Visitors today: 25

This is a site dedicated to flying. It is mostly a record of all my flights so I can share the experience with everyone, but I'm hoping some find useful information. I've added a lot over the past few months - pictures, a poll, links, and more to come. Keep this site book marked and stop by often! :)

My email address is Scott@iamflying.com
Click here to see my flight instructors homepage
Click here to go to my school's web site (Air Orlando)

Links!
AOPA Air Saftey Program - Lots of great, interactive information
General Aviation Serving America - Library (Lots of PDF's to download)

An aerial view of Orlando Executive
An aerial view of KORL and practice area
A "standard" traffic pattern
A Cessna Skyhawk 172SP, the plane I fly in
Pictures from my First Solo Flight!
Pictures from our fly out to Jekyll Island
Pictures from my flight on August 28th

Total Flight Time so Far: About 82.8 Hours

9/16 6/18 9/23 9/28 9/30 10/2 10/5 10/7 10/12 10/14 10/16 10/19 10/21 10/23 10/25 10/30 11/7 11/13 11/16 11/23 12/13 12/15 12/17 12/20&12/21 1/2 1/3 1/8 1/11 1/15 1/29 1/31 2/3 2/5 2/8 2/21&2/22 2/28 3/2 3/4 3/27 3/28 6/16 6/22 6/27 7/11 8/28 9/16 11/16 12/19 12/28 2/10 2/11 3/3 3/31 4/24

Flightcom Denali ANR Headset

Making the Most of Your Flight Training

Aeronautical Dictionary and Acronym Database - A database of terms and acronyms frequently encountered in the world of aviation.

7/11/2005 - 8259Y

4/24/2005 - 826SP

3/31/2005 - 8259Y

3/3/2005

Haven't flown in a while, but have been keeping a lot of topics fresh in my mind by reviewing different materials. In my search, I decided to visit the ASF's (Air Safety Foundation) web page to see what was new. They have a new FREE online course titled "Mission: Possible — Navigating Today's Special Use Airspace" which covers the many different types of air space: MOA, restricted, prohibited, etc. It also covers an important topic pertaining to MOA's now, the Lights-Out program used by the military. Lights-Out is a program that is now allowed in certain MOA's, never heard of it? I never have until I wanted this course. The course takes about 30 minutes to complete, has short quizzes throughout and a scenario to help describe real world situations. At the end of the course, if you pass the 15 question quiz you get a certificate of completion that can be used for credit towards the WINGS program. This makes it definitely worth the time and knowledge, I highly recommend that anyone wanting a refresher on special use airspace take this course. Did I mention it's FREE? To take the course, click here there are many other useful courses also that can be used for WINGS credit. For more information on the Lights-Out program, take a look at the Safety Advisor published by the ASF here.

2/11/05 - 824SP

2/10/05 - 8259Y

I'm hoping to squeeze in a flight this weekend, but in the meantime I have written an article for your enjoyment. Making the Most of Your Flight Training is an article written by me regarding a few key points that a new or current student could take into account to make the most of their flight training. It briefly covers selecting a CFI, studying, planning, and being consistent. This article was written from the experience I gained during my flight training with Ryan, and I thought it would be nice to pass it along to anyone else that might be looking for such information. Click Here to read the article. As usual, please feel free to email me with any feedback, comments, or suggestions.

12/28 - 826SP

12/19 - 8259Y

Thanks to my good friend Ryan, I was asked if I would like to join him on a flight with Anthony in Ryan's Twin Comanche. It was a great day to fly, even though I was going to be a passenger, I was happy to get into the air. The plan was to go to DAB to get fuel (it was cheaper there), then up the coast to SGJ to have lunch. Anthony was flying, and did a great job at managing the plane. After leaving DAB we cruised around off the coast at about 600 feet, which was amazing because you just can't do that in a single engine plane(which is what Anthony and I usually fly). So were were pretty amazed, then Ryan took the controls and took us down to about 30 feet above the water! It was simply amazing, an incredible sight. We couldn't stop OOO-ing and AAHH-ing because it really was just breathtaking. After about a minute of that we went back up to a cruise altitude. We flew into SGJ and had lunch on the field at a restaurant called Allison's Fly By Cafe - pretty good food, decent prices and the service was alright. The best thing about the restaurant was probably the artwork and paintings on the walls inside, they were very nicely done to an aviation theme that worked well to set an atmosphere. After lunch we flew back to ORL. Anthony did a a great job at the landings in the plane, which is great considering it is much more "work" to land the plane. After a short rest at Air Orlando, I flew the plane, with Ryan, back to SFB, its home. I'd say I did decent with it considering the last time I flew the twin comanche was on 2/8. The landing was definitely tough, a little off centerline but overall not that bad. It was a great flight. I want to thank Ryan for allowing me to join him and Anthony. I've scheduled a short flight on 12/28 - so look back for an update then.
Total Flight Time: 3.4 hours, .6 I flew.

11/16

Wow. It's been exactly two months since my last flight. Unfortunately, as with most entering this hobby, its emptied my wallet. Having to pay for my flights out of pocket (instead of on a loan like I was during my training), well, sucks. $104/hr to fly - which means I can fly 1-2 hours a month, or use that extra money towards paying off some of my debt in hopes of being able to fly more further down the road - Which would you pick? I'm hoping to plan a flight within the next month or so - which will probably be my last for the year. :( I haven't gotten around to updating the site lately, but it is still in the works, I'm working on a general design template. With Christmas shortly approaching I'm looking for some pretty cheap(about $20 or so) gifts I can put on my want list. If anyone has a "must have" item they use for flying, please email me it - I'm open for suggestions. Well, on to the related news...I finally received my official pilots' license card in the mail today!! Woohoo! I've been thinking about getting something similar to this for my office, because I really am proud of it. Anyway, that is all I have for now. Have a great Thanksgiving and remember to keep the blue side up!

9/16 - 5316G

Special Notice! I've had some free time lately and have actually gotten to start and get a working version of something I've been wanting to add to IAmFlying for a long while now. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the Aeronautical Dictionary and Acronym Database - A database of terms and acronyms frequently encountered in the world of aviation. There are few terms now, but I will continue to add them as I have the time. If you have a term or acronym you would like to see in this database, feel free to email me at scott@iamflying.com with the suggestion and I will add it. Hopefully this can become a centralized utility for people that need a place to look up terms quickly, and with your suggestions of terms it can. A search is already planned but for now you can look up by the first letter of the word or acronym. Have fun!

8/28 - 773BA

Haven't been flying much lately unfortunately, hopefully this next weekend though. To make up for the lack of updates, I've written a review on my headset, Flightcom Denali's. Take a look at it here. Let me know what you think - I'd like to start providing reviews on a regular basis - feel free to email me any ideas.

