Gellispie County Airport

Becca had to do her long cross-country IFR training flight this weekend. I went along in the back seat. It was a beautiful flight under a cloudless sky; too bad Becca had to be under the hood for the whole flight. The flight out was to Fredericksberg. We ate lunch in the diner at the airport, which was very good. On the way back, we stopped at New Brunfels for gas. Both airports have lots of potential as short getaways.

NOTES:

I'm really glad that I don't get motion sick. The flight out was not bad, but because of the stop we never climbed above the bumps on the way back. It also made it hard to take photos as we passed over Canyon Lake. Which, incidentally, is someplace we now need to take a weekend trip to see.

Even I will get a little scared if a pilot I'm flying with curses on short final, accompanied by a unfortnately timed loss of headwind. (She just saw a dip at the other end of the runway she wasn't expecting.)

Night Flight

I love flying at night. I remember that from when I was doing my night flight training, and my flight last night just cemented the impression.

I got to the airport at around 8:10, a little later than planned due to a stop at Walmart to buy a headlamp for my flight bag. I meant to bring Gavin’s with me, but I left it at home by mistake. That’s a purchase I’d been meaning to make for a while anyway. My plan was to get in the air when I could, fly around until it got dark enough, and then do my 3 takeoff and landings to a full stop that I need to be night proficient.

I got off just at sunset, and I was immediately reminded of why I liked flying at night so much. The air is so smooth; it feels like the sensation you get when you’re watching an IMAX movie with a flying clip in it. And it is so pretty. The lights winking on the ground, the sunset playing on the clouds, it’s fabulous. And, it’s so much cooler than it is at noon!

I flew around for a while, looking at stuff and feeling the plane again since it has been a couple weeks. After a while I turned back to the airport. I can never see the flashing beacon at Pearland. I don’t get it, because I can see Ellington’s right away. Never fear, I know that area like the back of my hand and I could see the black area of no lights where the airport is all the way in. The landings were just fine, and I had the pattern all to myself that late on a Sunday night.

Flying at night is going to be a very good option for me for a while. I can go out after Carina is in bed and not stress about missing time with her to go flying. We can get a babysitter and go together. Plus, it was nice to come home not needing an immediate shower; it has been a couple months since that happened.

Check Ride Recap

Regarding my check ride... It was actually pretty vanilla compared to some of the other stories I’ve heard. I flew with an awesome lady who is one of the top acrobatic pilots in the country. She gave me a very low-key oral exam, just making sure I had things mostly stored off in my head or easily accessible to look up. Like most professional pilots, I think she was a bit amused at the lengths I will go to to plan a cross-country around class-B airspace. We went flying and I zipped through all the maneuvers. I wallowed a bit in the recovery from the power-on stall, but although it wasn’t the most graceful recovery I think it did show her I understood why the airplane was behaving the way it was. I got a bit low on airspeed during my simulated engine failure, which she forgave. I was also a bit fooled by the completely limp windsock and didn’t do my good crosswind technique on the last landing or two. My shortfield landing stopped short of a taxiway she didn’t expect me to be able to make, though. :)

On Saturday, I took Gavin and Pat out in the 150 as my first passengers. I think they both had fun. We told my daredevil niece that she could go next year. That kid isn’t even 4 yet, but she wanted to ride the roller coaster at Kemah.

I sent my sister’s family off on the 2-day car trip back to Wyoming this morning. I hope the kids make it in good spirits. They’re doing a LOT of driving this summer.

I Passed!

I don't really have time right now to do it justice, but as of yesterday I am an official Private Pilot! Several folks came over last night to celebrate, which was really fun. I think I might take Gavin and Pat out for rides tomorrow.

We took Caroline, Jackson, and Carina to Moody Gardens today. Everyone liked the acquarium a lot. Carina had a great time watching the fish. The rainforest wasn't as good for her, maybe because she was getting really hungry.

I haven't been capturing the best moments of this visit in photos yet. Caroline is being very sweet with Carina, but I seem to miss those moments and then by the time I get the camera out, one or the other isn't as happy anymore.

My Brain Is in the Computer

I was doing some long-range schedule/vacation planning today, and I suddenly realized that the reason it was so hard I have no holidays on my work calendar for the rest of the year. What gives? Turns out, I needed a service pack update to get the next couple years of holidays in. Hmmmm. Maybe that's why I was having so much trouble remembering which weekend Memorial Day was this year. :o I have started having to write things in my calendar like "Gavin in CA" or "flight bag to work". Otherwise, I find myself getting angry at Gavin for being at work so late when he's on a plane over Arizona or trying to fly the plane in a skirt.

I keep thinking that next month, it will be calmer. I won't have as much to do next month. Every month, though, by the 3rd or 4th my calendar is looking quite full. This mission was supposed to give me lots of time without many interruptions to catch up on some stuff. Today was only the 4th day I have had in my office, though, and a few of those have been short days due to doctor's appointments, outside commitments, or going to do my last pre-check ride lesson.

