First flight in . . . nearly 11 years.

Oblivion

Oblivion

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
161
Location
Chicawaukee, Illisconsin
Display Name
Display name:
Oblivion
My last logbook entry was 10/03/2007. My daughter was just over a year old, money was getting tight, and my time to fly was falling precipitously - my two prior flights were July and May of that year. A MILD scare/dose of disorientation on that last flight (evening/night + possible/probable early hypoxia + thin fog layer), and I hung up the headset without realizing it.

Somehow, it's now almost 11 years later, and just yesterday I knocked a big chunk of rust off with 1.0 hour of dual. I'd started back a couple weeks ago with the ground portion of a BFR (I guess we just call them 'Flight Reviews' now?), got my medical squared away, but took some doing to schedule the flight.

I was really nervous all day at work leading up to the evening flight. As I started preflighting the plane, it was a strange combination of familiar and foreign-feeling. Once I started the engine, though, I really was starting to feel at home again. Although one thing I completely bumbled was the radios. I listened to myself on LiveATC afterwards and yeesh! I'd always been based out of uncontrolled airports, so moving to a regional had me unduly rattled. But the controller was really patient, clearly knows our club aircraft, and warmly laughed with/at me when I called up our old airport's name. And the CFI helped out a bit with recalling the freqs and scribbling down ATIS info for me.

After a little light sight-seeing of the now-closed original home of our club (5K6), we did stalls, steep turns, engine-out simulation, etc. Heading back, the CFI told me to set up the approach, but that he was likely going to have me go around the first time. He just wanted me to get stable and take in the sight picture. I screwed up my pattern a bit (got blown in more than I realized) and turned final a little high, but got on glide-slope without needing to slip it. As he was calling for power to arrest the descent, I already had it coming back in - never behind the curve. I ended up with a nice flare right past the numbers, and other than a little side-load due to a not-fully-addressed crosswind gust, I put it down pretty nicely.

I was a little surprised that when the tower directed us back to the ramp, the CFI didn't call for more takeoffs and landings, but in hindsight, that one hour was already pretty tiring (mostly from nerves/tension) and it was a good note to end on. In debrief, he told me that with another half hour or so of pattern work, he'll have no problem signing off my Flight Review. I'm pretty modest, so hesitate to brag, but he said, "I've seen guys who've only taken 6 months off not do as well as you." It might have just been blown sunshine, but I needed that vote of confidence.

Wx isn't looking really great to finish up this weekend, but I waited 10 years and 10 months, what's a little more time?
 
Thanks, it's good to be back. Wife's supportive, my 'baby' is 12 now, and I've got two more kids who are excited about planes (but sized me out of our 172s). The real shock was realizing our then fairly new 172SPs are now, well, aged club birds. :D
 
Same story as you. Didn't fly for 9 years (as PIC), worried myself over being ready, got in the plane and it was just natural. The only trouble I had was the radio too but I also learned to fly in uncontrolled airspace. That was a year ago already! Trying to save up to bring the wife up after getting completely comfortable and ready.
 
Oblivion said:
My last logbook entry was 10/03/2007. My daughter was just over a year old, money was getting tight, and my time to fly was falling precipitously - my two prior flights were July and May of that year. A MILD scare/dose of disorientation on that last flight (evening/night + possible/probable early hypoxia + thin fog layer), and I hung up the headset without realizing it.

Somehow, it's now almost 11 years later, and just yesterday I knocked a big chunk of rust off with 1.0 hour of dual. I'd started back a couple weeks ago with the ground portion of a BFR (I guess we just call them 'Flight Reviews' now?), got my medical squared away, but took some doing to schedule the flight.

I was really nervous all day at work leading up to the evening flight. As I started preflighting the plane, it was a strange combination of familiar and foreign-feeling. Once I started the engine, though, I really was starting to feel at home again. Although one thing I completely bumbled was the radios. I listened to myself on LiveATC afterwards and yeesh! I'd always been based out of uncontrolled airports, so moving to a regional had me unduly rattled. But the controller was really patient, clearly knows our club aircraft, and warmly laughed with/at me when I called up our old airport's name. And the CFI helped out a bit with recalling the freqs and scribbling down ATIS info for me.

