Yatta!

I did it! i had been meaning to make a short video of my adventures in flight for a while now and today i got it done. upon review of my pictures however, i noticed i did not have enough material. this video is part one of my flight experience. Theres a few photos from a solo flight or two, a dual x-country flight with Jason and my lady corie, and a selection of photos from me messing around in "nasty mike" with my friends. i'll be sure to make another short film of my instrument, multi, commercial, and CFI training experiences. For now though... enjoy part one of me chasing the dream of flight.

pics and vids

I took a flight over to St. George Island with my skydiving buddy Cory last weekend. en route he snapped a few photos and a video with his phone. the video he shot is of us on final for 36 at KTLH. actually we flew directly north from the coast so it really was something like a 30 NM final. you have to watch closely to tell that we are even moving as there was a pretty stiff wind coming out of the north west that day. if i remember correctly it was about a 30 degree crosswind lining up on 36 at about 15kts. i landed a little left of the center line unfortunately but its no biggie when your flying a cessna into tallahassee. we've got 150ft wide runways that are both over a mile long. more than enough wiggle room for x-wind landings. if you listen closely at the end of the video you can even hear the right main touch first, then the left, followed by the nose wheel. Jason would have been proud.

oh yeah, disregard cory's yelling in the background. its the first time he's taken off and actually landed in a plane in a while. normally he just jumps out of them. he was understandingly excited.

Cory (on the left) and I en route to St. George Island (F47)

Playing with the radios.... the one that works anyway.

the props blades are in the way, but you can see the tallahassee slightly to the right, and the field at KTLH straight ahead. i think we're over crawfordville here. i believe that's their water tower just off the right old nasty mikes nose.

here's the video

Freqency change approved

well I've been a pilot for more than 2 months now and i think it is finally beginning to sink in. It has been a long time since I've posted anything to my blog and i have been waiting for a free hour or so to get my thoughts in order. i really have no excuse though. I've just been a little lazy posting since this initially was a training blog, and well..... i haven't been doing any flight training..... since i have gotten my ASEL license I've only been doing local flights and some short x-country's. i have been very busy with school trying to finish up my degree and have not been flying as much as i should. my training, for now, has been put on hold. come December 13th (graduation) i will begin actively pursuing financing for the rest of my ratings through the initial CFI.

lately it seems i have been flying about once a week or so and will keep that up until i get some $$ for the rest of my training. on these once a week flights i have been racking up some x-country time. i usually go over to St. George or Apalachicola via the coast. dog island is a fun stop, but its not quite the required 50NM straight line distance to qualify as a x-country flight towards my ratings. of course i have also been doing a few local flights, taking 45 minute trips around the city at night (which the girlfriend loves). i try to take a friend up with me every time and so far that has not been a problem. over all though, i prefer flying up and down the coast. we are only about 15-20 minutes north of the gulf here at KTLH. so its close, and i enjoy flying at 500ft above the water skirting the coast line while rocking the wings for the kids on the beach waving at me. I can remember having the roles reversed when i was young. i would always try to wave at the planes flying over head hoping that they would see and acknowledge me.

well that's it for now i guess. i will try to stay motivated about updating the blog, but without much training going on for the next month or so it will probably just be pictures or something. i have a flight to Apalachicola planned for this weekend. there is a seafood festival going on so I'll be sure to take some pictures. until then.....

