Two Engines Are Better Than One: The Multi-Engine Experience

Shine bright like a diamond.

So the last time I was in a small aircraft, I went flying with a few Riddle friends. The time before that, I went along with another friend, who was preparing for his commercial checkride. However, those were both small single-engine aircraft. The Colorado aircraft was a Piper Cherokee, and the other a Cessna 172. This semester, I got to experience the Diamond DA-42, Embry-Riddle’s twin-engine training aircraft for multi-engine students.

Chris has since passed his checkride, so I convinced him to take me along for a ride. All Embry-Riddle students are eligible to ride in the back seat of the aircraft (commonly referred to as “backseating”). The only condition is that the flight instructor and student must agree. The flight I got to backseat was his cross-country, flying from Daytona Beach (KDAB) to St. Simons Island Airport (KSSI). It was pretty cool- the Diamond moves a lot faster than the Cessnas.

To backseat a flight, first you stop at the dispatch desk with the student you’re accompanying. They’ll sometimes send you up to the flight supervisor’s desk, or sometimes they’ll give you the badge at the dispatch desk. Once you have the badge, you fill out some paperwork while the flight student begins their preflight activities inside. When the student is ready to go to the aircraft, someone from the dispatch desk will escort you to the plane (or you can wait for the flight instructor to escort you).

Waiting on the ramp!

While Chris preflighted the aircraft, I mostly stayed out of the way and looked around. I hadn’t been out on the ramp since last year when a GoJet aircraft visited and students were allowed to tour it. It took about half an hour to preflight the plane, and then we waited for the instructor to come. And that’s when the real activity began.

As one would before any sort of flight, you have to get from point A (the ramp) to point B (the runway) on the ground. To do that, pilots need to gain clearance and instructions from air traffic control. After we got to the runway, the run-up checklist was performed to make sure the aircraft was still doing okay. Since it was, we waited for our takeoff clearance, and then we were off!

The flight was pretty cool. Chris had filed an IFR (instrument flight rules) flight plan, which meant he could fly through low visibility and clouds. We ended up flying through several clouds, and I can see why instrument ratings are important. Sometimes it was hard to see the wingtip of the aircraft, which was only several feet away.

It’s just a bit cloudy outside.

The flight was around an hour each way, so within the hour we were coming up on St. Simon’s Island. I noticed that there were some heavy crosswinds on the landing, but Chris did just fine. We didn’t come to a full stop- we ended up doing a touch and go before turning around and heading back to Daytona Beach.

The flight on the way back was the opposite on the way to Daytona. We passed through the clouds again, flying back down the coastline. It was pretty cool to see Riddle from the sky- it’s always an amazing sight to see. When standing next to the buildings, they look huge, but from the sky, they look tiny.

After we landed, we headed back to the Riddle ramp. Since people are constantly walking on the ramp, pilots must taxi slowly and be conscious of their surroundings. Once we parked, Chris filled out some paperwork telling the school how long the flight was and where the aircraft was parked, and we walked back into the building.

I was free to go, but flight students do a debrief after each activity (ground instruction, flight simulator, or flight). It’s a way for flight students to discuss how the activity went- what the student did well and what they can improve on. Flight training at ERAU is rigorous, but I can tell that the university wants its students to succeed.

See you in the next blog post… and hopefully at Riddle!

I Survived Hurricane Ian

I’m lucky to be okay.

Hurricane preparation started on Friday when I first learned of Ian’s existence, then as a tropical storm. I didn’t think too much of it until the storm kept gathering strength and it was clearly going to hit parts of Florida. I started checking the National Hurricane Center’s tracker, which is updated every three hours to keep an eye on the storm (the graphic archive can be found here).

On Monday, the university sent out a few emails stating that there were no hurricane plans in place (such as canceling classes or closing down campus). The latest Monday email did state that the Emergency Operations Team would meet at 10:30 AM on Tuesday to discuss and make decisions. The next email came around noon on Tuesday, stating that classes on Wednesday through Friday would be canceled, and the university itself would close at 5 PM on Wednesday.

