Solo 7: Keepin' it simple, in flight pics!

Total Time: 36.4
PIC time logged this flight: 1.8
Landings: 130

Today was just an enjoyable flight. The day started off with a tiny squawk (the nosewheel tire was 6 psi low), but that ended up being the biggest issue of the day. Initially I had thought to take Cessna 711 down to Monroe to practice touch and go's, but I chose to head over to Ann Arbor because it's closer.

Here I am north of Ann Arbor headed southwest-bound, to enter a left base for runway 6.


A shot of the instrument panel of 711


Here I am arriving "abeam the numbers" on a right downwind for runway 6.


This shot is on a Loooong final where I practiced a no-flap landing. Tower had me #3 for landing so I ended up extending my downwind a ways.



On the way back to Mettetal I snapped this image, you can see Ford Rd. as it heads off east to the horizon where you can just make out the buildings of downtown Detroit.




If my long cross-country goes as planned tommorow, I will have more pics from the air.

"The Jet" by Cirrus ...First Look

If you look closely, you can see a smidge of the V-Jet II in there.

"The Jet" by Cirrus

Some of the interior details are a bit fussy, but we'll just save that conversation for later... much later. This still looks more like proof of concept, than production.

Me likes!

Gallery of Pics

Flight Debrief: 13th Lesson: Simulated Instrument, Foggles optional

Simulated Instrument time this lesson: 0.6
Total Time: 34.6
Landings: 118

Today was supposed to be steep turns and maybe some simulated instrument training. Once in the skies, the visibility was determined to be marginal for steep turns but ideal for foggles. Foggles are like safety glasses, except that it appears someone sand blasted them except for these itty bitty "windows" at the bottom. The pilot sees the instrument panel clearly, and everything else is foggy.... hence the name.

My FI demonstrated a short field takeoff, and soon we were leaving the pattern to the northwest. Once established at our cruising altitude of 2500ft, foggles go on and we head off into the haze, as my FI barked (nicely) different heading and altitude assignments. After the fifth heading and altitude change, I was mentally lost. I don't know if that was the point or not. I had a better sense of my position when he asked me to track direct to the Salem VOR. That went well, right up until I crossed the VOR to acquire my outbound radial of 120. The VOR gauge showed a correct indication for about 10 seconds, and then it failed. Maybe it was sun spots... or maybe the instrument is 25 years old and it was tired... either way it was not helping me. Off came the foggles, and my FI briefed me on our situation. We are at 3000 ft, Mettetal is at your 12 o'clock, don't forget about Detroit's Class B airspace.

Okey Dokey, a lift of the left wing to check for traffic, then I commence a left 360 turn and descend to 2500. I make a radio call 3 miles west of the field, and spot an airplane (it's a Mooney) ahead of us and at a higher altitude. Another Cessna calls inbound from the northwest. The Mooney calls to say that he is circling the field and descending, and would the Cessna inbound keep him aware of their position. I am not sure which Cessna the Mooney is referring to, so as I am crossing the field, I give a position report to let the Mooney know where I am and that I have him in sight. As I turn my downwind, the Mooney is still above me and ahead (he is circling the field in a wide 360 to the left). I call base, then the Mooney calls to say that he is on a long downwind for runway 18. Everything worked out fine, it was just a bit unnerving to see this guy descending down from overhead.

I am hoping the storms that are forecast to move through tommorrow clear the haze out of the air, if not, I might not even need my foggles to simulate instrument flight!

Solo 6: First Solo Cross Country

Total Time: 33.8
PIC time logged this flight: 1.6
Landings: 117

Today's flight almost didn't happen. My FI is away for the weekend, so I knew ahead of time that I would need to ask for the solo endorsement from one of the other instructors. As I stared out the window of the FBO at perfect blue skies, I looked down at the E6B and cursed its creators. I was trying to put together a nicely prepared (simple) flight plan before my surrogate instructor's student arrived so I could get his sign-off and wing my way to Lansing.

As I got more and more frustrated with the spinning wheels of the E6B howcantheycallthisacomputer!? thingy, I started to bum myself out thinking of just throwing in the towel, to go park myself in a traffic pattern somewhere. After pre-flighting 00Q, I noticed that FI-2 was still without student so I started shooting from the hip. When I asked FI-2 if would consider helping me get through the hurdles of the flight planning and sign my endorsement he said "sure, why not?" Kewl.

Pretty soon I had all my WCA's (wind correction angles), CH's (compass heading), fuel burns, and ETA's (if you don't know what ETA stands for you need help). FI-2's student never did show, and he didn't charge me for the time helping me work on my flight plan.. whadda swell guy! Got the appropriate signature in my logbook and I was out the door.

