Take Control of Your Lessons...

I've been a bit passive about my flying lessons to date.  I realize that I really need to treat each lesson as a "mini check ride" if I am going to get the most out of them.

So, I've been spending an hour or so the evening before I fly mapping out a full flight plan and lesson plan even though it's only 17 minutes out to the practice area and back.

I've also started verbalizing all of my maneuvers during the flight as if I were flying a check ride.  My instructor loves this.  He is starting to see himself as one of those curmudgeonly old FAA examiners giving me the full check ride treatment.

All of this is having the wonderful effect of slowly getting me ready to run the gauntlet of earning my private pilot certificate...

The Accidental Ground School...

I wanted to get in a short after work flight but my instructor was tied up with other students.  So, I got hold of the school owner who agreed to fly with me on short notice.  He doesn't normally fly with students at my level and I knew this.  But, this was part of my evil plan because I know he has a vast storehouse of knowledge and experience and I am eager to get some of it.

When I got to the airport, he wanted to sit down and discuss the flight.  At that point I realized I really wasn't prepared.  I didn't have a flight or lesson plan mapped out.  To date, my instructors tend to map out my lessons and I tend to go along with their ideas.  Not so in this case.  (To be fair, I basically need help in every facet of flying so it's not like it's a big mystery to figure on what areas I need work).

He read through my logbook and we started talking about my experiences and where I was struggling.  That discussion turned into a 3 hour whiteboard session which was incredibly insightful for me.  He gave me all kinds of ideas and strategies for everything from flight planning to landings.

We never wound up flying that day.  When we finally ran out of energy, we both walked out to the ramp and pushed the plane back into the hanger and called it a night.

That may have been the best 3 hours of "flying" I've done yet!

Oil Change...

I got in a little late, after work flying today.  Just a short session to work on some basics -- flying ground reference maneuvers and working on trim, pitch and power settings for the landing pattern.  We also shot a few touch-and-goes.

When I went out to pre-flight the plane, I found it had been washed and the oil just changed.  I don't know why this makes me happy, but it does.  I'm starting to think of it as "my plane."

The plane was happy.  The flying was good.  The weather was amazing.  I am happy!

Cross Country

I flew my first cross-country flight today.  I think it was exactly what I needed.  The flight reminded me of why I took up flying to begin with.  It is the pure joy and excitement of being up in the air, above the terrain with nothing else in the world to think about other than flying.

My lessons are often a great deal of work.  We get up, fly out to our practice area and get right to work on maneuvers.  Then it's right into landing practice at whatever uncontrolled airport we are near.  Then, as I approach mental saturation, it's back to home base and one more landing.

The result is that I often land mentally spent (in a good way) and with mixed feelings about my progress.  Usually I'm happy about something I've figured out but also slightly frustrated at something I still have to learn; or frustrated about something I could do last lesson but not this lesson.

But today was different.  Matt emailed me that it was time for some cross-country flying and had me work out a flight from Livermore to the small, foothill airports of Columbia and Calaveras and then back to Livermore via an instrument flight route.

The weather was mixed -- 7,000 foot ceiling with broken clouds at about 2,700 feet.  It was clear where we were headed and the forecast called for continued clearing all day.  I mention this only because in Northern California in September we are completely shocked with anything less than perfect, cloudless, mild days.

On the way to Columbia we practiced ded reckoning navigation using time, speed and heading as well as pilotage using ground references.  On the way back, we used the VOR nav aids and the Livermore ILS or instrument landing system.  More on my first instrument flying experience in another post.

Columbia is another world.  It's a funky little Sierra foothill town with a great little airport.  It's a bit tricky to land there because of the mountains around the airport and the fact that it sits up on a plateau.  This plays visual tricks with your mind when trying to get oriented for landing.

But, I got down without completely embarrassing myself and we taxied in for a quick soft drink before heading to our next stop, 6 minutes away at Calaveras.

Rumor has it that I'll be taking my FAA checkride exam at Calaveras, so our plan is to fly here a few more times while I am building up my student time.  The idea is that I'll be a bit more at ease in an airport with which I'm familiar.  Again, it is a challenging runway as it is situated on a small plateau up against a low mountain ridge.  I shot a few touch and goes and then we headed back home for Livermore.

