Flight# 22

The FBO closes by 5 pm. So, we couldn't get the fuel truck to fill the tanks prior to our cross country night flight. There is a self service AvGas station within the airport. I used my credit card and filled the tanks myself! This is different from filling gas for your car. You have to attach the ground cable to airframe first before you start fueling.

We called Flight Service (1-800-WX-BRIEF) to get a standard briefing for our route. We decided to request for flight following once in the air from Orlando Approach instead of filing a flight plan. You got to plan every thing ahead for night flying. Several radio frequencies like, Approach control, source and destination's (AWOS and CTAF), VOR frequencies along the way so that you can intercept different VOR radials to find your location on a map in case you are lost!

After plotting the route on the Jacksonville sectional chart from KGIF to KOCF, we measured the True course heading of 340 degrees. Magnetic course is 340 + 5 degree isogonic deviation near KGIF. The FSS briefer told us that wind was 10 kts from 110 degrees. Which means, there will be some right quartering tail wind. With the wind correction angle, the magnetic heading comes to 355 degrees. After taking off from Runway 5 around 8 pm, we headed towards 355 degrees. Our altitude was 4,500 ft KGIF to KOCF and 5,500 ft from KOCF to KGIF. For VFR flights, above 3,000 ft, the altitude needs to be odd thousands + 500 ft when flying magnetic course 0-179 and even thousands + 500 ft when flying 180-359. On the way back, we could see Orlando to our left and Tampa to our right. We also saw the Disney fireworks far away. It was fun to turn on Runway lights and change their intensity using the mic button with Radio tuned to the CTAF frequency.

We received flight following from Orlando Approach who then handed us off to Jacksonville Approach after a while. On the way back, Jacksonville Approach and Tampa Approach handled our flight following. Bill pretty much handled these communications with the approach controllers. We had to squawk the code they give us in the transponder so that they could monitor our flight path. At night, Runways appear much higher than the true elevation! After landing on Runway 5, I got to practice a few more Take offs and landings flying around the pattern in the night. Since we were running low on fuel, we called it off for the day after 8 take offs and landings. The strong cross wind made these landings difficult. It was midnight by the time I reached the room. I need to be back at the airport by 8 am tomorrow. My total Hobbs time for today was 7.6 hours! This was almost close to the combined time of my first 10 flights!

The Hobbs time of this flight was 3.1 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 23.7 hours.

Flight# 21

It turns out N4655X has a few more hours left before the 100 hour inspection is due. So, we decided to use it all up today and work on the inspection tomorrow. So, we went up again around 4:30 pm. This time, Bill changed the strategy and made me do long final approaches to help me with controlling the plane close to the Runway during landings. That worked. I made 2-3 real good landings. Still, more practice is needed to be consistent. Bill and I went out to eat after this flight to get ready for the night time cross-country flight to Ocala which is about 70 nautical miles (~80 miles) NNW to Winter Haven..

The Hobbs time of this flight was 0.9 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 20.6 hours.

Flight# 20

The third flight of the day was around 2:30 pm. Bill's solution for my problem of getting fixated on looking at instruments is to cover up the instruments with his jacket! I actually found it much easier flying that way. I was making good approaches to landing when I look outside and fly. I made one or two good landings but, a lot more practice is needed to be consistent. I'm still finding it difficult to control when close to the Runway while landing. 

The Hobbs time of this flight was 1.0 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 19.7 hours.

Flight# 19

We went back up in the air around 10:30 am staying in the pattern doing Touch and Gos. We must have done at least 8 take offs and landings. I'm having difficulty controlling the plane when it is close to the Runway while landing. Also, I'm focusing too much on looking at instruments rather than looking outside while in the pattern. Bill and I discussed about this after the flight and he mentioned that he knows a way to get that problem fixed!

The Hobbs time of this flight was 1.5 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 18.7 hours.

