More Solo Work

Recently we have had nothing but lousy weather. This weekend has proved to be nothing short of spectacular. I had 2 hours reserved on Sunday for some ground reference work. I left early to be at the airport on time but as soon as I got there, I realized that I left my log book and medical certificate at home. I won't fly unless I'm legal so I called home to ask the wife if she could bring me my logbook and medical certificate. While I waited, I talked to some of the other instructors about my new role with the flying club and what they wanted out of their flying club. It was good to know how everyone felt and what I needed to do to keep the general membership happy.

My wife finally arrived with my daughter in tow and I took them down to the airplane for preflight. Once we got our preflight done, my wife and daughter went back to the FBO and watched me taxi and takeoff. I flew southeast for a little while then went south to do some work of turns about a point. After I did that for a while, I flew over the park where my wife and daughter were playing. I wagged my wings and went back to doing some S turns. It was a little bumpy but not too bad so I continued my practice exercises and even flew over the park again.

Since I was just off of the south end of the runway and we were landing to the north, I got a straight in approach to runway 35. I did my impression of a landing, taxied back to parking and shut it down. All in all, a beautiful day to fly. Looks like my next flight is going to be a long cross country on 3/8. Weather permitting and if everything else works out, I'll get that out of the way. I can't wait.

My E-Logbook

First True Solo

I've soloed several times recently but only after a few laps around the patch. Today was a first. It was all me. I had been watching the wind all day because it was supposed to be "breezy". Luckily for me, when it came time to go flying, the wind was just about straight down the centerline, but at 15 knots. I did my preflight and even had the guys from the FBO come over and top me off for my big 0.6 hour of fun. Getting down the runway for takeoff was easy but as soon as I was airborne, I realized that I had to land. Pilots have an old saying that goes "Takeoffs are optional. Landings are mandatory." I will say that I am a lot more comfortable flying now but I always have some reservations about my skills. Today was a good example of my growing confidence.

My first landing was OK, slightly off the centerline, as usual, but smooth. My second one was a lot messier. I realized too late that I was carrying too much speed for my approach and when I flared, I was too high so I had a little one hopper to the shortstop. I was having an old recurring problem with the airplane. This particular airplane has a tendency to sometimes have a bad nose wheel shimmy when the nose wheel touches down. The only fix I know of that keeps the plane from shaking apart is to pull back on the elevator and take weight off of the nose wheel and it goes away. This did it to me twice today. By the time my nose wheel touches down, I am usually under 45 knots so I can't take a whole lot of weight off of the nose wheel but I do what I can.

After several touch and goes, I decided to call it a day and enjoy the nice sunshine of the afternoon, all 30 minutes that was left of it. I had fun but I still need to grab Richard and head to someplace we can get some good crosswinds and keep working on landings. A funny side note is that our last flying club meeting had the topic of "The Perfect Landing." It reminds me of a joke that goes "Santa Clause, a perfect landing, the Easter Bunny and some rain all converge on the same spot. Which one has the right of way? The rain because the other 3 are figments of your imagination.

My E-logbook.com

A Little Touch Up

I have been trying to make the second part of my cross country happen for about 2 weeks now. It looks like I have to wait again for a shot. Our weather here has been so wacky that it is hard to plan anything more than a couple of days out and even that is a big risk. I had scheduled this coming Sunday (Feb 17) for my next attempt. Unfortunately I have to fly this on a weekend because that job thing gets in the way. Now it looks like Sunday is going to be a wash because of the weather.

With that in mind, I also need a little brush up on cross wind landings (can you ever get enough?). So as a birthday present to myself, I went up for an afternoon of flying the pattern. I had just enough wind and direction to make for a nice little crab to stay tracking the runway on my final. My first landing was a little off the centerline but very smooth. It was funny to hear Richard tell me that I was off center but smooth. My next one was a little off too but just as smooth then I finally got into the swing. I could tell Richard was getting bored when he asks me what are we going to do next. I did get a lot of challenges thrown at me because we had such a busy pattern that day which made every one of my approaches different and unique. I got to make right hand traffic, extend my downwind leg for instrument traffic, land behind a departing Citation (caution wake turbulence) and even get vectored because I couldn't see traffic because of the sun. Finally, during one of our last passes, Richard just pulled power and said "You just lost your engine. Put it down." I had plenty of altitude and was close enough to the airport that I just put the airplane into it's best glide speed, made a very high approach, added flaps and put it down just past the numbers. I was feeling better about landings that I have felt in a long time but I only spent .6 hours flying today (it's still better than no flying).

After getting finished, I deviated from my normal post flight because I didn't do my normal pre flight. When I got to the airport, I was late but so was the guy who had the plane before me. When I got there and walked out to the ramp he left the keys in for me. So I didn't have to go to the key locker or remove the gust lock from the yoke. This screwed up my post flight because I didn't replace the gust lock and about an hour later I discovered I had the keys to the airplane in my pocket. So before we went out for the usual family birthday tradition, I had to go back to the airport, replace the gusset lock and put the keys back in the key locker. Happy birthday to me.

My E-logbook

Where Did This Come From?

This story borders on the surreal so I'll tell it slow so when I re-read it I won't think that someone else wrote it. This all started about a week ago when I called the communications officer of the flying club I belong to and asked a silly question about getting some shirts embroidered. Since we don't have anything to offer the membership, I thought that I would take it upon myself to do the legwork needed to make this available. I called some great people I used to work for (thanks to Kim at Alford Media) and got the info I needed.

