December 17, 2011
Almost done with Stage 1 of my instrument training! Went flying with Mark this afternoon to practice the remaining items that we didn't have the opportunity to do last lesson. The weather was beautiful; the sun's rays were shining through the occasional cloud and a crisp 50 degrees kept us just warm enough. The winds were light from the west. We departed from runway 27 and began our journey to the northwest. Moments later, I hear Mark saying that he has the controls and asks me to put on my foggles. My view limiting glasses keep me from seeing outside. I watch and interpret the airplane instruments to safely fly the plane. Mark gives me a series of headings and altitudes to fly and I perform. He tunes the radio to the local tower frequency so that I can get accustomed to hearing the communications. We will not be in contact with them today however.
The first maneuver of the lesson is slow flight. "Slow the airplane down to 60 knots but use no more than 20 degrees of flaps. Maintain an altitude of 3000ft and remain on this heading," Mark states. I pull back the throttle and watch the power decline, carburetor heat on, raise the nose of the airplane to maintain altitude. Now at a safe enough speed, I lower 10 degrees of flaps. Keep waiting... airspeed drops... lower flaps to 20 degrees. Now slowly bring back some power to keep from descending. Alright, just keep steady. Mark then tells me to make a series of turns but keep 60 knots and 3000ft. Gentle turns are a must in slow flight.
"Good, now return to normal cruise." Once situated, he tells me to drop back down to 60 knots without using flaps. "We're going to practice a power-off stall. When you feel any sign of an impending stall, recover." I acknowledge Mark's request and pull the power all the way out to idle and raise the nose. I watch the speed; 60 knots, 50 knots, the stall warning horn starts whistling, nearing 40 knots, and there's the buffeting. Recover now. I lower the nose while maintaining coordination and add power. Once back to normal cruise, I'm asked to do a power-on stall. Drop back down to 60 knots, then add full power and raise the nose to a high angle of attack. Airspeed drops and no matter how much rudder I add, the plane loses directional control. As another sign of an impending stall, I recover.
That's enough stalls for today. We practice a couple timed turns using the magnetic compass, then advance to the next maneuver. I wasn't prepared for my next assignment. Mark tells me to completely close my eyes and fly the plane based on feel and sound alone. "Close my eyes?!" What on earth is Mark trying to teach me here? I close my eyes; it's pitch black. I 'feel' the plane. My heart is racing as I trust Mark to watch over me. After approximately 30 seconds of flying blind, Mark tells me to open my eyes. I immediately scan my instruments. Ahhhh I get it now, we were practicing unusual attitudes. I had just put myself into a slight turning descent. I recover, then Mark tells me to do it again. Eyes shut, I feel the motions of the plane. I feel level, but I hear the the engine changing tones, I think we're climbing. I don't think it's much so I slightly lower the nose then we hit a couple pockets of turbulence that freaked me out. I work through them before Mark asks me to open my eyes. He had covered up two of my instruments! I interpret the available instruments to see that I did it again; in a very slight turning descent. When you have no visual references to the horizon, you experience spatial disorientation which makes you feel like you're in a position that is false. Although I felt like I was flying straight and level, I clearly wasn't. This can come from many situations, such as flying in the clouds, or perhaps you were just leaning down to pick up that pencil you dropped, only to look back at your instruments and find that you put yourself into an unusual attitude. This was a great learning exercise.
We practice more flying with the partial panel (two instruments covered indicating a simulated vacuum system failure). Mark then assigns headings to take us back to the airport. I hear him announce over the radio that we're flying over the airfield and will be turning back to do a teardrop entry for runway 27. I'm still wearing foggles. He watches for traffic. I'm now allowed to take the foggles off, and I notice that we're on the 45 degree entry into the traffic pattern. Airplane is mine, time to land. I set up and guide us in. After touching down, we taxi back to the hanger, park, and head inside.
After debriefing, Mark tells me that I'm approved to take the flight portion of the Stage 1 Check. My written test is done, so once I complete the flight portion I can advance onto Stage 2 of 3!
Flight Log to Date
Hours flown: 93.0
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Flying in IMC
December 4, 2011
Filed an IFR Flight Plan for the first time today. We would be flying in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) for my first lesson in a month. (Click highlighted word(s) for more information). Preflight inspection done; the Skyhawk is safe to fly. We taxi out to Runway 27 and hold short. After performing the run-up, my instructor for the day, Mark, calls up St. Louis Clearance Delivery. The controller tells us that she does not see our flight plan and asks for our information so that we can continue. As we're waiting, she tells us to hold for release. This works much like merging onto the highway; they have to find a place to squeeze us in between all other air traffic. A couple short minutes later, we are released for departure with a void time of five minutes. I learned from Mark that this meant we could go ahead and takeoff but that we needed to contact the controller once in the air within five minutes or our clearance to depart was void. I line us up on the centerline of the runway, add full power and climb out.
The clouds were reported to be lower than 2000ft with light rain. It was pretty chilly outside, so we did a basic calculation to figure out the estimated freezing level. Ice is not something we wanted to encounter. If we stayed under 3000ft we would be safe. As we continued to climb to our assigned altitude, we run into a broken layer of clouds (clouds that cover 60-90% of the sky) around 1200ft. This was a strange sensation for me because our traffic pattern altitude is 1200ft. It really gave a perspective as to how low the clouds really were. We continue to climb, our visibility continues to drop, then next thing you notice is the inability to see the ground. It was like standing in front of a white wall, where all you can see is white. My heart began racing. This is nothing compared to simply flying while wearing the foggles. We are now flying in the overcast layer (100% cloud cover).
Our flight plan states that we will be radar vectored for the full flight. This allows ATC to watch and guide us as we fly. The controller assigns us to maintain level at 2500ft and on a heading of 090 degrees (East). Mark tells me that we are flying to Alton, IL to practice a back-course approach using the Localizer. I wasn't prepared for how sensitive and precise the system was, so I got off course several times. After getting the hang of things, I flew us directly to the runway that the ILS (Instrument Landing System) provided. Since we did not want to land, we called ATC and declared a missed approach. He acknowledged our call and vectored us via radar around to the opposite runway so that we could practice a front-course approach with the Localizer. This is a pretty nice guide to have because the controller tells you exactly when to turn and to what heading. After all, chances of you seeing the ground are slim anyways if you're performing an instrument approach. He guides us onto the final approach, then we follow the Localizer. There's the runway! We go missed again, then get vectored northwest so that we can set up do a VOR approach back to our home airport.
Mark covers up my attitude indicator and heading indicator; time to practice simulated instrument failures. I was already experiencing spatial disorientation flying with full instruments, so by throwing in this other obstacle was a true challenge. At one point I told Mark that I was done. He said, "done with today, or done for good??" I replied, "no, just today." Between the flying in actual instrument conditions and all the work included in performing instrument approaches, I was overwhelmed. At that moment I just wanted to hand him the controls, but we broke out of the clouds and was on top for a moment. It was that breather that allowed me to pull myself together and fly us back with a VOR approach.
IFR pilots use approach plates that guide them down to land. You will cross intersections that once hit, you can begin another leg of descent. We arrive at the Byrns Intersection at 2300ft. The approach plate tells us to remain at that altitude while flying a heading of 208 degrees until we reach the Nupde Intersection. Now 6.7 miles from the airport, we can descend to 1160ft; no lower. On our way down, we break out of the clouds around 1700ft. It was somewhat a relief. I have the airport in sight. The wind is from the west, however the approach has us coming in to land on the south runway. We do a circling approach to get us onto the base leg for Runway 27. By this point, we had permission from ATC to switch frequencies to our home airport. We announced on the local frequency that we were turning right base to final. Now lined up to land, we gently bring the plane down. The wheels touch the runway, and we taxi back to the ramp.
Wow what an experience! There's simply no one word to describe today's lesson. It was an amazing, terrifying, exciting, addicting, overwhelming, fun, and heart-pounding day.
Video during a quick break in the clouds:
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Delay
November 15, 2011
I thought I would give my readers an update. Due to the fact that I am doing my instrument training as Part 141, I must follow a structured syllabus. There are three stages that I must go through, and at the end of each stage are tests. It requires you to take a stage written exam before you can take the stage checkride (flight portion). For stage one, the checkride would be my 13th flight. I have done 11 lessons so far. Before I can continue, I need to complete my written exam. This is what is holding me up.
I feel like I'm in a bit of a rut at the moment. The book studies are difficult; almost everything is completely new to me. New maneuvers, new regulations, deeper understanding of the airplane instruments, new tower communications, and in-depth weather studies. I believe that I got a little overwhelmed and lost some motivation. I haven't touched a book in almost three weeks, and it's been almost two weeks since I've had a lesson.
I will not however, give up. This is still my passion and I'm planning to get back on track soon.
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| My last lesson was a hazy day with limited visibility |
Monday, October 31, 2011
Instrument Day 9
October 30, 2011
We lucked out. The winds weren't too horrible yet for Bob and I to fly. It was our first lesson together.
When we taxiied out to the runway, the winds were gusting to 18knots from the south. I've gone with an instructor with 30 knot gusts, but I wouldn't do more than 20 knots if I were flying solo. I was slightly concerned about the wind, but only because I would be flying with the foggles. I didn't want to get sick from the turbulence, which only bothers me to a small degree when I can't see outside the airplane.
Take take off from runway 18 then turn north. I put the foggles on and climb to 4000ft. We were definitely getting knocked around, especially at lower altitudes. We'll see how this goes. Bob has never worked on instrument stuff with me outside of my private pilot checkride, so to begin the lesson we just do some back turns, climbs and descents. Then he takes the controls and has me close my eyes. We do some unusual attitudes. There were no issues so we move on to VOR navigation. Bob tunes the radio in to the St. Louis VOR and WE work on intercepting the radial that will get us to our pretend destination.
I look up briefly and peak outside. The clouds were just overhead and we were actually in some light rain. Cool! We continued using the VOR, then decided it was time to follow it back home. The winds were coming from the south, but we had to fly south (into the wind) to get to the airport. At one point, we looked over and the airspeed indicator said we were traveling at 100 knots. The GPS however, showed us flying with a ground speed (the speed we'd be driving if we were in a car) of 54 knots! The wind was so strong at altitude that we were just crawling along.
We did a straight in landing for runway 18, taxied back and parked the plane. Our next lesson will be more VOR intercepting and tracking. Bob will also introduce NDB orientation and homing, NDB bearing interception and tracking and NDB time, speed and distance. "A non-directional (radio) beacon (NDB) is a radio transmitter at a known location, used as an aviation or marine navigational aid." -Wikipedia. It is similar to a VOR but has clear differences. We will also try to fit in intercepting and tracking DME (Distance measuring equipment) arcs. I basically know nothing about this yet. It should be a full lesson, and as always, I look forward to it.
Oh and... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
We lucked out. The winds weren't too horrible yet for Bob and I to fly. It was our first lesson together.
When we taxiied out to the runway, the winds were gusting to 18knots from the south. I've gone with an instructor with 30 knot gusts, but I wouldn't do more than 20 knots if I were flying solo. I was slightly concerned about the wind, but only because I would be flying with the foggles. I didn't want to get sick from the turbulence, which only bothers me to a small degree when I can't see outside the airplane.
Take take off from runway 18 then turn north. I put the foggles on and climb to 4000ft. We were definitely getting knocked around, especially at lower altitudes. We'll see how this goes. Bob has never worked on instrument stuff with me outside of my private pilot checkride, so to begin the lesson we just do some back turns, climbs and descents. Then he takes the controls and has me close my eyes. We do some unusual attitudes. There were no issues so we move on to VOR navigation. Bob tunes the radio in to the St. Louis VOR and WE work on intercepting the radial that will get us to our pretend destination.
I look up briefly and peak outside. The clouds were just overhead and we were actually in some light rain. Cool! We continued using the VOR, then decided it was time to follow it back home. The winds were coming from the south, but we had to fly south (into the wind) to get to the airport. At one point, we looked over and the airspeed indicator said we were traveling at 100 knots. The GPS however, showed us flying with a ground speed (the speed we'd be driving if we were in a car) of 54 knots! The wind was so strong at altitude that we were just crawling along.
