Steve Slade

Friday's Fabulous Flyer.  

 Steve Slade

Today we're shifting gears a bit. From women flying the Air Race Classic... to an amazing helicopter pilot. For all of us who think that helicopters beat the air into submission, might be right. But it looks like a heck of a way to go. From mechanic to pilot and back again... Steve has had a great career.

Steve began his flying as an Army training helicopter pilot honor graduate.  He flew OH-58 helicopters in Hawaii for his entire tour.  He actually started out in the Army as a Helicopter Mechanic on the Cobra in the 70's. 

 

After getting out of the Army he flew for PHI helicopters,  flying crews out to oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.  Steve says, "It was fun in 100 mile per hour winds when we had to evacuate guys off the rigs as the oil companies waited until the last minute to do it. Not to mention flying over hundreds of miles of alligator infested swamps......single engine...."

He then traveled to Hawaii after PHI and worked for a couple operators on Kauai and Maui flying tours to the waterfalls, beaches, and valleys.  He landed on a deserted black sand beaches on the island of Molokai. The north shore had the tallest sea cliffs in the world.  This was a beautiful tour by helicopter, as it was the only way to see it, as there were no roads.

 Molokai black sand beach

He became the Chief Pilot for Hawaii Helicopters.  They were the only company that every flew the Sikorsky S76 helicopter, the same as Donald Trump's.  He is only one of three people to have ever flown a 76 around the Hawaiian islands.  He also flew many celebrities such as Keanu Reeves, and Vince Neil of the rock ground Motley Crue. 

 Keanu Reeves

Who else has he flow?

For seven years he flew George Harrison, of the Beatles, back and forth from the airport to his house on the north shore of Maui, landing on his front lawn overlooking the ocean. In addition to celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Wayne Newton, Joe Montana and Kenny Logins, he flew Shawn Penn who Steve say's was actually very nice, as was Steve Perry the lead singer of the group Journey. He also flew Stevie Wonder and Tammy Wynette.

 Vince Neil

He flew many Pro Bowlers, and said, "Talk about taking off almost over gross!!" He flew many long tours from Maui over to the Big Island to see the active volcano of Kilauea.

 Molokai North Shore

After twenty years in Hawaii and over 8,000 tour hours... it was time to move on.

"I got sick of the sun and took a job L. A. doing tours of Santa Monica Beach, downtown L.A., Sony Studios, Madonna's home, etc."

Steve became the Chief Pilot for Bravo Aviation flying out of LAX from the rooftop of the parking garage. Unfortunately 911 stopped the tour business out of that location for many months so he made his next move to fly Emergency Medical Helicopters or EMS.

Steve and his medic in B0-105. 

"We saved many lives over the years, landing in the most outrages places like right in the middle of Interstate I-10. Also flew off shore to pick up the sick and wounded if needed.  One flight I had to refuel 4 times as I went out to farthest oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.  I had to top off at the last refueling pad, then just barely make it out to the "Deep Blue" and back to fuel again.  The took the guy all the way to Texas.

My medic was amazing.  We would land on a horrible accident scene and he would take control and somehow get the person packaged up and in the helicopter.  Night and day, marginal weather.  (Less than 500/1).  Believe me, if your loved ones were ever hurt, Kevin is the guy you would want to come take them to the hospital."

Steve found his mechanic history once again and went to work for the largest EMS operator in the world: Air Methods. After nearly 11,000 hours, he had trouble with his medical and decided to hang up his flying hat.  

He worked for Air Methods in their maintenance hangar and overhaul shop before being offered a job as a Director of Maintenance at Helicopter Flight Services in New York. That's where his is today. 

Hangar with their 9 aircraft.  

Helicopter Flight Services provides tours of New York, the Statue of Liberty, etc.  His responsibility is to keep them flying and safe for their pilots. "Believe me, a much more technical and complicated job than flying."

"When you are cheating death and gravity (flying), interesting things happen like the above picture (Wasn't me!). Guess they miss judged how deep the puddle was.  Something you jet jocks don't have to worry about like us puddle jumpers... "

Life is all about the journey... and it's all good. Just ask Steve. Have you ever flown or wanted to fly a helicopter? Looks like fun to me.

Enjoy! 

XO Karlene

Startle Effect

T.H.ursdays with Tom Hill are interrupted today by his being on a 10-day trip. He is camping on his bike in a very remote area. He will be traveling toward Flagstaff, and Yellowstone NP.  Tom will return next week with wonderful stories and more great photos. 

