New Wings!

Pilots!

Please join me in congratulating the newest Private Pilot in the world -- one Private Pilot Charles H., who earned his wings in Cessna 739 with DPE Mark D.

Way to go, Charles!!



In other news...

Cessna 630 is cruising.

Cessna 68U is in TX having her engine changed for a fresh one, pit-stop style. Expect some better climb/cruise rates when she returns, as she works on a fresh motor!

Cessna 739 is slammed. We are searching for another.

Cessna 63B is flying like mad.

Cessna 17J isn't bothering anyone.

Skylane 073 will be brought down for Annual on 4/1.

Bonanza 11N is ripping up the sky.



The weather is goofy lately -- but it could be worse. Our friends in TX report "freezing clouds at 700 feet" -- yuck!

It'll be hot and hazy soon enough. :)

Blue Skies,

- Mike

Aeronautical Decision Making...

Pilots!

I ran across an amazing and not-at-all reported news item which illustrates perfectly just what it means to be Pilot in Command.

As you may recall, every Pilot, from C150 to the largest Boeing, to Military machines, is the master of his or her domain at all times, and is the ultimate authority and person responsible for the safe outcome of every flight undertaken.

Easy to put into words.. but check out this account of a Delta pilot who was on approach to Tokyo in a Boeing 767, when ATC went into panic mode after a certain earthquake/tsunami:

"I'm currently still in one piece, writing from my room in the Narita crew hotel. It's 8am. This is my inaugural trans-pacific trip as a brand new, recently checked out, international 767 Captain and it has been interesting, to say the least, so far. I've crossed the Atlantic three times so far so the ocean crossing procedures were familiar.

By the way, stunning scenery flying over the Aleutian Islands. Everything was going fine until 100 miles out from Tokyo and in the descent for arrival. The first indication of any trouble was that Japan air traffic control started putting everyone into holding patterns. At first we thought it was usual congestion on arrival. Then we got a company data link message advising about the earthquake, followed by another stating Narita airport was temporarily closed for inspection and expected to open shortly (the company is always so positive).

From our perspective things were obviously looking a little different. The Japanese controller's anxiety level seemed quite high and he said expect "indefinite" holding time. No one would commit to a time frame on that so I got my copilot and relief pilot busy looking at divert stations and our fuel situation, which, after an ocean crossing is typically low.

It wasn't long, maybe ten minutes, before the first pilots started requesting diversions to other airports. Air Canada, American, United, etc. all reporting minimal fuel situations. I still had enough fuel for 1.5 to 2.0 hours of holding. Needless to say, the diverts started complicating the situation.

Japan air traffic control then announced Narita was closed indefinitely due to damage. Planes immediately started requesting arrivals into Haneada, near Tokyo, a half dozen JAL and western planes got clearance in that direction but then ATC announced Haenada had just closed. Uh oh! Now instead of just holding, we all had to start looking at more distant alternatives like Osaka, or Nagoya.

One bad thing about a large airliner is that you can't just be-pop into any little airport. We generally need lots of runway. With more planes piling in from both east and west, all needing a place to land and several now fuel critical ATC was getting over-whelmed. In the scramble, and without waiting for my fuel to get critical, I got my flight a clearance to head for Nagoya, fuel situation still okay. So far so good. A few minutes into heading that way, I was"ordered" by ATC to reverse course. Nagoya was saturated with traffic and unable to handle more planes (read- airport full). Ditto for Osaka.

With that statement, my situation went instantly from fuel okay, to fuel minimal considering we might have to divert a much farther distance. Multiply my situation by a dozen other aircraft all in the same boat, all making demands requests and threats to ATC for clearances somewhere. Air Canada and then someone else went to "emergency" fuel situation. Planes started to heading for air force bases. The nearest to Tokyo was Yokoda AFB. I threw my hat in the ring for that initially. The answer - Yokoda closed! no more space.

By now it was a three ring circus in the cockpit, my copilot on the radios, me flying and making decisions and the relief copilot buried in the air charts trying to figure out where to go that was within range while data link messages were flying back and forth between us and company dispatch in Atlanta. I picked Misawa AFB at the north end of Honshu island. We could get there with minimal fuel remaining. ATC was happy to get rid of us so we cleared out of the maelstrom of the Tokyo region. We heard ATC try to send planes toward Sendai, a small regional airport on the coast which was later the one I think that got flooded by a tsunami.

