Oral

Okay, so this is really just a lame reason to write something since I did promise updates. The weather since last Friday has been all sorts of crazy. We’re talking diagnosed schizophrenia. Couple that with an inability to get my instructor on the phone past 8am and you have me not flying in a grand total of 6 days. I feel suspiciously like I’m going to forget everything I ever learned. 6 days when you’ve been flying literally daily for a month is surprisingly difficult to take. That said, the good news is that I’m on the last third of my training, so if the weather wants to be difficult, it could have picked a worse time- at least I have most of the stuff down.

However, that does mean I’ve had six whole days to work on my oral. Admittedly, old movies on TCM hold more appeal than studying for my oral, but I’ve put a dent in it. The oral portion of the test is what the examiner does before you can get in the airplane. They ask you all sorts of annoying questions apparently, like what things on charts mean or what certain weather conditions do to a plane or how to solve some of the equations you need to know, or how to read weather forecasts. It should be fun (read: not fun at all). The good news is that a lot of the things on the oral are also things on the written exam I take before the checkride (note: there are several parts to flying. There is the solo, the written, solo cross-country, and then the checkride. The checkride is like a really intense driver’s test and determines if you get your license. The written is like your permit test.) The bad news is that once I take the written I can’t forget all the information like I would normally after a test. I have to remember it for the next test. Cumulative exams suck.

In other news, Halloween is coming up (yay!) and I’m going to a party at my friend’s house. I’ve been friends with her since 5th grade so we’re all sorts of dorky. I’m going as a witch, which isn’t the epitome of creativity, but the hat is really awesome and I wasn’t going to dress up originally so nobody can complain. I will get a picture of it and post it post-halloween (hahaha… witch/which, post/post… good times). So there you are. And as a side note, the wind is picking up, so at least I don’t feel super bad about not flying today. Hopefully tomorrow dawns a bright, sunny, and non-windy day.

Cross Country Planning

Due to an inability to get my grandpa’s scanner to work (and this is because of his computer, not my “special” technical abilities) I posted a chart above. It’s exactly the same kind I would use for flying but it’s of some place that I have never been. To give you an idea of what I do on a cross country, I drew on it and will go on to explain in great detail exactly how to plan a cross country. It really is as confusing as it looks, that’s not unusual or made more difficult by my drawing on it.

So, to begin… an update. Yesterday, as many of you know, was my birthday. Let me tell you about my day. The weather was scheduled to be decent, so Courtney decided it was high time for me to do my solo cross country. The definition of a cross country trip is actually just “landing at any airport other than your own” but to take your final checkride to get your pilot’s license, you must take two solo cross country’s. One is of a distance of 50 NM between takeoff and landing locations and one is of 150 NM (and 3 full stop landings at 3 different airports).  So, there is a lot of planning involved in a cross-country… that said (and before I get into detail) let me finish my commentary on my day of birth. So, I wake up at 7:30 a.m. (just imagine the fun) and I call the weather service to ask about the weather for the day. Basically it’s a bunch of people who hang around in a weather center and answer phone calls. They tell you what the fronts are doing, low/high pressure zones, winds at your airport, winds in the air, temperature, dewpoint, cloud coverage, and so on and so forth. So I got my information, called my instructor when the weather looked good, and we decided to meet in about 40 minutes at the airport. So, I get dressed and I’m on my way…

God Forsaken Streets in the Middle of Nowhere: Right before I get off my god forsaken street in the middle of nowhere to get onto the highway that leads to the airport, I hear this noise– lo and behold, my tire had blown up. Now, I know this is very stereotypical girl of me, but I have no idea how to change a flat tire. I mean, I could do it if forced, or at least I could try… it’s not rocket science, but given the choice- I’d rather somebody else do it.  So, ironically I had just read the owner’s manual last week to this car I’m driving (don’t ask) and so I knew where the tire and jack were located. I found them and decided to stare at them awhile while debating what to do. I then decided to call everybody I knew in the area to see if anybody was still home/awake/around/had the ability to do it for me. As 8am is wont to do, there was nobody around. So I stared at it for a few minutes longer and fortunately for all involved, a nice man who lived down the road pulled over and helped me. It took him an hour however because the jack was one of those cheap-o jacks they *have* to put in a car to appease the masses and every time we got the car in the air it would topple over (the jack, not the car). However, I finally made it to the airport.

