watch out below!!!

"Aurora state traffic, Cessna November 7 3 4 Kilo Uniform, Making left downwind for runway 35, full stop landing. Aurora State"


yup thats right full stop landings!
 The flight yesterday was a tad bit short because James and I were both a little bit short on time, however i think it was one of the more productive flights that I have had so far.
 Starting at the home field of Twin Oaks (7S3) we flew south for a few minutes and  practiced a few power off stalls, just to refresh, and then worked into a power on stall. Once we got over towards the river, we started descending from our cruise altitude of 3000ft msl towards Aurora State Airport (UAO) to practice some landings!

The stalls that we practiced before were very helpful when it came time to land because i already had an idea of how the airplane would react at the slower speeds. It was really fun getting to land a few times at Aurora because the runway is pretty big compared to Twin Oaks, giving lots of room for forgiveness. Which, for the first time landing a plane, is very useful.
 The flight was fun.. very very cold, but fun. At one point out over Newburg it even snowed!
 Great fun and great flight. I am really feeling like i am progressing.Such a great feeling.
 It is so pretty to see the ground  from the sky with snow cover. Very pretty.
well thats all for now.
 Tailwinds and happy landings!

The 5th Hour

 Wow what a flight!
 Today the weather was a little bit questionable. we had about a 4500 foot ceiling, with wind that made most of the maneuvers a little bit more difficult.  We worked on some more ground reference maneuvers, including turns around a point, rectangle patterns and s turns. Also threw some stalls in there like last week, and we actually worked on some power on stalls too!
     Power on stalls are to simulate taking off with full power, and stalling the aircraft while you are very close to the ground. So practicing these is important, because if it happens, you need to be able to recover quickly to avoid a problem.
    In "The 5th hour" it was cloudy and overcast, but we were able to find clear spots to do some training in. However the sun liked to poke its head out every once in a while.It seemed to shoot right through our field of vision every time we found a clear spot. Oh well! the ground reference maneuvers went a little bit better this time, because i understood ahead what we needed to do.

   When we went for the turns around a point, the wind would play with the airplane, and i had to learn to correct for that with the bank angle. This was also the case with s turns and rectangles too, but i could really tell when we did the Turns around a point.

 Today James and I had a special passenger with us...my mom! She wanted to ride along, so today she gave me a ride to the field, and in turn got to ride along for the lesson. I didn't know for sure what we were going to do during the flight, so i invited her to come along.. Little to my knowledge James had planned on working on stalls more.But mom enjoyed them a lot and we had a lot of fun flying! I guess this means that some day she wont worry about my flying in Alaska!

In all it was a great flight.. but today i was a little bit rust from not flying in two weeks. ( James was gone to England and the weather was not that great) The rust will be kicked off for sure when i start memorizing the checklist, memorizing the maneuvers and things so when he says something, i already know ahead of time what to do and expect.

 Well, short post for now, but i have to head off to work, maybe ill ad some later.
  Sunny skies and tailwinds!

Up...Up..And Away!!!

Today's Flight was great!
 I was really worried about the weather, because we had a very low ceiling and some fog. However, by the time we finished the preflight, and the ground lesson it had burnt off into a beautiful day!

This is the 1946 J-3 Piper Cub that Bob and Emily had out today. Such a beautiful majestic airplane!

 About 1 o'clock, airplanes seem'ed to sprout from the woodwork as the clouds parted, and the sun showed its face for the first time all morning. There were lots of R.V's ( Kit built sport planes), Cessna's, and Emily and Bob Stark even got out the 1946 J-3 Cub! I tell you, on days like that, I could just sit and watch airplanes come and go all day and be so satisfied. On the other hand, there is nothing that can come close to comparing to the powerful feeling of stepping into the cockpit, closing the door, firing it up, and giving it full throttle as you fly down the runway just waiting for Vr, or rotate speed.( the Speed you take off at) You find that rotate speed, and everything that you had worried about the whole day, everything that was upsetting you just sinks with gravity, and it is just you, and the airplane. When there are so many things weighing you down mentally,and physically, it is an incredible feeling to lift off, and fly and be free, away from all of that. Such an amazing feeling, i cant even begin to describe. It is also great to being flying with a good instructor. Being friends and having similar interests really helps that we can just relax and fly the airplane.

