Greg’s December column, “The Longest Day,” & additional photos

Read Greg’s latest Flying Carpet column, “The Longest Day,” appearing in the December, 2009 issue of AOPA Flight Training magazine, and see additional photos. This is the third installment of a four-part “cross-the-country” adventure by light airplane. (You no longer need to be an AOPA member to access my column. New photos have been added to those previously posted.) ©2009 Gregory N. Brown

Discouraged? See Greg’s student pilot pep talk

The most rewarding activities in life are often challenging to master, and that certainly includes piloting. No wonder I often receive emails and blog comments from discouraged student pilots wondering if they should quit.

The good news is that although learning to fly is difficult, it can and will be mastered by virtually everyone who sticks with it. Are you the only one having a tough time mastering flight? No! These learning challenges affect literally everyone who pursues flight.

Rather than write a pep talk of my own, I thought you might be encouraged by hearing from some other formerly-frustrated flight students who overcame challenges of their own to fly, and are now enjoying the benefits. Is it worth the hassle and trauma to become a pilot? Read what others in your shoes have to say on my new Greg’s Student Pilot Pep Talk! page, and then you be the judge! ©2009 Gregory N Brown

flight instructor training: what to expect

A pilot commented yesterday asking how to prepare for, and what to expect in training for his flight instructor “practical test” (Ie; oral and flight tests.) The subject is so little-discussed among the general pilot population that I decided to answer it in this post.

In training for the CFI practical test you will 1) master flying the private and commercial maneuvers from the right seat (if you haven’t already); 2) write lesson plans and use them to teach every maneuver and key aeronautical knowledge subjects to your instructor (and perhaps other CFI students) on the ground, and 3) teach those maneuvers in the air. Assuming you have a good instructor, which is critical for CFI training, you will obviously get the opportunity to review the knowledge for each subject area in the course of teaching it. So other than keeping sharp on your flying and aeronautical knowledge, and becoming familiar with the FAA’s Aviation Instructor Handbook, there is little preparation required to start your training.

That being said, I can recommend a few excellent reference books for teaching given maneuvers or subjects. The Flight Instructor’s Manual, by the legendary Bill Kershner, is a must-have reference that answers most any flight-training question that will ever come up. Another great reference is Instructional Methods for Flight Instructors, by Gordon Henrie. And if you can find a copy, Edwin Quinlan’s The Flight Instructor’s Lesson Plan Handbook (currently out of print) offers pre-developed lesson plans for every maneuver. For specific tips on passing your CFI practical test, and subsequent guidance on building your upcoming flight training business, consider my own book, The Savvy Flight Instructor.

I do have one “outside the box” suggestion to share here regarding preparing for your flight instructor checkride. Shortly before taking the test, I encourage all first-time CFI applicants teach at least one “real lesson:” Find a friend or relative  interested in becoming a pilot, schedule an airplane, and teach him or her an entire first lesson including ground briefing, preflight, and a flight lesson. Of course you can’t charge for the lesson or log it as dual, but your learning experience in teaching this practice lesson will be invaluable in sensitizing you to the teaching level required by your students, and therefore will prepare you to satisfy your own CFI examiner or FAA inspector.

You will love being a flight instructor, and delivering the dream of flight! ©2009 Gregory N. Brown

Bar 10 Ranch fly-in

Last Sunday our local “airport slugs” from Flagstaff, Wickenburg, Seligman, and Aguila, flew across the Grand Canyon to Bar 10 Ranch’s backcountry airstrip on the North Rim, to enjoy good company, a home-made pancake breakfast, and a horseback ride. Talk about incredible! Details to follow in an upcoming Flying Carpet column. See photos here.

©2009 Gregory N. Brown

Greg’s aerial photography tips

Here are some aerial photography tips, as requested by readers of my column. Note that I shoot only still photography of ground scenery from the air — no video or air-to-air shots. Also, I am no more than an aerial-photography amateur, because 1) I shoot in the course of travel rather than flying dedicated missions seeking the best light, weather, and shooting conditions and 2) I shoot through the awful filter of aircraft windows. Truly great aerial photography requires shooting through open windows, or at least high-grade glass. That being said, following are my tips.

