Pilot meets controller.... Videos

Seeing one thread actually about aviation, figure to toss this one in
the hat....

Received the following about 2 weeks ago via PM on You Tube.

This is XXXXX "Lisa" husband and was wanting to know if you would take
her up with you. She is an air traffic controller at Memphis center
and you have spoken in air. Its her 30th birthday January the 26th and
she loves your video's. I think we will be in Tunica but nothing is
set in stone. Thank you so much for your time and God bless. Jake

My response was

Sorry for the severe delay in my reply. I had my niece and nephew in
town (no parents) for the weekend and now handed them back off to the
kids (best kind of kids, returnables!)

Only the 28th would work for me since I am off every Friday, I just
can't sneak out of work on Wednesday and Thursday. If the 28th
doesn't work, then I suspect 2nd or 3rd weekend in February we can
make this happen. I really would want to make this happen, just a
matter of getting things lined up.

If 28th will work, then what I can do is check on plane availability
down here in Madison MS (near Jackson MS) as I would fly up your way
(very short 1 1/4 hour flight) to any airport you felt would work
best
for you. Tunica, Olive Branch any one of those works great for me as
flight time isn't much difference from where I live. Nice things
about airplanes is distance is by the way the crow flies (straight
line), so from Jackson to Northern MS isn't that much difference in
time no matter what airport I fly into..

Subsequent emails tied up any loose ends

Wow, 4.8 hours of pure ecstasy!

Flights could not have gone any better (always an exception or two)

Meet up went exactly as planned even though I was 10 minutes late due
to unforecasted headwinds of 20 knots. I land, and was marshaled
directly into the front of the FBO. Jake (Lisa's husband) had Lisa all
confused since they were not at the flight school but in the OLV
terminal but didn't let on. When I pulled up, he said come on and
walked out the door. Lisa was thoroughly confused, like are we allowed
to. Without missing a beat, Jake came up to the plane and said, hey I
would love to peek inside. I of course said Hey Jake, and you must be
Lisa. Lisa says, do I know you? I stood at attention and said, you
don't recognize my voice with a huge chesire grin ear to ear. She
said, say something more to help me. I replied back, ok, Good morning
Memphis Center, Sundowner.... and I couldn't even get the tail number
out fast enough she squealed of delight! It took 10 minutes to bring
her down to earth and this is before she realized we were going flying
to KTUP! Then it took another 10 minutes to bring her down to earth
with this news!

We saddle up, I asked if she wanted to do the ground calls, she was
too excited, so I took that. I of course on the ground gave her basic
101 flying with the controls and said once we get out of OLV and KMEM
Bravo clearance, I will turn the controls over to her. She was
flabergasted. Take off, get bravo clearance, turn the controls over to
her and she could not stop staring at the altimeter LOL. I said, do
you stare at the speedometer when she drives, she of course said no so
I told her, no different than a car, glance once in awhile. We hook up
with Memphis center and sure enough, we get a controller she knew.
Blew her mind to outer space to the point she was shaking with joy.
She said to the controller, is this (forget the name) and the
controller said yes, who is this? She said, this is Lisa XXXX, and the
shock of the Memphis controller was priceless I have all this
recorded, so need to go through that. . I did tease her as she said
"with you at 4500' and I told her, those words are not needed, after
all I called in so it's implied I am with you.. LOL

The big lesson learned for Lisa is that even for basic flying, it's so
much more than she expected. She missed two calls to me, and was blown
away that she missed it and I caught it. Yeah, one for the home team
LOL. She was amazed how much we have to listen to PLUS fly the plane.
Win win situation for ATC and us pilots, no question about this as she
experience every component of ATC from ground, tower to approach and
center from the pilot side of the microphone.

Flight was wonderful, smooth glass air at 3500 / 4500. We get back to
OLV, chatted an additonal 1/2 hour before I skitdaddled out.

Then reality hit and it got "ugly" reminding me about the benefits of
NOT owning a plane. I picked up flight following with ground at OLV,
assigned a code. Take off, and KMEM approach says my transponder
dropped off, to recycle. This was after I was cleared into Bravo. Than
I was assigned a 150 heading. Approach said, 21A I said 150 heading,
it appears you are going SW. I thought WTF, how did I miss that, my DG
says 150. Look at my back up, and crap, something amiss! I apologies
profusely explained that I was having DG problems. I ended up using
GPS tracking for my heading along with Ipad for situational awareness
on the sectional. Transponder dropped off ATC scope 3 times while in
Bravo.

