Pre-Solo check ride

May 18, 2009 - I met Don B. at the airport today for my pre-solo check flight with another instructor. Don instructs in the evenings and on weekends. We started as usual with a pre-flight inspection of the Diamond, then we got in and taxiied out to runway 24. There was almost no wind today, no clouds, and great visibility. I took off and headed to the north. After we got to 3000 feet, Don asked me to transition into slow flight. After a little while in slow flight we moved to power on or departure stalls. You reduce throttle, maintain altitude while the plane slows, add in one notch of flaps to the takeoff position, keep holding back pressure to maintain altitude and when you get to around 50 knots go full throttle to simulate a takeoff and continue to pull back on the stick. The nose of the plane is really high and soon the stall warning horn goes off and the plane begins to fall forward. Push the stick forward to get the nose down and establish 78 knots airspeed and begin to climb back to the original altitude. After a couple stalls, Don reduced the throttle to idle and asked me what was the first thing I would do if the engine failed. I said that I would establish a glide speed of 73 knots. The second thing I would do would be pick a proper place to land. There was a large open field off to my left so I turned and glided toward the one end of the field. We continued toward the field until we reached 2000 feet. From here Don told me to level out and maintain this altitude and fly him back to Blue Ash. We were much further east of where I had been practicing, but I saw Kings Island and the WLW tower. I headed south and when we passed the WLW tower I turn southwest to setup for the entry into the pattern. I made all the radio calls and entered the pattern but on my first landing attempt my approach was too high and too fast, I knew I would float halfway down the runway so I decided to go around. Same thing happened on the second pattern, but I did get a side slip in but it was too little, too late. I went around again. Third attempt I was setup much better on final and made a halfway decent landing. I raised the flaps to takeoff, applied full throttle and took off again. Fourth time around I made my best landing to date, it was very smooth. Took off again on another touch and go and went around for the final time. The last landing was also pretty good and I rolled to the end of the runway, turned on the taxiway, and headed back to the tie down spot for the Diamond. I felt pretty good about todays flight and Don must have too because he cleared me for my solo. I'm exited about soloing and I hope to get it in this week. I'm scheduled to go back on Thursday, so lets hope.

Pre-Solo delays

May 14, 2009 - I've had two pre-solo checkout flight canceled so far. First one was for weather and second one was due to a problem with the starter on the plane. I had a flight scheduled with Cameron today that I hoped would be my solo. We decided to fly anyway and move on to the next topic - short field and soft field takeoffs and landings. We started with a 20 minute ground session to discuss the theory behind short/soft field procedures then we headed off to the Diamond. I made a pretty nice short field takeoff, which you basically start off at the very end of the runway, hold the brakes, apply full power, roll out to rotation speed then you climb at the best angle of climb speed which in the DA20-C1 is about 60 knots. After you clear any obstacles and get above the tree line you begin climbing at the best rate of climb speed or around 70 knots in the Diamond. We flew to Butler Regional where I made a short field landing. This procedure has you land close to the end of the runway, raise the flaps and hold back elevator to get more force on the main gear and brake hard to stop as short as possible. I made a pretty good short field landing, taxiied back around and made another short field takeoff, trip around the pattern and another short field landing.

I have another lesson scheduled for Monday with another instructor. Let's hope the all the variables work in my favor.

Back in the Air

I finally got back in the air yesterday after 17 days and I did feel rusty. The flight I had scheduled for last Friday 5/1 was scrubbed due to weather. I was scheduled to fly with Ken E. for a pre-solo checkout with another instructor. I flew yesterday with Cameron just to get back in the air and get some landing practice. I started off taking my pre-solo test and although I didn't study much, I knew most of the answers. I was able to look up the ones that I didn't know and discuss all of the questions with Cameron. The flight was just several times around the pattern. The first pass was just a standard traffic pattern to landing. There was almost no wind for the first time and the ground speed seemed much faster to me when I landed. The second pass was going to be a slip to landing with only 15 degrees of flaps. I climbed above pattern altitude and ended up too high on final and I was a little too fast when I tried the slip so the plane actually balloned up a bit. I also was not giving enough aileron and cross rudder input to be effective. I aborted the landing and went around. Third pass I was better at the slip, but I still had carried too much altitude onto final. The Diamond really wants to fly with only one notch of flaps. On the fourth pass I focused on decending at the beginning of the base turn all the way through to final. I had a good slip going on final and you can really tell when you are dropping altitude. The approach and landing were good. Today with no wind and landing with less flaps was really different, I learned that you really have to control the descent or the Diamond will just keep flying. I think I'd like to have 7 or 8 knots right down the runway each time I land.

