tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:14:51 +0000http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/noreply@blogger.com (Will)Blogger143125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-9089779746916665255Sat, 31 May 2008 15:34:00 +00002008-05-31T10:38:05.717-05:00Taking over a student who has been working with a different instructor presents an additional set of challenges that aren't there when you're lucky enough to start with them from scratch. Each instructor teaches things in their own way and the challenge as the new instructor is to understand that just because a student was taught to do something differently doesn't automatically mean it's a bad http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2008/05/inheritance.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-550551350457068023Fri, 30 May 2008 03:06:00 +00002008-05-29T22:13:35.672-05:00The dog days of winter are over, replaced by the spring flying frenzy and soon to be replaced by the more traditional dog days of summer. After four solid months of truly awful weather it has stopped snowing, the slow moving low pressure systems that hung over Minnesota for what seemed like weeks on end bringing with them days of rain, snow, low clouds and general malaise have, for the most parthttp://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2008/05/dog-days-of-winter-are-over-replaced-by.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-5880725904570813722Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:42:00 +00002008-03-18T11:25:56.727-05:00We have just passed Ft. Wayne, Indiana and the wind is starting to shift to the left and increase in velocity. The temperature has dropped a few degrees and we are eyeing the datalink weather. We are burning $90 worth of 100 octane, low-lead aviation gasoline every 60 minutes as 74% of 310 horsepower pulls us through the air. Outside, it is fine VFR. The ride is smooth and we've enjoyed a brisk http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2008/03/threading-needle.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-1529172275271058498Wed, 12 Mar 2008 22:02:00 +00002008-03-12T17:21:09.355-05:00The flying lull continues but there have been some bright spots. One of my students passed his commercial check ride, the other his private. It's a great feeling on both counts to see dreams come true. On a more mundane level, my logbook now reads four figures. Passing 1,000 hours was a surprisingly low-key event. For years I looked at 1,000 hours as an unreachable goal, now it's just http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2008/03/more-milestones.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-4937968145901407239Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:42:00 +00002008-02-06T09:51:08.679-06:00There hasn't been much to write about because there just hasn't been a lot of flying lately. The past six weeks here in Minnesota has been one long string of lousy weather. Ceilings and visibilities have been low and on the rare occasions when it's been clear the temperatures have been below zero, which isn't much fun to fly in. The weather has led to a score of canceled lessons, frantic http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2008/02/dog-days-of-winter.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-865244133763964310Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:18:00 +00002008-01-24T17:20:55.687-06:00The check ride is over and I've added multi-engine privileges to my precious commercial certificate to go along with my single-engine qualifications. That means, technically, I can now get paid to fly a multi-engined airplane. Just like when I first earned my single-engine commercial the reality is that it will probably be a while before anybody hires me to fly a twin. Out of nearly 1,000 hourshttp://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2008/01/multi-commercial.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-1240835721405116486Tue, 22 Jan 2008 02:21:00 +00002008-01-21T20:33:25.118-06:00It was snowing lightly with perhaps two-miles visibility. After four days of doing transition training for a new Cirrus SR-22 owner I was exhausted and just wanted to go home, grab a beer and enjoy being inside and warm for a change. The weather necessitated an ILS to get back to the airport and although we could see the ground from 5,000 feet, there wasn't much at all to be seen directly in http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2008/01/braking-action-fair.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-2553271858600338648Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:12:00 +00002008-01-11T11:26:16.656-06:00I'm finally getting the flying done for my multi-engine, commercial, instrument certificate and it's a blast. My time in the simulator with Linda before jumping in the airplane definitely paid off in terms of getting my procedures down. The sim experience meant I was pretty comfortable dealing with two throttles, mixtures, props, fuel selectors, carb heats, starters, alternators and engines. http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2008/01/twice-fun.