Finally restarted my flying lessons.

A student is studying to hopefully learn something. A learner is actually learning. I submit student covers learners, but many students do not learn. Therefore learner is less accurate.
 
Daleandee said:
You might be surprised at how much respect you get when you use the word "flight deck" in your pilot stories! Of course when they find out that you are a mere "learner" then all that dignity evaporates! :)

Have you called the Feds about updating the card in your wallet? :dunno:

Seriously: not trying to give you grief but rather trying to point out this absurdity discussed here previously ...

www.pilotsofamerica.com

Students are "Learners" now...........

...............And, evidently, this has been going on for a few years. Why does the FAA continue to change the name or acronym for something EVERY day it seems? There must be an office of "maintaining confusion" in the FAA. They sure are good at it!
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com
Click to expand...

Students are "Learners" now...........​

...............And, evidently, this has been going on for a few years. Why does the FAA continue to change the name or acronym for something EVERY day it seems? There must be an office of "maintaining confusion" in the FAA. They sure are good at it!
www.pilotsofamerica.com
www.pilotsofamerica.com

Well, they say the FAA isn't happy until you aren't happy. Guess the department of confusion is part of that.
 
Rgbeard said:
A lot of his story is a good example of what NOT to do. Sometimes that's one's purpose in life.
Click to expand...
If you are talking about using a flight simulator, you are full of it. It's not the same as flying, but I learned a lot and got the routine for air work and ground reference maneuvers down using it. I even started mastering crosswind landings with it.

Even my instructors recommended I use it and I pay them a lot more than I pay you.

BTW, today's home flight simulators are just a tad more realistic than the simulator that Micro$oft originally bought and provided to the general public. You might want to try a modern one for yourself, someday.

And, yes, one of my instructors probably milked me, but my time and money weren't entirely wasted.
 
hopmedic said:
Wow, I just skimmed over the 9 pages of your story. I just decided the other day to reengage with PoA since I'm about to get started again, and your thread title sounded interesting. I read with anxious anticipation the first page, until the end of the page when your wife went into the hospital. Then later yous started flying again and then your wife died. I'm so sorry about that. I know it was over a year ago at this point, but it touched me. And now, moving to CO to get to an aviation community, and now with the blood clots. I'm in awe of what you've already overcome and continuing your flying, but I'm sure you'll get there. Your story is an encouragement.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Aviation has been a life-long passion, but family and other life came first.
 
Crashnburn said:
I'm moving it. It's not all that elaborate. I have rudder pedals, 2 Saitek radio boxes, an auto-pilot box, and a switch box, along with a yoke*, and throttle quadrant. I also have a Track IR Pro and have Remote Flight set up so I don't have to squint to see the instruments. All this hooks up to my desk top computer, which has way more computing power than I need, but I figured it was better to buy a little more performance than what I needed than to by twice because I didn't get as much performance as I needed.

I have my bucket-list monitor: A curved 38" Alienware monitor. I wasn't sure if I was going to keep it before I used it. As soon as I used it I knew there was no going back!

*I have a CH Products yoke that I currently use. I wore my Honeycomb Alpha yoke out before 5 years were up, but the invoice is in my late wife's Amazon account and I'm working on getting access to it. I wasted most of yesterday getting access to her email so I could get the One Time Password they sent to the email. Then they sent another OTP to her phone, and it's been disconnected for a year. Now, I'm trying to go through Amazon's bereavement department.

If I can't get the yoke repaired under warranty, I'll probably go to M$F$2020 (which I have) and the Turtle Beach yoke, which uses Hall-Effect sensors.
Click to expand...
Well, after numerous tries, I finally got access to Tammy's Amazon account. Unfortunately, she didn't buy it through Amazon.
I have already gone through all of her papers, and as far as I can tell, the only receipt she didn't keep was for this yoke.
 
hopmedic said:
Oh, brother. Can we just leave the language alone? I don't have the energy to keep up.
The card in my wallet still says "Student Pilot".
Click to expand...
Even discussing the topic got another thread locked. Samizdat, straight up.
 
2-Bit Speed said:
Sad, isn't it?
Click to expand...
At the risk of getting my own thread locked, it is sad.

