Flight School Blog

As many of you already know, I am starting flight school on Monday, January 02, 2005. For many years now it has been my dream to be a pilot and now that I've finished school, I'm finally going to step up and get a pilot's license. I debated for a while as to whether I should choose fixed-wing (airplane) or rotary wing (helicopter), but I ultimately chose a helicopter because it allowed for greater job oppurtunity and a easier transition from helicopter to airplane than from airplane to helicopter.

I've decided to write a blog of my experiences in flight school. I know reading about it isn't as exciting as actually doing it, but perhaps it will give some people an idea of what flight school is like.

Posted: 01/03/2006

Update: Saturday, November 24, 2007

Since my completion of the Robinson Safety Course on November 15, 2007, I have begun working as a commercial helicopter pilot and flight instructor on a regular basis. In doing so I have been racking up flight time almost as much as Marty, Ryan, Pierre, Lawrenz, and the Mikes. In doing so, I've found that it is too cumbersome to write about each flight I make. As a result, I have decided to stop updating my flight school blog. The blog will remain online, but I will no longer be making new entries.

Don't think that my flight education has stopped here. I still have to complete my CFII (Certified Instrument Flight Instructor), SFAR-73 CFI R44 (allows me to teach in the R44), Fixed Wing Instrument Rating, Fixed Wing Commercial License, Fixed Wing CFI, and Fixed Wing CFII. I just won't be writing about my experiences as religiously as I have been.

My Pilot Log Analysis Tools will also remain online, but I will no longer be updating the database with my pilot log. I have begun using a program called Logbook Pro, which, even though it has its ups and downs, it still easier to update and replicate than a MySQL database.

Total Logged Hours: 314.3 as of 20071115
Total Ground Hours: 112.1 as of 20071115

2007-11-15

Today was the fourth and final day of the Robinson Safety Course. Tim dove into accidents and accident prevention. He also covered important safety information about autorotations. The lecture ran about 3 hours and then we took the final exam, consisting of 25 questions.

After the lecture I had my flight lesson. The flight wasn’t really as exciting as I expected, possibly because the helicopter we were flying (an R44 Raven) was an already purchase ship. I flew from the left seat. We did many practice autorotations and throttle chops, none of which were full-down. They consisted of a normal, 180, 360, out of trim, minimum descent, and maximum glide. We also practiced settling with power and hover autos. I still need work on my hover autos. After the flight lesson I received my certificate of completion for the Robinson Helicopter Company Pilot Safety Course.

For anyone who routinely flies Robinson helicopters, I strongly recommend this course. Aside from being required for any employment flying R22s or R44s it is well worth its cost. The course can be used as a flight review or SFAR check-ride and considering you get to log an hour of flight time, it more than pays for itself if you fly the R44. Unfortunately the course fills up 11 months in advance so plan ahead. Food (and good food at that) is provided for break all four days and lunch for the first three days. Breakfast consists of donuts, muffins, and coffee and lunch consists of a salad bar and deli sandwiches (including tuna for those of you who keep Kosher).

Logged Hours: 1.1
Ground Hours: 4

2007-11-14

Today was the third day of the Robinson Safety Course. The class today was taught by Pat instead of Tim. Pat is in charge of Robinson technical support. He is a man who knows everything about the mechanics of the helicopter. With him he brought all kinds of pieces from destroyed helicopters to show us what the effects of an overspeed, clutch failure, and several other disasters do to the internal components. The class only ran about 5 hours including a lunch break; however Tim managed to answer any question you could possibly think of regarding helicopter maintenance and pre-flights.

Logged Hours: 0
Ground Hours: 5

2007-11-13

Today was the second day of the Robinson Safety Course. We spent the entire day (8 hours including a lunch break) diving into the helicopter POHs. Tim covered lots of useful information that was never covered in private lessons.

Logged Hours: 0
Ground Hours: 8

2007-11-12

Today was the first day of the Robinson Safety Course. The course actually had a lot more to offer than I originally expected. The introduction was actually done by Frank Robinson himself. He gave us about a 1 hour lecture regarding helicopter safety and the new R66. The remainder of the class (8 hours including a lunch break) was taught by Tim Tucker – the first Robinson customer and a man who basically knows everything there is to know about Robinson helicopters. During the class we toured the factory for about an hour and got to watch helicopters actually being built on the assembly line.

Logged Hours: 0
Ground Hours: 9

2007-09-19

Today I had a flight lesson with Andy. We reviewed hovering-autos, all of which I did considerably better. He actually told me that I did them “better than [him]” and “to ATP standards” but I doubt that. I think I was just lucky. Then I practiced teaching quick-stops, autorotations, slopes, shallow-approaches with run-on landings, and I did a zero airspeed autorotation. Next I had a flight lesson with Dave. I did five hovering-autos, only one of which was good. We refueled the aircraft and I did another three hovering-autos, all of which were mediocre. Then Dave got out and I finished my checkride with Andy. I did one autorotation that I thought was “okay” but Andy said was good. I insisted that he let me do another one just so I could prove to him that I have what it takes to be a flight instructor. I did another one that was also “okay”, but since it was within commercial standards, it was passable. He congratulated me for earning my Certified Flight Instructor certificate.

Logged Hours: 1.1
Ground Hours: 0

2007-09-18

Today I had a flight lesson with Dave. He we took the helicopter off and flew out of the pattern where I demonstrated settling-with-power a few times. Then he chopped the throttle and I made a recovery. After recovering I brought the helicopter back to altitude and we chopped my throttle again. I recovered again and we flew back to the airport where I demonstrated a steep approach, a go-around, a shallow approach to run-on landing, a couple of hover autos and lots of autorotations. Then we sat down and he gave me an oral exam in preparation for the checkride.

Later in the day I had the checkride with Andy. It started out going well. I taught a 180-autorotation and a quick stop in the classroom and then he took me out to the helicopter for the demonstration. I demonstrated the 180-autorotation, the quick stop, and the full-down autorotation flawlessly. He had me follow him through on the controls a few times. He told me that I was too tight on the controls and too critical of him as a student. We attempted several hovering-autos, all of which I did very poorly. I received a discontinuance on the checkride based on the hover autos not meeting commercial standards.

Logged Hours: 2.7
Ground Hours: 2

2007-09-17

My first flight today was from Andy’s house to the airport in an R44. We took off from his little cove on the shore and flew to PVG. On our way he had me demonstrate a throttle chop recovery at zero airspeed. After recovering we continued to PVG. Upon arrival he had me demonstrate a 180-autorotation which I intern turned into a 540-autorotation (corkscrew auto). We recovered close to the ground and he had me demonstrate a few hover-autos. Then we flew over to his hanger.

The second flight was with Dan in an R22. We took off and left the airport environment where I demonstrated settling with power. Then we brought the helicopter above a field and he chopped the throttle and had me recover. We flew back to the airport where I demonstrated several autorotations, 180-autorotations, and hover autorotation. Then I demonstrated running landings, air taxis, and quick stops.

Logged Hours: 2.3
Ground Hours: 0

2007-09-16

Today I had a flight with Dan. He picked me up from a field in Virginia Beach and we flew over to PVG. There we practiced maneuvers for my CFI checkride. We practiced a normal approach, steep approach, shallow approach with running landing, running takeoffs, maximum performance takeoff (from the field), autorotations, and confined space landings (back to the field).

Logged Hours: 1.9
Ground Hours: 0

2007-09-13

Today I met with Andy, my examiner for the CFI checkride. We sat down and had an informal oral exam where he asked me everything from the “Fundamentals of Instruction” to “Helicopter Aerodynamics”. At the end of the oral exam he told me that he was comfortable giving me the full CFI checkride and to meet him down at his airport on Sunday.

Logged Hours: 0
Ground Hours: 2

2007-09-11

Today I had a stage-check with Mike Zangara for my CFI checkride. It didn’t go well. I had my fundamentals of instruction down but didn’t know the endorsements as in depth as he wanted. We went onto aeromedical which I hadn’t prepared a lesson plan for yet. Then we moved in to aerodynamics which I thought were thoroughly prepared and explained. Mike disagreed. He told me I needed more work on my ground instruction. I talked him into allowing me to perform the flight portion. That part went very well. He was very impressed with my skill and my ability to teach. I demonstrated a vertical takeoff into a hover, a normal takeoff, departing the traffic pattern, settling with power, confined space landing, maximum performance takeoff, autorotations with a power recovery, full-down autorotations, 180 full-down autorotations, quick stops, and hover autos. At the end of the stage check he told me I was well prepared for the flight portion but I still need to work more on ground before I can go for my final checkride.

Logged Hours: 1.4
Ground Hours: 0

2007-09-09

Commercial Photo Flight

Logged Hours: 5.2
Ground Hours: 0

2007-09-08

Commercial Photo Flight

Logged Hours: 4.9
Ground Hours: 0

2007-09-07

Commercial Ferry Flight

Logged Hours: 1.6
Ground Hours: 0

2007-09-06

Today I had a lesson with Martin. We practiced settling-with-power, pinacle landings, throttle chops, and hover autos

Logged Hours: 0.8
Ground Hours: 0

2007-09-05

Today I ran through lesson plans with Martin. We covered go-arounds, straight-and-level flight, level turns, straight climbs and climbing turns, straight descents and descending turns, rapid deceleration, and power failure at a hover. Afterwards we went up in the helicopter and practiced air taxis, rapid decelerations, hover autos (power failure at a hover), and a full-down autorotation.

At night I took my friend Tal Levitas for a helicopter ride. We wanted to keep the ride under an hour so we flew towards Baltimore City and got as far as we could in 30 minutes. We got to around Liberty Road and the beltway before we turned around. I dropped him off and picked up Mirit for a flight. I flew Mirit around Frederick a few times. I renewed my night currency by making 5 full-stop landings.

Logged Hours: 2.2
Ground Hours: 1.5

2007-09-04

First I had a ground lesson with Ryan. I gave instruction on rolling/running takeoffs, normal and crosswind approaches, steep approaches, shallow approach to a rolling/run-on landing. Next I had a flight lesson with Martin. I wanted to practice confined space and pinnacle landings. First I attempted a few pinnacles – they were all very sloppy. Then I attempted a confined space landing – it was okay. We finished the lesson by shooting a few full-down autorotations and 180-full-down autorotations.

Logged Hours: 1
Ground Hours: 0.8

2007-09-03

Today I had a ground lesson with Lawrenz. During the lesson, I taught two actual students my lesson on obtaining weather information and one of those students how to plan a cross country flight.

Logged Hours: 0
Ground Hours: 2.8

2007-09-01

Today I had a ground lesson with Ryan. I taught all of the regulations associated with being a private pilot. Next I went through several of the flight maneuver ground lessons: vertical takeoff and landing, surface taxi, hover taxi, air taxi, normal and crosswind takeoff and climb, and maximum performance takeoff and climb.

After my flight lesson I took Alison for a helicopter ride. We flew up to Capital Camps and did a few orbits over the camp. Then we attempted to find High Rock from the air, but were not successful – we didn’t want to get too close to P-40. Finally we flew over to Gettysburg National Park and I showed her the battlefield.

Logged Hours: 1.1
Ground Hours: 3.3

2007-08-31

Today I had a ground lesson with Ryan. I demonstrated helicopter-specific aerodynamics and airspace types and regulations.

After the flight lesson I took Alison on a quick flight over Frederick in the helicopter.

