Winging It

Just Another Day of Ground School

March 5, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 1 COMMENT

Snow! What else if there to say. Today’s ground school session covered weight and balance calculations and airspace. The next chance to fly will be Thursday. I have a couple trips coming up that will also cut into training time so, I have to start thinking about modifying my schedule to make up for some […]

Catching Up On Ground School

March 3, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

After getting quit a bit of flight time in February, my first session in March was ground school because of low ceilings and snow showers. Oh well, I was getting a little behind on ground anyway. We went over a review of all the reading I have done so far and then covered some new […]

Lesson 10 – Bouncing Around

February 27, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

Yesterday was my first flight in a week. I had to take Thursday off because of work commitments. The plan had been to do a quick review of slow flight and steep turns then start on an introduction to ground reference maneuvers. Sandy changed that plan even before we took off. She had just come […]

Lesson 9 – More Practice

February 20, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 3 COMMENTS

Yesterday was clear but very cold. Unfortunately, the heater in the airplane we flew seemed to be slowly going bad. The longer we were up, the colder it got in the cockpit. No icicles actually formed but, it was a little distracting. We also had gusty winds and bumpy air that made forward and side […]

Ground School and My Study Resources

February 17, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 3 COMMENTS

Yesterday was a ground school day. We covered aircraft systems, required documents, required equipment and did a quick review of aerodynamics. I haven’t said much about how I am studying for the written. I guess this is a good time to bring it up. The main books that Waukegan Wings uses are the Airplane Flying […]

Lesson 8 – Low Approaches

February 13, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 6 COMMENTS

If anyone is keeping score, yesterday’s flying lesson really was the fourth one in a row. We couldn’t get above 2500 feet, but we did fly. Today was supposed to be power-off stalls, steep turns and slow flight – again. We started with three power-off stalls. I’m getting better at these. I kept the rudder […]

Lesson 7 – Slow That Airplane Down

February 10, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 3 COMMENTS

I got to fly again yesterday. That makes three lessons in a row without getting weathered out - amazing. If this keeps up, I will get way more hours in February than in December and January combined. I did all the radio work for both departing and arriving back at the airport. I only had […]

Lesson 6 – Two in a Row

February 6, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

The weather held for two lessons in a row! That’s a pretty rare circumstance for me this winter. It was a lot colder yesterday than it has been so; we sat in the airplane and let it warm up for a couple minutes before we taxied. While we waited, Sandy started to quiz me on […]

Lesson 5 – In the Pattern

February 3, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

Yesterday we finally got a day when the weather was good enough to fly – barely. I made my first call to Flight Service for a weather briefing. I don’t know the name of the person I talked to, but thank you for your patience. Visibility was 3 miles in haze which wasn’t quit good […]

Ground School and Tower Visit

January 29, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 3 COMMENTS

My last lesson for January turned out to be a ground session – of course. A low ceiling and rain get the blame today. We did a tower visit and an hour of ground school. I have gotten in a whopping 4.4 hours for December and January combined. I hope February will be a lot better. My first training goal […]