ADF Navigation

ADF (A.K.A Auto Direction Finder) is a simple concept and has a simple operation.  It consist of the radio signals in low to medium frequency band of the spectrum.  Usually 190 - 1750 Khz.  It has a HUGE advantage over VOR's.  This is the reception.  It has a signal that follows the curvature of the earth, and is not limited like VOR's to just a few hundred miles at best.  

The distance depends on the amount of power that is supplied to the beacon.  It can receive on both AM radio station and NDB commercial AM radio stations that broadcast on 540 - 1620 Khz.  Non-Directional Beacon operates in the frequency of 190 - 535 Khz.

COMPONENTS

ADF Receiver : You can tune the station desired, and select the mode of operation. The signal is received, amplified, and converted to audible voice or Morse code and powers the bearing indicator.



Control Box (Digital Readout Type) : Most newer aircraft have this in the cockpit . The frequency tuned is displayed as digital readout. ADF automatically determines the bearing to the selected station and displays it on the RMI.

Antenna : The ADF needs two antennas. The two antennas are called the LOOP antenna and the SENSE antenna. The ADF receives signals on both the loop and the sense antennas. The loop antenna consist of several coils spaced at various angles. The loop antenna sense the direction of the station by the strength of the signal on each coil, but cannot however determine whether the bearing is TO or FROM the station. The sense antenna provides this latter information.

Bearing Indicator : displays the bearing to station relative to the nose of the aircraft. Relative Bearing is the angle formed by the line drawn through the center line of the aircraft and a line drawn from the aircraft to the radio station. Magnetic Bearing is the angle formed by a line drawn from aircraft to the radio station and a line drawn from the aircraft to magnetic north (Bearing to station). Magnetic Bearing = Magnetic Heading + Relative Bearing.



TYPE OF ADF INDICATOR
Four types of ADF indicators are in use today. In every case, the needle points to the navigation beacon.Those four types are:

Fixed Compass Card : It is fixed to the face of instrument and cannot rotate. 0 degree is always straight up as the nose of aircraft.


The relationship of the aircraft to the station is refered to as " bearing to the station " MB or aircraft to magnetic north. This type of indicator, pilot must calculate for the bearing by formula: MB = RB + MH


Rotatable Compass Card : The dial face of the instrument can be rotated by a knob. By rotating the card such that the Magnetic Heading (MH) of the aircraft is adjusted to be under the pointer at the top of the card.


The bearing to station (MB) can be read directly from the compass card without calculation and makes it easy for the pilot. Today, they have designed automatic rotating compass cards to agree with the magnetic heading (MH) of the aircraft . Thus MB to station can be read at any time without manually rotating the compass card on the ADF face.


Single-Needle Radio Magnetic Indicator : Radio Magnetic Indicator is an instrument that combines radio and magnetic information to provide continuous heading, bearing, and radial information.


The face of the single needle RMI is similar to that of the rotatable card ADF.


Dual-Needle Radio Magnetic Indicator : The dual needle RMI is similar to single needle RMI except that it has a second needle. The first needle indicates just like a single needle. In the picture , the yellow needle is a single which indicate the Magnetic Bearing to the NDB station . The second needle is the green needle in the picture. (Still looks yellow, but pointing roughly 014 degree)

The second needle (green) is point to VOR station .The dual needle indicator is useful in locating the location of an aircraft.

OPERATION

ADF operates in the low and medium frequency bands. NDB frequency and identification information may be obtained from aeronautical charts and Airport Facility Directory. The ADF has automatic direction seeking qualities which result in the bearing indicator always pointing to the station to which it is tuned. The easiest and perhaps the most common method of using ADF , is to "home" to the station . Since the ADF pointer always points to the station , the pilot can simply head the airplane so that the pointer is on the 0 (zero) degree or nose position when using a fixed card ADF . The station will be directly ahead of the airplane. Since there is almost always some wind at altitude and you will be allowing for drif, meaning that your heading will be different from your track. Off track , if the aircraft is left of track, the head of the needle will point right of the nose. If the aircraft is right of track, the head of the needle will point left of the nose.

For fixed compass cards, you must use the formular MB = MH + RB to find out what degree the ADF pointer should be on. Today , the fixed card indicators is very unsatisfactory for every day use , but can still be found on aircraft panels. 

For rotatable compass cards, it has huge advantages over the fixed card indicators. The pilot can rotate the compass card with the heading knob to display the aircraft MH "straight up" . Then the ADF needle will directly indicate the magnetic bearing to the NDB station.

For Single needle Radio Magnetic Indicator , the compass card is a directional gyro and it rotates automatically as the aircraft turns and provide continuous heading information. It accurately indicates the magnetic heading and the magnetic bearing to the beacon.

For dual needle Radio Magnetic Indicator, this gives the pilot the same information as the single needle indicator; such as aircraft heading and magnetic bearing to the NDB . The seacond indicator will point to a VOR station . This helps the pilot to check the location of the aircraft at that time.

Hood Work / Unusual Attitudes / Class C Airport Operations

Saturday was the day to complete more requirements.  I arrived at the airport at 3:45 and the weather was beautiful.  No clouds in the sky.  The wind was a little strong but not more than i or the plane could handle.  I walked into Pentastar and met mike there.  We went into the conference room to start and discuss what we were going to do.  We would start out with some pattern work at Burbank, and then finish with some hood work, unusual attitudes, and VOR work.  This is all easy enough.  He briefed me on Class C operations and had me get Clearance Delivery freq just in case they made us land instead of staying in the pattern. 

We had 29 Gallons of fuel.  Enough for some practice, and reserve.  Since we would be burning roughly 9 gallons per hour.  I did my preflight inspection and run up and we were soon off for a right crosswind departure.  I already had the burbank tower freq in my standby when we departed.  So it was a quick switch over to them.  "Burbank tower, skyhawk 889er lima brave, just out of van nuys, request pattern if able".  They cleared me for the option, left base, runway 33.  So it was roughly 90 degree to the left of us.  So we turned towards the runway.  We came in a little high, and had one hell of a cross wind, wing down, and opposite rudder.  We touched down hard, but mike immediately said "Good Landing, Perfect". As he raised the flaps and i put in full power, we took back off and he mentioned again that it was a good landing.  He said yes, it was hard, but the wind was strong, and that is what is needed, to get it on the ground, and keep it there.

