Be careful what you ask for...

So we had a Kansas earthquake last night. 5:00 A.M., right on the nose. I'm in deep sleep, and I just hear this loud noise...much like the sound of a jet. I mean, I realize it sounds like a jet, but I'm still halfway asleep as I am listening to it. So it doesn't really make sense to me. But it doesn't go away. I try to go back to sleep. wwwwwwwwhhhhhhhiiiiiiiirrrrrrr...What in the world?! Louder, louder, louder! I'm thinking it must be that King Air getting ready to take off...and then it gets really loud...like really loud! And then it clicks...

It's the helicopter!!! And she is taking off about 30 feet from my head! I hop up to look out the window, and I'm there in time to see her fly off into the darkness. So that's what it feels like...

Imagine my excitement when I get to experience that same feeling at 7:30 A.M. when they come back! Aggh, my alarm isn't until 10:00 A.M.!!! I'm able to go back asleep but wake up at 9:54...six minutes before the alarm.

I wake up to find a note that says that Van had a student cancel on him, and he's ready to fly when I am! I grab a quick breakfast, opt to take a shower later, and head over to the FBO.

Today we flew more approaches...and we started with Oklahoma! We flew down to Bartlesville (60 nautical miles away) and did the VOR/DME approach to Runway 35. Outside of a botched procedure turn (I still have a hard time picturing those in my head!), I landed nicely on Runway 35.

We then flew to Independence and shot the ILS to Runway 35. And I had some learning to do! When you do a localizer approach, you just have to keep one needle centered. For those non-pilots out there, picture a circle with a line coming out of it...and a person standing in the middle of that circle. You enter the area around the circle blind-folded and start walking...and as soon as you get close to the line, the person in the center tells you to turn left (or right) to guide you along that line. And then once you are on the line, they tell you to walk straight. If you go left, they tell you to go back right. If you go right, they tell you to go back left. And that way, you walk straight down the line to meet the person in the middle. That's how a localizer works...just with radars and not people. It's pretty much that simple...

Well, on an ILS approach, you not only have a side-to-side course, but you also have an up-and-down course. So as you drift to the left, you may also be getting lower...or higher than your course. So you are watching two needles...and trying to keep them centered. If you are off of your glideslope, you must go up or down. If you are off of your localizer, then you must go left or right. It's a bit more difficult.

And on top of that, the ILS approach is very sensitive! And as you get closer to the runway, it becomes even more sensitive! Today was another lesson of learning (and trying) to think ahead of the airplane...sometimes it feels like there is no room for error! You have to always know what you're doing next even before you get there! That's how critical this part of flying is!

And Independence has a tower, so communicating with ATC was a part of the mix, too. Frankly, there wasn't anything difficult there, but it's just somethin' else to do!

Well, I learned something fun today! It turns out that Cessna's plant is in Independence! So as I am landing (after I remove the Foggles), I see several planes (75? 100?) on the taxiway, and I'm thinking what a busy airport! I quickly realize, though, that these are all planes ready to be sold from Cessna's plant! I'm goin' to have to make a trip down there for a tour! It would be sweet to see exactly how an airplane is put together from the ground up! And it's only 34 nautical miles from Chanute! Consider it done!

From Independence, we flew to Neodesha and did the GPS Runway 2 approach. Now let me just tell ya a lil' somethin' about Nedoesha's airport. Neodesha's runway is 3000 feet long...and only 46 feet wide! To put that into comparison, I learned to fly at Logan County Airport (4000 feet x 75 feet), and that is by no means a large airport! Capital Airport in Springfield (back home) has a runway of 8000 feet x 150 feet. So it was fun coming into Neodesha's lil' 46-footer. Of course, as with a 20-foot runway or a 1000-foot runway, you just land on the centerline. With the wind at 330 around 16 knots, that presented a fun challenge today, but we were able to land with no problems.

Well, I take that back. The only problem was the man walking his three dogs at the airport. Lookin' out the windows, I seriously thought I had stepped into the middle of some podunk lil' town...was I really at an airport?! There just wasn't much there...

We flew from Neodesha back to Chanute, and Van had me keep the plane at 2700 feet MSL. I later learned it was a good thing as we had some overcast clouds dominating the skies just above us. We flew the GPS-A approach into Chanute and landed on 36. Winds at 330 at 16 gusting to 22. That doesn't even phase me anymore.

