Flying IFR Lesson # 2 The First IFR Flying Lesson

I went to DCT this morning and did a pre-flight on an old friend, N1689H, the same plane I did most of my Private Pilot training flying in when I was at DCT.

It's had a few upgrades - electronic and magneto ignition and a push start rather than a key which was interesting.

Downside, the left seat now tends to not lock into place where I want it, it feels locked in place, pushing on it it doesn't move, but it then drops back one setting in flight and then locks into place which is rather disconcerting.  That needs to get fixed.

So I met Kevin who would be my IFR instructor at the plane and we got set to go.  Very nice guy and quite knowledgeable and we seem to work well together so far.

I brought along a pair of Blockalls view limiting devices (or foggles as they're called), recommended by Mr. B and they did indeed come in handy.

We took off, working as we did on instrument takeoff procedures, and then headed to the practice area.  As we went there I put the foggles on.  The Blockalls are comfortable and work really well at blocking the horizon yet let you see the instruments.

We then started doing instrument scans while doing maneuvers - standard rate turns, standard rate turns with descents, standard rate turns with climbs, cruise configuration,  and more standard rate turns and then timed turns, descents, climbs etc.  Quite the workout and was a lot of fun, and its easy to see how you can get quickly task-loaded.

The we added tuning in and identifying the Flint Vortac all the while doing standard rate turns, and then flying to and from it.  Yep, more task loading.

Then Kevin failed  (covered up) a bunch of instruments which tends to concentrate one's scan quite wonderfully.

Overall I was doing pretty well at the scan and controlling the aircraft, still have a lot to work on to make it precise, and it was a whole new and pretty intense experience.  Kevin thought I was doing very well for a first IFR lesson - some of that is due to studying the ground materials ahead of time and due to the advice I've already received from Mr. B.

Lots of fun.

Then we did an own-navigation RNAV GPS approach to Pontiac's Runway 27L.  Kevin had me take the foggles off for that and showed me how we setup the Garmin 430 for it, but my time was heavily looking inside the cockpit anyways to concentrate on the turns and GPS LPV approach.  I made it right down the glidepath to minimums and did a very nice landing.  Very neat to actually do an approach after spending this time reading and watching training videos about it.  I still have a lot to master and understand before I'd try it myself right now, but its rather impressive how the system works and how it can get you right to the runway.

We then did one hop around the pattern, doing a soft field takeoff as requested by Kevin and I did it perfectly which was very cool as I haven't practiced one of those for awhile.  Then down with a soft field landing on 27R and back to DCT.

I can already see how Instrument training is going to make me a much more precise and capable pilot.   It's also great that there is a clear syllabus, a clear lesson plan, and a debrief after the flight - all of which will enhance learning.

I had the controls the whole time except for putting the foggles on and off and for the brief moment when the seat slipped, so I was PIC.

That's 2.1, 1.5 simulated instrument, and 2 great landings.  So it begins.

Flying: IFR Training Lesson 1

Today marks the start of my training to get my instrument rating.

I went to DCT on Saturday and signed up for the program and began studying.

Today I went to DCT this morning for a ground lesson. I had Adam as my instructor today,  Nice guy and was both enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

We covered flight instrument scans, flight instrument operation and failures, and VORs.

The flight instrument operation, instrument failures and VOR info was mainly a refresher from the private pilot syllabus but was still useful with a b it more detail.  Instrument scan was new and will be highly useful.

First flight should be later this week.

Flying Lesson #146 - Victory is Mine! At Long Last The Nightmare Ends.

Well, it finally happened.

Last night it was not looking very promising at all weather-wise - rain, thunderstorms and the like and the Outlook briefer was saying it was going to be IFR conditions.

This morning the standard briefing was more promising with light winds, decent cloud ceilings and rain.

Rain I can deal with.

So I went to the airport early ahead of my appointed and the examiner was running a bit late finishing up a Commercial Pilot Exam and said he'd give me a pirep of the conditions but thought they would be ok for flying.

He came back and said we could go ahead if I wanted to do so, and I said I did.

So I went, and I did it.

I am now a licensed Private Pilot.

