Ha. Yeah Ed got it for me.

The "heat" got turned up for me after we got a different runway assignment than I was expecting going into Tuscaloosa, I was told I was high and needed to chop power, and then we probably cleared the trees at the approach end of the runway by ~50 feet. Then it was time to solo, for the first time at a controlled field, after I hadn’t flown solo since November. But it was all good.

Still run by the city. The fuel guys are ok. Mostly aviation students from the local community college. They will overfill your tanks (don’t let them fill it and then let it sit on the ramp for too long), but at least with the right color gas.

Good times. My Tuscaloosa trip should be soon, probably the next good weather day. Went down to Shelby yesterday. 2 other students and myself in the pattern with up to 5 at one time. I think I was the only one paying attention to the spacing. One guy in a 172 was flying all the way to Pelham on his downwind it seemed.

"Run" by the city.......Money coming in, projects not done, money gone. hmmmmm

Did you do the Gadsden night xc? That was a nice trip for me. Very peaceful in the dark - I just wish we had a 2 axis autopilot so George could fly for awhile and you can enjoy the scenery.

I did. Gadsden to Anniston back to EKY. It was a beautiful night to fly. It was really smooth, I was in 491 had it trimmed out real nice so I was able to take it in for a bit.

The trim wheel broke?

Trim it hands-free and enjoy. Just monitor it- just like you would in a autopilot-equipped bird- but a bit more closely.

Those dead-calm night flights make all the shit we put up with to get- and keep- a pilot certificate worth it.

Do this every time, no matter what level of aviation you’re at. ALWAYS supervise the fueling of your aircraft. Do that and someday you will remember this thread and thank me. ;)

I do unless there's another pilot that is with me that will. I learned that lesson long ago- the hard way as is the usual custom.

That time, I was with a CFI doing a rental checkout and ASSumed he would supervise the fueling, but he walked off, ASSuming I would (notice the trend here?).

When I saw the truck the first time, I waved him off; the second time I went back out to the plane as the CFI was in the porcelain pilot's lounge.

Written test in the bag. Missed 5 and a couple were really stupid. The one I am really ticked about was the question "which 3 instruments would be affected by a blocked pitot and static port?" How I put anything other than asi, vsi and altimeter is beyond me but I must have clicked attitude indicator being sloppy given that one of my misses was a pitot static category. Oh well. I didn’t get to start studying until 9pm the night before due to work, wife being out of town and kid. Glad I had read up before I started flying back in April of last year. 2 of the other 4 misses were categories I knew I had issues with, and the final 2 were just things I didn’t study or see in a practice test.

5 flight until checkride. 2 solo xc and 3 check ride prep.

Still actively looking for a plane. Got a huge work commitment I’m going to be finished with by mid/late March and I’ll hopefully be a pilot and plane owner no later than April.

Congrats. Excellent work! Out of curiosity, would you mind sharing what the final 2 questions were?

Got my long solo XC done today.  I flew the route with the instructor on 1/27, then the next 10 flights got cancelled due to weather.  Yesterday and today were only 10°, but winds were light, and skies were clear.  I flew for an hour yesterday just to make sure I remembered how to do it, then went in early today to get the XC done.  Made 3 landings at the class D on the route, then continued on.  The next stop required a full-value crosswind landing.  Did a go-around the first time as it got pretty squirrelly about 10° off the ground, but the second try went fine.  Got some gas, and headed back to my little grass home field.  It was a good day.

All that’s left is another 1.4 hours of solo XC, 3 hours of night flying, and the simulated instrument work.  Hopefully only another 10 hours or so!

Glad to hear that you are all progressing!

I missed a question on landing distance over a 50ft obstacle (I still don’t understand those charts), a radio call question (whether "10 or 1-0" is correct reporting of 10k altitude), a question on the most effective way to look for traffic at night, and what is the correct aileron position taxiing in a left quartering tail wind.

Taking my long solo xc today. One more solo xc, some checkride prep, and maybe a bit of instrument flying and I should be ready for my ticket.

Keky-kmsl-Kgad-keky complete. Felt like a real pilot today (except when I checked in one time but had forgotten to flip the frequency )

Congrats, and don’t worry, that happens me every once in a while too.

Congrats!

And that will never happen again!  

The HELL it won't!

Congrats @ronnl001!

I solo'd at 8-9 hours. Looking back on it, my instructor was crazy.  Granted it was a small municipal airport so that made things simpler. I do wonder sometimes if the number of hours to solo is sometimes padded by instructors that are not busy.

They have to get you to 40 so no reason to rush it. I soloed around 22 or so. Felt like it could have been done at 15, but I still had to burn hours later doing solo flights (after my XC’s, etc.) to burn hours to 40.

