SPC#72 – The First Step to the Clouds

All right.

It's time for me to get started on my instrument rating.

It'd be a long row to hoe, but.

It has to start somewhere and that somewhere is, well.

Today.

It's the start of some serious learning and practice I'm sure.

So join me in student pilot cast episode 72.

The first step to the clouds.

Welcome back SPC listeners.

We're back with another training flight this week and yeah, I've

got some more special episodes outside of the training lined up.

But I figured it was time to throw another training flight at y'all.

After all, this is the main thing.

This podcast is about flight training.

So stay subscribed for some more different types of content coming your way.

But today, We fly.

This would be the official start to my instrument training.

Although this flight would not seem too different from a flight review or

even private pilot training flight or, or some other type of training flight.

I'd be flying in a different airplane that I hadn't been in before.

More about that plane later, but there were only a couple of planes

at this school that were used for.

Instrument flight training.

So I'd be spending some serious time in this airplane for

the next couple of months.

This would be the main Steed.

For my training, so I needed to be familiar with it.

And so this little flight was the beginning of that.

I was doing ground training at the same time in preparation for some

more of the instrument flights.

And of course I was doing quite a bit of self study for the instrument airplane

written test that I had coming up.

That test had to be completed before I did my check.

Right.

Of course.

But for practical reasons and policy reasons, I really

needed to get it done soon.

Ideally, before I even scheduled the check.

Right.

Which has most nos getting difficult to do.

Not the test.

Those are easy to schedule, but DBEs are hard to come by and,

and are still for that matter.

So for getting the check rides done, it took a while to get those scheduled

and it was kind of imperative that I try to get the written completed

successfully very, very soon.

The problem was, I had barely decided to start doing all this training.

So I wasn't as prepared as I would have been if I'd been planning for this for

months or something along those lines.

So I would just do it all simultaneously.

No big deal.

It was pretty fun to do.

Is.

Fun for me to do the ground, the flying or whatever.

So let's go, let's do it.

Before we get going.

My instructor for this flight, Eddie.

Had just finished his own training in another state at one of the

university programs and was a pretty new instructor in general and brand new

to this flight school and this airport.

And since he already had his CFW and everybody was pretty busy.

Training their students.

He got stuck with me.

Starting my instrument training.

When he already had a pretty good load of private students.

So you'll probably notice a few times where he was probably treating me a little

more like a new private student, rather than a new instrument rating student.

But with my long time off, I didn't mind too much.

And was a great instructor.

And in this episode, you'll hear me ask him about how it's been for him,

transitioning into the instructor role.

And I actually wouldn't end up flying a ton with Eddie.

He got really busy with primary students.

And I would end up transitioning to a couple of other instructors over my time

working on the instrument rating, but like I've talked about before I actually

liked training with different instructors.

So it was fine with me.

Actually even then I was already working in the background with the instructor

who was in charge of the instrument program at the school at the time.

And I would end up flying with him quite a bit too.

So it's suited me just fine.

I would later do a flight or two with Eddie when I was doing my commercial

training and we always had a great time.

So while Eddie was super new, I could already tell that I love flying with him.

That he was going to be a great instructor.

So I hope you enjoy today's episode.

As I actually get started on my instrument flights.

So we'll start here as normal, getting the ATUs taxing, doing the run-up and I'll cut

in a few times here and there to comment.

but also cut out.

You know, some of the dead air or things that aren't pertinent.

for a bit of time savings, but I still want to give you the flavor.

So I do leave some of that in.

Somehow, we both miss the altimeter setting here at the beginning.

So we had to pop the ATUs back on.

Verify it.

And you'll also hear me fumbling around a little bit with the altimeter setting.

Doing the entry into the instruments and as well as checking some

of the flight instruments.

So let me explain that for a minute.

I was flying in what was a new to me, airplane that the school used mostly

for instrument training and check rides.

And this'll warrior had to Garmin G five instruments in place of

the attitude indicator and the directional gyro or heading indicator.

This airplane also had no vacuum system anymore.

It had been removed when the chief fives.

Were installed.

As there was no more need for it since there were no vacuum instruments anymore.

The turn coordinator, which was still there uses a gyro,

but it's electrically driven.

So no vacuum system needed.

Like I said, also that meant since there were two altimeters, there was

the altimeter tape on the G five.

Well on either G five they're interchangeable, but usually

we had it on the top G five.

Where the, attitude indicator would normally be.

anyway.

That had an altitude tape.

And we also had the steam gauge altimeter, which was still in the airplane.

So now I had to get in the habit of setting the altimeter setting

twice one on each instrument.

Doing this.

They almost never matched.

Exactly.

So my emo would later turn into me setting it on the Jeep five.

Whenever I got an updated setting.

And then setting the analog instrument to match the altimeter.

On the G five.

I didn't want conflicting information depending on which instrument I looked at.

So I would set them up to be the same if they ever conflicted after that.

Something was probably wrong with one of them.

Also this mint on the heading indicator, there was nothing to set and no procession

to worry about as the heading indicator from the G five would set itself.

All I had to do was make sure it basically matched the wet campus.

So with these instruments totally new to me, it gave me a bit of pause.

I would grow to love these G.

by the way, I'm a big fan of those things.

They back each other up gave me better information.

Reduce the workload there.

Awesome.

Highly recommended.

Anyway.

We'll pick it up from the top there with the ATUs.

You got me?

Yep.

