Flightsafety Day!!

                                           (picture courtesy of Aero Atlanta Club)

I got the chance of a lifestime and spent my Saturday, playing around in these down at Hartsfield. 5 simulators in all - 3 Larjets (31, 45 and 60), Citation II and an Embraer. Lear 60 (pictured) was my favorite.

This was such a big deal for me. Not only because the average person doesn't get to do this, but after the Atl Aero Club announced they were going here, they said only at least Private Pilot's Licence holders could go. I was crushed and thought I'd have to wait until next year. Then a thought creeped into my brain: perhaps there could be no harm in asking if they would let me attend.Worst they could say was "no" (and possibly, "can't you read?") and I'd be no worse off than I already was. I wrote to one of the main people in the group on facebook. Told her that I was very excited about, but was only a student pilot - would there possibly be a chance that I could go too? My request was answered with a resounding "Yes!! Please sign up!". I was esctatic and over the moon.

The big day finally came and with butterflies in my stomach, I set out an hour ahead of time. Good thing too - there were no signs, so I ended up taking a detour around the back of Hartsfield. It didn't bother me as I was there way ahead of time and I had never seen the back of Hartsfield before. Saw the hangers for Delta and Airtran and gawked at the big, beautiful planes as I drove past. This is the first time I've seen those planes through my new aerophile eyes and they were absolutely breathtaking. I think I've always liked to watch commercial planes take off and land, but nothing like this.

Finally, I found the right building and decided to review a bit before heading inside, as I was still early. (Have to study every chance I get) With 10 minutes to go, I couldn't wait any longer and walked inside. I told myself that today was about having fun and there was no need to be nervous. We had to check-in at the front desk. They gave me a name badge and told me where to go. I smiled at everyone I met and wiggled my toes inside my shoes with happiness. I finally found where we were suppose to go and walked inside - and everything stopped. My confidence plummeted after walking into the room (not to mention, they had fallen quiet and were staring at me) because they were not only all at least private pilots, but they were all older that me, too - and all guys. I know that's aviation for you, but I had expected at least one or two other females there.

My inclination was to sit quietly in the back of the room, but they called me up front to get my name and give me my team assignment. Then I saw a familiar face - the owner of the pilot shop I frequent was there. Good, one familiar face. We started chatting and then he introduced me to people he knew. Then I got assigned to my partner.

"Hey man, how did you manage to get assigned with the only girl in the room?", came a shout from another pilot, across the room to my flight buddy.

"I don't know", he replied. "I just walked into the room and managed to hit the lottery".

Gee thanks, guys. I AM right here, you know...  The pilot shop owner turned to me and said "You knew this was going to be a rough crowd, right?".  But the tension broke after I was able to crack a few jokes. It actually was in my favor to stick out like that; everyone wanted to talk with me and get to know me. It's funny - I remember wanting nothing more to blend in when I was a kid and hated being different. Now I absolutely loved it and embraced it with vigor! And there was no need to be nervous, as all of these guys were more than willing to help me.

I had no idea what any of the planes were that we were going to fly. Turns out that we flew all of them, so it really didn't matter. My partner looked up the planes on his IPad to show me what they looked like. We got our assigned times and headed out. They had 3 rooms FULL of simulators! It was just absolutely amazing. My eyes went wide watching them come to life and move around. Finally it was our turn. I felt my heart nearly beating out of my chest and had to remind myself silently that I was there to have fun and not be nervous.

We entered the Lear 60 and there were so many instruments! Many more than in my little Diamond. I offered the captain's seat to my partner and he said "oh no, that's YOUR seat". It's okay, I can do this, I can do this. We also had an instructor sitting behind both of us, letting us know what to do. Even though all of the other guys were at least private pilot's (and most were instructors), they had never flown anything like this before. So at least we were all beginners in that aspect. And that made me feel better.

So we "took off" and flew the pattern around the airport. My partner handled the flaps and some other stuff that was the co-pilot's job. We approached final and I went in for the landing. It bounced a bit, but was pretty good (and even got a High-5 from my partner). Hey, this isn't so bad...

I finished and he took a turn. Amazing to see just how two little round the pattern runs took 30 minutes. It went by so fast! Everything in a plane goes by fast...

We finished and were on our way to the next sim. The door opened and I literally bounced out. The team behind us said "Wow, look at that smile!". I was beaming ear-to-ear. Nothing in the world lights my soul on fire like aviation. I seriously had no idea I was smiling until they pointed it out. I felt the joy inside but had no idea that it stretched all the way to my face.

