Initial Cross Country

So yesterday was scheduled to be a solo. I had all these grand plans to go and work on my short/soft field landings. Everything else is pretty good, at least within the PTS standards (PTS is practical test standards). So, right before I head out, my instructor gives me a call and asks if he can bum a ride to another airport. Well, I guess I can't really so no, so I give him the enthusiastic "Of course!!!" Well, when I get to the airport, I see one of the DPE (designated pilot examiner) is there with his plane sitting on the ramp. I didn't think any checkrides were scheduled, but what do I know. As I walk from my truck to the office, I notice two cars in the lot that belong to the "feds". This is much out of the ordinary for this little airport. As I go in, I see my instructor coming out of his office and there is an FAA party going on in there. There were at least 5 people digging through stuff. My Instructor said that somone missed a checkride, so they were scrubbing records of the school. My instructor just wanted to GET OUT!!! I can't say as I blame him. So, we go off and do a couple maneuvers that are required of the commercial license. Sure, I don't need to know them now, but I have no issues with learning a little extra. So, after that we go on to the other airport and hang around there for about an hour then head back to my primary airport. What happens at 5 PM on a Friday? That's right...all the Feds were gone.

So today was my initial cross country. It was the exact same route as I did on the dual flight, so nothing cosmic there. I enjoyed the first leg and actually got to listen to some tunes on the way. Once I landed, I was looking forward to a burger at the airfield diner, but they had closed early for a "special event". What a bunch of punks! It turned out that the diner being closed was a good thing. As I took off and was heading back, I noticed a good bit of weather building along the way. All the forecasts made mention of a "slight risk" of thunderstorms, but all the "scientific forecaster discussions" made it sound like it was HIGHLY unlikely to amount to anything. So with this information and the fact that it hadn't rained in MONTHS I had no qualms to doing the cross country. Anyway, a while back, I had purchased a GPS for when I finish my private training. I have/had no intention of using it until I was done with training or if I got myself into a pickle. When I bought it, there was a model with and a model without XM weather. The model with the weather was a bit more expensive, but figured that since I plan on doing ALOT of cross country flying it would be handy to have. OK, so back to the story...so I was on my way back and I am seeing quite a bit of buildup and rain, so I break out my new GPS/weather toy and fire it up. Wow...I am glad I bought the thing!!! The weather was considerably worse than I thought and it showed stuff that my plain vision couldn't detect. So, I flew around the storms and the heavier rain and elected to do a straight in approach to the field. (It is preferred that you would fly past the field and come back at a 45 degree angle to enter the traffic pattern but I wanted to beat the weather that was about 5 miles from the field.) I taxied in and got the plane tied down about the same time my instructor was coming back from flying with another student. He asked how it was and commended my "aeronautical decision making" for making the straight in approach. I told him I had been in a few storms in the C-5 and it was NO FUN at all!!! So, after clocking in the airplane, I headed to the house. About 2 minutes after leaving the airport, the weather hit. I called the automated weather station at the airport and it was reporting lighting, thunderstorms and winds 18 gusting to 39 knots. So after than...I am GLAD I spent the extra money for the XM weather, and I am GLAD that I did the straight in or I am pretty sure I would have gone somewhere else to hang out and wait for the weather to pass.

Well, nothing is on the plate right now flying wise. The next thing we want to do is the night dual cross country, but my instructor is going off on vacation for a while, so guess it's about time to study, study, study for the written exam. I appreciate the time to get it done, but hate not knowing when I will fly again.

One last thing...This is nothing on the subject of flying, just a random thought. So a couple of months ago, I bought a ski boat. Nothing fancy, nothing new, just something to tinker with. Anyway, the guy I bought it from had a new cover for it and had forgotten to give me the straps for it. He had called while I was on vacation to tell me that he had them but in all honesty, I forgot all about them. Anyway, so when I get back from flying, there is a voice mail from his wife telling me that she still has them and apologized for not being in touch because her husband had died 3 weeks ago. The guy was MAYBE 40-45 years old with 5 kids and really seemed to have the world by the tail. It just goes to show that you NEVER know when your time is up. OK, that's it....

