Flew into St. Paul on Friday evening (July 6, 2007) and drove the 2 1/2 hours to Duluth to see Jim over a long weekend. Great trip. Saturday "the guys" (Jim, Calvin, Tim & Ross) got up early to go fishing, then on for the radio broadcast.

Jim is doing great. He's working hard, he's making himself quite useful, he's doing the work of the Lord. Audrey and I are proud of him. It's been a good Summer for him so far.

Here's a few photos after our first day with Jim in Duluth. I'll add to this page over the next few days as we stay here in Duluth.


After a visit with Patty Murphy and a LONG nap (!!), we got dinner with Jim and walked around the boardwalk area in downtown Duluth, down by the tip of Lake Superior. Way cool place! Well, sort of. Actually, it was 92 degrees up here today- so much for "Lake Effect" cool weather. Whew!

Today was solo day for yours truly. Got to the airport at 8 AM, Matt wanted me to have one more check ride before solo, so we signed out 35S, my "favorite" plane, and I pre-flighted, ran her up and off we went on runway 4. NO wind- a very calm morning to fly.

First landing was going great when we realized there was a jet coming in fast behind us and we could easily do a go-around and get out of his way, so we did- I stayed in the pattern and did two nice landings. But on the go-around we noticed that the engine was just a BIT rough, which was fixed by leaning the mixture out just a bit, so we decided since we had to go in anyway to go ahead and switch airplanes.

Back to Lanier Flight Center, where I took my pre-solo written test (did great), then back out to the flight line for N215217- the very first plane I flew in my intro lesson. Uneventful pre-flight, but believe me, I folded my hands and said a prayer before I started her up!


The three takeoffs and full stop landings were actually easy. I have flown the Gainesville pattern so many times now that these were landings 70, 71 & 72. Landing one and two were better than number three, which was a bit too high coming in, so my angle was just a bit sharper, but airspeeds were good, my round-out and flare were fine and the landings were smooth enough to please any passengers I might have had in the plane.

I stayed in contact with Matt by radio, plus I had to taxi by him every time I went back to take off again. He was a nervous wreck! But as you can see from the photo above, my third landing and my taxi back were uneventful.

We parked the plane, Matt cut the back out of my shirt (solo tradition!), they took pictures of us (hopefully I'll get a copy soon). So now I can fly myself- but just myself- while I continue my training.

First person I called, of course, was my pilot ace buddy Norm Rich. He had been waiting for my call and was VERY pumped. What a relief to have that behind me!

After lunch with Ed Rigel in Gainesville, was coming home when I got a call from Charlotte Ledford, the agent who is listing Mom and Dad's house. We rec'd an offer about $13k below what we listed it for, so I countered by raising their price $10k (to $150k). They came back at $145k and I said "DO IT." Charlotte faxed the contract to me, I signed it, with Mom & Dad's power of attorney. DONE DEAL.

So all in all, a very good day.

Today I went up with Matt to determine my readiness to solo. I got to the airport a few minutes before 8 am, and spoke to Matt and a few other instructors. I told them that all I wanted to get straight in my mind was how to know when and where to round out and flare. The answer- "Transition your eyes from your aiming point to all the way down to the end of the runway." (Could it be that easy? I've only heard that from Matt a hundred times...)

So out we go to fly. High overcast and haze, only 5 miles visibility. But good enough to fly! So out to my favorite plane, N2135S, where we had an easy pre-flight, run-up and takeoff on runway 4. We stayed in the pattern for three touch and goes before heading out to practice pre-solo maneuvers.
The verdict: "Best landing you've ever done." Wow. Could it be that easy? Oh, it wasn't perfect, by any means. Too far left of center line, and the approach was less than optimal. But very good, according to Matt. All three were good to very good, although still too far left of center and need more work on the round-out and flare. But SO much better than they've been, and according to Matt, "Good enough to solo. Nothing wrong with those landings. You could make them better, of course...." (Of course.)


Departed runway 4 and paralleled I-985 at 2,500 feet. Seven minutes of easy, comfortable and smooth flying (thank you, Lord) until we came to Matt's favorite water tower where we could practice flying around a fixed object (the water tower) with a crosswind, plus having a relatively safe place to land should the engine fail (since we were only at 2,500 feet.) Did great. Next, climbed to 4,500 feet (safer altitude) while we flew a few miles to the west and did S-turns to the left and right using a power line below as a reference point. Not as great, but perfectly acceptable. Finally, power-off stall (no problem) and power-on stall (also no problem).

Finally, Matt orders a steep turn to the left, then to the right- a challenge, considering how HAZY it is outside-- hard to do those maneuvers without a clear horizon to keep in your eye- so I had to rely more heavily on straight instruments. Again, not perfect, but good.