The rest of the trip was really a non-event, which is better than having any sort of "event" on any solo flight I guess. I saw one other airplane on my trip up to Lansing, northwest bound, and several thousand feet below me. Made it to my first checkpoint within one minute of my ETA, and recorded my 2nd checkpoint a bit early since I wanted to give Lansing approach a call. No hiccups this time, had my ATIS well in advance and approach asked me to report a right base for runway 10R. The air which had been so smooth at 4500 ft decided to get nice and lumpy below 2500 ft, and I did a good job of planning my descent so that I arrived near pattern altitude on my downwind leg. Abeam the numbers, carb heat on, inside the white arc, flaps 10... same procedures as Mettetal just three times as much runway available. I was going for functionality over style for my landing, and I used only as much runway as necessary, exiting onto taxiway Charlie.

Asked to taxi back for a departure to the southeast, and soon I was off again this time cleared up to 5500 ft. cruising altitude. This altitude represents a new personal record for highest altitude reached in an aircraft that I was in control of (that was not simulated on a computer). Once back at Mettetal, I celebrated another achievement, my first solo cross country. Woot!

Only downer, bringing a camera... and forgetting to take pictures agghhh!!

Solo 5: Morning Flight, Bird FOD, and fast traffic

Total Time: 32.2
PIC time logged this flight: 2.4
Landings: 115

Based on this morning's flight, I see myself scheduling alot more morning flying time. I decided to head out to the practice area initially to take advantage of the light air traffic levels, so I practiced some basic "fundamentals of flight" type stuff to warm up. I also took some time to just enjoy the scenery. Next up was slow flight practice, with transitions into and out of. The control inputs required to maintain heading and altitude that seemed more difficult early on in my training are feeling like second nature now so that's good. I performed two power off stalls, the second which gave me a wing drop to the left despite my coordination of the controls... I attribute this to me being solo in the left seat. I think I will ask my FI for some training time where we do both types of stalls in all permutations: full flaps, clean, turning, power on, and power off etc.

I'd had enough of the practice area, and I got the itch to go places so I scratched! I tuned up Ann Arbor's ATIS and headed inbound. Tower asked me to report a two mile base for runway 24. I headed to the point in the sky that looked correct, but before I could call "base", tower cleared me to land. My first approach was high, and I left 20 degrees of flaps so that I could practice a forward slip. I lost the right amount of altitude, but my speed was 5-7 knots above the correct approach speed when I arrived over the runway so I floated a bit in ground effect as my airspeed bled down. A bird approached from the right as I rolled out on the runway, and it dived out and away prior to a collision. Sadly, as I taxied back to the active the aircraft landing behind me reported a bird strike. Maybe the birds fly at planes trying to "scare" them away? Tower ended up calling an airport vehicle to pick up "F.O.D." which is an acronym for "foreign object debris" in the form of bird parts that were scattered on the runway.

My next trip around the pattern was better, and I made a nice, power off approach to a short rollout. My next pattern had an extended downwind for traffic, and tower called my base. As I taxied back I heard a familiar voice on the frequency, it happened to be Bob Lutz (a head honcho at General Motors) flying through Ann Arbor's airspace in his chopper on the way to Willow Run airport. Departed to the pattern again, botched my approach and ended up WAY high. Performed a go-around which prompted a concerned call from tower: "00Q do you need any assistance?"
Me: "Negative tower, I'd like to get back in the pattern for another try"
Tower: "Roger 00Q, make a left turn when able there is a departing Life Flight waiting for release"
Me: "00Q will make a left turn here..." I had already climbed well above the trees since my approach was high and I called the landing off early.
Tower: "Thank you 00Q, Life Flight ** runway heading, cleared for takeoff"

Back around the pattern, resulting in a much improved approach and short rollout on the landing. Taxied back to the active and asked tower for a departure to the south-east, my new solo destination of Monroe-Custer beckoned. Cruising along at 2000ft I was able to pick out the islands in the west basin of Lake Erie many miles distant. I also used the twin smoke stacks of the power generation facility located in Monroe as a convenient heading guide. There was only one other airplane in the pattern at Monroe, and winds were light out of the east. I set up for a downwind entry into the pattern for runway 3 and gave the Cessna who had just taken off a heads up that I had him in sight.

One full stop, and a time check made me realize that I had time enough for one more trip around the pattern. I didn't actually land, but I did practice a technique that my FI suggested where I set up and "almost" land. The trick is to add enough power to track the runway in ground effect, as it allows you to really soak in the sight picture. Tracked the Carleton VOR and climbed again to 2000ft. I grabbed Willow Run's ATIS and gave them a call for the transition to the north. Tower said to "continue inbound" and asked that I call them 2 miles to the south. As I am nearing my 2 miles south point I hear that familiar voice again. This time Mr. Lutz is in his Alpha jet about to leave Willow Run. I call two miles south, and get ready for the show.

