Still Here!!..............

It has been almost 2 months since my last post, and that says a lot about how things have been going out here in Phoenix. It has been crazy busy, the weather and the aircraft have been very reliable, as have our instructors and this means that CP112 last week completed the foundation phase of training. This was completed with a Progress Test which we all took and passed last week, then took a well deserved couple of days off.

Some of us made our way to Havasau Falls, and others to alternative west coast destinations of the USA, however it is fair to say we all let our hair down for a bit and relaxed.

The PT1 itself to a very similar format to the CPL check ride that we will have to complete in around 2 months time. From reading through the EASA information on the CPL check it seems that our PT1 was very close to, if not the same format and the tasks we were asked to perform in the flight were mostly the same as the CPL. This meant most of us came out of the test feeling a little bitter sweet, obviously we are not at the CPL standard of flying just yet, however there were some good points for all of us to take away from this progress check, the most important being that we all passed and now move onto the wings phase of training.

Sooo.... I guess we are sort of Pilots?!?

With the move to wings training also came the last solo flight, which was pretty sad actually having completed almost 50 hours solo in the DA-40NG. It is pretty likely this will be the last time for many years that I fly any aircraft with no one else aboard. And I will miss it! The last flight was a good one and I managed to see a river in Arizona that had some water in it, one of the most exciting things I have seen on all my navigation flights... As you can imagine the landscape in AZ is pretty, generic. From here on for the rest of the training we will be dual in the aircraft with an instructor. :-(

This Monday we found ourselves straight back into it, starting our simulator training for the Instrument Rating. Although this is not the next rating to be gained, CTC carries out the majority of the instrument training at the beginning of the Wings course, which is exactly what we are doing now.

We have been graced in Phoenix with a brand new DA-42NG simulator which is really quite good. Although not as good as flying outside, we are spending almost the entire time in IMC anyway so are not really missing any of the views from the air. The time in the simulator is much better spent than in the aircraft as there is no taxi, start up or shutdown and therefore all the time is spent flying, much more productive, even if it does behave a little weird.

Finally in 5 weeks time we have been officially told that we will travel to New Zealand to complete the twin engine part of our training because of some supply issues with the twin engine aircraft, which is actually awesome! Although a bit of a pain to travel half way around the world again, at least the experience of another training centre, set of instructors, terrain and weather conditions will all add to our skills and experience and hopefully make us attractive to the airlines!

Just Keep Flying...

More good news from Phoenix, we have been flying between 5 and 8 details a week since my last post, with only once cancelled flight in almost the last three weeks! The temperature is now pretty consistently over 40 degrees every day. Meaning that the weather and the winds have died down nicely leaving ideal flying conditions.

All of this flying has taken us into the territory of navigation solos, with the qualifying cross country coming up the week after next, so progress is good! On Nav's Arizona is quite challenging which we have all found, due to the lack of features to navigate VFR, plus the amount to Military Operating Areas and Restricted Airspace. You really need to be switched on all the way around to make sure you don't bust any airspace, not something that is taken lightly by the FAA. Busting airspace in America is one of the quickest ways to get yourself a flight back to the UK...! All the more reason to be really switched on.

Although we may not have all of the weather challenges of the other training centers we do have our fair share of things... It certainly is not an easy ride learning to fly in the sun as some may think.

Another CTC CP of 5 has arrived in Phoenix and are getting stuck into ground school, unfortunate for those guys but at least there are no exams for them to do! In 2 weeks they will be up in the air and happy, but for now it is many mass briefs!

Our schedule has stayed the same with weekends off so again we have found plenty to keep us busy, numerous baseball games and concerts to be seen in downtown phoenix. As well as a couple of BBQ's to welcome the new CP, obviously all of them ended up in the pool, many times.

For now, I have a 4am alarm call tomorrow for a solo nav flight, so time for bed...

So that happened...

This week has been incredible from the flying side of things, I have been so short of time away from flying which is always a good thing. Monday came around an it was time for my solo check ride. This is a 0.8 lesson with instructor where he decides if your good enough. Was not ideal to have this on a Monday morning after the weekend off but hey, play with the cards your dealt. The check ride went really well except the last landing, which was damn awful and on the edge of being safe! This left the instructor on tender hooks as I taxied out for my virgin solo circuit and meant that he wrote me a interesting message on my shirt once I was completed. Glad to say all went well, the pressure meant the circuit was perfect! Since that flight I have completed another three solo details taking my Pilot in Command hours to a grand total of 3!!

