Yeah Baby.

Crane Pilot

Crane Pilot

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Jun 26, 2015
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140
Location
central florida
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crane pilot
Soloed today at KSFB,in a C-172M and yes i was nervous as hell:eek:.I really could'nt believe how different the aircraft flew without the extra weight in it. But 14.7 hrs with this instructer i did well. I wasn't real happy with my landings but i got down safely 3 times and could reuse the aircraft lol:cool:. Now with 21.4 total time including 0.5 in a multi im on my way to a new career flying for a living. I do have a long way to go but all it takes is time and money. I started this back in the mid 80's when it was a lot cheaper but stopped due to stupidity and was still in high school, so between girls and sports didn't have the time. I have'nt had that much fun in a long time.o_O
 
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It took me a bit to get out of the plane today lol but i feel so much better. Now for the rest of the stuff which i think i can do fairly easy.
 
Congrats you've past a major hurdle ,enjoy.
 
So an add on to the ongoing story. I did my second solo flight this past sunday. I wanted to go to the coast (KEVB) and see the beach from the air again but the clouds were moving in faster than i would like, so as to remain vfr and not have to play dodge cloud the whole trip i decided to just go north and as per instructer for the back up plan fly up to KDED but not to over fly and turn around and come back. So i did as instructed , i wasn't as steady on the heading and altitude as i am with the instructer onboard but i was busy. I know that's no excuse and i will do better next time i can assure you of that. Had a good flight all in all but what came next was something i did'nt expect. In the pattern of KSFB after following the monroe arrival, i did the standard downwind abeam the numbers procedure ,and was paying close attention to the airspeed as i have been all over the place with it , nailed the speeds and slowed it up just a tad on final, i flew 60-62 on final and caught a gust over the numbers i had a bit of a right quarting head wind that was a little gusty, like 8 g12. so i gathered it up after a small ballon and greased the touch down. I never even felt the mains touch down but heard the tires screech on the concrete. I was so proud of myself that day and it finally convinced me that i can land the plane with out dropping it in lmao. Now dual x-coutry scheduled for next lesson that has to be postponed a week due to money constraints but no worries i have plenty to do at home. making up nav logs and flight plans and planning x-country flights for practice to give to my instructer.
 
Crane Pilot said:
Soloed today at KSFB,in a C-172M and yes i was nervous as hell.... I have'nt had that much fun in a long time.
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Nothing like that rush you get the first time that planes comes off the runway on your first solo, and then you realize you're the only person that can get that thing back on the ground safely....CONGRATS!!!
 
Congrats!! Time to start logging some PIC time
 
An update on my progress. Did one of my xcountrys today. KSFB > KCGC > KSFB at 2.1hrs and had a great time. i made all my nav log check points with in a min or so of planning, so i guess i did fairly well on the planning portion of it. my crosswind landings still need some work but thank god the 172 is a very forgiving aircraft lol. Next week i do another one to fill more of the required 5 hrs. It will be KSF > KOCF > KCGC > KSFB, it will be fun. im going to do more of a VOR tracking than a pilotage/ground reference flight as i have 2 VOR's to track from KSFB. I have the KORL and the KOCF to intercept to get there, then i can use the OCF VOR to get to CGC the GPS navigation back to SFB. wish me luck.
 
TRocket said:
Nothing like that rush you get the first time that planes comes off the runway on your first solo, and then you realize you're the only person that can get that thing back on the ground safely....CONGRATS!!!
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Yes...that whole "I, and only I, am in complete control of my destiny" feeling!! A huge congrats. :);)
 
Well another 2.7 in the log book for my solo x country, the problem is i needed 2.9 to meet the requirement of 5 hrs. lol oops misssed it by - that much ;), oh well i need a total of 500+ hrs of cross country for the ATP anyway so it all counts in the end. Now my next cross country will be like 2. something hrs for just the .2 i needed. Its all good, I had a good flight anyway , did some VOR intercept and tracking on 2 legs and GPS navigation on the final leg. Hot damn im gonna be a pilot someday:p:D
 