At a mile south of the field Mr. Lutz gets cleared for takeoff and I watch as his jet accelerates down the runway, then at about 200 feet off the deck he cranks a hard right turn to the northwest. Shweet.

Tower: "Cessna 00Q, traffic off your left, an Alpha jet departing to the northwest."
Me (grinning): "Tower, 00Q has the fast traffic in sight"

I return to my scan for slower traffic as I leave YIP's airspace, and soon I am back on the ground at Mettetal.

Flight Debrief: 12th Lesson "The night time, is the right time"

Night time this lesson: 1.3 (+0.6 of day time)
Total Time: 29.8
Night Landings: 5

Bonus Accomplishment: Approved for solo flight to KTTF (Monroe Custer Airport)

Night flying is cool, that is, when conditions are like what we experienced tonight. Clearing skies, cool temps, and very little air traffic made for a smooth evening. Briefed my FI on the departure plan, our transition through Class D (Willow Run airport) airspace, and my navigation that would keep me clear of Detroit's Class B airspace. Departed runway 36 with the sun just beginning to smoosh against the horizon, turned to the west and tuned YIP's ATIS to pick up their weather info. Right then my FI simulated an engine failure! I quickly turned down my Comm radio... I didn't need the radio blaring in my ear as I looked for a suitable put down spot. Emergency flow: aviate, navigate, investigate... my engine didn't restart, so I described my mayday call, and my emergency landing procedure to my passenger. I effected a recovery once my FI was comfortable that we would have made my landing "spot" and continued with the flight.

Willow Run tower approved our transition, and asked us to jog a bit to the east to clear their departure corridor. Once cleared on course, we turned to the southwest to assure clearance from the Class B, and I proceeded to tune the Carleton VOR. Being around Detroit's airspace is a bit intimidating as a student pilot, so my tracking of the VOR inbound was a bit sloppy... erring to the south AWAY from Detroit Metro airport. There was just enough fading daylight to pick up the VOR at my 11 o'clock, and that was enough to confirm my location and head towards Monroe Custer airport.

Custer's ASOS (automatic weather) was calling winds "calm" so I elected to land using runway 21. The next 4 landings were very educational on the "night illusions" you are warned about when studying night flying. The first two were full flap landings, and the second two were 20 degree flap landings. All of them I touched the ground much sooner than I thought I should. The last landing at Custer was without landing lights (to simulate landing at night with an electrical failure) which proved to be the most difficult to judge height above the ground for obvious reasons.

Since the wind was still calm, we taxied to runway 3 and I executed a normal departure to the north (all my takeoffs up to this point had been using soft field technique). With much better tracking of the Carleton VOR this time, I called YIP tower and asked for a transition to the north.

My only slip up was forgetting to tune the CTAF for Mettetal, so YIP tower got to hear my wonderful UNICOM technique.

Me: "Mettetal traffic, Cessna 00Q is 5 to the west, inbound for landing 36, Mettetal"
YIP tower: "Cessna 00Q, you are still transmitting on tower frequency"
Me: "Sorry bout' that"

Ugh!

Mettetal airport is smack dab in the middle of the suburbs of Detroit, and so picking out the field from the sea of lights was also a challenge, but soon we were once again ground borne.

Say it with me "The night time, is the right time!"

Flight Debrief: 11th Lesson "How to complexify a simple plan"

Dual X-Country time this lesson: 1.7
Total Time: 27.9
Landings: 104

The goal today was simple: fly up to Lansing, let the tires touch the runway and head on back to 1D2. This being my first trip farther than 50nm away from the nest, I let my excitement get to me and I planned the trip as if it were a moon shot. My best intentions amounted to an overly complicated multi-segment, 5 checkpoint, dual VOR waypoint radial bearing cross checked point, never beyond 10 miles from some sort of airport navigationfest.

My FI took one look at my plan and simply said, "how 'bout we head direct Lansing from the Salem VOR?" It took going through the planning, grabbing the winds aloft forecast, wrestling the E6B, calculating estimated fuel burns, to see that my NASA approved flight plan would have taken another half hour (at least) to figure out all the details. At this point I am liking simple.

