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Category Archives: Flight training

Single Engine Safety…Do The Work!

04 Oct

This past week I planned for and took a flight with my husband up north to view the fall colors.  For the week preceding our trip I talked a lot about our plans for our trip and booked the plane that we would be renting.  I spent some time investigating the island that we planned on visiting on our trip.  Our trip would be from St. Cloud, MN (KSTC) to Duluth, MN (KDLH) and east to Madeline Island (4R5) and then return to St. Cloud.  I called the Madeline Airport to make sure that it would be open and if there was transportation available to town which was two miles away.  During the week I kept an eye on the weather and continued to make plans for our trip.

The evening before our trip I pulled out my sectional, plotter, E6B, AFD, and POH for the 152 that I would be flying.  I began the process for planning our trip.  I put my sectional out on the table.  For this trip I would actually need two sectionals because I would be flying outside the Twin Cities sectional and onto the Green Bay sectional.  I would need both for navigation.  Prior to pulling out the sectionals I had gone onto a couple of navigational aid sites NavMonster, AOPA, and Skyvector.  I knew that the distance from St. Cloud to Duluth was 110 nm , 59nm from Duluth to Madeline Island, and 156 nm from Madeline Island to St. Cloud.  All of the distances of each leg were within the 152′s fuel range with the required reserve.  I had planned on a fuel stop in Duluth and a chance to stretch our legs before we continued on to Madeline Island.

When I began plotting our trip on the navigation log it was going fine for the first leg.  I had already flown this leg a year ago so its planning for checkpoints wasn’t a big deal.  I drew my course line on my sectional from Duluth to Madeline Island on my sectional and started to plot my checkpoints and that’s when the uneasy feeling started to creep in.  I plotted my first checkpoint east of Duluth and that put me out over water.  Lake Superior to be exact.  Just how in the world to do verify your checkpoint over water?  Do you look for your abeam point on land?  The shore would be approximately 15 miles south of my course. 

Next realizing that the course that I chose put me over water I put my plotter down, measured and found that I planned on flying over approximately 28 nm over open water.  Now I’m not flying a float plane and the only place I can land is on land so …If  I lose an engine in a single engine I essentially become a glider which my plane will do for a time but not long.  I have to admit for a very short minute I considered continuing with my plans.  Afterall it was only 28 nm and that would only take about 20 minutes .  What could happen in that short amount of time?  It was time to reconsider my plans.

I started taking a fresh look at my sectional.  If I changed my course from St. Cloud to Superior, WI which is just a few miles east of Duluth I could still fly to Madeline Island as planned only over land instead of  28 nm of open water.  I originally choose Duluth because of familiarity.  I had already flown into and out of the Duluth airport.  I researched the Superior Airport KSUW and found that I actually liked the runway orientation better for the winds than Duluth’s runway.  There would be less crosswind for landing and taking off at Superior.  I began working on my navigation log once again and started plotting my checkpoints to Superior.  Then I plotted my checkpoints from Superior to Madeline Island and back to St. Cloud.  The next thing to consider was fuel.  Madeline Island reported none.  I would have to fuel in Superior before heading on to Madeline Island. 

I felt more comfortable with the changes from Duluth to Superior.  The only amount of open water we would be over was  3 nm.  At any point in time I would only be 1 1/2 miles from land if there was a problem.  The other consideration with Madeline Island was the fact that they didn’t have any services there for the airplane.  No mechanics, repair parts, or fuel.  I was renting the plane and the thought crossed my mind  Just how much does it cost to get a plane off an island that isn’t working and how do you do it? As it turned out because of the change in the weather we didn’t pursue our trip out to the island.  But the thought of having trouble stuck in the back of my mind as we continued home instead of going to Madeline Island.

The experts in aviation say that every accident is a chain of events.  Rarely is there just one item that contributed to the cause of the accident.  I thought of my plans for last week and possible accident scenarios.  The point I want to make is that with so many options for technology that I think people get complacent.  Before I got out my sectional I didn’t see anything wrong with my plans because I was just looking at one aspect of the planning.  I was seeing the miles as related to fuel but not really seeing the course I was planning.  I don’t have GPS or any kind of navigational system other than VOR tracking.  I need to rely on what I see outside the plane as I fly, my instruments for direction and my sectional with checkpoints marked for reference along my course. 

