Into the home stretch
Weather and a medical problem cut me to only 1 more flight in February and 3 days in March. I had had a "bump" on the back of my neck, just at the hairline for many years. It had not bothered me, but suddenly, it became a large bother. It is an epidermal inclusion cyst and it has gotten infected. It must now be removed, but first we must reduce the infection. We (the dermatologist and I) try four different antibiotics to no avail. It continues to grow and become more painful. I make a flight on Feb 17, but the discomfort is bothering me too much to continue.
On Feb 28, Dr Terrill removes it as best he can with all the infection around it. It requires an X shaped incision about 1X1/2 inches and 3 stitches. I am lying face down on a table and aware of someone wielding a scalpel right next to my spine the entire time. Recovery goes quickly (as usual for me) and I get back into the air on Mar 17. Could have gone a week earlier, but weather and work did not allow.
In the 6 weeks including the last 2 in March and all of April, I get 15.7 hours. March 25 is my introduction to instruments. What a trip! It was a little bumpy, and like the first flight doing steep turns and stalls, you get queasy. Having your view limited to the panel (close in focus) plays tricks on your inner ear. But I am able to control the plane.
One of the parts here is to get to straight and level and close your eyes. Then see how long before the plane begins to take an attitude you aren't feeling. This will either determine that you have incredible balance or make you realize how quickly you will lose it with no references. Normally it is the latter. I can keep it under control for about 40 seconds with my eyes closed. Dave says that is better than the average. Most of the credit for that goes to a very stable airplane, not to me.
I get some practice and another hour of instrument time before the end of the month. In April, the weather let up somewhat. The month starts with my long cross country.
Cross country again
In keeping with my plans to make the XCs a learning experience in navigation rather than simply a flying experience, I planned this one to cover essentially all new ground. I would fly from Aero Country to Corsicana to Paris to Aero Country. If done on straight lines, it would be 73nm, 108nm, 70nm. It would be flying over territory I had not flown over before. I would cross the path from Aero Country to Wood County between Corsicana and Paris, but that doesn't quite count.
I couldn't quite fly a straight line from Aero Country to Corsicana. That would put me too close to the area where the Dallas class B airspace begins at the surface. However, I could go slightly to the east, maintain 2500 feet and stay in the area where the class B begins at 3000. There is an ADF beacon on the field at Corsicana I could use to "home" on. The leg to Paris would take me slightly east to pick up the outbound VOR at Cedar Creek until I could pick up the Paris VOR. Then back along US82 and TX121 to Aero Country.
Edsel Murphy was the pseudonym of a pilot instructor during WWII. He literally wrote the book on flight training for the AAF. He prefaced each chapter with one of the homilies which later came to be known as Murphy's Laws. (In the process, he became the most prominent victim of his own laws.) He prefaced the chapter on cross country navigation with: "If something has been planned so well that nothing can possibly go wrong, something will."
The weather briefing warned of increasing winds beginning about two, but I planned to launch by 9 so I would be back by 12:30. No problem, right?. For whatever reasons, I didn't get off until 10:55. (it was the last day of a 3 day weekend, I couldn't get out of bed before 9:00.) The straight line bearing to CRS was 165, and I took a heading of 135 until I was west of Jupiter Road. The slight westerly component of the 6k headwind would keep me east of the class B floor and I could enjoy flying down the east side of Dallas. It was a little bit hazy, but not bad. I flew between White Rock lake and LBJ and could see the Mesquite airport off to my left. Nice quiet relaxing flight.
As I began to get south of Dallas, I tried to tune the ADF to CRS. The frequency is 396, but the tuning knob would not go below 400. Well, I have 4 hours of fuel, I can already see Cedar Creek lake. As long as I stay west of Cedar Creek and east of I45, I can't miss it. It's no problem. I identify the field from about 7 miles out. Their Unicom frequency is shared by many fields in the central Texas area, but I raised them for an airport advisory. Every time they started to reply, someone at one of the other fields walked all over them. (this is not rudeness, Unicom is low power. Anyone more than 20 miles away could not hear them. At my altitude, I was picking up transmissions as much as 50 miles away.)
