Monday, September 22nd

Quick one...

Yesterday was a very good day overall. Sim and ground school in the morning, learning about ILS approaches, GPS approaches, missed-approach procedures, holds and fixes.

About 1700 I file an IFR flight plan to Waco and back to try this stuff in a real-world environment. Going up in 6816A, a brand-new 2008 Seminole. First of all, my radio calls are getting much better. Some ATC highlights from the flight...

"Seminole 6816A, cleared to KACT via JPOOL3 departure, Waco transition, climb and maintain 2,000, expect 6,000 after 10 minutes, departure frequency 128.62, squawk 5515."

(after a simulated missed approach into Waco) "Seminole 6816A, roger going missed, proceed as published, right turn to 2-5-0, climb and maintain 3,000, expect vectors for approach."

Standard stuff, actually. Typing this out now, it seems terribly easy, but to the ear of a student like me... listening to, comprehending, reading back and executing all this information while trying to stay airborne in moderate turbulence is definitely a learned skill. Looking forward to getting good at it.

Ended the evening at buddy Dave's (happy birthday, man!) house with carnitas and Monday Night Football. My Chargers put a cherry on a fine day, beating the Jets 48-29.


Ground school, practice written tests, and more simulator today. More reports as they become interesting.