~yoman out

done.... for now

matt = licensed private pilot

i just got back from my checkride and unfortunately i have to go to work right away. more to come when i get some time to write. for now though, this private pilot is off to work.


awesome

oral exam cram fest

tomorrow is the big day! jason and i have been working together a lot. we've been meeting as much as we can. i've found that cold beer and studying for the oral work well together and have implemented that in our studying techniques. the past 3-4 days have been spent doing nothing but studying for the written and the oral, mixed with some flying and watching the olympics. we've been practicing the basic maneuvers and all the different landings. on a landing note, sunday i had an eventful landing. a little excitement never hurt anyone right.......... i think i'll leave it at that since my mom now is reading this blog. on a side note, my landings yesterday were just fine. greasing that soft field landing really feels good.

anyway, im sure jason must be getting tired of all things flying. he has two students cramming for our checkrides tomorrow and i don't think he has anytime for himself. i've seen him more the past two or 3 days than anyone else and he's doing a great job getting me ready. i feel pretty good about the checkride. i just need to digest the oral exam guide and make a run over tallahassee commercial just in case my examiner wants me to fly over there.

well, i think thats enough for today. time to hit the books and order a new headset. i found a great deal on a new DC headset that i have been wanting. now i have an extra for passengers. man, i cant wait until tomorrow is over with. i cant wait to be a pilot.

almost there

on wednesday i did my long solo x-country. i flew from TLH - CTY - GVN - TLH. it was long and uneventful if you count out george (auto pilot) being a little squirely due to turbulance on the first leg. i took out the nice 172 that had the auto pilot and gps making my trip that much easier and allowing me to enjoy the flight more. the only bad thing was that i had to stop in gainsville. as you know im a seminole and all that blue and orange around the airport was making me sick. i needed 3.2 hours of solo x-country time to meet mins and i ended up getting 3.4 after being vectored in to TLH and taxing to the other side of the field. all i need to do now is rack up 6.7 hours by wednesday. that way i meet the minimum time before my checkride.

i was supposed to go up today, but its pretty cloudy and i have to leave for work in about 3 hours. i might head over for an hour or so just to get airborne. what can i say... its fun. the written exam is now scheduled for monday, my checkride is wednesday, and my instructor leaves for law school the following morning. it was really nice of him to stick around for an extra two weeks to finish me and another student up. the poor guy is couching it with a friend while he waits for his to eager students to finish. he really is a good guy. too bad he's gonna be a gator in few weeks.

well i suppose that will be it for a while. im just gonna pound out the rest of the time this weekend and practice some maneuvers with jason. i'll post again when i'm a licensed private pilot. for now i'll leave you with a qoute from darren byrd....

"Blue up, Brown down...that's all you need to know."

hi mom

pilotage

lots of flying this weekend! i got 3 x-country flights in for a total of 5.9 hours. the first was a early evening flight from TLH to ABY to TLH that lasted about 2 hours and ended with a night landing. it was a smooth flight and i even brought the girlfriend along (she took all the pictures). yesterday at around 10 my instructor jason and i went over to PFN and back for the second x-country. it was a little bumpy out as the clouds were broken at around 3000 and we had to fly below them. we did a full stop and actually borrowed the courtesy car for an hour or so to get some lunch and cruise around panama city for a little bit. heading back, jason turned on his ipod and dosed off a bit while i got us back to base. he told me, "don't get lost or you'll get me in trouble". every now and then he would have me point to where we are on the map to make sure i actually knew what i was doing. i suppose it was a little test as i made the trip back to PFN a few hours later that day for my first solo x-country! you really feel more like a pilot when your "going somewhere" instead of practicing maneuvers or hanging around the pattern. all in all it was a good weekend for me racking up almost 6 hours of flight time. all that's left for the license is the night x-country, which im doing tonight, and a long solo x-country which i am scheduled to do on tuesday. i have a lot on my plate right now as i need to take the written and prepare for my checkride which will be next week sometime. on top of that, i have a paper due for class tomorrow. i really should be doing that right now but instead i'm procrastinating by adding to my blog. oh yeah, i also need to study for a final that will be on friday. wish me luck.

heres a few pics from the flight to ABY and back.

here she is 4NM


nice shot of downtown. look its doak campell stadium. go noles!

