Final Prog Check, pt. 1 & 2

Monday was a long day at the airport, consisting of 2 hours of oral quizzing and another 2 hours with the aircraft. Neither portions of the curriculum were completely finished today. In the air I showed my skills well, successfully navigating and flying via instruments. A new maneuver was added - on the checkout before the exam they want me to try something new? - I performed a power-on stall while in a climbing turn. A bit different and a little more hairy because the plane is less stable and more susceptible to entering a spin. Time was running out so we landed, logging 1.4 hours.

Day 2 was set for Tuesday. Due to time constraints (and class) I could only fit in the flying portion. Today was focused on ground-reference and emergency procedures. During the emergencies I spent a lot of time buzzing farmer's fields- on several occassions I brought the plane down to 50 feet before the go-around was ordered! No sooner would I climb up maybe 500', the engine would 'quit' again and I would have to evaluate my options and make vital decisions once again. With a descent rate of 500 feet/min, you get 60 seconds from the time the engine goes out until you're on the ground. Remeber the ABC's of engine failure: A-airspeed; establish best glide speed of 65kts - full aft trim. B-best field; no runways, the roads are too narrow and lined with powerlines - plenty of open fields - landing into the wind is optimal - land with the crop rows... not across! C-cockpit checks, if time permits - fuel valve on both, mixture rich, carburetor heat on, ignition switch on, primer in and locked. The engine is still out, we're committed to a landing. I really enjoyed this section as it gave me a chance to simulate what I would need to do in the event of an engine failure on takeoff. The last time my short-field landings were evaluated it was nearly six weeks ago, and I received high marks. Since then those skills were unused and got rusty! I picked up a new tip today and hit the touchdown point within 10 feet. After 1.2 hours in the air, the flying portion of my progress check was complete.

The remaining oral exam review session will be on Thursday. Today I got a call from Bob Hans, the Practical Test examiner - he had been away on a trip to London (he's an airline pilot) and said he wouldn't be available until May 10th. Then he asked where I was located... after learning that I was with Brazos Valley Flight Service at Easterwood, he asked if I wanted to meet him at the airport in two hours! Today would have been perfect for the final exam, but a plane was not available and I had a project to work on. As of right now, the test is slated for Sunday at 9am. Hopefully skipping church for the test isn't bad luck!

Total Log Time: 36.4 hrs

One more flight!

Friday (4/23) was my last scheduled solo flight. The winds stayed down and the clouds cleared just in time for me to fly at 2pm. After takeoff I made a quick run-through of ground reference maneuvers just outside the College Station airspace, then flew over to Coulter to practice short-field landings. Lately I've been struggling to get the plane down on target, and today I was landing long by about 50 feet each time. After the third attempt I was satisfied. One more technique I needed to practice was a forward-slip to landing, which is useful when you are coming in too high and fast, or need to make a steep approach over obstacles. A slip is performed by banking the aircraft into the wind about 10-15 degrees, then jamming the rudder in the opposite direction to make the aircraft fly straight ahead instead of turning. This combination of crossed control surfaces generates a lot of drag and 'turns on the elevator' as we like to call it- you really come down fast! Once over the runway you neutralize the controls and return to a normal level-flight attitude for landing. Today's flight time: 1.2 hrs

If weather stays clear I will make my final progress check on Monday. As long as the examiner is available, I will take the practical exam sometime in the middle of the week!

Logbook Totals

Total:  33.8 hrs
Night:   3.0 hrs
Solo:    7.7 hrs
X-C:      6.6 hrs
IFR:      3.5 hrs

Long Day In the Air

One of the most exhausting flights to date. Today we covered everything from day one to present, and made a thorough check of all my skills. After demonstrating ground reference manuever proficiency (turns about a point, s-turns, etc.) I went 'under the hood' for instrument flight. From the very start I was struggling to stay on top of the controls - the thermals were bouncy today. I would check the airspeed for a second, then find I was 200' above altitude. As I was fixing that issue I caught sight of a drifting heading indicator, and the artificial horizon displayed I was in a 10 degree bank to one side. In the process of returning to my assigned heading I could hear the engine RPM's rising, and sure enough I had entered a dive and the airspeed was climbing. It was pretty warm out today too, and the air vents in the cockpit weren't doing much to keep me cool. No sooner would I finally feel like I had the airplane trimmed out, I would receive a new set of instructions. Not wanting to delay the progression of today's lesson (and having the stubborn 'Right Stuff' mentallity...) I complied without requesting a pause to get my gimbals in order. Had this been the checkride exam I certainly would have stopped for a breather! We wrapped up instrument work with the dizzying unusual attitude recoveries.

