About This Blog

(This post is future dated to appear near the top of my posts - today's actual date is 12/15/14.)

This blog is a journal (of sorts) about learning to fly. It started as a retro-journal (writing years after the fact of my original 1997-2001 lessons, from notes I had kept for myself, which are not yet completely converted to this blog - there are gaps). I did a little flying in 2004 (only one post here so far). Then in summer 2011, I started flying again (tail wheel lessons), and it became a current flight lesson journal for a while.

Flying seems to be such a sporadic thing for me (except as an airline passenger, which is pretty regular). I flew a lot in July and August 2011, flying with Ed Urbanowski in his wonderful Citabria, finally learning to land a tail dragger. Then I stopped. Why? Business travel, general work-load at work, family stuff. The usual suspects. I really wanted to get the tail wheel endorsement this year but I just didn't make it, and here it is winter already.

As of this writing, my recent non-airline flights have been "warbird" flights with the Collings Foundation. One was on September 26, 2011. It was in a B-24 Liberator bomber, and I was not at the controls (but it was a VERY cool flight). I was briefly at the Norden bombsite (shown above). No stick time in this beast! The other was in an AT-6 Texan aerobatics flight at the Collings Headquarters in Stow, MA, during one of their historic airshows in August 2012. It was short, but lots of fun (see below). I got some stick time, and Rob Collings showed me some simple aerobatics, loops and barrel rolls. I would love to do more of that! That was the original reason I was interested in tailwheel training, since most common aerobatic planes are tail draggers.

I hope to get back to real flying one of these days.

Putting the "Flying" Back in FlyingSinger

I'm finally going to start flying again - in the present, not in the past. Well actually in the near future (next weekend), as I explain in this post on my Music of the Spheres blog. I plan to take some refresher lessons in a tail-wheel Citabria (pictured) at nearby Sterling Airport. I'm hoping to kill the proverbial two birds: finish up the tail wheel endorsement I started in 2004, and also get current to rent and fly solo again. If it goes well with the Citabria, I'll probably take a few refresher lessons in the C172 as well, since that's a more widely available rental aircraft.

Dual: First Cross-Country (ORH-PSF-ORH)

This was my first official dual cross-country (greater than 50 nm from home). It was a good one, with a lot of points to remember, so I better write it down while it’s still fresh in my mind. The cross-country planning went pretty well – I got all the airport info (just PSF and ORH, 64 nm, no third leg this time), estimated based on 90 knots airspeed, and did approximate calculations with zero winds. When I called 1-800-WXBRIEF and got the standard weather briefing with winds aloft, the 3000’ and 6000’ winds were both 6 knots, and the interpolated direction for 4500’ was 25° -- so not much wind and a gorgeous day all the way around (I actually called for a briefing at 8:30 am and was told ORH-PSF was “VFR not recommended” due to low ceilings and fog, so I briefly considered flying to Concord, NH instead – but when Mario arrived, I called again, and PSF was clear, so we stayed with plan A – I should have called the Pittsfield ASOS weather phone line directly – when I did later, it was clear).

The first big problem was that the plane wouldn’t start (it was N47261 – plan was for 661, but it was in the shop for a new engine). The battery was dead – someone had flown a night flight with the alternator light on, apparently (you should look for this and cycle the alternator half of the master switch in this plane). We spent half an hour trying to hand-prop the plane, and it finally turned over (with help from Bob Karman and another CFI, Bill – Mario hates hand-propping but he was the one who finally did it after maybe 20 tries). So we were off at 10:30 a.m. Next challenge was getting to runway 11 – only two taxiways were open (construction), so back-taxi on runway was required, slowing everything down. We back-taxied only part way (tower said expedite, traffic on base!), then turned around and did a short-field take off (stay on brakes, 10° flaps, full power, release brakes). We flew left base and departed downwind to the west (magnetic compass heading 297° according to my nav log). My timer and yoke mount worked well, as did the knee board with my nav log and sectional chart. Mario had his GPS mounted but I could not see the screen – he cheated a couple of times, confirming or correcting my assumed positions (though it was really pilotage, holding a heading, timing, and VOR for 90% of the flight).

Once clear of ORH air space, climbing up to 4500’ cruise altitude (west-bound, even thousands plus 500) we called Bridgeport radio (122.2) to activate the flight plan I had filed on the phone (a first for me). Then we called up Bradley Approach (119.0) and requested flight following (yet another first for me – we were near Tanner-Hiller airport and reported this). Good thing I had recorded all those frequencies on my nav log! They gave us a squawk code and new frequency, which I wrote down and entered (only advantage of 261 is the dual-frequency radio, so you can queue up the next needed frequency). Flight following showed its value very soon, over the Quabbin Reservoir – they called out traffic at our altitude, crossing in front of us, 3 miles – we looked but Mario and I could not see the traffic (I missed my chance to say “no joy” on the radio!). Bradley said “if you don’t have a visual, suggest you expedite descent to 4000 feet” – Mario said “my airplane” and dived us down there pretty fast. We then looked up and saw a 172 passing left to right, just about where we had been, maybe ½ mile away. Close one! We had a good view of Westover ARB to our SW at this point.

I had easily spotted Spencer Airport and the Quabbin south dam, and my next check point was Amherst, Mass – but we also had to avoid Northampton airport, just 4 nm away, due to parachute activity (jumpers away at 8500 feet). I diverted a bit north of my planned track and flew right over the UMass campus – I spotted Becky’s dorm area and took a quick picture.

We had trouble spotting the airport, which is right at a bend in the (Connecticut?) river. I spotted what I thought was the airport, though it looked like a dirt strip (www.airnav.com says it’s asphalt, 14/32, 3500 x 50 feet, oh well).

On the outbound leg, I tended to gain altitude up to 4600 feet or so, but Mario reminded me that holding the planned 4500 and planned heading are especially important with flight following – you must report any altitude changes. Visibility was pretty good from 4500’ though there was a lot of low haze. Our next check point was Albert Airport, a small private strip in the Berkshires. I never saw it, but as a backup, I tuned in the Chester VOR and established that I was on the expected 022° radial. I also spotted a carrot-shaped lake with a dam at its S end about 10 nm SE of our position and noted this on the chart (distinctively shaped lakes or lakes with dams and radio towers seem to be the best landmarks).

Now we were only 17 nm from Pittsfield, and I spotted a large town just over a hill with a radio tower – the chart confirmed that this was Pittsfield, and I spotted the airport just to the SW of the town, but very faint. I think Bradley terminated our flight following at this point, and I tuned in the ASOS to get winds and altimeter setting for PSF. I then called up the CTAF (122.7) and gave our position, requesting the active runway. It was 26 with right traffic. As we got closer, we could see the reason for right traffic – two hefty mountains that would be right in the way of a left pattern for 26 and 32. I swung to the NW, passing over downtown Pittsfield and a high, wooded mountain ridge to enter the pattern on a 45° to the downwind (TPA 2200 feet). With reminders from Mario, I called my position on each leg to Pittsfield traffic (which was nil at that point). I lined up and made a rather long, sloppy touch-and-go, climbing up over the hills that seemed to pop up rather quickly off the west end of the runway. Climbed back to TPA, then turned right to take up my course.

At this point I tuned in and called Bridgeport Radio (Flight Service Stations are called “something Radio” in flight) to close my flight plan to Pittsfield. Two strange things – I got Burlington FSS, and there was a mix-up on whether I had filed out and back (I had not, though I thought I did when I told the weather briefer that I was coming right back, only a momentary stop at PSF – Burlington FSS closed my flight plan for me). So we flew back without a flight plan, but we contacted Bradley on the last-used frequency (good thing I wrote it down!) and resumed flight following.

I got the Bradley guy a little annoyed when I made several course changes over the next few minutes, trying again to swing a little north and avoid the parachuters around Northampton. He had to call me out several times to other planes because my course was changing. We also missed one or two calls for us – bad move – but we were busy and Mario was telling me stuff. We again flew over UMass and I tried to take another couple of pictures, but Mario got annoyed with this, because we also were trying (and failing) to spot an airplane that radar had told us was nearby (our 11 o’clock, climbing through 4500 – we were at 5500’ on the way home, as high as I have ever flown on my own).

