I'm in Nerd heaven

If there was ever a project to occupy a gadget freak/computer nerd over a rainy weekend in Georgia, it is figuring out how to keep the information up to date in the electronic playground that is my new plane’s cockpit.

If you look at the photo  to the right, you will see that my panel consists of two large displays with two smaller GPS/Radios between them. The two large displays are made by Avidyne and are the Primary Flight Display (PFD) on the left and the Multi-Function Display (MFD) on the right. The PFD derives information from onboard instruments and from the two Garmin GPS’s, and replaces traditional flight instruments such as the airspeed indicator, Altimeter,Horizontal Situation Indicator, Attitude Indicator, rate of climb, etc. The MFD does several things but usually shows a map with the plane situated on it from GPS information. It also has an engine information page showing various temperatures, fuel flow,etc and it has a Chart page with instrument approaches, airport diagrams, and other useful data.

Having all of this information essentially replaces both the old “steam guage” instruments and the bulging flight bags you often see pilots carrying full of approach charts for every airport and other needed paperwork. And it provides a wealth of information I never had in my past flying, such as real-time weather (from XM Radio) and traffic information showing other planes flying nearby. Its all simply fabulous, but I am finding out it comes at a cost, both financially to pay for the various services and in the time required to download and install updates monthly to the system.

So far in my exploration, I have figured out that I will need a subscription to the XM weather service for the MFD, monthly updates to the basic “Nav Data” on the MFD, monthly updates to the charts on the MFD, and monthly updates to the charts for both Garmin GPS’s. The weather service should be fairly simple and just involves calling XM Radio and activating an account for the weather receiver, kind of like activating and subscribing to Satellite radio in your car. The remaining subscriptions involve using a Windows computer (not a Mac) and a special program to download the updates from a chart company called Jeppesen and put them on USB Drive’s for the MFD or memory cards for the Garmin’s, and then bringing these sticks to the plane and plugging them into the gadgets to upload the new data. It shouldn’t be too hard once I get going and find a Windows computer when I’m not at my office, but registration and login’s and passwords to set it all up are pretty overwhelming. Tomorrow I will go out to the hangar and try to get all the serial numbers of the equipment necessary to begin setting this up. Meanwhile, I’ve spent the weekend reading manuals and Googling things to learn what I need to know. I’m having a blast.

It is clear to me now that this blog, while it will contain some flying adventures that may be of interest to friends and family, is also going to dive into some of the technical aspects of modern-day flying, a subject that may interest some and bore others to tears. As I’ve always said, read what you like and skip the rest, I may try to move the more technical stuff off of the main journal page and onto a new section dealing with such subjects as avionics, engine care, and other subjects of interest only to pilots or would-be pilots. We’ll see how it goes, but I hope to provide sections you may choose, depending on your interests. Not everybody is fascinated by how to lean an engine at altitude.

For the moment though, I plan to document my learning curve right here on the blog, and I’m not offended if anyone who came here to read about boating or the births of my grandchildren chooses to check out. I’ll miss you, but feel free to visit when you like.

Short Field Takeoff

One of the things you learn getting a pilot license is how to do a “short field takeoff”. Here’s one that’s really short. I count his takeoff roll time at about three seconds:

Zee Plane, Zee Plane

After selling the boat recently, and taking up flying again with a few lessons, I have been looking to purchase a small plane to make getting back and forth between Birmingham, Alabama and Savannah, Georgia easier, and more fun.

I had narrowed the type of plane down and figured it would take a lot of patience to find one I would want and that would be within my budget. Among the planes I have owned or flown in the past was an eighties model Cherokee Saratoga, a fixed-gear, single-engine, six-seat Piper. As Wikipedia will tell you “The Piper PA-32 Cherokee Six is a series of single engine fixed landing gear light aircraft manufactured in the United States by Piper Aircraft between 1965 and 2007.” The most recent version is called a Piper 6X, or a 6XT for the turbo-charged version.

