Cal Aggie Flyer ✈

I know I’m not even licensed yet…

…but being able to say I’m an aviator when someone asks about my aviators is a fucking awesome feeling.

Now I need a reason to get a bomber jacket.

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Cal Aggie Flyer on Flickr.

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Ever since I was 6 or 7, I’ve always wanted to be an airline pilot. Most kids go through phases of what they want to be when they grow up, but I didn’t have many until wanting to be a pilot stuck. My goal to be an airline pilot hasn’t wavered, no matter how many people tell me it’s a hard way to live with the lowering wages and poor standard of living. But I would give a helluva lot to walk into a terminal to smell the distinct scent of recycled air and hear the unmistakable zip of suitcases rolling between floor surfaces. On my parents 25th anniversary, I took to the skies with an instructor for the first time. As soon as I became airborne, I knew for sure that flying is what I want to do for a living. Being thousands of feet up in the air, looking down on the rest of world, gives a totally different perspective not many people see on a daily basis. In fact, I’ll bet that a good portion of the world’s population never flies in their lifetime. Flying is one the most amazing experiences, something that man wasn’t ever supposed to do. If we were supposed to fly, we’d have wings, right?

So far, I have logged 6.3 hours in a trusty Cessna 152, working my way towards getting my Private Pilots License. I’m looking for colleges where I can major in Aerospace/Aeronautical Engineering and hopefully be flying for a living ASAP. It’s a long journey of expensive training, checkrides, certifications and low pay, but I would do almost anything to fly.

Completed the first page of my logbook with 6.3 hours and 37 landings. Pre-solo checkride next week!

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Might be doing a bit of flying tomorrow, but not if this rain holds up…

It’s freaking June in California and I might not be able to go flying due to a thunderstorm advisory. This is not cool.

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‘tis me.

At the controls of N67405!

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Taking N67405 for a spin today. An actual spin.

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“University traffic, Cessna 24775 turning left downwind, Runway 35, University”

The automated voice of the KEDU AWOS read out “winds: calm, temperature: 27 degrees Celcius, density altitude: 2100”. In view over the glareshield, Interstate 80 West towards San Francisco was backed up, and I thought to myself how glad I was to be in the pattern flying instead of in stop and go traffic. I looked to my left and saw that I was abeam the runway threshold. As I pulled out the carb heat, and cut the throttle to 1500 RPM, I waiting for the airspeed indicator to drop into the white arc and below 85 knots indicated airspeed. I dropped the flaps lever to 10 degrees and watched the airspeed drop to 75 knots. As I made my turn to base, the airspeed crept up to 80, then 85 knots so I pulled back on the yoke slightly to try and slow the little Cessna 152 down. Keeping the airspeed below 85 knots, I dropped 20 degrees of flaps, cleared final, and began my turn towards runway 35. Slightly high on the VASI and still around 75 knots, I dropped the lever to 30 degrees of flaps. I looked down to see the fields below rushing by awfully fast. The grape vines, property of UC Davis, were a blur that lasted just a second as I descended through 200 feet, passing of over the tree-lined Putah Creek. I decreased the throttle nearly to idle in hopes of losing some speed; the piano keys were just a flash as the airspeed indicator showed still 75 knots. Floating in ground effect, I held the nose up slightly bleeding off airspeed, but still touched down harder and faster than usual, nearly half way down the 3200 foot runway. ”Shit”, I said as the Cessna 152 bounced back into the air a good 10 feet before I brought her back down at a more normal airspeed and rate of descent. As I cleared the runway to the left, I stopped the 152 and pulled out the checklist sheet. Before I could find the after-landing checklist, my instructor, who had been observing the whole circuit quietly, said, ”What the hell was that?”, with a smile on his face. I responded “I have no fucking clue”. ”Look out your window, notice anything?” Sure enough, the flaps were up, even though the lever was down in the 30 degree position. Upon a closer inspection, the needle was still retracted, indicating the flaps were still up. Hiding behind the mixture lever, my instructor had cleverly pulled the circuit breaker for the flaps without me noticing. “Thanks asshole” I joked. My instructor chuckled, “You’ll thank me later, you won’t forget that in the future”.

In total, we spent 1.1 hours with N24775 in the pattern, which included a no flap landing, a 20 degree flap landing, 3 normal approaches, 2 simulated engine failures, and an simulated engine failure on takeoff roll. This brings me to a total of 4.2 hours and my instructor predicts my first solo to be the first week of July.

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