No reason to rush.

That being said if you can’t solo by 38 hours....

Did my first night flight on Tuesday.  We did a long XC 16X -> F35 -> GLE X> 16X.

ALL the runways here in north Texas are generally north-south (17/35, 02/20, etc...) so naturally the winds were 30015G20.  Lots of crosswind landing practice!  Luckily, GLE has a 13/31 runway.  Unluckily, that runway is not lit!

I was a little intimidated about night flying, but felt pretty prepared.  We had already flown the first leg in a previous lesson.  That was a late afternoon flight — directly into the sun — and I had no sunglasses so, she got out the foggles and I did .6 hours...cross country... “under the hood”

A friend of mine, who was a pilot way back when, told me how awesome night flights were and how much he loved it.  He was right.  It was AWESOME!

Now, I need to hit the books and really study for the written.  My instructor doesn’t allow any solo XC flights until that is done.

ETA:  I went and bought a flashlight with some red LEDs specifically for this flight... and left it sitting on my sofa.  So, that was super helpful!

I got my 3 hours of night flying done last night, along with some instrument work.  4500’ ceiling, so we stayed pretty close to home.  Our 3 airport circuit was 101 miles.  It was cool.  The airport we flew out of is just inside of the 2000’ ring of MSP’s Class B, so got to see lots of traffic coming in overhead while we we heading out.  The field that I normally fly from is 30 miles south with no lights, so have to move planes somewhere else for night stuff.

We did 12 landings total, including 2 instrument approaches.  This was also my first time flying a tricycle gear airplane.  There was a bit of a learning curve on the landings, but there weren’t any that were close to killing us or breaking stuff.  I have a short XC scheduled for this afternoon to finish up my solo XC time (need 1.4 More hours).  The airport has been closed all week due to warm weather and soft runways, but today looks like it might be cold enough to firm things back up.  If I get that done, all I’ll have left is a little more instrument time, and then check ride prep.  This time of year is kind of sketchy in MN for grass runways, and the extended forecast shows temps above freezing for the foreseeable future after tomorrow.  It’s possible that I could get grounded for weeks or months after that, I hope not!

I got the remaining XC solo done yesterday.  Destination airport was exactly 50 miles, and it took a total of 1.7 hours on the Hobbs.  Everything went smooth, and I made smooth crosswind landings on both ends.  After the hairy full-value crosswind landing last week on the long XC solo, I feel a lot more comfortable with them.  I’m glad that I had that experience, it’s given me more confidence.

My instructor sent me a text earlier today saying that they got the ol’ Super Cruiser moved to a different airport for the time being, so I won’t be grounded when we hit 40°+ starting tomorrow and continuing for at least a week.  That will help, as all I have left is a little instrument time and then check ride prep.  In theory, I could be done in another 5 or 6 hours.  Another guy was coming in from his successful check ride as I was going out yesterday, so that was a good motivator.

Getting close!

Glad to hear, and your checkride will come soon enough!  

Took a nice 3.1 Hobbs eky-lgc-sem-eky flight Thursday. That completes my solo and xc requirements, and I’ve got my first pre checkride dual flight Sunday. Should be in a position to punch my ticket soon.

Really torn about getting a plane soon.

Generally, not real happy making a big purchase with this corona virus threatening the way it is.

Practically, I’m still not committed to what I’m going to get. I still have my heart set on a bonanza, but I’ve been seriously looking at mooneys (201’s and 231’s) and Cherokee 235/236’s. I’ve also continued to toy with the idea of an experimental. Lots of competing considerations there, and I’m just not sure what wins. The fact that I’ve lost the purchase price in the market last week with no bottom in sight (even though that had nothing to do with what I have set aside for the plane) hasn’t helped firm things up for me either...

Awesome. I’m also short some instrument time, but my instructor said that would be covered and completed during the checkride prep. I was concerned it would add at least a flight to my schedule but doesn’t look like it.

Your checkride preps should cover a thorough logbook review for those 'gotchas' that stop a checkride in its tracks. You should do it yourself, while looking at the PTS (or whatever the hell it's called now) then with your CFI. I promise you the examiner will.

Nothing like being .2 short of 10 hours of X-C... ask me how I know.

Anyway, congrats on getting near the end of the 1st step.

Did some checkride prep and instrument flying in crappy conditions yesterday. It was windy and got bounced around pretty good. Bottom line: I found out that while I have never been sick before in a small plane, I started to get a little queasy after getting pretty hot while flying an approach with foggles on in some moderate chop (should have taken my jacket off). I also found out I need to practice holding my altitude better in turns. I have been focused on cross country type stuff, and was having difficulty staying in tolerances during the steep turns and steeply banked ground reference maneuvers. Again, the chop didn't help but I had more issues than I should. Still shooting for my ticket this month. We will see.

