Weather: KBJC 131349Z 23004KT 60SM SKC 15/03 A3002
The airport in Alamosa, CO possessed two rewards for me, that lifted it from a small town airport no different from any other, to something I actually wanted. The first reward was nothing different from any other airport, but just so happened manifest itself at Alamosa: completing my first long cross-country flight after getting my pilots license. In that case Alamosa just got lucky, but for me it was still special. The second reward was was held by Alamosa purely due to it's location. Sitting in the center of the San Luis Valley, surrounded by mountains. Flying in, over, and through mountains can be a dangerous undertaking due to unique weather conditions very different from the flat lands. Flying to Alamosa requires crossing the mountains at some point. Fortunately Alamosa has access via a relatively easy to fly mountain pass, La Veta. La Veta pass is a great introduction to the mountains, and yet doesn't require a mountain flying course to transit it. Passing between the Spanish Peaks to the south, and Blanca Peak to the north (both 14ers), is a beautiful sight. It was a nice introduction to the mountains without getting too technical.
I was flying with my friend Javier in a Diamond DA-20 I've just been checked out to fly. The fun of flying the 20 is something I could take an entire post to tell you about. The combination of the low wing, size/weight, control stick instead of a yoke and responsiveness all add up to a really good time. That is not to say flying the 172 isn't fun, we'll just call it different. They really are two different planes, and now knowing how to fly two different planes, it is nice to know I'm learning new things. Not that I don't learn something new every time I fly, but to feel like I'm making some additional progress, even if it's just for fun.
There really isn't much to note about Alamosa (or the airport at least). It was little different from any other small town airport, and with no restaurant close to the field, it was a quick stop to stretch our legs and get some gas, and then back in the plane. One more thing about Alamosa that I didn't realize before the flight, is that it is also very close to Great Sand Dunes National Park. I've been there before on the ground, and it is an amazing place, but to see it from the air was also very interesting. From the ground, the park slowly comes into view and although seeing these giant sand dunes is still very impressive, since it comes more slowly, it is almost easier to process. But from the air, not only are you traveling much quicker, so the dunes appear more suddenly, but you can also see the bigger picture, and realize how strange it is to see a giant swath of sand dunes nestled up against the mountains, in a completely foreign place.
The flight back was pretty uneventful, and about 40 minutes longer due to a decent headwind. The best part about flying back was using flight following. Since Javier flew down to Alamosa, and I flew back this was my first oportunity to try it out. It was nice to have constant radar contact and to get to hear other traffic in the area. Another set of eyes watching what's going on, gives some additional piece of mind. Another observation from the flight: when I was training all my flight planning was with a pen, paper, chart, plotter, etc., and things took a while while I planned every checkpoint, and calculated all the data. While this was great practice and probably the best way to learn about flight planning, I was ignorant of the amazing tools available that could greatly reduce the amount of time spent taking all this information down. Flight planning with duats, using flight following and having a GPS in the cockpit felt like I was cheating. The time it took planning the flight was cut by almost 10 times. The extra time that was freed up in the plane I could use to actually fly the plane, and check the acuracy of these tools, and it was very nice.
Weather: KBJC 281547Z VRB03KT 20SM BKN030 OVC039 18/08 A3037
Not that I was taking note, but on Saturday at 12.04 pm I became a private pilot. This happened to be the exact time I shut down the engine and turned off the master switch in the plane. My DPE, Bev Cameron said she never tells a student they passed until both of those two tasks have been completed. There has only been one time I forgot to turn the master switch off, but I wasn't going to forget that day, since I was following every checklist from top to bottom and making sure to double check everything.
Despite my own self assurances and those of my instructor and the chief flight instructor, it is a very good feeling to hear from a DPE that they could find nothing to critique you on, only a few small tips. As Bev told me as she was leaving, if you don't learn something on every flight you take, you aren't paying attention. There were a few things I learned about myself on that flight, but was happy to take the additional tips she gave me as well.
Even now I find it hard to believe I'm actually a private pilot. It think it will take a few flights and a few days to really sink in. And at this point I have to thank both of my instructors for getting me to this point. I had some excellent help along the way, and feel very prepared for moving forward on my own for a while.
I think my favorite moment in the flight was my last landing, which was a shortfield landing. I use everyone's favorite trick on shortfield landings, where the landing spot you pick, isn't the numbers, but past them, so you don't have the same feeling of trying to land it right off the front of the runway. It is known by most pilots that this makes the landing spot easier to hit for various reasons. I picked the first center line after the number 8 at BDU. Maybe it's just because I thought I was being tricky that I really tricked myself into nailing the landing. I really didn't do anything different than I normally do, but I nailed the landing perfectly. It was a bit harder landing than I would have liked, but shortfield landings should be harder than most. I was just happy I put it down right on the center line and had that spot lined up just after I finished turning final. It was a great finish to the check ride.
Thank you to everyone for the thoughts and prayers and tips in the last few days, hours and moments before the check. It was all working for me on Saturday morning. Let me know if you want me to take you up for a ride anytime.
I'll see you in the skies!
Weather: KBJC 251551Z 00000KT 50SM SCT070 27/03 A3016
The stage 3 flight went by without too many nerves and with even less mistakes. As suspected, my shortfield landings caused the greatest problems of anything. The flight was as expected as far as what was being tested. I started with a shortfield takeoff, in 9kt gusting to 20kt crosswinds and got up to altitude for an otherwise smooth ride. We headed straight to the practice area for some steep turns, power on and off stalls, slow flight and unusual attitude recoveries. After that, there was a simulated engine failure and S-turns across a road before checking the weather at Erie and Longmont for the most favorable winds.
