Study...Study....and Study

I did it. I went ahead and called up Lazer Grade to schedule my Instrument Rating written test (which is only one test out of three that I have to take), and it looks like March 12th @ 12PM will be my moment to shine. I'm ready for it. I've been studying for hours everyday, just finished the Gleim book which is composed of 11 chapters and 900 questions. On the test however, only 60 questions are generated at random from those 900 questions that I studied. So far, I'm scoring 90% on the practice exams which I am very satisfied with. I am going to study my weaker areas, and hopefully pull that percent up into the mid to upper 90's. I will have the results to post March 12th, so stay tuned!

My flight training is going great. I'm getting a lot better at flying approaches, and holding my altitudes, etc... within PTS. If it all works out, this coming Wednesday, I'm going to do my 250NM cross-country to satisfy that requirement for my IR. It should be a great experience. So far the wx is calling for partly cloudy skies, but that could change at a moments notice. I am hoping to get some good IFR conditions to really get a feel for that. Overall, I'm excited at the progress I am making. I should hopefully be taking my checkride by the end of March...who knows, I might even be Instrument Rated just in time for my 24th Birthday on March 31st.

Well, it looks like I will be finding a second job to pay for flight training. I got a career training loan through SLM, but when I applied for the 2nd half, they denied me and my co-signer. They really had no specific reason, and honestly, the crap I had to go through and deal with just to get that first loan was insane. So, I'll take the 20K in loans now as far as debt, and pay for the rest using cash. It's going to slow me down more than I wanted, but everything happens for a reason. Airlines will still be around, and I'll just be happy that I'm only 20K in debt from this rather than 40-50K. That's without calculating the interest.

Alright, thanks for reading. Sorry for the post delay. Have a great day and I will post my score on the written exam when I find out my results. Thanks!

IR Training

Well, my Instrument training has commenced! I am really enjoying the training. It's tough compared to the PPL rating, but when you're caught flying in the clouds with no visual reference to the horizon, tough training doesn't sound so bad. My instructor says that I'm progressing very well, and that my ILS approaches are very good. I just got back from my training flight, and we worked on VOR Tracking / Radial Intercepts / DME Arcs / DME Holds. I really enjoyed it, but I have to refresh on VOR's. There were a few times where my situational awarness was poor, but at other times, I was doing well. So, basically I just need a little more time to catch up with VOR's and this lesson should be completed to standards.

So far, I'm up to lesson 9 which introduces NDB's. This will not be possible in the Archer, because we don't have an ADF. We will still cover the material, but as far as putting the material to use in the air...not going to happen.

I had my first experience flying in Actual IFR conditions the other day. Where most people would have been scared, I had the biggest smile on my face. My instructor probably thought I was crazy, but I love flying, and I love the challenges. We took off and there was some haze, then we entered right into overcast conditions. At about 5,000 we came out on top of the overcast and we were between layers of broken clouds. About 20 NM into the flight, we were in some more clouds with rain. We ended up getting vectors for the ILS at N. Wilksboro and made a low level ILS approach to go missed. We then headed back to Concord, and basically did the same thing, only this time we were cleared for the ILS with a full-stop landing. It was a great learning experience, and one that foggles can't teach you.

Well, I have to get going. I got work tonight from 2200-0600. Not looking forward to it, but I don't have a choice. Thanks for reading!!

X-Country

Well, I did my first x-country time building flight today. I took off @ 15:15 EST (2015Z) from KJQF via GPS direct to KCRE. I arrived at 16:30 (2130Z). The flight went very well. There was very little turbulence while en rote, which made the flight very smooth. KCRE is a nice facility. It's class delta airspace, but it's about 2 NM from the Atlantic ocean coast. Very scenic, and while on final for runway 05, I passed directly over a smaller Broadway on the beach type setting -- with all the restaurants, stores, and scenic ventures. Very beautiful area. I landed, and stayed at the FBO for about 30 minutes, put in my fuel order, and back to KJQF I went. I got flight following the whole way home. Not too much traffic, but there was a couple other aircraft passing in the vicinity. I got to watch the sun set below the horizon, and I got look out and see the world at night from 4,500 ft. The view was beautiful with all the lights indicating major cities. The air was very smooth. Wx was reporting winds calm, vis 10 miles, sky conditions clear below 12,000. Not a bump on the way back. I did have a bit of a headwind en route back to KJQF, which slowed me down, but it wasn't anything too terrible. I ended up landing at KJQF at 18:30EST (2330Z), secured the aircraft on tie-down, and completed my paperwork. The flight went well, and I look forward to going again. Total flight time for today: 2.9 hours

I know that in my previous post, I mentioned that I might post some pics. I apologize, because I wasn't able to bring the camera. For some crazy reason, the camera is not taking pictures. It just comes out as a black screen...and yes, the lens cover is off.

