Training, Part II

Day two of flight training torture. Mike B and I were out at the airport early this morning so we could get another day of flying in. I had taken on twenty gallons of fuel last night so I could sump this morning and be good to go.  Pre-flight checked out and the engine was nice and toasty. We tugged 08Romeo out on the ramp, closed the hangar and got the fan turning.

Winds had already started to pick up since we arrived at the airport. It looked best to take off runway two-zero so I taxied to the far north west end for my run up. We launched for Millville NJ-KMIV, working our way up the coast passing over the deserted summer beach destinations. Great visibility today as we made our way to Cape Henlopen to cross the mouth of the Delaware Bay towards Cape May NJ and then turn to Millville.

As we crossed the Bay we aligned ourself with the winds and road along at times hitting 156 knots. I did manage a shot at 148. Once crossing Cape May I set up for the GPS 32 approach into Millville. Winds were really blowing as I descended for the approach turning for initial fix, LAYIB. I took advantage of the no procedure turn coming from the VOR Sea Isle (SIE)and continued on. I was shooting the LPV approach and was cleared to 380' but instead broke off early and did a circling approach at 700' to runway two-eight for the winds. Mike mentioned on final that I should see the crab angle...great I'm missing all the fun views. I made a nice crosswind landing.

We took a breakfast break at Flight Line and made plans for the remainder of our flying day. Neither of us wanted to cross the mouth of the bay at 55knots going home so we decided to fly to Summit airport, KEVY. The over water portion was much narrower and we'll get to feet dry quicker since were crossing where the river opens to the bay.



As we crossed the river Mike B wanted me to fly partial panel so I broke out the covers and had at it. This would also be a great time to use the iPad and Foreflights AHRS.  We covered the attitude indicator, Directional Gyro (DG) and the turn and slip indicator.

It's been awhile  so it took a few minutes of straight and level to digest this new view of the iPad and my new scan. Muscle memory kicked in and I kept trying to set the heading bug on the DG. It took me a bit to register that I needed to keep cross checking the Garmin 530 course and what I was tracking, as I always do, but now transfer that to a heading I need to hold on the iPad. I did pretty darn good and shot the GPS 35 approach to a low pass.

 

 

No relief in sight as we kept the covers on and proceeded to Delaware Airpark for the GPS 27 approach. Another nice job flying the approach partial panel in the gusting wind conditions. For you IFR pilots out there I have to say as the box got tight the winds really gave me fits, pitch & power inputs were almost happening faster than two hands could move and still keep the eyes and brain in the same loop.  Truly one of the hardest approaches I have flown and did it partial panel. I went missed and climbed back out, now pointing home. A chance to take a breath!

We finally peeled the stickers off and returned to normal, I think my eyes were still spinning like a carnival toy. Mike flew some of this leg and he shot the next approach, the Localizer 14 back into Ocean City, KOXB. The winds were kicking pretty good as Mike made his way in. Check out the crab angle around :48!  I took this with the iPhone so its not the best.

We all went out to dinner at a new to us place called KY West, pronounced Key West. Great service and food. We'll be back to this place and try to get the happy hour bunch to try it too!