Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Flying

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VFR, airspace, and minimums.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

Learn this, Julie. Get it straight.

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Beulah is hard to pronounce.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

The guy at Grand Forks FSS had a tough time pronouncing "Beulah" -- I can't even phonetically imitate it here for you, the way he mangled it. Repeatedly..So, I will blame him for the awful job I did in going completely off course once we started flying across Lake Sakakawea.

I have a tremendous fear of drowning, which is only topped by a fear of being eaten (either wild animals or cannibals). I think I'll blame that drowning fear for my questionable pilotage skills, too.

For I went greatly off course. Right past Beulah.

My instructor just let me make the mistakes, which is good, since I learn very well from that.

Bummer.

My landings were OK, though. The winds were favorable, so that was nice.

Here are my nav logs and flight plan sheet from the cross-country trip today:

KBIS to KMOT
KMOT to 95D
95D to KBIS
Flight Plan sheet (I made this form to help me in talking to the person on the other end of the phone, making sure I say everything I need to. You can get that form here.)

My instructor organized a handy list of things to do when nearing a destination airport, since the Beulah incident failed to incorporate any of them. I've typed that list up for you here (PDF). He also helped with suggestions on what to do immediately after taking off from an airport on the next leg of the trip, which you can get here (PDF).

He also made a cross-country radio script for me, though it didn't stop me from muffing up the first call to Grand Forks Radio. Anyway, here's the script (PDF). The customizable items (your N-number, for example) are in gray.

And of course, there are the five C's if I should get lost doing a cross country:

Climb
Circle
Conserve (lean mixture, reduce power)
Confess (Mnpls. Center, GF Radio)
Comply

"If you talk to some of the old-timers they'll tell you they'd find a town and get down low enough to read the name on the water tower," he said.

Oddly, I've already heard three such stories of a few friends who did that.

Labels: cross country, downloads, lessons, stupidity

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VOR gestalt.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

The moment of happened with a piece of paper.

"I don't understand some things about VOR..." My voice trailed off. I didn't feel like I even knew enough to formulate a decent question, and I hate just saying, essentially, "I don't get it." I was sitting with my instructor, Mark Scheele, across the desk, peppering him with the various questions I'd accumulated from a day's worth of studying.

He started writing on his notepad, which was a good thing since seeing something on paper is extremely helpful for me in learning.

In the process of explaining, he drew the diagram you see in here. He placed the hole in the center over the VOR symbol on the sectional, and began explaining how the OBS would be set up for various scenarios.

I got it.

I mean, it'll be different in the airplane and I'll need to work on it, but I understood it as a concept. After watching the DVD and the summary in the book that accompanied it, I was completely befuddled.

Sure, I understand the "wheel spoke" concept, and the idea of a reciprocal, but the rest...meh. As far as I was concerned, it was all an area of ambiguity.

Here's a free "cleaned-up" version of the diagram my instructor drew for me (PDF).

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Cross country and some rain.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

You know, I don't have much to say about today's cross country flight.

I didn't do anything horrific.

I kept my sectional chart from taking over the cockpit and eating the occupants alive. I managed to hit a good share of my checkpoints (due to picking better checkpoints than, say, "large rock behind the hay bale near the yield sign").

Tip: Towns are easy to see from the air.

The morning started out at 5 a.m., which was completely unnecessary except for the fact that the house I'm temporarily living in seems infested with crickets, and the neighborhood had a rash of garage sales that led to overzealous old women wanting a first peak and chance to buy dusty crap for 25 cents.

I got up, grumped a bit, and set out marking the sectional with the plotter, filling in the nav logs up to the point of weather. I figured I'd wait a few hours before getting the weather, so I went back to bed in time to hear some moron a block away repeatedly glorying in his truck's glass pack mufflers.

@#%!@*@!

I woke up, tried to get the weather on the, uh, "borrowed" wifi connection from the school across the street. I wish I could complain about the non-signal, but since it's "free" I just can't. So, I drove to Bismarck Aero where I figured I could make use of the internet and find a table to finish the rest of the nav logs in the few hours before we were to fly.

I arrived to find the facility crowded with Civil Air Patrol members in the middle of some kind of practice. I didn't find this comforting, especially when my instructor cheerfully said later that they were the people who would "look for us if we go down."

Um...

I got the weather, and then went back to the Noisiest Neighborhood In The World With Crickets to finish the nav logs. I wasn't quite finished when the time rolled around to get back to meet with my instructor and get going on the flight. In the middle of traffic, he called my cell phone.

"Just so you know, there are a lot of people here. I'm in a back office," he said.

I've informed him many times that lots of people make me nervous.

In the end, I finished the nav logs, my instructor looked at the figures and deemed them correct, and we were soon airborne.

