Here is a in-cockpit video of a takeoff at Chester County, and a landing at Cape May.
03Sep
Category: Aviation
01Sep
I flew out to KWWD yesterday to enjoy a surprisingly good $7 breakfast for two people at the airport. It only cost $300 round trip for the journey. Here are some great aerial shots taken by my father.
There is an article in today’s USA Today about the TSA targeting general aviation.
It looks like the airline lobbyists are gaining influence by having the TSA target general aviation for no reason.
The threat is real, said aviation-security consultant Glen Winn, former United Airlines security chief. Some small airports reserved for private planes “really don’t have a lot of security,” which would make it easy for someone to steal a small jet, Winn said. “There’s a huge window that’s open, and I do believe they’ve got to close that,” Winn added.
Wow, someone can steal a small jet and do what with it? What can someone do with a small jet that cannot be done with a U-haul or even a small car?
The fact of the matter is, GA has not been used in any recorded terrorist attack because it doesn’t make any sense. This is simply a case of the TSA being pushed by lobbyists to fix a non-existent problem.
10Aug
Here is a video of my cross country to Andover (12N) today.
03Aug
The weather cleared up enough today for my first flight to Wilkes-Barre. I managed to fly direct to KWBW, in Forty-fort Pennsylvania, where I picked up my father for a little joyride to his house.
One the way to KWBW there were a few clouds at 4500, so I kept the Skyhawk at 3500ft. A few light rain showers popped up near Hazleton, so we flew between the precipitation. Scattered rain showers are easily identifiable and avoidable from the air during a clear day.
I was planning on using runway 25 at KWBW, but it turned out that runway 7 was the active. I overflew the field at 2500, and made a quick descent for a 45 degree entry towards runway 7.
The layout of KWBW is a little different than the airports I’m familiar with. First off , there is no taxiway parallel to the runway. So pilots have to “backtaxi” on the runway. There also is no AWOS weather reporting station nearby, just a ground level windsock that is absolutely useless.
My touchdown at KWBW was smooth, and we taxied to the parking area. I was planning on taking my father for a little scenic flight, but there were a few scattered showers coming in from the northwest. Using Foreflight on the iphone, I was able to determine that the weather would clear up soon.
We grabbed a bite to eat, and took off for a very short sightseeing trip around Dallas, PA.
After about 30 minutes, I dropped off my father, and Lindsey and I were back in the air headed to KMQS. As we departed west, the Geisinger lifeflight helicopter flew above us off our left wing.
After getting past KHZL, the sky cleared up, and I was able to climb to my designated VFR cruising altitude of 4500 ft. As we approached the familiar 45 degree pattern entry for KMQS, I was greeted by an older Skylane entering from the south. We touched down at KMQS, and finished the day after 2.8 hours total flight time.
This was also the first flight for my new Lightspeed Zulu headset, which is quite an improvement over my old one. I now know what the fuss is about..
Now that I’ve had a few weeks to enjoy being a newly minted private pilot, I decided to do some quick calculations on that unfortunate stack of receipts related to my flying education.
Money
Some flight schools will throw out very low numbers in order to entice potential students. I’ve heard schools throwing out numbers in the $4500 -> $6500 range. Fortunately, my school never tried to promote wildly optimistic figures for my schooling cost. I knew it was going to be expensive, but I was willing to pay for it.
There are three types of flight students.
Student A: Independently Wealthy
Student B: Willing to sacrifice and save in order to pay for schooling.
Student C: Not afraid of large debts.
Unfortunately, I fall in category C. My feeling was that it was the best time for me to take on such an endeavor. With no kids, and very few non-work responsibilities, mid-late 20’s is a good time to start flying. So I figured, I might as well rack up the debt now, and do it. Otherwise, I would probably regret it for the rest of my life.
Time
Besides the financial commitment, the next valuable commodity to tally when considering flight school is time.
- How much time do you have?
- How much time does your instructor have?
- How much time does it take to get to the airport?
When I began flight training (08/2005), I was telecommuting for Penn State. I had a very flexible schedule, and I was only 25 minutes from the airport. I could schedule Thursday and Friday afternoon lessons. By 01/2006, I moved on to a new job that was an hour away from the airport with ZERO vacation time. Suddenly, I became a weekend only pilot.
Being a weekend only pilot, bad weather can keep you from flying for months, especially during Pennsylvania winters. There was once a 3 month span, where I had a lesson booked every weekend, but I did not fly at all due to weather.
Student time is just one time related item. What is your instructor’s schedule? If your instructor is booked, or the rental planes are booked up, you might run in to major scheduling difficulties. My instructor only had a limited amount of time for training every week, but it was very compatible with my schedule. I was very fortunate, I had the same instructor the whole time.
The Whole Enchilada
| Expense | Description | Cost |
| Plane Time | Just the rental plane | $9,243 |
| Instructor Time | Dual Time and Ground School | $3,382 |
| Equipment | Required CD’s/Books/Headset | $1,030 |
| Examiner | Checkride | $325 |
| Total | $13,980 |
Keep in mind, that total figure does not include the expense of just getting to the airport. My rough estimate is about $1500+ for travel expenses. Add that to the total, and its $15,000.
Lessons Learned
Here is a bit of advice to the prospective student, after my three years of training.
Use the cheapest aircraft possible
I started out in a Cessna 152 for $80/hr and switched to the 172 which now bills out at $130/hr. My rough estimate is that I spent around $3500 for the transition. That’s including the extra expense, and the 10 hours of flight time required for me to resolo in the 172. My advice to new students would be use the 152 through the entire private pilot process, then get checked out in the 172.
Go cheap on the headset
I shelled out a lot of money for an ANR headset, when a cheaper headset would have worked fine for my student training. A Lightspeed QFR Solo is a decent headset for $150. Use a cheap headset for training, and then go get a Zulu.
Weekend only flying will take time
You hear these stories about people finishing their private with 40-50 hours of flight time in 2 months. It’s possible, If you’re a college student on summer break in Arizona.. If your flying weekends only in Pennsylvania, its not going to happen.
East coast weather sucks
January->March is too windy. April is too wet. July and August are hazy, hot, and humid. Because of my weekend only schedule, there were multiple 2-3 month periods where I did not fly at all, with lessons booked every weekend.
Be Patient
Many people who take flying lessons end up quitting in frustration. Lack of funds, lack of time, lack of dedication, or lack of patience. In the case of some people, they shouldn’t be flying in the first place.
I was able to succeed by having a long term focus. There are going to be many times during your training when frustration will pop up. The weather is going to suck. The bills are going pile up. Your instructor is going to be booked. The plane will be broken. There were at least 10 incidents during my training where I drove two hours round trip to the airport, only to be grounded because of bad weather or a broken plane.
Keep focused on the long term, and don’t let short term irritants keep you from achieving your goals.