Winging It

Lesson 69 – Alone Again

May 9, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom

Yesterday was my first solo flight since January 7. I was going to do a short cross country but the weather to the west didn’t allow that. Instead, I went out to the practice area for some air work. I did a few steep turns and a few minutes of slow flight to get started. […]

Lesson 68 – Another Dual Session

May 4, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom

I still haven’t been able to get a good weather day for a solo cross country and it was two weeks since I had flown so, we did another dual session yesterday. I managed to make two crosswind landings at Westosha but, the conditions were tough so we didn’t stick around long. In the practice […]

Lesson 67 – More Crosswind Practice

April 16, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 3 COMMENTS

We finally had a beautiful looking day yesterday but, the winds were blowing too hard for a solo flight. Instead, Sandy and I flew to East Troy for some more crosswind practice. The 12 plus knot winds were blowing straight across runway 26 so, that is the one we chose to use. There were other […]

Practicing for the Oral Exam

April 6, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 2 COMMENTS

The wind has really been howling here in the Midwest lately. Yesterday it was blowing about 20 knots with gusts up to 30 knots. I need practice with crosswinds but, this was a little to much wind. Sandy and I talked it over and decided to wait for a slightly calmer day. Instead of flying, […]

Lesson 66 – Short Hops

March 30, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom

This lesson was an exercise in finding airports and entering the patterns. We went to three different airports with landings at each. Leaving Waukegan, we flew north to Racine. I coordinated with the Kenosha tower to transition through their airspace along the way. I had the right frequencies set before takeoff so the transition went […]

Lesson 65 – Tough Crosswinds

March 26, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 1 COMMENT

The plan for this lesson was to stay in the traffic pattern and work on crosswind landings. As we taxied to runway 23, the tower updated the winds to 220 degrees at 20 knots gusting to 25. That is way over my personal limits so, it was a really workout for me. The wind sock […]

Lesson 64 – Cross Country to Morris

March 23, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom

This was a dual flight to Morris, Illinois that was meant to get me back into the cross country phase of training. Overall, it went very well. I found all my checkpoints and the airport without much trouble. We couldn’t go direct from Waukegan to C09 because that route would have taken us too close […]

Lesson 63 – Flying Again

March 21, 2007
/ flying
/ By tom

After two months off, I got back in the air yesterday. The lesson went very well and I wasn’t as rusty as I expected to be. We took off about 3:30pm and went out to the practice area west of Waukegan for some basic airwork review. Slow flight and power off stalls went fine. I […]

Mediterranean Cruise – Part 3

March 19, 2007
/ travel
/ By tom
/ 2 COMMENTS

Day 9 – Sea Day The only sea day of this cruise gave us a chance to rest and spend some time exploring more of the ship. We also attended the cruise director’s debarkation talk which, sadly, means the trip is nearing its end. Tonight was the second and last formal night in the dining […]

Mediterranean Cruise – Part 2

March 19, 2007
/ travel
/ By tom

Day 5 – Katakolon, Greece The reason cruise ships stop at Katakolon is not to see Katakolon but to visit Olympia, site of the ancient Olympic games and that is what I did. Georgia opted out of the walking so, I was on my own. After meeting the rest of the tour group in the […]