SOLO

I can't come up with anything witty or creative to start this so I will just kick it off by saying today I did my first solo flight! This is the culmination of a lot of work and time although there is still a long road ahead of me. It is a great feeling to have the first big check mark on the list of requirements for my private pilots license. Officially I soloed after 14.3 hours of dual time and 68 landings. We started early (6:30AM) since my instructor was busy from 9-12 and I try to avoid flying in the afternoon down here, especially when it is 95-100+ and I am flying at low levels. Overall this turned out to be a great decision today when we got to the airport there was no wind and the temperature was 80. This afternoon as is normal here it got up to around 95 and right now there are some storms with some strong outflow winds moving into the Wichita metro. To start the flight my instructor went up with me and we did two touch-and-go's along and one full stop landing. During this time he was telling me what to do if something goes wrong (the common sense things of go to another airport if something happens here and come back and land immediately if there is an issue with the plane). On the third landing I taxied onto the ramp he got out and sent me on my way. While pulling onto the runway I definitely had a "holy shit I am about to do this" moment. After that I was fine and completely enjoyed the experience. It was quite interesting getting used to being the only one in the plane and not having the weight of the instructor in there. I certainly learned several lessons (more flaps to prevent floating down the runway). Climb out was also interesting with less weight as I climbed at 85-90 at around 500 feet per minute (FPM) however the 180 hp engine does help this part. Overall everything went really well and my instructor said it all looked great! I will not be flying nearly as much over the next two weeks as my instructor if pushing to finish his CFII (Certified Flight Instrument Instructor) rating before Airventure in Oshkosh which is next week. He is then going to spend a few days up there with his dad. I will take this time to focus myself on studying for the written test so when he gets back we can get mostly done if not done before he leaves for college. I have attached the picture of my shirt tail cut off (you can find the explanation to this tradition here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_solo_flight) as well as videos that my wife took, they aren't the best but you get the picture. As always let me know if you have any questions!

Up and Down...

It has been a few weeks since I updated this but I have been doing a lot of the same things. The last few weeks have been full of take-offs and landings. I have not mastered them and probably never will, there is a reason why they say a pilots license is just a license to learn. Last week I was only able to fly twice due to a wedding we went to back in Iowa. On July first the weather was almost perfect very light to no wind which made it very ideal to do 12 touch and go's. My main issue was visualizing the landing and getting the sight and how it should look down as well as responding to the decent. After a couple I started to get it down and was really doing well. The fourth was a great morning for another 10-12 (I just got done mowing and am too lazy to check my logbook but it is around that number) touch and go's. Most of them were really good and I am getting more and more confident about how I was doing. At that point my instructor threw in simulated engine out landings. Now the key to that statement before my mom freaks out is SIMULATED the engine is at idle. The first step to this (in this case) is to trim for best glide which is 75 knots (about 86MPH) in the 172. The next point is to choose a landing point. We did these at different points in the pattern so the runway was always my landing point. The main thing to remember when doing anything while flying is to never stop flying the plane. The first simulation we did he cut the power when I was on the base leg of the pattern (I can dive more into the different parts of the pattern if requested but for now I will just include this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Airport_traffic_pattern.jpg), the second one we did on the base turn from downwind and the final one was on downwind. They all went very well and I actually enjoyed the added challenge of it and the break from just going around and around. On Saturday we had a little crosswind which was great for where I was at in my learning. The crosswind turned out to be about an 8 knot quartering crosswind. Crosswind landings are a little tricker but the same principles are in place you just add a step at take-off and landing. You want to keep the upwind wing low to minimize the wind pushing you around the runway as well as to keep it from flipping, turning and pretty much having it's way with you. To do this you add in aileron (directional control surface on the wing) in the direction of the wind and rudder in the opposite direction. This cross-control when applied correctly will keep you going straight while lifting off safely. ON landing you do the same thing while flaring. At the end of our lesson on Saturday my instructor said that as long as everything goes well with weather and my performance this week I can probably solo at the end of this week. I am currently planning on flying Tuesday (severe weather may not let this one happen) and Wednesday night as well as sometime during the day on Friday and Saturday. It is another hot week with temps around 100 down here so if I am not flying or at work I will probably be at the pool...thinking of you all of course! Let me know if you have questions!