Chasing my PPL - Progress Thread...

marcoseddi said:
Great have you been doing a lot of ground training or mainly every meeting flying?
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Flying. Most reading/studying on topics is on my time. CFI is great about clarifying things for me and helping me when I'm stuck on something though...
 
Flew to a class Delta tonight and did my three solo landings in D airspace. Took 2 hours on the Hobbs though! C 130s were doing low flyovers, which meant traffic had to wait 2 minutes before being cleared for takeoff due to wake turbulence. To top it off, tower had me hold short for what seemed like forever to wait on a blimp that was flying by within a few miles of the departure pattern (without talking to the tower). Holding short for traffic 8 miles out didnt help either (cfi told me i got screwed on that one...) Geesh, I was afraid I wouldn't get my three landings in before sundown. Got em in though, and a great night for flyin, so all was good. :yes:
 
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Heh... sounds like you got all the "bad" stuff of a Delta out of your system, anyway... it should go smoother next time. :)
 
Hobobiker said:
Flew to a class Delta tonight and did my three solo landings in D airspace. Took 2 hours on the Hobbs though! C 130s were doing low flyovers, which meant traffic had to wait 2 minutes before being cleared for takeoff due to wake turbulence. To top it off, tower had me hold short for what seemed like forever to wait on a blimp that was flying by within a few miles of the departure pattern (without talking to the tower). Holding short for traffic 8 miles out didnt help either (cfi told me ingot screwed on that one...) Geesh, I was afraid I wouldn't get my three landings in before sundown. Got em in though, and a great night for flyin, so all was good. :yes:
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Two hours for that trip? Wow, you did get hosed. I'm assuming you were at KLBE? It can be dead quiet, then crazy busy. Sounds like you just hit a busy stretch.
 
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ScottK said:
Two hours for that trip? Wow, you did get hosed. I'm assuming you were at KLBE? It can be dead quiet, then crazy busy. Sounds like you just hit a busy stretch.
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Yep Scott, and I didn't do ANYTHING in-between IDI and LBE other than fly between the two. The Black Cloud was in the tower, but she treated me decent last night. One of the C-130s even offered to go to Johnstown for the remainder of their low passes when they heard I was trying to get in my three landings before sundown, which was VERY cool of them. Hope they were still on the frequency when I said a "Thank You" to them and ATC. I would have offered to buy them a beer for that one, but didn't think it would go over well on the tower's frequency... :lol:
 
Hobobiker said:
Yep Scott, and I didn't do ANYTHING in-between IDI and LBE other than fly between the two. The Black Cloud was in the tower, but she treated me decent last night. One of the C-130s even offered to go to Johnstown for the remainder of their low passes when they heard I was trying to get in my three landings before sundown, which was VERY cool of them. Hope they were still on the frequency when I said a "Thank You" to them and ATC. I would have offered to buy them a beer for that one, but didn't think it would go over well on the tower's frequency... :lol:
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That was nice of them to offer. Honestly, I would expect that from them. I've been in the pattern a few times with the local military guys and have always found them to be pleasant and willing to work with the other traffic.

Sounds like you're getting a lot of flying in. It's nice that we have so many good options locally. We can cover just about every situation airport wise without going all that far. Class D's are available, KPIT covers Class B and a short little jaunt to KCAK gets you a Class C. Plus all the non-towered airports in the area.

Have you been to 5G8 yet? It looks like you're landing on a tabletop after being at KLBE. I haven't actually landed there yet, but I've flown by it a bunch. Every time we tried to go there for short field practice, it was closed or bad wx.
 
ScottK said:
That was nice of them to offer. Honestly, I would expect that from them. I've been in the pattern a few times with the local military guys and have always found them to be pleasant and willing to work with the other traffic.

Sounds like you're getting a lot of flying in. It's nice that we have so many good options locally. We can cover just about every situation airport wise without going all that far. Class D's are available, KPIT covers Class B and a short little jaunt to KCAK gets you a Class C. Plus all the non-towered airports in the area.

