Now I have 4 entries in my logbook. Still looks odd to me, as I never thought I'd have that many flight hours. It's just still so strange to me. What, me? A pilot? Surely, you must be joking...
(No, I'm not. And don't call me 'Shirley'. haha)
My last flight went better. Still not up to par with my second flight, but as long as I continue to get better with every flight, then it won't be too long 'till I'm there again. Am really, really frustrated with all of the weather delays (gotta love Atlanta's stormy afternoons and pop-up showers that appear out of nowhere) and scheduling conflicts.
I did the pre-flight check all by myself, which I was really proud of being able to do. Told my previous instructor about my accomplishment, but tried to refrain from getting all excited about it. Regardless, I felt like a little kid telling an adult that she tied her shoes for the first time by herself.
Taxiing got a little better, but still not as good at the second flight. Some guys parked their plane on the ramp in the way. My instructor had to get us around it; I suggested telling them that they might want to move their plane as a student driver (flyer?) was on board.
She's kind of nervous, which makes me nervous. Had a couple of freak-out moments, as did she. Not sure you want your CFI freaking out on you. I'm already a little nervous to begin with.
She took off the plane (again) and landed (again). I'm getting frustrated that she's not letting me do what I know I can do. I did both of those (assisted) on my second flight lesson ever. I'm never going to learn if she doesn't turn over the reigns.
Anyways, so we get into the air and I've got a seat cushion now! Helped me see over the instruments a bit better. Easier to keep straight and level if you can see where you are going. ;)
I got to do my very first ever Power On Stall. It was pretty cool. It's supposed to simulate take-off, so you pull the stick wayyyyy back and it feels like you are one of the Blue Angels going vertical. Not really going vertical like that, but it feels like it.
It was kind of cloudy up there, but beautiful. I was just taken aback by the beauty of it all. Soared up to 5,000 feet, just above the clouds. Not thick cloud cover, but just kind of spotted here and there. Enough that I was able to ascend through breaks in them and able to see the ground in the negative spaces. I am not lying when I say it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Could only keep repeating that over and over in the plane. Absolutely breathtaking. Took a good number of pictures up there.
We came back down and of course, she landed. Felt a little better this time. Wasn't as good as my best flight ever, but wasn't as bad as the worst. I think as long as I keep getting better and better, then I'll be okay.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Post-Flight Thoughts
As much as I hated posted about my bad flight last night, I'm glad I'm keeping a record of this. Not only to help other budding pilots, like myself, but to help myself as well. Really helps go back and read over stuff.
I read over last night's entry and the entry about my best flight, comparing them. One thing that came to mind was the landings. I took note yesterday about her landing - it didn't bounce much more than mine did the last time. Which maybe indicates that my landing wasn't as bad as I thought it was. It's hard to explain, but it really does feel different when you are in control. Not sure why exactly, but you feel every little nuance of the plane more. So to me, with my hands on the wheel, it felt like the plane bounced more than it actually did.
Secondly, after a friend read my last entry, she pointed out that maybe my disappointment came from not being allowed to do what I thought I could do. I remembering feeling that way during the first flight as well and I remember from the second flight that the joyous feeling stemmed from doing new stuff, being challenged and actually doing stuff. And maybe part of the disappointment came from feeling like I wasn't being listened to, like in the meeting I had with them (will update about that later, too). There were things wrong with that plane. Perhaps not catastrophic things that would cause it not to work right, but still things that were amiss. That's the purpose of the pre-flight check. Doesn't matter how big or small those things were - they are still important. Felt like maybe she overlooked them, due to running out of time and that's a BIG no-no in aviation. You ALWAYS need to take your time, especially when it comes to pre-flight. And maybe that's where my nervousness came from yesterday, even though I wasn't able to identify where it came from at the time. It wasn't just a different way of doing things, it was deviating from the set guidelines.