Longmont won out with a 6kt crosswind that was close to direct, but still favored runway 11, and we started our way there. One the way, we were being followed by another aircraft planing to use 11 and a third aircraft in line that wanted to use 29, despite the prevailing winds. In the mean time, two additional aircraft decided to takeoff using 29 and things were getting seriously messy in the pattern, with the aircraft planning for 29 deciding he had the right of way and landing before everyone. On the downwind leg of the pattern we decided against making any landings as it was just too messed up in the pattern and we headed back to Boulder for our landings.
A shortfield landing was on the schedule and I flew the pattern well, especially after having the winds die down at Boulder. On very short final, I left the power in just a half second too long, and landed right at the limit of a PTS shortfield landing. This was ok, but I asked to fly one more, and do a better job. The pattern was good again, and even with a slightly gusting crosswind on short final and touchdown, I made a nice landing within PTS. This was a full stop, and we called the day right there. A quick taxi back to parking and I knew I had made it. The cheif flight instructor asked for a quick self critique, and I commented on the shortfield landing and a slight loss of altitude during the steep turn to the left, but said I thought everything else went well.
He agreed with me on those two points, but commented on an overall good flight as well. I asked for any additional critique but he didn't have any so things were feeling good. Check ride passed. Finally.
I did a little extra shortfield practice today to get things in line completely before the check ride, and have the final flight with the DPE on Saturday morning at 8.00. Studying is on the menu for the next few night to make sure I have all my knowledge in line. That is the biggest area of concern right now and I don't want that to stand in the way of completing my check ride. Wish me luck on Saturday and I'll keep you up to date
Weather: KBJC 201848Z 02007KT 12SM SCT080CB 24/11 A3028
Bout that time eh chaps? Right-o!
It's been quite a while since I last wrote. Progress was slow and flying not too often after my long cross-country flight. Work and life seemed to be getting in the way of flying and life. Since May I have been consistently flying again, and everything has come back now. I spent a while in April getting ready to finally take the written knowledge test, and ended up passing after only missing two questions. After all the time I spent studying and the nerves before taking the test, I'm glad it all paid off.
So after many flights in between now and that knowledge test, my instructor gave the sign-off to take the stage 3 check. This is the final proficiency check with the chief flight instructor before the school gives their approval and lets me try to prove my worth with an FAA designated pilot examiner (DPE). For some reason, the chief flight examiner always makes me nervous. This is both good and bad. The extra nerves drive me to study and practice more than I might otherwise, but at the same time just make me nervous while I need to focus.
My stage check was scheduled on a Friday morning, starting at 10.30 for three and a half hours. The first two hours are an oral review of my knowledge and a review of a flight plan I put together before the test. The remaining time is a flight review of all maneuvers and just about everything else. This check is basically exactly the same as the FAA check ride, just with the school instead. I was a complete wreck the few days leading up to the test, and in my mind, this check was going to be more difficult than the check with the DPE. I didn't sleep much the night before, and got up extra early to review the knowledge one last time.
This time of year, flights in the morning are with the least wind, and the closer you get to noon, the more the winds pick up until a possible thunderstorm or two in the afternoon. An early morning flight would have been nice, flying at 12.30 isn't so great. As I prepared for the knowledge test, I watched in disappointment as the winds slowly picked up to a sustained 7kt direct crosswind. Not good. Fortunately by the time 10.30 rolled around my nerves had slightly dropped and by the time I started answering questions, my mind was mostly at ease. This was a nice change of pace from the past few hours. The knowledge test passed surprisingly quickly and by the end, there were only three small areas that were noted I should spend a few extra minutes on, but overall, I had done well. That was an extreme relief but instead of feeling great at this point, I started to sweat the flying portion now.
I'm much more comfortable now with every maneuver and most all aspects of flight, except for shortfield landings. They still cause me trouble every once and a while, and I was just hoping that it would be a good day for all my landings. Despite the direct crosswind, we were going to flying to Erie (EIK) and practice all landings there, where the wind was almost perfectly down the runway. This way I wouldn't have to worry about a crosswind and a shortfield landing combination, which might have spelled busted check ride.
The preflight question and answer session went well, and the only thing that was noticed was a slightly low front tire. The air tank for the tire pump was completely depressurized and wouldn't work, so the chief decided to continue with the flight with one change. This turned out to be the biggest blessing of the day, as shortfield landings were ruled out and we would only practice softfield landings and takeoffs. So now my biggest concern of the flight was just taken off the menu and we hopped in the plane. A quick radio and brake check and we taxied to the run up area for the final checks before takeoff.
Before you even conduct the run up, you set the instruments to make sure everything looks good for the run up checks. It was at this point it became extremely obvious that things didn't look right. The attitude indicator was cocked 5 degrees to the left and was limping along. We could continue the flight without it, but it's a pretty key instrument when it comes to making a few of the maneuvers, especially steep turns. The flight was pretty much done at that point and we started looking around and noticed that none of the vacuum instruments looked good and the suction gauge was maxed out, meaning no suction. All signs pointed to a vacuum failure. The plane was most definitely still flyable, but not in a position to be taken on a check flight. It was a quick taxi back to parking and that was it.
