SPC #69 – World’s Okayest Pilot

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[00:00:00] Cold Open

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Can I overcome the cobwebs and get through my flight review so I can start flying again? Find out today in episode 69 of the student pilot cast. World's okayest pilot.

[00:00:14] Intro

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Welcome back SPC listeners. So today is going to be my second flight in my flight review with Ryan and our plan was to go down to Chandler and do some touch and goes and practice landings down there. And get rid of my new tendency I was finding I had to land flat. Plans can change in aviation. So you got to [00:01:00] roll with that. And that's what happened this day. our plans got changed for some circumstances beyond our control and, we just may do and did something else and it worked out great. So you'll see that coming up. Again, the plan was to finish up the flight review so I could start my instrument training.

So, again, as I said, in one of the previous episodes, I'm leaving in quite a bit of the flight more than I think I used to. I know that's a lot of the reasons why a lot of you listen, I know that because you tell me. Uh, so I appreciate that feedback. We'll talk about that in a second.

So as I get started on the instrument rating, I want people to reach out with questions or areas that you'd like me to cover so I don't miss anything while I'm putting those episodes together. So please reach out to me. I appreciate those of you who've already done so, and especially those who've welcomed me back. But I love hearing from all of you so keep it coming. [00:02:00] If you're enjoying the podcast, let me know if you're not, you can let me know too, but I'm guessing that you're a little less likely to reach out if you, if you hate the podcast, but you never know.

Also before we get into this flight, I want to know who's headed to AirVenture 2024 in Oshkosh this year. It's coming right up. , I can't believe how fast it's coming up, but I am planning on being there. Hopefully I'll be there from. Tuesday through Saturday, something like that. It's always a great time. And as everybody knows. It's about the people. So hit me up. If you're going. .

[00:02:32] ATIS and Runnup

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In this segment, you'll notice that we went to the other end of the runway this time from, from the last flight. And so I was learning again about where the run-ups were done and some of the idiosyncrasies of this particular airport. In fact, I, I really didn't have that much experience flying at Falcon field up until this point. Since then most of my flying has been done from Falcon field but before that, a lot of my flying

Had been done from Chandler or a little private [00:03:00] airport near Chandler called stellar air park. Stellar air park was where my club had been based, before I moved to San Diego. So I had done a lot of my flying out of there back in the day. So I really, I had gone to Falcon field before I had gone through it,

I had landed there, pick people up, you know, things like that. But I was never based at Falcon field and so I didn't have a lot of that. Information that you get by flying in and out of there all the time. And so I was starting to pick up some of that information too, while we were, while we were doing this training. We also, while we were taxing, saw really cool old Cessna. I think it's called an AT-17 Bobcat. It's one of those times, every once in a while, I'm kind of thinking, man, I wish I did more video. But. Usually audio works for me, but

This is one of those times. I wish I had some video of that cessna that old Cessna. It's pretty cool.

And since we were [00:04:00] actually going to Chandler, not just flying over it, Ryan gave me some information at the last minute there, that was, that would prove pretty useful. That I should tell the controllers that we're going to Chandler, not just asking for a south departure. Because a lot of people go on a south departure from, from Falcon field.

And when you do that, you basically have to go over Chandler to stay under the Bravo and out of Chandler's class Delta airspace and get out to the south of the Phoenix valley. That. I mean, everybody's doing that. You're flying it. There's a Southeast practice area over there that lots and lots of people are flying to, to do maneuvers or landings at other uncontrolled airports, you know, south of the valley there. But since we were actually going to Chandler we'd be staying lower and going into Chandler's airspace. Not like most of the traffic that's going to go high enough to get out of the airspace. So we'd basically be staying at traffic pattern altitude the whole [00:05:00] time all the way to Chandler. So it helps them kind of know what to expect from us. So that was good advice. And that's a good thing to think about a lot of times when we're flying is think about what most of the traffic is doing and if you're doing something similar, but it's different, maybe it makes sense to let them know so they know what to expect. They know you're not going to keep climbing, et cetera.

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Back to the flight then. So we get to review my review we'll start with getting the ATIS and doing the run-up.

Oh, we

did break. Tower, information Bravo, 195.

4 Zulu,

299. Approach is your own use. Land on 22 left and 22 right. 5G NOTAM is in effect for Falcon Airport.

To 50 feet, HZL. Arrival south of runway, centerline contact tower on 124. 6. North of the runway, centerline contact tower on 119. 7. Advise on initial contact, you have information Bravo. Bravo.[00:06:00]

Landing 22, right? Yep. Five tower French and bravo. You done with that? 5, 4, 0 wind? One. That's all the way out and staying at a thousand. Seriously? Yeah. Oh, it was locked. That's why. Huh? All right.

I didn't yank on it hard enough. Um, alright, flight instruments. That one is about right.

Oh, look at that. That's even right. Yeah. Can't believe that. Alright, airport diagram. Alright. Go. Should be good to go, huh? Yep. Yeah, we'll just go where they are, we'll kind of pull 7 there and give them a call. Okay. And there she goes.

Oh yeah, we're in this mixture now too. What is this area where we're going to be? Uh, this exit right here is Delta 7, so once they get out of the way, we'll say we're holding short of Delta [00:07:00] 7. So you just use the intersection there. Where is he going? Following the line. Oh.

What in the hell is this thing coming up? Oh yeah. Oh, that's that, uh, I know where that is. That thing's been sitting under a tie down for like, ten years and hasn't moved. It looks like an old beach. That's actually a Cessna right there. They call it like a Bonanza Bomber or something, or a Bamboo Bomber.

Wow. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Alright, sorry I won't distract you. That's okay. Uh, let's see. Delta 7, huh? Yep. And Bravo. I almost said Chandler. Falcon Ground, Red Rock 66 is at Delta 7. Uh, we're going to be departing to the south and we have Bravo. Red Rock 66, Falcon Ground, journey 22L via Delta, verify your departure request.

