During a recent conference, the participants have been invited to visit the Airbus site in Toulouse. I took my camera with, in flight and at the conference, to learn when entering the site that taking pictures there is not allowed. Damn!

The visit starts with a replica of the telemetry room used during the test flights. The aircraft under test (in our case an A380) transmits a lot of data to a reception network covering all of France and nothern Spain. The data sent are the dream of any aircraft incident investigator: almost all flight and system parameters plus live audio and video from the cockpit under various angles. For visitors, the replica of the room is fed with data from the Airbus 380 maiden flight. We can hear the crew discussions (in French, naturellement) and we learn that shortly before take-off the flight engineer lost one of his pens. Because of his flight suit, parachute and helmet (mandatory for the first series of flights) he can’t pick it up, but as it’s in sight, it’s not a hazard for the flight. Never loose a pen in a cockpit before a flight…

The screens reproduce all the system and flight parameters. We can see the power rising on the four engines. The flight engineer gives his go and aircraft starts to roll. The telemetry screens reproduce the flight instruments, we see airspeed increasing. The co-pilot calls “V1″ and “Rotate” almost at the same time, and the biggest airliner in the world leaves the ground… There’s magic in the air. One of the first remarks of the Captain is typical of the impact of technology on aircraft design: “Comme au simu”, “like in the simulator”. The crew had so much simulator sessions before the maiden flight that it made it look extremely usual.

One of the screens shows a 3D model of the aircraft in flight. High-technology? No, a good old Microsoft Flight Simulator fed with live data from the aircraft. For the rest of the demonstration, we see pictures and data of flight number 56. At this stage the crew no longer needs the survival suite, the parachutes and the helmets. This is a fascinating flight with a lot of stalls. As the pilot pull the nose up, the flight engineer periodically announces the value of the angle of attack, up to 22 degrees. A good review of aerodynamics. The instruments on the screen show both the pitch and the angle of attack, and the difference is clearly visible. I never had the opportunity to see this kind of aircraft stalling before. As for modern light aircraft, it’s totally unimpressive. No abrupt reaction, no spin, nothing.

I missed my camera during this part of the visit, but much more during the second part. We took a bus to the assembly halls. There’s not a lot of references nearby so it’s hard to realize how big these buildings are. Visitors are not allowed inside the halls themselves but there is kind of a gallery, dominating one of the halls. From there we could see three A380’s being assembled. Here again, the lack of references makes hard to evaluate how big they are. A three (was it four?) story assembly of offices in containers by the nose was almost at cockpit height.

The people moving around looked so tiny… There was also a kind of golf-cart which looked like an abandonned toy. There was no A320 in the hangar but our guide explained us how to build one. Take an A380 engine – it’s as wide as an A320 fuselage. Put the tailplane on the A380 on top, it’s as wide as an A320 wing. By the way, the engines are the last step of the assembly, because the supplier wants to be paid on delivery, and they represent almost a third of the price.

After the hangar we visted a full-scale “model” of the cabin with economy and business class fittings. No private suite for this mock-up but two bars, some room to walk freely, emergency exit doors… and a couple of jumpseat for the flight attendants. The same old jumpseats that already equip the A320 family. I sincerely hope for all flight attendants that will work in the biggest airliner in the world that they’ll get a bit more room and comfort.

The airbus visit shop in the end was full of goodies. Well, before we bought everything: ties, caps, mugs, tee-shirts, pens, umbrellas, notepads, keyrings, plush aircrafts, stickers, magnets, models, books, DVDs, … I don’t even dare to say how much money I spent there. Anyway, a great thank you to the conference’s organizators and to the visit crew at Airbus. If you’re once in the vicinity, this visit is definitely a must.

The Tecnam P2002 JF is a two seater light aircraft powered by a Rotax engine. It’s an all aluminium low-wing monoplane with a sliding canopy. My last visit to my previous flying-club in Geneva was the opportunity to take a test-flight in one. The club operates two of them as basic trainers and I needed one hour with an instructor to renew my Single Engine Piston rating.

At first contact, the P2002 JF looks small. The wings and nose are short, the engine compartment is low. It also seems fragile. The cowlings, the leading edges, the flaps, everything seems fragile, and not so well assembled. The hinges’ pins are apparent, and my instructor had trouble opening the fuel caps. Getting in the cockpit was not exactly easy. One must climb on the wing from the front side, and then slid in the pilot seat, but without grabbing the canopy, the back of the seat, the side, nor the dashboard.

I could not close the canopy without before lowering my head. Once closed, I had more room. The next challenge was to fasten my seat belt. The belt is made of two parts which cross themselves behind pilot’s shoulders and then click together. Getting it fastened within the tiny cockpit was kind of a contortion exercise.

The cockpit itself is well organized. The stick and rudder pedals are fixed and the seat can be adjusted. There are two throttles: one left of the dashboard for pilots flying with their right hand on the stick and one in the center for those preferring to fly with their left hand. The instructor can also use the central throttle from the right seat. The flaps are electrically controlled by a switch located beside the central throttle. It’s easy to extend them while keeping the hand on the throttle. I don’t know if it comes from the mechanical coupling of both throttles, but the plungers are not operating smoothly. One must pull hard to reach the idle position and the force required often results in abrupt changes.

