I now write as a private pilot! It is amazing, but not hard to believe that I was able to fulfill my goal of getting my license in one semester. Earlier on I was doubtful, as the weather for a couple weeks in a row just didn't cooperate. And with my busy schedule at school, my goal seemed a bit to ambitious. But, like I said in my last post, effective time management and motivation can go a long way in accomplishing your goals.
I had initally scheduled my checkride for early Monday (14th), but low ceilings moved it to Wednesday. Tuesday evening it took me quite a while to fall asleep. I was up early wed. morning ready to go. I was extremely nervous, but the entire thing went really well! The examiner, Dr. Lay, briefed me before we started on the order of events and then we started the checkride. It started with an oral exam, which took about 45 min and then we headed out to the plane for the practical test. During that flight, from the moment we stepped into the plane, I was being watched on how I handled every stage of the flight. This was the final examination, and he tested me in every element I learned this semester. When it was over, we parked at the hangar, had a postflight debriefing with my instructor and he signed a temporary license for me. Let me tell you, I was quite excited when he pushed the paper across the table, smiled and ask me to sign on the line. I was a private pilot!! Dr. Lay said it would take 110-120 days for me to receive the actual card. This is the Federal Government we are talking about. I sure hope I get it by then.
Next semester I will start right away on getting my instrument rating. But for now, I'm kicking back and enjoying the Christmas Break. So until my next post, have a Merry Christmas and a holiday.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Time Management
Once again I'm afraid I will have to start my post with an apology. These last few weeks have been crazy and the workload keeps piling. So I'm sorry it has taken this long to post. There are about two weeks left in the semester and I'm finding that all of my work is catching up to me. Papers have been assigned and finals need to be studied for. But most important of all, I have my FAA written exam and checkride fast approaching.
I have been studying for both like a madman, whilst juggling all of my other school work. I have also been progressing through Stage 4, the final stage, quite quickly. My first night flight was Monday, and I had a night cross country last night to Wichita. It was my first time flying into class C airspace and what and experience! On approach the tower told us to keep our speed up, as a Learjet was on final behind us. So we flew the approach right below the yellow arc at 120 knots. Fortunately Wichita's runway is long enough we didn't need to worry about our ground roll distance, so speed wasn't a critical factor.
I have another night cross country tonight with a local solo tomorrow. I am working on polishing up my maneuvers and cross wind landings so they are in tip top shape for my checkride. I must admit I'm quite nervous. But I might as well get used to it, since I know I'll have many more to come!
I have been studying for both like a madman, whilst juggling all of my other school work. I have also been progressing through Stage 4, the final stage, quite quickly. My first night flight was Monday, and I had a night cross country last night to Wichita. It was my first time flying into class C airspace and what and experience! On approach the tower told us to keep our speed up, as a Learjet was on final behind us. So we flew the approach right below the yellow arc at 120 knots. Fortunately Wichita's runway is long enough we didn't need to worry about our ground roll distance, so speed wasn't a critical factor.
I have another night cross country tonight with a local solo tomorrow. I am working on polishing up my maneuvers and cross wind landings so they are in tip top shape for my checkride. I must admit I'm quite nervous. But I might as well get used to it, since I know I'll have many more to come!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Stage 3 complete!
Today I completed stage 3! Monday I finished my final solo cross country. The weather was great at Newton, but I was flying to Topeka, Manhattan, and then back to Newton. The further east I got toward Topeka, the more the ceiling closed it. It was down to a bout 2000 ft as I was 20 miles out, so I told flight service it was looking a little to iffy for me as a student pilot and that I wanted to go direct Manhattan. I adjusted my heading and flew pretty much straight there. I was pretty proud of my pilotage skills. I wanted to make sure, however that I SAW the runway and didn't miss it because immediately on the other side of the airport is a restricted area. I didn't want to become one of those general aviators who was intercepted by an F15 just because he wasn't paying attention.
I did two landings there and got to practice with commercial traffic in the pattern. There were a couple of US Air Beech 1900's departing around the time I was landing. It was a good experience.
Today I did a local flight with Amy, reviewing maneuvers that I haven't practiced in a while. Right as we were taxiing to take off on 35, a Chinook came out of no where, buzzed the runway, and then went back into the pattern. There was actually a stackup today! Yes, they happen even at a small airport like Newton. We waited at 35 while a Piper Aztec landed, the Chinook on final right behind him for number 2. As we taxied into position to take off, the massive twin rotored helicopter smoothly decended to about 10 feet off the grass and hovered there, slowly turning. Those mammoth beast of machines fascinate me.
