What's a "Doerbird"?

Tomorrow I officially begin my primary flight training with Training Squadron Two (VT-2), the legendary "Doerbirds." VT-2 has the disctinction of being the oldest primary training squadron in the Navy. That leaves me wondering why, if they ostensibly had first pick of squadron mascots, they would choose a "doerbird." I have no idea what a "doerbird" is. Hang on... Google might know...

Okay. VT-2 officially made up the word "doerbird." But that's fine. I will be a proud "doerbird" anyway, whatever they are! Looks like I'll have a few weeks of ground school before I actually start flying. But once I do get off the ground, I'm supposed to solo after the first 10 or so hops. So far the Navy hasn't trusted me with very much, so I imagine I'm going to have to work REALLY hard before they trust me with my very own T-34C for an hour.

I am expecting this to take no less than my best efforts all around. But it's thrilling to know that I've got a shot at something like this, and I'm thoroughly prepared. Our household goods finally arrived this week, and I've had two weeks off to finish getting settled here and spend some time with my wife. If I'd have had another week off, we would have gone camping in Alabama or Tennessee for a couple of nights. But I suppose our little vacation will have to wait.

Life is really, really good. I'll be classing up tomorrow with a bunch of good friends from my API class, so I've got good prospects for a study group/carpool. Morale is high all around. Here we go!

Hurry Up and Wait... For Now

After our inauspicious API graduation on Friday, I checked in at Whiting Field on Monday morning with equally little glamour. A few briefs in the morning, the obligatory spiel from the Commodore, and I was on my way home shortly after noon.

I'll be classing up for Primary on the 28th with VT-2. I think our mascot is a little red bird of some kind. Not quite as mean-sounding as the VT-3 "Red Knights" or the VT-6 "Shooters," but it'll do.

The nice thing about this little mini-stash is I don't have to drive over to Whiting every day. Monday through Thursday I just have to phone in sometime between 7 and 10 in the morning. Friday morning is the only time I have to be physically present. The Mrs. and I are thinking of taking a camping trip to Tennessee (the nearest mountains) next week after the rest of our furniture arrives on Monday or Tuesday.

Life is good. I feel like I struck a good balance between work and other things in API, and I hope it continues to work through Primary.

Taking the Plunge(s)

With a few splashes, a few solid thuds, and the roar of a helicopter over the bay, API has drawn to a close for class 0637. Last Friday was the dreaded helo dunker, which turned out to be not nearly as bad as I thought. One of the rescue swimmers on hand took some video footage, which I'll try to get posted as soon as I can find a way. Monday was our last day in the pool, with practice escaping from parachutes in the water. Yesterday we practiced escaping from a parachute harness while being dragged across a field (by three classmates) and descent procedures in a virtual-reality parachute flight simulator. We also practiced parachute landing falls into a gravel pit.

The technique we practiced for parachute landings came in really handy for today's training: overland parasailing at a grass airstrip in Alabama. The parasailing was a blast. I was a little nervous about being dragged through the sky behind a pickup truck and then falling down like a sack of potatoes. But I had two good rides and we got done by a quarter to ten.

All that's left between me and primary flight training at Whiting Field is a one-hour checkout briefing tomorrow and a handshake from the CO on Friday morning.

The physical challenges of "Disney Week" have reminded me how much I love this job. I'm not the kind of person who likes to do manual labor outside all day, but it would also drive me nuts to be stuck in a cubicle doing drawings of wing nuts or counting beans or something. This is a perfect blend. And no two days at work are really the same. The job literally changes with the weather. I can't wait to get my hands on a T-34!

School's Out! Sort of...

Today was our last graded test- Flight Rules and Regulations. I know I passed, but I don't have my score yet. There are still two weeks of API left, but from here on out, it's more hands-on stuff and one-day courses. We've got an all-day land survival course on Monday, and some fun stuff next week leading up to the helo dunker on Friday. I used to be really worried about that particular evolution, but after all I've been through in the pool in the last few weeks, it suddenly doesn't seem so bad. Sure, I'll be strapped in a tube with five other guys, dropped in the water and flipped upside down, but all I have to do is get out of the thing. I can surface when I'm clear of it, and I'm not even allowed to kick with my legs (for fear of hitting folks behind me) so this thing won't be nearly as painful as the fifteen yard underwater swim after a 12-foot tower jump. There's a video of it here. Those guys are Marines, but we'll be using an identical piece of equipment with our flight gear on.

