Flight #9 $100 Hamberger in Ingleside

Tim & I pose at the Ingleside A/P

.. his friend Bill MaGill took the pic .. he's shown on top here. His hair's longer than mine and he's retired Navy. Bill was a former student of Tim's .. got his PPL a year ago .. he had 100 hrs when he got it.. got 300 hrs now. He's fixing up an old 152 to get it ready to begin his Instrument rating. Bill email'd me his notes on flare techniques which I need to review.

Anyway we all went to this hamberger joint in Ingleside a few miles from the A/P .. it was excellent! The weather was also incredible.

After eating a budge we flew across to Mustang Beach A/P to look at Tim's Lancair kit plane a hot 2 seater .. he's put a glass panel in it ...hopes to be up in a few weeks. It looks hot.

This was definetly one of the better days .. fun .. and I had some decent ( not good) landings.

QC Trip - What a way to break in the Columbia!

Cobo, Costa Rica, Cozumel and Caymen .. two days each!

When Tres & I pickup the Columbia in May(ish) we're heading south to begin this circuit. May send an 'advance' team down ahead to set things up ( Javier / Fraser?) ... rent a sailboat in Costa Rica

Cabo San Lucas
http://www.allaboutcabo.com/

Costa Rica - Tamarindo
http://tamarindobeach.net/airport.html

Cozumel
http://www.islacozumel.com.mx/

Cayman
http://www.caymanislands.ky/

Will drop the A/P designators into AeroPlanner to begin planning the trip!!

$100 Hamburger by John Purner

Received this book which list hundreds of GA airports mostly in the US but also So America & Europe. For each one it discusses food at or near the FBO .. and some of the interesting sites to see. This is why I'm learning to fly .. I just can't wait to begin taking off to these places after work or on weekends. I ordered a large US map to begin planning these trips.

Flight #8 T&G's AND my first Spins!

Again the focus was T&G's .. I got thrown a curve with the wind change we went to 13 instead of 31 I was doing yesterday. I guess it shouldn't be a big deal but it totally screwed up "site picture" .. and although I did better it was still ugly. That damn flare is still kicking my ass .. just can't seem to judge the when to start .. when we're 10' up.

We did do some other things as well ... Tim demo'd two spins ... very cool .. I definetly want to try one myself .. once I can land this bitch!

Also did several power off stalls .. on the last one I only lost about 100'

Flight #7 T&G TG McAmbell

Doing T&G's on Rwy 31 left pattern .. or I should say I was trying to do them. Nothing seemed to be working and despite the fact that I had memorized all of the power, flap and altitude points in the pattern .. it wasn't happening.

Sloppy patterns .. coming in too hot .. and of course the flare sucked.

I told Tim to head back to CRP .. and he took us in .. I was totally out of it.

These hours didn't count for much

King PPL DVD set - Good Stuff

Received and am now using this 7 CD set to prep for the knowledge test. I'd highly recommend it since it includes a computer based test log which tracts your progress. It beats trying to read and review Q & A's. The video snippets on each topic are also very helpful.

Cub in my future?

I ordered and watch a great video " Flying Route 66" by flyer photographer Russell Munson. The pictures were amazing. More importantly, in a special segment he gave tribute to the SuperCub he'd been flying for 30 years.

This video kind of woke me up to the difference between ... traveling by air .. and flying .. Munson makes this point vividly with his photographs. The difference in flying your looking at what you fly over .. you fly slow .. and you don't especially care where exactly you're going or when you'll arrive.

The SuperCub can land about anywhere .. very low stall .. open windows .. and yes its slow. They quite making the Supercub about 10 yrs ago .. but there are a number of knockoffs in a wide price range .. including ..

the Husky .. a workhorse version .. up to $250k ..
the Cub Legend ( Dallas ) .. a sport version .. around $70k
Cubcrafters Top Cub .. probably similar to Cub Legend ..

Thinking about trading out the 172 for one of these taildraggers. You can outfit them with patoons for water access .. another certificate!

Check Ride By March 9th ...?

Tim & I spend time last night laying out a lesson plan which ( if we stay on schedule) will get me certified by March 9th .. less than 2 months away. I've factored in planned vacations with the kids. But to get there will require 4 sessions a week .. every week. I always do best with clear targets .. and I will do this on or before the 9th!!... just prior to taking the kids on Spring Break.

The plan is for me to meet Tim at the Sun & Fun fly-in in Lakeland Fla which is the week of April 2cd .. a great cross country for me about a month after getting my PPL.

This morning I developed a training checklist which I developed from a combo of Tim's and Jeppesen syllabus's. I'll use this to be sure I'm staying ahead of Tim .. improve the odds of making this goal.

Tim suggested I contact Judge Pate as a backup trainer ... a good idea for weekend catchups if I need them. Also although it doesn't count .. Tres can go up with me for fine tuning. Two more reasons I should make this goal!

Radio Scripts

I prepared a sequence of radio scripts from one of my company pilots and the book "The Pilot's Radio Communication Handbook" .. which is an excellent book describing the whole sequence of communication through different types of airspace and ground.

Anyway .. beginning with my next flight I plan on handling the radio unless I'm covered up with other stuff.

Discovered Sportys Pilot Shop .. this could get expensive!

Ordered complete set of WAC's for N America .. a few sectionals for south Texas, and books on good places to fly into ( $100 hamberger ).

I'm really excited about doing some fly-ins .. meeting other pilots. I met one at the airport the other day, a policeman who shares an old Cessna with his partner. He told me about a fly-in to Oklahoma in April.

My goal is to work my way out from home each weekend .. marking off a map to see how many I can hit.

This is what keeps me going .. the freedom that will SOON come with the PPL!

Flight #6 - more touch & goes ( 7.2 hrs )

Headed over to McCambell for 6 more T&G's around 5 PM .. got dark before we quit. Light to no cross winds .. ideal ..

No problems with the pattern itself but having hell with the flare .. judging distance from the ground. Also have a tendancy to line up to the left of center. If I can get the flare down I think I've got it.

I plan to go up with Tres to get another prespective .. and try and get the landings down.

Tim says I should be solo'n soon ... but .. I don't feel even close to being ready.

Ground School - Flight Pattern

1.5 hrs focused on steps to take during a standard pattern .. power & flap settings .. etc ... should help me get setup for the final. Reduced this to a checklist to use during the pattern.

Guess the ground schools are helpful but it sure seems like a waste not getting air time. I've got a number of books I've purchased which provide basically the same information but it helps working through the detail with Tim.

Flight #5 More T&G's

5 T&G's at McCambell .. also some power off stalls.

Problems with the patterns .. knowing where I was and what to do ... real problem seeing the runway in my high wing plan on the turns .. squaring them up .. also no wind correction ( too much stuff!)

Holidays - no flying

Tim and I have been out for the last few weeks so I no time in the plane. Tres my company pilot isn't current in the 172 so he couldn't take we up either.

Anyway used the downtime to study for the written test. There's so much to learn -but its all fascinating.