Regardless, I still need to take responsibility for my nervousness and own attitude. Not gonna blame her, the weather or the plane. And also, if skipping steps or having things amiss made me nervous, then I needed to speak up. That's one of the key things about being a pilot-in-command. It's YOUR responsibility to determine if the plane is air-worthy or not. That's one of the things on the final test, actually. Granted, I'm still new at this and put my trust in her and didn't realize at the time why I was so nervous. So I learn from this and know next time to speak up if something seems out of place.
I read over last night's entry and the entry about my best flight, comparing them. One thing that came to mind was the landings. I took note yesterday about her landing - it didn't bounce much more than mine did the last time. Which maybe indicates that my landing wasn't as bad as I thought it was. It's hard to explain, but it really does feel different when you are in control. Not sure why exactly, but you feel every little nuance of the plane more. So to me, with my hands on the wheel, it felt like the plane bounced more than it actually did.
Secondly, after a friend read my last entry, she pointed out that maybe my disappointment came from not being allowed to do what I thought I could do. I remembering feeling that way during the first flight as well and I remember from the second flight that the joyous feeling stemmed from doing new stuff, being challenged and actually doing stuff. And maybe part of the disappointment came from feeling like I wasn't being listened to, like in the meeting I had with them (will update about that later, too). There were things wrong with that plane. Perhaps not catastrophic things that would cause it not to work right, but still things that were amiss. That's the purpose of the pre-flight check. Doesn't matter how big or small those things were - they are still important. Felt like maybe she overlooked them, due to running out of time and that's a BIG no-no in aviation. You ALWAYS need to take your time, especially when it comes to pre-flight. And maybe that's where my nervousness came from yesterday, even though I wasn't able to identify where it came from at the time. It wasn't just a different way of doing things, it was deviating from the set guidelines.
Regardless, I still need to take responsibility for my nervousness and own attitude. Not gonna blame her, the weather or the plane. And also, if skipping steps or having things amiss made me nervous, then I needed to speak up. That's one of the key things about being a pilot-in-command. It's YOUR responsibility to determine if the plane is air-worthy or not. That's one of the things on the final test, actually. Granted, I'm still new at this and put my trust in her and didn't realize at the time why I was so nervous. So I learn from this and know next time to speak up if something seems out of place.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
3rd flight - first bad one
So I've just come back from my flight tonight. Spent the whole day watching the weather and was quite convinced the flight was going to be canceled yet once again. It was overcasty all day and even started raining this afternoon. I wouldn't let myself get excited. No way - not after last time. I was so psyched up, wound up and excited and came down like a lead balloon when the flight was canceled. I knew that I can't keep that up - am going to go insane with all those up and downs. Gotta get a handle on my emotions, so wasn't letting myself get excited this time.
But just like last time, the weather turned on a dime. An hour before leaving work, patches of blue sky broke up the clouds. I kept checking my phone obsessively - NO CALL. I was out the door of my office when the clock hit 5 and ran all the way to my car. I kept my hand on my phone, expecting it to buzz with a message or something, but nothing happened.
I drove fast all the way home. I bounced up to my front door and took care of my animals in the blink of an eye. I changed quickly, got my bag together and flounced out the door. Had already packed an extra sandwich in my lunchbag this morning, just in case and ate that while driving to the airport.
Had a new flight bag and headset that a friend let me borrow, had on my new "Future Pilot" t-shirt, had my check lists. Basically, was ready to rock. Turned up the dance music and car danced on the way there like I was heading to a party. Needed to psyche myself up because I hadn't been in that mindset all day. In retrospect, the car ride over there is a little late to be doing that. I need to approach each lesson like it's going to happen, even though that will hurt more if the lesson gets canceled. Better to be prepared (for flying anyways, maybe not so much for my sanity).
I get to the airport, get my bag, take a deep breath and head inside. Oh yeah... traffic was a little bad, so I arrived at the airport 5 minutes before my lesson.
I get inside the school and my instructor is finishing up with another guy. No biggie. Will give me time to look over a few things and maybe run to the bathroom, since I didn't get a chance earlier running from work to home to the airport.
I take out my procedures book and review take off and landings. Gonna still grease that landing. 10 minutes go by. She finally comes in to apologize that they are running behind and will be with me shortly. I take this opportunity to ask where the bathroom is. I go, come back and review some more. Another 10 minutes. She finally tells the guy that she has to go for me and comes into the room.
