Learning to fly

[Chairboy]

Thanks, slimm!  And Eagl, I'll talk to my instructor about that, sounds very useful.

Did .8 hours of solo today, it was great to be alone in the cockpit and flying, I find that not having a pilot ready to take over really concentrates my attention like nothing else, and I got to practice landings.  

The air was a little bumpy, but it seemed fine since I was staying in the pattern.  The clouds were far off in all directions, it felt like flying in the eye of a hurricane.  

I did two normal (for me, that means two notches of flaps (out of three)) landings, then I decided to do a one notch flap landing to see if it improved handling at all with the intermittent crosswind I saw on the first two.  For all but the last landing, I consciously ignore the PAPI and instead stare at a spot on the runway so I can fix the 'low approach' tendency I showed this morning at unfamiliar airports.

I turn final with only one notch of flaps and the whole plane shakes hard and drops about fifty feet, then stabilizes.  Pretty rough turbulence over the 405/5 interchange, but nothing I can't handle.  I come in like normal, nailing the glideslope, and flare like usual.  Unlike usual, the plane actually goes up a little before settling down into a normal flare and smooth landing.  "Of course," I thought to myself, "I'm going about 10 knots faster with less drag, what else do I expect the plane to do?"

I taxi back one more time and do a perfect pattern.  The plane jumps up into the cold air, the winds bump me around a little but it's all fine, and my approach is straight in on the glide slope, red over white, and I touch down smooth as silk.

All in all, a great counterpoint to this morning's rough flight.  Tonight, I'll study some more and finish planning a Santa Barbara cross country flight, and with luck we might fly it this weekend.

[Chairboy]

Today we did some scary stalls.  The training is great because it really helps pound into both the warning signs (so you can avoid them) and the recovery techniques (so you know how to get out of them).

It looked nice from the ground, but when I called ATIS, I heard that visibillity was only 4 miles.  After that, I looked at the horizon more closely and realized that I couldn't actually see it, it was just a gradual gradient of haze I was looking at that happened to be blue like the sky.

I got to the plane early because being late the day before had been such a pain.  It was quite a trick as my cell phone (which I use as an alarm clock) was dead and I didn't trust the volume of my watch to wake me up.  Add to this that I was at work until midnight assembling server racks and installing hardware, and it was a restless night.  I woke up a few times and checked the time, finally dragging myself out of bed (couch?) 10 minutes before my alarm would (might?) have gone off.

So I wander out to the airfield....  and the plane isn't there.

Ok, no worries, I'm 20 minutes early, so I head up to the pilots lounge and call in to get a standard weather briefing (another side effect of my early flight yesterday.  I might make mistakes, but I try not to make them more then once if I can help it.) and find that it's ok to fly out to Malibu.

The plane shows up at eight with my instructor and another student, and we take off and head north-west along the shoreline.  Once we climbed a couple thousand feet, the haze disapeared, there was a light marine layer near the airport, but blue skies above.

He had me review my normal stalls first.  I put the plane in slow flight (full flaps, cruise at 60 knots) and do a power off stall, then we did some power on stalls, then he showed me the new stalls.

The first one was the scary one, it was a cross-controls stall.  This means that you might be trying to kick the plane around so it points elsewhere but you're using the aileron to try and level the wings.  The effect is that the plane is flying sideways and the fuselage creates an aerodynamic 'shadow' that one of the wings is in.  The effect is, the plane stalls and starts rolling towards the side that has the wing in the shadow.  This is double scary because this is the perfect conditions for creating a spin, where the plane spirals down to the ground, and fast.

We also did trim stalls, where you have the trim set for a low cruise speed, then you jump on the throttle for some reason (say, the tower tells you to go around when you're on final) and the plane wants to pull up and up and up until it falls out of the sky.  You have to actually muscle the yoke to keep it from stalling, so it was a good safety lesson.

