Solo 8

Now this is how flying should be!

It's a beautiful Fall day with calm winds, no clouds, and great visibility. I retried my round-robbin trip to the Eastern Shore. I went first to Easton, then to Ridgely, then back to Easton, overflying the field, then turned south to Cambridge. Once I had the field in sight, I turned back to Tipton. With easy landings at Easton and Ridgely and Tipton, great sights along the way, and about the calmest day I've ever had flying, it was a fantastic trip.

Next up - Stage III check, a final flight with the instructor, and then the check ride.

Solo 7

I planned to visit the Eastern Shore airports today, KRJD, KESN, KCGE. Conditions on the Eastern Shore were marginal when I took off, but I was expecting improvement by the time I arrived, or maybe they would be better than reported, as has happened to me before. I also planned to turn around if I wasn't comfortable with the conditions.

I noticed that it was hazy as I climbed in the pattern at KFME, not great visibility, but OK to proceed. I left the pattern toward KANP and I decided to turn around if by the time I passed the drag strip I couldn't see the East River. I picked up the East River and continued the flight. As I approached KANP, I decided to turn around if I couldn't see the far shore of the bay. I picked up the far shore, including my usual landmarks at Kent Island and beyond, so I pressed on.

I arrived over Kent Island, checked in with ATC as clear of the SFRA, then switched to KESN tower and ATIS. At least I thought I had the ATIS frequency. After a minute of not hearing anything, I checked the frequency and saw that it was right. I fooled with the intercom system, checked the frequency again, and discovered that I was off because it's so hard to read that dim radio frequency in the bright sunlight. I had a 9 where I should have had a 4. I fixed it, and then the ATIS reported 1000 foot broken ceiling and ILS approaches in use. That did it. I turned around, called ATC and asked to return early because of poor conditions at my destination, got cleared for return to the SFRA, and returned to KFME.

I did three landings at KFME and called it a day.

Lesson 27

I've had about enough of these lessons. I'm anxious to finish!

It was a clear day, few clouds, winds mostly calm. Kind of hot.

The goal of today's lesson was to get closer to finishing my minimum IFR training requirements, along with check ride preparation. We took off and I put my foggles on almost immediately after departing the airport area.

I flew under the hood for a while, eventually climbing to 3000. Then the instructor told me to take the foggles off and he pulled the power and asked me where I planned to land for this simulated engine out landing. I looked around, pointed to a field, and then he said no, he wanted me to land at an airport that was nearly directly below us and that I hadn't seen. It turned out to be Bay Bridge airport. I did two complete cirles to lose altitude and then lined up to land. But I did a bad job of managing altitude and we wound up way high - I floated and got the wheels on the runway but we quickly decided that we had to add power and climb out again or risk running off the end of the runway.

Then I had to find Ridgely, where I entered the pattern and I did another power off landing. We turned it into a touch and go, and the next thing I knew we were on a collision course with a crop duster working a field to the west, so I had to dodge it, all the while looking for the other traffic in the area that included flights that were dropping parachute jumpers and an airplane towing a hang glider.

We departed to the south, contacted Easton, landed, taxied back, and took off again. We continued south, approached Cambridge, landed, turned it into another touch and go, and returned to Fort Meade with me under the hood.

So now I lack only 0.2 hours of hood time and that's the last of the minimums necessary for me to take the check ride.

Solo 6

My long cross country flight is done. I went from KFME to KSBY to KOXB to KFME.

The only part of the flight that went as planned was the fact that I landed at the airports that I intended to land at. The weather forecast called for hot, humid weather, but sky conditions mostly clear over the Delmarva and light winds. OK, I had the light winds. But there were so many clouds, what I would call a scattered layer, that I had to fly at 2000 for most of the trip when I had planned for 3000. So I couldn't see as far as I had hoped. And I didn't have that insurance altitude that I like to have.

The first leg to KSBY was uneventful, save for the lower altitude. I was able to stay on course, mostly, by watching the ground, referencing the map, and using the VOR on the field. I had a little trouble spotting the airport, but eventually I found it and landed. The controller sent me straight in. I need three landings at towered fields on my solo cross country flights, and on my last flight I did only one landing, so I did a trip around the pattern, landed, got my stuff ready for the next leg, and took off again.

I had never been to KOXB. It's a short flight from KSBY and the airport is right next to the ocean, so I knew that I just needed to look for it south of the hotel strip. I tuned the CTAF, learned that traffic was using 14, and then I had to find the airport. I decided to fly well south of the field and turn north to overfly it above pattern altitude and then set up for a 180 turn and arrival into the pattern. But there were clouds at 1000 so I found myself at 900, suddenly worried about staying out of the nature preserve. So then I turned north, at 900 feet, found the airport, skirted well west to avoid departing traffic, and once past the field turned back to enter the pattern, where I did an uneventful landing.

