Hey everyone, over the last week I have had time to reflect on what I want to do after I get my private pilot license and to be honest I wasn’t very sure. I could begin training for my Instrument or I could tackle odd ratings and endorsements while I’m still in high school. I know I badly want to try out aerobatics and also tackle tail-wheel aircraft as well. That being said both go hand in hand and I got to thinking… “hmmm”

Although this might seem silly I have now researched and discovered the perfect solution, Tutima Aerobatic flight training in California! At this place you get to train with the best of the best aerobatic pilots in legit aircraft being either a Pitts or an Extra! Its a 6 day course of learning all different types of aerobatics, and you get to pick what airplane you train in. Of course all that fun comes at a cost (insert frowny face here). That is why I ask for your support in raising enough money to be able to have a chance of a lifetime. Although I do work, I know that I wont be able to raise enough money in 2 years just by myself to make this happen. On my website you should see a Donate button at the top right hand corner, if you would like to donate just click on he button and follow the directions.

I hate asking for donations but this is something I truly would love the opportunity to do. I also am looking for sponsors to help me get to my goal! If anyone is considering sponsoring me for this email me at pilotian@pilotian.com

Thanks for all of your help and support

Until Next Time,
Pilot Ian

This weekend was a BLAST!!!!!!!!! It all started out on Friday getting into Dayton for the weekend festivities. I woke up on Saturday morning early to go to Miami University where  our VATSIM VZID controlling group went to control our event all together. We control all the time via our homes and talk together over the internet but you truly dont get the aspect of teamwork that you do when your all together shouting across the room asking “Did you hand him off to me yet approach?” or “What are you doing!”. It truly is a great experience for anyone interested in possibly going into Air Traffic Control as a job. Once we got off the scopes at about 10:30pm we all went our seperate ways and sadly wont be all together again until next years live event.

The next morning I woke up bright and early to go to the Vectren Dayton Airshow. I had gone there the year before and loved it. This year while it had many great acts including my favorite aerobatic pilot Sean D. Tucker, it also lacked alot of things last year. I’m not sure why, not as many tents where there this year but when anything is struggling just blame it on the economy …. right?

I truly love watching Sean D. Tucker do his thing in the air and this year watching him turned over a new leaf for me. I would love to try out aerobatic flight with an experienced aerobatic pilot. Where could I find and aerobatic pilot… I dont know. If any of you reader know of a willing pilot to show me some aerobatic flight please let me know. I am a very goal oriented person and in my bedroom I have a sheet of goals to accomplish. Yesterday I originally thought of putting “Fly aerobatics before I die” on the list but I thought heck why not now find a way to do so.

In closing I have another of my 5 things I learned over my mini vacation I took:

1. If your horrible with directions and roads….. Buy a GPS

2. When your at an airshow make sure to wear sunscreen

3. Get talking to pilots from all different aspects of aviation…. You learn alot!

4. Sean D. Tucker is an amazing pilot and I commend him on his awesome flying at the Airshow.

5. I CANT WAITE FOR OSHKOSH NEXT MONDAY !!!!!!!!! YAY … WISH I COULD MEET THE ORACLE TEAM.

Until Next Time,

Pilot Ian

This month is just beginning for me. As of right now I am blogging at my friends house in Dayton, why Dayton? VZID ARTCC for Vatsim is having their Live Event this weekend and I am a part of it. Tomorrow is the day that we all conjugate together and control aircraft on VATSIM together. It should be fun and we all are like a family controlling together almost every night at home. After we control tomorrow we will all meet for the Dayton Airshow for the day of festivities. With camera in hand you will be sure to see many photos of the event.

If that weren’t enough I am also going to Oshkosh this month, Im so excited. I truly cant wait to go and know it will be an experience to say the least. More details about that when it gets closer.

Until Next Time,

Pilot Ian

On Thursday I had the opportunity to take my first college visit to Kent St. University. We left early in the morning to make the 3 hour drive to the campus. When we got there we (My mom, stepdad, and I) listened to a 30 minute presentation about Kent St. then proceeded to take a 90 minute walking tour around the campus. As we walked around Kent I found that it was more modern I would say than any-other university I had been to before.  Anyways the campus was nice and I liked their sports center with 2 big pools and multiple basketball courts for me to play on.

Now  lets get to the good stuff. I then proceeded to the technology building for my meeting with the Acedemic Program Director of Aeronautics, Who also was the ATC professor. We went over multiple questions concerning me going to school for air traffic control. After that she showed me around the ATC simulator lab where students take part in scenarios of virtual simulation. The more and more I think about it, air traffic controlling grows on me. I could see myself in the tower cab of a major airport for a career.

