Tough call, but the right one...

Well, yesterday, October 19th, I wanted to get some flight time in. Its been almost 3 weeks, and I can feel the rust forming, and I didn't want too much time to pass. My normal instructor, Jack, has been away this few weeks at jet school, I am so jealous, he is getting his type certification in Cessna Citation jets. There are two more instructors at the school, but both do their gig part-time, so I knew I was going to have a rough time finding some availability.

So, I make some calls, and arrange for some solo flight time at 5:00 pm. Weather was going to be the determining factor, or so I thought. I get to the airport, and the conditions are on the border of my limitations, wind at 11 knots, and setup for crosswind landings. Not to mention an hour earlier it was gusting to 17 knots. So, Chris my CFI for the day (who was actually the instructor that gave me my discovery flight) and I decided soloing was a no go. But I wanted to get a little time, he had to watch his kids for a bit, but said he'd be ready by 5:30. I said super, I will preflight and we'll be ready to roll when you get back.

Doing my preflight, checking flaps, drop to 30 degrees, watch, and I could swear I hear and see some hesitation. Hmmm, that was weird. So, I gave both flaps a good push and work around, and the left flap felt weird. Pushing down, in the opposite direction the wind would push, felt springy, the right flap was firm. I never remember the flap feeling so spongy like that, I didn't like it. So, Chris was a bit late getting back, now its 5:45 pm, and I tell him about the flap. He was also a little puzzled, as we brought the flap up and down a couple times. Then hopped over to the 172 to compare, and both flaps were firm when pushed. You could actually see when the flaps extend, a slight flex in the skin above the hinge point in the flap. So, Chris asked, "Done any no-flap landings yet?" I said, "Yes," but landing without flaps don't concern me. Extending the flaps and having one come down without the other one, and they don't retract, that's a serious problem. So, I cancelled the flight, Chris very much agreed, and added... "You have already had one scare, no need to tempt fate." With that deliberation, it was already 6:00 pm, a good hour behind, and we have about 20 minutes of light left. We considered going up in the 172, and even though I need night time, I told Laura I would be back by 7:00 and I really wasn't too thrilled to be flying at night in an unfamiliar plane, even with an instructor. So, I decided to pass, and try for another time.

Although a bit disappointed I didn't fly, I can't tell you how much better it feels make the no-go decision on the ground, rather than dealing with an emergency in the air.

Anyway, I should get another chance to fly next week, hopefully....

Lesson 25 - Solo Cross Country to Marshfield!

Yesterday, September 30th, I hit my goal of getting my solo cross country done in September! It was quite a blast, but I also learned a lot about myself and abilities. Truth be told, when I looked back on the flight, I probably would haven't made the flight, but with my instructors endorsement that gave me the confidence to proceed. I wasn't concerned about the flight itself, the problem was timing. I got to the airport at about 4:45 pm. Talked over my flight plane with Jack, got my endorsement, preflighted the plan, and before I knew it, it was 5:20. Uh-oh! Marshfield is about a 40-45 minute flight each way. I have never done any night flying, and things start getting dark around 7:00 pm, not to mention it's illegal for me to fly solo during the night (until I have achieved my license). So, I was really pushing the timing, something in the future I will not do. The flight to Marshfield was beautiful and uneventful, nice smooth takeoff from runway 14, winds about 100 @ 6-7 knots, lift off at 5:35 pm. Easy, crosswind departure to the north. I was to use the same flight plan Jack and I used when we did my first dual cross country, follow 29 to Owen, then follow the railroad/pipeline southeast to Marshfield. I figured since I made the flight before it would be a piece of cake, but its been a few months, so I was quite busy in the cockpit watching my sectional map, scanning for traffic and good landing spots (in case of engine failure), and watching my checkpoints go by. Only 1 other plane in the pattern at Marshfield, they were just a few minutes ahead of me from the southwest for a full stop landing, they decided to back taxi on 22/04 so they wouldn't get in the way of my touch and go on runway 16.

At 6:20, I made my touch and go, as I glanced at my watch I realized this was going to be tight, I figured I would be landing in Eau Claire right at sunset. On my way out, tried to catch flight following from Minneapolis Center, of course, called the wrong frequency, but ATC was very friendly, directed me to 125.3. Called them up, and I was a bit too low, 4000 ft, which I later realized was the wrong altitude assignment, I should have been at 4500 (VFR traffic), don't know how I could have missed that in my planning!!!!! Won't happen again. Anyway, I was too low for radar coverage, but they invited me to stay on frequency, turns out there was some jumpers (parachuters) over Lake Wisota, and they helped advise me to make sure I stayed clear of their operations. I tell you what though, the extra chatter and interaction with ATC over the parachuters really taxed my multitasking abilities, it was all I could do to maintain heading, scan for traffic, watch my checkpoints, and keep altitude (which I kept wandering around 4000-4300, and automatic failure if this would have been a checkride). I definitely see the appeal (and subsequent dependency on GPS systems to lighten the workload). Just south of Lake Wisota, caught the river, and then quickly found the airport. Got handed off to Eau Claire tower frequency, a Citation was on approach for 22, tower had me on left traffic for 14, and they called my base turn, which resulted in about a 2.5 mile final, but that was ok, gave me a really long and easy look at the runway to lineup. The runway lights were on, boy that was a weird feeling, the sunset had just dipped below the horizon as I heard my wheels *chirp* on touchdown at 7:04 pm. Taxi back to parking, and my first real solo cross country was history! 1.7 hours official time added to the log book.

I am up to 36.1 hours, technically less than 4 until I hit the minimum for the checkride, but I won't be ready that soon. I still need 3 hours of night flying, 3 hours checkride preptime, over 2 more hours of solo time, including a super long cross country (1 solo cross country flight of at least 150nm total distance with full stop landings at 3 points and one segment of at least 50nm between T/O and landings). So, I figure I could be ready for the checkride probably between 45-50 hour mark, but no rush, the neat thing is I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Boy, it seems like yesterday I was struggling so hard with landings, persistence pays! Looking forward to a weekend at the cabin for some bow hunting, but weather doesn't look like its going to cooperate, no matter time up north is always well spent!

Lesson 24 - More Solo Flying!

Anyway, I also went back up on September 19th. I really wanted to do my solo cross country, but I didn't get endorsed by Jack, and he was off this weekend. But I was endorsed to fly solo at Eau Claire and Menomonie, so I decided to go flying and get some more solo confidence building done! I had to head into work anyway on Saturday morning, finally after that was done, go to the airport at 10:30. Getting myself off the ground seemed to take forever.... the FBO took the wrong plane out of the hangar, I did my preflight, oil was a bit high and discussed it with the airplane mechanic (no problem), mechanic took my oil wrag, went to find him to get it back, preflight done, about to fire up the plane, realized the FBO gave me the wrong clipboard and key, went back inside to get the right one, back in the plane, realized my pen on my clipboard was gone, back inside the FBO to borrow a pen, finally, I can get moving!