Atlanta dispatch then sent us a message asking if we could continue to Chitose airport on the Island of Hokkaido, north of Honshu. Other Delta planes were heading that way. More scrambling in the cockpit - check weather, check charts, check fuel, okay. We could still make it and not be going into a fuel critical situation ... if we had no other fuel delays. As we approached Misawa we got clearance to continue to Chitose. Critical decision thought process. Let's see - trying to help company - plane overflies perfectly good divert airport for one farther away...wonder how that will look in the safety report, if anything goes wrong.

Suddenly ATC comes up and gives us a vector to a fix well short of Chitose and tells us to standby for holding instructions. Nightmare realized. Situation rapidly deteriorating. After initially holding near Tokyo, starting a divert to Nagoya, reversing course back to Tokyo then to re-diverting north toward Misawa, all that happy fuel reserve that I had was vaporizing fast. My subsequent conversation, paraphrased of course...., went something like this:

"Sapparo Control - Delta XX requesting immediate clearance direct to Chitose, minimum fuel, unable hold."

"Negative Ghost-Rider, the Pattern is full" <<< top gun quote <<<

"Sapparo Control - make that - Delta XX declaring emergency, low fuel, proceeding direct Chitose"

"Roger Delta XX, understood, you are cleared direct to Chitose, contact Chitose approach....etc...."

Enough was enough, I had decided to preempt actually running critically low on fuel while in another indefinite holding pattern, especially after bypassing Misawa, and played my last ace...declaring an emergency. The problem with that is now I have a bit of company paperwork to do but what the heck.

As it was - landed Chitose, safe, with at least 30 minutes of fuel remaining before reaching a "true" fuel emergency situation. That's always a good feeling, being safe. They taxied us off to some remote parking area where we shut down and watched a half dozen or more other airplanes come streaming in. In the end, Delta had two 747s, my 767 and another 767 and a 777 all on the ramp at Chitose. We saw two American airlines planes, a United and two Air Canada as well. Not to mention several extra Al Nippon and Japan Air Lines planes.

Post-script - 9 hours later, Japan air lines finally got around to getting a boarding ladder to the plane where we were able to get off and clear customs. - that however, is another interesting story.

By the way - while writing this - I have felt four additional tremors that shook the hotel slightly - all in 45 minutes.

Cheers, J.D."

Great piloting, great decision making, and I hope that each and every one of us is prepared to stare down ATC and get our way each and every time we need it, even if it means breaking the rules, declaring emergency, and signing off from our IFR flight and landing at a nearby Air Force Base.

Kudos to this unnamed pilot. He had the chops, and a few hundred souls certainly owe him a debt of gratitude. That we didn't hear about a single problem or even serious fuel emergency during the recent crisis is testament to a well-trained, iron-nerved support network and cadre of pilots doing the right thing -- because it was the right thing.

I love it.



In other news.. :)

Riverside Airport is having their annual airshow this saturday the 26th. If the weather is junk or you aren't flying, feel free to swing by and see some neat airplanes, displays, and maybe grab a tasty lunch.

More info available here.

Fly safe -- and if you need to, fly alpha! :)

Blue Skies,

- Mike

A week of wings...

Pilots!

Please join me in congratulating two more pilots who earned their wings this week!

First, U.S. Private Pilot John H earned his wings in Cessna 739 with DPE Mark D! Way to go, John!!



Second, a new Instrument Rated pilot, Liz C., earned her blindfold in Cessna 739 with DPE Andrea E.! Nice work, Liz!!



Bizarre weather lately, but plenty of folks up playing in it! Grab some sky!

See ya!

- Mike

blindfolds, boxes, bravos

Pilots!

I love spring! Check out some things I know about:

First and foremost, please join me in congratulating the newest IFR-rated Pilot in the world, one Brandon R., who earned his blindfold in his Cessna 150 with DPE Andrea E.

Way to go, Brandon!



In other news...

