Pilot Life: A New Chapter with Platinum Aviation

It's time to pick up where I left off and finish what I set out to do. For now, I'm done flying with UVU; I'm a little fed up with how my situation with all the delays in flight training this year has been handled. Frankly, I wouldn't be in this position had my flight training not been delayed this year and if at least some consistency was maintained. But because my flight training hasn't been consistent, I somewhat lost that drive and now I'm trying to regain that. So after much consideration, I have decided to withdraw from flying with UVU and continue my flight training with Platinum Aviation, a local flight school based at the Spanish Fork-Springville Airport just south of Provo. I'm hoping that a small and more local environment can work to my advantage. In all fairness though, I did appreciate all the effort the folks there put forth in order to help me, especially the chief flight instructor; his support in my decision to continue my flight training outside of UVU is appreciated. I will still attend classes at and continue to work on my degree with the university at the Provo Airport campus.

That being said though, I've lost faith and confidence in UVU's flight training program...

So this morning, I drove down to Spanish Fork and waltzed right into the flight school. I was handed the books for the plane I was scheduled to fly in and I went out and did my pre-flight inspections. My new flight instructor met me at the airplane. After pre-flight, we took care of some paperwork and housekeeping given that this was my first time flying with Platinum Aviation. Afterwards, we returned to the airplane and we quickly briefed the plan of attack in terms of today's flight. Then my instructor pulled the plane out of its parking spot and onto the taxiway center line. Afterwards, we hopped in the plane and I got out my checklist to go through the start-up procedure. Once we got the engine started up and verified things were normal, we taxied over to a spot adjacent to the ramp where we did our run-ups. Once it was verified that they systems were good, we continued our taxi to Runway 12.

Diamond DA-20-C1 Katana (N992CT), the plane I went up in today. I took this photo about a year ago at the airport open house held in Spanish Fork. Never thought that I would be flying in this plane a year later!

Once we reached the end of the taxiway, we held short of the runway to finalize checklist items before takeoff. Once I verified the before-takeoff checks were completed, I made a radio call on the CTAF for Spanish Fork to inform any traffic in the area that were departing on Runway 12 and exiting the area to south to maneuver. I verified that no other aircraft was on final approach on either end of the runway or currently taxiing on the runway and then proceeded to taxi onto the runway. Once lined up and I made cross-checks to my analogue navigation instruments were consistent with the runway heading, I applied full power on the throttles and we began takeoff roll. It was time to get me back into my element! We verified our airspeed indicator was working as we picked up speed and I gave the stick a slight pull and we got airborne.

Once we started our climb-out, I retracted the flaps for a steady cruise-climb and made a right turnout to the south towards and section of airspace between Spanish Fork and Payson. My instructor then put me through the paces, starting with some stalls; I first went through a power-on stall. I reduced the power to bring airspeed down. Once airspeed was where I wanted it, I began pitching the nose up and smoothly applied power. With coordination with my rudder pedals, I maintained the current heading we were pointing at as airspeed plummeted and stall warning horn went off. We felt buffeting in the airplane and then nose started dropping. That's when I recovered by gaining back that precious airspeed that's supposed to keep us aloft. We were full recovered once we got a positive rate of climb again.

And then my instructor asked me to do a power-off stall. Again, I reduced airspeed by pulling back on the throttles. This time, I put in flaps as if we were about to land. Once the flaps were in landing configuration and airspeed dropping, I pulled the engine power back to idle and attempted to maintain altitude by applying back-pressure on the stick. As airspeed continued to plummet, the stall warning horn eventually went off. Again, the plane started shaking and the nose started dropping; that was my cue to immediately apply full-power to the engine and begin the recovery. I retracted the flaps to take-off configuration to help with the climb-out on recovery. Once a positive rate of climb was achieved, I retracted the flaps to complete the maneuver. As were were flying around, my instructor reminded me the importance of making frequent radio calls over the Spanish Fork CTAF to let other air traffic in the area know what we were doing so they could be aware of our presence. So I made a radio call and did just that. I think I'm actually liking the more "uncontrolled" environment of Spanish Fork compared to the towered Provo environment!

Satisfied, we went into the next maneuver: steep turns. Once I leveled off the airplane, I took note of the heading we were flying and then banked the airplane to left at a 45 degree angle, trying to stay coordinated with the rudder controls and applying engine power as necessary while trying to maintain altitude. Once I completed the 360 degree turn, I was immediately instructed to do another one, this time making it a right turn. Again same principles applied. It wasn't perfect, but I at least knew what I had to do to correctly execute the maneuver; it's my first logged flight in about two months, so I wasn't going to kick myself too hard for it.

