VORcraft
I was supposed to fly with Chris out of San Carlos last Tuesday morning at 8:30. When I got out to the car, the windshield was covered with ice. Not good, but no problem, right? So I tried to start her up. Cranks, but nothing else. And the cranks got slower. And slower. What the...? I still had battery, I could turn on the headlights and listen to the radio...
Then I noticed, the (digital) trip odometer had reset itself to 0.0 and I'd lost all my presets. Yes, it was the battery, not run down by carelessness, but just naturally weak after over 6 years of starting up my diesel VW. So I called Chris, told him I'd be taking a bike to the train and I'd be there at 9:15.
I rode as fast as I could to get to the train station at 8:53. Actually, I rode faster than I could and wound up feeling really nauseous. I'd have caught the train (only because it was 3 minutes late) but I cancelled the lesson.
This morning, by contrast, was great! The VW started right up on its new battery, and after a lengthy ground session discussing VORs and more acronyms (TITT = Tune, Identify, Twist, Turn; CCCCCC = Circle, Climb, Conserve, Communicate, Confess, Comply), we went flying out over the Woodside VOR.
First of all, SQL is a really nice airport. Everything seems so much more friendly than PAO for some reason. We took off on 12, made a 20 degree turn to the left for noise abatement, then followed Woodside Road up to the hills. This is known as a "Woodside Departure." The plane was 4849D, which is really a nice plane! It's weird, my memory of it was as being old and creaky. Maybe I've just been flying older and creakier planes at PAO so it seems really nice now. It is actually older than '76 (I think?) because it has 40 degrees flap deflection.
Anyway, so we flew out to the Woodside VOR, and practiced tracking to and from the VOR. We also tracked to SJC, and then we flew a course along "Victor airways" (pre-established routes that track to and from VORs) from the coast, over Woodside, and toward SFO (which we naturally cut off well before hitting the Class B boundary). We practiced triangulating a position using 2 VORs. In terms of the actual flying, I found that directional control was really easy, and I had a pretty easy time maintaining altitude, which was a first.
This was such a beautiful flight. The weather was sunny and clear. The coast was amazing. I did not want to go back, but we had to for multiple reasons involving the plane being rented later in the day, Chris having other students, and my pocketbook having limits. So we headed back. This was a little bit of an adventure thanks to a not-very-competent ATC (I hate saying that, but it was really true). We were told to overfly the runway at 1300'. 90 seconds later, a TWIN just behind us was given the same instructions! We were looking all over for the twin when it suddenly appeared off the right side, and close. It probably looked a lot closer than it was because it was big.
So we spent the rest of the ride sitting in its wake turbulence. Chris tightened up the pattern for me, and let me do the landing. Interestingly, SQL has a 3-degree glide slope VASI installed (like just about every other airport out there), whereas PAO has a 4-degree VASI. So the VASI was telling me my approach was right on, but I was feeling very nervous about it. Anyway, I stuck with it and the landing was actually quite good. I got it right on the center line, which has been a problem lately -- I think it's just a matter of concentrating on it.
Next lesson is Monday morning, but as I'm in the recording studio, I'm not sure it's going to happen. And Kevin's back in town, so this lesson will be with him!
Then I noticed, the (digital) trip odometer had reset itself to 0.0 and I'd lost all my presets. Yes, it was the battery, not run down by carelessness, but just naturally weak after over 6 years of starting up my diesel VW. So I called Chris, told him I'd be taking a bike to the train and I'd be there at 9:15.
I rode as fast as I could to get to the train station at 8:53. Actually, I rode faster than I could and wound up feeling really nauseous. I'd have caught the train (only because it was 3 minutes late) but I cancelled the lesson.
This morning, by contrast, was great! The VW started right up on its new battery, and after a lengthy ground session discussing VORs and more acronyms (TITT = Tune, Identify, Twist, Turn; CCCCCC = Circle, Climb, Conserve, Communicate, Confess, Comply), we went flying out over the Woodside VOR.
First of all, SQL is a really nice airport. Everything seems so much more friendly than PAO for some reason. We took off on 12, made a 20 degree turn to the left for noise abatement, then followed Woodside Road up to the hills. This is known as a "Woodside Departure." The plane was 4849D, which is really a nice plane! It's weird, my memory of it was as being old and creaky. Maybe I've just been flying older and creakier planes at PAO so it seems really nice now. It is actually older than '76 (I think?) because it has 40 degrees flap deflection.
Anyway, so we flew out to the Woodside VOR, and practiced tracking to and from the VOR. We also tracked to SJC, and then we flew a course along "Victor airways" (pre-established routes that track to and from VORs) from the coast, over Woodside, and toward SFO (which we naturally cut off well before hitting the Class B boundary). We practiced triangulating a position using 2 VORs. In terms of the actual flying, I found that directional control was really easy, and I had a pretty easy time maintaining altitude, which was a first.
This was such a beautiful flight. The weather was sunny and clear. The coast was amazing. I did not want to go back, but we had to for multiple reasons involving the plane being rented later in the day, Chris having other students, and my pocketbook having limits. So we headed back. This was a little bit of an adventure thanks to a not-very-competent ATC (I hate saying that, but it was really true). We were told to overfly the runway at 1300'. 90 seconds later, a TWIN just behind us was given the same instructions! We were looking all over for the twin when it suddenly appeared off the right side, and close. It probably looked a lot closer than it was because it was big.
So we spent the rest of the ride sitting in its wake turbulence. Chris tightened up the pattern for me, and let me do the landing. Interestingly, SQL has a 3-degree glide slope VASI installed (like just about every other airport out there), whereas PAO has a 4-degree VASI. So the VASI was telling me my approach was right on, but I was feeling very nervous about it. Anyway, I stuck with it and the landing was actually quite good. I got it right on the center line, which has been a problem lately -- I think it's just a matter of concentrating on it.
Next lesson is Monday morning, but as I'm in the recording studio, I'm not sure it's going to happen. And Kevin's back in town, so this lesson will be with him!
posted by MKT at 9:21 PM
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