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Sightseeing around Catalina Island..

Pilot: Hiram Ireton, CFI, CFII
Video by Full Swing Media, Inc. for Vista Air

Vista Air student Dan Fallman talks about why he loves flying and Vista Air.

Pilot: Hiram Ireton, CFI, CFII
Video by Full Swing Media, Inc. for Vista Air

Approach and Landing at Catalina Airport (AVX) Runway 22 from Whiteman Airport via the Mini Route. This route takes you directly over LAX at 2500 ft. through Class B airspace.

Pilot: Hiram Ireton, CFI, CFII
Video by Full Swing Media, Inc. for Vista Air

Aircraft:Cessna 172L – N13818
Length of Flight: 1.0 Hrs – Dual
Total Flight Hours to Date: 65.6 Hrs
Altitude: 2000 Feet
Route: Whiteman
Cost: $120.50

Click to download the Google Earth Tour file (Google Earth Help)

Practicing again the short and soft field takeoffs and landings. I think I finally got it, had it pretty well under control, landing it where I wanted to and kept he nose off during the soft field landings. Also did a couple of landings with no flaps. The flaps enable you to fly slower and descend quicker while still maintaining control of the airplane. A no flaps landing take more runway and you come in a little faster than normal. It’s really hard to lose altitude and airspeed without the flaps down so you really have to get yourself setup to land earlier than you normally would, the first one I did I just floated all the way down the runway because I was coming in to fast, and that was the first time I exited the runway at the very very end! The second one went well.

I’m going to call one of the FAA Examiner’s tomorrow and see what his schedule is to get a check ride scheduled. Travis says it can take a week or two to get scheduled in. In the mean time Travis will go over ground stuff with me and one more mock check ride. Then I’m good to go!

So yes the wind blew hard today, all the flights out of Vista Air were scrapped and the fire trucks and helicopters were rolling to put out the fires. There are several TFR’s in the area now (Temporary Flight Restriction). Areas where you can’t fly, in this case due to firefighting.
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I had planned a flight for tomorrow (Sunday) with Travis, but the winds are really bad tonight (39MPH gusts) and are forcast for 30MPH winds gusting to 46MPH tomorrow! Yikes! 🙁

Aircraft:Cessna 172L – N13818
Length of Flight: 1.2 Hrs – Solo
Total Flight Hours to Date: 63.5 Hrs
Altitude: 2000 Feet
Route: Whiteman – Van Nuys
Cost: $108.60

Click to download the Google Earth Tour file (Google Earth Help)

It was a crappy weather day, ceilings were about 3000ft with intermittent rain showers further out, so I decided to just do some pattern work, practice landings and such and finally did some touch and go’s at Van Nuys. Read more…

Aircraft:Cessna 172L – N13818
Length of Flight: 1.4 Hrs – Solo
Total Flight Hours to Date: 49.0 Hrs
Altitude: 2500-4500 Feet
Route: Whiteman – Torrance
Cost: $171.70

Click to download the Google Earth Tour file (Google Earth Help)

This was really check ride prep #2, the cool new thing I did was fly directly over LAX. Read more…

Aircraft:Cessna 172L – N19688
Length of Flight: 2.5 Hrs – Solo
Total Flight Hours to Date: 47.6 Hrs
Altitude: 3500-5500 Feet
Route: Whiteman – Santa Barbara – Whiteman
Cost: $226.25

Click to download the Google Earth Tour file (Google Earth Help)

Here’s the video!
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Aircraft:Cessna 172L – N19688
Length of Flight: 1.5 Hrs – Dual
Total Flight Hours to Date: 45.1 Hrs
Altitude: 2500-4500 Feet
Route: Whiteman – Van Nuys – Whiteman
Cost: $180.75

Click to download the Google Earth Tour file (Google Earth Help)

This flight was the first of my “check ride prep” flights. It’s where Travis runs me through all the maneuvers that the FAA Examiner will be asking me to do when that day comes. Read more…