Pilot Life: Night Cross-Country Flight to Ogden

One week ago, I flew my first cross-country flight during daylight hours. Earlier this evening I flew my first cross-country flight, at night, into Salt Lake City's Class Bravo airspace, to do many touch-and-go landings at the Ogden-Hinckley Airport. Being my second night flight AND second cross-country flight overall, this was one of the coolest experiences I've had in flight training to date. Not only that, but I'm off all week this week for the Thanksgiving break and this was a great way to spend one of my days off just prior to the start of the holiday season. In complete honesty, this was almost last minute because my flight instructor and I were supposed to do this flight a few days ago but bad weather prevented us from going when scheduled. So we had to jump at the opportunity when it presented itself and tonight was the perfect time to go.

The only problem was that my regular flight instructor had another student who had to do his night cross-country flight as well. As a result, I ended up flying with another flight instructor employed at UVU. This worked out well because that way, my flight instructor didn't have to do two night cross-country flights in the same day and save him some work and a lot of hassle. This also allowed me the opportunity to broaden my learning and receive instruction from a different instructor; it was great for him too, because he didn't have much going on and him agreeing to take me up was a good excuse for him to go flying! It was a win-win situation (no pun intended!)!

After my temporary instructor and I got acquainted, we went out to the airplane and conducted the preflight checks; we elected to split preflight duties between the two of us in order to save time and get airborne sooner. After we were done, we hopped in the airplane, went over the crew briefings, got the engine turned over and started up, and we began taxiing as instructed by the ground controller. My instructor would handle the radios for the flight so I could focus on the flying and see how flights into Class Bravo airspace was like. We taxied out to the run-up area and did the usual run-ups. After the run-ups showed the systems looking good, my instructor called the tower and requested takeoff clearance. We were cleared after my regular instructor, who was flying with another student in another DA-20 got airborne. I taxied onto the runway, lined up on the center line, throttled the engine power forward and we got rolling.

N879CT, "Wolf 08," the DA-20 that I went up in with my temporary instructor.

Once at rotate speed, I pulled back on the stick and got the airplane airborne. After passing the end of the runway, we made a right turn and flew the right-traffic pattern and headed north towards Salt Lake City. My instructor then contacted the approach controller in Salt Lake on the radio in order to receive clearance into the busy Bravo Airspace surrounding the Salt Lake-area. In the United States, as well as throughout the world, airspace is divided into certain classifications depending on whatever criteria or stats they have. Class Bravo (written as Class B) Airspace usually surrounds the busiest airports in the country based on the number IFR operations and passengers served, and Salt Lake is one of them. Other Class B airspace in the country I can think of are Seattle, and Los Angeles. For those of you who were wondering, Provo is Class Delta (Class D) airspace! In order to legally fly into Class B airspace, the approach controller has to clear you (in other words, grant permission) to enter (and they have to say the word "'clear' into Class Bravo airspace."). My instructor made the request and we were cleared to enter the Salt Lake Class B airspace and we proceeded into the busy airspace. I was in full control of the airplane but at the same time, I also observed what my instructor was doing with the radios and I was listening carefully to what he was saying during transmissions between us and the ground controllers during our transit through Class B airspace.

En route to Ogden, we overflew downtown Salt Lake City and passed the Salt Lake City International Airport; we flew north while staying east of the Interstate as requested by air traffic control so we wouldn't interfere with the commercial traffic flying into and out of the major airport. Once past the major airport, we eventually descended out of Class B airspace parameters and we were quickly approaching Ogden. My instructor then walked me through the approach and he made radio contact with the tower controller at Ogden-Hinckley Airport, who set us up for pattern work and cleared us for a touch-and-go for Runway 16, which is the second-longest runway there out of three runways. We made multiple rounds in the pattern for Runway 16; seven approaches to be exact! We initially shared the pattern with my regular flight instructor and his student in the other DA-20, but they eventually flew back south to Provo while we stayed in the pattern. We were alone in the pattern at that point, and every time we made our approach, the tower controller at Ogden cleared us for a touch-and-go; we didn't even have to report mid-field downwind in the pattern!

Flying over the Salt Lake area on the way back to Provo.

After we made our seventh touch-and-go landing, we decided to head back south towards Provo. That also meant navigating through Salt Lake's Bravo airspace again. The tower controller at Ogden then handed us off to the control tower at (wait for it!) Hill Air Force Base, much to my surprise. The way I figure it, we needed to contact them to let them know we were in the area passing through. My instructor made radio contact with the Air Force controllers and we were directed to remain above or west of the Interstate while we passed Hill Air Force Base. While in the area, we were cautioned regarding wake turbulence from an Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker that landed at Hill.

This is what I love about flying, especially when you see nothing but gridlock on the Interstate!

Eventually, we got handed off to the approach controller at Salt Lake and once again, we got clearance to enter Class Bravo airspace from said controller. Again, we passed through the area by staying east of the Interstate, especially when we were by Salt Lake City International Airport. We also passed by downtown Salt Lake City again, where I attempted (but failed) to get descent night shots on my cell phone camera after handing over control to my instructor momentarily. At the altitude we were flying at, we weren't in Class B airspace parameters for a long time. We were then directed by the approach controller to navigate to the point of South Mountain located between Draper, Higland, and Alpine. As we continued southbound, Provo eventually came into view and we got approval to change radio frequencies over to the tower there.

Glad I was up there rather than down there!

My instructor contacted the Provo Tower controller, who cleared us to land on Runway 13, the same runway we departed from earlier in the evening. We made our approach from the north over Utah Lake, in essence one of the longest final approaches I've made since this was just straight in. It was a routine approach and landing for the most part. We made this a touch-and-go and decided to fly some pattern work in Provo as well so I could earn enough night flying hours, which were required in preparation for my upcoming second stage check; my understanding is that in order to be eligible to take the second stage check for the private pilot course, I needed a certain number of flight hours as well as a certain number of landings to perform at night.

