First lesson today!!

[HeloJunkie]

HeloJunkie...

 

I live just across the river from Merrimac and a tad West nearer Prairie du Sac. My X-crountry came up from Janesville to Madison to Prairie du Sac to Baraboo to Watertown to East Troy. The Baraboo Bluffs and the WI River (Lake Wisconsin) were the best to fly over!

 

 

Amazing area, that is for sure. My childhood memories of that area still make me smile to this day. I actually went and broke out some picts of our old trailer we had on the lake and our little boat. Way too funny looking 27 years later. I would love to fly around that area some day.

[crfracer]

I HAVE to report in on a couple of the steps in the process of getting my ticket. Wednesday of this week I went on my 3.8 hours of cross country. My first stop was a Class D airport, then a Class C, then back to non-towerer airports totaling 182 N miles. I thought that was pretty exciting. My first exposure to towers and ground control... flying into a Class C and having the tower tell me to land right on the apron in front of a restaurant in amongst the Lears and Citations (where we had a Great lunch!), taking off right from the apron again.

 

BUT, it was NOT as exciting as on Friday when, after a few straight in autos, the boss gets out, has me do a little hovering; sideways hovering, a 360 in place, backward hovering and then lets me go fly the pattern SOLO! (only got to go take off and land twice as a guy was waiting for his turn in the R22 and he has/had his checkride coming up yesterday so was pretty anxious to go) My CFI warned me that the little R22 would rock back a bit and the cyclic will not be in the same position, but you really don't realize how different the helicopter is going to feel until you go up alone. I felt tense for the first 30 seconds until I realized where the cyclic should be centered and then I discovered that it is actually easier to fly without the 210# instructor in the left seat. Now when I land I can come down and feel the back of the skids touch and then can lower a little more collective and slide the cyclic forward and I get a very smooth landing where skids level with two heavy people sometimes means a bump at touch down.

 

Now I get to fly about SOLO for the next 8 hours to various airports within a 25 mile radius this week, then we are to do 3 hours of night (full moon coming later in March, perfect!) and another shorter cross country and an identical solo cross country. I've done some interesting things over my 57 years, but this is the most interesting thing I have ever done!

 

Congrats on the Solo, it is an amazing feeling isn't it? I haven't done it in a helo, but I sure remember my first solo in an airplane, it was 2 years ago in the next couple of days. I remember that the weather was fair, about a 3000' ceiling with very light winds in a Cessna 152. I also remember asking my instructor when I landed for the third time and taxied in if the most frightening part of being an instructor was watching your student fly solo for the first time. Once again, congrats on the solo, it is, in my mind, a bigger accomplishment than getting your ticket.

[Goldy]

Hey Goldy -

 

I have been to the Dells quite a few times. As a kid growing up lived for a few years in Belvidere, Il and we had a little place on Lake Wisconsin we would go visit on the weekends. Merrimac I think was the actual town. Wow...what memories!

 

 

Someday I will visit again !!

 

 

OK, Thats it ! Anyone NOT from Wisconsin raise your hand !!!!!!

[67november]

HAND RAISED, just a neighbor in Minnesota

Edited March 4, 2008 by 67november

[Billwants2fly]

I'm not from Wisconsin Goldy...grew up in Chicago not too far from the Dells. Now that I think about it not only did I get my first helicopter ride there but I also took my checkout dive to get my scuba license in Devils lake near the Dells. I would also love to fly over that area someday...except this time I want to be the pilot

[Wannabe1]

Good Afternoon...

 

I tried to go up yesterday, but the weather was not good enough. BUT I DID get to go up today! Because the forecast looked pretty good this AM I left early enough (1-3/4 hour drive to the helicopter) to try to beat the winds that were expected later today. 6:00 am 020 at 8kts; 7:00 020 at 8kts; 8:00 010 at 8kts: I'm flying! Got in 2.4 hours of SOLO today.

