My journal

[fc2spyguy]

I have been doing a little journal with my experiences in flight school, which through today includes all of IFS . . . and figured I would just post it up here for anyone who may be interested in reading it. Keep in mind, I send it out to friends and family, so there are some explanations that are probably unnecessary for most of the readers here.

So, after the ground school has been completed I spent the 25th anxiously awaiting my first flight. I got to the school and had another hour of going through pre-flight stuff. Then out to the airplane for a pre-flight inspection. . .
..

Next, I got in the plane and thought, ok now what. First things first, let’s get this seat adjusted. I had previously read on a message board about people not locking the seat, and having bad experiences on take-off. So, I made sure that everything was adjusted properly and made sure that my seat wasn’t going to go anywhere. Next, I made sure that the seatbelt was plenty tight. Then after receiving clearance from ground it was to the taxi.

Ahh . . . the taxi . . . seems like such a simple thing right? There is a big centerline that I can follow and it will take me right where I need to go. Well, like an expert slalom I managed to stay on that centerline for maybe five feet of the taxi. Meanwhile I’m sitting here grabbing the yoke and trying to turn it this way and that. For those of you who don’t know aircraft, this was an effort that would be completely useless. A Cessna 172 is steered by using the rudder pedals, so any input by the yoke is telling everyone that I taxi by that I have never done this. So, after zigzagging my way to the runway we, my instructor actually did the radio at this piont, received clearance, but were told to hurry up because we had inbound traffic as well. Great! My first takeoff and I have to hurry my ass off! So, I, not so expertly, make my way to an even bigger centerline, and still manage to miss much of it. Then comes the fun part, throwing the throttle to full power! Ok, so I thought I was doing poorly taxiing, well all those inputs I was putting in the rudder earlier were now magnified tenfold. What should have been a nice straight takeoff is morphed into me expertly missing all of those mines that were placed on the runway . . . .

Finally, I make it into the air, and I’m grinning from ear to ear. I’m checking the instruments making sure that I’m on my climb-out speed, and heading that I need to be on. Well, in comes the turbulance. The Cessna weighs, at a maximum which we weren’t pushing, 2,250 pounds. Now throw in some wind and we’ve got plenty of movement. I didn’t have a problem getting sick at all, but man was it difficult for me to do the straight and level flight at this point. After we get out to the practice area I do some turns and the instructor shows me around the area that I will get to know well for the next month. Then the instructor does a couple touch and goes at another airport introducing me to the pattern. I’m thinking wow, this is pretty simple, no problems. After that we head back to the airport to land. Well, having paid attention to all the other stuff this should be a breeze. Hah, not really. I think the only pretty part was my entry mid-field at a 45 degree angle. After that it was downhill from there. I missed almost every altitude that I should have been at, was too fast at nearly every point, and landed WAY the hell behind the numbers on the runway. However, it WAS a landing, and I did it, so I was happy. The taxi back was much the same as the taxi there. I was expertly missing the centerline for the most of the way back. After the post-flight inspection I got another picture just to prove that I brought the plane back in one piece.

Then came the second flight. This time the taxi was much the same, but I stayed on the centerline for a little while longer this time. Also, this time I was on the radio receiving all of the necessary clearances. Then came the takeoff. This time I had plenty of time to line up center and add power. I actually kept it on center for most of the time, and was quite happy with myself. After getting to altitude and in the practice area I had to throw on "the hood." The hood is this plastic device that keeps you from looking outside. You’re forced to make turns based on your instruments, maintain level flight, or climb and descend to speficic altitude while turning. This all went pretty well, and I was pretty close to all headings/altitudes that I was told to get to. Then, it was time for touch and goes again. Only this time I was doing everything again. I did a total of 6 touch and goes which went from horrible to less than horrible. So, I was happy with the improvement Here is proof of my bringing the plane back in one piece.

It has been a blast the past couple days, and I’m really looking forward to getting better at all of this, I hope

 

[fc2spyguy]

Ok, so I have an astounding 9.0 total hours at the controls of the mighty Cessna 172! There are a couple of things that I have noticed, and been told by my instructor, during this great span of time.

Flying on instruments is at times a breeze, and other times quite difficult. While instrument flying I have to scan this panel.

While scanning this panel I'm mainly looking at the six instruments around that artificial horizon looking thing. Well, it's really a cat and mouse game, keeping the horizon level, ensuring that I'm keeping the desired heading, speed, and altitude. I think that this is a skill that will eventually develop in time, at least I hope it is, otherwise I may end up driving boats, and that would be a bad thing..

