Finally Learning to Fly

Well, I still don’t have my medical certificate from the FAA, despite eagerly checking my mail daily.  We did finally get our stimulus check from the IRS this week, so at least we got some good mail from the government…  So, for today’s lesson, we kept it simple.  We also kept it pretty short because the plane we were flying was just about due for its 100 hour inspection and at least one more person needed to fly it before it went in, so we had to leave a bit of time left on the tach before it was officially due and had to be pulled off the line.

We decided to fly down to Vandenberg (KVDF) and practice some soft field and short field take-offs and landings.  The plane I usually fly, the older 172P, was not available, so I was in one of the newer 172SPs, which I have flown in before, but never flown myself.  What a nice place!  I love the GPS and the auto-pilot and wish I could afford the extra $25/hour it costs to rent it and take it on every lesson. That and the clear still air this morning made the flight really nice.  The air was like glass and this was, by far, the smoothest flight I’ve ever had in a small plane.

My landings and take-offs were OK, for the most part.  I did skid a bit, trying to stop the plane on a short-field landing and hit the first turn-off from the runway.  Other than that, though, no real problems, including on a power-off landing that has been difficult for me before.  Clearly, I’m getting better at this!

We did do one very fun take-off.  We simulated taking off from a very high altitude, by setting 10 degrees of flaps and only using 1700 RPMs from the engine.  We were on Runway 5 at Vandenberg, which is 5000 feet long, and believe me, we needed every inch of it!  The interstate at the end of the runway was looming very large in front of us as we crawled along trying to build up enough speed to rotate.  I don’t envy the folks who have to take off and land at that sort of altitudes regularly.  I guess we’re pretty spoiled being very near sea level.

I've also been working on spreading out my pattern a bit so that I'm not making so many steep turns at low speeds as we turn to base and final.  My instructor, Jim, has had me keeping very close to the field on my patterns, which has meant some steeper turns than I'd like, but I've found -- with practice, like today's -- that I can glide in without power from a decent distance, so I'm now trying that and making shallower turns as a result.  Jim agreed with this idea noting that when I go to take my practical exam, "The DPE doesn't like things that are steep and spirally."  Neither do I.

I don't have my next lesson scheduled yet.  The extra cost of the SP wiped out my flying budget for this week at least, and possibly next week.  Unless I get my medical in the mail, in which case I will scrape up whatever cash (including loose change) I can find to get my first solo done.

Flight time: 1.0
Total time: 18.6
Landings: 106

As planned, my instructor Jim and I went airport-hopping this morning.  After the lousy weather all weekend (rain and thunderstorms) I was worried about the weather on Monday morning, but it turned out to be beautiful, sunny and hot and clear (although it was starting to cloud up when we were finishing up our flight).  We did change our itinerary a bit.  Originally, we planned to fly from Tampa North (X39) to Vandenberg (KVDF), the Plant City (KPCM), Lakeland (KLAL), and finally Bartow (KBOW) before returning to Tampa North.  However, as it turns out, Bartow is located on the Miami sectional chart, whereas the others are all on the Jacksonville sectional, so in order to same me a couple of bucks, since I didn't yet own any sectionals and the current charts expire in August, we skipped Bartow so I'd only need the one.  Instead, we went to Winter Haven (KGIF) and Zephyrhills (KZPH).

So, armed with the sectional and a cheat-sheet I had made with several of the airports on it, we left Tampa North with no difficulties, and headed down to Vandenberg for our first landing.  Winds were calm so we brought it down on Runway 5 and my landing was nice and smooth, although a little left of the centerline (something I have a tendency to do).  I went around the pattern once more and told Jim I was going to try to get closer to the centerline this time.  I did get closer, but still missed it just to the left.  After the two touch-and-goes we set off for Plant City, however at that point I had a bit of a problem – I had no idea how to get to Plant City!  So, out came the sectional which, along with Jim’s knowledge of the area (there’s a blue water tower just north of the field), made finding it pretty easy.  As it turns out, much like I use Interstate 75 to find both Tampa North and Vandenberg, Interstate 4 is very useful for finding Plant City.