All of this is to say that it pays to change things up from time to time.  It really helps you gain a fresh perspective and refresh your learning engine.

Oh, and it was my birthday...

Maximum Bandwidth Consumed...

 I can tell I have a long way to go with this flying stuff.  How do I know?  Because when I am flying the landing pattern and landing the plane, I don't make the right, consistent radio calls.  What this tells me is that the process of thinking through and managing the landing is consuming 100% of my mental CPU cycles and there simply aren't any cycles left over for doing radio calls (or anything else for that matter).  This is why there is an instructor sitting right next to me.  Part of his job is to be the second CPU and handle the overflow of tasks I can't quite cover.

I know this will change as I get more time and experience in the air.  But it is a very unsettling experience at my age since I am so accustomed to having near absolute mastery in most everything else in my life (ok, well, not when it comes to golf).  It's also a great reminder of what it must be like for our children who are dealing with first-time experiences almost every day.  And, it also makes me more sensitive to the trials and tribulations new employees go through when they join our team at work.

Awareness of maximum mental CPU capacity:  yet another benefit of learning to fly.

Sloppy Flying...

I tried to get in some landing practice during lunch today.  It turned out the battery in the plane was dead.  Someone had left the master switch on overnight.  So, we put a charger on it and went to lunch while it charged.  Having the cowling off was an educational experience in itself because I got to poke around the engine bay.

All this meant we didn't have a lot of time to fly -- about 30 minutes.  But it was enough for a few touch-and-goes at our home airport.

I just couldn't get into a groove.  My takeoff climbs were a bit sloppy.  I wasn't trimming for a consistent climb pitch attitude and so I was chasing the airspeed indicator.  I don't think the FAA examiner would have approved.

There were a lot of birds soaring around the airport and at one point my instructor had to make an evasive turn and dive to avoid one (it's still hard for me to gauge the relative distance of a soaring bird versus my plane).

I couldn't seem to fly a crisp pattern into the landing.  I kept over-extending the downwind, ending up too low on base and final.  Some of this is due to the fact I don't do a lot of landings at this airport and this runway so the visual cues are different.  But this is the point of this practice -- pilots need to develop their visual sense of the pattern and landing based only on the runway -- not the surrounding area since you can't take the surrounding area with you to a new airport.

My instructor made some key points today:

• Fly the pattern a bit above the glide slope so that if you lose your engine on final, you can glide to the airport.  If not, you may wind up landing short and "break your leg or wreck some motorist's car..."
• Think through the turns and crab angle of the pattern so that you fly a nice square pattern
• Stay on the pattern altitude before the descent starts -- being a little low just makes it that much harder to get to the right altitude on final
• Use the base leg as a point of "key decision" because at that point you can correct many approach problems while it is still easy to do so:  more flaps if you are high, more power if you are low, timing the turn to final to accommodate the wind.
• Don't add more flaps until you can make the runway on a glide.
• If you can't tell if you are a little high or a little low it probably means you are just right.  

I have come to truly appreciate the point he is making in learning to fly the pattern and land without the instruments as a crutch.  Judging altitude, descent rate, speed, distance and timing by visual cues and feel is important because you never know when you'll be without your instruments at a crucial time.

Hopefully I'll make progress this weekend...

Renters Insurance

What happens if you damage the airplane in which you are taking lessons?  Who pays for the repairs or replacement?  Maybe you!  So I just bought aircraft renters insurance this week.

The topic of liability and insurance didn't come up right away when I was talking to various flying schools.  While flight schools and fixed base operators who rent planes typically carry insurance on the planes they rent, that is only part of the story.

If a student on a solo flight crunches the rented airplane on landing or takes out a runway sign or dings another airplane with the wing while taxiing, insurance companies get involved.  The aircraft owner's insurance or the flight school or FBO's insurance carrier will cover the damage and liability initially.  But, through a process insurance companies call "subrogation" they can attempt to recover money from the student pilot.  Sometimes they are successful in this effort and sometimes not.  Regardless, the ensuing legal process is not easy nor inexpensive.