So my free pass on shortfield landings had expired and the check ride was rescheduled for Monday morning at 8.00. Hopefully the winds will be favorable or nonexistent, and nerves will be at a minimum. I'm a bit worried about not having flown in almost a week, but I'll give it my best shot and see what happens.
Weather: KBJC 231650Z 35003KT 25SM FEW070 SCT100 BKN200 07/M06 A2983
Flying alone still carries a sort of magical charm that is so difficult to describe. The feeling of being able to fly yourself places gives you a feeling of freedom that is very difficult to match. The restriction of 5 hours of usable fuel, and the even tighter cost of that fuel, is the only thing that keeps me in check. As I learned after my long cross-country, I'm additionally limited by my energy levels.
I just completed my long cross country flight this weekend. The weather was cloudy and slightly hazy, but overall good. The important thing is that the winds were calm. I left Boulder (BDU) for Cheyenne, WY (CYS) with the second leg of the trip to Sidney, NE (SNY).
Flying to CYS from BDU is very easy to navigate. There are plenty of landmarks and cities along the way, there is a VOR just past CYS and inline with the airport, but you can really just follow I-25 straight north, and you can't miss it. (Once I get close to the city though, finding the airport is another story.) On the way up, there was some scattered clouds and virga, and I had to make a course deviation along the way to avoid some of the virga. It was mostly light, and I was trying to decide weather or not to fly through it, or around it, knowing that there can be some significant down drafts associated with it. Before I got very close to it though, I started to pick up some turbulence and a decent amount of wind shear and altitude changes. That was enough for me to fly around it, and I was able to avoid any other bumps along the ride.
I always have difficulty finding the airport in Cheyenne since it really sits in the middle of the city, so it is more difficult to spot. Flying into CYS, I contacted the tower about 12 miles out and was directed to runway 27. As I continued my approach, I heard some other traffic in the area that would be landing at the same time I was. The wind was calm and I was lucky enough to get clearance to land on 31 as I was about 4 miles out. This was nice because landing on 31 from the south, is a more of a straight line than working your way into the pattern for 27. This gave me a nearly straight in approach and I was able to fly a long final in from about 3 miles out. That ended up perfectly and I flew it well, landing maybe 200-300 feet from the end of the runway. This is especially good for me, since it is always more difficult to judge when to add flaps, etc. when I don't fly the base leg of the pattern.
The stop at CYS was quick and easy, and I was happy to head off for SNY. The flight to SNY is just as straight forward as the flight to Cheyenne as far as navigation. There is a VOR at the field in Sidney, you can follow I-80 just about straight there, and there are some good landmarks along the way.
If you've never been to Sidney, apparently the best thing in the city is Cabella's. Shortly before approaching the city, I heard another pilot ask UNICOM about the winds, and choice of runways. The winds were calm and since I didn't hear any other traffic, I was also curious to see what runway was preferred. The guy at the FBO responded that the current runway was 13 and "will you be going to Cabela's today?" I had heard that they asked you this when you fly in there, but was still surprised to hear it. After some research, I learned that Sidney is home to Cabela's, and has quite an impressive store there. While I was there, I also learned that if you call them on UNICOM while you're flying in, they'll send a free shuttle to the airport to come and pick you up. Apparently it's popular to go there for lunch while they fuel your plane.
I spent a few minutes at SNY to get fuel for the plane, fuel myself with some snacks as I was getting pretty hungry, take a few pictures, and check the weather before heading back to BDU. When I checked the weather at BJC it was getting windy and was only supposed to get worse. I made another call to Journey's at BDU to see how things looked there, and fortunately the winds were fine there. I wasn't going to risk it, so I hopped in the plane and started my way back to try and beat any weather that was approaching.
The flight back was good, but pilotage (navigation) in northeastern Colorado is not easy. First of all there aren't a lot of cities out there (and cities make for good reference points), and secondly there isn't a lot of anything out there (no major roads, landmarks, anything!). So at the suggestion of my new instructor earlier, I changed my altitude from 8,500 MSL to 10,500 MSL to get a better view of things. This helped the view through the haze, and was also a bit fun to take the plane the highest I've flown it. I flew at 10,500 for about 40 minutes before I had to drop back down to 8,500 due to some clouds at about 10,000 MSL. The clouds were being reported as broken by AWOS stations along the route and I didn't feel like violating any FARs by flying around them. It did make for some good views for a while there before dropping down and I like flying near clouds, as long as I don't catch any associated turbulence.
The rest of the flight was mostly uneventful. That is mostly a good thing, but I realized as I got closer, that the long flight was wearing on me a bit. I could tell I was ready to get back to BDU and the lack of interest in this section of the flight made me take a bit more notice to my waning energy. Another thing about flying this area of the country, is that you can set your radio to 122.8, and forget about it. All the airports in a large part of the tri-state area have the same frequency for CTAF. This is nice from the stand point that you don’t have to worry about changing frequencies, but most of the traffic is for Greeley/Weld County Airport, and to be honest, I kind of get tired of listening to their traffic.
Anyhow, to turn a short story into a long post, I made it back to Boulder without much else to report. My landing at BDU was pretty bad, and by far the worst of the three for the trip. I realized that I need to really work on my pattern, as I think I’m overflying the downwind leg and coming up short on my final, which throws a few things off as I recover from my mistakes, and generally makes for a less than perfect landing.
