Hour 2!!!!

Over Christmas, my wife came to me and said that when we delay a dream too long something in us dies. This was her way of saying it was time for me to take some steps toward earning my PPL. Ideally, I would like to fly 2-3 times a week, but this is not realistic for us financially. We figured we could swing 4 -5 hours a month. I had a good conversation with my flight instructor Jerry, who had given me my first lesson last May, about this kind of schedule. He felt that my preparation for that first flight was evidence that I would work hard to retain what he teaches me on a 4x a month frequency. "Let's get started," he said.

Jerry is a senior pilot for UPS who has 20,000+ hours and holds nearly every rating available. He instructs on a very limited basis, so I feel fortunate that he has agreed to intruct me.

I will be learning in N4369R a 1974 C-172m owned by the C&S Flying club. For members it is rented for $50 dry. While it is a older airplane, it is well maintained and very solid. It has all the traditional "steam" gauges with a Bendix King GPS. It is IFR certified, but that is not something I need to worry about yet.

Jerry walked me through the pre-flight inspection, since it had been 6 months since my last flight. He made sure that I had the checklist in my hand, and he showed me the places that are sometimes overlooked. He refreshed my memory about starting procedures, and after taxiing to the approach end of Runway 24, he talked me through the run-up.

We departed 24 and headed south to the practice area over High Rock Lake. Most of my second hour was spent setting up for and practicing slow flight, power on stalls, and power off stalls. Stall after stall after stall. It was good repitition for burning the procedures into my brain. I must admit however that after an hour of it, I started to get a little queasy. It was a mildly turbulent day, so it was hard to stay on altitude. Every time I thought I was trimmed up for level flight, along would come an updraft, and I would be 100 feet higher.

Following the landing and taxiing to parking, he asked me what were three positives I could take from this lesson. I told him, "I have become confident in the preflight inspection, I taxied well, and I am more comfortable at the controls." The bumpy weather had caused me to over shoot some headings and altitudes, and I was a little disappointed. So I appreciated his encouragement.

I am looking forward to hour #3!

Flight of Compassion

Flying is a wonderful experience and an exciting adventure. I have learned so much over this past year of studying for the PPL written as I save up my money for the lessons. I have many pilot friends who are so willing to encourage my goals and often offer me the opportunity to fly with them.

Many times flying allows us to do things that we wouldn't be able to if we relied on ground transportation. Recently, the mother of a friend of mine died after a brief illness. This would be tragic enough, but add to this the fact that her father had died suddenly and unexpectedly six months previously. I really wanted to go to the funeral to lend my support. The service was scheduled for a Sunday afternoon in a town 1- 1/2 hours away by car. I had work commitments in the morning and in the evening, and I realized that I would not be able to attend all three.

I called my friend, Robin, who is one of my "learn to fly" cheerleaders, to see if he would be available to fly me and two more friends to the funeral. He was friends as well.

We met at KEXX in Lexington, NC for the 25 minute flight to KTTA in his Baron 58. The four of us arrived with time to spare and were met and given a ride to the church. It meant a great deal to our friend to have representatives from her church family to offer support. Following the service and reception, we headed back to KTTA for the flight back to KEXX. We arrived just in time for me to make it to my important evening meeting.

This experience is just one more reason that GA is so important, and why I will fly one day!

Winston-Salem Airshow 2011 - Part 1

Here are a couple of photos I took at the WSAIRSHOW on September 10. The first is the Honda Jet. What a pretty plane. It looks great in the air and is quiet. The second photo is a Scottish Aviation Bulldog SK-61.

A fine day in a Cessna 180

My brother called me early on Monday morning (8-15)wondering if I could do him a big favor. It seems like his plans to get from Suffolk, Va to Hickory, NC fell through and he needed me to meet him halfway between here and there. His wife would then take the kids to visit friends and family in Philly, and he would get home for work the next day. This favor means 5 hours of driving and killing a whole day...which I am more than happy to do for my brother. But as I was talking to him I got an idea.....

I had met Carl a number of times over the past years, but about 6 weeks ago we had dinner together for a Kiwanis club meeting. Carl is a long time pilot who has a very nice Cessna 180 tail dragger. As we talked, he encouraged me to give him a call sometime to go flying. I filed that invitation in the back of my mind hoping to take him up on it some weekend to go get a "$100 hamburger."

Well, I figured that the opportunity to fly on a beautiful day would be hard to resist, so I gave him a call. I asked if he would be willing to go flying to pick up my brother at KFKN. He thought this was a great idea. His 180 had been through its annual, but he had not made the effort to take it flying since. He told me that he likes to have a destination to fly to rather than just flying in the pattern.

I met him at KEXX (Lexington Davidson)at 11:45 a.m. He had just preflighted the 180. I hopped in and off we went. We were flight planned direct from KEXX to KFKN at 7000. The day was not as clear at altitude as it looked on the ground. Lots of cumulous clouds with mild turbulence. I experienced actual IMC as we pounded through the clouds. It certainly requires a lot of trust in the ATC system. The cover was not continuous and were were in and out all during our 1:15 minute flight.

Norfolk approach did not get us down as quickly as we requested and were still at 4000 when only 10 miles out of KFKN. We cancelled IFR and went VFR with the airport in site. Then we dropped fairly quickly to get to pattern altitude. (I must say that my ears are much more of a fan of 500 fpm than 1500 fpm). We landed on 27 with just a mild crosswind.

Bud and his family were waiting for us at the FBO. He was excited to get his first ride in a small plane; I think his son almost wished he was joining us!

While we were waiting for fuel, I noticed a B-25 with one engine missing on the ramp. If we hadn't been in such a hurry, I would have spent some time examining it. I'll make a note that if I am ever in the area again, I'll stop by to see it.