We had a small break due to a scheduling mix-up. My partner was hungry and wanted some lunch. I wasn't that hungry (it was only 11) and had cookies instead. Another pilot said, "I like her lunch. Think I'll have what she's having". And another had cookies too because he was waiting for someone else to take a cookie first. Cookies became my thing for the day. Later, they were cleaning up and had one cookie left - the guy said he knew how much I liked them and gave it to me.

The next one was the Citation II; the only Class C simulator we flew and FAA certified. Yeah, it was a pretty big deal. So big, in fact, that the Citation II instructor was able to log 1 hour of instrument flight sim time in my log book. Sweet.

The Citation was a little harder. The controls were a little bit heavier, as this was a bigger airplane. Still did okay though. (Crashed once though- Shhhh!) Still smiling when I came out of the sim though. The instructor remarked to someone later that he wished all of his students could be like me. I laughed, thinking that was pilot sarcasm - "Seriously? But I crashed your plane...". And it was pointed out to me that I only had 7 hours of flight time in a plane. I barely knew how to operate that one and here I am, in a professional sim, flying a much more complicated airplane, which had different controls than my plane, and for the very first time. It was okay to crash - even the other guys with their private pilot license's crash on sims.

The Embraer was next and I did not like that one at all. The controls were very, very heavy - so heavy, that I'm still kind of feeling it in my arms. Arg, gotta build some muscle in these wimpy little aviatrix arms!

The Lear 31 was the last one we flew in for the day. The instructor for that plane could add weather effects and blow smoke into the cabin. Very, very neat. My co-pilot flew with a heavy fog coming down for landing. They changed it to clear skies for me, but I wished I had tried the heavy fog one. Afterall, it's a sim - no harm done. This sim and the one before it had a flight navigator, so you didn't even have to look out the window. You had a screen in front of you and one arrow represented you the airplane and the other arrow represented where you needed to go. When you needed to turn, you just followed the arrow and tried to keep them lined up. Very, very cool. I even asked if those were real because I had never seen one before - we sure don't have those in Diamonds! (And by the way, I got laughed at for that question, but all in good fun.)

Some people left early. I (and my partner) couldn't understand why people would leave early - we'd stay there and play all day if we could. It was hard work too; left there feeling very exhausted, but happy. I feel so honored to have been able to go! Thank you so much Atlanta Aero Club and Flightsafety! Not only did I have the chance of a lifetime, I also met great people, had an absolute blast and learned a lot, too.

No Go

Got my Private Pilot Test Prep book. Tried studying at night when I usually read a little before bed, but kept falling asleep and would have to read the same thing multiple times. It's okay when it's a fiction book, but not when it's serious studying.

So I've been studying a little bit after dinner and on my lunch break at work. The book isn't monstrous or anything, but I was quickly overwhelmed in the first few pages. I wonder how I'm going to cram all of this into my head... I made a joke on facebook about maybe this is why pilots all have nicknames/call signs - they've been studying so hard and forgot their own names in the process. :P

Managed to schedule a last minute flight in last night. It's quite a feat to fly out of work, get my stuff together, take care of the animals, shove a sandwich in my mouth and speed over to the airport. The weather was fine - saw one cumulonimbus overhead as I drove there, but didn't think it would be a problem.

Arrived at the school, flight bag in hand and "Love at First Flight" t-shirt on. Saw the guy in charge of the center and waved hello. Saw my very first instructor, "Baloo", and was totally excited to see him! He asked how everything was going and I started babbling nonstop about everything. Told him about how the seat cushion was helping me to see and about my perfect landing. He congratulated me. The owner said, "Get out!" from the other room. I poked my head in and grinned, he dropped the joking tone and pointed to the door, "I mean it, get out". Joking, I'm sure... but I don't like him very much. I admitted to Baloo that I tried to get another perfect landing during my touch & gos and didn't make it after that first time. He had really good advice- "That's the problem - you tried. Did you try for a perfect landing the first time? Just let it happen". And the guy in charge piped up from the other room -"Feel the Force, Luke!". I shouted back, "Thanks, Obi-Wan!". (Ha-maybe I should call him "Obi-Wan")

 Although couldn't talk long - the daylight was fading and we needed to take off. I got my stuff, waved g'bye and headed out to do the pre-flight before Bambi came out there. Felt kinda good to strut out of there to do the pre-flight in front of my very first instructor. Kind of a "look at me now" moment. Very cool.

