Lesson Numero Uno

Today was the big day, officially my first lesson. I must say, it went pretty well. I also parted with a few dollars today by prepaying for some instructional time. My wife would like the discount I got, but dislike the amount of money that was spent. Well, you can't have it all.


I arrived at Bay Air about 15 minutes early because I knew we had a little paperwork to do. I had my passport, driver's license and medical certificate in hand along with a flying club membership application and an aircraft rental agreement. Paperwork complete, CFI Rob and I headed out on the tarmac to find our ride for the day.


N54058 is not one of the new glass panel jobs we flew on the discovery flight. It's old school, a 1981 Cessna 172. That's it in the photo at the top. We preflighted the plane. Rob spent a little more time going over the details of the preflight inspection. He'll go over it one more time with me, then I will be expected to do the preflight. Thank goodness for the checklist!


After the engine run-ups, Rob contacted Whitted tower and got clearance to take off. Bay Air is at the end of runway 7, and since we were cleared for runway 7 we did not need much of a taxi clearance. Probably during the lesson after next, I'll start doing the radio work. I taxied onto the runway, steered straight down the runway with my feet, added full power and took off. I'm learning that you have to apply a little right rudder under full power or in a nose up attitude to keep the Cessna straight. We were cleared for a left hand departure to the west.


The worst thing about flying, or at least training, out of Albert Whitted is that you can't enjoy the scenery. I'm paying attention to Rob. Doing what he says. Concentrating on flying the airplane. Meanwhile, we're flying over some of the best scenery on the west coast of Florida. We pretty much flew from back and forth between Egmont Key and Treasure Island with me practicing climbing, descending and level flight. I got to work the trim wheel this time, that was new.


Actually, climbing, descending and leveling off were easier in a real plane than on the simulator. FSX has been a real help, but now that I'm actually flying and need to get the "feel" of an airplane, I don't know how much more I'll be using it.


Rob was happy with my ability to climb and descend so he decided to introduce me to slow flight. Honestly, this was the only time today that he flew the plane. He slowed the plane, lowered flaps and got us down to 38 knots. I then took the controls to get a feel for how much right rudder is necessary to keep the plane flying straight in this configuration. Rob had me make a gentle right turn before he took the controls again and got us out of slow flight.


It's funny, but time flys when you are flying. Before I knew it an hour was nearly up. Rob told me to fly over a famous St. Pete Beach landmark, the Don Cesar Hotel. This big pink hotel on the beach can be seen for miles and just happens to line up with runway 7/25 at Albert Whitted airport.

It was a little hazy, so I could not see the runway as we passed over the Don, but Albert Whitted is just south of downtown St. Pete so it's easy to find. As we crossed over I275, about 3 miles from the airport, Rob had me start reducing engine power while holding the nose of the airplane up to reduce our speed. As we neared the airport I lowered the flaps and let the nose fall so that I could see the big 7 on the runway. Rob talked me through getting the flaps all the way down while keeping the nose on the runway. As we crossed the end of the runway he had me pull back on the yoke and then some more as we got closer to the ground and the plane gently settled down on the runway. I kid you not, I landed it all by myself!! Well, I had verbal help.

What a day. I was pleased to say the least. After taxiing back to Bay Air we went inside. I prepaid for their solo package which includes 15 hours of dual time in the 172 and 5 hours of ground school time with the instructor. It also included the SoftComm C-40 headset and a logbook. I probably would not have bought this headset on my own, but the package deal was too good to pass up. I also paid for a membership in the flying club. That will save me some money once the solo package time is up. Rob made entries in my logbook for today and the discovery flight I took. Call me silly, but it was a cool feeling to see my time and landings recorded. Rob gave me credit for the landing on my discovery flight.

I also picked up the FAA's Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge and have some reading to do before our next lesson, which will be Friday, weather permitting. I can't wait.

Statistics:

Dual Instruction Hours: 1.6

Landings: 2