CP112 have taken the liberty, as mentioned before, to set the precedent for solos in the USA. We thought being thrown in the pool wasn't quite enough, therefore we took up the old tradition of cutting away the tail of the shirt you wear for your solo. This goes back to a story before radio comms where the instructor used to pull on the shirt tail of the student while sitting behind him to get his attention. Once you are solo you don't need this shirt tail anymore so it is removed and signed by the instructor. Something nice to hold onto. My message was "thanks for the ulcer" after leaving him fearing for my life after that last check ride landing.

 The next few solos are pretty nerve raking but I found this really good training to begin to trust yourself and be confident in your own ability! To be honest I hardly noticed that the instructor was not there with so much time spent looking out the window! Friday has come and I flew two details yesterday and today so I am pretty tired, and all these details were in the circuit at Goodyear, which I have not left for about a week now, so looking forward to Monday when I will be signed out to fly to Buckeye after a check ride about 20-30mins flight from Goodyear.

Obviously it is time to celebrate after the solos so a trip to LA is planned for this weekend, about 6 hours drive away. We leave at 4am Saturday and will be back late Sunday night. 4am is pretty normal time for us to be up to fly so no problems there!

Only other news from Phoenix is that another 2 aircraft are expected before the next CP arrive early June taking the total to 6 DA-40NG's. Also that we now have a livery on all the aircraft. I will leave you to judge your thoughts on this! But is very nice not to be flying white tails anymore.

Below is a film I put together of the Solo experience at Goodyear, so those who are coming out I hope it gives you a good idea of what is in store. All good fun. 

You win some... and you loose some...

The last couple of weeks have really been all or nothing! On the flying side of things it has been a little frustrating, we have been experiencing a cooler period, low 30's, which has brought with it some pretty horrible wind. I assume probably linked to the horrendous weather in the east at the moment. This meant that flying was cancelled two days last week. But still we managed to complete three flights and this meant that one of us did go solo on Friday! Well done that man.

 Not putting NZ down, but one of my friends from ground school completed his second flight last week... and was stunned that we are already going solo!

The last week has been spent flying the circuit at Goodyear and comprises of three lessons with the instructor, which each last one hour. This may seem short but we are achieving about 8-9 takeoffs and landings in that time... which is enough. Once one of these lessons is complete you are ready for bed, regardless of what time it is in the morning! The workload is high and there is a lot to concentrate on and the instructor will not take kindly to anything being missed considering he is about to sign you out to fly by yourself!

On the way to the pool as promised.

After this the course really shifts up a gear, we are expected to fly one circuit with a full stop landing for the first solo. The next lesson after this is a 1.5hr lesson flying solo circuits. Which considering 1 hour with the instructor is hard, 1.5 alone will be really tough! Following this pretty much every other flight is a solo detail for some time to come. Which will be great experience and starts to build the Pilot in Command hours in the logbook which, lets be honest, this is what everyone wants!

All the gear and no idea comes to mind...

Unfortunately for my flight on Friday the winds picked up again and the turbulence attacked, which it does every day due to the heat, and this meant that I decided to delay my first solo flight until Monday. That means this is going to be a long weekend of waiting. You will always find in Phoenix the first flight of the day is the smoothest and the "easiest," so it is only fair to share this flight around. Up above 5,500ft you don't notice the turbulence so much, so for air work lessons this is no big deal. But circuits are flown at 1,000ft with constant approaches and takeoffs, believe me you notice it then! The captain of the BA 747-400 that flew us out here said he hates the thermals in Phoenix because is affects the aircraft on approach so much. Now imagine what it does to the DA-40...!

This brings me onto something else. The DA-40 is a great bit of kit, however be warned, it likes to fly! Which is great for an aircraft obviously, but it does not like to land at all. The instructors in Phoenix say it is by far the hardest plane to land they have ever experienced and that if we can land this we can land anything! Its a good challenge but something to be aware of. Great from a training point of view.

More news on the aircraft we now have 4! Below is a video of the final assembly of the two that arrived last week.

Due to this delay with the solo we felt that we would like to keep busy, so headed out to another one of Arizona's beauty spots. Someone said to me before I came here, who wants to fly round a dessert, go to NZ it is beautiful... Ok... that person has not been to Arizona. I will leave you to judge for yourself.