I'm not quite ready to buy another control yoke, but I read the Turtle Beach yoke reviews, and I think I'll just get another Honeycomb Alpha yoke. It looks like the manufacturing issue has been resolved and they seem to be in ample supply on Amazon.

I have a follow visit with my Dr. today. My leg feels much better and I'm not winded walking up a flight of stairs anymore.

I agree with my sister. I probably got the initial DVT and PE from driving the U-Haul truck over the mountains in Truckee. My leg hurt after that and even though I babied it a lot, it took a long time to feel better. I didn't check for any swelling.

My sister said when I first showed up with the truck, I was talking really softly, and she could barely hear me. As soon as I got started on EliQuis, my voice got a lot stronger. That's why I think I got the clots driving the truck.
 
Last edited:
So, according to the doctor, I'm OK to fly as long as I'm on EliQuis. After that, either massive doses of aspirin or compression socks. Too many bad things can happen with massive doses of aspirin, so I'll use compression socks.

Luckily, all my blood work is back to normal - i.e. a teenager's. If the clot is still there, it's not affecting anything.

I'm currently working on my aviation knowledge, using Rod Machado's Private/Commercial Pilot Handbook and Workbook. I'm finishing up the weather chapter.
 
I want to reiterate that deep venous thromboses- blood clots in big veins, usually in a calf, can easily kill when dislodged and travel to the pulmonary vasculature (pulmonary emboli)

Glad you’re ok, crash.
 
SFDukie said:
I want to reiterate that deep venous thromboses- blood clots in big veins, usually in a calf, can easily kill when dislodged and travel to the pulmonary vasculature (pulmonary emboli)

Glad you’re ok, crash.
Click to expand...
Thank you. Looks like I dodged a bullet.
 
I resumed my flying lessons, again! I had my first lesson in 3 months at Vector Flight at the Erie Municipal Airport (KEIK) yesterday.
Their operation is not nearly as rigorous as Aerodynamic Aviation's.

I logged 0.8 hours of time in a Cessna 172N N733XB if you want to track it on flight aware.
I did S-Turns, steep turns, slow flight, and power on, and power off stalls. I finished off by landing.
The airport is non-towered, and I made the calls. I felt shaky but got the right words out.

It was hot, 95 before we launched and 88 or so when we landed. There was no wind, and the air seemed smooth.

Whenever I landed on 31 at KRHV, almost every time it was bumpy going over the Hillview shopping center but then smoothing out before the runway threshold. The entire pattern for 34 was smooth as glass. I don't know if it was dumb luck or skill, but I landed on the center line, the wheels chirped, and we didn't bounce. After the nose came down after the flare so I could see the runway, I was still on the center line. I'm sure I'll have to work at it when there's a crosswind.

My CFI is teaching the full-stall landing. From what I understand, the FAA is getting away from that because you have minimal airspeed and thus control when you are close to the ground, and you are subject to unexpected gusts.

I couldn't find my Basic Med nor Express Med paperwork when I got entered into their system, but I have a Basic Med exam Wednesday next week and will have it for them long before I solo.

I changed my picture to Tuffy and me wearing out aviator helmets. His dog walker took that picture of us last Halloween
 
Crashnburn said:
I resumed my flying lessons, again! I had my first lesson in 3 months at Vector Flight at the Erie Municipal Airport (KEIK) yesterday.
Their operation is not nearly as rigorous as Aerodynamic Aviation's.

I logged 0.8 hours of time in a Cessna 172N N733XB if you want to track it on flight aware.
I did S-Turns, steep turns, slow flight, and power on, and power off stalls. I finished off by landing.
The airport is non-towered, and I made the calls. I felt shaky but got the right words out.

It was hot, 95 before we launched and 88 or so when we landed. There was no wind, and the air seemed smooth.

Whenever I landed on 31 at KRHV, almost every time it was bumpy going over the Hillview shopping center but then smoothing out before the runway threshold. The entire pattern for 34 was smooth as glass. I don't know if it was dumb luck or skill, but I landed on the center line, the wheels chirped, and we didn't bounce. After the nose came down after the flare so I could see the runway, I was still on the center line. I'm sure I'll have to work at it when there's a crosswind.

My CFI is teaching the full-stall landing. From what I understand, the FAA is getting away from that because you have minimal airspeed and thus control when you are close to the ground, and you are subject to unexpected gusts.

I couldn't find my Basic Med nor Express Med paperwork when I got entered into their system, but I have a Basic Med exam Wednesday next week and will have it for them long before I solo.

I changed my picture to Tuffy and me wearing out aviator helmets. His dog walker took that picture of us last Halloween
Click to expand...
So glad you're flying!

If you stay in the 172, just a slight blip of the throttle before touchdown = the greasiest landings ever.

Thanks for sharing your story and journey, CnB its really inspirational.
 
You need to join Colorado Pilots….coloradopilots.org
 
I had my second lesson at KEIK yesterday. I had a more than a 2-week break after the first lesson. There was stormy weather, it was too hot, the plane was down for its 100-hour inspection, and there was a plain crazy guy wandering around the airport when my intervening lessons were scheduled.

David isn't available very often, as he's off flying a Pilatus a lot. Can't say as I blame him. I flew with Nicholas today. I told him what I'd done with David and that David was planning on doing some rectangular course work. Nicholas wanted to know if I wanted to do closed pattern work. Of course, I said yes.

I made 7 landings. They were all full stop. The density Altitude was about 7680' on a 5100' elevation field. I flew a 180 HP 172P and it had plenty of horses. The only thing was ground speed after I landed. I figure about 3.33% reduction in power and the same increase in ground speed for every 1000 feet of altitude.

My best landing by far was the 6th. The main gear went chirp, chirp when the nose was over the centerline. The seventh was a lot worse, and Nicholas was ready to call it a day, after 1.2 hours. When I first started in the pattern, I was lucky to be able to go 45 minutes.

I made sure when I sat in the plane after doing the preflight that I could see the cowl with the seat all the way down, so I left it that way.

My next flight is scheduled for Monday afternoon. Friday was a great day to fly. Today it was hot, hitting around 100, and then we had a major windstorm blow in. I'm scheduled well into September, when I can get 10 AM flights and probably skip the heat and weather.

My aviation knowledge studying is coming along. I'm finishing up the second to last chapter in Rod Machado's Private Pilot Handbook. Too bad they didn't edit the workbook as well as they did the handbook.
 
Crashnburn said:
The only thing was ground speed after I landed.
Click to expand...
You’re at a much higher density altitude than RHV. Fly the plane using indicated airspeeds, but understand that true airspeed and commensurate groundspeed (of course depending on the wind) will be higher. The rule of thumb is a 2% increase per 1000’ of DA (it’s actually a bit less), but you can use your E6B to figure out the exact conversion for navigational purposes. Consider how the increased TAS alone affects your takeoff and landing roll distance, climb and descent angles, and other lateral geometry. And that’s before considering all the performance hits.

Bottom line, you’re going to be going 10-20% faster through the air and possibly over the ground than any given IAS.
 
Flying Keys said:
You’re at a much higher density altitude than RHV. Fly the plane using indicated airspeeds, but understand that true airspeed and commensurate groundspeed (of course depending on the wind) will be higher. The rule of thumb is a 2% increase per 1000’ of DA (it’s actually a bit less), but you can use your E6B to figure out the exact conversion for navigational purposes. Consider how the increased TAS alone affects your takeoff and landing roll distance, climb and descent angles, and other lateral geometry. And that’s before considering all the performance hits.

Bottom line, you’re going to be going 10-20% faster through the air and possibly over the ground than any given IAS.
Click to expand...
Actually, I figure about 25% at DA of around 7700 feet.
 
I had my third lesson with my third CFI yesterday. I worked on my roundout and flare. The last 3 three landings were my best. The third from last he helped quite a bit, the second from last, just a touch, and the third was all on my own, and it was the best of the 5 landings I made. We called it a day after that because the landing was so good, and more importantly, there was a nasty cloud bank moving in from the Rockies.

We timed it just right. Just after we got the plane tied down and buttoned up, the wind from the front came through. Talk about great timing.

Guaran wasn't sure where I was in my training, and I didn't blame him. He told me he'd be helping me out by talking to me, and that his initial students had problems with speed control. I surprised myself. I rotated at 54 knots (VR), and somehow was able to hit 74 knots (VY) without hunting for it.

