FL030 to FL410

So after like 5-6 months...

2008-05-28T08:07:00.004-05:00

I finally got my instrument! It was very easy for the end of course. I was very very prepared for it. the flight was good, the oral was good. the only thing I got confused was on was the precipitable chart or something. it tells you how much rain would come down, if all the clouds condensed and ti rained.

I started commercial finally, and the 1st 15 lessons are in the Cirrus. I'm done with the Cirrus and start the Seminole at lesson 15. I can't fly for few more days (June 10th) however because I'm out of money 'til then

well thats about it! I don't update this as much as I should, but i'm close to done!

:)

IFR is close to done

2007-12-02T03:42:00.000-05:00

No update in a while. I know....

I changed CFIIs, and i'm happy with the one I got now. I got holds down pretty good (after like a whole week) and same with approaches. In fact I have been doing them so much (and enjoy them) that I dream about them haha.... I have like 1,500 left in my account, and unfortunetly I might have to put it on hold for a bit until dad can get some more money, it will not be enough to finish. Cross countries alone will be like close to a grand if not more. and the stage checks probably about 400 each :( IFR is very expenisve due to the fact that you have to go airport to airport and shoot approaches, and at close to 150 bux an hour, it gets kind of pricey. I also did my 1st actual few days ago, its weird, but cool... if you look out, you really get disoriented within seconds.

if I get the money quick, I should def be done by end of month, at most... We'll see if the old man can send another 2 or 3 grand :(

Stage Check I is complete...

2007-10-14T14:21:00.000-05:00

Stage Check I is complete. It went all, even though I did it with one of the check instructors that I don't like very much. His body seems to write egos that his body can't cash. I had a friend come up with me backseating, and he noticed that the check instructor was being too harsh on me too. But oh well, he did give me some slack on altitude because I deviated from it more than few times, so that was nice of him.

I also had an incident with my instructor that I didn't like... we have to fill out these take off data cards before every flight, and well if its the same plane, withthe same load out, I have already premade ones that I have done previously so, I just copy those. It's not that I don't know how to do them, its just time consuming and nobody says I can't copy them... he ended up taking them from me and ripped them all apart. I really didn't appreciate that.... I want to change instructors but don't want to be the one student that changes instructors.... he is tough, and I like that, but he makes me feel stupid alot if I can't get it, and that really pisses me off...

oh, and I got this new roommmate who is late on rent, and giving me the 'looks' I don't know what the fuck is up with her either, thats pissing me off too....

andddd i'm about to run out of money again, i only have about 1300 left. not good.... prolly good for like 4 more flights if that, I hope I can get to like lesson 20 with it. 1 sim is usually about 50 bux (35 an hour or something) and 1 flight is about 140 an hour... IRC is made of 1 sim, and 1 flight

Little update

2007-09-28T02:04:00.000-05:00

Really not much else going on... I've been running out of money lately, and also broke up with my girl friend, so I took a week off to get myself back on track etc etc. out of 34 lessons i've been sort of stopped at 13 due to money/personal life. This weekend I am taking her truck back to TX, and will start flying on wedn. I will do a review flight, and after that, I will have my check flight which will include IFR naviation via ADF/VOR, and BAI stuff... after that, holds start :o

Also today I finally have passed the 100 hour mark at 100.4 :) Did a flight to Key west from Ft lauderdale exec. was 4 hours long. went upto 10,500. and shockingly my phone worked!!! OVER THE OCEAN!!!!

I will check back later on to say how i'm doing with Holds, and how the check flight went. I was having some trouble with VORs, hopefully all will be good now.

Started IFR!