Sedona

Camelback Mountain

Week Three of Flying

News from Phoenix is good. We have managed to get over all the technical difficulties inherit with having brand new aircraft out here in Phoenix, last week we all managed to fly 3 flight details and this week is looking good for a further 4, due to one stand down day of all instructors at the center in Phoenix. This takes us into first solo territory next week. Which means two things, a trip to the pool in full uniform, followed by a BBQ with the Lufthansa cadets to celebrate. There is a tradition in aviation (which I am not familiar with...) that once you fly solo you may touch water prior to touching the ground again. Therefore the pilot is carried from the plane to the pool and dumped in, instead of ditching the aircraft in water. Videos will follow!

Challenging weather to contend with...

 There is a tradition amongst the cadets from KLM to shave heads when the student goes solo, as the first course out here we have taken the decision on behalf of those who follow us, that we will not be going ahead with this tradition...

G1000 and ECU equipped DA-40. Makes life much easier!

I am not sure now the schedule will progress out here for the next few courses but at the moment it is pretty damn good. We fly every day we can from 6 am until around 1pm when the mass brief is finished and we head back to the accommodation. After this the whole afternoon is ours, this allows plenty of time to use the on site facilities, gym, tennis courts, volleyball, pools etc. Not to mention we have every weekend off which allows us some decent time to relax and go away and get on with the things we want to do. There are so many stadiums and sports venues around here, this week we drove around 20 mins into downtown Phoenix to see a game of Arena American Football, as the proper American Football is out of season, this was really good and the ticket was only $31. Really cannot complain!

On that note, eating out is pretty cheap, you can expect to go out and have a sit down meal, two courses and a drink for about $20-$25. That is if you can manage 2 courses, we went to the Longhorn Steakhouse last week and the main course was a 7oz steak, which came with fries, bread, a choice of side order (baked sweet potato for me) and a salad of your choice for $13... Enough said...

 We have also planned a trip to the Grand Canyon, where we have decided that we will visit Havasupai and Mooney Falls, a couple of waterfalls 10 miles off the road and inaccessible by any means other than on foot or by helicopter, and the heli can only take you 8 miles of the way. The sights look pretty spectacular but as with everything in the US you cannot just rock up and go, you need a permit to walk there and an overnight location to stop, which is compulsory. There are a couple of choices but we opted for the lodge at $145 per night between 4 people. Just a word for anyone thinking of doing this, it is booked roughly 6 months in advance for weekends, so plan it at the start of your visit if you want to do it, or before you leave the UK or you will not get it in! There is no negotiation on weekdays off in the US due to the tight schedule.

Havasupai Falls, Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

Saying that there is plenty of time, and plenty of things to enjoy out here and plenty of time to do them, I am biased but the weather is certainly better than that in NZ! The location could not be better and we could not have been better looked after, however the landscape is a bit baron when flying over and it is challenging to pick out reference points when flying VFR. If I had the choice again, I would choose Phoenix time and time again! Hope to see some more CTC guys out here soon. We are outnumbered by the Lufthansa cadets at the moment about 10 - 1!

What we are actually here for...

So the first two weeks of acclimatisation went really well. We had a great time, saw a lot of things and really got settled here in the US. But the day after the two week acclimatisation period elapsed it was straight into flying duties! Which was exciting, until my alarm went off at 5:15am for a 6am briefing. Really?!

That being said. The first flight of the day, and the last at night here are the best to be scheduled for we have discovered. Although the weather is.... Cirrus 25,000, outlook VFR, no significant change, gets a bit boring picking that up every morning! The thing that we do have to contend with obviously due to the heat is the thermals. We have been told by the instructors that we have seen nothing yet, and already when flying on approach below 2,500 agl it is pretty damn bumpy and you fight the aeroplane to make it descend! That being said, the first and last flight, and any flight above 6000 agl are in ideal conditions. 

I have managed to complete now 4 flight details taking my grand total to 4.6 hours, and it is really amazing what I have managed to pick up in those 4 hours. The CTC flying program has been really good so far. It takes each individual skill and splits it up, dedicating a lesson to each skill. This allows you to really nail that skill before moving onto, and incorporating what you have learned into the next skill. For example the first four lessons are Effects of Controls, Straight and Level, Climbing and Descending and Medium Turns. Seems pretty logical and works really well. 

