Plan C....As In Continue

Had a phone call this last hour from Randy, who had just spoken with Wayne (FAA Ops), who I also spoke with later.  Their recommendation, and I agree 100%, is for me to call CAMI and get an extension on my medical flight test authorization, then continue my PPL training. 

As it stands now, I can train right up until the moment I am ready to take my PPL checkride.  This means I can fly solo, train for cross-country, do my solo cross-country flights, and prepare for the checkride.  At the point I am ready for my checkride, I also have the option to take both tests in combination (I think I may have mentioned that option being offered to me in one of my early blog posts last fall), with Wayne being the one administering the test.  

This seems to make the most sense to me.  By that time I will be more confident and comfortable in the plane, and the medical portion will be a second thought to me.  In a nutshell, by passing the checkride I will automatically satisfy the conditions of the medical flight test, thereby eliminating the need to take both tests separately.  

Wayne was apologetic for things not panning out this time around, but honestly, I'm over it.  As long as we have a plan, and I can continue flying toward my PPL requirements, I'm good to go.  

Next lesson is scheduled for Wednesday night at 18:30 local.  That is, of course, if the weather permits.  Another winter weather system is expected to hit Wednesday, so we'll see.  

Two Victor Uniform, clear of the active

It's Go Time

Weather permitting, my medical flight test will occur on Tuesday, March 3rd, beginning at 10:30 AM EDT at KJVY in Jeffersonville, IN.

I spoke yesterday with the CFI/Ops Inspector that will be doing my test.  Here's what's on the agenda/expected of me during the flight:

• I will be PIC, with no control input from the inspector.  (Upon hearing that I had not soloed yet, his response was, "Well, congratulations, your first solo is with me.")  
• Once we complete preflight/taxi/takeoff from KJVY, we'll fly north.  
• I'll be asked to pick out 1 or 2 fields as potential emergency landing locations
• He will have me simulate 1, likely 2, engine-out forced landings over my chosen emergency landing field.
• He will pick out various landmarks while in the air, at varying distances from the aircraft and ask me:
1.  Can you see it?
2.  How far away is it?
• He will have me looking at charts, the instruments, etc, inside the plane, then back outside the plane, judging my ability to switch between near and far vision quickly.  
• We'll fly back to the airport and I will do at least one touch and go.
• After the touch and go, I will perform a full-stop landing, taxi back to the ramp, then taxi back to the active runway, take off, fly around the pattern once, then perform a full stop landing, taxiing back to the FBO and shutting down.  

The previous assumptions from my original AME and several CFIs I've talked to or whose posts I've read online, suggesting all I'll have to do is taxi, were incorrect at best.  I attribute this to the uniqueness of my visual deficiency in that I do have two eyes, so I do in fact have some depth perception, but it's the matter of my corrected far-sightedness and how capable I am of compensating for the limited depth perception that I need to demonstrate.  

What was once slight concern has now turned into me being, rather pointlessly, a nervous wreck at times.  I've got this.  I can do all of the above.  I know it.  Now I just have to prove it.  

Game on.

Two Victor Uniform clear of the active.   

The Last Big Hurdle (Medically Speaking)

Ok, the bad news first (not really bad, just disappointing).  For starters, I didn't get to fly this week.  34Q had new leading edges installed on the elevators.  Second, I received a call from CFI Randy this afternoon, which was to bring good news.  However, as a secondary piece of information during the call, he let me know he would be out of town next week for work, so no flying next week either.  This means that the following week it will have been 3 weeks between flights.  Again.

Normally, I'd roll with the punches and say, "Oh well, better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, etc,", but you see, there's a reason I'm edgy for having been grounded for that long - the reason for Randy's call.  FSDO Louisville will be calling me next week to set up my medical flight test the week of 2/23.  Randy and I will fly over, I'll go up (or at least taxi around) with the AME/CFI (they have 2 on staff that are a 'combo' if you will), then I'll be approved for a 3rd-class medical with a waiver for my visual deficit, and we will fly home.

Once this is complete, I will have no medical restrictions, and I will be fully cleared to fly solo.  This is the last hurdle I have to cross before I will fully, 100% commit to seeing this through financially.  I have held off taking my FAA written knowledge test until I had this behind me.  Maybe that was a good idea, maybe not, but I couldn't see spending the money to sit the test if I wasn't going to get beyond the medical part.  So I'm in full-on study mode for the written test as of right now.  As soon as I'm medically cleared, I'm going to sit the test and get it out of the way.

