CPO : A Pilot in Training : This is my Journey

We got our medical on the same day. Alas I have the dreaded color vision restriction. ocvt for me
 
Doing great keep up the good work. Solo can't be far away.
 
Ha! No way! I'm here. Sorry. I've been waiting to solo ... For about 2 weeks now. But either the winds or thunderstorms or work conflicts has me postponed. I do have some video to process, but it's on the list behind a few other things.

Tournament lacrosse season is in full swing... Which means we're traveling every weekend for games. (My son plays.)

Thanks for checking on me. I'll try and get another video up soon.... But we've basically been beating the pattern waiting for a calm enough day for solo. It's been great practice.... Because at my airport, every landing is unique. It's a very challenging environment the way they have it cut out of the trees... It's very unpredictable... Which is great for learning.
 
If my first name was Han, my last name might be...?
 
Long time no post.

I thought you were on your commercial rating by now :)

Good Luck!!
 
It's been a long time...I haven't done the math yet...but I think I ended up soloing at 17-18 hours. Not because of me...but because of the conditions...too windy/gusty for solo...lets just beat up the pattern some more. It's all great training...

Today...however, was a perfect solo day. Slight left to right crosswind. Just enough to have to think about and deal with, but not gusty as to make a stabilized approach a pain.

So...here's the question:

If you end up having to ground the plane in the middle of your 3 solo patterns, is that good luck or bad luck? LOL!

I only got two laps in...and then the flaps wouldn't retract after the second landing. I noticed it, and we grounded the plane (wasn't a simple breaker trip). Switch moved from 30 to 0 as usual...flaps just won't go with it. Again...another great learning moment. If I hadn't noticed something unusual OUTSIDE of the plane... I might have had to learn what it would be like to take off with full flaps -- fun for sure. NOT!

I do have it on video....hopefully I can get it edited and posted before the end of the weekend.
 
cipio said:
It's been a long time...I haven't done the math yet...but I think I ended up soloing at 17-18 hours. Not because of me...but because of the conditions...too windy/gusty for solo...lets just beat up the pattern some more. It's all great training...

Today...however, was a perfect solo day. Slight left to right crosswind. Just enough to have to think about and deal with, but not gusty as to make a stabilized approach a pain.

So...here's the question:

If you end up having to ground the plane in the middle of your 3 solo patterns, is that good luck or bad luck? LOL!

I only got two laps in...and then the flaps wouldn't retract after the second landing. I noticed it, and we grounded the plane (wasn't a simple breaker trip). Switch moved from 30 to 0 as usual...flaps just won't go with it. Again...another great learning moment. If I hadn't noticed something unusual OUTSIDE of the plane... I might have had to learn what it would be like to take off with full flaps -- fun for sure. NOT!

I do have it on video....hopefully I can get it edited and posted before the end of the weekend.
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Congrats on the solo!

Were you doing stop/go or touch/go? Good catch on the flaps, wow, that could've been a disaster taking off full flaps. I think it would be challenging to detect and stop the takeoff run if that happened during a touch/go. I've seen a lot of cfi's recommend only stop/go for first solos.
 
jimbilly said:
Congrats on the solo!



Were you doing stop/go or touch/go? Good catch on the flaps, wow, that could've been a disaster taking off full flaps. I think it would be challenging to detect and stop the takeoff run if that happened during a touch/go. I've seen a lot of cfi's recommend only stop/go for first solos.
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Thanks. And yes... Thankfully I was doing full stops.
 
CPO First Solo Flight : Full Lesson : C152

Well...the title says it all. It's my first solo! It wasn't without a little adventure, and I ended up having to ground the plane because of a problem I identified after my second solo lap around the pattern.

This is a longer than usual video from me...but if you want to just jump straight to the first solo, you can go to about 29:15. But why would you do that? That would be cheating! ;-)

Of course, the day started with a few laps in the pattern with my CFI, including an engine out failure (simulated). After those, she felt I was ready to go it alone.

Do you remember your first solo as a private pilot? I bet you do. I don't believe anyone can forget their first time with an empty right seat.

As you can see, it was a very hazy and foggy morning. It was fine for staying in the pattern, thankfully.

 
Nice touch with the Loggins, haha, and thanks for stopping it!
 
jimbilly said:
Nice touch with the Loggins, haha, and thanks for stopping it!
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Ha! Thanks. Now I know at least one person watched "most" of the video... LOL! Yeah... I figured that little easter egg was appropriate...but only in a very small dose. :)
 
Well do you have any updates? I need something entertaining to read about flying instead of the current debates over racist homosexual flags.
 
I hear you there. My last flight lesson was short/soft field takeoffs and landings. Lots of fun! I didn't have the camera for that flight because I had it still stuck on my sons helmet from when he played a charity lacrosse game the night before.

