Solo 18: Crosswinds and spare 9V batteries

Total Time: 65.6
PIC time logged this flight: 1.7
Landings: 214

Today was crosswind practice day. Both airports I flew at today had a direct crosswind component of 4-6 knots. The FBO's policy (and my restriction is) max crosswind component of 8 kts. It felt good to have a more steady breeze blowing, as I was able to practice proper technique in the pattern, establishing crab angles, and using the side slip on short final.

I bugged out of Pontiac airport as my intercom began to take a dump (today I asked for a southwest departure!). I finished the flight using the "Mr. Microphone" and speakers installed in the plane. From now on, I think I will carry a spare set of batteries for the intercom, and use my own for the check ride just to be safe.


"Mettetal Traffic, Skyhawk 00Q is downwind 36, Mettetal"



"(Pontiac tower) cross runway 27R, taxi 27R, advise when ready..." I had just landed on 27L (the runway in the picture) and exited the runway to the right and was holding shy of the other runway (to the left in this picture)


The interesting weather note for today: Mettetal has a north-south runway and had a crosswind out of the west, Pontiac has east-west runways and had a crosswind out of the north.

Solo 17: 200 landings, do I get a prize?

Total Time: 63.9
PIC time logged this flight: 1.9
Landings: 206

Early on in my training, I overheard another student ask his instructor "I just made 200 landings, do I get a prize?" to which his instructor said "yeah, the prize is you get to make more landings"

I flew up to Pontiac (KPTK) today to scope out where I will meet my DE (designated examiner) for my check ride. I had a sense that my destination was on the far side of the airfield, and so I requested and was approved to "land long" which basically means I used the second half of the runway for my landing. After getting somewhat lost, I fessed up to ground control and they courteously gave me directions to where I needed to go. Having marked the spot on my airport map, I gave ground another call and requested a taxi for some pattern work.

I planned on executing a short field takeoff as I watched a Falcon business jet depart before me. Sure enough, tower responds to my takeoff request with "caution wake turbulence, make left traffic, clear for takeoff 9R". I was in the air WELL before the jet's rotation point so I never felt any wake vortices.

It was good to practice touch and goes at Pontiac because it has two parallel runways, and they land aircraft on both simultaneously. The runways are big, and so I got to mix it up with King Air's (turboprop), and Citations (biz jet), and piston twins. By "mix it up" I mean they were landing on the other runway. The ATC folks at Pontiac are very cool, and clearly enjoy their work. Every time this one controller would read a clearance with the navigation fix "SCORE" the guy would yell "Score!" like it was a sports game.

I made my last landing a full stop so that I could practice a soft field takeoff on my departure. My only flub of the day was requesting a VFR departure "westbound"... when I turned on course heading 230 tower called up to scold me and said that a heading of 230 was "WAY southwest"... ok, sorry about that. Next time I will ask for a departure WAY southwest. :)

After getting well clear of Pontiac's airspace, I climbed up to a safer altitude and did 4 steep turns which were ok, the only thing I need to figure out is why 00Q seems to lose speed turning one direction and not the other. Transitioned to slow flight, did some turns, and then ended with a power off stall.

Back to Mettetal, where the winds had switched directions so I crossed midfield and entered a downwind for runway 18. Around the pattern once more, and ended the flight with my best landing yet.

I told my AOPA mentor Tom, who was hangin out at the field, that something has clicked with my landings. A stabilized approach is the biggest factor... but little things like peripheral vision and not having "dead hands" at the point of touchdown are helping immensely.

Bring on the next 200!

Solo 16: Fun with wake turbulence

Total Time: 62.0
PIC time logged this flight: 1.7
Landings: 196

Today's weather was a big improvement over yesterday, and so I headed westward out to the practice area after doing 3 circuits around the pattern. 35V has similar flying qualities to the other 172 (Cessna 711) in that the elevator and trim both feel very "numb". Thankfully, I am back in 00Q for my next flight.