After a little light sight-seeing of the now-closed original home of our club (5K6), we did stalls, steep turns, engine-out simulation, etc. Heading back, the CFI told me to set up the approach, but that he was likely going to have me go around the first time. He just wanted me to get stable and take in the sight picture. I screwed up my pattern a bit (got blown in more than I realized) and turned final a little high, but got on glide-slope without needing to slip it. As he was calling for power to arrest the descent, I already had it coming back in - never behind the curve. I ended up with a nice flare right past the numbers, and other than a little side-load due to a not-fully-addressed crosswind gust, I put it down pretty nicely.

I was a little surprised that when the tower directed us back to the ramp, the CFI didn't call for more takeoffs and landings, but in hindsight, that one hour was already pretty tiring (mostly from nerves/tension) and it was a good note to end on. In debrief, he told me that with another half hour or so of pattern work, he'll have no problem signing off my Flight Review. I'm pretty modest, so hesitate to brag, but he said, "I've seen guys who've only taken 6 months off not do as well as you." It might have just been blown sunshine, but I needed that vote of confidence.

Wx isn't looking really great to finish up this weekend, but I waited 10 years and 10 months, what's a little more time?
Click to expand...

Welcome back. Been there, done that, about 30 years.
 
Great job! Similar story. Keep flying and don’t get discouraged. Once back in air and enjoying it consider starting to work on IFR to help prevent some of the “disorientation” issue you had in the past. Similar flight conditions might make you nevrvene again. Continued training is a great way to really move forward and sand off the other rust
 
Oblivion said:
My last logbook entry was 10/03/2007. My daughter was just over a year old, money was getting tight, and my time to fly was falling precipitously - my two prior flights were July and May of that year. A MILD scare/dose of disorientation on that last flight (evening/night + possible/probable early hypoxia + thin fog layer), and I hung up the headset without realizing it.

Somehow, it's now almost 11 years later, and just yesterday I knocked a big chunk of rust off with 1.0 hour of dual. I'd started back a couple weeks ago with the ground portion of a BFR (I guess we just call them 'Flight Reviews' now?), got my medical squared away, but took some doing to schedule the flight.

I was really nervous all day at work leading up to the evening flight. As I started preflighting the plane, it was a strange combination of familiar and foreign-feeling. Once I started the engine, though, I really was starting to feel at home again. Although one thing I completely bumbled was the radios. I listened to myself on LiveATC afterwards and yeesh! I'd always been based out of uncontrolled airports, so moving to a regional had me unduly rattled. But the controller was really patient, clearly knows our club aircraft, and warmly laughed with/at me when I called up our old airport's name. And the CFI helped out a bit with recalling the freqs and scribbling down ATIS info for me.

After a little light sight-seeing of the now-closed original home of our club (5K6), we did stalls, steep turns, engine-out simulation, etc. Heading back, the CFI told me to set up the approach, but that he was likely going to have me go around the first time. He just wanted me to get stable and take in the sight picture. I screwed up my pattern a bit (got blown in more than I realized) and turned final a little high, but got on glide-slope without needing to slip it. As he was calling for power to arrest the descent, I already had it coming back in - never behind the curve. I ended up with a nice flare right past the numbers, and other than a little side-load due to a not-fully-addressed crosswind gust, I put it down pretty nicely.

I was a little surprised that when the tower directed us back to the ramp, the CFI didn't call for more takeoffs and landings, but in hindsight, that one hour was already pretty tiring (mostly from nerves/tension) and it was a good note to end on. In debrief, he told me that with another half hour or so of pattern work, he'll have no problem signing off my Flight Review. I'm pretty modest, so hesitate to brag, but he said, "I've seen guys who've only taken 6 months off not do as well as you." It might have just been blown sunshine, but I needed that vote of confidence.

