Kenny's Training Journal

KennyC

KennyC

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Feb 3, 2014
Messages
107
Location
Wilmington, NC
Display Name
Display name:
Kendall
4/17/2014
KSUT
C152 N48842
0.9 hours dual, 0.9 hours total

I've always been an aviation nut. As a kid, I always thought I'd be a commercial pilot. As I got older, I decided I wouldn't want to spend that much time away from family and pursued computer science instead, but I've never lost my love of flying. Actually, both my parents have their PPL's, though neither have flown since the early 80s. Still, aviation has always been a part of me. And now at the ripe old age of 29, I decided it was time I made that dream a reality.

So last Monday I visited Brunswick Air at my local airport, KSUT, to get set up as a student pilot. I've had some interaction with this Flight School before - open house, fun flight with family - so it was a pretty easy process to set up my first flight lesson on Friday, 4/18. "But today is Thursday!" I hear you say. ;) Indeed it is! Unfortunately, the weather tomorrow isn't looking good, and since my instructor had a last-minute cancellation this afternoon, I left work and headed over for an impromptu first lesson!

Upon arriving, I met my CFI, Jan, and we chatted a bit about him, me, and flight instruction in general. He laid out how he usually teaches and though he made it clear that there would be no offense if it wasn't working between us and I switched to another instructor, I think we're going to get along just fine.

I didn't really have many questions, so we headed out for a quick preflight. We didn't cover this in the normal training detail since my lesson was kind of shoehorned in between the cancellation and the next one, but that was fine. I had the checklist and followed along as he went through the list.

After takeoff, we flew over to the beach and practiced turns around a point. He demonstrated the first and then had me do a couple myself. They went pretty well and I felt I was able to compensate pretty well for the wind.

Next was some S-turns using the beach as a reference point. Those also went well, though I didn't extend quite far enough out on my last one and pinched it a bit.

Finally we did a little slow flight, which was fairly uneventful really. Which I suppose is a good thing. It was good to experience what the airplane feels like right above the stall speed.

At this point we were almost out of time, so I spent the next few minutes just playing with the airplane. We headed back to the airport, crossed over the field at 1500, then did a descending right turn to enter the traffic pattern. Thanks to a Citation jet coming in on final, we extended about 3 miles downwind before coming back in. He landed the plane.

Overall, it went really well. I felt so comfortable up there and didn't feel overwhelmed by anything. No doubt that will change in the future, but I really couldn't have asked for a better first flight. :D



P.S. Thanks to Murphy for the title and format inspiration! :)
 
Welcome! Sounds like a great first flight. So when's the next one?:)
 
I'm scheduled for a nice long session next Friday, though there's a possibility of getting a flight in Monday evening too. We'll see!
 
Cool. I did my long x-country to KSUT from KTTA. I wanted to fly my long solo x-country to an airport with "Fear" in the name. :)
 
Ha, I didn't even think about training at an airport with "Fear" in the name! I grew up around here and you get kind of numb to the name!

4/21/2014
KSUT
C152 N48842
1.3 hours dual, 2.2 hours total

Well, flight number two was today. Beautiful weather this evening, which was nice after getting rained out on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I was actually with a different CFI today, Ken. I'll eventually decide on one to stick with, but as a new student, the school's encouraged me to try a few out, so I am. Ken's a great guy and I can tell he loves what he does and knows what he's doing.

Since it was my first time with him, we covered some of the same things that I did last week, but that's fine with me. We had much more time than last week, so we were able to go into a lot more detail. We did more turns around a point, more s-turns, more slow flight. Interestingly, while I think I did just as well as I did last Thursday, I felt more critical of myself this time. Like last time I just accepted however well I did, being the first time I tried it, but this time I felt like I should be improving. I suppose that's a normal feeling.