I do a couple of these, but we're pretty conservative to stay away from actually fully stalling it as the plane we're flying is not rated for spins (some planes, like the Cessna 152, are designed to be safely spun as part of training.  This used to be a normal part of flying lessons, but they removed the requirement because the training killed more people then it saved, much like autorotation training in helicopters, I think.)  After I have my license, someday I'll rent a plane that's rated for spins and have an instructor show me, but for now, staying OUT of the spin is my priority.

We also did some turning stalls (pretty basic, you're in a turn with the nose too high for the power setting, you run out of airspeed and stall), and that was no problem, especially after the cross-controls one.

Then we flew back to Santa Monica with me under the hood.  Pretty normal until he had me do some stalls WHILE UNDER THE HOOD.

Ayeee!  It was scary, but also confidence building to see that a: the artificial horizon and the other instruments really told me what I needed to know to recover, and b: that the same procedures work just as well when you can see outside as they do when you can't.

I came in to land and did a short field landing, no problem.  Basically, full flaps, touch down on the white marks, and then (simulated) maximum braking.  This was no sweat, after all, if I can land a 747 on an aircraft carrier (simulated), then this is nothing.

We taxied back, did a short field take off (full throttle with the brakes held, rotating early and flying as if trying to clear trees right at the end of a short runway) and flew the pattern.  On downwind, I got clearance to land, so I turned to base, then to final.  As I was turning to final, the tower tells another plane to position and hold, which means drive out onto the runway.  I say "This isn't gonna work", and sure enough, the tower immediately tells me "Make a left 270 and reintercept base".  This call confused me because I'm already on base, which means I'm thinking I'd need to do a 360 instead.  My instructor has me turn RIGHT (which double confuses me) and as I make a turn (and I've added power automatically to hold altitude).  

I'm figuring 'reintercept base' means to come around until I'm on base again, then turn to final, but my instructor says "what are you doing?" when I pass the runway exactly perpendicular to it, and has me fix my approach.

Apparently, 'left 270 to reintercept base' actually means 'right 270 to intercept final'.  On the ground, the instructor says that the 'left 270' was a mistake on the towers part because there was closed left traffic behind us that this would have put us head on with them.  Control obviously meant for us to do this because they don't complain, so all is well.

Anyhow, good flying, and looks like we'll try and do the cross country to Santa Barbara this weekend.  I've got another solo scheduled for today at 1:00 PM.  Weather permitting, I'll fly myself out of the pattern for the first time and fly to Malibu, then back.  This will be good practice for remembering to do all the checklists, get all the calls, etc.  

Here's hoping!

[Chairboy]

Did another solo today for lunch.  Tastes better then anything else, except maybe pie.

I got there just as the plane was coming back from another flight.  This little bird is in the air a LOT, I guess it's the only way to make any money is for it to be flying.

My instructor, a student, and two very unhappy looking kids got out of the plane as I walked up.  Apparently it was a little choppier up at altitude then they wanted.

I pre-flighted, noted that the fuel was about half full, so no trips to Vegas.  I took off and flew up to Malibu, first time leaving the pattern alone.  It was strange, being in the aircraft without anyone else for a trip long enough to finish my checklists.  I was admiring the scenery, watching for traffic, and having a great time.  I flew up the coast at 2500 feet, did some slow flight (where you deploy full flaps and fly the plane level, real slow).  I was crawling along at 60 knots with the nose up in the air for a little, then went back to level flight.  

Above Malibu, I practiced some clearing turns (where you turn the plane back and forth looking for other planes), something you usually do before practicing wacky maneuvers (like stalls, or emergency descents).  

Then, I turned and flew up to 3500 back up the coast to Santa Monica.  I had the camera with me and took some shots while flying, I'll post some if there are any good ones.

I did my descent checklist, got clearance to enter Class D airspace by talking to Santa Monica tower and descended in over Brentwood.  Got my clearance to land and made an approach without trouble.    I came in, landed a little hot, and taxied back to runway 21 with the tower.