According to Randy, after I solo and begin training for cross-country, the hours will rack up quickly, and I will begin completing my flight requirements at a much faster pace.  I don't want to get in a situation where I'm ready to take my oral exam & checkride but have to wait until I take my written.

I've got a lot riding on this.  For me, it basically feels like a 'mini checkride' in a sense.  If I don't demonstrate that I can taxi and fly the plane without hitting something (or, God forbid, someone) in spite of my visual deficit, it's game over for my PPL.

I know I can do this, especially after my last lesson.  I just need to get past my nerves and stop worrying that I'll do something stupid or forget something important because I'm nervous during the flight test.

Two Victor Uniform, clear of the active.

Just Do It

Tonight's flight was fairly straightforward, but 34Q had more than just door paneling replaced last week it seems.

Randy mentioned as we entered the flight school lobby that the new seats had also been installed so I'd be sitting up a little higher.  I've mentioned before, I'm not a tall man, so every inch of vertical boost counts, especially in the plane.  As I opened the left-side door I got my first look.  Gone is all of the 70's era leather that adorned the doors.  And the seats.  No more orange leather with brown and orange tweed inlays.  The only old part left in the interior is the brown plastic at the bottom of the instrument panel and the orange carpet, all soon to be gone.  Even the panel is getting replaced.  34Q is going to be one sexy looking lady when all is said and done.  Soon she'll be painted to match the King Air 300 (I'm scouring the Interwebz for pictures of this paint scheme), and not only that, she'll be getting a new N-number to closely match the 300 as well, NXXXJE I believe.

Maybe one of the last pics I get to take of her as N9634Q

On to the flight.

Since there was weather in the area, tonight was going to be a quick flight, working on landings.

METAR KHNB 042115Z AUTO 29009KT 10SM BKN065 09/00 A3006

Pretty much straight down the runway again, confirmed by the sock.  This will be a good flight.

I taxied out to Runway Two Seven, did my run-up, checked for traffic while at the hold-short line, then made my call and took off.  Right away I felt like I was on-point for this flight.  No nonsense, no distractions, just fly the plane.  And I did.

The first approach was a bit high but I corrected with a little power out.  Round-out was probably my best to date at this point, held it off, then flared and let the tires just kiss the runway.  Power in, carb heat in, flaps up.  And proceeded to do the next two identically.

After the third touch-and-go, Randy commented 'Boy you've got your mind made up tonight.  You're going to fly this airplane.'  Also said he hadn't even had to do anything the whole flight and thanked me for the airplane ride this evening.  I appreciated the compliment, but I didn't want to get a big head and get arrogant and forgetful.  But I tried so hard not to that I think I actually *lost* some confidence instead.

After landing 6 I was getting laterally unstable in my approaches.  Randy reassured me though that as you do landings back-to-back like this, the mind tends to get overwhelmed without you even realizing it.  It's apparently a normal reaction.  So to give me a break we headed Southwest and worked on turns around a point.

I felt I struggled a bit with entering the maneuver, but he assured me it was good enough to pass a checkride.  I felt I could have done better, just as I have before, but this time was different.  I felt like I had a better sense of what the plane was doing vs. what I wanted it to do, and I took charge and told it otherwise.  In fact that's how I felt about the entire flight.  No nonsense.

As we headed back to the airport, I entered downwind, turned base, and had another landing that was looking really good until I ballooned and didn't really compensate until a verbal nudge from Randy and a slight nudge from him on the yoke.  Back up after touch and go, and into the pattern.

On the downwind, just as I was looking at the runway and was abeam touchdown, before I could pull power, Randy said, "Alright, you've just lost your engine," and pulled all the power.  "What are you going to do?"  He called our simulated emergency and waited for my reply.

"Fly the airplane."  "Yes, but more importantly, fly to the airport.  Don't turn base, just fly to the airport.  Now more than ever, we've got to fly those airspeeds."  I suggested flaps, he replied, "Not until you're sure you've made the runway.  Then you add in only what you need."