Next week I'll be flying with Joe W. for my pre-solo checkout.

Sun-n-Fun 2009 The End

Well I'm back home and I wanted to make my last Sun-n-Fun blog entry. After my demo flight I went back to Sun-n-Fun and there was a plane doing some sky writing. There was a great big smiley face in the sky. I then visited the Ultralight area again. I wanted to take a better look at an amphibious ultralight that looked nice. From there I met back up with Brian and his dad, Howard. We stopped over by the Vans tent and I picked up an information packet. I was going to buy the preview plans for the RV7, but I would not have been able to fit them in my luggage, I'll have to order them on the web. We finished up with a walk through the vendor areas outside the hangers. I had not been all through that area yet. Another place I missed all together was the Splash-in area were all the seaplanes flew in.

All in all my time at Sun-n-Fun was very enjoyable. I talked to many people and when they found out I was just starting my flight training, they were very excited and supportive, I heard a great many aviation stories from some of the "Old Timers" including Howard who is now 90 years old.

Most of my pictures are up on the Picasa website, you can access these picture just by clicking the slideshow in the blog or by going to http://picasaweb.google.com/daleccravenoh/SunNFun2009#

Next blog will be my pre-solo checkout flight on Tuesday.

Sun-n-Fun 2009 Saturday

Well it's time to go home. I'm sitting at the gate at Tampa International waiting for the plane. In a few hours I'll be home.

Today I headed straight for Plant City Municipal airport for my RV7 demo ride. Brian and Howard met me at the airport while I was waiting for my flight. It was nice to sit on the bench out front of the FBO and listen to Howard and Brian tell stories of past planes that they had or had flown. I met Rick my pilot when he got back from the 9:00 am time slot flight. Rick is a flight instructor that does transition training for RV aircraft. He has been to Sun-n-Fun for 17 straight years! We took off from runway 10, my first flight in a taildragger, and the RV7 had good visibility. This particular plane had a 160 hp Lycoming engine which is the low end of the hp range for the kit. The plane climbed out quick and felt very responsive. Once we got to altitude Rick trimed the plane for cruise and let me make some turns. It felt very light and felt like it wanted to climb even in the turns. Rick then took the controls and put the plane in slow flight at about 60 knots, the plane was still very responsive to turn inputs. Then Rick demonstrated a power off stall. The RV had a pronounced buffet and stalled straight ahead, I was following on the controls and recovery was quick with just a slight relaxing of the stick. Much more of a buffet then in the Diamond, but that plane is very docile in the stall. After this Rick demonstrated roll rate by banking 90 to the right and 90 to the left then back to wings level very quickly. He also did a wing over and it was awesome to look straight down the right wind as it was pointed toward the ground. It was time to head back to Plant City, so Rick had me fly back to the airport, descend to traffice pattern altitude, and enter the downwind. Rick took over from there and greased the landing right in. We pulled up to the FBO and Rick shut down the plane so I could get out and his next demo could get in. I thanked him and told him that I have a new plane at the top of my short list.

Time to board the plane, so I'll update with pictures again this evening when I get home.

Sun-n-Fun 2009 Friday

Today when I got to Sun-n-Fun I headed straight for Paradise City, the ultralight and light plane area. They were doing manufacturer's demos and would have one of the light planes takeoff circle and land while the announcer told the crowd about the aircraft. From here we started to head toward the rotorcraft area and realized it was a very long way away at the end of the airport property. We cut back toward the flightline and walked past the seaplane area to the warbird area. I am stll amazed by how many aircraft are here. Brian assures me that Oshkosh is even larger. We continued on toward the main runway and entered into the homebuild area. Here we got a chance to get an up close look at many different kit and plans built planes. I'm even starting to recognize several of them. There were a bunch of RV's, Mustangs, Sonex, and many others all lined up in groups. It seemed like just a short time and it was lunchtime aleady. We grabbed some lunch and much needed sit down time then headed back over to the vendor hangers then back out to the homebuilt area. Just before 2:00 pm we were asked to move back behind the main fence because the airshow was about to start. They started with the warbirds as the announcer gave a great history presentation of the time between WWI and the events leading up to WWII. I really enjoyed seeing Ol' 927 a B-24A making the passes around the field. It is hard to get a photo of a plane as it's moving right overead, but I finally got a good snapshot. After the warbirds the aerobatic planes took the sky and man can thoses pilots really wring it out! We went back into one of the food areas to get something to drink. There were some guys at the table we sat down out and we struck up a conversation. I told them that I had just started my flying lessons and they gave me all kinds of advice and encouragement. I even got some hints about making perfect landing, pretend the runway is hot acid and you don't want the tires to touch it. After our break my friends were heading out and I decided to find the tram that went out to Choppertown. Since the airshow was still going on they were not flying, but I got to walk around and see the Gyroplanes and helicopters. I did want to see some of the Gyroplanes taking off and landing, maybe tomorrow if I have time.