I make sure Cessna 711 is topped off, pre-flighted, and ready to go. We depart Mettetal from runway 36 and climb our way up to 4500 ft, outbound from the Salem VOR on our compass heading of 312. To simplify traffic spotting duties I dial up Detroit Approach and request flight following to Lansing. Remember what happened to my good intentions before right? Same thing happens, during the whole process of getting a squawk code, and getting our first traffic calls, we blew right past the first checkpoint. ugh! We never did see ANY of the traffic that was called out for us, which made it good only as an excercise in asking for flight following. The redeeming factor was that I was able to maintain my heading and altitudes and stay on course.

Detroit handed us off to Lansing Approach and after I called in their response was "Cessna 35711, continue inbound, expect runway 28L, and verify you have the current ATIS, Quebec?"

Cue the sound of student pilot slapping his forehead for committing such a newby error. Just because Detroit said to contact Lansing doesn't mean you should call Lansing right away without grabbing the ATIS first.

With tail firmly tucked between his legs, student pilot tunes up the ATIS, switches back to Approach and owns up... "Lansing Approach, Cessna 711 is back with you, and we have information Quebec"

Thankfully, the rest of the approach to LAN goes fantastically well and soon enough I am staring down 8001 feet of welcoming runway. Seems such a shame to use ALL that runway for a touch and go... but hey daylight is burning. As we fly our climbout, a Northwest jet comes on the tower frequency inbound for landing, not surprisingly, tower issues no caution for wake turbulence from our Cessna 172 Ha!

My FI turns to me and says, "You know the drill, get me back to Mettetal"

...and that I did, with one (simple) heading. :D

Solo 4: "Landings are like cooking a really good dinner"

Total Time: 26.2
PIC time logged this flight: 2.1
Landings: 102

Say you want to cook that special someone a really nice dinner, what do you do first? Come up with a menu of course, so many choices.... seafood, steaks, heck even tofu. Don't forget your salad, an appetizer, and dinner is not complete unless a super-sugar-infused tower of chocolate decadence caps it off yes?

Then it's off to the store to pick up all the perfect ingredients. Everything is going great until an empty shelf greets you, where your main ingredient ought to be.... then you notice that all the good strawberries have left in someone else's shopping cart.. What to do? A good cook knows how to be flexible, and improvise.

What else is key to the dinner being a success? Timing. No dessert before the main course, getting the preparation done early so that you don't have your main course getting cold on a plate while you are starting to make the appetizer!

How do chefs do it? Practice of course, and training.

So you see, this is how landings are like cooking a really good dinner.

As I pass through the milestone of my first 100 landings I realize that:

I can go flying in search of the perfect landing ingredients, with my ever increasing menu of landing techniques, but I need to be ready to adapt when the light breeze "shelf" is empty and an 8kt crosswind finds its way into my shopping cart.

I need to improve my consistency, the fewer variables that can affect my timing the better. I only had 2 landings today that were close to identical, and they were my best. All the rest, had some flaw (nosewheel shimmy, wing lifting, too high over the numbers, too low over the numbers, you get the idea).

How do I improve my ratio from 2 (out of 10) to 9 (out of 10)? Training and practice.

See you in the kitchen... err skies!

Aircraft Checkout: Cessna N35711 "Someone stole my plane"

Time this lesson: Dual: 0.5 PIC: 1.2 (1.7)
Total Time: 24.1
Landings: 92

Well today was a weird day. I got a call about an hour before my block time from one of the line guys at the airport.. "yeah, there was a flight emergency and someone had to take your plane, I don't think they are going to make it back in time." I tried to clarify exactly what constituted a 'flight emergency' and most importantly learned that it did not involve something happening to good ol' 00Q.

Got to the airport to find out that the flight emergency was an instructor from the FBO (not my FI) had the landing gear fail to extend on a Cessna 210 and was going to land gear up at Pontiac airport to our north. How is 00Q wrapped up in all this? Someone offered to take the instructor's wife up to Pontiac to watch his landing attempt. Now if that was me, I WOULDN'T want my wife there, I would like an ambulance standing by.

Everything worked out ok, and 00Q made it back to Mettetal about an hour into my block time. To continue the strange turn of events, it turns out my FI was at the airport for a Discovery flight. He had to cancel the Discovery flight, and so a perfect opportunity to get checked out in the other 172 presented itself, so I jumped at the chance.

711 is newer looking, with a nicer interior, and a newer prop. The key differences being: airspeed in mph instead of knots, different gauge layout, and some unique buttons and switches. After a methodical pre-flight and run-up, we took 711 around the pattern twice. My FI said "ok, you're checked out.. you can stay in the pattern or even head out to the practice area if you want". Shaweeet!