I made it through the API coursework just fine. Going into the sixth and final exam, I'd missed a total of five questions on the previous five exams, giving me an overall average of 98%. The doesn't put me at the top of the class, but probably in the top 5 or so.

Not all my friends have been so lucky. One guy I went to IFS with, who rolled into our class after failing some exams in a class ahead of us, failed another exam and ended up being removed from the flight training program. Another good friend of mine who started in our class failed two exams and is now rolled back to the class a week behind us. Yet another guy in the class (whom I didn't know as well) failed some exams and has also been removed from flight training. It's been tough. But it should be tough, and not everyone should pass. As sad is it is to see my friends go, and although they might be disappointed, there is also no shame in failing out. Those who are no longer with my class are still excellent officers and will go on to serve our country with distinction in other communities.

Anyone who is worried about the moral quality of the youth of America need look no further than naval flight training, or even the military in general. Sure, there are some jerks here, too, but by and large the folks I go to work with every day, both officer and enlisted, are some of the finest, strongest, smartest, and most dedicated people on the planet. I am truly lucky just to be here.

The Extra Mile

Well, API goes on. I can't believe I've only got 3 exams and 7 days of classes left. Seems like I just started this business...

Today was also the final installment of our Water Survival series: a mile swim in a flight suit. It turned out to be a lot easier than I expected. After carb-loading with massive amounts of pasta last night and a healthy oatmeal breakfast this morning, I finished the mile in 50 minutes with energy to spare.

Tomorrow is a great day: Flight Gear Issue. I'll be getting flight suits, a helmet, gloves, a leather jacket (if they've got 'em... no big deal if I get an IOU since it's currently about 95 degrees out every day) and all sorts of other cool Navy pilot stuff. If everyone has them ready this weekend, the class can start wearing our flight suits on Monday. After this week, I probably won't wear khakis to work on a regular basis for about 4 years.

Sure is nice to be in our own apartment. The furnishings are rather sparse: We got some folding camp chairs and set up the tent in the living room, going for a sort of "camping" motif until the Navy decides to ship the rest of our furniture down from New York.

Splash Ensigns

Well, the last few weeks have been the roaring start of my journey in the Naval Aviation training pipeline- Aviation Preflight Idoctrination (API). We've been in the pool almost every day doing everything from regular swimming to jumping off a 12-foot tower with flight suit and boots on and then swimming underwater for 15 yards. Next week we'll finish up the water survival syllabus with a final test of our strokes technique, a 75-yard swim in full flight gear (suit, boots, gloves, helmet, and survival vest) and the final evolution of the course: a one-mile swim in a flight suit.

For me, it's the water survival that's been the most exciting and challenging part. Yesterday on the tower jump it took me a practice jump and three graded attempts and to make it to the line underwater. By the time I was done, my lungs hurt and I had a pretty nasty headache. But the high I got from actually passing a test I'd been dreading for months lasted much longer than the physiological consequences.

For most other people, it seems like the academics are the central challenge of the preflight program. We take six week-long courses two at a time. Two courses in Aerodynamics, and one each in Weather, Engines, Navigation, and Flight Rules and Regulations. It comes out to two exams per week for the last three of our four weeks of class. For me, most of the material is a review/regurgitation of what I just spent four years learning about in the Aeronautical Engineering program at RPI. I'm doing all right so far- 98% on Aero I and 100% on weather.

I'll have to write more later. The Mrs. and I are finally moving into our own place tomorrow morning (also a topic for another entry) so there's plenty to do around here tonight!

T Minus One Week

I suppose my comment in a previous post about the coming weeks holding adventures I didn't know about was even more prophetic than I intended it to be. A wise old Beatle once said "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans." Indeed, hurricane season started off here with the winds of change blowing.

After reviewing our family situation, the Mrs. and I decided that living 1,400 miles apart wasn't as good an idea as we thought it was. So instead of starting API at the end of May, the Navy let me drive back up to Albany to pick her up and bring her back here. Instead of doing my primary flight training with the Air Force at Vance AFB, I will now be doing it here with the Navy at Whiting Field.

I'll be starting API on Friday, June 30. I can't wait. It's great to have my wife here and know that she'll be able to support me more directly as I get into the real meat of flight school. Even though they'll keep me pretty busy, I'm sure we'll still find time to enjoy together some of the nicer things about living in this place. I told her: "It'll be just like college, except now we've got more money."