7/11 - 5316G

Sorry for the long entry, but there is a lot to share about today's flight. I might have to issue a prize for anyone that reads the entire post.
Today I was going on my first flight with a passenger, on an x/c to Flagler, X47. The flight there was uneventful - a nice flight overall. We arrived at X47 about 12:45, it started pouring rain at 1:00. I saw the weather to the north deteriorating as I came in. Well, we had to stay there for about 5 hours while the weather improved locally and at our destination, KORL. 3 other groups were grounded due to the weather also. One group was heading to st. pete, the other to opa lopka and the other to miami. We had chatted a bit while waiting for time to pass. The purpose of originally going to X47 was to get some lunch at HighJackers. This is in the $100 hamburger book and is definitely worth every penny. I'll highly recommend their cheeseburgers and chips and salsa. Well, after waiting for a bit around 6:45 we decided the weather was clear enough even though FSS recommended otherwise. The plan was to head to KDED and see how it looks there, then to KSFB, and eventually KORL if weather was permitting. Let me preface this by saying the flight back from X47 is going in my books as one of my best and most favorite yet. We departed and started heading south, obtained advisories from DAB approach and headed for DED, clear sailing so far. We got within about 3 miles of DED and i noticed a thick cloud layer forming south of it, extending pretty far into the distance. I descended to 1500 to try and get below them but it was no good, they were at about 700ft. Well thanks to my quick thinking and excellent pilotage skills, I notice that off east it is clear, so I divert course to the east to stay clear of the cloud layer. Once on a south course again I see the cloud layer ends at a lake (as expected) just north of KSFB - lake monroe! with KSFB in sight and being vectored by Orlando approach I was well off on this flight, there was another fairly broken cloud layer south of KSFB but they were higher, about 1500 so I stay above them and then once past i descend down to 1400 to make my approach to KORL. Arriving at KORL, there were heavy clouds covering downtown, pretty low, i'd say 900ft or so. I kept my pattern tight and made an excellent landing on rwy 7. I must say, I really do love the KORL controllers they are very nice and have a great since of humor. I had just switched frequencies from approach to tower as instructed and didn't have the com1 volume high enough, I had heard my call sign but did not catch the instruction, "say again for 16G please," I say, and the controller comes back, "again" - got a good chuckle out of me :) Also on final I asked for a wind check and he keyed his mike and blew into the mike to make it sound like wind, another good one. Thanks for the good times KORL controllers. This flight was absolutely awesome - I've written a lot about it and have so much more I could share. But the main thing is i've come to realize I received excellent training from ryan and I am a private pilot and am completely comfortable with the decisions i've made. Until next time, may the skies be clear and the wind be on your tail.
Total Flight Time: 1.7 Hours, x/c PIC!

6/27 - 773BA

Today was a good day - I woke up and checked on the news. Something strange was going on. First, CNN. Then just a while later someone pointed out to me Yahoo!. It did not seem quite right, but it was. Today, ladies and gentlemen, I successfully completed the check ride for my private pilot certificate. It was a long and expensive journey - with sad times and glad times - times of anger and times of glee. But it has all come down to this morning when I took the check ride. I've never been in debt so much and gone through so much, but yet I have never been as happy. I love flying - I look forward to my continuing self-proclaimed career in aviation. This event rivals my college graduation. On 9/16/03 I took the first of many steps towards this day - a short and long 9 months later after a few short breaks I have checked one more thing off my list of things to do before I leave this world. I want to thank my instructor, Ryan Ferguson - my flight school Air Orlando and my examiner John Azma. Beyond that thank you to all my friends that have supported me to achieve this dream of mine.

On to the flight: We met about 6:30AM and did paperwork and the oral session, shortly after 7:00AM I checked out the plane and began pre-flight. The rotating beacon was inop on the first plane so I had to check out a second. I did preflight and off we went. One thing to note about this flight is that I was much MUCH more relaxed then on my mock - and John was great, very nice and calm, based on this flight alone I would have no problem highly recommending him to anyone. We departed KORL to head to KGNV via KOCF. Right away I set and tracked the orlando VOR to head to gainesville, shortly after john instructed me to head to KLEE instead. At KLEE we did a soft field and a short field landing, then we departed to the SE - we went to 2000ft and did steep turns then to slow flight dirty to a power off stall then to a power on stall. I put the hood on then did a bit of unusual attitude recovery then a simulated engine failure. Seem like I am going fast? It was! Ryan was right it was just one maneuver after another. Engine failures are weak points for me because I seem to pick the not-so-best spot to land. In this case I quickly noted bob white was to my left and within distance so I glided there - no problems. After that we did S turns and turns around a point then put the hood back on and flew back to KORL. Overall it was a great experience, much less stressful then I was expecting, but I knew I was prepared(thanks again, Ryan!). So now, I am a private pilot - time to choose my first passenger - look for an update soon - thanks! :)

Total Flight Time: 1.2 Hours

6/22 - 8259Y

Sorry for the lack of updates on sunday. I was not able to get my check ride scheduled but it is once again tentatively scheduled for this sunday. I'll update on that status, I swear :). In the meantime - my instructor invited me along on a trip to Marathon, FL which is in the Florida Keys. Was the longest flight I have made - I rode as a passenger and Anthony and Ryan flew. It was a great flight, got to see some actual IFR and some night VFR flying over water. On the way down it took about 2.5 hours and back it was about 1.75 hours. Since I was riding along as a passenger and Anthony did such great smooth flying I was able to take some pictures - sorry if they are little blurry but my camera does not take good low light shots. Click here for the pictures!

6/16 - 3511R

3/28 - 143RA

3/27 - 824SP

3/4 - 614AC - Citabria 7GCAA!

After a short ground session, the Citabria needed to be put away into its hangar, so my instructor offered to let me ride front seat. For those of you that are not familiar with the Citabria, here is some facts for you. It is a tail wheel plane, and taxiing, takeoff, flying, and landing are a bit different then a tricycle gear. We take off, fly around NE of the airport a little, showing me how much rudder input is needed to fly this plane coordinated. After a few minutes it was time for the interesting part - the landing! We kept 90mph throughout the landing, and touched down on the mains and held the tail wheel up until it could now longer fly. It is definitely a bit different then the procedure I am accustomed to. It is a fun airplane to fly, and I hope I can eventually get my tail wheel rating. <shameless plug> If anyone is interested, Air Orlando is currently doing training in this plane. Contact me, or visit Air Orlando's web site(like at top of page) for more information. </shameless plug>
Total Flight Time: 0.5Hrs