Practice consisted of steep turns, slow flight, stalls, and ground reference maneuvers (turns around a point, S-turns across a road). The "fun with wake turbulence" from the post title is referring to bump you feel when practicing steep turns. If you have maintained altitude well, as you complete your 360 degree turn you fly back through your own wake. The principle is the same as when you go boating and turn a complete circle.

Cessna 35V exterior


When bears attack!

Solo 15: My 1.0 of Hobbs time with "35V"

Total Time: 60.3
PIC time logged this flight: 1.0
Landings: 191

Cessna 35V is a great looking aircraft on the outside, with an interior that looks like a very angry bear got trapped inside. It has a funky radio system that emits a howling feedback type squeal anytime the user pushes on the PTT (push to talk) switch. After I switched my headset jacks to the AUX inputs it worked better, but I had lost the intercom functionality. This was not an issue, since I was flying solo.

I launched into a very hazy atmosphere and planned to head west out to the practice area. I turned around after about 10 miles, it was just too murky.

Arrived back in the pattern at Mettetal, and flew three circuits. The weather conditions degraded further and so I parked 35V for the day.

I think I will stick to 00Q from here on out, I like the feel of that ol' bird the best.

On a side note, my checkride is scheduled for the middle of August!

Solo 14: What is it about Mooney drivers?

Total Time: 59.3
PIC time logged this flight: 1.4
Landings: 188

Weather and an ill flight instructor have conspired to cancel several recent opportunities to wrap up the rest of my flight requirements. I hadn't flown in five days, and so withdrawal was setting in. I decided to stay in the pattern today and practice short/soft field takeoff and landings. Visibility was down around 6 miles, and rain was in the area thanks to a stubborn upper level low pressure system.

I ended up logging 10 more landings, three of which were greasers (the first time I've managed something close to perfect since my first solo). The pattern was pretty empty, and I was sharing the frequency with two familiar voices at airports many miles from Mettetal. I think some day I will just have to fly to Suburban and Ray Community just to take a trip around the pattern once or twice.

It felt good to get up in the air, and I used the time to experiment with the two most popular methods for descent for landing...

1) carb heat and power reduction abeam the numbers, flaps 10, start descent abeam the numbers (my instructor's technique)

2) maintain pattern altitude until turning base, carb heat, reduce power, flaps 20, turn base (the other technique)

What about the post title? There are plenty of examples I could give of poor radio technique, with people flying all sorts of different aircraft. The guy today happened to be flying a Mooney, and he made all of 2 radio calls from the time he was "4 miles south" (his first radio call) to the time he was "entering downwind" (his second radio call, as he crossed over the field at pattern altitude) and I never heard from him again! Not as I watched him turn base, turn final, and exit the runway. Oh well.

Written Exam: Passed!

Need to review:

1) Tri-color VASI
2) Flight crewmembers and seatbelt useage (I guess I am used to wearing my seatbelts all the time)
3) a right of way question (in a cruel twist of irony, as I drove up to the testing location, I watched an airship take off from the airport)
4) Minimum visibility outside controlled airspace during the day
5) Block 9 of the VFR flight plan

Scored a 92


A special note about my lovely wife, who puts up with me doing "plane stuff" on our wedding anniversary. Maybe next year we can celebrate by flying to Oshkosh... uhh I mean someplace tropical! :D

Solo 13: Garmin Geko 201 (small form factor - big functionality)

Total Time: 57.9
PIC time logged this flight: 1.7
Landings: 178

Had a lesson scheduled, instead my FI and I agreed that it would be a shame to waste such perfect weather and so I flew a solo cross country. After reviewing my logbook after my short and long solo cross country, it added up to 4.8 hours (the requirement is for 5 hours total). I chose to fly to Fitch Beach airport (KFPK), which is an uncontrolled field southwest of Lansing.

I decided to call up Lansing approach and request traffic advisories soon after passing my first checkpoint. Here is a picture of that checkpoint, Cackleberry, which is a grass strip with two runways.