2007-07-19T13:17:00.000-05:00

Today was 1st day for IFR. We didn't do any flying, but just quick overview of what to expect, the new plane (152 to 172) and talked about CIA (Cross check - Interpret - Aircraft control) and things like that. What kind of scans there are ( T scan, V scan etc.) Tomorrow I will start the flying portion. The way Delta Conn Academy designed it is 1 sim, and 1 flight. You get to learn it in the sim pretty much, and put it to use on the flight. If you got it figured out in the sim, you'll have no trouble in the plane and should go through them quick hopefully. I really hope I'll stay under 7 grand for this course. I got 3400 to start off with, and with today's ground that leaves me with like 3366 or something. I will be flying 5 days a week, and most likely if time permits I will do 1 sim, then go fly the same day. I should go through this course like crazy. if everything goes to plan and I can find some more money when the 3300 I have runs out I might be done with this course in a month or two! (I was saying the same thing for private, it ended up taking 5 months!). Anyways, I'm excited, time for some hood flying :)

Got the PPL!

2007-05-24T14:55:00.001-05:00

yup yup, finally got it... Nothing else to say really other then i am BROKE so I don't really have money to get a checkout ride at any airport to rent something... I need to get on top of that because I'd like to fly at least once a week and at worst once every other week to keep myself current so I don't forget how to fly since my IFR stuff won't start until fall for me.. We had some problems with the IACRA but we figured it all out and I just got my temporary pilot's license which is a piece of paper. My plastic one should come upto 3 months, so we'll see... FAA is very slow

Cliff notes: no cliff notes this time dude! I got my PPL! read the damn thing! :D

Long needed update

2007-05-14T01:30:00.000-05:00

Haven't been updating as reguarly but things have somewhat calmed down so far.... I finished all the lessons and when my stage check for end of course came up, I pretty much stalled.... I failed the oral portion twice (What got me was that my I hadn't come prepared and also didn't know a few things such as what happens to Vy/Vx when you go up and also stall speeds) and on the second one, I messed up on something real stupid reading the POH... During the flying portion it was pretty bad... 1st attempt I failed on the landing part along with the ground manuevers... I went up again, finished EVERYTHING except I messed up on the landings... that got me REAL upset, but what can ya do... went up 1 more time to finish the landings, and guess what... messed up again... I did a GA way too close to the ground and it just ended up being a stupid landing that was sideloaded... so what does this mean? HAVE TO REDO THE WHOLE DAMN FLYING PORTION AGAIN which takes roughly 3 hours, which you can't really complete on 1 run... This obviously really f'ed up my morale and this is starting become something that I just want to get over with, not something that i'm looking forward to... I believe this is happening because my insturctor is just not adequate... It feels like he is not good enough, hard to explain, he doesn't 'explain enough' maybe it is because I'm his 1st student, or maybe because english is not his 1st language. Also I'm getting VERY nervous up there being watched like that, thats not good either... I have to fight that... I went up with another instructor to kind of go over some things and have his perspective of my flying and he and I decided I go up 1 last time with my inst. to clean up a few things... I also want to practice more landings... my landings are fine, its my crosswind technique that I'm not happy with, I keep landing sideloaded... its something I just have to practice. Tuesday I will go for my last 'review' flight and then do the WHOLE fucking thing flying stage check again, i'm really not looking forward to it... School said they need 'consistency' from me.... I still can't see the relevance of landing and doing lost procedures, but whatever floats their boat... I know this school isn't after my money, our chief inst. is an awesome person, but I'm still confused about doing the whole thing... I know the DPE can retest whatever they want, but that doesn't still show me the relevance of all the other crap with landing... Anyways, I just want to get this damn PPL and get it over with... This is not the attitude I was hoping to have at the end of the course. I believe it's the school's and my inst's fault as much as mine.

Cliff notes: Up to lesson 26 which is end of course... I failed the flying portion 3 times in a row due to crappy landings (and once on ground maneuvers) so now I have to do the whole thing again... if you want more details, read above. I know I'm one of the 'better' if not best students in the PPL program in my class, so that makes me REAL curious how the other guys will do.... I blame my messing up not only on myself but also on my inst. I don't want to change him, because I'm pretty much done with the course, I fly with him one last time and thats it (I hope) I need to work on my crosswind landing technique, and thats just practice.... not CFI time imo.

