Winston-Salem Airshow 2011 - Part 1

Here are a couple of photos I took at the WSAIRSHOW on September 10. The first is the Honda Jet. What a pretty plane. It looks great in the air and is quiet. The second photo is a Scottish Aviation Bulldog SK-61.

A fine day in a Cessna 180

My brother called me early on Monday morning (8-15)wondering if I could do him a big favor. It seems like his plans to get from Suffolk, Va to Hickory, NC fell through and he needed me to meet him halfway between here and there. His wife would then take the kids to visit friends and family in Philly, and he would get home for work the next day. This favor means 5 hours of driving and killing a whole day...which I am more than happy to do for my brother. But as I was talking to him I got an idea.....

I had met Carl a number of times over the past years, but about 6 weeks ago we had dinner together for a Kiwanis club meeting. Carl is a long time pilot who has a very nice Cessna 180 tail dragger. As we talked, he encouraged me to give him a call sometime to go flying. I filed that invitation in the back of my mind hoping to take him up on it some weekend to go get a "$100 hamburger."

Well, I figured that the opportunity to fly on a beautiful day would be hard to resist, so I gave him a call. I asked if he would be willing to go flying to pick up my brother at KFKN. He thought this was a great idea. His 180 had been through its annual, but he had not made the effort to take it flying since. He told me that he likes to have a destination to fly to rather than just flying in the pattern.

I met him at KEXX (Lexington Davidson)at 11:45 a.m. He had just preflighted the 180. I hopped in and off we went. We were flight planned direct from KEXX to KFKN at 7000. The day was not as clear at altitude as it looked on the ground. Lots of cumulous clouds with mild turbulence. I experienced actual IMC as we pounded through the clouds. It certainly requires a lot of trust in the ATC system. The cover was not continuous and were were in and out all during our 1:15 minute flight.

Norfolk approach did not get us down as quickly as we requested and were still at 4000 when only 10 miles out of KFKN. We cancelled IFR and went VFR with the airport in site. Then we dropped fairly quickly to get to pattern altitude. (I must say that my ears are much more of a fan of 500 fpm than 1500 fpm). We landed on 27 with just a mild crosswind.

Bud and his family were waiting for us at the FBO. He was excited to get his first ride in a small plane; I think his son almost wished he was joining us!

While we were waiting for fuel, I noticed a B-25 with one engine missing on the ramp. If we hadn't been in such a hurry, I would have spent some time examining it. I'll make a note that if I am ever in the area again, I'll stop by to see it.

We loaded Bud and his stuff up, and we were off. This time 6000 but with a good headwind. We had to divert around a couple of ugly looking clouds and with the headwind our return trip was 1:30. By this time, Carl had decided that he could help me out on my flight training endeavors. So, I began handling the radio calls with ATC. This was great practice. As mentioned, we had to request some diversions around some clouds; also we had a number of hand-offs that I took care of.

Too soon, it was time to land on 24. We taxied to his hanger. Bud and I jumped out, thanked Carl, and were on our way.

Many thanks to Carl for going out of his way to help me out. It was a great day and a great excuse to go flying. His 180 is a beautiful plane (circa 1956) and flies great. I look forward to more trips with Carl in the future!

Thank You Mr. TSA Man.

This morning I had the privilege of being scanned by the new back scatter x-ray machine at Charlotte - Douglass Airport in Charlotte, NC. Now this is my first time through the new machine, so I don't know how long a scan takes. I realize that Mr. TSA man stands there and scans thousands of people and knows how long it takes until the scan is completed; He may even have a light that flashes when it is ready. So Mr. TSA man, when you tell me to step into the scanner and raise my arms with my face facing away from you, and 10 seconds later you say O.K to someone else (some one I can't see), how am I supposed to know that you are not talking to me and the scan is not completed? Just wondering.

And what did I get for my inappropriate and "threatening" stepping out of the machine before the scan completed? A very ugly attitude from Mr. TSA man and a full (and I mean full) body pat down. I realize that 45 year old Presbyterian pastors with three children are very dangerous, but this was a little much.

Compare US security with the Israelis? No comparison. In 2007, I really did have the privilege of going to Israel for two weeks. My experience with Israeli security was superb. They were very serious and thorough, but there was never an attitude. As it has been said, Israeli's look for terrorists while the TSA looks for weapons. Thus 85 year old grandmothers can be made to take off their diapers in American airports. Wouldn't happen in Israel. By my opinion, Israel has the better and safer system.

