chasing the dream of flight

Cleared for the approach

2009-08-31T13:57:00.007-04:00

Instrument rated!!!

On Saturday I passed my instrument checkride and am now a instrument rated private pilot.
What a relief it is to have that done and over with. I am one more step closer to my goal and can now fly in the clouds!

The checkride was both easy and hard. The DPE didnt take it easy on this professional pilot to be. And for whatever reason.... I had never seen a lead radial on an IPC before?!?!? I talked my way through it and eventually found it in the index of the NOS charts. But damn did I feel stupid.

I also stumbled on the SDF (simplified directional facility) I forgot why it was different that an LDA and other non precision approaches. The added 6 degrees of horizontal guidance almost got me. This was something else I got to look up in the NOS chart index.

After stumbling on two items during the oral exam, and chatting about playing music. (DPE and myself are both musicians) we hopped in the plane. This is where I shine and was happy to be airborne to show the examiner I do know a little bit about Instrument flying.

We did a "0 visibility" take off under the hood to start off. No problem. We then followed the flight plan we talked about with no surprises. IT started out flying direct to the SOGCO intersection to shoot the RNAV14 into Quincy. On the missed we flew to the Seminole VORTAC and did two turns in holding. This also happens to be the IAF for VOR A approach into Quincy. On completion of the first turn in holding the examiner slapped some suction cups over my attitude indicator and my DG simulating a vacuum failure. Again, no problem. With turns to the east and west, which is what I was doing in the hold, there is limited error on the mag compass to worry about.

After the two holding patterns I called procedure turn inbound and was cleared for the VOR A approach at Quincy. On the missed I was given instructions for fly 180 into controlled airspace and to climb to 2000ft. After leaving the pattern at Quinicy I was flying south climbing to 2000 and asked for radar vectors for the ILS 36 at Tallahassee. This was to be the last phase of the checkride. I advanced the throttle a bit and we cruised as fast as we could down to the FAF for the ILS 36. I was eventually given a 45 degree intercept for the ILS and turned in to join the localizer. I never got to use the intercept angle as the controller had brought me in too close. At this point the DPE moved his chair back up from its reclined position and removed the suction cups on my "failed gauges". I realigned the DG, ran through the decent checklist and waited for the glide slope to come in. At around 260 feet the DPE said, "visual on the runway. You can remove your foggles." I had the needles pegged and was right where I wanted to be. I chopped the power to idle, waited a second to drop below 85kts where I then dumped the flaps. 200 feet later, and 1000 feet down the runway the mains touched one at a time (perfect crosswind landing) followed by the nose wheel.

I was now an instrument rated pilot. But after the ride was done, I didn't feel any different. It was nothing like how I felt after my private pilot checkride. Nothing will replace the feeling of earning my wings. Oh well.... it doesn't really matter. I am one more step closer to my goal of being a professional pilot.

And hey, now I can fly with my head in the clouds!

Island Flying

2009-08-27T13:44:00.013-04:00

Here's a few shots from two trips taken with my buddy Matt. Jekyll Island and Hilton Head Island were the destinations. Enjoy!

On the take off roll out of Jekyll

Departing to the south east out of 09J

Over 09J at 2000 ft.

Playing with the clouds at 8500 ft.

09J -Brunswick - Taylor - Greenville - KTLH

Now for some from the Hilton Head trip. Matt flew there and I took it on the way back. Great place to visit. Excellent service at the FBO and the hush puppies weren't too bad either! Can't wait to go back again.

Endless sea of clouds all the way from Tallahassee to Jacksonville on an early morning departure.

I think I see the ground down there...

Signature Flight Support at KHXD. Excellent service and can't beat a putting green at the FBO. you can see it here right behind the flags!

Matt doing a quick preflight of our trusty steed. 94X

Its Jekyll Island again. On the way home at 10,500 ft.

Dodging the build ups on the way home. These things grow fast in the summertime here in FL

Is that an Alligator out in the distance???

checkride time

2009-08-27T13:28:00.002-04:00

Well its checkride time again, and boy am I ready to get this over with! I have been flying and studying alot in preparation for the ride. I have been doing simulator flying, hood flying, finger flying... and even flying in my sleep. I know I have the flying portion of the checkride under control, its the oral exam that has me a little nervous. There is so much information to be asked about that studying the oral exam guide has my head spinning.

