Last Solo as Student

Here are some photos of my last solo flight as a student pilot. Hope you enjoy them!

return to cascais

Espichel

Milfontes Lighthouse

Portimão harbor

Santa a Clara a Velha Dam

Alcácer do Sal

Troia Peninsula

Red Bull's 2010 Highlights

In Memory of Alejandro Maclean

Situation Report!

To all my readers, if there is anyone who reads this, I apologize for my absence. The situation could not be better to Myself, somehow the flight school is scheduling me training flights every day, some are cross country solos and others are instrument training flights. On the instrument training flights I'm practicing flying on ATS routes which is very good because normally I'm flying at FL070 and as it was today we had at that flight level 17ºC which is very good comparing with the 38ºC at Lisbon Airport.

Here you have some pictures, not as good as I wanted to be but the aircraft windows are getting old.

Returning to Cascais LPCS

A very hot day

Lagos there's the house of a friend of mine

Vila Nova de Milfontes

Cessna 150A - Some say this is the oldest Cessna flying in Portugal

Between checkpoints...

CS-AUR cockpit

Troia peninsula

Pessegueiro Island - Porto Covo

Costa de Caparica beach

The Cessna 150A CS-ADF

Another shot of this "old timer" cockpit - Cessna 150A CS-ADF

Another solo cross country flight

Today I got airborne again and this time was for a solo cross country flight. Destination, Portimão, LPPM.

The aircraft was a new one to my records, the Cessna 152 II with the registration CS-AVC. Despite of the strong winds that have been crossing Portugal in the last few days, today the wind was calm and there was not much turbulence and an amazing sky clear of clouds to the south.

From Cascais, LPCS, to Portimão, LPPM I planned a route passing through Alcacer do Sal, Grandola, Amoreiras, Silves and Portimão, the way back the route was completely shore line passing through Sagres, Zambujeira, Vila Nova de Milfontes, Sines, Comporta, and the visual tunnels of Lisboa TMA.

Here are some pictures of the flight. Enjoy.

Tejo River

Troia Peninsula

Santa Clara Dam

The mighty Cessna 152 II CS-AVC

Beechcraft King Air 90A

First Flight... at night!

This is not a picture of Myself, but it could be because yesterday I flew at night for the first time.

For this flight the mission was quite simple. Circuit patterns. You all know from previous posts some procedures when we are within a circuit pattern of an aerodrome, this time the propose of these was to let to adapt to night operations. Doing the same but with different conditions.

This time the aircraft was the Cessna C-150 with the registration CS-APA, apart from a very hot night and a somewhat surprising gust this flight went very well. During the flight I had to perform some procedures such as approach without landing light, simulated engine failure approach, short approach and others.

Despite of the non operational instrument lights I enjoyed very much this flight and I can't wait for the next one!

The truth is...

Matt Hall's water contact video

Good to fly again!

Finally I had a scheduled flight and the weather allowed me to fly it.

After a period with lack of flights, last Thursday I went to the sky again! For this flight the mission was the final adaptation to advanced single engine aircraft. And the aircraft was... the Mooney M20J! After a long 15 minutes period waiting on the apron for a free slot, we finally started up the engine, first thing that marks the difference between the Mooney and other aircraft that I've already flew is the sound, feels powerful. Normal ground procedures and taxi to the holding of runway 35 at Cascais Aerodrome , LPCS. During ground maneuver and take off the controls seem to be heavy and the rotate seem to be slow, but in the sky... boy! What amazing aircraft.

Climb performance is amazing, but when we leveled at 3000 feet the airspeed indicator started to show a fast increasing of speed, remembering me that this was no longer a slow Cessna or Socata Tampico. Later I've found out this issue of higher speeds can bring to normal instrument procedures operations. At the beginning the flight instructor briefed me about differences of this aircraft in flight and showed me some reactions of the plane, after this I practiced some emergencies and normal procedures, such as, normal landing configuration, gear up fail, gliding and engine restart procedures, among others. Later on we continued with instrument procedures training as holdings and DME arcs, last ones much harder to maintain with this increase of speed with a distance of 8 nautical miles from the station.

In the air the aircraft seemed to be very smooth and precise in the controls, those don't require much deflection to take effect, with the increase of power the propeller effects are now more visible and during climb forces you to counter balance with the right foot much more.