We also added steep turns and trimming the plane out so that it would stay in said turn at a fixed altitude on its own. We talked a bit about engine failure and how important it is to first establish the best glide rate and then look for somewhere to land. He took the controls and we simulated engine loss and glided down as if we were going to land on the beach. I hope I never have to do that for real, but it was pretty cool. :)

We headed back over toward the airport and entered the pattern. We had our eye on another Cessna taxing around down there, and after turning on to base for runway 5, he announced that he was taking off on runway 23. :eek: UNICOM was trying to talk to him - as were we - but we could tell that he wasn't receiving. It actually wasn't a big deal, because we had him in sight, so we just changed over to using 23. About that time he manged to get comms sorted out and apologized for causing problems. ;) Like my CFI pointed out, a great example of the kind of thing that can happen at a small airport!

Anyway, here we reach the highlight of the flight: I can land a plane! :D Ok, I won't take all the credit since he has a set of controls too, but I'll take 80%. ;) He demo'd one landing, then we went around and I proceeded to do 3 more touch and go's and then a full stop. Each one felt better and better, which was pretty exciting. One bad habit that I probably got from playing flight sims is I don't want to pull back on the yoke enough. After all, my computer's yoke just doesn't go back that far! :lol: I think I'll get over that quick enough though.

So, another great flight today. Scheduled to go again this Friday and Saturday!
 
Keep the updates coming! I'm going to be starting my training the week of May 5, so it's fun reading what you're doing a few weeks ahead of me.

Good luck with the training. Sounds like you're progressing quickly.
 
4/25/2014
KSUT
C152 N48842
2.3 hours dual, 4.5 hours total

---

Today was actually two flights with a break in between. 1.1 hours on the first, 1.2 on the second.

Before the first flight, I handled the preflight (with questions) then we headed up to practice the standard maneuvers I had done before (s-turns, slow flight). We also added power-off stalls and slips. The stall was much less dramatic than I thought it would be. Almost a non-event really, though I can certainly see how it would be a bigger problem at 20' than 2000'. :wink2: Slips were easier than I thought they would be and pretty cool.

After these, we headed back to the airport for some touch and go practice. But today was windy - 10 knot crosswind gusting to 14. Still, I was willing to give it a go. To prevent boring y'all with too many words, I'll try to summarize: :)
  1. Approach was questionable, but got it back over the runway in time. But a gust of wind lifted the plane right near stall, so my CFI took over and we did a missed approach. I probably flared too soon too.
  2. Much better approach this time. Landing was passable, but at a bit of an angle. Oops. :redface:
  3. Practiced a missed approach this time, so no landing.
  4. Full stop on this landing, which was my best of the bunch. Actually pretty proud of this one, considering the challenging wind!
One thing I need to watch is my rudder use/steering on the runway. Haven't dialed that in yet and feel like I'm either using way too much or not nearly enough.

---

After lunch, I did the preflight again and also handled the radio calls this time. I'll admit, I feel pretty cool doing that... B) ;) Since the wind was so bad, we focused on maneuvers rather than landings. This time we added power-on stalls, practiced an engine-out scenario, and flew the rectangle. With the stalls, I seem to have a hard time actually making the plane stall. I guess it is designed that way, but I think I'm being too passive at trying to maintain a constant altitude, so I'm descending and the airspeed just isn't dropping enough. Need more practice. :)

The last landing was pretty good, still with that blasted crosswind. Actually I didn't mind it. It was taxing to deal with it, but I felt like I learned and experienced a ton today. It's good to get pushed a little out of the comfort zone sometimes!
 
4/26/2014
KSUT
C172 N3030E
1.1 hours dual, 5.6 hours total

---

Before I get to my own flight, I'd like to mention that my dad went before me and got another entry in his logbook - the first since 1977! I know I said before that it was the early 80s, but apparently it was longer than that. For his birthday, I got him a quick lesson/"discovery" flight. And now I think the sky is calling him again. :D

This was the first time I'd flown the 172. I could tell it was still a Cessna, but so much more oomph! :) But other than being in a new plane, the lesson was much like the others I'd had before so far. We did add a soft-field takeoff and landing. The winds did turn challenging again by the time I was ready for a landing (thanks Spring): crosswind and gusty. Or as my CFI put it, "just all over the place!" My first landing was, well, bouncy. The second was a little better, but a little firmer than ideal. But the third and final one was pretty good. The approach on the third was worlds better than the first two, probably why the landing was much better! ;)

One thing my CFI kept stressing is the importance of staying ahead of the plane and not let the plane fly the pilot. Also the importance of flying with conviction, especially on gusty landings like we had today. Feel the airplane and respond accordingly.
 
