e-6b practice, maneuvers work and next solo

i did one dual (meaning with my instructor) and one solo last week to practice maneuvers (been a while), next solo is likely to be to CHO (charlottesville). i spent half a day sat morning with another student going over chart reading, flight planning, tidbits and so on. i am trying to work on my e-6b practice every couple of days. i am more comfortable with it now but i still have an annoying tendency to make little mistakes that take a while to catch.

"mastering the e-6b flight computer"

a while back i posted something about a book i found called "mastering the e-6b flight computer" (http://learnthee6b.com/). i've been studying it off and on and am satisfied with it. it has very specific pictures and descriptions of the various things you can do with it. i'm really trying to get proficient at it so that i can use it in-flight (without the manual) when i need to during longer flights. i do recommend the book if you're looking to do the same.

another solo to okv (winchester, va)

i did another solo to okv (winchester, va) today, it went reasonably well but it has been almost 30 days since i last flew (due to a vacation in iceland and work) and the season has changed which means the fall colors make things look different. i am glad i had the gps to rely on beacause i had a hard time visually finding both okv and jyo (leesburg). i was almost on top of both before i realized where they were. because this was a busy travel day jyo was busy on my return and i probably caused some consternation from all the pro pilots waiting for me to finally make it into the pattern for landing. i also had my eye on iad (dulles) bacause i was closer to it than i had intended. i definitely should have practiced using ms flight sim x before doing it today.
oddly enough my landings were pretty good so i am making progress here and there. i am going to ratchet up my frequency of flying though.

aviation podcasts

i recently bought a new ipod with a 160gb disk and was looking at itunes for podcasts to put on it. after subscribing to various npr/c-span/talk shows i searched on 'aviation' and found a number of podcasts that are aviation related. one that i found was at http://www.thefinerpoints.net/ and the current issue covered collision avoidance techniques. it covered a recent midair (both planes survived) and discussed when you should maneuver to avoid a potential midair. these are very interesting to listen to and are perfect for walking your dog or anything else where you're not staring at the tv.
btw, while being a linux purist i still broke down and got the ipod because of it's very easy use/integration with other stuff. in general i use linux whenever i can but i also admit that it can be a pain at times.

first solo to nearby airport

first solo to a nearby airport (KOKV, Winchester Va) and 2 landings and then return home. turned out ok i think.

pay attention and cross check

I decided to do some flying using MS Flight Sim X tonight for practice. I also wanted to do everything as if I were in the plane so I had my chart, airport directory and checklist and did everything correctly on the way from JYO (Leesburg) to OKV (Winchester). I also let it use the local time so it was dusk at takeoff. I setup the autopilot on the way out and let it get me there. I found the airport and landed. Then I had to come back...I was all pleased with myself for doing everything as if it were for real. It was dark as I was about to take off. I bugged the course I wanted for the return, took off and turned on the autopilot again and just panned around. After a while (btw, one thing I didn't do was a correct nav log since it was a shor t flight so I didn't have the leg times written down which would have been much smarter) I thought "hmm, I should be there already". After a while longer I was sure I should have been home so I decided to find myself and tuned the VORs to AML and CSN and centered the needles. I couldn't believe what they were telling me. I was way south of where I should have been. I broke down and took a look at the FSX map because I thought I was reading the VORs incorrectly and I actually was waaay south of where I should have been. I quickly deduced the reason, when I bugged the heading for the return I couldn't see it very well (it was dark and I didn't have the panel lights on) so instead of 117 I had set it to 187 (a profound difference) which pretty much pointed me towards Florida. If I hadn't been pleased with myself and had actually taken a minute to think I would have realized my heading was "just plain stupid" and not make the mistake. Once again I learned, pay attention and cross check everything you're doing, particularly at night.

pattern work at JYO

av-jyo-pattern01
Originally uploaded by DougToppin

i did pattern work at JYO (Leesburg) today. nothing special but i haven't done the pattern in a while and there was a little bit of wind. i did learn a few things though. i also have a garmin forerunner 305 gps heart rate monitor watch. i use it for running/biking and lately i've been taking it along on flights. afterwards, i can download the location points and import them into google earth and see a record of the flight. note the one extended downwind to base turn (the longer track at the bottom of the picture). the plane in the pattern ahead of me did an unusually long downwind leg and i had to extend my downwind to keep from "bumping" into him if i had turned base to final. he was a bit low and i was a bit high so i didn't see him at first. he was making radio calls but i thought the call i was hearing was the one i could see already over the threshold. it taught (hopefully permanently) to look down and ahead in addition to my level more carefully while in the pattern.