Flight# 18

Karl and I headed to the airport at 7 am but, no one was around! The FBO terminal wasn't open until 7:30 am to get N4655X tanks topped off. Bill and I headed to the practice area taking off from Runway 11 since the wind was from 90 degrees. We climbed to above 5,000 ft on this flight. Weather was gorgeous this morning. On the way, we saw a few baloon flights near the fantasy of flight landmark. I got to practice power on stalls followed by power off stalls. On the way back to the airport, I got to perform forward slip to lose altitude quickly.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 1.1 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 17.2 hours.

Flight# 17

Since the other Cessna 150 is still in the maintenance shop for repairs, Karl's instructor had scheduled N4655X for him. So, Bill and I couldn't get back into the air until 2:30 pm. Bill asked me to fly the plane to the Lakeland airport (KLAL) near the practice area since it has a longer runway so that I could practice Touch and Gos. Here is a sample video of a Touch and Go. Lakeland is a towered airport. So, I got to communicate with the control tower on the 124.5 mhz frequency. The controller was pretty busy through out the time we were over there sequencing the aircraft. Twice, the controller asked us to use the right hand traffic pattern to avoid running into some high speed aircraft and on one occasion, he asked us to come to a full stop on the runway since a helicopter was flying crosswind. I still need more practice to land the plane gracefully. Since some one else got the plane for 4:30 pm, we headed back to the Winter Haven airport (KGIF). After landing, we came to find out that the 4:30-6:00 pm reservation was canceled! Had we known that, we could have stayed for some more time in the air. Some one else got it reserved for 6:00-8:30 pm. So, that was it for today. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. We got the plane reserved from 7 am to 8 pm pretty much to ourselves.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 1.6 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 16.1 hours.

Flight# 16

It rained last night. The cloud bases were still low for a VFR flight at 8 am. So, we reviewed how aircraft instruments work until the weather cleared up a bit. Around 9:30 am, we took off from Runway 29 to the practice area at 1500 ft but, couldn't find an opening to go above the clouds. It is not safe to do that under VFR conditions as you may get stuck above the clouds and may not be able to get down if the weather doesn't clears up! So, we headed back to the airport to practice a few Touch and Gos flying around the pattern.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 1.1 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 14.5 hours.

Flight# 15

Today Bill and I reviewed Aircraft systems in between flights. As soon as Benjamin returned from the cross country trip around 3 pm, we topped off the tanks again and headed to the practice area taking off from Runway 11. I'm getting better at slow flights and power off stalls. I'm at least not losing that much altitude as I used to. Practiced several rounds of 360 degree turns in slow flight and steep turn configurations.

We also flew by the sod farm owned by one of Bill's friends. There was a grass strip on his farm but, we didn't land as the strip may not be long enough to take off again due to high density altitude. His friend came out to wave and we rolled our wings in response. We then picked a farm house and performed low altitude (1000 ft) circles around it correcting for wind through out the turn. On the way back to the airport, I got to practice the slip which was a lot of fun. Wind keeps changing direction. We had to use Runway 23 to land.

Since Bill was conducting a solo stage check for one of the students at 5 pm, I could go to the room little early today. Shortly there after, I got company after living in this house alone for the past 5 days. Another instructor (Mike) picked up a new student (Karl) from France at the Orlando airport and helped him check into the house. Looks like, Mike and Carl will be using N4655X too. In a day or two, it will be up for 100 hour inspection. Since Bill is also a mechanic, he wants to pitch in to speed up the 100 hour inspection. It will be interesting to see how the schedules pan out. I hope I will have a plane to fly!

The Hobbs time of this flight was 1.2 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 13.4 hours.

Flight# 14

The student from France (Benjamin) reserved the flight for several hours today as the other Cessna 150 was in the shop for maintenance. So, we couldn't go back into the air until Noon. By this time, wind picked up and shifted direction with gusts up to 20 knots. After the usual preflight inspections, took off from Runway 23 departing the pattern for North to the practice area. This again involved practicing slow flights and power off stalls.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 0.8 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 12.2 hours.

