Perfection Isn't Required

Maybe it's just me, but perfection isn't necessary. As pilots, we strive to be perfect, to make the perfect landing, to have textbook communication on the radio and to track the 036 degree radial without fault. I'm here to say, at least to suggest that we are allowed to make mistakes.

Now now now, don't get all upset at me for saying that. I'm not suggesting that are careless.  But obviously, when you make a mistake, it must be recognized, analyzed and corrected. This to me, in short, is what learning how to fly is really about. Even if you have your pilot certificate, from Private to ATP, you are always learning. I would hope that there are things that I know as a pilot that some pilot, with over 10,000 hours wouldn't know. What do you think? Do you have a golden nugget of knowledge that would benefit pilots?  Oh course, we all have stories to share, experiences we've had or wish we hadn't, but everyone of these should be shared. The more awareness of events pilots can glean off of others the better equipped we become.

Some of these things can be from personal experiences, for instance: When landing on runway 26 at Sky King Airport in Terre Haute, Indiana with winds out of the south west, there can be some pretty crazy wind obstruction from the hangers just south of the runway.

Another, more general lesson learned for me happened recently.  We all know that in cruise we should lean the engine to reduce the fuel flow and optimize the mixture.  Of course, before the decent the pilot must advance the mixture to rich.  This prevents the engine from cutting out when the air gets denser and more fuel is required to sustain combustion.  Here is a little tip I learned.  Don't forget to enrichen the mixture.  After a couple thousand feet of decent, the engine will hiccup and your passenger will not be pleased.

In summary, pilots aren't perfect.  We are always learning.  Don't be afraid to make mistake. And finally, if you don't feel you are learning from these mistakes, cut up your pilots license and try a new hobby.

My Girlfriend and My Dog

I went for a really great flight yesterday. Probably the best one I had in a long time. Probably the best one since I flew at night for the first time. While the actual flight was uneventful, the experience was fantastic. Annie, Bo (the dog) and I went up to Muncie (MIE) from Eagle Creek (EYE). Bo and Annie were both kind of nervous at first but the both settled in. Bo took a nap after looking out the windows for a while. He wasn't happy to stay in the plane when Annie and I ate dinner at Kacy J's on the field at Muncie, but he was rewarded with a slice of pizza when we got back to the plane.

The flight back was at night, and Annie was loving it. She took a little nap on the way there like Bo, but played on the iPhone on the way back. It was good for her to be a little bit more relaxed. We landed without any issue, fueled up and taxied back to the hanger. A good flight, 1.5 on the hobbs and a good meal in the stomach.

Now, despite what you may think, this is not what I wanted to post about here. I want to discuss a great organization called Pilots-n-Paws. Any pilots, even just volunteers, can go to their website and sign up on the forums. I've done two rescue flights for PilotsNPaws. One was a rescue flight of 9 little puppies. The photos are at the following link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/pilotsnpaws.lauer.magadanz/101109FirstPilotsNPawsMission

The second rescue was basset hound named Bo. Not the same Bo that I have, that's pictured above and is half Shar-Pei and half Yellow Lab, but another Bo. This Bo was huge. About 85 lbs. He had yeast infections in his ears and smelly smelly farts. None the less, he was being rescued. I flew him from Eagle Creek to Hopkinsville, KY. His new owner/best friend was there to meet us. He was an older guy clearly looking for a good friend. I knew immediately it was a good match.

I really want to do some more rescues this summer, and I'm sure I will. Until them, I urge every reader to check out the website and sign up for the forums. You won't regret it!

The Next Step in My Training - Complete

I made a big step in my learning yesterday. I completed my checkout in the two Cessna 182's my flying club owns. The first is N182SV, A 2000 Cessna 182S. It has traditional steam gauges, but a GPS and KAP140 Autopilot. Autopilots and GPSs are new to be in the aircraft. The first planes I trained with at Mt. Comfort had them, but once I joined Sky-Vu, I only had the standard 6 pack gauges and then 2 VORs and an ADF. Luckily I had a handheld GPS as a back up. Pilotage is fun and all, but terribly inefficient.

The flight in Sierra Victor was about a month ago now, due to weather being terrible. Most of the required 5 hours of flight were done in our other C182, N721ZA. This is a 2004 Cessna 182T with G1000 avionics. Because of the avionics suite, I flew about 3.5 hours in this plane, and only around 2 in Sierra Victor.

So, here is what my 5 hours of required time looked like:
First flight was in SV. We departed from UMP and headed over to Mount Comfort (MQJ) and Shelbyville (GEZ). These are all on the east side of town, and the goal was just to get used to constant speed propeller operations as well as dealing with the different power settings and V speeds. I think I picked it up pretty quickly, and with direction from my instructor, all was well. I ballooned a little on a couple landings, and I bounced one pretty good, but we made it home safe. I ended up putting on 1.8 hours.

The next flight was a couple of weeks later in Zulu Alpha. We did mostly pattern work, but went from Eagle Creek over to Crawfordsville. I did a few turns on the pattern at Crawfordsville and then headed back to EYE. I had a 7 mile run that afternoon, so I didn't get as much time as I wanted to. We ended up with 1.3 on the Hobbs and decided we'd do it again to finish up the time.

Yesterday afternoon we completed that effort. I left work a little bit early and met my instructor at Eagle Creek around 3 pm. We did quite a round about flight and I landed at some airports I've never been to. First we headed off to Frankfurt (FKR) then Kokomo (OKK) then Wabash (IWH) and finally Huntington (HHG). They are all between 15 and 20 nautical miles apart, so we had some time to get settled in the air before entering the pattern at the next airport. I had some really good landings, and on the way back home we punched through a hole in the clouds and flew back at 6500' msl. Total on the Hobbs was 2.6 and after my instructor finished off the paper work, I had my checkout complete.

I think the next thing I going to try to work on is my check out in our C172RG and combine that with some instrument training. I'm not sure who I am going to have instruct, but I'm probably going to do my 10 hours of the RG and then go back and finish out in 146K...if we still have that plane. I wish my pockets were as deep as my dreams are grand...