Again I got my main checkpoints (Amherst, Quabbin dam) and we soon spotted ORH, a little patch of white just below the haze line to the east. We got Bradley’s OK to switch frequencies briefly to monitor ATIS, then we shortly asked to discontinue flight following so I could call up the tower. We requested a straight-in approach from around 10 miles out (since my return heading was 109 and runway 11 is 110), another first for me. We were told to report 3 mile final (Spencer airport is a good reference for this, it’s about 4 nm west of ORH). It was hard judging my descent from that far out, and I needed to keep my speed up because of following traffic. Tower said to land long (to avoid long taxi on runway) and turn left at taxiway Bravo, way down at the far end of 11, “no delay” due to following traffic (a 172 I think – the C152 is always the slowest thing in the pattern). I tend to land long anyway, so this was no problem!

All in all, a pretty good flight. I did most things right, kept track of my position, flew the airplane well (held 90 knots cruise and was right on 5500’ on the trip home). Now I’m ready for a three-leg cross-country next Sunday in Los Angeles (EMT-F70-CNO, El Monte, French Valley, Chino). Some things to keep in mind for future flights:
• For making minor course corrections when your hands are busy elsewhere (writing notes, tuning radio, etc.), the rudder pedals do a real nice job – smoother than yoke corrections! Of course you have to be trimmed well for this to work.
• It’s important to hold the planned course and altitude if you are on flight following – you want to be a predictable target.
• Call the local weather at the destination to get current conditions, don’t just rely on the weather briefer.
• If you want there-and-back flight plans, you have to tell the briefer this, it isn’t automatic, even if you tell them you are just doing a touch an go.
• Remember sunglasses, especially for the LA flight next weekend!

Time: 2.2 dual, 0.0 solo, TT TBD hrs, C152 at ORH

Supplemental: Several August Flights

Wow, I’ve gotten behind in documenting my flights. It’s not that they are routine or anything, but I’m short of time tonight too! Briefly

8/19/00 Dual with Mario, 1.1 hours – Filling in my syllabus items with power-on and power-off stalls and 0.4 hours of simulated instrument with foggles. This was turns to headings, climbs, and descents. This was a pretty good lesson.

8/27/00 Dual with Mario, 1.6 hours – We got carried away! Plan was to practice forward slips at altitude, and we did a little, lining up with some power lines near the Quabbin as if they were a runway, but very high. Forwards slips to lose altitude fast (20 degrees of flaps, though Mario does them with full flaps too, usually not recommended). We also did a little VOR and pilotage practice – it was good visibility but a lot of low haze that made it hard to identify location. If I will go solo to practice area, I have to be able to get back easily! Also tried “Dutch rolls” as Jason had showed me once, cross-control exercise, keeping nose on point, fishtailing with opposite rudder. Ended up talking about and going to the hook-shaped 2500’ runway at Palmer (PMX), and it took me three tries to land on it. Landing illusion from narrow/short runway, you think you are high. I’m spoiled by ORH’s wide 7000’ runway!

8/29/00 Solo landing practice, 0.7 hours in pattern. Frustrating session. Two fairly good landings in left pattern, then passing Hood blimp caused tower to put me in right traffic, and I got flustered and flew downwind too tight and didn’t reverse wind correction. This led to rushed base and high final. Overshot turn to final each time. Grrr! Need more work, and still getting slow on base!!!

SOLO! (Lesson #25)

I did it! I soloed in a Cessna 152 (N67661) today (7-29-00) at Worcester (MA) airport, where I resumed my flight lessons with a new instructor in early June. Worcester Airport (ORH) is only 20 minutes from home and is a tower-controlled airport with light airline traffic. I now have a whopping zero-point-five hours as pilot in command. The weather was the usual for Worcester -- cloudy, wanting to rain. Last Sunday we did a "final" test -- 6 landings with no help from my instructor. I did well, so we scheduled a long block of time for Saturday, expecting to solo. I arrived early and spent over an hour with my CFI, Mario, going over my pre-solo written test. That was pretty easy thanks to all the ground school study. Meanwhile, I'm sweating the weather, since ORH started the day with fog and 100 foot ceilings. By 11:30 a.m. it was up to 1100 feet, but we need 1500 to meet minimum VFR (500 feet below any clouds, and pattern altitude is 1000 ft AGL, 2000 ft MSL -- visibility was fine, 10 miles).

By 12:30 it had crept up to 1500 so we decided to try it -- winds were calm to 6 knots and mostly west, little crosswind (only runway 29/11 is open due to construction on 33/15). We took off a little after 1 pm (after a careful pre-flight -- Betty and Caroline had also just arrived to see me off and take pictures -- I sent them down to the approach end of runway 29). We didn't expect to have much time, since a thunderstorm was expected later in the afternoon, and as that moved in, wind and wind-shear could be a problem. One odd thing was that the ATIS frequency was off the air for some reason, so I had to telephone for the pre-flight ATIS info. The tower frequency was a bit scratchy too -- I was glad I reviewed the light gun signals, though I didn't need them.

Mario once again was deliberately silent (and hands off), and I did two pretty decent touch-and-goes. The third was to be full-stop, but I flared WAY too high, bounced a lot and drifted to the right, so he said "let's see that one again." I took it around the pattern and landed OK. We taxied back to Amity, and I left the engine running while Mario gave me some final words and hopped out (he had already signed my logbook and student certificate). His main advice was "no pressure - don't rush for ANYBODY." I got a little stressed last lesson when we were sandwiched between two turboprop commuters and two Pipers in the run-up area. Follow procedures and ATC instructions, but don't rush and forget things!

Once he was out, it seemed very..... routine! I consciously looked down at the empty seat, said "that's odd," finished my checklist, and called ground for permission to taxi. Just following procedures. When I called the tower at the intersection of taxiway bravo and runway 29, I was told to hold short while another small plane landed (a Mooney I think -- I had seen him on base and final so I expected this). This gave me a minute to look for Betty and Caroline -- they were at the fence and Betty waved back to me. Then I got "taxi into position and hold" followed shortly by "clear for takeoff, make left closed traffic." So I took off. This didn't feel the least bit scary or odd to me, though as I expected, the C152 climbs a lot better with only one person aboard! I got maybe 1000 fpm rather than 500 or less with Mario aboard. I was careful to watch my airspeed and to stay coordinated. I remembered carb heat, radio calls midfield downwind, power reduction, and all stages of flaps. I was not as consistent on my turns to base and final as I wanted to be, and I overshot the first one a lot (shallow S-turn back to line up, keeping the ball centered pretty well), the second one a bit, but the third was just right. I picked my landing spots each time, but didn't really stick with the decision (I added a bit of power when I felt like I was getting low a couple of times, though the VASI lights generally showed me as high -- of course high is better than low).

The first landing was a bit "firm" but OK, and I kept good control as I rolled out, raised flaps, killed carb heat, and applied full power for the touch-and-go. The second landing seemed smoother, though it was long because I started to flare very slightly when I was still a bit high (hey, I got 7000 feet of runway to play with). The third landing was full-stop, and I think the flare was good, but when the nose wheel came down, it started shaking like crazy. I pulled back gingerly on the yoke (offload the nose wheel, aerodynamic braking) while I also applied the brakes pretty hard, wanting to exit at the usual taxiway delta. The tower told me to take that exit and contact ground. I switched to 123.85 and reported "Worcester ground, Cessna 67661, clear of the active." They told me to taxi to Amity, so I did. No special words from the tower (I hadn't mentioned first solo to them, though Mario had called them on the phone to let them know to watch out for me). But when I taxied back, Mario was there with a big grin and a Polaroid camera. He said I did a great job. Betty and Caroline showed up a moment later and we took more pictures. It was only three landings, 0.5 hours in my logbook (plus 0.7 more dual), but this was my first solo flight, first PIC time, so it's really REALLY cool.

Now I know I can finish my private pilot, hopefully this year -- sure, I still have a lot to learn, but that first solo is really a confidence builder after decades of dreaming and three years of start-and-stop lessons. In each of the last three springs and summers, I managed to get 6 or 8 hours in, then something would come up (the first "something" was a divorce!). Things have stabilized pretty well now, and I realized in June that this is the one thing I have consistently wanted to do for some 35 years, since first learning the basics of flight in a bunch of Piper Cub orientation flights as a Civil Air Patrol cadet. So I decided I would not put it off any longer. Lifelong dreams are too important!

This is the "solo story" that I posted in rec.aviation.students.

Time: 0.7 dual, 0.5 solo, TT 28.9/0.5 hrs, C152 at ORH

Expecting to Fly (Lesson #24)

Editor's Note: Those lesson numbers are starting to bother me - 24 lessons to solo?!? Yes, and about 28 hours, but 17 of those hours were in dribs and drabs spread across 1997-1999, so I actually soloed after about 11 recent hours. Everyone says you shouldn't care about this sort of thing, but everyone does!

