I Passed My IFR Exam!

Such a major stress relief knowing that I have my IFR now. I can literally feel all my muscles relaxing now. All last week, every day, I had flight lessons before work to make sure I was ready for Friday afternoon, and it worked out.

Friday morning, we were having MVFR/IFR conditions both at my base (KRYY) and where the test was going to take place (KRHP,) so I was able to talk to my instructor about going with me so we can at least do the oral. He filed an IFR flight plan up to KRHP. I was going to be the PIC, and he was going to be my copilot. It was so nice to actually get some real IFR flying in, since most of the training was done under my IFR glasses. To get some practice in doing a hold, we did the RNAV 9, with the procedure turn into KRHP.

The exam started at 12:30pm, but we got there at about 11:30PM which gave me 1 extra hour of studying.

The oral portion of the exam took about 2 hours. We covered everything from runway markings, to the cross country flight plan that he wanted me to do, to the weights and balance. We went over a lot of the special emphasis areas (CFIT, LAHSO, wake turbulence, runway incursions, SRM, etc.) We also went over a lot of the items in the ASA Instrument Oral Exam Guide, so if you have been studying that, you should be okay.

When the oral portion of the exam was over, we went to the weather room to see if we could get the practical portion of the checkride done. We could! :-)

I got the plane ready and we headed off to KTYS. From KRHP to KTYS, it became very bumpy. As we were approaching KTYS, I called approach for entry into the airspace, and to let them know what we wanted to do. Well, at that time, a lot of the commercial aircraft were coming in, so it became very fast paced with the big boys in front of me, behind me and to the side of me since both runways were being used. We did the ILS, followed by the VOR full procedure with partial panel, and then headed out to do air-work. After we got out of KTYS's airspace, we did partial panel unusual attitude recovery, and steep turns to the left and to the right; which got my stomach messed up. I thought I was going to lose my cookies with those steep turns. Heading back to KRHP, we did the hold procedure, and then the circle to land.

I honestly didn't think I passed (I don't know why... low self-esteem maybe?), but when I shut everything down in the airplane, he shook my hand and said, “Congratulations!” I was beyond speechless! The practical portion of the exam took 2 hours in the air. We decided to play a trick on my instructor. We when went in, the examiner asked me when I'm free to come back. You could see the color drain from my instructor's face, I then said, “You mean for my commercial rating, right? Because, I'm IFR rated now!”

So, while we finished up the paperwork, my instructor filed for IFR back to KRYY. Like going up there, he was the copilot and I was the PIC.

When we got back, we were able to do a night landing as the sun had already done down. Beautiful evening flight for a wonderful day.

Now, it's time to start my commercial rating, and hopefully find a Safety Pilot who wants to join me in some day cross-countries.

8/22/2012 & 8/27/2012 - “What The Hell Are You Doing Here?”

Since about May of this year, I had this trip planned. My Dad's Cousin, Kenny, and myself are (as you know about me) licensed pilots. Well, my father's birthday was August 26. I wanted a nice big surprise for him. So, I thought, since I have my pilot's license, why not go surprise him! That, I did!

The Trip To...

Originally, I was scheduled to leave KRYY on 8/23, but I was able to get the plane early, so I departed from KRYY on 8/22/2012 at around 1PM with 653KB and a full tank of gas. Issues began at first flight. I departed from runway 9, which is the one I really wanted.

Thanks to Google and CloudAhoy, you are able to see my exact course (within reason) thanks to GPS technology (even though GPS Sat 24 has been out of service for about 12 months now, that's not really going to affect me any.) Below the big blue line was my course from KRYY to KPTB. A 400+ mile trip...

I was able to get to a cruise altitude of 3500 feet... for awhile. Headed northbound knowing that there were storms in the North Carolina area that I was going to have to look out for.

I was able to get flight following all the way from Cobb to Petersburg. When I flying north of Greenville and Spartanburg, I did see towering cumulus forming around me. This was a bad sign as they started to get lower and the turbulence started to pick up. Just south of Cleveland, SC I had cumculonubus storm clouds on both sides of me, but at a far enough distance to keep it legal for me to fly. At all times, I was still in the legal parameters to fly VFR.

Over Lake Norman, ATC advised to me: "653KB, at 1 o'clock you will see traffic, a Boeing 757." I was still at 3500 and he was at 4500 descending to Charlotte. He was so close to me, I could easly read: "US Airways," and see which shades were open and not. A few moments later, "653KB, at your 11 o'clock you will see traffic, a Boeing 757." ANOTHER US Airways Boeing landing. I was also given wake turbulence warnings, but was not hit by any. After passing Lake Norman, I had to start to descend to avoid the clouds, with ATC's permission, I went to 3,300 feet.

Near Salisbury I had a major traffic alert. An aircraft took off from KRUQ and was cutting in front of me... he came out of nowhere... even ATC was caught off by surprise. "(alarm blaring in the background) ... (screaming, and fast) 653KiloBravo... Traffic Warning! Traffic Warning! Fast approaching aircraft at your 1, moving right in front of you, your altitude. Take invasive action!" Me... calm voice "Have the aircraft spotted... taking action. 653KB." Right when ATC had called my aircraft I had the plane spotted. I was able to keep my distance from him. It was pretty intense.

