Back in the saddle

After 2 full weeks of no flying (the first because the plane needed its 100 hour inspection, the second because I was out of town), I finally got back in the air. The lesson was scheduled for 8:00, but by 8:30, Richard hadn’t shown. I paged him, and he apologized for the confusion and headed over. By 9:00 we were ready to go.

This lesson was primarily to review emergency procedures aloft and emergency landings. We did a few simulated engine failures, and approaches to land on some roads. Pretty easy, of course – when you actually HAVE a working engine. Hopefully I’ll be that calm and focused in a REAL emergency. Come to think of it, hopefully I will never HAVE a real emergency like that – much better that way. A few turns around a point (need to work on that altitude control) and then back to Van Nuys for 5 touch and goes. Interesting day in the pattern with lots of traffic, extended downwinds, immediate turns after takeoff, and changed runways. Very educational, as always. My landings were nothing short of lousy, but I chalk that up to laying off for two weeks. Hopefully THAT will never happen again.

After we debriefed, Richard gave me his pre-solo written test to take, and asked about the status of my medical so I could solo. I told him that the FAA was still sitting on it, and that I would get it as quickly as possible. Might be time to get AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) involved to help me out.

1.5 hours/17.6 total

Out for a spin!

Today I decided to do my spin training as required by my CFI prior to solo. One word: WOW! I went up with a CFI from a flight school on the field near my flying clubs planes (more on that in a moment). We took a Citabria 150, a tandem (meaning the CFI sat behind […]

Ground school, solo prep

It was just a matter of time before my good luck with the weather faded, and today was it. By the time I finished preflighting 2257E, the weather was VERY marginal VFR, and FSS was not recommending it. I found Richard, and he thought it was just out of the question for the emergency procedures […]

Emergency procedures in the pattern – and feeling comfortable.

Today must have been the best weather yet. Clear skies, 68 degrees, no wind. Richard arrived at around 8:15, and off we went. Today was for emergency procedures. First were aborted takeoffs. We taxied to the hold line and requested an aborted takeoff procedure. The tower had us hold for about 3 minutes, and then […]

Last of the stalls, some landings, and good news.

Afternoon flight. Absolutely perfect weather. We plan was to finish up the stalls (accelerated and cross control) and then do some no-flaps landings. Sounds good to me – but then again, just sitting around at the airport sounds good to me. Accelerated stalls were pretty wild. The trick is to keep the engine at around […]

More stalls, maneuvers, and an emergency! (Drill that is.)

9:00am flight – scheduled for just the right day. The 23rd and 24th (my last two lessons) were in perfect weather, the 25th was lousy overcast, and today was perfect again. Wind was calm, 10 miles visibility – very nice. Today we worked on more stalls – specifically power on stalls, to simulate stalling the […]

Quit ‘yer stallin!

Flight was scheduled for 3:00, but the plane had to be back by 5:00, so I got to the airport early to preflight and get weather information before Richard showed. This would give us the most time in the air. He arrived right on time, and we headed for the plane. On the way, he […]

Getting down

Today was my first flight with Richard Mend from a flight school (AV8) at Van Nuys. Richard is a professional CFI – meaning that ALL he does is teach people to fly. I was hoping I would get a bit more structure and support than I had been getting in the past. Turns out I […]

Wind is fun

The Nissan Open golf tournament is in town this weekend, so like a good golfer I had to get up at 5:00am to head out to Riviera Country Club to watch the pros. Stayed until about noon, when I got a call from Kent saying that the plane was available. Figuring that any flying is […]

Finally, something substatial

Kent called this morning and said he had a cancellation in the afternoon – was I interested? With .3 hours in the last 8 days, I had to say YES. He’d been flying all day (giving rides to kids all day for an EAA group he works with), so a full preflight was not required. […]