Ted
The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2007
- Messages
- 29,885
- Display Name
Display name:
iFlyNothing
My fiancee was up here for the weekend, and needed to return to school yesterday (Monday). Seeing as I have work on Monday and she had no car up here, I was faced with the option of driving her back. 8 hour round trip drive, and I had work the next morning. Yick. I asked my flight instructor if he could fly us there to drop her off. He agreed (I am most fortunate) and yesterday after work we got to the airport. Seeing as the sun sets early, we had under an hour to get to our destination before dark completely set in, which wasn't going to happen. It was at minimum IFR conditions with ice. I wasn't sure which plane we were taking, but I had a feeling.
As we walked out the door we saw his shiny Navajo parked out front, prepped and ready to go. I rode right seat this time, given the weather conditions. I spent the time listening, observing, and trying to absorb info. While my second flight was an IFR in his Comanche to Pittsburgh and back, this flight was significantly different.
Approaching the Princeton airport, we broke out of the clouds about 1000' AGL, thinking we were home free. The one patch of fog happened to be directly on top of the airport. Great. Forget about landing there, so we diverted to Trenton airport. While the clouds were lower, they had an ILS approach. The landing went smoothly, we dropped her off, and then turned around and returned home.
As we were standing around while the plane was being refueled (all 72 gallons - he wasn't kidding about the 40 gallon/hr flight planning) we talked about the flight. It wouldn't have been doable in a plane without deice, simply because of the known ice conditions. The issue was not that we needed the deice - only trace ice ever formed on the wings - it was that we couldn't have done that flight, which was mostly through clouds, without having that equipment as it was known ice conditions. While we technically didn't need an airplane that was Navajo-sized for that (with only 3 people on board total, and 2 for the return), the Navajo was the plane to take because it's in great condition, and everything is known to work on it and work well at that. Plus there was some turbulence, but the Navajo didn't care. Especially seeing a situation where we got diverted due to weather, the last thing you need is to be worrying about the systems on the plane not working. He said he had thought about asking the owner of the Aztec I flew back from Maine a few weeks back if we could use it (which would also be good seeing as it would give my fiancee the exposure to an Aztec), but then figured that he wasn't sure of everything on that plane as he doesn't fly it, and for this flight it made more sense to just use the plane that we had assurance in.
I don't have a line in my log book for this (unfortunately), I didn't even touch the controls once. That also meant it was the first time that I saw my instructor's true flying skill, as in the past every time we've been in a plane together previously I've been left seat and he's just been helping as necessary with certain procedures being demonstrated. I saw just what a difference the 5000 hour pilot (with 3000+ hrs of twin time) made vs. mine, and how far I have to go.
My fiancee got to sit in the passenger cabin, getting the full experience of being flown somewhere. She loved it, and the more exposure she gets makes her more positive about getting a plane. This is very good for me.
As we walked out the door we saw his shiny Navajo parked out front, prepped and ready to go. I rode right seat this time, given the weather conditions. I spent the time listening, observing, and trying to absorb info. While my second flight was an IFR in his Comanche to Pittsburgh and back, this flight was significantly different.
Approaching the Princeton airport, we broke out of the clouds about 1000' AGL, thinking we were home free. The one patch of fog happened to be directly on top of the airport. Great. Forget about landing there, so we diverted to Trenton airport. While the clouds were lower, they had an ILS approach. The landing went smoothly, we dropped her off, and then turned around and returned home.
As we were standing around while the plane was being refueled (all 72 gallons - he wasn't kidding about the 40 gallon/hr flight planning) we talked about the flight. It wouldn't have been doable in a plane without deice, simply because of the known ice conditions. The issue was not that we needed the deice - only trace ice ever formed on the wings - it was that we couldn't have done that flight, which was mostly through clouds, without having that equipment as it was known ice conditions. While we technically didn't need an airplane that was Navajo-sized for that (with only 3 people on board total, and 2 for the return), the Navajo was the plane to take because it's in great condition, and everything is known to work on it and work well at that. Plus there was some turbulence, but the Navajo didn't care. Especially seeing a situation where we got diverted due to weather, the last thing you need is to be worrying about the systems on the plane not working. He said he had thought about asking the owner of the Aztec I flew back from Maine a few weeks back if we could use it (which would also be good seeing as it would give my fiancee the exposure to an Aztec), but then figured that he wasn't sure of everything on that plane as he doesn't fly it, and for this flight it made more sense to just use the plane that we had assurance in.
I don't have a line in my log book for this (unfortunately), I didn't even touch the controls once. That also meant it was the first time that I saw my instructor's true flying skill, as in the past every time we've been in a plane together previously I've been left seat and he's just been helping as necessary with certain procedures being demonstrated. I saw just what a difference the 5000 hour pilot (with 3000+ hrs of twin time) made vs. mine, and how far I have to go.
My fiancee got to sit in the passenger cabin, getting the full experience of being flown somewhere. She loved it, and the more exposure she gets makes her more positive about getting a plane. This is very good for me.
