May Day, May Day

10/07/06 I took my sister flying for the first time. I rented a 152 and we flew to Sikeston, Missouri (KSIK) where we were to have lunch at Lambert's. You may have been there? They are well known for hurling rolls across the room to customers. I showed up in my pink outfit and the restaurant made a short announcement about the event I was participating in, "The Ninety-Nines Fly for Breast Cancer Cure".

Anyway, just before our destination was a class C airport (KCGI). I didn't want to break the airspace so I went off course to the right to avoid it, however, that move caused me to pass up my destination. I called for vectoring. We landed and my sister was quite amazed at me (her little sister) and how professional I flew. It was nerve racking being her first time with me, however, my demeanor helped make her feel more relaxed. I tried to keep her involved by having her find checkpoints and various other landmarks. I could see her taking deep breaths, so, I knew she was nervous.

Not sure why, though, she seemed a bit more nervous heading back. She asked if it was necessary that we fly so high. I told her "altitude is your friend and if for any reason we would need to glide somewhere, we would be able to glide farther being higher."

We were tooling along at 6500 ft. The plane was pleasantly trimmed out, gages were all reading normal, checkpoints were appearing on time. Then, I noticed a slight power reduction as if someone was tugging on the throttle and pushing it back in. My first instinct was to look for an airport or landing spot. It just so happened our next checkpoint was an airport. It was the same airport we didn't see flying to Sikeston at 5500 feet. I don't know if we could see it this time because we were higher or because we were on course, or both. At any rate, it was reassuring I had it in site right when I felt the tug. I didn't say any thing to my sister. She was nervous already and I could see she didn't notice anything different. At first, I headed right for the airport. I contemplated on getting back on track because my course was to take me between class "D" and under "B", but,...........there it was again. I wasn't imagining things. I definitely felt loss of power. I definitely heard loss of power. What's baffling was the gages didn't read as such. RPM's remained at 2300. Oil pressure and temperatures were in the green. Suction was working. Magnetos checked normal. Fuel tanks were filled before leaving.

My sister asked, "Aren't we supposed to be going that way?" as she pointed north and looked at the map. I calmly responded, "No, we're going to land." Again, the loss of power reared it's ugly head, only my sister felt it that time. I tuned in to 7600 (as opposed to 7700 duh... a bit frazzled was I?). For the life of me, I couldn't think of the radio frequency 121.5. I found it on my trusty knee board. I claimed Mayday Mayday, 714 Zulu Gulf at 6500 ft just outside of Perryville Airport with impending engine failure. Even though I was transmitting on 7600, I received numerous responses. In the meantime, I reassured Sue that we had plenty of altitude to glide to the airport without any power.

I remained at 6500 ft until directly over the airport and circled the runway to pattern altitude. I positioned myself to land on runway two zero. The thought ran through my head, "hey, wait... where's the wind coming from, would it be better to land on zero two?" But then the thought left my brain at Vne (never exceed speed). I just needed to land the sucker.

There was an A&P (airplane/power plant mechanic) on duty and he briefly checked out the plane. All seemed normal. The right sump had some debris in the fuel, though. When I fueled up at Sikeston, maybe their tanks were low and I picked up some debris? (yes, 100LL w/blue tint... I pumped the correct fuel) Others asked if I leaned the mixture. I was told it's good practice to lean the mixture over 3000 feet. It didn't dawn on me at the time. I've not leaned the mixture any other time at that altitude. I guess that could have been the problem. Or, carburetor ice could have been the culprit.....

I called the airport where I rented the plane and requested someone pick us up and fly the plane back. They obliged without question. The 172 nicely equipped with a GPS, auto-pilot and plush seats engine cranked and cranked and cranked. We sat flooded while the plane I had problems with circled the pattern waiting for us. How ironic. After some 15 minutes or so, we were off. The pilots knew the controllers in class B and prearranged our getting vectored to our destination.

All in all, the flight was a great experience. I logged 2.9 hours of cross country time as PIC. I have several tips to enter into my "Flying Tips" list. And, I spread the word about "The Ninety-Nines Fly for Breast Cancer Cure" event. Best of all, I'm here to talk about it.

My backyard

1.) What airport & city do you fly out of?
I fly out of St. Charles Municipal (3SQ) E airspace tucked under St. Louis International - Lambert (KSTL) B airspace. The little podunk airport sets at an elevation of 442 feet beside it's 3400 feet of asphalt that's rough, rolling and uneven. After many takeoffs and landings over cracks with grass and weeds growing in them, the two grass strips perpendicular are not much of a shock. I utilize the grass strips when cross winds are above my personal limit on the asphalt. The mighty Mississippi River is within 2 nautical miles separating Missouri and Illinois. So, when I say the winds were so strong they blew me into the next state, I mean it. The area is lined with never ending corn fields, soft rolling hills, scattered bird sanctuaries, lakes, railroad tracks and highways.