I had to take the information to a board meeting to present it to them to make this an official request. While there, an old topic raised its head. Our vice president of membership retired last year and no one wanted the job. Part of the reason that no one wanted the job was the fact that Keith was amazing at this job. He had the charisma, knowledge, drive, connections and skill to do this job better than the average bear. The board was still looking for a replacement but no one would bite. I got a lot of mysterious looks and winks when the topic came up but I told them that the demands of my new job were keeping me very close to home until I was in full swing.

The fun begins when I get home and talked to my wife. I told her about what transpired at the meeting and she just looked at me and said that I should go for it. After I finished shaking my head I asked her why I should try to fill such big shoes, never expecting the first response. She told me that she knew how much I love flying, and everything that goes with it, and I should try to share that with the flying club. I really do like everyone that I have dealt with to date in the TFC. So I mulled it over and the next night, I called the president and told him, in so many words, that I was his man. I also called the communications officer, whom I have tremendous respect for also, and let him know what I was doing. He was somewhat disappointed because he wanted to groom me for his board position but was happy for me to join the board.

So at our membership meeting on Saturday morning, I was announced as our new vice president of membership. I am very excited that I can contribute to something that I enjoy so much. There are a lot of responsibilities, as I found out at the end of the meeting when I had to do the paperwork for a new member. I want to project on to every new member, just how exciting this adventure can be. If everyone gets just a portion of what I have received from this experience, they all will be rich in ways that they have never knew existed. I take on this role with a lot of respect for the ones who served before me and am hopeful that I can follow in the large footsteps that they have left.

Respectfully yours,
the new TFC vice president of membership

First Cross Country is Done!

As I sit and type this, I am quite tired but I'd trade this kind of tired for just about anything. My flying day started at 1:00 PM (1300 CST or 1900Z). I had N733NB reserved until 5 PM but with the weather we had today I don't think anyone, other than myself, would be crazy enough to want to fly today. The ceiling was unlimited, the temp was about 50 degrees F and the sky was blue but at takeoff time, we had winds from 150 at 20k gusting to 28k. That is WINDY. Luckily for me, the crosswind component was small for every airport we had on our trip. An interesting thing is that every airport on this trip had a 17/35 runway so my crosswind components were easy to figure out.

When I got to the airport we had to do our preflight and it took a lot longer than we expected. I had done some of the calculations ahead of time but Richard wanted me to do them in front of him so I had to redo everything. I later I realized that we made a slight miscalculation in that all of the courses were magnetic instead of true. What that means is when we got to the point of calculating of course heading we were off by 5 degrees. The reason is that when doing anything that involves a magnetic heading, it will be off because of a variance in the magnetic field of the Earth. There are really 2 North Poles. There is the actual North Pole and the magnetic North Pole and they are quite different. If you plot a "true" heading, you must adjust it for magnetic variance. Our area has a variance of 5 degrees to the East or -5 degrees. What all of the gibberish means is my initial headings that I gave to Richard we off by -5 degrees since I had already taken the variation into account.

Once we finally got airborne, we headed into a stiff headwind. I rotated at 60k but my ground speed was only about 35k. We got to Rockwall in about 12 minutes. after entering the pattern, I did a very ugly crosswind landing (are you seeing a pattern here?) so Richard had me do another one. We needed to kill a little time and he wanted to make me do it again, so around we went for number 2 (no nasty remarks here). I did a lot better so off we went up again and made a climbing left hand turn to track my outbound course for Gainesville. This was a big turn as we went from 150 degrees to 299 degrees. We climbed out and headed in a northerly direction. I had 2 checkpoints between my next airport, T31 (Aero Country - 22 nm and 18 min away) and Pilot Point (a small town on the South side of lake Ray Roberts 39 nm and 18 minutes away). Incidently, this is where my GS was very high. My GS to Rockwall was 88k while my IAS (Indicated Air Speed) was 110k. On the Northernmost leg, my GS was about 135k with and IAS of 105k. Quite a tailwind, eh?

We finally made it to Gainesville in about 27 minutes (58 nm) where once we announced ourself entering the pattern, were promptly greeted by a Citation on our butt. we had slowed up to about 90k IAS and she was probably doing 160k. We had the right away since we were in front of her. Once we finally turned base and then final we did our T&G and high tailed it out of there to get out of her way. We did another climbing left turn to get up to altitude and head for Kickapoo Downtown in Wichita Falls (KCWC). Before we got out of KGLE airspace, we finally got to watch our Citation jockey land. She called a short final 5 miles out. I could land an Airbus A380 on a 5 mile final with the winds that we had.

So now we are on our last leg of this flight plan. It was the longest leg at 65 nm. With our wind situation, I should have been carrying a GS of 111k which would put me into KCWC in 38 minutes (give or take a minute or two). I hit all of my check points perfect except for Nocona (F48). I misread my map and was thinking it was the Town of Henrietta so I changed my course to put me in position to track my intended course. Richard soon started asking me what I was doing and to look at the map closely. That's when I realized what I had done and had to correct so I could get us into KCWC instead of getting into the Sheppard Air Force Base airspace. After the renegade Citation pilot, I didn't need a T38 checking my prostrate. I finally got us on the ground in Wichita Falls and followed the nice lineman to park at the FBO where we received very good service, inexpensive fuel (inexpensive to us but to you MOGAS types, it will be expensive. $4.29/gal of 100ll. I actually make money on that kind of price) and a place to relieve any built up pressure. Of course I called my very concerned wife after we got inside and my concerned brother also. I also called my really good friend, who has been encouraging me to complete my training, Michael Saperton. Michael is a pilot and we both share the memory of a good friend who got me interested in doing this but who also was taken from us much too early. I will always remember Brian while I fly. I think that every time I fly it puts me closer to heaven where I can be a little closer to him. We all miss him.