Today... I am sharing a story a blog reader had sent me. I am curious from instructors, and students alike, what do you think of the Altoid training?

"Sometimes with new students, I would take a prescription bottle filled with small Altoids, and tell them I had a heart condition. These were Nitroglycerin pills, and if they made me nervous, I would take them in flight.

As soon as they rotated, I would pour the whole bottle in my mouth, and once we got to 3-4,000 ft AGL, I would act like I passed out, and start to press the right rudder.

When they started to panic, I'd come to recover the plane, and say, "Just messing with you. You're doing fine."

Good times. They would be back the next day hungry for more."

While this appears unorthodox, there was a time when we did unusual attitude training. One pilot would close his eyes, and the other pilot would put the plane in an unusual attitude. The pilot flying would open his eyes, digest what he saw, and fix it. Not quite like instilling fear that your instructor died...but we did have to recover. And yet in hindsight, I did have a captain fake death on his landing in a 747 and I had to take over the plane. This was during my 747 type rating in the simulator.

Funny story interruption ... Recently a friend had told me of a time he had been in the simulator doing this type of unusual attitude training. One pilot closed his eyes, the other pilot pulled, yanked and banked, dove and added rudder. Then the instructor said, "Go ahead and recover." The pilot who'd had his eyes closed began working the controls, but to no success. They were going in. 

The other pilot looked at him. Squinted. And then said, "Hey dude. Open your eyes." 

Truth is stranger (and often funnier) than fiction. 

The reality is, the FAA is now encouraging airlines to include a module in training with a "startle" factor involved. Startle the pilots and see how they react. The final report from AF447 referred commented that the startle effect and the emotional shock at the autopilot disconnection may have been an attributing factor in the pilot's inability for a proper reaction. 

I am not sure if this startle factor was relevant in this case. We train pilots daily how to deal with emergencies. If you can say one thing about pilots who leave the school house, they don't crumble in the face of their plane having a hiccup. Nobody ever plans to get a V1 engine failure on takeoff. That would be startling. But pilots handle that successfully, even when it is a surprise. We are trained to respond and take action, the pilots who can't handle the surprise, are normally weeded out before they get to the line. 

The real question is... why and when did we stop giving 'unusual attitudes' during simulator training? Perhaps that was all that was necessary for the pilot monitoring in AF447 to be able to figure out what was happening to the plane.

Instructors...what are you doing, if anything, to prepare your students for the unexpected? 

Students...how far can your instructor go before he/she crosses the line with the startle factor?

Enjoy the journey!

XO Karlene

A330 Flap Logic

"Regarding normal flap operation: I never understood how the flaps 1 position worked on an airbus. I see the flap lever only has a "1" position, but the indicator sometimes says 1 or 1+F. So when would it have flaps in addition to slats? Is it an FMS input or system logic?”

This is a great question, and this is how the system works:

Anytime the flap lever is moved to position 1, the slats move.

The question is… when will the flaps come out?

In this photo, the flaps and slats are out… thus the 1+F. Meaning, flaps 1 have been selected. On the left we see that slats "S" are in position 1, and on the right flaps "F" are in position 1.

 

If only slats were out, then we would only see 1.

In addition to the slats, the flaps will also extend to 1 when…

• Anytime on the ground.

If we’re planning a departure, we want our flaps out, not just the slats. Airbus logic knows this and the flaps will extend too.

• Anytime we’re retracting from flaps "greater than" 1, the flaps will stay at 1 until we move them to "O" position.

Sequentially this makes sense when retracting. We wouldn’t want them to go from flaps 2 to up, losing our lift, until we're ready

When won't we get flaps 1 when we select the 1 position?

• When airborne and we go from a clean wing to flaps 1 selection we only get the slats. Flaps will not come out until we select flaps 2 position.

When flying this plane everyone knows that Flaps 1 on arrival doesn’t really do a whole lot for slowing their plane. Do they know why? I'm not sure how many remember that we don't even have flaps when we select 1.

So what would be a really good beer question?

• In flight when you select flaps one, how many flaps come out? Answer…. ZERO.

Enjoy the Journey!

XOX Karlene

Holding in the A330

How do you enter a holding pattern?

The reason Evergreen hired me with low time was I knew the answer to this question. Well there was more to it than that, but they did give me a simulator check to see if I "could fly" and the results ended with the fact that I also knew how to enter and exit a holding pattern.