 

Now you would think that after my 0.5 hours of SOLO last week that this would be no problem. Nope. The nerves were rattling all during preflight. I ended up finding little things (I do mean little things) in my unbelievably thorough preflight. Finally got the nerves calmed and pulled the R22 out of the hanger. Start up alone was VERY strange. All the extra radio calls I made anouncing my position ALL over the airport probably kept the locals entertaiined. The view out the windscreen is very different all alone in the helicopter. The brace against my right leg is terrible by myself in the helicopter. The pick-up off the ground has a left pedal, little left cyclic, then as the R22 comes up on its back legs, you have to bump the cyclic ahead a tad and left a tad to come straight up to a hover. FINALLY took off for an approved airport and made the landing there look pretty pathetic. BUT after that first LONG approach where I missed my mark by 1/2 of the runway as I worried my way down, the next 14 landings were spot on. Did three airports, several times, did some turns around a spot out in the country, did one running take-off, did probably 10 air taxis and quick stops, ran it to one airport to gas up, and did 5 or 6 patterns at the home airport. The wind was getting gusty so I was beginning to worry that I was going to be out in winds over my max, so I called it after 2.4 hours SOLO... Did I mention that this was SOLO? If the weather permits, I get to go up again Thursday or Friday. I'm up to just under a whopping 25 hours!

 

Thanks for tolerating,

Tom

Edited March 4, 2008 by Wannabe1

[crfracer]

Cali here (oh, and we have better cheese ) Sounds like you are having a great time Tom. Great work with the solo. I can tell you from the airplane side it is similar, kind of nerve racking at first, but it gets better quick. Please keep posting, it is tons of fun to read about your experiences and progress.

 

Ethan

[makone4]

Wow!!! New member here searching for more and more info in the helo world when I ran across this post. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your enthusiasm in your posts and I hope you keep posting as I'm really enjoying reading them! Hopefully, I'll be able to do the same in a little bit!

[Wannabe1]

Hello All...

 

I did want to mention some detail about my cross country last week. Here I am, at maybe just over 17 hours, not real sure about just what a cross country REALLY means; Survival gear? FAR/AIM manual? Spare underwear? A rifle? So I do grab my brand spanking new knee board, the Wisconsin book of airports, a sectional, a home made cheat sheet, two pens, one magic marker, and a note pad. Now this is quite a stack on my left leg and my instructor raises an eyebrow, but lets me take all this crap. The first stop is in Class D and I've got all the pages set for this stop; not too bad, just dropped a few things and couldn't read the magic marker notes I made... Hmm...

 

Going into Madison things get pretty messy. A lot of elbows, oops, and where is that note. The 2" plus stack of what I though of as essential stuff is just in the way. Once on the ground the boss asks about all my stuff (you know, the knowing look of the father on sitcom TV that was patient to the extreme and let the kid have a little rope and the kid learns unbelievable lessons). I confess that I might have over done the stack of stuff. Long story shorter, We ditched the airport book, cut up the sectional, got rid of two of the writting instruments, cut down the knee board a bit (the binding along the left side of the knee board is just in the way and adds bulk) and kept the cheat sheet.

 

As to my laminated cheat sheet, I really like it. I'm old (thats my story and I'm sticking to it). I don't remember as well as regular folk. I laminated a 5" wide x 8" long list of:

first column- Airport. second column- K id. third- elevation of airport. fourth- CTAF. fifth- RW numbers. Last- notes. Big airports like MSN I gave several lines for Approach, Tower, Ground, Unicom etc. The boss remember most of these frequencies and airport elevations, I don't and I don't trust myself to get them right. Why not use the Garmin 150 for this info? The database is not up to date. The thing is easy enough to use, but a LOT easier to use if you already know the airport number. And, lastly, the screen on these GPS units is not conducive to reading in most ambient light. Sometimes the "bearing to"is lower left, sometimes not, depends on which screen you are using etc. My cheat sheet is easy for these old eyes to read, is right on my leg and fits nicely with the cut up sectional, copies of one maybe two overhead views of important airports (also used for note taking) and one pen.

Edited March 5, 2008 by Wannabe1

[BOATFIXERGUY]

Sounds like you're still having a great time!

[Wannabe1]

Sure Am!

 

I'm at 27.2 hrs wiith 5.1 PIC now (got in 2.2 this am). The weather was just about perfect for this aspiring pilot. 250 degrees, 8kts, 10 SM, 1,900' but still cold. I have been finding traces of water in the main tank the last three preflights, with the preflight on March 4th having more than a trace. This AM both the Aux and the Main had water AND when I filled up at KBUU later in the AM again both showed water. Now I don't know enough to get REALLY worried, but...

 

Just before I was allowed to SOLO, the boss had me watch the Robinson video. They don't have you watch this too soon as it would scare away budding pilots. Now I guard the carb heat button with regular looks and keep that temp above the yellow, especially now that I'm alone and my hover MAP can be <18.

