Hello, this is your pilot-in-command speaking...

Yup, after about three months of fighting weather, planes, school, and gophers, I have finished my private pilot's license training and received my license this afternoon around noon.  And damn, it feels good.

I woke up at a ripe 6:30am to make sure I could either drive my car, or get it towed out, of my icy street and to the airport.  Upon arrival, I got asked if I was nervous, to which I replied that last night, the only darn thing I was nervous about what getting my car out of the garage and to the airport in one piece.  Flying a plane is easy =P  And boy, did I learn how to drive in bad conditions today!  Thumbs up for having stick shift

There's two parts to the checkride that I had this morning: oral and flight
The oral part consisted of the FAA-approved "reviewer", Mike, and I sitting and verbally going over flying.  We began by talking about how I got into this, what he's learned in his years, and what's to become of the aviation world.  He asked me some basic questions about what's needed in an airplane and on me when I fly and general rules of the sky.  Then, he mainly focused on stuff that I don't necessarily need to know all the time, but stuff he felt it might be good for me to know of.  We also went over more complex fundamentals of flying and planning.  His view was that I was a competent engineer and pilot and knew what was going on when an alternator failed...heck, that's my major pretty much.  So instead of wasting time, he wanted to teach me insights and tricks of the trade he had learned over the years, and make sure I knew deeper stuff that I will need to know later down the road in my training.  When I sat in on the other oral, he said he wasn't there to grill, he was to make sure the future pilot knew the basics, knew where to look up the complex stuff, and fill in any gaps.  Today, it never even crossed my mind as a "grill session", but instead, one of the best side learning experiences I've had.

Flight: At this point, we hop in the plane.  He had me plan a trip to Norfolk (to make sure I know how to plan a flight), but diverts after about 15min of flight and makes me land at the nearest airport (Louisa).  There, we practiced different types of take-offs and landings.  He gave me great pointers on emergency situations during landings, and great new views of landing.  He is the first person to get me to visualize a landing, and flying in general, from the kinetic physics approach.  Since I'm a physics kid, I picked up quite quickly instead of someone just saying "stay high", he said, "think about the potential energy you're losing if you lose altitude".  Gave me a whole new approach on flying.  Then we practiced stalls and basic maneuvers.  Then, came the fun part.  He made me put on the cone of shame and had me recover from an unusual attitude (closed my eyes, he made the plane turn and descend, I opened my eyes and corrected).  I think he thought I was bored, so after him making a near vertical turn (without a single G either), he told me to close my eyes and fly.  Turns out, I was pretty decent.  Then, told me to go home.
All in all, the flight wasn't perfect, but the point is, I stayed safe and knew how to recover if I was in trouble.  I had one slightly big "oops", but again, I trusted my instinct and recovered.  He used it to teach me another lesson of landing without instruments, at which I did just fine, and he used it all to remind me to always ask myself "is this right??" if something fishy is going on, take a second and think, then react.  Unless I'm 100 feet off the ground, I have a second or two to think.

So, we touch down in Charlottesville, I taxi over, stop the plane.  He says great job, it was a pleasure flying with you, congratulations.  Big sigh of relief and great big smile!

I finished in 3 months and right under 45 hours, which is apparently really, really good.  Now I join the big ole brotherhood of private pilots, and I drove the entire way home with a giant smile on my face.

Next up: taking willing-passengers =D  I need to accumulate some more hours and really get used to the plane to start my instrument.  I also may have to change the blog's title =D

Quote of the Day: "Tell her to keep the pointy end forward, and the dirty side down"

Duckie #2: 1 Mother Nature: 3/4

She gets 3/4 simply because she went to EXTREME efforts to keep me from flying today.  However, I prevailed!!  Despite the solid ice patch my street has become and my utter inability to be able to get my car anywhere due to the fact I live at the bottom of two very steep hills, my instructor came and picked me up from a clear road near my apartment.  WOO!  Got to fly, got to wrap up my flight instruction (weird to say), and got cleared for my checkride tomorrow!!

So, at 6am tomorrow morning, I will be up, planning not only my last student flight (hopefully), but my plan of attack to get the heck out of dodge.  I WILL make it out of here tomorrow!

Then home for the holidays =D  (and doing all the wrapping that's left for me, aka mostly everything)

Snow, snow, snow, snow, and more snow....and then some more snow

The semi-official number here is 27 inches.  That number is more than I've seen, in total,  my entire time here.  Everything's white and anything not white is mostly covered by white.  I didn't leave my apartment between Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon because all of Cville was shut down.  Today I finally got out to do some sledding, and we all decided that the only reason the awe is wearing off is because we have no idea where snow ends and grounds begins.
Anyways, the CHO runway is open because a few flights, mostly private jets, have landed/departed, and the Pegasus helicopter (transportation network for UVA Hospital) has been flying all day.
So, we shall see what happens over the next few days...

Checkride is scheduled

Sat in on a checkride's oral part this morning, and I'm totally pumped for mine.  Very straightforward, the guy is really nice and a great pilot obviously, and most of all, he isn't there to drill me, but instead make sure I'll stay safe, know the rules to stay safe, and if I don't, know where I can look them up.  My instructor, the head CFC guy, and even the checkride instructor, Mike, are excited and think I'll do great.  Woo!
After my oral portion, I go flying.  I do a basic cross-country, then do some maneuvers, then do some safety things, such as finding an alternate airport and power-off landings.  Then, Tuesday by about 1pm, I should have my license, and either be on my way home for the holidays or flying someone around if they're in town.
=D

In the meantime, I'll enjoy the 1-2 feet of snow due for Charlottesville.  All the planes got put in hangers tonight, because 2 feet of snow on an airplane's wings can be terrible for the plane.  The flight center held an early, early dinner, so after I flew today, I stuck around and had a great time.  I'm REALLY going to miss being at this place all the time.  Looks like I'll just have to get my instrument rating =D  They've become a second family to me and everyone there is super nice and the conversation over dinner couldn't avoid planes.  I even talked to one younger guy who got to go to the radar center in Leesburg and he's putting together a trip for everyone to go up there and see how it all works.  I keep thinking this journey can't get any better, and it does, and it keeps me going when stuff like weather and plane-oopsies get in the way.

Quote of the day: "They all work for you, not the other way around"  -Mike, referencing how instructors/air traffic controllers work for pilots, not the other way around
QOTD #2: "You should use the pick-up line: 'Hey, want to just go on a plane ole date?'"

Clap Clap Clap! Part 2

Got to high-five myself again today!!  At 2:00pm, after two hours of 60 pilot questions, I got a 88% on my written exam!!  A 70% is needed to pass, but being over 85% is great, so I did just great!  And with all the jet noise outside, it was some of the worst test conditions ever =P I got to hang around the flight center all day and got some flying in, so I'm quite the happy duckie right now.  A friend took me out to sushi for somewhat of a celebration part 1 too, so it's been one great day.
So, now I need to do about 3 hours in a plane with Tom and make sure I'm ready for my checkride.  Tomorrow morning I'm listening in on the oral part of an actual flight test, so I'll see first hand what's going to be expected of me.  I'm somewhat nervous for this, but everyone in the flight center is behind me and is helping me prepare.
Since we're about to get 10-15 inches of snow tomorrow afternoon into Saturday, I probably won't do my checkride until Tuesday, unless by magic I get to fly tomorrow.
So close!!!

Clap Clap Clap!

Well kids, I've finally crossed the 40-hour mark.  I've logged all the hours I need to take my tests to become, yes, a private pilot.  So, next up, written test.  Then I need another 3 to prep for my checkride.  Then, my checkride.

Way cool, stay tuned

Look Momma Duckie, no fighter jets!

Boring part of post:  took my last solo cross-country trip, as a student, out to Hanover (north of Richmond).  Nothing spectacular about the flight, just pure fun and pretty.  Everything was darn near perfect.  Tom took someone up for an aerial shoot as I was leaving, so I'm sure he had heart failure as he taxied behind me and watched my flip on that strobe light and take off.