After we finished our flight I was watching another aviation student flying on the sim when Amy said "There was something BIG that just landed, you guys might want to go take a look." We both ran out onto the tarmac and saw a Gulfstream III taxiing to the FBO. It stopped there for 5 min or so and then taxiied to 35. We hopped in our cars and drove to a little dirt road that was right near the runway. Man, I wish I had my camera on me. Then I realized there was NASA written on the tail. Don't ask me what they were doing in Newton, but I tracked their flight using FlightAware and see that they are now heading to California.
Either way it was a great day!
Photo from Airliners.net. NASA Gulfstream, not the same one I saw however
I tracked the flight on FlightAware. NASA803
Chinook, similar to the one I saw
I did two landings there and got to practice with commercial traffic in the pattern. There were a couple of US Air Beech 1900's departing around the time I was landing. It was a good experience.
Today I did a local flight with Amy, reviewing maneuvers that I haven't practiced in a while. Right as we were taxiing to take off on 35, a Chinook came out of no where, buzzed the runway, and then went back into the pattern. There was actually a stackup today! Yes, they happen even at a small airport like Newton. We waited at 35 while a Piper Aztec landed, the Chinook on final right behind him for number 2. As we taxied into position to take off, the massive twin rotored helicopter smoothly decended to about 10 feet off the grass and hovered there, slowly turning. Those mammoth beast of machines fascinate me.
After we finished our flight I was watching another aviation student flying on the sim when Amy said "There was something BIG that just landed, you guys might want to go take a look." We both ran out onto the tarmac and saw a Gulfstream III taxiing to the FBO. It stopped there for 5 min or so and then taxiied to 35. We hopped in our cars and drove to a little dirt road that was right near the runway. Man, I wish I had my camera on me. Then I realized there was NASA written on the tail. Don't ask me what they were doing in Newton, but I tracked their flight using FlightAware and see that they are now heading to California.
Either way it was a great day!
Photo from Airliners.net. NASA Gulfstream, not the same one I saw however
I tracked the flight on FlightAware. NASA803
Chinook, similar to the one I saw
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Weather
One thing that you are forced to adapt to here in Kansas is the weather. When its sunny it is beautiful. But let me tell you, it can get quite nasty going the other way. Most of you have noticed that I haven't posted the "Solo Cross Country 2!" yet. Yes indeed. This is because of the weather.
Last Wed. I made an attempt. There was some low lying fog in the early morning but it was predicted to burn away by my departure time, as well as in the areas that I was flying to. Amy warned me that some of the fog in areas might evaporate into low lying clouds, maybe 1500 to 2000 ft. As a student pilot, I need to maintain visual contact with the ground at all times. This means I cant fly over an overcast layer. Well, I took off with the visibility about 6 miles at Newton. Along one of my checkpoints I could see the overcast layer on the right side of the plane stretching over the city that was my checkpoint and then eventually curving in front of me 30nm miles in front. I tuned to an AWOS at an airport in the cloud layer and it reported them at about 1400 ft. The left side was completely clear, so it was like a wall of clouds.
Well I decided to turn around because I would eventually be forced to fly over this cloud layer to get to Topeka and thus would obscure my vision to the ground. I told flight service of my intentions and headed back to Newton. Except that unforecasted clouds (scattered) had moved in over Newton and the visibility had dropped to about 5 miles or so. The clouds were hanging right at minimums. So I basically scud ran it into the airport. I thought about landing at another airport, but I was within legal limits so I decided I might as well bring the airplane back to the hangar.
This was my first encounter with weather, and I'm sure it wont be the last.
As for the cross country, I'm sure I'll get it done wed morning. That is when I am scheduled to fly again. We'll see. It is supposed to snow tomorrow and Tuesday so we'll see how that works out.
