Randy Vanstory, a long-time customer of Texas Top Aviation, decided in early 2017 to build his own airplane. Randy currently owns a Mooney M20J and has been active in aviation for a number of years. He took on the Vans RV 10, starting in February 2017. He’s about halfway through right now, with an estimated completion of mid-2020.
A completed Vans RV 10
I asked Randy what gave him the desire to build his own plane. “I love building things, learning new things, and working on things” he said. “This satisfies those desires all in one project.” Randy had a desire to work with his hands, to create something of his own, and building an airplane put several of his passions together in one project.
Lots of pilots out there dream of building their own airplane in their garage. There is a certain cool factor to putting together an RV or a Lancair in a garage, then trucking it out to an airport, attaching the wings, then flying a personal creation for the first time. An airplane unique to you, since there isn’t one quite like it any where else.
I’m a big fan of having my Foreflight map always match up exactly with the way I am flying. Having a Flight Stream in the airplane helps a lot with that as it always prompts me to load the new flight plan from the GPS into my Foreflight map. When I load an approach in the GPS flight plan, Foreflight will put it into my Foreflight flight plan via the Flight Stream.
The problem I run into on Foreflight is when there is a published hold at the Initial Approach Fix (IAF), but ATC has told me to fly the straight in approach and skip the hold. Up until recently, I didn’t think there was a way to set up a straight in approach on Foreflight, so I just settled for the hold staying on there.
Not anymore! There is a simple trick that I discovered that allows you to remove the hold from the Foreflight flight plan. Here’s how to do it.
Load the Approach
The first step is still to load the approach into your Foreflight flight plan on the Map page. In this scenario, we are flying from KAQO, the Llano Airport, to KHYI, the San Marcos Airport. Austin Approach has told us to expect the straight in RNAV 17 KHYI via PUKIY. So, on Foreflight, we have KAQO and KHYI in our flight plan. Then, I tap the Procedures button on the upper right hand corner of the screen. I then tap Approach, then RNAV 17 KHYI. Then I select my transition.
The options given are either PUKIY with the hold, seen below;
Or Vectors to Final, which lines me up inside of PUKIY. Neither of these are what I want.
But, to get this to work, I select PUKIY, then tap add to route. Now we have our approach loaded into our flight plan.
Removing the Hold
The RNAV 17 is now in the Foreflight flight plan, but the hold is displayed at PUKIY. To remove the hold, the first step is to tap the approach in green and a menu pops up.
The 7th option down is “Remove Hold in lieu of PT.” Eureka! Tap that, then the approach is displayed without the hold. Houston, we have success! It even says “NoPT” in the flight plan.
Texas Top Aviation is proud to announce that Hank Gibson has completed the training to become an American Bonanza Society Instructor, or ABS Instructor. He is now qualified to give instruction in Beech Aircraft.
As an ABS Instructor, Hank brings over 2800 hours of flying experience in a variety of aircraft to the cockpit of Beechcraft. Along with his ABS Instructor Designation, Hank is also a Cirrus Standardized Instructor Pilot (CSIP) and a Cessna FITS Accepted Instructor in both Cessna high and low wing piston aircraft (CFAI+). Hank is proud to add the ABS Instructor designation to his list of qualifications.
The process of becoming an ABS Instructor is quite comprehensive. The coursework consists of 20 powerpoint lessons covering anything and everything related to flying Debonairs, Bonanzas, Travel Airs, and Barons. The ABS Instructor course is quite in depth and detailed, giving the graduate a full understanding of the Beechcraft piston line of aircraft. To find out more about ABS Instructors, see the ABS website.
Hank is now giving initial and recurrent training in Beech Debonairs and Bonanzas. Please visit the Texas Top Aviation Bonanza Training page for more information on Bonanza and Debonair initial and recurrent training. Interested in Bonanza or Debonair training with a qualified ABS Instructor? Contact Texas Top Aviation today!
We spend time training for them, but real-world emergencies are rare enough that it’s easy to get complacent. They don’t always happen to “other pilots,” though, and preparation can make a big difference when things don’t go as planned:
• What if you lose 500 rpm during takeoff, but the engine is running smoothly?
• What if the ammeter drops to zero during a flight in IMC?
• What if your left aileron develops a strong vibration in flight?
Our new seminar is full of expert tips on handling those “up here, but wishing you were down there” scenarios. We focus on how to keep abnormal situations from becoming full-blown emergencies, offer advice on keeping critical problems under control, and give our best advice on off-airport landings.
Find an AOPA Emergency Seminar near you!
