IFR Cross Country Flying: Prescott to Burbank.

For my second cross country I decided to fly out to Burbank, CA. I am originally from Southern California and decided to have lunch with my family as well as try to hit some actual instrument time.

After a normal preflight and run up we were off on our all day adventure to California. The weather was clear and the flying was smooth the whole way out. I chose a direct west route which brought us over Lake Havasu, Apple Valley and Palmdale. This was the exact route we flew heading out.


I was able to take a picture of Edward's Air Force Base and the surrounding dry lake bed.

After passing over Palmdale Airport we were vectored around by ATC. They set us up at the final approach fix for the VOR runway 8 approach into Burbank. It got really busy around that point preparing for the landing but I got it under control and made a decent landing. We then taxied to Million Air and refueled. My family was inside the FBO and we went out for lunch. We ended up going to a hole in the wall Thai place which ended up being really good.

We then said our goodbyes and departed off runway 15. I was saddened that there were very few clouds in the air at the time, I really wanted to get some actual instrument time. We were cleared for the ELMOO 5 Departure which out of sheer luck happened to go through the only two clouds in the sky!


I thought it was very exciting in the real clouds but surprise surprise it looked just like it did in the sim, who would have thought...

We continued our flight and noticed a big fire off to our left. As luck would have it our victor airway went right through the downwind side of the smoke column. We tried to get radar vectoring as far away as possible from the smoke but ATC would not give it to us. We had no other choice but to fly through a little bit of the smoke. It was an experience I would not want to repeat again. We had to open the air vents up to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning which is never good especially when flying an airplane.

We finally got away from the smoke of Los Angeles and continued out to Laughlin/Bullhead City airport (KIFP). A part of the requirement for the flight was to have three approaches using different types of navigation for each. I did a VOR approach into Burbank, a GPS approach into Laughlin/Bullhead and the ILS into Prescott. We followed the missed approach procedure in Laughlin/Bullhead which was also required for the flight. Here is that leg of the flight back to Prescott.


Climbing back to altitude over the Needles, CA VOR looking to our left we see a blanket of clouds covering the whole route back to Prescott. They looked possibly too high for our route which was at 11,000 feet. I really hoped for more actual time. Luckily almost the entire route back to Prescott was a layer of Cumulus clouds at our exact altitude. Here is a video of me flying through them.

The clouds are pretty bumpy so I apologize for the shakiness of the video.


Here is the last leg of my flight.

I then proceeded to fly into Prescott safely using the ILS for runway 21L. I had a great flight and it was one of my more memorable ones especially since I was able to log .6 hours of actual instrument time.

IFR Cross Country Flying: Prescott to Phoenix.

Everything learned in the instrument course can all be put together on your cross country flights. Departure procedures, tracking navaids, and arrival procedures are all put together to form your IFR flight. For my first cross country flights I chose to fly to Phoenix Sky Harbor. Having never landed in class bravo airspace I wanted to experience it on an IFR flight plan.

After spending an hour planning my flight to Phoenix with the current winds, fuel burn and time en route, Air Traffic Control didn't like what I had chosen and decided to give me a completely different route changing everything I had just planned for. I felt like I had just wasted that hour of my life for nothing. It was nice not having to keep track of time and distances on the chart for the route I planned since the route ATC gave me was not published on the low altitude chart.

This was the route my instructor and I flew down to Phoenix.
We landed on 25R and fueled up at Cutter Aviation on the south side of the airport.
We then got back in the plane, departed off 25R and headed back to Prescott. Here is the route we flew.



It was a very fun flight. I saw a lot of large aircraft and it was neat knowing I had to be spaced with them. It was almost like I was one of them...

Precision Approaches

My next portion of my training is about precision approaches. The only difference between a precision approaches and a non-precision approach is vertical guidance. The most common precision approach is the Instrument Landing System (ILS). The ILS is the combination of the localizer (lateral) and the glideslope (vertical). The localizer antenna is normally at the opposite end of the runway and the glideslope antenna is to the left or right of the runway threshold. The Localizer antenna for 21L at the approach end of 3R.

These approaches are fun to fly but challenging at the same time. When further away from both antennas, the needles are much less sensitive giving the pilot plenty of time to make corrections. But when the plane gets closer any wrong movement of the controls for too long can put you off course. It can get frustrating (especially when practicing single engine) but with practice they get much easier.

Non-Precision Instrument Approaches

I am finally back to school after a nice summer break. I have continued my training and have completed the unit on non-precision instrument approaches.

An instrument approach is a way for a pilot on an instrument flight plan to get from the en route structure to the landing phase of the flight. Instrument approaches are fun and challenging to fly but really make you think on your toes at every point along the approach.

The approaches I have been learning about are of the non-precision type. Non-precision approaches give the pilot lateral guidance only, as apposed to precision approaches which give vertical guidance as well. To make sure you descend to the correct altitudes, there are positions on the approach chart which give minimum altitudes you have to be at in order to make a normal landing. Each approach is different and before one is flown it must be briefed in order to understand what will be happening.

As you can see on this picture of the VOR Runway 12 approach at KPRC it is divided into three sections. The top section gives written information, the larger middle portion shows an overhead view of the approach and the bottom section gives a side profile, an airport diagram and decision height minimum altitudes.

I have flown this approach multiple times and it is a straight forward and simple approach, when you stay ahead of the airplane that is. During the first few flights I was not used to the amount of work load which made the approach ten times as hard. But getting used to being back in the airplane and taking it step by step helped me to prioritize and efficiently manage the work I had to do in the plane which made the approach a heck of a lot easier.

I decided to take a few more pictures of the plane I flew in on these flights.

The PA-44 cockpit.

Riddle 73

Wing shot!

Phoenix Area Flight

A friend and I rented a plane and flew around the Phoenix, AZ area a little while back. We rented a Piper Archer (PA-28) out of Chandler Municiple Airport (KCHD) and made a big circle around Phoenix Sky Harbor which was really fun.

I made a map of the trip using Google Maps as you can see:

(You can click the icons to see the locations of the pictures)

View Phoenix, AZ Flight in a larger map.

I have some pictures from the flight that have posted:

Here we are starting up the plane doing the before start checklist.

The Chandler Airport from the sky.

Paradise Valley, AZ.

Phoenix Goodyear Airport.

The airplane graveyard out the left wing.

A bad accident on the I-10 freeway.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I did the flight!