Wx isn't looking really great to finish up this weekend, but I waited 10 years and 10 months, what's a little more time?
Click to expand...

I was in your same shoes - nearly 10 years off flying. Getting the flight review and IPC was the easy part. Developing that confidence was a bigger issue.
 
Congrats!
I did the same...with the exception of just a couple of flight reviews I went 15 years. I’ve been back at it for four years now.
 
SkyDog58 said:
Welcome home.
Click to expand...
I want to double like this one. :)

Thanks for all the great feedback / support, folks.

Coincidentally, the club had an open house today, and my two littlest kids again got to climb all over the airplanes, which we have done a few times in the last couple weeks. The four-year-old is ready to take off for Disney World. :)
 
Congrats,now get bock out there ,enjoy.
 
Thanks for the write-up and welcome back. I'm in a similar club and at the same point - another hour or two before I'm renewed for the first time in 8 years. Looking forward to a lot more hours dual and solo getting back to proficient and not just legal.
 
Wow! My son was born in 2007 and I was making great progress on my IR when I got laid off. Probably 3-5 hours from signoff. I was laid off in 2008 and mostly haven't been back since. I've had a few flights and a medical, but then things went sideways!

I'm hoping to get back in soon, but have some medical stuff to clean up.

I looked at Westosha for a while. Heard they sold the airport (hotels for Wilmot or something?). I thought you guys were moving to UGN but ENW makes sense.

Keep us updated as to your next flights and steps.
 
Man, I've got to get back into the game as well. It's been about 3 yrs since my last flight, and even then I only had about 5 hours total flying time that year. Same as OP, bought a house and other life-events (got married, had a kid, job with significant travel) that took precedence for time and finances. Not that anything has slowed down for me, but I need to get a Flight Review done just to get my foot back in the water. Like the OP, I'm sure there would be a little bit of anxiety about radio work due to being out of the game for a bit, but I certainly don't think I'd have too many issues with the actual flight portion. I'll likely fire up the flight sim and run through some checklists and emergency procedures just to get the "flow" back a bit a day or two before the BFR. Since I participate on this forum and still read the AOPA mags somewhat regularly, I'm sure I'm probably in a slightly better spot than someone who went back in cold turkey. Maybe once we get to Sept/Oct and the weather cools a bit I'll grab a CFI and get 'er done.

Congrats, @Oblivion , keep adding to that logbook!
 
Rooster T said:
Thanks for the write-up and welcome back. I'm in a similar club and at the same point - another hour or two before I'm renewed for the first time in 8 years. Looking forward to a lot more hours dual and solo getting back to proficient and not just legal.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was a bit surprised this guy said just another half hour - I was honestly expecting 2-4 hours of hand-holding minimum before getting kicked loose again. I probably will get a little more dual than that, or at least beat the pattern a good bit solo before taking pax again. There's always that distinction (sometimes wife gulf) between 'can' and 'should.' But at least getting the sign-off will get me back into the key lockbox.


Terry M - 3CK (Chicago) said:
I looked at Westosha for a while. Heard they sold the airport (hotels for Wilmot or something?). I thought you guys were moving to UGN but ENW makes sense.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm not sure the exact story on 5K6 - gravel company owns it and the residents have been fighting off quarry expansion for YEARS, so my assumption that's the eventual result. Even heard rumor our old hangar office would be used as a mining office for a while, but again, we'll see. Seems there's plenty of other good space around there for a hotel. I flew over it on Thursday and other than the red Xs on the runway and tall looking grass, it hasn't been touched yet. The club board had looked at moving years ago when the mining threats were loudest, so a lot of homework had already been done and like you say, ENW just made sense - especially because Waukegan already has a club and we didn't really want to step on toes. Would have been way closer to my house, but so be it. As it is, my wife keeps wanting to move out your way, at which point the club won't make as much sense, but we'll see. In fact, when active, I got into 3CK quite a bit as one of my best buddies from high school lives out there and loves to ride right seat.

Let's stay in touch. I hope you get back to it soon.

