Learning Everything from Scratch

Today I flew my second instrument lesson. No clouds to hide in this time, so I had to wear a pair of Foggles (aka. View Limiting Device, aka. IFR Hood).
It basically limits my outside view so I can only see the instruments in the plane.

I did basically all of the same maneuvers as before; slow flight, stalls, climbs and descents, and standard rate turns. I also did steep turns as well.

Steep turns were especially difficult for me to do. Even flying visually, steep turns were difficult. Now they are even harder with no reference to the actual horizon. Its like I'm learning everything all over again.

Basically in order for me to do these maneuvers correctly, I have to develop a scan. There are six pertinent instruments I need to focus on:




Airspeed Indicator - My speed through the air (Top Left)
Attitude Indicator - My artificial horizon (Top Middle)
Altimeter - Shows me my altitude (Top Right)
Turn Coordinator - Shows direction and quality of a turn (Bottom Left)
Heading Indicator - Shows my current directional heading (Bottom Middle)
Vertical Speed Indicator - Shows the speed at which I climb or descend. (Bottom Left)

Because I'm new at instrument flying, I have a tendency to omit certain instruments from my scan. For instance, during a steep turn, I'm too focused on maintaining 45 degrees of bank that I neglect my altimeter and I lose altitude.

When I take my instrument checkride in the distant future, I probably won't actually do any of these maneuvers. The only reason I'm doing them now is to help develop my scan. Eventually, when I start flying approaches under the hood, I will have to add the localizer and glide slope to my scan as well. Tricky...

We returned to the airport and I decided that now was a good time to take my fiance Kala up to be my first official passenger as a private pilot. She was terrified, but she had fun. We basically flew out to Tygart Lake for a few minutes and then came back. She took a series of videos on her cell phone of the flight:









The camera shaking on that last video is due to the bad shimmy dampener on the airplane. A bad shimmy dampener basically allows the nose wheel to shake and vibrate out of control when pressure is put on it (typically when using the brakes).

Well, that was my second instrument flight (plus thirty minutes of fun flying).

No Windshield Wipers

Today was my first flight towards my Instrument Rating. It was in the clouds and rain.

The weather today was 7 Miles visibility and overcast clouds at 2000 feet with light rain. Technically, you can still fly in these conditions with Visual Flight Rules, but its risky. You have to stay 500 feet below the clouds which puts you at about 2500 feet above sea level, only 200 feet above the mountains. You would share that altitude with some radio towers.

So my instructor filed an IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) Flight Plan, which would enable us to fly in the clouds. Since you cannot actually see anything, Air Traffic Control must stay with you throughout the entire flight to ensure that you aren't going to hit any other planes that are flying in the clouds.

Not much has changed from VFR. We did some checks and he had me do some zigzagging on the taxiway in order to make sure that all of the instruments are working correctly. Other than that, everything leading up to takeoff was the same as usual.

We picked up our IFR Clearance from Clarksburg's Ground Frequency and did a normal takeoff. We were then advised to switch to departure control. They are the ones who will watch us and warn us if we are getting too close to any other aircraft.

We flew out to STORE intersection (Yes, there are roads in the sky that intersect!) and asked ATC for a block altitude around the intersection. We basically got clearance to do whatever we want between 4000 and 5000 feet.

I did climbs, descents, slow flight, stalls, and unusual attitudes. I no longer have the same degree of finess with these maneuvers now that I can't look outside. I guess having a real horizon instead of a fake one really makes a difference.

Afterwards we headed back and I got to fly the ILS (Instrument Landing System) Approach to the runway. Basically, I have an instrument with a vertical line that shows me whether or not I'm lined up with the runway (called the localizer), and a horizontal line that tells me if I'm lined up with the glide slope down to the runway. If the localizer is left or right of center, it means I'm off course. If the glide slope is high, it means I'm beneath the glide slope. If the glide slope is low, it means I'm above the glide slope. In this image, the plane is to the left of the course, and slightly high.

After tracking the localizer and glide slope down, I looked at my altitude and realized that I was only 1000 feet above the runway, and I still couldn't see it.
I guess the clouds were a lot lower than they thought. Finally, I could see the MALSR lights by the runway at about 800 feet above the TDZE (Touchdown Zone Elevation). I could hear the rain start hitting the plane again once we got below the clouds. As we got closer, I could see the runway perfectly and I executed a perfect landing.



