The 152 and the Tomahawk

Well, I haven’t taken the time to write in a while. Life just has habit of taking all that extra time I used to have to sit down and write. These days, I’ll take a bit of downtime at work to start the entry and then I’ll send it home to finish it and load it up, usually after everyone has gone to bed.

 My last real entry spoke about my dual flight time in the Diamond. Well, since then, I have decided to try and finish up my PPL.  Both of my girls both really like to fly and that has given me the push I need to get in there and finish it up. I have re-taken my ground school, but don’t feel like I retained enough to take the written yet, so I’m studying when I can and I’ll take the test when I'm ready. There is really no rush to get it completed and since the test changes in a couple weeks, I’ll probably wait until the test prep changes also to get it right.  Until then, I’m still flying.

 Back in April, I was able to get a half hour in a Cessna 152. Although I have flown in high-winged aircraft on many occasions, I had never left seated one before. This was a fun .5 hour and it was my first flight with Gene, who is my instructor until he leaves to join Delta in July. During the flight, Gene got to see what I knew and after a couple of turns, he had me going in and doing pattern work. I was able to get 3 touch and go’s and 1 full stop landing in that quick time. He was impressed with my piloting and said we should have no problems getting me to solo in the Tomahawk after a few hours.  Dad was there on the ground and he said the landings all looked good.

Fast forward to 22 May 2016. Gene and I go up in the Tomahawk for our first hour in that together. I made sure to let him know I was nowhere near as comfortable in the “Tommy” as I was in the 152. Although, that was my first flight in the 152 and I have quite a few hours in the Tomahawk. We took off and shot 3 touch and go’s right off the bat. Although not great by any stretch of the imagination, I was able to get three somewhat decent landings and the plane was able to take back off after one of them. We then climbed to 3000 and did some steep turns, slow flight, slow flight turns, power on stalls, power off stalls and one engine out emergency landing simulation to a farmer’s field. I had no issues with the tasks and was even to stall it twice without completely dropping a wing. He even stated that when people do as well as I do in the cockpit, he can get a bit bored at times. We then went back to the pattern for 4 more landings. The first three were, again, somewhat decent and the as we were taking off for the last time, he said, “Let’s make this one a full stop and be done for the day.” I told him since he told me it was last one of the day, I’ll probably screw it up. Not on purpose, but it normally happens. Crosswind, downwind, base and final all went as planned. As I started to round out for my flare, I ended up being a few feet lower than I thought (knowing how high I am off the runway is an issue I need to figure out ASAP) the wheels hit and we bounced pretty hard. The plane bounced and hit the tarmac and again, bounced. But, as soon as it bounced this time, I also got hit with a quick crosswind that totally fucked me up. As Gene started reaching for the yoke, I also pushed in the throttle and then thought better of it and pulled it back out again, which totally fucked up Gene.  He was able to get control and keep us on the ground. But, after that landing, he straight up earned his pay for that hour.  After we left the runway, he said, “You made me work for that one. Oh, and I think your Dad is over there and saw that landing.”  Well, shit.. The only thing I could come back with was, “Are you still bored??” :)  During the debrief, we need to work on how far I am above the runway and if I start to bounce in the future, either full throttle and take off or leave the throttle out and get it down. The throttle in-out really could have ruined our day.  All in all, other than that last landing, which wasn't much more than a controlled crash without damage to the airplane, it was a good hour. I feel better in the Tomahawk than I have in the past and I actually feel like I can get the hang of this airplane.

After I parked the airplane in the hanger, I was sitting in there decompressing with Dad and we talked about the last landing. His words of wisdom: “I want to you have a landing like that every once in a while to keep you from getting complacent about your skills.”  Point Taken.
Until next time..

Picture 1 is the 152 I flew and picture 2 is my view of the Tomahawk while decompressing in the hanger after that botched landing.

3:00 am ramblings

I woke up this morning because I thought I heard a sound upstairs. So, I got up and checked it out along with checking on the baby. Everything was good, but after walking around the house, letting the dog outside and hitting the bathroom, I was wide awake. I stayed in bed about 30 minutes and gave up trying to go back to sleep. So, here I am, 3:50 in the morning, typing a blog. I'll be honest, there is no telling what this one will say.

