I can't take this anymore

Let me preface this post with a disclaimer. I am very upset. There, now my conscience will be clear.

Since I began my multi-engine rating endeavors I have been through 4 instructors, 3 price hikes, and a multitude of _____ (fill in your own explicative). The latest in a long line of garbage is that I am being pushed back on my checkride because my instructor wants to do some long cross country flights with his NEW instrument students. Regardless of whether or not anyone else agrees with me, I feel cheated. I have been trying to finish this rating since July 2007. I have been pushed off, blown off, ignored, shunned, stiffed, etc. since I began.

The first incident occurred when I started and was told that I couldn't start until the Fall because there were too many other students trying to finish (how ironic). Next came the price hike from $150/hour plus instruction to $170/hour. Then my multi-engine instructor was hired with Mesaba Airlines. Good for him, bad for me. After he left I went through three more instructors and then back one. Next came another price hike to $185/hour followed by another at $195/hour. Since my first instructor left, I have been almost continuosly pushed off. All of the preceeding occurences listed above were interspersed with intermittent lessons, and a failed checkride because the required QRH (quick reference handbook) failed to contain the essential chapter that was the whole reason for its creation. And I cannot forget to mention that during my required cross country flights there was NO instructing going on. Why on earth do I pay $38/hour to an instructor who just sits in the plane?!

And now I'm stuck. I could try to find another instructor, or even another flight school but then I would have to start from the beginning again. So unless some person just shows up at my door and offers me a significant amount of money I'm pretty much stuck where I am.

If any of you read this whole post you must be really bored. I just needed to vent. I'll be sure to post soon to inform my 3 readers of what's going to happen next.

Airlines I am considering

It's a little early for me to be counting my chickens... and early to put any of my eggs into any basket...but cliches aside, I am looking at a few regional and national airlines. Allow me to delineate my choices below.

1. SkyWest

This is a no-brainer. If I could get on with them and get SLC as my hub it wouldn't matter that I might be on reserve for a year or more. The fact that SkyWest is also replacing several of their
EMB120 Brasilias (see photo) for the 90 seat CRJ 900 (see photo) is also a very attractive proposition.

2. Go Jet

Although this airline is based out of St. Lous and only flies from there and Chicago it is still very enticing. The company offers an hour match program up to 1000 hours toward upgrading to captain. Their upgrade mins are 3500 TT and 1000 PIC Turbine. Their pay is competetive and the most junior captain was hired in February of this year. They also only fly the CRJ 700 (see photo) which makes me drool a bit...

3. Mesaba

This is an airline that my first multi-engine instructor works for. They are upgrading all of their SF340s (see photo) for CRJs 700 & 900. Although it's cold up there in Minnesota, the affiliation with Northwest (soon to be Delta) makes them very attractive.

4. Corporate Operations

Although I haven't spoken to anyone who is hiring, I do have a couple of connections to corporate pilots who fly a Citation Bravo (see photo) and a CJ3 (see photo) respectively. This job market is very much "be in the right place at the right time."

There aren't many opportunities out there right now when you consider that I don't have many hours. I am hoping to find SOMETHING to help me build some time. Although I would really love to get my CFI, CFII and MEI ratings that will take an additional financial investment that I am incapable of making. All in all however, I think that the job market is picking up and there is still a great demand for pilots.

What do you think?

President and Sister Uchtdorf

I had the distinct privilege of attending a short lecture presented by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. He spoke of his career as a pilot starting with 6 years in the German armed forces and then another 30 years with Lufthansa. My wife Michelle and I sat on the front row with our 5 week old daughter Natalie (for details on Natalie see the family blog http://thefindlayfamily.blogspot.com).

One of the stories President Uchtdorf told was of his tour of Air Force One. He explained that the cockpit of Air Force One was very similar to the 747s he was flying out of Frankfurt. He sat in the left seat, adjusted the seat and put his hand instinctively on the thrust levers. President Monson who was standing behind him put his hand on President Uchdorf's shoulder and said "don't."

