Author: Pat

Lessons, Photos

Flying a Twin in the Sunshine State

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Dear Groupon,
I love your random aviation related deals but you are making me very poor.
Sincerely,
Pat the Pilot

Last year a deal came along to fly a Robinson helicopter for half price right here in New Jersey. Since I had never flown a helicopter before I had to give it a try. Fast forward about six months and yet another deal comes along. This time it was a one hour flight lesson in a twin-engine airplane, a Tecnam P2006T. The flight school was located at Page Field in Ft Myers, Florida. After giving a call to my aviation partner in crime, Matt, we decided to buy the deal and make a vacation out of it. Lucky for us my family happens to have a place just 30 minutes from Page Field in Ft Myers.

Once we starting planning we realized the annual Sun n’ Fun fly-in convention would be taking place around that same time. So it worked out great. We would fly commercial down to the house grab the car, drive up to Lakeland to check out Sun n’ Fun, and then fly the twin before heading back to New Jersey.

We arrived at the airport on beautiful vfr day. The flight school is called Paragon Flight and from our experience it is a top-notch operation. We met chief instructor Jeff Wolf right on time and started our ground school. We both went into this experience with almost no knowledge of twin-engine operations so the classroom instruction was a must. Jeff explained the basics of flying a twin and the overall topics needed for a rating. Some of the key aspects I remember are ‘critical engine‘ and ‘Vmc – velocity, minimum controllable’.

After ground school we went out to preflight the plane. The Tecnam is powered by two Rotax 912 engines. They are very popular engines that have a high power to weight ratio as well as the ability to run on automobile gas instead of leaded aviation fuel. This airport is lucky enough to have mogas available. The biggest difference for preflight purposes was checking the oil. You have to spin the propellers around by hand until you hear a burp noise come from the engine. Once it burps the oil is in the right place to cover the dip stick and check the level. Inside the plane the biggest difference for us was the Garmin G950 glass panel. It was rather intimidating at first having flow only steam gauges but it was surprisingly easy to get to used to.

The flight itself was a blast. The take off was very different from our trusty old 172s. The deck angle of this plane makes it feel like you are pointed straight up and climbing like a rocket. Once we were up Jeff had me do the usual turning maneuvers to get familiar with the responsiveness of the controls. By far the most exciting thing we did in flight was single engine work. Up until ground school I had no idea that you actually shut off the engine in flight. Yikes! It turns out the Tecnam is a solid single engine performer. After shutting one engine on a hot Florida day and with 3 adults on board the plane was still able to climb 200-300fpm on the single engine. The final noteworthy phase of flight is the landing. It lands very flat and tends to straighten itself out quickly.

Overall the plane is blast to fly. It has a huge and comfortable cabin. It’s docile characteristics make it an excellent multi-trainer, which is what it was designed for. The school is even going to add air conditioning to it soon to make taxing in the Florida heat more bearable. The gross weight is only 50lbs more than a 172SP at 2600lbs but you get two engines with great climb performance. Something to think about if you want to take an extended over water flight out of Florida. Jeff and the staff at Paragon did an excellent job accommodating us. If I ever need to rent a 172 while I am down there they are first on my list.

Update 7/12/2012
DOH! It looks like the same exact plane I flew had a gear up landing on July 6 2012. The good thing is no one was injured. It looks like the plane didn’t suffer too much either. The cause has yet to be determined.

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=146679

 

Gear and Gizmos, Reviews

Audio Review – Lightspeed Sierra vs David Clark H10-13.4

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When I passed my checkride I decided to buy another headset. After some shopping around I decided on the David Clark H10-13.4. You can read my original review about them here. Well it was time for my yearly aviation gift to myself so I starting shopping around and trying to figure out what to get. Recently I have been flying longer trips and spending more time in the cockpit. I found that my head would ache after each time I flew. Obviously long term exposure to something that hurts your head probably isn’t good for you.