We go over some stuff (quickly! because we are now running behind) and go outside to the do the pre-flight check. This time, the plane had a blue streak on it. I had a feeling this plane would have blue on it (blue's my favorite color). The pre-flight was interesting because she made me get out my checklist and basically stood back and let me do it myself. I rememebered most all of it from the last two times up. Was great finally doing it for myself.
Disconcerned me a little that there were some red flags that popped up by she disregarded them. One of the lights on the wings was out, but she said they were used for night flying only and it didn't matter. Then I check to see if the tires were bald and one of them had a bald spot. She said it wasn't bad and to ignore it.
We get in the plane and she has me going over the other check lists. I read out each thing and get to press the buttons. We start the engine and start rolling. She said she'd let me taxi, so I did. Not as good as last time. Took some getting used to again. Finally, we get into position to take off... and she does it. :(
I watch the ground drop away from us - amazing, still, to be sure... but no magical feeling. We get into the air... and practice turns. Are you kidding me? I've done these to death... Had trouble connecting with the plane though. It felt...odd. Like a bucking broncho. And not so much the wind or anything... it was just the plane. Felt very much like a "guy" plane.
So we don't practice anything like we're supposed to. Just stalls, ascents and descents. Just like in the first lesson. Yawn. And quit talking to me like this is my first lesson.
But something felt off. I was very nervous this time up. Moreso than my first time up. Maybe it was that I wasn't anticipating going up today. All I know was that when I landed, I was shaking. Wasn't relieved to land like the first time, but shaking nonetheless. And by the way, she landed the plane. Didn't even let me try. Discouraging to say the least. My mom says that maybe she felt I was nervous and that made her nervous, so of course she wasn't going to let me land.
I taxiied on the way back. Did a little bit better than on the way up. We jumped out and she asked me how it was. So I told her - told her how uneasy I was and how the plane felt off. She asked if it was her and I honestly said that I wasn't sure, but thought it was many different factors.
We set up to go up again on Saturday. I nearly left that place in tears. She said it wasn't a bad flight at all - it was my 3rd time up and she doesn't expect perfection just yet. I was right on track where I should be.
I'll admit I had that horrible thought - that maybe this wasn't for me. Not ashamed to admit I had a self pep-talk in the car. If this wasn't for me, then there's no way I'd schedule another flight, especially after having a bad one. If this wasn't for me, there's no way I'd go up again and again and again, despite being as afraid as I was. If this wasn't for me, then there's no way I'd get so excited about aviation.
So today's flight is over - let it go. Gear up for the next one, afterall I have less than 48 hours to go. Gotta shake the bad feelings from this one (no matter how hard that is to do). Get psyched up, even though t-storms are planned for Saturday. Review, review, review. And get back out there. In aviation, maintaining a good attitude is everything.
Besides, like I was told today - any flight you land safely is a good flight.
But just like last time, the weather turned on a dime. An hour before leaving work, patches of blue sky broke up the clouds. I kept checking my phone obsessively - NO CALL. I was out the door of my office when the clock hit 5 and ran all the way to my car. I kept my hand on my phone, expecting it to buzz with a message or something, but nothing happened.
I drove fast all the way home. I bounced up to my front door and took care of my animals in the blink of an eye. I changed quickly, got my bag together and flounced out the door. Had already packed an extra sandwich in my lunchbag this morning, just in case and ate that while driving to the airport.
Had a new flight bag and headset that a friend let me borrow, had on my new "Future Pilot" t-shirt, had my check lists. Basically, was ready to rock. Turned up the dance music and car danced on the way there like I was heading to a party. Needed to psyche myself up because I hadn't been in that mindset all day. In retrospect, the car ride over there is a little late to be doing that. I need to approach each lesson like it's going to happen, even though that will hurt more if the lesson gets canceled. Better to be prepared (for flying anyways, maybe not so much for my sanity).
I get to the airport, get my bag, take a deep breath and head inside. Oh yeah... traffic was a little bad, so I arrived at the airport 5 minutes before my lesson.