I did one more flight, staying in the pattern, and ran into some trouble.  Nothing big, but it was puzzling.  I was making my descent, and the plane felt like it was trimmed for slower flight then it was (it was neutral), so I needed to push a bit on the yoke as I came in to land.  Nothing extreme, but I'll ask the instructor about it.  It just didn't feel quite right, so I want to know what happened for the future.  Airspeed was right, attitude was right, climb rate was right, it was just...  off.

Anyhow, landed, taxied back to parking and did another first, I called for a truck to come and refuel the airplane (since the tanks were getting down).  They have pumps where you can fill up the plane yourself, but they also have a fuel truck that'll come and do it and charge it to the plane's account, so why do two starts and pay for extra taxi time if you don't need to?

The neat thing about calling for fuel was, I didn't have the frequency memorized, and I forgot that the instructor showed me it was in the notebook where they track engine time, so instead I used my Flight Guide to look up ground services for SMO and got the frequency there.  It was a little victory, but being able to use the reources at my disposal to solve a problem was still a good thing.

[talliven]

trim indicators arn't an exact science.  just trim for what you need.  "nuetral" is just a good starting point for takeoff and landing.  You dont want to be flying approach with it trimmed to the point where you need forward pressure on yoke.  Thats how you get into those trim stalls you had so much fun practicing.  Reading your posts is actually making me miss instructing new students.  Its students like you that made being a cfi worthwhile.

[Chairboy]

Had some ground school this morning, instructor approved of the work I did in planning a cross country trip up to Santa Barbara, so weather permitting, we'll fly it tomorrow (Saturday) morning.  Afterwards, I was going to fly out to Malibu to practice steep turns on my own, but there was a cloud at the end of the runway at 1200 feet, so I did a WX abort.  I have a 5PM block today, hope it'll clear up!

Have I mentioned that I love flying?

[Chairboy]

Bah, I love flying, but I'm starting to hate weather.  I called for a standard briefing for my solo tonight, and got a report that included words like 'thunderstorms' and 'severe turbulence' and '(do) not recommend VFR'.  The only thing missing from the report was 'spiraling, fiery wreckage'.

After getting off the phone I pondered, then called back and got an outlook briefing on the route for tomorrow's cross country.  Same stuff.



So it looks like I won't be doing the XC in the morning.  I called my instructor and told him that if he DOESN'T hear from me, we're cancelled.  That way he doesn't have to set his alarm clock.

[Chairboy]

This morning, hoping things had turned out better then the forecast.  I called 800-WX-BRIEF to figure out what the story was.

"Hawthorne FSS."  "Hi, I would like a standard weather briefing."  "Go ahead."  "I will be flying VFR, tail number november eight two fife eight sierra.  Aircraft type is a pappa alpha dash two eight dash one six one.  Departing SMO Santa Monica via Ventura for SBA Santa Barbara at forty five hundred feet.  Estimated time of departure, sixteen thirty zulu."  He started giving me the briefing, then asked "Well, can you fly IFR instead?"  Right about then I figured out that I would not be flying to Santa Barbara this morning after all.  "Ah, that's a negative.  Looks like I'll be staying home today."  The weather briefer laughed, and I thanked him and hung up.  I sat there for a few minutes, thinking, then called ATIS for Santa Monica to see how it was.  Visibility was 4 miles, clouds were at two thousand....  not super, but doable.

I take a shower, then call in again.  Visibility is improving, so I head out to the airport to solo.  Enroute, I call my instructor and let him know that I want to practice landings and takeoffs in the pattern, and he tells me to stay close to the airport because the heading indicator is inoperative and visibility ain't super.  