Enter "Aircraft Rental Insurance" whose role it is to protect the student pilot who rents planes (or any pilot who rents planes for that matter).  After searching around online, talking to the two major insurance brokers as well as the flight school owner, I decided to buy $1 million of liability coverage and $40,000 of aircraft damage insurance.  Avemco and AOPA are the two main sources of this insurance.  AOPA is the "Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association" which is a lobbying and affinity group for general aviation pilots.  They serve as an insurance broker for several aviation insurance carriers.  I found the policy rates and structures to be roughly similar with both.  I wound up buying a policy through AOPA.  They offer a slight discount for AOPA members and that gave me a good reason to join the association.

With my new rental insurance policy I now have some financial protection from any liability or passenger medical claim I may incur.  More importantly, I have the insurance company's lawyers on my side to help if I am sued by another insurance company.

How much aircraft damage insurance should you buy?  I got several points of view on this and ultimately aimed for roughly half of the value of the plane I typically rent -- or $40,000 in this case.  The Cessna 172S I typically rent is worth about $90,000.  If it gets totaled, there will still be a substantial salvage value in the engine and airframe parts, so a $40,000 policy gets me reasonably close if the primary insurance carrier is successful in subrogating the claim.  

For $628 a year it is a nice piece of mind.

Landing is a Process...

In my work I help people think in terms of process.  Individual performance is hit or miss but a process can be improved and be made consistent.  Thus, getting better is about first understanding the process and then about making the process better.  When it comes to flying, I've been missing the first part.

After 10 hours of flying I am just starting to figure out the process of landing an airplane which I think is about the hardest thing I have ever tried to do.

According to my logbook I have 25 landings since I started flight training about 3 weeks ago.  The light bulb is just starting to turn on.  Here are the notes I took from today's lesson:

I have to balance these factors:

• Power (via RPMs)
• Airspeed
• Pitch
• Descent Rate
• Position (mainly timing of turns)

What I have finally learned is that (in the diagram above) there is a power setting, an airspeed, a descent rate and a pitch angle for every leg of the approach pattern.  I just need to bake these settings into my aging brain and practice.

Here is what I am working on:

• Downwind:  1,800 RPMs, 85 knots, level flight, 1,000' MSL
• Downwind abeam the runway numbers:  1,300 RPMs, 80 knots, starting 500 FPM descent, 10 deg flaps, 1,000' MSL
• Base Leg:  1,300 RPMs, 75 knots, 500 FPM descent, 20 deg flaps, 500' MSL, look and adjust timing to final
• Final:  1,300 RPMs, 65 knots, 500 FPM descent, 30 deg flaps, 300' MSL, adjust RPM for glide slope
• Short Final:  Idle RPMs, 60 knots, flare and land

Landing an airplane is the hardest thing I've ever done.  

A Good Day...

Today was a good day.  The learning curve went steep again.  And I am very jazzed about flying again.  

I flew Saturday and Sunday with Matt who did an awesome job of getting me back on track.  We took a step back on Saturday and went back to the basics -- moderate banked turns, rectangular patterns, turns around a point, S-turns over a road and even a few "8's around pylons" (which are usually not taught to private pilot students but in my opinion are a great exercise).

We both got back in the groove I think.  I became more confident in myself and Matt became more confident in where I was on the learning curve.  This is the benefit of settling down on a single flight school and a core set of teachers.  Everyone gets in sync.  

On Sunday we headed to Tracy, an uncontrolled airport just a few minutes east of Livermore.  I shot 14 landings, some of which were actually decent enough that you would show them to your mother.  I also got a chance to practice short-field and soft-field take-offs.  

We flew for 2.4 hours on the Hobbs meter which at this point is about my mental limit.  On our way back into Livermore, the wind was calm and the normal westerly runways were turned around to the east.  We usually land on 25 left or 25 right but today we were cleared to 7 right.  Somehow, I had it in my head that 7 left was 7 right and I flew a nearly perfect pattern onto final for 7 left.  