The Flight: After finally finishing up all my paperwork for the flight, I headed up into the air. Around my airport it was a little hazy but the outlook was good, and usually it clears off as the day gets later. So I takeoff in high spirits, and as I fly farther and farther out, I begin to realize that the cloud layer beneath me is getting thicker and thicker. What was just wisps of clouds dotting the landscape is now a thick, white layer of puff that seems to stretch on for miles. So, I did the smart thing and turned around. That said, I have a hard time finding my Small Town Airport– so that I found it I’m pretty sure is pure luck.

The Second Flight: After landing, I had the choice of waiting it out or going home. So, since it was 9:30 in the morning- I figured that waiting it out could hardly ruin any plans I had for the rest of the day since any plans I tend to make start post-noon. So by one o’clock, the weather had cleared up and I took off towards my destination, arriving safely back home about 2 or so hours later.

Planning: The planning part of a cross country is kind of labor intensive. So I’m going to start at the beginning and work my way through. The first step is to plan where you’re going. So, this is where the picture I posted comes into play. Though, as noted, this isn’t the trip I planned, it is a good example. You find the airport you’re going to and you draw a line through it with a highlighter. Then you use your plotter and mark out the distances, which are the little tickmarks you see that say “10/20/30″ on them. You mark it starting at the airport you’re going to towards the airport you’re coming from so when you look at the chart you can say to yourself “oh, I have 10 more miles to go” not “oh, I’ve gone 40 miles” — because it’s far more important to know how far you have to go then how far you’ve come (remember that kiddies… live in the present and future, not in the past.)

So, after that is complete you search your path for “checkpoints.” These can be cities, other airports, rivers, lakes, dams, water towers, giant sewage plants– basically, whatever you can see from the air. I chose two cities and the big part of the lake leading the airport, as you can see (they’re circled). The next step is to write all this down on a Flight Log. I would put one up, but my scanner’s a weenie.

WxBrief: Before you go on any long flight, it’s a good idea to call the weather briefers. They’re basically a bunch of people who sit in a station and wait for people such as myself to call in and ask them about the weather. It’s a bit like talking to a usually friendly computer. Occasionally you get the chatty briefer, but in general, it’s short and sweet.  You call 1800 WxBrief, and when you get a hold of your briefer. You say (in my case): “Hi, I’m a student pilot flying a *insert plane type*, number *insert plane identifier* flying VFR from *your airport* to *the other airport* at 3,000 feet. I’m departing at *insert time* and I’d like a Standard Briefing please.”

Then they say “Okay, let me see what I have here.” And then they tell you everything you could ever need to know about your flight. They will tell you all your pressure zones, fronts, winds, weather, traffic advisories, if lights are out on towers or airports, if runways are inactive. Literally everything you need to know. If you get a chatty briefer, you end up on the phone for 25 minutes discussing the merits of GPS flying over actually learning how to read the instruments in yoru plane. It’s a hoot.

Flight Log: After you have all this information, you devote yourself to your flight log. A flight log is not necessary, but it is helpful in organizing your trip. It is a chart that has spaces for all the information you will need and you just fill it in as you go along. The top half is devoted to winds, headings and fuel. Using your compass rose, you check the direction you think you’ll be flying. I’m going to estimate about 25 degrees because North is straight up and you’re flying a N/E -ish heading. Then you write in your wind direction and how fast it’s going. Then you use your “flight computer” (there are actually electronic ones, but I use my trusty plastic one. It’s like a calculator vs. an abacus) to figure out how the winds that day will affect your flight. Because if you think about it, if you’re flight N/E and the winds are blowing from the West, you will obviously have to fly a slightly different heading to make up for the fact because if you stay on your 25 degree heading, you’ll end up 3 airports to the East. How much wind and what direction also tells you how fast your plane will be going and then how much fuel you will burn while flying. So it’s all very important.

