Now we're talking

 

 

Flying has certainly picked up for me lately which is an absolute blessing, due to yet another change of instructor. My last instructor is headed for the regional’s and doesn't really need to build any more time and I hate to say it but it was beginning to show. So I chose another flight instructor who I'm becoming good friends with away from the airport, but who also still needs to reach that daunting 1500 hours and is more flexible. Most of you may know, but I am currently still in the Army on active duty which is as you might imagine certainly a full time job. I'm scheduled to fly on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s from 3:30PM to around 5:00PM. We are encouraged to fly more but in order to do that your instructor must be accommodating. David, my new instructor, is always open for business which works out great for both of us. My rate of completing the lessons required by my school has tripled itself since we began flying together. Not to say my old instructor was a bad guy, which he certainly was not, he just had a lot of other things going on also namely being a drummer for his band which performs all over the state of Texas. Unlike most cell phone plans there was not a lot of night and weekend minutes with said instructor if you catch my drift. On the other hand, it's July 2nd as I write this and I will fly

 

 

 

To give you a little more background I attend Central Texas College located in, you guessed it, Central Texas. We are a part 141 aviation school with a pretty in depth syllabus to follow, and a nationally ranked flight team as well. My private through commercial and then on to multi-engine and CFI ratings will be obtained all in one place. It's set up as a regular college semester but the courses are pretty much self paced, so it's really up to your individual work ethic and drive. How bad do you want it? Another note worth mention is the cost. It cost just north of $4,000 to obtain a private pilot’s license here compared to around $7,000 in other areas. We have students that have come from a wide variety of places just for that reason. If you know anyone looking for quality training, and a degree I'd recommend taking a look at CTC. (I'll leave a link to the site here: http://www.ctcd.edu/aviation/)

 

 

 

 

What were we discussing again? That's right training. Flights have become so frequent that I have rarely had time to update this blog. We have been knocking out the lessons left and right. Oh by the way, those landings that I was struggling with? Well they are starting to come easy and my best is still yet to come. (More on that in a post coming soon) I've been able to experience the calm of flying in the morning time also due to David's flexibility and willingness to work weekends. It truly was a night and day difference landings would for sure be no trouble on this day were my immediate thoughts.

A couple of Sundays ago we arrived at the airport for my first 8:00AM flight time completely stoked to experience the smoothness first hand, but on the way I completely missed the fact that it was complete overcast with low ceilings. No worries though, my instructor was determined to fly so he contacted Gray Clearance and received an IFR Clearance to fly through and above the clouds so that I could legally still continue my lesson. The view was one of the greatest things I've experienced in my brief aviation career and I had a blast listening and working the radio in controlled airspace, and assisting my instructor with what I could while he guided us through this layer of clouds that topped out at around 4,500ft that morning. Once above the clouds we cancelled the IFR but stay on for advisories just to be on the safe side while in the practice area. It's always good to have your "big brother" looking out for you as well. If you're a student pilot and you have that ability and are comfortable on the radios I'd actually recommend it. However it is not to be substituted for our own vigilance, because the responsibility of avoiding other traffic is the pilots and the pilots alone in VFR conditions. I performed all maneuvers to PTS (Practical Test Standards), and then handed over the controls for the IFR portion back through the clouds. David decided to go for the ILS approach on the way back, and it was a good learning experience to be in the airplane to see that. To hear the radio calls and get a feel for how a real life ILS worked. I've done them on FSX more times than you can count and I hear it on www.liveatc.net almost daily, but it is so much better when you have a front row seat to the action even though I wasn't at the controls. No one said you had to be an instrument rated pilot to handle radio communications.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once below the clouds and David had flown us down to minimums I took the controls and executed several touch and goes in the traffic pattern with each landing getting better and better. The calm air was gone by this time I regained control of the airplane, and the AWOS was broadcasting the usual winds 170 at 10 or something close to it  Oh well maybe one day I'll get a straight in no wind, no excitement landing.  That day would actually arrive sooner than I anticipated that it would, but I sure as hell wasn't complaining. We went over maneuvers for one more flight the following Tuesday, and then the very next time that I would fly, my instructor would leave the airplane for the very first time. I had no idea at the time but my first solo flight was just around the corner and I will tell you all about it in the next post.