"889er lima bravo, make right base runway 26".  So they are having us doing a figure 8.  This is sort of cool.  So we get cleared for the option for 26.  Upon taking off you can not really go cross wind, as there is a MOUNTAIN right in front of you.  So you need to go a climbing turn while turning towards the threshold of runway 33.  This is a difficult airport at first, because we could not do a normal pattern, where you go downwind parallel the runway, and reduce power at the threshold.  So it takes some thinking and steady control, to judge the distance above the ground and to the runway.  You sort of have to "wing" it.  But it turned out perfect.  Mike even commented on how the pattern was thrown in the trash, but i was still able to fly it correctly and safely.  I also did a decent job on judging the distances.

We land and it was more of a headwind then a cross wind on runway 26, so we touched down really slow.  But it was a nice stead slope and we touched down nice and slow.  Awesome landing.  Mike raises the flaps, and i apply full power, and we take back off.  Once in the air tower tells us to make left base runway 33.  So we get to pattern altitude, and we are cleared for the option.  So we come in and do another cross wind landing, this one was very similar to the last one.  We touched on upwind side first, then downwind side, then nose wheel.  Mike is pretty confident now.  It was a little sorter than the last, but crosswind landings are hard to get down soft.  Since the plane is sort of falling on to the other wheel.  Mike raises the flaps, and i apply full power, and we take off.  Again we get cleared for the option, right base runway 26.

While getting over there, mike said he was happy with the pattern and my operations in the airspace.  He told me after landing to request a straight out departure, and we would go over to the practice area.  We come in for a touch and go on runway 26, and we do another really good landing.  Landings are a second nature now.  I have done them so many times, it's all natural now.  Im amazed at how far i have come in a short amount of time.  Upon takeoff i request a straight out departure, and as expected they handed me off to SoCal Departure.  So we take up flight following and start to our 4500' altitude.  Mike then tells me as we are climbing to put on the hood.



So i say Your controls, he confirms, and then i repeat.  I release the controls and grab the hood and put in on, and get it situated.  I then take the controls, and continue the climb up to altitude.  At 4400' i start to level off to slow our ascent and then level off at 4500'.  The whole time i was doing the instrument scan.  Trying to keep us on the exact same heading, and stay on altitude.  There was a stiff wind out so it was a little difficult to keep us on the same heading, but i was able to do it, by flying slightly into the wind, and using the ground track magenta diamond as the reference in the G1000 glass cockpit.  It seemed like it took us an hour to get out to the practice area, not being able to see anything outside, and just flying by reference to instruments.  Once we got out there, Mike then briefed me on unusual attitudes.  He mainly emphasized one point.  ROLL THE WINGS LEVEL, before pulling out of a dive, or pushing out of a nose high climb.  Easy enough.

Mike then tells me to close my eyes and tell him when i think we go into a left or right hand turn.  It takes a second, but i can sense a left turn.  So i say left turn.  Then he says, tell him when i think we are climbing, or descending.  Again it takes a second, but i then say, climbing turn.  He says wow.  Your good.  Then he says tell him when i think we are level.  I can feel the plane come down and level out.  I told him level.  He said WOW.  Ok.  He then says what do you feel.  I feel a dip to the left, and what seems like a descent, i say left descent, and he tells me to open my eyes.  I do, and i see us left wing down, but right rudder to keep us level.  He talks about it for a second, and asks if i read all this, which i have, so i told him yes.  He was just making sure, and showing me how easy it is to get confused by relying on senses in IMC, or IFR conditions.

He then tells me to close my eyes again.  I do, and i feel a roller coaster.  Up,  Down,  Left,  Speed up, Speed Down, Skid, Slip, then i hear, "Your Controls".  I look and we are in a dive, with wings fairly level but not completely.  So i quickly level the wings, pull back power, and pull up to get us into a level attitude.  Then i add power to re-establish level flight.  Then he asks for the controls back.  I give him controls and close my eyes.  Again.  A roller coaster.  For about 45 Seconds.  Then i hear again "Your Controls".  I look, and we are 30-45 degree turn up in the air.  So level the wings, add power, and pitch down to level flight.  Pull back power, once established, and we are back to level flight.  Again, i give mike the controls, and once again roller coaster.  After about 30 seconds, i hear again "Your Controls".  I look, and we are at a 30-40 degree turn pitched down, and gaining speed really quick.  I pull back power, as i level the wings.  Then pull up not too quick, but quickly so that we can bleed off the airspeed that has built up.  Again back to level flight.   Mike was happy with that.  So now he asked me to tune FIM vor.  He took my sectional that get me the correct frequency.

I put it the frequency, and he asked to track some inbound and outbound radials.  He wanted to make sure for inbound radials i used the reciprocal of the current radial we were on, and wanted to make sure i could get onto the course and track it with little to no deviation.  Then he wanted me to intercept a bunch of radials, and then he was happy with my flying.  The whole time i keep us right on altitude.  By making standard rate turns.  That is what made it easy to not over-bank, and to stay at a constant nice easy bank.  It was well within PTS limits.  I was pretty happy with the whole time.  During the VOR we had a discussion of outbound and inbound radials, as that is what my previous post VOR NAVIGATION is all about.

We start to go back to Van Nuys.  But mike does not give me headings.  He wants to see me get back still under the hood.  I put in KVNY as direct to on the g1000, and boom.  I have a line to follow.  So i follow the line, and close to the airport mike tells me to take the hood off.  I do so, and come back to a HECTIC pattern at Van Nuys.  We got told to keep straight at best possible speed, until told by ATC.  This was because there was a bunch of traffic, and he were vectored out of the way for some jets.  I'm perfectly fine with that.  But soon we are getting right to the edge of Burbanks airspace, but i still cant turn as im not sure if the traffic is next to me, and we can not get a radio call in.  Within 10 seconds we are in Burbanks airspace.  By then Mike chimes in quickly "Tower, uhhh niner lima bravo is IN BURBANKS AIRSPACE".  The controller comes back and says "Ohh yea niner lima bravo, reverse course, and cleared to land 34 left.".  I guess he forgot about us.  Mike said we would talk about that when we got back to the airport.