One thing my CFI kept stressing is the importance of staying ahead of the plane and not let the plane fly the pilot. Also the importance of flying with conviction said:
Bingo. Nice write-ups, keep having fun!
Click to expand...
 
5/5/2014
KSUT
C152 N48842
1.0 hours dual, 6.6 hours total

Man, I'm slacking already. Didn't get around to writing this the day I flew. :) Good thing for logbooks!

For maneuvers, we did power on and off stalls and slips. I still find it difficult to keep the airplane at a fixed altitude until the stall happens, but it's improving. I also need to work on not letting the nose drop below level during/after the stall. On the other hand, the slips felt great. Amazing how quick it'll drop!

For the landings, my old buddy crosswind was back to play with me, so that was interesting again. The three landings I did were alright, but nothing I was particularly pleased with. Still, they weren't horrible, and the conditions were pretty challenging. I'll file it as valuable experience. ;)
 
5/7/2014
KSUT
C152 N48842
1.5 hours dual, 8.1 hours total

So like I keep getting reminded by my CFI, these first lessons before I solo are going to be repetitive...which I'm totally okay with. Practice never hurt anyone. After a standard takeoff, we did some s-turns, steep turns, slow flight, and a power off stall. The s-turns were admittedly sloppier than they should have been, just not being as diligent as I should have been I guess. But the other maneuvers were pretty good.

So, back to the airport for some landings! I'm also handling most of the radio calls now, though at an uncontrolled airport like KSUT, I suppose that isn't too difficult. I still like it though. :)

Anyway, I finally got a lesson without a crosswind! The landings went as follows:
  1. Fair landing. Flare still too high, so hit the ground harder than I'd like.
  2. Better, softer landing, but the nose wheel hit too hard. I think I was like "okay, main gear is down, I'm done!" instead of letting the nose wheel down easy.
  3. I asked my CFI to do landing 3 so I could just watch. I wanted to get a visual of where he was doing the flare.
  4. Finally! A greased landing! :D
  5. Pretty good. The wind gusted and dropped me the last few feet faster than I anticipated, but I controlled it pretty well. Made this one a full stop with a taxi back.
  6. This one was pretty good too. Not like #4, but I'll take it. ;)

I did have some landing revelations that I'm pretty excited about too:
  • I noticed that I wasn't using the rudders enough on approach. The C152 stays so coordinated during normal flight that I hardly need them, so I haven't been using them enough on approach. After I realized that, my alignment got a whole lot better.
  • Observing my CFI do a landing really helped me figure out where to flare! I just needed that visual.

Good day. :)
 
KennyC said:
I noticed that I wasn't using the rudders enough on approach.
Click to expand...

I have minimal time in Cessnas, but does the 152 have more than one rudder? Or do you mean rudder pedals. ;)

At any rate, sounds like you're moving along well. 1.5 hours in a single lesson is a little much, IMO, for a student in the early stages of flight. Often after 40-50 minutes, learning retention is diminished. But if you and your CFI feel that you're moving along well without regressing, then it's up to you.
 
5/9/2014
KSUT
C152 N48842
1.2 hours dual, 9.3 hours total

Today my CFI demonstrated the required trim and cross-control stalls. Then I did more of the usual: power on stall, slow flight, power off stall, and steep turns.

Back at the airport, we did two landings. Both of these went really well. Before we had reached the airport, we had heard and been talking to another airplane who was due to land in about 20 minutes. After we did our two landings, we figured he would be there soon, and since we were assuming he was a jet and might use the opposite runway from us, decided to make ourselves scarce and go circle my house. I'd told my wife earlier that I might come fly over. :)
IMG_20140509_124707.jpg

That's me!

Back to the airport, I decided to make this the final landing of the day. It was pretty good, though I could have held the plane in the air a couple of seconds longer and made it even better.