The weather wasn't exactly perfect for flying, but great for learning! Winds were manageable, varying between 6-8 knots, but at perfect crosswinds for every runway at both KEAU and KLUM. So, tower had me taxi to 22, off I went. Sheesh! I knew it had been about 2.5 weeks, but the takeoff was ugly, I compensated for the wind, but I seemed to struggle on the take off for the first few seconds. After I got it under control headed off to the west on a straight out departure. Did some rectangular courses, turns around a point, some slips. But something just didn't feel right, I felt this desire to be back on the ground for a while. The weather was a bit bouncy, and there was a lot of haze, and I think that is what made me a bit uncomfortable, but it was good experience! The last few dozen flights, was generally good weather. This was perfectly safe and legal flying conditions, just not perfect, and I needed that time to get comfortable flying in not-so-perfect conditions. The limited visibility from the haze made me feel uneasy, I usually can see Menomonie after taking off from Eau Claire, I couldn't this time, and couldn't make out the runway until I was about 6-8 miles out. Again, still good VMC conditions, and within the limitations of my endorsement, but I got myself a bit weirded out, it was getting more bouncy and I didn't like the clouds/haze I was seeing to the west. So, I started heading back to Eau Claire, dialed up the frequency and gave a listen. There was a bit of traffic, including a plane that just took off in my direction. So, then I got myself a little nervous about another plane in my neighborhood, so I decided to do some more rectangular courses, keeping an eye out for that plane. Finally, caught sight of him, he was a good 3 miles away, about 500 feet below me, and zooming westbound. I realized my maneuvers brought me much closer to Menomonie, the conditions looked better, so I decided do some touch and goes. It was a popular day for flying. Weather called for winds out of 150, making it an obvious choice for Runway 18, I enter the pattern, and I hear two planes working the pattern on Runway 9. What the? We had a few communications, and finally had a visual on the main plane in conflict, they were of no issue. So, I turn base, final and on the ground. I was a bit nervous for that landing, and it showed, landed a bit firm on the main gear, and missed the high speed turn off. No big deal, taxied off, was going to go back to Runway 18 to take off, but there was another plane still doing touch and goes on Runway 9, so I decided to join in the pattern for that runway to avoid any conflicts. After he took off, I waited, and got behind him and off I went. As I followed my fellow pilot in the pattern, I couldn't believe how long he waited to turn base, his final must have been 2-3 miles long easy, he was over Lake Menomin for Pete's Sake! But I wasn't going to cut him off, so I followed, did a touch and go, and did one more, and had enough, I didn't like his patterns so wide, so I exited to the east and returned to Eau Claire.

At Eau Claire, entered the pattern for a right base for runway 22. That is something I definitely need more work on. My right base turns are atrocious, which was caused primarily by me getting way to close to the runway on my downwind leg. I couldn't recover the approach, so called for the go around. The controller put me back into left traffic, which I am much better at. I proceeded to do another 6 or so touch and goes with varied traffic, a couple extended base legs because of incoming straight in traffic, and another go-around the controller called me to do. All the landings were in crosswind conditions, and the last 3 landings were much softer and I could actually feel myself land on 1 wheel the way I am supposed to for crosswind landings!!!

So, it was a really productive day, almost 2 hours of solo flying, it was great.

Lesson 23 - Instrument (Re)Training

More details to come, but I got another 1.2 hours today, primarily flying by instruments "under the hood."

Well, I promised I would fill this in more. Just before Labor Day, I got another flight in, it was more training on instruments. I need some additional study here, this was a tough shake up. I thought I wouldn't have problems, but was very rusty, even on the fundamentals. Jack had me in tune to VOR frequencies, identify the radial I was on (psst Dennis! turn center the needle with a FROM indicator!), then turn to different courses at standard rate turns (boy it is a slow turn), intercept different radials (hey you! yah you funny looking one! set your radial with a FROM indicator, once the needle starts to move, quick rotate it 180 degrees, it should say TO, and fly towards the needle!). Anyway, it was a (re)learning experience. It's really challenging to control altitude, speed, and course just by looking at the instruments and subtle throttle control. I can see why so many pilots don't get their IR ticket, it takes a lot of concentration and headwork!!

Back in the Saddle (again)

Well for most close to me realize why I haven't posted on my blog lately, Evangeline has been quite a handful. She is more wonderful and more work than either Laura or myself had imagined. I plan to put more pictures up soon, but I wanted to give an update on my flight training.

As expected, our new arrival certainly threw off my training schedule to the say the least. That in of itself is huge, but my final flight before Evie was born was quite, umm, a learning experience. Let me recount it for you, here is an excerpt of a post I made on a pilot forum. I didn't originally want to post it here right away, because I wanted to tell family members in person what happened first...

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June 26, 2009.

Today, headed to the airport, wanted to get some instrument training and some more stall training with my CFI. Hopped in, normal preflight. Did some VOR tracking under the hood to a neighboring airport, couple touch and goes, return back to home airport, then to the practice area for some recovery from unusual attitudes, then a couple stalls. It was a hot day, and we noted some poor climb performance, but we attributed that to the heat and DA, but still within tolerance, 400 fpm climbs.

And then it happened.

We were about 2000 AGL, nosing over on recovery from a practice stall, added some throttle, and the plane began to shake violently. At first was a bit of confusion and denial... Was that a result from the stall? And then it finally hit, our engine was failing, the engine was running really rough and was shaking the plane Full power, all we could manage was 2000 rpm. Immediately we turned back toward our home airport, and my CFI took full control (as he should). We were about 8 miles out, and losing about 200 fpm, slogging along at 75kts, doing our best to maintain altitude and get some speed, and praying we wouldn't loose any more RPM.

Did all the emergency checklists, carb heat made things worse (as it should for a while, but didn't eventually improve), mixture, gas, oil temp and pressure in the green. We kept the throttle full in, and had altitude and had fields to our right almost the entire way back to the airport in case the engine quit entirely, so we pressed for the airport. This was a tough call, and I am glad it was my CFI's to make, I might have elected for a field. A river and a good batch of trees on either side of the river separated us from the airport. At some point in the next few minutes, we would have to sacrifice our fields below to commit to the runway. We seemed to be holding enough altitude to limp it in. Notified our airport tower controller. Since we were still only losing altitude of about 200 fpm and had the runway in sight, my CFI elected not to declare an emergency yet.

My CFI brought in the plane high (we had to be 700 ft agl) over the airport, and when it was clear we were going to make it, threw in all flaps, and we touched down a few seconds later to greet fire trucks on the tarmac. Apparently the controller notified emergency services just in case, thank you! I thank God and Jesus for watching over us tonight.

Perhaps I am a bit still in shock, but wow was this a test. Even my CFI said this was the worst emergency he's ever experienced, he's had two previous experiences of partial power loss (he has 900+ hrs), but those cases resolved themselves while in air and full power returned within a few minutes. This case we had to deal with the power loss all the way to landing.

I don't want to over dramatize the situation, we got down, we are safe, the plane can be used again (after a thorough inspection!). Many other pilots experience far more dire circumstances, and many don't survive to tell the tale, but this scared me good. Now granted my CFI took over so I didn't have to depend on my own skills to survive, I believe I helped a bit by constantly looking for a landing spot and scanning for traffic. Thinking back, I didn't loose my composure, but I felt pretty panicky inside, but to be fair, since my CFI took over, I immediately became a passenger, and had little control over the situation. I am sure I would have handled the situation far differently if I was the pilot-in-command.

