Matt206's Blog

A typical day

2010-12-05T15:22:00.003-05:00

Well I was wondering what to write today and I thought I would share with you what my typical day is like as a airline/charter pilot, both are basically the same. With a few little differences which I will talk about later on.

Like i mentioned before, I typically am working 20 days a month, with 10 days off. Generally its a combination of 3-5 days on, then 2-3 days off. The days are scheduled as reserve days so we can be working our scheduled service flights or charter flights.

Typically we get a call from dispatch the night before with our schedule for the next day, where we are departing from, who we are flying with crew wise, where we are going, and duty and start times, once the day arrives we show up at the terminal or hangar about a hour before our scheduled departure, The captain will perform the pre flight inspection on the aircraft as well go over the paperwork, check in with the customers or agents, while the first officer will log into our ops intranet, and start the flight planning process, checking weather and routes and NOTAMS (notice to airman) , and filling out the weight and balance paperwork, and have the captain approve the flight dispatch clearance form and weight and balance, once this is done we fax a copy of those the mothership (aka Systems Operation Control) and file our flight plans with ATC then we had off to the aircraft and get the aircraft ready to board the passengers.

Once the passengers are bordered we give them a safety briefing and then we are off!.

We operate in a 2 crew environment (One pilot is Pilot flying (PF), the other Pilot not flying (PNF) -handing radios/paperwork/navigation etc) so we use checklists in a challenge-response environment, once we have started up one pilot is going thru system checks while the other pilot is getting the latest weather and getting our IFR and taxi clearances, and we taxi off to the runway and finish out remaining checklists, then we take off, while enroute to our destination the PNF is checking weather, handing the navigation and comm radios, and paperwork for the aircraft journey log next comes descent, approach, and landing if we are doing another flight we will do a new weight and balance since passengers may have deplaned and new passengers bordered etc, then its off to the next destination. At the end of the day we ensure all the paperwork is done, maintenance is notified of any issues, and put the covers on aircraft sensors and probes.

In later posts I will detail more about the actual flying portion and crew environment and how we operate different crews but we all fly the aircraft the same due to standard operating procedures (SOPs).

I think thats it for now, if you have any questions or comments, then comment! I'd be happy to answer them.

Until next time.

Alot has changed...

2010-12-03T13:28:00.001-05:00

Wow, May 2009 was the last time I made a entry in this blog. Well A LOT has changed since that last entry. When I wrote that last entry I was employed as a full time flight instructor/charter pilot well now after a cross country move or 2 I am now working for a regional airline/charter company flying a great aircraft (The Pilatus PC-12) and enjoying every minute of it! This new type of flying brings us from high density airspace to doing IFR approaches to gravel strips that are uncontrolled, its a great type of flying and am learning more and more every day, getting to know the aircraft more. Typically we are scheduled for reserve 20 days a month, with 10 days off which is not a bad schedule at all, the company I am with has lots of room for advancement.

It's amazing how much change can happen in a year, this new job has rejuvinated my passion for flying and being a professional pilot. Every day is different, and flying 2 crew environment is great. I will write more about the type of operations we do more indepth, we do scheduled flights and charter flights, both can be quite different but it's a good mix flying them.

Here are some photos from the new job. Next entry I will talk a bit more about the new job and experiences with it!

Finally- A Deatiled update!

2009-05-21T12:55:00.000-04:00

Well, I am on my day off so i figure I would write a detailed post, and since I have time, I will do that! Right now I am just sitting in the coffee shop, waiting for the new OS to load on my Blackberry so I have nothing but time right now! lol.

So like I said in my last post, I am and have been a full time Flight Instructor/Charter Pilot since Aug 2008, and how is it? whats it like? Well I'm gonna tell you! And you are going to listen, well read, since you came here!!! :P

My Flight Instructor training was conducted by one of the best instructor's I have ever met, we spent alot of time taking about teaching methods, how to teach exercises, how to deal with students, etc I spent hours creating lesson plans, notes, studying back on general knowledge and a new area for Instructors- CAR's Licencing and Administration. Finally in Aug, in probley the most 3 stressfull days of my life I completed the requirements for the rating. Sunday I woke up, and didnt sleep except for a 3 hour nap, till Tuesday night. On Monday, I had my written exam with Transport Canada, which went well, and it covered Instructional knowledge, general knowledge, flight test standards, Administration and licencing, PASSED of course, then on Tuesday morning, the local friendly Transport Canada Inspector showed up to give me my checkride. The checkride for a Class 4 flight instructor is rather intresting, it follows the same format as the other checkrides, with a intro, paperwork, brief, preflight, fly, debrief, excpt this time it was mostly ME doing the talking :D, we started off with the paperwork, then talked about teaching concepts, Admin and licencing tasks, then I was given a outline of a student's training background and approprietely select a lesson, brief it, then we would go fly it. I did this, we went flying, I taught the inspector the items in the lesson and he acted like a student, we flew back, I debriefed the inspector as he were a student, then he debriefed me as a Instructor candidate, and told me I had Passed!!! and now was a Class 4 Flight Instructor, then I hopped on the sked to YVR-YQQ-YBL for 7 days off, The checkride went off easily and all that and I was very happy to have it done and looking forward to Instructing.

I solo'd my first student in October, and sent my first two students for Private Pilot flight tests in December, both passed, on the same day, I as the recomending instructor was probley more stressed then the students!

Well the big question is How do i like this intresting job of mine- teaching people how to fly- teaching people to "slip the surly bonds of earth and touch the face of God" as the poem goes. Well, I love it, its somtimes a challenge but very satisfying, It keeps you on your feet, one lesson you can be teaching someone their first or second flight,then the next flight you are doing a lesson with a licenced pilot doing recurrent training, lots of variety, and you get to learn alot about people and how they learn, what teaching method works best for which, etc but when you see that the student has mastered what you have taught them no matter what curve ball you throw at them- that is a very satisfying feeling.

Also during the new year, I became a student again as well! LOL, I completed my Multi-Engine rating, which is alot of fun, and now I am just completing the requirements for my Multi Engine Instrument rating.

As a Flight Instructor, I consider it a great responsibility, People pay alot of money for my services, and not only that, I consider it a requirement to give my 100%to my students because I have to teach them correctly and how to be a safe, competent pilot, so I am constantly keeping my knowledge up to date and expanding my area of knowledge and refining how I teach, etc and I enjoy it, I mean I have not really read many books in the last year that were not aviation related, but its a satisfying feeling to be able to teach and understand a wide area of knowledge, keeping proficent in everything, not because I have to, But i WANT to, because my goal is to be the the most knowledgeable, proficient, safe Flight Instructor I can be.

Everyday seems to be different, one day doing charters, the next I am instructing students and ground school, I like the variety. This summer promises to be a busy one, with lots of instructing, and finally meeting the requirements for what I have been striving for! The upgrade to Class 3 Flight Instructor.

I have had many friends and collagues help me along the way and give me the support I needed and kick in the butt as well, so I would like to thank them, Lil!!, Sar!!!, and the instructor who trained me to be a instructor (HW).

It is a satisfying feeling to know that for the last year I have finally "arrived", I know many people consider the Flight training side of things to be entry level in Aviation, and I enjoy teaching enough that I know I would like to stick around flight training full time till at least I have my Class 2- Flight instructor rating, and then I know once I do decide to move on to the next stage of my career, Medevac flying, that I would still like to Instruct in some sort of capacity on a Part time basis, even if it is just teaching ground school.

So far its been fun, challenging, satisfying, and I love it.

Thats it for now! Thanks for reading! And promise I will update me! lol,

Matt

Wow

2009-05-20T13:52:00.001-04:00

Wow, I looked at the last time I made a entry on here and it certainly has been awhile! 2007 was my last entry! Well since my last entry I have completed all that I set out to do. I completed my Commercial Airplane licence, Completed my Diploma in Business Administration, moved to a different area of the province (The Okanagan) and completed my Flight Instructor rating. Since August 2008, I have been a full time Flight Instructor/Charter Pilot, and also in my spare time have completed my Multi Engine rating and by the end of this month, weather permitting will have completed my Multi Engine IFR Rating.

This summer brings the promise of alot of flying, upgrading my Instructor rating class (YAY!), Looking forward to it.

This entry is short, I will write more later...promise! :D

Holds

2007-10-13T01:37:00.000-04:00

Hey,

Sorry for no updates, I am working on a big one, Night Rating (Circuits, Dual, Solo, X-Country), Building time start, Ground school and Uni Classes, I will try to have a nice post by monday.

Sorry!

Matt

Starting the new road?

2007-09-09T05:02:00.000-04:00

Well Like I said, I am back, a few days late (In my last entry I said I would post again in August) and because of some of my readers from my heli blog, asked me to keep a blog about my CPL-A, FI training, I thought I would.