Today was another reminder why I want to get my PPL. I sure would like to get in a 172 and fly where I want to go and avoid the pat downs and poor attitudes that you run into with the screening process when flying the scheduled airlines. I will fly 1 day!

Aviation & The Outer Banks

Over the second week in June, my family and I headed down to the outerbanks of North Carolina. My parents have a house in Rodanthe on Hatteras Island, and I look forward to our annual trip to enjoy swimming in the ocean and sailing in the Pamlico Sound.

One day, we drove all the way to Hatteras Village on the south end of Hatteras Island and took the ferry over to Ocracoke, Island. Ocracoke is small thirteen mile long island that has a little fishing / arts community at the southern end. Many fishing charters leave from here as well as the ferries to Swan Quarter and Cedar Island.

We spent the day shopping, but one of the stops for me had to be the National Park Service airstrip (w95) just north of the village. They have recently redone the "terminal" building, and it is very nice. No night landings and no fuel, so aviators must plan ahead. According to the Ocracoke Airport website: "Aircraft may not park more than 24 hours or or more than a total of 48 hours during any 30 day period unless authorized by the Ocracoke District Ranger" Of course today, my arrival was by car; but sometime soon, it will be by air!

On the way back up Hatteras to Rodanthe, I figured I ought to stop by KHSE since it was on the way and so close. This is another of the National Park Airstrips that have no night landings and no fuel. Again, aviators must plan ahead. Same rules for leaving your airplane as in Ocracoke. Of course, I am looking forward to returning via airplane.

I guess this National Park Airstrip adventure would not be complete without a visit to KFFA. So I took the kids up to the Wright Brothers National Memorial to tour the museum and the grounds. This was not my first visit to this hallowed ground, but it had been a number of years. They have done a good job of sprucing up the place, which I guess was done for the 100 year celebration in 2003. The day we visited the wind was out of the north east at a good 15 kt clip. Standing on top of the hill with the wind full in my face helped me understand why Orville and Wilbur chose this place. Our family has always felt a special connection to the 1903 event, because my grandmother's uncle was John T. Daniels - the USLSS man who took the iconic picture.

I didn't get a good picture of KFFA, but the same rules apply as did to w95 & KHSE. I am sure that once I get my PPL, I will make a trip to OBX by air and land at all three of these unique NPS strips. The one place I didn't visit was KMQI on Roanoke Island. KMQI is very much full service when compared to the NPS strips. (Gas, lights, ILS, etc). The terminal also has a very nice one room museum about its service as a sea plane base in WWII. Worth the visit as well.

Can't wait to fly!

North Carolina Aviation Museum Fly-In

This saturday I took my youngest daughter to KHBI for the North Carolina Aviation Museum Fly-in in Asheboro, North Carolina. It was a short 30 minute drive from home, so I thought it would be an easy event to go to. A fly-in at a small regional airport is so different than an airshow at a Class-D airport. Here we were able to stand on the flight line just yards from the taxiway. It provided great views of the runway with all the airplanes coming and going. We chatted with the pilots of a great variety of airplanes.

Of course there were a bunch of C-172's, C-152's, C-140's, and Piper Cherokee's. I was surprised by the number of Ercoupes that were present. I think I counted 7. There were a number of Sonex's, an RV-6, along with a Texan AT-6 and a Swiss PC3/G. (Picture to the right). The plane that my daughter is sitting in in the picture above is a Kitfox. I think that is a sweet basic airplane. If I had the time and money, I'd love to build it.


Just this month AOPA Pilot had an article about the L-19 Bird dog. Wouldn't you know it, there was one there today. It was great to have read all about this "affordable" warbird and then see it up close.


All in all a great day with my daughter at a very fun event! It makes me even more sure that I will fly 1 day!

1.3 Hours in the Logbook

My friend Robin knows how much I want to fly. I am always sending him links to stories on AvWeb and AOPA.com. He is a pilot and often invites me to go along on some of his trips. So as a Christmas present, he gave me my first flight lesson. It took awhile to schedule it, but just this week (May 18) it finally happened.

I met CFI Jerry out at KEXX, the Lexington / Davidson County Airport which is less than two miles from my house. This was a rescheduled flight because the weather has been so terrible the last two weeks. Lots of convective activity and low IFR for many days. But not this day. It was broken at 3900 and the air was very still.

I have gotten to know Jerry through Robin. Jerry flies for a living and does the CFI thing in his spare time because he enjoys teaching. He really is a gifted teacher.

