Once again, it has been a while since I have posted. I got my CFI license on the 5th of August, a few weeks after my last post. To my joy, I then got hired here at Hesston College as a flight instructor intern. That's when the learning curve began. Shortly after I was hired, the new aviation freshmen at HC arrived for "Fly Larks Week." This is when all of the first year aviation students arrive a week early to get started with their flying. I can liken it to aviation boot camp. The week consisted of days starting at 7 and ending at 4. The students were divided into groups and would rotate to 3 different stations every day. There would be 2 ground school lessons and a flight, with 3 students to a group. The entire week I was assigned to the flight station. This is where the learning curve began.
Keep in mind I had only been a Certified Flight Instructor for little less than a week, and I was now having to instruct real students who were paying for flight training. And while I had "teaching experience" during my CFI training, the pressure wasn't quite so real as this. I took a deep breath and dived into the mayhem. I wont lie, by the end of the first day I fell into bed thinking "what have I gotten myself into?" As soon as I finished flying with the first group of students in the morning, the second was ready to go. I had about 15 minutes to gulp down a sandwich before I was back in the plane. This continued for the rest of the week.
That first week I got nearly 15 hours of flight time. Now if there are any professional pilots out there reading this, 15 hours is probably one shift for you. But keep in mind that I was a starry eyed CFI, green in the pants, who was now getting paid to fly. And while it was extremely exhausting, I was finally getting the flight time I wanted!
When I look back on that first week I'm amazed at how little I knew: Not in terms of flight knowledge, but in terms of teaching. I had read about teaching methods and how students learn; this was just text in my training. Now I was actually seeing breathing examples of people I had to train. These weren't just "practice students" anymore. This was the real deal, and it was my responsibility to train them to the best of my ability. As I continue to grow in my CFI position it becomes easy to be discouraged (yes CFIs are human too). But when I reflect back on that first week, I realize how far I have come since that day. And I am grateful.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Learnin' through Teachin'
I have started my Certified Flight Instructor training in the airplane now that I am done with Commercial. It is my goal to get this done in 3 weeks or less and it seems as though this might be a possibility. The flight portion of my training is only 17 flights, 4 of which I finished it 2 days. Needless to say I'm hitting it hard. I have a dump truck load of material I need to read in that time which is not surprising considering I need to know just about all there is to know involving airplanes and flight. When I do go for my CFI checkride, it will be the hardest checkride I will have ever taken. Anything and everything is fair game for them to question me on. Even things that I have not been taught by my instructors (as I have been warned.) So, as I dive into the ocean of aviation knowledge I bid you: never fear for I shall return to the realm of blog-dom once my trials have been overcome! (Calling them trials really is misleading because I'm enjoying every minute of this!)
Catch you later!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Commercial Pilot!
Yes its true, I now am a commercial pilot! While this took quite some time, and posting here on blogger was few and far between, it has finally come to be. I had my checkride Saturday in and amongst Newton's Young Eagles fly in sponsored by the EAA. Needless to say the airport was unusually busy with airplanes departing and arriving constantly. It made the checkride all the more challenging, but it was something that I wasn't worried about. As I reflect on this past saturday, I can see the growth that I have achieved over these past two years as a pilot. Dealing with a busy airport was just another thing that I as a pilot will have to deal with the rest of my life. Am I okay with that? YOU BET!
Falling asleep friday night was very hard. Not just because the city of Newton lifted the fireworks ban for the weekend, but because my nerves were starting to get more..nervy as I tried remembering every conceivable thing that might be asked on the checkride. Right as I turned out the light I received a phone call. Dale, who was going to do my checkride in the morning, said he had a flight the next day to Santa Fe and was wondering if I could go with another examiner he arranged. This was fine by me, except that I knew how Dale worked because he was my examiner for Instrument. I was now going with someone who I had never met and was therefore unable to try and predict what questions he was going to ask. The tossing and turning continued for another hour.
