Chapter 22 The Next 300

Reflections at a milestone.

It is said that the private pilot's license is merely a license to learn. It is assumed that the fledgling aviator learned from the Instructor enough to keep him (or her) alive until experience and judgement could come. This goes along with the saying that one starts out with a full bag of luck and an empty bag of experience. One can only hope that the bag of experience is full before the bag of luck runs out.

Aviation insurance statistics bear this out. Most non commercial accidents and incidents happen to pilots with less than 300 hours. This then is the milestone. At this time, late July 2003, I have 299.9 hours in my logbook.

The statistical data


I received my license to learn on May 9, 2001. Two years and 3 months ago. Of that time, almost 6 months were lost while the engine of the Mouse was being rebuilt. In spite of that, I have logged 198.3 hours during that time. What sets my record apart from that of most newly minted private pilots are the 55 new airports I have been to and the 136.9 hours of cross country time. We have been as far west as Carlsbad, NM, as far east as Nashville, TN, as far north as Branson, MO and as far south as Karnes City, TX. We have been in 8 states and flown over a part of one more.

Many fledglings never venture too far from the nest, sometimes never going further than they can go and return on one tank of gas. Many others slowly, slowly, slowly go further and further, sometimes taking several years before they go further than they can get home before dark. Others launch out bravely and the first time they scare themselves, they never fly again.

Also, many new pilots do not have a significant other that supports their "hobby", let alone one who is eager to travel with them. Within my 300 hours, the Redhead has been in the plane 120 hours, most of them in the 200 hours since I got the license.

With the intent of traveling on our newfound wings, I made the most of my solo cross country training flights. Our first flights were carefully plotted and logged. But we soon discovered that our combined senses of direction and map reading ability, coupled with a boost from VORs, got us where we were wanting to be. There is no greater joy in navigation than taking a course by eyeball from 25 miles out and identifying the destination airport a few minutes later, directly over the nose. Or flying on top with only occasional glimpses of a featureless landscape and having the few recognizable landmarks appear in the right place.
So the biggest fear keeping new pilots from travelling was no big deal to us.

The learning process


Learning the art of flying as opposed to the simple mechanics was a different story. The mechanics consist of making good landings, controlling altitude and direction of flight, etc. The art lies in making the flight as comfortable for you and your passengers as possible. This includes handling turbulence with skill and grace but so automatically that the passengers are not aware of the effort. Making pattern entry to the destination airport so smooth that they instinctively know that you planned it that way from a long way out. And whatever you do, never say "oh sh*t!"

When you travel consistently with the same person, it is far better if the two people aid and complement each other. Our cooperation on the navigation has slowly grown to include the other aspects. Although she never has, I would bet that Sandra could perform an unaided pre-flight and know what and why of the items checked. She knows how to tune the radios and navs and the basics of the audio panel. She can set squawk codes and listen with me for our tail number when we are using ATC.

So learning the art of flying has been an experience for both of us. We have learned the limits of visibility and the impact of it on navigation. We have learned that avoiding clouds and weather is more important than sticking to the line drawn on the sectional, that going around is better than trying to go under. We have learned that going around is better than attempting to salvage a bad approach. We have learned that landing quality is directly related to recent experience. We have learned that flying in turbulence is very tiring. Flying towards the sun is easier than driving towards it because you do not have the glare from the highway in front of you. Visibility away from the sun is better on hazy days.

We have also learned that the view of the country from 2000' or more above the ground continues to be breathtaking. When seen from the side or above, the puffy white clouds are beautiful. The contours of the land as you slip from prairie to hill country are much more obvious and impressive from above. The gullies leading to washes leading to a creek across a pasture can be seen in their entirety from above.

The white line on a lake that is the wake of a boat shows us again how limited that form of recreation is. The cars on the interstate slipping back below the wing remind us again how much more we can see and do with our chosen hobby. The friendly, helpful people at every FBO remind us again that "plane" people are a different breed. Every FBO has clean restrooms, no matter the size or age of the building. We can leave our magic carpet tied down at any airport overnight and not worry about it being stolen or damaged.

We remain, if anything, more enthused about our choice to fly. The only regret is that we will have so little time. I can only count on a reasonable chance of holding my medical for 10 more years. In that time, I must somehow squeeze in 30 years of flying.