We did a quick 180 as i wanted to get out of burbank and quickly.  We came in for a landing, and it was a SWEET landing.  There was a bit of a crosswind, so it made it a little bit more difficult, but fun at the same time.  I have done so many landings, that the crosswind landings, add a bit of SPICE to it.  We touched on the upwind wheel then the other, then the nose wheel, and turn off at the reverse high speed taxiway exit.  We taxied back to pentastar, and shut her down and put her to sleep for the night.  We went into the conference room at pentastar, and did out debriefing.

All in all it was an awesome fight.  Mike liked it.  Talked to me about the check-ride, and setting the date for it, and a few other things.  He said he thought it was ready, just need to "tighten the screws a bit to fine tune".  He likes how in front of the airplane i am.  I have steady graceful movements and i lead in when i am suppose to.  He also talked about what happened with the controller.  He said that if we would have went any further, maybe call Burbank and tell them we were vectored into their airspace, and we just wanted to let them know, or if we did get questioned, mention what happened with the controller.  He clearly told us to keep straight, and we did.  We could not get a word in edge wise.  We had really no option due to the controller not telling us where the traffic was, and don't want to turn and hit someone.  So we were sort of forced to break into burbank without clearance.  I guess sometimes stuff happens.  I can see how it would be easy to bust into airspace, if you are NOT using a g1000.  It would be hard to thread the needle between airspace.

VOR Navigation

We want to have a way while in the sky, to navigate and get to our location successfully.  At the same time we also need to know how to find out where we are, if we are lost.  There are many ways to do both of these.  But in this discussion we will be talking about VOR's.  Included with VOR's are sometimes DME, which will give additional information based on the VOR's.  

To start with, the first thing we need to understand about Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range Station is simple. When describing this radial or that radial, we need to remember that there are only FROM radials. Once we understand that, we start to understand VOR navigation more in depth.

VOR's allow you to fly TO them; by flying to the outbound radial on the other side of the station. The radial you are on while flying TO the station is still an outbound radial. This is where one needs to understand the reciprocal; or in other words the "opposite of". For example if you are on the 180° radial, you are on the 180° radial FROM the station, with no direction of flight implied. The reciprocal of 180° is 360° (+2/-2 rule). This is our heading TO the station.

The +2/-2 rule helps you to get the reciprocal of a radial easily, in MOST cases. It works like this. If you are on the 180° radial and want to turn to the reciprocal of 180°, you would add 2 to the first number and subtract 2 from the second number, and carry the third number down. So add 2 to the 1 from 180°, and this makes it 3. Then subtract 2 from the 8 in 180°, and this gives you 6. Carry down the 0 from 180°. So that would give you 360°. This DOESN'T ALWAYS WORK, but in most cases it will. If it doesn't, use common sense to find the answer. An example where it will not work is 010°. The reciprocal would be 290° using the +2/-2 rule. This is incorrect and it should be 190°. But if you use common sense and think 010° is close to 360°. The reciprocal of 360° is 180°. Add the additional 10° from the 010° to 180° and it gives you 190°. You can see how this will help you along your way.

So to reiterate, if you are on the 057° heading FROM the station, to fly TO the station you would again use the +2/-2 rule and you would fly the reciprocal of 057°, or 237° radial (The radial on the other side of 057°). Why do people have problems with VOR tracking and navigation? Because they do not get the concept that, there are NO TO RADIALS. They need to remember there are ONLY FROM RADIALS. The VOR has the radials that extend FROM the station. Once this is ingrained into your head, you will not have problems with navigation any longer.

A VOR tells you where you are and where your destination is. The OBI (Omni Bearing Indicator)gauge on your panel, has two parts: CDI & OBS. The Course Direction Indicator is the needle and the Omnibearing Selector is a knob for turning to the various headings as indicted at the top or bottom (depends on manufacturer) of the OBI. Let's assume our OBI shows the radial we are on at the top of the gauge and the reciprocal heading at the bottom. We only have to concern ourselves with the radial we are on (our position) for now.

If we are flying on a 270° heading, and we tune the FROM radial of a VOR, with a centered OBS needle and it shows 180°. We know we are on the 180° radial heading 270°. If DME is included, we now know our distance from the station. We know that 180° is south of the station, so we now know 360° TO the station. We turn to the right to 360° TO the station, still on the 180° radial FROM the station.

So we want to fly is on the R-270 45 DME.  So we know 270° is to the left since we are flying to the North.  As we get close to the station, the needle will become VERY sensitive to heading changes.  At this point we need to NOT CHASE THE NEEDLE, but fly a constant heading while in this "cone of confusion".  This sensitivity, stems from the passage over the station.  At this point we would shortly thereafter receive an OFF indication to signal we are over the station.

Before we can use an intercept procedure, we must decide which radial to intercept and whether we are going to intercept the radial inbound or outbound. If the radial is an airway, this must be determined from a chart.

1. tune the OBI to the station and audio identify
2. to intercept and fly outbound, rotate the OBS to set the radial under the course index;
   to fly inbound on the radial, turn the OBS to set the reciprocal of the radial under the course index.
3. confirm that TO/FROM indicator is consistent with intentions;
   i.e., if flying inbound, TO should read with reciprocal set in OBI.
   It should show FROM with the outbound radial set.
   Having confirmed the TO/FROM indicator is consistent with your intention, continue to Step 4. NOTE: The TO/FROM indicator does not show whether you are tracking TO or FROM the station; it only shows whether or not the course you have chosen will take you TO or FROM the station, IF INTERCEPTED AND IF FLOWN!
4. If the Course Deviation Indicator [CDI] is to the left, SUBTRACT an appropriate intercept angle (usually between 40° & 60°) from the course set under the index in the OBI dial.
   If the CDI needle is right, ADD an appropriate intercept angle to the course shown in the OBI. Refer to the Directional Gyro [D.G.] and turn left/right, which ever distance [angle] is shorter [less]. Remember, we are turning to intercept a radial we determined as being our inbound or outbound heading to our destination [Step 2].
5. When the CDI needle centers, the intercept is accomplished and the aircraft should be turned [heading] to the course set in OBI; i.e., the course selected to be flown.

