Two Engines Are Better Than One!
Greetings to my dedicated readers...
June was jammed-packed with flying and racing. I was gone for about 12 days, home for 45 minutes, and back on the road for 4 days. Sleep was hard to come by and my brain hurt, but it was by far one of the best months this year.
Following closely on the heels of my newest license, my latest achievement included travel to my home state of North Carolina for my Multi-Engine (MEL) rating! This one was projected to take less time than the Commerical. My dad even bragged to me that it only took him a weekend to get his MEL. I had planned to be in Southport, NC for about 12 days as I flew a Beechcraft Baron (BE-55) at High Tide Aviation flight school. I chose this location for several reasons; and, yes, one of them was that it was at the beach... However, the main incentive for this flight school was their Baron that had nicely upgraded avionics, similar to the kind in the RV10. This familiarity would make parts of my training easier, save learning an entirely new aircraft with double the engines, double the power and retractable landing gear.
The Baron was a much heavier, faster and more complex plane than I had ever flown. The biggest learning curve in multi-engine training is the aerodynamic principles with one engine inoperative. So, much of the training is focused on these single-engine procedures. They are not difficult to understand on the ground, but in the air, the forces on the plane and your body require a quick and authoritative response. I gathered a good amount of study material beforehand so that I could have a leg up on my understanding of the aircraft when I arrived in Southport.
Much to my chagrin, I was forced to fly airlines down to NC and after many delays and a panicked run through the Charlotte airport, I made it to Southport. I had some lovely accommodations when I arrived which included a private loft above the airport hanger where the Baron and some other Cessna 172s were being kept. I babysat them well.
I met with my instructor the next day and I took my first flight in the Baron. I immediately felt like I was driving a bus. It was big and heavy but responsive. I relied heavily on checklists and my instructor's input as we took off. I was enthralled with the power and authority the airplane commanded. I felt like a proper pilot. As I began to get used to the heavier controls and the extra instruments, I performed a few simple maneuvers which went much better than I or the instructor thought. Still not comfortable with the heaviness or responsiveness of the plane, I turned it slowly and shallowly, accidentally making bigger power adjustments than needed. After I settled in a bit more, we turned back to the airport and I was tasked with landing this hoss of a machine. Surprisingly, its landing characteristics were not as different as I thought they would be and we touched down smoothly. Whew! Maybe this won't be as hard as I thought...
For the sake of brevity, the rest of the week was pretty similar to the first few days. I would wake up to the sound of the hanger door opening and start studying. Memorizing numbers, power settings, aircraft systems and maneuvers took up the bulk of my mornings. Apparently, I had impressed my instructor with my pre-training studying and he was very reassuring of my checkride success. Flying took place in the afternoon, which I was always wary of due to the high probability of afternoon showers... I had lived in NC and I knew what to expect this time of year! Luckily, we were always able to get some flying in, even if that meant dodging cells and doing stalls in the rain. Also, I made friends with some of the guys at the flight school. We'd hang out in the evenings which was a nice break from the mental effort exercised during the day.
After a few days of training, I was asked if I wanted to fly to St. Simons, GA to drop off the boss of the flight school. We had met a few times and she was graciously offering to give me flight time in the Baron at half price to make that trip. Of course, I eagerly agreed. Our flight was relatively uneventful, minus a few thunderstorms here and there that we avoided. I was so excited to get this invaluable cross-country MEL time (it looks great in my logbook!). We had some special cargo of the doggo kind too!
The more flying and training I did, the more I fell in love with the Baron. It was responsive, capable and smooth. My instructor continually expressed his satisfaction with my progress and reassured me that my upcoming checkride would go well. Things were good. He even took me up in his aerobatic Super Decathlon (pictured) because I had expressed interest in aerobatic flying. I had the time of my life. I don't think I stopped smiling the whole flight unless it was to strain for Gs. :)
Since I was NC, I was able to spend some time with my 'great' Aunt and Uncle as well as my mom and dad. We ate some delicious seafood and walked around downtown Southport. I'm so glad they could come visit me!
With the checkride on the horizon, I was busy fine-tuning my maneuvers that would be performed on the ride. Some of these were repeats from previous checkrides, like stalls, steep turns and instrument approaches. Like I mentioned previously, a large part of the training focused on single-engine operations. While stalls and steep turns remained relatively the same, the instrument approach had to be done with only one engine operative. This was probably the hardest thing that would be required of me and it took lots of practice. I was also required to completely shut down an engine in flight and restart it. That one wasn't hard, just crazy.