We did a straight in landing for runway 18, taxied back and parked the plane. Our next lesson will be more VOR intercepting and tracking. Bob will also introduce NDB orientation and homing, NDB bearing interception and tracking and NDB time, speed and distance. "A non-directional (radio) beacon (NDB) is a radio transmitter at a known location, used as an aviation or marine navigational aid." -Wikipedia. It is similar to a VOR but has clear differences. We will also try to fit in intercepting and tracking DME (Distance measuring equipment) arcs. I basically know nothing about this yet. It should be a full lesson, and as always, I look forward to it.
Oh and... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Pumpkin Drop
October 29, 2011
I arrive at the airport around 11:00am to find a lot of vehicles parked, many people walking about, and a giant pile of pumpkins. It was our 3rd Annual Pumpkin Drop Competition and Open House. We had flight simulators, a bouncy house for kids, music, and Women With Wings set up a booth in the hanger. On the other side of the airport, the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) had a Corvette car show, a couple military airplanes on display and food. It was quiet the event and many people came out to enjoy it.
I register early for the competition. My boyfriend Dion was to be my bombardier. He has a college background of physics so this gave him the opportunity to use his skills in a fun way. He made some pre-calculations then planned on using the math to determine when and where to drop the pumpkins. He arrives about 12:30 and I show him around, then his family came out to visit. We walk around a bit, I show them the planes I fly, then it's time to get ready. Dion and I were in the first group to compete. The winds are directly from the west, however they request the pilots to use the north runway because the target is next to that runway. This meant we'd have a crosswind. Dion hasn't flown with me in at least six months, and never in this airplane. We're both pretty excited to go.
The first plane takes off. We wait to allow for spacing, then away we go. After climbing to pattern altitude of 1200ft, we follow the pattern around. Once onto final approach, we descend to 800ft that they required, line up with the target, he opens the window, holds out the first pumpkin, and lets go. Five seconds later, splat! We miss. The target is a circle with a 100ft diameter. You get three drops then scoring is based on the distance from the center of the scoring area in feet. Example: 25' = 25 points. If the pumpkin lands outside of the scoring area, you get 50 points. The winner will have the lowest cumulative total from all three bombing runs. Since we completely missed, we're at 50 points and have two more attempts.
We come back around, Dion guides me where he needs me to fly, then drops the pumpkin. A few seconds later, we hear from the ground crew that we hit! That was only 23ft from the center, giving us a total of 73 points. I fly us back around, then away he drops our final pumpkin. Unfortunately, we have no idea where this one went. There were many other competitors left to go, so it would be hours before we got the final results. We come back to land and as we're taxiing to the ramp, we see his family waving at us. I park the plane and we get out. Wow that was fun!
Now it was time to pay it forward and take up a student. When I did the bomb drop competition earlier this year, I didn't have my private pilot certificate yet which meant I couldn't participate unless a pilot took me up. It meant so much to me then, that I decided I would do the same for someone else. I taxi us out to the runway, then explain the rules. We're now ready to go. After all three drops, we come back completely clueless as to how well we did. It's now 2:30pm and I have to clock in to work dispatch. Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to visit much with family, see the airplanes on display, or even grab a lunch. It was still fun nonetheless.
Shortly thereafter, I hear the announcement on the radio that the B-25 is getting ready to drop its large amount of pumpkins. I'm inside so I can't watch, but I hear it fly overhead. It's like music to my ears; that's the way a plane should sound.
The event wraps up and most people have left. They finally announce the winner. Dion and I placed 4th out of nearly 50 competitors! For our first time, we were very pleased. But next time, we're definitely going for the win.
I arrive at the airport around 11:00am to find a lot of vehicles parked, many people walking about, and a giant pile of pumpkins. It was our 3rd Annual Pumpkin Drop Competition and Open House. We had flight simulators, a bouncy house for kids, music, and Women With Wings set up a booth in the hanger. On the other side of the airport, the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) had a Corvette car show, a couple military airplanes on display and food. It was quiet the event and many people came out to enjoy it.
I register early for the competition. My boyfriend Dion was to be my bombardier. He has a college background of physics so this gave him the opportunity to use his skills in a fun way. He made some pre-calculations then planned on using the math to determine when and where to drop the pumpkins. He arrives about 12:30 and I show him around, then his family came out to visit. We walk around a bit, I show them the planes I fly, then it's time to get ready. Dion and I were in the first group to compete. The winds are directly from the west, however they request the pilots to use the north runway because the target is next to that runway. This meant we'd have a crosswind. Dion hasn't flown with me in at least six months, and never in this airplane. We're both pretty excited to go.
The first plane takes off. We wait to allow for spacing, then away we go. After climbing to pattern altitude of 1200ft, we follow the pattern around. Once onto final approach, we descend to 800ft that they required, line up with the target, he opens the window, holds out the first pumpkin, and lets go. Five seconds later, splat! We miss. The target is a circle with a 100ft diameter. You get three drops then scoring is based on the distance from the center of the scoring area in feet. Example: 25' = 25 points. If the pumpkin lands outside of the scoring area, you get 50 points. The winner will have the lowest cumulative total from all three bombing runs. Since we completely missed, we're at 50 points and have two more attempts.
We come back around, Dion guides me where he needs me to fly, then drops the pumpkin. A few seconds later, we hear from the ground crew that we hit! That was only 23ft from the center, giving us a total of 73 points. I fly us back around, then away he drops our final pumpkin. Unfortunately, we have no idea where this one went. There were many other competitors left to go, so it would be hours before we got the final results. We come back to land and as we're taxiing to the ramp, we see his family waving at us. I park the plane and we get out. Wow that was fun!
Now it was time to pay it forward and take up a student. When I did the bomb drop competition earlier this year, I didn't have my private pilot certificate yet which meant I couldn't participate unless a pilot took me up. It meant so much to me then, that I decided I would do the same for someone else. I taxi us out to the runway, then explain the rules. We're now ready to go. After all three drops, we come back completely clueless as to how well we did. It's now 2:30pm and I have to clock in to work dispatch. Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to visit much with family, see the airplanes on display, or even grab a lunch. It was still fun nonetheless.
Shortly thereafter, I hear the announcement on the radio that the B-25 is getting ready to drop its large amount of pumpkins. I'm inside so I can't watch, but I hear it fly overhead. It's like music to my ears; that's the way a plane should sound.
The event wraps up and most people have left. They finally announce the winner. Dion and I placed 4th out of nearly 50 competitors! For our first time, we were very pleased. But next time, we're definitely going for the win.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Day of Firsts
October 23, 2011
"That would be great, see you then."
It's 7:30am Sunday morning and I look outside; it's cloudy. I check the weather and it appears that there are a few pockets of light rain around the region. I'm really hoping that it clears up soon because I have plans to fly a friend from work along with her husband. Tammy has shown continued interest and support throughout my flight training. Her husband Terry took a few lessons back in the day and was so excited to have the opportunity to revisit the skies. Tammy however has a fear of heights and is uncomfortable in airplanes. Terry managed to talk her to into going today.
It's now 8:30am and the clouds seem to be clearing. I can see the sun peaking through and the rain has moved on. We're in luck. I meet Tammy and Terry, grab the clipboard, and walk us out to the airplane. Terry expresses great interest in the preflight inspection, so I decide that I would explain what I'm checking and why. This is pretty cool, I feel like a CFI. Today we're taking a Cessna 172. I've never flown the C-172 without another pilot before; this will be a first. I've also never carried more than one passenger; today I have two. I can feel the adrenaline rushing through my body.
I turn the key and the engine erupts with life. I can sense everyone's anticipation as I run through additional sections of the preflight checklist. I listen to the weather and it tells me exactly what I want to hear; the clouds have raised and the winds are calm. I taxi us out to the runway, stop at the hold short line, and perform the runup. I then look over to make sure that everyone is buckled, the windows closed, and the doors locked shut. The traffic is clear. I announce our departure over the radio and line up on the runway. After applying full power, we begin rolling down the runway, gaining speed. At 50 knots the plane is ready to fly. I pull back on the yoke to start my climb when suddenly the lock on my door unlatches. I immediately pull the power to idle and roll us down the runway until we can pull off. I've never had to abort a takeoff before. Once on the taxiway, I stop, secure my door and prepare for takeoff. At 50 knots the wheels begin to raise off the runway. "Oh wow Sara, this is amazing!" Terry exclaimed.
We depart the area and follow the Mississippi River to the east. The trees are showing their peak Fall colors, the sun is shining and the clouds are reflecting off the calm water below. I look back to see Tammy with a huge smile, snapping pictures of everything. We fly by Alton, IL, then over the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and above the old Chain of Rocks Bridge. I tune in to the St. Louis Downtown airport's frequency, then make my radio call. "St. Louis Downtown, Skyhawk 4-8-8-2-Golf, about 10 miles to the north, requesting an Arch flyby." "4-8-8-2-Golf, standby" they respond. I wait as they attend to other aircraft. I'm clear to enter their airspace since they stated my airplane's call sign, so I continue flying closer. I'm almost to the Arch, the radio is now quiet, and they haven't gotten back to me. "St. Louis Downtown, 4-8-8-2-Golf requesting that Arch flyby," I repeat. The controller immediately answers and approves my transition through their airspace, allowing me to circle the Arch before heading back north. Terry tells me again how incredible this is, and Tammy is taking video. This was the first time that I've taken passengers to tour the Arch by myself. I'm feeling amazing, confident, and proud. I did it!
We head back north, find the Missouri River, and follow it west. I fly over my home airport, then continue west to the Mississippi River again. I wanted to take them up the river to see more of the gorgeous trees. Tammy's headset had nowhere to plug in so we couldn't communicate, however Terry was in the front passenger seat so we could talk during the entire flight. He often expressed his enjoyment and asked frequent questions. It felt good to "teach." I offered the controls to him, but he said I was doing great as it was and that he was content just sitting there. I take us up the river for about 15 minutes before heading home. I had been a bit nervous about landing the C-172 because previous landings have been a little more rough than I like. I just haven't gotten used to this plane yet. I focused hard and managed to have my smoothest C-172 landing to date.
We had an amazing time. Tammy took fantastic pictures and Terry couldn't stop smiling. Moments like today just reinforce why I fly. It feels great, and to share it with other people is a dream come true.
You can see a couple photos on my "Photos" page, and the link to the videos are under my "Videos" page.
Flight Log to Date
Hours flown: 86.5
Monday, October 24, 2011
1 Year Anniversary
October 22, 2011
Sorry for the delay in writing! My last three lessons have been canceled, therefore its been two weeks since I last flew. On the bright side of things, yesterday was my 1 year anniversary of my first flight lesson! My, how time flies (no pun intended).
So, how did I celebrate? How else... FLYING!
Ryan, who is a friend of mine from the airport went with me. He's a commercial pilot working towards his CFI rating. It worked out well for both us because I could get free advice, and he could get practice working with a student. He left the flight completely open to whatever I wanted to do. I decided we would land at a couple towered airports and then do some scenic flying in between. This would be the first time that I've flown with another pilot who wasn't an instructor. Very exciting!
I did the preflight inspection on the Cessna 172. All looks good and safe to fly. Ryan ask me where we're flying today. I tell him that I want to head out south, find Hwy 40 and follow it out to the Arch. Then I thought we could do a landing at the Alton, IL airport. He then suggests that since we're going to be in the area, we could fly into Spirit Airport, then head out to the Arch. "Sounds like a great idea! I've never flown into Spirit before, so this should be fun," I reply. We depart, and begin flying south. Ryan takes out his iPad, (which is loaded with flight planning software) and pulls up the frequencies and airport information for Spirit. Alright, that's pretty cool. I want one; and currently taking money donations if you'd like to give to my "fund", hehe :)
I can't tell you how many times I've driven by the airport, and still had a somewhat difficult time finding it from the air. We're now in contact with the tower. Looks like we're cleared to do a straight in landing for Runway 26L. Now 100ft, 50ft, 10ft, and touchdown. Unfortunately it was an embarrassingly hard landing. Those big runways are deceiving to the eyes! Oh well, we were safe and Ryan explained what I did wrong. We taxied back to the runway and waited. "4882G, holding short of 26L, ready for takeoff," I said. The tower asks where we are headed, and after a brief moment we were cleared to takeoff with a left turn departure. We were now headed to the Arch.
