Private Pilot License Complete

December 28th, 2009

Monday at around 5:00 PM in Dublin, GA, my FAA designated practical examiner shook my hand and informed me that I had passed my practical exam. I am now officially an airplane pilot.

The oral was predictable. I was weak in a few areas, but strong on most. During training, we did not spend an overwhelming amount of time on ground school. I was fine on the sectional, airspaces, and cross country planning, but a little weak on the myriad of different weather charts.

What we did spend a lot of time doing was flying. I was happy to be moving on to the practical flight test. Short field, soft field, slip to land, steep turns, emergency landing, go around, recovered stalls and slow flight were all within standards. He didn't like the way I set up some of the approaches, even though that was the way I was taught to fly them. So I just went with it and flew them the way he wanted.

We finished with a standard landing, which I hit very smoothly. We taxied back, shut down, and went back inside. Chris sat in on the debrief. We got the good news, signed some paperwork, and I was handed my temporary airmen certificate. Needless to say I was drained. We flew back to LZU - my first certificated pilot in command flight. I got the night landing. We parked and hit The Flying Machine for a couple of beers to celebrate. I still have a lot to learn about aviation and piloting an aircraft. I am extremely proud of this privelege and accomplishment, but ultimately consider it a license to continue learning on my own.

The one person that made this possible for me is my wife, Cynthia. It costs a lot of time and money to earn a pilot license. Every hour I spent in the airplane was an hour she spent alone at home trying not to worry and taking care of our nest so I would have a warm place to come home to. Every dollar I spent with the flight school was a dollar that did not go toward dinner out, a cruise, or a weekend at the cabin. Every day I took off from work to practice flying was a vacation day that we would not spend together. For 16 months she supported my mission. I am eternally grateful to her. I do plan to continue flight training, but for now it's her turn to be front and center. We are planning an adventure together in 2010 that will definitely be worth writing about.

Lesson 42/43 : 11th hour

Sunday November 22nd, 2009


I flew again Thursday and Saturday in 391JA. I'm as ready as I can be for Monday. Tonight I will plan a cross-country from Dublin, GA to Chattanooga, TN and complete some FAA paperwork. Tomorrow is the practical. All I can do at this point is be prepared going in and do what I've been trained to do for the past 14 months as best I can. I leave tomorrow for Advanced Aviation at 730AM to start the show. The plan is to come back a licensed pilot.

P.S.
Dear Zeus,
If you would please delay the 56% chance of rain for Monday, I will gladly sacrifice a Turkey for you next week. Thanks.

Update: 11/23/2009 7AM
Weather unacceptable. Checkride delayed until tomorrow, Tuesday Nov. 23rd, 2009. Thanks for nothing, Zeus. I know somebody who isn't getting a Turkey sacrifice this year ..

Update: 11/24/2009 7AM
Weather unacceptable. Checkride rescheduled for Monday Nov. 30th, 2009.

Update: 11/30/2009 9 AM

Weather unacceptable. Checkride delayed until further notice.

Lesson 41 : Technical Difficulties. Checkride Scheduled.

Saturday November 14th, 2009

Saturday morning 10:45 AM. Today was to be the second extended time lesson. I was ready for a full day of checkride prep. First, our DA-20 would not start. So we called a lineman to come out and recharge the battery. 30 minutes later, we started up and I called PDK ground for taxi clearance. Nothing. Turns out the pilot-side transmit function is hosed. So Chris would have to do all the radio calls.

Once we got up into air, things went more smoothly. I nailed the slow flight, stall, and steep turn maneuvers. At Winder, we did soft field takeoffs and landings and those went fine. The short field takeoffs and landings went well too, but there is a characteristic of the 546DC that makes precision landing hard. 546DC's throttle is configured such that it keeps some power in all the time, even when throttle is completely pulled out. DA-20s float forever anyway, so with added power it means everything has to be extra low, slow, short in order to hit the point. I hit some and missed some, but was close and in control the entire time.

We headed to LZU for lunch at The Flying Machine. It was a picture perfect day for flying, so LZU was extremely busy and so was the restaurant. Lots of families sitting outside and kids running about. A older gentleman approached our table and asked if we were pilots. We talked aviation for a while until the food arrived. Toward the end of the meal, a very fancy jet landed at LZU and pulled up to the FBO for refueling.

