VFR To Astoria

In a previous job, I had to travel a lot. Once, I was stuck in Denver as United tried to find a crew to fly our plane. I thought to myself that even I could run an airline better than United. It turns out I can't.

The plan was to fly to Astoria with two of my friends from Borland. It was the first VFR weekend day in Vancouver in two or three weeks. The weather was forcasted to turn ugly the following day and the rest of the week, so basically, this was going to be our only chance to fly.

I get a call about an hour before I'm supposed to get the airplane. Apparently, the previous renter drained the battery trying to start the plane. Thankfully, the mechanic was willing to come in and charge the battery back up. When I arrived at the airport, the mechanic was charging the battery in the shop. The flight desk told me that I should still have the plane on-time. That's when they realized that the previous renter, who took off in another plane, had the key. That's right, the key to our plane, was flying somewhere over Oregon or Washington. Just a note to fellow renters: It's really annoying to not be able to fly because the previous pilot didn't return the key. Please return the key to the plane when you're done.

After an hour wait, the pilot with our key finally returned it to the flight school (without an apology, by the way). Fortunately, we had enough daylight to make the trip. The trip itself went fine. The only scary part was when, on the return leg of the trip, I listened to weather at Pearson (our home airport). I thought the report said that the clouds were at 1000 feet, which is minimal ceiling for VFR flight. I started thinking about alternative landing spots. My co-pilot, who is a student pilot, must have seen the gears cranking in my head when he said he heard the clouds at One-Zero Thousand (10,0000 ft.) Turns out he was correct.

Here are some pictures taken from the trip:

This is Pearson Field as we depart. The yellow and black checkered roof is the Pearson Air Museum. To the right of the museum is Fort Vancouver.











The occupants of the spacious 172 showing off their best side.













I think this is when we were in the pattern in Astoria.













On final on Runway 8 at Astoria. And, no, I did not photoshop this picture. I really was on glideslope!











We found this plane parked on the tarmac at Astoria. It looked like the engines were in working order. (Meaning there was fresh oil on the ground beneath them.) I'll have to look up to see what kind of plane it is. Whatever it is, it looks like a lot of fun to fly.

Go - No Go

Today was supposed to be my first flight with passengers in a Cessna 172. However, the weather in the pacific NW isn't really conducive to flying light aircraft. A wind storm is supposed to move in later this evening. Right now, the METAR for Pearson looks rather benign:

METAR KVUO 121653Z AUTO 18007KT 150V210 10SM OVC060 09/03 A3006 RMK
AO2 SLP180 T00940028

The clouds aren't really an issue to doing a local flight, with them at 6000 ft. The winds also look doable at 7 knots from the south. However, right across the river at PDX, the weather looks like:

METAR KPDX 121655Z 18014KT 10SM SCT060 BKN080 OVC250 09/03 A3007
RMK AO2 SLP181 T00940033

Winds there are at 14 knots. Since they are coming from due south, these would be almost a direct crosswind at Pearson. The 172 maximum crosswind component is 15 knots. My personal maximum crosswind component is 10 knots. After all, this will be only the third time I've flown a 172.

If you go a little further south to McMinnville, the winds get stronger:

METAR KMMV 121653Z AUTO 17012G21KT 10SM CLR 09/04 A3007 RMK AO2
SLP182 T00890039

At least it is clear down there, but look at the winds...gusts of 21 knots! The forecast is for the winds to remain at around 13kts from the south. The winds aloft at 3000 feet are from the southwest at 34 knots.

Even if I were to do a local flight, we'd be getting bounced around in a 34 knot wind, all the while I'd be worrying if the winds were going to pick up at Pearson. So, I think it's a No Go for this flight. Maybe next week.

Checkride

Originally, this post was going to be about my check ride. But it quickly morphed into a check ride study guide. I'll probably edit and expand upon this later. Also, I'll be happy to incorporate any tips, tricks, and advice other pilots have about the private pilot check ride.

I finally got the opportunity to take my check ride a couple weeks ago. I spent all my free time the week leading up to the flight studying. Studying for the written exam is completely different from studying for the oral exam. Compared to the oral exam, the written exam is easy. I was able to learn most of the answers by rote memorization. However, it seems that the purpose of the oral exam is to make sure you really have an understanding of the topics.

About a month before the flight, I went through a mock check ride with the chief flight instructor. That was really useful. It exposed my strong and (many more) weak areas of knowledge. After the mock exam, I felt that I should spend most of my time studying for the oral portion of the exam. My flight maneuvers were fine and I felt comfortable that I had them down.

One of the areas that I was weakest in was the physiological aspects of flying. There are a few questions on the written about the topic. The oral exam goes into much more detail. You need to know about the different types and effects of hypoxia. Know the difference between hypoxia and hyperventilation. Finally, memorize when crew and passengers are required to use oxygen. (12,500 - 14,000 and > 30 minutes, crew must use O2, 14,000 + crew must use, 15,000+ O2 must be offered to passengers). Know the inner ear and know how altitude can affect it.

In terms of the mechanical and performance aspects of flying, my advice is: Know thy POH. (Pilot's Operating Handbook). A couple days for the exam, my flight instructor had me read aloud several portions of the handbook. A number of important facts got stuck in my head as a result of this exercise. For example: How much electricity does the alternator provide? How much electricity does the battery provide? How do the brakes work? What are the indications of brake failure and what do you do if the you suspect brake failure? How is fuel delivered to the engine? How does the carburetor work? How does carburetor ice form?

In terms of aerodynamics, know the effect of forward and rearward CG have on the plane. Know this backwards and forwards. Know what the horizontal component of lift is. (a.k.a. how a plane turns). Be able to explain, in detail, under what conditions a spin can occur and why the plane spins. And then be able to explain how to recover from a spin. I knew the recovery procedures, but I couldn't explain the aerodynamics of it.

I thought I knew a lot about all of these subjects. I could remember reading about them in ground school and hearing the instructor talk about them. But, when I tried to explain these concepts out loud, I realized there were some gaping holes in my understanding. My advice is to review the your ground school textbook and POH . After your review, explain the concepts out loud. Even if you end up talking to yourself, you'll discover what your level of understanding is.