve seen to developed in recent times is that I think the job is done and return the controls to neutral. This isn`t the done thing when you are doing a X-wind touch and go, cos the plane soon shoots off the runway if you don`t grab it. The second was a short approach which I was pleased with. And, I remembered to keep the controls in the right place preventing an abrupt exit off the runway!! The others weren`t my best, I seem to either come in too fast, or not get the nose down enough and one a couple of occasions Leif had to rescue me.....so there is work to be done. Give me 00000kts anyday!!!

So, as I knew before. I need some X-wind practice. A lesson of bashing that circuit 10-15 times should hopefully do it. However theres no doubt that not flying for such long periods doesn`t help.....as you are forever a few seconds behind the plane....and sometimes you just can`t afford that!

And I thought AAA was bad....!

2007-01-29T18:49:00.000+01:00

Ooooooppss.......................................

Almost!

2007-01-28T16:47:00.000+01:00

Well I made it as far as the clubhouse today, before a strong wind and generally rough looking weather put pay to any thoughts of getting skyward. To be honest, I wasn`t too disappointed, as after 3 consecutive nights on the town my head wasn`t in its best shape to concentrate for an hour or so.

Also, it occurred to me. Before I got my license I wanted to go up as often as possible. However once you have that "pooh brown" wallet, you can be a bit more picky as to the days you fly. Picking the best weather to enjoy the scenary for example, rather then blowing £100 on getting bumped all over the place!

So we try again next week!

More Cancellation then BA!!!

2007-01-21T19:11:00.000+01:00

Just a quick update. I have been trying to get back into the skies, but things have been consipiring against me.

Last Sunday , the plane was working, the visibility was great but it was too windy. Today, the visibility was great, there was no wind but the plane wasn`t working. So we shall try again next Sunday......third time lucky errh?

And the cold weathers setting in now. It`s snowing outside, so that may put pay to a few more weekends. Along if we do get up, i`m sure the fjords will look spectacular in the snow - i`ll be sure to take my camera. In fact the METAR from Sola this morning is:

ENZV METAR 230620Z 00000KT 9999 BCFG FEW010 M07/M08 Q1016 NOSIG

(The M07/M08 is minus 7oC)

On the pass front, I`m still waiting on my criminal record check to come back, so i think i`m still a month away from that. But once it turns up, they`ll be nothing to stop me - except my dwindling bank account!

Forms have also been sent to the CAA and FAA to get my PPL validated for my May jolly, and i`ve been in touch with a flying school in Sydney to combine a visit to see my Bro and H, with a full on Aerobatics course - perhaps later in the year!

So although there`s a distinct lack of flying at the moment, things are actually moving along!

I love it when a plan comes together

2007-01-11T07:52:00.000+01:00

After finding some pretty cool sites online and spending much of last debating the course, Claython and I are finally settling on the following "air trip" for the second half of our jolly to Cal-i-forn-i-a in May.

The current plan is very adventurous and will require between 20 and 25 hours in the saddle covering about 1,800nm in all. After having turned ourselves inside out on the aeros and EMT courses the plan is to set off sometime around the 8th May and take a Cessna 172 for between 5 and 6 days. We`ll first head North East from Livermore (our base) and fly up to Lake Tahoe for a spot of swimming - this will be a real challenge and more then likely our first taste of high altitude airfields (6700m AMSL!!). From there we`ll head half an hour north to Reno and hopefully crash with Claythons friend there for the night and enjoy some of the nightlife.

The next morning will involve a south-easterly track for 3 or 4 hours to get to Vegas, where we`ll aim to get into one of the regional airports there. The plan is to spend two nights there (who knows possibly in the San Remo!), and after the first night of vices to head off to the Grand Canyon south rim for a days sight seeing. The airspace over the canyon is pretty restricted but there are places where you can fly........

The next day we`ll head back to our "homeland" of Gillespie field in San Diego. Another 4 hours most likely, and we`ll hopefully meet up with John and Janice (who`ve just bought a Mooney!) for a beer or three! No doubt we`ll call into AAA and see what`s happening there these days! On route the plan is to stop off in the Mojave desert and visit the "Desert Boneyard" - the place where all the old airliners go to spend their last days and somewhere where i`ve always wanted to go to!!

From there it`ll be a pootle through the VFR corridor and up the coast. We`ll stop off at Catalina island off ther coast before heading across LA. Talk is that Claython will do the approach into LAX and i`ll do the departure....not sure I fancy flying at 140Kts and then having to shed a load of speed into to prevent a 747 going around...but he`s game! Perhaps we`ll T&G there - lol !!!

We`ll then head up to San Fran and stop off with some friends, you can fly over the golden gate bridge, so thats a must and we`ll probably chill there for a bit and take in the Napa Valley - tasting the local produce of course!

That`ll get us back to Livermore in good time and with some of it to spare in case the weather causes any dealys.

What a trip! I`m really excited about it and can`t wait! Now we need to get our licenses sorted and then sit back and wait for May 2nd to come round!!

Night Flying in the Fjords

2007-01-04T20:06:00.000+01:00

I finally managed to complete my long planned night flight with Leif this evening. Again the weather was looking a little dodgy to say the least, picking up from a timid 10kts during the day to 22Kts and gusting upto 35kts, still we decided that the vis was okay....and went for it!

We called up tower, because flying at night isn`t strictly compatible with Visual Flight Rules, they need to know what you`re going to be upto. In the event it was no bother and right on 6.30pm we called up for taxi having given IKY some go-go juice. It was pretty quiet around, the odd jet about, but we were cleared straight out on 36 and onwards to the Tau training area. Take off was eventful, having been out of the saddle for 6 or 7 weeks I was taken by surprise from a gust and knocked off course, obviously the wind was stronger then I had thought. We crabbed it towards a very picturesque and bright Stavanger and then ploughed onwards into the comparative darkness of the fjords and mountains. It was such a contrast and takes a while to adjust. Leif wanted to show me some techniques for flying in the mountains in dark such as using moonlight and valleys to assist with navigation. It was good stuff if a little bumpy. We then did some of the basic manoevuers such as steep turns and slow flight. What a difference doing then at night when there is no horizon, although I actually didn`t do to badly. If you glance away from a second it`s easy to become disorientated very quickly!!

After 30mins or so, we headed back to Sola where the wind had picked up. I called tower and we were offered a short approach (basically to avoid a long wait for a 737). We accepted it, and I had to hand controls to Leif as it was soooo windy and a short approach gives you no time to set the plane up. I think he was struggling a bit as the plane was yawing, pitching and rolling all over the place, but being the pro that he is, he greased it. I was in awe!!!!

We decided to do a full-stop after that, and I had a long final approach behind a DAT Saab which went well. Well the approach did, again, I wasn`t compensating for the cross wind and didn`t come in with the rudder soon enough causing me to drift off centre. Teamwork brought her down safely and we vacated left for parking.

All in all a very enjoyable flight, but it brings back the fact that too long out of the saddle leaves you rusty.....i do need another hour consolidating circuits so to get those windy landings nailed once and for all. This shouldn`t be a problem as on the security pass front it doesn`t look like i`ll get it for another 4 weeks or so...i won`t bore you with the story.....but i`ll believe it when I see it!

I`m going to adopt the old adage "Happiness is a limp windsock" !!!

And "definately" how not to do it!

2007-01-03T22:40:00.000+01:00

You may recall on an earlier post that before I did my first solo there was an emergency declared over the Gillespie Field radio for a banner tower who`d ran out of fuel. Well back then that situation ended happily with a forced landing on the freeway. But, alas, yesterday the pilots luck ran out on another banner towing sortie, stalling and then secondary stalling from a few hundred feet before ploughing head first into the ground..........

A stark reminder of the dangers of flying, and a sobering thought for us all. It`s these types of scenarios that my course in May will hopefully help me deal with...............

Showing me how it should be done!

2006-12-27T21:23:00.000+01:00

Had a call from Victoria at 4 o`clock this afternoon wanting to know if I wanted to go for a spin this evening....."ask a silly question" of course I wanted to!

And the bonus was that Dad was still here so we managed to get a flight in. We met Victoria at the clubhouse and she pre-flighted OY-JAL (the Piper Archer). I kitted Dad up with a life vest and once all the pre-flight was completed we climbed aboard our steed. I was in the right hand seat and it was Captain Hoyvik at the controls, I haven`t been checked out on Piper - preferring the high-winged Cessna`s so far. But I must say that the Piper was very nice and handled well.

We departed R36 after making a KLM 737 wait at the hold of R18 and headed to Stavanger to pass overhead for some night viewing, and then made our way to Sandnes (south east of the airport), where we overflew Victoria`s mothers house). This cleared us in for some T&G`s....they were good fun and every landing was nailed - this is how it should be done Matt! I have a lot to live upto!

5 T&G`s later and we headed back to base and a great flight completed. Many thanks to Victoria for your expert handling and captaincy, we both really enjoyed it!

I owe you a flight now........if you`re game enough!

Merry Xmas Readers!

2006-12-20T14:20:00.000+01:00

Well I had hoped to get up for a quick jaunt this evening before the Xmas holidays but all 3 172`s are ill at the moment, so that rules out anymore flying before the new year!

But what a great year of flying I have had! I started with a dream to become a pilot and I accomplished it and had a great time along the way, and met some great flying buddies who i`m sure to stay in touch with!

Thanks to all for your words of encouragement and will be back at the start of the new year if not before!

God Jul og et Riktig godt nytt aar!!!

Annoyed!

2006-12-14T18:48:00.000+01:00

I`m annoyed, not just my instructor failed to show tonight for my flight, but more at myself for not organising this damn pass sooner - afterall I`ve been flying there since May time! Argggh!

And it was such a good night for flying just to rub it in.

So that`s probably me to the New Year unless something miraculous happens and Santa brings me my pass!

And the facts speak for themselves!

