My first time flying solo from start to finish. ATIS indicated calm winds on this morning. Right from the time I took off, the ball wouldn’t be centered and I didn’t realize there was a stiff crosswind from the south (my left). That unnerved me although you couldn’t tell from the video. My turns were shallow and the pattern was really wide. After just one lap around the airport, I pulled off and waited for a while near the fuel station. Thats when I saw that the windsock reflected a stiff wind. I was in half a mind whether to go back up and after a few minutes of reflection, decided to call it a day. This was the shortest duration I’ve flown so far.
ATIS is generally recorded once an hour and as was evident today, if the weather changes quickly then ATIS isn’t accurate. Also, ATIS reflects winds at the surface and the speeds above the surface can be quite different due to the lack of surface friction and other obstructions.
We are flying a dual cross country today to Santa Rosa, then Sacramento Executive airport and back to Livermore. I worked on the planning checklist that I had assembled for the first cross country flight a while ago. I didn’t have time to determine winds aloft which is an important miss because it has a bearing on travel time, fuel consumption and wind correction angles. My plan was to use that checklist together with a paper chart. I had an iPad with Forelight only as a backup.
Winds are from 230@8 at Livermore at the time of takeoff. I used Scaggs Island VOR and then a from heading to Santa Rosa. It was particularly hard to spot the airport because it doesn’t come into view until after crossing Petaluma. Tower cleared us for a left traffic on runway 14. I was fairly high on the approach to Santa Rosa and couldn’t come down quickly enough for the landing so I did a go around. On the second approach there was a Horizon Air commercial aircraft holding short for my landing. We taxied and got our navigational details down for Sacramento before taking off.
There were hills close to Santa Rosa on the east so it wasn’t possible to depart left crosswind. We headed straight out, built up altitude before turning east. Along the way we spotted Vacaville and Davis and it was dusk by the time we neared KSAC. The landing was after sunset. The home stretch was largely uneventful in the dark, with the flashing red lights on windmills guiding our way back home.
Three learnings today:
situational awareness – know where you are at any point in time through dead reckoning.
Pre-flight – pay attention to terrain and winds aloft. There were hills close by and to the east of Santa Rosa. My plan to fly due east wouldn’t have been possible without adequate altitude to clear the terrain.
Dont trust the traffic pattern published in the AF/D. Santa Rosa was published as right traffic for Rwy 14. Tower instructs the traffic pattern.
The winds were a light 6kts from 250. Steve mentioned that 123 airplanes landed at the airport for the Super Bowl. Five Rivers Aviation expected about 80. The aircraft turned around quickly so they didn’t have to close 25L as was previously expected.
Srinath flew a few patterns around the airport and on a couple of them we followed twin aircraft. Then Srinath was asked to fly his first solo – at a towered airport (KLVK). By now the winds have shifted to 230@7kts.
I’m exercising my solo privileges today. For the first time, I drove to the Livermore airport and flew 906MD entirely by myself and parked it back in the northwest tiedowns.
Weather was perfect; calm winds and very good visibility. I started off with right closed traffic clearance for 25R. Soon I was asked to extend downwind and then switched to 25L. Even though I landed fine on 25L, I was uncomfortable making left traffic. I requested traffic control to switch me back to 25R and while they initially asked me to make one more touch and go on 25L before switching me, they soon put me on 25R.
After 5 touch and go, I called it quits. The landings were all pretty good today!
It was a busy day today. Super Bowl is scheduled to be played in Santa Clara in 4 days and people are starting to fly into town. The weather isn’t great with the sun going down and rain about to come in. Srinath flew with Steve today and they stayed in the traffic pattern – left traffic on Rwy 7L. Today while in the traffic pattern, they negotiated two jets, a King Air, an RV, a Mooney and other aircraft. Once the downwind was extended all the way to Dublin before the tower called left base turn.
Srinath was on the left seat today and he started with a soft field takeoff and left downwind departure. At Tracy, winds were from 310@7kts where he did a soft field landing. The sink hole just past the threshold of rwy 30 is to be respected. There is usually an appreciable downdraft as the plane passes over the sink hole so anticipate it and increase the power a little bit. As you clear the sink hole and approach the threshold, ease back on the power and the word I keep hearing Steve repeat is “patience…patience” to wait for the runway to approach the aircraft. In other words, descend slowly for a gentle touchdown.
Next we headed for New Jerusalem by making a left 270 over the runway and passing over mid-field. The runways at both Tracy and New J were slick and wet from rains and that calls for extra caution while using brakes. We landed twice at New J, the second landing took up quite a bit of runway so we turned around. And since the winds were low (estimated 8-10kts), Steve asked Srinath to take off on rwy 12 so he can see how the tailwind leads to a significantly longer ground roll before takeoff.