3/2 - 5316G

2/28 - 777HE

2/21 & 2/22 - 777HE

2/8 - 8259Y

Today was my longest cross-country flight. My instructor was kind enough to invite me to fly the Air Orlando fly-out. We flew his plane, a Twin Comanche, N8259Y to Jekyll Island, which is just off the south coast of Georgia. I've never flown a multi-engine, or complex plane before, so this was a great opportunity. Let me first say, compared to my Cessna 172, the Twin Comanche hauls major tail - crusing at a brisk 194mph. During takeoff, I could tell that this plane was born to fly - it wanted off the runway, my instructor commented that "She climbs like a homesick angel" - He was right. Things happen a lot quicker when going faster, and there are more steps to perform. After out climb out I contact Daytona approach and setup flight following to ensure we have another set of eyes watching over us. I am very glad I was able to get this multi-engine and complex time (even though its not PIC, yet). The plane handled quite different then I was used to, but I managed ok I would say. The hardest part for me was getting the pitch properly trimmed out. After a nice 65 minute flight we were at Jekyll Island, during the landing Ryan had to take the controls because of the heavy winds and there might've been a bit of wind shear right on short final for the runway - we got tossed around a bit. Ryan had chosen to sit in the left seat because that's where the brakes are and the runway at Jekyll was a little short, which was completely fine with me. We enjoyed watching a few people after us land, then we headed to the Jekyll Island Club for a great brunch. After brunch, we went and found one Geocache, then headed back to the airport to fly back. On the way back Ryan let me sit in the left seat. We did a lot of VOR navigation on this trip since we were above the cloud layer most of the time. Overall it was a great trip, I learned a lot and was able to get some multi-engine time in. Thank you again Ryan for inviting me on this trip, I wouldn't have been able to do it other wise. I have a small photo log of our journey here.
Total Flight Time: 2.2Hours (multi, complex)

2/5 - 3511R

2/3 - 773BA

Nice day out today. Now that my landings are better, its time to review manuevers in prep for my check ride. We head out to the practice area, and my instructor tells me he is going to start giving me instructions like it will be on my check ride. "Ok, climb to 2500," he says. "Once you are there, enter clean slow flight, then when you are stabilized, give me a left turn to 040 and then a right turn to 310." Wow, tlak about fast! I follow his instructions as close as I can. After all of that, next was dirty slow flight - then followed by "Ok now show me an approach stall," then, "Ok, now a departure stall". things are going fast, but this is how it will be on the check ride. We did a bit of ground ref, which needed a little work. Steep turns were nice, it is always a good feeling when you feel your own wake after the turns. Next, unusual attitude recovery, which was very fun. This involved me closing my eyes and my instructor putting the plane into an unusal attitude, and then i'd have to take the controls and recover from it. Overall all and action-packed lesson. My weakpoints are the stall recover, engine out procedures, and no aileron correction for crosswind on my landing.
Total Flight Time: 1.3 Hours

1/31 - 773BA

First things first - I passed my written exam today! I am not one more step closer to getting my license. I got an 85% which is a passing score, I just wish I would have done better- I thought I had! Anyway, after my written I had a flight scheduled - but today was very busy at the school - lots and lots of discovery flights. Earlier, before my test I had a chance to get a little helicopter time with my instructor as he needed to fly it from maintenance to parking. That got debunked because it was taking to long and I had to start my written test, oh well, maybe next time. After my test My instructor had finally gotten onto his discovery flight. He got back from that flight and 6 more discovery flights were going, so we decided to wait and went to get a bite to eat. When we got back, it was raining slightly but we went up and had the traffic pattern to ourselves just about. We worked no landings - short field, soft field, engine out, etc. Everything was looking better, I was much happier with the landings today. We got about 10 landings in and called it quits. Now that I have the written test behind me it is time to get into prep mode for the check ride, fine tune and make sure i can perform to PTS. I cant wait! :)
Total Flight Time: 1.1 Hours

1/29 -826SP

For the two of you that are wondering, I did not quit my flight lessons. I had computer problems and got real busy studying for my written exam and with school I have not gotten around to update my site, I am sorry. I've flown 3 times since 1/15 - basically all were just working on landings since that is still my weak spot :/ But today I flew with my instructor again and we worked on landings some more - soft fields and short fields. I still cannot get he flare down and I am letting the airplane land when it can still fly, so my landings are not as soft as I wish they were. :/ Well, I am going to keep working on it some more in preparation for my check ride - Any words of encouragement or wisdom regarding landing and/or taking my written and check ride can be email to scott@iamflying.com. Once I am doing better at my landings I'm going to start practicing much more for my check ride - I cant wait, hopefully in about a month! Ok, that's all until next time, feel free to email me.
Total Flight Time: 1.6 Hours

1/15 - 3511R

Combine my two favorite types of flying (night, x/c) and you get one great flight. We planned a night x/c to Flagler(x47) - about 55nm one way. I was pretty confident with my x/c procedures, but this one was completely different. Heading almost due north, the class B airspace kept us below 1600, then we ran into KSFB's surface airspace - I had to turn around and contact their tower beore transistioning their airspace. Landmarks are alot harder to find at night, lit roads are nice, but lakes are not the best of help. On the way there I got a little off track. Flying along - all of the sudden flight following tells me "3511R x47 due north of you, 10nm" and that helped a bit in identifying the airport - It was a little tricky to find. I learned that having other airports along the route help tremendously. On the way back everything was going great, I got flight following from Approach And we decided to get a little bit of simulated instrument time in. Flying with only refrence to the instruments, at night, in an area you are not familar with - while talking on the radio, and staying on track! phew! I managed pretty well I would say. My instructor decided to throw in a curveball and divert me to Deland(KDED) - which was intresting. We did one landing there and then headed back to orlando, under the hood once again. A key thing to note about the landing at DED was that we experiance a VERY weird "black hole effect" - the entire roud was pitch black, even the runway except for the runway lighting. I could see how it can be very confusing if you got disoriented while 85% of your view is pitch black.I dont mind flying with refrence to only the instruments, I canot wait to start IFR training. Flight following vectored us in to KORL, then I contacted tower, and landed. While at Flagler, we stopped for a bite to eat at the cafe on the airport "High Jackers" - it is always nice to go somewhere and grab a bite to eat while chatting about the flight. This was a great flight, VERY productive - I can tell my skills and confidence are increasing.
Total Flight Time: 2.3 Hrs

1/11 - 826SP

So, I feel my weak point is landings, they still are not as smooth as I would like them to be. We decide to do some touch and goes at korl, home base. Well today there was quite the crosswind, rwy 7 in use and winds were 030@13kts. So, instead of practicing short and soft field landings we ended up just practicing crosswind landings. I wish they would've been better, I know I can do better then the landings I had today. My instructor says it comes with time and practice(which I believe), but I get disappointed in myself sometimes on days like today. Well, next time if the crosswind component isn't too bad i'll try my hardest to get in some good, 'sqweaker' landings - I sure could use them.
Total flight time: 1.1Hrs

1/8 - 3511R

Just some more practicing of slow flight, clean and dirty, steep turns, a soft field take off, did some touch and goes at sanford and one simulated engine failure. Everything went well, a neat part of the steep turns (45 degree bank) was that we did a 360 left then a 360 right, and once we completed the right turn, I felt the wake from where i had started it was pretty neat! I performed way less then par on my engine out routine, I had a hard time remembering the order and what to do, if wasn't pretty. My instructor let us get down to 300 ft and i was already above the landing point(which wasn't the best in the first place). I need to do some armchair flying a bit on these procedures I guess I haven't been keeping up :( It was a nice flight for some refreshers on the maneuvers we did, in preparation for my check ride - just gotta keep practicing!
Total Flight Time: 1.6Hrs