Flight# 13

It was a beautiful day today. We took off from Runway 5 for the practice area around 8:30 am. Practiced several clearing turns, slow flights and power off stalls. The Meclizine HCL 25 mg I have been taking motion sickness is doing wonders. I absolutely have no nausea or any side effects. There is no way I could have endured these maneuvers without this medication. Unfortunately, even though Airforce allows some anti-nausea medication, FAA doesn't allow any of it to act as a pilot in command. Bummer! So, I need to wean off of it before I get to do solo.

We also went past 4,000 ft on this flight. Bill also demonstrated a slip. The falling leaf stall and the slip are a lot of fun. This is the longest flight so far. On the way back to the airport, I got to spend flying some time under the hood.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 1.5 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 11.4 hours.

Flight# 12

The plane I have been flying, Cessna 150, N4655X was returned only around 6 pm. So, Bill and I headed to the practice area again for the third flight of the day. I was able to record this flight using Garmin Nuvi 200. You can play this file in Google earth to see the route we flew. You need to play the Garmin Nuvi log that shows up under Tracks to get a bird's eye view along the route. For some reason, the altitude along the route isn't showing up correctly.

It's again the same routine of more practice on power off stalls, dutch rolls and slow flights. I made two nice circles. They show up on the Google earth! I flew the plane to the airport unaided and entered the pattern at 45 degrees for Runway 11 but, I botched the landing. Bill assisted me in the go around. The second time was ok.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 1.1 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 9.9 hours. 

Flight# 11

For the second flight of the day, the regular N4655X was not available as Mike was having his check ride today. His Oral and practical flight exam took close to 5 hours! By the time he was done, it was 2:15 pm. Some one else scheduled the plane from 3-6 pm. So, we decided to take Cessna 152 with tail# N6490L.This is pretty similar to Cessna 150 but, heavy. I got to practice again the power off stalls and dutch rolls. The Hobbs meter in this plane was not working!

The Hobbs time of this flight was ~1.0 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 8.8 hours.

Flight# 10

I called the fuel truck to fill the tanks before heading to the airport. By the time I reached there around 7:45 am, tanks were already filled. I went ahead and performed the preflight inspection and we headed to the practice area taking off from Runway 11. Bill demoed a slow flight, power off stall, power on stall, falling leaf stall and the corresponding recovery procedures. I performed 360 degree turns in a slow flight configuration. It seems I can't proceed to the next stage until I master these techniques. All these maneuvers are suppose to help in recognizing the situations when the plane stops flying and enters a stall. This can very much happen while landing. So, this practice will help to recover from those situations while landing.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 1.1 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 7.8 hours. 

Flight# 9

Bill suggested I take Dramamine to help get over the motion sickness. I picked up some thing from Walgreens that's equivalent to Dramamine but less drowsy and long lasting. I didn't get to fly again until 5:30 pm as Bill went practicing on a more complex airplane. After reaching the practice area, I got to work on maintaining the same flight attitude irrespective of what Bill did to the control settings. He would change the elevator trim, make turns and asks me to bring the plane to level and direct it in certain heading. I also got to work with the trim so that the plane will fly by itself without any additional control inputs. We then headed back to the airport flying cross wind over Runway 11 and entered downwind instead of the usual teardrop approach to enter the pattern. I got to practice flaring on the runway. We taxied back to Runway 29 again to practice one more take off and landing. I was able to takeoff on my own without any assistance from Bill. I became more familiar with flying the pattern on this run. I also got to practice some more flaring and the landing is not intimidating any more!

For what ever reason, I didn't feel any nausea at all on this flight. Either I'm getting used to flying or the medicine kicked in. That's a good sign and I intend to keep on taking the medicine. Bill already warned me that tomorrow is going to be hectic and I'm going to be tired at the end of the day. I guess he is mentally preparing me.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 0.8 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 6.7 hours. 