2006-12-12T13:19:00.000+01:00

I just found out that the last dry day in Stavanger was Wednesday 4th October......68 days ago!

When will I see the sun again!

2006-12-12T09:00:00.000+01:00

I`ve been Xmas shopping in Oslo this weekend so no flying - that`s 3 weekends since I was last in the saddle.

I`m still hoping to get up on Thurs night, but the forecast again is looking decidedly dodgy and it seems to have been raining for the last two months solid - but we`ll see. FAW and AED are ill at the moment so we`ll be taking IKY all being well.

On the pass front, well my forms have now been signed and I just need to drop them off at the police station and the airport to get the ball rolling. I got my police check back from Aberdeen in double quick time, with no criminal convictions - I was pleased to see! So all being well I should have a pass by the end of the year - but perhaps not in time to take pops for a spin on the 27th....again we`ll see!

No go tomorrow!

2006-12-02T17:08:00.000+01:00

Well it wasn`t the weather or the lack of pass that got me. But I just got a call from a guy who tried to use AED today and it wouldn`t start, so tomorrow`s jaunt it now on hold. With me being away next weekend my next flights now a night flight on the 14th...........

UPDATE:
Well even if the plane wasn`t U/S then there`s no way I would`ve gone up in 43Knt gusts which is what its been blowing this morning!

Planning for the next big adventure.........

2006-12-01T17:41:00.000+01:00

I`m really excited, I`ve been in touch with Claython and we`ve finalised our plans for our next big jolly - back to sunny California for a spot of aerobatics at Attitude Aviation in May next year! I`m not sure what course to do yet as they offer both a basic aerobatics course and also an unusual attitude course. Claython`s gonna be flying a Yak (the plane, not the hairy thing)when he moves to the Ukraine in a few months, so he may do that and i`ll do the attitudes course! The former I guess you can kinda imagine involves lots of g`s and lots of upsidedownness and of course fun, the latter is more about getting out of those sticky situations like spins and stalls and does cover some basic aero`s as well.

And then after the fun we are going to hire a c172 for the second week and have already earmarked many places to visit - an overnight trip back to KSEE is a must, as is a flight over the golden gate bridge. Then we`ll head down to the Desert boneyard and then perhaps up north to Lake Tahoe.......it`s gonna be great!

All the details will be finalised in the next few months. We`ll need to book accomodation and more importantly get a FAA license - which inevitably involves parting with some cash, but time is on our side. And, because aeros its not an official rating, we don`t need to go through the whole visa malarky again as well!

And best of all (and a big thank you to Claython), is that we will be going Business class from Schipol to San Francisco thanks to all those airmiles he has earned, i just hope they stock up that free champagne beforehand!

So exciting times ahead. I am meant to be up flying this Sunday but both the weather (usual wet and windyness) and the fact that I can`t get on to the airport is conspiring against me!

But, vi skal se!!!

Too windy!

2006-11-23T17:10:00.000+01:00

Unfortunately my night flight tonight had to be cancelled as there is a big "low" on the way and the winds are getting up. The weather was:

METAR 231550Z 13020G38KT 090V180 9999 SCT035 BKN060 08/02 Q0976 NOSIG

Whatsmore the wind is coming from the east through to the south and thats a real challenging wind for landing at Sola as it comes off the mountains and is really turbulent - even experienced pilots don`t go up (hence Leif cancelling).

A shame, and I`m not sure when i`ll go up again, as the "airside" pass can take upto 5 weeks to come through - so no trip for you this Xmas Dad! (you can breathe a sigh of relief now!)

Checked Out - time to go it alone

2006-11-21T16:27:00.000+01:00

It hasn`t stopped raining for the last two weeks (and I am not joking). So no surprise when this
morning I awoke to more of the same interspersed with the odd crack of thunder! However as each shower past by the window, bright blue skies appeared and seeing as I`d been up for the last two weekends in similiar weather today actually looked quite good and another real challenge.

LN-FAW was still in for her 100hr service awaiting some part,s but luckily my old faithful LN-IKY was sitting in the hangar needing a ride out so myself and Leif booked her and got her out the hangar, just as the heavens opened once more and deluged large hail stones everywhere! Anyway, Leif showed me the ropes on the refuelling station and with her all topped up I called for departure and got a straight out on R18. Plan was to continue windy landings (wind was roughly 220/22knts, but changing all the time), so a slight crosswind but not too much. All in all an uneventful 10 landings were made, mainly flapless and the odd glide one as well. One was dodgy to say the least and I was gonna go round, but managed to get here down. Traffic wise it was quiet, the normal Saturday morning flights as well as Air Victoria - she was taking friends on sight seeing tours of the Lysefjord - i hope saw my landings (well the good ones anyway!).

Leif commented that my radio work was really good, and out of most things that was the big plus to take from Gillespie field, I no longer fear it and acutally kinda enjoy the RT. So after a nice taxi back and a cup of coffee, I was really pleased to see Leif sign my logbook - KlubbCheckride - basically meaning I now have free reins to go and explore and take passengers up - any volunteers???

First though I need to organise a pass and then get a few more hours in the local area on my own. I`ve also booked to go up on Thursday evening with Leif for some night flying and then we are going to do long cross country before Xmas landing at uncontrolled airfields in the bottom of valleys - should be a real challenge and can`t wait providing the snow holds off!

Finally it`s arrived!

2006-11-15T18:20:00.000+01:00

After 5 weeks was it worth the wait?

Well apart from it being poo-brown colour .....of course it was!!!!

Ohh....what a palava!

2006-11-14T10:27:00.000+01:00

Last Friday I got a Fedex note through my letterbox and as the only thing I was expecting was my license I got up early on Saturday and headed to the post office to collect it.

So imagine my surprise when the lady behind the counter gave me a large box of Hydraulic fluid.....hmm, something not right here I thought. And then it dawned on me that the chances were "he" who was expecting the fluid was probably the proud new owner of "my" PPL license! Doh!

Anyway, I called the CAA this morning and sure enough they had couriered it out on the 3rd November. Queue alarm bells! After a mad 10mins on the phone the kind lady managed to give me a tracking number and thankfully they had used UPS and not Fedex, so this meant it wasn`t lost...was it! So, I entered the tracking ID on the web and sure enough they had attempted to deliver it 3 times in the last week....nice of them to leave a note. So anyway its now back in Oslo, and I should be getting it by the end of the week. It`ll certainly have been well travelled, by the time it gets here, as its already been to Denmark and Sweden as well!!

So if you know of anyone who wants some hydraulic fluid for Xmas, i`ve got a load going spare!

Confidence Building....

2006-11-11T15:14:00.000+01:00

It`s been pissing it down all week here on the west coast of Norway and blowing a "hooley" as well. And today was no exception. In fact the METAR at Sola this morning read:

METAR 110950Z 24018G31KT 9999 -SHRA SCT020CB BKN040 07/02 Q0995 TEMPO TSRAGS BKN014CB

You don`t have to be a pilot to know the TS (Thunderstorms), GS (Snow grains) and winds gusting to 31knts is not flying weather. However after a quick call to Leif to confirm it was a no-go, he said to my surprise "we should see what happen"!. So that`s what we did. By the time I pitched up at 1pm (nursing a slight sore head!) at the clubhouse the weather hadn`t improved, but we went for it anyway...personally I would have stayed in bed had I been solo-ing!

So out into the howling wind and rain to do then pre-flight and then I jumped in to the comparative warmth of the cockpit before calling tower and getting the clearances. The big jets were using the cross wind runway R29/11 so we headed to there, thats one of the beauties of Sola, having the two runways makes days like this possible to fly in, where if there was only the normal R18/36...they`d be no chance to get up in the air. Again I was on the radio (which I don`t fear anymore) and doing touch and goes meant I`d get more exposure to the RT as its much busier then if you are in the training area as you have to deal with other traffic, holds etc etc.

Anyway during the lesson the wind got upto 29knts at one point. We did a combination of flapped and flapless landings and due to the level of traffic we had to hold or orbit on quite a few occasions. The blowy wind meant that flying downwind , you suddenly picked up 29Knts more speed which made that part very quick, and then when you turned base you drifted away from the runway. And, then you line up on final, when suddenly you have a 29knt headwind. Still it was all good practice, and after a few dodgy ones I got the knack of the landings again and the confidence of flying in strong winds grew. It was also good practice to do the 360 degree orbits as the wind affects them greatly, as you need to constantly change your bank angle to remain overhead.

So thats 7 windy landings to add to my logbook, and next week I`ll be hoping for some crosswind ones to build that confidence up even more. I also got through the post this morning my Jeppesen aerodrome guides for the whole of Scandinavia....so i`ll have to start plotting which fields to visit!

Oh and I also got the bargain of the century on eBay. I bougt a brand new headset for under 50 quid......there must be a catch!!!

Sola AirShow 2007

2006-11-08T09:21:00.000+01:00

I went to a meeting at the flying club last night. Okay, so it was all in Norwegian, but I actually got the gist of what was going on (thanks to Victoria for the summary afterwards!). It was to provide information on next years Sola AirShow 2007 - celebrating 70 years of the airport. The lineup hasn`t been confirmed but all the biggies have been invited and we`ll know whose coming in Feb/Mar time.

In the meantime there is alot of organising to do by the sounds of it, and i`ll be involved during the weekend hopefully in some capacity. I also got wind that there is going to be a L39 (below) coming and they are going to sell rides for £300 a go......now thats`s a bargain!

All welcome to come over and crash at mine.....................2/3 June 2007

What a difference!

2006-11-05T12:14:00.000+01:00

The weather was looking decidedly dodgy again this morning. A cloud base of no more the 2000ft and a stiff wind meant that I was expecting a call and the inevitable postponement. Thankfully it didn`t come so I made my way to the flying club and shortly after Leif arrived. Unfortuantely FAW was on its 100hrs service and most of the other planes had niggles with them, but AED was available and due back shortly. So we hung around and chatted about my states trip. Leif has flown all over the world and knew that area well so he was fairly happy with what I had did out there and offered his congratulations for my skills test pass.