One saving grace in small airports, they only have one runway. Generally it is oriented approximately north-south here as the prevailing winds are generally southerly. I assumed in the absence of any traffic at CRS that 14 would be the preferred runway and entered the pattern for that. As I turned on final, I was looking straight at the windsock. It was pointed right at me and standing straight out. No wonder I was 10 minutes past my ETA for a 43 minute flight!
In spite of the wind, it was a nice landing. I taxied up to the FBO, went in and used the bathroom, came out and signed the pilot's register and checked with the desk on the weather. The wind was now 150 at 10k gusting to 15k. I went back out and took the picture. Notice the flag standing straight out. This ought to make the trip to Paris a lot faster.
Fire it up and take off. I have 2 tasks immediately after takeoff, climb to 5500 and get north of the Cedar Creek VOR so I can ride it out to where I can pick up Paris. As I am climbing through 4000, I notice that the haze is such that I will have trouble seeing much ground detail if I go higher. Since my course is between 0 and 180, I must fly an odd thousand plus 500. In other words, it is 3500 or 5500. So, 3500 it is. The air is beginning to get a little bumpy, but the plane rides well. I have no trouble with picking up Cedar Creek and within 20 minutes, I have a good signal from Paris. I verify Paris with Sulphur Springs which will be just to the right of my course. Just sit back, ride the bumps and enjoy the flight.
Paris weather is announcing wind 150 at 12k, so I announce for runway 15. I am midpoint on downwind when a Bonanza announces that he intends to enter the downwind for 17. Oh, well! Quick look tells me that with a small adjustment from my current position, I can turn base for 17 with no difficulty, so I announce that and then do that.
Funny thing about bumpy air. The bumps don't average out. Left alone in the bumps, you will either rise slowly or descend slowly. These bumps were going down. Finally, rather than continually hauling the yoke back, I trimmed for a slight climb and let the plane come back to altitude on it's own. Sometimes it would get as low as 2200 before a quiet spot let it climb back, but most of the flight was between 2350 and 2500.
Flying TX121 was simple. A terrain feature like a highway, railroad or power line right of way that is stretched straight out in front of you is very easy to see. And that highway is dern near perfectly straight from Trenton to US75 just north of McKinney. Continuing that same track after crossing US75 takes one straight to Aero Country. I made my third good landing of the day, put the bird in the hangar and headed for the house one tired but happy birdman.
The next flight is instruments again. We do unusual attitude recovery. I close my eyes while Dave literally throws the plane around. When he says "your airplane", I have to recognize the current attitude from the instruments and return it to straight and level. What fun! He has this trick of making the first couple of movements wildly to confuse your inner ear and then a couple of coordinated movements where you never realize that a movement has taken place then a climb or dive and "your airplane".
The procedure is to recognize nose high or low first. If nose high, get the nose down then level the wings. If nose down, get the wings level first then bring the nose up. In both cases, adjusting the power as necessary.
A couple more review flights and some practice flights solo, and we schedule the check ride for May 2. On April 25, I take a pseudo check ride with another instructor named Paul Wolski. He gives me a real workout, but I do well except for the first part "under the hood". I am apprehensive, but confident.
On Apr 28, I give the bird a bath and a 100k blow dry and go home to study. I have gotten a total of 11.1 hours in April.
The check ride
For the check ride, I am to plan a trip one way to Guthrie, OK. I do all the preflight planning and run it by Dave, then go re-do it. In gathering all the paperwork necessary for the check ride, we discover that we do not have a certified weight and balance for the Mouse. This comes up because the examiner, Norm Seward weighs 260, and he will check weight and balance calculations for takeoff and arrival very closely. The Mouse will be just fine, depending on the load in the baggage compartment and the amount of fuel. Weight here is not the problem, balance is. The front seat is forward of the CG as well as the fuel. The more fuel I carry, the more weight I will have to have in the baggage compartment to bring the CG back to the allowable range.
We arrange for some paperwork that will satisfy Norm and wait for Wednesday. The weather is atrocious, so we postpone for the first time. The next attempt is scheduled for Saturday. We move the plane to the hangar where they have scales to weigh it and calculate a real W&B. Friday, another front comes through and it pours through Saturday into Sunday. We reschedule for Wednesday again.
