Trip back Home

I checked out of my room at 11 am and Bill and his wife, Emily picked me up to drop me at Orlando airport. Emily manufactures personal care products all by herself and sells them on her website. Very impressive! I was going to take them out for lunch but, there was a lot of traffic on the way to Orlando. We didn't have time for lunch.

Luckily there were no lines. After checking in and clearing security I still had an hour. After we boarded the plane to Atlanta, they kept us in the plane waiting for the weather to improve at Atlanta. After a while, they gave up and asked every one deplane. We started again two hours late. These clouds must have caused the delay.

As soon as we landed in Atlanta there was a plane ready to depart for Richmond. I could have taken it but, the luggage wouldn't have come with me. So, I decided to stick to the original schedule. It's good to be back home.

I will continue the blog once I start flying here. I need to join a flying club first. Thanks to every one who supported me in this endeavor especially my family, friends and colleagues. I hope you also learned a little about aviation along the way!

Flight# 57 - I'm a Private Pilot now!

Bill and I arrived early at the airport and kept the plane ready when Chuck walked in around 8 am. He just made me do three take offs and landings (normal, softfield and normal w/o flaps), I made them reasonably good and he was satisfied. His advice was don't jam the landings and fly first and communicate later. Wise words! Bill and I went back to Chuck's place to complete the paperwork. Chuck gave me a temporary license and FAA will mail permanent one shortly. At last, the hard work has paid off!

Below is my memorabilia from my solo flight! Checkout the comments from other CFIs and fellow students in English, Spanish, French and German!!

Flight Details - Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Flight# 56:
As a final preparation for tomorrow morning's retake check ride, we practiced normal, short field take offs & landings and emergency procedures. The problem was I was coming in way too fast and was not paying attention to airspeed. Bill made me do wide patterns and that helped. It was way past 8 pm by the time we returned. We also simulated a couple engine failures.

These pictures are taken during this flight. On left is, my instructor, Bill with his headset on. Look at the beautiful sunset on the right!

The time of this flight was 1.0 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 65.1 hours.

Flight# 55:

Bill was taking Karl under wing to help him regain his confidence in landings. They took the plane for quite some time. As soon as they returned, I went to practice more landings around the pattern on my own. 

The time of this flight was 0.7 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 64.1 hours.

Flight# 54:

Bill and I stayed in the pattern and practiced short field, normal and cross wind landings.

The time of this flight was 1.4 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 63.4 hours.

Flight# 53 - Checkride:

Bill walked me through the IACRA registration process. We went through all the hours recorded in the log book in detail to fill up the application. He then drove me to the seaplane base nearby for oral which is owned by the  examiner, Chuck. He also happens to be Jimmy Buffett's pilot! The Oral was easy. Chuck and I then headed back to the airport for practical exam. Just like Fred, he also asked me to take him to Lake Wales. He asked me to land there which I never did before! I managed to get in the pattern and land there. Performed a soft field take off and landing and a short fied take off. But, while getting on final for short field landnig, a tail dragger cut me in the pattern and landed on the runway without any announcement! I was hoping it would get on the taxiway by the time I land. I should have gone around instead. That wasn't a good decision on my part. Chuck also took me to Bok tower and made me do circles around it, then S-turns, steep turns followed by power off and stalls (straight up, while turning left and while turning right), power on stall, turns in slow flight and recovering from unusual attitudes. It was bumpy due to thermals. On the way back to the airport, he also simulated an engine failure. I followed all the procedures but, he didn't like the area I picked to land. I also messed up the landing at GIF. He was fair and discussed with Bill and I on how I performed and asked us to practice more landings and gave a chance to retake the landing portion of the test again in the morning. I thought I could go home today. I guess not!

The time of this flight was 1.2 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 62.0 hours.

Flight Details - Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Flight# 52:
As a final preparation for tomorrow morning's check ride, I got to practice with Bill pretty much all the maneuvers again. I also had to work on planning the trip to West Palm Beach (KPBI) for the examiner after the flight. This included filling up the Navigation log with True course, magnetic headings, check points along the way, weight and balance data to ensure Center of Gravity is within the limits, Determine runway lengths and communication frequencies along the way.

The time of this flight was 1.9 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 60.8 hours.

Flight# 51:

I went to the practice area to practice steep turns on my own. It was little scary doing these maneuvers all by myself. 

The time of this flight was 1.0 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 58.9 hours.

Flight# 50: 

Since I didn't do well on the steep turns with Fred, Bill and I headed to the practice area and practiced until I got them right.

The time of this flight was 0.9 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 57.9 hours.

Flight Details - Monday, April 5, 2010

This week was very hectic due to preparations for the check ride. I'm catching up on my blog now.