Logged Hours: 0.4
Ground Hours: 3.5

2007-08-30

Today I had a ground and flight lesson with Ryan. I began by giving proper briefing for two maneuvers on the whiteboard before the flight: slopes and autorotations. From there we took off and performed the two maneuvers. Next we performed a few full-down straight-in autorotations. After the flight we went back to the classroom and I demonstrated general aerodynamics on the whiteboard.

Logged Hours: 0.9
Ground Hours: 1.2

2007-08-29

Today I flew with Lorenz. From start to finish, he had me teaching the lesson from the left seat. Not only that, he had me teaching with the cyclic in the “down” position over the right seat, which mean I was flying with my right hand at about neck level. We practiced slopes (both with sideways approaches and head-on), shallow/run-on takeoffs and landings, autorotations, 180-autorotations, and autorotations from an out-of-ground effect hovers.

Logged Hours: 1.6
Ground Hours: 0

2007-08-26

Today I had a flight lesson with Martin. I flew from the left seat and practiced teaching the maneuvers. I practiced steep approaches (a little less aggressive than I had been flying with Pierre), autorotations, both with a power recovery and full-down, and full-down 180-autorotations.

Logged Hours: 1
Ground Hours: 0

2007-08-25

Today I had my last flight lesson with Pierre. We practiced steep approaches and autorotations, both from the left seat. I practiced teaching the maneuvers.

Logged Hours: 0.9
Ground Hours: 0

2007-08-17

Today I practiced for my CFI with Pierre. I did the entire flight from the left seat. I practiced talking through while flying a normal approach, several steep approaches, several autorotations, and several 180-autorotations, both left side and right side.

Logged Hours: 1.3
Ground Hours: 0

2007-08-15

Today I did some CFI preparation with Pierre. We spent about half an hour reviewing my lesson plans and an hour flying. During the flight I forgot that I am supposed to sit on the right side, and Pierre didn’t remind me. We practiced a few normal approaches and a few steep approaches, all the while I was talking through the maneuvers like a flight instructor. At the end I shot a 180-autorotation.

Logged Hours: 1
Ground Hours: 0.5

2007-08-14

Today I took a flight up to Manhattan in the R44. To subsidize the cost, I brought four passengers along – Scott, Mitch, and Scott’s friend. Scott, who is already a rated private pilot, was a big help. Even though he couldn’t log flight time, he was my navigator, scribe, and GPS/Radio/Transponder operator, and had he been able to operate the radio from the left seat, he would have also been my radio operator. We flew VFR on a flight plan up to Princeton, NJ, using GPS for primary navigation and pilotage and dead reckoning for secondary navigation. During the first leg of the flight, we utilized flight following from Potomac Approach, Harrisburg Approach, and Philadelphia Approach. At Princeton we refueled and dropped off our front doors. When we took off again we used pilotage as the primary means of navigation. Once in the city, we used a New York City helicopter route chart to follow helicopter routes. While on the East River, we obtained a Class B clearance from La Guardia Tower. We didn’t go over the city itself because of my lack of confidence flying around high towers. Mitch tried to get me to fly over Ground Zero, but I refused. I told him if I ever go again with a flight instructor and get some more training, I would take him up again to fly over. We came back down the Hudson River and circled the Statue of Liberty (“The Lady”) several times. We flew back to Princeton again to refuel and pickup our doors. The flight around the city lasted about 1.3 hours. The final leg of the flight was back to Frederick. Again we flew on a VFR flight plan and utilized flight following. We used GPS as our primary means of navigation and pilotage and dead reckoning for secondary navigation. Upon arriving back at Frederick I realized what a complete success the flight was. Nothing broke, no unexpected weather, no forgotten helicopter pieces, and my estimate of approximately $450/person cost was dead on…I think the exact amount was $451 and change.

Logged Hours: 5.2
Ground Hours: 0

2007-07-02

Today I took Scott on a flight to teach him about getting Bravo clearances and landing at towered airports inside the ADIZ. We took off out of Frederick and immediately picked up a Bravo clearance to cut through Dulles’s airspace to go to Manassas. We arrived at Manassas and quickly took off again. We didn’t want to bother the approach controllers too much by asking for another unnecessary clearance. We were skirting around Dulles’s airspace at 1000 feet MSL and the controller told me to contact Dulles Tower. I switched over to them and they gave me a Bravo clearance (without my request) to go direct back to Frederick. At one point we were at eye level with a Boeing aircraft on final at Dulles. It was quite a sight to see. Just then, I saw a little puff of smoke outside the left side of the helicopter. “That looks weird,” I told Scott. “I think someone is celebrating the Forth of July a bit early this year,” he responded. That’s when it occurred to me that someone was firing bottle rockets at us. The rest of the fight was pretty much uneventful.

Logged Hours: 1.3
Ground Hours: 0

2007-06-23

When I arrived at Laconia Municipal Airport (see previous blog entry for details), I decided to give Bryan a ride in the helicopter. I really wanted to photos of the scenery and I couldn't take them while I was flying. Meanwhile, I wanted to thank him for letting me use his tent and chauffering me around everywhere during the weekend. We pulled the helicopter out of the hanger and did the preflight. Next we went back into the FBO to get a weather briefing and file a flight plan.

We took off and flew around the coastline. The view was amazing. Bryan snapped off about 50 pictures but a lot of them were blurry. I dropped him off and took off again for home. I was immediately able to raise the FSS to open my flight plan. Then I got on with Boston Approach to utilize flight following to Bradley International Airport. I decided that in the interest of safety, I was going to take a more coastal route back home, since I didn't want to be flying over mountains in a rural area at night. I also wanted to make sure I would be able to talk to approach throughout the entire route of flight without worrying about losing reception or radar contact. During the first leg of the flight, the sun was just setting. I love flying at night - no turbulence, no sun in my eyes, and less air (and radio) traffic. I landed at the International Airport, which was kind of cool, b/c I'm not used to flying into large airports. The FBO there was really nice. I went in to file the next leg of my flight plan and check the weather while the lines woman refueled my helicopter. I told the guys that worked there, "If I worked here, I'd never go home...leather couches, big screen television, wireless Internet...it's better than my living room." I took off from Bradley International Airport and flew direct to Lehigh Valley International Airport. The same deal there - refueled, checked weather, and filed a flight plan. The second and third legs of the flight were completely dark. It was a clear sky, unrestricted visibility, and smooth air. I was able to utilize flight following throughout the entire trip and didn't run into any problems. It really couldn't have been a more perfect flight, and it gave me a chance to log some solo night cross country time and get current on my night landings. I landed at Frederick around 02:00 local.

Logged Hours: 5.1
Ground Hours: 0

2007-06-22

Since I still needed to log 40 hours of flight time before I'm employable as a commercial helicopter pilot, I decided to burn a few hours flying to and from NH. I've been planning this flight for two months. Originally I was supposed to fly up with three other people in an R44, but that plan fell through when all 6 people who were originally interested in flying backed out on me. Instead I rented an R22 and flew up myself. I left Frederick, MD Friday morning. It was a direct flight to Laconia Municipal Airport in NH with a fuel stop directly in my line of travel in Ellenville, NY.

The first leg of the flight was rather rough. There were pilot reports of moderate turbulence below 8,000 ft. I confirmed this report. Going over the mountain ridges in PA and NY I hit a lot of turbulence. As a matter of safety, since I was flying solo I was on an active VFR flight plan and utilized flight following throughout the entire flight. Unfortunately as I was passing through northern PA I lost reception with Allentown Approach. I was flying at 3,500 ft. and couldn't ascend any more because there was a cloud layer of broken clouds at 4,000 ft. I just hoped that I would make it alive since there was no sign of any civilization below me. I made the fuel stop at Joseph Resnick Airport (N89) in Ellenville, NY. Now the AFD said that the airport would be attended during daytime hours and that there was fuel available. When I landed the airport was deserted. Not only was no one there, but it looked like no one had been there in years. I looked around for a fuel tank. I was terrified that there wouldn't be any fuel at the airport and I didn't have enough fuel to get to a nearby airport. Finally, after searching the entire airport on foot, I found a fuel pump back in a corner of the airport with a credit card swipe. I was in luck! I pumped the fuel and prepared to take off again. I called the weather briefer to get updated weather and file another VFR flight plan. The weather briefer (as brilliant as she was <SARCASM>) had me file my flight plan and then gave me weather. After she gave me weather, she asked, "Is there anything else I can do for you?" I told her, "Yes, can you activate my flight plan with an assumed departure time of 12:10 local?" (Originally I had filed for 12:00 local, but she kept talking and talking and dragged out the weather briefing for about 25 minutes.) Then she told me, "You didn't file a flight plan." I reminded her that I did when I first got on the phone with her. A few minutes later she told me that she found it. "Are you sure you don't want an assumed departure time of 12:20?" I thought to myself, "I don't know, that depends, are you going to keep talking for another 10 minutes or are you done?" I told her to keep it as 12:10. She told me she activated it and to have a safe flight.

The second leg of the flight also rough. I also ran into a lot of low clouds and high mountains. I was worried that I would run into inadvertent IMC conditions. Luckily I had plenty of fuel onboard and could see the clouds (and rain) very clearly. I circumnavigated around the clouds and didn't run into any problems (other than a little rain and turbulence). The terrain below me was beautiful. Nothing but green mountains as far as the eye can see. Unfortunately, again there was no sign of civilization and on this leg I was too far from any airports to get any reception for flight following. I knew that if I lost an engine, I was going to land in the trees and no one would find me until next hunting season. My only hope (aside from the well maintained helicopter) was my VFR flight plan...or so I thought. When I landed at Laconia I called the flight service station (FSS) to close my flight plan. "Uhh, we don't have a flight plan on file for you," they told me. (Now you see why the weather briefer was not the sharpest knife in the drawer.) I thought to myself, "Okay, so no flight plan, no flight following, no roads, houses, or other signs of civilization en route. If I actually had crashed, no one would come looking for me until Helicopter Rachael realized that I was late returning the aircraft on Monday morning."

Logged Hours: 5
Ground Hours: 0

2007-06-11

Today I flew with another student at AHC in the R22. He wanted to work on radio communication and I wanted to practice flight from the left seat. We took off out of Frederick and flew into the ADIZ to Gaithersburg. We had a little spat with air traffic control when they wouldn't let us fly to the next airport on the same ADIZ flight plan, so we landed at Gaithersburg and filed two more flight plans. From there we flew to Leesburg and then back to Frederick.

Logged Hours: 1.5
Ground Hours: 0

2007-05-27

Commercial Photo Flight

Logged Hours: 1.8
Ground Hours: 0

2007-05-06

Today I took my friend Matt Triner for a helicopter ride. The two of us flew out of Frederick towards Baltimore. I practiced ground reference maneuvers for navigation rather than using dead reckoning (flying a heading) or GPS. I only used the GPS to determine where the ADIZ and Class B boundaries were. We flew into the city and around downtown and then flew back, also using ground reference maneuvers.

Logged Hours: 1.2
Ground Hours: 0

2007-05-05

Commercial Photo Flight

Logged Hours: 3.8
Ground Hours: 0

2007-05-04

Commercial Photo Flight

Logged Hours: 4.6
Ground Hours: 0

2007-04-30

Today Mitch and I took a flight in the R44. We took off from Frederick, flew into the ADIZ to Columbia where he took photos of downtown Columbia and his house. Then we flew to the Savage Volunteer Fire Company. After that we flew to Annapolis and flew over the state capital buildings and the US Naval Academy. From there we flew up the east coast of the Chesapeake Bay and flew over downtown Baltimore before flying back to Frederick.