After flying blind for nearly an hour, I removed the hood and was instructed to proceed towards Coulter Field in Bryan - a new airport for the list! Coulter was northeast of my position (060 degrees) at 10nm, but when I turned to heading, nothing looked right. The airport in front was most definately Hearne, and the distance readout (DME) was increasing up through 12nm... After cross-checking my naviagtion radios, I realized that the heading indicator was about 100 degrees off from the magnetic compass- during the unusual attitude phase, my instructor had twisted the knob around to intentionally offset it and fool me. I was thoroughly confused and flying in the wrong direction for a while, but eventually I caught it. Over Coulter we simulated an engine out scenario; once it was clear that I had the runway made I throttled up and performed a go-around. After a normal approach to landing and a short-field landing (which I overshot by 120') we returned to Easterwood. I made a nice soft-field landing, setting down easy and keeping the nosewheel up. 2.0 hours today; I was exhausted. This was the last 'lesson' with an instructor, next is a solo to work on weaknesses, then a final progress check before being signed off for THE exam!

Logbook: 32.6 hrs

       

Test Prep Begins (04-12)

All syllabus requirements have been completed! All that remains for FAR Part 141 certification is to reach the minimum 35 hours. I have three flights in preparation for my Private Pilot oral and practical exams, which should occur sometime next week as long as my schedules don't get delayed.

Today was flight #1, a solo hop to improve my skills for short and soft-field operations. Today's winds were straight out of the east, so I got some good crosswind practice. After simulating a short-field takeoff to leave Easterwood (which is fun because its like flooring it in a car!) I flew up to Hearne. The first approach I simulated an aborted landing that required a go-around, then a normal approach to get a feel for the winds and aircraft handling. Next I made a soft-field landing, keeping the nose up as long as possible, then came around for a short-field landing. After coming to a complete stop on the runway, I turned around to back-taxi and takeoff again, this time simulating soft-field procedures. For a 'soft' field, like turf or dirt, you try and get the plane off the ground as soon as aerodynamically possible. Once airborne, you level the plane and accelerate close to the ground to pick up speed before climbing out. Back at CLL I made another short-field attempt, because the test standards require you to land on a target within a +/- 200' zone. 1.1 hours today.

Next is a flight with an instructor (Wed 4/14) to review pretty much everything; he will designate areas that need improvement, and I will add those to the flight plan for my final solo flight. (Sun 4/18) After that I have a mock-test with a chief instructor (Mon 4/19) then I will get endorsed for the practical! (TBD) If an examiner is available on the 21st, I will complete the course exactly three months from the date of my first flight.

Logbook: 30.6 hrs 

The 'Big' XC (04-06)

After a week of delays and three post-ponements I got to squeeze in my final cross-country as the sun went down. Even today there were some hold-ups at the school that put the flight in jeopardy: first, nobody liked the wind conditions (17kts, gusting 25) and I don't have an endorsement for that strong of winds, plus I did not have an official instructor's endorsement to perform this particular cross-country. After some phone calls and a nod from the school's owner I was on my way, an hour behind schedule.

I took off at 5:25 and contacted Montgomery FSS to open my flight plan to Austin-Bergstrom, followed by a stop in Brenham, and finally the return home. The air was smooth and I seemed to have a tailwind on each leg of the trip. Over Elgin I contacted Austin Approach Control to get permission to enter their airspace and land at AUS. This was the first time I've dealt with Class C airspace, and for the first time in flight I did not feel confident in what I was doing. I worked my way through the procedures and radio lingo, and I guess I did it right because I touched down and got out of there without the Air National Guard being scrambled. As I came in on runway 17L, I watched a Southwest 737 land next to me on the parallel runway, 17R. After leaving the Austin airspace I headed back east, made a touch and go at Brenham, then flew another 20 mintutes north to College Station. Two hour flight.

Logbook: 29.5 hrs