The pitch trim is controlled electrically via two switches on the stick. Not the usual two-parts up / down switch, but one button for nose-up and one for nose-down. There is no trim wheel so if the electrical system fails the pilot must fly with the present trim position, whatever it is. If the system fails and continuously trim in one direction, a disconnect switch makes possible to deactivate it.

The Rotax engine starts almost instantly, just like a car engine. The engine is sipping mogas and has two carburetors. There is no need for mixture control, so all what’s left for engine control is the throttle, carburetor heat, and the fuel selector. As all low-wing aircraft, there is an extra electrical pump used during take-off and landing to prevent problems if the mechanical pump fails.

The directional nose wheel makes taxiing easy. There is no toe brakes but a central brake lever which activate brakes on both sides. It’s a much better solution than the free-wheel and finger brakes combination found on the Liberty XL2. The ground roll is smooth on both asphalt and grass taxiways. The nose wheel is effective and I the braking system does not induce directional problems.

The line-up and take-off roll are easy as well. The right foot pressure required to compensate for the left turn tendency is reasonable. We took-off from the grass runway which is sometimes bumpy but the dampers were doing good and the roll was smooth. The initial climb was quite shallow but after gaining a bit of extra speed, the performance was good.

The first good surprise I had was during the first turn. The required control forces are really light. One can easily take the stick between two fingers and fly accurately. The Tecnam P2002 is well balanced – the same amount of force is required for elevator and ailerons action, making it really pleasant to fly. The second good surprise was how good the visibility is, both forward and sideways. I learned to fly in an AS-202 Bravo, which also has a canopy. The visibility from the Tecnam cockpit seems even better.

The Tecnam cruises at speeds slightly above 100 knots making it a quite fast basic trainer. Thanks to the good responsiveness and the excellent visibility, steep turns are easy to fly. Keeping altitude does not requires excessive back-pressure on the stick. Compared to other modern aircraft, stalls are very aggressive. We stalled it with full flaps and the nose dropped abruptly. This has nothing to do with a Piper or Diamond stall.

Once back in the pattern, reducing speed is not easy. The white arc starts at a rather low speed. Power must be reduced massively and well in advance to let enough speed bleed off before flaps can be extended. As all light aircraft, the Tecnam P2002 is largely affected by thermal turbulence. Fly low on a summer day and you’ll feel all the bumps.

Landing is so easy that there’s not a lot to say about it. I flew two touch and go and one full stop. One of the touch and go was a simulated engine failure. I came in a bit high and tried a side-slip, but this was not really effective. The flare height and attitude is very natural and the ground roll is easy to control.

All in all, the Tecnam P2002 JF is a nice little aircraft, but its construction is less than perfect. Many details could be improved. As a result, it looks like the cheap version of a nice aircraft, which is a bit of a shame.

This post is no judgement but expresses personal views about the CVR transcripts of Colgan flight 3407 which crashed near Buffalo. The investigation is not yet completed and the causes have not been established. There are however certain relevant points in these transcripts. This post focuses on the last seven minutes.

22:09:12: ATC clears Colgan 3407 down to 4′000 feet. The approach procedure for ILS 23 is started and “sterile-cockpit” rules shall apply. This means focusing on the approach to the exclusion of any other topic. No private conversations, no disturbance of any kind.

22:10:22: First mention of visible ice on the windshield.

22:10.57: The crew discusses about career and training.

22:11:39: The discussion goes on about experience.

22:12:05: The co-pilot is talking about ice again: “I’ve never seen icing conditions. I’ve never deiced. I’ve never seen any—  I’ve never experienced any of that. I don’t want to have to experience that and make those kinds of calls. you know I’dve freaked out. I’dve have like seen this much ice and thought oh my gosh we were going to crash”

Reading from a transcript and hearing a person you work with is different and it’s hard to judge about the tone, but these remarks should have helped to re-focus the discussion on the present icing situation.

22:12:37: The Captain continues the previous discussion: “yeah uh I I spent the first three months in uh Charleston West Virginia and
uh flew…”

There is no further mention of ice, the conversation continues and the approach goes on normally. The transcript mentions “sounds similar to power increase” a couple of times. There is no mention of low speed or high pitch from the crew.

22:16:21: The crew extends the landing gear.

22:16:23: The Captain calls for flaps and before landing checklist. The approach seems to unfold in a perfectly normal way.

22:16:27: The CVR records the sound of the stick shaker for 6.7 seconds. This is a safety mechanism which alerts the crew about a too low speed and risk of stall. Almost at the same time, the auto-pilot disconnect alert sound is recorded, which lasts until the end of the recording.

22:16:35: The sound of the stick-shaker starts again, and is present until the end of the recording.

22:16:46: The co-pilot suggests to retract the gear and the Captain requests it.

22:16:53: End of recording.

The stick shaker is a quite aggressive mechanism, and it can hardly go unnoticed. This aircraft was also equipped with a second level of safety mechanism, known as stick pusher. If a stall occurs this mechanism pushes the control column to lower the aircraft’s nose and regain some speed. The transcripts makes no mention of it. Transcriptions of the flight data recorder (FDR) are not yet available but a lot of discussions are going on. It *seems* (read: not confirmed) that the Captain counter-acted the stick pusher, but this is both hard to do and to understand.

