Pilot's logbook

8/29 C-152 N89933 Lou Lou Touch & Go, accuracy landing, soft field landings

Zach says today we really made progress.

Keep rudder smooth on final.
Airspeed 65-60 on final.

If coming in too low, add plenty power, but keep the nose attitude down, hold it at 65. 65. 65. 65. 65.

-----
99s are having a meeting at E'town airport (KEKX) at 11 on Saturday. Christine said, "Are you flying in?" I said, "I don't do that yet." She suggested have instructor come, set up a cross-country. OK. Zach can't, he's scheduled at 1:00.

Peter can. He sat me down to go over cross-country planning.

Course, deviation, variation, plot, checkpoints, distance and time, weather for all airports, frequencies, runway lengths, etc.

Meet at 9 to go over flight plan. Make it a trip worth doing.

Frank says, "Go fly."

Which Way?

I keep remembering two events from way back in my past--both from High School years. They keep bumping up in my consciousness like a chipped tooth that you can't stop touching with your tongue.

One was being a member of the Seneca HS Tennis Team. I joined in the first year that there was a girls' tennis team (Thank you, Ms. Richardson). Since there were no established players, anyone could join--experience or no. I liked practicing after school, bouncing the ball off the wall of the building and whatever else we did. I only remember playing once in a match. It was at Seneca park, and it went on forever. In tennis, you have to win by two points. I kept getting ahead by one point, but not two. The other player would catch up. Then I'd get ahead by one. This must have gone on for a long time. I remember Ms. Richardson saying something like, "Come on, get this over with. Win or don't win, we need to go home. Everyone else has been finished for a long time." I don't remember who won the match.

Is that what I'm doing with the landings? If so, then the solution would be to get a move on. "S__t or get off the pot," as Mima would say.

The other event I remember is learning to drive. The plan was to learn on the VW Bug, so I'd know how to drive a stick shift. I remember practicing on the long driveway to Girl Scout Camp (now Hebron Ln.) with Mom in the RH seat. I couldn't get that car into gear without killing the engine no matter what. I killed it, and killed it, and killed it, over and over and over again. I can hear Mom saying in frustration, "Listen to the motor. Can't you hear it? You're the musician!" But I couldn't, and we finally gave up. I took my test in the big automatic '53 Buick. Later, everything changed. I didn't practice on the Bug anymore, BUT somebody took our family, all of us kids, to a movie, "Herbie the Love Bug"--antics of a Disneyfied Volkswagen. (I don't think we went to movies very much,if ever, so it was a big deal.) Shortly thereafter, I sat in the right-hand seat of a VW on a long trip to the Appalachian trail. Our CIT counselor, Sparky, was driving, and I thought she hung the moon. I soaked up everything she said and did, including hot-dogging that little car.

When I got home from the trip, I got in Dad's VW and drove it. Just like that.

If this is the key image, then I may as well just get on with everything else and assume that when it's time, it will happen.

???????????!!

1-27

Fuel. Bolt missing from tail inspection panel.

Today was hot and bumpy. We went to Clark County to work on landings.

I was early. While Zach ate I watched landings, but there were only two.

The first would have been textbook ZC, with a long, level flare that only gradually went down. The other person flared 35 feet in the air and landed way down the runway.

Takeoff rwy 6. Turnout north. Keep it under 17,000 ft.
Clark County AWOS is 118.575. CTAF is 122.7.
CCT, Cessna69011 is 5-1/2 miles SE, inbound.

Enter L downwind at 45º.

Smooth rudder pressure, not back-and-forth on final.

Airspeed.


Engine out: first turn ok, better to keep it coming on around to the runway, and slip if necessary to come down.

Oil temperature high. Did you notice?

Sunglasses.

Next time try holding it one foot off the runway all the way down.

Go to Clark county tomorrow and watch landings.


pax,
Maggie

Pilot's logbook

No flight hours here today, but airport hours. I started at 9 at AC1. Drove the gas truck to fuel one of the planes. I also put it back in the wrong place and didn't put the keys where they belong, but now I know.

