Entries tagged with “woohoo” from Garbage In, Garbage Out

Today I'm officially a private pilot.

The test started out with an oral exam. The DPE (Designated Pilot Examiner) did explain that he wasn't looking for 100% knowledge on what he was to ask, but that he didn't want guesses (otherwise known as BS) either. I did fairly well here; tho a few things did come up that I didn't know. He made notes on those, and discussed them post-test, but .. overall, I passed the oral just fine, no worries. Topics included airspace, regulations, aerodynamics, medical factors, and my intended flight plan.

The flying test was actually fairly short. We took off from Sacramento, requesting flight following (and then cancelling it shortly thereafter; he was testing my radio skills). This was a bit amusing, as the radar guy thought I was going to Pine Mountain Lake direct, instead of my indirect route. As such, he vectored me to avoid traffic that I would have never hit on my own.

Actual skills put to test: take offs and landings (normal; short field; soft field); turns around a point and S turns; steep turns (45 degree bank); flying instrument only, including going to bad attitudes and then recovering; radio work; navigation (including diversions). One of my steep turns was pretty marginal. However, the examiner was in a good mood, and let me try again, and I nailed it.

My big fear, the soft field landing, I managed to squeek a great landing in. Several tries yesterday all sucked; but the one with the examiner worked out. Turns out that I could use more flaps, and land slower, when doing soft field landings, which the DPE suggested.

Anyhow, I now have a license to learn.. and to fly about freely in the sky. Horray!

.. and leap with your hands out in front of you.

Today was my "cross country" solo. 260 miles round trip, no instructor. Just me, the plane, and every other plane out there. Even the birds stayed out of the way!

Finally! Seven-three-niner-golf-yankee got off the ground. My first few scheduled days of flight lessons were cancelled due to weather. I'm not sure why, since this California, but we seem to be getting rain, wind, and fog out here.

First lesson is designed to cover the basics. Last week I did get a bit of the lesson early, so I've had instruction on preflighting. Today, I got to do it nearly solo. The checklist was missing from the binder, so I broke out the POS, er, POH. Turns out, the checklist in the POH is pretty different, and certainly suboptimal. I went ahead and checked out the plane, and when the intructor came back with the checklist, went over whatever was missing. Note to self: there are 3 chains holding the plane down..

Other basic instruction involves getting around and off the ground; and simple things like going up and down (intentionally), turning, and for bonus points, turning without intentionally loosing altitude.

Much of the point of today was look/feel during those operations, such that there is not a high dependence on the instruments and more looking out the window.

Our practice area was over the Sacramento Delta. We left south Sacramento, and travelled southwest, and stayed in the region bounded by I-5, 680, 80, and roughly Walnut Grove. The view from up there is definately something. After a fresh rain in the middle of the night last night, visibility was excellent - we could clearly see downtown Sacramento from 20 miles away.

The air was pretty smooth - mostly. When we got near the hills by 680, it was impressive at how far away they were yet how much we were impacted by the winds. I will definately want mountain training before going up into the hills flying. This probably means Auburn is out for my first solo cross country..

Tomorrow, it will be a reitteration of today, plus rudder control. The instructor had the rudder to day, to minimize how many things I had to manage and get aquainted with.

.. or at least as good as any other excuse. A couple years back, after being without the motorcycle for some time, I said that by the time I was 35, I'd have something with either two seats or two wheels. The opportunity came up to do both! My crazy beloved wife approved of the idea of a convertible when we rented one in Hawaii. Whoops! :-)

This particular Honda S2000 is "Pearlescent Yellow", and matches my ST1300 motorcycle's color (except for the pearl part). In case you're wondering, no, yellow is not really my favorite color - except on the road. I'd rather be accused of being too visible, than invisible. The downside to such a noticable color, of course, is I have to keep an eye on my speed, since every cop on the road will be too..

For the sportbike riders out there.. You know how when you get to the upper portion of the RPM's on your bike? The power on this car kicks in at 6000 RPM .. and launches. Below 6000, and the driving is merely sporting. After 6000, hang on!

Honda S2000 Specifications

Yay, it arrived. After lusting particularly badly over the last couple of years on trying to get the original Star Wars arcade game, we finally scored one. This will go along well with the Zaxxon (1982). Both were edges of cutting edge 3d gaming for their time.

Now, I just need to raid the wife's piggy bank for quarters..

It is done! My ST1300 is now a nice yellow.

Finally, a day to myself. No family commitments. No house commitments. No job commitments. No *dental* commitments. No inlaw commitments. That meant only one thing, time to flee!

Jason, Danaë, and the kids have moved. Contact us if you need our new address, either via email, or by calling our old number (for the next 60 days), or call our toll free number to find us. Please do not send packages to the old address :-)