Trip Down Memory Lane - Planelopnik

"WilliamsSW" (williamssw)
08/12/2017 at 18:25 • Filed to: Planelopnik, first solo;

We’re doing a lot of house clean up this weekend, going through old junk, and I came across my pilot logbook. I had forgotten, but my first flight and first solo were in the same airplane - N392ES, a Cessna 172R, pictured below (not my pictures).

It didn’t have wheel pants back then, because training aircraft

I think this was taken at LaGuardia - not my photo

My first solo was November 30, 1999 - a heck of a long time ago. I’m sure there’s a photo of me with the plane taken that day somewhere (it’s basically an FAA reg to take one :)), but who knows where it is.

Sadly, someone tried to land it long on a 1,700' turf runway in 2013, and damaged it ‘substantially’ according to the NTSB. The 3rd time often isn’t a charm when you’re trying to land. I don’t know if it’s airworthy now or not.

Bonus C172R:

I passed my private pilot checkride in this airplane. It was nervewracking — the DPE was a 777 captain for United, and a great guy (RIP Allan Englehardt)

Oshkosh has given me the itch again— one of these days, I need to get up in the air again...

DISCUSSION (15)

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > WilliamsSW
08/12/2017 at 18:47

The Warrior I learned on back in 1994 was totaled by a renter who tried to get into a 1600' strip and failed miserably. I’m told he earned a 709 ride for that, the dope... Did you learn at PWK?

WilliamsSW > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom
08/12/2017 at 18:54

Sounds like a similar story to what happened to 392ES. Guy with 2 pax on board missed twice, then landed long on a 1,700' turf runway, then it sounds like he ground looped it or something intentionally to avoid an overrun. I have to believe he got a 709 ride, too.

Yep — KPWK. Northwestern Aviation, a great flight school that wasn’t around very long. You’re familiar with the airport?

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > WilliamsSW
08/12/2017 at 19:04

Somewhat. About ten years ago I flew a charter out to Palwaukee in a Pilatus. Challenging airspace if you happen to hit the rush hour at ORD.

WilliamsSW > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom
08/12/2017 at 19:16

Yeah, it wasn’t the most efficient place to learn. As a PP, you’re just trying to stay clear of the Class B of course, but at times we would be 7th in line for departure behind a bunch of IFR jets in the early evening. Not very productive when you have the plane for a 2.5 hour block.

WilliamsSW > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom
08/12/2017 at 19:26

Are you still flying a Pilatus now? How do you like it? Great looking airplane —

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > WilliamsSW
08/13/2017 at 08:08

Similar story at HPN (White Plains NY). I was a f/t CFI there in 2001 and being a busy field with commercial and corporate traffic sometime meant being #6 to depart while being sequenced in with arrivals. Considering how much the flight school was charging, sitting on a taxiway for 30 min was an expensive waste of time. And it’s not like you can turn around and go back once you’re in sequence.

I flew the Caravan and PC-12 for four years 2006-2009, and am considering going back p/t next year now that my kids are older. Amazing airplane, short & soft field capable with a 260kt cruise. The new ones are 20kt faster; the main difference is the addition of glass panels. The ones I flew had steam gauges and a twin tube EFIS.

WilliamsSW > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom
08/13/2017 at 09:06

Yes, it wasn’t the best way to learn to fly, but I would argue that it made me a better pilot, since I got used to dealing with ATC, airspace rules, and towered airports from the get go.

Ah, so you’re away from it professionally, currently? Good luck getting back to it. I keep hearing that a lot of pilots are needed. I imagine that the lifestyle would be challenging with small kids. Presume you were away a lot back then?

The Pilatus seems like a fantastic airplane. I imagine the Caravan has a very different feel to it, being much slower.

Lately, I’ve been seeing Caravans operating in and out of ORD. I’ve got a heck of a lot of respect for whoever is flying those, mixing it up with all that jet traffic. High speed approaches, and they have to be good at getting the plane slowed down fast on short final.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > WilliamsSW
08/13/2017 at 09:17

There’s a lot of upward mobility now; regionals have significantly raised their starting pay for F/O since I interviewed in 2005. Because of that the charter operators have had to pay better to keep crews. Except for one week flying as a replacement pilot in the Caribbean (no IFR! Yay!) I was never away from home. Slowing down in a turboprop is easy, just pull back the power and that giant airbrake out front does the rest. The Pilatus was great for that; if we had fast traffic behind us for approach sequencing we’d fly 180kt to the marker (made ATC’s life easier) then we could slow down pretty quickly to our approach speed of 120kt.

WilliamsSW > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom
08/13/2017 at 09:28

Good!! I’m really glad to hear that pay is going up. I recall that back in the early 00s (before 9/11 really) the CFIs I flew with were often looking at jobs that paid in the high teens annually for the right seat in a J31/J41, or maybe just above $20k for an ERJ. I always thought it was insane that the company would trust 19 lives to a pilot but wouldn’t pay them a living wage.

Ah, I haven’t flown anything bigger than a 182, so I didn’t realize that the big windmill in front could slow you that quickly. A nice feature when ATC wants 180kts for as long as possible.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > WilliamsSW
08/13/2017 at 10:34

When I interviewed F/Os were starting in the low 20's to fly a regional jet. Now, due to pilot shortages, new hire salaries are up in the 50s including all bonuses. Some even reach 60k - long overdue imho.

The cool thing with turboprops is when you pull the power back to idle in flight the prop nearly flattens out creating lots of drag; very helpful in losing alt or speed quickly. Pull back further (past the detent) and the prop goes to beta thrust where it’s totally flat and then back further is reverse thrust. Beta and reverse are only used on the ground.

WilliamsSW > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom
08/13/2017 at 11:56

Those lowball salaries from 10-20 years ago are probably what created the shortage, at least in part. 50-60k makes a heck of a lot more sense to me, glad to see it.

Ah yeah, I knew beta/reverse were ground only, didn’t realize that idle meant nearly flat — that would slow you down quick!

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > WilliamsSW
08/13/2017 at 12:56

The Age 60 rule being changed to 65 stagnated things for a few years but it just pushed off the inevitable crunch to the right.

Useless beta benefit: it makes a really cool sound

WilliamsSW > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom
08/13/2017 at 16:23

Hnmm, now I need to go to the u tubes to hear that sound... I’m sure I’ve heard it plenty but can’t place it right now. ..

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > WilliamsSW
08/13/2017 at 20:21

At 0:14-0:37 you’ll hear beta engage; it’s done to save the brakes.

WilliamsSW > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom
08/13/2017 at 22:41

Aha! I *thought* that’s what that was, but wasn’t sure — and I’m not around turboprops pretty much ever anymore- yeah, awesome sound!