Peter came in shortly after that. It was his 30th birthday which he was moody about, (and which I have a hard time being sympathetic about) and also nursing a premonition that it was going to be a bad day. No way, right?

Well, he was for the first time acting as "proctor" for a couple of people taking online tests. Other people were in and out, up and down. The power blinked and I had to call Lisa to find out how to restart the computer. Peter got cut off in a phone conversation with a potential student. No big deal--until the fellow upstairs came down and said his test was gone.

The next four hours were crazy. No one could get the computers back online. Bellsouth tech support was worthless. "Our equipment is working. The problem is on your end." Laser-Grade was useless. The people in India were no help. More people came for tests, camping out in the Pilot Shop. Lisa spent about an hour on hold. The airline pilot from Fort Worth eventually gave up, called Laser Grade and found out that the nearest place he could continue his test was back 20 minutes from his home in Fort Worth. At this point I called my brothsr David to ask him if he knew any answers. He ended up coming over, and spent a careful hour with his computer (and his own cannibalized network equipment) and put things right again. Ye gods!

I left there, skipped the Herde family reunion, and went to Bardstown where Youth Choir was singing 5:00 mass. The kids--Taylor, Andrew, Maggie, Grace, Madison--were stunning. They did everything well. Very well. I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light. Go out to all the World. Prayer of St. Francis. Shepherd Me, O God. Qui manducat. Lord, I Lift Your Name on High. (And this is the thing I'm wanting to turn over to someone else!!?)

Pilot's logbook

8-24

Started out the day at AC1. Ford Trimotor across the field had a lot of people coming in looking for it.

Lisa, Dane and Tony were all there, so I wasn't busy. After a while I pulled out my books to review. Lisa suggested why didn't I study, so I tried.

Too crazy inside.

I went out in the porch with Peter to catch up on VOR stuff. Good thing I did. First I was drawing a blank, but then I got the hang of it again. (One of those and one of the Area Weather Forecast things that I FINALLY got the hang of this morning showed up on the test.)

A little after lunchtime I decided go ahead and take the test.

Score: 92. Check!

Frank and I went to Indiana to get the car from Mr. Proctor.

Check!

Evening--more landings with Zach. It was the first time I've been up when the runway lights came on. Everything was smooth--in slow motion. Zach says you're ahead of the plane when it feels like that.

Looking long down the centerline made all the difference on the first one.

Still, not consistent though. Especially not on the final touchdown. BUT--pattern, turns, and rollouts were mostly VERY smooth and consistent (with a couple of exceptions.)

Thinking about landing, I was intending to concentrate on holding level on ground effect, but I mostly don't remember it happening.


pax, Maggie

The difference between one and more than one is all the difference in the world. Indeed, it is the world. --LeGuin

basic to reading a weather map

Ok. I admit it. Weather maps, TAFs, PIREPs, Weather Depiction Charts and Radar Summaries are real boogers.

And, it's even harder if you're looking at those western states that all look like modified squares and realizing that you don't know which one is which.

The link above is a brush-up for that.

Ac1

Working the desk on Saturday is different than other times. Busy.
Stephen and I got to learn how to do refunds on credit cards. Rental
for trips is done on flight time--3 hour minimum per day.

C-171 66198 blue
C-172 2316T red & white
PA29-161 8316E Warrior
PA28R-200 3664F Arrow

I-64; Cannons; Dutchman's; Taylorsville

Drivers' license renewal: Go back out Taylorsville Rd., take a left,
then two more lefts.

Mike calls Neil sometimes.

Oil is in the office, bottom of book cabinet, if not there, upstairs.

Evan has something on everyone. ;)

pax,
Maggie

http://randomlight.blogspot.com

"The difference between one and more than one is all the difference in
the world. Indeed, it is the world." --LeGuin

Private Pilot Exam

My goal is to be ready to take the written test by this weekend.

