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1/12/08 Losing a Friend - My former flight instructor Thom, who was one of my best friends for seven years, was killed in a plane crash on December 30th. Maybe someday I will write more elsewhere, but for now I thought this journal can't be complete without describing an event that will forever affect me. I found out about the accident on January 4th, less than 24 hours before the first memorial gathering was to be held in California. Somehow I made it all the way from Wisconsin to California in time, thanks to the help of pilot friends. The gathering was at the house of the friends Thom intended to visit the day he crashed. Everyone shared stories about their favorite memories of Thom, and we heard firsthand accounts of the events leading to the crash. I will never forget how it started pouring rain as I hiked to the crash site, or what the quarter-mile trail of debris looked like. There are still some unanswered questions but the NTSB accident report is available here. Less than a week later I drove to Duluth, which was incredibly eerie since every time I had ever been there before, Thom was always there with me. I spoke in front of hundreds of people at the memorial service held at the Cirrus factory. It became obvious that Thom affected many people's lives and was well-liked for his great personality. He was my number-one mentor and I will miss him.
1/23/08 It's C---o-o-o--l-dOut There - Business has been slow this month because we've been having an unusually bad winter with lots of snow and very cold temperatures. Today it was about 8°F out and ordinarily I wouldn't be desperate enough to fly when it's that cold. But given the lack of chances to fly lately, both my student and I put on our long johns and ski pants to endure the preflight, and went flying. We flew 2.2 hours doing a round-robin trip with stops in Manitowoc and Green Bay. In Manitowoc, we watched a student pilot struggle to start his airplane and we noticed ours wasn't eager to start, either, even though it was only sitting for 15 minutes. The great thing about the icy cold air and overcast sky was that it was incredibly smooth out, which made the effort worthwhile.
The Beech 18 isn't going anywhere anytime soon!
1/25/08 Ninth Multiengine Lesson - Today I switched to flying with a different multiengine instructor, Mike, who can sign me off for my checkride. (I've been mainly flying with the examiner, and the other instructor I flew with left for the airlines.) I reviewed engine-out work, steep turns, slow flight, approach & departure stalls, the emergency descent, and the Vmc demo. I ended the lesson with a localizer back-course approach.
1/27/08 Tenth Multiengine Lesson - I flew with Mike again today for one last stage check type of flight. Out of the two hours I flew today, most was simulated instrument time with five instrument approaches. I did a GPS approach to Shawano, the VOR and LOC-BC approaches to Green Bay, and two ILS approaches at Appleton. Of course there were plenty of simulated engine failures at all kinds of inopportune times. Mike also simulated the yoke being locked and had me guide the Seminole all the way to a flare to landing starting several miles away from the airport, using only the throttles and elevator trim for control. That was an excellent lesson on how asymmetrical thrust not only yaws the airplane, but causes it to roll and descend as well. Once I learned to fine-tune the throttles and trim, I was able to make a giant U-turn while descending and lining up with runway 18. I had it set up so well that had the control failure been real, I could have landed the plane, but Mike let me have all my controls back just before touching down. It reminded me of what the crew of United 232 had to do. After this crazy workout, Mike signed me off to take my commercial multiengine checkride. His endorsement is one more step along my path to the rating. I feel ready to pass the checkride and am looking forward to it.
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