Learning to fly

[Chairboy]

Well, I got a chance to get some flying in today after all, just not the big flight I was hoping for.

I took the plane out to Malibu and practiced stalls, both power on and power off.  Doing those first stalls alone in the plane was scary.  Pulling that nose back, feeling the plane start to shake as it runs out of speed right before the nose falls forward and the plane starts to dive...  definately not something to do casually.  It was a great excercise in making sure I know all the warning signs (and that's a big 10-4), and they all went fine.

While out at Malibu, I also made my first PIREP (Pilot Report.  Since we pay for the planes by the hour, we try to acronym everything to save money.  har har).  When I had called the Flight Service Station to get weather, the guy said that the area LOOKED fine, but he had no PIREPS from there and asked me to provide one.  As soon as I get out there and get a feel for the area, I tuned the radio into 122.00mhz (which is the local FSS) and called 'em up.  I had never seen a PIREP given by my instructor, but it looks like I figured out the format.  Gave 'em my tail number, plane type, and location and then reported the conditions and altitude.  The person thanked me a couple time, so I guess I did it right.

Flew back to Santa Monica and got clearance to enter the pattern.  I came in and landed without incident and taxiied back to the runway.  I practiced a soft field take-off (kind ok, not my best though) and looped around in the pattern.  Did my first solo touch-n-go, that's a real great way to squeeze more landings into a flight!  I'll have to remember that for the future.  Most of my other solo flying has been during the weekend when my airport disallows TnG's for noise reason, but during the week, definately a good way to get more practice.

Next approach, I requested a short approach with 'the option' and got it.  As I passed my landing point, I started the descent, but as I turned final I decided I was way too high (at least a few hundred feet) and did a go-around.  I'm definately going to need more practice with that, it's been a while since I did one.

Finally, did a normal landing and started taxiing back to parking.  Enroute, a P-51 Mustang came in to land so I got clearance to stop taxiing and watch it (beautiful plane), then parked the plane.

1.1 hours, definately a great way to spend a lunch.

[Chairboy]

Yesterday, I showed up at the airport with a glum look on my face.  While the weather at Santa Monica was fine, it got progressively worse the further north I looked, and the WX-BRIEF guys mentioned that with the mountain obscuration, they didn't recommend VFR flight through the valleys (the path I was going to take to Santa Barbara).

So instead, we flew down to Long Beach to practice crosswind landings.  Long Beach airport is a Class D, just like Santa Monica, but it's quite a bit bigger.  There are a few aircraft manufacturers there, including Boeing, and some airliners (Southwest, JetBlue) fly 737s from there.

I flew over LAX via the special flight rules corridor and actually used the VOR radio beacon to to make an exact transition.  It's the first time I've used a VOR since my initial training a month or so ago, and I was very satisfied to be able to tune it in and use it without needing any refresher.  I did a climbing right turn out of Santa Monica, passed directly over the VOR on the proper heading, and the needle stayed basically centered as I flew over one of the busiest airports in the world.

On the other side of the airport, I started looking for Long Beach.  I was checking my chart against landmarks when suddenly I looked up and pointed.  "Hey, there's an airport there!  That's Long Beach, I'm sure of it."  My instructor nodded.  "You found it your first time," he said.  "That's better then most other students."  Once I traced the shoreline and referenced what I saw out the window with the chart, it was obvious.  So that was cool.

I made my call to the tower.  "Long Beach tower, Cherokee 8258 Sierra over the 405/110 interchange, request the option on 25 right with Zulu."  Tower approved me for right traffic on runway 25R, so I entered the pattern on downwind and did my thing.  As we passed the field, the instructor pointed at something on the field and said "We've got a good windsock today, and it should a great crosswind."  I looked for a second, trying to figure out what he was pointing at when I realized it was a big blimp that was parked midfield.  A 'good windsock' indeed.

I made my approach, crabbed in at an angle until over the runway, then kicked the tail around with the rudder while stabilizing roll with the ailerons, and touched down perfectly.  

I turned the ailerons into the crosswind, cleaned up the plane, and hit full power and took off again.  My instructor commended me.  "Geez Ben, you nailed it on the first try again.  Let's make it harder next time, I want you to touch down on the numbers."  I felt pretty good after that and did another loop around the airport.  I came in a little hotter then I wanted, but touched down just a few feet past the numbers.  Next time around, I got it.  