My schedule for tomorrow is to head out to Plant City Municipal airport for a demo flight in an RV-7A. This plane is right at the top of my short list after this week. If I have time after the flight I'll head back to Sun-n-Fun, but I've got to get to Tampa for my flight home tomorrow around 4:30 or so.

Here is a link to an article about yesterday's runway overrun. There is also a lot more news and photo albums from Sun-n-Fun on the Lakeland Ledgers main site

http://www.theledger.com/article/20090423/NEWS/904235091

Here is a link to an interesting YouTube video that was shot onboard the plane that had the engine out emergency.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U1lhDMZZD8

Sun-n-Fun 2009 Thursday

I uploaded some more pictures. The first few are from the runway overrun accident in the morning. I did not hear anything about this accident today, but I did hear that there was an engine out emergency at the beginning of the week and the pilot landed the plane on the highway nearby. I guess anytime you have this many planes in one spot something is bound to go wrong. I went to a forum on building a RV. The speaker has built 4 or 5 RV's from the RV3 up to the E-LSA RV12 he is working on now. The format of the forum was based on how the construction and kit quality has increased over the years. The RV12 kit even has predrilled holes in the skins AND the ribs. I met up with Brian, his dad, and his dad's friend for lunch. Brian's dad is who we are building the Zenith Aircraft Corp CH701 for. The first place we went after lunch was to the Zenith area to take a good look at the 701 and it's construction. I took a lot of pictures to help us with some of the assembly later down the road. We then walked through many of the vendors areas in the hangars and out near the flight line. We ended up going through the production airplane areas and took a good look at what I call my "Lottery Planes" For only $4995.00 a month you to can have a new Cessna 400 Corvalis Turbo. Not sure how many months the terms are for. I ended up at the Diamond display and ended up talking to the sales rep that covers the Ohio area.

At around 6:00 pm I had had enough and I headed back to the parking area. I couldn't be in Florida this close to the Gulf without getting my feet wet, so I headed to Clearwater Beach to see the sunset while standing in the Gulf of Mexico. What a beautiful ending to the day.

Tomorrow I'll be at the show again all day, but Saturday I have a demonstration ride booked in an RV7A in Plant City. I'm going to try to head back to Sun-n-Fun after my flight but it will depend on timing because I'm flying back home out of Tampa around 4:30 pm.

Sun-n-Fun 2009

Day two for me. 1:26 pm. I got here around 9:00 am and the lot was about half full already! I have been talking to vendors, looking at display aircraft, and just got out of a RV builders information forum. There was one accident that I saw when I got here this morning. A LSA plane tried to land on the ultralight field, overran the runway and ended up down in a ravine about 15 feet below the runway level. Pilot was ok, but I'm sure it ruined his week.

I'll update again this evening with more pictures.

Sun-n-Fun 2009 Day 1 (for me)

I got to Lakeland Linder regional late today and didn't think I'd get to see much. Boy was I wrong. I caught the end of the airshow and then was amazed at the mass exodus of planes! They had them going one right after next for at least an hour.
I was able to get to much of the homebuilt area and some of the vendors, but a lot of people has already closed up their displays. I walked around through much of the vintage aircraft area and the flight line area. I did hang around for some steel drum music at the Sunset Grill and waited for the 8:00 pm program to start in the AOPA pavillion. This program was about two former enemies from the Vietnam War. On April 16, 1972 Dan Cherry and Hguyen Hong My met in the skies over Hanoi and after an intense 5 minute dogfight Cherry in his F4D Phantom managed to shoot down My in his MiG 21. Just a few months earlier My got his first kill of an American fighter. Many years passed and Cherry found himself wondering about the Vietnamese pilot. After many fruitless searches, Cherry contacted a TV show in Vietnam that brought long lost people back together and they found the pilot and reunited the two on live television. Cherry was able to spend some time with his new friend in Vietnam and when he left My asked him to try to find out what happened to the US pilot of the plane he had shot down in January of 1972. This week was My's first time to the US and together they will be telling there story throughout the week at Sun-n-Fun. It was announced at the program tonight that Cherry has located the pilots of the US fighter and they will be reunited with My in Washington next week. It was a facinating story to listen to, rich with history and human kindness that the two have been able to share since there meeting.



