I’m Flying!!!

Being a retired police officer who chased after bad guys in high speed pursuits, being involved in countless drag out fights and yes even being shot at once, it takes allot to get my “fear factor” going but today I found myself at full tilt!
During my six year stint as a narcotics officer, I was assigned six months to the “Air Smuggling Interdiction Squad.” It was here that my interests in general aviation started when I had the opportunity to fly around the southwest with officers from US Customs and the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Here I learned from other squad members who were pilots the basics of avionics and the fun of flying. It was then that I made a promise to myself that someday I would learn to fly. Today that someday arrived!
A few months ago I started doing some research on the Internet on Arizona flying schools and spoke to other private pilots, all recommending the “Buckeye Flight Experience” training school in Buckeye Arizona as the “best of breed”.
On Monday, I drove down to the school and met with owner/instructor Greg Porter. Greg gave me the basic information about his school and assured me that even an “old geyser” like me could learn new skills. He provided a DVD ground school program that I was to use at home and scheduled my first flying class for today.
Last night I stayed up and reviewed the first DVD several times, trying to learn and understand the basic parts of an aircraft and basic flying skills. After acing the exam, I felt ready to take on today’s challenge.
However when I met with Greg at the airport, I never expected him to say that I was ready to take off and land the plane myself. But he assured me that he would be at the controls alongside and that I would see that the plane would fly itself (ya right I said to myself).
After Greg walked me though my first pre-inspection on his Cessna 172 he suggested methods for me to get my six foot six, 300 pound body behind the control wheel. After squeezing in and getting buckled in, Greg joined me along side explaining all the buttons, switches and gauges. Another pre-flight checklist was completed and Greg told me to get ready start the aircraft. I pulled the throttle forward, yelled “clear” and then turned the key while adjusting the mixture control and a few seconds later the engine was at full throttle while both my feet were pressing on the brakes at full force. Greg assured me that everything was ok, to check my gauges and to get ready to taxi.
We began to taxi and I do admit found it very awkward in steering the aircraft with my feet and found myself grabbing the steering wheel several times, finding it useless. Greg directed me to the entrance of the main runway, where we stopped and performed final flight checklist.
Greg explained that once on the main runway that I would push the throttle in all the way and once up to speed, pull back on the control wheel to take off, that’s all there was to it.
With my heart in my throat, he said “lets go” and I steered the plane onto the runway, pushed throttle in and found ourselves speeding down the main runway. The plane first went to the left, I steered with my feet to the right, then to the left and back, all while pulling with all my might on the control wheel.
Seconds later Greg said “relax we’re off the ground” and I looked through the left door window seeing the runway was hundreds of feet below. Greg said to continue my climb and a few moments later said to bank right. I started banking right by overturning slightly and Greg related to level off after entering the bank to allow the plane to follow.
Greg then related that I was to continue my climb till we reached 4000 feet. Here I would level off and pull back on my throttle to 2200 RPM.
At 4000 feet I leveled off, adjusted throttle and we were cruising at 100 knots. Greg then had me do several 90 degree turns and two 180 degree turns, while leveling off the aircraft after each turn. Greg must had noticed that on several turns, that my eyes were about to bug out of my head and assured me that I was doing just fine.
Greg then explained that we would then practice a decent and that I would notice that the plane’s engine would sound louder as it would be over speeding. Once it did I should slow the engine’s speed down by pulling out the throttle.
We began our decent to 3500 feet while I was adjusting the throttle while attempting to keep the plane fling straight with one hand in a crosswind.
At 3500 feet Greg said to climb back to 4000 feet by increasing the throttle and increasing back pressure.
Greg then said those words that I was dreading to hear, “Ok, you’re ready to land” and pointed in the direction of the airport.
Ten minutes later the runway was in view and Greg told me to start my decent, aiming for the “17” at the beginning of the runway. A few miles before the runway I saw I-10 intersecting my path and prayed that I wouldn’t come down early into the side of a semi.
Greg assured me and said that he would also have his hands on the control (Whew!!)
Reducing power we came above the runway and Greg said “watch, this plane will land itself” and in seconds we were on the ground with my feet pressing on the brakes and attempting to steer.
Again I found myself clutching the wheel to steer while Greg jokingly said “next time I’ll bring rope to tie your hands up.”
We taxied to the tie down area, shut down the aircraft and squeezed my large frame through the door.
I did it, and began fulfillment of a dream that I started years ago, learning how to fly a plane!
Thanks to Greg and the Buckeye Flight Experience, I’ll be back next week for flight #2!

