Thunder in the Desert 2009...

Hello from far far away... hope everyone's doing well!! So, I was supposed to post this piece a few days ago but I still had to upload some photos on Picasa before, but as always... I tend to procrastinate things!! (Hey no one is perfect... right?! :-p)

As you can see from the photo above, last weekend we went to see the airshow at Luke Air Force Base - 'Thunder in the Desert 2009'. No, those are not two aircraft stuck to each other in mid-air. They're a pair of F-16's from the US Air Force aerobatic display team, the 'Thunderbirds', performing breathtaking aerobatic precision formation flying. They really put up a great show despite the strong gusting winds! It was a great day and a great show. There were a lot of aircraft at the static display and the flying display was great as well... an airshow worth going to. It was very very windy and there was dust blowing all over all the time which was quite annoying unfortunately... but ye it was a good day. I've posted some photos I took; just click on the link below to have a look! Next time I will try to put up some photos from the Yuma Airshow, which I had been to the week before.

Thunder in the Desert 2009 - Luke Air Force Base Airshow

And what else was going around over here? Yesterday evening we had great night out with my VFR flight instructor and a couple of friends. We went to eat at Maggiano's in Scottsdale (great restaurant, delicious food!!) and then headed to a club in Scottsdale. I really enjoyed myself; I needed some good time out hehe! Thanks to all for a great night. And today, I spent a day at the Renessaince Festival. It's a festival held annually I think here in Arizona. The theme is, the Renessaince Period (duh!!). It was quite good; well good enough to spend a day out! :-)

And flying... oh yes the main reason I happen to be here is, to learn to fly, but guess what... I spent a whole week without any flying! Ye I'm quite pissed off about it at the moment. And it's all thanks to the whole disorganisation at the school. The last time I had flown was Friday 20th March. Then, I had a simulator session on Monday 23rd. Then, I flew again yesterday, and obviously, things didn't go as good as I was hoping for. It wasn't bad (especially considering the bumpy conditions we're now facing in flight because of the increased temperatures... yes it's becoming a hell) but I'm sure a week long break from flying is unhealthy during training. And... tomorrow I'm not flying AGAIN! It's going too slow and I can't wait for my training to be over. Ye I do need to get my life back hehe... and I do miss Malta as well. So, ye, I can't wait to be back!

Anyway, I'm really tired tonight so I think I'm going to call it a day early tonight! Big hello to all my family and friends back home!! See you soon hopefully!! Take care everyone... till next time...

Flying the DA-40...

Hey everyone!

So, as I said last time, I'm now flying on the Diamond DA-40 and have started my IFR phase. At the moment, the flights are pretty much familiarisation flights to get used to the aircraft, especially landing the little bird. I think it is slightly different from my previous aircraft, the DA-20. I think smooth landings are easier to make in the DA-40, than in the DA-20, but if a landing is destined to be "hard" then yes, it CAN be hard! If you flare too much, or too early, the aircraft just sinks down into the ground. But anyway, slowly slowly I got the grip of it, and I'm happy to say I've started to like this aircraft. The photo below, that's me with N4174B parked at Casa Grande Airport, after a (bumpy) flight from Falcon Field last week. For those of you who wanted to see a photo of the DA-40 only, sorry but you have to put up with the fact of me being in the picture :-p

Last Friday I also started night flying. It's cool, you see all the lights and stuff at night. It feels very different, and a bit strange until you get orientated to the fact that you are flying in pitch black at night. On Friday, I flew to Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport and made a couple of touch and goes there. Ye landings at night do feel different, but I did get the grip of it. And yesterday night, I had my first night VFR cross-country flight, (yes I'm still stuck with some VFR flights!!) I flew to Tucson International Airport and it was a nice flight. Winds were relatively calm, and the air was so smooth. When we arrived at Tucson Airport, I made a couple of touch and goes there. It's an intenational airport there, and so you get some airliners going there. I was thus making touch and goes with a couple of nice big birds landing on the other parellel runway. It was cool and I enjoyed it. I'm also pleased with my landings :-) Today I have another two flights in the evening; a couple of landings with my instructor, and then, for the first time ever, a solo night flight! Yep, it's the only solo flight I'll be doing in the DA-40, during which I should be doing five landings in all, as a requirement to get your night rating. I'm really looking forward to it!

Anyway... besides flying... last weekend I went to an airshow in Yuma, which is a Marine Corps base. It was great! I took loads of photos (perhaps too many!!) and I enjoyed every part of the display! Next Saturday, I should be going to another airshow at Luke Air Force Base, which is said to be the greatest F-16 base in the world. The US Air Force display team, the 'Thunderbirds' will also be performing a display so it should be another great day! On Sunday we also sent to see a show with horses called 'Cavalia'. It was very good, a great show!

