I took my check ride on Sunday and passed it. It was about a 6 hours ordeal but it’s over. I took my test up at East Troy. I took my girlfriend yesterday as my first passenger on a downtown tour. It was a great feeling. It is amazing to be able to fly anywhere you want and to take passengers. The training was extensive but it was all worth it. It took me about 70 hours, ~ $8000 and about 3 months. Tom was extensive with the training. I messed up my power off stall when I was practicing the stalls by myself and the plane started to go into a spin. I was terrified and the next time I flew with Tom I asked him to practice spins. Scary but at the same time the best roller coaster ride I have ever been on. Now the challenge is to stay up to date with all the maneuvers and training.

Flying is an expensive hobby. Financially it has been a burden. Money spending never stops. Right after finishing the license I had to buy extra headsets and it seems it just continues. But flying is phenomenal. Best money I have ever spent.

Later,

Kenan

[This post authored by Dan's friend Kenan]

Yesterday I had the day off work and decided I HAD to fly somewhere new. I originally was going to fly to Dubuque, Iowa (DBQ) but during my flight planning I found out there is an airshow there this weekend and they have a temporary flight restriction (TFR) around that area. So, I decided to fly down to Bolingbrook Clow International Airport (1C5). It’s not too far, and they have a little cafe on the airport. Since my flight was around lunchtime, it would work out perfect. The weather was absolutely gorgeous yesterday, truly clear skies without a cloud in sight. The flight down was uneventful, and my landing there was super smooth. The cafe at Clow (Charlie’s) was very nice and my “$100″ lunch was delicious. On the way back to Westosha I practiced a few flight maneuvers I may have to review when I do my biannual flight review later this summer/fall. I did two landings back at Westosha, both really nice. It’s amazing how smooth landings can be when the wind is right down the runway.

Anyway, it’s great to be flying a little more regularly now – and I hope to be blogging a little more regularly too! I logged 1.1 hours for the Schaumburg trip, 1.3 hours for the Clow.

What’s left:

• written test
• cross country
• cross country solo
• 3 hours of night flying
• 3 hours of instrument flying
• check ride

I talked to my instructor and he thinks if we continue training at this pace, I should be ready for the check ride in about 30 days.  I try to fly 3 times a week for multi-hour lessons.  That should be about 10 weeks for the entire training.  I can’t wait to get my license because I have so many people asking me to take them flying.

[This post authored by Dan's friend Kenan]

After I was able to gather my thoughts again, I asked him: “What happened?  Why didn’t you grab the controls?  We could have died.”  He looked at me calmly, and said this was nothing dangerous.  He asked me if I wanted to do this during take off.  My response was I NEVER want to do this period.  And he said “that’s why we have to do this so that you can recognize what happens and you don’t do it during take off.”  Unfortunately, I let go of the controls and it was only a half spin and before he releases me from training we have to complete a full spin.  YIKES!  Not looking forward to that.

Next thing that he said was: “Do you want to try this again, or do some landings at Kenosha?”  I was scheduled for a 3 hour lesson and this happened 15 minutes into it.  I was asking myself, “is he kidding?”  Let me go back and walk on the sweet ground again.  I was done for the day, but my ego didn’t let me do that.  So we ended up flying to Kenosha and did about 10 landings.  After the first 2 landing we started doing emergency procedures.  First was engine failure.  I was on the down wind leg and all the sudden the engine went quite.  I was like oh crap!  The spin must have done some damage to the engine.  And then he tells me “lets pretend that your has engine failed, land us.”  We also did flaps failure and all other sorts of emergency procedures.  On the way back to Westosha, he told me to fly without the yoke.  So the ailerons and the rudder were not functional.  I was impressed with the airplane.  If something fails, you still have options.  You can fly and land with engine failure, or other failures.  Again, the plane functions as a glider.  We concluded our day with some cross wind landing at Westosha.  Let me tell you, I was glad to be on the ground again.

Later, Kenan

[This post authored by Dan's friend Kenan]

When we got to the airport, it was windy (I won’t lie), but nothing atrocious. Automated reporting stations had it at 15 knots gusting to 20. I had flown in worse plenty of times, so I wasn’t too worried it – and didn’t really feel like canceling since so many recent flights were scrubbed for weather. We didn’t want to waste this beautifully clear day. The takeoff went fine and although the flight was a little bumpy at times, the air was fairly smooth and everyone enjoyed the 77 nautical mile journey. Upon getting to the Sheboygan area the winds had picked up though, and although KSBM has two almost perpendicular runways, the windsock had the wind splitting the runways at a 45° angle no matter which way you cut it. I knew landing would be fun. I tried Runway 31, didn’t like the approach and went around. I then tried Runway 3 and things weren’t lining up again and I went around. Finally, on my 3rd try I put her down quite smoothly on Runway 3 (more smoothly and softly than even on some no-wind days). Needless-to-say, the first topic of conversation at lunch was how happy we all were to be safely on the ground.

What I failed to realize earlier in the day is that although I’m plenty used to going around, my passengers (my parents in particular) might not be so cool with it. I have no ego, I’m totally fine with going around if something isn’t lining up correctly – ultimately it’s the safest thing to do. However, it’s easy to forget sometimes that even normal landings can be a bit stressful for some passengers in a general aviation plane – doing it 3 times in a row doesn’t help or lend to their confidence. Kenan, a fellow (student) pilot, who went around a couple times earlier that day himself, didn’t bat an eye about my going around – but I know my parents definitely had their hearts racing and probably a little sweat too. The flight back was fairly smooth but the wind was solidly perpendicular to the one runway at Westosha (see the picture of the wind sock just after we landed). I nailed the landing the first try (I guess it’s all about knowing your home runway). BUT, like many good crosswind landings, it involves a substantial crab angle, landing on the windward wheel first and putting the plane down seemingly at an angle. Again, although everything went textbook, one could cut the stress tension from my parents with a knife.