Matt saw it and calmly suggested I get my sorry butt over and line up on 7 right.  I did, but I was high and fast and 7 right is about half the length of 7 left which doesn't leave much room for error.  I got the plane down but he had to get it stopped and so despite a great day of learning and flying, I taxied sheepishly back to the hangers.  I cringe just thinking about that call from the tower I would have gotten had I gone all the way in and landed on 7 left.

What did I learn?  I learned there is a point of mental saturation and I reached it.  I need to quit a little earlier next time.  I also learned that Matt is a great teacher and he let me learn a lesson I'll never forget and he let me learn it with no cost.

Like Father, Like Son...

I used to race sailboats.  When I had kids, I thought the perfect thing would be to have them become my race crew as they got older.  My daughter would run foredeck; my son would trim.  It would be great.  In what other sport do you get to compete as a family team?

After a few attempts at sailing camps and clinics, I discovered my children had ZERO interest in sailboat racing.  Sure, they enjoy casual sailing as a family -- even week long trips on the boat -- just not racing.  Oh, well.  Life is what happens when you are making other plans.

As your kids get older you start realizing the value of shared experiences.  It's important to find things that both you and your kids enjoy doing together.  My son is an avid hockey player and my daughter is an equestrian enthusiast and while I appreciate both domains, they are not my passion.  Alex has an on again, off again interest in golf so anytime he says, "hey Dad, why don't we go play golf today...", I leap at it.  But, it's not a regular thing.

Flying is different.  Alex loves flying.  He seems to have a natural gift for it.  All of his instructors say this about him (maybe they are biased).  Maybe most kids have an affinity for flying.  They seem to be far less encumbered by the mental constraints adults have when learning complex new skills.

We took our first few lessons together.  A few weeks ago, we flew with separate instructors at the same time.  It was pretty amazing to be in the pattern and hear him calling the tower for landing clearance.

At this point, I think it's best we take lessons separately for awhile.  I think the risk is too high having us both in the same plane while each of us is learning fairly complicated maneuvers.  Plus, I find I am a bit distracted when he is in the plane because I am worrying he is having a fun or getting enough "stick time".

Alex is absolutely set on getting his pilot's license before his drivers license.  He wants to do it in a tail dragger no less.  But, he's 14 1/2 and can't solo until he's 16 and can't get his private pilot's license until he is 17.  So, it doesn't make financial sense to have him pile up a lot of student hours until he gets a little closer to those ages.  But, I know a passion when I see one, so we'll schedule one or two lessons a month for him to keep the fire burning.

One day we'll fly together and keep each other safe.

A Frustrating Day...

Today was a frustrating day.

Learning something new is like that.  The learning curve is not a smooth, linear line that goes up and to the right.  Rather, it goes up steeply, levels off, drops down, goes up steeply, levels off, goes down, etc...  Today it dropped down for me.



My 14 year old son, Alex and I joined our instructor, Matt for a joint lesson.  We headed out early in the morning amidst a lingering marine layer bound for Byron airport to do some landing practice.  Livermore is blessed with a bunch of uncontrolled, lightly used airports only a few minutes flying time away.  Byron airport is just on the east side of the Altamont pass where the Pacific westerlies roll over the ridges and create some interesting turbulence.

I couldn't seem to get ahead of the airplane in the pattern and the combination of that, the turbulence and the narrow, short runway added up to some pretty horrid landings on my part.  Nothing dangerous to aircraft or occupants, but nothing you'd want your mom to see.

The Buddha said that the root of human suffering is wanting things to be different than they are.  My "suffering" today (if there can be such a thing as suffering when you are flying around on a beautiful California summer day in a small plane) was me expecting my learning curve to be like it has been to date.  It wasn't.

We decide to move further east to Lodi where the wind would smooth out and did a series of landing sthere.  Better, but still a struggle.  I just didn't feel confident.

On the ground in Lodi, I swapped seats with Alex and he flew us home and did so beautifully.  His approach and landing into Livermore was smooth and effortless.

What did I learn?  I learned you can have too many teachers.  I've been flying with several instructors and managing my own training syllabus.  Consequently, I think I convinced my instructor(s) I was further up the learning curve than I really was.  I learned it's time to settle down and pick a primary instructor and collaborate closely with them on my training agenda.