That was a fun flight. I intend to go get as much of my Instrument training as possible in Actual IFR conditions vs. simulated.

No Pink Slip For Me

Today I took my Private Pilot FAA Practical Test.

I started out the day right getting up at 5:30am to get ready. My fiance was awesome because she got up at the same time in order to make me a good breakfast while I was getting ready. She made bacon, eggs, and waffles. Very delicious.

I showed up to the airport around 7am, before my instructor. I finished up weight and balance, performance data and cross country. The examiner was expected to show up at 8am, but he was a little bit late. I sat there and talked to my instructor in the mean time, all the while my nerves were getting the best of me.

I wasn't very nervous about the oral part of the test, but the flight part had me very much on edge. The examiner showed up, and I stood up and shook his hand, and immediately gave him his $250. He liked that.

So off to a good start already, he began going through all of the paperwork and then started asking questions. He began with questions about the sectional map and he had me go over my cross country with him. He then started asking other questions about the plane itself and he had me explain some of the maneuvers. I nailed pretty much every question right on the nose. After about 15-20 minutes of me completely owning the oral part of the exam, he decided it was time to go fly.

I went out before him and got most of the preflight inspection done. We got in the plane and I ran through the checklist and got everything set to go, went to taxi and the plane wouldn't go anywhere. I realized I had forgot to remove the chock on the wheel. I opened the door, stuck my leg out and kicked it away. I didn't think it was a big deal and it didn't really affect the safety of the flight or anything, so I wasn't too worried.

I taxied up to the runway, ran my run-up checklist and got everything ready to go. We had to wait awhile for a couple planes to land, because the airport was really busy today. He had me do a short field takeoff, which I did perfectly.

I followed my cross country course towards Parkersburg, timing my distance to each of my checkpoints. After my second checkpoint, which was the town of Salem, WV, he had me calculate my ground speed and then he diverted me to Buckhannon. That was fairly difficult because Buckhannon airport was on the other side of the fold in my map. So I had to unfold the map all the way and it took up the entire cockpit. I found the distance and the heading and calculated time enroute using my previously calculated ground speed. Afterwards, he quickly helped me clean up the cockpit and get my map out of the way. All was well.

He then told me to exchange the controls while I put on the IFR Hood to do some instrument maneuvers. He had me do a 180 degree turn, which he counted as a clearing turn. I did climbs and descents and turns under the hood. He then did unusual attitude recovery. I did not have a problem with any instrument maneuvers.

He then had me do steep turns. I started with one to the right, and I accidentally descended below PTS standards on altitude. I told him that I knew that I did not bump in enough power and that I would like to do it again. He said not to worry about it and to do a steep turn to the left this time. He covered my instruments with a clipboard so I could not tell if I was losing or gaining altitude. I used the trick the chief flight instructor of the school taught me to fly a steep turn with hands off, and I listened to hear if the plane was speeding up or slowing down. If the sound of wind going past gets quieter, it means I'm losing speed and therefore climbing, and vice versa. I did well even though I couldn't see my instruments.

Then he had me enter slow flight which took me a little longer than usual to get set up, but I did. I did two 90 degree turns in slow flight and then a power off stall. He suggested I use more rudder to help maintain heading during the maneuver. I then did a power on stall which I didn't have any trouble with. In order to get down from 4500 to 2500 for ground reference maneuvers, he had me pull the power out, pitch for best glide, and slip the whole way down. I did slips to the left and right. As we descended below 3000, the air got extremely rough. Turbulence was horrible.

We then flew down towards Weston where he had me do turns around a point around a red hangar on a private airfield. He then failed my engine at only 1000 feet above the ground, so I had to run through my checks very quickly and lined up the plane to land at this small private airport. As I was getting closer I turned to him and said, "Did you want me to land here?" He said "Yep." As I got my flaps in and was coming in to land, he told me to go around and I did. I thought it was strange he would have me land at a private airport without prior permission. He then told me to head back towards Clarksburg. All this was done with the worst turbulence I have ever flown in.

