Heather's Feathers

August 2010 updates...

2010-08-03T09:42:00.004-06:00

Hi folks.

Well, in recent news, I passed my biannual flight review, which means I'm good to go for another two years. Went up with Ryan, hadn't seen him in a while, it went great.

I also took my parents up for the first time, flew them over Lucky Peak, Boise, and then out south over the practice area so they could see the Snake River canyon and Swan Falls dam. That was a lot of fun, sharing this experience and what I've learned with them. Hopefully, we can go up again, and I can take them to McCall for some pancakes.

Glass Cockpit got their Kitfox... I haven't seen it yet, but I'm itching to. Soon, I hope.

Here's a picture from their site:

Very cool, and very pretty.

We went to the Idaho Falls airshow over July 24 to see some cool planes, and the Blue Angels. Got a little sun burnt, but it was worth it. I should be able to get a couple of pictures up here soon.

Got no plans to fly immediately, but I'd like to go up and get night current. I love flying in the evening and at night in the summer.

Recent News...

2010-02-22T10:23:00.008-07:00

There's been no updates for a while... but here's some recent news.

Over the course of a year, I traveled to Germany, Italy, and China for work. I spent a total of 4 months outside of the US. It was a lot of fun, I saw a lot of sights, and tried a lot of authentic food. I'm back now, and I won't have to travel over there again any time soon, unless my family wants to go.

I flew rarely, but I did fly off and on over this last year, and I've got a note about my most recent flight, which was yesterday.

The plan was to take my stepdaughter Ariel up for a local flight, some touch and goes, some time out in the practice area to play with my navigation skills and piloting skills somewhat, and let my passenger enjoy the flight.

I pre-flighted N43839 (the Archer II), we strapped in, started her up, did the run up and were asked to position and hold on the runway.

Everything was fine until I throttled up, and all of a sudden the plane veered to the left, and wouldn't correct. My mind was like a flash, what could this be? Brakes? A problem with the rudder? What did I do? Ariel just absolutely swore her feet weren't on the pedals.

I throttled back, told ATC I was having some issues, turned off at Echo and took her back to parking. I then called Cammie and pitched the idea to her, and decided that to just be safe I'd take N6817J. (Cammie has two Archer II's now.) 6817 is a little older and has no electric trim or GPS, but it's still a great flying plane. Here's a picture of her from Glass Cockpit's website.

The flight in 6817J went well, we did a couple of touch and goes and took off to the practice area to play around. Came back, landed, tied her up, and that was that. 1.1 hours logged.

Later, I received a text from Cammie telling me that 839 was fine, that I either had a crosswind (which I don't believe there was, wind was variable to 5kts during that time) or I had a passenger on the pedals.

While we were taking Ariel home later that night, I was going over what happened with my husband, that there was apparently nothing wrong with 839... and I said, "Gee, I just don't know where this mysterious crosswind came from".

Ariel pipes up from the back seat... "I'm really sorry, maybe my feet are just too heavy."

So there you have it. I learned a hard lesson yesterday about my passenger briefs, SAFETY doesn't cover "Don't put your feet on the pedals unless I tell you it's ok." And that I need to be more proactive about such.

In other news, I'm very excited about the new Kitfox LSA that Glass Cockpit will be getting in April. It's going to be a tail dragger, and have glass instrumentation. 123kts cruise, 5.1 hours on 27 gallons of fuel. See this link for more information.

Time to get back up there.

2009-03-10T17:25:00.007-06:00

Over the last couple of weeks, I went up with Jon for a refresher in the Archer, and then logged an hour this last Friday (the 6th) on a local flight.

Then on Saturday, I went up with Dina from Jetstream in N101GV, a Cessna 172S. I'm working on getting checked out in it, so I have another plane under my belt, and something else to rent in town. Not to say that I don't love the Archer, but my husband loves the Cessnas.

I'm awash right now after this first flight. One plus is I like how I can see so much better out the front and around me while I'm landing in the Cessna, but one negative is the loss of visibility in the direction I'm turning because there's this giant wing in the way. It makes pattern work quite different.

I'm doing the written over this week, and then I'm going to go back up one final time with Dina this coming Thursday to hopefully be fully checked out and signed up for rentals.

Here's a couple of pictures of me and N101GV:

Jan 09 Updates..

2009-01-05T17:25:00.004-07:00

Hi Guys,

Sorry it's been a while. I really haven't been able to go flying since Sept. I managed to take a breakfast flight to McCall in August, which was very nice. I took my husband for his first flight with me up to the Pancake House, it was a very enjoyable morning. I explained everything I was doing, and I shared the controls. He was very impressed.

After that, on another flight I toodled around town again with him, and then later took my sister in law and her fiance up. Neither one had ever been in a small plane. They both enjoyed it, and they learned a lot. My SIL was of the type that thought if the plane's motor stopped, it'd fall out of the sky. She was very pleased to find that that's not the case.

On another note, I decided to pursue a job opening for Air Traffic Control. I applied at the end of July, and they finally accepted my application in October, and later scheduled an entrance exam for me, which I took in December. I had to fly up to Seattle to take the exam, then, I had to endure a week nail biting session before I was able to get my score.

I passed, though!

So, I think the next step is to receive geographic preferences, and then if they like what I've chose, they refer me for an interview. Of course, I probably won't hear anything till February, the FAA is slow.

03/11/2010 EDIT: Nothing became of this, unfortunately. By the time the lengthy hiring process got around to me, it was already too close to my 31st birthday, and I was pretty much disqualified. Oh well. On to other things.

I'm a pilot!

2008-07-07T08:21:00.005-06:00

I kept myself so busy over the last week, I haven't had much time to add to the blog. I was late in getting my solo cross countries posted up, and now I'm late getting this posted up.

Basically, after my solo cross countries, I spent the next two days (Monday and Tuesday) going over what I needed for the check ride. We flew maneuvers until they were satisfactory, and we went over concepts, instruments, and weather in the office until I felt comfortable enough.

I had been scheduled for my practical test and check ride on Wednesday, but late Tuesday night I received a call letting me know that my examiner had fallen ill over something he ate that day. I called him Wednesday morning to see how he felt, and we rescheduled for Thursday, July 3rd.

This reschedule made things a bit difficult... my airplane, N43839 was not going to be available for me that day. However, my examiner, Dick Miller, had another Archer, and it was set up in almost identical fashion. It would just have some quirks that might make it *feel* a little different, and it had no electric trim. Dick was going to let me borrow his plane.

After two days of butterflies, my stomach had beaten the powder right off of them so they weren't so strong, but the idea of flying a plane I was unfamiliar with, that I was going to be taking a "test" in, brought on some new ones.

Luckily, Dick Miller has a way of making people feel comfortable, and when I got there, my nerves subsided somewhat.

We started by going through the paperwork, making sure IACRA was set up properly, and then proceeded with the oral exam. When I talked to Dick on the phone, he had me prepare a flight plan from Boise, to Murphy, and then to Jackpot. During the oral, we went though this, and then we went straight into questions on reading a sectional. After that, we proceeded to airspaces, VFR minimums, and FAR regulations. Pretty soon we were talking about weather, and then went into specific questions about the aircraft I would be flying. He brought out his logbooks and asked me to read them, at which point I told HIM he was due for an ELT battery. He blushed, told me he'd make a mental note to replace it, and then we went through the FAR's to make sure that we were legal to fly that day. The FAR states:

(a) Except as provided in paragraphs (e) and (f) of this section, no person may operate a U.S.-registered civil airplane unless --

(1) There is attached to the airplane an approved automatic type emergency locator transmitter that is in operable condition for the following operations, except that after June 21, 1995, an emergency locator transmitter that meets the requirements of TSO-C91 may not be used for new installations:

(f) Paragraph (a) of this section does not apply to --

(3) Aircraft while engaged in training operations conducted entirely within a 50-nautical mile radius of the airport from which such local flight operations began;

This means we were ok to fly, so after the preflight which included me making sure all the required paperwork was in the aircraft, we began the check ride.

We began with soft field work, and Dick let me do this twice as the plane was unfamiliar to me. Then we set off for some under the hood work, which included turning to headings and using the VOR. We then practiced slow flight, stalls, and steep turns. Then, Dick pulled my power back and asked me to perform an emergency engine out procedure. Just as I was SURE we were going to land in the field I chose, we pulled out and headed over for some ground reference. After that, he asked me to get him back to Caldwell using the GPS, and then he asked me to perform a short field landing.

We were taxiing back to his hangar when it occurred to me that the check ride was over, and he didn't once take the controls, or give me a fail. I was secretly cheering inside, but I figured I'd wait until he shook my hand to be sure.

We sat back down at the table, and he said, well, let me get back online here, and let's print you out a ticket!

When everything was done, I had my backpack on and was ready to go. Dick shook my hand, handed me my temporary certificate, and said congratulations, pilot.

I left elated and in shock. I think in some ways, I'm STILL in shock, that it hasn't hit me fully. And now I'm kind of unsure what to do with myself, now that my lessons are over with.

Guess that means I'll have to get some check outs in different aircraft, and more ratings!

Thanks for reading, folks! I'll keep this blog updated in my adventures, my flights, and other future endeavors.

Solo XC Boise -> Twin Falls -> Jackpot

2008-07-06T10:40:00.003-06:00

On Saturday, June 28th I performed my second cross country. This one was from Boise, to Twin Falls and then to Jackpot. In comparison to the last one, this one was a breeze. It was also very smooth air the whole way, albeit, HOT.

I didn't have to worry so much about mountains or refuges, but there was more traffic this way. It's a good thing there are set altitudes one should follow when traveling east or west - as I was calling out my position relative to mountain home while on my way to Twin Falls, a Cessna flew right below me going the opposite direction. I needed to keep my position reported as I passed most of the small airports during my trip; with the amount of traffic this day I wanted collision avoidance.

The Twin Falls FBO was very nice, and I actually had someone flag me in and park me when I arrived. He also added a quart of oil, as I saw when I arrived that it was about 5 1/2 quarts on the dipstick. Very cool.

It was HOT in Jackpot, and it was one SKINNY runway. Cactus Pete's casino was located right across the street from the little parking area here, so I went in to cool down, get a couple of mementos, and try my luck with about five bucks at the slots. I didn't win much, just enough to keep me going for a couple minutes.

Here's a couple pictures and a video I collaborated for the trip.

Solo XC Boise->Baker->Burns

2008-06-30T08:30:00.008-06:00

I went up with a new instructor, Jon Shaffer, on Thursday the 26th to refresh things, and so he could see where I was at with my proficiency. We spent two hours hammering out steep turns, stalls, slow flight, and ground reference maneuvers. He had some neat tips to help me with my maneuvers - basically to pick a spot on the ground to try to shoot for in the maneuver, which seemed to really calm the maneuver down, and not make it feel so stressful. I really appreciated his help.

Friday morning I arrived with my solo cross country flight plan from Boise, to Baker, and then to Burns. Jon said things looked pretty good - but to watch the wildlife refuge, and the mountain peaks between Baker and Burns. So I made a mental note, filed the plans with the FSS, got an abbreviated weather brief and hit the road, er, the sky.

Here are a couple of pictures, and a video I made of my flight:

It was a lot of fun. It's amazing how things just sort of... fall together when you're out there on your own. I went on another cross country the following day, Saturday, from Boise to Twin Falls and then to Jackpot. I'll post up that trip report soon.

Knowledge Test

2008-06-06T14:01:00.003-06:00

Well...

I passed!

My score was 87. I was disappointed that I didn't achieve a 90 or higher, I think it was due to nerves. But, I'm happy, anyway.

Now, I can plan my solo cross countries!

Night Flight(s) Recap

2008-06-06T13:15:00.007-06:00

Sorry I've been such a slacker about adding to my blog! I've also been a little light on my flying lately as well. Crunch time is coming soon - I'll need to work harder and spend more time flying in succession soon in order to be labeled competent enough to take a checkride. Here's a recap of a couple of night flight sessions.

Thursday, May 15th 2008

It was time to work towards finishing up the hours and landings required for night flights. We also had to get in a night cross country, so we agreed to fly from Boise, to Weiser, then to Ontario, OR, and back to Boise.

I arrived this night with my completed flight plans, and my father in law, John. John hasn't flown for a long time, maybe 15 to 20 years, so he was pretty interested in coming along. He remembered having fun the last time he went up. I had asked him to come along as I felt I needed more distraction in the cockpit, it helps the learning process in that regard.

Ryan looked over my flight plans, said they looked good, so I called for an updated weather briefing for the final calculations, and then we headed out to the tarmac.

We preflighted, checked the lights, and hopped in the plane. During the run up I radioed the nearest FSS, and opened my flight plan to Weiser. We were almost at max gross weight, and the pressure altitude was at 4500 feet (elevation of Boise Airport is 2871 feet). Therefore we used a lot of runway on takeoff.

The air was very smooth this night, just like a boat on glassy water. Going over instruments and routines, we headed over to Weiser. I was really looking forward to playing a magician and turning on runway lights using the radio on the airport's frequency.

As we made our way to Weiser, Ryan demonstrated the ability to turn on runway lights by lighting up the Payette Aiport runway, which is south of Weiser. Sure enough, they lit up. We continued to Weiser, expecting to be able to turn on the lights, and for some reason they just didn't seem to want to light up for us. Eventually, they did, but by this time we were almost right over the airport. The runway communications must not have that large of a range. I radioed up the nearest FSS and asked to close my flight plan. They said they had almost started to look for us, as we were 20 minutes late in closing. I guess if I had opened my flight plan on climb out, rather than during run up, this would not have been a factor. However, I'll blame it on Weiser Airport, for the extra time it took to get their lights on.

We circled back, and merged into the traffic pattern for the Weiser airport. As we were on final, I really took in how small the runway seemed to be. Landing on a runway this small is something I haven't done yet, and, of course we had to do it at night. It was a bit exciting, and the landing was a bit rough. John asked us as we were taxiing back around for a takeoff if we hit the edge of the runway. No we didn't, but yes, the landing was a bit difficult!

Time to head to Ontario. The range of the communications for the runway lights in Ontario didn't present any problems for us, we were able to test them as soon as we were airborne out of Weiser. We opened the second flight plan to Ontario, and then closed it once we were close.

We landed in Ontario, performed a full stop, then went around for two touch and goes, to get some more night practice in. These landings were a little smoother.

Finally, it was time to head back to Boise. We radioed the FSS and opened our third and last flight plan. We watched as the lights grew more dense on the ground as we headed back to Boise. The landing here was much nicer, and it sure felt funny landing on Boise's big, wide runways after the time I'd spent that night at the smaller runways.

Wednesday, May 28th 2008

After the hours and landings were calculated from the night cross country, it was determined that I still needed .5 hours of night flight for the prerequisite. Therefore, we planned a short night of pattern practice around Boise Airport.

The problem I had a hard time overcoming this night was actually seeing the end of the runway when we were downwind. It made it difficult on my timing for my landing procedures. Mostly, I'd finally grasp where the runway end was, AFTER we'd already passed it, and I'd be late on setting my carb heat, my throttle, my airspeed, and my first notch of flaps.

Here's a short video of our last landing of that night.

A flight to Winnemucca for a 99's meeting

2008-05-21T09:41:00.015-06:00

*Note: Graphic Intensive Post!*

May 10th, 2008

On Friday (May 9th), Brenda (BJ) from the 99's called me and said there was an open spot on a flight with Petra for the meeting in Winnemucca the next day. After conversing with my husband, I called Petra and took the slot.

Saturday morning I headed out to Caldwell airport to join up with Petra, and her instructor, Steve, who would be giving her somewhat of a cross country refresher course. I arrived a little early, so I sat on a street at the end of the runway watching the helicopter students practice pattern work. I had the sunroof open so I could watch them fly right over the top of the truck.

When I met up with Petra, I spent some time examining the Cherokee 180 (PA-28 180) we'd be flying in, and figuring out what the differences were between that and the Archer II (A PA-28 181). The 180 definitely has a shorter wingspan, and the wings also have the rectangular "Hershey Bar" shape. This appears to make for a shorter glide ratio, and a faster approach speed. The windows are also a bit different, and the plane seems to sit higher as well. Here's a few pictures of the preparation for takeoff, and the sectional of the area.

Here's a video of the takeoff out of Caldwell.

The route took longer than expected, there were some miscalculations, but no worries. It was still really fun to see everything from the back seat and not be the person fully engaged as the student in learning. Things started to make more sense, now that I could see them from a different angle. Some of the views were really neat, here's some pictures from the flight to Winnemucca.

I also had some fun with the Sepia and Widescreen features on my camera, I thought it might look neat... they came out ok.

The landing in Winnemucca was pretty hard... the two of them were fighting over the controls coming in! Come on guys! Positive exchange of controls! I can understand the difficulty of landing in an unfamiliar area, though, and the want of the instructor of the student to land the plane. Here's our landing.

We collapsed a strut on landing, so we taxied to our spot a bit crooked. I bet it looked interesting to the ladies waiting for us, watching us come in.

Steve straightened out the strut, we met up with the ladies, and then took a courtesy van from the local FBO and headed out to a cute little Basque restaurant to conduct our meeting. I had my first Monte Cristo sandwich, and it was pretty good!

I got a chance to talk with Cammie about my bouncy landing I performed in front of her, and she explained some ways to keep it from happening. I need to get my speed under control, and be a little gentler on the round out for the flare.

After we arrived back at the airport, we had some fun taking pictures of each other and our planes. I also got a couple of pictures of the ladies' room in the FBO, all of the walls were together one big mural. I took them with my phone as I didn't bring my camera in with me. I'll get them up here when I get some time, they are pretty neat!

Pat Jenkins has a gorgeous Cessna 185. Talk about a dream plane! I'd love to own a tail dragger.

Gene Nora Jessen was also here with her very nice Beechcraft Sierra. Cammie had ridden along with her teaching her the ins and outs of her new GPS.

Here's the little Cherokee 180.

Here we all are!

We said our goodbyes and hit the road, er, the sky. Here's a video of the takeoff from Winnemucca.

Some more photos I took on the way back...

And... a video of the landing back in Caldwell.

It was a fun trip. Thanks for the ride, Petra! I really appreciate it.

I have a night cross country that I did on the 15th to write about, it's coming soon. No pictures, though.

A Pattern Work Refresher

2008-05-12T20:05:00.014-06:00

Friday, May 9th 2008

Thursday night I called Ryan and asked him if I could take up the Archer Friday morning, for a refresher. Since it has been over two weeks, Ryan stated he should go with me for at least three touch and goes. This was fine with me, so I scheduled the plane.

Friday morning we got up in the air, and a couple of my landings were a little bumpy. I also showed him this problem I seemed to have with coming in very high upon approach. We worked on my airspeeds for two more landings, and that really seemed to help. Turns out aiming for 85kts after abeam the numbers, 75 on base, and 65 on final (like I should have been doing, I'm sure I was TAUGHT this... somewhere) makes for a really nice approach and landing.

After this, Ryan hopped out and I taxied back out for some solo time. The tower controller thought it might have been my first solo because of the circumstances, but I was sorry to disappoint. I told him it was my fourth or fifth (I couldn't remember) and he still congratulated me.

Here's a shot on the taxiway showing my buggy windshield and how nice the day was.

I love flying out of Boise because the controllers change things up on me. It keeps it challenging. Today he seemed to be alternating runways on me, which makes me change from left traffic to right traffic and vice versa.

It seemed everyone was in good spirits today. The controller even took down my name.

On one of my downwinds for 28R, the controller was trying to determine spacing between an Embraer Jet and myself. He asked me if I had ever done any short approaches. After a pause (as I tried to remember what a short approach was, and then remembering a day with Cammie) I explained I had done one or two. So, he suggested I perform one over to 28L, to get my pattern completed before the Jet arrived. I turned, and if I do say so myself, it looked pretty darn good. My landing was even smooth. What surprised me was that both the controller and the pilot of the Embraer Jet congratulated me. They said it looked very nice.

I was hit on today!

As I turned from my crosswind to my downwind on that same circuit, in the midst of the chatter I heard the pilot of the Jet say "Boy, I wish I was up there with her, she sounds cute!" The controller came back and said "I'm sorry, what did you say?! Please repeat?" Of course the pilot didn't, but I keyed down and said "I heard that!" The controller came back after what sounded like clearing his throat, and said "I think he's just wishing you well, Heather." And in the plane I got the giggles. Anyway, today was very fun.

When I dropped Ryan off, I had noticed Cammie getting someone ready to go in the Cirrus, so in my pattern I had kept an eye on her status. And of course, right when she was holding short on the runway I was landing on, WAITING for me to complete whatever it was that I was going to do so they could take off, I proceeded to BOUNCE, right in front of her! I guess I was a little nervous, because I knew she'd be watching me.

I got to talk to her about it more, and how to fix it on Saturday, when I met up with her during a 99's meeting in Winnemucca (which I'll post of soon).

Here's a video I took of some Soft Field work that day, a takeoff, and a touch and go.

This thursday is going to be my night cross country. It'll be from Boise to Weiser, and then to Ontario, OR. I'm excited. And hopefully I can do better planning it, too.

Cross Country to Hailey, and Burley

2008-04-28T09:57:00.008-06:00

Monday, April 21st

I had planned over the weekend to create three flight plans, and have them ready on Monday morning, when it came time to meet up with Ryan. Some things happened over the weekend, so I didn't get to get them as complete as I wanted them. I had most things lined up except for the weather, and some calculations.

I got there Monday morning at about 7:45 am, and spent a couple hours with Ryan going over the plans. We completed one from KBOI to KSUN, one from KSUN to KBYI, and then one from KBYI back to KBOI. I had planned to fly at 9500 feet from Boise to Hailey, 7500 feet from Hailey to Burley, and then 6500 feet from Burley back to Boise.

I called 1-800-WX-BRIEF for the first time to file them, and get a weather briefing. This was a neat experience, and the briefer was very patient with me. He claimed though that there was 2 inches of snow on Hailey's runway, so I had to call Hailey to verify. They said there was no such thing, so we got going. The briefer also had said that there was going to be some tubulence, but that it was going to be high level turbulence, and that it wouldn't bother me. Of course things change in a matter of hours, and in a couple of hours, there WOULD be turbulence at my flight level.

We got going later than expected, and on our walk out to the plane, Ryan took a phone call. After the call he asked me if I was going to be away from work all day, or if I had to go in. I told him I thought I should be able to take more time off if I had to. He then said that his early afternoon student had canceled, so he was available till 3. Great! No rush!

We headed out, and started climbing to our 9500 flight level. The clouds met us before we got there, so we had to change our plans to flying at about 7500 feet. This meant we'd have to change our flight path a bit to work around the mountain tops. This was fun, and a learning experience on what to look ahead for when planning what path to take.

I really wish I had gotten some pictures of our flight over Pine, and over the mountains. It was gorgeous. There was just too much to think about, and too much to learn. I'd be doing all kinds of things in the cockpit, listening to Ryan, then look out the windows, where my eyes would glaze over with the view.... and then I'd go "Huh? What?" when Ryan would say something and I'd have to focus back inside again. There was a fair bit of moderate turbulence on this route, but not too bad.

We found our way to Highway 20, which was on our original plan, and followed that to the Hailey DME, and then turned in to land in Hailey.

Friedman Memorial (Hailey) airport is somewhat different from airports you might be used to. It's seated at the end of a draw with mountains at one end, which means that the traffic pattern is opposing. It has one runway, 31/13. You land on 31, and take off on 13. Bellevue, a town just south of Hailey, has a noise abatement stating that they don't want you to fly below 7000 feet as you pass over the town. This means it's a fairly steep glide to get from 7000 feet above Bellevue, down to 5318, which is the altitude of the Hailey airport. Here's a picture from the chart of the area.

