One Zulu Delta: A Student Pilot Adventure

onezuludelta

onezuludelta

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Apr 8, 2015
Messages
245
Location
Brooklyn, NY
Display Name
Display name:
OneZuluDelta
Because who doesn't like a good adventure?

I joined a while back, have been sharing a few student pilot milestones on here, and appreciate the feedback I've been getting. So I figured, why not share more? I started a blog for friends and family, but I would love to share this experience with more people, especially those people with more experience.

This has been a dream of mine since I was 4 or 5 years old. Typical story: model airplanes all over my childhood bedroom ceiling, flew some R/C, put in A LOT of home flight sim time (at which most friends marveled: "Wait, so you don't shoot anything down? You just fly from place to place?"), bummed around some airports, hitched a few rides, went to every airshow within driving distance, have a permanent crick in my neck from looking up, etc. However, actually getting my license was somehow always 3rd or 4th on the financial-priorities list. I decided this spring that I was done waiting, and it was now or never.

Since then, I've been blogging at OneZuluDelta and would love for you guys and gals to check it out and follow along.

I'll throw in the disclaimer here: I am NOT a CFI, I am a semi-bumbling student pilot. This blog is a chronicle of my LEARNING experience, and how does one learn usually? By making mistakes, and I will make a few. My original audience for this blog was family and friends, most of whom are 100% baffled by this whole thing. I've been getting a TON of questions from them about how it all works and what I do during my lessons, so those are the types of things I try to outline in the blog. Consequently, it contain rough approximations and generalizations, not an outline of the FARs. I appreciate commentary here, but my CFI is just that, a CERTIFIED (CERTIFICATED?) FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR, I trust him, and anything said here or in blog comments will never override any instruction he has given me.
 
I like it.

The progress tab is pretty nifty, is that a plugin or something you wrote?
 
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Thanks! I guess it would be called a plugin? Definitely not something I wrote. It's a Wordpress setup called X Theme, and I tweaked some of the cheesier business-website tools (like that "skill bar" as they call it) for my purposes.
 
Thanks! I just soloed this past Wednesday, so I have some catching up to do blog-post-wise, but it's been a blast so far!
 
Congrats and good luck in your flying endeavors.
 
1ZD, good luck on your flight training. I enjoyed the blog. Once you get the PPL it will be fun to go back and reread those lessons. I kept a blog for my PPL and instrument ticket, now it's fun flights, vacations and currency flights. Adding your link to my blog.
 
Thanks everyone, and thanks Gary! Can't wait to check out your blog!

Also, I didn't know where else to post this, but this video is the most adorable thing I've ever seen. French Canadian father takes his 4-yr-old daughter on her first acrobatic flight. I can't stop laughing along with her!

 
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hi, enjoying your updates. Confused by your solo comment, are your blog posts way behind? you posted lesson 5, slow flight, now lesson 6 landing practice, but you had previously posted on here that you solo'd. I see your progress tracker shows lots of hours, I guess we just have to wait for the lesson posts to catch up?
 
Hahaha, yes waaaaaaaaaay behind, headed out for Lesson #14 this afternoon! I'm working on it! Glad you're enjoying!
 
Great stuff, 1ZD. We're pretty close on our journey. I'm at about 30 hours, 140ish landings, about 12 airports or so, about 3.5 solo, finished with dual XC, night dual XC, night hours and landings.

Still need solo XC, another hour or so simulated instrument, unusual attitudes, written and checkride. Feel like I'm getting *really* close, which is exciting, but I'm also more than happy to take my time to get everything right. Reading your story almost felt like a diary of my own experiences, just substitute some Atlanta-area airports for yours.

Good stuff, keep it up! :)
 
Thanks everyone! Like I said, I got a little behind, and it was intimidating to try to remember what I did weeks ago, and I would have to go back to the GoPro videos and spend hours watching them. But from Lesson 9 or so I've been at least sketching out my thoughts and the details of the lesson while it is fresh in my mind, on the train ride home from each lesson. So things should be flowing more smoothly from now on. I really appreciate everyone reading along!
 
I work with government specs, too, and the PTS falls on the "not bad" range. It has some issues, but it's not severely out of date like the written test. And, for the most part, the tasks at hand are relevant to flying.

I can't speak for the FAA, but yes, you're supposed to learn about your larger flight envelope, not just normal flight. If you want to see what your airplane can REALLY do, ask your instructor to try a few canyon turns. It's just a little beyond a 180 deg steep turn. Just short of 60 deg bank, entry at ~1.5 Vs1 (always below Va), one notch flaps, full power, yank until the stall warning complains.
 
Yeah the written stuff is driving me bonkers. Got a 77 on a practice test but I swear it would've been a 90+ if not for the ADF/NBD questions and TWO questions about how to taxi a taildragger in winds.

I'm going to ask about the canyon turns! Sounds amazing! My instructor is really great about being hands-off but I might have to ask him to show me some real craziness.
 
Well, I just took the Instrument Airplane written yesterday.

The practice tests are not at all like the real test anymore.

All the gazillion ADF problems are gone. There are new questions about icing and using anti ice equipment I've never seen, and new questions about EFIS and electrical faults.

There were several problems that had no correct answer. My favorite (from memory):

Which is true of in-flight icing?

A. Only clear ice is a hazard.
B. Rime ice is not a hazard.
C. Frost should be removed on the ground.
Click to expand...

I picked C, but removing frost on the ground has nothing to do with in flight icing. It was merely irrelevant, rather than totally wrong.

Good God, my 10 year old could write a better question than that.