Life's a Beach

Today was one of my last times doing the A-pool muster. My wife flew down on Tuesday morning, and tomorrow we're hitting the road to drive back up to Albany together. I'll be on leave until just a few days before I start Aviation Preflight Indoctrination (API) on the 19th. The timing has worked out very well, and I'm lucky and thrilled to be able to be at home with my wife on our second wedding anniversary next Friday.

We went to the beach today and I built a sand castle. You'll see my masterpiece if I can get the picture upload to work. My wife added the seashell fence as a finishing touch.

So far my workload has been light. But once I start API, all that is expected to change. Today I found out for sure that I will be doing my primary flight training (right after API) with the Air Force at Vance AFB in Enid, Oklahoma. I volunteered for Vance because they said it would get me through my training pipeline about six months faster. Another perk is that I will be flying the nice, shiny, new T-6 trainers instead of the usual old Navy T-34s. The T-6 is a wonderful plane, with more power, more speed, ejection seats, and a much better air conditioner than the T-34.

But, I digress. This road trip tomorrow should be fun. We're going to try to leave early in the morning and make it to visit my sister in southern Virginia tomorrow night. Then we're hoping to make it to Washington, DC by lunch time on Saturday and see some sights there Saturday afternoon before we press on to Albany late Saturday night. It seems like a pretty ambitious itinerary, but we're young so I think we'll be able to pull it off.

Down Time

Well, another day of A-pool muster has come and gone. Today there weren't even any announcements. I had a good mile-and-a-half run afterwards. It's really a beautiful day today- clearer and cooler than we've been having. I haven't even had to run the air conditioner. Unusual, perhaps, but I'll take it.

My wife is flying down on Tuesday, so today I went over to the sailing marina to talk to a guy about renting a boat and taking her on her first sailboat ride. I'm going back Monday so I can prove to him that I actually can operate a small sailboat without breaking anything before he will let me rent from there.

Speaking of my wife- Yesterday she bought a piano. She's been wanting one for a long time, and this week she found one on Craigslist, close to where she lives, for under $500. Turns out it was in really good shape. It's also about the smallest piano she's ever seen, which is good, because it will probably travel all over the country. So, it'll be in her living room as soon as we can have it moved and tuned.

I'm glad she found a good piano at a good price because I promised her she'd have a piano before I get an airplane. Now I've just got to start saving my pennies...

April Showers

All the folks who thought we were behind on rain this year must be loving life now. It's been raining pretty steadily since last night, although it didn't rain for muster this morning. I took myself for a run after muster and got rained on enough that I couldn't tell what was water and what was sweat. But it really cut loose right after I got home, which made me glad I didn't postpone my run.

My Lieutenant called me yesterday and said he'd approve my leave. So I'll be outta here at the end of next week for a couple weeks with my wife, including our second anniversary. Then it's right back here and right into API. The timing is working out perfectly so far. Even though I've been here three months and only done about 5 weeks worth of real work, my progress can still be considered very rapid. It's just slow getting through here. But I've waited all my life for this, so a few more weeks won't kill me.

Drowning in the "A-Pool"

Now that IFS is done, I am back in the "A-Pool," a sort of limbo where Student Naval Aviators and Student Naval Flight Officers are essentially kept in a tank until they are able to be placed into classes for Aviation Preflight Indoctrination (API). When a class is getting ready to start, they open up the tank and siphon off as many of us as they need.

A-pool used to be a pretty sweet gig. Checking in by phone once or twice a week was all that was required. But, as with all good deals in large organizations, people abused it. Someone got caught thousands of miles away without leave. So now we all have to muster, in person, at 0730 five days a week. Some Ensigns get fished out of the A-pool for "stash jobs" filling menial positions in offices around the base. The common refrain among these is "killlll meeeee."

Case in point: Today. I showed up at 0730 and fell in with the herd. Two stash Ensigns with clipboards made a couple of announcements. Then comes the critical moment where the one speaking says either "I have A through N" or the other half of the alphabet. The herd of Ensigns then separates itself into two gaggles and begins swarming around the poor guys with clipboads. We muscle in as close as we can and hold up our ID cards until he crosses our names off his list. And that is a day's work for a commissioned officer, unless they cull out large numbers of bodies for odd jobs around the base which could take an hour or two.

But I wasn't quite done. I had some leave papers to submit, so I went into the Student Control office, where one stash Ensign helped me fill out the papers and another inspected my car. Finally I went across the hall to the flight management office (the tank-siphoners) and waited in line with a dozen other Ensigns to hand in my leave papers to yet another stash Ensign. Friday morning I will go to the quarterdeck (staffed 24/7 by stash Ensigns) to see if my leave was approved.