We flew back via the mini-route, which is cool.  That's the one where I end up squawking a special code on my transponder, talk to Hawthorne first to set it up, then finally contact LAX tower to get clearance to fly over at 2500 feet.  It saved a lot of time, considering that we didn't need to climb to 4500 to do the northwest Special Flight Rules corridor.

All in all, a great flight, and my instructor told me that he liked everything he saw and didn't have any areas of improvement for me.  

This morning, I showed up at 7AM to fly, but the clouds were low.  I stuck around for 20 minutes until it cleared up a bit (there was a wind moving the clouds aside, I had blue sky pretty shortly) so I went to the plane.  I called the tower before startup and asked them how the sky looked for closed left traffic, and they said it was fine, so I started it up and took off.  

The air was cooling, so it was super stable.  The plane felt like it was on rails as I climbed.  On downwind, I saw a light cloud a few thousand feet away, but it was transparent, so I just avoided it and did a touch & go.  After climbing back up to altitude, I was on downwind when I realized that the little cloud had suddenly turned into an opaque cloud bank and scooted in over my approach path.  As I was getting ready to call the tower, he told me to wait for IFR release, and that's when I knew this wasn't going to work.

"Santa Monica Tower, Cherokee 8258 Sierrra, downwind.  Student pilot, there are some thick clouds forming in my path, request 180 and full stop on runway 3."  Since runway 21 was in use, I was asking to land going the opposite direction.  The tower had me do a few 360s as he got some traffic in and out, then had me land.  I did a sorta-short approach and landed with a 6 knot tailwind, but it was super smooth, then taxied back to parking.

Good flight right until the clouds came in.

Since I'll be in Oregon for the next week, I've been assigned some serious studying/cramming so I can get my written out of the way when I get back.  That monday, we'll try doing the cross country to SBA in the morning, a night cross country that evening, and I'll try and do my own solo XC the next day.  It's gonna be some serious cramming, but I'm ALMOST there.  Just a couple tiny things to do and I'll be ready to get my checkride.

[Chairboy]

Howdy!

It's been a week, and I'm in the air again!

This morning, I drive out to the airport.  I call into the automated weather system, and it tells me that the sky is overcast, there are clouds, blah bah blah, it's cruddy.  So I call the weather briefer and ask him about flying to Santa Barbara, and he tells me the same thing.  

I pull into the airport and walk out to the aircraft where my instructor is waiting.  "How's the weather?" he asks.  "Well, according to ATIS, it's pretty crummy."  I note the clear skies all around us.  I look up and say "and it's severely overcast at 3,000" just in time to see a plane fly over at 10,000 feet, blue skies everywhere.  "Oh, and they also warn of mountain obscuration."

"Indeed."  He nods, then we look over at the mountains, which are clear of all clouds.  "Well, they might be a little behind.  Let's see if we can fly north.  We can always turn around if we see clouds."

So we take off and I fly us up to coast to Pacific Palisades, then cross over into the valley.  Everything is looking great, and I find my first checkpoint without problem.  I turn towards Camarillo, fly over it and out to the oil platforms.  I get ATIS from Santa Barbara, and contact SBA approach and get a custom squawk code.  Life is great.  I'm at 4,500 and trimmed for 100knots (instead of the slower 80 I usually fly at), so when I begin my descent, I chop the throttle a little much and set us up in a bit of a steeper descent than the instructor wants.  "Let's ease up a little on that, we don't want to dive bomb anyone."  

I follow the highway in over Santa Barbara and admire the view.  There's a ission there, and it looks pretty nice.

I get final clearance, find my way to the airport on my own, and bring us in for a landing.  We refuelled, hung out in the office at Mercury Air for a few minutes eating cookies and drinking coffee, then headed back out to the plane.  Interestingly enough, the whole time we were inside the office, all the gas guys were hanging out.  They didn't bother sending the fuel truck out until we were on the way to the plane, so we ended up having to wait for them to finish.  That, and the guy spilled gas over the wing.  Back at Santa Monica, the refueller guy from American Flyers has a little cover that goes over the fuel hole to catch any splash, but...  good thing it wasn't my plane with a new paintjob, I guess.

I call Clearance Delivery for the first time, and get everything perfect first try, so I'm very happy.  I was nervous about dealing with approach and clearance delivery, but it worked out fine.  When I was done with my run-up, I called tower and just said "Santa Barbara Tower, Cherokee 8258 Sierra, ready for takeoff" instead of the normal telling him where I was going.  Since the clearance delivery people gave me all the instructions (maintain runway heading and below 1,500 for three minutes or until instructed, squawk 4265, etc) the tower guy must have the easiest job in the world, just saying 'Take off' and 'clear to land' without all the other stuff.