I arrived at the airport bright and early Saturday morning with the temp already pushing the 80's. Dave arrived at 830 and we began the oral portion of the exam. It went very well. He ask me an array of questions for an hour and a half, after which all of my brain juice was wrung out on the table. It was time to fly. We got into the aluminum oven and I went through my preflight briefing. As we taxied by the FBO, we saw numerous planes of all kinds lined up on the ramp. From jets to a Fokker Triplane, people were scattered among them admiring the flying machines. I caught a whiff of barbecue as we scooted on by.
Besides the unusually busy Newton Airport, it was a beautiful day to fly! The wind was light and all of my maneuvers went well. We headed back to the airport to do my short field, soft field, and power off accuracy landings. The first two landings went well, but the last was the one I was worried about. Besides the Pylon-Eight, the 180 degree power-off accuracy landing is the hardest maneuver of commercial. It involves pulling your power abeam your landing point and gliding to a landing. It gets tricky: you have to pick a point to touch down at. If you are short, you fail. You only have a 200 foot strip beyond that point to touch down in or you fail as well. Its a very small spot on the runway, and you have to hit it without using any power. Its also difficult to practice because different days have different speeds which change your descent rate. The judgement comes in when you turn on the base leg, and you can determine if you are to high or to low, If you are too high, you can add in flaps, do a slip to get down. If you are too low, you can pull your prop control back which adjusts the propeller to a high blade angle (this reduces drag). You can also add flaps in at last minute which will cause you to balloon, but you'd better know you are coming down after that. Needless to say this was a maneuver that I had been struggling with. To make a long story short, I nailed it and breathed a sigh of relief as we came to a stop on the runway.
Now that I have my commercial pilots license, I'm starting to work on instructor. I'm aiming to get it done by the end of summer (hopefully sooner) but the experience I've had so far tells me that I'll just have to go with the flow and see what happens. I'll do what I can to keep this thing updated. So for now its an adieu and thanks for reading!
Falling asleep friday night was very hard. Not just because the city of Newton lifted the fireworks ban for the weekend, but because my nerves were starting to get more..nervy as I tried remembering every conceivable thing that might be asked on the checkride. Right as I turned out the light I received a phone call. Dale, who was going to do my checkride in the morning, said he had a flight the next day to Santa Fe and was wondering if I could go with another examiner he arranged. This was fine by me, except that I knew how Dale worked because he was my examiner for Instrument. I was now going with someone who I had never met and was therefore unable to try and predict what questions he was going to ask. The tossing and turning continued for another hour.
I arrived at the airport bright and early Saturday morning with the temp already pushing the 80's. Dave arrived at 830 and we began the oral portion of the exam. It went very well. He ask me an array of questions for an hour and a half, after which all of my brain juice was wrung out on the table. It was time to fly. We got into the aluminum oven and I went through my preflight briefing. As we taxied by the FBO, we saw numerous planes of all kinds lined up on the ramp. From jets to a Fokker Triplane, people were scattered among them admiring the flying machines. I caught a whiff of barbecue as we scooted on by.
Besides the unusually busy Newton Airport, it was a beautiful day to fly! The wind was light and all of my maneuvers went well. We headed back to the airport to do my short field, soft field, and power off accuracy landings. The first two landings went well, but the last was the one I was worried about. Besides the Pylon-Eight, the 180 degree power-off accuracy landing is the hardest maneuver of commercial. It involves pulling your power abeam your landing point and gliding to a landing. It gets tricky: you have to pick a point to touch down at. If you are short, you fail. You only have a 200 foot strip beyond that point to touch down in or you fail as well. Its a very small spot on the runway, and you have to hit it without using any power. Its also difficult to practice because different days have different speeds which change your descent rate. The judgement comes in when you turn on the base leg, and you can determine if you are to high or to low, If you are too high, you can add in flaps, do a slip to get down. If you are too low, you can pull your prop control back which adjusts the propeller to a high blade angle (this reduces drag). You can also add flaps in at last minute which will cause you to balloon, but you'd better know you are coming down after that. Needless to say this was a maneuver that I had been struggling with. To make a long story short, I nailed it and breathed a sigh of relief as we came to a stop on the runway.
