Thursday, December 22, 2005
Making plans...
The 182 is already reserved for Airventure 2006. I think me and my 4-year old are also going to camp with the airplane at the Texas Fly-In at Hondo, TX in May. We may just take the 172 if we don't have too much to carry. I think we'll only stay one night unless he really wants to stay longer. It will be his first overnight fly-in and I don't want him to get tired of it.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Flightaware - check it out
If you haven't seen it yet, go check out Flightaware near-live flight tracking. Go look up your own IFR flights, history of your or any other aircraft, as well as scheduled arrivals and departures to any US airport. It's very cool.
This morning I looked up my flight to Austin on Saturday and I also watched my company jet as it flew out to California at 39,000 feet.
This morning I looked up my flight to Austin on Saturday and I also watched my company jet as it flew out to California at 39,000 feet.
Monday, December 05, 2005
The year in review?
I just wanted to drop a few lines on the blog so that you knew I was still here. I never got around to completely updating the Oshkosh info. I'll just sum it up by saying that after we left Rockford which is about 90 miles south of Oshkosh, it took us 2 and a half hours to get on the ground and taxi to our parking spot! There were a couple of delays on the field, as well as the flights of Bonanzas and Mooneys that got there before us that we had to wait on. My claim to fame for the week was the landing. The controller said, "Blue and white Cessna, land on the blue dot." Well, I put my best spot-landing competition shoes on and dead-centered the middle of that circle! You don't know how sweet the words, "Nice job Cessna" sound after a flight!
We had a lot of fun all week. I have never seen so many airplanes in my life! It was hot at the beginning but after the storm blew through Sunday night (now THAT was WILD!), it cooled down a bunch and made it a very nice week. We came home on Saturday with just a single stop for fuel and leg-stretching. We parked our cars in front of the hanger and spent what seemed like forever pulling things out of the airplane. We finally got done and were each home by 4:00pm after being 1000 miiles away just that morning. And in case you're wondering, we decided to do it again in 2006 before we even got back to Texas!
That's about it so far. The rest of my time has been spent raising my boys, working full time, and just trying to stay instrument proficient! Hopefully I'll get around to using that Commercial before too long.
We had a lot of fun all week. I have never seen so many airplanes in my life! It was hot at the beginning but after the storm blew through Sunday night (now THAT was WILD!), it cooled down a bunch and made it a very nice week. We came home on Saturday with just a single stop for fuel and leg-stretching. We parked our cars in front of the hanger and spent what seemed like forever pulling things out of the airplane. We finally got done and were each home by 4:00pm after being 1000 miiles away just that morning. And in case you're wondering, we decided to do it again in 2006 before we even got back to Texas!
That's about it so far. The rest of my time has been spent raising my boys, working full time, and just trying to stay instrument proficient! Hopefully I'll get around to using that Commercial before too long.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Oshkosh review
I thought I should post something about the trip to Oshkosh. I've been so busy that I just haven't had time to keep the blog updated as I would like. Anyway, after departing Hooks (DWH) on Saturday July 23 at 6:30am , we got to our parking spot in the North 40 on row 521 at 7:35pm. It had been a long day. For our first leg we flew the airways to Walnut Ridge Regional Airport (KARG) in of course Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. It was a nice quiet stop with a friendly attendant. We were only there about 35 minutes to refuel and potty break before we were off on our way to the Greater Rockford Airport (KRFD) in Rockford, Illinois before our last leg into Oshkosh. We had seen from the weather briefing in Walnut Ridge that bad weather was present up in that area and around Oshkosh, but as we flew closer to Rockford and listened to the other airplanes on FlightWatch, it was SLOWLY improving in Rockford. It improved just enough for my non-instrument rated pilot to get into Rockford. Once there we waited over 2 hours for thunderstorms to move through the Oshkosh area enough for us to head up there...
To be continued shortly....
.
.
Where was I? Oh yes...Well the t-storms finally moved off to the southeast enough for us to head north so we got in the plane and taxied out. Unfortunately, the Bonanzas to Oshkosh group, which stages at Rockford had the same idea and they beat us to the runway. When you switch over from Ground to Tower and hear "Bonanza flight of 100, cleared for takeoff", you know you have some time to kill. Well, that's what happened to us so we just shut down the engine, took off our headsets, and turned on the handheld to listen to the proceeding. Finally about 15 minutes later we saw the last flight of 3 start rolling so we started up and got ready to depart.
To be continued shortly....
.
.
Where was I? Oh yes...Well the t-storms finally moved off to the southeast enough for us to head north so we got in the plane and taxied out. Unfortunately, the Bonanzas to Oshkosh group, which stages at Rockford had the same idea and they beat us to the runway. When you switch over from Ground to Tower and hear "Bonanza flight of 100, cleared for takeoff", you know you have some time to kill. Well, that's what happened to us so we just shut down the engine, took off our headsets, and turned on the handheld to listen to the proceeding. Finally about 15 minutes later we saw the last flight of 3 start rolling so we started up and got ready to depart.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
New Commercial Pilot
Well, I finally made it. The airplane, weather, DE schedule, and my skills finally all came together and resulted in the statement that I have been found to be properly qualified and is hereby authorized to exercise the privileges of Commercial Pilot.
Thanks goodness that is over! I originally had hoped to be finished back in April or May before it got really hot, but between weather, schedules, and broken airplanes (mainly starter problems) it took a little longer.
The checkride didn't take very long at all. It was just barely over an hour. We had a little problem getting our information into the FAA web site so we got started about an hour late and my DE had another appointment after our ride. Before we went out we wrote down what we were going to do and in what order. We got the airplane lined up on the runway and started with a short-field takeoff. We then came around in the pattern and departed downwind on our simulated cross-country to Kerville, TX (KERV). I hit the first checkpoint within a minute of ETA which was perfectly fine considering the varying speeds from climbing. I hit the next checkpoint about 1 minute late which after a small calculation showed us to be 5 knots slower than anticipated. That was fine since I could adjust my other leg times and show that we still had enough fuel. Now my DE said, "I'm not feeling well, take me somewhere closer." Well, since I had to show how to use the navigation equipment in the airplane, I simply dialed Navasota (60R) into the GNS430 and headed for it. He said, "ok, I'm feeling better. Put your stuff away and let's do some maneuvers."