But one of the biggest lessons from this trip, was realizing that after I landed, I was physically exhausted. The flight was over 3 hours of actual flying. While I was flying, I was focused and just fine, but I was running on my last bit of energy. Part of flying by yourself (or at least without an instructor) is that you are solely responsible to pay attention to everything. Mostly for me, that means not having any help looking for traffic, as all else is handled by me while flying anyhow. But when I complete a solo out of the pattern, I’m much more tired than when I fly with an instructor, or another pilot. Maybe I just unduly stress myself out. If that’s the case, I’m sure things will get better with experience.
So the next flight is just some pattern work at BDU to get back into better shape there. Now is the time to start greasing my landings, since I really only have practice before I’m ready to take the test.
Weather: KBJC 101448Z 00000KT 80SM FEW000 FEW060 BKN200 04/M07 A3018 RMK FEW0000 HZ
My instructor is gone. I've know this for a few weeks now, but am just getting around to relaying this. She accepted a new job in Florida as a flight instructor. Teaching never really picked up for her out in Boulder and she was working another part time job, as the flight instructing wasn't really full time. So she was guaranteed a full time job in Florida and she is off now. I enjoyed learning from her and feel like she did a good job. Fortunately, I don't have much else to learn for my private license, outside of just learning how to be a better pilot. My next flight is a long solo cross country flight and then just a lot of practicing to PTS so I can pass my check ride. Anyhow, on to some more news.
Times have slow around here lately. It has been snowing less, but windy more. I have had the usual cancellations relating to weather recently. I think I finally got my stage 2 check ride completed after the third attempt. I flew with a new check instructor and was much more calm than before. That doesn't mean I wasn't nervous, I just was more comfortable and got over my nervousness quicker. He is a really good guy and I think I'll be finishing my training with him before my private check ride.
The flight went well for the most part. I practiced some navigation, some stalls, emergency engine out, short-field/soft-field landings and takeoffs, etc. The only thing I didn't do well on was my last soft-field landing. Soft field landings should be the easiest as they are completely normal, except you are trying to land as lightly as possible. I won't go into any of the details, but let's just say, depending on how soft that field really was, we might have nosed over. Ok. It wasn't that bad, but was very good.
But the most important part is that I passed the check ride. He said I did a really good job otherwise, so that makes me feel pretty good. So now I get to go on my long solo cross country flight. I'm very excited about this one and hoping to get to go this weekend. I have it planned from Boulder to Cheyenne, WY, Cheyenne to Sidney, NE, and then back to Boulder. A nice little three state tour.
Weather: KBJC 271854Z 09008KT 50SM FEW060 SCT120 SCT200 17/M14 A2983
Winter has presented quite a few problems when it comes to flying. Snow, clouds, frost, and worse yet, wind. In the past month and a half, I think I am about 4:1, flights scheduled to flights actually flown. Winds contribute to most flights missed, but snow on the runway has caused a few problems as well, since they don't seem to plow the runway at Boulder as often as they say the will.
But yesterday I finally got a flight scheduled and continued some work on instrument flying and getting my required hours in. I worked on intercepting radials, tracking to and from a VOR, and homing to a Non-directional beacon (NDB) using the Automatic Directional Finder (ADF).
The true excitement of the flight was the takeoff. Not the time when you want any excitement at all. On the ground, the winds were light and variable, but I knew that up higher there was going to be some turbulence because there were a significant number of pilot reports out saying so. At about 50 feet off the ground we started to get bounced around a bit and it continued throughout the climb. At about 300 feet above the ground, we hit a down draft, stopped climbing, the plane went into a 45 degree bank to the right, and even with full controls in the opposite direction, we weren't changing anything. Even though I was doing everything we could to correct it, my instructor instinctively went to the controls to try to correct and for a brief moment we both looked at each other, thinking we may have to land the plane somewhere off the end of the runway.
Fortunately the plane finally returned to level and after another 10 seconds we started to climb again. Behind us I could hear a call on the radio of another pilot, who aborted his landing, going around. The turbulence only got worse during the rest of the climb and our attention turned to landing as soon as we could at another airport. The alternate airport of choice for our flight school was reporting worse winds than BDU on the surface, so we started north and checked the weather along the way at each airport to see what looked good. We flew up to Fort Collins/Loveland and the winds were light from the east. It looked like our best place for now. On the way up I put the foggles on and got in some instrument time. Although it was bumpy, it really wasn't all that bad.
We made a full stop at FNL and went into the FBO to call back to BDU and check the weather in the area. As before, all reported winds were light and people were making landings at BDU. We decide to head back and see what the conditions were for ourselves. Using the instruments, I flew us back to BDU and when we got there, gliders were landing and it didn't sound like there was going to be any issue. The runway had changed from 8 to 26 and we flew the pattern without much wind. I decided to bring us in with 20 degrees of flaps to help with the low level winds. When we were on final, the winds were a direct 13 kts crosswind. Maximum demonstrated for the Cessna 172 I fly is 15 kts. I don't want to sound pompous, but I think I did a great job with the crosswind controls on the landing. We were lined up perfectly, came in at about 70+ kts, 20 degrees flaps, and touched down smooth just for an instant. The winds gusted at that moment and picked us off the ground. The last second winds surprised me and although we could have set it down, I didn't like the gust and how high it took us, so I pushed full throttle and went around.
With one less knot of crosswinds and 10 less degrees of flaps, I lined us up again and this time came in a little smoother. After we touched down, it was just another landing for the most part. Outside of the takeoff, the flight was really good. Just to give you an idea of the winds, there were two more runway changes in a period of about 5 minutes after we landed, but the gliders kept flying, so it never got too bad.