 

All that said, it was a GREAT day to go flying! Many normal and steep approaches, many quick stops, ran over to a new city to practice Nav and hold elevation and speed. Did a bunch of hovering and set downs, 360 turns, 180 turns. With no one in the air around here, my current practice is to do whatever approach, set down, pick-up and air taxi to mid runway, quick stop, set down, take off for either another lap or a trip to somewhere else.

 

At one airport I called in 6 miles out, called in on downwind, called base to final and landed on the numbers with my calls being the only radio making any sounds. Coming in on downwind there was a small plane sitting on the taxiway not making any sounds. So I'm on the ground maybe 45 seconds doing my green/fuel/lights/heat clear around me thing and doing a quick debate on where to go next when the small plane finally comes on the radio with "helicopter on the runway, pay attention". New call for me. I don't think I did anything wrong. I was JUST about to come up to hover and announce a full takeoff (because he was sitting there, so no quick stops or a lot of wasted time at this airport) when he called. I make my departing call and I hear him say he is taking the runway, but never hear another call from him, no departing, nothing. I'm thinking fixed wing guys don't particularly like helos? This pilot had a lot of time to do whatever before I arrived, or could have waited for me to get out of the way, or he could have just announced his intentions.

Edited March 9, 2008 by Wannabe1

[crfracer]

At one airport I called in 6 miles out, called in on downwind, called base to final and landed on the numbers with my calls being the only radio making any sounds. Coming in on downwind there was a small plane sitting on the taxiway not making any sounds. So I'm on the ground maybe 45 seconds doing my green/fuel/lights/heat clear around me thing and doing a quick debate on where to go next when the small plane finally comes on the radio with "helicopter on the runway, pay attention". New call for me. I don't think I did anything wrong. I was JUST about to come up to hover and announce a full takeoff (because he was sitting there, so no quick stops or a lot of wasted time at this airport) when he called. I make my departing call and I hear him say he is taking the runway, but never hear another call from him, no departing, nothing. I'm thinking fixed wing guys don't particularly like helos? This pilot had a lot of time to do whatever before I arrived, or could have waited for me to get out of the way, or he could have just announced his intentions.

 

I must say, I think that you have a bit of a logical fallacy here. Just because this one pilot didn't seem to care for helicopters at that moment certainly doesn't mean the rest of us don't. It could also be that where I have done all of my flying we get a bit, not lots, but a bit of helo activity, so we may just be used to it. We have at least one helo EMS service that comes to practice at the airport pretty frequently, the sheriffs department, the Coast Guard comes in on occasion, and some civil birds (both piston and turbine), but of all of this only a couple per week. For a non-towered field it gets pretty busy sometimes, but we also get the days and hours where you are the only one flying around, and I must say, it is pretty sweet when you have the pattern all to yourself.

 

Anyway, it sounds like you are doing a great job and having lots of fun. I am really enjoying reading your posts. Keep up the good work and, as a derivative from the motorcycle world, keep the spiny side up.

 

Ethan

[Wannabe1]

28.4 and 6.3 PIC!!! March 7th, Lovely morning, winds 020 at 6kts, 10 SM and CLR.

 

Plan was to do some hovering, 360 turns, set downs, air taxis and generally stick to the area with my 2 hours that I had scheduled. Of Course my plan had to change. The helicopter has a few gallons more fuel than my 3 gallon minimum (we calculate at 9 gallons / hour) and it seems I'm the only one that puts gas in the thing. SO, now the plan is a little local in these great conditions, fly to a 5 mile distant very quiet airport and hog the runway. Then run to the airport we buy fuel from, about 4 miles away from the quiet airport. Perfect, perfect, perfect! In these kind of conditions, it just doesn't get any better than this! The fueling airport is where I ran into the fixed wing guy that made me wonder if I was doing something wrong in a previous lesson. This time I'm at the fuel pump doing my business when a nice tail dragger comes in and gets in line after me. I walk over and say I might be a bit longer because I'm finding water in the fuel the last couple of visits (just a VERY small bubble this time). They get out (its cold, D*&m cold!) and visit. Nice guys, one flies jets, both tail draggers, (the list was too long to remember without a pencil) pretty accomplished flyers. BUT the jet guy tells me he had tried helos and gave up right away, too hard. Hehehe. I'm not sure but that I popped a button on my hat band right there!