Hopefully I'll get the sequence correct, but we did a steep turn in both directions, stabilized and went right into a chandalle. Since the chandalle slowed us down a bunch we got stabilized again, dropped the gear and flaps and went into slow flight. After a shallow turn in each direction we pointed the nose down just a little to simulate an approach on short final, pulled the power and performed a power-off stall. I recovered from that and cleaned up the airplane to climb back up to our starting altitude. After getting back up to about 2000 feet he said, "Ok, give me 20 degrees of bank either direction, your choice, give me a power-on departure stall." I met the PTS requirements for that and then he said to give him the airplane so he could show me something. After I had been real careful, trying to pass the ride, he smartly yanked the airplane over into a bank and briskly pulled us into a stall again saying, "You recovered fine per the book, but keep in mind what you're really doing here. You just departed the airport, got about 300 feet above the ground, and then stalled the airplane. You are fighting for your life to avoid hitting the ground. You don't have time to drop the nose and establish Vy. You'll be cutting the grass before you ever get there. This airplane wants to fly and you've seen how it will mush along in slow flight with a lot of power and maintain altitude. Even though you're up here at 2000 feet for practice, act like you're fighting for every inch."
I liked the demonstration and promised to go back out and practice it some more later. All we had left was the eights-on-pylons so we found a couple of crossroads and did that and then headed back to the airport. Back at Hooks I did a soft field landing, soft field takeoff, and a simulated engine out, 180 degree power-off approach to a short field landing. Talk about combining stuff to accomplish all the goals!
All in all I had fun and learned some things in the process. Every time I fly with somebody new I get to learn new tips and tricks that they've come up with. It was hard work bumping around at low altitude in the noon time Texas heat, but that piece of paper was worth it! Now I hope my new permanent certificate comes in the mail before I leave for Oshkosh! I can hardly wait!
Thanks goodness that is over! I originally had hoped to be finished back in April or May before it got really hot, but between weather, schedules, and broken airplanes (mainly starter problems) it took a little longer.
The checkride didn't take very long at all. It was just barely over an hour. We had a little problem getting our information into the FAA web site so we got started about an hour late and my DE had another appointment after our ride. Before we went out we wrote down what we were going to do and in what order. We got the airplane lined up on the runway and started with a short-field takeoff. We then came around in the pattern and departed downwind on our simulated cross-country to Kerville, TX (KERV). I hit the first checkpoint within a minute of ETA which was perfectly fine considering the varying speeds from climbing. I hit the next checkpoint about 1 minute late which after a small calculation showed us to be 5 knots slower than anticipated. That was fine since I could adjust my other leg times and show that we still had enough fuel. Now my DE said, "I'm not feeling well, take me somewhere closer." Well, since I had to show how to use the navigation equipment in the airplane, I simply dialed Navasota (60R) into the GNS430 and headed for it. He said, "ok, I'm feeling better. Put your stuff away and let's do some maneuvers."
Hopefully I'll get the sequence correct, but we did a steep turn in both directions, stabilized and went right into a chandalle. Since the chandalle slowed us down a bunch we got stabilized again, dropped the gear and flaps and went into slow flight. After a shallow turn in each direction we pointed the nose down just a little to simulate an approach on short final, pulled the power and performed a power-off stall. I recovered from that and cleaned up the airplane to climb back up to our starting altitude. After getting back up to about 2000 feet he said, "Ok, give me 20 degrees of bank either direction, your choice, give me a power-on departure stall." I met the PTS requirements for that and then he said to give him the airplane so he could show me something. After I had been real careful, trying to pass the ride, he smartly yanked the airplane over into a bank and briskly pulled us into a stall again saying, "You recovered fine per the book, but keep in mind what you're really doing here. You just departed the airport, got about 300 feet above the ground, and then stalled the airplane. You are fighting for your life to avoid hitting the ground. You don't have time to drop the nose and establish Vy. You'll be cutting the grass before you ever get there. This airplane wants to fly and you've seen how it will mush along in slow flight with a lot of power and maintain altitude. Even though you're up here at 2000 feet for practice, act like you're fighting for every inch."
I liked the demonstration and promised to go back out and practice it some more later. All we had left was the eights-on-pylons so we found a couple of crossroads and did that and then headed back to the airport. Back at Hooks I did a soft field landing, soft field takeoff, and a simulated engine out, 180 degree power-off approach to a short field landing. Talk about combining stuff to accomplish all the goals!
All in all I had fun and learned some things in the process. Every time I fly with somebody new I get to learn new tips and tricks that they've come up with. It was hard work bumping around at low altitude in the noon time Texas heat, but that piece of paper was worth it! Now I hope my new permanent certificate comes in the mail before I leave for Oshkosh! I can hardly wait!
Friday, June 24, 2005
Only 1 step remains
Finished the oral portion of the Commercial checkride today. Going to fly Sunday afternoon. I can hardly wait!
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Written test passed
Sorry about the lack of updates. The main news I have now is that I passed the written with an 89. As I told my friends, Would have liked to have made higher. Was afraid I was going to make lower after I got started. Pleased with what I got considering the difficulty of finding time to study.
Between work, 2 little kids, flying, and trying to find time to study for the written, there just hasn't been time to update the blog. I'll try to go backfill later but let's just say that we've been doing all sorts of maneuvers for the checkride. They guy I'll be testing with supposedly has a very real-world type of style, so in training I get a lot of stuff thrown at me that is less by-the-numbers, and more judgement and execution. As he says, everything boils down to analyzing the situation, deciding on a plan of attack, performing the steps, and adjusting as necessary. I find the actual commercial maneuvers to be pretty easy so I don't think they'll give me too much problem.
