N9478E

N9478E
My 1979 Cessna 172N

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

A Fine Morning for Flying!

CFI Bob and I took to the skies again this morning and a fine morning it was.  First... a little rant about some stuff that has just really frustrated me. 

My dad (love you Dad!) has been gracious enough to help with two issues that have been a thorn in my side since basing my plane at Provo (KPVU); access to the gated hangar area and opening the doors of the hangar I'm renting.  Dad met me at the hangar access gate at 0630 this morning because I still do not have an access badge.  I took possession of N9478E on 31 June and still do not have an access badge.  It took me a few weeks to get the paper work back to the airport office but one would think they'd have it done by now.  Security, rightfully so, needed to be upgraded because of the Frontier Airlines presence with a daily flight from Provo to Denver and the process to get an access badge became more complex.  After waiting three weeks after my original submission it was decided my paperwork had been lost.  Numerous calls to the Airport Manager's office resulted in negative contact and still no access badge.  Dad even paid numerous visits to the airport manager's office to try and straighten this all out but it has just gone so painfully slow with no returned calls and no action.  This, combined with the fact that the left door of the hangar I'm renting is impossible for one person to open and close has injected a high level of frustration in the whole experience.  I'm on the list to get a different hanger when one becomes available.

PROGRESS! I just now called the Airport Manager and he today states that my paperwork is ready and will be at Provo City where I can pay my $15 dollars, get a photo and get my badge.  I'll have faith that this is indeed true but will not report success until I have badge in hand. 

Enough of the frustration and bureaucracy of the airport... it was a great morning for flying!  CFI Bob decided (at risk to his life) that I needed more pattern and landing work.  He's right of course as landings are to date my weakest skill.  Just in case you are reading this and not totally familiar with flying, landings are pretty dang important.

We took off from PVU at about 0715 and flew direct Spanish Fork Airport which is only about 6 or 7 miles to the Southeast of PVU.  It was much cooler this morning than previous summer flights and climb out performance was awesome!  This 180 hp engine does very well even when it's warm and density altitudes are higher but in cooler air it climbs like a home sick angel.

We flew to Spanish Fork and practiced touch and goes completing 5 landings before coming back to PVU.  I'm getting the hang of the process but still want to start that flare way too early.  There is a lot going on that I just need to build coordination and muscle memory for and it will just take practice.  My landing at PVU when we returned from Spanish Fork was my best landing of the morning so there was some progress made but... still needs work.

Notes for this flight:  Remember to close the window before rolling for takeoff and those cameras you bought for recording your flights don't work worth a dang if you don't turn them on.  I need to relax a little more and concentrate on the task(s) at hand. 

The newly updated panel continues to give me what I had hoped it would (increased situational awareness) and I love it!

All in all an awesome morning with good weather and a fine running aircraft but then again flying is just that.... AWESOME!

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