Logged Hours: 1.5
Ground Hours: 0

2007-04-24

Today I had my last lessons in the R44 (the four seater helicopter). I needed 15 hours to be covered under their insurance policy and I finished those up today. Both lessons I was flying from the left seat to prepare myself for my flight-instructor checkride. During the first lesson I did two approaches, one normal, one steep, and some ground-reference maneuvers with two passengers in the back seats. After dropping them off, Martin and I shot lots of autorotations. Some were straight-in, some were throttle chops, some were 180-autorotations, and some were cross-wind autorotations.

The second lesson was brief. We did three autorotations – the first was a straight-in, the second was a straight-in full-down autorotation, and the third was a throttle chop. This was my first full-down autorotation.

Logged Hours: 1.7
Ground Hours: 0

2007-04-19

Today I had my first flight instructor (CFI) flight lesson. The flight was in an R22, which I haven’t flown since December. I flew with Martin because Pierre was already book. Flying from the right seat was a bit uneasy. I kept flying out of trim because I felt that we were rolling rightward. We flew several flight patterns doing normal, steep, and shallow approaches. After that we flew to Sugarloaf and practiced a confined space landing and takeoff. We flew back to the airport and practiced one straight-in autorotation.

Logged Hours: 1.1
Ground Hours: 0

2007-03-29

Today I had my commercial checkride with Mike DeRuggiero. The oral exam lasted about three hours. Most of it covered regulations, especially the differences between Part 91 (Commercial) and Part 135 (Charter) operations. There was a lot of coverage on the mechanics of the aircraft. There were three or four numbers (alternator voltage, maximum HP, etc.) that I had to lookup in the POH because I didn’t know from memory. After that we moved on to weather. The exam touched very briefly on weather. The practical part of the exam lasted about two hours including the preflight. Mike quizzed me on a few of the mechanics of the aircraft. When we took off, he had me demonstrate hovering pickups and set-downs with a headwind, right crosswind, and left crosswind. Then we moved into the cross country portion where we flew the first three legs of the cross country based on my flight plan without the use of the GPS. The third checkpoint was a radio tower and difficult to find. When I reached the time point when I should have found it, I orbited the area for a few minutes looking for it. Eventually Mike pointed it out to me – it was within standards. Next Mike flipped off the hydraulics switch and had me divert to Carroll County Airport where I demonstrated a hydraulics off, shallow approach, run-on landing. He didn’t have me demonstrate a running takeoff. We flew a pattern with a normal approach and then an air taxi with a quick-stop. We took off again using a maximum performance takeoff. We flew to Carroll County Hospital and used their landing pad to practice the pinnacle and confined space approach and landing. Outbound we did another maximum performance takeoff. From there we climbed to 2,000 ft. MSL and I demonstrated settling with power. After regaining airspeed Mike chopped the throttle for a simulated engine failure (as opposed to my private checkride where he chopped the throttle before regaining airspeed). I got very caught up in finding a suitable location and maintaining airspeed and forgot to check my RPM. It got away from me and he said, “RPM”. I thought he said “Carb Heat”. He said it again. I caught it on the third time. He told me to recover and a few seconds later he chopped my throttle again. That time I maintained the airspeed, RPM, and target LZ very well. We regained altitude again and flew back to Frederick. Upon arriving, Mike had me demonstrate a 180-autorotation. It was kind of difficult because they were using Runway 05 and with the noise abatement procedures above the golf course, there was no easy way to bring the helicopter in on downwind. Mike suggested I fly directly over Runway 23 and target the tires as the LZ. I did just that. As I was descending through the autorotation I looked at my airspeed – it was good. I looked at my RPM’s – they were good. I looked at my target. It was within reach. “I’m actually going to make it!” I thought. I hit the target dead on, even though I was given 40,000 square feet (100 ft. in every direction) to play with. After completing the auto, Mike had me bring the aircraft to a hover and demonstrate a hover auto. That went very well. We flew back to the hanger and Mike passed me on my commercial pilot license.

Logged Hours: 1.3
Ground Hours: 3

2007-03-27

Today I had a very short (and inexpensive) lesson. Basically the whole purpose was to work on autorotations for my checkride on Thursday. Right after Martin and I took off, we saw four news helicopters hovering over Frederick. Feeling squirrelly (and needing to give the helicopter a few minutes to warm up before practicing autos), we flew around them to try to figure out what was going on. We spoke to one pilot on the radio and found out that they were reporting a murder/suicide in Frederick. We flew back to the airport and shot a throttle-chopped autorotation, straight-in autorotation, and two 180 autorotations. We completed the lesson by practicing a hover-auto.

Logged Hours: 0.4
Ground Hours: 0

2007-03-23

Today I had my commercial stage check with Mike Zangara. The oral exam was long but not very difficult at all. Either the week and a half of straight studying paid off, or the commercial oral exam isn't as difficult as I expected. I think he was thoroughly impressed that I knew all of the numbers in the POH verbatim. The practical exam was also very easy. First we practiced a settling w/ power maneuver. Then we practiced a confined space entry. The confined space was tighter than I ever had to enter before. There were high tension wires on one side, low power lines on the adjacent side, and trees on all four sides. First I asked him, "Are you sure you want me to land there?" When he said yes, I asked, "Are you telling me to land there as an instructor or as a customer?" When he asked why, I told him that if he was asking as a customer I would tell him I was not comfortable with that landing zone. Nevertheless he had me land there anyway. It took me two shots. On the second one I got to the ground safely. From there we did a maximum performance takeoff. On return to the airport he chopped my throttle. I set up the helicopter in an autorotation and found a suitable landing zone very well however I let the RPM on the rotor spin up to fast and he had to check it for me. Upon arrival back at the airport we practiced a governor off/hydraulics off entry, then a running takeoff/running landing, a few quick stops, a slope landing, an autorotation, and several 180-autorotations. On one of the flight patters Mike chopped my throttle and I set the aircraft up in an autorotation very well. During two of the autorotations I hit the target dead-on. I remember thinking to myself, "You know, if I really lost an engine, I might actually be able to land this thing without killing myself." At the end of the stage check Mike recommended one more lesson with Martin and then to go take my commercial checkride.

Logged Hours: 1.3
Ground Hours: 3

2007-03-12

Today I had two flight lessons the first lesson focused mainly on autorotations and throttle chops in the R44. The second lesson focused mainly on 180-autorotations and slope landings in the R44. At the end of the lesson, Martin gave me the go-ahead to take my stage check.

Logged Hours: 2
Ground Hours: 0

2007-03-06

Today was an autorotation day. We took off and shot a steep approach to warm up. The next two flight patterns, Martin gave me throttle chops, both of which I recovered well. For the rest of the lesson we shot 180-autorotations.

Logged Hours: 0.8
Ground Hours: 0

2007-03-02

Today’s lesson was in a high-wind environment. Winds were clocked in the high teens and gusting in the mid twenties. We practiced many autorotations, 180-autorotations, throttle chops, a steep approach, and an air-taxi. I found that I need to work on choosing an appropriate entry point for autorotations and maintaining altitude during flight.

Logged Hours: 1.2
Ground Hours: 0

2007-03-01

Today Martin and I practiced confined space landings and takeoffs, maximum performance takeoffs, autorotations, 180-autorotations, throttle chops, running landings, hover autos, and hydraulics off operations. Flight with hydraulics off was like learning to fly the helicopter all over again – maintaining any sort of hover was the most difficult.

Logged Hours: 1.3
Ground Hours: 0

2007-02-28

Today I had a cover-everything lesson. I made a list of skills that I wanted to work on and we tackled them in the air. First we practiced a normal approach. Then we climbed up to 5000 ft. and tried a settling with power maneuver. We did that twice, but on the second time, Martin began yelling "Autorotation!" The next thing I knew we were descending at 2000 ft. per minute. Then he pointed out our right window at a commercial airliner making a right-hand turn. He told me that the airliner was likely landing at Dulles. I thought it was funny that a commercial airliner had to completely change its course because this 2400 lbs. helicopter was flying around at 5000 ft. over some field in Frederick. From there we practiced a few pinacle landings and then went back to Frederick. There we practiced many autorotations, 180-autorotations, steep approaches, shallow approaches, run-on landings, simulated stuck pedal exercises, slope landings, and hover autos. At the end of the lesson today, I reached the 5 hour minimum necessary for the SFAR 73 signoff in the R44 helicopter.

Logged Hours: 1.7
Ground Hours: 0

2007-02-27

Today Martin and I flew a quick cross country to Carroll County Regional Airport in the R44. We flew two patterns there and then flew back. He threw me two throttle chops en route, both of which I recovered well. Upon returning to Frederick, we practiced normal, steep, and shallow approaches. On the shallow approach we did a simulated stuck pedal exercise in which I had to flip off the governor and control my trim with the throttle and make a running landing. Then we practiced a few autorotations and hover-autos.

Logged Hours: 1.1
Ground Hours: 0

2007-02-21

Today I had my second flight lesson in the R44. We took off and flew away from the airport. We flew up the Potomac River to Harper’s Fairy, then to Charlestown, WV, and then back to Frederick. When we got back to Frederick we practiced a pinnacle landing, several autorotations, both straight-in and 180s, run-on takeoffs, and shallow approaches with run-on landings. The autorotations were hit an miss. It was my biggest problem in the R22, so I want to spend a lot of time practicing them for my commercial rating. Some of them were dead on target while others we had to abort in the middle.

Logged Hours: 1.3
Ground Hours: 0

2007-02-20

Today I had my first flight lesson in the R44 helicopter. That’s the four seated equivalent of the R22 (which is what I’ve been flying in the past). The R44 requires 5 hours for the SFAR 73 signoff (which allows me to fly without an instructor) but the job I’m trying to get requires 10 to 15. My intro flight consisted of flying several flight patterns to learn about the capabilities of the aircraft. We did normal and steep approaches, normal and maximum performance takeoffs, and several autorotations.

Logged Hours: 0.9
Ground Hours: 0

2006-12-29

Today I had the remainder of my final checkride with the examiner for my instrument rating. The oral exam was grueling, lasting about two hours. After I passed the oral exam, the examiner and I went flying. We took off and shot a GPS approach first. Everything was going well, a little too well actually. I was looking at my instruments and everything seemed to be perfect. I was dead on the airspeed, altitude, and heading. I thought I had to have been doing something wrong. Well when I began my decent, I was. I misread the altimeter and ended up busting altitude by 400 ft. before catching the error. I picked up on it and the examiner told me I had failed. I was given the option to take a discontinuance or continue the remainder of the exam and have to come back to retake the GPS approach. I opted for the later, mostly because this was a beautiful day for flying and I knew that they don’t come around often this time of year. Next the examiner gave me a partial panel (the examiner covers up an instrument and sets the aircraft in an unusual attitude). Normally when we perform a partial panel, the instructor covers up the HSI but leaves me with the attitude indicator (the most important of the instruments). However this wasn’t my day and the examiner covered up the artificial horizon. I used the instruments that I had and hoped for the best. I was able to level the ship and bring it to a proper attitude thus passing the objective. Then the examiner gave me the objective of flying a holding pattern and an ILS, only he did so without allowing me the aide of the GPS (the paintbrush to my artist, the pencil to my writer, the electricity to Thomas Edison…you get the point). I did the best I could while flying it all the time thinking, “I am so fucking this up. Why am I even wasting my time?” Already thinking that I had failed, I struggled to do the best I could in both the holding pattern and the ILS. I remember verbalizing some of the actions I was going to take like, “I’m going to fly to RIKIE intersection,” and the examiner telling me not to. That’s when I thought, “Why don’t I just ask for discontinuance at this point. I am basically an entire checkride away from passing anyway.” Then the instructor told me to flip up my foggles and land. After landing he gave me those fateful words, “I am going to pass you.” “What?” I thought, “He already told me I failed an objective, how is he able to pass me?” I didn’t ask questions, I just took the pass. In looking back at the exam, I think I must have impressed him with the few actions that I did properly enough to give him confidence that I should earn my instrument rating.

