A Flight of Firsts

After 'checking out' with the owner of a local Cessna 172N out in upstate New York, I was primed for some off-day flying. My schedule is packed in the fall - with football 6 days of the week and an already tough academic schedule, there is little free time to devote to flying. Take into account the fact that I have to fly when our cold, dreary upstate NY is somewhat decent and the fall days are getting shorter...well, finding time to fly can be difficult.

Thankfully, our football season was blessed with a bye week this year, and our coach dismissed us from team activities on Friday and Saturday, leaving time for some long-overdue flying. In the middle of October, the leaves were already changing colors on the rolling hills of the Hudson Valley and I hoped that the colors would last until the end of the month so that they could be seen from a thousand feet up.

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With many, if not all, of my friends back home in Illinois unable to join me in the skies due to parental concerns over small planes, I was looking forward to taking up my first non-family passengers and showing them what flying in a small plane is all about. Both of the buddies I took up are aeronautical engineers like myself, so they had a good amount of appreciation for aviation and were ecstatic about being able to go up.

The plan was to fly north from the Schenectady County Airport (SCH) and fly around Saratoga and Saratoga Lake, and from there fly slightly east and then south along the Hudson River so that we could fly over campus for a little bit and take some pictures. From campus, we would head west to the Albany International Airport (ALB) and do a touch-and-go there before going southwest to fly over a state park, and then head back to SCH. 

Flight starting at SCH (middle left) and progressing clockwise along the light purple line.

After taking off from SCH, we were presented with some awesome views, courtesy of Mother Nature. Being from Illinois where the land is flat as far as the eye can see, seeing the rolling hills of New York provided an incredible change of scenery. Combined with the colors of the leaves, it made for an awesome view.

After takeoff from SCH

The flight was beautiful - we had great views of some of the mansions and horse racing tracks in Saratoga, as well as a boat race going on at Saratoga Lake. Heading south along the Hudson, I made sure to set us up so that my buddies (both sitting on the right side of the plane) had great views of campus as we flew along. 

At some point during the turns and photography over campus, one of my buddies actually got a little queasy, and I made the immediate decision to head back to SCH and land. Unfortunately, Albany air traffic control (ATC), who I was communicating with, had other ideas and had to direct us around some commercial jets that were going to land at ALB.

Even though their vectoring added a couple minutes to our flight, it put us right on path to fly over ALB on our way back to SCH. By this time, my friend was feeling a bit better. I asked him if he would mind doing a touch-and-go since it was on the way, and he said he didn't. My landing was as smooth as I've ever had and I'm glad I was able to nail the first one in front of my friends.

Short final for Runway 1 at ALB

RPI ECAV - Troy, NY

RPI Campus - Troy, NY

After landing at SCH, I felt incredibly accomplished. Despite the flight being cut a little short and that slight airsickness scare, my friend said he still had an incredible time. This is part of the reason why I love flying - because I'm able to share it with those who have never experienced flying low and slow, seeing the world from a totally different viewpoint. 

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At the end of the day, this flight was really a flight of firsts - my first sick passenger, that same passenger's first flight in a small plane, and my first flight with some friends! I'm glad I was able to experience the airsickness scare early on in my flying career, because I'm now better prepared to face the situation again if it happens in the future. Thankfully, I also thought ahead and brought along a few plastic grocery bags just in case something like that were to happen, and I will continue to bring them in the future.

In the coming weeks, I plan on going up a couple times now that my football season is over and I have some more free time. Definitely looking forward to taking some more friends up and showing them the skies! Until next time........

Sharing My Wings

For almost every newly-licensed pilot, there are a few things that more or less need to be accomplished once that shiny temporary certificate is in their hands

1. Fly over your house
2. Take your parent(s) flying
3. Fly out for the infamous '$100 hamburger'

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After receiving my license, I had a week of work and working out, went to all three days of Lollapalooza, and then spent a week in Southwest Michigan with my family to close out the summer. The goal for my first flight with my license was to take one of my parents up and do some circles around our house. Needless to say, there wasn't much time, if any, for accomplishing that in the couple weeks I just mentioned above.

Late in the week while in Michigan, the weather looked decent for the weekend back home where I'd be flying, so I decided to book a Sunday morning flight with the hope of taking my mom up for her first flight in a small plane. By the time Saturday rolled around, the weather for Sunday morning had a good chance of showers, and low ceilings were forecast as well. 

Trying to make sure I was able to go up at least once or twice before I left, and knowing that the schedule for Sunday was booked solid the rest of the day, I decided to see if anything was available Saturday night. Lo and behold, I was able to secure a 6 PM flight and decided that I'd take my mom up with me, as my dad had flown in a few small planes before and she had never been in anything smaller than an ERJ. 

Before leaving, I had to try and make accommodations and find my mom a headset, so that she wouldn't have to yell to me over the roar of the engine. We already had a pair of ear protectors around the house for shooting, and brought those along in case we weren't able to snag a spare aviation headset from the airport office. Thankfully, we were able to get the pair, affectionately named "Frankenstein" for all of the electrical and duct tape holding it together. 

After completing the pre-flight checks and adding a quart of oil to the engine, we were off! Shortly after takeoff from Lewis Univ. (KLOT), we contacted Midway Tower and requested a transition through their Class C Airspace to the Chicago Lakefront for some sightseeing. Once at the lakefront, we were greeted by a few police and news helicopters over the city, but we were able to stay out of their way. Even though the day was a bit hazy, my mom had never seen the city like she had that day, and I made sure that she had a front row seat.

Despite the fact that we weren't able to go all the way up the lakefront due to the Cubs game, we still did a few awesome laps between the Museum of Science and Industry/Hyde Park/U Chicago and Navy Pier. The part of the lap at Navy Pier was arguably the most awe-inspiring part of the flight. I flew north along the shore, about a mile off, and when at Navy Pier, turned left back to the south. In the westbound part of the turn, the entire city filled the windshield - a pretty incredible sight.

INSERT PIC OF CITY FROM FLIGHT

Close up of Chicago Terminal Area Chart (TAC) with my route along the lakefront in light purple on the right

On the way back, I wanted to circle over our house and cross it off my bucket list. Thankfully, Midway Tower gave us a great view on the way back. In order to get to our house, we would have to cut pretty close to the airport itself. As a result, we informed ATC where we would be circling and they cleared us to fly directly over the middle of the field and we did so at 700 ft above the ground - definitely very cool seeing the terminal and Southwest jets zipping by below us as we skimmed them.

Once past Midway, I had my mom shoot a text to my brother, who was at home at the time. He came outside and saw us flying circles around the house. I was pretty surprised at how big the circle was in order to keep a constant radius around our house - about a mile diameter.