I closed my flight plan with FSS, paid $90.09 for 21 gallons of fuel, filed a new flight plan and we were ready to head out.

We took off at about 5:18 PM and headed back to TKI. Remember that we are technically still in winter, so the days are short. Sunrise is 7:24 AM and Sunset is 5:56 PM. Do you think I can make it back to McKinney in 38 minutes (104 nm) with an 18k headwind? So we set out and I did what I needed to do, other than dial in the wrong VOR out of KCWC, but I did track the correct course. By now the wind is starting to die down from 25k to about 15 k so I don't have quite the same headwind but it is still a daunting task flying into it. I got learn a lot about the accuracies of the VOR system. They are extremely accurate close in but get sloppy the farther out you get from them. I was tracking my course dead on, even after I flew between two TV antennas that were 3000 ft MSL (2000 ft AGL) and was about 10 degrees off course. I looked at the map and saw where I was supposed to be and fixed it. After we entered the DFW Class B airspace (we didn't enter it technically. We flew under the shelf that started at 4000 ft MSL) and were still tracking to McKinney, I asked Richard if we could do an ILS approach. It was dark by now and we weren't too far away. I did this because we would have had to enter on the upwind leg in the pattern and fly a whole lot more. I was getting tired and I like flying ILS approaches (I've only done two in my life but I really was intrigued by them). So Richard had me cancel our flight plan and we made a mad dash to the FLUET NDB. The tower granted our ILS approach and we made our way to the localizer. Richard had me do a couple of minor course corrections to intercept cleanly and I did OK for my first night landing (not technically because it didn't occur one hour after sunset), even though I brought in too much power but was able to get it down and slowed down to exit the Charlie taxiway.

Just writing this down has me tired but I am so happy that I get to try it again, solo, on Sunday. as I was typing this, I went and changed my time for Sunday from 12 - 4 to 11 - 4. I think I learned my lesson about giving yourself a cushion. Thanks to everyone who has kept me going through this and to Brian who I hope is watching and not playing with his SIM.

Sorry for no pictures from the air, but I did not need anymore distractions. I understand why autopilots are such wonderful instruments and not the work of lazy people.

733NB In All Of It's Glory

My E-logbook

Preparing For My First Long Cross Counntry

A couple of weeks ago I decided that I would follow Richard's advice and go on our first long cross country. This one is going to be a long one, 3 hours long. He gave me the places that he wants to go and had me plan the trip myself, but asked me to walk across the street and let him look at it for final approval. Our flight plan will take us from KTKI (McKinney) to F46 (Rockwall) to KGVL (Gainesville) then stop at KCWC (Kikapoo Downtown Wichita Falls). we will refuel in Wichita Falls then intercept the V355 airway at an intersection called HUNKI and take it to UKW (the Bowie VOR station) and then take a direct course back to TKI. Below is a track that I did on SkyVector.com.

The track of my first cross country.

This trip should take 3 hours in a Cessna 150 but I'll be flying a 172. The 172 has a much higher cruise speed so I may be throttling back quite a bit to stretch this out. We will be working on several things. My ability to track a course and correct for wind, ability to see if I am on course by using dead reckoning and finding objects on the map as checkpoints. we'll also be working on my ability to find radials off of several VOR stations and maybe alter our course if we need to kill some time.

Lastly, I need this to start getting caught up on hours that I lost last year because of my job and all of the travel. My new job won't have me traveling so much and I have made a very concerted effort to fly as much as I can this year. When January is over, I will have flown over 4 hours. Tis is already 20% as much as I flew all of last year.

I'll be posting a recap of the flight sometime later in the week. I can't wait.

Happy New Year

After starting a new job, I finally got the time to do some flying. This is going to be a little difficult because I will be working 8:30 to 5:30 every weekday and fighting traffic both directions so it looks like I'll be flying weekends now. Maybe when we get into the long Texas summer months, I'll have some time in the evenings.

After attending the first flying club meeting of the year (my first since July) I had to run to the airport with our president. He was giving a demo ride to a prospective club member and needed to see if 29U had enough fuel for the flight. If not, I was going to bump my time in N733NB back an hour so he could use it.

When I got to the airport, I saw a newly built Legend Cub. This is a replica of an old Piper J3 Cub. I saw him getting fuel at the FBO and then another one showed up. It was an awesome sight as they both taxied out and took off one after the other. I couldn't believe how quickly this thing was airborne. They each did 3 touch and goes (to a full stop because they are tail draggers) then took off to the South for what looked like a fun day of flying.

I had to run back home and get my bag and headset for my 3:00 PM departure time. When I got back, I had already pre-flighted the plane, filled out the logbook and had Richard's door open. I was ready. Too bad the dead calm wind that was there 2 1/2 hours earlier was gone. I now had winds from 330@12 gusting to 22. This went from solo work on turns about a point to cross wind landings again. My first couple of landings were not quite up to snuff. So I kept working on them and I think I may have made a break through. Instead of using flaps to get me down at a steeper angle, Richard had me slipping to a landing and all of a sudden, I was hitting the center line again and doing it quite smoothly.

