Vectors To Final

I stumbled on this site with Aerial Photos today (thanks to geekpress.com). Just click on one of the five images shown on that page to see all the incredible aerial photos! Man, my photos look so lame compared to those. :)

Today I did my first solo flight under an IFR flight plan. It went really well, helped in no small part by very still, cold air. I went to RIC and did the ILS34 approach. From there I shot the full VOR approach into New Kent (W96) and then the VOR back into JGG for 1.5 hours of engine-running time. The ILS went really well, I had it on "rails" all the way down to decision height. Once it was trimmed up the airplane flew right down the glideslope without much help needed from me. The rest of the approaches went well too, though I did come in a little high on my circle-to-land into JGG. I'd rather be too high than too low any day though. :) Things I learned/relearned today: If you are getting "vectored-to-final" you don't have to do the procedure turn Entering the hold (an approach hold/PT) counts as the procedure turn (you don't have to do a full loop unless you need to lose altitude or need time to get setup - any extra loops require ATC notificati...

I wanted to fly with a friend this weekend but Saturday was a bit too windy and today was worse, with snow. So instead, I bought the 172R simulation from Flight1 and did the flight using it. I have enjoyed that airplane model so far; fits with the plane I fly in real life much better than the 172 that comes with Flight Sim (I think that one is a 172SP?).

For Christmas I received the Flight1 Piper Meridian model for Flight Sim 2004. I only recently had my joystick working again (my computer has been in Doom3 and Half-life 2 mode for quite a while) and started playing with the new airplane today. I have to say I am impressed with Flight1's handiwork. They have created what appears to be an excellent simulation of the Meridian; not that I have first hand knowledge (what does that plane cost, $1.5M)?! I have flown a couple of flights so far, both terminating in an ILS approach, and found that I was quickly able to get the hang of it with the help of the included documentation. I also got the DVD movie with it that shows an actual Meridian flight in WA state. The DVD was pretty good but is a little dry; only made for true enthusiasts. I plan to look closely at their 172R model and the USA Roads package as well.

Posted by my wife: Jason took me up tonight for a sunset/New Year's Eve flight. He reserved the plane yesterday so we'd have it today from 4:30 to 8 pm, giving us some leeway on either end. We picked up the key this morning since the flight school was closing at lunchtime today. We got to the airport around 4:30, and Jason began the preflight. The sun was below the trees but still seemed to be in the sky. We hopped in and taxied out around 5 pm for a smooth takeoff on 13. Jason had picked the Dinwiddie-Petersburg airport (KPTB) for us to head to first. This was nice since it took us out over the James River and directly into the sunset. It was a bit hazier and cloudier than would make an ideal sunset to see from the sky, but it was still nice with lots of soft oranges and purples.

This morning started at 2 AM for me. After feeling so unprepared for the checkride from my previous two flights, my brain was running at 1000mph thinking about the knowledge and skills I would need to demonstrate to the IFR rating examiner. It was 2:30 AM and I wanted to sleep, but all I could think about was how I would fly a DME arc or whether I'd need to demonstrate steep turns. I thought about all of the various weather charts that are available and how I certainly didn't have them all memorized - in real life I look at them to understand them instead of memorizing them - how much would the examiner want me to know off-the-cuff on the weather products?! Where would I need to park at KAKQ when I arrived there to meet the examiner? How exactly are the approach minimums affected when certain airport systems are inop? What was the weather going to do in the next few hours? Did I remember to do all of the cross-country planning the examiner requested? Had I forgotten som...

Today Charles and I went up for my last practice session before tomorrow's checkride. We left the JGG airport and went Northward to the HCM VOR. 5.5 nm out from the VOR we turned right to follow a 5nm DME ARC. We followed that for about 45 degrees and then turned inbound to do the FYJ VOR-A approach using the GPS and autopilot. I had some trouble setting the vertical speed on the autopilot, but Charles showed me what I was doing wrong (I was hitting the ALT key after setting the VS, which puts in back into hold-altitude mode, I just needed to leave it alone after setting the VS). We did a circle-to-land into FYJ on which I overshot the runway centerline a good bit. Charles reminded me to avoid doing that come checkride time. Then we started the VOR approach back into JGG under partial panel with only one VOR (it is harder with one VOR receiver because you need to identify an intersection based on specific radials from two VOR stations). Then he told me to do a hold at the ...