After seeing our house and neighborhood, we flew back to the southwest for our final landing at Lewis. My mom was excited in the air just 5 minutes into the flight and especially when seeing the city, but what was awesome for me was her telling me the next morning how she still thought it was incredible. That's when I decided that I want any family or friend I take up for the first time to see the beauty of our planet from the air that we take for granted on the ground. Many of us have flown commercially and seen the world from 30,000+ feet, but you can't truly appreciate it unless you're flying slow and low.

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My next and final flight before leaving for school I unfortunately had to go solo. Despite my many numerous attempts to get some friends to come along and share in the joy, I was unable to convince their parents to let them tag along. While there was enthusiasm from my friends themselves, there was none on the parents' side of things. Yes, it is a bummer, but I know that as I gain more experience and we all get older, that will eventually change. 

So, I figured that since I couldn't bring my friends flying, I'd bring the flying to them instead. First, I borrowed my friend Kevin's GoPro and mounted it in the cockpit with a good view of myself, as well as the instrument panel. I also had a mount for my iPhone, which I had used in the past, and I mounted it on the windshield for a view out the front of the plane.

Now, I'm no filming expert, and my first attempt wasn't half bad in my opinion. I now know that in the future I need to 'mark' my clips so that I know where to align the footage each time, as that was my biggest struggle in editing. 

Despite the fact that my video only shows one landing to a full stop and one touch-and-go, I actually had a landing to a full stop prior to my first one. I ended up editing out because I forgot to start the forward facing camera (rookie mistake). I also left out the last landing to a full stop because I ran into some uncorrectable errors in editing that bit of footage.

Nonetheless, I hope you all enjoy the video - just some takeoff and landing practice, as well as a touch-and-go at Midway Airport (MDW) with a phenomenal view of the city in the background. 

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Last week, I 'checked out' in a Cessna 172N model out here at school in upstate NY. I'll update on that in my next post! Looking forward to sharing more of my aviation journey.

With Flying Colors

I'm glad to be getting back into this after not writing in such a long time - the end of summer flew by and I transitioned right into football training camp in the blink of an eye with little to no time for blogging.

Now that I'm back in school mode, I'm hoping that I can be more regular with my writing. Unfortunately, being back at school means that I'll also be flying less often than I was over the summer due to my football and class schedule. Thankfully, I have some things up my sleeve from the past that I haven't written about yet to hold me over until I can fly again.

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With that said, back to my previous post about my checkride. Everything went (almost) according to plan! I ended up passing and receiving my license. My examiner (Gail - one of the best in the Chicagoland area - email me for details) was fair and thorough in her examination, which I was very happy with.

The ground portion of the exam was everything I had expected. My instructor gave me a packet that the flight school routinely uses for checkrides which contained almost all of the questions that I was asked by Gail.

The only question I really wasn't sure of was "How often are TAF (Terminal Area Forecasts) reports issued/valid for/when are they effective." For those not familiar with a TAF, it's a forecast broken down by blocks of hours (weather dependent) that shows the winds, cloud cover, visibility, precipitation (if any), amongst other weather phenomena. I knew how long they were valid for (24 hours), but wasn't sure about how many times they were issued per day or when they went into effect. An example (plain on the left and decoded on the right) can be seen below.

During the flight portion of my checkride, Gail ran through everything outlined in the Practical Test Standards (PTS) set by the FAA. Here, I had one slip up as well, which was thankfully forgiven.

For the checkride, one is required to perform a short field landing, as well as a soft field (grass, gravel, etc) landing. Gail had me head to the Joliet airport (JOT) which I had been to before, but I was surprised by the choice as it was a hot day and the runway was relatively short - 2900 ft. Thankfully, the winds were light and straight down the concrete runway.

First, she had me come in for a short field landing, where you're not allowed to land more than 200 ft beyond an examiner-specified point. On the approach, I came in a bit high and landed right at, if not a little past the 200 ft limit. Thinking I was going to get failed on the spot, I was relived when she told me that it would count as my soft field landing instead since the touchdown itself was so smooth. We then performed a short field takeoff and came around for another attempt at the short field landing, which I executed to perfection this time.

After heading back to Lewis (LOT), I knew I wasn't out of the woods yet and that any mistake I made could result in a failed checkride. I checked and double checked everything as I came in for the final landing of the day - nailed it.

I had this feeling on the taxi back to parking that I had passed, but I had to hear those magic words from her first. As I parked the plane precisely on the yellow T and shut down the engine, she said, "Jim, this is a no-brainer decision for me. Congratulations."

I was ecstatic - but she also asked me, "Is there anything you would have done differently or could have done better?" I, of course, wasn't perfect and said that I could have had better control of bank on my steep turns, amongst a couple other little things (I'm a perfectionist).

What made the moment even more special for me was seeing my parents on the ramp as I parked the plane. For most, if not all, of my training, they have both had a very hands off approach, only coming to the airport once before this occasion and just letting me go about my business by myself. Having them there to share in my joy made the moment that much better.

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It was finally done! I had finally earned and achieved my Private Pilot License, which will last with me forever. With this newly acquired freedom, I couldn't wait to take my family and friends flying and show them the unique and jaw-dropping perspective that I am privileged to see every time I go up. In my next post, I'll talk about the couple flights that occurred after getting my license, as well as what I plan to do with my license in the future.

SPECIAL SHOUT OUT: My instructors and mentors throughout the process of earning my license: CFI's Art, Hal, James, and Joe! Thank you for all you did, and continue to do, in making me the pilot I am today.

Checkride Prep

Unfortunately, I haven't had time to write while the process was going on - won't waste my time explaining why, but I'd like to take you through the process of preparing for my checkride after the mock checkride with my instructor.

The next step, as mentioned in my previous post, involved taking a mock checkride with the head instructor at the flight school I fly out of. The ground portion, consisting of several questions on airspace, weather, aircraft systems, and other subjects such as aerodynamics, took about 2 hours and I passed with flying colors.

Next came the flight portion, also known as the practical test, where my skills in actually piloting the bird were tested. I was put through a series of maneuvers - steep turns, S-turns about a line, turns around a point, power on (takeoff) and power off (landing) stalls - as well as different landings (short and soft field).

The maneuvers went  relatively well and I passed that portion. However, a speed bump was hit during the process. In the manual written by the FAA for the actual checkride, stalls are able to be performed with either level wings or (essentially) 10 degrees of bank, the latter of which is obviously a bit tougher. On the mock checkride, I was asked to do a power on stall with 10 degrees of bank, which I had not previously practiced - my instructor and I had only done wings level stalls. Having never done this before, this meant that I would be practicing them with my instructor before the checkride.