Lesson 19 and 20, the 'check' stages

2007-03-27T19:49:00.000-05:00

Lesson 19 was with A Check ride instructor (Justin Kremer) and it was a flight where my abilities were checked to see if I could fly safely on my own now. For this flight we flew over to Pahokee (PHK) and did 2 t&g and departure back to HWO... did some vor tracking and stuff, good flight... we had about 17G22 90 degree winds at PHK... it was fun!

Lesson 20 didn't go too well. Its the same thing as 19, but more in detail. I didn't know how to get 'actual' GS so I failed on that, and also my times were within like 3-4 minutes (which is ok as long as within -/+ 5 mins) and I was following my MH even when I had my WPs in sight... so right there were 2 things I messed up. later on we had a simulated engine failure and I decided to choose some dirt field as my landing strip, but the winds were at 080 at 22 and I chose a road that was north/south and didn't verify my checklist, AND went below DCA 500 feet minimums. I should have chosen the dirt strip RIGHT next to the one I chose which was running E/W so it would have been a headwind... so 3 things I failed... at this point she asked if I want to cont. or not, I said 'of course, lets keep going' and she said ok and we did lost procedures... I got pretty close to where we were but she said that I shouldnt rely on VOR and use the map more for it. and she told me to divert to opa locka. that went pretty well and we did a tng at opa locka and headed home... I ended up failing it and had to repeat the things I messed up on.

I did a review flight with another CFI and we did some review stuff to put me back on track and also had to get some fuel at banyan at FXE... WOW! that place is NICE!!! I felt like an actual pilot with linemen/ramp agents and all :) we departed there and came back and did some soft/short field landings,.... they were good except I was told I need to be on the centerline... I also learned how to come back down to the runway with a failed engine on downwind :)

Today I repeated the parts I messed up and did some short/soft take off and landings to finish off the lesson. She said everythign went well and all my times this time were within seconds of each other :) and I got the GS this time too :) my landings were REALLY smooth EXCEPT I need to be on the center line she said! I can't believe I can't get that center line! I think what happens is I concentrate on making such a smooth flare that I forget i'm supposed to be in the middle! I will work on that with Juan before my solo.

Next up is lesson 21, solo time!!! :) After that I have Lesson 22 which is a dual xc (I think I will run out of money at this point and I just deposited 2 grand at lesson 18, and don't have any more money left so I don't know what will happen) and 23 is solo xc, 24 is another dual first and then supervised solo, and 25 is Team leader flight and 26 is stage check and my FAA exam! :)

Cliff notes: Lesson 19 was very well, learned how to effectively use flight following, and how to land with 20 knot direct crosswinds in a 152 and few other things. I can land very efficiently now :) Lesson 20 was not too good. messed up on the 1st one with getting actual ground speed, and following navlog and emergency landings. got it all fixed up after the review flight and passed it. she said I need to work on keeping the centerline when I land. Next up is solo, but it looks like I will be running out of money after the dual cross country which is lesson 22 since I only have like 700 bux left after I put in 2 grand... the mess up at 20 cost me roughly 300 bux

Lesson 18, back flying and Night XC

2007-03-27T19:39:00.000-05:00

I finally started flying again at about 3/19ish and the next lesson up was a night cross country flight... The flight went well except that none of the gauge lights worked (I don't think they actually had lights) and our red flood light went out! so what does that mean? dark pit! :o I decided to go with the flight since my CFI and I both had flashlights and we could manage... Well the lens of my flashlight fell out which meant I could no longer use my flashlight, and we were too late to turn around so we ended up going through with it. I did my touch and gos at Marco Island, and then we landed at Naples (APF) it was about 12.30 and the airport was closed! We were able to land, but we couldn't get gas, and due to part 139 something something (it made no sense) we couldn't use the self serve fuel station... so we had to fly over to page field (FMY) and get gas there... We called them up (the fuel place) got gas and took off from FMY... then we had a veeerrryyy long flight back to HWO (home base) due to VERY strong headwind... When we got back it was about 3.30 am! Near the end of the flight I was just getting tired and wanted to just go home and sleep. after all it was a good flight and its always an experience when unexpected things happen. :)

Cliff notes: back in track, deposited 2 grand, I thought it would last til the end, but it wont. was a 4 hour LONG night XC flight, got back at 3.30 am and next up is lesson 19 and 20 which are stage check flights.