My criteria for a plane were as follows: first, I needed roominess and the ability to carry two couples or the lovely Laura Lee and a few grandchildren; second, I wanted a fixed-gear, single-engine, naturally aspirated plane which would save enormously on the costs of maintenance, fuel, insurance, and required pilot recurrent training. The last plane I owned was a Beechcraft Baron, a 200-knot twin-engine, retractable-gear, fabulous piece of machinery. My recollection is that I had a cost of about $100 per hour of flying just to cover insurance and required annual training at Flight Safety in Wichita, Kansas. I was ready for a serious downsizing from that type of aircraft.

The Piper 6X fits the bill perfectly. It has a roomy cabin with club seating for four behind the pilot and co-pilot seats. It has a “useful load” of 1,200 lbs., which means it will carry that much weight in fuel, passengers, and luggage. With about 50 gallons or 300 lbs of fuel on board, it will carry 900 lbs. of passengers and luggage for about three hours and cover 450 nautical miles. There is only one other plane in this size and category that will compare to that, and it is the Cessna 206. However, the Cessna is not as roomy or luxurious, lacks the club-seating, and feels very utilitarian in comparison.

So I studied the market for late model 6X’s and got a handle on the prices and equipment for those available. None of them were quite right as they were either overpriced, not in good shape, had too much time on them, or lacked some of the avionics equipment I thought I would need. I assumed I would sit back for awhile, taking flying lessons and slowly getting back into flying. However, about a week ago N881RJ appeared on the market, a beautiful 2005 model with only 800 hours total time that looked to be reasonably priced and have all of the equipment I was looking for. So last week I flew up to Lexington, Kentucky to take a look, and the plane looked perfect. It was listed by a brokerage firm called Airmart in Lexington, which is owned by a gentleman named Grant Sutherlin. I asked around among the aircraft community about him and he has an excellent reputation and is rapidly growing the company that was founded by his parents. He and his company are well-known and respected in the industry, and I felt good dealing with him. By the time I left Lexington, we were working on an offer, and a deal was struck the next day. 

So Monday of this week I drove to Birmingham and Grant had arranged a pilot to fly the plane down for the “pre-buy inspection” on Tuesday. This involves a mechanic going over the engine and airframe very carefully, checking the compression of the cylinders, and making sure the required service has been maintained. I was fortunate to have an old friend who has maintained the planes for the company where I worked for many years perform the inspection. The plane passed with flying colors and the deal was closed yesterday morning.

So yesterday ended up being a whirlwind of activity, and one of the longest days of my life. I had agreed to fly the pilot back to Lexington as I was covering his expenses anyway, and he is a licensed and very good flight instructor. I went to bed at midnight Tuesday planning to sleep until 7 yesterday morning, but I was up at 5 and felt like a kid on Christmas morning. I was busy wiring funds, renting a hanger in Birmingham, moving the plane across the field to buy fuel, waiting to hear that my insurance had been “bound”. etc. It was a hectic morning and we finally got away a couple of hours later than I had hoped.

The pilot/instructor accompanying me is a Frenchman named Laurent. He pronounced his name very carefully and allowed that it was OK to mispronounce his name, but just don’t call him “Larry”. I took that as good cause to call him “Larry” from then on. He knows what he is doing, and if I was learning from scratch, he would be the perfect instructor. But I’m an old dog, and I like to do the checklist the way i do it. So we had to come to some understanding as we went. Laurent is a gentleman and a scholar, and there aren’t many of us left. I learned a lot in two hours of flying with him, and I appreciate his contributions to my safety and knowledge.

When I dropped him in Lexington, there was a further delay dealing with the closing paperwork, which meant I was destined to arrive back in Savannah after dark. After everything was done, I suffered a pretty serious loss of self-confidence when I realized I was about to take off alone in a plane for the first time in 12 years. I had a nearly three-hour trip in an unfamiliar plane with avionics with which I am not yet experienced. I would have to climb to 8,000 feet in some mild turbulance and below-freezing air to get over some mountains, and I would arrive at an unfamiliar airport to do my first night landing in more than a decade.

But, logic told me it would be a piece of cake, and it was. The plane performed well. The weather was good. And I knew how to fly in such a basic situation. Not to say I wasn’t alarmed at every little bump, white-knuckled on the night landing, and totally exhausted when I finally landed, but the trip went well.