This was the Pink Pony owner's jet. I was hoping to see some pink ponies, but all I saw was the pilot. He looked tired. My sympathy is limited.

After lunch, we got back in the sky and headed to Lumpkin county airport. This is the shortfield strip nestled in the woody hills of Dahlonega, GA that we've practiced on several times. Apparently, the Lumpkin folks had put on a free airplane rides event that day, so there were lots of people around the hangars. This was very fortunate for us because after 2 more close but missed short fields, I asked Chris to do one. He missed the first one just liked I did. And on his second pass, he hit the point and our right tire burst. Thus the end of the flying for today.

DA-20 tires are really the weak link in the plane's design in my opinion. They tend to burst often. Even with a burst tire the plane is controllable though.

The kind Lumpkin county people helped us drag our bird off the runway.

Darrick flew us in a replacement tire, but a bolt in the wheel was damaged. Diamond parts are exotic and nobody had anything that would fit, so I flew back with Darrick and Chris convinced somebody to drive out and pick him up. The good news is that I am now officially scheduled for a checkride on Monday November 23rd.

Ironically, back at home our washing machine that has been running without issue for 5 years broke and my wife spent the afternoon shopping, purchasing, and installing a new one. Cynthia was the only one today who triumphed over technical difficulties.

Lessons 39/40 : Extended Lessons

Monday November 9th, 2009

I flew last Thursday after work for about an hour, and same deal: not enough time. By the time I'm warmed up, it's time to go home. So on Monday, I took the afternoon off from work and scheduled 7 hours with Chris. That was exactly what I needed. We flew for 2 hours, took a break, and flew another 2 hours then went home. Most of that time was devoted to short field landings, which I now feel comfortable with and am hitting more than I'm missing. I have another long session set for Saturday, weather permitting. PPL by Thanksgiving is still a possibility.

Lesson 38: Airship! (and more checkride prep)

November 2, 2009

I flew out of PDK tonight to LZU and got in 6 shortfield landings. I think I'm going to have to go practice these on my own. 1.5 hrs per week is not cutting it. I need to rent the plane by myself one Saturday all day and get about 50 landings in. I fly again Thursday and Friday with Chris. This snail's pace is frustrating as hell. Depending on the outcome of the next 2 flights, the following practice will be this weekend solo circuit marathon until I can nail these shortfields EVERY TIME.

In other news, I saw an airship at LZU. Pretty blue lights. You're welcome, Direct TV.

Lesson 37 : DA-42! (and more checkride prep)

Thursday October 22, 2009

I flew with a new instructor, Steven, tonight as Chris had a conflict. We flew out of PDK which was busy as usual. I nailed the S-turns. Turns about a point were good, though I did bust the speeds a few times; I still need practice on the turns about a point. We did some short field landings at McCollum airport. I hit all but the first one.

Back at PDK, I got to see for the first time a Diamond 42 Twin Star. Advanced Aviation has a DA-40 (see Thanksgiving post), but I've never seen a 42 up close until tonight. If the DA-40 is the DA-20's big brother, the DA-42 is the hi speed, low drag uncle you never see except on special family reunions who shows you kung-fu moves in the yard while everybody else is inside eating potato salad and telling baby stories.

More pictures of uncle kung fu master:

FAA Written Passed

Thursday October 15th, 2009

Tonight, I passed the FAA written private pilot exam. This is a huge load off. I am now on the final stage of the private pilot license: the FAA oral test and check-ride. I need maybe 4 more flights before I am 100% ready. I should be a pilot by Thanksgiving.

Next flight is Saturday evening, unless it gets rained out.

Lessons 35/36 : PPL In Sight

Saturday Oct 3rd

Back to the short field at Lumpkin for more short field landings. I hit most of them and the ones I didn't, I was very close.

Friday Oct 9th

Ground references maneuvers. The good news with this lesson was that I was on top of the high altitude maneuvers. I hit slow flight, power on, and power off stalls within standards on my first attempt. It's been a while since I've done S-turns. I need a lot of practice on those.