Other than the stalls and a few other minor errors (not referencing the airport diagram after landing, missing a step in an emergency procedure, to name a couple), the ride went well and I was told by the instructor that I passed! On to the next...

In the stall practice with my regular instructor a week before the checkride, things didn't go as well as they previously had. For whatever reason, I was having trouble getting the hang of the power on stalls that day and nearly entered a spin (can be fatal) once or twice, but was able to recover on my own. After about 7 stalls, I finally had some of my confidence back, but it wasn't at the level that it had been at previously. As a result, I knew I'd have to go up another time before the checkride to make sure I was 100% confident in what I was doing, because you only get one chance at acing the maneuvers.

During the week between that flight and the checkride, I spent ample amounts of time preparing for the ground portion of the checkride - preparing my flight plan, knowing the all of the aircraft systems, etc - making sure that I wouldn't miss a beat when the time came.

The day before the checkride, I went up with my instructor once more and totally aced my stalls - felt totally comfortable and confident doing them. We also practiced ground reference maneuvers (S-turns, turns about a point) and emergency procedures as well - very confident there, too. I was finally 100% ready for my checkride!

In the next post, more to come on how the ride went!

Last Leg

Whether flying, driving, sailing - if there are stops or points as you go through your journey, the time spent traveling between stops can be considered a 'leg.' Believe it or not, the same can apply to my flight training 'journey.'

If one were to analyze my journey through this process of acquiring my pilot's license, it could easily be broken up into different legs:

1. Training at the end of last summer (2014)
2. Training over winter break
3. Training over spring break (almost too short to even be considered a leg...)
4. Training during this summer (2015)

If we were to analyze even further, the training this summer could be broken down even further:

1. Completing my required training hours
2. Checkride prep/checkride

After exactly a month of being home from school, and mainly flying one or two days per week because of work, that first sub-leg of the fourth leg of my journey is complete. From here on out, it's all about prepping for my checkride with a Designated Pilot Examiner, or DPE. 

This prep will involve hours upon hours of study at home for the oral exam, as well as a small amount with my instructor to make sure I know everything. In terms of flights, I have two flights left at the very least; one with my instructor to put me through all the standard maneuvers/procedures, and if I pass that then I head on to the phase check flight (basically a mock checkride) with the head instructor. 

Then if I pass the mock checkride, I'll be able to go up with the DPE for my official checkride. 

It'll be a stressful process for sure, but one that I can't wait to finish - I know it'll be very rewarding in the end...

**update**

'Passed' the ground with my instructor...on to the mock checkride with the head instructor!

Stay tuned

It's Been A While...

I know it's been a almost 2 months since I last posted, but I'm glad to be back here writing. Spring semester of my sophomore year at college has thankfully come and gone, and I'm happy to be back home for the summer writing, working, and - most importantly - flying.

In the couple weeks since I've been home, I've been able to fly three times - mainly due to scheduling issues related to work, but everything has worked itself out.

Since I had last flown a couple months back in March, I had to go up with an instructor again to make sure that my flying was still sound. In those couple months, the airport that I usually fly out of (Clow Int'l - 1C5) has been temporarily closed for the summer. Clow is getting a huge facelift with a brand new, wider, better-lit runway which will definitely make landing amongst houses and a shopping center a bit easier.

With the runway closed at Clow, all operations have since been moved to the Lewis Univ. Airport (KLOT) 5 miles to the south. Lewis, unlike Clow, has two crossing runways - a NNE/SSW runway and an E/W runway - which make landing in crosswinds much easier than the one N/S runway at Clow.

My first flight with the instructor was very uneventful. Frankly, I thought that the high winds (12-18 knots, or 14-21 MPH) would make things a little more turbulent than normal, but there were hardly any bumps at all. We took off from Lewis and headed towards DuPage Airport (KDPA) for a touch-and-go. DuPage had a tower, which helped me brush up on my communication skills, and it was on the way to our next destination, DeKalb Municipal Airport (KDKB). While at DeKalb, we did another touch-and-go, and headed back to Lewis.

On the way back to Lewis, my instructor had me navigate direct to the Joliet VOR (JOT) to make sure that I could still track a VOR radial (more info on that from my earlier post HERE), which went well. He also had me practice an engine failure, where he pulled back on the throttle suddenly and I had to run through my "engine out procedures," shown below:

1. Pitch for best glide speed (68 knots)
2. Fuel Shutoff Valve - ON (with the valve ON, fuel flows to the engine - interesting logic...)
3. Fuel Tank Selector Valve - BOTH (fuel comes from both left and right tanks)
4. Auxiliary Fuel Pump - ON
5. Mixture - FULL RICH (makes sure that as much fuel is entering the engine as possible)
6. Ignition Switch - BOTH (or START if propeller has stopped)

From there, there are different checklists based upon whether or not the engine starts back up or not, which I'll save you the reading of for now. 

...In our case here, the engine obviously "restarted," since all my instructor did was cut back the power and not shut off the engine, and we carried on our way towards Lewis. 

Landing at Lewis went well, like the others, and the flight as a whole was uneventful.

Just about level at 2,500 ft, cruising a little less than 120 knots over rural Illinois

Once I have my license (knock on wood), I plan on taking some of my passengers in the Chicago area to see the lakefront and fly over the city. In order to know the ropes of flying the lakefront, I flew up the next day with an instructor to practice whats called a "lakefront transition."

From Lewis, we flew East-Northeast, being sure to stay south of Midway Airport and their traffic. In order to complete this transition, constant contact with Midway Tower is necessary, as you are flying through their airspace for most of the flight. Once we flew past Midway, we reached the lakefront at about 55th St, flew over the University of Chicago, and turned North along the lake. Just to give you an idea of how high up we were, we were flying at 1,700 ft above sea level, or about 1,000 ft above the ground - this meant that the Sears (Willis) Tower soared more than 700 ft above our plane. 

After flying by downtown and seeing Soldier Field, Millenium Park, and Navy Pier from above, we continued North along the shore until we came to Northwestern University and the Bahai Temple in Evanston. If one was to drive from Lewis Univ. To Northwestern, it would take about an hour and a half. Flying, it took us a mere 23 minutes to travel between the two points.

After we reached Northwestern, we turned around and headed southbound along the lake back towards the city. This time, we weren't able to fly within 5 miles of the White Sox game (TFR, or temporary flight restriction) and had to head South about out a mile or two over the lake before heading West toward Midway again.

View through the propeller of Downtown Chicago from the North Side with Montrose Harbor to our immediate left

On our way back West, we made a low approach over Midway (basically buzzing the field). We were about 150-200 ft above the field going 130 knots (150 MPH) with the field and the houses below us. Personally, I can't decide what was cooler though...landing at Midway at night, or buzzing the field Top Gun style (kinda).