I began a turn to the airport at about 15 degrees of bank so as not to bleed off too much speed and set the pitch for about 75 knots.  Once we had the airport made, he suggested some flaps, so I added 10, then 10 more as we got closer.  I pulled the pitch up for 70 knots and gradually drifted a little right until I was lined up with center, and just brought it down on a normal final approach.  The touch-down was dead-on center, right at the 1000' markers, gentle and smooth.  "Alright, let's stop with that one."  I applied the brakes, steered it onto the taxiway, and stopped just across the hold short line for my after-landing checklist and called clear of the active.

While we were putting 34Q away for the evening, we discussed my medical flight test (yes, that is still unresolved due to the many, many delays in my lessons last fall).  Randy is trying to arrange for the FSDO AME to come to KY8/Ron Lewis Field, which is about 15 minutes flight time due South, just across the river in Kentucky, for me and one other pilot to get us both medically cleared on the same day.  My authorization with FSDO to take this test expires on 3/3, and if I haven't completed the test by then, I'll have to call the office in Oklahoma City and get another authorization letter, which will take 3-4 more weeks to obtain.  At this point hoping to get it scheduled and completed in the next 1-2 weeks.  Once that is off my back, I'll have no medical restrictions on my student license and can solo, which Randy feels I'll be ready for any day now.

During the debrief, I explained that on every other flight, I think I was so laser-focused on the numbers and the technical execution that I wasn't paying attention to what the airplane was really doing and was less aware of what was going on outside.  It was as if I just decided, "I know the numbers.  I know the steps.  Fly the plane first, correct if the speeds are wrong, pay attention to what the airplane is telling you, and what it's doing, and what you see outside.  Refer to the instruments to see if they are telling you the same, then correct what needs corrected."

I felt this was by far my best flight ever in terms of confidence and control.  Randy agreed, and was so pleased that he texted me later to tell me how thrilled he was at the flight.  I really felt like I was firing on all cylinders.  Now I'm ready to do it again next week, but this time with a crosswind.  I've been spoiled the last two weeks by these 'straight down the runway' winds.  I need to hone my crosswind landing skills now.  But I'll take any weather as long as it's VFR.

Two Victor Uniform, clear of the active.

http://myflightbook.com/logbook/Public/ViewPublicFlight.aspx/1568325

ASEL: 84 Landings	23.2
Landings - Touch and Go:	64
Simulated Instrument:	1.3
Dual:	23.2
Total Time:	23.2

Called it!

Got a text from Randy this morning.  They're replacing the door panels/leather in 34Q, which won't be done until Friday, so no lesson this week.

Just as well.  I had a long weekend due to a complication with my daughter's health, and I'm still fighting off the scratchy throat I had just before my trip to Tampa.  I could use the extra time to regroup.

I know I should probably use my scheduled flight time to study for my written knowledge test.  That's a discipline I've lost in the last few months with everything going on in the other areas of my life.  I might work it in, but honestly, I'll probably just work my normal hours, come home and take time to rest or catch up on things, maybe get in some simulator time.

Two Victor Uniform, clear of the active.  

Against The Wind

It's been a busy week, so I'm late posting for last week's lesson.  Life gets that way sometimes.  

As I watched the METAR for KHNB all day I knew there was going to be a slight chance of being grounded due to the wind.  At times gusts were in the mid to high 20-knot range, so I knew it would be a bumpy ride if we went up.

My lesson was scheduled for 15:30 EDT.  I worked until 15:00 (I'd just returned from a business trip in Tampa, FL the night before which involved working 11 hours on Saturday, so I had some extra time I could flex to leave early.  Worked out perfectly).  

My lesson was scheduled for 15:30.  I made the drive in surprisingly good time for not speeding and arrived at 15:20.  There was what looked to be a Piper Archer doing a touch and go just as I was approaching the extended centerline of Runway 27 on the highway.  He didn't seem to be having too much trouble with the wind, which was comforting.  I parked outside the flight service office and watched him do a couple more patterns.  Randy pulled into the parking lot shortly after.  

34Q was already outside and chocked.  Right away Randy showed me the new interior paneling that went in last week.  It's looking really good.  The leather and seat upholstery hasn't been replaced yet, but will be soon (probably on a day I have a lesson scheduled....).  

There's no other way to say it.  It was a frakkin' windy day.  Here's the METAR from about the time I was doing my walkaround:

KHNB 212035Z AUTO 28012G25KT 10SM FEW050 11/00 A3011 RMK AO1

12 knots, gusting to 25.  The most extreme winds I've encountered so far while flying.  The good news is it was almost straight down the runway.  Great news for takeoff, but since 34Q is parked -90° from the runway heading, climbing up to check fuel quantity is going to be a challenge.  Maybe having a few extra pounds to hold me up there isn't such a bad idea...