Angel Flight #6


My goal was for 8 Angel Flights this year. All the plans for June-July sort of knocked those two months out. I also have some guidelines for the missions that I will volunteer for. No more than 2 passengers or 350 lbs. total weight. Generally less than 250 miles. No flight that would require me to do the preflight before dawn.
Explaining that, suppose that patient X needs to leave from Addison for an 11:00AM appointment in San Antonio. This would mean getting him to SAT or SSF before 10:00. This would mean our leaving ADS before 7:30. Which would mean taking off from T31 by 6:45 which would mean preflight at 6:00. I would have to get up at 4:30 to get coffee, shower and dress, get weather briefing and file flight plans. Let the people with faster planes do those. It is a 2.5 hour flight for the Mouse. A Mooney or Bonanza can do it in 1:40.

So far this year, I have done 3 flights and had 2 cancelled for weather. Flights meeting my criteria are scarce and the hot weather makes long flights miserable, both from comfort and airplane performance.

Back to Brady


Finally, the couple I took from Sherman to Brady in April need a ride to Dallas. They have a 3:00PM appointment on Aug 13. I apply and the flight is mine subject to weather. There is a low east of here that is bringing afternoon and evening showers that is expected to hover through that time. Arriving in Dallas around 1-1:30 should get the Mouse back to the barn before the afternoon rain arrives.

All is set, I get my briefing at 8, file flight plans and head for the airplane patch. Preflight, pull out and close up the hangar. I am off the ground at 9:15. I will have a slight tailwind to Brady as I follow the same route I used in April from Denton on. Over the Mineral Wells VOR and outbound to Brownwood. The haze is moderate and I can't identify Proctor Reservoir until I am even with it 10 miles off my left wing. Over Brownwood, I switch to the right tank and the movement reminds me I need to go potty. The morning coffee is catching up with me.
It is 45 miles from Brownwood to Brady. And my schedule doesn't have enough slack to land at Brownwood. On I fly. The urge gets worse. The air gets rougher as the day is heating up. The road to Brady slowly comes under me from the left and over Mercury, I begin a powered descent.

In great discomfort, I enter the pattern for 35 on a left crosswind and make the landing. I take the taxiway and speed over to the fuel pumps waving at Nelda and Warren as I go by. Shut down, bail out and stagger to the bathroom. Sweet relief! I go back out and supervise the fueling. Then over to the passengers and help them carry the bags back to the plane. After paying for the gas, we are ready for departure.

Direct to Love


"Whatever you do, don't let 'em see you sweat." That is the mantra of all Angel Flight pilots. We must project an aura of confidence for passengers who have little experience in small airplanes and may have other, more serious, worries on their minds. With this in mind, "I, the pylut", should always react as if whatever happens, it is normal and routine.

We taxi out to 35 and take off. All is normal and I turn on course directly from the runway heading. Continuing my climb, I call up Flight Service and open my flight plan. No problem. Next, call up DFW approach and request flight following. The frequency shown for Approach/Departure gets me Houston approach. Obviously, at this point (80 miles due west of Waco), they cannot see me. The helpful soul on the Houston end gives me another frequency to try and it does get Fort Worth Regional Approach. When I request Flight following, they cannot find my flight plan.

Oh, well, refile in the air. This means giving them a whole bunch of data that they should already have. By the time this is done, we are almost to cruising altitude and I am seeing the Glen Rose VOR. No chance of getting lost from here! From Glen Rose, I can find Love Field with only the Mark 1, Mod 0 eyeball. (Of course, DFW center will help some).

The next thing I notice is that there are clouds ahead starting just below our altitude on about a line from Hamilton to Commanche. And there is quite a bit of instability in the air. The Mouse rides bumps very well, but there are occasional twists to nearly 20 degrees of bank. And altitude is a series of ups and downs. Then Center advises all pilots that there is currently a local thundershower over Love Field. Actually a line has popped up from Denton to Dallas Executive. It is stationary and expected to dissipate within 30 minutes.
We are paddling upstream against a 15 knot headwind, so that should be no problem. We'll be at least an hour getting there. We dodge among the cloud bottoms a bit and finally I request a lower altitude.

"Angel Flight Four Lima Bravo, altitude at your discretion. Maintain VFR."
"Ah, Center, Four Lima Bravo will try 46, 4700."

We are at (about) 5500' which is the normal eastbound VFR altitude. 5000 is the IFR eastbound and 4500 is VFR westbound. I don't want to get run over nor meet anyone head-on. This keeps us under the clouds for a while, but we eventually go down to 4200.

The VOR finally swings wildly and I can see Commanche Peak Nuclear power plant 10 miles ahead. On we go, over the town of Glen Rose, between Pecan Plantation and Cleburne. Center advises us to descend and maintain 2500 right where I expected it. Switching to DFW Approach, I request 31 Left as the passengers are being picked up at Jet Aviation on the southwest side of Love.

