Sun and Fun Starts Next Tuesday

If you haven't flown to the Sun and Fun it really is a fun and worthwhile trip. Every pilot from the north east I’ve ever spoken with has, at some point, expressed a desire to fly a light airplane to Florida. The Sun and Fun fly in is certainly a good enough reason to do that.

The show kicks off the flying season with new products, airplanes and pilots from all over converging in south Florida for the start of the air show season.

Flying there is easier from the north east as the trip can usually be accomplished without having to cross a frontal bounty. The challange is arriving and executing the Lake Parker approach after 7 some odd hours of cross country flying. The procedure is outlined in the NOTAM which is voluminous- 30 some odd pages of information.

Traffic inbound to the airport has to fly in single file over the powerplant and at 90 knots.  The difficult thing about flying the procedure is keeping track of who you are following not getting side by side with anyone, while scanning for other traffic who might be following the same airplane you are. Sometimes you'll encounter folks who aren't very good with airspeed control and this can create problems. Or maybe you're not so good controlling airspeed and if this is the case I would suggest practicing flying level at 90 Kts prior to arriving over Lake Parker.

Fortunately coming from the northeast, you will likely get to KLAL as or soon after dark. The good thing about arriving late is, unlike Oshkosh, Lakeland Linder Regional does not close at sunset.

I've found the easy way in is to arrive just after sunset, when the NOTAM expires. Then you simply file IFR from your fuel stop to the destination without requiring an STMP slot reservation.

Doing this may prevent you from camping your first night but the FBO's will let you sleep on the floor in the terminal or pitch your tent on the grass along their ramp. When you get up in the morning you simply taxi to where you will be parking for the show. 

Judy and I have done the trip seven times. Six in the Mooney and once in our Tiger. We always love going to Florida in the spring time as it gives us some quality flying time and a jump on our tans for summer.

We won't be making it this year due to other commitments but hopefully some of you will and maybe you'll send us a postcard.

Free Complex/High Performance Ground School

Recently I have received numerous inquiries from pilots transitioning into complex or high performance aircraft. Some have purchased airplanes that their insurance  requires training and an endorsement from a CFI prior to them to flying solo or with passengers. A few are commercial certificate candidates, the balance just want to be able to fly airplanes with retractable landing gear, controllable propellers or more than 200 horsepower engines

I use Advisory Circular 61-103 as a guideline and the GAMA specification 5 syllabus to transition folks into complex and high performance aircraft which usually requires a few hours of ground school for each candidate.

As I was going over the material for the fourth time,with a different owner/operator in as many weeks,I started thinking that perhaps there is an easier way to conduct the training.

That's when it hit me. Why don't I just offer a complex/ high performance ground school and and give it away for free. Thats right FREE- zip, nada, nothing, nunca.

We'd cover the material in a two hour session after work one weeknight. And we would do it a few times based on different airplanes. Have a Mooney night, a Bonanza night, Cessna, Cirrus, Piper, you get the picture.

I have yet to work out the logistics so at this point I'm testing the waters to see if there would be an interest amongst the folks who find themselves reading this.

I was also thinking about having guest instructors who would handle certain chapters to mix it up and keep it interesting

Naturally to be effective we would limit the number of participants at each session and present the attendee's with a certificate of attendance if they came or a completion certificate if they took a written test at the end.

We'll do the first few off of a drawing that you can enter by liking Motion Simulations LLC on Facebook. I've included the link in the over on the left. To be considered just click the find us on facebook button and press like when you're on the Motion Simulaitons Facebook page. If you aren't facebook enabled send an email to FreeGroundSchool@fullmotionflight.com to be entered for the drawing.

Either way I think it would be great way to get everyone thinking about flying aand learning when spring time finally arrives.

Our First Mooney Trip- VFR to National Airport (KDCA)

When I bought Mooney 58V the insurance company required that I fly with an instructor for 25 hours and receive a complex aircraft signoff prior to soloing or taking passengers. I started taking dual instruction with Drew out of Norwood Memorial. We would go out after work and fly to New Bedford, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket along with a host of other airports practicing landings and emergency procedures.

Having the airplane gave me something to do after work other than sitting in the Hilton and eating bad food. Eventually I amassed enough hours and Drew felt safe enough to sing me off. He congratulated me and later over dinner and drinks mentioned that with the Mooney I could take my wife out to lunch in Washington DC and be back in Danbury in time for Happy Hour. 

I mentioned this to Judy on the telephone when I called her from my hotel room later that night. That weekend when I asked her where she wanted to go for her first trip in the airplane Judy said “I want to go and have lunch in Washington DC”.