SoonerAviator said:
I'll likely fire up the flight sim and run through some checklists and emergency procedures just to get the "flow" back a bit a day or two before the BFR. Since I participate on this forum and still read the AOPA mags somewhat regularly, I'm sure I'm probably in a slightly better spot than someone who went back in cold turkey. Maybe once we get to Sept/Oct and the weather cools a bit I'll grab a CFI and get 'er done.

Congrats, @Oblivion , keep adding to that logbook!
Click to expand...

Many thanks. Flight sim (X-Plane), or even just reading forums like this, definitely helped knock some of the cobwebs loose, get back into the mindset, and kept the spark going from, "I should," to "I am." Also found out X-Plane can send 'gps' data to FltPlan Go (and/or ForeFlight, I believe, but I'm iPad-less as yet), so I've been able to play with some of the cool new tools that have come along in the last decade without burning dinos. I didn't mess with it on the review flight, but our 172s have GTX 345s (and the SPs are getting them soon), so my understanding I should be able to get ADS-B goodies. Not going to worry about that for a few flights, but seems interesting for the first XC back. But I digress . . . .

Going to check the weather and see if I can get in that TO/landing practice this week.
 
Welcome back, last February was my first flight since Nov. 2013. It's nice to fly again, isn't it?
 
Sure is nice. Can't wait to get my 4 year old up. She's counting the days.

BTW, I'm a "crazy motorcycle rider" as well. ;)
 
Wowwwz. Keep it coming! I had a year off, then two flights with a cfi 8 landings total. I was super nervous my first solo after that but managed 2 landings .. no major repairs needed I hope!
 
Hoping all the wetness (some flash flooding happening north of the Cheddar Curtain tonight) clears out by Thursday morning - got an hour booked.

@woodchucker I'm not sure what it says about me that I've been more nervous about new or forgotten regs than skills. Guess I fear the FAA more than physics. Yeah, crosswinds feel a little daunting at this point, but I've been ALL over the FAR/AIM.

@BrianNC Good luck on the checkride! I'm only PPL. After getting some time in, I should look to starting instrument.
 
Got signed off this morning. This was Part 3 of my Flight Review. 0.4 on the Hobbs, 3 laps in the towered pattern (ENW). Lots of compliments from the CFI.

After I kicked him out, I flew a quick 17.5 nm hop to C81 where I earned my ticket in '04 and did one landing there for old time's sake.

Little bumpy, a little crosswind here and there, beautiful scattered puffy clouds to look at, and more birds (singles, not flocks) up at altitude than I ever remember seeing on a short flight before. It's great to be back.
 
Oblivion said:
Got signed off this morning. This was Part 3 of my Flight Review. 0.4 on the Hobbs, 3 laps in the towered pattern (ENW). Lots of compliments from the CFI.

After I kicked him out, I flew a quick 17.5 nm hop to C81 where I earned my ticket in '04 and did one landing there for old time's sake.

Little bumpy, a little crosswind here and there, beautiful scattered puffy clouds to look at, and more birds (singles, not flocks) up at altitude than I ever remember seeing on a short flight before. It's great to be back.
Click to expand...

Congratulations...:cheers: Welcome back... Now go fly...:goofy:
 
Was going to take my 4 year old up, but realized I needed to wait to get a GoPro mount to record her reactions first. :D Oh, and wx is crap.
 
Oblivion said:
Was going to take my 4 year old up, but realized I needed to wait to get a GoPro mount to record her reactions first. :D Oh, and wx is crap.
Click to expand...

Rain rain rain.... That’s been the story of this summer...:mad2:
 
@Terry M - 3CK (Chicago) The drive isn't too bad now - 15 minutes if I get all the lights and take the expressway, down from 30 minutes out to 5K6. And we were running other errands, so this was just a 'stop by and see if it works,' but I WAS hoping to go up today or tomorrow. I heard back from one of the top dawgs and unfortunately due to folks being out of town for the holiday, I probably won't get in until tomorrow afternoon. I waited 11 years so it's not the end of the world, but it could have worked out better, too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top