Well, this has definitely turned out to be one of the best, and most challenging, years in my life. As you may have guessed by my lack of blog entries, I've been busy. And, although I'd like to say I haven't been blogging because I've been busy flying, I can't....yet. Everything from starting a new relationship, and ending it, to buying a house, and another large purchase that I'm polishing up the details on (stay tuned to the blog - it's a doozy!).

I did have one more 'cleanup'...

11/20 This was my last solo cross-country, destination KCUL. The plan was simple, the flight straightforward - take off & fly to KCUL, getting flight following from KEVV & transitioning the Charlie airspace, and do the same on the way back to KHNB, which if the winds were as forecast and close to what DUATS was estimating, should put me just over the 1.9 hours of solo time I needed.

Well, I could make this a long post about every detail of the flight, but honestly it was...

I've been ill the last couple weeks, so I'm going to include two flights in one quick post. On 10/20 I went up with my CFI to knock out the .7 hours of hood work, starting with another instrument takeoff. While in the air we also worked on stalls and slow flight - the first time I had worked on either in a year I believe. I also got in 2 more night landings, and I exceeded the requirement for simulated instrument, getting an additional 1.1 hours in under the hood.

On 11/3 I got...

10/13/2015 This was a pretty laid-back, no-pressure flight for the most part. I met my CFI at the airport around 19:30 local. An hour later than I normally start, I was feeling tired from a hard day at work & couldn't wait to get in the air and engage my flying brain, letting the stress of the day fade into the distance.

I had 2 goals for this flight - fulfill the night cross-country requirement (100nm total distance), and complete the remaining number of night landings...

10/6/2015 This was a straightforward flight with one primary goal - satisfy the requirement for three solo takeoffs and landings at a towered airport - and one secondary goal - chip away at the rest of my simulated instrument time.

Preflight, runup, all normal. Then, my CFI has me put on the hood as I taxi into takeoff position. "I'm going to have you do an instrument takeoff." Even though I've never done one, this actually sounded fun, which surprised me. I'm usually...