First Night

So tonight went of without a hitch. The only odd thing was when I showed up, winds were about 8 knots. After preflighting the airplane and fuelin' it up, a windstorm from hell came around. It was now gusting to about 26 knots!!! No weather for 500 miles, and it was clear and a million, but lots of wind! I think my instructor ordered it just for me...I don't EVER fly in calm winds.

So the flying part wasn't anything new (most of the C-5 missions are at night, so used to that) and the landings were pretty easy too. There aren't any VASIs (glide slope indicators) at my field, so it took me a couple times around the pattern to get the sight picture right, but after that it was all "gravy".

We were scheduled to do some more instruction Friday, but we changed it to some solo work. My crosswind landings have come a long way, so I guess we I don't need anymore instruction on that. Things are still clipping along. So far, I need one more dual cross country (at night) and 3 solo cross countries (the first is scheduled for Saturday). After that, I will have what is called "3 in 60" which is an FAA requirement to have 3 hours of "checkride prep" within 60 days. One of those will be a "stage check" with another instructor to make sure I am ready for the checkride. I do think that mid-July is probable, at least if I can get my instructor to schedule the night cross country (he is not a big fan of working at night) and if I can get the examiner scheduled. I would probably actually be done SOONER than that, but my instructor wants to take vacation at the end of the month. Geez, what is the deal with that?

Totals so Far: Total Time: 33.5
Solo Time: 4.3
Total Landings: 120 (8 at night)
Total Cost: Holy Crap!!! I can't add that high!!!

Update

So not a whole lot going on right now. I am busy studying for the written exam and am going out this evening to do my night stuff. If everything goes as planned, I'll get 8 landings in then I'll just have 2 left (required training for the checkride) that I will get on my night cross country. I flew solo a couple of days ago and just stayed in the local pattern doing touch and goes. Some were damn nice, and others were "not so nice". Everything was great until my headset took a crap and started doing a very annoying loud squealing noise. I did the full stop and taxied in. I guess the 1.5 hours of sweating like a dog zapped my headset. They still weren't working later that evening but after a couple of days, they seem to be working OK.

I am still on for my solo cross country this Saturday, so if all goes well...I will do the night cross country, a couple more solo cross countries and then it will be checkride prep time. It really looks like I might actually get this done by mid-July. Oh yes, then the REAL fun begins...instrument training!!! Woohoo!!!

First Cross Country...

Well, since my last post, I have flown twice and the last flight was fairly uneventful so thus the lack of a post. That flight was a little work with my instructor at a controlled field followed up with 3 full stop landings to complete my requirements for solo work at a controlled field. There really was nothing to write home about except my first solo landing was horrible!!! I am pretty sure I readjusted the field elevation! The last two were much better and the airplane was still in one piece when I was done.

So today, I did my first cross country. I did most of the planning last night and I guess I did OK as my instructor had no critiques about it (and he critiques EVERYTHING!!!). So, we head out to the plane and off we go. I really thought I would get behind the airplane since the first part is assholes and elbows, but it went fairly smooth. All my calculations were pretty darn right on, although we couldn't get to the planned cruising altitude because of clouds. So, anyway...we get up to Fredericksburg and I grease the landing...hot damn!!! That made my day especially the number of "spectators" there were once we got to the ramp. I would have LOVED to see those 20+ people's expression if had "pranged" it on!!! So, we had a nice lunch, checked out the sites on the airport (quite a few REALLY nice airplanes!!!), talked about how much an idiot Obama is and then jumped in to head back. The first leg was a mix of dead reckoning, pilotage (looking out the window) and VOR work. The second leg was nothing but looking out the window. Everything was great until my instructor kep having me change my course about 10-15 degrees from my plan. I'm not sure why he was doing this, but before too long, the field was off by about...can you guess? Yeah, about 15 degrees!!! He never explained what the rationale was, but I guess it's kinda my fault too for not asking "what are we doing again?" Anyway, we got back to the airport and that landing was not that pretty...I think a good gust got me, but hey, that's OK. I am kinda curious about one thing...my CFI keeps telling me I am not lined up, so when I "line up", the nose is always off by about 5 degrees from the runway. If I feel like I am lined up, he says I am crabbed but when he says I am lined up, I feel like we are crabbed the other way. I'm not sure what the issue is there...one of our sets of eyes ain't workin' quite right I believe!

