ismael chang ghalimi

Airline Transport Pilot

As a kid, I wanted to be an airline pilot. Growing up, my career took a different path, and I ended up graduating as a software engineer and working as an executive in a software company. But it’s never too late to fulfill a child’s dream, and one of the reasons why I am training as a private pilot is to eventually get an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) rating. Not for the job (I like the one I have best), but for the challenge, and to make sure that I won’t have anything to regret down the road — Non, rien de rien… In order to get my ATP rating, I need the following, per FAR 61.159 requirements:

Amazingly, I have enough hours of actual or simulated instrument time. Since all my flying is done as Pilot In Command (PIC), getting to 250 Hours should not be a problem either. The real challenge will be in getting an extra 1,300 Hours on my logbook, including over 400 Hours cross country. About a third of my flights are made cross country now, so getting 400 Hours of cross country time while getting another 1,300 Hours of total time should be pretty straightforward. Over the past 3 years, I have been flying an average of 75 Hours a year. At this pace, it will take me 20 years to get my ATP rating. But if I manage to get 250 Hours a year, I could get there in 5, just before I turn 40. Let’s give it a shot!

No Bravo Transition

Today, I took Quang for a Bay tour, one that had been rescheduled many times. This flight was important, not only because I had to give a good impression to a future passenger (I might transport her back and forth to Los Angeles), but also because it was my first solo flight on Cirrus. After a very thorough flight preparation (an AIRMET was in effect for severe turbulence in the area), we took off with N246BJ from Palo Alto (KPAO). Ground control could not give us a transponder code for a Bravo transition over SFO International’s airspace, so we opted for a Left Dumbarton Bridge departure, flew over the mountains, and got in touch with NORCAL after we passed Half Moon Bay (KHAF). All this was made easy thanks to the detailed explanations provided by Rich Acuff regarding the procedures in place at the Palo Alto Airport. Many thanks to Matt for the tip. Once under NORCAL’s supervision, we flew over the coast line, made a 360 over Alcatraz, then flew back to Half Moon Bay. We considered making a landing for practice there, but there were too many planes in the area, and we started to feel some of the turbulence that had been forecast, so we opted for a direct flight back into Palo Alto instead. After a smooth landing and 1.1 hours on the tach, we went back home, ready for our next flight, this one down to LA.

Cirrus Transition

Today, I completed my Cirrus Transition and got checked out on Cirrus SR22-GTS. Eliot and I flew N53224 out of San Carlos (KSQL) for a 2 hour flight, bringing my total time on SR22 over 5 hours, the minimum requirement for insurance. I can now solo on both SR20 and SR22, making it a lot faster and safer to fly to Tahoe or Los Angeles. Next steps: G1000 IFR transition (about five hours on simulator), and multi-engine commercial training on the funky looking Diamond DA42 Twin Star at Advantage Aviation in Palo Alto (KPAO). In the meantime, I am now checked out on C172 SP, C172 SP NAV III, C182 SP, C182 SP NAV III, SR20, and SR22.

L-3 SmartDeck

L-3 Avionics Systems recently announced the release of the very promising SmartDeck Integrated Flight Controls and Display System. Being familiar with the Garmin G1000 and the Avidyne FlightMax Entegra, I was immediately seduced by L-3’s version of a glass cockpit. The center console is especially impressive, and looks much easier to use than the Garmin GNS 430 that is usually coupled with the Entegra. I cannot wait to try it out!