To say i'm on top of the world right now would be an understatement.

Flying Lesson #145 - Alone Again

Today after the range trip I took Leah home, had a quick lunch and hopped in the car for the airport.

The weather was far too nice to not fly today. Sky clear up to 25,000 feet, winds light and variable around 5-7 knots eventually blowing up to 10 knots variable as I was flying.

How could I not go up?

Apparently a lot of other people thought the same way as the airport was all sorts of busy with tons of planes taking off, landing, and flying the pattern.

Even better, this was to be Solo time again.

After my standard careful pre-flight and run-up I headed off to the to the practice area climbing to 3,300 feet.

Arriving in the practice area I snapped a quick picture of the Ford Proving Grounds at Romeo.

The proving grounds offer an easily identifiable landmark and make for an excellent emergency landing spot should something go awry.

I then did some clearing turns and then did slow flight, a power off stall, and steep turns, and then just had some fun flying around.

I then headed back to Pontiac for some pattern work.

Coming in, I initially got told to prepare for a 2 mile right base entry but the controller then changed it to a straight in but I was told to keep my speed up. Final was a tad faster as a result and I did float a bit in ground effect but made a nice landing anyways as the speed bled off.

Then up to do it again in the pattern and an even better landing.

While taxiing back to take off again, I saw this nice looking Bonanza in the run-up area and grabbed a quick picture for Murphy's Law as he likes Bonanzas:

I did a couple more patterns with some good landings and called it a day.

1.2 solo and 4 landings.

If y'all would send some kind weather thoughts consisting of clear skies and calm winds for this week, that would be appreciated as something quite good may just finally happen.

Flying Lesson #144 - Shaking Off The Rust Of Two Weeks Off

Getting Jet Lag while flying is one thing, flying while jet lagged is another.

This afternoon I went up with Ray. I did a short field takeoff and headed to the north. There I did some turns around a point, slow flight, power off stall and steep turns. All went well.

Then I headed back to Pontiac and was told to setup for a 4 mile final due to traffic. It was a nice long, straight in approach which worked out very nicely with the wind at 310 at 10 knots for a bit of a crosswind and an excellent landing.

I then did another short field takeoff, followed by a short field landing which was decent, then another short field takeoff and what would have been a nice short field but had to go around due to a slower Cessna not getting off the runway in time. No big deal and I'm quite good at go rounds. Then back for a very nice short field landing indeed, followed by a nice soft field takeoff and a soft field landing. I then did another short field takeoff and finished it off with a textbook short field landing that was just beautiful.

Ray said I flew just fine indeed and I'm looking good.

1.5 and 5 landings.

Flying Lesson #143 - More Checkride Prep

Yesterday was a beautiful day to go flying.

Winds were calm, cloud layer only starting around 6,000 feet, both main runways open (18/36 is still closed) and life is good. Flying with Ray today and he says it will be a practice checkride.

So I taxi up and do a soft field takeoff to the Northwest and get a check-ride shakeout.

I navigate towards Linden and then we divert away towards the North-East-ish so we stay out of Flint's Class C and then start some maneuvering.

I do slow flight, and apparently the examiners now want you to slowly settle into slow flight at 2,000 RPM and hold altitude until the speed slowly bleeds off rather than cutting it to 1,500 RPM and quickly dropping the flaps in while maintaining altitude as the speed quickly bleeds off. This makes it feel like it is taking forever to get into slow flight.

I then do power off and power on stalls. On the Power on stall, the plane does not want to stall, especially when done how the examiner will want it - full power once you hit 60 knots. You practically have to get an Archer standing on its tail to stall in that configuration and that tends to lead to a snap roll of the pane onto its back and into a stall-spin which is not happy making. Basically, as soon as you add power you need to yank the yoke back for all that it is worth while keeping the wings level and right rudder in and try to get it to stall before you've gone vertical.

Then we did turns around a point, climbed back up and he yanked the throttle on me for an engine out forced landing practice, which went well and I did all the required steps and would have made it into the landing field etc.

Then we climbed back up and he did something an examiner has recently one to another student: "I smell smoke and there's a fire under the instrument panel."