That's right, I'm GO to schedule my check ride. My instructor said if I fly like I did this morning I should pass no problem. Why am I suddenly nervous? Like I have to take a test or something. :) Anyway, we'll see how fast I can get an examiner scheduled. I'd like not to have to use Alpha Wolf if I don't have to. (Jose, shame on you for not having a post I could link to for that!)

TOL Practice

The clouds were just high enough yesterday to allow me to fly in the pattern. The automated weather service at the airport was reporting the sky as "clear", which was obviously not the case. I called the next nearest weather station at Hobby and that one was reporting scattered clouds at 2800 ft, so I decided to go. The bottoms of the clouds at Pearland were way lower than 2800. I realized this as I nervously approached pattern altitude at 1000 ft. I stayed clear, though.

I flew 7 landings, practicing some normal ones, and some shortfield/softfield. It's amazing how short you can stop a Cessna 150 when you want to. I had one scary moment when I forgot to close a window I opend while taxiing back to the end of the runway to do a softfield. I should have just ignored the window until I got stable off the ground. I ended up flying in ground effect off near the edge of the runway with the stall horn still going off, which was not the best thing. Live and learn, literally.

Long Cross Country

After months (literally) of weather wave-offs and mission support, I finally got to fly my long cross country on April 15. Although I stuck my camera in my pocket, I never even thought of getting it out, so I'll have to do this with Google Earth.

The day dawned clear - not a cloud in the sky. My route was from LVJ (Pearland Regional) to T78 (Liberty Municipal) to 00R (Livingston Municipal) back to LVJ. Your long cross-country for a private pilot license has to be at least 150 nmi round-trip with stops at two airports. Mine would be slightly longer at 190 nmi, but I wanted to visit new airports and I'd already flown to all the closest ones.

The first thing that happens is that my instructor realizes just how long it had been since I went on my last flight - I have to do a couple touch-and-gos with him in the plane to be legal to solo. Since I've gotten off late every cross-country so far, I'd padded my departure time quite a bit; with the touch-and-gos, it's right on.

When flying to destinations north of Houston, a lowly GA pilot like myself has to detour quite a way around to avoid the Hobby and Bush Intercontinental airspace. So I fly east along the south shore of Clear Lake until hitting Galveston Bay and then turn northeast across the bay toward Lake Anahuac.

After kissing the northern tip of Lake Anahuac, I turn almost directly north to head for T78. Navigation becomes more challenging as soon as I head inland; I really like the "follow the shore" technique. Flying over eastern Texas, it's easy to convince myself in quick succession that every road and pond is / is not the one I'm looking for. It's hard to get lost with the Loran, though. Madame Loran tells me right where I need to go, and sure enough I spot the airport about 4.5 miles out.

This landing is a quick touch-and-go and I climb out and turn slightly westward. I'd been wondering how high to climb for this leg. Would the little 150 climb to 4500 quickly enough to make sense for this leg? In the end, I try it, and manage to get up there for about half an hour. This is where I realize just how smokey the air is today. I've climbed up just to the level of the haze; there must be a mild temperature inversion or something. I can see the hazy air below, the clear blue above, and just at my altitude is the seemingly darker brown line that separates the two. 6500 definitely isn't an option, so I just fly through the top of the junk.

Before long I'm back in the land of easy landmarks again, as I pick up the blue mass of Lake Livingston ahead. Directly east of the island in the south part of the lake is the airstrip, just as the map indicates. This time I stop the plane and get out to look around a bit. A bit, because there's not much there - couple hangers, no taxiway, one nice looking private turboprop with it's stairs down and no owners or pilots to be seen. And a huge prison - how did I miss that when I was coming in? Focused on landing, I guess.

Always too nervous on cross countries to make myself enjoy the ground much, soon I'm back on my way. I'm heading pretty much straight south on the way back, cutting the corner a bit to shorten the return as much as possible without risking the wrath that would occur should I stray into IAH airspace. Just to be safe, I dial the VOR in to IAH and keep an eye on the range; that needs to stay above 20 nmi. Meanwhile to amuse myself, I play with the radio, dialing up different frequencies and listening to the traffic. I hear a T38 land at Mustang Island. That would be an event for anyone else who was there randomly. I hear tons of calls I don't quite catch on the IAH frequency.

Finally, I turn back west at Clear Lake and head in to Pearland. Another check on the list of things to complete for my license. I'm getting close!

Update

I need to write more. My sidebar is longer than the post column. :P

Let's see... The doctor says I tore the Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) in my left knee. It's a "significant" tear, almost all the way through. It's not real bad news, though, because the MCL usually heals very well. He doesn't think I'll need surgery, especially considering all the improvement I've already seen. I'm not wearing the brace for normal activities anymore, but no softball for a couple months yet.

This is my first full week in the office since the end of the last mission. There was personal travel, then family in town, then official travel, then personal travel, then being sick. My inbox is feeling the strain.