These transcripts raise many questions regarding the level of training and experience of the crew. I wrote questions and not that they were not up to the tasks. The particular environment in this cockpit could also be discussed but none of the crew survived and even CVRs can’t recreate the working atmosphere. I’m writing very carefully because I don’t have the competence to issue any judgment and I have only partial information. What I try to do here is to identify interesting points to be discussed, and to share the information I have. As always, any comment is welcome

On the same topic, Sam from FL250 wrote an interesting post, already on the 10th of May. He also posted later on with some details from the FDR.

The present post has also been indirectly fed by Twitter discussions between @TheGimliGlider (including a NASA video about tailplane icing, you can also check his blog) and @mickyl, who also posted on the same topic on her blog and also about Dash8, icing and autopilot.

Once again, this post only aims at highlighting interesting points, not to charge or blame anyone. Many pilots and aviation enthusiasts discuss this accident. Such discussions (particularly when incorrectly relayed by mainstream media) may seem cold and disrespectful to the victims, but their sole goal is to learn from this accident and improve the system. As always, any comment is welcome… as long as it goes in this direction. This accident is before all a human catastrophe for the victims (incuding the crew), their families and their relatives. Any disrespectful comment will be deleted.

Today’s lesson was a progress check, kind of simulatons of the coming MEP class rating examination flight. The first part was a review of the normal procedures: pre-flight, start-up, taxi and take-off were all normal. We left the pattern to the east for some steep-turns and stalls. My steep-turns were a bit hesitant, this never was my favorite exercise. Strangely, I achieved to keep almost relaxed during the stalls and they were much better than usual… almost enjoyable.

The first engine failure occured while coming back to the airport. Identify – Verify – Feather: the drill is now working well. My rudder work in asymmetrical conditions was also much better. Not perfect yet but better. The DA42 is flying quite well with half a ball and five degrees of bank towards the working engine… as told in the books. I’m doing quite good now at stable power, and there is some margin for improvement in power changes. I found a good trick to improve my single engine go-arounds: I add the working engine to my final check:

• Landing light on
• Gear down – 3 greens
• Flaps as required
• Left / Right / Both engines working

Going around on one engine requires massive rudder. When power is back to idle on final, the asymmetry disappears and applying power on one engine only suddenly brings it back. Simultaneous rudder makes the initial climb more efficient and pleasant to fly than yawing away and then back to the live engine. Recalling which engine is working on final helps to apply rudder on the correct side when going around.

My instructor also gave me several partial engine failures. The remaining power on the affected engine is checked during the “verify” phase of the engine failure drill. The options are to continue with full power on one engine and reduced power on the other one, balance power by reducing power on the live engine, or feather the affected engine. The decision depends of the phase of flight and observed performance. A wrong indication is possible and in some cases a partially windmilling propeller can be worse than a stopped one.

I flew a total of 10 VFR approaches: 5 go around, 3 touch-and-go and 2 full stops. I tend to make too shallow turns when flying on one engine and to overshoot the runway axis. I forced myself to be a bit more agressive and the results were better. After 95 minutes of flying, my MEP training was over. My instructor signed me off and filled all the papers. I’m now officially ready for the MEP skill test. I don’t know yet if I will take it now or if I will before train for the MEP / IR. Gaining more experience on the plane before the check sounds like a good idea. Stay tuned for more news…

After one lesson in the DA42 and two in the simulator, I was back in the plane today for some real-life asymmetrical flying. We flew out for some air-work, practice the engine failure drills and then came back for some approaches and go-arounds with one engine out. Weather was fine, blue skies with a few starto-cumulus clouds and light winds – a typical, warm spring afternoon. We had thermal turbulence below 800 feet AGL but not enough to blame them for my bad pilotage.

The first engine failure came shortly after the first level-off, while at 1′500 feet to remain below airspace Charlie of Frankfurt’s TMA. The drill came out easily but could not be applied “as-is” because my instructor simulated the failure by retaring the throttle. Identifying the failed engine with the “dead foot – dead engine” routine was easy. I confirmed with the engine instruments that the right-hand engine was failed. I could not retard the throttle for verification as it was already back for simulation. I switched the right-hand engine master off and the propeller stopped windmilling. Impressive. I continued with the drill and turned the right hand alternator and fuel valve to off, while trying to maintain altitude, heading and airspeed.

Identifying the dead engine was easy but keeping the plane in balance, with half-ball deflection and 5° of bank towards the live engine was as hard as in the simulator, if not harder. Rudder forces and rudder trim were feeling less artificial but I was fighting a lot without any good result. The G1000 “ball” is very reactive and I was probably over-reacting and over-controlling. After that my instructor had me flying turns, climbs, descents still with one engine switched off. Looking at the stopped propeller was really strange and it took me a couple of minutes to relax again and enjoy the ride.

Restarting the engine was as simple as expected: fuel valve to on, engine master on, and it fired up again. I balanced the load between both engines: 50% load on both, coming back to symmetrical condition and letting the newly started engine warm-up. The final point in the restart drill is to bring the alternator back online and I did not forget it. The four hours spent in the simulator repeating the drills again and again were paying off…

The workload during these exercises was so high that I struggled to follow simple commands from my instructor like turns to given headings. When he asked me to intercept radial 110 inbound to a nearby VOR, I understood the need for the setting the CDI on the opposite course but I could simply not calculate what this course was. The idea of pointing the needle’s tail on 110 was present in my mind but somehow unusable… Too much information, too much new things – I focused on flying the aircraft, took a deep breath, and restarted my brain.