Now that I have my commercial pilots license, I'm starting to work on instructor. I'm aiming to get it done by the end of summer (hopefully sooner) but the experience I've had so far tells me that I'll just have to go with the flow and see what happens. I'll do what I can to keep this thing updated. So for now its an adieu and thanks for reading!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Lesson Plans
I'm still plugging away at Commercial flight, but on the ground school side of things I am starting heavy work on becoming a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI). Part of my curriculum in becoming a CFI is making lesson plans. With these lesson plans I will be able to, in effect, teach all of Private Pilot and Commercial Pilot Single Engine Land under Part 61. This is of course if I choose to start my own flight school after becoming CFI. Chances are I'll be hired by a pre-existing flight school who will have their own curriculum that I follow. Anyhow, creating these lesson plans is a great way for me to review and prepare to teach!
So, here comes the clarification paragraph, for those who are wondering where I am at. I have finished my Commercial Flight ground school portion, and completed the written test. I am finishing up my flight hours for Commercial as well working on the ground portion for CFI. Once I have my Commercial Pilots License, after taking my checkride, I will start on the flight Portion for CFI. I will be staying into the summer here at Hesston to finish that up.
So, here comes the clarification paragraph, for those who are wondering where I am at. I have finished my Commercial Flight ground school portion, and completed the written test. I am finishing up my flight hours for Commercial as well working on the ground portion for CFI. Once I have my Commercial Pilots License, after taking my checkride, I will start on the flight Portion for CFI. I will be staying into the summer here at Hesston to finish that up.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Its been a long road... Gettin' From there to Here..
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Can you place the title? I know a few of my readers will be able to. The song came into my mind as I was landing on my final cross country of stage 2. I needed 3.7 hours to finish up and as I shut the engine down, I smiled to myself as I noted I had completed 3.8 hours flight time. I also had completed my 5 additional stop-and-go's at a towered airport at night. I was all set to jet! (That is a figurative form of speech, I will not be able to fly jets for another few years.)
I had planned a flight to Hays, Hutchinson, and back. I have attached a photo on the bottom. As you can see the red line was my planned flight route, and the blue was my actual route of light. And that yellow box that is smack dab in the middle of where I was planning to fly? That is an MOA (Military Operations Area), or Monkeys On Assignment. As I took off into the sunset, I did my regular routine of filing a flight plan and contacting Wichita Approach who then handed me off to Kansas City Center (KCC).
"Niner Hotel Charlie, the Bison and Smoky MOA's are active including the Restricted Airspace west of Salina, were you planning on going through that?" I now had a choice. I could fly through the MOA but I wouldn't receive any radar service because KCC didn't want to be responsible for any abrupt encounters with an F-18 or two. Or I could go around north of the MOA to Hays, which I chose to do because it would add some time to my flying, time I needed to get done. I did some rough fuel calculations and determined I had enough for this detour and back to Newton with remaining reserves to spare.
The detour was pleasant enough, and included flying over a huge wind farm. I always find wind farms interesting at night. All of the windmills have red blinking anti-collision lights on top of them, and they all blink at exactly the same time. It looks like a pulsating field of red orbs. I did some stop-and-go's at Hays and then headed to Hutchinson. I pulled out my AF/D and realized that, with the time change, the tower at Hutch was now closed. Angry at myself for not realizing this, I informed KCC I wanted to head to Salina and do some stop-and-go's there. I headed back around the Big Blunder of an MOA (BBOAMOA) and did my 5 at Salina. As I landed the first time, I smelled jet fuel. As I was taking off again I noticed two F-18's sitting on the apron taking on fuel. So you are the guys who were hoggin' the airspace. I thought to myself. However, in the long run I wasn't too upset. These series of events turned a supposed 2 hr flight into a 3.8, just enough for what I needed. I was glad I didn't need to fly another one and was able to now move ahead.