So, a simulated electrical fire then.

Simulate turning off the master switch, telling passenger to grab the fire extinguisher and smother then flames, drop the nose, reduce power so I don't red line (or yellow line) the plane and dive for an emergency landing spot. What fun.

Declaring that we survived that, I get to navigate us back to Pontiac sans GPS which I do ok by first climbing and then finding Oxford (it has a really nice beach with very blue water that stands out nicely from any other lake around - I'm talking really,, really bright blue) and thence heading back to Pontiac from there.

Tower wants me on an angling right base for 27R and the instructor wants a short field landing. So I setup for a short field and all is well, get to my touchdown point still going great and just about to touch and a heat wave off the runway balloons us up nicely. So I just hold the angle and land once the plane settles.

Before you ask, it's not just me - every plane is ballooning right by that spot - a Citabria, a Cirrus, a Cessna, an Aviat Husky, everyone is getting that same ballooning updraft just before touchdown on the runway.

We do some short and soft field takeoffs and landings. On one particular landing, the wind without any prior notice kicks up to 10 knots from 350 as we're landing - "Oh, that's why you landed left of center on that one". Then the wind goes away as if it was never there. Nice.

Anyways, not a bad lesson, landings were all good, takeoffs were fine and the stuff in between worked out well enough. I apparently need to hold my heading better while doing slow flight and stalls, but other than that it was quite good.

1.3 and 4 landings.

Flying Lesson # 142 - Solo On And Off The 9 Side

A really nice day today for a lunchtime solo flight. The sky was clear, winds light but shifty and Pontiac was using Runways 9L and 9R.

I took off from Runway 9L and headed to the northeast for the practice area.

Once near the proving grounds I did some clearing turns followed by some steep turns, slow flight, and did my stalls.

Then back to Pontiac for some pattern work.

The first landing tower asked me to keep my base in close so he could sequence some traffic and I obliged and did a darn nice landing wiht the winds form 030 at 8 if I say so myself. I'm talking smooth, even though I haven't landed on the 9 side in awhile solo or otherwise and its always fun to come over the water and tree line onto 9L.

Then I headed back and did it again and the winds came up to 10 knots out of 360 for a full crosswind of 10 knots, which was no problem to me at all, and I simply put in a crosswind correction and greased the landing. This gave much confidence.

The next pattern the wind shifted again but ended up right down 090 at 5 knots which made it really easy. Again another smooth landing.

Then the wind shifted to 130 at 6 and again I did a nice landing and decided to call it a day. Tower had me roll on tdown to the end which was rather nice of them and I then contacted ground, headed back to DCT, parked the plane and that was it.

1.3 and 4 landings.

Flying Lesson #141 - Really Quick Up And Down

I was scheduled to fly at 2 but my instructor called and asked me to come in at 12 as he had a cancellation. I said fine as I'm helpful that way. Big mistake.

This is because at 11:30 the skies open up with rain, the clouds fall to marginal VFR conditions and rain comes on nicely.

Once I arrive at the airport the rain has stopped but the clouds are low.

I preflight N5337F, an Archer I haven't flown in much if at all, and discover the seats are way low and do not adjust upwards. We actually both require cushions to see sufficiently over the nose. One main landing strut is way taller than the other but its fine and good to go.

I start it up and it wants to be a pain and it takes a few tries to get the motor to catch. We get clearance to taxi and takeoff and we're going to do pattern work as it is a damn low ceiling. As it turns out, its lower than that.

We takeoff, get to pattern altitude and it's cloudy with a chance of a little visibility. Not particularly good, as in IFR condition at the pattern height flying through clouds from crosswind to and in the downwind.

So we do the pattern in these serious clouds on downwind, I cut in a short base to keep the runway visual and I do another nice landing and that's it for this lesson.

Of course, as I sit here to type this it is now the time for my original flight and the clouds have cleared and its nice out. Sheesh.

0.3 and 1 landing. The only upside to this is it gave a perfectly round number for total hours for my logbook, the down side is that total number is ridiculous.

Flying Lesson #140 - Some Quality Usable Alone Time

This morning the weather was most promising. A scattered layer about 4,000 and winds around 9 from 180.