On the way back to the airport, we received the ATIS broadcast, which reported winds at the airport of 260 degrees at 15 knots. This is a pretty decent crosswind. He asked me to do a regular landing first to get a good idea of how bad the winds were. I went full flaps, got the plane lined up, and then it drifted away from the center line a bit. I still managed to touch down on the upwind wheel first. He then had me takeoff immediately with a soft field takeoff, which was also very difficult with a crosswind, but I pulled it off and he said it was a good soft field takeoff.

I then did a soft field landing. Soft field landings are the main maneuver I was concerned with doing well on this flight. Now I had to do them in a bad crosswind also. I pulled it off, though. It wasn't the best soft field landing, but he said it was good considering the conditions. I then did a normal crosswind takeoff.

For the last landing, I had to do a no flaps landing. This would be easier, since you are supposed to land with no flaps whenever a bad crosswind is present. I landed just fine, once again with the upwind wheel first. I did apparently have a bad habit of straightening the wheel as soon as I land, and he told me I needed to keep the crosswind correction in from where I already had the upwind wing low in the flare.

I then started taxiing back. I ran my after landing check- flaps up, lights off, transponder on standby- and we pulled up behind a King Air that was waiting to takeoff. Just sitting on the taxiway with hands off the controls, you could watch the yoke shift back and forth and in and out, which is the result of the wind blowing the control surfaces of the plane all over the place. That's how bad the winds were gusting. While we were waiting, he said, "You did pretty good considering how bad the wind was..."

So I asked, "Does that mean I passed?"

A nice big smile and warm feeling came over me when I heard him say, "Yep."

We went back inside, he did the paperwork, and I got my Temporary Airmen Certificate. My instructor was happy, I was happy and my mom, dad, and fiance were very happy. My fiance even got me a congratulations cake (which she ordered before she even knew if I had passed). She has been awesome to me through this major event in my life and I couldn't have done it without her.



No pink slip for me!

Now to start instrument...

Am I Ready?

Today I took my final stage check with the school's chief flight instructor in order to ensure that I am ready for my Private Pilot Checkride. The stage three check is intended to simulate an actual checkride in every way possible in order to properly prepare me.

He started with the oral part of the test, which I didn't have any trouble with at all. I believe that my grades were a 5/5 on everything except for a couple 4/5s. I'm not nervous about my checkride oral at all. I know that I know my stuff.

Then came the practical. I started by following every single item on the checklist. I was told to do a short field takeoff. I remembered to everything including starting my time. As I intercepted my course, I looked at the stopwatch and it had not actually started. Thankfully I had asked for the actual time from his watch and wrote it down before takeoff.

So I did my cross country portion and was only 30 seconds off on my estimate. I then started doing maneuvers. I remembered to do clearing turns, and then I did slow flight. I didn't have any problems with slow flight or my power off stall.

Then I did steep turns. After seeing me do a couple, he decided to show me a new trick for doing steep turns. He said that all you have to do is start banking and once you reach 30 degrees, add a little bit of power and two swipes of trim. He then demonstrated that after that you can complete the steep turn almost without ever touching the yoke. Awesome.

Then I did my ground reference maneuvers which I didn't have any problems with whatsoever. Afterwards we headed back to the airport where I started with a soft field landing. He did not like the way I would play with the throttle on final. He said it would be better for me to set power and then keep it that way all the way down. My soft field landing was not very good. Neither was my soft field takeoff. I mainly had trouble keeping the plane lined up with the centerline. I then did a go around followed by a short field landing which I did excellent on.

One interesting thing that did happen was that for my last landing, tower cleared us for touch-and-go only, because there was another aircraft landing just behind us. As soon as I landed, he told me to brake and try to make the next taxiway. I said to him, "But we were only cleared for a touch and go.." He ignored me and started commandeering the controls to get the plane on the next taxiway. I stated my concerns a second time, with which he responded, "Who is the Pilot-In-Command right now?" "You..." I said. I was fairly confused as to why he disregarded ATC. I apologized for questioning his command. Then tower came over and let us have it as we were taxiing back. This all seemed fairly unusual, but whatever.

He went over my flight with me afterwards, and showed that I had gotten eight 5/5s, two 4/5s, and 5 3/5s. My overall stage grade came out to be a 4.5. I then voiced my concerns about my checkride. He said that if I fly the same way I did today, that I would most definitely pass. My brain works better with numbers, so I asked for a percentage chance. My instructor, the assistant cheif instructor, and the cheif instructor all agreed- 95% chance of passing for me.