Just stumbled on this.  I started my training back at the end of December and have my checkride scheduled for the end of March.  Night flying is scheduled for Wednesday this week if the weather holds and my solo XC time this weekend.  Excited and nervous for the checkride.

Cool!  Where are you flying in MN?

That's awesome! Comfort and confidence are real boost for a pilot, but just make sure you never lose true respect for the winds and weather!

Nice. I wish I could have knocked mine out this quick.

Had my first REAL solo flight yesterday.

Doing a few laps around the pattern at the end of a lesson is one thing.  When your CFI tells you "Go have fun!" and hands you the keys... that's something different!  She suggested I go knock out the solo landings at a towered airport.  So, I did prefilght, waited for the gyrocopter to land, did my run-up and took off!

Flew to the west a little ways and fooled around a bit, just enjoying some actual piloting.  Then set the GPS for DTO and flew there.  Contacted the tower and got cleared to do some landings there.  They fact that my landings didn't actually kill anyone is about the only positive thing I have to say about them.  Flew the pattern there a few times and headed back home.  Got to 16X and actually had a pretty good landing there... go figure.

1.1 hours of solo time brings me just shy of 30 hours total.  Still need to take the written before any solo cross country flights.

Awesome!

Now quit being lazy and take the written...

Great work!

And I agree that now is about the perfect time to take the written. You don’t want to stress out about that while you are preparing for your checkride.

And sometimes that is the best thing you can say about a landing.  

Hey- what happened to all fellas that were working on ratings? Has the beer bug shut everything down?

Around here, the flight schools are still operating full steam ahead.

My little airfield here in MN is shut down for the next two weeks.  I’m about ready to schedule my check ride, but need a couple more flights.  Hopefully we are back to normal in two weeks...

I was about ready to start IFR but my instructor (a friend of mine) understandably shut down new students but is following through with existing ones.

I have no where to fly to because my daughter is back from college and I can't see my parents (yes COVID-19).

I want to fly next weekend but will wipe down the interior of the airplane first, and will only fly with family members at this point.

Yes, beer bug.

The weather in AL has been crappy for awhile, then one of my closest friends killed himself Friday 13th.

I finally went out Sunday for .9 and just flew around for a bit. It was good therapy. I may fly tomorrow, weather permitting.

You aren't kidding about the PA28.  The rudder is a bit small too compared to the Cessna.  But I love my Cherokee.  Had my best X-wind landing since I passed my checkride, a couple months ago.  Direct crosswind right to left, 12kts gusts 18.  Two flaps in, I carried an extra 10mph and at a couple points I was right wing down and full left rudder on short final.  

As far as turbulence goes, definitely look for wind shear (changes in velocity and direction), and be mindful of terrain (both elevation, and surface composition).

I'm flying in AZ/NV/UT so I look out for (and avoid) strong winds (>15-20kts) at mountaintop altitudes.  Air is basically really thin water but it behaves the same.  Those rocks that just break the surface on that creek?  All those ripples downstream from them?  That's your mountain waves, rotors, and plain old turbulence!  

I cancelled a cross country a couple months ago, with winds forecast right at the mountaintops of 45kts gusts 70.  Would have been a teeth shaking trip.  

Then there is heat and convection.  Hot days create a lot of convection.  Probably only an issue in most of the country during July and August, but here in the Desert southwest, if you are lucky you SEE the dust devil and can avoid it.  My IA has gotten caught in one, and we had a student and instructor crash a PA28 here last year late summer when they flew into one on departure.

We get updrafts of 1000fpm in the afternoons in summertime.  Of course, what goes up must come down, so then you'll fly into that right afterwards.  Autopilots can overstress airframes in these conditions and sometimes it's best to request a block altitude.  It's like flying into a cumulonimbus, but in clear air.  We pretty much try to be done practice flying by 10am in spring and summer here.

At lower altitudes, convection related bumps can come from parking lots and warehouse rooftops, and wind related turbulence from buildings, hangars, etc.  For example, I can show you exactly where the speed bump is that makes you go up and back down on short final landing at my home base, it's the rising air you cross when you cross the blacktop road just outside the perimeter fence lol.  Green areas are cooler than surrounding air and create what my old IA calls "dead air".  