Last Wed. I made an attempt. There was some low lying fog in the early morning but it was predicted to burn away by my departure time, as well as in the areas that I was flying to. Amy warned me that some of the fog in areas might evaporate into low lying clouds, maybe 1500 to 2000 ft. As a student pilot, I need to maintain visual contact with the ground at all times. This means I cant fly over an overcast layer. Well, I took off with the visibility about 6 miles at Newton. Along one of my checkpoints I could see the overcast layer on the right side of the plane stretching over the city that was my checkpoint and then eventually curving in front of me 30nm miles in front. I tuned to an AWOS at an airport in the cloud layer and it reported them at about 1400 ft. The left side was completely clear, so it was like a wall of clouds.
Well I decided to turn around because I would eventually be forced to fly over this cloud layer to get to Topeka and thus would obscure my vision to the ground. I told flight service of my intentions and headed back to Newton. Except that unforecasted clouds (scattered) had moved in over Newton and the visibility had dropped to about 5 miles or so. The clouds were hanging right at minimums. So I basically scud ran it into the airport. I thought about landing at another airport, but I was within legal limits so I decided I might as well bring the airplane back to the hangar.
This was my first encounter with weather, and I'm sure it wont be the last.
As for the cross country, I'm sure I'll get it done wed morning. That is when I am scheduled to fly again. We'll see. It is supposed to snow tomorrow and Tuesday so we'll see how that works out.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
First Solo XC
Today I completed my first solo cross country flight. First I should define "cross country" for those who are reading. In the Hesston College Aviation Program, cross country flight is simply any flight that is 50 nautical miles or more away from the airport of origin.
Today I flew from Newton (KEWK) to Hays (KHYS) to Hutchinson (KHUT) and then back to Newton. The preflight went as usual. Preflight for xc (cross country) flight takes a lot longer than a local flight. You need to plan for winds aloft which affects your true course, heading, ground speed, fuel burn and time to checkpoint. Basically speaking, then, you have checkpoints along the way that act as references to make sure you are tracking where you want to go. As a VFR pilot these are visual references like towns, bodies of water, highways, etc. Determining your location on your sectional chart by referencing it to the surroundings around you is called pilotage. It is a skill that is developed, as landmarks and other things used as references take a keen eye to identify.
Filing a flight plan is another thing that I have learned. Technically, as a VFR pilot, I am not required to file a flight plan. But I have been taught how to do it so that I am familiar with it once I start on my instrument rating. Once the flight plan has been filed, I am ready to fly!
Once in the air, opening the flight plan is quite easy. You tune your radio to a specific frequency and then contact FSS (Flight Service Station). They open the flight plan for you and give you any NOTAM's (Notices To Airmen) or TFR's (Temporary Flight Restrictions) in the planned area of flight and any other relevant data that you need. Once that is complete you can fly directly to your airport or you have the option of contacting a center and requesting flight following. Flight following is basically a radar service in a specific area. So I would tune to Wichita center and say something to the effect of "Wichita Center, Cessna niner six eight hotel charlie is climbing through five thousand, requesting flight following." Sometimes if they are busy it will take a while to get back so patience is needed. When they do come back, they might ask for your type aircraft and then they will tell you to squawk a certain code. Our airplanes are Cessna 172 type A which means they are equipped with a radio, a DME and a transponder with mode C (altitude encoding). Once you squawk that code into your transponder, you show up on their radar. In this way they can warn you of other traffic in the area and pretty much guide you along.
Todays flights went extremely well. I was very happy to fly today, as yesterdays flight was canceled because of high wind. I think I finally have crosswind landings down to a science. My landing at Hays was almost perfectly on the 500 ft markers, touching down on the right wheel first (there was almost a 90 degree right crosswind) followed by the left and nose wheel. Flying into Hutchinson, the controller gave me a straight in on runway 17 and that was nice I didn't have to work the pattern. Coming straight in really lets you use your distance judgment. You need to descend, but not to fast because you'll end up low on the glideslope. I hit it right on the money. It feels pretty good, getting the hang of this flying business.
Today I flew from Newton (KEWK) to Hays (KHYS) to Hutchinson (KHUT) and then back to Newton. The preflight went as usual. Preflight for xc (cross country) flight takes a lot longer than a local flight. You need to plan for winds aloft which affects your true course, heading, ground speed, fuel burn and time to checkpoint. Basically speaking, then, you have checkpoints along the way that act as references to make sure you are tracking where you want to go. As a VFR pilot these are visual references like towns, bodies of water, highways, etc. Determining your location on your sectional chart by referencing it to the surroundings around you is called pilotage. It is a skill that is developed, as landmarks and other things used as references take a keen eye to identify.