After that, we headed back to Lewis and concluded the flight. From this experience, I definitely learned a valuable skill that will come in handy when taking passengers up in the future, and I took in beautiful views as well.

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The next flight involved getting certified by my primary instructor (who happened to be on vacation while I was flying the two previous times) for solo flight. Although I had done it before and accumulated approximately 9 hours worth of solo time, his endorsement for me to fly solo expires after 90 days, and that's just what happened to my last endorsement.

Before going up, he had me plan a cross-country flight from Lewis, which transitioned through the Chicago/Aurora (KARR) airspace, flew over DeKalb (KDKB), and into Chicago/Rockford Int'l (KRFD). Even though flights both ways were relatively smooth, we could see the forecasted puffy, white thunderclouds forming all around us. We knew that we would make it back to Lewis in time to beat out the storm, but at the same time it was spectacular to watch the storm grow around us. At the conclusion of the flight, I was finally certified to fly solo again.

As far as my training goes, I am almost at the end of the road. I hope to have my license by the end of the month, but we'll see how the weather and my work schedule hold up as the weather gets warmer and the days longer. Looking forward to when I can share more of my flying with you next time! Stay tuned...

Spring Break Update

**Disclaimer: Wrote this a couple weeks back on my way back to school after spring break. Haven't been able to really publish until now because of school work...with that said, enjoy!**

Spring break 2015 has at last come and gone...and it's official! I completed my first solo cross-country flight. Before I was able to go on that flight though, I had to get checked out with my instructor first.

Early Saturday, we went up and practiced all of the required maneuvers, and they all went pretty well for my first time flying in two months. The only thing that I had a little trouble with was recovering from a stall, lowering the nose of the plane too much after the stall to try and gain airspeed to recover. In the process, I lost a bit more altitude than I should have and that's where I went awry. Don't worry though - after the initial stall recovery attempts, I completed the recoveries and was able to 'pass.'

After that early flight, I had some lunch and spent some time hanging around the airport, waiting for the winds to die down. As a student pilot, I have 'concrete' limits on things like wind, visibility, and cloud ceiling. The limits placed on me are 10 knots of headwind, 7 knots of crosswind, visibility of 8 miles, and cloud ceiling of 2,500 ft. On Saturday, the winds reported both at Valparaiso (VPZ) and Lewis University (LOT) were fluctuating just in and out of my limit range. At about 3:30, the winds fell within my limits both at Lewis and Valpo and I headed out!

My flight took me from Clow Airport (1C5) to Valparaiso/Porter County Municipal Airport (VPZ) in Northwest Indiana. The FAA regulations say that a cross-country flight is a flight that's over 50 nautical miles (straight line distance) one way from departure to destination. Thankfully, the straight line distance here is 52.6 miles - just far enough outside the limits where it'll work for me, and I won't waste my time going too far.

My route was not a straight line from 1C5 to VPZ for one main reason - I had to steer clear of the Chicago Midway airspace (the solid magenta rings). In order to avoid this, I headed along a more southerly route and overflew Lansing Municipal Airport (IGQ) and then headed direct to Valpo, By the time I actually got to Valpo, winds were very light (4 knots) and I had possibly my smoothest landing to date - flights both ways also had no turbulence, which made for an awesomely smooth ride. Very enjoyable.

Below are some pictures that I took while cruising over to VPZ...

Southwest 737 crossing my path about 2,000 ft above and 1-2 miles away

                             

For those who make the trek from Illinois to the Indiana or Michigan side of Lake Michigan, here's what the big quarry along I-94 looks like from the air

Another view of the quarry, with I-94 cutting through the middle

The next day (Sunday) I went up with my instructor to practice some crosswind landings - some of the most difficult conditions that I've ever flown in. What that made me realize were the limits that I'll be comfortable taking myself up in as a licensed pilot, and also the limits that I'll have when carrying passengers as well...because scaring off passengers in dangerous weather conditions is no way to get them interested, or maintain their interest, in flying.

The rest of the week (Monday through Friday), I tried to schedule my longer cross country flight (which I needed to complete my 5 total cross country hours). However, Mother Nature didn't quite cooperate with me, as winds were almost always greater than 12 knots, sometimes gusting, which is well above my limits and therefore prohibited me from flying.

Saturday was a much different story. For the first time all week, winds were at 7 knots or below and the skies were crystal clear, which would have been perfect for some flying! Sadly, some others had the same idea that I did when I tried to schedule a Saturday time block, as almost all of the Saturday slots were already rented by other pilots. Even if I were able to get my flying in on Saturday, I'd be waiting until I got back from school for the summer to go on a checkride and officially get my license. While it's unfortunate, I guess it just wasn't in the cards for me this time and I'll just have to keep playing this waiting game.

In my next post, I'll talk about how the weather changed on me unexpectedly before landing back at 1C5 during that cross country flight to and from Valpo.

Back In The Saddle!

Very quick post today...

It's about that time! Spring break is finally here - definitely something that I've been looking forward to for these past few weeks. Not only does spring break mean getting to spend time with family or friends, but it also means (at least for me) that I get the chance to fly again, which I'm really pumped about!

A few days ago, the weather was looking promising for the weekend back home in Chicago so I decided to schedule some time to get back into the groove (and hopefully get my license while I'm at it!). As of now, I'm scheduled to go up with my instructor tomorrow from 10-12 and solo from 2-4. The reasoning behind flying with the instructor is that I can only go so long between flights before I need to be checked again. This means that tomorrow, I'll have to go through most, if not all, of the training points with him before I'm certified to do solo training flights again. If all goes according to plan from 10-12, I plan on getting some solo cross-country hours out of the way (5 needed for my license) in the afternoon block from 2-4. Very exciting!

Until then, I'll be sitting in the Albany, NY airport (where I'm currently typing this) waiting for my flight home and then spending time with my family later tonight before flying in the morning tomorrow. The weather frankly isn't looking promising for Monday, Tuesday, OR Wednesday of this upcoming week...so hopefully the forecasters are wrong and I'm able to get all of the flying I need to get this license! Keeping my spirits up about it - at the very least, I'll have a nice relaxing break spending time with my family.

Look for another post in a few days (hopefully) on the progress of my flying! Here's to hoping everything goes according to plan this week.

Coming Home, Coming Home

Growing up and traveling with family and/or friends, we've all had that one commercial airport we somewhat identify with, as it's where many of our journeys have started - a gateway to good times if you will. For me, that gateway is Chicago's Midway Airport (MDW). Yes, many of you in the Chicago area know that MDW is a Southwest Airlines haven, whisking people all over the country in their shiny blue 737's. However, many of you may have not seen any small planes like mine ever flying into MDW, yet it happens on a daily basis.