I only had one class on Tuesday, which was from 11:15 AM to 12:30 PM. During that class, the hurricane closure notice hit, and I watched the class split between freaking out and being excited that class was canceled. I’m from Kentucky, so I’ve never lived through a hurricane- I’ve only received the ending thunderstorms of hurricanes, and by then, they’re not bad.

Me and my friend David after learning about the hurricane moving towards us…

After class, I started my official hurricane preparations. While the Daytona Beach area remained in the cone of uncertainty, we were usually on the edge of the cone so I didn’t do a lot of preparing beforehand. I first had to figure out if I wanted to evacuate or shelter in place. I talked to a few people- one meteorology major, a pilot with a meteorology minor, and a pilot who interned with the National Weather Service. All three predicted that it wouldn’t hit our area detrimentally and that it would be okay to stay if I prepared.

I didn’t really want to leave since my dorm room is set up nicely and I could easily stay in there. Once I had made the decision to stay, I immediately went to the local Walmart to try and buy hurricane supplies- water, nonperishable food that did not need refrigeration, and anything else I thought I might need. I also tried looking for flashlights, but the store was out of a lot of outdoorsy stuff.

The first rain associated with the very outer bands was only an hour long, and it hit while I was inside Walmart. The eye of the hurricane had just passed over Cuba, but one small detached section of the rain extended to the Daytona area. I ended up running to my car and throwing everything in the back during the rain.

Tuesday night was kind of chaotic. All of my meetings for the week were canceled, and the ERAU shuttle service was stopping at 5 PM instead of 8 PM. By then I was safely back in my dorm, continuing my hurricane preparations. I charged all of my devices and began working on homework that I had due during the week in case the power went out and I couldn’t do it otherwise.

I heard from a few friends that they evacuated the Diamond DA-42s (the multi-engine aircraft) to Dothan, AL while most of the Cessnas (single-engine) were stored in a local hangar. Unfortunately, even with them packed like sardines, there was not enough space to put all of them in the hangar, so a few remained chained down to the ramp.

Riddle Cessnas in the hangar.

I ended up staying up until the 11 PM update from the National Hurricane Center, just to see what was happening with the hurricane. It had not hit the Tampa area yet, but they had already begun seeing rain.

Wednesday came, and when I woke up, there was a strong downpour. I definitely didn’t dare venture outside, but I still had power and running water. My professors with assignments due on weeknights had all moved the due dates to next week when school was back in session, which I was thankful for. Around 11:30 AM, I did get the hurricane warning emergency alert from my phone.

Hurricane warning!

I didn’t do a whole lot on Wednesday and didn’t venture outside. It was a pretty boring day, but I did keep my devices charging in case we lost power. I did keep my phone charging and emergency alerts on- hurricanes can produce tornadoes, and I wanted to make sure I was safe. Obviously, hurricanes can flood the area, but I wasn’t as worried since I live on the third floor of my building.

At around 6 AM on Thursday, my phone awoke me with a flash flood warning alert until 10 AM. I ended up going back to sleep and let the storm rage on outside. The center of the then-tropical storm didn’t pass over Daytona Beach directly, but it went over the Cape Canaveral area around 8 AM on Thursday.

Thursday was… interesting. Ian was still raging, but only at the force of a tropical storm. Volusia County was under a curfew and people weren’t supposed to leave their houses for any reason. Thursday was another slow day- I did end up doing some homework since the power was still on, but that was really it.

Friday was more laid back. I got to see the sun for the first time in a few days, and everything for me was semi-regular. I never lost power or water throughout the storm, but I know several people in the Daytona area did. I checked up on my friends, and then it was kind of back to normal for me- do homework due in the week, study for upcoming quizzes and tests, and wait for Monday.