Ultimately, we all laughed about the experience and my parents still want to fly again with me – just maybe on less windy days now. Lesson learned – flying alone or with other pilots is a LOT different than flying with general passengers fairly new to general aviation. And although landing in crosswinds is good practice, letting your parents “see the workings of the sausage factory” might be something to keep for solo days. Lunch at Sheboygan was great though – “The Final Approach” restaurant is a nice classy airport restaurant right off Runway 21. All in all, a really “fun” day though! Check out the pic of Kenan, my dad, and me – and all our hair (what’s left of it) being blown around. My Mom had to take the picture because the mini-tripod for the camera wouldn’t stand up in the wind!

This flight I logged 2.3 hours of cross-country pilot-in-command time.

But before I started taking lessons I wanted to make sure that I can get a FAA medical certificate.   My condition is disqualifying but I was eligible to get a Special Issuance Medical.  All this means is that you are getting the medical under a special condition.  I got my private pilot medical for 5 years with the condition that I have to provide an update on my condition from my doctor in the form of a letter stating the current status of the condition.  As long as my condition doesn’t worsen, I can still fly.  You do not have to get another medical exam, just provide the letter at the 3 year mark.  This can be a little discouraging.  You invest so much into flying and you are loving it and then somebody tells you that you can not fly anymore.  However, my doctor has been doing medical certificates for 30 years and I talked to him a lot about this.  He explained that the FAA became more lenient with the medical and that most conditions that were disqualifying in the past, are now OK for flying.  If you decide to do this just be patient because it might take some time and some paperwork.  I had to provide a letter from the doctor stating my condition and recent blood work results.  It all depends what the FAA needs.  The doctor that did my medical assured me that he has patients that fly 747’s across the world with a special issuance medicals.  So it’s not a big deal, but it’s something extra that you might have to deal with.  The best source for info on your condition is the FAA website www.faa.gov OR a FAA Medical Examiner.  I just started out by typing my condition OR medication is the search box.  This is the most accurate information.  I do know that there are companies out there that want to charge you thousands of dollars to help you get your medical but this is a complete waste of money.  Do the research yourself and you should be well informed about your condition for your own good.  Talk to a medical examiner and see what he/she suggests you do.  These guys are doing so many medicals that they are usually well informed.

If someone has any questions, please let me know.  I will try to answer if I can.

Daniel thanks again for your blog.  It has helped me a lot.  I’m scheduled to fly again this weekend if the weather permits.  Will keep you updated as I go through my training.

[This post authored by Dan's friend Kenan]

I thought it would be great to hear about some of Kenan’s flight training experiences – so I asked him to “guest blog” whenever he felt like writing.  He’s a great writer with some new challenges and points of view that I think would go great on this site.   Anyway, enough introduction from me… stay tuned for some guest posting soon!

Like many travel sites out there, CheapFlights.com aggregates the prices/deals from the air carriers, but with this site, it even aggregates the sites that aggregate! (i.e., Kayak, Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia, Hotwire, etc.)  So, I can get rest assured it’ll find me the best flight fares out there.  I particularly like the ability to be flexible with travel dates and let the site pick the dates/times that end up getting me the absolute cheapest flight out there (hence the name of the site, I imagine)…then I can compare flights against the “cheapest” and hopefully feel like I’m not getting ripped!  If only this site could figure in my personal flying costs and compare it all for me…ha.

DAN’S PILOT TIMES FACEBOOK FAN PAGE

In case you haven’t noticed, on the right side of the site, I added a running total of my new Facebook fans – check it out and join the party!  As always, I really appreciate everyone’s support and readership!

As I’ve mentioned plenty of times, I’m a member of a non-profit flying club (the Westosha Flying Club to be exact).  My club owns six planes, any of which members can use/rent.  I still pay $55 per month in dues, just for the privilege of membership and to compensate for the fixed costs of running/maintaining the club.  Above that, I pay an hourly “wet” rate to rent the planes, which now ranges from $59/hour for Cessna 152’s up to $86/hour for Cessna 172-SP’s (172P’s are $74/hour).  The term “wet” means that gasoline is included in the hourly rate (I never have to pay extra for gas).  The hourly rate also only applies to actual flying time (when the engine is turned on, as measured by the “Hobbs Meter”).  In other words, if you fly somewhere for dinner and it only takes 30 minutes each way, you only pay for an hour of flight time total – even if you spent lets say 2 hours at lunch.  The club’s flight rates have increased slightly over these past two years, to cover increasing gasoline and maintenance costs.  Overall, though, I know the rates I pay are still some of the best in the country.  They truly keep costs just enough to not lose money (and not profit either).

I continue to track my average cost per hour since I started, and when you add in the monthly fees I am currently averaging $84/hour to fly when all is said and done.  That’s a marked increase from my last update ($66/hour)…mostly because I’m now flying the nice 4-seater planes almost exclusively (since I take passengers on flights now).  Obviously cost is very dependent on the planes you fly.  Most flying clubs do publish their rates, so it would be fairly easy to figure out what it would cost to fly in any particular area.

If people have updates on their cost of flying, I’d love to hear it!