Our landing was a bit difficult, there was a lot of wind blowing around in this draw today, so Ryan helped a bit on the way down. I haven't had too much practice in crosswinds. Windy days, yes, but it seemed in those days most of it was blowing down the runway, not across it.

After landing, Ryan asked the FBO for the courtesy car (a very nice thing!) and took me to a burger place called "The Snow Bunny". It was very good, they make great shakes.

Here's two pictures of the plane sitting at the FBO in Hailey. I had just finished my preflight, and I hadn't taken any pictures yet, so I wanted to get a couple in for proof that I (or at least the Archer) was there.

After take off, we started our flight path to Burley, when we realized it wasn't going to work for us like we had originally planned, either. There were some low lying clouds in the path we had chosen. I called EFAS (Flight Watch) for the first time, and got some in route information to Burley. It seemed that it was still fine to land in Burley if we wanted, so, we flew around the clouds, got dialed into a radial at Burley's VOR, and headed down. Again, there was moderate turbulence. It seemed to be worsening here, but still doable.

About 7 miles from Burley, Ryan decided to see how I'd do if the weather was too bad to land at Burley. He claimed "The weather's too bad here, take me back to Boise." So, remembering what I had planned for my original flight from KBYI to KBOI, I dialed in the VOR so I could intercept the Victor 4 airway and head back to Boise. We used some landmarks, and we would use the towns below to make sure we were on course.

At this time, the turbulence was even worse, a lot of bouncing around. I felt like I was in my truck, out wheeling on the rocks somewhere. Ryan suggested I make a PIREP (a Pilot Report), and since I wanted to find out how to do that, I did. I called Flight Watch again, and filed a report. Now, if another pilot was getting weather information for flying through this area, they'd get my report. (After I got home, I went on the computer to look, and sure enough, there was my weather report! I felt so special.)

After a little while, Ryan took the flight controls, and had me put on the hood, for some more instrument work. We flew back, and when I took them off again, I was looking at the glide slope for the Boise Aiport.

I made one of the best landings I've made, and Ryan was there to see it. I kept the nose off the ground nice and long.

It was about 10 minutes to 3pm when we tied down the Archer, we left the cover off, as another student would be flying soon.

What a great experience. I learned a lot, and now that VOR/Navigation/Flight Planning stuff is starting to stick.

A Recap on Two Solos

2008-04-22T10:16:00.006-06:00

April 11th, 2008

Oh, it was an absolutely gorgeous day. Already on my way to the airport at 7:30 am, I called Ryan with the METARs, which were perfect. I was afraid I was going to wake him up, but he claimed he was up. I still felt bad for calling him so early, but I wanted to get up in the air! The plane had to be back by 10 am for another student.

I watched the sun creep over the mountains and show it's full round face on my walk out on the tarmac to the plane. The plane had about an 1/8th of an inch of frost on the wings, so I got out the de-icer and a towel and cleaned it up during my preflight.

Preflighted, I ran through the checklists, and started up the engine. I got ATIS, and called Clearance wanting to head out to the practice area. Then, taxied out for my run up, and took off.

Out in the practice area I worked on more stalls, slow flight, steep turns, and ground reference maneuvers.

Have you ever taken a boat out on glassy water? That's what it felt like up there that day. Smooth. Not a hint of turbulence. I didn't want to come down.

After a bit I asked for a departure from the practice area to Nampa, where I could practice some touch and goes. When I got there, I spent more time on short and soft field take off and landings, and then I headed back to Boise.

April 18th, 2008

This day wasn't nearly as perfect. It was another early morning flight, and I think my problems started when I got to the airport. As I was preflighting the plane, I called Ryan again thinking I was going to wake him up.

He was already at the airport, and he said "Is that you out there preflighting?" I had asked him earlier in the week if I could take the Archer this morning, and he had said yes. However, I didn't put it on the schedule as I wasn't sure about the weather. He explained to me that another student had reserved it last night for a flight this morning. I immediately thought, well, no biggie, guess I got the cover off for this student, and I was getting mentally prepared to leave when Ryan said "It's ok, because we're going to spend this morning in the simulator so you can still go."

Well, I guess that means I need to be more thorough about the scheduler, and put myself on there no matter what I think the weather might be, or what I talked about earlier in the week.

I didn't have much turbulence, but I did have quite a bit of haze, and for some reason I wasn't as on the ball as I should have been. I forgot the carb heat on one climb out, and I seemed to be behind the plane on a couple of circuits in Nampa.

I did several touch and goes, and a full stop. Later, I started to head out to the practice area from Nampa, when I realized I probably should just head back to Boise in my current state. I even made one mistake to ATC.

When contacting ATC so that I could maneuver back into their airspace - I know that in my head, I heard myself saying "Cherokee 43839 inbound from the southwest for landing", when my mouth actually said "inbound from the east". I knew I fudged, and after a few seconds it was confirmed when the controller came back to me, and said with a smirk on her voice "Cherokee 43839, radar contact SOUTH WEST of Boise, squawk..." Sigh.

At least I didn't land on the wrong runway when I got to Boise.

Local Navigation Practice... with a Passenger!

2008-04-09T07:09:00.008-06:00

Saturday 4/05/2008

Today we went up for some local navigation practice, and some more landing practice. I needed a refresher in VOR navigation. I had a ground lesson on Friday, the 4th, where we went over flight planning, and calculations. These areas are where I'm failing in my practice tests for the FAA Knowledge Test.

I brought a passenger with me this time, my stepdaughter, Ariel. Since she's been questioning my flying, I thought this would be a neat experience for her. She would also make a good distractor, something I really haven't had too much of yet. I also learned that adding an extra moment of weight to the plane does make a difference.

Things went well, we took off, and headed south to practice navigation. Ryan would give me a bearing, or a radius, and I would fly it. He showed me reverse sensing, and the differences between using VLOC and GPS track on the VOR indicator.

Here's a video of us taking off that Ariel took from the back seat.

She also took another short clip while we were turning out over the desert and farms south of Boise.

After about an hour, Ariel complained of some butterflies in her stomach, so Ryan suggested we land in Nampa to help quell them. There was some turbulence out there south of Boise, and this was Ariel's first time in a small plane, so I don't blame her. We also got to tour the pilot lounge and facilities there, which I have not seen before. Ryan also showed me the credit card operated gas pump.

Soon, we were back up in the air, and we navigated back to Boise for some more touch and go Short field and Soft field practice. Ariel took another clip of our last landing for the day.

All in all it was a good day, I appreciate Ariel for coming along for her first ever small plane ride, and I also appreciate Ryan's patience with everything. At the end, when we were on our way to the car, Ariel looked at me and said, "you've got a nice teacher". I'd have to agree with that, Ryan's great.

I will be taking another solo practice flight this week, to work on more of my own navigation, as well as the PTS standards for my future checkride. Then, I plan on studying and planning our next cross country, which should happen next week sometime. We will be going to Hailey, and then Burley.

Second Full Solo

2008-03-31T07:03:00.006-06:00

Saturday 3/29/2008

Today I went up for my second full solo.

I got approval from Ryan, and headed out to the airport. Once there, I headed straight out to the plane, preflighted, and got ready to go. I started the engine right up today, but it was a warm start - as the plane had been flown right before I got there. I got ATIS, and then let Ground know I wanted closed traffic. I planned on doing two or three touch and goes, and then after that, heading out to the practice area to practice stalls, steep turns, and ground reference maneuvers. Here's a picture I took out the window of the airport while I was cruising around the pattern.

After a few touch and goes where I practiced some more Short field and Soft field landings and takeoffs, I headed out to the practice area. It felt amazing heading away from the airport. Almost like being a house dog finally being let outside to run around. After I practiced some power off and power on stalls, I headed out to practice a couple of steep turns. Here's some shots I took while making a clearing turn at some point.

After a steep turn to the right, and then one to the left, I headed over to a field that had a tractor in the middle of it to practice turns around a point. It took a few minutes to remember how I was supposed to do that, but after a turn or two, it finally started to feel good.

After making another clearing turn, I headed over to swan falls road to practice some S turns. Boy this was fun. In the beginning I was either too steep or too shallow, but I finally grasped the maneuver and did several more in succession as I traversed south above the road. I had looked down while I was doing this, and noticed a van traveling down the road in the same direction. I'll bet they were wondering what the heck a plane was doing slaloming down this road about 1000 feet above them.

I wished I could stay out longer, but my hour allowed out was coming up soon, so I had to head back.

I headed back to the airport after this and performed a Short field landing, so I could turn off as soon as possible as there was an MD-80 waiting patiently for me to land and clear the runway.

I pulled back in and parked, and logged my journey. I had timed it this time so I got exactly 1 hour on the hobbs meter. I also called Ryan to let him know I was back.

I can't wait to go out again!

First Full Solo

2008-03-20T14:28:00.010-06:00

Saturday 03/15/2008

Ryan had stated last week that I should take some time on the upcoming weekend to try to go up by myself and do some pattern work. So I did.

This morning I hemmed and hawed and looked at the sky, and kept an eye on it until I decided that it looked good enough. The wind was light at about 3-5kts, there was 10 miles of visibility, and it was scattered at 4000 feet and broken at about 6000 feet when I decided to call Ryan. The forecast called for not much change, other than the ceiling lowering about 1000 feet in a couple of hours. It was going to be almost the same as Friday's weather.

Ryan approved, so I headed to the airport. I walked out onto the tarmac feeling great, this was going to be all ME... I'm solely responsible for everything that happens today.

I got prepared, did my preflight, and hopped in the plane. I had even started a video while getting ready to go, explaining everything I was doing, and then it came to the engine startup... which I then proceeded to botch. I had performed the normal procedure, which requires me to prime the engine about four to five times, pump the throttle twice, and then turn the key. It almost caught... and then my hand bumped the throttle which killed it. Of course, now it wouldn't start, and continued to not do so for a time. So, I stopped my video. I figured I could do it another time. After waiting for a bit, assuming I flooded the motor and needed to let it evaporate off, I tried again and it started right up. Yay!

I finished up, got ATIS, called Ground to remain in the pattern, and then taxied out of my parking slot. At the end of the ramp I waited behind a Diamond DA-40 who was waiting for a regional jet to clear the taxiway. I ended up following him down to the run-up area, where he kept going to the hold short line and I pulled off. Everything was in order during the run-up, so it was time to go. I decided the first thing I'd do was try to perform a Soft Field takeoff, and then and Soft Field landing. Here's some video.

After this I did another set (Which looked MUCH better, but I didn't get video of them!) and then went around for a pattern to the left to perform a Short Field landing, succeeded by a Short Field takeoff. Here's a video. Sorry it was cut short at the end, apparently I need to upgrade my memory card!

Yes, I noticed I said "OK" quite a bit! Sorry about that, I'll have to work on my narration skills!

After this, I continued and performed another couple TO &L's, alternating between Soft and Short Field. My last landing of the day was a Short Field.

I was again held up on my way back by another traffic jam between a Diamond (maybe the same one I saw earlier) and another regional jet as they tried to pass each other in opposite directions. It almost looked like one wing went under the other. But they pulled it off and I was able to continue.

As I taxied back to the ramp, I said to myself, "I can do this! And I love it, too!" I was only allowed an hour, and I pulled into my parking spot with .9 hours. Of course the first thing I thought was, "Darn! I had another tenth of an hour!" Heh.

Overall, the flight went great. I was very happy with myself, and I did experience quite a bit of training traffic in the air with me, as well. This made for quite a few radio calls and scans for traffic. Great for experience.

Proceeding forward from here I've got to get prepared to take my FAA Knowledge Test, and work on better understanding navigation items such as the VOR and the calculations of what it takes for cross countries.

Short Field TO & L

2008-03-17T16:47:00.005-06:00

Friday 03/14/2008

Today we went back to Nampa and practiced the short field side of things.