Flight# 8

The student whose plane got wrecked yesterday is having his check ride (practical exam) tomorrow. So, we had to share our flight time with him. We took alternate flights to fly today. Because of this, I didn't get to fly again until Noon. Wind pretty much stayed in the same direction (from 290 degrees) through out the day. So, Runway 29 was the logical choice. Same exercise of going through the checklists and then takeoff to the practice area followed. Wind is little higher than the morning. Due to my propensity for motion sickness, didn't stay too long in the air. I did fine on this flight.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 0.7 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 5.9 hours.

Flight# 7

I arrived at the airport early today by 7:30 am to get the plane ready for 8 am flight. Called the fuel truck to top of the tanks. You can see the picture I took of the fuel guy filling the tanks. As you can see they use ladder to stand higher than wings and fill the tanks in both wings!

We started taxiing to Runway 29 as soon as Bill showed up. Bill showed how to enter a stall and recover from it. I will get to do this more tomorrow. Practiced some turns and then picked an interstate (I-4 I think) intersection with on and off ramps as a reference point and circled around it twice with corrections for wind through out. Since I will be coming to the practice area on my own next week, Bill pointed to some landmarks and showed how to locate the airport to get back. We flew back to the airport passing over it at 2000 ft and then descended to 1000 ft turning in a teardrop fashion to enter the pattern at 45 degrees. The usual downwind, base and final legs followed, to land safely back on Runway 29. Every thing was fine until I got out of the plane and then it happened again! I couldn't wait until I reach the restroom and I threw up in the parking area itself. Bummer!:-( It wasn't as bad as yesterday though. I felt better a little while after.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 1.0 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 5.2 hours.

Flight# 6

The wind picked up to 16 knots with gusts up to 25 knots by Noon. In a way, it is good to practice in difficult conditions so that it will be piece of cake when flying in normal weather. We used this opportunity to practice cross wind take off. The usual routine of preflight inspections followed by run up to Runway 23. Bill loaned me a dvd to watch on Takeoffs and landings last night. I got to put some of those tips into practice. It was a lot of bouncing around due to high wind. Picked some ground reference points and practiced staying on course in spite of the wind. We picked up some tail wind for some time, with GPS displaying much higher ground speed than the indicated airspeed! We headed back to Runway 29 for landing. Bill flew the base and final and landed us safely on the ground. This is a shorter runway with no glide path indicators! Bill has been giving me more and more home work. So, I'm going to keep these posts shorter to focus on what I came here for.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 0.6 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 4.2 hours. Below are some pictures taken from the backyard:

Flight# 5

Arrived at the airport around 8 am. Weather was good for a VFR flight. Performed all the preflight inspections and we were ready to roll. ATIS indicated wind from 260 so, we could have picked either Runway 29 or 23 but decided to take off from 23 as the other traffic was using it. Taxied to the Run-up area and completed the Run-up and Pre-takeoff / Takeoff checklists. We heard on the CTAF another aircraft 6 miles away heading for Runway 23. Since it is a few minutes away, we decided to take off. I got to announce to the other traffic (just press the small mic button on the yoke and speak into the headphone's mic) our intentions. I said the following:

"Winter Haven traffic, Cessna 4655 X-ray entering Runway 23 for Take off, Winter Haven".

We climbed to 3,000 ft and headed to the practice area. I learned some thing new today. Bill demonstrated a few things like what you do if the elevator and rudder stop working. These control surfaces basically move the airplane up or down (pitch) and left or right (yaw) respectively. In the small planes, just leaning forward in your seat causes the plane to nose down and leaning backward moves the nose up. Similarly, opening the left door in flight, turns the nose to the right and opening the right door turns the nose to the left. Pretty neat. What we need the controls for? Bill also demonstrated the inherent stability of the airplane. Pushing the yoke forward, pitches the nose down and when the controls are untouched, the increased airspeed over wings wants to fly the plane so the nose comes up automatically and as the nose comes up, airspeed decreases so the nose goes down again. This happens until the plane levels out. It is kind of like pendulum swinging up and down! We also practiced a few Dutch rolls.