Overall, great day of flying. I felt even more like I was just up there flying the plane and not struggling to remember what I was supposed to be doing. Granted, I still forgot a little thing here or there, but my CFI reminded me and like he says, that's why he gets the big bucks. ;) He's aiming to solo me out around 15 hours.
 
5/13/2014
KSUT
C152 N48842
1.5 hours dual, 10.8 hours total

---

So it's rare that my CFI takes the plane in order to perform recovery, but it happened today. I failed to keep the plane coordinated during power-on stall practice, so when it stalled, things transitioned from stall practice to spin recovery practice. :redface: We had plenty of altitude and being the good little trainer it is, the plane was well on its way to recovering itself. Still, you can bet I'll keep better control of that ball next time! ;) N48842 has always has the tendency to drop the left wing in a power-on stall. Not sure why.

I did 6 landings today, including a simulated engine loss on downwind. My CFI demonstrated that first, then I had a go at it. It actually went pretty well. It felt different because we used full flaps and we usually only use 20º. It works the same, of course, I just don't usually use an approach that steep.

In general, all of my landings were pretty good and I'm feeling a lot more comfortable with them now. I do have the tendency to land flat without a big graceful flare. Not sure if that's a bad thing or not. My CFI says its not and can help in windy conditions like we've been having lately, but I don't want to be developing "bad" habits either. The other thing I need to work on is holding the nose gear in the air longer and easing it down.
 
KennyC said:
N48842 has always has the tendency to drop the left wing in a power-on stall. Not sure why.
Click to expand...

Not enough right rudder.

P-factor is at its worst in a power on stall, and you need progressively more right rudder as you approach the stall.

You'll get it.

Next step is to talk your instructor into "falling leaf" stalls so those wing dips won't be anywhere near so scary. A dipped wing is far short of a spin, and you actually have a fair bit of time.
 
5/28/2014
KSUT
C152 N48842
1.0 hours dual, 11.8 hours total

---

It was great to get back into the air today! Between weather and a business trip, it had been a couple of weeks.

Today was actually my "stage check" flight. I don't know if other schools do this, but mine requires students to fly with another instructor before they go solo, just to make sure the fundamentals have been taught and understood. Seems like a good idea to me; peer checking is never a bad thing.

Essentially, it was a typical lesson. Preflight, take off, slow flight, power-off stall, steep turns, then back to the airport for three full-stop landings. Of course the engine died somewhere in there. Then again on a base. Then again right after takeoff. CFI's sure are bad luck for engines. :D My approaches were great and landings pretty good. He also noticed my "flat" landings and encouraged me to have more of a flare. I'm working on it. ;)

Anyway, it all went really well. I was a little concerned doing this with a new instructor after not having flown for 2 weeks, but it was fine. It's always interesting to see differences in teaching style. I was asked a lot more technical and hypothetical questions than usual. I could answer most of them, but it has encouraged me to spend some more time looking over the POH and the material for the written! :)
 
6/4/2014
KSUT
C152 N48842
1.2 hours dual, 13.0 hours total

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I got thunderstormed out last Thursday, but today I was back up with my normal CFI. Over the training area, we started out with a power-on stall. That went great and was probably my best one yet! I may not have maintained altitude as precisely as I should have, but the stall was nice and crisp and the recovery was clean. Then on to a power-off stall, which unfortunately wasn't as nice as I'd have liked. I put too much focus on staying coordinated that I failed to keep an eye on the attitude indicator to keep my wings level. And on a hazy summer day looking over the ocean, the horizon isn't all that much help. So yeah, dropped a wing pretty good on that one. But I recovered and went in for another try. The second one was much better! We then practiced engine failure and approach to an emergency landing. It's nice being over the beach...nature's nice, long runway!

Back to the airport for some landing practice. My first approach was high. Like really high. I'm not sure why, as I haven't ever done that before, but we just turned that one into go-around practice. The other 5 approaches and landings were pretty good, even though the wind had turned pretty gusty. I'm still working on not landing so flat and felt that I did better at getting a nice flare today. Overall, great lesson! I love flying. :)

I've also been given the pre-solo written exam and, weather (and skill!) cooperating, we plan for me to go solo on my next lesson, which is scheduled for Thursday 6/12! :D I'd rather fly sooner than that, but that was the first slot where everyone's schedule lined up, so it'll do.
 