We ended up performing three more landings at Provo, for a total of TEN night landings for this flight! And I was fine with that. It was close to the end of an incredible flight experience and I was starting to feel tired, but I kept going. So on the long approach with a little coaching from my instructor, I throttled back the power when prompted and I lowered the flaps as necessary, dropping in altitude along the way. Utilizing the Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI) lights, I established the airplane on the proper approach path towards Runway 13 all the way until touchdown. Back in familiar territory, I confidently brought the flaps back up, lined up on center line, and throttled forward and got back up in the air to start a brief round of pattern work in Provo.

Following, the first touch-and-go, I made one more touch-and-go landing followed by one more circuit in the pattern (with similar results) before we went to full-stop. My instructor was keeping track of the number of landings I did tonight in a very ingenious way; he used the the VOR Omni Bearing Indicator instrument as a counter! Since we weren't navigating with VORs tonight, he figured it could be used by turning the knob and use the tick marks on the outer edges of the indicator as a crude counter to track the number of landings I did.

After making my third landing in Provo which was a full-stop, we taxied back to the UVU ramp, where we shut down the airplane and I called it another flight. I logged a little over two hours of of night flying tonight. And by far, this was one fun night to spend a portion of my Thanksgiving break! Special thanks to my temporary flight instructor, Ross for taking me up tonight and showing me the ropes of operating an airplane in Class Bravo airspace at night!

A Sight No More: Alaska-SkyWest CRJ-700s

On February 25, 2011, SkyWest Airlines entered into an agreement with Alaska Airlines. The agreement called for SkyWest to operate several west coast routes in the Alaska Airlines route network with eight Bombardier CRJ-700s under the Alaska Airlines banner. Under said agreement, SkyWest would maintain its aircraft, while Alaska Airlines took responsibility for scheduling, pricing and marketing the flights, under a form of codesharing known as a capacity purchase agreement. SkyWest began flying revenue service doing business as Alaska Airlines in May 2011 with flights based out or Portland and Seattle; these flights replaced several routes formerly operated by Alaska Airlines' sister carrier Horizon Air. Likewise the majority of the CRJ-700s SkyWest flew under the Alaska banner were leased, having formerly served with the Horizon fleet, prior to the latter converting to an all-turboprop fleet consisting of Bombardier DHC-8-400s.

The CRJ-700s were utilized on routes where the Alaska Air Group felt there was still a need for a 70-seat regional jet to serve on; in other words, routes that were too thin for mainline Boeing 737s and too far for Horizon's Q400s. Initially, the routes were mainly to several California cities including Fresno, Burbank, Santa Barbara and Ontario from Seattle and Portland, two of Alaska Airlines' main hubs. Today, SkyWest Airlines currently flies to 18 destinations throughout the United States and Canada for Alaska Airlines including Boise, Bozeman, Burbank, Colorado Springs, Edmonton, Fresno, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Ontario (CA), Salt Lake City, Santa Barbara, San Diego, San Jose (CA), St. Louis, Steamboat Springs/Hayden and Tucson.

Much to the dismay of loyal Alaska Airlines customers, the Alaska-SkyWest CRJ-700s were configured in a single class layout with no First Class seating. That all changed on November 25, 2014, when Alaska Air Group and SkyWest enhanced their partnership and announced that the regional carrier was to operate seven two-class Embraer E-175s for Alaska Airlines starting in July, 2015 with options for eight more aircraft. The E-175s would be configured with 12 First Class seats and 64 Economy seats. The first E-Jet in the Alaska Airlines livery was delivered to SkyWest on June 3, 2015. On June 1, 2015, Alaska Airlines announced that it would exercise the eight options on E-175s and converted them to actual orders to replace the eight CRJ-700s SkyWest Airlines operates for a total of 15 E-175s. The 15th and final E-175 for the Alaska-SkyWest capacity purchase agreement was delivered to SkyWest on October 8, 2016. As for the CRJ-700s, the last official flight occurred on November 17, 2016. At least one airframe was being retained for a little while longer as a stand-by aircraft when needed. The rest, if not most of the CRJ-700s bearing the Alaska-SkyWest colors have been sent down to Tuscon for storage.

Having photographed every Alaska-SkyWest CRJ-700 airframe at Portland International Airport within the past four years, here's a short montage:

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-700 (N218AG). Formerly with Horizon Air as N618QX.

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-701 (N224AG). Formerly with Horizon Air as N607QX and then leased to South African Express as ZS-NLT before going to SkyWest.

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-700 (N216AG). Formerly with Horizon Air as N606QX and the second CRJ-700 to be delivered to SkyWest to be used exclusively for Alaska Airlines.

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-700 (N225AG). Formerly with Horzion Air as N610QX  and then leased to South African Express as ZS-NBD before going to SkyWest.

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-702 (N219AG). Formerly with Horizon Air as N619QX.

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-700 (N223AG). Originally delivered as a CRJ-701 to Horizon Air as N602QX. It then flew for for Frontier Airlines as Frontier JetExpress from June 2007 to November 2007 before getting painted in the University of Washington Huskies livery. Airframe then went on lease to South African Express as ZS-NLV before going to SkyWest.

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-701 (N215AG). This airframe was the very first CRJ-700 to be painted in the Alaska Airlines livery for the capacity purchase agreement. Formerly with Horizon Air as N601QX.

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-700 (N217AG). Formerly with Horizon Air as N609QX and formerly painted in the Oregon State University Beavers livery. As of this posting, this airframe has been retained as a back-up aircraft when needed.

Bombardier CL-600-2C10 CRJ-701ER (N227AG). Unlike the rest of the sub-fleet, this airframe never served with Horizon Air. It formerly served as D-ACPD for Lufthansa CityLine and was acquired by SkyWest in February 2014 after another CRJ-700 was taken out of service after being damaged in a ground incident.