As we're flying, Ryan asks if I want to land at Lambert International Airport after the Arch flyby. I think about it for a minute, then say sure. We tuned in to Lambert's frequency to see if it sounded busy. If it was, then they probably wouldn't have time to deal with us "little guys." To our benefit, it sounded dead. For it being a Saturday afternoon, we were shocked.
We're approaching the Arch, so I called up the airport nearby and requested clearance to transition through their airspace so we could fly by the Arch. It was gorgeous; the sun shining off the sides, just gleaming beautifully to anyone looking. We then depart the downtown area and head slightly north. We tune the radio to Lambert's ATIS frequency to get the weather and airport information. This was very amusing because the automated voice threw in a, "GO CARDS!" to the message (our STL Cardinals team is in the World Series right now) . Ryan asks if I want to do the talking or if I would rather him do it. I was quick to reply, "no no, you do it!" Yeah I chickened out, but what newbie wouldn't? He asks the tower if they have time to squeeze us in for a touch-and-go. We're in luck! They assign us to Runway 30R. I grab my camera and ask Ryan if he could take video of the landing; he was happy to do it (Check my YouTube page soon for the video upload- the link is on my video page). The wheels touched the giant runway. It was a much better landing. We quickly raise the flaps and configure the plane for takeoff. I add full power and at about 50 knots, I begin to climb. Ryan's still taking video as we gain altitude. After a couple of minutes, the tower tells us we're clear of their airspace and to have a good day. We're now headed back to our home airport.
We enter the pattern for Runway 18 and run through our pre-landing checklist. The landing was beautiful. We had a really good time. Ryan was very helpful and I learned just as much as I would've from a certified instructor. We'll be flying again for sure.
Sorry for the delay in writing! My last three lessons have been canceled, therefore its been two weeks since I last flew. On the bright side of things, yesterday was my 1 year anniversary of my first flight lesson! My, how time flies (no pun intended).
So, how did I celebrate? How else... FLYING!
Ryan, who is a friend of mine from the airport went with me. He's a commercial pilot working towards his CFI rating. It worked out well for both us because I could get free advice, and he could get practice working with a student. He left the flight completely open to whatever I wanted to do. I decided we would land at a couple towered airports and then do some scenic flying in between. This would be the first time that I've flown with another pilot who wasn't an instructor. Very exciting!
I did the preflight inspection on the Cessna 172. All looks good and safe to fly. Ryan ask me where we're flying today. I tell him that I want to head out south, find Hwy 40 and follow it out to the Arch. Then I thought we could do a landing at the Alton, IL airport. He then suggests that since we're going to be in the area, we could fly into Spirit Airport, then head out to the Arch. "Sounds like a great idea! I've never flown into Spirit before, so this should be fun," I reply. We depart, and begin flying south. Ryan takes out his iPad, (which is loaded with flight planning software) and pulls up the frequencies and airport information for Spirit. Alright, that's pretty cool. I want one; and currently taking money donations if you'd like to give to my "fund", hehe :)
I can't tell you how many times I've driven by the airport, and still had a somewhat difficult time finding it from the air. We're now in contact with the tower. Looks like we're cleared to do a straight in landing for Runway 26L. Now 100ft, 50ft, 10ft, and touchdown. Unfortunately it was an embarrassingly hard landing. Those big runways are deceiving to the eyes! Oh well, we were safe and Ryan explained what I did wrong. We taxied back to the runway and waited. "4882G, holding short of 26L, ready for takeoff," I said. The tower asks where we are headed, and after a brief moment we were cleared to takeoff with a left turn departure. We were now headed to the Arch.
As we're flying, Ryan asks if I want to land at Lambert International Airport after the Arch flyby. I think about it for a minute, then say sure. We tuned in to Lambert's frequency to see if it sounded busy. If it was, then they probably wouldn't have time to deal with us "little guys." To our benefit, it sounded dead. For it being a Saturday afternoon, we were shocked.
We're approaching the Arch, so I called up the airport nearby and requested clearance to transition through their airspace so we could fly by the Arch. It was gorgeous; the sun shining off the sides, just gleaming beautifully to anyone looking. We then depart the downtown area and head slightly north. We tune the radio to Lambert's ATIS frequency to get the weather and airport information. This was very amusing because the automated voice threw in a, "GO CARDS!" to the message (our STL Cardinals team is in the World Series right now) . Ryan asks if I want to do the talking or if I would rather him do it. I was quick to reply, "no no, you do it!" Yeah I chickened out, but what newbie wouldn't? He asks the tower if they have time to squeeze us in for a touch-and-go. We're in luck! They assign us to Runway 30R. I grab my camera and ask Ryan if he could take video of the landing; he was happy to do it (Check my YouTube page soon for the video upload- the link is on my video page). The wheels touched the giant runway. It was a much better landing. We quickly raise the flaps and configure the plane for takeoff. I add full power and at about 50 knots, I begin to climb. Ryan's still taking video as we gain altitude. After a couple of minutes, the tower tells us we're clear of their airspace and to have a good day. We're now headed back to our home airport.
We enter the pattern for Runway 18 and run through our pre-landing checklist. The landing was beautiful. We had a really good time. Ryan was very helpful and I learned just as much as I would've from a certified instructor. We'll be flying again for sure.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Instrument Day 7
October 5, 2011
"7-3-7 Whiskey Quebec climb and maintain 2500ft and fly a heading of 3-6-0," Eric states. I repeat back, "2500 and 3-6-0, 7-3-7 Whiskey Quebec." We had just taken off from the airport and now headed north. In the background I hear a women's voice through the radio. It was one of Lambert Airport's controllers directing all IFR (instrument) traffic. Eric began getting me used to hearing the communications.
While wearing the foggles, I keep an eye on my instruments. "Attitude indicator (AI), airspeed, back to the attitude indicator, then altimeter, and AI, then the turn coordinator, and back to the AI, vertical speed indicator, AI again, then the heading indicator." I think to myself. Never let those eyes quit scanning.
Eric starts giving me different sets of instructions. "Climb and maintain 3500 while making a left turn to 2-7-0." "Slow the airplane down to 70 knots and maintain 3500ft with a heading of 0-9-0." I repeat back all instructions and do as asked. He then covers up half my instruments and I fly with a partial panel.
After a half hour of practicing turns, climbs, descents, and maneuvers, we start working on navigation. He tells me to tune into the St. Louis VOR frequency. I start to pull out the chart that I use for regular VFR (visual) flight when he interrupts me and tells me to put it away; It's no good for us now. He takes out his approach plates and finds the one for our airport. "I don't know how to read these," I tell him. He shows me where to find the VOR frequency; I tune in and check to make sure it's operating correctly. It is. The goal here is to track this back to our airport. I keep my eyes scanning the instruments while Eric walks me through the steps. Set up the VOR, choose an intercept angle, intercept the radial, set up the second VOR, track it, when both VORs show us on course, we note our position and start descending to the altitude stated on the chart. We need to descend to 1160ft from the 2300ft that we were at, but we need to do it at 90 knots and maintain at least a 500 feet per minute descent rate. Eric tells me, "do not let us get a foot under 1160ft." I pay close attention and do as he says. We're now set up to land on runway 18.
He momentarily takes the controls as I take off the foggles, simulating that I've just come out of the clouds. I now have the controls back and we're over the river, on final approach for the runway at 1160ft. Eric says, "ok, now land the plane." Deep breath... I think to myself, "alright, I'm really high so pull the power out to idle and drop the flaps. Maintain 70 knots, and correct for the wind." I'm looking really good, so all I have to do is maintain it. Touchdown. I did it, by myself! Landing the Cessna 172 has been a bit tricky in the past. Trying to learn the correct sight picture and learning how it needs to be set up to land has been a little difficult.
Today was a really good lesson. I finally feel like multiple things are starting to 'click'.
*NEWS: My last day working with Eric is Friday 10/7/11. I was originally scheduled to work with Dave after Eric leaves, however it has now been switched. I will now have the honor of working with Bob. He was actually my FAA Examiner for both my Sport and Private Pilot checkrides. It was a pleasure to work with him then, and I certainly look forward to working with him now.
"7-3-7 Whiskey Quebec climb and maintain 2500ft and fly a heading of 3-6-0," Eric states. I repeat back, "2500 and 3-6-0, 7-3-7 Whiskey Quebec." We had just taken off from the airport and now headed north. In the background I hear a women's voice through the radio. It was one of Lambert Airport's controllers directing all IFR (instrument) traffic. Eric began getting me used to hearing the communications.
While wearing the foggles, I keep an eye on my instruments. "Attitude indicator (AI), airspeed, back to the attitude indicator, then altimeter, and AI, then the turn coordinator, and back to the AI, vertical speed indicator, AI again, then the heading indicator." I think to myself. Never let those eyes quit scanning.
Eric starts giving me different sets of instructions. "Climb and maintain 3500 while making a left turn to 2-7-0." "Slow the airplane down to 70 knots and maintain 3500ft with a heading of 0-9-0." I repeat back all instructions and do as asked. He then covers up half my instruments and I fly with a partial panel.
After a half hour of practicing turns, climbs, descents, and maneuvers, we start working on navigation. He tells me to tune into the St. Louis VOR frequency. I start to pull out the chart that I use for regular VFR (visual) flight when he interrupts me and tells me to put it away; It's no good for us now. He takes out his approach plates and finds the one for our airport. "I don't know how to read these," I tell him. He shows me where to find the VOR frequency; I tune in and check to make sure it's operating correctly. It is. The goal here is to track this back to our airport. I keep my eyes scanning the instruments while Eric walks me through the steps. Set up the VOR, choose an intercept angle, intercept the radial, set up the second VOR, track it, when both VORs show us on course, we note our position and start descending to the altitude stated on the chart. We need to descend to 1160ft from the 2300ft that we were at, but we need to do it at 90 knots and maintain at least a 500 feet per minute descent rate. Eric tells me, "do not let us get a foot under 1160ft." I pay close attention and do as he says. We're now set up to land on runway 18.
He momentarily takes the controls as I take off the foggles, simulating that I've just come out of the clouds. I now have the controls back and we're over the river, on final approach for the runway at 1160ft. Eric says, "ok, now land the plane." Deep breath... I think to myself, "alright, I'm really high so pull the power out to idle and drop the flaps. Maintain 70 knots, and correct for the wind." I'm looking really good, so all I have to do is maintain it. Touchdown. I did it, by myself! Landing the Cessna 172 has been a bit tricky in the past. Trying to learn the correct sight picture and learning how it needs to be set up to land has been a little difficult.
Today was a really good lesson. I finally feel like multiple things are starting to 'click'.
*NEWS: My last day working with Eric is Friday 10/7/11. I was originally scheduled to work with Dave after Eric leaves, however it has now been switched. I will now have the honor of working with Bob. He was actually my FAA Examiner for both my Sport and Private Pilot checkrides. It was a pleasure to work with him then, and I certainly look forward to working with him now.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
New Adventures
September 24, 2011
It's been a pretty interesting week. As you know, I work at the front desk as a Dispatcher for my flight school a couple nights a week as a side job. On Monday the 19th it was pretty slow. There was only one student on the schedule. I decided to ask the boss if I could tag along with the traffic watch crew, then close down dispatch when we got back. He gave me permission, so I went along with Nick (who is also an instructor) in Airborne 2. We flew out to St. Louis Downtown Airport (formerly known as Parks) and picked up the KMOX radio broadcaster. We were told it was going to be a short night because there was a sports game downtown and he couldn't broadcast over it. Airborne 1 flies the northern half of St. Louis, and Airborne 2 flies the southern half. We went straight to a car accident by Hwy 270 and 44, then circled it a couple times. Afterward, we flew west to monitor other traffic on the main highways. It was really interesting to listen to Nick speak to ATC to get clearances, etc. and to watch his flying technique. After about an hour and a half, we were told to head back to the airport to drop off the radio broadcaster. We followed the highway into downtown, flew directly over the Arch, then made our landing. It was a very interesting flight and it certainly helped me learned St. Louis better from the air.
