Category: Jake Myers

Good afternoon my fellow pilots and musicians,

I know that I said in my last post that the next time you here from me, hopefully I’ll be a pilot…and I now am! It feels amazing, and I have already given rides to my little sister and a friend. It’s awesome to get to share flight with other people. I went to my check ride with exactly 40 hours of flight time, the minimum amount you need to for PPL. I also spent the 3 days leading up to my check ride getting used to a brand new plane (to me) with a completely different, although much nicer, panel, as the airplane that I had been training with this summer was down with EFIS issues, and my instructor and I were in a time crunch to get me finished at the minimum amount of time before OSH and before I left for college. Thankfully, the check ride went very well, and the DPE said he was very impressed, and that we had a great flight together.

And the cherry on top…I got to go to Airventure the day after my check ride to work at the Bristell booth with my instructor. It was my first time at OSH, and now I certainly know why it is referred to as a airplane lovers’ heaven, because it most certainly is! I really wish I could’ve met more of you FMA guys, but I unfortunately was not able to get there in time for the open mic due to strong headwinds and questionable weather causing us to have to lay over and wait for the afternoon air show to end.

I have also nearly completed my complex-high performance rating in my instructors Navion, which I was able to work on during the trip to OSH. I also got the opportunity to fly a Bristell NG-5 with the Rotax 915is turbocharged engine as PIC with John Rathmell back from OSH…and that thing is an absolute rocket ship. I cruised at around 11,500′ on the way back, and made it back to central PA from OSH in a little less than 4 hours, with our max ground speed during that flight reaching nearly 180kts, or about 210mph (with about a 30 knot quartering tailwind)! And keep in mind, the Bristell is an LSA!

Anyways, here’s some pictures from OSH and my check ride, enjoy!

(And no, I was not on the controls during the formation flight of course, that was John Rathmell in the right seat flying, who is the owner of Sport Flying LLC and Bristell aircraft in Lancaster, PA- (717)-735-1600).

Hello everyone!

Yesterday marks a huge milestone in my journey to Private Pilot. I completed my first solo flight!!! It was amazing. I did three takeoffs and three landings all by myself. They were great too, no problems at all. It was such a beautiful night as well, the sunset was perfect, and the winds were pretty variable but only at a couple knots. A perfect time for a solo flight. Thanks so much to everyone in the FMA who made this possible for me. It’s truly a dream come true. It still feels so unreal. I soloed in 10.8 hours of total flight time, so that’s definitely pretty sweet! I hope to be able to get my PPL right around 40 hours, which of course is minimums for PPL.

I’ll have to take a little break now unfortunately, but I have finished my application for the EAA Ray Scholarship, so hopefully I can get that and continue my flight training! The next thing I want to complete is my written test. I am planning on having it done before the end of October. I have been and will continue using the Gleim aviation practice tests, the Sporty’s Learn to Fly course, and the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge to study. I think that this will prepare me enough for the test. If anyone has any better advice on this, please let me know!

Thanks so much for following me thus far,

Jake Myers

Hello! I decided to try out a post in video format. Give me some feedback if you like it better than reading a post!

Hello again everyone!

Despite not a whole lot going on with me right now with flight training due to my vacation last week and then a covid scare this week with my instructor’s family (thankfully, test came back negative for covid), I just want to touch base with anyone following and share a few other things going on in my life right now.

I go back to school this coming Monday to start my senior year. I’m pretty excited, but at the same time pretty bummed that it’s partly online. At least it isn’t all online. I also take the SAT Sunday. I do have a flight lesson scheduled for next Tuesday, and if all goes well, you can look for another post from me after that.

In the meantime, check out my bands’ new video!!!

(sorry if audio isn’t that great, we were on vacation and did not have any of our recording equipment with us).

Hello All!

Since before I started flight training, I have been using the Gleim Aviation Private Pilot Test Prep. Here, I will show you some of my thoughts on it. Overall, I think it’s a great program. I love how you can customize practice tests. You can control what kind of questions you see in a test, and as well as how long the tests are. The practice tests are the main thing I use it for, but it does have some other functions as well. You can access text ebooks for review, as well as take full practice tests simulating the FAA Knowledge Test. I primarily use it for the Study Sessions so I can review specific concepts that I have learned at a flight lesson with my instructor. The only complaint I would have about it is that to me, the dashboard and test prep just kind of looks a little dated to me. But overall, the information the program presents is good and current. It’s a good program for any student pilot to use to study, as well as for any pilot to use to keep current on information.

On Saturday, I went to an EAA Chapter 122 fly-in with my instructor, who is the chapter president, in his L-16 Champ. I really enjoyed talking and socializing with everyone there, and I think I hit it off with everyone quite well. I wore my FMA shirt, and I told everyone there about the FMA and me and my scholarship. It’s a great flying community, and I will definitely be going back to all the future meetings and fly-ins I can make. I got to meet John Rathmell (hope I spelled that correctly). He runs Sport Flying USA, a company who handles sales of all Bristell aircraft in the US, and it’s also the company who subcontracts Jon Still and his company, Still Flying LLC, who trains me. John Rathmell brought his Bristell 915IS, which is pretty much the same airplane I fly, just with a turbocharged engine that produces about 35hp more than the plane I fly. On the way back to Carlise (N94), John Rathmell formed up on our right ring and flew formation with us all the way back to N94, before breaking off and heading home. (Just so everyone knows, Jon Still and John Rathmell ARE in fact both trained in formation flying and are ex-military pilots. As I’m sure everyone knows, formation flying should never be attempted without proper training and experience). It was awesome! Nothing like an old warbird and a beautiful new Bristell flying together. I got some awesome pictures and a video that I’ll put in this post.

So long for now,

Jake

Hello!

Yesterday, I had my first training flight to a tower controlled airport, Capitol City Airport (KCXY). It was a bit intimidating, but also a lot of fun. I thought I was going to do pretty badly with communications, but under the pressure of actually making the calls, I did pretty well. I also learned how to do a touch and go. I did three yesterday, two at Cap City and one at Carlisle (N94). A highlight of that training flight was flying right under Air Force One! My flight instructor told me that Air Force One often does practice and training flights in the area.

Today my instructor, Jon Still, took my girlfriend and my little sister up for an EAA Young Eagles flight in his North American L-17 Navion. I got to ride along, and it was great! It’s such a cool airplane. North American produced the L-17 for the Army and fledgling Air Force at the end of WW2 in order to keep business going as they began to slow down production of the P-51. Although Jon’s is painted with a Navy paint scheme, the Navy only tested the Navion for its suitability and never really used it that much. When you look at the Navion, you can see some very similar design characteristics to the P-51, such as the designs of the tail and canopy.

I have around six or seven hours of total flight time now, and I believe I am about halfway to my solo. My passion for aviation has gotten even deeper during the course of my training so far, and I am extremely motivated to finish through solo and get my pilot’s license. I’m really looking forward to it and to hopefully continuing my training afterwards if I can find the financial means to do so.

Here’s some pictures and videos of the Navion flight as well as one of me with the beautiful Bristell NG5!