Logged Hours: 1.4
Ground Hours: 0

2006-12-28

Today I had another preparation for my final checkride. This time I flew with Ryan. We practiced an ILS approach, ILS hold, missed approach procedure, and a partial panel.

Logged Hours: 1.1
Ground Hours: 0

2006-12-27

Tonight I rented an airplane at Tipton to make a night flight with Mitch (my passenger). We departed Tipton, flew over Columbia and then headed north to York, PA. We did a full stop landing at York to count the flight as a cross-country and then flew back to Tipton. The flight was on a clear starry night and the air was very smooth - a very nice flight to take.

Logged Hours: 1.7
Ground Hours: 0

2006-12-26

Today I had my final checkride with the examiner. The checkride started with an oral exam. The examiner went into all kinds of details about the mechanics of instruments, most of which I was unfamiliar with. Unfortunately, because of this, I received a discontinuance, meaning that I receive credit for everything done thus far, but do not pass the exam yet.

Logged Hours: 0
Ground Hours: 3

2006-12-18

Today I had a quick review with Martin to cover some things that Mike Zangara told me I needed to work on. We practiced several autorotations under the hood (the last one was all the way down to the flare) – Martin flipped up the foggles at around 100 ft. AGL. We also practiced a couple unusual attitude recoveries and attempted a holding pattern, but it was very windy so it was extremely difficult.

Logged Hours: 0.9
Ground Hours: 0

2006-12-15

The day started with an airplane flight out to Frederick from Tipton. I flew out in a C-152, solo, using only dead reckoning (flying a heading), rather than using the GPS.

When I arrived at Frederick I had my stage check with Mike Zangara. It was grueling. Essentially it was a 6 hour oral exam and an hour an a half flight exam. He quizzed me on everything I was expected to know for my instrument rating and then tested me on all of the instrument rating procedures – even some that I hadn’t done before (climbing and descending turns, unusual attitudes, and throttle chops). The exam as a whole went very well. There were some parts of the oral exam that he told me I needed to work on but he told me that I’m ready for my final checkride.

After my stage check I flew down to Manassas to see Dee. This was the first solo night flight I have taken in the airplane. The flight down was stressful because I was vectored through Dulles’s Class B airspace, but had to monitor my GPS very closely to make sure not to break into the flight restricted zone surrounding D.C. despite the strong crosswind blowing me in that direction. The flight back was much better. There weren’t any other aircraft around (it was at 02:30 in the morning) so Potomac Approach just granted me Class B clearance without assigning me an altitude or heading and without my request. The flight was back to Tipton but with a stop-over at Martinsburg to qualify the flight as a “cross-country” flight. The air traffic controller must have had a good head on his shoulders because rather than closing my ADIZ flight plan once I cleared the ADIZ and required me to open a new one on my return trip, he just kept the original open and told me to keep the same squawk code and just let him know when I return to the ADIZ. On the outbound flight I incurred some moderate turbulence and filed a pilot report stating just that. The inbound flight was much smoother. As I re-entered the ADIZ I was looking out my windows in every direction trying to find Sugarloaf Mountain. “I know there’s a mountain around here somewhere,” I thought to myself. I never ended up finding it. I landed at Tipton safely around 04:00.

Logged Hours: 4.6
Ground Hours: 4.5

2006-12-12

Today I took my instrument rating written exam. The exam was 60 questions and I had 150 minutes. I walked into it confident that I would do well. While I was taking it, I had second thoughts, knowing that there were a bunch of questions that I was unsure about. But when I got my score, I passed with a 90%, meaning that I only missed 6 questions.

After my written exam I had a pre-stage-check checkride with Martin. It went very well. We shot a VOR-A approach, practiced a holding pattern with a teardrop entry, and shot an ILS-23 approach, all of which were at Frederick. He gave me some things I need to work on: (1) Make sure to descend prior to reaching the final approach fix on the VOR-A approach. (2) Make sure to identify both the VOR and localizer on the ILS approach. (3) Make sure to switch to the localizer frequency when inbound on the ILS. After the lesson we reviewed my deficiencies and he told me that I was ready for my stage-check on Friday.

Logged Hours: 0.9
Ground Hours: 0

2006-12-10

Today I had an instrument flight lesson with Martin. The weather was perfect – calm winds, unrestricted visibility, no clouds, and dark (it was a night fight). We took off and flew an ILS-23 approach, then practiced a holding pattern, then flew a VOR-A approach. The lesson went very well. Martin said he thinks that after one or two more lessons, I should be ready for my stage check.

Logged Hours: 1.4
Ground Hours: 0

2006-12-06

Today I had a helicopter flight lesson with Pierre (the instructor I flew back from AC with). I told him before the flight, “I don’t need any more hours, I just plan on going up, impressing you, you tell [Helicopter] Rachael that I’m ready for a checkride, yada yada yada.” Right as I was about to start up, Pierre came out and told me that the winds were getting worse (20 knots at the ground, 40 knots at altitude). I told him I’d like to give it a try. We took off and prepared for the GPS-5 approach. On the way out, I was pushing 90 knots airspeed with 45 knots groundspeed (indicating a 45 knot headwind). I set it up and shot the approach, unfortunately I busted altitude once on the approach inbound. Then we prepared for the ILS-23 approach. On the outbound leg, I was navigating by the GPS instead of the VOR, so Pierre had to correct me on it. When we went to shoot the ILS approach, the glide slope went out and we had to change it to a localizer approach. The rest of the approach went well. At the end of the lesson, Pierre recommended I have another lesson before going for my stage check.

Logged Hours: 1
Ground Hours: 0

2006-12-03

For the flight back, I was concerned that we would need to refuel in PA (where fuel is ungodly expensive) but after running the math, I found out that we were able to make it back to Tipton with the fuel we had and still have over an hour to spare. When we attempted to start the engine, it wouldn’t start, which concerned me, given my history of mechanical problems. After several attempts across 20 minutes, we finally got it started. (It must have been the cold temperatures.) We departed 1N9 and headed south. It was a direct flight all the way to Columbia. I activated my VFR flight plan, and obtained flight following throughout the flight. We flew at 4,500 where the wind was incredibly stable. We had a slight headwind the whole time, but no turbulence. We flew using dead reckoning (flying a heading) almost the entire flight, and used the GPS as a backup. When we got into the Baltimore area, we had to descend down to 1,400 to remain below BWI’s Class B airspace. At the lower altitude, we hit some moderate turbulence. After switching off Potomac Approach’s frequency, I closed my VFR flight plan and filed a pilot report for the non-existent turbulence on the first part of the flight and the moderate turbulence on the second part. We landed safely at Tipton with still over an hour of fuel to spare.

Logged Hours: 1.9
Ground Hours: 0

2006-12-02

Today my brother and I took a flight up to Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. We departed Tipton in a C-152, activated our VFR flight plan once airborne, and vectored around BWI’s Class B airspace. Once clear BWI’s airspace, it was a direct flight to 1N9 (Queen City/Allentown Municipal Airport). The ride up was very turbulent. We flew at 3,500 ft, which was slightly less turbulent than closer to the ground, but at the same time we were fighting a strong headwind. We used flight following throughout the entire route, first speaking to Potomac Approach, then to Philadelphia Approach, and finally we would have spoken to Allentown Approach but by then we were well within sight of 1N9. We landed safely at 1N9 and parked the aircraft there overnight. Throughout the flight I was concerned because given my history of long cross country flights, the weather is always unusually clear (usually right after several days of bad weather) and then something mechanical goes wrong. This time I was fortunate not to have any problems.

Logged Hours: 1.5
Ground Hours: 0

2006-11-14

My instructor woke me up off the couch around 10 AM. (See yesterday’s blog entry for more details.) He told me to file an IFR flight plan home, obtain a weather briefing, perform a preflight, and get ready to go, so I did. We took off at Raleigh-Durham and headed home. When we reached Patuxent Naval Air Station, we flew right into some serious IFR conditions. We were sandwiched between two cloud layers. We shot the GPS-28 approach to Fort Meade. The last 15 minutes of the flight was in the clouds. It was quite exciting because I had never flown through a cloud before. We landed safely at Tipton to complete our five-day, IFR flight to and returning from Florida.

Logged Hours: 2.5
Ground Hours: 0

2006-11-13

Today I planned on flying home from Ormond Beach, FL. I got to the airport, briefed my instructor, filed an IFR flight plan to Darlington County, SC (for fuel), did a pre-flight, and took off. The flight back was much easier than the flight down. I found out that if I set the trim just right and don’t move my feet on the pedals I can take my hands of the controls and actually fly more straight and on course than with my hands on the controls. At Darlington County we shot a GPS approach, landed and refueled. The sun was setting just as I finished refueling the aircraft. My instructor and I both obtained a weather briefing and determined that it was IFR conditions in Maryland. The major concern was icing – if the temperature at altitude was less than 0 degrees C, we ran a high risk of getting icing on the airframe, which would likely lead to us falling out of the sky. Luckily, the temperatures were well above freezing, so icing wasn’t a concern. When we reached the northern end of North Carolina we flew right in between a cloud layer. We were IFR equipped, so it wasn’t too much of a concern, but because it was already dark, we didn’t have an ILS, our transponder was giving us problems, AND it was IFR conditions, my instructor decided to abort and land in North Carolina. When we landed, we taxied to the FBO. My flight instructor talked to the linesman and asked about getting us a hotel. He called the front desk and they called the hotel. They determined that the local hotel was booked, but the FBO let us crash in the pilot’s lounge in the airport for the night and they even lent us a crew car to drive into town for dinner (for free). So that night we stayed on the nice leather couches of the plush pilot’s lounge of Raleigh-Durham International Airport. My instructor figured that we’d make up for it by paying an outrageous overnight parking fee. The next morning we found out that there was no overnight parking fee.