He said he liked how well I had my rudder and ailerons coordinated, and how well I handled the turbulence. It was bumpy, but not any worse than a lot of flights I had out of KRHV. In fact, final for 31L and 31R was almost always bumpy because of the wind blowing over the Hillview shopping center. Final at was a lot smoother.

He also liked how smooth I was with the elevator, and how I kept the plane over the center line and headed down the runway in a crosswind. It was only about 6 knots, but about 90 degrees to runway 34. Ironically, the so-called crosswind runway, which has been NOTAMed out of service, was almost perfectly aligned with the wind. One of my neighbors said one time the wind was so strong he landed on it and maybe rolled 30 or 40 feet.

Things to work on include banking less than 30 degrees in the pattern and reducing the RPM to no less than 1700 RPM (to start) when even with the end of the runway. Those are easy fixes.

After the flight, Guaran said that if I could fly that well in bumpy weather, I was flying well enough to solo in calm conditions. Of course, I'll have more lessons until he and I are comfortable, and either the FBO owner or chief pilot will give me a pre-solo check ride. And, several ground school lessons, and a written test. Par for the course.

I'll be comfortable when I can make 5 good landings in a row w/o any help from my CFI.
 
Crashnburn said:
Actually, I figure about 25% at DA of around 7700 feet.
Click to expand...
Sigh. You know this isn’t a guess, right? You can actually calculate the change (it’s about half of what you figure at that DA). In fact, it’s a basic private pilot task.
 
Crash

There are enough of us along the Front Range that if you just want to come along for a fun flight (breakfast or lunch or sightseeing) just post here and someone will offer. I'll start - I'm usually available Friday/Sat/Sun and will happily pick you up for a trip over the hills to Leadville (local diner with fantastic breakfasts and if you do the landing, the certificate stating you landed at the highest paved runway in CONUS) or Salida (lunch on the riverside). Weather permitting, of course. Otherwise, Pueblo for the sights of the USAF cathedral, Schreiver USAF/USSP (I dunno who they belong to anymore-home of GPS), the antenna on top of Cheyenne Mtn and of course, Pikes Peak.

Even better, you'll have the opportunity to travel in a variety of aircraft we own/fly.

Just checked, it's USSB now.
 
Last edited:
murphey said:
Crash

There are enough of us along the Front Range that if you just want to come along for a fun flight (breakfast or lunch or sightseeing) just post here and someone will offer. I'll start - I'm usually available Friday/Sat/Sun and will happily pick you up for a trip over the hills to Leadville (local diner with fantastic breakfasts and if you do the landing, the certificate stating you landed at the highest paved runway in CONUS) or Salida (lunch on the riverside). Weather permitting, of course. Otherwise, Pueblo for the sights of the USAF cathedral, Schreiver USAF/USSP (I dunno who they belong to anymore-home of GPS), the antenna on top of Cheyenne Mtn and of course, Pikes Peak.

Even better, you'll have the opportunity to travel in a variety of aircraft we own/fly.

Just checked, it's USSB now.
Click to expand...
Hi Murphey,
Thanks for the offer. Are you around Labor Day weekend? There's no instructing going on then. All the destinations sound great.
I'm not so good flying right seat. Just so you know,

Crash
 
Crashnburn said:
Hi Murphey,
Thanks for the offer. Are you around Labor Day weekend? There's no instructing going on then. All the destinations sound great.
I'm not so good flying right seat. Just so you know,

Crash
Click to expand...
I'm in a class Saturday morning but Sunday & Monday are open.
 
murphey said:
I'm in a class Saturday morning but Sunday & Monday are open.
Click to expand...
Monday works for me. What time is convenient for you?

Forgot to mention that Saturday I'll be recovering from a late night of Texas Hold'em poker.
 
Crashnburn said:
Monday works for me. What time is convenient for you?

Forgot to mention that Saturday I'll be recovering from a late night of Texas Hold'em poker.
Click to expand...
Welcome to Colorado. Until October, we fly mornings. As you've discovered. We could make this a CO-POA get-together. We haven't had one of those in a very long time.
 
murphey said:
Welcome to Colorado. Until October, we fly mornings. As you've discovered. We could make this a CO-POA get-together. We haven't had one of those in a very long time.
Click to expand...
Does 9:30 AM at Vector Air at KEIK work for you?