1/3 - 3511R

It was nice this morning, clam winds, good visibility, and clear sky - a great day to fly. We flew out east to do some ground reference maneuvers and then to KSFB to practice some touch and goes, as my instructor would like to sign me off to go to SFB solo so we needed some practice. We did a couple turns around a point, and one S-turn. My instructor says both maneuvers would've passed the check ride, but I am still yet satisfied with my own personal requirements, I think I could've done better. We then headed to KSFB to do some touch and goes. Flying into KSFB is a little weird for me, as their runway layout is a bit more complex. I talked to tower, and was told to enter right downwind for runway 9C, so I go ahead and set up for that entry. Once ATC cleared me to land, they cleared me on runway 9R, which threw me off a little. My instructor explained the situation to me once we got back, and it all makes sense. The landings at Sanford weren't the greatest, but I didn't swerve much or at all once on the ground. The first one was left of the centerline (which is common for me), and my instructor told me he wouldn't accept that, as he knows I can get it on the centerline. Then next few weren't bad, but I landed a little flat on them. One of the landings we did without the airspeed indicator(covered it), and I was a little slow on the approach. We headed back to KORL and made a crosswind landing, if my instruct wasn't with me, I would've requested a different runway, the winds were 140@7 and we were landing on runway 7. Overall it wasn't a bad crosswind landing, but I need to remember to keep aileron input into the wind once on the ground. Once again, great flight, I was happy with the landings, but I still need to work on them. Flying again tomorrow!
Total Flight Time: 1.4Hrs

1/2 - 143RA

Happy new year! My instructor was out of town so I did a solo flight. Went out to the practice area, which was QUITE busy, but I monitored the common frequency to listen for traffic that was in the area. I flew around for a few minutes, and then decided to try a couple turns around a point and S turns about a straight line. Everything went well, but it was quite busy by lake Apopka, so I headed back. I decided to do some full stop landings at KORL, but it was quite busy there also so I spent a little longer on the ground then I would've liked. The landings were all safe but there is something going on with the ground control once i'm on the ground, I would swerve a little bit. After the three landings the pattern was finally quiet but I decided to stop. Overall a great solo flight, fun as usual.
Total Flight Time: 1.6Hrs PIC

12/17 & 12/20

Wow what a weekend for flying! My Long x/c flight was planned for saturday, and then I planned to do the same flight solo on sunday. The trip was Orlando -> Ocala -> Crystal River -> Orlando, just over 150nm in distance. On saturday I flew the flight with my instructor, and given how hectic my last x/c seemed because of all the new things I was learning, I was not sure of these flights. Saturday afternoon is beautiful, I plan the flight (which takes an hour itself), we talk about what we were going to do, and then we go flying. On the first x/c I had a hard time remembering and working with the FSS and Approach/Departure, but this time around it all went a little smoother. On the x/c flight we use FSS to open and close our flight plan, and Departure/Approach to request VFR advisories. Its a bit more communication to do, but it all got done. The one thing was that it took a while for me to get to what I was doing and get around to requesting what I needed, we might've been 1/3 of the way there by the time it was all done. Pattern entry at the uncontrolled airports was much better this time, not hectic like the last. Flying to crystal river was nice, because it is right on the west coast of florida, there's a nice view. When we departed Crystal River on saturday we noticed we could see downtown orlando, a power plant in bithlo, and even NASA's vehicle assembly building...talk about great visibility. The trip from Crystal River to Orlando was the nicest, least hectic. My instructor decided that I was handling everything ok, so he put me under the hood to fly using only the instruments for about 30 minutes. Overall saturday's trip was nice, a bit more organized, and I learned a lot. Sunday, sunday, sunday(race car announcer voice), I flew the the same course but solo, no instructor, just me. After saturday's flight I was confident in myself that I would have no problem with the flight, so was my instructor. I arrived early sunday morning and planned my flight, created flight plans, did a weight and balance sheet, and I was ready to go. After chatting with my instructor for a bit about the flight, I was off to soar into the skies by myself. I had done a lot. of planning the night before, and I organized my frequencies on my planning sheet a lot. better, and I cannot tell you how much easier that made my flight. Out of Orlando, opened flight plan right away, and contacted Orlando Departure, no sweat. The flight to Ocala was uneventful, and there was a few planes in the pattern at Ocala. The crosswind component on landing was a bit high, so the landing wasn't my best, but it was a safe one. I stop, taxied back, and took off again, one leg down, two to go! Right out of ocala, I contact FSS and close and open my flight plans as needed. The flight to crystal river was short, and I had great landmarks, so I didn't request VFR advisories for this leg. Into Crystal River there was no one around, I felt like I was talking to myself on the radio, but I went ahead and talked anyway announcing my intentions. Landed at crystal river with a bit of a crosswind, taxied back, organized my stuff and took off again. I closed and opened my flight plan and requested VFR advisories with ease, like I have done it hundreds of times before (but I haven't!). The flight back to Orlando from Crystal River was the nicest, quietest. I found my landmarks, there was no traffic in sight, and it was very nice. I had VFR advisories from Jacksonville , and had to switch over to Orlando Approach which went very smoothly. Into orlando I landed on runway 7. I was glad to be back (so was my instructor, I am sure). Taxied to the parking and was greeted warmly by my instructor. We talked about the flight a lot. and that was it. My instructor made a comment when we were in the FBO about how I seemed relaxed that it was finally over and I was back, he was right. Overall my solo flight on sunday was excellent, I had everything nicely organized, knew where I was, I even managed to throw in some VOR navigation on my way. I'm definitely looking forward to the next. I'll agree with everyone else and say that this has been my most favorite flight yet.
Total Flight Time: 4.3 (2.1 Solo x/c)

12/17 3511R

Today was a day to see how well I remember some manuvers. We flew out east instead of to lake apopka, and the first thing I noticed was that I was able to see the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA, pretty far away, and pretty amazing. Our departure was an intresting one, as the ATC was on the edge and not handling traffic very well(IMHO), It didnt involve me much, but got very confusing for everyone in the airspace very quickly. My instructor got very flustered, I dont blame him. We head out east, zooming by an airship, to a practice area. We practice some slow flight, clean and dirty, clean and dirty stalls, and turns around a point. We also performed an emergency decent, which is a way to decend quickly if deemed necessary. This involved pulling power to idle, aiming for airspeed at the top of the green arc, and turning at a 30 degree bank. It give you a VERY quick rate of decent, 2000+ fpm. It was a fun manuever. Afterwards, we head back to orlando, do a few soft field touch and goes, which involve flaring with a little power in, setting down gently on the mains and holding the nose off as long as possible. I would say I did them pretty well. On the third time around we did a full stop soft field landing which was pretty good, but the traffic pattern was pretty busy so we decided to stop. Overall a great refresher flight, and it shows me what I need to practice on before my checkride. Yay!
Total Flight Time: 1.5Hrs