I greeted my Delta Charlie with enthusiasm. Talked with her all through the pre-flight, running my hands over her wings. Bambi took awhile to come out of there, so I had plenty of time. She warned me that Del had been having oil pressure problems yesterday but didn't seem to today. We hop in the plane. I handle the radios (omg- I handled the radios!!!) and started to taxi. Bambi was taken aback by the taxiing - we were on the line 99% of the time. Got down to the little area where we did the run up before take off. You have to do a little maneuver to get the plane turned around. Kind of turning on a point. You up the power and stomp hard on the brake where you want the plane to go. Although turning isn't hard - it's just stopping because otherwise that plane will keep going. She turned like a Russian Ballerina. Bambi was astounded and even exclaimed, "VERY GOOD! WOW!".

It was short lived, however. The oil pressure dropped (dropped, as in plummeted) and the oil temperature rose. A serious red flag. It could be that the gauges were just messing up, but it could also be that the engine would seize up in the air if we attempted to take off. I was disappointed, but we turned around and came back. Better to be on the ground, wishing you were in the air than in the air, wishing you were on the ground. Poor little Del, hope she's okay.

But that puts my next flight on Sunday. It's okay - I'm disappointed, but by Sunday, I'll be able to memorize slow flight, power-on & power-off stalls and the emergency take off procedures. Got slow flight down already. Stalls are very similar in how they start out, so shouldn't be too bad. And hopefully, my Del will be ready to go on Sunday.

Ground School

First official day of ground school. Was excited this morning, but was also very, very jealous looking up at the clear, blue sky, wishing I was up there instead. Bambi said that if maybe we got through everything, then maybe we could do some pattern work.

Mostly we worked on the weight and balance sheet and how to fill one out. The plane has a center of gravity and the weight of it after adding fuel, people, bags, etc affects that. The weight and balance sheet just makes sure we don't go over maximum weight.

Then we went over the principles of flight... Wasn't as excited about all of this. I learned about this before my intro flight. Went over gravity, lift, thrust and drag. Covered Angle of Attack (AoA) and how that comes into play with stalls. We finished 20 minutes ahead of time, but not enough for a flight. Pooh. :(   Oh well, good news is that we managed to squeeze in one for tomorrow. Hope the weather cooperates.

She dragged out her HUGE CFI book so we could look at diagrams and stuff. I'm not kidding when I say this book was a monster. Looked like one of the antique family Bibles or something...  She had to make it for her CFI training. Then she looks at me and asks if I've ever considered being a CFI. I laughed and admitted that I hadn't at first, but am warming to the idea. Mostly how I could get paid for flying and could give the gift of flight to someone else. It's still a long ways away, in any case.

In other news, she thinks I'll be ready to solo and take my written exam the first week of October. Bought myself a test prep book and the plan is to do a section per day and practice the online quizzes (which I've already been doing and have been getting pretty good at!)

I went to an itty-bitty air show over the weekend. Helicopters only, but hey, I take what I can get... :)
Ran into an organization I've been looking at for a little while. Finally got to talk to someone in person about it. If I volunteer, I get to fly in their planes, learn new skills and use my piloting skills to help people. Whatever you want to learn, they are willing to teach you if you are willing to help out. You can help out with their PR and promotions or help out with the young kids, teaching them about aviation or you can learn first-aid skills and help out in the case of an emergency. I've been trying to think of a way to combine aviation and medical stuffs. I just may have found it. Oh yeah, and I get to wear a nifty 'lil flight suit, too.

Touch & Go's

I flew again on Sunday. My instructor and I don't have much time in the next few weeks, so we scheduled two flights this weekend. She warned me not to get too excited because there was a hurricane coming through and most likely the lesson would be canceled.

I woke up Sunday morning and sure enough, 100% cloud cover. Regardless, I hung around the house and got ready just in case. 11am rolled around. No phone call. She promised me she'd call an hour before hand if it was going to be canceled. I waited until 11:15 - nothing. Looked outside again - still 100% cloud cover. But they looked kind of high, so maybe that's why. I checked my phone, made sure it was charged and turned it off/on. No phone call, no messages. I got my stuff together and got into the car, certain that my phone would ring any minute. Never did.

I got down to the airport and checked-in. Asked the guy behind the desk if we were still flying today and he said we were, as the radar said it was clear outside. My instructor arrived and also asked. We all checked again and it looked liked all systems were go.