Thanks
 
Well, 3 weeks after my lesson 8/23/2024, I had another lesson this past Thursday. I had weather and equipment issues in between.

We had some cross winds, so I did a couple of ground reference maneuvers, twice each. Turns about a point and S-Turns. I got a little tight on the upwind side the first turn around a point but nailed the second one. I turned a little tight on one of my S-Turns but did the next one fine.

Then we flew to Longmont, and I did 3 cross wind landings on my own, along with a short field takeoff (No Big Deal). The third landing I rounded out enough to start the stall horn mewing. I let the nose down a bit, and it went away, then raised it again to get the horn on again. That was my worst landing of the day because I was slower than usual. Garran liked my pattern, so I guess that counted for my rectangular course.

I remarked that when I first started practicing landings, everything happened really fast. Now, it seems like I have all the time in the world. I guess that's to be expected.
I flew the magenta line back to Erie and flew the downwind, base, and final but the wind was worse there than Longmont so Garran, who wasn't comfortable enough to let me attempt the landing, essentially did the landing. I was OK with that. He said that I probably could have landed OK, but he needs more flights with me to be comfortable letting me land in those conditions.

I'll feel comfortable soloing when I can land well 5 times in a row all by myself with no input from Garran. I did a lot of crosswind landing practice on my simulator before I started my move here, and now it's pretty much automatic. My simulator is currently packed up.

After the flight, Garran went through my logbook to see how much more I needed to do to be ready for the check ride and gave me a syllabus to study, after I pass the knowledge exam. He recommended the ASA Private Pilot 2024 Test Prep Plus book which I already have. So far, I'm only using the testing supplement in back and going through the free King Online Practice test. In 3 days of study, I've scored 95% or better on 3 of the 12 sections.

I don't know if it's good or bad, but I do have a good rememberry and I'm starting to remember the answers w/o having to figure them out, especially looking at the sectionals. I have to really focus in on the sectionals in the supplement because it looks like they were reduced from the full-size version. I won't be able to use my iPhone for the real test (I'll use a lifeline, Alex). I threw all of my West Coast and Texas sectionals out a few weeks ago but I just ordered a Denver sectional. It will at least be useful when I start doing cross-countries.

I hadn't realized it at the time, but I did several dual XCs more than 50 miles in CA, so I don't have to do all the time here. When I first visited the Vector Air FBO, they said it usually took 3 months after someone soloed before they were ready for their PPL check ride. I'm thinking that since I can do what I want, I can fly more often and do it faster.
 
I had another lesson yesterday. At least I didn't have to wait three weeks for it. We flew up to Ft. Collins so I could get some tower experience. I guess Garran wanted to see how I would do at a towered airport. I have a ton of towered airport experience, but it was a good chance to land at a new to me airport.

The plane I had reserved was down, so they put me in a fuel injected 172 with a glass cockpit. Almost all of my time has been with steam gauges so there's a steep learning curve for me.

The wind was about 9 knots, but almost straight down the runway so it wasn't much of a factor. We had a nice tailwind heading to Ft. Collins. When I made the call requesting the option, the controller wanted to know if I wanted touch and goes or the option. At KRHV, you didn't say 'touch and goes', you said 'the option'.

When we got there, there were two Pilatus's landing, so he said he would call our base. I slowed to 65 knots and just enough power to maintain altitude. No use going farther than we needed to. We ended up having to circle left to join the downwind for right traffic. That's actually better than just jumping into the base.

I made one landing while the tower was open. It was really good. The second landing, not so much. I flared too high and eventually dropped it in. The third landing, to quote Garran, was "beautiful". I think it's a matter of concentration.

We flew back to Erie on the magenta line. I kept looking for the airport and suddenly, there it was. This landing was bumpy, mostly because I over rotated on the roundout. But I brought the plane back in one piece.

I remember moving out of my apartment in Daytona after I finished my Avionics Line Maintenance course at ERAU. I kept packing stuff up and putting it in my SUV. Each box didn't seem to make a dent in what was left. Then, all of a sudden, I was carrying the last box down to my car.

This feels about like the same thing. I asked Garran if he had any words of wisdom, and he said he'd check with either the FBO owner or chief pilot about getting me scheduled for a pre-solo check ride. I knew I was close, but I didn't realize I was that close.