My landings were OK, though I really wanted to pull off a few stellar efforts to show my regular instructor, Mark, that I could do it. He hasn't really been privy to the more decent ones that led to Bob having me solo. Today wasn't the day for a Julie parade, though. I had one that, as my instructor said, probably should have just been a go-around.

"The only landing I didn't really like was the last one at Jamestown. You ended up on the back side of the power curve," he said as we talked about the finished flight. "When the nose is up and the power is dropping..."

Nose down. Add power.

We flew from Bismarck to Jamestown to Carrington and back to Bismarck. The flight from Carrington to Bismarck was a good lesson in weather. We eventually canceled the flight plan and deviated from the route to avoid thundershowers.

I could make up all kinds of exciting stories, but mainly, we saw a little rainbow.

That's nice.

Here are my nav logs:

UPDATE: I made a chart to help me when I call to file a flight plan. (I get nervous talking to people. This is silly, I know.) It's fairly basic, but I think it'll help me a bit. Click here to get the flight plan chart (PDF).

Addendum: I asked my instructor if he'd seen my "simplified" nav log. "It helps you get from point A to point B."

"No."

Pity.

Labels: cross country, downloads, landings, lessons

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Which half?

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I bought a kneeboard from Sporty's Pilot Shop. I've been using my flight instructor's kneeboard, but when I went flying with someone else last week, I had nothing. It was really annoying to have my pen first drop off of my lap and onto the ground after buckling in, only having to apologize to the instructor there for the day, then unbuckle, then climb out, then get the pen, then get back in, only to...drop my notebook.

I need a kneeboard, I grumped inwardly.

So, I bought the cheapest one they had, for about $10. I informed my regular flight instructor of my purchase when we went flying on Saturday.

"Did you get it from Sporty's?" he asked.

"Yes."

"You may not be aware of this, but if you should win the airplane that Sporty's is giving away, the policy is that I, as your instructor, will get half," he joked.

I hadn't been aware of the contest at Sporty's until now.

It would be very unfair if a person such as myself, who has only purchased a glorified highchair and now a cheap aluminum kneeboard, were to win. All I could offer such a plane would be years of crushing blows to the landing gear.

"Which half do you want?" I asked my instructor, "The wings or the tail?"

However, for those of you who really want to have a free airplane and it doesn't look like you'll be the lucky recipient of the Sporty's sweepstakes, I want to help you.

So here it is. Free airplanes (more than one!) from Lone Prairie. And you didn't even have to buy a thing. All you have to do to "win" is to position your mouse and click. Here. (PDF)

UPDATE: Sporty's has a winner!

Labels: downloads, flying stuff

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I like diagrams.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I like diagrams, and I often draw and re-draw a diagram as a way of getting it to stick in my brain. I've always been this way and, consequently, have stacks of notebooks full of stuff at home.

I go through a lot of pens and paper; excessive, really. Studying art was probably perfect for me.

Anyway, here are some of the diagrams I drew (and some recreated in my graphic design software) to help me learn really basic stuff that I was having trouble remembering otherwise:

Traffic Pattern Diagram: Three-page PDF file with a color diagram, black and white diagram, and a scan of the drawing I did in my notebook. You can also preview/download/print the document here.
My Diagrams: Four-page PDF file of the diagrams I drew to help me learn things like taxiing in a headwind/tailwind, compass stuff, etc. You can also preview/download/print the document here.

I'll add to this post as I get more uploaded.

Labels: downloads

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Navigation Log.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

Yesterday, after not crashing during touch-and-goes, we worked on planning for a cross country flight. I found it rather fun since, contrary to my skill with the rudder and yoke, I know how to use a pencil.

My instructor gave me a copy of a navigation log he uses, which can be found here. However, there was a section that he said he didn't use, and a little chart for fuel and time that we had to add to the sheet by hand.

That will not do.

"I'm going to redo this and put that chart on the sheet," I said. Things have to be just so, when it comes to charts, in my painfully obsessive world.

Finally. The design skills are being put to use!

And so, here is the revamped version of the navigation log with the fuel/time chart included: Navigation Log (PDF). I have a slightly larger version of it here (PDF). I have the list my flight instructor made as far as how to go about filling in the navigation log (I like lists), plus a sample, here (PDF). I've also made a slightly "simplified" Navigation Log for those looking for something a little quicker to fill out: Navigation Log: Simplified (PDF)

UPDATE: You can also preview/download/print the documents for free at Scribd.com.

UPDATE 2: After using the Navigation Log for a dry run of the cross country flight, I decided I could see why the original version had that section, but why I would also want the fuel chart. So...I redid it yet again, and changed it to include all of it in a slightly different layout. You can get that version here (PDF).

Labels: downloads, lessons