I get to the plane, and start my preflight.  I immediately notice that the preflight/engine start checklist card is missing from the airplane.  I'm guessing that the last person to flight accidentally took it with them, so I sit there figuring out what to do.  I find the checklists for the plane in the operating manual and read over them, mostly the same stuff as the card I usually use, but there are differences.  I try calling my instructor, but my cell phone can't connect and the payphone I drive to is busted, so I end up deciding to go ahead and use the manual.

I taxi out, do my runup, then pull up next to the runway.

"Santa Monica Tower, Cherokee 8258 Sierra holding short of two one, left closed traffic."  I look over to the right and see a cessna coming in for landing.  "Cherokee 8258 Sierra, position and hold."  Whaza?  He just told me to drive out onto the runway, and I see a plane a half mile out on final.  "Santa Monica tower, confirm, there's a plane on final and you want me to position and hold?"  "Affirmative."  So I drive out, wondering what he's gonna do.  "Cherokee 8258 Sierra, clear for takeoff."  That's it, I know this plane is crawling up my right side now, so I call out "8258 Sierra unable, there's a plane on short final" as I get ready to drive off the runway, and sure enough, tower comes back with a different voice "Cherokee 8258 Sierra, taxi immediately off the runway to the north" so I punch the throttle and radio back "58 Sierra, exiting the runway with all haste."  As I drive off the other side and turn around to hold short, the Cessna lands, and I know there's no way I could have safely taken off.  Tower asks me to switch to ground, and I do, dreading the conversation.  "58 Sierra with you" I call.  "58 Sierra, things get pretty busy here sometimes, and when everything goes right, we can slip planes in and out of the airport real close together."  I nod, then radio back "Roger that, I'll be faster next time" because I don't want to argue with them over the radio, but I'm still thinking it was TOO close.  More likely, in the future I'll tell them I'm unable if the plane on short final is too close for me.  Maybe when I've got more hours, it'll be different, but I could see that Cessna's pilot's Ray Bans...

So I get my clearance, take off, and fly the pattern.  Then the next shoe drops.  On downwind, the tower asks me to continue downwind as there's a jet on final.  So it's pretty hazy but I continue out.  I know the terrain, and I'm not gonna hit anything.  I can still see at least three miles.  Tower tells me they'll call my base turn.

I'm flying downwind, still flying and looking for that traffic when the tower radios "58 Sierra, you are turning base!  Continue downwind until I call your base!"  The thing is, I'm NOT turning base, just flying downwind, but again, I'm not going to argue.  The jet passes me a mile off to the side, and they clear me #2 behind him.  By now, the airport is almost out of sight, but I'm ok because, again, I know LA.  At least, from the air.

I turn base, and come in behind the jet and land ok.  After this, I'm really sweating because I'm convinced that the tower is gonna FAA me, especially if they think that I turned base early towards traffic when I didn't, but they don't say anything.  Maybe they'll call the FBO I fly out of, I dunno, but I've got a case of the nerves.  

I land, pull off the active and do my post flight checklist.  I take a couple deep breaths to slow my heart, then ask tower for clearance back to the runway (they told me to stay on their frequency).  I taxi back, and the rest of my flights are uneventful.  My landings aren't as smooth as they've been in the past, but I get some good practice, and they get better each time.

Finally, I park the plane and put it all away.  .9 hours of staying in the pattern, not as fun as my to-do cross country.  I get back to the apartment I've been staying at that I'm helping move out of (ironically, I've been sleeping on a couch in an apartment that's in the building I USED to own, but don't anymore).  

The skies immediately clear, and my instructor calls.  "Hey Ben, wanna fly to Santa Barbara?"  DOH!  Now I'm in the middle of a move, but stuck on the ground.  

Maybe tomorrow!  I'm just under 33 hours now.

[Chairboy]

Ran out of time to fly to SBA today.  While the weather was fine, my instructor was working with another student of his who's taking his checkride this week.  No worries, we scheduled another shot for Wednesday morning.