I did much better here. On a short field landing I'm supposed to come in slow (about 60kts) and somewhat steep. Then I pick a spot that I'm going to try to "hit", basically where I'm going to let the mains touch down. After touching down, I pull up the flaps, and then slam on the brakes as much as is feasible without skidding all over the runway.

A short field take off consists of getting on the runway as close to the beginning as possible, and then holding the brakes. After I put down two notches of flaps, I throttle up about 3/4 of the way in the Archer while holding the brakes, and as I pass that 3/4 mark, I let up. Then we start to roll. I keep the plane on the runway until almost 60kts, and then I rotate. I then climb out at Vx (best angle of climb - 64kts) until the instructor says "obstacle clear". The idea is that I have to fly over some imaginary tree, or tower, or building at the end of my short runway. After I clear my "obstacle", I nose down until Vy (best rate of climb - 76kts), and climb out, proceeding to pull the flaps one notch at a time.
We did several processions, and in each I was successful.

We went back to soft field practice, and I performed a couple take offs and landings, which ended up looking a lot better than Wednesday's did.

Then, we went home.

I felt a lot better this day, I think some of it had to do with the weather. It was overcast, but very smooth air, and there was no sun glare to deal with.

_____________________

I went up for my first all by myself full Solo on Saturday, which I'll post about shortly. I have to get a couple of videos uploaded. For now, I thought I'd share a couple of pictures of my logbook.

Yep, my second solo I have yet to write about is in there.

Looks like about 25.7 hours total, so far. Sometimes it feels there should be more! However, my big cross countries are coming soon, and I'll hit 40 in no time. I know I'll probably go over 40 before I get my license, depending on how much it takes to get me ready for my checkride, but I'm excited anyway.

Solo write up from Saturday to come soon!

Soft Field Takeoff and Landing

2008-03-13T16:17:00.006-06:00

Wednesday 3/12/2008

Today was going to be learning about Short and Soft Field Takeoffs and Landings. We discussed them both in the office, however, we spent the rest of the lesson on soft field.

We started out the lesson with Ryan showing me a soft field takeoff out of Boise, and then after we traversed to Nampa airport, he showed me a soft field landing. We came full stop, and then taxied back so I could do it myself. I also learned about doing a 360 degree rotation on the ground at the hold short line to check for traffic.

We turned out and got into position. I was told to keep rolling and pretend like we don't have brakes to keep from getting stuck in the pretend mud that was on the runway. After straightening out, I throttled up with the yoke pulled back into my stomach. As the nose rose off the ground, and the plane took to the air, I was supposed to nose over - to level it out until our airspeed reached Vy (76kts or best rate of climb). I was SUPPOSED to keep it leveled out, in ground effect, about 5-10 feet up until said time. I failed. The plane really likes to fly. I floundered and bobbled until Vy, and let it climb. Very messy.

Upon landing, I am supposed to keep the nosewheel off the ground as long as possible. As a matter of fact, the idea is that I'll keep it up until I throttle up and take off again.

Ok, so, throttle at idle, check. Flare, check. Nose up, check. Keep that nose up! Mains touch ground, check. Yoke in stomach, check. Strain on left arm while pulling on yoke because my trim setting is working against me, check. Throttle up juuuussst a LITTLE to keep the nose up... Whoa, not that MUCH! Plane takes off again. Then mains touch again. Running out of runway, check. Throttle back up for takeoff, check. WAIT, don't forget to turn off the carb heat and raise the flaps a notch! Whoa we're already out of ground effect and we didn't hit Vy yet? What about that soft field takeoff?!

I went about 10 rounds in the boxing ring with this, each time I felt like I got a little better in some areas, and then got worse in them as I got better in other areas. I even had one particularly messy touch and go where I almost used the whole runway, each side included. That must have been the messiest thing I have EVER done since I've been in the air.

At least I didn't make Ryan hang on for dear life. I might have gotten his pulse rate up though. I know I got mine up on a couple of occasions.

Luckily, we can continue to practice until I get them right. Or close to right. I can practice them by myself now, if I'd like. Which I will.

Here's a video I found on YouTube that might be able to demonstrate for you what I was trying to accomplish. Kudos to the video creator.

I'm going to go up again with Ryan on Friday, the 14th if the weather cooperates. We'll probably practice these some more, and then get into the short field side of things. I have a feeling I might do better with the short field portion. We'll see.

I made it!

2008-02-29T10:05:00.006-07:00

I finally Soloed.

I didn't solo on the 14th, however, as nice as it would have been to solo on Valentine's Day. The winds were once again too gusty. Cammie took me up, though, and we got some more practice in.
I really appreciate Cammie's method of teaching. She makes me think about things that I wouldn't normally think about. One of the things Cammie did with me, is, sing. Yes. She SANG. Paul McCartney songs. "Oh Blah Di" (Life Goes On). Hah. However, it was a great way to distract somebody in the cockpit, and see how well they handle it. She kept asking me what song it was, and who the artist was. It also made me much more comfortable in the cockpit.

After a scheduling mix up, I finally got to go up again yesterday, the 28th.

February 28th

I wasn't sure if the solo was going to happen today, I was hoping it would. It was a very nice day, and the winds were finally on my side. We took off and flew the pattern about nine times, and on the last landing, right before I was ready to turn off the carb heat, raise the flaps, and throttle up for another takeoff, Ryan said, "We're making this one full stop".

So we taxied back, and as we were holding short of the main taxiway, about to call ground, Ryan asked me if I was ready.

I felt GREAT, so I said, "You Bet!"

We taxied back to parking, he got out, signed my endorsements, and then I was on my own.

I was a little nervous in making sure I got everything right, but I had the handy - dandy checklist to help me. Started the engine back up, then I got the new ATIS, and called Ground as a "Student Pilot" for close patterned traffic. Then I started to roll.

It was a weird feeling looking out the window, and seeing Ryan there while I started to roll away. He was just keeping himself busy by putting the covers on their Cirrus.

Here's a little video of me on my way down the taxiway.

Of course I fumbled my words a bit to ATC, as I was nervous.

Here's a video of the first circuit I made all by myself. There is a bit of a hesitation as I get into position and hold, as if ATC is figuring out what to do with me. Heh.

After two touch and goes, the last one, which I really didn't want to do, because I was having so much fun... is a full stop. Here's a video of the last landing. It's one of the best I ever made. I keep the front wheel off the ground nice and long!

Well, that's it. I did it! Finally! Yay!

I even got my shirt tail cut off. Ryan said he'd give it to Cammie for her to decorate it for me, and they were going to hang it up.

Now... I just gotta finish that license!

Practice Patterns in Gusty Winds?

2008-02-14T09:47:00.001-07:00

Wednesday was another lesson. Ryan couldn't be available that day, so I spent my time with Cammie. I really enjoyed the experience.

When I got there it was a bit windy. Winds were coming from ~300 at 25kts and gusting to 35kts.

I had been given my pre-solo written test when I started back up with Ryan last week, and I was able to turn it into Cammie today. We spent the first part of the lesson grading it, and I got 100%! Yay!

After we got done, Cammie said the winds would be good practice, so we went up and did some more pattern work.

I hadn't really spent any time in higher winds yet, let alone anything gusty. It was a bit exciting. But I never really got nervous. On one particular climb out, the wind caught us, and made us bank really quick to the right, as if we were trying to roll the plane. However, I corrected it, and we straightened back out. On a few landings, right as we were about to touch down, the wind caught us and made us land with sideways pressure on the wheels. I really don't like to do that, I know it's not good for the tires.

There was also one fairly hard landing, where I landed with all three on the ground. I think it happened because I wasn't ready for the gusts, the wind seemed to "shut off" for a second, and the plane dropped onto the runway.

We also even had one occasion where we had to break off on our landing, as I think ATC misjudged us against an airliner that was on approach behind us.

I did learn something else about myself that I need to fix. I guess I have what you could call a "tender touch" when it comes to manipulating things with my hands. I learned from Cammie that I really CAN and SHOULD throw my weight around in the cockpit. I should spend some time at the gym and work on my muscles!

It ended up being a great experience. I appreciate Cammie's patience, and I'm glad we went up. Hopefully it will make my solo (which should be TODAY!) go much better. I do have some pretty big butterflies, though!

Pattern Work

2008-02-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

Friday was another good day for flying. It was overcast, but for the most part the winds were calm and the ceiling was high enough.

The entire lesson was spent flying around the pattern. This was great for me - I feel now that I'm pretty much back to where I left off in December, before the plane went in for a new motor.

When I first got in the plane - I pulled up on the front seat, trying to raise the height - and it wouldn't come so I thought the seat was all the way up. Not until we were rolling down the runway did I notice that I was really having to work to sit up and see over the dash. And of course, by now it's obviously a little difficult to adjust the seat height once in the air.

However, I think I did my pattern work pretty well. The difficulty still comes in what I was struggling with beforehand - all the steps taken, and getting a routine down so as to not fall behind. I did seem to always be a bit high - and there were a couple times that I overshot the turn from base to final and had to correct.

I really appreciated ATC today, they had a lady on the radio this time - and she was very pleasant and patient. Some of the guys on there can often times sound like auctioneers. She switched us up on the pattern quite a bit, I got to go back and forth between left and right closed traffic, and the left and right runways. This was neat as it got me more comfortable with changing events in the air around the airport.

My last two circuits felt really good, they were starting to square up really well, and I was getting my timing down. Even my landings were getting better at being on the glide slope and straight in.

When we were walking back to the office, Ryan asked me if I thought that if I were alone up there in the pattern - could I handle it. I said yes, I feel like I can. It felt a lot better today.

I hope that means my solo is coming soon!

Back in the air!

2008-02-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I made it back up in the air again. About time! The Archer also has enough hours on it now so that I can continue with my pre-solo work.

I woke yesterday morning to 3 inches of new snow on the ground, and thought that the day might potentially be shot for flying. However, about an hour or so before I was scheduled for my lesson, the cloud ceiling dissipated away, and the sun came out. There was a lot of snow on the ground, and the plane hadn't been flown in three days, so before we started it we had to pull it with the tow bar out of it's parking spot into the taxi space.

The day went well, we did a review of slow flight, stalls, steep turns, spent time under the hood, and some pattern work. It took me a little bit, it's like getting back on a bicycle.

I got a somewhat disoriented under the hood, which is the first time that's happened to me. I was a little worried - since the last times I had spent under the hood I had done great. But Ryan said that was normal.

If there's anything I've learned from this, it's if you're trying to learn to fly, don't let so much time go by between lessons. You end up having to re-learn things. Even operating the radio was a little difficult. My plan is from now on to continue at a pace of once or twice a week.

My next lesson is this Friday, at 1pm. I hope the weather will work out again!

------------------

This last Saturday I attended a Ninety Nine's meeting. They had scheduled the meeting at Glass Cockpit. Cammie was to be introduced, and she was to show us around the school. How fun, I could attend a meeting at my own flight school.

Cammie gave us a run-down of the glass cockpit interface, the differences between Avidyne and Garmin, and then took us into the Simulator to play around. It was fun, I learned a lot - and it got me itching to learn the Cirrus they have there. Since I'm pretty tech minded, I find the whole concept very attractive. But I'll wait until I get my PPL, then I plan to transition over.

If you're not familiar with what "Glass Cockpit" means, here's two pictures for comparison. This first picture is the standard, traditional cockpit I'm sure you're familiar with:

This second picture is of a "Glass Cockpit" setup.

Glass cockpit technology is very cool. I'll let you read wikipedia for more information about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_cockpit

I've enjoyed meeting with the 99's so far, it feels like I might be able to be a part of something when I'm with them. I also get to see and talk with Gene Nora Jessen, a woman who has achieved much in her life. She has contributed a lot for the future of women in aviation.

The Phone Book Saga

2008-01-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

No. I haven't been flying again, yet. I've been stalling, because I've been trying to figure out different methods of making extra money to pay for the lessons. I've submitted applications and resumes for jobs at the airport, and other things. But one thing I'll NEVER do again....