If I had to offer advice to anybody going for the Commercial, it would be to get to know your airplane before starting to learn the maneuvers. Learn how it behaves in slow flight and steep turns, and be sure you know how your airplane feels when approaching the stall. All that will help tremendously in the maneuvers because you'll be able to better feel what the airplane is doing. Add all that and be able to put the wheels on the runway exactly where you want them in any type of landing (normal, short-field, soft-field, 180 degree power off, etc) and the rest is easy.
Stay tuned. I'm flying this afternoon to finish up and depending on how everything goes, I hope to have the practical done in 2 weeks or less depending on my and the examiner's schedules.
Between work, 2 little kids, flying, and trying to find time to study for the written, there just hasn't been time to update the blog. I'll try to go backfill later but let's just say that we've been doing all sorts of maneuvers for the checkride. They guy I'll be testing with supposedly has a very real-world type of style, so in training I get a lot of stuff thrown at me that is less by-the-numbers, and more judgement and execution. As he says, everything boils down to analyzing the situation, deciding on a plan of attack, performing the steps, and adjusting as necessary. I find the actual commercial maneuvers to be pretty easy so I don't think they'll give me too much problem.
If I had to offer advice to anybody going for the Commercial, it would be to get to know your airplane before starting to learn the maneuvers. Learn how it behaves in slow flight and steep turns, and be sure you know how your airplane feels when approaching the stall. All that will help tremendously in the maneuvers because you'll be able to better feel what the airplane is doing. Add all that and be able to put the wheels on the runway exactly where you want them in any type of landing (normal, short-field, soft-field, 180 degree power off, etc) and the rest is easy.
Stay tuned. I'm flying this afternoon to finish up and depending on how everything goes, I hope to have the practical done in 2 weeks or less depending on my and the examiner's schedules.
Monday, April 18, 2005
First 2 commercial training flights
I had my first 2 flights totaling 3.9 hours this weekend. I'm using the 182RG for all my training since that's what I'll use for the checkride. Plus, I need to practice landing on a spot on the runway so I'll be ready to land on a colored dot at Oshkosh in July.
On Saturday we flew out to Brenham (11R) for some patten work and precision landing. I concentrated on landing on the same spot on the runway each time with different flap and power settings. We practiced landing engine out and had a simulated engine failure on liftoff. I'm always needing some instrument practice so I put on the Viban and headed back to Hooks where we shot the RNAV(GPS) 17R approach.
The next day my instructor had me compute heading, groundspeed, and eta for a short flight to the west. I must have remembered my stuff and did the math right because we hit the ETA's within 30 seconds. At the second checkpoint he said, "Ok, you have to divert for some reason. Take us to Navasota (60R)and give me an ETA." Well, that was some furious figuring! I glanced at my chart to pick out an approximate heading and turned the plane to it. Then I pulled out the plotter to get the correct heading off the chart. Oh yeah, did I tell you that for all this that the GPS was just a fancy com/nav that showed some satellite locations in the sky? Fortunately he told me he was going to make me do this, so I had everything close at hand. Anyway, after figuring out the wind correction and turning to my corrected heading I computed the ETA and we got within 30 seconds again. After passing Navasota we tuned the ADF to Brenham and headed over there for a little more landing work. I did a couple more power-off landings and then headed back to Hooks under the Viban for the LOC 17R.
At this point the most difficult aspect has just been getting used to the flight characteristics of the 182RG. Any type of training I've ever done before has been in the Warrior/Skyhawk class of airplane. Sure I've had checkouts in the bigger planes in the past, but checkouts haven't involved the same maneuvers or precision as training for the commercial. With the smaller planes you're always making adjustments during maneuvers such as feeding in some nose-up during turns, adding power to climb, etc. The RG, while more stable, requires smaller control inputs due to the larger tail surfaces and greater airspeeds, making the controls more powerful. The greater weight also adds to the momentum that you have to compensate for in maneuvers. The second flight was getting easier than the first, so I can only look forward to the energy maneuvers on my next flight.
On Saturday we flew out to Brenham (11R) for some patten work and precision landing. I concentrated on landing on the same spot on the runway each time with different flap and power settings. We practiced landing engine out and had a simulated engine failure on liftoff. I'm always needing some instrument practice so I put on the Viban and headed back to Hooks where we shot the RNAV(GPS) 17R approach.
The next day my instructor had me compute heading, groundspeed, and eta for a short flight to the west. I must have remembered my stuff and did the math right because we hit the ETA's within 30 seconds. At the second checkpoint he said, "Ok, you have to divert for some reason. Take us to Navasota (60R)and give me an ETA." Well, that was some furious figuring! I glanced at my chart to pick out an approximate heading and turned the plane to it. Then I pulled out the plotter to get the correct heading off the chart. Oh yeah, did I tell you that for all this that the GPS was just a fancy com/nav that showed some satellite locations in the sky? Fortunately he told me he was going to make me do this, so I had everything close at hand. Anyway, after figuring out the wind correction and turning to my corrected heading I computed the ETA and we got within 30 seconds again. After passing Navasota we tuned the ADF to Brenham and headed over there for a little more landing work. I did a couple more power-off landings and then headed back to Hooks under the Viban for the LOC 17R.
At this point the most difficult aspect has just been getting used to the flight characteristics of the 182RG. Any type of training I've ever done before has been in the Warrior/Skyhawk class of airplane. Sure I've had checkouts in the bigger planes in the past, but checkouts haven't involved the same maneuvers or precision as training for the commercial. With the smaller planes you're always making adjustments during maneuvers such as feeding in some nose-up during turns, adding power to climb, etc. The RG, while more stable, requires smaller control inputs due to the larger tail surfaces and greater airspeeds, making the controls more powerful. The greater weight also adds to the momentum that you have to compensate for in maneuvers. The second flight was getting easier than the first, so I can only look forward to the energy maneuvers on my next flight.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Commercial Training
Well, I am finally scheduled for my first Commercial lesson this weekend. I can hardly wait. I'll put any details up later.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Poker Run
Windsock Aviation at Weiser held a Poker Run last weekend. I put my 3 year old in the 172, paid my $10 dollar entry fee and off we went.