Final photo: Autumn leaves tint an arroyo in Arizona’s Verde River Canyon.

Camera equipment: Use a quality digital SLR with a broad zoom range of wide angle to telephoto. (I use a Nikon D90 with 18-200mm lens.) Image stabilization is desirable (available on Nikon “VR” and Canon “IS” lenses. Other camera makers use different names.) I really like Nikon’s “ADL” adaptive lighting feature that collects additional shadow and highlight recovery information, especially here in the high-contrast light of the mountain West. (I am not knowledgeable about corresponding features on other camera makes.)

Original photo: bluish cast from acrylic windows subdues warm colors.

Preparation: 1) Identify the clearest, least distorting shooting directions from your cockpit. Usually this will be through side windows. Shooting forward is less predictable because the windshield’s compound curves add distortion, plus you may be photographing through a propeller. 2) Early morning and late in the day offer the most dramatic lighting for rugged terrain. Midday offers saturated colors but few shadows for contrast.

Process and settings: 1) Have your camera out and ready from takeoff to landing. 2) Set focus to “infinity” as sometimes auto-focus gets confused shooting through windows. (If your camera locks up, auto-focus is likely the problem.) 3) Use image stabilization when the ride is bumpy (VR “active” mode on Nikons). 4) Reduce shutter speed if shooting through a propeller, 5) If there are no white or grey objects on the ground, shoot a reference photo of each view incorporating outside white parts of the airplane like wing or strut. (You’ll soon see why.)

Post-processing: Acrylic plastic imparts a blue cast to your photos, and desaturates colors. So when shooting through aircraft windows, post-processing your photos is a must. That being said, the better your original the better the outcome. Plenty of photos are unsalvageable. (The above original is definitely borderline.) Following are my typical post-processing steps (terminology is Photoshop or Photoshop Elements):

1. My secret weapon for post-correcting shots through acrylic windows is the ColorWasher plug-in. Unlike the finicky Photoshop/Elements white-balance eyedropper tool, ColorWasher allows you to drag a marquis across white and grey areas to find an “average” white, thereby correcting the photo’s colors. Apply ColorWasher to whites or greys in a given photo, and that correction will remain at the top of the “filters” menu for use on other photos so long your current session remains open. At left is the original after running ColorWasher. (I took my white sample from the airplane’s strut in the preceding photo — not shown.)

2. Next, run image>adjustments>auto-levels from the image menu. This dramatically enhances colors and contrast. (It may be necessary to deselect extreme dark or light areas first, for optimum effect.)

3. “Fade auto-levels” as necessary. (“Edit” menu.)

4. Apply image>adjustments>shadow/highlight compensation as necessary

Now for the “art.” We are not going for clinical accuracy here. Paraphrased from pro-photographer Adriel Heisey: “Remember what you saw that made the scene special, and impart it to your photo.” Don’t take the “gold” out of a golden sunset!

When you have completed your masterpiece, “save as” an 80% JPEG. That delivers a relatively small file with printworthy quality.

Handy accessories: 1) When traveling unfamiliar terrain, a GPS geotagger marks your photos with the locations where they were taken. 2) For pre-sorting and culling large numbers of photos, nothing beats Photomechanic software. (See my review.)

SAFETY FIRST! Assign someone else to take photos during critical phases of flight, so you can concentrate on flying! My wife, Jean, takes many of my column photos for that very reason.

Now get out there and start shooting! Please comment with your own tips and tricks. ©2009 Gregory N. Brown (Oh, and I receive no compensation for endorsing any of the above products.)

Greg’s November column, “Far from Home,” & additional photos

Read my Flying Carpet column, “Far From Home,” appearing in the November, 2009 issue of  AOPA Flight Training magazine, and see additional photos here. This installment covers the second portion of our recent 2-week cross-the-country flying adventure, covering routes from Illinois to Indiana, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina. (New photos have been added to those previously posted.) Above: Farm fields near Charlottesville, Virginia. ©2009 Gregory N. Brown

Help! encourage aspiring pilots to keep flying

Help! I have received 40-50 communications so far this year from flight students discouraged with their progress and contemplating quitting.
(See example comments following my learning plateau blog entry.)