We took off, climbed to 5,500, and flew back along the Camarillo VOR beacon.  Near Ventura, my instructor had me go under the hood just as moderate to severe turbulence started, but I never got nauseaous.  He had me maneuvering and maintaining headings as the plane was thrown around the sky like a piece of tissue paper, but I did ok.  Kept getting hit by strong updrafts and downdrafts.  At one point, I was using full power to maintain altitude because the winds were pulling me down.  After Camarillo, he takes me out from under the hood and gives me a simulated engine out.  I do the checklist, then make a normal approach and landing at Santa Monica.  My flare was a little long, and I toggled the stall horn when I was still up 20 feet or so, but I had enough airspeed to get down.  My instructor just said I should remember to add power if I'm aiming for a landing point (I did a short field landing) and not just pull back the yoke.  Gotta remember both.

All in all, a good flight.  Tonight, weather permitting, we'll try the night cross country to Rialto.  Rio alto?  Rilto?  Not sure the spelling, or even where it is.  Guess I'd better plan the trip out.

[Chairboy]

Went on a solo flight this morning, it was great.  Perfect weather, great visibility, no clouds anywhere, it was spectacular.

I flew to Simi Valley and practiced turns around a point using a water tank as the 'point', then practiced S-turns down the freeway that bisects Simi.  

There was another plane in the practice area that wasn't on the common frequency, and he was practicing steep turns a little close for comfort, so I'm not sure he knew I was there, but I just kept my eyes open and moved elsewhere.

I flew back, everything was perfect.  I call in from the Pacific Palisades and tower tells me to make right base for runway 21 and report midfield.  So I'm entering the pattern when, a minute later, another plane calls in from Palisades at the same altitude I was at for the same thing.  I look out my window, and there's another Piper coming in hot behind me.  He does s-turns to bleed off speed, and ends up settling something like 200 feet behind me, pretty close.  I call tower:  "Santa Monica tower, Cherokee 8258 Sierra, midfield abeam on downwind.  I've got a bandit at my six, request short approach for spacing."  Tower ends up having me extend my downwind because there's a business jet on final and asks the guy behind me to try and slow down a bit more.

I get cleared to land after the jet and bring the plane in for a smooth landing.  The other plane lands 20 seconds after me, so I guess he managed to slow down.

It was just about a perfect flight.  Wonderful views, the Santa Monica mountains were spectacular.  Agoura Hills looked great, and I could see people on the paths along the ridge below.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  I wish I had done this years ago.  I'm gonna try and get my written test out of the way this week, and weather permitting, will do the night cross country to Rialto (L67) today.  After that, solo solo solo then checkride!  I'm at 38 hours right now (added 'em up last night) so it looks like I could be in the low-mid 40s if I feel ready for my exam early enough.  The clock is ticking, I am running out of time.

[bunch]

cut engines, skid, force the overshoot & you're on his 6:00...too bad about the cherokee's weak guns

[Chairboy]

No doubt.  Problem was, I was entering the pattern at 80 knots, so, not a lot of e to play with.

[Chairboy]

Well, I did my night cross country with the instructor.  It wasn't great, but it went ok.

It started out with something really cool.  As my instructor and I were going over the flight plan in the parking lot, I hear this droning.  I look over and see the Goodyear Blimp turning base towards the airport.  I'm thinking, this can't be real.  There are no blimp operations at SMO.  He turns final and drops down to like 50 feet over the outer marker.  He ends up doing a low-pass down the runway, then climbs out.  Pretty amazing.

I took off, did a climbing right 270 and passed over LAX at 3,500.  I found my first checkpoint (the 91 freeway) and turned to follow it east.  As I flew, I was finding my checkpoints, cross referencing my position by airports, etc.  I set myself up on the Paradise VOR and life was good.

I skirt around the Disneyland restricted area (you cannot fly close to the Whitehouse, downtown Washington DC, or...  or Disneyland.)

I'm starting to get close to Ontario Intl airport, so I make my radio call.  "SoCal approach, Cherokee 8258 Sierra (something Canyon, don't remember) at three thousand five hundred, request transition of Ontario class C for Rialto."  SoCal approach responds quickly.  He gives me a custom squawk code, then has me turn directly towards Ontario.  Erm...  this is unexpected.  I was planning on flying to the Paradise VOR, then turning towards Rialto.  I make my turn, overfly Ontario then start looking for Rialto.  