After I was getting a lot better, we went out to the practice area near Lucas to do some turns about a point. Even with some pretty serious distractions, I was able to do what I wanted to accomplish. Since we were just outside of McKinney airspace, we continued to monitor the frequency and was told to look out for traffic on a straight in final just west of our position. After he was gone, we asked for a straight in approach for a couple more touch and goes. On our approach, we flew near a friend's house in Fairview and wagged my wings at him ( I told him that I would do that every time I flew over).

We did a couple more touch and goes and finally a full stop to parking. I was tired but glad to see that I may be finally overcoming some of my cross wind demons.

Now to prepare for my long cross country at the end of the month.

My E-Logbook.

Last Flight of 2007

As 2007 comes to a close, I started looking over my log book and was not very pleased with my flight training progress. My job has had me traveling way too much and that in turn has meant that I flew very little this year. What do I do? Well, for starters, I quit my job. That isn't the only reason but it does mean that I am going to make a concerted effort to fly more in the new year. I won't have traveling as an excuse anymore.

We have had fantastic weather here the past couple of days. So I started looking to see if any of the airplanes were available. I wasn't the only one who had these feelings. All of the club airplanes were reserved all weekend. That happens when you only have 1 of the 2 172s in service. Our 160 hp 172 is still out. It was supposed to be down for a month but it won't return to service until Jan 18. 2 1/2 months to rebuild the engine, replace the windshield and rebuild the carburettor, put a new dash cover on and rewire the tail marker light. Finally on Saturday night I was checking to see if any plane might have miraculously opened up and there was a block in the morning open. I emailed my instructor to see if he would be available but got busy and didn't see his reply until midnight. He said for me to call him at 7 AM if I still wanted to go. So I set my alarm for 6:30 and went to bed.

We left at 7:30 AM and it was a beautiful day. Winds were calm, the temp and dew point were 3 degrees C apart so we had a light frost and the temp was about 37 degrees. A great day for flying. As I started the preflight, I did find frost on the parts of the airplane that were not in direct sunlight. After the usual checklist was completed, we pulled the airplane out and pointed the windshield at the sun and soon the frost was gone. I rechecked all of the surfaces and the frost was gone from them too. It didn't take much. As soon as I got the plane started, the air from the prop would have melted a lot of it also. I did have a heck of a time getting the engine started. I have never had to use the primer but this time I did. It took a good 10 minutes for the oil temp to budge a little. I was surprised that during the run up, I was able to get 2200 RPM on a static test.

I finally got my takeoff clearance and we did a simulated soft field takeoff. In this beast, 10 degrees of flaps, shove the throttle to the firewall and it will jump into the sky. We did some soft field landings, short field landings and approaches over an obstacle. I just got clearance for the option and after we were on the ground, Richard said for me to turn off on taxiway C. He jumped out and told me to go play for a while and that he would be at the FBO drinking coffee. He also told me not to crash the airplane. So I went up and did 3 dead center "normal" landings and taxied back to parking. I went through my post flight checklist, met Richard for a cup of coffee and then headed for home.

This was absolutely the best day of flying I have ever had. All of my landings were as good as I have ever done, the sky was clear, my kind of temperature, very smooth air and a grin you couldn't knock off with a sledge hammer. I finished the year with 21.2 hours. I'll do much better in the coming year.

My E-Logbook

Getting Ready For Christmas

Since I haven't had the time to fly like I want, my wife suggested that we do some decorating for Christmas. She shocked me when she suggested we buy an inflatable Santa in an airplane. I was game for it so we went to Big Lots and found one on sale. It's pretty cool. It uses the air from the fan to inflate it but it also has holes in the end of the prop so that the prop turns too. I had to add my own touch to it so we took some white outdoor lights and made a runway for Santa's airplane.

We took a couple of pictures so we could show everyone just how goofy we really are (I think I'm getting a little stir crazy).

Anna wants to help but seems a little tired.

Finally finished getting the airplane tied down.
All of the "runway" lights are done.

A Little Light From The Tunnel

First of all, I didn't bring a camera to get any pictures. I promise that I'll get some soon. That being said, I did get a chance to fly within a 2 week period, which is unheard of for me. I also have to admit that my instructor is correct in telling me that I need to fly more often. I have noticed that my skills are deteriorating every time I go a month between flights. The last time we went up, we did the usual touch and goes and as usual, I had some difficulties but managed to put the plane down. This time several of the key elements to landing were already there. I had very little trouble with wind coming straight at me.

Before all of the landing practice, we did some turns about a point. I haven't done any of that stuff since my first lesson. The winds were fairly strong and gusty so I was having a tough time keeping my distance uniform. It took a while but I finally got the hang of it. As soon as I got the hang of it I started to get a little queasy and backed off for a while. We tracked a road for about 10 miles practicing crabbing into the wind then went in for a couple of touch and goes at SWI. Finally having a good day, Richard wanted to wipe the smile off of my face with a reality check. We headed to GYI for some more crosswind landings.

