Saturday I went out for my first $100 hamburger. I chose the Steakfire restaurant in Watertown, WI. My friend Matt (who had just gotten engaged a few days before – congrats Matt!) came along, and “Paris” provided transport.

It was hazy but calm. I took off and headed west so I could climb up to 2500 [...]

Here’s a crazy idea.

If you represent a company with some cash to spare, buy me an airplane (a used C172 would be fine) and I’ll have it painted however you want with your logo on it. It’ll be tied down at Morey field, in view of a major road, and I’ll fly it around several [...]

The weather finally got a little nicer so I decided to try flying into a new airport, and practice some ATC. I chose Blackhawk Airfield, a small field just SE of Madison and under Madison’s Class C shelf.

Winds were about 10-15 knots out of the NW, so I took off on runway 28 and headed [...]

Today I went up the first time (with passenger) as a Private Pilot. I took my cousin Spencer (well, wife’s cousin, but we spend a lot of time together going to the club and drinking) up for an hour flight up to Baraboo and back. Winds were very light, the air was very stable, and [...]

I got a call yesterday morning from my checkride examiner, who was going to be in the area mid-afternoon. Fortunately I was ready, had my paperwork in order, and the time flexibility (from working at home) to be at Morey when he was.

The whole thing took less than half and hour. He went over my [...]

To kick things off, I apologize for not posting sooner, and yes, I did my checkride on Monday, and no, alas, I didn’t pass.

My old nemesis, the crosswind helped botched things for me. The GOOD news is I learned a couple of important things that somehow I missed during my primary training. I’ll be a [...]