Winging It

Lesson 78 – More Crosswinds and Stuff

June 22, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom

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 […]

Lesson 77 – Ground Reference and Gusty Crosswinds

June 20, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom

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 […]

Lesson 76 – Hood Work and Uncontrolled Field Operations

June 18, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom

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 […]

Lesson 75 – More Solo Maneuvers

June 13, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom

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 […]

Lesson 74 – Solo Maneuvers

June 11, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 3 COMMENTS

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 […]

Lesson 73 – An Almost Solo and Crosswinds

June 6, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom

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 […]

Bad Weather, Tire Damage and a Practice Oral Exam

June 4, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom

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 […]

Lesson 72 – Starting the Checkride Prep

May 30, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 2 COMMENTS

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. […]

Lesson 71 – Long Solo Cross Country

May 18, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom

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 […]

Lesson 70 – Back to Janesville

May 11, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 3 COMMENTS

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 […]