The wind was out of the south (17k @ 180) so we went to do touch and goes on runway 13. It was a lot better than our last time out there. We got to do about 6 before we needed to head back to SWI to refuel and head to a lunch date. We did get to see a Cessna Citation do a touch and go during one of our rounds. We kept hearing someone on the CTAF doing an ILS approach and never did see him. Finally he announced he was on a 4 mile final and we kept looking, then low and behold, a pretty little Citation flew right under us as we crossed over runway 17.

We finally packed it up and headed back to SWI, refueled and parked the airplane and headed out to lunch.

It felt good to get back in the airplane after only being out of it a couple of weeks. I still need to be flying once or twice a week but this is still better than only twice a month then a one month layoff. Maybe I will get this finished in this lifetime.

My E-logbook

First Flight From Sherman

First of all, I'm sorry for not having any pictures to post. I drove up to Sherman (KSWI) on Tuesday afternoon just to get a feel for the airport and make sure that I wouldn't have any issues with combinations or procedures. I found the airport rather quaint. It seems that the city is behind this airport and would like to make it grow. It has grown considerably since the TFC and NTFC have moved up there. Almost all of their tie downs are in use but I wasn't able to check out the hanger space. They have an A&P on site, J&S Aviation. The city even provides a crew car.

Since my usual trainer, N737TY is getting a complete engine overhaul, new windshield and new cover around the dash, I had to fly N733NB. The last time I flew 3NB was in June. I forgot how much horsepower it has. It is a Superhawk with a gross weight of 2550 lbs as opposed to the Skyhawk that has a gross weight of 2300 lbs. It also has a 180 horsepower engine instead of a 160. The torque and p-factor that this airplane produces is considerably more than the Skyhawk so you need a lot more right rudder on takeoff. I was able to climb to pattern altitude on my takeoff leg before I had to turn. I couldn't do that with 7TY. The down side to this extra horsepower is that it burns 10 gph at cruise. I found myself climbing too much before I had to trim the airplane. It really is an odd thing because I found myself throttling back early because I needed to slow down, reduce altitude and try to trim the plane for a slower speed. The take home lesson is more power means more trimming.

We did a couple of "normal" landings. Then Richard wanted to do some soft field landings. I really like the soft field landings. They are a lot less jarring than the "normal" landings. See my previous post on my feelings. We then did a couple of short field landings over an obstruction. I was closer to the numbers than I have ever been and it was on a narrower and shorter runway. I will be doing more touch and goes up here even after KTKI opens back up.

We then headed to Grayson county (KGYI) to do some crosswind landings. They have 3 runways but one of them is closed, 17L/25R and 13/21 are open but 17R/35L is the closed one. We went to 13 to do crosswind landings since the wind was out of the south. The first 2 were horrible. It is always the last 5 seconds that will get you. Don't get me wrong, a good approach is the key to a good landing but how you finish, after ground effects kick in is the hardest part. I kept forgetting to use my feet to keep the nose pointed where I needed it. One time the wind shifted on me as I was getting my nose pointed and I went too far. I really need to work on crosswind landings. It was starting to get pretty busy dodging all of the traffic at KGYI so we needed to call it a day and headed back to KSWI. I checked the pattern and there was no other traffic in the pattern so we did a straight in approach. I put it down smooth and slow and was able to turn off at the first taxiway.

We now have to refuel the airplanes ourselves so I taxied up to the gas pump and shut the engine down. KSWI has some of the cheapest gas around at $3.30 gal. We were in the air for 1.6 hours but only used 1.3 hours tach time and I only burned about 10.4 gal of fuel. The odd part was that the left tank took 7.4 gal but the right side used 3.o gal. We then started up again and headed to the tie down area and finished our post flight.

I'll try to get some pictures for the next time.

My E-logbook

Last Flight From TKI Maybe?

I finally got the planets to align and had a voodoo woman come out and scare away the clouds so I could take one last flight before TKI closes down for 30 days. It is all part of a continuing airport improvement that is supposed to eventually include a new parallel runway. For now they are resurfacing the runway which is supposed to take about 30 days.

We went back to doing pattern work as I needed to fly to get the cobwebs out. I always seem to be the one to get the strange instructions from the tower. While on final, I get a request from the tower to do a 360 and then re-join the pattern on final. We had a jet on the runway that needed to do a 180 because of all of the taxiway closures. The next takeoff I had to make right traffic because of a KingAir that wanted to get into the pattern (it is a very fast plane and I was in a slow plane).


It took me a while to get back into the swing of things but I did. I really liked the soft field landings because they were a lot smoother, not like flying a falling boulder.

All in all, I had fun and only used .8 tach hours.

I took a couple of pictures today. It was be the last time I was able to fly N737TY. When we make our move to Sherman it is going in for a new engine, windshield and lots of other work while it is down.
Our new flight line since they want to double the capacity of the north ramp. No more pulling in and turning. We now have to push back our planes by hand.
Update
When I got home last night, I received an email that our move is now going to take place on Oct 28. This means that I may be able to fly 1 more time from TKI. I only hope 7TY is available.

My E-Logbook

Getting Away for a While

I finally got to get away from TKI for a while yesterday. After we did some short field landing practice we decided to head up to our new field where the TFC will be operating out of while the runway gets resurfaced at TKI. We started our flight to SWI (Sherman Municipal) but the closer we got, the lower the ceiling was becoming. About 2 miles out of SWI we saw that there was no way to get into to land because the ceiling was so low. We decided to go to GYI (Grayson County, also in Sherman) on the other side of town. The ceiling was just barely within limits there. According to Richard, GYI used to be a B-52 base a long time ago. Now it has 2 parallel runways (17L - 35R and 17R - 35L, but this side is closed) that are aligned the same way TKI is. The 17R - 35L runway is not in use but it looked like they were towing gliders off of it. There is also a short crosswind runway (13-31).