I started my uni. program on Aug 20, starting with orientation, and our first class that very afternoon, I will explain a little about this program as it is unique. The Program is a Diploma in Business Administration- Aviation Option. The business portion of the program is the normal 2 year business diploma program- Fit into 9 months, and out of the 9 months we are only in Business class for an average of 2 weeks a month, so it is quite fast paced, classes run 0900-1630 and we only work on one course at a time. The time we are not in Business class we are flight training, so we alternate between 2 weeks of business class and 2 weeks of flight training, which makes for a interesting schedule, we could also fly when we are on business course blocks but with it being darker and darker each day it's not really worth it. Our first course was only a week long, and was called Interpersonal Business Communications, and was a interesting course, and was all about communication in the work place, conflict resolution and prevention, etc in other words, How to communicate nicely :). This course was only a week long then ended and a flight training block began, so I am not back in business class till the 17th of Sept. So I have been flight training.

The flight training has been going great, Since I have 50 or so hours to build, the way the flight school handles build up time and CPL training, is a C172 check out and exam first, then some general "rust removing", and some sim training Night Rating and Mountain check out, then you are sent off to build time, then begin the CPL Training. The Flight School I am training with has some top notch Instructor Pilots/Charter Pilots, and great equipment and m/x as well. The Cessna 172 check flight went well, the usual Steep turns, stalls, forced approaches, circuits, precautionaries, diversions, your normal tasks, it took 2 flights due to time and other books, but it was nice to practice it all to get back into the swing of flying airplanes again. Then since Victoria is unlike any airport I trained at (Where I trained for my PPL-A, and CPL-H was the same airport and the airport had one runway and taxiway and was just a MF/FSS) we decided I should do some circuits alone and a flight or two solo out to the practice area to get myself familiar with the much busier airspace and radio work then I am accustomed to, and this all went fine, and I am now getting familiar and comfortable with having to talk to Clearance, Ground, Inner and Outer Towers, It's always interesting for me getting my taxi clearance but so far I haven't had any runway incursions so thats a good thing :P, I guess you can call it Small Town Airport Pilot goes to the Big City Airport's to fly? :P None the less I am getting familiar with it all.

The Sim training was focusing on getting familiar with VOR and ADF work, which was always a bit confusing for me, but my instructor explained it to me in such a way that I picked up right way, and before you know it I was doing VOR and ADF intercepts quite easily and was enjoying it! (Is that possible?!)

Onto Night Training, this is much fun, I have never flown as a Pilot at night, so I began this fun rating this week with the Night Briefing and a dual night flight. The night flight dual, for the first time was amazing, everything was so calm, the weather, basically no other traffic around, we flew over the city for an hour or so, then headed back to the circuits. I found it took a few landings to get use to landing a night, but I done well enough that I didn't break the gear :P and by the end of the flight a few of my landings were pretty close to greasers, if i have to say so myself :P we then moved onto landings without the landing lights on and those went fine, nothing too hard, and then various combinations of lights on/off/ and flap and speed settings. My next two flights were at night, solo. In these flights I found I was learning to get the A/C to do exactly what I wanted, and it felt great, to descend at a certain rate, at a certain speed, and turn at the right point to be lined up on final, then to start flaring at the right time to make a somewhat smooth touchdown, felt great. The first night I flew 2.2 solo, and the 2nd night I flew 2.9 solo, both flights went great and I felt i honed my night skills even more.

So next up is the Dual Night X-Country and then the Solo Night X-Country and then I am finished the night rating, then onto the one day mountain flying check out which should be fun and I am looking forward too. Those are scheduled for next week and the following week if the weather co-operates.

As a side note, I have been talking with flight instructor friends about their jobs and flight instructing in general, and I am getting more and more excited about when I am a flight instructor about April 2008, I am definitely not doing it for the hours, and for sure not the money :P but for the opportunity to teach others this great thing called Flying! :P. The plan is I will do the airplane flight instructing on my weeks off from flying helis. To quote a fellow blogger who sums it up quite well "I keep thinking of when I first started my flight training. How much I looked up to, and wanted to be like, my flight instructor. Someone is going to look to me for all the answers, and is going to trust me with their life. I'm looking forward to the challenge, and hope I can handle the responsibility."

Well thats it for now, I have a few more flights scheduled but the school is quite busy but like I said my next flights are the Dual Night X-Country and the Solo as well, and the mountain check out. So Stay tuned!, Promise I will have some photos next time!!

Diverting

2007-05-12T15:01:00.000-04:00

Well, having my CPL (H) License is great.

But, for various reasons (One of which I am told is my Age/Lack of "Life Experience" and "Life Maturity") I have been unable to find a full-time job in the helicopter side of the industry, well it's discouraging to say the least, but Life goes on, and maybe some day down the road down the road I will be a Full-Time Helicopter Pilot.

But at the present time I have been "Diverted" As you can say, After my Job Hunting road trip, I done some thinking, and As you know I already have my PPL (Airplane), so I thought about it, and how I dont have a real preference between flying Airplanes and Helicopters, I decided to come back to fixed-wing for a few years, get a few thousand hours doing instructing and charters, then maybe go back to helicopters. Thus, I decided to upgrade my PPL (Airplane) to a Commercial One, and add a flight instructor rating, and a float rating just for fun.

So I have applied, and was accepted within a day (Acceptance into the program was based on Aviation Goals, Background, etc) , to a University Aviation Program, for a "Diploma in Business Administration- Aviation Option", Which I begin in August, I will be taking Business Courses from the Uni, and Fixed Wing Flight Training with the school thats associated with the program, and the funny and cool thing about that is, the instructor who trained me for my PPL (airplane) moved on to another company last winter, and well, she moved onto the school that I will be doing my CPL/Instructor rating at, so I've been told she will just continue on as my instructor, so thats cool, since I found she was a great instructor. The program works great- I get flight training to attain my CPL-Airplane and Flight Instructor Ratings, and a business background from the uni courses, which will come in handy, since my goal is to be in a management/ownership position in a Aviation business one day.

Well thats it for now, See you in August!, Have a great summer.

Matt

March 26-2007

2007-05-12T15:00:00.001-04:00

On March 26 (Monday) I passed my flight test for Commercial Pilot (Helicopter) on the first attempt.As with any big test or exam, one is a little nervous or stressed, I had a whole 2.5 hours of sleep before I headed to the hanger to start the big day. The weather of the day was great, not very much wind, blue skies, 22,00ft celings, a great day for sure.When I arrived at the hanger, I completed the final stages of the nav exercise (inputting winds, leg time's, weather package, notams, etc.) and then the oral portion of the ground section began with questions on my routing, maps, symbology on the maps, airspaces and weather minima, radio frequencies, aircraft documents, systems, speeds, limitations, emergencies and all the other questions that come with this part of the flight test, when this part came to a end, I was briefed on how things would happen for the flight portion of the test (It is a FLIGHT test after all ). For the final portion of the ground section, I DI'd the machine, explaining what I was looking at, what I was looking for, and why I was looking, and then the examiner asked me various questions about the aircraft parts , and then it was time that I gave the standard passenger briefing, preety easily done, the entire ground portion went very well. Had to remind myself and be reminded not to be nervous or get stressed haha.Now it's really show time, the flight portion began. The Lift off, hover check, and all that went well and we were off on the navigation portion, this went well as the winds were as forecasted, time for the diversion, which went good,preety easy ,now onto the confined area and sloping ground landing, which both went well, nice recce's and approach and landing no trouble here of course, on departure from the confined I was given a simulated MR TEMP light, so it became a rejected departure, and I turn around and landed in the spot I had departed from, now it was time to depart the confined and climb so we may began the instrument flying exercise, which went ok, the wind picked up a little and their was a little bit of turbulence, but nothing too major or too challenging, and then it was onto the steep turn, for this I chose a 30 degree bank at 80 knots and 3,500 feet, this went well, held altitude and speed, and bank. Now it was time to head back to the airport for the real fun stuff, we entered the circuit to a hover landing, and then it was off for a few more circuits, with hover and no hover landings and take off's, and a stuck pedal was also thrown in, which went good, I was a little nervous about it before the flight test but it went fine, and then the engine failure, which went off without a hitch (no pun intended ) now it was time for the 180 and straight in autorotations, now the wind direction had shifted a little and made this interesting, but in the end it went ok, now it was time to head back to the base, and on the way I was given the simulated engine failure/forced approach, which required a 180 turn back into the wind, this went ok. Now it was time to come back to base , I made a smooth approach and landing,and then it was time for the debrief, which started off talking about how I was on the ground portion, which was done well, and the points in the flight portion, I scored mostly 3's and 4's on the flight portion, and when the examiner said I passed, I asked him, FULL PASS? And he said yes, full pass, then I had the ear to ear smile that's still on my face haha. And their you have it folks, From Zero hours helicopters to flight test, dealing with west coast weather, training on the coast, from R22's to 44's and the 206, now all I have to finish is the last few hours of the 206 training, which should be finished by the end of the week, and I will have that little piece of paper saying I am a Commercial Helicopter Pilot (Helicopter) RH22, RH44, BH06. Then the real fun begins, and I look forward to it and espically will enjoy getting back to working. So I will report on the last bit few hours of 206 training I have to do. Thanks to all who read my training blog and to those who replied to it was well. It's been fun thats for sure.

