Winter flying in Michigan. Lake-effect snow has hit Western Michigan hard and fast. Our first snow of the year has come later than usual. However, with as much as a foot of snow in some places it has been a significant event. Lake Michigan is still fairly warm compared to the surrounding land. As cold winds move across the long expanses of warmer lake water the air picks up water vapor which freezes and is deposited on the leeward shores. This results in a unique phenomenon where very heavy snow falls in localized areas. Large parts of Michigan saw almost no snow while some cities close the the lake got dumped on in a big way. As I am toward the center part of the state we saw a lot of snow but just a short distance south or east of here very little snow fell. Grand Rapids will often receive twice the amount of snow as Lansing even though these cities are not far apart.

In flight snow does not stick to an airplane very well. This means that a fair amount of flying can still go on even with scattered snow showers. However, great care must be taken to insure that all snow, ice or frost is removed from the aircraft before flight as even a small amount of contamination will add significant drag and destroy lift. Even large airliners must be very sensitive to ice contamination or they could crash on takeoff as happened to Air Florida Flight 90 which crashed in the Potomac river in 1982 from ice on the aircraft. Flying at night in these conditions poses an even greater challenge. A student and I flew down to Ft. Wayne a few nights ago, avoiding the locally heavy snow on our way.

The not so nice weather and long nights has given me a chance to catch up on some reading. I just finished a book written by a British Apache helicopter pilot. It covers the two tours he spent flying in Helmand province in great detail. It is called 'Apache' and is by Ed Macy. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the current conflict in the middle east.

Thanksgiving back home was great. I put on 10lbs from eating Turkey. Home for Christmas in the near future and the possibility of a hunting trip to see family in Kansas are both events to look forward to soon.

JMG

Wow, a lot of flying has been going on here at SMAT. Usually things slow down in November as the weather gets worse, but several students have been getting licenses and ratings in the past two weeks. Jeremiah and Peter were both in my instrument ground school class in the spring and now have their IFR rating after passing a check ride last week. Steve has been a very dedicated student and now has his private pilot license after starting flight training just two months ago. Dave was in maintenance class with me and I helped him get his commercial license last week. He is now on his way back to Texas to obtain a flight instructor license and work with a mission. Eric is another student I have been flying with over the past few weeks and I signed him off to take his commercial check ride. He passed his flight exam with ease flying the 172RG.



Students from outside the country have been flying here also. Ester from Papa New Guinea recently soloed for the first time. She wants to return to her country and use aviation to help her people. Cleo is from Kenya and I have had the privilege of helping him get his Kenyan license transferred to a U.S. license. It is great to play just a small role in the training of these individuals.



As the days have been getting shorter here, I find myself doing a lot more night flying which I enjoy. I have also been doing lots of tail wheel flying which is a good experience for both student and instructor. The Lowell airport is a favorite location to fly into because it has short, narrow runways and tall trees on all sides. This adds to the challenge and is similar to the type of airstrips that the many mission students can expect to see in remote locations.



On the maintenance front, one of our Cessna 172's is undergoing an engine change. After the 2000+ hour life of an engine it is time to put a new one in and send the old one out to be rebuilt. I have had the chance to play a role in this change when I have not been flying.



Looking forward to Thanksgiving and being home soon!

JMG

More from the Virginia trip to the Shenandoah valley.

JMG

Below are several photos from a trip to Virginia last week.

JMG

H1N1 has hit the area hard in the last week. Almost every school in the area has been closed this week due to widespread illness. Last night was like a ghost town here as everyone is worried about getting sick. I've been feeling well for the most part but that may not last.

Flying here over the last few weeks has been very good. Steve should have his private pilots license by the end of next week. Eric should have his commercial license in the same time period. Several people are also very close to their instrument rating and they should be ready for their tests in the next two weeks.

