Exploring

As I mentioned in a previous post, you get a lot of free time to travel and see places while you are here. My recommendation for anyone that comes here is to take full advantage of it. This post will solely be about some of the fun stuff that me and some of my classmates have been doing since we've been here.

Flyboarding and Boats

About a month and a half ago, one of my friends here invited me to something called Flyboarding at Lake Pleasant, which is in North Phoenix. I thought to myself "Flyboarding?", seemed like some outer space type thing. However when I looked it up online, it looked like quite possibly the coolest thing ever. See for yourself here: http://azflyboardrentals.com/


How it works is that there is a board with two jets which tie onto your feet. The water pressure comes from a modified jetski which is manned by two people who seem to hopefully know what they're doing. One of the people on the jetski control the amount of power you receive at the flyboard, so depending on your experience level, they adjust the power accordingly. There were four of us that went, with 15 minutes each and although it doesn't sound like a long time, it certainly felt like more than enough since we were all exhausted by the end of it. I don't think I've ever had to use so many muscles on my legs and feet so much before.

Planes aren't the only way to fly

You may wonder what else there is to do in a massive lake? Well fear not, there is indeed plenty to do in Lake Pleasant. There are jet skis, fishing and speed boats. There are also canoes but lets be honest, things without engines aren't very interesting. We got jet skis then hired a 300hp speed boat afterwards, it goes without saying that both of those things are amazing fun and with the weather being over 30 degrees Celsius in October, it is perfect for water sports!

On a boat!

Las Vegas

The next adventure after that brought me to the fabulous Las Vegas. I had a very good friend of mine (who himself is an OAA graduate) come to visit me for just under a week. It's the second time I've ever been and if I am to be completely honest, I think it is a place that every over 21 year old must visit at some point in their lives.

Las Vegas Boulevard

We stayed in the New York New York hotel which is on the strip. My advice is to stay anywhere along here since this is where all the magic happens. What I would also highly highly highly highly recommend to anyone who is visiting for the first time is to arrive at night, and by car. This is the second time I've ever visited so we arrived when there was still daylight. However on my first visit last year I arrived with my friends late at night. Trust me, when you drive through the pitch black desert, the first thing you'll see on the 95 is the pillar of light from the Luxor Hotel bursting into the sky. The next thing you'll notice is this surreal panorama of lights. As you get closer it just looks more and more magical. Then you'll drive through Las Vegas Boulevard, otherwise known as The Strip, where you'll see an incredible display of adult paradise. If you're arriving from the south, you'll see these incredible looking hotels and casinos, along with the street vibe and you'll understand immediately why they call it the Fabulous Las Vegas!

We went to grab some dinner at PF Changs, then got ready and partied until the early hours at The Marquee nightclub, which is inside The Cosmopolitan Hotel. I'd say it's probably the best club I have ever been to. If you're into your clubbing, you'll simply be blown away by the sheer size and beauty of this place. Beautiful layout along with beautiful people. It wasn't too different from our second night where we hit XS nightclub at The Encore Hotel. Both nights had high profile dance DJs performing there so all these clubs generally pull in a crowd.

During the day we walked around, I actually had a chance to go to the Old Las Vegas, which is quite a way south of Las Vegas Boulevard. It's amazing to see how much had changed in such a small space of time. There wasn't really much to do there in comparison to what's on offer in the current Las Vegas Strip, but it's something that has to be seen. For me, it was amazing to think of how much time and effort goes into building all these amazing structures and sites for people to just go and have a good time, even to this day. You notice if you have a chance to tour all of the casinos and hotels along the strip, that you don't really fully appreciate the quality of everything. For instance, take a look at the picture I've posted below:

These flower are real

What you see is the garden that they've built inside The Wynn hotel, just by the casino. I mean look at it, those plants are real and breathing. I can't begin to comprehend the amount of work that went into building this masterpiece. Having said all this, Vegas isn't a place for everyone. If you're not a smoker, drinker or clubber then it would probably be your nightmare. It is a 24 hour place and and if you are not that type of person then it is probably not for you.

Tuscon Boneyard

A place I would highly recommend to anyone who is at least remotely interested in aviation is the Tuscon Bonyard, or more appropriately named the AMARG boneyward. There aren't really many bones there, but instead a humongous collection of planes that have come to the end of their lives, ranging from world war bombers to more recent airliners. You could truly spend an entire day walking around and seeing the planes as there are apparently more dead planes here than there are registered and flying in the UK. I have generously posted a few of the pictures I took from when I went. 

