Copilot

Today I got to be copilot for the guy I went through the contact stage with. We came up with a plan to fly to Houston, stop for some food, and come back. We didn't even need gas. We had a couple issues with the pilot-side CDI in the runup while we were running through the checklists, but it ended up passing all the checks, so we took off without much trouble. The CDI is the course deviation indicator, which allows you to follow a course from a NAVAID. The enroute portion of the flight was uneventful except for the several times ATC cleared us to an intersection, and we had to fly fix-to-fix due to the lack of GPS in our aircraft. Fix-to-fix is not a big deal, it's just a little more work than plugging a point in the GPS. As we approached the airport of intended landing, I switched from the Center frequency to the approach frequency and checked in. Normal stuff. The first thing I heard back was a traffic advisory, "...traffic, 12 o'clock, Northeast-bound, you're overtaking them, altitude indicates 2,700." We were at 3,000. So we both immediately start looking for this traffic. I finally spot him, so we continue. I soon realized, however, that he wasn't really moving in the windscreen, so I just told the pilot to turn left immediately. As we made the turn, we rolled out and passed the Cessna well within a comfortable distance. A little bit of a scare, but a timely traffic call and spotting the traffic early prevented any sort of dangerous situation. It was pretty busy, but we landed safely, ate a late lunch, and took off again without issue. The flight back was uneventful, but our TACAN needles went haywire right at the beginning of the flight, and we realized our only options for straight-in instrument approaches were radar approaches. All this was fine, because the weather was clear and a million, but it may have been a little uncomfortable in the weather. We landed back at the homefield without further issue, and I had a few more good flying stories.

Boom!

I had a great flight today. Yes, I said it. It was great. We flew down to the valley. I got in the seat at Port Isabel and flew a GPS approach with a turn in holding followed by a circling approach. Both approaches were single engine. All went well and my IP even said I flew one of the best point-to-points he's ever seen. The winds were only about 25 knots at altitude, but it was still pretty good. I had to put on the mask on the way back for simulated smoke and fumes in the cockpit, but I got to take it off after the fumes "dissipated." We went through that checklist and then shot another approach - this time a needle-only TACAN. The catch was he failed my attitude indicator, so I did a partial panel, needle-only TACAN. I'd never even heard of that until today. On the climbout we couldn't get the visual recovery, so we shot the ILS. He failed my glideslope, so we had to transition to the localizer. Then, he gave me a fire, so we went single engine. I got halfway through the checklist and decided to just land and deal with it on the ground. No major fumbles with a pretty tough profile, so I was really happy with my flying this morning. One more, then check Friday.

Checkride and XC

Thursday I had my mid-stage checkride. The brief went ok but my ground ops, of all things, were less than stellar. The flying part went fine with a couple hiccups here and there but pretty decent considering my checkride history. It was a checkride I feel like I can say went well. I flew a VOR approach at International, a TACAN circling approach at Rockport, and a no-heading PAR back at NGP. It was a typical checkride day in that the winds were such that we were on a runway from which I'd actually never taken off, the VOR was completely turned off in the aircraft, which I've never seen before, and my IP made me hold over a VOR, my least favorite type of holding. Despite these annoyances, I passed, and the IP even complemented my flying. I can live with that.

I spent a few hours Friday night planning my last-minute cross-country to Jacksonville FL. My IP and I are flying in a sort of mini airshow event on Monday, and I'll get some extra flying time.

We ended up flying up to Tuscaloosa for some Dreamland BBQ (highly recommended). You know you're at a quiet airfield when tower asks you about the paint scheme on your plane while your on the roll out. I shot the visual followed by the ILS. At NAS Jacksonville I shot the HI-TACAN from FL200, which was fun for a change and moves much quicker than low altitude approaches. I had a bit of a hiccup on that one. Fly and learn.

On base in the Navy Lodge for the next couple days. I'm exploring Jacksonville today.