Visitors and land aways

Fueling at Chandler

Solo land away- this jet came and parked next to me

Hello...!

So, another exam down. PT3 passed! Out of all 3 practical exams, I got the highest marks in this one, but with each exam the expectation builds as does the 'bar'. Lots more work to be done.

Recently, I have also carried out my night flights - something I was looking forward to. The flying is the same in comparison to flying during the day- you just see a very different picture out of the cockpit or nothing at all... obviously... its dark.
We have 2 dual lessons, one of which consists of flying in the circuit (take off, come round and land) and another flying as a nav flight, then your on your own for night flights. I really like flying at night. The air is calm, you can see other aircraft easily, and its good fun. Landing is odd at first as you head toward the big dark area not lit known as the runway, but as soon as your landing lights illuminate the 'piano keys' its time to start thinking about the flare. Once you get the hang of that, its fine. I did have a coyote stroll across the runway after landing. I reported it to tower who I don't think were expecting it. They came back saying ''ummm Oxford 210, use caution''... Thanks.  At one point we had 5 AP360 course members in the same circuit. It seemed so different from when we used to share the same classroom in ground school to now sharing the same runway. We all wondered who was going to mess up their radio comms first and the answer soon came..... ATC! We are all human...Anyway, I am now night rated.

B17- this plane still flies

Dad inspecting a B17 'deterrent'

I have also seen the welcome face of home with my father coming over from England to say hello and see the delights Phoenix has to offer and surrounding area. I took 4 approved days off and went and picked him up off BA28. It was great to see him, show him the airport at Falcon and give him the tour of OAA as well as testing the American food and drink... he wasn't a fan of Coors lite. Also, as you may of seen by the photos, we went to a couple of aircraft museums - one at Falcon and one down in Tucson. They were brilliant. It was interesting to drive south and spot land marks I typically see from the air and be reminded of how big the USA is. For us to get to Tucson it was over 100 miles, about the same distance as Heathrow to my house (in Suffolk) - we drive through 4 (maybe 5...!) counties to get there in the UK. Our practise area we fly in the USA is nearly the size of the south east of England. It never seems that big from the air! It was great to see him and I think we shared the highlight of crawling through a flying and working B17 bomber, quite an honour. I also found a 737-300 down in Tucson. It was interesting just to be on ground level and walk around it. One day I hope to be flying this type of aircraft and put into perspective all this training and sacrifice. It gave me further focus to carry on working hard. He returned on a 747 3 days ago and I hope he had a good time.

As the course progresses, we are trusted more and more with the expensive breakable aircraft. I have recently been flying some long 5 hour flights with a land away. We land to refuel and also get a spot of lunch or breakfast. Luckily the airports where we land have some nice food outlets which is always appreciated. The weather for my second landaway could have been better, but a ''good sailor was never made on a calm sea." I diverted myself a couple of times to avoid some weather and turbulence. It was a good flight and I was marshalled (hand signals from marshall) onto stand for the first time. I enjoyed this. At Goodyear you land next to 747's, 777, A340's, etc. which are being retired or stored. As a plane geek, this was a highlight.

I am soon to change instructors as we move more on to instrument flying which requires a different instructor, so I would like to thank Tim for his patience and understanding in his instructor role. He has been a good instructor and I have enjoyed flying with him. Cheers, Tim.

I want to fly this

That's it for me. I have had a rare cancelled flight today due to low visibility. Brendan and I played 'eye spy' for a bit in the crew room but once 'chair' and 'table' were guessed we ran out patience. It's back to it tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

PS, If you ever want to listen to live ATC at Falcon, our homebase, click on this link to Falcon remember the time difference and it busiest in the afternoons usually.

An American evening in Gilbert

The old chap and I

Another solo landaway at Goodyear