My fate will determined on Saturday morning as I fly the second instrument checkride of the day for the DPE. My buddy Matt whom I fly with regularly is going first. Hopefully he doesn't set the bar too high!

I've been flying a lot, and have some stories and pictures to share. I'll see if I can post a few shots from the past few weeks before I get back to the books.

Wish me luck

almost time

2009-08-08T02:18:00.002-04:00

My checkride is scheduled for the friday after next. I know I have the flying portion of the checkride covered. I just need to master the oral exam guide!

My time is sitting around 130 hours with all the mins met. I think I've even got everything in the PTS down. Now its time to study study study! The folks are coming into town next weekend so that will put a damper on things, but as long as I stay relatively busy with the studying I should be IFR rated soon!

More to come... Heading to Cedar Key on Sunday and over to Destin again on Monday.

Keep the blue side up.

TSRA

2009-08-02T16:42:00.005-04:00

0218/0222 VRB15G25KT 4SM TSRA BKN025CB = no flying today.
Grounded again due to weather.  Oh well.

Hey dad

gettin' there

2009-07-22T13:30:00.006-04:00

Flew for 2.1 today. 1 hour was with Chris doing some work in the holding pattern over the Seminole VOR followed by a ILS 36 at KLTH. It was so nice out that after we landed I called Corie up and had her come out to the airport so we could go on a nice VFR flight down the coast to St. George Island. At least that was what I intended....

We got out over the coast, and I started messing around looking for a friend's boat who was out fishing. It seemed like every one had a green bimini top on their boat today and I could not get a positive ID on my buddy Jims' boat. We circled a few non-the-less. Hopefully I didn't scare too many boaters out there. After I got bored of that, we headed south east for St. George and decended through 1000 ft. But before I could level off at 500 feet over the beach Corie alerted me of her desire to relieve her bladder. Oh well.... full power, climbing right hand turn direct to Tallahassee. So much for that idea. It was still a nice flight just because it was so beautiful out. It did get a little hotter by the time we got back to base, but it still wasn't too bad. No clouds, calm wind, and 72 degrees at 2500 ft. Can't beat that with stick! Unfortunately the nice weather we've been having should end tonight as this cold front moves on past us.

Interesting tidbit: ATC had traffic landing on 36 and 27 with the winds out of 180 around 7 kts. No big deal... sometimes ya have to land with a little tailwind. I made the mistake of calling up ATC and requesting 18 if it would not interupt they're flow. "Roger 172RK we have your request..." Then nothing. The controller kept on talking to other aircraft in the vicinity. Ok I thought, no problem. I've already been cleared to land on 36 and the traffic behind me has been cleared #2 for landing. At this point I'm at 100kts following the ILS down to the ground. At about 500 ft no more than a mile from the threshold I hear, "172RK enter right downwind for 18. I'll call your base". So once again I added full power and made a climbing left turn to enter the pattern. I could have declined the landing clearance and kept following the ILS down landing with a slight tailwind, but I chose to be safe and take the runway with the more favorable winds. It ultimately was a non-event and I made a nice landing.

Thats all for today, off to study my oral exam guide some more before heading to work. Check ride is coming up soon!

bouncing

2009-06-11T01:48:00.002-04:00

I "Flew" the sim today as well as my usual ride 94X. Today was the hottest day of the year so far in Tallahassee and I thought it would be a good idea to fly around at 3000ft shooting full procedure RNAV approaches. Boy was I wrong. I could have been flying around in a glider today the thermals were so strong over Tally.

Besides the not so nice weather I did get in some good practice and got to share the airspace with a pair of F22's. Never thought the first time I saw one I would be up in the air less than a mile away. They flew directly overhead shooting the ILS 36 while I was slowly making my procedure turn inbound from the FESUX IAF a thousand feet below.

Thats it for now, its late... Going up Friday evening with Hale. Gonna be droping him off in Destin and then head back for a nice night flight. Its been a while, so I'll be sure to do a few stop and go's to get legal again.

Keep the blue side up.

The Beau

2009-06-03T17:11:00.007-04:00

The weather across the south east has been less than desirable the past two weeks. It was only last weekend that the sky cleared up allowing for some VFR time building to occur. Last Sunday my buddy Matt and I hopped in the redneck killer and blasted off to Gulfport (Biloxi) Mississippi. We are both in IFR training and are trying to build up both our simulated instrument and x-country PIC time. The trip to Mississippi was a solid 5.8 hours. With that we both can log the whole flight as PIC x-country and half of it as simulated instrument time. (one of us has to be under the hood) It was a great day and a great flight. The weather was perfect... well, the 20 knot headwind on the way home kind of sucked but hey, we're building time right!

