Last CFI Flight – First Solo in the Mooney
Before I could fly solo I needed another 1.9 hours with my CFI. We couldn’t make the schedule work last night so we planned to meet this morning to finish it up. I had told him that I wanted to get in some crosswind landing practice. Because I knew Chino and Riverside would probably be […]
Pattern Work and Airport Hopping at Night
I’m still working on my transition training but starting to feel much more comfortable with the plane. After a few winters here with very little rain, Mother Nature decided that this year was the time to make up for it. It was cloudy and rainy during the day Tuesday but started to clear up a […]
Cross Country, Repairs, Airport Introductions
Saturday brought more new experiences in flying the Mooney, a MP (Manifold Pressure) gauge that decided to stop working, and an adventure through the airport community. The names have been changed, some of them because I don’t remember all of them, and others because I don’t know if they would want to be named in […]
Flying in the Rain
Rain, stalls, pattern-work, simulated engine out, and about half a spin… After two weeks of waiting due to scheduling conflicts with Christmas I got the chance to go fly again. I took Friday off work to try and get in some more training and was crossing my fingers that the weather would work out. The […]
A Second “First Flight”
203 days ago I took my first flight, and today I took a first flight again. Today was the first time I flew a Mooney, it was also the first time I flew my Mooney, and it was awesome!!! I was supposed to meet my CFI at 8am so I got there a little early to start […]
Buying N78878
As you have probably noticed, there hasn’t been any flying for the past month. I am really itching to get back up, but the wait was for a good cause. I have been saving my “rental money” because we were buying a plane! So what went into the search and purchase process? Here goes… The […]
3 Days – 4 Flights – 3 Birthdays
This post is going to be a little different than past posts for a few of reasons. First, I’m writing it a week after it happened. Second, I have a lot of pictures that I want to put into it. Third, it is combining multiple flights, over multiple days, into one post. Day 1 I asked […]
A Cloudy Afternoon with the Kids
My oldest son wasn’t able to go flying with us last week because he couldn’t find anyone to change shifts at work. That just meant that I had to go flying again this weekend so I could take him up. I had originally scheduled to rent a plane this Saturday but his work schedule wasn’t going to […]
First Passengers
My wife has only flown with me once, and that was on my discovery flight. The discovery flight was to have been a flight over to Catalina Island and back, but it was socked in so we made it a local flight which then turned into a training flight. Those of you that have flown […]
Check Ride!!!!
The day is finally here! When this was scheduled a few weeks ago it seemed so far away… It was hard to believe as I was driving to the airport that by this afternoon I was very likely going to have my Private Pilot Certificate (unless something completely unexpected happened). I was a little nervous, […]
Final Check-Ride Preparation
My final preparations at the school have taken place prior to my check-ride. (It would be inaccurate to say it was my final preparation as there will be ongoing studying throughout the week). Saturday I went out to the school to get in some pattern work and brush up my short field landings as well as […]
Last Flight with my CFI??
This could be it, the last time I fly with my CFI before my check-ride. It is odd to think about that possibility. I arrived at the airport a little early as usual and found my CFI waiting for me in the lounge. We chatted a little about my stage check the previous week and […]