I get inside the school and my instructor is finishing up with another guy. No biggie. Will give me time to look over a few things and maybe run to the bathroom, since I didn't get a chance earlier running from work to home to the airport.
I take out my procedures book and review take off and landings. Gonna still grease that landing. 10 minutes go by. She finally comes in to apologize that they are running behind and will be with me shortly. I take this opportunity to ask where the bathroom is. I go, come back and review some more. Another 10 minutes. She finally tells the guy that she has to go for me and comes into the room.
We go over some stuff (quickly! because we are now running behind) and go outside to the do the pre-flight check. This time, the plane had a blue streak on it. I had a feeling this plane would have blue on it (blue's my favorite color). The pre-flight was interesting because she made me get out my checklist and basically stood back and let me do it myself. I rememebered most all of it from the last two times up. Was great finally doing it for myself.
Disconcerned me a little that there were some red flags that popped up by she disregarded them. One of the lights on the wings was out, but she said they were used for night flying only and it didn't matter. Then I check to see if the tires were bald and one of them had a bald spot. She said it wasn't bad and to ignore it.
We get in the plane and she has me going over the other check lists. I read out each thing and get to press the buttons. We start the engine and start rolling. She said she'd let me taxi, so I did. Not as good as last time. Took some getting used to again. Finally, we get into position to take off... and she does it. :(
I watch the ground drop away from us - amazing, still, to be sure... but no magical feeling. We get into the air... and practice turns. Are you kidding me? I've done these to death... Had trouble connecting with the plane though. It felt...odd. Like a bucking broncho. And not so much the wind or anything... it was just the plane. Felt very much like a "guy" plane.
So we don't practice anything like we're supposed to. Just stalls, ascents and descents. Just like in the first lesson. Yawn. And quit talking to me like this is my first lesson.
But something felt off. I was very nervous this time up. Moreso than my first time up. Maybe it was that I wasn't anticipating going up today. All I know was that when I landed, I was shaking. Wasn't relieved to land like the first time, but shaking nonetheless. And by the way, she landed the plane. Didn't even let me try. Discouraging to say the least. My mom says that maybe she felt I was nervous and that made her nervous, so of course she wasn't going to let me land.
I taxiied on the way back. Did a little bit better than on the way up. We jumped out and she asked me how it was. So I told her - told her how uneasy I was and how the plane felt off. She asked if it was her and I honestly said that I wasn't sure, but thought it was many different factors.
We set up to go up again on Saturday. I nearly left that place in tears. She said it wasn't a bad flight at all - it was my 3rd time up and she doesn't expect perfection just yet. I was right on track where I should be.
I'll admit I had that horrible thought - that maybe this wasn't for me. Not ashamed to admit I had a self pep-talk in the car. If this wasn't for me, then there's no way I'd schedule another flight, especially after having a bad one. If this wasn't for me, there's no way I'd go up again and again and again, despite being as afraid as I was. If this wasn't for me, then there's no way I'd get so excited about aviation.
So today's flight is over - let it go. Gear up for the next one, afterall I have less than 48 hours to go. Gotta shake the bad feelings from this one (no matter how hard that is to do). Get psyched up, even though t-storms are planned for Saturday. Review, review, review. And get back out there. In aviation, maintaining a good attitude is everything.
Besides, like I was told today - any flight you land safely is a good flight.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
My Second Flight
My second flight took place on Saturday, the 16th of July - 6 weeks after my first one. But make no mistake, I have not just been wasting time since then. I've been researching schools, visiting them, budgeting and studying aviation on my own. It has gone by fast, to say the least. Next post I'll get into searching for schools, but I wanted to write about my flight while it's still fresh in my mind.
