Coming In On A Wing and a Prayer

First In-Flight Video - Martha's Vineyard

2008-08-28T21:02:00.003-05:00

Here is my first attempt at an in-flight video from a dash mounted video recorder with a splice into the com receiver. The flight was from Bedford, Massachusetts to Martha's Vineyard in a Cessna 182S Skylane.

Finally...Some Actual IFR

2008-08-03T06:57:00.003-05:00

With this lousy weather pattern this summer, it seems every low pressure system decides to stall on its way out to the Atlantic. Flying down to Nantucket and the islands has been a chore due to extremely low visibility in fog and mist in the morning gradually switching over to afternoon thunderstorms. Trying to get in some solo IFR time in some modest overcast layers has been pretty tough.
Today was another such morning but I decided to head to the airport and hope for some improvement. When I arrived to preflight, the METAR was 1/4 mile visibility in fog. Runway 11 actually had an RVR (Runway Visual Range) of between 1800 and 2600 feet.
So lets talk about minimums. Standard departure minimums for 2 engine or less aircraft would be 1 mile visibility. Clearly a no go from this point of view. No under part 91, I could legally depart in 0/0 minimums but say I had an engine problem on climb out; If a turn was possible back to the airport I would have the ILS for runway 29 available to guide me back in. The ILS minimums for 29 are 328' and 1/2 mile visibility. No Go. Finally there are my personal minimums. I conservatively want a ceiling above traffic pattern altitude at this stage of the game so it's a no go from this point of view as well.
However, by the time preflight was complete, visibility had increased to 2-3 miles and ceilings were 800 feet. I decided to grab a CFII who was hanging out (VFR student had cancelled) and head down to the Cape to get some dual time. We taxied out in the Skylane and I set up my #2 NAV for the Runway 29 ILS in case s return should be needed. We took off and I pitched for Vy but brought my flaps in early so I wouldn't be retracting them in the clouds. By about 2,000 feet, we were already above the clouds and in sunshine. We were cleared to KMVY direct at 7,000 feet.
The undercast only extended until north of I-495 while all of Cape Cod Sound was firmly fogged in. Nantucket sound was in better shape with the fog burning of of Martha's Vineyard to the extend that a visual approach was possible. Instead, I donned the foggles and asked for the ILS into KMVY, which went well. After obtaining a clerance back to KBED, we were off and heading back north.
The earlier overcast was slowly breaking up but mostly to the west of Bedford toward Worcester, As ATC vectored me to intercept the localizer and descend to 2,000 feet, I was back in the clouds and remained so until about 800 feet. I broke out and used the VASI for the remainder of the descent.

Some IFR Approaches

2008-07-13T07:12:00.009-05:00

I decided to shoot some overdue IFR approaches today while under the hood in the Skylane with integral autopilot. The sky was hazy with an overcast layer somewhere around 6,000 feet so I filed for 6, hoping to get into some actual soup. Keene, NH seemed like a good destination; far enough to count as cross country time but close enough to get in a couple of approaches.After engine start, I received clearance via Manchester, direct at 6,000 feet. I copied ATIS and entered the altimeter setting in the Primary Flight Display (PFD) and the backup altimeter. No need to enter it in the autopilot seperately. Alone at the end of runway 29, I did my runup and pre-departure checks, obtained my IFR realease and takeoff clearance and was on my way. At 500 feet AGL, I retracted flaps and throttled back to 24" Hg manifold pressure and 2400 rpm on the prop for my climb at 95 knots. Now one big difference with the integrated autopilot is the FLC function, "Flight Level Change". Set this and the auopilot will control pitch to maintain the set airspeed. The older AP I'm accustomed to has only a vertical speed option, so as the plane climbs and engine power decreases, your airspeed gets slower and slower. Get distracted in the climb and you could wind up stalling. Not so with the FLC function.......run out of power and you simply stop climbing.

ATC cleared me direct Manchester and then direct to the Initial Approach Fix (IAF) for the ILS 02 approach into Keene, called CAHOW. CAHOW has a required hold in lieu of a procedure turn nut the autopilot knew that. It autimatically executed a teardrop entry into the hold. But instead of a 1 minute outbound leg, it flew a 5 mile pattern. I'll have to see how that can be changed, if possible. After the turn inbound, I crossed CAHOW and the PFD automatically changed over from GPS to Localizer navigation for the ILS. At the Final Approach Fix (FAF), I simply had to set power to maintain 90 knots approach speed and the sutopilot took me all the way down to decision height.........how cool! After a very nice touch and go (if I do say so myself, ) I went missed.

Now the autopilot went into suspend mode once I reached the missed approach point. I unsuspended it and selected GPs for navigation. It flew the entire missed appoach procedure including the terminal hold. Once again, I merely had to set power and flaps to maintain the proper airspeed and rate of climb. After announcing the missed to Boston Center, they vectored me around again for another try. I once again flew a touch and go and this time on the missed, asked to open the flight plan back to Bedford. I leveled off at 6,000 feet and was cleared direct to LOBBY.

There was an overcast layer about 500 feet above me but the haze was so thick you could really only see about 3 miles. After being cleared to descent to 3,000 feet, ATC called out a primary target return at 5 miles away at out altitude. As I got closer, I finally identified 3 ultralights, also at 3,000 feet, information and maneuvering in the haze.

Finally, I obtained clearance for the GPS 23 approach, circle to land 29. After contacting the tower, I was instructed to continue the approach to within 1 mile of the sirport, then enter the downwind for 29. I continued the approach to the 600 foor MDA and entered the downwind for what I thought would be a cicle to land clearance. However, the tower controller told me to continue the lft down wind and "I'll call your base".

Well, this presented a problem. We were number three in the pattren now, and the base leg intercepted three towers that were at 573 feet MSL. I adjusted my course to the right and climbed back up to 1200 feet to avoid any guy wires. The tower then called my base and I turned, but the Piper in front of me was far too close. I was just about to call a go around when another controller got on the mike and called for me to go around and squawk 1200. He did this to keep us in the pattern. Because I was on an IFR flight plan, If I popped up back on Boston's radar, Boston approach would have had to be contacted and they would have vectored me back to the start of the approach.

I crossed over the airport and entered the left downwind for a short final and landing. Good practice session.

Breakfast on the Vineyard

2008-04-26T11:34:00.022-05:00

What a nice day! Skies clear, morning chill in the high 30's, and a northeasterly wind guaranteed a great flying day. Today I had David Bulkow along as a passenger for a short hop down to Martha's Vineyard for breakfast, a pilot who previously tooled around the skies of Wisconsin. The winds were calm as we preflighted, received a clearance to KMVY via radar vectors, direct. We started the takeoff roll at 7:21 a.m. in a calm wind on runway 29 with the skies "severe clear". The climb to 5,000 feet was at a brisk 1,000 fpm in the cold air. Our outbound course took us directly over Emmerson Playground in Concord (of Ralph Waldo fame, no doubt) as well as along the wetlands surrounding the Sudbury River. After contacting Boston Approach, we were given radar vectors until west of Plymouth, then cleared direct to KMVY. Visibility was very good although the ground haze made for mediocre photography. The route took us by Gillette Stadium, Norwood and Plymouth Airports and of course, the Ocean Spray cranberry bogs near Lakewood. The halfway point of the trip is Asswompsett Pond just south of Middleboro, Massachusetts. At this point we tuned into the ATIS at KMVY which reported the winds were from 080 at 12 knots giving us a slight crosswind of 7 knots from the right if we landed on runway 06. The decent into the Vineyard took us directly over Wood's Hole as we were cleared for the visual approach for Runway 06. On the right was Buzzard's Bay and you could see West Island just South of New Bedford as we crossed over Mattapoisett. A little farther and the Elizabethan Islands came into view with Naushon the closest of the chain followed by Pasque, Nashawena and Cuttyhunk in the distance. After being cleared for landing on runway 6, we turned left donwind to begin the approach and short final.We taxied right up to the restaurant and shut down. Hobbs time was 48 minutes compared to a planned 42 minutes and fuel consuption was 11 gallons compared to the planned 10.7 gallons; pretty good planning. In front of us was a Piaggio P180 Avanti II, the world's fastest business turboprop, all decked out in the colors of Ferrari.After breakfast we spoke with some other Skylane owners who had flown down from Plymouth for breakfast as well. An old radial engined WWII bomber was also parked on he tarmac (I think it is a Lockhed C-40, army version of the L-12). After getting a clearance back to Bedford via FREDO intersection, we taxied to runway 6 for a northeast departure. In the 10 knot headwind, the Sylane leapt into the air and climbed out with a great view of the control tower, tarmac and restaurant. After switching over to Cape approach, we were instructed to turn to a 360 degree heading to cross over Nantucket Sound as the plane rapidly climbed through 4,000 feet, leaving Martha's Vineyard behind.Traffic was still light and we were cleared direct Bedford almost immediately rather than heading eastward to FREDO. This set up a ground track just to the west of Vineyardhaven and Lagoon Pond, where my wife learned to sail in her youth.Passing over Vinyardhaven, you could see that the harbor was pretty empty this early in the season. Many of the moorings were empty but the ferry was docked, waiting for the return trip to Wood's Hole.We passed over Lake Tashmoo next. This is really a misnomer.. The "lake" is actually a salt water tidal basin that is large but very shallow with a maximum depth of only 12 feet. Unlike the lagoon, Lake Tashmoo does have a channel leading out into the bay.On the right, we could make out the unique shape of Mink Meadows Golf Course, a 9 hole course arranged in a square shape. We leveled off at 4,000 feet for our crossing back to the Cape amd were vectored toward Buzzards Bay, instead of proceeding to FREDO intersection, near Plymouth. Landfall was made just west of Falmouth.Flying up Buzzard's Bay, we passed over Scraggy neck in Cataumet and could make out Monument Beach.Groundspeed was 134 knots in a slight headwind as compared to the 161 knots we fared on the way back so I decided to make a PIREP via Flight Watch to make others aware. Meanwhile, we had a nice view of the Cape Cod Canal and the railroad and Bourne bridges.In no time at all, we passed west of Plymouth airport as well as Otis Air Force base on a heading of almost due north. Before long, the Boston skyline came into sight and Hanscom field stretched before us as we were cleared for a visual approach. We were vectored on a long, extended base leg for Hanscom runway 11 which had winds of 080 at 8 knots. There was only a lone Tomahawk on final ahead of us so the approach was short, sweet and punctuated by the second greaser of the day. We held for some jet traffic crossing the taxiway and taxied back to the west ramp. Total Hobbs time back was 0.9 hours vs a planned 0.7.

Flight to Keene, New Hampshire

2008-04-23T21:30:00.005-05:00

Finally a warm, sunny day! Decided to head up to Keene with Kurt to get some photos and get some more 182 cross-country time. Unfortunately, there was a fair bit of haze which cut down on the picture quality. We were cleared to Keene via radar vectors, Manchester, direct at 6,000 feet. Boston Center sent us the whole way to MHT VOR and we made our turn to the west right over Manchester airport. Winds aloft were calm so we trued at about 131 knots as we passed over the Wapack range, south of Mount Monadnock and vere vectored to the ILS for Runway 2 at Keene. We intercepted the localizer almost over Orange airport and started down the ILS just south of KEEN VOR. Kurt shot a nice picture of the approach into Keene airport.

After taxiing back to the runway, I called up Bangor flight service for the clearance back to Badford via EEN GDM LOBBY direct. We departed to the north, climbing on runway heading until reaching 2,100 feet and then made a climbing left turn back over KEEN to proceed on course. ATC almost immediately gave us radar vectors back to Hanscom. When we finally arrived at KBED, we were actually cleared for a shirt final (first for me on a Saturday morning) and landed uneventfully on runway 29.
All in all, a nice flight.

IFR to Sanford, Maine.

2008-04-03T07:03:00.002-05:00

Finally a day with no ice or snow storms so I thought I'd pop up to Sanford for a couple of approaches. Winds were 280 at 13 knots gusting to 20 so some attention had to be paid on aileron configuration during the long taxi to Runway 29. After receiving a clearance via Pease and Kennebunk VOR's, we were released and cleared for takeoff.

The landing roll was pretty short and we were up in no time. retracted flaps and pulled the manifold pressure back to 25" and 2400 rpm for a 90 knot climb. ATC was very busy and it took a while until they finally cleared us direct Pease. This Skylane has a fully integrated autopilot so I set it to maintain a constant 90 knot airspeed and then just kept adjusting the manifold pressue, watching the VSI vary as we climbed. At 5,000 feet we leveled off, set the cruise to 23" and 2300 rpm and leaned the engine back for about a 12.5 gph cruise and 25 oC rich of peak EGT. I went through the checklist and remembered to close the cowl flaps and we were on our way with about 152 knots of groundspeed in light turbulence.

We were soon given vectors and clered direct to SANFD, the initial approach fix for the Runway 07 ILS. I shot the approach and went missed. Meanwhile, my safety pilot took control to maneuver us away from another aircraft in the pattern. We obtained radar vectors back to the ILS and shot a second approach which went well in the gusty conditions. On the missed approach climb out, we were cleared back to Bedford via Lawrence VOR.

Boston approach was heavily loaded so they couldn't accomodate an ILS approach back. But suddenly, about 3 or 4 miles from the FAF at JAYCEE they radioed that traffic had lightened and we were cleared for the approach so we quickly loaded the approach, pulled power back to about 15" and dropped 10 o of flaps. Just about completed the GUMPS check when we were at JAYCEE inbound in the ILS. Landed in a pretty strong left crosswind with a little more drift than I wanted but all in all a good landing. Landing winds were 250 at 11 gusting to 20 which is a crosswind gusting to about 8 knots.

