Heat Stroke Rave

Heat Stroke Rave

The opposite of a rant. I was going to complain about mowing the yard in the heat but I vividly recall a time five years ago when I was too weak to start my mower much less push it. Thank God I am alive and healthy enough to work! Thank you for my home. I am blessed to be an American where a commoner can own property. We, as mortal creatures, seem to be more conscientious caretakers if we "own" it. It is kind of ludicrous for a speck of dust on a speck of dust claim ownership but it is my peace of paradise (spelling intentional).

I live on a swamp, I mean wetland. Life is strong here, if you neglect your chores for a few days the grass, dandelions and weeds grow so tall small children and animals can get lost for days. I live here by choice. I once lived in the So Cal desert where neglecting your yard resulted in everything drying up and dying. At least this is a wet heat.

My grandchild and her friends love to frolic outdoors and insuring their safety includes removing habitat for spiders, snakes, wasps and fire ants. Encouraging growth of fruits, vegetables and flowers creates great hiding places for froggies, bunnies and duckies. Promoting the children's wonderland while limiting the predators buffet is a balancing act.

Yard work is a simple task and can create immediate gratification. This was among the first chores I could do as a kid. I was/am very happy that I can pull my weight by performing various tasks. Mowing and pulling weeds allows lots of time to think, and/or allows me to not have to think. I enjoy mindless tasks like running, swimming and fishing. Mama said "if you don't think too good, don't think too much" and I have lived by that motto my whole life. Anyway "Yippee, I am mowing the lawn in a million and five heat index and having fun" or maybe it is just the heat induced psychosis talking.

In reality, in a concession to my age, I use the military work/rest tables for planning and I have no pride in wimping out when needed. Mint juleps and watermelon on porch is a suitable sub for yard work.

Jet Airline Pilot

Here is an article I wrote for my flying club

Jet Airline Pilot

A long time ago, near the turn of the last century I dreamed of a career as a jet airline pilot. Life led me down a different path. Last March my good friend Dave returned to the club looking for a flight review and an instrument proficiency check. I excitedly remarked "That's awesome, are you coming back to instructing?" "No dude, I am going to the airlines." remarked Dave. This was interesting since he had left instructing to insure a stable income for his family. Several of my students have pursued airline careers and their experience of minimal pay dissuaded me. Dave excitedly told me of the new economic realities. After conferring with my mentors, peers, friends and family I determined that it was a financially plausible option. It is not the hardest thing I have done, that was admitting I was wrong and asking forgiveness, but it has been a challenge. As Greg Koonz says "It is not rocket surgery but it ain't easy."

Here is the story of my journey so far. The interview process was painless since the industry needs pilots. Fog a mirror, detectable pulse and reasonably coherent conversations and you are in like Finn. Indoctrination is the first phase of training. They cover company policies and FAA mandated training. I started with Brand X and was issued my first Ipad. The steep learning curve began. The tablet is our interface for most flight publications and company communications. The charts were a different format than the FAA (NACO) publications that I am intimately familiar. The airlines do not use Foreflight, Flightplango or other platforms that I had experienced. I felt like a dog staring at a wristwatch. We learned about fun things like high altitude and high speed aerodynamics and mandated items like harassment and drug policy.

Next you learn aircraft systems. This is heaven for an airplane geek but an incredible amount of information. Multiple redundancy and complex interactions between systems is the standard. The aircraft I fly has state of the art technology for the late nineties and is very well engineered. If the weather sucks and we lose an engine on departure we plan on being able to fly 200NM at 15000 feet. This is quite a difference from single piston twins that may only guarantee a controlled descent in the event of an engine failure. The capabilities are incredible and being able to fly in icing, strong winds and over thunderstorms allows our modern lifestyle. Learning the limitations insures the level of safety society demands. The airlines are very cost conscious and the FAA is very slow to approve and adapt new technology so it may be surprising that we do not have ADSB, very limited on board weather information, and only one GPS receiver.

The airlines have a limited training footprint and keeping up is hard. . The next phase prepares you for the simulator and is known by various acronyms. Paper mock ups of the cockpit and more robust simulations are used by various companies to teach procedures. It is not like the airplane has 515 buttons, knobs and switches, but it does, and learning the triggers and flows is indispensable for safe and efficient operation. The crew environment is fundamental to error management and learning standardized challenges and responses helps establish a shared mental model. For example instead of saying "you are getting a little slow" we say "target minus five."

