solo flight – Armstrong Aviation

November 13, 2018

Back in the saddle

Wow, can’t believe it’s been over a year since my last post! If I had any readers, this is where I would apologize for the long absence. Luckily, I don’t need to worry about that.

Truth is, it’s been a choppy year. I didn’t fly much at all in 2018 — a combination of life happening, weather, scheduling conflicts, etc… I was also getting pretty burned out – I just couldn’t get the hang of the landings in the Piper and it was starting to piss me off. I think my instructor was getting frustrated as well. Everything else was working out great — radio work, plane handling, navigation…everything except for a proper landing.

Finally, one lesson it started to click. Instead of trying to land the plane I thought about just “hovering” above the runway and trying to hold off landing as long as possible. This wasn’t new to me, I’d heard plenty of people say, “try not to land!” but it never really clicked. Now it was finally making it from brain to hands/feet and I had a few decent landings.

Then the universe conspired against me. I wound up taking a few months off after the summer and didn’t fly at all — a combination of plane/CFI scheduling conflicts, family stuff I had to take care of, travel, work, etc… I found I wasn’t really thinking about aviation any more, I had lost the passion. I was actually considering throwing in the towel, but that didn’t sit well with me. One, I’m not a quitter and I don’t like to give up on a challenge. Two, it would be so embarrassing to tell people I had given up and wouldn’t be getting my certificate. Nah, quitting wasn’t an option. So I spent the summer learning how to operate a power boat and stayed out of the air for a bit.

Last week I had some time off of work so I booked multiple lessons with my CFI. I was worried I would be crazy rusty, but it was encouraging how quickly I got back into it. I made some mistakes but all small stuff, nothing major. Unfortunately my first lesson back had some wicked crosswinds and gusts so we worked on a couple landings and called it a day. I was hoping that the glimmer of hope from my last lesson would carry over, and it did — even though my landings weren’t great due to the crosswinds, my rollout/flare technique was much better.

The following day was my birthday and was much nicer. We went out and did a bunch of touch-and-gos and I was nailing it! FINALLY! I could land the @#^$*%# plane!! I thought a solo might be in my future and thought how cool it would be to solo on my birthday. Alas, it was not to be that day. We landed and my instructor told me he’d solo me on our next lesson (assuming I performed as well as I had during this lesson).

The next day we flew again — however my friend the wind was back and it was too gusty for soloing. We practiced some crosswind stuff and came back home.

I had a couple days of bad weather and then everything aligned — high viz and moderate (~6kts) wind. We went up for a few laps and then it happened — my instructor told me to drop him off and go have fun.

I have to say, the second solo was just as exciting as the first time. I was in a different plane in a different airport and it felt like I had leveled up from the first solo. Also, all the extra hours I had put in had really solidified my plane handling — where before I struggled to hold an altitude or heading, now that stuff was (for the most part) automatic. I was beginning to get a feel for the airplane, able to feel when something needed tweaking before it got out of hand. Of course, I’m still a damn newb and have a lot to learn, it’s just that I feel so much more in control than the first time I soloed.

So I did three laps around the pattern with three very good landings (ok, ok, one I ballooned a teensy bit but I saved it and did not slam the plane or hit the nosewheel on any of them).

The best part was the sense that I am making forward progress again — this has totally rekindled the passion I have for flying and now I can’t wait until my next lessons! The plan is to solo me at KPOU and KHVN and then I’ll be able to fly to those airports on my own. I’m really looking forward to that — I won’t have to coordinate scheduling with my CFI for every flight (and won’t have to pay him for my solo flights either!)

After that the last real big challenge is the cross-country stuff. I still have some other items to check off the requirements list (night flight, simulated instrument, etc…) but I assume we’ll knock those off as we prepare for the cross-country.

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

May 21, 2017

A huge monkey off my back — FIRST SOLO!!!

Holy cow!!

I’m grinning ear to ear as I write this — today the day I’ve been waiting for finally arrived!

The weekend started off not so great — I had a lesson scheduled for Saturday morning, but when I checked the schedule, somehow I was booked for the wrong plane! They had me in the C172R instead of my usual C172M. That meant that I wouldn’t be able to solo, no matter how good I performed. When I woke up Saturday morning, the winds were gusting a bit so I decided to cancel the lesson and wait until Sunday, where I would be able to fly my usual plane.

That was today — winds were forecast as calm, so I was full of anticipation as I headed to the airport. Let me preface this by saying I went out for a night on the town with friends last night. We went to see the play Hamilton (which was awesome!) and I didn’t get home and to bed until 1:30am. My flight was at 8am, so I was worried I wouldn’t be in top shape come morning.

I arrived at the airport and the winds were calm — in fact, it was a gorgeous morning. CAVU — ceilings and visibility unlimited. I told myself today was going to be the day — I was going to knock it out of the park! I preflighted and loaded up my instructor and we were off to the races.