First off, kitchen ceiling update: It's fixed. The sheetrock guy came by on the day he said he would and gave an estimate. He showed up the next day and patched it. Then, he showed up the next day and sprayed it. He did it in the time frame he said he would and it cost exactly what he quoted. You gotta like that. And, as I mentioned before, we did not let my sister pay for it. She still has an $800 credit here. So, by the sheetrock guy's price, she's allowed 4 more trips into my attic for free. If you click on the picture to get the full size, you'll see the area that's a bit darker than the rest. That's the patch. I took the picture before everything was completely dry. You can barely notice any difference in the area now. As with everything that's been patched, if you look real hard, you can find it, but anyone just walking in the house and looking around will never notice it.

We started decorating the house for Christmas. We have the big tree up and about 75% decorated. We found out real quick that all the glass ornaments we have for the tree aren't a very good idea this year. I took everything out of the closet and we started going through the boxes to see what was where. The ornament box hadn't been out of the closet more than five minutes and Ansley already had a box of glass ones out, opened, and banging two of them together. As you can see by the picture, we are down one ornament. She wasn't cut or anything. We gave her a box that was loaded with about 25 plastic balls and that kept her busy while we sorted the rest of the ornaments out. So, now we have to make a trip to get more plastic ornaments for the big tree and her tree in her room. Other parts of the interior have been getting decorated also. The stockings are all hung on the fireplace and other small accents are up. The outside hasn't really been started yet. I hung up all the wreaths on the porch, but the lights haven't gone up. It's actually been raining here for a couple days (Thank Goodness) so I haven't been able to do them. We don't do a "Clark W. Griswold" on the house. Just a layer of lighted garland on the porch railing and net lighting on some bushes that are shaped like Christmas trees out front. We add a string or two each year, but we try and keep it from getting gaudy. We'll leave that to other folks on the street.

The baby just woke up crying. I went to soothe her, but I guess Mama's better with that. She didn't stop crying until Heather came up to get her. Oh well, we she wants to play, she comes to me, so I can deal with that.

Oh geeeez. Can someone explain to me why dog farts smell so bad??? Man.. Ripley is asleep in a chair about 7 feet away from me and he just let one go. Wow. That's just awful. Time to open a window and turn on the ceiling fan. (2 minutes later) That's better. Do you know how hard it is to type when your eyes are watering? (No, I don't know how to type the "real" way. I use 2, sometimes three fingers on each hand and my right thumb. That's all. I can type about 40 words a minute that way, but I still have to look at the keyboard.)

I've been getting the itch to fly again. For those of you that don't know, back in 2003, I decided to get my Private Pilot's License. I took the written exam in December of that year and passed it. I started my actual flight lessons in mid 2004. I had a total of about 19 hours logged and 6 solo flights under my belt when I dropped out of the flight school I was attending due to poor management and decision making by the flight school. (When you lose trust in the people you are flying with, it's time to move on) So, I found a local instructor that could teach me in my Dad's airplane. Dad's airplane (a Piper Tomahawk) is a handful to fly and it was nothing like the plane I was used to using at the flight school. I had a hard time getting a handle on the airplane and to keep up with what I learned, I needed to fly 3 times a week. Well, the instructor costs 40 bucks an hour. If you use him for two hours a day, 3 times a week, that gets expensive. So I had to put flying on hold due to financial reasons. My last logged flight was in January of 2005. I've been up since then, I just couldn't log the time. Lately, I've been wanting to finish what I started, so I've been talking to Dad about it. (Damn, the dog just farted again. Holy cow. That's worse than the first one) We're going to get me back up in the air and try and get me comfortable with the Tommy before I start with an instructor. I still won't be able to do the 3 times a week thing, so we'll have to work out something else for me to stay current while in between instructor settings. One thing that really stinks about the whole deal is the written exam I've already passed is no longer valid. It's only good for 2 years if you don't get your license. My two years passed in December of 2005, so I'll have to retake it. For now, I'm going to focus on the flying now and then I'll redo the test later on. I'll update my website under the flying portion when my flight training starts back up.

Speaking of Dad and the airplane, he got a new hanger last week at the airport. The Tomahawk was being kept in an open T-hanger. It kept the rain and most of the sun off of it, but it was still open to the elements to a great extent. The airport built a new set of enclosed hangers and Dad got one. We went last Saturday and moved the Tommy into it's new home. Now, he's in the process of making his own. (wall hangings, tools, work benches, etc) Perfect timing since Christmas is right around the corner.

That's all I've got for now. It's 4:45 am and I have to get up in less than 30 minutes, so I need to get off of here. Not to mention, I want to leave before the dog decides to blow out another one. I hope everyone had a good and safe Thanksgiving.