The bottom half of the Flight Log has a list starting with your departure point and continuing with your checkpoints along the way, ending with yout destination of course. It has columns alongside those checkpoints for Radio Frequencies, distances from each check point, your estimated time between each point (you have a timer in the plane), pattern altitudes for your airport/s and a little section for notes. You fill all that out based on how fast you’re going, what your checkpoints are, etc.

Once you have that filled out, and aside from some very technical things that would be hard to explain without you being in the cockpit of the plane with me so I could demonstrate, you pretty much are ready to go.  You take your chart, plotter (in case you need it again) and your Flight Log with you and you’re off!

As you fly, you use your instruments and also your chart to make sure you’re going the right direction, you time the distance between each checkpoint, and when you pass over it, you re-start the timer. You write down your actual time (vs. your predicted time) and then you have an idea of how fast you’re actually going. In case of emergency you always have to look outside for a place to land, and monitor your altitude, so you don’t get too high or low, you also obviously check periodically for other traffic. To do this you scan visually, but also set your radios for whatever area you’re flying over, that way you know if somebody is trying to land or take off at the airport you’re using as one of your checkpoints. You have a secondary airport in case landing at your primary isn’t going to work out (too windy/fuel problem/emergency/etc.) and in case you get lost, you should have the radio frequency written down to the nearest airport that offers Radar service. Radar will allow the airport to give you a number to put in your transponder and when you tune your transponder with the 4-digit number, they will be able to see you on their screen. When this happens, the controller should be able to tell you which direction you need to fly to find your airport. When the airport is in sight, you discontinue the radar service. It’s kind of like stopping to ask for directions at the nearest Travel Information Center along the highway.

So there you are. The Reader’s Digest version of how to plan a cross country trip. The hardest part I think is picking Checkpoints. You always have to make sure that they’re something you really will be able to see- the lake you pick has to be a very distinct shape, the road you pick can’t look just like the road 5 miles north of it, and you have to know basics like that a grass strip is harder to spot than a paved one because when you’re in a state reknown for its flatlands and farming… grass is everywhere.

My Airport Family

Here we are again… but with pictures!

I know you’re excited.

The pictures above are all almost exclusively from the day I soloed.  I thought since there were quite a few I would just put them as a gallery instead of full sized pictures, so bear with me as I explain each one to you starting with the top one of the left and working my way right. As promised, I am going to explore briefly each person I’ve been working with recently, so instead of just pictures of me doing cool and interesting things, I included ones that featured the other students/instructors as well.

Courtney: The first picture is of my instructor, Courtney, and myself in the plane. I don’t know if you can tell from that picture, but Courtney is what I affectionately termed “the cantankerous old grandpa I never wanted” my first week here. He’s the kind of guy who ran the Small Town police around in circles as a kid. He also spent something like twenty years flying acrobatics, has actually crashed a plane and lived through it and his brother used to date my grandma back in highschool. My favorite story he’s told so far was last week at this fish fry we were all at (yeehaw, good times) — apparently one night as a young lad, while hanging out in his usual haunt, he decided the town was too quiet. So to spicen things up a bit, he called the police station, asked who was on duty and then proceeded to tell that person that if they wanted some action, he’d recommend they check out such and such road. Courtney proceeded to leave the bar and head up to the aforementioned road… driving about 120mph. The cop in waiting took off after the blue Chevy convertible but was left in the dust. That night, the police showed up on his doorstep. His parents were out of town and so his little brother answered the door. When they asked for Courtney, the kid led them up to his room where he was sound asleep– where they promptly arrested him.

Realizing he was in trouble, he got himself a lawyer. Unfortunately for the police force of Small Town, they had to drop the case because they had never been able to catch up with the blue Chevy convertible and therefore had no license plate number to prove it was him.

