Son of a Beach - Long Beach

Piper PA-44 Seminole

Man! Talk about things happening at the Ol’ Ranch! Connie and I departed Springville on Sunday March 4^th for Torrance (who stuck March into this picture so soon, anyway?!). I had signed up with a flight school called “ATP” for multi-engine flight training. They are a big outfit based at the Long Beach Airport and other large airports around the country.

Connie has a dear friend who lives a mere ten miles from the airport and who was most gracious enough to allow us to stay with her until I was finished. How neat is that? I had actually tried to sign on with “Mazzei’s Flight School” in Fresno but they were booked! So, Long Beach was the next choice.

I arrived early as is my usual protocol and got acquainted with my instructor, Zach Bell. Zach, I was to find, was a consummate professional and a great instructor! We had some “getting onboard” formalities to attend to (like, paying to play and signing all of the papers) so that was taken care of. Soon, we were in pre-flight mode and then we boarded the aircraft. Ziggity!

The plane is the twin-engine Piper PA-44 Seminole. She’s basically the backbone of the multi-engine training fleet in this country. Strapped to her “Hershey bar” (big rectangular) wings are two normally aspirated Lycoming 0-360 engines pumping out about 180 hp per side. You won’t see her entered into any races but you will see her at just about every airport that offers multi-engine training.

The Seminole is basically the Piper PA-28R Arrow but with two engines. The Arrow is basically the Piper PA-28-181 Archer but with retractable landing gear and a “T-tail”. I’ve flown the Archer (and all other Cherokees save for the Cherokee Six) but have yet to fly the single engine Arrow. Reckon I just side-stepped that one to fly the Seminole. “Mazzei’s” actually has the Arrow and I hope to fly it while picking up my instrument rating if they can spare an instructor. They just hired three new instructors but still don’t have time for small town pilots like me. Heck…I told them that my money was good and that the ink should be dry by the time I get up there. HEHEH.

So, it appeared that I would actually be flying an old friend that had an extra engine. That pretty much was the case. Ah…but it sounds soooo simple. However, as you well know, when you have an airplane with one engine, taking care of the particulars is a handful. When you have two engines, the particulars are three handfuls. This is also to say that, actually flying the airplane is somewhat easy but handling the checklist, knowing the emergency engine-out procedures, and riding herd on the instruments is a much greater workload.

After the preflight and finding that all pieces were in close proximity to each other and that we had gas enough to fly without stopping at the local Shell station, we boarded the bus. Ol’ Captain Sweetie (thanks for the telling appellation, Connie) strapped himself in and settled in for the duration.

“ATP” had sent me a 50 page study guide. I was just so thankful that they only wanted me to memorize 40 pages of it. It concerned what they expected me to do prior to taking a check ride and also how the Seminole performed in flight and on the ground. After a week of memorizing everything but the names of the individual 6,000 rivets on the aircraft, I felt somewhat secure in steering this modest twin into the placid ether above Long Beach Harbor’s “Angel’s Gate” and all points west to Catalina Island and back. Ah, but there was more.

No self-respecting airplane would be caught dead without its checklist and the Seminole was no exception. I am used to using a checklist on all of the airplanes I fly with the exception of the Aeronca Champion. But…holy guacamole! I wasn’t expecting a thick bible! Each step of every part of the operation of the aircraft, from pre-flight to post-flight when the props stop spinning and the chocks are in place, is prescribed in the checklist. What to do if an engine stops, what to do during pre-take off, post-take off, climb, cruise, descent, while on approach, and while in the pattern, and what to do after landing is all detailed in the checklist.

Contrast this with the checklist of the 1946 Aeronca 7DC Champion that I’ve recently been flying. The list is basically: GO CART – Gas, Oil, Controls, Altimeter, Run-up, and Time. In other words, kick the tires and light the fires. It translates as, “Checklist? Checklist? We don’t need no stinking checklist!”. Of course, one of the other airplanes that I fly, a Cessna 172 with a 180 hp engine conversion, constant speed prop, and STOL kit, does have a real checklist but it’s nothing compared to the Seminole.

A strange thing happened while I was perusing the checklist. There are a couple of really interesting psychological phenomena known as “perceptual blocking” and “perceptual filtering”. It means that you can’t see what’s actually in front of your face. Now, you would think that a fully-growed (sic) fella like myself would be able to  see what was on his check list. HA! Silly you! I managed to look directly at the check list and erase much of it in a single bound! How on earth could a reasonably intelligent guy with at least one good eye do this?! Well, it’s easy….at least the best that I can tell. What wasn’t supposed to be there, according to my previous 30 years of single engine flight training, just wasn’t there. It didn’t exist in my world so it didn’t exist in this new world’s checklist. Oh, by the way, that’s not a good thing when transitioning to a twin-engine airplane where check lists are paramount.

I’ve been flying small planes since 1963. Not only that, I’ve been flying small planes at a small airport since 1963. The check lists are short and you don’t have to report to “Clearance” for permission to contact “Ground Control”, then report to “Ground Control”, and then call the “Control Tower”. So, I was looking at the twin engine checklist at the second busiest general aviation airport in the country and seeing “SINGLE ENGINE AIRCRAFT OPERTATION AT A SMALL AIRPORT”.  In other words, I was trying to fly a multi-engine aircraft like a single engine plane and missing crucial checklist items though they were right in front of my face. It was embarrassing and exasperating. If I were a Mexican I would be tempted to cry out, "Santa Maria y Teresa!".

