September 2004
On page links to specific dates:
01Sep04, 02Sep04, 07Sep04, 09Sep04, 14Sep04, 28Sep04, 30Sep04
Pilot Training
Updates
September 2004
On page links to specific dates:
01Sep04, 02Sep04,
07Sep04, 09Sep04,
14Sep04, 28Sep04,
30Sep04
01 Sep 04:
As you read on the 31 August entry, I was assigned a new instructor, Barry.
Well, Barry called me today and had to cancel due to a personal matter.
So, he scheduled Bo George, the Chief Flight Instructor at the flight school, to fly
with me today. I met Bo back in December when I took my written and have
spoken to him on occasion over the last couple of months, so it wasn't like I
was going to be flying with a complete stranger. Of course, the way I see
it, with him being the Chief, then, I figure his standards are higher than
others. So, I felt a bit of apprehension and discomfort thinking about
flying with him. My apprehension was for naught, as he was really
informative and fun to fly with. I pre-flighted the Alarus and Bo said we
were just going to do "pattern work." Takes offs and landings.
Great, that's what I need practice on anyway.. We went and did the pattern work.
Again, we were working on the way Barry taught me how to land. As Bo says,
I'm perfect in everything I do, except the last 5 seconds of the landing.
I'm not crashing the plane down, but I could be bringing it down a lot smoother
than I am and that's what they are trying to accomplish before I solo. I
was getting pretty good, but still not "quite" there.. Just 5 seconds to go.
Bo says there is a good chance I could solo tomorrow if the weather holds out.
It is storming like a monsoon right now as I write this, so I hope it gets out
of here by tomorrow afternoon. We'll see how it goes.. The weather
has to be right, the student has to be right and the instructor has to believe
it's all right, before it will actually happen. I'm planning on it
happening, but you never know. We'll see tomorrow.
Time in Log Book: 1.1 hrs
Total time: 14.6 hrs
Next flight is scheduled for: 1700, Thursday, 02 Sept 04
Top
02
Sep 04: Not a good day. I was really
hoping to solo today, but it wasn't to be. We had planned on it and even
my Dad, my Mom and Heather all showed up to witness the "event." But, the
weather did not allow it. The wind was pretty stiff today and it made for
a pretty good crosswind on landings and take off. I have had very minimal
crosswind instruction, so we canceled the solo. It was probably for the
better. Have you ever had one of those days where nothing seemed to go
right and you felt everything you touched turned to crap? That was the day
I was having. I don't know if it was my nerves or what, but I just
couldn't get the hang of anything today. During my preflight, everything
went ok, but as Barry walked to the plane, he asked me if we were ready to go.
I said, everything was ready. Then he preceded to show me where I left the left
wing tied down to the tarmac. I was even trying to make an extra careful
pre-flight because I thought I might solo. (We hadn't made the determination not
to solo until after a while in the air).. So, with that great beginning, I
didn't have a good feeling about the rest of the day. As I said, the winds
were stiff. So, it was rough getting it up. I did my patter work and
then worked on landings. Nothing spectacular. I made a couple of
decent landings with Barry saying nothing. The rest, he would keep reminding me
of little things to keep doing. I'm still not using the rudder enough.
And, in the winds we had, I really needed them. The last landing, I
PLOPPED it to the ground and I guess Barry had had enough. We called it a
day. It was just "one of those days." The weather wasn't great, my
concentration, reflexes and coordination didn't seem to be where they needed to
be either. So, no solo this week. I'm scheduled for Next Tuesday and
Thursday, we'll see what happens then. Dad took a few pictures, they are
below.
Time in Log Book: 1.0 hrs
Total time: 15.6 hrs
Next flight is scheduled for: 1700, Tuesday, 07 Sept 04
L-R: First two are me pre-flighting the
Alarus. 3rd one is Barry untying the wing I left tired down during my preflight.
L-R: Me and Barry in the Alarus. Taking off on one of our runs. Upwind of
Runway 1-0.