Convair B36

Airforce 2 - B707

Not sure what this is

Airforce 2 - B707

US Navy F/A-18

Grand Canyon

Well the last place I'll talk about is the Grand Canyon. I'd say of all the places I've been to since I've been here, this is the place you should really go out of your way to see. I'm sure you've all seen pictures in magazines and it just looks like a load of red rocks. Let me tell you though, no words can describe what this place actually looks like when you see it in real life with your own eyes. It is simply magnificent. Me and a few others who were brave enough went fairly close to the edge and when I look out into the distance, it felt like I could sit there for hours to absorb the greatness that was in front of me. 

On the edge

I was also fortunate enough to get noticed by the National Geographic! Well, the National Geographic Visitor Center but I only say the National Geographic to people since it sounds like I'm more famous. What had happened was I tweeted the picture that you see below, suddenly after a matter of minutes, the NG replied to that tweet asking me if they could use it on their Facebook page, to which I happily gave them permission. Subsequently a few days later they messaged me again asking if they could use it as their 'cover photo of the week', to which I also said yes. So yes, I am now rather famous since this cover photo has been there for a good month now!

Me being famous

There is quite a lot to see and do here, and there is enough time to do a lot of these activities. Of course the flying comes first, so I stress to everyone who does the flying here that it is intense and that you must stay on top of it. At the same time, most of us fly on average 4-5 days per week so there is plenty of time to still have fun. It's an opportunity of a lifetime so be sure that when you do have the time, make the most of it. If you work hard, you can play hard and you will have the time of your life.

Navigating

Well the good news is that I'm still flying, rather confidently now. After my first progress test I had two solo circuit lessons which were so much fun. On the first of those solo circuits I had to cut it short since the winds suddenly became rather violent. I came in to do my third touch and go and as I flared this nasty gust blew my aircraft and as the main wheels touched the tarmac, the nose was pretty much facing toward the CAE building (which isn't at the end of the runway). Luckily, my exceptionally fast thinking mind told me to go full throttle and perform a go around. Once I was stable in the climb, I contacted tower for a wind check, I was then promptly informed that the winds were 10011KTG15, and as fast as tower responded, I immediately requested a full stop. I thus touched down safely and I am now able to fortunately tell this tale! 

The next solo lesson went much better. Winds were calm, the sky was crystal clear, and there weren't any Goliath thermals trying to push me up into the Tropopause. I managed to do 2 glide ins, 2 flapless landings, 3 normal landings and of course 1 full stop. By the end of it I felt pretty confident in the general handling of the aircraft.

So now my latest venture on this programme is navigation. I was really looking forward to it because I did enjoy flight planning and general navigation when I did it in ground school, so I was really looking forward to applying it practically. 

The first few navigation lessons involve basic familiarization with flight planning on our terminal and sectional charts and filling out nav logs. The general planning process goes like this:

1. Route planning on sectional or terminal chart the day before the flight and partial completion of nav log
2. Completion of planning using winds aloft to give groundspeeds and headings to make good planned track
3. Execution of the planned flight!

There is a lot to take in. If you're not familiar with Falcon Field airport, it operates within a Class D airspace, and only 4000ft above the airfield is Class B, which is where all the big jets fly, and you cannot enter Class B without clearance. Since Phoenix Skyharbor is only 15NM away, there is a myriad of Class B shelves around Phoenix which we must pay special attention to avoid. 

Navigating just like the old days

The first navigation flight we did was from the airfield to a visual landmark and back again. There is so much going on, you don't really have time to relax. For instance, you need to constantly check your heading, speed, altitude and timing. On top of that, remembering the cruise checklist which is checking the fuel tanks, engine indications, flight instruments and location, and also constantly looking out for where you are, where you're going and making good headings to maintain the planned track. It does sound rather daunting, however you do just eventually get the hang of it all. At this stage I'm no where near perfect, however constantly improving on the ability to look for visual reference points to prove that I'm heading towards the correct turning point, and performing the checklists are slowly becoming second nature. 

At first it was quite challenging to find good turning points to plot on the map, but once you become more familiar with the procedures, the planning becomes a lot less tedious and much more enjoyable. It's quite satisfying when you plan your route with headings and groundspeeds adjusted for wind, and you make your turning points at the time you planned exactly.

So that's it really for the flying, unfortunately this week my instructor's been off sick with a neck injury so I've not been able to progress as quickly as I had hoped. My next solo and dual missions are AP25 and AP26 so I've still got much to learn yet.