In the coming days I will be flying lots of dual flight with my instructor to finish up stage 2. Some of this will include flying actual IFR with my instructor for more practice. Stay tuned for more posts!
Can you place the title? I know a few of my readers will be able to. The song came into my mind as I was landing on my final cross country of stage 2. I needed 3.7 hours to finish up and as I shut the engine down, I smiled to myself as I noted I had completed 3.8 hours flight time. I also had completed my 5 additional stop-and-go's at a towered airport at night. I was all set to jet! (That is a figurative form of speech, I will not be able to fly jets for another few years.)
I had planned a flight to Hays, Hutchinson, and back. I have attached a photo on the bottom. As you can see the red line was my planned flight route, and the blue was my actual route of light. And that yellow box that is smack dab in the middle of where I was planning to fly? That is an MOA (Military Operations Area), or Monkeys On Assignment. As I took off into the sunset, I did my regular routine of filing a flight plan and contacting Wichita Approach who then handed me off to Kansas City Center (KCC).
"Niner Hotel Charlie, the Bison and Smoky MOA's are active including the Restricted Airspace west of Salina, were you planning on going through that?" I now had a choice. I could fly through the MOA but I wouldn't receive any radar service because KCC didn't want to be responsible for any abrupt encounters with an F-18 or two. Or I could go around north of the MOA to Hays, which I chose to do because it would add some time to my flying, time I needed to get done. I did some rough fuel calculations and determined I had enough for this detour and back to Newton with remaining reserves to spare.
The detour was pleasant enough, and included flying over a huge wind farm. I always find wind farms interesting at night. All of the windmills have red blinking anti-collision lights on top of them, and they all blink at exactly the same time. It looks like a pulsating field of red orbs. I did some stop-and-go's at Hays and then headed to Hutchinson. I pulled out my AF/D and realized that, with the time change, the tower at Hutch was now closed. Angry at myself for not realizing this, I informed KCC I wanted to head to Salina and do some stop-and-go's there. I headed back around the Big Blunder of an MOA (BBOAMOA) and did my 5 at Salina. As I landed the first time, I smelled jet fuel. As I was taking off again I noticed two F-18's sitting on the apron taking on fuel. So you are the guys who were hoggin' the airspace. I thought to myself. However, in the long run I wasn't too upset. These series of events turned a supposed 2 hr flight into a 3.8, just enough for what I needed. I was glad I didn't need to fly another one and was able to now move ahead.
In the coming days I will be flying lots of dual flight with my instructor to finish up stage 2. Some of this will include flying actual IFR with my instructor for more practice. Stay tuned for more posts!
Friday, March 18, 2011
Catching up
Hey, just a quick update: I will post soon about last nights flight which was interesting and also the last cross country flight for Commercial! Right now I really need to focus on flying as much as possible as well as reading loads of material. My CFI ground school will be starting soon. I need to get in 45 hours of ground school in less than 8 weeks, so I'm going to be slightly busy. However, stay tuned because I will find time to blog! I have made that vow already. Thanks for hanging in there!
Friday, February 25, 2011
Chapter 12
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Prologue:
If you have noticed a lack in posting recently, its because I have not been able to fly for about a month. This was due to many factors, mainly my busy schedule as well as winter weather changing at last minute. But finally the day came when I could complete my long awaited cross country to Colorado. This is entitled Chapter 12 because of its length. If you read it as a chapter of a book, It might not seem so long.
Chapter 12
I was scheduled for a Tuesday afternoon-into-night flight. Planning to be wheels up by 3:30. Brett, my instructor, checked over my flightplan and signed me off and gave me the keys. At 3:00 I had my preflight complete and keys in hand; right on schedule. I fueled up the plane, did one last walk around and was off the ground by 3:30. After climbing to 4,000 ft around the traffic pattern (I had a great headwind!) I contacted flight service (FSS) and filed a flight plan. In the past I would have normally filed online using DUATS. But I have come to notice that sometimes the flightplans aren't always submitted right away and the response back from FSS is "Uh... niner hotel charley we aren't showing a flightplan to that destination.. would you like to file one now?" I have decided that from now on, its better to file one via human interaction than interaction with a machine.