I located a wireless hot spot so I should be able to make a few short updates during the day tomorrow, but I'll upload more pictures in the evening.
Check out the Sun-n-Fun website here: http://www.sun-n-fun.org

Whirlwind Travels

I'm in Winter Haven Florida after a couple days of whirlwind travels. I flew out from CVG to Fresno with a stop in Denver on Monday. Tuesday afternoon I flew to Tampa with a stop in Phoenix. I finally got to my room later last night. I'm working in Sarasota today and after ai drop my colleages off at the airport this afternoon, I'm headed over to Lakeland. I am planning on attending the evening program, "An Unlikely Reunion - Reconciliation in Vietnam". This will be the second time two former enemy pilots meet face to face since meeting in the skies over Vietnam.

Sun n Fun Mission

I won't be flying this week, at least not in the Diamond. I've got a few days traveling for business then I'm heading to Lakeland Florida for the 35th annual Sun-n-Fun fly in. I'll be reporting on the event beginning Wednesday evening for my local EAA chapter 174 based at Clermont County airport. Check back often late this week or you can follow me at @dalecraven on Twitter where I make frequent updates as long as I can get a wifi signal.

Maneuver review and landing practice

Saturday April 18th
What a beautiful day! Calm winds, sunny, and clear. My two boys where there for the first time to help me with the pre-flight inspection. We took off from Blue Ash and headed to the practice area over Trenton. We practiced a couple power on stalls in a bank and then headed over to Middletown-Hook field. The light wind was almost straight down the runway and I setup in the traffic pattern and made a very nice pattern and landing. We taxxied back to runway 23, took off again, and stayed in the pattern. The second landing was just about as nice and we took right back off with a touch and go. At this point it was time to head back to Blue Ash were I setup in the pattern and Cameron pulled the throttle to idle at the end of the downwind leg and said "engine out". I started a turn to a short final to make sure I made it back to the runway in time. I acually got back with too much altitude as we were halfway down the runway and I was still airborn. We performed a go around and on the next pattern I cut the final too short and again was too high for a landing. Another go around, setup in the pattern and careful control of the altitude, I was in good shape on final and made another good landing.

Next lesson will be April 27 and I am going to be taking a pre-solo written test and will fly with a different instructor for a review.

FAA Medical

One of the requirements for getting your private pilot certificate is passing an FAA class three medical exam. On Wednesday April 15th I went to see Dr. Weisbrot, an Aviation Medical Examiner for my medical. This certificate is also my student pilot certificate and is required prior to a solo flight which will be coming up soon. I filled out the FAA 8500-8 form, answered some medical history questions, got a physical exam and walked out with my certificate. The whole process was much less daunting then I had been preparing for.

Marginal Ceiling

Tuesday April 14th
Today was another cross wind day at Blue Ash. I had been monitoring the weather all day, radar and visibility were good, winds were around 10 knots at 300 degrees and the cloud ceiling was up and down all day. By flight time, the ceiling was reported at 1400 feet so we decided to just do some landing and traffic pattern practice. The plan was to go to Butler County regional for some takeoffs and landings with a better direction for the wind. After departure, we tuned the radio to Butler County weather and the ceiling there was reported at 1200 feet. Since the cloud coverage looked pretty uniform around us and the ceiling was decending, we headed back to Blue Ash to make a couple cross wind landings. My first approach I made all the radio calls after Cameron reported our position at 3 miles out. The pattern was pretty good and I lined up on final on the upwind edge of the runway and held a good crab angle into the wind to maintain the glide toward the runway. I maintained a good glide all the way to the roundout point and made a pretty nice landing. We taxiied back to runway 24 and took off again for another trip around the pattern. The clouds were decending even lower so we began the descent at the end of the downwind leg and made a turn to base and a quick turn to final to stay ahead of the wind. I got downwind of the runway centerline anyway and had to correct with crab angle during the final approach. This landing I fought just a little more and I did not get all of the crab angle correction out by the point of touchdown, but still not a terrible landing for the conditions and my experience level. We tuned to the AWOS and the ceiling at Blue Ash was reported at 1100 feet, so we were done for the day. So far I have only had one good weather day. I suppose that it is good to learn in challenging conditions, it will make the good days even more enjoyable. I'm thinking about setting up a video camera for some of my upcoming flights. I'll keep you posted.

Emergency Procedures

Saturday April 11 – My Birthday flight!