The initial Alaska-SkyWest agreement called for eight CRJ-700s, but SkyWest ended up operating nine different airframes during this brief tenure before switching over to the E-175. Despite the fact the CRJs are a somewhat despised aircraft type due to their cabin size, it will be missed by aviation enthusiasts as there will never again be a CRJ-700 in the Alaska Airlines livery. It was a rare sight for many spotters because there just wasn't many of this particular aircraft-type painted in the Alaska livery. And as a spotter, you will miss seeing what was a unique sight to specific geographic region. It's doubtful that the passengers that flew on them will miss them though!

Pilot Life: First Cross Country Flight to Richfield

It's been a week since I last flew due to some ground instruction I had to receive before moving forward. Today's flight is by far one of the longest I've logged to date, as my instructor took me on my very first cross-country fight (I know right? A cross-country flight in a tiny, two-seat Diamond DA-20 Katana!). There was actually quite a bit of preparation that went into this particular flight and some of the most recent ground instruction I had to receive had a lot to do with it. Two days ago, I met with my flight instructor so he could show me how to write up a flight plan on paper (I'll save you the details!).

N988CT, "Wolf 18," the Katana my instructor and I flew down to Richfield and back in.

I met up with my flight instructor at his desk and we went over the flight plan, which we filed via phone with the Flight Service Station (FSS) in Cedar City; when flying with a filed flight plan, pilots contact the Flight Service Station over the radio to open and close their flight plans. Flight plans are documents filed by a pilot or flight dispatcher with the local aviation authority prior to departure which indicate the plane's planned route or flight path; they include basic information such as departure and arrival points, estimated time en route, alternate airports in case of bad weather, type of flight, the pilot's information, number of people on board and information about the aircraft itself. Flight plans are usually required when flying IFR (Instrument Flight Rules), but optional for VFR (Visual Flight Rules) unless crossing international borders. Pilots regardless of what type of flight they're conducting are encouraged make use of flight planning and file them, especially when flying over inhospitable areas, such as water, as they provide a way of alerting rescuers and emergency services if the flight is overdue or when something goes wrong.

During the filing, we also received relevant information for today's flight regarding weather, wind conditions, basically anything that was important and useful for us while en route. After getting off the phone with the Flight Service Station, it was time to depart. Since were under the clock with the flight plan filed, my instructor and I split the pre-flight so we could get out faster. After pre-flight, we quickly and thoroughly went through the usual start-up procedures, picked up our taxi clearance, taxied to the run-up area, did the run-ups, and taxied out to the runway. Once we picked up our take-off clearance, my instructor took control of the airplane and had me get out my aviation sectional charts to use for navigation while he took care of the take-off.

After getting airborne, we leveled off at the altitude we determined we would fly at on our down to Richfield. After getting approval to switch over on radio frequencies, my instructor contacted the Flight Service Station at Cedar City to open our flight plan. Once we opened the flight plan and I got the necessary materials to be used for the flight out, my instructor handed back control of the airplane to me. My very first, logged cross-country flight was underway.

The view of the Pitch Mountains just south of Nephi near the small town of Levan.

The flight plan for today's introductory cross-country VFR flight down to Richfield and back to Provo (called a "round-robin" flight) called for us to navigate via the following waypoints: Nephi Airport, the Sevier Reservoir, and Salina-Gunnison Airport. Utilizing the flight plan and sectional charts, my instructor showed me the procedures for cross-country flying all throughout the flight; he had me practice pilotage, which is the art of knowing where you are by reading a map and comparing it with the surrounding terrain and landmarks. Out here in the mountainous region, I found it simple to read most of the terrain and surrounding features. We also had a major road below us for general reference as well.

Regretfully, pilotage is really becoming a lost art in aviation with the advent of modern and advanced navigation equipment these days. My instructor also had me practice dead reckoning, which is the art knowing where you currently are by using a compass, your ground speed, a clock and an initial known position. From the prior flight planning, we previously determined what compass heading we would fly on while en route to each way point; that way, when we reached each respective waypoint, we knew it was time time to turn to the new heading.

Eventually, we were approaching our first waypoint, which was the Nephi Municipal Airport, a general aviation airport located 3 miles northwest of the city Nephi, Utah. For the first half of the flight, my instructor showed me radio procedures. Since the airports we were using for waypoints are non-towered, communication and radio calls are a little different compared to towered airports like Provo or Salt City International. Every non-towered airport has a designated frequency pilots tune to called a Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (CTAF). On this frequency, pilots coordinate their arrivals and departures safely, giving position reports and acknowledging other aircraft in the airfield traffic pattern by self-announcing their position and/or intentions. In our case, we needed to report to any air traffic flying around Nephi that were coming and passing through the area; good thing too, because we heard a helicopter pilot doing stop-and-goes there. It was also important that we reported our position on Nephi's CTAF out of caution because a lot of skydiving activity takes place there. My instructor made radio calls 10 miles out, 5 miles out, and again while directly over the airfield and frequently updated our position over the radio until we put some distance between us and Nephi.

Great visibility of the mountains of Sevier County towards Salina and Richfield. 

Our next waypoint was the Sevier Reservoir, which was connected to Yuba Lake inside the Yuba State Park. Being a rather large, recognizable body of water in the area, it made total sense to use it as the next waypoint. Once we were over the northern tip of the reservoir, we turned on a southeast heading towards the next waypoint, the Salina-Gunnison Airport, located five miles northeast of the city of Salina, Utah. Again, my instructor handled the radio calls on the CTAF. He also challenged me to visually acquire the airport because most students have a difficult time spotting it the first time around. That wasn't the case for me! I used the airplane's GPS and my sectional chart to get a general and put some of my rookie pilotage skills (or lack thereof!) into practice and I was able to acquire visual sighting of the tiny (and podunk!) airport that serves the towns of Salina and Gunnison! Better luck next time Nick! But I appreciate you challenging me!