NOTE: Often, when flying inbound to intercept a given radial, pilots reach the station before the intercept. This happens when an insufficient intercept angle is flown. To make sure the angle flown will intercept the station before arrival, use the following procedure:

• Rotate the OBS from the course being intercepted to the intercept heading [in the D.G.] being flown. If the CDI needle reverses, the intercept will occur before the station passage; if not, then station passage will occur first, UNLESS a larger intercept angle is used.

So now we would put in 270° in the OBS. We determined earlier this would be a turn to the left so immediately past the station, we would initiate a 15° bank toward the intended direction (left turn in this instance since we are turning from 360° to 270°). We turn to our intended heading plus an "intercept amount". We need this extra bit so that we re intercept the radial, and not just fly parallel to it outbound. We would turn to any angle in addition to the 270°.  Common practice, would be to turn 30° more or fly to a heading of 240° after the station passage.

With our OBI set at 270° and flying a heading of 240°, we would intercept the radial outbound within 10-15 miles. As the needle starts to come back to the center, adjust the heading closer to 270° to put us directly on the radial flying 270° FROM the station. It is now just a matter of reading the DME and adjusting our altitude to bring us to our destination. That's all there is to it: fly to the station and after passage turn to a heading that will allow interception of the outbound radial.

VOR's can also be used for time checks. This is a nifty trick that i was tough. It will let you know how long it will take to get to the VOR from where you currently are:

• While inbound to the station on the 022° radial, you would need to start with an easy number. So we would use the 030° radial to start our check. We would turn to a heading of 120°, which is at right angles to the 030° radial. The OBS is turned to 030° and as the needle centers, we note the time. Immediately we rotate the OBS to 040°, which is the next radial to be used in the time check. We countinue to fly the 120° heading and flies to the 040° radial. As we cross this radial and the needle centers, we note the time and finds that it has taken two minutes (60 seconds) to make the 10° radial change.

The formula for determining the time remaining to the station is:

(TIME IN SECONDS BETWEEN RADIAL CHANGE)/(DEGREES OF RADIAL CHANGE) equals TIME TO STATION IN MINUTES.

Therefore, by dividing 60 seconds by 10, we now know we have 6 minutes remaining to fly to the station. Although this problem can be worked out using any degree of radial change, l0° of radial change is the simplest and fastest to figure out in my opinion.

VOR's can also be used to find your location if you are lost.  This is another nifty trick with the VOR's that will locate you within minutes if you are lost.  

• Find 2 VOR's that are close to the last know location, or the general area you believe you are around.
• Tune in the first VOR and rotate the OBS until you get a FROM indication and a centered needle.
• Draw a line coming out of that VOR on the heading that the centered needle is on, on your sectional.
• Tune into the second VOR and rotate the OBS until you get a FROM indication and a centered needle.
• Draw a line coming out of that VOR on the heading that the centered needle is on, on your sectional.
• These 2 lines should intersect at some point.  This is the point where your airplane is located, or very close to.
• At this point you should look for landmarks, outside, and on the sectional.  Try to reestablish your position.  Once you know where you are, continue on course.

Long Cross Country Solo 154NM

This past weekend I did my Long XCountry Solo.  It was a wonderful experience, and shows me, that I can be pilot in command and navigate just about anywhere I want with little to no problem.  It shows me that on the fly I can come up with other plans of action, and be able to find information quickly and accurately. 

The morning of my flight, I was planned to go from KVNY, and fly to the FIM VOR, then to the RZS VOR.  This would bring me right by Santa Ynez.  Then I would fly off the RZS VOR and once at Santa Maria, would turn north and head to the Paso Roblos (KPRB) airport to land.  Then I would take back off, and go back to Santa Maria, and land for lunch.  Then I would take back off and fly back to RZS -> FIM -> KVNY.  Pretty simple and normal flight plan I had for the trip.

There was still some overcast/fog on the route, since it was near the coast.  KIZA was forecasting overcast until noon.  And my flight was at 10:30.  I needed to be back by 4 and my flight was planned to take 1 ½ hour each way with a lunch in there somewhere.  So leaving at noon was not going to cut it.

Upon talking with mike for my briefing, he had something completely different in mind, but it worked out for the best, because it allowed me to leave for the destination and miss the overcast marine layer completely.  He wanted me to go towards Bakersfield and then fly north, then track over west to KPRB, then go to KSMX, and then back to KVNY.  This would take me over the desert, which was clear now, and leave more time for the marine layer to dissipate while I was on my way to Paso Roblos.  He said to follow the 5 freeway to the grapevine to get over to Bakersfield, and told me I would need to be at 8,500 to clear the mountains there. 

I quickly got to work to get a new flight plan in order.  My new proposed route would take me from KVNY, to VPLMM (Magic Mountain).  Then I would follow the 5 freeway over to the Gorman VOR, then would track from the Gorman VOR to L17 (Taft-Kern Co), then to the AVE VOR, then I would track west to KPRB.  This route looks good and promising. 

I get all the calculations together and show it to mike.  He likes it.  He suggested I take this route there, and then use my other flight plan for the return route, just reserve it.  The new route was 154 NM and had landing at a controlled and uncontrolled airport.  It had 3 landings total, and with one of the legs greater than 50 miles as well.  This would definitely qualify as the long xcountry trip for the PPL requirements.

Shortly after I get handed the keys and start my preflight inspection.  Half way through, mike comes over, we talk for a few minutes, then he tells me to text him at each airport, and when I get back to KVNY, and to call him if I have any questions or issues.  He is now gone, and it’s just me, KVNY, and N889LB.  During the preflight, we only had 6 quarts of oil, and since this was going to be a long xcountry, I added a quart just to be on the safe side.  The plane looked good other than that.  I get in and get situated. 

