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.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
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
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