Just southwest of Greensboro, I had to descend to 3000 due to clouds. At all times through this flight, I must mention, I stayed VFR and remained within the FAA legal limits. At no times did I break any FAR rules. Now, when I was approaching Greensboro airspace, I was told, that I didn't have permission to enter their airspace. I was going to have to go around it. That's no problem. But, if you notice below, around the "85" Interstate marker, I got pretty close to Greensboro. What happened was, there was a strong shower right in my path, so ATC gave me permission to divert into their airspace to avoid that area. After passing it, I got back on track over Burlington, and continued my route to Petersburg.  

When I entered Virginia, you can see that I followed I-85 for awhile. Not intentional, it just happened that's what my course was. When I entered southern Dinwiddie I broke off as I was 15 minutes out and had the airport in my sight. I called Washington Approach to them know, and to end my flight following and switched over to the Traffic/Advisory Frequency for KPTB (122.7)

Winds were favorable for runway 5. So passed over Sutherland and a bit of Lake Chesdin. Over the rock quarry, and motorsports park, and made a smooth landing at KPTB.



Kenny was able to get my father to the airport 30 minutes before I landed. When I stepped out of the plane, I was greeted with "What the hell are you doing here?" As he wasn't expecting me to be in the plane. (Kenny told him, he had bought a plane, and it was being flown in.) It was a great birthday surprise for him.

While in Virginia, I was hoping to take both Kenny and Dad on a flight. I was planning on going to Manteo, NC (Nags Head) but both days we were planning on flying, the weather wasn't going to allow it.

I was orginially suppose to return to KRYY on the 28th, but due to a cold front/stationary front drapped over the area and with Tropical Storm Isaac coming in from the Gulf bring more mositure and strong winds it was decided to actually come back on the 27th. Good move, because from NC to FL is drapped in IFR conditions.

Current METAR as of this writing:

KRYY 281147Z 08008KT 6SM -RA BR OVC010 23/22 A3004

Current TAF as of this writing:

KRYY 281141Z 2812/2912 10009KT P6SM -SHRA BKN006 OVC010
     FM281500 09012G18KT P6SM VCSH SCT010 OVC020
     TEMPO 2820/2824 4SM -TSRA BKN025CB
     FM290000 11005KT P6SM VCSH SCT020 BKN040
     PROB30 2900/2906 5SM -SHRA
     FM290900 10004KT P6SM VCSH BKN008 BKN015

So, yeah, it was a good decision to come back yesterday instead of today.

The Trip Back...

Due to a technical error, some of the return flight wasn't captured.

Due to a somewhat low ceiling my intended cruise alitutde was 4500, but I only made it to 2500.

Unfortunately, at that height, ATC lost me on radar when I got near the Virginia board. I was told to call Durham in about 10 miles to see if they could pick me. Luckily they did. I prefer to have an extra eyes in the sky. The photo below is a dam, I believed, associated with Lake Gaston. Below that photo is another of an old rock quarry northeast of Greensboro.

The two maps below are associated with this paragraph. So going back, I'd have to go through the Charlotte Airspace again. I couldn't be promised it due to traffic volume, so I decided to go north of it. Well, when ATC saw my turn to the west, as presented below, they question what I was doing. They then told me, I could go through the Class-Bravo airspace if I wanted. This would save me about 20 minutes. I took them up on the offer, and you can actually see the sharp line to the southwest that I took. The map, is a VFR Sectional of the airspace that I cut through.

Just west of Spartanburg, I saw these birds flying up at me. I was thinking they were going to go back down or fly pass. Well, they did, except one. One small bird flew directly into my wing. I felt the shutter of the plane, and heard the sound of the bird hitting the metal of the plane. I started scanning my instruments for any abnormalities, felt the flight controls... everything was good, seeing if I was leaking gas, etc. After I determine that everything was still good, I tried to look forward as much as I could to see if he was still stuck on the wing or if there was any damage. I couldn't see any. The photo below the map, is a antenna farm on top of Paris Mountain. (I believe that's the mountain.) At this time in the flight, I was hitting a ground speed of about 130 or so knots. We were traveling!

Over Lake Keowee (upper right on the map below) flew right over the Oconee Nuclear Power Station.

My approach into KRYY...

Overall, I was extremely happy with the trip. I was pretty happy with my piloting skills, and my cockpit management skills. Would I do it again? Yes, but I have definitely learned that I need to get my IFR rating.

Happy Flying!

Instruments and Other Goodies – 7/29/2012

It's been awhile since I've updated the blog, so I thought I would go ahead and do it now... since I can't sleep.

As I've mentioned before, in May I started my instrument training with ground school. On July 14, I started my first practical instrument lesson with the same instructor I had for my PPL. So far, I'm 4 lessons in and really enjoying it. I think getting the IFR will definitely make me a much better pilot.