FAA Test

I will be taking the FAA written portion 1 day next week after work. I'm consistently scoring in the 85% range, and that includes basically skipping/guessing a few questions that require a print out which I will have in the actual test but don't have in the practice software.

After I pass the written, Chris and I are going to take a break from the flights and do a ground school or two to prepare for the oral portion.

Lesson 34 : Lumpkin County

Saturday October 3, 2009

This evening we went to a new airport: Lumpkin County Airport, in the city of Dahlonega. This is a very small airport that sits in a slight ravine with tree covered hills on either side and is perfect practice for short-field practice. Here's a shot of valley just after clearing the trees on short take-off.

Tonight was really a big step forward. It's one thing to practice short field techniques at large field where it doesn't really matter if you miss, and another thing entirely to practice where you MUST hit the spot or go around. I think these conditions gave me the focus I needed to improve. Out of 4 landings, I went around on 1, got very close on 2, and nailed the last one.

Saturday we're going back to Lumpkin to really get them own every time. Clouds were broken around 4,000 ft, but as the night moved in the clouds lowered. So on the way back we had to do some dodging and weaving to stay out of them.

Lesson 32/33 : Short field landings

Sept 25 and 26, 2009

Atlanta has suffered record breaking flooding and nasty weather. People have lost their property, houses, futures, and in some tragic cases their lives. So I'm not going to complain about not being able to fly for weeks at a time. Just the same, it has been a major setback.

Weather is clearing up now and I'm back it. Short field landings are tough. There's no faking it. You have to touch down inside 500 feet past your point. Anything before the point or past 500 feet is a failed attempt, and in a real life scenario is a trip through the tress or off the runway. It's the riskiest of all the maneuvers because you're low and slow, which means there is very, very little room for error.

It's worth repeating for anybody interested in earning their wings. Save up money and time BEFORE starting the program. Be patient up front. The longer I string out lessons, the more rust I have to brush off every time, the more lessons it takes, the more it costs of the long run.

Lesson 31 : Maneuver Practice

Saturday September 12th

More practice. I'm executing the maneuvers a lot tighter. I still need work on the soft field and short field landings. Approximately 6 more hours of flight to go until FAA test time. I will be taking the test at Dublin, GA.

Lesson 30 : More FAA Test Prep

September, 3rd 2009

More getting ready for the checkride. I was able to complete slow flight, power on stalls, power off stalls, soft field takeoffs and landings within FAA checkride regulations. Chris said he wants me to test after 10 more hours of prep flight.

The written test prep is coming along as well. I could probably pass the written at this point, but I need another week of prep to really be sure. I'd like to get those 10 hours done within two weeks.

Lesson 28 & 29: Fine Tuning

I've flown twice since the last post. There is not much to tell, except that I'm trying to fine tune the maneuvers to the level of being able to pass them during the checkride. I'm also slogging throught the test prep software.

Soft field landings, short field landings, power off stalls, power on stalls, slow flight, turns about a point, and s-turns.

20/20 hindsight note: If I had it to do all over again, I would have waited and saved up my resources (money, vacation time) and tried to do this all at once .. or at least in a couple of continuous hard charges. I would not recommend spreading out flight training as long as I have. The first 30 mins of flight are "de-rusting, so I end up "wasting" that time and it adds up.

It is conceivable that I could take the written test next week. However, I still need 3 to 5 more fine tuning flights before I'll be ready for the checkride. Additionally I'll need 1 or 2 ground schools with Chris to prep for the oral. They don't just hand out PPLs.

Lesson 27 : Unusual Attitude Recovery IFR

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Chris was out of town this weekend and I haven't flown for almost month. So, Friday after work I called and got any available instructor to go up with me for some more simulated IFR hood time. The CFI I got was Lana, a relatively new addition to the Advanced Aviation instructor corps.

Today would be more IFR practice plus unusual attitude recover under the hood. In other words: I close my eyes, the instructor gets me totally disoriented and puts the airplane into a steep banking dive or climb, I open my eyes and get the plane back straight and level using only the instruments (under the hood).

Instrument reference alone is a different game than VFR. I was able to recover from them all well enough. I can see how an instrument rated pilot is really in a different class than VFR in terms of skill and safety. In my opinion, an instrument rating should be a requirement for the private pilot license. I already know that I'm not going to be making any long distance flights without the instrument rating.

