Well, the logbook is filling up with entries. Here it is July, 2016, and I find myself more
and more at ease in the cockpit, however, at times I have to remind myself to
not be so complacent. So, over the past month I have been paying particular
attention to just about every phase of my flight. While most of the time I
pre-flight is on target, since I am not flying more than an hour or an hour and
a half at a time I found myself not planning fuel usage and consumption, and
since usually I have no more than two passengers with me, my weight and balance
calculations pretty much have been not needed at all. With that being said,
hopefully between now and the fall I will be making a few longer distance
flights, basically with the intent of preparing for my instrument training. When
that training begins I will have to pay attention to my headings, altitude
holds, flight planning, and most of all, the weather. None of this is new, however like many pilots
have stated, unless you are out flying for a living a lot of what you learn in
ground school will not be used more than once or twice a year.
I finally got checked out in the Piper Cherokee Archer. Ever
since I was a teen I always wanted to be flying the Cherokee 180, also known as
the Cherokee Archer. Most of my flying
is in the Piper Cherokee Warrior which is the same as the Archer with less
horsepower. The Archer will come in handy when I fly into Put in Bay and also
Kelly’s Island. Both airports are within 30 minutes of Cleveland and are a part
of the Lake Erie Islands. Both have runways that are less than 2400 feet, and
on a warm day as you know density altitude can wreak havoc on a takeoff.
I have not been doing as much night flying as I did in the
early spring, mostly because legal sunset is after 10 PM, and by that time I am
ready to call it a night. While the FAA regulations call for three landings
within 90 days to carry passengers, I was averaging three landings every other
week. I take my nighttime currency very
seriously.
In the near future I will be planning on ground school for
my instrument rating. I’m not sure which ground school I will take online, and
I am not sure if I will be driven by price. I want to make sure I fully
comprehend the instrument materials because I understand the written test can
be very difficult to pass.
My longest flight so far has been to Dayton Ohio to visit
the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The flight down was fairly uneventful, on
a hot day, however since we departed about 9 AM most of the flight was
uneventful. Since there is an air show at the Dayton airport and a lot of
pilots were flying in to beat the cut off time, I found myself in sequence with
several other airplanes and a helicopter. The flight back was quite different
because in the hot afternoon the thermals were producing quite a bit of lift
and my passengers found the turbulence a bit unnerving. Even though I climbed
up to 7500 feet the turbulence was still moderate, but fortunately the
passengers decided to nap and the turbulence was not much of a problem for
them.
I have taken several meal flights, such as several trips to
Port Clinton for breakfast and lunch, and one morning I got up and flew to
Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, for breakfast. The Beaver Falls airport also has
been fairly active every month with a cookout. Unfortunately I missed the first
one and appears that I will miss the second one, however, I am planning to
attend in August. As usual Salem airport was my destination for several
lunches, along with Carroll County Airport (also known as the airport with the
home baked pies).
So all in all flying has been fairly rewarding for me and
several of my passengers. Safety has
always been a primary concern of mine because I value the health and safety of
my passengers. There has only one moment where my heart skipped a beat where I
was losing power on takeoff. The moral of that story is to always check your friction
lock on the throttle and keep your hand on the throttle throughout your takeoff
and climb out.