Way to go! That first solo is something you will remember for the rest of your life. Keep us posted when it happens. Also, wear an old T shirt .....
 
6/12/2014
KSUT
C152 N48842
0.7 hours dual, 0.5 hours PIC, 14.2 hours total

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When I first arrived at the FBO, my instructor and I spent about 40 minutes talking about items relating to a first solo - mostly emergency procedures. Of course, he made it clear that I wasn't promised to solo that day. The winds were around 10 kts and gusting to 15, though thankfully pretty much with the runway.

We went out to the plane, did preflight, and up for some pattern work. We did two touch-and-goes, then two full-stop taxi-backs. They all went pretty well, though I'll admit they improved as I went on. After the fourth landing, my CFI turned to me and said "well, I think you're ready to solo!"

Honestly, I was surprised! Not that I didn't feel ready, but because of the wind conditions. They weren't bad by any means, but they sure weren't the 5 kts calm winds right down the runway I thought I'd "need" for my first solo! But I did feel ready, so we taxied back to the FBO, he hopped out, and off I went. Of course, my wife and parents had shown up by then to watch ... no pressure or anything. ;)

I did three full-stop taxi-back landings and I'm glad to say they all went great! In fact, I felt like I hit the centerline better than I ever had previously. Yes, the plane does climb a lot better with just one person, and yes, it actually felt downright roomy in that little 152. :) I had the whole airspace to myself, which was really nice. I didn't even feel nervous; excited and having lots of fun, but not nervous.

I feel like a pilot! :D

P6120853.jpg

Picture taken by my lovely wife
 
Yes, very cool photo... first thing I thought is it would make a most excellent wallpaper on my computer! :yes:
 
Thanks everyone! :) Thanks for the compliments on the photo as well.
evapilotaz said:
Copy right that photo fast.
Click to expand...
Technically, it's copyrighted at the moment of creation. As to how protected it really is, well, that's another story... ;)

I'm excited about my next flight, which is to be my first night flight and a cross-country at that. My instructor likes to do the 3-hour night requirement at one time, so we'll be in the air a while. Here's hoping the weather cooperates!
 
Well, technically as the creator of the work yes, you own the copyright and all rights associated with it. For there to be a legally enforcable copyright, I believe it has to be registered with the us copywright office.... I do completely agree that owning copyright is one thing, enforcement is another completely!

Kenny when is your big flight scheduled? Also, I'm really impressed at how quickly you are progressing in your training.... could be me but it seems you are moving right along. Have you spent much time in the air as a passenger getting unofficial learning time or other such activities?
 
6/18/2014
KSUT>KILM>KMYR>KSUT
C152 N48842
3.0 hours dual, 17.2 hours total

---

Sorry for slacking on the update, as this happened a few days ago now. :redface:

Anyway, first night flight and first x-country! I met my instructor at the school an hour before so we could do the flight planning. We really treated this as an "intro to flight planning" as he really did all the work while asking me pertinent questions. On our future day XC flights, we'll go into more detail than we did on this one and I'll be doing the number crunching.

After pre-flight, we took off and headed toward Wilmington (KILM). As I have never flown in anything besides Class G and E before, and never dealt with towered airports, my instructor took care of all the radio work. I found the process fascinating, if not a little overwhelming. I'm sure I'll get comfortable with it over time.

After landing at KILM, we then started our leg toward Myrtle Beach (KMYR). Instead of heading directly there, we diverted more south so we could fly along the coast. We did this in the interest of safety - if we lost an engine, we'd rather be where we know we can find somewhere to land (the beach) rather than out in the middle of nowhere! Besides, the beach is more interesting; we even got a brief fireworks show as we approached KMYR!