on our way north leaving TLH behind

jason and i looking for a check point

fueling up

x-country time

ok, so i have been slacking lately. i feel pretty bad. my instructor was out of town for almost two weeks, and i only flew twice. i solo'd once and did my 8 night landings with another instructor while he was gone. i have till the 10th to finish up which is when my instructor is off to law school. i feel pretty confident that i can get it done. after all, my goal was to solo in 10 hours (did that) and finish in 2 months on budget. the 10th will be just under 3 months and as far as budget goes... HA! flying is expensive. at least i'll be right at the 40 hour mark and not the average 60. thats a savings of over 2K! i planned my first x-country yesterday and went over a few things for the written which i will take on monday. i've been studying alot, but im still pretty nervous about getting it done. i havent even really thought about the oral exam. (yikes!) so right now its crunch time for me. im doing my first x-country on saturday and then another on sunday. i also have a paper due for school on monday and a final on the 8th. lots of work for me to do. so on that note.... exams4pilots.org here i come.

fun in the clouds

didn't end up flying last night. got to the flight school and read TSRA on the metar report. i backed up this information with a nice moving picture of a thunderstorm moving westbound over the field. god bless aviationweather.gov. anyway, we did the lesson on aviation physiology and went over night flight only to revisit it when my instructor gets back into town. the poor guy had a death in the family and will be out of town for a week or two. this leaves me with the written test to complete while he is out of town. i will be memorizing the jeppesen faa written knowledge exam guide and doing a few solo flights to stay proficient in the airplane.

i went up solo this morning in cloudy weather. the good thing was that is wasn't too bumpy and the temperature was agreeable at around 80 degrees. i took off on 36 and headed west to the practice area. i practiced a few steep turns and some ground reference maneuvers, but mainly i was just enjoying myself flying around over quincy. i headed back to the airport early to get some touch and go's in. however, on the way in approach vectored me southbound way west of the field. 27/9 was shut down to landing traffic leaving 36 busy, and i guess a student in a 172 doing touch and go's was far down the controllers list of things deemed important. i tried to pick my way through the clouds and got to 1000ft with my head just under the ceiling. i mean... i'm sure i was at least 500 ft under the cloud ceiling. so here i am flying south in the haze under the clouds with about 5-6 miles of vis at best and i still cant see the field because they told me to turn south when i was still 10 miles west of the airport. finally the controller calls my base and after a minute or two i see a faint clearing that turns out to be the field. i make my approach, do a touch and go and start my left traffic pattern. as soon as i get on the downwind the controller comes back on and tells me to extend my downwind for a landing king air, then for a b1900. i end up being asked to do a 360 before having my base leg called and once again i am about 7-8 miles out from the field. at this point i can make out the airport amidst the haze, but only barely. as i get close i called it quits asking for a full stop. i was up an hour at this point and was tired of being run around by the controllers trying to deal with a shut down runway.

no more flying for a few days. i've got school and work the next two nights. on top of that, i gotta get the written done before jason comes back. maybe i'll go up on sunday.... but definitely by next week. until then, i'm out.

long time

havent updated in quite a while. i've been grounded for almost 2 weeks now. i had quite a bit of ground school to take care of and the typical florida weather as been... well... typical. i am now done with the ground work and just need to study up to take the written. i recently did the flight on radio navigation, and after a quick flight under the hood to meet mins, i will be doing a night flight and on to the x-country's. things are going by quite fast, but i cant wait to be done. im due to go up today at around 6:30 but there is a nasty weather system about 2 hours out right now so it doesnt look so good. thats all for now, more to come next week.