Fall colors have hit their peak and are great right now! Flying with some friends last Saturday was a nice change of pace from the teaching routine as it gave me a chance to really enjoy the infinite number of colors in the trees right now. I spent Monday and Tuesday of this last week on a long trip to Virginia. What would have been a 10-12 hour drive was a direct 3 hour flight from Michigan. I was ready to fly in poor weather but I could not find a cloud for the entire trip. I had the chance to fly over the Appalachian mountains which made the flight one of the best I have had in a long time. At the highest elevations I could see snow on top of several of the peaks. I have never been into the Shenandoah valley before and it was beautiful. I want to add some photos but right now my computer is not cooperating.

Winter is waiting just around the corner and next week I'll need to take my convertible mustang and switch to something that is more equipped for winter.


JMG

Sam and I from A&P maintenance class. Flying an aerobatic airplane at Lee Bottom.

It is not even the first of October yet and already it feels and looks very much like fall here. It is only about 50F here today and the leaves are really starting to change color. Gusty winds to well over 40mph have me on the ground today but that has given me a chance to catch up on some cleaning and paperwork.



In the mail today I got a nice surprise. I am now the happy holder of Airframe and Power plant certificate number 3414684. My new certificate showed up from the FAA. For over a month I have had a paper certificate but I now have the official license.



I have been jogging enough that I think I need a new pair of shoes. Time to go shopping.



JMG

A big congratulations to Steve Schmidtfranz on flying solo in an airplane for the first time! It has been a busy September of flight training at SMAT and with only six days of flight training Steve took to the sky alone. He was able to takeoff, fly the airport traffic pattern and land several times without any trouble. You too could experience the satisfaction of flying an airplane by yourself. It takes focus and dedication, but I firmly believe that almost anyone can do it. Video of the flight should be available soon.

POWER PLANT final is passed! Class is over, graduation tomorrow and my rebuilt engine is running!

Oshkosh Airbus Takeoff!

JMG

Photos from Oshkosh, Wisconsin the busiest airport in the world for the week!

JMG

Photos from Oshkosh 2009!

JMG

Photos from this year's Oshkosh!!

JMG

Congratulations to Matt Humphrey for passing his flight test! After a lot of hard work he is now a private pilot!

Summer solstice today, first day of summer and the longest day of the year. Here is southwest Michigan it is starting to remind of home in southern Indiana as it has now begun to get hot and humid on a regular basis. As the summer continues it is a sign of something else nearing an end. My time as a maintenance student at SMAT here in Ionia is coming to a close in about 7 weeks. While I will be a student of aviation all my life, I am not sure what the immediate future looks like. It is my methodical personality to plan my life far in advance and not make many hasty decisions. Up till now my life has been a fairly regimented routine of school and more school. Do I stay in Michigan and try to find work in the Grand Rapids area? How about continuing as a flight instructor and maintenance intern at SMAT? Return home to Indiana and seek work there? Is the time right to join a missions organization formally or should I try to get some more experience in the work force first? We will have to wait and see what path I am to follow.

One of the biggest weekends of the summer in Ionia is the two day country music festival put on by a local radio station. Thousands of people show up at the country fair grounds for the live shows. I didn't pay much attention or intend to go, but I did hear from several people that this was "the weekend" for the city, especially with the number of tourists in town. There is one big problem, however. The fair grounds sit right along the Grand River in Ionia and it has a real problem with flooding. Heavy rain came down Thursday and Friday before the event on Saturday. A dam up river from Ionia was forced to release a substantial amount of water mid-day on Saturday due to this rain fall. The Grand River came up several feet in a few hours and flooded the entire music festival. All of the people made it out of the event; however hundreds, maybe close to a thousand, of cars had to be left behind in the flood. It has been all over the news here and is a real mess. It maybe Wednesday before the river drops enough to allow people to get their cars back! I was flying in and out of the Ionia airport on Saturday near the event and witnessed the water rising before my eyes. Today (Sunday) reveals the full extent of the damage from the air. The legal action and finger pointing has only just begun I am sure. As I understand the river did not even make it to flood stage and this would not be even close to news worthy if it had not been for all the cars and people at the music event. More soon!

JMG

Here you can see two main groups of cars that just a few hours before were not under water at all. The normal river location can be see running from east to west in this photo. Is this not the definition of a flash flood?

Highway M-66 runs north-south at the bottom of the photo. The center of the fair grounds is the oval at the center. It is surrounded on three sides by water. None of that water was there just a few hours before.