I am amazed at the number of airports on the south side of the Metroplex. We have already passed between Pecan Plantation and Cleburne. We now pass Fort Worth Spinks and between Arlington and Grand Prairie as we turn east. Handed off to Dallas approach, I am told to expect 31 Right. I again request 31 Left and am told that will be the case. We now pass just south of the old NAS Dallas headed directly for Dallas Executive (used to be Redbird). We are now turned northeast and can see Love dead ahead. There is a lot of mist in the air from the showers that have recently dissipated, But when I acknowledge "Love Field in sight", I am turned over to Love tower and cleared for landing on 31 Left.

A Lear is sitting at the hold line, and I advise the tower that he should be able to go now as I am still 3 miles out. Tower clears him and he is turning out as we turn final with the buildings of downtown Dallas just off the right wingtip.

As usual, given a non pattern entry, I am a little high. The landing is not bad and we make the C1 turn off. Switching to ground, we are told to stand by. Jet Aviation is between C and C1, or back behind us. After several minutes, Ground comes back and tells us to taxi to Jet Av. We taxi in and are guided to parking. The lineboy asks if we are the med. flight they are expecting. After affirming that, he waves over to the office and the passengers' son drives his Jaguar through the gate and up to the plane to load up baggage.

Handshakes and hugs and they are gone. There are puddles on the ramp from the recent showers. There are still showers immediately to the north, and I am exhausted. This has been similar to the flight from Snyder to Carlsbad last spring. Not enough turbulence to make you consider giving back your breakfast, but enough to keep the pilot busy. The space between my shoulder blades aches from being tense for so long.

I go inside and use the facilities. Then outside and enjoy a peaceful pipe. Back inside and check the weather. There is still an area of rain with some thunderstorms mostly along I35, beginning at Denton and stretching northwest. Back out to the bird and check the fuel. There is 25 gallons in the right side and some in the left. Climb in, fire up and get my departure clearance. Taxi out and I am cleared for takeoff as soon as I contact the tower. Take off, turn to 340 and contact Departure. I am routed directly across Addison and out to the northeast.

Over the turnpike (190), I am told to squawk VFR and resume my own navigation. I have to ease back to the west to get room for the 180 into the downwind for 35 at Aero Country. As I begin the bank, I run into rain. It ends as I level out for the pattern entry. Land, put the bird in the hangar and wipe it down. Then back to home.

Miscellaneous


Since the Kickapoo trip, it has just been too hot to fly anywhere. When the temperature hasn't been over 100, there have been enough afternoon thunderstorms to keep you from planning a trip. The inactivity finally gets the better of me and I tell the Redhead on Tuesday night (8/26) that unless it is pouring rain, I am going flying on Wednesday AM. The weather is forecast for mid-upper 90s with possible afternoon thunderstorms. Mornings have been cloudy recently, but clearing after 10, so I have a possible window. Go as soon as that window opens and before it gets really hot.

I leave for the home drome at 10AM. I stop at Dave's for some conversation and to see if any of the hangar rats want to go for a ride. No takers, so I go get the bird ready for a solo flight. The fuel check shows 20+ useable in the right tank and <10 on the right. I had landed at Love on the right and flown from Love home on the right, so the switch was on the right. OK, The amount in the right will last a little over one hour, and the left will then have about 15 gallons in it.

Take off and head towards Gainesville. McKinney is reporting 2400 density altitude and 30C for a temperature. I never get above 3000' on the way to Gainesville. It is extremely bumpy and the winds are gusty. I do some turns and general fooling around and enter the pattern in front of a King Air. He makes a much bigger pattern than I do, so it is no problem getting me down first. I see him on a 3 mile base just as I turn final. I am clearing the runway as he reports 1 mile final.

I taxi to the pumps and shut down. He taxis across behind me and radios for the Jet A truck. I fill both tanks almost full as I am by myself and performance should not be a problem with a 5000' runway. I go inside the FBO, get a Coca Cola and watch from the patio as they fuel the King Air.

After the King Air leaves and I have finished my Coke, I go out and saddle up. I fly east to Whitesboro and turn southeast over the great empty area we use for practice. Over my Daughter's place, I see no vehicles so they are gone somewhere. I rig for slow flight and fly along at 70 doing slow easy turns. Then I return to normal configuration and do steep turns.

It is too hot and bumpy for lower ground reference maneuvers, so I just head for home. As I am doing my pre-landing checks, I discover that I have left the switch on the right tank. Oops! I have probably vented some fuel overboard. First time I have made this mistake.

After landing and putting the Bird in the hangar, I check the tanks. I had left Gainesville with 25 gallons in each, so there was some "head space" in the left tank. There is just under 15 gallons in the right and the left oozes gas as I loosen the cap. I have flown about .8 hours and still have about 43 gallons, so I probably didn't lose much.