I flew one pattern to a full stop landing, the next pattern I practiced a go around and departed the pattern to the northwest. I navigated via pilotage to the western extent of my practice area, and turned around tracking the Salem VOR inbound. Except for some soaring birds at 2500ft which I steered around, the flight was (blissfully) uneventful and surprisingly free of other air traffic.

"Mettetal traffic, Cessna 711 is on a 45 entry to the downwind for 36, Mettetal"
One thing I do notice right away is that 711 feels more numb on trim than 00Q, and requires more up elevator pull in the flare. I felt my landing was good enough to consider my first solo session (away from the nest) as ending on a 'good note' so I parked and shutdown.

I have another block of time scheduled on Friday for more solo flying. Now that I can fly both 172's, I have more options just in case another "flight emergency" comes along!

Flight Debrief: 10th Lesson "Grass stains on the tires"

Time this Lesson: 1.4
Total Time: 22.4
Landings: 88

What better way to practice soft field techniques than to go to a grass strip and have at it right?

That's what we did, but I am getting ahead of myself here. The run-up area for runway 36 was stacked up, so my FI agreed that we should use part of the ramp area for our pre-takeoff checks. One of the magnetos was dropping a hair more than the usual 100 rpm, so we took the opportunity to practice clearing the mag. With rpm drops acting normal we proceeded to runway 36, where the request came in... "soft field takeoff. Flaps 10 degrees, no brakes after crossing the hold short line, yoke in the lap, this would be the theme of the day.

Departed the pattern straight out, then turned northwest on course to track the Salem (SVM) VOR direct at 2500 ft. Everything was just fine, until my engine quit... well until my FI pulled the carb heat to full hot and the throttle to idle. Engine out checklist from memory, trim for 65kts, look for a suitable landing spot (a nice one was directly below my left main landing gear), continued with my restart flow, simulated a restart, and just when I was going to simulate calling mayday my "problem" magically cleared up, so I effected a recovery. Reviewing the drill, the field I chose was do-able but hindsight being 20/20 I would have selected the R/C airplane field close by... talking about clearing the pattern!

Back up to altitude and on course, I tuned and copied Ann Arbor's ATIS , then switched to monitor tower's frequency.

"Ann Arbor tower, Cessna 9900Q is 7 miles to the north, 2500ft, inbound for landing, we'd like land on the grass runway, with information Bravo"

Just when I am happy with myself for finally including the fact that I have the latest ATIS, tower comes back with... "00Q, winds are 010 at 6kts, which runway would you like." Mad scramble for airport diagrams (10 demerits for not having this already on my kneeboard). We elected to land on runway 12 since we were coming in from the north. Entered base and got cleared to land... and thus began the first of three wild trips down rwy 12-30.

Soft field landing technique is much like a normal full flaps landing, except the game the pilot must play called "keep the nosewheel off the ground for as long as possible". This technique is made especially exciting when the grass runway your rolling out on cuts across the paved taxiway and runway that every rational pilot chooses when landing. Getting airborne not once, but twice, all my brain could think was "I'll get on those brakes once we touch down for the last time". Thankfully, my FI was having a great time over there in the right seat, which did wonders to calm down my nerves about the trauma we had just imposed on good ol' 00Q.

"Okay, we'll do two more of those" says my FI.. okey dokey. Tower and ground were really nice to us, fitting us in between arrivals and departures as we flew twice more around the patch. Overall, the traction differences and directional control requirements of the grass were an interesting challenge. By the third landing, I just barely allowed myself to have fun when we hit the whoop-dee-doos.. thank you Mr. Cessna for making strong landing gear!

Another soft field takeoff, this time on runway 30, and soon we were climbing out over Ann Arbor and headed northeast. Visually picked up M-14 (the highway that runs between Ann Arbor and Plymouth) and followed it back east. Position announcements taken care of, I started a slow descent to pattern altitude, followed by a 45 degree entry into the downwind leg. After all the grass strip shenanigans... I managed to put together a landing which my FI thought was "nice"... I'll take that! I gave myself a 7 out of 10 only because I am particular and I swerved a bit when I applied the brakes.

I blame it on the grass stains on the tires :D

New endorsements: Solo flight to ARB approved, flight in the practice area (with weather limitations)

Next lesson: Dual cross country to Lansing Capital City (KLAN)

Solo 2: "Concentrate Daniel-san"

No, I didn't stay home and watch "The Karate Kid" for the umpteenth time.. I went flyin!