And, I fly out of Spirit of St. Louis (KSUS) D airspace also tucked under B. It's the second busiest airport in the state of Missouri with the overhead (KSTL) being the busiest. I have mixed emotions landing there because it is so busy and towered, but yet, the 7400 and 5000 feet of concrete are a nice change..... huge and smoothe as glass. It's so smoothe you have to take second look to make sure you've really landed.

2.) What are you flying?
I flew Cessna's 152's to my Private Pilot License. I'm flying 172's for my Instrument Rating. And I fly my brothers Travel Air B-95 (below) for building multi-engine time.

3.) What type of flying do you do?
My flying consists of practicing on what I've learned thus far, to building time and to learning instrument flying, as I am working on my Instrument Rating.

4.) What type of weather or other things keep you grounded?
St. Louis Missouri gives us the pleasure all four seasons to the fullest making flight planning challenging from day to day. October rains gets windy, and then becomes calm and foggy. November makes us wait for frost to melt and fog to disappear before flying. In winter we awaken to ice and then springtime there's more rain. Usually the spring darts right into smoldering heated summers making flying over the fields so bumpy it's like riding the waves in the sky. The 90 - 100 degrees weather deturs me. I don't like sweat in my eyes. It burns and makes it hard to read maps. In a nutshell, the weather that keeps me grounded is wind, fog, ice and smoldering heat. The only other things that keep me grounded is working long hours and limited funds.

5.) What type of terrain do you fly over and how does this effect how you fly?
The terrain is filled with flat crop fields to rolling hills. It's nice to fly in October to see its mark of pumpkin patches surrounded by brilliant orange, yellow and red trees. During the smoldering hot season, I make sure I gear up in cool clothes, there is a wet washcloth draped on my thigh, a rubberband in my hair and a rag handy to wipe off the sweat from my eyes. I also make sure my food is digested prior to flying, as it will be bumpy. I will fly higher to get cooler. I keep the Mississippi in view when I can as it's a reassuring landmark. Otherwise, there's not much to see until you come up to a large lake, airport or city.

6.) What do you look forward to as the seasons pass?
I am enjoying every minute of flying and look forward to many seasons to come. Especially, I look forward to the day I no longer miss out on flying because of long work hours in a nonflying job.

1st Solo X-Country Wx

9/17/04 Forecast for 1st Solo X-Country from (3SQ) to (KIJX)

St Louis MO (Spirit Of St Louis) [KSUS] terminal forecast issued on the 17th at 5:36pm CST (2336Z), valid from the 17th at 6pm CST (00Z) through 6pm CST (24Z)
6pm CST (00Z) wind variable at 4 knots, visibility greater than 6 miles, sky clear
8:00pm CST (0200Z) wind calm, visibility greater than 6 miles, 25,000 feet scattered
3am (09Z)-6am CST (12Z) temporarily visibility 4 miles, mist
6:00am CST (1200Z) wind 120° at 5 knots, visibility greater than 6 miles, 12,000 feet broken
12:00 noon CST (1800Z) wind 120° at 7 knots, visibility greater than 6 miles, 12,000 feet broken.

Springfield IL (Capital) [KSPI] terminal forecast issued on the 17th at 5:30pm CST (2330Z), valid from the 17th at 6pm CST (00Z) through 6pm CST (24Z)
6pm CST (00Z) wind variable at 3 knots, visibility greater than 6 miles, 25,000 feet broken
3:00am CST (0900Z) wind variable at 3 knots, visibility greater than 6 miles, 10,000 feet scattered, 25,000 feet broken
5am (11Z)-7am CST (13Z) temporarily visibility 4 miles, mist
8:00am CST (1400Z) wind 140° at 12 knots, visibility greater than 6 miles, 10,000 feet broken.

Winds aloft forecast based on observations taken on the 17th at 6:00am CST (1200Z). Forecast valid on the 18th at 6:00am CST (1200Z), for use from 12:00 midnight CST (0600Z) to 11:00am CST (1700Z).

Temperatures are negative above 24,000 feet.

FT 3000 6000 9000 12000 18000 24000 30000 34000 39000

COU 2113 2916+18 3116+10 3114+04 3110-10 2708-21 291538 312447 292854

Columbia MO [COU]

SPI 9900 3208+16 3415+10 3222+03 3420-09 3118-21 301938 291947 292755

Springfield IL [SPI]

STL 1505 3107+17 3316+11 3320+04 3516-09 3213-21 301538 291347 292354

St Louis MO [STL]

Private Pilot check ride took 2 days

4/23/05 Good news and bad news about my Private Pilot check ride today.