Filing a flight plan is another thing that I have learned. Technically, as a VFR pilot, I am not required to file a flight plan. But I have been taught how to do it so that I am familiar with it once I start on my instrument rating. Once the flight plan has been filed, I am ready to fly!
Once in the air, opening the flight plan is quite easy. You tune your radio to a specific frequency and then contact FSS (Flight Service Station). They open the flight plan for you and give you any NOTAM's (Notices To Airmen) or TFR's (Temporary Flight Restrictions) in the planned area of flight and any other relevant data that you need. Once that is complete you can fly directly to your airport or you have the option of contacting a center and requesting flight following. Flight following is basically a radar service in a specific area. So I would tune to Wichita center and say something to the effect of "Wichita Center, Cessna niner six eight hotel charlie is climbing through five thousand, requesting flight following." Sometimes if they are busy it will take a while to get back so patience is needed. When they do come back, they might ask for your type aircraft and then they will tell you to squawk a certain code. Our airplanes are Cessna 172 type A which means they are equipped with a radio, a DME and a transponder with mode C (altitude encoding). Once you squawk that code into your transponder, you show up on their radar. In this way they can warn you of other traffic in the area and pretty much guide you along.
Todays flights went extremely well. I was very happy to fly today, as yesterdays flight was canceled because of high wind. I think I finally have crosswind landings down to a science. My landing at Hays was almost perfectly on the 500 ft markers, touching down on the right wheel first (there was almost a 90 degree right crosswind) followed by the left and nose wheel. Flying into Hutchinson, the controller gave me a straight in on runway 17 and that was nice I didn't have to work the pattern. Coming straight in really lets you use your distance judgment. You need to descend, but not to fast because you'll end up low on the glideslope. I hit it right on the money. It feels pretty good, getting the hang of this flying business.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Student-Pilot Student
Being a student pilot and a student at a college can be quite challenging sometimes. I have found that my schedule is packed now more than ever. Tuesdays and Thursdays are typically my busiest days. Usually I'll have a flight Tuesday morning early, say 7:30 but I'll be up much before then because I need to get out to the airport to preflight. Combined with classes all day, including ground school in the evening for 3 hours and then musical practice in the evening for another 3 hours, I am more than ready for sleep.
I have found the miracle beverage to help with grogginess in the morning. Most of you know it as coffee. Indeed that is what I call it as well. I find that, now that I am drinking it a little more regularly than I had been, the caffeine will last as long as I need it to without interfering with my sleep patterns. Up early at 6:45? No problem! As long as I've had adequate sleep the night before, coffee can give me the boost I need. The real killer though is when I have to get up at 5:45 or earlier. The cafeteria isn't usually open by then, so I have to resort to my powdered milk, water, and cereal method. My coffee is then made with those little instant packets Starbucks is handing out these days. That tastes about the same as the Folgiers coffee I get in the cafeteria. Not top grade but it gets me going.
I am preparing for my cross country solo now. I will be flying Newton --> Hays --> Hutchinson --> Newton which is about a 3 hour trip total including takeoff and landing time. I anticipate it highly and am looking forward to it. Flight planning has become easier and easier just because of the practice I've been having in ground school and with Amy. Friday looks to be a little windy, so it might have to wait until Saturday. After that solo I'll have one more solo XC and then a stage check and I'll be done with Mod 3! One more mod until my checkride and license! I added up my log book today and I have about 33 hours of flight time total so far with only about 6 PIC (pilot in command) time. But with these next two solos coming up I should get a good 5-6 hours more PIC time. The total required flight time for a Part 141 school (I can explain that later if anyone would like, just post a comment) for a student is 35 hours flight time, 35 hours ground instruction. I'll be well over that by the time I'm ready.
I have found the miracle beverage to help with grogginess in the morning. Most of you know it as coffee. Indeed that is what I call it as well. I find that, now that I am drinking it a little more regularly than I had been, the caffeine will last as long as I need it to without interfering with my sleep patterns. Up early at 6:45? No problem! As long as I've had adequate sleep the night before, coffee can give me the boost I need. The real killer though is when I have to get up at 5:45 or earlier. The cafeteria isn't usually open by then, so I have to resort to my powdered milk, water, and cereal method. My coffee is then made with those little instant packets Starbucks is handing out these days. That tastes about the same as the Folgiers coffee I get in the cafeteria. Not top grade but it gets me going.
