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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
7/11Reviews Articles
Making the Most of Your Flight Training
OtherAeronautical Dictionary and Acronym Database - A database of terms and acronyms frequently encountered in the world of aviation.
It has been a while since I've updated this site. Mainly due to the lack of
flying :( I've also moved into my own home and have been very very busy with
many other things. On to the update...Ryan invited me along on another flight
to KTPA in his Twin Comanche, and of course I accepted! It was a nice day -
a bit of scattered clouds but they would pose no problem. I asked ryan to handle
the radio comm so that I could focus on taming the beast known as the Twin Comanche.
The main thing about this plane is landing it. It's much faster, has a VERY
different site picture, which makes me screw up my flare every time almost.
Landing in tampa, I flared while we were still about ten feet high, even with
Ryan telling me I was still 10 feet high - I just refused to believe it. The
outcome, well, unfortunately we had a pretty hard landing - I get very aggravated
at myself when I make that kind of landing, but I'm hoping I'll eventually get
used to it. On the way back we stopped in KZPH to get fuel, my landing there
was a little better. It was a great flight, I love flying the Twinky. I'd really
like to get my MEL so that I could log my time in it as PIC and so i'd be more
proficient in flying it. One day it will happen. I might be scheduling a 172
flight soon to stay current - check back soon!
Total Flight Time: 2.5 Hours Multi-Engine
It was a relatively nice day to fly - just a tad bit windy. I took a friend
of mine, Chris, up with me. Unfortunately the purpose of this flight was to
stay current, so I just wanted to get 3 landings in. We flew out to Dunn (X21)
to do a landing, the cross wind there was strong and gusty. We did one landing
there then headed back home to KORL to do 2 landings. Overall it was a good
flight, and I got my 3 landings in.
Total Flight time: 1 Hour
Ryan invited me along to fly to Tampa, KTPA. I gladly accepted, of course.
It was a nice day, kind of hazy - maybe 9 miles visibility. We departed from
KSFB and headed towards KTPA. Pretty uneventful flight, it was nice to fly again,
and to get some time in the Twin Comanche - I really do love that plane. I hung
around Tampa Jet Center while Ryan did some work, then we headed back. On the
way back we stopped at Zephyrhills, KZPH, to get fuel. Then we headed back to
KSFB. I did three landings today, and none of them were nearly as nice as I
would've liked, but that might be to the fact that I only have about 8 multi-engine
hours, and the Twinco is quite more to handle then my usual Cessna C172. I'd
rate my landings(out of 10, 10 being the best), a 5/10, 7/10 and a 3/10, respectively.
Hopefully next time they will be a little better. I'll be flying in a couple
weeks again, check back then!
Total Flight Time: 2.3 Hours, Multi-Engine
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.
What a beautiful day to fly. I had planned taking a co-worker, Andy, with me
to KVNC to lunch. It would be my longest flight yet, 106 nautical miles. Winds
were pretty calm and we had a nice flight down and back - pretty uneventful,
didnt see much traffic in the sky but heard it over the radio since we had VFR
advisories. We landed at KVNC on runway 31, which by the way, has a great view
of the coast while you are in the pattern. We had lunch at The Cockpit Cafe,
which is one of the top rated 100 Dollar Hamburger places in Florida. The food
was good, the service was great. They are only open until 2 so be sure to get
there before then. We flew back, did a couple touch and goes at KORL and called
it a day. Overalll a great flight - I wish I could afford to fly this far all
the time. Can't wait until next time!
Total Flight time - 2.7 Hours
Ryan invited me last night to go on a flight today in his Twin Comanche, and
I gladly accepted! But an 11:30am departure? On a weekday? What about work?
Well, that's what long lunches are for! We flew up to KOCF to have lunch at
the Tailwind Cafe, then flew back to KORL - great flight, and I felt a little
more comfortable handling the Twin Comanche this time - I might get the hang
of it soon :) Pretty uneventful flight, beautiful day, visibility was about
35 miles. Had a large headwind on the way back, but that made the trip back
much shorter. My landings weren't the best, but given I was flying a twin and
there was a good crosswind, they were alright. Well, that's about it for now...I'm
flying again on Saturday - look for an update then!
Total flight time: 2.0 hours (ME)
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.
