EvanK, June 30th, 2009
Last Saturday, I got my first taste of vintage aircraft. My neighbor invited me to his friends house to take a ride in his North American AT-6 Texan. I wasn't quite sure what it was at the time, but of course I said yes. When we arrive at his home (he lives in an airport community) my jaw immediately drops at the sight of his hangar. Inside of it was not one but two aircraft! I was amazed that people could afford to do that (own more than one aircraft).
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Posted in Airplanes, Training | 3 Comments »
EvanK, June 17th, 2009
Yesterday, Dana and I took to the sky (for a little bit at least) to conquer controlled airspace. The lesson started with a small ground lesson on airport signs, controlled airspace procedures, and the airport in general. During my call to Lockheed Martin for a weather briefing, the briefer informed me of something I hadn’t heard of; all of the runways at Kenosha (KENW) had changed numbers. I thought it was interesting seeing the effects of a shifting magnetic pole first hand...
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EvanK, June 15th, 2009
Hello everyone. I'd like to take just a minute to update everyone on my progress. Last Tuesday (June 9), I went to Lake in the Hills airport to take my written test. Needless to say, I passed with a fairly good score (90%). For those who don't know, there are two tests one must take to become a private pilot. One is the practical test and the other is the knowledge test. The practical test is the flying and oral examination portion of the test and the knowledge test is the written test. Read More >>
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EvanK, June 10th, 2009
Tonight I took my first flight lesson after daylight hours. It definitely was a different experience than flying in the day time. Dana and I scheduled to meet at the airport at 21:30; just a little after sunset. While preflighting the aircraft, Dana explained some points to remember while flying at night. At night, lights appear closer than they actually are. Things 15 miles away will appear to be a lot closer (like 5 or so miles). The saying altitude is your friend should be kept especially in mind at night. During the day, Read More >>
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Steve Tupper, May 18th, 2009
For many of us, the initial thrill of aviation came from military aviation as it was portrayed in the movies and on television. Read More >>
Posted in Aerobatics, Airplanes, Careers, Training | 7 Comments »
BrentR, May 15th, 2009
It was now time to accomplish my three takeoffs and landings at a towered airport. In my case, my instructor and I had to make some accommodations due to my Deafness. The tower will need to use a light gun to signal the commands for me as I taxi, takeoff and land.
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EvanK, May 14th, 2009
Today, Dana and I worked on simulated instrument flight (instrument flight is flying based only on your gauges (as if you were in the clouds)). Dana had been running a little late today, and I was running early (for once). Since I had a little bit of down time, I took the plane up solo and practiced cross wind takeoffs and landings. Today was a good day for them too; the wind was blowing directly across the runway at about 10 knots. To make things harder, there were significant air pockets that kept bumping the plane up and down. This made those three landings quite difficult. More than once I had to go around because of up and down drafts. After Dana arrived, we departed to the Northwest to start the lesson.
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EvanK, May 8th, 2009
Lately, I've noticed how long it's been since I've been up with Dana. Looking at the calendar, It's been a month and a half. After saving up some funds, I scheduled a lesson with Dana for Tuesday after school. Read More >>
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Steve Tupper, April 29th, 2009
It’s been a long time since I flew aerobatics with any regularity. Want to know how I know? I was pretty green around the gills and ready to head back for pattern work after only about 20 minutes of aerobatics recently. Read More >>
Posted in Aerobatics, Training | No Comments »
EvanK, March 25th, 2009
Last Friday was the first time I used the airplane for a purpose other than fun. For my very first solo cross country, I visited my flying friends Tim and Anthony at Lewis University in Romeoville, IL. Anthony invited me to visit him for the day, and with the university right on the airport, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to fly down and meet him. I arrived at Westosha at 7:30 in the morning to meet with Greg Smith. Greg is an instructor at Westosha and agreed to look over my flight plan. Read More >>
Posted in Training | 2 Comments »