Cool part of post: Tom and I ventured up to Class-S/Class-FJ zone!  Now there's Class A (high altitudes), Class B (Dulles)  Class C (Richmond)  Class D (Cville) and so on.  The letters stand for nothing.  Class-S, however, is a special class that only exists around DC, stands for Class-Stupid, because the protocols in the area, although important, are dumb.  Class-FJ encompasses the same space, but is heightened over areas such as the White House and Camp David, stands for Class-FighterJet because they use jets to make you not fly in those areas.
Since there's a 99% chance I'll fly up to the DC area one day, and I needed another hour in the plane with Tom there, I decided to persuade him to fly to Leesburg.  Normally Tom flies under Instrument Flight Rules, so this was his first of flying into the area under VFR.  Involved three flight plans, dodging Dulles and big planes, and wayy too many frequency changes.  We also got told to dodge the Class-B airspace of Dulles which made flying tedious.  Managed to get to Leesburg just fine after a lot of Tom going "this is stupid, they're making me angry" and me going "what on earth is going on".
Now, the return trip was somewhat humorous.  First, landing, I was supposed to get a certain squawk code to land in Leesburg.  Never did.  Taking off, Leesburg has a certain departure frequency listed, but that controller sent us to another who sent us to another and so forth.  Five changes later, we were nearly to Fredrick, MD when we were told to head to C'ville but stay clear of the Dulles airspace.
Long story short, as far as pilots like me goes, the FAA does not have their crap together with this airspace deal.  A course I took to be able to fly VFR into the airspace says one thing, controllers say to do another, then another controller says something else.  But, everything worked out, and I never saw a jet I wasn't supposed to see.  Did see a 747 fly over.
All in all, fun flight.  Kept me on my toes and other than all the frequency changes, it was pretty straightforward.  Although I am glad Tom was there to help out, I probably would have freaked with all of the changes and making sure I wasn't violating airspace rules.  Weirdest thing, by far, was being "home", but not actually being home.  I flew over landmarks I recognized and roads I could follow home, saw Tysons/Reston and all the way to DC, but being in the air, and in control, was definitely weird.

Returned to C'ville to watch a very loud Navy jet do touch-and-goes, too =D

Quote of the Day: "PLEASE DODGE THE JETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" - Momma Duckie in an email to me prior to flight =D

"I do not like the cone of shame"

Cone of Shame

I got put back under the cone of shame today, or as normal pilots call it, the hood.  It is basically a cone that sits over my face so I can only see the instruments, but no horizon or outside feathers.  It mimics flying basic maneuvers only by instrument, basically to simulate flying in dark.  Flying in poor visibility/weather conditions is flying purely by instrument, but that's a whole other rating.
The biggest problem I have with it is that my body is telling me one thing, the instruments are saying another, and then the little tiny bits of land I can see outside the cone in my peripheral vision, are saying a whole other thing.  It leads to frustration on my part simply because when I'm flying normally, I can visually see what the horizon/airplane is doing to correct something such as keeping the wings straight, while using the instruments to make sure I'm flying level.  Under the hood/cone of shame, you have to focus on all instruments at once.
The thing I most, most hate, hate about it is the fact that the last time I was under it, it was rough flying.  Today's weather, however, put that day to shame.  Thermals everywhere, cold air to my climbs/descends were quicker, not to mention extremely strong winds (about a 30knot wind at the max).  It was soo difficult to keep everything in line.  The bumpiness has also led to one of the very few times I've ever felt motion sickness (mind you I could ride a roller-coaster all day or sit in the car for a 12 hour trip to Florida and never think twice about it.).  Tom was kind to the both of us and made sure to keep it at about an hour of flight so I wouldn't lose my cookies.  I doubt I would've gotten sick, but being jousteled around with no visual references, and throw in some steep turns, wouldn't sit well with even the strongest of stomachs.
Tom pushed me even further by having me enter the traffic pattern under the hood, and at that altitude, the winds were ridiculous.   Then I got to land in them about 2 minutes after taking off the hood, so my visual awareness was slightly down.  Before we took off, I watched a regional jet (RJ) have troubles setting up and landing.  Then, Tom came out and we both watched a Dash-8 have a real hard time landing.  Tom simply turned to me and said "well, we're going to have fun today!  Our landings are going to be 10 times that messy!".  Gee, thanks Tom.  I ended up botching the landing and Tom took the controls over about 10 feet off the ground.  I had landed in strong crosswinds before, but never strong gusty wind, so it was a learning experience.

Good news too!  The end is in sight, fiinnaalllyyy.  I realized today that I'm going to dearly miss flying every week, and don't know what I'm going to do with myself.  I really only have two flights left..TWO!  I have a solo I need to get in a whopping .1 hour of solo-CC time (yes, I'm taking an hour trip to get 6 minutes in...GRR).  Then, I have a flight scheduled for Tuesday to fly up to Leesburg (if anyone in that area would like to come out and see me/plane, let me know) because I need more hood time, and I want to make sure I get a flight up there with an instructor, so that if I start to mess something up with the whole airspace rule, I don't get shot down.  THEN!  Written test, review any missed sections, then I do my checkride.  My checkride consists of an oral portion of the test where I'm asked questions and have to answer, then there's an actual flight test, where I demonstrate all of the necessary maneuvers.  Judging by my schedule and the weather, I may be *choke* a license pilot next week.  I'm basically going to have two Christmas' this year =D

Quote of the day: Shane, another instructor, was being given an aeronautical engineering lesson from some old guy.  His response: "Man, I just want to fly the darn plane, what the f*** is all of this for?!?!"

Solo CC #2: where to begin?

This flight...ranks #2 in top flights.  It all started Thursday when I awoke too darn early to only find out that the winds across C'ville's runway were too strong.  Ok, retry for Friday.  Nope, too many clouds doing their own thang in the sky.  Saturday we got a whopping 5 inches of snow =D  Obviously, I didn't even try that day.  Fast forward to today: beautiful weather, cold crisp air perfect for climbing and cruising and cooling the engine, and BEAUTIFUL scenery!  I've seen the airport in blistering heat, mild weather, fall foliage, and rain.  But, with snow all around, soo much different.

For those in my immediate duckie pond/family, I hope this statement entices you to keep reading: I was told it was a "picture perfect day".  No lie, I saw this all coming after that was said!

After I set up my flight plan, found out weather was going to be awesome, and got the A-OK from Tom, I set off into the big bad sky, thrilled beyond belief that the third time trying for this flight was the charm.  Yeah right.  Before Tom put another instructor in charge of me (any instructor can be on the ground at my home station during my flights) and ventured off, he informed me that the planes were snowed over despite being under cover, and they had kindly moved 5210A (C-172) into a heated hanger to be warmed up and melt the snow off.  Ok, so far still going decently well.  Fast forward an hour, I'm still waiting for the darn ice to melt.  Eventually we made the decision to move it outdoors to let the sun speed up the process, which is did after taking many arms and a few brooms to the wings.  Lesson #1 of the day: de-icing a plane.  Minor speed bump, but still I'm about to fly so I'm happy.

Did the preflight, get in...the darn plane won't start.  I freak out that my two week hiatus has put me back at stage #0 of training, and try a few more times.  I call to the center to have an instructor come out thinking that the engine is freezing, we both try, no results.  Not even a turn over, just nasty noises that I've been told my entire life should not be made by a mechanical device.  Why?  Plane batteries are like car batteries and die when it gets cold, and most importantly, when you need them to not fail.  I nearly cried as I got back out of the plane to try to fix this, simply out of frustration that I would never make this flight.
Did I mention that I hate weather AND planes AND electronics now?
This brought me to Lesson #2: jumpstarting, yes, jump-starting, a plane.  Took two guys, one gal, two tries, and two rather large generators (24V man!) to finally jumpstart the darn thing.  One Landmark Aviation guy deserves a big thanks, as he helped clear the snow/ice off the plane, and got my plane up and running, and somehow parked every other major bird coming in around me.  Finally, relief!  Hopped in the plane and off I went.

First destination: Petersburg.  Found out that not landing a plane in over two weeks, especially the big ones, makes landing difficult.  Made it in one piece despite a small overshoot of my final approach and got back into the rhythm of things.  My next destination was Farmville, and once I returned to the air, I immediately fell back in love with flying and had a moment of "this is so friggin cool!" while enjoying the beautiful white scenery.  This flight I wasn't concerned I'd get something wrong or get lost, but instead, I finally enjoyed every moment of such a long trip.  Thumbs up!!

I continued on to Louisa, then returned home, only to get yelled at by the traffic controller for entering the pattern a bit too soon, although after he found out I was alone, mentioned that they always say something if you're doing something dangerous, but to be careful next time.  First ever mess up with the tower, and it was semi-depressing, but I recovered and ended up on the ground in one, happy, lesson-filled kid.  Also had my closest run in to having not closed my flight plan before I was due back, due to all the delays, but luckily I remembered as soon as I got out of the plane and no search dogs were sent after me.

And, if the problems didn't decide to end after the second jumpstart attempt: I need 5 hours of solo cross country time.  Today's flight put me at a total of 4.9.  POINT ONE HOUR!  That's six mere minutes.  Although it does mean I get to go on a long flight by myself again =D

All in all, probably the weirdest but coolest flight.  As if I didn't already understand that weather has a huge say in when and where I fly, the plane had to remind me that it's boss too.

Just remember, if someone says that something is supposed to be "picture perfect", just go back to bed.  You either end up with iced wings and a dead plane or being hailed on in the middle of Montana =D

Till next time, a turn of the neck can save your neck

Charlottesville weather, you're killin me!

Charlottesville weather is going to make me go crazy!