It was interesting to see the difference between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach controllers. Wilmington was very crisp, professional, and pleasant. The guy at Myrtle sounded like he really didn't want to be there. My instructor said that was pretty much par for the course. :lol:

After taking back off from KMYR, we headed back along the coast toward KSUT. Along the way, my instructor did the old "ok, shut your eyes for a bit" while he got the airplane all out of sorts and pointed toward the ocean where I wouldn't have any visual reference, then "open your eyes and you have the airplane!" He had also dimmed the instrument lights, so I couldn't see anything! Well, I cheated a little bit and turned my head around and found the coast line, which gave me the reference I needed to get us sorted out. :rolleyes: What he really wanted was for me to turn the panel lights back on and use the instruments. Oh well. I wasn't sure if we were simulating that we had lost those too. What I should have done was just clicked on the headlamp I was wearing!

Once back at KSUT, we set up to do 8 more landings in order to fulfill the 10 night landings requirement. Since we were the only one anywhere around, we performed a right pattern for the first landing to give me some experience with that. Definitely different!

Landing at night...interesting! It isn't too different than doing it in the day, but it is a little harder for me to judge distance to the ground, so it had a way of sneaking up on me. My landings were decent, but a little "firmer" than I'd like. :wink2:

Overall, I had a great time and learned a lot. Part of me wishes I trained at a towered airport so I'd already be comfortable with all that, but I sure like the convenience of my little untowered airport too. :) I guess it's not a big deal and I'll learn it as I need to.

I'm not sure what's next as I haven't scheduled any more lessons yet. My instructor will be out of town for a few days, so I'm going to spend this time getting ready to take the written. He wants me to have that out of the way before we do my day XC flights.

---

arejay, I do feel like I'm progressing pretty quickly; my instructor says so too. I really haven't spent much time in a GA airplane, just a few rides here and there. I did take the controls in a few of those flights, but nothing more than simple turns and flying straight and level. But I've been around aviation my whole life (I'm 29) thanks to friends and family members who fly, and I've been flying simulators since I was about 6. :) I'm also trying to fly as much as I can so I don't forget too much between lessons. It makes the money go out faster, but I figure it'll actually save money (and time!) overall.
 
7/9/2014
KSUT
C152 N48842
1.0 hours dual, 18.2 hours total

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Finally got back in the air! I hate going 3 weeks without flying....dang life getting in the way!

We only had time for a quick lesson, so we decided to introduce soft-field takeoff and landings. But since I hadn't flow in a while, we started off with a normal takeoff and landing. And boy did I have some rust to knock off! I forgot to put my flaps to 10º before turning based and forgot my radio call for final. And that first landing was not my best and was slightly in a crab. :redface: Luckily, it was a very soft crabbed landing, so no harm done. Still, I hate doing that.

On to the soft-field stuff. My CFI demonstrated a takeoff and landing while talking me through the process. Of course he made it look way too easy.

Without spelling out every one, in general I found my soft-field landings to be pretty good! It was certainly tricky because the wind was about 18kts and variable direction. Being on the coast means it's usually fairly windy and I normally land with about 15-20º flaps, so using the full 30º meant I had to fight for every approach. Still, those went well and I was pretty pleased with how I'm learning to make the plane do what I need it to do.

But the soft-field takeoffs were another story and I struggled with them. For some reason, the plane wanted to drift heavily to the left once it left the ground. I probably just wasn't using enough right rudder. P-factor probably? On my third try, my CFI said "I've never told anyone this before, but try waiting just a hair longer to get the plane off the ground." He thought that because it was a hot day and the little 152 doesn't have much power anyway, that the plane wasn't really ready to fly yet and that instability was giving me problems. That did help a lot, though things still weren't as smooth as they should be. Overall I think the right steps are there, but the execution isn't. Additional practice needed! :)
 
7/10/2014
KSUT
C152 N48842
1.4 hours dual, 19.6 hours total

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Time to learn short-field takeoff and landings!

We hopped in the plane and my CFI took the controls to demonstrate the first set while talking me through it. I just had read about short-field operations before the lesson, so I was familiar with what would be happening. Amusingly, the takeoff went something like "ok, climb out at 54 [kias], there's our 75 feet, nose down to a lesser climb, get our 67 [kias], raise our flaps....****! I forgot to put them down!" :lol: Well, even the best CFIs make mistakes sometimes. :wink2: He nailed the landing though!

