So, who am I? What am I doing here? Why do I have a picture of a burger on the wall?
This was suggested by several people that I start a blog, blogging about my new hobby. I've read a couple blogs from people who are getting the wings, and decided to start my own.
I've been flying at Superior Flight School in Kennesaw, GA since 8/11/2011. I love the school, and have a great flight instructor. It started off as a hobby, but the bug has bit me pretty badly. I've always been interested in flying. I've thrown up twice on a plane before (once when I was 5, and another back in '04... I was sick on a flight.) So it kind of scared me from going into that field. Recently in my life, I had discovered that I wasn't doing anything. It was just: wake up, dinner, shower, go to work, go to bed. Pretty much the same on my weekend too, minus the work. My life felt stalled out, and I really wasn't accomplishing anything.
In early August of 2011, I decided to start looking at flying again. I had looked at several schools, but since I only had planned for this to be a hobby, I decided to go with a school down the road from me.
The following are based off my log book pages. Anything else I can remember, I'll add.
On August 11, 2011, my (future) instructor and I took a Cessna 172 (N802NM) up for a flight. We were in the air for about an hour or so, as an intro flight. We did turns, and slow flight. I was hooked!
August 13, 2011, I decided to join Superior Flight School, and my second lesson began. We learned about preflight and securing a Cessna 172
August 19, 2011: Preflighted N653KB; normal takeoff procedure, climbs, descents, turns, straight and level, use of trim, attitude flying and general flying procedures
September 10, 2011: Introduction of climbing and descending turns, pattern work and low approaches.
September 16, 2011: Introduction of slow flight with and without flaps, and also crosswind takeoffs.
September 18, 2011: Due to bad weather, we used to flight school's simulator. This involved crosswind landings... which is a pain, but must be done. Also got signed off to pre-flight the plane by myself! Yay!
September 23, 2011: Did crosswind landings for the first time at our home base airport: KRYY. We had winds from the Northwest at 10kts. I was having an issue with my flaring.
September 25, 2011: The one thing a pilot never wants to do... stalls. We stalls just south of Cartersville. Good news is, that I didn't spin the plane, as spinning is a bitch to get out of.
October 7, 2011: Got rained out, but that doesn't mean we still can't get work done. We did radio communications with tower and non-towered airports, and emergency procedures.
October 8, 2011: I got to talk on the radio with KRYY Tower for the very first time. Exciting, but nervous. Also did steep turns... got a bit motion sickness on this one.
October 16, 2011: Did turns around a point and S-turns. Both are my favorite actually.
By now, I have 10.3 hours logged in the cockpit.
October 19, 2011: We got rained out, again. Still, was able to get a ground lesson in. Today's ground lesson was one of my favorites: Weather! We talked about VFR/IFR conditions, weather interpretation, winds, METARs, and TAFs.
October 22, 2011: Emergency procedures. Something you really need to learn, and know by heart, and pray that you never need to use it. By this time, we were preparing for my 1st solo. I got my medical exam done, and have my 1st Class Airmen's Certificate.
October 26, 2011: Slips to land, go around, and crosswind take offs and landings. Slips are pretty fun as you are just looking out the side wind (pretty much) while landing.
October 30, 2011: Most days, we use KRYY (Cobb County Airport) or KVPC (Cartersville Airport), but today we went to Paulding County (KPUJ.) We did normal landings, slow flight over the runway.
November 2, 2011: Today was a big wrap-up day preparing for my pre-solo stage check with one of the head people of Superior Flight. We did slow flight, stalls, steep turns, simulated engine out, turns around point, s-turns, go around, and crosswind landings.
November 10, 2011: Had a great day for crosswind landings, so... we did crosswind landings.
November 11, 2011: Had my pre-solo stage check today. We discovered several areas that needed improvement: 1 hand on yoke, 1 hand on throttle, and not looking at my instruments as much. Otherwise, very successful day!
November 19, 2011: For the very first time, I piloted an aircraft over my hometown in Virginia. That was a blast! My hometown is so pretty 2,000 feet in the sky, but on earth, it's a different story!
November 27, 2011: We did more reviewing to prepare me for my first solo!
December 1, 2011: Still having a bit of an issue when it came to my roundout, so we worked on it. Big improvement. On Solo Watch... meaning, anytime I could be solo'ing.
