After several delays due to high winds, passed my TOL eval this morning! Finally had some of my smoothest landings despite a bit of a crosswind, and we had an insane amount of birds around the airfield. We were navigating through them in the pattern, during takeoff and on short final, so that was a fun added challenge!
Excited to move on to solo prep and continue to develop on the skills I’ve learned!
Brad,
Awesome work, keep it up. I am glad you did not pull a Sully.
Chris
Brad,
Congratulations on passing the TOL Evaluation! Up next will be the Solo Evaluation and then off you go, keep up the good work.
Brady
Brad,
Congrats! I hope that successful first evaluation ride helped cement your confidence as a PIC. 
Hannah
Took longer than expected with weather/priority/airplane availability causing some delays early in the solo prep block, but I completed my first solo flight this morning! 11/11/2023 and N542A will be locked in my memory the rest of my life and it was an amazing experience and definite confidence-booster!
The flight was anything from typical. I took off Runway 27 in reported calm winds. While still on upwind, tower alerted me winds changed to 120 at 6, so ATC gave me the option to land Runway 9 which I took. So my first “lap” was really me just flying to the NW to catch an extended left downwind to turn around to land on Runway 9. After my second landing, winds changed to 140 at 6, so ATC had me change my taxi route to head down to Runway 18. My third landing ended up being one of my smoothest to date, and I was able to hold the nosewheel off the ground for a long time (something I had been looking to nail down lately).
It’s a surreal feeling to know I can fly an airplane completely alone, a month and a half after starting with zero experience. Excited for what’s to come and to continue building my skills!
Congrats! Feels good doesn’t it?
Adam
Brad,
Congrats on the solo! Great picture, as well. Good choice to continue the switch of runways, even the slightest tailwind can throw off your standardized landing.
Brady
Brad,
Pretty cool indeed! Just imagine that exponential growth you’ll have 5 and a half months from now when nearly completing the program! Keep up the hard work!
-Hannah
Brad,
Awesome news and congratulations!! Sound like a very non-typical standard experience, but that you nailed it.
Keep up the good work!
Also, thank you for the picture!
Chris
Checking in with an update after a long absence! Yesterday I earned my Private certificate!
Unfortunately back in November, I failed my first attempt at the Solo XC Eval shortly after my first solo. The main reason being I messed up some initial coms on the first leg and let that rattle me and had it snowball the rest of the flight. Certainly was a low point at the moment, but I can honestly say in hindsight it made me a much better pilot learning how to stay ahead of the plane better and I actually feel pretty comfortable on coms as a whole now (though I know I’m about to learn a whole new side with instrument).
I passed the re-eval soon after, but unfortunately I just kept hitting a bad cycle of weather (usually low clouds, particularly at one of our legs in Brainerd, MN). Essentially I would be cleared for the Solo XC and then my 10 day clock would keep expiring due to bad weather and then I would need to re-fly the route since you need to have flown the route and have 5 hours in the prior 10 days. This cycle happened probably 4-5 times.
I finally was able to finish this solo phase on Sunday, then powered through the private mock checkride and 6 hours of checkride prep flights Monday and Tuesday before having the checkride on Wednesday. Definitely was a mad sprint to the finish!
I also want to stress that I am in no way complaining about the delays. ATP has their requirements for releasing students on solo flights for very good reason. I also knew my particular location was susceptible to delays with it being in MN and talking it through during my admissions flight back in June.
I’m just very excited to be 1 for 1 on checkride attempts and to dive into instrument training. Fingers crossed as the weather warms up my training will speed up the rest of the way!
Congrats Brad! You’re a pilot!
Keep up the hard work and the great attitude!
Adam
Brad,
It seems like you had a short adversity and overcame it, with passing your Solo XC Eval the second time. That is a HUGE eval and sometimes revisiting it may be the best solution.
Keep up this momentum and congratulations on becoming a pilot! Hit the ground running in instrument and you’ll be fine.
Brady
Brad,
Awesome work, congratulations!!! Thank you for the picture and the update. I found the instrument to be the most difficult part of training. Just keep plowing through and get int hat simulator as much as possible.