Per the FAA Regs., I can do about 20 hours of my IFR training in a simulator. This is great as it saves money, plus you can do things in the sim that you can (or shouldn't do) in an actual plane.

My last two sessions we have started adding landing on ILS Runway 27 at KRYY. Even though I haven't had any major formal training (besides ground school, and from what I've been reading) ILS is my current favorite approach. I have also been practicing the ILS at different airports and weather conditions at home on Flight Simulator X.

On 7/21, I found out my current instructor is leaving SFS. So, I've been assigned to another guy. So far, we have had one sit down meeting, and it looks like we will work well together. I'm hoping for the best.

I'm planning at least 2 lessons per week for my IFR training. It wasn't as much as my PPL, that is due to my new schedule.

On July 9, I moved from overnights; which I was on for 8 freaking long years (4 years at my current job, and 4 years at my previous one,) I still wonder how that has shorten my lifespan) to 2^nd shift. Yay!

This Friday, August 3^rd, I'm planning on taking a good friend flying with me for the first time. This will be one of his first times in a Cessna 172. I'm excited about flying, having him along, and seeing what he thinks. I'm hoping it cools down a tad, current temperature for Friday is 94 degrees. I don't like flying when it's hot.

Also, at the end of August is when I do my first 400+ mile VFR flight. I'm so freaking nervous about it, that I'm excited. I'll talk about it more when it gets here.

Other than that, that's about it. See ya on the other side of the cloud!

Pilot Reports from Virginia...

Severe storms (a derecho) moved across Virginia the night of 6/29/2012...

   PIREP 02:45Z 06/30/12
   RIC UUA /OV HPW/TM 0245/FL350/TP B737/TB SEV    
  
   PIREP 02:09Z 06/30/12
   CHO UUA /OV GVE225020/TM 0209/FL060/TP E145/TB SEV/RM SEV UPDRAFTS   

   PIREP 02:16Z 06/30/12
   AVC UUA /OV LVL330015/TM 0216/FL340/TP B737/TB SEV CAT   
  
   PIREP 02:09Z 06/30/12
   SIF UUA /OV GSO030035/TM 0209/FL155/TP CRJ7/TB MOD-SEV 155-130/RM DURD
  
   PIREP 04:12Z 06/30/12
   MFV UUA /OV CCV360005/TM 0412/FL070/TP PA31/TB MOD-SEV

FL - Flight Level
TP - Type of Aircraft
TB - Turbulence.

Good Landing… on a flat tire! – 6/13/2012

On 6/13/2012, my buddy Andy Martz and I decided to take 653KB up to KCHA for a quick ride.

It was a pretty nice day; we had somewhat low cumulus clouds so we decided to fly at 2500 up to Chattanooga. Originally it was planned for 4500 but clouds were at 4000. It was a tad turbulent but nothing major.

We landed on runway 2 at KCHA. It was a no thrills landing. Taxied back and had to wait for a US Airways CRJ to land before we were given clearance to take off.

Going back, we went to an altitude of 3500 and scooted on back to KRYY.

It was a standard pattern procedure landing at KRYY’s runway 27. On landing, our back main wheels touched down smoothly, followed by our front gear. No bouncing, no hard landing, it was pretty smooth. As we were slowing down I noticed I was having to give a lot of left rudder. This was very unusual. By the time we got to our taxiway, I had to use all of the left rudder and left break to get her off the runway. I stopped the aircraft to do the “After landing checklist,” and couldn’t get her rolling again. She was stuck.

Our right main tire had gone flat on us. Contacted tower and informed them of the issue. They called the flight school so we could get a tow, but now since we were stuck, taxiway Bravo was now closed as no aircraft could get through. We waited about 30 minutes when they came to put the version of an airplane “donut tire” on. The mechanic taxied our plane back as we rode in the truck back to the flight school.

This could of turned into a much worst situation if the tire had actually blown on landing. We were lucky, and I’m proud at how I handled it.

Maiden Long Distance Cross Country – 5/16/2012

Life gets in the way, and when it does, that's when you kick it in the balls and move on. This post is very late, but better late than never. Life has been very busy for me, so I have not been able to post about two recently flying trips.

All of March I was doing my IFR Ground Lessons. In July I plan to start my actual training. I would love to get the license by mid-August, but a lot has to happen before that can actually happen. If not by mid-August, I would love to have it by November. I'm planning a big flying trip in August and November or December. More details as we get closer. But here is the blog about my maiden long distance cross country trip to KMYR – Myrtle Beach International:

My flying buddy, Andy Martz (who provided the photos featured in this section of the blog) and I had planned on leaving the16^th of May, but weather had us grounded. The morning of the 17^th, the sun rose with not even a single cloud in the sky! We wanted to have wheels up at 7AM (or even before) but due to some complications we had to delay it until 830AM... 90 minutes behind schedule. Our cruise altitude over to KMYR was 5500. We took 653KB instead of the originally planned 707PD due to availability. I would of liked to have taken PD because of the awesome autopilot, but KB is my baby as I did most of my training and solo’ed in her. Plus her magnetos are much better and you don’t have to spend 2-5 minutes at the end of the runway burning them off before take off.