I'm almost through with half of the King Schools' Online Testing website. I'm doing one section at a time. The VOR part of the Electronic Navigation is taking me longer than I expected, but I am making progress.
 
StraightnLevel said:
Great analogy!
Click to expand...

I remember that feeling when building an airplane. It seems like forever when making parts, putting them into sub assemblies, then into final assembly, checking, testing, looking, inspecting, and then voilà! ... it's time to go fly the thing! ;)
 
I had a ground session with Garran yesterday. We went over stuff I need to know before I solo. I think he was impressed by what I knew. It was less intensive than the pre-stage 1 check ride at Aerodynamic Aviation (AA). I drew a diagram that Rod Machado has in his book to show what visibility and cloud clearances are for different altitudes and airspaces. He liked it and had never seen it before.

We flew today. We started with a landing at Erie because the engine didn't seem to be running right. After Garran got the straightened out, we flew over to the practice area around Union Lake and did airwork. It was a beautiful day with light winds and broken clouds at about 23K feet, and everybody and their kid brother was out flying.

I started with slow flight. I had the airplane way slower than the stall horn coming on without flaps, and with 20 degrees of flaps, the indicated airspeed was just about zero, and we didn't stall. I did a slow flight climb, and a slow flight 270-degree turn, but no climbing turn. From slow flight, I transitioned into a power off stall, then did two power on stalls. We did them a little differently than the way I was taught at AA. The second one was fine.

Either the plane is out of rig, or the slip indicator is broken, as the ball is about 1/2 ball out in straight and level flight.

After that, I practiced landings at Longmont. After the 7th, Garran wanted to know if I wanted to do one more landing I said, "Sure", then famous last words, as when you are skiing, the time to stop is when you say "One more run".

Anyway, it turned out to be my best landing of the day. I had the airspeed nailed at 65 knots, the descent was right at 500 fpm, and the aiming point was steady in the wind screen. The VASI lights were out, and I kept looking to see if they were coming on (they didn't) and I started rounding out a little later than usual, so as Garran said I had more speed over the fence so I didn't need to pull up as much to do my roundout, and thus I didn't need to flare so much and I didn't over flare. The arrival was a little firmer than usual, but there was no bounce.

I landed at Erie after that. The runway wind was calm, but there was a 20-knot tailwind at altitude. That 20 knots added to my approach speed so it took a long time for the airplane to slow down enough so it would want to land. I ended up touching down 3 times before the plane stayed on the ground. I'm glad KEIK has a long runway. I just kept the plane in the landing attitude until it decided to land.

I guess I did OK on the flight because Garran said he'll try to get me scheduled with a pre-solo check ride pilot next week. To think I'm almost ready to solo is exciting, and at the same time I'm praying, "Please God don't let me screw anything up!" My sister tells me that they wouldn't let me solo if they didn't think I was ready!

Edit:
I also did two steep turns. I did a few with my first CFI here when I first started flying in CO, and hadn't done any since. They came out pretty well. Not as good as what I was doing in CA, but a lot better than I expected. Funny, the more I fly, the more time I seem to have to do things in the cockpit, but my perception of time slows down. What seems like 20 minutes to me in the cockpit is more like 90 minutes real time.
 
Last edited:
I've flown four days in a row this week. That's a new record for me. Garran let me flail away with my nose bobbing technique and I never got any better. Then he started helping me with my airspeed control (especially maintaining at least 65 knots) and coached me through a perfect roundout and flair. Luckily, things happen slowly enough for me in the cockpit now that I could follow his instructions in real time. I made four good landings without any coaching today.

One was normal (20 degrees of flaps), the others were 30 degrees of flaps. One was supposed to be short field, and I made the touchdown spot before we arrived.
The second was supposed to be a soft field landing, and I ended up arriving. The third was because I was too high on final and went to full flaps as well as a forward slip to get down to the glide slope. We arrived again. (Arrival is between dropping it in and chirping the tires on the runway.)

I did a little VOR work today on a G3X. That is one really nice piece of avionics. I also did one recovery from a critical attitude. That was my first time ever. I need to practice them more. I did them with my foggles on, but I wasn't disoriented after Garran tried to disorient me while I had my eyes closed.

I feel like I'm ready for my pre-solo check ride. It might happen tomorrow.

Update.

It didn't happen.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top