Total Time: 21.0
PIC time logged this flight: 1.7
Landings: 84

It was me, 00Q, a few other aircraft, the traffic pattern, and a slight breeze out of the southwest. The movie reference brings up the main theme for today, concentration. Today I reverted to what worked so well when I was first allowed to solo, and that is to talk... alot. Something about talking through a checklist, even though there is nobody there to hear seems to work much better for me. The same goes for every other phase of flight around the pattern, abeam the numbers, base, final, grading my landing, and the after landing checklist (call clear of the active, landing light off, carb heat in, flaps up, reset trim for T/O, twist the VOR2 OBS to record the landing, then taxi back to the departure end of the runway)

Ironically, my first landing was my best! All the rest were attempts to match it with varying levels of success. None of them made me think the situation was getting out of control, that includes one where the slight crosswind lifted my wing up after touchdown... added some aileron, danced on the rudder pedals a bit, and resumed my landing rollout. On a subsequent landing I dialed in the correct crosswind technique and actually put the upwind main gear down first, then the downwind, then the nose... Sweet! I still have much to learn, since the crosswind component was all of 3 kts, if that. Much to learn Daniel-san.

I performed 2 soft field takeoffs, the first was not great because I didn't keep enough forward pressure on the yoke and 00Q climbed out of ground effect too quickly. The second was much better. I decided to not do more until I can use a bigger runway with more margin of safety, get some experience in the technique and then add it back into my bag-o-tricks at Mettetal.

Consistency will come with work and concentration...

Wax on, Wax off! <-- Karate Kid references make me feel old :D

Tomorrow is my first lesson with my FI since soloing, and I think we are headed to the practice area for some simulated instrument flight. My FI said something about trying to get me "lost", if I can find my way back to 1D2 I might get endorsed to solo to the practice area.

Weather forecast looks reasonably good: Sunny, temps in the high 70's, with winds out of the NE at 7-9 mph.

Solo 1: What's the active?

Total Time: 19.3
PIC time logged this flight: 2.5
Landings: 73

Today was a great day to fly, calm winds and clear skies from sunrise to sunset. Calm winds are great, except when they cannot decide from which "calm" direction they would like to blow from. I got to practice pattern reversal procedures 3 times in my block of flight time. One was a taxi back to the new active (no big deal), and two were performed while flying in the pattern.

I am feeling a bit "brain tired" right now, the only thing I can compare it to is when I started riding motorcycles on the street for the first time... and being mentally drained after riding trying to think ahead of everyone else around you, to survive. I would have liked to have known what the winds were doing at pattern altitude, I am pretty sure I got some unintended experience in tailwind approaches today.

Of all my landings, 5 were good and only two of those would I consider "really good" (not great, yet!). All the rest were "fair to Midland" (a Michigan phrase), except for two that I would like do-overs. Thankfully, I ended my solo session with one of the really good landings.

I go up again tomorrow, and I might try practicing some short field takeoff's. Sunny skies and calm winds are again forecast for tomorrow, I hope the wind picks a direction and sticks to it!

Solo 1: Given high wind lemons, Make high wind lemonade

Winds steady at 16kts with some gusts up to 20 for good measure sealed the deal for a cancelled solo session today at the airport. I used the 2 hour time block as a study session, covering:

-concepts of stability (static / dynamic)
-"phugoid oscillation" <--- great name for a rock band!
-stability on all axes
-dutch roll
-spiral instability
-aerodynamic forces in flight
-stalls
-basic propeller principles
-constant speed props
-torque and p-factor (all 4 factors that result in left turning tendencies)
-load factors (effects in steep turns, stalling speeds, spins, high speed stalls)
-Vg diagram
-weight and balance
-flight controls
-what a stabilator is
-flaps
-trim tabs / balance tabs / antiservo tabs

The good news is, the weather is looking really nice for Saturday... 3 hours of pattern work!

Solo 1: Weather briefing

With my new solo endorsement comes a set of weather restrictions: cloud ceiling, visibility, and winds. The outlook for tomorrow's solo flight doesn't look so good based on the forecast winds.

For my block time...
Accuweather: Winds out of the SSW at 19 decreasing to 16mph. (16.5 - 14 kts)
Weather.com: Winds out of the SSW shifting to S at 23 mph (20kts)

Since my max wind restriction is 12 kts, with a max crosswind component of 8kts I am confident I will be cancelling my own solo flight if conditions are as forecast.

What's in a name?

I changed the "Title" of the blog to "Cleared for the Option". Turns out there are a few other blogs with titles that refer to "Learning to Fly" or some flavor variation of that phrasing. Now my blog is unique!

From the Aeronautical Information Manual: "Cleared for the Option" is an ATC authorization for an aircraft to make a touch and go, low approach, missed approach, stop and go, or full stop landing at the discretion of the pilot. It is normally used in training so that an instructor can evaluate a student's performance under changing situations.

Cool.

Flight Debrief: 9th Lesson SOLO !!