Have a good day.Matt

P.S: Oh neat, I just noticed this post, was my 100th post on Vertical, but my member number is preety old (655) as I have been around for awhile but never posted much, anyways 100th post!

Mar 20-2007

2007-05-12T14:59:00.000-04:00

Just a little update, I have not forgot about this blog haha, I am back to the hanger on Wednesday and will be flying a few flights of emergencies, and autos, etc. and will be having flight test in a few days. Any tips or words of advice on the flight test? I feel confident in everything,just having a little case of the nerves even though it is still a few days away, I guess as anyone who has a checkride or test would be a little nervous haha Have a good day,Matt

March 8-2007

2007-03-11T23:56:00.001-04:00

Hello Hello,volition: If I remember correctly, he's got his written done.This past week was a interesting one, Logged about 5 hours dual consisting of pre flight test stuff, emergencies, autos, stuck pedals, etc., and polishing everything up, to better then flight test standards and not accepting any deviation of any kind, the emergencies, forced approaches and all that went well, the nav stuff was good, just have to remember "Altitude Airspeed Heading Accept No Deviation", I was then signed off on the recommendation for flight test and I was scheduled to do the test on Wednesday, so I planned the trip assigned and went thru the POH a few more times, and felt confident and ready for the test, and the day I was signed off, Tuesday, was a great day, calm winds, great vis and celings, blue sky even well then comes Wednesday, for most of the day the wind was gusting up to 25 knots, didn't let up much during the day, so, because of that, we did not do the flight test that day. So the new date for the flight test, due to examiner availability is around the 25 or 26th of this month.Sorry the entry is so short, see you in a few weeks. Have a good day.Next Edition: Matt's Flight Test, weather dependant (Gotta love Coastal Weather haha)Matt

March 6-2007

2007-03-11T23:55:00.003-04:00

Well, a bit of a interesting week, 1 Dual flight in the 206 doing emergencies, 2 solo flights in the 22, and 2 dual flights in the 22, one a pre flight test and the other flight doing stuck pedal's.The flight in the 206 doing emergencies, went well, it's amazing how much inertia the 206 blades have, I started off with a simulated hydraulic failure and that went ok, then came the Auto's both straight in and 180's, then came engine failures in hover. All the Auto's and Engine Failures were child's play compared to the R22, you have so much more time to react and everything is much smoother, its just a overall smoother ride, a joy to fly, I cant wait to finish the endorsement on it, once I am finished my flight test.The two dual flights in the 22, went ok, stuck pedals and pre flight test, I will be doing another flight before the flight test to polish the emergencies, auto's and engine failures in the hover. The ground portion of the pre flight test went well, got 3's and 4's. The two solo flights in the 22 were fun, one was a couple of diversions to some neat places, a nice 2.1 hour flight that ended up being, and the other solo flight was doing steep turns, confined's, slope landings, those went ok.The big flight test is sometime this week, I was scheduled to do it tomorrow (tuesday) then I got bumped to Wednesday, but I have a feeling with the forecasted weather (oh wonderful west coast weather ) that it will not be till near the end of the week so that puts me finishing all my hours sometime mid-late next week. I am beginning to learn not to count on doing something on a specific day, but sometime during that general time frame, this is aviation after all Well Thats it for now, thanks for reading, and have a good day!Matt

Feb 25-2007

2007-03-11T23:55:00.001-04:00

Well, Lots to talk about this entry, Slinging in the R22 and Finishing up my R44 endorsement. The weeks weather was decent overall, hoping it stays that way for a few more weeks as I am scheduled for the flight test some time around the 5th or 6th of March. The Slinging and Longlining in the R22 was fun and I can definitely say a learning experience, we started out with a 25ft line, then went to a 50ft line, then a 75 ft line, with and without cargo, pickup's and set down's with the load and the hook, hook up's with the line and the belly hook, how to stop the loading from swinging and what to do when the load is swinging. Overall a fun and challenging exercise, hanging out the door in all weather conditions haha, The most I had was a bit of a wind and rain, must be real "fun" with a 20 knot wind and snow. By the end of the 2 days of slinging, I found i was just starting to grasp what it was all about a real "feel" thing for the machine similar to hovering, you just have to do it haha, and had my spot nicely about 4 or 5 times. The R44 endorsement went great, learned alot, I flew a few flights doing confined's, emergencies,auto's, engine failures in hover/hover taxi, which I found alot more smooth and slower then the R22 of course,and mountain pads, and I learned quite a bit with the mountain pads, like always take a reference where your pad is, be slow,steady and gentle (well that goes for all flying haha), one thing that I had a little trouble with was keeping the airspeed just on the edge of translation and gradually re-loading the disc and decreasing the airspeed until your just at a hover over the pad, the first flight I had some trouble with this, but went home that night and thought the whole procedure over and over again, and the next day's flight I did not have any trouble at all with the pads, but now I see why Coastal BC is such a challenging environment to fly in, with the environment and weather you can get in this region. I finished my R44 endorsement on Friday AM, with my last flight in it being emergencies, autos, confined's, and mountain pads.Friday Afternoon, I went over the 206 RFM a few more times just to get everything drilled into my head then I went for my first flight as pilot in the 206, and wow, what a nice aircraft to fly, you just basically have to think of your turn and your already turning, so for my first 206 flight it was nothing to hard, just take off's, landing's, hovering, turns, and then done a couple of confined's and a few mountain pads, I will be doing emergencies on my next flight, So I will be finishing my time in the 206 this week, then it's back into the R22 for flight test prep and flight test, then flight test like I said is around the 5th or 6th.Well That's it for this entry, thanks for reading, Next Edition of Matt's Training Blog, weather Dependant (haha) will include 206 emergencies. Still having fun and cannot wait to get back working in the industry Just a few more weeks.Thanks Again for reading, have a good day.Matt

Feb 18-2007

2007-03-11T23:54:00.001-04:00

Hello hello,Thanks for the replies, The past week has been a fun and good one, thats for sure, I flew about 4 hours in the R44, and man that is a nice machine to fly, it sure loves to fly thats for sure, and on a few confined's I found myself too high because I hadnt descend enough, but I just have to tell myself now, that I have to start the descents earlier then I would in the 22. I find the 44 just alot more stable then the 22, its a real joy to fly, geez I am starting to sound like a advertisement for the R44 . So this upcoming week I will be doing emergencies and slinging on the 44, those I am looking forward too. Weather wise the past week was alot nicer then it has been been so I am hoping the weather will continute to hold out haha.Well Thats it for now, next edition of Matt's Training Blog will tell about R44 Slinging and Emergencies, should make for a good entry, weather dependant of course Thanks for reading and have a good day!Matt

Feb 9-2007

2007-03-11T23:52:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone,Thanks for the replies, no checkride this week, got weathered out, gotta love West Coast Weather. So this week I've been studying for the ride, reading the Flight Test Guide, etc.Have a good day,Matt

Feb 3-2006

2007-02-04T00:20:00.001-05:00

Hello Hello,Another week down, a few more to do, its getting exciting, this week's flight were a mix of dual and solo, again, these flight were concentrating on accuracy and proficiency on Confined's, Steep Turns, Quick Stops, Sloped Landings, Diversions, Instrument Flying, also done some stuck pedal work dual. Confined's and Sloped Landings are coming along nicely, getting even more smooth on the sloping ground ops, "feeling the machine" as it's said, I just have to remind myself to slow it all down and not be any kind of rush, just "feel the machine" haha. The confined's are rounding out now as well, altitude and speed control is good, and keeping the circle around the confined is good as well, just have to remind myself to always be aware of where the wind is coming from so i can be sure to alter the circle to account for this.Quick Stops/Steep turns: Quick stops are fine, nothing major I found was catching me here, and the Steep turns I found where alot smoother when I wasn't glancing inside too much (I'm a VFR not IFR Pilot!! i have to remind my self haha) in fact on a dual flight the difference between a steep turn where I used the T&B indicator and the next steep turn without looking at the T&B indicator, the steep turn that was the most smoothest was the one that I was not looking at the T&B indicator, and it felt alot more smoother as well, so lesson learned here. Diversions: Done a couple more diversions, some interesting ones, everything went fine here, didn't get lost and all my calculations were pretty much bang on.Stuck Pedal Dual/ Engine Failure in hover Dual: This was interesting to learn, and the latter was just refreshing, The stuck pedal's were definitely not as bad as I thought they were going to be and I picked it up pretty quickly.That big time is getting close now- Flight Test, I broke 75 hours this week and 30 PIC, and I should be doing my flight test by the end of next week, and my flights this week were within flight test standard, so I am just reviewing the Flight test guide and Flight exercises and all the other stuff, to refresh everything and this upcoming week I will be getting ready for the flight test. Will be a exciting week, Still enjoying it all .Thanks For reading, have a good day.Matt