So the trip west was great. I was flying the first leg down the coast. First we shot over to KPFN, then to KDTS to stay in the VFR corridor near Eglin AFB. From Destin we flew to KNPA which is the Pensacola Naval Air Station, home of the Blue Angels. We stayed above their airspace at 7500 ft. and continued on to KGPT our final destination.

Shot of Pensalcola Naval Air Station from 8,500 ft.

Here's a zoomed in shot of the ramp. If you look closely you can see 3 of the Blue Angels A/C including the famous Fat Albert C-130.

After shutting down we walked into the FBO and we're given the keys to the crew car. Sure beats paying for a cab! We drove down the coast to the Beau Rivage Hotel & Casino to have lunch and maybe get lucky at the tables. I opted not to indulge (after all, I am already in dept thanks to this flight training stuff) but Matt threw $300 on black at the roulette tables and won!

Here's the big winner! Always bet on black!

So after our little gambling excursion, Matt treated me to lunch at the Beau's rather lavish lunch Buffet with his winnings. It was excellent! Next time I'm gonna win big and lunch will be on me.

All in all we spent about an hour and a half maybe two hours over in Mississippi before we got airborne again. The Flight home was Matt's and unfortunately we were seeing ground speeds of around 88 kts. Miserable! But like I said before, we are both trying to build our time up so we shrugged it off and kept on trucking.

The flying was pretty uneventful minus a oil pressure gauge that was malfunctioning. The oil pressure sat at the bottom of the green arc on the gauge the whole trip. Not too big a deal as long as its in the green, but it kept us on our toes. We touched back down in good ole' Tallahassee around 4:30pm EST and had been gone almost 8 hours. It was a great trip I will not soon forget.

The Matt's

Some photos

2009-06-01T17:59:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures I have taken lately. They didn't quite fit into a specific post so I'll put them here.

Happy flying.

Nice Tallahassee Sunset

Playing with the clouds over Panama City

The Apalachicola River

A big cloud somewhere in the greater Orlando region

Miles and miles of little puffy fair weather cumulus clouds

Beating the weather

2009-05-05T13:07:00.009-04:00

I flew home this weekend with a buddy of mine in one of my schools 172's. It was just supposed to be a short stay as I wanted to spend some time with the folks and see the Steve Miller Band play down at sunfest. We left the ground about 9:15am local time and flew from Tallahassee to Lantana via Cross City then victor 7 through Lakeland and La Belle. From there we flew east to Pahokee and finally into Lantana. It was a great flight! We cruised at 9500 ft. the whole way. This kept us above the broken cloud layer and it was smooth as glass with only a slight headwind.

Unfortunately we were only able to stay one night as there was a weather system that was moving east dumping rain and strong winds throughout the country. It was the same system that brought down the Dallas Cowboy's practice facility and I did not want to mess with that. So we left West Palm Beach (KLNA) around noon on Monday. This was alot earlier than I wanted to leave and didn't even get to spend 24 hours at home. Oh well, I'll go back down next month and spend some more time with the rents.

All the reports showed that we would beat the weather if we could get to TLH by 4-4:30 so off we went. I had been watching the weather like a hawk for days up to the flight and kind of knew this might happen. First, we made a quick stop in KOBE (Okeechobee) for cheap fuel and after fighting the plane to start (172RK does not like the hot start) we were off direct to LAL then up to CTY on V7 turning west abeam the navaid to get us home to good ole' Tallahassee.

This was the plan anyway...

After climbing up to 10,500 departing KOBE the clouds started to grow. We cruised around them for a little while but I knew that the weather conditions ahead would not permit us to get underneath. The major storm that's now pounding the east coast was having its way with us... and at this altitude our little Cessna doesn't like to climb much more, so down we went. I spotted a whole just past Lakeland and I hit the deck. We got underneath while staying VFR eventually leveling out at 4500 ft. Here comes the fun stuff. We were getting bounced around so much that I tried a little lower at 3500 ft to no avail. With no working auto pilot, I was getting a work out keeping the plane on my desired orientation. The whole time in the back of my mind I was thinking about the weather back at base. Would I be able to make it in VFR??? I wonder what the weather is doing up in the panhandle? Where could we land that has a few hotel options if we do get stuck? DIVERT!

