Surgery on the Trinidad

Last year on the birthday, Mrs. IFR Pilot bestowed a long-sought iPad 2 on the IFR Pilot.  It's been used for a few flights, but the lack of a proper mount has meant resting it on the lap, glareshield, or the co-pilot's seat when that was unoccupied.  Time to rectify that.

Using a Christmas gift card and prowling the depths of Amazon.com, the IFR Pilot located this little gem:

That's an Arkon IPM2-FSM 18.5-Inch Flexible Floor Mount for iPad 2.  Price?  A whopping $34.99.  Note that the actual pad holder that was supplied looks a little bit different than what was pictured, but remains completely workable.

Here's what it looks like installed, using an existing bolt in the co-pilot's seat rail:

Close up:

Here's how it was secured to the aircraft:

A preliminary check shows that full reward deflection of the elevators and leftward deflection of the ailerons is still possible without any interference.  The arm is flexible, so it can be promptly repositioned in-flight if necessary.  Also, the iPad holder can be detached from the arm in the event that the front seat area becomes too crowded.

You can also see in the cigarette lighter a dual 12volt charger that was also secured from Amazon.com, which can be used for simultaneous charging of the iPhone and iPad.  Haven't checked yet to see if that will trip a breaker, so that needs to be done before any in-flight usage.

All told, with free Super Saver shipping, the cost for bringing 2TB's cockpit into the iDevice age was $50.42.  Can't hardly beat that!

We've Got Momentum

A peek at the logbook reveals: 

• January 2011:  .8 hours for the month
• January 2012:  2.4 hours by January 7!

The first week of January has seen unusually warm temperatures to Northeast Ohio.  As a result, 2TB has been pulled from her hangar twice already for flying adventures.

On Friday, SL and I took our first flight together.  He's one of two prospective partners in the aircraft, and so we did a demo flight.  I flew for a bit, he flew for a bit.  Flying an unfamiliar airplane from the right seat by a non-CFI probably isn't the easiest of tasks, but SL did just fine, particularly so on the ILS 19 at CAK with winds that were something like 15G20.  There are certain to be some adventures together in the near future.  Stay tuned.

On Saturday, Momma Nature continued her benevolent ways and so the IFR Pilot dragged nephew JK for his first ride in a light aircraft.  The plan was for a quick flight to PHD for some chicken wings.  The winds made it a choppy experience, but I think he still enjoyed every second of it.  The only hiccup was that Perfect Landing restaurant is no more.  Apparently, it closed some time ago and was converted to a pizza parlor.  Apparently, there was some controversy about it all.  However, no one had reported the closure AirNav.com, so it was quite a surprise when we arrived -- because the restaurant doesn't open until 4:00, and we were ready for lunch at 1:00.

Fortunately, the owner was there, invited us in, and offered to make us the pizza of our choosing.  Turned out, it was quite good.  Thin crust, and made with a yellow cheese (later disclosed to be Colby Longhorn) instead of the more traditional mozzarella.  JK and I each polished off a 10" pie.  With one drink, the total tab was a reasonable $20.  And the owner didn't want to take our tip!  It gets the IFR Pilot's official rating of two thumbs up!  Check it out for yourself!!!

Looking Back and Going Forward

Looking Back

Unfortunately, 2011 was another valley in the peaks and valleys of the IFR Pilot's aviation career.  Here's a look at the cold, hard numbers and other matters of interest:

• Total flights:  18
• 17 in N62TB
• 1 in N2447E, a G-1000 equipped Cessna 182T during a trip to Phoenix/Sedona.
• Total flight hours:  32.0
• 30.2 in TB20; 1.8 in C-182T.
• 29.3 daytime; 2.7 night
• 1.5 actual instrument; 3.2 simulated instrument
• 23.0 hours cross-country
• 31 day landings, 11 night landings
• 12 approaches
• New airports visited:  3 (KDVT, Phoenix, AZ; KAOO, Altoona, PA; KPKB, Parkersburg, WV)
• Longest leg:  3.9 hours from KWST to the Home Base
• 1 Angel Flight (boo, hiss, unacceptable give-back)

Here's the long-term picture of how 2011 stacks up against prior years:

There was a brief glimmer of hope that one more decent flight in 2011 would reverse the 4 year decline, but Momma Nature slammed the door on that idea with some crummy weather during the last week of December.

Going Forward

Here are a variety of things that ideally will be accomplished in 2012, in no particular order:

• Sell 2TB, or better yet, find one or two partners to share the costs.  (Active discussions occurring as we speak.  Keep yer fingers crossed.)
• Obtain single-engine commercial pilot certificate.
• Obtain sea-plane rating.
• Write more for the blog.
• Get an nFlight Cam and post more videos to the blog.
• Attend the Socata.org Fly-In in Florida in April (if 2TB doesn't sell).
• Find another outlet for publishing law-related aviation articles.
• Fly five Angel Flights.
• Master flying GPS approaches with the Garmin GNS480, both with and without the autopilot.
• Fly at least once with a local TV personality.