I have made a resolution to fly twice a week until I'm ready to take my check ride. I've been going too long between sessions since Christmas. Which reminds me, I never got a chance to post about my long cross-country. I'll work on that post tonight.

Weekend - At Last

Here's hoping that the weather report is wrong and there will NOT be a 1500 ft ceiling tomorrow. My luck being what it is, though... The weather looks like crap for the next week. Maybe Becca can get something out of it.

Tomorrow is my first weekend day at home since March 8. That's 20 days. I got plenty of time off during the mission; I for one am a fan of the work guidelines that say we shouldn't work for 16 days straight. Still, when you aren't home on the weekend, you don't get to see your husband much. I did get to spend lots of quality time with Carina, though.

I'm putting the finishing touches on the trip plans for next weekend. I made daycare reservations today for the skiing days,

Not Much

I only had to work for about 2 1/2 hours today, which actually made me very happy. I was afraid something would go wrong, and I'd be there much longer.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to relax a bit. I decided not to sign up for my cross-country this weekend. I just feel like I've been away from home too much this week. And I know I'll be away a ton during the mission. Next weekend might work, but that's what I thought last week, too.

The Stumbling Edge

We went ice skating today for Cari's birthday. It was really fun, but I'm not nearly as good at it as I remember being. Not that I was ever good at it, but I used to be able to not look too awkward.

After skating, we went to eat an early dinner. By this point Carina had been up for four straight hours. We were hoping she'd nap in the restaraunt, but no dice. Dinner took quite a while, and by then end it was 7:00 PM and she hadn't slept since 1:00! For all that, she was still her happy self while we were there.

The problem, of course, comes after we get home. She's overtired and fussing instead of going to sleep like she needs to. I think she just now finally settled down - no crying for the last 10 minutes or so.

I'm going to try getting in my first solo cross-country tomorrow; the weather didn't cooperate today.

Getting Closer

I took and passed my FAA written Private Pilot exam today. That means I have to do a couple solo cross countries, then practice up and take my check ride. Wow, that seems a lot closer than I expected! The next month or two is going to be pretty busy at work, though, so we'll see how fast I can get it done.

Eagle Lake

The weather finally cooperated, and I did my first cross-country today.

Flying an airplane "cross-country" means you've gone more than 50 mi away from your airport of origin. You start out by getting an aeronautical chart and marking a straight line from your starting point to your destination (longer routes require some course changes, but a straight line works for these short cross countries). Then you look along that line for landmarks that you'll be able to spot from the air. You use the wind speed and the cruising speed of the airplane to calculate how long it will take you go travel between those landmarks, and how much fuel you'll use doing it. You then call the Flight Service Station and file your intended flight plan and get a weather briefing.

Today was perfect weather for cross-country flight. It was clear and smooth. We took off and I looked out to the west and saw my first checkpoint - Highway 288. I also saw the power station next to the lake that was my second checkpoint. After about 15 minutes, we flew past the antenna farm on near Beltway 8 and Highway 59, and I thought to myself that it would have taken me a half hour to 45 minutes to drive that far. I passed over Rosenburg, and my instructor pointed out the Y junction that I was supposed to fly directly between. About 20 minutes after that, I had Eagle Lake in sight.

I had the pattern all to myself. I haven't been flying in a month, and the runway is much narrower than the one I'm used to. Nevertheless, I managed a pretty good landing. I throttled back up and ascended back to pattern altitude.

I made a right turn and started looking for my next checkpoint, but I was distracted by the fact that I could actually see downtown Houston. 60 mi away. It felt a bit like cheating (not really, since I could clearly see the grain elevator I'd marked as my checkpoint), but I basically just eyeballed where Pearland would be from downtown and flew right toward it. I hit all my checkpoints spot on and landed just after sunset - another good one.

It was awesome. I can do this!

Christmastime is Here

I've been listening to the music from the Peanuts Christmas special pretty much non-stop for a week now. That has to be some of the best Christmas music ever created. I guess I need the help to get in the Christmas spirit, since the weather has been decidedly un-December-like. It finally cooled back out of the 80s again, but it's still in the 60s, and I'm still too much of a northerner to consider that Christmas weather. I'm glad that we have family to visit up there so we're sure to make sure Carina knows what snow is.

It is supposed to clear off again tomorrow. That bodes well for me finally getting to do my first cross-country. I've been waiting for a month for the weather to cooperate. I'll be flying to Eagle Lake. It's just over 50 nmi from the airport I fly out of, which is the minimum for it to be considered cross-country. Every time I've gone to a lesson before, I've been looking to acquire a skill of some sort. I really like flying anytime, but there's a certain stress in knowing that you're going out to learn something new. Maybe something that makes you nervous anyway (like stalls). This flight is going to be fundamentally different. I'll be learning new skills, true, but for much of the flight, It will be my primary job to fly straight and level and look out the window. That's pretty cool.

