Category: PilotEdge

Alphabet Challenge Leg 11: K (KKNB) to L (KLGB)

Posted on by Basement Fly Guy

Yesterday I was able to carve out about three hours to complete the next flight in the PilotEdge Alphabet Challenge, Kanab (K) to Long Beach (L). This is one of the longest flights in the series, logging in at 345 nautical miles with the route I’d planned, a VFR flight of KKNB MMM LAS DAG POM KLGB. You can see the flight plan here:

ForeFlight_Web

To keep this flight a manageable length, I decided to fly it in the Carenado Cirrus SR22GTSX turbo, which would let me clip along at about 170 knots once I climbed to the 12,500 feet cruising altitude I’d planned. It’s a beautiful airplane in real and simulated life:

Carenado_com

Even with all that horsepower it was going to be about a two hour and five minute flight as we had headwinds, some 20 knots, the entire way. I departed Kanab on the CTAF frequency, and then once I was at 12,500 I picked up flight following by calling the PE LA Center frequency. Things went along fine from there, but there were missteps and complications along the way, each of which had its lessons:

  • Equipment can get in the way. I spent quite a bit of time in the early part of the flight messing with the plane’s autopilot. With a long flight ahead I decided I wanted this one to fly itself quite a bit of the way. But for some reason I couldn’t get it to arm for either altitude or navigation / heading. The Carenado autopilots typically play well with Saitek gear, so this was confusing to me. Eventually, about at the outskirts of Las Vegas, I said to heck with it and flew manual the rest of the way. With the winds this was like riding a wild horse, and it was fatiguing. After doing some research I learned that continued trim input can cause the AP to disengage. I did have the aileron trim tab set, and will test today to see if that in fact was the problem.
  • Don’t forget to actually set the squawk code. I kept waiting to hear “radar contact” from Center but it never came. When I finally asked if they had me they said, “no” and told me to cycle the transponder. I saw I was still squawking 1200, and when I suggested that actually setting the code might help I and the controller had a laugh.
  • Equipment failures happen. On this flight, the display on the FIP that shows my wet compass froze. I futzed with it some then flew via only the G1000 glass cockpit on the iPad. But the buttons on the FIP still seemed to work. I use those to toggle the COM and VOR radios, and in pushing them to see what was what I unknowingly switched over to COM2. After wondering where LA Center was for a while I switched back over to COM 1 and asked if I’d blown through a transition. They said no, but that they’d been looking for me. The redundant system on this is the light on the attenuator panel. That’s not working, and I need to fix it just as I would in a real airplane.
  • There’s more to learn on airspace. As I approached the LA basin I started my descent, assuming that SoCal Approach would handle my transition of the LA Bravo airspace. Not true, as the controller got on to advise me that I should probably get down below the Bravo shelf altitude (7,000 feet there) before going further as they would “not allow you to transition there.” I had been thinking that with flight following they’d handle passing me into the Bravo, but in reality you can only transition the LAX Bravo in a couple of places, and that’s not one of them. So I had to make a circling decent, avoid the Ontario Charlie, then duck under the LA Bravo, all of which you can see in the flight path image below. Normally this is easy but …
  • … wind and visibility are real complications. The wind was still howling on the descent, some 20-25 knots, and the plane was all over the place. And Active Sky 16 did a great job of rendering the haze in the LA valley, which limited visibility to about 10 miles. All told, it made for a very stressful, if still simulated, descent between holding onto the airplane, avoiding the Bravo and Charlie airspaces, and not being able to see very far. So distracting, in fact, that the aircraft got too fast and crashed, I think from exceeding the NTE speed. Good thing it’s a simulation, and luckily P3D quickly reloaded so I could continue (you can see this point in the flight path as the little jog in the line above the high 60 marker).

PEaware____N15JG_KKNB-KLGB

  • Controllers can make mistakes, too. The Long Beach tower first gave me one approach, then realized they had the wrong airplane, so they gave me another approach. I though I was too close to the field to make the left hand turn it would require, so I looped north to make the right base into 25L. This confused him, too, but he said no worries and told me to just to head to the numbers for landing.
  • And finally, high-performance aircraft are a different kettle of fish, even in a simulator. Once I was in descent everything in the Carenado seemed to happen very, very quickly. There’s a big difference between 100 or 120 knots in a Cessna 172-182 and 150 knots in the Cirrus, and this is more true on final where you’re coming in at 90 instead of 65-70. I landed the thing, but with the wind and the speed it was rough going. You have to really be ahead of the game not the let the airplane get ahead of you.

 

All told, the flight felt like a workout, and a very useful training session. The great thing about the sim and the software is that conditions can get quite real, and they can require real decision making. This flight had a lot of them, and I felt like my training brain was working nearly the entire time. I suspect that’s valuable as a student pilot. At least, I hope so.

