Solo In Seattle
Don Corbitt
YeeHah!
Took my older kids (age 8 and 6) along for today's lesson. Other than
getting a little bored waiting for me to pass off and review the pre-solo
written exams, they were great.
Weather was perfect. Essentially no wind, scattered high clouds. I loaded
the kids in the 172's back seat, with repeated instructions that "Daddy is
going to be busy while flying, so you can look out the window and take
pictures, but don't interrupt him unless someone falls out."
Final checklist before departure I found I hadn't locked the primer control
in place, and that someone else had left the transponder active. I guess
checklists are good things :-)
We got away late (3:45 PM), so the sun was low in the west as we headed
across Puget Sound towards Bremerton. CFI had me do all radio work, and all
navigation.
Only complication was a plane that left Boeing Field right after me took a
slightly more direct route :-) and arrived at PWT about the same time I did.
Not only that, but she was aligned for a more direct entry to the pattern,
so I looped down south to let her go first. No big deal, minimal other
traffic today anyway.
On short final for my first practice landing, the VASI turned itself off.
(Perfect timing.) Three clicks and it was back. I felt so proud of myself
for handling the unexpected. (OK, I had a dozen options, (a) Ask CFI, (b)
Go around, (c) Touchdown anyway, I was set up fine, (d) Touch down wherever
I like on that huge runway, (e) etc. But still I felt proud :-)
Three touch and goes later, (and after a refresher on CTAF radio ops -
announcing I'm on base when I'm really on downwind might confuse people), I
full-stopped and taxied up to the little commuter terminal. CFI and the
kids get out, and I'm on my own.
Start engine, carefully following the checklist. I taxied back to the
threshold of Runway 19 ("one-niner", not "nineteen" :-), did pre-takeoff
checklist, announced my intentions, and moved onto the runway.
I think I checked my controls and settings about a dozen times. Everything
still looked good, so I gave it full throttle and off I go. Three times
around the pattern, three of my best landings. (At least, I think it was
three times. I was so busy looking for traffic, making radio calls, and
trying to do a pretty pattern that I wasn't sure how many times I went
around. The CFI didn't say anything, so it must have been close to the
right count :-)
Actually, the flying wasn't that different, but shutting down the engine a
couple times to unload and load passengers was very strange. Up to now, the
only time I would pull the mixture to full lean was when I was done for the
day at Wings Aloft on BFI.
Crossing back over to Seattle, I still had navigation duties. It was
essentially dark by the time I had loaded the kids, so it was easy to see
that Seattle was the large, well-lit city across the water. My CFI asked me
to point out some identifying marks based on the map. After comparing
islands and inlets on the map with the dark water below me, I discovered
that I was half way to Tacoma, and about to enter the Tacoma Narrows
airspace. Oopsie. By the time I discovered that, I had descended from
2,500' to 1,700', which is a little low when crossing something that big and
wet. Oopsie^2. A big left turn and things started matching up better on
the map. (Hey, I hadn't planned on navigating yet, and besides, it was real
dark outside :-)
Nice friendly touchdown at Boeing Field, but then came the hard part --
trying to find the taxiways in the dark!
My 6 year old son helped us push the plane into position, and the CFI wrote
a bunch of neat stuff in my log book. I can now fly (in the pattern)
whenever I want to (if approved by an instructor and meeting the other
requirements). Cool!
--
Don Corbitt, do...@analogia.com
Robert L Bass
peter robert lehner <ple...@students.uiuc.edu> wrote:
: Congrats on soloing! It sounds like you had a great day for it.
:
: Although I do need to ask about taking your kids up with you on a flight
: lesson. As I understand FAR 61.89(a)(1) ("A student pilot may not act as
: pilot in command of an aircaft that is carrying a passenger"), you are not
: allowed to have anyone else in the plane except for the flight instructor.
: I have always understood that while one is receiving flight instruction as
: a student pilot, no one else can fly with you. I may be reading the FAR
: incorrectly, in which case can someone please let me know.