The night before the check Bo Corby taught me how to do this amazing feat, without the use of my thumbs. Most pilots were sticking their thumbs up like painting a masterpiece... angling left, then right, or drawing pictures to figure out how to enter.

How do we enter a holding pattern in the A330?

Answer: With a pointer finger and partial gray matter.

I suppose you could use your thumb, but it wouldn't be as graceful as using a pointer finger. Unless of course you're feeling a bit overwhelmed, overworked, or perhaps you could use the finger of your choice.

The point is, we now enter the holding pattern in the MCDU with a press of a button, or two, and the plane does all the work.

Easy as 1, 2, 3...  

1. Select lateral Nav (left side) on the location you want to hold over. (Or if you were to hold present position, 1 left is where you will start.)
2. If a holding pattern exists, cross check the hold displayed in the MCDU with the holding pattern on your chart. Edit as necessary. 
3. Select 6R ... INSERT*

Notes:

• If no hold exists... default values: Current inbound course to the fix. Right turns. 1.5 minute legs above 14, 000 feet and 1 minute legs below 14,000 feet. 
• We have the ability to edit direction of turn, time, distance, and the course, as necessary. 

Holding Speeds:

• If using managed speed, airspeed will be that for the current flap configuration (Green dot, S or F)
• If approaching the holding pattern in "selected" speed, and more than 5 knots different from computed hold speed, "SET HOLD SPEED" will be displayed on the PFD.

Predictions:

• LAST  EXIT values for UTC and FUEL
• Latest time to exit the hold. 
• Least amount of fuel on board to exit with alternate, reserve, and extra time.

Deleting the holding pattern:

• Prior to entering the hold: Clear the HOLD R or HOLD L waypoint. 
• Prior to entering or during the hold, an IMM EXIT prompt is displayed. Immediate exit.
• At anytime when you proceed direct to a waypoint.

 Selecting IMM:

• Prior to entering hold: Plane continues on flight plan.
• While in hold: Flight returns immediately to holding fix, then continues on flight plan. Holding pattern is erased after crossing fix. 
• When selected, IMM is replaced with Resume hold prompt. 

Enjoy the Journey! Next destination: Mumbai.
XO Karlene 

Today is My Lucky Day

"It's better to be lucky than good...

Unless, of course, you're good and lucky!"

Each year on my birthday I make a commitment to do something for a year. This is more of an exercise in discipline than anything. This commitment is also something good for my health such as eliminating sugar, or exercising daily... so it's all good. This year I decided to be creative and make the commitment that...

 Every Day is Doing to Be My Lucky Day.

So as luck would have it... I passed my recurrent last week. I connected on a flight to Austin to visit my daughter, son-in-law, and got to play with my grandson. I bet on It's my lucky Day in the the Preakness. He got second place, so it appears it was more my lucky day than his. And then scheduling called.

As luck would have it, I was assigned short call at 1400 on Sunday! What a lucky day. I had many options to get home in time to be in position for reserve. And then scheduling called... Again. I was assigned a six-day trip that left Sunday at noon. It appears that I am much luckier than the sick pilot unable to make this excursion from Seattle to Amsterdam and then on down to Mumbai and back.

There was one flight out of town Saturday night and that was Alaska Airlines, 1830 departure.  Thank goodness fish fly. It was my lucky day~ I got a seat. An aisle seat no less. And the crew bought me dinner on the flight. This was certainly my lucky day.

I will be home in time to babysit two of my other grandchildren for the weekend. I'm flying with great pilots, and excellent flight attendants on the worlds best airline. If you think about it, I have the job that thousands of young pilots want. Not only am I lucky...but grateful. I hope to see An during my trip through Amsterdam. Life is good. And my lucky days continue.

Today is definitely my lucky day. Which made me ponder... 

Do we make luck happen, or is luck some cosmic force that falls upon us?  Do we have a little bit of control over an attitude that creates success, or are successful people just lucky? 

I have always believed that Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. But maybe there is a little bit of attitude thrown into the mix. Is it possible to believe that this is my lucky day and make it so? Time will tell, but so far... everyday has been my lucky day.  Maybe you could make it yours too. 

Enjoy the Journey!

XO Karlene

Team Pancho Barnes

Friday's Fabulous Flyer(s)

Katja Jourdan and Amanda Suter

Beauty, brains and they fly too! These ladies are not your ordinary run of the mill college students. Times are a changing, and there is no limit for women who fly.

