Category Archives: Learn to Fly

My First Solo Flight by the Numbers

By Rory | Published: April 16, 2012
My first solo started as a normal flight, where my instructor and I first went around the pattern 3 times. My instructor had me then drop him off at taxiway Juliet between 19L and the taxi way Charlie. The tower approved that, and he sat, awkwardly in the grass among the jets pushing back from [...]
Also posted in Airports, Flying Solo, KSNA - John Wayne - Santa Ana | Tagged | 2 Comments

Complex Time with a Retractable Gear 172

By Rory | Published: January 10, 2012
A complex aircraft has flaps, retractable landing gear, and an adjustable pitch propeller. Believe it or not, I have used a Groupon more than once to get a flying lesson at a flying school that I would not otherwise have visited. As a result, I have had the opportunity to fly a complex Cessna 172 [...]
Also posted in Complex Aircraft, My Private Pilot Training, Private Pilot | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Flying the Rocky Mountains

By Rory | Published: December 20, 2011
It has been a goal of mine to go flying in my old hometown for a long time. I knew that I wanted to fly with a flight school at KBJC, Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (Formerly Jeffco Airport) in Broomfield, CO. I found McAir Aviation, they have a fantastic modern fleet of training aircraft. We [...]
Also posted in Airports, KAPA - Centennial, KBJC - Rocky Mountain Metropolitan | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Cross Country to Camarillo

By Rory | Published: October 21, 2011
My instructor had a commendable amount of patience as he walked me through the ins and outs of flight planning. I sat mostly stumped trying to remember high school algebra that was dusty as hell somewhere in the back of my head. Since I just passed the private pilot written exam, I knew that some [...]
Also posted in KCMA - Camarillo, KSMO - Santa Monica, KSNA - John Wayne - Santa Ana | Leave a comment

Studying for the Private Pilot Written Exam

By Rory | Published: September 23, 2011
One of my best purchases in my student pilot career has definitely been my iPad. I have been studying for my private pilot written exam with the Study Buddy app released by Sporty’s. The Private Pilot version is $10 and has 700+ questions to review to prepare for the Private Pilot Written exam. I started [...]
Posted in Learn to Fly | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Kona – The Departure

By Rory | Published: March 9, 2011
This post should have been the first one, but I just now was able to get these awesome videos uploaded. On taxi to run up, the controller gave us our choice of what runway to use. We picked runway 17 because we were closer to that end of the field. During run up, a UPS [...]
Also posted in Airports, Cross Country, PHKO - Kona at Keahole - KOA | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Flying Around Kona

By Rory | Published: February 23, 2011
We woke up early, at 5 AM to meet the instructor at the Kona Airport by 6 am. The sun wasn’t up yet, so we did the preflight on the Cessna 172 in the dark with a flashlight. The instructor really expedited our checklists and preflight, so we started up pretty quickly and headed off [...]
Posted in Learn to Fly | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Wind Shear Cancelled my Last Lesson, So I’m headed to Hawaii Instead

By Rory | Published: February 15, 2011
I was planning my next flying lesson for the beginning of February, but because of a high wind warning, and low level wind shear, my lesson was canceled. Unfortunately, I was not able to work in another one before leaving town. My wife Heather and I are in Kona, Hawaii. As we departed LAX for [...]
Also posted in Airports | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Flying Wild Alaska: Aviation on TV

By Rory | Published: January 22, 2011
As with most things aviation, I am a huge fan of this new show on the Discovery Channel, “Flying Alaska Wild“. The show is on Fridays and follows a family who runs a regional (puddle jumper) airline throughout Alaska. The challenges of running any airline are significant, but in Alaska weather and logistics present several [...]
Also posted in Aircraft for Sale | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Flying the Mesa Departure from John Wayne

By Rory | Published: January 7, 2011
Up until now, I have only flown to the practice areas south of John Wayne airport. This includes the El Toro practice area as well as the Dana Point practice area. One great thing about flying the same practice areas is that you get accustomed to the landmarks and navigation. Exiting and entering the Santa [...]
Also posted in Airports, General Aviation, KSNA - John Wayne - Santa Ana, My Private Pilot Training, Private Pilot | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Private Pilot Lessons Kick-Off

By Rory | Published: August 23, 2010
After researching every single flight school at the airport I will be using for my lessons. I finally settled on Royal Aviation at John Wayne Airport in Orange County. I’m looking forward to jump starting my private pilot training. My instructor told me that I need these books from Amazon to get started on studying [...]
Also posted in 172, Cessna, Flight Instructors, Flight Schools, General Aviation, Private Pilot | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Learn How to Fly – It’s Never Too Late

By Rory | Published: June 17, 2010
On a Mission from God. – For me, that phrase conjures an image of Jake and Elwood Blues standing in front of a nun explaining how they are going to get the band back together. For a guy from Texas, it means that his heart attack was a signal to go get a pilot’s license [...]
Also posted in General Aviation, Private Pilot, Sport Pilot | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment