Chicago Aviation

Short Solo Cross Country
Length: 2.2 hours
Total Time: 56.2 hours

One of my final requirements is to finish my Cross Country time. I have to add 2.2 hours to hit my 5 hour target, so I had to fly pretty deliberately in order to hit that target.

The flight was pretty straightforward. I have made this trip a few times with my instructor, so I had a bit of an understanding of the terrain. Also, a bit help was the fact that the lake is in constant view, so it's hard to get too far off course.

I was on with Chicago Center and South Bend Approach the entire trip, so there wasn't any lapse in Flight Following. There were a few contacts in my vicinity, but the only one that was of any concern was after heading back to Lansing from South Bend. There was a contact at my 12 o'clock at 2 NM and about 1,000' above me. Due to cloud coverage, I couldn't see the plane until it was clear. I descended in order to give way, but it turns out that the other plane was a bit higher than 1,000'.

There are a few key landmarks along this route. The most obvious is the Michigan City Generating Station which has a very obvious cooling tower.

Solo Cross Country
Length: 2.8 hours
Total Time: 54.0 hours

The first time I attempted this trip, I spent a lot more time practicing the route on Microsoft Flight Simulator in order to make sure I can hit my waypoints as planned. This time I put more time into organizing my navigation log. I believe I made the better choice this time.

Link to weather briefing notes and navigation plan

You can see that my VOR freqs and radials are all entered in the same place on each line. This made it much easier for me to quickly look at the page and get the info without hunting for the numbers. This is opposed to having the name of the milestone as the predominant text in the box.

After completing my due diligence and weather briefing at home, I headed for Lansing to meet my instructor for my endorsement.

My instructor asked me a few questions about what I would do in certain scenarios. For example, some questions were "what would you do if your engine stopped running?" and "what would you do if you got lost?".

For the first question, I would follow the ABCDE procedure. I made a note to myself to always keep a best place to land in mind. This doesn't seem to be that difficult as most of the terrain is flat and farmland, meaning most fields appeared to be as good of a spot as any other. But, I always wanted to keep any airfields in mind whenever I thought I was in gliding distance from them. This also was a good exercise in determining how far I could see along the ground compared to the distance on the map. Meaning, I now know that I can see approximately twenty to thirty miles along the ground when I'm flying around 4,000 AGL. I'm still not great at estimating distances, but I can not at least start to understand how far off my mapped track I can select my milestones.

As for the second question, I would follow the 4Cs procedure: Climb, Conserve, Call, and Comply. I would climb to the highest allowable altitude in order to get a better vantage point. Then I would Conserve my fuel by leaning and lowering the RPMs. I would then take the time to check for a VOR triangulation. If that failed, I would ask ATC if they could locate me and give me a vector to a nearby airport (or destination airport, if I was able to complete the flight). If I couldn't raise ATC, I would try FSS on the local freq, and/or 122.2. My final option would be to use the emergency freq of 121.5 to get someone there to try and get my location.

At this point, I wanted to call for an abbreviated briefing in order to get a new view on the weather. Originally, the clouds were supposed to clear at 1800z. Now, they weren't going to clear until 2100z. I had 4,500 scattered and 5,500 - 12,000 Ceilings around my route. So, things looked acceptable. I was expecting clear skies, but the clouds were well within my tolerances.

This did give me a good idea of how the horizon appears with lower ceilings. When I was leaving Aurora, I noticed that the far horizon appeared hazy. I didn't know exactly what to think of that, but I knew that the weather didn't have any factors that should turn convective. I just kept that in mind and headed towards Bloomington. It turns out that the haze was just the regular amount of debris and/or pollution in the air. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but it appears to be normal.

The trip itself was relatively uneventful. I made sure I was always checking something while primarily flying the airplane. There were a few times where I would roll the airplane about 10 degrees while jotting down times in my nav-log. I was trying to use the passenger seat as a table instead of picking up my clipboard for each notation. The other learning point was that I didn't properly trim the airplane for take off after each taxi back the the hold-short point. I was preoccupied with verifying my radios and headings. I did double check my flaps, carb heat, mix, etc.. but I missed the trim.

The mechanics of flying the plane aren't a primary issue at this point, I wanted to go over some of the new details required for a cross country trip.

Controlled Tower Landings
Length: 0.9 hours
Total Time: 51.2 hours

After today's refresher lesson, I wanted to get some solo time in. I knew that this was wasn't 100% necessary as one could get their three control tower landings during the long cross-country flight (by taking an extra landing at a towered airport, if necessary).

I took what is essentially my first real cross-country flight. For certification requirements, a cross country flight must be fifty miles away, but otherwise it's a full-stop landing at any airport that wasn't your original.

This also gave me some experience with tower communications. Entering the airspace, declaring my intentions, requesting taxi to runway for takeoff, and ready for takeoff all had to be handled correctly. Speaking to a tower isn't that complex at all once you get a good understanding of all of the information required to execute the intended procedure.

Straight & Level, S-turns, Landing practice

Length: 1.1 hours

Total Time: 50.3 hours

It's been weeks since my last flight, so I had to get out and practice the basics. Simple things like using Vy to climb to altitude, change attitude to hold altitude & increase speed, then reduce power & again change attitude to hold altitude had to be practiced to ensure I was seemless. After practice after practice of working on specific things, I realized that the very simple things had to be honed as well.

S-turns actually turned out quite well. On the gps, the path looked like a perfect S-path. Using the technique of picking a point on the ground & flying over it really helped to polish this maneuver. This has to be the best method of performing ground reference maneuvers. It allows you to feel out the controls while controlling the flight path instead of the other way around, which I consider to be more difficult.

Lastly was a number of landings to make sure that I haven't forgotten one of the most important parts of flying..

Maneuvers and S-turns

Length: 1.1 hours

Total Time: 49.2 hours

Quick update:

At this point, I'm confident on the majority of my maneuvers except for steep turns. From what I understand, these are the most challenging as there are the most variables. You have to maintain your altitude while splitting your lift into the turn. You have to ensure you're maintaining a steep turn and not just a 30 deg turn as I kept finding myself. You have to ensure you airspeed doesn't exceed the maneuvering speed, but doesn't fall under tolerances as well. Lastly, you have to keep aware of your location within the turn so you can end it on course.

I seemed to find myself loosing altitude while approaching 45 degrees. Technically, I was well aware that you need to increase elevator pressure to maintain altitude, then increase power to compensate for the loss of lift. But, I couldn't figure out how to best implement these controls.

 After noticing that I was losing altitude, I increased the elevator pressure. This causes a very noticeable change in g-forces in the plane. It's clearly not a good sign when anything drastic is occurring & I knew it. After chasing back to my altitude, I lost an extra 10 - 15 knots. At this point, I was all over the place. I could get things under control, but it was not a properly executed maneuver.

At this point, I'm still not able to pull this maneuver off. Technically, I knew what was needed, but it's different when attempting to execute.

Night Cross Country (dual)

Length: 1.8 hours

Total Time: 48.1 hours

My trip to South Bend started one hour after nightfall. I've done some local work at night, but never a XC. Luckily, Chicago gives quite a good reference point. Same goes for the lake, but the lake is a black area exactly the same as the non-lighted ground areas.

Although there are some rural parts (i.e., non-lighted areas) between Lansing and South Bend, it's not enough to cause any disorientation. Downtown Chicago is always visible, so there's always a solid reference on the horizon... at least when weather is good...

All of my checkpoints were airports for this trip. I made a non-direct path to South Bend, sacrificing length of the trip for safety. This also allows me a lighted checkpoints. Each time I was expecting to be in visual range of a checkpoint, I would look to see if I saw it already lighted. If not, I would click the pilot-controlled lighting on (using the freq listed for lighting, of course). It would light up, and there was my perfect checkpoint.

The green/white beacons were also helpful, but these weren't as 100% obvious to me. In the future, once I have more experience picking out the beacons from all other town lighting, perhaps I can get by on beacons alone.

Approaching South Bend was uneventful except for the large jet taking off on 09R when I was told to approach for 27L. The large jet departed with a tailwind and, although it moved much quicker than me, it departed the pattern as I was mid-way downwind.

I did a few 360s while the jet departed. This gave any wake turbulence a chance to dissipate, and it also allowed me a good look at a huge plane.

The return journey home was uneventful, but I did get get a bit confused with the horizon and the shoreline. It's just another example of how flying at night can easily disorientate.