Once I got past that, it was uneventful as it gets, but geez, DG and
transponder having problems in Bravo doesn't paint a good picture.

Anyhow, great 4.8 hours, what can I say, life is good.

Oh, Iphone worked at 5000 feet so I have a video of me tracking myself
on Flight Aware in the plane!

This first video is just my flight up to Olive Branch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8KcCwGPqdc

Video starts from wheels up to shut down. Ipad used for situation
awareness on this IFR flight using ForeFlight program . Shot of me
tracking myself in Flight Aware on my Iphone in this video.

Next video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZnrOLdzJJA

Video begins at engine startup and ends shortly after takeoff..

As you will see in video, Lisa asked some great questions on how we
interact with ATC via radio communication, see exactly how the
transponder works and hear her excitement build as we get closer to
takeoff.

Any thoughts on helping me improve explaining things to passengers
always most appreciated.

"Squeals of delight" Enroute to KTUP to touch and go with ATC'r Lisa
with ATC COMS

Video speaks for itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MnKrVoDaik

I can't imagine this video not bringing a smile to the viewer (pilot
or non pilot)

Begins with climbout from KOLV and ends with landing (touch and go) at
KTUP).

Takeoff from KTUP to shutdown in KOLV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw8wVRRns-A

Lisa works the radio and transponder on this leg with a very brief
shout out on frequency to a fellow co-worker. She also got to
experience the full appreciation of traffic advisories in Bravo
airspace

My next and last video will be my trip home from KOLV still to be
created.

On Feb 1, 9:19*am, " wrote:
Seeing one thread actually about aviation, figure to toss this one in
the hat....

Received the following about 2 weeks ago via PM on You Tube.


Great story....

" wrote:
....
The big lesson learned for Lisa is that even for basic flying, it's so
much more than she expected. She missed two calls to me, and was blown
away that she missed it and I caught it. Yeah, one for the home team
LOL. She was amazed how much we have to listen to PLUS fly the plane.
Win win situation for ATC and us pilots, no question about this as she
experience every component of ATC from ground, tower to approach and
center from the pilot side of the microphone.

Pity the FAA doesn't have ATC trainees who aren't pilots have some flight
time in small planes so they can get the pilot's perspective.

Any thoughts on helping me improve explaining things to passengers
always most appreciated.

I just got around to watching your videos - I think you did great!

Only minor issue I had is the placement of the camera - would have been
nice to see pilot and passengers while they talked and gestured, even if
all I saw was the back of their heads. I don't suppose there was anyplace
farther back in the cockpit to mount it?

I haven't paid attention to what you were up to with gliders - did you get
your rating and I missed it?

On Feb 2, 12:14*am, Jim Logajan wrote:

Pity the FAA doesn't have ATC trainees who aren't pilots have some flight
time in small planes so they can get the pilot's perspective.

I was telling folks in another forum since it's the gubment, it would
take a study to evaluate the safety of GA to permit their employees to
take such an undeavor.

I proposed / challenged other pilots in the other forum to take this
type of initiative on their own and contact their ATC folks and offer
a "free flight" just so they can see what is happening outside their
facility. Experience is priceless and only second to doing Angel
flights in the cool factor scale. simple things such as resetting
transponder, PTT, talking to their co-workers simply priceless with
absolutely no compromise to safety as I felt the videos captured.

Also thought maybe EAA and AOPA could start some type of initiative
"adopt an ATC'r" to expand this opportunity.

Only minor issue I had is the placement of the camera - would have been
nice to see pilot and passengers while they talked and gestured, even if
all I saw was the back of their heads. I don't suppose there was anyplace
farther back in the cockpit to mount it?

I'd have to agree in retrospect, it would have been nice. I have
flexi leg tripods to easily mount them but I felt time was more better
applied to actually flying, preflighting and anything relevant to
flight than setting up cameras. This is where I miss ownership the
most, time was NEVER a factor in my flights. Now with renting, I have
to be considerate to the person following me.

I haven't paid attention to what you were up to with gliders - did you get
your rating and I missed it?

Didn't miss it, weather down this way not condusive of glider flight
at all, haven't flown in about 3 months. So, not picked up the rating
yet, and in fact, just short of soloing when I stopped.

On Feb 2, 7:14*pm, Jim Logajan wrote:

Pity the FAA doesn't have ATC trainees who aren't pilots have some flight
time in small planes so they can get the pilot's perspective.

When I was flying all our Controllers held CPLs...
It's a good idea.