This week I also got to experience what pulling zero-g (no g-forces) feels like. We gained some altitude, then the person that I flew with put us in a decent to gain some airspeed. Once at an adequate speed, he quickly pulls up into a climb and now I'm feeling like I weigh twice as much than I really do because of the positive gees (probably around 2 g) pushing me into the seat. Before getting too close to the stalling speed, he quickly lowers the nose and I go from feeling heavy to weightless as we experience zero-g. It was such a rapid change that everything in the plane, including us went flying off the seats. It felt as if we were on the space shuttle with no gravity; just floating in air (although we were buckled). It was incredibly fun and I ended up making him do it a second time. This is going to be something that I definitely want to learn. Passengers would really get a thrill out of experiencing this.
I also had another lesson using the PCATD (simulator). I was scheduled to work with my normal CFI, however something came up and I had to work with Dave, the Chief Flight Instructor. He's basically the boss of all the instructors. We started off just discussing instruments and what to do in case of a failure. Then we turned on the simulator and flew that for an hour. Like last time, I learned a lot. Working with Dave was a slight challenge, for the good. He made sure that I knew my stuff and that I didn't relax on anything. We practiced turns, climbs, descents, and then practiced how to fly without certain instruments. I did alright, Dave was pleased and I considered it a great lesson.
As far as today's lesson, I flew with Eric. It was pretty uneventful, just more practice doing what we've been doing since day one. This time he threw in one extra thing, tracking a localizer. A localizer is basically a very specific course that takes you directly into a certain runway. There is very little margin to work with, so you must fly it with precision. I quickly learned just how quick you can easily get off course if you're not careful. That was basically all that we did today.
Lastly, there is big change coming up for me. I learned that my instructor Eric got hired on to fly for GoJet. He has two more weeks left of teaching before he leaves. It has been arranged that I will be working with Dave when Eric leaves. Although I am a little frustrated that this will be my fourth instructor in eleven months, I'm very happy to see my instructors work their way up the chain towards their dream career. I also feel very fortunate to have the opportunity of continuing my instrument training with Dave.
It's been a pretty interesting week. As you know, I work at the front desk as a Dispatcher for my flight school a couple nights a week as a side job. On Monday the 19th it was pretty slow. There was only one student on the schedule. I decided to ask the boss if I could tag along with the traffic watch crew, then close down dispatch when we got back. He gave me permission, so I went along with Nick (who is also an instructor) in Airborne 2. We flew out to St. Louis Downtown Airport (formerly known as Parks) and picked up the KMOX radio broadcaster. We were told it was going to be a short night because there was a sports game downtown and he couldn't broadcast over it. Airborne 1 flies the northern half of St. Louis, and Airborne 2 flies the southern half. We went straight to a car accident by Hwy 270 and 44, then circled it a couple times. Afterward, we flew west to monitor other traffic on the main highways. It was really interesting to listen to Nick speak to ATC to get clearances, etc. and to watch his flying technique. After about an hour and a half, we were told to head back to the airport to drop off the radio broadcaster. We followed the highway into downtown, flew directly over the Arch, then made our landing. It was a very interesting flight and it certainly helped me learned St. Louis better from the air.
This week I also got to experience what pulling zero-g (no g-forces) feels like. We gained some altitude, then the person that I flew with put us in a decent to gain some airspeed. Once at an adequate speed, he quickly pulls up into a climb and now I'm feeling like I weigh twice as much than I really do because of the positive gees (probably around 2 g) pushing me into the seat. Before getting too close to the stalling speed, he quickly lowers the nose and I go from feeling heavy to weightless as we experience zero-g. It was such a rapid change that everything in the plane, including us went flying off the seats. It felt as if we were on the space shuttle with no gravity; just floating in air (although we were buckled). It was incredibly fun and I ended up making him do it a second time. This is going to be something that I definitely want to learn. Passengers would really get a thrill out of experiencing this.
I also had another lesson using the PCATD (simulator). I was scheduled to work with my normal CFI, however something came up and I had to work with Dave, the Chief Flight Instructor. He's basically the boss of all the instructors. We started off just discussing instruments and what to do in case of a failure. Then we turned on the simulator and flew that for an hour. Like last time, I learned a lot. Working with Dave was a slight challenge, for the good. He made sure that I knew my stuff and that I didn't relax on anything. We practiced turns, climbs, descents, and then practiced how to fly without certain instruments. I did alright, Dave was pleased and I considered it a great lesson.
As far as today's lesson, I flew with Eric. It was pretty uneventful, just more practice doing what we've been doing since day one. This time he threw in one extra thing, tracking a localizer. A localizer is basically a very specific course that takes you directly into a certain runway. There is very little margin to work with, so you must fly it with precision. I quickly learned just how quick you can easily get off course if you're not careful. That was basically all that we did today.
Lastly, there is big change coming up for me. I learned that my instructor Eric got hired on to fly for GoJet. He has two more weeks left of teaching before he leaves. It has been arranged that I will be working with Dave when Eric leaves. Although I am a little frustrated that this will be my fourth instructor in eleven months, I'm very happy to see my instructors work their way up the chain towards their dream career. I also feel very fortunate to have the opportunity of continuing my instrument training with Dave.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Instrument Day 3
September 16, 2011
Today Eric and I worked on my third instrument lesson. But leading up to this lesson, we first did a lesson a few days ago with the PCATD (simulator). This was an incredibly useful device. Eric had the ability to control many different things ranging from the environment, to the plane and the instruments, etc. Most of the lesson was learning how to fly (by instruments only) when particular instrument(s) had failed. I didn't realize it until later, just how much I learned from that lesson.
Today we took what I learned from the PCATD, and applied it in the air. We took off from Runway 9 and headed north. While wearing the foggles, we did some review including straight and level flight, turns, climbs, descents, airspeed changes and stalls. We then jumped ahead of schedule a bit and applied what I learned from the PCATD. He began covering up certain instruments to indicate a failure. At first it was a little uncomfortable, but I used my correctly working instruments to guide me in flying the plane. In some cases, the failed instrument(s) can be fixed by turning on certain controls in the cockpit. Flying with a partial instrument panel really wasn't all that bad. You just have to learn how to correctly interpret the other instruments, keep calm, and fly the plane. Today we ended up simulating a failure of the airspeed indicator, turn coordinator, heading indicator and the attitude indicator (a.k.a. the artificial horizon).
Eric then thought it would be beneficial to start navigating by using the VOR. In order to get on the right track, we would have to intercept the radial that we needed to take us to the airport. This was a first for me, so naturally it was slightly confusing. We made it back to the airport and Eric had me take off the foggles.
We entered the pattern for Runway 9. Once on final, we noticed there was a tractor right in our way. We couldn't land and was forced to do a go-around. We flew back around and tried again. Runway 9 is the hardest of the four runways to land on because it's short, and there's wires that you need to clear on final approach. The landing was bad. Thank goodness I had Eric. After taxiing off the runway I asked him if we could try it again; I never like to end on a bad note. We flew the pattern around and configured the plane for landing. I still came in too high, but we quickly got it on track. Everything was looking better, and sure enough the landing itself was much better as well.
On another note, I hit my 80th flight hour today!
Next up will be another PCATD lesson early next week.
Today Eric and I worked on my third instrument lesson. But leading up to this lesson, we first did a lesson a few days ago with the PCATD (simulator). This was an incredibly useful device. Eric had the ability to control many different things ranging from the environment, to the plane and the instruments, etc. Most of the lesson was learning how to fly (by instruments only) when particular instrument(s) had failed. I didn't realize it until later, just how much I learned from that lesson.
Today we took what I learned from the PCATD, and applied it in the air. We took off from Runway 9 and headed north. While wearing the foggles, we did some review including straight and level flight, turns, climbs, descents, airspeed changes and stalls. We then jumped ahead of schedule a bit and applied what I learned from the PCATD. He began covering up certain instruments to indicate a failure. At first it was a little uncomfortable, but I used my correctly working instruments to guide me in flying the plane. In some cases, the failed instrument(s) can be fixed by turning on certain controls in the cockpit. Flying with a partial instrument panel really wasn't all that bad. You just have to learn how to correctly interpret the other instruments, keep calm, and fly the plane. Today we ended up simulating a failure of the airspeed indicator, turn coordinator, heading indicator and the attitude indicator (a.k.a. the artificial horizon).
Eric then thought it would be beneficial to start navigating by using the VOR. In order to get on the right track, we would have to intercept the radial that we needed to take us to the airport. This was a first for me, so naturally it was slightly confusing. We made it back to the airport and Eric had me take off the foggles.
We entered the pattern for Runway 9. Once on final, we noticed there was a tractor right in our way. We couldn't land and was forced to do a go-around. We flew back around and tried again. Runway 9 is the hardest of the four runways to land on because it's short, and there's wires that you need to clear on final approach. The landing was bad. Thank goodness I had Eric. After taxiing off the runway I asked him if we could try it again; I never like to end on a bad note. We flew the pattern around and configured the plane for landing. I still came in too high, but we quickly got it on track. Everything was looking better, and sure enough the landing itself was much better as well.
On another note, I hit my 80th flight hour today!
Next up will be another PCATD lesson early next week.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Mike's 1st Flight
September 11, 2011
My brother Mike has never been in an airplane before, so today was pretty special to both of us. I wasn't sure that we'd be able to go when I woke up. There was intense fog in the region, and the weather report stated that the airport had zero miles visibility. I knew we probably wouldn't get to actually takeoff until about 10:30am, so I figured the sun would help burn off the fog before we were ready to go. My grandparents, mom and aunt also came out to take a look at the planes and watch me do a couple takeoffs and landings. It was nice to have them visit.
The winds were calm so we decided to use the designated no-wind runway, 18. I asked Mike if he was ready to go, and he said, "ready as I'll ever be!" I could tell he was a little nervous... I would be too! I did a normal takeoff and we flew the pattern around. My family was standing by the hangers next to the runway watching. The landing went well. I then took us to runway 36 since the winds were starting to come from the north. Mike was feeling more comfortable, so he said he wanted to feel some G's (g-forces). The closest thing I felt comfortable doing was a short field takeoff. He really liked that one. We then came back to land. My family had just left, so we decided to do a soft field takeoff with a departure to the north.
I had originally wanted to take him somewhere cool, but I also wanted to give him the opportunity to fly the airplane. So we went out to the practice area and climbed to 2500ft. While on the way to Jerseyville, I asked Mike if he wanted to fly the plane. He said he did. I tell him that he has the controls, and told him to do his best to keep it straight and level with light touches on the yoke. He was doing really good, but started to climb a little. I showed him the altimeter to point out his climb, and told him to gently push the yoke forward to lower the nose. He did great. He then kept flying and we must've hit a small pocket of turbulence because the plane slowly started descending to the right and he seemed a little startled. I helped him get it back straight but he said that was enough for him. Even though he didn't fly it long, I am still incredibly proud of him for giving it a shot. It was also a first for me as I have never let a non-pilot fly the plane. I will admit that I was a bit nervous, and may have been a little more critical of his climb and descents than an instructor would've been. But it was a good learning lesson for me and hopefully a positive experience for him.
Once we made it to Jerseyville, the haze seemed worse and our visibility wasn't up to my comfort level standards. I decided not to stick around. There was so much more that I wanted to show Mike, but decided that it was best to head back to the airport. We did a normal landing, and still had a half hour left before needing to return the plane. I asked if he just wanted to do a few more landings before calling it a day. He said he was having fun, so I took him back up. After two more landings, we taxied back to the ramp and parked the plane.
I asked him on the drive home what he thought. He said it was better than he had expected and actually had a lot of fun, but will leave the flying to me. We really had a good time, and I look forward to taking him somewhere cool next time.
My brother Mike has never been in an airplane before, so today was pretty special to both of us. I wasn't sure that we'd be able to go when I woke up. There was intense fog in the region, and the weather report stated that the airport had zero miles visibility. I knew we probably wouldn't get to actually takeoff until about 10:30am, so I figured the sun would help burn off the fog before we were ready to go. My grandparents, mom and aunt also came out to take a look at the planes and watch me do a couple takeoffs and landings. It was nice to have them visit.
The winds were calm so we decided to use the designated no-wind runway, 18. I asked Mike if he was ready to go, and he said, "ready as I'll ever be!" I could tell he was a little nervous... I would be too! I did a normal takeoff and we flew the pattern around. My family was standing by the hangers next to the runway watching. The landing went well. I then took us to runway 36 since the winds were starting to come from the north. Mike was feeling more comfortable, so he said he wanted to feel some G's (g-forces). The closest thing I felt comfortable doing was a short field takeoff. He really liked that one. We then came back to land. My family had just left, so we decided to do a soft field takeoff with a departure to the north.