Attempted Cross Country

Length: 1.6 hours

Total Time: 46.3 hours

This was my first attempt at a cross-country solo flight. I prepared for hours, including a full review of the route on google earth.I had all of my numbers checked and re-checked. I knew I was ready for this to happen. My flight from Lansing (KIGQ) --> Aurora (KARR) --> Bloomington (KBMI) --> Lansing (KIGQ) was imminent.

I took off from IGQ and the weather appeared good. I dialed in 118.4 to request flight following with Chicago Approach. That went uneventfully. I switched com2 to FSS so I could open my flight plan. I was listening on both frequencies, but transmitting on FSS. What I thought was going to be a quick call turned into an entire briefing. I didn't have any way to write everything down, nor did I think I needed to since I just got a briefing not 30 minutes ago. But, this extra briefing did two things... it made me miss some calls from Chicago Approach & it made me think that a distant front was closer than I initially thought.

So, after being mildly reamed by Chicago Approach, I continued to Aurora. I saw the Aurora river & knew I had to get my ATIS before calling the tower. Did it, no problems.

I approached as instructed by the tower & again, no problems. My pattern was more or less fine but there was some concern about a building on the final leg. This being one of my first times (and my very first time solo) landing at a different airport, it was a bit different than usual. I ended up bouncing the landing a bit and decided to go around. Due to the bounce, I accidentally went to 0 flaps instead of 20. While the flaps were retracting, I was able to bring the plane back into the air. But, once the flaps kept retracting, the lift was lost and the plane wanted to settle back down, so I quickly replaced 20 deg of flaps. That all happened within about five seconds, so it's a lesson learned... Things happen quickly and can escalate even quicker.

Not to let this frazzle me, after notifying the tower that I'm going around, I asked permission to land (again). Permission given and I continue around the pattern. Landing was uneventful this time around.

After changing up my maps and radios, I prepare to depart to Bloomington. After leaving Aurora, I look the 80+ miles towards KBMI and see, what I know now to be, a thick layer of haze. After the long debriefing from Flight Services, I was concerned that the thick air ahead of me was actually a front. I'm not about to turn my first solo XC into my first weather close-call, so I returned to Lansing.

The issue with this is that I wasn't prepared for this leg of the flight. It was easy enough to find the reciprocal course back to Lansing, but there is a lot of airspace of which to be aware. Also, I didn't have the control frequency for this location. This had me calling 118.4 when I was out of range and too low. I wasn't about to climb and risk breaking airspace just to get flight following. There was some midway traffic (Southwest 737s) above me (probably around 6,000 or 7,000) but no close calls by any means.

Landing back at Lansing was, again, uneventful.

Next time, I'll ensure that I have a better understanding of how far ahead of the plane is visible. Since I typically am just practicing, I'm either looking for close traffic or ground reference markers. It just now dawned on me that I never really look 5-10 miles ahead of the plane to find checkpoints. Blurred sky 20-30 miles ahead doesn't appear to be abnormal at all, but I found that out once I was on the ground.

Simulated Instrument Practice
Length: 1.5 hours
Total Time: 44.7 hours

More hood time. This time I flew under then hood to South Bend. I had help with the radios during the Flight Following and Tower communications, but I was led within a few miles of the runway. The test was to be able to maintain a proper approach while under the hood.

I still had the same issues as before, but I was able to control my chasing of altitude a bit better this time. I had always been watching the VSI for my vertical +/-, but that is actually a trend instrument, so it's not up-to-the-second current. The artificial horizon is the better option to determine the attitude of the aircraft.

Before I focused on that instrument, I would typically approach my altitude too quickly, then I would lose the lift when I either slowed down or sped up when I level out. I need to focus on altering my attitude as I approach my target altitude. This should help me avoid a drastic change in control pressure as I try to stick my altitude.

Night Flight
Length: 1.5 hours
Total Time: 43.2 hours

My first night flight consisted of 9 full stop landings at Gary airport. Ten full stop landings are required in order to qualify for a Private Pilot Cert.

Preflighting and the initial briefs and run-up are all a bit more difficult because a flashlight is required. When looking and holding multiple things at the same time, it really is noticeable when a flashlight is in the mix.

The air is cooler at night and therefore is calmer than during the daytime. That makes the ride nice and smooth. Another noticeable difference regarding night flight is that traffic is much easier to see (assuming they have their beacon and navigation lights illuminated). Keeping a constant scan for any relative movement is much more particular when compared to looking for lights against a dark backdrop. The main thing to keep in mind is that clouds are pretty much invisible. Therefore, anything beyond the clouds would be concealed as well.

Short & Soft TOL practice, Hood time, and more
Length: 2.0 hours
Total Time: 41.7 hours


This lesson gave me my first look at simulated instrument time, or hood time. The hood is just a visor that blocks the outside view while allowing access to the instruments. This would simulate the experience of flying through non-VFR weather. Three hours are needed to qualify for a Private Pilot Certificate.

I have a tendency to drift to the left while under the hood. I'm told it's because my instrument scan isn't quick enough so I let something get ahead of me. It's not obvious when the plane is turning, so it's quite important to keep all instruments constantly in mind.

In addition to the hood time, we went to Starke County to practice some Short and Soft field landings on an actual soft field. The field was a bit wet, and my technique wasn't 100%, so we didn't actually make any TOLS on the soft field. My issue was that I pitched up too much before gaining enough lift. This caused the stall horn to sound while I was building speed. I thought that was acceptable, but I should have allowed more life to accumulate before trying to get airborne.

The key is to become airborne as soon as possible, then increase speed to Vy (or Vx, if obstacle exists). If the plane is pitched up too much, there isn't enough lift to bring the plane into ground effect which would allow for more efficient airspeed accumulation.

The Flight Aware website shows IFR flights as they are tracked. VFR flights that use Flight Following could end up on Flight Aware. I have completed two three-legged flights using flight following. Of these, only one leg has shown up on flight following:

Short Cross Country w/diversion
Length: 2.7 hours
Total Time: 39.7 hours

This dual cross country was going to be to South Bend, then a diversion along the way to Lafayette airport.

After leaving South Bend, we went about twenty miles before deciding that we needed to alter course to Porter County airport. The point being that the pilot needs to determine how the diversion will affect the fuel supply. Since a diversion isn't a planned procedure, being able to calculate if you'll have enough fuel is crucial.

This flight was only my second flight away from the area and it was a good eye opener. It has shown me that there's another level of flight fun beyond mastering the plane.

Length: 3.2 hours
Total Time: 37.0 hours

This lesson is the most realistic flight to-date. Meaning, in the future, I'll most likely be going from point A to point B. This was my first time going to an airport further than 10NM (Gary was the only other airport at which I've landed).

The new details:

• Due to scheduling conflicts, a different instructor
• Flight Following
• New airports: ARR (Aurora), BMI (Bloomington/Normal)
• Collision avoidance
• Dead reckoning pilotage
• VOR tracking
• Tower/ATC communications (I have worked with Gary, but that was in a limited fashion)
• General navigation

After taxing back to the runway, I was number two behind an old Ford Tri-motor airplane. The airplane was in a passenger configuration showing how different air transport was back in the 30s. These planes were manufactured between 1925 - 1933. There are only eighteen (six flyable) in existance as of 2006 (acording to wikipedia). I believe this is N8407, which is the oldest flying tri-motor in existance.

The trip from ARR to BMI started uneventful until ATC told us were were on a conflicting course with another aircraft. We spotted the plane when it was approximately one NM low traveling in the opposite direction. If not using flight following, we would have had a very close call since we wouldn't have had the few minute advance notice.

The rest of the leg was pretty smooth, but I still struggled on finding my milestones. I have a hard time determining what five NM looks like at different altitudes. When something is twenty NM away, I'm looking out at the horizon. But, as it turns out, the horizon can be anywhere from twenty NM to eighty NM (could be exaggerating here). I should be looking for my milestones much sooner, then flying to them instead of trying to see if they are below me.

That was a major paradigm-shift in my navigating. Another one is determining what is a valid milestone. A highway and a rural road look quite similar if there's no major intersections or significant identifications (doglegs, etc). Railroads and power lines are almost invisable in most cases, that is, until you're directly over them. Towns can be tricky, but rivers are pretty good. Small rivers typically have trees around them, so they appear as green lines that don't appear to follow any standard path. Larger rivers are quite significent and they can be easily seen from twenty to fifty miles away (depending on altitude).

There was some ATC confusion on my way into BMI, but that didn't affect us at all. We grabbed some lunch at the BMI restraunt, CJ's. After which, we got ATIS, got taxi clearance, took the wrong taxi route, but I didn't get any type of scolding as I announced myself as a student pilot.