Runway centerline contact tower on 124.

6.

Arrivals north of runway centerline contact tower 119.

7.

Advise on our initial contact, you have information Kilo.

Kilo.

dew point minus 3, altitude 300 niner.

Visual approach in use, landing and departing, runways 4 left and 4 right.

Attention all aircraft, 5G NOTAM is in effect for Falcon airport.

For further information, contact flight service frequencies.

Arrivals south of runway centerline to contact tower on 124.

6.

Arrivals north of runway centerline to contact tower on 119.

7.

Advise on initial contact, you have information?

Kilo.

Okay,

we got kilo, and I didn't get the altimeter,

so.

Oh, yeah, I just didn't.

Hold on.

Visual approach in use, landing and departing runways 4L and 4R.

3 0 0 9

er.

And we are on ground.

And you set this, 3 0 0

9.

Oh.

There you go.

I wasn't even looking at that one.

You know what we're checking for, um, when we set our altimeter?

Within 75 feet of field elevation.

We're at 1, 394, so we're 6 feet off, so that's perfect.

Alright, continuing with the checklist.

Um, flight instruments check.

Cool.

So, let me just, oh, we don't have, we don't have one.

It's right here.

Okay.

That'll, that'll set itself up.

It set itself,

right?

Good.

So, it looks like it may be more accurate than the compass.

Yep, probably.

Because, yep, 4 0, so we'll just go off this for now.

Okay.

Um, airport diagram open.

Cool.

Alright.

There we are.

And just kind of hold short at this.

And then what you're going to tell ground is you're going to say, Falcon

ground, Red Rock 71, spot 5, north departure, with information, Kilo.

So you can practice saying it.

I got it.

Okay.

That's just spot 5?

Yep, that's spot 5.

So north departure with Kilo.

All right, so I'll jump in right here again.

It was a very busy day at the airport and on the radio.

So we then sat here for a while.

Walk, call after call came in for taxing out or back to the ramp.

I'll cut most of it out.

But there's some other airplanes in front of us at our spot five as well.

I'll leave in the last call before us, because you'll hear

me voice my frustration on how busy it is with my deduction.

On the possibility of them getting what they were asking

for, which was short approaches.

It was all in.

Good fun.

And it wouldn't be the last time I'd be waiting during this flight.

What's the possibility of multiple short approaches on the pattern?

Five percent.

5841, I can't guarantee them.

It's looking pretty good out there.

There's only a few in the pattern, so you might get a couple.

5841, can we stay in the pattern for multiple touch and go?

via Delta, advise runoff complete.

Roger.

Company straight ahead, 4 right via Delta, and we'll advise

Next out of spot 5.

Falcon Ground, Red Rock 71, spot 5, uh, we are looking for a north

departure, and we have Kilo, sir.

Red Rock 71, Falcon Ground, thank you.

Runway 4 right, taxi via Delta, advise me run up complete, this frequency.

Alright, we'll taxi via Delta and advise on completing the run up, Red Rock 71.

Runway 4 right.

Spot 5

pulling up, what's the call sign

request?

Very nice, Bill.

Very, very nice.

Clear center, left, clear right, and we'll turn left.

So as we were taxing, I asked Eddie about what it was like being an instructor.

I knew I'd likely end up there too.

And as a new instructor, I was curious how it was going for him.

You know, how that transition was going and how he was liking it.

Also, before we start the run up, you'll hear me futzing around with the throttle.

This warrior and most of the planes at the school were old enough that it had

the older style push pull throttles more like Cessna's Slightly newer Pipers

had the lever throttle cluster with the mixture and prop and for those planes with

constant speed prop It would have the prop there as well But at some point someone

had put in a throttle in this airplane with a vernier assist control I guess some

people love them, but I really didn't.

If you're not familiar with what I'm talking about, most push pull throttles

that I had used before, for example, ones in Cessnas, also in some of the

light sport airplanes I had flown and probably many other airplanes, but

those are the ones I was familiar with.

The throttle Had a friction dial where the throttle rod entered

the panel where you could tighten the friction or loosen it up.

But the throttle itself was just a simple push pull mechanism with the

extra friction that that friction lock would cause or, or release,

depending on which way you turned it.

With the Vernier Assist, though, it's more like a, a lot of mixture

controls in Cessnas where you could twist the knob to fine tune it in or

out, or push a button on the handle or the knob to make bigger changes.

Anyway, in this airplane with a Vernier throttle, I had never used one before.

You know, for the throttle lever, I found it hard to make normal, fine changes.

Yeah, you could twist it to make really fine changes, but they were

too fine in my opinion, and would take many, many twists to make any

difference in the power setting.

So I found I usually had to push the button on the throttle knob to make more

macro moves, if you will, bigger moves.

That's easier when you need to make really big moves.

And so I find it difficult to use this throttle to fine tune.

I'd have to push that in and then I couldn't rest my hand against the

panel to make small changes like I would with a normal friction lock.

Throttle.

I hope this is making sense, but basically it made it very difficult

for me to make adjustments to the RPM.

I would get used to it, of course, but I never loved it.

I just tolerated it.

So this day was my first time using it.

And I would find myself flummoxed trying to figure out how to

dial in the RPM that I wanted.

So I was learning a lot of idiosyncrasies about this airplane on this day, but

I would definitely get familiar with, with the airplane as I continued

throughout my instrument training.

In any case, let's get back to the flight.

