All posts by tom
Lesson 78 – More Crosswinds and Stuff
I think Westosha is the toughest airport that I have used for training so far. I have never done very well there. The runway is narrow and the steep drop off right at the departure end of runway 3 can produce some weird air currents. I know that Sandy likes to take her students to […]
Continue readingLesson 77 – Ground Reference and Gusty Crosswinds
Winds were 12 knots gusting to 19 yesterday, making it a good day to work on ground reference maneuvers. Sandy pulled the power during our initial climb out from runway 32. I picked out a field just to the left of the nose and made a gentle turn toward it. That was the decision that […]
Continue readingLesson 76 – Hood Work and Uncontrolled Field Operations
It was hot and hazy yesterday. Visibility was down to 4 miles at the airport so, solo to the practice area was out. Sandy gave me the choice of solo in the pattern or hood work and high maneuvers. I decided on the dual. We took off and climbed to 2700 feet. Once I leveled […]
Continue readingLesson 75 – More Solo Maneuvers
Yesterday was another beautiful weather day. When I walked into the Skill office, Sandy just handed me the keys for 8ES and asked if knew what I was going to do. I told her I was going to work on ground reference maneuvers. She approved and sent me on my way. During the preflight, I […]
Continue readingLesson 74 – Solo Maneuvers
My Thursday lesson was canceled because the winds were gusting to 40 knots. Yesterday was an almost perfect day though so, I went out to the practice area for some solo practice. I only did high work this time so it was a lot of steep turns, slow flight and power off stalls (edited 6/11 […]
Continue readingLesson 73 – An Almost Solo and Crosswinds
While Sunday’s session was an almost flight, yesterday’s lesson was an almost solo. There were a few rain showers around but ceilings were forecast to be 4000 feet or higher and winds were supposed to be light. Sandy didn’t want me to go out to the practice area but cleared me to solo in the […]
Continue readingBad Weather, Tire Damage and a Practice Oral Exam
A low pressure center has been camped out near the Chicago area for several days now. The bands of rain and thunderstorms rotating around it forced me to cancel my Thursday lesson. Sunday wasn’t looking much better but, Sandy and I talked it over and decided to try going ahead with the lesson. If we […]
Continue readingLesson 72 – Starting the Checkride Prep
After a long Memorial Day weekend in Salt lake City, I got back in the air yesterday. The goal for now is to fine tune everything I have learned and to get ready for the private pilot checkride. I will do that with a series of solo and dual flights over the next few lessons. […]
Continue readingLesson 71 – Long Solo Cross Country
Well I finally got the long solo cross country done. If you have been reading this blog, you know I was working on it way back in January. I was beginning to think it would never happen. I had to cancel Tuesday because a line of thunderstorms was moving though the area. When I got […]
Continue readingLesson 70 – Back to Janesville
I finally got a day when the weather was good enough for a solo cross country so, I went back to Janesville, Wisconsin. When I went there for my first solo cross country, I had trouble finding the airport. This time I hoped to do better. The most difficult part of the whole flight was […]
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