Also, let me throw my $.02 on trim.  I was taught to use trim ALWAYS because it eases your workload.  And there is ALWAYS something to pay attention to.  Flying the plane is always first priority but there is always something else to take care of.  Trim just makes the job easier, period.  For my Cherokee, I fly the pattern at 90/80/70mph and adjust my short final speed based on my quick estimate of landing weight, roughly 1.3X VSO.  Since to some extent we "pitch for airspeed", and power for descent, and we are shooting for a constant descent, I pull power to 1750rpm, put in the first flap, and "TRIM for 90".  That gets me a 400-500fpm descent rate and I lose the expected 200ft of altitude before turning base.  Second flap and "TRIM for 80".  Traffic check ahead and up the final glidepath before turning to final, then third flap and "TRIM FOR 70".  The best landings come from the best approaches.  Once I've trimmed for 70, all it takes is small adjustments in pitch (yoke) and power to come down to the numbers and roundout.  Because I've lessened the work load, I have more mental energy to focus on maintaining the centerline and other tasks such as keeping an eye on that doofus taxiing up to A1 at high speed while I'm crossing the fence.  

I see a lot of pilots that don't seem to really care about landing on the centerline....that's poor form IMO.  Using trim to balance the airplane in each phase of flight is essential to good single pilot CRM.  Just my opinion.  

If at any time, I need to go around, I am expecting and prepared for the pitch up that comes with a lot of trim and full power.  I would rather have to use the bigger yoke inputs in the go around, than during the landing where finesse is very useful.  Plus it gets you out of harms way quickly.  When you have the plane trimmed right for landing, TOGA immediately pitches the aircraft up and out of harm's way.  The airplane WANTS to do the same thing you do - go up, right now!

My Cherokee had A/C and is pretty nose heavy.  On a calm day, I can use up all my nose up trim on a sweet, slow, three flap landing.    

To the student who is putting his right hand on the yoke to assist in finesse when landing - I felt like I needed to do that too.  My instructor was like "NO.  LEFT HAND ON YOKE, RIGHT HAND DOES NOT LEAVE THROTTLE".

1.  Use trim to lighten the elevator load on the yoke.
2.  Get a can of spray silicone lubricant.  Spray it on the yoke shafts.  Then push the yokes in and out, right and left, and wipe all the black shit off.  Repeat a couple of times until it's clean, then hit it once more.  A LOT of dummies lube yokes with petroleum based lubricants and they get gummed up.  The bushings they ride in are a teflon-ish plastic.  The MX Manual for Ga airplanes almost universally call for a teflon based dry spray lubricant.  Once you've done that a couple times you will find a bunch more finesse that you didn't know you had in you!

You will fail your checkride if you take your right hand off the throttle during a landing, so don't do it.  You need to be spring loaded for the go around at all times.    

I don't get into this forum much, hope this helps some of you guys!  I've got 150 hours now, license to learn for sure!

I’ve completed all the requirements for the ppl checkride (although I have a few things to polish up), but our DPE has suspended all checkrides around here for the time being.

That sucks monkey nuts. How long is he stopping? Can you find another one elsewhere?

What a crappy day. I bounced that poor Archer all over KEET and KEKY. Just one of those days I guess.

11am in AL with the temps rising to 80. The runways were throwing off some serious turbulence. One pass right over the numbers and I got tossed at least 10 ft upward.

But ultimately, we all have to be able to fly in those conditions so it was good training.

At least you got in the air! Good on ya for going out and getting bounced around- it improves your character.

I'm going up tomorrow night and next Friday.
Tomorrow to do some laps around the air in a friend's Cessna 310 because he can't right now (hip replacement right before all the beer bug bullshit) and won't be able to for about 8-9 months.

Next Friday is to fly as a safety pilot with a friend that's getting a cast off her wrist on Tuesday and wants to make sure she's ready to fly.

Yeah- a lotta my aviation friends are falling apart

Checking in. It’s been interesting times, house almost flooded then all this c19 crap along with typical NW weather.

I’ve been flying some, the usual so far. We’ve found a weakness of mine is new airports. If I have the routine down I’m all good, but i need polishing for the new places. Yesterday was pretty windy with 5-8 knot gusts, not my favorite weather. Took to the skill building and went to a couple of new places to practice pattern work it was quite challenging with the xwinds and gusts. All went great though had to do a couple of go arounds. Last landing at home was close to go around but I got cocky and pulled it off. Cracked me up to see the instructor all grinning at me afterward. I was all WTF? His response was that it was the best landing he’s seen me do.

All is progressing well. Waiting for a calm day and he’s going to give me the boot to go solo again.

Today was an absolute beautiful day so me and a friend went up.
She busted her wrist and wanted to fly bad, so I did all the work while she played tourist. Tough duty.

We took her Archer to warm up the engine.

Attached File


At that altitude, I could see Tampa in the distance (we were east of Orlando KMCO).

Was that a climb to that altitude "just because"?  LOL

And is the IAS really that low at that altitude?  Don't know what true airspeed would be.

I would have guessed someone had a broken right ankle. Look at the turn coordinator.