Well, I know you haven't been doing it long, but how do

you like being an instructor?

Um, so far so good.

I'm learning a lot.

I love the fact how I have to do it.

Really beyond my A game at all times.

I really like that pressure.

Um, and meeting people has been great.

I'm making a lot of new friends.

It's been great.

Definitely

scary at times though.

It almost put us in the grass the other day.

Oh boy.

Yeah, it's a lot of responsibility.

It is.

It really is.

Especially for a young guy like me.

Right.

That's true.

Alright, we'll go

next to

um, We'll go in between these two

CA you guys.

The two closer ones?

Sounds good.

A lot of Oxford out here.

Yeah, this is their territory for sure.

Alright.

Very nice.

Run up.

That's still in there pretty good.

There you

go.

There you go.

It's really hard to do it lightly

because you have to push this.

Yeah, he's got to finesse it.

Much

better if it had a lock.

Okay.

Parking, brake, run up.

Parking, brake.

Mixture, rich light controls

up over here, down over three and correct.

and hop on those brakes too.

Geez.

Back on ground box.

So 78, 34.

Spot five because I information magnetos.

Screw drop no more than a hundred twenty five, seventy thirty

four balcony for right tank.

Run up complete.

There's both, right?

Otherwise, engine up complete.

78.

Okay.

Right at

125

Back to both.

Okay.

Carb heat

got a drop

amperage, I'm guessing that's over here.

Yep.

So you're looking for fuel pressure.

We'll go select and we're looking for amps bolts.

Okay, got it right there.

Cool.

Yep.

Alright, so positive amperage and go back to fuel.

Uh, yes sir.

Okay.

Vacuum.

So we don't have a vacuum in this airplane because we have electronic.

You're not.

Alright.

Throttle back to idle.

Flight instruments.

Check them again.

Okay, that's all the way out.

It only went down to 800.

Perfect.

So it doesn't

die on us.

That's the main thing.

Yeah.

Okay.

Uh, oil gauges.

We're in the green everywhere.

Cool.

Uh, throttle back.

Uh, flight instruments.

Checked him again.

You wanna do anything with the GPS?

Oh, yep.

So we're gonna hit that D button and then we're gonna throw in V-P-F-T-N.

Okay.

And that's gonna be Fountain Hills.

Oh, okay.

Got it.

We're just

gonna fly kind of towards that.

It's a good little introduction to G four 30.

Okay, cool.

And you enter, enter.

And it should have a line.

Perfect.

Alright,

cool.

Okay.

Does that have an automatic altitude?

Yep, so it's pressure altitude, so it's altitude coded.

Um, for takeoff, so.

Yep.

Alright, we are going to do a normal takeoff, right?

Yep.

And if we see any problems, something not in the green,

any hiccups

with the engine, we're going to immediately brake and get off the runway.

If

we're in the air but have runway remaining, we're going to go ahead and put

it down, brake, maximum braking, get off.

If we are below a thousand, but no runway remaining, we're going to to put

it down in a golf course or something.

Probably a golf course,

yep.

Um, best glide is 79.

And, uh, we'll have a sterile cockpit till 1, 000 feet.

Sounds good to me.

Anything I'm missing?

Um, normally I also like to pre do the plan.

So say we're in taxi to 4 Right, we have enough runway remaining,

we'll do a north departure.

We'll plan for 3, 700, direct BPFDN.

We'll look outside, look for traffic, and then the emergencies.

So, that's what I like to do.

3, 700.

And

Alright.

Go ahead.

Falcon Ground, Red Rock 71, run up complete.

Red Rock 71, uh, continue your taxi runway 2 to correction, 4 right.

Alright, we'll continue our taxi to 4 right, Red Rock 71.

Very nice.

Thank you.

And then when we become number two, because we're number four right now,

when we become number two, we'll do our before takeoff checklist.

Sounds good.

As soon as I get in line, are we switching to tower?

Ah, yes sir.

And it's already in 124.

6.

And you can switch this to 122.

75 when you get a chance.

122.

75, that's the practice area?

Yep.

You want to cross check me on that?

122.

75.

I got it.

I was wondering if you could do that.

I

So we worked our way up, did the before takeoff checklist, and got our clearance.

Red Rock, 71, Falcon Tower, fly straight out runway 4 right, cleared for

takeoff.

Cleared for takeoff on 4 right, Red Rock, 71, fly straight out.

Cool.

Very nice.

A lot of people don't get that.

Alright, before we take off checklist complete, you can close that door.

rudders.

Alright, you got it?

Yep, and we are cleared.

So you can start your right hand turn,

and you are good to go.

Alright.

We're in the green.

Airspeed is alive.

Alright, we'll take off

at 65.

Rotate at 65.

And rotate.

Runway four right at delta two, clear for takeoff, and there is traffic on runway.

Yep, they are lining up to wait, you are clear for takeoff in front of them.

6841, continue straight out, changing right for left contact tower 119.

7.

Flying straight out, follow

that traffic.

Alright, we are headed to 37.

Yep.

Left turn north

approved.

After that traffic in front of us, traffic in sight.

Red Rock 71.

Yep, on the outside of him.

Um, we will continue.

Very nice, Bill.

Making my life easy.

And we'll climb out at 85.

Now do we have a shelf we need to worry about?

Uh, not here.

Okay.

It starts at 4, 000, so that's why we go up to 3, 700.

Okay.