My instructor said that maybe we'd change our plans for today and just hang around the airport. She didn't trust the radar and would hate to be faraway from the airport in case something happened. Instead, we'd spend the day doing touch & go's. My heart leaped - those are my favorite! Actually, I've only ever done one real one and it was assisted. But I've done them many, many times in my dreams. Thought they looked like fun ever since I saw Maverick do one in Top Gun when I was younger. I remember before all this craziness started and my pilot friends told me that I'd need to practice touch & go's until I was blue in the face. They thought they were boring; I've always found them fun.

Did the pre-flight again. I was in the same plane I've been in the last four flights. Not ashamed to say that I love this little plane. Her call sign ends in "Delta Charlie". I've been calling her "Del" and then it transformed into "Delphinus" (latin for dolphin). There's just something about her... She's my instructor's favorite plane, too.

(And speaking of names, I'm going to start to refer to my CFI as "Bambi". More personable and easier than "my CFI" or "my instructor" all the time.)

So we taxi down the runway. No radios this time. Bambi says I need to concentrate on just the touch & go's. She does the first one. I look for landmarks to tell me when to turn and if I'm where I need to be in the air. We land and go up again - my controls this time. Bambi still had her hands on the controls though, walking me through things. There were a million things going on up there - more so than usual. A normal flight, you take off and still have to do things, but not as quickly. A touch & go is different. You go up, do a lap in a square around the airport, land, repeat. It's very quick... or at least it seems that way. We only had enough time to do 5 touch & go's in an hour.

We turn final. I see that runway, as I lick my lips nervously. Wonder if I can score another perfect landing? No such luck - we bounce. I frown - Bambi says it was a good landing. No way... nothing like last time. This one was like my first landing. She laughs and tells me not to be such a perfectionist. It was a good landing, just not "mythologically perfect" like my landing the day before.

We push the throttle all the way forward, pull back on the stick and we're in the air again. 500ft - change the flaps to cruise. Turn left, line plane up with skyline of Atlanta, look out left window, make sure we are parallel with the runway, look for triangular building, turn left again, turn final left once over the triangular building, lower to 1500 rpm, watch out for tall green pole, lower flaps, aim for runway, cut power to idle, pull back, let stick go a little to lower nose, roll down runway, push throttle forward again, pull back on the stick and we're off again. Very exciting - can't see how a person can say this is boring!

I started to feel more comfortable with it. Take off and landings always made me a little nervous before. We were certainly beating that out of me today! The wind was a little strong, so it tossed us about during some of the turns. Besides, some of the turns need to be sharper than normal because these are so quick. It was a little nerve-wracking to see the ground like that. We'd go into a turn and I'd see only ground out of the window on my left. The visual made me have a tendancy to try and correct it. You may think of me as crazy but it was during one of the turns when I first heard/felt the plane "talk". We'd go into the turn, I'd see the ground coming, try to correct it and that's when I "heard" it... "Trust me". Really felt it more... Another turn, another pulling back and once again, "trust me". So I did and just went with it. Bambi even remarked afterwards that she felt a change in me and really saw how I was learning to trust the plane more.

I didn't tell my instructor, but I told my mom. She said it was probably just as well that I didn't tell the instructor. We joked about me being a "plane whisperer" or something. haha

After 5 touch & go's, we landed. Had two good landings and two that came down hard. Bambi said it was okay, as I was still learning. And she was right - something did change in me. Everyone thought I was loved airplanes before, but nothing compares to this! Usually after a good flight, I'd get a natural high and I'd just feel so elevated. After a bit, it would wear off and I'd slowly come back down. It's now Thursday and I haven't come back down yet. I don't think I'm going to come back down, nor do I want to ever. I feel it coursing through my veins and wonder why I didn't find out about my love for aviation sooner. It feels like it's always been there, but just waiting for the right time to let me discover it. Couldn't imagine my life without it.
As the song says, "I think I fell in love with the 8th World Wonder...". ;)

The One with the Perfect Landing

For once, the weather was in my favor - no afternoon t-storms on Saturday afternoon. I headed down to the airport early like I always do. I was positive, I was excited.

My CFI was sitting at the desk when I entered. She told me she had a few things to finish up inside, but I could go ahead and start with the pre-flight.

No way. Pre-flight by myself ? With no supervision? Really?

It's okay - I've got this one. I've done this before and I can do it again. Besides, gives me more one-on-one time with the plane. She's one I've flown in twice before. It'll be okay. I've got this one.