Weather here has not been favorable. Typical afternoon thunderstorms. We did do a XC planning lesson the last time we had a weather limitation, and I've planned a trip to ocean city. I imagine we'll be actually flying that route pretty soon.

Lastly. I need to schedule a stage check... But just haven't gotten it done yet. June was the busy month!
 
YES!!!! ha! I've missed three weeks of flying thanks to:

Week one: Weather
Week two: Vacation
Week three: Plane maintenance

My next lesson is supposed to be Tuesday, but not sure if the maintenance will be done yet or not. There was a cylinder with low compression or something, so it turned into engine work. Not sure. We only have the one 152 running, so when it's down, I'm down.

I've passed the stage one check ride, and of course the solo. Did a cross country planning lesson (non-flight) and I am expected the next flight lesson to fly part or all of my cross country route.

Still flying with CAP. Did two 4 hour missions as Observer and Scanner (Observer is right seat, Scanner is back seat). Even that is nice to see other pilots fly, and because they are long flights with specific waypoints, I get to watch and learn there. Flew with a pilot who used autopilot in a 182 for the first time yesterday. That's pretty neat... I must say!

So thanks all...Its just been a very busy summer. Lots of stuff going on. I kinda miss the spring when pretty much all I had on my plate was flying!
 
You're an MO? That helps tremendously with technically advanced avionics.

It's also a more demanding job for SAR than flying the plane!

I'm qualified as MO, MS, AP, TMP, and O-ride pilot. MP has only the form 91 remaining.

Good MOs are worth their weight in gold, as I've discovered during my MP training.
 
MAKG1 said:
You're an MO? That helps tremendously with technically advanced avionics.

It's also a more demanding job for SAR than flying the plane!

I'm qualified as MO, MS, AP, TMP, and O-ride pilot. MP has only the form 91 remaining.

Good MOs are worth their weight in gold, as I've discovered during my MP training.
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Nice! I'm MS, MO, and have taken the training for AP...just need to sign off on the SQTRs (I wasn't eligible when I took the training because it was before I was MS qualified.) I just need to go through the steps again. As soon as I can get my PPL, I'll be working on building hours for that TMP role...
 
Not a new update! :)

I still get lots of offline questions about what I use to record cockpit audio. I thought I would reshare this to maybe bubble the info to the present part of the discussion.

Cockpit Audio Recording Adapter Cable - CRAZEDpilot

This is my choice for recording cockpit audio. I'll be sending the audio to my Tascam recorder using this cable. It includes impedance matching circuitry to ensure I am getting the right levels to my recorder. I'll be syncing this audio with the video from my GoPro which will be also set up somewhere in the cockpit.

Here's the direct link to the cable!

 
cipio said:
Nice! I'm MS, MO, and have taken the training for AP...just need to sign off on the SQTRs (I wasn't eligible when I took the training because it was before I was MS qualified.) I just need to go through the steps again. As soon as I can get my PPL, I'll be working on building hours for that TMP role...
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I don't know why AP requires MS. About the only similarity is that they both ride in the back seat.

AP does require a cast iron stomach. Last exercise we had, more than half of the trainees came back with their lunch in a container. It was hot and turbulent and we were shooting strips.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Any updates?
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I passed my Form 91 and am now mission pilot qualified in 182/G1000. We didn't even let the airplane cool down before the first ELT mission. The ELT was ****ing off pilots all over NorCal for days, but we found it in 30 minutes, in the Sierra foothills at KJAQ.

Oh, you meant CPO. :D
 
Kinda wondering where this one went.
On the fast track and then flat line...

You still around?
 
Hmm, his website ends with his solo. I hope it's all ok.

Summer is over and sometimes life gets in the way.
 
I suspected this might happen. As gung ho as he was, I thought it possible that he would fizzle out.
 
PPC1052 said:
I suspected this might happen. As gung ho as he was, I thought it possible that he would fizzle out.
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Having recently gone through the excitement that my solo was, I can now fully understand the "fizzle out". That's when life's other priorities can sometimes take back over - cuz they'd been shoved to the end of the line for weeks (or months) as all the pre-solo focus was winning out over other priorities. Took care of a few neglected honey-do's and other important chores, and now I'm back at it again.
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
Having recently gone through the excitement that my solo was, I can now fully understand the "fizzle out". That's when life's other priorities can sometimes take back over - cuz they'd been shoved to the end of the line for weeks (or months) as all the pre-solo focus was winning out over other priorities. Took care of a few neglected honey-do's and other important chores, and now I'm back at it again.
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A lot of people quit at that point, even more right after PP. Once you solo, that's pretty much the biggie. Unless you actually have a use for GA, you've pretty done all you need to do, you are now a pilot.
 
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