Situational awareness though.

Alright, so continue straight out.

So, after making our left turn heading towards Fountain Hills,

I did my after takeoff checklist.

ain hi

All right flaps are zero, mixtures

rich, uh, landing light off, and airspeed, climb, cruise climb at that hundred.

Oh yeah, there you go.

There you go, very nice.

So you're at 3, 200, we got 500 feet to level off, we got Red

Mountain off the right hand side, and you're going direct to VPFDN.

And so just continue.

Climbs pretty good in the winter.

Oh yeah.

He's ripping.

Bill's ripping.

Bill's ripping Red Rock 71.

That's

right baby.

Alright, so continuing that climb, we got some traffic, another red rock traffic

kind of ahead of us at the same altitude.

So just, uh, be on the lookout.

And you know what?

We're going to come right about 10 degrees to a heading of I can't see the mountain.

No, we're clear of the mountain.

We're clear, okay.

Yep, so come right about 360 for traffic.

And we're at 37, so

Perfect, so just maintain that.

Perfect, and then we can do our cruise checklist.

Alright, well, uh, can I do memory items first?

Uh, sure.

Alright.

Going to help me keep from climbing if I go back to

22, right?

Yep, so it doesn't like to be in the cruise setting for too long, so just

make sure you're a little bit above that.

Okay.

So, see how it's in the red?

Yeah.

We'll just keep this right about,

right about there.

Okay.

Watch out for the bravo

shell, 3, 800 feet.

Alright, uh, turning base.

Cruise checklist.

Throttle set to cruise.

Mixture lean.

And follow a departure just west of the wagon wheel turning base.

Alright, push it back in.

There you go.

Alright, and heading indicator, K, fuel, 30 minute timer.

You've got that?

So we've still got a few minutes left.

Very

nice.

We're heading out that fast.

We're clear at Red Mountain.

We've got not too much traffic around here, so this is all very, very good.

And now that we're out of there, we can switch to 122.

75.

Okay.

All right.

So let me talk about something that'll likely come up a lot in this airplane.

Another idiosyncrasy, if you will, I guess, because of a hollow crank shaft

that was fitted in this particular engine, I think that's what it was caused by.

Anyway, there are certain RPMs that we have to avoid in this airplane.

And if you set an RPM in this range, you get a red enunciator on the

panel, but also on the engine monitor that this airplane is equipped with,

unfortunately, the RPM range was Kind of an important range for slower speed

operations, like within the pattern for an airport or when setting a slower

cruise speed, for example, I can't remember for sure, but it went from,

It could have been a little smaller.

It could have been bigger.

It could have been in a different spot, but it was, it was something like that.

I haven't flown that airplane in quite some time.

So you had to be above.

Or below that RPM for any extended period of time.

So again, learning how to fly this particular airplane since

this was my first time in it.

So let's keep going then as we entered the practice area, he had

me do a position call, and then we do our pre maneuver checklist

and get ready to do some air work.

You can say, uh, North Practice Area, Red Rock 71, 3, 700,

Fountain Hills, northbound.

Northeast Practice Area, Red Rock 71, is 3, 700, headed northbound over Fountain

Hills, uh, Northeast Practice Area.

And you've also got, uh, Honeywell 139, AWM 9 helicopter.

Sour Continent, where we are.

Should just

be down there.

Got him in sight.

Yep, got him.

Alright, we got you in sight, Northeast.

Good, so, um, I don't know if you got too familiar with it,

but this is Rio Verde, obviously.

Over there, see those kind of fields in front of us?

Yep.

With, uh, like the brown.

Yep.

Those are called the Orchards and then that's Rio Verde up there.

Yeah, Rio

Verde community.

Yep.

Campground right there.

Oh yeah, Campground.

Yep.

Street Pattern is way up there.

Street Pattern is all those houses, right?

Yep.

Okay.

So, um, now what I'm going to have you do is we're going to climb up to 4, 500.

And we're clear of the shelf?

Yep, so now we are.

Oh, we're already at climb power.

How did it sneak up like that?

Basically.

Well, because we

can't keep it See that little red thing?

Yeah, yeah.

Exactly.

Did you say 4, 500?

Yep.

And then from there we're going to start to do some, uh, steep turns.

Maneuvering.

Alright.

So we got an instrument flying.

You're going to really make sure that you're on your heading because

you have really tight restrictions.

So it's a good habit for you to start saying 300 to 200 to level off.

And then once we hit 4, 400, we'll go 100 or level off.

Start vocalizing what you're doing, because that's heavy an instrument.

so that's just a good call out, but normally I do 500 feet to level

off, then 100 feet to level off.

Okay.

So you could go 4, 400, 100 feet to level off.

Alright, 100 feet to level off.

Here you go.

Looking outside, making sure that there's no traffic, right, always

keeping good consistency on the outside.

Okay, cool, 4, 500.

Now we can start our pre maneuver checklist.

Pre maneuver checklist.

Clearing turns.

Alright, we'll do

one to the left.

So just a nice 30 degree bank looking for traffic.

And we'll head due west and then we'll come back to the right due north.

Okay.

Yeah, there's 4, 500.

Alright,

5 degrees to west.

Perfect.

And then we'll come back to the right.

Alright.

Clear as far as I can see.

Gorgeous day to fly.

Yeah, it is really nice.

Alright.

So at this point, we were ready to do some stuff.

We'd start with a steep turn.

