Copy of Welcome and Orientation
Master Instructor Doug Stewart takes his student Billy Winburn on his signature East Coast IFR Experience. Together, they fly over 3,000 miles up and down the US east coast in Doug's Cessna 177RG. During this trip Billy logged over 30 hours of flight time, 24 approaches, 20 landings, 18 departures, 4 missed approaches and 1 alternator failure. Along the way there was time for lunch at Keen, NH, some great seafood at St. Simons Island, GA and a lobster dinner in Bangor, ME.
The entire trip was filmed professionally by passenger, videographer Alex Bryant of Kaiman Brothers Media.
How the ECIE Program is Organized by Me
Lots of Video but Much More: the East Coast IFR Experience features over 38 hours of video but there is typically much more content in each section so make sure you scroll down to view all available materials.
The ECIE is divided into six (6) sections, each with multiple chapters.
- Introduction
- Daily Flights - Leg by Leg
- Daily Flights - Highlights
- Vignettes
- Simulation Missions
- Bonus Leg - Final Debrief - Bloopers
- DSFI Resources
INTRODUCTION: Much of the learning takes place before Doug's airplane leaves the ground. The following four chapters cover the origins of the East Coast IFR Experience, what Billy as PIT can expect over the course of the program, tools and best practices for a preflight weather briefing, and the real risks that the pilots will need to manage during their five-day trip.
DAILY FLIGHTS - LEG BY LEG: Twenty three (23) legs of the five-day trip were recorded by five cameras inside and out of the airplane. The main cockpit camera was positioned behind Doug and Billy and activated for every flight *. All NAV/COM and Intercom conversations were recorded. Viewers can watch over 28 hours of this cockpit camera footage leg by leg as if you were seated in the back of Doug's Cessna 177RG Cardinal. The advantage is a genuine view of the entire flight, warts and all. This is really a flying classroom and the instruction is constant. There is rarely a moment in the cockpit when Doug is not sharing knowledge or encouraging Billy to make the mistakes he needs in order to learn and embed new procedures. We recommend you watch each and every minute of the recorded legs. The trip has been planned but the experiences are not. As we say, the scenarios make themselves.
Each day is organized by flights and legs. This includes the filed route, distance and termination; e.g., full stop, low approach. Below the video you can find a time stamp of key events so you can move directly to areas of personal interest. Note you can also adjust the speed of the video player.
Below the video you'll find flight plans, nav logs and relevant charts and plates. These are all downloadable so you can use as handy reference material and follow along on each flight.
DAILY FLIGHTS - HIGHLIGHTS: Additionally there are over eight (8) hours of edited video featuring multiple camera angles, EFB (ForeFlight) recordings and radio transmissions. Each is preceded by an overview of the flight segment. You'll also see analyses from CloudAhoy. We recorded the entire flight on ForeFlight so we've included some graphic models from the debriefing tool in these highlights.
VIGNETTES: This section contains ten (10) chapters of content relevant to any day of the trip. Each of these are representative of the prevailing classroom environment in the airplane.
SIMULATION MISSIONS: Thanks to a partnership among the EAA, Community Aviation and Redbird Flight Simulations, simulation missions designed for the Pilot Proficiency Center at AirVenture can now be accessed at select flight training centers (FTC's) around the country as part of the EAA Proficiency365™ program. Three of the missions were directly inspired by the ECIE; "Escape from Berlin", "The Wright Stuff" and "Pilot in Command". ECIE subscribers have free access to these mission Pilot Kits.
BONUS LEG - FINAL DEBRIEF - BLOOPERS: The final flight to Leesburg, VA (KJYO) is included even though it was not technically part of the ECIE trip. Ironically, it offers a great expose of a quick hop in IMC conditions. There is a solid debrief of the fifth day as well as good recap of the five-day experience and the lessons learned. And there are a couple of outtakes that we had to share.
DSFI (Doug Stewart Flight Instruction, Inc.) Resources: ECIE subscribers can download slide deck presentations from two of Doug's most popular lectures; "Communicating Command" and "Situational Awareness".
Disclaimers: The filming sequence for the ECIE did not follow the published itinerary. The original plan called for Doug to fly to Leesburg, pick up Billy and Alex (the videographer) and return to 1B1 where they would begin the trip. However, due to icing at 4,000' in early May, Doug could not travel to Leesburg as scheduled so the first actual leg filmed originated at Hagerstown, MD (KHGR). The legs from 1B1 > KAVP > KHGR were flown on the last day of filming. Consequently viewers will note an inconsistency in the weather; e.g., the crew lands at Hagerstown in IMC then departs in sever clear conditions. Also the production team suffered a technical failure that prevented the recording of two legs on Day 2 (KDNL > KAYS > KLAL).