...In fact, I flew in there myself! During part of my training back in January, I had to complete a night 'cross-country' flight (greater than 100 miles round trip) with my instructor. We also had to make the flight about 2.2 hours in length in order to fulfill my time requirement as well. The flight was planned from Clow Airport, Bolingbrook, IL (1C5) to Starke County Airport, Knox, IN (OXI). Along our route, there were winds that pushed us there at about 150 MPH - about 40 MPH faster than usual. As a result, we got there earlier than normal.

While at OXI, we performed a 3-4 takeoffs and landings, again to meet the requirements for training. Something pretty interesting that I got to experience at OXI was the "Black Hole Effect." Around the airport, there is nothing but farmland, and at night, the only lights for a mile or so around are the relatively bright runway and approach lights. As you can see below, a Black Hole approach could result in landing below the glidepath and possibly crashing, which thankfully didn't happen in my case. Definitely glad that I got to experience this phenomena with an instructor before experiencing it myself.

On the way back to 1C5, those same winds that gave us a 40 MPH boost on the way there were slowing us down by 40 MPH on the way back. While on the way back, my instructor and I calculated our estimated time of arrival back to 1C5, which would put me short of the hours that I needed to complete my night training. It was then that we decided to have a little fun and see if we could stop at MDW on our way back. Even though it would be a small detour, it would not only be a lot of fun, but give us the sufficient amount of hours as well.

En route to MDW, we needed to tune the radio to the ATIS, or Automated Terminal Information System - basically a robotic voice that played the current weather and different runways in use, After that, when approximately 15 miles away from the airport, I called up the control tower. When calling, I had to state the registration number of my aircraft (N72662), the aircraft type (Cessna 172), our location and altitude (15 miles SE, 3000 ft), the current weather information that we had (information India), and our intentions (the option to either land or perform a touch-and-go). From there, he told me to stay at or below 2000 ft and assigned me what's called a squawk. A squawk is a 4 number code that we have to enter into our transponder on the plane so that we are visible to the controller on his radar.

As we continued on our way, getting lower and lower over the city, we were able to see all of the Southwest jets and other private jets taking off and seemingly heading straight for us before climbing up thousands of feet above us. As we got within about 5 miles of MDW, the controller told us to follow the approach path to fly straight over the airport at 1,500 ft. My instructor and I were excited to say the least, because we would be given a view of the airport that you don't regularly get. It was also when we got within 5 miles that the air began to get pretty turbulent. We were low enough where the winds that were deflecting off of the houses and buildings right below us were buffeting our plane around a decent, but very manageable, amount.

Believe it or not, it was incredibly hard to spot the airport from a couple miles out - I was actually very surprised...not sure how commercial pilots do it on a daily (or nightly??) basis. Personally, I blame the orange street lights used by the City of Chicago, but that's a rant for another day...

Picture of the gate concourse area at MDW taken by my instructor. The two bright white lights above the two green lines are the wings of a taxiing Southwest 737

After flying over the field at 1,500 I made a relatively tight right turn to set myself up for final. We were assigned a touch-and-go on the runway parallel to what the big jets were using, so I had to be careful not to swing my turn out too close to their path. A private jet actually took off on the runway parallel to mine maybe 30 seconds before I landed, so the controller warned me of the wake turbulence as a result. Wake turbulence is what happens when vortices come off of plane's wings when they create lift - they actually have the power to flip smaller planes like mine and essentially drive them into the ground. After the touch-and-go, we headed directly back to 1C5 flying down I-55, literally and figuratively flying by the cars on the highway below.

Night flying, especially night flying into a busy commercial airport like MDW, is definitely something special, and something that can provide incredible views that not many other people get to experience. I can't wait until the day that I'm fully licensed so I can take my family and friends around at night, and hopefully into MDW and along the Chicago shoreline! I'd love to take any of you...

Route of the Above Flight

Hope you all enjoyed this post! Next week (3/21 - 3/28), I plan on (weather permitting) finishing my license while I'm on my spring break. More to come in the following days on the progress of that!

Happy flying!

FSX

Video games - when I say the word, I'm sure many of you who are college-aged immediately think Xbox and PlayStation. Personally, I've never really gotten into either system, other than the occasional game of NCAA Football or Madden. During high school, when my desire for flying was arguably at it's lowest point, the only times I played video games were occasionally on the weekends. In the times before and after high school, however, I have played primarily with a flight simulator on my computer.

The particular flight sims I have had experience with are a few in the Microsoft Flight Simulator series: 2002, 2004, and FSX(released in 2006). I used FS2002 sparingly in grade school, playing more with FS2004 in that period of time. In the post-high school period, I've played with FSX almost exclusively on the PC that's part of my college's laptop program.

While FSX came out in 2006, there have been several third-party add-ons that are available online for purchase. There are some out there who have easily dropped thousands of dollars on add-on planes, scenery enhancements, etc. for the game. Myself? I've spent maybe a measly $100 (including the cost of the game and my joystick!).

CLICK HERE to see a YouTube video of just how realistic FSX can get...

The best part of FSX for me is that I'm able to familiarize myself with a lot of the systems of an aircraft that I may or may not fly someday. Almost all of the planes in the game are system-for-system, button-for-button, sound-for-sound, etc. which, in my opinion, makes the game extremely fun and realistic. More or less, FSX and its realism allow me to live out my aviation dreams in a virtual world. There's something about flying, even the virtual kind, that is just encapsulating and makes me want to come back for more each and every time.

Another neat feature about FSX is that I am able to simulate going in and out of real world airports in planes that may not be suitable for those airports. I'm also able to simulate extreme weather conditions and fly into them, whereas in real life that would never be possible. Below, I've uploaded a screen-capture video of one of my landings to showcase this. In the video, I am flying into Chicago Midway Airport in a Boeing 757-200 series aircraft. While 757's have been in and out of MDW before, the weather that I am landing in would result in a total ground stop at MDW - no planes in or out, no questions asked. In my opinion, that's what makes it so fun! Of course, this wouldn't be possible in the real world because it's too dangerous, but it also makes it extremely challenging, which is something that I definitely look for when I play FSX these days.

To give you an idea of the weather that I'm flying in here, the visibility is 1/16 of a mile, or 330 ft - basically the length of a football field - and I'm traveling at ~145 MPH (speed can be seen on the top display and dial to the left). At that speed, 330 ft is traveled in about 1.5 seconds - pretty dangerous.