Once we were past the Salina-Gunnison Airport, the first-half of my first, logged cross-country flight was almost over as we were approaching the city of Richfield Municipal Airport, located one mile southwest of the city of Richfield, Utah. After being introduced to many new things, it got a little bit more routine. We went through the usual descent checklists and while we were at it, my instructor had me look up the airport in the Chart Supplement handbook (formerly known as the Airport/Facilities Directory - A/FD) to look at the runway layout. We also tuned into the Richfield Airport's Automated Airport Weather Observing System (AWOS) frequency to get an idea which way the wind was blowing and decide which runway was best to do a touch and go on. Once that was done, we made our descent to pattern altitude and entered the traffic pattern; again, my instructor handled the radio calls on CTAF as we made our approach.

The touch-and-go landing was routine. We got back up into the air and back up to cruise altitude for the round-robin back to Provo and put into what was passed onto me during this flight into practice for the return trip. That includes handling the radio calls on the CTAF! I started by making a call on the Richfield CTAF and reported our position every few miles as we put some distance between the airport and us and headed towards Salina. I then switched over to the CTAF frequency for the Salina-Gunnison Airport. My instructor also took this time to teach me about what to do in an emergency during a cross-country flight and what to do if I make any errors in navigation and get lost. He taught me the 5 C's for Lost Procedures, which are:

1. Circle to maintain a current position.
2. Climb to see further out, and better orient yourself. If that doesn't work, climb to increase chances of getting better communications over the radio.
3. Communicate if unable to get your bearings
4. Confess and admit you are lost
5. Comply with instructions.

I then made the necessary radio calls over the Salina-Gunnison CTAF and reported our position as we passed through the area. Once passed this waypoint, we proceeded towards Yuba Lake and the Sevier Reservoir, our next waypoint. My instructor monitored me and my handling of the airplane as we proceeded with the cross-country flight. After passing the Sevier Reservoir, we headed to Nephi and I switched over to the Nephi CTAF and again, made my position calls to let any air traffic. We passed the area via the east side of the airport. We were now on the final leg of the cross-country flight.

Once we had Provo in sight, I called the Cedar City Flight Service Station and requested that the flight plan be closed, and they did so for us. We made our approach into Provo. Since we were flying through the south practice areas, my instructor contacted the approach controller at Salt Lake so we could receive traffic advisories. And sure enough, we received an advisory of traffic in our vicinity, which we spotted and avoided. Afterwards, we received approval to contact Provo tower, which we did. From here, it was a routine traffic pattern operation that I've done so many times before. We made our descent, going through the appropriate checklists along the way and I brought the DA-20 Katana in for a landing on the very same runway we took off from earlier in the day.

After we touched down and rolled out to taxiing speed, we vacated the runway via the next available taxiway and we taxied back to the ramp before shutting down the airplane and calling it another flight and a successful first cross-country flight with TWO hours entered into my logbook. It was a fun and educational flight as I got to see how a typical VFR cross-country flight is conducted. To date, this was the longest flight I've logged.

Pilot Life: My First Night Flight Logged!

What's the best way to make Mondays suck less? Why, go flying of course! And that's exactly what I did this evening. Yes, you read that right: EVENING. I went up with my instructor and logged my first night flight! It's a totally different feeling flying at nights. Prior to the flight, I spent some time on the ground with my instructor as he briefed me on what I needed to know in order to conduct this flight safely. We talked about preserving night-vision and slight alterations to certain procedures compared to what we normally do during the day.

Once I got dispatched out, we headed out to the airplane and I performed the pre-flight inspection on the same aircraft I flew on my most recent flight while at the same time, giving time for our eyes to adjust to the darkness around us. I must admit, it was really quiet out on the ramp and it felt a little bit eerie... With clocks set back just yesterday coinciding with the end of Daylight Savings Time, it was already dark at around 6 PM. My instructor loaned me his red flashlight so I could see in the dark while I did the pre-flight and preserve night vision; red light has the shortest wavelength and therefore is the best light to use for night flights. Analogue cockpit instrument panels are also commonly lit up in red in order to help pilots preserve night vision. One common misconception my instructor corrected me on is that even using a red flashlight will also destroy night vision, but does so with the least amount of impact compared to other light colors. Again, it all has to do with the short wavelengths.

After completing pre-flight, we hopped in the airplane and went through start-up procedures, followed by a clearance to taxi to the runway by the ground controller; the air traffic control tower at Provo does close during later evening hours but for the duration of this flight, they were still operational as the evening was still technically young! As soon as I picked up instructions to taxi to the north end of the airfield, I got a call back from the ground controller saying wind directions just changed and we got redirected to taxi to the south end of the field; it was a sudden but welcome change mainly because I've never taken off in this direction before. Taxiing in this direction also meant a much shorter taxi time for us as well.

N885CT, "Wolf 11," the aircraft I took up with my instructor for my first night flight. In order to preserve night vision, I did not take any pictures on this flight for good reason!

We taxied down to the runway and stopped short to do our usual run-ups. After run-ups were complete, I picked up our flight's takeoff clearance from the control tower, lined up on the runway, and began takeoff roll, like we would normally during the day. Once airborne though, everything completely changed; familiar ground features and references I was so used to during the day disappeared into the darkness below as we gained altitude and flying just became a totally different experience for me. Like daytime flying, you still conduct yourself and operate the aircraft the same in many ways with a few alterations to normal practices for night flight, primarily to preserve night vision. Before getting on the airplane, my instructor asked me that I not kill him; way to fill me with confidence!