I got a chance to move my lesson up to 2:00 pm from 5:00 pm and I was ready to go. We started with some ground instruction with the Diamond manual going over the various engine problem checklists and decided that we would have a simulated engine failure on our flight. Winds were again a bit strong and gusting out of the north today so we took off on runway 6 and headed to a new practice area to the north east around the Lebanon area. After climbing to 3000 feet and getting to our practice area Cameron pulled the throttle to idle and said “engine out failure” The first step it to trim the plane for maximum glide speed which on the DA-20 is 73 knot with the flaps in cruise setting. Next step is to pick a suitable landing area and make an emergency radio call. Then, if you have time, you should go through an engine re-start checklist to try to get the engine going again. I picked a pretty long field and was in a gliding decent toward the field when Cameron told me to power up and climb back to 2500 feet. After I got back to altitude, we did the simulation again. This time I pick a closer field to the north, into the wind and made a descending turn toward the field. I was having a little trouble maintaining proper airspeed and I realized I was going through the rest of the steps before setting the trim for proper glide speed. After we had this field made, we climbed back to 2500 feet and headed toward Lebanon-Warren county airport. The runway there is 1-19 so it was perfect for the wind today. Cameron talked me into the pattern while I made the radio calls and I made a very nice, unassisted landing! One tip that really helped was when Cameron told me to look at the far end of the runway after I cut the power to idle over the end of the runway. That gave me a much better perspective for when to round out. I hope I can make many more landings like that one! After a short wait for some skydivers to land from their jump, we were back on runway 1 for another takeoff and to head back to Blue Ash. On this pattern I was behind from the time I turn on base. The crosswind pushed me past the centerline of the runway before I got turned to final and I had to crab the plane to get back on center. I was able to get lined back up, but I was really fighting the cross wind and I started the round out too soon. Cameron had me apply a little power and I gave it a little too much and started to float back up. I was still battling the cross wind and bounced the landing a bit and ballooned back up. At that point Cameron said”I’ve got the controls” and took over to finish off the landing. What a stark contrast in landings from the previous one! I felt pretty good about the flight up until that point. I just remember reading somewhere that there are just three simple steps to a perfect landing, but unfortunately no one knows what they are. I’m sure with some more practice and many more landings I’ll be able to handle the gusting crosswinds with ease.

Ground Reference Maneuvers

Tuesday April 7th – It was a nice, but very windy day. There was about a 60 degree cross-wind. We took off and headed back over the Trenton area for the ground reference maneuvers. I knew that is would be a tricky task with a strong wind. The first maneuver was a rectangle track around a field. We started off with a tailwind on one side of the rectangle, the first turn to cross wind has to be greater than 90 degrees to maintain a ground track parallel with the field. The downwind turn leg was pretty quick then another left turn of under 90 degrees to hold the tack on the last side of the rectangle. From there we headed toward a cross road intersection to do turns around a point. The object is to complete circles around a point and maintain the same distance from the center. I tried to keep my wingtip pointed at my target, but quickly realized the relative wind direction change would not allow that. You have to vary the bank angle and rate of turn continuously to counter the wind forces and keep the clean circle track. The next maneuver was S-turns along a road. This is a series on 180 turns where you cross the road with the plane wings parallel to the road and level. After another 180 degree turn you should again cross the road with wings level and parallel to the road about ½ mile away from the previous crossing. Our final maneuver of the day was steep banks. Cameron demonstrated 45 degree bank turns while maintaining altitude and rolling out on a target in the distance. First a left 360 degree turn then a right. Then it was my turn. I made two good steep bank turns then we headed south back to Blue Ash. Cameron landed this time because of the gusting cross winds. He demonstrated a high landing approach with a forward slip to drop altitude quickly. That felt like an elevator dropping! After a masterful landing in the tough conditions we were taxiing back into place and shutting down for today. After getting back and looking at the ground tracks from the gps, the maneuvers were really not that bad. The circles were a bit flat on the up-wind side but other than that the tracks looked good.