Flight# 49:

Bill and I went to the practice area again, to practice slow flights, stalls and steep turns under the hood. If I remember correct, during this flight, Bill flew us through a fluff cloud. Then I saw an amazing thing. Our plane's shadow on the cloud surrounded by a perfect circular rainbow! I wish I had the camera ready to take a picture of that. I didn't know what it is called at that time but, after researching I learn now that it is called a Glory! It was so beautiful. It lasted only a few seconds.

The time of this flight was 1.3 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 57.0 hours.

Flight# 48: - Final Stage Check

Bill set me up with Fred for the final stage check. I'm suppose to plan a trip to Sebring. Bill never took me to any of the airports to the south of Winter Haven! I quickly printed the flight plans from fltplan.com. We took off and headed towards Lake Wales airport which is the first check point on the way to Sebring. Since I never been to these areas, I struggled little to find the airport. Comparing the landmarks on the sectional map, I expected the airport to be right after a road but, it wasn't there! I started getting little nervous. I went little further south and before I knew it, we were over the Lake Wales (KX07) airport. Whew, what a relief! Fred pulled the power on me. I followed the emergency procedures successfully and when I was about to land, he asked me to give full power and go to the nearby Bok Tower to make circles around it. This followed by S-Turns along a road. He also made me do stalls and steep turns while under the hood. I lost a lot of altitude while doing steep turns. That wasn't good. I haven't done these in a while and already lost touch! I also, didn't stay at 1000 ft while in the pattern for landing. After we landed at KGIF, he signed my logbook and asked Bill to work with me on Steep turns. 

The time of this flight was 1.1 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 55.7 hours.

Flight# 47:

Since I never had any solo time on this aircraft, I took it up around the pattern to practice take offs and landings.

The time of this flight was 0.8 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 54.6 hours.

Flight# 46:

With N4655X out of service, I had no other choice but to use a different aircraft. Since Cessna 152 is very similar to Cessna 150, we went with N6490L. I flew in this aircraft nearly two weeks ago, only an hour!  Working with a different aircraft, two days before the practical exam is not a good thing but what else can we do? In preparation for the final stage check, Bill made me practice all the maneuvers like turns in slow flight, power on, power off stalls / recoveries, and steep turns. By the way. the Hobbs meter doesn't work in this plane. So, we had to note the time from engine start to shut off.

The time of this flight was 1.3 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 53.8 hours.

Flight# 45

After my cross country trip, another student flew my plane and wrecked the nose gear while landing. So, I have to use a different plane for my check ride on Tuesday! Just to finish off the remaining two night landings, we went up in a Piper Warrior N121DL. It's a low wing, heavy plane with powerful engine. It has an entirely different feel from Cessna 150. It is more like a luxury car with low engine noise. Had I started my training in this plane, I might have liked it. It felt as if the plane doesn't have a soul. I will probably stick with Cessnas. I made three landings.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 0.9 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 52.5 hours.

Flight# 44 - Long Solo Cross Country

Finally the radar showed that fog had cleared up along the route. So, I started on my long cross country trip (KGIF - KOCF - KGNV - KGIF) around 11:00 am.This trip is around 240 miles. Since I already traveled this route with Bill before, there was nothing to it. It was lunch time by the time I landed at Ocala. Taxied to the FBO thinking that I could eat lunch at the restaurant. But, it was closed because of Easter. Taxied back to the runway and took off for Gainesville. Tune the Nav radio to Gators VOR frequency and center the needle and it tells you which direction to head to. It is that easy. Tower cleared me for Runway 25. Taxied to the GA ramp and got it refueled and headed back to Winter Haven.

It was a good thing I requested Flight following on the way back. I initially planned on traveling at 5,500 ft but, beyond 4,500 ft it was very hazy. So, I asked the controller if I could descend to 3,500 ft. While doing that, she advised about another plane at 12 O' clock at 4,600 ft. I was at 4,100 ft at that time. I may not have noticed it if not for the controller. Whew!

Because I was traveling at 3,500 ft, the ride was bumpy all the way back. There was also a lot of cross wind. I had to crab 15 degrees to the left to go the desired heading due to the easterly wind. I landed safely back on Runway 5 around 3:45 pm.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 3.2 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 51.6 hours.

Flight# 43

I still need two night landings to meet the requirements. Bill had asked me to show up at the airport by 5:45 am so that we can get this done. But, when we arrived at the airport, fog started rolling in. So, we decided to get them done tonight. I am also suppose to go on a long cross country trip today. I had to wait until fog cleared up all the way along the route. As soon as the fog at Winter Haven cleared up, I went up to practice soft field and short field take offs and landings.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 0.8 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 48.4 hours.