XC Solo
The day is finally here. I went into work early so that I could scoot out a little early and get to the airport. As would be fitting for the first XC Solo, it was an adventure. I’ll warn everyone now that it’s a long post, but if you make it through hopefully you will […]
Diversion, Go-Around, and Stuff
Today was my last flight with my CFI before my XC Solo to Ramona. As such we needed to work on a few more things before he turns me loose. He had told me that we would be working on a diversion this flight so I had scoped out available airports that were far enough […]
Foggles
Today was cross country flight number two back to Ramona, and time to fly with the foggles on. I know those that are pilots already know what foggles are, but for those that don’t know, they are an evil creation by someone who wanted to make you fly as if you were in the clouds when […]
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 […]
