Saturday, May 26, 2007

Aerobatic teams from around the world

Here is a quick video that includes some wonderful footage of different aerobatic teams from all around the world.








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Sunday, May 20, 2007

Fw 190, P-51 and Me 109 over Berlin

Its been many, many years since this collection of planes flew in the skies over Berlin.

Watch this piece of aviation history as a Fw-190, Me-109 and a P-51 Mustang wow the on lookers at the Berlin airshow.








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Saturday, May 19, 2007

Flying a P-51 Mustang

For Mustang lovers of all ages, you need to watch this video of a man's dream come true.
I would love to trade places with this man even for a moment.

Anybody own a P-51 out there?







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Friday, May 11, 2007

For pilots from the Pacific Northwest

I found a new site that flyers from the great Pacific Northwest should check out.
They have a forum area, name that northwest airfield game and is a cool place to just meet people from this area.

Check them out today!







Shop for Pilot and Aviation Supplies on-line

We've opened an on-line shop for pilot supplies, gifts and aircraft supplies in partnership with the Let'sFly co-op ownership program.

Not only can you shop for charts, study materials, tugs, etc. but you can also look for your dream airplane or even list your plane for sale for free!

We offer products from the following providers:

  • Jeppesen
  • ASA
  • Gleim
  • CH Products
  • AvComm

We also have listings for airplanes from the following manufacturers:

  • Atec
  • AMD
  • Beechcraft
  • Bellanca
  • BushCaddy
  • Cessna
  • Cirrus
  • Piper
  • Legend

To search for your dream airplane follow this link:

Aircraft For Sale

To list your airplane use this link:

Sell an Aircraft

To shop at our pilot store follow this link:

Our Pilot Store





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Thursday, May 10, 2007

Flight Lesson # 6

Today I was able to get an early start and get in the air by 1030 Seattle time. We still had some things from Jeppesen lesson #5 to work on so we headed out to the practice area to do some ground reference maneuvers.

These actually weren't as hard as I thought they would be for my first try but the wind was only at about 4knots so I shouldn't pat myself on the back too much just yet.

We started with the rectangle and even though I was being blow from side to side, most of the time I was able to keep a pretty good track while turning to the left. Going to the right was a little harder but I started getting it after a couple of laps.

The "S" turn was a little harder because I lost sight of the road we were using and decreased my bank a little too much to make it on every pass.

The turn around a point wasn't too bad but I only did it in a left turn so I can't say too much about my skill on that one. I just held a constant 45 degree bank and had it locked in nice and tight.

After that we did a couple of power on and off stalls with out a problem and then in to a steep turn to the left with a whip back to a turn to the right. I actually like doing those.

My problems started on the way back to the airfield..........

I called inbound at my normal marker but nobody was home....I try again and nobody answers but now I'm getting a little close to the departure end of the runway so I make a turn away from the field and contact ground to wake up the tower. Stay with me, this is where it started to become fun.

I was in a Cessna 152 and there was a 172 also requesting touch and go clearance from the tower. After the tower started paying attention to us they mistook the 172 for my 152 and cleared me for the # 1 slot. This forced the 172 to go long on the downwind over an active military range!!! I was a little flustered trying to keep up with the radio and the pattern work so I got a little wide on down wind, a little fast in to the base leg and a little high at final.

GO AROUND TIME!!

I worked it out and passed on that landing but was still a little off balance and had a hard time keeping my speed where it belonged. Once again I came in to base a little fast and on to final a little high but this time I made it work out. One the next pass I got a little tighter on the speed and hit the reference points pretty well. I extended the downwind leg a little because I was too high but this gave me a chance to get the plane set up for a proper speed in the final. I was pretty happy with this one even though I chopped the power a little sooner than I should have.
The last attempt looked pretty good as well until my instructor pulled the power as I crossed the 180 point and asked what I was going to do now.

I went with a 10-15 degree bank and no flaps until I knew I could make the runway, set 10 degrees made for 70 knots to counter the wind, hit 20 degrees about a quarter mile out, 30 degrees just before the fence and landed just long of the numbers. I asked the instructor how much was me and how much was him....he said it was all me on the landing and that he just helped keep me from over banking. I think he was pulling my leg but I'll take it.