So, all in all the cross country went well. I didn't get behind the airplane and besides fighting the power (kept creeping up and down) I think it went real well. The plan for next week is as follows: Tuesday, a little solo work in the pattern. Thursday; night pattern work. Saturday; solo cross country. So it seems to REALLY be moving along quite well. Since the end does appear to be in sight, it is time to really start studying for the written exam. My CFI told me when I score over 90 on 3 practice tests, he will sign me off to test. So, hopefully I'll get that done in the next week or so too.

More Solo Work

Well, I was really beginning to think that I wasn't going to any solo work today. The winds have been strong over the last few days and I really expected it to continue. It seems to work out like this: To fly solo, I have to have 3,000 ceilings and 7 miles of visibility. I am allowed 15 knots of wind...so if it's not windy, the ceilings are low. If the ceilings are high, so are the winds. So anyway, as it worked out, ceilings were good and winds were about 10G14 and 15 on occasion. So, I got airborne and took the plane to the practice area...this was a first solo. I have to admit that I was enjoying the flying more than anything and didn't practice too many maneuvers. Some turns around a point and some s-turns which were not looking real good. I could hear my instructor squawking in my ear "more bank!!! NO too MUCH!!! Dammit...NO!!! MORE....NO LESS!!!!" but oddly enough he wasn't there. So after some of that, I cruised back to the pattern to join 3 other planes (which then was 4 other planes...that is the busiest I have seen it yet at my primary field). I did 5 touch and goes that were "not too bad" and then a full stop when the winds started kicking pretty good. All in all, a fun time and quite enjoyable.

My next flight is going to be at the towered field down the road. I have flown there a couple times, but I guess it is time to get in the three take offs and landings at a controlled field that are required for the checkride. Also, looking at the syllabus, I will start the cross-countries real quick. As scheduled, I have Thursdays flight, then a night flight then the two cross country with my instructor. After that (if I haven't sucked royally) I have 3 solo cross countries and then start my checkride prep. That should be 3 or 4 rides....again, as scheduled. I am getting pretty excited as the end seems to be coming in sight. Perhaps having my PPL in hand by 31 July is not an unrealistic goal!!! Of course, this is BEFORE I try to get my CFI to schedule the night flights!!!

OK, time fora quick nap before my venture across town for school. Man, I am beat!!!

Another Loss...

Well real quick, I was scheduled to fly yesterday, but we canceled for weather. We covered some cross country stuff and started to plan the first cross country that will happen in a week or so (hopefully).

On another note, in the world of aviation, it is often said that you will soon learn of someone you knew that has died in a plane. Well this week, I learned of two deaths. The first was a Delta pilot that I read about but didn't put the name with the person until Friday. Come to find out, he was also a reserve pilot out of Ohio that had just finished up the aerial refueling training down here not too long ago. Once I was reminded, I knew exactly who it was. He was a good stick and a super nice guy. He was so well liked that at his funeral, he had a fly-over of a C-130, a C-5 and a T-38. It's pretty special to have ONE military airplane do a fly-over, but THREE is unheard of.