States Visited: An Update

Rifling through the virtual pages of the blog led the IFR Pilot to realize that the "States Visited" page hadn't been updated since the acquisition of 2TB.  So, after combing through the various routes listed in the logbook, here's the updated map:

Still Around

This weekend saw N62TB used both days.  First time in some time the IFR Pilot has flown on both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday involved a few takeoffs and landings, showing N62TB to a prospective partner.  Inbound to KMFD, the ATIS had the following notice:  "Caution, the firing range next to the airport is active."  That was just a wee bit disturbing to hear!

Sunday involved a quick trip to Dayton for lunch with a relative attending UD.  A lovely day to fly in Northeast Ohio, with visibility stretching to the horizon and relatively calm winds.  Only a matter of time before the Lake Effect Snow Machine kicks into high gear and the aviating gets shut down.

Stay tuned for more adventures!

An Update

N62TB still remains in the family, so might as well fly it. SM and I did a little instrument currency flight last night: ILS 23 @ CAK twice, followed by the LOC 25 at AKR. All went well, and it was a lot easier pushing 2TB back into the hangar with the tires properly inflated!

Here's a nifty map of all the places the IFR Pilot has logged a takeoff or landing via light aircraft:

Page 46

An interesting article on leasebacks...

A Home Movie and a Flashback

Mentioned in prior entries before is a wonderful aviation read, Flight of Passage, by Rinker Buck. It chronicles the 1966 flight of two young boys piloting a PA-11 Cub, N4971H, from New Jersey to California and back.

The book was written by one of the two participants, Rinker Buck, who is currently a staff writer for the Hartford Courant. A few years ago he won an award from AOPA for his aviation writing, in particular a series of articles dealing with the JFK crash. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.)

Rinker wasn't a licensed pilot at the time, as he was too young. So most of the actual flying was done by his older brother, Kernahan. To this day, Kern Buck is an active CFI.

A random internet search today turned up this video -- obviously from a home movie camera -- of Kern Buck's first solo in 1964. According to the book, Kern actually soloed four different airplanes that day. Quite a feat for any budding aviator. If you enjoy the book as much as I do (the abridged CD, read by Rinker himself, is even more fantastic), then perhaps you'll enjoy this video as well!

After the flight was over, Kern and Rinker were guests on To Tell The Truth. See for yourself:

Take a peek at the book through Google Books. Listen to Rinker share some more about his trip and general aviation at Episode #25 of The Pilotcast (February 2006).

Still Kicking

The IFR Pilot and 2TB are alive and well. Only 34.3 hours of flying in 2010, and if the current weather patterns in Northeast Ohio hold true, there may not be any more flying this year. Hard to justify the economics of sole-aircraft ownership for that few number of hours. Early resolution for 2011: Find someone to link up with, or consider "scaling back" to something that flies behind an IO-360.

Meanwhile, The Dad came through with an early Christmas present: A Spot Satellite Messenger with GPS. Look for implementation of that on this website soon! Wish we had one of those when we made the Alaska trip in '05.

Oh, and with the most recent flight, the logbook hit 700.0 total hours!!!

Garmin 480 Instruction?

Any recommendations for a CFII, preferably located in the Great Lakes or Mid-Atlantic, who can offer instruction on the intricacies of the Garmin 480 (nee CNX-80) GPS? A recent event-filled flight suggested that a day or two of intensive instruction with someone who knows this box in and out would be well worth the investment. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Video of Put In Bay Water Landing

Earlier today, there was an apparent water landing in the vicinity of the Miller Ferry Dock in Put-In-Bay on South Bass Island. The Miller Ferry helped rescue the passengers, all of whom survived. Kudos to the pilot!

Watch this amazing video of the ferry and its crew coming to the rescue. Note also that the airplane sunk in less than the 2 minutes that this video lasts.

Procedure Turn?

Why, yes, there is proof that we executed the PT at DALTS. See for yourself!


Here's even more proof:

Back to the Skies

Today was the first flight I've taken since Mark passed away. It was a bittersweet moment, to be sure. He loved 2TB, thought it was the ideal platform for the missions that we had defined for ourselves. It will not be the same not having him sitting in the seat next to me, chiding me for not leaning the way he did, not navigating the way he did, and generally for not being him! :-)

However, I had to take to the skies because I needed 3 instrument approaches to remain current. So, I enlisted a brave CFI, DC, and we blasted off into skies that were reported SCT to OVC between 1300 to 1500. Perfect - low enough to do the approaches in actual, but reasonably high enough that we'd be able to return to the Home Base, which is VFR only.

I filed a flight plan just in case. Always strange to have departure and landing points be the same, and you've really got to finagle the AOPA Flight Planner to let you file something like that. I ended up using just a local intersection as an intermediate waypoint and put into the remarks section, "Requesting multiple instrument approaches."

Takeoff was a non-issue, and we remained VFR while contacting Akron Approach. We got the approaches we asked for: ILS 1 @ CAK, LOC 25 @ AKR, and GPS 2 @ 3G3.