My first landing at Plant City was not good.  I got low and slow and was adding power, but not enough, and we came down a bit hard.  Jim suggested I go around the pattern and try again “to redeem” myself.  So I did, and my second landing was much better.

We had already listened to the ATIS from Lakeland before landing at Plant City, upon departure we picked it up once more briefly to get the latest information code and then I called up Lakeland tower.  I had never spoken to a tower before, at least not while flying the plane myself, so I was a bit unsure of what to say, but Jim coached me through it.  I told them we had just departed Plant City and were inbound for touch-and-goes with information Oscar (and we know how important it is to get the ATIS first and let them know we have it).  They instructed me to turn right base for Runway 23, but did not tell me to report again, which was a bit odd, because they were telling everyone else that.  So we continued our approach, which takes no time at all from Plant City as the airports are only 7.7 nm apart, and when I turned right base, I waited for a call from tower, but when I didn’t hear anything, I went ahead and reported my position.  They gave me clearance for my touch-and-go and instructed me to turn right after departure for a right-hand pattern to Runway 27.  I guess they were changing active runways just then.

My touch-and-go was fine as was my second one on Runway 27 and this time they had me turn left to remain in the traffic pattern.  We were ready to move on, so I request and received, clearance for an eastbound departure to Winter Haven.

My first landing at Winter Haven wasn’t too good.  I got a little flat just above the runway.  So once again, we went around so I could redeem myself.  My second landing was also a little rough in the flare, and I porposed a bit, but I held it off and the actual touch down was nice and smooth.

From Winter Haven, we headed north on the longest leg of our trip, up to Zephyrhills.  It was uneventful and we made use of pilotage and landmarks (mostly a huge sulfer mine near the airport) for navigation.  My landing there was also just fine, so we headed back to Tampa North.

My last landing of the day wasn’t my best, but it wasn’t my worst either, so I guess it was OK.  More importantly, at no time in the entire flight, did Jim need to take the controls for any reason.  That felt pretty good!

In fact, Jim was disappointed that my medical clearance hadn’t arrived yet and said that as soon as it does, I’m soloing.  I’m still pretty nervous about that, but am really looking forward to it.

My next lesson is next Monday morning and if I have the medical, I’ll solo, otherwise we’ll do something else I’ve wanted to learn, which is to cross the Tampa Class B airspace over to the St. Pete side of the bay.  I understand that there are specific procedures to follow to transition Class B, but that it is very scenic and pretty cool.  Jim had asked me where I might want to go for my cross-country flights and that was number one on my list.  Number two was a flight up to Leesburg (KLEE) because my mother-in-law lives where and I am sure I’ll be flying there once I get my ticket.

Here is a look at the sectional of our flight this week, from Skyvector.com.  Unfortunately, Winter Haven is on another page, so it appears beyond the right edge of this chart:

Flight time: 1.5
Total time: 17.6
Landings: 98

“Where have you been?”  That was how my instructor Jim greeted me today when I showed up for my lesson.  It was a fair question; it had been three weeks since I had flown with him, although I did fly a little over a week ago with another instructor, Ryan.

As we have done for the last several lessons, today was more landing practice.  I think I mentioned in my last post that at the end of my lesson I started to understand why I was having the problems flaring that I was having and on my last landing on that day, I started to put it together.  With this lesson, I applied that from the start and I’m happy to say that almost all of my landings were pretty decent!

A couple of them were a bit hard, and Jim had to help me on one as I got on the left side of the runway and couldn’t quite pull it back over on my own.  And I did have one go around as we came in high and I could not force the plane down, even when using a forward slip; it would just not descend at all!

Speaking of the forward slip, this was my first time trying it on a few landings and it is pretty fun (when it works)…

I did most of my landings at Tampa North (X39), as usual, but then we headed down to Vandenberg (KVDF) for a few more, including one short field landing, required because I business jet had just taken off in front of us and we wanted to make sure we came in underneath his wake turbulence.  We also did a power-off landing, which wasn’t all that good; I needed a fair amount of help getting it set up properly.