Auntie M and Auntie L

I can't belive that Thanksgiving is over already. This fall has gone by so quickly. Carina had fun having her Thanksgiving dinner (squash and peas) at the table with us while we had dessert.



Lauren and Melissa have been having fun getting reacquainted with Carina. She's so much bigger than the last time they saw her.

My flying plans for tomorrow are pretty likely to be scuttled by weather. It's hard to be terribly upset about not having to drive 1 hr each way to get there, though. Here's hoping for next weekend.

Conciousness

Everybody pray/hope/whatever for good weather at KSC on Wednesday. I'm ready to be done with this one. I totally got cheated out of my good hours. I was only supposed to have to do 4:00 AM once this mission, but I have to do it again tonight, and the night after that. And the night after that if we don't land on time. And crazy people are even talking about another day of extension if the weather doesn't cooperate.

I want to sleep at night again.

Carina is starting to really amaze me with her emerging abilities. She's started reaching for and grasping things now. And then trying to eat them. She can sit by herself for a short time, but she gets tired/bored of that pretty easily and topples over. And cries if you aren't there to catch her. She's decided carrots are OK. Mommy needs to make her something else to eat soon. You know, once I'm not keeping the vampire hours anymore.

I got in some flying today. I had to call my instructor for advice on whether the rough running I felt was OK or not. He told me to run the engine at high RPM for a bit to see if it was just a fouled spark plug. It was. It was rather hazy today, and a bit tough to see the horizon. I did pretty good, though. I practiced steep turns and did much better on them. I also landed in a higher crosswind than I've seen recently very well. I was proud of myself.

OK, I'm sure this just sounds like rambling. I tend to go stream of conciousness at 2:00 AM.

Drag it into the air!

I got to go flying today. (Yea!) I had a pretty good lesson. We went over shortfield/softfield landings and takeoffs again. I am doing much better will all of them.

- I was able to get the stall horn to go off for a good length of time on my softfield takeoffs, which is actually a good thing. I was reluctant before to drag the plane into the air as early as you're supposed to.

- Softfield landings are easy-peasy since the only thing that's really different is the airspeed and keeping the nose off the ground as long as possible.

- Shortfield takeoffs are fun since you run the throttle up with the brakes on and then let go. The acceleration isn't as impressive as in an airliner, but it's still fun.

- I still freak out when I get close to the runway with the shortfield landing that I'm not going to make it onto the pavement. I'm not sure I'm ready to try it yet without my instructor there saying "It's OK. You're still good. No power, just flare. You won't hit the lights." I do kind of like the part where you stomp on the brakes idle the power and retract the flaps all at once, though.

It sounds like after a few more lessons going over some of the odds and ends we haven't finished (night flight, some more instrument work, some flights into a towered airport), I'm ready to start cross country. (Becca will be happy - she hasn't gotten any free stuff from AOPA for a while.) I think if I can start going more regularly, I'm probably on track to get the lisence this spring sometime. It's kind of tough fitting this in with the kiddo, but definitely possible. When I get my lisence, we'll have to take a photo of me and Carina in the plane to match the one from right before she was born.

One door closes

For what seems like the kabillionth time, I had to cancel my flying lesson today because I've got a head cold. I swear, I've been getting almost as many as Carina. Am I not supposed to have a functioning immune system by this time in my life?

Except for the cold, today was a good day. Gavin, Carina, and I spent most of the day holed up in the game room. We played with the baby. I watched some football, and Gavin played some computer. The dogs alternately slept and stuck their noses in our faces looking for pets. Sometimes, just staying home is the best thing.

Searching for the groove

Not too long ago, Jose wrote a post about getting his groove back. After my session today, I realized that I've been searching for the same thing.

Ever since I took a couple months off flying when Carina was born, I haven't been feeling very good about where I was with my landings. I was hitting hard or ballooning way up. I was struggling to fly the pattern smoothly. I was having enough trouble that I asked my flight instructor to come out with me last weekend to give me some help.

He gave me a few pointers, so I went out today by myself to see if I could put them to work on my own. Right about when I got on the runway for my first takeoff, the pattern suddenly became very busy. There were planes everywhere. They were all different kinds with different speeds, so people were doing weird things for spacing like flying very long downwind legs. I had to leave the pattern and come back twice.

Despite the stress of a busy pattern, I was very happy with every one of my landings. I even greased one or two. It was exactly the great session I needed to boost my confidence in my ability to get this license.

As I drove away from the airport, I realized that it has been months since I felt that great floating, soaring feeling that follows a good lesson. I haven't had a grin plastered on my face all the way home from the airport since before Carina was born. It was good to have enjoyed flying again after being frustrated by my performance for so long.

So, I got my groove back, too. Bring on the next step!

Disappointment

The Huskies just lost to USC by only three points. This is the second year in a row that we've really battled against them only to lose by a slim margin. The silver lining is that I sort of expected USC to cream us.