What's a "Poker Run" you ask? It's basically a luck of the draw game to see who can get the best winning poker hand. You start at Weiser by drawing a card. You then fly to 3 other airports where a deck of cards has been placed. You draw a card at each airport and then return to the original point of departure where you draw your final card. Put all five cards together and after everyone has finished flying, the best hand wins. For this run, we visited La Porte, Brazoria County, and Houston-Southwest.
When we got back to Weiser, there was already a Full House in first place and 3 sixes in second. I knew I was holding a 10 of spades, a Jack of spades, and two 7 of spades. Not being totally poker-hand-savy, I was mainly hoping for another 7. At first I was disappointed when my son drew a 2 of spades, but then somebody said, "Wait a minute, what were your other cards?" I told him and he said, "Well that's a Flush. That beats 3 of a kind." Well, he was right, so that put me in second place. I needed to get the airplane home for somebody else to fly so we didn't get to hang around and see if anything better turned up. There were still 6 or 7 airplanes out flying so I didn't know what they were going to come back with. As it turned out, our luck held and we ended up in second place overall! Our prize will be a gift certificate for dinner at the Brenham airport diner! Woo Hoo!!!
To put it all in perspective, with the 172 costing $60/hour, us flying for a total of 3 hours, and the $10 entry fee, we spent $190 for a "free" meal... All that and we got to go flying too? Well, let me tell you, it doesn't get any better than that! Where do we sign up for the next one?
What's a "Poker Run" you ask? It's basically a luck of the draw game to see who can get the best winning poker hand. You start at Weiser by drawing a card. You then fly to 3 other airports where a deck of cards has been placed. You draw a card at each airport and then return to the original point of departure where you draw your final card. Put all five cards together and after everyone has finished flying, the best hand wins. For this run, we visited La Porte, Brazoria County, and Houston-Southwest.
When we got back to Weiser, there was already a Full House in first place and 3 sixes in second. I knew I was holding a 10 of spades, a Jack of spades, and two 7 of spades. Not being totally poker-hand-savy, I was mainly hoping for another 7. At first I was disappointed when my son drew a 2 of spades, but then somebody said, "Wait a minute, what were your other cards?" I told him and he said, "Well that's a Flush. That beats 3 of a kind." Well, he was right, so that put me in second place. I needed to get the airplane home for somebody else to fly so we didn't get to hang around and see if anything better turned up. There were still 6 or 7 airplanes out flying so I didn't know what they were going to come back with. As it turned out, our luck held and we ended up in second place overall! Our prize will be a gift certificate for dinner at the Brenham airport diner! Woo Hoo!!!
To put it all in perspective, with the 172 costing $60/hour, us flying for a total of 3 hours, and the $10 entry fee, we spent $190 for a "free" meal... All that and we got to go flying too? Well, let me tell you, it doesn't get any better than that! Where do we sign up for the next one?
Friday, February 18, 2005
Flight to Denton, TX
We took the 182 (fixed-gear) up to Denton (DTO) last weekend, with a little side trip to Lufkin (LFK) for the fajita flyin. On the way to Denton I got my longest actual IFR flight to date. We hit the clouds at 5000 feet about 20 minutes out of Lufkin and never got another clear view of the ground until we broke out on the ILS at about 1400 MSL. It was a very windy day, but it was still smooth in the clouds with steady rain. Air Traffic Control (ATC) brought us down over Dallas and routed us directly over Love Field and DFW at 4000 feet but we were in solid Instrument Meterological Conditions (IMC) and didn't get to see anything except for solid white clouds!
I mentioned the winds earlier. Between about 3000 and 5000 feet as they were vectoring us over the big airports, the GPS was showing the winds to be out of the southwest at 60-65 knots. At one point our heading (the direction the nose of the airplane is pointing) and the track (the path over the grounds) differed by 30 degrees. When we finally turned north to go vector around for the ILS at Denton, the GPS was registering a steady 174 knots groundspeed! This is in an airplane that maxes out at about 135 knots airspeed. We were moving!
Overall it was an uneventful flight. One that I enjoyed but my wife and kids didn't as much since there wasn't anything to see but clouds. Oh well. I'd rather have them bored in the clouds instead of bumping along below them.
I mentioned the winds earlier. Between about 3000 and 5000 feet as they were vectoring us over the big airports, the GPS was showing the winds to be out of the southwest at 60-65 knots. At one point our heading (the direction the nose of the airplane is pointing) and the track (the path over the grounds) differed by 30 degrees. When we finally turned north to go vector around for the ILS at Denton, the GPS was registering a steady 174 knots groundspeed! This is in an airplane that maxes out at about 135 knots airspeed. We were moving!
Overall it was an uneventful flight. One that I enjoyed but my wife and kids didn't as much since there wasn't anything to see but clouds. Oh well. I'd rather have them bored in the clouds instead of bumping along below them.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
And I have flown it
The 3-blade prop sounds sweet! Sort of like going from an american V-8 car to a 12-cylinder. Just a much smoother sound with the 3 prop tips going around.
Monday, January 31, 2005
The RG is back in the air
Finally, after its gear-up landing WAY back on March 13, 2004, the flying club's Cessna 182RG is back on the roster with its new engine and 3-blade prop. I have to get a new club check in it for insurance purposes before I can act as PIC in it. I was going to get that done this past weekend, but the ceilings were too low for the tasks we needed to accomplish. So instead, 2 of us took up the fixed gear 182 for a little IFR practice. I get to add another .4 hours of actual IFR time to the books. That's not too bad since the part I flew took just over 30 minutes.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Commercial Ticket
Ok, I've started studying for the Commercial written test. When the 182RG is out of the shop in a couple of weeks, I hope to start the flight training too.