Well, thank you for taking the time to read my post. Have a great day/night, and stay safe.

KJQF - KCRE

I've got the PA28-181 Archer blocked out for about 4 hours tomorrow. I'm going to be flying my first x-country for timebuilding from Concord, NC to N. Myrtle Beach. It's about 135 Nautical Miles, and depending on the winds, it should only take a little over an hour to reach my destination. So far, the wx looks promising, and it looks to be a good flight. As always, I'll give wx brief a call, get the weather, file my flight plan, and away I go. Should be a great time. I'm going to try and take some pics of the trip. I'm going alone this time, so it might be a bit difficult to to snap some good pics, but we'll see. I'll get to cruising altitude, trim the aircraft out, and then try to get some photos. I'll post the experience when I get back to Concord.

That's about it for now, I have to go into town, but as always, thanks for taking a moment to read whats new and old in my blog. Stay safe!

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

Wow, 2007 is now history, and here we are to welcome 2008. It seems as though time moves faster than usual. I honestly can not believe that 2007 is over. I bet you're wondering if I might have any new year resolutions? Well, I haven't exactly set any, but if I did, it would be to continue working hard to accomplish my goals. I've had resolutions before, but like many, fail the attempt by the 3rd week of January.

I do not know about you, but my New Years eve was spent at work. I remember it quite well...I was topping off the tip tanks on the Airnet Lear 35 with Jet-A and Prist while the ball was dropped in time square. Wasn't exactly the place I wanted to be at that moment. To make things more exciting, I'm scheduled to come in to work 1.5 hours earlier than my regular scheduled time on Mondays, so I was at work from 2030-0600. It was hard to leave the party early, and I even thought about calling-out, but work had to be done, and money had to be made. In the end, everything worked out well. I had Tuesday off, so we got to sort of pick-up where we left off, and I enjoyed what I missed out on. Overall, besides missing the Time Square special to watch the ball drop with my family, I enjoyed my New Years. I hope you did too!

Well, it's time to depart...destination bed. Take care of yourselves, and have a happy and prosperous 2008! Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

Forecast looks promising for Monday

So far, the weather is looking good for Monday, so I'm thinking about blocking out some time for a checkout in the Archer. All of my flying experience has been in Cessna 152's and Cessna 172's, so the transition into a low-wing Piper Archer is going to be a great experience.

I'm also in the planning process of a couple x-countries for my time building to meet Instrument x-country requirements. Instead of just going from point A, to point B, and then back to point A, for a total of 30 hours, I'm planning a couple of "trips" to make the time building process more exciting. I hope to get some pics of the flights too, which I will post for you all to see.

That's about it for now. Have a Happy New Year, and you can expect another post within the week.

Almost ready to get started

Here's the deal with my flight training scenario.
First off, I'm financing my training through SLM. I just got back from Paramount Flight and worked out the whole program for the 1st half of my loan with SLM. I excited about picking-up where I left off. I plan to go all the way to CFI, CFII, and MEI.

Here's the breakdown of the plan:

1) I only have 15 hours x-country time, so I need to start time building to meet Instrument Rating requirments. I'm going to log 30 hours of x-country time in the PA28, which will put me at 45 hours total x-country.

2) Once I'm at 45 hours total x-country time, I will start my Instrument training in the PA28.

3) Next up is the Multi-Engine rating (PA44). Shouldn't take more than 10 hours before I'm ready for the checkride.

4) After Multi rating, I will be time building again. I will log 15 hours in the Multi (PA44) and 6 hours in the Single (PA28).

So, starting off with 80 hours TT, I will have logged 182 TT/25 ME.

Next-up will be to finish time building, obtain my Commercial rating ASEL/AMEL, and then my CFI, CFII, MEI.

Can't wait to get started!!!