Chris
Had my instrument eval yesterday morning and it went very well overall. The instructor said I “crushed it”. He had plenty of notes but all minor things to work on/suggestions for workload management, etc. It also included my first experience with actual IMC (though very briefly). Definitely a totally different feeling and you really get a sense at how those illusions can creep in if you aren’t keeping a consistent instrument scan.
I then had a flight yesterday evening switching over to flying a G1000 for the first time (have only been on G500 until then). I love all the tools and situational awareness it provides! I just need to get used to the new muscle memory and have my scan adjusted on where to look for certain things.
Overall I very much enjoy instrument flying and the structure it provides. My ground knowledge is at a decent point for now but I definitely want to shore it up more as much as I can. Tentatively have my checkride scheduled for April 1st and still have a lot of flights to knock out before then. My plan is to feel checkride ready by that date whether it gets delayed or not. It has definitely been a sprint but loving the change of pace!
Brad,
This is a nice update. It’s a game changer having the G1000 avionics, while the G500 is fantastic itself, the G1000 is next level. These next few days are going to fly by and soon you’ll be in the checkride. Have you gone through the ACS and taken notes on items that are to be expected of you, per the table in the appendix? Also going over the ACS codes from the AKT?
Please keep us updated when you get a chance, after your checkride.
Brady
Brady
I’m so glad you got to experience this! The foggles/hood is good for training but to be able to experience what it’s like in the clouds and connect the risks associated with it, that’s next level learning!
Keep up the good work!
Hannah
Brad,
Thanks for the update,. I am glad to hear that you are doing well in the program. Please keep the updates coming.
Chris
Happy to report that I passed my instrument checkride yesterday! Once again got caught up in delays due to weather.
My instrument training actually went pretty quick but then waited nearly a month to do the checkride after rescheduling numerous times for high winds/turbulence. At that point I was able to do the oral for my checkride, but then discontinued because winds once again picked up. I then ultimately had to wait another 2 weeks before being able to finally get the flight in yesterday.
The oral portion went very well, and the extra study time definitely paid off. For the flight, it was 3 different approaches at my home airport which meant briefing and getting the next approach set up a fast pace. On top of him having me talk through emergency scenarios throughout.
I actually went to our nearby Flying Cloud location quite a bit while waiting for this flight so I could use their Fresca sim which offers G1000 avionics we use in our plane. I actually practiced the same route we used in the checkride several times so that definitely paid off!
Hopefully a little faster pace from here on out, but focusing on controlling what I can control - 2 for 2 on checkrides so far and looking to keep that going.
Excited for TAA training and crew!
Brad,
That is excellent news, congratulations!! I have always thought that the instrument ride was the most difficult of them all, the others just build on things that you know.
Thank you for the update, keep them coming.
Chris
What a whirlwind the past month has been! I managed to finish both TAA and crew in a combined 6 days. Then I dove right into commercial training and had my checkride 2 weeks later.
Excited to say that, as of yesterday, I am now a commercial pilot! For the checkride I had to fly down to Rochester to an airport I was unfamiliar with, with winds gusting pretty heavy throughout the ride, just barely at my minimums.
The oral went super quick and I could tell he thought I knew my stuff because he would quickly move on to the next topic as opposed to digging deeper. The first 80% of the flight went very smooth through the navigation, maneuvers and emergency scenarios. Then things got kinda hectic as we came back to KRST to finish with the landings. There was a steady stream of jet traffic and there were multiple C-130s practicing their landings as well. Managed to eventually knock out the short and soft field landings with a subsequent stop and hold into the short and soft field takeoffs.
Throughout my time in the pattern I was getting instructions I hadn’t got before…sidesteps, 360 circles for spacing, etc. I got a tad behind the airplane at times with the chaos but DPE thought I regrouped and got back on top of things well.
We just couldn’t get a clearance with the traffic to do a short approach for the power of 180. So I ultimately made the PIC decision to divert to an untowered field 10nm away and do that landing there, which the DPE agreed was a smart decision. That landing was pretty firm and sideloaded, but I hit my mark. Then we came back to KRST to end the ride and naturally all the traffic was gone.
Taxied in nice and slow as I was unfamiliar with the airport and didn’t want to blow it right at the end. Parked, shut the plane down, and shook hands.
Ultimately I was able to knock out my instrument and commercial checkrides within a month of each other, so happy to be able to make up some time! On to CFI Academy!