Jan 28-2007

2007-02-04T00:20:00.000-05:00

Allo Allo!This past week alone I racked up some hours, Today (Saturday) I flew 2.5 hours PIC, I have been concentrating on general accuracy/proficiency in Diversions, Confined Areas, Sloping Ground Landings, Steep Turns and Quick Stops. Diversions, getting use to/proficient and efficient at these now, I average 2 diversions on each solo flight, interesting places round 'these parts. Confined Areas, getting more accurate and proficient with these, and every confined you go into is different in some way even if you were just in the same spot the week before. their is so many up around here, lots of choices and lots of good spots, it's nice to be able to land in the confined's now, of course sloping ground is usually included in the confined area landings, I find the sloping ground landing's make you a even more "smooth hands" pilot as you are "feeling the machine"when you are increasing collective. I still would like to do more confined's to get better at them and will be doing alot more in the coming weeks in addition to the flight test prep .Steep Turns/Quick Stops are coming along as well, on my flights today I had virtually little to no change in Altitude and Airspeed before, during and after the task.Thing's I will be working on will be mostly be the same, just aiming for even more accuracy, smoothness and proficiency.I ended this week with 69.4 Hours TT heli, getting closer to the flight test, I anticipate will happen in early February. Having fun and enjoying it all Thanks for reading.MattEdit: Been having great weather the last few days, hope it lasts for a few more weeks!

Jan 19-2006

2007-02-04T00:19:00.001-05:00

Hello,Well it's friday and time for another entry,As you can tell from my last entries I have been getting ready for the written exam, So I have not been doing very much flying been studying instead, and yesterday I made the drive to the TC Office in YYJ and wrote the CPHEL Written Exam and................PASSED! . Now I can get back to flying Have a good day.Matt

Jan 14-2006

2007-02-04T00:19:00.000-05:00

Haha, Thanks Everyone, doesn't feel much different being 19 haha. Anyways, down to business. Since the last entry, I have started doing sloped landings with the instructor, more diversions, and more confined areas, and a progress check. I am scheduled to write my CPHEL Written exam on the 18th of this month (This coming Thursday) in YYJ, so I have been studying for that, I am currently sitting at 61 hours TT (heli).The diversions are coming along fine, talk about learning how to multi task haha but you get the hang of it pretty quickly, nothing too new here. Some interesting places I have been diverted too as well, and I haven't lost myself yet .The confined areas are coming along too, getting more efficient at those, and along with the sloped landings we have been going to some nice confined areas for practice. The progress check I had with the CFI went well, which was like a mock flight test with both ground and flight sections.Sorry this entry is so short, not too much different flights, just more solo, and the 2 dual flights (Progress check and sloped landings) the rest has been solo nav and solo confineds. Thing's will start to get interesting in the next while with the upcoming written, and my flight test could be near the end of this month or the start of February.Thanks for reading, and have a good day!.Matt

Jan 3-2006

2007-02-04T00:18:00.000-05:00

Well I hope you all had a good christmas and new years, It sure has been awhile since my last entry, I have still been practicing confined areas, and nav trips (both short and one long) and also was shown steep turns and quick stop's and quick stop 180's. Nav: I done a long nav today, That was interesting and fun, It was a route between my base to another airport for a stop and go, then off to another airport to refuel and then to another airport returning to base, in total it took 3.0 hours and was about 167 miles round trip, The weather was good especially considering the marginal weather the BC coast has been having, so today turned out to be a great day to do the long nav trip. The trip went along without a hitch except for some turbulence and a headwind nothing too bad. Steep turns: nothing too new here just reviewing/dusting off the cobwebs, just a little more sensitive in the heli then it was in the trusty C172.Quick stops: One word- NEAT It's amazing the versatility of the heli when it comes to quick stops and quick stop 180's, and I have only had 2 flights with them included in it. I got the hang of them pretty quickly. I finished off today, with a TT of 53.9 Heli, so I now meet the requirements to write the written exam, But I am not going to write until I feel I am good and ready and getting 75-80% in each section in the practice exams. Also 53.9TT Heli means I am just a little over the half way mark for the course, a interesting milestone when you look back to just a little more then 2 months when I just began this course and how far one has come in this relatively short time and looking forward to the next exciting 50 hours ahead, which I am hoping to be done by Early/Mid Feb and it look's like I will be done by then (knock on wood) and that the weather starts to improve too as well haha.I have a few photos I took a few week's back and will include them in this post.Still Just plugging along here, Sorry this entry was so short, Thanks again for reading, and have a good day.Matt
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Dec 16-2006

2007-02-04T00:17:00.001-05:00

Well Well, I know it has been awhile since my last posting, I wanted to wait till I had a few things to talk about. The last 2 weeks have been interesting, as you know we have had some interesting weather here on the "Wet and now Snowy Coast" But I did manage to get in a few flights, and refine everything even more and correct one problem with how I was holding the cyclic and of course ground school and studying and doing a few practice exams for the big written. Didn't get to do sloped landings lesson yet due to the weather, but it's coming though.I covered 3 Solo's focusing on Confined's, 1 Dual flight on Take Off's and Landing (Correcting that cyclic positioning error I mentioned), 2 Dual Nav X-Countries and One Solo Nav X-Country.The Solo flights focusing on Confined's are getting better, I am getting more efficient at going through the Six S's and I have not been too high or too low on my approaches, so it's "just right" and my circles are circles and the altitudes and airspeeds are consistent.The Dual flight on Take Off's and Landings was to correct a problem with how I was holding the cyclic as the R22 has the ever so nice "T Bar Cyclic" and I was holding the cyclic when I was solo in such a way that I did not have alot of movement with my wrist and the movement was restricted somewhat because of this, and it was affecting my take off's and landings, It only developed over a few flights solo and it was just because I had to hold the cyclic alot more forward and to the left so it changed my positioning of where my hand held the cyclic, but over one flight we fixed that into the position it is supposed to be in all the time, and I am use to the new better way of doing things and it is working for me.The Dual Nav X-Countries, were nice, it was just getting back into the swing of things (map reading, etc.) since it is just basically a review (a good review though) of map reading and all that nav procedures, we also threw a diversion in their, and that went well, nothing new for me here.The Solo X-Country was good, the route was a interesting one, the first leg was following islands and the coast and the 2nd leg was through hills so that was interesting reading the map from that to confirm positions and such,did not have any problems though so that was good, On the first leg I had a projected G/S of 85 but in Reality when I was flying it I had roughly a 30 knot headwind......when the F/D for that time and altitude (3000) was predicted for 17 knots. But it was good none the less and I enjoyed it, and getting back into the swing of navigating and map reading, etc solo and the flight went smoothly save for some light turbulence which didn't last too long anyways.One of the flights that I did solo for the confineds, I flew Dual with the instructor from our base to the Airport, dropped the Instructor off on the heli pad, and then went off solo, and then came back to the airport and landed at the helipad, picked up the instructor and flew back to base, and this flight, the entire flight was so smooth, all the confines, dummy approaches, landings at the helipad at the airport (no hover landings) as well as the take off's and the ones from the base as well, everything was spot on and done well, I was very happy with myself for the flight, and the landing back at base, no hover, was In my humble opinion, nicely done. it felt good all around that flight, one of my best and favorite flights with regard to performance. All in all, it was a good and productive 2 weeks , for a total of around 48 TT (Heli)So, Onward and Upward and stay tuned for the next edition of Matt's training blog.Thanks for reading! Fly Safe and Have a good day.Matt

Dec 4-2006

2007-02-04T00:17:00.000-05:00

Post #68
MemberGroup: MemberPosts: 93Joined: 13-February 04From: CYBLMember No.: 655
Well Another Week in the history books, a very productive week even though I only had 3 flights, but they were good flights.This week I was concentrating on the Confined Approach, specifically the High/Low Recce's and the Dummy Approach and Maneuvering in a Confined Area. I had a tendency to end up too high on my dummy approach and have to overshoot, and come in at the proper height on the 2nd pass. On my 2 solo flights I corrected that problem of being too high on approach (No not that kind of high ) and on my last flight I nailed all of the confined areas, at the correct height, speed and to the spot I intended to come into a hover at, that was a good feeling of accomplishment. The circle around the confined (on the recce's) was initially a little "non-circle" but on the 2 solo flights, I corrected this problem and again, On my last flight I flew nice circles around all of my confined areas, again, a good feeling of accomplishment to have that tendency fixed. I just need to relax when I'm coming in for landing, the last few feet I seem to get nervous then I screw up what would of been a nice landing, as my CFI says "just reeelllaaaxxx" so I will have to try that I think I was just focusing too close to the machine as opposed to a point a little further away. On another note, I attended a company christmas party (For the company I use to work for before I started Flight Training) and it was very nice, Just reminds me of what a great industry that I am getting into and the great people that you meet in this business Didn't manage to get any good quality videos or pictures this week so I will try again next week. Until then....Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next edition of Matt's Training Blog: Episode: Sloped Ground Landings!