Verify what? And, uh, for Red Rock 66, we're going to [00:08:00] Chandler, we'd like to go over at, uh, their, uh, traffic counter altitude. Red Rock 66, roger, journey 22L via Delta. 22L via Delta, Red Rock 66. Still having a problem hearing her. Yeah, she's a little quiet. I always keep them turned down, a lot. I forgot to mention, when you're going to Chandler, they like to, like, tell them you're going to Chandler.

Oh, okay. Because, typically, when everybody goes out to the south, they fly at 3, 700 feet, and they go over the top of Chandler, but if you're going to Chandler, you basically just stay at their traffic pattern altitude. Okay. And, uh, they just like to know, because all the people That are coming from Chandler back to Falcon, start descending, so you'll be on like a direct kind of path of their descent.

I forgot to mention that. I forgot we were going to Chandler.

We actually never read back the taxi instructions, but she's alright. Yeah, I did. Oh, you did? Yes. Oh, okay.

Falcon ground, Red Rock 83 at Delta 7 Information Bravo, south departure. Red Rock [00:09:00] 83.

Red Rock 83, Falcon ground, turning to the left, taxi via Delta. Alright. Where are the run ups here? Yep, right there. Just go pull up next to them. Just pull out here? Uh huh. Okay. Doesn't have a nice line like on the other side? No, not like the other side.

So, just next to them, huh? Yep. Okay. Finding Falcon is like one of the biggest run up areas I've ever seen. Okay. Yeah, it's kind of nice. And, uh, everywhere else you go, it's a little tiny, just pull out. Right.

You good with this? Huh? Alright, run up. Parking brake, I got it. Next to your ridge. Flight controls. I'm in 247 Delta Alpha Falcon Ground. I see you on Delta 3. Taxi straight into the ramp. You can just monitor ground. Or, uh, monitor me. Free and correct. Throttle 2, 000.

Alright, magnetos. Left.

[00:10:00] And, okay. Same drop. Carb heat. Got a drop there. Amps. Oh, that's suction. Suction is good. Uh, the centimeter is still barely above zero. 13. 9. Check that. Vacuum 5. Oil and fuel gauges were still in the green. Okay. Throttle to idle.

And, keeps running. So we're back to a thousand, oops. Alright. Alright, flight instruments, check them again, let's see.

This looks good.

Goodish. Uh, okay. Uh, GPS, it's on. Okay, let's go ahead and set it to, let's just go direct to Chandler from here. [00:11:00] Direct, and you set it, we go down here. It's close enough, it'll be probably right there, there you go. And enter, and enter. There we go. Okay. Um, Okay. How do I zoom in? Is that, uh, these buttons right here.

So I'd zoom in and then this is zooming out. Okay, thanks. Um, transponder 1,204 takeoff brief. All right. How do you guys do your briefings? I probably the same that you've always done it. I usually kinda say we're on the runway, we had any kind of issues. We'll chop the throttle, break, get off. If, uh, we take off, if we got plenty of runway left to land, we'll set her back down, do the same thing, and then, uh.

For below 1, 000 feet AGL, we'll pick something plus minus 30 degrees of our runway heading. I like to know what I have for options, so I either usually go McCallum's Road. What's that? Got a park over there too. So I go for the park or McCallum's Road. Um, and then going that way, I always say the golf course or [00:12:00] McDowell.

And then 1, 000 or above, we'll turn back around and land on 4 left. Okay. Good deal.

[00:12:08] Before Takeoff Checklist

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So now we're ready for before. Take off checklist. There's some good instruction here from Ryan on being ready to depart in case they want to rush you out, which happens sometimes, but usually it's the opposite, but it's good to be ready.

Alright, and before you give her a call, do the before takeoff. Sometimes, a lot of the times here they give you the no delay and rush you out.

Okay.

Before takeoff, fuel pump is on.

Landing light.

Flaps down. Mixture. We want it full forward. Yeah, we'll go rich. Uh, and door is secured. That is secured. Okay. Uh, Falcon. He's calling you. [00:13:00] Uh, Red Rock 66 number one holding short.

I'm assuming she heard me. Yeah, she did. Yeah. Here, they're not very big on giving you hold short clearances. Okay. Or readbacks. At every other airport I've been to, when you call them, they tell you to keep holding short. Here, they just don't say anything, or they just say Roger. Which I always found odd. Is that guy doing S turns at that low?

I think he might have just got a little gust or something. I was wondering the same thing.

[00:13:28] North Up vs Track Up Discussion While Holding Short

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All right. So I couldn't help myself here. I had to get controversial and ask the age old question on. If Ryan was a north up or a track up guy. I know it's an old debate, but I'm always curious how people operate. Personally, if I have to choose one, I prefer north up. It helps me keep my situational awareness. But lately the planes I've been flying sometimes have so many screens plus the iPad, I have the luxury of maybe having both, which isn't a terrible way to [00:14:00] go. For example, maybe a plane has a Garmin, G3X and a large screen touch GPS. Plus you've got the iPad. Maybe north up goes on one of them goes on the MFD and track up goes on the GPS screen. I don't know? And of course I still have the iPad that can be focused on ADSB, traffic, or terrain or something else. We're getting really spoiled in some of these cockpits, but the situational awareness is through the roof.

So, let me know what you guys prefer when you're flying. Track up, north up, both, neither. Maybe you think screens are for the living room and not the cockpit. Either way, let me know your MO. I'm always curious, like I said, I like to see what people are doing and maybe I can learn something.

I would love to track the responses. All right. I'm sorry. I can't help myself. Let's keep going.

You a north up guy? Or are you a track up guy?

I'm a north up [00:15:00] guy. Yeah,

me

too. Yeah. I think track up is the wonkiest

thing

ever. I

think people who do track up belong in insane asylums.

I can do it both ways, but I prefer to read the map.

I get so turned around when I look at it like that.

I used to do a lot of track up, actually. Really? Yeah. I tried it once. It's just hard to read. Yeah,

it's like, I like to read it and everything's upside down.