The next flight is Long Beach to Montgomery Field. This will be my first flight on Pilot Edge into the San Diego area, and I’m looking forward to it. And here’s the challenge progress so far. 112 pilots have started the challenge, and only 59 have made it this far.

Alpha_Challenge_In_Progress_3

 

Stalls, Turns, And An Engine Out Over Bakersfield (On PilotEdge)

Posted on by Basement Fly Guy

Recreating some maneuvers from a recent real-world lesson, using the PilotEdge network and ORBX SoCal scenery (Bakersfield). Stalls, steep turns, turns around a point, engine out procedure with go-around, and a return to 30R at KBFL.

Best moment of the video for me is when I say “flops” instead of “flaps.”

Details:
– Prepare3d v3.3.5
– Active Sky16
– Active Sky Cloud Art
– ORBX Global, Vector, OpenLC NA, and SoCal
– Piper 28-161 by Spike

Alphabet Chalenge Leg 10: “J” To “K” (And Fun With Thunderstorms!)

Posted on by Basement Fly Guy

I finally was able to fly the next leg in the PilotEdge Alphabet Challenge today, which was Jacqueline Cochran (KTRM) to Kanab (KKNB). This is the fifth-longest flight in the challenge, logging in at 269.9 miles as the crows would fly it. I decided to fly it using GPS navigation as VOR would have lengthened the route even more, so I had only one waypoint along the way, Grand Canyon West (K1G4). This helped make sure I stayed out of the canyon’s no-fly zones (and in that portion of the canyon airspace I needed to maintain at least 7,999 feet MSL). This was the only airspace consideration of note along the way, but to hone my radio skills and give me something to listen to I asked for flight following from PE SoCal approach along the way.

Grand_Canyon__AZ_Interactive_Weather_Radar_Map_-_AccuWeather_com
Real World Radar Would Indicate Trouble Ahead!

The flight was uneventful. I don’t use autopilot, but had no issues with heading or altitude flying the old fashioned way. Things got interesting, though, as I crossed the north rim of the canyon. At that point a simple layer of clouds (injected by Active Sky 16) pretty quickly turned into a line of thunderstorms. I was surprised by this as the weather at departure was VFR all the way. So I checked the real-world radar in ForeFlight, and sure enough: thunderstorms from me to Kanab. I switched off the GTN 750 GPS unit and turned on the REX/MilViz WX Advantage weather radar gauge and started negotiating the weather, working hard to stay below the clouds but above the 7,999 foot canyon minimum. I was quite impressed with how well AS 16 replicated the real world radar echoes. Below is a shot of the sim panel, with the iPad showing the real-world radar on ForeFlight, and the REX WX Advantage Radar in the dash showing the t-storm and rain echoes in the sim. It was really cool.

IMG_4329

Things got skinny. Finally I was able to spot some blue sky through a pass and risked the chance of a downdraft going through. In real life I don’t know that I would have made the same decision, and instead would have tried to put down at nearby Grand Canyon Bar 10.

Once I was out of the altitude restriction I had more room to maneuver, and started to tack back north on a heading to Kanab. AS16 did a great job of rending the winds, turbulence, and clouds. It as all really pretty realistic and my pulse was definitely up. In the end I was able to make the landing on 19 in Kanab without further simulated incident, but it was an interesting flight a good practice for checking carb heat, holding altitude, keeping heading, etc. Here’s the planned route, and the actual route after my weather deviations.

SkyVector__Flight_Planning___Aeronautical_Charts 2

PEaware____N15JG_KTRM-KKNB

Next up: Kanab to Long Beach, the second-longest flight in the series (and only short of being the longest by a mile). And here’s the challenge progress to date.

Alpha_Challenge_In_Progress_3

 

VFR Notes From A SoCal TRACON Tour

Posted on by Basement Fly Guy
VFR Notes From A SoCal TRACON Tour

There’s a nice blog post here from a pilot who recently toured SoCal TRACON (the Terminal Radar Approach CONtrol for the Sothern California region, the nation’s busiest and also the airspace you fly on PilotEdge). It’s very interesting, especially for VFR pilots (which was his focus in writing the piece). One insight for me was the controllers suggesting that VFR pilots avoid Bravo and Charlie airspace by two miles laterally and 1,000 feet vertically, given that the TRACON radar is not nearly as accurate as your GPS and that they could easily see you as inside the airspace when you’re not. I know that on PE I will often cut it closer than that, so I found this helpful.

The piece also echoes much of the coaching I’ve heard PE controllers offer pilots on the network. I’d suggest this as very worth reading for student pilots and simmers new to PE.

