Lots of things happened... Busy, busy, busy. It's late now, I will post a story soon.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year everybody!!!!
woensdag 26 december 2007
zaterdag 15 december 2007
D32 and Sky Harbour
This week was again a week of a lot of cancelling. I flew only on wednesday and friday. Wednesday the weather was just within limits... There was fog just a few miles south of the field at Gateway and Chandler. It was a beautiful sight from the air! Because of the fog we departed to the north after one touch and go to get the feeling for the aircraft.
When we came back to Falcon Field we saw that the mist was getting worse. We couldn't see the ground in the south at all! It looked like there was a very white glacier slowly moving over the city! It reminded me of the Stephen King move The Myst. Very beautiful, but also a little bit scary.
Later that day I found out that Bas and Jorg made an appointment with the operations superintendent of Phoenix Sky Harbour airport. This airport is the international airport of Arizona, like Schiphol is for The Netherlands. Maurits and I asked if we could join them which we could. It was a very interesting tour by car all over the airport. First he showed us the platforms where the planes park and the south runways and cargo facilities. We even stopped at the beginning of 2 runways to see the planes land and take-off from a very short distance. We stopped near one of the fire-fighting stations on the field to look at the enormous fire-trucks and the last part of the tour was in the basement of the airport where all the luggage is handled.
When I woke up the next morning I could not move my neck. The muscles in my back felt like they were made of concrete. I had to cancel my D32 navigation check but I asked the instructor to give me the oral exam, just to see how ready I am. We found only 2 mistakes in my navigationplan: I made a mistake in my cruise speed and I should select another alternate airport. The last one was not really a mistake, but he just gave me some advise.
On friday my back and neck had not really improved, but I could turn my head and look outside of the airplane so I decided to fly anyway. I didn't want to wait untill monday to fly my check because I didn't fly a lot already last few weeks.
Unfortunately I didn't pass my check. Everything went very well untill at one point I didn't see a private airfield right in front of me during a diversion and almost flew right through the traffic pattern on that field. My instructor took over my controls and diverted me around the airfield. From there I just seemed to have a black-out. But it is not a really big problem. I will get one extra lesson and then just continue with my syllabus. I don't have to do the exam again.
When we came back to Falcon Field we saw that the mist was getting worse. We couldn't see the ground in the south at all! It looked like there was a very white glacier slowly moving over the city! It reminded me of the Stephen King move The Myst. Very beautiful, but also a little bit scary.
Later that day I found out that Bas and Jorg made an appointment with the operations superintendent of Phoenix Sky Harbour airport. This airport is the international airport of Arizona, like Schiphol is for The Netherlands. Maurits and I asked if we could join them which we could. It was a very interesting tour by car all over the airport. First he showed us the platforms where the planes park and the south runways and cargo facilities. We even stopped at the beginning of 2 runways to see the planes land and take-off from a very short distance. We stopped near one of the fire-fighting stations on the field to look at the enormous fire-trucks and the last part of the tour was in the basement of the airport where all the luggage is handled.
When I woke up the next morning I could not move my neck. The muscles in my back felt like they were made of concrete. I had to cancel my D32 navigation check but I asked the instructor to give me the oral exam, just to see how ready I am. We found only 2 mistakes in my navigationplan: I made a mistake in my cruise speed and I should select another alternate airport. The last one was not really a mistake, but he just gave me some advise.
On friday my back and neck had not really improved, but I could turn my head and look outside of the airplane so I decided to fly anyway. I didn't want to wait untill monday to fly my check because I didn't fly a lot already last few weeks.
Unfortunately I didn't pass my check. Everything went very well untill at one point I didn't see a private airfield right in front of me during a diversion and almost flew right through the traffic pattern on that field. My instructor took over my controls and diverted me around the airfield. From there I just seemed to have a black-out. But it is not a really big problem. I will get one extra lesson and then just continue with my syllabus. I don't have to do the exam again.
woensdag 12 december 2007
Solofilm (sort of...)
Ok, finally! I couldn't make anything of the videofilm wich was made of my first solo, but the pictures are very nice. So I decided to make a compilation of the pictures instead. So after more than a month I am proud to present: My first solo!
I hope this time it works...
I hope this time it works...
vrijdag 7 december 2007
Last week
By popular demand I will continue my weblog in English.
Last week I flew 3 solo flights. On the 3rd of december I went to Pinal and Chandler and the day after to Coolidge...
5 December I didn't fly, because my plane was still in maintenance. I wasn't really happy about that, because I got up at 5 in the morning and stayed up till 23.00 the night before to make my navigation plan. But I went home and tried to go back to sleep.
Yesterday I almost got cancelled again! Fortunately Tom called me at 11 o'clock that he had an airplane for me and that I could have it for the rest of the afternoon! Nice! I flew a round trip around Phoenix via Buckeye. When I departed Buckeye and flew to the Southeast I had a close encounter with 2 F18 fighter jets. It was pretty cool to see them so close. They were about 100 feet higher than me and crossed right in front of me! I could see one of the pilots look straight at me when he passed. Fortunately there was no dangerous situation because there was enough seperation between us, but I cannot say that I wasn't surprised.
