Like sands thru the hourglass . . .

Suffice it to say that way, way, way too much time has elapsed since my last post. Thankfully I'm still around, haven't crashed-and-burned, and am soaring to new heights of busyness. The past months have been so terrifically fantastic in both my aviation endeavors and my personal life - wow! It really is hard for me to believe that almost six months has passed by since I last posted. I've flown well over 250 hours, not quite 300, since then and have loads of great stories to tell. I do luv being outside, and today is beautiful so I'm heading out to enjoy it. Procrastination can be a strength! Blog updates WILL be made though. The Michigan State game yesterday was fun - like always when they win - and my optimism abounds with a 3-0 start to the season. Go Green - Go White - Go State!

Back To The Future

I really enjoyed that movie and its sequels. I'm instructing a pilot who learned to fly 30 years ago, reached a little over 80 hours, and hadn't flown since. It is fun training and watching this person 'get back into it'. The brain overload was working just like on a new student making the radio calls interesting. And a few of the initial landings gave me something to do, but they learned in a Piper and we're flying a Skyhawk. Overall, for this person, my view after 3 flights is that it will be an easy transition back. And fun!

Not Tonight

The flight last night was eventually scrubbed by the customer, yup it was 1/4mile and 100' at the destination when they wanted me there. Weather cancellations happen, but not too often, and funny how I'd just been posting about it. The company dispatcher was great during the interesting sequence of events. I've included the metars at the end of the post in case you want to see for yourself. The play by play: I report at 02:30Z, call dispatch to inform them destination weather is low and forecast is to drop below minimums, normal departure time is 04:00Z with expected arrival at 05:00Z. I suggest possible alternate destination for delivering cargo, and also say I'm willing to stick with original plans but customer needs to know I'll likely be unable to get in and so will have to divert to the alternate. I go on the ramp to select an airplane to use, everybody else is done and gone for the day so I have my pick. I do the preflight in the dark (it's 45F, warm tonight!) including a run-up check to verify this plane is good to go. Meanwhile dispatch calls customer, customer wants to defer decision, I am to call back when courier arrives but not accept freight yet, put in flight plan for my suggested alternate now. Courier arrives on-time at 03:45Z. New and improved forecast has been issued at 03:15Z for original destination with conditions at 07:00Z now forecast to be above minimums. I am skeptical as weather at other airports in the vicinity is worse. I call dispatch, we wait for the 03:51Zmetar, it is steady. Courier and I watch NCAA baskeball tourney in FBO while I'm on-hold on my cell phone, dispatch calls customer, new plan is to accept freight but delay departure until 06:00Z giving 07:00Z arrival. I remind dispatcher the forecast isn't a guarantee, and he chuckles and agrees, says don't launch just to enter a long holding pattern and then still not get in. I let courier onto ramp and load freight into plane, courier leaves. I call flight service, canel previous alternate destination flight plan and put in new one for destination and return flight too. Also had an informative conversation with the FSS guy about Chicago Center ATC operations. At 04:20Z the SPECI metar 1/2SM FG and 200' comes out (just below minimums of 250' & 3/4SM for this desination), oh joy, and by 04:51Z it's 1/4SM FG and 100'. Visibility is the controlling factor, regulations require visibility to be at or above the minimum to attempt an approach. Regardless of ceiling the approach can be attempted, but obviously the chance of success isn't good if ceiling is below minimum DA. I send an e-mail to a friend to share the developing fun! I look thru aviation magazines, I am the ONLY person at the FBO at this hour. I have building keys and am completely solo, nobody working. A new destination forecast comes out at 05:30Z or so which now says improvement above minimums not until 08:00Z. I call dispatch, we wait for 05:51Z metar. Dispatch calls customer, saying now will be 08:00Z arrival. Customer decides to give-up for tonight (this morning), calls same courier who arrives back at airport at 06:30Z. I unload freight back into van, it drives off heading to destination. I leave the FBO myself at 06:40Z, four hours of pilot work and no flying. Based on the after-the-fact metars, I would have launched at 07:00Z if dispatch had wanted, forecast had been revised yet again and was still for above minimums at 08:00Z, and then would have gotten in at 08:00Z. the driving courier wouldn't have made the destination until 09:45Z at the earliest. Anyway, the customer made their decision, maybe after some point in time the extra expense for air shipment is no longer justified, don't know as I just fly the plane. That was my Friday night!

Here are the metars for the destination:
K--- 240851Z 18004KT 2SM BR OVC003 13/12 A3006 RMK AO2 CIG 002V006 SLP179 T01280122 58003
K--- 240751Z 18004KT 2 1/2SM BR OVC003 12/12 A3006 RMK AO2 CIG 002V006 SLP182 T01220117
K--- 240732Z 18004KT 2 1/2SM BR OVC003 12/12 A3007 RMK AO2
K--- 240651Z 15003KT 2 1/2SM BR OVC001 12/11 A3007 RMK AO2 SLP183 T01170111
K--- 240633Z 15005KT 2SM BR OVC001 12/11 A3006 RMK AO2
K--- 240551Z 16006KT 1SM RWY_/5500VP6000FT BR OVC001 11/11 A3006 RMK AO2 SLP183 T01110111 10111 20106 401110072 58001
K--- 240515Z 16006KT 1/4SM RWY_/2200V2800FT FG VV001 11/11 A3007 RMK AO2
K--- 240459Z 15006KT 1/4SM RWY_/1800V2000FT FG VV001 11/11 A3007 RMK AO2
K--- 240451Z 14004KT 1/4SM RWY_/1800V2400FT FG VV001 11/11 A3007 RMK AO2 SLP185 T01110111
K--- 240442Z 16007KT 1/2SM RWY_/1800V2200FT FG VV001 11/11 A3007 RMK AO2
K--- 240420Z 14006KT 1/2SM RWY_/3500V5500FT FG OVC002 11/11 A3007 RMK AO2
K--- 240351Z 14005KT 3SM BR OVC002 11/11 A3007 RMK AO2 SLP185 T01110111
K--- 240337Z 12006KT 3SM BR OVC002 11/11 A3007 RMK AO2
K--- 240251Z 13004KT 2SM BR OVC002 11/11 A3008 RMK AO2 SLP190 T01110111 51003
K--- 240151Z 13004KT 1SM RWY_/P6000FT BR OVC002 11/11 A3008 RMK AO2 SLP190 T01110106