At 11am AED pulled up outside and we kitted up. For the last few days I`ve been a little nervous about this flight. Silly really cos I`ve got the hours and know what i`m doing, but Sola will be my base for the next few years so I wanted things to be right and spot on with all that I was doing, and there is always an ongoing debate about if those PPLers who went to the states "really know what its like to fly". That one will go on and on until the cows come home. The bottom line is I know that i`m not a good pilot. A good pilot is one whose done thousands of hours, I do however know that I`m a safe pilot and its that that ultimately makes the difference!

Anyway, it was great to be back in a plane after a long month and the nervousness dissapeared instantaneouely. I did all the radio for the flight which was a real confidence builder as this is one area that varies greatly to the states. Its so more formal here, and I`m not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing. The wind was coming at us from about 45degrees and this made taxiing difficult, remembering all the time to keep the airleron down into the wind. We got clearence to take off on 29 and I was a little hestitant when the wind was given as 24knots - these things can normally only hadle 15knots max! Leif didn`t seem phased, he`s no doubt seen it all before. So after a crabbed take off, we shot up to the turning altitude and I headed for the training area. The visilibilty was generally good, we did however pass through a few rain showers (now I didn`t see any of those in the US!). The lesson was spent recapping all the manoevures that i`d had nailed into me in the last 6 months and I was really pleased. The teaching techniques are different here, but i soon got the swing of things and recapped slow flight, steep turns and stalls before Leif pulled the power and I attempted a PFL. Not my best, but she would have got down. I radioed tower and we got clearance for a straight in to R36. Wind was 17Knots crosswind...and I`m not exaggerating when I say that we were so far crabbed into the wind on finals that I was watching the runway out of the passenger door!

Anyway I got her to about 30ft and then Leif had to take control....it was way too strong for me and on the absolute limit! Anyway, he got here down and we taxiied back. I was buzzing, in the US we did a few crosswinds but not when it was blowing a "hooley" and raining.....this is what I need to learn, this is the biggest difference ....such a vast knowledge gap of learning in the 90 degree heat and clear blue sky of Gillespie and in the windy, gusty and wet conditions of Sola.

In the debrief I said I wanted to work on flying in these conditions and Leif agreed, so I booked another slot for next week. Here`s hoping for another wet and windy Saturday!

Another week!

2006-10-25T12:44:00.000+02:00

Unfortunately my instructors away this weekend, so no chance to get up. And with the nights drawing in and clocks going back on Sunday that rules out any leaving work early and getting a slot. So I`m now not due to fly until the 4th of Nov. I kinda think this is going to be the pattern for the winter anyways. With icing conditions likely from pretty much Nov through to Mar, flying days may well be severely limited, that plus the gusty and cloudy conditions that autumn brings doesn`t bode well. But there is no rush to pack the hours in, I`ve past my PPL so the pressure is off, and if I spend more time with my head in a book then at 3000ft this winter, then at least I`ll be an improved pilot from where I am at the moment.

Thunderstorms - errgghh!!

2006-10-22T12:02:00.000+02:00

Having been a good boy last night and changed from the beer to the coke at midnight in order to avoid the inevitable hangover and to feel fresh for this mornings jaunt, it was a bit annoying to say the least when I awoke at 9am to the dolcet tones of thunder in the distance! That followed by some impressive flashes and the pelting of rain against the window meant that I wasn`t gonna get up this morning, and sure enough Leif texted me to say we would need to postpone! Of course being sod`s law and that, at about 11am the clouds lifted and bloue sky appeared, but to be honest the weather forecast was still predicting towering cumulonimbus and heavy rain, so it would have been foolhardy to have gone for it.

For those aviationists or meterologists out there the METAR and TAF for this morning was:

METAR 220950Z 18007KT 9999 FEW015 SCT020TCU BKN180 13/11 Q0991 NOSIG

TAF (FC) 220800Z 220918 15010KT 9999 +SHRA FEW010TCU BKN030 TEMPO 0918 SHRA SCT008 BKN014CB PROB30 TEMPO 0918 TS

So I`ve re-arranged for next weekend and what with the weather and the nights drawing in, I kinda wish I was back in San Diego!

Medical Booked

2006-10-19T10:30:00.000+02:00

So thats the class 1 medical booked. 8am on the 11th December at the Norwegian CAA in Oslo, followed by an appointment to have my lungs x-rayed later that day. Hoping to combine it with a Xmas shopping trip to the most expensive city in the world!

Just pondering with my Dad last night, there can`t be a harder profession to get into really (perhaps a doctor runs it close). But to get the full ATPL, you`ll have to have passed a total of 21 theory exams and 6 practical exams and thats just for a license and medical which are only valid for 1 year!!!

The UK CAA now have my license application so once those papers have been pushed around a bit they`ll hopefully send them back to the correct address and then i`ll definately start to feel like a pilot. Looking forward to getting up this Sunday, hopefully the weather won`t put pay to those aspirations!

Withdrawal Symptoms!

2006-10-16T15:09:00.000+02:00

It`s been less then a week since I arrived back and more then 10 days or so since I last flew. The application is winging its way to the CAA as I type and I hope to get it back (all being well) in the next 6 weeks or so. On the flying front I`ve booked a lesson with Leif for this Sunday. It`ll be good to get up and about again, but I still feel kinda like a student. Once I`m fully upto speed with the air space, circuit patterns etc at Sola and i do that first flight, then I think it will acutally sink in that I`m a pilot now!

On the "what next "front. Having toiled with the idea that I may do some aeros or bush flying abroad, I`ve now decided that you only get one shot at this life (to name just one cliche!), but it`s true and if I at least don`t attempt to get that iullusive ATPL then that would just be a waste. So I`m still planning on doing the aeros here in Stavanger, but am now actively looking at the various schools around Europe who offer either a full-time Integrated or part-time distance learning course......circumstances will dictate which I go for. However, the first thing to try and get out of the way is the class 1 Medical. Not cheap at £400, but it looks like i`ll be able to do that in Oslo as opposed to having to go to Gatwick. Generally not much to worry about, but the eyes are going to be the issue, i`m borderline I think, so it comes down to "on the day".

Just wanted to add my congrats to my San Diego flying buddy Claython who passed his skills test yesterday and whom I`m looking forward to flying with in Amsterdam in the future!! Well done Pilot Pender!

Triple Triple!

2006-10-10T04:21:00.000+02:00

Okay - so now my mission is complete.

It`s fair to say that my diet has taken somewhat of a turn for the worst since I arrived in the US four weeks ago. With drive thru this and drive thru that it`s sometimes too had to resist the lure of the golden arches or the colonel himself. I thought the 2 gallon coke (it came with a handle like a bucket!)was large, but for a while now I`d been hearing about the legend that was the In-N-Out Triple Triple Animal style burger!

So tonight was the night, my final night, probably my final takeaway for a long time. And, she was no disappointment. Three burgers, three layers of cheese, onions, salad, gerkhins ....the works! My jaws aching as I right this!

I`ll miss America, well it has been home for the last month but my stomach is craving the fresh fish and salad......and so am I!!!!

(BTW - its such a monster that it`s not even on the menu!!!)

USS Midway

2006-10-09T18:56:00.001+02:00

On a rare afternoon off with Claython having sucessfully completed his solo QXC (well done BTW), we hit downtown in search of the USS Midway. She`s a 1940`s vintage aircraft carrier, who last saw action during desert storm. After arriving and having a go on a simulator we then whizzed through the crew quarters and all the rest of it, before the main event the Flight Deck. If you haven`t been on an aircraft carrier before, let me tell you that the runway and launch deck are tiny....how they managed to land large jets on them I don`t know, I`d struggle to get my little C-172 on there for sure! So on with the photos:

My favourite with Maverick in the cockpit - the F-14 Tomcat

A C-1 Trader

F-8 Crusader and the bridge A good `ol Sea king On the Hangar deck an A-4 Skyhawk
F9F Panther
A Chinook....well a H-46 Sea Knight apparently
And, me julies....how you doin`! (Nice shoes btw!)

Mission Accomplished!

2006-10-08T20:35:00.000+02:00

Almost 4 weeks to the day, thats the final test complete. So I have now added a Radio License to my PPL and Night Rating. And to top off a great day, my original papers from Aberdeen turned up today as well!

Totals test was purely a UK based license but is valid for 10 years so enables me to fly in the UK operating a radio. It`s more of a money making exercise then anything else but the test itself is quite duanting. It`s a computer controlled flight with an ATC guy in the other room pretending to talk to lots of other aircraft, its a lifetimes RT in 45mins and covers absolutely everything.

So with that done. I`m back to Norway on Tuesday and it`ll be 2 months or so before the "brown poo" coloured license will appear in my letterbox. In the meantime I`ll hook with Leif again and pick off where we left off, familiarising myself with the local area and aerodromes.

It`s been an amazing expericence, hard work and there were no gimmies. There`s been ups and then bigger ups, and very little downs. I remember especcially my first solo and the long X-country that makes you feel like a real pilot. The nerves of the skill test and then the rush and relief of when you pass. I`d recommend it to anyone, the freedom it gives you to just take a plane and go where you like and when you like is unparralleled. I lookfor ward to my future aviation adventures - albeit I`m not sure what those entail yet - aeros, sea plane, multi who knows there are so many options. I can`t wait to take friends and family up - flying across Sydney harbour will be a must!!

However it isn`t time to change the name of this blog from Matts Learning to Fly to something more relevant as if theres one thing that I have learnt over the last month its that you never stop learning in this game!!!

Thanks to all who have helped on the way!

Chocks Away!

A great treat!