As I was making my turn to base from downwind, I had a little wisp of a cloud I had to fly through to get to base. That's how marginal it was. I even considered putting down and staying until it burned off but as I put it down on the very rough runway, I saw that it looked great to the south. I made one more lap around the pattern, then headed back to TKI. It was getting late and I needed to get the plane back. So I dialed up TKI on the GPS and flew an intercept course for the ILS to do a practice ILS approach.

I have flown ILS approaches on my simulator many times but this was for real. As I started getting the signal from the ILS, I began my turn at 3000 feet. I was just about perfectly centered left and right and when I hit the outer marker, I was just a bit high on the glide slope. A little throttle back and then pushing the nose over got me to the center of the glide slope. After that, it was a piece of cake getting on the ground smoothly.

The good thing is I got a new endorsement in my logbook today. Part of why we were going to Sherman in the first place was so I could do some touch and goes at SWI so I could get a sign off to do solo work at that airport. The way the endorsement reads is as follows: "Solo landings and takeoffs at another airport within 25 nm 14 CFR - 61.93(b)(1)

I have given _____ the flight training in both directions over the route between TKI and GYI, including entering and exiting the traffic pattern and takeoffs and landings at the airports to be used, and find him/her proficient to practice takeoffs and landings at GYI, subject to the following conditions ______".

Since SWI is only 7 nm away, I can now do solo work at SWI when we temporarily relocate there for the construction.

I think I'm ready for starting to do some cross country work now. After all of this I have 15.8 hours (I really need more) and 128 landings. I need to work on finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow so I can fly more. I'm looking every time I see one.


My E-Logbook

Back At It

The last time I flew was August 15 so it has been over 5 weeks since I have been up. After having had my head buried in my computer since I returned from my vacation, I got fed up today and checked the reservations for my favorite 172 and saw that after 4 PM, I was OK. So I called my instructor to see how long he would be out at the airport for some flying. He told me to do some solo flying. After the shaky solo I had and laying off for 5 weeks, I decided to do a day of dual training.

I am really glad I did as we had a cross wind and I was rusty. Finally after about 8 sloppy landings, I was getting the hang of it again. I was really challenged today with people extending their downwind legs farther out than I have ever seen. During one approach, we went all of the way to the outer marker 5 miles out. I made right hand traffic, left hand traffic, extended downwind legs and even thought we might get a wave off because of a slow plane on the runway. All in all it was a good refresher. As we were getting into the swing of things, Richard called the tower and asked for an option. As we turned to final, he said that I needed to do some solo work today. I told him that I just wanted to build up my confidence and get back in the saddle today, not do some solo work.

So we took the option to take off again and this time we headed south instead of staying it the pattern. I told Richard that all I have done lately is work on landings and haven't done anything fun. I wanted to fly over my house. Since Richard lives across the street, he knew the way by heart. We got another bonus as we had to fly over the area where the Plano Balloon Festival had their remaining balloons taking off. I was at 2000 feet and they were at about 900 feet. So we flew around the neighborhood, then headed back, past the balloons, and landed from a right hand pattern again.

All in all, it was a great refresher and I needed it.

My E-Logbook

Vacation Time

I've been so busy with work and then a trip out of the country for business and pleasure, I have not had a chance to fly. While on vacation in London, I found the only pilot shop in London. It was about 2 blocks from my hotel and we found it by accident. I spoke to the two people who were working there (I forgot their names and didn't have my camera) and had a great talk about the problems with GA on their side of the pond. I am very happy to be where I am.

I spoke at great length to them about the user fee crap that they have to put up with. The government in the UK wants to tax everything (and I mean everything) so GA is not immune. The dollar is taking a beating in the world markets, as I can attest to, so $2 US = £1.00. I found a little flying school just west of Edinburgh Scotland and the best they had to offer was a 5 hour block for £650.00 including VAT. That comes out to £130.00 per hour or $260 per hour for a Katana, at least that is wet. The government isn't worried about take offs as much as it is in landings. Even the small airports have a hefty landing fees.

Because everything costs money (weather briefings, landings, BIG fuel taxes and precision approaches) the pilots there will fly past minimums in order to not have to pay for another approach (which can be very expensive, sometimes as much as £200.00). This makes flying in European airspace very dangerous. The sad thing is that our own government has even been considering doing something like this. That is where the AOPA has come in to help with the fight. They have been fighting this hard since the beginning of the year. If you feel so inclined to help out, you may want to consider joining the AOPA. It is more than just a political lobby. If you are a pilot, they have a lot of great information to help you become a better pilot.

Enough of the soapbox. Below is a picture of me in London at the Transair pilot shop (I went back and got my camera but they were closed by then). They were great to talk to but recommended that if I wanted to buy something, get it back in the States.

My E-Logbook

First Solo

I finally did it!!!! After all of the work, I finally soloed. It was a normal hot hazy summer day here in North Texas when we started this morning. The odd thing is on the way in to the airport, I saw a lot of fog in a little valley just to the west of the airport. When I got to the airplane, there was fog on the outside of the window. I knew something was up when Richard handed me a key to the lock box this morning (students don't get a key to the lock box until they have soloed).