Once we were airborne and gained sufficient altitude after departing to the north, we made a left hand turn over Utah Lake to head south to one of the nearby practice areas around the Spanish Fork area; being close to a city that was lit up helped in keeping our bearings. Once we arrived in the practice area, it was just like the early stages of my flight training as my flight instructor had me do the basic maneuvers of slow-flight, power-on and power-off stalls. Except these maneuvers were practiced in the dark of night and I was depending more on my instruments than outside visual references (because there weren't any!). First I did slow flight, and once the airplane was configured, my instructor called out headings for me to turn to.

After adequately demonstrating slow flight and gentle banks, my instructor had me recover the airplane and we then went for some steep turns, first one to the left followed by one to the right. Pretty straight-forward maneuvers; at night however, it is really important to maintain altitude and keep a close watch on the altimeter as it was very easy to lose situational awareness in the dark of night because you don't have any outside cues or horizon to rely on so the attitude indicator with the artificial horizon had to do. Following steep turns, my instructor had me do stalls and stall recovery maneuvers.

First the power-on stall followed by a power-off stall (and yes, I remembered how to do these!). This experience was much similar to when I did these maneuvers during the day while wearing foggles during the previous two flights; I was mainly relying more on my instruments. And I really did have to trust in the instruments more so than ever for this flight.

Instrument panel in the DA-20. The eight circles on the left are the primary instruments while the eight on the right are gauges for the engine. The instrument I mainly had to rely on for night flight is the attitude indicator.

After doing the stalls, my instructor took the controls and he performed a stall for himself. He then talked to me about what to do in the event of an engine failure at night (we didn't simulate an engine-out and emergency landing procedure this time around). During the day, it's easier because you can actually see and pick where you want to land if needed. But at night, you can't tell as objects and obstacles are hidden in the darkness. We discussed the importance of understanding the terrain around you when flying at night and look for potential emergency landing spots based on studies from the sectional charts. The other option we talked about were roads, especially lit highways like the Interstate, which according some people at flight school I've talked to, are the best option if it came down to that.

After that discussion, my instructor had me close my eyes (like when he had me recover from unusual attitudes, but he didn't have me actually do that this time) and flew the plane in wild fashion so I would lose spatial orientation. When it came time to open my eyes, my instructor had his hand over the altimeter and asked me if what altitude we were at. I took a guess that we were at a lower altitude. My eyes deceived me; we were still at the same altitude as before my instructor put us through the wild maneuvers! This little lesson within the flight lesson stressed the importance of trusting in my instruments, maintaining situational awareness as well keeping spatial orientation.

It was time to head back to Provo and practice some night landings. It was a straight-in approach from the south, the same direction which we took off in. The airport was lit up with the runway and taxiway lights all turned on. One lighting cue I relied on for the first touch-and-go landing was the Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI for short), a visual aid generally located beside the runway that provides guidance information to help a pilot acquire and maintain the correct approach to an airport. When I'm moments from touching down, the runway should've been visible will all the plane's exterior lights turned on, which was the case. I contacted the ground with the main gears of the DA-20, followed by the nose gear and rolled before re-configuring the plane for a touch-and-go; I set the flaps for takeoff, lined back on center line and throttled forward on the engine and got back in the air after a successful first night landing.

After ascending, we made left-closed traffic over Utah Lake and set up for a second landing, this time a full-stop due to us realizing that we were running low on fuel; I need to build up to a certain amount of night flying hours and get in several night landings, but we'll plan on finishing that up for another time. It was a standard approach but I ended up making this landing a simulated short-field landing due to the placement of where the aircraft touched down. After applying the brakes, we taxied off the runway and headed back to the UVU ramp and called it a successful first night flight for me. It was quite the experiences!

Gallery Update: Chasing an Allegiant Airbus A319

For the first time in weeks, I'm chasing after an Allegiant Air Airbus A319. They've become a rather common sight here in Provo that I pretty much stopped photographing them, unless it's an airframe with a tail number that I haven't photographed before, which was the case today! Here's the link:

Provo (PVU) 19

Preview:

Allegiant Air Airbus A319-112 (N306NV) taxiing to the terminal after arriving as AAY344 from Los Angeles. Airframe is leased from GE Capital Aviation (GECAS), which formerly leased the airframe out to EasyJet in 2005 as G-EZIA and then to EasyJet Switzerland as HB-JZT in 2010 before going to Allegiant in 2015.

After about a half-hour turn-around, N306NV departs for the return-trip to Los Angeles as AAY345.

Pilot Life: More Unusual Attitudes, More VOR Training

After the successful flight this past Thursday, it was time for an encore performance from the most recent flight I had. Today's flight was basically the same as last time, as I had additional opportunities to fly simulated instrument maneuvers, recover from unusual attitudes, and do some more VOR navigation practice. It was time to recall upon the things I've learned just recently.

Diamond DA-20-C1 (N885CT), "Wolf 11," the aircraft we took up into the air today.

As per the usual business, I took care of the pre-flight checks before my flight instructor joined me in the airplane. We got started up, picked up our taxi clearance from ground, did our run-ups, got cleared for takeoff from tower, and away we went... to a practice area that is! While en route to the practice area, my instructor once again handed me a pair of foggles as the first part of today's flight was to once again do slow flight and stalls in simulated instrument conditions. Once we got to the practice area, my instructor had me do slow flight while under the hood so I could perform the maneuver strictly relying on my instruments. Like last time, things went smoothly as my instructor called out headings for me to turn to.

Once we were done with slow flight, it was time to do some stalls. First my instructor had me do a power-on stall; as usual, I pulled power from the engine, pitched the nose upwards, and went full throttle. Once the stall warning horn started going off and the airplane started dropping, I recovered and returned to level flight. Satisfied with the results, my instructor had me do a power-off stall. Once again, it was the usual first by pulling the power back on the engine as if we were about to land. I then brought the flaps and configured the airplane as if I was about to land. As the airspeed slowed, I slowly pulled back on the stick in an attempt to maintain level altitude. Again, the stall warning horn went off and the airplane started dropping when the airspeed fell below stall speed. I immediately recovered the airplane and began climb out and raised the flaps back so we were configured for cruise.