All of my professors have been very understanding during the hurricane. Some of them lost power themselves, so they understand the struggles that we face (especially off-campus students). The professors with assignments and tests in the week have all been postponed until the second half of the week (Wednesday and on) with room for negotiation if students are severely affected. The university also sent out an email that stated students will not be penalized for traveling due to the hurricane since flights into Daytona are still sparse.

Daytona Beach is still cleaning up the hurricane’s damage, and it probably will be for a few weeks or so. I know people who lost a lot in the hurricane, and ERAU is setting up an emergency fund for those affected. I’m looking towards the future- what’s damaged is damaged, and I plan on helping those affected as much as I can. I hope that the ERAU community will be doing well by the time Open House rolls around, which is in about a month. Maybe I’ll see you there- and if not, I’ll see you in the next post!

New Year, New Adventures!

SLS Scrub?

I am back on the Embry-Riddle campus and it’s definitely good to be back! The drive back from the Denver area was about 27 hours, which wasn’t super fun. I was on the Orientation Team again this year (last year was super fun too!), which meant I had to be in town on the Monday after my internship ended for training.

This year, a few of the events, unfortunately, got cancelled early or entirely cancelled because of the weather. Even so, I had a lot of fun. Over orientation week, I did a lot of walking and running around campus welcoming new students. At the end of orientation, it was still kind of rainy, so the Movie in the Hangar event got moved inside the Student Union, and we took the team picture in front of balloons spelling out ERAU.

The 2022 Orientation Team!

After orientation week, just like last year, the annual Honors Mentor/Mentee social was hosted on the Sunday before classes started. I was a mentor again this year, and everyone got ice cream and got to meet their mentors and mentees. It unfortunately rained on that afternoon, so it was moved inside to the first floor of the aviation maintenance science building.

Just like last year, the orientation team wore their PFG shirts on the first day. However, this year, we also played a spotting game, taking pictures of each other as we walk around campus. It was easiest to identify us in our PFGs, but the game still continues to this day (although not as much). Someone took this photo of me heading into the union on the first day.

They see me rollin’…

The rest of the week was pretty normal. My five classes kicked into gear, and I’m liking them so far. Yes, I already have homework, but I worked on it over the long weekend. The first week of school is also the Week of Welcome, geared towards new students but open for everyone to participate. The week usually has a lot of free food and giveaways- this year, there was a lemonade stand and free ice cream!

I am living off-campus this year, so I’ve started using the shuttles that the Student Government Association provides free of charge to students. It’s pretty convenient. There’s a shuttle from my off-campus apartment to the student union about every 20 minutes, from early in the morning to the beginning of the evening. The shuttle runs every scheduled school day, which meant that it didn’t run over the Labor Day weekend, but I have a car so I can easily get to campus if needed.

As many people know, Artemis I was scheduled to initially launch on the first day of school, and then postponed to Saturday. Since I had class, I couldn’t attend the Monday launch time, but it was also scrubbed and rescheduled. Saturday was also a scrub, but my friend group hadn’t gotten down to the Cape yet- we were only on the road for about 10 minutes. It was unfortunate, but I’m hoping I get to see it launch before we go home for winter break.

The only upside was that I did get to see it on the launchpad. On Sunday, I took a few of my friends down to Kennedy Space Center. I’d won free tickets from ERAU Athletics and reserved my four tickets, which meant I got to spend the whole day at KSC for free! Last semester’s trip was super fun, but it was nice to go again and see the new exhibit. It had spacefaring vehicles from a bunch of different companies, including Sierra Space’s DreamChaser and Lockheed Martin’s Orion capsule (which is actually on top of the SLS).

Overall, it was a good long weekend. I think a few of my friends went home super quickly, which is much easier if you live on the East Coast. I was happy staying in Daytona Beach, starting the homework that’s already been assigned and going out with my friends. I’ll see you in the next post… and maybe at Riddle (or KSC)!

Me and Artemis 1, right above my photobombing friend’s head.