Lesson Day…

Spent the morning reading, studying various numbers and prepping new flash cards.  After lunch I meet with Brett for more flight maneuvers and practice.  Nothing too exciting, just more practice after practice.  Spend some time in the pattern working on short field and soft field work.  Unfortunately the last landing of the day sucked!  I haven’t had a pranger in a while but I managed to make up for it today. I was a little too slow to the throttle so the descent rate was a little high.  Yikes luckily nothing was broken.  So with the test ride set for this Friday,  Brett and I set the schedule for next week.  Monday and Tuesday will be more practice, Wednesday is the Phase check ride with a different instructor, Thursday is an off day, and Friday is the day.  Oh boy getting a little worried.   I need to practice more on my own but the weather has been too sucky to allow that.  I’m hoping tomorrow and this week will be good.  

If the weather is good, I’ll head to Hemet for brunch (more xcross country time) and then return for some practice.   Well enough for now.

Great Trip to San Diego...

Another wonderful flying day!!  Woke up early and found the typical layer in the Santa Ynez  valley wasn’t there. After checking the weather I found San Diego was overcast again!  “Well I’ll wait and see what happens” Thankful the weather in San Diego improved so Dad took me down to the airport, I was headed back to San Diego.   To our surprise the bees were still hanging on the plane and weren’t leaving.  So I started the plane up and blew them off, as I headed over to the self service fuel pumps.   After thanking Dad, I was headed back to San Diego.  The climb over the mountain was interesting, the performance wasn’t great due to the heat and the mild turbulence made for a fun trip.  Soon I checked in with SoCal approach to get some flight following.   Soon I was headed to Palmdale and Victorville. 

Palmdale

As I approached Victorville, ( Southern California Logistics Center)  SoCal was kind enough to advise me not to land due to the winds blowing 330degrees at 20 knots gusting to 30. Yikes.. much higher then my 12 knot limit. Air traffic controllers have been getting a lot of bad press lately, but I have nothing but great things to say.  True professionals!    As I approached Victorville, I could see what looked like a thick cloud layer south of the Cajon Pass in the LA Basin.  So I parked myself over Victorville at 9500' taking some photos as I called Flight Watch to get a weather check.  I was concerned the weather had blown in after I left, blocking my ground view to San Diego.  I was reassured it was just haze, and things were fine.  

Victorville.. aka Civilian Airline Boneyard

 After getting a couple of photos of the civilian airliner boneyard, I headed south.  As I flew over the California Speedway, the controller asked me to go to direct to my next VOR.  That began my “winging it” navigation.  Thankfully my organized charts helped.  Soon I was passing Palomar Observatory, sweet I’m in my home territory again!   With the upcoming weekend holiday, Marine Corp Air Station Miramar was closed so I was given the rare Class B transition over Miramar.  I choose not to take the short cut to get a little more time, but again the controllers were awesome.  Soon I was touching down on 28L at Montgomery.    After a brief chat with Brett,(letting him know I was back) I headed to lunch. Unfortunately, the wind picked up while I was at lunch, so I was done for the day.  Darn!  

Tomorrow is another training day with Brett, and more practice for me.  If the winds calm down I’ll head out on another longer cross country trip on Sunday.  I’m hoping to go to Sedona, AZ for six more hours of time.  As of today, I need 14.9hrs to meet my cross country time for ATP. Come on good weather.

7 days til the practical and oral test.. Yikes, just a little nervous.

Extra Day at the Parents, Sweet!

Beautiful Sunrise.. note the cloud layer, the airport is on the right

Today was a great flying day despite not being able to fly back to San Diego.   After checking the weather this morning, found that there as a nice overcast layer hanging over San Diego, so I had a choice wait and hope the layer would burn off and hope the winds weren’t too high in Santa Ynez (IZA) in the afternoon to take off headed to San Diego, or fly locally.  I decided not to wait and went flying, thinking at-least I’d be able to get some flight time in before the winds picked up in IZA.   

Transit Parking  Spot 1 - Santa Ynez

Dad, drove me down to the airport and saw me off.  I was off to make a loop to Paso Robles,Lompoc and return to IZA. Should be 3hrs of cross country time. The flight up to Paso Robles (PRB) went well, the weather was beautiful making for a great trip. 

Grumman Albatross @ Paso Robles Jet Center

After landing in PRB I checked the weather at IZA, the winds were picking up. So I decided to skip my stop at Lompoc on the way back, thankfully the same winds I was worried about pushed me back to IZA.   Luck was with me the winds were straight down the runway, as I made a soft landing which was awesome because my Dad watched me land. 

Bees!!

Unfortunately the winds were getting heavy so I was done for the day. After parking strangest thing happened,  the plane was swarmed by bees.  Dad helped me gingerly cover the plane and tie it down for the night.   Luckily neither of us were stung.  Soon we were off, with Dad treating me to another great lunch.  Thanks Dad!  

After lunch I called to checked on the weather in San Diego, and found the weather hadn’t improved. I was thankful I made the right decision.  2.1hrs of cross country time done. The rest of the day was spent helping Dad with some chores, and hanging out. Dad even treated to trip to the new local beer pub in Buelton, Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co.  Another great day!  

Another beautiful day in Solvang, even if its windy

Trip to see the Parents ..

