Night Cross Country

Took off for my night Cross Country tonight. My niece decided to tag along for the flight, she is twelve years old and hadn't had the chance to go up in a GA aircraft. We departed Lubbck about 7:00 p.m. and headed north to Amarillo (93NM). Decided to climb on up to 7,500 heading out and had a very smooth flight. We had three other small airports on the route and I had marked them as checkpoints. My instructor is looking at the nav logs and is asking why I labeled the airports along the way. I just told him, "I'll activate the lights and use them for checkpoints." "Hmmm what if the lights don't work?" "Look for the next checkpoint" "OK fair enough" Off we go. I had to ask my niece if she was still alive. Never heard a peep out of her unless I asked. She was just sitting there enjoying the scenery. Landed at Amarillo. (Not really hard runway 22 is 13500 X 200) Headed back to Lubbock at 8,500 We were just outside of Amarillo and only at about 4,500 feet when my instructor asked me "While we are over this rough, rugged, canyon terrain, what would you do if you lost your engine right now?" I told him I'd run procedures, try to find somewhere to land and if I ended up descending into the canyon, I turn the landing light on to see if I could see anything. If I didn't like what I saw, I'd just turn the light back off, and unplug my headset so I couldn't hear the passengers screaming. We made it back to Lubbock with very few bumps at all. Had a good flight and got to take a tag a long with me. All in all, a good flight.

First Solo Cross Country

Well, It was a good day to fly, so I figured no time like the present. Departed Lubbock at 11:00a.m. headed to Plainview (30nm)Childress(72nm), Floydada (57nm)then back to Lubbock(34nm). We had an EAA Young Eagles joyride going on this morning, so LBB airspace was hectic. I was eighth in line for takeoff and finally got in the air. After contacting departure, I was told to fly heading 100 for traffic. (I need to be on heading 001) I figured I'd get on my way fairly quick, but departure forgot me. After flying east for ten minutes, I called to see if I was clear to turn on course "Archer 354 Mike Romeo, sorry, we forgot you, turn on course."Headed up to Plainview, Landed, and took back off. Now the second leg, heading to Childress. Turned and headed to heading 069 and enjoyed the flight. Cruised along at 5,500 and it got just a little bumpy when I got to the Caprock. At the Caprock there is nearly a two thousand foot elevation change. I know that isn't anything new to some of the people up north, but in West Texas, the land of 10,000 runways, it is different. Beautiful to see from the air. I landed in Childress about 12:30 and met up with the parents for lunch, the departed about 1:30. Now it is 90 degrees, and I gotta fly home in this. (Good thing I took the Archer, AC:D) Well, the roller coaster began. As soon as I took off from Childress, heading to Floydad, It was bumpy. No matter the altitude, I couldn't find anything smooth. So, I just rode it out. Touched down at Floydada, and enjoyed the world not shaking, rolling, or pitching for a few minutes. Then I left for Lubbock, 20 minutes of bumping around again. Got back into Lubbock about 3:00 and was tired. It was a good flight, I'm learning to just deal with the turbulence and let the ride happen. And thank goodness for AC