In 2011 we got to meet Katja while she was still in high school, and coordinating a fly-it-forward event. Today she is flight instructing, approaching her senior year in college and flying her second race with the ARC . And her co-pilot Amanda learned to fly in Washington State, she's a pilot, jumps out of planes and is headed for the Navy.

Katja and Amanda will be flying in the ARC beginning June 18, 2013 in Pasco, WA, to Fayettville, AR.

But how did these ladies become interested in the sky? Their stories are unique as they are. 

Katja Jourdan:

"I didn’t become interested in flying until spring break of my sophomore year in high school (2010). While on break, my family and I were staying in Tampa. We went to the MOSI museum and viewed Operation Red Flag: Fighter Pilot in an IMAX dome theater. The film was about Air Force fighter pilots learning to stimulate a war without actually killing each other. It featured plenty of cockpit shots, aerial combat, and midair refueling. Being able to watch the dome setting gave the impression that I was sitting in the cockpit with the pilots—it was love at first sight.

I later talked to my. cousin (a load-master in the AF for C117s) about my new found love. My cousin is also a CFI, so he was thrilled to hear of my new interest. He sent me his old private pilot books/DVDs and words of advice for success. As if I wasn’t lucky enough to catch the aviation bug, I soon found out that my high school offered a two-year private pilot course where you were able to obtain your certificate. It didn’t take me long before I decided to enroll; I couldn’t have been more ecstatic… although, I do remember being hesitant about financials because the course would cost me a mere $600 (I laugh about that now).

I started my junior year and the private pilot course in September of 2010. Two weeks into school I accepted that I was all gung-ho for aviation and that without a doubt it was the career path for me. I realized that I wanted to progress further in the industry quicker, so I chose to graduate high school a year early. My junior year only lasted two weeks, I was now a senior. This decision was probably one of the most difficult of my life because I had to give up so much to succeed.

I quit the field hockey team, I doubled up my schedule to take all of my required classes, I enrolled in night classes, I began working on a 5 month senior project, and I was flying at least three times per week. All of my hard work paid off though. In May of 2011, I watched my senior project unfold as I held a Women in Aviation event at the local airport. On June 20th, 2011 I had finally become a private pilot. June 24th, 2011, I walked across Rondout Valley High School’s graduation stage and accepted a regents diploma with high honors.

While in the midst of completing my senior year, I was looking at colleges. I made a trip down to Florida with my mom early in 2011 to visit Jacksonville University. When I visited Jacksonville University I fell in love with the university. I just had that feeling that it was perfect for me. I confirmed my enrollment and began my studies in August of 2011, majoring in Aviation Management & Flight Operations.

Since then, I’ve earned my Instrument rating, Commercial Multi-Engine certificate, and I’m about to finish up my Commercial Single-Engine add on. I will hopefully be starting CFI shortly! This upcoming Fall semester will be the start of my senior year (yes, graduating early again). I’m the president of our Women in Aviation Chapter, Treasurer of our Alpha Eta Rho Chapter, Historian of our flight team, an active member of Alpha Omicron Alpha, and a Teaching Assistant for the Aviation Department.

I was fortunate enough to be able to race last year as one of the two Jacksonville University teams. I race because of the experience. It’s not very often that you’re able to get 100+ fantastic female pilots together all racing in small aircraft, literally, across the country. As a pilot in training, being able to experience something so grand without a flight instructor is incredible. It really puts your knowledge and skills to the test. How well we apply all of the knowledge we’ve acquired in school is crucial in determining how we compare to the other teams. It’s an honor to be able to represent Jacksonville University again and I look forward to another extraordinary race in June!" ~ Katja.

Amanda Suter:

"I initially began flying by taking two flight lessons in Washington State in order to ensure that I enjoyed flying before I decided to commit to becoming a licensed pilot. Before my initial flights, I had decided to become a skydiver as well. Due to my prior skydiving experiences, I knew I would be happy in the sky, motivating me to strive for my dreams and become a pilot.

Since then, I have accomplished becoming an instrument-rated private pilot and am working on my commercial multi. Also, I have simultaneously worked to stay in the sky the way that initially led me to my passion for flying: I now have obtained my USPA (United States Parachute Association) ‘B’ License and have 145 skydives and 3 base jumps. I have always had a passion for adrenaline and controlling motorized vehicles; for example, I raced dirt bikes and quads growing up. The career and lifestyle aviation offers satisfies all of this for me personally.