In addition to these weather simulations, there is also an Air Traffic Control (ATC) feature that is added in to FSX, which allows you to basically talk to robots using a series of preset commands programmed into the game. This system, while helpful at first, is not as similar to the real world as I would like.

Looking for a real-world ATC add-on one day, I came across something called VATSIM. VATSIM, or Virtual Air Traffic SIMulation, is a free online network which provides the realistic ATC I was looking for. On the network, people who want to fly their planes log on as pilots, and people who want to be air traffic controllers log on as controllers. Communications work by way of a chat box, or by voice. On my joystick, there's actually a push-to-talk button that I use whenever I want to speak on the network.

In using VATSIM, I have greatly improved my voice communications in the real world as well. VATSIM combined with FSX have provided a practice ground of sorts for my real world flying. In FSX I also fly a Cessna 172 that is almost button-for-button like the one that I fly in real life. While the feeling of flying it in the game is far different than the feeling of flying in real life, for obvious reasons, to say that it is incredibly helpful and a great training resource would be a huge understatement.

I hope this provided some insight in to the flight sim that I use and have come to really enjoy flying with over the years. In my next post, I'll talk about what it was like to actually land at Midway Airport in real life!

Flying Blind

Imagine: you're driving your car down the highway going 90+ MPH and there's nothing but you and the open road. Sounds fun, right? Now imagine this situation, and you happen to drive straight into a fog cloud and you can no longer see what's going on down the road, let alone 10 ft in front of you. How would you react? What would you do? In a car, the safest option would easily be to slow down to maybe 25 MPH as you wind your way along the road. However, if this situation were to happen while flying a plane, it would hardly be this easy.

When you're hundreds of feet in the air travelling 100+ MPH, slowing down isn't exactly an option...if one were to slow down to 25 MPH in the air, they would more than likely stall the plane and basically fall out of the sky. When weather conditions like flying into a cloud arise in flight, there are a few options for private pilots, as they aren't allowed to fly into clouds (which requires an instrument rating), the simplest option being a 180 degree turn to get out of the weather or clouds that you just flew into.

In order to prepare to fly into these conditions if a situation like that ever arises, the FAA requires that three or more hours of simulated instrument time must be completed. The one object that makes this training possible is what's called "the Hood."

Not me pictured here, but this is the same sort of Hood that I used during training

The Hood is a half cone-shaped piece of plastic that fits around your head with an elastic band and forces you to fly while only looking at your instruments, as it blocks all outside views.

All you'll really see while flying under the Hood

When your only way of gathering information about what's going on outside is your instruments, you need to maintain a vigilant scan of those instruments to make sure that your plane is staying on the heading you want and at the altitude and airspeed that you want. If any adjustments need to be made in terms of heading, altitude or airspeed, they need to be subtle and carefully executed for a couple of reasons. Most important of these reasons is: you want to make sure that while performing any maneuvers (turns, climbs) you maintain a scan - any movements that are too fast would prevent you from maintaining your scan of the instruments and making any proper, timely adjustments

While some may find the aspect of flying under the hood a bit of a hassle because of the possibility of vertigo, I actually found it pretty fun. When you fly without any outside views and it feels like only you and your plane flying along, you feel much more a part of the plane than if you were to fly with a view. The fact that you have to explicitly trust in what your instruments are telling you compared to what your body is telling you is an incredible feeling and something that I can't wait to have again if I ever start my instrument rating training. 

Another big part of instrument flying is VOR navigation as discussed in my previous post. GPS has also become a major player when it comes to instrument flying as it's become more and more precise, with many approach procedures now using GPS as a primary source of navigation. Both of these navigation methods are essential when flying blind, as there is no way of navigating using any visual checkpoints that private pilots normally use. 

While flying blind may not sound fun to some of you, chances are that you've been on a commercial flight where your friendly Captain and First Officer (copilot) have been descending through thick clouds to land when they only have their instruments available to them for reference. A quick YouTube video can be seen below with the pilots using what's called an ILS or Instrument Landing System. Don't worry though, chances are that you'll most likely never be on a commercial flight where the visibility is that bad...

ILS LANDING VIDEO HERE

Diagram of an ILS - the plane more or less follows the crosshairs down to the runway, usually on a glideslope of approximately 3 degrees

Frankly, the thought of basically flying a final approach without being able to see anything at all would definitely give me an incredible adrenaline rush, and it's absolutely something that I'd like to do some day as a pilot. Those that know me know that I'm not really a huge risk taker or "adrenaline junkie," but this is something that I would no doubt love to do.

While I'm not able to shoot any approaches like this in real life (for now...), I am able to practice them to some extent on the Flight Simulator that I have on my computer...more on that in my next post!

Q and A

As mentioned in my last post, I said I would be fielding some questions that anyone had in today's post. Without further ado, here they are...

--What are COMM and NAV radios? VOR receivers? What does all that mean...

COMM is short for COMMunication - COMM radios are what we use to talk to air traffic control, or on "walkie talkie" sort of communication frequencies called UNICOM at airports without control towers.

NAV is short for NAVigation - NAV radios are tuned to certain frequencies of navigation aids, like VOR's. These frequencies are typically used by pilots who fly on instruments only, but they are also helpful for private pilots as well.

VOR stands for Very high frequency Omnidirectional Radio range - they are stations located all over the world and are used by tuning the NAV radio to their corresponding frequencies. To use a VOR for navigation, first tune to it's frequency and then turn the receiver to the radial that it corresponds with. It's pretty hard to explain on here just in writing so if anyone's interested in actually finding out more about how it's done, just click on this link HERE

--What kind of planes can you fly with your license?

Well...even though I don't have my license quite yet (5 hours to go...), I am currently limited to piston single-engine planes that weigh less than 12,500 lbs. In addition, I can only operate planes with fixed propellers, an engine less than 200 hp, but I can also technically carry as many people as I want in my plane.

--How high can your Cessna 172 go?

As far as I know, the "ceiling" in the C172R that I rent is 13,500 ft, while the ceiling in the C172SP that I also occasionally rent is 14,000 ft - if anyone finds anything different please let me know. This is convenient because if you're in a C172 above 12,500 ft for more than 30 minutes, than the crew needs supplemental oxygen on board. Also, if you're above 14,000 ft for any duration, it's mandatory that the crew have supplemental oxygen. Thankfully, I don't plan on going above 12.5 or 14 any time soon so I won't have to drop any more $$$ than I already spend on flying as it is, which leads me to the next question...

--How much does it cost to get a private pilots license?