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-5218723615785958302Tue, 25 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +00002007-12-24T20:45:55.168-06:00I woke up this morning not wanting to fly. The weather last week had been miserable, with low ceilings and truly lousy visibilities to match. I'd wound up scrubbing a bunch of flights, which meant I wound up making hardly any money for the week. I had managed to find a slight break in the weather on Wednesday to go fly with two students, both of whom are taking their check rides next week. http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/12/christmas-story.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-1691993243730521742Fri, 07 Dec 2007 22:55:00 +00002007-12-07T17:05:21.710-06:00The dreaded ATP written is done and it was about as brutal as I'd expected it to be. I wish I had some deep insight into the test, but it's just not particularly relevant to the real-world and takes knowledge of the arcane to a new level. I'd taken probably 10 practice tests using the faatest.com software and studied the ASA test prep book from cover to cover a few times over the past month. http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/12/atp-written.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-8184756922071160309Mon, 19 Nov 2007 19:10:00 +00002007-11-19T13:14:38.566-06:00Linda and I got together for one last sim session going through multi-engine procedures before moving on to the airplane. I'm finally starting to get my head around the procedures and don't have to think quite so much about every movement I make, which translates into good fun. Linda ran me through a simulated check ride and it went reasonably well, I suppose. My ATP stalls (technically they'rehttp://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/11/more-sim-atp-written.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-7862708939450016029Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:27:00 +00002007-11-10T11:32:16.575-06:00I'm generally an optimist by nature. Starting work on the commercial multi-engine rating has turned me into a brooding, suspicious pessimist. Turns out this is actually a healthy attitude for a multi-engine pilot. The basic problem is that while a twin is just fine to fly with both engines running it turns into a real hairball when one engine decides to stop working. And in training one engine http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/11/multi.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-1527554396632535949Mon, 29 Oct 2007 23:15:00 +00002007-10-31T18:21:07.638-05:00My cell phone rang at noon on Friday. On the other end was an airplane broker I'd done some work for in the past. He: “Hey, how'd you like to ferry a 182 to British Columbia?” Me: “Um, ok. When?” He: “Tomorrow.” The next 10 hours were a whirlwind of phone calls, preparations, more phone calls, more preparation and finally a bit of sleep. The deal with simple enough: A broker in Victoria, BC,http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/10/ferry-flight.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-1296933181190183642Sat, 06 Oct 2007 13:27:00 +00002007-10-06T08:43:32.256-05:00Wow, I'm behind in posting. Too much flying lately. I'll cheat a bit and post something I've written for my instrument students on briefing instrument approaches. It's a distillation from several different sources, including my own experience. Amazingly, approaches seem to go better when they've been briefed ahead of time. Not always, but most of the time. The goal of a good approach briefing http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/10/how-to-brief-instrument-approach.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-6680400126239003403Tue, 04 Sep 2007 22:01:00 +00002007-09-04T17:27:44.395-05:00Yikes, it's been awhile since I've posted so here's a quick update just to keep things rolling. My instrument student who pinked his first check ride aced his retest and is now an official instrument-rated pilot.Another instrument student passed his check ride without much difficulty the first time out, which is outstanding.I've started working with another instrument student who has a bunch of http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/09/quick-update.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-1159877270996718256Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:14:00 +00002007-08-10T12:16:36.658-05:00It was a beautiful morning for flying so one of my primary students and I hopped in a 172 to work on some takeoffs and landings. We hadn't flown together in nearly two weeks but you wouldn't have known it. His patterns were perfect and his landings were decent. After the third trip around the patch without having to say a word I asked him if he'd brought his medical with him. Turns out he had.http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/08/solos-checkrides-sleep-deprivation.