Preflight actually wasn't that bad.  Noticed the shiny, recently-rebuilt nose gear strut.  Glad to see that.  Done with passenger briefing, etc, and she started just fine, first time.  Listened to the METAR, heard the above, checked brakes, & taxied to Two-Seven. 

Runup was fairly smooth, no issues with voltage, mag check was good.  It felt good to be back.  Oh, I guess I should mention, it had been 3 weeks since my last flight (12/31) so I was having withdrawals again.  I was getting my fix though, wind or not.

I was doing my usual routine of talking myself through all the checklist steps, but failed to say 'feet to the bottom' when I got on the runway.  As a result, I didn't put my feet all the way down and was actually tapping the brakes slightly on takeoff.  Lesson learned.  Keep up with what I was doing well - talking myself through the steps.  

Departure to the southwest was uneventful, and right away I knew I had my work cut out for me.  "Let's do turns around a point, then we're going to do rectangular course, and finish up with steep turns before we head back and do a couple landings."  "Ah, ground reference maneuvers, in this wind.  This will be fun." I thought.  This will be a definite test of my skills and a real challenge.  Challenge - ACCEPTED.  

I'll keep it short.  After both of us struggling to find a reference point to use for the turns, we found a pond, and I proceeded to do what I felt was a fairly ok job of maintaining distance considering feeling like a pinball.  The same for rectangular course. I started these entering right downwind, because I'm having more difficulty doing them to the right, so I want to focus on doing them first.  

On to the steep turns.  First couple of steep turns were again, in my opinion, ok.  Then he has me try something.  "Pick one of these bugs on the windshield.  Get into your turn, then put that bug on the horizon and keep it there."  I then proceeded to do three 45° turns each direction using this method - all in all the 6 best steep turns I've ever done.  

Before heading back to the airport, he handed me the mini-hood.  I did a few turns & descents, during which he also was feeding me info, then having me check the ATIS for the airport, then feeding me more info.  I did feel just a bit overloaded at one point but managed to maintain focus and process everything successfully.

Back to the airport via GPS while still under the hood & checking ATIS again.  Two touch-and-gos and a full stop landing.  All three were very challenging.  The third time around the pattern set me up for what I felt was one of my better approaches so far, and all was looking good until the roundout.  I knew getting her down was going to be hard all three times with such a strong wind straight down the runway, but the third time, she just didn't want to stop flying.  Bounced a little, but didn't have to compensate because the wind was giving me plenty of extra lift on the way back down.  

After putting 34Q away we headed for the office to debrief, where he informed me all three of my maneuvers would have passed a checkride, and the landings were not bad, just a difficult situation with the wind.  

Next lesson scheduled for 1/28 weather permitting, which looks good so far - partly cloudy and 45F.  Let's just hope the new carpet and leather don't come in this week :/

2VU clear of the active. 

ASEL: 77 Landings	22.2
Landings - Touch and Go:	58
Simulated Instrument:	1.3
Dual:	22.2
Total Time:	22.2

"One Last Time"...or..."New Years Flyin' Eve"

I took the last 2 days of 2014 as my last 2 vacation days for the year, mainly in hopes that somewhere in those 2 days I'd get some time in the air.  I texted Randy Tuesday morning asking if there was any chance of flying that day or the next, letting him know I was available the entirety of both days.  I didn't get a response by early evening and assumed he was away for the holidays.

Around 18:30 local I got a text asking if 15:00 local the next day would work.  Of course it will work (see reference to pizza in an earlier blog post).

The next day I didn't get in a hurry to do anything.  A little online gaming with a friend to pass the time, then a few warmup circuits in FSX Steam Edition, then ate some lunch.

About 2 hours before flight time I decided to get in the shower, but before I could even turn the water on, my phone rang.  It was Randy.  I'd just checked the METAR.  Solid VFR conditions, and TAF for a nearby airport was excellent all day.  "Great.  What's broken or getting installed on 34Q this time?" I thought.  I really shouldn't be so cynical, but it's been the status quo for this plane lately.  Plus it's been 5 weeks again since I've been up, and I'm a little depressed about it to be honest.

Surprisingly, it was good news, which I could tell immediately by the tone of his voice.  Turns out his previous cross country solo had returned early, and he was available any time.