All in all, it was a good day of flying. I flew 2.2 hours altogether, and I learned quite a bit. I'm gettin' a bit behind the airplane, but it's pretty much my own doing. As I'm comin' into the final approach, I'm not configured where I need to be. I'm often too fast or I don't have the trim set for the approach. By not allowing the plane to "fly itself," I'm constantly having to make adjustments...either on the course heading or on the altitude or on the speed...and as Van told me afterwards, that's just too much work to be puttin' on myself! If I could get the plane configured properly, the whole approach would be much easier! There is enough stuff to do as it is!

We did a bit of ground school when we got back...just talked about the things I need to work on. Make minor adjustments, trim the airplane, think ahead.

This afternoon, I finally did some laundry. I've been here almost two weeks, and I hadn't done any yet. So I headed into town to wash some clothes...well, it turns out the laundromat doesn't have a coin changer (due to vandalism, the sign says). So I drive a couple blocks over to the car wash. I find the coin changer, then put a dollar in. It spits it back out. After a few tries (and the infamous straightening curl), I put it back in. Four quarters. Sweet. I try another. No luck. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Four more quarters. Another. Nothin'. Nothin'. Nothin'. I change my dollar. Nothin'. Nothin'. Nothin'. I bend, I straighten, I curve it around the metal. Nothin'. Nothin'. Nothin'. I'm now getting cold. And I'm at the point of, "Uh, is anyone watching me"? Because frankly, it would have been rather enjoyable to watch from a warm car! (I'm reminded of the 90's commercial of the same situation in a desert...was that a SuperBowl commercial??? And what was that for?!) In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

Anyway, I'm trying bill three...up to at least four or five minutes now, and an old man with a bucket comes out from a wash bay.

"You washin' clothes or washin' your car with those?"

"Oh, my clothes."

"Well, then get out of here. How much have you gotten"?

"Just two dollars."

And by this time, he's right next to me, grabbin' my quarters out of the bin, makin' sure I wasn't lyin'. Whoa, whoa, buddy!

"Well, go to the bank for the rest." And with that, he took the quarters and put them into my hand, so as to say get outta here. Hmph! I seriously thought he was going to keep them in his anger, and I think if I was at three dollars or more, he may have...boy, would we have had a lil' talk then!

And a happy day to you, too, mister! Smile! I wish you long life and happiness...because you sure don't have one of those! Wow. The funny part? I counted seven quarters in my hand. And last time I checked, that only adds up to $1.75. I had thoughts of drivin' back and checkin' the bin...as (no joke), I actually thought I had five quarters come out on my second dollar. But in my wisdom, I opted to just let the quarter(s) go. Who knows, maybe he makes a living out of this???

Besides, the bank was more than happy to give me five dollars worth of quarters. 20 of 'em. In 30 seconds.

So from the the bank, I went and had my first laundromat experience. It's not all it's cracked up to be. Although I was mesmerized by watching one single piece of clothing and following it as it spun in the dryer. I wish I was lying. But before that, I brought my Instrument Test Prep book and studied some more...maybe that's why I enjoyed the dryer so much.

Came back, ate supper, and watched more King videos. As I was watchin' the videos, Jarryd popped his head into my room to ask if I wanted to go play some pool. Um, of course! I finished up my King video and test questions, and we headed out for a night on Chanute. Gavin (the mechanic) went with us, too...

We headed to a pool hall on the south end of town...it's nice...several tables...but it's smoky. Being from Illinois (we have a smoking ban in public places), I had forgotten what a building full of smoke felt like! We shot four games of cut-throat, then headed back to the airport. Two of those games were mine, Jarryd! Two! Gavin and Jarryd both split one apiece.

Took it easy later in the evening...just talked with a friend on the phone. I fly at 9:00 tomorrow morning.

Went to bed at 12:50 A.M.

(As a complete side-note, I've received a couple of questions regarding FBO's and what exactly they are. An FBO is a "fixed-base operator," but I guess that doesn't tell ya much. To put it easily, it's like a "truck-stop"...but for airplanes. FBO's are companies whose sole purpose is to provide service to pilots. At the least, they will often sell fuel and pilot supplies, provide weather information, and give general advice and directions about the town or city. More fancier ones will really cater to you...and possibly offer a free courtesy car (it's hard to maneuver our airplanes down those side roads), provide pilot lounges, provide free food or drinks, TV's, internet, weather information, and on and on and on. FBO's are our connection to the city that they are based out of...and even if we don't even leave the airport, they still provide us with important (and often flattering!) services. With the growth of the private aviation sector, some of the FBO's are gettin' pretty fancy...competition breeds competition, and pilots (or maybe moreso their passengers) like to be catered to. So some places are pretty nice, to say the least...)