Just a quick "I'm not flying due to $" update

2007-03-06T21:40:00.000-05:00

ok, let me do a quick update on things :)

I ran out of money and hopefully by end of march (I'm hoping march 15th) I will have roughly 3 grand to take care of things... phew... I really gotta get my house to sell, it will be my key to finishing this program!

Anyways, I will get back here and when my lessons start again :) Next up was a night cross country :)

All the way onto Lesson 17...

2007-02-10T19:51:00.000-05:00

I hadn't posted in a while, and I'll probably keep this short... Why you ask? Well I ran out of money for flying, and now grounded until I can come up with I would say close to 3 grand... yep... flying is LOTS of money... I finished 3500 already. I have just about a 1,000 but I need to pay bills too! so I probably won't use it. My father said he will send a grand in march *maybe*. It sucks, I'm so close... I got like 10 more hours of flying and 9 more lessons and I'd be done. I'm now at lesson 18 and 21 is a solo. :( oh well... oh, I had to repeat 15's soft field landings as usual heh... now my normal landings are pretty smooth though. :) for the cross country, we had a last min thing and switched from naples (apf) to marathon (mth) it was the best flight I ever had.... I took some pictures, it was awesome! Flight was 4 hours, it wen't very smooth, I had my best landing at the end of the day with an AWESOME sunset... what a way to end my flying days until I get about 2 more grand. :( I seriously want to cry, its so sad.

Cliff Notes: Bah, out of money, had to repeat lesson 15's soft field landings. 16 was night flight real fun, had a hard no landing light landing. Lesson 17 was awesome, we went hwo-mth, it was the best x-c I ever had! check out the pics... unfortunetly I am now out of money and need about 3 more grandish to finish everything up, no clue how i'm going to find it. only if my condo I have up for sale would sell... its just a big confusion with my parents and them understading whats going on, very annoying... Anyways, I'm exteremely sad I'm almost done to get my PPC, i guess i will cry now :(

14, the first mess up

2007-02-02T17:06:00.000-05:00

Yup, messed up this lesson... It consisted VOR tracking, and few turning stalls which I did perfect... the part I messed up on was the part I love and hate the most... the short/soft field landings... I don't know but somehow I messed up... my approaches are very good imo, its the flares I mess up on it seems... I either flare too high, or flare too late... also I can keep a perfect 60 knots on the app speed, but for the short field, it needs to be 55... I have a problem keeping that for some reason... what I have to do is raise the nose up a bit to keep that, but then everything just feels too 'weird'... one of the landings I had it PERFECT but i forgot to keep the nose up since it was a soft field landing... on the short field landing, I again landed pretty well, but I braked a bit too much with the left foot and the little '52 kinda shot to the left... We will repeat them tomorrow (Saturday) and hopefully I will do better... we are going to combine lesson 14 and 15... 15 has the landings again so I will just do the 14's landing part and whatever is included on the 15...

so I was kinda sad and upset... honestly, I don't know what went wrong... I even had direct headwind (although they were gusting to 20)

Cliff notes: I did pretty good on VOR and stalls which were a part of lesson 14, but messed up on the short/soft field landings... my approaches are very good except its hard me to keep that 55 knots for some reason, I keep going into 60s... and also I am either flaring to high, or too late... I honestly think because I don't think its right and my inst. is telling me 'ok flare now, now!' and it gets my out of sync... whatever though, I will repeat the landings again tomorrow along with lesson 15 which has even more of these... Hopefully I will do much better... I really love and hate these landings...

