Pilot Life: Private Pilot Training Aircraft Montage

In light of earning my Private Pilot Certificate yesterday, it would seem appropriate to take a look back at all the aircraft I've logged time in. Looking at my logbook, I logged 70 flights before earning my license. Here's a photo montage of all the airplanes I logged flight time in towards my Private Pilot Certification (Specific highlights, notable occasions, and milestones on certain aircraft are noted in the captions):

Diamond DA-20-C1 Evolution (N957CT) "Wolf 05," the first plane I logged my first flight hour in.

Diamond DA-20-C1 Evolution (N988CT) "Wolf 18." I flew my very first logged cross-country flight with my instructor in this airframe.

Diamond DA-20-C1 Evolution (N221NH) "Wolf 04."

Diamond DA-20-C1 Evolution (N879CT) "Wolf 08." I flew my very first night cross-country flight to Ogden with an instructor in this airframe; also on that same flight, I flew my very first logged flight into Class Bravo Airspace up in Salt Lake City.

Diamond DA-20-C1 Evolution (N208NH) "Wolf 02." I flew my first solo cross-country flight from Provo to Richfield and back on this airframe.

Diamond DA-20-C1 (N987CT) "Wolf 12."

Diamond DA-20-C1 Evolution (N245NH) "Wolf 01." This airframe would be the last UVU Katana I flew before resuming my flight training down in Spanish Fork with Platinum Aviation.

Diamond DA-20-C1 Evolution (N980CT) "Wolf 09." This is the airplane I flew my very first solo flight in. Later on in my training, I took this same airplane on my second solo cross country flight from Provo to Richfield and back via Nephi.

Diamond DA-20-C1 Evolution (N220NH) "Wolf 03." I flew my second solo flight in this airframe.

Diamond DA-20-C1 Evolution (N974CT) "Wolf 06." I flew my third solo flight into a practice area on this airframe.

Diamond DA-20-C1 Evolution (N958CT) "Wolf 14." I flew a cross-country from Provo to Richfield and back with my second flight instructor as part of recurrent training in this aircraft.

Diamond DA-20-C1 Evolution (N885CT) "Wolf 11."

Diamond DA-20-C1 Falcon (N390JA) "Wolf 10." I only flew in this airplane once, but it turned out to be my favorite Katana to fly at UVU. I also consider it to be the "black sheep" of the UVU Katana fleet mainly because it's the only DA-20 at the school to have rear windows, which I found to be a neat feature.

Piel CP-301 Emeraude (N5TX), the plane in which I got my first taste of flying a tail-dragger on with my uncle in Idaho while my regular flight training at UVU was stalled the first time.

Diamond DA-20-C1 Katana Eclipse (N992CT), the first airframe I flew when I started flying with Platinum Aviation in Spanish Fork following a second lull in flight training with UVU.

Diamond DA-20-C1 Katana Eclipse (N968CT). I also flew a solo cross-country flight from Spanish Fork to Delta and back on this aircraft.

Diamond DA-20-C1 Katana Eclipse (N802CT). I flew a solo flight in this aircraft after my third flight instructor endorsed me a week into flying with Platinum Aviation. N802CT is also the aircraft I earned my private pilot license in!

I flew and logged time in 17 different airframes and two aircraft types! I think it's time add additional aircraft types into my logbook!

Pilot Life: Licensed and Certified!

After a little over a year of hard work and frustrations, I've finally earned my private pilot certificate! I met with my examiner and we briefly went over a few things from the last time we met and then briefed on what the flight portion would consist of. Afterwards, we went out to the plane and fueled it up before conducting pre-flight under the observation of the examiner. After that was complete, we hopped in the plane and got the engine started up. After checking brakes and steering, I did the run-ups. Following run-ups, I taxied us to the runway and we took off, doing a soft-field take-off to start.

N802CT, the plane that got me here!