.9 more simulated IFR hours to go. Probably this means 1 or 2 more flights this week. Then the FAA test. So, I'm looking at 1st or 2nd week of September to have the Private Pilot License.

Lesson 26 : IFR and Short Field

Saturday July 25, 2009

This afternoon I got in another .5 simulated IFR under the "hood". After that we practiced short field T/O and landings. I also got some study material for the FAA multiple choice test : software with approximately 9.2 billion questions about all things private pilot. Once I can give Chris an 80% or higher on the test prep software, he'll consider me good to go for the written. So, studying, fine tuning maneuvers, and finishing out the last hour of hood time. Most likely, FAA test date will be neighborhood of the last week of August.

Solo Cross Country #2 : MCN, MLJ, LZU

Tuesday July 21, 2009





Solo Cross country #2 is complete. This morning I flew from Lawrenceville to Macon Regional and from there to Milledgeville and finally back home to Lawrenceville. To preserve the integrity of this document, I'll be honest. Otherwise what's the point .. to look good? I did in fact screw up badly several times on this trip. But the silver lining is I recovered from those several screwups by myself (shamelessly spinning this to 'accidentally' look good). Here are the highlights.

(1) I got the runways at Macon backwards. I was supposed to set up to land on 5, but I set up on 23. Winds were calm so Macon tower told me to go ahead and take 23 at the last minute. I had to respond "unable, too high and fast" which I felt was the safe route. So, instead he had me fly the pattern into the correct runway. Silver lining: adapted safely and responsibly to a suprise situation and asserted my pilot in command judgment.

(2) I turned down the volume on Atlanta momentarily to hear the automated weather anouncement at Milledgeville .. and forgot to turn them back up. After the 3rd time calling them and receiving no response, I said "Atlanta, if you can hear me, I have Milledgeville in sight with Echo." Just then, I realized my error and raised their volume them only to catch the final part of an exasperated controller saying "THREE JULIET ALPHA. IF YOU CAN HEAR ME. FLIGHT SERVICES TERMINATED, HAVE A NICE DAY." Silver lining: What I experienced was a self-inflicted receiver failure, and I responded correctly by transmitting my intentions even though I was not receiving. Added bonus silver lining - the next time Atlanta Departure appears to be ignoring me, I'll know what's probably going on. That won't happen again.

(3) I bounced the final landing at LZU. I had too much energy on final and forced the flare .. all that energy has to go somewhere, so I skipped my way down the runway. Silver lining : I held it together and bad landings like that are the exception with me, not the rule .. and it was a learning experience. I should have let it ride out down the runway. You can't force it - especially a wispy Diamond that would just as soon take off again as touch down.

Remaining items: a few more hours of simulated IFR "hood time" and FAA test prep.

ETA for PPL: Augustish

Lesson 25 : Fine Tuning

Sunday, July 19th 2009

Yesterday, Saturday, I went out solo for some landing practice. However, after the first circuit I decided the winds were too gusty for comfort and called it after 1/2 an hour.

So today I met Chris for some more practice. We did steep turns, soft field takeoffs and landings for about 2 hours straight. The plan is to complete the final cross country on Tuesday. After that I'll need a few more hours under the hood and then I'll be qualified to take the FAA exam for the private pilot license.

After my PPL, I want to go do something different as kind of a celebration before I jump into the instrument rating. I have been considering a trip to Alaska for some bush pilot training - flying around mountains, landing and taking off from "unapproved" runways (aka beaches, gravel roads, mountain tops) and float planes. However in all likelihood it will have to wait until next Spring. I don't think time and resources are going to permit. I could go later this year, but Alaskan cold seasons (September-April) are not good flight training periods as the weather tends to deteriorate quickly. Not to be outdone by fate, I'm eyeing a floatplane school in Winter Haven, FL. A long weekend in the sunny Orlando area is looking like a more reasonable plan B in the near term.

Most immediately though, tommorow is my final, 3-leg solo cross country. Lawrenceville-Macon-Milledgeville and back home.

