N31 - 69N

The weather has been lousy. It was already bad before the remnants of Hurricane Ida pushed north and damaged the Jersey shore. I had hoped to join the Northeast Flyers for a lunch at KLNS, but flying was out of the question for me and I just wasn't up for a rainy day drive. It wasn't until mid-day on Sunday that I finally saw the Sun.

Monday morning looked good; blue skies and moderate winds with temperatures close to 60, and when a late afternoon conference call got canceled I decided to call Wings to see if the Cirrus was available. It was all mine for the afternoon.

My objective was to visit some old 'haunts'. The very first entry in my (now well worn) logbook was a local flight out of Slatington (69N). I was asked if that flight included two wings, goggles and a leather helmet, but the truth is it was a grass strip with one hanger and an airplane I would later fly did have to be prop started. My instructor used Kutztown (N31) as 'checkpoint' before letting his students solo. It was noted for the large hump in the runway. I guess he figured if you could land there then you could handle 80% of the runways you might encounter as a student.

While this was essentially just a daytime tour, I wanted to get some practice using all of the systems so I set N31 as a way-point and used 69N as my final destination. All ground procedures went well and I felt very comfortable in the cockpit. I waited at the hold short line for an Eclipse Jet to land and clear the runway. Autopilot was set for a climb on course Heading (060) at 900 fpm and target altitude of 4500'. Passing 1300' I dialed in North and announced my departure. With everything "green" I switched to the map on the MFD, confirmed that N31 was my next on the GNS430, hit direct/enter/enter and engaged GPSS with the Nav button. A slight turn to the left and I was riding on the purple line...pretty slick.

The plane leveled at 4500' as programmed, I checked the gauges and completed checklists and enjoyed the ride. I loaded an approach but had no intention to activate it. I just wanted to mentally brief what was needed and do the set up. It was about this time that I remembered to turn on the hand-held to get the picture at the top of this post. (I'll have to make this a part of my preflight checklist.) A right turn at N31 and off to Slatington. (I didn't see Kutztown since I was right on top.) I switched to Allentown Approach to listen in and when close gave them an advisory that I was in the area. 69N is right on the northern boundary of the Class C and I wanted to sight see just a bit. They now have a paved runway, about a dozen hangers and a bunch of airplanes tied down. They grew up.

Unfortunately Kutztown didn't. I found the airport on the way back and was sad to see the big yellow X's down the runway. The diner is still there, but no cars in the lot. I don't know when the property will be developed.

A quick turn around my house (still there), and time to return to wings. I hand flew it the rest of the trip and found KLOM to be pretty busy with two in the pattern and 3 more entering from the south. They gave way to me and I entered on the 45 to RWY 06 without any problems. My pattern was a bit tight, speed a little fast but a nice landing (on center-line) and easy roll out. As I started back a helicopter announced he would be landing on the taxi way. A brief chat confirmed he would land well clear of me as I told him I would take the throat up to the terminal.

A nice flight.

Sr20
Time = 1.2 hours

Alone

It had been awhile. The last time was more of an after thought as I was running out of currency in the Tiger. That was then. Now, this flight was important to me. I've been so focused on flying the system, I needed a chance just to fly, to enjoy the freedom of being alone in the airplane.

The weather was good, but as I have come to learn living in the Northeast, it is always a factor. A low overcast had many of the airports to east listed as marginal VFR, and as I watched the clouds from my office move in I wasn't sure I would be able to go. By 2:00 it looked a little bit better so I packed my bag and started the 45 minute trip to Wings.

As I walked out to the airplane my instructor was helping another student with his preflight for a Cessna. Only a brief greeting as I focused on the work at hand. Preflight, start, taxi and run up were all normal, although much quieter. My confidence level was very good and I was actually quite relaxed. Take off and departure were fine, and I did use the autopilot for the climb and level off. I flew north and dialed in Butter Valley (7N8) to let the airplane fly by my house (it was still there), disengaged for some hand flying, easy turns, climbs and descents, and then headed back to Wings.

I got the weather, listened for traffic and entered via the 45 for a full stop RWY 06. Very good speed control, nice pattern, but landed left of center line. A familiar voice keyed "nice work" from the Cessna at the hold short line.

It had been over three years since the last solo flight. All who read this take note...don't wait that long.

Sr20
Time = 0.8 hours.

*Note: It took less time for this entire evolution (out and back) then it took to drive out to the airport.

1N7 VOR RWY25

BFR - complete

Sr20
Time = 1.7 hours

LNS VOR 26, VOR/DME 08

Wednesday's winds foretold the change in seasons, cold fronts from the northwest chasing warm fronts from the southwest. My backyard weather station recorded winds at nearly 35 mph and checking the local airports all reported high winds. Fortunately I was scheduled to fly on Thursday. It was a beautiful autumn day.

The original plan was to fly north to 1N7 for a x-country validation check, but after reviewing my notes it occurred to me that I had never completed my lesson plan out to Lancaster. So I suggested this to the CFII as an alternate plan as we taxied out to the run up area and he obliged.

A simple flight plan to PTW, then to BOYER into KLNS. I briefed the VOR RWY26 approach in the run up area and departed to the north. The CFII acted as my simulated ATC providing clearance, heading and altitude changes. George and I got along just fine. I had a moment of confusion when cleared to intercept V457 and go DIRECT to DETTE, otherwise the approach went well. I wanted to exercise this because it has multiple step downs requiring vigilance of vertical speed and altitude control. I felt very comfortable using the STEC to accomplish this. We terminated the approach with a T&G.