We loaded Bud and his stuff up, and we were off. This time 6000 but with a good headwind. We had to divert around a couple of ugly looking clouds and with the headwind our return trip was 1:30. By this time, Carl had decided that he could help me out on my flight training endeavors. So, I began handling the radio calls with ATC. This was great practice. As mentioned, we had to request some diversions around some clouds; also we had a number of hand-offs that I took care of.

Too soon, it was time to land on 24. We taxied to his hanger. Bud and I jumped out, thanked Carl, and were on our way.

Many thanks to Carl for going out of his way to help me out. It was a great day and a great excuse to go flying. His 180 is a beautiful plane (circa 1956) and flies great. I look forward to more trips with Carl in the future!

Thank You Mr. TSA Man.

This morning I had the privilege of being scanned by the new back scatter x-ray machine at Charlotte - Douglass Airport in Charlotte, NC. Now this is my first time through the new machine, so I don't know how long a scan takes. I realize that Mr. TSA man stands there and scans thousands of people and knows how long it takes until the scan is completed; He may even have a light that flashes when it is ready. So Mr. TSA man, when you tell me to step into the scanner and raise my arms with my face facing away from you, and 10 seconds later you say O.K to someone else (some one I can't see), how am I supposed to know that you are not talking to me and the scan is not completed? Just wondering.

And what did I get for my inappropriate and "threatening" stepping out of the machine before the scan completed? A very ugly attitude from Mr. TSA man and a full (and I mean full) body pat down. I realize that 45 year old Presbyterian pastors with three children are very dangerous, but this was a little much.

Compare US security with the Israelis? No comparison. In 2007, I really did have the privilege of going to Israel for two weeks. My experience with Israeli security was superb. They were very serious and thorough, but there was never an attitude. As it has been said, Israeli's look for terrorists while the TSA looks for weapons. Thus 85 year old grandmothers can be made to take off their diapers in American airports. Wouldn't happen in Israel. By my opinion, Israel has the better and safer system.

Today was another reminder why I want to get my PPL. I sure would like to get in a 172 and fly where I want to go and avoid the pat downs and poor attitudes that you run into with the screening process when flying the scheduled airlines. I will fly 1 day!

Aviation & The Outer Banks

Over the second week in June, my family and I headed down to the outerbanks of North Carolina. My parents have a house in Rodanthe on Hatteras Island, and I look forward to our annual trip to enjoy swimming in the ocean and sailing in the Pamlico Sound.

One day, we drove all the way to Hatteras Village on the south end of Hatteras Island and took the ferry over to Ocracoke, Island. Ocracoke is small thirteen mile long island that has a little fishing / arts community at the southern end. Many fishing charters leave from here as well as the ferries to Swan Quarter and Cedar Island.

We spent the day shopping, but one of the stops for me had to be the National Park Service airstrip (w95) just north of the village. They have recently redone the "terminal" building, and it is very nice. No night landings and no fuel, so aviators must plan ahead. According to the Ocracoke Airport website: "Aircraft may not park more than 24 hours or or more than a total of 48 hours during any 30 day period unless authorized by the Ocracoke District Ranger" Of course today, my arrival was by car; but sometime soon, it will be by air!

On the way back up Hatteras to Rodanthe, I figured I ought to stop by KHSE since it was on the way and so close. This is another of the National Park Airstrips that have no night landings and no fuel. Again, aviators must plan ahead. Same rules for leaving your airplane as in Ocracoke. Of course, I am looking forward to returning via airplane.

I guess this National Park Airstrip adventure would not be complete without a visit to KFFA. So I took the kids up to the Wright Brothers National Memorial to tour the museum and the grounds. This was not my first visit to this hallowed ground, but it had been a number of years. They have done a good job of sprucing up the place, which I guess was done for the 100 year celebration in 2003. The day we visited the wind was out of the north east at a good 15 kt clip. Standing on top of the hill with the wind full in my face helped me understand why Orville and Wilbur chose this place. Our family has always felt a special connection to the 1903 event, because my grandmother's uncle was John T. Daniels - the USLSS man who took the iconic picture.

I didn't get a good picture of KFFA, but the same rules apply as did to w95 & KHSE. I am sure that once I get my PPL, I will make a trip to OBX by air and land at all three of these unique NPS strips. The one place I didn't visit was KMQI on Roanoke Island. KMQI is very much full service when compared to the NPS strips. (Gas, lights, ILS, etc). The terminal also has a very nice one room museum about its service as a sea plane base in WWII. Worth the visit as well.

Can't wait to fly!

North Carolina Aviation Museum Fly-In

This saturday I took my youngest daughter to KHBI for the North Carolina Aviation Museum Fly-in in Asheboro, North Carolina. It was a short 30 minute drive from home, so I thought it would be an easy event to go to. A fly-in at a small regional airport is so different than an airshow at a Class-D airport. Here we were able to stand on the flight line just yards from the taxiway. It provided great views of the runway with all the airplanes coming and going. We chatted with the pilots of a great variety of airplanes.

Of course there were a bunch of C-172's, C-152's, C-140's, and Piper Cherokee's. I was surprised by the number of Ercoupes that were present. I think I counted 7. There were a number of Sonex's, an RV-6, along with a Texan AT-6 and a Swiss PC3/G. (Picture to the right). The plane that my daughter is sitting in in the picture above is a Kitfox. I think that is a sweet basic airplane. If I had the time and money, I'd love to build it.


Just this month AOPA Pilot had an article about the L-19 Bird dog. Wouldn't you know it, there was one there today. It was great to have read all about this "affordable" warbird and then see it up close.


All in all a great day with my daughter at a very fun event! It makes me even more sure that I will fly 1 day!