Yeah,

right. Well, that's one of the beautiful things about these digital maps is everything stays upright no matter how it turns.

Uh huh.

But it is hard to get your bearings sometimes. Yeah. Because you're like.

I don't like it. When you're heading south, everything's upside down. I'm like, what am I looking at?

Exactly.

[00:15:53] Takeoff

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All right. I guess we're ready for takeoff then. So let's get to [00:16:00] it.

Red Rock 66, channel departure approved, runway 22L, cleared for takeoff.

Cleared for takeoff, 22L, Red Rock 66.

Oxford 9203, runway 22L, cleared to land.

22L, cleared to land, Oxford 9203.

He's right there.

He's on the other runway. Oh, okay. It always looks like they're lined up, it's freaky.

Alright, I've got basically 22 on the direction.

Okay.

2285, uh, uh, with information, Charlie font arrival

and we're in the green air speed is alive.

2025 Tower one one

and 85 South Tower Red Rock. 91 is number one holding short. Two two left.

Officer 50 Connect Phoenix Park

border. Botox, we take two 50. Thank [00:17:00] you.

It's a little more windy up here than it felt like on the ground. Eh, maybe a little bit of thermals, maybe. Going too fast. Oh. Okay. I like to kind of use this track to help me out when I have something in GPS.

If you keep the, uh, 220 on there, you pretty much know you're tracking straight out. Good point. Yep. My turn? Yep. And that's to the south, right? Yep. Just towards Chandler. Okay.

Five. This will be here in seven minutes.

She'll give me a frequency change. Yep. I sometimes like to ask for it early here, just because you're so close to Chandler already, how you, I go ahead and ask, and let's go ahead and level out here. Okay. I'll just stay at the tpa. Chand Mark three. Hold short. Two. [00:18:00] Two left.

Go on, just go ahead and ask her. Alright. No. Falcon Tower, Red Rock 66, frequency change? Frequency change approved, thanks. Red Rock 66. Okay.

[00:18:22] Chandler ATIS and Approach

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So we're headed toward Chandler staying low, so we have to get the ATIS there and get in to land. You'll notice that Ryan is talking about the glide slope they have there. And if you're following their PAPI, it seems really shallow. I checked afterwards and it claims a three degree glide path, but Ryan was right, it seemed kind of low. But. It's probably just because we're so used to the four degree slope at Falcon. Who knows?

So, this is where our best laid plans get changed. Turns out the controller was by himself at this point, [00:19:00] he'll say it later.

So he wasn't willing to give us multiple touch and gos. So we pivoted a couple of times as you'll hear in the next segment. We'd figure something out. We'll pick it up from there.

Should I get Aegis first?

It's already in there, you just got to click it on the audio panel.

Papa.

Chandler ATIS Information Papa, Tom 2 0 4 7 Zulu, wind 2 4 0 at 8, visibility 1,

altimeter 2 9 9 6. Runway 22 in use. Expect visual approach. Use caution crane 1 nautical miles southwest 125 feet AGL. Crane point 3 nautical miles south southeast 177 feet AGL. Taxiway Charlie pattern closed. All arrivals and departures contact tower 126. 1. Advise on initial contact you have information papa.

Papa. [00:20:00] Papa. Alright, so I go flip over now. Uh. Give them a call as soon as you know you're not going to step on anyone. Yep. And, uh, ask them for a touch and go's. Okay.

Chandler Tower, Red Rock 66 is away just south of Falcon, uh, 2, 500 feet. Inbound for touch and go's and we have papa. Red Rock 66, Chandler Tower, unable multiple touch and go's. I can give you one and then say your intention. Alright, we'll take the one touch ago, then just a south departure for Red Rock 66.

Red Rock 66, Channel 5 roger, make straight in runway 22R. Straight in 22R, Red Rock 66. Oh well. We'll get one, then go out to the south. Still be good to What is their pattern altitude? It's 2300.

Service one, Charlie Delta one, send it down one, extend down one. Roger. [00:21:00] Down

Red Rock 66 state type aircraft. Cherokee 180, Roger.

Alright, see it out there. I see it. Cool. Can they gimme the, did he tell us straight in for two Two, right Or left Charlie at the Hill Pack code lane? It was one of the two. He'll tell us soon. Okay. But I just kinda like to parallel, uh, this road right here. I think it's, this is Lindsey right here. Nine zero.

Charlie, if you just either get over the top of it or stay just to the left of it and parallel it, I kind of break off into a straight in from there. Okay. And if we fall out, we're well clear of gateways, I suppose, so we should be alright. Yep, alright.

Man, got a little bumpy out here. Yeah, and they're reporting 8 knots over there. Oh, are they? Yeah. Wow.

I mean, it's not a lot of it is crosswind. Yeah. Air Sun 726 on the go, make left traffic, runway 22L. I'll go before, [00:22:00] before landing check, let's just make sure, we didn't turn any of our switches off, but just make sure they're all still on. Just to verify. Or do your GUMS check. So once we're rolling, plan to follow Cherokee traffic, turn left crosswind for left downwind.

That wasn't for us, right? No. Um, before landing, 8S got it. Fuel pump is on. Fuel, proper tank is good. Texture is rich still, carb heat. Landing light is on. Five miles out. Okay. 12 o'clock, two miles, on a straight in final as a Cherokee. 2, 400, we're gonna put the Cherokee in sight. That's us. Red Rock 66, runway 22 right, clear touch and go, fly straight out.

Traffic, left base for the left side Cherokee. 22 right, cleared for touch and go, we'll fly straight out, Red Rock 66. Alright, so we can probably go ahead and start slowing her up now. So just kind of level the nose here for a second, pull the power [00:23:00] back. About eighteen, nineteen hundred. Supercab 23010 on channeling ground runway 22R taxi via alphanumeric.

Let's get a knock flaps in, we're on our wide arc.

And just watch your speed, you're right on the edge of that wide arc there.

1,

18, traffic, ahead and to your left on final for the right side is a Cherokee, altitude in case 1, 900. I feel like Chandler

has the lowest looking glide slope ever.