IFR to Keene, NH

2008-03-22T14:25:00.004-05:00

Boy, this winter seems to have been defined by this picture. Snow....more snow.....low clouds with a freezing level to the surface, freezing fog.......finally a day with no icing arrived. Surface winds were gusting to 20 mph from the west with a northwest wind at 45 knots at 6,000 feet. So a flight up to the hills of N.H. seemed in order to sample some turbulence.
I received a clearance to Keene, New Hampshire via radar vectors, Manchester VOR. I held the 182 to the ground a little longer and rotated close to 60 knots because of the gusty wind condtions. The Skylane leaped into the air and as I pitched for Vy, was already at 100 feet and retracted flaps, set climb power for 25" manifold pressure, prop for 2400 rpm and pitched for a 90 knot climb out and contacted Boston approach. The flight was cleared to 5,000 feet direct Manchester and I was at altitude before even reaching Lowell, MA.
After reaching cruising altitude (remember to close those cowl flaps) and MHT VOR, we were cleared direct Keene and I requested the ILS 02 approach. Approach gave me vectors to final and some alternate missed approach instructions because KEEN VOR was out of service. KEEN VOR defines the hold on the published missed approach procedure for ILS 02 and I was wondering why this wasn't in the NOTAMS I received in my weather briefing.
During the descent to intercept the localizer, I finally encountered the expected turbulence. ABout 2 minuted out from the localizer I pulled power back to about 15" m.p. and conducted the pre-landing GUMPS check: fuel selctor to BOTH, mixture rich, prop to high rpm, landing light ON and dropped 10 degrees of flaps. Once on the localizer, it was tough not to chase the glideslope as the wind gusts shifed to the west as I decended below the ridgeline and into the valley. At decision height I went missed and executed the alternate missed approach procedure as instructed by ATC.
The 182 G100o with a coupled autopilot is a sight to behold. As I crossed the MAP, it suspended operations and after hitting the SUSP key and putting it into GPS mode it gave course guidance back to the VOR hold and automatically told me the entry was to be direct and could have even flown the hold for me, if that's what I wanted. However, I received radar vectors back around for another shot at the ILS, went missed and climbed back to 5,000 to head back to Bedford.

Well, the winds at 5,000 were smooth, but fast. My groundspeed was 184 knots as I headed back to KBED in record time! After shooting the ILS into Bedford, taxied back to the west ramp and tied down. Great flight!

Mountain IFR Flying

2008-01-20T21:04:00.000-05:00

It was cold and windy this afternoon with winds from 280 at 19 knots with gusts to 25 and a temperture of 23 deg. F on the ground. There was a scattered to broken layer at 4000 feet but cold enough at altitude that icing wouldn't be a factor so I set off to shoot some IFR approaches in the Green Mountains or Vermont. The plan was to fly to Springfield, VT and then to Rutland and Lebanon, NH with a return back to Bedford. I brought along foggles to get some instrument practice, but I was not going to need them!

I was one happy pilot when I finally got into the cockpit after a frigid pre-flight inspection. The Cessna 182-G1000 started like a champ and I was given my first clearance to Springfield (KVSF) via radar vectors, Manchester, Keene and then direct to KVSF. The plane climbed at 1,200 fpm in the cold air and I was in IMC by 4,000 feet climbing through my final clearance altitude of 6,000 feet. Occasionally there were some breaks such as a quick glimpse of Mount Monadnock off to the right as I approached Keene. Turbulence started picking up once over the higher country northwest of Keene. Boston ATC gave me the Localizer DME approach to runway 5 via the Keene transition and I slowed the plane to 90 knots and started the numerous step downs popping out of the clouds just before the final apporach fix a6 2,900 feet. Visibility wasn't the greatest but I could see the runway about 5 miles ahead. Once reaching the missed approach point it was full power, retract flaps and a climb on the runwat heading to 2,000 feet to clear terrain before making a right turn to avoid Mt. Ascutney and head back up the Connecticut river valley to 6,000 feet.

After contacting ATC, I was given clearance to CELEM intersection and clearance for the VOR DME approach for Runway 1 in Rutland , Vermont. This approach was over some pretty high terrain and when I popped out of the clouds at 4,000 feet I was greeted by Mount Tabor and Green mountain on the right at what seemed like a very short distance from the wingtip. The minimum descent altitude is 3,060 feet but even when the airport was in sight, Bear mountain loomed ahead and I kept at 3,000 feet until clearing the base of the mountain. The view was stunning as I headed down the valley and did at touch and go at Lebanon with a stiff crosswind from the west. After cleaning up the plane to climb up the valley to the north, I leveled off at 7,000 feet and obtained a clearance to Lebanon, NH, New Hampsire's northernmost commercial airport.

I was back in the clouds on the way to a GPS approach into Lebanon Runway 25. The controller cleared me to descend to 4,500 feet and then later cleared me for the approach which has a minimum descent altitude of 4,800 from the leg from ELHOY intersection to ROMRE so I climbed back up 300 feet to ensure obstacle clearance. Landing was uneventful but the sun was starting to set so I called flight service on the ground to get a clearance back to Bedford and skipped the trip to the pilot's lounge.

After takeoff, I was cleared direct to the Lebanon VOR and then direct Bedford. Passing beyond some snow squalls at 5,000 feet, visibility finally improved enough to get a picture of the ski slopes on Mount Sunapee with a snow squall behind.

Just before Manchester, I switched on the cockpit lighting and was cleared for a vectors-to-final approach to Runway 29 in Bedford. It was dark when we touched down and I taxied back to the tie down which was done very quickly in the face of dropping temperatures.
What a great flight. 4 instrument apporaches: A localizer DME, a VOR DME, a GPS and an ILS. 3.5 hours of PIC time with 2.0 hours actual. 20 minutes of night time and one night landing and some breathtaking views of the mountains. I highly recommend this training route!

Nantucket by Night

2007-12-17T05:13:00.001-05:00

Took the Skylane on my first night flight in a while...destination: Nantucket. The sun was already starting to set as I preflighted the 182 G-1000 and filed a flightplan via DRUNK V141. This was the Tower Enroute Control route listed in the Airport Facility Directory so I assumed I'd get that clearance. However, the clearance came through as "Direct Marconi Nantucket Direct" which I punched into the G1000 electronic navigator.
The air was cold so the plane climbed like a champ on takeoff and I was at 7,000 feet in to time at all. Boston approach gave me radar vectors around the Bravo airspace and finally cleared me direct to Nantucket, right over the Otis Airbase restricted zone. Normally, this is hot during daylight hours. There was a haze over Nantucket sound and an overcast layer at 4,000 with optical illusions abounding as I approached Nantucket. I set a new personal top groundspeed record at 182 knots and after flying the ILS for runway 24, landed (quite hard) at Nantucket.
After receiving the return clearance it was off to Bedford with Boston's lights shimmering below. What a beautiful sight!
Cape approach handed me off to Boston, whom I could not contact. Going back to Cape, they informed me that Boston was having transmitter problems and to try them again on an alternate frequency. BOS was barely readable so I was forced to acknowlenge their instructions with transponder IDENTS. They finally cleared me for a visual approach into Bedford for another hard landing (Need to practice some night touch and go's.)

174 knots in a Skylane!

2007-11-18T10:25:00.001-05:00

Thought I'd get some simulated instrument time today with the Cessna 182 Skylane. The plane I rented, N182SJ has a glass cockpit with a fully integrated autopilot (which I've never used). Thought it would be nice to get a cross-country flight in to try it out. The original destination was Springfield, VT but there was an Airmet for moderate turbulence and a 25 knot west wind which made a mountain flight sound a little rough. I opted for a trip to the Vineyard, instead.

The airport was unusually busy with a bunch of jet traffic; a BAe Hawker HS 125-700 was one of 4 corporate jets taxiing to runway 29.

Also, the main terminal area was a mob scene with Pan Am loading its commuter flight, a charter operation loading a Boeing 737 and a bunch of folks from the Boston College alumni association waiting to board a Boeing 757. They were headed down to Clemson to watch BC take the Atlantic Coast Conference championship.The control tower allowed me to squeeze between the flight line and the 757 and follow an Air Force T-28 Talon. The jet blast from one of these was a worry so I made sure to keep my distance on the taxi out. After runup, we were off amidst some moderate turbulence on the climb out. At 500 feet, I retreacted flaps and pitched for an 85 knot climb and set power for 25" manifold pressure and prop to 24oo rpm. Traffic was light so ATC gave us a direct to routing almost immediately at 4,000 feet. I requested 7,000 to get above the broken cumulus layer and into smoother air. The 182 climbed like a champ and once at 7,000, I pitched down and closed the cowl flaps, set a cruise setting of 23" maifold pressure and 2300 rpm and leaned the plane to peak EGT minus 100 degrees. Fuel burn was about 14 gph. The plane trued at 132 knots but with the brisk tailwind, we were showing as high as 174 knot grounspeed, a new personal first! in only 20 minutes, were were cleared to descend to 2,000 feet and cleared for the ILS 24 approach into Vineyardhaven. Winds were 270 at 12 gusting to 17 which made for a maximum 12 knot crosswind, which is my personal maximum. The ILS approach was good and I took off the foggles at decision height and held a steep slip for a good landing on the upwind main gear first. The flight back was below the cloud layer at 4,000 feet and a bit bumpy. Even with the headwind, the ride back was 40 minutes despite ATC routing around Hanscom to intercept the ILS 29 localizer from the north. Winds were 260 at 15 knots gusting to 26 and the tower cleared us to land. At DH, I removed the foggles and there was a Cessna Caravan still on the runway so I executed a go around keeping to the right of the runway to maintain visual contact with the Caravan. The tower thanked us and cleared us for a right traffic downwind approach and landing for runway 29.

Pattern Work in the Skylane

2007-10-13T15:47:00.000-05:00

Did 9 touch and go landings at HAnscom today with the Cessna 182 Skylane. The weather was a brisk 37 degrees so the plane was quick to leap off of the runway. Pitch and of between 15-20 degrees kept the plane at Vy with full throttle and rpm. After 500 feet AGL, I retracted flaps, set manifold pressure to 24" and rpm to 2400 for the in pattern climb. Ince in the pattern, I pulled the power back to 18" m.p. and abeam the numbers dropped that to 17" and 10 degrees flaps to start descent pitching for 80 knots. 20 degrees of flaps were put out onshort base and in the turn to final I did a Gumps check and pitched for a 75 knot approach speed which kep the m.p., down at 15 " or so. For landing I rotated to stop my descent and then simultaneously reduced power to idle while flaring whcih worked real well.
Tried two soft field takeoffs as well, rotating at 50 knots and leveling off in ground effect to accelerate to 75 knots and then pitch for a climb at Vy. Also did a go around and a no flaps landing. Looking forward to starting some IFR approaches!

Flying the Cessna 182-G1000 Skylane

2007-10-05T17:44:00.000-05:00

Just got back from my first 1.5 hours in the C182-G1000, flying through the lovely Boston haze and boy, is my right leg sore! We started off with a takeoff and climb at Vx and I asked the instructor if he could get his foot off of the rudder pedals. Of course, he didn't really have his feet there, it just needed that much extra right rudder compared to the Skyhawk. Once at altitude I ran through the checklist....set power, reduce rpm. I would have forgotten the cowl flaps without the checklist. Then for some air work.
Some turns to headings and steep turns; once again needed a lot of right rudder and back pressure to stay coordinated and level but it all worked out. Then a bunch of Dutch Rolls to get a feel for rudder and aileron pressures. In my years flying, I never actually did that maneuver, but boy was it helpful to work on rudder coordination! Then a couple of power on stalls, once again a ton of right rudder to keep from dropping a wing and I was surprised how high an angle of attack you can get before the stall break....at least it seemed steeper than the 172. Getting back to the pattern, I was having some trouble in finding the right m.p. and rpm to slow it down to 90 knots and after turning final I thought for sure I'd have to go around because I was so high. I was warned about the high sink rate of the 182 when power was pulled off. I dropped 20 degrees of flaps and pulled off 2 inches of manifold pressure and next thing I know, the VSI is showing 1200 ppm sink rate. I got it back together and made a couple of nice T & G's, each one having a better approach. On thing I did really like about the 182 is it didn't seem to want to float....once it pulled power back and started to flare it settled solidly to the runway.
Actually, the hardest part I found about flying the 182 is parking it! I'm used to happily pushing the Skyhawk back into it's tie down spot but by the time I maneuvered the Skylane, I worked up quite the sweat. Thankfully, my instructor told me there was a towbar in the plane to make it a bit easier.Great experience. Next week I'll get in more T&G's and then work on some simulated IFR approaches.

IFR to Keene, NH

2007-09-22T16:53:00.000-05:00

The goal of today's flight was to shoot some ILS approaches up in Keene, NH first to get in some cross country hours and second, to fly a missed approach procedure in some hilly country for a change. Keene is in a valley and while it isn't the alps, the hills surrounding it do dictate some additional care in executing the missed approach from the Runway 2 ILS. I also intended to use the glass 172SP and get more time with the G1000 flight system.

The weather at Hanscom was good, wind from 210 at 12 knots with clear, but very hazy skies. In the region of Keene, ceilings were 4,000 scattered, 12,000 broken with ceilings becoming 4,000 overcast by 6 p.m. with showers associated with a cold front that was to be passing. We were leaving by 1:30 p.m. and were to be back by 3:30 so there seemed to be no problem there. It took 20 minutes to preflight and we received a clearance to Keene via Manchester VOR at 4,000 feet. I took off, proceeded direct Manchester and leveled off at 4,000 feet. After what seemed like eons, (we were only 4 miles from Manchester), we finally received a clearance to proceed direct Keene and to climb to 5,000. There was a 25 knot headwind at this point so or progress slowed considerably.

ASOS at Keene was now reporting 3,500 and broken. Hmmm....sounded as if thinks were going south a little earlier than anticipated. I took off the foggles for a minute and there in the distance you could see a towering wall of white. It started abruptly over Pack Monadnock Mountain and the ridge that makes up the Wapack Trail, as if the ridge were holding the bad weather back. So I left the foggles off since it looked as if I'd be getting some actual time today.

After flying into the IMC, we were hit by the expected moderate turbulence as ATC gave some vectors to descend and intercept the localizer. I was at 3,000 feet and still in solid IMC, no breaks in the clouds at all. I intercepted the localizer and descended to 2,600 to intercept the glideslope at the FAF. The cloud base was at my altitude and we were skimming in and out of the ceiiling as the glideslope came in and I started my descent. Visibility was 2-3 miles at most and at decision height, I pitched up, put in full power and retracted flaps to start the climb to 1,600 feet after which point I could safely turn direct to the Keene VOR and a hold at 3,000 feet.

