Winging It

Lesson 26 – Stage Two Check Flight

June 5, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 2 COMMENTS

The oral portion of my Stage Two check was no problem. I was quizzed on solo privileges and limitations, a few questions about the C172 systems, a little about traffic patterns and then a lot about emergencies and how to deal with them. I had most of the answers but I learned a few new […]

Lesson 25 – Polishing Landings

June 1, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

Scheduling a morning session paid off. When I got to the airport at 8AM, the winds were only 6 knots with a 2 knot crosswind component for runway 5. That is a big change from my usual 10 to 15 knots gusting to 20 or 25. I did my preflight then went back inside for […]

Lesson 24 – More Landings at C02

May 30, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

It was hot on Sunday! The temperature was about 90 when we took off and the sun shining through the windows of the Skyhawk made it even hotter inside. Opening the windows became an essential part of our after landing routine. I did a couple power off stalls and three steep turns before we started […]

Lesson 23 – Flying in the Rain

May 26, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

The weather was iffy yesterday with the radar showing solid precipitation to the west of KUGN. We didn’t want to venture away from the airport but, we did manage to make four trips around the pattern in the occasional rain. The first shower blew through as I was doing my preflight. I learned that those […]

Lesson 22 – Landings at KENW

May 22, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

This lesson was all about landings. We made the extermely short hop up to Kenosha Regional Airport where we did five landings on runway 6R (the black runway in the picture). There isn’t much to say. The landings weren’t bad but they weren’t great either. Each time around I would get parts of the approach […]

Lesson 21 – In the Air Again, Finally

May 21, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

Thursday made three weeks since my last flight. When I got to the airport, the ceiling and visibility were OK for a flight but the wind was 18 knots gusting to 24 knots. We debated about whether flying in that wind would be helpful or, just frustrating. In the end, we decided to put the […]

The Break Gets Longer

May 11, 2006
/ computer flying
/ By tom
/ 2 COMMENTS

I got back from Utah on Monday. Tuesday turned out to be a ground school session because of rain and thunderstorms. Today’s lesson was canceled because of rain, low ceilings and high winds and forecasts for even worse conditions later in the afternoon. KUGN 111655Z 28014G25KT 5SM -RA BR BKN015 BKN020 OVC025 09/08 A2934 RMK […]

A Short Break

April 30, 2006
/ flying travel
/ By tom

This entry is coming to you from Layton, Utah where I am setting in my hotel room with a view of the beautiful Wasatch Mountains. The weather forced a cancellation of Saturday’s flying lesson. I am going to be here in the Salt Lake City area for the next week so I wont have another […]

Lesson 20 – Running Errands

April 28, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

The school needed someone to pickup some supplies at Dupage so Sandy asked me if I would like to make that trip instead of flying our scheduled lesson. It would be a chance to get some practice at a different controlled airport as well as doing some pilotage. It sounded like a nice change of […]

Lesson 19 – Landings and Patterns

April 24, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

Yesterday’s lesson almost didn’t happen. We are getting into the serious landing practice stage and, ideally, we would start out with light winds and gradually work up to stronger ones. When I got to the airport, the wind was 20 knots gusting to 25. METARS around the area showed gusts as high as 29 knots […]