Tuesday is beautiful and the forecast for Wednesday is good. I go to get the plane and put enough gas in it for the XC. It has sat out in the rain all weekend and there is beau coup water in the left tank. The seals (O rings) on the filler cap leak. This is typical, not a big worry. I drain all the water I can out and taxi down to the hangar. Travis has driven me to the hangar where the plane is and meets me at my hangar. I shut down and drive him back to Dave's, then come back to the plane. I check the left tank again and drain some more water out.
I launch and practice S-turns along 380 on my way to Denton. There, I put enough gas in to get me back to Aero Country, to McKinney to pick up Norm and make the XC (Check ride). I check the left tank and drain out some more water.
Wednesday is gorgeous. I leave work at 11:30 and go home. I eat a light lunch, get the weather briefing and file my flight plan. Then I go to the airport and preflight. There is still a little water in the left tank. I drain it and depart for McKinney. I meet Norm in the FBO office and we go to his office to begin the exam. The 260 estimate is conservative and worse yet, he is built like a pear.
The "check ride" consists of an oral exam and the flight. Norm goes over all the general knowledge in a conversational manner, including why I am doing this. He then goes over my knowledge of our airplane. We go over all the flight planning. He is impressed by my use of the computer for the planning forms and the internet for the data.
Finally, an hour later, he says "Well, let's go flying." I replied, "I thought you would never ask.". He told me to go do the preflight and he would meet me at the plane. Dave had warned me of this trick. He would be watching from inside to see how careful my preflight was. As I was still nervous about the water in the left tank, I was going to do a full check anyway. This time, the left tank had no water.
We got in and I was immediately aware of a potentially bad (for me) situation. His pear shape spread across the right seat from the door to my leg. This was going to make access to the trim wheel difficult. He apologized by saying that he won't do check rides in planes smaller than mine for just that reason. With a narrower cockpit, there just isn't any room.
We cleared with the tower and taxied out to the run-up area. I pulled onto the pad and started my pre-takeoff checks. A turboprop taxied by, turned it's rear to me and began it's run-up. Dang near blew us off the pad! After he taxied to the runway, I finished my checks and requested departure. We took off and headed north, like we were going to Guthrie. I trimmed (with difficulty) for cruise climb and said that here was where I would open my flight plan if we were really going to Guthrie.
He said, "Well, there are lower clouds than we anticipated, lets stay at 2500.". I leveled out and tried to trim for level flight.
He then said, "It's closing in, take it down to 1500.". I did and he complemented me on my descent technique.
Next, "Its completely closed in ahead and closing in behind, what do we do now?".
I replied, "We divert to Grayson County (F39)". It is just off to our left by now.
"Ok, do it". I simulated a call to Flight Service to advise of the diversion and close the flight plan, then entered the pattern for F39. We did all types of takeoffs and landings and I never botched a one of them. I even did the abort by the books. Some of the best flying I had done to that point. On the last takeoff, he took the airplane on climb out while I donned the hood. My nightmare was about to begin.
Back to 2500 feet and I just couldn't get the plane to trim for level flight. By myself and with Dave, I had been able to trim for hands off consistently, but I couldn't get the feel of the trim with my right hand in an awkward position and the hood on. But we soldiered on. I didn't do too bad, but I was not happy to see his hand coming into my view pointing at an instrument that indicated we were deviating from what we were supposed to be doing. Finally, it was over and we did some stalls and steep turns. By now, we were just northwest of McKinney. He said to contact the tower for landing instructions.
They told me to report established on a right base. I flew towards the right base entry and descended to pattern altitude. Inside, I was wondering: "Did I screw up too badly?". My ray of hope was that if you fail any part, the examiner must tell you immediately and cancel the check ride. But if your overall performance is not good enough, he can fail you after the flight. Dave had told stories of examiners that wouldn't tell you until they either gave you the green or pink copy.
I reported base and set up the approach. I had just turned final when Norm said, "Congratulations, Bo you are now a pilot." And stuck out his hand. I replied "Not so fast, I still have to make this landing."
I parked on the grass across from Dave's hangar and went inside to accept the congratulations. Sandra arrived right behind me with the tea. I swallowed half of it and grabbed a pair of needle nose pliers and went to fix the seat. All that was required was to remove the cotter pin that limits the rear motion, reseat it on the rails and replace the cotter key.
Now, the adventure begins!