CFI Marlon C. is off to spin turbines and cargo boxes for Ameriflight and is no longer available for bookings. Good luck, Marlon! We'll miss you!



Cessna 63B is tearing up the skies already, and reports are that she's doing great.

We are considering a Warrior/Archer in lieu of another 739, but the hunt continues on either.

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We have lots of flying to do. And soon the planes and weather to do it in!

Blue Skies,

- Mike

A little happy dance on the tarmac

Pilots!

I know what you were thinking as you read month after month that we were seeking an R model to replace Cessna 1ES. You were thinking "horse feathers! Show me the airplane! How hard can it be?"

Surprisingly, it has been quite hard. As we have navigated a labyrinth of shady sellers, misrepresented damage, logged oddities, unlogged oddities, and a mangy collection of winged contraptions -- we have finally found a winner.



Meet Cessna 63B

She is a Cessna 172 R model, complete with color IFR GPS, Autopilot, and all of the trimmings. 63B fills a key piece of our lineup -- the "best steam gauge trainer aircraft you can get" -- and will be available on the line this week! We are shaking out a few bugs and getting everything right. She sits on the ramp at Corona currently, ready for your eyes and soon your wings.

Whew!





We have 2 more additions to the fleet planned shortly, but it is nice to at least say that there was a decent fish in the sea out there.

63B's rate has not been set yet, but expect her to slot in right where 1ES was. I honestly don't recall what that was anymore, it's been so long.

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In some other news...

Cessna 526 has a new radio.

Cessna 630 has had some radio work done and completed her 100hr.

Cessna 68U will be taking a spring vacation for her new engine in 2 weeks. We anticipate her downtime to be 7-10 days at the most. Yes, this is a pit-stop style engine swap.

Cessna 739 has a new landing light and 100hr.

Cessna 63B just got here. :)

Cessna 17J seems to be enjoying her new transponder.

Skylane 073 has a rebuilt nose strut and shimmy damper.

Bonanza 11N is cruising.



As a few of you recall, we did a recent promotion on GroupOn, and one of the folks that we took flying had such a good time, he made a video about it.

Despite its appearance as marketing fluff, I promise that we had nothing to do with the making of this. Complete and spontaneous -- he emailed it to us as a "hey, thanks" sort of note. We were all awestruck.

Chris and Antonio -- thanks for the ride and the video!

See the video here

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Gas prices are shooting skyward. Our air force is insufficient to stop it, and I'm not even sure who we could drop water balloons on to make it stop. Sorry, flyers. As always, we will do our best to keep the pricing down... but it's not looking good.

The weather, however, is perfection lately.

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More as I know it!

Blue Skies,

- Mike

Woo hoo!

Pilots!

Please join me in congratulating the newest U.S. Private Pilot in the world -- one Pilot Chuck M., who earned his wings yesterday in Cessna 739 with DPE Andrea E.

Way to go, Chuck!



In other news...

We have a new CFI joining our faculty! Please give a FlyC welcome to Matt C. when you meet him -- Matt is definitely "our" personality, and highly knowledgeable about IFR work, including some of the more experimental and esoteric techniques and weather products available to pilots. Matt is a great addition to the Faculty, and we're happy to have him!

Welcome aboard, Matt!



Some maintenance news I know about:

Cessna 630 will go down for 100hr next week.

Cessna 68U completed her Annual on Monday. She will go down in 3 weeks for engine overhaul. We expect no more than a 10 day downtime.

Cessna 739 will go in her her 100hr soon.

Cessna 17J is sporting her 9th transponder now. We have mailed middle-fingers to Garmin over their uncanny ability to sell us 7-month transponder with 6-month warranties.

Bonanza 11N will go in for Oil Change today.

Skylane 073 has a new ELT battery.

Cessna 526 has a new Radio enroute, due Friday.



We have plans for another Tracon tour, possibly in mid-April. This means that if you missed the last one due to citizenship/security theater, now is the time to get some clearances going. Please email the office at fly@flycorona.com to start the process.

We will select dates based on how long the clearances will take. We understand typically 30 days.

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We're tired of wind, rain, and hail. Bring out spring already!

Blue Skies!

- Mike