Afterwards, my instructor took the controls briefly and brought the engine power to idle. He called an engine out and handed me control. I recalled the ABCs of an engine failure. I first got the airspeed down to the best glide speed for a DA-20 Katana. I then looked for a field near us which would've the best place to land had this been the real thing. Once I got those two criteria met, I whipped out my emergency checklist and began going through it; first I went through the emergency mid-air start-up procedure and simulated the control application for it. As typical of a training flight, we assumed the re-start procedure was a bust, so now it was time to secure the airplane for an emergency landing and I began going through the checklist for that. In the end, had this been a real emergency, we would've made the field I picked, so my instructor called for a go-around and we began climbing out. One thing I learned this time from my instructor is that I needed to pick a field around us, not one that we could glide to. Another prospect was the possibility of gliding back to the Spanish Fork Airport since we were still nearby; I didn't even think about that prospect!

As we climbed, we stayed closer to the ground this time, as it was an opportunity to practice some ground reference maneuvers. We started with turns around a point. My instructor pointed me to his favorite reference to do this maneuver on, the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple, a Hindu temple that's well-known locally for the Festival of Colors; it was easily one of the most recognizable point to do this maneuver on! We quickly determined where the wind was coming from and then set up to approach the point on the downwind leg. Once the point went under the left wing, I began the turn, getting a little help from my instructor along the way since I've naturally struggled to do ground reference maneuvers in the past. On the base leg of the turn, I kept the bank a little steeper to keep the winds from pushing the airplane away from the point. Once we circled around to the crosswind leg, the bank shallowed out since we were trying to keep about the same distance all around the point. All in all, my instructor said it wasn't too bad despite my reservations otherwise; there wasn't really much wind to contend with today so the turns around a point today was pretty consistent.

Next we went into S-turns around a road. For this maneuver, my instructor suggested we use a section a rail road tracks just to the southwest of Spanish Fork as it was distinctive and was the straightest reference to do this maneuver on. Once we located the railroad tracks and flew perpendicular to it, I began the maneuver. Again, similar principles applied when correcting for the wind; on the upwind side of the reference, the banks were shallow as I did not want the wind to push me too steep. And of course on the downwind side, the banks were a little steeper so I wouldn't get pushed too far away from the line of reference. Again, very little wind to contend with today so my banks in the S-turns were pretty constant as I tried to level my wings parallel to the reference line. I will continue to work on ground reference maneuvers at every opportunity.

Finally, my instructor had me do a rectangular course, which of course is like flying a regular pattern. I flew us around the circuit I drew out in the sky a couple of times before we headed back to Spanish Fork. I made a call out on the CTAF and we made our way inbound to the airport. I flew us overhead midfield and made a right turn before descending to pattern altitude, entering in at a 45 degree angle. Once established, I began the typical descent procedures through the checklists as we turned a left base and then a final approach for Runway 12. However, I was having a hard time descending and by the time I came in over the runway, we were still too high. I decided to execute a go-around and try again. We suspected that there might have been some updrafts and the winds may have had something to do with it. My instructor told me that due to the position of the airport runway in relation to the Spanish Fork Canyon directly to the east, the winds tend to behave oddly from time to time; for me it was something to keep in mind for the future as my training at Spanish Fork continued. I flew us back up to pattern altitude again and made a second attempt for a full-stop landing. This time, I was able to descend and I came in over the runway and began my flare. But once again, the peculiar winds messed with my normal techniques and we ended up floating for quite a while before the main gears planted into the pavement.

We rolled out upon landing, my first logged landing in well over two months. I taxied us off the runway at the next available taxiway and I taxied us back over the ramp. On the way there, my instructor did a debrief on the flight. Overall, for my first flight back in a Katana in two months wasn't bad, as I was able to recall skills and techniques I previously learned. It was also obvious that I remembered how to do everything; it was mainly a matter of getting a lot of the little things all polished up, so I'll take today as a successful flight overall. Of course, I'm always looking to improve and better myself as an airman. Once we got back to the same parking spot we pulled out of, I proceeded to go through the shutdown procedures and cut the engine power, ending the flight. My instructor and I re-positioned the airplane, attached the tie-down chains, and closed up the canopy before heading inside and making a logbook entry. So far, I'm liking the smaller, more local environment offered at Spanish Fork-Springville Airport. Here's hoping I can back up to speed and ready for evaluation for a license relatively quickly...