After the demo, it was my turn. Similar to my short-field work, the takeoffs were a little tricky to me. My tendency was to jerk the plane off the ground too quickly. I guess I was too much in the "short-field!" mindset. Once we recognized that and I smoothed things out, they went much better. It was also helpful for me to realize how quickly I reached 75' AGL and could transition to Vy. Before, I would want to stay at Vx for way too long.

I actually really enjoyed the short-field landings, I found them to be a lot of fun! First we did one without worrying about landing over the 50' object, but the other four were with the simulated obstacle. Ironically, the first one I did with the "obstacle" was textbook perfect. Right at 75' over the threshold, great flare, smooooth landing. :D Subsequent ones, well, not as perfect. ;) But acceptable. At least I ended on a good one!

So, good and fun lesson! Sadly, work and vacation is taking me out of town for a couple of weeks, so it's going to be a while before I get to fly again. :( But I'm at the point that I really need to get my written done. So I'll try to get a lot of studying done on my travels, take the test when I'm back, and move on to x/c work!
 
I'm back!

I haven't flown since my last update :( (has it really been more than a month?!), but I'm very pleased to report that this evening I took and passed my written exam! :D I scored a 90, which I'm very pleased with.

Since it's a common question, I used a combination of 3 products to prepare for it:
  • Dauntless Aviation GroundSchool (Android) - this was great because I always had it in my pocket and could do a quick study session anywhere. I also bought the audio portion so I could listen to question/answers while riding in the car. Actually, since I had a 1.5 hour drive to the testing center, I listed to questions on the way there, and it helped me get a couple right! :)
  • King Flight School videos - I found these did a good job and breaking down material into something that's easy to understand and remember.
  • Sporty's Study Buddy (free) - these practice tests were my primary way to prepare for the test over the last week, though since the free version doesn't give explainations, I augmented it with the other two products. I found it to be pretty good (especially for free!) but the practice tests really do need more variety in the questions.
Anyway, now that the test is behind me, I'm really eager to get flying again. Looking forward to some XC flights!
 
8/14/2014
KSUT>KFLO>KSUT
C152 N48842
2.7 hours dual, 22.3 hours total

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Had a great XC flight yesterday. I had planned the flight the night before, so upon arriving at the school, we spent an hour or so going over it and talking about various XC things. He also had me call 1-800-WX-BRIEF and get a weather briefing as well as check for any significant NOTAMs.

Then we hung out for another hour waiting for the plane to get fixed. The flaps had decided they didn't want to go back up on the previous flight. Turned out to be a faulty limit switch.

So on my first XC, which was at night, my instructor handled all the radio work. Not this time! He certainly helped me out to know what to say, but I did all the talking this time. I even managed to mess it up once and told approach that I was at 1,500' (I was actually at 3,500'). :redface: But we sorted it out.

I also managed to do another stupid thing - when we were just beginning our descent to KFLO from 4,500', I went to pull the carb heat out. Except I actually pulled the mixture out. :eek: Luckily, the engine restarted fine...

Can you tell I hadn't flown in over a month? :)

Anyway, the trip went great overall. I did feel like I was drinking from the firehose a bit dealing with ATC, sectional, nav log, and oh yeah, flying the plane! But I guess that's pretty normal. I'm actually scheduled to do the same flight again this afternoon...only solo this time. :D
 
8/16/2014
KSUT>KFLO>KSUT
C152 N48842
2.3 hours PIC, 24.6 hours total

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I did it! Same flight as yesterday, only with an empty right seat! It went as well as I could have possibly hoped. And I felt so much more relaxed this time compared to the day before. I gladly played the "student pilot" card with ATC and they were very friendly and helpful.

