The big day was here... well, one of them at least. There seems to be a lot of big events happening recently.
I arrived to the flight school a little early since the forecast wasn't too favorable for the afternoon. I completed my preflight planning which consists of filling out a form breaking down the trip into segments, so you can calculate distance, time, altitude, wind correction angles, magnetic variation, true course, true heading, estimated time enroute, fuel burn, etc. Not to forget radio frequencies, runway headings, any notices along the way, and so forth and so on. A little different than getting into a car and driving somewhere, but it's worth the time it takes to plan accordingly.
Once the planning portion was completed I was given the keys to the plane which had been topped off earlier that morning. Full tanks for solo = gooooooooooooood. :)
I did the preflight checklist and cranked up the engine (another checklist) and called weather and ground for clearance to taxi.
I completed the runup procedure (another checklist) and was cleared for takeoff to the northeast with a left turnout approved. Shortly after takeoff I was routed to the right instead as there was jet traffic to the left of me and proceeded with my climb out to 5500 feet (another checklist... starting to sound repetitive, isn't it).
I got up to my cruise altitude and proceeded with my cruise checklist, and began my flight out to Anderson, SC. I got a brief tutorial on how to use the GPS system the day before, so this time I had backup, just in case I needed it. I kept the GPS dialed into my destination and used it for verification just in case I needed to make sure I was still on course. Thankfully my preflight planning worked and I was on course the entire time.
I arrived at Anderson, SC and landed on runway 5. The first attempt for landing wasn't shaping up the way I liked it so I did a go around and came back again for a successfull landing. I taxied off the runway and got setup for my next leg of the journey to Gainesville, GA (Chicken capital of the world. You think I'm kidding don't you).
I got the weather report and lined up for an entry into the traffic pattern for runway 23 at Gainsville. The landing went a little better, but I landed a little flat. Still, no harm done. I taxied off the runway and parked the plane while entering in all my data needed to make the next leg back to home base at PDK airport.
This leg got a little interesting as I took off south I noticed the weather system that was forcasted was defiantely covering the area I was supposed to fly back to. I could see that the visibility was still pretty good considering the rain in the area so I made the call to proceed. I passed through some rain which cleared up a bit and I was able to continue my flight without much difficulty. The rain only posed a small issue with visibility, but wasn't enough to force me to turn back.
I radioed PDK for airspace clearance and permission to land and requested runway 27 as the alternate as it lined up with the winds better. They granted a right base entry onto 27 and cleared me for landing.
This was the first time I had ever done flying in rainy weather, much less landing in it, so I was in for an experience. The visibility stayed fairly decent and the rain was light, so the landing went well. I had my hand on the throttle in case I needed to apply full power for a go around, but thankfully that wasn't needed.
I cleared the runway and taxied back to the ramp and parked the plane. Mission accomplished!!
All in all a good flight, I was much more confident this time around than I had been for my local solo flight, so I was able to remember most of the things that I needed to and most important of all, I made it back safely.
Talking with the flight instructor afterwards he commeded me in my choices and choosing the alternate runway. I think they were a little worried as well as they called my cell phone and had the radio on listening for my return to the airport.
What's left?: 3.8 hours of flight time. So I'll probably do another cross country, then finish up whatever local solo time I have and then I'll start prepping for my checkride (Final test). Once I've completed that I'll have my license. Very much looking forward to that.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Local solo flight
After my initiation into solo flying, I went out again on a local area solo flight. A local area solo means that you have to remain within a 25 nautical mile radius of the originating airport, it also means that you cannot land anywhere else.
The weather that day was forecasted to be raining and thunderstorms in the vicinity of the airport, so I had some trepidation about flying out of my comfort zone so to speak and loose sight of the airport. I'd been in the area numerous times during training flights and know my way around, except this time I was flying solo with no one else to rely on.
I honestly felt like a 15 year old driver behind the wheel of a car the first time they're taking it out on the road. It didn't help either that the visbility wasn't that great and I hadn't quite figured out how to to use the GPS system effectively, so it was all relying on my pilotage skills and situational awareness. I have a tendancy to initially underestimate myself but I kept on reminding myself that I had done this countless times before and could do it with no problems this time around as well.
Needless to say, my local area solo was a success. I headed back to the airport as the weather was moving in and landed on runway 27. Not the perfect landing, but it was a safe one nonetheless.