Go for the moon! Well, not the moon exactly, but for solo next Saturday!!! The "final exam" went well with nary a word from Mario once we were airborne (though I did start off poorly by skipping a step in the startup checklist and not retracting the flaps before I started to taxi - FOLLOW THE DAMN CHECKLIST!!!). I did six UNASSISTED landings, five of them pretty good, one of them far off the centerline but recovered on my own (that's useful info for Mario too, to see that I can screw up and still save the landing without too much fuss, though it would be better not to allow that drift -- consistency will come with practice). Mario said everything was good -- procedures, altitudes, descent rates, turns, radio work, EXCEPT…

• Not correcting for the wind on turn from downwind to base -- the tailwind moves you out so you must start the turn earlier and turn MORE than 90º to get established at the right distance (over Worcester State's football stadium - I was way east over downtown Worcester once or twice).
• Getting slow on turn to base - I was at 70 kts when I added flaps abeam the numbers, but I lost it a bit on the turn to base.
• Staying lined up all the way down so the wheels track nicely with no side loads -- getting better but still allowing some sideways drift (once it was a LOT, I probably should have done a go-around on that one).
• I also notice that I got kind of mousy on some of my pattern turns -- trying to keep them fairly shallow, but rolling out early and then tweaking in the rest of the turn -- just fly a rectangular pattern!! As Mario likes to say -- "control the airplane -- YOU are the pilot in command" -- he really likes that expression!" (I actually don't mind it myself).
• If I do a go-around (and don't be afraid to do this if I'm not happy with the approach), remember to establish positive climb and bring the flaps up IN STAGES. Don't want to sink back on the runway from 30 feet!
• ALSO - I was sandwiched between a couple of commuter turboprops ahead and two Pipers behind when I got to the run-up area at taxiway Bravo. I got flustered and wanted to rush through the run-up and taxi fast onto the runway when cleared (the commuter was sitting at the end of the runway with engines running, but I was cleared first, then told to start my crosswind early, at about 1400'). DON'T RUSH IT. When cleared, the runway is MINE, and the other guys, big or small, just have to wait. NO NEED TO RUSH.
• Watch out for wake turbulence if I do get cleared behind a big guy!

So Saturday should be my first solo! I first have to do an hour of ground instruction (at 10 am) with Mario so he can make sure I know enough of the pre-solo written test he gave me (I'm in good shape on this, and he says it's "open book" anyway, with the POH, airport directory, FAR/AIM, etc. available when I need it). I filed a maintenance squawk at M's suggestion because N67661 is using a lot of oil and showing streaks on the cowling. I hope it doesn't have to go into the shop before Saturday. With luck, this will be the last entry in this pre-solo (three year!) flight lesson journal. I'll start a new one Saturday with my very own solo story!

Time: 0.9 hrs dual, TT 28.2, C152 at ORH

Semi-Finals for Solo (Lesson #23)

At the end of this lesson, I discussed the solo plan with Mario. He basically said that NEXT lesson (tomorrow!) we will do pattern work, and he will say and do nothing (short of a real emergency), sort of a pre-solo final exam. He will also give me the pre-solo written test to take home and do, and on the next lesson (soon!) he will grill me on the questions, take me up for a T&G and full-stop, and sign me off for solo! So I am really REALLY close and with luck (weather mostly - crosswinds my big problem), I will solo in the next few days, just short of 30 hours TT (time to switch to a new flight lesson notes file then too).

Today was a two-parter, and fairly long as my recent lessons have been (we seem to have lost the "one hour to stay fresh" idea, though 1.2 or 1.3 is not bad). The first part was in the west practice area, for my first 0.2 hours of simulated IFR, wearing foggles rather than a hood (I could actually see quite a lot of the side and front views). He had me do level flight, turns to specific headings, climbs and descents, with and without turns. I did OK on this stuff (sim experience may actually help on this sort of stuff). I overshot my headings and gained or lost as much as 150 feet (100 is the practical tolerance), but overall not too bad. It was a bit bumpy in spots, but I did OK, didn't overcorrect for it, just rode out the bumps. Things to remember:

• Stay coordinated - step on the ball!
• Don't exceed 30º of bank (standard rate turns in IFR).
• Roll out ahead of the target heading.
• Level off ahead of the target altitude, 10% of the climb rate (50 feet lead for 500 fpm climb or decent).
• Pitch, power, TRIM!!!
• Keep the scan up (I think I did OK on this -- did not seem fixated on the attitude indicator).
I actually liked the IFR stuff, but may try the hood next time.

Then we went back to the airport to practice touch and goes. Flew over town of Spencer to set up the mid-field left downwind for runway 29 (Mario said my pattern entry and setup was "perfect"). Did most of the radio calls except when there were calls to watch traffic and to be #3 after specified traffic which I had to spot and report (lot of traffic today, including two other students doing T&G's, with right as well as left traffic active in the pattern -- controller was busy today). Winds were pretty good, sometimes at 290º, straight down the runway, but I had a crosswind on some landings. I did one really smooth landing, the first one I think, probably my first "greaser." The others were "firm" but I recovered them well, re-flared and held the nose off. Some points:

• WATCH THE WIND ON TAKEOFF - with a wind from the left, I usually had the yoke turned RIGHT at the liftoff point, adding to the wind drift, a mistake. Need to establish the crab INTO the wind as soon as the wheels are off the ground.
• In the pattern, I did pretty well with altitude control, though I still don't have a good feel for when I need to turn greater or less than 90º in my pattern turns due to wind effects.
• Still slow on base and final sometimes (final was usually OK, 65 knots, often 60-65 on base). Mario is still foggy on why I get slow (me too!), but he did mention the need to get the nose down when you add flaps.
• Early lineup was better, and I held the lineup better on most passes, and when I drifted off, I did the corrections myself. Poor wheel alignment on some landings (need to control the airplane all the way down!).
• REMEMBER CARB HEAT midfield when I make the radio call - I forgot a couple of times, though I remembered flaps every time (only used 20º because of the strong headwind on final, low ground speed with full flaps, and also needed to keep speed up due to heavy traffic in the pattern).
• Getting a little better on trim in the pattern.
• WATCH THE TAIL WIND (fast ground speed) on downwind leg -- it went fast and my radio calls were late sometimes (also a lot of radio traffic today, so I had to avoid stepping on others' transmissions).
• IMPORTANT: After touchdown, FLAPS first, then carb heat IN, then full power for takeoff (I skipped the flaps once - dangerous since you can sink when you lose their extra lift, don't want to be airborne before flaps are fully retracted!).
• RIGHT RUDDER for full power climb - keep that ball centered better.
• I was not consistent on the length, altitude, and descent rate for my end-pattern (from abeam the numbers to base to final). Some of this was due to ATC and traffic spacing (slow flight, extend downwind, etc.), but some was just poor airspeed control by me, though Mario commented that I did a nice job each time correcting for the problem and getting the airplane aligned and down. Generally I was high at the start, which is better than low.
• Need to pick my touchdown spot sooner and REALLY aim for it.
• IMPORTANT: Need a review on how to forward slip on final when I end up too high and with less than full flaps!

Overall, a good lesson, and I think I'm justified in pushing Mario a little on the solo plan -- I'm just about ready. I still have this feeling of odd inconsistency -- some things I really have a good feel for (like correcting for various starting points for final, high or low). But other "simple" things seem to escape me sometimes (like which way to bank and press rudder to line up the nose on short final!!!). But the good news is this: I can land the airplane! Not always perfect, but I can land it.

Time: 1.3 hrs dual, TT 27.3 hrs, C152 at ORH

Getting the Green Light (Lesson #22)

This was a pretty good lesson considering the week off and the crappy weather. There was a slight but noticeable crosswind, and we stayed in the pattern in N47261, which is the underachieving C152 (climbs like a bumblebee). Started out with runway 11 and did OK on takeoffs (some drift) and pattern (crabbing for wind MOST of the time). Landings were a little rough, but I flared and got the plane down, even with some wind correction.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When I bounce, I have a tendency to lower the nose to try to paste it on the runway. BAD MOVE. When you bounce, you are still flying and have to land AGAIN. You don't want to land on the nose wheel. KEEP THE NOSE UP AND ADD SOME POWER IF NECESSARY. Also, TRACK ALONG THE RUNWAY -- I put some bad side loads on the gear last night. AND THINK ABOUT THE WIND. Use ailerons for drift, straighten the nose WITH THE OPPOSITE RUDDER. I got confused on the proper rudder to apply and/or I let off on the correction too soon.