So then fearless leader turns off my multi-function display (MFD) that shows where we were in relation to the airport (of course) and says, "Fly us home." So I headed back to the southeast looking for the airport and for I-985. Found I-985, couldn't find the airport- so I did a 360 to the left, and there she was- pretty as a picture. Aha! I dropped my power so I could lose altitude, entered the pattern at 2,300 feet, called my downwind leg and made perfectly acceptable full-stop landing, taxied down to the fuel farm and we parked the plane on the grass so we could go in and get a Coke (bio break!).

Fifteen minutes of relaxing, then back into the air for two more landings- one touch and go, one full stop. Number one was fine, but I didn't like number two and did a go-around. Number three was one of my best- and for the first time, I was RIGHT, not LEFT of center line. My next goal: landings on the center line, and center line ONLY. Flying is all about continuous improvements, and that's the next one I've GOT to make.

The score today- Almost two hours of takeoffs, landings, maneuvers. "Ok," says Matt. "Let's aim for a solo this Wednesday." That's two days from now. Can't wait.

Very busy week this week- very productive at work, with successful raises in hand, moving three companies to funding, and productive meetings with investors and funders.

On top of that, my diet and exercise program seems to be working very well. I've managed to shave my time on the mile down to 9:20 this morning (3 miles), down almost 2 minutes from where it's been the last couple of years. I've dropped 10 pounds in almost four weeks- still have 17 to go.

Flying today I got a much cleaner, clearer picture of EXACTLY how to land the Cessna 172. What I had been missing for the last 50 feet of touchdown is to fly and point the plane down and between the numbers and the 1,000 foot marker- then float the plane along the runway- then gently pull the yoke back for a "stall" and gentle touchdown on the main gears.

Ok. I finally get it. All this, of course, while keeping the plane lined up with the center line. He's only been telling me this for weeks, I'm sure, but all at once I got it. It clicked.

So the funny part is, my fourth and final landing of the day for the first time I did step number one and step number two really well. If I had done a better job of floating just a bit lower, and in flaring just a bit more slowly, I would have have had a great landing instead of what I ended up with. But I came away elated- I now better understand exactly what I need to be doing. So now I can start working on doing it, starting next Monday morning.

Getting pretty close to solo- probably next week.

Tomorrow I'm taking the Venture crew trout fishing and kayaking in North Carolina- Audrey left this afternoon to pick up her Mom and head for Pennsylvania on vacation. So I'm slumming it for 9 days and 8 nights- just me and her wiener dog Chewy.

Thanks to having to travel last week and Matt being off last Saturday it's been 10 days since I last flew.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I had my first afternoon lesson, so I got to experience the thrill of Summer afternoon thermals- the "bumps" in the air from rising air currents. But I was simply too busy having to fly to enjoy myself and the air was bumpy enough to where I really couldn't relax. Too busy having to maintain altitude and heading while changing frequencies and working radios. I was wrung out.

On the ground we spent over 45 minutes training on how to plot and fly a cross-country to another airport, plotting our flight to Athens, Georgia. We took off and climbed to 3,500 feet and discussed what we'd be doing as we approached. We called the tower at 10 miles out, then dropped our throttle down to 2,000 RPM to get a 500 feet per minute sink rate. They gave us a straight-in approach on runway 9- right over Sanford Stadium on final.

It was a bit squirrelly, with a strong and variable crosswind from the left. But I kept it under good control, putting her down gently with a decent level out and flare. Just controlling keeping it on center line was a challenge. We took off again after requesting from the tower we make a left pattern and land again. Landing #2 was better- more left wing down into the wind, but still struggling to keep it lined up properly and on center line for touchdown (again, a cross-wind issue). Did a touch and go, then told the tower we were headed back to Gainesville.

Winds on the ground at Gainesville were virtually calm, thank goodness. A decent approach until the end, when I got too far to the left off of center line. But a good enough landing not to have to go around.

But Matt said my control was definitely improving, even though it had been a week since I had flown. TWO more lessons this week, in order to work towards a solo next week before Matt goes on vacation.

Today I was back in the air, and practiced touch and goes within the pattern at Gainesville, then flew north for some slow flight practice. Only 1:20 of flying, but I was wet and wrung out when I parked the plane.

I am getting better on my landings. Had three pretty good landings out of three today- but still working on runway alignment and flaring. Matt noted that I'm still not bringing the nose up enough when I flare right before putting the main gear on the ground.

Fortunately, he says I'm controlling throttle, flaps, radio, and alignment, including crosswind alignment, "just fine." Just have to keep working on that last bit of centerline alignment. Fortunately, that's on the agenda for tomorrow.

After three touch and goes, we flew north for slow flight using full flaps (ARRRRRRGGGG). I was over-correcting, mostly not using enough power, so I couldn't hold the 4,500 foot altitude Matt wanted me to hold. Matt promised we'd have "lots more slow powered flight" tomorrow. Joy.

Back to the airport for two landings- one by Matt so I could take photos of the airport and landing, and one of me handling a full stop. My final landing for the day WAS better. Just not what it needs to be. Better than yesterday for sure, but not ready to solo. But probably next week, the way things are slowly improving.