Although it is split up like this the learning curve is steep. On the second lesson we were expected to make most of the radio calls, with the instructor only stepping in if he really had to. This sounds ok, but the airspace around Phoenix, and at Goodyear is very busy with student and commercial traffic. A great environment to be in but challenging to begin with. The second lesson we completed the take-off, with limited success and a lot of instructor input, but all nailed it in the third lesson. The third lesson saw us flying most of the flight detail from engine start, taxi, checks, takeoff, climb, cruise and decent to around the 50'agl point where the instructor took control for the landing. So although the program is good, there is a huge amount of skills to be learned. Tomorrow should see our first landing. And hopefully we will have 2 aircraft after all 6 of us have tried this... fingers crossed!

One of the biggest advantages of Phoenix is the ability to fly every day due to the weather. I think if these lessons had been spread over 2 weeks it would have been much more challenging to remember the skills and build on them and the following lesson is spent relearning the previous lesson. One of the reasons the course out here is just 6 months as opposed to 9 in NZ.

A little more about the aircraft. The Diamond DA-40. What a piece of kit. I don't have really anything else to compare this to but all I can say is CTC have not held anything back here. The aircraft performs brilliantly, the Garmin 1000 Glass Cockpit is fantastic and it is the perfect training aircraft for anyone who has a view of heading for commercial airlines. The engine is ECU (Engine Control Unit) controlled so no mixture control to worry about, liquid cooled so no cooling problems, the constant speed propeller is controlled by the ECU so nothing to be concerned about there. Set percentage power and off you go. The other great thing about this aircraft is it has 4 seats, so there is always an opportunity to backseat which means every lesson is delivered twice, really aiding progress. Finally, the Air Conditioning, which out here, is priceless.

The instructors out here in Phoenix are great too. Amazing teaching technique so far and they know the area like the back of their hand. Clearly a huge amount of experience, confidence and most of all they are friendly guys who you would not hesitate to go to with any problems. This is one of the biggest things that concerned me coming to a newly set up training center (spelled in American) but they are second to none.

Tomorrow we have another 6am report with first flight out at 6:50. Followed by the same on Friday.

And then there were two!

This week after a pretty relaxing weekend around the pool, which was forced upon us because the hire car was only loaned to us for a week and we were not fast enough in arranging our own transport! The process in the USA is pretty long, even when you do find a car at is suitable and have decided that you will buy it, and everyone agrees. You need to meet the guy who you are buying it from and exchange the keys and pay. Sounds simple enough. But no. Then you need to go to a notary who will witness the filling in of the paperwork and sign after seeing your ID (must be American ID) you can get American ID for $10 from the local DMV. Of course at the same time the notary will want a fingerprint to confirm who you are! :-) keep your fingertips unmarked and no cuts or damage while out here, you will need them a lot.

After this paperwork is fill in you need to get insurance. Quite simple and actually we were told that we needed to get US driving licences to make the insurance reasonably priced and this involved both a theory and practical driving test, as if there are not enough tests around at the moment! In fact this is not the case, as long as your stay is less than 7 months it actually works out better on a UK licence. So you have insurance and your car, but you still cannot drive it. You now need to go to the DMV and register it and get a number plate. This incurs a fee which is based on e value of the car, another reason not to buy one that is too expensive! Finally now you can get around.

This Monday we started by sitting in innovative a instructors course for the DA-40. Really useful stuff, this will last for three days and conclude with our first flight on Thursday. It is really weird pulling up the flying schedule and seeing your own name on it! Suddenly everytng seems to be worth it! The instructors course will not be a permit ant feature of the CTC course but will be delivered by the instructors to the cadets themselves. It is quite in depth and gives a really good grounding on the ins and outs of the aircraft, and the Garmin 1000 system, which really is an amazing bit of kit. This instructors have already told us that most of the functions will be inhibited to begin with because this aircraft is really so advanced it can display parameters and perform functions that really make the pilots life very easy!

All this was helped by a look at the next DA-40 to arrive in the hanger, the plane is fresh from the factory and still in many bits, so we really got a great view of how everything works, where it is located in e aircraft and hopefully this will all help us should we find ourselves in an abnormal situation.

Ground School Is NOT Over...

The elation that we felt when we finished ATPL ground school was great but wears of pretty quickly when you get stuck into ground school in Phoenix! There are a few things that are better, the days are not long, there is little home study and the weather is so much better so the afternoons are spent by the pool in a cool 30 degrees celsius. It is a far cry from ATPL ground school but nevertheless, we are unfortunately still watching the aircraft take off out the window! 