We had pretty much, cloudless skies going over there. We couldn’t due a direct route due to a Military Operations Area (Gamecock … hehe, I said cock…) so we went south of it, and used Georgetown as a waypoint. All in all, it really wasn’t a bad idea, it only added 10 minutes to our travel time, plus we had a good portion of flying over the coast. That was absolutely beautiful.

Our route was: KRYY, KXNO, VAN (Vance VOR), KGGE, KMYR

We had two choices of airports in Myrtle Beach… KMYR (the main, international airport) or KCRE (Grand Strand Airport – North Myrtle Beach.) I decided that KMYR was our main destination airport, but KCRE would be our alternate. I really liked KMYR because if you land on runway 36 you approach the runway over the ocean which is absolutely beautiful! Andy, who is also a photographer, took many beautiful photos while flying over there, and while at Myrtle Beach itself. When we were landing, we had a US Airways Dash-8 Turboprop in front of us, so we had to do some vectors until he was at a safe distance. We did have a nasty headwind when we were landing, but was able to touch down with no problems at all. Smooth as silk!

When we were about 20 miles out, I called over to the FBO to make sure our rental car was waiting, which it was. We landed and there was a “Follow Me” truck at the beginning of the taxiway. I had a feeling we needed to follow him, but being the newbie, I had to ask ground if I should follow him. I think I was able to give them a chuckle, but I rather be safe than sorry. They have a beautiful FBO; I requested a top off of the fuel.

We were departing the next day, on May 17^th. I wanted to depart at 1PM, but needed to file my flight plan and do all the calculations. So, I got up around 8AM, and sit on the balcony of the hotel watching the sea while doing my calculations. We departed the room around 1045AM, and headed back to the FBO/Airport.

When I called to file my flight plan, I was told to expect Severe VFR Conditions (which means, an extremely beautiful day to fly.) So, we were both excited about flying again. I would of loved to have stayed at the beach longer, but due to time (and finance restraints) we only stayed the weekend. We got back to 653KB and she was ready for us. Both tanks were filed. They gave us a discount on fuel since I was a new pilot and customer. Current gas price was $6.44, but only charged me $5.77. I thought that was very nice of them. And with AvGas, you will take any discount you can get.

We took off from runway 36, so we weren’t able to fly over the ocean again, but I planned for us to use Georgetown again, so we flew up the coast for a bit. Coming back home was a good challenge. Nonstop turbulence. We were flying at 4500 feet, and had light to moderate continuous turbulence. I filed two Pilot Reports noting the turbulence, and when I got home later, saw many other people reported the same thing on our route.

At one point, we probably caused some alarms to go off in ATC (we had flight following coming and going.) There was another VFR flight going northward at our altitude. ATC said to us: “653KB, Immediately Climb! To 5000! Climb! Climb!” I put in full throttle and started to climb. ATC: “Traffic at your 9 o’clock,” Right when I reached 5000, we spotted the plane (and they spotted us.) They were right at our old altitude. ATC then told us we could resume our planned altitude. I will admit, it was pretty cool seeing him so close to us.

Flying from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach took us 2 hours and 40 minutes. From Myrtle Beach to Atlanta took us 2 hours and 15 minutes. To give you an idea… if we drove it, it would have taken 6.5 to 7 hours.

When we got back to KRYY, we were both hungry and exhausted. So after we loaded up my car, we drove to the other side of the airport and had a late lunch at a restaurant on the field. Price and food was quite good actually. It’s called the Elevation Chophouse.

Photos provided by Andrew Martz:

$100 Hamburger – 5/1/2012

On May 1^st, a buddy of mine and I went for my very first $100 Hamburger at KLZU (Gwinnett County Airport.) We ate at the restaurant on the field, The Flying Machine. I thought it was pretty good. Instead of the standard Pilot Burger, I went for the BLT. I'm a big fan of BLT's.

For those who don't know what a $100 Hamburger is: It is aviation slang for a general aviation pilot needing an excuse to fly. A $100 Hamburger typically involves flying a short distance (less than 2-hours,) eating at an airport restaurant and flying home. The term “$100” originally referred to the approximate cost of renting or operating a light general aviation aircraft.

This was my maiden short-flight with a passenger. The other time I had a passenger was with the instructor. Both landings (at KLZU and KRYY) was flawless. It was bumpy going over at 3500feet. When we were eating, I was checking the weather reports and the ceiling had dropped to 4500 which disappointed me. I was hoping to fly back at 4500. By the time we were done eating the ceiling had risen to 5500 and higher so going back at my planned 4500 was no problem. It was turbulent going over, a little more than I expected, but coming back at a higher altitude fixed that issue.

Last night was my 3^rd night of IFR Ground School. Next Monday we start to get into the niddy-griddy of it all. Right now it's just reviewing everything from Private Pilot Ground school. I'm working on getting funding for my IFR training and that should be completely by the end of the month. I really hope to accelerate my training to have my IFR by the end of November.