The biggest miscalculation occured on my way from bmi to igq. I was intending or flying a heading of 045, but instead I drifted to 050. Although I corrected often, the fact that I allowed so many deviations caused me to fly well east of my intended route. I thought it was a large course deviation, but my gps flight path showed that we still were able to get back on a good route back to igq. I wasn't able to follow my milemarkers this route, but I was able to use VORs to find my postition.



All in all, it was a good flight. Much learned.

Length: 1.2 hours
Total Time: 33.8 hours

This was my solo STOL flight. My takeoffs were just fine, but my landings were a bit long.

I practiced more short field landings than soft. The main difference is that a short field landing requires hard breaking to reduce the amount of runway used. A soft field landing focuses on reducing the amount of weight on the wheels during rollout.

Although I was fine during my dual time, my solo time was a bit sloppy. This may be because I've only been using 20° of flaps during 'normal' landings opposed to 30° or 40° (on the 172M/N). Since I'm going to start and use full flaps for all landings, this will only allow me more practice with lower speed & increased glide angle landings.

Length: 1.3 hours
Total Time: 32.5 hours

Back to dual training.. Today's lesson included special-use take-off and landings. There are two situations that require alternative TOL (Take off and landing) procedures. First is short field; second is soft field.

Short field landings are required when the runway doesn't allow enough distance for a 'normal' landing. There are many airstrips that are not paved, or in remote locations that will require these landings in order to fly in and out.

Basically, the idea of a short field takeoff is to get the plane airborne as soon as possible. Flaps and ground effect allow the plane to get to Vx (best increase of altitude over distance) while still allowing for short term altitude increase.

A soft field takeoff's main purpose is to keep the weight of the plane off of the wheels and onto the wings as quick as possible. Even while taxing to the runway, the elevator must be used to keep the tail down. For a soft field take off, the plane will start to wheelie down the runway before taking flight.

Same rules apply for landing. For a short field, the weight is moved from the wings to the wheels quickly (by retracting the wings) whereas a soft field landing leaves the weight on the wings to reduce the chances of planting the nose-wheel in the dirt. A soft field landing will also result in a wheelie, if executed properly.

The procedures aren't too awkward once the feel is known. Short landings can be done in approximately 500 - 750 feet opposed to 2x - 4x that amount.

While practicing with the instructor, everything was going well. I think I have these procedures down, but trying to perfect their execution is another thing..

Length: 2.0 hours
Total Time: 31.3 hours

The haze was pretty noticeable today. The drive down to Lansing gave no indication of poor visibility and the tops of the downtown buildings were well in sight. Be that as it may, when I arrived at the airport, the sky was murky. AWOS told of 10 SM visibility, so I had only mild reservations about going up.

Once I got off the ground, I realized that I would not be able to climb to 3,000 MSL. I need at least that much altitude in order to execute some of my practice maneuvers. I haven't attempted to practice any ground reference maneuvers, so this would be the perfect day to try some out lower altitude maneuvers.

Ground Reference Maneuvers include turns about a point and S-turns. They're both executed pretty much as they sound, with turns about a point basically attempting to keep the airplane at a constant radius from a central point and S-turns being 180 turns on either side of a North / South street.

The point of the exercises is to account for changing wind drift. When you have a tailwind, the turns require more bank. The opposite is true with a headwind. The tricky part is knowing exactly where the wind is. Since these maneuvers are executed at 800-1000 AGL, you can actually see the groundscape fairly clearly. So, scoping the trees, tall grass, flags on a golf course, smoke, or anything else that would indicate the wind. If nothing else if available, you can feel the drift of the airplane during the maneuvers to determine the direction.

Overall, today's practice was acceptable; especially if you take into account the fact that I haven't practiced these in over five months. I believe that I was a bit tougher on myself that I should have been after reviewing the gps data. My circles were relatively round and my S-turns were quite evenly spaced. Then add in the fact that there was quite a bit of thermal turbulence today, and I believe I did quite well. The thermals were enough to swing the airplane enough to cause a bit of apprehension due to the proximity of the ground. Also, as the S-turns required up to a 45 degree bank, a gust could easily push an angle with which I wouldn't be comfortable.