The checkride flight started out with us heading towards the first waypoint on climb-out with the mock-cross-country flight plan I wrote up, pointing the nose towards Nephi. The airplane was performing a lot better with the climb-out than what the original flight plan called for so my examiner called me to level off and we began maneuvers. After initiating a 180 back towards Spanish Fork (which also served as a clearing turn prior to the maneuver), we started with slow flight. After getting configured, my examiner called out for gentle banks to the headings she chose. From slow flight, my examiner said we were ready for a power-off stall so I went into that. And while were doing stalls, my examiner also had me do a power-on stall as well. Satisfied with that, we went into steep turns, which were alright, but could've been better...

My examiner than took the controls briefly and instructed me to put on my foggles for a brief stint of hood time. After handing me back the controls, she had me fly a few headings with reference to instruments only. We then did recovery from unusual attitudes, which I did well on. I was then instructed to remove the foggles and we moved onto simulated emergency situations with a simulated engine fire. Again, I recalled what I was taught to do and initiated procedures to get the "fire" out; I had my emergency checklist on hand and went through the process of getting the "fire" extinguished. I then put the airplane into a rapid descent, which would be the appropriate maneuver to do in an attempt to extinguish an engine fire. After my examiner called "fire out," I proceeded to go through the emergency landing checklist and aimed for a field to land at had this been a real emergency. In the end, we would've made the field so my examiner called for a "go-around" and I got us back up to altitude in preparation for ground-reference maneuvers. I only had to do one, and my examiner asked that I perform S-turns across a road. After determining wind direction, I did my S-turns across I-15 just south of the Spanish Fork Airport.

Satisfied, my examiner instructed me to head back to the airport; we were almost done. I entered the pattern to set up for a couple landings on the same runway we departed from. She had me start with a touch-and-go doing a soft-field landing with a normal take-off. I was then instructed to perform a stop-and-go doing both a short-field landing and takeoff. The third and final landing was a normal full-stop landing where I was required to initiate a slip from a high final approach. I could've executed this landing a little better but I still passed anyways. And with the third landing done, we taxied back to the ramp and I passed the checkride! My examiner and I briefly went over everything that went well, improvement areas, and just some quick general knowledge stuff and we were done! Logbook filled out, and temporary airman certificate signed, I am now a newly-minted private pilot!

While I'm happy that I finally did it, my feelings over this accomplishment are mixed. For starters, it should not have taken me a little over a year to get my private pilot certificate. But I ended up dealing with challenges and issues at UVU Aviation where I did not fly for a significant period of time and I had to go through some re-training. My time so far flying at UVU is lackluster at best and I've lost a lot of faith and confidence in the flight school to the point I ended up migrating down to Spanish Fork, where I could get consistent and reliable flight training. I'm still unhappy with UVU with regards to how my overall situation was handled, as my flight training with them felt inconsistent and unreliable at times during the challenges I've faced.

But despite all my frustrations, becoming licensed and certified is still a good feeling. I want to thank my friends and family who stood by my side supporting me as I worked my butt off towards this endeavor. And of course, I want to especially thank my flight instructor at Platinum Aviation, Harold Rice for helping me complete my private pilot training! For now, I shall enjoy this moment and privilege and I look forward to the next milestone of my flying career!

Licensed and certified! Despite all the frustrations I had with regards to my flight training, it's still a good feeling! And I'm also representing the good folks I've known from my days at the Legacy Flight Museum with my old uniform! It was these good folks who solidified my desire to become a pilot and go into the aviation industry!
(Photo credit: Harold Rice)

Gallery Update: Chasing a Red Autogyro

On approach to landing at the end of my solo training flight this afternoon, I noticed an unusual aircraft holding short of the runway waiting to takeoff. It was an AutoGyro Cavalon, a German autogyro rotorcraft. Built by AutoGyro GmbH in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany, the Cavalon seats two in a side-by-side configuration. Spanish Fork is home to Airgyro Aviation, specializing in the manufacturing of three models of their own autogyro aircraft. The Cavalon I sought after with my camera is a pre-owned one that's actually up for sale by Airgyro Aviation; as it turns out, the company's secondary business model includes training and selling autogyro aircraft built by other manufacturers. I've actually seen this aircraft at Spanish Fork in the past, but never was able to get a decent photo of it until today. After I finished my flight, I noticed that the Cavalon was working the pattern so I quickly grabbed my camera and got a few good shots of it.

