Superbowl, scorpions and sun....

I always read back my last blog post and think 'so much has happened since then' and my last post was no exception. I have now completed numerous solo and instrument missions as well as passing another exam.

As iv noted before we have progress checks with a Senior Flight Instructor to make sure we are at the sufficient standard- they are always a little nervy and passing is no means assured. My second PT went okay, it was a Navigation flight with a diversions and emergency procedures. The weather was 'dodgy' on the day of the exam with dark heavy rain showers in the vicinity and strong winds, not ideal after experiencing mostly blue open skies with light winds- just my luck! Its totally down to the student if the exam goes ahead, if you took off and had to come back, you fail... We departed and from the go everything was unfamiliar for me, we flew a departure procedure I had only done once- 4 weeks ago, I navigated to a place I hadn't been before which was the same for my divert airport also. We don't use the on-board computers to help up, its all old fashioned navigation using mental dead reckoning such as speed, distance and time formula as well as using VOR's to triangulate our position- you are not told which airport you will be diverted to until you are in flight, then the fun begins, you have to calculate off the top of your head, your track, heading, time, distance and fuel requirement; then get to the divert airport within 3 minutes. The nav exam itself went okay and my emergency simulations I thought went better, I was put on the spot at one point as I approached my divert airport which was surrounded by other airports, let me remind you its not like trying to spot Heathrow, these are tiny little private airports which may only be a dirt strip which blends perfectly into the desert, anyway, as we approached he said ''is this the place? I need an answer in 30 seconds, if you are wrong you have failed''- I probably used 29 of my seconds to absolutely make sure, I said it was, he stuck out his hand and said 'congratlution!' - I was relieved, right up to the few moments after when he failed my engine and I had to make an emergency landing at said airport..... anyway, I passed.

Meet Steve, he is a local- he later went missing....

Dispatch desk

The guys who fix the planes, they are open 20 hours of the day... thank guys

We recently had the Superbowl in Phoenix which meant the airports got rammed with private jets, this made for some good experience as we shared the same airspace and facilities. Iv heard it was a fun day, I didn't manage to see Katy Perry land and shes yet to take me up on my offer on coming for a spin in the Archer but we live in hope. The Superbowl was a little lost on me I must admit and I didn't manage to see it... however I was supporting Seattle merely because that is were Boeing are based, I had a £10 bet with my cousin who would win... on an unrelated note do you know were I can get 1000 1p's from? I did manage to watch the England vs Wales 6 nations match.... I was most pleased.

I have my first night flight tonight which I am really looking forward to and of course I have started getting ready for another exam, the endless joyful exams...

Away from flying I haven't been out too much, the flying has been fairly intense recently flying 6 days a week, this hasn't left a huge amount of time for anything else, I still go and do 'things' when I can and even made friends with some American locals experiencing US delights such as corndogs and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches- but with Nav flights we have some very early starts, even the line dancing has been put on the back foot... (thanks), however with the arrival of the 'old man' a matter of days away, I am sure I will be putting my tourist hat back on.

I hope all is well with you, the weather is getting hot here- 25c to 29c is common most days at the moment or 85f or so for our US cousins....

Thanks for reading- more pictures below.

Middle left you can see the BA 747 going into Phoenix, Id just landed myself- amazing sky

Last flight of the day for me

Turn around time

We like our Archers