Music and flying go together well, together well…

1 – “Go West” with pictures from Blue Angels cockpit

2 – Basejump – The art of flying without an aircraft

3 – John following Greg for landing in two gliders

4 – Breathtaking picture from military jets cockpits

5 – A music video to the glory of Experimental Aircraft

6 – Flying to Fresno over the Tehachapis in a Piper Seminole

7 – United Breaks Guitar – Not exactly a flying video, but I like it so much…

I hope you enjoyed this musical moment. Which is your favorite one ?

Spectacular, nice or fun, YouTube has all aviation video you can imagine. Here’s a personal selection amongst my favorites. Please leave links to your best ones in comment.

C-17 backtracking… on reverse. Note the water being sucked in an expelled from the front side.

757 gets a bird-strike, loses an engine and comes back to land. The video shows all the action and includes all radio communications.

Pilatus Porter short field landing, a.k.a. Dude, where’s the runway ?

And now a highly modified Cub for a short field take-off. 39 feet.

The best of AirVenture 2009 in Oshkosh compiled in 5 minutes of video

This one has been seen all over the Internet: plane vs. cow. If you believed it was during a forced landing, you’ll review your opinion. I’m not sure what to think about such low flying…

How to survive and airplane crash. There’s some sound advice in that.

A tower controller in Philly is having fun with pilots.

The best part of flying IFR: surfing just on top, even if I never did it at that speed.

Cloud skimming part to.

Currently training for my CPL license I recently had the chance to practice the commercial maneuvers for the very first time… more specifically Chandelles, Lazy Eights, Eights-on-Pylons and Steep Spirals.

Chandelles:

First off were the Chandelles and this maneuver also turned out to be the easiest one. The chandelle can be described as a maximum performance 180-degree climbing turn. You start out by establishing a 30-degree bank, adding full power and gradually start pitching up. When you have turned 90 degrees the pitch should be at its maximum. For the remaining portion of the maneuver the pitch attitude should be kept constant while gradually reducing the bank angle so that the wings return to level after 180 degrees of turn and with the airspeed just above the stall speed. A good rule-of-thumb for pitch attitude at the 90-degree point is about 8 degrees of pitch-up on the attitude indicator. This worked very well for me and I actually got the whole maneuver right on the very first attempt.

Take a look at chapter 9 of the FAA Airplane Flying Handbook for a detailed description as well as illustrations of the maneuver. (The document opens at the top of chapter 7 so you need to scroll down near the bottom to find these maneuvers).

Lazy Eights:

The next maneuver I set out to try was the Lazy Eight. This one proved to be a little more challenging although a very useful advice from my instructor helped me quite a bit. The Lazy Eight maneuver is comprised of two consecutive 180-degree turns in opposite directions while making a climb and descent in a symmetrical pattern during each of the turns.

If this sounds a bit complicated at first you can take a look at the instructional video below for a breakdown of how the maneuver is flown:

As you can see in the video we establish several key points throughout the maneuver.

• The first one is the 45-degree point. At this point the pitch up attitude should be at its maximum and the airplane should have smoothly rolled into about 15 degrees of bank.
• The second key point is the 90-degree point. After passing through the 45-degree point the bank angle should gradually continue to increase so that the maximum bank angle of about 30 degrees is reached at the 90-degree point. At the same time the pitch attitude should be gradually decreased so that you return to a level pitch attitude at the 90-degree point.
• At the third key point – the 135-degree point – the bank angle should be reduced back to 15 degrees of bank and the pitch attitude should be at its lowest while descending back to the same altitude at which you first entered the maneuver.
• The final key point is the 180-degree point at which you should have returned to straight-and-level flight at the same altitude at which you first entered the maneuver and the heading should be in the exact opposite direction of your entry heading. As soon as you are straight-and-level at the 180-degree point you start rolling the airplane into a bank in the opposite direction to do the whole thing over in the opposite direction…

These key points provide a good framework on which to base the necessary control inputs throughout the maneuver. However, while trying to accomplish these predetermined flight attitudes at the established key points it is important to remember that there should be a smooth and gradual change in both pitch attitude and bank angle throughout the entire maneuver.