I was at an MP3car.com meeting to show off my car computer and check out others when my instructor called and told me to go get some solo time in.  No argument from me, I jumped in the car and took off.  Winds were 230 @ 11 knots steady, so I preflighted, did my runup and got cleared to taxi to the runway.  I ended up waiting 4-5 minutes at the runway because of all the traffic, including a nice Gulfstream that took off right before me.  "58 Sierra, cleared for immediate takeoff" comes the call, and, yesterday's flight fresh on my mind, I jump on the gas and drive out onto the runway while flipping switches.  Fuel pump on, landing light on, anti-collisions on, all check.  Transponder from standby to ALT, check.  I was pushing mixture to full right as I finished turning down the runway, and I jammed the throttle to the stops.

I took off in no time, and the 11 knot wind I was flying into made the plane go up like a rocket.  I made my right turn at the shoreline to the Pacific (did you know that the Pacific was named as such because it appeared to be a calm (eg, pacified) ocean?  HA!)  and headed out towards Malibu.  I climbed to 2,500 feet and set the plane up for cruise and did my cruise checklist.  I finished, then scanned the gauges, then set up a scan outside, then checked gauges briefly, etc.  I set up the inside/outside scan when I saw a distinct cruciform shape in front of me.  I watched, and sure enough, it turned out to be another airplane cruising in level flight coming towards me.  He was off to my right, so I turned to avoid him and we passed a few hundred feet apart.  I thought for a second...  "I AM at the proper altitude for this flight, right?"  

When cruising in VFR, you fly at an even-numbered thousands of feet altitude plus 500.  Eg, 2000 + 500 = 2500, where I was flying.  This applies when you are flying on any heading from 180 to 359 degrees on the compass (eg, westerly).  If you're flying the other way, you pick an ODD numbered altitude and add 500.  Since the other fellow was coming at me, I'm thinking he's in the wrong, but ok, the scan worked.

I fly over Malibu, then do some clearing turns to look for other airplanes around me.  I definately want to know about traffic if I'm about to do some maneuvering.  The steep turns I'm practicing definately count as maneuvering.

I turn the plane until it's turning at a 45 degree angle and hold it there.  I'm making a lot less lift then before, so I have to add power and pull back on the stick to keep at the altitude I'm flying at.  As I finish the 360 and level out, the whole plane shudders for a second, and I laugh out loud.  That's the sign that you've done it right, because the shuddering is my flying through my own wake from when I started the turn.

I do another 4 or 5 of these, never losing more then 50 feet and usually staying at essentially the same altitude before I decide to head back to the barn.  

I climb to 3,500 and fly back towards Santa Monica when I see another plane heading right at me.  I turn to avoid him, but now I'm really paranoid.  "I AM at the right altitude, right?  Right?!"  I double my scan and fly in.  At one point, I hear another airplane call out as being at the same altitude, location, and heading that I'm at and I get nervous.  I've already been closer to two other planes today, so I call tower.  "Santa Monica Tower, cherokee 8258 Sierra, Pacific Palisades.  Can you tell me where that last to call is in relation to me?"  "58 Sierra, no, but there's noone near you."  "Ah, roger that, 58 sierra."  I'm guessing one of us called their location a little early or late, so all is good.

I come in and make a good landing.  Not quite a 'greaser' (a very good, smooth landing) but the plane is reusable afterwards, so I'm ok with it.

It was a good solo, and I'm itching for more.  Because of that other student getting some cramming in w/ the instructor and the plane, I'm not flying again until tomorrow night.  We're gonna practice some more maneuvers at night as a refresher.  If we can do the cross country on Wednesday, then we'll do a night cross country on Thursday.

Also, my instructor told me that tomorrow we'll sit down with a calendar and pencil in a tentative date for my checkride.  Getting closer!