The next checkpoint was the city of Mason, and it's airport. The airport is visible a third of the way down from the horizon, slightly left of center.


The navigation planning for this trip was totally reliant on pilotage and deduced reckoning, as there were no navigation aids that corresponded with the path of flight. I did bring my toy along, and I must say that it is a great backup to a map.

I got this Garmin Geko 201 as a "gift" from Bose for buying their Aviation X Headset. The picture shows the "Navigation" page, and that I am tracking direct to KFPK, 18.1 nm east of the field, traveling at 108kts. The window that shows groundspeed, can be cycled to show other info like, bearing, heading, time to destination, etc. The other useful page is the "Trip Computer" which I have customized to show Speed (kts), Elevation (ft), Vertical Speed (feet/min) and Time of day (24 hour clock). Adding waypoints such as airports and navaids is relatively simple... just mark your current location, then edit the GPS coordinates and elevation to match the target and rename it and you are set. The Geko 201 can hold 500 waypoints, store 20 routes, records 10,000 data tracking points, and 10 saved tracks.

The benefits of GPS are well documented, I will add that as a student pilot, being able to put together a distance shown on the GPS and then correlate it to what I see outside is a HUGE learning tool. I hope to have my tracks overlayed onto Google Earth soon.

Another shot of Mason Airport (KTEW)


Here is my view looking westward, lots of sunshine and bug guts.


My proof that I landed at the correct airport.


Birds on or in the vicinity of the airport is no joke. These two cranes(?) were on the taxiway as I was exiting the runway. The sound of the plane made them move just a bit faster, so I called clear of the runway and snapped a picture.

As I was lining up for takeoff for my trip back home, I watched as four young deer ran into a swampy patch about 400 feet to the side of the runway. I lined up for a short field takeoff, applied full brakes and full power... sure enough as soon as I start my takeoff roll, the deer re-appear this time playing tag and one actually knocked another one over. One eye on the airspeed, another on the deer as they run closer to the runway, I begin to contemplate my options. Airspeed is building rapidly to my short field rotate speed, I can abort and risk running into Bambi and friends if they continue on course or hope they stop and continue with my takeoff. I rotated at 60 kts and executed my short field takeoff without a hitch, the deer stopped short of the runway and bolted in the opposite direction as I climbed for altitude.

Solo 12: Couldn't stay on the ground

Total Time: 56.2
PIC time logged this flight: 1.3
Landings: 175

I told myself I wouldn't do any flying until I passed my written. That lasted until today. It's been 5 days since I last flew, and I just couldn't stay on the ground any longer.

Took 00Q up for a jaunt out to the practice area west of the airport, practiced turns around a point, S-turns, and steep turns after climbing to a higher altitude. Overall I was not happy with my maneuvers, turns around a point seemed to be the best, and S-turns the worst.

Back to Mettetal for some landing practice, as well as soft/short field takeoff's.

Still not happy with how my practice written tests are going, so I will be hitting the books again until I get it right.

I have another lesson scheduled for tomorrow, and we might stay out late to finish up the last of my night time landing requirements.

Flight Debrief: 16th Lesson: The BIG trip

Time this lesson: 5.4
Dual Long Cross Country (day) 3.4
Dual Long Cross Country (night) 2.0
Total Time: 54.9
Landings: 171

The weather gods opened a window of near perfect VFR conditions, thankfully, it coincided with the planned date of our trip. We decided in planning this trip that we should bring along our better halves (my wife, and my FI's girlfriend) as potential future pilots (and good company). Our goal, to fly from Ann Arbor past Lansing and Grand Rapids to land at Muskegon on the west coast of Michigan. Once refueled, we would fly up the coast to take in the sights and geology of the area on our way to Traverse City. After spending the day in Traverse City, we would hop back in the plane as the sun set and fly back at night to take care of my long, dual, night cross country.