Before my next flight I need to catch up on the ground lessons a little so I hit the presolo test on about my 9th flight.

Wish me luck!


Total time 6.8 hrs as of 10 May 07



Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Ever wonder what being in a Pitts looked like?

See what it looks like to be in a Pitts during some crazy maneuvers.






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Flight Lesson # 5

On Monday I was able to squeeze in a lesson after work so I went up with the senior instructor to finish what I had started in lesson 4 and work on lesson 5.

The weather was absolutely beautiful with winds from 190 at 2knots, temp 70 and clear skies.

We had a couple problems with the intercom system that had to be figured out since I couldn't hear the instructor at all but that was a minor bump in the road.

After getting airborne I had to wear the view limiting goggles for a little instrument time, while I did better this time it was still very hard to stay on course and level without being able to see the horizon.

We knocked out a couple of steep turns, power on and off stalls and some engine out procedures before hearing in to do a little pattern work.

This is where the world became unforgiving. The cross wind was very mild at about 4knots at this point but it was still a little too much for my first landing, I was off of the center line and had the instructor all over the controls trying to help me get back on track.

The next landing was more of a demonstration on cross wind landings and my take off was much better this time.

The third attempt is where things started to get a little funny for me, I went wide on my downwind leg, got too low on my turn to base and overshot the turn to final. This put me wide to the right and about 200 feet low so I did my first go around.

The final landing was a little better but I was still behind on my turns, power and altitude management but I mad it on the ground without much guidance. The shocker of this landing was on the next take off, my instructor pulled the throttle back to idle at about 100 feet AGL to simulate an engine out......... It was a very interesting touch down that made the tower ask if we needed assistance.

What a lesson that was.




Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Flight Lesson # 4

Last week I actually flew with my primary instructor!!! Its the first time we've been up together because he's been booked solid for the last couple of months.

As I expected, the beautiful day started to turn bad as I pulled in to the club parking lot and figured we wouldn't be doing much for my lesson.

After the preflight lesson we decided to go up to work on emergency procedures and knock out the demonstrated stalls (cross controlled, secondary, etc.) and see how I handled the plane in rough weather with some haze.

After getting out to the practice area we found a patch of smooth air and I was introduced to the steep turn. I didn't do too bad considering that I could hardly see the horizon with all of the haze around me. Even Mt. Rainier was blocked from my view. We did a few simulated engine out procedures and finished with a couple of touch and goes before calling it a day.

I felt like I was in control through the entire flight and walked away feeling like I had made some good progress. I just hope that more of my lessons go like this.

Total time 4.0 hrs as of 28 April 07



Thursday, May 03, 2007

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Bob Hoover F86 demo flight

Here is Bob Hoover performing a demo flight in a Philippine Air Force F-86.




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For more information on joining this program and owning a share of your own plane follow the link below and begin the adventure.






Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Flight Lesson # 3

On Saturday I had lesson number 3 at the Ft. Lewis flying club. It was a beautiful day with about 6knots of wind right down the runway and a ceiling of about 8000 feet.

I did the preflight without my instructor and we jumped in. After a few minutes trying to fix the headset jack on my side of the aircraft, we were off the ground and climbing at about 500 feet per minute when my CFI handed me the hood and said "do it blind". After I put the hood on everything started to go to pieces. My turn outbound was over shot by about ten degrees, chased both my airspeed and altimeter and generally felt not only behind the plane but out of control.

After removing the hood I didn't feel much better about the flight. We did some power on and power off stalls, basic turns, climbs and descents. After about an hour we came back in and did a touch and go that felt "ok" but I could feel the CFI all over the controls so I knew I wasn't in charge of the situation very well. I applied max power and took off again so that we could do a simulated engine out landing.

While I still enjoyed myself I was a little bummed out by how frazzled I got and how I never felt right about my flying that day. I guess I shouldn't expect much more than that since I am still in the single digits with my logged hours. Next time will be better.



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