PC does his PC

As a PPL license holder, once every two years, you are required to either do an hour with an instructor or if you haven’t flown your 12 hours in the last 12 months, a proficiency check which is slightly more comprehensive. In my case, due to studies, it had to be the latter one.

After a number of postponements due to weather and the my instructors license expiring it was finally d-day. It would also be a bit different compared to an ordinary PC as L. had to have his PC examiner authorization extended meaning there would in fact be an examiner examining the examinor. This turned out to be my check-ride examiner B-A from the Swedish CAA.

L. picked me up and together we drove out to Sundbro. When we arrived there was not a cloud in sight and it seemed as if everything would go according to L’s plan. However during the briefing, clouds came sweeping in reducing the vertical visibility to merely 1600 ft. However, still within the limits I completed my PFC and taxied out requesting clearance from Uppsala tower to “play around” in the sector between Sundbro and Lake Tämnaren from 3500ft and below.

Departed and left the control zone via the well familiar Skuttunge church and followed L’s instructions of headings and altitudes. When we approached Lake Tämnaren he asked me to slow the aircraft down and lift the nose until the stall warning sounded followed by the recovery procedures. The next task was to slow the aircraft down to 70kts (normally 65kts at higher altitudes) and do maneuvers  as instructed. When L was satisfied I returned to normal flying mode before commencing 45 degree turns to the left and right. On the return towards Sundbro we talked through the VOR and ADF and used it to navigate towards both ARN (VOR) and UP (NDB).

Back in the traffic pattern I performed a normal touch and go landing followed by a flap-less full stop. Backtracked and did a simulated aborted takeoff before heading up in the pattern again. This is where I made the absolute worst power off approach I have ever done and I decided to abort. The second try was much better but still not up to par with what I know I can do. Up again and simulated and engine failure after takeoff before deciding that this was enough and returning to the clubhouse after exactly one hour airborne or 1.2 hours block time in SE-GON.

After a quick discussion both L and B-A decided that I passed and we went in to do the paperwork. Now I am good for another two years in the air. I must say my ego did get a boost when the only word written on the whole protocol was “beautiful” 😉

For those who wonder how L did, well, he passed as well and is now allowed to examine PCs on his own 🙂

I don’t like Mondays…

…was a hit by the Boomtown Rats. However I DO like Mondays (most of the time) and when having this scenery after dinner it can not be much better:

Also, this was the first time my father joined me for a trip and I think I satisifed his old pilot genes in the way I flew. Anders on the other hand……..

Thank you Arlanda TWR for the visit.

Spreading my wings again

Not far from the 90 days/3 landings limit I received a question from my university colleague A if I could help him with a birhday gift for his girlfriend M. The idea was to fly from Sundbro up to her home in Furvik close to Gävle and return via Skutskär where both her parents worked. Having been forced to move the date once due to engagements at work, we made it on the second attenpt on a day when the winds were calm and the sun was shining and almost no clouds were to be seen.

We departed from Sundbro and set course north leaving the control zone via Skuttunge church as usual. From there we joined the new E4 motorway all the way up to Tierp. As the boys and girls with camouflage clothes were playing around the Marma area, I had to take a little detour well west of the restriction area. When we reached Furuvik I made a few laps over Ms house allowing her to take as many pictures she wanted and then set course to Skutskär following the same drill there. When my passengers were satisfied we took the same routing down towards Uppsala.

SE-GON gazing in the sun

Excitied passengers

Focus on climb out

Navigating

Stora Enso pulp factory in Skutskär

Heading in to the sun

Once at Sundbro again, it was time for a cup of coffee and change of passengers to my cousin, B and E for a short sightseeing of Uppsala on this fantastic day. This was somewhat more routine than the previous flight and gave me a chance to relax a bit more as well flying over Flogsta, the new IKEA, back over the city centre and in to Sundbro again, a flight lasting about 20 minutes.

Resting between flights

Flogsta

New IKEA with the old in the foreground

Uppsala cathedral with Fyrisån running through town

Due to the condition of the field, SE-GON was looking awful and hence we had to clean her with a high presure hose, a task I left to my passengers to take care of while I did the paperwork.