Another thing is speed. I'm still getting slow sometimes and I don't really know why. It should be easy -- 75 downwind, 70 base, 65 final, boom. Once established, I do a lot better if I just look at my landing spot and BARELY GLANCE at airspeed.

There were a lot of jets around last night, and at one point a Hawker was slowly back-taxiing to get to the end of the runway (they want all 7000 feet I guess). I was on downwind, so the tower (Dave, he's a student pilot too -- should see if I can visit up there some time) told us to do a 360 when abeam the numbers then report back when abeam again. This gave the Hawker time to get in place and take off (caution wake turbulence). Pretty cool! Mario handled the radio on this part -- I didn't expect it and wasn't sure what to read back. Mario also asked the tower to give me a light signal before the first takeoff (green - clear to take off, clear to land if airborne). He wanted me to see what it looks like -- good idea. I need to memorize the signals (I know them well enough for the multiple choice FAA questions).

Finally we had to switch runways from 11 to 29 by doing a right 90 followed by a 270 onto the new runway heading. Mario did the radio on this one, but we agreed that it was good to have seen a couple of these ATC-ordered pattern spacing maneuvers before I solo. Another student told me he got two of these on his first solo and had never seen them before -- he just wanted to land! He's got 37 hours and is almost ready for his check ride (needs night x-country and long solo x-country, figures he'll complete in 43 hours, wow!). He was a 20-something heading off to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical U in Florida to train as a commercial pilot, and he wanted to complete his private before enrolling. I could have probably learned faster in my twenties, too. But all in good time, grasshopper. Mario told me to study the Part 61 & 91 student pilot/solo regs before Saturday's flight, so maybe…

Time: 1.2 hrs dual, TT 26.0 hrs, C152 at ORH

Learning to Land (Lesson #21)

This was an awesome lesson. Wind was very calm first thing in the morning (I called ATIS and ASOS from home) so I didn't have to sweat the crosswind stuff, just concentrate on flying a solid pattern, good approach, and FLARE. I've just about got that part now, though I still have a tendency to stray from the centerline at the very end and to relax my control of the airplane once it's on the ground (but still rolling and maybe even before the nose wheel is down). I'm also still a flying a bit slow on base and final (get the nose down!!!), but I could possibly solo next lesson if it's calm.

I experienced a lot of stuff today, in nine landings (all touch and go but the last, no go-arounds, no Mario saves):

· Simulated engine out -- "lost your engine" on downwind near the numbers -- Mario pulls idle power. First try I set best glide but still "squared off" the pattern and needed to add power to reach the threshold. BAD MOVE. Set best glide (65 knots) and HEAD FOR THE RUNWAY NOW (then communicate with ATC if there's time, "request priority landing, engine out emergency"). Second time I made it with plenty of room.

· Patterns with NO instruments. I did three or four of these. Mario covered up EVERYTHING, even the tach. I flew smoother this way (don't be a slave to the instruments in VFR!), though I was high on one landing, and Mario demonstrated a forward slip (this was probably a Mario save, can't remember). Nice to know I can fly a reasonable pattern and approach in pure "seat of the pants" VFR.

· No flaps landing -- did one or two of these -- come in shallow and faster than normal. Landed at maybe 70 knots. Not bad, not really any harder than normal as long as there's no crosswind.

· Had to expedite one turn to crosswind because a jet was ready to depart. Watched it take off from the downwind leg, a nice view. First time I've gotten "caution, wake turbulence" from ATC -- not a factor since we touch down and take off in the first 3000 or 4000 feet of runway and the jet lifted off at 5000+ feet.

Mario felt I made real progress on both this and the Friday lesson - me too. I'm really landing the airplane (as long as there's a minimal crosswind). Cool. Remaining problems -- still slowing too much on base and final, often around 60 instead of desired 70 then 65. What's up with this? And I get a bit confused on controls when I start to drift near touchdown -- don't want to bank much down here, use rudders more (and correctly). Better to get the corrections in earlier when they are smaller! Thank goodness for the wide runway. But I was very close to centerline on most of the landings. The flares were pretty decent -- a bit hard on a couple, a bit floaty on a couple more. But overall, a great lesson. I feel really comfortable in the airplane now.

Oh yeah, I also need to MEMORIZE the control positions for taxiing with wind! This is important in the feather-weight C152. I still get confused on this and when I'm holding the yoke, my hands want to steer with it, even though my feet know that this is their job. Useful tip: Use the heading indicator to visualize where the wind is with respect to the airplane. If it's coming from 320 degrees, use the directional gyro to show where it is coming from as you steer around the airport. Another thing: requesting "the option" from the tower means (if cleared for it) that you have the option for touch and go, go around, simulated engine-out approach, or full-stop landing. Only request this when the pattern is pretty free of traffic -- common courtesy to other pilots.

Time: 1.3 hrs dual, TT 24.8 hrs, C152 at ORH

All But the Flare (Lesson #20)

This one looked like it might not happen at all. With only 29/11 available due to construction on 33, crosswinds are normal, but AWOS/ATIS sounded bad. They had 350º at 19 knots, gusting to 26, variable 340-020º which gave a crosswind component of 16.5 knots, which exceeded the demonstrated 12 knots for the C152, though Mario said HE could do it, carry more speed and use minimal flaps. But me??? We briefly considered Fitchburg, 10 minutes NE with a runway 32, but it turns out the C152 had only half-full tanks, so no-go. We called weather again and the winds seemed to be calming, so we went for it.

We ended up doing 9 landings, and on the first 4 I managed to learn to recognize my wind drift and fly a wind-corrected pattern fairly well. I held my speed better too, though I need a lot of work on control positions for taxiing the airplane! The first few approaches were all over the place, but then I finally started to get it and managed to hold right yoke and left rudder and pitch to keep the approach spot fixed on the windscreen. Mario said "you're getting this!"

The trouble was the flare - still no clue on when to start it and how fast and how much to pull. Mario did the first few with a rushed "my airplane" each time. The last 2 or 3 were me, but my one full landing was REALLY hard on the right wheel. Mario used the long runway to make it look easy to roll along the centerline on the upwind (right) wheel, but I could not control it that precisely. But everything else was working at the end. We even had to switch to right traffic to clear the way for an incoming Dash 8 from the south (new American Eagle flights to/from JFK I guess). This was tough the first time (right wing hides your ground references), but I did OK, though sometimes I would forget the crab and just get parallel to the runway, then drift too close. This means that with the fast ground speed on the turn to base, I had only a second or two to get flaps in and turn final. On one of these, I was really slow and Mario took the airplane and did a couple of steep turns to get us lined up.

A couple of times we took an extended downwind to give me more time on final to get established. This helped. After the lesson, Mario was very encouraging, said I made real progress on all but the flare. Tomorrow morning (0700!) we will work on that part. Solo will be… when I'm ready! But I'm getting close. One thing that helped on final (oddly enough) was the sun -- it was low and straight ahead for approach to 29 so I could barely see the instruments. This meant I had to look outside (to hold the touchdown point fixed on the window), which was better for me anyway! I tried to explain some of my perceptual difficulties to Mario at the start of the lesson (I know I should see that drift, but I don't!), and it also helped to discuss and diagram the likely wind picture on the ground before we flew -- I was starting to visualize it, and plan for it.

We did encounter wind shear on a couple of approaches. I was holding right yoke and left rudder and had a good line up when suddenly it went bad. I'm thinking, what did I screw up? But Mario explained that the wind shifted just then so you just adjust to what you see. He emphasized that I CAN control the airplane, I'm the pilot, so don't be afraid to make it do what you want. I'm getting there!!! We took a few pictures too -- there were some awesome clouds out there, including some towering cumulus or thunderstorm clouds with flashes of lightning underneath way east, near Boston.

Time: 1.3 hrs dual, TT 23.5 hrs, C152 at ORH

A MiG At Your Six (Lesson #19)

Of course I didn't literally have a MiG at my six, but to paraphrase an alleged fighter pilot quote ("A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all"), having landing problems is actually good because it means I am learning to land an airplane, something I have always wanted to do and something for which I am clearly not overly gifted. I know I can learn to do it, but it may take a bit longer! So relax and enjoy the ride. The real title of this note should have been "crosswind blues."