Spanish Fork-Springville (U77) 6

Preview:

AutoGyro Cavalon (N509QB) on short final for 30. Powered by a Rotax 914 engine.

A quick look at the FAA aircraft registry indicates that this Cavalon is one of 38 currently registered in the United States. Always exciting to see unique aircraft like this!

Pilot Life: A Practice Flight for Fun

So here's the situation: I got started on my checkride last week, but only got through the ground portion of it because we had to iron out some record-keeping issues. So we rescheduled the flight portion for right after the Thanksgiving break, tomorrow in fact! So I took today as an opportunity to take a quick refresher flight in order to be prepared for the checkride tomorrow afternoon. I also did a ground school with my instructor yesterday morning to go over a few things I wasn't comfortable with as well.

Still flying N802CT.

I got to the airport and the airplane I scheduled myself in was missing it's ignition key! So I had to borrow a spare and got the pre-flight and start-up processes done. After starting up the engine, I taxied to the run-up area and got the run-ups done. After verifying the engine gauges were in the green and instruments were in good working order, I taxied to the runway and got airborne. After takeoff, I turned southbound and proceeded to a section of airspace to do my maneuvers. For practice, I performed power-on and power-off stalls, steep turns, a rapid descent, and ground-reference maneuvers which included S-turns across a road and turns around a point. After doing all that, I returned to the airport and did a few landings, practicing short-field and soft-field techniques before calling it a flight.

I plan on finishing my checkride tomorrow.

Pilot Life: Looking for Elk out of St. Anthony! (Not Logged)

This morning, my uncle invited me out to go flying with him. How could I refuse the offer? I checked the weather (via the nearest automated weather reporting station, which happens to be Rexburg!) and I checked for AIRMETs and SIGMETs in the area; there weren't any that was going to affect our local VFR flight! My uncle pulled his Mooney out of the hangar and he and I went through pre-flighting the airplane together. Afterwards, we hopped in got ready for flight. My uncle let me fly from the left seat and operate the radios while he did all the complex stuff like handling the landing gears and propeller pitch. We got started the engine started, taxied out to the open ramp area and my uncle walked me through the run-up procedure. After run-ups, we taxied to Runway 22 and took off.

The good ol' "Moon-Dog!"

My uncle had me do a left cross wind departure and we flew northbound towards Ashton. My uncle also had an ulterior motive for the flight; he and another one of my uncles have been hunting elk for the past week and they've been getting skunked every time. So what better way to look for them than from the air?! And that's where I came in; my uncle wanted me to fly the plane while he looked below our flight path. I also looked a little here and there when I had a spare moment between flying and monitoring. We flew towards Ashton and buzzed the Ashton Hill with a couple of passes (from a safe altitude of course!) looking for elk. Like the hunts my uncles have been on, spotting them from the air ended up being a bust as well. So we headed back south towards St. Anthony.

My uncle and I set up for a landing on Runway 4 by coming in on the left-45 on the downwind. I made my base turn and then to final approach, until we touched down; it wasn't my best landing since I still wasn't used to the handling characteristics of a Mooney. I throttled forward and made a touch-and-go and got airborne again to work the pattern. We made the second landing a full-stop. Again, we got set up in the pattern and we came in for a landing. We taxied back to the hangar, shut down, and called it a successful flight (albeit, un-logged for me).

Always a blast flying with my uncle!

