Bravo Zulu Aviation

More importantly: How do I work all the stuff in my fancy new airplane? I will not deny the fact that I’ve been a slight computer geek for most of my recent life. I grew up around computers and can’t remember life before cell-phones and email.What does this mean for aviation? For starters…let’s take a new Garmin hand held GPS…I can probably learn how to use it while on hold for a flight briefing these days. One of my first orders of business when I become a CFI is to help ease the transition for ‘more experienced’ pilots from the steam gauges to the modern technology we have available to us today.

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I’ve made some progress in my research/thought organization over the past week or so and have started focusing on a nonprofit structure to build a Sonex.

Mission Statement Brainstorm:

The Aviation Education Initiative is a nonprofit created to provide hands-on learning opportunities to the local community. We aim to form a venue for experienced members of the local aviation community to work with high school and college students. The students will build airplanes from commercially available kits. The completed planes will then be maintained for introductory flights and primary flight instruction for students.

As I organize my aspirations and short term goals, this seems like a great way to benefit the local community and rejuvenate local interest in aviation. I am currently working through some tasks that should lead to more refined plans and goals to get this project off the ground.  Once I get a more finalized Strategic Plan I will post it here for input. This program should dovetail nicely with the already established Sonex Education Initiative.

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We’ve all looked to the sky and strained our necks towards the distant drone of an airplane. Somehow things change once you’ve actually been behind the controls of one. Despite barely catching a glimpse of a plane cruising by at some unknown altitude, you can’t help but wonder the details of the journey, the pilot, the airplane itself. Thinking back through my childhood, I think that I’ve always had an interest in flight. I’ve certainly had an incessant urge to travel and experience the natural world, and an airplane can certainly make that task more efficient. Back in the good ol’ days of low security airline travel, I always made the trip to the cockpit before, during, and after the flight.

My first interaction with a general aviation pilot was with an instructor I had on an outdoor course I took. I spent three weeks with ‘Sparky’ leaning how to paddle a whitewater canoe in Utah. I left that trip with the phonetic alphabet in my journal, some great stories and a pledge try try my hand at aviation some day.

That time didn’t come until I met my wife, and her father. He took me flying in an AirCam he had built. My first experience at the controls of a small plane was in the open cockpit of this unique homebuilt twin-engine airplane. We took off from Martin State Airport in Baltimore, MD and flew directly across the Chesapeake Bay. Amazing! We spent a couple of hours following the closer details of the eastern shore at the low altitudes this plane was designed for. The hook was set. This was not my first time in a small airplane, but it was certainly this experience that resulted in the beginning of my primary flight training. I had before that day spent a little time in a twin otter, a caravan, and a couple of 182’s. I had never landed in one though, all of those flights ended when I jumped out at 14k’ and 11k’ respectively. Even while I tried my hand at skydiving, my focus was always on what the pilot was doing on the way up, never the quickly approaching jump.

After that day in Maryland, I began to look at airplanes a little differently and was signed up for an introductory flight lesson a few short months later.

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After countless hours of research accumulated over the past two years and visits to numerous fly-ins and air shows; I may have settled on a kit plane to build first. Obviously I would love to start on 5 kits at a time, but lets be realistic.  My first plane needs to fit the following criteria:

• Easy to build: First project, I would like it to go quickly and provide a great educational experience to local students and community.
• Proven Design: No surprises on this one please.
• Proven resale value:  Chances are I will want to build again in the future.
• Affordable: To build and fly.

These criteria have led me to the Sonex aircraft. http://www.sonexaircraft.com

Plans start at $600, or a complete pre-punched kit for $14k. A proven Aero-Vee engine will provide 80hp at around 4gph = 150mph for $6500. This would leave a well painted finished product with a very capable panel for under $30k. That sounds like a great learning experience to start my quest into the field of homebuilding, and eventually assisting other builders; all for a relatively low startup cost.

Now…to save up that first $14k…

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My hope is to find a niche in experimental-specific flight training. Either providing flight instruction in planes i’ve helped build, or helping to provide transition training to specific kit planes.

This is also currently the only way to teach in a gyro, which is high on the list of ratings i’d like to add to my ticket.

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So, what if we were able to build an experimental plane with the end goal of using that plane for spreading the thrill of aviation to others; then donating the plane to somebody who might not otherwise be able to afford one?

Step 1: Obtain kit through donations (hopefully with help from kit manufacturers). Either a new kit, or potentially an abandoned kit from another builder.

Step 2: Build kit with help of community members and students (strong emphasis on EAA involvement and high school tech classes). Potentially a travelling activity with smaller parts of the kit (trailer to school grounds for after-school program)

Step 3: Potentially involve power-plant installation with a collegiate alternative fuels study project(?)