By this time I was back into it at about 2,500 feet and the wind had shifted and was now coming from the south at 10 knots. Keene only has one instrument apporach for runway 2 so after holding at EEN and receiving another clearance for the ILS, the approach would end with a circle-to-land on runway 20. Since weather seemed to be deteriorating quicker than expected, I opted to head back to Hanscom while the conditions there were still good.

I received clerance back to LOBBY intersection at 6,000 feet. I broke out of the sloping overcast somewhere southeast of Keene at about 4,500 feet with a nice push from a quartering tailwind that gave us a 145 knot groundspeed. In no time at all, I was descending to intercept the VOR 23 approach into a very hazy Hanscom field. This was a good experience not only in IFR approaches, but in decision making. Although I'm sure I could have handled the circle to land approach, I was on the front side of a cold front and conditions were changing more rapidly than expected. This, coupled with the fact that I was in mountainous terrain raised the pucker factor more than I was in the mood for today. All in all, I had a lot of fun!

IFR to Sanford, Maine.

2007-09-15T20:12:00.000-05:00

I arrived at Hanscom airport early this morning just on the warm side of an approaching cold front with 2 miles visibility in light to moderate rain, scattered to broken layer at 300 feet and overcast at 1000 feet. I filed to Sanford, Maine which was reporting -RA and overcast at 800 feet. A 172S-G1000 was available for the trip and although I'm checked out in it, I'd never actually flown it in other than simulated IFR conditions. I found a CFII who was familiar with the G1000 systems to come along for the ride and point out some of the many features on the MFD I still wanted to learn.

What a great flight! At 300' AGL I was into the soup and cleared to 4,000 feet for the flight to Sanford. Rain was moderate and I was constantly in and out of clouds and/or climbing through layers. I picked up the ILS at Sanford and just as I was about to call decision height at 438', we popped out of the overcast...and I descended through light rain for a touch and go.

Back up and into the clouds we were vectored for the VOR approach into Rochester, NH. MDA was just above 1000' so it was no surprise that at the MAP, there was no airport to be seen so we went missed, entering a hold while we picked up a clearance back to Bedford, MA for a GPS approach. Once on final, back at KBED, visibility was still about 2 miles so I felt as if we were at MDA forever before I could finally make out the REIL and PAPI lights....what a welcome sight indeed! It was a wet but happy pilot strolling through the rain and across the tarmac today.

Block Island Flight

2007-06-30T20:24:00.000-05:00

Arrived at Hanscom at 0700 and pre-flighted the 172SP-G1000 for a flight to Block Island, off of the RI coast. Accompanying me was Mike Morris, another pilot who had never flown in a glass cockpit before. The weather was iffy, Block Island (KBID) was showing visibility and ceilings below IFR approach minimums. Morning coastal fog is common here but at 0700, it seemed to be getting worse rather than better. However, all of the inland airports were reporting great VFR conditions so we decided to head down, and if the island was fogged in, we'd divert to New Bedford or Plymouth which were looking good. It was great having Mike help run down the checklists and before long we received an "as filed" IFR clearance, completed our runup and were off. SEY, the Block Island VOR is one of the fixes on the Hanscom Six departure procedure so it was no surprise that once we contacted Boston Approach, we were cleared direct to SEY at 4,000 feet.

The routing put us right over Providence and Greene Airport with great views of Providence Bay, Fall River and New Bedford. You could see the ground fog burning off as we headed south and received clearance for the GPS 28 approach into KBID. I entered the procedure into the autopilot and it found the IAF with no problem and executed the turn inbound to the island. About 5 miles from the FAF, I slowed down and dropped 10 degress flaps and the autopilot started moving the pitch trim up quickly. A pitch trim failure annunciator lit so I disconnected the autopilot and hand flew the rest of the approach.

The ramp was pretty empty since a lot of planes probably were waiting for the fog to clear before departure so we parked and headed over to Bethany's Diner, right in the terminal building. The ramp manager told us he would waive the landing fee if we grabbed breakfast on the airport so we did. It was very crowded and we grabbed the last two seats. The food was great and cheap so after filling up on caffeine and cholesterol, we decided to walk into town which was perhaps a mile or two from the airport, and all downhill.

After passing through the airport gate, we turned left and passed some very pretty rows of hydrangeas that were in front of the Old Town Inn. On both side of the road are pretty farms and cape style houses with hydrangeas, roses and day lillies everywhere. Although there are no signs to point out town, you just keep following the roads down hill and eventually you will wind up on Ocean Avenue hading toward Dodge Street and Spring Street, the main thoroughfare near the ferry landing.

We turned the corner onto Spring Street and were immediately greeted by a view of the harbor. It was full of boats of most shapes and sizes. Both the high speed and conventional ferries had just arrived from Port Judith were discharging passengers. The boats were packed like sardine cans and as we watch the stream of passengers emerging, I was happy we had the relative "spaciousness" of our Skyhawk for the flight down.

Across Spring Street from the docks was the National Hotel. Originally built in 1888, this prominent hotel with wraparound porch is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The porch was filled with breakfasters as they fueled up before the days' exploration of beaches and shops.

And shops there were, aplenty! Spring street was a mini-metropolis of shops, restaurants, art galleries and the like. It reminded me a little of walking through downtown Chatham, on Cape Cod. The street here was pretty busy with cabs picking up ferry passengers, trucks making their food pickups from the docks and a steady stream of bicycles and mopeds, both of which can be rented right there on Spring Street. We walked down as far as High Street and the Harbor Baptist Church, where the traffic moves around a rotary with a marble statue conspicuously in its center.

Named for the biblical Rebekah-at-the-well, B.I.’s “Rebecca” stands proudly at the intersection of four Old Harbor roads. She was erected in 1896 by the local Women’s Christian Temperance Movement, which hoped to curb the consumption of alcohol on Block Island. Ironically, restoration experts have concluded that Rebecca is in fact Hebe, cupbearer to the Gods, which may explain why consumption of alcohol is in such prevelance on BI. The statue was recast in 2001.

After a lemonade break and a trip to one of the shops to pick up t-shirts for the kids, we headed back to the docks for a cab ride back to the airport. After obtaining a weather briefing and clearance, we were rolling down the runway. I climbed at Vx due to a low hill that rises from the departure end of the runway and turned to track direct to the Norwich VOR, our first fix. After making landfall over Westerly airport, ATC gave us a northward radar vector to practically overfly the Connecticut-Rhode Island border west of Providence. As instructed, we intercepted V16 and tracked northeast to WOON intersection and received radar vectors back to Bedford where the wind had picked up. Before shooting the ILS for runway 29, we received radar vectors that send us out as far as Lawrence before we were turned back inbound. I caught a gust on landing and came down harder than I liked which marked perhaps the only glitch to a near perfect flight.

Another Martha's Vineyard jaunt

2007-06-24T19:36:00.000-05:00

The weather was similar to last weekend as was the route. This time, I was honored with the presence of Jay Doubman who braved the wee hours of the morning for a 7:30 a.m. departure from Bedford.

The routing was identical to the last flight with a direct to MVY clearance from Boston approach control almost immediately after departure. The only glitch was on the approach to the extended right base leg at Vineyardhaven, there was a Piper executing a long, slow extended final. Tower asked if we could swing into a right downwind of sorts, hugging the coastline and giving the Piper time to land so we obliged. After turning final we dropped flaps and slowed to approach speed but as we apporached the fence, the Piper was still on the runway! I prepared for a go-around but after some verbal assistance from the tower, the Piper finally got the idea an cleared the runway just befor we touched down.

After breakfast, we received the familiar routing back to Beford via FREDO and touchdown was a real greaser.

Early morning flight to Martha's Vineyard

2007-06-16T19:16:00.000-05:00

Today's passenger was Richard Lodge who decided to share some air time for an early morning jaunt to the Vineyard for breakfast. We preflighted the aircraft and I gave Richard the nickel tour of he 172SP Skyhawk which we were to fly including the 13 fuel sump points. After strapping in, we contacted clearance delivery to obtain an IFR clearance to KMVY via radar vectors using the Hanscom Six departure procedure. Winds were calm as we taxied to runway 29 and did a run-up. We were #1 for takeoff and before long were airborne and switching over to Boston Approach who cleared us direct to KMVY.

The morning was pretty nice with fairly low humidity providing good visibility of the Cape and islands as we passed by Norwood airport and headed south over the many cranberry bogs of southeastern Massachusetts. We crossed Buzzards Bay over Mattapoisett and were given permission by Cape approach to descent to 1,500 feet at pilot's discretion. Normally, I keep altitude until almost over Martha's Vineyard but since there was no turbulence even at the lower altitudes I decided to descend early. This way we were at 1,500 feet before crossing Wood's hole giving some spectacular views of the town and the islands.

Cape Approach cleared us for the visual before long and after a frequency change to Vineyard tower, we were instructed to report right base over the sandpit. After entering base and turning final, we dropped full flaps and made a smooth landing, taxiing up to the transient ramp in front of the restaurant.

Even with the light air traffic, we grabbed the one open table at the Plane View and grabbed some breakfast as the waiting line slowly started to form. On the way out, we stopped by a WWII Navy aircraft that looked like a Lockheed Electra which was parked on the ramp. After climbing in and starting the engine, a quick call to clerance gave us an immediate response.

The route back was via FREDO intersection which put us on the western edge of the Otis Air NG base. We crossed the Cape Cod canal over the Bourne Bridge and headed out over Plymouth harbor before being handed off to Boston Approach. As we approached FREDO, I noticed a NAV flag on the HSI and informed approach that we lost GPS navigation ability. They promptly gave us radar vectors around the western edge of the Boston class bravo airspace. We turned east to enter the left downwind fo runway 29 at Bedford and made a trouble free approach and smooth landing.

Flight - Keene, NH

2007-06-15T07:18:00.000-05:00

Decided to do a short IFR trip to Keene, NH. Filed to go via the GDM VOR but received a clearance to Manchester, NH and then direct Keene. Takeoff was uneventful, proceeded direct MHT at 5,000 feet with some light afternoon turbulence and very hazy skies. I took off the foggles for a short glance and saw I was over Nashua airport, with Manchester's runway barely visible through the haze. ATC came on and gave a clearance direct to KEEN and ordered a climb to 6,000. I asked for the GPS 02 approach since the KEEN localizer was out of service, preventing any ILS or LOC approaches.

ATC cleared me for the GPS approach and vectored me further to the south. All of a sudden there a biplane appeared at my altitude and 9 o'clock very close by. Luckily he was banking away to his left and descending so as not to cross my flight path. I intercepted the GPS course and turned inbound toward KEEN and started my descent into the valley, needing to give up a fair amount of altitude in a short distance. ATC granted a frequency change to the CTAF and I radioed my position with no response, the airport was completely empty.

The approach and landing were near perfect as I landed in the middle of a nature preserve....wild turkeys were all over the grass next to the runway, two deer were foraging on the taxiway and a great blue heron was wading in the pond near the fence line! I taxied over to the hangars and contacted Bangor FSS through the remote communications outlet to close my flight plan and obtain a clearance for the journey home. I was cleared to Bedford via EEN and GDM VORTACS and V141.

Takeoff was beatiful with the low sun angle illuminating everything in red except for the long purple shadows. The departure procedure called for a straight out climb to 2,000 feet and then a climbing left turn back to the Keene VORTAC. I reached 4,000 feet long before reaching EEN and contacted Boston Departure who cleared me direct to KBED. The flight was short and with a clearance to land on Runway 11, I had to hardly make a turn after leaving KEEN.

Flight to Sullivan County International.

2007-04-22T18:16:00.000-05:00

I arrived at the airport for a planned 0700 departure. However, during pre-flight, the GPS failed to initialize and showed a bunch of gibberish on the screen. Since I had already filed /G and was hoping for some direct routing, I opted to switch aircraft. The second C172 was fine and I received my clearance to Sullivan County Airport via "radar vectors BOSOX V419 BDL V205 TRESA direct". I entered the flight plan into the GPS and spent about 5 minutes trying to find TRESA on my charts. I was assigned 6,000 feet for my initial altitude. After runup, I was released and cleared for takeoff. Without another passenger and in the cold air, the plane was climbing at a perky 900 fpm as I contacted Boston Approach control. Approach cleared me direct BOSOX so I climbed to 6,000, set the throttle to cruise and leaned the mixture. There was some haze over the Connecticut River as I passed over Bradley Airport but the ride was smooth. The small headwind which cut my groundspeed to 105 knots was pretty steady with littlke turbulance, so I settled in for an enjoyable hour ride.
Crossing over the rolling hills on the Connecticut - Massachusetts border near Winstead, Barkhamstead reservoir was a prominent landmark on the left. On the right was another pretty body of water, West Branch Reservoir. It sported two seperate dams, one on the southernmost part of the reservoir and one near the center. There didn't seem to be any roads girdling it and looked like a nice secluded spot to fish. Need to keep that in mind in the future. About 15 miles east of TRESA, I was handed over to New York Center who cleared me direct to Sullivan County Airport. By this point in the flight, I was approaching the Hudson river valley with view to the south stretching out to Poughkeepsie with its railroad bridge and the mid-Hudson Bridge crossing. Beyond it, I could see down to the Newburg-Beacon Bridge, about 25 nautical miles away. Directly in front of the aircraft was the Hudon itself with Kingston on the far shore and Saugerties looking like a little concentration of buildings to the north. Beyond Kingston I could make out the blue of Ashokan Reservoir and the mountains of Catskill Park. Most were still topped with snow and the ski slopes of Hunter Mountain could be seen stark against the mountainside. The Hudson itself was absolutely brown with the silt and mud from the recent rains which had caused so much flooding in New England and New York. On the east side of the river was a good view of Hyde Park, NY with route 9 snaking through the center of town. This is built on the old Albany Post road, a major stage route between New York City and Albany in earlier times. Once across the Hudson, I entered what I call "the Funnel", the approach into Sullivan County airport with the Catskills bordering to the north and Ice Caves Mountains, near Ellenville, to the South. ATC started to step down my altitude to 5,000 then 4,000 feet and I started to pick up some turbulence, not uncommon here. There are often hang gliders soaring on the side of he mountain catching the thermals that are prevalent. I didn't see any hang gliders but did notice a large resort near the top of Ice Caves Mountain that I hadn't noticed before. It turned out to be Mohonk Lake Resort in New Paltz, a retreat established in 1869 and a National Landmark to boot. Need to visit it sometime with the parents to check out the gardens and restaurant. The descent took me south of Rondout Reservoir and I overflew Sullivan County Airport at 3,500 feet to check for traffic. There was one other plane in the pattern so I made a decending 270 degree turn to the right and entered the left downwind for runway 33 at 2,400 feet. The landing was smoother than silk and I taxied to the ramp, shut down and found my father.