Have you been to 5G8 yet? It looks like you're landing on a tabletop after being at KLBE. I haven't actually landed there yet, but I've flown by it a bunch. Every time we tried to go there for short field practice, it was closed or bad wx.
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No 5G8 yet, although I've been practicing more and more short/soft takeoffs and landings. CFI killed my engine last night in the dark on downwind, knowing that I would have to immediately turn base/final and do a short landing. He laughed all the way down...
 
CFI txted me and asked if I wanted to go up on Sunday at 1pm. Says if it's nice we can do a longer XC, and if ceilings are low I get to put on the hood for the first time. How can ya say 'NO' to an offer like that? :D
 
Did my flight planning today to hit an airport to the northwest 56NM away. Flight planning was all good except I had originally used the metar winds to calculate my wind correction. Newbie brainfart, and did a quick recalc interpolating the winds aloft between 3000 and 6000 since in would be using 4500 going and 5500 coming back. Hit all my visual markers on time and had no issues at the airport touch-and-goes. VERY cool experience and much more interesting than pattern work. :yes:
 
Hey,

Wanted to see what you were doing for Ground, I'v been reading the handbook and aeronautical from the FAA website.. And my CFI says keep reading keep reading, than I mentioned to him that I started the Gleim online course and it gives you an an endorsement he's like oh thats good no problem if you do more on your end less you have to pay me to teach you. Which is good and plus when i read and then he teaches when we fly and does a little ground before and after it helps to understand what I read..

I just wanted to know what you were doing for Ground? Oh and what hour mark at you at now?
 
Only "official" ground school has been some navigation help filling out the forms for TC, WC, Deviation, Variance, etc. but I read a LOT (including those that you mentioned). If I have a question, my CFI is always available to assist, even via phone call, txt, etc. Some things stick the first time, others he probably tells me more than he would like. Just used two different VORs to determine where we were during my first XC. I understood it okay from the book, but actually DOING it in the plane made it sink in.

To your other question, I'm at 16.5 hours after my last flight...
 
Beautiful, I'm at 4 now. I could see it moving quickly. Are you at a school or a Club, if you dont mind me asking what do you guys pay out where you are located?
 
.8 hours solo tonight. Stayed in the pattern and did seven landings, some with pretty good crosswinds and a few gusts. None of the landings were great. Some were high, others were low, some I needed to add power, some I needed to kill all power and slip her down. I guess that's why we practice! LOL.

At one point the plane started runnin a little erratic after I slowed down at the numbers getting ready for my base turn. Glanced over and noticed I had leaned the mixture rather than throttling down. Quick change on the levers got me on the right track. :rolleyes2:

17.3 on the logbook "clock" now...
 
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Sounds great you are moving really quickly, seems to go fast once your up and running, I just did my first touch and goes the other day and i pretty excited to do some more take off and landings and can't wait to really control a landing!!
 
Posted this in another thread, but wanted to save it here as well for the chronology of my PPL experiences...

10/25/12: Beautiful day to fly in SW PA today, and I had a couple of hours this afternoon so I decided to go up and practice circles around a point, S-Turns, pattern work, etc. Winds forecasted good around the time I started pre-flighting the Archer at 2:00 EST (for runway 28). They seemed to change a lot as I flew however, and it was pretty bumpy at 3500 MSL in the practice area. By the time I was landing I got some interesting x-wind and downwind experience (for me, at least). When I got the weather inbound for landing the wind was from 180, so it didn't really matter if I chose runway 28 or 10, so I chose the "norm" which is 28. I even did a go-round after having the wind blow me long on the base leg. At 17.3 hours going into today's flight and only a little over 2 hours of those being solo time, this was definitely a learning experience. :yes:

The historical METARS are below for my flight time today between 2:00 EST and 3:00 EST. I guess things can change pretty quick up there!