Air Sun 818, Channel 1 Tower, how do you hear? Air Sun 818, roger. Air Sun 726, you're number 2 for the runway following a Cherokee a mile ahead of you in the base turn when able to report the traffic in sight.

Number 2, runway 2, Tower. Hit the last

one. Let's start shooting for 80 miles an hour on final here. Okay. And try and follow your two white two rides all the way down to the runway

on 7 26. Number two, follow the Cherokee left. You're probably just about on the quick go.

Very bottom of it. Of those two whites, two rides, they got a load lights up

here, [00:24:00] two left touch, go 7 1 2 1 and then down Extend down on your phone.

Sears traffic on a two and a half mile right base.

Three zero Tango. Just give a heads up. You're transmitting Tower on both the Tower and ground final fan. Yeah, I'm the only one up here. So it's all ference, sir. A little low, huh? Not according to that thing. Really? They said Chandler has the lowest glide slope I've ever seen. Takes you like right over the top of these buildings.

We've got two whites, two reds, so we're good. Follow it down.

No wonder he wasn't able to give us touch and go's. Yeah, he's busy.

Very good. Start pulling back a little bit. Keep your nose down. down. Keep it down. Down. TherE you go. Bad gun pull.

Helicopter. Seven. You pull it all the way up miles south. Stop.

Just look at the end of the runway. Keep pulling it up. Pull it up.

Five, six. [00:25:00] Unable. We're two. Two left. Alright, twos just continue inbound.

You expect the plenty. Your runway Take your

time.

Alright. Negative on the runway, we will requesting the he at this accident. Seven. Cut. Five, six. Report South Point report. South 0.705. Six two. Arizona 18. No delay on the runway. Right. Turn at Lima. Hold short. And we teach you right. Remain this frequency.

[00:25:20] Landing at Chandler

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So once again, it seems I landed a little flat. We would definitely have to get that corrected today. There was a another plane that read back a clearance that he never got that you'll hear here, so that was kind of interesting, so listen for that. We'll play it from here and then we'll decide what we're going to do.

You see it a little bit more nose up on that, it's just a little bit flat.

Yeah. I didn't, uh, judge my

altitude, my height, very

well. Yeah, you're alright. Uh, you're number two, follow the Cherokee. The only thing is to report the Cherokee in sight. [00:26:00] Traffic in sight, 1

3 Romeo.

Cessna 1 3 Romeo, roger. Number two, follow the Cherokee.

Runway 22L, cleared touch and go. Number

two, 22L, cleared

touch

and go. Cleared touch and

go, 1 3 Romeo. Red Rock 66, fly straight out.

Flying straight out, Red

Rock 66. Alright, so let's go down to the south And we'll kind of head on back to Falcon Island.

We'll head

on back to

Falcon Island.

[00:26:26] Change of Plans

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Scratch that then. Ryan decided not to mess with going south and doing all that other stuff,

and we wanted to try our luck back at Falcon. Which would work out nicely as you'll hear later, here you go.

You know what? Challenge tower, Red Rock 66. Can we actually make our departure back to Falcon?

And Cub 712, the Cirrus traffic you're following is short final. There's traffic off your left for the left side of Cessna.

Cub 712, roger.

Can we actually make our departure back to Falcon for Red Rock [00:27:00] 66?

Can we turn now? Yeah.

And if you just want to stay at 2400 you can just do that.

Set cruise power there. Yeah. My plan didn't work. Thought it'd be nice and calm there. One, let's get back down a little bit. The next taxi away, and then contact ground traffic on final of the follow. We'll turn on the next taxi. Six one Charlie Delta

Tower 7 26. 7 26. Roger, make uh, continue straight out straight. Well, if he's gonna make it full stop. Can't we stay here? helicopter. Oh, actually Chandler Tower . Can we take his spot?

Air Sun 726, make right traffic, runway 22 right traffic, Cherokee will hold in position to part before your arrival. Do you kind of feel how you're flying a little bit sideways like this? Uh, yeah, I guess so. Look at the ball on your turn coordinator. I think you're still holding in [00:28:00] a little bit of right rudder there.

Or we just need some left rudder trim.

Yeah, it felt like I was trying to overcome something, but I thought it was wind. But I guess not. Yeah, my feet are off. Yeah, someone just had to trim it out a lot. Alright, try and get back down to 12 o'clock.

And I would ask him for a frequency change.

Chandler Tower, Red Rock 66, request frequency change. Chandler Tower, Red Rock 66, request frequency change. Red Rock 66, frequency change approved, traffic 12 o'clock, one mile south, on TAP and announcing in case 3, 700. Alright, we're looking. Thanks, Red Rock 66. Thirty seven are way above us. Alright, so I think the eight is probably changed.

[00:28:57] ATIS and Approach back at Falcon

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So we're back to getting weather and [00:29:00] trying again at Falcon. Ryan would help me with the conventions. Uh, around here on how to report when you're coming back from the south and so on. So that was pretty helpful. When I did make the call and she was finally responding. I think I must have had my finger hovering over the push to talk button. And with a bump or something, I hit it. Unfortunately. It then got stuck.

So I didn't hear any of the instructions after that. I pushed it a few times to try and unstick it and it finally came back. But she was done with her transmission by then. Luckily, she must have heard that she got stepped on because she repeated it soon after, after someone else had piped in for a minute.

Here you go.

It's only fifteen past the hour.

Temperature one six, dew point minus seven, altimeter two niner, niner five. Visual approach in use, runway 22R and left IR in use. Attention all aircraft, priority notice in effect for Falcon Airports. For further information, contact flight service frequencies. Obstacle crane on south ramp, up to 50 feet, AGL.

Arrival south of runway [00:30:00] 30L, contact tower on 124. 6. Arrival north of runway 30L, contact tower on 1100. 7. Advise signature contact, you have information, Charlie.

Charlie. Charlie. Alright. Hey, you can give him a call, and let's try doing touch and go's there, I guess.

