8-8-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Long Tan

     Although I feel pretty silly after today's lesson, I must admit it was a valuable learning experience. Long and I flew together to Cherry Ridge Airport in Pennsylvania. I did all the flight planning, with some help from Long. OK, a LOT of help. However, I found that getting the plan done correctly isn't the whole ball game.

    The plan was to track a VOR to Cherry Ridge, a technique I thought I could do. We had also plotted out visual checkpoints to track our progress, and I even remembered to start my watch when we took off to get them! I picked up the VOR signal and began my intercept. That was about the last thing I did correctly.

    First, there were some fairly low clouds to avoid. So I had to periodically climb, descend, and go around them. Second, it was a very unstable day in the air. Lots of thermals, so we got bounced around a good deal. Very hard to keep an altitude. So I was distracted by this. Finally, I'm just not good enough at the flight planning yet. I just missed our first checkpoint, and then ended up flying right past the airport without seeing it! The dumbest mistake was that I flew right past the VOR I was tracking, forgetting that the airport was on the near side of it! That was STUPID. I should have known to turn around at that point, but I guess I was so distracted that my brain wasn't working.

    We eventually ended up near Wilkes Barre, PA. At this point, Long said, "OK, you're lost. Admit it. The only hints I'm giving you are:

1. Don't cross that highway over there or you'll end up in the Wilkes-Barre airspace.
2. Get on the radio and talk to someone.

    "So pretend I'm not here, and get yourself un-lost."

    So I contacted the Wilkes-Barre tower, who in turn handed me over to Approach Control. I told them I was a student pilot, was lost, and needed to get back to Monticello. They had me "squawk" a transponder frequency so they could identify me on radar, and then gave me vectors. First they got me around some traffic, and then pointed me at Monticello. It was at this point that I saw Cherry Ridge, large as the day is long just off my left wingtip. Long was having a good laugh at this point. He saw that I missed it on the way there, but didn't say anything.

    Back at Monticello I executed a so-so landing in a moderate crosswind. I was thankful to be back, but also glad for the experience. We talked about what to do when lost. The five C's: Climb, be Calm, Communicate, Confess (that you're lost), Comply with instructions. So it was a good lesson today. Everybody should practice getting lost.

8-9-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Long Tan

     These last few days have just been full of really intense learning experiences. Between getting lost the other day, and doing intense drilling of flight planning, weight and balance, and performance my brain feels just about full. So what did we do today? Serious crosswind landings. No rest for the weary.

    I'm not really complaining, because it was great practice. But those darn crosswinds are tough! It was blowing at about 10 knots today, at almost a direct right angle to runway 33 at Sullivan County. So we just went up and down doing touch & go's. Some landings were good, and I bounced a few too. Learned to put in just a touch of power to soften the touchdown, which is especially useful in gusty conditions. Have to watch the airspeed when that happens because a gust when you are going too slow could make you stall.

    When we got back to Monticello I had to go around twice before putting it down. Very tricky on that runway in a crosswind. Bounced the heck out of that landing, unfortunately. But Long is smart. He is usually a real perfectionist (as he should be), but he also knows when to tell me to lighten up. He said that even experienced pilots would have trouble at Monticello in that kind of a crosswind, and that I put it down OK, if a little hard. I need to relax, fly the plane, and not get jumpy.

8-10-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Long Tan

     Things went a bit better today on my second attempt to fly us to Cherry Ridge Airport. Found the airport through pilotage without much trouble, except that the runway is very difficult to spot until you're right on top of it. I did however, make one silly mistake. I landed us at Cherry Ridge, we did some touch and go's, and then Long said, "OK, what's the plan for getting us home?"

    Uhhhhh...

    I had finally made a good flight plan, and then neglected to make one for the way back! He laughed and said I could use the VOR to navigate back, which went without a hitch. Slight difficulty landing in the crosswind at Monticello, but I got it down. Need to work on that.

    Tomorrow, if the weather is good, I'll fly solo to Cherry Ridge.

8-11-00
Piper Warrior
Local Solo Flight

    Couldn't make the trip to Cherry Ridge today as planned. The weather briefing called for marginal VFR, changing to IFR later on. There was a bunch of precipitation moving through from the Willkes Barre area, which is exactly where I would have been going. So that nixed the trip.

    But since it was OK locally, and would remain so for a while, I went up to practice landings at Sullivan County. My flare needs work. As I did a few touch and go's I noticed more and more tiny airplanes in the air. At first I thought they were model planes, and I looked around for the idiots who were operating them in the vicinity of an airport! Then I realized they weren't toys, they were aerobatic planes practicing maneuvers. That got me a little nervous, because these guys were doing loops and Cuban 8's, and probably weren't looking for traffic at all times. But it seemed safe for landing practice, so I continued.

    I had then intended to practice some ground reference maneuvers like turns around a point. But when I exited the traffic pattern I spotted an aerobatic plane in my practice area. I was looking for a way around it when I realized that I was pretty darn close to it. Then I got really jumpy when I saw that I was DAMN close to it. I turned away, and then got on the radio to advise it of my position. At this point I decided to head home because I didn't feel comfortable tooling around the area with those guys.

    After I landed at Monticello I found Long about to go up with another student. I told him to be careful around Sullivan County because of all the aerobatics. He said, "Oh, I know. They're having a big aerobatic competition there this weekend. Didn't you know that?" I shook my head. As Long smirked at me, I realized my mistake. I had gotten a briefing for a trip to Cherry Ridge, and it had not occurred to me to call again after changing the plan for a flight to Sullivan County. So I was not given the NOTAM about the aerobatics there. Good lesson for the future.

8-15-00
Piper Warrior
Solo Cross Country

    Found Cherry Ridge on my own today. No problem. Did a few practice landings there, and made one very nice one. Got back to Monticello without incident and did a few more landings. That's the way things should go! Have to plan my next cross country this evening for a flight tomorrow morning.

    Earlier today I took an introductory HELICOPTER LESSON! It was really a fun experience, but it's too expensive to pursue right now. Maybe after I win the lottery...