First Cross Country

The first cross country is out of the way as of today. We put 3.2 on the Hobbs starting at 1000 this morning. I got out to the airport, not a cloud in sight and the windsocks weren't even twitching. (hmmm I am in West Texas). We had drawn up our course a couple of weeks ago and figured on KLBB (Lubbock) to KAMA (Amarillo) to KCVN(Clovis NM)back to Lubbock. This is kinda a standard dual CC at the school. Called for the weather brief. (That's the first one I ever called for) The briefer was very cautious and told me there was a front that was stationary around Amarillo, but the forecast said if it moved, it would head north. Other than that, no worries and have a good flight. I was flying a Archer III today instead of my Cherokee, but no big deal (just costs 30 dollar an hour more to rent) After we took off and activated our flight plan, we got a vector from the tower to turn to heading 010. OK that is where we are going anyway. The flight to Amarillo only took 39 minutes due to a 17 knot tailwind. The only complaint I had about that leg, was some moderate chop about halfway there, but we made it in one piece. I was unaware that the Amarillo airport used to be a bomber base many moons ago and that runway is a monster. My landing into AMA was a little lackluster. I flared it too high, but got it recovered and touched down fairly nicely. We took back off and departed and called the tower to tell them we were on our way to Clovis, they handed us off to AMA departure, who turned us over to Albuquerque Center almost immediately. Very relaxing flight in. No turbulence to battle with, good smooth sailing. After doing a few touch and goes at Clovis, we decided to take a break and made a full stop. My instructor' instructor is the FBO at CVN so we stopped to say hi and so my instructor could introduce me. Turns out this guy is 84 years old and is still instrucing (CFI, CFII, and multi instrument) He truly was a n amazing man and just a wealth of knowledge to talk to. (Plus he was retired from a lifetime career as an Air Force pilot). Coming back to Lubbock was interesting, high density altitude and heat kept performance down considerably, and the turbulence was getting going pretty good. After we got back to Lubbock and deplaned, I was ready for a beer. That has been my longest in the plane so far.

First Solo

Met up with Josh at 8 o'clock on a Saturday. Everything was just a regular routine, for the most part. We stayed in the pattern at the airport, and did two touch and goes. When we were coming around for the third one, he announced to the tower that this would be a full stop landing. What the hell!?!? Taxi back to the ramp, and go through shutdown. We head inside, and Josh asked for my logbook. He filled out my solo endorsement and asked if I was ready. I told him "You know more about it than I do." He told me to go give him three good ones (Landings) and that he would be listening. I went back out with a rather odd feeling in my stomach. After calling the tower for taxi clearance, I had to taxi over two miles to get to the active runway. This gives you plenty of time to think about what is about to happen. "I'm either going to do this, or I'm gonna end up in a smoking hulk at the end of the runway."

Anyway, I pull up to the hold short line and call the tower. Tower replies with "Cherokee 8 Mike Charlie, cleared for take off, runway 26, make right closed traffic" I pull out onto the runway and begin my take off roll. the whole time I'm thinking to myself "You can stop this any time, You can stop this anytime." next thing I know, the nose is in the air, then the plane is leaving the safety of Terra firma, and climbing skyward. "Holy shit, I'm in a an airplane by myself, and now I have to land the damn thing!" I come around and start setting up for landing. I look and everything is spot on. Pitch, airspeed, glide path, everything is good as gold. "My god, I'm gonna pull this off, after all." The landing was one of the best I ever had. After two more trip around the pattern and two more good landings, I taxied back to the school and was greeted by cameras, handshakes, and the congratulatory "Good job." I spent the rest of the day just beaming. My wife was ecstatic after I told her that I soloed. Mom, on the other hand was glad that she didn't know about it. I kept it to myself as not to raise too many worries about my well being. All in all, I had a great day and it is not soon to be forgotten

The New Guy

I got my new CFI today. Hell, he's only 27. The Senior CFI has fully briefed him on everything about me, where I'm at in my lessons, etc. We head out to do some touch and goes for a while. Have I mentioned I haven't been in an airplane in two weeks? Trust me, it shows in my landings. They are more like arrivals. Hell I would have made a killer carrier pilot in World War II with the way I was dropping the plane out of the air. they finally start to come back and things are looking ok, except for drifting off on the centerline some. To remedy this, we go out to a little runway in Abernathy. Pretty soon, I was holding the centerline and we went back to the big airport. a couple of lessons later, Josh said I'm going to solo my next lesson if the wind holds. Needless to say, the wind stayed up for about two weeks, so we were stuck going to the practice area when we could go up. Now I'm just playing a waiting game.

Damn Wind

I've been on the ground for two weeks because the wind is over 30 miles per hour. this sucks really bad. Lance has already left, I haven't got my solo, and I can't even go fly. This really sucks! So as life goes, I guess.

