Falcon Journey: It Begins

[surreal1221]

haha, not really though. . .

It was a freudian slip. I know ALB is Albany New York, just was too quick typing ALB instead of ABY.

Me and city codes have been friends since I was 8.

[Tim]

I couldnt resist giving you a hard time about showing the FFC-ALB leg....

[surreal1221]

Yeah, that'd be an intense trip. Up the east coast, in the summer time. . . yipee! lol

[surreal1221]

Flight to ABY, and AGS went well.

About .4 longer than what it should have been though due to an early afternoon activation of the Bulldog A/D MOA near Augusta.

Two new personal highs for me. Highest altitude - 9500, and highest ground speed - 173kts.



Off to MGM later this evening.

[fawnsdad]

Originally Posted by surreal1221

Two new personal highs for me. Highest altitude - 9500, and highest ground speed - 173kts.

You're just rockin' FFC aren't ya! Good for you. I'll keep an eye out for you Monday and Tuesday. Looking forward to seeing the place.

[surreal1221]

I have a XC trip on each of those days. From 1 to 5 each day. I'll be around there a little before, maybe 11am or so.

[fawnsdad]

Cool. Not sure of my actual schedule (playing it by ear). But I'll keep an eye out for you in the AM.

[surreal1221]

Rog, just look for the guy with a Jetcareer's bag tag on his headset bag.

Tonight's plan is VFR XC to AHN, one landing, then to TYS (Knoxville), then back to FFC.

[surreal1221]

Well this weeks cross country trips have been a blast. Even with the recent string of afternoon convection we in the Atlanta metro area have enjoyed.

The trip last night was uneventful (thankfully). On our way back home from Knoxville we requested, and got, over the top of Atlanta at 5500ft, and over Hartsfield at 5500 as well.

Flying a twin is uber nice, especially an unber kick ass plane like the DA42. The plane is an absolute blast to fly and play with. I'll easily consider it the Ferrari of multiengine airplanes, hands down.

[TexasFlyer]

Originally Posted by surreal1221

Flying a twin is uber nice, especially an unber kick ass plane like the DA42. The plane is an absolute blast to fly and play with. I'll easily consider it the Ferrari of multiengine airplanes, hands down.

Glad all is going great. Look forward to meeting you and a few others at 8pm tonight. I'll be starting within the next 2 weeks since I am finally all settled in. I'm looking forward to flying the DA42 for sure, but as far as a Ferrari goes, I beleive the car to be faster and better handling. But then the Ferrari can't sprout wings, so the plane is still more fun...

[surreal1221]

Yesterday was a day XC trip to CAE. Flew it IFR, and can check the flight at flightaware.com, N799DC. I've got 799DC again today, taking it to MYR.

I also have an assortment of photos that I'll post later tonight from a few trips. Along with some random photos of Falcon Aviation Academy, and the local airport.

Was nice to meet you Joseph and Kevin, check out the m&g thread in the General topics forum.

Plan for tomorrow is a night XC to finish up the 15 hour 141 Commercial requirement. The trip today will satisfy the 250nm requirement.

[surreal1221]

Well, Today's trip didn't occur as planned.

Planned was an IFR XC to KMYR. About an hour into the flight we get a warning telling us about a high fuel temperature. Well, what is odd is, we were at 11k, 146KIAS, and about 175-180kts across the ground.

How did we get a high fuel temp warning? OAT was 12C.

Anyway, we divert to AGS, land, call the FFC mechanic. Trouble shoot, and are essentially told fly the plane back to FFC - going with no more than 60% load on each engine. Okay, no biggy. We launch VFR back to Falcon Field, which is about 120nm from AGS.

As we get closer, it is becoming very obvious that we may not make it to FFC due to a line of TSRA/SHRA across the SRN Atlanta metro area. We divert to OPN (Thomson-Upson Lee Co), just before a nice sized TS moves over the airport. We finished tieing the plane down just in time to run into the FBO before the sky dumped buckets onto the ground.

After about 30 mins there, we launch again for the 18 min flight to FFC.

Finally back. Yipee. . .and now I'm pretty much exhausted. Was a long day that's for sure. Two sits in FBO, flying the Twinstar at 55-60% power really makes for a long day.

Going to satisfy two birds with one stone tomorrow night though. Have to take care of the 250nm XC, and finish up my night time requirement (15hrs, of which, I need another 3.3 to satisfy).

I'm about to head upstairs, edit a whole bunch of pictures, and upload them or host them somewhere. So, check out Photos from the Road forum for the photos.

[surreal1221]

Last night was a long night.

