Tag Archives: solo

$100 Hamburger

Aviation, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A few of us at work decided a couple of weeks ago to plan a fly-in to Sacramento Executive airport (KSAC) and have lunch at the Aviator’s Restaurant in the airport terminal. Earlier in the week, some of us met to discuss routing and other considerations for the fly-in. I was the only student in the mix and the rest were planning to arrive from Tracy, Reid-Hillview, Palo Alto and San Carlos. This would qualify for cross-country time in the logbook since KSAC was 51nm from KLVK.

My route would take me over the east end of Los Vaqueros reservoir, then directly to the Sacramento VOR and turning right to the airport nearby. On the way at Walnut Grove are three tall guyed radio towers which are each over 2000′ tall and one of the tallest structures in the world. Just for comparison, the World Trade Center towers were only 1368′ and the Eiffel Tower is 1063′ tall.

I met my CFI at the airport terminal at 8:30am to get a cross-country endorsement in the logbook. Previously I had briefed via Foreflight on my iPad for the weather and NOTAMS. It was going to get windy in the central valley starting around 11am but the winds were forecast to die down late in the afternoon at KSAC. The winds might still be right around my crosswind maximum of 10kts at KLVK so I discussed with my CFI that I will not takeoff until late in the afternoon and keep an option open to divert to KCCR Concord Buchanan airport.

To beat the winds I took off early and was airborne at 10:15am. Livermore tower now can initiate flight following and I had a squawk code dialed in before takeoff. Runway 34 is closed until Feb 15 and the winds were 320@7 favoring runway 30 and I was parked next to the terminal at 11:04. It took longer than the estimated 36 minutes for two reasons – the headwinds were stiffer than the forecast 335@17 at 5500′ cruising altitude and I forgot to lean the mixture for maximum engine performance.

Food and ambiance were quite good at the restaurant – I ordered a “$10 Pasta”. The seating area overlooks the taxiway and runway 02/20. We had a 13 people show up in 6 planes – one was a Lake and the rest were Cessna 172.

As we were lunching, the winds began howling outside from 320@17-28. Around 3pm the first plane (C172) from our group took off and we could see the wings rocking side to side as the pilot maintained runway course against the stiff crosswind. The rest of us hung out for another 30 minutes and slowly dispersed. I remained at the terminal checking the weather at Concord, Tracy and Livermore. Tracy was another option because the winds were generally lined up with runway 30.

Around 5pm I texted my CFI about my intentions to fly to Concord since the winds were from 360 and runway 01 would have been fine. Livermore had started to look better and he asked me to monitor that as well. I finished pre-flight, fueled up and called up ASOS one more time at both Concord and Livermore. When I took off from KSAC winds were 310@21-27.

KLVK 110053Z 01008KT 10SM CLR 19/M08 A2991 RMK AO2 SLP126 T01891078

The crosswind at Livermore was within my limits so I headed direct with the option to divert to Concord if needed. Climb out of Sacramento was bumpy but once I reached 4500′ cruise altitude, it was smooth air with a healthy tailwind. My airspeed was around 105 and at one point my ground speed was 138kts! En route, I saw the sun set in the west and in 25 minutes I was over Las Vaqueros reservoir. As I began my descent the winds picked up once again over the Livermore hills and tower first reported winds 340@8-21 and then 320@5-21 when I was on short final. The cross winds were quite stiff requiring full left rudder and right aileron to stay aligned with the runway on a forward slip. The landing was challenging but I was able to stick the landing. I was glad to be back safely on the ground, parked at 6:09pm, just within the 30-minute window after sunset at 5:41pm that my CFI had set as the limit.

In retrospect if I had had to divert from Livermore to Concord, it would have been a night solo for which I wasn’t endorsed. Departing 30 minutes earlier from Sacramento or heading only for Concord would have been safer options.

First solo cross-country

Aviation, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I flew my first solo cross country to Merced (KMCE) and back. After left downwind departure and shortly after Livermore tower approved a frequency change, my first order of business was to establish contact with Norcal and request flight following. Per frequencies published, I tried 123.85 but no response. My instructor had mentioned that this frequency doesn’t work and to try 125.1 instead. But when Srinath flew last year, he had established contact with 123.85. Not only was there no response but there was no chatter on this frequency contrary to what I had expected from Norcal. Next I tuned into Oakland Center at 126.85 but again no chatter and neither was there a response to my request. I waited a while, was already climbing over the hills at 4000′ and was anxious to get in touch with Norcal. So I tuned back to Livermore tower and got the frequency as 125.1. Successfully established contact with Norcal on that frequency and got a squawk code for flight following. Why the charts do not list 125.1 is a mystery to me.