Monday January 11, 2016-The Woodlands Waterway, 7pm-9pm
1601 Lake Robbins Drive, The Woodlands, TX 77380
Tuesday January 12, 2016-Wyndham Houston West, 7pm-9pm
14703 Park Row Blvd., Houston, TX 77079
Wednesday January 13, 2016, Holiday Inn San Antonio Airport, 7pm-9pm
77 NE Loop 410, San Antonio, TX 78216
Thursday January 14, 2016, Omni Austin Hotel at Southwark, 7pm-9pm
Texas Top Aviation is proud to announce that we now offer Piper PA46 Training in the Malibu and Mirage. Our Piper PA46 training is provided with the same excellent & professional approach that has become our hallmark.
The four-day format of this course allows time to answer all of your questions about your new airplane. The Texas Top Aviation Piper PA46 training course leaves you with a confidence and understanding that will help you enjoy your Malibu or Mirage even more.
New avionics have you scratching your head in confusion? No problem. Texas Top Aviation is well versed in the latest Garmin and glass panel instrumentation.
If you are in need of recurrent training in your PA-46, Texas Top Aviation would be proud to help with that as well. Consider us your one stop shop for Piper PA-46 training.
For more information, check out our Piper Malibu/Mirage Training page.
A couple of months ago, I had a life-threatening experience while flying. Thankfully, with my flight training, along with a lot of luck, I am here to talk about it.
One of my many piloting jobs is as a glider tow pilot. For those not familiar with gliding, since a glider doesn’t have an engine, every time a glider pilot goes and flies, it’s a team effort. A powered airplane (anything from a Super Cub to a turbine powered Air Tractor) is attached to the glider via a tow rope, which is about 200 feet long. Once the glider pilot gives the go ahead over the airport’s CTAF, then the tow plane begins it’s takeoff roll, pulling the glider along behind it.
The glider becomes airborne prior to the tow plane, then the tow plane will circle the airport environment till it get’s to the pre-determined altitude to release the glider. Some tows are pattern tows and some are higher (not usually above 3,000 AGL), depending on the request from the glider pilot. Once the altitude is reached, the glider pilot pulls a handle in the glider to release the tow rope, then begins his glide. The rope stays attached to the tail of the tow plane, which in turn descends back down to the runway and lands. The tow plane also has a tow rope release handle in case of emergency.
On this particular tow, the plan was to tow the glider up to 3,000 AGL. Upon reaching 2,500 AGL, the glider pilot called me on the radio and stated that his rear canopy had opened up. I looked over my shoulder and sure enough, the rear canopy was fully opened while he was still in level flight behind me. I asked him if he wanted me to tow him closer to the field, but he didn’t reply.
Now, as an experienced tow pilot, I know a glider canopy popping open should not be an emergency situation. It’s definitely abnormal, but would be similar to a door or window popping open in a powered airplane. Not a big deal. If too much force from the relative wind is applied to the canopy, it would snap off; however, a glider can easily land without a rear canopy.
About 5 seconds after I radioed the pilot (and received no reply), I felt my tail instantaneously lift up into a completely vertical position, which caused my nose to go straight down. The next thing I knew, a whole lot of earth suddenly filled my windscreen and I was in what’s known as a graveyard spiral.
A graveyard spiral (as defined from the Airplane Flying Handbook pg 4-23), “is a descending turn during which airspeed and G-load can increase rapidly….the airplane is flying very tight circles, in a nearly vertical attitude and will be accelerating since it isn’t stalled.” It’s also known as a spiral dive.
Back to the story. At this point, I tried to reach for the glider release handle. Unfortunately, due to the shoulder straps holding me against the seat, plus the g’s, and also the quart of oil and tow bar that flew forward and hit me in the back of the head, I couldn’t reach it. I was semi-upside down at a certain point, which dislodged the oil and tow bar from the floor of the baggage compartment. They sailed over the seat and nearly gave me a concussion.
At this point, 2,500 feet above the ground, I had a choice to either fight for my life at a very low altitude or to sit back and become part of a big explosion.
I decided to fight for my life.
As I was spiraling to the ground, I felt the tow rope snap. Up to this point, I had still been attached to the glider. The rope snapping was a good thing, as my airplane was now under my control, not attached to, and being affected by, a glider (more on that later). I now had a lifeline, no pun intended.