My first pattern was going well, until I turned final and was way too high. My instructor called for a go-around and I sighed internally. This wasn’t going to be the day, was it… I resigned myself to getting some landing experience and kicked myself for messing everything up so early in the flight.

The next time around, everything looked good and I took it down for a landing. I actually nailed it this time! I shifted my view down the runway, rounded out, and held off for a nice flare that put us down on the mains instead of the nosewheel.

Second pattern was good, landing was good also. Hell, I was getting the hang of this! Third time around we had traffic coming into the pattern and tower asked us to expedite. My instructor called for a short approach and taught me how to do an emergency descent. That was a bit interesting — we pitched down to dive at 90-100mph and it felt like we were going into the trees. I flared a bit high on that one and came in with a thud.

We did another short approach and this time I performed the emergency descent — I did a pretty good job and the landing was OK as well.

Next time around was a normal pattern, but I flared too high again and came down a bit hard.

OK — we do another lap, this time I’m nailing the pattern. Altitude is good, speeds are good, and I land it pretty well. My instructor says, “Screw this, you know what you’re doing. Let’s get you up there alone.” My heart skipped a beat — this was it!

We taxied back to the ramp and my instructor left to get my logbook signed up. A million thoughts were racing through my head — was I ready? Would things be so different without my CFI in the plane that I would mess the approach up? What if tower asked me to do something unusual?

I started up CloudAhoy and prepped myself mentally for the challenge ahead. After 10 minutes or so, my instructor came back to the plane. He handed me my logbook, gave me a few parting words of advice, and said he’d be listening on a portable radio. He shut the passenger door and I was ready to go — by myself!

I started the plane up and got my taxi clearance. I had just started taxiing out when I was told to hold position for a helicopter departing off the taxiway. I was treated to the very cool sight of a helicopter spinning up and taking off while I waited to be cleared.

Then came the magic words — “Taxi to runway 8 via Charlie”. I headed out to the runway, did my runup, and before I knew it, I was holding short of the runway. I called tower and got my takeoff clearance. I told them, “Be advised, student pilot” just to make sure we were all on the same page. I lined up and all of my training flashed before my eyes — this was it!

Power full, tach is good, oil pressure good, airspeed alive… rotate!

The plane climbed crisply without my CFI in the right seat! Before I knew it, I was at 1,200 feet and was making my turn to crosswind. My airspeed was good, I leveled off at pattern altitude, and turned downwind. Flaps down a notch, airspeed good, called the tower and was cleared to land.

There was a Husky departing before me and the tower advised of that. I acknowledged and extended my downwind a tad to give the other plane time to takeoff. I cut my power on the downwind and started descending. Turned base, speed good. Dropped more flaps. Turned final — shit, the other plane is still on the runway! That’s OK, I have time and they are rolling. Now they’re clear and I’m on a good approach. Keeping speed in check — altitude is good. Full flaps. Here we go!

I came down to the runway, rounded out, flared, and had a really nice, smooth touchdown. I skidded a bit off the centerline after landing — must’ve had some rudder in without realizing it — and I almost put the throttle back in for a touch and go before I realized I had to make a full stop! Caught myself in time, slowed the plane, exited the active, and cleaned her up.

Tower gave me taxi clearance back to the runway. As I taxied back, I saw my instructor out there with the portable radio. I looked at him for a sign — he didn’t call me back or wave me off or anything, so I went back out for another go.

Second pattern was good — speeds and altitude were tight and I felt in control and ahead of the plane. I came down for my second landing and it was a good one! I didn’t think it was as smooth as the first, but I kept it on centerline and landed on the mains.

As I pulled off the runway, my instructor came on the radio and said I had to head back to the ramp. Uh oh! I thought I had messed something up, but turns out I was just out of time and had to get the plane back. I taxied back to parking and lined the plane up — my instructor met me and said I did a great job (and that my second landing looked much better than the first!)

He asked if I needed help pushing the plane back — nope, I got this! “Good,” he replied, “that’s what you’re going to have to do when you are by yourself!” He went inside to log everything and I got the plane parked and tied up.

I walked inside feeling like I was the king of the world. I got some congratulations from the office staff and went in to debrief. My instructor was happy — now we could continue with the rest of the training. He said I did really well and he knew I was ready. I got my first PIC time logged and a “first solo” certificate for my trouble. My CFI told me to get a shirt I could write on, cut the tail off, and decorate it so they could hang it at the office.

So, here we are — it was a long time in the making, but I’ve finally piloted an aircraft by myself! The boost to my confidence is enormous, and I can’t wait for my next lesson where I will be going up by myself again. I still have a ton to learn, but passing this milestone is a huge load off my mind!

Here’s the CloudAhoy track for the solo portion of my flight — click the image to view the track.

I’m still in disbelief that I actually pulled this off!

Flight time today: 1.6 hours
Total simulated instrument flight time to date: 0.6 hours
Total PIC time to date: 0.4 hours
Total flight time to date: 43.1 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 154
Total landings to date: 150