What did I learn? Don't panic (MUCH harder when faced with the real thing). Fly the Airplane! Keep as many options open as possible. Fly the Airplane! Execute emergency procedures. Navigate, Communicate! Fly the Airplane!

And of course, a new appreciation for the skills of my CFI, thank you!

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So, there is the story. I later learned one of the exhaust valves was sticking causing the loss in power. It would NOT have resulted in a complete engine failure. Well, the plane was down for service (obviously) for several days, then Evie was born. I also learned the plane has some other mechanical issues, turns out one of the other valves began to stick, the alternator went out, and they replaced both magnetos. Fortunately, all did not happen at the same time, but it did result in another emergency situation my CFI had to negotiate with another student, my instructor is one heck of a pilot.

So, I found myself quite conflicted. I had a new beautiful daughter that I wanted to spend lots of time with and I had a flight that would have sent many students packing. My enthusiasm started to wane, and I started to question why I was doing this to begin with. I certainly had enough rationalization to give up flying, except one thing... faith. Nothing has changed, I still trust the Lord, and I know what I've accomplished so far has rid me of my fear of flying. I didn't want to go backwards, I refuse to. Many pilots never encounter an emergency situation, I had several send me messages on the pilot forum with 1000s of hours, and never even had a burnt light bulb. Engine failures are really rare. I am lucky. Obviously to have walked away, but to have been given this learning experience so early in my training. Many pilots become complacent, play the odds, and think it can never happen to them. Well, I know now first hand, it can and does happen. This will forever impact my attitude, planning, and execution of flying.

I returned to the airport on July 29th to shake off the rust, and honestly to see if I still "had it." Not the flying skills (I knew those needed sharpening), I was looking to see if I still had (1) enthusiasm, (2) probably most importantly, the courage to get back in the plane. I was certainly nervous, but flew about 0.7 hours, had a couple ugly landings, but I did it! I think I was more proud of this flight than my first solo!

Yesterday August 17th, I returned again. This time the weather was perfect, light winds, primarily down the runway. And the last two landings were great, my enthusiasm is back, and I can't wait to continue. Got another 1.2 hours, 8 landings, and a good conversation with my CFI. He thinks I still have the skills and judgement, what I need back is my confidence. So we agreed the next flight I would schedule both the plane and him, and if the conditions permit, I will do some more solo work. Hopefully, I will be doing my solo cross-country in early September.

Thanks all for reading, this is more good therapy!

So, time permitting being a new Dad, I plan to continue, with a goal of finishing by Christmas!!

Thank you again Lord for my beautiful daughter, and for strengthening me to help me show my daughter to have courage and to not give up!

Lesson 20 - Cross Country to Anoka

Today was quite a treat, we rented the larger Cessna 172R Skyhawk so Bob, my father-in-law, could join Jack and me on our jaunt into Minnesota. We got to the airport around 10:15 am, weather was questionable, nothing convective in the area yet, but some rain moving into the twin cities, but it appeared it was going to stay just enough south. I got myself setup in the unfamiliar plane, I had only flown this bird once before, on my very first introductory flight lesson almost a year ago. It was still a Cessna, but the plane seemed so much bigger. It largely handled the same except for a few minor procedural differences, it also operated the same. However, the controls were much tighter and required a much firmer hand, I found myself reaching for the trim a lot, it was for this particular reason I really missed the C152. Anyway, after getting accustomed with a slightly different avionics panel, called up weather, taxied to runway 14, and off we went. The plan was to track the Eau Claire VOR outbound, and eventually pick up the Gopher VOR inbound. The Gopher VOR was about 7 miles west of Anoka. What was also great about this route is it would take us almost directly over our house, so I used Tainter lake as one of our checkpoints. Weather largely cooperated for us, the flight was pretty smooth except for some bounces here and there when we got a close to the band of rain showers from the south. Given the rain was a little too close, we didn't spend much time in Anoka, just a quick touch and go, a pretty nice landing there. As we flew our approach for a landing on runway 9, we asked tower to setup us up with flight following out of Minneapolis Center, this is where ATC services will assign us a special transponder code, and they will keep us in radar contact to advise us of any area aircraft we need to watch for. It's another eye in the sky for us, and a good safety measure that should always be used if available. Sometimes the ATC gets a little busy with IFR traffic, and they terminate services and send you on your way. Anyway, on the way back, we used both VORs and the GPS to track our course back. I had a tendency to focus a little too hard on the needle, so when Jack asked, "Where do you think we are?" I had to reply, "Um, no clue, I know I am on the Eau Claire 285 radial, but not sure." Jack responded, "Now you know why we don't show students this technology sooner, its easy to get complacent, and if the equipment fails you can get lost really easy." So noted, I think GPS and moving maps are great, but its essential to keep your pilotage, dead reckoning, and radio navigation skills just as sharp. Anyway, got back around 12:30, ok landing, I ballooned a bit, but nothing too dramatic.

During debrief, Jack gave me the go ahead to start planning my solo cross country. It doesn't have to be the super long, one of my solo cross countries must include stops at 3 airports, total distance of at least 150 nm, and at least 1 leg at least 50 nm. However, I technically need 5 hours solo cross country (and 10 total solo hours). So, I won't be making just 1 cross country anyway, so we are going to start small, I am thinking of a return to Marshfield since I have been there.

We ran into some NetJet pilots there, they were on their way to Columbus, OH. They were super nice, we had a long chat with them, and they showed all of us around their new Cessna Citation jet, it was awesome. The first officer had me sit in the pilot seat, and had me watch as he programmed the flight computer for their upcoming trip. Wow, what an awesome experience, I can't imaging having that job, if there was a dream job in Aviation industry, that had to be it. Don't worry, no inclinations for any career moves at the moment! But it was so fun catching a brief glimpse into their lives as a professional pilot, very cool!

Happy Father's day all!

Dreaming in a new Cessna Citation Jet

Getting some instruction on programming the flight computer

Getting ready to Taxi

Laura looks on as Bob boards

Lesson 19 - Mini Solo Cross Country!

Wow, I am building confidence in leaps and bounds. Today's weather was dreadful all day, but about 1 hour before my scheduled lesson, the clouds lifted just enough and the winds were slight out of the southeast. Got to the airport, and talked it over with Jack. Conditions were good, although we were uncertain how well they would hold, so we thought a short hop over to Menomonie would work nicely. Jack asked me if I wanted to go solo or have a passenger, I elected to go solo, alright!! The plan was pretty simple, fly over to KLUM, a short 15 miles, and do so practice take-offs and landings, and then return. I called Laura and let her know, she thought she might go down to the terminal building and watch. So, did the preflight, checklists, taxi to runway 4, which was a bit strange, it was giving me a 90* crosswind, but on takeoffs I can handle those nicely.