For my first lesson, runway 27 was active and today 09 was active. Good thing for me because I must learn as more as possible about my new flying environment before the check-ride, but… Runway 09 is also equipped with a 4.5° APAPI. Steep. But the hardest thing is that there is almost no final leg. The airspace is limited by Frankfurt’s CTR and the base leg is only 1 mile away from the threshold. The base leg is indeed more direct turn from downind onto final, specially with an aircraft flying between 100 and 90 knots.

Even if the DA42 is not the fastest twin ever, manoeuvering it within this small airspace, trying to loose airspeed and altitude while still making it to the threshold was not easy. Doing it on an almost new to me aircraft, with one engine at IDLE power to simulate a failure and as much as one hour of asymmetrical training was more so demanding… I did not really pay a lot of attention to the very slow Cessna 152 in the pattern nor to all the helicopters coming in and out. Even so, I had a lot of axis overshoot on final, approximative pitch attitude on climb, and insufficient rudder work. Not as smooth as expected, but I’m learning… don’t I ?

What I’m not used to yet is to prevent yaw moment with rudder action when changing power in asymmetrical conditions. Typically when power is reduced on final and before the flare the asymmetry disappears and yaw towards the live engine must be prevented. The same things exist to a much lesser scale with single engine aircraft and it takes time during primary training to learn how to compensate. Right foot on take-off, reduce when reducing power… All the art of flying a twin with one engine out resides in correct rudder / throttle co-ordination and it must become natural or even better, automatic.

I’m feeling a bit like I initially expected, but I was well prepared and I also realise that I’m back on a learning curve, and this is also good. Learning and gaining experience is always demanding and good. The next lesson is the final progress check and will be the opportunity to practice and improve my “MEP rudder dance”. We covered the whole syllabus and I’ll may be need one more flight to reach the minimum training time required. I hope to get fit enough to get a good grade on the check flight… and that I will have no problem with all the authorities afterwards…

The second and thrid lessons for my MEP rating were in an FNPT-II and focused on asymetrical flight. For non-pilots, this means that I trained in a simulator to learn how to fly twin engine aircraft when one engine fails. The basic drill is always the same:

• Identify which engine has failed
• Verify that the identification is correct
• Feather and secure the failed engine

This is what I repeated for four hours over two days, in various conditions: in flight, before take-off, after take-off, shortly after take-off, in climb, descent, turns. I also “flew” the simulator a lot in asymmetrical conditions to get used to it and gain a better feeling of the performances I can expect in such conditions.

When an engine fails, the plane yaws and banks towards it because of the difference in lift and thrust. The live engine pulls its wing further (yaw) and because the propwash generates a significant part of the lift, missing one engine means less lift on the dead-engine wing (bank). The first thing to do on engine failure is to apply full power on both engines and fly the aircraft: prevent yaw, prevent bank and maintain airspeed, retract flaps and gear if required. Sounds simple ? I don’t know if it was the simulator or me, but this was not as simple as it seems. Even good simulators always feel a bit “plastic-ish”, particularly in pitch. I had to fight against the simulator, even small changes on the rudder trim caused violent reactions from the simulator. A certain times, it was like a samba. Was I over controlling ? Possible…

Identifying the failed engine is easy. You probably heard the “dead foot – dead engine” saying. Keeping the plane in balance requires lot of pressure on the rudder pedal on the live engine. The foot with no pressure is the dead foot and it is on the side of the dead engine. The engine instruments can help to identify the failure, but not always. A windmilling propeller, failed sensors, broken engine pieces can lead to wrong indications and this is the very reason why the next step is to verify that the identification of the failed engine is correct.

Verifying is as easy as pulling the throttle of the identified engine back. If the identification is correct, nothing will happen. If it is the identification is wrong, the asymmetry will be reduced and the cockpit will become scarily silent… Once the identification is verified the failed engine can be stopped and its propeller feathered to reduce drag. On the DA42 TwinStar this is an easy operation: engine master off – fuel selector off – alternator off. The throttle is already retared the only trick is to make sure to switch off the correct engine.

One of the problems I had was to do all of that while still flying the simulator. As it is not moving, one must read the direction of slip and bank on the G1000. The force feedback system is not bad, but it is not as continuous or smooth as real flying… at least I hope. It is forbidden to use the autopilot in asymetric conditions so all the drills must be performed while flying manually. Add on that permanent, aggressive beeping of the gear warning which activates when one of the throttles is retared and gear is up.

The second simulator session also included combined failures: come back to land with one engine failed and find out on final that the landing gear does not extend properly… go around, troubleshoot the gear problem while still flying manually on one engine. Second attempt, gear down using the emergency system. And then the instructor announces that the runway is blocked ! Single-engine go-around is not possible with gear extended and the pump driving the gear is failed, so no way to get it back up. So what ? Land on the parallel grass runway, or any suitable taxiway.

I also flew in asymmetric conditions with failed AHRS, magnetometer and ADC, meaning that none of the PFD instrumetns were available: no attitude, no directional gyro, no altitude, no airspeed, no vertical rate. Coming back to land using only the standby instruments (airspeed, attitude, altitude) and the GPS and with only one engine is a lot of work for a single pilot.