I am preparing for my cross country solo now. I will be flying Newton --> Hays --> Hutchinson --> Newton which is about a 3 hour trip total including takeoff and landing time. I anticipate it highly and am looking forward to it. Flight planning has become easier and easier just because of the practice I've been having in ground school and with Amy. Friday looks to be a little windy, so it might have to wait until Saturday. After that solo I'll have one more solo XC and then a stage check and I'll be done with Mod 3! One more mod until my checkride and license! I added up my log book today and I have about 33 hours of flight time total so far with only about 6 PIC (pilot in command) time. But with these next two solos coming up I should get a good 5-6 hours more PIC time. The total required flight time for a Part 141 school (I can explain that later if anyone would like, just post a comment) for a student is 35 hours flight time, 35 hours ground instruction. I'll be well over that by the time I'm ready.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Cross Country!
What a day for flying! I started it off waking up to my alarm at 6:45 and thinking it was way to early. Then I remembered today was the day for my first cross country! Hitting it for snooze, I slept 5 more minutes before getting up and doing my usual routine of showering and usually finding nourishment of some sort. Being a college kid and a pilot, sometimes I miss breakfast at the cafeteria. So I devised a way to have cold cereal in the morning without a fridge. Powdered milk, cold water, and boxed cereal. It works out fine.
I drove to the airport at around 7:15, right into the beautiful sunrise. Dan was at the airport already, and was pulling out planes. While I preflighted and fueled the plane, I snapped a couple of pictures.
Jason, the instructor taking me up on my cross country arrived around 8:05, after all the preflight for the plane was done, we went over my cross country sheet that I had to fill out. This basically has the heading (corrected for magnetic deviation, wind, and compass variance) you will fly, the fuel burn for each leg, time for each leg, estimated true airspeed as well as ground speed, diagrams of the airports you will be fling to and their frequencies, the weather briefing, among other things. It is quite a load to take on as a student pilot and I must say I haven't quite mastered the art of doing it myself yet. As we finished we got into the airplane and took off, full of fuel and ready to go!
We leveled off at 4,500, looking for 2400 rpm and 110 ktas (knots true air speed). Our first stop was Hays, a non towered airport about 70 nm (nautical miles) North West of Newton. We the would fly to Hutchinson, a towered airport (another 70 or so miles back south east. Hays was not a problem. Once the airport was in sight I made my radio calls, entered the pattern and made my touch and go landing. Once on the ground I cleaned up and then pushed full throttle again and we departed to the SE.
Let me say that the legs between the airports can get quite long, so I busied myself with scanning for traffic, examining the chart and referencing it with the ground. Cockpit conversation was good, but after a while you settle into the rhythm of flying and talking is not needed to pass the time.
About 30 miles out, I tuned to the Hutchinson tower frequency and started listening to traffic within that radius. This was my first time to a towered airport and it operates slightly different than a non towered airport. About 10 miles out I made my radio call. "Hutchinson tower, Cessna niner five niner Hotel Charlie is ten miles to the north west for touch and go, with information India." The last part is basically what weather briefing you received from the ATIS. The tower then contacted me telling me to fly a left downwind for 36 (the same traffic pattern applies to light aircraft at towered airports as it does at non towered airports). Right about when I was to turn base the tower cleared me "for the option" which basically means I can full stop or touch and go. I chose to touch and go because we were running a little short on time. As soon as we took off and were on the upwind leg, the tower cleared us to depart to Newton and approved us to change our frequency. The only other traffic in the area at the time was a hellicopter doing some low maneuvering over the city, which we had in sight. The flight to Newton was uneventful and while on final, I noticed Paul (a community student, a surgeon, who is refreshing his commercial pilots license again after many years) taxiing to 35 in his Pitts Special. Apparently he was going to fly to a steakhouse for lunch. After landing and taxiing to the hangar I noticed a beautiful Cessna 160 parked at our hangar. Another student (who had his own plane) was getting his tail wheel endorsement.
