We would like to express our deepest gratitude to Capital Community Church of Raleigh for their contribution and support of Great Commission Aviation.  Their generosity is what enables us to continue along this ministry path.  Thank you again!

Well, it was a HOT 4 hours, but I passed my Instrument Checkride today!  I am now an Instrument Rated pilot and can fly in clouds and in the “IFR System.”

The day started early as I went to the flying club to make sure that the plane was ready to go and to stage some of my required “stuff” in the plane.  I met the examiner at 10AM and discussed the requirements for the exam.  We started with the oral portion where you discuss requirements and technical areas of the Instrument Rating.  We discussed what made the pilot legal, the plane legal and the flight plan legal for an IFR flight.  We then went over a “flight plan” that I was assigned to Asheville, NC.  This was a more technical flight plan as Asheville is in the mountains.  After 2 hours of the oral portion, we went to go fly the practical portion of the exam.

Since it is late June in North Carolina, it was very hot and humid this afternoon.  We took off around 12:30 or so for the practical portion.  This consists of starting your flight plan with Air Traffic Control, but an “emergency” forces you to return to your home field.  Then you proceed to perform 3 different types of instrument approaches, with missed approach procedures (can’t see the runway at decision height) and holds included.  It was a lot of GPS button pushing and bouncing around the sky in the afternoon thermals and wind.

After 1.5 hours, the examiner told me that I had passed the checkride on final approach of the last landing and then had me fly the instruments all the way to just about 10 feet off the runway before looking up and landing the plane.  We taxied back to the flying club and I was an Instrument Rated Pilot!

What’s next?  I need to fly 75 more hours before I qualify to take the Commercial Pilot Rating checkride.  During this time, I will have to qualify to fly a “complex” aircraft, which means a constant-speed prop and a retractable landing gear.  The Mooney aircraft at the flying club will meet this requirement.  I have already passed the Commercial Rating knowledge exam, so I just have to fly and get ready for the next checkride.  After that, it is time for instructor ratings!

I am happy to announce that I will be offering a Private Pilot Ground School this Fall (2015).  We will be utilizing space at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.  Tuition is only $99 for the class, plus textbooks and plotter/E6B “Computer”.  The class will be 3 hours one night a week for 14 weeks.  At the completion of the class, based on successful passing of a practice final exam, you will be signed off to take the FAA Knowledge Exam for the Private Pilot License.  If interested, shoot me an email at greatcommissionaviation@gmail.com.

On another note, I am flying like crazy to finish my Instrument Rating.  I need several more hours of practice and building time before I take the checkride.  I should be done in a few weeks, though.  Then it is off to the Commercial Rating!

I just got back from a very productive and fun time at Sun N’ Fun 2015 in Lakeland, Florida.  Here is the play-by-play.

I drove 10 hours on Wednesday since the plane that I was going to fly to Lakeland is being repaired from a mishap by another pilot.  I arrived at the hotel around 9 pm and went straight to bed beat from the drive and resting up for the next two hot, long days in the Florida sun.

I arrived at Sun N’ Fun bright and early Thursday morning.  Man, this place is a paradise for pilots!  Ultralights and powered parachutes were buzzing around over the parking lot and several planes were arriving for the fly-in.  Unfortunately, it immediately started raining hard and grounding everything for a couple of hours.  I found myself taking shelter in the International Association of Missionary Aviation (www.iamanet.org) tent.  This tent housed all of the kiosks for the different mission aviation groups.  I talked to several different individuals and made some great contacts and referrals, as well as, received some great advice.  I actually found out that the focus of Great Commission Aviation is called “Micro-Aviation” and that we are encouraged to develop this area.  We will be joining IAMA in the near future.

After the rain let up, I headed over to the Light Sport area and immediately began gathering information on the different aircraft.  Some interesting things that I found include the Rans S-20 (www.ransdesigns.com).  This is a side-by-side seating taildragger bushplane that would be a good fit for Missionary Micro-Aviation.  Here is a pic of the interior of a Rans S-20:

I also received a lot of information on GYROPLANES.  I had not really looked into these before but, man, are they cool!  They take off in less than 300 feet and land in 0-50 feet.  While they are considered experimental aircraft in the US, they are certified in most other countries and factory-built aircraft.  I got to take a demo ride in an Autogyro Calidus (the pic below) (www.auto-gyro.com/en/):

 

Here are some pictures from my flight:

Gyroplanes’ lift comes from a constantly autorotating rotor wing versus a fixed wing.  Therefore, the gyroplane cannot stall.  It also can fly extremely slow.  Finally, the gyroplane is virtually turbulence-proof.  I was flying on a hot Florida day which would have been really bumpy in a light-sport.  However, due to the rotor system, turbulence is barely felt.  If it wasn’t for some strange bureaucratic issues with the FAA, these would be more awesome!

Here are pictures of the Xenon Gyroplanes (www.celieraviation.pl/):

Of course, I also visited with the Zenith representatives (zenithair.com/).  These planes are still the frontrunners for Missionary Micro-aviation, and have been used as such for several years.  The Zenith 750 was the plane I researched the most.  Here are some pics of the Zenith 750:

There were large crowds looking at all of these aircraft.  Of course, this was just the tip of the iceberg of the hundreds of exhibitors at Sun N’ Fun.  That doesn’t count the daily airshow, which included numerous acrobatic acts, the Breitling Jet Team and the Thunderbirds!

I spent two days (10 plus hours each day) at Sun N’ Fun.  I walked more than 10 miles and didn’t get sunburned too bad.  Unfortunately, it was 90 degrees and sunny on Friday and 57 degrees and rainy in North Carolina on Saturday when I got back home.  I am already missing the Florida weather!