And what do I do as a position?

Uh, let's do this.

Let's go ahead and punch in direct Falcon, and that'll give you some distance.

There you go. And just south? Yeah, just say you're 9 miles to the south. Make sure you're descending to at or below 1900 for inbound traffic. And they're still using 2 2's, so if I were you, I would go ahead and kind of point right towards red bound. That sets you up on a pretty good 45 for the downwind.

And give him a call.

Falcon Tower, Red Rock 66, 8. 5 miles south, inbound with Charlie for touch and go. Cessna

774, 92 left cleared to land. Traffic, uh, off your, head into your right in 2 miles and engage 2200 and descending, uh, landing at the Fails ramp helicopter. [00:31:00]

92 left, cleared to land, we'll look for that traffic, 9774.

Welcome to Rochford 9832, easy arrival, West Charlie.

Rochford 7049, contact Phoenix departure.

Full contact Phoenix, departure Rochford 7049. We got that traffic in sight, 98374.

Red Rock 66,

Falcon Your mic got stuck. . Let's get 2700 foot shelf. 5 holding short, 22 left.

I didn't hear what she said. Red

Rock 66, make left traffic, runway 22 left.

Make left traffic for 22L, Red Rocks, 66. There you

go. Yeah, you hit your mic and it got stuck for some

reason.

This right here is the Bravo shelf that gets everybody, so you just gotta be careful about that. It starts at 2, 700 feet, so you gotta be real nice.

Roger, start your, uh, turn, and traffic will be off your left wing. Helicopter on the case 1, 900 low [00:32:00] level.

Uh, look for that traffic, chart time 306. Chart

time 306, additional traffic ahead to your left one mile on the case, uh, 2,

800 southbound.

Archer. Roger, looking, chart time 306. Chart time

306, request VFR 1200. Roger. One two. Helicopter seven kilo alpha, traffic Pilatus off your left, lean two miles and get to two thousand, uh, I thought they were northeast bound, put it up, you're heading southbound.

It's safe, it's seven kilo alpha.

Ten three zero six, do you want a left downwind departure or are you heading south?

There's someone right there.

Yep. Ten three zero six roger, I see you now making a left turn northeast bound.

Tower Report, three two Bravo Rock 66. Traffic toll clock. One mile indicates 2,400 Northeast Bound Pilates

traffic in site. Red Rock 66

68 [00:33:00] 81. Information charged. I'll let you in on a

secret about this plan. That's an electric trend if you want to use it. Tower.

Oh, really? Left.

Eight efa Roger

Rock 66, extend down, we'll extend down lane in Red Rock. 66. 7 7 7 4. Fable turn left out to seven straight into the ram. Under ground left. I don't see anyone else in the pattern. No, she would've probably told you by now if there was two left. So, just make a normal downwind when you're ready to turn and extend it.

I mean, I'm okay getting a little closer, right? Yeah, you're fine. About a mile wide. Okay. So, you just kind of got to use your eye ometer to figure it out. Yep. I like to use this thing to kind of help me, but that's from the center of the airport. Yep. So right now we're kind of at a slant. But when you're midfield, you're downwind, that should say about a mile.

Okay. And probably if you turn when we're crossing over this canal here, that'll probably set you up pretty nicely. Okay. Oh, not too well. Yep. So let's get up a little bit and start slowing down to [00:34:00] 100 as well. And start turning now.

Fox 98832, suggest another 20 degree right turn. 20 degree right turn, Fox 98832.

[00:34:19] Getting a Short Approach

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Okay, so coming up right here, we'd be getting a short approach. I didn't really know those very well then because I hadn't done my commercial training yet. I think I maybe had done one with an instructor once at some point, I don't know. But anyway, we got this short approach. So we, we got to do that. And I realized after reading back my clearance, That I forgot to say the runway. And I said that out loud, but before I could key up again, someone started talking and you'll hear after the big, long call from some other airplane. Then they came back to us. Cause I didn't say two, two left and Ryan took care of that. [00:35:00] Also, I noticed a vehicle going the wrong way on the runway. Ryan, let me know it was an airport vehicle.

I was like, what is happening here? So short approach, cars on the runway, stuck mics Things were getting a little nuts.

Airport 5, hold short runway 22R, taxi with Charlie.

So let's pull a little bit of power out. We're going to get down to 100 here. A little bit fast.

Why is there somebody going the wrong way on the

runway? That's a car. That's an airport vehicle.

Okay. Charlie, contact tower 1100. 7.

Correction, no.

Short approach, Red Rock 66, cleared to land.

Short approach, Red Rock 66, cleared to land. Hold throttle idle.

Hold

all the way to

idle.

You lost your engine.

We're just going to land it on that runway.

2 2

[00:36:00] Live,

Red Rock 66.

Just pitch for best

glide here. You can start getting flaps in.

Best glide, uh, way too fast.

Yeah, it started getting flaps and then started getting pretty short here.

And, uh, medvac traffic. Say again. We're about,

uh,

10 miles

to the, uh, northwest inbound to land at the, I'll probably get all of the, this is four seven

medevac. 4 0 7 Romeo Falcon Tower. Stand your down wind. Now from short approach.

That turned out being a little different.

[00:36:33] And the First Back at Falcon

---

So with my recent inexperience and the bit of chaos that was going on around me and all the stuff going on, I clearly got a little behind the airplane here. I was using too much rudder. I was letting my altitude get away from me. I'm just having a problem holding my speed correct, et cetera. Was I going to be able to make my first decent landing or not? I guess we'll have to see.

So [00:37:00] let's talk about the rudder thing. Both flights. I was back with Ryan after all that time off. He mentioned a couple of times that I was using too much rudder when initiating my turns. That's not something I kept doing, but. I've thought about it since. And as I've been editing, these episodes and kind of listening and thinking about what I was doing. I've got a few possible culprits. First, it had been a long time, so I was out of practice, but more than that, I think my last 150 hours or so had been mostly in a 182 and a bit in a 1 72 and no doubt about it. Those high wings. Require more rudder input in the turns for various design reasons. It doesn't have to do necessarily with the high wing part of it. I'm just saying those cessnas tend to need a little more rudder input than, than these Pipers do.

