X Country and Checklists…
With the solo flight done, albeit a very short flight, it was time to start some cross country flying. The airport my CFI likes to go to is Ramona (KRNM). Ramona is about 67 nm southeast of Chino and is not a difficult flight to navigate. In fact, you basically follow Interstate 15 south and […]
SOLO FLIGHT!!!!!
Today was the day. It was a beautiful evening for flying. First we went through my pre-solo knowledge test and then my CFI filled out my endorsements in the back of my log book so that I can solo. After that he made copies of all of my documents and license, had me sign a […]
Pre-Solo Check Ride
Back to Back big days… I went up with a different CFI today for my pre-solo check ride. It was different, but good to fly with another CFI. As is the nature of the pre-solo check ride he didn’t give much input at all, mainly just said what we would be doing, which maneuvers he […]
Pre-Solo Phase Check
It was a big day today. Well, not that it was anything different than what I’ve been doing on my flights, but this time my CFI had his check list to sign me off on everything in preparation to solo. It started out with a nice sight as we were finishing up our run-up. This […]
What’s that on the Runway??
Well, I thought we were going to go through my phase check but instead my CFI wanted to nail down the short and soft field take offs and landings which was fine. I would rather feel more comfortable with those before moving on. One could argue that you could just make sure you were good […]
Double Digits!!
So what is in double digits you ask? My flight time. After today’s lesson I am at 11.4 hours and moving closer to my solo. Today was the first time I have flown in the morning and the first time I have flown without any wind. The winds have always been blowing when I have […]
Back to the Basics
Hot again… I think that is what it will be from here on out since we are going into July and the only time I can fly in the week is the evening when it hasn’t cooled down yet and even if we take off in the morning on a Saturday by the time we […]
More Landings and Playing Around at Ontario International
Another hot day of flying with the temperature at 95 degrees and the winds out of the West. Today we went up in the Cherokee 180 so it was nice to have a little more power than the 140’s. I am comfortable talking with ground and the tower now, although I still stumble around and […]
Smaller and Smaller…
What is getting smaller and smaller? That would be the runways I landed on today. It was overcast and as we had run through all the maneuvers the last two flights my CFI wanted to go visit some other airports. He said that as I get ready to solo he wants to make sure that […]
It’s Hot Outside
Fun times, I had my third flight today. (Hot, 95 degrees out and the plane climbed like a dog.) I was scheduled to fly from 3-6pm but they asked if I could move to 12-3pm instead. Sure, why not fly during the hottest part of the day? I had been listening to ATC (Air Traffic […]
Father Time
Today it was time to visit the medical examiner to have my flight physical done. Apparently they want you healthy before they let you fly by yourself, I suppose something about not wanting you to have something physically wrong, rendering you unable to fly your plane and fall out of the sky… The distance vision […]
Flight two – Ground Maneuvers
Went back up today for my second flight and spent 2 hours working through power-on stalls, power-off stalls, slow flight, 45 degree turns, turns around a point, s-turns, and rectangular course. It was fun to get my feet wet on those different maneuvers. Some felt more natural than others, ie: 45 degrees turning to the left was […]