As I said earlier, this was mostly about getting comfortable in the

airplane and getting ready to start the actual instrument training.

I wasn't even using the hood yet, so while it didn't seem like the

start to instrument, I think it was time well spent in my case.

Alright.

We kind of have, we own the airspace for now.

Doing a really good job holding altitude.

Alright, 5 degrees.

Air is 360, very nice.

Alright, next up we can continue on that checklist.

Clearing turns are complete.

Um, landing light on.

Fuel pump on, I went out of order.

Uh, mixture rich.

Go.

Carb heat,

push it back in.

Throttle as required.

Checklist complete.

Alright,

so now we can do a steep turn, which is a 45 degree bank turn to the left.

And we'll do 460 degree, and then we'll do one to the right.

Okay.

So just a really nice gradual turn over to the left.

There's 45 degrees.

Beautiful.

And keeping that bank in just a little bit more.

Getting a little shallow.

Beautiful.

And you want me to go where?

To the south?

Oh, 360.

Yep,

and then we'll do another 360 degree turn to the right.

Okay, gotta keep that altitude.

Yep,

continue in that turn.

We'll come 45 degrees to the right.

Absolutely beautiful, Bill.

Beautiful.

Alright, watch that airspeed.

Watch that altitude.

Climb in just a little bit.

Totally different sight picture on the cowl on this one.

Oh yeah,

completely.

I like how you're looking outside, kind of trying to keep that horizon

slicing right through the cowl.

Perfect.

I think I got it figured out.

Yep, that's very good.

And then we'll roll out to north and then we'll switch the fuel tanks.

And there we go.

Perfect.

And you can switch that R to the L on that red tank when you have a second.

And the fuel pump is on.

Yep.

Alright, we're on left.

Alright, so next up we're going to do a power on stall.

You remember the setup for that?

Well if you just remind me of the procedure I think I'm good.

Sure.

Alright we're going to slow

ourselves down because we did our pre maneuver checklist.

That's right.

So, oh, okay, that was aggressive.

You're fine.

Sorry

about that.

No you're good.

This throttle is killing me.

I thought the engine died so my heart sank for a second.

I'm glad that was you.

Where

do you want?

Um, so we're going to bring it back to about 1, 800.

And we're going to let ourselves slow down to about 70.

Okay.

Then at 70 we're going to go 2, 000 RPM.

Keep pulling back, keep pulling back.

You don't want to lose that airspeed.

There you go.

and you can start to bring that pitch back.

Keep on bringing it back, and the next thing you're going to see

the stall warning light come on.

There it is.

And then you're going to feel the engine buff it.

Keep that right rudder.

You want to stay coordinated.

Feel the engine buff it now.

Alright, push it.

Push the nose forward.

Just right below the horizon.

And

we're going to gain our airspeed.

And we're going to climb out back

at 85.

Alright, you want to make a radio call saying that Red Rock 71, Northeast

Practice Area, Dynamite Road, 4, 500.

Northeast Practice Area, Red Rock 71, is 4, 600 feet at Dynamite Road, Northeast.

Very nice.

Alright, cool.

I forgot the name of the road you told me.

Yeah, I know,

I know.

We'll do a power off stall next.

So, we'll go up to 100 miles an hour.

And we want to be about

24?

Uh, for now, just to get ourselves there.

And we'll go back to 2, 000 once you hit 100.

Alright, there we are.

So you can bring it back to 2, 000.

There's 2, 000.

You're going to bring in that first notch of flaps.

At 90, you're going to bring in your second notch of flaps.

Already there.

Cool.

And at 80, you're going to bring in your last notch of flaps.

A little bit premature, but that's fine.

Alright, now that we're at 80, we're going to pitch down.

Simulate a landing.

Right, 500 feet descent per minute.

Once you hit that 500, you're going to pull the power to idle.

Now you're going to start to pitch up, slowly, and we're going to let

the airplane stall, so pitch up, that airspeed, and make sure to keep that

right rudder in for coordination.

I'm actually having to use left to keep it coordinated right now.

Really?

Yeah.

Alright.

It's kind of weird, right?

And then, once we stall, you're going to go, there's the stall, full power,

full power, and you're going to take the first notch of flaps out immediately.

Alright.

80 knots,

second.

And

once we are in the positive VSI, we'll go last notch of flaps.

Alright.

And

traffic not available.

Yeah, I know.

So whenever we're in that red thing, it says that sometimes.

Alright, let's do a 180 degree turn to the south.

Yep,

it's clear over here.

Alright, so I was a little out of practice, as can be expected, I guess, but

he walked me through both stalls nicely.

He then would surprise me with an engine out drill.

I probably should have been more ready for it, but I wasn't.

So what can I say?

The other problem I was having here is that this area is just such

a vast stretch of desert below.

Not really any.

farm fields like we have south of the East Valley and it's just desert.

While seemingly a good place to put a plane down, there's all kinds of

medium sized and small vegetation and lots of dry creek beds with

undulations and washes and berms.

And so what might look flat from way up high will ruin your day if

you have to try and land on it.

So I had a hard time picking a place to shoot for.

Agricultural areas seem to have a lot more safe options.

And while there is some ag in this area, albeit smaller areas, it's

mostly orchards, so not a good choice.

Anyway, it was a good learning experience.

Here's how it went.

You're doing very good, Bill.

That was great.

Engine just died.

So, first thing we're going to do is go to airspeed.