After a couple of hours visiting the old homestead, it was back to the ramp to take on some fuel. I burned 17.7 gallons on the way out vs. a plan of 17 gallons so I topped off the tanks and radioed New York clerance delivery via a remote communications outlet they have on the field. I was cleared via V106 to BAF (Barnes Airport VOR) DREEM and then direct to Hanscom Airport. This route would bypass the heavy traffic over Bradley airport in Hardford, CT and instead route me over Pawling, NY and Springfield, MA. Takeoff was uneventful and I intercepted V106 and started my climb to 7,000 feet. The flight through the "funnel" was very turbulent with my head banging off of the ceiling a couple of times. The west wind and the afternoon thermals conspired for quite a roller coaster ride as I headed east. It improved a small amount as I crossed over the Hudson and was cleared direct to Barnes VOR doing about 135 knots over the ground with a little push from a tailwind. In less than an hour, I was passing over Barnes Airport near Springfield, MA. Just beyond the Connecticut River, I passed directly over Westover Air National Guard base. Westover used to house a Q site during the cold war where nuclear weapons were stored and assembled. Westover ARB is the nation's largest Air Force Reserve base, and is home to the Air Force's largest cargo aircraft, the C-5 Galaxy. More than 2,700 military and civilian workers are assigned to Westover's 439th Airlift Wing, a unit of the Air Force Reserve Command. I could make out a number of the monsters on the tarmac below, even from 7,000 feet! By now, I was under the control of Bradley Approach who asked me to descend to 5,000 feet. Just north of Worchester, I descended again to 3,000 just over Worchester Reservoir which is a favorite spot for flight training. There were targets everywhere, below me, above me.....finally I maneuvered through the area and headed for Hanscom. The wind had shifted from the east so I was able to make a straight in approach to Runway 11. Nice flight!

1. Apr 2007: Martha's Vineyard

2007-04-01T14:31:00.000-05:00

I had a treat today in the form of a passenger. Kurt decided to accompany me on a breakfast trip to Martha's Vineyard. This was after the last couple of weekends had been either rained or snowed out or else the winds were gusting upwards of 40 knots. Luckily today turned out to be a nice day, albeit cold. The Skyhawk was in need of deicing before we could leave Hanscom. So, dripping glycoI, I filed for the Hanscom Six instrument departure and we were off.
ATC turned us toward Boston. Views were great and surprisingly, we were cleared direct to MVY at 5,000, our requested altitude. The ride was smooth as glass and we were getting a ground speed of 130+ knots. Some eastbound jet traffic bound for Logan passed beneath us as we made out way south.
There was some burning going on down near Asswompset pond which made for a smoke plume that stretched all of the way to the coast at Plymouth. Over Mattapoisett, we were cleared to descend into the Vineyard at our descretion. I decided to get down to 2,000 feet as soon as possible to allow Kurt to get some nice photos of Wood's Hole and Naushon Island. The visual approach to Vineyardhaven was uneventful and I pulled off a real squeaker of a landing on runway 24.
Suprisingly, we were only the second aircraft in so far this morning. A light twin came in earlier. It was off to the Plane Sense Restaurant for some high cholesterol fare. There was a table available right away so no waiting....just wait a couple of weeks when the season really starts. There have been Sundays when I couldn't even land at KMVY due to the overflow of aircraft parking!
Heading out to the aircraft after breakfast, we got the line attendant to take a photo of us and the 172SP since there weren't too many aircraft coming in at that time. He said that yesterday was far different. They were parking planes all the way down onto the grass off of the tarmac.
After engine start, clerance delivery could not abtain a copy of the return clerance. A quick call to Burlington Flight Service took care of that. Soon we were off and airborne again. We were routed to FREDO intersection via the MVY 017 radial which was a distance of a little over 35 miles. The view was nice as we passed just west of OTIS ANG station, over the Cape Cod Canal and Plymouth harbor. Traffic was starting to pick up as we [roceeded northward and Boston approach started to give us radar vectors around some conflicting traffic. As luck would have it, as we got closer to KBED, they decided to bring us around to the west, then east to approach Runway 29 from the northeast. Quite an interesting little diversion but Kurt was able to get some nice photos of the Sudbury river and wetlands.

Finally, we landed back at Hanscom. Boston and Maine Airways was just getting their Jetstream 3100 ready for their scheduled flight to Trenton, NJ. Thought I'd take a picture; it's neat to see the old Pan Am logo back in action.

3. Mar 2007: IFR to Martha's Vineyard

2007-03-04T08:07:00.000-05:00

It started out pretty warm today, over 40 degrees when I headed off to Hanscom, although the field was shrouded in fog. My intent was to put togther what I had learned about the 172SP-G1000 for an IFR flight to Springfield, Vernont and some pretty mountainous terrain near Mt. Okemo. However, 1 hour before departure, KVSP was still below minimums and the Keene VOR which I needed to get there was out of service. Also, there was ain AIRMET for icing from the surface to 9,000 with cloud layers all over the place. Sounded like I needed a backup plan.

Instead, I saw that Martha's Vineyard was low IFR in fog and mist but Nantucket was now VFR with improvement anticipated through the morning. The Vineyard would make a nice low minimums attempt and if I could not make it in, the plan was to execute a missed approach and head over to Nantucket. Since the fog was now lifting and the sun was breaking through, I had the plane de-iced and turned it around in the sun to help melt ice on the cowl. Finally, with a clearance in hand and programmed into the GPS, I departed KBED. After contacting Boston Approach at about 700 feet, I turned to the southeast and was cleared direct to KMVY. The ride was smooth and beside some haze was largely clear. ATC cleared me for the localizer 24 approach into KMVY since the glideslpe was inoperative so I turned out over the bay just east of Woods Hole to intercept the localizer.
There was time for a photo or two. Here you can see the curve of Woods Hole forming Great Bay. The Pond where the peninsula (Long Neck) meets the land is Eel Pond and most of downtown Woods Hole is to the left of Eel Pond. The large body of water in the top of the photo is Buzzards Bay and the two small islands in Great Bay are Ram Island and to its left, Devil's Foot Island. Both are near the tip of Long neck known as Penzance Point. The large bay below Eel Pond is Little Harbor.

Most of downtown Woods Hole is dominated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Marine Biological Laboratory. One of the research vessels can be seen in the upper part of the photo. In the left center of the photo is the Steamship Authority terminal which runs regular service between Woods Hole and Martha's Vineyard. Out over the center of the bay, I intercepted the localizer and descended to 1,500 until the final approach fix and then headed down to 440 ft, the MDA. The landing was uneventful and after taxiing back to the runup area, contacted departure control for a clerance back to Hanscom.

I wasn't going to be lucky enough to get a direct clerance back. I was to get radar vectors to the 017 radial from Marthas's Vineyard and track that to FREDO intersection up near Plymouth harbor; then radar vectors back to Hanscom. The radar track to the left show this somewhat circuitous route but the good nes was a nice 28 knot southerly wind was blowing at 6,000 feet so I could expect a little push on the ride home.

After making landfall near Falmouth I was able to take photo of Nobska Pond and Nobska Point at the entrance to Little Harbor. At the tip of Nobska point is Nobska Light which has guarded the entrance to Little Harbor since the first light was built there in 1828.

I finally levelled out at 4,000 feet and tracked just to he west of Otis Air Force Base which was very quiet this morning. To the right I could see the PAVE PAWS radar installation which provides warning and attack assessment of SLBM and ICBM attacks against North America (little comfort).

To the left of the plane was Buzzards Bay and Taylor Point, home of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. In the photo you can see thei training vessel in dock, the USTS Enterprise and also one of their experimental wind generators which is quite a topic of debate down on the cape. It was spining rather nicely as I passed over, crossed the Cape Cod Canal almost directly over the railroad and Bourne Bridges. After only 8 minutes, I was approaching Plymouth Harbor and handed off from Cape Approach to Boston Approach control who started vectoring me due west, away from departing Logan traffic.

This ground track took me almost directly over Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, home of the New England Patriots. I was able to snap a couple of pictures. The parking lot had quite a number of cars there so there must have been some event going on at the stadium. About 4 miles from the TFR zone I was vectored north, keeping just east of the Sudbury Reservoir and cleared for the visual approach back into Hanscom. Total Hobbs time was 2.2 hours.

Passed IFR Checkride

2006-12-23T10:08:00.000-05:00

Christmas came a little early this year in the form of a piece of paper that now reads "Airplane Single Engine Land, Instrument Airplane". Yipeee!I didn't think we'd actually get it in today. The weather was deteriorating all day with the TAF showing quickly lowering ceilings, light rain and ice pellets and an Airmet Zulu for icing from the surface to 10,000 feet during our anticipated flight time.Once at the airport, the practical exam went well. The examiner picked a great departure airport, Lebanon, NH which is in the White Mountains with some minimum climb rates needed for departure. He kept changing wind scenarios and available runways until finally there was no way out, keeping to the minimum climb gradient with our Cessna 172SP. He also picked some good destination airports that were along a TEC and required an alternate. The whole experience was great and I learned a number of new facts, especially the advantages of using TEC when able. Then off to the aircraft. After preflight and a simulated clearance delivery, we were off. On the way out to the first GPS approach, we did a couple of steep turns and some abnormal attitude recoveries which went off with no problem. After that come some timed and compass turns and some partial panel abnormal attitudes as well.Finally I set up for the first GPS approach, flew the T configuration when all of a sudden I get a red NAV flag just before the FAF and the trusty KLN 94 GPS gives a "press PROC button now for navigation". No clue that this was going to happen....the RAIM check before reaching the IAF showed good integrity. I press the button and I go back to approach active mode and tell the examiner we can proceed. He agrees and we descend and go missed as he asks a flurry of questions about what would happen if this occurred after the FAF as well as some other scenarios. This was not to be the only navigation challenge of the evening. He then vectored me to intercept a cross radial leading to a VOR/DME FAF. I set up the radial to track in VOR #2 and the approach VOR course in the HSI. Fate struck again as the #2 VOR went red flag and that was it...it was dead.I checked the identifier....still there. Checked my circuit breakers....all set. I finally brought the frequency over to the HSI and tracked the course using it and identified the FAF by flipping back and forth between frequencies. After holding at the FAF, he allowed me to shoot the aproach and then just after going missed he failed my attitude indicator. He was going to fail my HSI at the same time but couldn't since the #2 VOR was out. By this time it was dark so we headed back to the barn shooting the ILS back into Hanscom Airport. He had said very little during the checkride besides asking for maneuvers and giving vectors but I knew when that stall warning horn went off and those wheels touched down that I had made it, in spite of the extra adventures tonight. All in all, it was a great experience. The examiner took time to congratulate me but also to point out how to best build real IFR solo time now that I had my ticket. You couldn't help but learn from him.Well, this will make Christmas extra special around our house this year!

Some fall colors near Mount Monadnock, NH.

2006-10-31T18:07:00.000-05:00

7 Oct 2006: When Fall Comes to New England

2006-10-09T08:10:00.000-05:00

I planned to leave at 0700 for an autumn flight to Rutland, Vermont in the Green Mountains. The briefer at Bangor FSS stated that VFR flight was not recommended due to low ceilings and freezing fog at Rutland. However, the conditions were to improve by mid- to late morning and were much better southeast of the Green Mountains. So the backup plan was to head to Rutland via Keene, New Hampshire instead of using a direct route. If ceilings and fog were unmanageable, I could always land at Keene for breakfast; or, if that was fogged in, head back to Bedford. I had taked Rick, my CFII along to fly the plane if I decided to take some pictures.

The takeoff from Bedford was spectacular with the VSI pegged during the initial climb out in the cold air. As much as I hate waiting for de-ice and pre-heat, the visibility and climb performance is worth it. Bedford was overcast at 3,000 feet so I leveled off at 2,500 and turned to the northwest and rising terrain. Before getting to the area around Mount Monadnock, I'd need to climb to 3,500 feet. Ahead, there were numerous holes through the low overcast and in the distance you could see blue skies beyond the cloud layer shelf so I started up to cruising altitude, enjoying the pretty view of the low angle sun on the cloud layers.

Finally, the clouds started breaking up. To he north, Pack Monadnock and the southern tip of the Wapack trail could be seen through the mist.

Directly below, the cloud cover thinned enough to see some colors from the fall foliage.
In the distance we could make out Mount Monadnock, even though the summit was enveloped in a cloud.This mountain holds claim to being the second most climbed mountain in the world, behind Mt. Fuji in Japan. At 3,165 feet, it's certainly no Mount Everest but it sticks up as a lone hill about 2,500 feet above the broad valley below. In low visibility conditions, it'd good to know it's there especially since it lies almost perfectly on the line connecting Hanscom Airport in Bedford with Dillant-Hopkins Airport in Keene.
We stayed about 1,000 feet above the cloud deck and circled the mountain a couple of times. Flight Watch stated that Rutland was still reoporting freezing fog so there seemed little point to continue so I decided to land in Keene instead. My first approach was high so I went missed and came around a second time. This time the approach was much better. I think that the rising terrain near the downwind made me somewhat nervous so I kept the downwing higher than I should have. Also, I'm used to Bedford where a short final after a normal pattern is a rarity so I was just not aggressive enough on chopping power and getting down.
After departing Dillant-Hopkins, the cloud cover was thinning rapidly so we could get a little lower and get some pictures of the beautiful foliage surrounging the lakes southeast of the mountain. After 15 minutes of slowly cirling around the area, we set a course back to Bedford via Pepperell, my town, to get some more photos of the house.
On the way we passed directly over the small airport in Jaffrey, New Hampshire.