I purchase a little GoPro type camera so I can film my landings.  Only problem is, I mounted it pointed to high up, so in the video you see the top of the propeller, and that’s it.  All of the video is like that too.  None of it is useful, and you never really see the ground in the video.  Even on the landings.  So I had to scrap the video, and use the pics that I took.  Next trip, I will definitely have it mounted correctly so you can see what I see.  Not just blue sky the entire time.

I get cleared for takeoff for a right downwind departure.  I get up in the air, and get on the downwind.  Mind you I need to stay below 2,500 until out of Burbank airspace.  Then I initiate a climb to get up to 8,500 before I get to the mountains.  It takes about 15 minutes to get up to 8,500’.  As I climb, I contact SoCal Approach and request flight following to KPRB.  Write down squawk frequencies, change altimeter, and many other things while im climbing.  The trim makes this easy.  Trim for 74 knot climb speed, and frequently glance at the airspeed, and vertical speed indicator, along with OUTSIDE.  ALWAYS LOOK OUTSIDE!!!  This will make it to where you can do other things you need to do, while still in a climb.

Almost to pyramid lake, I get a call from Bakersfield Approach, “Skyhawk 9er lima bravo, are you familiar with the TFR over Gorman currently?”  CRAP.  I forgot to call for a weather briefing on the new route before I left.  CRAP!  Now I feel like a moron.  I reply, “Uhhh, That’s a negative for 9er lima bravo, was not aware of the TFR”.  They give me the details and were nice enough to vector me around the TFR.  I look on the G1000 and sure enough, there is the TFR.  I almost screwed up.  GOOD THING I WAS ON FLIGHT FOLLOWING!  They not only give you traffic advisories, they saved me from getting a F16 off my wing.  I have to track a bit east to stay out of it, but no problem.  Once past I get told to resume own navigation.

So lesson learned there.  ALWAYS CALL FOR UPDATED ROUTE BRIEFING.  Also, Flight Following is a savior.  I love flying with flight following.  They have multiple times helped me out as a student pilot, with my cross country trips.  The also help to clear you through airspace you would normally need to avoid.  They give updated altimeter settings.  I think I will always use flight following when in route.

I fly to L17 in no time, using landmarks as references and marking my location on the map.  On my way I did a little test situation, where I was lost and did not know where I was.  So I used the AVE VOR along with the EHF VOR to find out where it was.  I tuned in each VOR, and then moved the OBS knob until I got a reading of from with a centered needle.  Then I would note the course and draw that on my map.  Then I did the same thing with the other VOR.  Within a minute, I can tell that I am roughly on the 196 degree outbound from EHF and the 116 degree outbound from AVE, or at the “TAFTO” intersection.  That would put me about 6 miles east of L17. 

While flying before I used the VOR’s to find my location, I leaned the engine to 100 degree ROP (Rich of Peak).  It took me 3 minutes to get it just right, as I have been reading TONS of articles on leaning the engine and engine ops in general.  I didn’t want to hurt the engine, so I feel 100 ROP is a good number to properly cool the engine, give it the needed power just in case, and prevent detonation.  I fly the G1000 NAV iii with EGT and CHT for each cylinder.  Although the manufacturer recommends 50 LOP (Lean of Peak), I feel uncomfortable going LOP as you lose a little power, and it just doesn’t have the “umph” it should.  I would rather run a little rich as well, just in case I descent and forget to set the mixture right away, I don’t want the engine to quit because of the lack of fuel to air ratio.  It cost a little more fuel, but you gain additional power, and airspeed from the richer mixture rather than LOP. Back to the flight.

I then get handed off to LA Center.  I switch over and make the radio call to check in, and wait with no reply.  I wait about 2 or 3 minutes, and then I make another call.  “LA Center, Skyhawk 889er lima bravo, with you, 8 thousand 5 hundred”.  Then I wait 2 or 3 minutes with no reply again.  I then switch back to Bakersfield to verify I have the correct frequency which they verify that I do.  I switch back over, and wait 2 or 3 minutes, then make another call.  Then I hear some faint, static.  I wait another minute, and I hear the crackle of someone saying “lima bravo, how are you hearing this transmission?”  I wait a second to make sure it’s for me and no one else, then reply “889er lima bravo, can hear you now, load and clear”.  Maybe I was in a bad reception spot, or maybe the radios were weird in that area.  But I guess they heard me, I just couldn’t hear them.  They advise me they have radar contact and give me the altimeter setting.  I continue to fly towards AVE VOR. 

Once at AVE, I already have the ASOS for KPRB loaded, and have the current conditions.  Runway 19 is in use.  I turn towards the airport, and start my descent.  I need to lose 6500’ and AVE is 30 miles away from KPRB.  So I start the descent once passing over KPRB.  But I start a shallow descent.  Since I am in no rush I loose altitude.  I set the RPM’s back to about 2200 and start a 300-400 FPM descent.  I descend for about 5-10 minutes.  This gets me to exactly pattern altitude of 1800’ by the time I ready to enter the pattern.  I have already been listening to CTAF and have made multiple calls by this time.  I enter on the 45 for left traffic runway 19.  There were multiple other people in the pattern, yet, I had no trouble getting into the pattern.  I announced my position on entry to 45, on downwind, base, and final.  The landing here was awesome.  Touched right before the 1000’ markers and got off at the 2^nd taxiway.  I flew in the ground effect for a little before touchdown, and I was a little flat on touchdown, but all in all I will take that as a good, nice, controlled landing.

I taxied back to the active runway 19.  Held short for landing traffic, then announce I’m taking position on the runway, and then depart the runway for a straight out departure.   I climb up to 5500’ as the trip over to KSMX was not that far.  It is only 47 miles from KPSB to KSMX.  I chose the altitude as there is a wilderness area that I need to stay 2000’ above and the altitude of that is 3000’.  I start to descent when L52 was directly off of my right wing, roughly 15 miles.  I needed to lose 4000’ so this seems correct.  I contact KSMX 10 miles out and announce I’m inbound for landing.  They tell me to advise them when abeam the tower, and to enter right traffic, runway 30. 