To answer simply? A lot... The flight school that I fly out of has a price which I think is pretty standard for most flight schools around the country - it's in the neighborhood of $6-7 thousand, depending on the type of plane that you rent. For example, I could have rented a smaller, two-seat Cessna 152 for about $30 less per hour, but it would have been incredibly cramped with an instructor next to me. Also, a good amount of our weight would be taken up with human weight instead of fuel, which would severely limit our time actually up in the air. 

One must keep in mind that the $6-7 thousand figure is usually for the minimum 40 hours required by the FAA. For example, those that don't grasp flying right away may take up to 60, 70 or more hours to become fully licensed and will be paying for those extra 20 or 30 hours as a result. So not only can staying on top of your training can help you get your license quicker, but it can also save you some serious $$$ too.

 --How far along are you in your training?

As of today, I currently have: 35.3 hours, 96 day landings, 11 night landings, and 7.3 hours solo. The FAA has certain minimums set, which I will outline below, for obtaining the 40 minimum hours. I will also include the number of hours I have for each category. 

• 20 hours of flight training with an instructor which includes
• 3 hours at night (I have 3.2)
• One night cross-country with total distance of 100 miles flown (Done)
• 10 takeoffs/landings (11)
• 3 hours of cross-country time (flight to an airport of more than 50 miles away) (5.4)
• 3 hours of simulated instrument time (more on this in a later post) (3.0)
• 3 hours of training within 60 days of taking the practical (in-flight) test (N/A)
• 10 hours solo (7.3)
• 5 hours of solo cross country (Only part I haven't accomplished yet, despite being signed off for solo cross-country flights)
• One solo cross-country over 150 miles in length with 3 stops along the way (Nope)
• 3 takeoffs/landings to a full stop at an airport with a control tower (3)

As you can hopefully see here, I really only have to accomplish the 5 hours of solo cross-country time before I'm able to be signed off for my practical test. I tried to get those hours out of the way during winter break before coming back to school, but unfortunately lost about two weeks worth of time due to some awful Chicago weather and scheduling issues. 

--Do you take a parachute when you go up with you?

Nope - and frankly, I don't expect to take one up with me for as long as I fly. I have faith in the planes that I fly and I know that if anything is to happen to my single engine that my plane is actually a decent glider as well. Trusting in your plane is key, because who else is a pilot supposed to trust besides himself when he's up hundreds or thousands of feet in the air?

--Do you need 20/20 vision to fly?

No you do not! FAA medical certificates only specify that your vision be 20/20 correctable for distant vision, and 20/40 or better (with or without correction) for near and intermediate vision. Color blindness is also a factor, as the FAA states that pilots must be able "to perceive those colors necessary for safe performance of airmen duties."

--What has been the hardest part of training so far?

While I haven't gotten too much into it yet, I know that the hardest part will definitely be prepping for my practical test. I need to know the electrical, fuel, engine, and avionics (instrument) systems for the C172 like the back of my hand, in addition to knowing everything else not having to do with the plane like airspace regulations, weather, minimum weather requirements, communications, etc. or else I will fail my test and have to take it again - costing some serious $$$ and putting a "black mark" of sorts on my instructor's record.

--Dream plane and place to fly in to?

My dream plane would either have to be the Cessna 206 Skywagon or the Pilatus PC-12. The Skywagon is the newer, bigger brother of the C172 - able to carry twice the amount of passengers in addition to an engine that's twice as powerful. The Pilatus is also a single-engine plane as well, with incredible performance characteristics that all pilots would surely love - incredibly reliable, powerful engine, ability to get in and out of small runways, and great payload capabilities.

Both cost a pretty penny, so I guess I should start saving now...right?

C206 Skywagon

Pilatus PC-12

As far as a dream place to fly in to, I have long dreamed of flying into Chicago Midway (MDW), which I was able to accomplish (more on that in another post). I wouldn't necessarily say that I have a dream place to fly to, but I do have dream places that I'd like to fly over/around: my house/neighborhood, along the Chicago lakefront, along the dunes in Southwest Michigan, down the Hudson river corridor to NYC, over my college campus - the list goes on.

--What have your parents thought about the process? Are they nervous?

They have been very supportive! Not financially, however - that burden falls on me. I have talked about it with my mom before and she says that she's nervous sometimes, but that the more she thinks about it the more nervous it makes her, which I totally understand. I feel like my dad has the same sort of feeling, but I just haven't gotten it out of him yet.


Hope these questions helped you understand the nature of my training and flying as a whole better than you did before! My next post will be on what it's like flying only on instruments without being able to see out the windows - better known as flying "under the hood."

The Bird

Like every driver and their affection for a first car, the same can easily be said of a pilot and their first plane. For me, the first (and only, at the moment) plane I have flown thus far has been the venerable, mass-produced Cessna 172 Skyhawk.

With over 43,000 constructed since production started in 1956, it's safe to say that the 172 is a mainstay in the general aviation (GA) world. Loved by pilots across the globe, the 172's relative simplicity, four-seat capacity, and respectable performance make it popular whether you're a student or a seasoned pilot.

With a four or six cylinder engine ranging anywhere from 145 hp to 180 hp depending on the model, it can cruise up to 140 MPH and fly approximately 700-750 miles on a single tank of gas.

Personally, my time in the 172 has been great - the high-wing design allows for unobstructed views of the ground, allowing for great photography chances but also prohibits you of viewing anything in the air above you. It's relatively low stalling speed ( ~40 knots/45 MPH) also enables it to land on some short grass or paved runways, allowing you to get in and out of some unfurnished airports with ease.

The cockpit itself is about as simple as it gets for a small single engine plane. There are your standard engine/oil gauges, the standard "six-pack" (artificial horizon, altimeter, directional gyro (compass), vertical speed indicator, turn coordinator, and airspeed indicator), radio stack with different COMM and NAV frequencies and the transponder (basically allows your plane to be seen by air traffic control), along with the non-mandatory VOR (navigation aid) receivers and a very basic GPS and autopilot.

While it may not sound that simple on the surface, it only takes a flight or two to get used to the layout of the cockpit.

The view from the left seat of a Cessna 172

Full view of the panel - large orange/black stack in the middle houses the radios

On the outer portion of each yoke (control wheel), there is a push-to-talk button that, when pressed and held down, enables you to speak to controllers without having your hand leave the controls. Thankfully, most, if not all, planes have this feature, making aviating and communicating at the same time a breeze, especially for student pilots.

I planned on having this be a short informational post, but in my next post, I'd like to answer any questions that any of you may have so far on anything having to do with flying. Feel free to leave any questions in the comments box below or shoot me an email (jkrecek3@gmail.com) and I'd love to answer them.

Flaps up!