Jim is booked up all next week, but we’re flying again on Monday the 23rd, and he wants us to go airport hopping.  He told me to make sure I’m familiar with Vandenberg, which of course I am, and also Plant City (KPCM), Lakeland (KLAL), and Bartow (KBOW).  Should be fun!

I saw the FAA medical examiner yesterday and because of some existing medical conditions I have, he had to defer the certification to the FAA office (I knew this going in), but he reviewed all of my paperwork and doesn't see any reason why they'd turn me down, so I should have my medical certificate in about three to four weeks.  By then I should also be about ready to solo!

I did hand in my pre-solo written exam to Jim who corrected the few questions I missed.  I really can't wait to solo, although I do want at least one more good lesson under my belt, like today's.  In my mind, when I solo is when I go from "some guy learning to fly" to a genuine "student pilot".

Flight time: 1.5
Total time: 16.1
Landings: 88

I got to fly a bit on Sunday, despite originally thinking I would have to cancel my lesson.  Instead, I was able to get in a quick lesson between my son's swim class and a birthday party I took my daughter to.  It was a busy day!

I flew with a new (to me) instructor, name Ryan.  No, I haven't lost another instructor, in fact Jim was there and we chatted, but he was booked up with other students all day.  Ryan is a commercial pilot during the week and gives lessons on weekends.  I knew that I didn't have a lot of time to fly, so I asked that we just stay in the pattern and let me practice some landings.

I was rusty, not having flown in over a week, and it showed.  We had a crosswind at almost 90 degrees from runway 14, which we were using, and most of my landings were pretty rough.  But I did learn a couple of things, which I think will help me going forward.

The first thing was a little memory trick to help me remember the things I need to do to set up the approach on the downwind.  Specifically, I have a problem remembering the carb heat on the older C-172 I'm flying, but the simple trick of remembering "left-to-right" means I'll get the carb heat, then throttle, then mixture, if necessary, and finally 10 degrees of flaps.  On a touch-and-go, I'll use the opposite and go "right-to-left" to take out the flaps, put in full power, and take off the carb heat, in that order.  It's a very simple thing, but it should help me.

Secondly, and perhaps more useful, I learned how much I am still over controlling on the flare at landing.  I think it comes from very early on in my training where I didn't use enough back pressure to flare properly and the instructors would yell, "More back pressure!  More back pressure!"  Now, as soon as I start the flare, I yank back on the yoke and porpoise the airplane.  On my last landing on Sunday, I got to the point where I was using much less pressure, and much more smoothly, and I avoided porpoising and had a much better landing.  Hopefully, I'll continue to remember that and my landings will improve.

So far they've gone from "unsurvivable" to merely "uncomfortable", so there's been improvement, but still a ways to go.

Flight time: 0.8
Total time: 14.6
Landings: 73

I didn't fly this week as planned.  Budget and work issues are keeping me grounded for at least another week or so.

So, does anyone know much about the Cessna 350/400?  They look a lot like the Cirrus SR22/SR22 Turbo.  Anyone have a good comparison of the two?  Not that I'm in the market; they're all well out of my price range, but I'm curious.

Last Thursday I got more practice landings, which I clearly still need.  Mostly, we went around the pattern, as usual at Tampa North (X39), but then we left and headed south to Vandenberg (KVDF), my old stomping grounds.  We did some touch-and-goes down there, and I forgot how bumpy it can be there with all the canals and ponds surrounding the field and the thermals you get above them.

At one point we had an Air Force C-5 (one of the largest planes in the world) fly directly over us about 500 feet above us.  He must have been heading in to MacDill AFB and it was very cool!

I was a bit sloppy in my pattern at Vandenberg and was on my downwind leg, but well south of runway 23 when Jim pulled the power to idle and told me I'd had an engine failure and would have to glide it in.  I was aware that I was farther than I should have been and was trying my best not give up any altitude.  Trying so hard, that is, that I came in way too high and could not push the plane on to the ground and keep my airspeed down.  We ended up having to go around and later my buddy Alex said, "Why didn't you forward slip?"  Honestly, because I hadn't thought of that at the time!  Darn it, now I want another chance...  On my second power off landing I did better.  The landing wasn't pretty, but I got us down.