The next phase of training is in a level D simulator and is quite challenging. I had to fight the laws of primacy and exercise and learn new strategies. Pitch for airspeed and power for altitude is not the effect method to control a jet, rather thrust for target and attitude for angle of attack works better. A swept wing jet in a low energy state is slow to respond. One must keep the engines spooled up. Without propeller drag power reductions do not affect sink rate much before the lack of thrust impacts airspeed. If the engines are not spooled up it may take ten seconds for the engines to respond. When configured for landing the draggy jet loses energy rapidly so don't get slow. Excess airspeed, as always, causes float so don't get fast. Approach speeds of 140+ knots means things happen faster. The simulator is very instrument intensive.

Landings in the simulator are like kissing your cousin, it feels a bit weird and you would not brag about it. We do not slip a jet, sink rates would be unrecoverable and over 7 degrees of bank drags a wing. The "ailerons for drift, rudder for alignment" is part of the flare, some people refer to the "crab and kick" method but it seems that kicking the plane irritates the aircraft and results in inconsistent directional stability upon touchdown. The flare is minimal because we have spoilers and other ground lift dumping devices. Thrust reversers and powerful brakes with anti-skid dissipate energy very effectively. The "greaser" landing is not the goal. Get it on the ground and use the technology. As a matter of fact, a full stall landing would likely be very unpleasant and the nose high attitude would eliminate nose wheel steering.

The wide range of the weight, balance and performance envelopes mean the numbers are often quite different each flight. Pitch plus power still equals performance but weight can vary by thousands of pounds and the CG with it. Additionally thrust is quite variable depending on atmospheric conditions.  The bottom line is that it is not as easy to put the cowling two fingers below the horizon and pull the throttle back three fingers and you get 90 knots. It is not too hard using the instruments to get it to respond precisely it is just no longer instinctual.

Transport aircraft have very limited load factor limits and above about 200 feet you do NOT use the rudder unless you have an engine failure/thrust reverser unlocked. The yaw dampers and flight spoilers are awesome but flying with my feet on the floor takes a conscious effort. Stalls and unusual attitudes require a measured response. Aerobatics are wonderful and I encourage all pilots to try them but one must understand the particular capabilities and limitations of each aircraft. In strong little airplanes getting the airplane into a dive and smoothly recovering from fixes most botched maneuvers. Transport aircraft have different characteristics. Swept wings, long axes and tremendous momentum limit your options. The nice thing is we fly well within the maneuvering envelope and have multiple layers of built-in protection.
Glass cockpits are awesome! The PFD/MFD (primary flight display/multi-function display) are feature ridden and have tons of data. The plethora of information means the "scan, interpret and control" process required adjustment, it is not like glancing at the six pack. Interpreting new tools like trend vectors, speed rasters, and sky pointers took time. We use the the flight control panel and other tools to manage the automation. A trustworthy flight director and autopilot are wonderful tools and help when you are flying at 200 knots on fire. Oh, I forgot to mention that the simulator is where you perfect your emergency procedures. The weather always sucks and nearly every system will fail at some point, not to mention windshear and TCAS alerts. George says "Amateurs practice until they get it right, professionals practice until they can't get it wrong" and that pretty succinctly explains the simulator. After an FAA checkride and a LOFT (line oriented flight training) you are off to the aircraft.
IOE (initial operating experience) pairs you with an experienced captain and they help you adapt to the realities of line flying. My first flight was from Chicago O'Hare to Indianapolis, Indiana. The pace of ATC communications and the variation from sterile simulator environment were and are demanding. In other words, I am having a ton of fun and learning a lot. If you want to be an airline pilot, now is a good time. There are many club members flying professionally, reach out if you wish. Sid Graham is a tremendous resource. It was wonderful to have my friend and former student, Emmanuel Aponte, as my simulator instructor. He performed very professionally and did not cut me any slack. I was his last student at Brand W, he now flies for Delta.

I loved instructing at the club and hope to be able to help like Harrison but currently I am "living the dream." They say if you do something you love for a living you will never work a day in your life but, you can turn your joy into a job. Have fun, be safe.