By now you've probably gotten the gist that the one thing I really am on the fence about liking/disliking UVa is its weather.  It sucks, plain and simple.  Not in the sense that we have always crummy weather, because there are such bea-u-tiful days here that they would make a grown man cry.  However, it is the constant awesome, not awesome, perfect, terrible, roller coaster of weather that C'ville embarks on every year.  For example: two days ago it was 70 degrees...tomorrow: 3-6 inches of snow.  Yes, SNOW!
Being 21 and irresponsible about certain things, I see snow as a relapse to being 12 and being able to toss aside any duties, besides shoveling, and play.  And since I'm not home, shoveling responsibilities are left to Duckie #3 and I have zero responsibilities!  Snow usually meant missed school, since flurries would give Fairfax County a 2-hour delay and anything over an inch was usually no school.  College, however, UVa could ice over and they would set up tents for classes to be held in..they just don't cancel, so I usually miss the fun in the snow.  Tomorrow, different story!!  I will give up a day of soaring over C'ville to play in the snow, end of story.

Which brings me to the point of flying.  I haven't touched a plane in two whole darn weeks now, and it's depressing.  My next flight is a super long solo cross country, Cville>Richmond>Farmville>Louisa>Cville.  All in all, it has to be over 150nm and at least three full stops, which is why this one will be so long.
I scheduled time for Thursday just to get in a plane, and Tom calls me Wednesday night launching this grandiose plan on me.  Excellent.  I was totally nervous for it, as always, and I was really let down yesterday when it was scrapped for really strong winds across the runway.  Rescheduled for really early this morning: cancelled due to clouds/storm rolling in.  DUMB WEATHER.

In addition, I'm supposed to be testing my senior capstone project which involves solar cells to function.  Mother nature needs to take some Midol, ASAP, before she ruins all of my current life plans/things I need to do.   I did get a chuckle when a group member mentioned that she doesn't like the weather ruining her plans..welcome to my life of flying.

Flight is rescheduled for Sunday.  So until then, I'm going to for once enjoy the non-fly-able mess the weather-gods are dumping on C'ville.  SNOW SNOW SNOW!!  Cross your fingers for a post on the flight Sunday night!  This entire post was a ramble focused on my bitterness over the weather, so I need to get in a flight to bring back the excitement for sure.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hopefully everyone is wrapping up a great day of cooking and family.  One thing I've learned about flying is that stuff will always go wrong, even with the best of plan, but in the end, it's very rewarding.  So, even if there were glitches, Thanksgiving is meant to be all-around great, and I hope everyones turned out that way.  I saw many of my best fans tonight and it was awesome sharing my joys of my journeys.

So, what is a good pilot/engineer like me thankful for?
1. physics: it lets me fly =D
2. The Wright brothers: they overcame/adapted to #1 to build a machine to let me fly
3. days of good weather
4. happy dogs
5. my family and friends, who have supported me through this journey and who are looking forward to seeing me succeed.  It's also awesome knowing that I have many readers out there rooting for me too, I thank you all.  I hope that everyone finds a journey in their life, whether it's getting new knees and a new lease on life to supporting the breast cancer cause, that they can find other's support in and succeed in their journey better than ever expected due to the love and support around them.  It's been an awesome "flight" and I couldn't be more thankful for this opportunity.

Now, on to the fun stuff, and the stuff you guys come to find out about: flying!
Since I was long overdue for a nice, semi-long break (and since it will be dismal weather in Cville tomorrow) I won't be returning to Cville until Saturday.  I may be putting in some solo time in the 172s Saturday morning, but most likely, I will be continuing my break and going to my *GASP* last home football game as an undergrad!  I love flying, but pretty soon, I will have my license and a lifetime to fly.  I do not have a lifetime left as an undergrad, so I'm going to enjoy it!
Sunday, however, I will be making another cross-country.  I need a total of 5 hours of solo cross-country, minimum.  My last trip was 2.2 hours.  But I need, as well, a trip with a minimum of 150 nautical miles, with three stops.  So, my next one will either be a long one, accomplishing this, or I'll venture out to other VA airports.  I'll be looking at maps tomorrow night and debating a few options.

I'm in the home stretch now =D  I need to reallly start studying for my written test, a few more solo flights, get 1.8 more hours under the hood, and then my checkride.  I'll also be trying to swing a trip up to Leesburg area with my instructor to figure out Class-Stupid/Class-FighterJet airspace, but I might leave that for after my license.  Get some instrument time =D

Quote of the day: "If you're ever in trouble, land the damn plane please"

Best Life Experience #2

Flying an airplane by myself was hands down the most rewarding experience I'll probably ever have.  However, what's the point of flying an airplane by yourself if you can't leave your home airport or its close vicinity?  Today began the best part, second to my first solo: solo cross-countries.

Everything I learned up to today came into full effect today.  I had to judge the weather, plan my route, and control the airplane, all while being outside of the comfort zone of Cville airport.  I did the same route as my first cross country, flying to Lynchburg, landing, then flying to Farmville, landing, then back to Cville.  Everything en-route, from finding my heading, setting up VOR, and contacting different approaches and towers, all while just trying to fly and land the darn flying machine safely, was up to me.

So, how'd it go?  Pretty darn well!  I only had a couple of minor blips that I was able to correct quickly and all of my communication with the various controllers, which I was most nervous about, went smoothly.  I realized that the various controllers and all the systems aren't actually complex, and they tell you anything and everything you need to do, and as long as I'm prepared for whatever they're telling me, it goes swimmingly.  Winds were all over the place though, which made for a slightly bumpy ride..poo!
When I landed, I found out my instructor had been tracking my flight (if a plane has flight following, it can be tracked at http://flightaware.com/live/ .  When a plane is in the air, you can search by the tail number, type, and origin/destination airport).  Slightly comforting...

I also got the chance to be cleared to solo in the 172s.  For every aircraft type I want to fly I have to be cleared by an instructor to fly it, which means at least 5 solid take offs and landings.  Since I flew the older 172 awhile back and learned to land it, and have flown the newer 172 a few times recently, knocking out the review was easy.  My instructor signed me off to solo in the 172s, so bigger and better solo cross countries can commence.

All in all, amazing experience.  It was both rewarding and liberating, and is one more notch in the confidence levels.  Tuggin on the leash a bit more everyday!

Planning a Flight

Going somewhere in an airplane isn't just about hopping in and taking off.  A lot of planning has to take place before launching.  
First things first, I find out the airport I'm going to and from (duh).  I use my airport information manual to find out all of the radio frequencies I'll need at each airport and in between and record them so I'll them readily accessible in the air.
Then, I find the two on the map and play connect the dots, but here's the tricky part.  Going from one airport to the next in a straight line isn't always the best option.  Instead, most of the time, I don't have a direct path and instead have zig-zag lines.  This is either to cross radials of VORs, or if I'm using dead-reckoning, it's to fly over landmarks that are easily seen from the air.  It adds on time, but it costs me even more time if I get lost due to poor path planning.
Next, I find out the winds along my path.  I use these to find my true headings and to calculate my ground speed, and thus the time elapsed for each leg of the trip and in total.  Using all of this, I can find out how much fuel I need.
Lastly, I find out anything along my route that might affect my flight, such as non-working VOR stations or closed runways.
At the end of this, right now, I have to have my plan reviewed by an instructor before I leave.

And, right before I leave, I call up a Virginia Flight Service Station (FSS) and file my flight plan.  Unless I'm just sightseeing, I will never make a flight without a flight plan.  You tell them who you are, where you're going, contact info, your plane info, and when you're expected to return.  If you don't call to close your flight plan by that time, they send the search dogs out after you.  As dismal as it sounds, if something ever went wrong, I'm glad to know that someone will always know where to look for me.  Trying to avoid ever having to use this though =D

To Richmond and Beyond!

My parents used to think I would only not listen to them.  Tonight, I would like to proclaim that I have finally proved them wrong.  Despite the warnings from my doctor about the effects of pressure on my poor sinuses, I couldn't wait to get back in a plane.  And since my night cross-country has been delayed for nearly two weeks now, I decided that if I didn't do it as scheduled tonight, it was never going to happen.

So, off I went into the darkness to Richmond International Airport.  I flew the big bad super plane, the new C-172.  Used VOR to get there, GPS back.  Was pretty nerve-wrecking at some points, totally calm in others.