Also, I have planned out my maiden cross-country flight. It will be next week, from KRYY to KMYR (Myrtle Beach, SC.) It will be a short weekend trip, but I'm so much looking forward to it. I'm a bit concern about the weather right now, if it gets rained out, I'm going to push it to the following week until I can actually get it in.

Happy Flying!

A Licensed Pilot! - 4/19/2012

Well, I am proud to announce, after 9 months of hard work and lots of studying I'm now a licensed pilot!

The date of the test: April 19, 2012 @ 1300

Where: Andrews-Murphy Airport

The test started at 1PM on the 19^th, so my instructor and I decided to meet up at 10AM, and leave by 11AM. Unfortunately, the weather conditions at KRYY was not favorable for VFR flight, we would have to file a flight plan and IFR. Clouds were at around 2,000 feet and completely overcast at KRYY and mostly clear at KRHP. So, I prepped the plane, as my instructor got our flight clearances. It was decided that since I do plan on getting my IFR rating, that I should at least fly until cursing altitude. So, we got clearance to take off from KRYY and head into the dark gray clouds.

It was amazing! At first you can see the ground, and in front of you is this wall of gray clouds and then we enter the gray. No more looking out the window for me, it became all gray, and then it started to get all white. We were in the white part of the cloud, and then we broke through at 5,000feet. It was beautiful. I have included the photos below. After we leveled off, the flight instructor took over and I was able to take these photos. The sky above completely blue and the ground below looking like snow.

                                                                                         

 

 

  

  

 

We went to our cursing altitude of 7,000 feet. It was 49 degrees outside.

As we got closer to the North Carolina mountains, the clouds started lifting and breaking. We went though one cumulus cloud when all of the sudden my stomach felt queasy. I thought it was nerves, but the flight instructor said, “You know what that was?” I was curious what he was meaning... We actually hit an updraft which took us up an additional 240 feet. With clouds being completely around, it was actually hard to notice that we gained that much altitude.

We had a successful landing at KRHP, where we met my examiner. He was an extremely nice guy, very professional, and very relaxing actually. We started our test with the oral portion. I've heard that some examiners are very strict, and it's only question and answer. That's it. But my examiner was completely different, it was like having a good conversation with a friend. We talked about my weight-and-balance problem he gave me, plus other possible solutions. We then moved to the cross-country portion of the trip that he had me plan out (from KRHP to KBHM. In the meantime, we also talked about airspaces, aerodynamics, emergency procedures, CRM, night flying, procedure about drinking and drugs. After about two hours, it was decided that we should go for a flight.

We packed our bags, and headed out to 653KB. I pre-flighted the plane while explaining everything I was doing. I certified that the plane was airworthy, and ready to take off. We first did a soft field take off, followed by a soft field landing. We stopped on the runway and next was a short-field take off. Followed by a short-field landing. The short-field landing was right on the dime per the Practical Test Standards. He was actually quite impressed. After that, we did a normal take off. The next landing was suppose to be a normal landing, but 500 feet from the runway he said, “Abort! Abort! Abort!” Which means I had to preform a go-around with 30 degrees of flaps. Very smooth transition. He told me to get into the landing pattern again for runway 26. When I got to the needed altitude, he told me the next scenario: I'm going to lose my engine, and electrical source. I must land the aircraft with no flaps and at a high altitude. So, I had to time my turn into final for runway 26 perfectly, and then slip the aircraft to several hundred feet above the ground to kill both airspeed and altitude. At that time, level off the aircraft, and center on the line. All of this with no power. After that, using ground effect to bleed off my airspeed. I nailed it with 2,000 feet of runway left. Only problem... I kind of left my feet on the breaks too long and they started to burn. Smelt really bad, but no damage was done.

Next we taxied to the beginning of the runway again for a normal take off, to start our cross-country portion of the test. We made it to my first two checkpoints, and then he decided to divert me over to Blairsville. After finishing all my calculations to make sure we could get there, it was time to start procedures. We first did steep turns to the left, then right. Slow flight with flaps, Stall with Flaps. Next was slow flight without flaps, and next take off stalls. I had to follow the Harris VOR for a bit. After that, we went to about 1000 feet above the ground to do ground reference maneuvers. First was S-Turns next was Turns-Around-A-Point, both left and right. After that, the examiner told me to head back to KRHP. After a successful normal landing, I became a licensed pilot!

Going back to KRYY the weather had cleared up so we were able to fly VFR back.

On the 26^th, I was told there was a slight issue with my paperwork, and I needed to return to KRHP to get it taken care of. On the 27^th, my instructor and I headed back up there. I decided to take my instructor as there were storms in the area, and cloud cover was not VFR friendly. We got up there, and finished all the needed paperwork again. Since we were up there, I was treated to a free burger at a local restaurant in Andrews, NC. I decided to have a Coke and BLT. I love my BLTs.

We flew back that afternoon, under IFR, but I did land back at KRYY as the conditions were favorable for that.

So, now my license says I got it on 4/27/2012. Doesn't really matter in my opinion, the main thing is: I'm now a licensed pilot!