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-1902006957909372130Thu, 02 Aug 2007 04:27:00 +00002007-08-01T23:32:09.129-05:00I don't get to do much flying on my own, but the opportunity presented itself Tuesday and I jumped at the chance. It wasn't the happiest of occasions as I headed up to the Fargo Air Museum to attend the memorial service for Gerry Beck, who was killed when his Mustang collided with another P-51 while landing at Oshkosh. I'm sad to say I never got to know Beck very well. I'd met him a few times http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/08/missing-man.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-2005316763649311281Fri, 13 Jul 2007 16:33:00 +00002007-07-13T11:41:55.481-05:00It's been about two months since I've totalled the columns in my logbook and I'm down to one open page left, so I figured it was a good excuse to whip out the calculator and get everything into shape. The milestone, of sorts, was my total time, which is just a hair north of 700 hours. That's not a lot, nor is it a little I guess. Dual given is also approaching a bit of a mini-milestone and is http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/07/numbers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-6242339775630498942Tue, 19 Jun 2007 03:34:00 +00002007-06-18T22:40:47.298-05:00The great thing about being an instructor is you learn a lot about flying. Most days, the lessons learned are painless and fun. Some days, they sting a bit. I was doing a flight review today in the Cirrus with a good, experienced pilot. Things were going well so I asked him to do a soft-field takeoff. The soft-field drill is a great exercise in touch and finesse, which is why I like to have http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/06/lesson.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-7773375135654310135Sat, 09 Jun 2007 20:45:00 +00002007-06-09T16:22:23.610-05:00So, I gotta admit, despite the hours and tough work, being a flight instructor has plenty of good points. This week has been hell, flights every morning at 7, hot, bumpy weather, thunderstorms, flights in the afternoon and again into the evening. Yesterday I flew at noon then again at 3, didn't get done flying until 8:30, home by 9:30, passed out in bed at 10, then up at 5:30 again for another http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/06/special-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-6836553922713955500Mon, 21 May 2007 13:40:00 +00002007-05-21T09:11:52.022-05:00For the past 12 months all of my flying has been training, currency, demo flights or instructional flights. So it was a treat to take a personal flight and to just fly for fun. We booked the Cirrus for a trip down to Milwaukee to watch the Twins and Brewers. It's a great use for a small airplane and I've written before about the versatility of light airplanes for a trip like this. By car it's athttp://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/05/real-trip.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-406250690622860517Sat, 12 May 2007 02:04:00 +00002007-05-11T21:18:49.909-05:00After seven months of not working on a rating I'm back in student mode again. Of course, as long as you fly you're really just a student pilot because you're always learning. It holds true if you have 200 hours or 20,000. Well, at least it should because the moment you think you're beyond learning new things as a pilot it's time to find a new line of work before you kill yourself or somebody http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/05/student-again.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-8673530150182409624Wed, 09 May 2007 04:53:00 +00002007-05-09T00:16:17.004-05:00So much of teaching instrument flying is done with the student under the hood, flying on the gauges and spending 90% of your time working on approaches, that it's easy to forget the benefit of having them fly visually from time to time. Today's flight was one of those IFR training trips that didn't work out as planned, but provided a great opportunity to teach real-world instrument flying. The http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/05/instrument-training-staying-visual.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-4446395767941325422Thu, 03 May 2007 14:32:00 +00002007-05-03T09:38:13.460-05:00The great thing about this job is the variety in every day. I might have a new primary student in the morning flying a 172, an instrument student flying a Cherokee and finish the day with a currency flight in the Cirrus. They're all very different experiences and it keeps me on my toes. I was looking back through my logbook for April and I instructed in six different aircraft types (several http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/05/variety.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3278169.post-2816382355801566044Tue, 01 May 2007 20:54:00 +00002007-05-01T21:36:48.712-05:00I've been struggling to find a clever way to effectively teach the relationship between pitch and power, without much success. There are two basic schools of thought on the deal: Pitch controls altitude and power controls airspeed or pitch controls airspeed and power controls altitude. Personally, I fall more into the latter camp because I was taught to use pitch for airspeed control and power http://home.comcast.net/~w.outlaw/ppine/2007/05/ive-been-struggling-to-find-clever-way.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Will)