Nov 27-2006

2007-02-04T00:16:00.001-05:00

Well It's been a week since my last entry, and I'm glad to report I flew 2 flights 1 Solo and 1 with the CFI, If I recall correctly, so for the rest of the time it was ground school, this time on Nav, which was all review for me and I just planned out some nav trips. It's amazing how much you lose "it" after a few days/weeks of not flying but it comes back to you so quickly after a few minutes or an hour or so and you are back into the "groove" of things.As you all know I have been working on the Confined Areas, particulary the High recce, and the Low Recce and the dummy approach, all challenging things at first but with a certain resemblance to the Precautionary Landings in fixed wing (The Recce's and the questions you ask of your selected landing area), and the High/Low Recce's are doing fine but it's on the dummy approach that I am finding myself not extending far enough on the downwind and ending up too high when I should be lower for the dummy approach. With my flight with the CFI on Friday, we corrected that problem (Not extending far enough on downwind), and started doing landing's in to the confined's and those were fine, also doing turns around the tail and take off's and set down's in the confined areas (pretty big confined's at this point still). Also was taught how to read the wind if their is no visible wind (reading the difference between GPS G/S and IAS and A/C Drift as well). I unfortunately did not get any new pictures or video's this week other then the sunrise shots I posted in the Photos From the Field thread), but I will try my best this upcoming week. The upcoming flights will be 2 Solo practicing the High/Low/Dummy/and final approach (no landings in confined areas solo yet) then another flight with the CFI to check my progress. Ended the week with, 34 hours or so If I recall correctly.Well, That concludes this edition of Matt's training blog, coming to you live from the now SNOWY West Coast!Also, Here's a link to the sunrise photo's I took this week.Matt's Sunrise PhotosMatt

Nov 19-2006

2007-02-04T00:16:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone,Thanks for the replies, Preety short entry sadly yet again, the weather had us grounded all week, on Friday morning though, it did look promising, so we DI'd and rolled out the machines and fuelled them up and got ready to launch, then the windy suddenly picked up and my hopes of going flying that day were squashed, my classmates that were scheduled to go dual flying went, but since I was supposed to go solo I was not flying. My poor logbook has not been written in since the 10th of this month, but I guess not flying for a while is "industry training" eh?! haha. So for the week we were having ground school and studying, Met. in particular, so unless you guys want me to give a lesson on met., this is preety much my blog entry haha, I am gonna try and get some video of me landing (if I fly next week) so I will post that.Thanks and have a good day,Matt

Nov 10-2006

2007-02-04T00:15:00.000-05:00

Well Well Well, Another Week Down, New Lessons learned, and those would be Advanced Take Off's and Landings and introduced today was Confined Areas.This week I was checked out for solo flight to and from the hanger (CCR6) as we are not the Airport, I flew a few circuits off the pad here at the hanger with the instructors, then was checked out for the solo to and from the hanger, so after letting the instructor out, I blasted off solo for the airport to complete circuits and hover practice and Take Off's and Landings every 90 degrees on the compass rose at the airport. I also practiced turns around the nose, and those went surprisingly well, I had only done them once before with my instructor and they were sad to say the least, but I come back after 20 or so hours and then bam! I can do turns around the nose preety well, both to the left and to the right, the left one is not as quite as nice as the turns to the right but they are decent. The Advanced Take Off's and Landings were fun and I picked it up quite quickly, I just have to remember when I am doing them solo to anticipate the need for a shallower approach and descent becuase the a/c is that much lighter.The Confined's were well, the High Recce and Low Recce and down pat, it's just the point to break off the teardrop and prepare for the dummy approach that is screwing me up. Im always too high, but I just start learning them today, but still I should be able to do them decently. The Questions related to the recce are all down pat (habit from fixed wing days with some changes made)All is going well, just want to work on the confined's alot better.Thanks for reading, until next time....Matt

Nov 6-2006

2007-02-04T00:14:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all the replies!Well, Not too much has happend since the good ol first solo. The day after the solo I got another 0.9 PIC, just doing hover practice, circuits but it felt good, none the less.The R22 sure feels when different, even the positioning of the cyclic, and also how much power is available.Then for the rest of the week, the weather was crap so we studied and had ground school, today as well, was ground school and studying for most of the day. Learned alot and got to review it as well, so I am understanding it even more.Hopefully the weather clears up enough soon.Sorry the entry is short haha.Have a good day and thanks for reading.MattNEW R22 PIC!

First Solo! Oct31/2006 R22 C-FHPA

2006-10-31T23:01:00.000-05:00

The sun was rising from the wild and free west, I could see the pink hues and all them pretty colors and sun rise stretch across the wild blue yonder as I was driving to the hanger this morning, wondering what the day would have in store for me, I knew it had been mentioned to me a few times that I am knocking on solo's door, but I had no idea it would of been today that the heli-god's would of looked down at me from the heavens and smiled and not only gave me excellent weather but steady and smooth hands and feet which enabled me to solo today and that all important pilot judgement and reactions. The day's first flight started off with the CFI and I doing emergencies, forced approaches, and the usual stuff that is challenging and exciting yet at the same time makes you want to take up smoking (And No, I Intend never to start smoking, If any of you know me, my vice is Coffee ) and I was getting all the emergencies, making good precautionary landings and the forced approaches were going well as well, landed back at base and was told I am now ready was solo, was then called into the CFI's office and was told I was now ready and certified for solo, was issued and signed my SPP, and got the briefing on what will be different with the aircraft and it's handling when I will be solo, and was then told we will be going flying this afternoon at the airport, see how I am flying, then a possible solo.

So the afternoon comes, and feeling a little extra encouragement of that Jet A smell from a 407 that landed about 10 minutes prior (You know the smell I am talking about) and then the CFI I jet off to the airport in our trusty little R22, and come into the CZ and cross midfield, set up for downwind, and get all that set up, and I do 2 circuits, making the spot I want to land both times, the CFI tell's me I will be going solo now, reminds me of the differences on the A/C Handling and power when solo and then when he gets out, and walks away I am to lift into a hover and he will tell me what to do (hand signals), and then we had FSS asking our position so the CFI comes on and says where we are on the field and that he is sending a student solo for first time, and then FSS replies with a congratulations and as well as the B1900 on final also congratulated me, and then all of a sudden I am alone, just the whirly bird and I, it's amazing how quiet it gets on that first solo (I still remember my first airplane solo Sept16/2005), so i do my checks and start lifting into my hover, and am surprised how 1) how little power I need to hover (well let's put it this way- In the 206, I will have to gain 25-30 lbs just to meet the min. pilot weight without range extender being used) and 2) How the cyclic positioning is so different and how responsive the machine is. So I am in the hover, and the CFI indicates to me to hover taxi side-wards to the left then to the right then back to centre, so I do that, getting use to the new feeling of the R22, then was told to do a 360 clearing turn, then am given the "GO" signal, and then start my hover taxi, then comes translation,and before I know it I am out of transition, in my climb, and turning onto crosswind and downwind, make my downwind call and do my checks and then finally realized I am doing this solo what a great feeling it is, then I start my descent from downwind to base and final, and come to a hover at the spot where I wanted to end up hovering, the CFI signals to me do 360 clearing turn then the "GO" signal, so I do the clearing turn, and am use to the new feel of the R22's handling at this point, and them am off for another circuit, which goes by quickly once again, then come into a hover at again, the spot where I wanted to end up, and the CFI indicates me to inch forward a bit more and then land, which is done with a smooth touchdown and a big grin and the CFI gets back in and congratulates me and then tells me to return back to base, so we lift off and head back to the base, call clear of the CZ and FSS congratulates me once again, and says good night, then I start my approach and descent back to the hanger, and make a very nice approach and a good landing, what a great way to end the day and the sky at that time is just starting to turn them pretty colors again (No, I dont really talk like this in real life, but this is my blog and I am trying to set the scene haha ) and you cant forget that great feeling of accomplishment and huge grin that was on my face . Pictures being taken by a freind with my digital camera as I am making my final approach and landing at the base. Well enjoy the pictures these pics were taken as the CFI and I were returning back to the hanger after doing the solo at the airport. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next edition of "Matt the new R22PIC's Blog!