Nerve-wrecking parts
-never flown to this airport, much less a major city
-never flown to an airport in major city with lots of lights...at night
      -because of above, the runway is EXTREMELY hard to find
-lots of frequencies to chat up with, can't understand any of them
-did I mention it's a night flight?
-Richmond control had us fly wayy around to line up for a landing

Calm/cool parts
-my take offs and landings were near perfect
-we flew over a high school football field and saw a marching band practicing
-night flying is really peaceful
-I found my way around pretty easily
-the approach controls (who I talk to in between airports) are really, really helpful.  They give you headings to fly on and if I'm ever lost, I can ask them to give me a heading to the nearest airport

Things I learned
-having all of your frequencies, VOR frequencies and headings, and other info ready/written down before the flight makes it all easier
-red/blue flashlights in a cockpit are smart
-cross-country flying isn't that difficult, just keep the talking straight and stay on-course
-flying into Class-C airspace to a medium-sized international airport isn't as difficult/nerve-wrecking as I excepted...quite easy in fact, just the runways are soo confusing and there's soo many of them
-a runway's lights at night seem dimmer than the lights surrounding the runway...go figure

All in all, cool flight.  Glad I did it, and my sinuses weren't very painful (thank you gum!) and opened up entirely on the return trip at 4500 ft.  They feel pretty stellar right now in fact!

Next flight: Thursday.  This one is a BIG one too.  I solo again, only I solo a cross-country flight.  I'll fly CHO to Lynchburg to Farmville and back to CHO.  All by myself.  I'm pretty nervous, but I was before my first solo too, and I did just fine, so I keep telling myself I'm good.  I'll plan it out and make sure the weather is ok, then my instructor will sign me off to do the trip, make last minute preps, and I'm off.  My instructor believes I'm ready and I think I am too.  Should make for an interesting post Thursday night for sure...

Fun fact: the "911" frequency of the skies is 121.5  I was told to memorize that, ASAP.
Fun fact #2: the transponder has three emergency "squawks", or codes to signal emergencies as well
          1) 7500 = hijacking
          2) 7600 = no communication
          3) 7700 = emergency
Fun fact #3: CHO is a military refueling post, so lots of military aircraft hang around.  Tonight I got to watch a cargo plane do touch-and-gos.  Very cool, but turned up a lot of wake turbulence for me.  Thanks dudes!

Lingo!

I drop a lot of names and letters and ect, so here's a cheatsheet:

CHO: the airport I fly in/out of, Charlottesville Airport.  FAA letters at KCHO, but who's counting
FAA: .....duh....
CFC: Charlottesville Flight Center, the kind instructing facility that puts up with me and my antics
Tom: the guy who holds on for dear life while talking me through how not to be dumb/my instructor
Dick: runs CFC/head-hauncho.  He says when I can/can't fly and does my official license stuff
43H/"Soda Can": "Four-three-Alpha".  C-152.  My friend...
Ramp: the place where planes are parked, tied down, and tucked in at night
Pattern: the airspace that planes enter if they're landing
-Downwind: flying parallel to landing runway but in opposite direction of landing direction
-Base: after your downwind, you do a right turn to get closer to the middle of the runway
-Final: right turn after your base, it's your final approach to the runway to land
Tower: tower controller, focus on the air traffic
Ground: ground controller, monitors planes bouncing around on the ground to and from the runways
3: one of CHO's runways, pointed 30 off north
21: "same" runway as 3, just in opposite direction, 210 degrees off north
VOR: old-school navigational unit, but like transistors, still works extremely well today
Cross-country: flight that is at least 50mi in length and you traverse outside your originating airport
Cross-state: what most people call my cross-countries because I don't really leave VA
508/10A: C-172s
Hood/"cone of shame": simulates flying only by instrument, but not really because that's instrument-rated
Instrument Rating: when you really can fly only by instrument and in low visibilities
Solo: yes, I fly by myself when I solo
ADIZ/DC-No-Fly-Zone/Class-Stupid/Class-Fighter-Jet-Airspace:  why I don't fly home yet
Private Pilot's Certificate/PPC: nope, not a license!
Run-up: before every flight, at the runway I run-up the engine to make sure it's still kickin'
Duckie #2: me!  Momma duck gave us three kids these nicknames in an attempt to not lose us on a hike in Montana some time ago...stuck since and we don't mind

Question from the readers: #2

Everyone knows I love to talk, so..what exactly do I chat up to the air traffic controllers about?

Ground control: At any airport, you have to get permission to taxi to a runway.  Some airports, you have to ask someone else, before you even move, if you can move.  When I contact ground control, I say
1) who I'm trying to talk to and who I am ("C'ville ground control, this is Cessna 4843H.." or whatever tail number of the plane I'm in)
2) I tell them if I have the weather information for the airport.  Before contacting ground, I listened to a special frequency of a automatic recording that tells me the temp/dew point, barometric pressure (for altimeter setting), wind speed/direction, visibility, what runway is in use, and any other critical info.  Then, the information is assigned a phonetic alphabet sign.  Alpha is to start, then every time it's update, it rolls to the next letter, so Bravo, Charlie, Echo, etc.  ("...with Alpha...")
3) What I want to do now ("...request taxi to the active...").  Active = runway in use
4) What I want to do after take-off.  I can stay in the pattern to practice take-offs or landings or depart in a certain direction ("...for a south-east departure")
Now, they give me clearance and tell me to "Taxi to Runway 3 via Foxtrot-Alpha".  Runway 3 is one of the runways, Foxtrot is the taxiway that I use to get onto the main taxiway, Alpha, that will take me to the end of the runway.  All those cool lit up signs around runways tell you all of this.

Now, on to the fun guys, the Tower.  These guys run the show of assigning take-offs and landings and keep people from bumping others in the skies around the airport.

1) Who I'm contacting and who I am ("C'ville Tower this is Cessna 4843H...")
2) What I want to do ("...ready for take-off on Runway 3")
3) They either tell me to "hold short" if there's landing or departing traffic or "Cessna 4843H cleared for take-off on Runway 3, proceed on course".  Proceed on course means fly the heading I requested, so SE.  Then I take-off.

Landing:
I contact them either at least 5mi out from the airport if I venture out of the pattern and say "4843H inbound for landing, with Bravo" or whatever the current weather is.  They then will tell me how to enter the pattern (I can't just fly wherever and land whenever) and will ask me to contact them when I enter or will contact me first and give me clearance to land ("4843H cleared to land" or #2).  If I'm in the pattern, I just say "4843H downwind" when I'm flying parallel, but opposite direction of the runway.  Once I land, they tell me either go back to the runway (if I requested to) or will give me directions back to the ramp, or parking area

At all times, the airport's tower will keep an eye out for traffic and will alert you when traffic is nearby or if you should watch out for other landing traffic and follow them in.
When I'm not near an airport, that's when the regional control comes in and they do about the same thing.  They will ask for your heading and altitude and make sure no one else will cross your path.

It's funny, I used to not be able to remember what to say or what frequencies to use, but I know it like the back of my hand now.  Good news for me!

Question from the readers: #1

First question: How much does it all cost?

A LOT!  However, due to the arrangements at Charlottesville Flight Center, less than it could be.

There's three planes at CFC, a C-152 and two C-172s.  The C-152 is the cheapest ($110), followed by the older 172 ($135), then the newest, spiffiest 172 ($150) is the most expensive.  I mainly fly the 152 simply because it's pretty easy to fly, I only need two seats, and obviously, it's the cheapest.  However, I had to fly the older 172 for a week while the 152 underwent it's 100 hour inspection (every plane, every 100 hours, it torn down to nothing but its fuselage and wings, inspected, and put back together).  Now that I'm doing cross-countries, I'll start flying the 172 more for two reasons.  1) it's easier simply because the 172s are easier/smoother to fly, go faster, and the more instruments makes navigation easier   2) it's safer, especially on my own, and especially at night, as the extra navigation instruments can act as back-ups so I won't get lost.

Now, hourly does not mean if I rent the airplane from 4-6, I pay 2 x rate.  Instead, every airplane has a Hobbes time recorded, which is the time that the plane's engine is on.  So, while I may have the plane for 2 hours, I usually only get about 1.7 hours of Hobbes time, or engine-running time, so it's 1.7 x rate.  The extra time is allowed for preflight inspection and parking the plane post-flying.

Each of these planes is privately owned.  However, the owners lease the planes out to CFC.  So, the owners are covering costs, or at least attempting to, of maintaining the planes, while I'm not paying a ridiculous amount.  Everyone benefits from this arrangement, although sometimes the owner doesn't get to fly as much =P but his bills are being paid!  Also, CFC has an arrangement with Landmark Aviation, the people who run the fuel/aircraft maintenance show at CHO airport, so I don't pay for fuel =)  Also, if I refuel at another airport, I simply bring back a receipt and they refund my payment.  Woo!

In the end, how much will this cost me?  About $7,500, in the very end.  Plus another ~$800 which accounts for my written test and check ride.  And the $100 it took to get a flight physical.
Expected, general total of pilot's license: $8,000-$10,000.
Time length: I've been at it since the first weekend of Sepetember.  A lot of bad weather, winds, and sickness later, I'm about 3-4 weeks of being done.  My goal was Thanksgiving, which I won't make by a couple of weeks.  But, judging how much bad weather we've had down here and now this sinus setback, I'll actually be surprised if I finish it before the end of the semester, but I won't be coming home for winter break until it's done!  Ahhh I can't wait for that day either =D

Blog is looking dull, reader input needed!