If I had hopped in my plane without doing the work of plotting my course on the sectional and marking my checkpoints.  At some point I would find myself in a dangerous position, over open water.  You can fly a plane like driving a car and say that I want to go east about 59 nm and it should take me about 37 minutes at about 95 kts.  Which is what I knew to be true for the trip to Madeline Island.  Believe me it is so much less work to plan a trip that way than to sit down and mark out the checkpoints, figure out the wind correction and ground speed, and figure out how many minutes to each checkpoint but the necessity of doing the planning is to keep me and others safe.

Another issue of safety that I noticed as we were flying was the terrain.  When I plan for a trip I look for things on the terrain that are important because of the height, mainly towers along the route.  I marked the towers along my route there and back.  When we were on our trip my husband made the comment  “There aren’t as many places to land the plane the farther north we go.”  He was correct.  Where we live is primarily an agricultural area with a lot of farm fields for emergency landings.  As we travel north the terrain changes mostly to heavily wooded areas with very few roads and fields. 

When I was learning to fly there were three things that they said we should always know at all times:  Number one was where I would land the plane in an emergency, number two was how much fuel I had on board at any given point in time, and the third was where was the wind from.  It became apparent to me as we were flying that there were fewer places to choose for an emergency landing.  This is important when you are choosing a course to fly in order to fly safely.

There were many lessons learned this past week.  The most important lesson I learned was to do the work of planning for the trip.  If you do the work, correctly and thoroughly you will be better prepared to fly safely.  I didn’t say that you will fly without any problems but you didn’t create any problems for yourself because of lack of planning.   Again I say, “Do the Work!”

 
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Posted by on October 4, 2010 in Flight training, Flying Adventures, New Challenges, Vacations

 

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Flying on the Ground

26 Sep

If it’s a Friday night or an occasional Saturday evening between the months of May to October chances are you will find me at the race track.  My husband drives a four cylinder S-10 pickup truck in stock car races each weekend.  I am his pit crew, video photographer, and number one fan all rolled into one. 

When we were at the races last evening and I was sitting in the grandstand my mind started making comparisons between racing and flying and how they are similar in many ways.  One of the first things I thought of as I was sitting there was communication.  Both airplanes and race cars require some form of communication for a smooth flow in the operations at an airport or a race track.  It helps if everyone is on the same page and knows what everyone else is doing.  In most airplanes there are radios for communication with the control tower.  At most racetracks they use race receivers which allow the racecar drivers to tune into a frequency that the flag man broadcasts his instructions to the drivers. 

In the event in an airplane a radio doesn’t work or it  doesn’t have  a radio they can receive light gun signals from the tower which tell them what to do.  For example if the control tower is sending a steady beam of green light to you and you are on the ground it means you are cleared for take-off.  If you are in flight approaching the airport and you get the same steady green light it means you are cleared to land.  If however, you see a steady red light when you are on the ground it means STOP.  If you are in flight and receive a steady red light it means give way to others and continue circling the airport.

Much like the light gun signals at the airport, the race track uses color in the form of flags to let the drivers what to do.  Every one is familiar with the checked flag.  It means that if you go past that flag first you have won the race.  If you see a yellow flag from the flag man it means caution, there is a problem that requires attention on the track.  Either an accident or debris on the track that must be removed before the race can continue.  Just as at the airport if you see a red flag it means STOP immediately.  This is usually because there has been a crash on the track and emergency vehicles need to be able to move quickly to the scene.  If you see a white flag from the flag man it does not mean surrender, it means only one lap to go to the checked flag.  At the racetrack if you see a black flag waved at you it means you have behaved badly and to go to the back of the pack or sometimes take your car to the pits.  You are done racing.

Another similarity I noticed between racing and flying is the importance of weight and balance.  Every airplane has a specific useful load weight.  This is the amount of fuel, passengers, and luggage weight you can carry on the plane.  This is a very important figure because if you exceed it you can encounter handling difficulties to say the least.  It affects your take off and landings as well as maneuvering abilities.  The plane will fly differently if all the weight is put aft the center of gravity than it will if all the weight is forward the CG.  It may not even be able to lift off the ground if it is loaded excessively or improperly.  So if a pilot asks your weight prior to loading a small aircraft, don’t be offended and tell the truth.  That number is important to the safety of all those aboard. 