12/15 3511R

Oh what a crappy day, rain, rain, rain, and more rain. Luckily, we were scheduled to fly at 6:00PM and it cleared up right beforehand. Tonight, we do a night flight!! I've been looking forward to this, and it was everything I expected with some twists. Flying at night is great, its cooler, the sun is not in your eyes, and the skies are less busy (it seems). The plan is to fly out to sanford and do some touch and goes. I head out there, and learn that navigating at night is a bit tricky. Beforehand, we talked about night flying, how your eyes work at night and different illusions at night, pretty interesting stuff. At sanford, I spot the beacon which is nice, but we get assigned to runway 9C which is in the center, and it was almost impossible for me to notice until we were right on it. Once in the pattern it wasn't so bad because I knew where it was in relation to the plane. The landings were a bit harder then normal because its harder to judge where the ground is at night. We do a couple landings and a couple engine out landings. Next, we head to Orlando County, I'm thinking: Is my instructor crazy, its a 30' wide runway, barely lit, in the middle of nowhere, and we are landing there? Well, the hardest part was finding it obviously, the beacon was not working, so all we had was the runway edge lighting, which, is at the edge of the 100' wide GRASS section, not the paved section. Pattern entry wasn't so good as I was having a hard time keeping up with where the airport was, but we attempted 3 landings, all of which were go arounds because the approach was not satisfactory and the runway is short. The main idea from going to X04 was to see how challenging a small airport can be at night, which it is. We head back to KORL pretty uneventfully, I was enjoying the nice nighttime view of orlando as we flew over. We get assigned to enter a left base for runway 7. I see the airport, I see the tower, yet, I don't see the runway! I know right were the base of rwy 7 goes, so i fly that track, and not until we were about 3nm out at at a 70 degree angle did i see the runway lighting. Wow, who would've guessed how hard it is to find at night(again). The landing went well and we proceeded to taxi back. Overall a great flight, and flying at night proved much more challenging then I thought it would be. Thankfully I had my flashlight! :)
Total Flight time: 1.7Hrs

12/13 673SP

It has been a while, scheduling conflicts, weather, school, has all kept me from flying, well not anymore! We planned a dual cross-country flight today, Orlando Exec(ORL) to Ocala International(OCF) direct, 60.1nm apart. This is the furthest I have flown away from home, and it was definitely different then our normal flights. There was a lot of pre-flight planning involved, obtaining a weather briefing, filing a flight plan, and then preparation for the cyclone of information and tasks that lay ahead of me during the flight. My instructor told me stories about his first x/c flight and how it went and how hectic his was, how I wish I would've believed him. It was hectic, lots of things to do quickly, keep track of where you are, how far you've gone (no GPS here, folks), how fast, and how your going to get where your going. On top of all of that you get too call flight service once you are airborne to open your flight plan, then contact departure to request flight following. If you would've asked me a week ago about all of this I would've given a blank stare, at least now Ican make something up that sounds like I know what I am talking about. :) It was a lot harder to see the landmarks I had chosen then I had imagined. I was off course a bit, but once I found a good landmark we got back onto track. The 32 minute flight seemed to last forever because I was doing all of these new things, trying to record times, talking to new people, etc. I got a little disoriented(logically) when entering the pattern at OCF, or some reason I forgot what needed to be said or the correct entry method, but we worked it out. I must say, the most rewarding part was my landing, it might have been my best yet. Also, it was a good feeling to land at another airport and actually go and do something: we had lunch at the tailwind cafe in the FBO at the airport. It was nice to sit down and chat about the flight, and then have to get right back into the plane and do it all over again. The flight back was quite similar, but we used VOR navigation on the way back (still no GPS) and I worked on tracking the VOR radial while maintaining altitude as told to by flight following. Upon arrival we were given a straight in approach to 13, but there was a bit of a crosswind, so it let me work on correcting for it. The landing was not bad, but could've been better. Overall one of my most favorite flights yet!
Total flight time: 2.1 Hrs

11/23 - 3511R

A little math for you: My instructor is out of town, plus I have a solo endorsement, plus the weather is nice, plus one 172SP rental setup for 1:00 - what does that equal? One complete flight by myself and a whole lot of fun and learning! It was a nice dsay, both runways were in use, winds were 130@06 so I opted for rwy 13. Its so odd not having anyone to talk to, or to confirm things, it's all me. I go through the regular procedures, talking to my invisible friend in the right hand seat, just as I would if my instructor was there. I didn't want to forget anything, so I have to talk even though no one is there to listen. Everything goes smoothly, i make my northwest bound departure and head to the practice area.On my way out, tower notifies me of traffic heading in my direction, about the same altitude - NOT on the twr frequency. So, I go into eagle eye mode, scanning for this traffic, didn't see it. Tower calls and calls for this plane, with no response, tells me where the traffic is - ahHA! Spotted it off to my left wing, about 1000ft away, same altitude, and safely maintained visual separation. Out at the practice area I tune to the common traffic freq. And it doesn't seem too busy, yay. Flying around for a few minutes, it gets busier and busier. I fly around for about 20-25 minutes, then head back to ORL. Heading in to ORL, get assigned rwy 7 - I ask for a wind check, and sure enough the wind is 130@10 now, I think about it for a few seconds, and right before I was going to request it - the controller gives me a correction to change from left base rwy 7 to straight in rwy 13. I'm sure she did this because I had been using "student pilot" at the end of all my calls, and it paid off. After landing, the controller told me great job, and told me to switch to ground. All in all, a great flight. I will say, the controllers at KORL are very nice, even in the crowded, busy conditions that exists there - they are very helpful and are great at their jobs. So, to all you KORL(and other) controllers that read this, Thanks for being so nice and doing a great job!
Total Flight Time: 0.7Hrs, PIC

11/16 - 777HE / 5157Z

Ahh - a nice day to fly! I met my instructor and we went and did some pattern work - after about 3 landings, we decided to have another solo flight. After our last landing the dampener on the nose wheel had a problem, it wasn't working properly and it made the plane shake a bit, it was still safe to drive on the ground, just a little uncomfortable. We took that plane back, and luckily were able to get another so I could do my solo flight. So, we snagged 5157Z and I did the preflight inspection and it went well. This was my first flight really where the instructor was NEVER in the cockpit with me, from startup to shutdown. I did my 3 full stop landings, which went well. During my run up I noticed the volts annunciator light was lit. After running up the engine a little to a little more RPM it was still on. Flipped the alternator switch off then on, nothing. Now for those of you that don't know, the engine will run fine with a dead battery, but your lights and some instruments will not work. So, I was trying to figure it out, and then I saw it, the circuit breaker had been popped, and in my training i know i'm allowed to pop it in again once, if it pops out again, don't push it back in. So, I push it in, the light goes out and i'm getting some amps/volts in the system...yay. I run the engine up a couple times to make sure the breaker doesn't pop again, then flip the alternator switch and yes, its producing amp/volts now..yay. After that, my instructor radioed to the tower asking to let me takeoff from 13 instead of 7 because of the crosswind. I taxi to 13, and off I go. Have I ever said how the plane wants to float without another person in it? :) 3 landings later, i'm happy. They were pretty good landings, all safe of course. The controller was very nice, and told me a I did a great job, rumor has it he even called the chief CFI at my school and told her I did a great job..heh. So, I can fly by myself now...yay!
Total Flight Time: 1.5 (0.8 PIC)