Today I would have had my D31 flight, the last flight with instructor before my D32 navigationcheck, but I cancelled because of the strong winds and the low cloudlevel. So now I have the whole weekend to prepare my check and study, wich is kind of nice.
Last week I flew 3 solo flights. On the 3rd of december I went to Pinal and Chandler and the day after to Coolidge...
5 December I didn't fly, because my plane was still in maintenance. I wasn't really happy about that, because I got up at 5 in the morning and stayed up till 23.00 the night before to make my navigation plan. But I went home and tried to go back to sleep.
Yesterday I almost got cancelled again! Fortunately Tom called me at 11 o'clock that he had an airplane for me and that I could have it for the rest of the afternoon! Nice! I flew a round trip around Phoenix via Buckeye. When I departed Buckeye and flew to the Southeast I had a close encounter with 2 F18 fighter jets. It was pretty cool to see them so close. They were about 100 feet higher than me and crossed right in front of me! I could see one of the pilots look straight at me when he passed. Fortunately there was no dangerous situation because there was enough seperation between us, but I cannot say that I wasn't surprised.
Today I would have had my D31 flight, the last flight with instructor before my D32 navigationcheck, but I cancelled because of the strong winds and the low cloudlevel. So now I have the whole weekend to prepare my check and study, wich is kind of nice.
zaterdag 1 december 2007
Zaterdag 1 December 2007
En toen was het alweer december! Volgens mij was het vandaag ongeveer hetzelfde weer als in Nederland. Regenachtig en koud, met flink wat wind. Echt Nederlands decemberweer. En met koud bedoel ik 15 graden. Vanochtend heb ik zoveel mogelijk uitgeslapen.
Afgelopen zondag hebben Maurits en ik een auto gekocht. Een 3.8 liter V6 Buick LeSabre uit 1995. De 4 jongens van wie hij eerst was moesten weer terug naar Nederland omdat ze geslaagd waren voor hun CPL (Commercial Pilot Licence) en wilden er dus vanaf. Eindelijk dus een auto!!!
Vanmiddag ben ik met Wouter en Jeroen naar Anthem Outlet Mall geweest. Dat ligt op ongeveer een uur rijden ten noorden van Phoenix. Het is eigenlijk een soort Bataviastad. Ik heb er een spijkerbroek gekocht en we hebben er wat gegeten. De andere 2 jongens hebben nog wat spul gekocht bij Ralph Lauren. In eerste instantie zouden we met de Caddilac van Wouter gaan, maar de remmen begonnen te trillen na ongeveer 10 minuten op de snelweg. Toen zijn we binnendoor maar terug gereden en zijn we met de Buick gegaan. Al met al een rustig dagje.
Als alles goed gaat mag ik maandag eindelijk weer vliegen! Hier volgen wat foto's:
Links: 1e keer onderweg met de Caddilac...
Rechts: Noordelijke deel van de Superstition Mountains.
Links: De McDowell Mountains, ten westen van Fountain Hills.
Rechts: De zon breekt door de wolken boven Phoenix.
Onderweg...
Op de Loop 101 Freeway richting het noorden, met aan de rechterkant de andere kant van de McDowell Mountains.
Links: Top van de McDowell Mountains raakt de laaghangende bewolking.
Rechts: De enorme kerstboom bij de Anthem Outlet Mall
Afgelopen zondag hebben Maurits en ik een auto gekocht. Een 3.8 liter V6 Buick LeSabre uit 1995. De 4 jongens van wie hij eerst was moesten weer terug naar Nederland omdat ze geslaagd waren voor hun CPL (Commercial Pilot Licence) en wilden er dus vanaf. Eindelijk dus een auto!!!
Vanmiddag ben ik met Wouter en Jeroen naar Anthem Outlet Mall geweest. Dat ligt op ongeveer een uur rijden ten noorden van Phoenix. Het is eigenlijk een soort Bataviastad. Ik heb er een spijkerbroek gekocht en we hebben er wat gegeten. De andere 2 jongens hebben nog wat spul gekocht bij Ralph Lauren. In eerste instantie zouden we met de Caddilac van Wouter gaan, maar de remmen begonnen te trillen na ongeveer 10 minuten op de snelweg. Toen zijn we binnendoor maar terug gereden en zijn we met de Buick gegaan. Al met al een rustig dagje.
Als alles goed gaat mag ik maandag eindelijk weer vliegen! Hier volgen wat foto's:
Links: 1e keer onderweg met de Caddilac...Rechts: Noordelijke deel van de Superstition Mountains.
Links: De McDowell Mountains, ten westen van Fountain Hills.Rechts: De zon breekt door de wolken boven Phoenix.
Onderweg...
Op de Loop 101 Freeway richting het noorden, met aan de rechterkant de andere kant van de McDowell Mountains.
Links: Top van de McDowell Mountains raakt de laaghangende bewolking.Rechts: De enorme kerstboom bij de Anthem Outlet Mall
Kerstsfeer
Gisteravond heeft Wouter een kerstboom en kerstverlichting gekocht. Hier volgen wat foto's:
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