After filing, I contacted Wichita Departure and got radar service to La Junta, Colorado which was my destination. After settling into cruise at 8,500 ft, I surveyed the landscape below. It was a fine sunny Kansas afternoon and I was extremely happy to be flying again! I trimmed out the airplane and took a bite out of a Chewy bar that was included in my sack supper. I glanced over at the GPS and groaned. It was showing my groundspeed was at 65 kts. Considering our 172's cruise at about 110 kts (in a no wind situation), this was a snails pace. I must have had a monster headwind. I mentally steeled myself for a long trip.
About 2 hours into the flight the wind switched to a right quartering tailwind. I know this because I was just passing Garden City KS when I noticed my crab angle was to the left and pretty big. My groundspeed had also increased to 80-90 kts fluctuating. This was good! I would now get there faster. The sun was beginning to set on the horizon by the time I was handed off to Denver Center. It was a beautiful sight! The sky turned a deep red and framed in the distance were the Rocky Mountains shooting up from the plains. I mentally kicked myself for not bringing my camera along (sorry!).
I was about 50 miles out from La Junta when a thought struck me. Its pretty late. I thought. I really hope the La Junta FBO is still open to give me fuel. I looked quickly in my AFD and noted the time. "Open from Sunrise-0000Z" Shoot! It had just closed! I quickly looked at the Lamar airport and saw that it was open for another half hour. I was coming up on it in about 20 miles, so I quickly radioed Denver center and told them my flightplan was changing. I squawked VFR and then radioed the FBO. Fortunately there was someone there to fuel me up. I can't imagine what would have happened if I wouldn't have been able to get fuel.
The approach to landing was interesting. Since the airport was at almost 5000 ft elevation, my approach speed was faster. The air is less dense at higher altitudes, so the airplane needs to go faster through the air to produce the same amount of lift. The indicated airspeed (the airspeed you read on the airspeed indicator) will always remain the same since the pitot tube is measuring ram air (that is air that is being forced into the instrument to measure airspeed). I had to make sure I stuck to reading my instruments rather than focusing on how fast I was going, otherwise I would have stalled.
I took on fuel and ate my sack supper watching the sun set over the Colorado plains. The guy at the FBO said I had been the only plane that day. Must be pretty quiet there! I didn't take to long of a break because I wanted to make sure I could do a couple stop-and-go's at Garden City on the way back. Part 141 of the FAR's (Federal Aviation Regulations) say I have to do 10 landings at a towered airport at night. I decided I would do 5 there and 5 on the next night cross country. I took off from Lamar and had a great tail wind to Garden City.
Apart from a Beechjet taking off while I was on approach, there wasn't any traffic as I started my 5 stop-and-go's. There was a wind of 19 kts 10 degrees off runway heading, and so that made it a lot more interesting. After completing them I headed back to Newton. The last 2 hour leg of the flight was uneventful.
I have decided that night flying is my favorite type of flying. Way up in the air, you are graced with the beauty of lights below and a sense of freedom. You are in your own little peaceful capsule with the soothing voices of center control to keep you company. You bond with your machine as it drones into the night, knowing that it is the steed upon which you depend. You fly in solidarity; but not really because you know there are others up there who are sharing the same experience. And that makes you feel warm inside. The only other way I can describe it is sitting next to a warm cozy fire with a blanket and a cup of hot cocoa. And after all this is complete, coming home after a six hour flight is the best feeling in the world.
Prologue:
If you have noticed a lack in posting recently, its because I have not been able to fly for about a month. This was due to many factors, mainly my busy schedule as well as winter weather changing at last minute. But finally the day came when I could complete my long awaited cross country to Colorado. This is entitled Chapter 12 because of its length. If you read it as a chapter of a book, It might not seem so long.
