My Mom wasn’t enamored with flying sideways, crab-like. I didn’t like that last-second kick on the downwind rudder pedal to align the airplane with the runway before the tires hit the pavement sideways.
There is another method. Advanced technique — like scratching your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time.
Here is the Holy Grail for Googling pilots. Finally, the SECRET ADVANCED SUPER-DUPER SURE-SHOT [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Flight Training’
Secret Advanced Formula for Landing in Killer Crosswinds
Posted in Flight, tagged Flight Training on September 2, 2009, Wednesday | 13 Comments »
La-la-anding in C-cr-crosswinds
Posted in Flight, tagged Flight Training, Omni Aviation on August 11, 2009, Tuesday | 2 Comments »
Finally, we write something worthy of our blog’s name.
Pilots stumble on our blog when Googling “Secret Formula for Landing Safely in Killer Crosswinds.”
Instead, they find piddling procedures like flying into volcanoes, rolling airplanes upside down or jousting with Level 3 thunderstorms. Boring.
Crosswinds terrified me to high heavens in my student pilot days. Home bound on my cross-country training flights, I would send text messages (yes, I use [...]
Because It Wanted to Learn to Fly
Posted in Flight, tagged Flight Training on July 12, 2009, Sunday | 2 Comments »
A flight instructor sat recently in a King Air Equipment Qual Course. He was tasked to do a flight plan, an exercise that would take a student pilot 30 minutes or so to finish.
After an hour, the ex-instructor was still toiling. The poor fellow, once a factory of future pilots, couldn’t convert gallons per hour to gallons per minute, and compute for fuel burn in his flight [...]
Why Did The Cessna Cross The Road?
Posted in Flight, tagged Flight Training on July 7, 2009, Tuesday | 1 Comment »
When Carlo was two years old, I drew two circles and an egg on a piece of paper. “Circle” and “egg”. When kids are two years old, it’s important that you stick to two-syllable words.
I asked him to point out which one was different. He pointed to the egg.
“Good,” I said. “ The others are [...]
Mike Finds Oil!
Posted in Flight, tagged Cessna 152, Flight Training, La Union, San Fernando on April 19, 2009, Sunday | 10 Comments »
There is an old joke about the three steps needed to ensure success in life:
1. Work hard
2. Sleep early
3. Find oil
Do all three, and you will have a rich and fruitful life.
Mike found oil at San Fernando, and ensured that he still has a life.
San Fernando, La Union has a [...]
The Reinvention of a Cessna Pilot
Posted in Flight, tagged Aerobatics, Carlo, Cessna 152, Flight Training on April 9, 2009, Thursday | 16 Comments »
Cessna Pilot (n) [sess-nah | pahy-luht]. 1. Straight and level 2. Flat-footed– use of rudder optional 3. Fifteen-degree banks, gingerly, 30-degrees maximum, 45-degrees death wish; see also,student pilot, wimp, pre-Meynard neophyte.
The Cessna 152 is a sweet little thing under any circumstances, but a climb prop, upgraded engine, in-panel GPS, and other little goodies make flying it even [...]
I Acquire an Unusual Attitude
Posted in Flight, tagged Aerobatics, Bellanca Super Decathlon, Carlo, Flight Training, Taildragger on April 7, 2009, Tuesday | 4 Comments »
Carlo continues his story of flying with Meynard. Over the course of two days, he is bombarded with new epiphanies on the theory and practice of flight.
The g-forces squeeze me into my seat as Meynard takes us through a loop, an aileron roll, a spin, and a hammerhead. I follow him on the controls, trying [...]
And We Haven’t Even Started Maneuvering Yet!
Posted in Adventure, tagged Aerobatics, Bellanca Super Decathlon, Carlo, Flight Training, Taildragger on April 5, 2009, Sunday | Leave a Comment »
Carlo continues his story of flying with Meynard for the first time.
In two days he learns more about aerodynamics than most pilots do in years. He is in a fabric-covered aerobatic airplane, yet his best lessons have nothing to do with maneuvering flight.
There was a large, yellow, thing in the hangar. It was a spindly, [...]
The Invisible Important Thing
Posted in Romance, tagged Bellanca Super Decathlon, Carlo, Flight Training, Taildragger on March 31, 2009, Tuesday | 15 Comments »
In January 2008, over a year ago, Carlo finally flew with Meynard.
How time flies! I remember every moment — watching him taxi away in the Decathlon with Meynard, and again in the Cessna 152. And then watching him taxi back, cool as a cucumber, both times.
Carlo wrote about it four months later, April 2008, in Bangkok.
It is [...]
Par Avion: Should Student Shun Shouting?
Posted in Flight, tagged Flight Training on March 20, 2009, Friday | 8 Comments »
We get comments here. And email, SMS, even phone calls. Some of them raise issues that deserve a one-sided know-it-all response from a highly opinionated pilot like, er, Carlo
We’ll call these posts, Par Avion. Air Mail.
Hi Tonet,
I saw your pictures at Hua Hin on WingsOverAsia website. I hope someday I’ll be able to join [...]
Meynard the Medicine Man
Posted in Flight, tagged Aerobatics, Bellanca Super Decathlon, Flight Training on January 30, 2009, Friday | 7 Comments »
Last November, I texted Meynard, needing therapy. I was in Bangkok, after a rough month at work, too much travel.