There’s also some story about letting live chickens loose in a bar– but I haven’t heard that one all the way through yet.

Dick: The second picture is me studying with Dick, he is co-manager of the airport with Courtney. He is also a CFI (instructor) but Courtney is the primary one. He mostly works with students on ground school and runs the airport. He’s a pretty nice guy and very business minded. He is always looking for a way to make the airport more popular. Which means for a tiny little airport, Small Town has a lot to offer. Things like a courtesy car or free icecream/malts. Flying is pretty much just an excuse to go get some food in an unique way, so you’d be surprised how many people the icecream actually brings in. In any case, in that picture I’m neither eating icecream nor discussing the courtesy car (though apparently I look like I know something about it since I get asked all the time)– I’m working on ground school. Ground school is basically all the rules you have to learn before you can fly, like airspace or cross-country planning. Flying is a bit like memorizing an encyclopedia. Imagine that you’re taking a college class, but instead of being able to forget all the information immediately after the final (and admit it, that’s totally how college works) you have to keep remembering it, because if you don’t… well, you could die.

After the solo: The third picture on the far right is Courtney and me again, after my solo. That picture is a brief moment in time where what you don’t know is that I was really glad to be back on the ground, and really excited that it had gone well, and really hot because when you get nervous you get warm and it was one of those rare October days where it peaked at 80+ so the cabin with my sweater on was toasty to begin with.

The little plane: The little plane picture is obviously me landing. If you look really close you can see me focusing super hard on not hitting the ground at a horrifying angle and dying in a fiery splash of color.

He is God: The final picture is everybody’s favorite. It is the picture we improvised of all the girls who soloed bowing down to our mentor. From left to right: me, Joy, and Katie. I’ve never seen anybody blush harder than Courtney during this moment. Even though he’s cantankerous, he has a heart of gold and was absolutely terrified for all of us during our solo. Afraid he hadn’t taught us enough or that something would go wrong. He grows on you.

Katie: Katie is a senior at a local university that wants to go into commercial flying. She has plans to fly for some type of shipping service (FedEx, UPS) to make some “serious” money before devoting her life to flying other people.

Joy: I don’t actually know a lot about Joy. She has a husband who is a pilot and I think that’s why she wanted to get into it, and the first day I met her was the day of our solos. I’m pretty sure she just wants to learn how to fly for kicks and giggles, but I will let you know if I find out more.

So there is a more or less comprehensive list of people I have been dealing with the last few weeks. All of them are extremely nice and amazing people, and of course, I’m especially fond of Courtney. He may be cranky old bat, but he’s my cranky old bat and he’s one heck of a teacher.

To Be Continued… My next entry will consist of my cross-country planning (cross country is really only like 60 miles). I have done all the preparation (which I will share with you) and as soon as they get the front tire replaced on the plane (it’s tread is a little thin) and there’s no wind– I’m off.  So, look back soon for some interesting tidbits about how to fly like the crow.

A Bite in the Underwear

As anybody who reads this should know or will know shortly, I’ve been finishing up my private pilot flying lessons in the great state of Michigan for the last three weeks. That means that when I get my license I can fly small planes, not commercial jets.  This update will also be longer than most I expect since I have to catch you up to my current status. I’ll highlight the subject of each section, you’re welcome to just read down to the part you actually are curious about.

I guess a bit of background is in order for this first post just in case you took my advice from earlier and actually told somebody behind you in a line at the grocery store about this blog and now they’re reading it.

History: As a birthday present for my 16th birthday I received flying lessons from my grandparents and after several years of dabbling in between studying abroad and going to college, I finally gave it up to pick up at a further date. Well, thank god for all of you- the further date is here, and hence a blog is born. I now have graduated from college and with no concept of saving money for the future life I will soon have to begin I have started flying again. I’m an all or nothing sort of girl, so I fly almost every day and since I recently realized that listening to other people’s lives is more interesting than thinking about your own, I decided that living vicariously through me will be easier on all of us if I write about my flying experiences in a very public fashion. This will satisfy the secret yen you have for flying in small planes without having to actually conquer your fear of… whatever you have a fear of that stops you from flying in small planes.