The way my instructor taught me to accomplish this was by initially rolling into about 5 degrees of bank and then bringing the ailerons back to a neutral position while allowing the airplane to continue rolling into a bank by itself. The first time I flew the maneuver I tried this and found that it worked very well. As I continued to pitch up towards the 45-degree point the airplane would indeed smoothly continue to roll into a bank by itself. When I passed through the 45-degree point all I needed to do was to start releasing some of the back pressure on the yoke and the airplane would continue to increase the bank angle on its own while the nose was gradually lowered towards a level pitch attitude.

All in all the first 90 degrees of the maneuver required very little control inputs on my part. After rolling into the initial 5 degrees of bank all I needed to do was to control the pitch attitude with back pressure on the yoke while keeping the ailerons and rudders neutral and the airplane basically did the rest for me.

As I allowed the airplane to return to a level pitch attitude at the 90-degree point and relatively close to the clean configuration stall speed the nose of the airplane sliced sideways through the horizon and into a descending pitch attitude without any significant intervention on the flight controls by me.

The second half of the 180-degree turn was somewhat more challenging as I was required to use the controls more actively to reduce the bank angle and controlling the pitch attitude throughout the descending portion of the turn.

This maneuver is also to be found in chapter 9 of the FAA Airplane Flying Handbook. (Located near the bottom of the document).

Eights-on-Pylons:

After a couple attempts on the Lazy Eights I set out to try the Eights-on-Pylons.

I recommend you watch this instructional video for a thorough explanation of the maneuver:

You can also check out chapter 6 of the FAA Airplane Flying Handbook for a detailed description of the maneuver. (The Eights-on-Pylons maneuver is located near the end of the document).

Before the flight I made myself a table of applicable ground speeds and corresponding pivotal altitudes that looked something like this:

As you have probably noticed by now this maneuver is flown in the shape of a figure eight around two pylons on the ground. While turning around one of the pylons the airplane’s lateral axis should appear to pivot on the pylon as if the airplane’s wingtip was attached to the pylon by a string. This is accomplished by maintaining corresponding ground speeds and pivotal altitudes throughout the maneuver according to the table above.

I can’t think of much more to say about this maneuver apart from one handy rule that I recently picked up from a co-student and which has helped me quite a bit with remembering how to control the airplane correctly through the maneuver. Except for when you are flying in no-wind conditions (which very rarely happens) your ground speed will vary throughout the maneuver and hence so will your pivotal altitude. The clue to remember is to always pitch towards the pylon….if the pylon moves backwards behind the wingtip then you pitch back by applying some extra back pressure on the yoke. If the pylon starts moving forward ahead of the wingtip then you pitch forward as if to catch up with the pylon.

Steep Spirals:

The steep spiral maneuver which is flown with idle power is an efficient way of losing altitude while remaining over a selected point on the ground. This maneuver is similar to that of turns around a point which you have probably been through if you hold at least a Private Pilot license. In fact this maneuver is flown as turns around a point while descending at idle power and the maneuver is complete after three full 360-degree turns.

Here are a couple resources I would like to share with you that explains and illustrates this maneuver:

Chapter 9 of the FAA Airplane Flying Handbook. (The steep spiral maneuver is located near the bottom of the document).

Being a pilot is cool – the Internet era is cool, so being a pilot in the Internet era is somehow cool squared. To get prepared for my DA42 training, I searched YouTube for videos showing one engine-out procedures and other stuff that can help. I selected the best ones for you – get comfortable and have a look and learn… If you don’t feel like, just have a look to the last one, you can’t miss it.

Stopping a Thielert engine by fuel starvation can damage it, so flight instructors can’t play with hidden fuel selectors (like on the Baron…). The only way is to retard the throttles and the the student pilot must switch the engine master off, otherwise the engine will remain at idle power. Restart ? Simply turn the engine master on again.

Steep turns with one engine out ? Here you are.

The next one is not exactly training oriented, but I could not resist: two DA42 taking off and flying formation low-pass.

More engine failure and steep-turns

If you think that simulators are bad, have a look at that. The dashboard includes a real G1000.

Even more engine failure and steep-turns

A superb mixture of IFR in IMC, flying the Alps and night flying.

Landing at night at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle – Only possible at red-eyes times…

And if this is not enough, a 4 minutes flight from Paris Charles-de-Gaulle to Paris Le Bourget – Magic !