Lance is Leaving

Lance drug me aside when I came in the other day (First week in June). He proceeds to tell me that he is leaving. I'm informed that he wants to try to get me soloed before he leaves. Sounds good to me, But now I've got to go to another CFI. Well, we go up and run through all the manuvers. I was having a few problems, but nothing too bad. We go back and shoot in a few landings. Lance tells me that I'm ready to solo, as soon as the weather permits. (Wind is a bitch in West Texas). I get a written test to take called the Pre-solo test. I take the test, then Lance and I go over it. Hell I made a 100 without any corrections. (I'm impressed) Wind was reall bad, so I just played around on the simulator some. Next lesson, maybe?

Cross Wind Landings

Alright this goes against everything that every muscle in your body tells you. You are flying in on final approach basically sideways at a 35 to 45 degree angle to the runway. Right before you get to the runway, you kick in the rudder to bring the nose straight and counter the turning with the ailerons. You now have a low wing, at times, a very low wing. After getting used to the new feelings, it wasn't that big of a deal, other than the mains are now touching down one at a time instead of at the same time. The big deal was getting the rudder naturalized before the nose wheel touched down. If oyu don't the nose wheel is connected to the rudder pedals and you WILL launch towards the side of the runway. (Trust me on this one)

Landings, Landings, and more Landings

Well, Saturday morning is once again here. I walk in and Lance greets me. "Go preflight, I'll be there in a minute." After I'm done preflighting, here comes Lance. "Today, you will learn how to land an airplane." OK, well, what goes up must come down. Now I'm beginning to run the radios some. The lingo comes prety easy, and basically, you are nothing more than a Parrot. They tell you what to do and you repeat it. You tell them what you want, they repeat it. "Lubbock ground, Cherokee 828 Mike Charlie, remain in the Pattern, Ready to Taxi. "Cherokee 8 Mike Charlie squawk VFR Taxi 17 right Sierra via Lima. We head out and do our runup checklist and announce that we are ready for departure. We are cleared for takeoff, and told to make right closed traffic. After we turn downwind, I run through the landing checklist. Lance tells me when to reduce power, and start adding flaps. After turning base, then final, I begin to line up with the runway. Lance mentions that he will run the throttle this time. I just need to worry about the landing. After we make the numbers, Lance pulls the throttle to idle. I keep the nose coming down, then Lance tells me to start feeding the yoke back to hold the plane off. I didn't really pull the yoke back fast enough and my first attempt was a little flat. Retract flaps, and add full power. Take off and try it again. A couple more times and I'm really nailing them in. Now, I get the throttle, too. A few more and I've got this thing figured out. I even had a few landings that were so smooth, you never even felt the gear touch. You just heard the wheels start spinning. Now that is smooth.

more lessons

Lance and I meet up twice a week and fly for about an hour and a half. Usually on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. I've been introduced to "my" aircraft. A little Piper Cherokee 180. Nice plane, good radio stack with dual nav and com, and a fresh engine. First time behind the controls and I'm in love with this thing. The controls are a little heavier than the Cessna, but I enjoy flying it a little better for whatever reason. We head out to the practice area to start running through maneuvers. I nailed my steep (45 degree bank) turns effortlessly the first time out. We worked on turns around a point, and S-turns. A couple of the lessons were "flying under the hood" basically putting on a mask that won't let you see outside the aircraft so you must fly solely by the reference of your instruments. Lance is still handling the landing for time being.

First REAL Lesson

I meet my new instructor at the airport Saturday at 8:00a.m. A large man with a very friendly attitude named Lance. I get to be lucky enough to fly a Cessna 172N. OK, minor refresher course over P-factor, and engine torque, and how they effect turning tendencies of the aircraft in flight at high angles of attack. Preflight, let's go. I'm still not running the radios as this is a freaky kind of dialect I just haven't learned about yet. We head out to the South East practice area. Mind you ,I haven't yet learned that aircraft will not fall out of the sky if you chop the throttle. Lance looks at me and says, "Gimmie 25 degrees of flaps and fly at 60 knots." OK second notch of flaps, and 60 knots. My controls are getting mushy and I'm really having to use a lot of rudder input. "Now, gimme full flaps and 50 knots." Hell, He's a CFI, he knows a lot more about this than I do. Full flaps, 50 knots. "Turn to this heading, turn to that heading." OK so far, so good. "Now, I want you to pull the throttle to idle, and maintain your altitude". Excuse me? Did he just say idle? "We are going to do a power off stall." I just met this guy and he hates me so much, he's trying to kill me on our first lesson? "Wait for the break, Wait for the break. Full Throttle! Flaps 25" I just did my first stall! It turns out to be rather anti-climatic. OK, so we work on a little more slow flight and call it a day. While flying back to the airport, we talk a little about the lesson and how I had seen first hand about the aerodynamic factors that keep an airplane in the air. I got to fly the pattern all the way to final, learning my power settings and flap extensions. on final, Lance tells me to draw an imaginary cross on the windscreen and aim it for the numbers on the runway. Lance takes over to land about two hundred feet out. Good gosh, this guy can land smooth. We had a quick debrief. Next lesson would be starting maneuvers. Whoo Hoo! Steep turns, this is how I'm gonna make a living!