Matt

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Oct29-2006

2006-10-29T15:12:00.000-05:00

Hello,
Thanks for all the replies everyone, they are very much appreciated. Pretty short entry this week, got in 3 days of flying, and 2 days of no-flying due to the wonderful west coast weather we get during the week (then is CAVOK on the weekends.... :wacko: ) so we done ground school on the no-go flying days.

I am knocking on solo's door soon, maybe within the next 3 or 4 flights I will be having my first solo flight. Have been practicing the Engine failure in the hover and the engine failure in hover taxi, more Straight in/ 180/ S turn autos, starting to get those auto's down pretty well. The Engine failure in the hover, wow- thats a interesting maneuver to start performing for the first time, You definitely need cat like quick reflexes in that one, after a few "planned" failures, the instructor done a few "surprise" failures and it's amazing how quick putting doing the correct movements becomes a automatic reaction and you do it without even really thinking about it. The Engine failure's in hover taxi sure feel weird the first few times, but you got the hang over them quite easily, and again the correct movements become a reaction quite quickly and are done without thinking. I have also been doing all of the take off's, landings, and approaches from our base those are a good feeling when you make a nice approach and a decent landing. One thing I found was the longer you are sitting their in a hover, the worse it gets.

Everything else is coming along quite well and improving well, of course I always think things can be better and I keep working towards that, learning new things everyday even if I am not flying. First month is basically done, it's amazing how time flies when your having fun and learning, 1 month finished out of a 4 month course.

And I also finally had a classmate take some pictures of me coming in on approach and landing, and they are at this address:
http://flickr.com/photos/mattcook206/sets/72157594347737363/detail/

Stay Tuned for the next edition of Matt's Training Blog....Special Edition: Matt's First Solo! :up:

October 22,2006

2006-10-22T23:18:00.000-04:00

Hello,

A pretty interesting week, we had 2 days of no flying, which were the first of the course, due to weather so we done ground school on those days it was nice to get back into the swing of ground school, and I also got my new, well used but new to me, Helmet, a Gentex SPH-5 that I bought from a pilot friend I worked with at a company before I started flight training, the helmet is great, I have heard the SPH-5 "Will Make your neck muscles strong" well so far in the 3 flights I have worn it with, I can barely notice it their, but I guess once I am working I will most likely notice it after a 8.0 hour day, well none the less, its a very nice helmet and I will be keeping it for a long time.

The past week has consisted of again, working in the circuit, transitions, side-wards, and rearwards flight, take off's and landings and approaches as well, as well as auto's. I have also been doing the majority of the take off's and landings from the hanger (The hanger is not located at the Airport) those are fun to do and a rewarding feeling when you have done them very well.

On Friday, my flight in the morning, I thought was not so good, especially my landings I would sit for 30-45 seconds just stabilizing myself in the hover before I started lowering collective, to land. I thought the flight was crap to put it plainly, but a ops manager once told me "Somedays, your feet and your hands arnt gonna do what you want them to do, and you will be all over the place, and you will want to give up, you will have those days, everyone does, and it does not matter how good you are, but you just gotta keep at it, and keep going" . So I remembered that quote and kept on going, and that afternoon I was flying with the CFI, and I felt much better about the 2nd flight that day, I was much much more smoother and controlled the machine instead of the machine controlling me and the CFI even commented on seeing improvement from the beginning of the flight to the end of the flight.

So Friday and the week ended off on a good note, with a feeling of accomplishment and I could see somewhat of a improvement, so hopefully this coming week, I will be getting close to knocking on "Solo's" door, I got all my Pre-Solo work finished (exams).

So the week mainly consisted, of again just refining everything we have done so far, with the T/O's, landings, approaches, circuits, auto's, sidewards/rear flight, and hovering, as for the agenda next week, I am told will be most of the same things but also doing more emergencies, those will be exciting and challenging, and hopefully at some point, will be that first solo .

Finished off the week with if I recall correctly, about 14-15 hours.

Well that about finishes it off for this entry, once again sorry for the lateness of this entry, thanks for all the replies, and have a good day!

Stay tuned for the next edition of "Matt's Trianing Blog" from the west coast of BC, staring R22 Beta II's!! Geez, I gotta come up with some new lines.

Have a good day,

Matt, R22 PIC (Hopefully that will come true in the next week or so)

Oct14-2006

2006-10-15T18:24:00.000-04:00

Thanks for all the replies everyone (IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumbup.gif) , they are very much appreciated and I look forward to reading them (IMG:style_emoticons/default/punk.gif)

Fish and Cole: You bet my fixed wing PPL (TT in F/W is 86) has helped me, I believe it was a young/wise pilot ( (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumbup.gif) ) that recommended that I do my PPL Fixed Wing before starting my CPL Heli just to get the ground school down pat and the radio work, etc, and it has helped me so much, I can concentrate on flying the helicopter and the helicopter only, as opposed to learning everything else AND trying to learn to fly the machine.

This week, I have been refining the hover some more, doing sidewards and backwards flight, pedal turns around the tail, and turns around the nose, take off's, landings and approaches and of course entry to auto's.

The hover is coming along, I ended up getting lighter boots as I found the work boots I have been wearing are quite heavy and have been screwing me up on my pedal work, so these new light shoes let me "feel" the pedals more and I have noticed somewhat of a improvement in the pedal work. The sidewards flight is coming along, just trying to get the "feel" of the cyclic and pedals, I am doing well on the sidewards flight to the right, but the sidewards flight to the left in my opinion needs refining, as the machine doesn't like to do that in the left direction. The pedal turns around the tail are fun and those are coming along quite nicely, the turns are at the right speed, and they have started to come along quite nicely since I started wearing the lighter shoes, because when I was wearing the work boots I was very "twitchy" and heavy and over compensated a few times to many on the pedals in the turns around the tail, and again, it is amazing how the machine doesn't like to do the turns to the left, and how you also have to compensate with cyclic as well, but on my last few pedal turns to the left it came along quite nicely, it could always be better, but I am working on perfecting all that and just getting the feel for the machine as well. At first, the rearward flight felt unnatural but I have gotten use to the feel and I have been able to perform that maneuver well, but something I would like to refine even more.

Started turns around the nose, and wow, those are a challenge haha, I was able to do maybe half of the circle i was circling around before I started to drift off, but I was told it is one of the more challenging maneuvers to start, I found I was over compensating a bit too much on the pedal and that screwed me up a few times. It is something that I definitely want to perfect.

Take Off's, Landings and Approaches, are coming along quite nicely I think, and 3 days ago, after doing take off's and landings in a field, I done the approach into the school (I usually do, and the instructor take's over just before final and does the landing) but I done my first "pavement" landing at the hanger, and it felt great, I came into a hover, fixed my eyes forward, slowly came down on collective, stayed at about 6 inches off the ground, then as soon as I know the skid was on the ground, lowered the collective about 1 inch or so to make sure I was down, I did have a little one little wobble in the hover, but the rest was smooth, boy did that feel good- My first landing on pavement/at the hanger. The approaches are coming along quite nicely, as I already know how to "gauge" my approaches (the focusing ahead and keeping a constant attitude and descent rate) from my fixed wing days. Take off's are coming along nicely, on a few of my take off's I lifted off quite well and their was no pitching or yawing and just stayed in the hover, this is starting to become the “normal” take off for me and I feel I am improving every time I practice it.

I also started doing transitions from hovering to forward flight and of course the transition from forward flight into hovering, I always enjoy those, and getting use to the change in control force required when going from forward flight to hovering, those are a satisfying maneuver to perfect when you come into the hover right in the spot that you planned your approach too, and the transitions from hovering to forward flight are fun to do, and those are coming along quite nicely as well.

The auto's are coming along now, with 180 turns to both the right and left, and I done a 360 auto to the right on one auto, those sure feel "interesting" and on my last few flights I have been basically bang on the right airspeed and keeping my RPM in the green arc on my trusty little R22.

Well That about covers it for this entry, I have around 10 hours in the past 2 weeks in training, as I finished my 2nd week of training, it's still hard to believe that I am actually doing this, I've looked forward to it for so long, and I am enjoying it quite alot, and alot of it is not new to me as I had the luck to be in the industry since I was 15, having a great time! learning lots and excited to go to class everyday!