Next, we headed to Byron against stiff headwinds from 310@15kts. We heard a Piper (58K from our club) on the radio practicing patterns and a glider coming in to land at the airport as well. This was a great practice session anticipating where the traffic would be as we executed a straight-in approached for rwy 30. Steve had a little fun on the radio with Mike (CFI on 58K) when he recognized the voice. Srinath and I both had questions for Steve as we were trying to figure out the spatial locations where the three aircrafts would be as we approached further. Since 58K was on final and we were coming up on 5 miles, we anticipated that we’ll land before 58K comes around for its next pattern. What we didn’t factor into the equation was the fact that we were going against a stiff headwind in a low power setting for landing and 58K would be gunning its engines for takeoff, followed by a stiff tailwind towards us on the downwind leg. Our ground speed was only 40kts and then 35kts as we got lower and closer.
Mike couldn’t spot us so we announced that we were a quarter mile shy of the second canal. What Steve meant was the second canal seen from our approach the runway i.e. the closer one to the airport. Mike understood that we were on the second canal from the airport i.e. the farther one from the airport. So he announced that he was turning base in front of us. We were all taken by surprise when he announced that and saw 58K turn directly towards us. Steve immediately took evasive action by banking left and as soon as we turned, Mike was able to see us and apologized for the mixup. We let Mike land and in the meantime we did a left 360 and lined up to land on rwy 30.
Srinath capped off the training with a few touch-and-go’s at Livermore performing short approach landings.
Today wind was 240@9kts at Livermore.We departed right downwind towards Byron where the wind was 210@6kts and clear skies.Apparently I was still on Livermore tower frequency (00:21:12 in the video) when I announced on the radio that we were inbound for Rwy 23. We did a short field landing (02:09:00) at Byron followed by a maximum performance takeoff (02:35:00). Next we proceeded to Tracy (winds 260@10) and did a soft field landing on Rwy 26 (05:32:22) followed by a regular takeoff.
We next headed to New Jerusalem which is only 7 miles away and aimed for Rwy 30. Winds were from 260 (no ATIS or AWOS in New J so we go by the Tracy weather) so it was a crosswind (06:39:00) for Rwy 30. We only employed 20 degrees of flaps and that caused us not to sufficiently slow down and remain low for landing. As we approached the runway, the airspeed got very low to 50kts and Steve pushed the throttle for a go-around at the last minute (07:32:19) as the stall horn started going off. I was apparently not watching the airspeed at all, being more intent on getting the plane low enough (through a slip) for the landing (10:02:04). That was a close call. On reflection, the thought did cross my mind that perhaps I should go around given I was so high. I should have gone around as soon as the thought crossed my mind. We did two more successful attempts before heading back to Livermore.
Over the Altamont pass just before I was going to call Livermore tower, I saw an aircraft coming straight at us. I simply pointed it out to Steve (11:32:24) who immediately banked us sharply to the left and we noticed the other aircraft pass us (slightly below). It seemed like it would have been a head-on approach and that got me quite shaken up. I should have gotten us out of trouble the moment I saw the aircraft. In reviewing the radio communications just prior, there were two aircrafts that had departed Livermore. 53MM was ahead of 7E(something) and 7E(something) confirmed to the tower that the Cherokee traffic ahead of it was in sight (11:02:11). Tower then approved 7E(something) for a frequency chance and then radio’ed 53MM that traffic was behind to its left at 2500′ and had 53MM in sight. 53MM’s frequency change was next approved. So both those aircraft were heading towards us and no longer talking to Livermore Tower. We were tuned into the Livermore Tower frequency but the three of us were neither talking to each other, nor talking to the Tower. We were in a see and avoid territory and while I saw what was most likely 53MM, I was slow to avoid. Maybe I had a premonition about this event because I asked Steve a question at the start of our flight (00:02:18 in the video) about how we deal with oncoming traffic that uses the same general path.
Back at Livermore, Steve sent me off to fly my solo in a pattern around a towered airport. I did 3 touch and go’s and on all three attempts I was #2 behind another aircraft. I had to extend my downwind leg, watch for the aircraft ahead of me before turning base.
Steve asks, “What would you do if the door opens in flight”? First off, the wind will push the door back towards the frame. It will be a distraction but the right action is to focus on flying the plane and land it as soon as possible to secure the door once again.
We started with soft field takeoff. On the turn to crosswind, we noticed that the clouds were very low. The ceiling was barely enough for pattern work so we stayed right around 1000′ MSL for the entire pattern. But the second time around the pattern it was already a little bit better. We then focused on soft field landing, precision landing and a high performance takeoff to clear a 50′ obstacle.
Steve offered a glimpse into what he likes about flying – that it is different each time making it interesting and challenging. The winds change in direction and intensity, sometimes with no notice. The winds referenced in ATIS wouldn’t match reality and that injects an element of surprise. Then there are birds, especially around Livermore and especially when a weather front was approaching. They seem to materialize out of nowhere and throw in an element of surprise at exactly those instants when one wishes to be 100% focused on lining up in the pattern. Then there is traffic, which suddenly seems to become hectic and quietens down as quickly as it surged. Controllers would suddenly change sequence, or extend a pattern, or re-route to a different runway with an opposite pattern, or speed up a turn throwing a wrench on one’s plans for the landing.
And today we encountered a new surprise – unexpected clouds at low altitude. Patterns around the airport are not routine.
Cloudy day today, winds from 050@6 and the ceiling was 2000′ but still good for pattern work. Srinath practiced soft field takeoff and landing, precision landing and no flap landing.
Crab Tales 