Next was the set up for the VOR/DME 08. This one is interesting for the arc. I fumbled just a bit to get set up, but overall felt quite comfortable with the system. I was cleared DIRECT to JONJR for a Circle to Land RWY 31. As I was working through my brief I noted that the entry into the missed approach holding would be a teardrop. Nope. So I looked again and the CFII pointed out that hold is defined by the RAV 168, meaning it would be a parallel entry (No, not on the cusp) Good training on this one in use of the alternate navigation sources. While the MFD is great for showing progress, it is really nice to have 'old friends' like the tail of bearing indicator showing which radial you are crossing. Again, while not perfect, I felt comfortable controlling the system to get me where I wanted to go. Flying downwind I was informed that this would be a half flap (50%) landing which went well. We departed the area heading for home.

Along the way he failed my PFD. While you do lose attitude and directional gyros, you retain course deviation and GPS navigation. So you still have all of the means necessary for a complete approach. We had a good discussion about capabilities and continued with the well worn GPS 06 circle to land 24 at Wings. Nice landing. (...and a good lesson on setting the parking break.)

SR20
Time = 1.8 hours

KTTN VOR-A, KDYL VOR-23

You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Lately, I've been feeling like an old dog and when I read this piece it didn't help.


The key paragraph for me was this one: The ability to learn new operating procedures, new aircraft systems and such definitely becomes more difficult as a pilot ages. Recent research on learning has found that older people tend to rely on their previous knowledge, and don't retain newly learned material in long-term memory as well. Thus when pilots set out to learn something new such as a different FMS, they'll rely on the skills and general knowledge acquired over a longer period of time. These studies have shown that older participants (60 to 70) were slower and made more errors than younger pilots, especially on tasks requiring more information processing. One possible cause may lie in changes in cognitive processing associated with increasing age.

Well, I'm feeling a bit better now. Maybe some new neural pathways have been developed and maybe the extra study and time spent running the GNS430 simulator really made a difference. Certainly the patience of a good instructor helped, but all combined to allow me to have a good, solid flight yesterday.

The weather was just OK. A controlling high pressure area over West Virginia was holding back a slow moving cold front over the Great Lakes. Winds from the previous day had subsided and we were left with a broken-overcast layer at bout 5k. Temperatures have dropped down into the 50s. The Plan was to practice two VOR approaches emphasizing the Avidyne, Stec and GNS430 systems.

The Schedule was tight. I had managed to squeeze in a two hour slot to accommodate the airplane, instructor and my home/work availability. So when I got to the airport I immediately went out to the airplane to start the preflight. I only had to wait a few minutes until the CFII arrived and strapped in. After a brief chat about the approaches I had selected, I started the ground procedures and taxied out to the runup area. I set up the radios here and went through the briefing for the first approach. An interesting aspect about the VOR A at Trenton (Mercer) was the overlayed holding patterns. The initial pattern is aligned along the ARD 261 radial, the missed approach pattern is aligned with the ARD 109 radial. On the MFD this is depicted by a bold line for the initial and a normal line for the missed...I mention this because it confused me at first glance, a different look then how they are depicted on the NACO plates. (Old dog stuff)

I held off briefing the KDYL approach, only because I wanted to simulate an actual missed at Trenton and test myself on getting setup for going to an alternate.

Departure was normal as I took headings from the CFII and then from ATC. When directed to go direct I knew what to do and why to do it. I actually had to wait for the airplane to catch up, what luxury! The autopilot entered holding and I was directed to respond when ready for the approach. On the inbound leg, when I was ready, I was directed to take another turn for traffic (OBS button). Next inbound leg I was cleared, managed my vertical speed well (pushed the correct buttons), leveled at pattern altitude and entered a right downwind for RWY24. T&G back to ARD for the the next approach.

This one came at me much faster. My focus here was to insure GNS430 was set up with the correct destination in order to load the MFD with the proper approach. A little fumble, but did well enough. I'm stilled impressed when the plane follows the purple line and does a beautiful procedural turn. Again the vertical speed was fine and I leveled at pattern altitude. SBJ is the VOR for this approach and is about 23 miles from the airport. The radial accuracy at this distance is pretty wide, and the CFII made the point that in actual conditions you might be a mile either side of the runway. We entered an upwind leg to avoid traffic and terminated with a full stop.

At the hold short line the CFII provide some insight to my prior question about deleting the flight plan from the GNS430 to facilitate entering a new new destination. There is a menu item that allows you to do that, but a better option is the "remove approach". A more 'selective' cleanup, this lets you to use the system more efficiently (using things like 'invert FP' to get back home.) An uneventful departure form Doylestown to a VFR entry back at Wings. This was a fun flight.

At the debrief the CFII told me that I had shown a lot of improvement and asked what I had done wrong. The list in my head was loooong, but clearly he had something in mind so I said it was a 'perfect flight'. During the last approach, even though briefed, I had failed to properly set up the comm radios. Dumb.

So, the next one will be a short x-country to allow me to demonstrate the whole package. I'm anxious, and I'm ready.

Sr20
Time = 1.6 hours.