There were also two supplements, and almost all the questions were in the second one. So, it would seem a lot of changes have happened very recently.

I passed it, but I'm really ticked off.
 
Haha yeah, I am taking a lot of practice exams lately, and always seem to get one or two questions that make me turn my head like the RCA dog. Such as where the approved safety link should be on the tow line while pulling a glider up. Or at what point the rudders should be retracted on a seaplane. Or the proper entry into a dust devil to use as lift in a glider. Or what action is necessary to perform normal descent in an airship.

Uhhh...
 
ettsn said:
Haha yeah, I am taking a lot of practice exams lately, and always seem to get one or two questions that make me turn my head like the RCA dog. Such as where the approved safety link should be on the tow line while pulling a glider up. Or at what point the rudders should be retracted on a seaplane. Or the proper entry into a dust devil to use as lift in a glider. Or what action is necessary to perform normal descent in an airship.

Uhhh...
Click to expand...

We'll make sure you're doing the right practice exam. For land PPL you shouldn't be getting that seaplane question or the airship question.

A lot of the practice test books have questions for seaplanes, airships and such. Make sure you're not worrying about those questions (if you're doing land single engine PPL). There are usually codes next to the question to tell you which tests they are applicable for.
 
MAKG1 said:
Well, I just took the Instrument Airplane written yesterday.

The practice tests are not at all like the real test anymore.

All the gazillion ADF problems are gone. There are new questions about icing and using anti ice equipment I've never seen, and new questions about EFIS and electrical faults.

There were several problems that had no correct answer. My favorite (from memory):



I picked C, but removing frost on the ground has nothing to do with in flight icing. It was merely irrelevant, rather than totally wrong.

Good God, my 10 year old could write a better question than that.

There were also two supplements, and almost all the questions were in the second one. So, it would seem a lot of changes have happened very recently.

I passed it, but I'm really ticked off.
Click to expand...

I used Gleim and found that 95% of the test questions I got I also saw on the practice tests. The main omission was ADF stuff. I took it three months ago.

The one complicated, multi-level question was also on my practice tests, verbatim. I didn't even have to work it out.

Some of the questions that were foreign to you may of been evaluation questions that don't actually count. I got some new icing questions as well. I probably missed some of them but it didn't appear they counted in the final score as the only question I missed on the test had to do with turning around in a thunderstorm.

I would still heavily encourage people to do a ton of practice tests going in.
 
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rocketflyer84 said:
We'll make sure you're doing the right practice exam. For land PPL you shouldn't be getting that seaplane question or the airship question.

A lot of the practice test books have questions for seaplanes, airships and such. Make sure you're not worrying about those questions (if you're doing land single engine PPL). There are usually codes next to the question to tell you which tests they are applicable for.
Click to expand...

Better yet, get online practice test software that simulates the tests.

Trying to sort through those books would seem like a pain to me. Gleim presents the practice tests in the same format as it'll actually be. Then at the end, you can go through every missed question and see what and why you missed it. Take them about 50 times (seems like a lot but do it over a month and it's not a big deal) and you'll ace the test.
 
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Speaking of practice tests and study materials, a woman I only know from Instagram passed her checkride and then mailed me all of her books! What an incredible community, that would show support like that for someone they had never met in real life! I'll have to remember to pass that kind of stuff forward.

Headed up this afternoon, and over to Brookhaven (HWV) for uncontrolled field practice, then to Islip (ISP) for Class C ops practice. Super pumped! Going to get some more writing done this weekend also, so expect at least one blog post!
 
rocketflyer84 said:
We'll make sure you're doing the right practice exam. For land PPL you shouldn't be getting that seaplane question or the airship question.

A lot of the practice test books have questions for seaplanes, airships and such. Make sure you're not worrying about those questions (if you're doing land single engine PPL). There are usually codes next to the question to tell you which tests they are applicable for.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I usually just hop on one of the websites for a quick 10-20 question round when I catch a free second at work. I'm probably not checking the options closely, but some of the questions that randomly pop up do make me laugh. Assuming I'm not going to get these kinds of things on the actual ASEL written.
 
Even though it is a lesson, in which one is supposed to learn things, when I finally figure something out I feel a little dumb that I haven't been doing it that way the whole time. Case in point: crosswind landings -
http://onezuludelta.com/oh-so-thats-how-you-land-in-a-crosswind

This PPL thing is starting to snowball and move really quickly (25 hours now), but I'm in a writing groove, so I'm catching up as fast as I can.
 
Not only is it OK to set one main wheel down before the other, it's the point.

Even in a low wing (as long as it's shorter than a U-2's).

Now, the thing to get internalized is to keep the crosswind correction until you're stopped. You'll need to increase the deflection as you slow down. Believe me, it sucks to make a beautiful touchdown in a 20 knot crosswind, get both wheels down firmly, and THEN have it start skipping across the runway. By the time you're taxi speed, the deflection should be all the way to the stop.

Crosswind takeoffs are exactly the same thing in reverse.
 
First night flight last night, short solo cross-country today! I'm flying too much to blog! This is insane, can't believe the hours are building up so fast!
 
SOLOSOLOSOLOSOLOSOLOSOLOSOLOSOLOSOLOSOLO!!!!!!!!!!!

I soloed. Read all about it!

"I wish I could say there was something more exciting that happened, but I think it speaks to the professionalism and teaching skill of my CFI that this felt like a routine flight. It was personally thrilling, but technically boring. People have been asking me how it felt, and all I can say is that I was so busy concentrating I didn’t have time to be scared or ecstatic until after I landed."
http://onezuludelta.com/my-first-solo-flight
 
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