Finally knocked out the 250nm XC. Trip was a filed IFR to KSGJ (St. Augustine), then IFR back to KCCO (Newnan Coweta County) for a landing, then we launched off of there to get back to Falcon field.

Had some thunderstorms off the coastal waters of GA/FL through the night which provided a beautiful light show all night long.

Trip down to SGJ was 2.0 hours, and the trip from SGJ-CCO-FFC was 2.7 hours.

It knocked out my 15 hours of night requirement, and also the long cross country.

Pretty much done with the cross country phase. Next step is to start on the manuevers in the 42 to commercial pilot standards, then back into the DA20 to do them, plus chandelles, lazy eights, and eights on pylons.

Studying for my Commercial written, plan to take that here in about 2-3 weeks, with the FOI to follow shortly after that.

Game plan is for CMEL w/ CSEL add-on checkride middle of August.

[732_fan]

Looks like you're enjoying Falcon. I've been looking hard at them myself.

[surreal1221]

Originally Posted by 732_fan

Looks like you're enjoying Falcon. I've been looking hard at them myself.

Roger. I'd highly suggest a visit of any flight school before you commit. Take your time in deciding as well.

[fawnsdad]

Originally Posted by 732_fan

Looks like you're enjoying Falcon. I've been looking hard at them myself.

I just got back from a visit myself. Thanks guys for the hospitality! I was impressed with the school and the Diamonds (FUN TO FLY !!! ). Looks like a matter of time before I will be there full time for training. I would definately reccommend a visit!

[surreal1221]

Well everyone, sorry for no update in a week.

Was suppose to do a lot more flying this past week than I actually did. Two of the twinstars were down for their 100 hour inspections, so that left one twinstar for EVERYONE do ME training to use. Kinda sucked.

Nevertheless, still working towards the 120 hours for my commercial lic. Going to take the written sometime next week.

[surreal1221]

Mid week update.

Just a few ME flights from the past few days. Actually did a repo flight with an instructor yesterday. IFR to AHN, and IFR back to FFC. .5 on each leg, was nice to finally get some actual time.

I'm back into the SE DA20 tomorrow to start on CSEL stuff. Chandelles, Lazy Eights, Eights on Pylons, etc.

I'm actually a bit excited to get back into the DA20. Lots of time to build before the end of this month (when I'm planning on my CMEL w/ CSEL add-on checkride). Have about 55 hours of SE flying to do. Practicing manuevers, doing some XC to soak up that time, etc.

I'll write tomorrow and let you guys know how it went.

Alonso, you still here? I remember reading you said you planned on starting the first few days of August.

[Howard]

You are absolutely right! My bad... I ran into some family "problems" which I have to take care off before I can make it to Peachtree. Cant wait though. It seems like things should be sorted by the end of august so Im hoping ill be there by mid september, give or take a few days. Hopefully those summer thunderstorms should give way to smoother air by then, ha!!! In any case it sounds like you'll be an instructor by then if not gone further up the ladder!! Ill keep u posted and congrats on your progress.

Alonso

[surreal1221]

Good to hear Alonso.

Thanks too, I've been staying busy. Or at least as busy as I can.

[surreal1221]

Alrighty guys, finally got into some CSEL stuff earlier this week.

Started yesterday with chandelles. Visibility has been horrible here in the Atlanta area, so ground reference stuff isn't really going to happen until we get some rain or some good low pressure to come through to bring some instability back into the air.

Anyway, chandelles were fun, and will need some work, but I think I have the basic foundation of what they are, and how to perform them down pat.

Today we worked on power off 180's, which were also fun, but will also take a good bit of practice to perfect (if that's possible). Learned some tricks, such as retracting the flaps to essentially "fall" onto my selected point, etc.

Anyway - off to watch a movie with the wife, and eventually to develop a lesson plan.

[surreal1221]

Well, almost there.

Heat advisories for much of GA, and even some Heat warnings have pretty much put a damper on any flying. Just too damn hot.

Nevertheless, working along at the same time with some CFI stuff. With, hopefully the end outcoming being not having to do so much work AFTER CSEL/CMEL completion.

Presented Principles of Flight today, a bit more in depth than what the CFI PTS requires, so I'm going to end up making two lesson plans - one for students, and one that covers ONLY the required items in the PTS. Of course, carrying both around when checkride day comes along.

[Tim]

Man it is hot. Right now its 96 and heat index makes it 103....the pool water almost feels like a hot tub. Hurry up cold weather.

[LAFF]

FCC take VA/GI BILL?

-LAFF

[surreal1221]

Originally Posted by LAFF

FCC take VA/GI BILL?

-LAFF

Sure do, so long as you do the program Part 141.