Finally Getting It

After a close call with the weather, I finally got a chance to go flying on Sunday afternoon. Saturday was beautiful but I had a date with a hedge trimmer and a tree trimmer. We started by doing the same thing, flying the pattern and doing touch and goes. Since runway 17 uses a left traffic pattern, I like to call it aerobatic NASCAR. The takeoffs have become fairly routine and the climb out too. Where I have been having problems is keeping the plane centered on the runway during the landing phase. I have been setting up properly but as I get closer to the runway, I would start drifting and fight to control it. I finally settled down and started making my landings on the center stripe. If I could just get everything to tome together the next time I go up (which won't be for a while), I may be ready for the next phase of training, which means not as much NASCAR.

I did get to do something different this time. During the climb out phase we had a big jet coming in on the downwind side of the airport so I was asked to make right traffic. So we did the usual climb to 1000 feet and made our right turn towards town and another right over Highway 5 to go north. We were cleared number 2 behind the large jet when I heard the tower say "Caution for wake turbulence." I remembered from my ground school that with wake turbulence you want to stay above the path and touchdown beyond his touchdown point because the vortex sinks. Which means that you never want to take a path below the path taken by the large airplane and you never want to touch down short of where he landed. So we extended our downwind leg way past where we normally turn for base and stayed higher than normal, even when we turned for a long final. I kept the plane higher than normal because I wanted to land past where he did. And that's what we did.

All in all, I had a very good day and I made progress in the one area that I have been fretting about excessively. I just wished I had more time to fly but the weather made us start late and Richard had another student behind me so I wasn't able to extend my time any more.

Total flying this time - 1.0 hours
Total hours - 9.2
(One other Item: Total landings to date - 77)

Kwik E Mart

I know this has nothing to do with flying but I had to put this here. With the upcoming Simpson's movie, 7-11 has teamed up with the producers of the movie and remodeled several stores across the country into Kwik E Marts. We are lucky here in Dallas to have one of them.

Barb and I celebrated 12 years together today and after dinner we decided to go check it out. You can get Crusty-O's, Buzz Cola, pink donuts and even get a Squishee. When we got there, everyone had a camera taking pictures. It was unbelievable. They were sold out of Crusty-O's. We stood in the longest line I have ever seen in a 7-11 for a lottery ticket. Because this is such a cool idea, I had to include it with a couple of pictures.

Will It Ever Stop Raining?

It's starting to feel like we live in Seattle around here. Nothing but rain for the last 3 or 4 weeks. I have been pretty fortunate that I have always found a way to get around the weather lately. My luck ran out today. Here is a look at the local weather radar for just before I was supposed to go up.


The bad part is that the bulk of the rain is moving right at McKinney so there will be no sitting it out and waiting. It has been IFR all morning so I guess I should make good use of my time. My daughter is at a friend's house so it is very quiet around here so I may actually get something done without interruption.

I'm going to see what tomorrow will bring with this crazy weather. I really want to get at least an hour in before I leave for the Bahamas on Tuesday. I won't be home until the 25th so I would really like to do this while I have it fresh on my mind. Of course I'll have to learn it all over again when I get back but I can say I have tried.

Keith on the Wagon

Today we went to Kaboom Town in Addison. It is their annual 4th of July celebration. The flying club I belong to made arrangements for us to be the guests of the fine folks at Aero Restorations. So we set up on the ramp, cooked a lot of burgers and dogs and watched Keith get pulled around by my daughter.

The city of Addison usually has a big fireworks show that a local radio station broadcasts the music for it. This year they added an airshow to go with it. There were a lot of airplanes from the Cavanaugh Flight Museum. They have an impressive private collection of vintage aircraft. To find out more, visit them at http://www.cavanaughflightmuseum.com/ and look around.

The airshow was pretty cool. My daughter decided to be the center of attention when she told everyone that she wanted to do her flight training there because they had the coolest airplanes. That wasn't the only reason she was the center of attention. She took to Keith Gutierrez immediately, taking him for a ride in her wagon several times.

I want to once again thank the fine people at Aero Restorations for their fine facilities and hospitality. This was truly a 4th to remember.

The pictures above are some that Keith took of the airplanes and one of Keith getting a ride in his chariot.