We took a good amount of time pre-flighting the C172 - N4369R. While I have studied alot over the past year, it was very helpful to have a skilled and thorough teacher walk me through the steps. He pointed out a number of places that are sometimes overlooked on a pre-flight. Then we got in.

He talked me through the start up procedures and spoke of the importance of setting a routine for all phases of flight. He stressed the importance of the use of checklists to make sure nothing is forgotten. When all was set, I turned the key....and the engine roared to life. What a wonderful sound. I tested the brakes and then began taxiing. It took a little while to get used to the right combination of rudder and brake pedal to make the plane go the direction I wanted it to go. But I successfully arrived at the run-up point.

Jerry explained all the various checks that need to be done: oil pressure, engine, magnetos, carb heat, vacuum pressure, alternator. I turned on the lights, checked the transponder, looked for traffic, made my call, and then taxied onto runway 24. Full throttle, right rudder, 55 knots, rotate.....I was flying!

At 500 AGL, I began a climbing turn to the east to head out to the practice area. We leveled off about 2500 MSL, and Jerry explained the sight picture for level flight. We entered a 500 fpm descent to get a sense of the sight picture. Then a 500 fpm ascent. I tried to burn each sight picture into my brain.

Then we did some 30 degree turns to the left and right. (Don't forget the rudder!) Again trying to get the sight picture and not losing altitude. In a 30 degree turn begin the roll out of the turn 15 degrees before target heading. I did fairly well at stopping on the target headings.

Now it was time for slow flight in landing configuration. Carb Heat. Throttle to 2000, 10 degrees of flap. Throttle to 1900, 20 degrees of flap. Throttle to 1800, 30 degrees of flap. Shooting for 60 kts. Again...sight picture. Simulate a go around. Full Throttle; carb heat in, 2 notches of flap in. Keep the nose up. Rest of the flaps up. We did this a number of times.

What next? Power off Stalls! Landing configuration. Throttle to idle, hold the nose level, and wait for the airspeed to decay. He wanted me to feel how the controls became mushy. Back pressure to bring on the stall. Then the break. We went through this a few times and then he demonstrated some power on stalls. It amazed me at how high a pitch it took to bring on a power on stall.

So we go back to level flight. I am trying to burn all of this information into my brain, and I hear the engine rpm drop to what sounded like nothing. He had pulled the throttle to idle and said, "Ok, look for a field to land in." Not what I expected on the first flight! He told me to pitch to best glide and begin looking for place to land. We found a field not too far away. As we got closer and lower, he told me to put some flaps in. He then demonstrated how to lose altitude faster with a slip. "We might be able to get into that field, but probably wouldn't be able to get out!" Power came back up; flaps up, and off we went.

Time for landing on Runway 6. We entered the downwind, and he talked me through what we had previously practiced. Throttle to 2000. A beam of the numbers - 10 degrees flap; 100 less rpm; 45 degree off my shoulder - 20 degrees flap and 100 less as we turned base. 30 degrees flap 100 less as we turned final. Landing and roll out.

My wife and one of my daughters had come out to cheer me on for this first flight, so we taxied back to the ramp and pulled the mixture. They got in the back seats all buckled in, and we fired 69Romeo back up. Some more taxi practice to the run up area. All the run up checks. Made the call and took off on 24 again. No stall practice this time! Just some 30 degree turns so they could see High Rock Lake and the rail yards at Spencer. The sun was starting to get pretty low, so we headed back to land on 24.

I am sure I left off some of the things we did. There was so much. What I discovered was that flying is both easier and harder than I thought. Turns, climbs, level flight, and descents all came pretty easy to me. Thinking ahead of where you are going and making inputs ahead of time was second nature. Perhaps this comes from all those years of sailing. What was harder was keeping up with all of the information that comes at you all at once.

I had prepped a lot for this flight: I have completely read the FAA's Airplane FlyingHandbook; ASA's The Complete Private Pilot; I have gone through the ASA Private Pilot prepware on the iPad many times; I have listened to all of Jason Miller's The Finer Points podcasts...along with many others; I have been subscribed to the AOPA's Flight Training Magazine for 18 months. Add to this the many hours I have logged on MS-Flight Simulator X. It all helped, but still I found it hard to keep up with it all. I am sure the multitasking eventually becomes second nature...with practice. I can't imagine how further behind the airplane I would have felt had I not had all this prep.

Well the obvious is true: the only way to learn to fly is to fly!

I had a fabulous time, and I'd like to thank my friend Robin for making this possible and Jerry for being such a great teacher. I look forward to more hours in the air as I make progress to that lifelong dream. I will fly one day!