I was assigned a 150 heading. Approach said, 21A I said 150 heading,
it appears you are going SW. I thought WTF, how did I miss that, my DG
says 150. Look at my back up, and crap, something amiss! I apologies
profusely explained that I was having DG problems. I ended up using
GPS tracking for my heading along with Ipad for situational awareness
on the sectional. Transponder dropped off ATC scope 3 times while in
Bravo.


I was taught to always check the DG against the compass everytime you
use it to set heading. The DG can drift due to precession -especially
after start up.

Nice of you to make someone's day like that -I can tell you enjoyed it
immensely.

Cheers

On Feb 2, 10:06*pm, "Flaps_50!" wrote:
I was assigned a 150 heading. Approach said, 21A I said 150 heading,
it appears you are going SW. I thought WTF, how did I miss that, my DG
says 150. Look at my back up, and crap, something amiss! I apologies
profusely explained that I was having DG problems. I ended up using
GPS tracking for my heading along with Ipad for situational awareness
on the sectional. Transponder dropped off ATC scope 3 times while in
Bravo.

I was taught to always check the DG against the compass everytime you
use it to set heading. The DG can drift due to precession *-especially
after start up.

Nice of you to make someone's day like that -I can tell you enjoyed it
immensely.

Cheers

Gotta check pretty often, have had vac pump failures in actual IMC --
don't want to chase a spinning down gyro

On Feb 3, 10:58*am, a wrote:
On Feb 2, 10:06*pm, "Flaps_50!" wrote:



I was assigned a 150 heading. Approach said, 21A I said 150 heading,
it appears you are going SW. I thought WTF, how did I miss that, my DG
says 150. Look at my back up, and crap, something amiss! I apologies
profusely explained that I was having DG problems. I ended up using
GPS tracking for my heading along with Ipad for situational awareness
on the sectional. Transponder dropped off ATC scope 3 times while in
Bravo.

I was taught to always check the DG against the compass everytime you
use it to set heading. The DG can drift due to precession *-especially
after start up.

Nice of you to make someone's day like that -I can tell you enjoyed it
immensely.

Cheers

Gotta check pretty often, have had vac pump failures in actual IMC --
don't want to chase a spinning down gyro

It may be just bad luck, I doubt I spend 25% of the time in actual
IMCs, but have had two vac pump and one alternator failure in actual
(but soft IFR approaches) IMC

On Feb 3, 12:02*pm, a wrote:

Gotta check pretty often, have had vac pump failures in actual IMC --
don't want to chase a spinning down gyro

It may be just bad luck, I doubt I spend 25% of the time in actual
IMCs, but have had two vac pump and one alternator failure in actual
(but soft IFR approaches) IMC

I've had one fail in IMC, but it wasn't the pump, but the vacuum pump
regulator that failed in IMC in my prior Sundowner. Caused my AI to
display an extreme pitch up on a climb because it was pegged opposite
of failure. My ASI idicated a steady 90 knots with a steady RPM so I
knew something was wrong with AI right away.

I advised ATC that I was going to use GPS ground track for headings.
I then reverted to my partial panel skills ignoring vacuum system
instrumentation. Turned out DG wasn't affected but I wasn't leaving
anything to trust it.

On VFR flights other then checking the DG accuracy when I lined up on
the runway, until now, I never crossed checked it at the end of the
turn as I had assumed it worked if it worked on the ground (runup
normally would catch this as well as last minute check on runway
before blast off).

As you can see what assume does. DG was iffy in performance
(digressing by 10 degrees) but didn't misbehave that much on my turns.

I tend to be more lax on instrument scans (CROSS CHECKING) on VFR
flights only because my eyes need to be outside the window! So even
if this happened tomorrow, realistically I don't think I would have
caught this mistake.

Hi,

In article ,
wrote:
I tend to be more lax on instrument scans (CROSS CHECKING) on VFR
flights only because my eyes need to be outside the window! So even
if this happened tomorrow, realistically I don't think I would have
caught this mistake.

Part of the normal routines we're taught is 'FREDA'

Fuel (quantity remaining, switch tanks if necessary)
Radio (on the correct frequency, any calls required)
Engine (Ts and Ps, altimeter and suction, carb heat check)
DI (check it's aligned, realign if necessary)
Altimeter (correct pressure setting, and you're at the correct altitude)

We're taught to do these checks every 15 minutes or so, and I'd probably add
one in immediately before any turn at a waypoint.

This is in the UK, are things different in the US?

Andy