“What about FLYING Ian…?” Do not worry flying is still my passion. I have to keep all my options open, for becoming a pilot is not always an option well at least a pilot for an airline. After the awesome tour of the ATC  lab we went over to the airport and I got to talk to multiple students about their flight training experience and got to see their fleet. I will admit, their fleet was more than I expected which was good.

After that visit so much is running through my head right now. I am so baffled by the experience. Luckly I have a whole year  before I have to choose!

Comments Appreciated

Until Next Time,

Pilot Ian

I had fun today being able to be at the airport for 4 hours and doing stuff involved with aviation. In a city that I dub a really dull aviation city I got to sort of keep my self busy dispatching airplanes and creating posters for the flight school. But the only down side of being there for a long time got me more depressed on my status as a STUDENT pilot. I don’t know what is taking me so long. My thought process is “O I would never be able to pass the check ride.” I don’t know if thats true but I hope my instructor wouldn’t sign me off if I weren’t ready.

I’ll be so relieved to get my Private out of the way because as of now my plans aren’t to further my training until college. Other than that I don’t have much to say other than happy landings and comments welcome!

Until Next Time,

Pilot Ian

Hey everyone, This recent Thursday I had an aviation buddy come up from Dayton to hang out and just show him around my fun little city.  On Thursday he flew from his airport up to mine and landed early in the morning. I had made sure to be at the airport plenty early to make sure to watch him land and all that fun stuff. As I was watching aircraft land and depart (there were like  8 jets on the apron at once it was crazy) I finally saw him land and taxi in. As he was, a receptionist for my flight school came up to me and proposed a job to be to work for the flight school! I was excited to hear if the boss would go for it. My friend came in and I showed him where to park, but first I hopped in and we went up in the pattern twice and boy was it fun. His aircraft he rents is a 1960 something Cessna 172.

After we landed we pushed back and tied it down to go have an adventurous day of tennis and other various activities. Sadly the hours passed and it was time for us to get some shut eye so he wasn’t beat for the flight home on Friday. After a good couple hours of sleep we got up had breakfast and headed over to the airport for his departure. As he did the preflight we decided to pull the airplane out a bit so it wasn’t on a down slope. As we did so we noticed the nose wheel not reacting to his rudder pedal inputs (Uh Oh). He finished the preflight and fired up the engine to see if the nose wheel would do anything. It kept turning in a right circle. We laughed in frustration and made about a thousand calls to people like our parents, FBO, Mechanics and multiple others trying to find someone to fix it and finally we did but he was 30 minutes away so we went to the restaurant near by and had some drinks while we waited. We also went exploring in the airport lounge that I had never been in before which had the most comfortable couches ever (No wonder I see the corporate pilots always sleeping in them while they wait for some big shot CEO’s or others to board and leave for another fun flight).

Finally, the mechanic showed up and was able to tighten the arm for the nose wheel steering, it wasn’t a fix but it was a temporary solve of the problem to get it home. As PIC my friend didn’t feel comfortable though flying it back so he decided to call his FBO and have them deal with it.He  then ended up spending another night at my place till his parents came and picked him up on Saturday. Overall it was an experience we both learned from, here are 5 valuable things we learned:

1. Dont fly if your gut tells you not to! Your the PIC you make the decision.

2. Mechanics know alot, and Im still am amazed by their abilities to do so much.

3. Airports are way cooler when you look around and find random awesomeness.

4. Those couches were comfy.

5. Old, rickety airplanes should have a forced retirement age.

As for that job, I was offered it and now am part time working for the flight school! It is fun and I am finally glad I have a job being able to be at the airport where I belong. Sorry for the time away from my blog but I havent flown for a while but plan to soon. Dangit I just want my PPL by gosh!!!!!!

Comments Appreciated

Until Next Time,

Pilot Ian

Book Cover

I just got done reading this wonderful book by Alex Stone. I have to admit that I hate to read which is odd seeing I love to blog. Let me correct that, I hate to read anything not aviation related. But this book could relate to everyone I think anyone who is anyone would enjoy every page of this book. The book is about a Check Hauling company called “Checkflight” and is narrated by one of their captain pilots, hauling anything from checks to pets. Every character in the book has his/her own schtick, making for an interesting setting.