I had originally wanted to take him somewhere cool, but I also wanted to give him the opportunity to fly the airplane. So we went out to the practice area and climbed to 2500ft. While on the way to Jerseyville, I asked Mike if he wanted to fly the plane. He said he did. I tell him that he has the controls, and told him to do his best to keep it straight and level with light touches on the yoke. He was doing really good, but started to climb a little. I showed him the altimeter to point out his climb, and told him to gently push the yoke forward to lower the nose. He did great. He then kept flying and we must've hit a small pocket of turbulence because the plane slowly started descending to the right and he seemed a little startled. I helped him get it back straight but he said that was enough for him. Even though he didn't fly it long, I am still incredibly proud of him for giving it a shot. It was also a first for me as I have never let a non-pilot fly the plane. I will admit that I was a bit nervous, and may have been a little more critical of his climb and descents than an instructor would've been. But it was a good learning lesson for me and hopefully a positive experience for him.
Once we made it to Jerseyville, the haze seemed worse and our visibility wasn't up to my comfort level standards. I decided not to stick around. There was so much more that I wanted to show Mike, but decided that it was best to head back to the airport. We did a normal landing, and still had a half hour left before needing to return the plane. I asked if he just wanted to do a few more landings before calling it a day. He said he was having fun, so I took him back up. After two more landings, we taxied back to the ramp and parked the plane.
I asked him on the drive home what he thought. He said it was better than he had expected and actually had a lot of fun, but will leave the flying to me. We really had a good time, and I look forward to taking him somewhere cool next time.
 |
| Mike and I |
September 11, 2001 - We will never forget.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Instrument - Day 1
September 7, 2011
I'm not sure how I managed to sleep last night because I have been quite nervous about today. I have been reading my Instrument Pilot textbook so that I was somewhat prepared for the first lesson. Skimming through future chapters was probably not the best idea; overwhelming to say the least.
I met with my Instrument instructor, Eric at 9 a.m. and filled out the required paperwork for Part 141 Instrument enrollment. Part 141 requires that a certified flight school provide an approved, structured course of training. In return, the course allows graduation with less hours. This will save me time and money in the long run. Eric and I talked for a while about how this course works and what to expect. After discussing the syllabus and our lesson plan for the day, I was feeling more nervous. "I can't believe I am doing this! What was I thinking?!" This is a professional rating, I will be sharing the skies with professional pilots, and talking to the same people and follow the same ATC instructions as airline Captain's. "Oh my goodness, am I ready for this?? Breathe Sara, you'll do great." After a successful preflight inspection of the plane, we were ready to go. Taxiing out to Runway 36, Eric showed me how to check the instruments to make sure they were operating properly for instrument flight. We then lined up on the runway, stopped, checked the instruments one last time, then took off.
I was maybe 600ft above the ground when Eric told me I needed to put the foggles on. Alright, so now I can't see outside and must solely rely on my instruments to tell me what the plane is doing. We did basic maneuvers such as climbs, descents, straight and level flight and turns, climbing turns, and descending turns. He started getting me in the habit of speaking to ATC by pretending he was the controller, and I had to repeat back all instructions. It was good practice. Now on to more challenging maneuvers. First up was slow flight. I really didn't have any issues there; the only difference was that since I'm now flying in a Cessna 172, there's an extra notch of flaps that I have to work with.
Next we moved on to stalls. Leading up to today, I had worked myself up to completely fearing these while being "under the hood" (wearing the foggles). I don't like these under regular visual conditions, how on earth am I going to do these blind? We set up for a power-off stall, then Eric tells me that we will take it to the point where we break the stall. Well, that to me meant to wait until the airplane nose drops. He tells me to keep pulling back, keep the nose up, wait for our speed to drop, "keep pulling, keep pulling." Alright, any day now this thing will stall. Finally the nose drops and I recover. Eric quickly tells me that I had already broke the stall three times. I was definitely unaware of this. He took the controls and had me watch a different instrument each time he stalled. Now I see what he meant. We then did a power-on stall; much better.
Lastly, it was time to do unusual attitudes. I've already done these under the hood, so I knew what to expect. However, Eric really likes to get into it a lot more than some of the other instructors. He took the controls and while I had my head down and eyes shut he flew up, down, right, left, over and under (ok not really, but it sure felt like it). I had to peek quickly once just to ease the nausea. I recovered great the first time, then the second time.
We're now on our way back to the airport. We listen to the weather, it states that the winds are from the north at around 10 knots, gusting to 21 knots. I'm still wearing the foggles, so he gives me headings to fly and puts me in the pattern to land on Runway 36. He makes a radio call so that other pilots in the area know our position; we're on downwind. By now if I were under regular visual flying, I'd be slowing the airplane down and lowering some flaps to start making my descent. But I'm not, he now tells me to turn to a heading of 090°, then 060°, 030° and lastly 360°. I'm now on final approach, still at 1100ft and wearing the foggles. He takes the controls, lets me take off the foggles (pretending as if I just broke out of the clouds), then gave me the controls again to land. Again, the extra notch of flaps threw me off a little bit, plus the strong headwinds made it a difficult approach. Eric helped me get the airplane down. The main wheels touched the ground, and as we're rolling down the runway we kept the nose up to help slow down. The problem was that since there was so much wind, it kept the nose wheel from touching down (I guess it was still providing lift?). Eventually we got slow enough and it touched down. We couldn't help but laugh.
Once inside we debriefed. One thing they do for Part 141 training is grade each lesson. 1-Excellent, 2-Above average, 3-Average, 4-Below average, 5-Below acceptable standards. The total lesson grade he gave me was a 2.8. I'm happy with that. The next lesson we will be using the PCATD, a Personal Computer–Based Aviation Training Device (simulator), not actual flying. This should be interesting!
Flight Log to Date
Hours flown: 78.7
I'm not sure how I managed to sleep last night because I have been quite nervous about today. I have been reading my Instrument Pilot textbook so that I was somewhat prepared for the first lesson. Skimming through future chapters was probably not the best idea; overwhelming to say the least.
I met with my Instrument instructor, Eric at 9 a.m. and filled out the required paperwork for Part 141 Instrument enrollment. Part 141 requires that a certified flight school provide an approved, structured course of training. In return, the course allows graduation with less hours. This will save me time and money in the long run. Eric and I talked for a while about how this course works and what to expect. After discussing the syllabus and our lesson plan for the day, I was feeling more nervous. "I can't believe I am doing this! What was I thinking?!" This is a professional rating, I will be sharing the skies with professional pilots, and talking to the same people and follow the same ATC instructions as airline Captain's. "Oh my goodness, am I ready for this?? Breathe Sara, you'll do great." After a successful preflight inspection of the plane, we were ready to go. Taxiing out to Runway 36, Eric showed me how to check the instruments to make sure they were operating properly for instrument flight. We then lined up on the runway, stopped, checked the instruments one last time, then took off.
I was maybe 600ft above the ground when Eric told me I needed to put the foggles on. Alright, so now I can't see outside and must solely rely on my instruments to tell me what the plane is doing. We did basic maneuvers such as climbs, descents, straight and level flight and turns, climbing turns, and descending turns. He started getting me in the habit of speaking to ATC by pretending he was the controller, and I had to repeat back all instructions. It was good practice. Now on to more challenging maneuvers. First up was slow flight. I really didn't have any issues there; the only difference was that since I'm now flying in a Cessna 172, there's an extra notch of flaps that I have to work with.
Next we moved on to stalls. Leading up to today, I had worked myself up to completely fearing these while being "under the hood" (wearing the foggles). I don't like these under regular visual conditions, how on earth am I going to do these blind? We set up for a power-off stall, then Eric tells me that we will take it to the point where we break the stall. Well, that to me meant to wait until the airplane nose drops. He tells me to keep pulling back, keep the nose up, wait for our speed to drop, "keep pulling, keep pulling." Alright, any day now this thing will stall. Finally the nose drops and I recover. Eric quickly tells me that I had already broke the stall three times. I was definitely unaware of this. He took the controls and had me watch a different instrument each time he stalled. Now I see what he meant. We then did a power-on stall; much better.
Lastly, it was time to do unusual attitudes. I've already done these under the hood, so I knew what to expect. However, Eric really likes to get into it a lot more than some of the other instructors. He took the controls and while I had my head down and eyes shut he flew up, down, right, left, over and under (ok not really, but it sure felt like it). I had to peek quickly once just to ease the nausea. I recovered great the first time, then the second time.
We're now on our way back to the airport. We listen to the weather, it states that the winds are from the north at around 10 knots, gusting to 21 knots. I'm still wearing the foggles, so he gives me headings to fly and puts me in the pattern to land on Runway 36. He makes a radio call so that other pilots in the area know our position; we're on downwind. By now if I were under regular visual flying, I'd be slowing the airplane down and lowering some flaps to start making my descent. But I'm not, he now tells me to turn to a heading of 090°, then 060°, 030° and lastly 360°. I'm now on final approach, still at 1100ft and wearing the foggles. He takes the controls, lets me take off the foggles (pretending as if I just broke out of the clouds), then gave me the controls again to land. Again, the extra notch of flaps threw me off a little bit, plus the strong headwinds made it a difficult approach. Eric helped me get the airplane down. The main wheels touched the ground, and as we're rolling down the runway we kept the nose up to help slow down. The problem was that since there was so much wind, it kept the nose wheel from touching down (I guess it was still providing lift?). Eventually we got slow enough and it touched down. We couldn't help but laugh.
Once inside we debriefed. One thing they do for Part 141 training is grade each lesson. 1-Excellent, 2-Above average, 3-Average, 4-Below average, 5-Below acceptable standards. The total lesson grade he gave me was a 2.8. I'm happy with that. The next lesson we will be using the PCATD, a Personal Computer–Based Aviation Training Device (simulator), not actual flying. This should be interesting!
Flight Log to Date
Hours flown: 78.7
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Cessna 172
August 27, 2011
Now that I'm a Private Pilot, I have a very wide variety of airplanes that I can fly. However, in order to fly something new, the school requires that you fly with an instructor and do some maneuvers and practice landings until the CFI (instructor) feels comfortable that you can fly it solo. Today my CFI, Matt took me up in a Cessna 172.
I did the preflight inspection to the best of my knowledge, then Matt came out and answered my questions about the remaining things on the checklist. After taxiing out to Runway 36, we did the engine run-up and got prepared for takeoff. The winds were from the northwest around 12 knots and gusting to about 20 knots. Not too great of a day to learn a new plane but we made do.
After departing to the north, we climbed up to 4000ft. I had asked him if he could show me how to lean the fuel mixture. ehow.com explains this better than I could, "Most propeller driven airplanes with internal combustion engines have a manual fuel mixture control. The control is used to adjust the amount of air which is mixed with the fuel as it is burned in the engine. In order for the fuel to burn well, a steady supply of oxygen is necessary. However, since airplanes change altitude regularly, and since the density of air changes with altitude, adjustments to the mixture must be made as it climbs and descends." (Dad- that explanation was for you, I know you like the technical stuff) Anyways, I've never really had to worry about this before now, so Matt walked me through the steps and taught me how to use my hearing to tell when and how much adjustment I needed to make instead of solely relying on the tachometer instrument.
We then moved on to slow flight; 90 degree turn to the east, then a 180 degree turn to west. Once completed, we returned to normal cruise flight and set up for a power-on stall. I was quite surprised at how much differently the Cessna 152 and 172 stall. The one today definitely got my heart racing...
We then headed back to the airport and practiced landings. They were definitely a challenge because of the varying wind and thermals. A good amount of crosswind correction was needed for each takeoff and landing. After seven times around, we called it a day.
Once back inside, he signed off for me to fly the C-172 solo. I can now carry up to three passengers! With a little practice, I think I'm going to be quite comfortable in this plane. Good thing too because it's what I need to use for my instrument training. I bought my books today!
Now that I'm a Private Pilot, I have a very wide variety of airplanes that I can fly. However, in order to fly something new, the school requires that you fly with an instructor and do some maneuvers and practice landings until the CFI (instructor) feels comfortable that you can fly it solo. Today my CFI, Matt took me up in a Cessna 172.
