Lesson 4

DATE: 17th January 2012
AIRCRAFT: C172P N54288 
ROUTE: CHD -> {Southern Training Area} -> CHD
DURATION: 1.0 hour
LANDINGS: 2
TOTAL TIME: 3.2 hours (+ 40.0 JAA)


Lesson Summary - Departed 22R. Power off and on stall. Steep turns. Simulated Emergency Landings. Banked stall. Touch and Go. More confident with the stalls today. Wind was calm but shifted direction a couple of times. 


Key Learning - Pay attention to departure headings. Fly runway heading means runway heading. Do not allow the wind to cause the aircraft to drift towards the center line of the other runway. Both approaches high. This was a common problem in Ireland. Need to sort out in the next lesson.


liveATC Audio - http://tinyurl.com/7o9r7cu

Lesson 3

DATE: 14th January 2012
AIRCRAFT: C172P N54288 
ROUTE: CHD -> {Southern Training Area} -> CHD
DURATION: 0.9 hour
LANDINGS: 1


Lesson Summary - Reviewed slow flight, steep turns and stalls (power off, power on, banked stalls). Long final to 04L. Great landing. 


Key Learning - Not focused whilst setting for the approach. Lined up on 04R instead of 04L. Had to be corrected by the instructor. Need to listen out to all radio calls. Incorrectly acknowledged a landing clearance for another aircraft. Lost awareness that an aircraft was landing 04R whilst I was landing 04L.


liveATC Audio - http://tinyurl.com/726e2fm

Lesson 2

DATE: 10th January 2012
AIRCRAFT: C172N N734HC
ROUTE: CHD -> {Southern Training Area} -> CHD
DURATION: 0.3 hour
LANDINGS: 0 !


Lesson Summary - Supposed to fly to the training area for stalls, turns etc however the take off was aborted due to a stuck magneto. Aircraft towed away to the hangar for repair.


Key Learning - Power low on the take off run. Showed good airmanship to abort the take off.


liveATC Audio - http://tinyurl.com/7nrop4m

Lesson 1

DATE: 7th January 2012
AIRCRAFT: C172P N54288
ROUTE: CHD -> CGZ -> A39 -> CHD
DURATION: 1.0 hour
LANDINGS: 3 


Lesson Summary - First FAA lesson. Chance for the instructor to gauge my previous experience from Europe. Departed runway 22R and flew touch and goes at CGZ and A39 before heading back to CHD. Landed 22L at CHD. Slight cross winds on all approaches. Required right aileron and left rudder.


Key Learning - Flying in Arizona is fun! Set the trim to Take Off and not neutral.


liveatc.net Audio - http://tinyurl.com/7hauypu 

First Flight.......................

First week was amazing and eventful. I have flown twice although the second lesson was aborted during the take off roll! Hadn't flown since November. Was great to get back up in the air.

I plan to summarise each week via a short podcast. Hoping for the first one to be released this weekend after my first three flights.

In the mean time, check out some of the ATC audio courtesy of liveatc.net 

ATC Audio

First Lesson Booked

First FAA lesson is booked for Saturday 7th January.


Hear my first lesson on liveatc.net from 4pm UTC http://www.liveatc.net/search/?icao=kchd

Road Trip...........

My family and I took a road trip to Vegas for a couple of days before New Year. 


Being an #AvGeek, I had to take the opportunity to check out a couple of places during the trip. Since 9/11, I am conscious about hanging around airport fences with a camera. However, I was able to take a couple of photo's at two locations.


Vegas was amazing. A buzz of airline, biz jet and helicopter traffic. 


skyvector.com came in handy again to help me figure out the local airspace around Vegas. 

KLAS Executive Terminal

KIGM Kingman Aviation Bone Yard