Anyway, I think that's just about it for today. Ah yes, one last thing... lately I've been behaving much like a typical American as regards food... yep, over the past five days, five 'fast-food' meals. It's crazy here eh... there's a fast food outlet in every corner and since it's so easy to get, you'll get it! But ye, I'm still carefull... don't want to end up like most of the population here... big'n'fat! Sorry peeps but I think you must do something about your diet here ;-)

Till next time!!

Busy February... long time no see!!

Hey there everyone!

So, yes, my "New Year's Resolution" of updating my blog regularly has long way been gone! I realised I haven't written anything in February! That's because February was quite a busy month here... with a couple of ups and downs along the way as well, both in my training, and in general.

After my first solo flight, it was one straight run towards my Pre-Solo Cross-Country Navigation checkride. I was enjoying the cross country flights because I was finally getting away from our home base in Falcon Field. However, things were not going so smooth and I was finding it a bit hard to get the grasp of navigating around by reference to visual references on the ground... I really prefer the idea of flying on instruments! Anyway, in a couple of days I went for my Pre-Solo Cross-Country Navigation checkride and... I failed! Ye I wasn't pleased at all about it, but that checkride was a whole mess for me so ye... I had to fail. And anyway... nothing comes easy in life, so I guess this was one of them. I then did an extra mission with my instructor and then had a re-check, which, I passed!

So, having passed that check, I started my solo VFR cross-country navigation. I had some flights with my instructor but then most of them were solo flights. The flying was really cool, but the planning was really keeping me busy. Most of my flights were being scheduled early morning at 0730, which meant that I had to wake up early most of the days to check out the latest wind forecasts. Ye I was waking up at 4am! And that also meant that I had to sleep early the night before, and the night before, I still had to plan out my flight. So, it was one whole cycle, wake up at 4am, go for the flight (some of which were 3-4 hours long), get back home, plan another flight, sleep, wake up... repeat! And that left me with little or no time at all. Well sometimes I did laze about as well, but ye, time was quite limited.

But anyway, one flight after another my solo cross-country flights came to an end last week, but there was one particular flight which I remember well. It was a Saturday and I had planned a flight to Kingman Airport (an uncontrolled airfield up north) and then to Lake Havasu Airport. It was a great day, weather was very good, winds were calm... the kind you'd wake up in the morning and say "This is a good day for flying..." And yes it was... I was sitting there in my little Diamond DA-20, floating in calm air... doing what I like most... flying. I made a touch and go at Kingman and then headed to Lake Havasu where I stopped for fuel. And, Lake Havasu is one of those really poshy airfields, in which, after you land you get about three "follow-me cars" waving at you to follow them to their hangars to give you fuel. I followed one of them and parked my aircraft. Speaking of "poshiness", the guy in the follow-me car went out and put carpet near my aircraft... I was like "wow" :-) The guy gave me fuel and I went in to relax a bit. Wow it was so poshy there; the pilot's lounge was so welcoming, there was a big screen where you can watch movies on, internet, and complimentary coffee/tea/cookies... and even their restrooms were also like, the poshiest place you could imagine... yep it was one really nice place to spend a couple of minutes in, on a Saturday afternoon. Anyway, once I was ready, I headed back home and it was another great flight, with me sitting there singing along the way... (yes... no comment :-)

Well, some of the flights also had some minor problems in them as well, but nothing really serious.. but ye, once I had an Exhaust Gas Temperature gauge going nuts during flight which worried me a bit... you know, sitting up there all alone and getting weird indications from a gauge does wory you a bit. But then I realised it was all about wrong indications from a gauge. In another flight, something similar happened with the Fuel Quantity gauge. It decreased all of a sudden and at one point in time just went to Empty... I was like... "ok what's next?" Again I suspected a wrong indication but I still landed in a nearby airfield to check out the fuel tank, which still had more than half a tank of fuel so again... wrong indications! But ye, nothing goes so smooth so you get these "glitches" every now and then, just like everything in life I guess.

Anyway, all these "adventures" brought me to my final VFR navigation checkride last Friday. I was a bit tense about it, especially having had a re-check in my previous check. But anyway, I went for it, and during the flight I felt it was going ok. But, the typical examiner... absolutely no comments during the flight! But at the end, I was on downwind entering into Falcon Field, with my checkride coming to an end and my examiner said "So you realise this is your last flight on the DA-20" I was like "So... I passed.... wuhuuuu" And yes... that WAS my final flight on the DA-20! And in a couple of seconds I was doing my final landing in the DA-20. Actually, I'm glad it's over on that little DA-20. I want to move on!

Having passed my checkride I'm now ready to start instrument flying on the DA-40. Yesterday, I had a briefing about the DA-40, and today I'm scheduled for my first flight on it! I'm looking forward to it... it's a new phase, and it also means I'm nearly half way through in my flight training! Yes I want to be back in Malta ASAP!! :-)

Anyway, I'm off because I have to start preparing for my flight (and start all over again learning new flows and checklists!) It was a long post today... but ye had to update a bit on the happenings around me. Next time I'll ry to update more often :-) Another sorry to all my friends whom I haven't been in contact with for some time... Anyway... till next time!!