Satisfied with the results from performing the stalls, my instructor then moved us on to the next part of today's flight lesson: recovery from unusual attitudes. Like last time, my instructor had me close my eyes after taking control of the airplane. He then proceeded to fly around in some maneuvers to disorient my senses before calling on me to make the recovery. Like last time, we did several recoveries ranging from the nose-high position to nose-down position and threw in some banking elements in the process. Again, this part of the flight lesson came natural to me and I was able to execute recovery from each of the unusual attitudes my instructor put me in.

Once we were done with the recoveries, it was time to head back to Provo via the Provo VOR. My instructor walked me through in tuning the OBI to the Provo VOR and flew the course it indicated while alternating attention between my instruments for navigation and eyes outside the cockpit for any traffic. Like last time, we fly high above Provo Airport's controlled airspace until we passed over the VOR station before altering course. At this point, we made contact with the Provo air traffic control tower to let them know we were in the area and we wanted to do practice some landings. My instructor wanted me to practice more with short-field and soft-field landings and we got three rounds of pattern work in for today's flight, conducting a combination of touch-and-goes and stop-and-goes, depending on what kind of landing and take-off was called out. Unlike last time, I didn't have to do any "straight to the numbers" approaches!

After I got in my third landing which was full-stop, we vacated the runway and taxied back to the UVU ramp, shut the airplane down, filled out the logbook and called it another flight. Today was another good day and a good flight!

Gallery Update: Another Allegiant MD-83 Sighting

Between flying and studying in and out of classes, it certainly has been a long week. But the weekend is finally here once again! After I was done with classes this morning, I stuck around again and waited yet again, for another McDonnell Douglas MD-83 operated by Allegiant Air (yes, it's a new tail number!). This has been quite a week for "Mad Dog" sightings here at Provo! Here's the link:

Provo (PVU)18

Preview:

Allegiant Air McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N429NV) arriving on 13 as AAY132 from Phoenix-Mesa.

AAY132 taxiing to the terminal while dwarfing over all of UVU's DA-20s on the ramp! Airframe started it's life out as an MD-82 registered as SE-DFT and initially delivered to Scandinavian Airlines-SAS in 1985. While retaining its first registration, airframe cycled back and forth between SAS and the now defunct Spanair, with the former leasing it out for about two years during the summer months. In 1992, this airframe was sub-leased to the now defunct Nordic East Airways before being returned to SAS in 1994. In 1999, the airframe while operated by SAS was briefly re-registered as LN-ROR and nicknamed Assur Viking and served the airline for 10 years. In 2009, it's registration was returned to SE-DFT before being retired from the fleet. Allegiant acquired the airframe in early 2010 and modified it to MD-83 standards.

Pilot Life: Unusual Attitude Recovery & VOR Navigation

After the previous two solo flights I conducted, my instructor rejoined me in the airplane for today's flight and he taught me some new things for me to learn. I have to admit, it felt great to learn about some new things and it was reassuring to be with someone again in the cockpit after flying by myself the last few times; flying by myself can be scary at times!

Diamond DA-20-C1 (N958CT), "Wolf 14," the aircraft my instructor and I took up today. I snapped this photo earlier this semester down in Spanish Fork at a fly-in event.

Today's flight introduced me into a broader world of aviation that involves a important skill: navigation. In particular, my instructor introduced and taught me about VORs (Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Radio Range), a type of radio navigation system for aircraft. VORs enable aircraft with a receiving unit to determine their position and stay on course by receiving radio signals transmitted by a network of fixed ground radio beacons, reading off a particular instrument in the cockpit known as the Omni Bearing Indicator (OBI). In addition to VOR training, my instructor also started training me on recovery from unusual attitudes in the airplane. More on that a bit...

After conducting and going through the checklists for pre-flight and start-up, we picked up taxi clearance and taxied out to the run-up area and did the usual routine run-ups. After run-ups were complete, we picked up our takeoff clearance from the tower and we got airborne, setting course for the south practice area. My instructor then took control of the DA-20 and handed me a pair of foggles for a little instrument training. Once we arrived in the practice area, my instructor had me put the airplane into slow flight like in past training flights, except this time I was stripped of all outside visual references and relied solely on the airplane's instruments! Eyeing my instruments, I successfully put the airplane into slow flight; it came to me naturally even though I was not using outside references. And as usual, my instructor called out headings for me to turn to while in slow flight, executing gentle banks in the process.

Satisfied with slow flight, my instructor then had me do stalls with foggles on and relying solely on instruments. We started with power-on stalls; I pulled back the power on the engine, pitched the plane's angle of attack upwards and then gunned the engine back to full power all while keeping an eye just on the instruments. Once I felt the stall, I leveled out and made a recovery from the stall. After building back up the needed airspeed, my instructor had me do the power-off stall while under foggle-vision. I configured the plane as if we were about to land by chopping the power to the engine and extended the flaps. I then pulled back on the stick in the usual attempt to maintain the altitude the plane was at all the while the airspeed plummeted. The stall warning horn went off and the plane stalled, followed by the instant reaction to gun the engine to full power for the recovery procedure. I retracted the DA-20's flaps and we regained altitude.

With the requirements for stalls satisfied, my instructor retook the controls and had me remove the foggles; this turned out to be one of the longest times I was "under the hood." ("Under the hood" is another phrase to denote flying under simulated instrument conditions, where the origins refer to a large baseball cap-like hat that obstruct outside view, much like foggles; the hood refers to whatever device or gear a pilot in training wears to obstruct outside views.)