I can only hope I don't do something stupid and fall within that 5%.

Checkride on Tuesday the 15th.

I'm very nervous.

Final Review

This flight was actually split into two different flights because we weren't able to finish everything on the first day.

The first flight was a short cross country to Elkins airport. Because the DPE lives in Elkins, it is most likely that I will have to fly down and do my checkride there. So I took this flight to go to Elkins and practice there in order to get a feel for the airport.

Elkins airport is really cool and is nestled in a large valley between two large mountain ranges. Unfortunately, the airport it self is surrounded by smaller hills that psych me out and make me want to fly in high on approach. I have to convince myself that it's okay to fly really close to the mountains on final.



My biggest problem during this flight was the ten knot crosswinds. They made it very difficult to practice short and soft field landings. I only really got one landing at Elkins and then I had to go around twice because I kept coming in too high. This was due to many factors: the mountains, the wind, I was in a different plane than usual, and being unfamiliar with this airport.

After awhile, we decided to practice those another day and headed out back towards Clarksburg. Along the way, my instructor said to go into slow flight, and I did. He then informed me that I would have failed my checkride. I had forgotten to do clearing turns. My instructor said that the DPE will try to trick me this way on my actual checkride and that I cannot forget the clearing turns.

The next flight the following day was with calm winds and very high ceilings, which makes for perfect flying weather. The air was nice and smooth. This time around, I remembered my clearing turns. I practiced stalls, steep turns, slow flight, short and soft field landings and takeoffs, and ground reference maneuvers.

Those were my very last flights with my instructor before my checkride. All I have left to do is my Final Stage Check with the chief flight instructor at the school. He will determine if I am ready, and the I will go take my checkride. I'm very, very nervous.

Reviewing Maneuvers

Most of my first review flight consisted of reviewing some old maneuvers and ensuring that I could execute all of them within PTS standards.

PTS standards are the standards with which I must comply in order to pass my checkride. Here is an example:

For a steep turn, I must maintain a bank angle of 45 degrees plus or minus 5 degrees, I must maintain altitude plus or minus 100 feet, I must maintain airspeed plus or minus 10 knots, and I must roll out on the appropriate heading plus or minus 10 degrees.

Basically, If I start the maneuver at 3500 feet and end at 3601, I am out of PTS standards. Typically in this instance, if my DPE (the guy giving me my checkride) deems me worthy, he will let me try again. But he has the authority right then to declare my checkride failed. (Of course, if he really likes me, he might just ignore the one foot difference.)

After practicing all the maneuvers, I know that I am capable of staying within PTS standards. The question is whether or not I will be able to do so under pressure. I'm really nervous about my checkride and I can only hope I will do alright.

My instructor says the only thing he really wants me to work on is my soft field landing. Unfortunately I'm not touching down smooth enough, and since I am simulating a landing in grass and mud, a smooth touchdown is a must.

Long Solo XC

I'm about a week late in blogging this flight. I've been busy with classes and never really had the chance to write it so I'm writing it now.

This flight was considered my long solo cross country. However, I made it shorter than my first solo cross country. I flew from Clarksburg to Parkersburg, then to Buckhannon and back to Clarksburg. All in all, I flew 1.6 hours. That's a lot less than the 2.5 hours on my first solo cross country to Beckley.



The flight started out nice and easy, I made it to Parkersburg fairly quickly and easily. Then I had to go find Buckhannon. I had flight following through ATC and was talking to Clarksburg Approach and they told me to announce when I had the airport in sight. I saw a nice runway in the distance and told ATC that I had the airport in sight, and they terminated my radar services and advised for me to change frequencies. I announced on Buckhannon's traffic frequency that I was coming in for a landing.

As I got closer and closer, I realized that wasn't a runway. It was a road. I started looking around, no runway in sight. Ugh. Just so you know, it had been getting kind of dark.

So I got out my sectional map, tuned to the Elkins VOR frequency and turned the OBS to the radial the airport is on. My navigation instruments told me to turn left, so I did. All of the sudden, I saw it. I then applied full power to speed up and get there faster and continued my landing without any more problems.




I then returned to Clarksburg and landed fine. It was a good flight.