Gallery Update: A Little Spotting in St. Anthony

My sister and I are up in eastern Idaho for Thanksgiving break visiting my uncle and his family. This morning, my uncle invited me to go flying with him so I met him at his hangar in St. Anthony. However, he had some business to take care of in Rexburg first, so I ended up hanging out at the St. Anthony Airport for about an hour. Luckily, I brought along my camera and I did a little spotting by my uncle's hangar and photographed a little aircraft activity, including a couple familiar ones!

St. Anthony (U12) 10

Preview:

Cessna A185F Skywagon (N185SF) airborne after departing on 04. The tail number indicates it, but this aircraft is registered to the locally-based Shupe Flying Service.

ATEC v.o.s. 322 Faeta (N1014C) on takeoff roll on 22. I know the pilot/owner of this light sport aircraft through my uncle as well. I was introduced to the world of Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) with a flight on this Faeta nearly a decade ago!

Howard DGA-15P (NC52991) rolling out after landing on 04. This vintage is typically seen on display at the Legacy Flight Museum in Rexburg, Idaho. One look into the cockpit, and I recognize none other than my good acquaintance Todd Therp at the controls!

Without shutting down and a quick stop on the ramp, Todd taxis the "Damn Good Airplane" out for departure!

Back-taxiing on 04 for departure.

Airborne after departing on 04.

Pilot Life: One Last Practice Before the Checkride

Tomorrow's the day. Needless to say, I'm nervous. But I'm preparing as much as I can and that included one last practice flight flying solo and I used every available minute of my scheduled block time today!

N802CT will be my aircraft of choice!

After pre-flighting the aircraft, I got airborne as soon as practical and headed south to do all the maneuvers I was taught; I can expect to do any of these things I've learned the day of the checkride. I did everything from stalls, steep-turns, simulated emergency procedures, ground reference maneuvers and pattern work with all the landing techniques.

During my return and entry into the Spanish Fork pattern, I encountered an aircraft in the pattern entering the left downwind for Runway 30; I hadn't heard them make any calls over the CTAF. I didn't think about it as I focused on creating some spacing to avoid a collision. I later found out that the aircraft was NORDO (No Radio). I made three landings practicing the various techniques in the pattern while keeping an eye out for the NORDO aircraft at all times. After my third landing, I taxied off the runway and returned to the ramp. During my taxi back, my instructor texted me telling me good job with the NORDO aircraft I encountered; he must have either saw or heard what happened! After I shut the engine down and exited the aircraft, the instructor who was teaching in the NORDO aircraft came up to me and thanked me for giving him that spacing! Glad I did something (and pretty much everything!) right!

Pilot Life: Saturday Flying

After being mostly bed-ridden this week, I finally felt better today to get some flying in! With my checkride in a few days, I want to squeeze in some reasonable last-minute practice in. It has also been a while since I flew and logged time on a Saturday; since resuming flight training at Spanish Fork, I haven't flown on the weekends. But given that I've been sick most of the week and having been unfit to fly while I was down, flying today to make up for lost time was justified. I did my usual routines and got airborne.

Flew in N802CT today.
(I snapped this picture while I was waiting for this plane to become available. At the controls is my flight instructor and one of his other students!)

After taking off, I remained in the pattern and performed one touch-and-go before heading south to practice some maneuvers in the valley. I headed down towards Payson and started by practicing some turns around a point with the Payson LDS Temple as my ground reference. My sister said she saw me circling the Temple after we met back up! I followed up with S-turns across a road. After doing ground reference maneuvers, I climbed about a thousand feet in altitude for some performance maneuvers. I started with steep turns and I practiced a few of those. I then did a couple of stalls before I turned back towards the airport; my sister was waiting there!

I entered the pattern and performed a few circuits in order practice a few landing techniques, knowing that I can be asked to do any, if not, all of them on the day of the checkride. My sister was already waiting for me when I made my full-stop landing and taxied back to the ramp.

I gotta say though, I forgot how fun (and relaxing!) flying on weekends can be!