Another thing that I've been told is that the runway is not a freeway. You see, I solved my problem of missing the centerline by just avoiding it entirely, and landing in my right lane of traffic. Well, I've been doing this wonderfully, and landing with my left wheel about one foot left of center now. However, this is not acceptable to the instructor. Apparently I don't have to worry about too much oncoming traffic while on a runway, these guys called controllers in a tower do their best to keep that from happening. They also like to make funny little quips while on a radio every once in a while. For example, I'm landing on runway 14, this means the heading of the runway is at 140 degrees true, and the winds reported are just off the center about 10 degrees, and blowing about 10kts. As I come in for the landing I'm getting blown all over the place, and am beginning to think that man, I really suck at this whole landing thing. I touch down, get back on centerline, and throw the throttle forward to takeoff. After takeoff the controller comes back "winds at 170 gusting to 18 knots." The good thing was, that I didn't suck as bad as I thought, the bad thing was, well the winds just plain stunk for a new guy in a Cessna that is about to do 10+ more landings that day. After working through the pattern one more time I was shifted over to runway 18, and the winds were much more manageable for me.

Moving on, I had a check ride on Monday. It really is difficult to explain a check ride to someone who hasn't had one before. I would say it's a combination of things. One, it's an evaluation from a supervisor. Two, it's occurring while you're working, you don't get to go in an office and say, "hey you've done great for the past 10 flights." Three, the only flight that matters at this point is the one that you're on. Your regular instructor could say that you're the best student pilot he has ever seen. However, it wouldn't matter at all if you end up tanking a check ride. The check ride begins with you going over a pre-flight oral exam from the flight instructor. He goes over various aircraft systems, and other stuff involved with the flights that I've done up to this point. This all goes well, and I'm feeling comfortable going out to the pre-flight. Take off was uneventful, and we get out to the practice area where everything begins. Again, I go under the hood, and things get interesting. The wind, just completely sucks, there really is no nice way of putting it. I felt like a mosquito in a wind tunnel. I get everything leveled off, have a comfortable cruising speed, and then, suddenly, I'm flying at 100 knots with a wing that dropped 30 degrees, and am 10 degrees off course. I get those corrected, but it starts all over again about 10 seconds later. This continues for 12 minutes, because, for some reason, I have to have .2 hours of simulated instrument time. Finally, I'm done with the instrument flying, and am not feeling too confident in how that went. The instructor tells me to climb to 3k ft. in an attempt to get into smoother air, no good. We finally make it to 5k feet over the water to find some smooth air. The rest of that portion of the check ride goes smoothly, and we head back to do a couple touch and go's.

I'm hoping that this evolution will go smoothly, but I start it off on a bad note. The runway in use today is runway 32. Great, I've not landed using this pattern yet, but here I am about to do it. I had been doing well with the southern runway directions, and was quite comfortable landing that way, but now it was time to see how comfortable I would be with a northern direction. For anyone who hasn't done this before, I really don't know how to explain why this is a big deal. For someone with as few landings as I have, I realize that new things are inevitable; however, I would really prefer to push them off until after the check ride, no such luck. So, with runway 32 in use, I was coming in from the southwest. This meant that my downwind section of the landing pattern would be cut out, and I would have an extended base. No problem, I can still figure out where to add flaps in, and get the right altitudes that I need. Oh yeah, remember those winds from earlier? They're back and messing with me again. So, I get flaps in, and the instructor starts telling all sorts of different conflicting, at least to me, directions. I then decide that I'm quite confused, and it would be a good time to inform him of this conundrum that I am facing. I explain to him that I'm not sure what he wants. He replies by taking out the flaps and says "aim for the numbers." Thanks Einstein, yet another new addition to the check ride, a no flap landing, and the pattern is nothing like any I have done before . . . I finally get down and make the smoothest landing that I have yet, only this time I was slightly left of centerline, instead of right. The instructor says good landing, but off centerline. I'll take the good. The rest of the check ride goes well, I did miss a couple radio calls, but I'll try not to do that later. I apologize for making this one so long, didn't mean to.

Oh yeah, so what does this check ride mean? Well at the conclusion I was told that I'm flying the plane well, he can tell that I'm a couple steps ahead of the airplane, and there are just a few spots that I need to work on, you guessed it, centerline landings and radio calls were it. This means that tomorrow I should get the keys to the car, and go give it a shot solo. Wish me luck!

 

[FlyBoyd]

FC2,

Thanks for the insight to your experiences. Check your PMs.

Fly

 

[fc2spyguy]

I would like to welcome you to Kevin's latest installment of his flight school journal

First, I have to apologize; this will not include any pictures. I'll attempt to liven up the content by randomly placing smiley faces throughout and a few other things.

As of the last installment, I was ready to solo in the aircraft. I had approximately 13 hours when I finally soloed. The delay was due to winds just not cooperating for me. The flight training school has a general rule as well, they prefer that the plane returns with all pieces assembled in the same manner as they left.

So, on to the solo. Prior to the solo my instructor and I went on a quick hour long flight. It was just a simple flight going over the maneuvers we had previously done. Landed the plane and taxied back to the parking ramp. This was the point where the instructor got out and said “have a good flight.” At this point some may think that this was a pretty cool moment where a person is supremely confident in the task he is about to perform. Well, for some that may be the case. However, I was keenly aware of several facts. 1. I have a mere 13 hours in this whole flying business. 2. Gravity will always work, planes break. 3. No one is there to say “uhh, you might not want to do that . . .”  So, on to the taxi back to the runway. Little did I know that what seemed an entire fleet of aircraft was on its way in, more on this later. I’m going through procedures in my head on the way to the runway. Prior to the runway everything checks out fine during the pre-takeoff checklist. I receive clearance for takeoff and head to the runway.