[bunch]

Originally posted by Chairboy
....When cruising in VFR, you fly at an even-numbered thousands of feet altitude plus 500.  Eg, 2000 + 500 = 2500, where I was flying.  This applies when you are flying on any heading from 180 to 359 degrees on the compass (eg, westerly).  If you're flying the other way, you pick an ODD numbered altitude and add 500.  Since the other fellow was coming at me, I'm thinking he's in the wrong, but ok, the scan worked....

This rule does not apply below 3000',  but I obey it down there if possible anyway.  I wouldn't have said anything, but you mentioned the upcoming checkride....just looked in the FARs to make sure I was not providing bad info, it is actually 3000' AGL (91.159).

[Gixer]

We use to remember it as  N.O.S.E  North Odds South Evens.

Though flying helos never put it to practice  as hardly ever at 500 let alone 3000


...-Gixer

[Chairboy]

Originally posted by bunch
This rule does not apply below 3000',  but I obey it down there if possible anyway.  I wouldn't have said anything, but you mentioned the upcoming checkride....just looked in the FARs to make sure I was not providing bad info, it is actually 3000' AGL (91.159).

Ok, thanks!  Good to know.  It was interesting that I still saw that co-alt fella heading west at 3,500 feet, not climbing or anything.  I'm reminded of a funny ATC conversation I read on AVWEB recently:

ATC: Saratoga 12345, traffic at 3,000 feet (same altitude), 1 O'Clock, 3 miles opposite direction.

Saratoga 12345: Roger, looking for traffic.

(long pause)

Saratoga 12345: Approach, Saratoga 12345, no joy on that traffic, can you give us a better location on it?

ATC: I can give you a much better location ... he's 2 miles behind you. Traffic no longer a factor. In spite of your best efforts, the Big Sky theory wins again.

[Chairboy]

Flew with my instructor today.  It's been a while, so I found out that I had developed a couple bad habits in my solos.  The main one was using a little aileron to counteract the torque roll on takeoff.  The other was that I didn't coordinate my flight as consistently with the rudder as I should.  There's a turn indicator with a ball that I'm supposed to keep centered, and I've gotten a little sloppy there.  Nothing big, just good stuff to get down right early on so I'm a tighter pilot later in life.

I learned how to do soft field take offs and landings.  The soft field takeoff, something you'd use when flying on a grass/dirt landing strip, is awful interesting.  

Since the ground can give way, you've got to taxi the plane softly.  Don't jam on the brakes, make gentle turns, and when turning onto the runway, don't come to a full stop because you don't want to sink into the mud.  So before I start moving, I set two notches of flaps, pull the elevator all the way back, and get my clearance.  After that, I gently roll out onto the runway and hit the gas.

What's interesting is that I'm pulling back on the yoke and driving down the runway with the nose wheel in the air.  As I get enough speed, the rear tires lift off.  I'm not really flying fast at all, so this could be a dangerous combination.  The only reason I'm in the air is because of the ground effect (think of it as extra lift that exists as a layer right over the surface and reaches up a few feet), so if I continue to climb, I'll climb to a point where I'm not flying and drop down again.

Consequently, the moment I get off the ground, I need to push the yoke forward a little and fly the plane along in the ground effect for a few seconds while the plane accelerates up to 63 knots (which, in this plane, is a flying speed) at which point I pull back and climb at that speed.  

After a few seconds, my instructor calls the 50 foot imaginary obstacle that I was climbing to avoid (eg, there are trees at the end of the runway) so I carefully get rid of one notch of flaps, then another.

Ok, technically, that's the sequence the way it SHOULD go.  In reality, my first try doesn't go that smoothly.  I don't pull the yoke back far enough, and by the time I lift off into the ground effect, I'm already at 65 knots.  I steer back to ground effect and end up accelerating to 80 knots before I rotate up to climb.  Nothing bad, the takeoff just happens to be a little more like a standard takeoff then what was intended.  My instructor briefs me, and we loop around the pattern and come into land.  

