Category Archives: Flying

Flying Scaredy Cat

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It’s true, I’m sorta, kinda, afraid of solo flying.  Not the “normal” flying stuff, but anything new.  This poses a bit of a problem, since at this point in my learning to fly I need to be doing the flying all by myself virtually all of the time.

On Saturday and Sunday this week I flew solo.  Saturday was just laps around the pattern, landing, takeoffs, taxi backs, the normal stuff.  That is fine and I’m comfortable doing it for the most part.  Sunday my CFI pushed me to fly out to the coast and do some “air work.”  This is the stuff of stalls, slow flight, and controlling altitude and bank angles in turns.  I don’t really enjoy doing that stuff with the CFI in the plane with me, so it was really tough to be motivated to do it without him there.  Worse, there was mild turbulence on the way to and back from the practice area.  When you are all alone in the cockpit, the tower has released you with the “frequency change approved” kiss off, it can get a bit crazy there in the cockpit (or your head).

In my case, it was just a chunk of time with my brain alternating between moving the arms and hands to do the stuff they are supposed to do and the mind’s tendency to be freaking out with all of the rocking and rolling of the winds.  I eventually started talking to myself (cue the “wacko” tag here) to restore a since of calm and order in the plane.  Once over at the practice area, which today is a grand vista of the Pacific ocean and bits of Half Moon Bay visible, things smoothed out and a sense of purpose returned.  It wasn’t until the return to the airport that things went all to pieces again.

Once headed back in I got to see the real disaster in the making: at least 12 different planes in the pattern in various states of take off, landing, maneuvering, talking to the tower, and getting completely and utterly lost. I only did one more circuit around the pattern in this airplane soup, since the poor tower folks were just getting hammered.  In the end, on the ground, I realized that there was never really any danger to me, but when you are all alone surrounded by O2 and smog, bouncing around, you just don’t have a lot of common sense when facing the unknown.

Some Flights, A Lot of Work

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It’s been a month and I’m still pounding out the daily work schedule and trying to sneak in some flying where and when I can. Along the way I’ve slowed down my corporate travel, but that ends this week, as I start hitting the road to see customers wherever they may be. That can only mean less GA flying and a lot more bad airport experiences.

At least I’m still employed, right? I could have ended up like these poor hosers.

Two for the money

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Today I soloed in the Citabria for a second time.  It ended up being no small feat, thanks to the ever increasing winds.  This puts me within just a few flights more of being able to fly regularly on my own, even if it is only around the airport and practice areas.

I’m glad to have hit this milestone but I sure wished it had come sooner.

Too Much Travel, Too Little Flying (GA)

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It seems that I’ve been on the road constantly, and that I’ve done very little general aviation flying.  Upon looking back at my schedule since January, it does appear that most every week and weekend I’m in another city or country, talking to a different customer or partner, eating at a new or similar restaurant and staying at another hotel chain.  I certainly have the flight miles (and nagging cough) to prove it.

I also have started lacking in my ability to get to the local airport and fly, and when I do get out to the airport these day my skills aren’t what they used to be.  That’s a bummer, as I feel like I’m going backwards in my training, and that really bites.  The learning to fly stuff is what helps me keep my head clear of all the work related mumbo-jumbo, but  when it isn’t going well its hard to have a good outlet.

Here’s hoping I get some serious downtime in the near future and can get back on the pilot learning curve, pointed upward again.

Soloed, Finally

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After a lot of travel and very, very few continuous days at home I have managed to get the first solo process completed at Palo Alto Airport.  This is, I’m told, a pretty important milestone in my flight training, and I’m glad to have finally done it.

However, as part of this process, I was nearly landed on, twice, by another student flying the pattern.  The infraction was bad enough that the tower started asking planes in the pattern to land full stop and clear the traffic so that they could concentrate on the problem pilot.  I was also asked a series of probing questions from the club’s chief pilot, to see if they could determine how rough it was up there.

All in all, I’m glad its done, even if it was a blur.  I’m sure I’ll remember this flight for a long time to come.

Lessons 30, 31, and 32

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In between flights all over the US, I managed to sneak in a few more flight lessons.  #30 was to get me back in the swing of things again, doing another flight over to Livermore and some pattern work.  #31 was all about doing some ground school learning, something I don’t do often enough.  #32 was a bunch of touch and goes in the strongest wind (nearly 18 knots) I’ve seen so far.

I’m told that I’m nearly ready to solo, again.  Now I just need to study up and be in town long enough to actually do the check ride.

Bad Weather Lessons: 28 and 29

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I managed to sneak in a couple of hours of flying this weekend, between downpours and crazy work scheduling. The net-net of these flights were that I’ve now picked up a bad habit or two: flying the pattern too fast and loose at times, and under-rotating at touchdown.  Needless to say both are bad and I am working to correct both.

What was really rough, however, was flying in 14+ knot winds with low clouds and crummy visibility.  My instructor loved it as it pushed me about as far out of my comfort zone as I could be at the home airport.  Having to work all the controls to keep the plane level, getting rained on inside the plane, and losing total sight of the traffic around me were just the start of these two lesson sessions.

I’m sure that later I’ll look back and be thankful for this training.  But right now all I see is more tough work ahead to be able to fly right.  3 miles of visibility in rain and low clouds is just not a fun way to fly.

And to top everything off, I’m signed up for a pre-solo check ride in the near future.  Assuming I can find the time to be in town (a tough task right now with weekly flights somewhere each of the next 3 weeks) I’ll be handed off to an inspector to see if I’m ready to fly the pattern on my own.  Yikes!

Lessons 26 and 27: Back on the Horse Again

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My two most recent flying lessons were proof of what happens when I spend a long time away from the cockpit.  On lesson 26 I spent the entire time bobbling around, blowing landings, and generally being a mess while flying.  It was as if I had erased several months worth of flying skills and had regressed to a much earlier phase of flight.  I knew I’d be a bit rusty, but this was bad news.

On the 27th lesson, after around 5 touch and go’s, some of the old flying skills returned.  It was truly maddening to think that the effort I had put in so far was gone in just 3 weeks of non flying.  It is obvious to me that I still have so far to go to really “get flying” to the point of it being a learned behavior.  Throw in flights started at a new (San Carlos) airport and I have feel as if I need to start a few steps back from where I was just a month or two ago.

Flight Lesson 25

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In a last ditch effort to squeeze in a bit more flying and learning time, I drove up to Palo Alto to fly one more hour in the Citabria, my last flight for the year.  It involved more touch and goes, slow speed turns, stalls, spin recognition (scary) and slips.  This is just what I need to help get me through the muck that is sure to be known as commercial air travel.

Lessons 23 and 24

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Another weekend, another couple of flights out of Palo Alto.  This time around it was a series of landings and simulated emergencies on the way to and from Livermore Airport, with some decidedly better (if I may say so) landings than I had the last time.  The instructor seems to think I’m getting a little bit better, so he’s ratcheting up the workload in the air.

On the 24th lesson I was swapped into a similar plane with 40 more horsepower. The difference was like driving my 4Runner around some cones and tight corners, then getting out and hopping into the vette to try the same thing.  More power, better handling, and boy can things get out of hand right quick.  I felt like I was behind the airplane the whole flight.  It climbs better, goes faster, and really gets off the ground in a hurry.  Have to be careful with all that power, it can get addicting.