So after my long day at the office, I was home at 9. In the morning. Fortunately for me, I'll be on leave in another week or so and then when I come back I'll be starting API on May 19. But there are some guys (mostly SNFOs, not pilots) who have been here since November and haven't started yet. Those guys are hurting from boredom. But, we live in a place with beautiful white sand beaches, so it's hard to complain about working 7:30-9:00 in the morning.

The End of the Beginning

I learned a lot about flying today. You can probably guess that's a nice way of saying things didn't go as planned.

The weather was beautiful. There was gas in the tanks. I was alert and sharp and had a great briefing and filed my flight plan all the way to New Orleans. Our departure was smooth, and within ten minutes of taking off we were at 4,500 feet, skimming along cloud tops at well over two miles per minute. The 60-degree outside air felt great coming through the vents. Before I knew it, we were over Gulfport, MS, catching glimpses of the coastline below us as the morning sun shimmered on the water and puffy clouds.

But then something else started shimmering. In illuminated red letters, the word "VOLTS" began flickering on the instrument panel. This is the equivalent of a red flashing battery symbol on a car dashboard, and meant there wasn't enough electrical power in the airplane to go around. At first it flashed only sporadically, but within a few minutes it was flickering pretty regularly. Rocky, my helpful ghost, informed me that it was my decision what to do because he wasn't even supposed to be there on this flight. I really wanted to see New Orleans today, but I realized the safe thing to do was to turn around and head home. By the time we were established on our return course, the VOLTS warning was glowing steadily.

Airplane engines have magnetos for ignition, and therefore don't depend on a battery and alternator like a car does just to stay running. The engine would have kept running even if the battery died, but we would have lost our radios. There are procedures for landing at an airport if your radios are dead, and Rocky verified I knew them. To conserve battery power, we shut down one of our radios and some navigation equipment we weren't using. Closer to the airport, we shut down the GPS so all we had on was one radio and our transponder.

We landed and parked without a hitch. A timely decision to turn around prevented an annoying problem from becoming an emergency. However, I came up short on my required flight time to graduate IFS.

Fortunately, there was another airplane available, so Rocky and I went back out and did some landing practice at St. Elmo. I got a chance to actually see someone in the traffic pattern without a radio- there was an ultralight aircraft flying around. The second flight was a blast because the clouds had blown out and visibility was the highest I'd ever seen. It was a beautiful spring day in Alabama, and I made a few good landings before we came back home.

It'll probably be about 3 months before I get to fly an airplane again. That's kind of a bummer, but I'll always remember the good lessons I've learned so far. I think Rocky's parting advice holds true for a lot of things: "Fly the airplane until the last piece hits the ground." I guess sometimes we have to just hold on and follow through.

The next few weeks' entries here won't be filled with tales of aerial derring-do, but there will no doubt be interesting developments in the story of this naval aviator that even I can not yet imagine, so stay tuned, folks.

Gator International

Today set the record for the earliest I've had to get up for an IFS flight. I was out the door at 0530. We started off heading for Monroeville, but about 20 miles up the road Rocky diverted us to a little grass strip north of Mobile he refers to as "Gator International" because there are (I'm totally serious) alligator-infested ponds on either side of the runway at one end. I didn't see any alligators today, but there are many signs all around both ponds warning of the reptiles. Makes you really pay attention when you're turning the airplane around that you don't go off the runway.

The flight went very well. After we diverted, Rocky had me put on the hood and practice navigating on instruments, which I did just fine. I'm getting a lot more comfortable with the increased workload of cross-country flying. It's really a lot of fun, and obviously the most important skill in piloting. After all, what use is the airplane if you can't take it anywhere?

This flight was the solo cr0ss-country checkride, to sign me off for what would be a solo cross country flight on Monday except that Rocky will be a "ghost" reading a book in the right seat. Since I have some extra time available to complete my last flight, I was authorized to go somewhere besides Monroeville! Rocky suggested New Orleans Lakefront airport. It's just over 100 nm from Mobile, so we should be able to get there and back in two hours of flight time. So looks like Monday morning we're off to the Big Easy. I'm really excited to sink my teeth into a more complex flight and do some real navigation. Besides, I've never been to New Orleans, so it'll good to see something new.

