1.3 Hours in the Logbook

My friend Robin knows how much I want to fly. I am always sending him links to stories on AvWeb and AOPA.com. He is a pilot and often invites me to go along on some of his trips. So as a Christmas present, he gave me my first flight lesson. It took awhile to schedule it, but just this week (May 18) it finally happened.

I met CFI Jerry out at KEXX, the Lexington / Davidson County Airport which is less than two miles from my house. This was a rescheduled flight because the weather has been so terrible the last two weeks. Lots of convective activity and low IFR for many days. But not this day. It was broken at 3900 and the air was very still.

I have gotten to know Jerry through Robin. Jerry flies for a living and does the CFI thing in his spare time because he enjoys teaching. He really is a gifted teacher.

We took a good amount of time pre-flighting the C172 - N4369R. While I have studied alot over the past year, it was very helpful to have a skilled and thorough teacher walk me through the steps. He pointed out a number of places that are sometimes overlooked on a pre-flight. Then we got in.

He talked me through the start up procedures and spoke of the importance of setting a routine for all phases of flight. He stressed the importance of the use of checklists to make sure nothing is forgotten. When all was set, I turned the key....and the engine roared to life. What a wonderful sound. I tested the brakes and then began taxiing. It took a little while to get used to the right combination of rudder and brake pedal to make the plane go the direction I wanted it to go. But I successfully arrived at the run-up point.

Jerry explained all the various checks that need to be done: oil pressure, engine, magnetos, carb heat, vacuum pressure, alternator. I turned on the lights, checked the transponder, looked for traffic, made my call, and then taxied onto runway 24. Full throttle, right rudder, 55 knots, rotate.....I was flying!

At 500 AGL, I began a climbing turn to the east to head out to the practice area. We leveled off about 2500 MSL, and Jerry explained the sight picture for level flight. We entered a 500 fpm descent to get a sense of the sight picture. Then a 500 fpm ascent. I tried to burn each sight picture into my brain.

Then we did some 30 degree turns to the left and right. (Don't forget the rudder!) Again trying to get the sight picture and not losing altitude. In a 30 degree turn begin the roll out of the turn 15 degrees before target heading. I did fairly well at stopping on the target headings.

Now it was time for slow flight in landing configuration. Carb Heat. Throttle to 2000, 10 degrees of flap. Throttle to 1900, 20 degrees of flap. Throttle to 1800, 30 degrees of flap. Shooting for 60 kts. Again...sight picture. Simulate a go around. Full Throttle; carb heat in, 2 notches of flap in. Keep the nose up. Rest of the flaps up. We did this a number of times.

What next? Power off Stalls! Landing configuration. Throttle to idle, hold the nose level, and wait for the airspeed to decay. He wanted me to feel how the controls became mushy. Back pressure to bring on the stall. Then the break. We went through this a few times and then he demonstrated some power on stalls. It amazed me at how high a pitch it took to bring on a power on stall.

So we go back to level flight. I am trying to burn all of this information into my brain, and I hear the engine rpm drop to what sounded like nothing. He had pulled the throttle to idle and said, "Ok, look for a field to land in." Not what I expected on the first flight! He told me to pitch to best glide and begin looking for place to land. We found a field not too far away. As we got closer and lower, he told me to put some flaps in. He then demonstrated how to lose altitude faster with a slip. "We might be able to get into that field, but probably wouldn't be able to get out!" Power came back up; flaps up, and off we went.

Time for landing on Runway 6. We entered the downwind, and he talked me through what we had previously practiced. Throttle to 2000. A beam of the numbers - 10 degrees flap; 100 less rpm; 45 degree off my shoulder - 20 degrees flap and 100 less as we turned base. 30 degrees flap 100 less as we turned final. Landing and roll out.

My wife and one of my daughters had come out to cheer me on for this first flight, so we taxied back to the ramp and pulled the mixture. They got in the back seats all buckled in, and we fired 69Romeo back up. Some more taxi practice to the run up area. All the run up checks. Made the call and took off on 24 again. No stall practice this time! Just some 30 degree turns so they could see High Rock Lake and the rail yards at Spencer. The sun was starting to get pretty low, so we headed back to land on 24.

I am sure I left off some of the things we did. There was so much. What I discovered was that flying is both easier and harder than I thought. Turns, climbs, level flight, and descents all came pretty easy to me. Thinking ahead of where you are going and making inputs ahead of time was second nature. Perhaps this comes from all those years of sailing. What was harder was keeping up with all of the information that comes at you all at once.

I had prepped a lot for this flight: I have completely read the FAA's Airplane FlyingHandbook; ASA's The Complete Private Pilot; I have gone through the ASA Private Pilot prepware on the iPad many times; I have listened to all of Jason Miller's The Finer Points podcasts...along with many others; I have been subscribed to the AOPA's Flight Training Magazine for 18 months. Add to this the many hours I have logged on MS-Flight Simulator X. It all helped, but still I found it hard to keep up with it all. I am sure the multitasking eventually becomes second nature...with practice. I can't imagine how further behind the airplane I would have felt had I not had all this prep.

Well the obvious is true: the only way to learn to fly is to fly!

I had a fabulous time, and I'd like to thank my friend Robin for making this possible and Jerry for being such a great teacher. I look forward to more hours in the air as I make progress to that lifelong dream. I will fly one day!