I did the preflight inspection to the best of my knowledge, then Matt came out and answered my questions about the remaining things on the checklist. After taxiing out to Runway 36, we did the engine run-up and got prepared for takeoff. The winds were from the northwest around 12 knots and gusting to about 20 knots. Not too great of a day to learn a new plane but we made do.
After departing to the north, we climbed up to 4000ft. I had asked him if he could show me how to lean the fuel mixture. ehow.com explains this better than I could, "Most propeller driven airplanes with internal combustion engines have a manual fuel mixture control. The control is used to adjust the amount of air which is mixed with the fuel as it is burned in the engine. In order for the fuel to burn well, a steady supply of oxygen is necessary. However, since airplanes change altitude regularly, and since the density of air changes with altitude, adjustments to the mixture must be made as it climbs and descends." (Dad- that explanation was for you, I know you like the technical stuff) Anyways, I've never really had to worry about this before now, so Matt walked me through the steps and taught me how to use my hearing to tell when and how much adjustment I needed to make instead of solely relying on the tachometer instrument.
We then moved on to slow flight; 90 degree turn to the east, then a 180 degree turn to west. Once completed, we returned to normal cruise flight and set up for a power-on stall. I was quite surprised at how much differently the Cessna 152 and 172 stall. The one today definitely got my heart racing...
We then headed back to the airport and practiced landings. They were definitely a challenge because of the varying wind and thermals. A good amount of crosswind correction was needed for each takeoff and landing. After seven times around, we called it a day.
Once back inside, he signed off for me to fly the C-172 solo. I can now carry up to three passengers! With a little practice, I think I'm going to be quite comfortable in this plane. Good thing too because it's what I need to use for my instrument training. I bought my books today!
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| Cessna 172 |
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Private Checkride
August 21, 2011
I have officially advanced from a Sport Pilot to a Private Pilot. What's the advantage of the new certificate?
* I can now fly at night
* I can fly into tower controlled airports
* I can carry more than just one passenger
* I can fly higher than 10,000ft, but no higher than 17,999ft.
* I can fly larger single engine land airplanes
Some stats (including today):
* Total hours: 76.5
* Pilot in Command time: 26.7
* Solo (only soul on board): 18.1
* Actual & simulated instrument time: 3.5
* Cross country flights (dual & solo time): 11.0
* Total number of landings: 225
After today I have become a little superstitious...
~ The 21st is apparently my lucky day:
* 10/21/2010 - My very first lesson
* 12/21/2010 - My very first solo flight
* 8/21/2011 - Became a Private Pilot
So what's next?
I plan on getting checked out to fly a Cessna 172. It is a four-seat, single-engine, high-wing aircraft. I've only been flying two-seat airplanes.
I will finally start flying more friends and family around the city; they have been so patient and excited!
Then when I'm ready to hit the books again, I will continue on my journey to earn an instrument rating. During this period I will have the privilege of working with a different instructor, Eric. Instrument training is apparently the hardest and the least fun to learn. It will be a true challenge but will hopefully make me a very talented and much safer pilot.
I PASSED MY CHECKRIDE TODAY!!
I have officially advanced from a Sport Pilot to a Private Pilot. What's the advantage of the new certificate?
* I can now fly at night
* I can fly into tower controlled airports
* I can carry more than just one passenger
* I can fly higher than 10,000ft, but no higher than 17,999ft.
* I can fly larger single engine land airplanes
Some stats (including today):
* Total hours: 76.5
* Pilot in Command time: 26.7
* Solo (only soul on board): 18.1
* Actual & simulated instrument time: 3.5
* Cross country flights (dual & solo time): 11.0
* Total number of landings: 225
After today I have become a little superstitious...
~ The 21st is apparently my lucky day:
* 10/21/2010 - My very first lesson
* 12/21/2010 - My very first solo flight
* 8/21/2011 - Became a Private Pilot
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| Me and Bob Vasquez, my FAA examiner after the checkride |
So what's next?
I plan on getting checked out to fly a Cessna 172. It is a four-seat, single-engine, high-wing aircraft. I've only been flying two-seat airplanes.
I will finally start flying more friends and family around the city; they have been so patient and excited!
Then when I'm ready to hit the books again, I will continue on my journey to earn an instrument rating. During this period I will have the privilege of working with a different instructor, Eric. Instrument training is apparently the hardest and the least fun to learn. It will be a true challenge but will hopefully make me a very talented and much safer pilot.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Family Visit
August 8, 2011
I have an older brother, Jason, who lives in Wisconsin. I haven't seen him in over five years, and this weekend he came with friends to visit. We thought it would be a lot of fun to rent a plane and have me fly him to the Arch. Since he wanted to bring his friend Todd along, I needed to take a plane that could hold more than one passenger, which also meant that I needed to take my instructor Matt. I chose N73855 which is a Cessna 172 with 180hp.
Jason and his friends watched me do the preflight inspection, then we went inside to greet Matt. After introductions, we went out to the plane and prepared for flight. We departed from runway 18 and headed south.
We flew directly over my place of employment, then over my house. After turning east, we flew over Creve Coeur Park, then found Hwy 40 and followed it downtown. We cruised by Forest Park at 120kts (140mph).
Once at Forest Park, I contacted St. Louis Downtown airport to get a clearance to enter their airspace, which allows us to circle the Arch. It was a beautiful day for the tour; it wasn't hazy, not too hot or humid, and it was partly cloudy. We did two laps around the Arch before heading home.
We followed the Mississippi River west, checked the weather report, then listened for any other traffic in the area. It was relatively quite, so we decided to enter the pattern a little differently. There was going to be some crosswind from any of the runways, so I decided to land on runway 18, which gave us a crosswind from the right (west). The touchdown was smoother than I had expected.
We had an absolute blast and I feel so fortunate that we were able to do this. Afterward, I parked the plane and it became picture time.
Flight Log to Date
Hours flown: 74.1
I have an older brother, Jason, who lives in Wisconsin. I haven't seen him in over five years, and this weekend he came with friends to visit. We thought it would be a lot of fun to rent a plane and have me fly him to the Arch. Since he wanted to bring his friend Todd along, I needed to take a plane that could hold more than one passenger, which also meant that I needed to take my instructor Matt. I chose N73855 which is a Cessna 172 with 180hp.
Jason and his friends watched me do the preflight inspection, then we went inside to greet Matt. After introductions, we went out to the plane and prepared for flight. We departed from runway 18 and headed south.
We flew directly over my place of employment, then over my house. After turning east, we flew over Creve Coeur Park, then found Hwy 40 and followed it downtown. We cruised by Forest Park at 120kts (140mph).
Once at Forest Park, I contacted St. Louis Downtown airport to get a clearance to enter their airspace, which allows us to circle the Arch. It was a beautiful day for the tour; it wasn't hazy, not too hot or humid, and it was partly cloudy. We did two laps around the Arch before heading home.
We followed the Mississippi River west, checked the weather report, then listened for any other traffic in the area. It was relatively quite, so we decided to enter the pattern a little differently. There was going to be some crosswind from any of the runways, so I decided to land on runway 18, which gave us a crosswind from the right (west). The touchdown was smoother than I had expected.
We had an absolute blast and I feel so fortunate that we were able to do this. Afterward, I parked the plane and it became picture time.
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| My brother Jason, and I |
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| Jason, Me, and Todd |
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| Matt and I |
Hours flown: 74.1
Friday, July 29, 2011
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!
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!*
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| Me in front of the DA-40 XLS |
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| DA-40 Cockpit |
Friday, July 22, 2011
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
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
Friday, July 1, 2011
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 :)
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 :)
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Crosswinds
June 22, 2011
I'm always looking for a challenge, and today I got one. The winds were mostly out of the west and peaked at 26 knots, gusting to 30kts. The airport was empty since all other students canceled, so Matt and I had it to ourselves. I asked him what we were going to work on today and he said it was too windy to get much out of doing maneuvers or instrument stuff. Instead, he said it would be a good day to do some crosswind landings.
Instead of taking off from the preferred runway 27, we used runway 18. After leaving the runway, we had to crab into the wind significantly to remain flying straight. As you're on the downwind, base and final legs of the pattern, you have certain speeds to keep and today made that much more difficult. Coming into land was a challenge. We're already crabbing into the wind to remain straight, but then on short final we had to add full left rudder (or just enough to line up with the centerline) and turn the ailerons into the wind (in this case, to the right). With the winds being so strong, this felt very uncomfortable. With the help from Matt, the landing was pretty decent.
We did a couple more landings, then Matt decided to change it up a little bit. He asked me to make a crosswind landing without using flaps. I've done this once for a normal landing in a different airplane, so I kind of knew what to expect. It sounds a bit complicated because normally you add 10 degrees of flaps on downwind, then 20 on base and full flaps on final if needed, but doing a no flap landing really teaches you how to use pitch and power to get the speed and altitude you want. The landing went well.
We then went back to runway 18, and after takeoff he had me do a right pattern to come in for runway 9. He wanted me to see what an extreme tailwind landing would be like. It was a mess. I was too high, too fast and we were coming in over power lines and onto a short runway. It called for a go around, so we never actually touched down. Matt had me fly straight until I got to pattern altitude, then we made a 180 degree turn and made a straight in landing for runway 27. It was still a challenge, but at least we were landing on the preferred runway based on the wind direction.
We did another takeoff and landing from runway 18, then I asked Matt if he would show me a crosswind takeoff and landing so that I could see what it should really look like. Of course he made it look perfect; like there was no wind at all. I hope to get to that level someday.
After an hour and eight landings later, I called it a day. I'm really glad we flew today, I got a lot out of it.
Flight Log to Date
Hours flown: 66.0
I'm always looking for a challenge, and today I got one. The winds were mostly out of the west and peaked at 26 knots, gusting to 30kts. The airport was empty since all other students canceled, so Matt and I had it to ourselves. I asked him what we were going to work on today and he said it was too windy to get much out of doing maneuvers or instrument stuff. Instead, he said it would be a good day to do some crosswind landings.
Instead of taking off from the preferred runway 27, we used runway 18. After leaving the runway, we had to crab into the wind significantly to remain flying straight. As you're on the downwind, base and final legs of the pattern, you have certain speeds to keep and today made that much more difficult. Coming into land was a challenge. We're already crabbing into the wind to remain straight, but then on short final we had to add full left rudder (or just enough to line up with the centerline) and turn the ailerons into the wind (in this case, to the right). With the winds being so strong, this felt very uncomfortable. With the help from Matt, the landing was pretty decent.
We did a couple more landings, then Matt decided to change it up a little bit. He asked me to make a crosswind landing without using flaps. I've done this once for a normal landing in a different airplane, so I kind of knew what to expect. It sounds a bit complicated because normally you add 10 degrees of flaps on downwind, then 20 on base and full flaps on final if needed, but doing a no flap landing really teaches you how to use pitch and power to get the speed and altitude you want. The landing went well.
We then went back to runway 18, and after takeoff he had me do a right pattern to come in for runway 9. He wanted me to see what an extreme tailwind landing would be like. It was a mess. I was too high, too fast and we were coming in over power lines and onto a short runway. It called for a go around, so we never actually touched down. Matt had me fly straight until I got to pattern altitude, then we made a 180 degree turn and made a straight in landing for runway 27. It was still a challenge, but at least we were landing on the preferred runway based on the wind direction.
We did another takeoff and landing from runway 18, then I asked Matt if he would show me a crosswind takeoff and landing so that I could see what it should really look like. Of course he made it look perfect; like there was no wind at all. I hope to get to that level someday.
After an hour and eight landings later, I called it a day. I'm really glad we flew today, I got a lot out of it.
Flight Log to Date
Hours flown: 66.0
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Lost in Missouri
June 19, 2011
Today was my second solo cross country. I planned on flying to Mexico, MO then to Hannibal, MO. I woke up at 6:00am to finish my flight planning, then met Matt at 8:30 so that he could review it and sign off for me to take the trip. I got to the airport around 9:45am and planned on departing at 10:15am. As I was getting ready to taxi out to the runway, one of the instructors who was out flying, recommended that I wait a half an hour because some low flying clouds had moved in. I finally took off at 10:45am.
