Jhernandez04
Line Up and Wait
I haven't gotten a chance to get on here and type it up, but on 11-3-12
I completed my first SOLO flight!! I got the opportunity 11.7 HRS into my ppl to prove to my instructor and myself that I had what it takes to fly my PA-28 235 Cherokee. I have video and will figure out how to get it uploaded later.
I arrive the Saturday morning knowing if I was able to stick my landings that my instructor would give me the green light. So I made sure to wear a really nice shirt so that if successful my shirt tail would last through the ravages of time! LOL
Im all smiles the whole time, as walk in I greet the FBO employees with a good morning and a wave. My CFI asks me if I'm ready and I reply with a "yes sir!" he tell me to go to the preflight inspection and he'll meet me out there.
I look plane over really good and everything seems primed ready to go for my landmark achievement! (It should be noted that my wife kissed me and had my boys give me kisses as well, she was a little worried
) So, my CFI comes outside and we load up and I go through all the checklists and talk to ground control and tower. Cherokee 8558W is cleared for runway 35 for closed loop left pattern touch and go's!!!!
Take off is smooth, with my peripheral vision I see my instructor nod his head in acceptance of a good take off and control of the radio. My elevation is holding steady in the pattern and I contact tower as I begin my base for touch and go. I line it up about a mile out and was glued to the center-line the whole time! I keep her at about 90MPH with just a little bit of power still on and 3 notches of flaps. She starts to slow to about 80MPH just as I reach the top of the runway and I take all power out and begin to apply back-pressure for my flair, she floated perfect and my rear landing gear touched lightly and I kept my nose up for a couple more seconds and then finally she graced her front wheel to the pavement for a successful landing. I was confident and feeling great at this point!
We did that 2 more times and then he told me to make it a full stop!!! We landed and he told me to keep my landings the same and stay focused! I was all giggles and smiles until he got out...... then I was like
oh muh Jesus..... am I really doing this? Am I really ready? WOW YES I AM! LETS DO IT! You wanted it, you got it! Your time to shine.
So, I contact ground and tell them I'm on taxi way for departure with information Romeo. The give me clearance for runway 35.
Question, am I the only one who talks to themselves while flying or is that pretty normal?
I stay on the taxi way right where I normally would a my run-up checklist, and I just sat there for a minute collecting my thoughts. Once I calmed my chi I contacted tower and told them that 58Wiskey was on runway 17 ready for departure with my intentions of closed left patter for touch and go's. Again, they give me clearance and I'm ready to take off! I slowly get on the runway and keep it centered and then I punch it (at this point my nerves are gone and its all training that's taking over) I keep it centered the whole way and I see the needle passing 65ish MPH and I start to apply slow back pressure and she lifted off the ground perfectly. Once I was airborne I gave resounding "WOOOOOOOOOOOWHOOOOOOOOOOO" knowing that its ALL ME from here on out. Tower contacts me and instructs me to maintain Left pattern. 58Wiskey: Will Co!
There are a few times I'm getting nervous but my training takes over every-time that happens because there's always something for me to check or look at. So I've reached the point of downwind leg where I pull the carb heat knob and reduce power and put one notch of flaps and keep the speed about 100MPH, I turn on my base and contact tower. The whole time I'm really focused on keeping it center-line, I put another notch of flaps and she slowed to about 85mph so I kicked in a few more RPMS to get my speed a little over 90mph so I can have a little more control during decent. Well, I have it lined up perfectly but the wind is not making it easy so I have to use right rudder and keep playing with the yoke to keep it centered. As I'm preparing to flair I kill the power and slowly apply back pressure (like my previous landings) and without further ado I touch down and have one of my better landings, I take a moment to gather what just happened then I take the flaps out, push in carb heat and go to full power!! My other landings were great as well! My last landing I a bit left of center-line but oh well!!
I went back the next day to continue my solo training, he went back up with me for a few landings again, but this time it was not as smooth. It actually scared me, he got out and I went up and as I went to land maybe I had too much power or speed (not sure) and when I touched it felt good but she went back in the air I figured I got about 15-20 feet high and she was coming down fast, I really didnt want to see how hard of a landing I could handle so I quickly put full power back on and started a slight climb, but then I took 2 notches of flaps out too fast and she began to sink my last effort saw me push the carb heat in and she began to rise again, safely taking me out of harms way. (I did the right thing, tower even told me great job on the recovery) but I was kinda freaking out, I wondered why that happened and if I did the right thing..... I realize now that I took flaps out too soon, but thankfully it was not an error that cost me. I like to think my 235HP plane bailed me out of that situation.
But all that happened and I still had to land the plane. I seriously was freaking out, but I recalled all the other landings I did, by myself. And tower told me I did a great job so that helped keep me calm. I made it to my base leg and called tower and I had every intentions of telling them "Ardmore tower this is Cherokee 8558Wiskey on base for FULL STOP" because I wanted out and on the ground to collect my thoughts and give the pavement a kiss.
Instead I told them "58Wiskey on base leg for touch and go." I decided that I would not end this flight on a bad note and be scared from here out. I lined it up and pulled power and landed it, albeit it wasnt my best landing (far from it) but just the same I hopped back in the saddle and flaps down w/full power for another takeoff. My landings from there on were not pretty at all, but I walked away knowing that I handled that situation to the best of my ability. Even if I did something wrong, I flew the plane safely and am still alive to talk about it with you fine people!