We're going to pitch for 80.

So that's our ABC's, right?

Yep.

Best place to land.

Oh, best place to land.

Yep, so we're looking outside.

Where do you think is a good spot to land?

I should have been looking.

Um, well definitely in the flat areas over here.

Okay.

and so we're continuing to look for that.

And then the C's are checked.

So maybe we fuel start our left tank.

So maybe we switch it over to the right.

We don't actually have to do it.

Okay.

We're going to make sure our master's on.

Uh, maybe we have carbizing.

Yep.

Make sure fuel comes on.

Maybe you have carbizing.

So pull the carpeet.

We don't need to.

Yep.

And then make sure our mixture's rich.

That's a good little flow.

If nothing's happening with that, then we're going to pull out

our forced landing checklist.

forced landing.

Airspeed 80.

Check.

Declare an emergency.

Magnetos are off.

Masters off.

Fuel selectors off.

Uh, mixture off.

Seatbelts on.

ELT on.

Okay.

Flaps as required.

Airspeed minimum.

You're not looking outside.

You're not

looking outside.

There you go.

Yep.

Perfect.

Run through that.

Where would you go?

Probably on that little, uh,

We'll break it off right here just because there's, um, houses so you can climb up.

Go up to 4, 500.

I know, right?

Makes me think.

Yeah.

Um, yeah.

Alright.

And always double check your oil pressure.

Look at your fuel gauges like once every five minutes or so just to make

sure that everything is all good.

Alright.

So we did stalls, we did steep turns, we did climbs, we did

descents, we did uh, turns.

Um, let's see.

unfortunately we have to go back.

Alright, so it wasn't my finest and most decisive hour, but like I said,

it's all part of the learning process.

We'd start to head back now, so he wanted to get me back in the box a little,

so to speak, or back on the GPS, as I would need to get pretty proficient

with that for my instrument writing.

Funny thing though, is he assumed I had no experience with the old G430 Waz,

but I flew with one pretty extensively back in my club days, you know, 10, 11

years before with the 182s and the 172.

So he was telling me to punch in direct to kick.

KFFZ or Falconfield, but I used the nearest function instead to minimize

having to dial in the airport ID.

He started to stop me, but then he realized I was doing the same

thing, but just in a faster way.

So while I impressed this time, don't worry, that little old

GPS box would get the better of me before I mastered it again.

So it'll have its wins in battle with me yet.

But today I won.

Here you go.

Alright, so what you're going to do now, you're going to hit that D

and you're going to throw in KFFZ.

So, nope.

I can get it right here.

Oh, perfect.

Alright.

Wow, look at you.

Alright.

I did use

that in my 182.

Awesome.

Alright, and then we're going to get weather, 20 miles out, because that's

part of our before landing checklist.

Okay.

That's us.

I didn't hear the uh, I haven't touched

anything.

Uh, do we have a carrier?

I don't think so.

Okay.

Visual approach in use, landing and departing.

four left and four right.

Attention all aircraft, 5G nodum is in effect for Falcon Airport.

For further information, contact flight service frequencies.

arrival south of runway centerline and we'll descend

after

Alright, we have Kilo.

Kilo.

Alright, so after we um, go over these houses, We don't want to descend

low because of noise abatement.

We'll go down to 3, 300.

Alright, and you can pull out that checklist when you have a second.

There we go.

Cool.

And we'll

start to verify the before landing checklist.

Alright, 20 miles out, ATIS AWOS check.

Just got that.

10 miles out, Kilo, right?

Yep.

Uh, 10 miles out, first call.

That'll be over Fountain Hills.

Got 6 miles to

go.

Fuel pump

on.

We'll just do that after.

So we'll do our post maneuver checklist now.

Okay.

So we just want to make sure that we got that first part of it before landing

and then we'll do our post maneuver now.

Got

it.

Post maneuver.

Carb heat

still off.

Oh, that thing's annoying.

Landing light.

I think it's

this one.

Yep.

I know it's hard to read.

Fuel

pump off.

Cool.

Mixture

lean.

There it is.

Yep.

Perfect.

And we can start that descent down to 3, 300.

Okay.

I'm just going to go to 2, 000 RPM.

Does that sound okay?

Yeah, that's fine.

Or 2,

100.

Yeah, that's perfect.

And then you can also let them know we're at campground.

Descending from 4, 500 to 3, 300 northeast.

Northeast practice area, Red Rock 71 is at 4, 500.

Descending to 3, 300 over campground northeast.

Very, very good.

Zero in 119.

7.

Perfect.

Good descent right here.

I think it's trimmed well.

Oh yeah, she's

ripping.

Good job.

I say ripping way too much from the Midwest.

That was a North Dakota thing.

I noticed you shot

me a shaka at one point.

Oh, yeah, that's the Hawaii in me.

I have North Dakota, Hawaii, and now a little bit of the Southwest,

and I lived in Washington for a year, so a little bit of everything.

Nice

West.

He's way

over there.

That's the Northwest, so he's some dude just ripping over here.

Alright, and we want to make sure that we're at 3, 300 because of the Shelf.

Um, so the Shelf starts at 4, 000, perfect.

Perfect.

So we'll just continue in this descent.

Everything's looking good.

And then at ten miles out you can call them saying we have Kilo inbound

full stop from Fountain Hills.

Sounds good.

Most likely give us left traffic for four left.

And then switch us over to the right.

Uh, maybe.

