Blog Elements : Flight Training Central

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Getting My Feet Wet

October 20, 2014/in Personal stories/by studentpltnews

First Solo, Again!

October 9, 2014/in Having fun, Personal stories/by studentpltnews

Here at Sporty’s Academy, we love to celebrate the achievements of our students. One of our biggest celebrations comes when a student successfully completes his or her first solo. We really think that this is a big deal and we want the student to understand this as well!

It has been many years since my first solo in an airplane. In fact, I’ll be celebrating the 30th anniversary of that event in a couple of years. Even with the intervening years, I can still remember my takeoff from Runway 29 at the Flagler County Airport in Florida. I don’t really remember the landing but I remember the takeoff. I looked out the side window after liftoff, watched the left main spin to a stop, and thought to myself, “Well, now you have to land it!”

Getting My Feet Wet

October 20, 2014/in Personal stories/by studentpltnews

First Solo, Again!

October 9, 2014/in Having fun, Personal stories/by studentpltnews

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Getting My Feet Wet

October 20, 2014/in Personal stories/by studentpltnews

“Are you ready?” asked my instructor, “Because once we start that engine we will be in constant motion until we are back on the ramp.” But he didn’t mean a traditional FBO ramp. No, we were launching from a boat ramp on the Ohio River from Mac’s Seaplane Service in Rising Sun, Indiana.
Is getting a seaplane rating on your bucket list? It had been on mine for several years. I don’t live or work on a lake or river, don’t own a vacation home, and most of my time away from my day job is spent at our land-locked farm tending to the crops, cows and chickens on our little corner of Kentucky. But I have always considered myself to be a lifelong learner. I believe if you are not growing, you’re dying and the growing pile of old boat stuff, SCUBA gear and ski equipment are testament to my desire to tackle new challenges. But my one enduring passion has been flying airplanes and each flying goal met has led to another.
I had scrolled through the listings of seaplane bases and none ever seemed close enough for me to consider. The combination of costs for the flying, instruction, lodging and transportation, plus the week I would be away from the work and farm had kept this class of airplanes just out of my reach. Then last February I was having lunch in Sporty’s Café when I began talking to a customer sitting at a table next to me. Turns out it was Troy MacVey, a retired airline pilot who had started a seaplane base in Rising Sun, just an hour from Sporty’s. Turns out he was working on the last few details (mainly working with the FAA to find a suitable Seaplane Pilot Examiner) for adding pilot training to his list of services.

In August I got a phone call from Judie at Mac’s. I learned they had found an examiner and if I could schedule the time in the next couple of weeks, my goal of becoming a seaplane pilot could become a reality. I really did not know what to expect as I journeyed to Rising Sun. I had flown over the area in the past but usually concentrated on the riverboat casino on the north end of town paying no attention to the community boat ramp and dock a mile or so to the south. After navigating to the corner of Front and 1^st St. I was surprised at the facility. Troy had built a large hangar and office complex taking advantage of several free parking spaces, a municipal rest room facility, boat ramp, and of course, the river.

Inside the hangar was a Taylorcraft on floats and the Oshkosh Grand Champion Cessna 195 seaplane that has been featured in Flying Magazine. Pretty airplanes – but more important to me was N72475, one of only three Cessna 140 float planes in existence and my “classroom” for the seaplane rating.

I was anxious to get started but was quickly instructed that the airplane would be a lot easier to preflight while it was still in the hangar. I learned the airplane had its original Continental C-85 replaced with a more powerful O-290 Lycoming with a special “Borer” prop modification for seaplanes. I learned new part names like bumper, chine, keel, step, skeg and spray rail. I saw how the water rudder was attached, how it worked, and how to retract it. I learned that floats leak and how to sump them and if you do not get any water out, your pump is probably broken. All of this in addition to the usual preflight of the “normal” airplane systems.

Once the preflight was complete, we used a modified boat trailer to move the aircraft from the hangar to the sea (or in this case – river) and I took off my shoes and socks to don a pair of sandals for the fun part.

When I got my tail wheel endorsement in a Piper Cub the instructor told me that with the door and window open, any checklist would likely get blown out so instead of paper, he had me memorize the acronym CIGARS ((C) Controls – free and correct, (I)Instruments – check, (G)Gas – we have enough and is turned on, (A)Airframe – secure, (R) Runup – engine magneto and carburetor heat check, (S)Straps – seatbelts secure) for our pre-takeoff check. Sharing a river with pleasure boats, barge tows, wave runners and driftwood while dealing with wind and currents means there is just no time to study a written checklist. So in addition to CIGARS, we used FFCARS ((F)Fuel – status, (F)Flaps – correct, (C)Carb heat – the little Lycoming being operated in the moist environment can make carb ice like a Fridgidare, (A)Area – clear, water (R)Rudder – up or down as appropriate, (S)Switches – radios, lights). This checklist was recited for every phase of taxi, takeoff, climb, cruise, landing, sailing, beaching, ramping and docking the seaplane.

