Stefan Vorkoetter’s Blog

Weather and other commitments had conspired to keep me on the ground for almost a month, so it was great to go flying again. I didn’t do anything special on this flight, and I didn’t venture far (just out to my farm and back).

Upon returning to the airport, I decided to shoot some touch and goes to keep my landings in good shape. The first one was a bit of a bouncer, but they settled down after that. For my last landing, I decided to turn a tight circular base and final, rolling out of the turn on short final. It’s a bit more challenging (and interesting) than the typical square circuit with a 3/4 mile final from 500′ AGL or so. It’s also a good thing to practice, since it’s probably what I’d have to do in the case of an engine failure on downwind.

Date: 2007-Jul-05
Aircraft: C-FPME, DA20-A1
Passenger: none
Route: CYKF - Local Area - CYKF
Flight Time: 1.1h
Takeoffs and Landings: 4

Today I took another co-worker flying. This particular passenger was unusual, in that she was nervous about the idea, but really wanted to go. Unbeknown to me until afterward, some of my other co-worker passengers convinced her that it would be really worthwhile to go. In the end she was happy that she came along.

One of her concerns was a fear of heights (another sign of her desire to conquer her fears is that she’s an active rock climber). I assured her that I too am afraid of heights, and that it has never been an issue during my flying. Somehow, sitting in a plane at 2,000 AGL just isn’t as scary as standing on the edge of a cliff (maybe I’ll feel different in the open cockpit of my Volksplane).

Date: 2007-Jun-12
Aircraft: C-FPME, DA20-A1
Passenger: Kaska
Route: CYKF - Hamilton Area - CYKF
Flight Time: 1.1h
Takeoffs and Landings: 1

We recently had some drainage tile installed in the 10 acre field at the front of our property, so I went on a short flight to shoot some pictures from above. I’ll post a picture here when I get a chance.

Date: 2007-May-22
Aircraft: C-FPMC, DA20-A1
Passenger: none
Route: CYKF - Local Area - CYKF
Flight Time: 1.0h
Takeoffs and Landings: 1

The main reason I went flying today was to remain current, since I had nowhere in particular that I wanted to go. The FBO I rent from requires pilots to fly at least one hour every 30 days to remain familiar with the aircraft and satisfy insurance requirements. It’s probably a good idea too, since it’s amazing how quickly the skills can get rusty. The longer it’s been since I’ve last flown, the longer it seems to take me to get through the checklist.

There was also a bit of a cross-wind (7 to 8 knot cross-wind component), so this was a rare opportunity to practice cross-wind take-offs and landings. Although I flew into the practice area instead of remaining in the circuit, I did do one touch-and-go after returning to the airport so I could practice my cross-wind landing twice. I was happy to find that I did it acceptably well the first time around, and better the second time.

Date: 2007-May-10
Aircraft: C-GCVX, DA20-A1
Passenger: none
Route: CYKF - Local Area - CYKF
Flight Time: 1.1h
Takeoffs and Landings: 2

Sometimes it can be a challenge finding something new and interesting to do while flying. Since I was taking another co-worker for a flight, I obviously couldn’t do anything too interesting, like using my GPS to measure the plane’s glide performance at different airspeeds.

Since a sightseeing flight was in order, and my passenger was new in town, I thought a big circle around Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph, and Cambridge might be fun. Rather than plan this flight as a series of straight legs approximating a circle, I decided I’d try flying it by just maintaining a constant distance from the airport (using the GPS distance-to-waypoint readout).

We started with a straight out departure from runway 32 for 10 miles followed by a 90 degree right turn. At that point I tried to keep the distance pegged at 10 miles. There are two basic approaches to achieving this.

One approach involves just flying straight for a while. If the distance increases, turn right. If it decreases, turn left. (Reverse these if you’re flying counter-clockwise).

A more sophisticated way requires some additional information, namely the bearing to the airport and the current ground track. If you always keep the ground track 90 degrees more than the bearing, you’ll fly a clockwise circle. You can still drift off the circle due to accumulated error, so you still need to watch the distance reading too.

I tried the second way first, except I made the mistake of trying to use the VOR (our airport has a VOR beacon on the field). I either forgot, or never knew, that the VOR doesn’t work when the beacon is directly to the right or left. It constantly switches between TO and FROM, with the NAV flag bouncing in and out of view. Now I know, and a practical experience like this one will ensure that I remember.

I completed the flight using the first method, and of course, I cross checked against the chart the whole time too (the VOR rose on the chart is approximately 10 miles in radius). After about 3/4 of a circle, I called the tower, and turned back towards the center to return to the field, followed by an uneventful landing.

Date: 2007-Apr-24
Aircraft: C-GCVY, DA20-A1
Passenger: Sarah S.
Route: CYKF - Local Area - CYKF
Flight Time: 1.1h
Takeoffs and Landings: 1