 

 

The course was to fly heading 84 (after wind correction at altitude) out of Livermore. That would have me skirting along the south end of restricted area R-2531 all the way to where I-5 meets I-580. At that point I turn to heading 121 to Gustine (3O1). I was doing 100kts airspeed with 128kts ground speed with a healthy tailwind at 5500′. My estimate was 110kts with an airspeed with 100 kts.

Along the way, I would pass Crows Landing airport when I cross radial 191 from Modesto VOR 114.6. Gustine is then along radial 328 from Panoche VOR 112.6.

After passing Gustine with the airport directly below me, I turned to a heading of 69 that would have put me straight into Merced. About 8 miles from the airport, I spotted the airport in the distance and set myself to enter on the 45 degrees for left downwind into runway 30. Winds were from 320@11kts, it was already warm at 27c and density altitude was 1600′ at the airport whose elevation was only 155′ MSL. It turned out that the airport I spotted was Castle (KMER) which is just a few miles to the north of Merced. I was growing suspicious because I didn’t see any traffic or aircraft at the airport and was beginning to wonder if it was even an airport at which point I realized it was not my destination.

Glancing at the GPS, I found Merced off to my right at which point I cross referenced with my notes that Merced was to the west of Hwy 99 whereas the airport I initially saw was on the east side of Hwy 99. The runway at Merced is 5914′ x 150′ which is plenty for a C172. The airport has a tower but it is no longer operational. I pulled into the transient parking area and reset my notes and instruments for the return trip.
Confusion at KMCE

On the way back from Merced, Norcal transferred me to 123.85. Not sure how the frequency is working now when I had trouble connecting on the way out of LVK. There was some aerobatic activity over Tracy about which the controller alerted me and requested I stay above 4200′. It was getting quite hot and turbulent over the Altamont pass. The controller at LVK was clearly overloaded with the traffic. He ignored my first call and asked me to stay outside Class D airspace on my second call before clearing me for landing on 25L. Another aircraft was asked to stay on downwind and it reported approaching Altamont when the controller turned them base!

The course I had planned had a 144nm (72nm distance each way). The actual course I flew was 164nm (85nm + 79nm).

Solo x-country KLVK-KMCE-KLVK

Solo stalls

Aviation, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today I set out to practice solo stalls for the first time. I had 737GM reserved and it was mostly a smooth ride as I flew over Byron airport at 2500′ heading to the practice area. At 3000′ I started practicing slow flight and making shallow turns at slow flight. But first, by making clearing turns.

After slow flight, in the landing configuration I tried a stall first and then dropped the nose before the stall was achieved. Tried it again and this time the stall was achieved with quick recovery. Very quickly I decided that was enough and proceed for a couple of touch and go’s at Tracy airport before heading back to Livermore. By the time I returned, winds had shifted and I landed on 7L as tower switched the traffic around to make up for a northeasterly wind.

Local patterns

Aviation, , , , , , ,

Srinath and I both flew patterns today at Livermore, one after the other. N906MD continues to have starting trouble.

The traffic controller lost situational awareness on more than one occasion – when I was taxiing off 25L back for takeoff and again when there were a few planes in the air. On the latter situation, he sent one of the planes on downwind and never called his base turn until the pilot radioed and said he had gone almost to Brushy Peak. He then asked for my position and turned me base in front of the other plane.

When Srinath took off, he was cleared for 25R but for a left pattern on 25L. The radio communication snippet will be helpful because it was confusing to me the first time I heard it.

During my pattern, I asked to be switched to 25R when I was cleared for left pattern on 25L. The controller accommodated me and that too is a helpful radio communication snippet.

Solo in the Tri-Valley

Aviation, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Starting up 737GM was a bit of a bear but chose to fly it this morning because 906MD’s carburetor was being re-worked due to starting problems. Tower cleared me for takeoff on 7L. Winds 130@5kts but quite variable.