Well it's been a while since I have flown, so I asked Ryan to accompany me
on a short flight to do some touch and go's. I didn't think I would fly as well
as I did, it actually wasn't bad at all - I thought after a 3 month break I
would need more of a refresher then I actually did. It was nice to shake the
rust off and get some landings in. Nothing special in this flight, did landings,
and one soft field that was ok - a little off centerline though. My new years
resolution be to get out at least once a month and fly - even if its just half
an hour for a couple landings. Well, that's about it - have a great New Year
everyone! :
Total flight time: 1.0 Hours
Live in orlando? Well keep your eyes open for a pimpin' Blue Mazda 3 strolling around town with some great www.iamflying.com decals!! My friend Ryan finally got these to me, they were custom made by another friend of mine. Look back soon as i'll be posting pictures of my car with the new adverts on it, i'm glad to finally have them, Thanks Ryan!
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.
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!
What a wonderful day to fly. Planned on a flight from KORL to KCGC, have lunch,
then fly back to KORL. There wasn't a cloud in the sky but it was a little hazy.
Brought my brother in law, Tom, along with me for his first flight in a small,
single engine plane. After a comprehensive pre-flight check we were ready to
go. Noting the winds were picking up as the day progressed, I figured it'd be
nice to get some crosswind landings in as KCG only has 1 runway, 9/27. It was
a cool 61 degrees at our cruising altitude, 4500ft. After a brisk 45 minute
flight we arrived at our destination, there was one other plane in the pattern
and didn't seem to follow correct procedures and wasn't very cautious so I stayed
out of the pattern until he had landed. Once down, traffic behind us asked us
to park off of the taxiway since we weren't staying long so I obliged. Well,
turns out we shouldn't have done that, good 'ole "King of the Hill"
came and asked us what the trouble was and he nicely explained that isn't right
and he'd find out who told us that. He directed us to park in any of the numbered
spaces. We have a short snack at the Dairy Queen next to the airport and then
headed back to KORL. Departing runway 9 at CGC, we trekked back to KORL. It
was uneventful, but we had to stay lower then planned because of a thick cloud
layer that had formed. Once at KORL we were assigned straight in runway 7, and
had a nice crosswind landing. Once again, the controllers at KORL rock and because
it was slow they allowed me to do a 180 on the runway to taxi to 31 to save
time. Overall it was a great flight, Tom rated my first landing a 5/10(bounced
a little) and the second a 9/10! I scheduled my next flight for 10/16, so check
back for an update :)
Total Flight Time: 1.9 Hours PIC
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!
Nice flight today, took a friend, Eric, of mine from school/work up for a short
flight. The wind was picking as we waited for my plane to return from the previous
rental and I knew I was going to get good crosswind practice. The plan was to
take off, head out east over UCF to get some neat pictures, fly around a bit
and come back and do 3 touch and gos. We also did a steep turn while out east.
This was Eric's first time in a small airplane, prior to the flight I made sure
he was going to be comfortable with everything we were going to be doing. He
was a great passenger and took some good pictures and movies which I will post
when he sends them to me. The landings were not as good as I would've like them
to be, but I was fighting a steady crosswind. Eric rated the best landing(the
second one) a 7/10. I've managed to get him hyped about flying and hopefully
he'll be doing a discovery flight soon. On another note, it was a bit depressing:
only about 7 of our 172's are available to rent anymore(thanks, Charley). I
managed to schedule another flight 3-4 weeks away and some of the planes were
already taken.
Total Flight Time: 0.9 Hours
It's been a while - thought I might provide all my readers with a small update
to somehow attempt to entertain them. As you can see, I have added a poll at
the top of the page - feel free to vote and leave a comment if you wish. I haven't
been flying, hurricane charley prevented my last flight. I've heard rumors that
23 of the 34 planes at Air Orlando are totaled. I believe 777HE and 3511R, my
favorites, are included in that. :( Speaking of Air Orlando, visit their new
web site! It's much better then the last web page, in my opinion. Good job Matthew(I
believe he is also an instructor at Air Orlando)! I've scheduled my next flight
for Saturday 8/28 - don't know what I'm going do or where to go yet. I need
to quickly come up with a good way to fit flying into my budget, I do not want
to become one of the guys that only flys an hour every month. Anyway, as usual
feel free to email me. I'll leave you with this neat passage written my Leonardo
da Vinci:
| Once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you long to return. |
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.
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!
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
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!