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Whistler XTR-185 Radar Detector Review

Driver’s Experience Test
Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be reviewing various radar detectors costing less than $100.00 for our Radar Detector Buying Guide.
First up in my review is the “Solar Enhanced” Cordless Whistler XTR.  I first became acquainted with this detector at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) where it was a recipient of the “CES Best of Show” for its unique solar powered panel.
For those of you that have been following my past reviews you’ll know that I am not a big fan of cordless radar detectors.  First off, many cordless must turn themselves on and off in milliseconds in order to preserve battery life. This cycling of power has a tendency of reducing the radar detectors sensitivity and range and is can be very deadly on the higher Ka bands.
Plugging in a cordless radar detector does not change the cycling properties of a cordless detector; it just means that you’ll be spending less for batteries.
One of the first things I noticed with the Whistler XTR-185 when I took it out of its packing was that the detector utilized three AA rechargeable batteries. Most of the cordless detectors that I have previously tested have only taken two AA batteries, so I was hopeful that perhaps this little extra voltage would help in the detectors overall performance.
I was interested in learning more about the ability of the solar panels ability to charge these batteries, however the manual mentions that the “panel provides an additional charge to the batteries” and was not functional when the unit was plugged in.
Therefore the day prior to doing this test, I placed the XTR-185 on my truck’s dash for twelve hours, to see if the solar panel had any effect in charging the batteries. Utilizing a digital volt meter I took readings from the batteries prior to and after this test and only observed a variance of approximately .1 to .2 volts. Therefore I doubt that the solar panel would be capable of maintaining a full charge on the detectors batteries, but admit the panel is a cool feature.
False alerts continue to be the chief complaint of radar detectors owners, specially the lower ended models. Therefore I started my day’s review of the XTR-185 with a normal route that I follow when I perform this test that involves 30 miles through remote desert area, 20 miles of Interstate Highway driving, 20 miles of city driving and then 35 miles of driving on a state highway. From experience a high end radar detector such as an Escort 8500 or a Beltronics RX65 may notice up to five false alerts during the entire trip. But from experience in testing low end radar detectors that do not utilize any filtering what so ever, I’ve had some radar detectors just go “wacko”, and just continually false until I finally turned them off.
Normally I keep my radar detectors in the highway mode at all times. This is when the radar detectors receiver is fully open wide. Also if the radar detector has the capability to disable bands, I disable X band and POP as it is not used in my area of test
At the onset of the test, I programmed the XTR-185 to highway mode.
The first leg of my test was south on Vulture Mine Road from Wickenburg Arizona to Interstate 10. Vulture Mine Road is sparsely populated with little or no traffic. Therefore I was somewhat dismayed during this 30 mile leg, when I logged over 12 short interval K/Ka alerts.
I also noticed while driving in the mid afternoon Arizona sun, the display was completely washed out by the sun. Therefore in order to see the LED alert and giguere counter display, I had to place a newspaper over the detector.
Once on the Interstate, heading into Phoenix, I started getting frequent X band alerts as I neared highway exits. Many would not consider these X band alerts as falses as the common culprit are gas stations, restaurants and/or other business establishments that have door openers or other devices that  transmit on the same X band frequency; however I do find these alerts annoying.
The XTR-185’s manual related that when programmed in city mode II, X band was deleted and K and Ka sensitivity band remained the same. Also the audio alerts were shorter and not as frequent on K/Ka unless the strength of the signal increased. Therefore I switched the detector over to city II.
The frequent X band alerts did diminish, however they were now replaced with frequent K/Ka alerts. However since I was still utilizing the city mode II, the false alert beeps were very short in duration.
Once in the city and then back on the state highway back to the office, we kept the detector on city mode II.
From my experience, you’re going to be “hounded” by false alerts on any detector costing less the $250.00. So when compared to other detectors in the same price range, I would rate the filtering ability of the Whistler XTR-185 average.
During my seventy five mile loop, I did have a concern on performance of the unit. From experience driving this same route on a frequent basis, I knew of one “fishing hole” that is used by a Buckeye Police officer on the afternoon shift. Just off I-10 on the Sun Valley Parkway you can often find this officer typing out his reports while parked in the median, while running constant on 35.5 Ka band.  As I began rounding a curve, I picked out the reflection of his windshield over a half mile away. Normally one of the high end Beltronics or Escorts that I normally use, would had been crying out before I ever started in the turn, but the Whistler was completely silent and remained so until the detector started picking the Ka alert up at as I closed in within a distance of 1600 feet. The detector did alert as I was entering the “kill zone”, but I would had been more at ease with having a longer alert that I have grown accustomed to.
At the completion of the “driving experience” tests with all of the detectors, we will be performing a range and sensitivity test on all the units.
My overall experience with the Whistler XTR-185 was fair with my chief complaint being that I could not read the LED display in bright sunlight. The alert tones were average and the overall performance was average to other detectors that I have tested in this price range. I doubt if the “solar panel” has the power output to keep the detector’s batteries fully charged, thus I cannot make the call that the panel is a true “value added” benefit, unless you want to look that “going green look” while driving your Hummer.
Radar Roy’s Rating – Two Badges

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