Now I'm supposed to do a soft field landing.  I'm interested to hear what fancy procedures are needed for soft field landings, and my instructor initially surprises me by saying just "make it your smoothest landing ever.  The idea is to set down real gently so your tires won't grab in the mud and make you cartwheel."  I gather by the look on his face that cartwheeling the airplane is counterindicated, so I follow suit.

Lately, smooth landings have been escaping me.  My landings haven't been BAD, just...  they could be a little smoother, and this build up isn't terribly re-assuring.  Cartwheeling?  I think to myself that it's a good thing that the training is taking place on a cement runway like usual.

I bring the plane in, a little high on the glide slope initially, but I fix it up, then flare and bring it down.  I get the right nose attitude (eg, the nose is pointing up high), but the stall horn barely squawks right before I set it down, and it's not super great....  but it's better then some.  

"Good, but next time, remember that a good landing is the result of a good approach."  He then tells me that he saw me fudging with the throttle to fix my intercept of the glideslope.  Busted.  If I had coordinated a little better on the base leg, I wouldn't have needed to try and fix things.  No biggy, but I take his advice in hand and determine to do it better next time.

We take off again.  Same gentle roll, this time I really crank back the yoke and feel that front tire up in the air.  The plane lifts off the ground and tries to jump up, but I get the nose down and fly into the ground effect until I hit 65k, then climb over an obstacle.  My instructor nods and tells me that's more like it.  

On downwind, he says that he's gonna throw something extra into the mix.  "This time, when you're landing, I want you to add just a little throttle to make the touch down even smoother.  Wait until the plane is descending with the nose high and just give the throttle a little touch, it'll make those last couple of feet even slower/smoother."  

During this lesson, jets have been taking off left and right.  It's like there's a learjet convention in town, but wake turbulence hasn't been too bad.  As I'm on base turning to final, the controller tells another plane to follow mine, and says that I'm on 'short final'.  Since I'm like 3/4 of a mile out and just turning to final, I figure that she's just gotten used to these business rockets coming in at 250 mph.  

I come in on the glide slope, flare above the ground, then add just a little power.  I end up using my aileron a little by accident to counter a bit of wake turbulence that's left from the Gulfstream that just took off ahead of me and my right wheel touches down first, then my other.  I use the throttle trick, so other then being off balance, it's a lot smoother.

As I pull off the runway, the instructor says it's a lot better, and we do one more run around the pattern.  This time, I nail the soft field takeoff, and on landing, it's a super smooth touchdown.

All in all, a great way to end the lesson.

Tomorrow, we're gonna try to do the cross country to Santa Barbara.  The day after, I'm flying into Long Beach where, my instructor tells me, I'll be able to practice crosswind landings.  Myself, I'm more interested in learning the complicated new radio calls to SoCal approach and Clearance Delivery.  The airport is so big and the airspace is so complicated that they give all the flight instructions ahead of time while you're on the ground so that the controller just has to say 'Yo, get outta here' and can go back to their TV or chatting with the Southwest airliners.

[Golfer]

Hey chairboy!  If you're heading to las vegas between now and the 10th...shoot me an email and we'll grab lunch.  I'm busy as heck but right now its mostly checkrides.  Passed Initial CFI ride today, so I'm a Multiengine Airplane instructor  My first time flying around real mountains too

[Chairboy]

Hey Golfer, I'd love to, but I'm running out of time.  I have the rest of this week, then two non-continuous weeks this month to do my cross countries, solo XC, then get my checkride.  

I'd love to fly out there some time, but with me moving out of LA at the end of the month, it doesn't look like that'll happen for a while.  I'll be sure to drop you a line when I fly out in my own plane.  After all, it's just a matter of time before I get rich, right?  

[Chairboy]

The weather has become my implacable enemy.
Grey tendrils ooze slowly through the hills,
robbing the green earth below of life giving sun.
My wings are unfurled, but I cannot fly.

Had to cancel my cross country again because of low cloud ceilings.  Perhaps tomorrow?