I'm "cramming" by going through the PrivatePilotExam.com website. My strategy is:

Listen to each lesson, watch the video. Copy to iPhone so I can review when I'm out.

Take the practice quiz for each lesson six times (or however many times it takes to get it 100 % plus five). Read all Q&A aloud.

Review old quizzes every day.

Fwd: 1/3

pax,

Maggie

http://randomlight.blogspot.com

"The difference between one and more than one is all the difference in the world.  Indeed, it is the world."  --LeGuin

Begin forwarded message:

From: Maggie Hettinger <mhettinger@mac.com>
Date: August 3, 2007 11:36:32 PM EDT
To: Margaret Hettinger <mhettinger@mac.com>
Subject: 1/3

1/3

Jim--"I was there when you soloed." nice guy.

T&G
Started out by sitting on the runway and seeing what it looked like.  The first few were perfect. (thanks, David!")

Went to Clark County, three other people in the pattern.  Unlike the last practice, when everything was sloshy from heat and humidity, tomight she was almost sharp.

Still working on airspeed on final, come in without dipping, be able to land nose-high.

Back to Bowman. Several more timea aroud. Sunset beyond the haze. Tower complimented us on the last landing, saying "That was a good one to end on."


pax,
Maggie

http://randomlight.blogspot.com

"The difference between one and more than one is all the difference in the world.  Indeed, it is the world."  --LeGuin

pilot's logbook

8/1 C-152 N89933 LOU JVY LOU t&g 1.1hr ZC

Good flying tonight. There was a traffic jam at the take-off ramp, and an interesting dance when the Kosair Lifeguard jet needed to move ahead of the rest of us.

Wind was calm. So were we. Visibility was extremely hazy over Bowman and the river, but cleared over Clark County.

Better landings. Zach still talked to me some on touchdown, but it was only talk, and not a lot of that -- no physical corrections that I remember.

I talked to him a lot, saying everything that was running thru my head, which made me feel more as if I was running the show, and might have made it easier on Zach (or maybe it was just a nice evening).





At one point I asked him to do a landing. I especially like to reinforce the nose-down angles/visual for touchdown. Zach hot-dogged it a little before takeoff, holding the plane on the right wheel. That was fun. Earlier on, Zach had said wouldn't it be a great night for pictures, and of course I had the iPhone, so we did a little of that, too.

Mostly, though, I was working hard the whole time, and being "assertive" about doing things before Zach could reach in and do them. (I think he's just fast and focused.)

However, I overdid it at one point coming back home, when Tower asked us to "ident" and I kindof knocked his hand away. That would have been ok except I wasn't sure enough where the button was, and I fumbled it. But--I won't miss it again.

Afterwards, I was on the parking lot when Zach came out, and he made a point of swinging over a little to give me a thumbs up "good job."

Relief.

We're on track, I hope. This switching over has been a little difficult. Nobody's fault. Just is.

When I told Zach that I'd be coming in Monday to man the phone and whatnot, I found out that Zach and Neil are the only instructors still there. Jacob went back to school yesterday. Interesting.
---

I still need to he more consistent and aware with airspeed on base and final.

None of the touchdowns were icky, and at least a couple pleased all three of us (I include Mike, who's hanging out in my head, of course).

And the flesh and blood Mike, whom I miss muchly, should actually be on Florida if he left on Friday.

I hope it's going well for him. He always seems so sure if himself, but there might have been a few cracks in his armor about this leap. Maybe I'll drop him a note since things are looking up and I can say so. I'd much rather be telling him that I'm going to Columbus. (I think that will justifiably rate a phone call.)

Making cards for Dr. Ramsey

Last year I made some copies of the Otomi Figures book for Dr. Ramsey, but never managed to make the cards that go with it. Beth, Alex and Ben came over today to help me, and I actually got it done. The boys are good workers. Both of them think ahead and work fast.



Beth and the boys also rescued a box turtle that was hit by a car.