Ridin' Solo

(S/O to Jason DeRulo for the awesome post title)

Saturday July 26, 2014

Today, I had two flights on my slate - an 8 AM flight with a different instructor than the one I normally have, and a normal training flight with my regular instructor in the afternoon. This first flight was my solo cross check flight, or in other words, a flight where a different instructor accompanied me up to "double check" that I was approved for solo flight.

In this early morning flight, the weather when we lifted off from Clow (1C5) didn't look like the weather that other airports in the area were reporting - the clouds were lower and seemed to be getting lower by the minute. As a result, my instructor had to deviate from some of the normal procedures that were part of a regular solo cross check. After practicing some pilotage (using local landmarks to navigate as opposed to a GPS or other navigation aids) my instructor took me to Joliet Regional Airport (JOT) where we practiced landing on a shorter runway than I was accustomed to (2900' vs 3400').

What made the landing/approach at JOT more interesting was the fact that we flew it with the airspeed indicator out. In other words, the instructor placed a circular piece of paper, similar to a post-it note, over the instrument so I couldn't see what my airspeed was and I had to rely solely on my senses/how the airplane controls felt/responded to get a general idea of what my airspeed was.

As it turned out, I overestimated my approach speed and ended up having to execute a go around because I was too high and had excess speed. Nonetheless, the instructor said that he was happy with how everything went and said that it's definitely better to overestimate airspeed, because at the low altitude we were at, it's nearly impossible to recover from a stall (more on those in a later post).

After our practice at JOT, we headed over to the Lewis University Airport (LOT) to practice a couple standard takeoffs and landings - pretty uneventful. To end the day, we flew back to 1C5 and my instructors certified me for solo flight!

After a two hour break, I went up again at noon with my regular instructor. We started the day just doing some pattern work because the clouds were still at a level where we were unable to practice any other maneuvers/procedures, like stalls.

The 5 Different Legs of an Airport Traffic Pattern

After doing a couple circuits and nailing a couple landings, we were taxiing back to the end of the runway to takeoff again when my instructor told me to pull over next to the office, and I did - but I was confused...

Once I had stopped, he told me to keep the engine running and said "Alright, I'm gonna hop out here. She's all yours." I almost froze. I was actually going to fly solo...

It all came as such a shock to me because I thought I would be soloing when the cloud conditions were better, but he must've known that I was ready to do it and he threw me right into the fire.

On my taxi to takeoff, I kept going through the various procedures in my head if something were to go wrong - engine failure on takeoff, minimum altitude to turn back if engine failure occurred during climb, stall recovery procedures for both landing and takeoff - just to name a few. I know I know...thinking of all the things that could go wrong isn't exactly what you want to be doing when you're nervous, but when you're a pilot, it's a necessity.

I started my takeoff roll and everything was going smoothly. I was just be flying in the traffic pattern and my upwind, crosswind, downwind, and base legs were all uneventful. But when I rolled out onto final, I realized the small crosswind had pushed me a little bit off of the runway centerline and I knew I had to realign myself if I had any hope of landing the plane on the 50 ft wide runway.

Not wanting to totally botch my first landing, I decided to execute a go around, making sure not to stall the plane and performing all of the procedures that the checklist called for. My instructor actually chimed in on the radio after the go around just wanting to double check if everything was OK and of course I told him yes...I mean, what else am I supposed to think when I'm hundreds of feet up in the air by myself? I have to put the bird down somehow...

My next landing went according to plan, and after completing three more landings, I had officially finished my first solo flight. I was ecstatic - shaking, sweating, smiling - it was definitely one of the proudest moments of my life to date.

I had finally done it. I had finally flown a plane by myself. While I still had a good amount of hours to go before getting my license, I didn't care - I felt on top of the world.

Speaking of hours, I accomplished my first solo flight after accumulating only 12.2 hours of flying time in 5 days worth of flying, and as far as I know, that's a record at the school that I fly at. Also, it's something that I'm definitely proud of because I actually had to put in numerous hours of studying to even be able to solo in the first place, and it all paid off.

It's long been tradition in aviation that after a student flies solo, the back of their shirt is cut off and they are doused with water (depending on the weather). The story behind the shirt is that during the early days of flying, the instructor sat behind the student in the cockpit and since the cockpits were loud and there were no headsets, the instructor had to pull on the student's shirt to direct him. The shirt back being cut off was symbolic in that it signified that the student no longer needed to be pulled in the right direction. As far as the water tradition, that I'm not 100% sure of...but it happened!

It's also tradition for the student's instructor to take the shirt back and draw a design on it after it has dried and present it to the student.

My Shirt Back Design

After my First Solo

My first solo takeoff 

My Now Back-less Shirt

In my next post, I'll talk more about the plane that has carried me through all of my training and what I will likely be flying for the foreseeable future...the Cessna 172 Skyhawk

Cleared for Takeoff

At the beginning of the summer after my freshman year of college, I was excited - excited to see my friends, excited to make some more money working at a local restaurant, and excited for all that summer in the beautiful city of Chicago brings. Those plans all changed when I dislocated my thumb tossing the football around with my good friends Nick and Kevin, and I was put in a cast for six weeks.

Initially I had thought about waiting on my flight training since my summer was more or less booked with working, working out, taking a summer class, and relaxing with my pals. Since the cast was around for those six weeks, I was unable to work and could only work out one side of my upper body. It was also a huge, smelly, bulky pain to have around and I couldn't wait for it to come off. I spent most of the rest of the time with my cast on doing various odd jobs for some family friends to make a buck here and there, but it didn't compare to the steady, albeit minimum wage, income that the restaurant job would have provided.

Once the cast was off, I had to wait two weeks to be cleared by a doctor, then there would be another week or two for me to get any work in at the restaurant before leaving for school. I decided taking the time to adapt to working there again and re-learning the menu and protocols wasn't necessarily worth doing for two weeks, not to mention just getting back on the schedule to work again.. Instead, I thought that I could spend some time working on my dream of flying instead.

While I was back at school in the spring, I had looked into various flight schools in my area and the one that caught my eye was at the Clow International Airport in Bolingbrook, IL - about a 20-25 minute drive from my house. On Sunday, July 20, I called them up and they said they could accommodate me later that day for an intro flight.

Not to sound corny, but the flight was everything I had expected. The weather was perfect - winds no more than 5 knots, scattered high-level clouds, and I didn't do as bad of a job landing and taking off as I thought I might for my first flight.

After the intro flight, I decided to set a goal for myself of flying solo before I left for school. All of the initial training flights went relatively smoothly and quickly. After eight flights and five days of flying twice a day, my instructor threw me into my first solo, and I was totally blindsided by it - and I mean blindsided in the nicest sense of the word.

In reality, I had sufficient preparation and I was ready, I was just shocked at the way it all went down.

Check back for how my first solo went in the next post!