Thanks a lot to all the YouTube users who did put these videos online – I hope that mine will follow soon. I also searched for video of twins flying at speeds below Vmca but could not find any. Does someone have a link ?

I could hardly beleive it, but my plan to fly from Bournemouth to Guernsey unfolded exactly… as planned. We flew the route that I described in previous post, and the approach to Guernsey went fine. Both flight plans (Bournemouth to Guernsey and Guernsey to Waltham with a leaving) were accepted by Brussels without any change, and we received no slot.

When studying the Bournemouth departure, I noticed that there was no guidance to the THRED intersection, but only a ground track, after the initial turn. This was not a problem in flight, because an airliner was landing shortly after our departure, and we received radar vectors to bring us out of this possible go-around way.

We rapidly got IMC after take-off, and the climb was between different cloud layers. Such intermittent IMC is the probably the worst possible condition for IFR pilots, as one tend to constantly switch between instruments and natural horizon.

The temperature at FL080 was approximately 5 degrees Celsius, so icing was not an issue. Shortly before reaching FL080, we reached VMC on top conditions, making the flight more pleasant, even if there was nothing but clouds to see outside. No chance to see England’s shores…

The en-route navigation, managed by London Center, was all based on radar vectors. The route was to THRED, then ORTAC, and GUR VOR, but not under own navigation. Thanks to the GNS430 display, it was easy to guess what the controllers were doing.

The descent clearance came early, and put us into IMC again. We had some intermitent VMC when passing over the other Alderney, but no real opportunity for good pictures… except if you like islands in clouds.

The question regarding the use of the GUR VOR holding for track reversal was solved exactly the same way than the one about Bournemouth departure: we got vectors to the ILS. The intermediate descent, and final approach were all in clouds and rain, not to mention the winds…

We broke off clouds and got runway in sigth at approximately 700 feet. Well above the ILS minimum, but rather low for an approach with a single engine aircraft.

As the weather was not exactly ideal for flying to Jersey and Alderney VFR, we had coffee and cake before flying back to White Waltham. The flight home was like the flight to Guernsey. Departure in IMC, then wonderful VMC on top.

We descended after coasting in, and left IFR once clear of the Southampton TMA. This long flying day (5h05 total, including a Waltham – Southend – Waltham flight in the morning) was finally blessed by rainbow while approaching Waltham.

Thanks to the simplicity of IFR procedures, this flight was uneventful, except that I had to fly most of it manually, because the autopilot was not able to maintain altitude with 100 feet precision – a very good basic IFR handling exercise indeed.

Saanen is one of my favorite airfields. It is located in the Berner Oberland, in the Swiss Alps, approximately 14 miles to the east of the eastern end of Lake Geneva. This former military airbase is now open to civilian trafic. The runway is long enough to be used by turboprops and light jets, offering taxi services for VIPs to the nearby town of Gstaad.

The VFR approach chart mentions that an introduction flight is required, because of the high grounds surrounding the airport. As the airport is in a narrow valley, the circuit pattern is all but standard. The procedure starts overhead the runway, and continues with a loop around Gstaad (no overfly, there are many VIPs there…). The runway is not visible before turning final, so managing the descent is a bit tricky.

One helpful landmark is a white chruch, located to the right side of the threshold, allowing for some visualisation. The whole pattern is flown below the moutain tops, and the “base” leg and first part of final are quite close to terrain. Because of this special location, it is important to check weather, and particularly the winds. Flying low over terrain in mountainous area is not a good idea if there are turbulent downdrafts.

The video below shows the full procedure, including the landing and taxi to the châlet where the C office is located.

The take-off procedure is simple: turn slightly right after take-off, to line-up with the valley, and climb straight ahead…

When Travis asked me for more information about the first flight of my then 9 month old daughter, I was happy to provide him additional tips. I also asked him to give me some feedback with his own experience. He sent that today, including a nice video. Here is what he wrote about this flight:

”I finally had the chance to take my son flying for the first time. He was 9 weeks and 5 days at the time of the flight. I took him up for 1 hour in a Diamond DA40-180/G. My wife and a friend went as well. We were able to use our rear facing car seat in the plane, it actually fit really well. our son seemed to have no issues with the flight and slept almost the entire time.