So, what's next? Well, I've flown below the clouds, in the clouds, and above the clouds. I've decided that it's time for me to get licensed to fly in and above them without the instructor. I will start IFR Ground School on 4/30/2012, with flight training starting in a couple of weeks. I'm wanting to look for funding for my IFR license, but it shouldn't be as expensive as my private pilot's license. I am planning my first maiden flight for mid-May to Myrtle Beach. I'm extremely excited about it, but the days I'm looking at going, it appears the weather might not be favorable, per the long term weather models. I really do hope it stays nice.

Well, that's it.... for now... See you below the clouds, and soon in and above them!

As the Pilot-In-Command... - 4/18/2012

As the Pilot-In-Command, it was my decision today to cancel the Oral and Checkride today. The weather was too nasty. The cold front moving through the area stalled out causing us to have a very low ceiling and heavy rain. The rain did move out by 1PM, but the ceilings were still too low.

It was my decision if we still wanted to try it, and I didn't want to risk it. So the flight instructor and I called the examiner, and he agree that it was a good decision not too.

The test has been rescheduled for tomorrow 4/19/2012.

Also, as expected, I was really overthinking the approach into runway 8 yesterday. It was nerves.

The Final Countdown – 4/17/2012

As of this posting, we are little under 24-hours from when I'll be at the flight school pre-flighting 653KB to fly up to KRHP, God willing and after many prayers (and so far a lot of anxiety attacks) I'll be coming back as a licensed pilot.

Yesterday, I went up with another flight instructor (as mine was sick.) We were going to do a complete mock-checkride but weather decided to have it's own say in it. When I was preflighting the plane, I was looking to the SW towards Paulding and it was very dark, plus I was losing visibility also. I went to talk to the instructor about it, and he told me to get a standard weather briefing. By the time I was done it was drizzling and when I got back into the flight school it started to pour. So we waited it out for about 30 minutes when the rain moved out, but there was another system with low clouds behind. We decided to do some pattern work. Winds were at about 280 @ 3. We did a short field takeoff, with no issues. Short field landing, landed right before the numbers! Right on mark, but didn't do the normal breaking due to wet runway. Did a rolling 10 degree flaps take off. Next was a short field landing and took Bravo 3 off. When we were taxi'ing to the runway we got an advisory from ATC: winds shifted from 270 to 090 and is now gusting to 15 with sustained at 8. Well, that came out of nowhere.

To add to the shift of the winds, the clouds started to collapse on us. We couldn't even get to our breakaway altitude before we were in the clouds, so we did a right turn instead of left (as it would of taken us into the clouds) and had them chase us back to the runway. Another soft field landing with a crosswind nailed! I pray to God that I can nail those landings like that tomorrow, they were right one the dime! I was impressed with myself actually.

The one thing I still need work on is my ground reference maneuvers. I'm very concerned about those and think that will be what gets me busted.

Right now, weather is a bit of a concern. It looks like we will have IFR conditions for a portion of the day. If need-be, the flight instructor will fly up there, and hopefully by the time the Oral portion is completed the weather would have been broken.

Right now, the forecast is this:

KRYY – Showers before 11AM. High 68. Winds Northeast @ 5.

KRHP – Showers before Noon, otherwise cloudy. Highs 67. Winds East @ 5-10.

Oral doesn't start until 1PM.

In my earlier blog I mentioned how I wanted the winds. Well, winds out of the east means using runway 8. I've never done an approach on 8 before, but I'm trying to figure out how to enter it as it's a right traffic pattern, but it's in a valley. Do we overfly the airport's runway, and then enter at the 45? I'll talk to the instructor about this tomorrow.

Below is a map of the area. Red is the approach onto Runway 26. Blue is one route you can do to land on Runway 8. Yellow is the other route. After looking at it, it looks like Blue route may be the best, but that's a lot dropping of altitude and sharp turns to enter at the 45 angle. Will still talk to the instructor about it tomorrow. I really think I'm over thinking this.

Well, I have actually finished reading the Oral Prep book for the 4^th time, so I'm done with it. Going to look over my cross-country and weight-and-balance, make sure that is done, pack my flight bag, and have a restful evening. No studying after 530PM. I need rest, both physical and mental.

Will report on what happens when I get back. In the mean time... Happy Flying!

Final Countdown Playlist

Well, like playing a sport; before the big game you want to pump yourself up. Many people do it by listening to their favorite song(s) or artist. So, here is my playlist for tomorrow in order of pumping-up-ness (1 getting you ready - 7 getting the blood pumping hard) :

1. Exodus – Apollo 100
2. Come On Eileen – Dixie's Midnight Runners
3. Classical Wind – Apollo 100
4. Our House - Madness
5. Beetoven9 – Apollo 100
6. Maniac – Michael Sembello
7. Rhapsody In Rock – Apollo 100

Rhapsody In Rock; I listen a lot usually before flying, but I think tomorrow I'll need an extra boost. By the way, if you know who Apollo 100 is, you get 20 Extra Cool Points. Also, I should note: I don't like the song "The Final Countdown," but do like the 80s film "Final Countdown" though.