It is high summer here in Michigan and we at SMAT continue to press ahead with our power plant curriculum. We have taken apart several engines and put them back together in groups. Flying has picked up with the great weather. I recently had the opportunity to fly with several high school kids in Jackson, Michigan to introduce them to aviation. It is always great fun to let new people get their hands on the aircraft controls for the first time. Only one of the new aviators got sick, and everyone seemed to really enjoy the morning flying.

JMG

As you now know I have passed my exams and am a certified Airframe mechanic now. I would like to provide a few more details about this process. It was actually 6 different tests over a two week period. The FAA requires everyone to take and pass three exams from the "General" section. This is general mechanical knowledge that all people in this field need to know. This portion has a computerized written test ($100) and an oral and practical test ($125). Passing these tests first is necessary to qualify to take the other exams. Passing the General section however does not get you any license. This was not an easy section because we covered all the general curriculum last year.

The Airframe section has its own written test to take ($100) and the oral and practical tests( $125). With both written tests passed I showed up at 6:30am on Thursday to meet with Dean my instructor and DME (Designated Mechanic Examiner) for the day. I have worked with Dean since August as my teacher but he wore a different hat today. He was testing and could provide very little assistance me. After passing the General oral and practical tests in the morning I pressed on into the Airframe section in the afternoon. It really was an all day test.

The oral questions came from our text books and really almost anything could be fair game. I had to answer Dean's questions without any assistance. The practical portion included many different tasks: finding the weight and balance of an aircraft, log book entries for inspections and maintenance, inspection a welding job, troubleshooting a landing gear system and electrical system, severing an anti-skid system, looking at blueprints, making my own blueprint drawings, riveting flush and universal head rivets, inspecting a flap indicating system, inspecting a radio installation, servicing a fuel system, finding the correct torque and torquing several bolts, rigging an aircraft flight control to the proper tension, inspection an air conditioning system, looking up many different safety related airworthiness directives from the FAA, the list goes on and on. You can see why it took all day.

A representative of the FAA showed up to watch the exams and must of been satisfied as a passed after a long day of testing. It is a good feeling to be done and I am now looking forward to the next challenge of learning more about aircraft power plant systems. Thanks to the many people at the many different Churches I have visited over the last year who have supported me in this endeavor. This would not have been possible without you.

Another student, Matt, passed and got his license the same day that I did. So, to celebrate we went and got about 60 hot dogs for everyone at SMAT and had a good little cookout for lunch on Friday. It was a fun way to celebrate.

JMG

I Passed! I am now a certified Airframe mechanic!

Airframe test in the morning.....6am........all day test........it is here.

Two of the six tests I need to take for my Airframe license have been passed! I completed the written test for the General and Airframe curriculum's this last week. This upcoming week I will take (and hopefully pass) the oral and practical portions of the Airframe test. It will take all day and will cost about $450 but at the end of the day I should have a license. This test is the culmination of everything we have been working on at SMAT since August. I hope all goes well.

JMG

One of the advantages of being up early in the morning is seeing all the westbound airliners flying the jet routes. I count 12 different contrails.
My "Buzz Box" for testing aircraft ignition magnetos. A time consuming project.

Many small aircraft still use carburetors. Here is one taken apart.

A very old aircraft magneto. These can be pretty confusing.

We are now deep in the Power plant curriculum. Here is an engine that I am taking apart with a team. This is a big project. We are going to overhaul this engine and return it to service. Note the huge pistons and crankshaft.

Landing at 24C Lowell

Landing at Lowell

Landing at y70 Ionia on a nice evening.

B52 over Louisville, KY

F22, P51, F4, and F16 in formation.

Sitting in Sun.

Hello All.

As the weather improves in Michigan more flying has been taking place along with new and interesting projects in the maintenance hanger. Above is a video and photos of landings at Lowell and Ionia Michigan. Also photos from this year's "Thunder of Louisville" which is an airshow and fireworks display (one of the best in the country hands down) that kicks off the festivities leading up to the Kentucky Derby. Enjoy!