Solo: I’m sort of fast-tracking through the flying process since I did all this back in high school.  So even though I had only been flying about two weeks, last Sunday my instructor soloed all three of his girls the same day (which means you can fly by yourself but not with passengers). Your first solo just requires you to make 3 take offs and landings, full stop, at the airport you’re studying at. Some instructors give you the choice of how many you want to do (more than one is usually key) but three is the general number that gets done. This may not seem like a big deal, since all you do is fly around the airport, but as everybody knows, landing is by far the hardest part of flying for most people, so don’t knock it.

Three solos on the same day was a record for the airport, let alone three girls. Courtney, my instructor has proceeded to tell every single person he runs into that he managed to accomplish this feat. Since this is Small Town, America we’re talking about- he’s pretty much covered the entire town. I’m not exaggerating, and if you met him, you’d realize how serious I am.

In any case, the solo went well. It’s always strange taking off without anybody else in the cockpit with you after you’ve been flying with an instructor. The plane is lighter, so it takes off sooner, climbs better, and turns faster. If you’re not paying attention during your pattern you can end up 300 feet above where you’re suppose to be. You also hear your instructor talking to you, or in Courtney’s case- yelling at you. So when your airspeed gets too fast, or you don’t taxi slow enough, you hear an angry voice in your head telling you to taxi slow or he’ll kill you. Keeps you company.

I ended up going first because as usual in my life, I was the first to arrive. The plus side of that was when I took off there were all of two or three people at the airport- by the time I landed for my third time and taxied back to the parking area- there were maybe 15 people there. But I didn’t know they were there until then, so I think the stress level was reduced. By the time Katie, the third girl, went– there were not only 15 people still there (and by “there” I mean standing around the taxi area staring at us as we landed and departed)  but also heavy traffic for such a small airport. However, all three of us landed spectacularly, if I do say so myself, and were in high spirits by the end. In celebration we had a waffle breakfast at the airport. Afterward, all of Courtney’s students and their friends/spouses, went out to the VFW and hung out for a while. It was a good day, but soloing three students takes several hours, so most of my day was spent standing around chatting with other pilots.

Crosswind Landings: So yesterday we practiced crosswind landings, which is code for “if you don’t break the plane when landing, you’re doing a good job” — they have two runways (technically four if you count the ability to land on either end of the runway) but one lines up with a N/S heading more or less and one does an E/W heading. So whenever there’s a wind, my instructor has me out there using the runway that makes the wind come at your side, to practice landing in what’s called a “crosswind.” That means that coming in for your landing you have to align the plane all crooked (called crabbing) so you don’t get blown off course and then straighten it out right before you hit the runway and then in the meantime make sure you’re keeping the wings from flopping to the right or left as the wind kicks you. I mean, seriously, landing already takes a lot of thought, so making it more difficult is like a cherry on a melted sunday. Mind you, I’m glad I’m learning it and all, you should know how to land in case while you’re out and about the winds pick up and you HAVE to land in a crosswind, but seriously, learning it is what my instructor affectionately calls “a bite in the underwear.”

In my next post (aka… notes to myself)

Pictures

Who are the other people that are studying with Courtney?

What exactly is Courtney like?

And possibly cross-country planning. Oh is it fun.

Hello world!

hello… and welcome to my fabulous flying blog. This is for all those people out there who keep asking me how things are going and want insanely accurate details as to everything I do on a daily basis. It’s also dedicated to all my family members who always want to be online but can never think of anything to look at when they’re there. I just created something for your bookmarks.  Feel free to read, comment, pass on, talk about, appreciate, love, enjoy, share with co-workers, friends, family, strangers, people in line behind you at the grocery store, etc. and look back often for frequent updates.

Love, D