Better Weather/Time to fly

On Saturday April 4th the weather was great. There was still a bit of a crosswind, but only 8 knots today. I reviewed our training plan with Cameron then I went to the plane and performed the pre-flight inspection myself and I only had one real issue. I broke the key off in the canopy lock! When I was done Cameron came out and we climbed in the Diamond. I got the engine starting list out and performed the steps. Checked the radio and tuned to the AWOS or Automated Weather Observations System and got the wind and altimeter setting, flipped back to the CTAF or Common Traffic Advisory Frequency and we were ready to go. I taxied to the other end of the runway this time and I setup for takeoff on runway 24 after a final engine run-up test and a check for traffic. I advanced the throttle fully and was caught a little off guard by how much rudder it took to keep the plane in the center of the runway. The plane accelerated and at 45 knots I started to pull back and then we were airborne. I held the attitude to maintain a 80 knot speed during the climb. Cameron made the radio call that we were leaving the pattern to the west and soon we were at 3000 feet and turning to the north to get to our practice area. When we got to the Trenton, Ohio area I made a couple of clearing turns to look for traffic and then we began our lessons. The first thing that we did was transition to slow flight. This is where you reduce the throttle and keep feeding back pressure to the stick to maintain altitude. The airplane begins to fly in a nose high attitude and the airspeed drops. We were flying the plane around 55 knots and it took some nose up trim or I would have had a lot of stick pressure to hold back against. The responsiveness of the plane gets very slow and mushy compared to flying at in cruise configuration. The next thing that we practices was setting the plane up for landing. First pull back the throttle to 1700 rpm, let the plane slow down until you are in the white arc and can set the first notch of flaps. Continue to slow until you get to 55 knots, set the flaps to landing position and adjust throttle to maintain a glide toward your target point while maintaining 55 knots airspeed. From this configuration we practiced a simulated balked landing. Just apply full throttle, increase speed to 80 knots and begin a climb switch off one notch of flaps while maintaining 80 knots, then switch flaps back to cruise setting. Our next two lessons were power off stall, or approach stall and power on stall, or departure stall. Cameron demonstrated a power off stall, recovery and climb back to 3000 feet. I took the controls and performed a power off stall. Then Cameron demonstrated a power on stall, and I followed with a power on stall. I was surprised how much backpressure is actually took to get the plane to stall. I was also behind on the rudder because the plane wanted to fall off to the left side as I steepened the nose up attitude. The Diamond was pretty docile in the stall, just a brief buffet and the nose dropped. After the roller coaster rides it was time to head back. Cameron switched the radio to listen for traffic at Butler County regional airport as we were close by and we started heading south. I was able to spot KISZ from a pretty long way off after Cameron pointed out some good landmarks. GE Evendale is a huge building with a black rook and it is easy to spot. Cameron talked me through the entry into the pattern and the steps to remember during the landing pattern. At the end of the downwind leg, add the first notch of flaps and reduce throttle, make the descending turn to base and switch the flaps to landing, make the turn to final and use the ailerons and rudder to keep from drifting and stay lined up with the runway. Maintain a steady glide right toward the runway numbers, throttle to idle at the threshold of the runway and just let it settle, line the plane up with the runway as you start the flare, pull back and hold it. Touchdown! Then just keep the plane rolling straight down the runway with the rudder as the speed bleeds off. Taxi back to the parking spot and go through the shutdown checklist. Here is a picture of our flight track for today in Google Earth.

Tuesday Scrubbed

I was looking out the windows at a beautiful day Tuesday morning on March 31st. Just like all day Monday. As 5:00 pm drew nearer, the wind started to pick up and a radar trace of rain activity was moving into the area. I went over to the airport at 5:00 and met with Cameron. The weather briefing had 20 knot winds with 40 knots at 3000 feet (that equals lots of turbulence). The Diamond has a maximum crosswind component of 20 knots, and our wind was pretty much a direct cross wind. The decision was made to cancel the lesson. Now I have to wait until Saturday. Oh well, I knew by that starting in the spring a certain percentage of the lessons would be scrubbed for weather.

The Decision

I began in earnest to check pricing, pick my school, and decide on an instructor. I pretty much had already decided though. Blue Ash Aviation is about 5 minutes from my work if the traffic lights are red and the Diamond was the lowest cost plane out of all of the training planes that I had considered. I also felt very comfortable with Cameron when we were going though weather briefing and pre-flight prior to the introduction flight. I think that having an instructor that you feel is confident and knowledgeable and that also suits you personality is an important step. You will be spending quite a bit of time with them during the training. I think that I’ve picked a good one. AOPA has a lot of information and tips for selecting a flight school and an instructor on their website at http://flighttraining.aopa.org/learntofly/school/ . Blue Ash Aviation also had a stimulus package of their own going on. If you prepay for a block of 50 hours worth of airplane time, you get the airplane hours charged to you at a 10% discount as you use them and if you put more then $3000 on account you got an additional $150 and 30 gallons of fuel added to your account. With both of these discounts, I think I will have the best value for my training dollars. The next big thing was to get some flight training scheduled. I checked the training schedule online and was not able the find any time for the next week and a half when the Diamond, Cameron, and myself were all available. I scheduled Tuesday March 31st at 5:00 pm and Saturday April 4th at noon and it was a long week and a half wait.

Introduction Flight #2

I decided that I would stop in at Blue Ash aviation since it is very close to my work. I meet instructor Ken E. and he gave me a tour around the operation and took me out to take a look at a couple of the training planes. We looked at a Cessna 172 and a Diamond DA-20.