At this time we were about 65 miles directly south of Gainsville heading to Cross City. There is nothing in Cross City, and I had been to Gainsville's airport a few times before and knew they had adequate resources available to determine the weather situation along with many Hotel options. (not to mention the free cookies at the FBO) Now I am a Seminole and hate to say anything good about gator town, but their FBO is nice and everyone is friendly. Even to those pilots who are sporting Seminole flight club t-shirts! So after checking the weather for 15 minutes I decided we could make it VFR if we hurried. We jumped back in the plane (more hot start issues) and blasted out of G-ville as fast as our little Cessna would take us.

The could deck was solid at 3000 in g-ville keeping us at 2000ft. It was much smoother for this last leg thank god, but the ceiling was dropping and the visibility was around 6 miles and dropping as well. This is no problem for the IFR student, but I was starting to worry about the legality of the flight continuing VFR. Luckily we got to stay at 1500 and I could see the field about 5 miles out. Approach got us in around other IFR traffic and we made a butter smooth landing on runway 18 with rain hitting the windshield during the approach. We made it by about 15 minutes. I drove home in the rain.

This was my longest trip by myself yet and I loved it. Even with the crappy weather on the way back. The legs were about 343 miles a piece and I logged 7.5 hours of x-country flight time. I can wait to do the trip again.

For now though, I gotta get ready for work... Happy Cinco de Mayo baby.

building time

2009-04-20T14:52:00.003-04:00

So as of now I am about a quarter of the way done with the flying portion of the instrument rating. My instructor and I have been doing nothing but x-country flights (50nm straight line distance) under the hood. The simulated instrument time is building and I am slowly getting to where I need to be. The ground portion however is going even faster. For school I must finish by next week. I am doing this all on my own this time around and it has turned out to be OK, but I am still a little nervous about what I am going to get on the written.

The flying has been great! Well that is minus being under the hood all the time. I have been getting lots of practice with VOR/DME approaches, intercepting and tracking airways, navigating via the ADF, VOR, and GPS, getting all the new radio lingo down, flying in different types of weather, and well... flying only by reference to instruments. It has been pretty fun over all. I am flying a ton! Ultimately building time towards the magical 250 hours. I have been flying with much stronger winds than I did with my private. My confidence is growing and routinely seem to be flying in winds upwards of 20kts. Crosswind landings seem to be a regular occurrence, and I actually logged a minuscule amount of actual IMC yesterday flying around in the clouds and rain. It was a good day as the wind was right down the runway at 14kts gusting to 19kts. It was my first really nice landing in a week or two. Kissed the numbers with the stall horn itching to blow, and off the runway onto taxiway bravo which is around 1500 ft from the threshold. I thought it was nice anyway. Certainly better than Florida senator Richard Steinberg's landing which I watched from the hold short line. We counted 7 bounces (a few pretty hard) as he tried to land our schools glass cockpit 182. I felt bad for the plane.... it wasn't pretty.

That's it for now. I have tons of work to do for the written and I got to get crackin' on that asap. Keep the blue side up.

finally

2009-04-07T11:55:00.004-04:00

Well, its happened. I have finally secured some financing to continue my training. I have started on my IFR ticket and am building time and blowing through money again! Poor nasty mike is not IFR approved since it only has one set of working comm and nav radios. So I am tackling this next rating in our 172S and a 172SP. They are much nicer but also carry a $20 per/hour extra charge. Not much I can do I suppose... I do not fit into our 152 that's IFR equipped (too tall) and my instructor and I with full fuel are over weight anyhow. (The FAA needs to realize that not too many people weigh the standard 170lbs anymore. Especially when they are 6'3''.)

Anyway, my new instructor and I have been pushing through the beginning fazes of the IFR rating. Practicing holds and basic vor to vor navigation. the simulator comes in handy here. I can log up to 10 hours of "simulated" instrument time in my flight schools FAA approved simulator. I will take full advantage of this since it is only a $40p/h charge.