11/13 - 143RA

Late entry - finally the weather was nice! I was a little rusty, so we headed out to Orlando Country to do some touch and goes. We reviewed short field takeoffs and landings, but then focused on regular landings after a few. We are getting into VOR navigation a little, its pretty neat. Got back a little too late and it was a little too busy to do another solo flight, so that is going to wait until next time. That was about all for this flight, just a good refresher to get back into the game.
Total Flight Time: 1.7 Hrs

11/7 - 269ME

Well, with it being a week since the last time i've flown, I was quite excited to fly today. I usually don't fly on fridays but we got rained out the past two times. I knew it was going to be a fun flight when my instructor informed me to check the fuel and do a W&B to see if we were in the utility category(SPINS!) I must say, I was quite confident with the flight today - did a little bit of VOR tracking on the way out the the practice area and I was holding the heading and the altitude pretty well, i'd say. It's nice, I'd say i'm to the point where i'm comfortable flying - I can do descents, turns, ascents, fly from here to there - with very little (if any) help from the the instructor, its a nice feeling. Ok, on to the fun part! Today we did some spin training. A spin involves stalling the plane and not using coordinated controls, and when it stalls to input full rudder to lower the one wing to put yourself into a spin. The first one made me quite uncomfortable, but after 2 or 3 more I was fine with them. A spin could be imagined like a downward spiral. You are losing anywhere from 500ft to 1000ft of altitude per revolution. Its definitely an experience. We did 6 or 7 spins - a couple I recovered all by myself. The recovery procedure is simple - PARE - Power Idle, Ailerons Neutral, Opposite Rudder, Little down Elevator input. Overall it was a great flight - learned a lot. Going to solo on sunday again hopefully!
Total Flight Time: 1.1Hrs

10/30 - 3511R

Wow - what a windy day! Today we went out to the practice area, did a little bit of simulated instrument time on the way out - once there we did all sorts of fun stuff - stalls, Turns around a point, S turns, an engine failure, and climbing and descending turns. I'd say I was a little rusty on the stalls - my instructor had to show me a few. Everything went well thought - this was really the first time we've done ground reference maneuvers, and it was quite windy today - so overall it was good practice. On the way back we did a little VOR navigation to find where ORL was. Thanks to daylight savings, the flight was a little more enjoyable since it wasn't blistering hot outside, and I got a glimpse of what night flight will be like, I cannot wait to do that. My landing was ok - nothing different then normal. Well, that's all for now.
Total Flight Time: 1.5Hrs

10/25 - 773HE

I FLEW MY FIRST SOLO FLIGHT!!!!!
I was feeling good about today - I met my instructor, did everything as usual, we had planned 3 full stop landings with him and then to see how I feel about going on my own. One thing to note is that it was quite busy at KORL today - both runways were in use and there were a lot of 'young eagle' flights going on. After 1 landing, a go around, and another landing - my instructor asked me how I felt, and he hopped right out of the plane to sit in the grass next to the taxiway to watch me on my first solo flight. Oh what a feeling it is sitting there without anyone else in the plane - oh how it felt so weird, but so good at the same time. As I said earlier, the airport was quite busy today - but the controller was doing a VERY good job at keeping everyone in sequence, and at the same time working with me and remembering that I was a first time solo student. Everything went well, I wasn't nervous, at all - after all, i've done this exact same thing many of times before with little to no interventions from my instructor. All three landings went fine - I was feeling good about them - after each one I stopped on the taxiway and my instructor came up and gave me some feedback. Oh, what a day. After we parked the plane, we got some pictures taken of him cutting my shirt tail, went and and many upon many people were congratulating me, it felt so good. Anyway, that was one tiny step closer to living my life dream of flying - i'll never forget this day - this time - place - airplane - instructor - weather - anything. I'll post my email this time around at the top of the page for anyone to get into contact with me. Pictures to come later today. Oh, What a day!
Total Flight Time: 1.8 Hrs (1.2 Pilot In Command!!)

10/23 - 826SP

Today was my 'stage check' with another instructor from the school - It was the next step to my solo-flight. Everything went well, we did stalls, slow flight, engine failure, and some landings. It made me a little nervous flying with a different instructor, as she did things little differently then my regular instructor, as expected. I'd say my performance wasn't my best, but it was acceptable. We did 3 landings on runway 31, a runway which I had never landed on, and the traffic pattern was a little skewed because of some class B airspace nearby. No solo flight for me today, probably on saturday. Overall it was definately a learning experiance flying with another instructor, and I do feel that I am ready for my first solo flight. Can't wait until saturday!
Total Flight Time: 1.1 Hrs

10/21 - 826SP

Yet another beautiful day to fly - flying in good 'ole 826SP, my favorite plane for some reason. Just doing pattern and landing practice today to prepare me for my first solo flight. There was quite a crosswind today, from what I was told, perfect crosswind: 10kts coming directly perpendicular to the runway. It was quite challenging and made it even better for me to work on my landings and crosswind corrections during landings. We stayed at ORL to do our touch and goes because that's where I will be soloing at and I needed the practice there. We did quite a few, 10 landings at least - my instructor was pulling things on me to verify that I would catch them. One time around. the radio traffic got pretty heavy while I was on final, it was a bit distracting but I tried to not let it phase me. Best news for today, is that even in the challenging crosswind conditions today I think I had my best landing yet - my instructor said he could've cried it was so nice, heh. Overall I don't think I had any major problems(like last time) with my landings, we focused on keeping it right on the centerline(which I think I only did 2 or 3 times), and fixing my control on the ground after landing. A great flight today, in the challenging crosswinds. My next flight will not be with my regular instructor, it will be a "Stage Check" with another instructor to verify that we have not missed anything in my training in preparation for my solo flight, YIKES! If all goes well on that stage check, there's a chance I could do my first solo flight on thursday, and earn my first Pilot In Command(PIC) time for my logbook....woo! Check back for an update, 10/23!
Total Flight Time: 1.6 Hrs