On the Road Again

Another day, another hop, another lesson learned. Today's flight started as another dual cross-country to Monroeville, but as soon as we got to Bay Minette my instructor informed me that we would be diverting to Jackson (AL), another airport about the same distance away but a little more to the west. Finding it was easy enough- I dialed the airport into the moving-map GPS and followed the pink line on the screen. We flew there (in a straight line this time), landed, and flew back to Mobile rather uneventfully. My only persistent problem seems to be a lack of checklist discipline, which Peggy blames on my previous flight experience in high school, where I almost never used an actual written checklist.

Tomorrow is my final check flight in the IFS program. I'll be flying with Rocky, who is notoriously tough on checkrides, so I'll have to bring my A-game. Rocky will also be on my "ghost solo" on Monday. The last flight of IFS used to be a solo cross-country, but after one student flipped a plane over and killed himself, the Navy started requiring an instructor to be on board as an observer, to intervene only if the safety of the flight was in immanent danger.

On my way home today I stopped by the Ferguson airport, near where I live, to find out what it would take to finish my private pilot's license when I'm done with IFS. The good news is, I'm really, really close- probably as close as I'll ever be. The bad news is, it would still cost about $1,500, which I'm just not sure I can come up with right now.

But, once I get winged, I can take a written test will make me an instrument-rated commercial pilot. I guess I'll just have to wait until then...

All Good Things...

Today was my last solo flight in the IFS program. it was bittersweet. I had hoped to be able to spend it flying free out in the practice area, where I wanted to fly as high as I could to get up over the haze and enjoy the view and the feeling of flying way up high. Unfortunately, two things conspired against me: Broken clouds at 1,300 ft., and the fact that I was supposed to shoot for a 0.7-hour flight because I'd gone a little long on my last couple of flights. So, I was restricted to the traffic pattern at Mobile Downtown.

It ended up being a very satisfying flight anyway. I made 5 landings, all of which were some of my very best ever. I touched down softly with the runway centerline between my main wheels on all five of them, and I'm sure the nosewheel touched down right on centerline on at least three. This was in spite of a light but noticeable breeze blowing straight across the runway.

Flying every day for the last three weeks has gotten me really comfortable in the airplane. Today I really felt like I had total, precise control over where I landed with regard to the runway centerline. It was really a great feeling. My traffic patterns were crisp and precise, with 30-degree-banked turns, rollouts right on course, and holding altitude within 20 feet on downwind. I realize these are the kindergarten skills of aviation, but it's still immensely satisfying to just do it right and know you've done it right.

The worst thing about my flight today was nobody was there to see it. ;)

Cross-Country

Today was my first cross-country flight in IFS. By the time I got home, I was as tired as if I'd pedaled the airplane to Monroeville and back. Cross-country flying for the first time is very difficult because it combines all the skills of flying the airplane with talking to unfamiliar controllers and navigating through unfamiliar areas, usually much too high to read the road signs.

Due to some weather delays, I ended up flying with a different instructor than I briefed with yesterday. Rocky was fine with my planned route: going directly between the navigation beacons on the two airfields. Peggy (the one I actually flew with) thought that was a bit lazy and made me do most of my navigation by dead reckoning alone. So, I had some trouble finding my course, which I had planned to do simply by intersecting a beam of radiation and following it in a nice straight line. It took me a while to get back on course.

Changes in plan notwithstanding, my calculation of groundspeed based on forecast winds turned out to be right on, so I crossed all of my checkpoints at EXACTLY the time I had planned.

Lucky for me, all the rest of my cross-country flights (all two of them) will be along the exact same route as today's, so I'm sure I'll be able to do much better.

I'm back up with the dawn patrol tomorrow. My classmate Louis and I are flying the same plane on back-to-back solos first thing in the morning, and then we have a ground instruction session.

It's really sad that IFS is coming to an end. I'm really having a great time, and once this is over it will be months before I actually get to fly again. But it's been a blast, and I still have a couple of good flights left. Tomorrow is my last solo flight, so I'm gonna live it up while I can!

Dawn Patrol

Today's flight was great- a whole hour in an airplane all by myself. I had a launch time of 7 am, which meant I had to leave here a little before 6, right at first light. The sun was up when I got to the airport, but still low in the sky. (I took the picture this morning) The wind was dead calm. Visibility was reported at 10 miles, but was really more like 4-5 in haze.

Shortly after takeoff, the tower asked if I could help him check his emergency radios. I tuned over to the designated emergency frequency (121.50 MHz) and responded as he checked out two or three radios. I guess I was the only one in the area.