Our flight routing: ARB - Lansing VOR - direct MKG - up the coastline to "Sleeping Bear Dunes" - then direct TVC. On the return: TVC - direct Grayling - direct Houghton Lake - direct Y31 - Direct Saginaw - Direct Flint - direct ARB

Total Trip Distance: 465nm

Squawks for the trip: The pilot's PTT (push to talk) switch went INOP upon arriving at Muskegon, my FI made excellent radio calls for the remainder of the trip. It ended up being a great learning experience in how I am making my calls a bit wordy! The only other issue was a mag that needed clearing during the runup prior to departing Traverse City.

We got excellent service wherever we went, and in the spirit of recognizing good service:

Aviation Center in Ann Arbor (home of C172SP "N857SP")
Executive Air Transport in Muskegon
Harbor Air in Traverse City
and a convenient $20 flat rate shuttle from the airport to downtown Traverse City provided by "ByTheBay" transportation.

We got marginal service from Minneapolis Center on our flight home, but that was the only low point... everyone else was very accommodating and helpful. Lansing FSS helped us file our VFR flight plan in the air, after the one we filed via DUATS mysteriously "vaporized".

Flying home we had a speed boost tailwind for a good portion of route and we recorded 136kt groundspeed as our max. This translates to about 156 mph, not bad for a Cessna 172.

This trip was meant to represent an example of "learn by doing". Part of the allure of flying is going places, and in that sense the trip was a complete success. Navigating to new places, landing at unfamiliar airports, dealing with weather, tackling real issues of weight and balance, calculating and confirming fuel burns, are all things I will be doing with my Private Pilot License. The fact that I was able to tie in the night cross country was a bit of planned "icing on the cake".

My wife thought the trip was alot of fun, so I think I may have signed up my first (post checkride) passenger!

Here are some pictures from the trip:

The plane:


The panel:










These next three images are the Sleeping Bear Dunes, a big sand dune that rises at what looks like a 45 degree angle out of the waters of Lake Michigan. The dark brown stripe on the left side of the first image is a path where you can walk down the sandy slope to the water. My FI said that to get back up you need to crawl on all fours. This is a wilderness preserve area which is why the pictures are taken from a much higher altitude.



The beach, downtown Traverse City

Solo 11: Short trip to prepare for a long trip

Total Time: 49.5
PIC time logged this flight: 0.9
Landings: 168

Today's flight was a quick "jaunt" over to ARB to take care of some paperwork prior to a big trip we have planned for Sunday.

I planned for the direct crosswind (from the right) that was reported at Ann Arbor, selected 20 degrees of flaps for landing and put together a nice approach and touchdown... ailerons for neutralizing drift and rudders to keep the airplane square to the runway. Right main, left main, nose gear... sure I floated a bit and carried extra speed but it translated directly into more control.

On the return to Mettetal (winds out of the NW), I chose 30 degrees flaps and executed another left main, right main, nose gear landing (though all 3 wheels were touching within the space of 2 seconds or so).

I brought along a new toy for this flight, and I hope to have a technical-type review of it posted up soon.

Thunder Over Michigan - airshow

Thunder over Michigan (TOM) 2007 was definitely an airshow, and that's a BAD thing. TOM has turned into just another airshow, and I don't think I will be going back next year if it is to be more of the same. TOM in years past was a very "cozy" event, you could walk up and down the flight line (there really was no static display area because almost every plane goes flying) and really get up close to the aircraft. Volunteers would scurry around, making a path through the crowd for the aircraft to exit, and people crowded around to see what was going flying next. Last year, there was a land battle re-enactment with air cover (strafing) provided by P-51's and P-47 "Jugs":


This year's theme was "Mitchell Madness" and it was the only redeeming part of the show. 16 B-25's were present, and it was an awesome sight to see. A gullwing Corsair, 3 P-51's and a pair of P-47's showed up as well. I like Shawn D Tucker and the Blue Angels just fine, they just made TOM feel that much more like a regular air show. More food vendors, bigger parking area, and a higher admission price, and so it goes...