The next lesson will be on the plane and I expect it to be easier for three reasons:

1. I will actually feel yaw and bank when simulating an engine failure
2. The only way to simulate and engine failure on the aircraft is to retard the throttle. The master switches are on pilot side, so no way the instructor can reach them unnoticeably and using the fuel valve would damage the high pressure pump
3. The sensations in stick and trim will be much more natural than in the simulator

There are also many things that are not trained in the aircraft for safety and practical reasons, like engine failure shortly after take-off or re-landing. After four hours building my drills and confidence in the simulator I’m really looking forward to fly the aircraft again. Simulator is good and saves a lot of time – we simulated more than 20 take-offs in four hours – but nothing is as good as flying the aircraft when it comes to basic stick and rudder flying.

Even eight hours after the end of my first DA42 lesson I can’t remove the smile from my face. I can’t say that I flew perfectly but it was not as negative as I expected. As Dave suggested, I remembered that it has to be fun. I did stay relaxed (almost) all the time, and it went fine. My instructor started the session with a thorough pre-flight inspection, which was full of lessons.

The vague idea that the DA42 is a twin DA40 like the Seneca is a twin Saratoga went away rapidly. The wing is very different because of the engine and retractable gear. The rudder is larger and higher than the DA40’s one, and the nose is obviously different. I had the impression that the DA42 is much larger, much imposing than the DA40. This was confirmed during taxi and in flight. The required control forces are much larger than what I expected. The DA42 has a directional nose wheel – a big advantage over the DA40 – and the pressure in turns seemed even higher than for a Saratoga. Roll control in flight also requires more force than when flying a DA40 and I sometimes had the feeling that I was pulling so hard that the stick could break. Flying the DA42 also requires a lot of rudder work. The rudder is efficient, but I fought a lot to keep the G1000’s virtual ball centered. Rudder work is also vital during take-off roll and initial climb, and after each power change, because both props are turning in the same direction.

Beside being heavy, the DA42 is also easy to operate. Thanks to FADECs and G1000, cockpit preparation and startup were a breeze. Nothing new compared to the DA40, except that all engine instruments are duplicated. The alternator load is always asymmetric, but this is apparently the case on al DA42s. Knowing which alternator is more loaded helps to decide which engine to start first – on this particular aircraft, it’s the right hand one. Engine start is as simple as switching the engine master to on, wait for the glow indicator to go off, and turn the starter key. Sitting beside and above the engine gives an unusual perspective in comparison with a single engine aircraft and I like it much. Single engine pilots are not used to see all that smoke during startup. Not having a prop in front of me while flying made no difference and I like to better see the engines in flight.

I suffered kind of a “brain freeze” during the first take-off. Flying a new aircraft, in a new airport, after months without flying was simply too much. Instead of completely taking over the take-off, my instructor did a great job of walking me through the steps: rudder, speed check, rotation, attitude, brakes, gear, right turn… I somehow “recovered” while on downwind, flying towards our exit point. I started by enjoying the feeling of being airborne again. We flew below Frankfurt airspace and then climbed to 3′000 feet. The only things I felt familiar with were the stick and the G1000. Apart for a few details like gear and rudder trim, the cockpit is identical to the DA40’s one. I’m sure that being used to the G1000 will make any transition to any other G1000 equipped aircraft much easier.

We flew all the standard maneuvers for a new type familiarization: normal and steep turns, climbs, descents, stalls in various configurations. There’s not a lot to say about that because the DA42 has really good handling characteristics, like the DA40. Stalls are non-events, the only trick in recovery is about the flaps and gear retraction. If flaps are in LDG position, they have to  be retracted to APP before setting gear UP. If the flaps are already in the APP position, the gear comes up first. My problem in turns was again to keep the ball centered. As with all Diamond planes, keeping stable altitude is also demanding, but as I did not fly during the last 8 months this was no surprise. More practice will re-sharpen my flying skills – no doubts about it.

After completing the standard exercises, we flew back to the airport to fly some circuits. The runway is long engough – 1400 meters – but because of obstructions the APAPI angle is 4.5°, one and a half times the standard 3.0°. I’ll try to take a couple of photos on final later on. To my great surprise, my approaches and flares were all good. I did not had to look at the power indicator too much, my settings and speeds were instinctively correct. I don’t know if this comes from my experience with the DA40 or with other high-performance SEPs which approach at the same speed. I was ahead of the aircraft during the circuit work and this made me smile. My skills were not so deteriorated after all.

1h23 minutes, one go-around and 3 landings later, I inaugurated the “MEP” column of my logbook. The goal of getting my MEP rating and renewing my IFR within the imposed time and budget seems feasible. The next sessions will focus on flying with one engine only and polishing my flying skills. I can’t wait for it, now that I restarted flying. Stay on this frequency…

I write airport reviews for my blog, Golf Hotel Whiskey and I visit the Netherlands often so I was delighted when Vincent asked me to write a guest post about flying into Amsterdam Schiphol.

I have flown there four times now, once VFR and three times IFR. It is probably the biggest airport that a European PPL can visit. It is therefore a challenge and, when you’ve done it, a source of pride. Plus it’s very impressive for passengers. Don’t let the size put you off. It is surprisingly GA-friendly and easy to do, providing you prepare yourself properly.