I will be following up on the many contacts I made this past week and starting the decision process on Great Commission Aviation’s first aircraft!

On a final note, Great Commission Aviation is now a Not-For-Profit Corporation in the State of North Carolina.  We will be processing our 501(c)(3) application in the next few months.

Well, I finished the Instrument Rating Ground School this past Monday and have the endorsement to take the Instrument Rating Knowledge Test.  However, I will have to delay to next week taking this test (and the Instrument Ground Instructor test) since I am heading to Sun N’ Fun today!  Sun N’ Fun (www.sun–n–fun.org/) is a huge aviation convention and airshow in Lakeland, Florida.  It is estimated that more than 250,000 people attend this event.  I am going because there are several hundred exhibitors of aircraft kits, components and training.  It will be a time to make contacts and complete a lot of research for potential mission aviation equipment.

I had planned on flying to Lakeland (about 4 hours total, including a fuel stop) but someone “broke” the airplane that I had reserved.  Instead, I get to drive 9-plus hours today and 9-plus hours back on Saturday.  I will be extremely tired but I pray that this trip is productive and, let’s be honest, fun.

Check out the page “Goals and Status” as we track our progress through this journey!

After a couple of months of intense studying, I sat for, and passed, the Fundamentals of Instruction and the Advanced Ground Instructor exams.  These exams are the necessary FAA requirements to become an Advanced Ground Instructor.  As an Advanced Ground Instructor, I can provide the ground training necessary for any certificate, other than an instrument rating, and endorse students to take the FAA written exams.

You actually have to visit your local FAA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO, pronounce “FIZZ-DOH” by those “in the know”) to obtain the Advanced Ground Instructor Certificate.  My FSDO is in Greensboro, NC and they only take appointments for Ground Instructor on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I have an appointment this Thursday to obtain my temporary certificate.  The FAA will mail my actual laminated certificate later.

What does this mean?  I am certified by the FAA to teach the classroom portion of flying.  Students interested in flying should begin with a ground school to see if they are really into the technical studying required.  This class also prepares the students for their exams.  This really gets Great Commission Aviation into gear!

Well, as to be expected, I laid off flying for Christmas.  Weather is always miserable this time of year and budgets and time are tight.  My Christmas presents consisted of ground school books, including Fundamentals of Instructing and Advanced Ground Instructor.  With these tests, I will have the ability to teach the Private Pilot Ground School.

Today, I went flying with Richard again in order to satisfy my Wings of Carolina Club Annual and check-out in the ubiquitous Cessna 172.  The annual is a requirement of the club where each year, a member has to fly with an instructor to make sure you are still proficient in your piloting skills.  I passed so I must be OK.  Actually, we flew to this little airstrip near Carthage, NC that is 2,500 feet long with a Barbecue restaurant on site.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to eat.  I hear it is great!

Instrument ground school starts this Monday and I will be back in the study grind again.  Time to hit the books!

This past Monday was the last night of Commercial Ground School and the final exam.  I am happy to announce that I made a 97% on the final exam.  I immediately scheduled a time to take the FAA Commercial Written Exam at a testing center for Wednesday at 8:00AM.  I passed the actual exam with a 94%.  Unfortunately, due to availability of the classes, I took this class and exam before becoming instrument rated.  Therefore, I have a lot of work to do to finish the instrument rating and fly the required hours to become a commercial pilot (which is required in order to obtain instructor ratings).  Luckily, these exam results are valid for two years to complete everything else.

Time for Christmas break before I start the Instrument Ground School in January.

On Friday, October 24, Tony and I flew in one of the club’s Cessna 152’s to Walhalla, SC to visit the Just Aircraft factory (www.justaircraft.com).  The route was as follows:

 

The visit was fantastic, but the cross-country was a great experience as well.  When you look at the map above, you see a large yellow blob surrounded by blue concentric rings.  This is Charlotte, NC.  The airspace around Charlotte is classified as Class B (biggest airports and most traffic).  You have to get permission from ATC to actually enter Class B airspace.  It is surprising then that Charlotte Approach gave me permission to overfly Charlotte and Charlotte Douglas International Airport.  Here is a picture of downtown Charlotte:

We flew directly over the airport.  I would have taken a picture, but I was TOO BUSY being directed by the controller.  It is quite the experience to watch Boeing 777’s land and take-off underneath you.  We were only at 4,500 feet but were above the bee-hive of activity below.

Needless to say, the activity at Oconee County Airport near Clemson, SC was much slower.  They loaned us a car and we drove the 12 miles or so to the Just Aircraft factory.

Just Aircraft makes the SuperSTOL kit.  This airplane is awesome!  It can take-off and land in impossibly short distances.  You can search Youtube for videos of this airplane.  Here are a few shots I got from Gary (the designer) demonstrating for us:

That little strip of land ending at the lake is the airstrip at the factory.  It is only about 600 feet long and slopes towards the water but it was no problem for this plane!  You can see in the first picture that he has already climbed a couple hundred feet before he reached the lake and is going practically straight-up!  These would be marvelous mission planes for the backcountry!

Another plane that seems promising for backcountry mission is the Zenith 750.

Hopefully, I can attend Sun-N-Fun or Oshkosh next year and get a look at this plane as well.

After spending a couple of hours with Just Aircraft, we flew back.  We covered close to 400 miles and did in 4 hours of flight time.  Not too bad for the little Cessna.

One of the downsides to the SuperSTOL is that it is a tail-dragger airplane, which requires additional training.  The good news is that I have been told that it is some of the best fun to be had in a plane.  Hopefully, we will get the funds raised/put together to get this done within the next year or so.  Then it is on to raising funds for an actual airplane!