Cleaning up after a muddy landing

All in all 1,6 hours in the book and 5 very happy first time Cessna flyers and I am current to fly with passengers for another 3 monhts 🙂

You know it is late January in Sweden when….

…

SA 261520Z 35007KT 6000 -SN BR FEW002 BKN003 01/00 Q1009 RWY 01
WET 51-100 PCT LESS THAN 1 MM FC 0.76 RWY 08 WET 51-100 PCT
LESS THAN 1 M
M 26 0.73 RWY 01R WET 51-100 PCT LESS THAN 1 MM FC 0.78
TEMPO 2000 BKN005=

Back to basics

Every now and then it is necessary to go back and practice the basics of flying namely taking off and landing. On this fantastic day, after a good morning at work, I found an aircraft (SE-GON) and enough time to put myself in the circuit at Sundbro. All in all, a total of 40 minutes airborne and 11 landings setting new targets (touch down points) for every landing and reflecting over what could have been done better. I’d say that roughly 8/11 landings can be qualified as good and the remaining three could have used some extra work. It dd take my memories back to last year and flying school with the endless circuits.

My body is still doing touch and go’s. 🙂

Perhaps the last visit to Barkarby

After having to cancel this trip three times, the weather was finally with me and I would be able to take my three course colleagues Alex, Crisitan and Jakob flying. Met outside Ekonomikum just before 10am before catching the 844 bus towards Sundbro (boy do I miss having access to a car).  At Sundbro, the morning fog was still present but I anticipated that it would clear up soon, and so it did. However as Västerås was still covered in thick fog and there would be no chance of clearing up, I decided to take us to Barkarby instead.

   Sun in my eyes

Taxied out towards runway 03 with the excitement of the three “boys” hard not to notice. We were cleared by Uppsala tower to leave via Uppsala Näs and passed out via Flogsta (the student gheto in Uppsala).  Approaching Vassunda I made the usual request to Arlanda tower for a routing via Sigtuna and then the waterway to Stäket which was approved with the info that R16 (Kungsängen) was active and the words “there are new and trigger happy recruits there, so watch out”.  At Stäket we said good bye to Arlanda and contacted Barkarby where traffic was quite calm.  A very stressless approach towards runway 24 followed by what I would call the best asphalt landing to date. This feeling was supported by the comment “have we landed!?” Parked the aircraft and headed in for a cup of coffee and a muffin. 

Looking good!

After relaxing a bit we walked around the parked aircraft for a bit and while the others played around with the Cessna I prepared a little surprise for them.

   Departed runway 24 and climbed as fast as I could to the required 1200ft towards Masten in order to avoid inbound traffic. At Stäket I called up Arlanda tower again and we were cleard to join a long final to runway 01L. At Arlandastad GC, I broke off and set course towards the tower. At this point the passengers cheered and the cameras were clicking constantly. From the tower I left via the F-pier and terminal 5 to Vassunda again.

    Back in touch with Uppsala tower I asked for sightseeing over Uppsala to allow the passengers an areal view of our hometown with the cathedral, castle, Ekonomikum etc. Before heading back to Sundbro. To round off the trip (and keep myself current with passengers for another 3 months) we mae one touch and go and one power-off landing before calling it a day.

Arlandastad GC

Jumbo Hostel

Ekonomikum – The Business/Economics faculty at UU 

 

 

Power off landing or bush flying?

It was a great day to fly with almost no wind and the content of my mates just added to the pleasure.

 

 

I said: “Let there be flying”….

… and there was flying. Yesterday with 3 course colleagues from Sundbro to Barkarby. A report will follow as soon as I get the photos. Boy, it was nice to be airborne again!

The story about the keys

After my last blog entry some of you have asked me about the famous keys and I thought I should recap the story Leif is talking about.

