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.