The weather was pristine for the trip so we bought some charts and took off at ten in the morning. I called New York Approach on 126.4 and in my best pilot voice said “New York Approach Mooney 58 Victor off Danbury Climbing to 8500 requesting VFR flight following to DCA”. The controller came back with a squawk code and a clearance to climb thru the bravo and asked for me to say destination again. I proudly said “Delta Charlie Alpha” , he said “well ok”.

As the flight progressed south west bound I was handed off to the various different controllers and with each of them the dialog was similar. “I’d say Approach Mooney 58 Victor checking on 8500” they’d acknowledge and ask “58Victor where did you say you were heading to” and I’d say “Delta Charlie Alpha” and they say “well OK”

Finally we were handed off to Washington Approach and once again I checked in but this time it was different. On my initial call up and I said “Washington approach Mooney 7458V is with you at 8500, information Juliet, looking to start a VFR descent into Delta Charlie Alpha” that was met with silence on what was, until my call, a fairly busy frequency. I got the “last calling approach say again” and  I said Ma’am its Mooney  58Victor checking in 8500 Information Juliet looking to start our VFR descent into Delta Charlie Alpha. The controller comes back and says “Nooooo 58Victor do not descend stand by”

We were told to contact Washington approach on a different frequency where another controller issued us vectors for our descent and finally after about 20 minutes of flying different directions and altitudes we were handed off to the tower and cleared to land on Runway 22. We were off by the first taxiway and received progressive instructions to Signature.

We took a taxi into town and then enjoyed a lunch at the Capitol Grille on 600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We walked around a bit afterwards then took a cab back to Signature where we paid our bill and got into the plane to depart. Getting out of there VFR was more difficult than the trip in.

We landed at 4:45 and by 5:00 were at the bar at Chucks for Happy Hour just like my instructor told me.

Thoughts of Parting with an Old Friend

Recently I started thinking about selling our Mooney. For the past few months I have been bandying about giving her an avionics upgrade,  and sprucing up the interior.  However, the cost of addressing those items is a twenty thousand dollar commitment after which the plane still requires new paint, glass and reupholstering. Conversely, I’ve watched five of my clients purchase new or different airplanes since December and after seeing the value they received for the price they paid put my thoughts in motion.

My thinking is to take the net proceeds from the sale of the airplane and adding in the twenty thousand we would need to spend to get 58 Victor up to speed would amount to a 20% down payment on an aircraft up to $150,000.   

I started by looking around the web and found a few suitable airplanes that meet our mission; one in particular was worth emailing an inquiry about. When the seller presented me with a sight unseen offer for my airplane on trade, I started scanning 58Victor’s log books for his review. Looking at 35 years of maintenance records was a real eye opener and realizing that the last eleven years of ‘records’ were on my dime I start reminiscing about our time as her keeper.

We bought N7458V from Jim M. in May of 2000. At the time I was working for a consulting firm in Boston which was just a half hour too far away  to commute by car daily (3 hours one way) so I ended up spending Monday thru Thursday nights living at the Dedham Hilton. I regularly found myself with nothing to do after five so I started hanging at Norwood Memorial Airport where I began working to get current with a local instructor.

Having been out of aviation aside from flight reviews since selling our 1977 Grumman Tiger  N28331 in 1991, I would fly every two years for the ten some odd hours it would take me to get proficient enough for an instructor to sign me off. Once you’ve owned an airplane renting airplanes becomes a non-option as its real appealing to fly whenever you like without scheduling conflicts. So when Judy commented about how she’d like to have her husband around more than two days a week, I sensed opportunity-and started pitching her on purchasing an airplane.

I started looking for another Tiger but they were so much more expensive than the $28,000 that we had sold ours for.  I had always been interested in Mooney’s so when I found N7458V in Marshfield I drove down there a few times at lunch and after work to look at it.

Things progressed, and I received preapproval from MBNA bank for up to $100,000 financed. I had Augie at Swift Aviation in Norwood perform our pre-buy inspection and remember him telling me that the airplane was in pretty good shape for the price. Judy was apprehensive about spending so much money on an airplane but our thoughts were that I would be able to come home from work a few more nights a week.

We paid $69000 for “Vicky” which had 35 hours on the engine since a Penn Yan major overhaul. Having that warrantee gave us piece of mind which clinched the deal. The airplane was equipped as a “Slant Alpha” and was a quantum leap over the gear that was in Tiger 331. I was impressed that it had a DME, Mode C, and two KX170B’s with the Mac 1700 digital conversions and an ADF. I couldn’t fly her until I received 25 hours of dual instruction so I hired Drew Thwaits who I had met when I was renting 172’s at Hammer Aviation at Norwood.