We did our usual pattern work and he threw several things at me that I handled fairly well. Our problem was that the pattern was pretty full today with a lot of people in from Addison. They aren't too familiar with the noise problems we have from the city of Fairview and I don't think that they care about being good neighbors. I also noticed very different flying styles when turning to base and final than what we use. They have a tendency to carry their base leg a lot farther out than we do. The majority of the people from McKinney tend to keep their base and final legs inside of highway 380 where the rest seem to carry their's way out past highway 380. The one thing that Richard is teaching me is to be flexible. I can fly that long approach or I can fly the rather short one that the tower guys seem to like a lot better.

I even got a wave off today. I was following another Skyhawk who had an option (the option is to do a touch and go or do a full stop landing) and then stopped on the runway. By the time they would have turned onto a taxi way, I would have been right on top of them. So I got a wave off, got right back in the pattern and finally landed. We made that one a full stop where Richard got out of the plane and said good luck.

The tower guys were great and really watched out for me. The McKinney tower guys are really good to us and are generally friendly and easy to talk to. So I got back out on the taxi way and headed for RWY 17 for my takeoff. I was behind another one of the Addison guys so I waited my turn. When I got my clearance and rolled down the runway, I knew that I had to do this one all by myself. As soon as I lifted off, I knew I had to do this one on my own. I got up in the pattern and was number 2 behind the Addison guy. Because of their odd pattern work, I had to extend my downwind leg across 380 before I could turn to base. I had everything lined up great but I carried too much speed in so when I flared, I flared for a long time and put down a lot farther than I wanted for a touch and go. Since I had the option, I chose to do a full stop landing and to turn onto taxi way Delta. I was going a little too fast for the turn so I ended up locking up the brakes and actually got a wheel off into the grass but was able to get it back up onto the taxi way. All of this occurred right in front of the tower for them to see. The controller told me to get my flaps up and taxi back to RWY 17 and he would get me back in the air again quickly.

So I put my tail between my legs and headed back to RWY 17 and got back into the pattern again. This time I watched my speed, position and attitude a lot better. When I finally flared, it was in the middle and much closer to the numbers than the first one. I got it down, let it settle, pushed carb heat in, raised the flaps and pushed the throttle in and went back at it for number 3. all I can say is that number 3 was definitely the best. On centerline, speed was good, flare was good, but I was still a little long. So I made it back to taxi way Delta and the controller cleared me back to the ramp and said "Good job". I kindly thanked him and went back to get my critiques from Richard.

I'm too excited to remember everything but I am very grateful to Richard for putting up with my erratic schedule, my wife for just putting up with me and to Bryan for getting me involved. Now it's on to bigger and better things.

My E-logbook

And Now For Something Completely Different

I got to do something pretty cool today. Too bad it won't count toward my training. I got to go with my instructor to deliver a plane to Gainesville (GLE) to have some engine and radio work done on it. It had a problem with the glide slope indicator flying precision approaches so it needed to be checked out. During the run up before we left, Richard found a problem with the manifold pressure in one of the engines too. So our trip became a 2 for the price of 1 trip.

The plane we took was a Beachcraft Barron 55. It is a twin engine that cruises at 190 knots so our trip to Gainesville was pretty quick, 14 minutes by the GPS for approx 42 nm. We had one of Richard's students takeoff ahead of us in a Cessna 182 so he could bring us back and so he could get some more VOR work in before he gets ready for his check ride. He did some stalls and then did some work under the hood trying to get ready. At least at 5500 feet, the air was much cooler than it was on the ground.

We got back to McKinney and talked about going back out to Gainesville on Thursday to get the plane back. As long as it is ready, I'm game. Where do I sign up?

Even More Heat

Texas has never been known for it's moderate climate but we finally have summer here. Our official high yesterday was 104 and we had a "cool" front come through. We are expecting 104 again today. With that in mind, I made plans to go up at 7:30 AM this morning to beat the heat. It still was a little warm but not as bad as last Monday. We did the usual "staying in the pattern" but with a twist. Since our cool front came through the winds shifted around from the northeast so we took off to the North (RWY 35).

I can't say we did the usual NASCAR circuit because TKI uses right traffic for RWY 35. So instead of go fast and turn left it was go fast and turn right. We did a lot of the same thing and I am just about ready to solo. Other than the occasional drift off of the center line, I put the airplane down pretty well today. I had a couple of them that were a little too fast but they were smooth. At one point Richard had me pull power at mid field on my downwind leg and told me to practice an emergency landing. I used 65 knots as my best glide speed and turned base then turned to final and put it down, just like I knew what I was doing. I am so much more confident in my landings that I think I could put it down just about anywhere (I'll probably eat these words later).

Solo time is getting closer so I need to start going a little more often. We are going to try Wednesday morning to see how that works. I just have to keep it in my head and make it happen again. BTW, check out my e-logbook and see how many landings I have.

My E-logbook

It's About Time (For the Texas Heat)

We have been spared this year from the Texas heat because of some very unusual wet weather. Beginning in June, we expect 100 degrees to be the norm all of the way through September. Here we are in August and we are finally starting to see the temperature approach 100 degrees. With that as a theme for todays update, I'll start by saying that I try to do my flying in the mornings now instead of around lunch time or later.