Tomorrow we go to our last Astros game of 2007. Talk about disappointment. It's Craig Biggio's last game, so it's sure to be a classic, regardless of anything else. I wish the Astros could have put together a better season for his last year, though.

It was starting to storm right about the time I had scheduled to go out to the airport today. So, no flying for me. I'm scheduled tomorrow afternoon after the game, too, so maybe then.

There sure has been a lot of disappointment today.

Pattern work

I got to go flying Sunday night. I went up with my instructor, because I really hadn't been happy with my landings the last two times out and I wanted to get some advice.

So, we took off the first time and went around, carefully minding the position of the biplane that was flying the wrong pattern, using the grass, and just generally doing wierd stuff.

First landing: I came in a bit low, and I hit a bit hard, but not much. Flaps up, carb heat in, throttle up, and off we go again.

Second landing: Glide slope is better. My instructor advises flaring a bit earlier, which I do. I balloon a little, but then I get a nice stall horn with a soft touchdown. That's the first time I've heard the stall horn in weeks. Flaps up, carb heat in, throttle up, and off we go again.

Third landing: I'm a bit steep. I get down there, arrest my sink rate, balloon a bit. The stall horn goes off, but I'm still a couple feet above the runway. My instructor is in the middle of telling me to give it a bit of power to cushion the landing when we fall the last couple feet with a small bump. Oops. Flaps up, carb heat in, throttle up, and off we go again.

Fourth landing: Good pattern, better flare, stall horn goes off again, but I'm a little crooked when I land.

After 10 landings, we taxi back to the barn. After clearing the runway, my instructor turns to me and says, "I thought that would be a lot worse, from what you were saying." All I can say is that if things had been going that way all the time, I would have been OK with it. I guess I just need to practice by myself more to get used to the handling with the lighter weight.

Why I'm so silent

Yeah, I haven't been posting much lately. I'm pretty busy, work and home, and the only thing I have to talk about is baby stuff. How many posts can you possibly read about how Carina is now *almost* sitting up.

People do like photos, though, so here are some of our 3-month-old.


Oh yeah, I also broke the plane last week. Nothing dangerous - I backed the elevator into the side of the hangar when I pushed it in. :( I'm trying not to think about it.

Traffic

I went to the airport today hoping that the clouds I was seeing from home would be less scary over there. However, there was a big one sitting pretty close by, and my instructor wasn't around to ask for advice. I didn't go. Turns out, it was raining about half a mile up the road, so I guess I made a good decision.

Since I didn't go flying, I decided to stop at the mall and get a haircut. It took a long time. The guy that cut my hair seemed more interested in telling stories than in finishing the haircut. So, significantly later than I intended, I started home.

I-45 was closed. Bay Area was a parking lot. I was stuck 10 minutes right in front of the mall. So, I turned back into the next entrance and went to El Dorado. It was slow, but moving. But then El Camino was closed. So I had to go back to Highway 3. Which was slow with all the traffic from the freeway. All-in-all, it took me almost 1 1/2 hours to get home.

When will this be over?

Back in the Cockpit

I went flying this morning! I flatter myself that I did tolerably well for someone who hasn't been out in 2 1/2 months. The clouds were a bit low, if spotty, so it took us a while to find somewhere to practice. I did a couple turns, some slow flight, a couple stalls, and then we went back and I did a few landings. The first one was a bit rough, but after that I figured it out again.

The weekends are too short. I can't believe tomorrow is Monday already. Working half-time for a while would be really cool. However, I'm perfectly convinced that it's impossible to do my job part-time. I was trying to work a 30 hour week last week, and I ended up with a couple extra hours because I just couldn't get out on time. And I left a bunch of stuff undone.

Smile!

We finally got a picture of Carina's smile. She's been doing it for a couple weeks, but it has been tough capturing it.



I'm going flying tomorrow, if the weather is OK (knock on wood). It will be good to get out again. Some progress has been made on the written test front. I'll get there, eventually.

Grounded

I had a flying lesson scheduled for tomorrow, but once again fate has been working against me. My instructor called a few hours ago to tell me that the vacuum pump on the plane is broken and that we won't be able to go tomorrow. So... One more week, I guess. I'm pretty bummed.

Meanwhile, I've started to study for the written test, but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. The list of questions published by the FAA is 694 questions long. Plus, I'm starting to realize that I haven't retained some of the stuff that I read several months ago. When am I going to find the time/motivation to study all that with a 9-week-old? I'll fall asleep every time I try to read it!

Back in the Saddle?

Flashback to two months ago (it seems both longer and not that long). Here I am in all my 37 weeks pregnant glory, sitting in the cockpit of the plane that I'm about to fly. I am very proud of this picture.