There was no one else at the airport.  They were quiet, and no aircraft in the pattern.  I entered on the 45 on the downwind leg.  Advised tower when I was abeam, and I was cleared to land runway 30.  I flew a normal pattern, yet the landing was a little wonky.  When I landed, it felt like I was bouncing up and down, rapidly, but only an inch or two off the ground.  I’m not sure if this was the landing, or maybe the runway surface had a few bumps in it, but it caught me off guard.  I do know, I did come in a little steep on this landing, as I had about a 600 FPM descent rate, and had to pull back a little more than normal when flaring to suppress the sink rate.  Maybe I did bounce a little a few times while trying to put her down.  After the first or second, I started trying to pull back more to prevent the nose wheel from being part of the bounce, but it seemed the elevators did not do anything, as I was already slowed down, and the nose wheel was already on the ground.  I taxied off the runway to transient parking, shut her down, and we to get something to eat as I was hungry and my stomach was yelling at me. 

The restaurant at KSMX is pretty good.  You need to leave the airport via a gate by the terminal, and then walk into the terminal to get to the restaurant.  There is no way to get to it from inside the airport.  You cannot walk past a certain point.  There is no pedestrian access past the gate to get out of the airport.  I got 3 tacos, and some soup.  The soup was really good and the tacos were decent.  Nothing fancy, but I give it 3 out of 5 stars.  Once I was done, I needed to get back into the airport.  Luckily there were 2 airport police officers in the restaurant.  I advised my waitress I needed to get back into the airport and she informed the police officers.  They escorted me into the airport, then back to the plane.  I checked fuel, just to monitor how much fuel I had vs. what I had planned for the trip.  I did a walk around of the plane, and checked the oil. 

Got her started up and back into the air.  I asked for a right downwind departure, but they approved me for a left downwind departure.  Ok.  I was ok with that, as that kept me out of other people’s way.   I then returned to my normal flight plan, and navigated via VOR’s to come back to KVNY.  On the way there was a layer of smoke from the fire at Agua Dulce that was sitting about the altitude I was at.  It then filled the cabin and the smell of fire/smoke/burning was soon very strong.  It also cut down on the visibility.  I was started to wonder if KVNY would be ok to land at.  I turned in the ATIS once I was able to, and got the weather.  They still had good visibility and were still VFR.  As I was flying I see an aircraft pass in front of me, probably 500’ in front and a hundred feet below me, and it happened out of nowhere after I had become somewhat complacent.   Just after that, SoCal approach chimes in and lets me know about the traffic.  I could hear some alarm or beeping going off in the background, which is probably the alarm for aircraft that have a separation conflict.  I reply and let them know I see the traffic.  I wish I would have had more notice though, although I know those guys are busy and FF is a Load Permitting service by ATC. 

It took me a little get back into Van Nuys, but I landed and taxied the plane to Maguire north to its home.  The landing at KVNY was a nice good landing.  Tied her down, got her all locked up, and returned the key to the class room.  Upon returning to my house, I called Mike and we talked about the flight and future plans for flights.  He was happy with the trip, and was happy it was easy for me to handle.  I told him about the radio going out and the plane crossing directly in front of me.  He brought up a good point.  Even though you’re on FF, your still need to look outside the airplane, as it’s your responsibility to see and avoid traffic and other obstacles.  We talked about my next xcountry solo to get me my 10 hours of required solo time.  We then talked about the night xcountry that we are doing this upcoming Friday. 

We are going to KAPV on Friday weather permitting, on a night xcountry.  These will fulfill my night requirements.  Once I do the xcountry to L08 (Borrego Valley), that will fulfill my solo requirements.  Then it’s brushing up on my skills, and then my check ride shortly thereafter. 

More to come soon!

Diversions (KEMT, KFUL, KCPM, KTOA, KVNY)

This past weekend, since I could not fly on Saturday because of the thunderstorms, Mike contacted me Sunday morning, and asked if I wanted to fly.  “I would love to” I replied.  So I get dressed, as he woke me up with the phone call, and got all my stuff, and left to go to the airport.  Good thing the airport is only 15 minutes away from my house.  This made it easy to get there quickly so we had enough time in the air.  The sky was a little hazy, but not really any clouds like there was the day before.  It was a little breezy but not much.  A nice temperature considering what occurred the day before.

At the airport, mike tells me we are going be practicing diversions.  He asked for my TAC chart, and started to look over it.  He said he was going to give me a harder course than he gives his other students, mainly because he is confident I can do it, and he wanted to see how I did under pressure.  He didn’t disclose any information to me about the flight, where we were going, planned to go, altitudes, nothing.  He simply said.  We are flying towards bracket (KPOC).  I was a little nervous, but I knew what to do, and what to look for, and thank god I had the Garmin G1000 in front of me for this.  It made it 100% easier than I expected.  Although it was still a little difficult to perform what mike wanted, while staying safe and legal, in the small amount of time I had.

We get airborne, and once outside Burbank, we get put on flight following.   Just then mike says, “Ohh dude.  I don’t feel so well, so land at the next closest airport”.  I look on my TAC just to ensure it was El Monte (KEMT) and yes it was.  I have landed here many times before.  This should be easy.  I use the G1000 to pull up nearest airports.  Cursor on KEMT hit enter, and then BAM! Frequencies are displayed for us.  Along with a lot of other airport information that is needed.  While pulling up the info, I contact SoCal and request to cancel flight following.  They approve and tell me to squawk 1200.  I perform this, then i tune in El Monte tower, and they are non-stop on the radio.  So we have to stay just out of their airspace.  For about 5 minutes, I am flying right on the edge of their airspace.  Finally I get a radio call in.  “El Monte tower, Skyhawk 88 niner lima bravo, 5 to the north, inbound for landing, negative weather”. The controller comes back and gives me all of the weather.  SWEET! I was just expecting an altimeter setting and the wind.  Then they tell us to turn final, and we are cleared to land.  We turn right towards the runway and begin our descent down to the runway.

