The Stuews meet up at EAA AirVenture 2015 in Oshkosh Wisconsin. Stu describes a good tail
wind while flying an Extreme Decathlon. Mike flew his trusty Cessna 180, and Stew flew in
the back of a Southwest 737.
Stew announces his new position as Chief Pilot for Stu’s US Sport Aircraft and Mike details
his experience flying the FISKE arrival into Oshkosh.
The Stuews also describe some of the new and interesting things they’ve seen at the show.
These include:
Dynon SkyView ADS-B Out
Coradine Log X Pro
Apple Watch
LINKS:
Pilots Journey Listener Line: 330-3JOURNEY (330-356-8763)
Stew tells us about his new job as an assistant chief pilot for a part 141
flight school. He also describes his flight bringing a new Cessna 310Q from
the Pacific Northwest to its new home in Texas.
Stu describes his trip to Sebring Florida for the US Sport Aviation Expo. He also
tells us about their new Xtreme Decathlon aerobatic plane.
Mike has been flying quite a bit, including some IFR and night flying. He also
relates getting back into "real" IFR vs flying under the hood.
The crew discusses the "selfie pilot" and how chains of errors lead to accidents.
We also talk about Ballistic Recovery Parachutes and advanced avionics.
FEATURED SITE:
Air Safety Foundation
Mike contributed an article to the Air Safety Foundation's survival guide. Not every
forced landing results in fatalities or even injuries, but a little knowledge on
what to do in a survival situation can go a long way. The AOPA Air Safety Institute
discusses survival kit essentials and what actions you can take to help reduce the
time it takes to get found.
Mike tells us about landing at Lava Hot Springs by use of a pickup truck headlights
for runway lighting. He also relates his experiences at Sulphur Creek's restaurant.
Stu finally completes his multi-engine commercial on his 2014 race for ratings.
He also describes a true single engine landing when an engine would not un-feather
on his checkride.
Stew was fortunate enough to attend the Red Bull Air Races in Fort Worth.
He tells us about how high winds caused pilots to slice dozens of pylons
during time trials.
The crew discusses the newest iPhone offerings from Apple and options available
for pilots.
FEATURED SITE:
GeneralAviationNews.com
The GA News team has done a great job of expanding their content to social media
as well as a super web site and free print editions at most FBOs.
PRODUCT REVIEW:
Garmin D2 Pilot Watch
This watch is really 3 functions: a pilot watch; a GPS receiver,
and an outdoor/hiking watch. As a pilot watch, it's really good with a
plethora of stats, plenty of room for flight plans, and much more. As a
general GPS receiver, it's not so special. It has Bluetooth connectivity,
but it's only used for transferring flight plans from the Garmin iPad app
to the watch. It does not actively communicate during flight.
It shows lat/lon, and a very basic moving map, but that's about it for
general GPS functions. Stew also noticed that the GPS derived altitude
was much different than panel mounted GPS or barometric altimeters.
The hiking mode has a ton of great features for runners, geocachers, etc.
It also has some features that allow you to control the Garmin action cam
from the D2 watch.
LINKS:
Pilots Journey Listener Line: 330-3JOURNEY (330-356-8763)
Mike tells us about an FAA training event held recently in Idaho Falls.
His special guest was Rich Stowell - the Spin Doctor. The idea was for Rich
and Mike to do some spin training for the crowd, but this required an FAA
waiver to allow the display to be done over the airport at an altitude
where spectators could see what was happening. Mike relates the process
and response of working with 2 FSDOs to obtain the aerobatic waiver.
After the demonstration, Mike headed off on a 3300 mile cross country trip
in his Cessna 180. The trip included several segments in and out of IMC.
He also had a great visit at Mountainair, a private resort airpark, then
on to Sporty's in Clermont County, OH.
Stu tells us about his company becoming an American Champion dealer, and
ordering their first Xtreme Decathlon. He also recites his ambitious training
goals for the year. He reported success on passing the ATP written test.
Next up is the multi-engine commercial checkride, then multi-engine
instructor (MEI), and finally Airline Transport Pilot (ATP).
To accomplish all these multi-engine goals, Stu and his business partner
purchased a Cessna 310Q. Stew was kind enough to volunteer to help fly
it anytime.
Stu also relates a sad incident where a mechanic taxing a King Air experienced
a runaway engine that turned him into a pair of parked Cessna 172s. One Cessna
wing was essentially chewed off, and another "trimmed" a few feet. Luckily no
one was injured, but it was an expensive afternoon for a King Air's insurance
company.
In addition to groveling for multi-engine time, Stew completed his Flight
Instructor Refresher Clinic (FIRC) at American Flyers. He was also guest
lecturer on human factors in the cockpit for the McKinney Aviation Academy
program. He's also starting to study for his ATP written test, and has been
challenged to beat Stu's score of 94.
FEATURED SITE:
AvWxWorkshops.com
Stew describes this subscription based web site that has an extensive series
of tutorials and webinars on a variety of weather topics. For those that
have a strong interest in weather phenomenon, or for the IFR pilot that wants
to be really prepared, this is a good way to get the applied knowledge of
weather systems and patterns.
PRODUCT REVIEW:
Stratus II ADS/B Receiver
This ADHRS, ADS/B and GPS receiver provides multiple ways to connect to an
iPad, as well as integration with ForeFlight, the most popular electronic flight
bag for general aviation pilots. Mike notes that the NexRad radar available via
ADS/B is not as high resolution as composite radar available in ForeFlight from
WiFi or cellular data sources. However, it's all available at altitude when cell
service is long forgtten. Mike also noted the ADHRS response rate was a bit
sluggish compared to panel mounted systems, but since it's designed to be a
standby backup, it's more than adequate in those situations.
LINKS:
Pilots Journey Listener Line: 330-3JOURNEY (330-356-8763)
Mike returns to the skies in his beloved Cessna 180 after a top overhaul
on his engine. He describes the process of “breaking in” new rings, pistons
and cylinders. He also noticed how much rust had accumulated on his pilot
skills during the time his 180 was down for maintenance.
Stu laments business concerns limiting his flying. He did get to fly to
the US Sport Expo on Sebring, Florida in January, but has not been able
to fly as much as he’d like due to weather and year-end activities.
Stew describes the new changes to the ATP certificate requirements that
become effective in July, 2014. After the changes go into effect, candidates
for an ATP written test must have accrued costly flight experience prior to
taking the written exam, much less the flight exam.
Stu relates his desire to get his ATP this year before the changes, but before
that he’s planning to get instrument proficient again, have an IPC, get the
CFII, commercial multi-engine add-on, MEI and then ATP. To complete these
lofty goals, Stu is looking to buy a Cessna 310Q twin-engine plane. The crew
discusses the merits of a 310, other twins and the importance of a critical
engine.
Mike updates us on his desire to pursue the CFI certificate, buy may divert
to the ATP before the changes become effective. The crew discusses various
study materials they’re planning on using for the ATP written test.
FEATURED SITE:
BuildAPlane.org
Stew updates us on this non-profit gets kids involved in building aircraft.
The website has videos and pages showing kids building the planes, competitions
for participants, and ways you can contribute, cash or aircraft, to help build
the aviation community.
PRODUCT REVIEW:
AOPA FlyQ iPad EFB
Mike tells us about FlyQ from AOPA, a flight planning app for the iPad that
includes split screens, ADS/B and AHRS device support, charts, airport
information, synthetic vision, weather and much more. The app is free, but
there is an annual subscription fee for data updates.
LINKS:
Pilots Journey Listener Line: 330-3JOURNEY (330-356-8763)