Night currency and football game TFRs
CONTINUING WITH THE THEME OF ONLY POSTING SPECIAL FLIGHT REPORTS -
--20141006--
It had been a while since I'd done any night takeoffs and landings. While there are multiple definitions of "night" for various purposes, the one for carrying passengers is 1hr after sunset to 1hr before sunrise. A pilot in command (PIC) needs three takeoffs and three landings within the past 90 days in order to be able to lawfully carry passengers. See FARS 61.57(b).
Last Monday evening, the 6th of October 2014 (20141006) I set out to do some night flying under the fulll moon. Because cross-country time at night is of value to a possible HEMS carreer it never hurts to turn night flying into night cross-country flying. I called up CFI Phil and cajoled him into flying with me. We got together at 1900MST (0200z) and after completing the preflight check with some "CFI Q&A" directed toward him (i.e. "If the button to test the Mister Chip light isn't working but by shorting the wire you get the lamp to light, is the aircraft airworthy and would you fly it?") we wheeled it out. They finally got BIG R22 ground-handling wheels which make moving the helicopter a breeze.
We fueled it up and took off following the Campbell-2 departure straight north over Campbell and toward Pusch Ridge. We then followed AZ77 until it got within 3 miles of San Manuel airport, and then went direct from there. The doors were off. The moon was above. I hadn't realized until this flight how much I'd gotten used to the extra instrumentation in the R44. This night we had no horizontal situation indicator (HSI also commonly called "Artificial Horizon" by non-pilots), no RADAR-altimeter, no turn-coordinator. No, this was a stick your eyeballs outside and see the terrain and watch the horizon and the trim-strings.
The wind at San Manuel was a right cross at 8 knots, and the first approach was an overshoot so I called a go-around. The second was solid with a bit of loss of tail-rotor effectiveness (LTE) due to the wind. The third time Phil suggested coming directly into the wind instead of over the runway, so I came down on RWY 11 from the north and it was a very very wide and very very short runway, but the approach was perfect. We then headed out to Tucson and did another two traffic patterns there. Mission accomplished. I was now able to take passengers flying at night for 90 days.
--20141012--
There was supposed to be a football game going on between the University of Arizona Wildcats and the University of Southern California Trojans. This NCAA Division I football match was also during "Parents' weekend" also known as "Homecoming." I'm not sure where the latter terms comes from, and as much as I think American football is a lowly bastard stepchild to Aussie football, I'm not going to research it at this time.
I had planned to take a friend and go up in the air and see if we could overfly any part of the game. I checked the weather and TFRs and NOTAMs the previous night as well as that morning and again that evening at 1700. As we completed our passenger briefing we heard the big thunka-thunka sounds of a large rotor-system approaching. As the pilot flared it became obvious it was George bringing in N123HP, the Bell LongRanger. He set down and we waited for him to spool the turbine down and stop the rotor and then went over to say hi. He let us know that there was a TFR and that Tucson Approach had vectored him over to A-Mountain on his return from Pusch Ridge. Forewarned is forearmed so with that we entered the helicopter, put on our seat belts, and got ready to go.
When we asked Tucson Clearance Delivery for a Campbell-2 departure they reminded us of the active TFR, NOTAM 9/5151. It restricts the air around "major" sporting events with 36,000+ spectator seating to 3nm radius 3000AGL from 1hr before the event to 1hr after.
I wasn't inclined to fly at 5000MSL just to overfly the stadium so we headed north with the intention of skirting the TFR. The controllers at Tucson Tower were helpful as were the controllers at Tucson Departure. They asked if we wanted vectors and I said yes. Good thing too because I was calculating 3 miles based on streets, and the TFR is in terms of nautical -- not statute -- miles. That's almost a half mile extra. Better safe than sorry and busting airspaces or TFRs.
Air-1 was in the air patrolling the perimeter of the TFR and we saw them as we headed north. We visited a bunch of sites, saw some really cool sights, and ended up back at the ranch after 48 minutes of flight.
Great flying. Great radio work. Got to see my passenger comfortable with not-too-aggressive turns... overflew Phil's house (he missed it), didn't overfly the stadium (seriously, 5000ft, what can you see from there?) and had a great experience.