KIDI 251935Z AUTO 16009KT 140V230 10SM 27/11 A3007 (Landing)
KIDI 251915Z AUTO 18008KT 10SM 27/12 A3007 RMK AO2 (Practice)
[FONT=Monospace,Courier]KIDI 251855Z AUTO 21005KT 10SM 27/12 A3008 RMK AO2 (Takeoff)[/FONT]
 
Got 1.1 hours under the hood tonight. Did an IFR approach, stalls, etc. CFI had me close my eyes under the hood numerous times while he put the plane into different situations, unusual attitudes, etc. I think he enjoyed my recoveries and expression after seeing that he failed certain gauges, messed with the trim, misadjusted the heading indicator and other stuff. While it WAS interesting, I certainly missed being able to see out the windows! Anyway, now that I've had an hour under the hood I can do my solo XC. Cool!

Thanks for the comments and encouragement everyone. Still having fun!
 
Archer looks to be booked most of today and all weekend. Nice PA weather must have everyone wantin to get in the air. I took the only two hours she has open today, from 1-3pm, so I'll take a late/long lunch and do some pattern work - which should put me over 20 hours if memory serves me correct. Half way to the "legal" 40 hours anyway...
 
Hobobiker said:
.8 miles solo tonight. Stayed in the pattern and did seven landings, some with pretty good crosswinds and a few gusts. None of the landings were great. Some were high, others were low, some I needed to add power, some I needed to kill all power and slip her down. I guess that's why we practice! LOL.
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Just wondering if you cleared the runway? :rofl:
 
MDeitch1976 said:
Just wondering if you cleared the runway? :rofl:
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Ok Matt, help me out. It's a Monday on a Friday here at work, so I'm missing something. If you're asking did I land on the runway, I was ALL OVER IT that day and made full use of the entire length at times. :rolleyes2:

Some of my landings are kinda like my golf game (when I played)....I get my money's worth of the real estate available...
 
8-10Kt winds and afternoon thermals made it fun today, and I ended up getting six landings in along with some other practice. Up to 19.9 hours now (dang, if I had only flown .1 hour more), with 4 of those hours as PIC. 75 total landings, 1 IFR approach, and 1.1 hours under the hood...
 
I think he was commenting on your ".8 miles" instead of ".8 hours" typo. :wink2:

I'm new to the forums and I just finished reading your thread. Keep it up!

I'm at 35 hours now, and I'm at the practicing up for my check-ride stage while trying to get to 40. My goal is to have my PPL by the 1st so I can fly my family down to Houston for my son's hockey tournament.
 
Hobobiker said:
Archer looks to be booked most of today and all weekend. Nice PA weather must have everyone wantin to get in the air. I took the only two hours she has open today, from 1-3pm, so I'll take a late/long lunch and do some pattern work - which should put me over 20 hours if memory serves me correct. Half way to the "legal" 40 hours anyway...
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Why are you limited to one plane?
 
roddie said:
I think he was commenting on your ".8 miles" instead of ".8 hours" typo. :wink2:

I'm new to the forums and I just finished reading your thread. Keep it up!

I'm at 35 hours now, and I'm at the practicing up for my check-ride stage while trying to get to 40. My goal is to have my PPL by the 1st so I can fly my family down to Houston for my son's hockey tournament.
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Got it! Didn't see that...obviously. Guess I need to fix that!
 
Henning said:
Why not fly it when the Archer is busy and get signed off in it as well?:dunno:
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Gonna ask my CFI exactly that. I had no issues in it, and it's slightly less expensive. CFI just needs to go up with me again to make sure he's comfortable with me solo in her...
 
Hobobiker said:
Gonna ask my CFI exactly that. I had no issues in it, and it's slightly less expensive. CFI just needs to go up with me again to make sure he's comfortable with me solo in her...
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Yeah dude, when you're a renter it pays to check out in as many planes as possible for availability. You might even want multiple airports. Once you get your ticket it becomes easier to branch out, but you can do a little looking around flying to other nearby airports and stopping in and having a chat after shooting a few landings. You never know when you will be thrown out of availability.
 