And that may have been part of the reason another may have been [00:38:00] flight Sims while I don't do a lot of flight simming, I do do it sometimes to try and, uh, understand concepts and, and, you know, do some various things. And I think it takes more rudder on the PC SIM than you need in the Cherokee. So I'm guessing a combination of all of these things was probably leading to me just using too much rudder. It went away quickly.

I quickly got back into making sure I was keeping it coordinated. Um, but I was just using too much. It was one of the, several things that was happening because I was so out of practice.

So my advice with rudders YAW'lll need to do better on the rudders than I did.

I know, I'm sorry. I'm a dad. I can't help it with the puns. You're just going to have to take it. You're probably starting to wonder if I include things to talk about just for the bad puns. Well, I guess you'll never know. So [00:39:00] let's get on with it. Let's do this landing.

On the go, they switched us up to the other runway and between me flubbing, the radio calls and the other traffic. People stepping on each other, et cetera. It got a little confusing again.

Cross

1900. Too fast. You're good. I keep her pitch down. Just getting that ground effect. You

want me to

slip? Yeah, if you want.

Get a little right route left Runway diamond.

There you go.

Perfect. Pull out of it now. Put down our

ground check.

And she did say touch and go her option, right? I believe

so.

I think she might

have said land. Hold it, hold it, hold it.

Oh, traffic. Two, two left. Hold on. Don't Tower. Red Rock. 66. We were cleared for the touch. Go right.

Rock 66 1 8 2 left. Clear touch and go.

Two, two left. Clear touch. Go. Red Rock 66

place turn two left. Take off. Uh, just to the west of your delta. Uh, looks [00:40:00] transition. If 3,500, call 1 8 2 left. Clear free media take off, place out again off, take off in not delay. What's that? I was flat again. Yeah, you need to get your nose up again. Continue straight out, contact tower 119. 7. Continue straight out, contact tower 7.

Oh, Red Rock 66. What? Well, continue straight out, switch to 22 right and contact tower 119. 7, Red Rock 66. Everybody, just use caution. You're stepping over everybody. Um, if they transition, take call sign and request. Alright, go We are transitioning over to airspace at three thousand five. Airport five, all league short.

And just to call them, this is the north tower, so they're going to switch us runways. So just say Falcon Tower, we're straight out of two two right, or two two left. Falcon Tower, Red Rock sixty six, we're straight out from two two left.

Red Rock 66 back in tower, continue straight out. [00:41:00] Continue straight out, Red Rock 66. I think he was going to say make right traffic. He got stepped on by someone. Red Rock 66, traffic behind you to your right side, northbound. Right close traffic route, extend your downwind. Can you answer that? Alright, right close traffic, we'll extend the downwind, Red Rock 66.

Couldn't tell if we are approved to turn or not. Yeah, you're good. Stay at 24, start turning. With You're using a little bit too much rudder on the turns. Okay. A little bit less. And, let's get back down. We're going underneath this brawler shelf here, so you've got to be real careful about your altitude.

Red Rock 53, over Fountain Hills, it's probably requesting a full stop. Red Rock 53, Fountain Hills, right base 22 right. Right base 22 right, Red Rock 53. Okay, let's slow down.

Alright, let's start turning it down. When that guy's got out to the northeast.

Okay.

And pull your power out a little bit too. I'm going to be at 100 here. And watch that climb. Get your nose back down. Alright. [00:42:00] And probably about 2,

000 RPM will keep you right at 100.

Hopefully we can just make this one a nice normal landing. It's been a chaotic flight so far. Yeah, I'm not helping. There's traffic right there. Okay, I'm descending at 2, 000. 2, 000.

Too fast, I guess.

[00:42:33] Next Landing

---

Well, Shoot. That still wasn't the landing I was looking for. I was still flat, not getting the nose up enough. And for someone with all that 182 time that's weird because you really have to get the nose up on those nose-heavy Skylanes, but, I have to give myself some grace here. I was relearning it all again. Maybe this one would be the turning point, the one [00:43:00] coming up. So

let's keep it going.

Alright, so this is the perfect distance away. I just kind of hold this width from the runway.

And we're extending her

downwind, so usually when they tell me to do that, I don't even start descending or anything. Because sometimes they send you out an extra quarter mile, sometimes they send you out, like, past the dam over there.

Let's go ahead and switch fuel tanks here real quick. Fuel pumps still on 1541. Extend up one left tank, extend it up on the 50th 41. Fuel pressure's good.

What he's having us extend for.

Red Rock 66. Base proof. Base proof. Red Rock 66. Alright, so let's go ahead and pull our power out a little bit first and get the chart. Our descent, get the nose down. Yep. Oxford 1541. And this one, I feel like you need a little bit less than 1800 around like 16 to 1700. [00:44:00] Archer, keep your descent coming down and let's start our turn here because we're pretty far out.

Plenty of time down, directly touching you. That was you. Cleared touch and go 22 right, Red Rock 66.

We're a little far out, so I probably need a little extra power, right? Yeah, get your second notch of flaps in. Maybe just descend a little bit less. Okay. Like two, three hundred foot per minute instead of five. But I think you honestly look pretty good, so I would just keep going down what you were doing.

And we should be at 90 here on base. We are. Alright.

Uh, that's not a very square base though. Oh, that was a perfectly square base. Was it? Yeah. Yeah, that was awesome. Now I look square. Let's start turn now. We're a little low. So you can start fixing that now. Let's get some power in. Bring your nose up a little bit with it.[00:45:00]

And keep your turn coming. Don't worry about the flaps until you're Established. Still a little low. That is a

way different Light slope then at Chandler. Oh, I know. Chandler's is like, you're coming in like a jet. Alright, now that we're on it, get your nose down so I don't get above it. Yep. And get your last set of flaps in. Alright, so on this one, once you get in that round out, your roundout height is perfect.

