posted Nov 19, 2009 8:18 AM by Ben Lauer
Here are a ton of photos to enjoy from my flight with Bob Alonso.
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posted Nov 4, 2009 8:11 AM by Ben Lauer
Guess who hasn’t updated in a while? ME!
I got the physical license about 5 weeks ago. Yeah, it had my last name printed incorrectly. Horray. I called the FAA and they sent me a new one in about a week. Efficient for Government work!
I haven’t been flying a lot, here is the list of flights I’ve made in the last month:
- I flew over to Muncie to pick up Erika Haskins and we went up to Rochester, IN for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. That was a fun flight. The way back was almost all at night and it was beautiful.
- I did the pilotnpaws flight mentioned below and saved 9 cute little puppies.
- I flew from EYE to SKY (Sandusky, OH) with 3 passengers to go to Cedar Point. Jonathan, Christine, Ann and I went up for a day riding roller coasters. It was really fun. On the way back we kept turning on the lights of airports with the pilot controlled lighting. Ahhh…tax payer dollars at work. In all reality, it is really nice to be able to do that and confirm where you are.
- After the Cedar Point trip on the 19th, I have only flown one other time. That was to take Kevin McCluskey and Jim Grady up for a ride. We flew over to Mt. Comfort, had them switch seats and then fly back. It was a good time. It was only about .7 hours on the Tach, but they both got a big kick out of it.
I have a couple of big flights planned for this month too. On Annie’s birthday I think I am going to fly up to the Muncie airport for dinner. There is a nice restaurant on the field there so it should be fun.
I’m flying down to Evansville during Thanksgiving week in order to hang out with my grandparents and take my grandpa up flying over his land and such. I think he will love it. At least, I hope he loves it. He was my main motivation for getting in to flying again. I wanted to be able to fly down for thanksgiving and go up with them. Maybe we will fly over to Henderson, KY or something. We’ll see… |
posted Oct 11, 2009 5:43 PM by Ben Lauer
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updated Oct 11, 2009 5:59 PM
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Today was a fantastic day to be a pilot. As a part of Pilotsnpaws.org, Christine and I flew down to Taylor County Airport in Kentucky. We picked up 9 puppies that would have been euthanized. They will have a fresh new start in Appleton, Wisconsin. With the help of Susan in Kentucky, Rhonda from Gary, Chris from Milwaukee, and Mary from Appleton, we saved some fantastic little puppies today. Christine did a great job taking photos. Here they are: http://picasaweb.google.com/pilotsnpaws.lauer.magadanz/101109FirstPilotsNPawsMission#I can't wait to do it again! |
posted Oct 4, 2009 8:23 AM by Ben Lauer
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updated Oct 4, 2009 10:13 AM
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Coby and I went for a little trip down to Paoli for the Aviation Awareness Day. It included free food for any fly-in pilots and some chatting with the locals. We saw a YAK-52 on the field. That plane is sweet, even though it is Russian. I've attached a photo below, but that isn't the exact same one we saw. Things like that make me want to get the opportunity to get to fly a couple of Warbirds. Or at least fly in a warbird, even if I'm not the pilot. Anyway, the people there were nice, we showed up and got our hand stamped showing that we had flown in. I walked up to the food table and asked what we were able to get as pilots, and she said we could get what ever we wanted. I got a burger and some chili and Coby got a burger and a hotdog. It was pretty fantastic. After eating we checked out the other aircraft that had flown in. As I walked out of the hanger a guy stopped me and asked if I was the pilot of N145K. He said that he dinged by plane with his, N9421D. Immediately I noticed that this was another Sky-Vu plane and realized he was joking. It was not my favorite joke, but I chuckled. On the way back home we took the scenic route home over to Greensburg to check out the Tree growing in the courthouse window. From there we headed back to Eagle Creek. You can check out the map of our flight below. Cool right? |
posted Sep 30, 2009 6:55 AM by Ben Lauer
Well, I’m a pilot. Hooray! I had my check ride on Saturday the 19th and I was successful. There almost two hours of oral exam questions and 1.1 hours of flying. It was pretty windy on Saturday, but I’m going to cover that stuff after the oral. Here is what went down:
I had to plan a flight to Spirit of St. Louis (KSUS) airport. Spirit is on the other side of St. Louis and I think he wanted to see how I would treat the Class Bravo airspace. I of course am fearless and chose to go right through it. Obviously this won me points becuase people shouldn't be afraid of controlled airspace, it is actually safer than uncontrolled airspace. The flight planning portion was fine, he pointed some things out on the sectional chart and asked about them. We talked a little bit about 2 way communications and when I was required to talk to someone and then asked if the plane had a GPS. It didn't, and he was surprised, but kind of pleased at the same time.
From there we covered aviation weather and airspace minimums. I almost did this flawlessly, but overall I did a good job.