The takeoff and landing portions of the day were pretty normal. The winds were favoring runway 36. As that's about a 10 minute taxi, so any possibility of taking off of 9 or 27 would be welcome. The wind sock looked like the wind was coming from 040 or 030, so a 9 takeoff would be possible. But, after my runup, the windsock was steady from 36. I may have been able to make that takeoff as the wind wasn't too quick, but it's outside my personal restrictions (and my written authorization as well, most likely).

The active runway switched to 9 by the time I was ready to land, so I headed north along the west side of the airport. At the time I passed the strip, there was another airplane taking off for pattern traffic. I had to keep my eye on him and I entered a long base behind him.

I landed one wheel at a time for a proper crosswind landing.




View Flight20090523.kml in a larger map

Length: 1.7 hours
Total Time: 29.3 hours

Today's flight was a bit more intense as there was a good amount of turbulence. Below 2,000 MSL the turbulence was enough to push the plane +\- 50 ft.

I climbed to 5,500 feet and started to do some standard straight & level flying. Then I went through the same routine as yesterday, except I didn't feel comfortable practicing Minimal Controllable Airspeed due to the turbulence. I did get up the comfort-level to try some power-on stalls. These simulate a stall after takeoff, so they occur at full power. These are a different from power-off stalls as there is much more torque to counteract as well as a much higher attitude to achieve stall.

All the while there was quite a bit of radio chatter. Some messages were unreadable while others were getting stepped on. Due to this, a good amount of energy was dedicated to listening for calls in my area & searching for traffic. I spent about ten to fifteen minutes doing 90° turns until I was reasonably assured that I could practice my maneuvers.

I had only one visual contact the entire flight. It was heading north at least 2,500 ft below me. It was the relative size of a dime, so it's really difficult to find other planes in the air. The best way to find any traffic is to hold focus on one section of airspace. Then, using the entire range of vision, including peripherals, look for any relative motion. After each scan, shift your view 10° at a time and refocus. This is the recommended method of searching for traffic.

As of right now, I'm comfortable executing the maneuvers, but I still need some practice to ensure I keep within the performance thresholds. I would say that I used the entire +/- 100 feet for most of my maneuvers. A few times I would notice that I lost 500 ft while performing stalls. I don't believe this is unacceptable, but I'd like to be able to recover quicker.

When I returned for a landing, I intending on flying by the airport to the west then entering a 45° downwind. As I approached the field, I realized that I would be breaking Gary's Class D airspace if I entered on my intended path. Instead, I descended to pattern altitude 2 miles south of the field and entered crosswind for runway 9.

Upon turning final for runway 9, AWOS was reading wind between 050 & 070 at 8 kts. Not as much crosswind as yesterday, but still enough to require a crab angle on approach.

The landing was quite good. A solid single upwind wheel landing with the second wheel touching down about five seconds after. Then the nose-wheel touched down during the rollout. No complaints with this landing.


View Flight20090517.kml in a larger map

Length: 1.5 hours
Total Time: 27.6 hours

This was my first full solo. I checked the weather on my own and made my own agenda for the flight. Although this doesn't seem like a major change, there's a lot to be said for someone else letting you know that the winds are acceptable for flight. This time I didn't get the same comfort level and confidence buildup before the solo portion of the flight as all of my previous flights started with my instructor.

After checking the automated weather report, you need to check the actual wind on the field. This is done by finding the windsock(s) (or tetrahedron, or landing tee). According to FAA standards, a 15 knot (17mph) wind will fully extend the windsock. A 3 knot (3.5mph)breeze will cause the windsock to orient itself according to the wind. That means I probably was looking at anywhere from 8 knot to 13 knot winds as the windsock was floating at a 45° angle. The AWOS (Automated Weather Observing System) was reading a 13 knot wind gusting to 19 knot.

The wind was coming between 270° and 310°. This would have me taking off on runway 27. I am currently rated for 15 knot winds with a 8 knot crosswind component. You can see from the below chart that the crosswind varies drastically with orientation to the runway.

Today I was looking at anywhere from 0° - 40° angle of wind from runway 27. This would give me a crosswind component anywhere from 0 - 16 knots.



With these details, I decided that I am comfortable with my crosswind landings enough to handle this amount of wind. I have recently received some dual time landing at Gary with some varying winds, so that was enough to let me know where my skills were.

