Test Prep Flights – 3/7/2012 & 3/10/2012

Haven't really posted anything in awhile as I've been a bit busy lately and only flew twice since the 1^st of the month.

Update on the Paulding tornado, the airport opened back up on March 9^th. Flew over the area and actually did some landings yesterday at KPUJ and the destruction was amazing. I was very surprised. The tornado signatures in the forestry areas around the airport is amazing. I recommend flying over it (at a safe altitude) just to get a feel of the destruction. I wish the people at KPUJ the best of luck in rebuilding. You are in my prayers.

The past two flights I've done have been test-prep flights with the instructor. March 7th's flight we worked on slow flight, stalls, steep turns, simulated engine out, turns around a point, and soft field takeoffs and landings. Soft field takeoff from KRYY was decent, but I need to stay in the ground effect longer. The problem is that 653KB (and 707PD) are both 180HP, so they want to get off the ground much faster (and they do.) I just need to stay in ground effect a little longer so the DPE knows that I know what I'm doing. We went to a cruising altitude of 4500 feet to work on slow flight. The major issue that came with slow flight was that during transitions I was gaining a lot of altitude (enough that would make me blow my exam.) Stalls went okay, there were times that the instructor said the didn't feel the break, but I thought I did. Nevertheless, we didn't spin, so it was a good day. Next came steep turns. I hate steep turns, and even told the instructor that, in which he replied in a stern voice, “Tough, you are going to do them anyways.” Wow! Okay! I was making a small joke, but okay. Actually, they turned out okay! Was kind of slow turning into the steep turn to the left, and kind of was slow turning out of the steep turn to the right. Otherwise, not bad. Next we did a simulated engine out, which went flawlessly. My instructor said he had absolutely nothing negative to say about it. Engine Failure! Glide 68... Best landing spot... Mental Checklist – Fuel on both, Mixture Full In, Throttle Full In, Fuel Pump On, Check Mags. … Physical Checklist... Declare Emergency. In my opinion, that procedure should be flawless as it's one of the most important. So, we did Engine Failure/68Kts all the way down to 1800feet where we started ground reference maneuvers. We did turns around a point. It went okay, but kept banking over 30 degrees, and steep banks when it should be shallow. I was also getting a bit motion sick too for some reason. The reason you don't want to go over 30 degrees of bank when you are so close to the ground, is because you are closer to your stalling speed, and being close to the ground will give you less time to recover if something goes wrong. Coming back in for a landing at KRYY was a nice little challenge, as we had a pretty good crosswind. I would say it was almost at the limits of the airplane. I was full right rudder when I was coming in but she wasn't responding. We landed, but wasn't the smoothest I've ever done. All-in-all, it was a good flying day.

March 10^th, was my second day of test-prep flight. It was a bit of a windy day below 4,000, so at times it was kind of hard to keep her under control. We stayed around 3500 while doing maneuvers (wish we were higher.) We reviewed slow flight which was better than the last time. We did a simulated engine out again to 1800, which went flawlessly again. Ground reference maneuvers were turns around a point, which were better than the 7th's flight (and no motion sickness,) s-turns which were okay, the first part of the “S” was kind of messed up, but the second part was good. We decided to go over to KPUJ as KVPC was crowded, and we also wanted to see the damage done by the tornado. I wish I had taken photos, but oh well. We did a short field landing and take off which was right on the dime. Had the plane stopped before the 1,000 mark on the runway. Short field takeoffs were on the mark also. Soft field landings need a bit of work (and so do the takeoffs.) We headed back to KRYY, and did a soft field landing there also, not too bad still needs work.

So, the next plan lesson is on Wednesday. We will review slow flight, s-turns, slips to land, go arounds, soft field, and any other maneuvers if time permits. If all goes well, a stage check will be schedule with Joe or Bob (hopefully Bob, as I like Bob, he was on my stage check before my solo.) Then we will schedule a time with Hutch to go over the oral portion of the test. I was really hoping to have my exam done by the end of this month, but since I'm going away for a bit in the coming week, and then I have a bit of a schedule change at work for two weeks, it does look like April will be when I go for the exam. I'm already nervous and excited.