At this point, I’ve gained my confidence. I figured another thing out. This is only going to go well if I go into it knowing that I can do this. On the runway I make sure to center myself up and apply full power. The mighty Cessna whirls into existence. I smoothly rotate from the ground and begin the climb to pattern altitude. I was previously cleared to enter the pattern from runway 36 to runway 32. This makes an easy crosswind/downwind/base/final pattern for me. I’ve created an excellent representation of what this is supposed to look like. In blue is the pattern that I should be flying. The red however, is what actually happened. Note, the drawing is not to scale, and the stuff outside the runway in red represents quite a bit of distance. As I’m on my downwind leg, the part that has roughly a sw heading, the tower calls me and requests a left 360 for separation. So, I make a nice standard rate turn, a turn that takes 2 minutes to make a full 360 degrees, for a left circle.  Upon completion of this I figure I should be given clearance to land on runway 32. However, on this day the previously mentioned fleet of aircraft is just landing. I heard more chatter on the tower freq than I had ever previously heard. I’m paying great attention to the radio, and making sure that I keep my scan up for anything around me. Then, I hear my name “Cessna niner-eight-niner-six-zero, head north for separation.” Er, okay, sounds good to me, I make my radio call back to acknowledge that I understand what they want me to do, and dutifully head north, for an unknown amount of time. Several minutes elapse, and I realize that the USS Alabama is just a mile or two away and I can see her perfectly. In fact, it pops into my head, that right now I’m getting paid for an aerial tour of mobile, something that most people will pay good money to get, and they’re just passengers!

After a few more minutes flying north tower comes back “Cessna niner-eight-niner-six-zero, head southeast.” Huh, I think to myself “this is interesting, no mention of landing yet, oh well.” I, again, radio back to the tower that I received the instruction, and head southeast. Now, I’m on the west side of mobile bay. Little things keep creeping into my head, like “damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” Wouldn’t this have been quite the view for that fateful day! Again, minutes continue to pass by, and I’m beginning to wonder if the tower has forgotten about me. I’m just about 3 miles from the land when the tower comes up “Cessna niner-eight-niner-six-zero, we haven’t forgotten about you, continue southeast.” Keep in mind, that all the radio chatter is still continuing, and I figure, hey I don’t really want to land in the middle of all of that anyways! Again, I radio back that I got their message, and continue southeast. I few minutes later I finally receive clearance to enter final on runway 32. Excellent, I can finally land this solo! I come around, and enter the final pattern. Note, usually final for a Cessna is quite short, this one not so much. I estimated that I had a roughly ten mile final, and this was going to take a while. The winds were nearly parallel to the runway, so I had ten miles to line this one up, and get a good centerline heading. It took a while to cover the distance, and I came in with one of my best landings, if not the best, to date. It was a stop & go, meaning I stopped, and made another takeoff. The first solo is supposed to be 30 min, and three landings. However, I took a look at the clock, and had already burned up ~25min. So, I figure I’ll do one more and call it a day. Another thing was the time. It was getting late, and I had to be in before the streetlights came on, that is I couldn’t fly at night by myself. So, I takeoff and enter the pattern. Again, it all goes very smooth, and I made another fantastic landing. I was pretty happy, and had a huge grin from ear to ear when I walked back into the flight school. My instructor, who was monitoring the radio the entire time, was laughing his butt off. He had never had anyone receive all the extracurricular flying during their first solo.

Now, with the solo complete, it’s time for cross country flying! The first one introduces a couple new things to me. First, is talking with air traffic control. For those of you who are old enough, do you remember the micro-machine talking guy? I think he’s the one who trains all ATC personnel, because that’s what they sound like (Refer to cartoon to see how that went). There are certain times that you talk to them, and they help with little details like not running into other aircraft. The second new thing is actually navigating to somewhere. All of the previous flights were done in sight of the airport. Now, it’s time to cut the cord, and go out into the world. There are several tools to navigation. One of them is called pilotage, which is just following a chart, and referencing landmarks from the chart. This was the main focus of our navigation since we were only going about 70 miles from the airport. On the way there it was a simple flight, ATC didn’t tell us of any problems, and I was able to find my way, though I was right of track for most of the flight, I wasn’t too far off. After the cross country was a night cross country. The night cross country was extremely fun. The flying was smooth, and the view was just awesome.

Then, came the cross country check ride, refer to comic again.



The check ride went well overall. The comic was for a little injection of humor  After that it was a solo cross country and I am done flying for a while. The solo was absolutely outstanding. The weather couldn’t have been better, and there were zero problems throughout. Well, there was one exception. The person who had used the airplane prior to me was messing around with the radio, and it took me about 20-30 minutes in the air to get everything back to the way it was supposed to be. So, note to self, verify radio switches prior to leaving 