I added a total of 1.1 hours of solo time, only 7.9 hours to go.
The weather that day was forecasted to be raining and thunderstorms in the vicinity of the airport, so I had some trepidation about flying out of my comfort zone so to speak and loose sight of the airport. I'd been in the area numerous times during training flights and know my way around, except this time I was flying solo with no one else to rely on.
I honestly felt like a 15 year old driver behind the wheel of a car the first time they're taking it out on the road. It didn't help either that the visbility wasn't that great and I hadn't quite figured out how to to use the GPS system effectively, so it was all relying on my pilotage skills and situational awareness. I have a tendancy to initially underestimate myself but I kept on reminding myself that I had done this countless times before and could do it with no problems this time around as well.
Needless to say, my local area solo was a success. I headed back to the airport as the weather was moving in and landed on runway 27. Not the perfect landing, but it was a safe one nonetheless.
I added a total of 1.1 hours of solo time, only 7.9 hours to go.
Monday, May 4, 2009
First solo in the bag!!
After long last, it finally arrived! The day of my first solo flight. Well, Dejavu actually... I'll explain.
I was initially scheduled to do my first solo last weekend on the 26th but since the original instructor who signed me off wasn't able to work with me, I was scheduled with another. Since he hadn't signed me off on the previous flight he had to take me through all the basic maneuvers needed to sign me off himself.
Initially all started out well, but after completing a series of stall maneuvers I wasn't feeling too well, so we heading back to home base.
Once we got there the winds started picking up and since my stomach still wasn't doing too well we canceled the solo flight for the day. I was a little bummed, but hey, better not to fly when you're not feeling well.
Fast forward to May 2nd.... I showed up for my scheduled flight time at 9am Saturday morning and met with my flight instructor who went up with me for 3 times around the traffic pattern to make sure I knew what I was doing. He thought I did excellent so we taxied back to the flight school where he hopped out, endorsed my flight log and wished me good luck.
I climbed in the plane, did my pre-start checklist and fired up the engine. I then checked the local ATIS (Weather) and contacted Peachtree ground control. I told them I was a student pilot on first solo and was staying in the traffic pattern.
They cleared me to taxi to runway 20 right and I began to move the airplane, this time as "Pilot in Command" as it's officially called.
I taxied to the runup area (side location to the runway used for preflight checklists) and began to go through the runup checklist. I then called ground again and confirmed preflight was complete. I got clearance to taxi to and hold short of runway 20R and to contact the tower.
Once I contacted the tower they cleared me for takeoff and I proceeded onto the runway. I lined up with the stripes, paused, took a deep breath and increased the throttle to full and began my takeoff roll.
Shortly thereafter I was moving down the runway, picking up airspeed and passing the standard 55 knots and started pulling back on the yolk. The aircraft responded and started taking off and I was on my way towards the sky for the first time completely in control of an aircraft with no one else sitting beside me. This of course put a little smirk across my face as I was realizing how F*&%^G cool this was... :)
I continued my climb to traffic pattern altitude or slightly below as some cloud cover had rolled in and continued on my right turn to downwind. The tower contacted me and told me to extend my downwind leg and they would call when I could turn to base. So, I continued my downwind leg for a while and started wondering if they'd forgotten about me... Soon I saw why they did when I saw a jet coming the other direction for a landing. When it passed by the tower called and cleared me to land on runway 20R.
I turned back, lined up with the runway, put in flaps at the appropriate intervals and airspeeds and completed my first landing, not perfect by any means, but a landing nonetheless.
I received clearance to taxi back for another round and proceeded to taxi back to the other end of the runway for another go. The next 2 rounds were fairly standard and no major deviations to note.
Once my 3 required rounds were complete (my landing on the 3rd round was pretty darn good, my instructor confirmed the same) I went for another 2 rounds and then taxied back to the flight school for a total of 5 rounds in the traffic pattern and a successfull first solo flight!!
Back at the flight school I was congratulated by my instructor and the other instructors in the office and got to ring the bell which signified a completed solo flight. A nice tradition for the flight school. I got out my first solo t-shirt for them to cut the shirt tail on (old pilot tradition) and had everyone sign it. They asked to keep it for a little while to get the other instructors who were not present to sign it as well.