Flight to Byron was quite straightforward and it was a good smooth landing. On the flight from Byron to Tracy, I had still been tuned to the Byron radio and I was wondering why Tracy traffic wasn’t announcing on the radio. I was still hearing Byron traffic. While in the pattern at Tracy, I saw an aircraft taking off and one waiting to take off and I had not heard either of them speak on the radio. It was only when I was nearing base turn in the Tracy pattern that I realized my mistake. Landing at Tracy was also good. I next proceeded to New Jerusalem where it was a bouncy touch and go. The flight back to Livermore was uneventful.

apr-16-track-log

 

Patterns in 737GM

Aviation, , , , , ,

The weather continues to be unusual. It is the middle of April and it rained overnight into early morning. Winds are expected to start howling in the afternoon. I woke up at 6am to notice calm conditions so I was eager to fly this morning. 906MD’s starter had finally gotten so bad that it was nearly impossible to start it up. Also, COM2 hasn’t been working for a while so the plane has been grounded for maintenance. Fortunately 737GM was available but since it has been almost two weeks since I last flew, I texted Steve to see if he will join me for a couple of patterns around the airport before I fly solo to Byron, Tracy and back. He was available and we decided to meet at 8:30am. On the way to the airport, I checked AWOS to note that there was a 7kts wind from 240 at Livermore, 9kts from 220 at Byron and 11 its at Tracy from 260.

737GM wasn’t easy to start either. It took a number of primes and then a number of throttle primes. We pushed the throttle fully in and kept pumping it while the engine continued to sputter. It gradually picked up RPM and was finally able to idle around 700rpm.

We did 4 patterns around Livermore before Steve declared that he had had enough and decided to get dropped off at the northwest tiedowns while I kept the engine running and continued on a solo. Two things I noticed are (1) that the throttle lever is significantly shorter compared to the one on 906MD and (2) that the throttle lever slips out very easily when the friction lock is not engaged. A couple of times I took my hand off the throttle to adjust trim and the engine rpm dropped as indicated by a change in the hum. Steve and I both lunged for the throttle at the same time to push it back in.

I got a clearance for right downwind on 25R and as I flew towards Brushy Peak, it got significantly bumpier. Clearly the winds were stronger the higher I flew. I chickened out and asked Tower to bring me back in for 25R. I appreciated that the Tower thought there might be a problem and asked if I need any assistance. It continued to be windy and bumpy but not terribly problematic so I did 4 touch and go’s back at Livermore before calling it quits.

First solo to another airport

Aviation, , , , , , ,

Today was my first solo flight taking off and flying outside of Livermore. I went to Byron, then Tracy and back.

As I requested frequency change approaching brushy peak, tower alerted me to traffic in the opposite direction which I never was able to locate. After touching down at Byron, I taxied off to reset for the leg to Tracy. On the way back to Livermore as I approached Altamont, tower first alerted me to a traffic 1mi south for straight in to 25R and asked me to report for a 2mi  right base implying I had to turn right towards brushy peak. Then tower changed the instructions to make a right 360 and then straight in for 25R.

March 24 solo track log

Radio trouble

Aviation, , , , , , , ,

Srinath flew his first full solo at Livermore today running patterns to practice takeoffs and landings. We used two GoPro cameras today for the very first time, one mounted in the usual spot at the back of the aircraft looking forwards and the other one on the copilot’s window facing the PIC. They both had audio inputs from the radio.

It was a busy day and Srinath was asked to follow other aircraft, extend the crosswind and once even asked to come to a full stop to sequence other departing aircrafts. The solo was uneventful except for a brief period (9:07) on the downwind leg.

I had driven to the hangar to see Srinath fly the pattern. The club’s other plane 733BE had just gone through a 50-hour maintenance and our test pilot conferred with Steve on the maintenance items before he took it out for two touch and go patterns. He was in the pattern behind Srinath. On the ground, Steve and I were watching Srinath.

Tower communicated with Srinath that he was #2 behind a Pitt. No response. Tower tried twice more and still no response from Srinath. I was tuned into LiveATC listening to the ATC and mentioned to Steve that I was worried Srinath didn’t respond to the calls. Within a minute, I heard Srinath check his mic and soon he told tower that he might have a radio problem.

He called it quits after that pattern to my relief. Was there a problem with the headset? We squawk’ed that there might be a problem with the radio. Our club’s maintenance team looked into it and didn’t find any problems. The audio feed into GoPro caught the radio communications just fine. We have not encountered any issues with the headset since. Did Srinath simply get distracted for a while and missed the calls?

Traffic…Go Around

Aviation, , , , ,

Srinath flew solo around the Livermore traffic pattern. Just as he turned downwind on one of the patterns, tower cleared him as #2 for 25L and Srinath confirmed he was scanning for traffic (3BE) that was on a 3 mile final. But it was clear he never saw the traffic. He was on base when he asked if he was #1 for 25L and tower reminded him he was #2 behind the traffic which was now on a short final. It turned out that Srinath turned too soon so there wasn’t enough separation with the traffic ahead that had just landed and hadn’t yet turned off the runway. Tower asked Srinath to go around, after which he did a couple more patterns before calling it a day.