10/19 - 773BA

Oh, what a beautiful day to fly! The winds were strong(er) today. We departed from KORL and headed N to KSFB to do some touch and goes - the pattern there always seems a little less busy, and it was. My CFI let me handle everything today, he didn't prompt me to do anything unless it was absolutely required - which really gave me a taste of what it would be like to fly by myself. I felt pretty comfortable with everything. We joined the pattern for 9R at KSFB for touch and goes - did a few full stop, did a couple short field landings - and an engine out landing. My landings are getting better, and I am starting to develop the "feel" for the flare. My major problem is that i'm doing something weird with the rudder on my touchdowns, and sliding along the runway when I shouldn't be - my instructor actually had to grab the controls to help recover a few times - I hope I can fix that problem on my next flight. After a few landings, we headed back to KORL and landed uneventfully. Overall a nice session, but the problem with my rudder control on landings is a bit disconcerning - gotta fix it before I can solo. Oh, another thing that I did today was called on the Ground freq. when I wanted to call Tower, opps. :) I looked at my instructor and he said "I had to let you," I replied, "Well, thanks, now i've learned." - That was kind of funny in a way. Anyway, that's all for now!
Total Flight Time: 1.5Hrs

10/16 - 3511R

Weather was nice today, its finnaly starting to cool off a bit. Had a quick preflight, in a different airplane then normal because 826SP was in for maintenance. 3511R had a Multi Functional Display(MFD) that I could learn, and did not cost any more. I preflighted the plane and taxied out. My instructor has told me that he is going to stop promting me to do things, he knows I know when to do them, so unless it's necessary - he's staying quiet (ya right). We departed KORL, and I forgot about the preflight breifing, I set the transponder to ALT but failed to set it to 1200(VFR): -5 points for me. I headed NW out to lake apokpa - remembering to use my checklist when chaning stages of flight from climb to cruise. We were going to do stalls - and I needed reminding to check the pre-manuver checklist and perform clearing turns: -5 points fo me. A few stalls, and we decide to do some touch and goes at Orlando Country. Normally I would say I was learning from each of my previous landings but today it just seemed I couldn't get ahold of them. My headset was giving me problems and kept wanting to slip off. After a few (not so smooth) landings at Orlando Country we headed back to ORL, I could easily see it from Orlando Country on a clear day like today. On the way back I decided I was up to trying some touch and goes (against my instructors plans, Ithink) - We did a few, they were ok - a little rough, but i'm getting there. Today we focused big on emergency procedures, at Orlando Country we did one engine failure landing, and enroute to ORL we talked about radio failure, and electrical fires. One thing I really appreciate my instructor doing was while we were in pattern, asking the ATC to demonstrate the light signals that would typically be used in case of loss of radio communcation - that will when I ever have to go through that situation. Overall an ok flight, I'd say it wasnt nearly as good as my previous, but my instructor would say differently I think. Cant wait till next time!
Total Flight Time: 1.6 Hrs

10/14 - 826SP

The weather didn't look too good this morning, but it was great this afternoon for my flight! Got the airplane, did a preflight and we were on our way. We had planned to stay in the pattern ar KORL. First time around, we were put on an extended final - then on short final were told to go around. Ugh. Instead of wasting our time in the cluttered, unpredictable pattern at KORL my instructor decided we should go to KSFB to practice landings. A short trip about 15nm to the NW and we were there, there was only 1 plane in the pattern for runway 27L - Yay! I must say, I love seeing the progress on my landings - it really shows I think, and as usual I learn something from each and every one of them. We practiced short field landings, which involve a higher approach angle and touching down as close to the beginning of the runway as possible. We did a few of them, then continued to normal landings. An important factor that made today's flight different was the wind, we actually had a crosswind at 14kts with gusts 19kts - so the landings were crosswind landings. I had a few good ones, and a couple not-so-good(but still acceptable) ones. After a few landings we returned to KORL, I learned a little on how to use the GPS to navigate between points but I still relied upon the sectional chart. Upon arriving back into KORL, we seamlessly entered the pattern on a right base for runway 25. Oh, was my last landing nice - I would venture to say it was my best yet, which was an excellent way to end a flight. My instructor gave me a "pre-solo written" test to complete today, in preparation for my first solo flight. Oh, The Places I Will Go!
Total Flight Time: 1.8 Hrs

10/12 - 824SP

Nice day for a lesson, the clouds were giving us a bit of a problem, but we worked around them. We were initially going to stay in the pattern, but the ceiling was too low, so we headed out to the practice area to give the clouds some time to rise. On our way out, we found a few holes in the clouds that allowed up to ascend above the clouds. Once we got the the practice area we were going to try steep turns, but after one turn we started to notice the area was way too busy and the other pilots seemed to not be using the common frequency. We headed back to ORL, and my instructor decided to get clearance into KMCO's class B airspace so that we could make most of our trip above the clouds at 2500 instead of below them at 900. It was interesting to listen to the radio flow between my instructor and the ATC at MCO, I understood what was happening but wasn't exactly sure of the exact procedure being followed. We got clearance into the class B airspace, but just then we found a perfect hole in the clouds to descend down though, so we terminated out class B request and descended down below the clouds. Once back into the pattern at ORL we started doing touch and goes. The pattern was quite busy, and well, the ATC wasn't exactly going very smoothly, many times we have to go around, one time we had to do a 180 from final and follow behind traffic on downwind, and we were being put on 5-6 mile final legs, and typically ATC seemed to almost forget about us until we reminded them. Well, all in all it was well worth it, we had to keep on top of the radio, and it was good practice to tune up my radio comm. skills. We went over emergency procedures over and over, different case scenarios, and one time on the downwind (with permission from ATC for a short final), my instructor pulled the engine power and we simulated an engine failure in the pattern, I had to immediately turn towards the runway and make sure I got the plane on the ground, since we have a long(6003ft) runway at ORL, we had plenty of room. Overall a great flight as usual, cant wait until the next!
Total Flight Time: 1.9 Hrs

10/7 - 826SP

Weather was great again today(surprisingly), calm winds, nice ceiling. Today my instructor decided to throw some new things into my bag of tricks, we performed a short field takeoff and we did some simulated instrument flying and maneuvers. It sure was a fun an interesting flight, a short field takeoff involves taxing as far back on the runway as possible, using 10 degrees of flaps, and holding the brakes as you give full power to the engine to minimize the length of needed runway to roll. We flew out to our practice area and then my instructor told me to put these on. Boy did I feel silly, but its necessary to simulate only being able to see the instruments, not having any visual reference. We did some maneuvers with the foggles, which I would say I did pretty satisfactory on, then we moved on. An exciting part was that we simulated an engine failure and went all the way to the landing stage (had a grass airstrip) and then did a go-around. My weak point there is finding a good landing spot in an emergency, I need to work on that. We proceeded to Orlando Country (KX04), which has a TINY runway compared to what I am used to, 30 feet wide, where KORL's is 150 feet wide. We did some touch and goes, which progressively got better, i'd say, I was learning something each time. Overall I learned quite a bit today, and my last two landings had great improvement over the previous, i'm still looking for that sweet "flare" spot. My instructor said we are really going to start working on getting me to the point where I can solo, I CAN'T WAIT! Hopefully next time we do some pattern work I might be able to nail it. Well, that is all for now.
Total Flight time: 1.8 Hrs (0.3 Instrument Simulated)

