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.