Winging It

Lesson 40 – VOR Navigation

August 16, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

This lesson started in the classroom where we spent an hour going over the VOR system and how to use it. I learned about tuning in and verifying the stations, using the OBS and CDI to locate myself, intercepting radials and tracking to and from stations. I all seemed pretty simple while sitting at a […]

Lesson 39 – Solo to Practice Area

August 14, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

I am slowly stretching my wings. Yesterday I made my first solo flight away from the airport. It was just out to the practice area west of Waukegan, but it felt like a big deal to me. It was almost like I was getting away with something by getting in an airplane, by myself, and […]

Skill Aviation Open House

August 13, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

Saturday was open house day at Skill Aviation. Georgia and I got there about 11:30 which gave us time to look over the airplanes on the ramp and have lunch from the grills manned by some the schools CFIs. In addition to the current Skill fleet, there was a warbirds display featuring a T28, an […]

Alaska – Part 4

August 8, 2006
/ travel
/ By tom

Day 9 – Fairbanks Our tour group, along with several others, gathered in the hotel lobby on Thursday morning. What seemed like total confusion to us was routine for the Holland America people who got everyone on the right buses and on their way without a problem. Our group was split up between two buses. […]

Alaska – Part 3

August 8, 2006
/ travel
/ By tom

Day 6 – Sitka Sitka is another tender port so we met our group in Pharaoh’s Palace before boarding the tender for the trip to shore. This was the first day that we saw the more typical southeastern Alaska weather. The day was cool and rainy but, since out first excursion was in a semi-submersible […]

Alaska – Part 2

August 7, 2006
/ travel
/ By tom

Day 3 – Ketchikan I was up early on the third morning so I sat out on the balcony and watched while the ship was anchored in the harbor. Ketchikan is a busy port and the docks can’t handle all the cruise ships that visit. The lines take turns anchoring and tendering their passenger to […]

Alaska – Part 1

August 7, 2006
/ travel
/ By tom

We got back from Alaska this morning. The heading at the right warns that I might post about an occasional non-flying adventure and, this is one of those. Although I didn’t do any flying on the trip, there are still going to be many references to aviation. It is almost impossible to spend any time […]

Lesson 38 – First Dual Cross Country

July 23, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 2 COMMENTS

Today, we flew the trip to Janesville that we planned during Thursday’s ground school lesson. I got a weather briefing and updated the heading and ground speed calculations, using the current winds, before I left home. When I got to the airport, Sandy and I went over my plan and I listened in while she […]

Lesson 37 – Flight Planning and Second Solo

July 21, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

My Thursday afternoon lesson was another ground school session. We went over flight planning using our up coming dual cross country as an example. I drew a course line from Waukegan to Janesville, Wisconsin and chose checkpoints about every ten miles along the way. Using the current weather and the C172R Pilot’s Operating Handbook, I […]

It’s Just Too Hot

July 17, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

With an extreme heat advisory out for yesterday, we opted for ground school. I find that when it gets really hot, the temperture becomes so much of a distraction that I don’t get much out of training in the airplane. Besides, I haven’t had ground school for about two months and we do have stuff […]