Cleared direct Gateway.

My steep turns in the ‘nole are nothing short of stellar.  That’s all I have for tonight.

The past few days have followed the same schedule.  Basically we have met at 7am.  I flew the sim for about an hour, then the other student I am paired up with flew for another hour.  Tuesday and Wednesday we had ground class afterwards.  Our instructor went over different systems, aerodynamic characteristics, maneuvers, and checklists. 

I went home and took a nap, spent some time studying.   I was able to memorize the prodcedures for all of the maneuvers in about 2 hours while dry flying my comfy chair at Starbucks while sipping a hot chocolate.

Today we spent about a half hour each in the sim performing different maneuvers.  Then my instructor and I went up in the Seminole.  I was very impressed with the airplane.  It flew so well.  It is much quieter and smoother than the Cessna.  Though the airflow through the cabin is not as good.  Tomorrow is more of the same.  We are going to practice some engine failures in the sim then head up in the airplane.  My checkride is on Monday, so I have been doing a lot of studying.  But I feel confident that I will be ready for it.

Well today was day 1 of the ACPP.  We spent a chunk of the morning filling out paperwork.  Then it was onto Seminole systems. 

There are 4 of us in the class.  Myself and another guy went through the private program together, and the other two guys are new to ATP having done their PPL at different schools.  My instructor from the private program is instructing the two new guys, and I am with a new instructor.  I’ve flown with him once or twice before and he is pretty good so I am looking forward to the next few months.

Tomorrow looks to be basically more systems and aerodynamics with an hour or so in the Sim towards the end of the day.  I also have Dave Matthews Band tickets tomorrow night so I am going to get my studying out of the way tonight.

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. 

So about a month or so ago I came across flightmemory.com.  I set one up for myself.

My friend Phil set one up for himself:

He went ahead and set one up for my roommate