After I felt the rope snap, my instincts and training kicked in. I initiated the spin recovery procedure using the PARE acronym. This task was difficult to do as I had a lot of debris flying from the rear of the plane to the front, blocking my view out of the windshield. There was also debris around my feet, hampering my ability to use the rudder pedals. The spiral finally stopped and I recovered approximately 500 feet above the tree tops. It took my heart a lot longer to stop spinning.
After barely regaining my emotions, I tried to evaluate the condition of the plane. Were all the pieces of the plane still there, was the engine damaged, did my control surfaces still work?
Once I advanced the throttle and saw an increase in my engine RPM, I started an immediate climb to give me altitude to get back to the airport. I had engine power but I wasn’t sure how long it would last if I had damage. Now, what they don’t teach you during spin training is that when this happens unexpectedly, you will become very disorientated. You have just been spiraling unexpectedly and your equilibrium will be out of whack. As I leveled out just over the tree tops, I was too low to visually see any landmarks, nor could I see the airport. Once I was able to climb, I was able to orient myself and figure out where the airport was.
I had to be very careful getting back to the airport and landing without radio communication, since my radio was knocked out with all of the FOD from the baggage area. Thankfully, the landing was uneventful. After I landed, I saw the glider limp in over the trees. The rear canopy was totally gone, while the front canopy and other parts of the glider had suffered major damage. Miraculously, my airplane wasn’t damaged, except for the wire from the radio which came loose during the spiral.
So, how did all this happen, you ask? Well, the glider pilot made 2 huge mistakes. First, in gliding, the moment the glider pilot loses visual sight of the tow plane, you are supposed to release the tow rope. He did not do that and almost killed both of us.
Second, as pilots we are taught to always fly the airplane first. Everything else, no matter what it is, always comes after flying the airplane. As I stated previously, the loose canopy is not an emergency situation, but since the glider pilot did not aviate first and was distracted, it was almost a fatal day for 2 people and 2 airframes.
So, what caused this chain of events? By getting distracted by the open canopy, the glider pilot inadvertently pulled back on the stick while trying to close the canopy. Then, by not releasing the glider from the tow plane, the glider pilot climbed rapidly with an excessive rate of climb while still being attached to me. The rapid climb is what pulled my tail up, causing my nose to drop and put me into the spiral. The tow rope snapping set into motion my recovery, since up till that point, I literally had no control. An extremely high lift wing was attached to my tail, pulling it up, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.
We all spend time practicing and demonstrating emergency maneuvers during our flight training and during flight reviews. Many times you might think, I’ll never need to use this stuff. Thankfully, some of the procedures I learned in the past kicked in at a time of need, even though my heart was beating out of my chest.
At some point in every pilot’s career, some type of spin training or Upset Recovery Training would be highly recommended. Then, when things go wrong, remember to always aviate first, then handle all the other things that need to be handled.
Interested in spin training or Upset Recovery Training (UPRT)? Check out the list of Malibu & M-Class Owner’s and Pilot’s Association (MMOPA) approved UPRT vendors and schedule UPRT training today.
The Cirrus Pilot Proficiency Program is once again returning to Houston, TX the first weekend in November. Henrickson Jet Center at the Houston Executive Airport (KTME) will be the host FBO this year. If you are a Cirrus owner in the South Central US, the Houston CPPP weekend is definitely worth your while.
What is it? The Houston CPPP is a combination ground and flight training weekend. With ground classes ranging from engine management, to loss of control prevention, to avionics best practices, an attendee will not lack a better Cirrus education by the time he or she leaves.
The flight training side of the weekend gives an attendee several options. A Houston CPPP attendee can do 1 or 2 flights with a highly qualified Cirrus Standardized Instructor Pilot (CSIP), one on Saturday and one on Sunday (if the 2 flight option is selected). The Cirrus Owner’s and Pilot’s Association (COPA) brings in exceptional instructors for each of the CPPP events, so the training is top notch. Folks who want to take in more ground school, but still want to fly a little bit have the option of just doing 1 flight, either Saturday or Sunday, in order to increase their Cirrus knowledge.
The Houston CPPP event will be November 2nd, 2018-November 4th, 2018, a Friday through a Sunday. The weekend kicks off with a welcome dinner Friday night, then ground sessions and flying on Saturday and Sunday, plus a dinner on Saturday night.
For those who want to challenge themselves, there are simulator sessions available with a challenging instrument approach that doesn’t quite meet up with the normal, ho-hum type of approach.
The Houston CPPP also provides a Partner in Command course for those right seaters out there wanting to learn more about what to do in an emergency situation.
Hank Gibson of Texas Top Aviation will be at the Houston CPPP as a flight instructor. For more information and to sign up, please click here.