I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to be a competitor in the Air Race Classic for many reasons including having an amazing time, satisfying my inner competitive racer (prior dirt bike and quad races), and overall gaining an incomparable aviation experience. I have never raced airplanes before; however, I feel as if this will be a reoccurring theme. I am looking forward to seeing the country and being responsible for a half a million dollar airplane (Cirrus SR20)!

I have been able to accomplish the things I have due to the opportunities the Navy has provided me via an NROTC scholarship. I am eternally grateful for this and plan to serve as a commissioned officer and Navy pilot beginning May 2014."  ~Amanda

Okay... there you have it! Two great women who are doing amazing things. Please join me in wishing them the best of luck to these incredible women in the Air Race Classic.

Enjoy the Journey!
XO Karlene 

Have You Ever Been Behind?

T.H.ursdays with Tom Hill

Of course, I'm talking about being behind in an aircraft. All of us have been there. You probably didn't know it when it happened the first time. At the time, while the airplane was winging its way towards the wild blue, you were probably still sitting in the chocks. Sure your body was in place. Your hands were on the controls. You might even have been talking. But, whether your brain was in sync for what was to happen next - that's a different story. Being behind, your brain was still back there on terra firma.

So much of what we do is based on pacing. A timeline forms in our brains, marking when tasks have to be done at various points. After takeoff, our internal pilot references the timeline: "What happens now?" The timeline says, "After Takeoff Checklist." You do the After Takeoff Checklist. Leveling off at altitude, your internal pilot checks in again. It says, "Cruise Checklist." Then, you do the Cruise Checklist. So it goes.

It gets exciting when your internal pilot assesses the timeline but events are whipping by way too fast to read. Of course, not being able to assess the timeline doesn't slow things down. Things might even speed up. By their nature, these timelines are impersonal and incessant.

Being behind isn't fun if you're by yourself. Bad things happen when your brain isn't in sync with what's going on and no one is there to help. Fortunately, we learn how to keep our brains up to speed by flying with instructors. With good instructors, we keep the mentally overwhelmed feelings at bay. Flying with instructors allows us to make mistakes and learn.

As bad as it might be when you're behind, there can be some good in throwing someone feet first into the deep end of high performance flying. As terrifying as it is to keep up, there is much goodness in having first-hand experience operating safely even though stuff is coming at you fast and furiously.

I used to teach a demo-flight in the F-15 during which we introduced the concepts of propulsion flight testing. Of course, we could have used any aircraft for this ride but the F-15 was especially well-suited because of its dual engines and high performance. Lots of learning can happen when you're hanging on by your finger-tips, getting the job done. This is the whole point of this post.

The flight required the student to put the F-15 into high-g, supersonic, or high angle-of-attack conditions throughout the exercise. The whole mission was highly scripted, as in, "Achieve these conditions, do that with the engines, then move onto next test point." Critical thought during the flight was not a mission requirement. Unlike many of our missions, this was dramatically tuned to, "Do, don't think." An important side benefit of this approach was to show the student, "If you keep fighting, you can keep up."

Even though I was there giving direct instructions--"Maintain 30,000 ft and 0.9M, now snap to afterburner, ramp to idle, pause 10 seconds, maintain conditions!"--you could tell when students began to get behind. The first things to go were simple tasks like talking on the radio. The next was flying the plane the way we briefed. This was soon followed by no communicating inter-cockpit. I normally took the aircraft before the student regressed to inability to respond to any direction. Most guys, after a short pause, snapped into sync in no time. I'd give the aircraft back, then continue on with the mission.

This mission and its lessons were especially important for the non-fighter guys in the class. The fighter guys were much more used to high performing environments and were typically less prone to being overly saturated while flying aggressively. The guys who previously flew cargo, passengers, and the like, had entirely different learning points during this flight. They were ripe to learn, "Yes, you, too, can hang on by your finger tips and live to tell the tale."

During debrief, we would discuss the technical mumbo-jumbo of the mission. Then, for those especially afflicted with being behind, I'd reserve a few minutes to talk about what worked and what didn't in order to recover. Normally, this discussion was less about memorizing procedures and such prior to flight. The lesson I tried to impart had two steps: first, recognize the symptoms. Then, keep fighting. Keep fighting to stay up to speed. Keep fighting to keep priorities straight. Keep fighting to stay safe. Keep fighting and never give up.

There are two messages I want to get across with this post. First, you have to recognize the symptoms and hazards of being behind your aircraft. I think we all have good stories about this. The other message is: Yes, if you are behind, you can recover if you keep fighting.


Cheers 

Tom