My real problems are consistency and multitasking. I was frustrated again tonight by my inability to implement stuff I know how to do, and have done in previous lessons. When it comes to smooth execution of the final 30 seconds or so from starting base to (almost!) landing -- that's where it breaks down for me. Paying attention to multiple things at once and remembering and executing the procedures. Tonight there was a substantial cross wind, and I thought I had the side slip technique, at least in concept. Wing low into the wind, point the nose down the runway with the rudder. The part I missed until attempt #4 was to HOLD the left aileron and to HOLD the right rudder the whole time (on final -- probably should crab first then transition to this since being cross-controlled down low with my tendency to get slow is a classic stall-spin set up -- need to discuss this with Mario). The thing is, it's not like a normal bank where you neutralize controls after establishing the desired bank. You find out what position of yoke and rudder straightens your path and alignment and HOLD THEM IN!!! Only adjust it if you overshoot or the wind changes or gusts.

I did not get this on three attempted touch and goes, and ended up drifting all over the width of runway 29 (150 feet wide!). On the last attempt, I had the control ALMOST (slight drift), but I basically forgot to flare, so Mario did this. He executed the go-around on the first three attempted T&G's. Good thing the airport was empty (as usual on a MVFR semi-rainy evening). So it was not my day, but nobody said I was Chuck Yeager, and Mike Love (not the Beach Boys' Mike Love, but the CFI author of a book I have called "Flight Maneuvers") says that cross wind landings require finesse and practice. Well, I'm working on part deux anyway! Mario is very patient and encouraging, though I sometimes wish he were a little more critical and a little better at diagnosing what I am doing wrong. We ended at 0.9 hours just when I started to get the slip procedure, but the weather had dropped below VFR with visibility under 3 miles, and the tower was having trouble keeping us in sight. Time to go home! As I taxied off the runway, a female deer was on the grass 50 feet to the right. She ran away when I gunned the engine to start taxi after doing the checklist.

N47261 is a pretty crummy little plane. Weird noises, barely climbs, barely keeps running in the idle check (with carb heat) at runup. At least they replaced the nearly bald right main tire before our flight today (we were the test pilots for this work, but I figure if the mechanics can't replace a tire correctly, we're in trouble on a lot of other stuff - I did a thorough preflight and checked the bolts, pins, and brakes carefully on that wheel). Try to get 661 next time!!!

Silver lining department: OK, so the crosswind landing thing needs a lot more work. Not to mention the basic landing thing. But look on the bright side:

• I'm flying -- it's not an F-16, but when I call the tower (nearly perfect on my radio work, Mario says), get "clear for takeoff," push full power, and take off, it's still VERY cool. Look, Ma, I'm flying the airplane!
• I'm doing many things pretty smoothly and consistently -- preflight, run up, radio work, taxi, takeoff, trim, climb out, straight and level, and pattern turns are all pretty good.
• Wind is a bitch. This is one area where sims may have hurt me a bit. Most combat sims have no wind model, and in a fast jet, typical winds are a minor correction anyway (though important in long range navigation, most of the time you just follow the waypoint caret anyway, and any wind correction is probably factored in by the nav system). At 65-75 knots in the pattern, a 5 or 7 knot cross wind is a big vector for a C152. And even thinking about the wind is hard for me, very abstract -- you can't see it directly, you have to learn to infer it from the airplane's behavior, although the reported wind gives you some clue of what to expect. I am starting to get the wind idea, crabbing and slipping and all.
• Rome wasn't built in a day. OK, so I had some early flight experience in the Piper Cub (no landings though), and I have years of sim experience (mostly in combat jets with questionable flight modeling and little attention paid to precise patterns, navigation, etc.). But I still have to learn to fly the real airplane in the real wind with the real instruments and controls, and I have to learn it at my own speed. Some lessons will feel like progress, others won't. But it's fun all the same to be doing this. There's nothing I want to do more! Before too long I will be a pilot, and I won't have this dream any more (I'll replace it with an accomplishment and probably set some new goals, like an instrument rating, aerobatics training, or buying an airplane -- did I say that?).

One last thing. PREPARE. I did do some reading on landings and stuff yesterday, but I didn't review my notes on past lessons and mistakes, and I still don't have the instrument/outside scan and pattern procedures down cold. They should be smooth and continuous, not sequential. Things happen quick up there, even at a paltry 70 knots. I could even rehearse the steps in my car or in a chair, with or without a sim. The mental game of flying!

The consistency will come with practice -- I have 22 hours now, but only 4 of them are very recent. Flying at least once a week will help with this too.

Time: 0.9 hrs, TT 22.2 hrs, C152 at ORH

Rust Never Sleeps (Lesson #18)

Even after flying around the world in economy class, I was ready to once again take the even more cramped left seat of a C152. The 2+ week layoff really hurt me, as did the 2+ hours hanging around the FBO for the flight (1:00 scheduled, but shit happens as usual -- but by the time I flew I was feeling time pressure because I had to pick up J & C and take them places). Not Mario's fault, but it gets annoying sometimes. ANYWAY, it was clear and warm, about 85 F, and with full fuel tanks and close to 400 lbs of adults on board, the C152 was a bit sluggish. We could barely get 400 FPM out of it. Runway was 29, winds 270 at 5 or so. Crosswind picked up as we got back for landings.

Preflight was fine, got ATIS (which expired while I was fumbling through the checklist, Charlie went to Delta) but I made the radio call to ground early, before I had completed the pre-taxi checklist. READ AND FOLLOW CHECKLISTS. That should be so easy, but I get sloppy, in a rush to get going. Bad plan! My radio calls were good, overall. Taxi this time with wind-awareness -- left quartering tail wind -- REVIEW YOKE POSITION FOR TAXI WITH WINDS. Takeoff was pretty good, I tracked the 290 degree departure heading pretty well and trimmed for my 67 knot climb (later slowed to Vx around 60 kts to try to get better climb rate). Straight out departure to the vicinity of Spencer, and I knew where to expect Spencer Airport when Mario asked me, good checkpoint awareness. Bit of turbulance around 3000 feet.

First up (my request) was slow flight, and I was sloppy. Started by NOT doing a real clearing turn. Slowed to approach speed and configuration and did some shallow turns. So-so on these -- poor altitude, heading, and rudder control. We did these for maybe 15 minutes before heading back to ORH for some pattern work, two T&G's and a full-stop. These were VERY sloppy. Pattern was OK, I'm really OK up until the key position, but there I always start to let my speed drift, and I'm not well-trimmed for the speeds I need (75 downwind, 70 base, 65 final). My turns were VERY sloppy and I overshot the turn to final each time, partly due to the wind.

Crosswind was also a pain on final -- trying to slip, bank into wind and straighten ground track with rudder, but VERY sloppy on this. I guess I really don't "get it" as far as real action on the crosswind. Flare was high each time, and I bounced and drifted laterally, with Mario needing to take the airplane on one landing, the others saved by me (adding power at M's prompting). Mario said I did fine, but it didn't feel so great. But tonight I have another lesson at 7 and we will stay in the pattern and I will get this landing thing figured out!

Time: 1.1 hrs, TT 21.3 hrs, C152 at ORH

Starting to Get It! (Lesson #17)

It was cloudy and light rain at ORH, but when I called Mario, he said OK as long as we stay in the pattern (low ceiling, clouds coming in, but still VFR). So we did, and I had a GREAT lesson! I did 6 touch-and-goes and one full stop landing, and two of them were actually pretty good. The others were bouncy, high-flare jobs, but Mario only had to take over on one of them (I added power to salvage one bouncer myself). I felt good, felt like I was actually doing most of the things I know I should do. I was fairly relaxed and felt in control of the airplane and myself. And Mario says I'm just about ready to solo! He said I was really flying the airplane out there last night. One or two more lessons and we will get that psychological barrier and life milestone out of the way. Unfortunately this will be in early July since I leave Saturday for my Korea to Germany business trip (around the world on UA and LH).

The good news items include:
• Followed checklists in detail this time, preflight, engine start, run-up, etc., no skipped steps or backtracking.
• Handled all the radio calls myself, from taxi to landing, including the base call for each touch-and-go.
• Good taxiing -- stayed on the lines (remembering that the reference point is in front of MY eye, not the center of the cowling).
• Good takeoffs -- nice rotation, trim, hold 67-70 knots, stayed aligned with the runway heading until crosswind turn at 1700 feet.
• I remembered and followed all the pattern steps with almost no prompting.
• I used trim much better, especially on climb-out and level off for the downwind leg. With this, I was able to fly with a very light touch and no PIO. This also helped me to stay quite close to pattern altitude (2000') once I got there.
• My patterns were reasonably rectangular and I sometimes corrected for the slight crosswind, though I varied on this. Used shallow turns, none over 30 degrees, and rolled out aligned with the runway on most approaches.
• I noticed the spot on the windshield that did not move on touchdown.
• Looked down the runway for flare height cues (but didn't read them right most of the time!).
• Good takeoffs on the touch-and-goes -- get flaps up, carb heat off, full power, steer with small corrections. I did swerve a bit sometimes, and I kept too much weight on the nose wheel sometimes, leading to a dreadful rumbling.
• Did not get flustered when we passed briefly through a cloud on downwind -- I just watched the attitude indicator.