Lesson 13

2007-01-31T01:38:00.000-05:00

This lesson was rather a quick lesson... It consisted of short and soft field operations (takeoff and landing). I really enjoyed the soft field take off, and also the landing, the short field landing was challenging, but even more fun to me.... you to have to pick a spot, and land right on that spot... You do this by actually picking something before that spot and you get right on where you want to be.... We did 6 takeoffs and 7 landings in total today. After we came for the debrief we talked about the flight a little and ended up talking to the chief instructor about my progress... Everyone knows I am going WAY too fast (just as I was hoping for it to be) and all the instructors are amazed by my progress... The chief inst. told me that I should probably slow down a bit because I am just too fast, or I can talk to my ground school teacher and see if he will allow me to take the knowledge test earlier (or other option was to do the ground work by DCA, which would be $$$$). Well I talked to my ground school teacher (which btw is supposed to end on may 5th or something), and he said he can't sign me off for 141, but he said just to talk to my inst. and have him sign me off to take my written under part 61 rules... That is what I want to do, it will be about 5 more flight hours, which I really don't worry about. Hopefully the chief will be ok with me doing part 61, otherwise I'm going to be real upset and slow WAY down.... I mean its not so common for a student to LOVE what he is doing so much he stays ahead of everyone including himself... that is whats happening to me, and I want to take advantage of it! Now other thing I have to worry about is my flight account for money... its reaching a thousand... a thousand is probably good for like 5 more flights, and it will be gone... I gotta somehow put some money in there (I would say maybe like a thousand more, hopefully not anymore, I really don't have the money) I have about 10 hours of flight time left as far as money goes... and since each lesson is anywhere from 1 hour to 1.5 (or sometimes 2) 5 more lessons sound about right... especially the cross country, that will be a lot of money.

Cliff notes: The lesson went real well, it consisted short/soft field operations. Since I am so ahead of everyone (most other students are at lesson 6) I'm trying to talk my chief inst. to changing me over to part 61, so I'm not stuck with the SLOW ground class I'm taking (Which will make me get my PPL in may instead of late February if I stick with it) We will see what happens with that very soon. Other problem I might be running into soon is finance... I have about 1200 left, and thats goof for roughly 10 hours of flying, which is anywhere from 5 flights to 7 flights.... most def not enough to have me finish... Hopefully dad can help out some... A grand is just what I need... I will come up with 500 myself to put in there and 1500+1200 should be enough to help me finish... If I can't come up with it, i'm really screwed...

Lesson 12, Leader check ride

2007-01-28T22:35:00.000-05:00

So today was the lesson where I fly with a flight leader to show my proficiency and to prove i'm on the right track and such. The day started off with some oral tests. The oral part was great except I didn't really remember the light signals if radio communication was lost, other then that it was great. Now it was the flying portion of the test. We loaded up in the plane and my instructor was checking out my Garmin 496 before the flight and he really liked it, so I let him use it for the flight (that thing can be great help in cross country flights, and for other things like weather and all). After the engine start and all I asked for permission for a VFR departure to the west from the controller, only to be responded with a rude 'you know, you should ask for permission to taxi before you ask for a departure', that really ticked me off... I mean how the hell am I going to 'depart' if I don't taxi? I can't really depart from the runway... He knew what I meant but he just felt like being an ass, I really didn't appreciate that. Anyways, we taxied did our run up and off we went... the weather was beautiful, but gusting to 27 which was harsh on the little 152, but we managed :) We did some IR flying under the hood, and some stalls, MCA and such and headed back. On the way back there were some real strong wings and I honestly paying attention so after I told the controller inbound for landing, he told me enter right downwind to 27R, I complied and started flying in... only I didn't realize we were drifting WAY right towards 27L's take off pattern so my instructor told me 'wow, what you doing?, you just created a traffic conflict, you were heading straight for that guy, stay north of this road (pines blvd) I apologized and went north of the road... on the downwind my instructor asked for the option so we can do a taxi back. Again the controller was just a dick and bitched as us for not telling him earlier... Now I was real pissed and lost my concentration in the pattern.... so I was kinda slow in the pattern (about 60, when I should have been 70ish) and kept trying to pitch up... that controller had gotten to me and my instructor. anyways, we had winds 290 gusting to 27 on 27R, so it was kinda hard to keep the plane nice and level... every time it gusted plane just went everywhere, I kinda flared too high but had a nice and real smooth touchdown, but I kinda forced the nose gear down, he told me to just let it land itself, I keep flaying while we touch the mains, it will be even smoother... we did 1 go around which was very nice and 1 last full stop. on the full stop he didn't tell me we were going full stop because he asked for the option so I thought it would be touch and go, and when I put flaps up to go up again, he was like wth you doing? I said touch and go! he said nono, its a full stop! lol he told me it was his fault and he didn't tell me it was a full stop...
After the flight, we landed had a short debrief and talked about the flight and the oral... he told me to study the light signals and also to keep that nose up when we touch down... its not a 'landing' until 3 gears are down... and use my checklist more, I keep forgetting it so I will do what he said next time and let the nose come down slow and see what happens :)

