Friday, March 7, 2008

Carbon Monoxide over the Malaysian jungle


A couple of years ago, when I lived in Singapore, I used to fly a lot to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. I was a member of the Republic of Singapore Fying Club the oldest flying club in Singapore), and they had two Socata TB9s and one TB200. Never quite got that latter type designation, but it was very much like a TB10, in that it's fixed gear but a variable prop (the TB9 is the fixed prop trainer version). I like Socata's - they are French and it feels like you're stepping into a Peugeot, which brings back fond childhood memories of our puke-green, 12 year old, hand-shifted Peugeot 405 Break, that required artful mastery of the pedals and the choke to get it running, and any time in the first 20 minutes after start when you were trying to run it idle (like: at a stop light)! Masters of technology! My dad to this day claims it was his favorite car though, so they must have done something right. I've only had the privilege to drive it a few times just when I got my license, so suffice to say my love for it was not as great as my dad's, having stalled it many many times in awkward situations!

I digress. The trip to Kuala Lumpur is fascinating, and also predominantly over jungle and palm tree plantations. Not the best place to try to put down an airplane. It's also subject to notoriously bad thunderstorms and requires flight very near mountain ridges, but more on those adventures in another post.

The flight is only about two and a half hours, but because it is international, it requires a LOT of weird steps. Starting up for taxi, you ask the tower for taxi clearance to immigration, just across the field on the other side of the runway. There, you shut down, get out, and drop 1 copy of your flight manifest and flight plan at immigration, 1 at the airport administration (where you pay your fees for international flight, including per passenger charges), and 2 at the national security office (you slip it under the door - there is never anyone there). You then go 'through' immigration and security check, and walk back out the same door you came in through! Back on tarmac, you walk to the tower for a weather briefing and a look at the all important weather radar. It's range is only about 80 miles, but it's the only thing you have to see those monster thunderstorms, so you better take a look at what's there. The forecast will tell you that there are TCB (thunderstorms) because there always are (every day at around 3 pm it rains in Singapore - we joke that the evening weather forecast is a replay from the 70s, as it really never changes!). The forecast therefore isn't much use, hence the visual and radar inspection of the skies. You walk back to the plane, and this time, because it is an international flight, you need to request start-up clearance before you start your engine, lest you speed off and do nasty things.

The above is the same as usual (and you get pretty fluent at it, after a while - I had a series of PowerPoint files set up where I could simply enter flight manifest and flight plan details and print the requisite number of copies off). This time, after starting I thought the engine sounded a little strange (a little tinny and clanking), but after checking this without my headset on I shrugged it off as due to the noise reduction circuitry in my LightSpeed 20XL. That circuitry does do funny things with sound sometimes, especially when it is not quite sealed at the ears. Similar tinny sound at run-up, but since there really was nothing there, I decided to take off.

The beginning of the flight was uneventful, so much so that I began to feel a little sleepy. I found myself losing my concentration, and made a point of perking up and very explicitly scanning the skies. That helped a little, but not enough, so I decided to open the vents and let some cooler air stream in my face (hard at 2 degrees latitude, by the way) and things were OK. I arrived safely at the old Kuala Lumpur international airport (now used only for domestic airline flights and GA), and taxied to my designated parking spot. There, I was awaited by the handler guy with his mini-van (another weird thing: you have to go through a handler to get through customs and immigration if you come in by private plane), and as I got out the plane, he pointed to the cowling and asked what had happened. I looked, and found that a hole the size of a quarter had burned through the cowling (evidently it was made of glass fiber or something like that), with black, molten stuff streaming backwards from there. Turned out the exhaust had cracked (Aha! The tinny clanking sound!) and the hot exhaust gasses had burned through the cowling like a blow-torch. Amazing. In addition, I suspect that the exhaust gasses had somehow found their way into the venting system and the cabin, explaining my weariness and sleepiness. Fortunately, it was only a little, but a scary thought nonetheless.

Obviously, I was back by scheduled airliner, and picked up the plane on a subsequent trip a week later (with a brand new exhaust pipe and cowling). A good reminder to act if something sounds off - not to shrug it off. I have subsequently aborted a take-off in the same plane because the controls felt unusually stiff during the take-off roll, as a precaution. It's the only time I have every aborted a take-off, but I still feel good about that decision in the wake of the earlier experience. Better safe than sorry, especially in aviation!

Cirrus over California


Finally, finally I am signed off to go flying the SR20 around California. It's not that it took me so many hours, but it did take me several cancelled days until I got a good shot this week. Surprising, given the California weather, but this January & February have seen a lot of rain on the days I was available.

In case you remember that I was taking G1000 sim lessons to get ready for the Cessna 206, personal circumstances made a 4-seater in the Bay area quite OK. Could still have gone with the Cessna 182 of course, but since I expect to be flying a lot at night, and because the area is rather hilly, the SR20 with its parachute sounded like a better idea. It's a wonderful plane. I had flown about 10 hours in one in Chicago, but I'd forgotten exactly how wonderful it is. And what was new was the Avidyne glass cockpit display. I think I do like it better than the G1000 (although the G1000 is more integrated and the integrated autopilot apparently is fantastic), partly because I am used to the Garmin 430 already.

It took a while to get comfortable with the plane, and WVFC does a great job getting you ready for it. I feel much more ready and confident than I did flying the SR20 around Chicago. The big 'checkout' I did this week was a good combination of VFR and IFR flight. First a take-off and the usual air work: slow flight, approach stall, departure stall and steep turns. We then did a hold at TRACY (with a parallel entry no lesS!) as we tried to get Norcal Approach's attention for an ILS clearance. We did an auto-pilot coupled ILS into Stockton to a landing, followed by special landings: half flaps, no flaps, engine-out in the pattern, go around (all done at Stockton), and then a hand-flown ILS into Livermore, ending in a low approach and low pass over the runway. Setting up for the GPS into Palo Alto, the engine failed (not really, of course), and I discovered that almost all the green fields were plowed the wrong way! Back in the direction of PAO, the PFD failed (yes, lots of stuff on this flight!) and I popped the circuit breakers and hand-flew based on GPS track. Not too accurately, unfortunately, which got me a nasty remark from Approach, who didn't know I was having this simulated emergency, so I forgive them :) All went well when we got a direct clearance to the initial approach fix, and I could let the autopilot take over. Uneventful landing at PAO, and happy as a clam that all is well and I can go flying by myself now - I can't wait! Unfortunately I'm of to Japan, Korea and Australia, then vacation in Curacao, so I won't be able to for a while...

The great thing about all of this is that I feel really confident about flying this plane. It's wonderful, fast enough, handles really nicely and will just be a blast. I'm planning on little trips in California (that I'll be plotting over the next weeks) such as Sacramento, and LA, and possibly a trip to Vegas to meet up with my wife flying in from Chicago. Wouldn't that be nice!