By now, I have 21.9 hours logged...
December 3, 2011: (Solo Watch Continues) Hold on to your hats! It was one of the windiest days in a long time. We went up, but we were getting bounced around by the chop. The winds were right down Paulding County's runway, so we did some high wind landings.
December 7, 2011: (Solo Watch Continues) Got rained out, but we went into the simulator and practiced lost and diversion procedures, also, since we were in the sim, my flight instructor decided to kill my engines all of the sudden to see how I would handle an engine failure. Did pretty well.
December 10, 2011: (Solo Watch Continues) Winds were too high for solo'ing so we did some crosswind take-offs and landings.
December 14, 2011: VERY FIRST SOLO! Ta-Da! I did 3 solo landings at Cartersville Airport (KVPC!) I received 0.6hours as Pilot-In-Command. It was preformed in a Cessna 172 – N653KB.
December 21, 2011: Had a ground lesson due to weather. We reviewed METARs, TAF, and introduced BAI flying, unusual attitude recovery, VOR operation and use.
December 23, 2011: I started instrument training, which means I wear foggles over my face. They block out everything but my instruments. While landing on runway 27 at Mc Collum Field (Cobb County,) I had to extend my downwind a bit, so I flew over Town Center Mall... you could hardly find a parking space, I've never seen it this crowded before. My instructor said that in '08 when the recession first hit, at this time of year, the mall wasn't even half that full.
December 29, 2011: Bloody Hell! The crosswinds were really kicking my ass today + unusual high amount of traffic. Not best flying day. Still got some experience in though. My instructor could tell I was getting very frustrated, so he reminded me: You know how to fly and land. I know you know how to fly and land. You just had a bad day, we all have those!
December 30, 2011: I did my second supervised Solo in a Cessna 172. Which means the instructor was on the ground, and I was flying the plane alone and did 3 successful take offs and landings. I can really understand why they say landing is the most stressful part of the flight. Winds were 7-10 knots, no crosswinds though.
January 3, 2012: It was freaking freezing today! By the time I was done preflighting the plane, my head was pounding, and I couldn't feel my fingers. I actually had gloves on too! We did more instrument training, also landed on KRYY's Runway 27, via localizer.
January 5, 2012: 3rd and Final supervised Solo! 6 landings at KRYY with a slight but steady crosswind of 8kts. I can now go out and fly on my own, but within a 25 mile radius of KRYY and VFR weather conditions.
Logged flight time: 33.6 hours, 1.9 instrument hours, 2.1 Pilot-In-Command hours
January 6, 2012: More instrument flying and unusual attitude recovery. Did a fly by of KVPC via localizer on runway 19, and landed RNAV on 27 at KRYY.
January 8, 2012: Got rained out, did ground lesson on planning our very first cross-country flight to KCHA (Chattanooga, TN.)
January 13, 2012: Friday the 13th. We did our very first cross-country flight. It was amazing. We flew in N707PD, a Cessna 172. The weather was beautiful. KCHA is a Class-C airspace, so we had different procedures in which we needed to do. Plus we dealt with Atlanta Center, and Atlanta Approach on the radio. While flying to and from KCHA, we actually saw some tornado damage from several months ago. Going to KCHA we were at 4,500 feet, coming back we were at 3,500. Very little chop.
January 15, 2012: We flew to KGAD (Gadsden, AL.) Nothing really in Gadsden to see. Nice to fly to, but wouldn't want to live there. Almost landed on the wrong runway, was suppose to land on 6, but almost landed on 18. Why? I forgot to draw a diagram of the airport. We were still far away from landing, but I was preparing. For landing. Coming back from GAD we had a bit of chop coming back into KRYY. While flying past 4A4 (Polk County,) we had skydivers above us at 15,000 feet. So we were advised by Atlanta Center to keep an eye out. So pretty much, we were looking for falling bodies.
So, that's what has happened since I started flying. The bug has bit me, and I've decided to go ahead and go for my instrument ratings, and even after that, go commercial. It can't hurt to have a backup plan in case more layoffs affect my company and I get affected by it.
After every flight, I'll try to update this blog with the going-ons. Hope you enjoy.
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