Long Week
It's been a long week, and I've consequently fallen behind my cross country goals. After my phase check on Monday, I met with Kevin briefly on Wednesday, hoping to do my solo flight to Modesto. But the paperwork was not complete yet, so we were out of luck -- I thought about going out to do some pattern work, but I didn't have that much time, and it didn't help that things at my job were exploding (CEO resigned, subsequent reorg) so I just went to work, thinking I could get my time in on Thursday and Friday.
On Thursday, work took over again and I wound up having to be at a meeting. I did think about doing some pattern work, so I got on my bike and headed for the airport. But about two blocks away, I realized I was too tired to ride to the airport, and therefore definitely too tired to be flying around, so I turned around and cancelled the flight.
Then Friday, I was really hopeful. I met with Kevin; the paperwork was complete! He was very complimentary and told me I did a great job. Apparently the phase check CFI said I did great when they talked in person, which was interesting since I had the impression that I did merely OK. I guess it's just that at this phase, there are naturally a lot of things that need polishing, so it seems like I'm still on the steep part of the learning curve, whereas in reality my basic skills are getting more and more solid.
Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating; visibility was about 3SM at Modesto, and only about 7SM at Palo Alto. I keep wanting to type "Palo Alito" -- it's like now that I work for a subsidiary of Amazon, I can no longer type the word "amazing." Anyway, that was not the biggest of my problems; the bigger problem was that I'd misplaced my medical certificate. The phase check CFI had checked it before my phase check flight, and I hadn't seen it since. I turned my flight bag inside out, I checked everywhere, I called home and had my girlfriend looking for it...nothing. The process for replacing one of these is to write a letter to the FAA requesting a copy, which they'll send in their sweet time. Not something I wanted to be doing right now. So last night it finally turned up; it was buried in my flight bag (why I didn't find it the first two times I looked, I don't know) inside a book. So I'm certified again, which is a huge relief, and I finally took the advice of just about everyone and created a little pouch for it on the back cover of my log book.
I'm going to come up with an alternate flight plan for Monday morning; if Modesto's too hazy I want a better option. Kevin suggested that for my long cross-country, I should go PAO-MOD-somewhere in the central valley, but also plan out PAO-King City-Salinas-PAO in case the valley's still hazy. I'd love to fly into Monterey, but probably now's not the best time for me to complicate things with a Class C airport.
So, the current schedule is that I'm basically using all of my backup dates, and I should still be done by the end of the month. Let's hope for cooperation from the elements!
On Thursday, work took over again and I wound up having to be at a meeting. I did think about doing some pattern work, so I got on my bike and headed for the airport. But about two blocks away, I realized I was too tired to ride to the airport, and therefore definitely too tired to be flying around, so I turned around and cancelled the flight.
Then Friday, I was really hopeful. I met with Kevin; the paperwork was complete! He was very complimentary and told me I did a great job. Apparently the phase check CFI said I did great when they talked in person, which was interesting since I had the impression that I did merely OK. I guess it's just that at this phase, there are naturally a lot of things that need polishing, so it seems like I'm still on the steep part of the learning curve, whereas in reality my basic skills are getting more and more solid.
Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating; visibility was about 3SM at Modesto, and only about 7SM at Palo Alto. I keep wanting to type "Palo Alito" -- it's like now that I work for a subsidiary of Amazon, I can no longer type the word "amazing." Anyway, that was not the biggest of my problems; the bigger problem was that I'd misplaced my medical certificate. The phase check CFI had checked it before my phase check flight, and I hadn't seen it since. I turned my flight bag inside out, I checked everywhere, I called home and had my girlfriend looking for it...nothing. The process for replacing one of these is to write a letter to the FAA requesting a copy, which they'll send in their sweet time. Not something I wanted to be doing right now. So last night it finally turned up; it was buried in my flight bag (why I didn't find it the first two times I looked, I don't know) inside a book. So I'm certified again, which is a huge relief, and I finally took the advice of just about everyone and created a little pouch for it on the back cover of my log book.
I'm going to come up with an alternate flight plan for Monday morning; if Modesto's too hazy I want a better option. Kevin suggested that for my long cross-country, I should go PAO-MOD-somewhere in the central valley, but also plan out PAO-King City-Salinas-PAO in case the valley's still hazy. I'd love to fly into Monterey, but probably now's not the best time for me to complicate things with a Class C airport.
So, the current schedule is that I'm basically using all of my backup dates, and I should still be done by the end of the month. Let's hope for cooperation from the elements!
posted by MKT at 8:35 AM
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