...Is try to make a few extra bucks delivering phone books.

Nope.

Never.

I am STILL sore from this last weekend.

Dex was very nice, exclaiming about how much a person can make in a couple of days, etcetera. Of course they never go into the nitty gritty or the tiresome details. My route I chose was $168.74 upon completion and then "telechecks". (To make sure you actually delivered and didn't just take them all and make a huge bonfire.)

My route consisted of ~640 drops. ~1401 phone books. (One Boise phone book and one Treasure Valley book per drop, some businesses got more.)

I'm an eternal optimist for the most part, so this didn't seem that bad to me. It sounded to me like the hardest thing was going to be bagging them. Nathan warned me, but I guess I didn't listen. I didn't think about how hard delivery was going to be.

Two loads in the Dodge, one Thursday, one Friday to pick up the book bundles.

Bagging all evening Friday.

Delivering took us from 10-5 on Saturday, and then again from 9-3 on Sunday.

I think it worked out that after gas, time, and having to divvy it up between three people, it came to roughly... ~$1 an hour per person. Yikes. Mingle that with the pain, and the effort of all the walking, yes, it's coming out NEGATIVE. I can't fathom how one person could manage. It was hard enough for Nathan, Ariel, and I.

I also found out that the only gas reimbursement I'll be receiving for my particular chosen route was... :drumroll: ...2 cents per drop. ~650 drops x .02 = ~$13. That doesn't cover half of what the cost of gas was.

Well, it's a lesson learned, and at least I can now say that I now have the experience of knowing what it's like to be that person delivering those phone books to my door.

So if you're looking to make some extra bucks, and you see that ad from Dex, don't go there.

First Cross Country

2008-01-02T08:56:00.000-07:00

Monday, December 31st

Finally, back on the horse again! It's been a month!

I went over Chapter 9 with Ryan last week, on Wednesday. I also got to spend some time in their simulator learning the VOR and DME equipment. It was weird to get used to. We had then planned on going on the cross country on Friday. On Friday, however, it was snowing like crazy. So, we called it off and settled for Monday.

Monday ended up being a gorgeous, sunny day. With snow on the ground everywhere, it was like a dream to be up in the air. I had thought it was going to be difficult to get back in the plane again, remembering the checklists and how it felt. However, it really turned out better than expected. I did forget to throw on my shoulder belt until we were holding short on the runway, and I did forget the fuel pump and landing lights a couple of times over the course of the trip, but overall, it turned out pretty well.

Look, I finally got a picture of both of us in the plane! Man those Lightspeed 30-3G's are huge. But they sure are comfortable!

The trip was supposed to take us to Gooding, right? Before we left, my instructor called them to ask about the surface conditions on the runway. When he hung up his phone, there was a smirk on his face as he turned around. I asked him "What did they say? I don't like the look on your face!" He said "That's for me to know, and you to find out." I asked him if we were going to cancel, and he said we were still going to go.

In the air I spent some time learning the VOR and DME equipment again, which fell into place better in the plane then they did when I was in the simulator. I can tell they'll get more familiar as I use them. I also found it's difficult to unfold a sectional and look at it while flying and maintaining altitude. Much like trying to unfold a map and drive your car at the same time. But, I can't just pull my plane off the side of the road. Here's the video of what we found.

I didn't get video of the touch and go in Twin Falls, I was pretty focused on the two diverts I made. I also had to navigate around some puffy clouds on my way back to Boise. I got some footage of them, but overall the video is boring. I might upload it later, though.

Here's a couple of pictures of the foothills as we're coming back to Boise.

On approach to Boise, Ryan covered up my airspeed indicator and told me to land that way. I think it ended up being one of my smoothest landings I've done, ever. And all because I wasn't focusing on the speed, but rather what was going on outside, and what the plane sounded like.

Here's the video of the approach and landing back into Boise.

All in all, it was a very nice trip. I look forward to the next one.

Oh, by the way, they caught the thief who stole from them. As time went on, Cammie kept looking for her tablet PC, because she wanted it back. Finally, with enough time for Google to cache the information, she found a link to a guy selling it on a website. He had claimed that someone broke into HIS house and stole everything (the cords, and cables) but left the laptop. Uh huh. The one mistake the guy made was that he used the same user name on every forum he went to. In this fashion, she was able to just search for his user name on Google, and track all the other items, like the headsets and other laptops.

On one forum, his user name tracked him to some pictures of a plane that he flew. And, that plane tracked him back to Jetstream, downstairs. It turns out - he was unhappy with how his check ride had gone. So, apparently, he thought he'd get revenge by breaking into the place and stealing their, and our equipment. Nice. I don't know what kind of mindset you have to have for that.

Hope to go flying again soon! I'm sure it'll be by the end of next week.

Chapter 8 and updates

2007-12-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

December 23rd

Sorry for the wait between updates, it's the holiday season, and I was waiting on the Archer. Finally the Archer was ready to go, however, it still needs it's 25 hours of break in time, and I'm still not quite ready for cross country flying yet.

Last Friday I went over Chapter 8 with Ryan. It went well. What's coming next is Chapter 9 on Wednesday, and then I get to fly my very first Cross Country with Ryan on Friday. I'm sure I'll be learning quite a bit this week, as I'll have to plan it. We're going to go to Gooding, Idaho.

Going over FARs

2007-12-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

So, last Friday I went over the Federal Aviation Regulations with Ryan. There's a lot of information in there. Now I have the gist of what is in the book, as well as the areas in which to find what I'm looking for. I'm sure I'll get even better at understanding the book as time goes on.

I am still waiting on the Archer, hopefully I'll hear something soon. For now, I get to study further in the Jeppesen textbook, and get more familiar with what will be happening in cross country flights.

Yes, I said that, "cross country flights". No, I still haven't soloed. Like I said before, when the Archer comes back, it'll need about 25 hours of break in time, with most of that at a nice cruising speed. So, we've agreed to do a cross country flight or two to help out. This way I can still gather flight hours, even though I can't solo yet. It's a weird change in the learning schedule, but maybe I'll be a better overall pilot because of it.

Glass Cockpit Broken Into (and other news)

2007-12-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

So I go to ground school today - and find out the place was broken into on Sunday night.

I had originally set up a time to meet on Monday morning, but when I got to the main plaza building (our school has an office upstairs in this building) the front door was locked. I thought, that was strange, that door's usually open from 8-5. When I called my instructor I found out he couldn't make it. At that point on Monday no one at Glass Cockpit (my school) knew they were broken into - but if I had been able to get in I would have seen it.

Anyway - today when we walked through the doorway of the office I noticed that there was a new frame on the door, and there were wood shavings on the floor. I said "Wow, change locks or something?" He said, "No, we were broken into. Someone kicked the door open and ruined the frame." I looked around and finally took things in.

They have had a really nice computer in the corner with two giant touch screen monitors and one giant regular monitor for some ground school training. It also had some really nice computer flight controls. These guys left the controls but took the pc and monitors.

They also took two laptops out of the office - one was a really nice brand new tablet PC that the chief instructor had been saving for and just got. She of course left it in the office on Sunday night when she usually takes it home. Some headsets, and other gear. They broke into the Flight Simulator room - my school has an professional flight simulator - but they didn't steal anything. There was a small amount of damage caused to the projectors because they tried to pull them off. All told - the items stolen from Glass Cockpit totals about $12,000.

Downstairs in Jetstream Aviation (another school), they stole all the laptops and all the headsets. Jetstream is a bigger, part 141 school, with an actual classroom like setting. They stole other items, and then apparently got spooked because when a Jetstream instructor walked in on Monday morning, their server, a laptop, and an aviation headset were sitting by the door ready to go, but for some reason left there.

They know what time it happened, because the last log on the Jetstream server was at 9:08pm (before it was unplugged). This person had to have key access to Jetstream, as there was no forced entry.

Apparently the schools were cased. And it sounds like a possible inside job, or someone with access. Man, that sucks. At least they had insurance.

I've asked for a list of items that were stolen, so I can start watching ebay and craigslist. Maybe I can find some information on some forums somewhere, too.

I feel bad for my chief instructor, this is almost the second year Glass Cockpit has been around, and they were finally starting to get off the ground. (so to speak)

In other news, I went through Chapter 7 with Ryan, and we heard from the owner of N43839. He was there this morning to pick it up and take it to Mountain Home to get started on replacing the motor. Sounds like it's getting a brand spanking new motor, starter, and a block heater. This is great! The downside is that when it comes back it needs about 25 hours of break in time. This is good for cross countries, not so good for touch and goes - ie: soloing. So it once again means I have to push back my soloing. I did find out why I can't solo in the other Archer, though. The owner of that Archer doesn't carry insurance that will cover my solo in it.

I'm going to meet again with Ryan for an hour on Friday to cover the FARs, and then that should be all the ground I will need before the solo, minus one more written test.

GAAHHHH

2007-12-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

Oh how frustrating.

You've been reading my blog, so you know what's already going on to this point.

I had two lessons scheduled last week, one on Thursday, and one on Friday.

On Thursday I get there, head out to the plane, preflight - gave my husband notice so he could try to listen for my calls over the online live Boise ATC feed, and as soon as I get in the plane to prepare to go - Ryan taps on the window to get my attention. He tells me he can't stay, and we'll have to try again tomorrow. Ryan and his wife are very close to having a baby. Ok, no big deal, good luck Ryan! So I call my husband and tell him to stop listening, I won't be going up this day.

Then on Friday, I get Ryan scheduled for a four hour block. Great, I think, maybe I can get REALLY close to soloing! Plenty of time for learning this day! Everything went smoothly - we went over Chapter 6 in the book, and then went out to the plane. We preflighted, it was a gorgeous day - and then...

The plane decided I wasn't going anywhere. The starter on the plane finally gave up the ghost. We had been having some problems with it - but in the past Ryan would run out with some WD-40, squirt it on the solenoid, and the starter would catch. Today, no such luck. We had one engine cough early on - but since the plane was so cold (it hadn't been flown in four days) it didn't catch. After several more attempts, and lots of WD-40, Ryan went out one more time.

"Hey, uh, this gear here is looking mighty smooth!"

Well, I guess that means it's stripped past the point of no return. Sigh. So, no plane flight on Friday either.

The Archer IS due for a new motor and starter - it was supposed to happen this month anyway, but I was hoping it would last for a "little" longer, so I could get a solo in. It looks like I'm going to have to continue waiting.

Glass Cockpit has another Archer, but they can't solo me in it. I'm not sure why, maybe the type/year/model difference. So, it looks like I could be getting some pattern time in the other Archer, and then when my N43839 comes back, I might be able to finally solo.

Gah.

I've got a ground lesson Wednesday with Ryan, covering Chapter 7. I'm not sure I'll get flight time then, I don't imagine I will.

Virtual Pilotage

2007-11-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

So here I am, in between lessons, thinking maybe I ought to share one of the things I do in my spare time. I fly virtually, using Microsoft Flight Simulator X. My flight controls are a CH Products Flight Sim Yoke, and their Pro Pedals.

FSX is a good tool to learn instruments with, as well as some ATC methods and ideals. It's not so good to learn VFR with because you can't "feel" anything, but it CAN help get your steps down for pattern flying, ground reference maneuvers, etcetera. If anything, you can get a little bit of "armchair" flying out of it.

But you have to have a good model to use in the game. Since I fly an Archer II, I wanted something realistic, something where my checklists would work, I could transfer over what I used in the game to real life.

After trying several "free" downloads of Piper Archers and Cherokees, I came across the "payware" Carenado Piper Archer II. This is a great model. Everything works. Click on a picture for a larger size.

This model is 17.00 from Carenado. It's worth it. You do truly get what you pay for. Sure, free models are good for the most part, but finding free "complete" models are few and far between.

Ok, now back to our regularly scheduled studying and working.