2006-10-08T00:19:00.000+02:00

Last night myself, Claython, John and Janice headed into El Cajon for something to eat and some beers, and John kindly offered to take us both for a spin this morning in his plane. And what a beauty she is!

After Claython had a spin and a spot of lunch I climbed aboard and settled in, looking everybit the Biggles lookalike. The plane is a stunner, immaculately maintained and kept and looked great fun to fly. John took me up for half and hour and we climbed out south of KSEE before he let me have controls. At first I was a bit tentative as for the last month I`ve been flying beer cans that are so unresponsive. I liken it to riding a stallion when you are used to riding school ponies. I was lightly tapping the rudder, but thats all she needed and with a few more turns my confidence grew. John showed me a "lazy 8" in which you point the nosedown, the flip it right and climb under your self....it was so responsive and a great little intro to some aeros which I am planning on doing back at Sola in Feb.

It was a real treat and a great way to mark the end of my flying here at KSEE....this is the kinda thing that i`ve got to look forward to in my flying career and I can`t wait. So thanks John and "Eddie"

Nostalgia!

2006-10-05T22:41:00.000+02:00

Over the over side of R27L is the San Diego Aircraft museum. This morning myself and Claython paid them a visit and it was a good 30mins well spent. Inside the hangar they had a good selction of aircraft from the old (an old sopwith) to more modern aerobats such as the Pitts. However outside there was a small graveyard of classic fighters, all looking a bit aged and dusty, but it was nethertheless good to get so close to these icons. I took a few photos of my favourites.

Hit the brakes and fly right by, ye ha Jester`s dead.....straight for Top Gun the classic F-14 TomCat.

A very sleak looking, not long retired F-16

And some old thing, a Boeing I think.......

Next week Miramar are hosting an airshow, but I`ll be over the Atlantic by then which is a shame.

Tonight I`ve got my last flight of this adventure to complete my night rating. But for now it`s back to a good book and a soak in the pool.

UPDATE:

Well that`s me now completed all the flying here in San Diego. In total I`ve managed 45hours and 8minutes since I`ve been here and have got my PPL and Night Rating to boot. Tonight we just messed about for the remaining minutes I needed, taxiing round and keeping the engine running at times to get the meter ticking over. A few more days left to get my RT sorted and back to Norway on Tuesday which I`m really looking forward to.

Paperwork!

2006-10-05T01:15:00.000+02:00

After stumbling in at 2am this morning having been out celebrating, I wasn`t relishing having to spend time this morning doing the paperwork. In the end it took about 3 hours to complete as every Tom, Dick and Harry wants a copy. But when you see your logbook signed off as "PPL Skills Test Passed" it begins to sink in that you have acutally achieved something massive!

So I have a bundle of paperwork which is set to grow in the next few days when I complete my night rating and sit the R/T Practical - and all this plus my cheerished logbook needs to be sent to the CAA for them to push round for a few months, before I get the prized PPL license. Oh, and of course they want £300 for the pleasure, but it`s been more then worth the expense of it all!

I`m a Pilot!!!!

2006-10-04T02:19:00.000+02:00

After what felt like the worst flight of my life - I`ve just been told that I`ve passed my skills test - so I am now a Private Pilot!!!!

After 60 hours of instructions starting at Sola and ending here at Gillespie - I`VE DONE IT!!

The test itself was 2.5hours long in total, this incorporated the following elements:

- Pre Flight briefing and Oral
- Navigation leg of 40nm to be flown in a straight line
- Departure handling
- Manoevures - steep turns, stalls etc etc
- Instrument manoevures
- Radio Navigation
- Landings - various flavours
- Emergencies - engine failures, forced landings
- Diversions

So it`s a hell of a lot to pack in, in such a small space of time, and to tell the truth I was dreading it. This morning I was in early as I needed an extra hour in the plane to get my solo time up - this helped but also added to the nerves as my landings were hard. I then had my pre-flight briefing over breakfast and then had to plot and plan the route. At 1pm we set off, me having cleaned the windows and made sure all was spotless. To tell the truth it didn`t get off to the best start as I was told off for taxiing to fast and riding the breaks! But after departure we settled into the first navigation leg and that was fine - I drifted a little but thats to be expected but I was overhead my airfield at the alloted time and even managed to spot it (hadn`t been there before). We then headed on the second stage but that didn`t last long, before we got into the manoevures. These were okay, the examiner had different ways to do them then I`d been taught, but as long as you show the co-oridination and the knowledge and do them safely then you`ll be fine.

After having a near miss from a C5 (not our fault), we headed to a regional airfield called Franch Valley for the emergencies and landings. I had been here before for one circuit but that was it, so I wasn`t realishing it. The landings were hard, but safe, the emergencies okayed and reasonably controlled - however I left feeling a little dejected as I thought I`d cocked up. I was also clearly talking too much, but I use that as a good way of claming myself!

We then did some basic hood work which was okay and the final diversion to a casino 40nm aweay also went well. After landing back at Gillespie and then doing an aborted take off, I was in such a hurry to get home that I didn`t hold for instructions - doh!!!! Although the examiner didn`t make a big deal of it!

After a debrief I was welcome to club with a handshake, which was quite surprising as I thought I flew like a lemon!

So no solo flying until I get all my papers back from Gatwick which could take upto 2 months - I also need a copy from Aberdeen of my exam results!! However, it`s not all over yet, I`ve still to sit a RadioTelephony practical this weekend, which allows you to fly in any airspace. At present I am a pilot but of a plane without a radio!!!

Time for a well earned beer! The paperwork can wait until tomorrow!

A Mad Panic.....

2006-10-03T04:54:00.000+02:00

Following a general briefing from the examiner this evening it turns out that the night PPL hours cannot be used for the normal PPL license issue. This means an early start tomorrow as I need 0.9 hours more solo time!!!

We`ll get there in the end!

Mock Test

2006-10-02T23:41:00.000+02:00

Had a scaled down mock test with another instructor today. It lasted a good 2 hours and covered most of the aspects that the actual test will cover. It was strange at first having someone new beside me as I`d spent over 35hours with Enrico on my right and now had a guy called Jason. After some American football talk we got down to business and set about the mock test. Given that the exaiminer can take you anywhere its pretty hard to get an exact replica, but in terms of the manoeveures required its fairly siminlar - although the nervous levels will be a lot higher for the main test.

Generally it went fine and the only things he picked up on were with the different teaching methods employed which is a necessary evil when there are examiners from all over the world - as long as you get to the same end point then there is no harm. The manoeveures were okay and even the PFL was getting better - although this is still my major bug bear. We`d planned a fwe touch and goes but the combination of time and a useful student pilot in front of us flying the most crazy circuit pattern you can imagine prevented this.

So the next step is the main thing in the next few days. I kinda feel that the basics are there, I know the plane and it knows me. My flying can of course improve but perhaps I`ve learnt enough from San Diego - the next challenge will hopefully be putting that into practice in the fjords of Norway!

A wee jaunt followed by shooting the ILS!

2006-10-02T05:16:00.000+02:00

Today I needed to finish off my x-country hours as I had raced through the two previous sorties and need 5 hours in total for PPL qualification. So this afternoon I took Zippee and we went on a quick whizz north of Gillespie for 30mins or so. It wasn`t particularly business and pretty uneventful, except for a girl radio-ing that she was lost and the controlled guy getting in a strop again.

So thats the Solo hours now complete, and this evening I went up with Enrico and my first passenger Claython for a navigation at night. We headed off for Montgomery where I intercepted the ILS and then performed a planned go-around. It sounds very clever and it is, of course this is way beyond the require grade for the average PPL-er and thats why Enrico did most of the bells and whistles and I just steered the course and heading! It looks impressive too and makes you feel like you`re flying a big jet in there! We then headed over San Diego downtown, over the Padres Baseball stadium and across to the border at Tijuana - which looks every bit the sprawling mess that I`m told it is - even from night. We then headed back through the hills and I landed unevenfully on 27R.

I still need another 1.2hours at night, and have yet to have my test date confirmed.......

Hey Gringo....you wanna some fun!

2006-10-01T05:12:00.000+02:00

So with a non-flying day today myself and Claython headed around to John and Janices amazing house just down the road. They are Claythons friends here in San Diego and were the perfect hosts for taking us across the border in to Mexico.

We drove for 30mins before we hit the border leaving the car US side (as the Mexicans like Nissans!). Rather then heading for the apparently "tacky" Tijuana we opted for a bit more traditional Mexico in the border town of Tecate. I was expecting a huge iron fence, and although the acutal crossing didn`t resemble this there was a noticeable amount of steel either side. Nethertheless we happily strolled across the border without anyone battering an eye-lid - going the other way wasn`t going to be so easy surely! Although only a small sample, my first impression was exactly what I had been expecting, bustling, colourful and noisy and so it was. We headed immediately for the beer garden and there was a traditional Mariachis band playing and some old boiler singing away. We had a few of the local Tecate beers which went down a treat before heading to the square for some more beer and some traditonal food which went down a treat. We only hung about for 3 hours or so before we headed back to the border. Now this wasn`t the same deal as coming into Mexico - they`ll let any Tom, Dick or Harry in, but goign the other way is a different matter. Myself, John and Janice passed through, but Claython got hauled up by some jobsworth who interrogated him with a gazillion questions before finally letting him through - see that Irish accent can get you into trouble sometimes!

We then headed back to Janice and Johns for some beers and a relax and I`m just heading out to a Mexican joint with James and Victoria - celebrating his new shiny PPL.

Back in the jump seat tomorrow but not until 5pm....so time to shake that hangover off!