Lesson 24 : Maneuver Practice

Saturday July 11, 2009

2 hours of practicing S-turns, turns about a point, and soft field takeoffs. All these maneuvers and more will be on the FAA test.

Chris started feeling ill from the S-turns, so we landed and took a break. Of particular note, Chris's LightSpeed headsets are unbelievably awesome. The ANR makes the cockpit silent. Radio communication is crystal clear. Bluetooth link up with iPhone. Comfortable. Lightweight.

I'll probably do another flight lesson, maybe a quick solo, and then get my long cross country done. Closing in on the FAA test.

Lesson 23: My first IFR

July 3, 2009

Under the Hood

Rather than jumping back into another cross country, Chris wanted to do some more training. So today we practiced simulated flying by instruments, aka flying "under the hood." The "hood" is a visor that limits the pilot's visibility exclusively to the instruments in the cockpit. The pilot cannot look outside, thus simulating zero visibility flight conditions.

I'm the computer/technical type, so I have a natural attraction to the instruments anyway. Early in my training, Chris had to actively remind me to look outside and not fixate on the instruments. So, I was right at home. This time I got to stare at instruments with his blessing. I even took off with the blinders on. Apparently I was right of center line, but held that heading during take off.

VOR : Magic Stones and Boxes

We used the VOR equipment to navigate to McCollum field, which was unusually busy. VOR technology was the primary navigation method for aviators starting from the 1960 until GPS was born and began to overtake it. Today, VOR is being phased out by GPS. Regardless, VOR stations are still in use and most avionics packages include a VOR receiver. Numerous explanations abound on the inter-webs on how VOR systems work and they are all wrong.

The truth is .. long ago, wizards created a bunch of magical stones called VOR stones and gave each airport around the world their own stone. The airports loved their stones and even gave them their own names. These stones look in all directions at once. To reveal the stone's wisdom, wizards also created magic boxes bound to the stone's life-force. Using these boxes, you can talk to the stones. The spell to hear the stone's arcane knowledge is as follows:

Whisper into the magic box the name of the stone you want to talk to and a compass direction. For example, "Stone Of Lawrenceville, tell me of your Eastern eye".

A voice will say something like, "I am the Stone of Lawrenceville. Move to your left 100 paces and my Eastern eye will see you."

You move what you think is about 100 paces to your left and again ask the stone, "tell me of your Eastern eye."

The stone replies, "Move to your right 2 paces and my Eastern eye will see you." So you move to the right 2 paces and ask a third time.

This time the stone responds, "I see you with my Eastern eye." That means you are traveling on the stone's West/East line.

If you're uncomfortable with the reality of wizards and magic, here is an alternative crackpot theory on VOR. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZljYaHXvxY

Unusual Attitudes

On the way back, Chris decided to have some fun with me. I would close my eyes and he would put the plane in a steep banking dive or climb. Then he would say "recover", at which point I would open my eyes and get us straight and level. Of course, this excercise had a practical purpose. It served as practice for becoming disoriented and getting reoriented.

I shut my eyes and tried to guess by feeling which way the plane was moving. It was like my senses could detect changes, but could not keep track of their net effect. With my eyes closed, I could feel the first change, i.e. a dive, bank, etc. But then another change would "overwrite" the previous one.

For example, Chris would dive, then bank left, then bank right. With my eyes closed, at the end of the sequence the only thing I felt was that we were in a right bank. When I opened my eyes, I immediately saw that we were in a level/unbanked dive. The right bank just straightened out the previous left bank. Conflicting sensory signals made for a little queasiness, but it was still fun.

So, 0.6 hrs simulated IFR. A little taste of what's to come in the Instrument Rating after the PPL.

Solo Cross Country #1 : Clemson

Saturday, June 27

Saturday, I completed my first solo cross country from LZU to CEU (Clemson, SC). In the movie "Lord Of War," freelance arms dealer, Uri Orlov, describes his first sale.

"Selling a gun for the first time is a lot like having sex for the first time. You're excited but you don't really know what the hell you're doing. And some way, one way or another, it's over too fast."

My first cross country flight fit this description precisely, as does any high-stakes virgin experience.