The Toothache Flight – 4/9/2012

Well, we are about a week and two days out from my Pilot's exam. I'm getting very nervous, anxious, and excited. Yesterday, I went up with the instructor and did turns-around-a-point, soft & short field landings, and emergency landing with no flaps but with a slip to land.

Turns-around-a-point seems to be a major weak spot for me. I find it fascinating that in some ways, you don't want a windy day to do these procedures, as it makes it a bit harder, but the landing procedures you want some kind of wind as it makes landing distances shorter. On the day of the test, I would prefer to have winds at 260 between 3-7knts. No gust!

Last night, I was woken up by a very sharp pain in my lower sinus cavity. It felt swollen, so I thought it was a sinus issue. I had a teeth cleaning today, and told the dentist about it, it turns out to be an infection that I will need a root canal done on. That will be this Thursday. He gave me some medicines to take in the mean time. I drop those off at the pharmacy and took off for the airport. (No pun intended.)

The tooth wasn't hurting that much, so I decided to go ahead with my planned flight to KRHP today. While getting ready and prep'ing the plane, winds were calm at KRYY and about 3knts at KRHP. Winds aloft were brisk, but not too bad.

I filed my flight plan, and off I went. Since KRHP and KRYY are on two different sides of the aviation maps we use, I decided that I would use KCNI as a good checkpoint as it was easy to find on both sides. Went to an altitude of 5,500 feet for my flight up there. Past KCNI it started to get bumpy and gusty. At times it was hard holding my altitude. Started to descend into KRHP with winds around 12 knots. I first did a “normal” landing, which was decent. Next was a soft field take off, followed by a short field landing, followed by a short field take off. Next was a normal landing and I decided to take a quick break at their FBO. I grabbed some water, and played with the Andrews-Murphy FBO's TSA Cat. Have no idea what it's name is, but the folks there allowed me to pet her. She was so soft, fuzzy and friendly.

Decided to do a short field take-off again. One thing that is drilled into your head about short field take offs, is when you bring the flaps up from 10º to 0º, you make sure you have plenty of altitude and you have a positive rate of climb. When I bought mine up, my plane took a pretty good dip. Probably due to the wind/gust picking up. On my way out, I thanked Andrews-Murphy for their hospitality, and was welcomed with a “Come back and see us again!” which was very nice. Another Cessna was coming into the area, so we were communicating with each other trying to figure out where he was, and where I was. He was descending, and I was ascending. We kept giving position reports to make sure we weren't going to collide with each other. I never saw him, and he never saw me, but there was no issue. Flying back to KRYY, the chop was getting worst, and that's when the pain started. It's advised that you don't fly when you have a toothache, or sinus problem. Well, the pressure at 6,500 started to affect my tooth. It didn't get too bad, but there was pressure there.

The flight back to KRYY became more turbulent also. I decided that I needed to file a PIREP, and wrote down all the information that I needed. Landed back at KRYY with a normal landing and closed out my flight plan plus filed my first Pilot Report! (Screen shot of it below!)

Overall, it was a good flying day. I have part 2 of my mock-oral tomorrow with Hutch. Saturday went really well, hopefully tomorrow will too (about to study again.) Have my root canal on Thursday, flying with the instructor on Friday and Sunday.

Happy travels!

 A beautiful Cirrus. The photo doesn't do it justice. Love the shiny silver on her.

653KB at KRHP

 

A Tomato Flames & Flaps – 4/4/2012

Well, today I filed the paperwork for FAA Oral Exam and Checkride. I've also schedule my checkride which will take place on 4/18/2012 at 1PM. I was hoping for the 12-15 of next week, but it was recommended that I give more time for more studying and test prep. I agree though, I rather take my time and pass the exam than rush into it and blow it. I have to do a flight plan from KRHP (Andrews-Murphy, NC) to Birmingham, AL. Also have to do a weight and balance problem.

So, what's next? I have a flight schedule for 4/6 – it's going to a solo flight in the practice area to go over maneuvers. On 4/7, I have a ground lesson with our ground instructor. This will be a mock-oral test. On 4/8, I'm going up with the instructor to do more maneuvers. On 4/10, I'm going to do a solo cross-country to KRHP, and do maneuvers in that area so I can get use to it.

While at the flight school, I got a picture of Tyler Perry's private jet: 378MB.

What is “A Tomato Flames & Flaps”?

It's an acronym and it means:

A - Altimeter

T - Tachometer

O – Oil Pressure Gauge
M – Magnetic Compass

A – Airspeed Indicator

T – Temperature Gauge

O – Oil Temperature

F – Fuel Gauge

L – Landing Gear Position Indication
A – Anti-Collision Lights

M – Manifold Pressure Gauge

E - ELT

S - Seat Belts

& - &

F - Fuses

L – Landing Lights
A – Anti-Collision Lights

P – Position Lights

S – Source of Power

A Tomato Flames are the required items you need on an airplane for VFR Day flight, and Flaps are the required items you need on an airplane for VFR Night flight.

