11-25-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Stuart Hirsch

     Having completed my solo long cross country flight, we now have only to prepare for my checkride. Stu wants us to get in three hours of dual instruction time to practice maneuvers and such. Today we sat down and did a pre-flight briefing on the weather, aircraft performance, and weight & balance. We then did a slow and thorough preflight of the airplane, and had to execute a cold start with the primer since it was so frigid out today (19 Fahrenheit).

    Stu had given me a list of maneuvers we were to accomplish today, and we got right into it with a short field takeoff. We then did a number of maneuvers including steep turns, slow flight, and power-on stalls. Then it was hood time, and on instruments I tracked into the Huegenot VOR, and thence outbound toward Wurtsboro Airport. I'll be taking the checkride at Wurtsboro, so Stu wanted me to become reacquainted with operations there. The ridge is still as big as ever, and it took me a few landings there to get used to it again.

    We did a soft field takeoff and a few landings, two of which were awful. I asked to do a couple more and did a better job on those. Got scared at one point when I looked down to see an airplane towing a glider about 700 feet below us. They fly a lot of gliders out of Wurtsboro, so I should have been expecting that.

    After departing Wurtsboro we headed back towards Monticello and did some S-Turns over Rt. 17, and then turns around a point around the Concord Hotel. Then it was up to 3500, which is a thousand feet above the Monticello traffic pattern. Stu had me perform a forward slip down to pattern altitude, which brought us into the downwind leg for the runway. We stayed at that altitude until lined up on final approach and then did a forward slip to a landing, which I'd never done before. That was really cool! Flew sideways in the slip all the way down, took the slip out just over the runway and set it down, all with no flaps! I shouldn't be so surprised - that's the way it was done for years before airplanes were commonly fitted with flaps.

    We went back up and into the pattern, and as we came midfield in the downwind I asked Stu what kind of landing he wanted. "This kind," he said as he pulled the power off. I made a pretty good emergency landing on the runway, putting in the flaps on final approach when it was certain I had the runway made.

    I felt pretty good when we were finished. My power-on stall recovery needs work, as do my turns around a point (always my weakest maneuver), and I'd like more practice on the performance takeoffs. But I think I will be well prepared for my test. Hopefully we can get it in this coming week.

12-2-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Stuart Hirsch

     Stu and I did our second test preparation flight today, again covering the gamut of maneuvers required in the Private Pilot Test Standards. Although the weather looked great according to the eye and the briefing, once again I found it doesn't always stay that way. It was quite bumpy as we went through slow flight turns and stalls, which made it very difficult to hold an altitude.

    The turbulence got worse as we arrived at Wurtsboro because of the funky air currents around the ridge there. Great for the gliders I guess, but not fun for us. Practiced short and soft field landings at Wurtsboro, and I wasn't too pleased with myself. Had a hard time getting the plane to descend properly, and I came in too fast on a few legs. On top of that, the close proximity to the ridge makes me nervous - I don't like seeing treetops just below me.

    The turbulence got worse and worse, and although I was irritated at the time, I now can say that that's good. Rather than it being an insurmountable obstacle, I can now view strong wind like that as a nuisance that can be (carefully) dealt with.

    We then did a few turns around a point near Wurtsboro, and at this point I started to get a little queasy. Only the second time that has happened to me in the airplane. Now that I think of it, it was in the same conditions: turbulent day, doing continuous maneuvers. Have to be careful of that in the future. In any case, we were just about finished for the day anyway. After a pause to get my stomach under control, Stu had me track into the Huegenot VOR and then follow it outbound on the 348 radial to Monticello. I did a straight-in landing, and realized after we were on the ground that I hadn't turned on the fuel pump as per the checklist. Here's the lesson I learn from this:

    I've read a good deal about air sickness in the cockpit. It's a problem, can lead to more problems, etc. But just as the human mind cannot truly imagine pain, neither can it truly comprehend sickness until it is actually experienced. I got pretty rattled by feeling airsick today, and I wasn't even about to vomit - I simply felt uncomfortable, and even this caused me to overlook basic skills and procedures. Airsickness is no joke, and I'm going to be careful about it in the future.

    I will take the checkride as early as Monday if the weather is favorable. Although my maneuvers are not perfect, I do feel competent and ready to take the test. I feel my strong points are landings, stalls, steep turns, cross country planning, and general aeronautical knowledge. My weak points are performance takeoffs and landings, and turns around a point. But even those I feel I can perform adequately, so I think I will do all right. I think what I fear the most is what Apollo astronaut Pete Conrad called, "...making a dumb s--t mistake."

12-3-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Stuart Hirsch

     Flew twice today in preparation for my test, which will probably be tomorrow since the weather forecast is favorable. Stu went up with me for a short time to do an emergency descent. I then dropped him off and went to Wurtsboro to practice performance takeoffs and landings.

    The wind was mercifully calm today, although there was quite a lot of glider activity. Came pretty close to a few of those damn things, and it got me a little jumpy. I also stopped in to the FBO for my cross country assignment and weight & balance problem. I am to plan a three leg trip from Wurtsboro to Groton, to Poughkeepsie, and back to Wurtsboro.

    I then returned to Monticello and got lunch. Studied for a while, then made a practice flight plan for my last bit of preparation in the airplane. Went up solo and did more performance takeoffs and landings, turns around a point, steep turns, and a little VOR work. That went well, although I bounced a couple of landings at Monticello when I was finished. That's OK - I go by the old theatre tradition that if you have a poor dress rehearsal, the show is going to be good.

    I've spent the last several hours preparing everything I can think of for my checkride. Stu and I plan to leave Monticello at 7:30 tomorrow morning, but there will be a good deal to do even before that. There's a lot of paperwork to bring along, and of course I must finish my flight planning by making wind computations with up to date numbers.

    All things considered, I think I am well prepared. There are certainly holes in my training, and I have weak points. But overall I believe I fly well, and have to hope that I will show it on the test. Although I would be disappointed to not pass, I don't think I would fault the system. Flying is no joke, and it's good that there are some pretty tough standards imposed on the activity. Nobody wants to have less than competent people tooling around  the skies.

    So for now, I've done all I can do. Now I just have to take my time, follow my checklists, and do what I know how to do.