Back in July of 2006 Leif and I, together with my aviator friend John took a trip to Åland in a PA28 belonging to Västerås Flygklubb. After landing John told me he had put the keys to the aircraft in my backpack so I promised I would hold on to it with my life. Back at the airport, John asked me to take out the keys but they were not to be found. We looked around the airport and John returned in to Mariehamn to look around the beach, the mini golf course and the lunch restaurant without any luck. Finally we had to have his friend fly in the spares from Västerås and take us back to Barkarby where we arrived much later than planned.

  Afterwards we figured out that John must have placed the keys in a pocket of the backpack that has a hole in it and that they must have fallen out from there. 

Anders is referring to our last trip together where the keys were still in my pocket half way back from Sundbro to Sigtuna, forcing us to turn around and return them .

This shows that I should never be left in charge of keys!

Åland, sweet Åland – We still have the keys!

With Leif substituting Anders who was home with a fever (or perhaps a hangover) and fellow aviator Jonas we arrived at Sundbro with plenty of time to spare before our EBOT (Estimated Block Off Time).

Our ride

 

How do we get there?

While Jonas and Leif took care of the airplane, making sure it was airworthy I did some number punching and found out that our flying time would be 48 minutes over to Mariehamn and as 0830Z drew closer, we packed the last items and soon we were on our way with Uppsala clearing us first to 3,000 ft direct towards ERK NDB with Stockholm sending us further to FL55. Even if this is not a high altitude, reaching it took a while since the rate of climb was 250ft/minute in the heat. Once there, we had a beautiful view of the scenery and the algae floating in towards the mainland.

Slow climb

 

Algae

    With a cheery handoff from Stockholm CTRL, I greeted Mariehamn tower and we were sent direct to a right base for runway 21. Wanting to enjoy more of the view, I took BX down to 1000 and headed towards the field. However, as traffic was coming in from Finland faster than us, we were asked to extend our approach. Then, after an almost perfect flight I did the worst “!!/()/”)  landing I’ve ever done on asphalt expecting a remark from the tower along the lines of “on ground 20, 20 and 21” Instead we were assigned parking number 6 and 50 minutes after leaving Uppsala we said goodbye to our aircraft for a few hours and took a taxi downtown making sure the keys were firmly placed in my bag (there is a story to this that I won’t go into).

Approaching Åland

65kts and perfectly on the PAPI, so far

 

The keys

 Downtown, we strolled around for sometime before enjoying a lunch at Hotel Archipelag and a meeting with an old friend of mine from Sigtuna, living on the island. Content we continued our walk around the seeman’s quarters and back through town, via a coffee to the west side.

Myself and Jonas on the main street of Mariehamn

 

Still with the keys

 

Nice old boat

    Now, rather than donating another €12 to the local taxi business, we decided that a 4,5km walk back to the airport would be a better idea and set off to enjoy the scenery using Leif’s Nokia GPS as guide and arrived at the terminal after a nice stroll talking about a wide variety of things but still not knowing that our return flight would be delayed.

 Back at EFMA with the keys still in hand 🙂

After checking with Mr. Tower guy about the latest weather at Uppsala it soon became evident that the bad weather that had been predicted for earlier in the afternoon had taken a siesta up north and was now moving in, making any type of VFR flying a big “nono” so we sat down to wait and call the Arlanda MET office. The friendly briefing officer told us that we could expect a delay of at least two hours. At this point, our main concern was the approaching darkness and a contingency plan was now made, should we need a bed for the night.

   Leif trying the left seat

   At just before 1730Z, the MET office told me that the front now had passed Uppsala and we could expect good visibility if upon arrival if we departed within the next half hour, still with plenty of margin before darkness.  The flight home gave us the usual beautiful sunset and radio chatter on Stockholm control and we were quite happy when we arrived at Sundbro 4 hours delayed. Dropped Jonas downtown Uppsala and headed home for a good nights sleep.

Heading out of Åland

 

Perfect trim

Sunset

 

My soon to be new home town, Uppsala

 

 

 

Åland, sweet Åland

We’re heading back to EFMA again Anders and I and this time we are bringing Jonas with us

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