Category Archives: Flying

Flying

A Cross-Country Proficiency Flight

THE TEMPERATURE has been 100 °F (38 °C) lately – much too hot. I am off work today. The last few times I’ve been flying I’ve been working on Commercial Pilot maneuvers. I wanted to do something else. I decided to do a short triangular cross-country flight to two airports I had not visited before. One of the guys I know from Civil Air Patrol is interested in learning how to fly; I invited him to ride along.

Detailed map.
The flight went from the airport at the lower right to the left to the upper center one then back to the lower right. The flight took 1.9 hours total.

The flight I planned/flew was from Daniel Field (KDNL) to Greene County Airport (K3J7, 56NM/110km) to Washington-Wilkes Airport (KIIY, 19NM/35km) and back to Daniel (46NM/75km). The initial heading was 285 with the wind 310 at 10, so a bit of a headwind. Ground speed was an “amazing” 85kt. Navigation by looking out the window at landmarks and using GPS actually was amazing. 🙂 You can tell it’s almost summer in Georgia. There was plenty of haze on the horizon.

View from final approach.
Runway 25 at Greene County Airport.

We arrived at the first airport, landed, and taxied back for takeoff. The next leg was very short, but had a perpendicular crosswind. This required about a 20-degree correction. We flew directly towards the sun, so with glare and haze I didn’t see the Washington-Wilkes Airport until we were about four miles away. Another better than average landing, taxi back and takeoff.

Over the nose, Washington-Wilkes Airport.
Landing at Washington-Wilkes Airport, runway 31.

Now, what had been the headwind became a tailwind. Instead of 85 knots we had a ground speed of 114. Much better! I had the airplane from 8:00 to 10:00 and landed right at 10:00, for a total of 1.9 hours of cross country flying.

Electronic Flight Book
The blue airplane on the top course line shows where we are on the third/final leg of the trip.

The flight was exciting, but it was rewarding for the precision and pleasant since it was not yet brutally hot out and was cooler at altitude. I need to do more of it!

PS I flew Augusta Aviation’s Cessna 172 N80842. I seem to have a lot of time in their airplanes! [Trivia – the Cessna 172 is the most produced airplane in the world.]

Flying

Aerobatic video

I BEGAN FLYING aerobatics in 2011 in gliders. Here’s a video of my most recent aerobatic training flight. Enjoy!

I did some training in England and in Germany. Eventually I passed the practical test to get a European aerobatic rating added to my European glider license (Ditto for my British Gliding Association license). Under European rules an aerobatic rating for one category of aircraft can be expanded to cover another by doing three training flights in the new aircraft. My German power flying privileges had expired, so I was able to combine renewal of something old with adding something new.

The Robin R2160 easily the most responsive airplane I have ever flown. This video is from my third lesson. All I see is the beginner mistakes, but I still hope you enjoy it. Why do some people think I’m crazy? Feedback is welcome.

I used multiple GoPro and Contour HD cameras for this. The rear cameras were mounted on a Delkin Fat Gecko mount specifically made for airplanes called a Co-Pilot. I bought one, cut in down to fit in a glider and liked it so much I bought another one for airplanes. The airplane’s intercom is connected to the microphone input of one of the cameras for good audio.

I have a variety of aerobatic books for airplanes and gliders. A popular airplane one is by Bill Kershner: Basic Aerobatics Manual. A great glider aerobatics book is the Handbook of Glider Aerobatics by Peter Mallinson and Mike Woollard.