So I started looking for a new headset and was able to try a few of them out at the AOPA Summit in Hartford, CT. I came across the Lightspeed Sierra and after a test fit I decided to go ahead and pick up a pair. One of the big incentives for me to purchase the headset was the trade up program. I was able to trade in my Lightspeed QFR headset for a $250 credit towards the Sierra’s $600 price. I should point out that $250 is more than I paid for the headset in the first place. They will even give you $100 for any old passive headset, as long as it works. You can find out more about the trade up program here.
After flying with them for over six hours I can safely say I won’t be going back to a passive headset. The deep engine drone is just gone and the headset itself is very comfortable. It is hard to explain the sound difference so I decided to take a recorder with me into the cockpit so you can hear it for yourself. The audio didn’t come out as perfect as I wanted it to but it should still give you an idea.

Listen to my real world audio comparison here
Sierra Vs David Clark

Update 7/10/12
Just as the weather started getting warmer I noticed a pretty annoying problem. The mic boom on my Sierra would sag down with the slightest bit of down force or vibration. I flew a few times to make sure I wasn’t going crazy and sure enough as I flew the mic would move further and further from my mouth. Since I was still within my warranty period I contacted Lightspeed. They had me send it in for repair. I got it back about a week and a half later but I still had the problem. Now I was obviously very annoyed and called them again. They told me to send it in once more and they would put a rush on it. This time they added a washer and changed the boom. Problem fixed. While I would have preferred to not have any problems I was happy with their customer service and response to my problem.

Food, Trips

We All Scream For Ice Cream – Penn State Creamery

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People always say there are never any guarantees in life. While that may be true most of the time, I think I have found an exception. I can guarantee that once the magical goodness that is Penn State University ice cream hits your mouth, you will be guaranteed joy in direct proportion to bowl size. In fact I will take this time to warn you right now. Do not eat Penn State ice cream, it will forever ruin you. You will never enjoy anything as spectacularly creamy and delicious as this ice cream. All other ice cream will be referred to as ‘that garbage’. I even heard a story of a man who spent 3 months hitch hiking his way from Seattle on Chicken trucks to get to the creamery. Alright, I made that last part up but you get the idea.

Penn State started producing dairy products in 1865 as part of their agriculture school. They began offering dairy short courses shortly there after. People still come from all over the world to attend the short courses. In fact you might recognize some of their students. Two men by the names of Ben & Jerry. That is right they learned how to make it right there in Penn State.

So what does this have to do with a blog about flying you may ask? Well it makes a great day trip and I recently did it with my friends Matt & Pascale. The university is served by University Park airport KUNV which is 5mi from the creamery. The flight left Morristown MMU to pick up my friends at Wings Field LOM and then to University Park. We navigated using VORs on the way there. Lately I feel like I have been following the magenta line too much. It was good to know I can still track a radial and actually get to my destination.

When you are about 10min out make a call to unicom and ask them to call a cab. As you approach the airport from the east you will have Nittany Mountain in between you and the airport. This airport recently added a control tower and the charts aren’t completely updated so check the notams for frequencies etc. As you can see the airspace is designated Class D but the airport still shows uncontrolled. However the tower is most definitely there and active. We were told to fly around the mountain and report a left downwind for 24.

New Control Tower
Landing on 24

We were marshaled to a parking spot and walked right into the terminal. The woman at the desk was very friendly and told us our cab would be there shortly. Since we wanted to spend a few hours there we had the cab drop us off downtown to get some food. It is your typical college downtown lots of restaurants, diners, and even more places selling blue and white lion garb. The creamery is a short walk from downtown.

One huge stadium
The Lion - Pascale & Me
Berkey Creamery

You may want to look ahead at the half-gallon flavors if you intend to bring some home. So many students bring home ice cream for their families that they have a special thermal bag you can purchase to keep things cool. You can also bring your own cooler. Either way they provide you with enough dry ice to keep everything frozen for the ride home. Before this trip I took a few orders from friends so I ended up leaving with 9 half gallons. It was pretty heavy so we debated leaving Pascale at the airport and taking the ice cream. A man has to have priorities right? OK so it wasn’t THAT heavy no one had to be left behind.

The ice cream crew
Lots of ice cream inside the terminal
Lift with your back not legs

The cab rides were about $12 each way and there are no landing or ramp fees if you get fuel. Overall it made for a fun trip and something a little different from your typical $100 hamburger. If you give it a shot let me know how it worked out for you. Oh and I will take a half-gallon of Peanut Butter Swirl thank you very much.