Fellow readers (yes, I read my own site), Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I recently graduated college and obtained a new (read: better) job. In the interim Itook a two month (involuntary) leave from flying. But lately I have gotten back into it and have tried to fly on the weekends as my new job does not permit to me to have the time during the week to fly. It definitely was not the best of moves to take such a long break so close to my check ride but I believe in a way it helped me absorb some of the information I needed to. So i've flown about 3 or 4 times since my last update but will not make individual posts, sorry. Tentatively, my check ride is scheduled for this upcoming sunday. I have lots of studying to do before then and I need to make sure I am ready for the feat I am about to overcome. Wish me luck - for on sunday, June 20th, 2004 I shall hopefully reach a lifetime goal of mine of becoming a private pilot. It's been a long journey and many years - but yes, it will happen. I will be a private pilot. Wish me luck, have me in your thoughts, and check back for an update on sunday!
Yet another beautiful day to go flying. Today we went out to the north west
shore of lake apopka and did some steep turns, and an engine failure. Then we
headed to X04 to practice some landings. We did shorts and softs - all of which
were ok but needed tuning as usual. Then back to orlando exec for one full stop
short field landing. That is about all for today - Just checkride prep. One
more flight and a bunch of ground then i'll be signed off for my checkride,
can't wait :) Sorry for such a short update, check back later this week for
another.
Total Flight Time: 1.5 Hrs
Sorry for the lack of updates - school and work have been keeping me way too
busy. I have flown once since the last logged entry, it was a mock check ride
with richard - but that's not what this entry is about. Today was a nice day
and I finally had time to fly with my instructor. Our goal was simple: to work
on the things that needed to be improved upon that we found out during my mock
check ride. We headed out west to the south shore of lake Apopka to do some
maneuvering. Stalls went ok but on the power on stalls the plane kept rolling
to the right - every time. IT was weird, so ryan tried to do a few and he had
the exact same results, odd. Steeps turns were fine, even though during my mock
check ride I had to do them three times to get a correct one. On an engine out
procedure, my prosecute check, ABCDE (Airspeed - Best Glide, Best Field - Pick,
Cockpit check, Dialogue, Emergency Checklist. This time I picked a great spot
to land, and instead of circling I kept going straight and overshot the best
part to land on and might not have made it to where I wanted to go - now I know
for next time. I've found that picking the field to land at is the hardest part
for me, then visualizing your approach to it - it is a lot to take under, but
i'll get the hang of it. We headed back for ORL to practice some landings. The
first couple were rust removers, and we got an unexpected go around on one of
them (thanks to the cirrus sr-22 hauling tail behind us) - then we moved on
to short field landings and soft field. The short fields were ok but I have
a tendency to land flat and sometimes carry 5kts extra on the approach. The
soft fields were fine, a little off of centerline on one. Flying again tomorrow,
check back for an update :)
Total Flight Time: 1.8 Hrs
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
Good 'ole check ride prep! My instructor is not helping on my flights, simply
evaluating. We depart ORL and head to X04 do do some landings. I enter the pattern
pretty standard at X04, just flew over a little low. The landings at X04 were
pretty good - except on one of my shorts I landed about 10ft too short of my
touchdown point, which is out of the PTS(Practical Test Standards) range of
+200ft;-0ft. I should have initiated a go around. The rest of the landings were
nothing special, they all would have passed I believe. We went up and did my
favorite, steep turns, slow flight, and engine failure. I did a little better
on the engine failure, as it was failed right above bob white field. I need
to go over the checklist over and over again so that I can perform it without
even thinking about it. We headed back to ORL and ended our flight. Overall
a great time, as usual.
Total Flight Time: 1.4Hrs
It's been a while since I have flown with my instructor! As check ride prep
mode continues, today's weather was great for some practice. We flew out NE
of ORL to a good practice area. First thing first, my instructor finally tricked
me! Once we got to 2500' he asked me "Can you get me your pencil form your
knee board?" (which was in a pocket near my left leg. Well, I took my right
hand off the power, put it on the yoke so I could use my left hand to get the
pencil. Completely unexpected, he pulled the power out to simulate an engine
loss. Score so far: Ryan 1; Scott 0. We did steep turns, which I did nicely,
then slow flight clean, then power on and power off stalls. Slow flight went
pretty well, but I was a bit rusty on stalls. Headed back to ORL for some landings,
where I relaxed just a bit and was pointing to MCO instead of ORL, which was...well,
bad. The landings at ORL were not to bad considering the crosswind component
we had. We were using runway 7 and winds were 010-020@10-12. We did one "rust
remover" regular landing then s couple softs, couple shorts, then an engine
out in the pattern. Overall everything went great - I need to work on my stalls
a little and my engine out procedures a lot. Landings weren't to bad, I believe
my instructor said that all of them would have passed.
