Hey Bobby

[TylerY-TX-209]

Sorry it took a few days to update you. Wednesday went pretty good but I had to wait until today(sat) to finish my checkride. My instructor while I was taking my Oral said he was going to go put the key and hood in the plane for me. I passed the oral and went up in the airplane with the examiner for the flight and when asked to put the hood on it was no where to be found. My instructor goofed and neglected to put it in the plane and only left the key. He explained to the examiner it was his fault (even though i realize I should have double checked it was there). The examiner was nice about it and gave me a discontinuance and we finished today. Only spent a half hour today in the air doing hood work and unusual attitudes. Your now lookin at a private pilot. So look out

I will probably start my time building phase on Tuesday so I am now at home spendin a couple days with the family.

Take care,
Tyler

[Pinnacle Bobby]

Congrats Tyler on your success! You're now a Private Pilot and that's a great accomplishment. Sorry to hear about the discontinuance; you said it, double check to make sure everything is in order yourself.

The time building phase is great fun and learning. Challenge yourself as you begin to fly IFR cross countries, this is a great jump on your Instrument rating. Get more writtens out of the way, start reading the instrument material and get very involved in the flight planning process and IFR rules.

My personal tip for instrument flying: Thoroughly learn the functions of the GPS (Garmin 430 when you move to the Seminole) inside and out, know how to navigate the different pages to quickly find information. But most importantly, know how to fly without the GPS using raw VOR data. Challenge yourself in the sim and aircraft by using only VOR's for navigation. Always maintain situational awareness, don't be the pilot that has the 'deer in the headlight' look when the GPS fails.

Enjoy the time building and keep me posted!


Bobby

[TylerY-TX-209]

been a little while since ive posted but I had my multi engine checkride a while ago and all went great. i am about 2 weeks into my instrument stuff and having fun. not too sick of the hood yet but i hate the sim we use. take the hand off the yoke and the sim has a bad left bankin tendency. its really annoying but i have learned a lot. had my commercial req'ed 250nm cross countries last night. the way back at night last night was amazing. totally clear, no moon, saw every star in the sky. air was so smooth i flew the entire way back with my feet and trim from leveling off after leaving SJT to beginning our decent into houston. really relaxing enjoyable flight. i am doing my 10 t/o's and landings tonight at Ellington AFB. which is the only airport around other than IAH and HOU that has a tower in operation after 10pm. my instructor needs to do a couple too for his night currency so we are going to have a landing contest. should be fun. anyways need to finish up dinner and head to the airport. hopefully will update you once my inst checkride is done. i cant wait til the x-countries. going to be really fun.

[TylerY-TX-209]

got back a little bit ago. asked Houston center for a touch and go at IAH and landed on 27L behind a 737. was a blast. both the instructor and i had never landed at a class B before so it was cool! anyways off to bed. sim lessons at noon.

[Pinnacle Bobby]

Thanks for the updates, Tyler. Congrats on your newest rating, sounds like your cross-countries are going well. Every flight is unique, it always seems you learn or experience something different.

The sim may seem to get old sometimes, but remember that's the perfect time to challenge yourself and really solidify your knowledge. If you're bored in the sim it might mean you're ready for more, ask your instructor to try a difficult approach or some additional partial panel, or no GPS operations. Also while on your cross countries always back up the GPS with VOR's, don't rely on the pretty pink line.

Study hard and become familiar with the IFR regs, give yourself scenario based, what would I do if.....type situations and discuss them with your instructor. Solid IFR, storms, ice, compounded with an aircraft anamoly can really increase the workload.

Sounds like your Class B experience was exciting, "caution wake turbulence!"


Bobby