Might as well go up for a flight.

So I preflight N1689H and find that the right fuel sump will not stop dripping. It's a slow and steady drip, but an ongoing drip all the same. Tugging on it does nothing. I ask a maintenance fellow at the flight school and he examines it and then quickly swaps it out for a new part. Turns out a bit of dirt inside it was stopping the spring from fully closing the valve, thus letting it drip fuel.

With that done and both fuel tanks at the tabs, meaning there was 17 gallons in each tank. Plenty enough for the planned flight.

Oh yes, I was going to be flying alone, something I hadn't done for a month.

A good start and I had got the ATIS already while the guy was fixing the sump so I got a taxi clearance and headed to the run up area. Did the run up and headed to the runway. The runway was rather busy as 27L was closed again, leaving everyone and their propellers turning onto 27R. No matter, I've got this.

A nice takeoff with some left wind correction in and I was up.

It was a lot quieter with the right seat unoccupied.

I headed to the practice area by dead reckoning and got over the proving grounds, did some clearing turns and then did some maneuvers - slow flight, stalls, and steep turns (which still aren't quite how I want them) and then lower for turns around a point and some S turns across a road.

Then after a few lazy circles just enjoying the view I switched fuel tanks and headed back to Pontiac.

Once within hailing range there it was clear that it was rather busy with a number of planes in the pattern and some coming and going.

I first had a clearance to check in once hitting 2.5 miles away for a right base, but they then amended that to a 4 mile straight in final.

I then came in and did a darn nice light crosswind landing as the wind was 180 at 9 and it was damn smooth if I say so myself. I mean really nice. The sort of perfect landings that only happen when no one is watching and there's no instructor i the right seat of your plane. I then got clearance to taxi back to 27R and do it again.

The next time around the pattern was quite nice and I did yet another nice smooth (if slightly more solid than the previous one) landing.

The next takeoff took awhile as quite a few planes were lined up both to land and takeoff. It was get in line and then line up and wait time.

I went around the patter and then the tower announced they would call my base due to traffic. Then I got a clearance to turn base at my discretion as I was now clear of traffic and had seen the traffic turning base to final and followed it in and did a really smooth landing - stable, precise airspeed and just a beautiful approach, round-out, and flare. Very nice indeed. I decided to call it at that point as my time was getting close due to the late start from the sump valve repair and I did the taxi back to the flight school.

1.3 and 3 darn nice landings.

Flying Lesson #139 - Slips and Sweet Landings

The day did not look promising for a post-workday flight.

Rain and low clouds loomed and it seemed like it would be a scratch.

But the rain stopped and the clouds lifted just enough to get above IFR, so might as well take it up again.

The first takeoff was a short field, kindly setup by the tower having us line up and wait so I had plenty of time to line up perfectly at the very end, hold the brakes and when given takeoff clearance advance the power to full then release the brakes at max RPM and haul the plane off the ground. Not bad.

We headed out to the East and soon realized the clouds were not nearly as high as we would have liked. The ATIS claimed it was a scattered layer at 2,500, but in truth it was more like a broken layer and a pretty solid broken layer at that. So, we couldn't work on some of the things Ray wanted me to do, but we worked around it.

Ray wanted me to work on my forward and slide slips so we would set at 2,500 feet and I would do a forward slip or side slip down to 2,000 and then climb back up. We did it for a bit and then headed back to Pontiac as the clouds were getting a bit lower. Then it was pattern work. Slips to land, short field landings, soft field landings, and slips to short and soft field landings were the order of the day with soft and short field takeoffs. The pattern got pretty busy at times which was good for developing situational awareness as in the haze planes had a habit of disappearing when you're turning and you sometimes can only acquire them again as they turn. The tower handled things well and had a funny exchange with an incoming jet - "Cleared to land Runway 27L, I have 4 in the pattern for 27R, do not drift north [into the 27R flight path]." "Ok, we won't drift north and we'll keep our eyes out for the little guys."

Landings were quite good - silky smooth and I only had to do one go-round when I came in too fast on a soft field and decided it wouldn't work, which was good aeronautical decision making. Overall the landings are pretty decent at this point.