We also attempted some short field landings and my first one was way off.  I landed a good hundred yards (or more) farther down the runway than I had wanted to, but those also got better with a couple of repetitions.

I think I'm getting close to soloing.  I've got most of the endorsements in my log book that I'll need and have the pre-solo written test to take before my next lesson on Wednesday.  I've also got to go get my medical, which I've been putting off.  I'm seeing my doctor on Monday and the FAA doc on Thursday.  Wish me luck with this; this is my biggest concern at the moment.

Flight time: 1.4
Total time: 13.8
Landings: 65

Last Tuesday we went up to Hernando County Airport in Brooksville (KBKV) for some cross-wind landing practice.  The winds were out of the north so we used Runway 9 for our touch-and-goes.  It was a nice day, although a bit overcast, and the winds were at about 8 knots.  In other words, prime cross-wind landing weather.

When we arrived at Brooksville, there was a Coast Guard helicopter hovering over Runway 3 and an Air National Guard Blackhawk 'copter hovering near 9.  There was also some traffic departing Runway 3 the entire time we were there, so we had to be a bit careful in the pattern to avoid them.  In fact, one helpful pilot reminded us over the radio that the winds were favoring Runway 3, to which my instructor Jim replied that that was why we were on Runway 9!

I spent a lot of the time in the pattern practicing switching from a crab into the wind to a side-slip.  It was tough, especially going into the slip and moving the rudders and ailerons in opposite directions at the same time.  Eventually, I got better at it, at least while in the pattern.  Throughout the morning, I struggled on short final to get us lined up on the centerline, tracking down the runway, and flairing the plane properly all at the same time.  None of my landings were particularly good.

Jim did show off some, running the plane down the runway and touching down one main gear wheel, then the other, and then picking them up and doing it again a few times before we took off again.  I can't wait until I'm proficient enough to have that kind of control over the plane.

He also showed me something that I can't wait to try; a short field takeoff.  Leaving Tampa North (X39), we popped the nose wheel up almost immediately.  I still am amazed at how slow we were still moving when it came off the ground.  Then he popped the main gear up off the ground and we accelerated just a few feat above the runway.  We were also crabbed into the wind, which made it more impressive.  Maybe I'll get to try it myself in my next lesson this Tuesday morning.

Flight time: 1.3
Total time: 12.4
Landings: 53

Sorry, I'm a few days late in posting this one.  I did have my lesson last Thursday as planned.  In fact, it was a very good day in that, not only did I fly, but I got to golf too!  That made up for the rough time I've been having at work lately (big project, not going particularly well.)

Anyway, we didn't get up to Brooksville (KBKV) as we had originally planned, but we did go over to Zephyrhills (KZPH) for some touch-and-goes and then back to Tampa North (X39) for a few more.

I finally had a couple of what I would consider to be pretty decent landings, including on in a crosswind with one main gear wheel touching down first, then the other, and finally the nose gear.  And then there were a couple of particularly bad ones, too...

On one of my first landings, I got flat, with the plane no longer descending, but quickly losing airspeed, about 8-10 feet above the runway.  Obviously, had the plane stalled there, we would have dropped down to the pavement rather hard.  I'm still trying to get the feel for when and how much to flair the plane.

One of my later landings could have been very dangerous had my instructor Jim not been there to correct my bad instinct.  We were coming in very low and to a rookie like me, the natural thought is to pull up on the nose to try to hold altitude.  Of course, that is exactly the wrong thing to do!  That's a very good way to stall the plane short of the runway and instead, the correct fix is to apply power, which is what I did at Jim's urging.  To Jim's credit, his voice remained calm the entire time...

I was able to record our cockpit audio during the entire lesson and I am in the process of editing it down into a podcast, which I will publish here as soon as it's ready.  It may be a few more days, however.  I've been working some very long hours lately, including all weekend (yuck).

My next lesson is scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.  I don't yet know what we're doing, but I imagine it will involve more landings.  Maybe this time we'll go up to Brooksville.

Flight time: 1.1
Total time: 11.2
Landings: 43

I went flying with my instructor, Jim, on Friday morning as planned.  The weather was beautiful; sunny and cool with calm winds — perfect flying weather.  As with our last lesson, we stayed in the pattern so I could practice my landings.

