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...
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.
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.
