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Solo to ISP


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This flight, a precursor to solo flights that would actually count as a cross-country (by being to a destination over 50 miles away), was simple in planning but pretty difficult in execution. ISP is only about 15 miles away, which means that things happen very fast when flying between them. My instructor told me that, if I can pull this …

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My First Cross-Country Flight


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This was to be my first “official” cross-country flight! We had gone over cross-country planning in ground school the previous week, where we planned a cross-country to Groton/New London, Connecticut (GON). It involves a bit more than planning your weekend drive to the beach. We have to: Plan a route between the airports, picking along the way prominent visual landmarks every …

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Uncontrolled Fields

We announced our presence and intentions over the radio as we cruised along the beach. From listening to the CTAF, we figured out there were two other airplane in the traffic pattern, and they were making left traffic patterns on Runway 33. We turned north to loop around and join the pattern, the blue of Atlantic beneath us transitioning to white sand then to the green waters of the Great South Bay.

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Even Unusual-er Attitudes

The airspeed still increasing, thrill in my stomach mixing with fear in my mouth, like bombing down a dirt road in a high-school friend’s pickup truck. I pull back on the yoke. Our bodies get heavier, the unfathomable mass of the Earth urging us closer. High-school physics whip through my thoughts: weight = mass times gravity. The teacher didn’t mention anything about a seemingly-insane flight instructor.

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Little Lightbulb Lessons

I love these little bits of serendipity. During my training, things like this have seemed to happen just when I needed them to. I’ve had lots of fun little lightbulb moments that bring together what I’ve been reading, what my instructor has been telling me, and what I’ve been experiencing.

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Why I Love Flight Training in NYC


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  After an excruciating 11 days without flying, due to weather, I finally got back up in the air. The weather was marginal: good enough to fly dual touch-and-goes, but too cloudy or hazy for a solo flight or a trip to the practice area. So we waited, and waited, and waited. I’ve got the plane booked for Monday, Thursday, and …

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MY FIRST SOLO FLIGHT


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SOLO.   SOLO. SOLO. SOLO. The day had arrived. He knew it. I knew it. The weather was perfect. I was ready. He told me we would go up and start practicing touch-and-goes here at FRG. If all went well, he would ask me to land and bring him back to the ramp, and off I would go for solo …

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Touch and Go, and Go, and Go…


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My CFI told me that one of these days we would just work on landings and knock out 12-15 of them. Well, today, Lesson #10, was that day. Winds were calm, the pattern was (somewhat) calm, and I needed the confidence boost. The last lesson was a bit bumpy, and I was a bit hard on myself about every little tiny …

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Getting Skunked by Weather DURING My Lesson


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I’d been receiving Severe Thunderstorm Warnings all day, but the weather didn’t seem too bad in Brooklyn. On the train out to FRG, still looked OK. It all seemed to be holding to the north of us, across the Sound, in Connecticut. So it worked out that my CFI told me we would be staying around FRG for this lesson …