So this post isn't exactly aviation related, but I am pretty excited about it so I feel like the announcement belongs here. My husband and I are expecting our first child around March 26th. :) So for now I guess I am a passenger carrying vessel for the next 6 months :)
Location: KDVN Local
Weather: KDVN 071452Z AUTO 36009KT 10SM CLR 16/10 A3026 RMK AO2 SLP248 T01610100 51010 PWINO $
Runway in Use: 03
Time got away from me this summer and I haven't been up flying in almost 6 weeks. I didn't really have time to go today either but the longer I wait the less safe I feel. I know that I am a good pilot and if I just settle down and fly the plane everything goes smoothly, but I also have a bad habit of over thinking things and being extremely self critical.
Anyway, today went great. I went in just wanted to get some time in and enjoy the beautiful day. I took off on runway 3 and headed to the north climbing to 2500 feet. I leveled off and enjoyed some scenery. Everything looked beautiful this morning. The fields are green, the light was great and I was once again reminded of how amazing it is to be a pilot. I try to hold on to that feeling because someday I am sure I will think of it as common place to be up in the air floating around and it certainly isn't commonplace. Knowing that just a little over a 100 years ago people didn't even think it was possible to fly reminds me of what a miracle it really is to be up there.
I did a few ground reference maneuvers and flew over the wapsi river for a while. I turned back to the south and headed back to the airport to get in a few times around the pattern. I was very disappointed in my approaches last time I was up. This time my first approach was a bit messy because I was very close on downwind to avoid a plane departing on the the cross runway (33). But I extended my downwind a bit and got her stabilized and made a very nice landing. The next three were just as good, I even got a "very smooth" from 874MA while he was waiting to depart during one of my landings :)
Cross winds have been a bit of a nemesis for me during my time as a pilot. Today there were a few times where the wind was probably a bit closer to 33 and it was about 10kts most of the time I was up. I concentrated on lining the plane up and less on where and how much wind there was, what I found was that if I stop thinking so damn much about the wind that it really isn't that hard to get the correct crab in for landing :) Note to self, stop thinking so damn much!!!
Today was good, can't wait to do it again! Also, there will be some exciting news on the blog next week, be sure to stop back and read it!
Duration of Flight:.8
Total Flight Hours:92.0
Location: KDVN Pattern
Weather: Winds Variable @ 5-7 kts
Runway in Use: 03
I have been trying to fit in a quick flight to practice some pattern work and go arounds lately and I finally got a chance on Friday. I had recently read an article about how more deaths and injuries occur during go arounds than during any other phase of flight. The theory the article went from was that people don't really practice go arounds and when one is needed they may make a crucial mistake that costs them their life. I talked to a few people at the airport about it and they agreed vehemently that go arounds are extremely dangerous when not performed correctly. One instructor stated that recently a student removed all his flaps at once when he applied full power for the go around. Given that removing those flaps also suddenly removes lift the instructor rightfully feared for his life. So after reading the article and hearing the story I have go arounds on my list of things to practice occasionally to make sure I am proficient in the instance that I need to use one.
My go arounds went well during practice. Full power, back pressure, climb, clean-up (slowly), do it again. No problem. The thing that didn't go well were my landings. I just couldn't get comfortable with my approach on Friday (guess it was a good thing I was practicing go arounds). All my approaches and landings were safe but not the pretty little chirps that I strive for. I have been over and over my practice session in my head and I think I can pinpoint it to my trim work. I wasn't getting it trimmed well so I was fighting the plane the whole way up and the whole way down. Which meant I was extremely unstable on approach which always leads to bad landings. Since this was a short practice session I might try to get up on a day in the next week or so and see if I can get a couple of good landings in.
Duration of Flight: .5hrs
Total Flight Hours:91.2 hrs
One year ago I sat in the pilot seat of an airplane for the first time! By the time I landed I was addicted! 6 months later I had a license and now 1 year later aviation is a huge part of my life. I wouldn't trade a single second of the time I have spent learning about airplanes and flying in them and I wouldn't take a single dollar back that I have spent.
For those of you keeping track of my summer goals you will remember that one of my goals was to fly on my anniversary. Well it didn't happen. For one, there is a major heat wave happening right now. The temp was 102 today and the heat index was 115+. I was still planning on flying until both 545ca and 547ca went to the shop one for its 100 hr and one to get the engine rebuilt. I guess that settled it, I would have to wait until next week to get my flight in.
Location:KDVN
Weather: VRB05 Sky CLR
Runway in Use: 03 and 15
For the past few months I have been trying to get my brother to go with me on a flight, but our schedules never quite worked out. Although last Friday rolled around and it was supposed to be pretty nice. I booked a plane for 12-2pm and let my brother know I would be flying if he was going to be free he could join me. Turns out he could go but not until 1pm. That made our flight a bit short but we got it done! 
I arrived at the airport a bit early so I could have the preflight done and we could head out as soon as he got there. The preflight looked good, albeit very hot! I went back into the airport and chatted with the airport folk until Ryan arrived. In the meantime I watched the b-17 that was on display take-off, not a bad looking airplane. I was tempted to go get a ride, but for $400 I think I will save my money for PIC time. 
Ryan arrived. We hopped in. I gave him my usual speech about staying out of the way of controls, if he sees traffic/birds/obstacles in our flight path to go ahead and point them out, I may or may not see them and two sets of eyes are better than one. The winds were 070@05 so I taxied to 03 did a quick run up and then lined up to take off. The door was a bit of a problem, the top latch didn't want to lock, but we got it taken care of and then we were off. It was a pretty smooth lift-off if I may say so myself. We were headed to the north east but I went a bit north first to avoid the Met Life blimp that had just lifted off and to avoid QC airspace.
The rest of the time we just cruised around at about 2500ft doing some sight seeing. We went out by the Mississippi, up around the Clinton area, circled and headed back. We did a quick touch and go on 15 with a very pretty chirp then went around for a full stop which was a bit harder but still nothing to be ashamed of. 
All and all it was a good day of flying. I enjoyed sharing it with my Brother and can't wait to do it again.
Duration of Flight: .08
Total Flight Hours: 90.7
Photo Credit and Copyright: Ryan Lenger