After taking possession of the airplane I couldn’t find tie down space at home in Danbury as the airport was completely sold out, so I rented a tie down at Norwood for $50 per month.

Naturally I got very busy with work right after closing on the airplane so getting 25 hours of dual took from about three months.  Drew was accommodating and my first solo flight in the new airplane was to Danbury to give Judy a ride.

Judy loved the airplane and was happy that I was flying again. It was around my birthday and she presented me a new pair of David Clark 20-10 Headsets.  Without speaking to her I had also bought her the same pair before our flight so we surprised each other new headsets. I surprised myself with a Garman GPSMap 195 shortly after that.

Our first trip in the airplane together was to Reagan National Airport in Washington DC (DCA) where we landed VFR. That trip is worthy of its own posting so I’ll save that story for later.  

Since then we added in 2002 a KLN89B, (2) KX155 NavComs, a Mid Continent MD41 Annunciator. In 2003 we added a JPI EDM 700 and FS450 and replaced the airspeed indicator and attitude gyro with new units. In 2007 I added a STEC 20 Autopilot, replaced the DG,  and removed the KR86 ADF and put a Garmin 396 in its real estate. Aside from upgrades we’ve spent an average of $6000 per year on maintenance.  The three upgrades totaled about 36 grand. So excluding fuel we’ve put about $96,000 of real money making her into the airplane she is today.  Adding in the loan payments puts another $78,500 on top. 

We've put 920 hours on the engine and figure 11 gallons of 100LL AvGas an hour equates to 10,120 gallons of fuel and which has varied from $1.99 a gallon to the current $5.00. I'd add in insurance and tie down but I'm getting overwhelmed by the scale of this and need to stop else I'll get depressed.  

Eleven years have passed since we’ve considered buying an airplane. We really don’t have to sell but when Steve at Reliant changed the oil last month he commented on how we had only flown the airplane sixty hours in the eight months since our last annual. t that point I realized that for me to own an airplane it would have to work some to pay its keep. When presented with the price of the upgrades versus purchasing a different plane the choice seems logical and unemotional.

But considering the memories and friendships we’ve made since owning Vicky  the decision becomes less clear. Neil Young’s song “This Old Guitar” describes how I feel about aircraft ownership. Neil writes how he doesn’t own “this old guitar” rather he’s its caretaker.  To me my “relationship” with the Mooney is very much like that. Yes, someone always buys the airplane new but, at some point, it goes to new people who fly and maintain it until they feel the need to part ways. This process repeats itself until the airplane is either restored, consumed by hours or accident.   I’ve been Vicky’s fourth caretaker in the thirty five years she’s been here, and we’ve flown it to every state east of the Mississippi , six to the west, a few Canadian Provinces and a couple Bahamian Islands. I’ve doubled my time in her and trained for my Instrument, Commercial, CFI, CFII, and recently flew her to and from my ATP check ride.

If we end up selling and moving on, it will be tough to say good bye to what has been a big part of my life for the past eleven years. That little airplane has survived a lot of its caretaker’s lifestyle changes and I’ve grown as a pilot by having the privilege to share time with her.

Here are the lyrics to Neil’s song. See how many places you can substitute airplane for guitar.

This old guitar ain't mine to keep
Just taking care of it now
It's been around for years and years
Just waiting in its old case
It's been up and down the country roads
It's brought a tear and a smile
It's seen its share of dreams and hopes
And never went out of style
The more I play it, the better it sounds
It cries when I leave it alone
Silently it waits for me
Or someone else I suppose

This old guitar
This old guitar
This old guitar

This old guitar has caught some breaks
But it never searched for gold
It can't be blamed for my mistakes
It only does what it's told

This old guitar ain't mine to keep
It's mine to play for a while
This old guitar ain't mine to keep
It's only mine for a while

Discouragement vs. Overconfidence

I just read an interesting statistic. AOPA did some research that stated eighty (80) percent of students who start flight training never receive their certificate. Wow, if every licensed pilot comes from that population, then anyone with a pilot certificate in their back pocket is in the top 20 percent!

Congratulations! As a licensed pilot, you’re a very special person.

Seriously though- a more interesting tally would be number of pilots who start, yet never finish their instrument rating. I am sure that total is a much smaller number.

