Winging It

40 MPH Wind Gusts = Ground School

January 25, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom

Yesterday was another day on the ground. Between the weather and changing schools, I am going to have very few hours logged for January. I do have a lesson scheduled for Sunday morning so I might be able to get one more flight in this month.

Lesson 4 – The New School

January 21, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 1 COMMENT

I had my first lesson at Waukegan Wings last Thursday. I think that it went very well. Making the change feels like the right decision. Sandy, who will be my lead CFI, took care of the paperwork to get me enrolled in the private pilot training program and then we spent some time going over […]

A Big Change

January 20, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 2 COMMENTS

A major change has occurred since my last post. I have switched flight schools and I am now at Waukegan Wings at Waukegan Regional Airport. I really like the people at Campbell and the decision to change was not an easy one. In the end, it came down to what training environment I feel most […]

Lesson 3 – Differences

January 13, 2006
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 2 COMMENTS

The first thing different about yesterday was that we actually got to fly. Somewhere I read that winter is a good time for flight training because we get clear cold days when engine performance and visibility are both excellent. That might be true most years but, I haven’t seen it around here this winter. It […]

On the Ground

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

The weather was way too bad to fly yesterday. We had rain all day and even a couple thunderstorms thrown in. It wasn’t the usual January weather we get here in northern Illinois but, it happens some times. Another student and I teamed up for a ground school session with Tim. We went over engine […]

Lesson 2 – First Trip to Galt

December 24, 2005
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 4 COMMENTS

Yesterday was about 40 degrees warmer than Wednesday was. It was a much nicer day to be outside but, again, the visibility wasn’t great. It would be nice to have a horizon to reference one of these days. Still, we did get to fly so it was a good day. The checklist is getting easier. […]

Lesson 1 – Intro Flight

December 22, 2005
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 2 COMMENTS

The sky was a clear blue when I left for the airport this morning but the temperature was a brutal 8 degrees with a wind chill below zero. The calendar may say that this is the first day of winter but it started weeks ago here. Cold as it was, today was actually the warmest […]

It’s Official!

December 20, 2005
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 2 COMMENTS

The couple of you actually reading these posts probably realize that I have been deceiving you. The top banner says this is “the rambling journal of a middle-aged student pilot” but, that wasn’t technically true – at least until today. This afternoon I passed my third class medical so, now I can honestly say that […]

The New Guys

December 15, 2005
/ flying
/ By tom
/ 1 COMMENT

Just waiting for the medical coming up on Monday. I’m pretty confident that I have everything in order and will pass so; I decided to go ahead and schedule my first lesson for next week. I called the airport a couple days ago to see what they had available. It turns out, the instructor I […]

Personal Aviation

December 11, 2005
/ flying
/ By tom

I took the “What Airplane Are You” quiz and here are the results.You are a DEHAVILLAND BEAVER. You loveadventure. You are a person of the outdoors,very in-tune with nature and your surroundings.You enjoy communication between people, andalso your alone time. You are not afraid totake risks. You aren’t afraid of sucking upsome of the pleasures […]