Instrument Flying Lesson 1 I took my first instrument flying lesson. Not much video to look at, but at least it is documented. As you can imagine there is not much of a visual when doing instrument training. It also did not help that I forgot my camera mount so my apologies for the less than average quality and the audio has some noise issues. I edited the audio the best that I could to cut out the scratchiness that you may hear from time to time. Suggestions for future instrument podcasts...

Part 1: Please welcome fellow club member Peter Jensen to this weeks video podcast. Peter is currently pursuing his instrument rating with Casey Allen as his instructor. This video documents Part 1 of a 250 NM cross country. I enjoyed riding along on this one as I am gearing up for my instrument training as well. For Florida, this is about as much as you get for instrument conditions. Enjoy! -Greg Download the video

Flying With Jason: Man...it's been a long time since I did an episode...so sorry. I have been flying a little, although not near as much as when I was training. I have a few flights on video, but finding the time to edit has been an issue. I finally made myself sit down and get this one out. This is a flight with my good friend Jason. We did not fly anywhere in particular, but Jason was able to get some good pictures and we got enough altitude to get a smooth flight. I will try to be more...

No flight video yet. Just me talking for a minute or two. That is all I will say. More flying videos to come. -Greg Download the video

Checkride Update and Status: This is a brief update of what has been going on. My checkride is scheduled for tomorrow, May 29, 2008. Sorry, but no flight video...just me driving. I am stuck on editing the Seneca flight, because I have not had time to put music to it. Hopefully, I will be able to post something after the checkride. -Greg Download the video

Check Ride Prep A little late, but here is the footage for the short and soft field takeoffs and landings. I also included another day in here due to the fact that my camera continued to fall throughout the short/soft video. The last half of the podcast documents our return to basic maneuvers such as power on and power off stalls and emergency procedures. As of this journal entry things are progressing as planned. We are having some difficulty scheduling an FAA examiner, though. The DPE that...

This episode documents my long cross country from Valkaria (X59) to Pahokee (PHK) to Vero Beach (VRB) and back to Valkaria. Aside from a couple more hours of hood work, this flight marks the completion of Part 61 requirements for the private pilot certificate. To date I have logged just over 40 hours and move on to my next phase of check ride prep. Yesterday we brushed up on short and soft field landings and I will release the video footage for that later in the week. For this episode I left...

First Solo Cross Country! This episode of the Student Pilot Journal documents my first successful solo cross country from Valkaria (X59) to Pahokee (PHK). Notice that I said successful. I had previously tried to accomplish it but low ceilings caused me to play it safe and turn around about 15 miles out. Better safe than sorry. I chose to get flight following for the entire CC. I have to say that flight following makes things so much easier. It never hurts to have another set of eyes on your...

Dual Cross Country This is the video for the dual cross country from Melbourne to Okeechobee. See the blog post from Feb. 15 for details on the flight. -Greg Download the video

Night Flying This was my first introduction to a number of things. Night flying, a Cessna 172, right hand traffic pattern at an unfamiliar airport, and takeoff from a towered airport. The video quality is extremely dark, so in an attempt to make things somewhat better I increased the resolution of the video to 640x480 so you might make out some objects so this is the reason for the larger download. It is still pretty dark, though. There is some good audio for those interested in what is...

Solo Flying It has taken me longer than I wanted to get this one out. I have probably accumulated another 10 hours since this one. I have had the flu and have not felt up to editing the last couple of weeks. Not the most interesting of my podcasts, but hey.....flying is cool anyway you put it. My goal was to catch the sun rising but ground fog rolled in just when I was set to taxi out so I had to postpone for an hour. It is just me by myself talking so not too much in the educational...

Busy week....finally I am able to get this out to you all. This is from last Saturday the 2nd. We intended to fly to Melbourne (MLB) for some more towered field work as well as Sebastian Municipal (X26). We only made it to Melbourne due to some holdups at Valkaria. In my previous post I mentioned the headset frustration so you will get to see it first hand in this one. Overall it was a good lesson as aggravating as it was. You are always guaranteed to learn something each time you fly, no...