The Al Queda Link

2006-09-30T06:28:00.000+02:00

Now coming to America to learn to fly has changed somewhat since the days of 9/11. Now you need visas, pay lots of money to the American goverment, get an interview, have your fingerprints taken and the list goes on and on. When all you need is one of these:

This is one of the planes that Mohammed Atta trained on whilst learning to fly in San Diego. The story is that Fred (the man who fixes the planes two hangars up from our school) used to have a flight school at Montgomery airfield in San Diego and he trained two of the 9/11 hijackers to fly. His Iranian, so come September 12th 2001 he had the FBI knocking on his door and to all intents and purposes continues to get hassle from them to this day. In fact the BBC are here at the moment shooting footage of him and the plane and want to borrow some school planes to do some local shoots!!

Anyway, that was probably the most exciting thing that happened today. I had an afternoon session which was okay - but nothing more. And then a good session this evening on my own in the circuit. I think I`m maxed out on flying at the moment, so we are heading to Mexico tomorrow for the day.......yarrriiiiba!!!

More of the same!

2006-09-29T04:04:00.000+02:00

A slow day today. Lazy morning by the pool followed by a quick spin in ZP doing the usual. Was meant to be up flying this evening but the planes gone tech with an alternator problem and I didn`t fancy losing lights and radios in the evening - so will settle for a few beers instead.

Tomorrow more of the same, one lesson in the afternoon and i`ll try again for a night flight. Am planning a day off on Saturday as Claythons friends have kindly offered to take us into Mexico. And then complete the final nav and night flying on Sunday. That`ll set me up nicely for a relaxed week before the climax mid next week sometime.

In de Hood!

2006-09-28T00:46:00.000+02:00

Not in downtown San Diego though!!!

Was up at midday today after a few beers last night and needing a well deserved lie-in. As I mentioned previously I`m just going to be doing an hour or so a day covering manoeveures etc until I sit my test, so it`s nice not to have the pressure to get the hours in.

It was baking hot today and I took Golf Foxtrot up with Enrico to practice practice practice. After a good soft field take off we headed to the dirt strip north of Ramona where he cut the engine about 3000ft AGL. He then simulated an engine fire so you have to ignore gliding and get down fast. So with no power you pitch the nose down at 45 degrees and start steep turns. A couple of times i thought I was going to stall, but after a shallow last turn I made the strip with ease and powered off at 200ft AGL. We then climbed to 5500ft and carried out stalls, and slow flight and then Enrico put the hood on my and told me to steer heading, climb and descend. And then he put the plane into unusual attitudes and I needed to get out of it with sole reference to the instruments. You need to trust your instruments on this one and not what your stomach believes, but it was good fun and a worthy exercise if you ever get caught out in cloud etc.

We then made way to Ramona for a a soft field landing which was ace, and a short field landing which was crap. We then headed back to Gillespie where I put right the previous wrong and made a good short field landing right on the numbers, although in realityi`m not sure how much practice i`ll get back in Norway - landing on Sola`s 5000m long runway should now be a doddle!

Incidentally we also tried out a technique that you can emply if you lose the rudder - Open the doors. Yes, Claython had mentioned it so at 5000ft above Ramona I opened my door and sure enough the plane yaws to the right......not sure how easy it would be to do in an emergency but good fun nonetheless

What not Zippee!

2006-09-27T01:27:00.000+02:00

A slow day today, and indeed the plan is to slow things down for a bit as I have enough hours now and just need to consolidate things over the coming week with a view to doing the test once the examiner is back middle of next week.

Anyhows the marine layer was back today and that put paid to my first lesson, so just had the one bimble around this afternoon. However my mate Claython had Zippee and I had to get to grips with N27GF. Since arriving here I have done all my hours in ZP so this was a bit of a first for me! She`s got leather seats and a funky GPS system but she isn`t Zippee and I blame that for a lacklustre lesson.

We ventured out to the hills to find a few more remote deserted strips to practive PFL`s and the like, and then recovered some basic manoeveures that I did in the first week before the circuit work.

Tonight we are out on the beer to celebrate Claython`s first solo - congratulations to him, he greased the landing. Soi`ve cancelled my early morning sesson in favour of a hangover and lie in!

These are photos from my solo nav, above is ZP at Thermal airport, and below my giving it the thumbs up from 10000ft

Northbound from Imperial to Thermal just follow the Salton Sea up The bustling airport of Imperial County

Zippe at Imperial
More to follow

No rest for the wicked!

2006-09-26T05:58:00.000+02:00

Todays been one of my busiest days since i`ve arrived. In total 3 flights today and another 3 hours logged!

After arriving a with a fuzzy head from last nights beers in town, I was actually quite relieved to see that the San Diego marine layer was in town. To all intents and purposes this is fog and quite common around these parts. I was scheduled for 10am and the visibililty was pretty rubbish, but 30mins later most of it had burnt off so we decided to do a mixture of landings in the circuit. We started with a soft field take off designed for grass stips and the like, this involves pulling the yoke back as far as possible as you apply power gently. Eventually you`ll lift off and the knack is to remain close to the ground to build your speed, then at 75knts you pull back and up you go. It`s not as easy as it seems and is pretty disconcerting. The touch and goes were a mixture of flapped, flapless, short approaches, soft landings and short landings.....its amazing just how many flavours of landing there is depending on the strip you`re trying to hit.

After lunch I was up again in ZP and we headed north and practiced diversions. So you`re flying along and Enrico simulates a fault that requires an immediate diversion. He gives me the airfield and I need to quickly work out the magnetic heading and time it`ll take to get there. We did 3 in all, the first two were spot on and the second we drifted a little but I found the target in the end. We then headed to another airport called French Valley and I did a landing there, before doing a simulated engine failure and forced landing on the way back.

This evening, I`ve just been up for a spin on my own in the circuit at night. As part of the night rating you need to do an hours solo time, and this evening was perfect. It`s great flying at night, coming into land to a lit up runway is much more appealing then the day time and it`s a damn sight easier to see fellow traffic. In all another 10 landings nailed, all of which were pretty OK!

The plan is to consolidate hours and keep practicing with the aim to sit the final test next week. Although there maybe a spanner in the works, as my previous exam results from Aberdeen have yet to arrive - i`ll keep you posted on that!

Qualifying X-Country

2006-09-24T23:56:00.000+02:00

Thats me back from one of the best adventures of my life. A 3 hour long, 250miles journey with two full stop landings in the desert.

I was up early as I couldn`t sleep and peering out the window I was a little concerned as there was some broken cumulus above the airfield and I thought it was a no go. However after having "plogged" the route out, Enrico said that I could go and if the cloud was low then I`d go on top! So at 9am I filled ZP up and we set off, a right downwind departure from Gillespie had me tracking along interstate 8. We climbed for a good 15mins to get upto the magic 10000ft barrier, and hardly saw a sole. In the event the cloud was at 12,000 so that was good and made the navigation to my first port of call - Imperial easy. Imperial airport which is close to Mexico was busier then yesterday, I made my postion reports and established that there were at least two other planes in the area, I descended down to 2500ft and made a long file 8nm into runway 32. The others had landed in advance so I had a pretty clear route in. I bounced it a little, but it was good to get it down and I parked up at the GA spot and hopped out for a Coke. I got my piece of paper signed by the token guy at the airport and only hung around for 10mins before starting ZP up and again and cracking on. That leg had taken an hour.

I made a northerly track to Thermal airport, tracking the VOR to the destination. Again it was pretty busy in the circuit and I called a long 10nm final this time. The other aircraft heard and spaced up for my landing, again, an okay-ish one and I cleared the active runway and made for the GA parking. Thermal is a regional airport and there were a few learjets in, including a JetStream owned by Clint Eastwood. It was baking in Thermal, 35 degrees and I made a beeline for an ice cream and to get my form signed. I hung about for 10mins again and started ZP up for the last leg back to Gillespie.

A good climb again upto 8500ft and was over the hills in quick time. I changed route to the planned route coming back because I was too early and needed to get more hours, so hung a left and intercepted the Interstate 8 again and followed that back to Gillespie. Called 3 mile final and told to head straight in to R27R....all okay till about 500ft up when tower made me change runway to 27L.. in the event I got her down...just....but I don`t like changes to plan!

So thats the QXC done, a requirement for PPL issue. More night flying tomorrow and i`ll need to do another 30mins nav to get my hours up in the week!!

A great days flying!

(Usual problem with blogger, will update once its pulled its finger out!)

Dual X-Country - KSEE - KTRM - KIPL - KSEE

2006-09-24T03:08:00.000+02:00

Today we covered the long qualifying cross country route in the reverse direction. The other way to what I`ll be flying it tomorrow. The routing took us over the mountains and into the desert and over the Salton Sea. The route was over 200miles long an scheduled to take a good 2.5hours.

We set off with full tanks at 2pm and made our way to the first airport at Thermal, near Palm Springs. The routing was fine and the visibility fantastic, and I found our location with no problem whatsoever. It`s great to land at another ariport, and my mate James was just about to take off from there as he was flying his solo X-country at the same time. We shared a few jokes on the RT, before I greased here down. In the event we didn`t stop and ploughed on along the Salton Sea coast to Imperial, trying not to stray into the El Centro military airspace - don`t fancy having two F/16`s escort me down! Imperial is 5 miles from the Mexican border so you must be careful not to overshoot, that being said there isn`t much at Imperial, but we took the opportunity to take on some fluids and had a chat with some local hill billies there. We then jumped back aboard ZP and headed back home climbing to over 9000ft to pass over the mountains and then went for a rapid descent at 140kts to get down in time for a straight in on R27L.

Really good to be up and out and see some new scenery. I`ll take photos tomorrow when I do it solo.

Also managed a further hour in the circuit this morning "going solo". Pretty busy, 5 planes at one time so asked to do all sorts, but good practice nonetheless.

Heading out for some beers and food as a friends just passed his PPL test.

Ever so slightly lost in the mountains at night!!

2006-09-23T05:08:00.000+02:00

Yep, as the title suggests, had a slightly worrying moment this evening. The original plan was to go to Santa Monica with Jose and Claython for dinner, but Claython`s friends turned up and he went out to dinner with them. So Jose and myself thought a bimble over the mountains would be a good idea! Probably out first mistake, as navigation at night in mountains isn`t the easiest thing.