My instructor then walked me through recovery from unusual attitudes, which simply put is when the airplane is flying in a way that ISN'T straight-and-level flight; so the plane could be climbing, diving, inverted (that last one being a little too extreme!). He had me close my eyes in order to guarantee that I would be spatially disorientated momentarily as he put the DA-20 Katana through a series of wild and random maneuvers which included turns, banks, climbs and descents. When my instructor uttered the command "Recover," that was my cue to open my eyes, take control of the airplane and bring it back to straight-and-level flight from whatever attitude the plane was in; we did this several times. Believe me, I actually had a lot of fun doing this!

In one recovery, my instructor put me into a slightly steep nose-down descent and the corrective action for that was to pull back on the power to the engine and pull the stick back to climb back up to level flight before re-applying power for level flight. The next recovery, my instructor put the plane into a climb; the recovery method for that is to add power (if needed so you don't stall!) and push the nose forward to get back down to level flight. My instructor then added some elements of banking into the recovery from unusual attitudes. In a banking descent, the proper way to recover was to straighten the wings out of the bank, power back the engine, and then pull the stick back until level before re-applying power. In a banking climb, the recovery method is to add power, push the stick forward to descend out of the climb and then straighten the wings to level flight (pretty much the opposite methods compared the banking descents.). I conducted every recovery method flawlessly, gaining praise from my flight instructor. I will be honest; I actually saw some YouTube videos recently where recovery from unusual attitudes were conducted so I actually had a good idea on what it was all about! And no, I don't consider that cheating!

After all the jostling around my instructor put me through for each recovery (trust me, my head was still spinning when we moved on!), it was time to finish out the flight with some VOR navigation practice. Provo Airport has a VOR station emitting radio signals and we tuned the OBI to it and followed it on our course, with my instructor teaching me how to use and read the instrument. We ensured we were at a high enough altitude so we wouldn't breach the airspace borders around the Provo Airport and we set course for Provo via its VOR station that was transmitting its signal. The flying was pretty straight-forward; once the OBI was set to the heading with the needle in the instrument centered, all I had to do was maintain course. The only other thing I had to do was alternate my attention between the instrument and outside the cockpit frequently. We eventually flew right over Provo Airport and its VOR station and then away from it. We were then facing one of the mountains of the Wasatch Range near the entrance to Provo Canyon. But we altered course and made contact with the air traffic control tower at Provo to let them know that we were inbound.

Face-to-face with Cascade Mountain, just north of BYU's iconic Y Mountain.

Looking into the entrance of Provo Canyon. Mount Timpanogos is to the left of the canyon entrance.

View of Provo and part of BYU's main campus.

Weather was pretty good, but there were some hazy conditions out in the distance.

It was time to land and call it another flight. There was incoming traffic landing straight in from the north about 20 miles away. Because of that factor, Provo Tower asked if we could "go direct to the numbers," which more or less means to fly direct to the landing runway and land (the numbers referring to the magnetic orientation numbers marking each end of the runway being the aiming point). This is officially known as a short approach and since my instructor was with me, I was allowed to fly as instructed by the tower with him walking me through the whole thing; if I was alone, I probably wouldn't have done this approach since I wasn't familiar with the process. By flying straight to the numbers, a normal pattern was basically thrown out the window. As I went through the usual before-landing checklist, my instructor told me when to extend flaps and to cut power and airspeed as needed. The turn onto final approach wouldn't happen until the very last moment. When we reached the end of the runway, the plane was still at a 45 degree angle from the runway centerline; I made the necessary last minute corrections and this was one of the shortest final approaches I've ever flown! I flared over the runway and touched the DA-20 Katana back down on on terra firma; the "straight to the numbers" approach felt so natural. Better yet, I was able to cut in front of the approach traffic that was still a ways out and saved myself the time of having to fly a normal pattern that would've otherwise forced me to extend the downwind leg for the approach. We taxied back to the UVU ramp, shut down the airplane, filled out the logbook and called it another flight.

I definitely appreciated learning some new things on today's flight!

Gallery Update: Double Allegiant Charter Sightings

I got a quick round of planespotting out of Provo before my scheduled flight lesson today. It's been nearly two weeks since BYU's last football game. Their last away game for the regular season against the University of Cincinnati Bearcats is this coming Saturday and as per the usual, they had to charter an Allegiant Air Boeing 757-200 to get out there. Sadly for me, it was a repeat tail number. But this might have been the one of the last times we see Allegiant's 757s at Provo as the type will be retired from the fleet starting next year (and by then college football season is pretty much done with!) so I figured it should've been a noteworthy opportunity. In addition to the arriving 757, I also caught a departing MD-83 operated by Allegiant Air, which to my surprise was also on a charter flight (reasons for the charter flight is unknown); both were within minutes of each other! I've been waiting to catch and MD-80 and 757 from Allegiant in one day and I finally got that opportunity today. Here's the link:

Provo (PVU) 17

Preview:

Allegiant Air Boeing 757-204 (N906NV) arriving on 13 as AAY4403 from Las Vegas to pick up the BYU football team. I last photographed this airframe about two months ago.

AAY4403 taxiing to the ramp. Would later depart as AAY4404 for Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Covington, Kentucky. According to my instructor, the 757 has it's own wake turbulence category and it's nasty, especially for general aviation pilots.

Allegiant Air McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N421NV) rotating on 13 for departure to San Jose as AAY4102; this departure occurred within minutes following the 757's arrival, which was good timing because ramp space for big jets at the TAC Air FBO and Alpine Air ramp is limited, especially when big jets are involved!

AAY4102 climbing away. This is either a charter flight or an empty ferry flight. Airframe started it's life out as an MD-81, delivered to Scandinavian Airlines-SAS as OY-KHR in 1991. It was modified to MD-82 standards in 2005 and then removed from the fleet in 2009. Allegiant Air acquired the airframe in 2010 and modified to the current MD-83 standards. This MD-80 is almost as old as I am! (But I'm STILL older than this particular airframe!)

Pilot Life: Solo Flight Away from the Nest!

