Not much flying 'round here

My first autumn-winter as a private pilot has been downright dreary weather-wise. We've had very few VFR days, and most of those have had very high winds or temp-dewpoint spreads of 2 degrees C or less...the boundary of my personal comfort zone (regardless of the reported ceiling and visibility).

Today was a rare exception, so I took off work a bit early and just stayed in the pattern at KOLM. The ceiling was fine at 4500, but to the west lots of scud was hugging the eastern slopes of the Olympics and Black Hills. With an eye on the weather, I logged four good landings and one very nice one, with one planned go-around.

Most of my aviation time lately has been spent studying for the instrument rating knowledge test. It's a lot of material but fairly straightforward. I hope 2011 brings more flyable days so I can go up with Joel and start working on the flying part.

Happy holidays to everyone!

First flight for Mo

After several months of talking about it, I finally had an opportunity last week to take my friend and co-worker Mo flying.

We had very smooth air, excellent visibility, and almost 2 hours of fun. Launched from KOLM, one circuit of the pattern to make sure everyone was comfortable, then up to KTIW for a touch-and-go, followed by a long loop over Bremerton and down Hood Canal back home. We did a lazy sightseeing circle around downtown Olympia, then another around Mo's neighborhood in Tumwater.

Mo snapped this shot of Olympia as we rolled out to head over to Tumwater:



1.9 on the Hobbs and, hopefully, a convert to the joys of general aviation!

Flight track:



Display in Google Earth

A couple of short flights

Not much to post about lately...I've been traveling a lot for work, and the onset of fall has turned the weather "northwestish" (yes that's an official term...generally the METAR expression of it looks something like 23003 2SM BR SCT004 OVC010 10/10 2995). Result: not a lot of opportunity to fly. 75898 has only been in the air a half dozen times in the past month. So much unused potential!

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I flew up to Tacoma Narrows (KTIW) for practice, and because I love the scenery in the pattern there. I took video that I hope to post in the near future.

Tonight I stayed in the (very busy) pattern at the home patch, and put 1.1 hours, 7 takeoffs, 7 landings, and a go-around (planned) in the book. It was about 50 degrees F and at that temperature the 180 hp engine really climbs. I was generally at pattern altitude in the turn to crosswind climbing at Vy. Normally I don't level off until just before the downwind turn. There were two other aircraft--a 172 and a 152--in the pattern. I was between them with the 152 leading the pack. It was fun.

The plastic has arrived...

I received my official certificate from the FAA this week...it arrived and was on my desk chair waiting for me, along with the latest copy of AOPA Pilot, when I returned home from the week's business travel. Even though it was 2 in the morning, I tore into the envelope with giddiness, and stood there in the study, reading every cryptic word on it.

As government-issued cards go, it's a work of art. On the front is a color scene of the first powered flight at Kill Devil Hill, with portraits of the Wrights (Ohio boys like yours truly, I might add) on the back. The writing is super-imposed over the images. Since with all the prop time I'm paying for I can't afford to shop at Macy's anymore, I demoted the Macy's card to the (less accessible) inside pocket of my wallet, and gave the pilot certificate a prominent slot, right below my drivers license.

Hats off to the FAA for beating by two weeks the expected wait time for my certificate.

From the video archives...KFHR

I finally got around to editing my video from my long solo cross-country flight, over a month ago, at the tail end of my private pilot training.

There was a lot of haze from forest fires on the evening I did the flight, so much of the video is uninteresting, to say the least.

But here is the video from my approach and landing at Friday Harbor Airport in the San Juan Islands. This is a place I plan to visit quite a lot now that I have the ticket...

Anyway, I have fond memories of this trip. I shut down at Friday Harbor for a bit, hoping to find Ernie's Cafe still open (alas, it was not). Ernie's is named for Ernest Gann, one of my favorite aviation authors, who wrote about his adventures as an early airline pilot (in the 1930s). Disappointed in the restaurant being closed for the day, but vowing to return, I left Friday Harbor and landed at Snohomish County (better known as Paine Field) near Everett, then back home via the eastside suburbs of Seattle (Bellevue, Kent, Auburn) and a transition through the McChord Air Force Base Class D. The challenge on the final leg was avoiding the Seattle Class Bravo airspace, which required flying at a low altitude to stay under the shelf.

During the taxi-back for departure at Paine, I saw the "Dream Lifter" taking a rest from hauling 787 parts around the world. What an awesome aircraft!

All in all, it was a terrific trip and is likely one I will repeat at some point...just for fun!

Crosswinds, night flight, and admiring the best

I have plans to fly tomorrow night to stay sharp, just some landing practice at the home patch.

If I can get Joel to come along, and the winds cooperate, we may work on crosswind landings, and maybe after that do the night flight refresher that we never got around to at the end of my training.

But anyways, speaking of crosswind landings, this is just really, really impressive.

Look Mom...

I had the honor and pleasure to take my Mom up for a flight today. She's visiting us in Olympia from my original hometown before school starts again, work travel spins up, and Deb takes on some new responsibilities at work.

It's a beautiful day here, just some high cirrus clouds and unlimited visibility. The winds did pick up while we were flying for 90 minutes...6 knots out of the north at takeoff, but 15 knots on landing, and just a bit gusty.

We took off and headed due west towards Hoquiam and the coast. I figured that as long as we were headed to the coast I may as well log a cross-country...so we did a touch-and-go landing at Ocean Shores, then headed south along the beach to Willapa Harbor, then direct back to Olympia from there.

1.6 on the Hobbs and Mom has a better sense of what flying is all about now. The air was generally smooth, until our descent into Olympia...the higher winds and some thermals tossed us around a little. I was generally happy with my flying. The landing at Ocean Shores was a little left-of-center, which on a 50 foot wide runway can be a big deal. But I kept it under control and right back on the centerline for the go.

The scenery was beautiful...flying the coastal beaches is really about the best sightseeing you can do.

I am very appreciative that my Mom was interested in flying with me, and she was a model passenger the whole way!

Flight track for Google Earth is here.