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!