When I started the book I loved it from right off the bat, that is probably why I read it in 3 days. Most authors of books take chapters upon chapters to get the setting straight but Mr.Stone was able to achieve that within just a few pages making the book an easy read! I think I remember from a live show, that if things go well a movie of this book is possible and I am the one to call it now…. It could be the makings of one of the best movies out there. Of course I have an aviation bias in this review but again I’m sure non aviation enthusiasts would enjoy the movie as well.

With that I would just like to thank Mr.Stone for publishing a 5 star book and the best aviation book yet to hit the selves. I hope to see more books from him in the future. I’ll be sure to be an owner of each one knowing the quality of writing he publishes. Below are links to purchase the book and Hauling Checks website. For excerpts from the story see their website.*I do not receive receive commission for any books sold via the links on this site.*

Hauling Checks Official Website: www.haulingchecks.com

Amazon Book Store: Hauling Checks Paperback

If you have read the book comment and let us know what you personally think!

Until Next Time,

Pilot Ian

Happy Landings!

Well Saturday I decided to get some solo time in, while it was a good day and no one had the airplane for the time I wanted to fly.I know right I finally got to fly SURPRISING! I’m not going to sit here and lie, I have been very frustrated with the way this whole ending my Private Pilot License thing has gone. The weather in Ohio is just plain poopy and for a student pilot looking to get solo time in Ohio’s winds, they aren’t in their favor.

I got to the airport and saw so many aircraft either in the pattern, taxing or getting pre flighted so I knew I needed to be extra careful in the pattern that day (Thank god I was). So after I got done pre flighting the aircraft and finished some hanger talk with a aviation friend who was at the airport, I was ready to go flying. O wait the person before decided to leave me with the low tanks so I had to go fill her up. Although not a hassle, getting fuel was just another thing to put off my flying a bit longer. But anyway finally I got to the runway and was holding with a Baron I believe doing my run-up. I figured it would take me longer so he just went and took off before. Then I was ready for departure. I let a nice little RV-8 land and then back taxied runway 25.

Earlier in the day!

With a quick advancement of the throttle I flew down the run way and lifted off at 55 knots. Ya I was in the air once again! So I flew the pattern a couple times and heard on frequency a helicopter inbound for my airport. He asked where he should land, at this point you don’t really know the size of the heli but I told him that I usually see helicopters landing on the apron. And low and behold that’s where he took his huge Eurocopter I believe.

Eurocopter?

That was but the most exciting thing of the day. I don’t know what it is with my airport but some people seem to think it is a smart idea to fly pattern altitude en-route right in the pattern where I was flying. Luckily I have a good eye and keep my eyes outside the aircraft so I didn’t run into the aircraft flying from right to left on my downwind [Frustration]. After that little situation I decided to land the good ol’ Cessna and call it a day.

Bell Jetranger Landing

I always find it so weird the joy I get out of helicopters because I fly airplanes, now yes they are both aircraft but I truly think it takes a certain type of person to fly helicopters and I never really thought about flying them. One because of the cost of training is just that much more, but I think it would be cool don’t get me wrong. I now officially put it on my Bucket List and hope someday to achieve it as an “Add-On Rating”. I would appreciate comments by other pilots that either have their helicopter license or have both airplane and helicopter I would be very interested to hear what you have to say about that.

Lastly, I always finish with current news about my website in its entirety. First expect one of my best podcast yet that will feature an interview with the founder of NYCAviation.com yes you got it Plane Spotting! I recently bought a DSLR camera to begin the fun hobby of plane spotting and in the podcast he will help all you out there on how to get started if your wanting to get into the hobby. Also I will talk a bit about my check ride coming up and it will have details of my Live Show in June. (Date still pending). Also expect some final changes to the look and interactivity of the website by July that will make this website stand out from the rest. Finally I would like to thank all my readers and listeners out there that have been with me through this fun and tough journey, Thanks.

Until Next Time,

Pilot Ian

Happy Landings!

I have decided I am going to tackle the realm of live shows. Starting next month I will be producing a Live Show for all to watch that will be about an hour long and will have nothing to do with my flight journey. What it will be focused on is Pilots and Aviation in general. I plan to have guests on the show that come from all walks of aviation. The most important part of the show is the audience, this means that during the show all people watching will be able to call us via Skype and the guest or I will answer any questions you have about what we were talking about.

With it being live there will be mess ups, ummmsss, and many other hiccups throughout the show but that just comes with practice and it being live and real. So please make sure to look out for that.

Need to contact me?

Email me at: pilotian@pilotian.com
Twitter: Pilotian24

Until Next Time,
Pilot Ian