IFR Lesson 15 - Monkey Business
12/18/2007 Filed in: Flying
IFR Lesson 15 - Monkey Business
Today we'll mix business and pleasure.
Me: You wanna fly over to Lebanon and see if they'll rent us the Seminole?
CFII: Sure. Let's do an approach on the way.
Always thinking, that one.
I had heard from my MEI that if you trained in the Seminole, the FBO will rent it to you after you pass the checkride. Not having tried that so far, and being very close to losing multi currency, I figure today's as good a day as any to go see if I heard right.
We fly over and I do the GPS 19 approach on the way in. A guy comes on the radio after a few minutes wondering how far we are...
Me: Oh, about 4 miles.
Him: Ok, I'll do my runup and wait for you to get here.
Me: Roger that, thanks.
So I continue flying along in my foggles-induced blind state when CFII tells me he has the guy in sight.
CFII: And, uh... he's smoking.
I peek for a second and see a wall of smoke billowing from the guy's exhaust.
Me: (click mic) Lebanon traffic, uh, you aware that you're smoking?
Him: (chuckle) Yeah, it's good for it every now and then.
I laugh and figure the guy is kidding, but now CFII and I are both very much intrigued.
I continue the approach and pull off the foggles at minimums and finally get a good look at what this dude is flying. I wish I remembered the type, but it's some sort of very impressive-looking aerobatic low-wing. I can't even tell you what made me so sure it was aerobatic at the time, knowing very little about that sort of thing. You'll just have to take my word for it and know that there was no mistaking its aerobat status, even for someone as uninformed on the matter as I.
I make all haste in getting off the runway so we can watch what this guy is gonna do. Fortunately, the guy is in the mood to play and wastes no time in showing off.
CFII: Look, he's puttin' on a show already!
CFII nailed that one. As the plane lifts off, he flies almost the length of the runway about six inches above the surface then at the last moment the airplane goes asymptoticly vertical for about a thousand feet before he finally lays it over in some twisting maneuver I can't adequately describe. It was completely bad ass.
Me: (keying mic) Woooooow.
Him: Why... thankie very much.
Me: Thank you. Have a good flight, man.
Seminole fun or no, that was worth the trip over here. Goodness.
After that bit of fun, we head into the FBO for some more good news. As it happens, all I have to do is fill out some paperwork to clue them in on my current flying experience and buzz around the patch a few times with the MEI, then we can rent that baby! Not having the records with me, and not wanting to spend time filling it out at that moment, we decide to come back tomorrow for the real festivities.
On the way back we fly over to Gallitin (M33) so I can get a mulligan on a DME arc I flew (and I use that term very loosely) once before. I completely murdered it last time, but I think I'm ready for it now. X-plane and I have gotten familiar with this approach in recent days.
Sure enough, I nail it this time, and it's off to Lafayette (3M7) for a GPS approach. Other than confusing both myself and ATC by repeatedly calling the airport Fayetteville, the approach is unremarkable and we're headed back to Smyrna.
I notice CFII checking his watch and note that we're running a bit late.
Me: If we don't have time for the ILS today, it's no problem.
CFII: Is that cool?
Me: Yeah, I'm pretty comfy with it now.
So we fly back to a visual 19 and shutdown to end another successful (and fun) "test prep" day. Really looking forward to tomorrow though, when we'll indulge in a bit of double-throttled entertainment.
Today we'll mix business and pleasure.
Me: You wanna fly over to Lebanon and see if they'll rent us the Seminole?
CFII: Sure. Let's do an approach on the way.
Always thinking, that one.
I had heard from my MEI that if you trained in the Seminole, the FBO will rent it to you after you pass the checkride. Not having tried that so far, and being very close to losing multi currency, I figure today's as good a day as any to go see if I heard right.
We fly over and I do the GPS 19 approach on the way in. A guy comes on the radio after a few minutes wondering how far we are...
Me: Oh, about 4 miles.
Him: Ok, I'll do my runup and wait for you to get here.
Me: Roger that, thanks.
So I continue flying along in my foggles-induced blind state when CFII tells me he has the guy in sight.
CFII: And, uh... he's smoking.
I peek for a second and see a wall of smoke billowing from the guy's exhaust.
Me: (click mic) Lebanon traffic, uh, you aware that you're smoking?
Him: (chuckle) Yeah, it's good for it every now and then.
I laugh and figure the guy is kidding, but now CFII and I are both very much intrigued.
I continue the approach and pull off the foggles at minimums and finally get a good look at what this dude is flying. I wish I remembered the type, but it's some sort of very impressive-looking aerobatic low-wing. I can't even tell you what made me so sure it was aerobatic at the time, knowing very little about that sort of thing. You'll just have to take my word for it and know that there was no mistaking its aerobat status, even for someone as uninformed on the matter as I.
I make all haste in getting off the runway so we can watch what this guy is gonna do. Fortunately, the guy is in the mood to play and wastes no time in showing off.
CFII: Look, he's puttin' on a show already!
CFII nailed that one. As the plane lifts off, he flies almost the length of the runway about six inches above the surface then at the last moment the airplane goes asymptoticly vertical for about a thousand feet before he finally lays it over in some twisting maneuver I can't adequately describe. It was completely bad ass.
Me: (keying mic) Woooooow.
Him: Why... thankie very much.
Me: Thank you. Have a good flight, man.
Seminole fun or no, that was worth the trip over here. Goodness.
After that bit of fun, we head into the FBO for some more good news. As it happens, all I have to do is fill out some paperwork to clue them in on my current flying experience and buzz around the patch a few times with the MEI, then we can rent that baby! Not having the records with me, and not wanting to spend time filling it out at that moment, we decide to come back tomorrow for the real festivities.
On the way back we fly over to Gallitin (M33) so I can get a mulligan on a DME arc I flew (and I use that term very loosely) once before. I completely murdered it last time, but I think I'm ready for it now. X-plane and I have gotten familiar with this approach in recent days.
Sure enough, I nail it this time, and it's off to Lafayette (3M7) for a GPS approach. Other than confusing both myself and ATC by repeatedly calling the airport Fayetteville, the approach is unremarkable and we're headed back to Smyrna.
I notice CFII checking his watch and note that we're running a bit late.
Me: If we don't have time for the ILS today, it's no problem.
CFII: Is that cool?
Me: Yeah, I'm pretty comfy with it now.
So we fly back to a visual 19 and shutdown to end another successful (and fun) "test prep" day. Really looking forward to tomorrow though, when we'll indulge in a bit of double-throttled entertainment.