After a few minutes of searching, I'm convinced that I've found it.  I head towards what turns out to be a shopping mall.  I find the airport and descend to it, then landed.  I was rusty on my calls to uncontrolled airports, but after some prompting, I get 'em.  I land, taxi back to the beginning of the runway, then takeoff.

Coming back, I follow the 210 towards Pasadena.  I stay clear of Class C Ontario airspace.  As I'm looking for landmarks, I become convinced that I see the Rose Bowl (which is one of my checkpoints), but it's super hard to see at night.  Dumb mistake picking it, I should have just used a freeway intersection.  I figure out where I am and descend to 2,500 (from 4,500) at El Monte and then turn towards Santa Monica near the (unlit) Hollywood sign and the (slightly less unlit) Griffith Observatory.  

Santa Monica airport was easy to find, so I intercept the glidepath and brough the plane in for a landing.

What's missing is how I had a really hard time reading my chart in the dark cockpit.  My little red handheld light was difficult to use when I needed to keep my hands on the controls.  Also, I was really rushed for time when I put my plan together.  The plan itself was fine, but I didn't spend enough time familiarizing myself with alternate checkpoints/landmarks, so I had a tough time finding where I was on the chart.  Another thing....  my chart.  I had to keep refolding it, and it got in my way constantly.  I'm gonna actually spend an evening folding and refolding my map while trying to read it in the dark.

Tomorrow morning, if the weather improves, I'll do a solo cross country to Santa Barbara.

[Golfer]

I flew to Kalamazoo, MI on monday with a couple of private pilots.  The guy who hired me was picking up a Semi-Truck and the other (his friend) did not have a current BFR and had just gotten his medical back.  We start loading up the airplane and this is a pretty good airplane.  Nicely rigged and has a panel mounted King GPS.  The guy who just got his medical back had planned and plotted a well done VFR X/C but took us about 30 miles out of the way to an airport he was using as a VFR waypoint.  We took off and started toward it and I asked if he wanted to get to Kazoo before April.  I hit the [-D>] and twisted in KAZO and off we went with a purdy little course line and such to follow.  Turns out, that even though both of these guys learned to fly at the same flight school (where I am working now) and flown this airplane a LOT in their training...no CFIs had taken the time to teach them how to use the GPS's installed in the airplanes...partly because they had not taken the time themselves to learn them.  I shook my proverbial fist and wished them no good during FMS ground school.

They then BOTH proceeded to pull out a handheld GPS and said they were told that they were forbidden to use them in training by their CFIs.  I rolled my eyes and said "oh hell no!"  All's fair in love, war and flying.  I gave them one of the few schpels I have ready to give and said you need to know how to do a VFR X/C because GPS's are machines and they fail.  You need to know how to use a chart.  You can absolutely use a GPS, handheld or otherwise even on your checkride.  Nothing is better than a moving map for a little extra situational awareness.

We slap the GPS on the yoke (including my Garmin Pilot III and the panel mounted we have 4 GPS's in the airplane now LOL) and its no slouch.  Garmin 196.  He was able to hit Goto (Direct) and get Kazoo in the window.  I gave him a little crash course on entering a flight plan since the software for mine and his are nearly identical.  I ran him through some basics of the King mounted on the panel.  By the time we got to Kazoo (time flew by) he was pretty proficient on both the units since I had him entering all sorts of different flight plans to all sorts of different places.

He lands at Kazoo like a champ.  Neither had done a clearance delivery type thing before except once in their initial training at Port Columbus (Class Charlie) so I did it on my handheld for them.  Showed them it was a snap.  Wished the trucker well and we headed back for Bolton.  I talked about standardized airport markings and had him pull out his AOPA taxiway sign thing he showed me before.  I had my airport diagram out and we made sense of ground's instructions.  I said even though we know where we are going, we're unfamiliar and if we have any questions we can always get a progressive taxi.  Asked for a progressive and the lovely dumbed-down instructions were "straight ahead on that taxiway in front, all the way to the hold short line and make a left."  He was tickled by this...I vowed to take him up to the tower to meet my buddy who is one of the controllers back at Bolton and show him that controls are not posessed demonic voices...just a regular short skinny redheaded guy in the case of my buddy.