In my opinion I've enjoyed very much of the aircraft but I'm sure that it's a more difficult aircraft that requires more of me to fly it. Can't barely wait for the next one!

from: Rui - ruispotter.blogspot.com

from: Luis Gonçalves - APEA - http://forum.apeapt.com

Matt Hall touches the water during qualifying @ Windsor

The Australian Red Bull Air Race pilot Matt Hall, had a scary qualifying day as during his flight, his plane touched the water of the Detroit River.

Images here. Official Red Bull Air Race internet website.

Windsor Red Bull Air Race Live! - Pete McLeod

This Blog is Officially in a Long Term Storage

Yes, it's official, this blog is in a Long Term Storage, like some Aircraft but not in Victorville, CA, as usual.

The problem is that there isn't much to write, I continue in a lack of flying period since April the 10th, sometimes because of the weather, others because of a system malfunction in the airplane scheduled to Me. This is really Bad Luck!

Sitting and waiting for better days...

W'ill see abou that.

While not flying the Big Ones...

...and it stopped Europe again

Portuguese version of a Cessna 152 engine failure checklist

Airspeed - 70kts

Field - Choose a field with no more 10º of bank on each side to land

Fuel Shut of Valve - CHECK ON

Mixture - FULL RICH

Carb Heat - ON

Magneto Switch - BOTH - Crank if propeller stopped

NEGATIVE RESTART

Fuel Shut of Valve - OFF

Mixture - IDLE CUTOFF

Carb Heat - OFF

Magneto Switch - OFF

Master - ON for FLAPS and COMMS

PRAY TO HOLY MARY BEFORE LANDING!!!

Pilots Vs Maintenance

Solo flight cancelled!

I hate cross winds!

Quote of the day!

Good judgment comes from experience. Good experience comes from someone else's bad judgment.

Aviation Humor by Kulula.com

South African low-fare airline kulula.com recently came up with a brand-new, funny livery. One of their Boeing 737-86N (ZS-ZWP / OK-PIK), called “Flying 101″ is entirely covered with details and funny remarks about the plane.

The captain’s window is marked with the big cheese (”captain, my captain!”), the co-pilot’s window with co-captain (the other pilot on the PA system) and the jump seat is for wannabe pilots.

In addition, the following descriptions of plane parts can be found:

• galley (cuppa anyone?)
• avionics (fancy navigation stuff)
• windows (best view in the world)
• wing #1 and #2
• engine #1 and #2 (26 000 pounds of thrust)
• emergency exit = throne zone (more leg room baby!)
• seats (better than taxi seats)
• some windows = kulula fans (the coolest peeps in the world)
• black box (which is actually orange)
• landing gear (comes standard with supa-fly mags)
• back door (no bribery/corruption here)
• tail (featuring an awesome logo)
• loo (or mile-high club initiation chamber)
• rudder (the steering thingy)
• stabiliser (the other steering thingy)
• a.p.u. (extra power when you need it most)
• galley (food, food, food, food…)
• boot space
• ZS-ZWP (OK-PIK) = secret agent code (aka plane’s registration)
• overhead cabins (VIP seating for your hand luggage)
• fuel tanks (the go-go juice)
• cargo door
• aircon ducts (not that kulula needs it… they’re already cool)
• front door (our door is always open … unless we’re at 41 000 feet)
• cockpit window = sun roof
• nose cone (radar, antenna, and a really big dish inside)

A380 tire blow out on Landing

During landing at Sydney-Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD / YSSY) today a left main gear tire blew out on a Qantas Airbus A380 (VH-OQC). Flight QF32 was arriving from Singapore Changi Airport (SIN / WSSS).

The video below shows some footage that was filmed by a passenger, including some pictures from the tail cam.

Ilyushin IL-76MD (RA-86863) comes to a sudden end

The landing of a Russian Air Force Ilyushin IL-76MD (RA-86863) comes to a sudden end as it touches down late due to strong crosswinds.

According to information on Youtube, this accident already occured on August 09, 2008 at Pskov (PKV/ULOO) (Russia).

First ATP01/08 student graduates!

Yesterday the first ATPL student of my class finished her formation with the multi engine and instrument rating practical exam.

Only I can say is: Congratulations Rita for your effort, good flights and the best landings

New Mission but... same thing!

Yes I know it's a bit boring to tell you always the same about my new flights, but that's the truth, there are no new things to show to you. This flight was again an instrument training, again with some holdings, DME arcs and another ILS to rwy 03 of Lisbon Airport, LPPT.

The good news is that one more mission is completed, so there are less to finish my ATPL formation, and the other good news is that the next mission will have more of the same but in two missions I'll be flying on a ATS route, probably from Cascais, LPCS, to Faro, LPFR, and return, now that's finally a change.