The BAD news items include:
• Poor airspeed control on base and final -- need 70 knots on base, 65 knots on final, and I was not trimmed for this AND I chased the airspeed indicator when I was off speed. Need to pay more attention to the outside cues, where the nose is, and NOT get slow on final (e.g. 60 kts). Being stabilized on final will help the flare too, less variation to worry about.
• Got close to runway on downwind a couple of times, leading to a rushed turn to base and then final -- a carrier pattern! But this didn't give me time to handle flaps, radio, lineup, and air speed stabilization without feeling rushed. Part of this was the tower's request that we keep a tight pattern so he could keep us in sight (clouds were coming down) - Mario says on a better day, we could extend the downwind.
• High flare! I still start to get nervous with the "ground rush" in the last few seconds, worrying that I will land on the nose wheel, though I am still pretty high. This will come with a bit more practice and a stabilized final.
• Poor wind awareness -- I corrected for the wind sometimes but still didn't fully grasp what it was doing to me on each leg. It was not a bad wind, from 100º at 7 knots, while we were using runway 11 (110º), so it was just off by 10º from the left. Mario gave me a tip, not sure how general -- 100º wind direction was LESS than the 110º runway heading so crosswind was LEFT. Have to think about this one for other directions! It actually seems wrong based on the picture I just drew - LOOK THIS UP!
• Last landing was AWFUL -- bounced so much Mario said it should count as three landings. He said this often happens after a good session with touch-and-goes, on the full-stop landing the student loses focus and does a real stinker. Oh well, he said the total lesson was really quite good.
• Consistency! This is a major thing -- still a lot of variation and times when I fail to do things I know I should do AND know how to do. But this is part of the learning process too, and very typical. It's also related to confidence -- knowing I can do something, feeling free to make adjustments, not hesitating or always checking with the CFI. Mario says that the solo helps this too -- once you have experienced being the only "pilot in command," you know you can do it, and it makes it easier to learn the rest.

I am far from perfect, but with this lesson, the good news outweighs the bad, and I feel like I finally am really starting to "get it." Landing an airplane is starting to feel like a normal thing to do. I think I should be able to solo after maybe two more lessons (one to catch up after 2+ weeks away, then final prep and solo).

Time: 1.1 hrs dual TT 20.2 hrs, C152 at ORH

Pattern Work at ORH (Lesson #16)

One good flight deserves another, right? Well, the next couple of weeks will be busy, so I decided to take another lesson yesterday -- nothing for 10 months then two in two days! We got another late start on the scheduled 7 pm lesson and decided to stay in the ORH pattern (landing runway 11 this time, vs. 29 yesterday). This means we were landing a little south of east, 110º -- there was a crosswind from the north, so I had to crab to the right on the downwind, angling slightly north of the nominal 290º downwind heading to keep from toeing in and crowding the runway on downwind (something I tend to do anyway). It also increased my ground speed on base (tail wind) which contributed to my late turn to final (something I tend to do anyway!). I was so wide on the first one that I did a go-around (I tried to parallel the runway like an "upwind leg" but Mario told me I should be right over the runway for a go-around, so I flew over there). Good thing there was no other traffic there last night!

I never really "visualized" this crosswind, and I think this is what made my landings so rough. Since I was going EAST on final with a wind from the NORTH (left to right), I needed to crab into the wind to have the correct ground track -- bank to the left. Mario wanted me to hold in this bank (left yoke) and straighten the nose to track straight ahead by using RIGHT RUDDER. I more or less did this, but with overshoots and corrections, I was swinging all over the runway (good thing it's so wide). We did maybe five touch-and-goes, with Mario calling the tower to report left base each time (I was too task-saturated to think about the radio calls -- once he was so busy explaining something that he forgot to call base and got a mild reprimand from the tower -- "you seem to be on final, you can go ahead and land if you want" -- that's a real no-no at a controlled field, but it was otherwise dead there -- the controller was cool about it and Mario apologized).

Meanwhile it was getting dark (picture is from the Fly! simulator), another first for my flight lessons -- the last two were basically night landings. On all of the pattern work, I was quite tense and this showed on the yoke, PIO all over the place (pilot induced oscillation). As usual, when I'm busy I forget about trim, and I also notice overshoots late and tend to jerk the yoke back to where it should have been -- bad move! Things to remember and do:

· Use trim all the time! Trim is your friend! Establish the 67 knot descent near the end of the downwind and hold with trim. When off trim, I tend to get slow (nose high) then over-correct pushing the nose down. You don't want to be slow on base and final at 1000 feet AGL or less!

· Don't over-bank in the pattern -- 30º max, 20º even better!!! This isn't an F/A-18 carrier break!

· Think about the wind -- get a mental picture!

· Smooth, small inputs on the controls.

· Look to the end of the runway for the flare cues!

· Memorize the pattern procedure -- carb heat, power setting, descent, sight picture!

· Work on my instrument/outside scan! I tend to fixate on one or two things at a time.

· Memorize go-around procedure and the emergency procedures Mario gave me.

One cool thing that Mario demoed and I then tried was flying the pattern with ONLY trim and rudder, no yoke! Adverse yaw gives you your turns (right rudder to bank left), trim controls your nose (pitch) and therefore speed. This was a lot smoother than when I was horsing the yoke around. Mario says we will work on things like this to get me more comfortable with ALL the controls in the airplane (people have had primary control failures and used trim and rudder to land -- it can be done, and it could save your life).

I felt very overwhelmed and not very slick last night especially when Mario had to save a couple of the landings after a big bounce, but he said I'm doing fine for this stage, typical problems, and I'm not that far from solo. We need to work more on pattern and landings of course, and also on emergency procedures. He wants to put me under the IFR hood for a bit too, since I've never done that and it's important if you end up in a cloud. Somehow he seems more down to earth, patient, and positive than Kern -- I like him better as a CFI. I also bought a POH (handbook) for the C152 and my own fuel-tester. Yesterday I also got the E6B flight computer I ordered from Sporty's -- I prefer this over the slide rule thingy for the various calculations you need for flight planning. On my Korea trip, I will concentrate on completing the FliteSchool CD-ROM ground school course so I can take the written test in July. Depending on weather and other schedule factors, I hope to get 6 to 10 lessons in by September and solo the airplane. I will put $1000 in an account at Amity so I can get the $50 "club rate" on the C152 rather than the $56 standard rate.

Simulator Stuff
Meanwhile I decided to return the Saitek X36 stick/throttle set I bought last week, as cool as it is. I'll replace it with the new CH Flight Yoke LE USB (about $90 on the web), which will be much more realistic with Fly! I'll try using the existing CH Pedals with it (works OK with the Logitech though it's very jerky in the calibration screen), though I may later buy the USB Pro Pedals which include toe brakes (Fly! supports these). I think I can even work on pattern stuff that way -- set my RPM, watch my descent, put in a cross wind and crab or slip against it. Some of this is just getting the procedure to be totally routine, and I think Fly! is close enough to reality for this (though it's fuel-injected C172R with no carb heat to pull, vs. the 1980 C152 we are flying IRL - no biggy).

Time: 1.0 hrs dual, TT 19.1 hrs, C152 at ORH

Back in the Saddle (Lesson #15 - Start Phase 3)

I missed writing up a lesson or two with Kern last summer, I think, plus a rather poor showing in a C152 flight with a CFI named Jim, a real old-timer at Sterling (3B3) when I decided to try that out right when I was moving to this area (I just learned that Jim died of lung cancer last week, leaving Sterling with but one very busy CFI). So here I am in the next millennium, re-immersed in sims and deciding at age 47 (+1 day) that the clock IS ticking, and I better get some real flying in if I ever want to solo and get a PP certificate. I fixed up my insurance situation with a pilot-friendly level term policy. Yesterday we stopped by the Worcester Regional Airport (ORH, elevation 1009 feet) to pick up some info at the Amity Flight School. We were driving on to gigantic Quabban Reservoir, almost to Amherst, on a birthday outing to enjoy the wonderful weather and scenery -- and it turns out I did a power-off stall over the very same body of water today!