BTW, if you are a private pilot or hope to be one day and want to get your Instrument and/or Commercial tickets then I would highly recommend the Jeppesen Instrument Commercial textbook. It's part of their Guided Flight Discovery library.
The ISBN number is 0-88487-274-2. It lists for something like $85 but you can find it cheaper with a little online shopping. I paid only about 70 bucks for mine. Let me know if you need any help finding it. It's an awesome book. I think it's probably too detailed if you're just going for your private, but everybody I've ever shown my copy to has gone out and gotten one for their library.
BTW, if you are a private pilot or hope to be one day and want to get your Instrument and/or Commercial tickets then I would highly recommend the Jeppesen Instrument Commercial textbook. It's part of their Guided Flight Discovery library.
The ISBN number is 0-88487-274-2. It lists for something like $85 but you can find it cheaper with a little online shopping. I paid only about 70 bucks for mine. Let me know if you need any help finding it. It's an awesome book. I think it's probably too detailed if you're just going for your private, but everybody I've ever shown my copy to has gone out and gotten one for their library.
Saturday, January 01, 2005
First flights alone with the 3-year old.
I finally took my 3 year old flying in the front seat yesterday and again today. He's flown before, but always in the back seat on trips with my wife in the front. I put his booster seat in the front, told him "DON'T PUT YOUR FEET ON THE CONTROL WHEEL" and off we went. He had a good time since he could see much better from the front seat.
Yesterday we just flew near Weiser (EYQ). I found some cows for him to look at first. He wanted to open the window to hear them moo! You can open the window in flight of course, but I doubt we could have heard the cows! Still, it was funny. On the way back to the airport at about 1200 feet I spotted some birds down below (Egrets probably). I pointed them out to him and of course he thought it was pretty neat to look DOWN at them flying. We made it back to Weiser, did one touch and go, and came back and landed. He later enjoyed showing everyone how small the cows looked from the air.
Today we tried to go down to Galveston, hoping to see a cruise ship heading out. Unfortunately, from about 15 miles out I started thinking, "Those clouds sure look low and grey." We were using flight following and about a minute later the controller told us she had a helicopter at GLS reporting an 800 foot ceiling and requesting Special VFR and wanted to know what we were seeing. We were at 1800 and getting a little moisture on the glass and quickly confirmed the quickly lowering ceilings. We did a little maneuvering to maintain VFR and loitered around the area to try to fly east along the island but the crud just kept coming in from the gulf. After about 10 minutes I figured that my son would soon get tired of just sitting in the plane so I asked for in IFR clearance back to Hooks (DWH) and was cleared up to 3000 feet. I told him that we were going up into the clouds for a little while. He looked a little concerned and said he didn't want to but I explained that I had done it before and that it was safe. He said "ok" and went back to eating goldfish (yes, the cracker type). Fortunately it was smooth in the clouds and he seemed to enjoy watching the rain run UP on the windshield and collect on various parts of the airframe. Temps were around 60 (Texas winter for you) so we didn't have to worry about ice. After a little bit of vectoring around, we popped out of the north side of the cloud bank and proceeded onward to Hooks. We punched through a couple of small puffy clouds and finally landed back a Hooks. He then helped me refuel the plane and put it back in the hanger.
All in all, he said he had a good time. He's always been an easy little guy to take care of so the workload wasn't too much greater than when I'm solo. It might be a different story on bumpy, hard IFR day though, so I'll try to stick to VFR when I can for now! Later, after we were at home he asked, "Where are we going tomorrow Daddy?" I'll have to come up with something, because it looks like it might be just a dull grey and wet day tomorrow!
Yesterday we just flew near Weiser (EYQ). I found some cows for him to look at first. He wanted to open the window to hear them moo! You can open the window in flight of course, but I doubt we could have heard the cows! Still, it was funny. On the way back to the airport at about 1200 feet I spotted some birds down below (Egrets probably). I pointed them out to him and of course he thought it was pretty neat to look DOWN at them flying. We made it back to Weiser, did one touch and go, and came back and landed. He later enjoyed showing everyone how small the cows looked from the air.
Today we tried to go down to Galveston, hoping to see a cruise ship heading out. Unfortunately, from about 15 miles out I started thinking, "Those clouds sure look low and grey." We were using flight following and about a minute later the controller told us she had a helicopter at GLS reporting an 800 foot ceiling and requesting Special VFR and wanted to know what we were seeing. We were at 1800 and getting a little moisture on the glass and quickly confirmed the quickly lowering ceilings. We did a little maneuvering to maintain VFR and loitered around the area to try to fly east along the island but the crud just kept coming in from the gulf. After about 10 minutes I figured that my son would soon get tired of just sitting in the plane so I asked for in IFR clearance back to Hooks (DWH) and was cleared up to 3000 feet. I told him that we were going up into the clouds for a little while. He looked a little concerned and said he didn't want to but I explained that I had done it before and that it was safe. He said "ok" and went back to eating goldfish (yes, the cracker type). Fortunately it was smooth in the clouds and he seemed to enjoy watching the rain run UP on the windshield and collect on various parts of the airframe. Temps were around 60 (Texas winter for you) so we didn't have to worry about ice. After a little bit of vectoring around, we popped out of the north side of the cloud bank and proceeded onward to Hooks. We punched through a couple of small puffy clouds and finally landed back a Hooks. He then helped me refuel the plane and put it back in the hanger.
All in all, he said he had a good time. He's always been an easy little guy to take care of so the workload wasn't too much greater than when I'm solo. It might be a different story on bumpy, hard IFR day though, so I'll try to stick to VFR when I can for now! Later, after we were at home he asked, "Where are we going tomorrow Daddy?" I'll have to come up with something, because it looks like it might be just a dull grey and wet day tomorrow!
