It was over three months since I flew last time. For all that time either weather or schedule did not cooperate but today the weather was almost perfect and I really needed something to take my mind completely off of everyday problems. So I went to the airport and did the preflight. When the time has come to pull the Cherokee out it turned out that grass is so soft that there is no way I can do it on my own. Fortunately I had another Cherokee with me that one equipped with nice 10500 pound winch up front. So I used one to pull out the other.

After that it was just a regular thing. I was pleasantly surprised that after all those months of siting on the ground all my landings were soft enough to qualify them as almost greasers Looks like when you really focus on what you do and keep watching the airspeed everything comes up nicely almost by itself.

I was running low on time so I did only two touch and goes. After third landing I taxied back to the parking spot and again using my other Cherokee pulled the Piper back in.

it was really good to be back in the air. Even though it was just 0.4h it made me to completely switch off my ‘regular’ brain and turn on my ‘flying’ one. I’m very fresh pilot and flying still demands 100% of my brain to do it safely. That king of ‘distraction’ from my regular routine works wonders. And the nicest thing – I’m current again!

0.4h/0.0h inst : 3 to/ldg logged
68.1h/3.1h inst : 330 to/ldg total

How many of us fly commercially and don’t even think about how safe it is? We think we know it, we are pilots after all. But is it really as safe as we think it’s there? Were those pilots pushed beyond their capabilities in the name of keeping the business profitable?

And how much they made? $16k a year…

Browsing trough the internet I found that there is an alternative for guys like me – in ear headsets. They look and work very similar to earphones you got with your iPod or Walkman. With one small difference – they use special foam or silicon seals to fill your ear canal so no sound can get to your ear other than your radio’s. Many pilots claim that they reduce noise as well or better than those fancy ANR headsets. But again – the price for those is still beyond my rich.

So I build my own. Using cheapest pilot headset from Aircraft Spruce (below $70) as a microphone and cable donor and a pair of Comply NR-10 headphones I rolled my own in ear headset:

I made the frame from 3/16″ steel rod, taped everything together and took it today for first flight. They are simply awesome. I can’t really say how much better they seal the noise (the green ear plugs are rated 33dB NRR while my old headset was rated just 24dB) but they are a lot. Plus the sound is delivered directly to your ear so it has no chance to mix with residual noise that went through ear cup. The result – today was the very first day when I really had to dial down volume on the intercom because it was simply to loud, and I still had zero problems with sound clarity). No more sweaty ears, clamped head and migraines.

0.5h/0.0h inst : 1 to/ldg logged
67.7h/3.1h inst : 327 to/ldg total

The original plan was to fly on Saturday but due to weather conditions including very gusty winds and reported turbulence we switched to Sunday. Today winds were way lower and the weather was generally nicer. We took off around 12 and headed for Pella. The beginning of our trip was simply awful. Location and configuration of the Green Castle Airports makes take offs very challenging when the wind is blowing from the headings between 160 and 210 degrees. As you already figured out it was 180 degrees today. Flying is still a stressing experience for Iza so I tried to make it as smooth as I could. Yet today it was still very turbulent. I tried to escape it climbing up as soon as possible and in fact just after passing 3000 ft. MSL air became very smooth. One can’t get everything so for a bit of smooth air we had to pay the price in 30 knots headwind. Well it was worth it. The rest of the flight was very uneventful and even the descending through turbulent air below and landing were quite nice.

Pella which is also called as small Holland in the middle of Iowa is a small town with a climate. It’s best known for it’s Tulip Time festival that happens every May. Fortunately it’s climate stays in the town even when tulips are gone.

The brick building on this photo is the airport terminal. Inside is even better:

It more resembles home than airport terminal. Friendly guy at the counter loaned us their courtesy car and we headed downtown to find something to eat. It turned out that here we had to pay another price of switching days. As it happens in many small town in rural Iowa almost all businesses are closed on Sunday. We managed to find one open local restaurant. There were some other chain places open, but we didn’t fly so far to eat in place we have around the corner, did we?

After lunch and small walk during which Iza shot one of the best HDR pictures I’ve seen lately:

we headed back to the airport. Short preflight with a bit of posing time:

and we headed back home. The air was just a bit nicer to us in lower layers, and the wind was now blowing from the back so our short hop home became even shorter 28 minutes. For comparison Google Maps says that it would take us 1h56m if we went by car. WOW!

On a very positive note Iza is slowly getting used to flying and we already have some nice places lined out within her current time aloft limit of 45 minutes one way. And I can get needed XC time for my instrument rating.

1.7h/0.0h inst : 2 to/ldg logged
67.2h/3.1h inst : 326 to/ldg total

To add even some more to the excitement we were going to fly the Skyhawk. “My” Cherokee was rented out for the whole weekend so I had no choice but to get familiar again with Cessna. I flew it for about 6h back in March and never really got a hold of it (it was more or less in the middle of my training then). So I decided that it would be wise to do some pattern work with it to get myself familiar with it again. I spent 5 minutes on the ground studying POH to get all needed speed, left Iza on the ground and departed. It quickly turned out that it was wise decision indeed. First two approaches were completely botched. Used to Cherokee’s brick like characteristic I was cutting base way to close to the runway and ended way up both times. The next two tries were quite OK. I landed without much trouble. But when I just started to think I got it, fifth approach came way too high again. Doh! After sixth approach I landed and taxied back to pick up Iza.

Here the fun part begins. We took off and I instantly knew she wasn’t very happy. But she hold herself together. We flew south around Kent park, a little bit east to show Iza North Liberty, Coralville and Tiffin from the air. Then we climbed out and headed west for few minutes. It was less shaky up there and I could see Iza was very, very slowly relaxing. After about 20 minutes of flight she had enough so we headed back to Green Castle. Landing was one of the worst I’ve ever done in Skyhawk, fishing for the runway for quite some time, but I managed.

Back on the ground Iza asked me if I’m not disappointed that we didn’t go anywhere because of her. I wasn’t. I knew more or less how it’ll end up, and I have to say I’m very proud of her for the determination to stay up there as long as possible. It was 40 minutes this time, it’ll be much longer next one. I’m sure we’ll be going places in no time.

1.3h/0.0h inst : 4 to/ldg logged
65.5h/3.1h inst : 324 to/ldg total

What should I do next? Instrument? Tail wheel? Complex? Hm…

The numbers count only for flight to and from checkride. Those numbers will be in another post.

0.7h/0.0h inst : 2 to/ldg logged
63.3h/3.1h inst : 317 to/ldg total

My designated pilot examiner works as an airline pilot in his ‘day job’ so he is available only on limited numbers of days when he’s actually in town. Next such possibility happens next Thursday, the 8th. Now all I can do is wait and hope that current forecast for it will hold up.