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.

PTW VOR-A

Finally, the weather was good. A cold front had stalled up in Canada leaving the weather here fairly good. I made the trip along Rt73 out to Wings in the sunshine. It was great.

I was a bit nervous since once again it had been two weeks, but I also had the touch of confidence. I am learning this stuff and felt that I could perform if I just allowed myself to think through instead of react to the situation at hand. I was ready to see what I really know about the system.

The airplane had been flown already so I knew to use the warm start procedure. The destination was quite close, therefore all the radio set up and briefings were done in the run-up area. Take off was normal, actually smooth and I refrained from clicking on George right away. Instead I climbed to 1300 and departed to the North manually. Once comfortable I exercised the knobology for the climb and set up the approach. He brought me in from the north, cleared me for the approach with one turn in the published holding pattern. So with George in Nav mode, I slected the VOR as my source, engaged approach mode as the CDI came alive and used the GNS430 flight plan to scroll down to the proper holding fix. As you can see from my track, I didn't select a great enough rate of descent to get down to the MDA before going missed.

The good news was I understood how to translate my clearance into the proper system sequence to get the airplane to execute the approach. Good stuff! Missed back to holding (learned a trick or two about the rev button) and did approach number 2. This time I chose about 900 fpm descent which got me down in time, and again executed the missed.

The big lesson: He asked me to execute the VOR-B into Pottstown Muni (N47) from the holding pattern. It is always a bit messy to thumb through the approach plates, find the right one and get setup. No paper approach plates in this airplane, insted you load the MFD. Getting this done smoothly will take some polish, but after multiple attempts I did get it done. I also needed to load the GNS430 and found that N47 should be inserted in the enroute section, not under the approach section. I have some research do for homework here, to find the easiest way to set this up. I think pressing and holding the clear button might eliminate the current flight plan allowing insertion of the new destination to be a bit easier. It was a good exercise.

Home to a VFR entry to runway 24 with an acceptable landing. I was really happy with this one.

Sr20
Time = 1.7