Top
07 Sep
04: No flying today. Hurricane Frances decided to come to
Georgia and have a little fun. We didn't get it anywhere near as bad as
Florida did, but we had our troubles up here.
Next flight is scheduled for: 1700, Tuesday, 09 Sept 04
Top
09 Sep
04: As I watched the weather today during work, I noticed there were very
few clouds in the sky and there was no wind at all. My stomach was turning
with anticipation, because I knew, if I was able to prove to Barry today I could
fly the plane, I would be soloing. I got to the flight school at my regular
1645 and as I was getting the weather, I noticed the Alarus running on the ramp
with a door open. I saw the door close and the plane headed for the
taxiway. Well, I guess I'm not flying at 1700 today. I've been
scheduled for 1800 each time, but we were able to go earlier because no one was
scheduled ahead of me. Not the case today. So, I grabbed my bag and
walked outside to watch the pattern and go through my checklists through my
head. I knew my family was coming, just in case, so I called them all and
told them not to hurry. Mom and Dad showed up about 1800. Heather
and the dog showed up a little while after that. The guys ahead of us came
in a bit late so we were late getting started.
I pre-flighted the airplane and everything was ok. I even untied
both wings this time. :) Barry and I took off and did some pattern work.
As always, I can take off, fly and get everything ready for the landing.
The last 5 seconds of the landing are where I have my troubles. Barry
noticed that just before I touch down, I lean forward to see above the nose and
as I do, I unknowingly push the yoke a little forward, dropping the nose.
He told me about it and I tried to work on it for the next couple of landings.
I got better but still not perfect. But, it seemed to be good enough for
Barry. I'm going to bring a cushion next time and see if getting me a
little higher in the seat will help that out. How many pilots do you know
that use a booster seat??? LOL!!! We did a full stop landing and he asked me,
"So, you think you can do it?" I said, "Yeah. I can do it." So, with
that, he told me he was getting out. I was to go to Runway 28, do my
pre-takeoff checklist, take off, fly the pattern, land, exit the runway, and do
my after landing checklist. 3 times.
Barry got out and closed the door. I taxied the airplane to the
hold short line, did my pre-takeoff checklist and said a little prayer.
"Macon Downtown Traffic, 604 Alpha Mike departing runway 2 8, Downtown traffic."
And with those words, I pulled out on the runway, pushed the throttle in and was
on my way down the runway for the first time by myself. The plane reached
rotate speed a bit quicker with only one person and I gently pulled back on the
yoke. I was airborne and climbing a lot quicker with no one else in there
also. I reached my 1000 ft MSL and made my right turn for my crosswind leg.
I got to my 1450 feet and made my right for my downwind leg. Beam the
numbers, drop the engine down to 1700 rpm, half flaps in, 500 feet per minute decent. Get
to my reference point to turn and make my right for my base leg. Still
descending, I get to my next point, make my right for Final and drop the flaps
the rest of the way. Line up on the centerline. A little rudder, a little
aileron, keep lined up. Cross the threshold, drop the rpms to about
1200, keep the nose down. Closer to the ground. Closer, closer. Now,
start your flare. A little more flare, a little less throttle.
Little more, little more, bump, bump, there are the tires touching the ground.
Let the nose lower, keep the plane straight and make sure all throttle is out.
Taxi back to the taxi way. WHOO-HOO!!!!!! # 1 is in the books!!! I
actually did it!!!! That was awesome!!! Time # 2 was just as easy.
I was beginning think I was going to do alright. As I came in to land for
# 2, I actually noticed the runway lights were on and it looked really cool.
It was getting dark, but there still enough time for one more flight, easily.