The real challenge will be completing the ground portion of the IFR rating before April 23'rd. I must submit my 3 stage exams and a copy of my completed FAA written on this date in order to pass my class. The only way I could get a loan at an acceptable interest rate was to actually go back to school. Therefor, I am attending Utah Valley University attempting a BS degree in Aviation Science. I'm taking 6 credits a semester and those are all "pilot based" classes. Meaning, they coincide with whatever rating or license I am pursuing at my flight school here in good 'ole Tallahassee. Right now I am taking an IFR ground and IFR flight class for a total of 6 credit hours. All I have to do in order to pass the class is take the 3 Jeppesen stage tests found in the IFR/Commercial kit and fax over a copy of both my FAA written exam score and a copy of my temporary airman certificate when I take my checkride. Not too bad eh? Seemed worth it to me. I get a decent interest rate, (saving money) I can train at my local fbo, (saving money) and never have to leave town.

So for now I am back in the saddle working towards that elusive 250 hour mark, hopefully picking up my IFR, Commercial and CFI ratings/licenses along the way.

For now I'm off to the flight school to hang out with John and Martha King. Lots more to come if I don't kill myself listening to all of Martha's one liners.

good things are coming...

2009-03-02T19:57:00.004-05:00

I only hope it will be sooner rather than later.

Still around

2009-01-13T16:27:00.008-05:00

Well, by the look of my last post its been over two months since i've written anything new. I had been busy graduating from college and doing the family thing around the holidays but now im back and ready to go. Got to do a little aerostar flying while i was home for the hollidays. Did a nice SUA-FXE-TPA-SUA trip and actually got a little left seat time. It was the first time i flew the her as an actual pilot. Damn she's fast...

Back to reality.
I went up in Nasty Mike today for the first time in a while. The airport was slow, and the weather was great untill i started doing the preflight..... Information Yankee says winds are 340 @ 8, altimeter 30.07. Sounds good to me, but i'm feeling something a little stronger now that i'm taxing to the run-up area. After i finish playing with my check list and doing the run-up i call the tower and get clearance to take off on 36. We have lift off.

After my first quick trip around the pattern (closed traffic today.... short on cash, and i wanted to practice a few landings) the tower controller says, "734NM cleared touch and go runway 36. Winds 340 @ 11kts gusting to 17kts, altimeter 30.05" Wow! that was a big difference than what the ATIS said while i was on the ground no more than 5 minutes ago. Oh well, here we go! The second trip around got a little worse with the wind shifting to 310 @ 12Kt G 18Kt. Ok I thought.... a little cross wind practice. Thats why i came up today. Well who would've guessed that on final at 65Kts about 20ft above the runway here comes a strong gust of wind out of 310 that instantly picked me up, slowed me down, and tossed me right of the center line.

On the next trip around the pattern I was instructed to make right traffic and to extend my downwind to make way for an A-10 that was in the area practicing instrument approaches. That was a pretty cool sight as he passed me on the right at 1000ft no more than a mile away. ( I got a few good shots of him with my phone as he dominated the traffic pattern with some very steep banked turns and equally impressive steep climb outs.) after following him in once i got vectored out again to make way for the same A-10 in the pattern. As the controller called my base 6-7 miles out I politely told him I was going to call it a day. "734NM cleared to land 36" I was done. It was nice to get up in the old Nasty Mike again but man, I forgot how slow these 172's are. I miss the aerostar.... It even looks like it goes fast.

This is a great shot of a PA-60 taken by the famous CitationKid.

Yatta!

2008-11-12T00:01:00.005-05:00

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

2008-10-29T13:37:00.015-04:00

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

2008-10-28T17:45:00.004-04:00

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

2008-08-15T16:47:00.004-04:00

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

2008-08-12T11:13:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-08T12:09:00.004-04:00

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."

2008-08-06T19:47:00.001-04:00

hi mom

pilotage

2008-08-04T14:22:00.009-04:00

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

2008-07-31T15:30:00.004-04:00

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

2008-07-16T13:44:00.003-04:00

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

2008-07-13T16:16:00.002-04:00

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

2008-06-28T12:38:00.003-04:00

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

2008-06-24T15:01:00.002-04:00

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

2008-06-17T11:10:00.011-04:00

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

2008-06-13T16:54:00.005-04:00

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

2008-06-10T15:11:00.007-04:00

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

2008-06-06T13:10:00.002-04:00

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

2008-06-05T15:50:00.003-04:00

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!

2008-05-31T22:12:00.006-04:00

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

2008-05-26T13:20:00.002-04:00

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

2008-05-24T11:58:00.003-04:00

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

2008-05-15T16:07:00.007-04:00

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

2008-05-09T14:07:00.001-04:00

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.