Why I (Want to) Fly

LAX in the mid afternoon.

From the time I was a young lad, I have always wanted to be part of the flying few. I was fascinated by flying and space-going machines. I had several books on various flying machines and those who attempted to build them. Also, living in SoCal meant we were close to LAX. My parents would periodically take me there to watch planes taking off and landing—we even saw President HW Bush landing in AF1 once!

That interest of machines developed into an interest of actually flying and upon discovery of the now-defunct Space Shuttles, I wanted to be an astronaut and fly one of them too. When I was about 8 years of age, I recall my dad promising me flight lessons "when I was old enough" and the funds were available. Looking back now, I suppose I was "old enough" then, I just would have another eight years of having a right seat partner until I legally solo at age 16. However, the funding still wasn't there, so

Throughout my adolescent and teen years, my dream of flying lay dormant. I knew that family financials weren't exactly conducive to flight training, so I never even bothered to ask. Looking back, I suppose that I could've gotten some done, at least an intro flight. Also, plenty of scholarships are available which I could've applied for. I just never even looked.

Now that the Space Shuttles are no longer in service, that dream is now indefinitely deferred. However, I would still like to go to space. I also have a short list of planes I'd like to sit behind the controls of. A-10. A-330. Boeing 777. C-17. DC-3. F-15. P-51. Mooney Acclaim. PC-12. I like to think I'd enjoi piloting any one of those planes at some point.

But what I'm most interested in doing is flying missionary work. I'd love to buy a DC-3 and convert it to turbine engines to use as a missionary plane. (Why turbine conversion? I don't have to rely on avgas, which is quickly disappearing and is often prohibitively expensive in the places I'd be flying most.) Short of doing that, I'd like to work for an organization like Mission Aviation Fellowship, Flying Mission, or even Angel Flight. I love flying and helping people. Something that combines the two of them would be rather welcome.

And so, there we have it. That's why I want to learn to fly: to be a flying missionary. My work is definitely cut out for me since I still have less than 20 hours, haven't soloed, and have no complex/high performance time. I'm hoping that get those situations fixed over the next year, updates forthcoming. I just hope it can all get done sooner rather than later.

one year

entry from last time i flew

been a long time


well, it's been a year today since i last spent time aloft in a plane. i haven't even flown commercial since i last took a flight lesson. in the interim, several things have happened that have had quite an impact on flying time. first of all, i bought a new (to me) car. although the monthly payment isn't extraordinary, the $200 translates into 2 less hours of flight. i wasn't blindsided by the monthly payment, but it still is there. secondly, i then took a 6 week vacation. i drove all around the country, visiting many family members and friends, over 11000 total miles all added to the car at an average of around 24 mpg. the amount i spent on gas could've doubled my flight hours. i don't regret going, it's merely an observation.

realizations

however, since returning from vacation, car-related expenses have run quite a bit higher than expected. of course, spending money on a car is normal, spending money on flight is not. had i realized that concept a year ago, i'd probably own a plane now. i've actually spent more on the car in the past year than it would've cost to pay for a full pp-sel course at a flight school. as a result of my penny wise, pound foolish approach, i was forced to avail myself to a few daily deals for flights, but i still haven't even exercised my rights in any of them. i do intend to use them soon, but the real focus is getting re-positioned to fly again regularly.

flight plan

moving forward, a [new improved] plan is now in play: focus money toward flying. i would really like to be able to take my checkride before my written exam expires at the end of jan 2013, but not if flying isn't cost-effective. paying more to fly by flying now instead of waiting until some things are figured out is a recipe for disaster in the long run. paying another $150 to take the written could result in some of my cheapest flying yet if it means i've paid off other obligations. i also would like to spend some time in whirlybirds, which can easily cost twice the hourly rate of planes. that makes doing this the right way even more imperative. hopefully, i am able to get more updates from the air coming out soon and with pictures as well.

stalled

sorry guys, i guess i slacked off a little and didn't update for a little while. so i figured i'd better change that. my last flight was almost two weeks ago, on cinco de mayo. was a pretty busy day up in the practice area, but still had a productive time up there. we did power off stalls. the time before that, we had done slow flight, so it was the natural progression. although i've spent a decent amount of time looking at aerodynamics and lift theory, i'll admit that i was still a little apprehensive at the prospect of "falling out the sky" before we began. nevertheless, we went up and steve demonstrated the technique then handed over the controls to me mid-stall and told me to recover. turned out to not be as scary as i had originally feared, although i am in no way dismissing the vigilance that one must have surrounding stalls, especially outside of straight and level. after recovery, we climbed back up to altitude and did a couple more iterations of power offs before heading back for the landing. tower cleared us for 26l this time, and we went in for an uneventful landing.

although cinco de mayo was the last time we got up, we did have another lesson scheduled last tuesday as well. i had specifically started scheduling my classes in the afternoons to avoid the june gloom that is all too common in the socal mornings this time of year, but to no avail. so on tuesday, weather was still below minimums to allow us to fly at 1500 and my cfi really hadn't the slightest idea of what we should do. finally decided to just go out and taxi around the airport, lol. i know how to taxi a plane, but actually taxiing isn't always as smooth as desired. driving cars probably has a big thing to do with it, but i'm defnitely getting better. so we just taxied around the airport and got a bit of gas. was also a nice time to practice talking to atc and getting a feel for ground ops with a couple planes in the circuit.