After about 2 hours of oral questions we headed out to the plane. From there he asked a few system questions about the gages and the placement of counter weights on the controls surfaces. I knew these becuase Nate has prepared me well. We took off uneventfully, even with a stiff crosswind and headed toward the first check point on my cross country, Boone County Airport. Once I had it insight, he diverted me and we did some air manuvers.
Here is the order of things on the check ride:
Take off
First check point
Clearing turns
Steep turns (we only did 180s)
Turning power on/off stalls
Spin awareness (he set up the plane where we would have entered a spin)
Hood work
- constant airspeed ascents/descents
- turns to heading
- unusual attitudes
- lost procedure (using VORs while under the hood)
Right after I took off the hood, I confirmed where we were and then he pulled the power and opened the door and window
He closed the door a little bit later but left the window open to add some confusion.
We were just south of the Sheridan airport so we landed there by gliding in. I did the soft field landing and take-off, then a short field Take off and headed back to TYQ (Indy Executive).
At TYQ we did two landings, one was short field and one was accuracy.
J.C. stressed that when you were in the pattern, you should always be able to land if power is pulled out, so that the pattern legs adjust accordingly when you have a heavy cross wind. And that slips may be necessary. Also, he said when he flys his 172 (which is a 1983) he does no power landings as a norm. So I think I’ll going to start practicing them on my own. A complete no power landing is kind of nuts to me, but I guess it isn't a big deal if I practice them.
Now, with all of that said, here are the things that I think I could have focused on more:
- Gliding (all the way to landing with no power), especially in pattern
- Radio communications – I think I do a good job of it, but I wish I would have had more experience with it. (Specifically controlled airspace)
- Turning stalls – power on/off
- SIGMETs – Tango, Sierra and Zulu (I hadn’t heard of these before, but I made some good guesses about them) A sigmet is a weather advisory for the air, Tango is for turbulence, Sierra is for Icing and Zulu is for Visibility.
Overall, it was a good experience, and I probably would have had a better post if I was able to write this just after the checkride. Oh well, 2 weeks later isn't so bad. |
posted Sep 15, 2009 11:27 AM by Ben Lauer
Well, I am 4 days away from my checkride. There is a good possibility that next saturday night I will be a private pilot! Hooray!!!
Anyway, I'm excited, and I'm doing some studying to prep. Wish my luck!
Ben |
posted Sep 10, 2009 6:03 PM by Ben Lauer
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updated Sep 10, 2009 6:23 PM
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I completed my second cross country today. Well, half of it. I went to Evansville to visit my grandparents for the evening. This whole flying thing is really great. Anyway, There isn't a whole lot to talk about, so I'll do another photo post:  
Here I am, just over Bloomington at 6,500 ft.
More at 6,500 ft.
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posted Sep 10, 2009 4:43 AM by Ben Lauer
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updated Sep 10, 2009 6:00 PM
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I hit a major milestone yesterday. It was my last milestone before the checkride. I completed my Long Solo Cross Country fight.
Here are the requirements:
- Total distance of greater than 150nm
- One leg with distance of greather than 50nm
- 3 stops at airports other than my home airport
Other things I added in there:
- 2 stops at tower controlled fields (3 solo stops required)
Here are the details of my trip:
I took off from Eagle Creek at about 1640 local time. My first check point was the Brickyard VOR. It is a navigational beacon about 3 nm west of Eagle Creek. I flew over that and then fixed myself on the 244 degree radial. This lined me with Terre Haute International (Hulman Field). This field is tower controlled and I had to put in a specific transponder code (0311 was the code I was assigned) because unlike other controlled fields in class D airspace, HUF had radar service. I made a landing on runway 32 and pulled off on to the taxiway. I contacted ground control (towered airports have different people who control the planes on the field and the planes in the air) and asked to taxi back to the beginning on runway 32 for departure to the west. I was given clearance and I taxied around. I contacted tower and was cleared to take-off. I'm not sure that the nice people in Terre Haute were really enamored with me, but whatever, it was my first solo stop at a tower controlled field. I headed due west from Terre Haute to land at Coles County Airport (MTO). I'd been here once before last November, and this landing was MUCH better. haha. I exited the runway and taxied around for departure to Decatur.
Here is where it got interesting for me. The Decatur VOR, which I was planning on using for naviation to the field, was inoperative. I did not know this was the case before I was due to depart, but I found out when I left MTO. Luckily I was able to use the MTO VOR and some old fashioned pilotage to find my way. The only thing I was worried about was that the visibility was about 9 miles, and I am supposed to contact the Decatur Tower when I am 10 miles out. Anyway, I made my best guestimate and I landed without issue on runway 36 right below the control tower. I felt some pressure when I was landing because I know that controller was bored and was watching me come in and probably judging me quite a bit. I taxied off and parked right below the control tower next to The Decatur FBO.