We set off as darkness was falling and I was in the left hand seat this time. It was a Piper Cherokee so all new and different to me. Nethertheless I was steering the headinds Jose wanted and the heights etc etc. After 30mins of so as the sun was almost gone it was clear that we were pretty lost. The radio nav aid we were tracking wasn`t working, so we were to all intents of purposes "uncertain of our position". This is not techincally lost, as we had a rough idea, but I was getting kinda nervous at this point and I think Jose might have been as well. The visibility wasn`t great and to top it off the lights on the panel inside that illuminate the instruments wasn`t working either. So reading by twilight! In the end, Jose made the decision to head south, as we knew that as long as we went this way we would see Interstate 8 and if you find that, then you just follow it all the way into Gillespie. Having scooted across the mountain tops by no more then 200ft, we thankfully saw Interstate 8 and I began to relax. That was until Jose suggested a touch and go in the dark in a plane I`ve never flown before. I was kinda game, but in heinsight probably should have passed. As the Piper has a low wing compared to the Cessna I flared too high and came down with wuite a whack! Jose greased the next, and we called it a day.

A very eventful flight, but given all the trouble it was nice to see that we could find our way out of it, and I thank Jose for that!

Up Above

2006-09-22T23:20:00.000+02:00

Just the one lesson today.

The weather was the worst it`s been since i`ve been here. The cloud base was at 3500ft and the only plane I had booked 6ZP has got a broken carburettor heat, which is important when the humidity and temperature are within a certain range - which they were.

Nethertheless reports were that above the cloud it was nice and sunny, so thats where we headed. In order to get through the cloud you need to operate IFR (Instrument Flight Rules), this is above the requirement for a normal PPL holder, but my instructor took care of this and told me what heights and headings to use.

Whilst going through the cloud it is a little disconcerting to say the least, you loose sense of direction and height, and with no visual reference points its easy to get lost. Above it though the sun was out and then Enrico introduced me to the hood. This is a semi-dog collar that goes round your head and blocks out the sky and horizon so you can just see your instruments. As part of the PPL course you need to spend time doing instrument work. Its a bit strange not looking out of the window and after getting a bit dis-orientated I managed to steer the course to the VOR (VHF Omni-directional Bearing) using the instruments.

The weather then improved and we had an IFR clearance into Gillespie but were high, so nose down and got a rate of 2000ft per min!

We`d planned a go-around as a practice and in the end needed it, when we were too close to the plane in front, and needed to make some S-turns! We then flew a shorted circuit to fly in front of the slow coach and did a really good soft landing - much better then last nights.

All being well, the dual X-country will be tomorrow, as long as the weather is okay.

Night Flying

2006-09-22T06:31:00.000+02:00

Had my first taster of night flying this evening. At 8pm we took 6ZP for a spin around. In order to get the night rating to go towards the PPL, you need a minimum of 5 hours total time. 3 hours x-country dual, 1 hour in the circuit dual and a solo hour. There is no test and the time counts towards your PPL hours, so its a must.

Darkness falls quickly round these parts and at that time so does the GA traffic and the wind, so its ideal for flying. We were the only ones up, at night they close the smaller R27L and yoou fly a 1400ft circuit to the left. Its amazing at night seeing all the lights, but I was surprised how tricky navigation is. We did two T&G`s at Gillespie, the runway height is deceptive in the dark, however the first was a good landing. On the second we tried a soft field landing. Designed for boggy fields, the knack is to arrive over the numbers with minimal speed, flare and then hold the nose wheel off the ground. Sounds easy, well it ain`t. Being dark (and you normally only try these in the day), I flared too early and had a rather hard landing....but it was good fun to try different things. Also, the runway lights are controlled by the pilots PTT (Push to Talk) button, so 7 clicks on this and the runway lights come on......how cool!

After that we headed to Montgomery regional for a touch and go there. They have CatIII ILS, and you can see the lights a mile off, its the classic approach to them that you see on Flight Sim and TV programs, the ILS lights before the runway. I made an okay-ish landing there, before we headed back to KSEE for some more soft field landings....they did get better honest!!

On the last we decided to land on R35 - the crosswind runway. So power off at 1400ft and try to lose hewight rapidly without gaining speed. We were a little high above the numbers, but got her down safe and well.

A really different experience and one I`m glad I did. I`m looking forward to working the circuit on my own!

I had another lesson this morning, we were out in the mountains doing diversions and general handling which went really. Not much planned tomorrow as Enrico has a checkride on the Duchess a twin. Then its nav on the weekend.

A bimble up the coast and some mucking about!

2006-09-21T05:26:00.000+02:00

Tonight we took N2525Y a Piper Cherokee, and Jose, Claython and myself went for a jolly up the coast. Jose is a commercial pilot, so us two hopped in for the ride. The plan was to go up the coast to LA and have dinner at Santa Monica.

We set off at 6ish and the made our way west to the coast via Mirimar. The clouds were low on the coast. Too low for the VFR flight we were planning, and as there was no IFR plan, we had to abort it about 20mins in. Still, there are many more nights to get up there.

Instead we made do by flying at 500ft along the Pacific gawping at all those 5m dollar houses on the seafront. As darkness fell we headed in land, and Jose replicated the Zero G dog episode below. Pull the yoke back until the plan is nearly vertical and then push it forward as hard as possible. I guess we got a good 5 or 6 seconds of negative G, not quite the vomit comet but not bad in a single piston plane.

We then headed for a night landing into Gillespie, something which I`m going to enjoy. I`ve got some time booked to do my night flying rating and San Diego by night is great, especcially from 2000ft.

Jose our pilot with the sun heading towards Sydney!

The three Amigos, not quite sure why I look so jaundiced!

Up the coast north of San Diego

Read below my blogs from my dual and solo X-country!

First Solo X-Country

2006-09-21T01:16:00.000+02:00

Another first. My first Solo X-country Nav exercise!

After having done the Gillespie to Hemet trip this morning with Enrico, now it was my time to do it solo!

First error, got to the hold at the end of R27R and for the life of me I couldn`t remember the Unicom frequency - thats the frequency that all the piltos use to report positions, so it`s kinda crucial. So thinking on my feet, it was headset off, mobile out and called my mate here for the last two digits! Not the best start to my solo navigation, but an error I won`t make again!

The flight itself was relatively uneventful, didn`t see a soul, but it was very choppy flying along side the mountains. As I rounded the Paouma Valley bound for Hemet it calmed a bit and now I needed to work out how to get this thing down on a short strip at Hemet. I tuned to the automatic airport info frequency and the wind was 180 at 12Knts and gusting 17Knts, it was coming more or less from the side, so I was thinking about going around and coming back. But as I got closer the lure of the runway was too great and I came in for an un-intentional short field landing. Acutally I was really pleased with it. The return leg was at 5500ft and provided great views, i needed to transition through the Ramona airspace and that was fine. I descended under Mirimar and called Gillespie. Being Gillespie, its always pretty busy, so was told to head east. Waitied for a while but no call, so called as there was a bloody big mountain coming at me. Anyway eventually got clearance and made a one-wheeled landing on 27R.

Its a great experience getting out solo away from the circuit and exploring. This is the joys of being a pilot. Next up some more nav before the big one - 250nm 3 hours x-country and two fulls tops. Todays was just 60nm (about 70miles each way!).

This is Gillespie from right downwind ont he climb to 3500ft.

Transitioning Ramona airspace There are more to come but bloggers playing up

PS: Check this out, next time I take Meg flying I`ll give this a go
http://www.bofunk.com/video/1794/zero_g_dog.html

Dual X-country to Hemet

2006-09-20T22:13:00.000+02:00

Just got back from my firs dual X-country to Hemet. Thats a small airfield 60nm north of Gillespie. The plan I had was to cruise at 96Knts and vary the altitude depending on terrain the the class B airspace surrounding Mirimar.

In the event the timings were fine, but the direction a little off, mainly due to the fact that the winds were varying more then the Internet said so. It`s a nice journey up there, ytou cross through Ramona, before flying through a valley and over a few lakes. At Hemet there is no ATC, so you need to report your postion and join the circuit accordingly, so that the other traffic know what you are about. There were a few Cessna`s buzzing around, but not too busy. We did a full stop and then taxiied around to get the active runway again.

The flight back was at 5500ft and the views were amazing. My friend was on the same frequency and chased me into Gillespie.

A bite to eat and then the plans to do the same, but this time alone!

Solo Circuit Bashing......contd!

2006-09-19T18:51:00.000+02:00

Awoke bright and early and was at the school by 8am. No-one about so time to get some solo circuits done. In all 15 landings, most of which were fine, one bounce, but it`s clicked for sure.

Slight scare on the last circuit when on my climb out they announced that they had closed R27L and i`d need to make a right hand circuit onto R27R. Not normally a problem, but I hadn`t done a right hand circuit. I`d landed on 27R a few times, but had no idea where to turn and what height I should`ve been at. Temporarily it felt like I was on a nav exercise i.e lost! Anyway, managed to establish that there were 2 Cessna`s ahead of me. I could see one about to land but the other was nowhere to be seen, so I radioed and they confirmed it had turned base...i saw it. So made my approach and a good landing, before getting the call.

"6ZP no time to wait, exit at Alpha and contact ground"

So put the power in and made a quick turn to get off the runway.

Its great flying at that time, so quiet and no wind. That`s me upto 3 hours solo now.

PS: No jokes about the double-chin

Solo Consolidation!

2006-09-19T01:28:00.000+02:00

Another busy day in the life a wouldbe PPL student. I was up at the school at my usual 8.30 for some revision, and had an hour booked at 12 in ZP. I need to get the circuit solo work consolidated before I can flee the nest and go on those solo navigations over the mountains to the desert.