Sorry for the long post
I completed my first SOLO flight!! I got the opportunity 11.7 HRS into my ppl to prove to my instructor and myself that I had what it takes to fly my PA-28 235 Cherokee. I have video and will figure out how to get it uploaded later.
I arrive the Saturday morning knowing if I was able to stick my landings that my instructor would give me the green light. So I made sure to wear a really nice shirt so that if successful my shirt tail would last through the ravages of time! LOL
Im all smiles the whole time, as walk in I greet the FBO employees with a good morning and a wave. My CFI asks me if I'm ready and I reply with a "yes sir!" he tell me to go to the preflight inspection and he'll meet me out there.
I look plane over really good and everything seems primed ready to go for my landmark achievement! (It should be noted that my wife kissed me and had my boys give me kisses as well, she was a little worried
) So, my CFI comes outside and we load up and I go through all the checklists and talk to ground control and tower. Cherokee 8558W is cleared for runway 35 for closed loop left pattern touch and go's!!!!Take off is smooth, with my peripheral vision I see my instructor nod his head in acceptance of a good take off and control of the radio. My elevation is holding steady in the pattern and I contact tower as I begin my base for touch and go. I line it up about a mile out and was glued to the center-line the whole time! I keep her at about 90MPH with just a little bit of power still on and 3 notches of flaps. She starts to slow to about 80MPH just as I reach the top of the runway and I take all power out and begin to apply back-pressure for my flair, she floated perfect and my rear landing gear touched lightly and I kept my nose up for a couple more seconds and then finally she graced her front wheel to the pavement for a successful landing. I was confident and feeling great at this point!
We did that 2 more times and then he told me to make it a full stop!!! We landed and he told me to keep my landings the same and stay focused! I was all giggles and smiles until he got out...... then I was like
oh muh Jesus..... am I really doing this? Am I really ready? WOW YES I AM! LETS DO IT! You wanted it, you got it! Your time to shine. So, I contact ground and tell them I'm on taxi way for departure with information Romeo. The give me clearance for runway 35.
Question, am I the only one who talks to themselves while flying or is that pretty normal?
I stay on the taxi way right where I normally would a my run-up checklist, and I just sat there for a minute collecting my thoughts. Once I calmed my chi I contacted tower and told them that 58Wiskey was on runway 17 ready for departure with my intentions of closed left patter for touch and go's. Again, they give me clearance and I'm ready to take off! I slowly get on the runway and keep it centered and then I punch it (at this point my nerves are gone and its all training that's taking over) I keep it centered the whole way and I see the needle passing 65ish MPH and I start to apply slow back pressure and she lifted off the ground perfectly. Once I was airborne I gave resounding "WOOOOOOOOOOOWHOOOOOOOOOOO" knowing that its ALL ME from here on out. Tower contacts me and instructs me to maintain Left pattern. 58Wiskey: Will Co!
There are a few times I'm getting nervous but my training takes over every-time that happens because there's always something for me to check or look at. So I've reached the point of downwind leg where I pull the carb heat knob and reduce power and put one notch of flaps and keep the speed about 100MPH, I turn on my base and contact tower. The whole time I'm really focused on keeping it center-line, I put another notch of flaps and she slowed to about 85mph so I kicked in a few more RPMS to get my speed a little over 90mph so I can have a little more control during decent. Well, I have it lined up perfectly but the wind is not making it easy so I have to use right rudder and keep playing with the yoke to keep it centered. As I'm preparing to flair I kill the power and slowly apply back pressure (like my previous landings) and without further ado I touch down and have one of my better landings, I take a moment to gather what just happened then I take the flaps out, push in carb heat and go to full power!! My other landings were great as well! My last landing I a bit left of center-line but oh well!!
I went back the next day to continue my solo training, he went back up with me for a few landings again, but this time it was not as smooth. It actually scared me, he got out and I went up and as I went to land maybe I had too much power or speed (not sure) and when I touched it felt good but she went back in the air I figured I got about 15-20 feet high and she was coming down fast, I really didnt want to see how hard of a landing I could handle so I quickly put full power back on and started a slight climb, but then I took 2 notches of flaps out too fast and she began to sink my last effort saw me push the carb heat in and she began to rise again, safely taking me out of harms way. (I did the right thing, tower even told me great job on the recovery) but I was kinda freaking out, I wondered why that happened and if I did the right thing..... I realize now that I took flaps out too soon, but thankfully it was not an error that cost me. I like to think my 235HP plane bailed me out of that situation.
But all that happened and I still had to land the plane. I seriously was freaking out, but I recalled all the other landings I did, by myself. And tower told me I did a great job so that helped keep me calm. I made it to my base leg and called tower and I had every intentions of telling them "Ardmore tower this is Cherokee 8558Wiskey on base for FULL STOP" because I wanted out and on the ground to collect my thoughts and give the pavement a kiss.
Instead I told them "58Wiskey on base leg for touch and go." I decided that I would not end this flight on a bad note and be scared from here out. I lined it up and pulled power and landed it, albeit it wasnt my best landing (far from it) but just the same I hopped back in the saddle and flaps down w/full power for another takeoff. My landings from there on were not pretty at all, but I walked away knowing that I handled that situation to the best of my ability. Even if I did something wrong, I flew the plane safely and am still alive to talk about it with you fine people!
Sorry for the long post