I met with Lenny for dinner at a Chinese Buffet and it was GLORIOUS! At about 2030 local time, 2130 at home, i departed for Eagle Creek. I flew almost due east and when I was south of Champaign, I requested flight following. I've talked about flight following before, but basically I get a transponder code and I am tracked on radar. I will get information about other traffic in the area and convective weather alerts (at times). In general, it gives me something to listen to while I am flying. You can see my route home here on the right because when you get flight following, it shows up on FlightAware.com. Cool Right?
I made it back at about 8:30 and it was just getting dark. Technically, I didn't fly at night, but it was close.
Total Time: 3.0 hours
Total Distance: 248 nm
Longest Leg: 115 nm
Landings: 4
Here is what I have left to complete before I can get my license:
2.0 hours of solo cross country
1 landing at a tower controlled airport
Practical Test
The first two things I'll get knocked out when I fly to Evansville tonight and return tomorrow. |
posted Sep 1, 2009 9:19 AM by Ben Lauer
I flew again yesterday. It was mostly review for the checkride, which was awesome. I have to prepare a flight plan for the check ride. I don’t actually know where I have to plan it to, but the flight examiner will tell me in advance and then I’ll plan it and bring it with me. This plan will then be utilized for the beginning of the checkride. We’ll fly to my first point, then do some maneuvers. These will include stalls, steep turns and ground reference (probably turns around a point). After that I will do some flying under the hood and then after doing that for a while, I will take the hood off and have to determine where I am and then fly back to the home airport. At the airport we’ll do some performance take-offs and landings and then it will basically be over. He may actually pull the power out while in the pattern and make sure that I make it to the runway. That can be challenging if you don’t act immediately. But the 172 has a 9:1 glide ratio, so I can glide 9 feet forward for every 1 foot I drop, which means if I am 1000 ft above the ground (pattern altitude), I can glide for 9000 feet. This about 1.75 miles, so I don’t have a lot of room to work with. Of course, when you turn you lose more altitude, so I’ll have to make an immediate turn for the field and hope that the wind doesn’t pick up. Crazy right?
So, yesterday I did the following:
Flew from Eagle Creek to Metro to pick up Nate
Took off from Metro north
Stalls – power on and off
Steep Turns (they are looking better!)
Performance TOLs. I think I have these pretty much down now.
Ground Reference Manuevers – S-turns and turns around a point. These are difficult because you have to change the angle of bank on the wings in order to keep a constant distance from a point.
Normal Landing at UMP
Fly back to Eagle Creek
It was good. Another day or so of this and I’ll be ready.
Totals:
Solo 0.9
Training 1.4
Landings 7 |
posted Aug 27, 2009 10:48 AM by Ben Lauer
Two Days ago I had another solo flight to UMP to pick up Nathan again. I’ve been trying to finish off my instrument requirements, and we did 0.4 hours. I only have 0.5 more hours until I am done with that. I don’t love it, so I’m ready to not have to wear the hood anymore. It was pretty uneventful, but fun none-the-less.
Yesterday evening Nate and I met up for one of the last times. We completed the night landing requirement, as well as my instrument time. I am extremely pleased. Now all I have remaining are 6.9 hours of solo time, including a solo cross country which I will be making on Labor day. I’m going to go visit Lenny in Decatur, IL. I’ll leave pretty early in the morning, and then we are going to go golfing and get some lunch before my return. It will be good to see my buddy again. I feel like it has been forever, but I think only a month or so since we went to Kings Island together. I really need to fly in to see Caleb some time. I feel like I am missing out on so much!
Anyway, back to yesterday. I took off from Eagle Creek at about 8:00 pm and headed over to Mt. Comfort. I did an ILS approach on runway 25. These approaches are actually something that is done for instrument training but because we only had 0.5 hours of instrument time remaining to meet the requirement, Nate decided we would do something different. I was pretty awful doing the approach, but at one moment during the decent I was exactly on. Both my airspeed, my altitude and my location right and left of the runway were perfect, then I promptly drifted again. Of course, I couldn’t tell where the runway was, but that is the point.
After Mt. Comfort we headed back over to Eagle Creek and did two performance TOLs. We worked on Short Field a little bit because we had done the soft field the day before on the grass. They looked pretty good. After the first two performance landings we did two normal landings. I needed to do these two in order to fulfill my requirement for 10 night landings to a full stop. No more special requirements! (except for solo flight). Here are my current log book totals:
Total Time: 39.0 Hours
Total Landings: 134 (124 Day, 10 Night)
Cross Country Time: 7.7 Hours
Night Time: 4.1 Hours
Simulated Instrument: 3.0 Hours
Solo: 3.1 Hours
I have scheduled my knowledge test for September 5th. I’ll be taking it at Greenwood Executive. Nate is talking with the examiner sometime today to determine when to take my practical test (the final test). It will probably be around the 19th of September. Lets just say I think I’ll meet my goal of being a pilot by Thanksgiving. |
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