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Flying clubs
Jumping right in-----Howdy folks. I haven't had time or money to work on the Commercial certificate yet. Also, the flying club's 182RG has been in the shop for most of the year repairing gear-up damage so I've been waiting on that to get finished since I'll need it for the checkride. It should be back on line in a couple more weeks so I'll be looking into starting the training early in 2005. I'll have to get back onto studying for the written too. I've made a few trips using my instrument rating but actual instrument conditions have been hard to come by. If its been a good IMC day, then I've either been busy or sick. It's funny how after you get the instrument ticket that you often look outside during the Fall months and think, "It sure looks like a good day to fly with that nice overcast layer at 1200 feet."
On another flying topic, I've been toying with the idea of starting another flying club. I LOVE the Southwest Flying Club and don't have any plans to leave but I was wondering if there are enough other Houstonians to start another flying club or a small partnership? The only other club near me that I have info on is the Sugar Land Flying Club. Compared to my club, their monthly dues are less ($35 verses $85), but their planes cost more per hour ($79 verses $58 for a 172). After that, the differences are numerous. The Sugar Land club does have more planes which include a two 172s, a 182, an AA5 Grumman, A36 Bonanza, and a C310 which give more aircraft options than the SWFC's 172, 182, and 182RG. I have 2 main requirements in my flying: 1: I want to be able to fly cheaply when I'm just out by myself (which accounts for about 90% of my flying time), and 2. I need to be able to carry my family (me, wife, and 2 boys) along with luggage/supplies when we go on trips. With that being said, I need a 2-seater for me and my charts for most of the time, and access to a 206 or Cherokee Six for the occasional family trips. More to follow later...
Has anybody seen a Flight Design CT or a Remos G-3 in person? I'd like to fly one of those one day. They look look like a fun little toy to have if the Euro to Dollar rate was more favorable. Drop me a line if you have any input.Saturday, December 25, 2004
My First Blog Entry....EVER
Well, this is it. I've created a blog entry, and I've NEVER even read one before. Go figure. I work as an IT professional but flying is my passion. As a fellow pilot and co-worker of mine said, "I'd rather live to fly than have to fly to live."
Well, there you have it. Hopefully there will be more later.
Cya!
Well, there you have it. Hopefully there will be more later.
Cya!
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Old home page archive
Wouldn't you know it? I've been sort of blogging for over 4 years now and didn't know it! Here's the archive from my home page that I've been keeping since Sept 2000. I was a trendsetter once again and didn't realize it!
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Entries are listed oldest-to-newest.
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Entries are listed oldest-to-newest. 
15-SEP-2000 - After a 12 year absence, I am resuming training for my private pilot certificate with MVP Aero Academy at Weiser Field. Ground school started on September 12, and my first training flight since WAY back in high school is Sunday. I can hardly wait!
18-SEP-2000 - I couldn't believe how much I remembered once I got in the place and actually started flying. I think both my instructor and myself were equally impressed. The biggest area needing work?...LANDINGS of course. I still did pretty well considering the heavy crosswinds.
22-SEP-2000 - Flying was rained out yesterday The last 2 Thursdays I scheduled to fly were rained out. Maybe I should change days! Oh well, we'll try again on Sunday.
25-SEP-2000 - Oh well, I made it up on Sunday. We did some more crosswind landings and extra pattern work. There were about 3 planes practicing at the same time. We had a little "excitement" when this jerk in a T-6 Texan decided he wanted to cut in front of the smaller planes so he could land. He was announcing his intentions, but he would never acknowledge our transmissions. As soon as I would announce something I was doing, with this annoyed sounding voice he would immediately say he was doing the same thing I guess even in flying, it takes all kinds. I'll chalk it up to a learning experience. After all, I've never had to do a 360 on final to avoid another plane!
I'm going on vacation in a couple of days through next Monday so I won't be flying for over a week. I hope to get on a more consistent schedule when I get back.
21-OCT-2000 - Since the last time I updated, I've flown 4 more times, bringing my total hours to 9.1. We've done tower work at Sugar Land, and crosswind landings at Weiser. Sometimes, I don't think Weiser has anything but crosswind conditions! I've also done power off stalls, simulated engine emergencies, and slow flight. Not to brag, but since my instructor was telling folks, on my slow flight I deviated less than 2 knots and 50 feet (total) in altitude on my first try. Anyway, just a lot of repetition on some things, and complete success on others on the first and subsequent tries. My instructor is ready to let me solo, but with my hectic schedule this past month, I haven't been able to get my 3rd class medical yet. Anyway, that's enough for now. I'll let you know when I solo (again).
5-NOV-2000 - Well, it's been a couple more lessons, but I finally soloed today. Weather hasn't been the most cooperative for soloing the past couple of flights. In fact, last week we split the lesson to let some showers pass through the area. Finally though, everything worked out and I made 3 full stops, sans instructor today. My landings have really improved, and all in all, today may have been some of my best landing work. Pattern work wasn't my best, but there was lots of turbulence. I know that there'll be good and bad days to follow, but all my landings today were better than any others I've done so far.
The time change really sucks when you want to fly twice a week. I guess I'll have to see if I can leave work early every now and then so I can fly during the week.
Here I am after my first solo:
18-NOV-2000 - A few more flights have come and gone, along with a couple more short solos. This week, my instructor put the foggles on me. For those you you that don't know what "foggles" are, think of wearing a set of wraparound glasses that are opaque (fogged) everywhere except where the bifocal lenses would be. They make it so the only thing you can see is the instrument panel! That was a nice challenge, but above all the most exciting and fun thing we've done were the "unusual attitudes recoveries" while wearing the glasses. Imagine going for a roller coaster ride with your eyes closed, then in the middle of it, being told to look up and figure out which way you're pointing! It was great fun. I didn't get dizzy or sick, but my ears sure popped a lot!