    Due to cost, and some maintenance issues, the Piper Cherokee is being taken off line for the winter! Some what disappointing because i really enjoy that airplane! But that's okay because we transfered into a Cessna 172 today. N734KU, or November 734 Kilo Uniform. Very nice plane actually. It is a little bit newer I believe and it fly's very well. I enjoyed the flight very much. The c-172 feels like it is a little bit more stable than the Cherokee but that could have been just because it was a very calm day out in the valley.
 
Today the maneuvers that we focused on were a little bit difficult for me.First off, because we were transitioning into a different airplane, second because i haven't flown in two weeks, and third because they are completely new maneuvers to me, so i was not sure how to complete them correctly. The two GRM's( Ground Reference Maneuvers) that we did practice were "Turns around a Point", and "S-turns". The  "turns around a point" were fun. What we do is pick a tree in the middle of a field, and turn our airplane around that point, staying an equal distance from the tree at all times, and fly a complete 360. Referencing the ground to make sure that we are indeed where we need to be. We do this maneuver at 1000 feet, so there is not much room for error either. You have to keep your airspeed up, stay at altitude, and stay around the tree. Multitasking!

  The other Maneuver is  "S-Turns". For this Maneuver  you pick a long strait line on the ground  that you can reference, and fly strait towards it. When your wings line up with that line on the ground, you start a bank, still maintaining your airspeed and altitude. When you have turned 180 degrees, and roll out, your wings should be again lining up with that line on the ground. As soon as they do line up, you start your bank for the next turn, being careful all the time to remain aware of your altitude, airspeed and where you are in reference to the point or line that you have chosen. We fly low(1000 ft agl min) over the town of banks, where there is lots of farm land that we can use as reference points. Great training terrain.

 After we got some good practice of ground  maneuvers, we climbed to 4500 ft and headed out towards Yamhill on the other side of the hill to practice some slow flight. During slow flight, you slow the airplane down to just inside your Vfe (Maximum flaps extend speed) and start extending your flaps. As you slow down, you extend more flaps until they are fully deployed.By the time your flaps are fully deployed, you can adjust your trim settings, and your throttle settings to maintain your altitude, and keep the airplane just above stall speed. This is the configuration that you will land the airplane in.That is why we practice while we are at altitude, so i can get a good feel of how the airplane reacts prior to actually trying to land on my own. After a few minutes, James asked me if i would like to have a stall demonstrated. As nervous as i was to be in a controlled "Drop", i said yes.
           For a stall, all you do is when you are in slow flight(flaps down, throttled back, carb heat on and pitched  up) pull the throttle all the way out to idle, and hold the pitch of the airplane, so that you loose the airspeed that the power was helping you maintain. As you slow down, keep the nose of the airplane pitched up to burn off the excess airspeed. When that airspeed is gone, the airplane will stall, and momentarily loose lift. As a result of loosing the lift, the nose of the airplane will pitch down slightly. To recover from a stall, all you need to do is "punch it" as they say. Let the nose of the airplane pitch down slightly, give it full power, reduce flaps to 20 degree's, turn off carb heat, and give the control yoke the back pressure to pull the nose back up after you have gained some airspeed back.
 After feeling it when James did it, i decided that i would give it a  go and see if i could do it. I was very nervous the first time i tried it, because again, your falling, but after a few times of doing it, i wasn't scared at all. It was actually kind of fun.
 After an hour a a half of flying we decided to head in and call it a day. Getting late in the afternoon, and it was  time to land under the supervision of the sun, which was still out! We came over the top of chahalem  mountain and dropped into the pattern. I have yet to land, but James wants me to "ride the controls" so i can feel the inputs that he is making.

 Over all a wonderful lesson. Great fun as always. I think a stressful day flying beats the crap out of a good day at work anyways. ;)
 Being able to forget everything and just float and fly is something mankind has dreamt of for hundreds of years. I am glad that i am able to fulfill that dream, because believe me it is worth it.
cheers.