People keep asking me when I'm going to start flying again. The answer is any day now. I intended to see if my instructor had some time this weekend, but then I got a sore throat and decided that was a signal to slow down a bit. So, I've been sitting on my butt all weekend. The house has not been cleaned. The laundry, well that got done - that's not so much an option as a necessity these days. But, I decided my first lesson back has to wait one more week. This was especially hard after reading about Jose's first cross country. (Go, Jose!) I'll get back in the cockpit soon, though!

Flying by Feel

Baby Watch Update: As of this morning, the doctor says I’m 60% effaced and 2 cm dialated. He says that things are “right on track” for my due date. So, we may be waiting a couple weeks yet. This turns out to be a good thing as he’s going out of town next week. I know from watching my dad that you can’t count on getting your own doctor for a delivery, but it would be nice.

I went flying yesterday for what I decided would be my last time before Baby. I’m just getting more and more unwieldly every day. My instructor took a picture of me in the plane, so when he e-mails it to me I’ll post my “Jen in the cockpit 37+ weeks pregnant” picture.

The lesson was good - I did instrument work for most of an hour. Luckily I, like Jose, seem to have no trouble with getting sick under the hood. It was rather bumpy, too, so if that didn’t do it… My instructor even did this thing where he made me close my eyes and fly the plane for a minute by feel. I then opened my eyes to see how off I was. I could tell while I was doing it that I had a tendency to let the nose drop, because I could hear the airspeed pick up. Then when I opened my eyes, the horizon was rolled about 20 deg right wing down. He told me he has people do that to disillusion them that they can fly by feel. I assured him that I wasn’t surprised at all that I couldn’t fly by feel! I have trouble doing that test where you close your eyes and stand on one leg.

Back in Flight

After two weeks of airplane repairs, I got to fly again last night amidst the towering cumulus clouds. That’s not as exciting as it sounds; it basically means that we stayed in the pattern so that we could get down quickly if something bad blew over us. But, in the end, it turned out to be beautiful flying weather, although being in the pattern for the first time in over a month meant that I didn’t look around and admire things as much as would be nice.

I had a pretty good day of landings, though. That was encouraging since it has been a while since a pattern day went that well. Since I had my instructor with me just in case I started having a baby or something, we took advantage of the quiet pattern to do a simulated engine-out landing. I did OK, although that little plane glides a lot further than I always think it will.

I’m starting to think that my flight training won’t take as big a hit from the baby break as I thought it would. I never would have thought I’d still be flying at 37 weeks, but the only hard part is getting in and out of the plane. And, I have an awesome flight instructor that doesn’t mind climbing into a plane with a pregnant woman. So, maybe just a month or so off for the birth and immediate freakiness of learning to be a parent. Not too bad!

Stupid lightning

The airplane got fixed today just a few hours before I was scheduled to fly. Score! I thought. When the time came, I called the weather and it says "thunderstorm in vicinity". Well, I don't want any part of that. So, no flying tonight. :(

We went to lunch at Mediterranean Chef today with Gavin's parents. Yum! I don't know what it is, but I've been craving gyros and hummus the last couple months. Guess there's worse things I could be craving.

Flying Free

Yesterday I took the plane away from the airport by myself for the first time. It was really warm out, which makes the ride a bit bumpy. And there was a broken ceiling at 2600 ft, according to the weather recording, but when I got up to 1500 ft the clouds were looking kind of close. So, I took it kind of easy. I left the airport toward Alvin, and when I got across Highway 6, I just flew around in lazy circles for a bit. I did a couple S-turns across a drainage ditch, circled a couple trees, and did 2 legs of "slow flight". (I really nailed the slow flight, by the way!) Every time I turned the plane around I’d look out and feel better. "Yes, the airport is still there!".

After about 30 minutes of flying around, I headed back to the airport. All those nerves tire you out quickly! I did two landings. The first one was pretty good, although it was kind of bumpy coming in over the trees and I’m sure it looked kind of funny with the wings waggeling as I tried to keep centered. The second landing I got a bit off and ended up landing a bit on one wheel and then had a bit of trouble keeping the rollout straight as I slowed the plane.

I chalked it all up to not having flown in a couple weeks and the bumpy air. However, my instructor called me halfway home and told me he found a crack in one of the nosegear struts! Did I have any trouble with the rollout when I landed? Hmm. I couldn’t honestly tell him if I was having trouble because of my landing or because of the structural issue. I don’t think I landed hard enough to break anything, but... Guess I'd better look a little closer at things down there during my pre-flight from now on!