Video: El Monte To Fullerton On PilotEdge

Posted on by Basement Fly Guy

I’ve been away from the simulator for a week traveling, but before I hit the road I videoed leg four of the PilotEdge Alphabet Challenge, El Monte to Fullerton. It’s only about a 10 minute flight, so I recorded it in its entirety as a way of giving folks who may be unfamiliar with PilotEdge a sense of what a simple VFR flight on the network is like. It also showcases the Orbx SoCal scenery, which is fantastic. I hope you like it (rough landing and all).

PE Alphabet Challenge Leg 3: KCMA to KDLO

Posted on by Basement Fly Guy

The other day I flew leg three of the Pilot Edge Alphabet Challenge, which is Camarillo to Delano. For this leg I went old school and analog, flying the A2A C 172 R trainer and using only VOR navigation and the LA sectional chart. No GPS, no ForeFlight on the iPad, and no autopilot. Candidly, it was a ton of fun, and I plan to do quite a few of the rest of the flights this way (save those with more complex airspace transitions where it can be very helpful to know right were you are). Because I flew by hand the entire way you can see my headings and altitudes are a bit variable, but on the whole I did alright.

PEaware____N15JG_KCMA-KDLO

PEaware____N15JG_KCMA-KDLO 2

Here’s my progress on the challenge so far, and the next flight is Delano / KDLO to El Monte / KELM. I hope to fly it later today.

Alpha_Challenge_In_Progress

The PilotEdge Alphabet Challenge

Posted on by Basement Fly Guy

The other day I started flying the PilotEdge Alphabet Challenge, which is a series of 32 flights to airports in the PilotEdge coverage area, each representing a letter of the alphabet or the numerals from 0 to 9. You’re supposed to fly them in order, and from point-to-point (so, starting at Apple Valley to Bakersfield, then Bakersfield to Camarillo, then Camarillo to Delano Muni, etc.). You can see the full list of flights here.

It’s a great training concept because in the process of flying the challenge you cover a wide range of terrain and encounter a large variety of airspace and ATC experiences. I’m flying the whole thing VFR, and here are all 32 legs on one map (clickable to see a bit larger):

Alphabet_Challenge_Direct

Those are all direct routes. I won’t be flying them direct, but adding the VOR waypoints makes it even more difficult to make out the map.

You’re supposed to fly the challenge within one year. According to the latest count, 94 PE users have begun the challenge since it started a few years back, and 24 have finished. I’ve already flown the first two legs, Apple Valley – Bakersfield and Bakersfield – Camarillo, and I’m looking forward to doing more. I’ll update this map as I do.

A_Challenge_Progress

GoPro Audio Hook-In Test (And PilotEdge Pattern Work At KSNA)

Posted on by Basement Fly Guy

One of the reasons I’ve put music on the videos is that the GoPro doesn’t pick up the sim’s audio very well, and it can’t get any of the radio sound. But yesterday I was able to pick up an interconnect audio cable that hooks the GoPro into the sim’s intercom system, and this is a first test of how it works.

This is three loops of the KSNA pattern flown on PilotEdge. It was shot fast and dirty with minor editing, and not the normal GoPro mount as I need a skeleton case to do that (one is on the way). The audio levels for the engine need to come down a bit so you can better hear the ATC, and the camera isn’t in it’s usual position so the horizons don’t line up quite right. And the title says “TEXT” not “TEST” (it was late!). But it’s a good first start, and it also gives a feel for what using PilotEdge can be like.

(Also, as an aside, the new realism shader pack does a remarkable job. The cloud shadows are really pretty remarkable, and with the Orbx scenery this all looks surprisingly real.)

A V-3 Rating On PilotEdge

Posted on by Basement Fly Guy

I’m happy to say that today I completed the V-3 VFR rating on the PilotEdge ATC network. This is the most challenging of the visual flight rules ratings, and I’m proud to say I passed it on the first try!

The requirements of the V-3 rating, per the PE training site:

This advanced rating involves transitions of complex airspace, and knowledge of published VFR routes around LAX. The pilot will depart KSNA, and fly at least two of the published LAX Bravo transitions, choosing between:

  • the ‘Coastal Route’
  • the ‘Mini Route’
  • Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA)
  • the ‘Hollywood Park Route’
  • the ‘Coliseum Route’

and then ultimately land at Torrance (KTOA). The pilot is not permitted to land at any airports prior to landing at Torrance.

