Eblo

First Vict. . . er, Passengers

The plan was to take my wife, Amy, up as my first passenger on Saturday morning. I had reserved one of the Warriors for 10:30 a.m. Then my sister had her baby early, and the weather went to pot, and suddenly the flight was scratched and we were planning a blitz-trip to see the new bambino.

A few weeks ago, when I was hoping to have my license just before Memorial Day weekend, I had called around to Cumberland (UBE) and then Rice Lake (RPD) airports to see what kind of rental options there were for when I was visiting my family. It turned RPD has a Warrior II, which I have done all of my training in. I had talked to the chief flight instructor about checkout requirements, pricing, availability, etc. I didn't get my license on the 27th as I'd hoped (the ride was scratched due to weather and incomplete preparation), so the research just got filed away in my brain.

As we were heading up on Saturday, I was hit with a notion - I wonder if I could get checked out and fly Sunday morning? I ran the idea past Amy, and I saw her eyes light up - she's been as anxious to fly with me as I have been to take her. I love that woman. Ok, maybe the notion had actually hit me a little earlier, since I had just so happened to bring all of my flight gear with me ;-) When we made a pit stop, I dug the phone number for Rice Lake Air Center out of my flight bag and called to check on availability.

I spoke with the chief again, whose name is Kyle. I asked how long the checkout would be and he answered by asking me how much I've flown lately. When I mentioned that I'd just had my checkride a week prior, I thought that was going to be then end of the conversation, but on the contrary he said we should be able to get through the checkout pretty quickly since I had just been checked over by the FAA. I also asked about headset rental. It turns out that they actually provide 3 headsets (and a built-in intercom) with the aircraft - something you don't see at my home FBO. As an aside here, when you rent an airplane from an FBO (Fixed Base Operator) you've never rented from before, you have to go through a check-out process. Basically, you fly with one of their instructors so they can judge if you should be trusted with their plane - a certification from the FAA isn't good enough to appease the insurance companies, it seems.

So the check-out was scheduled for 10:30 and was told I'd be able to use the plane until about 1:00 p.m. The last obstacle was the weather - there was potential for showers and thunderstorms all morning. I called up to my folks to let Dad know that, weather permitting, he'd get to be one of my two first passengers - something he's been waiting for since I've been waiting to fly! That night, a big storm rolled through, and The Weather Channel and DUATS charts were still putting bad weather in our area in the morning. However a text briefing I got around 11:30 p.m. Saturday night showed some promise - 4,000' ceilings and decent winds - so I was able to go to sleep optimistic that one more part of my flying dream would come true in the morning.

One of my main reasons for learning to fly, even when I was 12 years old, was so that I could fly up to "Grandpa's," which has always been a 5.5-7 hour drive away. And part of that dream was to I fly over Grandpa's house, lake, and woods and see it all from the air (another part of that dream is to land on the lake with floats in the summer and skis in the winter, but that's got to wait a bit longer). Now that my parents live in "Grandpa's House," the dream was as strong as ever.

Sunday morning, I woke up and the overcast was a bit lower than 4,000'. It was closer to 1,500'. I wasn't optimistic, but I decided to wait until about 9:00 and then call for a weather briefing. When I did, the briefer basically echoed what the forecast had said the night before and actually improved on it a little bit - skies clearing to 4,000' scattered. I made a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs with bacon, green peppers, and cheese, which I wasn't able to finish because I was getting nervous about the checkout and the prospect of taking up my first passengers. It was really silly nervousness, but it was there all the same. 10:00 rolled around, I rounded up the two most supportive people I've had in my corner during flight training, they rounded up a camera, a few rolls of film, and a camcorder, and we were off to the airport.

The plane and instructor were supposed to be available at 10:30, but they didn't show up until about 10:45. While we were waiting for them to get back, one of the guys at the FBO, Adam, I think, showed Amy and Dad the pilot's lounge, and took me out to the hangar to see the King Air they use for charters. As I climbed up into the $800/hour aircraft, I was struck by an interesting contrast. The exterior was shiny and spotless, and the passenger cabin was very rich looking with creamy leather seats, and yet the flight deck looked like it belonged in an old bomber - paint was nicked up and labels were a bit worn. Form AND function.