Depart the traffic pattern on crosswind, 5 miles out, frequency change approved, and I was on my own navigation to Menomonie. I immediately got my radios set, checked Menomonie weather, watched Hwy 29 below me, and within a few minutes, I was making my calls on Menonomine frequency, and landed on runway 18. My entry to the pattern was a bit sloppy, made my turn to downwind a bit late, so I was closer to the runway than normal. No problem, extended my downwind a touch to give me more room to correct on final. On final, I quickly realized how much shorter this runway was compared to any in Eau Claire (3000 ft), and narrower too (75 ft), I knew I couldn't make a sloppy landing, because I would run out of runway quick! But, nice touch down, made the high-speed taxi exit, I then noticed Laura by the terminal building, and taxied over to her, shut down and chatted for a bit. We were both couldn't believe I just flew myself over here in an airplane all by myself, landed safely, and talking about it. Amazing! Anyway, after a quick bathroom break and some water, we said our "Love ya, see you soon!" I said I was going to practice some takeoffs and landings, and then fly back to Eau Claire, I probably wouldn't shut down again. So, I proceeded to have 1 short field takeoff, 3 touch-and-gos, 1 go around (on purpose for practice), and 1 landing with a taxi back (on purpose again so I could wave goodbye to Laura). All my landings were fairly good, all I could have easily made the high-speed taxi exit, which means I am landing the plan where I want, and at a slow enough speed, excellent! That also meant I had low stress touch-and-gos, since I had limited runway to work with as I indicated earlier. So, off I went, departing the pattern towards Eau Claire on the crosswind leg. Get radios all set, checked weather for Eau Claire, winds were 150@6, practically straight down the runway. Contact tower 10 miles out, they said to report 5 mile final on runway 14. And then I make my first mistake. I immediately started to plan for runway 4, as I am within 5 miles of final I make my call, and tower says I am second for landing behind a Mooney, but I couldn't make out the traffic at all. About 3 mile final, I say I couldn't locate the Mooney in front, and checking if they had landed, and they indicated they did, and I was number 1 for landing. Then about 1 mile final, I realize, I look at the runway number below, hey! There ain't no '1' in front of that '4', crap, I am about to land on the wrong runway!! I immediately call, "8BR lined up for the wrong runway, going around on runway 4." Eau Claire tower responded, "No problem, turn to the left downwind for runway 14." This is where I let myself panic, very slightly, I felt rushed, and I executed a poor go around. I put full throttle in, started to pitch up, I was now climbing, but not great, my speed was dogging around 70 kts, I then realized, ah crap! I need to bring up flaps slowly. I felt myself getting flusterd, calmed down, and told myself, "You are fine, Fly the Airplane!!" Fortunately, I only had 20* flaps in, retract 10*, adjust, the final 10*, adjust, accelerated, and flew around and made an ok landing. In retrospect, I am probably being a bit hard on myself, but it showed two things I need to work on: (1) double check earlier, my plan for pattern entry. I know who runway 4, 14 can be easily mistaken by even pros, but I needed to double check my plan earlier in my descent. (2) More practice on the go-arounds, my weakness here is that I just haven't practiced enough, and my reactions were not automatic.

So, had a quick debrief with Jack, told him about my mistake on approach into Eau Claire. It didn't seem to bother him too much, especially when I told him of my go around, and subsequent safe landing. Honestly, he first asked, "Did tower give you any grief? I said no, they were fine and helpful." We talked that next is going to be another cross country, probably to LaCrosse, we need to get in at least another hour of cross country training before I am officially qualified to do my long cross countries. During this next flight, we plan to do some instrument training, which involved me putting on a view limiting device, and flying the plane by instruments only.

What a great 1.4 hours to add to the log book, I can't believe they trust me enough to go take a plane flying all by myself, what a great time!

Lesson 18 - Crosswind landing practice, 2nd Solo!

Building Confidence!

The weather today seemed perfect to practice crosswinds. Changing directions all day, and early afternoon it was gusting to 17 kts, but it settled to about 8 kts when it came time for my lesson. So, I knew when getting to the airport, it would be a game-time decision. After talking it over, it was a great day to practice crosswinds. Jack asked if I wanted to go by myself, I said I wanted him a long for a few trips first. So, off we went on runway 22, with about a 20* crosswind. A couple times around the pattern, and had a few nice landings. I am certainly starting to become a bit more discriminating on my quality landings. Honestly, each one was pretty nice, not awesome, but miles ahead of where I once was. Jack was also pretty happy with my performance today, noting "Geez, flying like you've you've been doing this along time." and "Very nice crosswind landing, excellent!" Did a few landings on 22, then switched over to 14, which had a more dramatic crosswind, and did pretty good there too. So, after 0.9 hours and about 6 landings, Jack jumped out, and sent me on my way. but he wanted me on runway 22. He was ok with me doing touch and goes, and stressed.... "Checklists, Checklists, Checklists!"

So, I wasn't that nervous this time. Taxied down to 22, waited for the landing Menards jet. Asked for clearance, and of course, "8BR, cleared left traff.... no wait, can you make right traffic for me?" Oh crap, most of my experience has been doing left traffic, but I had done right traffic before, and worst off is I go around, so I replied, "Cleared for takeoff, runway 22, happy to make right traffic, 8BR!" Off I went, all gauges green, lift off. As I was mid downfield, I hear... "XXX on 5 mile left base, runway 22." Oh, nuts, I got more incoming menards jets, and we are opposite patterns on the same runway. No need to get excited, wait until you see them and they turn final, then make your turn to base. Boy, it took forever for them to turn final, I was about 4 miles out before I got to turn base, I never started my descent until I turned myself on final! So, that was a very interesting landing, very smooth, but a great example of making me adjust my pattern to fit the traffic, exactly what is expected of me. So, went around for another 0.7 hours and 5 landings, most not too bad, one I bounced just a tad, and drifted a little down the runway, but much better than my 3rd solo landing last week.

So, I feel myself getting better. Its funny, I never experienced that "click" feeling when all of sudden everything fell into place, its been a very gradual beating into me. After getting back, talked more with Jack, he feels I am ready for a solo cross country, if I feel I am ready. He had suggested LaCrosse, but thats a good 60 miles, I wanted to start with something a little shorter, especially during the week when I am pressed for some time. So, later this week I have another lesson, if weather cooperates, I will make a mini-cross country solo to Menomonie!

Also thought the image of this posting was very fitting, being a star wars nut and all. Notice I edited it, this is a family blog afterall!

Lesson 17 - Cross Country to Marshfield

As satisfying and exciting as flying solo was, planning and flying a cross country route was even more fun! So, I had originally picked Medford, but upon looking at the sectional, I thought a trip to Marshfield would be a little more interesting since I elected to fly around the Falls MOA. So, instead of a direct line route, I had a few turns in there and navigated by pilotage (landmarks on the ground) and dead reckoning. Wow, things sure do look different from several thousand feet up, but with map in hand, and GPS in the plane as a backup, we set off for a fun morning of flying. The air was quite smooth, making it very comfortable and easy to fly today.