Quickest.  Shower.  Ever.

45 minutes later we were shaking hands and heading to the hangar, a full hour earlier than planned.  I needed a good break like this for a change.  While 34Q was still in the (warm) hangar, I checked out my headset to see if the repairs I'd done had fixed it (last flight the microphone wasn't working so I had to use the passive reduction David Clark set in the plane).  I'd replaced the microphone and mic boom with parts I ordered from the manufacturer.  A quick test confirmed the headset was working better than before.  This was a relief - much better to have spent $80 USD on repairs than another $475 for a replacement of this model, which is the Pilot PA1779 recommended by my ENT doc.

I did my preflight, and missed one thing on the walkaround.  And, of course, it would be the one major thing that is flaky on 34Q right now - the nosewheel strut.  I'd noticed in my last flight on 11/25 that it was more compressed than it should have been - 2 fingers clearance instead of 3.  Apparently this was a prelude to needing rebuilt, which was supposed to have been done this morning, and I was the lucky student to get to taxi with it in this condition on what would end up being the last flight before it HAD to be rebuilt.

I get in, going through the rest of the pre and post-startup checklist, I notice even though we're facing 090 that the magnetic compass is 10° off.  Not the heading indicator, the magnetic compass.  Randy mentions he needs to get that fixed, so just turn the heading indicator to 090 and move on.  I'm a perfectionist.  I'm OCD.  This is driving me insane.  First point of frustration.

Taxiing down to 27, winds were 6-8 kts, almost straight down the runway, so naturally I want to push the yoke full forward to expose the top of the elevator control surface to the wind.  But I can't, because the nose is lower than usual, and we have to keep as much weight off it while taxiing as we can.  And it's popping with every bump.  Second frustration point.  "How many fingers was the clearance when you checked it."  Busted.  Third frustration point.

Runup was fine, magneto check was the smoothest I've ever had, set the GPS to KHNB, but someone had the range out to like 500 miles, so it took us both a bit to realize we needed to zoom way in.  More.  Frustration.

Takeoff was good, let the airspeed get away a little.  Midfield departure to the northwest to one of the practice areas, and up to 4500 feet.  Simple flight today.  Steep turns and slow flight.  Started with 30° turns as a warmup, then to 45°.  Nailed them all first try.  Slow flight was equally successful, with a twist.  He told me to take out 10° of flaps, and while he was correcting me for letting the nose fall, I forgot about the flaps and as a result took them all out.  So he had me still hold it in slow flight, at 50 kts.

I'm not physically strong by any respects, so holding the nose up at 50 kts with no flaps was quite a challenge for me, let a lone doing a turn 90 degrees heading to the left to roll out on a north heading, but I did it.  Then he told me to do a standard rate turn to the right, and roll out on South.  "There's no way I can hold this for 60 more seconds" I thought. I did, for the most part.  By now, my left arm was Jell-O.  I should probably reconsider a gym membership in 2015...

Time to practice landings.  The first attempt was a go-around.  Way too high and too fast.  Managing my energy and altitude during downwind, base, and final have been a big problem for me that I had actually overcome before I started having these long breaks between lessons.

The next two landings were not great, and to be honest, for almost all of them, I felt like I was behind the airplane.  I told him this during the debrief.  The wind was very choppy below 3,000 MSL, and I became aware on climbout of landing 2 that I didn't feel like my head was completely in the cockpit for some reason.  A quick re-focusing exercise and I was back where I needed to be.

Attempt at landing #3 saw ground effect taking us halfway down the runway.  Very very close to a dangerous stall, Randy took controls, and even he couldn't get her to settle down.  Another go-around.  Two more landings, the last of which was bouncy, to say the least.  After nearly nosing the prop into the ground thanks to the weak strut, I raised the nose a bit, slowed the plane down, and we exited the runway.

Debriefing the flight, Randy commended me on slow flight and steep turns, talked about the landings, and overall said the flight wasn't that bad.  I felt like the landings were some of my worst.  He did say again that whatever I'm doing with regards to simulation is definitely helping.

Scheduled to fly next Wednesday afternoon.  Clear skies are forecast, and the nosewheel strut should be fixed well before then.  I need it to be fixed before then.  There's no question these multi-week stretches between flights are holding me back.  Every break between flights I feel like I'm losing progress instead of making it.

Two Victor Uniform, clear of the active.