Later on that day I flew my final solo flight for stage 3. And what a flight it was! I departed 17, with quite a bit of crosswind. I departed to the west practice area over Hesston and descended to 2,500 to practice my rectangular course maneuvers. I started on the downwind leg and was just about to turn base when something caught my peripheral vision. I snapped my head around and saw two tail draggers flying in formation, intersecting my path not more than 100 feet below me. I slammed on the throttle and hauled back on the elevator. After the adrenaline subsided I evaluated the situation. They looked like restored planes, either without radios or were on another frequency. They came from my left quarter, so were hidden until I made my turn. Recently I have been focusing on holding my altitude when maneuvering. I tend to fluctuate around 100 feet. How glad I was that I was at 2,500 and not below. The incident could have turned to an accident, as the planes were on a direct intersect course below me. If there are any pilots out reading this, PLEASE! USE CTAF AND TALK ON THE RADIO!! You can protect yourself as well as others.
Thus ends my eventful day of flying. Once again I sit back and ask myself, "A pilot? Is this really for me?" Then I smile. "You bet!"
Beautiful morning
clear skies
The Cessna 160 sitting at the HCA ramp
I drove to the airport at around 7:15, right into the beautiful sunrise. Dan was at the airport already, and was pulling out planes. While I preflighted and fueled the plane, I snapped a couple of pictures.
Jason, the instructor taking me up on my cross country arrived around 8:05, after all the preflight for the plane was done, we went over my cross country sheet that I had to fill out. This basically has the heading (corrected for magnetic deviation, wind, and compass variance) you will fly, the fuel burn for each leg, time for each leg, estimated true airspeed as well as ground speed, diagrams of the airports you will be fling to and their frequencies, the weather briefing, among other things. It is quite a load to take on as a student pilot and I must say I haven't quite mastered the art of doing it myself yet. As we finished we got into the airplane and took off, full of fuel and ready to go!
We leveled off at 4,500, looking for 2400 rpm and 110 ktas (knots true air speed). Our first stop was Hays, a non towered airport about 70 nm (nautical miles) North West of Newton. We the would fly to Hutchinson, a towered airport (another 70 or so miles back south east. Hays was not a problem. Once the airport was in sight I made my radio calls, entered the pattern and made my touch and go landing. Once on the ground I cleaned up and then pushed full throttle again and we departed to the SE.
Let me say that the legs between the airports can get quite long, so I busied myself with scanning for traffic, examining the chart and referencing it with the ground. Cockpit conversation was good, but after a while you settle into the rhythm of flying and talking is not needed to pass the time.
About 30 miles out, I tuned to the Hutchinson tower frequency and started listening to traffic within that radius. This was my first time to a towered airport and it operates slightly different than a non towered airport. About 10 miles out I made my radio call. "Hutchinson tower, Cessna niner five niner Hotel Charlie is ten miles to the north west for touch and go, with information India." The last part is basically what weather briefing you received from the ATIS. The tower then contacted me telling me to fly a left downwind for 36 (the same traffic pattern applies to light aircraft at towered airports as it does at non towered airports). Right about when I was to turn base the tower cleared me "for the option" which basically means I can full stop or touch and go. I chose to touch and go because we were running a little short on time. As soon as we took off and were on the upwind leg, the tower cleared us to depart to Newton and approved us to change our frequency. The only other traffic in the area at the time was a hellicopter doing some low maneuvering over the city, which we had in sight. The flight to Newton was uneventful and while on final, I noticed Paul (a community student, a surgeon, who is refreshing his commercial pilots license again after many years) taxiing to 35 in his Pitts Special. Apparently he was going to fly to a steakhouse for lunch. After landing and taxiing to the hangar I noticed a beautiful Cessna 160 parked at our hangar. Another student (who had his own plane) was getting his tail wheel endorsement.
Later on that day I flew my final solo flight for stage 3. And what a flight it was! I departed 17, with quite a bit of crosswind. I departed to the west practice area over Hesston and descended to 2,500 to practice my rectangular course maneuvers. I started on the downwind leg and was just about to turn base when something caught my peripheral vision. I snapped my head around and saw two tail draggers flying in formation, intersecting my path not more than 100 feet below me. I slammed on the throttle and hauled back on the elevator. After the adrenaline subsided I evaluated the situation. They looked like restored planes, either without radios or were on another frequency. They came from my left quarter, so were hidden until I made my turn. Recently I have been focusing on holding my altitude when maneuvering. I tend to fluctuate around 100 feet. How glad I was that I was at 2,500 and not below. The incident could have turned to an accident, as the planes were on a direct intersect course below me. If there are any pilots out reading this, PLEASE! USE CTAF AND TALK ON THE RADIO!! You can protect yourself as well as others.