Anyhoo here are some pics:

Solo 10: 7-up 7-down on 7/7/07

Total Time: 48.6
PIC time logged this flight: 1.3
Landings: 166

My FI has advised me that I will never realize my goal of a perfect landing every time. The best I can do, is gain experience to know how to react in any given situation, so that the landing can be optimal for the conditions that exist. With that in mind, I just wanted to practice landings today.

7 takeoffs followed by 7 landings on July 7, 2007

Landing #1 Ended up low on short final, landed flat with a small bounce
Landing #2 Came in higher, ended up slow on short final
Landing #3 Squirrely on touchdown, approach good
Landing #4 Good approach, a smidge side loaded on touchdown
Landing #5 Side loaded again, over-compensating for small crosswind
Landing #6 OK, wondering if right tire is low on air pressure
Landing #7 The best one of the day

Next goal: Finish last section of Written Test Prep, take a couple practice tests, and schedule myself for the FAA Written Exam.

Solo 9: Long Cross-Country... Completed

Total Time: 47.3
PIC time logged this flight: 3.2
Landings: 159

Alarm buzzed at 6:01am this morning, grabbed a quick bowl of cereal and grabbed my gear. Stopped at the gas station to buy a bottled water, and added it to my cross country grub bag. I began checking the weather soon after arriving at the airport around 7:20. Everywhere was calling clear below 12 thousand, and the western side of my route expected scattered at 4000 later in the day. Grabbed the winds aloft, interpolated for my cruise altitude and started my E6-B work (which is now a breeze after having spent some time practicing with it). Flight planning complete, I went and pre-flighted good 'ol 00Q and everything was ready to go. My FI arrived just as I was finishing up my "standard" briefing with Flight Service. No big hiccups, Battle Creek Vortac is out of service, runway 9-27 at Kalamazoo is closed, there is an airshow at Jackson (wha wha whaaat?) nobody said nothing about no steenkin' airshow!

Turns out the "airshow" is an aerobatics competition (I called the Jackson airport to confirm no TFR) and the "box" of restricted airspace was a 1nm wide area northwest of the field. My FI discussed possible issues, holding, delays, overflying the airport, and in the end we both agreed it was not a huge deal. My FI looked over my flight plan, gave it the green light, and signed my logbook while I called up Lansing FSS again to log my VFR flight plans.

Leg#1 1D2 - LAN

No big surprises here, my FI had agreed this leg being familiar from my first solo cross country was a GOOD thing. Absolutely no clouds in the sky as I climbed to my cruise altitude of 4500 ft. I grabbed Detroit's ATIS and monitored approach frequency hoping to get flight following and have them open the first leg of my flight plan. They were too busy however, and I was almost to my first checkpoint so I didn't open my flight plan for this leg. Defeats the purpose, I know, but I need to talk with my FI about options when it comes to opening the flight plan once you are a ways into your leg. In between my first and 2nd checkpoint I gave Lansing approach a call. I was told to plan runway 28L, which was fine because it's the BIG runway.

Field in sight!

Setting up for my straight in approach to Runway 28L

I chose to execute a no flap landing, to counter the crosswind from the north. It worked out nicely and it was my best landing of the day (only downhill from here). One progressive taxi later, I was parked at the Avflight FBO.


Leg #2 LAN - AZO

After stretching my legs, it was time to get back in an airplane and do some more flying. Called ground to request taxi VFR departure to the southwest.