Alright, we are 200 feet from our altitude.

Epic 200 feet to level off.

Okay.

We'll just probably enter direct on the 45.

Um, so at 10 miles out, so you can call them in a mile just saying.

Will do.

You know what to say.

There's our altitude.

Would you keep, go to 22 or 24 in this airplane?

Uh, at this point or just keep it slow?

No, no, go to 24.

Yep.

I'm good.

Yeah, perfect.

I know this throttles all kinds of hamma jank, but.

There we go.

Oops.

Now

I'm

climbing.

Really good use of trim.

Okay, so here's my bonehead move of the day.

The classic transmit on the wrong frequency mistake.

Luckily, I caught myself, and I don't think anyone was still

on the practice area frequency.

So maybe it went unnoticed outside the airplane, I don't know.

But I guess we all do it sometimes.

So one could cut me some slack on that one, but then listen to me

when I did call the right frequency.

You'll hear it.

English is hard.

Foggin Tower Red Rock 71.

Oh, no, no, wrong frequency.

Yep, there you go.

Four company.

You terminal.

Cross one ahead.

I was like, it's really quiet.

Following the AL Officer 61 54

Red Rock Tower Falcon Tower Red Rock, 71 is over.

Fountain Hills, 3,300 inbound.

Full stop with Kilo

Red Rock.

Seven one Falcon uh, tower Make left traffic going.

Four Left.

We'll make left traffic for four Left.

Red Rock.

71.

I always say Red Rock Tower too.

. Okay, uh, the thing that we need to know is by the time we hit that

circle, because that's Falcon, we just want to be at pattern altitude,

2,

400.

I don't want to descend any lower than this because of all the hull behind us.

Exactly, so once we cross Mountain Hills, I'll just wing on over to 2, 400.

Sounds good.

We're staying ahead of the airplane, which is great, and then we can continue

in that before landing checklist, because now we had our first call.

Got it.

Ten miles out.

Before landing, ten miles out.

Heel pump is

There you go.

Uh, fuel tank, still on the good one.

Uh, mixture rich.

Carb heat, push it back in.

Landing light on.

There you go.

And

five miles out, position planned.

Okay, so you see in front of us, we have Falcon Tower up there.

Yep, I see it.

So we'll just enter on this 45 and we'll square us off for a 4

left.

You know what to do.

Yes sir.

Alright, so now we're just about past Fountain Hills so you can

start that descent down to 2, 400.

It's weird we can't use those, uh, useful RPMs right there.

I know, it's super weird.

I flew this thing solo once, like when I started here, and I was like freaking

out, because I was like, what is that?

You're getting a red warning.

Yeah, that's just from that.

Okay, alright,

got it.

Those enunciator lights are freaking me out.

Oh, I know, I know.

Just to get used to it.

Alright, pull back just a hair more.

So it stops yelling at me?

Yeah, exactly.

4L, cleared to touch and go.

Number

2,

Red Rock 70 01, uh, follow an archer crossing downwind

12 o'clock in about 2 miles.

Alright, we're looking for traffic, and we'll follow him

on the downwind, Red Rock 71.

70

01.

70 01.

70 01.

Call your crosswind turn.

Got him, perfect, yep.

I think that's him.

Yep, I

think that

is.

I'll

let him know it's in sight, right?

Uh, yep.

Yeah, we have the Archer on downwind.

Alright, Anaclon,

we'll inform them.

Falcon Tower, Red Rock 71, we have the traffic in sight.

Red

Rock 71, roger.

You still got him?

He's like almost.

He's

almost a beam.

Really, really nice Entry on the 45, 50,

41 follow company officer.

Turning base run with four left Clear touching.

Go.

54 traffic and site four left.

Clear touch.

Go,

go,

go off.

Roger Crossman approve of your discretion.

I hear those guys fly wide patterns too.

Those Red Rock.

71.

Number three, follow the Archer approach in Downend.

Number runway four, left

Number three, clear to land on.

Four left Red Rock.

71.

Follow the archer approaching on down wind.

Copy

the read back, thank you.

Yeah,

the archer I saw was the one we're following.

Oh, I think, okay, that's a Cessna.

Because he was talking about company traffic that was turning

crosswind, so I think we're good.

I'm getting a little low.

Yeah, watch that altitude.

Alright, we should be at two thousand on downwind, yeah?

2,

000.

2, 000 RPM.

2,

400, yep.

I mean RPM.

We should be at 2, 100, but in our case, that's going to be like right at that.

100 miles an

hour on downwind.

You can start that turn.

We're going to

square ourselves off.

You're

Yeah, I noticed that, but I can't, I can't add power.

Oh, yeah.

True.

It's really annoying.

Alright, you might want to widen your, uh, down one out just a little bit,

because we don't want to overshoot.

I had an issue with that this morning.

Okay.

But the student, he overshot.

We almost, we got into the other approach path, so.

I really can't.

No, I know, I know.

Do

anything with the power right now.

No, so you can start your descent now.

Okay.

Perfect.

And we'll slow ourselves down.

You can get that first notch of flaps.

There you go.

And start

to

pull

Falcon tower

61 54 going around continuing

your descent.

This is . Do you have the archer head and she left side?

Uh, we have 'em in site.

7 3 8.

I go.

Hey,

that's about 45.

Thank you.

Number three, we're only four left clear land.

They're also full stop.

I'll follow this.

Follow the 7 61 54.

