This was a pretty exciting day. We flew to Bridgeport, Connecticut (BDR) for more crosswind landing practice, along with the practice of navigating to a new airport. BDR isn’t too hard to find; we just head out to the Northport Stacks (the VFR visual checkpoint near the north practice area, we’ve discussed it before), then head northeast across Long Island …
My Longest Lesson
This was the longest flight lesson, I’ve had so far, at 1.9 hours. And we did it ALL. Steep turns, slow flight, power-off and power-on stalls, S-turns, turns around a point, rectangular courses, forward slips, no-flaps landings… Sometimes, this stuff feels a bit esoteric. I’ve absorbed everything I could about flight training for years: read books, websites, blogs, watched videos. I …
Touch and Go Landings at ISP – Private Pilot Lesson #6
For Lesson #6, we worked on touch-and-go landings at Islip (ISP). I was glad to be practicing landings rather than maneuvers, after my rough, bumpy day of slow flight in Lesson #5. My CFI introduced me to “the option”, which we request from the control tower, and which allows us to do whatever type of landing we want: I also got …
Preflight Checks on a Cessna 152
Before yesterday’s flight, I set up my GoPro to do a little timelapse while I did my preflight checks on the good ole’ Cessna 152. You’ll get to see exciting things such as: Me hitching up my pants! Me climbing up on the wing to check the fuel in the tanks! Me hitching up my pants again! Me, holding the …
Private Pilot Lesson #5 – Slow Flight
I went up with CFI #2 again, and today cemented my decision to fly with him as my primary instructor. He is instructing full-time, so his schedule is much more flexible. I think his teaching and my learning style mesh a little bit more, also. I may still fly with CFI #1 periodically, if our schedules match up, because my …
Movin’ Pictures! And a talkie even!
I’ve been focusing most of my energy on getting the blog moving, but I’ve also been getting video of each lesson with a GoPro! It’s mostly for my own review, but I’ll eventually get most of them up on YouTube. So, without further ado, here is Lesson #2!
Private Pilot Lesson #4 – My First Bad Landing in a Cessna 152
The Pre-Flight I’m switching instructors. That sounds more dramatic than it really is. I was flying with one of the co-owners of the flight school. He is a great instructor, but he also has a day job like me and I was starting to get the feeling scheduling would be an issue. He was one step ahead of me and …
Who’s a bad mother (shut your mouth)?
Just some guy with KEYS TO AN AIRPLANE. OK, so it’s not MY airplane, it’s the flight school’s. And all of the students get keys. But come ON. I get to carry AIRPLANE KEYS in my pocket.
Private Pilot Lesson #3 – First Landing in a Cessna 152
Lesson #3: In Which Our Hero Lands A Plane ALL BY HIMSELF A few friends have commented on the pure joy and enthusiasm dripping from both this blog and from me as a person for the past month. I won’t apologize! I say things that make me sound like a 5 year old, and I love it! I did …
What It Takes
According to the FAA, at least… A lot of friends have been asking me about the particulars of flight training, i.e. when/how does one get their license, how much/often do you have to fly, what do you have to do, so I figured it would be easiest to outline the requirements of the Private Pilot Certificate here on the blog. …