Logged Hours: 5.8
Ground Hours: 0

2006-11-10

Today I had part one of a two-part flight lesson. The plan was to fly to Flagler County, FL in an airplane. When I got to the airport, I filed an IFR flight plan to Darlington County, SC (we needed to stop for fuel). I was doing a pre-flight and noticed that the GPS/Radio was missing. I went in to tell my flight instructor (a new flight instructor). He made some phone calls and found out that the unit was O.O.S. but since another airplane was grounded up at Frederick, we could go up there and pick it up. I altered my IFR flight plan to leave Frederick an hour an a half later and filed an ADIZ flight plan to get to Frederick. So the two of us loaded up the airplane for the weekend and set sail for Frederick. Up at Frederick we took the GPS/Radio out of the other airplane and refueled. When we picked up our clearance for departure in Frederick, they wouldn’t give us a direct route to SC. Instead, they had us fly to Westminster (19 NM north east of Frederick), then to Martinsburg, WV (22 NM west of Frederick) before heading south to Darlington County, SC. During the flight down I got to know my new flight instructor. This guy is a fucking genius. For reasons beyond my control, I cannot elaborate further, but needless to say, I was very happy to have a new airplane flight instructor. We arrived in Darlington County, SC, refueled, filed another IFR flight plan, and headed down to Florida. The plan was to first drop off my instructor at Ormond Beach, FL and then fly to Flagler County, FL. Unfortunately I forgot to call the airport ahead of time and find out if there were airplane tie-downs for me there. So we just landed at Ormond Beach and kept the airplane there and I took a cab up to the resort where I was staying. About halfway between SC and FL the sun set and I got to log night flight time and a night landing. The leg of the flight between Frederick and SC as well as the leg between SC and FL were both done under the hood to build up my instrument time.

Logged Hours: 7.9
Ground Hours: 0

2006-11-09

Today I had my last ground lesson for my instrument rating with Martin. We reviewed the regulations which I had read for homework, discussed emergency situations, and aero-medical factors.

Logged Hours: 0
Ground Hours: 1.5

2006-11-02

Today I flew the cross country flight to end all cross country flights (until next weekend). Martin and I flew a helicopter flight from Frederick, MD, to Lancaster, PA, to Princeton, NJ, around New York City, back to Princeton, NJ, back to Lancaster, PA, and finally back to Frederick, MD. The first leg, from Frederick to Lancaster was on an IFR flight plan (staying out of IMC conditions). We refueled and ate brunch at Lancaster. Then I flew under the hood from Lancaster to Princeton to refuel. From Princeton around NYC and back to Princeton, I flew VFR. (I actually opted to fly IFR for part of the leg back to keep the sun out of my eyes.) We refueled again at Princeton and flew under the hood back to Lancaster for more fuel. Finally I flew under the hood, at night, from Lancaster back to Frederick. In all, I knocked out 5.8 hours of flight, 0.9 of which were night flight, and 4.3 hours of simulated instrument time. I shot a VOR approach at Lancaster, a GPS approach at Princeton, and an ILS approach at Frederick. I completed my requirements for 50 hours of cross country PIC time, 15 hours of dual-received instrument in the helicopter, 3 hour final checkride preparation, and my IFR cross country requirement. I also pushed my total flight time above 200 hours.

Logged Hours: 5.8
Ground Hours: 0

2006-11-01

Today I took my commercial pilot written exam. It was a 100 question exam and I had 180 minutes to complete it. I scored a 91. After the exam I had a ground lesson on filing IFR flight plans.

Logged Hours: 0
Ground Hours: 1.5

2006-10-30

As a requirement for my commercial pilot’s license, I needed to fly a cross country greater than 50 NM, in a helicopter, at night, with an instructor. Tonight, Martin and I flew to Harrisburg, PA. The flight was simulated instrument. I did an ILS approach at Harrisburg and an ILS approach at Frederick on the flight back.

Logged Hours: 1.9
Ground Hours: 0

2006-10-27

Today was a great day for flying…before the rain started. There was not much wind, high ceilings, and no sun. Bert and I took off from Tipton and flew to Frederick. At Frederick we shot two ILS approaches. They were different from shooting them in the helicopter because I didn’t have an IFR GPS, so I had to use two VORs. The first ILS approach was a missed approach. The second was a touch-and-go. Immediately after taking off we entered the ADIZ and returned to Tipton. It began to rain when we were about 5 NM out from Tipton.

Logged Hours: 1.6
Ground Hours: 0

2006-10-26

Today I had an instrument lesson in the airplane. Finally we had some nice winds, so the lesson was a bit easier. We flew to Easton and shot 3 localizer approaches.

Logged Hours: 1.8
Ground Hours: 0

2006-10-25

Today I had two lessons. The first was an instrument lesson with Bert in the airplane. We flew to Easton and shot 3 localizer approaches. Again the wind was horrible, so the ride was very uncomfortable.

Next I drove up to Frederick and had an instrument lesson with Martin in the helicopter. We stayed local at Frederick and shot the VOR approach, practiced a VOR holding pattern, and shot an ILS approach.

Logged Hours: 3
Ground Hours: 0

2006-10-23

Today I flew an instrument lesson with Bert in an airplane. The winds were hellacious so it wasn’t very fun. We flew to Salisbury, MD to shoot the ILS, but when we got there, we found out that the ILS was out of service, so we just did a touch-and-go and flew back.

Logged Hours: 1.6
Ground Hours: 0.2

2006-10-21

AIRCRAFT DON’T LIKE ME. At first, I thought it was just helicopters, but today I learned that airplanes also don’t like me. The day started when I flew down to Manassas in a Cessna C-152 to pickup Dee. I flew around the FRZ and received a Class B clearance to cut through Dulles’s airspace. Upon landing, I picked her up, filed a new ADIZ flight plan, and filed a VFR flight plan. From there, we took off and flew to Williamsburg/Jamestown, VA (JGG). The flight down went very well. I had a tailwind at 3,000 ft., no turbulence, and unrestricted visibility. I used flight following during the entire trip down. Upon landing at JGG, we parked, shutdown, and refueled – then we went to Busch Gardens.

Around 23:15 we got a ride back to the airport. On the way there, I went ahead and filed my ADIZ and VFR flight plans to FME. The whole time I was worried, “Oh no, I forgot to get the gate code, what if we can’t get into the airport?” But when we arrived, I realized there was no fence, so it wasn’t an issue. Then I was worried, “Oh no, what if they forgot to refuel the aircraft?” but luckily they topped off both tanks. Then I was worried, “Oh no, they forgot to leave me a receipt!” Fortunately, as soon as I put my headset on, I realized they stuffed the receipt in the earpiece. That’s when I started up the airplane. As soon as I started it up, I noticed the radio LCD backlight go dim and then go out. I also noticed the Low-Voltage light was on and the ammeter was reading a discharge. I shut down the airplane. I also had to wipe off the fog from the windscreen. After wiping off the windscreen I went to start up the airplane again. CLICK CLICK CLICK – no start. I shutdown everything electrical and tried again – CLICK CLICK CLICK – no start. What happened, you ask? The alternator died and as a result, the battery was drained. I called my flight instructor. (Bear in mind, this was 23:58 on a Saturday night.) He didn’t answer – I left a message. Then I called the Chief Pilot Instructor at the flying club. He didn’t answer – I left a message. Then I called the Maintenance Officer. He told me to wait until the morning, get someone to charge the battery, and fly back with a dead alternator. “Um, okay,” I thought. “So should Dee and I just camp out here, in the 35 degree fuselage, smaller than the side of a single bed?” I knew that wasn’t an option, nor did I have access to a car to drive to a hotel to spend the night, nor was I willing to fly home (especially into the ADIZ and extremely close to the FRZ) without an alternator. It’s like taking a sedative that has a 1 hour time period before the symptoms kick in, right before a 1 hour flight. Theoretically, yes, it would work, but is it safe? No, not hardly. Dee called Erin, who was halfway back to Vienna, VA by now, and asked her to come back. She did. She brought us back to Dee’s house in Hay Market, VA. We left the plane at the airport. The next morning I woke up and Dee drove me to the Metro. I spent 2.5 hours on the Metro getting back to Greenbelt where my mother picked me up and brought me to the airport. Now I have to find a way to get the airplane back from JGG to Tipton. (Incase you’re keeping track, this is the 11th aircraft that I’ve broken.)

Logged Hours: 2.3
Ground Hours: 0

2006-10-19

Today I had my first instrument lesson with Bert in the airplane. We took off and flew to the DEALE intersection. There I practiced slow flight, stalls, unusual attitude, timed turns, simulated radar vectoring, and standard rate turns all while wearing foggles. When we were finished, Bert gave me headings to follow to navigate back to Tipton.

Logged Hours: 1.6
Ground Hours: 0

2006-10-16

Today I took three flights, all of which were in a helicopter. The first was a dual-lesson with Martin. On start-up, the engine was making an unusual noise. I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination or it was really making unusual noises but then I noticed Bart and Neil were looking over at me and a few seconds later Bart started walking towards the helicopter. He took a peek on the left side of the engine and then told me to shut it down. It turned out that I blew an intake gasket. He told me it would be about a two minute fix and I'd be ready to go. (This is the 10th time I've broken a helicopter.) As soon as the helicopter was fixed Martin and I got in and I flew to York, PA under the hood. At York we shot a GPS approach to the runway. We set down and picked up again to fly back. Back at Frederick we shot an ILS approach to Frederick and did a missed approach procedure. On the second shot, we identified the initial approach fix using radials and shot the ILS approach again. The second approach was a full stop landing. After landing we did an air-taxi. In the completion of the air-taxi, Martin threw in a Low-RPM recovery procedure by rolling off the throttle. I froze and he had to recover for me. I told him I wanted to try it again. On second try, I was able to recover, but it wasn’t as realistic having expected it.

The second flight was a solo cross country flight to Tipton airport. I flew out there without any problems. I was able to maintain altitude, airspeed, and heading very well. Winds were calm so I made a straight-in landing and set down.

I came back to Tipton several hours later to make a night solo cross country flight. Since the weather was still holding out, I decided to first fly to Martin State Airport, then to fly over Goucher College (Towson, MD), then over Pikesville, and finally fly back to Frederick. After I took off at Tipton, I requested Class B clearance so I could transition through BWI’s airspace. The air traffic controller gave me clearance and then gave me some procedure to follow. I responded with, “I’m sorry ma’am, I’m not familiar with that procedure”. She was really nice about it – she told me that she would like up the runway at BWI and told me to fly east of it – so I did. I went straight to Martin State Airport, did a touch-and-go, and then continued my flight. Throughout the entire flight I was able to maintain airspeed, altitude, and heading perfectly. There was no wind and no turbulence and the visibility was > 10 SM. Flying over the city lights of Baltimore at night was absolutely amazing. There was very little air traffic to get in my way and the air traffic controllers basically let me “do my thing”. I flew back to Frederick and flew a few flight patterns to kill the rest of my required night solo time.

Logged Hours: 3.8
Ground Hours: 0

2006-10-15

Today I had two flight lessons – the first a helicopter instrument lesson. Martin and I flew from Frederick to Lurray Caverns. At Lurray Caverns we shot a GPS-22 approach to a landing. On the way there I was doing pretty well maintaining altitude, airspeed, and heading. On the way back, my skills were kind of lacking. At Frederick we shot a GPS-5 approach to a circle-to-land. On the circle to land, I did one hell of a steep turn to stay short of the runway and the gliders. Later in the day I had a check ride in the Cessna C-152 at Tipton. Bob and I flew out to Georgetown, DE. On the way back, we flew a night flight (as part of a night checkride). We practiced stalls, steep turns, and did two full stop landings at Easton. Then we flew back to Tipton.

Logged Hours: 4.6
Ground Hours: 0

2006-10-13

Today I flew a solo cross country in the airplane to Harrisburg. I filed a VFR flight plan both ways, filed an ADIZ flight plan both ways, and used flight following when outside the ADIZ. I made a full stop landing at Harrisburg and then flew back. En route, I received radar vectoring while in the TRSA.