Checking the weather on our return, there was a temperature inversion in the Denver area, and thats what was causing the variability and all the turbulence. It was great as usual to get another flight in, and as well as good crosswind practice and lessons learned.
Weather: KBJC 242147Z 18008KT 60SM SKC 07/M13 A2997
There is a special joy you get when flying someone around. It may be the fun in sharing this amazing experience of flying. It may be the fun in exhibiting your newfound piloting skill. Whatever it is, it was great to get to take my parents up for a flight. They are the first family/friends I have had a chance to take in the sky. They came down from Seattle to visit for Thanksgiving weekend and we finally got the weather to cooperate on Saturday for a flight around the Boulder area.
Since the weather was bad on Friday, my usual instructor set me up with another instructor who was free and we flew out of BJC. We flew in 734QD which is a 180hp plane, but sadly doesn't have plugs for headsets in the back seat; so that made communications a bit more difficult and they didn't get to hear all the tower chatter and fun like that. Fortunately they were both good sports about it and didn't seem to mind.
Our flight took us north to the practice area for some steep turns. After we completed those, we did what most people seem to refer as the floating pencil trick. I don't know if there is a name for this move, but I described it in a previous post as being like the "vomit comet". We did 3-4 of these moves and I think my dad liked it, and I knew my mom probably wouldn't. I checked with her each time before we did the move, but I had a feeling she would have rather told me to stop.
After these moves, we headed to the Boulder airport to show my parents where I have been flying lately. We diverted to the west around the Longmont airport being that it was the weekend and there is heavy skydiving activity there. As we passed to the west, we heard them call on the radio that they were dropping some jumpers as we were passing by.
One stop and go at Boulder and we were on our way back to BJC. Outside of making my mom sick, which she told me after we were on the ground, I think they both really enjoyed the flight. I couldn't have been happier to take them up. I can't wait to do it again once I have my license.
Thanks for the flight Mom and Dad!
Weather: KBJC 152045Z VRB03KT 40SM SCT120 BKN200 14/M08 A3005
The feeling of flying with just me in the plane has yet to get old. Not even close. At certain moments during the flight I remember it's just me up there and get a quick swell of excitement. It is additionally satisfying to think for a second that you are the only one in the plane, have a brief moment of concern thinking that you don't have your instructor there to help you out, and then realize that you know what to do in most situations if something catches you by surprise. The feeling of (semi) self sufficiency is very satisfying.
I flew out of Metro this time since I was sneaking out of work in the afternoon to get a flight in, and BJC is only about 5 minutes from my work. The lack of sunlight these days makes it much more difficult to fly during the week. I was practicing maneuvers on this flight, so my plan was to practice some steep turns, power-off stalls and slow flight. I got up the practice area and started with some steep turns. Those went well for not having worked on them in a little bit and I don't think I busted PTS so that was good. PTS stands for Practical Test Standards and those standards are what you have to meet to pass the FAA check ride. My power off stalls left a bit to be desired. They weren't terrible and I think they were passing, but they weren't very crisp. Even though I wasn't planning on it, I did a power-on stall as well before working into some slow flight. My slow flight went really well getting into the dirty configuration and then I recovered well too.
I had about 20 extra minutes when I was done and had planned on landing at Boulder if I had a chance. So I headed back to BDU for one touch and go before going back to BJC. The pattern was quiet as I approached the airport, and after I made my first call I heard my instructor make a call that she was landing as well. She met me at BJC before I started my flight, but was returning a plane from maintenance and was flying back to BDU with the plane just as I was coming in. She landed right before I did which was slightly unfortunate because she got to watch me slightly bounce my landing as I came in for my touch and go. It was an otherwise good landing and I departed straight to the east and headed back to Metro. My landing at Metro was a bit better and of course it felt great to finish another solo flight.
When you are in the air, you know you can fly the plane, but no flight is complete without a successful landing. It's a great feeling to get the plane back on the ground in one piece so you can tell everyone about about your solo flight. It was then back to work to check my email and wrap up the day before heading home.
I have one night flight, and one more flight to practice my navigation before the first cross-country flight. I can't wait.
Weather: KBJC 151947Z 00000KT 60SM FEW150 BKN220 12/M08 A3007
Any nervousness that was present the first time I soloed, is completely gone now. I have two scheduled solos before beginning my cross-country work. The first is to accomplish two things, practicing flying by myself and getting in the required three solo takeoff and landings at a tower controlled airport. Before getting a private pilots license, FAR part 61.109 states that a pilot must have three solo takeoffs and landings at a tower controlled airport. The second is to practice some maneuvers before starting cross-country flying.
Flying out of Boulder is perfect for this solo flight. My plan was to fly from Boulder-BDU to Metro-BJC, make my three landings and return to Boulder. I got to practice my pattern work at Boulder, fly into class D airspace, and request my landings. When I flew into Metro, I requested stop and goes and was sent to land on 29R. The wind was variable and someone requested a wind check right as I was coming in for landing. It was 170 at 06KT was perfect for practicing my crosswind landings. I was exceptionally proud of my self after that landing because I executed the best crosswind landing I have yet flown, and on my solo none the less. After I departed my first stop, I was switched over to 29L for the other two stop and goes. My landings were overall pretty good, but on my 2nd landing my airspeed got way to low and that was by far my worst landing. After my third landing I requested one touch and go to make up for my bad second landing.