Thus ends my eventful day of flying. Once again I sit back and ask myself, "A pilot? Is this really for me?" Then I smile. "You bet!"
Beautiful morning
clear skies
The Cessna 160 sitting at the HCA ramp
Friday, October 30, 2009
Solo!
September 25, 2009 (delayed post)
I soloed!! What an experience! The morning was filled with doubt as it didn't get off to a good start. I was scheduled for two flights that day, and was supposed to fly solo the first flight at 8 in the morning. The day was looking promising, clear skies and minimal wind. But when I got to the airport, I realized that I hadn't brought my medical certificate along... which means no solo. All pilots are required to have a first, second, or third class medical before they fly. This is a specific aviation medical given by an FAA (Federal Aviation Administration approved M.D. The classes pertain to which certification or rating you have, for example a private pilot is only required to hold a third class medical, while an ATP (Airline Transport Pilot) is required to have a first class medical, which needs to be renewed every 6 months.
As a student pilot, my second class medical dubs as my student pilot certificate (validating me to fly as a student with an instructor or solo) , so without it I am not legally allowed to fly solo. As you can imagine, Amy (my instructor) was not very pleased. But we shrugged it off because we had a dual flight (flight with student and instructor) that we could do instead of my solo. As I preflighted the plane, I discovered the battery was dead. So we had to take the cowling off, and charge the battery. 45 min later we headed down the taxiway in N909HC, a Cessna 172N.
In all small planes, a run-up is required before takeoff. This is when you turn the plane around on the taxiway facing into the wind and make necessary engine and equipment checks. The procedure is nosewheel straight, brakes set, flight controls check (make sure that all control surfaces are free and operational), mixture rich (the air/fuel mixture control), throttle 1800rpm (full throttle is about 2600 rpm), Engine Inst/Fuel quy green arc, Ammeter check (to make sure that the electrical system is working properly), magnetos check (turn it to L magneto, watch for drop in rpm, and then do it to the right and watch for drop in rpm). The checklist goes on after that but this is where I will stop for now, because that morning, that is where we stopped.
A Cessna 172 has two magneto systems in the engine. A magneto is basically what causes the spark to fire in the spark plug, enabling the engine to run. There are two for redundancy reasons, in case one fails in flight, you can run on the other one. No magnetos working=probable engine failure. When I turned it to the left magneto, I didn't notice a drop in rpm. That was funny I though, so I turned it to "R" (right). The engine died instantly. I quickly flipped it back to "both" and the engine picked back up. I looked at Amy. "Looks like we have a bad mag." she said in a disappointed voice. I was dissapointed as well. After all that hastle, we still didn't get to fly. But I had a valuable lesson in the importance of checklists. Had we not done that and the Left mag had quit working, we would have turned into a glider.
Later that afternoon I showed up with all the necessary paperwork. After preflighting the plane, now in N959HC, Amy and I taxied to the runway. This time on runup, nothing was amiss. We accelerated down the runway and took off. After running the pattern* two times, Amy said "Okay, drop me off at the hangar." My pulse quickened. Its solo time. I thought.
Dropping Amy off I turned the plane around and taxied to the runway 17. Wind was 200 @ 5 so I had a slight right quartering crosswind. "Newton traffic,Cessna niner five niner Hotel Charlie is departing runway 17, closed traffic, newton." I announced over CTAF, a designated frequency for air traffic at an uncontrolled airport. I taxied onto the runway and accelerated to takeoff. It was exhilarating. I turned onto the downwind leg and announced my position. On base and final, I was feeling pretty good. I had been landing by myself, without Amy's help, for a while so it was all muscle memory and routine. Adjusting a little for the cross wind, I touched down smoother than I had ever done. Coming to a full stop, I cleaned up (raise flaps, carb heat off, trim set) and took off again. After landing a second time, I decided to call it a day as I eyed an approaching rain front.
It was one of the most exciting days of my life. Now I know why I got into aviation.
*Attatched is an image of "the pattern". You'll hear me refer to it numerous times in the future. It is basically the traffic flow to a certain runway, used on all VFR (visual flight rules) flights.