The first solo is cool and all, but first solo XC is what really made me feel like a pilot! :)

10601781_1450079601932826_1835502025_n.jpg
 
KennyC said:
I did feel like I was drinking from the firehose a bit dealing with ATC, sectional, nav log, and oh yeah, flying the plane! But I guess that's pretty normal. I'm actually scheduled to do the same flight again this afternoon...only solo this time. :D
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We're about parallel on training (both started in April, both have approx 25 hours in) and I felt the same way flying into some C airspace last week. So much going on that I realize I need to get better in with resource management in flight.

Moving forward on cross-country I'm going to space my checkpoints out a bit more for a 172 (20NM) and 152s about the same (10-15NM). Also in addition to my Navigation log I'm printing off taxi-charts for each airport I'm going to. I'll strap all these to my kneeboard and have it all right there with the map/e6-b/plotter in the left pocket or on the seat when solo.

I understand why as new pilots we need to learn this way... however I look forward to using some technology when flying post PPL.
 
OkieAviator said:
Also in addition to my Navigation log I'm printing off taxi-charts for each airport I'm going to.
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I've been doing that too. I find it much easier to have separate pages with exactly what I need, rather than dealing with books. I even do it with the sectional, so I don't have to deal with the whole map.
OkieAviator said:
I understand why as new pilots we need to learn this way... however I look forward to using some technology when flying post PPL.
Click to expand...
You got that right! :)

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8/22/2014
KSUT
C152 N48842
2.2 hours dual, 26.8 hours total

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Nothing too exciting today. Got 1.8 hours of simulated instrument work done, which is pretty boring really. It consisted of me in some foggles, my instructor calling out headings, altitudes, descents, and climbs. He demonstrated some unusual attitude stuff, but didn't ask me to recover from any. We'll do that next time we do instrument work. So mostly me watching instruments while listening to flying stories. ;) At least it took us above 3000' where it was cooler; it was hot down low today!

At the end of the lesson, did one touch-and-go followed by a full-stop. Feeling really comfortable flying and landing the plane now. The winds have been cooperating lately, though. I'd like to get some more crosswind practice in.
 
The paper chart is a pain. On my dual night XC last week I more or less got a bit lost. So checking VOR radials and trying to read the map with a red light was a bit of a challenge. I was able to get back on track and was only 3 mins behind my checkpoint timings.
 
8/29/2014
KSUT
C152 N48842
1.2 hours PIC, 28.0 hours total

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Beautiful weather today so I thought I'd go up for some solo practice. Did one turn around a point and one S-turn and spent a little time just enjoying the view. :) Then headed back to the airport for some landing practice.

I said in my last update that I wanted some crosswind practice and I got it today. Winds were from 150-170 at around 6kts, so on runway 23, so I had a 5-6kts x-wind component to deal with. My first 3 landings were passable. But the last one was pretty good, so I'll take it. It probably helped that I extended downwind to give some other traffic some room, so I had a nice long final to get stabilized.
 
9/2/2014
KSUT
C152 N48842
1.1 hours Dual, 29.1 hours total

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Short lesson today, just did more of the simulated instrument work. Added in actually recovering from unusual attitudes; last time was more of a demonstration. We also simulated a radar approach. That's the one thing my CFI likes to show students, even though it's not part of getting a PPL. He just wants us to be aware that such a thing exists, if some day we find ourselves up against the wall... :)
 
9/22/2014
KSUT
C152 N48842
1.6 hours Dual, 30.7 hours total

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Finally back in the air again. Getting eager to get done with training, so I'm trying to fly more often. The plane was down for a while getting a new engine, but it's back in service now.

We've started reviewing things now. Today was a mixture of slow flight, stalls, steep turns, simulated engine failure, short field takeoff/landings, and soft field takeoff/landings, all with a focus on the upcoming check ride. Most things went fairly well. Struggled with the steep turns a bit because it was so hazy there was basically no horizon, so I attempted (somewhat badly) to use mostly instruments. We'll work on those again on a clearer day. The 'special' landings were a little rusty, but they cleaned up pretty quickly. Still need work, for sure, but I was pleased with how things went.

We also did a little ground instruction to talk about my next solo XC, which will be the long one. I've got it all planned out and want to go tomorrow, but the weather isn't looking good.
 
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