A racecar weight is important as well, although not life threatening as in an overloaded airplane.  Every class of racecars has a specific weight that they are not allowed to exceed or they will be disqualified.  An important part of setting up a racecar is putting it on a set of scales to see how the weight is distributed over the four wheels of the car.  You put more or less weight in specific locations to get the desired handling on the track.  There are different setups depending on whether you are racing on dirt or asphalt.  Drivers also adjust their setups according to the weather.  The tires will act one way on a cold track and another on a hot track.

Fuel management is important to both racecar drivers as well as pilots.  Both want to move their plane or racecar as efficiently as possible from point A to point B.  In the class of cars we race they actually use the same airplane fuel as we do in the Cessna that I fly, 100LL.  Both the racecar driver and the pilot do not want to run out of fuel so it is  important for both to make the proper calculations of how much fuel they will need and build a reserve into that number to allow for unforseen circumstances that will require you to fly or drive longer that expected.  The big difference is for the pilot who doesn’t manage their fuel properly is that they can be forced into an emergency landing whereas the racecar driver just won’t be able to finish this race.  He will still be around for the next race when the pilot may not be there for the next flight.

In preparing for a race or a pilot for a flight both need to “preflight”  their car or plane.  This involves checking everything over to make sure it looks and sounds as it should.  Either on the track or in the air is not the time to discover that something is not as it should be.  In both cases it is better to be found before the race or flight begins.  This begins with a general walk around the car or plane.   How does it look? Does anything look out-of-place or different?  The Cessna that I fly had a problem with the front strut.  It would collapse so there was no dampening effect for the front wheel on landing.  This was due to a bad seal.  If it was collapsed, I could readily see the difference as I approached the plane and I knew before I could fly that some nitrogen would need to be added or the seal would have to be replaced.  

Both racecars and airplanes have safety equipment.  The racecar has a roll cage and a 5 point harness system and a racing seat that is attached to the frame.  The driver wears a fire suit and helmet while racing.  There are many requirements for a safe racecar.  The airplane also has safety equipment.  There are seatbelts and shoulder harnesses for the pilot and passengers.  Some airplanes now come with airbags installed.  Some require you as the pilot to wear a parachute depending on the type of flying.  If you travel commercial airlines we have all sat through all the safety information for the plane we are flying on at the beginning of the flight.  As a private pilot you need to inform your passengers of the safety requirements for your plane. 

There are basic racecars and airplanes and there are expensive racecars and airplanes.  Whether your passion is racing or flying there is one that will fit your budget.  It’s just a matter of choosing whether you like your circles on the ground or 10, 000 feet above.  I prefer the bird’s eye view best.

 
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Posted by on September 26, 2010 in Flight training, Stock car racing

 

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Flight Planning

23 Sep

One of my favorite parts of flying is the planning.  I love choosing where I plan to fly and the route I will take.  I take out my sectional and spread it wide open across my kitchen table so I can start plotting my trip.  I gather the necessary tools to complete the task:  my current sectional, plotter, E6B(flight computer), 152 manual, crosswind chart and my current AFD.

Before I could fly solo, I would take out my sectional and look at how many airports there were and where they were.  I would dream about flights I would take and who I would take with me.  Then the time came for me to plan my first cross country.  I didn’t sleep the night before.  I had so many unanswered questions about what I was to do.  My CFI said we would go over the plans before we would fly my plan.  I was so nervous.  I kept looking at all the boxes on the nav log and realized that I didn’t know as much about flying as I thought I did.

He looked at my nav log, checkpoints, weather information, and sectional.  We went over what I had filled in and made changes where we needed to.  We spent some more time using the E6B on the ground so when we were up flying I would be able to confidently compute my ground speed as I checked the time in between checkpoints.  While I was learning about the E6B the teacher in me was thinking about all the cool applications for it in a classroom.  I was already writing lesson plans in my head for math and science.  I thought a unit on flying just might be the thing to get my 5th & sixth grade students  interested in math and science again.  For now, I was the student.