So, got to the airport around 7:45 am. Preflighted. We checked weather. Then Jack showed me how to file a flight plan, which was pretty easy. He cautioned to make sure whenever you file (and open) a flight plan, that you have only a 30 minute window after your scheduled arrival time before they start sending out the troops after you. That's an expensive mistake if you forget to close your flight plan. Filing, but failing to open your flight plan is no big deal, the plan just expires, and nobody minds. After Jack reviewed my planning, off we went, there was a Mesaba airlines Saab turbo prop that took off right before us, we turned to the northeast towards Chippewa Falls, and look to intercept highway 29, and start following that East. Navaids along the way included Stanley and Owen. Once we hit Owen, we found the railroad tracks heading southwest through town, and we turned to follow it towards the town of Spencer and into Marshfield. The airport was just outside of town, just to the southwest of town. We overflew the airport, announced our intentions of landing on runway 22, and had a very nice landing. Marshfields taxi ramps are under contruction, so we back taxied on runway 34/16 to get to parking. Very interesting taxing on a runway, felt very weird, and a bit uncomfortable.

So, stopped in the FBO, closed our flight plan, and had a quick bathroom break and got some water and coffee. Gave Laura a quick call to let her know I landed ok, then chatted a bit with the local clerk, and then finally decided to get moving back. Headed back out, checked engine oil and did a quick walk around the plane to make sure nothing had changed, a bit of an abbreviated inspection. Jack advised if you were in a larger busier airport, and you had ground personnel moving the plane, he would definitely do a complete preflight before taking off again, never know what those grounds people might bang up and neglect to tell you.

So, we back taxied again to runway 22, got ourselves spun around, did runup, and off we went. This time, we took a more direct route through the Falls MOA. It was certainly a few minutes shorter, and we were able to follow high power lines, all the way to Eau Claire. This was a very easy route to follow, and fairly easy to pick out other landmarks to judge our relative progress. However, the terrain we overflew was much more thickly wooded. There were an occaisional road and clearing in the trees, but definitely less options in the event of an engine failure. Jack wanted me to see this and appreciate the consequences of such a route. During daytime, and your equipment in good order, its not a big deal, but nighttime or into IMC, might want to think twice.

Anway, we arrived in Eau Claire, entered a long 5 mile base for runway 22. Had a little more crosswind, and again had a less-than-perfect landing. Still need to practice those a alot.

So, after taxi-back, we had a nice long debrief. We talked about the next phases of my training. Jack needs to endorse me flying solo everytime, and he said he feels very comfortable letting me fly in no wind or light winds (~5 kts), or winds directly down the runway. In fact, he was very impressed with my planning, and is confident I could have easily made the Marsfield trip solo. So, we agreed I would schedule some more lessons, and at each lesson, we'd make a determination together: If the winds were slight, I would probably do some practice solo. If the winds were a little more intense, I would probably take Jack with me and do some more crosswind practice. I also need to think about another cross country to do soon, and my solo cross country will really depend on two things: (1) my overall solo confidence, (2) improved crosswind landings. So, I expect the next 5-10 hours to consist of that, and perhaps a solo cross country after that, but the neat thing is that it sounds like its largely up to me. I need to develop my proficiency as well as my self confidence.

So, a great flight, I can't wait to do more. Another 2.0 hours in the book, I now have 21.5 hrs.

Ready for Baby!!

Thought we'd post some pictures of the baby room. We are all set! Just say baby!

Lesson 16 - Great Googly Moogly, I just SOLOED!

I am told that you will forever remember the day you first fly an airplane by yourself. I hope that is true, because this will be a day I hope to always cherish forever. My mind is such a whirlwind, I am still in a daze, dumbstruck that this actually happened. I also can't help but reflect how far I have come, obviously in my piloting skills, but as a person renewed by my faith to overcome my fears and turn them into joy. There are so many people to thank, my wife Laura for supporting me so fervently, always pushing me to go forward even when I doubted myself. My entire family, especially my brother Bryan for helping me get over those first hurdles, and spark my interest in aviation. Finally, God and our savior Jesus Christ, for walking besides me to give me strength, ahead of me to guide me, and behind me when I have fallen. I ran into some folks over these past few months that give me that stupefied look when I tell them I am learning to fly, and that I am about to be a Dad in less than 3 weeks. I am sure they think I am absolutely crazy taking such risks. Without debating the risks (it really is very safe) with them, I instead smile because everytime I climb into a plane (or car for that matter) I am reminded of how much fear and anxiety I have surrendered to God, and how truly rewarding and liberating that is. I am simply content knowing I am in God's hands.

Alright, I know many want me to get on with it, but I really wanted to acknowledge the help and true credit for this absolutely incredible day! As a birthday gift from my parents, in-laws, and Laura, I purchased a used headset over the weekend on EBay, which according to Fedex tracking arrived today while I was at work. I was watching the winds all day, they were slight (at most 5 kts) and usually at 330*, which is straight down the runway. So, with the winds looking so favorable, although the ceilings were questionable, I called Laura earlier to join me at the airport. I had an ulterior motive, I wanted to try my new headset, and I figured there could be

an outside chance I would solo, but I honestly didn't think it was going to happen today.

Got to the airport, Laura took some pictures as I preflighted the plane. I was rather surprised to hear the wind was now at 020*, but still slight at 4 kts. That meant some slight crosswinds, nuts! So, usual checklists, all good. This was the first flight after the mechanics did an oil change, so were extra careful to keep a close watch on oil temp and pressure, in all phases of the flight, but especially turning our takeoff roll. We started with a short field takeoff, this was new. We use 10* degrees flaps, hold the breaks, full throttle, release the breaks, accelerate to 55kts, rotate, accelerate to Vx speed (best angle of climb, which is 65 kts), clear any obstacles, then retract flaps and normal climb out. Proceeded to have some very nice landings, the slight winds made it much easier to control. Did a simulated engine out, although I setup ok, I had a brain fart, and did things out of order. I let my desire to not get too far away from airport distract from the procedure: best glide, find your sport, once you have the runway made, use flaps as necessary. But I messed that all up, I put in a notch of flaps WAY too early, turned toward the runway WAY too early, and was forced to push the plane down with full flaps. It would have worked in an emergency, but it was poorly executed, although I got an "atta boy!" from the tower controller. We decided to do a go around, full power, watch that pitch up with full flaps, slowly retract, accelerate, positive rate of climb, and another round! I think we did another landing or two, the last one I had a small bounce, but I was able to recover. So, when Jack said, "Ok, time for a full stop", I figured we were done for the day, we were only up for 1.0 hours, and I figured he didn't want to burn me out. We were still on the runway, working our way towards our intersection when Jack said, "Time for me to get out and you to do this by yourself." Gulp. I asked, "Are you serious?" "He said yep, you are ready, lets take it back to parking." That was a long fricken taxi ride, I could feel myself getting so nervous already. We got back, shut it down, we had to get my log book signed and endorsed to make it all legal. Jack took a while to get it signed, not sure what took him so long, but it gave me extra time to pace in front of Laura. She was great! She kept

saying, "you can do this, you are going to do great!" Jack finally returned, but motioned to me to follow him back inside, he showed me the expected Menards jets inbound, and what I would need to work with. So, armed with my endorsed log book, I went through the checklists again, fired up N588BR. As I began to taxi, the first of the Menards jets were already on the ground, so no issues there. My taxi to the end of the runway went so fast, I barely had enough time to say an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be. I did and it helped a lot. Got down to runway 4, did my normal, meticulous run-up procedures. Flipped over to tower frequency, and heard the other Menards jet just turned final and was cleared to land as I was easing to the hold short line. After the frequency cleared, I announced, "Eau Claire Tower, Cessna 588BR, holding short, runway 4, ready for takeoff." Of course, I fully expected, "Continue holding short, landing traffic". At that moment, I choose let the fear in for just a few moments, but only then. My knees were shaking so much, it felt like it took all my effort to stay on the brakes so I didn't accidentally go onto the runway ahead of the landing jet.