The REAL Big Time

Reading in USA Today about the necessary copter tactics in Iraq has reminded me that the REAL 'Big Time' is for military pilots who have bad guys SHOOTING at them. The thought of 'hey, nobody is shooting at me' has come to my mind before when having a little difficulty in the cockpit. Many problems in this world stem from self-centered people with totally screwed-up perspectives. My appreciation and gratitude to all the men and women in the Armed Forces who unselfishly put their lives on the line for justice, freedom and our United States of America!

Drama Queen

Okay, so the previous post was just a tad bit melodramatic, but it should make you think. As humans we tend to get used to, a.k.a. acclimate, to our environs and so it goes for flying. Some things that in the past would have definitely raised the heartrate become 'just another day at the office'. Maybe you've heard an old saw about flying: 'hours of boredom followed by seconds of terror'. I've rarely been bored flying, once in a while it has happened when I was highly fatigued. I've flown routinely the past few months in weather that just a year or two ago would have given me serious anxiety. It is partly way cool (I love being a proficient pilot), partly because I'm flying twin engine planes equipped with anti-ice equipment, and partly a wake-up call to not become complacent. And I'm NOT saying that I've been-there-done-that to all weather situations, just realizing that I have learned and progressed in experience. Breaking out of the clouds at 200' AGL at 110 knots at night with a ship that you must handfly to landing in 1/2 mile visibility is 'the big time'. There is still plenty of 'high pucker factor' weather for me to see. But I'm just a pilot guy, not a superhero, and flying down the glideslope really isn't too difficult IF you stay alert and focused on task, and not becoming complacent IS important. And regarding 'schedule pressure', the dispatchers at the company I work for aren't 'GO Nazis' at all. The few times I've delayed for weather they've been supportive of my decision, which is great and how it should be. And nobody 'from the company' called today demanding a retraction of yesterday's post. Being safe means keeping a proper perspective and keeping ownership of making the go/no-go call as PIC. Be objective; utilize facts; adhere to regulations and instrument procedures; and don't succumb to your own self-imposed want-to-keep-the-schedule pressure, get-home-tonight-itis, big-ego-I-can-do-it, or overly optimistic seeing-what-I-want-to-see-forecast weather. Always, always, always have a solid 'Plan B' that you WILL USE when needed. Having thought thru 'Plan C' is a good idea too. The planes I fly are small, and even the big jets won't venture forth in some conditions. Delays and cancellations are a regular, not abnormal, thing. Working for a company that doesn't pressure me is good, and standing firm on my delay/no-go call if ever I am pressured is a decision I've already made. The weather to a great extent is what determines how much 'work' a flight will be. Oh, but did I tell you, they actually pay me money to fly airplanes!

Mermaid Lights

At night, when ceilings and visibility are down low (say 300' and 3/4 mile), ground lights try to lead you astray! Like the siren songs of mermaids tempting lost sailors onto the rocks, those ground lights you see aren't the REILs! Those ground lights will be your end IF you let yourself lose concentration on the glideslope and localizer needles and instead initiate a turn or early descent. Your eyes badly want to find orientation as you're coming down thru the murky morass, searching for that runway. But instead you need to stay focused on those needles, keep them centered in the donut, and push the throttles and pull that yoke to climb for all your ship's got if things suddenly aren't looking right - you can think about it later. One of the awesome parts of flying cargo is that the boxes don't care when the weather goes down the tubes, and the courier just wants you to appear per schedule. "Oh, yeah, it is a little foggy tonight eh?" The call to dispatch may or may not find sympathy, yeah it's 3am with 100' and 1/4 mile and what are you gonna do boy? "Somebody got in about a half-hour ago", "probably just the ASOS being unreliable", "I've got the boxes so let's launch now, why wait any longer?" Well, I might be waiting to have better than a snowball's chance in hell of actually seeing the runway before touchdown. It is only boxes of paper you know, not the fate of the entire free world or somebody's life on the line (except mine). Practically speaking, don't look up much until your ship is at DA and don't let your attention to those needles relax until you are ON the runway. It isn't too difficult if you've thought it thru ahead of time and are alert, but when you're dog tired, bleary eyed, and ham-fisted sloppy, then diving at those oh so pretty lights might result in it being your last flight of this life! One of two things does eventually happen to every pilot: you're going on your last flight and you know it, or you're going on your last flight and you don't know it (bang!). Talk doesn't cook rice!

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

Yes, Gomer Pyle is a show that I watched long before cable TV. Some surprises make you happy, others sad, and 2007 has started in a fantastic way for my flying endeavors with all good surprises. In addition to air-taxi charters, I'm now flying scheduled night cargo to/from big midwest cities. No way would I have predicted how quickly and nicely the new opportunity would happen. It has me simply feeling "this is soooooo awesome!". Picture Gomer with that big grin on his face and you'll know how I feel! The frigid winter weather, ice, & snow have been tough on the planes and made the flights more work for me, yet I'm having a blast and flying the most I ever have at this time of year.

Click Here to view photos, courtesy Airliners.net, of a Cessna 310, Cessna 401, and Aero Commander 500, like those that I fly on a regular basis.