Are Old Logged Hours Still Valid

kimberlyanne546 said:
Tim, it was high performance and complex. Oh, wait, you said ACT.

And I am not saying they did or did not come to any conclusions. I'm just saying I remember this coming up in discussion and not everyone having the same answer. Do not rely on ME to remember anything from Michigan!
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Didn't I send you a message on this very subject before you even went east? My intent was to give you a heads-up about logging PIC in any single-engine airplane you encountered over there.

Bob Gardner
 
HelLOOOooooo..... Tailwheel solo/endorsement!
I solo'd in moderately rough air and then we flew about 35 miles to a nearby grass strip fly in restaurant to celebrate. By the time we finished breakfast I had to fly back in rough air. All in all a great day. My first time landing on a grass strip. The grass was no trouble, but the seemingly postage stamp size of the runway was challenging. I have to admit I had help on that one.
He said that we now do a few more solo tests and check ups. We will do a little cross country flying and then get my long cross country done.
Thanks to all for the feeback, comments and advice. I considered starting another thread to chronicle the experience from solo to private, but I think I will just keep it all in this thread.
Doc
 
MBDiagMan said:
HelLOOOooooo..... Tailwheel solo/endorsement!
I solo'd in moderately rough air and then we flew about 35 miles to a nearby grass strip fly in restaurant to celebrate. By the time we finished breakfast I had to fly back in rough air. All in all a great day. My first time landing on a grass strip. The grass was no trouble, but the seemingly postage stamp size of the runway was challenging. I have to admit I had help on that one.
He said that we now do a few more solo tests and check ups. We will do a little cross country flying and then get my long cross country done.
Thanks to all for the feeback, comments and advice. I considered starting another thread to chronicle the experience from solo to private, but I think I will just keep it all in this thread.
Doc
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.......... and there was much rejoicing.


Congratulations!
 
MBDiagMan said:
HelLOOOooooo..... Tailwheel solo/endorsement!
I solo'd in moderately rough air and then we flew about 35 miles to a nearby grass strip fly in restaurant to celebrate. By the time we finished breakfast I had to fly back in rough air. All in all a great day. My first time landing on a grass strip. The grass was no trouble, but the seemingly postage stamp size of the runway was challenging. I have to admit I had help on that one.
He said that we now do a few more solo tests and check ups. We will do a little cross country flying and then get my long cross country done.
Thanks to all for the feeback, comments and advice. I considered starting another thread to chronicle the experience from solo to private, but I think I will just keep it all in this thread.
Doc
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Congratulations!
 
:rollercoaster::happydance::cheerswine::cheerswine::thumbsup:

I put down all the YEA ! gizmos I could find .... Way to Go Doc.
 
MBDiagMan said:
HelLOOOooooo..... Tailwheel solo/endorsement!
I solo'd in moderately rough air and then we flew about 35 miles to a nearby grass strip fly in restaurant to celebrate. By the time we finished breakfast I had to fly back in rough air. All in all a great day. My first time landing on a grass strip. The grass was no trouble, but the seemingly postage stamp size of the runway was challenging. I have to admit I had help on that one.
He said that we now do a few more solo tests and check ups. We will do a little cross country flying and then get my long cross country done.
Thanks to all for the feeback, comments and advice. I considered starting another thread to chronicle the experience from solo to private, but I think I will just keep it all in this thread.
Doc
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Doc, this is wonderful news! You had your solo - !

Did he cut your shirt or dump water on your head? Do you have pictures?
 
MBDiagMan said:
HelLOOOooooo..... Tailwheel solo/endorsement!
I solo'd in moderately rough air and then we flew about 35 miles to a nearby grass strip fly in restaurant to celebrate. By the time we finished breakfast I had to fly back in rough air. All in all a great day. My first time landing on a grass strip. The grass was no trouble, but the seemingly postage stamp size of the runway was challenging. I have to admit I had help on that one.
He said that we now do a few more solo tests and check ups. We will do a little cross country flying and then get my long cross country done.
Thanks to all for the feeback, comments and advice. I considered starting another thread to chronicle the experience from solo to private, but I think I will just keep it all in this thread.
Doc
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:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: Doc, grass is never a problem for a tailwheeler. In fact, if you learned TW on pavement, you learned it the hard way. Grass is considerably more forgiving.... Oh yeah, congrats, well done.
 
MBDiagMan said:
HelLOOOooooo..... Tailwheel solo/endorsement!
I solo'd in moderately rough air and then we flew about 35 miles to a nearby grass strip fly in restaurant to celebrate.
Doc
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EXCELLENT!! Congratulations!

Where is this grass strip restaurant??!