As the jet landed and cleared the runway, I heard the tower controller, "Cessna 588BR, cleared for take off runway 4, make closed left traffic, report each base." Gulp. Here we go. "Cleared for take off, runway 4, make left traffic, will report each base, 8BR". I ease onto the runway, one last check of the instruments, and double check what can kill you! (In Jack's words), Gas On, Mixture Rich! Ok, throttle in, stay on centerline, oil pressure and temperature still look good. There is rotate speed, pull back gently, lower the nose, accelerate to 80 kts, climb out. Holy crap! I am in the air all by myself and I said to myself, you are now committed, only you can get yourself down now! As expected, being 200 lbs lighter, the performance was much improved, I

hit pattern altitude just a few moments after turning downwind. I also noticed the airplane seemed "bouncier", more nimble. I said to myself, "enjoy this, soak it in, but remember you have a job to do!" And before I knew it, I was doing my prelanding checklist, and starting my descent abeam the numbers. "Eau Claire Tower, Cessna 588BR, requesting Stop and Go, runway 4". Jack didn't want me to do a touch-and-go, he wanted me to stop physically on the runway, retract the flaps, and then take off again. It also helps 04/22 is over 8000 ft long, plenty of room to do that. I proceeded to have an outstanding landing, probably one of my best. YESSSSS!!!!!! I can't believe I just soloed, but I get to do two more!! Once stopped, retracted my flaps, throttle in, and around for another go. Another round, another nice landing. Then my final round, came in a bit high, had to reduce engine to idle and through in all my flaps. I also had a bit more of a crosswind, so my weakness on this started to show. Toward the flare, my sink rate was a bit high, didn't compensate with enough throttle, so I landed with a thud, and a bit of a swerve, so of course I end with a not-so-stellar landing, but I could walk away and they can use the plane again. Taxied back to the Heartland ramp, where Jack and Laura were waiting with smiles almost as wide as mine.

Holy smokes! I can't believe I just flew a plane all by myself! It was also so much fun to hear Laura recount her experience on the ground observing me with Jack. She took lots of pictures, so I will post a few here. They had a portable, hand-held radio so they could hear all my radio calls, and of course watched each pass. Laura said Jack really like my first two landings, calling the first a "textbook landing!" Of course, Jack noticed my last landing as a bit "interesting." We took lots of pictures and enjoyed rehashing the flight, I know I went through a longer than usual spell of "stalled progress," and I know Jack was very satisfied to see me break through it. Jack mentioned to Laura while I was flying that he wasn't sure if it would happen today, so it really was a bit of divine intervention that brought Laura here to observe. The absolute frustration I felt not more than two weeks ago seems like a decade old memory. Wow!

So, what's next? Jack wants me to pick an airport I want to visit for a cross country, all right! This is going to be fun!! He said I can take a shot at planning the flight myself, and we'll go over it together. Not sure if that will happen this weekend or next week, depends on the weather, plans for the weekend, and perhaps baby might have something to say about it.

Some folks hit solo, a major milestone, and quit. But I am really invigorated to keep pressing on, I can't wait for the cross country! So, another 1.0 hours dual instruction received, AND 0.5 hours Pilot In Command (PIC) time! Woot!!!!

Pictures below and more to follow!

Preflighting

Taxing with Jack

Final Advice from Jack

First Solo Taxi (lots of prayer time)

First Solo Take Off!

First Solo Landing (hard to see)

All smiles for the new pilot!

Jack Congratulates

The proud wife with her pilot

Presolo Written Exam ... Done!

Well, another brief entry. Today I was scheduled to fly after work, but the weather wouldn't cooperate. The ceilings really didn't get much better than 1500 ft AGL, with varying scatter clouds around 700 ft. Really can't stay legal in that mess, marginal at best. So, instead Jack and I used the time to review my presolo written exam. It is a pamphlet of about 40 questions varying to FAR/AIM regulations, airport operations, flight, aircraft performance & procedures. It really wasn't a graded exam, we just went through my answers to each (and for each I noted where in the FAR/AIM I found it). I got all of them correct, but it was homework and I got to use all supplemental help. But the point wasn't to test my memorization skills, rather it was to make sure I understood the concepts and displayed the willingness to spend time studying the material in earnest. Of course, flying isn't all just bee-boping around the skies, it takes careful and thoughtful planning, and I think this was more of a test of my attitude and work ethic. So, after about 1.5 hours, got my log book endorsement signed, another tick off the checklist to becoming a pilot!

Lesson 15 - I do remember how to fly

Well, with all the warm support I received from so many, thank you. This lesson went much better. So much so, Jack gave me the written pre-solo exam for me to work on as homework, and actually said about my next lesson, "we'll see how the winds are, then we'll see..." So, I made some good improvements. Jumped in the cockpit, and realized Jack had covered like lots of instruments including attitude, turn coordinator, rpm. He was going to make me fly the plane more by feel the entire time instead of fixating on some instruments, this should be fun! After the first two laps were interrupted by competing opposite pattern traffic for the same runway, and then by a student on their (apparent) solo cross country (wow, she flew the strangest patterns, lucky for the tower, she seemed very overwhelmed), I really wanted to practice low approaches, Jack agreed. I posted a question on AOPA forums on crosswind landing woes, and got very good responses and frequently they recommended to do more low approaches so I can get a better feel for the aileron/rudder controls on crosswinds. Went on to have 14 landings, a go around, several low approaches, a "short approach", lots of good traffic, and I handled many more of the radio calls. So, I didn't feel as rushed, but towards the end, even though my landings were ok, my approaches started to get sloppy, and Jack noticed too. So, we did two more landings, had an ok final landing, but not terrible.

So, in Jack's words, I had several good landings, and a few not-so-good (but not bad) landings. Some, I did drift a bit, or wasn't quite straight on touchdown, but I feel I got slightly better. I can't say I am going to have that *CLICK* moment people talk about, I think its more likely going to be a *CCCCCCLLLLLLLLIIIIIIICCCCCCKKKKK*

So, 1.5 hours added to the bill, 18 hours total! Scary to think I am almost technically half way to the minimum of 40 hours before checkride, but I think we all know that won't happen. But I don't care, the goal is safety and proficiency!

Medical Joy

Might be a little difficult to read, but this is an excerpt from my letter from the FAA Aerospace Medical Certification Division! Finally, in print, and so appropriate, my birthday is today! I have a clean medical until June 2013! It's been a process that started almost a full year ago, June 6th. Wow, gotta love that government efficiency, I bet you can't wait for those new GM vehicles now! Anyway, thank you very much to many people that expressed support from my last post, I admit it was quite a downer. But, maybe God threw out my back for a reason, so I could receive such encouragement and to give me some contemplation time. Consequently, my Monday lesson was cancelled because my back was still sore. I have another coming up (not to worry Mom, I won't say when), with all your well wishes, I am some renewed spirit. I don't care when I solo, or even pass my checkride, just so long as I become a safe and proficient pilot. Thanks all, keep watching, more adventures to come! Especially with the baby due in 3 weeks!

