Tango

SITREP:

- 23.03.2012 EDFE Apron Hanger 6
- D-EGDG
- No Power

Last week, DG was doubled booked and I had to give way to a flight student. Very disappointing. The FBO called me later in the day and offered 30 minutes free the next time I fly. Alright, no problem.

So when I show up to fly the next week at noon, I am hoping everything will work out. I planned to fly to EDEW to do some touch and goes and on the way back, some basic air work. I am greeted in the office and Mr. Miller (part time help, actually doing his ATPL) suggests that he comes out to the aircraft with me.

We make our way over to Hanger 6, bright sunlight and 20*C, great day for flying. I do the pre-flight and cannot help noticing that Mr. Miller is paying fairly close attention to what I am doing. Fine, whatever. I check the oil and notice that there is less than 4 quarts. According to the POH, minimum is 2, but if the aircraft can take 8, 4 is half and 2 is basically criminal. I ask Mr. M if there is some oil in the locker. No, but there should be some in the back of the plane. No, there is an empty oil bottle in the back. Ok, he suggests that we taxi to the pumps and get some. Better yet, I should finish my pre-flight, and he will go to the pumps and get some oil.

I turn on the master expecting to hear the gyros wind up, but instead I am greeted to the sounds of silence. Hmmmm, battery empty. Get the power cart and crank it. DG starts without problems, but the battery is so empty, that the radio does not work. No radio, no taxi. I shut her down and wait for Miller to return. He shows up (with the wrong oil), I explain the situation, and he is sort of dumbfounded. I had noticed when I entered the cockpit all of the lights switches where on, but the master was out. Since I am a previous owner of a 1973 VW van, I am familiar with shorts in an electrical system that can cause a battery to drain over the course of a few days. Mr. Miller calls his boss to explain the situation. Boss thinks the circuit breaker from the alternator is broken and we should replace it. What? Maybe he thinks that.... I have no idea what that would have to do with the current situation. If during the last flight, the battery was not charging, then I doubt that they could have completed the night flight with radio, lights, etc. and changing a circuit breaker means tearing the panel apart. No, not today. So, we get the power cart out, hook her up and let the motor turn. After a 10 minute idle, the radio starts to work. After 20, I call Apron for departure information.

It really seems as if it is more exciting to get the plane going than the actual flying.
A sad state of affairs...

I fly to EDEW to do some Touch and Goes. There‘s a Robin and a C152 in the circuit so I have to pay some attention. The first landing was way too long; I was at the halfway sign before I touched. Too fast on final. The rest were uneventful. And I was using max flaps this time and I was able to correct for my long flares.

This weekend is chilling with Number One. I wonder what surprises are in store for next week...

Finally in the air again

After a month of waiting, I could finally get some stick time. The weather the last few weeks had been limiting to say the least. Although not perfect, it would do to fly to EDTY from EDFE and back over EDRY. Unfortunately, the maps for 2012 were not to be had from my normal internet dealer and the folks at Air Navigation still did not have the current maps online. Sh*t. I checked with my FBO and they had some 2012 availiable and they would set on aside for me. An extra 10 Euros is cheap compared to a ramp check...
I like to fly to EDTY since this field was the first leg of my cross country solo last year. Giant relief when I could see the field that day.
I get to Egelsbach and pick up my map, final weather check, and out to the D-EGDG. I brought a soft cloth with me to clean the canopy. Not that they have a dirty a/c, but it is a charter plane that is mostly used for instruction.
After the pre-flight, time to start. Thinking that since the OAT is above zero, the start should be no problem. Wrong. After emptying the battery, I go and get the external starter. Thinking again that this will be a battle royal, the motor catches basically on the first turn of the prop. Hmmmm. The on-board battery is probably on its last legs. After double checking that the park brakes are set, I climb out into the prop-blast and undo the battery. It is one thing to be walking past a turning prop on the apron or even to be sitting in the cockpit, but to be only what seems to be a few centimeters away from those turning blades was truely nerve racking.
Call the apron, taxi to fuel up. Fill up to150 litres, call the apron again, taxi to 27. Unfortunately, I notice 3 seconds too late that I have miss the taxiway and am proceeding to the runway. Shit. Call the apron to get the OK to turn around and head back to Taxiway Alpha. Run up checks and away we go.
The is the first flight in ages where I could work with the Garmin 430, do some RNAV, and generally concentrate on flying and not concerning myself with Airspace Charlies, unhappy controllers, or consistently preparing for patterns.
EDTY came in sight and after having to slow down for a DA-20 in the circuit, I floated a nice long landing (I wanted to see how long I could stay a meter over the runway) and proceeded to my my next POI, EDRY (Speyer). They have an aircraft museum which I took some pics.
The flight back to Egelsbach was uneventful, however, I have noticed that I am in the habit of only using 20% flaps. This would explain why I have not been able to hit the numbers for a while. This weekend I will make the effort to use full flaps. I think I started using less flaps since the cross winds were close to the max allowed and I found that only 20% allowed me to see the runway better and correct.

To sim or not to sim...

Due to the typical spring weather in this part of Germany, I have been making more use of a virtual aircraft than a real one. A former coworker asked me if it was possible to learn to fly only by using a sim. Basically, no, it is not possible. A good computer simulator (I use X-Plane, I wanted one that would run on Mac and Windows) can help to teach procedures, RNAV, to a certain degree radio work, but not really be the only way to fly.

The accuracy of the simulator effects how well and how accurate you can practice real flying. I went all out when I set mine up, shopped a well known internet selling platform for a yoke, throttle, and rudder pedals as well as purchasing very realistic landscape for Germany. I could practice my cross country flights without getting "lost" or better yet, getting lost with and then getting "unlost" with only a compass and map. Very enlightening. Recently, I have been practicing cross wind landings at and over the maximal recommended for the AA-5 I fly. Tricky at best, and no, nothing I would do in real life. Although, it is pretty cool landing 90 degrees to the strip with a 60kn cross wind perpendicular to the runway. You can basically hover! And that is where the danger comes in.

In the sim, I can loop, barrel roll, spin, and basically fly any way I want in the AA-5. I cannot believe that I would do this in real life, but I always have it in the back of my head, that yes, the sim let me do it, so maybe I can. Very dangerous. I have not survived flying into a simulated thunderstorm. Dead within minutes.

X-Plane has a plug in that allows it to couple with Air Navigation Pro on my i-Apple products allowing a further level of realism to my "sim-experience". Probably one of the best learning experiences I had at home was what to do if the iPad crashes or loses a GPS signal. How do I trouble shoot AND fly the a/c? Once again, I could painlessly practice this without endangering myself or anyone else. The lesson I learned was what everyone always says: fly the aircraft first. On the sim, you change pitch or direction without feeling it and you can get into trouble fairly quickly.

A good computer simulator is not a substitute for the real thing, but for praticing procedures, definitely worth it.