More Review

2007-11-26T08:27:00.001-07:00

November 23rd

I was able to turn in my first multiple choice exam - and received a 91%! I know it should have been 100%, I mean, it was open book and all. I just missed a couple of concepts.

Well, it was still cold, but we met at noon, and by then most of the ice was off the Archer. We were going to fly! Whoohoo.

Today was going to be a review - slow flight, stalls, steep turns, and then touch and goes. Because the last three times I had seen my instructor had been on the ground - today was a bit difficult. It really DOES make a difference to make sure you have lessons as often as possible. Things stay fresh in your mind.

Preflight. Today the Archer needed a quart of oil, and it was my job to put it in. Ryan said there was a funnel in the back of the plane, in the storage box in the baggage compartment. So in future, a funnel consists of another old plastic oil quart, cut in half, then attached to something that looks like one of those old McDonald's Popoids happy meal toys. You then put this popoid and half bottle into the spout where the dipstick is attached (taking out the dipstick first of course) and then pour in said needed quart of oil. This works well, except, don't cut your finger on the access door on the cowling in the process. (Actually, whoever thought up reusing an old quart as a funnel came up with a pretty darn good idea.)

SAFETY, checklists, and then the engine doesn't turn over. Ryan has to go out and attack the starter with a bit of WD-40, and finally we're ready to roll. We taxied, performed the run-up, and took off. Today was one of those rare days that we were able to take off to the west - from 28R. Maybe it's not so rare, but I don't get to do it that much.

Well, things were going smoothly until my steep turns. I got a little anxious and couldn't perform them correctly. It seems when I get anxious, I get behind the ball, and I can't catch back up. The rest of the flight lesson is pretty much shot for that day. All of a sudden it seems like I have too much to do, and I fumble around figuring out how to put it all back in order again.

So of course anxious steep turns begets botched engine out emergency procedure training, which begets disoriented touch and goes in Nampa.

One GOOD thing came out of this, I figured out how to self announce on Nampa's CTAF.

At the end, when we were landing back in Boise, Ryan decides to try a sort of "test" with me. He manages the throttle, tells me I'm managing the yoke, and the idea is to keep afloat as long as possible before touching down. "Don't touch! Don't touch! Don't TOUCH!"

And here Heather manages to oscillate up and down and up and down until about halfway down the runway when she touches down because she went back UP too hard.

GAH. I thought this whole learning to fly thing was going to be easier for me. Any one out there got any meditation or thinking-straight tips for when I get behind the ball? Maybe a little Rob Schneider:

"You can do it!"

Uh huh.

Ryan says next time is ground on Chapter 6 in the book, and then maybe some more touch and go practice. I'm not sure when my next lesson will be, but I assume it'll be the week of the 26th through the 30th.

Darn Frost.

2007-11-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

November 21st

Yes, I knew it would be cold. Yes, I had an idea that the airplane would be frosty... but I didn't think about how long it might take to clean off... or any other complications thereafter.

Look! Brrr!

Anyway, we used some de-icer in a weed sprayer bottle, some rags, and a squeegee, but it was so cold that when wiped, what was wet was freezing. When we finally got it cleaned off good enough, we climbed in thinking I might have some time for a couple touch and goes, and maybe a stall or two.

But, it appears the Archer was still asleep this morning. We couldn't get the engine to fire. We got it close a couple of times, but soon we were dumping fuel out the exhaust and since we'd have to wait for it to evaporate, we had to call it. Oh well.

I'll get a flight on Friday, November 23rd.

More Ground, Chapters 4-5

2007-11-20T16:45:00.001-07:00

November 20th

Well I didn't get to go flying today, all because of these guys:

Sooo... we did some more ground. We covered the rest of Chapter 4, and then went through Chapter 5. These went pretty fast for me.

An old acquaintance of my husband's was there today, Mike Spinosa. Mike worked with my husband at an internet service while he was in the early stages of his flight training. He took us both up once a while back, and then took my husband up to tag along for a bumpy IFR training flight. Mike has since progressed to flight instructor stage, and is working at Turbo Air flying King Airs currently. It looks like he's working on some more instructor time. That's cool. Maybe I can get an hour or two with him sometime.

Before leaving today I was given one of a few multiple choice exams to complete. No written yet, soon, I hope!

I failed to mention that I went to my first meeting with the Ninety-Nines local chapter on November 8th. I'm excited for future meetings with them, it was very neat to be able to talk to other women in aviation and share experiences, as well as learn a bit about them.

My next lesson will be tomorrow, November 21st in the morning. I'm pretty sure we'll be flying. And I'm pretty sure it's going to be COLD!

Postponing the solo??

2007-11-19T15:13:00.000-07:00

November 15th

Ryan and I talked about how the training was going to advance from this point. We decided to get all caught up on Ground before I'd solo. So, using the Jeppesen Private Pilot textbook, we covered Chapter 2. It took me a little bit for this, even though I had re-read the chapter before we met.

I have to figure out how to re-train my brain to retain information out of a textbook like I did as a kid in school. Also, when asked a question I could see it in my head but I couldn't get it out.

Today we spent almost two hours going over that information, and then we were able to go up in the air.

We practiced more ground reference maneuvers and I got some more under the hood time. The landing and flare today back into Boise was beautiful. Ryan helped a little, by only putting a little pressure on the yoke at the right time.

So now, Ryan says that my flying is coming along fine, it's just the ground I need.

Friday the 16th

This time I spent my lesson on the ground, it was a gloomy rainy low cloud day anyway, and I got lesson 3 and most of 4 covered and out of the way. Today was better. I had spent more time at home preparing myself for the chapters and the review with Ryan.

My next ground, possible flight lesson will take place on Tuesday, November 20th. I'm to study the rest of Lesson 4 and Lesson 5. I also have to study the FAR's, areas of parts 61 and 91.

Kudos to BFG Tech

2007-11-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say before I head out to my flight today, that I appreciate BFG Technologies customer service and RMA department.

I have been held up from playing my Flight Simulator X because of a crazy video card. I had a BFG NVIDIA 7900 GT OC, and recently I started noticing weird artifacts and polygons in anything intensive. I had problems with Battlefield 2, Supreme Commander, and of course FSX. What really irritated me was that in FSX it got to the point that it was unplayable, sometimes I'd see half my plane, sometimes I'd get a big black polygon right outside my window. Of course, maybe I could have used it to my advantage to learn more instrument skills, but that's not the point. Hah.

Then the straw broke the camel's back. I got artifacts on my POST screen, when I rebooted my computer. So I called up BFG, and after hearing that, had me send my video card to them via RMA. The guy on the phone was NOT from India! And he was very nice and understanding.

Well yesterday I got a package from them, and they sent me a replacement card. But the new card is an 8600GTS OC! Yay! It's a tiny step up, but at least it's this year's model. And I could run Direct-X 10 on it if I had Vista. Cool.

Thanks BFG! You did good work!

Lesson...?

2007-11-12T09:07:00.000-07:00

OK, so I guess I should stop with the "Lesson numbers" for now. Basically these next few sessions are supposed to just be all about getting me ready for my solo endorsement.

Another issue has arisen, and that is that Ryan is going to be my new main instructor. Ryan has quite a bit more availability, and that will help me to get my license faster. I will miss flights with Jim, and hope I can gather some in the future.

Because of this Ryan will have to do a review of my skills, and we've also decided to do some ground lessons before our flights in the future. I think I'll appreciate this as it will help some of the ground items that I learn stick in my head better.

As for progress, I think I'm about 3 flights away from my solo, so I'll of course keep you updated on that.

I had a flight with Ryan (before I knew about the instructor change) on November 7th in the middle of the day. Let's go to that.

November 7th

Today I met Ryan at the Archer. We were going to practice steep turns, more pattern work and landing approaches today. Preflight, SAFETY (which is going better), checklists, ATIS, radio work, taxi out. Here's a neat picture of us holding short on the runway.

We took off and headed out to the practice area to work on "Steep Turns". Here's a couple of pictures from today I snapped while heading out to the practice area. Yes, another nice day!

I had taken some relatively steep turns when I was practicing my ground reference maneuvers, but today we were going to focus on it. The idea is to do a steep - 45 degree banked 360 rotation, holding the same altitude, and rolling out on your same heading that you started with. It's not as easy as it sounds. When you reach the 45 degree mark on your bank, the plane wants to keep rolling over. You have to put a little back pressure on the yoke. The issue is that when you put back pressure on the yoke, you might shallow your bank, and you will start to climb in altitude. When you steepen your bank, it's possible that you pass up 45 degrees and get to 50, and then you lose altitude. Not to mention that there are about 1.5G's pushing down on you from time to time. This can get a little interesting feeling, although it didn't bother me too much. What you want is to complete the 360 smoothly, without a lot of up and down oscillations.

Here is a bland video showing a complete steep turn to the left, and then one to the right.

After the steep turn practice we headed to Caldwell airport to practice landing approaches and touch and goes. This was just more of me behind the ball. I still had trouble with the flare, and I still had trouble with my climb airspeed. Pattern work is tough for me. It seems there is so much to do, then you just get done doing what you were supposed to do, then it's time to do it again to land, then time to do it again to take off again and go around the horn. Practice, practice, practice! I also set the camera on the dash for some touch and goes. Here's the video.

Next it was time to head back to Boise. I actually pulled the flare off in Boise pretty much by myself, and I have video of it, but the camera is in a bad spot and you see more dash than nose of plane or runway. I'll get better video next time.

We did have another lesson on Thursday, the 8th, but it ended up being ground, and we played some "catch up" as that was when I learned that Ryan would be my new main instructor.

I think my next lesson will be this coming Thursday, November 15th, from 11-2.

Landing Approaches

2007-11-04T15:56:00.001-07:00

November 2nd

I DID try to get a lesson on Thursday, the 1st, but when I got there the Archer was MIA. It was still in for maintenance. So, I had to wait until Friday.

On Friday, when I got there the Archer was just coming back into it's service and the owner was taking it for a test flight. It was a pretty day, and we walked out on the tarmac to wait for the owner.

Here are some pictures and a simple panoramic video of the ramp area that I took when it arrived. Yep, more A-10's playing around today.

Today (Friday) was going to be all about landings. Setting up in the pattern, and then landing. I had practiced most of this with Jim on Monday, but I have to keep practicing until I can get it down, so I can get an endorsement to Solo.

We got ready to go, and I picked up a different version of SAFEST called SAFETY, which is what the FAA uses, and I felt more comfortable doing that. I added seat position information, as well as the rules for talking, and the "sterile cockpit environment" information to my passenger brief. I like the Y part in SAFETY because it helps me remember to ask my passengers: "anY questions?"

We cleared an issue we saw during the run-up dealing with too much loss of RPMS on the left magneto, and then we took off and headed to Nampa. I called almost all radio, except for the Nampa traffic again because I was too focused on getting my steps right and flying the pattern.

We ran the pattern, did approaches and touch and goes. I think we went around about nine times. Each time I felt like I was getting better in one thing, and then messing up in another. For example, at first I had issues with flaring. I got that right, and then I couldn't quite get my climb airspeed correct on the way back out. Then, I got that right, and then I messed up on my altitude and didn't turn in time, or I got that right and messed up on my turn from base to final, or something else. I even brought the camera to get some footage in the plane, but I didn't even get it out.

At the end before Ryan said "let's head back" I was getting fairly mentally tired. I felt like I was fighting myself too much. What a tough night. At the second to last climb out from the touch and go I found myself too focused inside the cockpit and not enough outside.

I can tell I need more practice, maybe next time I'll get it straight.

I haven't scheduled my next lesson yet, but I'm going to assume I'll have to fly during the workweek this week.

Lesson 6 (mostly)

2007-10-30T07:43:00.000-06:00

October 29th

Tonight was nice. It was overcast with clouds at 9,000 feet, and a light sprinkle. The winds were at about 10kts.