Lesson 14 - Am I ever going to get this!?

Aimlessly flying an airplane with no clue.

Probably one of the first posts I have absolutely no interest in writing. Today I had my most frustrating day yet, although I didn't have any atrocius landing, I really didn't have any great ones. Despite another 1.6 hours and 16 landings, I can't say I am any closer to soloing. Admitedly, I had some variable crosswinds to deal with today, but I just can't seem to get the fricken airplane pointed straight down the runway. The control inputs are a complete mystery to me, and it's really starting to tick me off. I get the concept, aileron into the wind, use the rudders to keep yourself straight. I had a brief "ah-ha!" moment when I realized that my rudder usage was weaker than a limp noodle, I really have to stomp on those damn pedals, there is a ton of resistance in a good crosswind. We did a couple low approaches, which helped a bit to visualize it, but I just can't do it! Despite Jack taking the throttle controls, all I had to do is use aileron and rudder to keep it centered, but I still couldn't manage it! I was floating one direction or the other, failed to keep it straight, it was so frustrating. And when I did have a glimmer that I might actually be catching on, after touchdown, I would "give-up", and fail to maintain my inputs.

This truly is a roller-coaster ride, and it really was the first moments while in the plane I wanted to quit, I was so angry with myself, even as I type now I am fuming. I have absolutely no natural flying talent, I am going to have to fight this all the way through the training. When you are accustomed to excelling at most ventures in life, its tough to admit that you naturally suck at something. After today, it will truly be a miracle if I solo in under 30 hours, I just don't see it happening. Jack has reassured me it will click eventually, but I am starting to lose some faith. Not to mention, on the final approach, either a bump or me wrenching on a control made me tweak my back, so I got spasms that is making for a fun afternoon. I have 3 more lessons this week, but if my back still hurts, I will cancel, I don't want to fly if I am physically hurting in anyway. What the hell am I doing?

Lesson 13 - More Progress

This will be another short entry, but a goodie.  After a week since my last lesson (my Wednesday lesson was cancelled for weather), I was eager to get back in the air.  Got to the airport around 5:20, Laura came again to watch, and there was perhaps some weather in the area.  We checked out the radar, and saw the clouds, but it looked good for a bit.  Got the plane preflighted, and taxied on charlie for runway 32.  We held short for a bit while a Menards jet was landing on another runway, once they were down, we were clear for some pattern work.  

First landing was ok, not great, I attributed it to knocking off some rust.  We had several landings, all not too bad, I then proceeded to have a really good landing, and got an "Excellent Landing!" from Jack.  We did 12 laps, most landings were decidedly better than last week.  I didn't have any more "Oh, my!"s from Jack, which was good.  Still working on that sight picture, getting a little better.  On one landing, we did a low approach, which is basically when we fly over the runway just a few feet above it the entire way, Jack took the controls and had me use the rudders to keep us straight.  This helped me understand a little better what it looks like to be straight down the runway.

I think I made some significant progress today, because Jack pulled the throttle again, and said "you lost your engines, now what?"  I was much faster to react this time, and got all the important stuff right:  

• Pitch for best speed, which is 65 knots.  Technically I was going 75, but Jack said that was just fine since I didn't try to fixate on a speed, and concentrated on FLYING THE AIRPLANE!
• I didn't let myself get too far away from the airport, I knew I had the longest runway, and turned to land on about 1/3 down the runway, good!
• I did NOT extend flaps until I was over the runway, and had it "made".  That is VERY important, flaps introduce drag, and brings the plane down in less time (allows you to land with a steeper pitch, and slower speed).  When you are still not sure if you have your landing spot made, you want to get us much horizontal distance as you can.
  

On the final lap, I continued my streak of "bad" landings.  Although, this one I think I deserve a pass on.  As the weather started to move in, we could tell things were changing, on the downwind, the wind was moving us around quite a bit.  When we turned final, Jack asked, "you sure you got this?"  My approach was getting ugly, but I felt I still had control of the airplane, "I responded yeah, I got it."  The crosswind got worse, and Jack repeated, "you sure?", "I said, yeah, I think so", then on short final, Jack pressed again... "you sure?" , I then relented, "ok, maybe you should take it..."  Wise choice, it was shaping up for a really ugly landing, Jack got us lined up, he let me control the rudders again, and did an excellent crosswind landing... right tire, hold it..., then left, hold it..., then nose.  Wow, I image crosswind landings will continue to kick my butt for a while.

Overall, a much better flight.  For the first time, I started to believe it was possible for me to solo.  Probably still going to be several lessons away, but I am feeling more confident.  Another 1.2 hours, I now have 15 total, woot!

Oh, I called the FAA after submitted more paperwork for my "permanent" medical certificate.  They said the just mailed my cert, Yeeessssss!  I will save the celebration when I see the print in front of me, but it appears I've cleared another hurdle!

Lesson 12: Incremental Improvements

Getting a little better, plus some minor excitement!

Another early evening in the pattern.  This time I was treated to having Laura there to watch the lesson from the ground.  We both got there about 5:15 pm, Laura watched me preflight the plane and peeked inside a bit.  When we were ready to go, exchanged a smile and a wave, and we began taxing to runway 22.  Winds today were light, and again fairly straight down the runway, good weather to practice my slowly developing landing skills.  Now earlier in the week, Jack had warned me that someday I will have a door open in flight, the important thing is not to panic, and FLY THE PLANE.  A door open is not an emergency, unless you make it one by panicking!  He mentioned this because it happened to him earlier in that day.  Sure enough (not more than a few days later) shortly after lift off, I felt my door open.  I did not panic, told myself, "ok, the door is open, that is not a problem, concentrate on climbing to a safe altitude, I am not going to fall out or anything."  So, after we made our crosswind turn, I had Jack take the controls for just a second, got my door closed, and resume the flight, no problem!  When you are going 80 knots (almost 100 mph), its hard to even open the door (to close it), lots of wind pressure keeping it shut!

Anyway, today I saw some marginal improvements.  I had many unassisted landings, although some were a bit ugly.  I also was able to remember I had feet during the landings, and did better keeping it straight.  We did about 10 landings, most were not that great, but a couple stood out nice.  I am starting to see what a good flare is, its not 100% clicking yet, but I had a couple smoother touchdowns, but many need work.   Fortunately, there wasn't any terribly teeth-crunching landings, but there was definitely one firm landing, and a couple where I had poor directional control after touchdown and needed Jacks help.  Midway through, Jack mentioned he was going to try a "new technique."  We take off, do the normal pattern, and Jack is quiet.  I do my thing, waiting for him to explain this new technique.  I proceed to have my best landing yet, while Jack isn't saying a thing.  We touched down, I retract the flaps, accelerate, and off we go for another lap.  So, I say, "your new technique is to be quiet?"  Jack replied, "yep, seemed to work!"  So, had some incremental progress, but I think its clear I probably won't solo until I have at least 20+ hours, which is just fine!  This is what I still need to focus on...

