Thursday, August 24, 2006

Blogging at FL380

This blog entry is being written at flight level 380 somewhere between Portland and Denver. I’m en route to Boston to spend the weekend with some very good friends. I don’t know if Denver has free wi-fi, like PDX has. If they do, I’ll try and upload this in Denver. If not, I guess I’ll upload it when I get to Boston.

Apparently, Denver decided it should take advantage of travellers and charges $8 for wireless access, unlike Portland where it is free. Just a note to owners of businesses at Denver airport, money I could have spent at your shop is instead going to AT&T. Boo Denver!

This is the first time I have flown commercially since the TSA implemented the “no liquid” rules. There was conspicuously less carry-on luggage and it was great. I used to travel a ton for business, and certainly empathize with the road warriors. But, the security check to get to the gates was breeze and it only took about 5 minutes to board our airplane. No one was trying to cram their bag into the overhead bin, blocking everyone else in the aisle. I’m sure I am in the minority, but I wouldn’t mind going to single carry-on (purse/briefcase) policy. It would be safer and quicker.

I took the FAA private pilot exam yesterday. I got a 97, which, apparently, is better than what Pearson airport’s dog, Ellie, got on the exam (she got an 87). The test examiner claimed he saw some paw prints on my test materials and accused me of getting help from the dog. The FAA publishes a book of all the test questions (I think there is a bank of 600 of them). The exam consists of 60 questions to be answered in 150 minutes. I studied by going through all the questions in the test guide and highlighting the answer. Most of questions can be answered if you know the basic principals behind them. However, there are a quite a few questions that require rote memorization. For example, I had a question about to whom and when I am supposed to send a notice if I were to be convicted of drunk driving. I’m pretty sure that’s the one I got wrong. I also bought this program for my Palm Treo called Private Pilot Pocket Test. This way I could take test questions when I had some free cycles…or even during meetings (let’s keep that between ourselves…okay?) It’s a great study aid. I highly recommend it for anyone taking the written exam. Finally, I took the free exam on Sporty’s web-site every night for a week before taking the test.

When I finished the test, I didn’t think I had done that well. There were a couple of distractions that made it really hard to concentrate on the test questions. First, I took the test at Pearson airport. I never put two and two together and only until I was taking the test realized that plane engines are really distracting. Second, there was someone taking another test sitting next to me. He was a using calculator and was hitting the buttons as hard as he could. Boy, he sure used his calculator a lot. There was another woman there taking another test, some kind of nursing exam. Her test results were printed out right after mine. She had passed. She seemed so happy and relieved. I was happy to pass the test just because it’s one step closer to my license. But, passing her exam meant she could get a job. I think she mentioned to the examiner that she took the test previously and failed by one question. Good for her for sticking with it and not giving up. I don’t know how the guy next to me did, he was still pounding away at his calculator when I left.

Now that I’ve passed my test, I only need to do two more things before I’m ready to take my check ride. First, I need about another half-hour of hood time. Second, I need to do my last progress check with the chief flight instructor. Hopefully, by the end of September, I’ll be ready to take the check ride.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Mobile Blogging Now Working

I've been trying for a while to get this to work.



The next photo will be aviation related. I promise!

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Stage II and III

I haven’t posted since I soloed, which was late April. I should bring everyone up to speed on where I am in my flight training.

Flight training is broken down into three stages. Stage 1 is complete when you do your first solo. You learn all the basic maneuvers (e.g. turns around a point, s-turns, rectangular course, steep turns), stalls, and landings, landings, landings. In one lesson, I did 12 takeoff and landings with my flight instructor! After you do all that, you practice landings some more. Once your instructor is comfortable with your landings, she’ll let you solo. Once you solo, you move onto Stage 2.

In Stage 2, you learn to do short and soft field takeoff and landings, instrument-only flight, night flying, and cross-country flights. In addition, you continue to review everything you learned in Stage 1. Short field landings and takeoffs are used when the runway is either short for your aircraft (what is a long runway for a Cessna 150 may very well be very short for a 737), and/or there are obstacles near the ends of the runway. Soft field landings and takeoffs are used when landing on turf or other runway surfaces that aren’t your standard asphalt/concrete runways. They are a lot of fun. Instrument-only flight is practiced by wearing a hood that covers the view outside the cockpit and the only thing you can see are the aircraft’s instruments. You really have to distrust what you body is telling you and trust the instruments. Often, you will be flying straight-and-level and your body will feel like you are turning. Cross-country flying includes learning how to complete a flight plan (using your trusty E6B). You do a day and night cross country flight with your instructor.

I have completed Stage 2 and now am in Stage 3. In Stage 3, you do at least two solo cross country flights. I went to Independence for my first cross county flight. For my second, long cross country flight, I went to Olympia and Centralia. I’ll write more details about those trips in later posts.

I am now studying for my written exam, which I hope to take in the next couple of weeks. After that, my flight instructor thinks I can do my checkride in late September.