I'm not even exaggerating that I nearly skipped out to the ramp. More responsibility makes me happy. I took great pride in going over the plane and checking everything. To experienced pilots, doing this part on your own may not be a big deal, but it is and was to me. I was finishing up when my CFI walked out. She checked the fuel and oil levels and off we went. She discussed about me being on the radios this time. I listened to her going up and was going to try it on the way back. She said she'd coach me a little on the way back too, so nothing to worry about. (Just wish they didn't talk so dang fast!)

She let me take off this time, too. I took a deep breath - putting out of mind my bad takeoff and thinking about the first time instead. Thinking about how magical it was to leave the ground and everything behind. Just watching it drop away as the plane soars away.  Airspeed alive and we were airborne. Hit some hot pockets going up and while we were in the air, so we were tossed around quite a bit. Still not used to that. She was telling me that I just need to let go and go with the flow when that happens. Unless it tosses us into a 90 degree bank or something, I don't need to do anything or try and correct it - the plane will correct itself.

We worked on stalls and slow flight again. Getting better. Still need to commit those to memory. Silly to think I was ever scared of stalls. Hopefully the landing on a field and the checkride won't be as bad as they look from here either.

Was beautiful up there. REALLY clear visability. Saw a few rain showers off in the distance, which was pretty cool. They were kind of like a thinly stretched ball of cotton off in the distance. Very neat to see.

So we turn around to head home. We're about 30 miles out. She says we need to call into the Tower at about 15 miles away from the airport, so we have some time to practice.

"Peachtree Tower, 352 Delta Charlie, approach, 15 miles out".

Easy enough, right? I hit the button and go for it. "Perfect", says my CFI. We wait... and wait some more. Nothing. She tells me to try again. I go again; tower responds. The guy tells me to go to a certain runway. My CFI nods and tells me to repeat back what I just heard. Easier said than done. WTF did he just? So I repeat back what I heard... and in the wrong order. My CFI bursts out laughing beside me. She said it was okay - I got my point across and that's all that matters. Well, the tower calls twice more in rapid succession - changing our runway each time (wind keeps changing). She takes over because it's just too fast and there's too much information.

"Wanna try landing?"

Bring it on. I can do this. Okay, aim for the landing strip, gradually cut power, pull back a little, hold and gently let go. She exclaims, "wow, good job!". Even I know that was a good landing. We landed so smoothly that you had no idea you were on the ground. No bumps, no bounces. Unheard of to land like that on someone's second try. The plane just floated down the runway and alighted on the runway like a drop of rain on a leaf. Very smooth, graceful. She said she doesn't even get landings like that all the time. They are very, very difficult to do and even the most experienced pilot doesn't get them all the time. Like the Holy Grail of landings.

We taxiied back. I said g'bye to my plane and seriously, flounced out of there. I called my mom from the car and told her about it. I got such an adrenaline high from it and haven't come back down since. This definitely takes the cake for the best flight yet.

(P.S. The "s" word came up -"solo". We're getting closer and I'm excited!)

4.9 hours

Sunday the 27th had THE most perfect flying weather that we've had in awhile. Blue skies and not a cloud in sight. Just a little bit of wind, which turned into a lot once I got into the air. The plane was bucking all over the place, but was still easy (haha relatively) to control. Sunglasses came in handy today. MUCH too bright outside.

Realized the night before while thinking about my flight, that I forgot a number of things on the pre-flight last time. Yay for me remembering on my own; boo for the instructor not pointing them out to me at the time.

Had a larger seat cushion this time and was able to see even better! Sometimes a little too well. Saw so much of the horizon and the ground below that I kept thinking that we were descending when we weren't.

So I taxiied again, but she insisted on having her feet on the pedals as well. She took off again and landed. I was supposed to use the radio today, but she did it again. I was supposed to fill out the weight and balance sheet before the flight. We forgot to grab it on the way out and she said to forget it because we needed to hurry up and fly.

Still no landing or taking off. Practiced stalls again. It was really clear, but REALLY windy. (And so I've been told that the really clear days are really windy days)

Stalls were good. My instructor says that I need to memorize the maneuvers backwards and forwards. I'm picking up on them alittle, but still need to work harder on them. Need more chair flying, I think.

She was supposed to let me on the radios this time, but she said it was too busy. :(

Although I'm going through my checklists faster and faster because I know where everything is now, so that's good at least. Wish she'd let me do more stuff...  But the flight was good this time. No where near as bad as the worst time; a little closer to my best flight ever.