STOL

havent updated in a while. been flying alot lately plowing through the syllabus. got in another 1.4 hours today practicing soft field take offs and landings and STOL procedures. pretty fun day all in all. the weather was nice and hot as usual and clouds were at 2000 giving me enough room to play around unlike the last time i flew. i've been studying alot of ground school stuff in prep for the written. i hope to get that done real soon. exams4pilots.org has been helping and of course the jeppensen FAA airmen knowledge test guide is gold. next flight is naviagation and then on to night flight after that. X-country flying is just around the bend. pretty exciting stuff! looks like i will be able to get this done in 2 months time after all. this is key becuase my instructor is off to law school at the end of july.

thats it for now because i'm hungry. can anybody say, 5 dollar foot long!

yoman out

update

haven't updated in a while and since i am going flying today (weather permitting) i thought i would add a little something. got to fly last thursday and get some more solo time in. i am now at exactly 15 hours. 5 of which are solo. last thursday i got about 1.2 hours of crosswind practice as the wind never changed much as was constantly blowing out of the west. the controller asked if i wanted to change runways but since the wind was only around 8 kts i declined and responded with, "no thanks, i need the practice." my right leg got a little tired of holding down the rudder to keep the nose straight, but all in all it was good day.

anyway, was out of town this weekend and got stuck working yesterday, so i havent flown in a while. its killing me! looking forward to today just to get back in the air. i know we are heading out to the practice area and doing some routine manuevers.... stalls, slow flight, flying under the hood, steep turns, turns about a point... bla bla bla. it wont be very interesting, but it is important and will still be fun because i will be flying. after this i get to go up solo in the practice area and repeat todays flight, and then it is on to naviagation and cross country's! cant wait for that.

on a sadder note, united announced today it was going to lay off 950 pilots in the next month. as well as retire some old airplanes and cut white collar jobs. the airline buisness is looking grim. but thats ok i guess. realisticly i am about 2 years out to really be thinking about getting hired by the airlines and this just gives me more reason to persue corporate avaiation! thats it for now, i got to go flying.

fun with camera

well i finally got around to bringing my camera out to the airport. i was going up solo for an hour or so just to fly in the pattern so i decided it would be a good opportunity to snap some photos of my old bird. thats her below, 734NM (nasty mike). a 1977 c-172N.


here's a photo of 4NM on the ramp with 172RK (redneck killer). on the far right is a c-150 with a c-152 hidden behind RK and the 150.


this is my primitive cockpit. i snapped this photo just before i started my decent to land. i took this picture so i could look back on it and laugh at how simple it used to be. i hope to be flying in the right seat of an RJ or maybe something corporate in the next few years, and this old cockpit will definitely feel primitive to anything of that sort.


here is a nice pic of runway 9'er as i'm descending and about to turn base for 36. tallahasssee may not have much commercial air traffic, but it certainly has large runways. 9/27 is over 8000 ft. and 18/36 is about 6000 ft. i rarely get vectored around by ATC and can usually just fly a normal pattern. the only regular commercial traffic we get are some RJ's and gulfstream's b1900's. well hold on, i guess i can't count out the military. you can't see them in this picture, but there were 3 a-10's on the south ramp that day. we regularly get military aircraft in. while they're mostly helicopters and jet trainers we occasionally get some fighters. just the other day i got a call to extend my downwind because a coast guard c-130 decided to show up and do touch and go's for about an hour.

anyway, i was supposed to fly yesterday but the weather was upset with me i guess and started to get real wet and nasty as i rolled up to the airport. i tried to wait it out for about for 30-40 minutes but had no luck and went home to study. i'm studying the chapter on weather right now which seems a little ironic because it's weather that is keeping me from flying.

holding short runway 18, student pilot solo

got to go up again twice this week to get some more solo time under my belt. tuesday was fun as we flew late again and the weather was agreeable. the winds were not to bad and more importantly, when flying in florida, the temperature was in the low 80's and not the high 90's.

today i drove over to the airport after looking at the radar at home. it showed thunderstorms brewing to the south and the west. they were far enough away to not cause much of a problem, but as we all know the weather is always in motion. after doing a few touch and go's with my instructor he hoped out and actually headed home. this was fine because i prefer flying by myself. i have a good deal of fun flying and with no one in the plane with me i don't feel as stupid when i'm cruising around the pattern with a big grin on my face. after being ushered all over the field due to changing winds, i finally was holding short of 18 only to wait another 7-8 minutes for landing traffic on both runways. i wanted to call up the tower and say listen.... i'm paying to fly this airplane, why don't you let me out. those guys landing that are getting payed to fly can just wait! obviously i didn't do this and i understand that planes in the pattern waiting to land have priority over me and my cessna just wanting to go up and do some touch and go's.

