Wednesday, January 24th, 2007
In my previous post, I mentioned that I made a cross country flight. Well, one of the things that I learned on that trip was that organization is extremely important. I needed my sectional chart, a sharp pencil, a backup pencil as well as note paper. There are tons of radio calls and things you need to write down. ATC is constantly telling you frequencies and squawk codes. Everything needs to be neatly written down, because you need to repeat these things back to ATC as well as program your equipment. You will also need to refer back to them later in your flight.
Let’s just say that I learned a valuable lesson during this flight. I wasn’t prepared. I actually dropped my pencil on the floor once and couldn’t find it. During my last landing, my sectional chart slipped off my lap onto the floor. I think Yigal had a good time watching as I learned what was important during this flight. Experience has much more of an impact on a person than someone just telling you what to do.
So, with that experience behind me, I purchased a pilot kneeboard.
This is going to help tremendously during my next flight. Check out the description from the link above so you can get a feel for what this thing is worth.
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Wednesday, January 24th, 2007
Hours - 22
This Sunday, I decided that it would be nice to take a cruise to Waterbury/Oxford Airport (OXC) in Connecticut. We would depart from MGJ, fly to the Kingston VOR station in Poughkeepsie and from there, head straight to OXC. The round trip would take about 1 1/2 hours.
We took off and everything was great. I set up everything for VOR navigation and pilotage and headed towards the VOR station. I finished my navigation log earlier that morning. I made a few radio calls to the tower at Stewart (SWF) (my first checkpoint) and transitioned through their class D airspace. I found the VOR station just fine, changed my heading and continued to my next checkpoint, which was Rt.22/Pawling. This flight was really fun. I love VOR navigation and am actually getting pretty good at it. We crossed over Candlelight Airport in Sherman, CT at 5500FT. I looked to the right and saw the Long Island Sound as well as the island itself. You can really see a lot from that altitude. I also saw my destination airport 17 nautical miles ahead.
Things started getting a little tricky as I approached the airport. There was a bit of turbulence and I started my descent late. We had to descend faster than my ears would’ve liked. Also, I kind of screwed up my radio calls to the tower. My landing was even worse. For such a nice day, it was quite gusty at this airport. It must be in some valley or something. I came in sideways and had to correct by giving the airplane some throttle to re-land. We got down on the runway and taxied to stay ahead of a pretty good sized commercial jet. We took off before them and I screwed up my last call to the tower on my way out. Oh well…practice will make perfect.
The trip home was pretty uneventful. Made some pretty good calls to New York ATC and flew over Stewart’s airspace. I screwed up a radio call to MGJ, but came in and entered the pattern nicely for a good landing.
There really was a lot to handle on this trip and I was exposed to a lot. I am confident that my radio calls will get better in the future as I practice more. Yigal says that it is common to kind of shut down when things get hairy for students on their first cross countries. I guess so, but I am going to do better next time. This Friday, if we fly, we are going to PA. Till then!
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Friday, August 11th, 2006
Life is way too short. There are many reasons why someone would like to take flying lessons…for the thrill, the advantages of getting from one place to another in a shorter amount of time than driving, enjoyment, etc… Many reasons.
For me, the driving force is to get places fast. I really need to start visiting my family in North Carolina more. I need to see my nieces and nephews. I don’t want to be that uncle who never visits, or the one who the kids hear alot about but never really got to know.
My dream is to have my family waiting for me at the Wilmington International Airport (KILM) and for them to watch me land in my own plane. I really think that would be something.
My father has talked about getting his pilot’s license and getting a plane, but never got around to it. Maybe some day. Until then, he will have to sit in the passenger’s seat. Maybe I will let him fly…a little.
I looked around the area for a small airport and bumped into the Orange County Airport (KMGJ). It’s about a half hour from where I live. I called Quade’s Flight School. Gary answered the phone. He seemed like a very nice guy who has been around planes for a very long time. I set up the “Intro” flight lesson for $60. Basically, it is a half hour flight to get the tip of your toe wet. When you land, you say, “Sign me up, I am taking out a loan” or “Get me the hell out of this thing.” I said “Sign me up, but I will pay by check.”
We went up in his trainer…a Piper Cherokee. The intro flight consisted of learning about the pre-flight inspection of the plane, going over the checklist, taxiing to the runway, takeoff, some maneuvers and landing. The instructor, Gary let me perform some turns at about 2500 msl (mean sea level). That was pretty cool. I have never controlled an airplane before, so that was a thrill. I flew by myself for about 15 minutes. When we were approaching the airport for landing, Gary cut the throttle. He said he liked to do this for the new students to show that if an airplane of this size loses the engine in mid-air for some reason, you won’t spiral out of control and plummet to the earth. We landed very smoothly with no power.
After we landed and taxied to the hangar, Gary asked me if I was in. I said I was and set up my next lesson for Sunday, August 20 and 10:30AM.
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