When it was all said and done, about 1.5 hours later, I had 1.2 hours of actual, .2 hours of simulated instrument, and a great deal more confidence. While I used the autopilot for a lot of the vectoring and maneuvering, I hand flew the actual approaches, keeping things mostly within PTS.

The only hiccups were that I had a bit of trouble getting the Garmin 480 to understand that after AKR, I wanted to proceed direct DALTS and then turn inbound to execute the approach. Apparently, a bit more time with the GNS 480 manual and quick reference book are in order. The other hiccup was a 100 foot altitude excursion that I'm blame entirely on the autopilot. I put it into ALT mode at 2600', but it descended to 2500' and held that.

All in all, a good workout and confidence builder. Sorry, no pictures -- too busy flying!

From the Archives

In November 2009, MS and the IFR Pilot flew N62TB from her old domicile on the island of Friday Harbor, Washington, to her new home: The Home Base.

The insurance company required that we get checked out. So, while MS flew with the CFI, the IFR Pilot got the chance to shoot some video. In 7 years of flying together, this is the only video that I've located that actually shows MS at the controls.

He made a fine approach and the landing, although it appears rough, was pretty good when you consider it was his first time landing 2TB.

Enjoy. Godspeed, MS.

Night Flying

Summoned by the lure of a calm atmosphere and good weather, the IFR Pilot and MS decided to work out the kinks on the autopilots while flying a couple of ILS's at KCAK. After which, they headed back for night quals at The Home Base.

Fly By Night from IFR Pilot on Vimeo.

That is all.

Spring Abounds

MS and the IFR Pilot are in Tallahassee for about 18 hours. Weather was crummy leaving the Home Base, had to stay VFR below the scud for about 30 minutes. Then, we climbed above it, and just south of the mountains, it was CAVU.

MS spotted a lovely dam in the mountains:


Here we are landing at KAHN, Athens, Georgia:

There, we saw a lovely Avanti on the tarmac, just waiting for us to fly it. Alas, we didn't get a chance to do so. Perhaps someday?



They had an AWESOME objet d'art hanging from the room of the FBO at Athens. Witnesseth:


Finally, at TLH, we were joined by some Jet-A burners from the Navy:

What A Difference A Few Days Makes

Today's TAF tells a much different story from the fog seen earlier this week:

KCLE 021551Z 20009KT 10SM FEW120 BKN250 26/07 A3002 RMK AO2 SLP160 T02610072

Unfortunately, after spending the last 1.5 days on the couch, doing battle with some sort of flu-like bug, the IFR Pilot is strapped into the left seat in his office, pushing around papers.

The good news: MS and the IFR Pilot are off on a journey to Florida next Friday. Good times abound for the approximately-36-hour trip we're planning.

Foggy!

What a difference a few miles makes:

KBKL 301753Z 28005KT 3/4SM BR OVC001 03/02 A3004 RMK AO2 SLP177 T00280017 10033 20017 58012

KCLE 301751Z 33007KT 10SM SCT021 09/02 A3006 RMK AO2 SLP184 8/100 T00890017 10089 20033 58005

Still Around

Yes, the IFR Pilot does still exist. There simply hasn't been much flying lately, due to the crummy state of the weather in the Great Lakes. Even last night, after blue skies all afternoon, arrival at the Home Base was greeted with the contemporaneous arrival of a low-hanging post-rain scud that made even pattern work a no-go. *sigh* We'll try again tonight.

In the meantime, here's what arrived in today's "West Headnote of the Day":

48B Aviation

48BIII Airmen

48Bk122 k. Certificate or license in general.

It was not abuse of discretion for the Federal Aviation Agency to reject individual application for exemptions from the Agency's "Age 60 Rule" even if applicant demonstrated that he personally was a Superman immune from impairments that age normally inflicts.

Starr v. Fed. Aviation Admin., 589 F.2d 307 (7th Cir. 1978)

First Repair Job

On firing up the GNS 480 the other day in preparation for a morning breakfast run, an error message popped up. The internal battery needs replacement. Apparently, this happens about once every blue moon (Section 6.4 of the installation manual says the battery lasts "about 10 years"). And even though the prior owner had just sent the unit in for a software upgrade, no one bothered to check the battery while they were poking around inside the unit.

So, the IFR Pilot dropped the unit off today at the Avionics Shop at Constant Aviation, located at "The Big Airport" here in town. One hour of labor and $50 for a battery (plus shipping and tax). Should be returned tomorrow, just in time for a lunch run on Saturday.

As luck would have it, the internal battery on the Garmin 396 ALSO needs replacement. Sheesh! This one, we might tackle ourselves.

Oh, the joys of aircraft ownership!

Speaking of Garmin 396, we have an extra one for sale. E-mail me (address in the upper right corner of the blog) if you are interested. Asking price is $950. Includes all cables, mount, case, and user guide. Some signs of wear and tear, but otherwise completely functional.