$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!