Anyways, once I decided to go for another flight, I called the school to set one up. Waited a few days. No response. Emailed. Waited a few days. No response. Called again - found out the guy I was calling was on vacation. Called main number. No response. Went in person - found someone. Got to ask a few more questions and he apologized about them being difficult to get in touch with. Went home, waited two more days. No response. Called back again (for the final time - was going to another school if they didn't respond this time), but finally got in touch with someone. Took me two weeks total to try and set up another flight, hence another reason why I went 6 weeks in between flights. I'll write about why I wanted this school so badly in the next post. I'll admit, I was frustrated and a bit dejected, but I knew I'd fly again one way or another. Plus, I figured with what I was about to go through, if I couldn't handle the frustration of not getting a call back, then this whole flying thing probably wasn't for me. Plus, persistance is the key, right?
So I got the flight scheduled for Saturday morning. I saw t-storms on the weather reports, but hoped maybe it might clear up again before the flight like last time. I watched those reports like a hawk, watching it go from predicting 't-storms' to 'cloudy' to 'scattered showers'.
I went to bed on time on Friday evening. I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve - except instead of getting presents the following morning, I was about to take Santa's sleigh out for a spin.
Saturday morning I woke to barely any light coming in through my window. Cloud cover was 100%, overcast and sprinkling rain. My spirit sank. I checked my phone - no calls. Maybe there was hope. I got up and got ready like I was going through with the flight. No phone call yet. 8am rolled around, still no phone call. My flight was at 9am, so things were looking good. I was almost ready and was brushing my teeth when my phone rang. My heart stopped. I answered it with a hesistant 'hello?' because I knew full well who it was and what he was going to say.
"You are going to cancel it, aren't you?"
"Kind of have to, unless you want to see what the inside of a cloud looks like."
"Can we???"
"No."
I was numb. We re-scheduled for the following Sunday. I was going to have to wait a whole other week. I hung up the phone and just kind of stared into space. Didn't know what to do and was walking around like I was sleepwalking - in a fog. I started plotting about maybe sneaking out early on Wednesday and squeezing in a flight then. There was no way I could wait a week.
But as hard at it was, I got moving and got some chores done. It was about lunchtime when I saw some sunlight coming through my blinds. My heart skipped a beat. I peeked out of my window. The cloud cover was breaking up!!! Very little, but still breaking. Maybe...
I looked to my phone. Nah... he'd call me if the weather got better and someone else canceled. I shouldn't bother him. I told myself to calm down (because I was getting excited) and eat some lunch. I ate lunch and more sunlight poured into the room. I peeked out again. Even less cloud cover than before!!! I could see really big patches of sky now! I ran outside to get a better view. Yep, weather was improving!! It's worth a try, I guess... Worst he can say is "no".
I tried calming myself down before I called. No need to get excited only to be let down again. Besides, don't want to scare him. Don't need my instructor throwing me out of the plane.
My plan to be calmer didn't really work. It came out all in one breath in one giant run-on sentence: "Hi! I've been watching the weather all day and the cloud cover broke and there are big patches of sky I can see, so I was wondering if maybe we could go up afterall?"
There was a long pause on the other end of the phone before I heard - "You know what? I had another guy cancel. Sure."
I very well might have squeaked (although I'd prefer that I managed to hold that back). "When???"
"Can you be ready by 6pm?"
I was elated. I hung up the phone and did a dance!! I had to keep myself busy because it was still 4 hours away and I could barely stand it. Finally 5 o'clock came and I couldn't wait any longer, so I headed down there early. The airport's like a second home to me, as I've said before. It's so peaceful to sit there and watch planes take off. Besides, I got to wander around in the pilot shop next door, so I was as happy as a clam. I also had my cloud flashcards with me - yep, learning about different clouds and what each of them mean weather-wise. I kept looking to the sky to pick out what each of them were. Some indicated fair weather, some indicated rain, so I was a little nervous that maybe it still might be canceled.
But my instructor showed up and off we went! I remembered a lot of the pre-flight check from last time (from 5 weeks previously!) and used the time to connect with the plane. I didn't do that so much the first time (was too nervous). I ran my hands over her wings, introducing myself to her and asked her silently to be nice to me because I was still new at this.
So we finish and hop into the plane. It felt really comfortable and it was like I had never left. We pulled the canopy down and the instructor tells me to taxi out to the runway. He did all the radio communication. I silently in my head checked-off everything we had to tell the tower - who we were calling, who we were, where were we and what did we want to do. The response from the other end was super fast. Nothing like I had heard on my DVD. Made a mental note to find some place online to listen to ATC broadcasts to get used to the lingo.