Next week I have a flight planned to fly a place I’ve never been before.  It involves landing on an island just outside of Bayfield, WI.  It will take extra planning on my part for it to be a safe flight.  I will spend a lot of time learning as much about the airports I will be landing at as possible.  One of the things I like to do is go to Navmonster.com to look at the satellite photos and track the path into the airport with the bird’s eye view.  It helps me visualize more of the flight and landmarks than are shown on the sectional.  I do it several times and imagine I am in my plane flying overhead and seeing what is below me.  It really helps me for my airport approaches.  I look at all the runways, their lengths, and possible obstacles to avoid.  I will call the airport the day before and the day of the flight to make sure everything is as I expect it to be.  I don’t like surprises.

Another item on my list for flight planning is checking out alternate airports.  The area I will be flying to is on Lake Superior.  The weather can change quickly near bodies of water.  Just this morning as I try to look across the lake I live on I cannot see the other end of the lake because of fog.  As much as I want to fly to Madeline Island, a place my husband and I visited on our honeymoon,  we will not go if the weather is not suitable.  We will choose some other destinations for our trip if the weather doesn’t look good or cancel our trip altogether.

Fuel management is another area of great importance for flight planning.  The FAR/AIM give you the required amounts of fuel you are required to have on board for daytime and nighttime flying.  Those amounts are the minimums!  I like to carry as much fuel as possible, with out exceeding my weight and balance.  I don’t try to stretch fuel between two checkpoints,  so if I run into problems that delay me  from landing or need to divert,  I can safely accomplish landing with enough fuel.  Running out of fuel just shouldn’t happen.

Weather is something I will be watching from today until my flight day and what is forecast for after it.  It is important to watch what is happening with the movement of fronts across and around my planned flight areas.  There are so many good weather information tools available for pilots for planning.  The main thing is to use them.

The day of our flight we will get a standard briefing and file a flight plan for our route, we will do the pre-flight inspection on the plane and make sure it is fueled up and flight worthy.  Most important is the me, the pilot, is also ready for flight which means that I have slept, feel healthy,  have eaten and am not dehydrated before we start.

If the stars align, the weather is good, the plane is ready, and I am healthy we will take off for a  day of adventure and to see sights not seen from above before.

I can’t wait to be one of those set of wings overhead that everyone looks up and imagines “I wonder where they are going?”

 
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Posted by on September 23, 2010 in education, Flight training, Flying Adventures, New Challenges, Vacations

 

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Who’s Got the Plane?

18 Sep

“You have the plane”  said the CFI to the student.  

“I have the plane”  said the student. 

“You have the plane”  said the CFI to the student. 

 And so the exchange takes place.  In flight instruction it is a procedure that takes place in the cockpit to verify who is flying the plane.

In my Christian walk instead of letting God be in control of my life in all areas,  I tend to decide which things I can handle, pass off the things I feel are out of my control, or I have messed up to the point that I know only God can straighten them out. 

In Proverbs 3:5-6 it says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”   

God wants us to rely on him FIRST.  He wants to give us the desires of our heart but first he wants our heart.  He wants our obedience.  He is not telling us that we won’t be able to do what we want but he asks us to wait sometimes, to have patience.  His timing can offer us protection.  We don’t see the whole picture.

God is ready to step in and help us,  just as the CFI is there in the cockpit, but he’d rather us not having to go through some of life’s experiences, which can be painful to learn as we step out and try to take control and we lack the necessary tools to handle our present situation.

It can be very humbling trying to land an airplane when your CFI has to take the controls to keep you both from danger but I’m glad he is there to teach me.  God is able to humble us when we get too prideful and take the controls from Him and try to fly our own plane of life.

It’s a flight I’d rather not take.

 
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Posted by on September 18, 2010 in Flight training, Inspiration

 

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The Early Morning Dance of the Cessnas

13 Sep

Cessna 4872 B was the first to take the dance floor departing on runway 31, instructor and student aboard. 

I watched from the holdshort line as they started the dance.  Rotating and lifting off the runway heading down the runway. 