Step 4: Test fly the airplane and keep it for the first 100-200 flights, using it primarily to get the word out, and for Young Eagles flights.

Step 5a: Donate the airplane to someone; or to an organization that can continue to use it for a similar purpose. (maybe build a moose for rescue/aid work later on)

Step 5b: Or, sell the kit to fund the purchase of the next project.

Step 5c: Sell tickets for a sweepstakes to give the plane away, and still earn enough money to start over.

Step 5d: Keep the aircraft, use it for business related travel/marketing. Set up a program to lend it to student pilots who have non-owned aircraft insurance.

Initial funding would have to cover: Tools, Kit, and place to build.

Secondary funding: Marketing the idea(other than aggressive grassroots), research/education trips for company members, possible mobile build unit. Insurance for the build process(probably insurance to cover students/volunteers in the shop too)

Popularity: 41% [?]

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My hope is to do a couple of things in this department:
-I would like to build an experimental kit aircraft with the plan to share this experience in the most educational way possible to anyone interested.
-While documenting this progress, I hope to develop and plan a web-based venue for other builders to track and display their own process.

Popularity: 28% [?]

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My hope here is to document my process of obtaining my Ground and Flight Instructor ratings. I would also like to publicize new training techniques and articles helpful to the sudent or instructor. When I start teaching students myself, this will be geared as a resource for students.

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So my plan with this category, is to go back through my logbook and document in more detail the experiences that brought me to the Private Pilot level. Hopefully this will be educational if not entertaining for those involved in their own training or considering it. I think that some of the lessons I learned the hard way may help new pilots with their training process.

Popularity: 49% [?]

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I probably learned more about flying in this one trip than I had thus far in my entire training. That’s not really true, but it sure seemed that way. My good friend had invited me to Reno, NV for his bachelor party. I instantly thought to myself: what a great opportunity to build some flight time and do some real cross country flying. I checked with my flight instructor, and he went even further than I had imagined and thought of signing me off for the trip as a solo cross country. Unfortunately the airport owner was not keen on my flying their 150 over the Cascade and Sierra Mountain ranges. My instructor and the other instructors at my flight school were available for the trip. I was not discouraged, I called some other local flight schools and found a Piper Archer and an instructor willing to make the trip.
Jason and I met late a couple of nights before the trip at a Denny’s to start the flight planning. He had to work another job for the next couple of days and we wouldn’t be able to get together again until the flight. We looked at the charts and the upcoming weather forecasts and to our disbelief it was looking positive. We decided to meet at HIO early Saturday afternoon to fine tune the flight plan and leave as soon as practicable. Once we had finished the weight and balance, the fuel, and the route planning, Jason remembered something. We would be making it to Reno well after dark, and he realized that he wasn’t current with his night landings. So we got some food and waiting until night set in for Jason to do three full stop landings before our departure. A last check on the weather before we departed showed we still had a window to get down and back as planned, but it may turn for the worse Sunday evening. Our climb out of Hillsboro to 9500 feet was uneventful, and our radial off the Newburgh VOR over the cascades had us flying south of Mt. Jefferson which loomed taller than we planned to fly. We quickly realized that it gets awfully dark up there above wilderness in the mountains, and below a 10000ft overcast layer. Jason read the charts with a dim red light and I saved my eyes. We were becoming quite anxious with visibility, cold air, the mountains when the controller came on to confirm we had Mt. Jefferson in sight. We utilized flight following as much as the terrain would allow so as to not be totally alone out there. The instant we received that radio transmission I could see the looming massif to our north. The interesting thing is that Jason was unable to make it out due to his previous map reading. We had a brief moment where we might have turned around. Five minutes later we came into the lights of the Bend area and it would be a while before it got that dark again.
Our next little learning experience came with our fuel stop in Kalamath Falls. One should not assume on a night cross-country to new territory that all airports have self-serve fuel. We were able to rouse a kind airport attendant out of bed to come in and fill us up at 11pm. We had been fighting a pretty good headwind the whole way and didn’t expect it to cease for the rest of our trip. With the much needed fuel we launched on the last leg of our trip to Reno. This was not without it’s challenges. Due to the service ceiling of our aircraft, we were left to fly a 20nm leg with no reception from either VOR we had been planning to use. This was the same part of the trip that coincided with a strong pilotage landmark of an airport with a beacon. The only problem is that the beacon was out of service. 2am in the middle of the high desert of the northern Sierra’s is a very lonely place to be with only one engine.
We picked up the next VOR signal a little later than we had hoped, but it confirmed our suspicions that we were still on course. We called in to Reno approach and were cleared on a 50 mile straight-in final. At 3:00am the city of Reno is certainly not asleep, and it was a pretty amazing approach. We managed to meet up with my friends just in time for a early morning meal.
The flight back was just as exciting, believe it or not.

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