Cliff notes: This lesson was a 'test flight' and you have to prove the check instructor that you are doing good and up to track with your flying. We had an oral part and a flying part. He said I did pretty good on the oral except I need to study the light signals in case of radio failure and for flying he told me put my nosewheel down smoother on landings by keeping that flare even after landing and to use my checklist more often. The lesson was satisfactory. off to lesson 13 which will be soft/short field landings and take offs :)

ps: I finished the 1st page of my logbook, 13.8 hours and total of 32 landings so far :)

First 11 lessons

2007-01-27T19:01:00.000-05:00

Well we started on January 8th and I started flying on the 9th. I was already ahead of everyone by the time I had started. Unfortunately I was too late with starting this blog so, I will have to sort of 'skim' through everything and jump us all the way from lesson 1 to lesson 11.
My first 2 days were just ground school. They taught us how to make weight&balance sheets, fill out take off data cards, get ATIS, make sure plane is update to date on it's maintenance forms, and how to conduct a preflight. All these things I had already known with flying other friends, so it was real easy stuff. The hardest part was undoubtedly making that knot for the tie downs! I just could not get it! maybe because I'm a lefty and everything sort of felt reversed to me, but by now I can finally do them :)

I was so eager to get up there and show the instructors what I was already capable of, I desperately looked for CFI to start me with my lessons. Thing is, mine hadn't arrived yet so it was either wait until he got here, or find another one to jump start me! I chose to go ahead and just find a temporary one to get going. My temporary instructor was Adi. Him and I did all the lessons to to 5 which included some stuff on a Frasca 142. most of the stuff we did was slow flight, power on/off stalls and few turns around a point and s turns...

My real instructor arrived on Monday next week, we did my last sim and the next day we were off to lesson 7... it was really more of the same stuff... lesson nine was finally time to practice landings.... My landings were a bit harsh, I kept getting scared when I went over the threshold and when I went idle, I would pull back on the yoke a little bit trying to keep us level which bled off speed like crazy so we would come down real hard even with the flare... lesson 11 was landings again and we logged 12 landings, and I got them down real good... I land decent now. He did tell me that when I flare I'm pulling back too much which is causing us to hang in the air and drop down a bit harsh, mostly due to my death grip on the yoke... so next time we practice landings (13) I won't be as harsh on the controls as I was, and my landings will be fine.... I can stay pretty close to the center line and that's good. I now have 12.8 hours and 29 landings, and I'm already on lesson 12 which is a check stage... I have to wait for a check instructor now , so he can see how I'm doing, so I can proceed on. Most students who started at the same time as I did are at like lesson 6 (I think the closest one to me is lesson 7) I'm already on 12, so I'm way ahead of everyone. the CFIs know it too, I'm going like a speed train :)

Well that is a quick overview of all I have done so far! :)

My school

2007-01-27T17:58:00.000-05:00

Now before I just jump out there with the name of my school let me tell you that I really like my school, and I know many people hate it and not to mention they say its a trap for young people who think its the only way to become an airline pilot. They tell you that you get a 'guaranteed interview' which is a load of bull.... I'm sure you get your 'guaranteed' interview, but news to you, if you meet the minimum hours of any airline, there is a %90 chance you will get an interview anyways. Apply to couple places, and you will see you don't need a guaranteed interview.