Just make sure you're looking at the end of the runway and bring up your nose a little bit higher. Last year were just a little bit flat. Yep. 50 41. Extend downfall. Its arch over the dam and add a little

there. It's. Just keep that nose pointed down.

Pull it out now. Look at the end of the runway and just keep bringing that nose up towards it. Bring it up. Bring it up. Hold it. Hold it. There you [00:46:00] go.

.

58, 41. Number four teacher. Right. Clear touch. Go follow. Good. That was a lot better. Yeah,

that felt better. The

floor clear would like to make him sound Full stop. 58 41. Sorry, you said that teacher right? Clear away and follow the archer. Not not following

the archer. Exit.

58,

4 1.

Why

am I going so fast? I get that nose up. Now I'm back. It's wintertime. This seems like to climb for once.

Alright. You can make that turn in 1900. We're not following anybody. Okay.

[00:46:32] That Was Better

---

Finally. That was better. It was something I could build on. So let's head around the pattern one more time and see if we can make better landings, well, a pattern.

Your seat is also leaned a little bit back. It is. So while you're flaring, it's probably gonna look like you can't see anything out the front. So it, it is a little odd in this one just because of how far you're leaning back in your, uh, recliner there. [00:47:00] Yeah. I can't really use my seat back. Yeah. Because I'm, I can't see if I do that.

15, 41. January, two, two. Left. Conduct tower. 1, 2, 4 0.6. That 1, 2, 4, 0.6. Officer. The 1541 and a hundred. All right. I've got my altitude. I got my speed. Got my RPM.

I'm assuming I don't have to extend this time. Uh, no, I didn't tell you to, so you should be good. He hasn't told you to follow anybody, so you can assume you're number one until he says otherwise.

Alright, so there's our numbers, so pull to the left. And you said more like 17.

And you're turned in towards the runways a little bit, so kind of come back out just a tad, so we don't shorten our base. Sure. There you go.

[00:47:52] Shall We Try Again

---

So we go around a bit and I get my clearance. We'll pick it back up with my readback and we'll try this one more [00:48:00] time.

Cleared touch and go, 22 right, Red Rock 66. And, there we

go,

90. Alright, so now I kind of like to start judging am I going to be high or low, so it looks like we're going to be a little bit low, so let's start kind of fixing that now. I'm going to turn a little early because of that too. Okay. Let's make it nice and wide.

There she is. And once you get on it, you gotta adjust right away, or you see how quickly it'll die. Yep. Gotta get that nose down. And pull the power out too.

Pull out a little more.

Definitely got a little wind coming from the left here. There she is.

Speed is good.

Nice.

Alright. That's a done. Thank you. That looked good. [00:49:00] Felt a lot better. Yeah, that definitely looks a lot, lot better.

We'll do this next one, then we'll make the next one a full stop. Two more then? Yeah. Okay. I want to take advantage of the empty pattern. Right. We must be in between lessons. Yeah, we must be in between like, uh, their blocks or whatever. They come and leave in hordes.

That cowling kind of throws me off. Oh, the hump in the middle? Yeah. Ha, ha, ha.

Clear touch and go, 22 right, Red Rock 66. I know why I'm hitting it. That thing is hard to reach. This position of the push to throttle. Oh yeah, it is a little weird. Yeah,

.

All right, it's feeling a little better.

Yeah, you're looking good here. I feel

like I'm

not behind anymore. Yep, on this next one, just try [00:50:00] not to see, yeah, you're pointing towards it a little bit. Yep, yep. I, so is what I point over here, you see that dam there? I point right in between that dam and then that little mountain to the right of it.

If you point right in between that, it keeps you totally parallel to it. Cool. If there's no wind outside. Of course, when you got wind drift, you got to fix a bit, but. I'm a little high. All right, so we're past the numbers here.

Okay.

You're doing your thing.

The nose down. First

notch. I'm just trying to shoot for the, uh, about 500 foot per minute this time.

You were a little bit more than that last time. I think that's why we ended up low.

Come on.

Okay.

This

looks about right to me. That looks perfect right now. A little slow though. So far this pattern should be in a textbook somewhere. Looks beautiful. And let's get it lined up here.

White and red.

Getting past. [00:51:00] Remember, you're going to get above it quickly. Very thin.

I should be 85, right? 80. 80? Yep. Okay. Get to 80 then. There we go.

That's right, 190, 80.

Yeah, it's still walking the power out about now. All the way out. Yeah, it's all the way. Okay. Hold her off. Oop, get that nose around.

Not as good. A little balloon there. Yep. That's alright though. Try to get on the center line.

[00:51:45] One More

---

Well, while that one wasn't as good as the last one, at least it wasn't flat. I ballooned a little, probably had a little too much speed, but we made it work. I had one more to do. So let's take it from there.

[00:52:00] Ryan tried to let them know it would be our last, but they must not have heard it. So he tried again. In between it appears another plane was doing an unexpected 360 in the pattern, so tower nipped that one in the bud as best they could and, and then gave a little tip for that pilot for next time.

Also because we park on the south side of the runway and the ATC folks know that. When they can, they'll switch us over to the south runway when it's our last landing, which is nice of them. Probably also helps them with taxi jam ups and various holdups getting people across active runways, but I'm just going to go with them being nice. Well, they did that here.

When I did get my landing clearance, I switched my words in the read back. Like I just swapped them. I don't know why. I swapped my, my words in the read back and then got all twisted. It was pretty funny. Lots of radio traffic, trying to get my call in, too. Then they had us following other traffic to the runway, but neither Ryan [00:53:00] nor I could see the other traffic. So. I don't know I did what I thought was best, and I asked for some help. And that got pretty funny too. When I asked to know when to turn base, since I couldn't follow someone, I couldn't see. I know there's a pun in here somewhere, but I can't think of it. So you get spared this time. Here you go.