I already had a flight in a 172 I decided to book an introductory flight in the Diamond to see if it was too small and uncomfortable to spend my training hours in. I came back on March 3, 2009 where I meet Instructor Cameron K. for my flight. I think it was one of the coldest days of the year. After Cameron walked me through a thorough, freezing pre-flight inspection we happily climbed into the Diamond and closed the canopy. I went through the engine starting checklist and cranked the engine over. It did not want to start. We had hooked up the pre-heater to blow hot air into the engine cowl for a short time, but the pre-heater battery charge was too low to keep it running. I shut everything off for a while and when through the starting checklist again. I cranked the engine and still no start. After a few tries the A&P mechanic came over and told us to go get a coffee while he tried to get the plane started. It felt good to get inside and warm up and we discussed the lesson about how sometimes things do not go as planned and you have to adapt. A short while later the engine was running and the plane was warming up. The mechanic taxied the plane right up to the door for curb side service! Cameron and I got back into the plane, went through the start-up checklist again and fired the plane right up. I was a bit surprised when Cameron said that he would get the plane out onto the taxiway then let me take over the controls to taxi to the end of runway 6. It was a little easier to control then Flight Simulator is during taxi. When we got to the end of the taxiway, I went through the run-up checklist and prepared to depart. We make a 360 circle to check for traffic then Cameron made the radio call that we were taking off. I taxied onto the runway and pushed the throttle all the way in. The plane started to accelerate and I was surprised how easy it was to keep the plane rolling right down the middle of the runway, even though there was some cross wind. Before long we were off the ground and climbing out. I held the heading and climb rate for a while then we started a turn to the north. We leveled off and started making some gentle turns. It was a little bumpy on this flight because of the winds. We flew over the Mason and West Chester areas and I recognized some of the landmarks especially the WLW tower. It seemed like such a short time later we began to head back. Along the way we tried different throttle settings and got the feel for maintaining altitude with different power setting. As we descended to pattern altitude, I was able to spot other air traffic and could see the airport. I felt like I was very aware of my surroundings. Cameron made a radio call to report our position as we approached the traffic pattern. He asked me if I wanted to make the next call and I said I would, so he coached me on what to say. I stumbled through it a bit but I reported “Blue Ash traffic this is Diamond 107 Charlie Lima on downwind for runway 6, Blue Ash”. The radio is one thing that was a bit intimidating to me, but I think I’ll get it with no problem. Cameron made the rest of the radio calls as we landed. We made the base turn and added 1 notch of flaps. Turned a little late on final and switched flaps to the landing position. I added a little throttle as I got the plane lined up with the runway. I felt like this landing was a little more work, but I also felt that I had full control. We touched down and just rolled to near the end of the runway. Cameron said that he helped a little during the flare. The plane seemed to just track right down the center of the runway. I finally applied some brakes and turned off onto the taxiway. After the shutdown checklist items were complete, I taxied back to the planes parking spot on the ramp. Again I was thrilled and the Diamond was a joy to fly.

Introduction Flight #1

One of the most important aspects of your pilot training is researching schools and talking to prospective instructors. I began putting a list of schools together and started doing some reasearch on their web sites. I was fortunate enough to win a free introductory lesson with Empower Aviation when I filled out a sweepstakes card at their booth during the Cincinnati Travel Sport and Boat show in January 2009. On February 5th, 2009 I headed out to Butler County Regional airport (HAO) where I was met by Certified Flight Instructor Sean D. We sat in the office discussing my list of questions that I was going to ask instructors at each flight school. We went outside and after a cold pre-flight inspection of the Cessna 172 we were in and taxiing toward the runway with me in the left seat. Sean took off because the runway still had a few areas of snow on it, but I was able to follow along on the controls. We climbed to around 3000 feet and began to level off and look around. Sean talked me through making several turns at different bank angles to get the feel of the plane and through a couple climbs and descents where he had me listen to the different sounds that the plane makes. Is seems that you also use your ears to help you figure out what is happening when you are flying. After a quick 25 minutes or Sean pointed me back in the direction of the airport. I knew about where it was, but I could not see it at first. There was snow cover all over the ground it made it hard for me to pick out where the runway was. Sean made the radio calls as he directed me into the traffic pattern for landing. I flew the downwind leg and Sean added one notch of flaps, turned onto the base leg and Sean reduced the throttle and added another notch of flaps, then I turned towards the end of the runway on final were Sean worked the throttle to maintain our glide and added the last notch of flaps. The plane just sank right toward the end of the runway! The landing point stayed right in the same spot of the windshield as we descended closer and closer. When we were very near the end of the runway Sean reduced the throttle to idle and told me to just hold the controls where they were as we sank toward the runway. Finally Sean told me to start pulling back on the yoke to flare the airplane. I think he helped a bit on this because I was not sure how hard or quickly I should flare. We settled onto the runway and I was thrilled! Rolling down the runway as we slowed down was a great feeling. I did it! I just flew an airplane!
http://www.flyempower.com/index.php?page=Training