All that being said, I can now say where I go... Delta Connection Academy. At the same time I am also getting my AA in Professional Pilot technology and once I get that, I will try all I can to finish up my BA for business that I was getting before I made the jump. Now that is something else, alot of people told me I should have finished my BA and then get my pilot thingies, but I wasn't happy with what I was doing and I figured I could take a break from things and finish up (i only have like a semester left). Anyways, alot think it was a stupid idea, and maybe it was, but i'm very happy with my decision right now...

Delta Connection Academy uses "Lessons" for your training... for example, for the private course there are I think like 26 courses and 2 stages... Stage I finishes up with lesson 20 which is your stage check ride. Here you must prove the chief inst. (or whoever went up with you) that you have complete control of the plane and you are ready to solo the plane for the circuit (that is a traffic pattern) or solo XC (which is cross country). When you are done with all that, your last lesson is a duplicate of a FAA test... there will be an oral followed by a flight... you will do everything that will be included in the FAA check ride. Once you are done, you can move onto the next thing which would be IFR after PPC.

Alot of people complain that DCA cost lots and lots of money... but guess what, there is a trick for that too... Wanna know it? I'm sure you do.... STUDY!!!!! if you come prepared to every single lesson knowing what you are supposed to do (and maybe just practice them for the sake of procedures on FS2004) you will not have to have your inst. show you how its supposed to be done, or keep repeating it until you get it right... When you accomplish that, and do everything in 1 try (like I have been) you will finish everything in minimum hours... if you plan it all out that comes out to roughly 35 hours... say 40.... at $104 an hour for the C152, that is about $4000... with ground school and all it comes to roughly $5000... pretty cheap for a 'ripoff' school huh? trust me, school is not expensive, but the studying is extensive. and I like their 'airline wanna be' system as well. you get ops manual, standards manual, wear a uniform and act like something.... some call that stupid, well I personally like it, and last time I checked, I'm the one going to the school, not them... :)

anyways, that concludes my school info and what I think about it.... I really like my school.

Cliff notes: My school is Delta Connection Academy. I know alot of people don't like it and rant about it... As long as you study your stuff VERY extensively and come prepared for the flight, you will do fine and as a matter of fact, you will pay very competitively compared to other schools including part 61. :)

So here begins my story....

2007-01-27T17:35:00.000-05:00

I started this blog because I figured it would be a nice way to keep a track of my pilot career I hope to go alllllll the way up to FL410 one day in a B787 maybe (I hope, not maybe actually hehe). Thats where the name of the blog comes from too, Most of my training is being at at 3,000 and I'll probably retire at 41,000 one day (who knows or maybe even higher since technology will be so much better). This will be a looooonnnnggg journey from flying Cessna 152s to flying Piper Seminoles for multi engine training and so on....

Anyways, jump on the bandwagon, read it if you like, or check out the pictures I'll try to post time to time (hard to take pictures while trying to learn to fly hehe). I'll post my 1st few blogs to sort of catch up to where I have been now :)

oh, btw... I know FL030 doesn't exist... it would be 3,000 to FL410 but that might have sounded weird, so I just did it like this. If you don't like it, press the X on the corner of your window, and that might fix it for you ;)

oh, and lastly, my grammar kinda sucks (maybe because my native language isn't English, although I've seen a lot worse grammar from native speakers) so pardon my grammar while reading. if you have a problem with something or it doesn't make sense, feel free to contact me and i'll fix it up :)