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 Flight To The Mountains – 2/17/2012

Well, a couple of things have happened since my last post. On 2/16/2012 (Thursday) I went into the flight school to take a pre-test for the Written, and passed it. While talking to the dispatcher about it, and my high test anxiety, I decided to go ahead and take the test that day. At 12:05PM, the test begun. Now mind you, that I have one of the worst test anxieties out there. I've actually lost sleep over this test, I'm more of a projects person, hands on. Give me a project, or something that I can use my hands, and I'll pass it with flying colors. Well, as I mentioned, I did take the test, and PASSED! I didn't get the high score that I wanted, but the main thing is that I passed. I didn't pass on the low end of the scale, so that made it a tad bit better. I just wonder how the examiner will take it during the Oral part of the test. The main thing is, I PASSED! We'll cross the Oral part of the test when we get there, taking a small break this weekend from studying, but will continue to study, now for the oral, starting on Monday.

Thursday was a bad day to fly anyways, it was raining, and pretty heavy at times. So, it was a good day to take the test. On Friday, it was a different story...

Friday, was beautiful. Sunny and warm. It was the perfect definition of flying weather. Winds were out of the north at around 5 or so. And I had scheduled to go up at around 10AM to do a cross-country. Well, an unexpected appointment came up at 11:15AM, so I couldn't do my cross-country at 10AM, so I moved it to 12:30PM. As the Pilot-In-Charge, that was a great decision, the location I was going to, was socked in with fog. They were reporting Fog, with overcast clouds at 100 feet, and ground visibility at ¼ Statute miles. But as the morning went on, the fog started to burn off, and by the time I was getting ready for my flight, they were reporting winds at 230 @ 5, and clear skies! Off to the Mountains of North Carolina, Off to Western Carolina Regional (KRHP)!

Took good ol' 653KB up to about 5,500 feet. Flew over Allatonna Lake, which was very blue. Flew just east of Canton, and right over Nelson, GA, heading for the mountains. As I started to get close and over the mountains, the turbulence started to pick up. I would say it was Light Chop with moments of moderate turbulence. This mainly happened over “Alert Area A-685,” which is a 25 mile military zone. The highest mountain in that area is 3,767 feet, so I still had plenty of room. Passed three miles west of Blairsville, and off my nose at 12 o'clock was KRHP. KRHP is in a valley between 3 mountains ranging in 5,000 feet range. The airport is located at 1,697 feet. So as you are going through the valley, there are 5,000 feet mountain ranges around you. The real butt clincher is when you are turning from base to final onto runway 26, all you see through your windscreen is mountain. You are very close to a mountain. Landed safely at KRHP, and decided to take a break... my bladder was full. So, while I was out, took a couple snapshots, which are below.

Headed back into KB, and taxied to the runway. Unfortunately, a majority of their taxiways are closed, so I had to announce, and made sure any incoming aircraft knew, that I was going to take to the runway, and taxi to the end of it, do a 180, and take off from there. I wasn't planning on doing a short-field take off, especially with those mountains around, I wasn't going to take a chance.

Took off from KRHP with no issue, and was heading for an altitude of 6,500 feet. While cursing at 6,000 still climbing, I had my left hand on the yoke, my paperwork and maps on my lap, and my right hand on the throttle, about to power down... when all of the sudden, I felt something on my left arm. Knowing that I'm at around 6,000 feet, and knew there shouldn't be anything on my arm, I looked down, and there was a big wasp on my arm. Not knowing if I'm allergic to bee/wasp stings, I decided to do what any pilot would do... fly the plane. In the mean time, I leveled off, took the map, and swatted him like a baseball! Luckily he didn't sting me, because if he did, I would of more than likely had to land at Blairsville (KDZJ) or fly an additional 25 miles before I got to Pickens (KJZR) for safety. I can just hear me talking to Atlanta Center, with all the professional airline pilots on the same frequency, and telling them my intentions due to a wasp sting... embarrassing! Main thing is, it didn't sting me.

Landed safely back at KRYY, and that ended my flying adventure for Friday!

On Tuesday, I'm planning to go up, and do some practice with Steep Turns and more landing practices. Steep turns make me nauseous, so I need to get my body use to it. You try and do a 360, at around 2500 feet while at a 45 degree bank and see what happens to you. On Thursday, I'm planning on doing my “Long Cross-country,” which will take me from KRYY to KRHP (Western Regional) to KJZR (Pickens) back to KRYY.

Enjoy the photos below... See ya in the skies!

 653KB chillin' out at KRHP

TSA Security at KRHP... KITTY KITTY KITTY!

The FBO at KRHP 

Looking towards the South/Southwest. Have to fly over those mountains to get back to KRYY

Looking towards the South/Southesast.