Nashville, TN

August 2, 2011- UPDATE: I added videos of our Nashville flight!

July 27, 2011

My boyfriend, Dion, and I took some time off work and spent a few days in Nashville, TN. I decided that it would be fun to find a local flight school down there, rent an airplane with an instructor, and go fly around Nashville for an hour. After some research, I ended up choosing Wings of Eagles flight school in Smyrna, TN. It is based in a Class D airport and it's primary fleet of airplanes consist of Diamonds. I scheduled a week in advance to fly in a DA-40 so that I could take Dion along for the ride. I chose to fly with a female instructor, Nora.

We arrived at 9am and met Nora. We were a bit early so we had to wait for them to get the plane ready. Once she had the plane fueled and preflighted, she came inside to get us. We were going in their top of the line Diamond DA-40 XLS model. This thing was loaded with all sorts of fun stuff. It had the Garmin G1000, leather seats, auto pilot, and air conditioning. Nora and I sat in the front seats, and Dion sat in the back. He said he had more leg room than he would've on a airliner!

I taxied out to the runway, then Nora did the takeoff. Once at a safe altitude and configured for normal cruise flight, she gave me the controls. We went out east first so that we could see the big lakes they have. Then we turned on a northwest heading so that we could fly near downtown Nashville. It was incredibly hazy, which made it hard to see far out, but it was still gorgeous. The scenery from the air was just breathtaking; the hills and lakes are so much prettier than the boring flat farmland back home. However, I thought about suitable emergency landing areas, and there just wasn't much to choose from if we were to need it.

After about an hour, we came in to land. We entered the 45 for a right pattern to runway 19. She helped me out a little with the landing since it was a new plane to me. We then taxied back to the ramp and went inside. It was really neat to have the opportunity to fly with her. She was a very sweet young women and she let me ask her questions along the way about being a women in a male dominated field. It was quite interesting and I really wasn't too surprised with her answers. Before we left, she handed me her business card and told me that if I had any questions at all, to please give her a call or email. She understands what it's like to be in my shoes (even though I haven't had any real issues at this point) and she would be willing to give advice, encouragement, or any other assistance. Thanks Nora!

*Thank you Dion for taking these videos!*

Me in front of the DA-40 XLS

DA-40 Cockpit

I'm Ready

July 22, 2011

I finally got to fly today for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks and it felt great. Matt asked me to fly with Nick who is another instructor at the airport. He wanted Nick to test me to see if I was ready for the big checkride.

Prior to today's lesson, I flew solo on July 5th. Then on the 13th I was supposed to fly with Nick but weather kept us on the ground. The time didn't go to waste; we ended up doing 2 1/2 hours of oral exam preparation. Then on the 20th I took my FAA Private Pilot Knowledge Exam and scored a 93%!!! Now all of the requirements that are needed prior to taking the checkride have been completed, which brings us back to today's flight.

Nick and I flew in the other Cessna 152 because my regular airplane has been down for maintenance. We departed runway 18 with a soft field takeoff. We headed out to Jerseyville and did the cross country portion of the mock checkride. All went well so we moved onto the next thing. I don't remember the exact order but we ended up doing unusual attitudes while under the foggles, we did turns around a point, and steep turns. He then cut the power to idle to simulate an engine failure. Nick intentionally had me come in high to test me on how well I could do a forward slip. It went really well and I would've made the intended point of landing.

While we were still out by Jerseyville, Nick had me set up for slow flight before going into a stall. After successfully completing slow flight, I received a huge compliment. Nick said that my slow flight maneuver met commercial pilot standards. Wow!! Hearing him say that felt so unbelievably good.

On the way back to the airport, Nick put me back under the foggles and had me navigate by VOR. Once close enough, I took the foggles off and entered the traffic pattern for runway 9. Nick said that I needed to make a short field landing and should touch down at the intersection of runway 9 and 18. Then he changed his mind and said he would just be happy to see a nice landing on the runway itself. Without telling him, I decided to take the challenge anyway. After softly touching down on that intersection, Nick complimented me on a job well done. It was an unexpectedly fantastic day.

Once back inside, I was told that I would've passed the checkride. After my plane is fixed (which could be another two weeks) I can contact a FAA examiner and schedule the real checkride. I am so excited.

Flight Log to Date
Hours flown: 70.9

Getting Close

July 1, 2011

Since my last post I flew solo to practice landings, which went pretty well. Then Matt and I met for three hours a couple days ago for some ground school. This was to help prepare me for the knowledge exam that I need to take. It made a huge difference and I'm about 1-2 weeks away from taking the test.

Today however, we did a mock checkride. I always feel a little awkward doing this because the instructor no longer acts like an instructor, but as an examiner. We don't make small talk, and I can't ask any questions. Matt instructs me to perform a maneuver and I must deliver.

First thing we did was a soft field takeoff. My technique was correct, but Matt said there were a couple little things I should work on. They're not things that would fail a checkride, but just things I should keep in mind. We then departed to the northwest and climbed to 4000ft. to work on steep turns. I busted the limit on my turn to the left because I decreased the power too much and lost too much altitude. Then on my turn to the right, I added power and the turn was much better.

Next up was slow flight. For some reason this has been a weak point for me since the beginning. Today was fantastic though. I impressed myself and Matt. I remember him telling me that it was the best slow flight he has ever seen me do, which is a pretty big deal to me. I then returned to cruise and once stable, Matt told me to perform a power-off stall. Stalls are another maneuver that I'm not entirely a fan of. I did a good job, so Matt had me do a power-on stall. The first time I recovered before even stalling the plane, so Matt said try again. This time I waited for the full stall and then recovered. Big difference, and less pleasant...

Once back to cruise, Matt pulled the throttle to idle to simulate an engine failure. There were no private runways in the area, so I chose a field and decided to land into the wind which was coming from the south. I was at about 2500ft, so after getting to the plane's best glide speed I made a 360 degree turn to lose altitude. Once I felt that I could come in to land, I began flying straight ahead and started adding flaps. If we were to actually land, I would've been in the perfect position and in my selected field. Once we were a couple hundred feet above the ground, I added full power and began climbing out.

Now it was time to do turns around a point. Nothing special there, I did pretty good but there's a couple little things I could work on. Afterward, we gained some altitude and then I handed the controls over to Matt. He had me close my eyes, put my head down and had me keep my hands and feet off all controls. This meant we were about to do unusual attitudes, one of my favorite things. He flew the plane in different directions to throw off my equilibrium then told me to open my eyes and recover the plane from whatever attitude it was in. No problems there.

We then flew back to the airport, entered the traffic pattern and made a short field landing on Runway 18. I landed just a little short of my intended point but still within the limits of passing. After coming to a full stop on the runway, I held the brakes then applied full power to begin a short field takeoff.  That went well so we came in for a soft field landing. I came in too high so I ended up doing a go-around. The second attempt was a success. 

During the debriefing, Matt said I did really well today. He's asked me to fly solo one more time to polish things up, then schedule another mock checkride with a different instructor to get a non-biased opinion. Meanwhile, I need to take (and pass) the knowledge exam ASAP, and schedule a mock oral exam with Matt. My goal is to take the knowledge exam within two weeks, and hopefully take the checkride in 3-4 weeks. Wish me luck :)