So here I am, out of boating and into flying. I will write a lot more about the plane in the coming days, for those who are interested, and there will no doubt be many new adventures to report. Stay tuned.

Fair Winds, Sean and Louise

I’ve finally figured out why I sometimes had bad luck aboard Steel Magnolia. It was because I failed to follow proper protocal when I bought the boat and renamed her, leaving Neptune angry with me for years. Not making the same mistake, the buyers of my boat have done everything correctly and are off on their maiden voyage. I wish them fair winds and favorable tides, and recommend you follow their exploits here.

"Learning to Fly"

Into the distance, a ribbon of black                          

Stretched to the point of no turning back 

A flight of fancy on a windswept field 

Standing alone my senses reeled

A fatal attraction is holding me fast,

How can I escape this irresistible grasp?

Can’t keep my eyes from the circling skies

Tongue-tied and twisted,

just an earth-bound misfit, I

 

  Pink Floyd “Learning to Fly” (Click for video)

With the boat now sold, I have turned my attention to the next great life adventure, and I am trying out going back to flying. I do not exactly need to “learn to fly” because I have been licensed since 1970. I have an instrument and a multi-engine rating, and nearly 1,000 hours of flying time. But, I sold the last plane I had in 2001, and have not flown anything since then.

So last Tuesday I found myself in a doctor’s office in Savannah getting an aviation medical exam. I got through it without incident but now I am required to wear “corrective lenses” when flying, and I had to request some medical records to be sent to the FAA so the records would be complete. Wednesday, Medical Certificate, license, and 40-year-old logbook in hand, I drove out to the Reidsville airport just over an hour away to take off with an instructor and see if I still have the right stuff.

It was a great flight in a little Piper of the same airframe (and vintage) as the plane I owned in 1971. In good weather just flying around, it was like riding a bike. We flew over to Vidalia, Georgia and landed, and then flew back to Reidsville where I did an instrument approach. It all came back pretty quickly, the landings were smooth, and the instructor signed me off for what is called a Biennial Flight Review, a requirement that pilots prove they can fly to an instructor every two years. So just like that, I am a legal pilot again. But there is a difference between what is legal and what is safe, and I have some work to do.

Today I went back to Reidsville and we filed an instrument flight plan and went down to Hinesville, GA to the Mid-Coast Regional Airport. We spent some time with the airport manager and the Army manager of the shared military/civilian facility learning about the effect on civilian flying of the new drone training facility being built there by the Army. They are putting in a whole building of consoles similar to Microsoft Flight Simulator where trainees will fly drones the size of a King Air right outside off the runway. Best to get out of their way I think, until they have completed their training and the drones are deployed to Afghanistan or to fly around and spy on all of us.

So now I’ve got a total of 976.1 hours of flying time, 2.3 of which is in the last 10 years. I’ve got a ways to go to get back to the skills I once had, and I fly again Monday to begin some work on instrument flying where you wear goggles to simulate flying where you can see the instruments but can’t see anything outside the plane. Should be an interesting day. I am fortunate to have found an experienced instructor to keep me out of trouble.

Our trip to Hinesville today had a purpose. I have searched high and low and, if I buy a plane, there is no hangar space in the Savannah area available. Believe me, you do not want to leave a nice plane parked in the sun in South Georgia in the summer. It will melt your leather seats. I found one “T Hangar” in Claxton, GA but it is an hour away and not an ideal place to keep a plane. Driving an hour from Richmond Hill, GA to fly two hours to Birmingham doesn’t make a lot of sense.

As we discussed the lack of hangar space with the manager at Hinesville, the City Manager dropped in and when I asked if new hangars might be built, he suggested I build some myself under a ground lease from the city/airport authority. We discussed a deal where I would enter a ground lease and build a string of 12 T-Hangars to be leased out to other aircraft owners. It might not make much money, but may be an economical way to get a free hangar and a little return on the building. I’ve already decided to form an LLC for the project which will be called “Sky King, LLC”.

I’m taking this one day at a time, and still not sure where it will lead, but at this stage in my life, getting around to see (and pick up) grandchildren at 150 knots seems more interesting than cruising the ocean at seven knots, so perhaps this will be the next great adventure. I’ll keep you posted.