Anyway, I'm cleared to solo everywhere except for towered fields. If the weather cooperates on Sunday, I'll get that clearance as well. If I can keep up the pace, I'm on track to get my license in January. Although with the weather, short daylight, and holidays, I'm not holding my breath. -
20-NOV-2000 - Well, yesterday my instructor had wanted to take me down to Sugarland Airport to practice landing on their big, WIDE runway. Earlier in my training, I had been flaring too soon at Sugarland. I think the huge runway was throwing me off, and messing with my height-perception because it was so wide (100 feet). As I began to taxi, she announced a change of plans and said that we would go to Hooks instead. As I started flying and got closer to Hooks, I understood why. Hooks has 2 parallel runways. One runway is over 7000 feet long and 100 feet wide (like Sugarland). The other is only 4000 feet in length and 35 feet wide (like Weiser) By now, you might have guessed what happened... As traffic permitted, she had me land first on the small runway, then next on the big one, and back and forth. My landing proficiency had already improved since my last trip to Sugarland so I did pretty well. Overall, it was a good experience.
With all the radio chatter around Hooks, and constantly having to change my traffic pattern, that got tiring pretty fast. After about 30 minutes, we departed the area to the SW, then headed toward May Field, where my instructor simulated an engine failure. After a couple of landings there on the grass, we headed home and called it a day.
As an added note, the air temperature was in the 50s. That's the coldest that I've ever flown an airplane before. I was amazed at how different the performance was compared to earlier in the year with temps in the 90s. The airplane wanted to float forever.
27-DEC-2000 - Today I was looking around and realized that over a month has passed since I last updated the site! There hasn't been just an abundance of flight going on because of the less than spectacular weather around Houston. This month, I've logged 4 flights totaling 7.5 hours (2.2 solo) and 18 landings. 5 of those landing were at night, so with 5 more I'll have my night requirements finished. I've also gotten in a couple of soft-field takeoffs and landings, since one day the plane's nose wheel strut was a little "flat" to say the least and we wanted to take it easy.
One of the flights was a short cross-country up to College Station on the 23rd. Visibility left something to be desired and at around 2000 feet, it was probably the bumpiest flight I've ever experienced. All in all it turned out well. The conditions kept me pretty busy just managing the airplane and maintaining my course so there wasn't much time for computing groundspeed or distance off course. I think for my next cross county I'll hold out for no ceilings and unlimited visibility! Since I can't resist, I also have to say that there really wasn't much to compute anyway because I hit my ETA's pretty close.
Next up: More instrument and soft field practice. I'm hoping for some "unusual attitudes" as well!
15-MAY-2001 - It seems like there never is enough time to update a web page, so here's a short summary since December. I obtained my Private Pilot License on April 13, 2001. For those of you with a calendar, that was a Friday, but it was Good Friday, so everything turned out OK! I made a 97 on my written test about a week before and the oral was a piece of cake. The whole shooting match lasted from 9:00am until almost 4:00pm, but it went by pretty fast. It was a great experience. The practical took 1.6 hours.
Anyway, a lot is going on. We have a baby due in September and that's been a breeze so far. I hope that trend continues! I'm working on getting checked out in other aircraft to see what I like the best. So far I've checked out in the Archer and I'm scheduled for a Cessna 177 Cardinal checkout this week.
That's all for now. One day I hope to go back and fill in all the blanks from my flight training. Right now, I'm just having fun!
12-JUN-2001 - Well, Cessna Cardinal checkouts went fine. As usual at Weiser we had some strong crosswinds that made for some interesting landings, but I never felt totally out of control. The instructor said that she never felt like she needed to take the wheel.
Flying the Cardinal is a blast. Things happen a little faster than in the Warriors and Archers and sometimes I still feel like I'm playing catch-up but I'm sure that will disappear with a little more time. After all, I only have about 5 hours in the Cardinal but more than 50 in the Warrior, so I'm still in transition.
I'm going on my first cross-country with my wife on Friday. We plan to fly up to Athens, TX to watch a horse show, then come home that evening. It was even her idea, so I'm pretty excited that she wanted to go since she's not a big fan of small planes. I guess since the round trip flying is quicker than one way driving, she liked the idea, plus the Cardinal is really roomy. That's good news for a woman who's almost 7 months pregnant! I hope to be pushing around 140-145 MPH, so that will make it pretty quick too.
A final note. I received my best compliment during my first ride in the Cardinal. After the flight, the instructor said, "I look forward to flying with you again, it is so nice to fly with a well trained pilot." I've gotten quite a few good compliments on my flying at the airport, but that was my favorite. Thanks go to my instructor at MVP, Shikha Gupta.
That's all for now. One day I hope to go back and fill in all the blanks from my flight training. Right now, I'm just having fun!
23-JUN-2001 - We made the trip to Athens in the Cardinal last Friday and had a lot of fun. It was one of the smoothest flights I've ever had. While en-route, we were doing 145mph TAS. It was a pretty day after the rain passed over that morning. Melanie had a good time too, so that's good to hear. I just can't say enough about Cardinal N34244. I need to go back every now and then and fly an Archer or Warrior to stay in practice but I'm not really looking forward to it. Compared to the Cardinal, those low-wings are a workout! (no offense to any Piper fans). One sad note though, the Cardinal's owner said that he eventually plans to take if off-line. I'll have to strike a deal with him!
This might be my last flight entry (but maybe not). The archive page is getting longer each time. Plans for now include just building more hours in the Cardinal and any other interesting planes that I see. I submitted my application to the Southwest Flying Club based out of David-Wayne Hooks airport. They have a waiting list that is up to 2 years long right now, but we'll eventually make it. I'll just keep building my hours for now so I'll be ready to fly their two Skylanes (fixed and RG) when a slot opens up. I'm also trying to decide when to start my IFR training. I'll decide after the baby is born in September.
19-SEP-2001 - Not a whole lot of flying news lately. Our first child was born Sept 11, 2001, so pretty much everything has been centering around that. With the terrorist attacks and all, VFR flights are still prohibited, so I couldn't go fly even if I wanted to! I guess I need to look into starting that IFR training soon. Anyway, up until the baby, I just flew around the local area since I didn't want to get too far away. There's nothing wrong with a little sightseeing and practice every now and then anyway.