Nor'easter/Ida is over, we got near 5" of rain in total from this bad girl.  Sinuses are doing somewhat better, just a lot of pressure, but I don't feel nearly as miserable as I did yesterday (10 hours of sleep, a lot of water, and two rounds of antibiotics are heaven!) so I got outside today with Momma Duckie who came to visit and got lunch and went to an apple orchard.  Bea-u-tiful day too, upper 60s and perfectly sunny, and getting some fresh air and sun has also put some skip back into my step.

Since when my next flight is totally up in the air (hehe, puns galore!) I'm asking for topic suggestions.  Any and all suggestions will be taken, from more details about my planes, their differences, communication with tower controls, planes in general, air traffic in general, navigation stuff, whatever!  It's just depressing to let my little baby blog go and remind me of my no-flying status and Rika's Mom needs something to read!

A nose in need, needs Puffs indeed!

Well, the earache I was complaining about before has turned into a full-blown, antibiotic-demanding, teary-phone-calls-to-mom, miserable sinus infection.  I am off flying for at least 48 hours or until the swelling of the glands/tonsils/sinuses subsides.  I'll find some other plane-worthy topics to post about in the meantime...

Ida/nor'easter continues...

This has ended up being the worst weather week Charlottesville has seen in awhile.  Yesterday we had 2" of rain reported, on top of the .75" Tuesday night, and it's supposed to continue right through to tomorrow.  When all is said and done, 4-5" of rain total is what C'ville is expected to receive, lovingly, from Ida and her remnants.  Currently, the storm is no longer tropical and simply a nor'easter, which is bad news bears for everyone.  It obviously has the moisture of a tropical storms, but the winds and cold weather that accompanies nor'easters have reared their ugly faces.  And, by it sitting off the coast, it's gathering even more moisture.  The winds here are hovering around 20mph nearly constantly, with gusts being reported up to 40mph, which is due to the tight gradients between multiple pressure systems.  We lost power a few times yesterday and this morning as well.  And, to top it off, apparently we're due for freezing rain tonight.  Awesome.  The storm looked like it was going to move off of us today, but it seems to be either backtracking or growing right over us again, so this all continues through tomorrow night apparently.
Despite us having it by, Richmond looks even worse, and areas south east of us have received even more rain.  DC, by looking at the radar, has also taken a giant hit.  So, there is a hiatus in wing-flapping until Saturday, when it's supposed to be 68 and sunny and beautiful.  Hopefully the planes are faring well and getting a nice bath.

To the rest of VA/NC: hold on kids, it should be over by tomorrow night!
To anyone on the Gulf Coast: be glad that, for once, a storm has pummeled someone else more than you.

Iz official!

Friday night has promising weather, so I'll be making the trek out to Richmond.  Saturday afternoon is another cross-country with Tom (and Momma Duck may be joining?).  Sunday may be my first cross-country solo, depending on how much work I have assigned this week.

EXCITED!
I also tallied up all of my hours I've accumulated in the last 2.5 months, as of today:
31 hours in a single engine, and of that:
7.9 hours solo
2.3 cross country
2.2 night
1.4 simulated instrument (cone of shame/hood)
90 day landings, 10 night landings

Lovely weather outside right now too, we're expected to get 3-5" of rain.  Awesome...

*Bleeping* Hurricane!

Enough said.  Why, on earth, does the ONE hurricane of the season that will affect us come around in November on this day and decide to hit us tonight?

Thanks, thanks a heapload Ida.  I hope you dwindle away into nothing but a low pressure system!

Flying the Ferrari

My ears and sinuses continued to hold up and the weather cleared, so I got some night flying in.  I need a total of 3 hours of night flying, including a cross-country trip of 100 nautical miles or more and at least 10 take-offs/landings.

Night flying, however, is not to be taken lightly.  It's as close to instrument flying I can get right now, and I've found that I'm heavily dependent on my instruments during night flying, including directional gyro, altimeter, and the instruments that tell me my rate of climb, pitch of wings, and pitch of nose.  When you have proper instruments, it makes night flying far less daunting and actually enjoyable, and safe.  I found this out because I got to fly the Ferrari of the plane fleet tonight, N5210A...  =D

One-Zero-Alpha is a C-172, and only 7 years old.  It costs more than your average car.  The thing is packed with every instrument needed, placed right in front of you and large in size, perfectly lit.  Not to mention the large GPS moving map screen, and two VORs, and a navigation system linked to both the VOR and the GPS.  The navigation capabilities of the plane are unmatched, as you can enter your flight path and it will show up on the GPS screen as you follow it, as well as find other aviation landmarks and VORs.  It also has two radios, so I can have up to four frequencies (each radio has one active, one standby), which is going to make cross-countries soo much easier.  A weather map is being installed in the next couple of weeks as well.  It also flies faster and handles far better than the C-152 (43H), and makes flying really, really enjoyable.  It's been awhile since I was in a 172, and although I love, dearly, 43H, I do miss the 172s.  I pretty much learned to land in them, which is a feat of itself because these things really want to keep flying, and the enjoyability of flying them is incredible.  On the ground, its very impressive and in the air, especially at night, its very calm flying.  All in all, fabulous flying machine, on the ground and in the air.  The only thing it doesn't do is come when called and roll over and such, but I'm going to see if I can train it...

I've just about got the 3 hours in, and I got in the 7 more TOs/Ls I needed to hit 10.  I had a few that were great and Tom got to keep quiet during them, I had a couple that were ok but needed some direction to set them up perfectly, but my first one was pretty shaky.  I like the variation of my "skillz", makes for easier counting!  I'm much, much, much more comfortable landing and flying at night now.  I think now I need to focus on getting back into the 172 occasionally and practicing TOs/Ls because I don't think I'll ever, ever fly at night in anything other than the 172s.  I also doubt I will make a cross-country alone except for this plane, simply because of the navigation capabilities.

So, what's next?  My night cross country =D  After tonight, I'm actually extremely excited for doing it.  I was nervous thinking about a night flight, to an unfamiliar airport, and to a *gasp* international airport (Richmond).  But, with my night TOs/Ls doing well and the fact that I'm comfortable with the plane at night, and knowing I really can't get lost, and having Tom there as backup support, I'm stoked!  It may or may not happen tomorrow night, due to possible weather and the condition of my ears, so we're playing it by ear (pun intended).  If I don't go tomorrow night, I won't go until next week because of needing to devote nights this week to my capstone project/homework.  Just something else to look forward to =D

Annnddd, my first solo cross-country will be coming up, maybe Friday afternoon?  This will be nearly as rewarding as my first solo, for sure.  I'll go to Lynchburg and back, so it'll be familiar but still a lot to think about.

Ahhhh SO EXCITED!  

A thought for land lubbers and sky lovers, from a fellow pilot: flying or driving, a swivel of the neck can save your neck, it's crowded up there

As promised, PICTURES! woo!

43H/soda can and knucklehead #1

CHO right after take off

VOR/best friend #2

see, everyone just leaves their jets wherever.  urg

Bret's landing..tad high, but we made it

Note the giant mountain in the back:

best visual reference to land on 21, ever

Also, the 3 means it's in direction of 30degrees from north

Sunset =D

Yours truely trying to keep the airplane from moving

while waiting for fuel, for too long

Today was one of those days that reminds me why I love this..

76.  Sunny.  No clouds.  Winds perfectly down the runway.  Smooth air.  Perfect sunset setup.  That's what I got to fly in today =D
Started the day out with one of my friends, Bret, who started his license over the summer and finished about 6 weeks ago.  He hadn't been in a plane since and I've never ridden shotgun, so it was an experience for both of us.  He also had Tom as an instructor, so he was wondering if the two of us knuckleheads would be able to get the darn plane off the ground together.  After a super lengthy delay on trying to get fuel, a long hunt for a transponder switch that was MIA, and waiting to get into contact with the tower, we finally took off.  He helped teach me some VOR stuff and it was nice for me because hearing it from someone my age who just learned it all was a much better approach for me.  Got the VOR nailed down now and got to test it out later.  I managed to take some pictures, and I helped him get re-accustomed to flying the plane and logistics of communication with the tower and such.  All in all, it was a great flight and fun to catch up with him and share stories.  We managed to get the plane on the ground and Tom met us on the ramp, laughing his head off as we got out rambling to each other about stuff (we're both talkers and full of questions/ideas/etc.  interesting combo, especially in a plane).
He shipped off and I got to practice my VOR skills and flew out to Louisa airport, a small, un-towered airport about 15min away in a plane.  Bret showed me where exactly the VOR station is so I spent some time circling it, pretty interesting little thing on the ground.  I also spent some time trying to read the GPS, so between the VOR, GPS, and dead-reckoning, I'm really learning how to get around in the sky.  VOR worked great, great flight, and despite some logistical problems at the second airport, it was an awesome flight.  Perfect approach and landing upon return, looks like I've got flying in/out of C'ville down pat!