Unfortunately, it looks like the examiner typically used by the school will not be available until August, which will present a host of issues and closes out any hope of my getting a license within 2 f'n years of starting this exercise in insanity. I think my personal hard cutoff will be when my written test expires in October. If I'm not certificated by the expiry date, it will be well past time to put a stop to it and let this go.

1.6 and 9 landings.

Flying Lesson #138 - Mock Checkride Is Mocking

For this lesson I did the pre-flight and after the run-up did a short field takeoff and headed to the northwest finding Linden by pilotage only - no map, just landmarks, in this case the handy railroad and water towers.

Winds were about 5 knots variable so not a big deal.

I then did a nice short field landing at Linden. Then it was a soft field takeoff and around the pattern for a soft field landing that I rejected and instead did a go-round as I was coming in too high and with too much power and decided not try try and force it in, which was a good decision. I went around and then did a nice soft field.

Then I did another soft field takeoff and did another soft field landing and off again for another short field landing.

Thence we headed out towards the east and I did some maneuvers and then climbed into a blue hole amongst the clouds, reaching 5,000 feet before the instructor yanked the throttle and i had to do an engine out procedure, did ok but have to work on holding best glide throughout. Then navigated my way back to Pontiac and did a nice soft field landing.

1.6 and 5 landings.

Flying Lesson #137 - More Getting Lost and Found

It was a nice sunny day today and I headed out of Pontiac with Tiffany. The airport was all sorts of busy today with lot of traffic.

I let ground know we would head to the northeast.

I then navigated us to Romeo and did a short field landing there on Runway 18.

Then I did some steep turns and Tiffany had me do some unusual attitudes, which were fun and I handled very well.

Unusual attitudes start with your eyes closed and chin on your chest while the instructor banks and pitches the plane around to make you lose situational awareness and reference to what the plane is actually doing and then says "Your Controls".

You then need to quickly figure out what she just did to your aircraft and get it back to stable and level.

It's always fun opening your eyes and seeing the ground rushing to meet you, or seeing nothing but blue sky and seeing the airspeed indicator start to unwind as the altimeter goes up. No big deal to fix it in either case and fix it I did. Like I said, fun.

Then I did lost procedures and did ye olde climbing circle to get my bearings and then found where I was and navigated back to Pontiac.

I then came in and did a soft field landing that felt like it would take forever to get down - the hot air really kept us floating for what felt like forever, but it was a nice soft touchdown.

Then we did some pattern work with power off 180s each time. the first two times I was floating so much that I was going past the 1000 foot markers so we did some go-rounds. On the third time I figured out to extend the downwind more and then turn in and got it ok. Then I did it again and that was Lesson 137.

1.5 and 4 landings.

Flying Lesson #136 - Lost And Found, Engine Out and On, and Steep Turns A Go Go

Beautiful day and calm variable winds at last.

Today I went up with Marcus, headed to the practice area and did steep turns.

Then we did multiple engine out emergency landings, working on descending from 3,000 feet and hitting the picked field successfully, not to mention picking a successful field and doing the full ABCDEs of emergencies. Finally getting decent at that after much trial and error. I daresay the poor engine was rather upset at being declared to have failed so many times.

Then after being turned around sufficiently doing all that, I was sufficiently disoriented to work on lost procedures.

First when climb up and look around, then if still not knowing where you are look for landmarks, which worked out ok.

Then I practiced more lost procedures by tuning in two VORs and triangulated my position nicely.

Then I got practice using the non-map page of the GPS to work on finding an airport by both the NRST function and by bearings using the CDI page, and I now have that down nicely and should have had it down before.

Then I got to figure out how to navigate back to Pontiac in a little haze and did so successfully.

1.5 and 1 landing.

Flying Lesson #135 - Naviguessing Perambulations

Today the winds were 15-25 but mainly right down 270 degrees which made it not to bad, but there was some shifting to make life interesting at times.

