Woke up at 8:54 A.M. Six minutes before my alarm. I still don't understand why this is happening!!! Those six minutes are valuable!!!

Spent some time watching videos and taking practice tests this morning. I would watch the King videos on weather and weather services, then take the Instrument Test Prep. I feel like I'm doin' pretty good! The knowledge is stickin'! I'm hopin' to knock out that written in 10 days!

The helicopter took off this morning around 10:00 A.M. I've been here 11 days now, and this is only the second time I've seen them leave. It's pretty loud since they take off about 30 feet from my room, but it's fun to watch. And having them leave in the mornings isn't bad...but I can only imagine what's goin' to happen when they get a phone call at night! I'm goin' to freak out when my walls start shakin'! Kansas earthquake.

Went over to the FBO to meet with Van at noon. He had another student with him for ground school, and we didn't get together until about 1:00 P.M. While waiting, I spent some time looking at hiring minimums at the regional airlines. It's fun to dream every once in awhile, right?!

The twin is down this week, so Jarryd isn't flying much. They found a cracked exhaust, so they have to repair that. That gives Van the opportunity to spend more flight time with me, so that's nice.

We hit up several approaches today. We did the GPS Runway 35 approach at Ottawa (53 nautical miles away). It's amazing how much difference a week can make! I look at these approach plates now, and I know where to look for stuff! I know the Minimum Safe Altitudes, the Minimum Descent Altitudes, the Inbound Course Headings, and much more just at a glance! So that's encouraging! Not to mention so much easier!

I flew the GPS course pretty well...Van holds us to a pretty high standard, and I am thankful for that. He teaches us to correct things AS SOON AS they START to get off course rather than wait. And that helps out a ton. It's a higher standard, but it will pay off down the road.

So there I am, flying the GPS course pretty well, staying on path, feeling pretty good that I am understanding it. I'm waiting for the last waypoint before the runway to make my descent, and it never comes. Van asks me what my next waypoint is (ok, so fellow students, know that when an instructor asks a question, there is ALWAYS a reason behind it...ALWAYS). I tell him "Evgow" and he tells me to look at the GPS. The GPS reads, "RWY35." Agggh!!! I had missed my last point, and I'm only 1.5 miles out from the runway and 1200 feet too high!

He then tells me to take off my Foggles. Yup, sure enough, I am RIGHT ON THE MONEY for the runway! Just really, really high! "Well, go ahead and land it," he says! ha! Needless to say, I had some altitude to lose...so I do a pretty heavy slip to lose altitude...and it worked! I was able to line myself up and land her smoothly.

Lesson learned. Always know exactly where you are at! And just when you think you have it all together, you have a nice reminder that you don't!

We flew from there over to Fort Scott (50 nautical miles away) and did an almost identical GPS Runway 36 approach. The course headings were the same, and I flew that one a bit better (at the right altitudes!).

From there, we flew over to Allen County (30 nautical miles away), but we almost didn't make it. Ok, so Van just decided to simulate an engine failure on me. But I had it coming, because he asked me a question on climb-out ("Did you read the checklist"?). "Oh, right." I grab the checklist, run through it, and get back to flying. Well, remember when I said that there is ALWAYS a reason behind an instructor's question? This was no exception. It turns out that our left fuel tank was getting rather low, and I failed to switch it over! I am so used to never having to switch the tanks (Cessna's can pull from both tanks at the same time), but Van was candid (and right) in saying, "Well, this is a Piper, not a Cessna." Point taken. It had been awhile since I've had an engine go out, so that was a good refresher, too. But even more than that, I got the idea to use the checklist. Checklists, checklists, checklists. Live by 'em. Ok, I think I got it.

At Allen County, we did the GPS Runway 19 approach. Here I learned about entering the approach in a procedure turn. I still have a hard time picturing exactly what to do on those turns (they are not depicted), but after following Van's instructions, I had that needle lined up perfectly when I rolled out from the turn!

We then flew from there back to Chanute. All in all, I logged 2.4 hours. And even better than that, I feel much better flying the GPS approaches. Again, compared to last week, I feel so much more confident! It makes a big difference when you know what to do.

And besides all this, it was just a beautiful day! The sky was clear, the winds were CALM (I hear Kansas gets that about twice a year!), and Van was able to fly for a few minutes! haha...for some reason, when he flies, I feel the G-forces pulling on me! Why is that, Van?! And on the landing at Chanute, he challenged me to stop before the first taxi-way. ha! No problem! A nice, slow approach, full-flaps, 85 mph...and I went about 20 feet over! Grr!

Well, an instructor has to always set the example, right?! So next thing I know we're takin' off down the runway! Van is goin' to have his chance. He comes in at the tops of the blades of grass (on the opposing side of the road!), takes off some runner's hat (maybe an exaggeration), and touches down about where I did...but I had an advantage since he didn't have toe brakes on his side! ha! On top of things, he uses the parking brake. Nice move. He beat me by a few feet, but we're not through with this one yet...

Came back and just took the evening easy. Didn't study tonight. I've noticed that I'm rather exhausted after instrument flights! In the eyes and brain, I guess. My body wasn't tired, but my eyes were. Silly. Fixed some supper, watched some Dirty Jobs, then talked on the phone.

But not before I took a picture of a beautiful King-Air 350 that flew in today. She's still sitting on the runway outside my window right now (there are perks to living at an airport!). That's the picture up above. Some day...some day...

Went to bed at 12:45 A.M. I fly at noon again. We're supposed to head to towered airports now...time to throw some ATC in the mix!