Next up: more night flying.  Woo.  I need some more TO/L practice at night and then I'll be making a night cross country to Richmond Int'l.  Nerves are a little wrecked over this but it's with Tom, so I should be fine.  Should be interesting too...

I'm having a current problem with my sinuses/ears.  Allergies have been bad down here recently so I think my head is full, despite a lack of a runny nose.  It's making clearing my ears difficult and it's becoming painful, so hopefully sudafed will help, but if not, flying might end for awhile.  The last thing I need is a busted eardrum or even just a sinus headache.  Rats...

Pictures coming!!

BIG milestone #2: First cross country!

Flew Charlottesville > Lynchburg > Farmville > Charlottesville today!  2.3 hour flight in total, lengthy flight but so much fun!  Weather was absolutely perfect and despite some minor winds, the winds gods were very nice to me today!  Didn't crash land at the two unfamiliar airports, didn't get lost, didn't freak out my instructor, so all in all, great day!
All the logistics behind it is really the big deal of it all.  I planned my course, took into account winds, found my true course, found out all the airports' info before leaving, and filed a flight plan with the FAA.  Once in the air, I contacted the FAA to tell them I began my trip, contacted Potomac Approach (monitors all traffic in the VA/MD/DC area) to get a transponder code (when you see a blip on the radar, the tail number of the plane is shown, as well as altitude), file a heading, then contacted both a tower-ed and un-towered airport traffic.  Also flew via VOR instrument and dead-reckoning.  Oh, and I crossed 25 hours of flight time =D

All in all, thumbs up!

Next: my next cross-country with the instructor is a night time solo to Richmond.  Then, I'll solo cross country to Lynchburg.  Then...who knows.  Spending the rest of the day studying for my written because it looks like that'll definitely be over Thanksgiving break.  Tomorrow I'm out to a local airport and I'm flying with a friend who got his license about a month ago.  It'll be good for both of us and he's showing me a few tricks and I'll be there to help him with some of the nitty-gritty stuff, like talking to the tower.  We'll see if boys fly better than girls =P

Upcoming Tuesdays!!

I'm trying to keep this flight centered, but we have two happenings over the next two weeks that I feel as if it's my duty to alert any and all of:
1) "Up" DVD is released this Tuesday.  Any and all dog loves should see it, as well as any normal human being.  Momma Duck, that means you (slash, care package for duckie#2?). And, you'll find out why I call the plane hood the "cone of shame".  By far my most favorite animated movie, besides Madagascar.  Ice Age is even beat out by Up!  If you need anymore convincing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtDlKzGdOwo

2) Meteors!  The Leonids are peaking late next Tuesday (11/17) night into Wednesday morning, 11pm-4am.  This year is supposed to be great  spectacular!  More than 500 an hour is what's predicted, possibly more, which equates to nearly 9 a minute.  Theoretically, you should be able to stare at a small section of the sky for less than 5 min and at least see one.  As second-ranked nerd of the family, I'm pretty darn excited for this.  And with no class until noon wednesday, I will be up!

Sorry 43H and Mr.Caddeyshack Gopher...

Blame it on the wind!

I got to do short/soft field take-off/landing practice today.  Quite fun, but crosswinds, once again, made it really difficult

(By the way, 43H is the plane's call number.  When I communicate with the tower/ground control, I say "Cessna 4-8-4-3-Hotel" but once you declare your plane type/full code, it goes by 4-3-Hotel.  So, 43H is le plane)

Short field take off:  FUN!  You line up on the very end of the runway (in the stripes, for those who fly often), apply breaks, throttle to full power, giggle in awe of the power shaking the frame, and then let the breaks go and take off at a lower speed and higher climb.  Tom would always say "Let her rip", and boy, she did.  Easily one of the most fun lessons I've had.

Short field landing: imagine a short runway.  Now imagine a 50 foot tree at the beginning and ending.  I have to know how to land in that situation.  It's actually pretty easy and I was pretty good at them.  You come in high (which I'm excellent at apparently from last night) and then cut power to just "float" down.  Speed is pretty slow too, and since most of my early landings I was slow, I mastered it pretty quickly.  To sum it up, you do all the stuff you're not really supposed to do for landings but I'm a pro at because my early landings were, well, interesting.  Score.  However, you have to slam on the breaks quickly to get stopped in the short period.  Here's where the first part of the title comes from: I skidded the wheels once, and one wheel sustained some visible damage.  Nothing requiring immediate care, but I took a few weeks off its poor life.  Sorry tire, sorry 43H

Soft field take-off: due to the runway being "soft", holes and rocks and other stuff that is common on grass fields need to be avoided.  The nose wheel has to be kept up the entire time and I ended up leaving the runway earlier than normal and much slower than normal.  At this point, I was literally "floating" across the runway, about 10-15 feet off of it, to which we refer to that as "air-hockey-pucking".  Once proper ground speed is obtained, the climb out begins.

Soft field landings: "think soft".  Gee, thanks Tom.  He also reminds me about the holes that may be on the field and to not, do not, let my nose gear down hard.  "Think of the Caddeyshack gopher in his hole, don't hit his hole, don't hit him hard on the head with your nose gear!".  Ok, gopher, I'll see what I can do for you.  Generally, my landings are pretty soft these days.  Occasionally I have a baby-slam but nothing terrible.  However, crosswinds are still tricky to me.  Add in learning a new field approach, and it's tough.  But, "soft" was my goal.  The first landing was actually very soft, smooth, and I kept the nose gear up until the point where I slowed down enough that if I did hit a field obstacle, I wouldn't flip the plane.  Success!  The second one..well.  Crosswind changed directions suddenly on me and I hit pretty darn hard.  Sorry Mr. Caddeyshack gopher, my nose wheel probably crushed your underground mansion and you probably have a concussion.  My bad..


Tomorrow is next BIG milestone: first cross-country!  Woo!  Tom flies with me on this one, so there's no feasible way of me getting totally lost, but we'll see.
Sunday is some time on my own, probably a trip out to a local, smaller airplane.  Wuh-oh, venturing off the leash...
Beautiful weekend to fly too =D  And, my capstone project circuit board won't be in until next week, my thesis is in a stall-moment waiting for my prospectus to come back on Tuesday, and this upcoming week is pretty easy in school.  Phew, I need an easy week!

Finally Got (Slightly) Scared

Got to fly again today.  Went in expecting to do short/soft landings/take-offs.  These are practiced for a few reasons, the big ones being a) if I ever had to emergency land/"ditch" into a field, I could make it  b) some runways, especially in VA, are short and/or not paved.  Buuttttt, the winds were too..windy.  Big surprise.  So, my flight instructor launches on me that he wants to do some demo-ing of the VOR.  Ok, cool.  Then he throws at me: under the hood.  The hood is basically a cone for a dog cut in half and you put it over your head so you can only see the instruments and not much else..it's a cone of shame! (if you haven't seen "Up"...see "Up").  Ooook, I can deal with this too.  Then, we realize it's getting late and dark, so basically I can't see a whole lot in the cockpit.  We're getting difficult!  At the conclusion of all of this, we'll do night landings/take-offs.  Uh-oh.  AND, lastly, just to shake things up, we print out the wind reports and realize that there are some pretty windy winds aloft and a nice solid crosswind on the runway.  Gee, why don't you make it easier on me.
So I taxi on out and embark on the mission at hand.  Get about 100 feet vertical and suddenly we hit wind shear and shoot back downwards, Tom freaks out, we recover, keep going.  I put on the hood and not only am I fighting the learning curve of the VOR, but it's windy as anything and keeping level control of the plane is pretty much not happening and it's one of those "just ride with the winds and plane" days.  Urg.  Then it starts getting dark.  Awesome.  Suddenly, my stomach starts to get tested.  We're bouncing around in the sky in a soda can, I have no visual reference, we're doing doughnuts and turns in the sky, and out of the corner of my eye all I can see is semi-darkness which I think is the sky when actually it's the ground.  I actually considered ending the hood session early thinking I'd lose my cookies, but I either got used to it or it just got dark enough I didn't care anymore.
All in all, the VOR went well.  Got some more practice to do, but I'm starting to get it.

Now...night landings.
Remember that bike example I used last post?  Throw that out the window when you put it all at night.  No ground reference, all you have is a lot of lights, a compass, and an altimeter, and your adrenaline.  Oh, and a crosswind!  My first landing was hard, but did ok.  Second, I lined up to go in and TOTALLY overshot the runway.  It's difficult to depend on your altimeter when you've gotten used to landing via visuals, so next time I'm alone I'm definitely taking note of altitudes at different points in my approach legs.  My third was pretty decent, but I came in high nearly everytime, so I'm coming in fast as well, which leads to hard landings.