"Cessna 00Q, say destination and requested altitude"
"Kalamazoo at 4500"
"00Q I have your clearance, advise ready to copy"
"Maintain VFR at or below 4000ft, departure freq. is 118.65, squawk 0754"

I read the info back, and am told "readback correct, taxi runway 28L"

After another run-up check (I shut the engine down, so it is recommended to perform another run up) I call the tower and they clear me on course, cleared for takeoff 28L. Soon after my turn to the southwest I am handed off to departure. Checked in with departure, and asked if they could open my flight plan for this leg. They were too busy, but they gave me the FSS frequency and asked that I check back in. FSS was cool, and they opened my FP no problem, then I switched back to departure. Lansing departure coordinated my handoff to Kalamazoo approach, which occurred just after passing my first outbound checkpoint. I watched as one little shred of a cloud appeared and disappeared within 10 minutes, ahead and above my position. Just north of the VFR reporting point of "Gull Lake" approach asked that I maintain VFR at or above 3500 ft. I used the clearance as a way to start my descent into the Kalamazoo area. Approach cleared me pilot's discretion to pattern altitude and handed me off to tower just northeast of the field. I asked approach to cancel my flight plan, which they were nice enough to do (Thanks KAZO approach!)

Tower asked me where I was parking, and when I told them I wanted to taxi back to the active and depart to the east he gave me a different runway to land on.

Here I am setting up for the right downwind entry to land runway 5.


This is downtown Kalamazoo under my wing tip


My landing was not great, I chose to do a 20 degree flap landing as the winds were variable at 6 knots, and the runway is 3400 ft long. I floated a bit, which was expected... the runway cresting a hill and then going downhill was not expected! I chirped my way to a turn off at the intersection of runway 5 and runway 35/17. Tower gave me the choice of taking off on the runway I had just landed on, or the Biggy (Runway 35 is 6500 x 150ft). I chose the BIG one.

Here I am back taxiing down Runway 35, the reason why the taxiway is closed is obvious from the pic:


After a nice long wait, tower cleared me into "position and hold" Runway 35.


Leg #3 AZO - JXN

Cleared on course and up to my initial assigned altitude of 3000. Leaving KAZO behind.


The sky went from 1 cloud to many in just a few minutes!




Soon I had JXN in sight, started my descent and gave Jackson tower a call.

"Cessna 9900Q is approx 12 west, 3500 ft, inbound landing Jackson with Tango"
"9900Q, Jackson tower circle southwest of the field, report 4 mile final for Runway 6"
"Circle southwest, and will report 4 mile final for 6, 00Q"

I elected to use 30 degrees flaps for this landing because the winds were light, I landed flat and got a bounce for my troubles. I held the yoke steady in pitch attitude and kept flying the plane with rudder and aileron inputs. I settled down firmly and cranked in aileron crosswind correction on the rollout as a gust tried to lift up my wing. As I taxied back to the active, I snapped this picture of what a VOR looks like:

Jackson airport terminal

Aerobatic aircraft

This guy needs a refresher course on what the "hold short" line means.


Leg #4 JXN - 1D2

For my last leg, I tuned the VOR as back up, and did most of my navigating by following landmarks... IFR = I follow roads


Next checkpoint, Chelsea proving grounds (built by Chrysler, then owned by DCX, now Cerberus)


Bustling downtown Dexter. I stayed at 3500 instead of my planned 5500 cruising altitude, I would have had to dodge clouds which is not on my list of things to do.


Somewhere in this photo is my home airport, 1D2. Can you spot it? I know I can.


Unfortunately, I saved my worst landing for last. I performed a full flap landing, and failed to catch a quick gust that lifted my left wing way up. I credit some quick, reflexive actions to getting the wing back down and getting 00Q down on 3 wheels. One final gust as I added my aileron crosswind correction got the wing up again, and I felt like a complete noob. Used all the runway to rollout, taxied back to the ramp and shut'r down. Phew!

Flight Debrief: 15th Lesson: Hey, I don't like your unusual attitude!

Time this lesson: 2.1
Simulated instrument time this lesson: 0.6
Total Time: 44.1
Landings: 155

Today's plan was to head up to Owosso airport (RNP) west of Flint, and practice more soft field technique on the grass strip there. Once finished with that, we were going to practice short field takeoffs, short field landings, and landing over an obstacle. The plan was going great until mother nature intervened.