Cleared for takeoff I joined the dance in Cessna 67764.  

4872 B gaining altitude and then turning right crosswind and setting up for the downwind leg.  

I rotated and lifted 67764  off the runway following their move heading down the runway gaining altitude. 

4872B calls midfield downwind and sets up for their turn for base. 

 The voice of the student shaky as he announces his position. 

As they travel down for final, I am moving up in an airborne ballet.

They complete the first round of the dance floor and set up for the second.

N67764 calls midfield downwind as 4872B  takes to the air again.

Each perfecting their dance steps each time around the floor moving in right closed traffic.

Too nose high on crosswind this time, next time lower the nose.

Too slow on final last round, more airspeed this round.

A little left of the centerline on landing, on centerline the next.

67764 adjusting trim for an easier dance.

Radio calls of the student are more confident as a comfortable rhythm develops.

Control tower adds in its calls to keep the dance in time.

Round and round we go with no one joining the dance.

67764 is the first to leave the dance floor and heads to the ramp.

4872B continues the dance solo on the clear, crisp, sunny morning. 

67764 dreams of the next dance and it’s wings that wait for flight.

 

 
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Posted by on September 13, 2010 in Flight training, poetry

 

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Wings Overhead

02 Sep

I love going out to the airport.  On Tuesday while I was attending a seminar at the airport I was distracted.  I took a seat near the window in the terminal and found myself watching the take offs and landings at the airport and only half listening to the seminar.  Oh how I longed to be up flying that afternoon but my work schedule didn’t allow for it prior to the seminar.

Back when I was taking lessons one of my favorite things to do was to arrive early for my lesson and just watch others taking off and landing in the pattern.  I wish there would have been a bench parked near the GA ramp so I could sit and watch.  Most of the time I stood leaning on the corner of the hangar and watched until it was time to pre-flight the plane. 

I would try to imagine what the instructor was telling their students on final and as they stopped on the runway prior to taking off again.  Were they being told not to flare too high?  Watch your airspeed on final the next trip around or was it the day that they finally did everything just right and were told to go to the ramp to drop off the CFI so they could take it up solo.

Last evening I was sad when I read that SCSU was considering cutting the aviation program at the college.  They haven’t cut it yet, but it’s on the block.  The aviation students make the airport such a fun place to be.  They bring a level of excitement and anticipation to the flight school.  I love hearing the chatter between the students and the CFI’s.  They are always talking about what’s next for them.  I can’t help but wonder what they are thinking now.  Probably the same question “What’s next?  but likely not thinking about their next rating but where do they go from here if the aviation program is cut.  I can’t imagine having to change colleges once you’ve started with one college.

My CFI was a graduate from SCSU along with most of the other flight instructors.  I don’t know what will become of the flight school if the aviation program is cut.  That is where they get their CFI’s from.  The St. Cloud Regional Airport took a hit when Mesaba pulled its planes from St. Cloud.  They are in the process of trying to get another carrier to come in.  Possibly one with runs to Chicago but the timing couldn’t be worse with the announcement from SCSU about a possible cut.

The trips to the airport aren’t quite the same anymore.  There’s nothing like hearing on the radio “N4872B you’re number two behind the Mesaba” and wondering just what it was your CFI told you about wake turbulence and where you should land.  It gets the adrenaline pumping that’s for sure or taxiing down to the runway and looking behind you to see a Mesaba following you on the taxiway.  You feel rather small and insignificant with them behind you when you are in a 152.

Someone had a plan for an airport and envisioned “Wings Overhead”  and I am thankful for them pursuing their dream.

 
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Posted by on September 2, 2010 in Flight training

 

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The Great Wall in Small Bites: When Exterior becomes Interior

28 Aug

This past week I have been doing some maintenance painting at our business.  “The Great Wall”  I am referring to is one at our business that used to be an exterior wall.  An addition to our business in 1985 changed it from an exterior to an interior wall.  Since it became an interior wall there have been various storage racks added to the wall.  The original wall is stucco and needed some attention.