Initial Research

I began to research information about flight lessons late summer 2008. At that point I joined AOPA and EAA and started getting magazines from these organizations. I also did a lot of reading on the intranet site of both of these organizations. I began looking at the available flight schools in my area and began discussing the pros and cons of the sport pilot rating, the recreational pilot rating and the private pilot rating. I also got a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator FSX, and good yoke and rudder pedal system and the book “Microsoft Flight Simulator X for Pilots – Real World Training” by Jeff Van West and Kevin Lane-Cummings. This book will take you through many real world training simulations. I’ve found MS FSX to be a very good training aid for learning basic flight maneuvers, traffic pattern practice, navigation techniques, and have even planned and executed flights that I hope to someday take in a real plane. By the time I picked a couple options for schools that I wanted to visit I had accumulated many hours in the flight simulator. I also purchased a flight training starter package from Sporty’s that contained the Recreational Pilot video training program, a pilots logbook, several books including the FAA FAR/AIM 2009 manual, Airplane Flying Handbook, and a couple of FAA advisory circulars pertaining to Aviation weather all packed in a very nice leather flight bag. I feel that by the time I was ready to speak to prospective instructors and take some introductory flight lessons, I was a very knowledgeable consumer.

The Realization

I have recently had a complete paradigm shift in my thinking what I can do after I get a pilot certificate. This change came about after meeting a new production manager named Brian that was hired at the company I work at. His father was in the Army Air Corp in World War II and has been flying ever since so Brian was raised around aviation. When we met at work he told me that he had heard I was into aviation. I told him that I build and fly the little RC ones and had always thought about getting my pilots license, but didn’t want to just spend a ton of money on plane rentals afterwards. He quickly added “Why don’t you just build your OWN plane then?” I had never really considered building and flying my own plane. Isn’t that just a very few nutcases out in their garage banging some crate together and going out and killing themselves on the first attempt at a flight? I joined EAA and learned that it is not just a very few nut cases, but a whole lot of nut cases. I also learned that they are not just banging together a crate, but building high quality, high tech aircraft, some from scratch, some from proven, high accuracy kits. These guys were not going out and killing themselves on the first flight, but having FAA inspections, performing extensive flight testing, and getting planes certified then flying them just like any other general aviation airplane. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homebuilt_aircraft

I started working with Brian, who was building a plane for his father. The plane that we are building is a Zenith CH701 STOL. This is a fantastic, high quality kit by Chris Heintz.

I’m not sure what I’ll build or if I’ll try to buy a production aircraft at some time. Either way I figured it was time to pursue my dream of flying and start looking for a flight school.

The Beginning

The attraction to flying for me began when I was invited, with a group of other youths, for an informal flight training introduction that was hosted by an individual pilot. I was about 15 years old at the time. We were able to get a couple classroom sessions talking about flight dynamics and weather and I got to go out on a couple flying sessions. On one of the sessions, I sat in the right seat of a Cessna 182 and had the opportunity to take the controls for a short time. I loved the thrill and excitement of the flight, I still remember the tail number N2446G. The class ended abruptly when the pilot had a medical problem and the classes ended.
I didn’t do much else with aviation, but I was always on the fringes over the next couple decades. In High school I took another flight with a group from University of Cincinnati. I also began building a gyrocopter with information that I got from the Cincinnati Rotorcraft Club. I got the frame built and had my engine case, but I stopped when I got to the expensive parts (rotor head and blades and building the engine). In the late 80’s I took up radio control airplane building and flying and I also got hooked on skydiving! I met a lot of aviation buffs and pilots along the way, but I never took the step of starting my flying lessons. I realized early on that if I was ever going to learn to fly, I would want to have the money for the lessons saved up front and make a serious commitment to the training. Whenever I would start to consider it, I would just think of the expense of the training and say to myself, “then what will I do, go rent a plane every so often and get a $100 hamburger?

Getting Started

I have dreamed about getting my pilot's license for a long time, and I'm finally ready to get started. I have actually been actively working on this for a few months now, but I am now ready to start with my lessons. I'll detail my progress up to this point in the next few posts. Then as I go through my training, I'll update the blog for each lesson.