Meynard is my aerobatics instructor.
He replied by text… .
“We can use the Decathlon as a psychiatric couch. Combinations this time. Cuban 8s and Immelmans. Sequence of 6 maneuvers.”
Salvation! My home leave was only three weeks away.
I went nuts when the [...]
Diary of a Cross-Country Flight in February
Posted in Flight, tagged Carlo, Flight Training, Lingayen Airport on November 22, 2008, Saturday | Leave a Comment »
The head of my flying school once told Dad that I would mature by five years in six months when I learned to fly. I think that’s true, although any claims of maturity on my part inevitably lead to debate, roaring laughter, and the occasional wild party.
What is certain is that my flight training in was a [...]
It’s DONE, baybee!!! – One Year Later
Posted in Romance, tagged Ateneo, Carlo, Flight Training on June 30, 2008, Monday | Leave a Comment »
What a difference a year makes. It’s now a year and a week since my original “It’s DONE Baybee!” photo essay! Here are a few glimpses of what’s transpired.
In the three years since I took a leap of faith and switched to English Literature, this lovable bunch has gone from a bunch of enthusiastic strangers [...]
Aerobatics!
Posted in Flight, tagged Aerobatics, Flight Training, World War II on October 31, 2007, Wednesday | 8 Comments »
Aerobatics!!
The World War II dogfights I read about in my youth were the ultimate competitive aerobatics. The penalty for non-proficiency was death. There is no second place in aerial combat. Only the winner flies home.
I remember a book on WW2 flying. The writer described watching Saburo Sakai, the famed Japanese ace, rolling his Zero fighter in a beautiful, curving firing pass against an American B-17 – not an inch of slip or skid, perfectly coordinated, squeezing [...]
Aerobatic Pilot
Posted in Adventure, tagged Aerobatics, Flight Training, Instrument Flight on October 17, 2007, Wednesday | 4 Comments »
Photo by Jaime Unson
I‘ve always dreamed of doing this. Fly like a fighter pilot. Not in a simulator, nor a demo flight. I wanted hours and hours, multiple missions. In a REAL MAN’s airplane.
And I chose to learn from the best aerobatic pilot in the country.
Meynard Halili, who celebrated his birthday yesterday, is one of those people [...]
Night IFR
Posted in Flight, tagged Cessna 172, Clark Field, Flight Training, Instrument Flight, Night Flight, Omni Aviation, Subic Bay on July 1, 2007, Sunday | Leave a Comment »
Latest in the series on IFR flight. Carlo and I are completely in the dark.
Friday the 13th, last April. Guess what we decided to do?
Yup. We flew at night!
We left Omni at 1745, another Omni airplane hot on our tail trying to beat the sunset.
The dust comes from Capt. Ben’s secret weapon, but that’s another story.
Our plan [...]
Dusk IFR
Posted in Flight, tagged Cessna 172, Clark Field, Flight Training, Instrument Flight, Night Flight, Omni Aviation on May 24, 2007, Thursday | 3 Comments »
This is the third in a multi-part series on instrument flight, following Flying Blind and Busted.
Carlo and I flew with an Omni instructor on a series of IFR flights in April. I am building instrument time in RP-C391, Omni Aviation’s Cessna 172XP — a fuel injected, constant-speed prop and instrument-rated limousine!
We departed Subic as the sun slid [...]
Busted
Posted in Flight, tagged Cessna 172, Flight Training, Instrument Flight, Omni Aviation, Subic Bay on May 19, 2007, Saturday | 2 Comments »
This article follows the first of a multi-part series on IFR flying.
Carlo and I flew a series of IFR flights in April, in RP-C391, Omni Aviation’s big fuel-injected Cessna 172XP, with a constant speed prop.
We had an Omni instructor, Capt. “An” with us. Carlo sat in the back and took some really nice pictures and video, including [...]
Megacyles, Apartment Life, and Ulysses: A Portrait of the College Junior as a Young Pilot
Posted in Romance, tagged Carlo, Flight Training on April 26, 2007, Thursday | 3 Comments »
Ladies and gentlemen, I have bad news.
Carlo is dead. Nearly. Si Carlo’y malapit nang mamatay. At last, the endless charges of brainlessness spewed at him by his opponents have come true, for in an effort to simultaneously review for both his Private Pilot License examinations and a test on James Joyce’s Ulysses, Carlo’s brain suffered from a [...]
Flying Blind
Posted in Flight, tagged Cessna 172, Clark Field, Flight Training, Instrument Flight, Omni Aviation on April 25, 2007, Wednesday | Leave a Comment »
Those of you missing Carlo will be bemused to know that he is cramming for his radio operator’s license exam tomorrow and his Private Pilot License written exam next week. He just completed his 40 flight training hours. His Student Pilot License expires on May 30. He needs to focus on getting his PPL before then. He [...]
The Cross Country Carlo
Posted in Flight, tagged Carlo, Flight Training, La Union, Omni Aviation, Pangasinan on March 24, 2007, Saturday | 1 Comment »
I was 6,000 miles away in San Francisco when Carlo did his first solo cross-country in the Philippines, a month ago today. He called me before setting off from Omni Aviation at Clark Field in Pampanga. I gave him some encouraging words that were really meant to calm my nerves.
This is the second-clumsiest person I know, who [...]
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