As you’ll see in the video, we had him wear a child size Peltor headset. I payed particular attention to my descent rates, keeping them at or below 500fpm, and we saw no signs of discomfort from him.

Overall, he reacted to the plane the same way his does to a car.”

When looking at the video, I was a bit surprised to see that he installed the seat facing backwards. When we flew with our daughter, the seat was installed facing forward. Different types of seats exist, depending of baby’s age. Here’s the answer from Travis on this topic.

”I debated whether to go forward or backwards on the car seat. My preference would be to have him face forward so I could see him, but I went with backwards just because that is what is recommended at his age in a car. I don’t have a strong opinion on which is safer. I guess in the unlikely event of a crash it would really depend on how the plane ultimately stopped. That would be hard to predict so I will probably have him face forward in the future.”

Note the sun protection. This is a superb idea – we did not tought of that, and had to improvise something with a jacket.

I want to warmly thank Travis for this feed-back and for the video. If you also have things you want to share, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Find a place where to fix the camera
A fixed camera is the best way to get steady images, but also to get a better rendering of the aircraft’s attitude changes. The top of the dash in the DA40s or Pipers is a good place. Make sure to check the framing is good BEFORE the flight. Even if you’re not the pilot, putting your head to look through the viewfinder can be disturbing.

Check that while on ground, and also make sure that the camera’s autofocus is not fooled by the windshield. If possible, try to fix the camera with velcro tape or any other mean, to make sure it won’t fall down and go in the rudder pedaly. The vibrations induced by the engine are rather small, except at startup, and any bump (particularly on grass runways) will anyway lead to a bouncy movie.

Do not abuse of the zoom
This is particularly true in flight direction. Using the zoom while filming will give rather unpleasant feeling, especially when zooming out. If you really want to zoom, make it between sequences. Zooming when filming on the side of the plane is fine.

Film the outside view, or the cockpit
But don’t try to film both at the same time. Because the outside is much brigther than the inside, it’s nearly impossible to capture both at the same time. If you focus the camera on the dashboard, all windows will simply look white, and if you film through a window, all the dashboard will look black.

If you decide to alternate inside and outside sequences, use the classical seven seconds rules from cinema. Once the camera is oriented towards something, don’t move to something else before at least seven seconds. If you make shorter sequences, the result will look unstable, shaky, and will not leave enough time to the spectator to focus on anything.

Camera on the outside
The temptation to attach the camera somewhere outside the plane is great. Beside the fuselage, close to the rudder, on the footstool, or anywhere else. I never did it myself, but I saw many splendid movies made that way.

I never did it for two reasons. I have no idea of the possible aerodynamical impacts (probably negligible, but I never said that officially). Secondly, I don’t know how to make it without damaging the plane and / or the camera, so I don’t want to take the risk of loosing my camera.

Even worse, if the camera falls down, it could hurt someone, or damage something on the ground. And if someone finds the movie, it’s more than probable that the last images will show the plane flying away, tail number included.

Keep flying
If you’re filming and flying, don’t forget what are your priorities. Got it ?

You can now have a look at my own videos if you don’t already saw them. You’ll see that my flying passengers did not always respected these tips… and this is where I learned some from. Click here to see my in-flight video.

Andrew was kind enough to send me a link to his videos YouTube, taken in a G1000 equiped DA40. You will see it in action flying over England. There is also one over the Jura mountains, north of Geneva, which reminds me of my previous homebase Geneva.

These videos include good music, so get comfy and enjoy not less than 26 minutes of DA40-G1000 flying !

Thank you Andrew for sharing. Feel free to comment, and if you also have videos you want to share, contact me, I always enjoy readers contributions, particularly when they’re that good.

As a complement, here is one of my videos of a DA40-G1000 landing in Cannes, which I captured from the back seat. For better video view, the G1000 was in “reversionary mode”, both screens being a PFD.

I made this video while visiting the maintenance hangar during an overnight stop. As the plane was powered from ground, the cockpit was turned on. I asked a friend to press the “test” button of the overhead panel, thus turning all indicators on.

Unfortunately the resolution is rather low, as it has been made with a photo camera, but you can see how impressive the overhead panel is… Does it remind you a famous scene of “Airplane” ?

If you liked it, have a look at my Jumbolino Maintenance photo gallery.

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