Levi Schroeder

PPC and Instrument Training

Wow, what a crazy 2 months it has been!

On August 1st, I finally got a day that wasn’t rainy, stormy, foggy, IMC, or a hurricane (I live in Nebraska, btw) and had an aircraft that was actually working. After 5 months of bad weather days and maintenance problems, I finally got the DPE in the plane and was able to secure my Private pilot license.

However, since I was extremely late posting about my private, I will fill you in on my instrument training. In a month, I had completed all of my basic Part 141 training and had to close out the last couple of cross-country flights. With a lot of two-a-days, crazy early mornings, and late-night flights, one starting at 8:00 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. with a 9:00 a.m. class the next morning, I got my training done. Now this week on Tuesday, I have my stage 3, then next week I have my EOC, End of Course.

Although I have been busy and sometimes don’t get all the sleep I need, I still wouldn’t have it any other way. In the next month, I am hoping to get my Instrument rating and get on to Commercial right after that.

Thank you all for the support and for being patient with my progress!!

Checkride Prep!!

It has been too long since I have updated you guys on my progress. So far I have completed 3 different solos. One of them was to a Towered airport and I did three TO/LNDs and returned to the airport. Recently I completed two solo cross countries. One from KEAR to KLBF was just at 160nm there and back. The day after Thanksgiving I did my three-point cross-country to KEAR-KBIE-KJYR-KEAR which is 220 nm long. I have enjoyed going on my solo XCs because they give me a sense of freedom and independence I used to need my CFI to help me with a lot of things when flying like students usually do, and now I can fly over 200nm without any assistance and come back safely. Now I am starting to refresh my skills on all of the maneuvers for my checkride. I am getting my Written planned because I have taken multiple practice exams and have scored over 90. It’s crazy to look back at how far I have come, and I can’t begin to thank not only this organization but also all of the sponsors for helping me along the way and continuously giving me support.

Thank You to Flying Eyes with the comfortable and classy sunglasses that get me through all the late evening flights with the sun Blaring in my eyes!!

MyGoFlight got me this classy bag that can fit anything in it and is still a sleek nice-looking bag to carry around!!

Gleim Aviation got me this really nice shirt that says, “If you can read this then thank a teacher, but if you can read this (Insert METAR) then thank a CFI” and all the instructors love when I wear that around the airport!!

Some that I couldn’t get in the picture are Sporty’s Pilot Shop for all their great videos that allow students to study easily – online, and Hartzell Propeller!!!

Thank You Sponsors!!

I just wanted to make a post saying Thank You to all the sponsors who allowed me to accomplish one small step of my long journey!! I can’t thank everyone who has supported me in the association and on this website with all of the encouraging posts!! I am happy that I can keep my greatest supporters from all over the United States updated on the progress that I am making.

My last lesson and today’s my CFI and I worked on performance takeoffs and landings, which are kinda tricky. Today felt a lot better though because I felt more smooth with the procedures and I am getting an even better “eye” for my landings.

Once again Thank You Sponsors!! You made my dreams possible!

And peep the new sunglasses from Flying Eyes!!

Solo!!

I finally soloed!!

It felt so amazing and so weird at the same time! Not having my CFI next to me gave me a sense of independence in the aircraft and gave me a huge boost of adrenaline when flying. It went great, although I thought I could’ve done better on my landings, 3 in total, but I’ve heard that if you can walk away from a landing, it’s a good landing.

I hope that this chapter is the first of many and I can’t wait to share my future accomplishments.

TO and LND

I don’t have good pictures because I forget when I’m focusing on the lesson, so I usually get one before my preflight.

My CFI and I have been working on my takeoffs and landings so that I can solo. I’ve done two lessons working on them and so far, my approaches have been significantly improving but I am still perfecting the final flare when I am about to touchdown. This aspect has been a little bit of a struggle, mostly because I believe I am focusing on the runway right ahead of me instead of looking down the runway as most people encourage to look there instead. I do have better touchdowns when I remember to look down the runway, but I will just have to keep working at it and develop an “eye” for my touchdowns.

Flying!!

I’ve been kinda slacking on posting my flights that I have been doing but I’ll get you all brought up to date on them.

I’m still trying to perfect my landings to be able to solo but my CFI and I went to KGRI (Class D Airspace) and I worked on my communications with a tower.

Then later in the week, we scheduled the same flight again, but instead of my CFI doing the planning and helping me determine the cruising altitude and runway to use I did all of that and it was pretty amazing being able to make a plan then execute it exactly like it was made up.

I’m hopefully going to solo pretty soon so I’ll keep you guys updated on that!!

Hangar Jam

On the 29th of June, I held my very first Hangar Jam! I’ve been busy flying and working so I couldn’t get this posted sooner. It was awesome to play in front of a crowd and spread the light of aviation and music. I’ve been getting a few more hours in the seat and am starting to become more fluent with the controls and getting more proficient in maneuvers.

Flying Lesson!!

On Saturday I was given the opportunity to fly in my first Skyhawk 152. He is a member of the AAA (Antique Airplane Association) and wanted to take me up and fly me to my flight lesson. It was my first flight lesson with my new instructor. It was kind of a hard cross wind but it was a good time. It was great to get back in the seat and get some hours!