• Still a little unsure when to begin the flare, a couple I knew I missed the window, and flare late, then over-compensated with too much flare which made me float  
  
• Many had bounces, which meant I had too much speed going into the landing.  This also might be because I am flaring just a bit late and not arresting some of that speed.
  
• I had more stabilized approaches this time, but still a bit inconsistent.  I had definitely one approach too low, and many more too high, although I'd rather be too high on a longer runway.  
• Many times, after the initial touchdown, Jack felt me "relax," particularly in my feet.  I have to remember to keep the flare through the touchdown, and to control the nose with those rudders to keep on centerline.  EAU has great, long, wide runways to learn and practice on, but I will be expected later to be able to land much more precisely so I can land on short, narrow grass and gravel strips.

So, after our 9th landing, we went for another touch and go.  Shortly after takeoff, Jack noticed the engine was running a bit rough.  It was subtle, but it definitely sounded different.  We decided this was our last run, with the door incident earlier, we were definitely not in the mood to tempt fate.   So, on this lap, we made a tighter pattern just in case we would loose engines.   I think the prospect of an engine failure distracted me a bit, I ended the night with my worst landing of the evening.  Oh well, I am going to remember the better landings.

As we taxied back, Laura was there waving, welcoming us home.  She later said she was able to watch all the landings, she said most looked pretty good, but there were just a few she kinda covered her eyes on, yah, I remember those :)

Another 1.2 hours, had a lot of fun, and have a good attitude for the holiday weekend.  Got 3 more lessons scheduled next week!

Lesson 11: Plateau flying

Another evening in the pattern.

Well, this entry won't be terribly long, primarily because it's sounding a lot like the last few entries, lots of takeoffs and (ugly) landings.  And in the words of my instructor, Jack, I've definitely hit a "plateau,"  in my training.  Now it just depends on how long I sit in it. 

Anyway, I was scheduled for a couple different times this week, and with Memorial Day weekend approaching, my availability was going to be limited.  So, when I noticed today the weather outlook was nice this afternoon, and both Jack and the plane was free, I scheduled an impromptu lesson.  Got to the airport around 5:30 pm, took my sweet time preflighting, and we were ready to take off on runway 14 (first time for me) by 6 pm.   We did several laps around the circuit, and had little traffic to deal with, which meant I had little excuse.  Granted, it was rather hot, which put density altitude at 2800 ft, and significantly degrades engine performance.  Consequently, our takeoff roll was longer than normal and our climb performance was also weaker.  This meant we watched very closely today how much fuel we had in the plane to make sure we were not overweight, so running with about 2/3 tanks fuel, we were safely within weight and balance.

So, the actual flying part of the lesson.  Wind was pretty much down the runway, so I had little crosswind to deal with, but with it being so hot, we got plenty of thermals moving up and down.   It wasn't terrible, then again, I think I am getting used to being tossed around, so it isn't bothering me that much anymore.   As for landing, the good news is I think I might be improving only slightly on the actual landing part, only one teeth-crunching landing.  My flare is still crappy, and I have trouble maintaining runway heading right before touch down.  The bad news is now my approaches were totally inconsistent.  Too high, too low, poor turn to base, waiting too long to turn to base, poor crab angles on base, sheesh!  I am certainly in a rut.  After about 8 landings, Jack called it a night.  Granted, I didn't have any landings like my final landing from last week, which was truly laughable, but Jack definitely notices a bit more frustration from me and recognizes a definite "stall" in my progress.  So, we had a longer than usual debrief, and he tried to reassure me, and talked about some of his landings he did recently, that were not great.  So, its somewhat comforting that even with 900+ hrs like Jack, he'll still can have a few ugly landings too.  It was also helpful for Jack to say, "I've seen you do this before, you can do it!"  Jack also gave me some old VHS videos to watch, maybe a slight different perspective will help.

I am still having fun despite the frustration, and I keep telling myself I am in no hurry.  I have a long way to go, it will not happen overnight, nor am I guaranteed to beat the "national average."  So, I remind myself of two things at the end of these lessons:  1. The Lord has given me another day, enjoy it, and give thanks!  2. They can still use the plane after I landed it, so I must be doing somethings right!

Another 1.0 hours in the book, 12.6 total now.  Hard to believe I've been behind the yoke of plane for over 12 hours already!

Lesson 10: More Rough Landings

Another visit to Menomonie, Ugly Landings

Well, it has been a week since I was able to last fly. Weather had deterred me from getting back in the air despite aggressive rescheduling, but the winds just wouldn't cooperate. Winds today were quite interesting, 170 @ 9 kts. My mother-in-law, Carol, accompanied me to the airport, she was flying back to Rochester from a weekend visit. She took a peek inside the plane and got to watch me preflight the plane. I know she was a bit worried for me, but I was hoping her witnessing how much attention we paid during preflight might help. As we climbed in and got it started, and started to taxi, I looked back and gave Carol a little wave goodbye, and we headed for runway 22 for departure. There was a Menards jet in front of us, so we had to pay extra careful attention for wake turbulence. Upon takeoff, shortly off the ground, I would say 100 ft, we hit some very interesting winds, threw the little plane around quite a bit, actually needed Jack's help to stabilize it. I asked Jack if that was the wake turbulence, he said no, it was the winds aloft that was being blocked by the buildings and other ground obstructions, once we ascended high enough, the plane got the full brunt of the winds. So, that was interesting, today's flight was bumpy, but not ridiculous. Since there was so much activity in Eau Claire, we headed to Menomonie for some pattern work, but as we started our jaunt, we were facing a very strong southern wind, and we had to make a very significant wind correction angle (crab), relative to highway 29 below, we were flying pretty sideways, probably about 25* degrees or so.

So, on arrival into Menomonie, I got the wind direction all confused, and wanted to land on runway 27, that would have been bad. Jack corrected me, since we got a southern wind, runway 18 is far more appropriate. We did 4 takeoffs and landings, they were not great, nuff said. Some of it might have been getting a little rust knocked off, but I think I just need to learn so much more. I was forgetting stuff, and constantly behind the plane. I don't know what my problem was today, but I just couldn't get things to click. I also might be expecting more of myself, but my patterns are bit oval-ish in shape instead of rectangular because I am failing to account for wind. My "flare" was too late one time, and we came down all 4 wheels rather roughly. The next time, I flared too much, and we ballooned and floated for a bit. Meanwhile, I am concentrating so much on the flare, I am forgetting the crosswind components and landing off centerline nearly always. Jack did one for me to watch again, how does he do that!? So, on our way back to Menomonie, checked weather and reset radios. Call up tower, have us coming for runway 22, they then offered runway 14. I said sure, why not. Well, Jack later advised, all things being equal, runway 22 is longer, he'd gone for that instead. Good safety tip, I proceeded to have a pretty crappy landing there. We did a quick touch and go for a final landing, and I did probably my worst landing yet. Thanks to Jack, we got it down, but I was completely lined up wrong, came in low all the way, and proceeded to bounce. Man, overall, this was probably my worst performing flight yet, I learned a lot of ways how not to land a plane, but I am not sure if that is impressing on me the correct way to land.

Anyway, despite the frustration, 1.2 hours in the logbook. The light at the end of the tunnel dimmed a bit today, but I will get back at it later this week!