Chapter 12
I was scheduled for a Tuesday afternoon-into-night flight. Planning to be wheels up by 3:30. Brett, my instructor, checked over my flightplan and signed me off and gave me the keys. At 3:00 I had my preflight complete and keys in hand; right on schedule. I fueled up the plane, did one last walk around and was off the ground by 3:30. After climbing to 4,000 ft around the traffic pattern (I had a great headwind!) I contacted flight service (FSS) and filed a flight plan. In the past I would have normally filed online using DUATS. But I have come to notice that sometimes the flightplans aren't always submitted right away and the response back from FSS is "Uh... niner hotel charley we aren't showing a flightplan to that destination.. would you like to file one now?" I have decided that from now on, its better to file one via human interaction than interaction with a machine.
After filing, I contacted Wichita Departure and got radar service to La Junta, Colorado which was my destination. After settling into cruise at 8,500 ft, I surveyed the landscape below. It was a fine sunny Kansas afternoon and I was extremely happy to be flying again! I trimmed out the airplane and took a bite out of a Chewy bar that was included in my sack supper. I glanced over at the GPS and groaned. It was showing my groundspeed was at 65 kts. Considering our 172's cruise at about 110 kts (in a no wind situation), this was a snails pace. I must have had a monster headwind. I mentally steeled myself for a long trip.
About 2 hours into the flight the wind switched to a right quartering tailwind. I know this because I was just passing Garden City KS when I noticed my crab angle was to the left and pretty big. My groundspeed had also increased to 80-90 kts fluctuating. This was good! I would now get there faster. The sun was beginning to set on the horizon by the time I was handed off to Denver Center. It was a beautiful sight! The sky turned a deep red and framed in the distance were the Rocky Mountains shooting up from the plains. I mentally kicked myself for not bringing my camera along (sorry!).
I was about 50 miles out from La Junta when a thought struck me. Its pretty late. I thought. I really hope the La Junta FBO is still open to give me fuel. I looked quickly in my AFD and noted the time. "Open from Sunrise-0000Z" Shoot! It had just closed! I quickly looked at the Lamar airport and saw that it was open for another half hour. I was coming up on it in about 20 miles, so I quickly radioed Denver center and told them my flightplan was changing. I squawked VFR and then radioed the FBO. Fortunately there was someone there to fuel me up. I can't imagine what would have happened if I wouldn't have been able to get fuel.
The approach to landing was interesting. Since the airport was at almost 5000 ft elevation, my approach speed was faster. The air is less dense at higher altitudes, so the airplane needs to go faster through the air to produce the same amount of lift. The indicated airspeed (the airspeed you read on the airspeed indicator) will always remain the same since the pitot tube is measuring ram air (that is air that is being forced into the instrument to measure airspeed). I had to make sure I stuck to reading my instruments rather than focusing on how fast I was going, otherwise I would have stalled.
I took on fuel and ate my sack supper watching the sun set over the Colorado plains. The guy at the FBO said I had been the only plane that day. Must be pretty quiet there! I didn't take to long of a break because I wanted to make sure I could do a couple stop-and-go's at Garden City on the way back. Part 141 of the FAR's (Federal Aviation Regulations) say I have to do 10 landings at a towered airport at night. I decided I would do 5 there and 5 on the next night cross country. I took off from Lamar and had a great tail wind to Garden City.
Apart from a Beechjet taking off while I was on approach, there wasn't any traffic as I started my 5 stop-and-go's. There was a wind of 19 kts 10 degrees off runway heading, and so that made it a lot more interesting. After completing them I headed back to Newton. The last 2 hour leg of the flight was uneventful.
I have decided that night flying is my favorite type of flying. Way up in the air, you are graced with the beauty of lights below and a sense of freedom. You are in your own little peaceful capsule with the soothing voices of center control to keep you company. You bond with your machine as it drones into the night, knowing that it is the steed upon which you depend. You fly in solidarity; but not really because you know there are others up there who are sharing the same experience. And that makes you feel warm inside. The only other way I can describe it is sitting next to a warm cozy fire with a blanket and a cup of hot cocoa. And after all this is complete, coming home after a six hour flight is the best feeling in the world.
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