Over all everything went very well and I had one major accomplishment in the bag. I proceeded home to share in the celebrations with my lovely wife and a couple neighbors and was finally able to smoke the Montecristo cigar I'd been saving for this purpose.
This weekend (weather permitting) I should be able to complete a few more hours of solo flight time as I have to complete a local area solo which means I can fly around north of Atlanta area for a couple hours and rack up some solo time.
After that I can continue on my cross country flight which should take me up to Anderson, SC and back.
Once I have my 10 hours of solo flight time then I'll be going for my final check ride and I'll be DONE! Somthing I'm very much looking forward to....
I was initially scheduled to do my first solo last weekend on the 26th but since the original instructor who signed me off wasn't able to work with me, I was scheduled with another. Since he hadn't signed me off on the previous flight he had to take me through all the basic maneuvers needed to sign me off himself.
Initially all started out well, but after completing a series of stall maneuvers I wasn't feeling too well, so we heading back to home base.
Once we got there the winds started picking up and since my stomach still wasn't doing too well we canceled the solo flight for the day. I was a little bummed, but hey, better not to fly when you're not feeling well.
Fast forward to May 2nd.... I showed up for my scheduled flight time at 9am Saturday morning and met with my flight instructor who went up with me for 3 times around the traffic pattern to make sure I knew what I was doing. He thought I did excellent so we taxied back to the flight school where he hopped out, endorsed my flight log and wished me good luck.
I climbed in the plane, did my pre-start checklist and fired up the engine. I then checked the local ATIS (Weather) and contacted Peachtree ground control. I told them I was a student pilot on first solo and was staying in the traffic pattern.
They cleared me to taxi to runway 20 right and I began to move the airplane, this time as "Pilot in Command" as it's officially called.
I taxied to the runup area (side location to the runway used for preflight checklists) and began to go through the runup checklist. I then called ground again and confirmed preflight was complete. I got clearance to taxi to and hold short of runway 20R and to contact the tower.
Once I contacted the tower they cleared me for takeoff and I proceeded onto the runway. I lined up with the stripes, paused, took a deep breath and increased the throttle to full and began my takeoff roll.
Shortly thereafter I was moving down the runway, picking up airspeed and passing the standard 55 knots and started pulling back on the yolk. The aircraft responded and started taking off and I was on my way towards the sky for the first time completely in control of an aircraft with no one else sitting beside me. This of course put a little smirk across my face as I was realizing how F*&%^G cool this was... :)
I continued my climb to traffic pattern altitude or slightly below as some cloud cover had rolled in and continued on my right turn to downwind. The tower contacted me and told me to extend my downwind leg and they would call when I could turn to base. So, I continued my downwind leg for a while and started wondering if they'd forgotten about me... Soon I saw why they did when I saw a jet coming the other direction for a landing. When it passed by the tower called and cleared me to land on runway 20R.
I turned back, lined up with the runway, put in flaps at the appropriate intervals and airspeeds and completed my first landing, not perfect by any means, but a landing nonetheless.
I received clearance to taxi back for another round and proceeded to taxi back to the other end of the runway for another go. The next 2 rounds were fairly standard and no major deviations to note.
Once my 3 required rounds were complete (my landing on the 3rd round was pretty darn good, my instructor confirmed the same) I went for another 2 rounds and then taxied back to the flight school for a total of 5 rounds in the traffic pattern and a successfull first solo flight!!
Back at the flight school I was congratulated by my instructor and the other instructors in the office and got to ring the bell which signified a completed solo flight. A nice tradition for the flight school. I got out my first solo t-shirt for them to cut the shirt tail on (old pilot tradition) and had everyone sign it. They asked to keep it for a little while to get the other instructors who were not present to sign it as well.
Over all everything went very well and I had one major accomplishment in the bag. I proceeded home to share in the celebrations with my lovely wife and a couple neighbors and was finally able to smoke the Montecristo cigar I'd been saving for this purpose.
This weekend (weather permitting) I should be able to complete a few more hours of solo flight time as I have to complete a local area solo which means I can fly around north of Atlanta area for a couple hours and rack up some solo time.
After that I can continue on my cross country flight which should take me up to Anderson, SC and back.
Once I have my 10 hours of solo flight time then I'll be going for my final check ride and I'll be DONE! Somthing I'm very much looking forward to....
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