Half way to the runway, the controller comes on and tells us to turn right base.  I chime in and say “niner lima bravo is on final”.  She then comes back and corrects the announcement for an aircraft ending in 9LT instead of 9LB.  We land and taxi back to the active once we were on the ground.  Awesome landing! A few moments later while taxing, mike tells me where we are going.  So I stop at the hold short bars, and glance back.  No once behind us, and someone turning final 5 miles out.  We have a moment for me to look at the charts and see how we are going to get to Santa Ana (KSNA).   We need to climb to 3500 and maintain to keep out of Fullerton (KFUL), and stay under the class bravo above us.  And we need to be this high, as the route brings up over Disneyland, and the TFR is 2000’ AGL.  We would be well over this.

We get cleared to takeoff and we do.  We begin our climb to get over the hill that is just south of KEMT.  Once we reach our cruising altitude, mike breaks the silence “Dude, my stomach again.  Need to stop at closet airport NOW!”  Ok.  Use the G1000 to find the nearest airport and it is Fullerton.  I check my chart just to verify and sure enough.  I start an immediate descent.  I get the frequencies for Fullerton, and contact them just 2 or 3 miles before entering their airspace.  They clear us to land and give us altimeter setting along with wind, due to my “Negative Weather” comment.  Good for when you need to get down fast and don’t have time to get ATIS, AWOS, ASOS at controlled airports.  We were high when we were cleared to land runway 24, so I had to practically cut the power, and slip it the entire pattern to loose altitude.  We were at 2500, pattern at Fullerton is 1100, and had to lose 1000+ feet in the pattern just to be at pattern altitude.  Then need to lose another 1000’ to land on the runway.  We extended downwind just a bit to help, and we touched right at the numbers on touchdown.  Sweet!  Landing #2 perfect. 

Mike then says we need to go to an uncontrolled airport, and tells me to go west.  I look at the airspace, and its altitudes, and it seems at 4500 as long as we stay out of the class bravo from 5000 up, we could get over Los Alamitos and Long beach airspace with no problem.  So that’s what we do.  As I look at the chart I see only once uncontrolled airport over to the west and that’s Compton (KCPM).  So I know where we are going from here.  Once almost through long beach, mike asks me if I know what airport I’m going to.  I said yes.  He says, well, that’s why I mentioned it’s uncontrolled; to see if you could put 2 and 2 together.  Using any and all information, to draw the bigger picture always helps.  As we get almost out of long beach’s airspace I start my descent, contact the CTAF and announce my intentions. 

I knew what runway to land on because of the other diversions I was performing that day.  Each one so far has been landing on runway 2* except for El Monte which was 19.  Compton has two parallel runways (Weird for uncontrolled but ok).  So we chose 25L as our runway.  A little scary as on the CTAF a few times we just hear, inbound for landing 25.  So we over flew the airport, looked for traffic, turned south west until over the blimp to resolve a traffic advisory, and then turned back to the left pattern for runway 25L.  We entered at the 45 and started the downwind leg.  Announce position on base and final.  Landing was a little after the numbers but smooth landing.  The plane wanted to stay in the ground effects on this landing.  So we floated for a little, and then touched down nice and soft.  Landing #3 perfect. 

We taxi back and hold at the hold short lines.  Check behind us and no one there.  Mike then says he wants to go check out the blimp a bit more.  So we take back off, and turn towards the blimp, we circle once or twice, and mike says “Dude, I’m not feeling so hot.  Land to the south west at the nearest airport“. I use the G1000 and see Torrance (KTOA) airport, and verify on my TAC chart.  Ok.  Good.  Contact Torrance and get cleared to land on runway 29R.  We extend our downwind to lose some altitude, and then come in on a perfect glideslope.  Touch right at the 1000’ markers, and turn off at the first taxiway.  Landing #4 perfect.  We had a lot of runway to go to reach a taxiway.  Once off the runway, we had to taxi back to the active.  This is a feat at this bigger airport.  They had taxiways everywhere.  But I managed to get through it no problem.  While taxiing we saw a piper with a dog in the copilot’s chair.  I guess in his case dog is his copilot. 

There were some people behind us so we could not sit at hold short bars and look at the charts, so we pulled into the run-up, as mike told me he wanted to go home.  He wanted to go home on the Special Flight Rules Area over LAX.  Sure I though.  I have done this a bunch of times already.  So we planned for a right downwind, while climbing, then extend the downwind, and once at 4500’ or just about, turn towards the North West and pick up the 312 degree inbound heading to the SMO VOR.  Transmit to corridor traffic on 128.55 and squawk 1201, and put on all lights.  Once out of the corridor we will descend to stay below the Burbank airspace at 3000’.  Get ATIS from KVNY and contact tower on 119.3.  They hand me off to 120.2 for the east side of the airport.  We get cleared to land #3 after a Cherokee.  We see him turn base and then final.  We are cleared to land with a jet landing on the opposite runway.  Soon the jet and I are neck and neck and he is beating me to the runway.  I do not want to get his wake anywhere near the airplane, so I elect to go around.  This was a super quick go around, as the controller advised me to climb to PA while executing turn to the left to intercept the downwind leg.  Then do a descending turn onto base, and continue my approach.  Within 1 minute we were back on the base. 

I have never got this before but it was cool.  Mike said he has never seen that either.  We come in on glideslope and come in for the smoothest landing that day.  Mike told me he was amazed at how far I have come within a few months.  (I know exactly what he is talking about.  It’s because I’m confident in the airplane now.  It’s an extension of me when I am flying.)  That and I have a good instructor.  THANKS MIKE!!!

Our day came to an end after tying down the plane, and going for our de briefing.  Mike said he was extremely impressed with the entire flight.  I had situational awareness, knew how to get around, in the muck of the airspace in LA.  Up over and under airspace, and the entire time I knew where the plane was, was in front of the plane, and had the tools and resources that I needed to get exactly what was thrown at me done.  Mike was happy with that, and said this upcoming weekend I should be able to do my long cross country solo to KSMX and KPRB.