Tower, Red Rock 66, this next one a full stop terminate. Tower, Warrior

70, Papa Fox Trot is making a right turn to join a left downwind. 470PF, it appears you're doing a 360, you can just turn towards the base now, we're on 22R cleared to land. Turning towards the base, 22R cleared to land, we're at 70PF. Talk to Red Rock 66, we'll make this next one a full step down there.

Roger. 470PF, just for the future [00:54:00] reference, the right turn to the left downwind just meant a 90 degree turn to be on the downwind, and then you would just turn to the left base, full 360. Roger that. Falcon Tower, N1107G is 8 miles to northwest. Uh, looking for touch and go information, Charlie. Houston, 1107G, right base runway in sight.

Right base for 2 2 right, November 1 1 0 go.

Alright. End on a good one. It's going to be the best one yet. Let's see it.

Red Rock 66, Tower, call your base, contact Tower 1 1 2 4. 6, change to 2 2 left. Alright, we're going to change to 2 2 left, we'll call Tower on 1 and extend our base, Red Rock 66. Did I get that all? Yeah.

So you just said their tower will call our base departure front [00:55:00] northeast with Charlie. So just say you're on a right down for two, two left. Hey, helicopter base tower. Get a chance. What was the call sign my ballooning. Here Fox. It'll bumpy out. Tell four. The Rome fox drive, uh, tower departure based tower on rescues Caution and, uh, northeast departure is approved.

Just you have to remain. You're all over the place fast.

Go down a

bit.

Northeast is approved as long as I'm east of the center shop.

Don't let airplane fly you. Yep.

Contact ground Red

Rock. 91.

Geez. Talking tower Red Rock 66 is on right base. 4, 2, 2. Left

down one right down 66. So dispatch behind, uh, traffic off your right.

Change two, two left runway. Two two left. Third lane,

clear to left. Two, two. Land two. Two left. Number two, we're looking for traffic. Red Rock. 66.

Do you see? I do not. Falcon Tower, Red Rock [00:56:00] 66, can you call our base? We do not have traffic in sight. Turn base..

This guy has

so much attitude, I love it.

All right. You can definitely start pulling power and getting slapped in. Okay. You're climbing together.

Oh yeah. Red Rock 66. You can turn base. If you didn't hear me. We're on base. Red Rock 66. Roger. Whiskey left turn prove runway. Two two left. Clear

forgo. I still don't see the traffic.

Are they on the runway or something?

I don't know. I can't,

but they're ahead of us.

Red Rock 66 traffic is, the helicopter. They'll be left of the uh, center line. The outbound

Roger Red Rock 66.

Falcon Tower, Cessna 2334, uniform, is that Delta 10 holding short of 22L, ready for departure?

Cessna 2334, uniform, roger. Traffic, land.

Come on, give me a red. Get your nose down just a bit. There she [00:57:00] is.

There you go. Top it all on now.

Hold her off.

Nice. Good job. Alright, let's see if we can get off on Delta 5 up here. Got it.

Cessna 2334, uniform, roger. 22L, Lombard.

Left on Delta 5, contact ground, Red Rocks 66.

We'll be headed back this way, right?

Yep, so go ahead and just point to the left and come to a stop. Would you mind putting ground

in, please?

You bet. Alright, you're on ground.

What are we, Delta 6? Yep. Falcon Ground, Red Rock 66 is off of 22L at Delta 6. Red Rock 66 on ground, taxi to ramp via Delta, Delta 7.

Taxi to ramp via Delta, Delta 7, Red Rock 66.[00:58:00]

Alright, so we'll go past this right here, and we'll just, we'll go on the one we came out on.

Uh, over there?

Yep.

Okay.

And that's because he said 7?

Yeah, that's Delta 7 is that entrance over there. I don't know why he's having us go over there.

[00:58:20] Wrap Up

---

so we taxi back in and parked and it turns out that last one wasn't too bad at all. I was on my way back, baby.

With the couple of hours of ground lessons I did with Ryan, and these two flights, this would officially end my flight review. So I was legal now. But certainly I was not proficient. But I knew I had a bunch of training ahead of me, so I had a lot more practice coming. I wasn't too worried about it. For now. I was happy to just be the world's okayest pilot. I love that, actually. A friend of mine at work sent me one of my favorite shirts. She asked me out of the [00:59:00] blue one day what my shirt size was and a week or so later, I got a shirt in the mail that had in huge letters it said, the world's okayest pilot. Not only did I find the sarcasm hilarious, but it's kind of true most of the time, if you think about it. Dunning Kruger effect, not withstanding, most of us are probably in the big part of the bell curve when it comes to skills. Don't you think? I mean, it's called average for a reason, right? The best most of us can hope for is to just try to improve as often and as best we can through study and practice and experience. If we do that, most of us should be okay. And that's what we want. That my friends is one of the main reasons that this podcast exists. I'm passionate about training, and learning, and improving, and I've always wanted to pass along the things that I'm learning with more people. I think learning is the spice of life for one of them [01:00:00] anyway, when it comes to aviation, we should always be students, no matter how much experience we have. So I keep bringing you with me while I discover, and I learn.

And I hope you're enjoying it too. So let me know your thoughts. You can reach out to me via email at bill at student pilot cast dot com or send me a note on the contact page at studentpilotcast dot com. You can find us on Twitter with the handle at billwil. That's Bravo, India, Lima, Lima, whiskey, India, Lima. Just one L on the end there. Likewise, you can check out our Instagram, which is at student pilot cast. There's not a lot there yet on Instagram, but you can certainly reach out to me there.

So there you go. I'm back in the game and I'm learning again. At this point, mostly what I already knew. But new stuff's come in for sure. I was a flying pilot again, and I was really [01:01:00] excited to keep going. Next up would be the instrument rating.

So I was going to start on that and I'd be starting on that right away. Soon, hopefully I'd be an instrument rated pilot. And if I kept practicing and working at it and learning, which I've been doing since then. Maybe someday I could even be the world's okayest instrument

[01:01:23] Outro

---

pilot.

[01:02:00]