I soloed!! What an experience! The morning was filled with doubt as it didn't get off to a good start. I was scheduled for two flights that day, and was supposed to fly solo the first flight at 8 in the morning. The day was looking promising, clear skies and minimal wind. But when I got to the airport, I realized that I hadn't brought my medical certificate along... which means no solo. All pilots are required to have a first, second, or third class medical before they fly. This is a specific aviation medical given by an FAA (Federal Aviation Administration approved M.D. The classes pertain to which certification or rating you have, for example a private pilot is only required to hold a third class medical, while an ATP (Airline Transport Pilot) is required to have a first class medical, which needs to be renewed every 6 months.
As a student pilot, my second class medical dubs as my student pilot certificate (validating me to fly as a student with an instructor or solo) , so without it I am not legally allowed to fly solo. As you can imagine, Amy (my instructor) was not very pleased. But we shrugged it off because we had a dual flight (flight with student and instructor) that we could do instead of my solo. As I preflighted the plane, I discovered the battery was dead. So we had to take the cowling off, and charge the battery. 45 min later we headed down the taxiway in N909HC, a Cessna 172N.
In all small planes, a run-up is required before takeoff. This is when you turn the plane around on the taxiway facing into the wind and make necessary engine and equipment checks. The procedure is nosewheel straight, brakes set, flight controls check (make sure that all control surfaces are free and operational), mixture rich (the air/fuel mixture control), throttle 1800rpm (full throttle is about 2600 rpm), Engine Inst/Fuel quy green arc, Ammeter check (to make sure that the electrical system is working properly), magnetos check (turn it to L magneto, watch for drop in rpm, and then do it to the right and watch for drop in rpm). The checklist goes on after that but this is where I will stop for now, because that morning, that is where we stopped.
A Cessna 172 has two magneto systems in the engine. A magneto is basically what causes the spark to fire in the spark plug, enabling the engine to run. There are two for redundancy reasons, in case one fails in flight, you can run on the other one. No magnetos working=probable engine failure. When I turned it to the left magneto, I didn't notice a drop in rpm. That was funny I though, so I turned it to "R" (right). The engine died instantly. I quickly flipped it back to "both" and the engine picked back up. I looked at Amy. "Looks like we have a bad mag." she said in a disappointed voice. I was dissapointed as well. After all that hastle, we still didn't get to fly. But I had a valuable lesson in the importance of checklists. Had we not done that and the Left mag had quit working, we would have turned into a glider.
Later that afternoon I showed up with all the necessary paperwork. After preflighting the plane, now in N959HC, Amy and I taxied to the runway. This time on runup, nothing was amiss. We accelerated down the runway and took off. After running the pattern* two times, Amy said "Okay, drop me off at the hangar." My pulse quickened. Its solo time. I thought.
Dropping Amy off I turned the plane around and taxied to the runway 17. Wind was 200 @ 5 so I had a slight right quartering crosswind. "Newton traffic,Cessna niner five niner Hotel Charlie is departing runway 17, closed traffic, newton." I announced over CTAF, a designated frequency for air traffic at an uncontrolled airport. I taxied onto the runway and accelerated to takeoff. It was exhilarating. I turned onto the downwind leg and announced my position. On base and final, I was feeling pretty good. I had been landing by myself, without Amy's help, for a while so it was all muscle memory and routine. Adjusting a little for the cross wind, I touched down smoother than I had ever done. Coming to a full stop, I cleaned up (raise flaps, carb heat off, trim set) and took off again. After landing a second time, I decided to call it a day as I eyed an approaching rain front.
It was one of the most exciting days of my life. Now I know why I got into aviation.
*Attatched is an image of "the pattern". You'll hear me refer to it numerous times in the future. It is basically the traffic flow to a certain runway, used on all VFR (visual flight rules) flights.
Fly Blog!
Welcome to the blog! I decided the best way to keep family and friends updated on my career path of becoming a pilot would be to create a blog. Not that I don't enjoy emailing all of you, but I sometimes find that I am writing the same thing 3 times a day to different people. This blog will hopefully keep everyone updated as well as be more easily accessible. So here it is! Feel free to post comments if you would like, but sign your name with initials so I know who sent it. But by all means! This is NOT intended to replace email. Its just sort of a narrative of my career path with pictures to help keep everyone updated.
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Sol
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Sol
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