8/12/04 Feeling Out of Place in a Cessna 172 - I have been spoiled rotten. 18 out of my past 21 flights until today had been in Trinidads. I briefly flew a 172 in May, rode in one in March, and last soloed one in February. Today I flew a dual cross-country in a 172 and everything felt strange. Kevin and I went to Waterloo's avionics shop to drop off the 172 and pick up a Trinidad. I bounced around in the turbulence, complained about the sloppy-feeling controls, wondered where all the power was, and missed my ergonomically-designed seat for the 1.1-hour flight. I floated down the runway pretty far after coming in a few knots too fast, feeling like I wasn't moving in the first place. Yes, I have definitely become used to the Trinidad. When we switched to the TB20 I was much happier. We zipped back to Dubuque with a 150-knot groundspeed and rode through the turbulence like it was nothing. The controls felt solid and responsive. Flying the 172 was a good reminder of how lucky I am to get to fly the Trinidad! I logged 0.9 hours in it today.

8/17/04 Gliding Like a Brick - It only took about half an hour today to learn that 180-degree power-off accuracy landings in the Trinidad are nearly impossible. This is the last maneuver I still need to master before taking my commercial practical test. (My instructors and I overlooked it until now.) The FAA standards say that for this maneuver, you must pull the power to idle abeam your intended touchdown point, then maneuver to land on or within 200 feet after that point. Easy, right? Sure, if you are flying a 172. Fly a heavy airplane with a big engine and short wings, and you'll see the challenge. It sinks like a brick and the whole thing happens really fast! It is quite unnerving!

I found out the hard way that with full flaps and gear extended, flaring out over the runway requires a hard pull back on the yoke, and you usually slam down anyway. It is not like the floaty Cessnas.

Also, Dubuque's traffic pattern is 800 feet above ground instead of the standard 1,000. You have to begin turning around almost immediately after pulling the power to idle.

I had to add power on my first try and basically made a normal landing at the end. I added a touch of power on my second try to prevent a hard touchdown. I didn't cheat with power on my third, but landed hard before reaching my aiming point.

I was flying with Kevin, who is still pretty new to the Trinidad, so I was teaching myself through trial and error. I made three tries and three errors, so I called it quits and decided to try again another day.

In other news, my commercial written test expired, so I re-took it this afternoon and passed with a great score. I needed to get this out of the way before my checkride.

8/19/04 Review Lesson with Stop at Foster Field - Dubuque's runways are 6,502x100 feet and 6,317x150 feet. Foster Field (7A4), north of Galena, Illinois, is 3,000x30, making it one of the narrowest runways I've landed on. Ryan had me land the Trinidad there today. It was good to practice landing on something small, especially since I bet the FAA examiner will have me land at either Foster Field or Cassville (C74), which is 3,000x50. I also did stalls, slow flight, and steep turns. It was a clear, sunny day with variable winds that could be gusty at times. It made for a bumpy ride at low altitudes and a last-second wind shear before landing at Foster Field. There are plenty of birds who are lucky to be alive, too. It was a 1.2-hour lesson. I did a good job.

8/20/04 Good Maneuvers, and Better Power-Off Landings - I flew with Eric today, an experienced instructor whom I had never flown with before. He was a good substitute teacher. I did lazy eights, chandelles, a steep spiral, and some 180-degree power-off accuracy landings. My commercial maneuvers were fine. I needed Eric's help with a recipe for decent power-off Trinidad landings! First of all, it was nice to know that I am not the only one who has problems with them. The Trinidad isn't the greatest airplane to be doing these things in. The instructors have agreed that you should do these landings with only 10 degrees of flaps (takeoff setting), not 40 (landing setting). That gets rid of some of the extreme nose-down attitude, high sink rate, and tendency to land hard. I did two or three somewhat-decent landings (can't remember how many), and one or two where I did not touch down in the right spot. I also did one well-executed go-around when I decided we were more likely to land on the taxiway than the runway! This maneuver definitely gets my heart pounding. I need more practice. We flew 1.2 hours today and I should be back with Ryan next time.

8/24/04 No School for Me - The fall semester at UD started yesterday. It is so strange not to be going to class! No one is really flying, either, including me. We are stuck in a humid, rainy, cloudy weather pattern and it looks like it might stay this way for most of this week. Maybe that's okay, though. It helps slow down the annual chaos that happens at the airport around this time. I wish I could have been one of the new flight instructors and had a few students assigned to me, but I'm not quite there. It is an odd feeling to see new people come in and follow in my footsteps. It's also a good sense of accomplishment to know that I made it through four years of college classes.

8/25/04 Third Day of Bad Flying Weather, More to Come - Rain, rain, go away! My flight is cancelled again today. It was on Monday and Tuesday, too. The storminess, humidity, and cloudiness is getting a little old. I am on the schedule tomorrow and Friday but we'll see what happens with this wet weather pattern. At a time when I am anxious to fly and finish my commercial, I am sitting here bored!

8/30/04 Schedule that Checkride! - The weather from August 23rd to the 28th was totally rotten. All five of my scheduled lessons were cancelled. I flew today, reviewing commercial maneuvers and landings with my instructor. I did well enough to convince my instructor I am ready for my commercial checkride. We did four landings and flew 1.3 hours in the Trinidad. Ryan is ready to send me on my checkride.

8/31/04 Always Read the Fine Print - Oh no! My checkride was scheduled for two days from now until I realized I am missing part of the required training. I double-checked the regulations and found something buried in there that will cause me another delay. I don't have the required solo night cross-country and solo night landings!!! I need to log a two-hour night solo cross-country in night VFR with a landing at least 100 nautical miles from my starting point. I wish I would have noticed this earlier, because I didn't realize the flight had to be solo. Otherwise I would meet the requirement. I also come close with a couple cross-countries that are just under two hours. This is an unwelcome setback and expense. Also, I found out that I need to log 10 night solo landings at an airport with an operating control tower. This means I've got to go somewhere else. Dubuque's tower closes at 8:00 which is only about half an hour after sunset. I'm surprised to find out that I have only logged one night solo landing with a tower operating.

Naturally I intend to combine these things. I plan to do a night cross-country with a few landings at a few different airports. It will definitely be tiring. Once it is done, though, I will be ready for my checkride. It is rescheduled for September 8th. However, I don't know if I'll make it, because the nights have been very humid with low visibility lately.

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