E
--20141006--
It had been a while since I'd done any night takeoffs and landings. While there are multiple definitions of "night" for various purposes, the one for carrying passengers is 1hr after sunset to 1hr before sunrise. A pilot in command (PIC) needs three takeoffs and three landings within the past 90 days in order to be able to lawfully carry passengers. See FARS 61.57(b).
Last Monday evening, the 6th of October 2014 (20141006) I set out to do some night flying under the fulll moon. Because cross-country time at night is of value to a possible HEMS carreer it never hurts to turn night flying into night cross-country flying. I called up CFI Phil and cajoled him into flying with me. We got together at 1900MST (0200z) and after completing the preflight check with some "CFI Q&A" directed toward him (i.e. "If the button to test the Mister Chip light isn't working but by shorting the wire you get the lamp to light, is the aircraft airworthy and would you fly it?") we wheeled it out. They finally got BIG R22 ground-handling wheels which make moving the helicopter a breeze.
We fueled it up and took off following the Campbell-2 departure straight north over Campbell and toward Pusch Ridge. We then followed AZ77 until it got within 3 miles of San Manuel airport, and then went direct from there. The doors were off. The moon was above. I hadn't realized until this flight how much I'd gotten used to the extra instrumentation in the R44. This night we had no horizontal situation indicator (HSI also commonly called "Artificial Horizon" by non-pilots), no RADAR-altimeter, no turn-coordinator. No, this was a stick your eyeballs outside and see the terrain and watch the horizon and the trim-strings.
The wind at San Manuel was a right cross at 8 knots, and the first approach was an overshoot so I called a go-around. The second was solid with a bit of loss of tail-rotor effectiveness (LTE) due to the wind. The third time Phil suggested coming directly into the wind instead of over the runway, so I came down on RWY 11 from the north and it was a very very wide and very very short runway, but the approach was perfect. We then headed out to Tucson and did another two traffic patterns there. Mission accomplished. I was now able to take passengers flying at night for 90 days.
--20141012--
There was supposed to be a football game going on between the University of Arizona Wildcats and the University of Southern California Trojans. This NCAA Division I football match was also during "Parents' weekend" also known as "Homecoming." I'm not sure where the latter terms comes from, and as much as I think American football is a lowly bastard stepchild to Aussie football, I'm not going to research it at this time.
I had planned to take a friend and go up in the air and see if we could overfly any part of the game. I checked the weather and TFRs and NOTAMs the previous night as well as that morning and again that evening at 1700. As we completed our passenger briefing we heard the big thunka-thunka sounds of a large rotor-system approaching. As the pilot flared it became obvious it was George bringing in N123HP, the Bell LongRanger. He set down and we waited for him to spool the turbine down and stop the rotor and then went over to say hi. He let us know that there was a TFR and that Tucson Approach had vectored him over to A-Mountain on his return from Pusch Ridge. Forewarned is forearmed so with that we entered the helicopter, put on our seat belts, and got ready to go.
When we asked Tucson Clearance Delivery for a Campbell-2 departure they reminded us of the active TFR, NOTAM 9/5151. It restricts the air around "major" sporting events with 36,000+ spectator seating to 3nm radius 3000AGL from 1hr before the event to 1hr after.
I wasn't inclined to fly at 5000MSL just to overfly the stadium so we headed north with the intention of skirting the TFR. The controllers at Tucson Tower were helpful as were the controllers at Tucson Departure. They asked if we wanted vectors and I said yes. Good thing too because I was calculating 3 miles based on streets, and the TFR is in terms of nautical -- not statute -- miles. That's almost a half mile extra. Better safe than sorry and busting airspaces or TFRs.
Air-1 was in the air patrolling the perimeter of the TFR and we saw them as we headed north. We visited a bunch of sites, saw some really cool sights, and ended up back at the ranch after 48 minutes of flight.
Great flying. Great radio work. Got to see my passenger comfortable with not-too-aggressive turns... overflew Phil's house (he missed it), didn't overfly the stadium (seriously, 5000ft, what can you see from there?) and had a great experience.
E