VFR

The GA terminal is on the Northeast corner of the field and there is a runway right next to it.  If you go in VFR, the approach is fiddly and low-level but you arrive right next to the terminal and have a pretty straightforward time of it.  It means approaching a point several miles east of the field called Point Victor just below 1,500 feet.  This is an easily-identified intersection of roads and canals.  From there you turn towards the airport and begin a gentle descent to Point Bravo which is on the corner of a park.  Once you report Bravo the tower will tell send you to either end of the runway 04-22 for a threshold join or to the centre for a mid-point join.  The runway is long enough to turn at one end at 500 feet as if turning final and still land with plenty of room left.  Avoid aiming at the wrong runway – the one you want is partially obscured by hangars until you get pretty close.

IFR

The planning feels a bit daunting. There are pages and pages of Jeppesen notes for the airfield. This is an airport that demands preparation.

Every time I have visited I have landed and taken off on 22/04 which is dedicated to GA traffic but I have sometimes been vectored to other runways first.

Although it has loads of runways, once you know which one you’re going to (and they told me when I was half way across the North Sea) it was just like an ILS approach anywhere. Nothing to be worried about.

It’s worth studying the ground charts and planning your touchdown points and runway exits just in case they bring you in on one of the main runways rather than the GA runway.

When I went in March 2008, they vectored me for an ILS on runway 36R and then I broke right at a few hundred feet to land on 04 which runs up to the GA parking area.

More recently, they told me to expect 18R (which is a couple of miles taxi from the GA terminal) and then changed it to 22.  They brought me in on a four mile final and I had to drop down from FL70 in short order.  I still managed to put it down on the numbers and make the first exit right into the GA parking area.  Great fun, especially with a 12 knot gusting crosswind.

When you leave, call clearance delivery. They will often give you a SID but sometimes the tower controller changes this at the threshold to give you a heading that will take you right over the centre of the airport at low level. Either way is fine but the airport tour can be a bit of a surprise if you’re not expecting it.

On the ground

On the ground, you’ll be met by a follow me truck and then a van to drive you from the ramp to the terminal. Passengers quite enjoy the VIP experience which is enhanced by parking next to some very flash business jets.

You can book in over the internet, although be careful to check if you need an arrival slot as well.  Handling was pretty efficient and the terminal was pretty smart with a pilot’s lounge and other facilities.

If you call KLM JetCenter on the radio when you are fifteen minutes out they will call a taxi and have it waiting for you.  From plane to taxi generally takes about ten minutes but sometimes you have to wait a while for a cab to arrive.

They have 100LL fuel but it is a self-service pump. I did it once and it took a long time to deal with the paperwork. I think Jet-A1 comes from a bowser and might be easier. I try to avoid fuelling up a Schiphol now.

Returning to the GA terminal can be difficult. Two taxi drivers have insisted on taking me to the main passenger terminal. Ask the staff at KLM for a map to the GA terminal and hand that to your driver. The key phrase, if I recall correctly, is ‘Schiphol Oost’ (Schiphol East).

Schiphol is not cheap. Last time I went, in a Cirrus SR-22, it cost me over 200 euros. Also, beware the additional navigation charge levied through Eurocontrol for IFR flights. It’s only another 20-30 euros but it can be time-consuming to pay it as they invoice you after the flight.

Schiphol history

Schiphol was opened as a military airfield in 1916 but quickly switched to civil use after the first world war with the national airline KLM beginning operation in 1920 and a hut for passengers arrived in 1921. In 1926 the Amsterdam municipality bought the airport.

A proposal to close both Amsterdam and Rotterdam airport in favour of a new centralised airport didn’t meet with much favour from Amsterdam residents.  In July 1938 more than 15,000 people rallied at the airport in favour of keeping the airport. This is surely a first.

During the war the Germans attacked the airfield and then used it.  By 1945, it had become virtually unusable and it took heroic efforts to allow the first DC-3 to land on 8th July.

Since then the airport has grown and grown with the result that it is one of the largest and busiest airports in Europe and becoming, in the words of the operating company, an Airportcity.

Contact information

• KLM Jet Center
• Department : SPL/WH
• P.O. Box 7700, 1117 ZL SCHIPHOL, The Netherlands
• Phone: +31(0)20 6492455
• International airport: www.schiphol.nl
• GA Handling: www.jetcenter.nl
• Handling requests can be made online or by phone.
• Note that slots are required at busy times.  These can be booked with KLM.  See also: www.slotcoordination.nl

Enjoying Amsterdam

I am learning Dutch and so I try to visit The Netherlands every month or so. Here are my top recommendations for visitors to Amsterdam:

• The Rijksmuseum. During the current renovations, the best bits of the collection are on display in a small, walkable exhibit. Lots of Vermeer, Rembrandt and so on. Excellent. Buy tickets online in advance if you’re visiting on a weekend.
• The Van Gogh Museum. Fantastic collection of Van Gogh’s works. I prefer the old masters but my wife loves this museum. Again, buy tickets in advance.
• The Amsterdam Historical Museum. A good insight into the history of the city and the people who live there. I like museums but I reckon this is better than a boat tour.
• Restaurants: Moeders for authentic Dutch food, De Bakkerswinkel in the centre for perfect Dutch sandwiches and cakes, Cafe ‘t Smalle in the Jordaan for an antique pub that is very friendly with seats outside by a pretty canal and, if you have time, try to visit and Indonesian restaurant and have a rijstafel. For fine dining, Restaurant Christophe and La Rive both have Michelin Stars and I can recommend them both from personal experience.
• Walking around. The centre is very compact and it is lovely to just wander around the canals and streets to see what you see. Buy a strippenkaart from an Albert Heijn supermarket and then take the trams if you get tired. You can get taxis back to the airport from Central Station or Liedseplein (and I’m sure other places too but this is where I go).

