9/7/03 Another Long Trip North - To satisfy the requirements for the long cross-country toward my commercial certificate, I flew from Dubuque to Superior, Wisconsin (SUW) today with a stop at Hayward, Wisconsin (HYR). I wanted to land at Sky Harbor in Duluth but the lake had other plans for me, and I was just able to make it into Superior under the low clouds. I flew through some clouds on my nonstop flight back. It was a long 5.8 hours in the plane, and a worthwhile visit with a friend.

Duluth Sky Harbor Airport through the clouds

9/13/03 Sim Lesson - 1.5 hours of simulator torture today! Tracking, bracketing, and three approaches.

9/14/03 My New Plane? - I'm working on paperwork and negotiating the deal to buy the 150 that I have always flown. It looks like I will pick it up sometime after September 21st, but this isn't set in stone yet, so I'll give an update when I know more!

9/15/03 Another Sim Lesson - This time it was 1.6 hours in the simulator to finish up some commercial syllabus requirements. I did tracking, holding, a DME arc, and three approaches. Now I'll be instrument current for six more months.

9/16/03 First Lesson in the Trinidad - I flew the 250-horsepower SOCATA TB-20 Trinidad this evening for the first time. I had ridden in the back once but hadn't flown one. I'm using this plane to earn high performance and complex endorsements. I did climbs and descents, steep turns, and lots of slow flight to get used to handling the plane. It was so fun to fly something different that even after 1.8 hours, I wasn't sure I wanted to stop, and we already scheduled another lesson for tomorrow!

We have two TB-20s at UD and use them for commercial training. They're fast and full of advanced systems. The plane I was in tonight had a King electronic HSI, a Garmin GNS 430, and a Strikefinder with traffic avoidance built in. (Normally it has a two-axis autopilot but that was disabled for maintenance.) Besides monitoring all the new gadgets, I had to get used to the retractable landing gear and propeller pitch control.

9/20/03 Second Trinidad Lesson - I flew the TB-20 again this afternoon with my roommate riding in the back. My instructor had me practice slow flight for a long time, then work on steep turns. Then I did two full-stop, taxi-back landings at Cassville, Wisconsin, which is basically a runway nestled between the bluff and the Mississippi River, surrounded by houses, trees, and smokestacks. I had only been there once before. I found out it's a little unnerving to fly straight towards a bluff at 100 knots, but I did just fine! My landing back in Dubuque was so soft we barely felt the wheels touch.

9/29/03 Third Trinidad Lesson - This time I flew the other TB-20 at school which has slightly different equipment. I learned how to use the two-axis autopilot in combination with the GNS 430 GPS. I did an instrument approach using only the autopilot. My experience with Garmin GPS units from work, flying SR22s, and using the latest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator came in handy! I did four landings and one practice go-around in Dubuque. The sky looked nasty and we flew through rain that wasn't reaching the ground.

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