You doing anything today? A group of us Dallas folks are meeting PJ (from Houston) at a Grapevine restaurant at noon (see post 17 onwards) for pilot talk,food, and maybe a little football viewing.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
Doc, this is wonderful news! You had your solo - !

Did he cut your shirt or dump water on your head? Do you have pictures?
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I didn't get my shirt tail cut. I think his reason that this was not my first solo. We met a few taildragger guys at the grass strip and when Wayne told them that I had solo'd the taildragger that day, they gave me a big congrats, but asked why I still had a shirt tail.

The funny thing was that when I came in on the first pass Wayne made me do a right pattern. The strip was intimidatingly small for a rookie and I came in slightly long and touched down in a wheel landing with a good bit of speed. We had enough runway left I thought, but Wayne wanted me to go around.

I came back around and was able to land REASONABLY well. When Wayne told them I had just solo'd the old taildragger pilot said he thought I was an old school grass strip pilot that was rolling over the runway to check it out before landing. So, I guess he thought my landing wasn't all that bad. He then pointed out some places in the runway that are tricky when wet. He took some pictures of me taking off and said he would email them to me.

Anyway, I had worn an old shirt that didn't look too good in anticipation of the tail being cut, THEN ended up eating breakfast in a nice restaurant dressed like a hay hauler.

No matter. It was a great day, and the important part is in my logbook.

Doc
 
TangoWhiskey said:
EXCELLENT!! Congratulations!

Where is this grass strip restaurant??!

You doing anything today? A group of us Dallas folks are meeting PJ (from Houston) at a Grapevine restaurant at noon (see post 17 onwards) for pilot talk,food, and maybe a little football viewing.
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Tango,

The restaurant is on Lake Texoma and the airport is 3T0. It's just to the NorthWest of North Texas Regional. If you go there in the daytime, watch for the runway lights. I think they might even have sprinkler heads on them and they stick up a foot or two on white PVC pipe. I hardly noticed them on my first landing and lucky I didn't mow them down.

The restaurant there is Pelican Landing or something like that. It's a pretty good walk from the strip, but do a little googling ahead of time and get their phone number, then call them when you land and they'll gladly drive over and pick you up.

Thanks very much for the invitation, I wish I could have joined you guys on Saturday. I hope everyone had fun. Hopefully it will work out the next time there's a get together, so please let me know if there is anything like that again.

Doc
 
MBDiagMan said:
Tango,

The restaurant is on Lake Texoma and the airport is 3T0. It's just to the NorthWest of North Texas Regional. If you go there in the daytime, watch for the runway lights. I think they might even have sprinkler heads on them and they stick up a foot or two on white PVC pipe. I hardly noticed them on my first landing and lucky I didn't mow them down.

The restaurant there is Pelican Landing or something like that. It's a pretty good walk from the strip, but do a little googling ahead of time and get their phone number, then call them when you land and they'll gladly drive over and pick you up.

Thanks very much for the invitation, I wish I could have joined you guys on Saturday. I hope everyone had fun. Hopefully it will work out the next time there's a get together, so please let me know if there is anything like that again.

Doc
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That's Cedar Mills, also where they build Valiant Yachts, a world class small sailboat. I taught sailing out of there for a bit long ago.
 
Yes, I was surprised at the number of sailboats, probably 25 to 30 feet or so that were in the slips next to the restaurant. I forgot to point out the name as Cedar Mills.

Henning, you are right about grass. It was different but really no problem. As a rookie I just have to get more accustomed to small strips. If I achieve my goal of a strip at home after the pipeline comes through, I'll have to get REAL comfortable.

Doc
 
MBDiagMan said:
Henning, you are right about grass. It was different but really no problem. As a rookie I just have to get more accustomed to small strips. If I achieve my goal of a strip at home after the pipeline comes through, I'll have to get REAL comfortable.

Doc
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Landing a 120/140 on a postage stamp is easy (with practice). You can't be too high - a pedal to the floor slip is like an elevator ride. Take it right down to the ground and kick straight.

The limiting factor is trying to get back out again - even with a mighty Continental 85 up front.
 
Actually Miss Piggy has a 100HP O200A with a climb prop. She climbs out pretty well considering her fatso condition. She'll climb at 600 to 700 FPM at Max Gross. Of course cruising at less than full power is below 100MPH.

I didn't slip her in, but got her in AND out of there. The Cedar Mills runway is quite lengthy at 3,000 feet, but it's pretty narrow, if you're going to stay within the runway lights that are not completely obvious. All I need is stick time, and I think I'll be able to deal with much shorter runways.
 
