Cleared direct Gateway.

Well I finished my last time-building/IFR training today.  We flew from Gateway to Sedona by way of Prescott for a practice GPS approach.  Then from Sedona back to Gateway.   I had like 2.5 hours to burn off when we left Sedona so we filed for the long way back.  Of course as soon as we get out of Sedona, Center gives us direct to PXR then Direct IWA.  So we spent the last .7 sweating in the pattern practicing touch and go’s.

Overall I’m pretty happy with the program.  At times it seemed as if it was moving too fast, others too slow.  My instructor and the others I flew with were all great. Out of all the instructors there were only 3 I did not like.  And 2 of them have been disposed of. 

The aircraft were for the most part okay.  Nothing to write home about.  Except for a 2005 SP model the rest are all older (Late 60s/Early to Mid 1970) 172 M models.  And let’s face it, these airplanes get beat to crap.  I understand the bulk of ATPs business is the ACPP program and the associated Multi-engine programs and it shows in the quality of the Seminoles which are mostly newer and are less MX hogs.  I will have to say though, the MX program is great.  Getting something fixed involves a quick phone call to JAX and the guys are on it. 

I got my ticket on 08AUG2007 and I did the following Xcs:

IWA-Lake Havasu-IWA
IWA-Page-Sedona-IWA
IWA-North Las Vegas-IWA
IWA-Prescott-Sedona-IWA

So far my favorite place was Sedona.  I think I will end up flying there once I find an FBO to rent from.

Recap:
Start: July 2, 2007
Finish: August 28, 2007
Hours: 84.6
Total time to complete: 57 days - 7 days out sick = 50 days

On a final note, I’d like to thank everyone who read the blog.  Especially those who sent emails and left comments.  I really appreciate the words of encouragement.  Best of luck and I hope the Career Pilot program portion is just as beneficial.

I passed the checkride and now have my private pilot’s license!  For those who are curious I have 61 hours.  The ATP Private program is 85 hours.  So I have 24 hours of cross country flights coming up.  Most of the time will be spent under the hood working on IFR training.  I should finish up in a week or 10 days from now. 

I don’t start the ACPP program until the end of September so I am working on a little adventure for the break…

The past week has been spent getting ready for my checkride which is scheduled for tomorrow.  I sat in with the August 6th ground school class to review.  My instructor and I have spent a ton of one on one time going over the PTS and a Jepp textbook making sure I understand everything. 

We spent a few hours in the air the other day running through my maneuvers.  I was surprised but having not done them for a while they were pretty clean.  I flew with another instructor yesterday to see if he found anything wrong or could offer any pointers, and he basically agreeded I was good to go. 

I have been stressing the checkride big time.  Last night I figured I would take a quick nap then head over to Starbucks to study for a bit.  At 6:10pm I put my head on my pillow and the next time I saw the clock it was exactly 3:00am.  I eventually woke up at  6:30 am feeling completely refreshed.  But more so, I felt totally relaxed.  I think that great night of rest did more for me than studying.  I had such a clear head today.  Hopefully it will carry me into tomorrow.

 Wish me luck…

If you’re curious about my progress here’s where I am at:

Date: August 10, 2007
Hours:

Since I am done with my solo cross countries, I went up with my instructor and spent some time under the hood today.  It was a wierd sensation not to be able to reference things outside.  Not to mention it was 39C and there were lots of thermals making it difficult to hold my headng and altitude assignments.  I am sure I will get better with some practice. 

Right now I am anxious about the checkride which should happen towards the end of next week.  I have not gone up and practiced maneuvers in a few weeks.  I will be sitting down with my instructor and another one and setup a mock checkride.  I feel confident in my knowledge and flying abilities, I am just a bit nervous about the procedure of the checkride. 

Finally I am clear to go back to flight school.  After another catscan the doctor determined that my pain is not apendicitis or a kidney stone.  They’re still not sure what is causing the pain but at this point they are confident it is nothing to worry about. 

I spent my first day back in the air flying a triangle cross-country.  We flew Gateway to Gila Bend to Ryan Airfield back to Gateway.  It was a fun experience and broke up the monotony of going out to the practice area and going over maneuvers.  Except for some bumpy air, the weather participated. 

Tomorrow I will do a solo cross-country to Marana.  I also need to seriously hit the books.  Two people from ground school class went for their checkrides.  Based on their performance in ground school, I assumsed both would pass.  One did, the other busted the oral.  So I’m a little anxious.

Well I spent the weekend as a guest at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn with some lower abdominal pain.  I took myself to the ER with some lower abdominal pain thinking it was either my appendix or a kidney stone.  We’ve ruled out kidney stones but it is possibly my appendix but it may not be.  Confusing?  Yes. 

 I am scheduled for a doctor’s visit and another catscan to try and figure out what is really wrong with me.  So until then, I will have my feet planted on the ground. 

Yes that’s right, I slept for 11 hours last night. I’m sitting here waiting to head out to the airport. We are going to try a day xc to TUS and then do night landings at IWA. My attention is now focused on the checkride. I can already feel my blood pressure rising.

Simpsons Movie tonight.

The day didn’t start off very well. We had to iron out a few maintenance issues before we could fly. I ended up not getting as much practice in as I intended. But I felt more confident than I had on Tuesday. I taxiied in with my instructor and did a quick swap for the chief instructor. The flight could not have gone smoother. I executed the pattern perfectly. And all except my first landing were within a foot or two of the centerline. After the third landing, he hopped out, and I was off on my own!

I SOLOED!!!! Wow what an awesome feeling! 3 quick laps around the pattern and I was back on the ground getting my shirt cut. The high didn’t hit me while I was in the air but later on while I was driving home. I went home for a bit, ate lunch and took a shower then went back to the airport.

 

When I got back my instructor and I planned out my first VFR cross country flight to Pinal Airpark (KMZJ). I stumbled upon Pinal about 5 and a half years ago when I came out to Arizona to look at colleges. Pinal is a giant graveyard for old airliners. I could not get close to the airport from the car so I always wanted to fly into there. So you can imagine how happy I was when I was informed we would be flying there. My instructor grabbed the controls so I could grab a few pictures which I will post later.

Our intention was to land back at IWA, wait for the sun to set and do a night flight to Tucson (KTUS), come back and do some night landings. But I was beat, my instructor was feeling sick, and the weather did not look like it was going to cooperate. So we canned the flight. I went home and enjoyed 11 hours of sleep.

I spent 2.5 in the airplane with my instructor, cleaning up my maneuvers and then working on landings. My last couple of landings were not perfect. The chief instructor took me up and within 2 or 3 landings I was nailing them perfectly every time. It was good to have another perspective on how to execute maneuvers. 

Afterwards my instructor and a few of the others drilled me on checkride questions. I thought I was underprepared but I did fairly well. I am starting to stress about the oral exam but right now I am focused on soloing.

I went up with the chief instructor this morning for my Pre-Solo and flew like poop. Needless to say I did not get cleared to solo. I am crapped out. I watched a few of the people I went through ground school go out on their solos this morning and it made me pretty upset that I couldn’t. Tomorrow I will work with my instructor and try to fix what is broken.