Anyway, the plane is grounded for a couple weeks, which really sucks because every week is closer to me not being able to fly for a while. If it takes him the full two weeks to fix the crack, I probably won’t get any more solo time before the baby is born. I’m thinking once I reach "full term" in a couple weeks that it will probably be a good idea to keep my instructor in the plane with me - just in case. :)

Aiming for the Grass

I went flying last night for the first time in 2 weeks. It was a good lesson. The winds were pretty light (at least compared to what I’ve had to deal with a lot), and the air was almost completely smooth. We started off by doing softfield takeoffs and landings again. I did better this time than the last time. I pulled the nose up higher on my softfield takeoffs, so we actually got in the air at a low airspeed. After pulling the airplane off the runway at as low an airspeed as possible, you level out and fly in ground effect until you’ve sped up to normal flying speed. I had a bit of trouble with staying low enough as I flew down the runway, but

Then we did shortfield takeoffs and landings. Shortfield landings are kind of nervous-making because you feel like you’re going to land short of the runway. You have to aim for the grass in front of the runway so that you hit right on the end. I never managed to hit right on the end, because I’d freak out at the last minute and pull the nose up early or add power, causing the plane to float further than desired. I did get the plane stopped in about 600 feet both times, though, so I wasn’t a complete failure.

I’ve got another lesson scheduled for Sunday. The idea for that one is to go do what Jose did Tuesday. My instructor is going to be out of town all week next week, and then I’m going to be out of town the week following. It would be good if I could get to the point where I can take the plane out by myself soon, because I probably don’t have a lot of time left before the baby break. The belly still isn’t getting in the way, but it sure is getting hard to reach stuff that’s not right in front of me in the cockpit. Like the air vents, or the handle to adjust the seat. And it takes me so long to climb out that my instructor can get out, go into the hanger to retrieve the tow bar, come back out and hook it on and still have to wait for me to finish climbing out.

Bonehead

You know how you have those bonehead moments where you can’t belive you just did something? Like in 9th grade when I went to a school band concert and forgot to bring my flute. Well, I had one of those a couple days ago when I went flying.

I was chatting with my instructor while pre-flighting the airplane. One of the steps is that you get up on the wing and measure the fuel remaining by dipping a ~14" long plastic stick into the tank. I stuck the stick in upside down first, and had to pull it out and turn it over to read it correctly. Thus the part of the stick in my hand was wet with av gas when I stuck it in the second time.

Me: "Yeah, I was a little worried when I called earlier and the wind was gusting to 18... Oh, shit."

Instructor: "What?"

Me: "Um..."

Instructor: "Did you drop it in there?"

Me: "Uh, yeah." ... blushing ... "Can you get it out?"

Instructor: "I’m not sure I have anything here..."

As it turned out, we did fish it out. Or rather, he and another pilot did. My pregnant belly wouldn’t even let me get up there enough to look in the hole. It took pushing the plane up onto a little hill to get the probe to roll to the front of the tank, my instructor lying on his belly on top of the cabin, and ther other guy on a ladder holding the flashlight and one gripper. And 20 minutes. But, we got it out.

I was very careful when I measured the fuel in the other tank to hold on to the stick.

Anyway, I’m sure it wasn’t the first time it’s ever happened in the history of aviation. But, it was the first time for my instructor, and when you’ve flown as many hours and instructed as many students as he has, that’s saying something.

Guess What I Did Yesterday

I SOLOED!!!! I wasn’t sure it was going to happen. I had a rough lesson on Saturday, and then even though we rescheduled to evening to have a better chance of light winds, they were still blowing 11 kts. (But, mainly down the runway.) I was flying really well last night, though, even though my instructor did the “pull out the throttle without announcing his intentions to simulate an engine failure” thing twice. (That was the first and second time ever.)

So, after 5 landings he told me to pull off by the fueling station. “How do you feel about going yourself? Does it make you nervous?”

“Well, yes, but I don’t think that’s going to go away until I do it.”

So, I went. The first landing was brilliant. I really nailed it. The second one was good, but the nose gear started vibrating, which had never happened before. Luckily, he just talked me through it, and I did one more.

:)

Sensitive

I'm getting sensitive about sad things relating to babies. Gavin went to see 300 for the SECOND time tonight. I wasn't much interested, so I came home. Since we currently have no sofa in the living room (we think the sofa is mouse-infested, so we moved it to the garage), I decided to come upstairs and watch a movie on the old TV. I chose Fever Pitch, which I have never seen before. There's a scene where they think that Drew Barrymore's character is pregnant, and then find out she isn't. I almost cried. Then I told the baby to take care of itself and get here safely.

Considering how much I'm enjoying flying, you'd think I'd be doing better about studying. I'm not, though. I really need to make sure that I know the pre-solo questions well enough that if Jeff decides to give me the test this weekend, I can pass. That shouldn't be too hard, but it does require some review. Better go do that now.

Go With It

I was looking back over the last couple months of posts, and the tags are overwhelmingly about the baby. I guess that’s inevitable. This blog is about our life, and the biggest thing going on right now is the incubation of a new human. Still, it’s a good thing that I started flying and that we went to Colorado last month or this page would be all baby all the time. That topic is terribly interesting to me, but maybe not so much to everyone else.

I’ve got two lessons scheduled for this weekend - Saturday and Sunday. I hope the weather will be good for both. When I went to the airport with Becca last weekend, there was a nice steady crosswind across the runway. My only crosswind landing lesson so far was on a very gusty day, and I wouldn’t mind seeing one where I could plan ahead a bit and didn’t have to “go with it” quite so much on every landing.