On the ground (boy that's a long taxi on the runway to the midfield turnoff), I set up for my flight home. I got my flight log out, got some water, taxied back to the departure end of the runway, and took off. First time ever over the ocean.

I turned downwind in the pattern, then departed to the northwest. I was hearing all sorts of chatter on the radio, including some discussion of parachute jumpers in the area. And I had to dodge a small flock of birds. And I had to dodge a banner-towing airplane. Then it got interesting.

Going to and from KSBY, I had the luxury of following a VOR radial. But not from KOXB. I set out on my heading, only to realize that the gyro had drifted. I then went through a series of attempts to get the compass and gyro aligned, only to realize that I wasn't waiting long enough between turning to the compass heading and setting the gyro - the compass turning errors were getting me. All the while I was hearing all of the activity at KOXB, and surprisingly also the traffic at KFME. By the time I sorted out the compass/gyro situation, I had lost my ability to pick out my selected landmarks for navigation and I realized I was not on the course I had planned. I turned west, knowing that I would eventually reach the Chesapeake Bay if I didn't sooner or later figure out where I was. I was also worried about drifting into KSBY or KESN class D airspace and I couldn't climb above their airspace because of the clouds, so I was looking around a lot to find the airports or other traffic.

Well I eventually was able to orient myself with landmarks and the flight was uneventful from that point on. I reached the area between Easton and Cambridge, called Potomac approach for my transponder code, entered the SFRA, and cruised into Tipton's pattern where traffic was taking off to the east for a change. I made a nice landing with the stall horn coming on and was relieved that my long cross country flight was done without any more drama.

I take my hiking GPS receiver along on these trips. I can't use it in flight; it's not approved for aerial navigation. But it does a nice job of recording the track. It turns out I was (mostly) headed in the right general direction for that period when I was unsure of my exact location, but the track isn't quite straight for that part of the trip when I was messing with the gyro.

OK, now I need more simulated IFR time, check ride prep, and then I can go for my FAA check ride.

Stage II Check

At long last, I did my stage II check today with the chief flight instructor. I had to plan for a flight to the Eastern Shore, then to Atlantic City, then to Hagerstown, then to Baltimore, then back to home base. He didn't even look at the flight plan, maybe because he arrived late and then he had a lesson immediately after mine.

We flew over to the Eastern Shore, did a couple of landings at Easton, then we went to Ridgely, did a landing and a couple of simulated engine-outs, and then did some of the basic maneuvers, including hood work. Then it was an uneventful flight back to base.

I botched the initial approach to Easton, approaching from the wrong side. He also said I wasn't aggressive enough getting the nose down on one of the stalls. And on one of the three simulated engine-out tries he said I would have come up short so we did a go around.

So, room to improve, but I passed the stage check. Now I get to fly my solo long cross country flight.

PS: It seems I neglected to mention some things that I should have... We had to dodge some clouds here and there. That's not a big deal, but I was inclined to descend to get at least 500 feet below them, but the instructor didn't seem so concerned about them. Maybe he was testing me. Maybe he wasn't so worried because he's an IFR pilot. On one of my unusual attitude recoveries, I had to quickly add power (he left me nose high). When I did, it sounded and felt like something suddenly rattled the engine. That was my first experience with carbeurator ice.

Solo 5

Pattern work today to brush up on landings. It started out with light but direct crosswinds that increased as time passed. Wind at pattern altitude kept pushing me toward the runway and had to crab a lot to keep from drifting toward the runway on downwind. So the downwind-to-base turns took forever, and then it was hard to avoid overshooting the base-to-final turns. And then the landings were interesting, with winds variable from calm to 7 knots, always with a crosswind, sometimes with a slight headwind, sometimes with a slight tailwind.

So I got six landings in and called it a day before the conditions got any worse.

Lesson 26

Another long layoff from flying ended today. I had been on vacation for two weeks and other events meant that I didn't get to fly for a month. I wanted to prepare for my next stage check, and ultimately, for the check ride. So we flew over to the Eastern Shore with the plan to let me get familiar with some new airports and practice diversions.

We flew toward Easton, then diverted to Cambridge, where I had to do a power off, no flap landing. That was different. Then I had a few minutes to check the chart and then we took off and flew to Easton. We did a touch and go, then departed toward Ridgely, navigating by using the chart and following a railroad. Then we did some unusual attitude recoveries. After one of the times when I was looking down while he flew the plane around to set up the next unusual attitude, he pulled the power on me over a bunch of fields, with a grass strip directly below, and I had to set up to make an emergency landing. We descended pretty low, then I was allowed to add power and climb away.

Then he told me to proceed to Ridgely, but of course in the rush of dealing with the unusual attitudes and emergency landing, I lost track of where I was. So after we sorted that out, we proceeded to Ridgely, where we promptly encountered traffic that included a biplane that was too close for comfort until I did a 360 degree turn. Then I had to do yet another power off landing, which was pretty ugly on that narrow strip.

Finally, we returned home with me under the hood.