Learning to fly is difficult. Learning to fly instruments is much more so. With instrument flying we are negotiating a three axis realm, without the visual cues the inner ear uses to determine whether we are upright.  This is difficult enough that the code of federal regulations requires the same amount of training for the instrument rating as it does for the private pilot license. To give some perspective, getting a private pilot license takes a minimum of forty hours of training. The instrument rating also requires forty hours of training but consider this, the instrument candidate already knows how to fly. They’re already licensed pilots, learning to control the aircraft solely by reference to instruments, which is considered confusing enough to require a license’s worth of training.

Recently I met a man who told me that he’s been finding his instrument training “harder than law school”.  Here is a fellow who is an accomplished attorney, saying that instrument training is requring a greater effort than his post graduate degree.

This gentleman was struggling with the Bravo pattern. For anyone who is not familiar with the B pattern it is a great way to teach beginning  instrument pilots aircraft control.

He stated he was doing well when he initiated it from a cardinal heading but when his instructor would make him start from random values he would have difficulty determining the correct orientation throughout the pattern.   I started drawing my explanation on the white board by detailing on how to use the tick marks on the heading indicator to read the new course. He started shaking his head, so I paused while he continued -he was performing the maneuver partial panel.   This man had perhaps 6 instrument lessons under his belt, and he was struggling with partial panel. Go figure.

Now I’ve heard of some instructors teaching partial panel from the start. I believe that it is best introduced after pilot has mastered controlling the aircraft on instrumentst.  I want the instrument scan developed full panel prior to pulling the gyros from the mix.  Teaching partial panel and unusual attitudes towards the end, when they've got the finish line in sight seems more practical to me.

The question I have is that by making students learn the most difficult tasks first, are we helping make them tougher more prepared pilots, or risking them discontinuing due to discouragement?

I’m reminded of the cliché “success comes before work only in the dictionary”. By making prospective instrument pilots learn the most difficult maneuvers at the start of their program, I believe we’re doing them a disservice. It’s like training a novice runner by starting them with marathons.  From a stamina standpoint, it’s impossible for a new runner to finish a marathon. And it’s unlikely they will continue to pursue it for very long.   But by training using manageable and incremental goals we raise the probability that the person will stay with the program long enough to be successful.

“Motivation is a five dollar word for a kick in the ass” a dentist once said as he started inflicting more pain on me than I had ever experienced in my life.  I never returned to that dentist and the memory of it kept me away from every dentist for a full two years afterwards.

“Praise stimulates learning” we’re taught during the fundamentals of Instruction coursework. As instructors our primary role should be making sure that our students have the best opportunity to succeed. Balancing overconfidence and discouragement is a tough task but erring towards the encouragement side of the ledger will present the opportunity to ‘bring them down a peg ‘later in the syllabus.  

New Taxes for Connecticut General Aviation

No Taxation without Representation

Governor’s Bill 6387 would impose a personal property tax on all aircraft based in Connecticut. Currently, aircraft based in the state are required to pay a yearly aircraft registration fee. The proposal would impose a 2% tax on the first 70% of the assessed aircraft value. For example, the owner of a $500,000 aircraft would pay $7,000 per year in property tax, a significant increase over current aircraft registration fees.
Currently, all aircraft repair labor performed in Connecticut is exempt from the 6% state sales tax, but Governor's Bill 1007 would eliminate this exemption for aircraft weighing less than 6,000 pounds. The existing exemption is critical to the success of small to medium sized repair stations in the state.
On Monday, March 7, the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee will hold a public hearing where these bills will be discussed. NBAA has submitted testimony in advance of the hearing opposing these bills, but encourages Members to attend and register their opposition. Details on the hearing are as follows:

• When: Monday, March 7 at 10:30 AM
  (Registration for public comments begins at 8:00 AM)
• Where: Legislative Office Building Room 2E
  (300 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT)

To give you a more modest example an $85,000 airplane will have to pay an additional $1190 a year in property tax. That works out to be an extra $100 a month or 20 gallons of fuel at today’s price at Reliant Air or Business Aircraft Center here in Danbury. In our airplane that’s two hours of flying we won’t be doing.

More disturbing than the property tax is the sales tax on labor. Regardless of how much your airplane is worth we all have to have them maintained.  Adding this tax back to aircraft under 6000 pounds may cause some owners to defer necessary maintenance or even fly out of state to save on repairs. The kind folks over at VIP Avionics worked hard to get this repealed when they were losing sales to neighboring states without this burden. In these tough times sending business and jobs out of state seems counterproductive.

I’ll be attending the meeting and in Hartford on Monday and encourage as many of you that can attend to do so. Barring that please if live in Connecticut call your representatives and let them know how these tax increases will impact you.

AOPA and EAA have largely been absent from the stage-defending their membership from these tax hikes.  At least we get a nice magazine from them every month.