Second Supervised Solo Podcast Video! We tried something different for the camera in this one. We mounted it on the passenger window (Out of my view, of course...for safety) which gave an over the nose view. It was a cool morning with winds around 4 kts. Per my previous post, my landings left a bit to be desired. I have picked them apart and will get them down for the next solo. I would appreciate feedback on the new camera view at [email protected] or you can leave a comment by...

First Solo Podcast Video! It is finally here. I did the best I could without pulling out the rest of my hair.....if I can even say that. My original video was more inspiring, but I did the best I could with the music that I could find and use. The music makes the video more comical than anything. Thanks to all who have emailed and posted comments as well as those who have given reviews on iTunes. I really do appreciate the kind words. ;-) -Greg S Download the Podcast

Back to flying! I am glad to be at it once again.....a week off feels like an eternity sometimes. I'd fly everyday if I could. For this lesson I was introduced to some hood work (Instrument work). For your private certificate you need a minimum of 3 hours instrument time. I included some video of things that have already been shown in previous podcasts, but it was such a beautiful day that I had to include some footage. All my videos are shot in HD and I wish I was able to show you just how...

Good lesson today. I felt much more relaxed....I hope I can maintain it for the remaining of my training. We introduced more emergencies - electrical and engine fires. We worked more on in flight engine outs and those went better for me this time around. Casey pulled the power on a downwind approach to rwy 14 so I had to turn an early base and final and forward slip to the landing since I had too much altitude. I really enjoyed the slips today. We had a nice 11/16 gust knot wind from 220°...

Emergency practice day and towered airport operations. Today was the introduction to dealing with emergency situations due to engine failure on takeoff, cruise, and landing. Casey pulled the power back to simulate a failure. It always amazes me how you can have a cool head on the ground and think that you will have no problem picking a field, only to freeze at 1800 feet like a deer in the headlights. Practice makes perfect is what I tell myself. I will say that when the lesson was over I was...

For this lesson we worked on more landings and I was introduced to ground reference maneuvers, in particular, the rectangular course and s-turns. Once again, I was getting lost from above and had trouble identifying the rectangular course that Casey was pointing out, which made things difficult. S-Turns went well, though. On left downwind to runway 14 from the practice area, I made an early turn to base for some unknown reason which put me about 300 feet higher on base than I should have been...

Happy Holidays! We worked some more with the power off stalls and also introduced steep turns, forward slips, and side slips. The slips were challenging for me...to say the least. Thanks again for Casey's patience. I am extremely fortunate to have picked a good instructor the first time. I can only wish the same experience for all of you. -Greg Download the video

Ok...this one was interesting. We worked on arrival and departure stalls as well as touch and goes. The weather was perfect which helped out with the landings. Those were by far my favorite. Stalls...not so much, but with a little practice they will get better. I left out the improved stall recovery video, but I did get better as we kept doing them. Flying in the evening was great. We got to witness a nice sunset, so that added some fun to the flight. -Greg Download the Video

I was able to get some video today. I forgot the wide angle lens so things are cramped and a lot of the video was dark so I had to do the best I could during post to brighten things up which in turn caused some overexposure. We are still experimenting here. I am trying to focus on absorbing as much as I can and at the same time document the experience, so you can appreciate the challenges that I face trying to capture the moment. I am having so much fun flying. There really are no words to...

First Flying Lesson! No video yet, but I was able to record some audio from the flight. I had to edit a lot of it and some of the audio may sound rushed. I cut out the dead space where we did not talk so I could provide a decent sample with minimal dead air. Here is a brief summary of what we covered: Pre-flightChecklistsTraffic Pattern OperationsRadio CommunicationsTakeoff and Climb proceduresStraight and level flightShallow turnsClimbs and descentsFlight at varying airspeedsNormal approach...

Well.....I took my first discovery flight at Valkaria airport (X59) with CFI Casey Allen from Indian River Flying Club. I wish I had accomplished at 20 years old what he has. I was not able to get video during flight as I had to feel things out with Casey. I hope that in the future I can get video to make things a little more interesting for people watching (If any). If I was not hooked before (Yea right) then I am now. That is all I have thought of all week. Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving to...

I am getting ready to head out for my discovery flight at Valkaria airport with CFI Casey Allen. You can listen to the introductory podcast to find out more about me and and this journal. -Greg [email protected]