We then descended to 700 ft to locate a sod farm which is owned by one of Bill's friends. At the low altitude, as the ground started heating up, the ride was bumpy which made me feel nauseous. I felt little better after eating a cracker. We then headed back to the airport. Climbed to 2000 ft and flew over the airport to enter the pattern for Runway 23 at 45 degrees. While coming down to the pattern altitude of 1000 ft and banking at the same time, the dreaded thing happened. I had to use the sick bag.:-( I was glad I looked at the glove box contents the previous day. Otherwise, I would have had to open the window! Bill took a shortcut and took permission to land ahead of the aircraft about to take off, to take us quickly to the ground. I felt better after while.

The plane which gave us way, owned by a student (Mike). He was learning to fly from one of the flight school's instructors (Jorge). Unfortunately, shortly there after, their plane had to make an emergency landing due to engine failure resulting in plane flipping upside down after the wheel got stuck in the ground. There was heavy rain last night.

I snapped the photo on the left while watching news that evening. It was unbelievable having seen that plane intact waiting for us to land while I was barfing and seeing it wrecked on TV a few hours later! I got to talk to both the instructor and the student at the end of the day. It seems the shoulder harness and the lap belt prevented them from getting injured as they were hanging up side down in the cockpit! Both are planning to continue the training tomorrow in a different plane of course. My hats off to their spirit.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 1.2 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 3.6 hours.

Flight# 4

We had the plane scheduled for Noon. It was still very cloudy but, luckily there wasn't much wind. So, we did more ground practice. After the preflight inspection, it started raining. There is hardly any one flying. This worked out for us because, Bill could let me taxiing on the run way to simulate the landing and take off speeds. That was fun going back and forth on the 5-23 run way. I am getting good at maintaining that center line. Breaking needs more practice though. Looks like, you need to control the rudder with the ball of your feet and the breaks (at the top of the rudder pedals) with the tip of your feet applying the same amount of pressure on both rudder pedals while pulling back the elevator. I could practice this a few more times on the runway and a taxi way. I wanted to practice for some more time on the runway but, Bill wouldn't let me. It seems, training is effective if you practice for no more than an hour and take a break. We taxied back to the parking area.

Parking: This is kind of like parallel parking the car. One person pushes the plane back by placing hands on the propeller at the center while other person, holds the tail down and nose up by pushing on the vertical stabilizer and the fuselage guiding the plane to the tie down position. Once in position, tie the ropes to wings and the tail so that wind won't blow the plane away!

Thunder storms rolled in for rest of the day so, further training was called off. The Hobbs time of this flight was 0.7 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 2.4 hours.

Flight# 3

The weather outlook for today didn't look good. It rained cats and dogs in the after noon. We managed to squeeze in two flights between the openings but, never left the ground though. Below is a view of the planes mostly, amphibians, parked on the ramp.

I reached the airport slightly before 9 am. Bill was already there dispatching the N4655X. I went ahead to clean the windshield with some special spray. When you wipe, it has to be in the direction of the wind blowing over the airplane it seems. Otherwise, streaks will form on the glass which could create glare.

After the preflight inspection, we headed to hangar area, for some more ground practice. The ground control appears to be more difficult than flying the plane! Any deviation from the center line could clip wings with electric poles or buildings. On top of that, wind is gusting around 25 knots! This means, you also need to turn ailerons into the wind. Otherwise, especially because the Cessna 150 is a high wing plane, the wind can tip the plane over. After practicing a few turns and circles in the hangar area and on taxiways, it started raining with wind gusts increasing. So, we headed to the parking area.

The practice time during this flight is .6 hours on Hobbs. Cumulative Hobbs time: 1.7 hours.