Logged Hours: 1.7
Ground Hours: 0

2006-10-12

Today I had a long day of flying. First I drove up to Frederick for a solo cross country flight. When I got there I got a weather briefing and found out that the forecast for the area wasn’t looking good, so I decided to fly to the closest airport possible to be considered a cross country, which was Gettysburg. I filed a VFR flight plan – really for practice more than anything, did my preflight, and took off. The helicopter didn’t have any doors on it and I didn’t realize just how cold it was, so I took off without the doors. I did a spiraling climb to 3,000 ft. over the airport so that I could reach Leesburg Flight Service Station to activate my flight plan, then I departed the area. When I was about 5 miles out, I realized I was freezing to death (even with the heater on), so I flew back to the airport and cancelled my flight plan on the way. I landed, put the doors back on, and took off again. This time, since I didn’t file a flight plan, there was no need to climb to 3,000 ft.

Ever since I was eight years old, I’ve always wanted to fly over Capital Camps to see what it looked like from the sky. Because it was very close to Gettysburg, and because P-40 (Camp David Prohibited Airspace) was at its minimal size, I decided to make the flight over Capital Camps before going to Gettysburg. According to my flight plan, I was to hit a waypoint to the east of P-40 and then fly over Capital Camps. Since the wind was coming from the west and I was trying to avoid flying into P-40, I let myself get blown off course to the east a little ways before finally turning west to Capital Camps. As I approached the mountain ranges, I realized 1,400 ft. was just not enough altitude to clear the mountains, and since the wind was kicking my ass over flat terrain (gusting at 24 knots), I knew it would be bad over the mountain range, so I climbed to 3,000 ft. Once I reached camp, I did a few orbits over it and then turned east for Gettysburg. I landed at Gettysburg and did a full stop landing. When I took off again, since P-40 wasn’t a factor, I tried to ignore my GPS as much as possible and just fly the heading. It was a straight shot and for the entire flight back. I was able to maintain heading, airspeed, and altitude perfectly.

In the afternoon I had my airplane single engine land private rating checkride. I drove to Tipton to pickup the airplane and then flew to Easton. At Easton I met with the examiner. The oral exam went very well. I could tell the examiner liked me and he seemed to be extra nice because he liked helicopter pilots. There were a few areas I realized that Bert did not cover, for example: performance limitations with regards to takeoff and landing distance required, but the examiner more or less “taught” them to me rather than failed me for not knowing them. After the oral exam, I took the flight exam. It was very simple – preflight, simulated soft field takeoffs and landings, simulated short field takeoffs and landings, normal takeoffs and landings, unusual attitude correction while using foggles (flying by instruments only), simulated engine failures, steep turns, and stalls. There was a lot of material (both oral and practical) that the examiner was allowed to omit because this was an add-on rating. After the exam, I realized how much of an advantage I had because I had done helicopter before airplane, rather than the other way around. After landing back at Easton, the examiner passed me and I flew home.

Logged Hours: 4.1
Ground Hours: 0

2006-10-10

I had an instrument helicopter lesson today. Martin and I flew to Harrisburg to practice flying in the Terminal Radar Services Area (TRSA), which is essentially like flying into a Class D with an approach frequency. The flight out there was really good – I was dead on with altitude, airspeed, and heading maintenance. At Harrisburg we flew the GPS-31 approach to a touch-and-go. On the return flight I was struggling to maintain altitude, airspeed, and heading. Upon returning to Frederick and flew the ILS-23 approach to a touch-and-go to an air-taxi.

Logged Hours: 1.7
Ground Hours: 0

2006-10-09

Today I flew to Easton to take my final checkride for my Airplane Single Engine Land Private Rating. Unfortunately since my wallet was lost/stolen yesterday, I couldn’t take the exam without my photo ID and pilot’s license, so I had to postpone and fly back home.

Logged Hours: 1.4
Ground Hours: 0

2006-10-04

Today Martin and I flew to Winchester, VA to shoot an instrument approach and burn some PIC cross country time. The entire flight was under the foggles. At Winchester we shot the GPS-A approach and did a missed approach procedure. Then we flew back to Frederick and shot a GPS approach on Runway 5. Because the active runway was Runway 23, we did a circle to land.

Logged Hours: 1.5
Ground Hours: 0

2006-09-30

I was supposed to make an instrument flight from Frederick to Winchester to Martinsburg and back to Frederick today. Ryan and I planned out the flight with an instrument approach at each airport. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t looking very good, so I spent the time flying a solo night flight in the pattern to knock out some solo night flight time.

Logged Hours: 1.5
Ground Hours: 0.5

2006-09-27

Today I flew an instrument cross country flight. I flew to Martinsburg and shot a GPS approach with a missed approach sequence and then flew back to Frederick and shot a VOR-A approach with a missed approach sequence. After that I practiced a holding pattern, which was very difficult in the high winds.

Logged Hours: 1.4
Ground Hours: 0

2006-09-26

Today I had an instrument ground lesson. We covered the GPS system and IFR flight plans.

Logged Hours: 0
Ground Hours: 1.3

2006-09-25

In the morning I went up to Frederick for an instrument school lesson. The ground lesson consisted of holding patterns while flying instrument and shooting autorotations while flying instrument. After the ground lesson Martin and I went out to the helicopter to do an instrument flight. We took off and flew out of the airport environment to practice a VOR approach. We were going to do a holding pattern but the wind was gusting to 17, so it would have been very difficult to stay on course. On the VOR approach we shot a missed approach and then returned to the initial approach point. Then we flew an ILS approach and shot a missed approach. Then we made a normal landing.

In the evening I had my Stage 3 checkride in the airplane. Bob and I flew from Tipton out to Easton and practiced power on and power off stalls, unusual attitude recovery, emergency forced landings, S-Turns, turns around a point, takeoffs and landings, and simulated soft field takeoffs and landings. We landed at Easton and shut down for a while until it got dark. After sunset we took off again and flew back to Tipton to knock out the rest of my night flight time. We got back to Tipton and flew several flights in the pattern in the dark.

Logged Hours: 3.2
Ground Hours: 0.8

2006-09-23

For my commercial pilot’s license in the helicopter, I needed to complete 1 solo cross country flight greater than 50 nautical miles with at least three stops. I also need to complete 5 hours of solo night flight and 10 solo night flight takeoffs and landings. Today I flew a solo cross country in a helicopter from Frederick to Carroll County Regional Airport then to Clearview Airport (near Eldersburg and Gamber). When I got to Clearview I didn’t know the surface elevation and came in too steep so I had to do a go-around. I left Clearview and contacted Potomac Approach for clearance into the ADIZ. They gave me clearance to fly to Manassas but told me to stay clear of the Class B airspace, meaning I had to fly around Dulles’s airspace. As I got closer to Manassas, they came back and gave me clearance to fly through Dulles’s airspace. It was difficult though because I had a narrow corridor of space to keep DC’s Flight Restricted Zone on my left and Dulles airport on my right. Meanwhile, I had a strong crosswind, which was pushing me around. Potomac Approach gave me a heading to follow, but it was difficult to follow the heading while I was crabbing into the wind because the compass showed me which direction my nose was facing, not my ground track. Once I cleared Dulles’s airspace I flew direct to Manassas.

The flight back was at night. I obtained a weather briefing, and they predicted rain in Frederick later in the night, so I had to leave Manassas earlier than I had originally expected. I took off and contacted Potomac Approach. Because there wasn’t any air traffic at Dulles, they let me fly right over the airport to make a direct path to Frederick. (It wasn’t directly over the airport, but it was close enough that I was flying over the parking lot.) For the rest of the flight I was faced with a difficult decision – fly fast and try to beat the storm to Frederick or fly slow so I could more easily avoid obstacles and have better situational awareness. I opted to fly slowly thinking that rain wouldn’t necessarily kill me, but an unlit tower would. As I flew into Frederick I saw what I thought was a cloud base at my altitude, so I descended to about 1000 ft., but I had to be extra careful that I didn’t get too close to the ground or unlit towers, which are impossible to see at night (helicopters don’t have headlights). When I got under what I thought was the cloud base, I realized that it was only haze and that I could have flown right through it. I arrived back at Frederick and made one night landing to the runway before shutting down.

Logged Hours: 2.5
Ground Hours: 0

2006-09-22

Bert and I flew out to Ridgley Airport today to practice some maneuvers. On the way out we practiced turns around a point and S-turns. Upon arriving at Ridgley, I practiced a soft-field landing, but could only do one because there was an ultralight using the grass strip. Then I practiced a few simulated soft field landings on the hard surface runway and a few simulated engine failures before flying back to Tipton.

Logged Hours: 2.1
Ground Hours: 0

2006-09-21

I had a helicopter instrument lesson first thing in the morning. I practiced standard rate turns (turning 360 degrees in 2 minutes, or a fraction thereof) with the hood on so I couldn’t see out the window. Then I shot two instrument landings system (ILS) approaches with the hood on.

Next I moved on to a ground lesson which covered navigation systems. We covered ILS, VOR, and DME systems.

After the helicopter lessons I hauled ass from Frederick down to Ft. Meade and had an airplane lesson. Bert and I flew out to the DEALE intersection and practiced turns around a point and S-turns in preparation for my final checkride.

Logged Hours: 2.1
Ground Hours: 1.4

2006-09-19

Today I had another instrument rating ground lesson. We finished talking about the pitot/static instruments and I asked Martin some questions I had about the reading assignment he gave me last night. We continued by talking about the gyroscopic instruments, how to detect a failure, and what to do in the event of a failure.

After dark I worked on my night flight time in the airplane. I completed my required takeoffs and landings but still need 0.9 hours of night fly time.

Logged Hours: 0.7
Ground Hours: 0.8

2006-09-18

Today I started instrument ground school at Frederick. Martin is my instructor. We spent the lesson discussing the different flight instruments, their possible errors, and how to deal with a malfunction mid-flight.

Logged Hours: 0
Ground Hours: 2.7

2006-09-17

I flew another solo cross country in the airplane today. I wanted to fly to Ridgley (on the Eastern Shore) to practice grass strip takeoffs and landings, but I had to fly to another, farther away airport first to make the trip a cross country – the trip as to be at least 50 NM straight line. So I flew to Salisbury and did a touch-and-go, then flew to Ridgley. Unfortunately when I got to Ridgley there was an ultralight who was towing gliders occupying the grass strip, so I had to shoot my landing to the hard surface runway. I took off again and flew back to Fort Meade.

Logged Hours: 2
Ground Hours: 0

2006-09-14

I was going to fly a night cross country tonight in the helicopter. The plan was to depart Frederick, fly to Essex, then to Bay Bridge, and then back to Frederick. Unfortunately when I got to Frederick the visibility was marginal across Maryland. I looked into flying to Manassas, which was completely clear of bad weather, but I was concerned that if I flew there, I wouldn’t be able to make it back. Instead I decided to just practice night takeoffs and landings in the pattern. That went well until the visibility dropped in Frederick, so I landed and shut down for the night.

Logged Hours: 0.7
Ground Hours: 0

2006-09-13

Today I flew solo in the pattern to prepare for my final checkride in the airplane. I did a preflight "by the checklist". Then I did a runup "by the checklist" and 5 normal takeoffs and landings "by the checklist". After the normal takeoffs and landings, I did 8 simulated shortfield takeoffs and landings. I pretended the runway was only as long as from the beginning to the first turnoff and used that as a spot for takeoffs and landings. On two of the landings, I failed to stop before the first turnoff, and on one of them, I made the turnoff but only after locking up the brakes. In all, the flight went very well.