 

Darn winds have picked up while fueling so I am proud to report that my lift off and taxi out didn't tip over their beautiful tail dragger, rip the fuel tank off the ground or do any other mayhem. In fact, it was pretty durn excellent! I go to the quiet airport and practice some more, but the wind is getting erratic so the magic just isn't there. Back to home base. The wind socks are straight out and it has grown gusty as heck so I chose to land into the wind across the runway onto the short taxiway connecting the runway to the parallel taxiway using a normal approach. Man, landing directly into strong winds makes this rookie look good! Everything just hangs there. I bet that landing took 3 maybe 4 hours.

 

The guy who just got his PPL last week shows up just as I'm parking next to the hanger so I pump him about what to expect on a check ride. He reports that he did the settling with power, then immediately had to do an auto. Then later at an airport, was told to do his own auto. We don't do that so he turned on the heat and simply dropped the collective, did the auto to a power recovery. And I suppose it makes sense, in a real engine out, you wouldn't spend any time closing the throttle, I just thought the instructor was over there doing some instructor thing with the throttle when we do autos.

Edited March 7, 2008 by Wannabe1

[Copterpilot213]

...

Going into Madison things get pretty messy. A lot of elbows, oops, and where is that note. The 2" plus stack of what I though of as essential stuff is just in the way. Once on the ground the boss asks about all my stuff (you know, the knowing look of the father on sitcom TV that was patient to the extreme and let the kid have a little rope and the kid learns unbelievable lessons). I confess that I might have over done the stack of stuff. Long story shorter, We ditched the airport book, cut up the sectional, got rid of two of the writting instruments, cut down the knee board a bit (the binding along the left side of the knee board is just in the way and adds bulk) and kept the cheat sheet.

 

...

 

 

Hi Tom, I'm really enjoying your posts! It's great to see your enthusiasm and it helps me remember my beginning days as a pilot.

 

That being said, I just wanted to make sure of something about the post I quoted above. When you're cutting up the sectional are you keeping the part with the date attached to it? The reason I ask is that I heard of a guy that got ramp checked and the FAA was none too happy that he had cut the sectional up because it was impossible to verify that the sectional was current. I don't know if this is true but it makes sense to me and I just wanted to pass that information on.

 

I know this has probably already been thought of by you or your CFI but I just wanted to bring it up in case.

 

I look forward to seeing more of your posts! I kept a journal of my flight training so that when I start teaching I can remind myself what it's like to start from scratch!

 

-Jeff

Edited March 7, 2008 by Copterpilot213

[Wannabe1]

Hello Jeff...

 

Thanks!

Nope, never came up. The boss keeps a sectional under the copilot's seat so I suppose we are good if this kind of problem were to come up. I know you have to have AROW Airworthy cert, Registration, Operator's manual, and the Weight and Balance Info on board along with your license, but I didn't know you had to carry a sectional and if you did it had to be current (not that being current is a bad thing). 9-1-4, page 885 in AIM mentions the sectional but not it's use. These days, with GPS, I'm feeling kinda old fashioned even using a sectional.

 

Best Regards,

Tom

 

Hi Tom, I heard of a guy that got ramp checked and the FAA was none too happy that he had cut the sectional up because it was impossible to verify that the sectional was current. I don't know if this is true but it makes sense to me and I just wanted to pass that information on.

 

-Jeff

[helonorth]

Sounds like your having a lot of fun, wannabe. I wish I would have had the means to go through my

PPL training like your doing it. Fixed wing guys can be kind of funny about "their" runways. Just

a suggestion, but getting off the runway as soon as you can always seemed like a good idea to me.

I'd tell my students to go for the grass and get organized for the next leg. It avoids discovering

an aircraft with no radio on final during your clearing turn.

I know of no regulation that requires you to have current charts other than part 135 and a

check ride. Have fun.

[Wannabe1]

Thank you for the information...

 

I can only jump to taxiways right now due to 1-1/2 feet of snow everywhere around here, but your advise about getting out of the way seems spot on, thanks.

 

It has been fun. I have night flying coming up and hope to talk the boss into some pinnacle landings. Not so sure about the night thing. Maybe with the snow cover and a full moon... The guy that just got his PPL tells of a VERY ROUGH night flight where the boss was even nervous. Great.

 

Best Regards,

Tom

 

 

Sounds like your having a lot of fun, wannabe. I wish I would have had the means to go through my

PPL training like your doing it. Fixed wing guys can be kind of funny about "their" runways. Just

a suggestion, but getting off the runway as soon as you can always seemed like a good idea to me.