The Script

In preparation for my solo cross country, I wrote down everything I could think of. I scripted out the entire scenario. Everything I thought Atlanta Control would say, everything I would say to them. When I should change frequencies on the radio. A 2 page of storyboard of the who, what, when, where, why, and hows that could arise. Ultimately this would serve as little more than a confidence builder, although it was probably helpful as a distraction from worrying.

Saturday afternoon was hot and hazy: 94 degrees with a heat index of over 100. I got everything set and rolled up to the line, where I had to wait for 4 inbounds to land. By the time I got cleared for takeoff, I had transitioned from anxious to just plain hot as hell. I was eager to get some altitude to cool off. After I got airborne, I started the climb to my heading.

Per my script, I switched over to Atlanta to get my flight following. They sounded fairly busy. I keyed the transmitter.

"Atlanta, Diamond 393 Juliet Alpha." Script line 1 of 325 complete.

"Diamond 393 Juliet Alpha go ahead," they responded, just as I had planned. I continued the script.

"Atlanta, Diamond 393 Juliet Alpha is a DA-20 approximately 2 miles northeast of Lima Zulu Uniform climbing to three thousand five hundred VFR to Charlie Echo Uniform request flight following."

"Diamond 393 Juliet Alpha squak zero two niner one and ident," they said.

"Zero two niner one ident," I repeated, punched in 0291 in the transponder, and pressed the Ident key.

Five minutes or so passed. Atlanta had their hands full with other traffic. They finally got back around to me.

"Diamond 393 Juliet Alpha I still don't have you on screen." We were off the script now. So much for the best laid plans of mice and men.

"Atlanta, Diamond 393 Juliet Alpha is currently at 0291," I said immediately wishing I had spoken what I meant, which was that my transponder was set at 0291.

"93 Juliet Alpha I have no idea what that means - you're at 0291." Atlanta responded. I deserved that light chide.

"Atlanta, 393 Juliet Alpha, sorry about that. I am currently squaking 0291." Hopefully that was clearer.

"Roger 93 Juliet Alpha. We have you now," they replied.

CEU Big Fish

I made my way to my first 2 landmarks until finally I had Lake Hartwell in sight. Clemson airport would be on the west side of the lake. I got the airport in sight and called in my approach.

"Clemson traffic Diamond 393 Juliet Alpha is 4 miles southwest inbound for left 45 degree downwind entry for 25, Clemson."

CEU is an un-towered airfield. That means pilots flying around there just talk on a common frequency and announce their activities to each other. I didn't see anybody and nobody responded on the common frequency, so I was likely the only one around.

It had been a while since I'd flown touch and goes. As I made my left turn for final, I immediately realized I was hopelessly too high, too fast, too short, too far off centerline, and too-whatever else one can be too much of. So I called in a go around.

"Clemson traffic Diamond 393 Juliet Alpha is sidestepping to the right and going around for another pass, Clemson."

So I went around and this time flew the pattern right. I landed smoothly and felt relieved to be 1/2 way done. The guy at the FBO called me on the common frequency and invited me to pull up beside the Cessna outside. I pulled up, shut down, and opened the canopy.

The guy at Clemson FBO was really nice. He chocked my front wheel, we chatted for a moment, and I followed him back into the FBO. Glorious AC. Inside were 2 commercial jet pilots - white shirts, hats, wing pins, the works. They were waiting around for their passengers and had certainly heard my less than flattering go-around and just as certainly shared a little snickering over it. That's alright, though. I respect the bigger fish in the aviation pond and I know where I stand in the food chain.

I called my wife, called Chris, got some water, and hit the restroom. After I had cooled off for 15 minutes, I headed back out. The trip back was uneventful and a lot less stress. Atlanta was less busy this time. I landed at LZU on the first attempt and pulled up to The Flying Machine, where my wife and her son Matthew were watching for me. Matthew was excited to see the plane. I let him sit in the cockpit and play with the controls.

The final remaining requirements for me to take the FAA exam are:

- A 3 leg cross country solo (which I'm thinking might be LZU to Winder, Winder to CEU, CEU to LZU)

- A few solo flights around LZU to finish off my 10 hours solo flight requirement.

After that, FAA exam prep. I'm anticipating getting the Private Pilot License by August.