We did a simulated check-ride with Ray acting as the examiner. I flew a previously planned cross-country course and then after finding my first two way points got diverted to Linden. So I naviguessed from my then current position up to Linden - I continued west until I hit US23, ent north along US23 to just before the curve, dropped down below Flint's Class C airspace and found that Linden had not moved from its previous location, for which I was thankful.

At Linden I did a normal landing, a short field landing and a soft field landing.

I did do one go-around when I did not like the approach on a short field landing - a bit too high and fast so I figured just go round and do it again and that was according to Ray a good call.

The short field landing I then did after the go-round would have qualified as an aircraft carrier landing - would have made Juvat's Navy instructor happy it would, but nothing was broken, just a very very solid landing indeed right on the numbers.

Then I naviguessed us eastwards to the practice area and Ray threw some foggles on me and I got to make turns, climbs and descents by instruments alone and he said I did very well. It didn't help that the turn coordinator in the plane was Tango Uniform but I made do without it.

Then the foggles came off and I did some clearing turns and then did steep turns and he said they were the best ones I've done, so the lesson went quite nicely.

Thence I naviguessed us back to Pontiac, called them when we were 11 miles out and entered a right base for 27R and did a short field landing that would have been more to Juvat Air Force Instructor's liking, but with the fun of a sudden gust from 300 degrees just as I was about to touch down, but I handled it and it was fine.

Can I ever get a nice calm wind day, please?

1.6 and 4 landings.

Flying Lesson #134 - To Troy Again

Today winds were gusty out of the west and Pontiac's Runway 27L was closed again.

I complete the preflight and then Ray comes over and says that the checkride examiner seems having applicants navigate to Troy and says we'll go there today.

So I get taxi and takeoff clearance and we head to Troy, passing over Orchard Lake on the way.

I find the airport ok and checking the AWOS to confirm the wind is from the west as well go for Runway 27 at Troy in a rather shifting wind. So I do a short field landing and then taxi and we do it again and again, coming over the building and thinking I'm going to land on the building, but I do some pretty decent short fields and short field takeoffs on each time. The winds would shift from left to right and gust a bit on each landing and it made the short final approaches kinda interesting.

Then we navigated north to the practice area and I did some steep turns and turns around the point and it went ok and the steep turns were within tolerances.

After that I navigated back to Pontiac by dead reckoning called in and got a landing clearance to come in on a right base and landed on Runway 27R and that was the lesson.

1.7 and 4 landings.

Flying Lesson #133 - You Want Me To Land Where?

As I'm preflighting and waiting Tiffany for my next lesson, Marcus comes by and says be sure to go to Oakland Troy (KVLL) as the checkride examiner sometimes likes to take students there via dead-reckoning and its a bit of a fun place to land.

No kidding. I remember my last time there, oh just short of two flippin' years ago now for Lesson #3. The approach for Runway 27 takes you right over a flat-topped office building and it looks like you're supposed to land on it and drop down onto the runway.

Not really but it does look that way.

Photo by Jeff Schuster, Photo taken 29-Jun-2014, looking west.

So Tiffany comes by and says I've been to Linden enough, let's go to Oakland Troy - I swear these instructors are rather in sync.

We go over how to dead reckon there, basically to follow a couple roads, and its pretty much a 130 degree course from Pontiac.

So the wind is a right gusting crosswind and I need to do a short field landing coming in over an office building. I think at that moment someone might be paying the instructors so she can collect on my life insurance.

I get it lined up and its not the shortest landing ever - a fair bit of float and I land on the 1,000 foot markers rather than the numbers but given the building is near the numbers.... That would not unfortunately be acceptable for a checkride, but as someone keeps saying I didn't break anything and landed so it must be ok in real life at least, and we did stop with plenty of runway without excessive braking.

Then I do a short field takeoff as there are power lines awaiting off the end and since I can at least do that, it's a fine takeoff.

Then off to the practice area where I get to put on some foggles for some instrument practice and then slow flight, power off and power on stalls and a lot of steep turns.

Then back to Pontiac with an even more gusting crosswind of 10-20 knots out of 300.

1.6 and 2 landings.

Flying Lesson #132 - Flying With Tiffany

So at lunch today i eaded to the airport to get a lesson in.