The practice area was all mine, too. I practiced tracking VOR radials and navigating with reference to my chart so I'd have more than just Microsoft Flight Simulator experience in navigation when I go for my first cross-country flight with Rocky tomorrow. Then I came back for three landings at Mobile, with an increasing crosswind on each one.

The other good thing that happened today was my classmate and carpool buddy Louis Jackson had his first solo. He and Rocky had my plane right after I was done with it. Since I had to wait for Rocky for an hour of ground instruction after Louis's flight, I was there when they got back and was able to congratulate him.

Soloing an airplane is a big step in an aviator's career. To me, that's the day you become a pilot. Once you've flown an airplane, by yourself, and returned safely to earth, you are never quite the same ever again. The most important thing a solo flight does for you as a student pilot is to prove to YOU that you can do it. Like so many things in life, we are often capable of much more than we believe. I guess learning to fly, or "getting your wings" is not so much about receiving something, but finding something that's already there. Maybe we've had our wings all along, and we just need to find them and learn to use them.

Cow Tippin'

Today's hop was a lot of fun. Weather was severe clear, winds light and variable. We headed out to somewhere I'd never been- another little grass strip just west of Mobile Regional. My instructor was the same laid-back 20-something guy I went to the grass field with last time.

We used the GPS to find the airport. I was too high on the first pass, so we waved off. Second time around I nailed it, and we floated in for a nice soft landing and the dusty embrace of dry Alabama field grass. This runway was a little bumpier and not mowed as recently as the last one, but still remarkably smooth and a lot of fun. We used every inch of it the first time, as I wasn't in any particular hurry to stop.



After a couple of soft-field landings, we demonstrated short-field technique. That focuses on hitting a particular point on the runway and then pulling the flaps up and standing on the brakes. The first one of those, I brought it in a little too fast and we floated past our aim point by a couple hundred feet. That was still within the lesson standards, but I could do better. The second time around, I aimed for the same big brown spot and I totally nailed it! I think we must have hit within one wingspan of the point. With the flaps up and heavy braking, we stopped in less than half of the runway. (The picture captions, from left to right, read: aiming point, runway, and cows.)

Monday will be a great flight, too. They're giving me an airplane and one hour to do whatever I want with it (within safety, of course). Any suggestions?

Military Wives

They say that behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes. Nowhere is this more true than in the military. I could go on and on about all the stuff military wives put up with, but I think my own wife captured the sentiments best in her top ten list:

10. Half the amount of food lasts twice as many days
9. No one complains when you sleep in the middle of the bed
8. It's okay to be totally turned on by Top Gun
7. No. Shaving. Required.
6. Having your own personal insect collection living in the vacuum canister
5. Military discounts at New York & Co.!
4. Free tows (and mechanic work with a little flirting and the magic phrase "husband on active duty")...
3. ...all three times the car breaks down
2. TSA stops the entire airport security line for a military wife bonding opportunity
1. I get to see my best friend/sweetie May 2!!!

'nuff said.

My (Second) First Solo!

Well, today was the day. The wind was about 20 degress left of runway 18 at about 7-10 kts., and I didn't scare Rocky too bad with my first two landings, so he let me take the thing around by myself a couple of times.

Taxiing back out, I had to wait for what seemed like forever behind my flight school's Cutlass (a 172 with retractable landing gear), who had to wait forever for a couple of planes landing on instrument approaches. I took off right behind him and got through my first landing pretty smoothly.

With my confidence up from one good landing, I was headed downwind for another when I noticed an awful lot of traffic on the radio. The controller asked me to do a 360 to the right for spacing. I was almost through the first one when he said he'd need at least two or three more from me. I think I ended up doing about 5 full circles out over the bay before I got the go-ahead to land again. It was fine, though, and I appreciated some time to practice making smooth coordinated level turns.

The second landing was fine. Coming downwind for the last one, the controller asked me to turn base immediately and make a short final approach because my school's other 172 was coming right in to land behind me. I easily obliged and brought her right around for a landing. He told me to keep my speed up on the runway until I got to the taxiway, and as I turned off I looked over my shoulder and saw that the other 172 was already on the runway behind me. We landed just like the Blue Angels!

Even though I soloed three times in high school, it felt like pretty much the first time. I suppose it helped me to know I'd done it before, but I basically started all over again learning to fly in this program. But I think it's really, really sticking this time around. I was definitely back in my groove today, and it felt really good.