Once over Pepperell, I headed for the Nissitisset School which is the middle school in out town. There was supposed to be a soccer tournament there this weekend. The field lots were already almost full and players and parents were already on the fields.

After this, I swung to the south to follow the Nashua River to find my house. I circled a few times to get some photos of the neighbor's pond and house as a gift to them and finally increased power to climb and depart the area. Since I still had plenty of time, a quick landing at Fitchburg Airport seemed in order with breakfast at the Airport Restaurant. Finally, a quick takeoff and landing back home at Bedford.

16 Sep. 2006: Instrument Work Out

2006-09-19T19:56:00.000-05:00

Since it is getting close to that final checkride, I thought I would sign out the 172SP for a double block to get in some extra practice. I also figured it would be nice to work out a practice plan that would give a wide variety of approaches but would be widely enough spaced to give a little set up time between them. I also thought some scenic vistas, although unseen by yours truly under my foggles, could still be appreciated by my CFII. I think I may have come up with the perfect IFR training hop!

We departed Hanscom at 0730, simulating a zero-zero takeoff. After lining up the plane on the runway and setting my heading bug, it was foggles down and full throttle. It felt like an hour before reaching rotation speed and seeing that VSI moving toward the top of the scale never looked so sweet. After contacting Boston approach for flight following, we were cleared direct to ONRAE intersection, the IAF for the GPS 07 approach into Provincetown. ATC through in a hold at JOBEB due to other traffic approaching the airport which was a nice touch and after 1 turn in the hold, we were cleared for the approach. I reached the MDA just before the beach and my instructor told me to take off the foggles and look up.......there was runway 07, dead ahead with a quaint black and white lighthouse passing just below the plane. With the foggles back on, I started to execute the missed and contacted Cape approach who cleared me direct to WHIPS intersection, the IAF for the GPS-A approach for Chatham.

This is an NDB overlay approach which I planned in case I rented a plane with an ADF, but no such luck today. I flew to the IAF and flew a parallel entry into the hold/procedure turn and decended to the MDA of 660' MSL. After going missed, I received some delaying vectors to the north and once again glanced outside to see Pleasant Bay and Nauset Beach below where I spend many a great day with my father and mother-in-law in days gone by. But before I could get too caught up with memories of days gone by, Cape approach was once again on the radio giving me vectors back to Hyannis.

I had planned on the localizer 24 approach into Hyannis nut the wind had shifted to the northwest so we opted for the VOR 06 approach. Cape vectored us to the final approach course and I removed the foggles about 2 miles from the runway. Landing was good and I taxied over to Cape Cod Air to stretch my legs and get a coke. It was sunny with a nice warm breeze blowing and I met another guy at the FBO who had also departed Bedford earlier in a Tomahawk for his long VFR cross country. We both left together to continue on the trip.

After taxiing to runway 06, I did a runup and lined up for another zero-zero departure.....I think the CFII was getting a chuckle of my increased breathing rate over the intercom. After climbing out and turning west, I contacted Cape approach for flight following to New Bedford. We remained clear of Otis Air Force Base and set up a 4500' cruise to New Bedford. After being handed off to Providence approach, we were vectored to intercept the back-course localizer for the Loc BC 23 at New Bedford. I did get a minute to peek ot and see the BAttleship Massachusetts, "Big Mamie" moored at Battleship Cive in Fall River. With the foggles back on, I intercepted the BC localizer and turned to the final approach course, but rather than hit the BC switch on my GPS, I decided to fly the back course the old-fashioned way. It took a little remembering to "drag the needle" rather than fly toward it, but I reached the airport right on the money and executed the missed approach due north, as per New Bedford Tower's instructions.

Providence Approach then cleared us for the full VOR approach into North Central State airport in Pawtucket, RI which starts at the Providence VOR. Flying the approach was pretty easy by this time but I have to say that North Central was the busiest airport by far this morning with 4 or 5 planes in the pattern, all self-announcing their positions. I was pretty glas to execute the missed and get the heck out of there, flying the published missed to a hold at FROSTY intersection which required some quick retuning of both #1 and #2 VORs. After a turn in the hold, we wre told to procedd direct to Bedford and to contact Boston approach.

Boston was unbelievably busy but still managed to vector us to the ILS for runway 29 at Bedford. The CFII failed the attitude indicator this time so I flew the partial panel approach down to DH but just as I took off the foggles, the tower controller cleared the hold short aircraft onto the runway! I guess it's time for some go around practice as well! I sidestepped the runway to keep he departing aircraft in sight and turned around to join the downwing for 29 again. The tower called my base this time and what do you know...........he cleared another aircraft to depart ahead of me. Luckily, this guy expedited his role and got off the ground just before I touched down. A pretty exciting ending to the day.

By the time I tied town and got back to the FBO, it was almost 1130.....great timing. This flight was a good workout, not too long and not too short with a welcome break at Hyannis. I shot 6 approaches.....2 GPS, two VOR, a back course localizer and ann ILS and managed two holds and a procedure turn. What a great circuit to fly. Once I get my instrument rating, this would be a good course to keep current with so many approach options available.

16 Jun 2006: Cross Country to Martha's Vineyard

2006-06-16T19:57:00.000-05:00

After a month of incessant rain, there finally came a clear afternoon to get in some flying. Well, in point of fact it was actually pretty hazy, but still above VFR minimums so I was off to the coast. I was flying the 172SP-G1000 glass cockpit to complete my checkout training. Boy, was it hot! the taxiway was crowded with other GA aircraft with wondows and doors open, various appendages hanging out trying to stay cool. After a wait, the tower cleared us for takeoff.
The plane climbed at about 500 fpm maximum rate in tthe warm haze as I swung around to a southeasterly course to cross over Norwood airport. 2800 feet wedged us nicely between thetop of Norwood's class delta airspace limit at 2,500 feet and the overlying class bravo airspace of Boston at 3,000 feet. After crossing from beneath the shelf near Mansfield, I climbed up to 5,500 to cross Buzzards Bay. After picking up the ATIS, I tried to contact KMVY tower but was told to contact them in a couple of minues. Atrting a descent over Wood's Hole, the tower finally asked for us to stay clear of their delta airspace due to congestion. Ahhhhhh......the Vineyard on a summer's Friday afternoon!

After a brief tour of the west part of the island, we were finally cleared for landing which was a tad high on the approach. I used a slip to get the altitude bled off and landed. On the tarmac was my old flight instructor who recently joined commercial operation. He was just boarding his Aerostar for a flight to East Hampton, Long Island.
After a Coke, it was back to a delay-free departure and an uneventful ride back to Bedford.

20 May 2006: Partial Panel Approaches

2006-05-20T19:01:00.000-05:00

A bit windy today with some light turbulance below 2,000 feet. I was about 1,000 feet off of the ground on the initial departure when the CFII informed me that I had lost my attitude indicator and covered up the instrument. Things were not as bad as I expected and could maintain attitude pretty easily with the altimeter and HSI. Shot the first VOR approach into Minuteman Airport with no problem. I definitely was not as aggressive with the pitchup after going missed approach since the airspeed indicator was a little bouncy so I "worked it" up to 75 knots for the climb out.
The second partial panel VOR approach worked out OK as well but boy, go they ever require some increased scan rate. Finally I shit my first cirle-to-land approach using the ILS 29 approach at Bedford to land at runway 23. I went well although 'm going to ask to simulate a missed on the circle to land just to see what it's like. I'll try some more approached tomorrow.

17 May 2006: Back in the Saddle!

2006-05-17T20:08:00.000-05:00

After a 3 week layoff due to travelling and lousy weather (record rain here in MA), it was back into the cockpit for an evening of IFR training. I was sure that tonight would be an excercise in chasing courses and needles since it feltlike eons since I'd been under the Foggles..

Breaking with tradition, we headed west to shoot an RNAV/GPS approach at Fitchburg. It was right on the money laterally, but would have been a missed approach because I was coming in too high. Lesson learned......descend at 700 fpm on those non-precision approaches. You want to be at the MDH far before the MAP in order complete the descent using normal maneuvers. The missed approach went fine so I set up for the VOR approach to Minuteman Field in Stowe, MA. Manchester VOR is over 20 miles away so even though the VOR needle was centered, at the MAP I was still quite a bit off to the left. I could have easily shot a landing, but it was a good illustration of how far off the VOR approach can be that far from the station.

Finally, flew through some light rain back to the ILS 29 at Bedford. No sweat, no strain! On the weekend I'm hoping to get in some partial panel approaches and circle-to-land. First time in a while I've flown Wednesday evening and gotten back in daylight....Whoopee! Summer is right around the corner.

29 April 2006: Cape Ann

2006-05-05T20:37:00.000-05:00

After departing the Boston class bravo airspace, a quick turn east through the Beverly class delta led to the southern side of Cape Ann......the "other cape". Throttling back to 90 knots and dropping to 1,000 feet gave some beautiful views of the beaches.
The first town I encountered was Mancheter-by-the-Sea. The entrance to Manchester harbor is seen just beyond Long Beach. The lighthouse is the Seacrest Tower House, originally a dreary governmental edifice erected as an observation tower during World War II.

On the eastern side of Gales Point is Singing Beach, so named to describe the sound made by the fine grained sand as you walk on it.

Singing Beach is on the far left and Graves Beach on the far right. The near island is Graves Island.

Proceeding further east, I flew over White Beach and Crow Island. The island actually looks more like a peninsula, it is separated from the Cape by some salt marshes.

Coolidge Point is a small peninsula separating Kelltle cove from Magnolia Harbor. At the tip of Coolidge Point is the magnificent Ocean Lawn. At one time, this vast lawn was the site of the Coolidge family's "Marble Palace," a Georgian-style mansion designed in 1902 by Charles McKim under the direction of Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, Jr. The Ocean Lawn is now an open, grassy expanse broken only by large shade trees.

Beyond Collidge point lay the last beach in Manchester-by-the Sea, Gray Beach in Kettle Cove. From Kettle Cove eastward starts the town of Gloucester.

The village of Magnolia and Magnolia Point mark the southwest-most extreme of Gloucester. Some of the oceanside houses are quite impressive, such as the little cabin to the left. I'll have to drive down here some time, the view from the shore must be incredible.

East beyond Magnolia Point I could see what looks like a medieval castle situated on rocks over the water. This is Hammond Castle Museum on Normans Woe Cove. Hammond, an inventor whose number of patenets is second only to Thomas Alva Edison, used this as a home in the 1920's. The home served as a backdrop for his collection of Roman, medieval, and Renaissance artifacts and is a museum today.

In front of the nose of my aircraft lay Glouster harbor. The small island off of the left shore is Normans Woe Reef. The spit of land to the right is Eastern Point with the Dog Bar Breakwater forming a conspicuously straight line protruding into the harbor. The town of Gloucester itself lies at the extreme end of the harbor.

After a few minutes, Dolliver Neck and Freshwater Cove pass by on my left.. J.P. Baekland (inventor of Bakelite, the world's first entirely synthetic plastic.) build some houses there for his sisters in the early 1900's.

I turned the plane to parallel the south shore of Gloucester Harbor, priding itself "America's oldest seaport". This harbor has had commercial fishing traffic since 1623. The shoreline is Pavilion Beach which has a public promenade and includes the famed Fisherma's Monument. The near island with the small lighthouse is Tenpound Island, so named for the amount paid the indians to relinquish the island. Over the centuries, it was the last land seen by many fisherman lost at sea.

The far shore of the working waterfront is Fort Point which defines a small channel. The near shore is part of Rocky Neck. The reddish brown building with the tall stack is Tarr & Wonson Paint Company. Twelve years after the Civil War, workers here revolutionized the fishing industry, creating copper-based paint that allowed fishermen to protect their boats from the barnacles that attach to the vessels on long trips.

Further down the inner harbor there is a Maritime museum behind the turquoise colored ship. Next to this ship is a replica of the long liner "Andrea Gail" from the Movie The Perfect Storm. The bright red boat is a lightship drydocked at the Gloucester Maritime Railway.

The large pier at the center of the photo is the State Fish Pier.

A closeup of this boat shows it to be the "Nantucket", the last serving lightship. Lightships served for decades as floating lighthouses to help ships navigate some of the most dangerous of U.S. coastal waters. From 1856 to 1983, a lightship was stationed off Nantucket to help trans-Atlantic and coastal ships traverse the treacherous Nantucket shoals, where in 1956 the Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria collided with the Swedish liner Stockholm in the fog, with the loss of more than 50 lives. They have since been replaced by buoys.

After crossing Eastern Point, the next destination, Rockport could be seen in the distance. But before turning north, I wanted to overfly Good Harbor beach, which I had visited with my two small kids in past years.

We have always stood in awe of the house perched on a rock on the edge of Good Harbor Beach. From the air it is no less impressive. It looks as if the house is waiting on the edge of the cliff, waiting to get enough nerve to just jump in! The water was clear enough to make out some subsurface features and I brought the plane to about 800 feet to make out the small footbridge that connects the beach to the road.

Finally, I made a sweeping turn to the north, staying away from Thatcher Island which is a wildlife sanctuary and approached Rockport. The harbor is well protected by inner breakwaters as well as an outer harbor formed by Bearskin Neck.Front Beach can be seen nea the top center of the photograph.

Passing abeam of Rockport, I could see right down Broadway itself. T-wharf is an extension of Broadway. Perpendicular and closest to T-wharf is Bradley wharf and parallel to it is Tuna wharf. The old harbor can be seen at right center in the photo.

From Rockport, I made a direct line to Ipswich, crossing over Ipswich Bay and making landfall at the southermost tip of Plum Island. In the photoyou can see the Plum Island River as it empies into Ipswich Bay. The houses are on Little and Great Necks, both part of the town of Ipswich. I turned the plane north to follow the coastline, keeping clear of Parker River National Wildlife refuge. I decended to minimum legal altitude of 500 feet....I tell you, it seems a lot lower, like your going to get the main gear of the old Cassna a little wet. A little power and bach up to 1,200 for the rest of the trip up the coast.