Another wonderful day for flying!   I woke up early and checked the weather, at 7am the weather was looking good.  After pre-flighting the plane I patiently waited for the weather to burn off.  After checking the weather and calling the destination airport to confirm the coast was clear. I was finally off to Santa Ynez to visit the parents. The trip went as planned taking the planned 2.1 hrs, at 10,500’ my path took me over the top of John Wayne, and LAX. 

LAX

It was great to look down watching the “heavy iron” fly.  I requested flight following just south of Carlsbad airport, (using traffic control for traffic call outs) and found the service to be great, additionally this provided practice dealing with controllers.  The flight plan worked as drawn up. I’m constantly amazed how well the math works out.  

Self Portrait

 As I headed over the mountain by Santa Barbara, I was able to see my destination. 

Found the San Marcus VOR.. Santa Barbara is in the background

 

After calling Santa Ynez traffic I found the pattern was quiet, so I had the airport to myself.   I made a straight in approach, the runway was shorter then I had envisioned it would be. So I aimed for the numbers landing with plenty of runway ahead, using only 700’ of the 2300 feet.   After landing, I found a nice spot for parking and started cleaning up the plane.   Not too long after my Dad drove up to take me to lunch.   After a quick inspection of the plane, Dad and I headed off to lunch.    

Dad, checking out the rental!

 

Unfortunately the wind picked up as we ate lunch and was blowing greater than my restrictions allowed me to fly in.  So I was done for the day. I was hoping to get another quick flight in, but was happy for the hours I got in.    I spent the remainder of the day hanging out with Dad, and enjoying the wonderful view from their back yard.

Tomorrow I’m heading back to San Diego via Victorville, (Southern California Logistics Airport) formerly known as George Air force Base, however now it’s the current home of the civilian airliner bone yard.  The airplane geek in me can’t wait!

Finally the Weather Breaks…

Ah... today started early.  My occasional insomnia showed up last night. So I was dragging most of the day, with a little fog in my brain all day. I had to concentrate hard to even pull off the practice test. 

Finally today was filled with flying.  I meet with Brett, and took a practice check ride.  It started with the oral exam; he started quizzing me about my flight plan to Big Bear, and then moved to weather, aircraft systems, airport specifications, performance and FAR specifications.  After about an hour of quizzing we headed to the plane for the practical portion.  I aimed the plane to Mt Soledad then headed north. He put me through my paces with slow flight, instrument flying, in flight diversion, emergency procedures, and soft field landings.   After what seemed like 30 minutes, we returned after an hour of flight.  He went over all the items that needed improving and gave me tips, Overall it was a passing grade, but just barely.  The weak areas were the items I haven’t had time to practice due to the weather, so I wasn’t too upset just happy that it wasn’t a total train wreck.  I’ll take it considering how tired I was.  Even Brett laughed as I plopped the plane down on the soft field landing saying “I could tell you were tired” 

After all that the weather was great so I couldn’t waste the day,  I headed back out after dropping off Brett.   My intent was to go do some touch and go’s at Ramona airport, but after cruising through the mountains, I wasn’t 100% sure I wasn’t in the wrong spot, and not wanting to ruin my day by have a F-18 chase me,  I beat feet back to Montgomery.  

After landing, I went and found some food (I was starting to feel like a deva, I hadn’t eaten since breakfast). While having a snack, I felt ashamed I let a little item scare me back to home base.  So back out I went, this time I headed to Gillespie field for some touch and go practice.  And I’m glad I did, the approach end of the airport was tricky and took a little to get accustomed to. I’m real glad I didn’t wait to the check ride to fly over there!    After saying good bye I headed back to Montgomery. On the approach I noticed that the Hobbs meter (timer for flight time) was showing .9 hrs, so I executed a touch and go, and brought the girl back around for another landing.  As I taxied back the meter rolled over 1.0 hrs. So I called it a day. In total it was a great day, with 3hrs of flight time, 2hrs of it SOLO!!     Brett called to let me know that I’m set up for a check ride on the 2^nd of June, and a phase check (a ride with a different instructor, looking for items Brett might have missed) at the end of this week so there’s no turning back now... Yikes!!!   If the weather is good tomorrow I’m headed off to Santa Ynez, to hang out with the parents and Aunt for the evening while racking up some cross country time.   I’m crossing my fingers for great weather.   Time for some sleep, please!!

Paperwork and Studying..

The darn marine layer seems to moving in for the remainder of May!! I’m not worried yet but starting to as the days tick down for my approaching flight with the designated pilot examiner (DPE) (2nd of June). I keep hoping the weather will become good enough this week so I can practice my basic maneuvers and get another cross country under my belt.
I need 22 more hours of solo cross country time before I start training with ATP so I’ll need to fly a lot before now and then. After checking the weather last night I realized that the weather would not be great today so I planned to study and do some paperwork today. Brett and I did decide last night that we’d take a flight tomorrow, to wrap up a few items and complete the remaining “hood training”,  adding to the fun Brett let me know he was going to conduct a pre-check ride flight. So I have some homework today and more studying.
On the administrative side I was able to get my first class medical and FCC Restricted radio license today As luck would have it, the doctor was a former VR-57 Conquistador so that helped to make the  mood light and friendly.  He was able to pull a few items out of my navy medical record so that helped speed up the process. I didn’t have any reason to worry but I was a little worried about the medical. If I didn’t get that I couldn’t start with ATP!! Phew.. now I’m done with that its back to studying.