First Flight

Fast Forward, next Saturday. First Saturday in April. I get my intro flight. I was pretty damned excited and showed up an hour early. The CFI I was going with today shows up, and him and I go into his office. He asks how far into my training I was, and I told him I had done ground and passed my written. He asked if I had my medical. "I got my second class before I ever started anything, just to make sure I wasn't going to throw money away" He replies "Smart choice, Lets go fly" We walk out onto the flight line. "There's our plane" came from Josh. I walk up to this little Piper Cherokee 180 that is bright yellow. (this will work) He hands me the checklist and we go over it piecemeal. I start with the preflight, do the walk around inspection, and check off all the items on the list. Josh adds a few things for me to look for that aren't on the checklist, but will give you a good piece of mind. We climb in the plane and run down the engine start checks. "Clear Prop!" The little Lycoming rattles itself to life. (I just started my first airplane). Proceed to the checks after the engine start. Josh handles all the radio calls as I know nothing at this point. We get our taxi clearance and go out to the run up area. I go through the run up and pretakeoff check list. Everything is in the green. Josh then calls the tower for takeoff. "Cherokee niner four Juliette, cleared for takeoff, runway three fife left, turn left on course." "Lets go!" Josh is getting exited, he says he loves intro flights as he gets to go have fun for a while. "You have the plane" I pull out onto the runway, line up on center line, and nail it! Things are happening way fast at this point. All the sudden, The road noise from the gear is gone. I'm flying a fucking airplane!!!! We get 1,000 feet above the ground and do our climb checklist. Josh shows me how to trim the airplane and starts explaining the systems, and basically how to fly the damn thing. We just flew around the city for a while and did some sight seeing. It was a truly euphoric experience, to say the least. There was a few clouds, nothing too bad, the approach comes on the radio to advise us of an Airbus that was practicing instrument approaches was close to us. We adjust our course, and I get to watch the Airbus come out of the clouds. (wow, that thing is big). After flying around for a little over an hour, Josh calls approach so we can come home. Josh took care of the landing, and we go back to the hanger. After my drive home that evening, I felt that there was no one that could stop me, I'm bulletproof, I fear no evil, for I am the baddest mother fucker to walk the face of the earth. I have 1.7 hours in my logbook, and the world is mine. Little did I know...

Wow

A lot has happened since I last wrote. After finishing ground school in March and making a 90 on my written, I was ready to start flying. So I thought. My flight instructor and I scheduled for Saturday morning. Well, He calls at 9 o'clock Friday saying the plane was in for maintenance, and we would go up next Saturday. OK sounds like a plan. Well next Friday evening, he calls again, and proceeds to tell me of a buddy of his that died in Louisiana, and he was flying out Saturday for the funeral. OK, things are not going as they should here, folks. I get up Saturday and decide to drive by his house. He is outside, working in the yard!!! Rather than stop and kill him, right then and there, I go ahead and go to another (the only other flight school) and talk to the head CFI. He tells me to be out next Saturday morning for my intro flight and hands me a school application. In the meantime, I decide to do some digging on my old CFI. It turns out, he isn't even a CFI!!! He is only a ground instructor!!! I was told, during this time of his senior CFI, who turned out to be a completely fictitious person(I'm getting madder, the farther I read)