I decided to paint the wall this week because the mechanic that usually works on the hoist nearest to the wall was scheduled to be on vacation from Friday afternoon until the following Thursday morning.  I  foolishly thought  there will be plenty of time to get the wall painted while he is on vacation.  I gathered my supplies and had the mechanic move his toolbox from the area while he was gone.

I started working on the wall last Saturday morning.  What I didn’t count on was all the other stuff he had piled up along the 20′ wall and hanging on it.  I spent a lot of time on Monday evening taking down racks that used to hold automotive belts.  I was surprised that the racks on the wall were made of wood with metal hangers.  Someone had taken a lot of time making these racks.  The racks were fastened to the wall with cement anchors about every foot or so.  Some came out easy but some not so easy.  The hard part was standing on a 8′ ladder and still working overhead to remove the racks.  I should have used the 10′ ladder for leverage. 

On Wednesday evening I hoped to have completed the project.  I was only about half done and not much energy to finish it.  My husband introduced me to my new favorite tool.  I had been using a cat’s paw or crow bar to remove the remaining nails and racks with brute force which unfortunately I don’t have much of working overhead.  The tool he gave me to use is a heavy-duty cut-off  air tool  that cuts through the nails at the edge of the wall. Then I used caulk to fill in around the holes.  Less damage to the walls than trying to remove the nails and much quicker.  It didn’t do much for my hairstyle wearing a welding shield to protect my eyes.

While I am painting there is ample time to think.  Today I started thinking about how the process making an exterior wall into an interior wall involves using many of the same processes when learning something new.

At first, when I was learning to fly I was overwhelmed by the amount of checklists and items on each checklist.  Much like the size of the “Great Wall” and the number of items to be dealt with before I could actually paint the wall.  Over time the checklists became second nature to me and I varied a couple of items to an order that worked best for me.  There is a difference of opinion in teaching students how to fly whether to have them ”Do the checklist, one item at a time” or ”do your items on your checklist from memory and then use the checklist to verify that all the items were done.” 

I was from the second camp on checklists.  For example, I would do my pre-flight and then scan the items on the checklist to verify I had completed all the items.  In an emergency situation I wanted to know in my head what I needed to do immediately instead of fumbling through a checklist to figure it out but it is great to have the checklist there for reference.

Painting is second nature to me and I am not intimidated by it,  however, this project provided a few bumps in the road with trying to remove the belt hangers.  I used my usual method of removing obstacles on the walls and patching holes but the cement anchors were more difficult than anything I had ever tried to remove before.  I needed some advice or I felt like I would never finish the project because of the anchors.

In flying when you reach the end of your knowledge on an item you look to the experts, my CFI , others at our flight school.  I spent many hours reading about items I didn’t understand or was having difficulty with like landings. If something wasn’t working for me I looked to him or other pilots.  On the painting project I looked to my husband for his recommendation regarding the anchors.  He provided the necessary tool and the work became easier just like with the advice of my CFI.

At some point in my flying the exterior became interior as well.  I put the information to work for me from all the exterior sources,  made some adaptations that worked for me, and the information was now on the interior for me and put to use  just like the wall.  Next are the floors…

 
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Posted by on August 28, 2010 in Flight training, New Challenges, Unfinished Projects

 

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Back in Business..Land, Sea and Sky

23 Aug

I got the official word from the FAA this week that they are issuing my third class medical.  Yeah!  It has been a little over a month of worrying that after all my hard work of learning to fly that I wouldn’t be able to for lack of a medical certificate. 

Last Wednesday evening I attended a seminar for Seaplane Ground School as part of the FAAST program.  It’s another flying rating I’ve thought about pursuing and this was the first step.  When I arrived at the hangar where the seminar was held I felt like I was “fresh meat”  not because I was one of three women in a crowd of about 90 but because they were looking for new members for their chapter.  I told them that I probably wouldn’t be a good candidate because I live over 130 miles away and I probably wouldn’t be driving to the monthly meetings or to their Saturday morning Young Eagles.  I would need to find something closer to home.

One observation I have made in the past few events that I have attended relating to flying is that there is an aging population of pilots out there.  I’m fifty but at the meeting last evening I was definitely one of the youngest in attendance.  The same was true at AirVenture and another seminar for flying I attended about a month ago.  I was wondering whether the number of younger pilots is down or are they not involved in flying clubs just like the trend in a lot of our community organizations. 