Needless to say, this finally was something that began to scare me.  It was tough, but I remember my first landings and how nervous I was, not to mention the first time in a plane.  I'm sure soon enough, I'll be fine, but until then, I'm glad biology gave us adrenaline.

Tomorrow I get to do the soft/short landings.  Yay for daylight.  Saturday, 10am, is my first cross-country =D  Lynchburg, then Danville, then back.  Sunday I get to fly by myself again and land at a local, small airport.  Then I probably won't fly much again next week, but we'll see.

On another note, I finished my first big milestone for my engineering thesis today.  It's been a mentally-overwhelming week, to say the least, I'm looking forward to tomorrow's fun landings and a weekend of rest (sort of).

What I Learned Today

1) Starting a blog will cause someone around you to do the same (*cough* http://biker4bcwalks.blogspot.com/)

2) Landing a plane is like riding a bike, once you know how, even if you go awhile (in my case, almost a week) without doing it, you're still golden.  In fact, you can get better... =D

3) When you walk out on to the ramp (plane parking-lot) and hop in a plane by yourself, guys, of all ages, will stand and gawk watch.  Todays count: 6.

4) When you land your plane, and hop out, those same guys will still stare.  Then ask if you need help pushing your plane back into its parking space (to which I replied: "I figure if I can fly it, I can park it")

5) Now, there's sunsets.  There's sunsets over mountains.  And, there's pretty moons.  But, until you see a perfect sunset over the Blue Ridges, with a perfect moon on the other side of the sky, round and bright, all from 3000 feet above ground, you haven't seen a sunset.

6) Don't piss off the control tower.  I was approaching to land, heard a Cessna request a take-off.  Tower said hold for incoming landing traffic.  Jet in front of me landed, then a Delta RJ took off, and I was in line to land.  Cessna asked again, since about 5-10min had elapsed.  Long story short, the tower jumped down his throat and kept him grounded for another 10min.  I chuckled...

7) If you know a tower controller, shake their hand and thank them.  Their job kinda stinks, they deal with jumpy people above and people like me who are still new to the game all while wrestling with regional jets and what seems like constant ground holds at Charlotte and Atlanta.  The guys at CHO deserve cake, and lots of it

8) Don't drink a diet mountain dew right before jumping in a plane.  Bad news bears

9) This week has a terrible amount of work going on, so once again, flight time is limited till Thursday afternoon.  But, I have 3 hours Saturday and 3 Sunday, and it's supposed to be perfect weather.  WOO

10) Flying by yourself is awesome.

Done my thesis stuff due this week, done my communications homework, and now done this post.  Bedtime for this duckling

PS- i'll try to get some pictures soon...

Learning How to (Try to) Not Get Lost

Pro of a plane: it's a straight shot to your destination, no curves in the roads or traffic lights.
Cons of a plane: it's far easier to get lost.  And there's no gas station to stop and ask for directions at.

So today, much to my utter dismay, weather was terrible.  By the time the ceiling got to a reasonable level, the winds picked up so quickly that even the jets were having..interesting...take-offs and landings (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X_7Xt2ga-s  ok, so not that bad, but you get the idea).  So, today got to be a ground school day.  Todays topic: how to find your way from one place to another, with minor troubles, and how to avoid those troubles.  Yay.

Every aircraft is equipped with what is called a VOR (VHF HF Omni-direction Radio Range).  Basically, it's an instrument that you set based on a radio frequency and receive a signal from a ground station that allows you to find out what VOR(s) you're "talking" to, via either Morse code or now there's often a voice recording, and then sends a signal to the instrument of where it is in relation to you via a magnetic bearing.  These ground stations are scattered all over and are also often stationed at airports.  You can pick one if you want to go to a set point, which I'll do when I do a cross-country to Lynchburg, which has a ground station right at the airport.  When I dial in the frequency, and get on the approximate heading I'll predict I need to be on to get there, the needle on my VOR instrument will hopefully line up to the center and a little flag with a forward arrow showing that I'm headed directly to the ground station/airport.  Success!  If I happen to get slightly off course due to wind or just too much sightseeing, the little needle isn't on center anymore and I make course corrections till it's centered again.  Pretty niffy little bugger.

What to do when there's no VOR to help guide you?  I get to use my two eyes nature gave me and look for landmarks.  On aviation maps they list things such as railroad tracks, major roads, golf courses, manufacturing plants, tank farm (yes, apparently they grow storage tanks around here.  They're like dogs, they start off all small and cute then get really big and just sit there).  The points is that you plot a heading before you go, find landmarks on your course, figure how much time should pass between those points, and wing it (pun not intended).  This all is called dead reckoning.  Creative, I know.  This is really only for short flights and day flights, obviously.  If you pass too long between major landmarks, it's easy to get lost and that's bad news bears.

I'm pretty sure I can add "knowing how to read a map" to my list of good qualities now.  Learning GPS is my next feat, although GPS basics are pretty easy and using a moving map GPS is a skill I've picked up from all the long trips in the car watching our good friend Ms. Smarty Pants (Nuvi).  We just don't like to rely solely on GPS for obvious reasons.

Off to watch the game and power through some homework

Weather and Computers, Oh My!

Charlottesville weather happens to be notoriously strange and unpredictable.  I was supposed to fly this afternoon and everything was looking perfect when I went into class at 2pm.  Re-appeared at 3:15 to find clouds everywhere, no-go for flight.  I got grumpy.  I can't fly below a ceiling of about 2000ft if I want to practice take-offs/landings, 3000ft is the limit for "normal" flying.  This is because to fly VFR (visual flight rules) I have to be able to stay a minimum of 500 feet below clouds and 500 feet above ground.  That right there is 1000ft, but you want another 500 feet minimum of maneuvering room.  This past weekend there was broken (about .5-.75 covered) clouds high enough to allow me to fly, but scattered (puffies here and there) around 1000feet.  Made landing rather difficult because I seemed to always line up my turns to the runway when I was going through them.  Needless to say, turbulence ensues.  But, once again, I realized I know how to handle those situations and kept cool and did just fine.  This whole thing might actually turn me into a calm person...go figure.

Another weather aspect I've had to deal with, twice now, is wind.  While wind makes an airplane fly (ok, physics nuts, not entirely, but you get my point), big winds makes flying, well...difficult.  I remember the third or fourth time I went up there was a really strong crosswind and winds in general.  We were *right* below the limit I can fly in, 15knots/10knot crosswind, and were checking the winds even at the end of the runway to make sure we were still legal.  Back then in the olden days, my instructor would take off and nearly immediately hand over the controls.  He had JUST handed over the controls when we went over a ridge and suddenly the wind was coming from every direction, including under us.  We gained 100ft or so of altitude then dropped like a brick right back down.  Quite possibly one of the scarier moments, but Tom pointed out that if I could survive that I could survive any turbulence.  Go figure.  Now, a month and a half later, I got to experience heavy winds again.  I knew it was going to be a day of trouble when we watched a Lightsport plane (think glider with a mini engine) get bounced around trying to land.  Now, landing a plane in winds is difficult, I've found.  End up landing on one wheel at first, then the other, then nose gear.  All while using rudder and ailerons (back steering with feet peddles and ailerons are the wing portions that turn, using the yolk).  And my brother thought I couldn't speak and walk all at the same time...hah!

As for this weekend, apparently the computer scheduling system has hiccuped and people got bumped from schedules and some planes appear full even though their not, so I may or may not fly.  DRAT.  But, the good thing is that I'm first on the list according to the head-man of the place, so once they work everything out, hopefully I'll get a call.

Will be doing some research on Charlottesville's runway tonight while doing some communications (class deals with radio towers and signals and such...flight stuff and that class actually complement each other and I've learned quite a bit about radars/navigation beacons/etc).  Apparently they wanted to construct the runway in a direction where crosswinds would be virtually non-existent, but some politician wanted to save some beetles and they built it the way it is.  She also got blocked from flying in/out once due to crosswinds, so, paybacks are a pain.  Runway post might be next...

Northwest Pilots

As you may have heard, Northwest pilots overshot an airport.  By 150 miles.  Because they were on their laptops?  We all were discussing this today and it's highly doubtful that this happened, and most likely they did fall asleep.  It's nearly impossible to not hear communications from towers, even using a laptop or arguing.  So, this is where everyone tells me "be safe, don't fly tired, etc".  I hear the warnings and I promise, promise, promise, I'll be safe and won't fly in bad conditions, whether it's weather of physical.