After not being able to do this portion of flight training last Friday, I was supposed to do this flight yesterday. But as my luck would have it, the weather and the winds weren't cooperating to the point that they exceeded my limitations as a student pilot. As a result, my instructor rescheduled my third solo flight to today, which in the end made for a busy day for me. Wednesdays are usually my busiest days of the week due to a night class but the fact I got to fly on a day where I normally don't made up for it and made this long day a little more enjoyable. Plus this was a good way to add an exclamation mark to my birthday that I celebrated just three days ago and kick off some November flying.

Diamond DA-20-C1 Katana (N974CT), "Wolf 06," the aircraft I took up on my third solo flight!

After I got dispatched out, I conducted my pre-flight inspections. Once that was complete, I hopped in the airplane got started up. Ready to go, I called the ground controller for my taxi clearance. This time, I was cleared to taxi all the way up until the runway to do run-ups because there was a lull in air traffic. Once I completed my run-ups, I called the tower for my takeoff clearance. I received my takeoff clearance and I rolled down the runway. Once airborne, I turned to the west to go to the practice area near Fairfield, which I haven't visited since my fourth flight (which occurred at the tail-end of September!). I would've gone to one of the practice areas that was directly south of Provo (because it's closer!), but there were some low clouds and my limitations as a student pilot mandated that I could not fly over them. Rather than put up with reduced maneuvering room, I decided to go out to the more open spaces.

While en route to the practice area, I contacted the approach controller up in Salt Lake City (referred to as "Salt Lake Approach") so I could get radar services and have an extra set of eyes on me. This has been standard practice since the beginning of my flight training, especially on local flights. The benefit of these services is that the approach controllers can see everything and many things I can't. While on radar with the approach controller, I can receive various advisories, including ones regarding other aircraft in the area and stay clear and maintain visual separation from them. And believe it or not, I got called up by the approach controller several times informing me of traffic in the area. To me, this is one way to define how tight-knit the aviation community is because these folks keeping an eye on the skies have our backs. And I was glad to have the approach controller and the radar services available to me on this flight!

Once I arrived in the practice area, I set myself up to do some maneuvers and basically fly around; it was just me, my thoughts, and the airplane. After reacquainting myself with this particular practice area, at my own discretion set myself up and put the airplane into slow flight, executing some gentle banking turns. Because I was by myself, I elected not to practice any power-on or power-off stalls; as a student pilot, I'd rather do these maneuvers with a safety pilot or instructor in the cockpit with me.

While flying around, I was continuing to get a feel for the airplane I was in because I've never flown in this particular airframe before. While doing so, I noticed that radio calls and advisories from Salt Lake Approach fell silent. I heard the approach controller call my aircraft call-sign briefly and then it all turned to static; I could not make out what he was trying to say. I knew I needed to re-establish radio contact and I suspected that I flew into an area where radio reception might be lousy and there might not be adequate radar coverage. This thought felt a little disconcerting, especially for an inexperienced student pilot such as myself. I then heard an unexpected voice over the radio calling my aircraft call-sign, another UVU aircraft. They relayed to me and confirmed what I suspected; I did fly into an area with not-so-great radar coverage and radio reception was lousy. Another reason why the aviation community is so tight-knit: fellow pilots have your back as well! And I'm glad that there was some company traffic nearby to assist me and the approach controller to maintain adequate communication!

I had the company traffic relay to Salt Lake Approach of my intentions and I continued to re-establish radar and radio contact. I was about 2,500 feet above the ground at the time. There were two mountainous terrain features in the practice area I was in that might have had something to do with this little communications faux pas during this flight so I decided to climb another 1,000 feet and I was able to hear the approach controller through my headsets again. I then continued to fly around and monitored the approach frequency for any traffic or advisories.

Before heading back to the Provo, I decided to do some ground reference maneuvers. I called up Salt Lake Approach to inform them of my intentions and then I made my descent. Once at a safe minimum altitude, I determined the wind direction and then set myself up first for turns around a point. In this practice area, away from Provo and away from many man-made features, it was initially difficult finding a ground reference that I could use, but I eventually found one and executed the maneuver. After a decent execution, I next sought out a straight stretch of road so I could do some S-turns. After finding one, I set myself and the airplane up and executed two decent half-circles crossing the road.

Satisfied with the ground reference maneuvers, I set my sights back to the nest in Provo. I climbed back up to pattern altitude and contacted Salt Lake Approach again, letting them know I was headed back to the Provo Airport. As I began flying over Utah Lake, I was called by the approach controller again, advising me of incoming traffic head-on at my 12 o' clock; it was another Diamond DA-20 Katana from UVU, having just departed Provo. It was about 1,000 above my current altitude. I advised Salt Lake Approach that I had the traffic in sight and I was instructed to maintain current altitude for separation. Once the traffic passed above me, I continued my approach into Provo. At this point, I requested a radio frequency change over the Provo tower, which was approved. 

I then contacted the tower and made a standard pattern approach. There was another Katana in the pattern ahead of me and I was number two in line for landing. After the traffic ahead of me landed, I made my final approach. Just moments before touchdown, I felt the aircraft drifting off center line of the runway, so I aborted my landing attempt, throttled the engine power to full and executed a go-around. I suspected there was a light crosswind, but I didn't waste time to think about. I set myself up again for a second landing attempt; I was alone in the pattern so it was another standard approach. Second landing attempt was successful.

The view of the tarmac just after vacating the runway and before I began taxiing back to the UVU ramp. 

Once I rolled out to a low speed, I taxied off the runway and brought the airplane back to the UVU ramp. After parking and conducting the standard shut-down procedures, I called it another flight, not to mention a successful third (and long!) solo flight. To date, this is the longest flight I've logged in my logbook. But I'm pretty sure some cross-country flights that are just around the corner are going to surpass the hours of today's flight!