Eventually, Kyle, the CFI showed up but the plane didn't stay around long. It turned out to be such a nice morning that the student in the Warrior was doing his first solo. I could definitely wait for that. While the student did three circuits (he actually squeezed in 4 :) ), Kyle talked to me about my training, currency, etc., what the checkout would consist of, and then he made a copy of my PPL and medical certificates. He also let me know about the Citabria and Socata Trinidad they have, in case I ever want to get my tailwheel or high performance/complex endorsements. It's really a nice full service FBO they've built "In the middle of nowhere, Wisconsin," and their rates are great compared to what we see around Chicago ($79/hr wet on the Warrior II, $89/hr for the Citabria, and $99/hr for the Trinidad).

Eventually, the student came back and I preflighted a very nice, clean looking Warrior. As I climbed into the cockpit, I was hit by the first big difference to hit me about renting as a different FBO - and unfamiliar checklist! I'm used to the one my FBO had put together, and the one in this plane was quite a bit different and I had a hard time getting into my usual flow. There were also a few small procedural things that I was informed they do differently than what I'd been taught. Whatever, I though, it's your airplane! So I need to develop (or copy) my own version of the Warrior checklist to keep with me so I never have that lost feeling again.

The next thing that hit me about this cockpit was how clean and fresh it looked. The planes back home, got to love 'em, are worn and tired. The seats are mis-matched, the windows are hazy, and things are just worn. This aircraft, 58L, had leather seats (which I don't like functionally, but aesthetically, are very nice), very clean/clear windows, and the instruments looked like they were built in a recent decade. One thing that disappointed me was the radio stack. It has the same analog, no-standby radios as we have in 78U back home. The one other panel extra was a LORAN unit which came in handy when giving position reports at an unfamiliar airport.

I got settled in, fumbled through the checklist, and got 58L out to the end of Runway 31, announced my departure on the CTAF, and we were off. Kyle had me turn to the north, climb to about 3,000 MSL, and do a steep turn each way. We then went into slow flight with the horn blaring and did a 90 degree turn to the east, and then a 180 to the left. Next was a power-off stall followed by a banking departure stall.

After that we headed over to Cumberland (UBE) for a few landings. On short final, I noticed what looked like a dust cloud ahead of us and before I knew it, we flew through, and slaughtered, a swarm of some kind of large insects. It was almost surreal. Kyle asked for a soft-field landing, and just like on my checkride, it wasn't very soft. This time, I bumped in a little too much throttle right at the flare and ended up floating and then thunking a little. I executed my first touch and go (they aren't allowed at C81 where I trained), and mentioned that I wasn't happy with that landing and that my DE had had me repeat the soft-field on my checkride. Kyle laughed and said, "Yeah, I was just going to tell you to do it again, too." So we did it again. The second one was better - good enough - but there's still room for improvement there. This landing was full-stop, I back-taxied on Runway 27, and then took to the grass for a soft, short take off on Runway 36. We were both expecting to launch off the turf when we hit the pavement of 9-27, but it was just hot and humid enough that she wasn't quite ready to fly yet. Eventually we rotated and headed to the northeast to clear some trees.

At that point, Kyle asked me what I'd do if I lost power right then - I think it was a quiz to see if I'd try turning back to the airport. There was a nice long field in front of me, so I said I'd secure the plane for an off-airport landing in the field. He seemed happy with that. After I'd climbed a few hundred more feet, he pulled the power and told me my engine was out. I ran though my mental checklist and picked out a field, but forgot to trim back for best glide. It wasn't a big deal since I'd have made the field I picked out, but it's something I shouldn't forget. He told me to bring the power back up and we headed back to RPD. Back at the airport, I came in steep and hot, blew a short-field landing, and side-loaded a little bit on touchdown. I felt like a real ass at that point, so I offered to do it again. Kyle said no, he didn't see a need to keep my passengers waiting any longer, but suggested I might want to stick to normal landings with my passengers. *gulp* 0.7 hours, and I was checked out to fly someone else's plane.