Once airborne, I turned onto a heading of 220 and climbed to 2500ft. I then contacted the Flight Service Station (FSS) to open my flight plan so they could keep tabs on me. They said they didn't have any plans on file even though I filed one earlier. I just assumed I waited to long and it expired, so I filed and new one over the radio and had them open it. Meanwhile, I made sure I stayed on a heading of 220 but wasn't entirely paying attention to what cities were under me. After about 20 minutes of flying, I realized that I looked at the wrong number on my written flight plan. I was supposed to be flying a heading of 275 and now I had no idea where I was.
I immediately turned onto a heading of 275. After reviewing my charts, I knew that I was following the Missouri river. Several other factors indicated that I was at Washington, MO., yet at the same time some other smaller things weren't adding up. I decided to fly around the town a little bit to look for the airport, and finally located a runway. As I flew to it at 1700ft, I realized that there was more than one runway, and there was a control tower. Alright, so now I'm a little freaked because I'm in airspace that I didn't get a clearance for, plus I really had no idea where I was. I spent ten minutes circling the airport while I went back and forth with my charts and the Airport Facility Directory to figure out which airport I was actually at. I finally convinced myself that I was at Jefferson City.
I contacted Approach and told them that I was lost, but I thought I was at Jefferson City and I needed to land. They had me squawk a certain code on my transponder so they could find me on radar. They then informed me that I was indeed at Jefferson City, and made sure that I could see the airport and runways ok. After confirming that I could, they passed me over to the Jefferson City tower and I received the clearance to land and park at the ramp. I remained calm the entire time I was lost, but after turning off the airplane, I began to lose it. I called my instructor, Matt, half in tears and freaking out that I was in serious trouble. He did a great job calming me down and I managed to regain composure enough to go inside. I used the restroom, then had them add some gas to the plane just to make me feel more secure for my trip back. The employee then offered the phone number to the control tower. I called them and explained the situation and gave a deep apology. He assured me that it was ok and that I did exactly what I was supposed to do. I was not in any trouble which was a huge relief.
I decided not to continue onto my other (original) destinations, as I just wanted to go home. After departing, I flew north to Hensley airport, then found Highway 70 and began flying east. I contacted the FSS again to open a new flight plan and to get a new weather briefing, then tuned the VOR to the St. Louis station and followed it home. I will never forget how relieved I was to hear an instructors voice over the radio.
In all, I racked up 2.9 hours of flying, but was actually gone from 10:45am to about 2:30pm. I can't believe how such a small mistake could have such a huge effect. I feel pretty ridiculous about flying the wrong heading, however I have a whole new outlook on flying cross countries. I now know that it's not the end of the world if you get lost, I gained some more experience working with ATC, I learned how remaining calm can make the world of difference, and how to work with FSS even when things don't go as planned. I also proved to myself that I can use a VOR for navigation, as it played a big part in getting me home. This will be a day that I will never forget.
Today was my second solo cross country. I planned on flying to Mexico, MO then to Hannibal, MO. I woke up at 6:00am to finish my flight planning, then met Matt at 8:30 so that he could review it and sign off for me to take the trip. I got to the airport around 9:45am and planned on departing at 10:15am. As I was getting ready to taxi out to the runway, one of the instructors who was out flying, recommended that I wait a half an hour because some low flying clouds had moved in. I finally took off at 10:45am.
Once airborne, I turned onto a heading of 220 and climbed to 2500ft. I then contacted the Flight Service Station (FSS) to open my flight plan so they could keep tabs on me. They said they didn't have any plans on file even though I filed one earlier. I just assumed I waited to long and it expired, so I filed and new one over the radio and had them open it. Meanwhile, I made sure I stayed on a heading of 220 but wasn't entirely paying attention to what cities were under me. After about 20 minutes of flying, I realized that I looked at the wrong number on my written flight plan. I was supposed to be flying a heading of 275 and now I had no idea where I was.
I immediately turned onto a heading of 275. After reviewing my charts, I knew that I was following the Missouri river. Several other factors indicated that I was at Washington, MO., yet at the same time some other smaller things weren't adding up. I decided to fly around the town a little bit to look for the airport, and finally located a runway. As I flew to it at 1700ft, I realized that there was more than one runway, and there was a control tower. Alright, so now I'm a little freaked because I'm in airspace that I didn't get a clearance for, plus I really had no idea where I was. I spent ten minutes circling the airport while I went back and forth with my charts and the Airport Facility Directory to figure out which airport I was actually at. I finally convinced myself that I was at Jefferson City.
I contacted Approach and told them that I was lost, but I thought I was at Jefferson City and I needed to land. They had me squawk a certain code on my transponder so they could find me on radar. They then informed me that I was indeed at Jefferson City, and made sure that I could see the airport and runways ok. After confirming that I could, they passed me over to the Jefferson City tower and I received the clearance to land and park at the ramp. I remained calm the entire time I was lost, but after turning off the airplane, I began to lose it. I called my instructor, Matt, half in tears and freaking out that I was in serious trouble. He did a great job calming me down and I managed to regain composure enough to go inside. I used the restroom, then had them add some gas to the plane just to make me feel more secure for my trip back. The employee then offered the phone number to the control tower. I called them and explained the situation and gave a deep apology. He assured me that it was ok and that I did exactly what I was supposed to do. I was not in any trouble which was a huge relief.
I decided not to continue onto my other (original) destinations, as I just wanted to go home. After departing, I flew north to Hensley airport, then found Highway 70 and began flying east. I contacted the FSS again to open a new flight plan and to get a new weather briefing, then tuned the VOR to the St. Louis station and followed it home. I will never forget how relieved I was to hear an instructors voice over the radio.
In all, I racked up 2.9 hours of flying, but was actually gone from 10:45am to about 2:30pm. I can't believe how such a small mistake could have such a huge effect. I feel pretty ridiculous about flying the wrong heading, however I have a whole new outlook on flying cross countries. I now know that it's not the end of the world if you get lost, I gained some more experience working with ATC, I learned how remaining calm can make the world of difference, and how to work with FSS even when things don't go as planned. I also proved to myself that I can use a VOR for navigation, as it played a big part in getting me home. This will be a day that I will never forget.
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| Missouri State Capitol Building |
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| Sharing the airport with the big guys |
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| Quite happy. Just visually found my home airport on the horizon. |
Airport Day 2011
June 18, 2011
Today was the airport's annual open house, bomb drop and landing competition day. The morning started off with tornado sirens, but the afternoon turned out to be pleasant. I wasn't scheduled to work, so I came out to volunteer and try my hand at the bomb drop competition with Matt. There was a decent crowd, and my family even decided to come hang out for a while.
We offered BBQ and music for everyone to enjoy, and even had a B-25 Mitchell come out to fly. There wasn't enough pilots signed up for the landing competition so they cancelled that event, however the bomb drop was a success.
Matt and I were the last to go. We made three passes where I flew the pattern, then he took the controls once onto final so that I could drop the "bomb" (bags of sand) out of the airplane. I missed the target each time but it didn't matter; I was just having fun. After the last drop, Matt asked me if I was up for something fun, but said he wasn't going to tell me what it was. Of course I said yes, so he took the controls and flew the pattern around then announced on the radio his intentions. No-one on the ground knew what we were up to, so Matt sneaked up on everyone by flying a really low approach only 100-200ft above the hangers. Then once we were past the buildings, he made an incredibly steep climb and turn to the left. It was apparently quite the show; but being inside the airplane was even better. Most spectators thought it was cool, but there were a couple people that weren't too happy about us pulling that stunt. My opinion? Who cares! They'll get over it. I always have a good time during lessons, but today was really nice because we flew solely for fun.
Today was the airport's annual open house, bomb drop and landing competition day. The morning started off with tornado sirens, but the afternoon turned out to be pleasant. I wasn't scheduled to work, so I came out to volunteer and try my hand at the bomb drop competition with Matt. There was a decent crowd, and my family even decided to come hang out for a while.
We offered BBQ and music for everyone to enjoy, and even had a B-25 Mitchell come out to fly. There wasn't enough pilots signed up for the landing competition so they cancelled that event, however the bomb drop was a success.
Matt and I were the last to go. We made three passes where I flew the pattern, then he took the controls once onto final so that I could drop the "bomb" (bags of sand) out of the airplane. I missed the target each time but it didn't matter; I was just having fun. After the last drop, Matt asked me if I was up for something fun, but said he wasn't going to tell me what it was. Of course I said yes, so he took the controls and flew the pattern around then announced on the radio his intentions. No-one on the ground knew what we were up to, so Matt sneaked up on everyone by flying a really low approach only 100-200ft above the hangers. Then once we were past the buildings, he made an incredibly steep climb and turn to the left. It was apparently quite the show; but being inside the airplane was even better. Most spectators thought it was cool, but there were a couple people that weren't too happy about us pulling that stunt. My opinion? Who cares! They'll get over it. I always have a good time during lessons, but today was really nice because we flew solely for fun.
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| Matt and I participating in the Bomb Drop Competition |
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Cloudy Day
June 12, 2011
A cold front recently came through the region, leaving the day with plenty of low clouds. When I arrived at the airport, the report stated that there were a few clouds at 2400ft, and overcast at 3500ft. I was working with Eric today since Matt was out of town. I was originally scheduled to fly in the Cessna 152 and we were going to work on instrument stuff. Since it was so cloudy, I asked Eric if he'd be ok with taking me up in the clouds in a Cessna 172 (a bigger, slightly faster airplane with four seats). We needed to fly in the C-172 in order to fly into instrument conditions (e.g. the clouds) because it had the required equipment. He said it was cool with him, which made me quite happy.
We departed to the north and leveled out at 2500ft. Before working on instrument stuff, we practiced slow flight for a bit. It was a little different since it was an airplane that I have never flown before, but in general it went ok.
Eric then contacted Approach and received the clearance to fly into the clouds at 4000ft while staying on an East heading. Since you have no visual reference to the ground, you remain on their radar and follow their so-called "rules". We climbed to 4000ft, and quickly lost all visual references to the ground. It was a weird sensation. Eric emphasized the importance of relying on and trusting your instruments. I've heard the stories of how flying in the clouds throws off the equilibrium, and now I know what they meant. I remember making a couple turns, while the whole time I physically felt like we were flying straight and level. Now I can understand how so many pilots who are inexperienced at instrument flying get themselves into trouble so easily. Eric also pointed out that the thermometer was reading outside air temperature of 50 degrees, a 25 degree difference than the temperature on the ground! It was important to note the temperature because it put us in prime condition for carburetor icing. We turned on the carb heat as a precaution. After a half an hour, Eric requested that Approach direct us back to our airport. We began our descent and slowly made our way out of the clouds. We were no longer under the direction of ATC, however we still flew an instrument approach.
The winds were coming from the north, so instead of landing on the runway that we came in for, we entered the pattern for runway 36. Setting up the C-172 is a little different than the C-152, so I focused on flying and Eric helped me out with the radio calls. The landing went really well, I was pleased.
I'm so happy Eric let me get some actual instrument practice. Matt and I had planned on doing this together, but today just seemed to be the perfect opportunity. It turned out to be a great introductory lesson to IFR flying... there was no turbulence, the clouds were thick and not too bright. I look forward to that chapter of my training.
A cold front recently came through the region, leaving the day with plenty of low clouds. When I arrived at the airport, the report stated that there were a few clouds at 2400ft, and overcast at 3500ft. I was working with Eric today since Matt was out of town. I was originally scheduled to fly in the Cessna 152 and we were going to work on instrument stuff. Since it was so cloudy, I asked Eric if he'd be ok with taking me up in the clouds in a Cessna 172 (a bigger, slightly faster airplane with four seats). We needed to fly in the C-172 in order to fly into instrument conditions (e.g. the clouds) because it had the required equipment. He said it was cool with him, which made me quite happy.
We departed to the north and leveled out at 2500ft. Before working on instrument stuff, we practiced slow flight for a bit. It was a little different since it was an airplane that I have never flown before, but in general it went ok.