well the day ended short due to those thunderstorms i was talking about, and i only got another half hour of solo time in before the rain was hitting the field. the wind started to throw me around pretty good and i had been watching the thunderstorm get closer and closer each time i turned downwind. so i decided to land on my third time around. kind of a bummer, but it was a good call. i ended up getting pretty wet while i was tying up the plane. i could have gotten away with another time around the pattern, but then i would have been taxing in the rain. i like being able to see when im parking my old girl next to the other 7 or 8 planes on the ramp.

going up solo tomorrow, so i'll have more to post about my first full ride alone. but for now i'm off to work. until next time....

tallahassee tower, 4NM is clear of the runway.

solo

well, it happened. last evening i soloed for the first time. it was a great feeling to be alone in the plane. i felt so much more in control of my little cessna. the days lesson started out with just some routine closed traffic pattern touch and go's and after i greased 3 landings my instructor took the controls and taxied back to the ramp. it wasn't much of a surprise as to what was happening when he pulled out my headset while talking to the controller. he turned the plane around, cut the engine, and said, "i want you to be really careful.. bla bla bla.... you're ready.... just do exactly what you did with me in the plane... bla bla bla..." i was just thinking come on already! get out of the plane and let me fly. it was a perfect evening to solo. the wind is down the runway at 6kts. it wasn't too hot and the sun was setting off in the distance. i was only upset that i couldn't have flown longer. i had 9.7 hours starting the day and ended with 10.6 after my solo. my instructor hopped out after doing 3 touch and go's so i'd say that i soloed at around 10 hours. that was a goal of mine going in. i wanted to solo before i reached the 10 hour mark and i did. the lessons are going by fast and my bank account gets smaller everyday. if all goes well i'll be a pilot by the end of next month.

quincy traffic..... quincy traffic

got to do some great flying yesterday. we took off at around 7pm and the weather was perfect. we did a quick hop over to quincy mun and got used to flying into and around an uncontrolled field. quincy is only about 15-20 miles out of TLH but it was still nice to fly somewhere different. after a few stop and go's we headed back to tallahassee to do some tough and go's and a emergency decent to landing.

i went over to bainbridge GA today to get my medical done at a reduced cost. it was totally worth the 45 min drive to save 70 bucks on the medical. these doctors in tallahassee are way to expensive. so now i am a certified student pilot and one step closer to soloing. im going up again today, lets see if i cant nail everything and show my instructor im ready. untill next time.....

more ground school

I started on monday this week with some ground school work. this was followed with more ground school on tuesday in order to catch up with the order on the jeppesen syllabus. all in all not too much fun, but glad to get it done. i ended up getting a 92% on my first stage exam. thats not too great, but i'll take it for now. yesterday i was back in the plane, and boy was i happy to be back. we practiced turns about a point, s turns, rectangular courses (aka flying the pattern) and some more landings. i had been out of the plane almost a week and i could tell. its true what they say, if you cant devote at least 3-4 days a week for flying it really will take you longer to get your private.

anyway, going up again today to do some more flying. jason said we might take a trip over to quincy. i hope this is so, i would like a change of scenery and would like to practice flying into an uncontrolled airport. will update in the next day or so.

