Alphabet Challenge Leg 26 KTOA - K0O2

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Talan2000
Posts: 207
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2014 8:59 pm
Location: McKinney, Texas, USA, Earth

Alphabet Challenge Leg 26 KTOA - K0O2

Post by Talan2000 »

Pilots,

So I was humming one of those immortal tunes from "The Little Mermaid" as I conducted this flight, "Under the B, Under the B, Down where its lower, you will fly slower, under the B..."

http://peaware.pilotedge.net/flight.cfm?id=88363

Situation: Bad singing aside, this is a very useful training flight. I decided to file VFR so I would have to face the B in all it's unsung glory. I carefully studied the TAC and the Fly Chart and unashamedly plugged in Visual waypoints on the GPS. If I were doing this for real and I had a GPS I would certainly use it. That said, you can also identify all of the visual checkpoints you need without help from any satellite. I suspect that in the real world there is quite quite a bit more traffic and frequency congestion than was reflected on my departure so I am sure the stress level would be much higher.

Lessons Learned:
Plan Ahead - Know your route. Scan that chart and make sure you know your reference points, and where those B shelves begin and end.
One small point I might make, though I certainly am no instructor, is that it's generally a really good idea to follow the recommended fly (blue) paths depicted on the aforementioned FLY chart. That said, you are not required to fly those exact routes so for example I headed NE at Fullerton to vicinity of POM and didn't go along the El Monte blue path NW to cross under the approach path of KLAX.
Under the B.JPG
Under the B.JPG (388 KiB) Viewed 3392 times
See and Avoid: I think you can pretty much rule out getting flight following under the real KLAX B, though I would love to be corrected on this, so you need to keep your eyes peeled to avoid traffic. One of the unfortunate side effects of these B and to a lesser extent C airspaces is that they tend to concentrate traffic into the Non-B areas. I imagined every student pilot in the basin was directly ahead of me as I crossed northeast, practicing his stalls and steep turns, and not looking for me. So I made sure to make advisory calls on 122.3 as noted on the chart...only problem...it's 123.3 :) My eyes are failing me fast I'm afraid.

Radio Anomaly: A gremlin seems to have returned to my cockpit. Oddly, when I was making those alert broadcasts, KTOA tower was receiving me. This was quite odd because the Carenado King Air C90 has a working COMM1 and COMM2 switch. I've used it tons and tons of times with no issues. But even after I triple checked that it was in COMM2 (and the right advisory freq dialed in on COMM2, KTOA (Dialed in on COMM1) kept receiving me)). I eventually gave up and dialed Advisory into COMM1 and selected COMM1 to end the confusion...It was probably entirely coincidental that this was the first flight I have done where I noticed the new Radio freq isolation change to PE (hearing Palomar ground at KTOA ground for example). I'll have to try to troubleshoot some more and I'm sure the trouble was entirely on my end and not the new change, but I mention it only in case some of you other guys have radio anomaly's with COMM1/COMM2 selection, especially if anyone has a Carenado King Air C90.

Over the Hill: There's a hill just west of Baker, so plan your entry for the Right Traffic Pattern ahead of time. Go south of the field and loop around for DW entry, go north (more time in the MOA), have fun.
Keith Smith
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Re: Alphabet Challenge Leg 26 KTOA - K0O2

Post by Keith Smith »

If you'd like to test the COM1/2 switch, a great way is to use the online map to see what freq the system thinks you're on. It updates every 10 seconds, so give it time. The isolation change won't affect what you hear from ATC. It only changed how many pilots you hear.
Talan2000
Posts: 207
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2014 8:59 pm
Location: McKinney, Texas, USA, Earth

Re: Alphabet Challenge Leg 26 KTOA - K0O2

Post by Talan2000 »

That's a great troubleshooting tip. Thanks!
flyingdrill
Posts: 271
Joined: Sun Jun 22, 2014 4:15 am

Re: Alphabet Challenge Leg 26 KTOA - K0O2

Post by flyingdrill »

Nice flight, IFR in the PA46. I did, however, screw up the DP. I was set up with flying runway heading, and the number 2 VOR was tuned to LAX for the 170 radial intercept. I had left the A/P on heading, and carelessly left GPS1 on VLOC, while GPS 2 was correctly on VLOC, so I could see the radial intercept. There was a lot of cloud cover, and my frame rate went from around 30 to 9 - a slideshow. I had started this flight yesterday, and had X-Plane crash on me on the runway, just before take off. Seeing the frame rate decaying, I was so busy trying to identify why, that I watched the radial capture, and waited for the heading change - which never came! I could hardly move a knob. I just forgot to switch GPS1 to GPS, which would have turned me on course after LIMBO. Hand flying this at 9 fps would have been a nightmare, but I still have little excuse for messing this up a bit - the controller politely asked me where I was going after LIMBO (or the equivalent), and I got myself organized on to the proper course quickly.

This shows what happens when brilliant, complex avionics can easily get you into trouble, if you don't push the right buttons!

There were a surprising number of frequency changes on the earlier portion of the flight. At one stage, I was asked to change and got no response. Hmm... Went back to the last frequency. Nothing. Meanwhile, nothing heard. Checked the PE connection - OK. Tried box 2. Nothing. Back to Box 1. was considering squawking 7600 and my next option, when the controller called me! There was a technical glitch at PE's end. Phew! We're breathing again ;)

From then on, all went smoothly, and I eventually left the cloud cover behind, whereupon the frame rate went up to 35+ fps and, later, over 50 on the ground. I guess the X-Plane cloud cover, together with the complicated cockpit of a Malibu with 2x430s is just too much for this particular graphics card.
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