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the next edition of Matt's Training, as usual, coming to you Live from the beauitful west coast of British Columbia!!

Matt

Oct10-2006

2006-10-15T18:23:00.001-04:00

Hallo,
Well another few days done and more hours in the good 'ol logbook and PTR,
Lets see, what have I been doing hmmmmm...... Refining Hovering on all 3 controls in IGE and OGE, doing turns while in the hover, descending and climbing and arresting a climb or descent in the hover and all those have been coming along well, and I am getting the feel for that "sweet spot" in the controls while in the hover, I think I will have to get lighter boots though, with the work boots I have now they are a little heavy and it's toying a little with my pedal work on a few instances. When I was hovering today, in IGE and OGE it was good, not as smooth as on friday, but still a hover with little to none pitching or rolling or yawing. The hover is really coming along, I can care to venture a guess maybe another 3-5 hours before my little R22 in the hover will look it's attached to a invisible pole in the ground (aka a really solid and steady hover with no movement at all), I know that sounds arrogant, and in No way do I mean it to for that to come across that way, just saying basically what I am going to work towards for my hovering work, my hovering on friday had a few instances where it was very stable, was quite happy with it.

I found the best way that works for me is to fix my eye to a point maybe 25-30 feet away from the machine and just use that to gauge if I am moving in any direction or if it is just stationary in my eye sight.

Also been following through on Take off's and landings, I have been shooting a few approaches as well, those are nothing too new too me since I have a PPL Fixed wing background, just instead of landing on pavement, I am aiming for a specific point.

And now for the surprise!................ dun dun dun
........................... dun dun dun.........................................
..............dun................dun....................dun............................

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/mf_prop.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mf_prop.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mf_prop.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mf_prop.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mf_prop.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mf_prop.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mf_prop.gif)
tehehe It's a rotor head!! muhahahah.

I have started entry to autorotations, my first few I was just observing my instructor, then I followed through on the controls on a few more, till I was confident on the entire procedure, then I done a few on my own.

So, we climb up to around 3500 ft, put put along and do the HASEL checks and then Enter into the auto, On the first few auto's the throttle was rolled off when the collective was bottomed, then a few more and then we were rolling the throttle off as the collective was going down, then If I recall correctly on one or two auto's the throttle was rolling off just as I was starting to bottom the collective, and WOW, does it feel weird, just the noise, not to much the feel of the machine other then it is a little more stiffer in an auto, and I found on the first few auto's I was putting in a little too much right pedal and we were out of trim for a few seconds, but after awhile I found the right speed and pressure to apply to my good ol' buddy right pedal who is so gracious to not let me yaw to the left! (Geez, with these "comedy" skills I have in writing I can be a comedian! HA! NOT (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)) .

So the usual things in a auto, controlling speed with cyclic and rotor rpm with collective, and I can say I have been able to manage the air speed (So that we are at the correct auto speed for the R22) and manage the rotor rpm so we stay in the green, and after a few more I was feeling comfortable with the inital entry to the auto (The enitre rolling throttle and collective to the floor phase) as it felt alittle unnatural at first, and today I found I was able to control rotor rpm, by doing the quick glances inside to check air speed and rotor rpm but also by the sound of the blades, and if they were going faster (pull just a little collective) or slowing down (push down on the collective), then wait a few seconds, and glance inside to see if your action had the desired effect or not, so all in all I am comfortable with the entry to the auto rotation now.

I can also say that entry to auto's are a heck of a lot nicer then the scary stalls with the Cessna 172 (with the wing drop that would sometimes to pay a visit or when you had a gust of wind pick up one wing just as your were stalling)

So for the next few flights, just refining the hover (both in IGE and OGE, turns, and climbs/descents/arresting) and approaches, take off's and landings's and of course more entry into auto rotations!.

All in all it's going great, taking advantage of this great sunny weather we have been having in the West Coast! sure is nice for this time of year, it was 20 degrees when we lifted off around 1600 today (tuesday).

So, thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the next installment of Matt's Training Blog! Coming to you from the beauitiful west coast of BC starring......... R22 Helicopters!!!! (Wow, I could go into show business with this humor!......Not! haha)

Matt

Oct5-2006

2006-10-15T18:23:00.000-04:00

Thanks everyone!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mf_prop.gif) , Well I've flown 1.1 Dual R22 every day this week, I've been performing straight and level, climbs, turns, descents, power and airspeed changes, descending and climbing at certian speeds, hovering and also approaches.

Today we performed turns with the altimeter covered up, and at a max I gained or lost a maximum of 50 feet, went to the airport and shot some stop and go's just to get the approaches to a point on the runway, done decently on those.

I am getting very use to the LIFT LEFT and LOWER RIGHT for the power/tail rotor pedal changes, but I'm still chair flying them as well just so I make sure I can do both without having to think about it.

The hovering is coming along as well, the OGE hover is getting better and the IGE is coming along as well not as much over controlling and pitching , getting use to it and thats what I will be doing tomorrow. Still would like to get the IGE Hover down pat, but I can feel it is coming along now.

Oh, and for those who I told about when I got to fly Bell 222 for 20 or 25 minutes or so this summer when I was on vacation in Australia, think about this haha,
I went from flying a B222 to a R22, I lost a 2 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) i dont know if thats a demotion or not?!!! Alas, its going well.

Well, I think thats it for this update and I'd like to get some studying done, not too much else I can think of, so thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next installment of matt_as350's training blog! coming to you live for the beauitful west coast of British Columbia!

Keep the Shiny Side up! and have a good day

Matt

A REALLY Long time!

2006-10-15T18:21:00.000-04:00

Just to update ya'll:
Passed Checkride for PPL on July 15-2006.

Now in Commerical Helicopter Pilot training, this is just copies of my entries on the Vertical Fourms, as I am keeping a on-going blog on those forums for my training.

=====================================================
Oct-2--2006

Well Well Well, Day 1 is done and in the history books and log book's for that matter as well with 1.1 Dual R22 time. Today's class was preety "laid back" mostly just getting all the books and paperwork and explanations for the instructors on how the training will go and how things are done.

After Studying my books for a few hours while the other students were on their flights, it was my turn to fly around 1500, seen as how I already have my radio licence and all that jazz (I have my PPL-Fixed wing and have around 85 hours in the 172) I was doing all the radio calls right from when we left the base. Nothing too major today just doing climbs, turns, descents, hovering both OGE and IGE.

One major thing that was different for me was how when collective is pulled, left pedal is applied and when collective is lowered, right pedal is applied, this took me awhile to get use too as it's the opposite from the airplane, and I will have to "chair fly" this to make sure I get accustomed to this new way of doing things. The phrase LIFT LEFT helps me remember the correct way of doing this. Geez, When I start flying Astars in a couple years its gonna be a change, so I guess it would be LIFT RIGHT then eh? Remember, It's opposite to airplanes on North American Heli's.

Hovering went well, I already knew the "joys" of learning how to hover from 2 previous Intro flights I taken, one in the R22 and the R44. So myself and the instructor practiced hovering in a field, first just with me on the cyclic, then just on the pedals, then just on the collective, then back to just the cyclic, then practiced it with myself on all 3 controls, I found it much easier to hover when I was on all 3 controls, and it seemed easier to hover when I was OGE as opposed to IGE, You know I always thought it would be easier to hover IGE because you are floating on that cushion of air, but I guess not, or is it just crazy me? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) .
With the hovering I found you make a correction movement then center the cyclic, and I found this worked for me quite well and I was able to hover decently.

Returned to base, and studied some more. All in all was a great first day.

Hope you enjoyed my update.

Matt

Refresher

2006-02-03T16:54:00.000-05:00

Just a quick refresher:
PAT-APT-CPAT, (T/O,Level Off, Descent,):
PAT: Power,Attitude, Trim
APT: Attitude, Power, Trim
CPAT: Carb Heat, Power, Attitude, Trim

Diversion:
Find WHERE you are, slow to 2000rpm, flaps 20. Circle around a point on the map where you know you are, Find suitable airport to divert to. Find Distance to airport, Find heading to airport, find new ETA, fuel ok?, once ready to divert, revise you ETA with Pacific Radio with what you are doing, new eta, where you are diverting to, fuel ok?, then set the DG to current compass heading and then voila, Divert!.

Spiral dive recovery: throttle to idle, roll wings level, ease out
Stall: Power in full, carb heat off, ease out of stall letting speed, and wait to Postive rates of climb and altitutde gain and speed is OK.

Jan14,Jan29

2006-01-29T22:15:00.000-05:00

Well I flew twice this month, on Jan14@ CYBL and yesterday on Jan29@ CYBL again. Both times the flights were in CYBL due to the weather up in my area and my instructor not being able to fly up here, so I went to CYBL for the day to fly while my parents shopped.