First, the bad news…. I hate ST. LOUIS WEATHER!! I could not fly as planned. Or, I should say I made the assertive, confident, safe and executive decision to decline flying on 4/23/05. Using all my learned skills in evaluating weather, I pulled aside the enormous bags under my eyes caused by lack of sleep from studying/worrying/chair flying, then, glared out the window and sighed, “Nope…. It ain’t gonna happen, again.” My wise decision was confirmed a good one by coded and decoded reports printed out in the quantity equivalent to two large oak trees. Clouds were copious and low, winds were – 18 kts w/gusts to 27 kts (headwinds or not, here’s a visual…. S-turns: beginning maneuver in Missouri, leveling out nicely through Iowa, completing the maneuver in Michigan and with precision), light rain…. Need I say more?

Second, the good news…. I PASSED THE ORAL portion of the Practical!!!!!! I’m half way there! Boo-yah! Who-ah! Hal-a-loo-yah! Hot Damn! And all that….. I didn’t realize the examiner was finished questioning me until he said, “Well, I’ve heard enough, you passed.” On the verge of seizuring from excitement, I through up my hands with joy and belted out YES!….. I’m so happy THAT’S over…… I think I startled the examiner a tad. I must say, the octave of my voice was a bit startling to me, too. Anyway, I immediately called everyone listed in my cell phone to spread the news while driving home.

05/04/05 I passed the flight portion of my Private Pilot exam. A temporary license was issued until I received the real thing in the mail. I'll never forget those 2 days.

Glider Day

6/24/05 WWW Glider Day at Highland Winet Airport (H07) St. Louis Soaring Association; Check out their website @ http://www.stlsoar.org/. I enjoyed going up in a glider, however, I still like having an engine.

Air Traffic Controllers

5/25/04 Air Traffic Controllers of the Gateway TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control) “Operation Raincheck”

I took a tour of TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control) met the Air Traffic Controllers and learned how to communicate more effectively on the radio, how weather can affect air traffic flow and what tools can minimize disruptions.

I tried my hand at tracking traffic on the radar screens.
Having good communication is key to what ever you are trying to accomplish. More on ATC later. Over.

The Successful Cross-Country

8/27/05 Aviation Safety-Education Seminar
This seminar put on by http://faasafety.gov/ was about making Cross-Country trips. They discussed understanding the A/FD, airport diagrams, various types of airports, airways, pre-flight planning, runways and more. I soloed 20 days prior to this event, so, it was right up my alley. I’m grateful these seminars are free. The speakers were excellent. I took numerous notes and obtained a great resource for online training at: http://flash.aopa.org/asf/runwaySafety .

Fly-In to Woodliff grass strip

On 8/20/05, I participated in a Fly-In to Woodliff (Pvt- 98M0)grass strip 6 miles (north) on the 006 Radial of the Foristell VOR. The runway is 2800 feet of turf and runs NORTH/SOUTH. Use 122.9 and the LEFT pattern altitude for both is 1700ft. A friend lives on the strip. Everyone was invited to either fly-in or drive-in and bring a dish.

It’s always been hard for me to venture away from the airport. The thought always was in the back of my mind, what if I couldn’t find my way back??? I can remember when I practiced maneuvers by myself…. I’d look back to make sure I didn’t go too far as I wanted the airport to remain in my sight. Each time I practiced, I’d push myself to fly farther and farther away, weaning myself from the airport. Now, by just making the mere decision to fly (I had the choice to fly or drive) and then committing to the group that I’d fly-in was a huge step for me, let alone actually following through with it. I battled with self-doubt and very little confidence. My thoughts were, “Yeah, I passed my check ride, but am I truly capable… I was taking my first passenger, am I safe enough… I was going to another location, will I be able to find my way back. … It’s a grass strip of all things, will I be able to find it… What’s the weather like, hope there’s a storm coming in so I can back out…My son’s in town visiting from the Air Force, I’ll just tell them I wanted to spend more time with him… I do have the option to drive, why don’t I just drive. It would be cheaper.” I told myself, “I made a commitment. I’m capable. I’m safe. It’s practically on top of a VOR. I’ll find it. If not, call it a joy ride and go back. The weather is “good to go”. I’m taking my son as my first passenger and he’s tickled pink to go. It’s only 21 nautical miles away!!! Get a grip!” You’ve heard of people flying somewhere for their one hundred dollar hamburger? Well, I flew in for a one hundred dollar potluck lunch and enjoyed a “priceless” experience.

This opportunity has given me the self-confidence to step out of my comfort zone and go for it!

My experience with CFIT (Controlled Flight Into Terrain)

Thursday, March 13th was clear... not a cloud in the sky... at least 10 sm visibility... without visible moisture... no reports of water, ice, snow, mist, haze or fog. It was a perfect day, just cold. I made my choice between "go" or "no go" and I chose to "go". Then it happened. I had my first experience with CFIT (better known in my case as--cluts falls into terrain) upon returning to the house after warming up my jeep. I've taken this route many, many times before. I was very familiar with it.