Logged Hours: 2
Ground Hours: 0

2006-09-12

Today Doug, my friend from the firehouse, and I flew a cross country in the helicopter. He was a passenger onboard the flight. Doug only wanted to fly for an hour so we flew the cross country to York, PA and back. When we arrived at Frederick, I calculated a weight and balance for the helicopter and filed two VFR flight plans on DUATS. Then I performed the preflight. We took off immediately thereafter. Once I reached 2,000 ft. I activated my VFR flight plan and flew my course to York. While en route I tried to remain within 5 knots and 50 ft. of my target airspeed and altitude at all times (90 knots and 2,000 ft. MSL). At this point, remaining on course was easy but I exceeded my airspeed and altitude several times. Upon arriving at York I landed the helicopter and set it down. We arrived about 8 minutes ahead of schedule with the tailwind. Immediately I took off again. During the return flight I called the flight service station on the radio to close my previous flight plan and activate my return flight plan. I tried again to remain within 5 knots and 50 ft. of my target airspeed and altitude at all times. I exceeded my airspeed and altitude a couple of times on the way back. Upon arriving at Frederick, I landed and set down the helicopter. I targeted the tires as my landing spot but missed it by about 10 ft. I did an air taxi back to the school and began the shutdown procedures. I was unable to reach the flight service station on the radio (both at altitude and on the ground) so I called them on the phone during the shutdown procedures to close my flight plan. During the flight back, we arrived 18 minutes behind schedule due to the headwind.

Logged Hours: 1.3
Ground Hours: 0

2006-09-11

Today I had a night flight to meet my night flight requirements for my fixed wing rating. The requirements are 3 hours of night flight, 10 takeoffs and landings at night, and one night cross country. Bert and I took off about 30 minutes after sunset and flew to Salisbury. The flight was amazing. It was clear skies the whole way there and you could easily see the bright lights of Baltimore City from way down at Tipton. When we exited the ADIZ, we contacted Patuxent Approach and requested flight following. (They give us traffic avoidance while on a VFR flight.) They were unable to give us flight following because they did not pickup our transponder. This began to worry Bert as we would be unable to fly back to Tipton without a functioning transponder. I flew the plane while he tried to get the transponder back online. When we got to Salisbury, we did a touch-and-go and flew back to Tipton. Bert kept calling Patuxent Approach hoping that they would pickup our transponder. Eventually they told us that they were getting it intermittently. When we arrived back over Easton we called Potomac Approach and gained clearance to enter the ADIZ. They were able to read our transponder without any problems, which made Bert believe that the transponder issue was on Patuxent Approach’s end and not ours. We arrived back at Tipton and landed safely without any problems.

Logged Hours: 1.4
Ground Hours: 0

2006-09-10

Today I took another solo cross country flight. I needed to knock out at least 2.7 hours of solo cross country time for my fixed wing rating, and it also worked towards my instrument rating. I took off from Tipton and flew directly to Martinsburg. I needed to make three flight patterns at a Class D airport, and since I flew to Salisbury yesterday I figured I’d go the other direction and fly to Martinsburg. When I got there, I was the only person in the pattern, which was good, because my landings were very ugly. They were doing construction at the approach side of the runway and there was a guy standing right at the numbers, which was very distracting. My first landing was a tripod landing, which is when all three wheels hit at the same time. This is bad technique because it is bad on the nose wheel. Not only was my first landing a tripod landing, it was also a bouncy landing. I think I bounced twice before finally staying down. When I reached the end of the runway I noticed the taxiway back to the beginning of the runway was closed, so I called the tower and asked where I was supposed to go. The aircraft controller told me that I should just turn around and use the opposite runway, so I did. The next two landings were also tripod landings but at least I didn’t bounce. When I left Martinsburg I flew to Frederick. My landing at Frederick was also a tripod and bouncy landing. I shut down at Frederick to stretch my legs. After about half an hour of walking around I got back in and flew back to Tipton. On the way back I decided that I would stay in the pattern for a while and practice some landings because my last four were absolute crap. I did seven more patterns and six of them were pretty good. The extra flying at Tipton knocked out the remainder of my solo and my solo cross country requirement for the fixed wing rating.

Logged Hours: 2.8
Ground Hours: 0

2006-09-09

Today I was to fly my cross country to Ocean City and Salisbury. I have been putting it off for three weeks now because of weather, weather, weather, and stubborn overbearing flight instructors. Overbearing is really an understatement. Bert called me three times between 08:45 and 11:52 to give me weather updates, even though I was at work and asked him not to call. And even though he knew I wasn’t flying until 13:00. I got a METAR (routine weather) report from the Internet before leaving the fire station. Everything was looking good. No, everything was looking PERFECT for my cross country flight. I called Bert and told him “Bert, winds are calm, visibility is at 10 SM, and ceilings are at 4,000 the whole way to Ocean City and Salisbury. I’m comfortable with the flight. Are you?” He was hesitant but told me yes. He also told me to call him as soon as I got back from the flight. I rushed to the airport and checked out the airplane before he could change his mind. As a learning experience, I filed my ADIZ flight plan over the Internet rather than over the telephone. Right as I was walking out to the airplane he called me again. “Oh no, I thought, now he’s going to change his mind.” I was wrong. He called me to remind me to check the fuel tanks to make sure there was fuel. “Good idea,” I thought. I did a thorough preflight and took off. Things were going great; I flew to Ocean City first without any problems. Well one problem, there was a large hornet flying around in my cockpit. I tried opening the window to get him out but that didn’t work. Eventually I decided to just ignore it. There was a lot of haze out so I had to keep a sharp eye out for other aircraft. The hornet, however, kept flying around my face so several times I mistook it for another aircraft when I saw it with my peripheral vision. When I got to Ocean City, winds were favoring Runway 14, which meant I could make a straight in landing. This was good because landing at other airports sometimes makes me apprehensive. I’m afraid I’m going to get the wrong runway or the wrong flight pattern or turn too early or turn too late. I landed, shut down, went to the bathroom, and got the damn hornet out of the cockpit. I took off again and flew to Salisbury. Again, there was a lot of haze, but I flew without any problems. Salisbury has a VOR/DME transmitter, so I got a chance to play with the onboard VOR and DME. (VOR and DME are instruments used for navigation.) I of course was using my GPS, but I figured when I take my final checkride, the examiner will probably quiz me on the onboard instruments, so I should know how to use them. I did a full stop landing at Salisbury, ran down the taxiway, and took off again. Salisbury is a Class D airport so there is a control tower. The aircraft controller was very nice and didn’t mind that I was “just passing through”. I took off from Salisbury and flew back to Tipton. When I got back to Tipton I wanted to fly a few times in the pattern but I kept feeling my phone vibrating throughout the flight and knew it was Bert calling to check up on me. After refueling and returning the plane to the flying club I checked my phone. Bert called me 10 times and left me 2 voicemails (that’s not an exaggeration, it was really 10 times) while I was in flight. Did he think that I was going to answer the phone while I was flying? Did he think I was going to hear the first voicemail, which was asking me to call, and then forget to call him back, thus the need for a second voicemail? Did he think I crashed the plane and with my last breath of air as I fall into a coma, I was going to answer the phone and tell him that I messed something up?

In all, the flight went very well. Actually things couldn’t have gone better. When I got home and got on AIM to chat with Dee, she asked me, “So did you break the airplane?”

After today the only requirement I have left for my checkride is a night cross country. Also, the 2.3 hours I flew today count towards my instrument rating.

Logged Hours: 2.3
Ground Hours: 0

2006-09-08

It’s been a long time since I’ve flown. Almost two weeks. I was really going through withdraw. See, the weather has been crap for the last two weeks, between hurricanes, low visibility (from fog), low ceilings, and high winds; I haven’t been able to fly. Everyday for the last two weeks I’ve come into the airport, sat around hoping the fog would lift, the clouds would clear, and the rain would stop. Unfortunately it didn’t. Now here’s where I have a problem. The flight plan was done, on file, and I had a squawk code. The preflight was done, the engine was running, and I was pulling out onto the taxiway. I was ready to go to Ocean City and Salisbury for my solo cross country. I tuned to AWOS to check the weather. Winds were out of 140 at 3 knots (indicating that I should take off of Runway 10), but the other two aircraft were using Runway 28. Bert was in the flight pattern with another student. I called him on the radio:

Me: Bert do you copy?
Bert: Yeah, what’s up kid?
Me: Winds are 140 at 3, should we be using Runway 10?
Bert: Probably.

Now I took that to be an order. Since I was already halfway down the taxiway toward Runway 28, I had to turn around and head back to Runway 10. Then I did my run up (pre-takeoff checks) next to Runway 10. Bert was in the air the entire time and saw me doing this but didn’t say anything. Then I made a call on the radio: Tipton traffic 7893 November departing Runway 10 departure to the south east. Tipton traffic. I made sure to do this when the other aircraft were just entering downwind so I had plenty of room to takeoff before they turned base or final. Immediately I heard Bert over the radio: 7893 November, hold short, we are using Runway 28 So I held short, turn around, and went back down the taxiway to get on Runway 28. On my way down, Bert called me on the radio and told me to meet him at the fuel pump, so I did. He landed and met me over there. When he did, he told me what I did was wrong and that Probably isn’t an order. Then, despite the fact that this was the only nice day we’ve had to two weeks, and it couldn’t have been a more perfect day to fly, he told me he didn’t feel “comfortable” with me making the cross country flight today, even though he was perfectly “comfortable” with it 15 minutes prior, and he told me to just fly in the pattern. I didn’t argue, I just flew the pattern solo a few times and called it a day.

Logged Hours: 0.6
Ground Hours: 0

2006-08-28

Today I was going to fly my solo cross country flight but because weather was below VFR minimums on the eastern shore, we had to make other plans. Instead Bert and I flew in the flight pattern for a little while. We did normal takeoffs and landings, simulated short field takeoffs and landings, and emergency forced landings.

Logged Hours: 0.9
Ground Hours: 0

2006-08-27

Today’s flight lesson I flew completely solo. In fact, Bert wasn’t even at the airport. I flew only three flight patterns before the wind started changing direction and picking up speed. After my third landing AWOS was reporting an 8 knot crosswind. That’s when I decided it would be best to discontinue flying. By the time I taxied over to the fuel tank it was reporting a 10 knot crosswind.

Logged Hours: 0.7
Ground Hours: 0

2006-08-25

Last week a guy from the firehouse, Doug Williams, asked if I would take him for a helicopter ride. We decided we were going to go to Bay Bridge Airport (W29). Doug called me earlier this week and told me that he only wanted to fly for an hour, so I decided to go to York (THV) instead. When we arrived at Frederick today I performed a thorough preflight and filed a VFR flight plan. After calculating a weight and balance Doug and I went out to the helicopter and prepared to take off. Everything was going fine until I throttled up. As soon as the RPM reached 104% (normal flight RPM) the engine tachometer began to jump into the red zone (above 104%). Immediately I decided to shut down the helicopter and go get Bart. He checked it out and confirmed that it was a right magneto failure. He offered us another helicopter to use instead. I asked Doug how pressed he was for time. He said that he had to head out from Frederick in an hour and a half. I was worried that if we attempted to make the flight, I would be too rushed and my preflight would be sloppy, so we decided it would be safer to cancel and reschedule for next week. For those of you who are keeping track, this is the 9th time I’ve broken a helicopter.

