December 2004
Pilot Training
Updates
December 2004
On page links to specific dates:
06Dec04
06
Dec 04: Long write up tonight. As I
mentioned on the News page, Dad bought an airplane. Well, I should say, he
figured he found one to buy. We headed up to Meadville, PA Saturday morning to
inspect his future purchase. If all went well, we were going to fly it
back to GA on Sunday and/or Monday. I left my house at 0445 Saturday
morning. We left Dad's house at 0530. Mom and her sister were headed to Atlanta
to do some Christmas shopping, so they dropped us off at Atlanta
Hartsfield-Jackson airport for our flight to Erie, PA. After getting put
in the "special" line for security checks and getting checked all over and
through our bags, he headed for the terminal. We left Atlanta at 0930 and
landed in Cincinnati, OH about 10:55. We changed planes and took off about
11:30 to Erie, PA. we landed in Erie around 1300. As we entered the
terminal, the man selling Dad the airplane, Mr. Jim Murray, was waiting for us.
We piled into his van and took the 40 mile drive to Port Meadville Airport.
We talked the whole way and found out, not only did Mr. Jim sell used aircraft,
but he is also a Diamond Aircraft dealer. Any of you that know anything
about airplanes know that Diamond builds some SWEET aircraft. well, we got
Port Meadville and they opened the hanger for us to see the airplane for the
first time with or own eyes.. we had seen pictures, but they didn't do the
airplane justice. It was awesome!! The paint looked like it was about 2 weeks
old. It was so shiny and just gleamed sitting there. They pulled a
Citabria out of the way and then we moved the future purchase out into the
daylight, where it just looked even better. As we pulled it out, Mr. Jim
introduced us to Mr. Lloyd Mitchell, the CFI for their area. We gave the
plane a quick preflight and then Mr. Lloyd asked who was going up first.
Dad said for him to go ahead and take me up. WHAT???! He was buying the
airplane, but he wanted me to fly it first. Wow.. Thanks!! Well, we got
in, did the pre-flight and started her up. I taxied it out to the run-up
area and Mr. Lloyd did the run-up. Then we got a wind check. 16
knots gusting to 22 knots. Also, it was about a quartering head wind.
Meaning, a really good crosswind. I haven't had any crosswind training, so
I told Mr. Lloyd he ought to take it off and land it and I'll just do a
familiarization flight. He took it off and he were tossed all over the
place. Once we got airborne and we up a bit, he handed it over to me and I
climbed to about 4000 feet. After we got there, he had me go over level turns,
climbing turns, descending turns, turns around a point, slow flight and things
like that just getting me used to controlling the aircraft under different
situations. After about 30 minutes up, we did a traffic pattern and I got
it as far as the Base leg and I handed it over to him. This whole time we were
being thrown all around, so I wasn't even going to attempt landing. He
landed it and I taxied back to where Mr. Jim and Dad were hanging out.
(Have I mentioned it was about 34 degrees up there?? It was COLD for us two
Georgia Boys!!) After we parked, I got out and dad asked how it was. I
told him it was "Great." Mr. Lloyd got out and stretched his legs and then
he and Dad climbed in for Dad's flight.
Dad is a ticketed Pilot, so his flight was a bit more of him flying than
mine. Dad took it off, flew it around, did a lot of the same maneuvers I
did, he did a "helped" landing with Mr. Lloyd, took it back off and came around
and landed by himself. Very nice landing in such a crosswind. He
taxied back and shut her down. As they were shutting down, I had to know
what he thought. (And, I'm sure Mr. Jim was kind of anxious himself, since Dad's
reaction would decide whether it was a "Sell" or not) I jumped up on the
wing and opened the door. He took off his headset and I asked, "So, what
do you think?" He looked at me, looked at Mr. Jim, back at me, smiled and
said, "I LOVE it." That was all it took. Dad and Mr. Jim made the
deal right then and there. We tried to take pictures, but the cold weather
killed the batteries in my digital camera. So, there was nothing we could
do. After we spent a bit more time with the airplane, Mr. Jim drove Dad
and I to the hotel we were staying at for the night. Which, was only about
3/4 of a mile from the airport. After he dropped us off, he said he would
pick us back up in the morning and take us back for our trip home. After
he left, we walked to the restaurant next door and ate. Then we walked to
the Auto Zone on the other side just to see if, maybe, they had one of those
disposable 35mm cameras they sell everywhere.. Well, lo and behold, Auto Zone
carries disposable cameras!!! we bought one and headed back to the Hotel.
