Trip to lexington

[detpilot]

Here you guys go! Two flights in one day, this was about a week ago. One had a back seat rider taking pictures, the other was just my instructor and
I. That was a long day!

Preflight:

http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?image...0536yo.jpg


Just me and my instructor:

http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?image...0579yd.jpg

Leaving for Lexington, 278 miles away:

http://img160.imageshack.us/my.php?image...0496ql.jpg

Pilots eye view:

http://img234.imageshack.us/my.php?image...0651lm.jpg

Passing Fort Wayne, Indiana:

http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/6994/...0640te.jpg

Approaching Cincinnati Northern Kentucky:

http://img112.imageshack.us/my.php?image...0699cq.jpg

Rolling hills below us:

http://img112.imageshack.us/my.php?image...0701qz.jpg

Fastest GS I've seen in the Seminole:

http://img234.imageshack.us/my.php?image...0714nz.jpg


Wing view, heading back to BTL:

http://img234.imageshack.us/my.php?image...0508ql.jpg

Coming in to land 1:

http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?image...0519so.jpg

2:

http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?image...0520ov.jpg



Post Edited ( 06-09-06 04:47 )

[ivo]

wow! these are amazing. Keep up the good work Brandon. this looks like a really nice flight . btw, what happened to your checkride?

[detpilot]

Duplicate deleted...



Post Edited ( 06-09-06 07:28 )

[ivo]

looking at the pictures carefully, I noticed a couple of switches on the yoke. What exactly are they for? Are they autopilot disconnect and the
electical trim switches or what? in the airliners, they are the A/P disconnect and the electrical trim.

[detpilot]

There is the electric trim switch, there is a push to talk for the Comm radio, an autopilot disconnect button, and a CWS button, which basically
"pauses" the autopilot, so you can get around a cloud, or something like that. When you release the button, the autopilot takes back over where it was.

[ivo]

thanks. I know I ask a lot of questions, but here are a couple more.

1) Do you ever have time to admire the scenery along the route, or are you always too busy.

2) was this an IFR flight?

3) what does the instructor generally talk to you about on cross cournty flights?

4) was was the longest flight you have ever flown?

[detpilot]

1) Do you ever have time to admire the scenery along the route, or are you always too busy.

Sure, plenty of time to admire, and take pictures

2) was this an IFR flight?

This particular flight was not.

3) what does the instructor generally talk to you about on cross cournty flights?

Good places to eat, recent fishing trips, whether Beyonce or Janet Jackson has a sexier belly...

4) was was the longest flight you have ever flown?

Longest flight I've ever flown was from BTL-LOU (Battle Creek, Michigan to Bowman field, Kentucky) in a Cessna 172. It was about 3 hours each way, and
it was a solo flight so I was bored stiff. This flight to Lexington was a close second, but I had two people to talk to.

[ivo]

detpilot wrote:



3) what does the instructor generally talk to you about on cross cournty flights?

Good places to eat, recent fishing trips, whether Beyonce or Janet Jackson has a sexier belly...

- that made my day

another question about this flight. it looked like a visual approach. Am I right? Weather was good and there was no ILS on the HSI.



Post Edited ( 06-09-06 07:41 )

[detpilot]

Correct, visual approach it was One more thing, you can see it had just rained, the runway was just starting to dry. We got a little rain, but it never got below VFR, so we didn't file an IFR flight plan.



Post Edited ( 06-09-06 07:45 )

[ivo]

ok, I know I'm boring you with my questions, but here goes:

is the training for the commercial lisence hard? what do you generally do?

[ivo]

Please take pics on your next flight, I am really enjoying these.

[detpilot]

ok, I know I'm boring you with my questions, but here goes:

Not at all


It's a heck of a lot easier than the instrument was, I'll tell you that! Mainly, I get accustomed to flying the multi-engine airplane, doing maneuvers
such as stalls, steep turns, and practicing normal and short field landings. Then, we start doing emergency situations, and I have to practice
emergency descents, and most of all, engine failures. The instructor will fail the engine on you randomly, and I have to practice landing, flying,
shooting instrument approaches, etc with one engine failed. Throw in a few cross country flights, (about half of them at night), and that's all there
is to it!

[ivo]

sounds cool. I can't wait for my day to come.

I have heard that flying a twin is pretty different than a single engined plane. If one engine fails, its a completely different game. While it might
be a bit challenging at first, I'm pretty sure that flying on one engine is fun, isn't it? I definetely like flying twins better than single engines.
I'm not afriad of flying, but I have to say that I feel more safe in a twin. Plus, it should be more stable in landings, since it has a higher landing
speed, shouldn't it?

While I have flown in jets many times, I have never flown in a small piston airplane, so another question.

do you feel a lot of turbulence in smaller planes?

hopefully, I'll start my training for my private in about 1 to 1 1/2 years. Seeing is that I'm 14 now(going to be 15 on June 15th), I've been waiting
a long time for this. I enjoy taking my GA planes around, especially the DF Baron 58. However, is eats a lot of Frame rates so now I have turned to FSGS.

[detpilot]

Hey, sorry I went to bed last night, lol. Yeah, they are definately more fun, and engine failures are tough at first, but you get the hang of it. It's
just that your leg is tired after a flight from holding the rudder down (if you don't think to use the rudder trim, that is). Yeah, the landing speed
is higher, and they are heavier so that makes for more stable approaches, and you don't get bounced around in turbulence quite as much as in a 172.
You will feel a lot more little bumps in light planes, but after flying a single engine plane for a year or so, the twin will feel a lot more
"turbulence resistant," even if it is only psychological, lol. As for twins being safer, that actually depends on the pilot. If you look at engine
failures in twins and in single engine planes, a higher percentge of engine failures are fatal in twin engine planes than in single engine planes.
Especially in planes like the Beech Duke (my favorite twin by the way, but I've never flown one), it has powerful engines and a small rudder. If you
don't do everything perfectly, it is easy to lose control of the plane, and if you stall with one engine failed and the other at full power you will
enter a flat spin...in other words. unrecoverable. Thats why when we do VMC demo (basically a stall with one engine failed), the first thing you do
when you get either the stall warning or buffet is close the throttle of the good engine. So are twins safer? Yes, if you are a god and proficient
pilot. But if you are just a guy who owns a Baron and flies it maybe once a month, it can be a lot more dangerous than a Bonanza.

[ivo]

well yeah, I meant when the pilot operates is good and proficiently. A 747 is technically safer than a C172, but if the person flying it has no clue
to what they are doing, he's safer of in the 172.