On a humorous note, the last time I went flying, it was really wet after raining for several days. I flew around in Windsock's 172, and then came back to park it. I was watching one of the young guys who work for Windsock giving me hand signals where to taxi. Unfortunately, he taxied me right over a soft spot where the left main gear promptly sank in the mud up to the hub. After that, there wasn't much to do but shut it down right there and go get the camera. No harm was done, I and I've been told that I'm not the first person to sink a plane in that spot. Here's the results:
16-FEB-2002 - Well, if you visit this page any at all, you've noticed that I haven't been very good at updating it regularly. I guess that's what happens when you have a 6-month old at home! He's a lot of fun and I still find plenty of time to fly. Lately, I've just been flying different airplanes, having fun going for $100 hamburgers, and trying new things. Today I experienced the most exciting thing yet in an airplane...SPINS! I went out in a 150 with one of my favorite instructors and performed a dozen of them. Simply to say, it was a blast! Plus, I now have a new method to lose a lot of altitude really fast! (Just kidding)
Next up in my flying endeavors is to get my instrument rating. I finished the ground school a couple of weeks ago and I intend to start the flight training pretty soon.
24-AUG-2002 - Well, if you visit this page any at all, you've noticed that I haven't been very good at updating it regularly. I guess that's what happens when you have an 11-month old at home! He's a lot of fun and I still find plenty of time to fly. Lately, I've just been flying different airplanes, having fun going for $100 hamburgers, and trying new things.
Next up in my flying endeavors is to get my instrument rating. I've already finished the ground school and I intend to start the flight training later this year (after it cools off a little). I'm also awaiting an open slot in the Southwest Flying Club. I got a call this week that said I'm next in line for the next open slot!
18-MAR-2003 - They say, "Better late than never." That's got to be my motto on updating my web page. What's changed since August? Let's see... Cale is now 18 months old and I've been an active member of the Southwest Flying Club since the middle of September 2002. I still haven't started my instrument training yet, but I still intend to this year. A membership in the Civil Air Patrol for myself is planned somewhere here in the confusion. Cale has been on one trip in the club's 182RG and seemed to enjoy it although I'm not sure if he really knows that he was flying. He was strapped in his car seat and really couldn't see out. We flew from Houston to Ft Worth and although he stayed awake all the way there, on the trip home that afternoon he slept all the way from gear up until I got out to refuel the plane back at home!
Assuming that a war with Iraq doesn't ground General Aviation again, we're flying out to Carlsbad, New Mexico to see the caves in May. Until then we'll just be making some shorter lunch and dinner hops to get all 3 of us used to traveling in the plane together. Mommy really wants to sit in front so she can see better and help with the radios and stuff so we want to get Cale used to his headset so he'll sit in the back and leave it on. Until next time...
27-MAY-2003 - Let's see, what's been going on since March? I guess we've just been using the Club airplanes to have fun. We've gone for dinner once or twice at Brenham, visited relatives in Caldwell, and flew up to Nacogdoches to take care of some cows my dad has there. There was a lot of helicopter activity up there because they were still working on the Shuttle recovery efforts. Yesterday I participated in Windsock Aviation's first annual Poker Run. It was a lot of fun flying with other airplanes to different airports collecting cards for our poker hands.
For the big deal, the first weekend of May we took our first small vacation using a GA aircraft. We took the club's 182RG out to Carlsbad, New Mexico to see the caverns. There are a few pictures (out of the over 150 we took) over on Cale's picture page. On the way we stopped in Midland to visit the American Airpower Heritage Museum of the Commemorative Air Force. FiFi, their B-29, was there going through its annual inspection and that was interesting to see. Its starboard wing flap was sitting on a set of stands. It was as big as the entire wing of our 182! The Museum had a lot of good information to go through, but there weren't just a lot of airplanes to look at. Our Lone Start Flight Museum in Galveston has a much larger collection onsite if you want to see warbirds.
05-MAY-2004 - Well, it's been almost a year since I updated this page so lets summarize. On the flying front I got my Instrument ticket on January 27. Man, if you don't have that rating and you really want to use an airplane, then get it! I've only taken a few small trips since January but one of them was a lot more fun in the clear sky above the clouds at 5000 feet than bumping along below the dreary, low visibility junk at 2000 feet! On another one of them, we wouldn't have even taken off because of below-marginal VFR at the destination, but an instrument approach made it a non-event.
We had a second son on April 3, 2004. He was born at 3:33am. Big brother loves his little brother and we're a big, happy family.
As they say, "...a little rain must fall", and unfortunately we had our thunderstorm. My mom was killed in a car wreck in October when somebody crossed over the yellow line on a two-lane road over a bridge. She didn't have anywhere to go and they hit head on and it was over instantly. Mom never drove over 65 MPH and when both of the full-size pickups hit, the impact drove her truck backwards 50 feet. The other guy died a little later after a little suffering. 15 minutes earlier, multiple calls had been made to the highway patrol to report a reckless driver going at a high rate of speed and they were out on the road looking for him. Unfortunately they couldn't find him in time.
Anyway, we're all moving along. It's hardest on Dad to lose his wife of 33 years but I think he's doing well. He retired in January so he's trying to get out and do all the things he never had time to do because he was at work all day.
The biggest thing I've learned in all of this is, don't wait. If there's something you want to do, no matter if it's to go visit some new location, start a hobby, or change careers, then get started now. You may not have as much time as you think. Having said that, stay tuned. I've started working on my Commercial license now. I'll try to post updates when I start the flying portion later this month.
05-MAY-2004 - Well, it's been almost a year since I updated this page so lets summarize. On the flying front I got my Instrument ticket on January 27. Man, if you don't have that rating and you really want to use an airplane, then get it! I've only taken a few small trips since January but one of them was a lot more fun in the clear sky above the clouds at 5000 feet than bumping along below the dreary, low visibility junk at 2000 feet! On another one of them, we wouldn't have even taken off because of below-marginal VFR at the destination, but an instrument approach made it a non-event.
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