If that doesn’t make you want to wash your didy in the new low-suds “Tide”, on my first attempt at getting the twin engined box of rocks back to the ground, I was trying to land it like a Cessna! Actually, in all fairness to yours truly, my instructor advised that all Cessna drivers do this but that they learn to overcome their previous training. I did overcome that part and drove the twin onto the runway at 70 knots as directed by the instructor and the checklist. It was a non-event. I just had to remember to land the aircraft without much flare at all and with enough airspeed to make a go-around if necessary (and, when they pull the mixture handle taking away a perfectly good engine, they make sure that it is necessary!).

Well, that’s called, “flying the plane”. I can do that part. However, the aircraft is equipped with two beautiful Garmin GNS 430 GPS/Nav/Radio units that have the HSI and VOR’s slaved to them. Unfortunately, someone forgot to train me in the use of these new fangled boxes of semiconductors. Oh, yes. Someone also forgot to apprise me of the fact that Long Beach Airport is the second busiest General Aviation airport in the nation (only Van Nuys, not far away to the north, is busier). This translates to a “work load” on a pilot from a small uncontrolled airport in the southern San Joaquin Valley.

Frankly, I loved the plane and its instrumentation. I’ve read about the GNS 430 and have even used it twice but am still learning how to use it correctly. It’s great! The handling qualities of the plane were quite familiar and were without intimidation. It flew like most other Piper’s with which I am acquainted. But, unlike its single engine siblings, it has the glide ratio of a bag of Oreos. Anyway, when thrust into such a busy environment without having sufficient training with the excellent instrumentation, and while flying in airspace that is completely foreign to me, the result was predictable; it was overwhelming.

Imagine having to have sudden and immediate recall of several unfamiliar frequencies (even though I did write them down and had them on my kneeboard), airspace parameters, altitude restrictions, and being required to have complete environmental awareness (i.e. being aware of the many aircraft that are in the practice area between Catalina Island and Long Beach and the nearby restricted airspaces) on the first flight! Now, try to balance that with actually flying the airplane through a number of flight maneuvers without “impressing” the instructor. *Sigh*. This is pretty tough stuff for a pilot who hasn’t flown into controlled airspace in almost ten years. I hadn’t fully realized that fact until I was looking down from 4,500 feet MSL and beholding the absolutely stunning beauty of Long Beach Harbor from Catalina Island. This is also to say that Ol’ Ran simply wasn’t proficient with flying at a “real” airport. All of this means that I wasn’t able to fully fly the plane as effectually as was necessary to complete the accelerated training program. It became clear that I was a candidate for the “un-accelerated” program. “Ol’ Slow Ran”, they call me.

Because of the above (overwhelming) dynamics, and after more than 6 hours of dual instruction, I decided to voluntarily withdraw from the program prior to the check ride and resume at a time when I wasn’t so dusty and rusty and in airspace (e.g. Fresno) with which I was familiar.

My instructor was a prince. He understood and called me a good pilot. That may have been because I brought him and the plane back in one piece and without him needing a new Huggie. He was right thankful for that, I should suppose. It was also in light of the fact that I always hung the airplane on the assigned altitude and was more prepared procedurally (i.e. I did my homework) than anyone else that he could recall. Because of that, he commented that I would make a great “IFR” pilot. I was most humbled. The instrument rating is, in fact, the next goal.

It made sense to me because, had I not withdrawn, I was looking at being rather unprepared for the check ride. There was no way I was going to add a busted check ride to my shopping cart so it was time to “Take Me Back to Tulsa”, boys. “ATP” issued an immediate pro-rated refund.

I’ll be contacting “Mazzei’s” in Fresno again and see if they can sequence me into their program up there. Their program is six weeks long and I think to say that their longer (decelerated) agenda is right up my alley. Most likely, the training received in Long Beach can easily shorten their syllabus and I can take the check ride sooner. Anyway, I’ll keep everyone apprised as I can.

The next step is probably to head to Livermore and check out in their “Waco Classic” YPF5C and their Great Lakes 2T. This WACO is an all new model built in Battle Creek, MI. She’s a cutie that looks exactly like the antiques! She's equipped with the 275 hp Jake on her nose which I think is wonderful! The Continental powered WACO’s climb like homesick angels anyway so this one must be a hoot! I called “Attitude Aviation” and found that I merely need to schedule the program. It should only take about a week to nail down both planes.

They also have a Marchetti SF-260 hot rod with the big 260hp Lycoming on it. I understand them to be ex-Italian AF trainers and they currently use them for mock combat flights. Sounds like fun to me! Their Pitts S-2C is also available but I’m not really all that ready to tackle aerobatics. Plus, I think the Pitts is a bit more responsive and sensitive on the controls for a ham hand like me. I may reconsider after building some time in other ships.

We’ll be putting in an above ground garden if we can. It’s already pretty late to do so but it may yet work. The 2’ x 12” x 10’s are stacked but need to be painted and we need to get some compost. I figure we should be ready by Christmas or New Years at the latest. We have a ton seeds which should last for many more years.

The exhaust manifold on the Ranch Rhino (tractor) is being fixed and it should be back to work soon. It doesn't eat much but its wrangler is the laziest varmint I've seen in awhile. On one of the next “burn days” I hope to turn the huge pile of tree and grass trimmings and such that I’ve been collecting for the previous three years into smoke, heat, and gas.

More later as we can. Stay tuned for the adventures of Ol’ Sky Jack Ran (I was buckin’ for “Sky King” but it’s already taken) and his side-cook, Sweetie Pie Connie.