 

What this means in English: The area around LAX is indeed complex airspace, as you can see in this image from the LAX sectional chart (click it to see it full-sized) …

SkyVector__Flight_Planning___Aeronautical_Charts 4

There’s a lot going on in this airspace, but the most important part of it is the LAX “Bravo” airspace, which is airspace that an aircraft is absolutely NOT allowed to enter unless it is given permission to do so by ATC. Once inside the Bravo, that aircraft has to remain under ATC control, and many only go where ATC says it may go. This is to keep aircraft from bumping into each other in congested airspace. The LAX Bravo is denoted by the blue lines in the chart, and they fit together like pieces of a puzzle because the space is in three dimensions. It has a ceiling of 10,000 feet throughout but varying floors based on where the air traffic is being routed by LAX. You can tell what those limits are on the chart by the stacked blue numbers in each blue section (e.g. 100/50, which is a ceiling of 10,000 feet MSL and a floor of 5,000 feet MSL). So in 3-d the LAX Bravo actually looks like this:

small_thumbnail

But if you are not flying into or out of LAX, how do you get north or south over the LA basin without flying 100 miles out of your way? You do it by crossing one of five Bravo “transitions” set up by the FAA. I’ve annotated the chart below to show the outline of the LAX Bravo in pink, and four of the transitions across it in bright blue (a fifth, called the “Los Angeles Special Flight Rules Area” is a bit harder to explain and I’ll pass on it here):

crossingthebravo

Again, you can click on that chart to make it larger. The four primary transitions are the Coastal Route, the Mini Route (which goes directly over the LAX tower and is quite narrow), the Hollywood Park Route, and the Colosseum Route. Each has its own set of rules and altitude, because as you can see in the 3-D image of the Bravo there are a lot of places where you can fly under the Bravo, most notably right over LAX itself where the Bravo is most narrow (which make sense because there all the traffic is arriving or departing from the East or West).

For my rating I decided to fly the Coastal Route up, at an altitude of 6,500 feet, and the Mini Route back, at an altitude of 2,500 feet. The Coastal Route going north is pretty straight forward: you fly the 123 degree radial of the LAX VOR into, and the 323 degree radial out of, the Bravo at 5,500 or 6,500 feet, and you’re with LAX Approach the entire way. Here’s the Coastal Route insert from the LAX sectional:

coastalroute

The Mini Route going south is more demanding. You fly under the outer shelfs of the Bravo on the way in, fly over the Santa Monica VOR, and then on its 128 degree radial you fly directly over the LAX tower to the Hawthorne & 405 Freeway visual reporting point. You start with Santa Monica tower, then go to LAX tower, then to Hawthorne tower, all within about two miles. Here’s the information from the sectional on the Mini Route:

miniroute

To complete the V-3 rating, you then need to go to Torrance tower after that for landing. Here’s the flight plan I mapped out for the flight (starting at John Wayne airport at the bottom right):

SkyVector__Flight_Planning___Aeronautical_Charts 3

I’m happy to say that all went according to plan. A solid autopilot made it a heck of a lot easer, as I was able to focus more on the radios while letting the altitude and directional tracking do their things. I did somehow mess up my autopilot right in the heart of the Mini Route, though, and flew that section directionally by hand, which was fine. The approach and landing in Torrance was all by hand to, of course. Here’s the flight track data (ignore the blue line – ATC noted the flight as John Wayne direct to Torrance for flight planning purposes, but knew I was going via the Coastal and Mini routes):

PEaware____N15JG_KSNA-KTOA

PEaware____N15JG_KSNA-KTOA 2

It really was a lot of fun. One reason I think it went so well is that I watched the training video for the flight, and then flew it once or twice on my own to practice. It was really helpful knowing what to expect visually and timing-wise, and I’d encourage anyone trying for the V-3 on PE to do the same. I also had a radio plan written out, with what calls to make when, frequencies, altitude changes etc., so I could keep track along the way. With so many handoffs it’s easy to think you’re talking to SoCal approach when really you’re talking to Santa Monica tower. All told, here’s the list of radio contacts for my particular flight:

  1. John Wayne (KSNA) ATIS for the weather
  2. KSNA clearance for clearance delivery check in
  3. KSNA ground for taxi
  4. KSNA tower for departure
  5. SoCal departure to begin flight following
  6. SoCal approach to continue following and to request the Coastal Route
  7. A different SoCal approach frequency to continue following through the Coastal Route and to ask approval to get the Torrance (KTOA) weather
  8. KTOA ATIS for the weather
  9. Santa Monica (KSMO) tower to request the Mini Route
  10. LA tower across the Mini Route
  11. Hawthorne (KHHR) tower to exit the Mini Route
  12. Torrance (KTOA) tower for landing (and I never was asked to go to KTOA ground or it would be on the list, too)

PilotEdge records all their radio shifts to help with training, and I went back and pulled the mp3 files and edited together the calls for my flight. You can listen to it by clicking the play button below, and my call sign is Skylane 15 Juliet Golf.


The PE software does a nice job of automatically deleting any dead air, so it’s compressed significantly from the actual flight time of just under an hour. I say that also so nobody thinks PE is always this busy, although sometimes it is. I hope you like listening to it, and thanks for reading about my PE flight across the LAX Bravo.