June 2017 – Armstrong Aviation

June 8, 2017June 8, 2017

First unsupervised solo

I took the day off of work today so I could get my first true solo flight done. Man, I was full of conflicting emotions on the drive to the airport — a lot of excitement and pride to be sure, but also some anxiety and nervousness about truly being on my own.

I couldn’t have picked a nicer day — no wind, just a few clouds waaaaay up there, and good visibility. I checked in with an instructor before I went up just to go over the weather and make sure I hadn’t missed anything. All looked well so off to preflight I went!

I gave the plane a very thorough look over and everything looked OK. I started up and sat there for a minute before calling ground, just sort of letting it all sink in. Then I realized the money meter was running so I steeled my nerves and called for my taxi clearance.

We were using runway 35 as 26/8 were closed for maintenance. I was a little nervous about this since 35 is a slightly tricky pattern and approach, but I figured I’d just bumble my way through and see how it went. I taxied out to the runway, did my runup checks, and after a few minutes I was ready to go. A minute later I was in the air and all my focus shifted to flying a nice pattern.

I got a touch high on altitude but everything else was going OK — my speeds were on point, I called tower and got my landing clearance, and I remembered the proper noise abatement procedures for the 35 approach. Before long I was in the valley on final. I brought it in for a pretty nice landing and then I made my worst mistake of the day — I turned right off the runway instead of left (and worse, pointed my aircraft in the wrong direction once clear of the runway).

Ugh! I had even thought about this before starting the flight and KNEW I had to turn left to get back to taxiway Delta… not a huge deal, ground had me taxi over on Bravo, but I’m sure they were wondering what the hell I was doing. I did an awkward turn to the right to get back in the right direction and rolled back to the runway feeling a little embarrassed.

All in all I did 6 trips around the pattern. On a few of them I was following other traffic so my upwind legs were a little extended, but aside from that they were pretty uneventful. The first four landings were pretty decent, the last two not so much. Of course, my instructor was up with another student and they were following me on final on my last lap. I think that made me a little nervous and I touched down a little more… firmly… than I like to. All in all, though, it wasn’t terrible and I’m pretty sure they’ll be able to use the plane again!

I called ground for clearance back to the active — I thought I could squeeze one more lap in, but then I looked at my watch and realized I’d better get the plane back to the school for the next guy. I told ground I actually wanted to go to the FBO and after a short taxi I was shutting down.

I took a picture of my timesheet for the flight as a memento:

Timesheet from first unsupervised solo flight — Hope I did the math right!

All in all, it was a good flight. Slightly nerve-racking at times, but I kept control of the plane, played nice with the other traffic, and got the plane safely back on the ground (six times, even!) During the whole time I kept hearing my instructor’s voice — keep your speed up! Watch your ground track! MORE RIGHT RUDDER!

At the end, I sat in my car and filled out my logbook by myself for the first time. My hands were still shaking a little from the adrenaline — one day I’ll look back at that scratchy handwriting and remember what it felt like to truly be on my own for the first time!

The CloudAhoy track for the flight is below — click the image to view it.

Flight time today: 1.4 hours
Total simulated instrument flight time to date: 0.6 hours
Total PIC time to date: 3.2 hours
Total flight time to date: 48.8 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 181
Total landings to date: 178

June 4, 2017June 8, 2017

Third solo – and the leash comes off!

It looked like it was going to be a nice day to fly — low winds, high ceiling, great visibility. I was hoping to get a bit more solo time in, and I wasn’t disappointed.

I did a few laps with my instructor and I was feeling a bit rusty (even though I had just flown yesterday!) My first landing was poor and I plopped it down a bit hard on the runway. We went around a few more times — the landings got better, but I was still making a few mistakes. My CFI pulled the power on me while I was on base during one of the laps, proving the point that I had descended a little too low and I wouldn’t have made the runway in an engine out scenario. That was a sobering lesson.

Just when I was thinking that maybe I wouldn’t be soloing today, my instructor had me drop him off and I was on my own again! I did three trips around the pattern. On the first one, I came in pretty high (my instructor’s lesson on premature descents still fresh in my mind). I didn’t like the way the sight picture was shaping up, so I executed my first solo go-around. I figured that would make my instructor happy!

I snapped a quick pic while I was holding short for some landing traffic. I wish I could get some in-air pics, but there’s just too much going on while in the pattern to even think about distracting myself with a camera. Hopefully when I do some cross country work I’ll be able to get some more interesting shots.

I turned crosswind a little early and started feeling a bit behind the plane…did I just mess up the whole pattern? How was I going to salvage this? Luckily I kept it together and got on a normal downwind and eventually came in for a pretty nice landing.

Second trip around was routine, but on the third things got a little interesting. I was following another Cessna and was just about to turn base. We had a King Air coming in for a straight in on the same runway (26). Tower first asked me to keep a tight pattern behind the Cessna, but when I turned base I guess he realized he wouldn’t have time to get me down before the King Air was on top of me (they had already slowed down to allow for spacing but they were still a lot faster than I was!)