After run up, I heard a call from another plan on downwind for 27. I saw it and decided that I could easily takeoff before it turned final. It wasn't as nice as having nothing to worry about, but it wasn't a factor.

When I took off, the winds were up, but not too much crosswind as they were coming from 280°. After takeoff, I only had to apply a minor crab angle to hold my bearing.

I was still thinking about the clearance distances between my takeoff and the landing of the plane behind me during my turn to crosswind. I made a horrible call to the effect of "Lansing Traffic, Cessna 16U turning crosswind on Runway 9" (too wordy and stated the wrong runway) when it should have been simply "Lansing Traffic, Cessna 16U turning crosswind"

After departing the pattern to the South, my nerves were still up. I was looking all over the place trying to find any contacts in the area. I was traveling bearing 180° and about 70 kts. I saw a small line of cumulus clouds were at around 3,000 topping off around 4,500-6,000. I went to a relatively clear patch of sky and held 5,500 MSL. Since I was above the cloud line, the air was pretty smooth.

Once I had myself situated, I practiced the following:

• Straight & Level flight
• Steep Turns (45° bank)
• Power-off Stalls -- engine at idle and raise the nose until the speed drops below Vso)
• Slow Flight
• Minimum Controllable Airspeed

Length: 26.1 hours

Here's a quick review of the first twenty-six hours of flying time. During these lessons, I was out of town during the weekdays, so my available flight time was drastically reduced.

The first few lessons included the four basic maneuvers: turns, descents, ascents, straight & level flying. These are the fundamentals of flight, non-physically speaking.

Although these are really simple maneuvers, but it starts to build confidence in the aircraft. At first, I didn't know how much bank the airplane could withstand without the wings falling off.

There are two main confidence builders in flight: theory and practice. You could read textbooks that claim as long as the airplane is kept within maneuvering speed (Va), it will stall before structural damage occurs. You can read that along with stall speeds in various configurations per angle of bank, but that only gives the pilot partial confidence in the airplane. The maneuvers need to be executed in order to actually feel how they affect the body and airplane together.

That was what I took out of my first few lessons. The paradigm shift occurs when you realize that the plane 'wants' to stay in the air. As long as airspeed is above a certain point, it is quite difficult to stall and subsequently lose control of the airplane. After learning this, the next step is learning to use the four fundamentals accurately.

After about nine hours and eight lessons, we started to focus on landings. I had been landing the airplane each lesson, but there was a good amount of oversight. We started to stay in the pattern and execute some touch and goes. Touch and goes are when you land, but don't slow down to a halt. Instead, you configure the airplane for takeoff and increase speed until you can takeoff again.

I spent the vast majority of my time from six hours to eighteen hours doing these. At sixteen hours, I was allowed my first supervised solo. This is when the instructor believes that I could handle takeoffs and landings sufficiently. It always seems to be a surprise for people because you never know when the weather will work out just right. But midway through my thirteenth lesson, I was asked to make a full stop halfway through my lesson.

This was my first solo. The nerves really start to show for that first few seconds after the instructor left the airplane. I was told that the airplane would handle differently with the reduction of weight. The plane sped up much quicker and it had much more lift than before. I had to compensate for this by reducing my speed and maintaining altitude sooner than I had been to date. There was much going on around me as well. There were at least three other planes in the pattern at this time, so I had to maintain my separation as well as fly the plane.

After my first landing, I felt confident again. Once you realize that there's nobody else there to help you if something goes wrong, you just have to keep scanning the sky and instruments to make sure everything looks good. For some reason, thinking that kept me calm for the rest of my three touch and goes.

After my first solo, the weather started to turn for the worse. My next lesson included high winds. They were so fast that we reached 60 kts before the first taxi way. This is about 25%-30% of the standard distance required.

While airborne, we executed some slow flight maneuvors. With the high winds, we were able to fly in reverse and still maintain control of the airplane.

After this lesson, the weather turned for the worse. During the start of 2009, there were some unforeseen expenses with the dog, so this caused a few months delay while I rebounded from the financial drain.

After getting back in the game, we flew a few more hours of dual touch and goes before allowing me to fly my second and third supervised solos.

At this point I started to do some of the more interesting flying, so I kept a flight-by-flight log. Hopefully it'll help you get the feel for the process of securing a private pilot certificate. And maybe it'll give you the confidence to be a passenger of mine in the future :)