Rechum fechum con sarn it!

[Doug F]

Learning is finally starting to fall in place. I spent two weeks working on nothing but landings and managed to get 'Check-ride Ready(tm)' for normal, short and soft-field T/O and landings.

Confidence is rising. Executing practice FAA written exams at 78%. (rushing/not paying attention costs me 2 or 3 questions/try). Really starting to think about the check-ride and thinking this is gonna work.

Solo cross-country planned for Monday: Cancelled - weather. <poop emoji>
Solo rescheduled for Saturday.
Wed/Thursday were planned for doing dummy check-rides.
Wed: Cancelled - weather <two poop emojis>
Wed afternoon: call from the flight school. Plane has a broken/defective bolt somewhere on the strut. It's a Skycatcher. Cessna doesn't make them any more. Heck, they don't even make spare parts...The school had two but one flipped and was destroyed earlier this year in a wind storm. They bought it for salvage (yeah!) but those bolts were damaged in the accident (booo). Per the school; 'This ain't no two day fix'. <many many poop emojis>

They're off looking for a spare and, if they can't find one, will look to have one custom machined.
CuuuuuuuRAP!

The Skycatcher is the school's only LSA for Sport Pilot training.

Maybe PPG is my thing...

OK, done venting...back to my Bushmill's 16...

 

[eman1200]

suckus maximus

 

[N659HB]

Do like I did... get your SP ticket in a Champ!

 

[frfly172]

Bummer

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

Murphy's Law is strong. Any chance to go private pilot locally for you?

 

[Half Fast]

Stuff exactly like this, coupled with 3 CFIs quitting (I scared them away to the airlines), plus work and family stuff, is why it took me 17 freakin' months to get to my checkride.

I feel your pain, brother.

Good luck.

 

[denverpilot]

BTDT Doug. And seen instructors as I’ve learned to teach going through the pain on the opposite side of having a student nearly ready and the aircraft craps out, or the weather goes to crap for a month.

Hang in there. It’ll happen.

It hurts on the other side of the cockpit and desk, too. I promise. Watching my current CFI just cringe when an aircraft goes down and bust butt to fix it (he’s also an AI) showed me that. Or his frustration when a part arrives and everything is about to fall back into place, and the stupid part is wrong.

Here’s some fun for you. He had a cracked exhaust manifold. He sent it to a shop “everyone recommended” even though he had a more expensive shop he trusted, because they’re recommended... a little faster... yadda yadda...

Shipping of large parts takes forever anyway... not to mention taking stuff like that off the airplane and packaging it up, etc.

Two weeks goes by. He gets the lovely fresh happy repaired exhaust manifold back and he and a helper go to fit it to the engine.

The place welded it wrong and it’s half an inch too long after their “highly recommended” repair.

He has students waiting on the airplane.

It has to come back off, he has to decide whether the “highly recommended” shop gets another chance, or he sends it off to the slower and trusted shop he’s used before.

Paaaaaaainful.

Having to have that part machined for the Skycatcher must suuuuuuuuck for everyone involved. Ugh.

 

[Doug F]

Murphy's Law is strong. Any chance to go private pilot locally for you?

No desire for PP. I have no desire to fly at night, fly into anything but E/G airspace, carry bunches of passengers, or fly in bad weather. SP fits my desires and I really like flying a small plane. If the Skycatcher goes down and out (only LSA they own), I'll be forced to go PP.

As it happens, they got the part fixed (yeah!) but every day I try and fly for my XC it's bad weather. 3 days, 3 washouts. Trying again tomorrow!

 

[Doug F]

BTDT Doug. And seen instructors as I’ve learned to teach going through the pain on the opposite side of having a student nearly ready and the aircraft craps out, or the weather goes to crap for a month.

Hang in there. It’ll happen.

I hate when this happened as much for my CFI as for me. I'm doing this for grins and giggles; he does it to put food on the table and every flight he doesn't take is money he doesn't make.

Part is fixed. 'Catcher is ready. Weather is crap...maybe tomorrow!

 

[Doug F]

Do like I did... get your SP ticket in a Champ!

My school has one and only one LSA. They had two, one flipped in a wind storm and wrecked (they bought it for parts). There is one private LSA in the hanger that they have been thinking about trying to work out a lease-back but no progress on that. I'm not interested in buying a plane; cost to purchase + years left to fly + cost to maintain is worse than just renting. I figure I have 10 years tops before I have to stop. I might get more but the numbers for owning just don't add up. Now a PPG or PPC...that might work!