Air was ROUGH today with a reasonable amount of cross wind. Air seemed not too rough on the surface and above about 400 or 500 AGL. It was very challenging, but very good training.

We went above the rough air and I did some REALLY good steep 360's, if I do say so myself.

All in all, a great training day, even in the challenging air.

Doc
 
MBDiagMan said:
Air was ROUGH today with a reasonable amount of cross wind. Air seemed not too rough on the surface and above about 400 or 500 AGL. It was very challenging, but very good training.

We went above the rough air and I did some REALLY good steep 360's, if I do say so myself.

All in all, a great training day, even in the challenging air.

Doc
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How many solo's have you done / do you plan to do, what are your limitations (if any) regarding winds?

I just need to find time now to read the Killing Zone :)
 
I've only solo'd the once. Today I did not due to the extreme rough air. It was great training though. He will be cutting me loose soon. I fly again Thursday morning. I'm anxious to get solo'd so I can knock out LOTS and LOTS of tailwheel landings. I want to burn it into my brain. Henning has repeatedly suggesting lots of landings soon after solo to burn it into the brain. I think that is good advice. It also gives me the chance to spend more quality time with Miss Piggy.

Winds are pretty serious business in a taildragger. This morning I was landing with two wheels in a three point attitude. I was pretty proud of them, but the cross wind component was probably no more than about 8 knots. It was fun and challenging. I'm loving this tailwheel stuff now that I've managed to shed the dunce cap.

I go to an FAA seminar tonight. The subject is "ATC Live" about radio communications. Learning to fly in the boonies offers very little experience talking to the tower, so it should be good for me.

Doc
 
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You'll like the live ATC info too. I'm starting on the controlled airspace prep with a couple of students now... We pretend that we're at a class C airport and I'm the controller. Hopefully whenwe go up to midland for real it will be easier for them.
 
I meant to post a new thread about that - there is an FAA WINGS credit seminar here / near here soon about ATC etc. I think it will be fun for me to go to even though it is far from my work / house. I enjoy aviation gatherings very much and each WINGS seminar I've been to was very well done.
 
Jeanie said:
You'll like the live ATC info too. I'm starting on the controlled airspace prep with a couple of students now... We pretend that we're at a class C airport and I'm the controller. Hopefully whenwe go up to midland for real it will be easier for them.
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Jeanie,

I was going by the Midland airport one time when the Confederate Air Force was flying their warbirds. Do you know if that happens often?

Doc
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
I meant to post a new thread about that - there is an FAA WINGS credit seminar here / near here soon about ATC etc. I think it will be fun for me to go to even though it is far from my work / house. I enjoy aviation gatherings very much and each WINGS seminar I've been to was very well done.
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I'm leaving the office in just a few minutes to head over there. I'll tell you if it was worthwhile.

Doc
 
They are going to have an airshow at midland soon, I'll find out the date and let you know.
 
MBDiagMan said:
Yes, I was surprised at the number of sailboats, probably 25 to 30 feet or so that were in the slips next to the restaurant. I forgot to point out the name as Cedar Mills.

Henning, you are right about grass. It was different but really no problem. As a rookie I just have to get more accustomed to small strips. If I achieve my goal of a strip at home after the pipeline comes through, I'll have to get REAL comfortable.

Doc
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Dude, I ran my Travelair in and out of there lol. I used to give private instruction on Lake Texoma. It's a nice operation there and decent enough food as far a Texas goes. Did they ever get rid of that tree that looks like it's gonna be in the runway but it's not?
 
Congrats Doc. I soloed in a C152 then changed schools where Warriors were the plane of choice. As far as I am concerned, the second "first" solo was still, if not more, SWEEEEEET.
 
Henning said:
Dude, I ran my Travelair in and out of there lol. I used to give private instruction on Lake Texoma. It's a nice operation there and decent enough food as far a Texas goes. Did they ever get rid of that tree that looks like it's gonna be in the runway but it's not?
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Henning,

They must have gotten rid of the tree because my eyes were as big as saucers coming into that "unkown" and there was no such thing that caught my eye. I did, however, as a rookie take off to the East even though it was downwind(only a very light wind.) It also seemed to be down hill toward the East. The water at the East looked better than the trees at the West.

As a rookie, I think what bothered me most were the runway lights/sprinkler heads. They were not very visible on approach, I only noticed them on very short final. There were airplanes parked very close to the runway on the right so I was favoring the left side of the runway. I'm sure glad I didn't rip up their plumbing.

We only had a buffet breakfast at Pelican Landing and it wasn't bad. There's plenty of great food in Texas, but I doubt that it is very prolific in that area.

Doc
 
Hi doc,

The midland airshow is on oct 8-9. Let me know if you plan to head this way.