JMG

Hello! Once again I have not been as diligent as I should be about updating this blog. Thank you Jon. It has been more than a little busy these last few weeks and I have several things to report on. My mother had knee surgery last weekend and after a couple days in the ICU she is doing much better and is back at home. My Instrument Ground School class has been completed and I am happy to report that all the students passed the final exam. I don't think I am any great teacher but I enjoy the subject matter, and I think all the students ended the class with a positive experience. They have a better idea of how the IFR system works and should be able to go and take the necessary written exam for the rating. As the weather improves I have been flying more which is always great.

A very experienced veteran of the Missionary Aviation world came and visited us here at SMAT a few weeks ago. Doug came from JAARS and spent the week talking to us about his many years of flying in South America. He flew in Ecuador and Peru before the area was even charted well. He is a product of true bush flying long before the days of GPS. I had the opportunity to go on an evaluation flight with Doug. We practiced low level cross country navigation using only a map and stopwatch and landing techniques very close to stall speed to get into short fields.

Today, our class went on a field trip to a visit the corporate hanger of a well know company in Grand Rapids. It was a very interesting trip and a great educational opportunity to look at some of the nicest business jets flying anywhere in the world today.

Exams for the FAA Airframe license start soon. I'll keep you updated.

JMG

Matt (left), Doug (Right) and I plan out our trip with minimal navigation equipment.

Our class on a field trip at a corporate hanger in front of a new Gulfstream V. This aircraft can fly nonstop from the Michigan to Bejing. It represents the pinnacle of luxury at a cost of about $50 million each. This hanger had 3.
Inside the rear access bay of Hawker business jet on our class trip. I don't know what everything is but I am working on it.

Hello! It has been very busy here in Michigan and I have not provided updates as frequently as I would like. My last blog entry is a link to a blog from a pilot flying with Air Serv in Africa. I don't know this person personally but it is an organization that is helping a lot of people in many difficult locations. Winter is starting to loose the battle to Spring here in Michigan. Winter has been very long and it is not over yet. However, around Valentines day we set several record high temperatures around Grand Rapids, and no new winter storms have hit the area. The improvement in the weather means that I am flying more. This is great as I flew very little in the months of December and January. February was not much better for flying but I began teaching an Instrument Ground School class through SMAT in Ionia. I have four dedicated students and we spend about three hours every Tuesday and Thursday evening learning about how to operate and aircraft in the IFR environment safely.

Adding to my overall busyness is the fact that the first of two major exams at School is coming up in only a month. Everyone must pass the FAA General oral, practical and written exam and then pass the Airframe or Power Plant oral, practical and written exam. At some point around the first or second week of April I will take the General and Airframe exams with my fellow students at SMAT. It is THE big exam for the whole year. We will be tested over everything we have covered since August. We take the test one on one with one of our two instructors. The test will take ALL day, 8-12 hours. At the end of the exam I hope to be a certified Airframe mechanic.

After the General and Airframe exams in April the months remaining in the program (May-August) will be devoted to Power Plant operations. At the conclusion of the curriculum all SMAT students will take the FAA Power Plant oral, practical and written exams. This is another all day test. All of us at SMAT then plan to be official A&P mechanics for Graduation.

The son of one of our instructors works for a well known avionics and electronics company. He visited our school last week and brought a Cirrus aircraft with a new experimental all glass panel next generation flight deck. The Cirrus is an impressive high performance all composite aircraft that represents a whole new direction in aircraft design and manufacturing. The computers that operate the flight deck are even more revolutionary. The clean crisp fashion that critical flight information is presented improves the situational awareness of the pilot by leaps and bounds. However, at a cost of about $500,000 this airplane is not practical for many people. Never the less, it was great to spend most of the day learning about this aircraft that represents the future of aviation.

Composite materials allow for a more aerodynamic shape than aluminum and rivets.

A modern glass flight deck. Notice the side stick control.

Many new airplanes are now equipped with a parachute for the whole airplane.

Putting a new aluminum skin on this wing has been an on going project that I have been working on this week.

Journey Outward: Air Serv Land Cruiser

Journey Outward: Air Serv Land Cruiser

Here is a photo of most of the class from the Great Lakes Region Aviation Conference in Detroit last week.