So...back to taxiing. I was hella nervous because I did so badly with this the first time. I took a deep breath, connected with the plane... and just 'listened' (for the lack of a better term). The plane would tell me when I needed to step on which brake. Or rather, I could just feel it. So we took off and sure enough, I stayed on that yellow line about 90% of the time. My instructor couldn't believe it - he said he's never seen a person with an hour and a 1/2 of flight time do that well. Usually says it takes 5-6 times out to get taxiing down.
We get to the end of the runway after going over the pre-flight checkoff list. To take off, I need to do a coordinated move of moving up the power, while pulling the stick back. Talk about patting your head while rubbing your tummy. I licked my lips nervously - I couldn't believe I was about to take off this airplane. There's just no way. Coordination isn't my best friend. There's no way I'm about to take off this airplane. But I took a deep breath - gotta trust the airplane. It's built to fly; it'll tell me what to do and my instructor is right beside me and in my ear, so we're all set. So I set the power to full and gently pull back on the stick. And no joke - the plane leaves the runway. I see the buildings and trees drop away from us. All the time, I am repeating in my head, "This plane will not drop out of the sky, This plane will not drop out of the sky", which is a marked improvement from screaming in my head, "OMG!!! IT'S GONNA DROP OUT OF THE SKY!!!" during the first flight.
We practiced ascents, descents, and turns (which I totally rocked!!). My instructor said I did everything like a pro. Somethings I even did before he could tell me to do them, almost intutitively. Used the trim a bit more and learned when to feel when I should use it.
We flew over Stone Mountain and practiced stalls. Actually, he practice stalls and I just watched. They weren't too bad actually. Dropped maybe only 75 feet. The first one I didn't even feel at all. Did a total of 3.
It was so beautiful up there. I managed to take a couple of pictures this time. My instructor said I even acted like I was more comfortable this time and I was! I connected more with the plane this time around and resolved not to be nervous. The first time I was nervous because I had never experienced this before. Now, I have 1.5 hours of flight time under my belt, an experienced instructor at my side (and in my ear!) and a plane that loves to fly. Not to mention I guess I'm kinda good at this too. So no reason to be nervous. It's quite an amazing experience - no need to ruin that with being nervous.
We also practiced slow flight a little bit before heading back to the airport. As soon as we got it in view, he tells me to take the stick and he'll take the rudder pedals. Okay... I can do this. Just aim for the airport and he was in my ear telling me what to do - lower power, lower flaps, lower plane, pull up gently on the stick, lower gently. The plane bounced a little, but it was okay. Once we were completely on the ground, he turns to me and says "I didn't help out as much as you think I did", which totally freaked me out a little and then after awhile it made me dance because I LANDED A PLANE!!!
I taxiied back to the ramp and back to the school. He parked the plane and we got out to tie it up. I said goodbye to my new friend (the plane) and thanked her for being so nice to me. (In my head, mind you. Don't want the instructor looking at me like I was crazy)
It was 9 o' clock at night, but I was so wired up that I couldn't go home. I headed back on the highway and then drove into Atlanta, listening to music with heavy electric guitars. My adrenaline was too high. Got home and still couldn't go to sleep until after 1am and that was only because I saw how late it was and knew I needed sleep. Every cell in my body was screaming "I JUST FLEW A PLANE!!!" and didn't want to power down for the world.
In the days that followed, I was on top of the world. My co-workers told me that they had never seen me so excited before. I had finally got the feeling that most people get on their first flight up. Don't know why it was delayed, but am sure glad I didn't listen to the people who said that if you didn't get it the first time, then you aren't meant to be a pilot.