Gallery Update: A Little Spotting Before Flying

My sister had to take my car down to Payson for a wedding and I had a flight scheduled about the same time so I had her drop me off at the Spanish Fork-Springville Airport. I had about an hour to kill before I was supposed to fly as the plane I was scheduled in was out for another flight so I ended up doing a little plane-spotting right by my flight school. And as luck would have it, there were a few unique sightings today. Here's the link:

Spanish Fork-Springville (U77) 5

Preview:

Platinum Aviation Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee Cruiser (N7625F) airborne after performing a touch-and-go on 12.

Cirrus SR22 (N767ZZ) parked on the ramp. Loving the livery!

Sport Copter Vortex (N395SC) parked on the ramp. Manufactured by Sport Copter, Inc., in Scappoose, Oregon, the Vortex (along with it's predecessor, the Lightning) is an American autogyro supplied as a kit for amateur construction. The Vortex is powered by a Rotax engine.

SOCATA TBM 700 (N930YY) airborne after departing on 12 for Provo.

Cessna T210N Turbo Centurion (N828RJ) airborne after departing on 12.

Robinson R22 Beta II (N221WM) hover-taxiing on A.

Platinum Aviation Diamon DA-20-C1 Katana Eclipse airborne after doing a touch-and-go on 12. This the plane I would go flying in later in the day!

Cessna 172L Skyhawk II (N4391Q) airborne after doing a touch-and-go on 12.

CubCrafters CC11-160 Carbon Cub SS (N5923C) airborne after doing a touch-and-go on 12. A light-sport aircraft based off the original Piper Cub!

Pilot Life: Pattern Work with Overcast and Crosswinds!

So my checkride is scheduled a week from today; in continued preparation for it, I decided to go up and get a little more practice in. Overcast cloud layers and some crosswinds kept me in the pattern today. Plus, I think I'm getting sick as I've begun to lose my voice (try making radio calls with a groggy throat!).

Flew the pattern inn N992CT today.

My flight instructor, who took a DA-40 Diamond Star up with another student departed ahead of me and informed me via radio that he was getting buffeted winds to the south, so that helped me make up my mind by staying in the pattern today. In the end, I logged a good half hour of flying and made five landings total; I got to practice some more soft-field and short-field takeoffs and landings and made a few touch-and-goes as well as stop-and-goes.

Gallery Update: Chasing a JetSuiteX ERJ-135

Last night, I noticed on FlightAware that an ERJ-135 flew into Provo and was scheduled to fly out the following morning; I just knew I had to chase this one down! The aircraft was operated by a private charter company called JetSuite and in particular, the subsidiary JetSuiteX. The company was founded as Magnum Jet in 2006. In 2008, it was re-branded to it's current name and began steering away from advertising as an “air taxi” with shared rides and began focusing solely on private charter flights as part of restructuring. The private charter sector of JetSuite operates a fleet of Embraer EMB-500 Phenom 100s and Cessna 525B Citation CJ3s in a "JetSuite Edition" configuration. All JetSuite-operated aircraft are distinguishable for having a red stripe bisect along the top of the fuselage (hence the callsigns "Red Stripe" for JetSuite, and "Big Stripe" for JetSuiteX).

JetSuiteX is a public charter air carrier that sells tickets for flights between California, Montana, and Nevada operated by its subsidiary Deluxe Public Charter doing business as JetSuite. JetSuiteX focuses on providing a simpler, more convenient travel experience for passengers taking short-haul flights using Embraer ERJ-135s configured with 30 business class seats. It began operations in April 2016 in response to declining short-haul traffic (mainly in Southern California and the Los Angeles-area) and the rise in fares on short-haul flights in the United States. JetSuiteX's niche market includes time-sensitive travelers who seek an experience better than that of traditional low-cost flights but not as expensive as private jet travel.