I departed back to the north into some heavy traffic. It was a great day to fly and people were out enjoying the weather. It was good practice scanning for traffic and ended up avoiding a few planes in the short flight back. My arrival back at Boulder was perfectly timed and I entered downwind in the pattern right behind a full stop landing and in front of a guy doing touch and goes. The flight went really well over all. I couldn't ask for a whole lot more on my second solo. I just need to make sure I'm vigilant watching my airspeed when I come in for landings.
I'm looking forward to my next solo to practice maneuvers. I think I'll work on steep turns, power off stalls and probably some slow flight. I'll keep you posted.
Weather: KBJC 082346Z 28012KT 60SM FEW080 FEW200 18/M12 A3008
My last flight was to review navigation strategies as I prepare for some cross country flights. Temporarily forgetting how early the sun sets now that we are back on Standard time, I scheduled the flight for late afternoon, which is now early evening. When I took off, the sun had already dipped behind the mountains. Flying out of Boulder, being so much closer to the mountains, the sun was already well below the horizon. I took off of runway 26 which can be a rarity for Boulder because the prevailing runway is 8, even with a moderate tailwind.
I departed north over the practice area heading towards Cheyenne and Fort Collins. I tuned their frequencies into the two VORs to practice some navigation. VOR stands for VHF Omnidirectional Range. What you need to know about VOR is that it's used to find direction based on the position of a VOR checkpoint on the ground. That's not even a good basic explanation but... I used the Fort Collins VOR and tuned in the DME (very similar to a VOR) to Greeley. Using the 2 signals, you can calculate your position on a map. So I practiced working with navigation and flew around a bit. Then turned back to the south and practiced some unusual attitude flight recovery.
This is to simulate what happens if you accidentally fly into a situation where you lose visual flight reference (clouds, etc.). So I put the foggles on and closed my eyes as my instructor flew the plane and tried to disorient me. The idea being to put the plane into unusual attitudes and then have me safely recover the plane to straight and level flight. It worked because my body felt like the plane was in a turn and diving, but the instruments showed us in a climbing turn. A nice lesson to always trust your instruments. We repeated with two other scenarios and then I tried to orient the plane to the best of my ability to fly us back to Boulder using the navs.
I did a good job getting us close to the airport and then took the foggles off for the last section of the flight. This is when I got to have a little fun with the plane. If you haven't heard of the Vomit Comet look it up. That experience can be slightly replicated in Cessna over the course of a few seconds. The second time we tried it, my flight bag floated up out of the back seat and hit me in the head. We put a pen on the top of the dashboard of the airplane and watched as it floated in the air for a few seconds. It is a really fun experience to get to feel like you are floating for a second, even if you're being held in the seat by the seatbelts.
By this time it had been completely dark for the past 30 minutes. I spotted the Boulder airport beacon and clicked the radio a few times to turn on the runway lights. It was fun playing with the runway lights for a bit, just changing their intensity from medium to high, back to medium, using the radio. It was the first time I had truly flown at night and never had done it at an uncontrolled airport.
This landing was a bit different because we entered final at a 45 degree angle about 3 miles out. If you don't fly the approach pattern normally, it is much more difficult to judge altitude and when to add flaps. I kept the plane nicely on the glide path and flew it straight in for landing. It was only until we nearly crossed the runway threshold that the landing light provided any help with identifying the runway. I don't really know what happened next because it was difficult to see being so dark out, but somehow I managed to completely grease the landing. It was really amazing. Especially for my first night landing. It was a good flight.
Next: Solo flight #2 from BDU to BJC. 3 Stop and goes at BJC and then return to BDU. I'm looking forward to it.
Weather: KBJC 302153Z 27018G27KT 60SM SCT080 SCT150 23/M07 A2994
I'm going to try flying out of the Airport in Boulder, CO (BDU) for a while. My flight school just opened a new FBO there and they operate one of the older 172s out of there so it's perfect for me. It is nearly the same distance from my house to the airport, but the distance that matters more is the distance from the airplane parking area to the end of the runway. This distance matters because airplane rental time is determined by how long you have the engine running in an airplane. So the time it takes to taxi from the end of the parking spot to the end of the runway is time spent not flying, but still paying. The taxi time at Metro is a lot more than Boulder so I'm hoping that will help.
That is not the only reason I'm flying out of Boulder for now. One, I've always wanted to try flying out of there. Also, I want to get some experience flying out of an uncontrolled airport. Rocky Mountain Metro Airport, where I have been flying recently, is class D airspace and has a control tower. This means the radio calls are different and the flying is different. So this will be good experience for me. I don't think I'll be flying exclusively out of Boulder, but I'll try a few flights out of there.
So I have made one flight out of Boulder so far. The weather was perfect but it made for some interesting flying since I was doing touch and goes and there were a decent number of planes in the pattern. I was learning how to do short field and soft field takeoffs and landings. Short field means short runway. Practicing short field takeoffs means practicing getting the plane in the air quickly. Short field landings are the exact opposite, trying to get the plane on the runway and stopped as quickly as possible. They are used to land or take off on a short runway or one where you might have to clear some sort of obstacle at either end of the runway.
Just the same as short field, soft field means soft runway. Maybe landing on grass, dirt or a potentially rough surface. The point of these is to keep the plane moving at all times in case the wheels might sink, and to land gently and keep the nose wheel raised as much as possible to prevent damage to the landing gear.
So nothing too special on this past flight but landing at Boulder means you have to make a call on the radios announcing each action that you take to keep all other aircraft informed of your location and intentions. This wasn't difficult but did take some discipline in remembering to announce everything.