Hobobiker said:
Some of my landings are kinda like my golf game (when I played)....I get my money's worth of the real estate available...
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I had a CFI tell me that he didn't like to favor the right or left side of the real estate, he wanted to take his piece right out of the middle :lol:
 
Well, my color deficiency test (Farnsworth Lantern) this morning was a BUST. Drove 45 minutes to the office. Been waiting over a month in anticipation. Get there, and after an hour of waiting they say "Oh, we're sorry, we thought you meant the Farnsworth 'D-something' test. We don't do the Farnsworth Lantern test here". Grrrrrr. I specifically said "Farnsworth Lantern" in my discussions multiple times, to which the scheduler replied "Yes, we do those." She even checked with her billing department for what the cost would be if insurance didn't cover it. :mad2:

I work in healthcare so this comes as no surprise. Just VERY frustrating.

The search continues I guess...

And for anyone else in the same boat, a few of whom have contacted me via PM, the following came to me via an email directly from an FAA representative:

Acceptable Substitutes: (May be used following the directions accompanying the
instruments) Farnsworth Lantern; OPTEC 900 Color Vision Test; Keystone Orthoscope; Keystone Telebinocular; OPTEC 2000 Vision Tester (Model Nos. 2000 PM, 2000 PAME, and 2000 PI); OPTEC 2500; Titmus Vision Tester; Titmus 2 Vision Tester
(Model Nos. T2A and T2S); Titmus i400.


 
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Hobobiker said:
CFI txted me and asked if I wanted to go up on Sunday at 1pm. Says if it's nice we can do a longer XC, and if ceilings are low I get to put on the hood for the first time. How can ya say 'NO' to an offer like that? :D
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Just did some hood work today...By far, best lesson ever for me! Hood work rocks! Can't wait to do more.
 
Hobobiker said:
Yeah, but I'm betting those same winds that made me pucker a little aren't anything to you now! :wink2:
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That still amazes me that people with 10-15 hours. I solo'd at a little over 40 hours and still working towards my PPL. But I had over 120 landings before I solo'd in a huge variety of wind conditions. Did several lessons on emergency procedures..I can't imagine being on a solo at 12 hours and having my engine fail at pattern altitude and be able to get down safely. I was nervous at 40 hours when I solo'd! I still am when I go up solo but atleast I'm that more confident in my abilities if something were to happen or unforecasted change of weather events.
 
Hobobiker said:
Ok Matt, help me out. It's a Monday on a Friday here at work, so I'm missing something. If you're asking did I land on the runway, I was ALL OVER IT that day and made full use of the entire length at times. :rolleyes2:

Some of my landings are kinda like my golf game (when I played)....I get my money's worth of the real estate available...
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I was referring to the part I placed in bold, the ".8 miles of solo"

Does not seem like a very far flight to me. If this were a 5500 foot runway, you may have not actually flew further than the Runway itself.

Sorry if I did not make sense, and offended you.
 
MDeitch1976 said:
I was referring to the part I placed in bold, the ".8 miles of solo"

Does not seem like a very far flight to me. If this were a 5500 foot runway, you may have not actually flew further than the Runway itself.

Sorry if I did not make sense, and offended you.
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Didn't offend at all Matt. I was just having a blonde moment (which would be great, since I'm bald!). Thanks for the catch...I made the change...
 
So, how is the training progressing? Haven't heard anything lately.
 
Sorry Scott, have been pretty busy with the holidays and at the hospital, so I haven't been on the forum much. I got a chance to go up today at lunch for .7 on the Hobbs, which puts me at a massive 20.6 in the logbook. It happens that we needed some up-to-date aerial pics of the hospital, which also happens to be very close to my practice and pattern area, so I killed two birds with one stone. (And before any of the legal beagles throw stones at me, it was all out of my pocket and I didnt' charge anything for the pics that may or may not be used by our marketing deparment, so I should be in the clear...lol). I also made sure to clear it with my CFI and to stay 1000ft AGL.

I need to make time for my solo XC and my long XC, but need to get through the holidays first.

Thanks for asking!
 
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