Here is another photo. This one is from October when a VIP visited our school with his helicopter.

JMG

Hello Friends,

After a busy week of class and shop time at SMAT this week, we took Friday to visit the Great Lakes Region Aviation Convention close to Detroit. At SMAT we start class at 7am everyday so we are used to fairly early mornings. Since we wanted to make it to Detroit for the first maintenance lectures at 7:30am, we left Ionia at 5:30, and made a sleepy trip across the state in our 15-passenger van.

The Convention covered some very interesting topics and provided access to many industry members. We learned about landing gear failure, human factors in running a flight deck or maintenance shop, and next generation air traffic control in the form of ADS-B, as well as advanced-glass cockpits with new synthetic vision technology, Lycoming engines and repairing composite aircraft structures. Proving that it's a small world, I ran into a former classmate and CFI from Purdue at the convention. I also spent a lot of time at the Cessna and Cirrus displays learning about new additions to their fleet. Cessna's new Light Sport Aircraft looks very promising. Cirrus' full sized model of the SR22 Turbo seemed as close to perfection as anything I have ever seen in aircraft design. I got in trouble with two FAA members who had a small simulator that replicates what happens when a pilot suffers from vertigo and disorientation. I tried to test the limits of the simulator by stalling and spinning it, but the FAA guy made me stop before I crashed it.

The return trip in the evening was proceeding without any excitement. However, on the south side of Lansing we had a tire blow out on us while on the interstate. While this can be a dangerous scenario in any top-heavy 15 passenger van we were able to pull off the road and into a parking lot, where we proceeded to change the tire. We got a spare tire put on, but I could not feel my hands, face or feet for about half an hour due to the extreme cold. In retrospect, if I had to be in a disabled vehicle at least I was in one with 10 other automotive and airplane mechanics. Look for pictures from our field trip soon.

In other news, it is finally above freezing! For the first time in weeks, the mercury has risen above 32F to almost 40F. The ground is still completely snow-covered, though, and the temperature will fall significantly next week. So begins February.

JMG

Hello Friends.

I would like to provide a list of the various mission organizations who have visited us here at SMAT since the start of the year along with links to their websites. We have had either an actual missionary or a recruiter from each organization listed visit and speak with us about their program.

The year started off with a visit from Africa Inland Mission (AIM) the very first day of class. They are based in Kenya and work through out east Africa. We were visited by Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) later in the year. They are one of the oldest and largest mission aviation organizations in the world and are based in Idaho. We have had guest pilot/missionaries from both Canada and Alaska. We had a BBQ with representatives of Missionary Flights International (MFI). They use the venerable DC-3 to fly out of southern Florida to Haiti and other destinations in the Caribbean. New Tribes Mission (NTM) is another well known Bible translation and flight organization. They have not met with us yet this year but I expect a visit from them soon. ABWE or American Baptists for World Evangelism came not long ago and talked to us about their efforts to spread the gospel in east Africa. Most recently, a United Indian Mission (UIM) pilot spoke to us about trying to minister to tribal peoples in the remote mountains of Mexico. As the year is only about half over, I expect to have visits from many more organizations in the future.

With so many visitors to SMAT, I would not want anyone to think that we are not staying busy in the lab. Over the past week major emphasis in class has been placed on landing gear and braking systems. We have removed brake lines and pads and bled brake lines. Additionally, we have removed and rebuilt master brake cylinders, shimmy dampeners and air oil struts. Soon we will be studying the hydraulic systems that operate retractable landing gear.

Aviation events have dominated the headlines over the past week. From the Indiana pilot who destroyed his multi-million dollar aircraft when he bailed out of it in an attempt to flee prosecution, to the freak Airbus landing in the Hudson River, it has been a busy time in aviation news. As a note of interest and small pride, the Captain of the Airbus that landed so skillfully in the Hudson River was a graduate of Purdue University.


JMG

Links:
http://www.aimair.org/
http://www.ntm.org/
http://www.abwe.org/
http://www.missionaryflights.org/
http://www.maf.org/
http://www.uim.org/