More GPS play on the way home, and an easy instruction from the tower.  Report 2 mile right base rwy 22.  Okie doke.  We're right over my house now, I point it out to him and tell him to fly right for a freeway which he can see to our 11 oclock.  That'll put him on base for 22 and thats where we're headed.  We get to 2 miles, I make the call and for some reason he puts in 10 of flaps.  We're 2 miles from the airport...I ask what is his plan (since it's lost on me:confused: ).  He gave an honest answer that when you turn base you put down your first 10 of flaps.  I said sure but we're in a 172 we can have the throttle at full until a mile from the runway and still get down in time.  No worries, he hasn't flown in 7 months so it's all new again.  We roll out on final lots left of centerline and showing 4 whites on the PAPI so we're between "really high" and "damn high" he pulls off the power and down we go.  The nose is pointed right at the threshold markings...I'm thinking "ahh" in my head because he's correcting.  My hands on my knees are a hillbilly's heartbeat from the controls and my feet are already on the rudder pedals.  Up into the flare we go at 50 feet!  He keeps coming back on the yoke...back...back...back...s tall horn...bottom about to fall out...not recovering...wait another second....My Airplane!.

I firewall the throttle, get the flaps up and the carb heat in and give tower a call we're going around.  Get set up for the climb and already I know what happened.  He had such a strict and regimented procedure for landing (pattern work only) when you asked him to do something different like fly straight in or a right base...he was lost.  I gave him back the airplane on downwind once it was set up and trimmed and he was fine.  No hard feelings.  He set us up, put in 10 of flaps then turned base.  20 flaps on base, turns final.  Rolls out 2 white/2 red right on glideslope and a nice touchdown.  I told him that before anybody would sign him off for a BFR (I don't do BFRs) he'll need more training and I'd be glad to do some training if he needed it.  I told him I don't do Biennials but would work with him on anything he needed help with and talk to the instructor he would eventually get the signoff from and let them know what was going on.

All in all a decent flight...3.9hrs dual given.  My first student-induced go around.  A successful prognosis and I even got to make a schpel.  

[eagl]

Nice story Golfer.  Congrats for surviving your first attempted airborn murder-suicide  I had my share during my 4 years instructing in the tweet.

[Chairboy]

Great story, thanks!  My instructor doesn't want me using my handheld GPS until after my checkride because he wants me to really nail down the fundamentals of VOR/ADF/Pilotage/Dead Reckoning etc first.  I'm glad he did, I've been practicing as part of my flights, and I'm starting to feel pretty confident in the VORTAC system.  Pilotage I was fine with already, and dead reckoning went up a few notches in my respect book today.

[LePaul]

Nice catch.

My instructor got canned a few years ago.  He had an older gent for a student who didnt let up on the flare and THUD'd the C-172 into the runway.  As my instructor was telling me, he was a nanosecond from shoving power and making a go around, but he missed it.  Airplane was severely damaged, buckled the fuselage and such to the point the doors wouldnt close.

No damage, asides ego for the student and a job, for the instructor.  Accidents happen.

[Chairboy]

Today I did my first solo cross-country, and it was great!

I took off and turned right at the shoreline like usual, and began climbing for 4,500 feet.  I was doing all my checklists, updating my flight plan to indicate the actual time flown between checkpoints so I could compare it against my estimated ones.

I flew out over the valley to my first point.  There's a lake next to the 101 with a big island in it that's covered with houses.  I see it, put in the time, and it matches my estimate exactly.  Sweet!  So I turn to my new heading I calculated and fly towards Camarillo.  Enroute, I switch on the CMA VORTAC and DME and get it working the first try.  As I pass over the airport, I make note of my time enroute for the leg, and again, it's the same as my estimate.

I turn my radio over to Camarillo tower.  Even though I'm out of his airspace, I figure it's a good way to get some extra traffic info without having to ask for it.  It's then that I hear a kinda embarrassing radio exchange.  I'll try to recreate it:

PLANE: Camarillo Tower, Cessna 123 at runway...  twenty six.
TOWER: Cessna 123, say your intentions.
PLANE: I'd like to take off.
TOWER: Cessna 123, position and hold, runway two six.
PLANE: Um, I'm at runway two six.
TOWER: Roger, position and hold on runway two six.
PLANE: Well, my position is runway two six, and I don't understand what you mean.
TOWER: Confirm, Cessna 123, you're at runway two six and you're NOT on the runway?
PLANE: Yeah, and I'm holding my position here.
TOWER: (pause, teeth gnashing sounds inserted by my imagination.) Cessna 123, cleared for takeoff, runway two six.
PLANE: Cleared for takeoff, Cessna 123...........and I'm departing to the right.