There is no AWOS at Tampa North (X39), but the windsock was hanging limply so we started out using runway 32 for our pattern work.  I was having a lot of problems getting my altitude down when turning to base and final and also keeping my speed down.  We did several touch-and-goes and two go-arounds, where I was just too high and fast to put it down at all.  A couple of them were OK (and that's being a bit generous), but most weren't so good.  I was coming in fast on all of them and floated well down the runway.  I'm also still having some trouble using enough back pressure to bring us down gently on the main gear.

Eventually, in order to get low and slow enough, we were reducing power to idle on the turn to base!  Of course in cool air the Skyhawk with the upgraded 180HP engine would be performing very well, but that was a bit ridiculous.  It occurred to us that there might be a bit of tailwind which was confirmed by checking the AWOS at nearby fields, so we switched around and used runway 14 instead.

Much better!  My landings still weren't fantastic, but we sure used a lot less runway for them.  Actually, my last two were too bad at all and my very last one was pretty decent, I think (for me, anyway).

Next Thursday we're at it again, but this time, instead of staying in the pattern at Tampa North, we're going to fly up to nearby Zephyrhills (KZPH) and Hernando County (KBKV) in Brooksville, and practice in the patterns up there.  I'm really looking forward to that!

Jim also mentioned that I need to take my pre-solo written exam soon, which is a good sign.  I also need to get my medical certificate.

Speaking of that, I have a couple of medical conditions that I wanted to be sure wouldn't prevent me from getting my certificate, so when we were at Sun-n-Fun last week I stopped by the FAA pavilion and chatted with one of the FAA doctors.  I should be fine to get my cert, but in our conversation he said one of the nicest things anyone has said to me in a long time.   He said, "Well, you're pretty young.  What are you, in your mid-20's?"  He seemed genuinely surprised when I told him I'm actually 40.

Just before my lesson started, I did run into my previous instructor, Mark.  He was there finishing up one of his students before fully transitioning into his new charter job.  He told me that his new job is flying for Cirrus up at Vandenberg and he's flying SR22's mostly now.  I am so jealous!

I just picked up some new equipment that will allow me to record cockpit audio and I'm planning on putting together a podcast to go with this blog, soon.  I have hosted other podcasts, so I've got some experience with them, and I'm really looking forward to doing this one.  Of course, this will depend on Jim allowing me to record our lessons, but hopefully he'll have no problem with it.  I'll let you all know as soon as I do when I'll have the first episode ready.  My pilot mentor and friend Alex and I are also looking to produce audio and/or video podcasts of our flying together as well.  I think that will make for an interesting mix of relatively new student and relatively new certificated pilot.

Speaking of podcasts, I was listening to the Uncontrolled Airspace podcast the other day, when one of the hosts, Dave Higd0n, told a joke that I liked.  It's probably a very old one, but I hadn't heard it before, so I'll end this blog entry by sharing it here:

"You know why the propeller is in front there, right?  It's to keep the pilot cool.  If that propeller stops, just watch the pilot start sweating..."

Flight time: 1.1
Total time: 10.1
Landings: 34

I'm flying again on Friday, early at 7:00 a.m.  In an attempt to avoid these long delays between lessons, I went ahead and scheduled one for each of the next three weeks, including this one.

We drove out to Lakeland on Sunday to attend Sun-n-Fun which was fun, despite the weather being pretty lousy — rainy and cold, after a week of great sunny weather.  I took some video, but it didn't come out all that well, and some photos, including these:

The USAF Thunderbirds, who (as always) put on a fantastic show, flying in formation:

My son's favorite airplane at the airshow, an A-10 "Warthog":

A couple of big ol' Air Force jets; a C-130 and a KC-135:

Here's my son standing in front of a Cessna (nee Columbia) 400, a very nice plane that reminds me a lot of the Cirrus SR22:

Here's the XFV1, an early (and failed) attempt by the Air Force to produce a Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) plane.  Despite the fact that it didn't really work, it sure looks cool:

Here's the "business end" of an F-15:

And finally, my kids in front of a neat looking SeaMax seaplane: