Weathered out again

Driving the baby to daycare this morning, it looked bad – low fog. Called up the ATIS at Van Nuys, and confirmed a 200 foot ceiling – not exactly VFR weather. Hopefully it would burn off in time for a 4:30 lesson. In fact, it did just that. I checked throughout the day, and the ceiling started going up. By 3:00, it was FL120, 4 miles visibility haze. Marginal, but flyable.

I headed to the airport to preflight before Kent showed up. Marv was out for more surgery, and I just couldn’t wait. By the time he showed, and we got airborne, things were deteriorating rapidly. I did my run-up and after a brief wait for a few Learjets (they always seem to get priority over Cessnas), was cleared for takeoff on 16R. Handled everything on my own, including takeoff roll (actually kept it on the centerline) and getting airborne. Even asked for (and got) closed pattern traffic.

Just as we made our turn downwind, and just shy of pattern altitude, I realized there was something I couldn’t see – the airport. We decided to do a touch n’ go and go around one more time. Got more of a hang of the approach procedure, round out and flare, and just about landed alone. Kent just had to help at the last second. Back up, and the weather was even worse than the first time. Decided to make it a full stop. Bounced the landing this time – another good experience, but not very pretty. Taxied back and logged a WHOPPING .3 hours in my logbook. For a city that has such great weather, this is really starting to eat my lunch for me.

.3 hours/5.0 total

Out over the ocean

Today’s weather was a bit more accommodating. 10 miles visibility, wind at 10 gusting to 17, but right down the runway. Marv figured that it would be too bumpy over the Gorman pass (where we go to do air work) so we headed to the ocean. Flew through the LAX special flight rules area – a specific heading and altitude DIRECTLY over LAX that allows you to traverse the busiest airspace in the country without having to talk to anyone. Flew out over the ocean and started to work.

Started with a review of slow flight, which I nailed the first time. Then we got right into approach-to-landing stalls. These are the stalls you basically are doing when you land. Complicated. I think I was so concerned with what happens when the plane actually DOES stall, that I didn’t pay enough attention early on. I got the last one just about right. So many things to do after the stall – lower the nose, full power, carb heat off, raise the flaps, right rudder, maintain altitude, etc. By the last one I was close, but I’ll NAIL them next time. Next were steep turns. Marv said I did steep turns as good as any student he’s ever seen.

Back to Van Nuys for a straight in landing, which I have a lot finer grasp of now, thanks to the stalls. Scheduled my next flight for next Wednesday!

1.5 hours/4.7 total

History’s shortest lesson

Booked a morning lesson for today at 9:00am with Marv. Got there a bit early to start getting the plane ready. Cloud cover was bad – prediction was for lots of rain today. By the time Marv showed, the ceiling was down to 2400 – no problem for some pattern work. We preflighted the plane and then talked about runway lighting, markings, taxiways and procedures in the pattern. Fired up and taxied to 16L for departure. My flying club’s planes are all the way at the opposite end of the runway, so when 34L is in use, it is only about 100 feet of taxiing. When 16L is in use, however, and given the fact that Marv likes to use ALL available runway (I good practice, I agree) it makes for a long taxi. No problem.

So we get in the air and realize that the ceiling is WAY lower than it had been. ATIS was saying 1800 feet (right around pattern altitude), but we could see it was dropping rapidly. By the time we started our turn downwind, we were in solid IMC. We dropped a bit, and told the tower that we would be making our first landing a full stop. Taxied back and shut it down. A total of .2 hours on the tach. Didn’t even bother putting it in my logbook.

STILL 3.2 total hours

A different perspective

I was out of town last week on business in New Orleans, so I obviously couldn’t fly. Side note – I think that the “8 hours bottle to throttle” rule should be changed to “80 hours bottle to throttle” if your drinking is done on Bourbon Street. I’ll bring it up at the next FAA meeting.

When I returned, I scheduled some time with Marv, who was back from his surgery and feeling much better. Morning sky looked pretty dismal, so I prayed to the weather gods for something reasonably VFR for my 1:00 lesson. Started happening around noon – I may have to really re-think this religion thing. By 1:00 the ceiling was 2700 broken, virtually no wind.

Marv arrived around 1:15, and we started by talking about what I had learned in my time off. I explained that I had sucked up as much information as possible, including ALL of the Cessna training CD’s, ALL of Rod Machado’s Private Pilot Handbook, and ALL that I could find on the Internet. He seemed reasonably impressed (damn right!) and proceeded to quiz me on the finer points. We went through the preflight (which I have pretty much nailed now) and hopped in to 2257E for flight number 3.

Given that the only PTT (push to talk) switch is on the pilot yoke, I did all of the radio work, which he complemented me on (even read another book on radio communications) as well as my taxiing ability. We headed to 16R at Van Nuys, did our run-up, and off we went. We headed northwest towards Simi Valley, and found the cloud cover to be very broken. We climbed on top (about 6500’) and started some airwork. Marv is very clear about the procedures he wants done, which I really enjoy. We did coordinated turns at standard, medium and steep banks until I felt like I had a good feel for them. Then some slow flight, which took some getting used to, but I finally nailed those as well. By now we had meandered well north over Santa Clarita, so we turned around to head back. Over Magic Mountain I radioed in and heard quite a bit of traffic around VNY, but was cleared for a straight in approach to 16R. Marv explained our cruise descent in detail, and then the transition to landing, which I just helped with again. Taxied in and shut down. Another GREAT flight! Scheduled two more lessons for this week.

1.2 hours/3.2 total

The Basics

Turns out that Marv had some minor surgery, so he can’t fly for a week or so. Since waiting that long is OUT of the question, I scheduled another lesson with Kent at 4:30pm. Weather was hideous in the morning (as hideous as it gets in LA), but it cleared up later. Called the Van Nuys ATIS at 3:30 – wind 160 at 5, sky 3500 broken. No problem.

I did the preflight myself this time, with Kent pointing out a few key items along the way. Went through the checklists, start, radio ground, taxi, run up, radio tower, and onto runway myself. We flew out to a practice area over Simi Valley (for those who know the area) and practiced coordinated turns, slips, etc. Flew back, radioed for landing clearance, and ALMOST completely landed by myself. Kent had to hold us off the runway a bit so we didn’t PLOW into it – but I’m getting it down. Taxied back myself, shutdown via checklist and secured the plane.

This is getting FUN.

.7 hours/2.0 total

My first real training flight

I decided to interview 3 CFI’s for my training, but I wanted to learn as much as possible in the process. I prepared for my first flight by reviewing lessons in various training aids. Got up this morning and looked outside. After literally WEEKS of fantastic weather, it was overcast and looked like rain. 4 months of waiting, and I get shut out? All day I kept calling the ATIS at VNY to see how things were shaping up. By 4:00 (lesson was scheduled for 4:30) it was marginal at best. I called Kent (my flying club’s CFI) to see if we were still on. He said sure – we could at least fly around the pattern a bit, and the wind was real calm.

So I went. We did a quick preflight, and we headed out. It was even more exciting than I expected. Just 4 trips around the pattern, but I learned tons. By the 3rd circuit, I was climbing out properly, trimming, doing coordinated turns, turning crosswind, downwind, base and final all at the right times, and starting to get a feel for the landing “process”. Kent is a fine instructor.

Tomorrow I’ll schedule a lesson with the CFI who took me on my intro flight – Marv Rowley.

1.3 hours

Prologue – Getting Hooked

I started this endeavor about 4 months ago – September 1998. I was going to see a different kind of instructor – my golf pro. He canceled on me, so I thought I’d stop in at a nearby airport (Whiteman – WHP) a look around. Walked in to a flight school there and started asking questions. Before I knew it, I was on an intro flight, and loving ALL of it. Bought a pile of training stuff – they could have said, “you need to buy a Cessna 172 now”, and I would have called the bank. They would have turned me down, but I would have called.

Raced home a told my wife – “I knew I’d like it, but I didn’t know I’d LOVE it. I want to get my private pilot’s license.” Holding our 1-year-old, I’m pretty sure it sounded more like “I know we don’t have nearly enough life insurance, but I want to zip around in a tiny plane in the busiest airspace in the country. Oh, and by the way – it’s real expensive.” Overall, she was supportive – she could see how excited I was.

But the reality was that I didn’t really have the TIME to get started yet. In May I started a software company, and the travel now involved was tremendous. It would need to wait. With the support of my wife, and the kind folks in rec.aviation.student, I started studying to pass the time. Even with CD-ROM, books, Internet sites, newsgroups and talking to other pilots – the time passed VERY slowly. I decided I would start my training around my birthday – in January.

An added bonus of waiting was that I came in contact with a flying club at a local airport (Van Nuys – VNY) and joined. This will cut my training cost, considering the average 172 rents for over $50/hour Hobbs time, and the club 172 goes for $34/hour Tach time.