2/4/04 Complex Operations Review in the Simulator- The commercial syllabus calls for practicing complex aircraft operations in the simulator, mainly to get used to operating the landing gear, flaps, and power correctly. I did slow flight, stalls, a go-around, and the Dubuque ILS 36 approach in the simulator and logged an hour.

2/10/04 Stage Check Off the Back Burner- It was delayed. I made two unnecessary morning trips to the airport only to have it cancelled. It was required to receive a grade for the cross-country portion of my commercial syllabus. Finally, it was today! I had my cross-country stage check this morning. Actually, I did the two-hour oral portion of it several days ago. And I had bad luck again this morning. In absolutely bone-chilling, freezing cold wind, I preflighted the 172. I waited for it to be fueled. The check pilot and I got in, shivering, only to discover that upon turning the key, a loud buzzing noise came from the plane and the propeller wouldn't turn over. The starter wouldn't engage! So I had to switch to a different airplane and do another preflight in the terrible cold... and even with two pairs of pants on, it hurt. This plane started, thankfully. The check pilot made sure I knew how to track courses, keep track of where I am, and divert to an alternate. Then I performed all types of takeoffs and landings at Dubuque. That was interesting because there were small clouds scattered above the airport, and under one of them, I flew through what looked like glitter. It was a tiny patch of light snow in the morning sunlight. I logged 1.5 hours and passed the stage check.

2/13/04 Sixth Trinidad Lesson- It was sunny but windy today, with a crosswind component of 15 knots. Several 172s stayed on the ground during my block. The Trinidad can handle 25 knots of crosswind (however, our school limitation is 15), so I flew it. Kyle thought it would be a good day to practice crosswind takeoffs and landings in it, which I had never done. Trips around the pattern are busy in this plane.... gear, flaps, power, flaps, gas, undercarriage (three green, no red!), mixture, prop, switches, three green, no red, flaps... There are several steps involved in just one lap back around for landing. Don't forget there's also talking on the radio! We don't do touch-and-goes in this plane at our school for safety reasons. Each landing requires taxiing back either on the taxiways or the runway. Lots of work. Anyway, I did four landings today. On the first one, I was totally amazed at how much rudder authority the plane had. By my fourth decent landing in a 15-knot crosswind, I had yet another reason to like the Trinidad.

2/16/04 Fly, See, Ski - I love snow! It makes the normally brown, winter Iowa ground look cool. It covers everything up so the sun doesn't have much to make turbulence with. And it gives me something to do, like cross-country ski. Today the sky was overcast and beautifully smooth with a steady wind. Neither of the Trinidads were available, nor was my instructor. So I took out a 172 and practiced maneuvers solo for 0.9 hours northwest of Dubuque, Iowa. I did steep turns, steep spirals, chandelles, turns around a point, S-turns, and eights-on-pylons. And yes, my eights-on-pylons were again great. Now if only I can do them great on my checkride! On the way back to the airport, I looked for the place I had been cross-country skiing lately, Swiss Valley Nature Preserve. It was easy to find. An hour after landing, I was skiing at that very place!

Luxemburg, Iowa - a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, great for turns around a point, but don't annoy the neighbors

Swiss Valley Nature Preserve

2/2704 Seventh Trinidad Lesson- Kyle and I flew to Maquoketa, Iowa today, just a short hop from Dubuque. I did a short field takeoff at Dubuque and a short field landing at Maquoketa-- a hard one, which reminded me not to pull the power to idle when just over the runway. I did another short field takeoff and a trip around the pattern for another short field landing. That one was okay except for a little floating. Then I did a soft-field takeoff, which requires a lot of attention in this plane in order to keep the tail from hitting the runway. I did slow flight, power-on and power-off stalls, and a simulated engine failure on the way back to Dubuque. I ended the lesson with a nice soft field landing. Even though I'm not perfect, I finally feel at home in the Trinidad. The syllabus says I only need 0.3 more hours before I can take my stage check in it. In reality I'll probably fly it another hour. After that, passing the stage check will give me my high performance and complex logbook endorsements, allowing me to solo planes like the Trinidad and carry passengers without an instructor. I have benefitted from having several hours of high performance / complex experience outside of school, too.

After my lesson, I went home for spring break. We have a week off from school. It will be strange to come home for break and have no 150 to fly... but the forecast doesn't look good anyway! I thought of staying in Dubuque to try to fly, but decided the ever-changing springtime weather will probably make that difficult. We'll see if I'm right.

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