September 30th, 2003 - After some scheduling conflicts of my own, I finally was able to complete my Stage 2 check with Rich Digidio. The last flight had problems with the plane and then traffic, and finally my own time restraints.

We took off from KFCM and headed south to Lydia intersection for a couple of intersection holds. It was a fairly simple setup. The intersection was located on the 182 radial from the GOPHER Vor and the 258 radial from the Farmington Vor (I think). Rich decided this would be a DME hold with 3 mile legs and standard turns north of the intersection. Lydia is 33 DME from GOPHER so I should have started my turns at the intersection. Just a quick brainfart though. After crossing Lydia, Rich asked where are we supposed to hold? I responded, "North of the VOR". Crap, I should have turned at 33 DME. We had not reached 34 DME yet so Iturned right away and got back on track. Once back to 30 DME from Gopher I started my turn inbound and got on track. We made one more trip around the hold. We departed to the West to go over to the Farmington VOR and hold there.

As we were heading over I went partial panel and Rich covered up my A.I. and D.G. No big deal I thought. He gave me some headings to turn to and it was time for timed/compass turns. He never said which so I went with the timed turns. They were much easier. We were on a heading of 090 and was told to change heading to 180. I started my turn and timer. I was set to turn for 60 seconds and then thought, wait a minute, that's too much. I needed to turn for 30 seconds and I rolled out a little too late or started my timer late. Not sure which one, but I rolled out on 190. A quick change back to 180 and I was on course. No it was time for a heading of 360. That meant a 60 second turn. This one worked out much better. I roled out on 60 seconds and bam, I was on a heading of 360, great, something actually worked like it is supposed to.

Next, Rich took the plane for minute. Crap. That could only mean one thing...Unusual Attitudes/Recovery. These are not that bad, but I cannot take the setup. Rich got the plane setup and it was time to recover. We were in a descending turn to the left. Reduce power, roll wings level, pitch up to level flight, and add power to recover. Rich takes the plane and gets us setup again. Before I look up I hear the stall horn before I get the plane back and I think we are climbing, but I don't trust my "seat of the pants feeling". I look up and we were in a climbing turn to the left. Add power, pitch nose down, roll wings level and recover to level flight. The whole time I was doing this, I was still partial panel. This was the first time I had done unusual attitudes with partial panel. It was slightly tougher.

Now it was time to head over to the Farmington VOR for some holding. The plan was to hold East of the fix on the 090 radial, with left hand turns. It took me a couple of seconds to get the picture setup in my mind and Rich helped me getting it drawn out. I was getting messed up becuase of the left hand turns. The setup called for a parrallel entry, fly outbound for 1 minute and then a right turn back for the inbound leg and left turns after that. I did ok inbound but the wind threw me a little going back out and when I turned back for the inbound leg I was slightly off course. Made corrections and got back on track. We were going to do another lap around the course and Rich had to take the plane. For whatever reaon I got sick. The wind was not that bad, but I had to reach for the sick sack. I need to figure out a game plan for these fligths, because the sickness is not good. Rich completed the outbound leg while I emptied my guts. I took the plane back on the inbound leg and after crossing the fix, it was time to head back to Flying Cloud.

I dialed up the GPS and took us Direct-To KFCM. This was the easiest part of the flight. We headed back and I called up the tower about 12 miles out. I was told to report 3 SE for 36. I have only laned on 36 one other time and it was during the dead of summer and the heat just bounces off of the hill on final approach. It was not bad today though. I reported 3 SE and Rich had me flip up the foggles. We were told to head directly West becuase of plane on a tight base that was going much faster than us. I could not find the plane until I saw its shadow on the hill. I reported the traffic and was cleared to land. I got lined up with the centerline and added full flaps. The approach was fairly stable with little or no crosswind. I crossed the numbers and started to flare slightly high and then released some back pressure and descended more. I reflared and the horn came on. I kept the horn blaring and before you knew it, we settled nicely onto the runway. I felt good about the landing and Rich even commented that the landing worked out really well. "Good Landing". That was nice to hear.

We taxied back to T-Bird and then there was a quick debrief. My Stage 2 check is done and it is time to move on. Shoirt of getting sick it was a good flight and I was glad to get back in the air.

Things To Remember:
1. Stay ahead of the plane and get everything setup on the ground that you can.
2. Watch the Altitude. Get the proper power/trim settings to keep the plane where you want it.
3. Pattern Entry...Review and draw it out before getting to the fix. That will help to be ready when you ge to the hold.
4. Don't forget the 5 t's when holding. Also throttle back from cruise speed to 100 kts for use when in the holding pattern.

That's all for now. I will see you again soon.