So, it's settled.  I've chosen a school, and a primary and backup instructor (both from the same school so they can compare notes on my progress).  I've closed this phase of my flight training experience -- choosing a school and instructor -- and I am moving on to the next phase -- learning to fly.

Finding a Teacher...

"If you are going to do something, do it to the best of your ability... and find a good teacher..."  I say this to my kids a lot.

I'm not sure who said it to me, but I remember understanding what it meant back in the early 90's when I took up hang gliding.  Hang gliding is a difficult sport to learn because learning the body movements needed to control the aircraft and accumulating a meaningful amount of air time and experience with flights as short as 15 seconds without killing yourself in the process seems to take forever.

My friend Russell and I bounced around the usual group lessons offered by hang gliding schools but it wasn't until we met "Ray" and worked out a program of customized, semi-private lessons that we began to make real progress in the sport.  Within a year we were taking our first mountain soaring flights.  Ray was young, enthusiastic, experienced and a good teacher.  And, he was new enough to the sport that he could still appreciate the struggles of a beginner.

I've been searching for the right flight training instructor.  Over the past month I've flown with four different instructors at three different schools.  All were good with unique strengths.  One was young and new -- working to accumulate hours for an airline job.  One was a retired physicist who'd been flying for nearly 50 years including time as a bush pilot in Alaska.  One was a full-time instructor and part-time corporate pilot and one was a flying enthusiast who loved teaching.

One of the flight schools was clearly setup to serve the growing market of student pilots in Asian countries -- India and China mainly.  These countries have rapidly growing aviation industries but very little training infrastructure.  This school offered flight training as an "FAA Part 141" school.  Part 141 schools have a very structured curriculum and course syllabus as opposed to "FAA Part 61" schools who are granted more flexibility in how they train.  The advantage of Part 141 schools is that you can complete the course with fewer flying hours and graduate with the testament of the school's examiner.  That is the theory.  In practice, students usually require more than the minimum number of flight hours to achieve their private pilot certificates.  Regardless of which type of school you choose, you still have to pass the same FAA tests and demonstrate the same capabilities.

Another option was a local flying club.  The flying club's charge for a Cessna 172 was about $81 per hour compared to $116 per hour at the school I chose making it by far the least expensive option.  But because it is essentially a not-for-profit organization, the availability and consistency of aircraft and instructors is a bit hit or miss.  A great option for some, but ultimately not for me.

I settled on a flying school based at our nearby airport whose overall mission is teaching flying for the fun of flying.  Their operation and team of instructors reflects this goal.  Despite having among the most expensive aircraft rental rates of the schools I tried, I think I've made the right choice.  While I may spend a bit more over the course of my training, I think I'll enjoy the experience.  Like most things, you get what you pay for.

Here is what I like about them:

• Great attitude and overall vibe of the people, instructors and the owner
• Focus on people like me who want to learn to fly for the fun of it -- not an airline career
• FAA Part 61 training offers more flexibility -- including the option for me to do a home study ground school
• Late model, well maintained, fuel injected Cessna 172SP.  The 172 is a popular choice for students like me and this one is the by far the youngest I've seen around
• Instructor and aircraft availability -- for the most part they have been able to accommodate my schedule requests
• Emphasis on safety, organization and high standards for maintenance and instructor performance
• Big variety of airplanes to fly -- beyond the Cessna 172, they offer a variety of tail draggers and other aerobatic airplanes that just look like a ton of fun to fly someday

I've chosen a primary teacher and a backup and since they work at the same school they can coordinate and help me make the most of my lessons when I alternate between them.

I have found a good teacher.

A Beginners Mind...

When was the last time you were an absolute rank beginner?  Learning to ride a bike?  Learning to ski?  Learning to drive?  If you are an adult, odds are it's been many years since you were truly a beginner.  I barely remember.

Last month I decided to learn to fly and become a private pilot.  For the first time in a long time I am an absolute beginner.  It's a fascinating experience on many levels with implications in many areas of my life.

After four lessons I've learned there is great value in being a beginner again -- especially as we get older.

This blog attempts to capture this experience.