Books have been written (I recommend Step Up to Floats and Seaplane, Skiplane, and Float/Ski Equipped Helicopter Operations Handbook) on flying seaplanes and is beyond the scope of this article. For a great overview of the Seaplane rating watch the So You Want to Fly Seaplanes video. Just prepare to have the airplane time of your life as you learn to step taxi, lift each float out of the water independently to reduce drag, deal with rough water, smooth water, glassy water, confined areas, using carb heat to slow the engine as you approach the dock, turning the mags on and off to further slow the engine, precisely pulling the mixture at just the right time to ensure you make it to the dock or ramp without crashing but without drifting back to “sea” either AND my all-time favorite is literally walking a tightrope stretched between the forward mooring cleats to get from one side of the airplane to the other. I highly recommend removing your watch, wallet and cell phone prior to this maneuver (don’t ask).

After four hours of flying and an equal amount of ground school, the appointment was made for my check ride on September 14th. Mary Alverson, the designated examiner, had flown down from Minneapolis to conduct five examinations over a three day period. Fortunately, the weather cooperated. Troy had us prepared and we all passed the demanding check ride to PTS standards. I have a new rating in my pocket and a new column (Single Engine Seaplane) in my logbook. The leaves are changing and the water has cooled below my comfort level, but next summer I am thinking about again getting seaplane current and taking my bride for a ride in that 195. I guess I am not too far away from the water to use my seaplane rating after all!

First Solo, Again!

October 9, 2014/in Having fun, Personal stories/by studentpltnews

It has been many years since my first solo in an airplane. In fact, I’ll be celebrating the 30^th anniversary of that event in a couple of years. Even with the intervening years, I can still remember my takeoff from Runway 29 at the Flagler County Airport in Florida. I don’t really remember the landing but I remember the takeoff. I looked out the side window after liftoff, watched the left main spin to a stop, and thought to myself, “Well, now you have to land it!”

Since that day, I’ve had other “firsts” in aviation that have meant a lot to me. My first time flying in the clouds, my first time flying a light twin and feeling like I was about a mile behind the airplane on downwind, the first time taking my parents and grandmother flying, first flights for nieces and nephews (and my brother becoming unnerved when I banked the airplane with him and his kids), the first flight with the wonderful woman who would later become my wife, and of course the very special first flights with each of my own children.

There have also been other “first” solos for me in new aircraft and new aircraft categories and classes. This past week, I had another first solo and it was in one of the most different aircraft that I have ever flown.

All Alone in a Hot Air Balloon

A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post about the beginning of my hot air balloon training. I was excited for the new challenge and was finding this completely different way of flying both difficult but rewarding. Flying a hot air balloon is much more weather dependent than flying an airplane and Ohio hasn’t been terribly cooperative since I began my training. Between the weather and a series of other delaying factors, suffice to say that the training has been slow. My instructors have made valiant efforts to get me scheduled but other events have not cooperated well.

In September we were finally able to string together a series of flights and on October 1^st, 2014, my instructor had me land, stepped out of the basket, and sent me on my way; my first solo flight in a hot air balloon.

As I began to climb up to a safe altitude with only me in the basket, the thought from my first airplane solo returned to me, “Well, now you have to land it!”

Charlie, my instructor, had told me to fly for about 20 minutes then find a place to land. That was my plan; it took a little longer.

The wind was considered light and variable that day but the track the wind was taking me was generally to the south/southwest. A mile or so ahead I spied a private airport that I knew to be in very good condition and that would make an excellent landing location and that became my goal. My track was in that general direction so I thought that I had a shot. At first, the variation in the winds was taking me to the right of my goal but soon they came back to the left. As I descended for the landing, the winds trended further to the left and I missed my target.

I initiated a climb once again to look for a new location as I passed Charlie and my chase crew in a parking lot across the road from the private runway.

I tried for a nice big front yard but the variable winds decided to push me toward powerlines this time. I initiated another go-around. You just don’t mess with powerlines, ever!!

Next I saw Charlie and my crew sitting beside a nice large field but the left turn that had pushed me away from the airport on my first attempt and toward the powerlines on the second, decided to change directions and become a right turn. I needed the left to land there so my search continued.

I climbed back up as I saw some high tension lines ahead and wanted to give them sufficient clearance.

After passing these lines, I allowed the balloon to descend as I was now over a soy bean field and sunset was only about 20 minutes away. As a balloon pilot, you generally want to avoid landing in crops as it tends to upset the farmers but if you have to you have to. I didn’t have to. I kept the basket approximately 5-10 feet above the crops and slowly allowed the wind to work me over to the edge of the field. As I neared a treeline at the edge of the field, I found a spot of tall grass and weeds and set the balloon down without damaging myself, the balloon, or the crops.

Charlie and my crew were near my location and helped me move the balloon to a very nice yard on the other side of a fence for the congratulatory photos and packing up the balloon. The landowners were excited to see us and my first balloon solo concluded with daylight to spare.

Thanks to my instructors Charlie & Charlie (Sr. & Jr.) for getting me this far in my training and to all of my chase crews that have been there to pick us up when we landed. Special thanks to Charlie Sr. for soloing me and to Anthony for driving the chase vehicle that evening (and for taking the post solo picture and the picture above prior to the high tension lines).

If anyone ever tells you that flying a hot air balloon is easy, I’d say they have never actually flown one. Get out there and enjoy your flight training, celebrate your achievements, and take a bit of time to brag about your first solo even if it is your second or third one!

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Getting My Feet Wet

First Solo, Again!

Getting My Feet Wet

First Solo, Again!

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Getting My Feet Wet

First Solo, Again!

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