Anyways, once I decided to go for another flight, I called the school to set one up. Waited a few days. No response. Emailed. Waited a few days. No response. Called again - found out the guy I was calling was on vacation. Called main number. No response. Went in person - found someone. Got to ask a few more questions and he apologized about them being difficult to get in touch with. Went home, waited two more days. No response. Called back again (for the final time - was going to another school if they didn't respond this time), but finally got in touch with someone. Took me two weeks total to try and set up another flight, hence another reason why I went 6 weeks in between flights. I'll write about why I wanted this school so badly in the next post. I'll admit, I was frustrated and a bit dejected, but I knew I'd fly again one way or another. Plus, I figured with what I was about to go through, if I couldn't handle the frustration of not getting a call back, then this whole flying thing probably wasn't for me. Plus, persistance is the key, right?
So I got the flight scheduled for Saturday morning. I saw t-storms on the weather reports, but hoped maybe it might clear up again before the flight like last time. I watched those reports like a hawk, watching it go from predicting 't-storms' to 'cloudy' to 'scattered showers'.
I went to bed on time on Friday evening. I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve - except instead of getting presents the following morning, I was about to take Santa's sleigh out for a spin.
Saturday morning I woke to barely any light coming in through my window. Cloud cover was 100%, overcast and sprinkling rain. My spirit sank. I checked my phone - no calls. Maybe there was hope. I got up and got ready like I was going through with the flight. No phone call yet. 8am rolled around, still no phone call. My flight was at 9am, so things were looking good. I was almost ready and was brushing my teeth when my phone rang. My heart stopped. I answered it with a hesistant 'hello?' because I knew full well who it was and what he was going to say.
"You are going to cancel it, aren't you?"
"Kind of have to, unless you want to see what the inside of a cloud looks like."
"Can we???"
"No."
I was numb. We re-scheduled for the following Sunday. I was going to have to wait a whole other week. I hung up the phone and just kind of stared into space. Didn't know what to do and was walking around like I was sleepwalking - in a fog. I started plotting about maybe sneaking out early on Wednesday and squeezing in a flight then. There was no way I could wait a week.
But as hard at it was, I got moving and got some chores done. It was about lunchtime when I saw some sunlight coming through my blinds. My heart skipped a beat. I peeked out of my window. The cloud cover was breaking up!!! Very little, but still breaking. Maybe...
I looked to my phone. Nah... he'd call me if the weather got better and someone else canceled. I shouldn't bother him. I told myself to calm down (because I was getting excited) and eat some lunch. I ate lunch and more sunlight poured into the room. I peeked out again. Even less cloud cover than before!!! I could see really big patches of sky now! I ran outside to get a better view. Yep, weather was improving!! It's worth a try, I guess... Worst he can say is "no".
I tried calming myself down before I called. No need to get excited only to be let down again. Besides, don't want to scare him. Don't need my instructor throwing me out of the plane.
My plan to be calmer didn't really work. It came out all in one breath in one giant run-on sentence: "Hi! I've been watching the weather all day and the cloud cover broke and there are big patches of sky I can see, so I was wondering if maybe we could go up afterall?"
There was a long pause on the other end of the phone before I heard - "You know what? I had another guy cancel. Sure."
I very well might have squeaked (although I'd prefer that I managed to hold that back). "When???"
"Can you be ready by 6pm?"
I was elated. I hung up the phone and did a dance!! I had to keep myself busy because it was still 4 hours away and I could barely stand it. Finally 5 o'clock came and I couldn't wait any longer, so I headed down there early. The airport's like a second home to me, as I've said before. It's so peaceful to sit there and watch planes take off. Besides, I got to wander around in the pilot shop next door, so I was as happy as a clam. I also had my cloud flashcards with me - yep, learning about different clouds and what each of them mean weather-wise. I kept looking to the sky to pick out what each of them were. Some indicated fair weather, some indicated rain, so I was a little nervous that maybe it still might be canceled.
But my instructor showed up and off we went! I remembered a lot of the pre-flight check from last time (from 5 weeks previously!) and used the time to connect with the plane. I didn't do that so much the first time (was too nervous). I ran my hands over her wings, introducing myself to her and asked her silently to be nice to me because I was still new at this.
