First 100 (and then some) Hours!

Hello! I’m here again to give everyone an update about my flight training and my summer with Sky Quest!

First of all, this summer was crazy. Between flight training and work I hardly had any free time, but it was definitely rewarding because I knew I was spending my time working hard and learning a lot. I completed my Commercial 1 flight course at Kent State. This course added 48.4 hours to my total flight time, putting me well over the 100 hour mark. Out of these 48.4 hours, 25.5 of them were cross countries, and 27 of them were solo. I had 6 cross countries in the course:

Kent State (1G3) – Latrobe (LBE) – Kent State (1G3) / 2.8 hours/dual/night

Kent State (1G3) – Findlay (FDY) – Erie (ERI) – Kent State (1G3) / 4.7 hours/solo

Kent State (1G3) – Northeast Ohio Regional (HZY) – Wheeling (HLG) – Kent State (1G3) 2.3 hours/dual

• This flight was difficult to mark as a lesson. At Kent State, we have a Training Course Outline for each flight course and the cross country lesson I was on called for the airport to be 100nm away from Kent. We were originally going to go to Buffalo, but a thunderstorm developed off of Lake Erie and we decided to divert to HZY so we didn’t fly into the thunderstorm. Unfortunately, HZY is only 49nm from 1G3, so I could not log the first hour of flight as cross country. The total flight was 3.3 hours but only 2.3 were cross country. 

Kent State (1G3) – Buffalo (BUF) – Clarion (AXQ) – Kent State (1G3) / 4.8 hours/dual

Kent State (1G3) – Scranton (AVP) – Franklin (FKL) – Kent State (1G3) / 6.1 hours/solo

Kent State (1G3) – Fort Wayne (FWA) – Port Clinton (PCW) – Kent State (1G3) /4.8 hours/solo

The best moment from this course was when I did the flight to Buffalo, New York, because my instructor and I did the Niagara Falls tour from the sky. Having this opportunity was very cool because I believe this is what general aviation is all about; being able to see things from the sky and having the opportunity to do things that most people can’t. Compared to private, which took me about 9 months to complete, commercial 1 took significantly less time to complete, only two months! In addition to the flights, I also completed 24 ground lessons and 6 hours of simulator time. 

On top of my flight lessons, I was also working at Sky Quest over the summer, which was an absolutely amazing learning experience. At Sky Quest, I did a bit of everything. I helped out with maintenance under supervision, I ordered and inventoried parts, and I even worked in dispatch for a few days. I also had the opportunity to fly in a Challenger 350 from CLE to CGF. It was only a 17 minute flight, but it was still awesome to fly on a private jet. It was unlike any flight I have ever taken before. I looked forward to going into work every day, because I always knew I was going to learn something new. On my last day of working there, I went to thank the President of the company for providing me with the opportunity to work there this summer. While we were talking, he told me how highly everyone talked of me and even offered me a job for next summer!

One of the best parts about becoming a private pilot is getting to exercise the privileges of carrying a passenger. This summer I was able to take my girlfriend as my first passenger. We took off from Medina (1G5) and flew north over Cleveland Hopkins and then flew around downtown Cleveland. I figured the easiest way to do this was to do a touch and go at Burke Lakefront (BKL) because it is on Lake Erie, which is right next to downtown. My girlfriend was very surprised with how fast things happened on a touch and go landing. She didn’t expect it to literally be a touch and go. After we took off again from BKL, we flew down the coast of Lake Erie for a little bit as the sun was beginning to set and then headed back south towards Medina. We both had a great time flying together, but we didn’t have the best views because it was hazy and the visibility was around 6-7sm. But once we were pretty close to the city, all of the buildings looked cool from the sky. I can’t wait to take her back up on a night flight so she can see all of the city lights at night.

A few weeks ago, one of my friends from high school that had moved to Florida came back to Ohio to visit so of course I had to take him on a flight. We took off from Medina once again, but this time to the South, then started a turn to the West. I then showed them some maneuvers like steep turns, power on and off stalls. I then tracked to the Dryer (DJB) VOR then proceeded North along the shore of Lake Erie where we flew at 1,500’ MSL to get some cool views. Unfortunately, we were not able to do a tour around Cleveland because the airshow was happening, so we turned South and headed back towards Medina to end the flight. The flight ended up being 1.3 hours and it was a beautiful day to fly. No clouds, light winds, and limitless visibility.

Now let’s get to where I am currently. I have started my Instrument Rating, and I am progressing through it at a good pace. I am hoping to take my first stage check in the next week or two, and then I will be able to start flying in actual IMC. For now, I have been using the foggles on all of my flights. So far I have done patterns A and B, Vertical S’s, DME arcs,  power on/off stalls, steep turns, and unusual attitudes. Once I complete the stage check, I will be able to start learning approaches, which I am very excited to learn. At Kent, we do instrument training in the Cessna 172S model with the G1000 avionics. After using the standard 6 pack for most of my training so far, the G1000 has a lot to learn and get used to. It is a lot easier to do instrument training with the G1000 because of how much the screens can display. For example, DME arcs are much easier with the G1000 compared to a six-pack because the G1000 will point towards the VOR, and it shows the wind correction angle. I do want to do a few flights in the 172R I flew for Commercial 1, so I have experience performing instrument procedures in both planes. The best part about the instrument course so far was when I did my first IFR XC to Mansfield (KMFD). I flew the RNAV 23 and the VOR-A back into Kent, and even logged .6 of actual IMC on the way back to Kent. It was such a different feeling flying through the clouds for the first time. All throughout my training, I have been told to avoid the clouds at all costs but now I can just fly through them. I’m very excited to progress through my IR training and I can’t wait to give another update once I’ve passed my checkride.

Also here is a link a Kent State’s First halftime show this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MPLh3rgCO4