Spotting KPHX

Some of us had the crazy idea to climb a mountain near Tempe downtown (located next to an american football-stage, where the stones used to play), with a great view on the final approach of the planes coming into Phoenix Sky Harbour. Westerly wind was all we need to get the planes coming from the good direction! Last saturday, TAF's (weather forecasts) were promising, so around 4 pm Bomans, Dan , Orlando, Kristof (last day in Arizona), and me headed for tempe! Though it was a very calm day (think we saw not more than 15 jets coming in in 2 hours), the views were great and it was worth the effort of climbing the mountain (read hill). No doubt about the wining team of the spottersday: the 747 of British Airways: 12 points!

cya
huts

Spotting KPHX

Week 15-16: Night Flying

Last weeks, no need to wake up early. We only took off after sunset, meaning as from about 18:30 local time, for night flight training. The views at night are very impressive, but the flying becomes a little more chalanging. It took me some time to adapt to the night environment. In the beginning I was so impressed and looking outside constantly that I forgot half of the stuff I had to do, so step 1: keep focussed on flying! Next tricky point: landing! The runway looks different when you only see lights. In the beginning it's hard to estimate your true distance from the runway, and also your height above it. We had 4 flights with an instructor and 1 solo flight at night (only local patterns). One flight with my instructor was a flight over the mountains to Sedona, where we had dinner! And on my solo I was stuck on the runway because of a tire burst after my first landing... New tire, and I was off for 4 more :) Pretty stressful being stuck on a runway at night.

Next week: back to IFR flying, mostly during the day! It will be hard waking up at 5am again...

Grts Huts

Nightflying

San Diego

Last week, me, Hannes, Dan and Kevin went for a long weekend to San Diego. We left friday afternoon. 6 hours drive passing Gila Bend, Yuma to the heart of San Diego.

First evening we drove through San Diego by night for a first glimp of the city, and ended at a Subway close to a beach for a sandwich as all other restos were closed.

On saturday morning we visited the US MIDWAY, an aircraft carrier ship at rest, which is now an impressive museum. In the afternoon we went to the Gaslamp quarter, the old center of San Diego.

On Sunday, we left for the beaches. First plan was to go and rent a surf board, but in the end we just had a swim in the sea and some time at the beach. In the afternoon we had a last visit to the city itself, and by 6 we went for a sunset at the Coronado beach. 6 hours later, home again and ready for a week of night flying!
Great trip, a little too short as always...

enjoy the pics (click on pic below)
grts
huts

San Diego

Area view

I marked some stuff on this picture: my school, my appartment and some onther things.
Just click on it for a larger view!

Week 14: DA-40 IFR

After the final VFR check last week, we started the IFR training. As from now, we learn to fly on instruments only, without looking outside. New training, new aircraft! As from this week, we fly the Diamond 40. Compaired to the Archer we flew until now, its a much more modern aircraft with glass cockpit instead of analogue instruments. The first flights were nice, I like the machine!

As from now, my flightmate is Kevin Raes, an old friend from the Air Cadets (although he's from the Weelde side). Also a new intructor: Curtis Hall.

Enjoy the pics

Huts

Start IFR DA-40

Trip Sedona Flagstaff

Last sunday, Hannes, Pascal and me made a one-day trip to Sedona and Flagstaff. The area of Sedona is very known for its red rock formations. Very impressive views! The intention was to spend a full day in Sedona and to make a walk on one of Sedona's trails (into the nature... still a bit of bionerd inside me) , but after an hour of looking for a nice walk we gave up. Although they have a map at the tourist information office with over 20 mentionned trails, the organization was very pour. Indications on the road are missing, so first of all you need to find the starting point of a trail. Once we were on one, we were 'lost' after 10 minutes, as the trail itself was not very well marked. In the end, we decided not to go walking, but to continue the trip towards Flagstaff, and eat something overthere. After the meal and short visit in Flagstaff (we drove on the route 66!), we headed back home, again via Sedona, where we made another stop in the old part of the city. There its full of tourist shops, but the atmosphere is very nice. Nice day!

Pictures below.

grts
huts

Trip Sedona Flagstaff