One second I was walking back to the house and the next second I was soaring through the air at Vne (velocity to never exceed) speed.......could have broken the sound barrier, not sure. I landed hard on the concrete with gross weight on my elbow, which proceeded to ram into my ribs. It took a moment for me to finally catch my breath. When doing so, I could taste exhaust fumes, as I was staring directly into the tailpipe. To avoid the likeliness of Carbon Monoxide poisoning, I had to make a move. Not without looking around to see if anyone saw me wollering in the driveway, I gimped back into the house.

Faced with another choice between "go" or "no go", I chose to "go" to work. Since breathing wasn't optional, and I couldn't, I determined 7.5 hours was my cut off point for working as I was in a lot of pain. I thought I better get an x-ray to obtain the damage. Inspection revealed a fractured rib. Very little moving (breathing) was prescribed along with a constipating pain reliever called Darvocet. (Just what someone needs with a broken rib....something to cause straining to eliminate....sigh.... needless to say I didn't purchase the grounding drug.)

The incident occurred at 5 a.m. in the morning. Next time I make the same familiar venture out to my jeep that early, I will make sure not to take the attitude of "it won't happen to me", as it has happened. I will also complete a "self evaluation" as to whether I'm "safe" and can make such a venture... Am I awake, am I alert enough to plan my moves and stay ahead of my feet, am I situationally aware of where I'm going and am I going to make each movement with purpose?

With time, all will heal. However, I'm left with having to re-evaluate whether I should continue warming up my jeep. It's been my passion in life...... I can't imagine discontinuing it completely. Cutting back may be an option, we'll see.

I hope that's the only experience with CFIT (better known as in my case as--cluts falls into terrain) I'll ever endure.

Husbands first flight - Mexico, Missouri

It wasn’t until 1 year and 4 months after earning my Private Pilot License before I took my husband up for his first flight. He simply didn’t have the interest. He said, “It would be just like taking a Sunday drive.” I guess that’s better than hearing him say, “I never fly on days that end in “Y”, or something of that nature. Until he was ready, I utilized my time to gain more experience and improve my confidence.

Much to my surprise on September 2006 my husband said yes to flying. So, we headed to Mexico…….. Mexico Missouri (KMYJ) that is, 64 nautical miles away.

All the while during pre-flight of a Cessna 152, I kept saying to myself, please…. don’t let anything go wrong or he’ll never fly with me again. Larry is 6 foot and weighs 200 pounds so I had to have some fuel removed from the plane. While the line service attendant was trying to figure out how to remove the fuel, my husband was adding 1 quart of oil. I was glad to see him take part in this event. I wanted this day to be perfect. In the meantime, another Cessna 152 came in and was offered to me so all I had to do was add fuel. I took them up on the offer, did a new pre-flight and next thing I knew I was plugging away at my checklist. “Up, down, left, up, down, left, right”…..yes, the controls checked out good. I had to apologize every time I moved the yoke as it hit Larry in the knees. Ouch! Poor guy was packed in like a sardine. I noticed the suction gage looked a little funny, but it was in the green. I tapped on it and it remained a little “cock-eyed”. Everything seemed to be working properly. I kept looking back at the suction gage, though, as something just didn’t see right.

Off we went. The take-off was smooth. I dialed into flight service to activate my flight plan, however, no one answered. I kept my cool and said to myself, “It’s not the end of the world. I’m flying VFR and it’s not required to file." Although, I would have preferred to.

We were tooling along and looking for the sparsely placed checkpoints; a lake here, a highway there. It would have been easier to see them if it wasn’t for the haze. At this point, my nerves were starting to frazzle. I begged for this to be a trouble free flight. First the fuel, then Larry’s knee bashing, then I couldn’t get a hold of Flight Service to activate my plan, now the haze, what else could go wrong. I dialed in a VOR and it was working like a champ. Yeah!!! Something was working. Larry was busily looking at the map and finding landmarks. He was folding and refolding the map and had no idea at this point we were without an attitude indicator and a heading indicator. GREAT!! I just had a vacuum pump failure. I wasn’t about to say the word “failure”, as that word could take on many meanings to someone who didn’t fly. I lightly mentioned, “Oh, looky there, my attitude indicator is spinning in circles and the heading is off, oh….. a few 100 degrees. I’ll just use these three other instruments. We’re good. Is that the runway up there?”

Yes!!! Victory! Five thousand one hundred wonderful feet of concrete was lying up ahead! After landing my husband reached over and patted me on the knee saying, “You did good dear”.
Although my husband’s first flight was not a perfect one, it was overall a great one. As, he’s interested in going again real soon. His only request was to rent a 172 next time.