At the chapter meeting last evening before the seminar began they said that one of their goals is to find a way to engage the next generations in flying.  The Young Eagles program is the way they are doing it.  They give airplane rides for kids on Saturday mornings trying to entice young people into a love a flying.  I went on a similar ride as a young girl when I was in Girl Scouts, it did the trick for me.

What I like best about the seminars is the enthusiasm for flying that the presenter always has for whatever part of aviation they are discussing.  Last evening was no exception.  As he presented he made it interesting with side notes.  Not just the facts.  His enthusiasm for seaplanes was contagious.  He talked about the ups and downs of the seaplane rating. 

I visited his website after the seminar, www.flightinstructor4hire.com , and he has a lot of ideas of fun places to go with a sea plane.  One of the points he made about flying a seaplane is that they try to be courteous pilots with only doing three takeoffs and landing on any one  lake.  He said,  ”After three you just become another annoying jet ski interrupting someone’s day out at the lake.”

His point about being courteous not only applies to seaplanes but to pilots in general.  Since I earned my certificate I’ve had a number of people in my community that have asked if I was the one flying around and around our town and the lakes nearby.  I could honestly answer no since I haven’t flown over our town since the end of April and just one pass over the town and then onto other areas.  There has been a lot of low altitude flying by a few pilots in our area and it tends to make some people nervous especially with recent news of plane crashes in our area. 

I’m looking forward to scheduling my first lesson soon.  I need to get the girls off to college and get in some kind of routine this fall with work and then get a lesson scheduled.  I’m looking forward to the new challenge and have already started reading the handbook for seaplanes.  Who would have thought that a glassy water landing would be harder than one with a little chop on the surface?  Can’t wait to work on landings on water!

 
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Posted by on August 23, 2010 in Flight training

 

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It’s never too late to be what you might have been!

14 Aug

Back in 1978 I was a new high school graduate heading off to college.  My chosen major was Medical Technology.  That was, of course, until I had trouble passing biology.  I decided to change my major to business.  I completed most of the business core classes and decided that I really didn’t like marketing or the hours of crunching numbers in the old-fashioned double-entry system of accounting.  I’m talking about the time before computers were in use for most of the everyday office uses they are now. 

What next?  I had all my general education requirements met and finally decided on an elementary education degree as my chosen profession and followed it through to completion and graduated from college in 1983.  All the while in the back of my mind was the desire to learn how to fly.  I was told that just wasn’t something girls did.

Fast forward to about 1989 and I was a married woman with two children and a third one on the way.  While attending church in our small town we had a visiting pastor who was a mission aviator.  He talked about his missionary work as a pilot.  After listening to him speak and his passion for flying I told my husband that I still wanted to learn how to fly.  He said “We need to raise our children first.”  He didn’t say “No” just not now.

Life goes on and I taught school for nine years and we had one more child.  I quit teaching and went to work for the family business as the bookkeeper.  Nothing you learn in college is wasted.  It eventually is put to use at some point in time.  I don’t mind doing bookkeeping with Quickbooks instead of the old paper and pencil method for accounting back in the 80′s. 

In the spring of 2008 I jumped off the deep end and decided it was finally time to pursue my life’s dream of learning how to fly.  It has been the ride of a lifetime.  I have been challenged to learn things I didn’t know I could.  I have studied aerodynamics and read everything I could get my hands on about flying in the past two years.  I’ve just touched the tip of the iceberg in learning about weather.  Who would think that maybe a pilot should know something about weather when they are learning to fly.  I never thought about it before I started pursuing my certificate.

I’ve learned how to navigate using charts,  ground references, and radio navigation.  There hasn’t been a more thrilling day than the day I flew myself from St. Cloud, MN to Duluth, MN , Brainerd, MN and back to St. Cloud by myself on my solo cross-country. 

Pilots are a fun bunch to be around.  I love hearing the stories of how each has achieved their goal of learning how to fly.  No two paths have been the same.  Every day is a new opportunity learn something new when it comes to flying.  CFI’s are awesome. 