Long XCountry Solo Update - Weather Blog

My long cross country solo got rained out today.  There were 10 thunderstorm cells throughout the route.  Once i got to Van Nuys, the sky was growling.  After getting an updated WX brief, i did not like or feel comfortable with the conditions.  It was VFR from what everything was showing as the thunderstorm base was at 10000'.  But with the rain, downdrafts, and wind associated with the storms, as well as lightning, i felt as if it was in my and the planes best interest to not make the flight.  There was also a mention of hail.  No good for me.  I don't want to get near that.  I would prefer to be on the ground, wishing i was in the air.  Rather than be in the air, wishing i was on the ground.  So as PIC i made the decision to hold off until the WX improves.  


Thunderstorms result from the rapid upward movement of warm, moist air. They can occur inside warm, moist air masses and at fronts. As the warm, moist air moves upward, it cools, condenses, and forms cumulonimbus clouds that can reach heights of over 20 km. As the rising air reaches its dew point, water droplets and ice form and begin falling the long distance through the clouds towards the Earth's surface. As the droplets fall, they collide with other droplets and become larger. The falling droplets create a downdraft of air that spreads out at the Earth's surface and causes strong winds associated with thunderstorms.

Thunderstorms can generally form and develop in any geographic location, perhaps most frequently within areas located at mid-latitude when warm moist air collides with cooler air. Thunderstorms are responsible for the development and formation of many severe weather phenomena. Thunderstorms, and the phenomena that occur along with them, pose great hazards to populations and landscapes. Damage that results from thunderstorms is mainly inflicted by downburst winds, large hailstones, and flash flooding caused by heavy precipitation. Stronger thunderstorm cells are capable of producing tornadoes and waterspouts.


Here are the charts for weather for today.  As you can see from using the charts below, you can get a general idea of whats happening in each of them.  They will help us to put together an overview of the current conditions and what is going on.

From this chart, we can gather that the area's in orange with the weird looking 'R' are: A forecast containing the area(s) of expected thunderstorm occurrence and expected severity over the contiguous United States, issued several times daily by the SPC (Storm Prediction Center).


The red ones are: Weather advisories concerning convective weather significant to the safety of all aircraft, and are issued for tornadoes, lines of thunderstorms, embedded thunderstorms of any intensity level, areas of thunderstorms greater than or equal to VIP level 4 with an area coverage of 4/10 (40%) or more, and hail 3/4 inch or greater.


So from this chart, you can see that LA, and most of Southern California has thunderstorms right now.  (As I just jumped from the sound of thunder shaking my house).  Maybe a good call on not flying today.

From this chart, we can see the thunderstorm cells that i would encounter if i would have continued the flight.  They are spread out along the cost and inland.  You can see the intensity of some getting in the yellow and orange.  I would not want to be in any of these, with the associated downdrafts, turbulence, and a number of other things, i would like to stay away from.  Also since they are scattered, it shows me that the air that is over us is very unstable over a large region of the state, and the country for that fact.  Getting a weather briefing confirmed my belief.

 From this chart, we can see the general direction and vicinity of the thunderstorms.  The storms stay to the right of the green lines, and move in the direction that the arrow is pointing.  We can see it will have a circular track.  If we look at the 2nd chart down from this one, we can see why it has a pattern like this.  The low pressure systems spiral to the left, and high pressure to the right. Low pressure systems are generally associated with bad weather, and high pressure with good weather.  As you can see the thunderstorms are where the low pressure systems are current at.

This chart shows the 6 hour accumulation of precipitation, along with the current pressure isobars.  If you look at the isobars, you also see why the storms will move the way that is predicted in the convective outlook above.  It will move along the edges of the isobars. Wind flow patterns aloft follow isobars or contours where friction has little effect, and the storms are moved by the winds aloft.  So this will also give us a hint of the general path of the storms.

This chart shows the Surface Weather, and the different pressure systems that are moving though the US.  As you can see from this chart, the low pressure systems currently have thunderstorms associated with them, and the high pressure system has no storms associated. The 2 low pressure systems far left pull the storms up on their right side, the low pressure system above those pulls it to the right under it.  Once it gets close the high pressure systems in the middle, they get pulled towards the high pressure system and downwards and then to the right under the bottom high pressure system.

This is current flight conditions thoughout the US.  As you can see most of the country including where the thunderstorms are, are currently showing VFR conditions.  


Technically i could have gone to fly.  But as PIC i made the decision to not go.  Conditions associated with thunderstorms include, downdrafts, lighting, rain, hail, icing, poor visibility and turbulence.  None of these i want to have to deal with.  This is part of ADM.  Aeronautical Decision Making.  It is a very important part of aviation.


I would rather not risk my life or the plane just for a weekend flight.  Even if the weather and conditions are showing VFR, you need to do your research or you could get caught in a really bad situation. Use the internet, use 1800-WX-BRIEF, use DUAT/DUATS, and call the ATIS/ASOS/AWOS.  This will prepare you and allow you to get a bigger, better picture of what is going on with regards to the weather, and what it is going to do.  


Sure i could have gone to fly.  But the thunderstorms are moving in the same direction that i was planned to fly.  So i would have flown into them, or when i landed to get something to eat, they would have crept up and hit me by surprise.  Always make sure you have a COMPLETE PICTURE, of the conditions and what the weather is going to do, before you go out.  You should also expect it to do what you don't want it to do.  So have alternates, and ways out.


Here are some sites that will help you get a complete weather briefing.


http://www.aopa.org/wx/#
http://aviationweather.gov/std_brief/
http://www.pilotweatherbriefing.com/
http://duats.com/
https://www.duat.com/http://maps.avnwx.com/

I also have Foreflight for the iPad and let me tell you this program is sweet.  It cost a little bit of money ($75/yr for ForeFlight HD) but it gives you so much and more.  If you have an iPad or iPhone, and you are a pilot, or student pilot, this app will cut down on your workload and research that needs to be done. It is truly one impressive app.  Nothing out there can come close to this program in terms of planning flights.  Their website is: http://www.foreflight.com/


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