I'm Getting Very Nervous – 3/30/2012

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted on the blog. The reasoning is that I haven't flown since March 16. Due to my work schedule, and due to going on vacation for a half of a week, so I wasn't able to fly.

So, on the 16^th, I had my Check-ride Stage-check with one of the head flight instructors of the flight school. We found the weak spots and those are what got worked on today (the 30^th.)

So it was my first time back into the cockpit since the 16^th. It's almost like riding a bicycle, you remember everything you need to do. It felt wonderful being back in there. The problem was that we were having a system move through our area. Weather was warm and moist outside. I was watching the radar while prepping the plane and as you can see from the photo below, a storm was brewing. By the time I go into the flight school to let my instructor know that I was ready, it started to drizzle. We just got into the cockpit of the plane when the bottom let out. It started to pour down rain.

Well, we had two issues in the cockpit that we needed to take care of, so we sit there (engines off) for about 5 minutes until the rain passed. We were still in VFR conditions but barely. When the rain let up, and I moved the ailerons, it was like a water fall coming off the wings. We were going to go to the Northwest, but the storm had stalled just north of Cartersville so we decided to head West. We were done with our run-ups, but at that time, everyone decided it was time to come into the KRYY airspace, so we had a delay of about 10 minutes on the ground before we could take off.

After the storm had passed, it really wasn't that turbulent up there until the sun came out. That's when everything started to evaporate, and it got a tad bumpy... nothing that wasn't controllable. I've been through worst turbulence before.

My instructor wanted to give me experience and recovery with an accelerated stall. An accelerated stall is a stall that happens when the aircraft is experiencing a load factor higher than 1 (1g), like when turning or pulling up from a dive. So, we did some “cleanup maneuvers,” the maneuvers that really needed some work done on them. They were mainly the stalls in fact. As the guy who did my check-ride stated, he could tell I hate stalls, and don't like stalling out the plane. Which is true, I don't like stalling out a plane. But, I have to do it for my test, and yesterday remained in the PTS.

The storm had passed Cartersville, winds were at 040 @ 6kts, which means the favorable runway was 1. Well, I was at about 3,000 feet, and the Cartersville airport's elevation is about 800 feet. I was 1 mile from the airport and needed to land there... why? Engine failure! (Simulated of course.) So I needed to loose 2200 feet in about 1 mile. Well, I had no engine, and to land there, I would pretty much needed to do a nose dive and use the whole runway to land without a guarantee of actually making it. To make it easier and to make sure I made the runway, I had to do a 360 (with no engine) to get to pattern level and land. It's amazing at how much altitude you can loose in 360 because when I got back to the starting point of the 360 I was at the needed altitude and landed successful, perfect landing. There was one problem, but it wasn't my fault. There was another plane lined up to take off, and one of the downwind to land... on runway 19. We were landing on runway 1. So, the plane about to take off, and the one about to land were landing with tailwinds (which isn't recommended.) Why were they taking off with a tailwind? Not really sure. Well, we let those guys do what they needed to do, and we worked on some landing procedures.

Here is a lesson for all you want-to-be pilots out there (and licensed pilots) always, and I mean ALWAYS look down the runway before to start to take off. Today was the perfect reason why. I started to taxi onto the active runway, and do the proper turn to take off (so my nose is now facing down the runway,) when I see a guy start to cross the runway. He wasn't wearing any reflective gear, or anything bright. The only way that he caught my eye was by movement on the runway. This bastard actually started to walk across the runway with an active plane on it. He wasn't running or jogging off either, he was walking! It's lucky a plane wasn't landing or I had started my takeoff roll. So remember kids, keep your eyes outside the window whenever possible. That would have been worst than a bird strike!

Took off to KRYY where we did a slip-to-land. That really needs to be worked on in my opinion. I could of used more rudder, and cleaning up from it could have been better. When I put down the flaps, I had put down too much of them and ballooned up. Landing was a bit rough. I was thinking about doing a go-around, but instructor said I still had enough runway and time (which I did.) If I was there alone, I would of gone around.

So, it was a very successful day in the cockpit and in the air.

After we tied down the plane, we had our usual post-flight meeting. So, the title of this blog is, “I'm getting very nervous.” here is why... the big test will probably be in about two weeks. I would love it to be on April 14 or 15. If I didn't have to work a “special” week at work this week coming up, it would probably be even sooner! I decided that we will probably use the Examiner that is based out of Andrews, NC. So we, the flight instructor and I, will need to fly up there for the exam. I'm already getting very nervous and excited. The big day is around the corner. The day that all student pilot's stride for. There is no room (or money) for failure. I need to pass this exam on the first try. So, this coming weekend, I'm hoping to setup a time with Hutch, so we can do the Oral Practice Exam.

I'm hoping to fly again today, Saturday March 31, but weather really doesn't look the best in the world due to more storms moving into the area. Also have another session with the instructor on Sunday April 1^st.

I just can't wait to get the license, as I'm going to take a vacation to the beach! Fly to the beach!

Happy Travels!