I’m fifty years old and I have achieved one of my life goals.  Better later than never.  I wonder where I would be now if I had pursued it earlier.  It certainly would have been the road less traveled.  Whatever your dream is, it is not too late.

 
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Posted by on August 14, 2010 in Flight training, Flying Adventures, Inspiration, New Challenges, Reflections

 

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Flying Again…Yeah!

05 Aug

It’s been nearly two months since the last time I was up flying.  Last week I scheduled some time with my CFI to take up a 172 for this afternoon.  I trained in a Cessna 152, a two-seater, for financial reasons with the intent at some point in time to get checked out in a 4 seat Cessna 172.  I was surprised at the ease in transitioning to the 172R.  There were a few new things to learn because the 172R I took up today is fuel injected rather than a carburetor like the 152 I trained in so there was no carb heat to deal with but there was a fuel pump to learn about in the start-up procedure. 

Another difference between the 152 and the 172 was the radio and navigation system.  The 172R has a GPS system as well as two NAV/COM systems.  It was very convenient to set up my tower and ground frequencies on one NAV/COM and my weather on the other NAV/COM.  It really eases the workload as you are coming in to land the plane in they are already programmed in rather than having to dial them in as you are approaching the airport. 

This afternoon the winds were strong and I had a lot of crosswind to deal with on landing.  I was a little worried about the cross winds when it was time to land but I was surprised at how much easier the 172R was to land even with a crosswind.  It is about 500 lbs heavier than the 152 and doesn’t seem to get blown around as much.  I still need to work on my flare in the landing.  My landings were a bit flat but no bounces and I managed to stay on the centerline which is always good.  We went out to the practice area and worked on steep turns, stalls, and slow flight.  I thought that they might be a bit rusty but went surprisingly smooth even in a different plane.  Everything about the 172R seemed to be easier or maybe it was just because knowing that I am already a pilot takes the edge off and I could relax at the controls.

The past month has been very frustrating in trying to get my medical certification for my pilot’s license.  When you are over 40 you need to have an exam every two years for a third class medical.  Mine expired on July 31, 2010.  Without it I can not fly without another pilot in the plane.  I had to go to a new AME for my exam this year because the one I went to two years ago for my medical is no longer allowed to do flight physicals for the FAA.  I chose an AME that was close to home but one I didn’t know.  I went for my exam on July 6, 2010 to allow plenty of time to get it processed.  At my exam I passed all portions except the phoria section with deals with depth perception.  There is no standard for phoria for a third class medical so it shouldn’t have been a factor. 

The AME sent me to a opthamologist to fill out an eye report to send in with my medical exam.  I had the eye exam done and brought it to the AME’s office so he could send it in with my exam.  The AME wasn’t too pleased with the way the eye report was filled out by my ophthalmologist and chose to call him and rake him over the coals but I think he finally got the information he needed for my report.  I felt bad for my ophthalmologist.  He’s a kind man and has always treated me with the greatest respect.  Something I feel he didn’t get from the AME.

While I was out at AirVenture I got a phone call from my AME to inform me that he wouldn’t be issuing my medical certificate but he would be deferring it to the FAA office in Oklahoma.  What this means for me as a pilot is that I cannot fly solo until my medical is issued.  Also once the FAA receives my electronically transmitted forms they can choose to request more information.  This process I am told can take as long as 90 days.  I’m trying not to get depressed about the situation and work on some things like the 172 in the meantime.  This was something I needed an instructor for anyway and hopefully it won’t take the full 90 days or more. 

I plan on scheduling some more time with my CFI in the 172R in a couple of weeks.  We are flying to a few local airports in our area so I can try some short field and soft field take offs and landings at some uncontrolled airports.  I did all of my training at a controlled airport with a 7000′ runway which is not the norm for most airports to which I will be flying.  It felt so good to get back in the plane today and realize that I didn’t forget what I had learned.  I was a little worried about that after two months.  I miss the time at the airport and listening to the hangar talk.  We are in the middle of fly in season.  I hope that my medical certificate will be issued in time to fly and enjoy some of the local fly ins for the first time as a PIC (Pilot In Command)!

 
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Posted by on August 5, 2010 in Flight training, New Challenges

 

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