10/5 - 826SP

Ahh, a beautiful morning to fly, winds were variable at 3kts, visibility 10nm, perfect! I completed a weight & balance sheet, taking into account that we had a 250lb passenger(pax) in the backseat, which means we couldn't fly with full fuel. Departed runway 7, and flew out to practice slow flight and stalls again. Once completed with our maneuvers, we had planned on heading too an uncontrolled airport, Leesburg Regional(KLEE), to practice landings. An important step today was navigating from our practice area to KLEE, the term used is pilotage. It worked out well, Even though it was 12nm away, I was able to find it with ease. Once there, we entered the pattern for landing. There were about 5 other planes practicing landings here, and my instructor had to do most of the radio communication as I was busy trying to keep up with the pattern. After about 3 landings traffic thinned down to 2-3 planes, which was much easier to work with. I did a little of the radio communication, and we did about 4 more landings. One of the most difficult things i'm having a problem with on landing is the flare, my landings were pretty hard and a couple had bounces. An important thing to remember is a good approach usually leads to a good landing, and that's part of the problem I was having, I was not losing altitude as I should've during my base and final legs. Overall, I was learning at an exponential rate, each time I came a little closer to understanding that "sweet spot" where you must flare to have a nice, smooth landing. We returned to KORL with a simulated engine failure on, which I took a little too much time deciding a landing spot. Overall a great lesson for flying, i would say it was one of my best yet.
Total Flight Time: 2.1hrs

10/2 - 824SP

The winds were a bit more calm today, our flight started at about 3:30pm. We cruised out to our practice area and practiced more of the same maneuvers: slow flight, stalls, engine out. After practicing a little, we came back to KORL to do a little pattern work. The NBAA conference is going on right now and there is al lot more traffic then normal, so the ATC can deny touch and go requests, luckily they didn't for us. We did 6 landings, each working with a slideslip because of the crosswinds. A sideslip is an interesting maneuver that you use aileron input and opposite rudder to keep the nose of the plane aligned with the centerline of the runway. This was a difficult maneuver, I couldn't get it down exactly right, it always kept feeling funny and i kept drifting the wrong way. Nevertheless, today was quite a learning experience, I was much happier with my control of the airplane on the ground, and I am getting more comfortable with interacting with the radio.
Total Flight Time: 1.7 hrs

9/30 0 826SP

Nice day out, today we focus hard on flying the plane at its Minimum Controllable Airspeed(MCA), in a clean setup and a dirty(flaps extended) setup. Wow is this interesting, you get to a point where you angle of attack is so high and your airspeed is so low that you have to increase power to keep flying at that slow speed without losing altitude. Its definitely a weird feeling flying around at a nice 40kts. We also practiced a few approach stalls and departure stalls. Approach stall is performed with your flaps extended, and low power setting as if you were on the final for a runway. Departure is slowing down to rotation speed(55kts), then increasing speed to 2100RPM and allowing the nose to pitch up too high until the wing stalls. Each has a different recovery method, but the important part to remember is to not use aileron control on recovery, doing so could potentially enter you into a spin. Practiced one engine failure, where the key thing to remember is to stay at your glide speed of 68kts.
Total Flying time: 1.4 hrs

9/28 - 777HE

Today, on a not-so-bright and early 7:30am in the morning I went for my next lesson. The wx did not look like it was going to cooperate, but we decided to see if it would clear. I did a W&B today before the flight to give the wx a little more time to clear. Once I completed the W&B, I went out to preflight the plane. Upon leaving the building, I took note of a slight drizzle and gave it no worry as it looked like it would clear. We thought it would, and taxied out a little to get a better view. As we taxied, we tuned to listen to the ATIS and found out the ceiling had dropped to 600ft. This is below VFR requirements, we could request a special VFR but it was not the best idea because the weather might not have been better as there were changes going on constantly. We taxied back and parked the plane. Not much learned today, expect weather can change rapidly, and its better to be safe than sorry. So, I had practice with the W&B, preflight, startup, and taxing today, so all is not lost. :)
Total flight time: 0.6 hrs

9/23 - 673SP

We had planned on another flight today but the wx(weather) waS just a little too bad. Instead we did a good 2 hours of ground school, which is a lot of information to learn, but I think I retained most of it. We event over how and why an airplane flies, the theory of flight, basics of flight, traffic patterns, taxiway markings, POH, weight & Balance, and the most confusing part, how to read a sectional chart. Overall it was a great session and I came out with a lot more than I thought I would, now to put it to use on our next flight.
Total Flight Time: 0.3 hrs

9/18 - 826SP

Only a couple days after my first flight I was ready for my next. I did the preflight myself(with the instructor overseeing). The weather was much better today, less of a cross wind going from variable to 3kts. I felt much more comfortable with the controls today, and taxing seemed much easier, I was able to keep it on the centerline more. We went to the practice area today and went over some more climbs, turns, and decents. We did a couple engine outs, and some gliding. The best part of this flight was the landings, we did 4 touch and go's, and 1 full stop landing today. I was in control of the aircraft the entire time, and needless to say the landings were a little rough, but acceptable for my first few. I felt much better with the controls today. An interesting thing with learning to fly is its all VFR flying, Visual. As I am a regular flight sim player, I was relying on the instruments a little too much, with VFR flying you need to learn to use everything outside 80% and what's inside 20%.
Total Flight Time: 1.6 hrs

9/16 - 824SP

Well the day has finally come, I started my lessons today. I met my instructor at Air Orlando around 3:00pm. We discussed a little theory then we went out to preflight the plane. The wind was a bit strong this day, coming from 020 at 15kts. We were going to take off from runway 25. The preflight took a good 20 minutes to complete. Using a checklist is vital to being a pilot, remembering everything and to do things in a proper order. We started the plane and my instructor requested clearance to taxi, and we were cleared to taxi to runway 25. I did the taxing, which is controlled by the rudder pedal. It seemed quite hard to stay on the centerline. In the run-up area we completed our engine run up and then told the tower we were "ready to go." Taxing onto the runway was quite a sight, its amazing sitting there and knowing that in less than a minute you will be in the air and in complete control over everything. I did the takeoff with the instructors assistance. Oh what a feeling it is once the wheels leave the ground - you think to yourself how very few people actually get to do this. We went to our practice area, lake apopka, which is about 12nm W of the airport. An important note was that we needed to stay below 1600ft on the way out because of class B airspace that KMCO has. We did some basics, turns, climbs, decents, straight and level and then headed back to the airport. Once there, I was told Ihad control of the landing with the instructors help. This was QUITE the experience, seeing the large, asphalt runway approaching in your sight, it is almost intimidating. Once landed we went onto a taxiway and stopped past the hold short line. Then, my instructor gives me a radio call to make. I was not expecting this, the radio call I had to make was "Orlando Ground, Cessna 824SP on Taxiway Delta request taxi to Air Orlando," I had to repeat it 3 times before transmitting and even then I mad some mistakes. We taxied, parked, and we were done. Overall it was a great flight and a great start on my long journey to become a pilot.
Total Flight Time: 1.0 hrs