My usual flight instructor is on vacation so I called Dick Stephens, who was one of my ground school instructors. I really like Dick as he has a great demeanor and is very fun to talk to. I'm learning that the actual flying is but just a portion of what you will go through during this whole process. If any of you are like me, I like to get to know the personalities of the people I'm around to make this a more enjoyable journey.

Since Dick and I haven't ever flown together, he went through my logbook to see what I have been doing. He noticed that I have been doing a LOT of touch & goes but have never been out to the practice area. So we took off and headed out east. I had already been sweating pretty good but as we got going, I kept sweating and it was getting worse. We had a broken ceiling at about 2500 feet so we really couldn't get up above the clouds to the cooler air.

He then had me do some 20 degree turns and some 30 degree turns. I was a little too "smooth" and he misinterpreted that as being timid. I just started trying to make it easier on passengers after my daughter threw up back in April. So he had me do some dutch rolls to get used to being able to manhandle the airplane. I was still sweating profusely as we were doing this. It was starting to rattle me a little that I was so hot. Dick then took the airplane and we did some 60 degree turns. After getting up at 6 and going walking for 35 minutes this morning, then having a large coffee from Starbucks, that I downed just before we took off , and the rather ease at which sweat was pouring out of my pores, the 60 degree turns were almost too much. Not to mention the fact that I have had some kind of bug for the last 4 days that left me less than hydrated. One more 360 of 60 degree turns was enough.

We landed at Caddo Mills (7F3) and turned around to take off again and head toward McKinney. I did my usual flying and we ended up right back at TKI to get in the pattern for some touch & goes. This is where I finally feel more at home, on final at TKI. I think I have finally gotten through my landing problems that I had back in June. We did a couple of touch & gos but were following another airplane in the pattern and he was carrying his downwind leg a lot farther downwind than I like to do. We finally decided that it was time to take it to the house so I requested a full stop landing and was granted one.

We got back in to the FBO to cool off and to let Dick sign my logbook. We talked about what I needed to work on and what I was doing right. I am rather encouraged that Dick seems to think that I am just about ready to solo. Just a few basic things and I should be ready by the time Richard gets back. I'll have to start choosing my attire carefully now that solo time is getting near (the tradition says that you get your shirt tail cut off when you solo).

In the past, I have been posting my hours flown and landings but from now on, I'll just be posting a link to My E-Logbook. Thanks to Tony Philips, a fellow pilot, you can now keep your logbook online so that filling out your form 8710-1 is a lot easier.

Thanks to dick for giving me a different perspective on flying and I will try to relax more, as soon as it cools down and I feel a little better.

My E-Logbook

Dick makes another successful landing with a student.

When Old Friends Reunite

I know this isn't about me flying, directly, but it does pertain to my growing passion for flying. The AOPA has a program called Project Pilot to encourage people to become interested in learning to fly. It has a mentor program that encourages people to find someone and mentor them through their flight training. I am still just a student but I have been feeling so passionate about what I am trying to do, I try to share it with everyone.

I mentioned this to an old dear friend that I have drifted apart from in the last several years and he said that he may be interested too. Unfortunately for all involved, I kind of blew it off because of the reaction I get from everyone else. I usually get the "That's nice dear. Could you get me a drink now?" response from everyone. I sent out an email to several people when I got started in this and got a lot of great responses but haven't seen much traffic through here. I even stated that I was going to keep this blog to chronicle my journey and I do my best to keep it current. About a week ago I got a call from my friend Chris asking me if I had started my flight training and I told him yes. He was very interested in looking into it.

Our flying club has a $59 demo flight where you get to go up for about a half an hour, fly in the left seat and get to experience the joy of powered flight. So I called our chief flight instructor (my neighbor and my flight instructor) to set up a demo flight for him. Everything had been put into place and today at 6 PM, we were going flying. As anyone who has lived in North Texas for any amount of time knows, once we get into June, we won't see rain until September or October. Not this year. We have set records for June and July for rainfall and it continues to rain almost everyday. Today was no exception. Luckily for me we had rain over McKinney most of the afternoon allowing me to get there a little late and no one was harmed.

I won't go into all of the details but Chris did great. He did everything asked of him made a lot of very smooth turns, learned how to control his pitch, throttle, trim, bank and speed. To be honest, I wish I were as smooth as he was. I'm hoping that since he is so enamored with this, he will continue to follow his dream and get that certificate. It makes me feel great that after all of these years, through all of our ups and downs, going our separate ways, and starting our own families and new careers that we are once again able to share something that we have so much passion for. I know that he will do very well at this. He always does.

Not to make light of this but I had another opportunity to introduce someone else to the passion of flying. I have another old friend that I have known a long time who confided to me that he wanted to do something for his son. His son is 15 years old and they are looking for a way to prepare him for a life after high school. He knew I had been going through flight training and asked me how tough it was. Tough is relative at my age so I told him it wasn't too tough for a 45 year old. Once again I went to the AOPA website and found all of the flight training schools near his house in Tarrant county and sent him and his wife the list.

I fixed a computer for them on Sunday and got an email back from his wife today telling me that all was well and she couldn't believe that they were considering letting him do it. I gave them a lot of choices that were within 15 miles of where they live. I'm going to try to arrange something for them to get him a demo flight soon so he can get hooked too.

So for a guy who hasn't flown since the beginning of July, I have been busy promoting the thing I am finding consuming my thoughts more and more every day. As much as I am enjoying this, I really need to go flying myself soon or I'll burst.