I should have reviewed these notes first, but it was a bit impulsive -- I called this morning and scheduled a one-hour lesson with a CFI named Mario for 1 pm. Things ran late due to ATC problems (a no-radio student pilot in the pattern was part of it). So we actually took off closer to 2:30 pm, from runway 29. ORH is a controlled airport with ATIS, ground control, and tower control. I did most of the radio work with guidance from Mario (early forties, African-American who reminds me of Arthur Ashe). Pre-flight, taxi, and runup went OK, a little weak in parts of the checklists as I got distracted by things like a two-engine turboprop airliner landing just in front of us as we held short! Takeoff was OK, though I drifted off the centerline as usual on climbout (hold that DAMN RIGHT RUDDER and figure out a reference point to use during this nose-high climb!). It was a "straight out" (not "direct" as I said on the radio) departure to the west.

By drifting, I ended up directly over the Spencer Airport, not a good place for maneuvers! We continued west (a bit NW) and did some steep turns, 45 degrees right and left. Surprisingly these were OK -- I lost about 150' on one and shallowed the banks a bit. Then he had me try some climbing and descending turns to specific headings and altitudes -- e.g. from 3000' heading north, climb and turn to reach 3500' at 180 degrees (south). I was not good on the timing, but I got better on the 3rd or 4th try -- need to (quickly!) establish the best speed for the climb or descent, THEN dial in the bank angle that will allow you to turn in the time it takes to reach the new altitude. Pretty cool.

Then over the Quabban itself, I did a power-off stall that was pretty good, though I didn't pull back hard enough to get a clean break without a bit of coaxing at the end. Mario said the examiner will most often ask for an imminent stall -- horn, buffet, identify, recover. Safer and quicker for them (full stall could lead to a spin if you botch the rudder too badly, not likely but posisble). Mario was always pointing out airports and good fields for emergency landings -- many out that way and good practice.

Finally I headed back SE toward ORH -- Mario asked me how to get back to the airport, and for once I KNEW! I spotted Mt. Wachusett and deduced the correct heading back to the airport. Spotted it about 6 miles out (it helps that it's on a large hill!). Do I have SA, or what? Well, "not" is probably correct, but in fact I had been looking at the charts a lot and flying test flights around Worcester in the new Fly! flight sim (I installed USGS-based scenery for Eastern Mass, using a freebee called TerraScene - now I need to get the Quabban area files to add to my region, since that's the typical practice area).

We called the tower to report our position over the town of Spencer (first flying there so we would be in position to get a left hand pattern, my preference -- ATC was handling both at ORH, and a glider who strayed too far from Sterling was in a right pattern for runway 29 -- the other two runways are closed for service, to make them wider and longer). We had to set up for a 45º entry onto the left downwind (for 29), which worked out to roughly north from where we were, and we used a pond as a guide to entering at the right (45º) angle. We had to call the downwind and then extend it for an arriving helicopter that I spotted first, low above the Worcester skyline to the east of the airport. I told Mario I was task-saturated with the pattern and traffic (and flaps!) and asked him to call the tower to report base and final. I turned base, rolling out early when I thought Mario said to do so, then corrected. I overshot the turn to final (surprise!) and had to S-turn far to the left to line up (careful to stay coordinated on this turn).

There was a moderate cross-wind that Mario thought I could handle, and I sorta could. He said "push hard right rudder to line up the nose, then bank to track the centerline. This was a cross-control maneuver, a slip really. I started OK but released the rudder too soon, then swayed back and forth with the ailerons, trying to correct the line up. Got the right rudder back in (maybe Mario helped on this part) and thought I was lower than I was, so I flared too high (another shocker!). I slipped some more, lined up, and landed mid-field, using up most of the remaining runway. Not my finest landing, but we walked away from it.

Overall Mario thought I did great considering no real flights since August 1999. I like him -- if I can fly with him once a week, I think I can make real progress. He doesn't seem as slick as a pilot (vs. Kern), but he is a lot more easy-going as a teacher. So now I have maybe 18 hours (and 47 years, as of yesterday!). I think the sim stuff, especially Fly! with the actual area airports, terrain, and navaids, will really help me -- even got rudders again -- Fly! supports multiple game devices, so stick/throttle can be USB and rudder (with a "dummy" stick to make Win98 see it) in the game port. Cool, cool, cool! But I want to fly for real once or twice more before Korea (less than two weeks -- that will be an interesting but nightmarish flight in itself, from Boston to Seoul to Germany and back home in maybe 10 days -- around the world, as they say).

Hey, I can fly today's flight in Fly! Dial in that crosswind…

Time: 1.0 hrs dual, TT 18.1 hrs, C152 at ORH

Landings and More Landings (Lesson #10)

This was a much better flight overall, though I'm still inconsistent in many ways. I landed three times at 1B6, one of them pretty good. Doing all the flying myself though Kern is still talking me through a lot (though now putting more on me -- are we high or low, OK low, so what? Right, add power or you won't make the runway). My lineups on final were bad -- once I was WAY over to the right and I guess I must have slipped to get back lined up (or maybe Kern helped on that one?). Once I flared quite high and "dropped it in" as they say. Given that I didn't fly at all for three-plus weeks, I think I actually did pretty well.

We started out looking for Norfolk Airport, planning to fill the tanks -- but we never found it! I wasn't worried but it shouldn't be so hard to find airports within 10 or so miles of 1B6. Of course I was just as clueless (but this is consistent with my experience level and the fact that most of my brain is engaged just holding altitude!). Weather was very clear though there was a LOT of sun glare from windshield scratches when flying toward the fast setting sun in the west.

Filled up the first page of my first log book! Yippee!

Points to remember: Trees, climb speed, nose position, rudder use, climbing turn, coordination, judging the point to start pattern turns, toeing into the runway on downwind, setup for 70 knot glide, TRIM!, judging the turn to final, judging too high/low, use of power, FLAPS!, staying lined up with runway, judging when to flare, radio calls, forgetting basic procedures.

Time: 1.4 hrs dual TT 12.7 hrs, C152 at 1B6

Get Your Nose Down Bruce (Lesson #9)

I didn't record any PC notes for this flight on the day I took it (today is 7/14/99). This was right before I left for Japan on 6/20 and it was a busy weekend! I flew with Kern to North Central Airport in RI (SFZ), my first takeoffs and landings away from 1B6. SFZ (shown here) is the nearest uncontrolled airport that has good size runways suitable for early landing practice (and taxiways too - 1B6 requires back-taxiing after every full stop landing). I'll add more later (there are a lot of hand notes in Flight #17, mostly done on the flight to Osaka the next day).

This is where I adopted the Native American name "Get-your-nose-down-Bruce" because I had a tendency to hold too much back pressure when the nose was supposed to be slightly down for the gliding descent in the landing pattern. This was perhaps an "instinctive" attempt to keep from going down too fast, but of course it would slow down the airplane more (not a good thing when you are slow for landing anyway, and close to the ground). I guess I did it a lot.

Time: 1.4 hrs dual, TT 11.5 hrs, C152 at 1B6

Editor's Note: Blogging this ancient history in October 2006, I note that SFZ ended up being the airport where I finally took and passed my check ride in May 2001, so it's interesting that this is where I first started to work seriously on landings. Maybe I'll dig out my old paper notebook "Flight #17" and update with those notes sometime, but probably not! The reason that it was #17 so early in my flight lesson career was that I had been keeping notebooks on my various flight sim experiences since 1994. Flight sims and a lot of reading were the reasons I knew so much of the basic flight stuff even on my intro lessons in 1997, though my practical skills lagged far behind my formal knowledge!

Practice in the Rain (Lesson #8)

It didn't look VFR to me -- gray and drizzly -- but clouds were all at 10,000 feet, the WX said, so Kern said "we're go." Well, they weren't ALL at 10K -- quite a few floating around at 1100-1500 feet gave us some trouble. Not to mention the C172 was in for 100 hour maintenance, so we flew the little C152 (not a bad little plane, though we were only 60 pounds under max gross weight, and it climbed VERY slowly). Kern took a Boston VFR Terminal Area Chart -- a good idea, it turns out.

Well, it's late, so I don't have time to give the gory details. I did better than last time but still rather spotty on holding altitude and keeping my nose where it should be and my eyes out of the cockpit. Taxied better (need work on even braking). First takeoff was still a bit hesitant (Kern said last flight I "kissed the ground goodbye," touching my wheels lightly after liftoff, insufficient back pressure and a dip in the runway). I did OK on the climbs, some drift, but OK on rudder and coordination I think. Practiced turns (including two 360's), climbs, descents. Little wind and poor ground viz, so we didn't do ground refs today. Visibility started to look QUITE poor in some directions when we reached 1500 feet, but we pressed on to 3000. Ended up west for a while, then south, then north, then south -- then lost!