Crane Pilot said:
Well another 2.7 in the log book for my solo x country, the problem is i needed 2.9 to meet the requirement of 5 hrs. lol oops misssed it by - that much ;), oh well i need a total of 500+ hrs of cross country for the ATP anyway so it all counts in the end. Now my next cross country will be like 2. something hrs for just the .2 i needed. Its all good, I had a good flight anyway , did some VOR intercept and tracking on 2 legs and GPS navigation on the final leg. Hot damn im gonna be a pilot someday:p:D
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Don't think of it that way. Think of it as "hell yeah I get to fly again and build some XC hours"

Do another XC or do the same one again.
 
Well just completed the x-country requirement for my ppl. For the last .2 remaining needed yes your seeing it right 2 tenths lol, i did 2.3 from KSFB- KSGJ-KSFB. So i count that as 2.1 towards my instrument requirement. It was a beautiful day to be up flying. calm winds and cool air , well at least at 3500' and 4500'. I shocked myself with my approach to rwy 31 at KSGJ and even more so on my greased landing with a bit of a cross wind, that i almost forgot what to do once on the ground lol. So now on to the last requirement of the hood work. I still lack 2 hrs there. Im almost there.
 
Congrats. I had the same .2 during my training so on my way back from my last xc I just went to the practice area and flew in circles for .2.
 
I did my second cross country from KORL to KSGJ to finish my requirements as well.

Press on!
 
Well to update my exploits as a student pilot. I have been signed off for my check ride on this coming Sunday 4/9/17. I know I can fly the airplane, I kind-of thrive on stress or at least deal with it well from being a crane operator and some of the high stress jobs I have done as one. So why all the nervousness and second guessing myself. Man I'll be glad to get this one in the books and move on to the instrument portion then the time building to the CSEL and CMEL.
 
Crane Pilot said:
Well to update my exploits as a student pilot. I have been signed off for my check ride on this coming Sunday 4/9/17. I know I can fly the airplane, I kind-of thrive on stress or at least deal with it well from being a crane operator and some of the high stress jobs I have done as one. So why all the nervousness and second guessing myself. Man I'll be glad to get this one in the books and move on to the instrument portion then the time building to the CSEL and CMEL.
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You CAN do this!
 
Crane Pilot said:
Well to update my exploits as a student pilot. I have been signed off for my check ride on this coming Sunday 4/9/17. I know I can fly the airplane, I kind-of thrive on stress or at least deal with it well from being a crane operator and some of the high stress jobs I have done as one. So why all the nervousness and second guessing myself. Man I'll be glad to get this one in the books and move on to the instrument portion then the time building to the CSEL and CMEL.
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Why? Because you got brains enough not to take it lightly.
 
Well damn. Started out for my ppl check ride today. I was nervous about the oral portion of it. I know the ground part pretty well but I do have brain cramps from time to time,im sure like everyone else. But I let it get to me. Well my nervousness was all for not. I hammered the oral portion, as the DPE told me I did great, I asked him if he saw anything I can do better. He then looked at me and said you didn't see me take many notes did you? No sir I said, he then said all I can say is get the airspace levels down and I'll do great. No problems, so now on to the flight section. Thanks to Mother Nature I called it off today due to rather high and gusty winds a lowish broken cloud layer and couple rain storms in the area. The clouds I can deal with since they were bkn 035 and winds of 17g26. So the winds were gonna make landings with a 20 to 40 deg crosswind . Yeah I know I have to learn to fly in all weather and winds but at this stage I have my limits set a bit high, and especially for a check ride. I will not set myself up for failure.
 
Don't worry yourself too much. It will happen. When you get in the air you will feel better. You did Ok today. Part of the check ride is judgment and sounds like you showed good judgment.
 
Welcome to the busy skies!
 
Congrats, enjoy some flying for a while, then go get that IR. A nice treat that I did between PPL and IR was take an intro aerobatics course, it was great fun, and the upset/spin training is helpful.
 
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