Flight Training - September 2014 - 26

AROUND THE PATCH

By Jill W. Tallman

THE LAST PAGE

THE JOY OF A FILLED LOGBOOK

J

une 6, 2000. N28216, TB9, FDK-FDK. Four fundamentals, taxiing,
normal takeoff. 1.2. That's my very first flight lesson, noted in my
logbook 14 years ago. This month I completed the last page, so
now I get to look back and reflect. Why did it take me so long to
fill up this little black book-and where has the time gone?
November 29, 2000. N28216, TB9, FDKFDK. Pattern work, 1st solo. I was pretty
sure this was going to happen, and I knew
all about shirt-cutting, so I wore a T-shirt
under a sweatshirt. Throughout the circuit
I heard my flight instructor's voice in my
head, but to be certain, I repeated all of his
phrases ("Look for traffic coming in on the
45.") My CFI waited by the runway with a
handheld transceiver for my first touchdown and then began walking back to the
flight school. On the second approach I
did a go-around, and he lost sight of the
airplane and thought I had gotten lost.
October 3, 2001. N28216, TB9, FDK-LNSHGR-FDK. Long solo x-country, x-winds.
This entry is in red ink. Some pilots use
the same pen-the exact same pen-for
every logbook entry. I have no airline aspirations. The pages in my logbook tend to
look more like those in a coloring book.
November 8, 2001. N55372, TB9, FDKFDK. Private pilot flight test, unsatisfactory.
That's a tough thing to admit, even 13
years later. The examiner had me dead to
rights, though. I flubbed the emergency

26 /

FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG

power-off landing. Did I go home and cry
that day? Yes, I did. Did I come back and
finish up? Yes, I did.
November 21, 2001. N28216. FDKFDK. Private pilot flight test, satisfactory,
followed two days later by this: FDK-LNSFDK. First $100 hamburger!
September 28, 2002: Spins, loops, and
rolls in a Cessna 150 Aerobat. A great confidence builder, especially for someone who
has never enjoyed power-on stalls.
September 2004: 11.2 hours logged in an
Aeronca Champ. While I ran out of time
and good weather before I could complete
the tailwheel endorsement, I did come
away with an appreciation for proper rudder usage (that's an understatement), as
well as a new technique for judging height
above the runway before the flare.
Working for AOPA, I got opportunities
to fly interesting aircraft:
August 11, 2005: 0.3 in a Cirrus SR22-
my introduction to glass-panel avionics
and the Cirrus' peculiar-to-me sidestick.
September 8, 2005: 0.5 in an Experimental Breezer-my first taste of what

we would come to know as Light Sport
aircraft. I've since flown a Van's RV-12 and
logged many hours in AOPA's 2010 Fun to
Fly Sweepstakes Remos GX.
July 22, 2008: 1.0 in 208GG, AOPA's
Get Your Glass Sweepstakes Piper Archer.
By this point I'd logged a lot of time in
Archers, but none of them had Aspen avionics or a custom leather interior.
2010 was a traveling year. Charged with
shepherding the Fun to Fly Remos, I got
to fly it from Frederick, Maryland, to Long
Beach, California. West Virginia; Illinois;
Missouri; Kansas; Oklahoma; Texas; New
Mexico; Arizona; California-all on a
100-horsepower Rotax engine. Thanks to
the Remos's Dynon glass panel, autopilot,
Garmin 430, and a capable co-pilot, that
weeklong trip was a breeze.
The only anxious moments were after
we had left Sedona, Arizona, following a
visit with "Flying Carpet" columnist Greg
Brown. As we crossed into New Mexico,
the landscape resembled the surface of the
moon. What if the engine quit? Thankfully, it did not. I got comfortable with
the liquid-cooled Rotax, except for the
fact that when you shut it down, the prop
doesn't windmill-it just stops. Clunk.
From the end of 2010, my logbook
entries mostly belong to 7301J, my 1964
Piper Cherokee 140. Miss J and I have
flown Pilots N Paws trips; traveled to the
Maryland and North Carolina beaches;
and logged many $100 hamburger runs.
And pattern work-lots of pattern work.
The last page shows a flight to Cheraw,
South Carolina, for a family reunion;
$100 pancakes with a friend who's new to
general aviation; a scenic tour of Niagara
Falls in a Cessna 172; and a run to North
Carolina for lunch with a friend.
I am excited to crack open a brand-new
logbook and start a new chapter in flying.
Now, where's my purple pen?
 
Email Technical Editor Jill Tallman at jill.tallman@
aopa.org; Twitter: jtallman1959.
http://FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG
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