The Jan14 flight was great,done the pre flight, then we done some circuits then headed out to the practice area at Constitution hill and done the usual stalls, steep turns, slow flight, spiral dives and forced apporaches then we went to CAH3 to do some work their (Touch and Go's with different kinds of landings and take off's eg: short field, obstacle clearence, full flap and no flap landings) then went back to the practice area and practiced a diversion to Powell River, then went back to CYBL for some circuits, again with different types of landings and takeoff's then a full stop landing, then my instructor got out and told me what to do, head off to Constitution and do air work their, so off I went for my 1st time solo outside of the circuit, Cleared CYBL's zone and called up CYQQ tower and told them I'd be doing airwork 4000ft and below at Constitution hill. Got to Constitution and started off with some steep turns, slow flight, and some stalls then a precautionary apporach, then some more steep turns and then back to CYBL for some touch ansd go's with full flap and no flap apporaches for about 5o minutes then made a full stop and taxxied back to the hanger, done the paperwork and made the 2 hour trek back home. A funny note, My parents showed up early at the flight school to see if I was done yet and they walked into the office and saw my instructor and said "wheres matt" and she was eating dinner at the time and quickly swallowed her food and said "mmm he's flying down around Comox" hahah!!! I should of noted that my parents dont like see me flying solo haha!. They then watched me doing circuits when I came back to CYBL before I finished up for the night.

The Jan29 flight was fun, Got to CYBL,done pre flight, then we went up to the practice area at Constitution and done stalls, slow flight, steep turns, spiral dives, forced apporaches then headed down to CAH3 once again and done touch and go's with full flap landings and short field and obstacle clearence take off's (As those are the type I will be doing back home at CAT5) then after a few of those we done a full stop, went to the cafe for lunch, went to go say hello to some people and then got into the plane to do some more touch and go's with obstacle clearence and short field take off's, and full flap landings after that we went back to CYBL via the shoreline route and practiced a diversion on the way, done some full flap touch and go's at CYBL and then my instructor got out and sent me solo for some touch and go's, about my 3rd one the celing started to come down on me to around 900AGL so i decided to call it a day and done the final touch and go and made a full stop landing, taxxied in and done the paperwork and then made the 2 hour trek back home.

I think I have 30 or 31 hours now, getting there now. Only thing that is giving me trouble is those steep turns but they are getting better.

Well thats it for now, Have fun and remember keep the shiny side up!

Finally..

2005-11-27T14:16:00.000-05:00

Well I finally was able to fly, I called my CFI on wednesday night and asked if Saturday we could fly so it was Ok with her w/x dependant of course, and my dad said he would make the 2 hour drive to the flight school so come Saturday morning I called up Kamloops FIC to get the weather and it was great! So I called Tanis and she said it was a go as well, So I hopped on the ferry and we make the trek to the flight school before we got on the highway I called the flight school one more time to get a last minute weather check and it was a go! 2 hours later we were in CYBL, a quick lunch at Mc D's then dad dropped me off at the Airport, I then reviewed Forced Approach Procedures with Tanis while she was also reviewing them for Alex (another student) then I went to go pre flight my nice little Cessna 172 and it felt good to be beside it again haha, The weather was great blue skies, calm winds, no clouds below 8000ft and more then 6mi visablity. So we hopped in and taxxied to runway 11 for take off and off we went, we went to the practice area abeam constitution hill and done some air work. We practiced Power on/Power off stalls, stalls with/without flaps (The C172 is one nice plane, your cant even to get it to stall sometimes), steep turns (Key! Remember co-ordination!!!), Forced Apporach's all those were review and refining those manuvers. We then went to CAH3 (right beside CFB Comox) and landed there for fuel, a really weird little airport thats hard to see (It's right downtown on the waterfront beside a river and a farm field) but a nice little airport none the less,I landed (preety good landing not one of my best though) and then we taxxied to the fuel pump and fuelled up and we talked about the next flight, we would do a remote field inspection (like a Precautionary landing) of CAH3, so we took off and done that, landed back and we done 2 short field landings after that (Cause thats what we have to do on CAT5) and then departed back to the practice area and practiced diversions (flaps 20 to slow down, trim it out, stay at a altitude, find a point on the map and circle it while you find a close airport then draw a line from the point you are circling to the airport you are diverting to and find the disance, heading and your ETA and if you are on a flight plan remember to tell Pacific Radio of the change) we then done instrument flying which is a slam dunk for me (It's easy for me, instructor said I will make a good IFR pilot haha) so i had the hood on (like a big hat that you put on so you cant see outside, you can only see the instruments) but your instructor can of course see perfectly, so I flew instrments from Constitution hill to final approach back at CYBL at which point Tanis took the IFR hood off of me and i was perfectly lined up for landing on rwy 11. We then did a few touch and go's with full flaps and then just as sunset began she asked if I wanted to do some solo so we made a full stop landing, taxiied to the drop off point and Tanis got out and I taxxied down to rwy11 and waited at the holding point as there was a ultralight on short final, once they were down and clear I took off of rwy11, and done 3 circuits/touch and go's on rwy11, no traffic at the airport but me, calm wind and the runway lights were turned on (Very cool sight), it was a very cool flight it was so.... I dont know the word, I was flying solo, it was at sunset, perfect weather it was great to say the least. After my 3 rd touch and go I made a full stop landing and taxxied back to the flight school and shut down and we pushed the aircraft back in and done the paper work and I was on my way back home. I will remember those 3 or 4 solo touch and go's for a long time they seemed just perfect, the atmosphere, the sunset, no other traffic, good landings, Flying truly is when I am at my happiest. I will not be flying till after Dec 7, as my instructor is going on vacation so until then, Take care.

Weather

2005-10-23T03:24:00.000-04:00

Called Kamloops FIC last night and my Flight Instructor and weather looked good for today for a flight at CYBL, so had mom drive me the 2 hours to CYBL and w/x closed up 30 minutes before I got there, IFR weather so no flying for me and instructor , 1.5mi VIS, 400 ft celings, So we done some ground work (Briefings on Soft field take off's, obstacle takeoffs, soft field and short field landings and the precautionary landings), Went to go tour the FSS Station (Neat), Then done some nav work for cross country flight, nav work is fun I enjoyed it, then mom came back and we had to make the 2 hour trek back home. Well My Flight instructor is flying up for next week so thats gonna be fun.

This helps me review and remember and hey you may learn somthing as well haha:

Unprepared/Soft Field take offs: Complete all checks on hard surface, taxi and take off in one movement (no stopping) keep weight off nose wheel,flaps 10, smoothly add power, elevator aft of neutral, Lift off before norm speed for take off, remaing flying in ground effect to gain speed, once at 80mph, start climb as usual, retract flaps

Obstacle take offs: Normal hardsurface take off, but with flaps 10, once at usual t/o speed, pull up and go to best rate of climb (as opposed to the norm best speed of climb) which is a higher attitude to clear obstacles once clear of obstacles resume best speed of climb.

well, more blogs for sure next week, flying and lots of it next week if the weather is nice to me....

As TC says in revised 4th edition of flight traing manual, zzzip (P.95 i think)

laters..

It's Been Awhile

2005-09-25T14:18:00.000-04:00

Well, shame on me, It's been a while since I updated, but alas I am now. Well, since the last post alot with my flight training has happend, for one I HAD MY 1ST SOLO FLIGHT!!!!! On Sept16/2005 that was quite the thrill and I will remember for a lifetime. Still doing airwork like stalls, slow flight (just sometimes though) and I was introduced to forced approches, so now that the solo is done I will be doing some solo flight every lessons just touch and go's I would guess. Next flight manuver that I will be taugh is the pre cauitonary landing so that should be intresting and some more upper air work and then my dual cross country flight then around 5.0 solo my SOLO cross country, I cant wait for that it's gonna be fun but also a little nervous at the same time.

But none the less this is what I'm doing for my career (Well acutally the PPL/FW is for fun I'm doing my CPL/HELI next Sept06 as my career) and I love flying, so just being in the air is great and a great thrill....Going to Kelowna for spring to see some friends and gonna try and get some lessons in Para Sailing...that looks like fun.

Starts and Beginnings

2005-07-02T16:57:00.000-04:00

Well I figured I would start on the blog band wagon so to speak and start my own blog. My Name is Matt and I'm from BC. I am excited to start my Private Pilot Training (Fixed Wing) soon in a week or so, I will definetly post about that as it is very exciting and a long time coming from me. and by the way HAPPY BELATED CANADA DAY! haha. I can't beleive that this time next year I will have gradded and I already have my walking partner, shes cool and we are good friends. well I'm out. Later.