I have taken my son on a dual cross country flight. I've also taken a
number of other kids from my church's youth group (one at a time, of
course) on dual training flights. Once, while on a demo flight with the
sales rep from Cessna, I brought my teenage son's girlfriend along.
All of this is perfectly legal. When on a dual flight with the CFI, you are
not the PIC. The instructor is PIC and in fact logs it as part of his PIC
time. If it were not for this, there would be very few CFIs around, since
this time is what they need to log to land that airline job.
At least, that's what my CFI told me.
Blue Skies,
RLBass
========================>
Robert L Bass
Bass Home Electronics
80 Bentwood Road
W Hartford, CT 06107
http://www.BassHome.com
alar...@BassHome.com
========================>
peter robert lehner
Congrats on soloing! It sounds like you had a great day for it.
Although I do need to ask about taking your kids up with you on a flight
lesson. As I understand FAR 61.89(a)(1) ("A student pilot may not act as
pilot in command of an aircaft that is carrying a passenger"), you are not
allowed to have anyone else in the plane except for the flight instructor.
I have always understood that while one is receiving flight instruction as
a student pilot, no one else can fly with you. I may be reading the FAR
incorrectly, in which case can someone please let me know.
Peter
robert a barker
In article <655uir$7...@q.seanet.com>, do...@analogia.com says...
>
>YeeHah!
>
>Took my older kids (age 8 and 6) along for today's lesson. Other than
>getting a little bored waiting for me to pass off and review the
pre-solo
>written exams, they were great.
>
Don: Congratulations !!!!!!!!!! That first solo sure feels good don't it?
I know you will enjoy your new found freedom.I really felt like I could
fly the first time I called up,scheduled a plane,and went flying all by
myself.
Keep us posted as you progress.
Bob Barker
JPH
Congratulations from Japan!
As I read your article, I remembered my first solo (so exciting like you) in
Oakland in 1987.
After I got a license I came back to Japan. From then on I haven't had a
chance to fly.
Please keep on flying up into a beautiful sky.
Kazuya Nakayama
Yokohama, Japan
jph...@msn.com
Dave Mould
In article <Pine.SOL.3.96.97112...@ux5.cso.uiuc.edu>, Peter
robert lehner wrote:
> Although I do need to ask about taking your kids up with you on a flight
> lesson. As I understand FAR 61.89(a)(1) ("A student pilot may not act as
> pilot in command of an aircaft that is carrying a passenger"), you are not
> allowed to have anyone else in the plane except for the flight instructor.
Surely the instructor is the PIC during student training so this regulation
would not apply? Where I fly, it is quite common for family to go along with a
student, at the discretion of the instructor - who will normally not allow it if
exercises involving unusual attitudes are involved. Also, long cross countries
are often made with 3 students on board. The students fly the aircraft for a
leg each. I'm in the UK, so YMMV.
==========
Dave Mould
==========
Sean Franklin
According to my CFI (and my logbook), I am not PIC... he is as long as I am
on dual-received... I am only PIC on solo. Don wrote that his kids left the
airplane with the instructor.
peter robert lehner wrote in message ...
>Congrats on soloing! It sounds like you had a great day for it.
>
>Although I do need to ask about taking your kids up with you on a flight
>lesson. As I understand FAR 61.89(a)(1) ("A student pilot may not act as
>pilot in command of an aircaft that is carrying a passenger"), you are not
>allowed to have anyone else in the plane except for the flight instructor.
>I have always understood that while one is receiving flight instruction as
>a student pilot, no one else can fly with you. I may be reading the FAR
>incorrectly, in which case can someone please let me know.
>
>Peter
>
>On Fri, 21 Nov 1997, Don Corbitt wrote:
>> Took my older kids (age 8 and 6) along for today's lesson. Other than
<snip>
>> CFI and the
>> kids get out, and I'm on my own.
<snip>
mike hahn
What a shame. Is that because regulations are different
in Japan or because you haven't had time? I imagine flying
over your homeland islands would be an amazing and memorable
experience.
JPH wrote:
> After I got a license I came back to Japan. From then on I haven't had a
> chance to fly.
>