Here is the gist of our conversation with Lansing Flight Service:

"Lansing Radio, Cessna 9900Q is transmitting on 122.15, receiving 111.0 over"

"Calling Lansing, go ahead"

"Cessna 00Q is a Cessna type 172, we'd like any weather advisories for our flight from 1 Delta 2, destination Romeo November Papa..."

The FSS person asked us to repeat our call sign and destination. She asked us to "standby" then the nice lady on the other end came back to say:

"00Q, we are showing a cell that has popped up recently midway between Lansing and Mount Pleasant... cell tops at 35,000 and building rapidly, cell movement shows it tracking directly to your destination."

"Thanks for all the info"

"Keep us informed about that cell"

"Wilco"

We ended up not calling them back, as our conversation served to confirm what we already had decided... that a 180 was in order. Aeronautical Decision Making practice, check!

For the return, my FI had me wear the foggles and we got in some really good simulated instrument training. My altimeter failed at one point, as well as both of the vacuum driven instruments (attitude indicator, and directional gyro). The most fun was the unusual attitudes part, where my FI performed all manner of twists, turns, climbs, descents, all with varying power level changes, and me with my head down and eyes closed. After getting my inner ear thoroughly confused, he would ask me to look up and recover.

Check airspeed, decreasing, add power, roll wings level, push nose down to get the aircraft pitched for level flight. Next one, check airspeed, increasing rapidly, pull power, roll wings level, s-l-o-w-l-y pull nose up to horizon. Next one, check airspeed, 100 knots and increasing, pull power way back, roll wings level (we were banked much more than previous one), slowly pull the nose up as the speed drains, and re-establish cruise.

As I recovered, and took the foggles off my FI says "ok, now get me back to Mettetal except you lost your VOR" no worries!

Well, the DG says we are headed east... except the sun is in the wrong spot. Check the compass, it says "W" sneaky FI. Establish due west on the compass, turn DG to match heading from compass. Verify known landmarks to establish position. "Hey, there is the auto proving grounds, and the tower/obstruction we observed before, we are north of the proving grounds and headed west" Start my climb to cruise altitude. "We are above that obstruction, but the altimeter says we are lower than the top of it" Sneaky FI. Tune nearby Pontiac Airport's ATIS and grab the altimeter setting.

Back under foggles for some VOR navigation towards the Salem VOR, and then outbound towards 1D2. We practiced crosswind landings for a bit, and watched the Blue Angels practice off in the distance over Willow Run (Thunder over Michigan is this weekend, I hope to post alot of pics!).

The same storm that made us turn around, arrived over Mettetal while my FI debriefed the day's flight. I helped the line guy park all the planes in the hangar before the winds hit. We watched the radar depiction animation, and we were pretty happy with our decision... it indicated "MESO" which stands for mesocyclone (a Doppler radar indication of circulation within the storm) and it topped out at 50,000ft as well as throwing hail at one point.

The storms moving through today should bring better weather for my long cross country tomorrow (fingers crossed).

Flight Debrief: 14th Lesson: A little bit of this, a whole lotta that.

Time this Lesson: 2.6
Simulated Instrument time this lesson: 0.4
Total Time: 42.0
Landings: 151

Bonus Accomplishment: Approved for solo flight to KPTK (Pontiac International Airport)

Today was a big day of flying. We departed Mettetal and headed to an unfamiliar area north of Detroit (Romeo) to practice ground reference maneuvers and steep turns. On the way up, I navigated us via pilotage past the city of Southfield with its massively tall TV/Radio towers, and east of the Pontiac Silverdome. We started with steep turns, and I ended up doing four sets of left then right turns. Next we descended down to 1800ish feet and practiced S-turns along a road. We finished with turns around a point, where I used a crossroads intersection as my first practice point, and then found a cell phone tower to encircle. All I can say is that I will be practicing all these moves more in my solo time, steep turns were my best, S-turns along the road were my worst.

