Runway 18

Well, it’s been awhile since I was last able to post about a flight.  This was a great weekend to fly, and I was lucky enough to take advantage of it.  Since I am now out of ground school, my weekends are a bit more open.  I got up yesterday morning for a couple of hours, but had an issue with my camera.  I worked out the kink and was able to get some footage during this mornings lesson.

I am moving right along through my lessons.  Yesterday, the primary focus was ground reference maneuvers.  I just have ‘someone’ to thank for there being virtually no winds.  We worked on turns around a point and S-turns around a road (we selected route 214 for those of you familiar with the area).  I found those quite easy; easier than I thought it’d be anyway.

Today, we took off from Runway 18 and headed out to Deale like we normally do.  The lesson called for some stalls, steep turns and IR (instrument reference) hood work.  Basically, the hood work simulates flying in clouds (the oh sh*t scenario).  About half way through my flight, my instructor handed me a set of ‘foggles’, as I call them.  It’s basically a set of glasses without the glass, and instead has a bill (or hood) to keep your focus on the instruments ONLY.  I thought that I’d do OK, since I played a lot of Microsoft Flight Simulator in the past.  My reasoning was, as a VFR (Visual Flight Rules) pilot, most of your focus is [should] be outside of the airplane.  On computers, your peripheral is severly hampered, so you focus more on the instruments.  As a matter of fact, the first thing my instructor told me was to stop playing my flight simulator until we start ‘hood work’.  Well, now I know why.  It was a bit unnerving not being able to look outside.  There is an interesting scan of the instruments that my instructor taught me, in an effort avoid focusing on one instrument over another.  It was helpful, but I only learned it 2 minutes before heading up in the air.  Needless to say, I became WAY to focused on my attitude and altitude indicators, and wasn’t bouncing (for the most part) that information off of other instruments.  But, I collected 0.5 hours today of hood work and I need 3 total for my license so I still have plenty of time.  No rush, as my wife tells me.  🙂 

On another note, I hit two milestones this weekend.  First, my instructor told me today that I should be able to solo by the end of April!  Some would think that soloing would be the first milestone a private pilot overcomes.  But mine is that knowing my instructor has the FAITH in me to even utter the words ‘solo’ in my presence.  My second milestone is is more of a mile pebble:  I busted 10 hours in the air after this mornings lesson.  🙂 

~ Brian

Total Time: 10.3 hours