It was a wonderful experience all around. After the event, President Uchtdorf shook hands with some people including my wife and I. And I would like to point out that he and his wife both said that Natalie was cute. There you have it.

As a side note, please notice the model of the Diamond DA42 in President Uchtdorf's hand matches the real DA42 to the right of the stage.

Nearly Checkride Ready

After a spectacular flight last Friday, I'm feeling really good about that elusive commercial pilot checkride. It should be noted, however, that the weather on Friday was nearly perfect. No wind, no turbulence and a great pilot... oops, did I type that out loud?

Another event of note is that I spoke with a friend of a friend who happens to be a Cessna Citation CJ3 captain. We spoke for a while and I learned some interesting things. The CJ3 he flies is equipped with the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics system (see the picture to the right). Here's some other stuff that I found out:

1. You don't have to be type certified in a plane to get hours in that plane as long as the PIC (pilot in command) is typed in that aircraft.

2. Insurance companies require a certain number of hours in type before they'll insure you as the PIC. However, as long as the PIC is typed and has the required hours, the plane can still be insured with you in the cockpit as long as you're not PIC.

3. Getting a job as a corporate pilot is a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Although it's almost a necessity to have a recommendation from another corporate pilot to get into that job market, it is almost exclusively a matter of marketing yourself to the right people.

4. If I'm ever at the Provo airport (KPVU) and I see this guy's truck at his hangar, I can go see the CJ3 and maybe, MAYBE even get to fly with them on a trip sometime.

In the event that number 4 comes to pass, I'll be sure to take LOTS of pictures.

And finally, a certain retired pilot is coming to the airport to speak to all of us wannabe pilots. I'm not sure if anyone out there has heard of this guy, he used to be the Chief pilot for Lufthansa Airlines. His name is Dieter F. Uchdorf. You've heard of him? Me too, and I'm freakin' excited at the chance to hear him talk shop. I'm also extatic at the opportunity to perhaps pick his brain on a few airline related questions. I'll be sure to put up some pictures from that one too.

It's just a single engine approach, how hard could it be?

Since I am posting more frequently, I will most certainly be able to keep my droning on and on to a bare minimum. I flew again yesterday afternoon. After a lovely preflight inspection in the freezing wind, we got our ATIS information and taxi clearance.

We lined up on the center line of runway 31 and I slowly advanced the power levers. (Just FYI, most planes have throttle levers, not power levers. Because the Diamond DA42 Twin Star is equipped with FADEC - Full Authority Digital Engine Control, there are no mixture, or prop controls. And by the way in a jet, they're called thrust levers. Anyway...) I still get a kick out of the feeling of power that comes when I advance the power levers. We accelerated to Vr (rotation speed) and lifted off.

WOW! there was a 20 knot headwind straight down the runway, so we got KILLER performance. I raised the gear and we were climbing at about 1800 fpm (feet per minute; try to keep up with the acronyms will ya?) we were at 1,000 feet AGL (above ground level) by the time we reached the end of the runway which is only 8,599 feet long.

After that the flight was pretty routine. steep turns, slow flight, power off stall, power on stall, Vmc demo, and finally a single engine ILS approach. This time there were no problems with any of the flight maneuvers. The only problem came with the ILS approach where because of the current wind conditions I had to do a circle-to-land instead of a straight in approach so i blew through my MDA (minimum descent altitude) by 80 feet. According to the commercial PTS (practical test standards) I cannot descend below MDA at all.

This last glitch notwithstanding, the flight was very productive. Be sure to check back soon for more boring stories.

By the numbers...

I have decided that instead of waiting for something really exciting to happen, I'm going to post what's going on with the day to day.