Suprisingly, there was some whiteness in the distance. At first I though that they were clouds but a quick glance though the telephoto lens proved me wrong. Mt Washington. I turned the white target directly in front of the aircraft nose and checked the GPS. No mistake, that really was Mt. Washington at a distance of over 100 miles! Puts the term "unlimited visibility" into context for you!

Finally, I arrived at the northermost end of Plum Island. The Merrimack River could be seen emptying into the ocean. I had to maneuver to keep clear of a small plane departing Plum Island airport. At this point I decided I had enough fun for the day and punched up KBED on the GPS and started a direct track back to Hanscom.

The left turn over the inlet gave me my final view of Newburyport. The Route 1 bridge can be seen crossing the Merrimack river and the faint arch of a bridge further upriver is the I-95 bridge. If you expand the picture, in the lower left corner the runway for Plum Island airport can be seen running parallel to Plum Island turnpike.

Passing through Lawrence airspace, I picked up the ATIS for Hanscom and entered the left downwind for runway 11. Once again, it seemed as if chased airspeeds a little on final approach, but this had to do with the visual depeiction of the airspeed tape. One more hop in the G-1000 and I should be checked out. All in all, this was a great day.....new aircraft checkout and a combined downtown/Cape Ann/Plum Island tour in a mere 1.4 hours of Hobbs time. This itinerary is definitely a keeper!

29 Apr 2006: Boston City Tour in a G1000.

2006-04-29T20:31:00.000-05:00

I decided to check out in a G1000 glass cockpit Cessna 172SP. Except for the checks around the two electrical busses and arming the backup battery, the preflight was very similar to the steam gauge 172's I've flown before. Winds today were from the north which meant that Logan airport would be landing to the north with approaches over the bay....a good day to buzz around downtown. Since there was plenty of frost on other aircraft at Bedford and I was already deiced, it meant that htere wouldn't be much traffic heading the same direction. I called Boston Tower on their landline number and reserved a slot at 0800 to enter the BOS class bravo.
Takeoff was on Runway 5 and it was pretty weird trying to hold Vy on the climbout using the rolling airspeed tape. It took a couple of minutes to get used to it as we banked toward Boston's downtown buildings and I called up Boston Tower. Clearance was immediate at or below 1,200 feet, not a lot of leeway to maintain minimum ground clearance. I headed across Arlington and Cambridge, overflying Harvard University stadium. built in 1904, it was the U.S. first collegiate sports stadium. After crossing the Charles River, the turbulence began to pick up a little making good photography a challenge. Opening the window didn't make for any better picture taking, just a lot of wind, noise and some seriously cold fingers!
The next Stop was Fenway Park. I banked east beyond first base and got a good photo of the "Big Green Monster". Pity it wasn't Tuesday night when the Yankees would be playing.
Out of the left window was he Prudential Center, Boston's second tallest building and a nice view of back bay.
Another left turn pointed me amost due east, right at Logan Airport so I throttled back to about 90 knots to slow down the ride and take in more of the view. Passing by the Prudentia Ceter from the south, you can see 111 Huntington Ave., still within the Prudential center complex. Just beyond it is the Harvard bridge which connects Boston to the MIT campus on the far shore of the Charles river.
Continuing east, I passed the John Hancock building , New England's tallest skyscraper at 790 feet (60 stories). Next to it is the rectangular "Old" John Hancock building, built in the 1940's. The colored light on top changes every three hours according to the addage: "Steady blue, clear view.Flashing blue, clouds due.Steady red, rain ahead.Flashing red, snow instead." During baseball season, flashing red means the Boston Red Sox game has been called off.
About the last point I took a picture was Fort Point Channel, an industrial waterway separating Boston and "Southie. The rectangular building is the Boston Federal Reserve Bank. The channel was drained during the Big Dig to build a section of tunnel which now underwater, leaks about 20 gallons per minute. This is the furthest point east I could proceed and turrned toward the north after passing over the World Trade Center and Boston Harbor. Any further east wuld be over Logan Airport itself!
The bank north alows a nice downward view of Rowes Wharf and the Boston Harbor Hotel although turbulence from the building did pose a challenge to get a steady photo.
The flight then passed over India wharf and the New England Aquarium with great views of the old Cabot headquarters on State Street. The large brown building is the Marriott Hotel on Long Wharf. The Custom House clock is in the center of the picture.

Keeping slightly offshore, I passed over the North End, home to Boston's "Little Italy" just a short walk from Faneuill Hall.Just to the left of the wing strut, you can see the Zakim Bridge and the former Fleet Center immediately to the left of it.
Near the center of the North End is Christ Church or the "Old North Church" where the two lanterns were hung on the evening of 18 April, 1775 signalling to Paul Revere that the British were to march on Lexington and Concord by sea.
A final photo of the Boston Museum of Science with the Longfellow and Harvard Bridges in the background and I called Logan Tower to let them know I was going to track I-93 North at 1,200 feet to get out of the class bravo airpace. Once clear of it, I contacted Beverly tower for permission to cross their class delta airspace and head out east, toward Cape Ann.

21 Apr. 2006: Boston City Tour

2006-04-22T10:16:00.000-05:00

There was a pretty nice onshore wind today so I decided to try for a city tour of Boston. Called Logan tower from Bedford letting them know we would be penetrating their airspace at 0800 and from the northwest. They told us to contat Logan tower directly on 128.8 when asking for permission to enter the class bravo airspace and maintain altitude 1300 to 1100 feet MSL, pretty low indeed! After taking off from Bedford, I aimed the nose of the plane directly at the Prudential tower and slowed to 90 knots while contacting Boston Tower. They were pretty busy handling traffic arriving from the south but that gave us the advantage of clear navigation over downtown without the danger of crossing an approach path. Finally..."Cessna 21693, cleared into the class bravo, maintain at or below 1,500.
I trimmed the plane out at 100 knots and 1,200 feet altitude and proceeded across Arlington, Belmont and finally across the Charles river turning left after passing abeam the Prudential tower and John Hancock building. The downtown skyskrapers were about 1,000 feet off of my left wing amd I passed over Ford Point Channel and banked left again over the World Trade Center. The view from over the harbor was spectacular.......Fanieul Hall and the Aquarium out of the left window and I could practically touch the heavy iron landing at Logan out of the right. Another left bank over the Zakim bridge put me right down the Charles River with great views of the BostonCommon, Espanade and Kendall square. Finally, after passing abeam of Fenway Park, a gentle roll to the right allowed a departure over Harvard's scarlet spire and a view of Cambridge. I tuned northeast and parallelled I-93 to get out of the class bravo before turning to the east and heading out to Cape Ann.
Boston Tower told me to squawk 1200 terminated radar service so I contacted Beverly to penetrate their class delta airspace at 1800 feet, dodging a pesky helicopter that was reporting traffic over I-93. Once clear of Beverly's airspoace I decented back down to 1200 feet and flew about 1/2 mile off of the southern shore of Cape Ann. The surf was pretty rough with the onshore wind but ot did meake for some dramatic effects as the waves broke around the lighthouses at Gloucester and Rockport, keeping clear of Thacher Island National Wildlife refuge. I cut across the peninsula just west of Pigeon Cove and across Lanesville and flew about a mile offshore north, past the Parker River National Wildlife refuge until Plum Island and the mouth of the Merrimack River. A left turn over Newburyport for a quick jaunt upriver gave pretty views of the U.S. 1 bridge crossing the river. I turned left to course of 245 degrees and headed back to Bedford.
Coming back I flew under Boston's class bravo airspace and just skirted Lawrence's airspace as I passed over Boxford, perfectly set up to enter a 45 degree left downwing for runway 11 at Bedford. Landing was uneventful and total time was about 1.4 hours on the Hobbs. This is a circuit to be repeatedagain and again.....what a great diversity of views and airspace. It was challenging to keep it all organized and keep up with Boston's communications but well worth it! Next time, I need to bring a photographer!

8 Apr. 2006: IMC at last!

2006-04-08T12:32:00.002-05:00

The weather this morning was light rain and overcast at 2,000 feet, the perfect weather for a little indoctrination into IMC flight conditions. Obtained an IFR clearance at Hanscom and ATC told us to climb to 3,000 feet and proceed direct to the Lawrence VOR. We popped in and out of clouds around 2,000 but by 3,000 feet we were right in the middle of it. Windows were whited over and here was a fair amount of turbulence. Crossed LWM VOR at 3,000 and then started the descent to 2,000, breaking out of the clouds just as I started the procedure turn to reverse course back to Lawrence. Flew a VOR approach and executed the missed approach.

ATC gave us delaying vectors to the north and east and I switched on the autopilot to hold heading and altitude as I pulled out my next set of approach plates....the GPS approach into Beverly. Passed through some more low level clouds and started the approach into Beverly without incident.After the Beverly missed approach, ATC gave us vectors to Bedford but brought us very close to Boston and Logan airport. The view of the Boston skyline was phenomenal from over I-93, looking down over the Zakim bridge to downtown. I finally intercepted the Bedford localizer and shot the ILS for runway 29.

What a good time.....doubly so since there was no one else up in the soup today.

2 April, 2006: GPS Approaches

2006-04-02T18:46:00.000-05:00

Pretty windy today. Bedford was 14 gusting to 28 so I knew we would have some bumps. Departure was smooth and I set up for the Lawrence 23 VOR approach. Flew right to the Lawrence VOR and then turned outbound followed by a procedure turn to intercept the inbound radial. I was OK but there was considrable changes in crab angle needed during descent to hold the VOR course. At the missed approach, we were directed south by ATC and I set up for the GPS 16 at Beverly. We were prectically at the LADTI IAF so I barely had time to fly to LADTI, execute a course reversal and start the GPS approach. I was descending a about 700 fpm but with a 40 knot tailwind, we wound up pretty high at the MAP. After that, a turn to the south set us up to intercept the ILS for Bedford runway 29. With all the gusting crosswind, I only used 10 degres of flaps and carried a little extra speed into the landing. Good day but need more practice on pre-briefing and set-up.

29 Mar 2006: VOR Approaches

2006-03-29T21:13:00.000-05:00

Got a late start tonight...but oh, what a night! Clear skies, beautiful sunset and finally.....spring weather. Deprted Bedford after 6 p.m. on runway 5 and climbed directly to Lawrence VOR to shoot the VOR approach into Lawrence. Good intercept, good procedure turn to reverse course and good VOR alignment. But just busted the MDA before the MAP. Executed a missed approach and headed north to buy some time and then headed to the VOR approach into Beverly. Same thing again, just busted the MDA. Lesson learned? Start level off about 50 feet above the MDA and stablize the altitude. Other than that, it was pretty good.

Flew the visual back to Bedford. At night, Hanscom field is all but invisible. Could barely see the threshold lights for runway 11 but made a nice square pattern and really greased the landing. I'm starting to get itchy for some real IFR approaches.....this weekend is shaping up for some pretty lousy weather.....maybe it won't be too lousy and I'll get in some real IFR hours!

22 Mar 2006: ILS Approaches

2006-03-23T06:59:00.001-05:00

Weather took a turn for the worse tonight. Winds were gusting to 18, skies overcast at 4,000 feet and there was light snow painted on the radar. The temperature dropped just below freezing so pre-flight was pretty cold and dark. On the other hand, nobody was around so radio communications with Hanscom Tower were limited to "Taxi to runway 29" and "Cleared for Takeoff".....not too common an occurance at this busy strip.

Tonights special was to be a mix of approaches. The first was the ILS at Lawrence airport. Set-up was much easier than last time and 1700 rpm held about a 500 fpm descent and 90 knots airspeed. At decision height, the CFII called out missed approach and we were off in a climbing left turn to 2,000 feet. I needed more up pitch to keep at V(y) of 75 knots but other than that, it was a good approach. Boston cleared us right to Beverly and I barely had enough time to clip on the Runway 16 localizer approach, pre-brief and activate the KLN-94 GPS. This time throttle setting of 1500 rpm helped get a 700 fpm descent rate for the non-precision approach. Once again, this wasn't too bad and at the missed approach point I pitched up and to the left, heading for the hold at WITCH intersection. I had barely gotten a positive rate of climb established when Boston gave me vectors to Bedford.

I needed a little more time to set up so requested delaying vectors which were given. Finally, I shot the approach forrunway 29 at Bedford, west missed approach and came around again for another shot. It went well except the landing flare was late so the plane took a nice bounce on landing. Next time, I'll try a couple of stop and goes to get better acclimated to the flare height at night. All in all, a great time tonight!

18 Mar 2006: Localizer Approach

2006-03-18T12:32:00.000-05:00

A cold day in the making, only 27 deg F and 16 knot wind on the flightline this morning. This was the first of some concentrated approach training. Took off behind a Citation X being careful to rotate early and stay upwind of his course to avoid wake turbulence. Then a climb to 2,000 and turn to the northeast to head in the general direction of the Lawrence VOR.

The first approach was the Runway 16 localizer approach at Beverly airport. I set up and activated the approach in the GPS, tuned all the receivers to the correct NAV and COM frequencies and obtained vectors to TAITS intersection, the final approach fix (FAF). About 3 miles before TAITS, I throttled back to 2,000 rpm and dropped 10 degrees of flaps to slow dow to 90 knots. At TAITS I decreased the throttle to 1700 rpm and started down to the MDA of 580' after starting the timer. Decision point was at 3 minutes and 24 seconds from TAITS. We reached it and executed the missed approach procedure, a climbing left turn to 2,000 feet via the 201 radial from the Pease VOR. Once reaching WITCH intersection, I entered the hold, just like practice a couple of weeks ago and started the hold. The GPS really makes this easy since WITCH automatically is loaded as the direct to point after the missed approach point is reached.

So after receiving vectors back to TAITS it was time for another go at it. There was a lot to remember, but it seemed a little easier this time. Beverly tower called our missed approach a little early due to traffic in the pattern so we turned north and requested vectors back to Bedford and were given the ILS runway 29 approach. The approach terminated at about 600 feet MSL and the landing was pretty smooth. After the last couple of weeks, the 16 knot gusts didn't seem very bad at all. Looking forward to giving it another go next Wednesday night.