After I was done with # 2, Barry came over the radio and asked if I could still
see what I was doing. I said yes and even said it looked really cool at
this time of day. I taxied back and took off for # 3. As soon as I
took off, I looked at my gauges and noticed I couldn't really see them clearly
anymore. The sun dropped quicker than any of us had expected. It
wasn't "dark", but twilight was definitely upon us. I was already up, so
all I
could do was do my pattern and hope for the best. As I was turning my
crosswind, another airplane that had just left the pattern came over the radio
and said: "Alpha Mike, is this your first solo?" I answered: "Yessir, it
is." He asked: "Sure is fun, isn't it?" To which I responded, "I
don't know. I'll tell you when it's over." He came back over laughing and
said Good Luck. As I was flying my downwind leg, a Forestry Helicopter
that had been at Smart for refueling, came over the radio and announced
themselves being 6 miles out headed in some direction and added "We'd like to
congratulate to the first time solo on his accomplishment." I transmitted
my "Thank You." and then it was back to work for me. I got everything
ready to land and was lined up on centerline. As I came in, I could see
the runway lights, but the ground was so dark, I had trouble with my perceptions
of the ground and couldn't really see my gauges. We're all figuring I came
in with too much speed. I started my flare and the plane bounced. It
hit, not too hard, but as soon as it hit, it came right off the ground again.
I tried to settle it, but as it settled again, it bounced back into the air
again. As it came down and third time, it bounced WAY up in the air this
time and felt completely out of control. At about this time I was doing
two things. Probably saying some really colorful phrases and trying to
figure out if I was going to crash or what. While all this was going on, I
remembered a conversation my Dad and I had about two weeks ago. We were
talking about "go arounds" and he had said he botched a landing really bad one
time. The plane was porpoising so bad, he finally had to abort the landing and
go around. Well, porpoising was exactly what I was doing, so on that third
bounce, I shoved the throttle all the way in and was going to go around.
As soon as I shoved the throttle in, the plane straightened up and planted it's
wheels on the runway and stayed there. As soon as I realized what it was
doing, I yanked the throttle back out and started to get on the brakes.
Everything settled down and I taxied back to the ramp. That little
incident actually scared the bejeezus out of me. I was shaking on my taxi.
But, by the time I got back to ramp, I was more mad that I did that kind of
landing than I was anything esle. I didn't damage the airplane and I know
I haven't done anything any other hasn't done, but I was just torqued I did it.
If it hadn't been for that, I would have really been jazzed about my solo.
But, because I ended on such a sour note, it put a damper on the whole night.
Now, a few days later, I'm really excited I did the solo. I'm looking more
realistically at the botched landing and know what I did wrong. That day
was very cool and I will never forget it..
I want to thank all those that were there (My Dad, Mom and Heather) and
those that helped me get there. Barry and Bo helped me tweak my abilities
to make sure I was ready to solo and I really appreciate that. But, I
really have to Thank Richard Anderson. It was his training that actually
taught me how to fly, use the radio, make the turns, recover the stalls, and all
the other things that are listed in the syllabus up to the solo lesson. I
do thank you and hope you are doing good.
Time in Log Book (Dual): 1.2 hrs
Time in Log Book (PIC): .7 (First entry as Pilot In Command)
Total time: 17.5 hrs
Next flight is scheduled for: 1800, Tuesday, 14 Sept 04
L-R: Starting the plane to do my dual
for the day. Me, solo, in the distance with my Dad watching from the ground.
Me landing solo for the first time.
L-R: Getting my bag out of the back of the
Alarus. Tying down the wing. Heather, my Mom and Ripley.
Getting my post flight briefing from
Barry.
Top
14 Sep 04: Flight
Cancelled. Barry had some things to do with the airline that may offer him a
job, so he had to cancel. We are getting ready to go on our Caribbean
Cruise in a couple days, so it didn't bother me to cancel.
Next flight is scheduled for: 1800, Tuesday,
28 Sept 04
Top
28
Sep 04: Flight cancelled again. Alarus had to
go down for it's 100 hour inspection.
Next flight is scheduled for: 1800, Thursday, 30 Sept 04
Top
30 Sep 04:
Flight cancelled again. Carb heat cable broke on
Alarus. Should be fixed by next flight.
Next flight is scheduled for: 1800, Tuesday, 05 Oct 04
Top
Next Page: October 2004
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Email to: new_pilot@@wolfpack764.com
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Instrument Images taken from
Gulf-Coast-Avionics.com