This night's main focus was going to be landing and touch and go practice. We would do touch and goes and approaches at Nampa Airport, which is a non-controlled airport.

Here is a capture of a chart showing Boise, and the surrounding Airports. You can see Nampa just to the west of the purple circle around Boise which designates it's airspace.

We started off the night in the office, talking about how landings work. We discussed arriving in the pattern at 45 degrees downwind on the midfield, then, abeam the numbers (looking 90 degrees out your window at the end of the runway) you pull the power to 1700 rpm, pitch for 80kts, and put in one notch of flaps as soon as your airspeed indicator needle hits the white arc.

Here is what an airspeed indicator looks like. The top end of the white arc (at about 85kts on this indicator) is called V-FE. V-FE is known as "Maximum Flaps Extended Speed", which means this is the fastest we can go with the flaps extended. To go faster and drop them may cause problems.

After this, when you turn on base, you pull the second notch of flaps and keep the speed around 75kts. When you turn on final, you pull the last notch of flaps and keep around 70kts for landing.

Jim said that if a person can't get the first step correct (when you're abeam), they often times have to forgo the landing altogether because it takes too long to correct what they missed. So I focused on getting that correct tonight.

Since winter is arriving, there is less time in the evening for practice in the light, so I bought a little flashlight on a lanyard that I'll take with me from now on when I fly in the evenings.

We preflighted, ran the checklist, SAFEST and got ATIS. I asked to run most of the communications tonight. Tonight the engine was acting a little funny, the idle wasn't staying put. So, during the run-up Jim leaned the motor and raised to higher RPMS to maybe clear out what might be causing the issue. After the run-up, the engine sounded a lot better, so we went for it.

We started out in Boise, and asked the tower if they had any room for a few touch and goes. They said they would squeeze us in, so we taxied out and got lined up. We took off, and went around the pattern. Abeam the numbers I pulled the power, pitched for 80kts, and pulled the flaps just like I'm supposed to. As we were turning base, ATC said this was the only touch and go we'd get and after this we had to head to Nampa. So I brought it down, leveled off, and landed, albeit a little to the left of center. Then we took back off again and headed out to Nampa. Boise is difficult because it is busy, but I really enjoy that experience.

This was the first time I'd deal with a non-controlled airport, so rather than having to call out our position all the time and remember all the steps it takes to land, plus everything else in the cockpit like my altitude and airspeed, Jim took over communications for this airport. Non controlled means there is no tower to talk to, and your communications are basically between other pilots, and you just keep advising your position.

Nampa was difficult to see tonight, there was a haze, and the airport isn't lit up as brightly as Boise.

We got in the pattern and I did all the steps, and we tried to set it down. This was I think the best one of the night for me, it floated nice, and then landed pretty smoothly. The next two got gradually worse, I got to experience what it felt like to "balloon", and what it felt like to bounce. I think a lot of this is due to the fact that it gradually became later in the evening, so that now it was night, and I was having a hard time discerning where the proper place to flare was. I was focusing on the on the section of the runway that was lit from my landing light rather than where I was supposed to be looking. I still have to get past that feeling of the ground rushing up, and knowing what to do and when to flare. I think one day it'll just "click".

After about the third time around, we headed back to Boise. This was the first time I'd officially gone "outside" an airspace, so I had to do some additional things before I could come back IN. When we're in the practice area, we're technically out of Boise's airspace too, but they keep an eye on us anyway. When we were heading out to Nampa, it's different. So I had to get a new ATIS in the air, and then I had to call back in and get permission.

By now it was totally dark, and all the lights of the city were on. It was very cool. It's a different feeling when all your panel lights are lit too.

We landed, and then had to hurry off the runway and into parking as there was someone behind us going to the same area. Parked, tied down, and locked up. I didn't get to do the steep turns that I was supposed to learn in this lesson, because we were focusing on landings. That's fine, I'll get them next time I go up. Learning landings is important.

It won't be long before I solo. The next few lessons before and during the solo have to be during the day, so I'll have to plan something for the next week or two.

It's always cool walking back in from the airport and seeing the planes and hearing the noises of the airport. Back in the office we filled out my logbook which is what we do every night, and talked about what happened in the lesson. It went really well.

My next lesson will be Friday the 2nd of November, at 11am with Ryan Pike.

Lesson 5 finished

2007-10-25T09:29:00.000-06:00

October 24th

Well tonight was just absolutely gorgeous. I couldn't ask for a better night. I wish I would have brought my camera.

I found my knee board, it was at home. Somehow it had fallen behind the desk in the office. Who knows. But at least I found it. Yesterday, the 23rd, I had brought my stepdaughter Ariel, who's 11, and her brother Alec, who's 10, out to Jacksons Jet Center and the plane with me to look for it. Of course we didn't find it, but the kids were taken by the plane.

The whole time we're driving to the airport I don't think it sets in that we're going to the actual airport, and they were going to see an actual plane. We get there, and then walk through the Jet Center, and out to the tarmack. Ariel looks around, and her brother goes, "WOW!!! You're flying a REAL plane?!" I smile and look back. "Yessir!" Pretty soon I was showing the kids the plane, and they had climbed in while I looked for the kneeboard. I soon heard airplane noises coming out of the cockpit. Kids are great. What was nice is to share my knowledge that I have gained so far as to how a plane works, and I could show them how the controls work.

Of course, they had to stop and watch every plane take off and land that they could before we had to leave.

Time to return to the lesson.

We ran through the preflight, checklists, ATIS, and SAFEST, which I was getting better at, but still had trouble with anything other than "put tab A into slot B" when it came to the seat belts. I'll get it. I felt much more relaxed having my communication scripts again, and called Clearance, Ground, and Tower. And then I called Departure once we were in the air.

We flew out to the south practice area and then reviewed stalls and slow flight. I felt a lot better about them, but need to work on my quickness of recovery, and loss of altitude in doing so.

Then we went to work on the ground reference maneuvers. I think I picked a field too small to fly rectangles around, but after my 3rd pass, things were looking pretty good. We then zeroed in on Swan Falls road to practice S-turns.

Oh how fun. I could see how aerobatics could be fun to do. I loved going back and forth over the road. I loved trying to perfect it. I could do that all night.

We then practiced turns around a point, which I think I did pretty good. Tonight's air was super smooth, and the only turbulence we got was a bit of our own wake turbulence as we caught up to it turning around the point. It's kind of like a boat making circles in the water, and then catching up to it's wake.

Then, all too soon, we headed back. I got about .2 hours of night flight in tonight, as it was after sunset when we headed back to the airport. It was really pretty to see all the lights of the city. I really wanted to do approach calls on the radio, but I was having difficulty deciphering the quickness of the ATC's speech, so I let Jim do the radio.

It was really interesting coming down on a dark runway, landing on the lights. I can see why they want you to do night flight training. It's a lot different.

I called Ground to taxi to parking, and then we got there and tied down.

After it was all locked up and tied down, and I was walking back to the Jet Center with my headset bag, logbook, and knee board, I looked back at the planes, and then looked around the airport and took everything in. I took a big breath. This was nice.

My next lesson, Lesson 6 is on Monday the 29th. It's going to be a review of everything, and then introduces steep turns.

Half of Lesson 5

2007-10-25T08:28:00.000-06:00

October 19th

So at 8 am, today was another cloudy, rainy day. The ceiling was at 7000 feet, and the forecast was for it to come down to about 4500 feet by the time we were done. It really didn't feel too bad, but the wind was at 15kts pretty much directly from the east.

Ran through the preflight, the checklists, ATIS, SAFEST, and got ready to go. I had forgotten my kneeboard, I thought I may have left it somewhere, so I didn't have my communcation scripts. I tried anyway. I did a pretty good job, and called Clearance, Ground, and Tower. We took off, and then headed south to the practice area.

On the way I noticed that it was pretty turbulent, but even with all the racket I kept it on course, and at altitude.

We got out to the practice area, and then began to set up for Ground Reference Maneuvers. It's at this point, right above 1000 feet AGL (above ground level), that we notice there is a significant wind sheer. The air above 1000 feet is moving completely opposite the air below it. Above 1000 feet AGL the wind is coming from the west.

When doing ground reference maneuvers, they basically all have the same concept. That is, you enter at 45 degrees midfield to your maneuver on the downwind. Your first turn is the steepest, then your next turn is a little more gradual, with your turn you make while upwind into the crosswind is the shallowest. Then, you begin to steepen up again on the turn from crosswind to downwind, and then steepen up again on the turn from downwind to the base leg.

The concept is very similar to what this link states, even though this link is helicopter oriented.

http://www.dynamicflight.com/flight_maneuvers/ground_ref_man/

We practiced the rectangle pattern several times, it was VERY turbulent. I think I might have had the hang of it by my third go around, but it was hard to tell.

We then got on target for "turns around a point", and I tried to make three, very unsuccessful turns. I asked Ryan to demonstrate one for me so that I might be able to feel what it was like, and he came up very sloppy because of the wind sheer. It was at this point that we decided to call it for the day, and headed back to the airport.

Coming back it was difficult to keep on course, and we crabbed most of the way in. I got us lined up and crabbing, and then Ryan landed us. I called communications back to parking.

This is the reason for the "half".

Oh I didn't mention I got my Third Class Medical! I almost passed with flying colors, but I had to go get a letter from Mountain State Tumor Institute telling the FAA to not stick their noses in my business because as far as they were concerned my cancer was cured. When I had that, my Doctor handed me my certificate.

My continuation of Lesson 5, and an introduction to Lesson 6 happens on Wednesday, October 24th, with Jim.

Lesson 4

2007-10-24T16:50:00.001-06:00

October 13th

This blog post has quite a few pictures. I took the camera with me.

Oh, what a BEAUTIFUL day. I can tell I am going to like flying in the morning, whenever I can get it. Here's a video, and a couple of pictures walking on the tarmack to the plane. There was a few A-10s taking off, and a B-17 giving rides today.

This lesson was about stalls, and introducing an emergency procedure. Today I did the preflight, and then I did the checklists, SAFEST (which I still botch), and ATIS. Jim emailed me some documents, one of which is a communications script when talking to ATC, so today was easier for me. I called Clearance, Ground, and Tower.

We took off, and went to the south practice area to practice some stalls. Then, he introduced an engine quit emergency procedure. Basically I had to learn that when you're flying you should always look for a place to set it down, in an emergency, if you have to. Like, say a farmer's field, or a long road. The catch with the farmer's field is that you'd probably want to choose something that was either dirt, or a rectangular field with the rows running down the length, not across it. The catch with the road is the presence of power lines and poles, and the amount of traffic.

So for this time Jim demonstrates for me. We get an idea of a field to choose, and then he throttles all the way back to simulate an engine failure. The first thing you're supposed to do is get to the best glide speed for the aircraft. Which in the Archer II is ~76kts. Then, you pick a landing spot. After that, while you're setting up for it, you go through the flow of "trying" to restart the engine. Select a different fuel tank, turn the ignition to the R Magneto, then the L Magneto, and then to Both again, check the primer to make sure it is secure, play with the throttle and mixture, turn on the electric fuel pump, and then the carb heat. All the while you've got to watch outside and make sure you're setting up correctly. Once you reach the "point of no return", you put yourself on the emergency frequency and make a call out, then squawk 7700, make sure everyone's got their belts tight, make sure they take off their glasses, and prepare for a set down. You loosen the door to get ready to hop out of the plane if you have to.

After the demonstration, he pulls out and then it's my turn. I do pretty well, and after the sprinklers in the field that I chose are looking mighty close to me, we throttle up and climb back out.

I've got to get past the sensation of the ground rushing towards me. When you reach a certain point as you're descending, the ground really starts to feel like it's rushing up. I have to learn to not let that bother me.

Here's just a simple panoramic video of the cockpit in flight.

Next, Jim puts me under the hood for a flight back to the airport on instruments only. As we're flying I note that we're getting a lot of calls to watch out for traffic in our area. Jim calls out each one that he sees, and then he claps his hands and says, take off the hood for a second, you have to see this!