I have ordered and received several videos from King Flight school, and so far, I am impressed by them. I will probably consider them for when I go for my IFR training.

Happy flying!

Final Night Flight – 2/2/2012

Well, after some delays due to weather, I got my final 8 landings completed and finished my required 3-hours of night flight. Pretty uneventful. 707PD and 653KB were both unavailable, so I used the 1980 172 Cessna N53361. I hadn't flown her before, so it was a new experience in a way. I really love the Garmin GPS in her. I really wish it was that GPS in PD & KB, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Originally was schedule to do my night flight yesterday (2/1/2012,) but it got canned due to weather. We had a system move through the area, and the rain was pretty much gone by 6PM (our planned take off time) but conditions went to IFR and even LIFR passed it, so we just moved it to today.

The first landing of the night was kind of rough, flared to high. We just took it that it had been awhile since I flew at night which is the reason for the high flare. We did one landing with no taxi or landing lights (per approval with KRYY Tower.) Actually landed perfectly on the center line. That was really interesting trying to judge it based off instruments, and the surrounding lights. By the 7^th landing, all was well. The issue became that we still had 40 minutes that I needed to get logged for night flight. So we decided to head over to Cartersville, GA Airport. At first we were debating Cartersville or Paulding, but Cartersville was more favorable due to winds. While flying over there, we noticed that I-75North was completely in gridlock. No cars moving. Apparently there was a nasty accident. We could see the cop cars, but not actually what happened. We got to Cartersville, and entered the pattern. Another company aircraft was there: N966SA, he was doing night procedures also. Landing in Cartersville wasn't too bad, only that the pilot for SA had turned on the landing lights too high which gave us a horrible glare, but we landed safely. While taxing off the runway, we did turn down the runway lights down a notch.

While taking off from Cartersville, at around 1,000 MSL I noticed we started to have a problem with the aircraft. I was loosing airspeed (at one time I was around 60knots,) and the altimeter had stopped moving... it wasn't falling nor was it rising. The control of the aircraft seemed fine, I didn't feel any signs of a stall coming and there was no sound from the Stall Indicator. I just leveled off the aircraft and the airspeed caught up. Not really sure if it was a system issue or a high attitude issue. I wasn't at a nose-high attitude based off instruments, so I'm going with a system issue. Probably a bug or something got into the system. We took off from runway 19 at Cartersville, so it was all dark (trees) in the area, so it was kind of hard getting a visual at how high we were. We returned to KRYY for a safe landing, and completed the required flight hours and night landings per the FAA.

So, what's next? On Saturday, I need to report in for a 2.5 hour ground lesson (will probably be much shorter) but have to plan out my first solo cross-country. My instructor and I will go over density altitude (a refresher) and look over where I'm going for my cross-country. I have decided to go back to Chattanooga. After Saturday's lesson, I have a solo flight planned for Sunday afternoon. Right now that is up in the air... why? Well, guess... of course, the weather. We will see what happens. Early next week, I'm suppose to meet up with Hutch and go over more cross-country planning procedures (it's a stage check.) And hopefully next Wednesday or Thursday I might be able to do my first solo cross-country trip. If not this coming week, it will be more than likely be the following week. I've already started planning out my 150-nm/3 airport landing solo cross-country. I'm thinking about KRYY-KCHA-KRHP-KJZP-KRYY (Cobb, Chattanooga, Western Carolina Regional, Pickens Co, Cobb.) We will see about that as we get closer.

As for the written test, it's going well. I sent my issues with math to a good buddy of mine (John) to see if he can help explain it to me a bit more. He's a good teacher. Otherwise, studying the book, taking practice test. Planning on taking the written at the end of this month. Had a dream the other night, that I failed my FAA Check-ride... what a nightmare! Hopefully that's all it was, a nightmare!