Time this lesson: Dual: 0.5 PIC: 0.9 (1.4)
Total Time: 16.8
Landings: 57

What a lesson! By the time my first three trips around the pattern with my FI were completed, the winds were near zero. The request came to pull up next to the fueling area, and with a handshake my FI exited the aircraft. Oh solo mio! It was lonely and a little too quiet without my right seat occupied, so I started talking to myself and blabbed as I usually would checking base, checking final, announcing my departure on the UNICOM.

"Mettetal traffic, Cessna 00Q is departing runway 36 remaining in the pattern, Mettetal" and with that I began what would end up being 5 circuits around the pattern all by myself.

What a blast!

Towards the end, there were three of us in the pattern.. myself, another student pilot, and my AOPA mentor Tom!

After shutdown, my wife met me at the airplane with congratulations. We took some pictures to capture the moment and I "lost my shirt" to Tom who did an excellent pen rendering to mark my place on the wall of fame.

Perma-smile :D


The Happy Student Pilot:


The Happy Flight Instructor:


The Happy Mentor:


My mentor's most excellent artwork:


Next up: More solo pattern work, soft field take-off practice.

Weather Briefing: Lesson 9 "Back side of the Low"

Look at a clock or your watch for a moment, imagine that the center of the low pressure system moving through my area is the pivot point for the hands. We know from countless weather updates on TV that winds circle around a Low counter-clockwise right? Since the low that is making weather for us here in Michigan is passing through to the north, it's not too hard to imagine what the winds will be. Check out your clock again, the low will be passing north of my location, which means I am at 6 o'clock. Winds from west are what I should expect.

Accuweather is calling for partly sunny, a temp / dew point spread of about 20+ degrees, with winds shifting from WNW to W at 10mph decreasing to 8.

Weather.com evidently does not believe the front will move through as quickly. They are calling for rain showers and winds out the the NW from 12mph decreasing to 9.

I will be hoping that this all moves through and leaves me with calm winds and fair skies on the "back side of the low".

Weather Reality: Lesson 9 rescheduled

Got the call an hour before my block time, cancelled. No big surprise there, rain and thunder carried the day... low ceilings and gusty winds sealed the deal. Next lesson scheduled for Tuesday.

Weather Briefing: Lesson 9 "Dreaming of nice weather"

Well I predicted a bust for the last lesson and I was wrong. If I were to solo today, I'd like the weather to be a bit more "ideal", the weather forecast for today is alot like the last 4 or 5 days. This is the day of, and as I type this I hear thunder rolling in. Accuweather is predicting a window of sorts to open up in my block of time (2-5pm) with winds out of the SSE at 8mph. Weather.com is the direct opposite, calling for some type of thunderstorm from 2-5pm! They are calling for similar winds, the only trouble being there are no airports that I've flown to which have a runway aligned with the forecast winds. No soloing with a crosswind for me thanks, maybe later on when I have several dozen more X-wind landings under my belt. Time to go finish up my pre-solo written, what can I say I am cautiously optimistic.

In Flight Visibility: 3 examples

Three examples of in flight visibility:

Here is a typical hazy day over Willow Run airport (KYIP). This photo was taken from about 6 or 7 thousand feet up on the approach to Detroit Metro (KDTW).

Contrast the picture above with the next one, which is a great flying day in Southern California. Some smog or smoke is visible, but other than that it was fine weather. This shot was taken northeast of Montgomery Field, headed northeast away from San Diego in a SkyArrow.

This last image is about as close as I have come to seeing CAVU conditions... Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited. This shot was taken at flight levels, somewhere over the desert southwest.

Flight Debrief: 8th Lesson "Visibility versus In-Flight Visibility"

Time this lesson: 1.6
Total time: 15.4
Landings: 49

I am glad that I was wrong about the weather, today's flight was great. Except for the hazy conditions, the flight went off without a hitch (sort of, read on)... the thunderstorm activity that was forecast stayed away. Ann Arbor's ATIS (automatic weather reporting) said 9 statute miles visibility, when we left Mettetal it was right around 5ish (less when looking in the direction of the sun) This is a good learning experience on the subject of vis vs. in-flight vis, and how they can be two vastly different things!