I'd tell my students to go for the grass and get organized for the next leg. It avoids discovering

an aircraft with no radio on final during your clearing turn.

I know of no regulation that requires you to have current charts other than part 135 and a

check ride. Have fun.

Edited March 7, 2008 by Wannabe1

[Copterpilot213]

Tom,

 

The basic rule of thumb as I was taught and will teach (barring any information reputing it) is that anything you use for aeronautical navigation (AF/D, sectional) must be current in the event of a ramp check (except the GPS database which must only be current when using it for instrument approaches and such).

 

If anyone else is reading this and has more insight into this topic, please by all means share with us! I'm certainly not saying I know it all!

 

Thanks,

 

Jeff

[Copterpilot213]

...

I know of no regulation that requires you to have current charts other than part 135 and a

check ride. Have fun.

 

 

Hi Helonorth! I agree, but I also know there are a lot of "grey areas" where the regulations basically say anything the FAA wants to do they can. Who knows, maybe the FAA official that did the ramp check had other issues with the person that had a cut up sectional and decided to ding him for that too.

 

I'd say my advice was more of a "CYA/don't give them a reason to give you a hard time" kind of thing.

[Privateer]

Tom, sounds like your still having a great time. I like the cheat sheet on the kneeboard for sure, I usually list by aiport identifiers, main freqs, ATIS freqs, and runway headings on my cheat sheet. It's nice to use that instead of having to pull out the AFD, futz with the GPS, or read my poor handwriting on my flight plan. We are always talking in our school about fixed wing guys not listening to the radio, they make calls but can't seem to listen to save their arse, guess this happens all over Sometimes the airport will through a free lunch for the local pilots and it's amazing to me how the fixed wing guys just don't understand helicopter operations at all, we explain it and they still just sit and stare at us, I usually leave with the words of "don't worry, we avoid the flow of fixed wing traffic when safe to do so". Keep the spinning side up, hope to read more, Thanks.

[Goldy]

Wannabe- Its great reading your enthusiastic posts...keep em coming. Just for the record, you are required to become fully informed before a flight. How do you do that? Can you articulate what you did to plan for a flight? If you can, then you dont need a sectional at all. Perhaps you looked on line to gather all the pertinent info before your flight. Bottom line, you need to gather the needed information for a safe flight, that doesnt necessarily mean you need a sectional to do it with. Just to back that up, I was talking with an FAA Ramp check enforcement guy last week...sectionals were not on his list!

 

However, when is the 100 hour due? When does the annual expire? When was the transponder last inspected? Those ARE questions they expect you to know as part of your flight planning process.

 

You mentioned the Robinson video. I hope that you have studied and been taught the specific risks in a 22...Low G, low rpm, light inertia rotor system....glad you're watching that carb heat...it can really sneak up on you with the governor system, you don't notice the throttle increasing as the engine tries to maintain rotor RPM..

 

Have fun, fly safe.

 

Goldy

Edited March 8, 2008 by Goldy

[Wannabe1]

Privateer, Goldy... Thanks. I really appreciate the feedback. As a rookie, I need all the help I can get.

 

 

I'm kind of a crappy student in most things. After I finished school, I tended to be pretty critical of teachers, they may have 42 years in education, but their practical background in their field might not be too strong, or their delivery to us too routine and boring. Or they may speak 4 languages (amazing to me as I can barely speak one), but don't speak English very well. But for this helicopter thing, I am finding that the people in this industry are committed to the activity, and as pilots have earned the right to respect. Sure there seems to be a formula, but it seems to work. If you have read 'Chickenhawk' (three times for me now), you know how the student pilots really wanted to please the instructor. I'm finding that I watch the CFI pretty closely and for instance, when I am getting the 'quiet vibs', I fret that I'm not doing things well enough. I am surprisingly sensitive to the boss's feedback. I suppose you instructors are taught this in secret CFI training.

 

The boss lets me practice some governor off hovering; apparently he has some confidence that I'm paying attention. I'm trying very hard to get used to the sound of the aircraft when things are good, but am paying attention to gauges as well. One day at about 10-13 hours, the boss was having me do 360 turns as I ambled down the runway (winds around 12-14 knots) at about a walking/trotting pace. Dang hard at first. I set it down and was hearing a very funny resonance from the tail rotor area. I reported it and the boss took over and repositioned the aircraft and we listened some more. It was gone. He guesses it was the vortex off the mains washing into the tail at the perfect angle with that particular wind causing a vibration. My point is I'm trying to listen to the machine. I do have to improve my gauge sweep. It is NOT very efficient and takes way too long. Same with my Green, Fuel, Lights, Heat, Landing area clear checks. Seems to take too long to do this simple check.