Logged Hours: 0.1
Ground Hours: 0

2006-08-24

Today I flew my Stage 2 check ride in the Cessna. I was instructed to plan out a cross country from FME to ANP to ESN to GED to the ATR VOR to the SIE VOR to ACY (Atlantic City International Airport). When we took off and began flying my examiner began giving me instructions. I acknowledged him by saying “Okay” and then he yelled at me for acknowledging him. After that he took away my GPS and told me that I can only use it after I have a private pilot license. (I already have a private pilot license.) Later on in the exam he gave me other instructions and I did not acknowledge him. Then he yelled at me for ignoring him. We flew the cross country trip to ESN before he aborted it and gave me maneuvers to demonstrate. He had me demonstrate steep turns to the left and right and unusual attitude correction under instrument simulation. After that he had me navigate back to ESN and perform three approaches. The first was a normal approach to a touch-and-go, the second was a normal approach with full flaps, which my examiner then aborted to a go-around, and the third was a normal approach with full flaps to a touch-and-go. He then had me fly back to FME. On the way back he gave me another instruction and I acknowledged him by saying “Okay”. Once again he yelled at me for acknowledging him. Upon arriving back at FME, we performed one landing to a full stop. At the end of the check ride my examiner passed me.

Logged Hours: 1.4
Ground Hours: 0

2006-08-22

I finished off my required instrument time for the private pilot rating in fixed wing today. We flew out to ESN for some maneuvers and then flew back. After we arrived back at FME the wind kept changing direction. We did a touch and go and as soon as we were on downwind the wind changed the opposite direction. It was so inconsistent that Bert decided that I shouldn’t solo today.

Logged Hours: 1.6
Ground Hours: 0

2006-08-21

Today I worked on more instrument time. We flew out to ESN again for some maneuvers all while wearing the fog goggles. After the maneuvers we flew back and Bert had me run through several flight patterns solo in a crosswind.

Logged Hours: 1.6
Ground Hours: 0

2006-08-18

Today I flew down to Manassas in an R22 to pickup Dee. The flight down was very smooth. The only thing I forgot this time was my sunglasses. When I entered the ADIZ, I was granted Class B clearance to transition through Dulles's airspace, which cut my flight time in half. I made it there in 0.5 hours by the Hobbs. When I approached Manassas, Manassas Tower asked me where I was going. I told them I wasn't familiar with the airport but that I was picking up someone. They came back and told me that they weren't aware of anyone being picked up so I told them that I would handle it by phone once I got on the ground. When I landed, I called Dee. She was still about 15 minutes out. I went inside to go to the bathroom. When I came back out and sat down on the chairs in the entranceway. A well dressed pilot sat on the leather couch across from me. "Excuse me sir, are you a pilot?" I asked.

"Yes I am," he responded.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I've never departed a towered airport inside the ADIZ. Do I pickup a squawk code from them or do I have to call Potomac Approach?" I'm not sure what he was thinking when I asked him this. Here I was, a guy who looks like he's barely 20, sitting in the pilot lounge in torn jorts and a fire dept. t-shirt asking a well dressed professional charter pilot advice on flying. Nonetheless, he was very friendly and helpful.

When Dee showed up we quickly took off. I explained to her that I wasn't sure my route yet because I didn't know if I could get Class B clearance for the ride back. When I took off I requested Class B clearance from Potomac Approach. Unfortunately I was denied so I had to go around Dulles's airspace on the flight back, which resulted in 0.9 hours by the Hobbs.

Logged Hours: 1.4
Ground Hours: 0

2006-08-17

Today I flew strictly in the pattern. Bert had me do one dual takeoff and landing with him and then had me fly the rest solo. The entire time I was working with a significant crosswind.

Logged Hours: 1.4
Ground Hours: 0

2006-08-15

For part of my private rating for an airplane I am required to complete 3 hours of instrument time in the aircraft. Today Bert had me put on the fog glasses which didn’t allow me to see outside of the cockpit. He had my fly using only my instruments and GPS all the way to ESN. We did several maneuvers at ESN and flew back to FME. When we returned to FME, Bert got out and I flew several flight patterns solo with a cross wind.

Logged Hours: 1.8
Ground Hours: 0

2006-08-14

Today I had a lesson strictly on takeoffs and landings. Bert and I flew a few in the pattern at Tipton with a hard right crosswind. All of my landings were smooth so Bert wanted me to practice short field landings. He called Potomac Approach and amended our flight plan to fly to Suburban Airport. Bert said, “If you can land a Suburban, you can land anywhere.” Now if you’ve ever thought a flight from New York to BWI was a quick flight, or possibly BWI to Regan National was a quick flight, try Tipton to Suburban. I didn’t know where it was nor did I have an easily reachable map, but that didn’t matter because as soon as I took off and reached pattern altitude (1,100 ft. at Tipton) I looked out my right window and could see Suburban. The flight was literally 4 minutes en route. Anyways, I flew to Suburban and shot about 10 short field landings. It was difficult, but definitely manageable. Bert didn’t have to grab the controls on any of the landings. After flying at Suburban for about 45 minutes we took off and flew back to Tipton and called it a lesson.

Logged Hours: 1.5
Ground Hours: 0

2006-08-12

I started my lesson today flying a few flight patterns with Bert. They all went well so he cut me loose to take a solo flight. He got out and stood on the side of the runway. I took the first solo pattern without any problems. Bert had me do a full stop landing. After the first flight he asked me if I wanted to do any more. I told him I did. My second flight was a touch-and-go and my third was a full stop landing. After three flight patterns Bert got back in and we did a few more flight patterns both normal landings and emergency forced landings.

Logged Hours: 1.5
Ground Hours: 0

2006-08-11

I was supposed to start soloing today but the crosswind was too high for my first day. Instead Bert and I started working on crosswind takeoffs and landings. The first few were really ugly, but after landing number three, Bert explained that I was supposed to land my upwind wheel, then downwind wheel, and finally the nose wheel. Once he explained it I was hitting the landings more smoothly than I had when I wasn’t dealing with a cross wind. From time to time he threw in emergency forced landings, I nailed all of them without error.

Logged Hours: 1.6
Ground Hours: 0

2006-08-08

I thought I was going to start soloing today but Bert wanted to do a dual cross country so I could take a solo cross country on my next flight. He had me file a flight plan out of the ADIZ to Easton (ESN). He told me that we were going to take a cross country to Ocean City (OXB) then to Salisbury (SBY) and then back to Tipton (FME). We took off and flew per our flight plan. Bert let me handle all of the controls and radios during the flight. After exiting the ADIZ, Bert showed me how the VOR worked. He tuned one VOR to Baltimore (BWI) and one to SBY and showed me how to use it to pinpoint our exact location. He also showed me another feature on the VOR that gave the distance, ground speed, and ETA. Bert then asked me if I have ever used “flight following”. I told him he had described it to me but I had never used it. Flight following is the process of staying in contact with an approach controller the entire time in flight. They are available to give traffic avoidance and flight vectors if lost. Bert told me to tune to Patuxent Approach’s frequency and contact them to ask for flight following, and so I did. Bert told me to fly a direct path to OXB. I told him that it would put us in restricted airspace R-4006, which I had to avoid when I flew my cross country in the helicopter last Thursday. Bert told me to check the sectional map and pointed out that the restricted airspace started at 3,500 ft. As long as we stayed below it, we were in the clear. (I wish I had known that last Thursday so I wouldn’t have had to go around it.) When we arrived at OXB Bert told me to use the runway that the other traffic was using (Runway 14). I told him that Runway 02 would be more in our favor considering the wind. He agreed and told me to use Runway 02. We did a full stop landing and then a touch-and-go. From there we flew to SBY. SBY is a towered airport in Class D airspace. He asked me if I have ever flown into a towered airport. I told him I had and he let me handle all of the radio communications. We did one touch-and-go at SBY and then flew back towards the ADIZ.

When we reached ESN and entered the ADIZ I heard a familiar voice on the radio. It was Martin – he was flying out of Frederick in a helicopter. I said to Bert, “I know that guy.” to which Bert responded, “What’s his name?” I said, “Martin.” He told me to say, “Hi Martin” on the radio. Now because this was a heavily monitored and recorded frequency, I didn’t think it was appropriate to make small talk on the radio. Bert disagreed, so he keyed up the radio and said, “Hi Martin.” I don’t know if Martin heard him or not, but I found it slightly amusing.

We arrived back at FME we flew two flight patterns in a heavy cross wind. Bert and I both agreed that I shouldn’t fly solo for the first time in such a strong crosswind so we concluded the lesson after our second landing.

Logged Hours: 2.2
Ground Hours: 0

2006-08-07

I had my stage 1 stage check today in the airplane. During the check ride Bob Carpenter and I flew out to the DEALE intersection to do some maneuvers. He had me do a power off stall, power on stall, and steep turns, some of which were in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) because over the bay the haze was so bad that I couldn’t see the horizon. During the flight to and from the DEALE intersection my GPS kept losing a signal, but luckily I found the intersection and found my way back to Tipton without any problem. When we got back to Tipton we flew three flight patterns, two of which were engine-off landings. The last of the landings was “exceptionally smooth” per my instructor. At the end of the lesson, Bob told me that I was ready to start soloing but that I needed to work on some maneuvers.

Logged Hours: 1.2
Ground Hours: 0

2006-08-04

Bert and I had one more flight before my stage 1 stage check. We worked on minimum controllable airspeeds, steep turns, and unusual flight attitude out at the DEALE intersection. Then we flew back to Tipton and worked on takeoffs and landings (both engine on and engine off).

Logged Hours: 1.6
Ground Hours: 0

2006-08-03

Today I had two flight lessons – a fixed wing lesson in the morning and a helicopter lesson in the afternoon. My fixed wing lesson was basically another review for my pre-solo stage-check. Bert and I flew to the DEALE intersection to practice power-on and power-off stalls, minimum controllable airspeed, and unusual flight attitude recovery. It was very hazy out over the intersection, to the point where I could not see the horizon while looking out over the Chesapeake Bay. When Bert put me into an unusual flight attitude, he had me lower my head while he configured the airplane and then raise my head to recover. I basically just used the attitude indicator, air speed indicator, and directional indicator to make the recovery – completely going by my instruments, but what was weird for me was that for the first time ever, I was experiencing spatial disorientation. Up until now I’ve always told myself that it will never happen to me, that I could always tell which way was up, but when I was looking at the attitude indicator, and it was showing that I was at a level flight attitude, I felt like I was tilted to the side about 45 degrees.

After practicing maneuvers for a while we flew back to Tipton. Bert had me practice a few emergency forced landings and a few normal landings. Surprisingly, the emergency forced landings were actually more smooth than the normal landings.

I left Tipton after my fixed wing lesson and drove up to Frederick. There I plugged the weather into my flight plan and had Ryan review it. As soon as I was finished, I did a thorough preflight (thinking he was going to throw some sort of trick at me) and we took off. For most of the flight Ryan didn’t say anything. He was letting me make flight decisions on my own, which will help me toward my commercial pilot’s license. The flight plan was to Ocean City. On the way, I wanted to fly over Columbia and go sight-seeing, but in the process, Potomac Approach (

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