There is a lot of instructor training taking place at the moment on the DA-40 so everything is ready for us next week, but for this week we are stuck into ground school covering topics such as Goodyear Operating Procedures, Actual Fuel Planning (not the theoretical rubbish from ground school!) Effects of Controls, Mass and Balance and Performance for the DA-40, Apron Safety, Met and NOTAM sources in the US. While all this is pretty dry we can at least be objective in that we are learning about the aircraft and the airfield we will fly at for the next 6 months. Which is some consolation. 

In the background while all this is going on we are waiting for TSA approval, something which involves quite a lengthy process of fingerprints, visas, medicals etc to satisfy the US authorities that we are safe to fly around their country. That approval arrived this morning, is around a 6 week process in all starting in the UK and cannot be completed until you have entered the US and given yet another set of fingerprints to the Goodyear Police (the third set we have done!) 

This allowed us to go out onto the Apron and have a close up look and some cheesy photographs with the CTC's new (and currently only!) Diamond Star DA-40, N846TC. The aircraft is really great, excited about flying something brand new and on the stand it makes everything around it look like it runs on steam. We have a full glass cockpit, Garmin 1000, TCAS, as opposed to TAS in the other aircraft, Air Conditioning, 4 seats so back seating is always an option on classmates lessons (although the MTOM leaves a skinny margin,) something that I believe is more challenging in NZ. 

With all our afternoons off, we have been exploring a little further afield. We managed to source a car, this was very challenging to start with but as soon as some of the Lufthansa cadets realized they did not have long left in the US we found many people offering us their cars! Because we are the only ones buying they are all competing with each other on price. A nice position to be in! So there is plenty of availability out here, and not really any need to go off the airfield. 

Other than this we have been out to a couple more shopping mals, over the other side of Phoenix to see a bit of the dessert, which is over 75 miles! Just to get out of the city! and to an international soccer game! US V. Mexico, which cost us $48 each. Cant really argue with that! This was in the university stadium and 60,000 attended, great to be there. We were surrounded by Mexican supporters as there is no segregation at US games between supporters, so we went with Mexico!

Other big news... Yesterday it rained... about 4 drops for the second day this year. Exciting Stuff! It remained above 25 degrees though so nothing to get too upset about. 

Lufthansa Welcome...

So yesterday marked the start of the weekend and our first rest day since arriving in Arizona. CTC provided us with a rental car for 1 week while we get our own car organised, similar to the situation in NZ. Obviously this is a massive truck as all cars are in America! This allowed us to get mobile, go to Walmart and a shopping mall and get a feeling for the place. One thing you cannot do without here is a car as everything is so spread out. Goodyear itself has a good selection of shops and restaurants but they are all laid out in a "retail park" kind of setting with miles between them. Even to get off the airfield would be around a 20 minute walk...  Not plausible in 100 degree heat as we had yesterday, and this is the colder season!

We have planned to buy a car from some of the Lufthansa guys that are leaving Phoenix in the next couple of weeks. This is pretty easy to do and better than buying a car from a complete stranger! You can pick up a pretty decent car out here for around $5000 with seven seats. Plus insurance which is pretty pricey for anyone under 25. I think the two guys from Lufthansa paid $1200 for 6 months between them, they are 22. The best way is to get an AZ drivers licence which brings the price down but I am not yet sure what this involves. When I do will post it.

There are about 55 Lufthansa cadets out here currently doing PPL practical training and last night they invited us for a BBQ to "welcome" us to the site. To be honest we expected the worst, some kind of initiation ceremony... but this didn't happen. They were a great bunch of guys, good to get to know them a bit better and they made us feel really welcome. A massive bucket of beer was brought to our table and amazing BBQ food provided so thanks to those guys. We will try to replicate their hospitality for the next CTC course to join us.

On the whole out here the atmosphere is so friendly. I cannot compare to NZ but one of the instructors says it is a very different atmosphere to clearways. Although there is us, German air force and Lufthansa cadets we all have a lot in common and seem to get on pretty well. Feels like home already. All the staff at the center are great and always want to have a chat. The food in the cafe is good also and the facility is just stunning, so much more than we expected out here.

On another note its quite a busy airfield out here and last night we had a visit from an MD-11 (i think) landing for its final flight, there is a company based at the airfield that breaks large jets for parts so we have a lot of them around the place. Numerous A320, 747's and 737's as well as many other aircraft. When I can get on the field will post some photos of the graveyard but this can be seen pretty clearly from Google earth or something like that.

(CTC is based in the top right of this photo, where you see the pools, accommodation is opposite that. )