By the way, here is my flight path on flight tracker, right from Boston Center radar !

12 Mar 2006: IFR Stagecheck 2 - Passed!

2006-03-12T18:57:00.000-05:00

Today was the day for the second stagecheck. Got to Hanscom about 9:30 with rapidly changing weather. Wind was calm when I arrived, I preflighted with runway 29 active and by the time we were ready to taxi, ceiling was overcast at 5,000 feet and runway had switched to 23 with a 10 knot breeze. The examiner was great pointing out some new info such as IDing the departure runway localizer in case we needed to make an emergency landing right away. I rotated at 55 knots and my wheels hadn't even left the ground when he told me to put on my foggles. I did and he returned control of the plane to me for the climb out.

I had just completed my climb checklist when he failed the attitude indicator and HSI and told me to turn to 270 and climb to 3,500. I did using the magnetic compass with no problem, as soon as I reached 3,500 asked for a descent to 3,000 while coming to a heading of north. That worked out OK as well but just as I was leveling off at 3,000 he took control of the plane, told me to close my eyes and we started to roll around in an unusual attitude recovery exercise, still under partial panel.

When he told me to recover, the airspeed was increasing, rpm going high and the turn coordinator was pegged to the left........a decending spriral. Recovery was pretty smooth, power to idle, center ball and return coordinator to level, pitch up using the VSI and altimeter to ensure positive rate of climb while getting more throttle back in. He complimented me on the quick recovery but told me to proceed direct to GDM, the Gardner VOR and arcto the north at 10 miles.

At 10 miles I banked 90 degrees to the north, identified we were on the 100 radial and began the arc. Turbulence started to pick up. By the 070 radial it was hard to control attitude and by 050 radial, my head was banging off the cockpit roof. All the while wemaintained between 10.0 and 10.2 miles from the VOR.

Next he instructed me to "intercept and track the 040 radial and hold as published". I intercepted the 040 radial and began to track inbound slowing the plane to 90 knots which was early, but I thought it might smooth the ride a little. I explained that the entry would be paralles on the 298 radial and that turns were non-standard (to the left). Boy, this guy was throwing all kinds of stuff at me and cranking the radio volume up to be as distracting as possible.

I turned to 298 degrees at GDM and began my outbound track and started the 5 T's, turn the plane, start the timer, twist the OBS to the inbound course, throttle back to 90 knots and talk ("Cessna 221693 entering hold at 35 minutes past the hour"). What I didn't do was check the groundspeed on the GPS which was showing about 80 knots. So when I started the procedure turn, I was back over the VOR before the turn was completed.

OK. Set up for the next orbit, but as I passed over the VOR we hit some bad tuurbulence, not only vertical but horizontal as well. By he time the turn was complete, out groundspeed was 50 knots and I was holding a 45 degree crab to the left. The air smoothed out and I held the outbound heading for 2 minues and turned turned intercept the inbound radial. But even with a 90 degree interecept angle, the needle wouldn't come in and we passed over the VOR at 125 knots grounsdpeed and into heavy turbulence. I made another turn to the left this time holding 50 degrees of correction. Our groundspeed dropped to 40 knots andthis time the air smoothed out. Suddenly the HSI needle began to come in and shoot to the center so I took the wind correction out and the needle didn't move. After the left turn, I interecepted the inbound again but this time out groundspeed was 135 knots. Now we were drifting south ! I corrected for the drift and then we were back into the heavy turbulence and the needle started to move back the other way, we were drifting north and the groundspeed began decreasing as well.

I was shure I had flunked the holding portion of the test. After 20 minutes at GDM, the examiner finally said, "I can't for the life of me figure out where the winds are coming from, We must be flying right through a shear zone at the VOR." So he told me to proceed direct to Hanscom. The ride back was very rough and it was hard to hold course as we decended through the shifting winds. The extended base was fine as was the landing. While taxiing back, he told me I had done a fine job and he passed me. When I told him about my disappointment in not getting the hold set up perfectly he told me that he was more interested in the logic I used to work it out. Entry was good, corections were appropriate and most importantly, I keptto the protected side of the hold.

Whew! All of the work paid off. Now it's time to move up to some real fun....approaches.

11 Mar 2006: Cross Country to Sullivan County.

2006-03-11T13:35:00.000-05:00

The weather today started out pretty lousy for my anticipated cross country flight to Burlington, Vermont. The ceilings were forlast broken to overcast at 3,000 feet opening up later in the morning to 4,500 broken with an AIRMET for moderate turbulance and mountain obscuration over the entire route of flight. The terrain rises to 4,000 feet in some places so my next thought was to file IFR. However, the temperatures were running 0 to -4 degrees C in places so icing was a distinct possibility. A Change of strategy was definitely needed so I called my dad in Liberty, New York and decided to head over there and pick up some seed potatoes he promised me. So we departed about 0815 hours from a pretty bust Hanscom field. Turbulence was horrible and we were held to 4,500 feet by an overcast layer. Josh started pulling together the paperwork to file IFR in the air when we say an opportunity to climb through a hole in the clouds above the layer. Up we went, eventually leveling off at 8,500 feet for a much smoother ride.

We headed southwest over Quabin reservoir and directly over Westover Air force base in Chicopee, MA. Just down the Connecticut rever valley you could see the city of Sprinfield and beyond it, Bradley Airport in Connectict.

The base used to house one of the Q areas the government used to house nuclear weapons for the bomb wing stationed there. That part of the base has long been deactivated.
Today it is the home of the 439th Airlift Wing who transport anything all over the globe. A gaggle of C5 Galaxy's were on the tarmac and I took the opportunity to get a telephoto shot of one of these monsters.
It's hard to gauge their size without some reference, but the Wright brother's original flight could have taken place inside of a C5.

The winds were pretty stiff from the west at about 40 knots so our grounspeed was pretty slow. After about an hour we were approaching Great Barrington, MA. To the west you could finally make out the Catskill Mountains and Hudson River in New York. In this photo, the Hudson is the near body of water and the Bridge is the Rhinecliff bridge between Rhinebeck and Kingston, NY. Beyond the river and Kingston is Ashokan Reservoir which supplied drinking water to New York City.

We crossed the Hudson river just south of the Rhinecliff bridge. This is a very high span which allows large tankers and container ships to move up the river as far north as Albany. On the west sdie of the bridge is Kingston-Ulster airport whose runway practically runs into the bridge roadway.

After crossing the river, we started the descent to Sullivan County International Airport. The view of Ashokan Reservoir and the CAtskill Preserve were great. It was a seprize to see open water on the reservior, it's normally frozen over this time of year.

I overflew the airport at 3,500 feet, turned and decended to 2,400 while entering the left downwing for runway 33. The landing was uneventful and we taxied to the ramp and shut down. Dad was there with his bag of potatoes, mission accomplished. We hung around long enough to grab some toast and coffee at the restaurant in the terminal building and then headed back. The cruise back at 7,500 feet showed us with a 145 knot grounspeed and we were back at Bedford in a little over an hour.

The views were really great today and I snapped a photo of the Connecticut river valley just north of Springfield. Besides the early turblence and a broken EGT gauge, it was a great flight.

3 Mar 2006: Holding at LOBBY

2006-03-04T10:41:00.000-05:00

Last week it was flying in sunny, warm southern California. Today it was back to Hanscom field and balmy 18 degrees. Winds on the ground were 290 degrees at 18 knots gusting to 28. This was supposed to be a dress rehearsal for my 2nd stage check which is scheduled for next Sunday. I wasn't too thrilled about shooting holding patterns in this much turbulence and wind which was supposed to be from the north at close to 50 knots at 3,000 feet.

I was freezing by the time I completed preflighting the aircraft and called for pre-heat. Just as the pre-heating was complete, the office called and wanted to know if I could move to a different 172SP since the next renter needed short fuel on that one and they'd like me to burn off an hour or two of fuel. Being the wonderful person I am, I retied down the first aircraft and now froze through a second pre-flight.

My instructor Josh came out and apparently we were going to be the only ones up at the 7:30 hop; everyone else was canceling because of the wind. I figured if I could fly these patterns with this much wind, it would build my confidence for the actual stage check. So off we went.

This was a day of no waiting. We were #1 for takeoff from runway 29 and I was off the ground and climbing about 15 seconds down the runway due to he wind. The climb out was like a rollercoaster as I put on my foggles and leveled off at 3,000 feet. Josh gave me a holding clearance to hold northwest of DREEM intersection. I entered the ID into the Garmin GPS and proceeded direct to DREEM bouncing along rather nicely. I decided to climb and find some smoother air. The ride was much better at 3,500 so I leveled off, slowing to 90 knows about 4 minutes from the fix. The entry was a teardrop which required about 45 degrees of wind correction to stay on the protected side of the hold. With a groundspeed of about 55 knots (no kidding) I extended the outbound leg to 2 minutes and still wound up with a 45 second inbound leg. A second orbit worked out nicely and we were established in a good holding pattern , wind and all.

"Cessna 21693, proceed direct to LOBBY and hold as published. Expect further clearance at 1320," was the next thing I heard from the CFII's mouth. So LOBBY went into the computer and I turned the plane to the north. According to the enroute chart strapped to my leg, LOBBY is a non-standard hold meaning you make left turns instead of right. The entry was direct and no problem so we had a stable hold set up by the second orbit. Just as I was feeling pretty please with myself, Josh reached over to cover up the attitude indicator with a suction cup.

"OK. You've had an attitude indicator failure. turn to 240 and descend at 500 feet per minute to 3,000 feet." Great.....The turbulence started picking up again as we left 3,500 for 3,000. I leveled the plane off at 3,000 using the altimeter as primary reference with the vertical speed indicator supporting. So far so good.

"I've got the controls," Josh said. "Let's try some partial panel abnormal attitudes with at the attitude indicator covered up. Close your eyes and let me know if your starting to get sick. I sometimes get overly aggressive with these maneuvers." I closed my eyes and started to feel vertigo and he started to wheel the plane up and down, jinking to the left and right. The idea is to get your head spinning as if you lost your orientation in the clouds and had to recover the plane from an abnormal attitude. Just about the time I was starting to get queasy, he let go of the controls and said, "Recover!"

I opened my eyes and looked first at the airspeed indicator which was in the yellow arc and climbing. I immediately reduced throttle to idle. With no attitude indicator I couldn't see if we were level but a quick look at the HSI and turn coordinator showed a rapid turn to the left....A diving spiral! I rolled wings level so as to not overload the wings in my pullout and then pitched up the nose using the altimeter and VSI to establish I was back in straight and level flight. Once the airspeed settled down, I got some throttle back in and got the plane back under control. The whole thing was over in 5-10 seconds. We did a secondd one and Josh was satisfied that I could pass the stage check next week.

We headed back to Hanscom and we were #1 for landing on a short final. The wind shear was awesome! On final approach we lost 15 knots of airspeed about 200 feet above the runway so I added power and ate up more runway than usual. It all worked out. I guess I'm as ready for stagecheck #2 as I'll ever be....we'll see next Sunday.

26 Feb 2006: Cross Country to Catalina Island.

2006-02-27T06:51:00.000-05:00

A rash of bad weather in the Boston area and a business trip to California prompted me to evaluate the possibility of renting a plane while on the west coast. I'd be staying in Rancho Bernardo, north of San Diego and about 9 miles from Ramona Airport.

When I awoke, there was a pretty substantial layer of low clouds that obscured the mountains. A call to San Diego Flight Service Station confirmed it was a typical marine layer that moved in overnight but was expected to burn off by mid-morning. Winds at altitude were light at about 10 knots from the west, pretty much an ideal day was shaping up.

I started driving to Ramona airport which is situated in the hills above Rancho Bernardo at about 1600 feet. The drive to the airport wound it's way through some pretty impressive elevation gains and I realized that this was indeed mountainous terrain compared to what I was used to. Every once in a while, a jackrabbit would dart across the road . When I turned into the airport, I was greeted by tumbleweed rolling toward the runway! Darn! I forgot my spurs at home!

Jim, the chief flight instructor met me as I pulled up to the hangar. He seemed like a pretty normal guy. By this point I was expecting some chewing-tobacco spitting cowboy to come out and give me the "Saddle-up, we're burnin' daylight" speech. (apologies to John Wayne). He said that Dino, my CFII would be by eventually and I'd be flying N738ZY, an older Cessna 172. I'd forgotten what the older 172's were like, lots of cracked plastric and fairings. This one had a 160 HP carbureted Lycoming engine out front, an ADF, DME (inoperative), STEC autopilot (inoperative), strobes (inoperative) but a nice new Garmin GPS. It also had extended tange tanks but the electric boost pumps for them were...........you guessed it, inoperative. The package was rounded out by some STOL wingtips and a stall fence. At least the paint job was nice, a dark blue and white pattern that looked fairly new. Yup, we'd at least look good in the 6 o'clock news photos showing the Cessna that landed on the freeway after an engine failure !

Dino arrived after I preflighted. We exchanged some info on experience levels and I taxied to runway 27 after programming my flight plan into the GPS: Catalina airport via the Oceanside and Catalina VORs; 81 miles total, 57 of which would be over the ocean. We were carrying life jackets but they were stowed away in the back of the plane. I hoped we'd get enough glide time to be able to get them out and on in the event of an engine failure. While we taxied, some more tumbleweed rolled across the runway. Yiiiiiii-Haaaaaaa pardner! We're a going to go flyin'!

After the runup, I was cleared by the tower for takeoff. After flying 172SP's at Hanscom, this plane seemed a bit sluggish and after rotation, took forever to get into the air. At 70 knots climb speed, we were showing about 300-400 foot per minute climb rate. Boy, on a hot and humid summer day density altitude would make this an interesting takeoff. A small right turn kept us clear of the hills that surrounded Ramona (It's essentially in the bottom of a bowl, surrounded by rocky hills). I turned toward the Oceanside VOR and contacted SOCAL Approach for flight following.

The climb to 6,500 feet took almost all of the leg to Oceanside but the view was beautiful. Camp Pendleton was on the right and you could see the huge hangars on the beach that housed the Marine Corps' assault hovercrafts. To the left were the hill surrounding Palomar airport and in the distance, the skyline of San Diego and the hills at Point Loma. There were high white cliffs down the south coast which were probably Torrey Pines near La Jolla.