What could we do to provide a better support system for aspiring pilots so they know they are not the only ones facing challenges on mastering landings, steep turns, etc?

One method I currently use is to connect frustrated students with others who have recently succeeded in becoming pilots after overcoming obstacles, and are now enjoying the fruits of being aviators. That works well, but requires one-on-one followup.

How can we better support and encourage rank-and-file flight students to weather the bumps through to becoming private pilots, and beyond? Comments? Suggestions? Help! Greg

©2009 Gregory N. Brown

remembered for a lifetime!

Our neighbors had family in town last month, and I offered to show them some local sights from the air. We spent a pleasant Sunday morning circling the San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff and touching down at Sedona. Don’t you love turning non-pilots on to flying? This young man will remember the experience for a lifetime! See the photos they took, here. ©2009 Gregory N. Brown

Greg’s October “Cross-the-country” column & photos

See additional photos from Greg’s October, 2009 Flying Carpet column, “Cross-the-Country,” appearing in AOPA Flight Training magazine, about the first leg of our cross-the-country journey from Flagstaff, Arizona to Aurora, Illinois. Read the column here.

Above: A solitary thunderstorm clobbers Mt. Taylor west of Santa Fe, New Mexico.  ©2009 Gregory N. Brown

Southwest flying destinations

Readers often ask me for Southwest flying destinations. Flying New Mexico and Arizona is generally less challenging than the more northerly Rockies. Density altitude is an issue, but our lower terrain offers more route options for circumnavigating weather. We get afternoon turbulence and thunderstorms here, so summertime flying is best done in early mornings and late afternoons. (For more on regional flying weather, see Tom Horne’s terrific book, Flying America’s Weather.) It would be wise to study mountain flying before piloting the West for your first time.

Some of my favorite Southwest destinations:

• Durango, Colorado: ride the Durango & Silverton steam train; kayak rapids through town!
• Santa Fe, New Mexico: founded by the Spaniards in 1608, with adobe buildings dating from that era. The 2nd oldest city in the country after St. Augustine, Florida. Dining, history, art, Native American culture, outdoor activities, shopping… A town like no other!
• Grants, New Mexico: check out Old Acoma Pueblo (pictured above; see my column, “Sky City”), El Morro and El Malpais National Monuments, and the nearby ice caves.
• Chinle, Arizona on the Navajo Nation: tour stunning Canyon de Chelly by horse or jeep.
• Fly through Monument Valley — incredible from the air. (Consider landing at Gouldings Trading Post, but research it before going there. The private one-way airstrip dead-ends into a mesa.)
• Page, Arizona: Rent a houseboat or take a Lake Powell boat tour to Navajo Arch.
• Sedona, Arizona: Among the most beautiful landing sites anywhere, Sedona Airport lies on a 400-foot plateau in very rugged terrain. The runway slopes uphill to the northeast so normal procedure under light winds is to land uphill on Runway 3 and take off downhill on Runway 21. It’s a busy airport so given the bi-directional traffic keep your eyes open. There is little horizon reference in the pattern, so fly your pattern altitudes precisely to make you approach work out smoothly. You’ll feel high on final to Runway 3 (and low approaching 21) due to the sloping runway. (There are VASIs to help.) Although challenging when windy, the airport is quite manageable in good weather. Among places to stay is Sky Ranch Lodge right there on Airport Mesa.
• Overfly Meteor Crater and the Painted Desert. Stay at Winslow’s restored La Posada Hotel.
• Fly the Grand Canyon overflight corridors; then land at Grand Canyon Airport and hike along the rim.
• Visit the Planes of Fame Museum at Valle Airport, between Williams and Grand Canyon, Arizona.
• If you’re passing near Clayton, NM, see the incredible dinosaur footprints at Clayton Lake State Park.

Other than Sedona and Gouldings, most of the named airports require no special considerations except density altitude. All are at or above 5,000 feet elevation. Durango, Santa Fe, Grand Canyon, and Flagstaff are at 6-7,000 feet.  ©2009 Gregory N. Brown