A few words of Dutch

Most Dutch people speak English and some speak it very well indeed. However, I like to surprise them by mispronouncing their own language so here are a few useful words and phrases.

• Goede Morgan / Middag / Avond. Good morning / afternoon / evening.
• Tot ziens / Dag. See you later / g’day.
• Dank u wel.  Thank you (polite).
• Alstublieft. Please (polite)
• Naar Amsterdam / Naar de luchthaven. To Amsterdam / to the airport (e.g. isntructions for a taxi driver)
• Ik wil graag een koffie . I’d like a coffee.

Other ways to fly to The Netherlands

• Rotterdam. I prefer Rotterdam Airport to Schiphol for IFR trips. It’s not cheap but it is friendlier, smaller and easier to get into. Public transport in Holland is so good that you can get anywhere pretty fast by train. It’s actually easier for The Hague and pretty towns like Delft as well as, of course, Rotterdam itself.
• Maastricht. I only went to Maastricht airport once and that was to visit a great restaurant in Belgium. Still, it’s a good mid-size airport.
• Lelystad. During daylight hours Lelystad is a VFR-only airport but at night it reverts to IFR and has an NDB approach. However, on an IFR trip you can drop out of controlled airspace over the Ijsselmeer down to a low level and fly the last few miles VFR into the busy circuit. It is, however, the best GA airport I have ever visited with a lovely restaurant, a great museum and good facilities.
• Eelde / Groningen. In the North, Eelde Airport is an excellent IFR airport that is friendly and not too big but fully equipped. The nearby town, Groningen is nice to visit too. I went there a lot a few years ago to get our group’s Cirrus aircraft upgraded with DMEs.

This post is the second in a series about Axel’s flight training in Florida and is build from two posts initially dated December 2005. Vincent.

On October 17 this year I showed up at Oslo airport Gardermoen all excited….for the first time in my life I was going to America! And this wasn’t just the ordinary two week vacation trip either….oh, no, this was the real thing. I was on my way to Daytona Beach, Florida to fulfil my dream of becoming a pilot! After some waiting at the gate at Gardermoen which, to an anxious pilot student to be, seemed like an eternity, we finally got boarded on board the Continental Boeing 757 that was going to take us all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to the city that never sleeps – NEW YORK CITY!

This was a sunny morning with clear skies all over Southern Norway, and soon after take off I could see the capital Oslo and the Oslo fjord bathed in the beautiful morning sunlight. A few hours later I looked out the window again, and to my excitement I noticed that the seemingly endless waters of the Atlantic Ocean suddenly had been replaced by the ragged mountain peaks and enormous glaciers of Greenland. Some ice bergs were floating around down there, too. The only dissapointment was I didn’t get to see any polar bears… A few more hours went by as we left Greenland behind and passed over Canada, and finally, after more than seven hours in the air we started our descent towards New York City. As we descended I sat with my face pretty much glued to the window and finally, there it was – what I have heard about and seen pictures of all my life, for the very first time in real life … New York City and Manhattan Skyline!

According to my watch, only a little under an hour and a half after we left Oslo, we had landed safely at Newark Liberty Intl. Airport. (Too bad my flight back to Norway for christmas did not go that fast .

After some waiting in Newark, we took off and headed for Atlanta where we landed in a beautiful sunset with deep red skies. After picking up my luggage there, I went to check it in again for the flight to Daytona Beach, and then, to my frustration, I was informed that my flight had been cancelled, and there were no more flights going there that night. The Delta representative at the check-in counter apologized for the inconvenience, and offered me a free stay for the night at a nearby hotel while rebooking my flight to the next day…all at Delta’s expense. I accepted, and soon realized that what had caused my frustration shortly before, really had turned out for the best. I got to go to sleep much earlier than planned, and instead of arriving in Daytona Beach close to midnight completely exhausted, I flew in the next day after a good night’s sleep, all rested and feeling much better.

At the airport in Daytona Beach, my Admissions Officer from Phoenix East, Amber came to pick me up and drove me to a nearby hotel where I checked in. Then a very long trip had finally come to an end, and one of the biggest adventures of my life so far had just started…

The first three weeks I mainly used to find myself an apartment and a car. Finding a two bedroom apartment in Daytona Beach on short notice showed to be a lot harder than I had anticipated, but finally I stumbled upon one that was available thanks to a cancellation. The apartment was in a nice apartment complex called Wood Forest, located right next to Lake Forest where most of the Norwegian students at Phoenix East live, and just a few minutes drive from school, so I reserved it right away. Then, that was finally settled and I could move out of my hotel room which had been my home for the past two and a half weeks. One night in early November I packed my suitcases in my newly bought car, a Dodge Neon 2003, checked out of the hotel, and a half hour later I could congratulate myself on having moved into my new apartment….a drastic improvement from my hotel room!