Otherwise, Boulder is another beautiful airport to fly out of. The town of Boulder is known for it's beauty and flying there is no exception. Seeing the mountains and flatirons below is spectacular, in addition to all the fall color this time of year it's nothing short of amazing.
Weather: KBJC 282148Z 12004KT 15SM FEW200 22/M03 A3040
So my lack of recent posts is only an indication that I haven't been flying recently. I have made two flights since my last post. One more practice flight to get ready for my Stage 1 check and then finally the stage check.
The weather hasn't been conducive to flying, as anyone on the front range in Colorado will have noticed. The winds have been working recently and, of course, it snowed a week ago Sunday. But the past week has been very nice. I scheduled my practice flight on Monday and got a good hour in the air practicing slow flight, power on and off stalls and steep turns. I flew decently for not having flown in over 10 days and when I was done, I felt ready for my stage check.
Skip ahead two days and I have my stage check planned for that afternoon. The winds are calm and the sky is perfectly clear. I head into the office of the chief flight instructor and ace the oral portion of the check. So I'm starting on the right foot already for this check.
Now for some flying. I pre-flight the plane and we are scheduled for a northbound departure to the practice area. We get to the practice area and start with a power-off stall. I almost forgot to do my clearing turns before starting the maneuvers but remembered just in time. Fortunately that was the only thing I almost forgot to do. My stall went well and I set up for a power-on stall after that. I have been having trouble actually stalling the plane in the power-on stall, but for this one, I pitched the nose up aggressively and made sure I stalled it quickly. Power-on stalls are always kind of fun because they are easy to recover from, and the nose of the plane is pointed so high, all you see is blue sky out of the cockpit windows.
After that I completed slow flight and steep turns without problems and we were ready to head back to the airport. On the flight back we practice a simulated engine failure. There wasn't anything special about practicing this one, except we recovered the plane at what felt like well below 500' above the ground. General aviation planes are supposed to stay above 500' AGL when flying in the airspace we were in, so it was fun to fly lower than I normally get to. Although I didn't look at my altimeter specifically, we may have been close to 500' but I'm pretty sure we were below.
Anyhow, we came back to the airport, landed, and that was it. All in all a decent flight, but I felt good about knowing I was going to pass this check before the chief flight instructor had to tell me.
Weather: KBJC 171746Z 28020G27KT 30SM OVC070 15/M01 A2952
I’m in the process of flying and studying to pass my stage one check. I can do the maneuvers and I know most of the knowledge, so as long as I don’t make any stupid mistakes, I should be fine. I have one more practice flight before setting up my stage check. That flight is scheduled for tonight but the weather doesn’t look like it’s going to work with me so I’m not to sure it’s going to happen.
Another note, I got to fly with another aspiring career pilot, Josh, last week. He flies with a different flight school out of the same airport (BJC) as I do. He’s working on completing his single engine commercial and so I got to ride along while he flew some lazy eights, chandelles, eights on pylons, and steep spirals. Besides getting to know what each of those maneuvers are, it was fun to sit in the right seat a just enjoy the flight. It made me realize how focused I am in cockpit when I’m flying. This is often due to the fact that I am always working on a maneuver when I’m flying, so I really don’t have time to just look out the window and enjoy. But I’m still at a stage where everything I do requires a great deal of focus, so I rarely spend my time looking out the window just for the sake of enjoying the view. I’m looking forward to getting to the point where some of the constant vigilance required to fly, has shifted into my subconscious. Not that I’ll stop paying attention, but it won’t require as much thought, I’ll just do it.
Anyhow, it was a good learning experience and fun to get to fly along with Josh. I really appreciate him letting me ride along and teaching me a few things.
I’ll let you know how the stage one check goes when I get there. In the mean time, keep your fingers crossed for blue skies and calm winds.
Weather: KBJC 051255Z 25004KT 60SM FEW080 SCT120 12/03 A2983
This is going to be very hard to describe to you, but I have completed my first solo flight. Amazing and incredible are two words that quickly come to mind. It was just such a fantastic feeling to be alone in the airplane, flying by yourself.
I scheduled the plane from 6.30 am to 8.30 for another morning flight. The weather was supposed to be good again so I was hopeful I would get to solo. I got to the airport early and preflighted the plane before my instructor got there. We quickly checked the weather, and although the winds weren't calm, it wasn't too bad. There was 4 knot crosswind reported, but it looked more calm than that.
The first part of the flight was business as usual. I was required to fly a few touch and goes to make sure the winds were alright and my instructor felt comfortable with me flying solo in the current conditions. There was a decent crosswind on the first touch and go but I flew it pretty well. My instructor even commented how well I adjusted to the winds and that was a nice vote of confidence if I was going to have to fly my solo with some wind. All three touch and goes were relatively uneventful and I flew them pretty well. So we landed the third time and I taxied back to parking to drop off my instructor.
I turned off the plane and started everything from the top with just me in the plane. My instructor had asked earlier if I was nervous. At the time I said no, but that I was sure I would be when I started the solo. The second I started to taxi, I could tell I was slightly nervous. To apply the brakes in most small planes, you press the top of the rudder pedal with the ball of your foot and toes. I could tell I was nervous, because although I was still relatively relaxed, when I applied some right brake to make a turn, my leg started shaking when I applied the pressure.