Eric then contacted Approach and received the clearance to fly into the clouds at 4000ft while staying on an East heading. Since you have no visual reference to the ground, you remain on their radar and follow their so-called "rules". We climbed to 4000ft, and quickly lost all visual references to the ground. It was a weird sensation. Eric emphasized the importance of relying on and trusting your instruments. I've heard the stories of how flying in the clouds throws off the equilibrium, and now I know what they meant. I remember making a couple turns, while the whole time I physically felt like we were flying straight and level. Now I can understand how so many pilots who are inexperienced at instrument flying get themselves into trouble so easily. Eric also pointed out that the thermometer was reading outside air temperature of 50 degrees, a 25 degree difference than the temperature on the ground! It was important to note the temperature because it put us in prime condition for carburetor icing. We turned on the carb heat as a precaution. After a half an hour, Eric requested that Approach direct us back to our airport. We began our descent and slowly made our way out of the clouds. We were no longer under the direction of ATC, however we still flew an instrument approach.
The winds were coming from the north, so instead of landing on the runway that we came in for, we entered the pattern for runway 36. Setting up the C-172 is a little different than the C-152, so I focused on flying and Eric helped me out with the radio calls. The landing went really well, I was pleased.
I'm so happy Eric let me get some actual instrument practice. Matt and I had planned on doing this together, but today just seemed to be the perfect opportunity. It turned out to be a great introductory lesson to IFR flying... there was no turbulence, the clouds were thick and not too bright. I look forward to that chapter of my training.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
My 60th Hour
June 8, 2011
Today I hit my 60th hour of flight training. Some days I feel like I should have more hours, and other days I feel like 60 is a lot. Either way, it has been the best 60 hours of education that I have ever received!
Matt and I worked together today. It was quite windy, which posed some extra challenges. We spent a half an hour on simulated instrument stuff, along with more VOR navigation. He also seemed to hold me to those checkride standards more than usual. I got close to busting some of them at times, but in all I did alright.
I then took off the foggles and we practiced slow flight. I setup the maneuver correctly, but I was slow at the steps, which caused me to lose altitude and/or speed. So we tried it again... better that time, but I should probably practice it again so I get more efficient.
After getting back near the airport, Matt pulled the power to idle to simulate an engine failure. I wasn't actually aware that we were at the airport yet, so when I looked for somewhere to land, I chose a big field. He told me to keep looking, and sure enough, it was almost right under us. He asked me which runway I wanted to go for. I knew that using runway 9 or 18 were out of the question. I also didn't think I'd have time to make it back to runway 27, so I chose 36 even though I knew we were going to have a strong tailwind. The landing was kind-of crazy but we made it down safely. I'm not sure if I've ever made a tailwind landing before and especially not when the winds are gusting to 20kts. It was a worthwhile experience.
We then took off from runway 18, flew the pattern around, and made a short field landing. Matt had asked me to land in a small, specific area of the runway, which I managed to do. It could've been a better landing though... I should have corrected for the crosswind more than I did. I told Matt that I wanted to give it another shot. He talked me through the steps, from the pattern work to the landing. It turned out much better than the last landing.
Other news:
* To my Readers: You are welcome to join all of us at SCFS for Airport Day 2011. It will be held on June 18th from 10am-4pm. It is our annual Open House and includes a delicious BBQ. We will also have Spot Landing and Bomb Drop Competitions that are always fun to watch. Bring your kids, friends and family for a day full of fun! Please contact me for more information.
* Recently I received an email from my local Women With Wings chapter, encouraging us to become a Young Eagles Pilot. As stated on their website, "This program was launched in 1992 to give interested young people, ages 8-17, an opportunity to go flying in a general aviation airplane. These flights are offered free of charge and are made possible through the generosity of EAA member volunteers." After looking further into the program and the requirements of being a volunteer pilot, I have decided that after I become a private pilot, I too will offer these kids the opportunity to go experience the joys of flying. I would love to give back to the community all the things that it has given me, and I hope that it will be something that these young people will always remember.
* Lastly, I wanted to make a shout-out to my boyfriend, Dion. We hit our 5 year anniversary this week. Achieving my dream of becoming a pilot would not have been possible if it weren't for you. Thank you babe for all your support, I love you :)
Today I hit my 60th hour of flight training. Some days I feel like I should have more hours, and other days I feel like 60 is a lot. Either way, it has been the best 60 hours of education that I have ever received!
Matt and I worked together today. It was quite windy, which posed some extra challenges. We spent a half an hour on simulated instrument stuff, along with more VOR navigation. He also seemed to hold me to those checkride standards more than usual. I got close to busting some of them at times, but in all I did alright.
I then took off the foggles and we practiced slow flight. I setup the maneuver correctly, but I was slow at the steps, which caused me to lose altitude and/or speed. So we tried it again... better that time, but I should probably practice it again so I get more efficient.
After getting back near the airport, Matt pulled the power to idle to simulate an engine failure. I wasn't actually aware that we were at the airport yet, so when I looked for somewhere to land, I chose a big field. He told me to keep looking, and sure enough, it was almost right under us. He asked me which runway I wanted to go for. I knew that using runway 9 or 18 were out of the question. I also didn't think I'd have time to make it back to runway 27, so I chose 36 even though I knew we were going to have a strong tailwind. The landing was kind-of crazy but we made it down safely. I'm not sure if I've ever made a tailwind landing before and especially not when the winds are gusting to 20kts. It was a worthwhile experience.
We then took off from runway 18, flew the pattern around, and made a short field landing. Matt had asked me to land in a small, specific area of the runway, which I managed to do. It could've been a better landing though... I should have corrected for the crosswind more than I did. I told Matt that I wanted to give it another shot. He talked me through the steps, from the pattern work to the landing. It turned out much better than the last landing.
Other news:
* To my Readers: You are welcome to join all of us at SCFS for Airport Day 2011. It will be held on June 18th from 10am-4pm. It is our annual Open House and includes a delicious BBQ. We will also have Spot Landing and Bomb Drop Competitions that are always fun to watch. Bring your kids, friends and family for a day full of fun! Please contact me for more information.
* Recently I received an email from my local Women With Wings chapter, encouraging us to become a Young Eagles Pilot. As stated on their website, "This program was launched in 1992 to give interested young people, ages 8-17, an opportunity to go flying in a general aviation airplane. These flights are offered free of charge and are made possible through the generosity of EAA member volunteers." After looking further into the program and the requirements of being a volunteer pilot, I have decided that after I become a private pilot, I too will offer these kids the opportunity to go experience the joys of flying. I would love to give back to the community all the things that it has given me, and I hope that it will be something that these young people will always remember.
* Lastly, I wanted to make a shout-out to my boyfriend, Dion. We hit our 5 year anniversary this week. Achieving my dream of becoming a pilot would not have been possible if it weren't for you. Thank you babe for all your support, I love you :)
Saturday, June 4, 2011
The Unexpected
June 3, 2011
Had a pretty exhilarating lesson with Matt tonight. We didn't start flying until 7:30 in the evening. It was still nearly 90 degrees, humid and hazy with light winds from the south. After doing a soft field takeoff, I flew the pattern around then let Matt take the controls. He wanted to show me how to do a slip in the Cessna. As always, I learn so much from watching him. By observing his effortless ways, I get so inspired to be the best that I can be. He lands the plane with perfection.
We do a short field takeoff and depart the pattern to the north. Matt hands me the foggles and gives me my first set of instructions to practice instrument flying. I seem to be doing alright, so he throws in VOR navigation. I'm getting better, but it still hasn't "clicked". After a half hour he takes back the foggles; I can now see outside of the airplane again.
I asked him if we could practice stalls. We gained some altitude and then I set up for a power-on stall. That went well. Now onto a power-off stall. I definitely prefer stalls in the Cessna more than in the Sport airplanes! I think I'm ready to practice them solo.
Afterward, he asked me if there was anything else that I wanted to work on. I paused for a moment while looking out the side window, then replied with, "I'm debating on whether or not I want you to show me a spin." The next thing I hear was Matt saying, "You don't have a choice." What?!! He takes the controls and climbs to 3000ft. I tell him not to do anything crazy, like multiple rotations. Baby steps. He sets up for a power-on stall. You must stall the plane and be uncoordinated to spin. He intentionally avoids adding right rudder, and instead adds left rudder to intensify the stall and help force the spin. The nose of the plane sinks to the left and you immediately find yourself spiraling towards the ground. He quickly stops the spin after a half rotation and we start climbing. The G-forces were crazy, especially to someone who has never enjoyed them. We lost 500ft during the spin, which only lasted seconds. My reaction to everything involved many smiles :)
By now you'd think that was enough excitement for one day, but there was one more thing Matt challenged me with. It was my turn to do a slip... a drastic slip. The sun had already set and the haze was thick. There was no easy way to visually find the airport, so I used the compass and my TAF (an aeronautical navigation chart). After getting onto the correct heading, we got close enough to see the bright lights that indicated the beginning of our chosen runway. We came in for a straight-in landing for Runway 18. He kept me flying at 2,500ft until we reached the river. Usually once you're onto your final approach, you're at approximately 900ft. I was much higher and would've never imagined that it would be possible to make a safe landing at that point. I pulled the power to idle, added full flaps and applied full left rudder, then turned the ailerons to the right in order to line us up for the runway's centerline. I kept the nose of the plane aimed down to keep my airspeed at 60 knots. The plane is now flying sideways, creating the much needed drag to get us down to the runway. The VASI lights are now indicating that I'm on the correct glide path. I can now add a touch of power just enough to carry us to the runway. The wheels kissed the surface; it was a great feeling.
I know that I've mentioned this before, but I feel so fortunate to have an instructor who knows when to push me. I gain so much confidence and knowledge each time we work together and I truly feel like he wants me to be a great pilot. I'm ready for whatever challenges lie ahead.
Had a pretty exhilarating lesson with Matt tonight. We didn't start flying until 7:30 in the evening. It was still nearly 90 degrees, humid and hazy with light winds from the south. After doing a soft field takeoff, I flew the pattern around then let Matt take the controls. He wanted to show me how to do a slip in the Cessna. As always, I learn so much from watching him. By observing his effortless ways, I get so inspired to be the best that I can be. He lands the plane with perfection.
We do a short field takeoff and depart the pattern to the north. Matt hands me the foggles and gives me my first set of instructions to practice instrument flying. I seem to be doing alright, so he throws in VOR navigation. I'm getting better, but it still hasn't "clicked". After a half hour he takes back the foggles; I can now see outside of the airplane again.
I asked him if we could practice stalls. We gained some altitude and then I set up for a power-on stall. That went well. Now onto a power-off stall. I definitely prefer stalls in the Cessna more than in the Sport airplanes! I think I'm ready to practice them solo.
Afterward, he asked me if there was anything else that I wanted to work on. I paused for a moment while looking out the side window, then replied with, "I'm debating on whether or not I want you to show me a spin." The next thing I hear was Matt saying, "You don't have a choice." What?!! He takes the controls and climbs to 3000ft. I tell him not to do anything crazy, like multiple rotations. Baby steps. He sets up for a power-on stall. You must stall the plane and be uncoordinated to spin. He intentionally avoids adding right rudder, and instead adds left rudder to intensify the stall and help force the spin. The nose of the plane sinks to the left and you immediately find yourself spiraling towards the ground. He quickly stops the spin after a half rotation and we start climbing. The G-forces were crazy, especially to someone who has never enjoyed them. We lost 500ft during the spin, which only lasted seconds. My reaction to everything involved many smiles :)
By now you'd think that was enough excitement for one day, but there was one more thing Matt challenged me with. It was my turn to do a slip... a drastic slip. The sun had already set and the haze was thick. There was no easy way to visually find the airport, so I used the compass and my TAF (an aeronautical navigation chart). After getting onto the correct heading, we got close enough to see the bright lights that indicated the beginning of our chosen runway. We came in for a straight-in landing for Runway 18. He kept me flying at 2,500ft until we reached the river. Usually once you're onto your final approach, you're at approximately 900ft. I was much higher and would've never imagined that it would be possible to make a safe landing at that point. I pulled the power to idle, added full flaps and applied full left rudder, then turned the ailerons to the right in order to line us up for the runway's centerline. I kept the nose of the plane aimed down to keep my airspeed at 60 knots. The plane is now flying sideways, creating the much needed drag to get us down to the runway. The VASI lights are now indicating that I'm on the correct glide path. I can now add a touch of power just enough to carry us to the runway. The wheels kissed the surface; it was a great feeling.
I know that I've mentioned this before, but I feel so fortunate to have an instructor who knows when to push me. I gain so much confidence and knowledge each time we work together and I truly feel like he wants me to be a great pilot. I'm ready for whatever challenges lie ahead.
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