Into the wild blue yonder..........

[Prof]

I had a good landing at Okeechobee. There was a little cross wind. Landed with the right wheel first, then left, then nose. Instructor complemented me on the landing. Said it was good. A little off center, but a nice touch down.

Landed at Okeechobee once to await the passing of storms at Marathon. It was really hot! Get a night flight into Marathon...you will love the sight!

 

[ZCx]

most excellent:rock::rock::rock:

must have been a good day here for flight schoolin also. 3 planes been makin the same turns towards the airport since bout 9 this mornin

 

[wesalbert]

Went up again today for a bit.
instructor wanted to go over diversions and review short and soft field Takeoffs and landings.
Wind was a bit gusty so it made today even more of a challenge.
Diversions- basically need to know so if I am inflight and need to "divert" to another airport because of weather, fuel, bathroom break or whatever.
Figure out where I am.
Figure out where I need to go.
Figure out heading and distance.
Figure out wind correction.
Figure out time.
Figure out fuel usage.

All this while still flying the plane. :trytofly:

then we also practiced short and soft field take offs and landings. I always liked both of these. Well at least the take offs. I don't like going that slow coming into land. Did fine on all of these, even with the wind today.

 

[ZCx]

:rock::rock::rock::rock:

how much more before you are a licensed pilot???

are you goin to get a multi engine license & what does that involve????

 

[wesalbert]

Little more to go. Been studying up on the oral and written test reviews.
I have to take a check ride, a couple solos, a night flight. Then take the tests and the FAA check ride.
Might try to get the night flight out of the way this week. I wanted to do it last week, but had the sis in law come into town so never made it.

I'm not going to go multi just yet. Going to work on IFR once I finish with the private. Not sure if I will go multi or not.

 

[Prof]

Just looking at my first log book...

When do people solo these days? My log says my first solo was at 8 hours 10 minutes...now that is scary if you ask me...I wonder if my instructor is still alive...???

Now this was 46 years ago...and no, Wilbur was not there!

 

[wesalbert]

I'm thinking that these days, flight schools are out to make more money off of the students.
So my answer is probably no.

 

[wesalbert]

Now this was 46 years ago...and no, Wilbur was not there!

:laugh::laugh:

 

[wesalbert]

Went up again today. Review for stage 2 checkride.
I flew a plane I never have been in today. I was told that this thing was a rocket. It is a 2002 172R converted to a SP. So this thing has a higher Hp engine. This thing wanted to fly. Took me by surprise. We did a short field take off. First sign of the more powerful engine was the fact that the brakes wouldn't hold the plane back when I tried to hold it and gun the engine for the short field take off. Then once I got going, this thing shot up. I was applying forward pressure on take off. My trim was set correctly and everything. My instructor was like, don't fight it, let it do its thing. Just watch your speed. Normally where I would be at around 500ft, I was already at 1000ft. It took a bit to get it trimmed out to fly straight. Once I got that we went out west.
First we did another diversion... Figured it all out and headed to Pahokee. Was about a 15 minute trip. I found it but my time was off. If anything with this plane I should have been early. Way early. We cruised at about 140kts. Normally we cruise at about 110kts. Also noticed that this thing was a gas hog (compaired to what I normally fly). We were using 13gal/min when normal is 9gal/min.
Once we flew Pahokee, we then did some hood work. (basically I can't see out the windows, just the gauges). Did fine here. Turn to this, climb to this, decend to this while turning to...
Then he told me to figure out where we were... no problem there either. Told me to head back to the field.
Then Emergency landing practice.. he pulled back my power. First one I was a bit slow. Also didn't go through the engine restart procedure. I was just setting up to land. I would have landed it no problem, but wouldn't I be embarassed if the FAA showed up and the plane would start.
So we did that again. Did much better the second time. Went though all the procedures alot faster. Would have also landed at the spot I picked.
Then back to the field to practice short field landings. This was a bit harder because this fricking plane didn't want to land. I kept coming in high. Did much better on the second one, but still not as short as I liked.
So basically when I do my stage 2 check... I'm not flying in that plane.

 

[ZCx]

lol:rock::rock::rock:

sounds like ya went from a Ferd to a Viper Truck, lol:rock::burnout:

 

[wesalbert]

Man, it was nothing like I have flown before. You couldn't keep this thing down. It wanted to fly, and fly fast.
To get it to fly straight, I probably had 4x as much trim as normal. I'm wondering if the engine didn't get shimmed right or something.
It was fun to fly, just not for review stuff.

 

[wesalbert]

Last week we had a little ground school. Just review.
Today we went up again. More review. Short and soft field take offs and landings. Went out west and did some more "hood" work. Basically I can' see out the windows.
Then hood off... "tell me where we are".... He did good and got me lost this time. I thought we were 20 miles south of where we really were, but no big deal. Figured it out after a bit. Then a diversion back to Lantana. I did good, got us back within minutes of what I figured out our ETA was.

Then went back and had a little review AND...... NEXT FLIGHT WILL BE MY STAGE 2 CHECK RIDE. :rock::rock::rock:

Then a couple cross country solos. Then FAA TEST

I can see the finish line finally.

 

[wesalbert]

Doing a night flight tonight. The planes I usually fly are rented out, so get to fly another new plane.
This one has the G1000 set up. More computers This should be fun.

 

[ZCx]

great:rock::rock::rock:

you fly & i will play with shit

have fun:rock::rock:

is that a real artifical horizon or a read out type?????

 

[wesalbert]

Just getting home.

That was ALOT of fun. Learned a few things also.
The G1000 is awesome. I didn't fly the whole way there. Used the autopilot and played with it the whole time. Weather, Traffic, Xm radio, GPS. Might just have to keep flying this one. Only $10 more than the one I have been flying.

Would be cool if it had a HUD in it.

 

[wesalbert]

Some videos of my short cross country. Audio sucks
Was a bit windy. Nailed the landing into LNA :rock:

 

[ZCx]

sweet:rock::rock::rock:

why does the prop look like that???? some times it looks like a prop off a c-130,lol :dontknow::dontknow::dontknow:

 

[wesalbert]

has something to do with the refresh rate of the camera. Some do it, some don't. :dontknow:

 

[ZCx]

question Wes,

if ya wanted to fly jet power, is that another licesene????

 

[wesalbert]

I don't know exactly what it involves because I'm not even interested in jets. Not even sure if it is a license or an endorcement. :dontknow:
maybe someone else will chime in.