Being nervous but still relaxed apparently wasn't a bad combination. After I taxed to the runway and finished my run-up, I didn't notice any nerves after that. My first take-off was smooth, I flew the pattern without any problems and there wasn't very much wind on my first approach. The only problem with my first landing was a slow airspeed. I came in about 5 knots under recommended speed. The landing was nice though and by the time I came around for my second landing, the winds were calm with little to no crosswind.
You would expect that to result in a better landing but on my second landing, my airspeed was a little slower than the first time and when I flared, I set it down pretty hard. Not good. I've had worse landings, but that's when I decided to make four landings instead of just three. My third and fourth landings were much better, and my fourth was probably the best of the day. A great way to end my first solo. I taxied back to parking and I'm pretty sure I couldn't have had a bigger smile on my face.
I really wish there was a way I could describe the feeling of successfully completing your first solo. It is a major sense of accomplishment and leaves you with this euphoric feeling that is indescribable for me. Anyhow, thanks for listening.
Weather: KBJC 041249Z 26005KT 75SM SKC 12/M04 A2993
So I finally got the sign-off for flying my solo. I was scheduled for a morning flight at 7 am for my check ride. This is usually a good sign for calm winds and clear skies, but as we get further away from the summer, this isn't the case. This morning, the skies were beautifully clear, but the wind was up at 6.30 already. I was nervous, yet somehow remained surprisingly relaxed. This ended up translating into moderate flying. The crosswind was noticeable but not too strong. Unfortunately it was slightly erratic, although wasn't bad enough to change anything significantly.
My flying was just moderate. I really didn't fly that well, which made it sort of bittersweet, because I wish I was flying my best during the check ride. But a pass is a pass, and I'll take it at this point. I think the chief flight instructor just couldn't stand the thought of giving me another pre-solo and I don’t know what I would have done if I had to do it one more time. It took so long to get past this one.
My flying really wasn't that bad, but it definitely wasn't great either. I think he took a cumulative score over our last 3 flights. Anyhow, at this point, I'm just too excited about the thought of flying my solo that nothing is affecting me that much.
Weather: KBJC 272045Z 09007KT 50SM FEW080 23/M03 A3023
When people say that, how long do they mean? Today I was scheduled for my pre-solo. It was at 4 pm. It's now 4.50 pm. You're thinking I should be in the air flying right now and you're right. The plane I was scheduled in today, 5222D is overdue for some engine oil additive and because it doesn't have it, is non-complaint with some FAA Airworthiness Directive for Cessna 172N models. Other planes are out flying. I waited around for another plane that was scheduled to come back at 4.30, but it was still out when I left the airport. On top of that, the chief flight instructor's wife is very late term in a slightly at risk pregnancy and she had called minutes before saying something might happen with that. So he either had to leave at any second when the phone rang, or get in the air so he could come home as soon as he could. All signs basically telling me to wait for it. I'll keep you posted.
Weather: KBJC 182250Z 00000KT 30SM SCT070 25/M04 A3004
So this is just making me tired now. Another pre-solo down (kind of) and no closer to any a completion. Keep in mind I have really only flown in a slight crosswind once. Not that I haven’t been trying to schedule a flight when I would get one, but it just hasn’t worked out yet. I was scheduled again for yesterday at 5. Check the weather, things look good. Wind at 7 KTS but it’s straight down the runway. That works. Check ATIS before we start to taxi and the winds are calm. Even better. Get in the air, fly the pattern, kind of nervous but things are good. Flying final I feel a bit of a crosswind so I have to crab a bit but not much. Straighten back out with a few hundred yards to go. Right as cross over the top of the numbers, crosswind gust, I set the pane down and side load it pretty good. Crap. Not good.
We takeoff again and right as we do the tower comes on frequency and announces the latest weather. Of course the winds are now out of student range. So basically, we just practiced a few times in the pattern and some crosswind landings. The pre-solo part was basically instantly over. It was really good practice and I’m glad I finally got to fly in those conditions. But seriously, I need to get past this pre-solo. Basically right after I’m done I have the Stage 1 check. I know I can’t control the weather, but if I can get a flight scheduled in the morning when the winds are usually calm, I would be just fine. So you may not hear much until I pass this damn pre-solo. Could be months. I’ll let you know.
Weather: KBJC 172316Z 26014G20 60SM BKN060 BKN110 22/10 A2992
Basically the weather line above just says "no flying for Pete." If you calculate out the crosswind component for runway 29R/L, you get about a 7 KTS crosswind. 5 KTS is the most I can fly in. So no flight last night. I got a call from the chief flight instructor on my way to the airport. We rescheduled for today at 5 again. The winds are still a bit crazy this morning and they are expected to change by this afternoon, but are supposed to be a bit unpredictable. So we'll see.
Weather: KBJC 171654Z VRB05KT 15SM FEW030 BKN070 BKN100 15/12 A3000
So I don’t know if this is a sign of anything other than an awesome cake, but here it is. 
This cake is amazing. It even has the tail number of the plane I usually fly. As a huge fan of most everything airplanes, this is great. A coworker made this for me. She is notorious for baking a lot. Recently there has been cookies or cake once a week for the past month or so. Everyone gets something on there birthday. This is a going away cake for me. I’m making a transfer within the company to become a project manager. Read: making a transfer to a hopefully temporary job before I get to start flying full time. Not that I’m not excited about this new job. I am. It’s just my real goal is to fly full time. It kind of reminds me of the Food Network show “Ace of Cakes”. Funny show if you haven’t seen it. Anyhow, awesome cake!