I have been going over the numbers for all commercial multi-engine maneuvers. They're quite helpful actually. If someone were to ask me how to set up and complete say "Slow Flight," then I would immediately rattle of power settings, airspeeds and airplane configuration for the desired maneuver. And two days ago I found out how wonderfully a thorough knowledge of the theory helps with the completion of such a maneuver.

I had a great flight on Friday afternoon despite the high winds. When we took off winds were 300 at 16 gusting to 25 (for those of you unfamiliar with wind reports, that means that the wind was coming from the compass heading of 300 and the speeds were 16 knots gusting to 25 knots). Luckyly for us the wind was right down the runway (RWY 31). As we gained altitude the air got smoother. between 9,000 and 10,000 feet the air was beautifully smooth. I completed slow flight, power on/off stalls, and a Vmc demo.

As we got around the valley we were flying an approximate heading of 150 towards Spanish Fork Canyon doing another Vmc demo when my instructor and I both noticed a direct crosswind of 45 knots. Good thing we were almost done with the maneuver otherwise the wind would have pushed us into Mt. Timpanogos. We turned to the north to set up for a single engine ILS approach.

In order to retain my instrument rating with my commercial multi certificate, I have to complete a single engine approach under the foggles (view limiting device). Single engine flight in a multi-enging plane is difficult enough, but when you take away all outside visual references and have to fly the plane by the instruments only. Everything was well within PTS (practical test standards) despite a 24 knot tailwind. However, because the wind was still at 300, and we were practicing an ILS (instrument landing system) approach into runway 13, we had to circle around to the other side of the airport to land, and I blew the maneuver by descending below the circle to land minimums. That's not something I'll forget anytime soon.

I'm still pressing on. The cost of the airplane just jumped up from $185 per hour plus instruction to $197 per hour making things even more difficult. I do feel that I am making the most of my flight time though. I'm scheduled to fly again tomorrow afternoon. I'll be sure to jump back on here to let both of my blog readers know how things went.

Creeping toward completion

I'm not sure if it's me or if it happens to everyone, but whenever I'm close to completing something inevitably there's always something that gets in the way. It happened with my degree at Snow College, it happened with my degree at BYU, it happened with my Airman Medical Certificate, it happened with my Private Pilot Certificate, (I managed to complete my Instrument rating without any hiccups, HOORAY) and now it's happening with my Commercial Pilot Certificate.

The silver lining is that I'm getting to the silver lining. After passing through the middle of a towering cumulus it finally seems to be getting to the dissipation stage. And I'm coming to the silver lining which is, I am finally ready to schedule and complete my Commercial Pilot Multi-Engine certificate. I've completed my required hours, passed the knowledge test and completed and end of course review with the chief pilot.

I have a few ideas about where to start as a pilot, but I sure as heck won't turn down any information or suggestions or contacts from anyone who knows someone who could help me. I'll take pretty much anything I can get at the moment.

Michelle and I would like to stay in Utah (wouldn't anyone?) I'm looking for something with a charter company, or small cargo operator, or (cross my fingers) a corporate position. The corporate thing is a far off wish because you have to know a corporate pilot to be a corporate pilot. AND you have to be type rated in the plane you're going to fly. In Provo, there are mostly Citations, but there is a Gulfstream as well. I know that there are a lot of schools around the country that will train you and get you your type rating in certain aircraft. The Boeing 737 seems to be the most popular.

Anyway, I didn't mean to get off on such a long tangent. The point of this post is A) to make sure all three of you who read this blog know that I haven't forgotten about it B) to update you three readers on my current flight training status C) to moan and groan about my situation just enough to help me realize how fortunate I am to have gotten this far and D) to keep up my chops on the computer keyboard. It seems that since I left school I have rarely found myself at the keyboard typing. I need to keep up those skills in case I get hired on as a telemarketer or if I'm really lucky a grocery store cashier... you get the idea.

My babbling is over now. Please enjoy the photos I've attached to this post. They are of some flippin' sweet aircraft that I hope to fly someday.