So at 12, I jumped aboard ZP on my own. Having been solo yesterday obviously gave me a lot of confidence, but an hour going round and round would surely boost that. And it did. I managed 8 T&G`s in a fairly quiet time, all safe, perhaps not perfect but not bad at all. This surely did build the confidence up, now I am a pilot.

This afternoon I sat Nav as you may have seen below and passed that, so no more revision needed other than for the R/T practical.

I had ZP booked this evening as well. At 6 I taxiied to Air BP to fill her up and headed down to the hold at R27L. I called Tower, and all I got was Ground. I tried tower again, and again I got a now becoming pissed off controller saying

"6ZP this is Ground, contact Tower on 121.70 not 120.70, they are similar"

I know!!!

Anyway I couldn`t fix the problem, so needed to backtrack down Delta to Anglo, and get the problem sorted. In the end, it was just a knob that needed pressing, but no-on told me!! So I started ZP up again and taxiied out. Luckily the fix worked and I powered off and into the circuit. At this time the sun was beginning to go down. In heinsight I should`ve stayed down, but went for it. The haze made 27L just visible and my first landing was a little bouncY and a little sidewards, so I made my mind up then that my next would be a fullstop. In the event the second was a lot better and a third would have been impossible and stupid given the rapidly deminishing sunlight!

So a good day. I now have 1hr 42mins solo time!!!

BTW - the photo above is me with ZP after my dunking yesterday.

Nav Passed!

2006-09-19T00:10:00.000+02:00

Just passed my final theory exam - Navigation with 84%. Thats them all done now, so just takes the pressure off a little more.

A day I`ll remember for the rest of my life!

2006-09-18T01:39:00.000+02:00

As you may have have seen from the note below today was shaping up for my most boring day here. That was until Enrico came in and said Zulu Papa was gathering dust on the tarmac and did we fancy a spin. I surely did, and requested that we did some T&G`s and possibly if all was going well, I`d go solo!

The wind was gusty but blowing at 270, so straight down the runway. After 3 good ones, I taxiied back to Anglo and Enrico jumped out.

This was it, this was the moment I was thinking about all this week, all this year! Was I nervous...shit yes! But excited too!

The pattern was quiet. I called ground and taxiied to 27L, having to hold short at Alpha once. Completed my power up checks and called tower.

"Gillespie Tower, Six Zulu Papa, Holding short Runway 27 Left, for Left closed traffic, Student Pilot, First Solo"

Back came the reply

"S-i-x Z-u-l-u P-a-p-a, H-o-l-d S-h-o-r-t 2-7- L-e-f-t"

She had very kindly slowed her speed down to about a fifth of the normal pace...they talk so fast on the radio normally! After a few exchanges, waiting for a plane, I was requested to taxi and hold on the runway. Which I duely did, then I got clearance. Without a 12 stone instructor by myside, it was noticeable how light this thing was, I went left before straightening up and rotated at 55knots! Boy does this thing climb, I was at 1200ft in no time at all!! I turned to the crosswind leg at 1200ft and at 80kts and then onto base....at this point I actually started to enjoy it...probably cos this is the easy bit. Abeam the tower I called for my full-stop landing, having to correct the reply for the ATC mistake, and was cleared R27L for landing. Abeam the numbers the first stage of flaps came down, and the power came off a little. Down to 1000ft and 70kts for the base turn, you can do it Captain Arman! On base I checked for any traffic joining 27R, clear, so put the second stage and turned final. A steady approach the height and speed were fine, 3 stage of flaps and get the nose down, aim for 50ft short of the runway. All looking good until about 30ft above the runway when a gust from the left lifted the left wind, too late now, just glide her in. The right wheel touched first, and the left about a few secs later. Little had i realised but whilst I was up the wind had shifted to a northerly so i had landed in a 15kt crosswind....the limit is 16kts!!! Anyway, all the wheels came down and I managed to slow her down, and taxiied back to Anglo with the biggest smile on my face. Shut her down and promptly got introduced to the first solo initiation ceremony.

Lie down kiss the tarmac and get a soaking! So thats what I got! So I`ve done it, onwards and upwards from here! 12 mins in my logbook as Pilot in Command!

A day I will never forget!

PS: This was all after ATC declaring an emergency on the 2nd T&G as a Cub had to make an emergency landing, but choose the freeway instead!

No flying today.....doh!

2006-09-17T21:37:00.000+02:00

Probably not a bad thing, as I`m not feeling too great with my head cold. However I had planned a lesson at 10 and then again at 2pm, but unfortunately due to ZP still being in for maitainence and the need to change some schedules, I`m now not on until tomorrow at 12.

That means only one lesson in the last 2 days and its not ideal, but you cannot help problems with planes! Best that they get fixed and dont conk out in the air!

Means I`ve cracked on with some revision today which has been good. And taken a few more snaps .

Check this old boy!

And the pattern.

Broken Planes!

2006-09-17T02:05:00.000+02:00

Bit of a frustrating day today. Started off well enough with a good lesson, the normal routine of circuits and manoeveurs. Landings are coming on and the control within the circuit and approach good now. We just managed 3 when the pattern started to get busy, so we moved out East and did some familiarisation with the surrounding for when its time to do navigation. We also flew "quite" close to a 737 above us, both us and him must have been an our respective flight limits, as it did look scarily close (albeit it was 1000ft). As we came into finals for 27L I also had another first, a Cessna to my right carrying a banner which he was dumping on the runway next to me!!

So when should I be solo-ing, well I`ve completed my pre-solo theory test now, so perhaps sometime in the next few days or so I could be given the keys. However that depends on the aircraft availability.

As there are only 4 x C172`s here, the aircraft availability is tight enough. However over the recent weeks the current status of aircraft is as follows:

AJ - Broken, engine fire on start up,needs new engine - happened today
ZP - In for 100hr check
GF - Okay, but has GPS and the like, so is reserved for the Instrument guys mainly.
AN other - a few weeks ago a student put the undercarriage up when taking off!

So that means my lesson this arvo was cancelled, and tomorrow I may just make one flight. To be honest I think its this thats stopping my solo, but on the good side, I can get to see a bit of San Diego! Either way I`ve done over 10hrs in 5 days and am really enjoying it.... but we`ll see how things progress! It`s looking really tough to get all the work and practice in to complete within the 3 weeks I`ve got left. We`ll need to see how it goes, and if all else fails I`ll be back here early next year to finish it off!

I`ve also managed to pick up a stinking cold and sore throat, which is ironic as it`s 90 degrees here. I can see the appeal why people choose to come to the states. Not only can you hire a plane for $70 per hour, pay no landing fees, but you also can rely on the weather....glorius sunshine all day, every day - perfect flying conditions!!!!

Btw - the picture is of the vertical lift of thing....which IMHO is a big waste of time, effort and money!

Some day i may fly this!

2006-09-16T20:59:00.000+02:00

This was rolled out yesterday and took off fast and low bound for Reno! They are also testing a vertical take off plane here, which so far hasn`t gone anywhere, certainly not vertically!

A Good day today!

2006-09-16T03:11:00.000+02:00

Another very busy day over here! Was in the school early doors at 8.30 for some revision, before my first flight at 10am. With the usual checks complete we set off for 27L and worked the left hand pattern (as its called over here!) It was much quieter at that time, only 3 competing with me in the circuit. The landings started very well, and were generally not too shabby if I do say so myself. One smallish bounce and one where I landed on the very extremeties of the runway! For the second day running the ATC guy was on my back, this time telling me off when I was int he right.

I had requested a left downwind departure to get out of the pattern as it was getting busy, but he told us to turn right and follow the Cessna turning right from 27R. Again, i called to go left and this time got a....

"...huh, well go left if you wanna!!"

Charmin!

So more steep turns, slow flight stalls and the like before heading back and grabbin some lunch.

Spent the afternoon chatting with other students, and grabbed a burger. Before my second flight today at 4pm. Again, we tried to get clearance to do circuits but the pattern was full, so we headed to an airfield south of San Diego called Browns. This has an 8000ft runway, similar to Sola so I was in my element. There was bugger all planes around so we had a good 45mins hanging about there. The airfield is as south as you can possibly get before going into Mexico, you literally fly right along the fence.....my mate here got a txt whilst landing there from T-Mobile saying "welcome to Mexico"!

We headed back after that to Gillespie, where the tower radio had jammed, so there was no ATC. Made it fun as you just have to go for it, and watch the tower for any signals!

Btw - photos are working. This is one looking towards to schools planes.

Downtown San Diego from 4000ft
6 Zulu Papa taxiing Delta to hold 27LI have more, but for now blogged is playing silly buggers

Well I thought it was clicking..!

2006-09-15T03:07:00.000+02:00

It`s a funny game this flying lark. One minute you think you`ve got it mastered and the next you`re back to first base. Well I wouldn`t go that far, but the first lesson of the day did make me wonder.

We decided to stay in the Gillespie field circuit to try and learn the pattern here. And, let me tell you, if I thought Sola was busy, this is jsut plain crazy. At one point there must have been a total of 20 planes either in the circuit on dual runways, or waiting to go up. At one point the guy in the tower became so saturated that they used a backup frequency, so another guy looked after one circuit while he carried on with the other circuit training. He also was moody with us, as he thought we weren`t listening.....

" 6 Zulu Papa, if I have to tell you again. I`ve asked you twice to listen out!".

The fact that we were and had made all the calls was neither here nor there!

We broke away after half an hour and headed to the mountains to do some maneoveurs. They were okay, but the landings during the first lesson were all to pot. I put it down to the new circuit and the fact that it was all new to me! Plus the dual runways, make base to final turn a little hairy and 27L is a tiny runway!

After a spot of lunch. We headed back up into an equally busy circuit. This time, no second controller to assist and a very stressed ATC guy! After the first touch and go, which incidentally we didn`t have clearance for we were then asked to do a full-stop landing as the pattern was busy. Oh, he also announced....