 

Another subject. Some times you have to have a point driven home the hard way. It was one of my first solos. I was setting the helicopter down, alone back in front of the hanger. The wind can really whistle through in unpredictable ways between the buildings so being one of my first efforts, the R22 was drifting backward ever so slightly. I mean just a BIT of backward motion. The boss was ALWAYS harping on me to NEVER land with any backward motion, never shut up about it in fact, but who knew that he really meant it? This was SO minor I didn't think anything about it. Well, for what felt like a lifetime once touched down, the helo felt like it was going to tip back onto the tail rotor guard. It didn't tip back and it was for a fraction of a second. Tipping my head forward would have solved it, or sitting frozen in worry with my life passing in front of my eyes as I did now seems like it was a good plan as it worked as well. But I sat there wondering which way it was going to go. Thank goodness, so far in my training this is my only real trauma.

 

Best Regards,

Tom

Edited April 9, 2008 by Wannabe1

[Goldy]

Wannabe- you bring up a good point. Just cause the collective is down doesnt mean you take your hands off the controls. One good gust of wind and you could find yourself airborne again. There was a 206 accident last year not far from me where this happened..he had already spooled the turbine down but the rotor rpm was still up there, along comes a gust whipping between hangars and he ended up on his side.

 

The 22 being a light ship, it doesnt take much to move it around.

[rotorrodent]

Congratulations! Very Exciting yes.

 

I just had my first lesson last week as well. It's going to take a bit coordination practice for me. My instructor let me fly S&L, S Turns across a road, demo'd AutoRotate, then back to the field for hover training.

 

First Pedals only, then add cyclic, then added collective, That's when things got a bit interesting! Then practiced taxiing on a line, then he took over and taxied us back to the circle H.

 

What a fun time. Can't wait for next lesson: lift offs and set downs

 

Thanks everyone for the help and insight

 

Chris (CB300)

[Wannabe1]

I learned a good lesson today.

I drive quite a way to my lessons. This morning I checked the weather every 1/2 hour (their weather updates each minute and the information changes pretty frequently). All the way in it was 220 degrees, 6 kts (went to 7 and 8kts then back to 6kts), 7 miles and clr. A light plane lands while I'm getting ready. At the hanger the only change was to was 8 kts again. I preflight and drag the helicopter out and start her up. I'm still a rookie so I'm reading the wind sock and comparing it to the weather brief and am thinking it being straight out is strange, but now I know what 8 knots must look like. The pickup is fine and the hover out to the taxiway is fine, but a bit unsteady. I do a 360 and it is pretty miserably executed. Crap!, I'm not handling the machine too well today. I do a dozen hovers and set downs to steady myself. Am I this rusty from not flying for 5 days? I take runway 26 and things are still not steady. I do a pattern and the machine is buffeting about more than a steady 8 knots would buffet it. While on my downwind my GS seems pretty fast. I do another pattern and the buffeting is getting worse and my GS is really fast now on the downwind leg. FINALLY I decided that my steadiness is not the problem. That the wind is blowing a lot harder than I thought and there is some gusting. I air taxi to the taxiway and put the helo away. I'm to park the thing in winds over 12 knots. The wind socks are moving around a bit and straight out. I check the weather again and it reads (and the phone call still reports) 9 knots. WTF??? The reporting airport is only 8 miles away! Leaves are blowing over the top of the snow now, my Envoy is getting moved around by the wind on the way home. 15 minutes after I leave the airport, the 8 mile away reporting airport weather report is 10G18. Probably getting worse at the weather station because it definitely is worse here. When I parked In front of the hanger it didn't feel that windy. But, I should have been able to decipher the wind sock and I should have canceled after I seemed to struggle with a meek 8 knot wind. We were not to have had this kind of wind today. I was focusing on my lists and flight controls and my plan and really not watching the wind develop. When the winds picked up, I didn't recognize them as quickly as I should have. Steady 8 knots winds are the best! Yet I was busy thinking my flying skills had gone into the toilet. Check out page 913 in the current AIM and page 12-8 in the 2003 Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge for tips on reading the wind.

Edited March 11, 2008 by Wannabe1