Not exactly LOST, but neither of us really knew where the airport was, and there were a LOT of clouds around. Kern tuned in the Putnam VOR (in CT, 122.8), knowing the 074 radial points straight to 1B6 (we practiced intersecting a radial, I guess!). But we got confused by the lack of recognized landmarks, the clouds, and the fact that we BOTH forgot we had crossed Rt 140 at some point (we were briefly actually IN some of the clouds -- Kern is instrument rated of course, but it's still not a good idea). So it took a couple of iterations with the VOR to get us back -- Kern was real annoyed with himself. I was never worried especially -- we had a lot of fuel and plenty of places to land if need be. Coolness or clueless? Good question - I really did relax and enjoyed a few minutes of sightseeing while Kern took the controls and tried to find a recognizable landmark (he was not as good as I expected at this, oddly enough, considering his long experience, but in fairnesss, he really doesn't know the Hopedale area that well yet).

ALWAYS carry a VFR Boston area chart, PAY CLOSER ATTENTION to landmarks -- maybe try to say "we're southwest of the airport, maybe 10 miles" to track our position.

Finally Kern talked me through the pattern on a left upwind entry from the south (runway 36). Again, sloppy on nose attitude and altitude control, but I managed, and we both were on the controls for the final approach, flare, and landing. Then we back-taxied and took off for one more time around the pattern -- this time I controlled the takeoff much more smoothly (smaller "pressure like" excursions on the rudder pedals compared to large excursions needed for taxi at low speeds). Overall a very educational and enjoyable flight (finally hit double figures in logged time, barely).

Next lesson in two days! Then off to Japan for two weeks (oy!). I think I may be able to solo this summer if I can make progress as Kern expects. I have my student pilot flight physical scheduled for July 8 in Newton (another $75 for that, but I'll be qualified to solo if I pass). Better check my eyes with these glasses before the test…

Time: 1.2 hrs dual, TT 10.1 hrs, C152 at 1B6

My "Flight of Passage" (Lesson #7 - Start Phase 2)

It's funny how I met Kern Buck -- in September 1998 I read the book his brother Rinker Buck wrote about their flight across the US in a radioless Piper Cub back in 1967 (Flight of Passage). Then I heard his name in the waiting room at Jiffy-Lube in Milford when we were both having our cars serviced, and I introduced myself (maybe March '99?). We talked on the phone a few times, kinda fun, he was renewing his CFI rating and said we'd go flying when he did.

Well, he did, and we did! Flew a C172 (N738NL) on a gorgeous, windless Saturday morning in Hopedale, where Kern is now a freelance CFI (I guess). We preflighted the airplane together, and I handled all the operations, taxi, and takeoff (he did the radio calls). We worked on the four fundamentals since it had been so long since I flew (climbs, glides, straight & level, turns). He talked me through the approach and I followed through on controls for the landing (he had some trouble finding the airport when we were out west near Mendon -- it's a new flying area for him, he took his IFR instruction at Hanscom).

I did OK on taxi, takeoff (a little hesitant on pulling back at Vr), straight and level, and climbs. Turns were pretty good too, I think, though I gained or lost some altitude on some of them. On glides, I got so hung up on speed that I lost track of my directional control and let the nose wander all over the place. NEED TO HOLD SOME LEFT RUDDER ON A GLIDE. Why??? Shit, I forget!

I don't really have the money for frequent lessons, but I'd like to fly once a month and not worry TOO much about "progress" -- make some slow progress, keep my hand in the flying game. Maybe do self study to take the written exam. Kern would really like to "solo me" this summer or fall, and at $90/hour, we're talking "only" about $1000 for the 10 or 11 hours that this would probably take (I thought I had more time than I do -- there are some unlogged hours, but I probably need around 10 hours of "recent" time to really be able to solo. I'd also have to get my medical exam -- don't have to take the written before solo, but that would be cool too). It's "only" $1000 but with everything else I'm doing, it's kinda tough. I should really level with Kern on this -- if he wants weekly flights, he needs to get an additional student, not just me!

I like Kern -- he's an interesting guy, certainly, and seems OK as a CFI, pretty relaxed, but not as relaxed as Bjorn. Of course this was our first flight, and his first flight in a long time as CFI (though he has 2000 flight hours, 1000 of them as CFI). We need to get our goals in synch -- I'd love to fly a lot and solo and get my ticket ASAP, but money is too tight for this right now.

Follow-up: I spoke with Kern about scheduling more lessons. During the call, Kern told me that he thought my flying was really good, and that I knew most of the basics pretty well. He said I really just need work on integrating it all, practice and pointers, and that within about 2 lessons we could start to work on takeoffs and landings, with the idea of solo by the end of this summer! That would be so cool! Trouble is that 8-10 hours will cost $800-1000, and with house plans underway, money and time are tight. BUT IF NOT NOW, WHEN? Kern says if you love it, then find a way to do it -- don't keep putting it off. And it's important to fly regularly, like once a week (travel permitting) so I don't keep backsliding and having to review for half the lesson. I'M GONNA TRY FOR IT!!! Take a look at the budget...

Time: 0.9 hrs dual TT 8.9 hrs, C172 at 1B6

Going in Circles (Lesson #6 - End of Phase 1)

Bjorn was back from Sweden and the weather looked good for the weekend (unseasonably warm, in the 70’s), but Saturday afternoon was too gusty to fly. So I rescheduled for Sunday morning at 8:30. It was still a little windy and picked up through the flight, though above 3500’ it was pretty smooth. I was late in rotating on the takeoff (watching for 60 mph for Vr, but the nose wheel started to shimmy – it was actually a crummy takeoff, and a sign of things to come!). I thought I would do a little better because I had spent about an hour on Saturday sitting in the cockpit of the 172 to be more familiar with the instruments and controls. It didn’t help!

When we got to 3000’ (over Woonsockett, which I incorrectly guessed to be Mendon! No SA either!), Bjorn had me start doing some steep turns, 45° left and right, trying to return to my starting point in heading without losing altitude. I sucked at this! My big problem was overcontrolling and using jerky, fast inputs on the wheel. Second, I was not really aware of what the “sight picture” should be out the window, and I kept looking at the attitude indicator. I applied control movements sequentially rather than simultaneously, and I failed to notice when the nose was going down from insufficient back pressure in the turn. Sometimes I would overbank (30° normal turns don’t require much opposite aileron, if any – but at 45°, the airplane wants to keep rolling into the turn, so you have to apply some opposite aileron to hold the 45°, plus jimmy the wheel around to keep the wind from knocking you out).

The big problem with the nose dropping was caused by not applying smooth back pressure at the same time as I moved from 30° to 45° in the bank – then I would have to roll BACK to 30, apply back pressure, then go to 45 again and try to hold it. I felt like a one-armed juggler – I just could not keep all these things in mind at the same time! Grrrr!!! Bjorn did a couple of demos and made it look easy – on the first one, we felt a little bounce of turbulence as he returned to the exit point he started and went through our own wake.

I need to ask him to get the black disks to cover some of the instruments to force me to be more “eyes out of the cockpit.” Maybe I also need a sort of review lesson of basic stuff – standard turns, straight and level, setting up for climbs and dives. This three or 4 weeks between lessons is pretty frustrating, but that’s life as we know it. The budget will not take much more than this.

On the way back to 1B6, we went through a simulated emergency landing setup, cutting power and using the airport as our emergency field. The one thing I did well was setting up for best glide speed at 75 mph. But I let the wind drift me all over the place, and we were way too high and fast for the landing, so I did a go-around (probably my first – maybe 200’ above the runway, apply full power, establish a climb – I forgot to raise the flaps, of course!).

I really do need to go in a day or two before each lesson and sit in the airplane and rehearse the procedures we will do. Next up is slow flight (again!). At this rate, I’ll be doing landings, oh let’s see, when I’m 63?!?!

Time: 1.0 hrs dual TT 8.0 hrs (C172 at 1B6)

Editor's Note: With the divorce and other stuff going on, money and time just got too tight, and I didn't take any more lessons with Bjorn - in fact this was the last lesson until May 1999! This was the end of my "phase 1" attempt to get my pilot's license (1997-1998) - there would be another brief attempt in 1999 and the big push that finally succeeded in 2000-2001.