"everyone, the right hand pattern is full".....how top gun is that!

Anyway we weren`t having that so we executed a missed approach and set course for Browns, a smaller airfield near Tijuana on the Mexican border. Only the trouble with that, was there was a 20 mins wait for a T&G there! So back into the San Diego mountains for some S-turns, turning round a point, PFL`s and steep turns....all of which weren`t my best effort. After an hour or so, we headed back into Gillespie and the pattern had calmed down a bit. We got 4 T&G`s in....these were much better and more encouraging then the morning, and built the confidence up again. I do need a couple of consistent hours in the circuit to get used to the crosswind landings and also the RT!!!

All in all, an up and down day. Lets hope tomorrow is more up then !

Is it clicking.......!

2006-09-14T03:15:00.000+02:00

I only had one flight today and that wasn`t scheduled until 4pm! Even so I still found myself wide awake at 5am...still jet-lagged no doubt. It was still baking hot at 9am when I left the apartment and cycled to the flight school. It`s only a mile or so, but took me twenty minutes to get there mainly cos the frigging chain kept on falling off! That made my mind up - I don`t care what it costs I need a car!

I found a cheapy car hire place advertised at the school and within the hour they had come round to pick me up and take me to their depot in downtown. They gave me a Nissan someitorother which had air con. I asked whether I could go to Mexico in it, the lady said

"....no, you don`t wanna take it their, they`ll take it from ya. I`ll exchange it for a Ford Escort if you wanna go there....!"

I passed and stuck with the trusted Nissan. Amazing that the Sombrero wearing Mexicans wouldn`t been seen dead in an Escort!!! The fun part of the exercise was trying to find my way back to the flying school. I eventually did, but had to get used to the 6 lane highways. In Norway theres only a stretch of dual-carriageway!

I had a spot of lunch, and did a bit of reading before my lesson. To tell the truth I was a little knackered by the time that came round. Nethertheless we got started up and I made my first radio call. I speak at normal-half pace on the radios whereas the Americans speak at treble pace - and they seem to not care what they spout out, as long as they say something.

We took off from 27R doing a short-run takeoff. This involves holding the Cessna on the brakes, pushing the nose down and giving it full power. Then releasing the brakes and accelerating quickly, before lifting off. Once up we headed up to the North-East and out of controlled airspace - this means you need to look out for other traffic and report your position. At one point a cessna came about 300ft below us, that was one of many of aircraft that were whizzing about. After doing some stalls, slow flight and steep turns we headed out to Ramona for some T&G`s.

I`m not sure, but perhaps the landings are finally starting to click. I made 4 pretty good landings, no bouncing, no ballooning and all on the centre line. I think before I was flaring too late and carrying too much speed in. Now I`m not saying I`m cure, a few more hours will see to that. But I felt good after my lesson. Ramona is only a small airfield but it has the same class of airspace as Sola, but their RT is certainly different. At one point the ATC controller gave us some buff information, this was followed by a "....6 Zulu Yankee I Fucked up".....now you don`t get that in Norway or the UK. After that we headed back to Gillespie and i landed back on 27R, again a nice landing and this time it was into a slight crosswind. Enrico`s talking about going solo in 3 or 4 hours, but I need some practice with the circuit patterns around Gillespie before I fell confident enough to attempt that!!!

Am booked in for two lessons tomorrow. Starting at 10am, so i`ll update you then. Then I will know if it`s clicked!!

(I have got photos but Bloggers is playing up again!)

Greetings from the West Coast!

2006-09-13T00:12:00.000+02:00

Well after nearly 25hours I finally made it to San Diego last night. I was met at the airport by a couple of insructors and the whisked off to a bar to watch some American football. Didn`t mind the beer, but after having been up for a day a football game wasn`t my cup of tea. It was good to unwind and meet some of the other staff they have here. Afterwards I went back to the apartments and met my housemate, before more of less hitting the hay straight away.

After waking up, wide-awake at about 2am, I managed to get a few more hours on and off before being picked up by my instructor - Enrico at 9am.

The first thing that struck me about Gillespie field is how many aricraft there are here. I`m not kidding when I say their are hundreds and hundreds. Mainly single engine GA aircraft but also some jets and a fair bit of heli activity as well. I wasnt expecting to get up today, but Enrico suggested a trip up first thing.....which of course I was up for. I didn`t do any of the RT as its a bit different out here, that will come, but carried on where I left off with doing most of the handling. When we were lining up for Runway 17, there were 5 other planes behind us.....talk about busy.

The trip was more of a reccy to get used to the area and the airspace. We headed to the coast, manoevuring near to Miramar airbase (where Top Gun was filmed), making sure we didnt intrude. Last week a Cessna strayed in their and got escorted down by two F-16`s! We then headed over San Diego international and past downtown before turning back and heading up the coast a little. I did some general handling which went well before we made a turn for Ramona - a small airfield about 20miles or so from Gillespie. I nailed a touch and go (albeit with a small bounce) before we headed back to Gillespie field. Its an interesting approach and circuit here, as there is a mountain in the way and that creates quite a lot of turbulence. We also had to think about GA aircraft using the other parallel runway, which were no more then a few hundred feet away. I manage to make my first arrival into Gillespie memorable for the wrong reasons bouncing down the runway finally settling on the hard stuff after about 6 or 7 bounces.....still haven`t got the knack.

It was good to get up on the first day. This afternoon I`ve had my medical and am trying to sort out the fingerprinting with the TSA needs before I`m officially allowed to start training. Not upto much tonight, as the jet lag is starting to kick in.

I`ve only an hour scheduled tomorrow and not till 4pm, so will have a well earned lie in tomorrow.

Hello from the Twin Cities!

2006-09-11T19:45:00.000+02:00

Have arrived safely in the twin cities, currently trying to kill a 6 hour wait at minneapolis, so thought I`d give you a "running" commentary!

A mix of nervous anticipation and the fact that I needed to get up early meant that I didn`t sleep too well last night. At 4.30 the alarm did wake me from my semi-comatosed state and after a bit of last minute packing I made my way to Sola for my first leg of the journey. In actual fact it was only a short flight, just 1.15mins, and before I knew it I was in Schipol and trying to find my next gate, as I only had an hour and thats its a big airport and a bigger walk between gates.

Anyway I did find it, and the Minneapolis flight was thankfully on time (a first for NWA and me). It was just as well that I got there with 40mins to spare as before I could even get to the gate I was interrogated by security staff "..because this is a US flight, sir", that followed by further security checks and the obligatory frisking meant that I could more or less walk straight onto the plane, which........

....was a brand spanking new A330-300. Thank christ is wasn`t the clunking aging DC-10 that we`ve been on in the past (does that bring back memories the Armans and the token Taylor). This was a bit strange as when i checked in online yesterday the plane was a DC-10 and so was the seatplan. However I used SeatGuru to pick a good seat on both, just in case. After we boarded there was the usual jostling for spare seats and being a lone traveller I was easy game. A fellow Norwegian asked me to swap with his partner who was stuck at the back in the middle, I said he should have checked in earlier and stuck by my guns! In the end he moved to back, which left me with an aisle and the only spare seat next to me...so I could spread out and more importantly use the spare table to stock up the G&T`s and the white wine bottles!

I watched two films on the new VOD (Video on Demand) system - which incidentally needed to be rebooted halfway through my first movie....technology! The first was Poseidon which was okay, but not a good as the original, you can`t beat hacking through the hull of a transocean liner with a £4.99 B&Q hack-saw...that was pure class. The second was the Sentinel, which was okay but served its purpose of making me fall asleep! With a stiff tailwind we got into Minneapolis/St Pauls ahead of schedule and I had to face the dreaded immigration. Yes, it is September 11th and yes I am here to learn to fly....luckily I had had a shave last night. In the event I breezed through immigration in no time at all, all very polite and friendly, perhaps they could teach their Detroit colleagues a thing or two.

So what is there to do in Minneapolis Intl for 6 hours.....

Well, I`ve just had my first large US beer, followed in quick succession with an equally large burger. I`m now onto large beer number 2 at the gate (think i`ll leave the large burger number 2 for another day). I`ve acutually got a bit of deja vu, as the last time I was at this very gate I was equally tired although hadn`t started on the booze by then. Yes, all those fellow Las Veags-ites of 2005, Its the very same gate that we arrived at after about 3 hours sleep in 48 hours and in the middle of the night. And, Mum, Kate and H - that shop is still there, I think you`ve kept them in business since by buying their entire stock of pastries that morning !!!!

For all my misconceptions of America, its actually really nice to be back, everyone is so friendly and helpful. I can`t work out if they are really gritting their teeth when they say the famous..."help a nice day", but I acutally think they mean it......perhaps I`m de-mob happy!

Heres hoping the San Diego people are the same.

The Big Off!

2006-09-10T15:45:00.000+02:00

So i`m all packed and ready for an early start tomorrow morning. Check-in at Stavanger at 5.00am and nearly 24hours later I should be arriving at San Diego Intl!!

This is the view that i`ll have for the next 4 weeks, looking west toward KSEE (Gillespie Field, El Cajon, San Diego). The larger runway to the right is 27R and the smaller one is 27L....so yes, there are two parrallel runways in use, so no overshooting finals ! After an FAA medical, fingerprinting, security checks and all the rest of it, I reckon my first flying day will be either Wednesday or Thursday................

The plan is to update you all as often as possible, but given that I`ve no idea what i`ll be doing for the next month, i`ll just have to see how it goes!!

Exams Update

2006-09-09T15:29:00.000+02:00

Finally found out that I passed the other two exams I sat:

Performance & Planning - 90%
Aircraft General - 94%

So thats 6 out of the 7 theoretical exams now complete. Leaving the Navigation exam to be done when I`m out there.