Once we got in, Dad called for a weather outlook for the following day.
They said the first 40 miles of our trip would be low-ish ceilings (6000 feet),
but after that, everything was looking VERY clear. In fact, there was
going to be a quartering tailwind to push us along our route even quicker.
Dad said great and we would call them back in the morning to make sure. We
made our flight plan, planned out our fuel stops, planned our waypoints to load
in the GPS and had the trip planned down to the minute. We did all this
while watching Auburn beat the snot out of Tennessee. :)
Neither of us slept all that good the night before. Dad was restless with
anticipation, and I was restless by doubting my abilities to co-pilot and work
the radios. It wasn't a good night for either of us to get any rest.
Finally, 0700 came around and we started getting ready for Mr. Jim to pick us up
at 0800. While I was in the shower dad called for a weather update. Not
good news.. Ceilings were down to below 4000 feet and it would be that way until
we hit Clarksburg, PA (our first fuel stop) They thought it would be clear
after that. We looked at elevations from Meadville to Clarksburg and there
were some places that were close to 3000 feet. If the ceiling dropped any more
we wouldn't be able to clear the clods and the terrain. It wasn't looking good.
After Mr. Jim got there, we discussed with him. He gave Dad a couple of
options on where and how to fly, but after about 10 minutes of talking, he
looked at Dad and said, "You look nervous." Dad said he was and
really didn't think it would be a good idea for us to try it. With him
being a lowtime (183 hours) VFR pilot and me being a 19.2 hour Student pilot, he
didn't think it would be the smartest move to make. Not to mention, you never
know what the weather will do. Mr. Jim said, that was the best decision to
make if he wasn't absolutely sure he could do it. The weather for the rest
of the week was going to do nothing but get worse, so we decided to rent a car
and head back home. If traffic wasn't bad, we could make it in about 12 hours or
so. We went back tot airport to get a few pictures of the airplane and
then Mr. Jim flew us to Youngstown, OH to the nearest Hertz Rental place in one
of his aircraft he is selling. As we took off at Port Meadville, the
ceiling had dropped to 2900 feet and as we flew, Mr. Jim was flying at 2500 feet
and clipped the bottom of a couple of clouds. Now, Mr. Jim is IFR rated so
it was no big deal to him, but since neither of us were, we couldn't have flown
in that situation. It ended up being the right decision. We flew to
Youngstown, got a rental to Pittsburg International where my wife, Heather, had
reserved us a flight out of coming back to Atlanta. We left Pitt at 1330
and landed in Cleveland to switch planes. We left Cleveland about 1520 and
landed in Atlanta at 1715 where my mom was there to pick us up. The whole flight
home we were watching the clouds. And that's all we saw. It was even
raining in Atlanta when we landed. So, there was no doubt, Dad made the right
decision.
Mr. Jim is going to deliver the airplane in the next couple of weeks.
Once the weather breaks and he has a free day.
We took pictures of the airplane with that disposable and Dad was getting
them developed today. Once I get a hold of them, I'll scan a few in and load
them up here. Until then, here are the pictures we got from Mr. Jim while
Dad was making up his mind on the airplane. These are pictures of the
actual aircraft.
Oh yeah.. Would you like to know what kind of airplane it is??
I guess that would be nice..
It's a 1978 Piper PA38-112 Tomahawk.
The previous owner is a big supporter of the US Military, hence the
Desert Storm tan color with the 1917-1941 US Army Air Corps Star insignia.
It looks awesome in person!!!
Dad and I would really like to Thank Mr. Jim Murray for all his hospitality and
for everything he did for us over those two days. He really went "Above
and Beyond." We would also like to Thank Mr. Lloyd Mitchell for taking
time on his Saturday to take us each up and get us familiar with the Tomahawk.
Besides having to leave the Tomahawk behind, the entire trip was a great
experience for us both. We had a blast and met a bunch of nice folks up there in
Pennsylvania. Them kind of folks could almost change my negative opinion
about Yankees. But, for now, I think I'll just keep my positive opinions
reserved for Pennsylvania Folks. :)
Time in Log Book (Dual): .5 hrs
Time in Log Book (PIC): 0 hrs
Total time: 19.2 hrs
Next flight is scheduled for:??
(A note about this.. Now that Dad owns an airplane, I will be finishing
up my pilot's training in this airplane. No more renting for me.)
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Next Page: January 2005
Comments or questions?
I'd like to hear from you.
Email to: new_pilot@@wolfpack764.com
(Take out one of the @ signs.)
Instrument Images taken from
Gulf-Coast-Avionics.com