There was an interesting post a few days ago on a blog I like to read, Flight Level 390. He describes the mental calculations necessary to shorten the descent into Las Vegas on an Airbus flight. I wonder how long it takes to get comfortable enough with flying the airplane to be able to do math like that in your head on approach. I don’t have enough spare mental capacity to add 2+2 when I’m in the pattern.

Go-Around

I went flying yesterday, even though the winds were about 12 kt gusting to 20 kt and coming from every which way. Basically, that meant that I had to work really, really hard for my 7 landings. I even got in a go-around when a gust caught me about 15 feet off the runway, and I pulled back too much while correcting and ended up 30 or 40 feet off. I guess it’s a good thing to know when to call it quits. I never had the same winds more than once in a row, as the crosswind component kept changing. Mostly I did OK, though, and I had probably my two best landings ever on approaches where the winds stayed relatively steady for the last 50 feet or so.

Other than that, this weekend was an exercise in laziness. I read Uglies, which Becca loaned me on the ski trip. I liked it so much I went out and bought the entire series so I’d have it to read again. I polished off Pretties and most of Specials yesterday. I took a nap last night that made me not tired until 1:00 AM, which probaby explains my 9:30 AM arrival at work this morning. That and that when I finally did try to go to sleep, the baby demonstrated that it’s finally getting strong enough to be a real distraction when it’s active. He/she kept kicking the same place on my belly over and over. Really hard. And then alternating that with periods where it felt like it was stretching, pushing outward on both sides of my belly. And then it kicked my stomach and gave me heartburn. I guess I’m getting out of the 2nd trimester “honeymoon” period, and into the 3rd trimester “how long is this going to last” period.

Back in Town

We're back in Houston today. I had a great time on vacation, and for once I actually feel more rested at the end than I did in the beginning. Strange!

I have a flying lesson scheduled at noon. It's beautiful here - sunny and 70 deg. Today, my goal is to do the patten with the radio calls. And maybe not bounce at least a few of my landings.

First Real Set of 4

This was, I think, the first rainless weekend we’ve had in about a month. I celebrated by getting a great flying lesson in on Saturday. We went up and did a few stalls. I’m still not great at doing a banking stall without making the bank too steep, but it’ll do. I finally went into a power-on stall with the ball uncoordinated enough to make the airplane roll. My instructor was glad it finally happened, because he wanted to see at least one that rolled on me.

Then we went back to the airport, and I did 3 touch & gos plus a full-stop. My first three actually went very well. I was remembering what to do before told most of the time and I made pretty good soft landings. After the first one, I even was able to remember what to do to get off the runway again without much prompting. The last landing was a bit rocky, because I flared too much and ballooned and then pushed forward too much and ended up porpoising down the runway for a bit. Ah, well. I was going to screw one up eventually.

When we got back to the airport, there tons of planes around and all of them were being all kinds of crazy. One tried to cut me off as I was turning crosswind (after takeoff) on my 2nd touch & go. One was flying a right hand pattern. One started pulling out onto the runway before the plane taking off was past it. One got to the numbers and stalled his engine before takeoff. It was enough to make me a bit nervous!

Yesterday was the super bowl party. It went swimmingly, although I’m not sure how much time any of us spent watching the game. We got lots of approval for the new TV.

We also started the process of registering for baby yesterday. We’ve got a way to go, still, but we had fun. The first “impluse” registry item is a set of speakers you can clip to the side of the crib and plug your MP3 player into. It’s just a gimic, you could get the same thing with any set of portable speakers, but how cool is that?!

Full Throttle

I had a fabulous weekend. Flying and more flying.

Saturday, I got to sleep in to start the morning. I was kind of bummed because it was really rainy out, and I thought my flying lesson was going to get canceled. However, shortly after noon the clouds started to break. It was looking good, so I headed out to the airport. Things cleared up just enough for my second stalls lesson. I did power-off stalls (pull the throttle out to idle and then pitch up until the nose drops), turning stalls (same as power-off, but banking while doing it), and power-on stalls (slow way down and then push the throttle all the way in and pitch up). According to everything I’ve heard, most people are more uncomfortable with power-on stalls, because you have to pitch the nose way, way up to get the stall and you’re lying on your back with nothing but sky in the windscreen. I didn’t have any trouble with those, though. I’m not so good at the turning stalls, because once I bank I forget to keep pulling back. :P

Anyway, it was especially cool because there were broken clouds at about 2000 ft, so we’d go hunting for a large hole in the clouds to do a stall in. Then we’d do one or two in there and go find another one before ascending again.

Then Sunday, I got to go again. This time the weather was crystal clear, if a bit windy. More stalls, steep turns, instrument work, and a slip. And a very messy landing. My favorite from this lesson - steep turns! 1.5 Gs for 360 degrees! Very, very fun.