Once we hit the Oceanside VOR, a 20 degree turn to the left headed us out to sea with Catalina Island visible in the distance rising out of the haze. Immediately to the left of Catalina was San Clemente Island and now that we were over the water, Los Angeles could be seen in the distance with jet traffic descending onto LAX's runways. It was unnerving to be flying over so much water, we were well outside of gliding distance to the shore. But the air was smooth and we were showing about 102 knots groundspeed on the GPS.

As we approached Catalina, you could make out the cliffs rising steeply from the rocky shoreline to about 2,000 feet in height. We flew just offshore above Avalon, Catalina's only town. It basically is a small marina and village wedged into a very steep cove on the eastern side of the island.You could see about 30 speedboats all leaving the harbor at the same time, seemingly racing toward the east. The island itself was a mass of steep mountains covered in boulders. No consolation here after the long overwater flight. If there were an engine failure, the best bet would still be to ditch in the ocean. There were no flat spots to set down at all!

Finally, the airport came into sight. They didn't nickname Catalina Airport the "Airport in the Clouds" for nothing. The runway starts at the very edge of a 1,600 foot cliff and angled upwards at a 4 degree angle. Dino suggested I descend between 2 mountain peaks that seemed rather close together in my opinion, but I passed through them with a minimum of turbulence. I overflew the runway at 3,500 feet, announce my intentions on the UNICOM and turned back to the right to start my downwind leg, entering the downwind and slowing to 90 knots. After turning base and then final, I was astounded by what I saw. The view was like I've seen in movies about aircraft carrier landings and it was clear that in my apprehension of losing too much altitude, I was coming in to hot and high so the CFII suggested I make a 360 degree turn to bleed off altitude. I did, but without the visual cues you normally have at the approach end of the runway, I kept thinking we were too low and were going to smack into the side of the cliff. The key to Catalina is fly the altimeter then focus on the runway............all of the cliffs and hills just distract you.

I finally crossed the threshold and flared touching the mains down and started the rollout. Everything was great until I touched the nosewheel down; the whole plane began to shake violently. Broken shimmy dampener! I pulled back on the yoke to shift weight back onto the main landing gear and taxied to a tie town spot on the ramp dodging the numerous potholes on the runway. Dino seemed pretty unconcerned, apparently the plane always does that (little consolation). I shut down and climbed out to look around.

The view was unbelievable. Palm trees swayed in the warm breeze. We walked to the approach end of the runway and looked over a 1,600 foot drop off to the ocean below. This approach is usually leeward of the prevailing wind and there is often a very strond downdraft as you approach the runway. The key is to carry a little extra power in the apprach and be ready to add power IMMEDIATELY if a high sink rate is encountered.

In one direction was a 500 foot peak with some antennae on top of it and an adjoining peak, the ones we passed between on the approach and they looked no farther apart then they did from the air. There was a sign on a fence that warned you of appoaching buffalo. Buffalo ??!! Apparently, there were some buffalo brough to the island years ago that have since prospered and they roam around at will, occasionally grazing on the airport grounds. There were no "tatanka" in sight at that moment (the only Sioux word I know thanks to Dances with Wolves) so we headed over to the restaraunt for a buffalo burger in tribute. The restaraunt is old and rustic with a stone fireplace and a veranda overlooking the beautiful scenery. We had a couple of buffalo burgers which are, by the way, made from Colorado buffalo. As the woman behind the counter said, "We don't eat our own!" OK, no offense meant! Didn't realize you were part buffalo!

In the distance, one could make out LA, the Hollywood hills and Pacific Palisades. The houses you see in the picture are mansions above Malibu including Cher's place. Must be nice!

After about 2 hoursof walking around, we saddled up for the flight back. As we were taxiing, a voice came over the UNICOM.

"Cessna 738ZY, Catalina Unicom. Have you paid you landing fee and registered at the tower?"

"Negative Catalina. Could I just mail you the cash?"

"Negative 8ZY. Return to the ramp and pay the fee in person."

Between, tumbleweed, jackrabbits and buffalo, I figured I'd better comply or wind up with a feathered arrow through my head. I spun the plane around, found a place to park and shut down. Hiking around some planes tied down amid the cacti, I finally climbed the stairs to the tower and paid the $20 landing fee. They gentleman in the tower was very cordial and said people forgot it all the time. Many ignore his radio call and depart without paying so he was appreciative that I stopped to pay up. Up in the tower was a distraught woman whose Piper Archer II had broken down and she was trying to figure how to get a repair mechanic out to the island. (Catalina has no mechanic, fuel or other aviation services.) I got back to the plane and started up again.

By now, the sun was getting low and we were taking off on runway 22 right into it. I taxied to the very edge of the runway (and cliff, by the way) to make sure I had every available inch of asphalt available. With the throttle firewalled, the airplane accelerated uphill very sluggishly and then that darned nosewheel started shaking like crazy again. I realized that it was eating up my speed so I pulled back on the yoke and raised the nosewheel off of the ground and flew into ground effect. We were accelerating to 70 knots and about 30 feet off of the runway when we reached the other end and the cliff fell off into the Pacific Ocean. That is a visual memory I will not soon forget, exhillerating and terrifying at the same time. An earlier Cirrus had the same experience, just passing over my head as I took in the view at the departure end of the runway.

Since it was getting late, I decided not to circle he island but headed direct to Oceanside VOR at 5,500 feet. SOCAL approach cleared us direct to Ramona, passing over the Camp Pandleton restricted area. Dino took the controls so I could get some photos.

After the 30 minutes overwater, it was nice to get back within gliding distance of Oceanside and Palomar Airport in Carlsbad. SOCAL Approach cleared me to descend at my discretion so I began the approach into the Ramona bowl, crossing some rather menacing hills but appreciating the absolutely gorgeous views of the mountains and valleys. The tower gave me the option for approach so I chose a left downwind for runway 27. The landing was a bit hard and I was surprised just how fast that beast settled when the power came off. We taxied back to the tiedown just as it was getting dark and the field lights were coming on.

What a great day! Rabbits and buffalo, mountains and ocean, tumbleweed and cactus all topped off by 2.1 hours of flying to one of the prettiest and most challenging destinations I've seen to date.

22 Feb 2006: Intersection Holding at Night!

2006-02-21T19:23:00.000-05:00

After a couple of weeks of lousy weather, it was time to hit the skies and demonstrate some holding patterns.......this time at night! We departed Bedford at 6 p.m. The Cessna 172 climbed out at almost 950 feet per minute in the cold air, even with both of us and full fuel. I turned the plane to the northeast and headed direct to the Lawrence VOR. My CFII instructed me to hold over WITCH intersection which is under the Boston class bravo airspace so we contacted Boston and were assigned a squawk code on the transponder. After crossing the Lawrence VOR, I tracked the 125 degree radial outbound using VOR #2, slowed the plane down to 90 knots and identified Pease VOR on my #1 navigation receiver. Soon the HSI needle began to move and when both needles centered, I had arrived at WITCH intersection.

I made a standard rate turn to the right to a heading of 021 degrees and tracked outbound for 1 minute, then turned around again and intercepted the Pease VOR 201 degree radial. It took two minutes to get back to the intersection with the headwind so I shortened the next outbound led to 30 seconds. This made my next inbound 1 minute.........great. I set up all of the right corrections with only 1 loop around the holding pattern.

Next, I put WITCH into the GPS and swithed the HSI to get its VOR information from the GPS. It worked like a champ; just like holding at a real VOR. Next, the CFI directed me back to the Lawrence VOR to the west and wanted me to enter a right hand hold on the 270 radial. In the way, he asked me what type of entry it would be. The rest of the exchange went sort of like this:

"Parallel", I replied.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Pretty sure."

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to say 'teardrop'?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure I'm comfortable with 'parallel'."

"Really. Well what do you think your going to do when you get to Lawrence VOR?"

"Fly outbound on the 270 radial for 1 minute, make a left standard rate turn to a heading of 045 degrees, intercept the inbound radial and once I get back to the VOR, start making right hand turns in the holding pattern."

"That's right, just trying to make sure you're really sure."

Actually, I'm pretty sure that he got confused himself, but what the heck, it served a purpose. I stuck by my guns and won. We entered the hold at Lawrence uneventfully. After 2 orbits, he asked me if I wanted to shoot the ILS approach back at Bedford.......cool! We received vectors to intercept the localizer and I descended from 2,700 feet to 1,800 feet as published. About 2 miles from the final approach fix, I slowed down to 90 knots and dropped 10 degrees of flaps. At decision height of 428 feet I took off my foggles and there was the runway, right where it was supposed to be ! I never fails to amaze me. I slowed the plane down and made sure I focused on the far end of the runway.......flare, keep it off..........pitch up higher......touchdown! What a great night!

22. Jan 2006: Cross Country to Nantucket Island.

2006-02-12T16:05:00.000-05:00

"Oh, you're going to have a loooong flight", said the weather briefer at the Burlington Flight Service Station. I had called for a weather briefing and to file my flight plan from my home base of Bedford, Massachusetts to Burlington, Vermont. The anticipated three hour jaunt was to build up some cross country time and train on the use of the autopilot in my rented Cessna 172SP.

"Winds aloft 6000 feet are 320 degrees at 65 knots but they'll be dropping later on this morning." Great....... dead-on stiff headwind for the ride there and no guarantee of a nice push on the way back. Plus, turbulence over the White and Green Mountains was pretty much guaranteed with that much wind. Since I only had the plane and instructor for 4 hours, I decided to change destinations to something a little closer......hmm......never been to Nantucket!

So off to Hanscom Field to preflight the plane, always a fun experience when it's 20 degrees out with a nice stiff breeze. At least there is no need to de-ice this morning, no recent snow and too cold for frost. Josh, my CFI, arrived around 7:30 and suggested we file IFR for the first time. We filed direct KACK (that's Nantucket Airport by the way, not the sound made by Bill the Cat which would be Oop-Ack!) and headed out to the plane, N21693.

After starting the plane, setting up radios and instruments, I was ready to copy my first IFR clearance. Josh said it was inevitably going to come back "as filed" so there would be very little to actually copy. After contacting Hanscom Ground control, were cleared via the Marconi VOR, southeast of Provincetown on Cape Cod. A 40 mile stretch of open water over Cape Cod Bay, but we'd be tooling through Boston class bravo airspace!

We taxied to Runway 5, obtained our release and were cleared for takeoff. After a normal departure, I leaned the engine for our climb to 4,500 feet and contacted Boston approach expecting a right turn to a heading of 120 or 130 degrees to get us pointed to Marconi. Instead, we were told to turn left to 220. 3 minutes later it was left to 210 then left to 200......We were being vectored into an arc around the southern part of the class bravo airspace, almost in the same pattern I would have flown if we filed VFR. It really didn't matter, it was a beautiful, clear morning and the GPS was showing a 165 knot groundspeed.."Cessna 21693, Boston Approach, Proceed direct Nantucket VOR".. we were on our way.

We requested an instrument approach and were told to expect the GPS approach to runway 33. Cape Control vectored us south over Nantucket Sound and told to descend to 1,800 feet. Looking out of the window, all you see was water as far as the eye could see and whitecaps that looked close enough to touch. Descending into all of that blue was quite a memorable experience. Josh said that if we lost an engine, we'd have a long swim back to the island. I pointed out that we'd be dead in 3 minutes from hypothermia anyway......what a cheerful bunch we are!

After turning back to land, I intercepted the localizer and flew the approach. The wind was almost 90 degrees from the right at about 15 knots gusting to 25! Just into the flare I was caught by a gust and ballooned but a second flare and a little power made the landing work out. After being given our taxi instructions to the ramp, the tower decided to shift the pattern to runway 6.

We were the one of only three planes on the ramp. Quite a difference from the summer when the flight line extends all the way to the beach and you're taken to your plane on a golf cart ! Quick trip to the FBO for bathroom and a sampling of their free, rather chewy coffee.

After starting up, we received taxi instructions back to runway 33. The crosswind was still there so I took it personally that we weren't given runway 6. Despite the crosswind, takeoff was uneventful and we climber to 4,500 feet. This was my first time programming the Bendix/King KAP 140 autopilot. Quite a long cry from Otto the autopilot of "Airplane" fame. I programmed a flightplan to Martha's Vineyard, then Norwood airport and finally back to Bedford at 4,500 feet and engaged the autopilot.

The plane rolled to the west and started a direct track to Martha's Vineyard. It was slightly unnerving keeping my hands off the yoke and feet off of the rudder pedals as we reviewed different settings for the autopilot and how to disconnect it in an emergency. It did give me a chance to do a little sightseeing and picture taking.The course that I had set took us over Chapaquiddick Island (site of an old Kennedy family tragedy).

Looking down at the beach, the water was crystal clear; you could see the sandbars extending below the surface of the water.

Out of the left window, the view was of Gay Head and the cliffs on the southern side of the Vineyard. Beyond Gay Head, JFK Jr. crashed his Piper Saratoga one night in a more recent Kennedy family tragedy.
The plane continued flying until it was over Martha's Vineyard airport where the autopilot sensed it needed to make a right turn according to the flight plan I had programmed. It did so flawlessly and we crawled back toward Buzzards Bay at 75 knots grounspeed fighting a 60 knot headwind.

Our groundtrack took us right over Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and you could make out a white research vessel in the dock at the institute.

Out of the left window one could see Naushon island where Malcolm Forbes has a private residence. The rest of the island stretched out to the southwest. As we neared the mainland, I was shocked to have Boston approach control clear us into the class bravo airspace without asking. We could stay at 4,500 feet and descend at our discretion as we approached Bedford.

As we passed over Lakeville, you could pick out the cranberry bogs below, some of which supply Ocean Spray. Some were flooded and it must be beautiful to see them at harvest time with the bright red berries floating on the water.

Finally, the Boston skyline came into sight as we overflew Norwood airport and past just west of the Needham towers. As we descended through 3,000 feet, we finally picked up some light turbulence. Traffic was still light and we landed on runway 11 without any delay. What a nice trip and all in 2.6 hours of logged time.