anyway, that's the news for this week. at least so far as has already been completed. i have a flight scheduled for thursday morning, but if this weather continues in this manner, i imagine another ground lesson is in the works. also had one scheduled for today, but we just cancelled it outright. we'll just have to wait and see.

flyin' again

had another flight yesterday (well i guess it's now technically thursday, so tuesday)! we apparently spent the longest time aloft yet. it almost got cancelled on account of weather, but by time we finished pre-flighting and got around to taking off, it had cleared up enough to allow us vfr conditions for our area of flying. lesson of the day was steep turns, but on account of it having been a good bit of time since i last flew, we spent a few more minutes on four fundamentals as well. it was a little challenging because although the clouds had cleared in our area, they were not gone completely. consequently, the clouds and the horizon were not very far apart and made establishing straight & level a little more challenging than last time. this was not at all helped by the choppy air that required constant inputs to return the plane to the desired altitude.
once we got that all figured out, we proceeded to the steep turns. main difference between regular and steep turns (at least imo) was how to increase alpha without increasing bank angle. i actually started out doing perfect steeps: holding altitude, holding bank angle. not sure what happened, but that regressed as the lesson progressed. on landing, he had me fly all the way until we were crossing the fence, when he took over for the actual landing part. i feel like i will probably be getting an opportunity to land the plane myself within the next week or so. i'm not sure whether to be excited about that or scared. but in either case, i'll have a clearer picture after the lesson tomorrow. got a meeting scheduled for 0900. more steep turns are on the menu, then we'll see what else he has for me. until then, au revoir!

time: 1.1 hrs
tt: 3.5 hrs
tit: 3.5 hrs

third time's the charm

sorry i didn't update sooner. i need to get better at this. anyway, i had my third flight friday. another fun time flying around. took off from 24r again, then headed over to the santa fe practice area. worked on getting my straight and level flight perfected, but it was liberally interspersed with climbs, descents, and turns. i'm getting the hang of the whole thing now. managing the power for an ascent or descent out of a cruise. also tried a few climbing/descending turns with varying degrees of success. i'm definitely not going to be winning awards for those yet, but they're coming together reasonably well. my cfi also added the element making some of those turns compass turns and noting the corresponding accelerations depending on which direction we turned.
after i'd say a good 45 mins of sky play, went back down. i flew the entire approach until we were very far downwind on final, at which point he took controls and we glided with the stall horn for probably a good 500'. (yes, downwind on final. as it turned out, the variable winds suddenly found direction suspiciously close to 080.) then more time with taxi. doing much better following centerline (taxiway is somewhat sloped and the plane has weak right rudder), and didn't hit the wing on any taxiing crj-700s.
next flight is planned for wednesday. since we didn't do steep turns friday, wednesday will probably be the day. i have my reading already done too. he didn't mention anything else in the plans, but i'm guessing a couple more shots at compass turns as well as climbing/descending (turns). and maybe we'll get into the lower end of the planes operating regime aka slow flight.

lesson one

kinda forgot about this [b]log for a while, but not anymore. had my first lesson last week, on tuesday at 0700. traffic on the way over was much better than i expected, but i'm thinking i just was actually too early for the rush hour rush. anyway, this first lesson did not get us in the air due to time restrictions. what we did do was go over some final paperwork in getting the flight training started and the policies/procedures of flying with them. then we went over the syllabus and what was expected of me as a student as well as what i would expect him as the cfi to provide for me. after that, we went out to the plane.
the flight school i'm flying with is known as college aviation, and is affiliated with the mt. san antonio college in walnut, ca. the flight training itself happens out of brackett field (kpoc) in nearby la verne, ca. makes for a real easy trip between class and the hangar. they serve between 60 and 70 students with five aircraft: a cessna 150, two cessna 152s, a cessna 172, and a piper arrow. flying isn't cheap, but in the grand scheme of things, and especially considering current fuel prices, their rates are reasonable--about $30/hr cheaper than any of the other schools i've seen across all models and including instructor.
anyway, back to the lesson. this instruction was pure ground only, but not ground classroom work. we went out the the plane and did a walk-around. for my training, i am planning to do most of it in the 150/152s since they're the cheapest. (a checkout in type is much cheaper than total training in type, and flying is about experience in the air first, then what the experience is in.) so the plane we had last tuesday was one of the 152s, n--968.
instructor showed me how to do the walk-around. (not necessarily in this order) fuel--amount and all sumps. airframe for any damage or corrosion. control surfaces and their connections, checking for rust and the like. making sure everything was connected correctly. oil level, cowling, prop. and that was more or less where we left off. i presume that on monday, we'll probably continue on into a more thorough preflight, with starting the engine and checking for oil pressure, checking mags, etc. maybe get up in the air for a lap or two around the pattern. can't wait to start making marks in my logbook (:. auf wedersehen.

first flight...not

last thursday, i was scheduled to have my first flight at 0530Z with the california aviation services flight school located at the riverside airport (kral). so i headed out with all intentions of flying. but my first lesson was rather quick, and consisted of only one activity: learn to read the weather reports. i was somewhat oblivious to the wind as i left the house. but upon arriving at the airport, i noted that the windsock was straight, a strong indication that there would be no flying that day. upon going into the office, this sinking suspicion was confirmed. so the first flight will have to wait a little longer.