J
 
Jeanie,

That's about the time of year in 2005, I think, when my wife and I were headed to Cloudcroft on vacation and stumbled across all these warbirds in the sky.

I can't see myself making it this year, but it sure would be a nice trip to knock out my Commercial Cross Country late next year. Hopefully we can meet up with you then.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
How was it?
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I posted on the other site in a thread specifically started for the Dallas area folks. I forgot to post results here. Sorry 'bout that!

I thought it was very worthwhile for two reasons; first they had ATC guys form the local airports to interact with and second, they gave me a 2012 copy of the FAR/AIM book for being the person that drove the farthest to attend.

The content was aimed more toward the experienced rather than the rookies.

Before things started, for those of us there early, he ran a video about the Sopwith Camel. After showing all sorts of things about this relic, they showed formation flight with it and a spitfire. The Camel was at full throttle and the spitfire was barely above stall speed.

All in all a great evening.

At the airport and it looks as if I will have reasonable flying weather. About a 5 knot crosswind and some light rain has passed a few hours ago.

Doc
 
MBDiagMan said:
I posted on the other site in a thread specifically started for the Dallas area folks. I forgot to post results here. Sorry 'bout that!

I thought it was very worthwhile for two reasons; first they had ATC guys form the local airports to interact with and second, they gave me a 2012 copy of the FAR/AIM book for being the person that drove the farthest to attend.

The content was aimed more toward the experienced rather than the rookies.

Before things started, for those of us there early, he ran a video about the Sopwith Camel. After showing all sorts of things about this relic, they showed formation flight with it and a spitfire. The Camel was at full throttle and the spitfire was barely above stall speed.

All in all a great evening.

At the airport and it looks as if I will have reasonable flying weather. About a 5 knot crosswind and some light rain has passed a few hours ago.

Doc
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Cool, since with traffic it may take me the ENTIRE two hours to drive there one way (I get off at 5pm and need to be there by 7pm). Maybe I'll get a 2012 FAR / AIM - !

I didn't know they were selling them now - guess they come out way before 2012 huh? So many things to "keep current" as a pilot - AFD, Sectional, TAC, FAR/AIM.......... even if I don't fly it will cost money!
 
KICKED OUT OF THE NEST!

He turned me loose this morning and said to make as many landings as I wanted. I made three and then came in so he didn't have to stay at the airport all day. He made some notes in my logbook with crosswind and distance restrictions and told me to fly four of five hours and then we will finish up my few items of requirements flying including my long cross country and then we'll do check ride prep.

To say it out like that sounds like I'm almost there, but this consists of my long cross country, 1.9 hours under the hood and my night cross country, which was not a requirement when I flew 20 years ago.

As someone in this thread said some weeks ago, there was indeed a day when I looked at the empty right seat and wondered why all that was ever necessary.

After he left, I topped off the tanks and did 3 rounds before having to go to work. It was starting to get a little choppy and the light cross wind seemed to be picking up, so the timing was good.

We're supposed to have the same weather tomorrow, so I hope to knock out a few hours tomorrow morning.

It looks like maybe it wasn't such a huge mistake to buy a taildragger after all.

Thanks for all your help, comments and encouragement in this thread. It helped greatly.

Doc
 
You'll enjoy the long solo XC. Makes you feel like you're really getting somewhere. 3 hours of night flying isn't bad, either. And it's all dual. You're getting close. Have fun!
 
Thanks Ghery!

Actually I don't need 3 hours of night flying. I have that much and about 13 landings. What I DON'T have is the 100 mile night cross country. It was not a requirement when I flew before. All I have to do is a flight to and from an airport that I am familiar with which is 51 NM away. I hope to combine the flight with a little time under the hood while I'm doing it.

Doc
 
Congrats Doc on being close. FYI the DPE put here disallows hood work during the night cross-country you might want to check with your CFI about that.
 
Thanks for the congrats, and thanks Jeanie for the tip on the night hood work. Fitting it in somewhere else is no sweat. He will do a cross country with me before my long one, so we can fit some in there. Even if I have to just pay for two hours of nothing but hood work, no worry except for the extra delay.

BTW, the name of my lovely bride of 37 years is named Jean. I call her Jeanie.

Doc
 
Tim,

In the book "The Killing Zone" they warn low time pilots about "freedom." Freedom to fly on your own is a good thing, but they warn about the attitude of the freedom from check lists, run ups, carb heat and on and on.

I THINK that I am looking at freedom in the right way and not ignoring these things. In fact, the things that he harped on, as he should, I paid extra close attention to after he stepped out. His voice is not ringing in my ears but his lessons are.

Doc
 
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