 

 

 

Rome Wasn't Built in One Day

New Rome

The title of this post sums up exactly how I had been feeling during the early stages of my flight training. My flight slot comes at 3:30 pm every day that I'm scheduled to fly. Those of you with experience know that the afternoon into evening air can be quite bumpy. Never mind the fact that the Archer is a non air-conditioned aircraft, and this is only the beginning of the Texas summer. Add to that an inexperienced pilot such as myself and you can see where learning to properly control an aircraft could become difficult. Even the most basic maneuvers proved a little tricky for awhile.
My last few lessons have consisted of a small review, and then add some maneuvers; repeat the cycle. Those maneuvers consisted of straight and level flight, (surprising difficult at times when your practice area is over a lake) climbs, descents, turns regular and steep, MCA (minimum controllable airspeed, or slow flight), stalls, forced landings and of course there's a takeoff and landing. None of these maneuvers are inherently difficult; however it requires a bit more effort at 3:30 pm than it would at say 8:00 am. My first morning flight was on a calm and clear Sunday at around 10:00am and we flew out and climbed up to 6,500 feet without a gust of wind or bump. I immediately became envious of my fellow pilots that have the freedom to occupy the early morning time slots, but I can say that it is helping me to become a better more proficient pilot. Flying in smooth air is really a piece of cake. So easy in comparison that it actually feels like cheating.

So far so good right? Well yes and no. I'm a competitive person by nature and I expect to perform to the highest level so naturally I expect things to be as close to perfect as they can be. Yes I understand that we are all humans and we will make mistakes but what I'm saying is I prefer to keep those to a minimum. Without any amount of flight hours worth mentioning I expect to be able to perform at the same level of my CFI. Realistic no, but it is a goal that I will continue to work towards. Expecting greatness isn't the problem though. Failing to contain the frustration will we fall short of our own expectations is certainly an issue. And I'll admit I am certainly guilty as charged.
My most problematic area, the most important phase of flight, quickly became landing the airplane. When I dial the radio to 128.57 to check the AWOS I would be willing to bet money that I would hear something similar to "Winds 160 or 150 @ 12 gusting 20". Our active runway you're probably wondering? That would be runway 19 which is one of only two options at Skylark Field. The other of course would be the 180 degree opposite direction runway 1 which I've used for a total of one landing. (Took off on 1 did a touch and go, went out to the practice area came back and for sure the weather had switched back to what I call normal). Out of the considerably small amount of landings I had done, only maybe 5 were in descent wind conditions. Crosswind landings are my normal landings which again isn't necessarily a bad thing, on the rare calm afternoon flying the airplane is a dream. I'm slowly learning to look at the glass as half full instead of half empty.

Crosswind landings from YouTube

 

Other pilots, including Professional Pilots, have given me constant encouragement which certainly does help. Just knowing that people believe in you or that they have gone through the same emotions is comforting. The most important piece of advice that I have received thus far came from those same conversations. I was told that it's ok to have goals and expectations but to not let those frustrations of falling short affect future performances and training. I was also told by a good friend "there is no such thing as a perfect flight “and he also said "I still make them every flight" referring to mistakes. Composure is the key. Every lesson won't be filled with joy and fun times. Some maneuvers will be more difficult than others and mistakes will be made. However in my experience I've learned that I can learn more from a bad flight, or bad game film, than a complete blowout or a great lesson. There's that glass half full concept again. More importantly we must constantly exercise patience and remind ourselves that even Rome wasn't built in one day. Considering the fact that 1500 hours is for the time being the magic number, pilots in my shoes still have a long way to go, more mistakes to make, plenty to learn, but also pretty of great times to go along with it.