Well, just a little while ago, I saw that Shaun Lunt had died Friday while flying in Alaska. Although I didn't personally meet Shaun, I had chatted with him via e-mail a few times and he was an incredibly nice guy. His story was quite remarkable; A 30 years old anesthesiologist who lived in California. He went out and bought a Super Cub which he took to Alaska for several site seeing trips. He truly had a passion for life and lived unlike anyone I have ever known. It appears that while up in Alaska circling around a whale, the airplane stalled and it spun in. A friend was with him (in his own Super Cub) and landed next to the wreckage. The Alaska State Police airplane overflew the accident but was unable to land due to winds. They asked his friend to wait until their return. He waited for two hours and then left saying he couldn't watch his friend burn up anymore. What a horrible story...I feel very bad for his friend.

Here is his website...take a look at some of Shaun's work, it is quite remarkable.

http://shaunlunt.typepad.com/shootings/

I have too many reminders lately that aviation is a wonderful thing, but it can be dangerous too...

A Little More Solo Action

So toady went pretty well. I showed up and we went straight to the plane. We covered a little more of the same as yesterday....basic VOR tracking, stalls and slow flight in simulated instrument conditions and a some pattern work. Well, after I didn't kill my CFI after a few patterns, he had me drop him off and go do a few patterns solo. The first one was pretty bad, a little bounce action but I saved it. The second one was WAY bad and I ended up going around. It was obvious that the winds were starting to kick up and some weather was coming in so my last approach (I originally was going to do a couple more) I did a partial flap and it was a damn nice landing. I thought to myself "Hey, let's end this on a good note..." so I brought it in for a full stop. So went back to the office and my CFI agreed with my self-critique and plan for me to go do some solo work Saturday morning. Hopefully, the weather will be OK and I can actually get it done. If it is questionable, I guess we'll go do some more practicing of my instrument work. My training record has areas that are graded. The grades are 1: Really Good 2: Above Average 3: Average 4: Not so Good 5: You SURE you want to fly? Well, my last few flights were graded 2.5 and today was graded a 2...woohoo!!! Guess I don't suck too bad, after all!!! OK, I need to go study some stuff (navigation stuff, systems stuff and more emergency procedures stuff) in addition to school work for my master's. Oh, what fun!!!

Moving on along....

So today was supposed to the second supervised solo, but the winds were quite erratic so we changed up the plan a little bit. The only "new" thing today was VOR navigation and simulated radar vectors while in the weather. I think it all went fairly well and the VOR stuff is pretty simple. I guess I thought there would be more to it, but not really. Of course, there is wind corrections, but you learn early on that there is wind corrections of some sort during all phases of flight...so it all is relative (to the wind, of course...HA!!!). I did about half an hour of simulated IFR and that went well too including slow flight and the stalls. The crosswind landings still need a little work, but that comes with time. I couldn't help but laugh at one thing, though. When my first landing was "not picture perfect", my CFI took it around the pattern to "illustrate" what I should do. HA!!!! is landing was just as bad as mine!!! So, he gave it back to me and the next few landings got progressively better. The next couple of days are also supposed to be gusty, so we are going to do more instrument work and getting ready for the cross-country. So, the way I *think* it might go is like this: Friday and Saturday will be instrument work and some pattern work. Then hopefully next week we will get the night stuff done and then onto the cross country. The CFI has given me route that we will fly, so this weekend I will start to "pre-plan" the pre-planning plan. Things are progressing very quickly now, much faster than I thought it would. The first month seemed like I wouldn't ever finish, now I am starting to figure out when the checkride will be scheduled. I still think mid-July will be the time frame, but we will see.

Oh yeah, the rental rate went up $10 an hour today. I knew it was just a matter of time.

Well, it's about time for me to go to work and fly big airplanes now. I gotta say...my life is pretty good. Got up, flew a little plane for a little over an hour, came home, had lunch, and now I get to go to my "job" and fly a big plane. I watched a show last night about coal miners in West Virgina. Those folks work and work HARD!!! I told Kelly that if I EVER complain about my job, just remind me about the folks in the mines.