A few days had passed by since I moved into my new apartment, and finally first day of Private Pilot Ground School came with four full weeks of fun (and) learning with instructor Kevin Fosberg, an excellent teacher, ahead of me. Around this time I had my first flying lesson, too. As I was progressing through Ground School I kept flying on a regular basis with my very capable instructor Troy, and soon, to my great joy, I could notice that my flying skills were gradually improving. I was able to perform the maneuvers in the airplane with greater and greater accuracy and I was starting to get the hang of the radio communication as well. On my last flight before I went back to Norway for xmas, I was able to make my very first perfect landing, too. Instead of the usual thump and “ouff” on touchdown, this time I could hardly feel the wheels touching the runway. That was awesome! And in other words….solo is getting closer. The training is paying off and I am learning to fly!

Click here to read the first part of Axel’s training and how he made the decision to move from Norway to Florida.

This post is the first in a series about Axel’s flight training and is built from two posts initially dated June 2005. Vincent.

A clear sunny day in May 2001 I showed up at Oslo flyveklubb and Kjeller airfield north of Oslo for my very first introductory flight. A few days earlier I had been in contact with flight instructor Gunnar Arnekleiv at Oslo flyveklubb to book the flight, and now, finally the time had come to get onboard the airplane and leave mother Earth behind.

The airplane for our flight was a Piper Cherokee Warrior II – PA-28-161 with the callsign LN-NAG. We took off from runway 30 at Kjeller, turned south and climbed to 2000 ft heading for the eastern part of the Oslo fjord. When we reached 2000 ft the instructor demonstrated the effects of the controls on the airplane to me and then let me take over the controls! Still heading more or less south, I made as many turns as I could before the instructor once again took over the controls in order to demonstrate a power-off stall and a steep turn. He pulled the throttle back to idle, turned the electrical fuel pump on to ensure the engine wouldn’t stop and kept pulling the yoke back to keep our altitude as the airspeed dropped. Then the stall horn whistled, the plane started to vibrate and suddenly the sky disappeared out the windshield and my stomach tried to jump out through my mouth. He then applied full throttle, turned off the electrical fuel pump, climbed up to 2000 ft again and accelerated back to cruise speed.

Now he rolled the airplane into a 60-degree bank and as the landscape rushed by out the windshield he told me to lift my arm. I can tell you, hadn’t I happened to know a little something about this thing called g-forces in combination with steep turns I would have put myself on a diet right away because that is by far the heaviest I have felt ever! Well, good thing I didn’t jump to conclusions about my sudden weight gain, because, as the instructor rolled the airplane out of the turn and back into straight-and-level flight, the extra weight disappeared as sudden as it had appeared in the turn and I decided to forget all about that diet.

And now for a little bit of aviation physics: What actually happened is that, as the airplane banks, the lift force of the airplane is tilted to the side. The consequense of this is that we have to increase the lift accordingly to keep the vertical component of the lift constant. We accomplish this by applying some extra back pressure on the yoke while in the turn. It’s as simple as that!

After this fun experience, I got to have the controls once again while heading back to the airfield at Kjeller. I established the airplane on a final approach to runway 12, and then the instructor took over, taking the plane safely down onto the runway and taxiing back to the club house. And so, my 35 minutes in heaven had come to an end. A dream was born, and I knew for sure I wanted to be a pilot.

After this I went to college, and therefore my flying was put on hold for a while. However, now I have been through most of the PPL theory and since November 7, 2004 I have had five flying lessons, flying a Diamond DA-40 TDI, an austrian produced diesel powered airplane and a Piper Cherokee Archer II.

On the very last weekend in May (2005) I was attending a Private Pilot theory crash course at the Norwegian flight school Luftfartsskolen. While there I started talking to a fellow pilot student from Oslo Flyveklubb, a flying club located at the local airport and with permission to train pilots for the Private Pilot License. He told me that, after earning his Private Pilot License here in Norway, he was planning on going to the flight school Phoenix East Aviation in Daytona Beach, Florida for his Instrument and commercial training as well as being trained as a Certified Flight Instructor. That would give the opportunity to work as a flight instructor after completed training, and would be an excellent way of building the flight time necessary to qualify for a job in the airlines.

All this seemed very logical and had certainly given me some new ideas on how to proceed with my own flight training! I spent the rest of the weekend letting the new information sink in, and on the following Monday I made the decision to sign up for flight training at Phoenix East Aviation in Florida!

The student I talked to at the crash course was going to complete his PPL here in Norway before moving to Florida to continue his training there. The more I thought about it however, I figured, with the almost everlasting summer and sunny weather of the Sunshine State and the opportunity to fly several times a week all year round, why not do it all over there…

Soon everything was set and I got accepted by Phoenix East Aviation into their Professional Pilot Program as a Private Pilot student! That means it is time to start preparing for the trip. I have made travel arrangements to go to Florida on October 17.

That gave me just the time I needed to take care of things like applying for a student visa at the U.S. Embassy and acquiring an FAA Medical Certificate as well as studying and preparing myself for Private Pilot ground school in Florida…

Since then I have now earned both my Private Pilot License and Instrument Rating and I am currently training towards my Commercial license. More of my experiences from throughout my flight training so far will be posted here periodically so stay tuned!