So we finish and hop into the plane. It felt really comfortable and it was like I had never left. We pulled the canopy down and the instructor tells me to taxi out to the runway. He did all the radio communication. I silently in my head checked-off everything we had to tell the tower - who we were calling, who we were, where were we and what did we want to do. The response from the other end was super fast. Nothing like I had heard on my DVD. Made a mental note to find some place online to listen to ATC broadcasts to get used to the lingo.
So...back to taxiing. I was hella nervous because I did so badly with this the first time. I took a deep breath, connected with the plane... and just 'listened' (for the lack of a better term). The plane would tell me when I needed to step on which brake. Or rather, I could just feel it. So we took off and sure enough, I stayed on that yellow line about 90% of the time. My instructor couldn't believe it - he said he's never seen a person with an hour and a 1/2 of flight time do that well. Usually says it takes 5-6 times out to get taxiing down.
We get to the end of the runway after going over the pre-flight checkoff list. To take off, I need to do a coordinated move of moving up the power, while pulling the stick back. Talk about patting your head while rubbing your tummy. I licked my lips nervously - I couldn't believe I was about to take off this airplane. There's just no way. Coordination isn't my best friend. There's no way I'm about to take off this airplane. But I took a deep breath - gotta trust the airplane. It's built to fly; it'll tell me what to do and my instructor is right beside me and in my ear, so we're all set. So I set the power to full and gently pull back on the stick. And no joke - the plane leaves the runway. I see the buildings and trees drop away from us. All the time, I am repeating in my head, "This plane will not drop out of the sky, This plane will not drop out of the sky", which is a marked improvement from screaming in my head, "OMG!!! IT'S GONNA DROP OUT OF THE SKY!!!" during the first flight.
We practiced ascents, descents, and turns (which I totally rocked!!). My instructor said I did everything like a pro. Somethings I even did before he could tell me to do them, almost intutitively. Used the trim a bit more and learned when to feel when I should use it.
We flew over Stone Mountain and practiced stalls. Actually, he practice stalls and I just watched. They weren't too bad actually. Dropped maybe only 75 feet. The first one I didn't even feel at all. Did a total of 3.
It was so beautiful up there. I managed to take a couple of pictures this time. My instructor said I even acted like I was more comfortable this time and I was! I connected more with the plane this time around and resolved not to be nervous. The first time I was nervous because I had never experienced this before. Now, I have 1.5 hours of flight time under my belt, an experienced instructor at my side (and in my ear!) and a plane that loves to fly. Not to mention I guess I'm kinda good at this too. So no reason to be nervous. It's quite an amazing experience - no need to ruin that with being nervous.
We also practiced slow flight a little bit before heading back to the airport. As soon as we got it in view, he tells me to take the stick and he'll take the rudder pedals. Okay... I can do this. Just aim for the airport and he was in my ear telling me what to do - lower power, lower flaps, lower plane, pull up gently on the stick, lower gently. The plane bounced a little, but it was okay. Once we were completely on the ground, he turns to me and says "I didn't help out as much as you think I did", which totally freaked me out a little and then after awhile it made me dance because I LANDED A PLANE!!!
I taxiied back to the ramp and back to the school. He parked the plane and we got out to tie it up. I said goodbye to my new friend (the plane) and thanked her for being so nice to me. (In my head, mind you. Don't want the instructor looking at me like I was crazy)
It was 9 o' clock at night, but I was so wired up that I couldn't go home. I headed back on the highway and then drove into Atlanta, listening to music with heavy electric guitars. My adrenaline was too high. Got home and still couldn't go to sleep until after 1am and that was only because I saw how late it was and knew I needed sleep. Every cell in my body was screaming "I JUST FLEW A PLANE!!!" and didn't want to power down for the world.
In the days that followed, I was on top of the world. My co-workers told me that they had never seen me so excited before. I had finally got the feeling that most people get on their first flight up. Don't know why it was delayed, but am sure glad I didn't listen to the people who said that if you didn't get it the first time, then you aren't meant to be a pilot.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Le Chevaliers Du Ciel Promo Video
Beautiful, aren't they? Absolutely breath-taking. I must have watched this video 3 times in a row the first time I watched it.
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