Rain had just gne through, leaving a humid haze in the air and about 5 miles visibility.

I met up with Tiffany and talked about what I wanted to for for the lesson - navigate by map, get to Linden via some checkpoints including US 23 and work on some short field landings and steep turns.

The wind was out of 120 at 9 knots so we would be using Runway 9L at Pontiac and 9 at Linden - a side I've never landed on before and she promised it would be a treat - that side is a real short field landing with trees as obstacles and a swamp that does funny things to the air as you fly over it on final. Yay, might as well get the experience.

So I start N1689H up and get going and on doing a short field takeoff they originally were going to have me head west off the downwind to exit the pattern on to my destination but instead decided to have me cross over midfield to the southwest. Never did that before and it was an experience.

Haze and clouds kept us below 2,500 and while I missed my first checkpoint as it was too close to the airport and the relocation threw me off I found the second one just fine on course, then got to 23 and diverted up to Linden using US 23 instead of the railway line that's on the north side of the airport.

I then overflew Linden, checked with Flint's AWOS for winds and sure enough they were out of 110 at 9 pretyt much just like Pontiac, and then entered into the downwind.

I made a perfect short field landing. Go figure.

I then did a taxi back, and did softand short field takeoffs took off and then did a go-round as the approach was not to my liking. I then did it again and landed fine and then we headed back to Pontiac. No steep turns as the haze just had us too low and there was too much traffic around.

We got to Pontiac and I did some patterns and Tiffany really helped fix my soft field takeoff - Yay its good now! We kept working on short field landings and I was doing pretty good.

Then on a pattern the tower told us to keep our base in close.

I'm on the downwind, level with the end of the runway.

Tiffany chops the throttle. With no warning. "You just loss your engine, so it's power off 180 time." She said most cheerfully.

All righty then - set for best glide, turn immediately towards the runway, got it lined up for final, runway made, second notch of flaps goea in, over the threshold, third notch in and touchdown rather nicely if I say so myself. We really gave them a close in base as requested.

In short, it went great. Just when I think about throwing in the towel, a day like this draws me back in.

While I was doing great, others were having a not so good day. As we were flying the pattern at Pontiac, we overheard a call from Flight 101's 172RG Cutlass - they were not getting a front nose gear indicator light. So they flew by the tower and we could also see that while their rear gear was down, the nose gear was not. The instructor on board was rather calm and after a couple flybys they flew off to the north to work the problem and had three hours of fuel to burn off before trying to land. I haven't heard how it resolved yet but they were getting the equipment ready when I left just in case.

1.8 and 6 landings.

Flying Lesson #131 - Finally A Good Day

So after getting stuff done at the office I head to the airport for some solo time. Just my luck though, the winds have picked up and both speed and direction are above my permitted solo flying endorsement. I figure its a sign and am about to pack it all in for good and then the chief instructors says they do have an instructor available and would I like to go up?

Ok then. So I preflight N1689H and Hunter joins me and I tell him I had planned to go to the practice area and do some altitude maneuvers and then do some pattern so that's what we do. He treats it like a checkride and checks how I do the checklists and all procedures and is happy with the pre-takeoff stuff and then takeoff. We then head out to the practice area and then I do slow flight and the stalls. Power off needed a bit of work so I did that and its very good now, and then steep turns which we worked on a bit as they're still not where I want them to be but we got them better. Still needs work though.

Then we head back to Pontiac and I angle from an original base entry to a final one as directed by tower, bring it in over 27R, and then per Hunter do the best crosswind landing he's seen a student do - its flipping perfect - I mean real smooth, first the windward side landing gear touches, then the other, and finally the nose and it is smooth as smooth can be. I then do two more just as nicely and we call it a flight ending on a good note and he says he figures after touching up the steep turns that based on my performance I'm going to pass the checkride when it comes.

After three lousy days I then get this really good one. Sheesh, now what?

1.3 and 3 landings.

Flying Lesson #130 - Frustrations With Flying

Well the winds weren't quite so bad today, blowing about 10-15 knots out of 230-240 so a bit of crosswind correction was needed but no wind shear to speak of.

So, I got things going with Ray as the instructor today.