I gotta wonder how he didn't know what 'Position and hold' meant.  If he didn't have his instructor onboard, he's soloing, and if he's soloing, presumably he's learned all this stuff...  right?  And what if he's already a pilot?  Scary stuff.

A few minutes later, I get SBA ATIS info, then call approach.  "Santa Barbara Approach, Cherokee 8258 Sierra over Ventura at four thousand five hundred, landing with Oscar."  He gives me a squawk code and tells me to expect to follow the freeway through Santa Barbara and make left traffic for runway 15L.

Over the oil platforms, I begin my descent.  Another time that's within a minute or two of my estimate, pretty sweet.  As I descend, approach mentions some traffic that I see, and everything is great.  I get the hand off to the tower and call in.  "Santa Barbara Tower, Cherokee 8258 Sierra with you."  Since I'm operating with a special transponder code and the approach guy has told him to expect me, that's all I've got to say.  He clears me for 15L, then vectors another plane that just popped over the mountain to land ahead of me.  This other guy is going pretty fast, so he's on the ground a few minutes before I am.

I come over the mission, follow the freeway and turn base at like the perfect altitude, and bring the plane in without needing any extra flaps or slipping.  Perfect touchdown, no squeak, and I taxi off the runway at Kilo.  He hands me off to ground, and after I get my post landing checklist done, I call them for clearance to Mercury Air.  I park the plane, tie it down, and walk inside to order some fuel.  

As they're refueling, I eat a cookie and hang out in their lounge.  I order 10 gallons, just enough to waive the ramp fee, and when I see the fuel truck drive off, I wave to the other guy in the lounge as I leave.  "Looks like my plane is ready" I drawl, and I head off, feeling on top of the world.

Preflight, then call to Clearance Delivery to get my clearances/squawk codes in order, then I start up the plane.  No sense paying for engine time while sitting there writing stuff, I figure.  Ground clears me to taxi, and I head down Bravo taxi-way and do my runup.  When done, I taxi up to the runway and call tower.  "Santa Barbara Tower, Cherokee 8258 Sierra, ready for takeoff."  "Cherokee 8258 Sierra, cleared for takeoff."  Lights, camera, action!  

Full throttle, and I blast down the runway and jump into the air.  I fly runway heading below 1,500 per the instructions of clearance delivery, then tower hands me off to SBA Departures.  He vectors me in the right direction for a few minutes, then frees me to do my own navigation.  

As I fly back, I'm doing my checklists, and life is great.  I'm seeing everything I learned coming out.  Almost every skill gets a review.  From radio calls to navigation to approach procedures, the lessons I got were really building up to flights like this!  Point Mugu approach takes me, and I listen to him vectoring various jetliners around the sky.  At one point, he tells two planes to 'contact fleet command', and I realize those are probably fighters.  

My flight back is great.  I get handed off to SoCal approach, my radio calls are clean, my plane does what I want, and I'm scooting along at an indicated ground speed of 128knots at one point.

I begin my descent at that lake with the island and descend over Malibu to follow the coast to Santa Monica.  I get my calls in, and land a few minutes later.

It was GREAT!

Tomorrow, I'm going to do my long distance cross country.  I'm thinking of flying to maybe Van Nuys, then to Palomar or Baker and back.  Gotta plan that tonight.  

Passed another milestone recently, I'm now over 40 hours.  I've got all my night landings, and after a few hours of solo cross country, I'll be in checkride country.  Almost there!

[nuchpatrick]

Chairboy,

Not sure if you will do many nite trips...I think Lowes or Home Depot has these cool little lites on like a elastic band that will fit around your head. I think they come in blue and amber..not sure if that will help or not

Sounds like your having a real blast..look forward to reading more..

[Lazerus]

Thanks for telling us about it chair. Keep em coming, I'm living out a dream vicariously reading all of this:D

[LePaul]

wtg!

Man, I remember my first Solo X-C up here in Maine.  I certainly dont have the air traffic you have over there.  Once I took off, I had to clear out immediately as 2 F-16s were on alert and responding to an Over-The-Horizon Radar blip.  (It was in the newspaper a few days later, those jets escorting some Russian Bear bombers around International airspace)

The biggest chuckle I got out of my X-C flights was how Unicom was literally the "channel 1" we know from AH.  People calling in, telling so and so to get the truck warmed up.  Asking if Pete has plowed the airfield, etc etc.  Sure, they kept it all brief and such but it was still funny.  Welcome to small towns USA