We got buzzed by a couple of C-130's going out to practice. They were a lot closer then they appear in this picture. (You can click on the picture to enlarge it, and then come back to my blog.)

After that, I put the hood back on and Jim directed my heading back to the midfield point in the pattern at the airport. I took the hood off and then snapped a couple more pictures as we were approaching.

We landed nicely, and then taxied back and tied down. Again, what a beautiful day. Hard to ask for a better one.

And thanks, Jim, for all your patience.

My next lesson was going to be the 17th, but when I got to the airport a storm cell was moving toward us, and it just wasn't good to fly. Jim showed me the flight planning room at the Jackson Jet Center, and then we talked about what the next lesson would be about, which was ground reference maneuvers. Ground reference maneuvers consist of rectangular patterns, S-turns, and turns around a point.

My Lesson 5 does start on the following Friday, the 19th, with Ryan Pike.

Lesson 3

2007-10-24T16:24:00.000-06:00

October 12th

This lesson occurs on a cloudy day at about 11 in the morning. It's sprinkling softly, but otherwise, it's not too bad. The wind seems pretty calm. Today I meet Ryan Pike, another instructor. Before the flight we spend some time in the office talking about what was going to happen that day, basically going over what I had read and what Cammie had taught.

Now it's time for flight. We head back out to the plane, and I do the preflight pretty much on my own. I'm feeling great about it, and that I can accomplish the whole thing without needing shadowed. Ryan does still quiz me about some items on the checklist.

Next comes buckle in, checklists, SAFEST (which I'm still working on, for some reason I feel embarrassed to say the passenger checklist in front of an instructor... but I'll get it), ATIS, and then communications. This time I get to do Clearance, and then Ground. I managed to successfully pull off Clearance this time, but when it came to Ground, I botched it a little on the read back, and had to redo it. I'll get it!

Take off, which I'm doing more of by myself now, and flight to the south practice area. A review of slow flight and then on to the stalls. Now after reading about auto rotation in a helicopter, and thinking I WAS going to have to do that, I look at stalls in a fixed wing plane as no problem. And they aren't. Didn't even get nervous. After my third Power Off stall I managed to keep the altitude well enough to proceed to Power On stalls. (Power Off stalls mimic the kind of stall you might experience on landing, whereas a Power On stall mimics the kind of stall you might experience on take-off.) We never could get the Archer to Power On stall all the way, but we did get the stall horn to come on and a little tail buffeting to appear.

The whole idea about teaching stalls isn't about teaching stalls, it's about the recovery of the stall. I can tell we'll be reviewing this in lessons to come.

This had to be the smoothest flight in this plane yet. No turbulence today, the air was calm.

Flying back Ryan shows me a "Slip" upon landing, then we taxi back and tie down. No real surprises this flight. We then go back into the office for a post flight discussion.

Lesson 4 is the 13th, at 8 in the morning.

Lesson 2

2007-10-24T15:38:00.001-06:00

October 3rd

Lesson 2 starts out well enough, but has an exciting ending.

Another fairly nice evening, with some Cumulonimbus cloud formations in the area. A very three dimensional sky this night.

I've now got most of my flight training books, and my own nice aviation headset. I picked up a 30 3G by LIGHTSPEED. Can you believe these newer headsets are coming with cell phone and ipod hookups? That's amazing. I like the color too.

Again, Jim and I meet and then head out to the plane. We walk through the Jackson Jet Center for the second time (which feels weird, it's a nice place), and out onto the tarmack. We get to the plane, and then I take the preflight checklist and go through it with him shadowing, quizzing me on why I was doing certain things. Next it's into the plane, buckle up, run the before engine start checklist, then the starting engine checklist, and get ATIS. Now it's my turn to try calling on the radio. I get to try calling for clearance. Of course I get nervous and botch it a little. "Boise Clearance, this is uh, Cherokee 43839, for VFR to... (mumbles to self where was I going? Oh, whoops, still have the radio keyed, unkey and look at Jim red faced) Jim looks at me, and says "To the south practice area with Information Echo". Oh yeah! I key up the mike again and say what I was supposed to say.

It does get a little easier in time, especially when I find out later that everybody makes mistakes.

So we taxi, takeoff, and get out to the practice area. Out here I get to learn about slow flight, and we have some interesting turbulence, but not bad. Slow flight is also called "Flight at Approach Speed" because you're basically practicing flying the aircraft if it were on approach, slowly, with the flaps down, in the maximum drag configuration. It was interesting experiencing the flight controls become "mushy". It also took less work to turn.

Now, time to get back to the airport. This is where things get interesting. All of a sudden little Boise Airport is pretending to be Seattle. Lots of traffic.

As we enter midfield the Air Traffic Controller tells us to do some 360's (turn small circles in the sky) until he can slip us in the line of traffic coming in. After several turns, he asks us to head in on the base following a Lear Jet. At this point I can see several more lights in the sky coming at me of which we would slip in front of, and some of them look big! The ATC continues to give us approach speeds and tells us to hang back, etc, and then all of a sudden he goes "Cherokee 43839, this isn't working, just get in here as fast as you can!"

Jim takes the controls as we're both a little nervous, and proceeds to try to run it in and slip it as fast as he can. However, when you're in an Archer and you have several airliners behind you, even though you're coming in as fast as you can it's like being on a motor scooter on an expressway.

We land, we breath a sigh of relief.

Now a small plane like an Archer can pretty much land and stop on a dime compared to the big jets, so we were taking our right off the runway in a jiffy. We pull up and stop at the next taxiway intersection, and listen to a 737 rumble and land behind us. We get clearance to turn left and head back to parking. Meanwhile the 737 makes HIS right turn near the end of the runway, and then gets clearance to take a right. Get that? We got clearance to take a left, he got clearance to take a right. We're on the SAME taxiway.

Next thing I know I'm staring down the barrel of a 737, going, "Uh, Jim? Shouldn't we contact Ground?" "Yeah, I think so." "Ground, Cherokee 43839, uh.... " The Ground ATC comes back, "Cherokee 43839, please pull off onto the ramp as soon as possible!! I appreciate that! Thanks for the heads up!"

We pull off, watch the 737 trundle by, and then continue on our way, with yet another thanks from the ATC. We taxi to parking and tie up.

Wow, what a night. At least I know I'm not the only one that makes mistakes. Everyone does and we're all in it together.

My next lesson is a Ground Lesson with Cammie on the 10th. We spend some time talking about slow flight and stalls before I would have my Lesson 3, which is on the 12th. She's a good instructor, and very matter of fact.

Lesson 1

2007-10-24T14:17:00.001-06:00

October 1st

Wow, the big day. Lesson numero uno.

It took some time to figure out a flight school, but upon recommendations I interviewed and then selected Glass Cockpit Aviation. Mainly because of the stories I've heard about Cammie Patch, and I figured if she was good, then the instructors were good, and the school was good as well.

I had glossed over the idea of becoming a helicopter pilot previously, and I had taken an introduction flight as well as ordered the books for that. But, the time and cost it would take was something I just didn't have right now. Maybe in the future. For now, fixed wing it is. (FWIW, Aviation Specialties Unlimited would be a really good school to learn how to fly choppers!)

I met up with Jim Adkins, my new instructor at Glass Cockpit at about 5:30 in the evening. We filled some things out, and then headed out to the plane.

Walking out to the tarmack brought back some childhood memories, and woke some feelings as well. To be up close with a plane again. Nice.

My training was to be done in a Piper Archer II (Cherokee 181). A red and white plane with a plush red interior, where the front two seats were covered with gray wool seat covers.

I spent some time learning the preflight procedure and then got to sit in the left seat. I felt like a monkey crawling into the seat, then figuring out what to do with myself. We went through checklists, and Jim explained everything. Then the time came to turn the key. Whoa! There really is nothing quite like listening to the starter catch and the engine fire in a propeller aircraft. It even shook the plane!

I have to memorize something called SAFEST. It's the procedure you give out to passengers.

S - Seatbelts (..push tab a into slot b... need a script here)
A - Air Vents (...and here's our air vents. There's two here, here, here, and here. To open these on the top you push, and to close them you pull on this knob here..)
F - Fire Extinguisher (...our fire extinguisher is right here under the right side of the dash, you press on this red lever to release it..)
E - Emergency Exits (...to open this door you would push up on this lever and then turn the lever at the top to open, we can kick out the windows if we have to, and the storage compartment door...)
S - Sick Sacks and Safety Kit (... If you feel you are going to be sick, there's sick sacks behind the seat.... and the safety kit is in the storage area...)
T - Traffic (...I'd like you as passengers to help me identify traffic in the sky... please call them out in a clock style fashion, ie: 9 o'clock, 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock and if they're above or below the horizon...)

For this flight Jim managed the radios, and once he called Clearance, he said, ok, your plane. Taxi us out. Who? Me? What? Taxi? Ok, cool, I think I can handle this! I got us rolling and then realized the rudder pedals had a long throw. Boy, that takes some effort. (I figure out how to make this easier later on, by scooting my seat up and forward more, but I still need to work on better leg muscles.) We contact Ground, taxi for a run-up and then out to the runway, then get Tower to give us permission to take off, and we roll out. Jim helps me get centered on the runway, and then tells me to throttle up! Away we go! Rotate at 60kts. The wheels are off the ground! What a feeling.

This flight basically consisted of learning straight and level, and some of the other basics such as procedures and checklists.

The return to the airport came all too soon. He had me head back, and get lined up, and then he brought her in. I then taxied back to parking. Tying the plane down I kept thinking about what we did, and what I'd have to learn for the next flight, and how to work out my schedule to get the next one in the soonest I could. It was dusk now, and as we were walking away, I looked back, thinking how beautiful the planes looked in the dying light.

My first lesson went really well. My second lesson was October 3rd, the following Wednesday.

Prelude

2007-10-24T13:05:00.000-06:00

Ok, so a recap.

In the beginning, there was air. Then, man created airplanes. Soon after, Heather was born.

Heh.

Ok, a little history.

I like anything having to do with flight. I've wanted to fly since I knew what flying was. I used to dream flying dreams (I still do) where I'd run as fast as I could, then jump, stick my arms out, and fly. I used to put plywood and wood 2x4's as wings on a push cart, and we'd take turns pushing each other as fast as we could down the road. My father made me a tall tree-swing down the drive at a house in Issaquah, and I'd spend hours just swinging and dreaming of flying around and visiting all my friends. I used to jump off the house with a sheet (don't do that, sheets ALWAYS come out of your hands, and you hit the ground).

I got into trouble once when I was about 8 or 9; I used to go to job sites with my father, who was a framer. There was a boy who used to go with his father, as well. Well... one day we meandered our way across the neighborhood and out to a field where we came across something out of a dream. Planes! Apparently this was a grass strip runway. Well, to get to the gist of it, later on we were inside a Cessna, buckling up, trying to figure out how to start it, getting out the maps, and I had just found the keys when a tapping comes on the window. Whoops! The man, also very furious at our attempt to use the Schweizer glider that was next to the Cessna as a teeter-totter, drove us sulking in the back seat to our fathers.

I built models, MANY models. I built RC planes. I used to climb to the top of a tree that was next to our house in Sea-tac with a world band radio so I could watch the planes take off from the Airport and listen to them.

Then...

Life priorities change. I got cancer. I grew up. I started working. I got married. I got into 4 wheeling, and many other hobbies.

Well, I couldn't stand it any more. I've let a lot of my life go by without pursuing my dream of flight. So, I decided to make it happen.

On October 1st, this year, I took my first lesson.

Wow! The journey of flight has begun officially!

2007-10-24T10:07:00.000-06:00

Yay! A Blog!

A little late, I wanted to do this when I took my FIRST lesson, but I'm only halfway done with my 5th (I'll explain the half part later), so I have time to do some catching up. This is my first attempt at a blog, wow, time to catch up with the rest of the world, huh?

More to come soon!