FIRE TURCK ON THE RUNWAY! ABORT! ABORT!

well, went flying the past two days and am slowly progressing through my syllabus. last wendesday i was scheduled to go up for some routine practice and a renter did not come back with my rental plane in time for me to go up. this angered me a little bit simply due to the fact that i had checked it out for two hours. so we did some ground school and called it a day.

friday was fun learning about accelerated and secondary stalls, practice with the hood on and some very fun emergency landing procedures. now in the back of my head, i am always looking for a place to put down.

today was spent doing nothing but touch and go's, STOL practice and more emergency procedures. just as i was about to rotate my instructor says, "simulated fire truck on the runway... FIRE TRUCK ON THE RUNWAY! ABORT THE LANDING" of course i did not hear him say 'simulated' and was looking down the runway thinking what the hell? there's no firetruck on the runway. as soon as he said abort the landing, i understood what was going on and killed power and came to a full stop. it was a great way to end the days lesson.

got alot of reading to do for monday as we are going to knock out two ground lessons at once. im done with ch. 4 in the jepp GFD book and only have to read ch. 5 tomorrow. i'll be sure to study the exam questions and keep trying to be one step ahead of my instructor during the ground lessons.

falling and stalling

practiced stalls today! always fun stuff. went over both power-on and power-off stalls, flying in the pattern, touch and go's, and some IR flying under the hood. i did well on the IR stuff, and flying the pattern (thanks flight-sim!), and i think i'm getting the hang of the landing sequence. i just need to remember more right rudder when doing power-on stalls, and to apply the throttle right away after stalling with the power-off. these are minor things, but i need to be thinking about them for next time and ultimately my check ride.

i have the day off tomorrow since my instructor is working. so i will be hitting the books and doing exam prep in the jepp books. next flight is scheduled for wednesday morning. and as always during the summer time in florida, that flight is weather permitting. until next time 4NM is clear of the runway.

catch-up

as you can see by the date of this post, i haven't flown in a while. weather did not permit flying last week and i started up on my ground school. i'm now through the first two ground lessons and the first two flights. got to do some touch and go's, slow flight, and practice flying the pattern. we had a little crosswind today but nothing serious. it was a fun day and im ready for more. i think i might be wearing out my instructor as i'm trying to fly everyday, but it seems all i think about is flying. so off to the books i go. i'm just about done with ch.3 in the jepps and i'm on to ch.4 in prep for more flying on monday. more updates to come!

first thoughts

well, i went up for my 1st "official" lesson on tuesday and have another planed for tomorrow weather permitting. i say it was my first official lesson only because over the past few years i have taken an intro flight and a lesson or two only to find out i was way to poor to even think about completing my ppl on time and within any kind of budget. i have also been lucky enough to have accumulated a good amount of time flying my friend ricks' aerostar. but since it is a twin and does not count towards my ppl i have to start at square one. anyway, as long as mother nature permits, tomorrow will be my second lesson with my instructor jason. i should be receiving my jeppesen ppl kit this weekend, and i am ready to study. more updates to follow.

keep the blue side up



picture of the fastest GA piston twin ever built, the PA-60. this is ricks aerostar 3643D. it makes my skyhawk feel like a toy plane. truly a sports car of the sky. i'll miss her as he is selling it. luckily, he is planning to replace it with a v-tail bonanza! another piston speed demon.

it finally begins

after many years it is finally about to begin. i have been fascinated with airplanes since... well... forever. i have always dreamed of becoming a pilot and now that i am about to graduate college the time has come to begin living the dream.

today i went by the local flight school and met my instructor. we talked about getting my private done quickly and proficiently. i look to start training this week, and starting down the long and bumpy road of becoming a professional pilot. one reason i started this blog is to keep me focused and to have something i can look back on many years down the road when i hope to be getting paid to fly instead of the other way around. but perhaps the main reason i chose to do this is for anyone else that has been bit by the flying bug. i have spent countless hours reading pilots blogs getting a feel for the industry and learning how they trained. there is no better resource than first hand information, and i have found a lot of info on prospective flight schools and potential airline jobs. other bloggers such as birdinthesky have really inspired me to pursue my dream. and my hope is that maybe, just maybe, i can inspire someone else to follow their dreams too.