I pulled up in front of the FBO, let Kyle out and waved to Amy and Dad to come out. We got settled in, I did a passenger briefing as Kyle cleaned the bugs off the windshield, sparked up my GPS which I'd forgotten to turn on for the checkout, and we were off. We launched without a problem and at about 300' AGL I was hit with, "I'm a real pilot with real passengers!!!" Moments after that, my dad said, "Son, I'm so proud of you." I had perma-grin all over again.

We headed north and did a few turns around a point where the point was my sister's house and we could see my brother in law mowing the lawn out front. After two passes and a few photos, we headed west towards Mom and Dad's, pausing for one circle around my sister's old house. We flew over the town of Cumberland and marveled at the sheer size of Beaver Dam Lake. Out of the trees up ahead, I picked up North Lake and then their house. I circled a few times (never getting below 1,500' AGL - I was being very cautious) as we checked out the new horse pastures, the round pen they'd recently built, the weed lines in the lake, and my mom out on the pier waving a beach towel at us. We then headed out towards our friends' farm and a few of our common deer hunting grounds. There was a ton of water out in the fields from recent heavy rains.

We then headed back to the lake for one more pass, back to my sisters for one more pass and then flew down Rice Lake back towards the airport. Kyle had warned me that around 1:00 p.m., there was going to be a lot of traffic from people coming in for Young Eagle flights. He wasn't kidding. As we were 4 miles out inbound on the 45 for Runway 31, I head a Maule give a very similar position report. None of the 6 eyes in our plane could find him. His altitude report put him below us somewhere, so I decided to let him be #1 and I looped back around to the north to get away from where he said he was. Shortly after I turned away, he announced his mistake - he was looking at Runway 01 as if it were 13, so he was a good distance away from us the whole time. I saw him correct to 13 and then make his short final, so I got back into the pattern.

With all of the commotion, I ended up forgetting to pull the power back to 1500 RPM when I was abeam the numbers on my right downwind, so I ended up being very high when I turned base. I put in my last notch of flaps, let my passengers know to be ready for a 'roller coaster ride' - which I knew they could both handle - and put in a full slip to get down to the runway. It was a beautiful slip and got me right down to the numbers, but sadly I had left my airspeed up around 80 knots. I saw this, knew I was going to land long and opted for a go-around. I'm certain I could have stopped before the end of the runway, but the gut said to go around, so I did.

Just after I announced and made my crosswind to downwind turn, an Archer who had approached from the south called "overflying and joining the downwind." My head was swiveling around, but I couldn't find the guy and I was just about to ask where EXACTLY he was, when Amy said, "There he is," and pointed up and out her window. I had to crane my neck way down and look up out the window to see him (I really needed a sunroof), but there he was, right in my way, right above me. I announced that I had the traffic and that I'd widen my downwind and be #2 behind him. At the time, it didn't bother me much, but the more I thought about it afterwards, the guy really pissed me off. He knew where I was, knew I was going around, and opted to put himself right above me as I was climbing back to pattern altitude, for what - just so he could be #1? What an idiot.

Anyway, I finally greased a landing and had the stall horn go off just as the mains were kissing the pavement. I delivered my passengers "Safe and sound, on the ground." 0.9 hours on the Hobbs.

My dad got some cool video, which I'll need to steal from him at some point. I still need to take in the film from the 35mm my wife was shooting.

One thing I need to remember the next time I take people up to stress to them that they should let me know if they don't like something. I guess the turns were a bit steeper than either of them were expecting. I think the big slip in for the landing surprised my dad - I could have explained that one better, or just gone around sooner. And I know the traffic around the pattern made Amy nervous. But I don't think I scared either one of them away from flying with me again. Even when it's not a 'lesson,' a flight can be a learning experience, I guess.

Whew, that write-up was way longer than I anticipated.

Posted by oblivion at June 14, 2004 11:43 PM