Departed 18 and climbed out to our cruise altitude of 2500 ft while tracking the 270 Radial to the Salem VOR. When we crossed the navaid, my FI asked me to track the 240 Radial outbound which would take us to our practice area. On our way there, I somehow lost my engine, so I promptly started my A.N.I.C.S. emergency engine out procedure:

Aviate (trim for best glide speed 65kts)
Navigate (start looking for a suitable spot to land)
Investigate (use a "flow" visual checklist of the instrument panel moving from left to right)
attempt a restart... if no restart then
Communicate (Tune the universal emergency frequency 121.5 and broadcast a mayday call, squawk 7700 on the transponder and IDENT to make my radar target appear brighter)
Secure (prepare the aircraft for emergency landing, turn off engine, turn off fuel, pop the doors, etc)

I chose a good spot to land, though I made a not-so-efficient turn to the left. I did make the field, but my FI thought it might have been better to turn to the right and fly an abbreviated traffic pattern set of turns. Lesson learned, turning burns altitude... fewer turns means more altitude left in reserve.

Executed the recovery, carb heat in, throttle full power, trim for best rate airspeed. We flew a bit more westerly and my FI started to quiz me on failures of certain instruments. I went through the if-then strategy for each and talked about what to do for each circumstance. Satisfied with my answers, my FI then told me my engine was running rough and losing power. I described how I might cycle the carb heat to rule out carb icing, or cycle the mags to determine if either of my magnetos were failing.

With all my mechanical troubles sorted out, we turned back to the east and my FI pointed out a tall cell tower that might be an obstruction that I would want to be mindful of if I headed out this direction while soloing. We also dipped our wings to check out a grass strip we may fly to later on in the summer, and then the unthinkable! My engine failed again... silly, unreliable engines (all simulated of course), I decided to try and make the grass strip my landing site and began my ANICS. I ended up quite a bit high despite making a modified S-turn on final, and even throwing in a healthy slip for good measure. I decided that I would not make the grass strip, so my FI said "what are you going to do now?" My options were limited with the low altitude being the biggest factor in the equation at the time, so I did what anyone else would have done in my shoes... I turned and headed for the next open field! Once my FI was satisfied that I would have made the field, I executed the recovery and we headed towards Ann Arbor airport.

I tuned up the ATIS, and ARB was reporting 6 miles vis, which was more like 4 or 5 with the sun and the haze. I made my radio call to ARB tower, and they asked me to IDENT. I complied, and we were cleared inbound. Looking back, I think he had me IDENT because I said we were at 2500 ft, when we were actually at 2600-2700... I shoulda said "inbound at 2700 ft"
With the airport finally in sight, we headed down to pattern altitude of 1800 ft in right traffic for runway 24. Wouldn't you know it, just as I get abeam the numbers my engine quits... I tell ya if I get a hold of the guy doing maintenance on this bird :) My FI calls tower and requests a "short approach", which is what you do when your engine gives up the ghost. I made a fast approach into a long float over the runway into a faster than normal rollout all the way to the end of the runway. Taxi back to the active and my FI demonstrates a soft field takeoff, which is the technique one uses when flying out of a grass strip.

Flaps ten, no brakes after starting to roll, elevator in your lap, full power, get the nose up, hold it there, wheels come off the ground, push forward to stay in ground effect, build speed, climb at best rate, flaps up when clear of obstacles. COOL! I take the controls on climbout, and take us through the pattern for a no flaps landing. This time I used two slips, and made a much slower landing. Turns out I could have merged the two into one big slip and had an even better touchdown speed. Departing runway 24, this time it's my turn for the soft field takeoff. On my first try I got a little bit high after liftoff which might have taken me out of ground effect a smidge. Ground effect is a phenomenon whereby you get extra lift when you are close to the ground. Back through the pattern and set up for another no flap landing, this time with a mega healthy slip, which gives me my best landing at Ann Arbor yet! Taxi back to the end of the runway and call tower ready to depart VFR to the northeast. Cleared to go, and one more soft field takeoff (this time with better use of ground effect) and soon we are headed back into the murk.

A call from the tower about traffic at our 1 o'clock same altitude inbound on an instrument approach had us scanning the skies. I turned 00Q to the left to assure clearance, and picked up the aircraft visually. We headed back to the northeast and started to navigate via the highways below us. Switched back to the CTAF frequency for Mettetal and started calling position reports: "Mettetal traffic, Cessna 00Q is approximately 7 miles to the west 2500 ft. inbound for landing, Mettetal. We could hear 2 other aircraft in the pattern, and it became clear that the active runway was 18. I descended down to 2100 ft to set up a crosswind entry into the pattern, and ended up having to slow way down so as to fit nicely between the two other aircraft. Turned base and final and attempted my first "spot" landing (I tried to touch down right on the numbers), which my FI said was within commercial test standards. Sweet!

Now the excitement builds, because my FI gave me a take home test labeled "Pre-Solo-Written" !!! fingers crossed that the weather is good on Sunday and yours truly might take ol' 00Q for a few trips around the pattern by himself :-D