The checkride day was closing in and so all eyes were on the weather. It wasn't forecast to be very good VFR conditions. Rather they were calling for low ceilings and rain. FAA Checkrides are required to be done VFR because some of the maneuvers have to be done with reference to the horizon. I was desperately hoping to get my ride in because I had airline tickets back home the next day as well as plans to depart for Chicago for RX-8 racing that weekend at Autobahn. Thankfully, the test examiner agreed to proceed with the ride, under the condition that we go 'VFR on top' (which means climbing through the low cloud layer up to an altitude of VFR conditions). My instructor and I headed over to Goldsboro in the Baron in the clouds. Due to the weather conditions, I needed to shoot the instrument approach (my very first one in actual conditions!). I briefed us on the plate and we proceeded to descend. The cloud layer was predicted to be about 1200' above the ground (AGL) at the airport. The minimum it could be was 304' AGL or else we would be forced to abort the approach and go missed. As I flew the Baron down through the clouds, we reached 1000' and still no airport could be seen. 800', no airport. 500', no airport. 350', no airport. Just as we hit minimums, the airport appeared. I breathed a sigh of relief as I guided her down to the ground. WOW, what a way to start my checkride day. And a great reminder that you can never rely on the weather observations...
The checkride itself really went without a hitch. The examiner 'failed' one of my engines multiple times to test my reactions in different scenarios. Due to persistent cloudy weather, we stuck to our plan of completing the visual maneuvers on top. Since we were on top, we needed to descend through the clouds and, of course, that's when my engine got pulled and we began the single-engine instrument approach. Hours earlier, I had just done my first actual instrument approach and now I was going to do it with one engine... Thankfully, the clouds were higher than minimums and the approach went very smoothly. After a short-field take-off and landing, I was deemed a competent MEL-rated pilot! My examiner remarked on my ability to describe and perform the maneuvers in a thorough way and suggested I seriously consider flight instructing. Getting my flight instructor license (CFI) is something that I have tried to avoid, but it seems as though that may be next...
My instructor and I flew home VFR on top and arrived back in Southport just in time for the flight school boss to contact us to ask if we could fly her back from St. Simons. I had planned on taking the night off to celebrate, but the thought of more flight time in actual conditions was too good to pass up. My instructor and I took off towards Georgia with a close eye on the gnarly thunderstorms and tornado watches along our route of flight. Using our best judgment and desire for flight safety, we picked our way around buildups and made it to St. Simons just as it began to rain. But now, we had to go back.
The thunderstorms were moving closer to our intended flight path and the sun was going down. I was about to rack up PIC cross-country time at night in actual conditions in a multi-engine aircraft. That checked just about every box I could think of. We took off, more vigilantly tracking our predicted flight conditions this time. Throughout the flight, we got bumped around, saw lots of lighting and changed our flight plan a few times, but made it back safely. I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited to be back on the ground. After a good, cold beer and some Jack Daniels, I packed up my things for an early airline flight back home the next morning.
Speedy Shenanigans
The 45 minutes at home I mentioned earlier? Yeah, that was supposed to be 2 hours, which still isn't a lot, but it would have been better than 45 min. I got home from the airport intending to do some much-needed laundry and take a shower. However, I got word from Garrett that the crew would be ready to roll to Chicago earlier than expected. I threw my things together and rushed out the door, stopping at Meijer on the way to buy some socks because I had no clean ones. Ah, the things I do for track weekends...
In all honesty, the rush was worth it. I was really looking forward to attending this Gridlife race at Autobahn because I was in Greece last year at this time! The drive to Chicago was what you would expect: traffic and construction the whole way. We were caravaning with a whole crew and three trailers. It was quite the little highway procession. We were thankful for the extra hour as we put up our things at the track and chowed down on some hamburgers.
The next morning racing began! On Friday only, drivers were allowed passengers, so I got to ride with Garrett. I was super stoked to rip around a new track. After a few laps, I decided that Autobahn was my new favorite. The RX-8 was driving really well and all of the winter modifications were really coming to light in the form of faster times. Toward the end of the day as I was riding along with Garrett, we caught a good break from traffic which allowed space to put down a screamer of a lap. At this point, while I may not be very proficient at track driving myself, I do understand what a good lap/line looks like. On our flyer, which was looking to be a personal best by at least 2 seconds, we hit fuel cut on the back straight (aka the ecu stopped the fuel from being ignited due to too much air being detected by the airflow sensor). This definitely ruined the best time, but he still managed to save it for 1:38, which is still faster than last year's time.
Besides a broken miata (rip), the weekend was full of fast racing, new best times and broken records (shoutout Joe). It was brutally hot and the cold showers at the end of the day made it bearable. The weather held up all but the last night when a wicked storm rolled through and nearly blew our tent over and flooded us out. Oh well. We survived.
I also learned I am really bad at taking photos during track weekends, so here's all I got...
No recipe this month...I am diligently working on a special one to be released soon!
I appreciate all of you for reading my blog. I will be back soon with more aviation news and fun life updates...
Enjoy the dog days of summer! (Special photo of my dogs included)
Cheers!
- Olivia Carter