In addition to the JetSuiteX ERJ-135 I was after, I managed to photograph several other jets, making this spotting trip worthwhile. Here's the link:

Provo (PVU) 47

Preview:

Allegiant Air Airbus A319-111 (N301NV) taking 13 for departure as AAY345 for Los Angeles. Airframe first delivered to EasyJet as G-EZEX in November 2004 and transferred to EasyJet Switzerland as HB-JZK in June 2005. Acquired by Allegiant in November 2014. 

Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI)/Gulfstream G150 (N150KM) taking 13 for departure.

Deluxe Public Charter (d/b/a JetSuiteX) Embraer EMB-135LR ERJ-135LR (N251JX) taxiing for departure for San Jose as JSX251. My first time photographing a JetSuiteX livery and my first ERJ-135!

Face-to-face with "Big Stripe!" The ERJ-135 was designed for seating up 37 passenger. Of course, JetSuiteX operates all their ERJ-135s with 30 business class seats.

JSX251 taking 13 for departure. Airframe first delivered to American Eagle Airlines as N711PH in March 2000. Acquired by JetSuite in March 2016 and re-registered to the current N-number in July 2016.

Gates Learjet 35A (N354CL) on short final for 13. Probably from Van Nuys because this jet is registered to Clay Lacy Aviation!

Gallery Update: Two College Sports Charters!

Regular college football season will soon wind to close, but basketball season has just started! And depending on distances, basketball teams might utilize charter flights to get to their games. Today, I went after two college sports-chartered airliners; an Allegiant Air MD-80 that was chartered by the Utah Valley University Men's Basketball team and a Sun Country Airlines 737-800 chartered by the BYU football team in the carrier's new revised livery! The MD-80 was an airframe that I haven't photographed before. In fact, I've seen it here in Provo (via FlightAware and FlightRadar24), but I kept missing it! With the MD-83s and MD-88s slated to be phased out by the end of next year, best to catch them while they last! The Sun Country 737 was one I've seen before, but it has since been repainted in the airline's new livery and has been christened with a Minnesota lake name, both sound reasons to chase after a repeat airframe.

Here's the link:

Provo (PVU) 46

Preview:

Allegiant Air McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (N425NV) taxiing for departure to Lexington-Blue Grass as AAY4407 with the UVU Men's Basketball Team on board for their game against the Kentucky Wildcats tomorrow afternoon.

AAY4407 taking 13 for departure. Airframe first delivered as an MD-82 to SAS Scandinavian Airlines as SE-DFY in April 1987; during it's time with SAS, it was nicknamed "Ottar Viking." It was then re-registered as LN-ROW in December 1999. It then went into brief storage in September 2009 before being re-activated in December of that same year; it was also re-registered back to SE-DFY. Allegiant Air took ownership of the airframe in July 2010 and then modified it to an MD-83 in May 2012.

Cessna 182Q Skylane (N282EL) departing on 13 to do some pattern work.

Pilatus PC-12/47E (N566GL) departing on 13 in sequence for Boise.

Sun Country Airlines Boeing 737-8BK (N808SY) "Lake of the Clouds" taxiing for departure as SCX8644 for Las Vegas with the BYU football team on board for their game against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Rebels taking place tomorrow night. The last time I saw this airframe was last year when Sun Country reinstated flights between Portland, Oregon and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since then, the aircraft has been christened as "Lake of the Clouds" and has received the new, revised livery for Sun Country Airlines.

SCX8644 taking 13 for departure. Sun Country Airlines modified and simplified their livery without much fanfare or an announcement in late-2016 by getting rid of the shadow-style, two-tone blue S-logo on the fuselage and applying full titles of the airline name in a modified font.

SCX8644 beginning takeoff roll. Airframe was first delivered to Sun Country under lease starting in March 2005. From then, it was leased back and forth between Sun Country and Transavia. During one year with Transavia, it was re-registered as PH-HSU. PrivatAir leased the aircraft in August 2009 and operated it for Lufthansa, registered as D-APBD.