Total Flight time: 1.5 Hours
One of the goals this weekend was to knock out the rest of my solo cross-country
requirements. We had attempted last weekend, but bad weather prevented me from
flying solo. This weekend was much nicer. On both saturday and sunday I flew
solo to Ocala and back. Saturday's flight went fine - I am getting much more
comfortable with the radio communication, specifically regarding opening and
closing flight plans, and then obtaining VFR advisories from departure. Saturdays
trip was a bit windy, I was getting 78Kts ground speed on my way to Ocala. My
cruising altitude was a comfortable 4500ft on the way to Ocala and 3500 on the
way back. Into Ocala on saturday, it was a bit windy at the field and I encountered
light turbulence during my decent. Upon returning to Orlando on saturday, I
entered a right downwind for 25. I extended downwind to allow spacing for departures
and awaited further instructions. The controller says "777HE turn base
cleared to land runway 25 hold short runway 31." This is known as a Land
and Hold Short Operation(LAHSO). Well, being the knowledgeable student I am,
knowing that is against regulations for a student pilot to perform this, replies
to the controller "Exec tower, 777HE unable." The controller comes
back and replies "777HE is 4500 feet not enough room to land?" in
almost a sarcastic voice, knowing that I was a 172. I simply replied "Exec
tower, 777HE student pilot, unable." And everything was fine, the controller
had the traffic on 31 holding until I was clear of the runway. Oh, and I believe
I landed using only about 1,000 feet of the runway anyway. That was the most
interesting part of my flight, I love the controllers at Orlando Exec, they
are great - very helpful and smooth most of the time :) Sundays flight was just
as good - Smooth trip to Ocala, smooth radio communication, and a nice landing
at Ocala. I'm finally seeing myself scanning the instruments and outside almost
like I breath, I do not have to think about, I just do it. Sundays trip was
a little shorter thanks to an expedited departure from ORL and less of a headwind
on the way to Ocala. On the way back, winds were calm at ORL and the controller,
whom I shall from now on refer to as the '4500ft is not enough?' controller,
was nice enough to give me a straight-in approach to 13, which saved me time
from being in the traffic pattern. Overall two great trips to Ocala, and best
of all - I now meet every requirement (except .5 more simulated instrument)
for my private pilots license, single engine land(PPL ASEL). Next couple flights
will be refresher flights to make sure i'm ready for the check ride - see you
then!
Total flight time: 3.5 Hours PIC
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)
A bit windy today! We headed out to KSFB to take a look at my instructors newly
re-designed interior of his plane, WOW does it look good. Afterwards we did
a bit of ground ref, then a few stalls - then headed back to executive. Overall
a good flight, I still need to work on my stalls a bit. My landing was ok, I
have learned to use the correct aileron correction to account for crosswinds,
but I have been using too much now - one day i'll get it. The exciting part
of today was that I got to ride along with my instructor and another instructor
from Air Orlando in a multi-engine plane. We flew a Piper PA34-200 Seneca I,
nice plane - faster, and hold a lot more then what I usually fly. So I got to
watch as we departed KORL on an IFR flight - to KLAL, lakeland. It was very
helpful to see them do all the things required for IFR flight. They were very
accommodating and kept explaining to me what was going on, which was very helpful.
For a few minutes, we actually went into IMC(Instrument Meteorological Conditions)
- we flew into clouds, had no visibility. It was a first for me, and I am very
glad I got to experience it. We had dinner at a nice restaurant at KLAL - and
then flew back, also IFR. As I said earlier, even though I was only a passenger
on this flight, I took a lot from it. It was nice to see experienced pilots
in action and see what their routine was - in a multi-engine, complex plane
too! My thanks go out to Ryan F.(my instructor) and Ryan S.(another AO instructor)
for allowing me to tag along.
Total Flight Time: 1.4Hrs
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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)
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
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
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
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
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)
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
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
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
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!!)
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
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
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
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
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
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
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)
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
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
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
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
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
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
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