On our way back towards home, we did some pattern work at Pontiac International. I did four touch-n-go landings, only one of which I thought was OK. Need more crosswind practice. Why is it when I am solo, I can pull off a decent landing...then as soon as I am with my FI I regress!?

Departing PTK, the foggles came on and my FI gave me headings and altitudes and some simulated radio calls. Everything is fine until my FI says "foggles off, the airport is at your 12 o'clock and you just lost your engine"

One wicked slip later, still too high and still way too fast to put it on the ground in the allotted 2300ft of runway... I execute a go around.

Back around the pattern, this time to a full stop. I need a nap.

Solo 8: See and Avoid + See and Be Seen

Total Time: 39.4
PIC time logged this flight: 3.0
Landings: 146

My long cross country planned for yesterday got scrubbed because of a TFR (temporary flight restriction) along my route of flight. I could have flown a shorter route, but that didn't appeal to me... so it waits for another day.

Today's flight was another tour of the local area, started out in practice area just after 8:30 am and it was empty (yay!) Practiced some slow flight maneuvers (turns, climbs and descents while in slow flight), a couple power off stalls, then it was off to Ann Arbor.

Once at Ann Arbor, I did three full stop landings with 1 short field, and 2 soft field takeoffs. Next was a series of touch and goes with variations of flap settings. Compared to 711, 00Q is a bit more finicky about power settings... and seems to prefer 10 degrees flaps abeam the numbers, 20 degrees on base, and 30 degrees on final. 711 was more flexible about where and how much flaps could be used and still maintain a nice approach with minimal power changes. My FI joked about 00Q having more "parasite" drag from all the dead bugs and damaged paint on the wing's leading edge.

On my last downwind, I requested to depart the pattern to the south. Tower cleared me on course, so I navigated via pilotage south past Milan, and turned left (east) at Dundee to make my way to Monroe. Monroe-Custer airport had nobody in the pattern, so I set up for a downwind entry to land on runway 3. I flew a bunch of patterns, each to a full stop landing. All my takeoffs were either soft or short field technique. At one point, another aircraft departed Custer and reported leaving the area to the west. I did two more patterns and then it was my turn to leave the area.

I had just captured my outbound radial to stay clear of the Class B airspace, climbing up to 2000 feet, tuned Willow Run's ATIS in anticipation of transitioning the Class D. Everything looked good, until I saw an airplane sized shadow at my 10 o'clock tracking along the ground on a converging path. It was a distance away, so I turned gently to the left to see if I could visually acquire the plane that was casting said shadow. Sure enough, there is a Cessna about 200 ft below me and climbing headed for what looked to be the same airspace as me. Can't climb, as I am under a Class B shelf, and don't want to turn left and risk him not seeing me... so I crank a hard right turn and descend. Once stabilized after completing my right 360, I couldn't see the other guy at all. Back up to 2000, scanning like crazy and gave Willow Run tower a call. They approved my transition, and I spot an airplane at my 9 o'clock headed south at a much lower altitude... Willow Run doesn't issue any traffic call, so I have to wonder if that was the same plane from before?

Once I am clear of Willow Run, they approve a frequency change so I tune in the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) and begin to listen for aircraft inbound to Mettetal. I call 3 miles west inbound for landing 36, and a Centurion calls 5 miles northwest also inbound for 1D2. I announce that I have the Centurion in sight, he says he can't see me. I give the wings a good side to side rock "00Q is at your 2 o'clock, 1900 ft", and make my turn to the east towards the airport, and the Centurion calls to say he has me in sight and that he will be turning to the north to give me a chance to enter the pattern (he is in a faster airplane). I call 2 miles west, on a 45 entry to downwind just as another aircraft calls turning downwind.

"Mettetal Traffic, Cessna 00Q is turning a right 360 to stay clear of traffic on downwind."

I think the Centurion must have done another turn, because as I called "downwind" for 36, he called again to say that he was 5 miles northwest.

Just another day at a busy uncontrolled field, where it is just as important to "see and avoid" as it is to see and be seen!