Gearing up for the next phase of solo training

My next phase is to practice cross-countries and landing at other airports.  My next phase is thus learning to navigate.  I'll start out navigating to our two practice areas (basically giant empty airspaces you can, well, practice in).  That will happen this week, then I'll start flying to those areas solo.  After that, we'll begin cross-countries to nearby airports, Lynchburg and Culpeper being first.  Then branch out to Richmond, Virginia Beach, and hopefully I'll get my FAA stuff in line to land at Leesburg.  Then I do it all on my own.  Whew...
I doubt I'll ever go to Dulles as a student simply because Dulles is big and daunting right now.  With Leesburg being so close to home, I see little reason to battle 747s for airspace right now.
All in all, I need 40 hours, minimum, in a plane as a student.  Of those 20 have to be with an instructor, 10 have to be on my own.  I'll probably make the other 10 a balance, but most people take about 45 to finish everything, so I'm just seeing how it all works out.  I'm at 15.7 hours, with about 2 of those being solo already.  I also have to work in night flying and some night landings, but that's all part of the 40.

And so I march..er, fly...on

Plane!!  Cessna-152 that I fly mainly.  It's my one non-human-best-friend.  Stuck in the 70s in terms of paint though...

Solo #2!

Got handed the keys, did my pre-flight, then hoped that everything I could do the previous Thursday held through to Monday.  Turns out it did, did some routine TOs/Ls.  Got to experience taking off in the wake turbulence of a regional jet (RJ).  Also got to experience a traffic jam on the ground.  Because CHO only has three gates for jets/turbo-props from Delta/Colgan(United)/US)-scAirways, they have to move stuff in and out of the jets quickly.  And because CHO is rather insignificant compared to close by IAD/Richmond/Virginia Beach, traffic will often get halted out of there.  Thus, lots of Delta jets seem to sit on the taxiway or at the end of the darn runway, waiting for their clearance to department.  Which means us little planes get to dodge them and will often get held up waiting for private jets to leave too.  So, in a little over an hour, I only got 8 TOs/Ls in.  However, I did get to fly over UVa because the sitting-Delta got to finally leave, along with two other jets, so I got to fly parallel to the runway in the opposite direction (called a "downwind leg".  The approach to land consists of the downwind, then a "base", which you turn 90 from your downwind, and then a "final", which is your final approach to the runway going the right direction).  This downwind path took me right over Grounds, and while I'd love to say it's pretty, which it was, it wasn't as exciting as I hoped because everything is brick and white and difficult to find anything.  Ohwell.

The one thing that did go wrong:  I made it all the way to the end, stopped the prop and shut down the engine, and was getting ready to get out and tell the four onlookers and my instructor that I think I did great.  Now, the 152 is about the size of a stupid soda can.  At 5'11", it's somewhat difficult to manuever my legs and body out and clamber over the wheel and under the wing.  Well, I missed the wheel and the wing, but got a leg stuck in the airplane, and ended up basically falling out of it backwards and landed on my back.  Naturally, I started laughing hoping that I didn't break anything.  Tom comes bolting over to make sure I'm ok, which I am.  I try to laugh it off, but everyone saw, and I basically became the resident-clown.

I can fly a plane, but can't talk, nor walk apparently.  Awesome.

First solo!!!!

In the private pilot's world, the first solo is quite possibly the biggest milestone in your training.  It's the first time you get let go on your own.  You have to accumulate at least 10 hours in the plane with an instructor and a certain number of landings.  At CFC, they also require that you know how to get to another airport in case while you're in the air on your own, and the runway at CHO gets shut down, you know how to get down.
Last Thursday morning, I woke up at 7am to go out on my checkride flight with the head hauncho instructor.  Basically, he flies with you and tests your basic skills and quizzes you with some emergency procedures (what to do if your engine dies right after take off: if you don't have enough runway left to abort, set your glide speed and find a field!).  We did some practice take-offs and landings too (I graduated out of slamming-stage).  Landed safely, we parted ways and I went off to class planning to return that afternoon for some practice-area time with my instructor and was told to bring an old t-shirt.  Swell..
That afternoon, I spent some time practicing TO/Ls and when I was nearing the end, my instructor told me to taxi back.  He then signed off my logbook, said "do 5 TO/Ls, have fun", and shut the door on his way out.

Crap.  I'm on my own.  This is my first solo.

So, I taxi back out to the runway.  Taxied to the end.  Radioed the tower, asked for departure permission.  Everything's going hunky-dory.  Throttle up, take-off.  Follow the pattern to land again.  Land, and definitely was not a slam, in fact, one of the best landings I've ever done.  THEN it really hits me that I'm alone.  Do a mini-freak-out as I get everything ready to take off again.  But this time, it wasn't a "ohmygod-i-might-crash-this-thing"freak out.  It was a purely gleeful "i-can-fly-a-plane" freak-out.  From there on out, I haven't looked back.  Hopped out after 5 TO/Ls, after a minorly difficult experience of being routed back out of the landing pattern and back in because too many jets/props were all coming in at once (the tower control guy from that night was EXTREMELY understanding and helpful in getting me out of the mess and back in to land, and is my hero).  Got my shirt tail cut off and posted on a wall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_solo_flight#Traditions).  High-fived by a bunch of people.  High-fived over the phone by Momma and Poppa Duckie.  In general, best afternoon.

There's not much else I can say about my first solo.  It was the most rewarding and fulfilling experience of my life.  Everything else just seems trivial once you learn to land a plane by yourself...

The beginnings...

For starters...
Plane: mainly a Cessna-152 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_152   I flew on a C-172 for awhile because the 152 underwent it's 100-hour inspection
Where: Charlottesville Airport (CHO)  Charlottesville Flight Center http://www.flycfc.net/
Who: I fly, Tom (instructor) holds on for dear life in the co-pilot seat

Starting out was pretty darn easy.  I've wanted to fly my entire life, and my dad did the best thing ever for me and got me up into a plane this past summer.  Right then, I knew I needed to do this for myself, but the timing of doing over the summer was terrible with my 9-5 internship and living near "Class-Stupid"/"Class-FighterJets" airspace (what everyone down here calls the no-fly zone around DC).  Since this is my last year in college, and I had a friend completing his at Cville Flight Center, I decided to take the plunge.  One of the better decisions of my life...

So, one beautiful Saturday afternoon, I took a trip up to Charlottesville Airport (CHO) to visit the guys/ladies at Charlottesville Flight Center, asked them about the whole plan, and set up an introductory flight.  Fast forward a few days, I was hooked after the first flight.  I got to fly quite a bit, and apparently I had some basic skill to me, so I set up a schedule and got all my stuff ordered to begin.
After my first flight, I got everything to start my training.  Since I'm in lab/class during their ground school, I got a DVD kit for all of my ground school.  I basically self-study and my instructor (Tom) goes over the stuff and answers any questions and holds mini-quizzes for me (often in the air too, makes you become a quick thinker).  The first few flights were short, and it seemed like this was going to take forever.  I would meet with my instructor for about two hours, but by the time he went over ground basics and we did a pre-flight inspection on the airplane, I'd only get 0.5-0.8 hours of flight time in.  However, I quickly became more confident in basic flying skills and less time was spent on the ground, more time in the air practicing everything.

Much like learning how to drive, I had many mishaps and good learning experiences during my basic training days.  Forgot to engage the breaks once before starting the engine, knocking my head off from lowered flaps, forgetting to put flaps at 30deg before landing, not to mention my first landings were more like slammings.  And learning to land..hah, what an adventure.  First time, I slammed that poor thing into the ground.  Second time I nearly took the nose wheel off.  Third, a bit better.  I hit a nice bump though when I was just starting to learn to land, when they switched me from the 152 to the 172 due to the 152 undergoing it's 100-hour tear-apart.  Now, in simple terms, if you were to compare the two machines to cars, 152=Civic 172=Corvette.  The 172 is so much more smooth in flight, seemless in gliding, and quite a bit faster.  However, it likes to fly...not land.  Landing that thing seemed like trying to land a flying washing machine.  I was yanking back on the yoke so hard my bicep hurt (you keep one hand on the throttle, one on the yoke).  It seemed like I was just getting to the point of zero "slams" when I got to go back to the 152.  Getting back into the 152, it was almost beautiful seeing how easy it can be to land a plane.  The 152 is a piece of cake now...

The biggest obstacle in the beginning was wrapping my head around the idea of flying.  Once I realized that I may make a mistake and my instructor is there to help correct them and keep me safe and sound, I began to build up the confidence and actually learned from my mistakes rather than freaking out.  And trust me, when you're barreling at 70knots airspeed, headfirst into a runway (to land, you point down until about 15feet off the runway, pull back to level out, you drop speed immediately and descend while you go into the landing "flare", or nose up, landing position), for the first time, you freak out.    But once I got it all down, I finally learned to REALLY enjoy flying.  At the same time, my instructor began planning to let me loose on my own...wuh-oh!

Why?

So I decided to start a blog, even though I swore I would never get into this type of thing, to let everyone follow my path to getting my private pilot's license. Even though I'm in the middle of everything now, it's better late than never. I'll try to start the early posts from what I can remember from my first days of hopping in a plane, but most of it is a whirlwind of learning all the basics while I'm trying not to hit anything.

Here we go...