Third Supervised Solo

6/21/2010

On Monday morning I had my third supervised solo. We have to meet in the morning, because North Carolina this week is in the high 90's with high humidity. That sort of weather makes flying in the pattern with Sky Pig uncomfortable to say the least. I finally took a few pictures of the beast, here she is.

I did two landings with Hal (one of which the side latch of the door popped open again) and then he sent me off on my own. The first landing was good except after I touched down I was swerving all over the runway and realized my foot was on the right side brake too soon. About this time a snide little voice comes over the radio questioning whether there was a deer on the runway I was avoiding...

Two more landings and it is getting really warm in the Cherokee, there is no fan and nothing but hot hair coming in the vents. Hal tells me to keep going, so up I go again. By now the sweat is running down my face and I have had enough, one more good landing and I head back in to get out of the sweatbox.

So now I have three solo flights in and ten solo take offs with their corresponding landings in my logbook along with the endorsement to go out to the airport and practice on my own. Hal and Lorin both say that things will go fast now and we are going to start work on cross country navigation. My cross country solo will be the next really big step. I am hoping to finish up and have my license by the end of August.

Second Supervised Solo

June 15, 2010

I had my second supervised solo today. I met Hal at the airport at 10am and it was already hot. Jeff came up to the airport to, because according to him, if he didn't see me solo it never really happened.

I did a few landings with Hal on board and then dropped him off at the FBO. The density altitude was 2000' by the time it was my turn to go at it alone and it really does make everything feel different. I could tell right away it took longer for the plane to get up and the plane just flew different all around. I also had to leave more power in and get up higher in the pattern because the Cherokee was sinking faster than normal otherwise.

I did two takeoffs and landings, and on both landings I was porpoising. The FAA Airplane Flying Handbook says this about porpoising: "In a bounced landing that is improperly recovered, the airplane comes in nose first setting off a series of motions that imitate the jumps and dives of a porpoise - hence the name. The problem is improper airplane attitude at touchdown, sometimes caused by inattention, not knowing where the ground is, mistrimming or forcing the airplane onto the runway." Sounds fun huh?

After the second not-so-graceful landing, Hal called me back in so he could go up with me and as he put it, "get you calmed back down." He quickly determined the problems. First of all I was pushing the nose over (forcing the airplane onto the runway) rather than just letting her come down. And second I wasn't looking down the runway. Think about how you drive a car, as you go down the road you look out ahead of the car, down the road. If you look right over the hood of the car it makes it difficult to judge exactly where you are. The same is true of landing a plane, if you look right over the front of the plane it is hard to judge where you really are. You see the ground coming at you and either want to push the plane down or pull back and flare to soon. You have to look down the runway a bit to get the timing right.

So I did one or two landing with Hal and he gets back out and I taxi back out to try again. I give it full power hit 60 mph and rotate. As soon as I begin to feel the plane lift off, about 4 feet off the ground I hear this big rush of air and see sunlight streaming in around the door. Great, the door came unlatched. It didn't open all the way, the top was locked, but the latch on the side had popped open. I had a second of uncertainty and confusion, but knew I had plenty of runway to land. I pulled back the power, felt a little bounce and then heard Hal say "hold her off", I did and the Cherokee came right down. Ironically the best landing so far of the day.

I taxied back to the FBO, we checked the door and made sure it was shut properly this time. Jeff and Hal at first thought the engine had quit, fortunately that was not the problem, but I am guessing it gave them a good scare.

Not to be done in by the previous landings and attempted take-offs of the day, I taxi back out for one more. After checking the door several times, I finally take off and end the day with a pretty decent landing and my second solo under my belt, not to mention some emergency landing practice.

First Solo Flight

First Solo Flight
Friday June 11, 2010

I met with Hal for my flight lesson this morning. Nothing out of the ordinary, winds were at about 4 knots and it was a beautiful day. He discussed the proper way to perform a go-around and mentioned that we needed to work on some s-turns. I did the pre-flight and we proceeded to runway 5 and took off.

Shortly after I turned downwind for my first landing Hal says what do you do if you loose power now and he pulls out the throttle. Crap! I haven’t practiced an emergency procedure for weeks. A gentle reminder from the right seat, establish proper glide speed, look for a place to land… it’s all coming back to me now. We increased the throttle and got back on our downwind, turned base, and then final for runway 5.

As I am getting close to touching down Hal says there’s a deer on the runway, you need to go around. We increase power and once the Cherokee is climbing I incrementally let out each notch of flap and climb out over the invisible deer. I do two more landings and Hal says, “I think you're ready to solo.” So I’m thinking I’ll probably be soloing next week. Next I hear from the right seat, “Taxi of to the hanger I need get my hand held radio so I can talk to you.” Uh, he means I am going to solo now!

We get over to the hanger and he fills out the endorsements in my log book, after several reminders to watch my airspeed and altitude and to just be careful, Hal gets out of the plane, gets his radio and signals me to go.

By this time I am pretty nauseated. I’m not exactly scared, just sort of sick to my stomach. I taxi back out to the runway and keep telling myself, “I can do this, I can do this.” I do a run-up and make my radio call that Cherokee 8354W is departing runway 5 and then taxi onto the runway. I sit there for a few seconds to breathe and double check everything and then I go.

O.K., I’m up, I’m all alone, and so far everything is cool. At this point the sick feeling in my stomach is gone and I have a fleeting moment of joy, which is quickly replaced by the thought that I actually have to land this thing by myself now. I keep waiting to hear Hals voice over the radio, but there’s nothing and all I can think of is Tom Cruise in Top Gun saying “Talk to me goose, talk to me.” Seriously, that really was what I was thinking!

At this point I am on the downwind leg and I know I have to start thinking about the steps I need to take in order to land. At midfield I make sure the fuel pump is on and I turn on the carb heat. Now I’m at the numbers so I put in a notch of flaps and trim to the proper speed. Time to turn base, speed looks good, altitude is good. Another notch of flaps and I begin my turn to final. I add the last notch of flaps, check my speed, and then finally, I hear from Hal. He reminds me to check my speed, I tell him it's good and I continue the descent.

The rest is sort of a blur. I did three full stop landings. I remember there was some porpoising on at least one of them and the voice over the radio told me to hold it off and I got her down. The last one was a pretty good landing I think. It really does sort of blur altogether and it was over before I knew it. I taxied back to the hanger and Hal opened the door with a huge smile, shook my hand, and told me congratulations.

My Uncle is a pilot also and is currently riding his bike across the country. On his blog, The Longest Ride, he said his knees were shaking after his first solo and wondered if mine were too. No, Sam, my knees weren’t shaking. When I got out of the plane both my legs from top to bottom were shaking.

I feel like a real pilot now and was invincible for the rest of the weekend, because I soloed; I can fly.