Tower asked me to extend my base and keep heading North. I complied, and after a minute they told me I could make a right turn and follow the King Air in. This was a bit of a new approach for me, but it wasn’t anything mind-blowing…I just followed tower’s instructions and turned in to final once I had the King Air in sight and they had crossed abeam my wing.

I brought it in for a bit of a sloppy landing (the winds were starting to pick up a bit). I probably had enough time for one more lap, but I decided I was done for the day and took the plane back to the FBO.

I debriefed with my instructor and he told me I’m cleared for unsupervised solo flights — he wants me to rack up 4 hours of solo time before I see him again. Wow — the leash is off, and next time I fly it will be completely unassisted! Looking forward to a new challenge ahead!

Below is the CloudAhoy track for the solo portion of the flight — click the image to view it. You can see the extended base and right turns the tower had me take pretty clearly.

Flight time today: 1.6 hours
Total simulated instrument flight time to date: 0.6 hours
Total PIC time to date: 1.8 hours
Total flight time to date: 47.4 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 175
Total landings to date: 172

June 3, 2017

Second solo

Today looked to be shaping up as a fine weather day — ATIS was showing calm winds, 11,000ft ceilings, and unlimited visibility. The weather briefer showed some rain showers to the South of Danbury, but nothing too close to the airport. And when I arrived at the airport, I learned that today is my CFI’s birthday!

What better present for me to give him than a well-flown lap around the pattern?

Arriving at the plane we spied some lower clouds around the airport, probably 6,500ft or so. This wouldn’t prevent me from soloing, but we’d have to keep an eye on them. We took off from runway 26 with a few other planes in the pattern and I made left traffic.

We had to extend our upwind and downwind legs to account for the traffic, but I had the plane pretty well-controlled and was hitting my speed and altitudes. As I turned onto the long final approach, I was coming in a bit low — I had dropped flaps to 20° a bit too early. I added some power to compensate.

My first landing wasn’t great. A little crosswind had picked up and I corrected for it wrong — too much rudder and not enough aileron. I came in off the centerline, but at least my flare was decent.

We did another lap with another long approach and this time I managed my descent better. I was letting the plane get a bit too slow on final, so that is something I will have to pay more attention to… It’s extremely important not to slow down too much on final, lest you stall or lose elevator effectiveness and drop the plane in to the runway. This landing was much better, right on centerline and a smooth flare.

We went around one more time with another decent landing and my instructor told me to drop him off at the FBO. I was going up on my own again!

As I was taxiing to the runway, I snapped this shot — not the best picture because I didn’t want to lose control of the airplane. In hindsight, I should’ve waited until I was stopped at the hold short line before even thinking of taking a picture, but I was excited and wanted some kind of memento! You can see some of the cloud cover I was watching — definitely lower than 11,000ft!

The first lap around was uneventful. I was the first in the pattern so I didn’t have to follow any traffic. My landing was OK — I was working on keeping my speed up on approach, but I think I took the power out too early after crossing the threshold. After debriefing with my CFI, I now know that sometimes I will have to carry a little power until just before touchdown. I ballooned a tiny bit in the flare but held off and corrected it. I was expecting to thud down on the runway but it was actually a pretty smooth landing (I guess my height above the runway when starting the flare was correct!)

On the second takeoff it started getting a little turbulent. I was watching my ground track, doing well on speed, doing pretty well on altitude (got the plane a little high but corrected quickly). There was a plane taking the runway as I was on final — that worried me a bit but he took off quickly and wasn’t a factor. My landing was nice — a smooth flare and I kept it centered.

Third time around the wind started picking up. As I was on short final I was having to correct for the wind a bit and also manage my speed, which was bouncing between a touch too slow and a touch too fast. Again I think I pulled power too soon and this time I thumped the plane down on the runway. It wasn’t as hard as some of my first landings, but it definitely wasn’t a nice, smooth touchdown. At this point I decided to take the plane back in even though I still had time for one more lap. It was getting bumpy and I was getting a bit behind the plane, so better to avoid overload and end on a positive note.

When I got back to the FBO, my instructor was nowhere in sight! Turns out he had gone back inside after hearing I was coming back to the base. That gave me a little boost of confidence — even though I am flying and taxiing by myself now, I still thought he’d be watching me like a hawk until the plane was shut down. As it turns out, I didn’t even have to push back and tie down — the school was having an open house today and were putting the plane on display, so the line guys were waiting with a tug to get her in position. Score!

I survived and they’ll be able to use the plane again, so all in all a great solo flight! Landings haven’t become automatic yet — I still need to remind myself to look down the runway when rounding out, and I still don’t have a complete grasp on everything — but, as my CFI said, “Your landings aren’t expected to be perfect right now, just safe and reasonable.” It’s still a bit nerve-racking to be in the plane by myself — but it’s also exhilarating!

I recorded the solo portion of the flight on CloudAhoy — click the image below to check out the track. Pretty nice pattern work, if I don’t say so myself!

Flight time today: 1.2 hours
Total simulated instrument flight time to date: 0.6 hours
Total PIC time to date: 1.0 hours
Total flight time to date: 45.8 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 168
Total landings to date: 165