We get up to the hold line and he announced we would do short field landings and takeoffs. So I do a nice short field crosswind takeoff which I'm rather decent at and we start heading around the pattern.

Then we setup for the landing and it's a complete mess as I'm too high so I go around. The next one one sucks rocks with decaying airspeed and he has to push the nose forward as I'm too fixated on the runway and the speed is dropping too quickly, was I having fun yet?

So we taxi back and do it again and I do it ok, still not a perfect short field, we do it three more times and I get ok at it but his technique is to have it on final at 64 knots with a high nose pitch and just control the descent with power which is different form some other instructors techniques of aiming ahead of the touchdown point. Then we have to do an expedited takeoff per the tower and I do a normal takeoff and a normal landing which is fine and another regular takeoff and landing and that's the lesson. Basically everything is great except my landings, most especially my short field landings.

Lots of frustration and while he says I'm doing ok and am really close, I'm about a minute away from deciding on throwing in the towel on this whole thing.

1.6 and 8 landings.

Flying Lessons #128 Solo and #129 Gone With The Wind(shear)

Yesterday I went to two different courts for different hearings and did lots of lawyer-stuff and then headed to the airport for a 4pm flight. I had planned to go to the practice area, do some maneuvers and then do the pattern. I had been feeling pretty good and confident from the last lesson, maybe I can actually do this after all. Heh.

Of course, the TAF and weather services called for thunderstorms from 4-6 pm. The curse of my solo schedule strikes again - if I schedule a solo, the conditions will be such that I cannot solo - I am one-man force of climate change. By simply scheduling a solo I can make it variously snow, thunderstorm, or cause high winds, yep, you can thank me later.

But, there was no sign of any approaching cumulonimbus clouds and the flight school head said go up, stay in the pattern.

Not what I was planning but ok.

N1689H had fuel to the tabs, over 17 gallons per tank, more than plenty for a little pattern work. SO I started her up, got her out of the parking place and commenced pattern work. Now runway 27L was closed so I was sharing 27R with some rather large jets so yes there was frequent wake turbulence and traffic issues.

The first landing went ok.

The second time around I had my landing clearance cancelled then got it back on short final and I did a go round as the approach wasn't stable at that point to my liking and a hit of wind got me just before touchdown. A decent enough and safe go round.

The next two landings simply sucked and I bounced them both in, winds were picking up and I simply wasn't having a good day so I terminated at 0.7 and three landings. Looking back I was both coming in too high and too hot, cutting the base to final corner and flaring too high - other than that, the patterns were rather nice. In short not great and I told my instructor that it did not go well.

So today I get to the airport for Lesson 129.

Since my instructor told the head of the flight school that I did not have a good day, he decided I needed a bit of ground to go over pattern procedures. Well, I suppose it helped somewhat. He then told the instructor flying with me today Mustafa, a newer CFI there, as Ray was off to first just do slow flight over the runway and then do landings after he's confident I've got it.

Oh and the wind conditions were bad and getting worse today. Blowing and shifting from 240-180 (180 is a direct crosswind) at 16-24 knots.

Oh Fly me.

So we would be doing some real fun crosswind work.

I did a good crosswind takeoff and we had lot of wind shear and bumps and gusts which made it so much fun.

I trolled the runway a couple times, letting the tower know what we were going to do and they were cool with that.

Then I did the first landing which was a bit rough due to the winds and wind shear. Tower then had us fly a left pattern for traffic management which was no problem and rather rarer coming off of 27R but with 27L still closed it was kinda fun. The next landing was also not great. Have to really force the nose down in those conditions.

The next three were better and stabilized and I did then pretty good but on the last two we were getting wind-shear of plus and minus 15 knots, and the tower asked us for a pirep on the wind conditions and we let them know and they passed that on to incoming traffic. In short watching the airspeed indicator swing from 80 to 65 knots and back was interesting on final and made for interesting crosswind landings.

We called it at that point and terminated with 1.0 and five landings.

We then chatted about the flight and things I can work on, which was actually helpful.

Again I'm told I'm doing well and am really, really close - like I haven't heard that before.