All I wanna be at 90.

Yep.

In the base.

Perfect.

And I'm gonna just continue the turn here.

Okay.

For final.

Yep.

Because we were a little close.

Thank you.

And see the traffic on short.

Final, see if he's still on the runway.

We we're gonna go around.

I got it.

And you're a little fast, so we'll just bring that last onto to flap flaps

and kind of slow ourselves down a bit.

We are.

And I wanna get to 80.

Yeah.

Uh, yeah, exactly.

80 full flaps on final.

A little low.

Beautiful Bill.

Alright, that guy is off the runway.

Alright, I'm

going to go ahead

and

get

some light

rudder in.

Get

it

aligned.

Alright, runway is made.

Start to pull that back.

Stop that energy.

Pull back, pull back.

There you go.

Oop,

little balloon.

You can start to add in those brakes.

There you go.

Uh, not that.

So you can just let it off.

Let off.

Red

Rock 71, turn right at the end.

Hold short.

Runway 4 right.

We'll turn right at the end.

And hold short of 4 right.

Red Rock 71.

Roger.

9 6 10.

Company, Archer, 12 o'clock on final landing the south runway.

Traffic.

I guess I might as

well get on the center line.

Red Rock 71 monitor.

Tower 1 2 4 0.6.

She'll give you a call again,

we'll monitor one two four 0.6.

Red Rock 71 brake

tower 4 5 1 holding short

echo.

1, 2, 4 what?

2 4 6 Holding short traffic not available.

Tower.

This is Cherokee.

1 6 3 1 8.

We're holding short four.

Right.

A bravo so you can turn everybody in

between the runways holding.

Trying to get on the other side.

I have you standby.

I

can't get that stupid

throttle.

Oh,

I know, you're good, you're

good.

You're in

Alright, so then we literally spent The next 10 minutes or so waiting to

cross the end of runway four, right?

It was getting pretty ridiculous, but the amount of traffic at Falcon

Field can be ridiculous sometimes.

So I guess that's life.

We did finally get the call to cross and then neither one of us remembered

if they had said to contact ground.

or monitor ground.

So I had to key back up and ask ground if we were good to taxi.

In listening back, of course, I can see, I can hear, I guess I should

say that we had already been cleared to taxi all the way to the ramp.

But since we weren't sure, we stopped and asked.

Rookie move for sure, but better to confess than get a deviation.

So whatever.

7 1, cross runway 4 right at Charlie, taxi via Delta to parking, monitor

ground traffic, go to position.

Roger.

We're crossing 4 right, uh, and we'll taxi via Delta to parking Red Rock 71.

Cessna 0A, runway 4R, continue traffic holding position.

Alright.

4R, continue 610A.

Right on

those brakes, brakes.

Roger.

6154, traffic holding position, cross runway 4R at Charlie, and taxi via Delta.

Did

you say contact or monitor ground?

I wasn't sure.

Alright, we'll contact ground.

Alright, I had somebody, I don't know,

MD ramp or something.

Stop right here.

Trying to call, say again.

Kodiak 619 Bravo Kilo

R& D Ramp with Kilo taxi negative run up.

I gotta give room for the one behind me.

Yep.

Falcon Ground, Red Rock 71, we didn't catch if we were

supposed to contact our monitor.

Red Rock 71, for ya.

I just say Red Rock taxi to the ramp.

Red Rock

71 is taxiing to the ramp.

Red Rock 71, I see you down there, Charlie, taxi to the ramp via Delta.

We'll taxi to the ramp via Delta, Red Rock 71.

Falcon Ground, Oxford six one.

Oh.

He's gonna double check at Delta 10.

Agreed.

6 1 54 Taxi around via delta and the runup area.

So another successful training mission in the books, so to speak.

I was having a good time with Eddie, but as I mentioned before, I'd only have

something like four more lessons with Eddie during my instrument training.

I would fly with a few other instructors as we went, but Most

of my training would be with two instructors I hadn't flown with yet.

So you'll need to follow the rest of my instrument training

to see how that all goes.

For now, I was just getting back into the swing of things, learning the airplane

and trying to take one step at a time.

So I hope you're enjoying the beginning of the new era of training on the podcast.

As usual, I'd love to hear feedback.

So let me know what you think, what you'd like to hear more of or less of, any

insights you want that I'm not bringing.

Basically, let me know how the podcast is working for you.

I always hope that it's one helping some people out there while they're

training and two, maybe helping some of you get started on your training.

Of course, I hope it's entertaining for y'all too.

if you do have feedback, send me an email at bill at student pilot cast.

com.

You can also find me on X with the handle app.

Bill will that's Bravo, India, Lima, Lima, whiskey, India, Lima.

I was feeling pretty good at this point about My decision to get the

training going again, I was having a blast, but I wouldn't always feel like

that as there were definitely bumps in the road coming my way for sure.

Part of the reason for the gauntlet we run when building experience

and training and getting ratings and certs, et cetera, is just the

experience is sometimes the point.

It's like a refinery breaking down the crude into something usable.

It can be quite a ride, and there's always ups and downs.

But the experience gained through all of it could save a life one day.

So I try to embrace it all, learn what I can, and just keep

putting one foot in front of the other on my way to my next goal.

I try not to worry about what comes next, but that's not always that easy to do.

that said, at this point, I was, well like Eddie would say, I was ripping.

I was gonna soon be an instrument pilot.