Arrrgghhh!!

During training (and afterward) I would spend considerable time reflecting
on why some days I flew well while others were just a mess. Ultimately, I
discovered that my bad days were, to a great degree, linked to coffee
drinking before the flight. Coffee and no breakfast made the worst cockpit
experiences for me. On my fly days I now have a banana/protein-powder
smoothie in the morning and it makes a big difference. Everyones physiology
is different. Your mileage may vary.

Nishan

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net wrote in
message ...
Ok, this is getting annoying. Last Friday I flew lousy, and the very
next day I did ok. Yesterday I flew really poorly and today I did
really well.. Now if I could figure out WTF is going on, I'd be a
happy camper.

Got a little later block than usual - 12 noon. Had a few hours to
kill in the morning so headed to the DMV to renew my driver's license.
I figured it'd be about an hour and then I could run to the airport
cafe' and get some breakfast. Nope. 3 friggin' hours surrounded by a
zillion other frustrated people. I got to the field about 11:40 and
since I knew I was going solo, I'd done my paperwork at home last
night. It was just a matter of getting the beginning Hobbs and time
to the 50 and 100 hour maintenances.

I was starving so I hit the vending machines for a Coke and a bag of
Chex Mix. Not the healthiest of breakfasts, but it cost me less than
a buck. (25 cent sodas at the fuel shed) I mowed down my
"breakfast" while I waited for the helo to return and once it was
back, I gave the previous student time to get the ship secured before
I walked out to do my preflight. Preflight showed oil a quart low so
a hunt ensued to find a jug of 100W ashless dispersant oil - which I
finally found under the stairs leading to the CFI offices. Oil topped
off and I hit the restroom for my now obligatory hand wash and pee.
(not necessarily in that order)

Back to the hangar to retrieve the left side door (Students aren't
allowed to fly with both doors off - school policy) and got it
installed an secured. The fuel truck still hadn't come and I was 20
minutes into my block so I called 'em up on the radio and about 15
minutes later, the truck shows up. (We have GOT to get a fuel truck
of our own) Finally, 40 minutes into my block I get to strap in and
head out.

I had planned to hit MYF, do a pattern or two and then head to SDM for
the same before returning back to base. Since 40 minutes of my block
got ****ed away once hitting MYF, I decided to just stay there and fly
patterns for 30 minutes or so before heading back.

Amazingly, all my approaches were pretty good. I was hitting my
airpseeds and altitudes pretty close to what I wanted and I actually
found myself quite relaxed as I hovered over the numbers while waiting
for my clearace to go around again. The tower guys were very busy and
did a really nice job squeezing me in to the flow of traffic and they
got a big "thanks" as I departed the area.

I decided I might have time to buzz down to SDM for a quick fly by but
noticed the fuel guage was getting clsoe to a quarter tank on the main
and about 3/8 on the aux. Time to head back. Pulled a bonehead after
I requested the frequency change from MYF. I got COM1 all set up for
home and forgot to flick the knob that'd let me transmit on COM1
before I made my call to the tower. Took me a sec to realize my
mistake and I almost had to make a quick U-turn so I wouldn't bust the
Class D without 2-way comms with the tower. Luckily, I got through
just outside of the class D and was cleared to proceed.

I re-evaluated the fuel situation and decided to run one pattern
before calling it quits. Just as I turned base I see Q and the ground
school instructor standing on the ramp watching me approach. I turned
final, and talking to myself all the way down, made a rather nice
approach to the numbers.

Once more around, this time to land at the entrance to the school's
ramp and as I turned final, I see both instructors watching me.
Again, I talked myself through a nice steep approach, and as I rode
the rumble down, I notice a Cessna 172RG sitting right next to the pad
I'm going to land on. (Which is near the fuel shed) I get to a hover
and wait there for a second trying to see if the guy in the left seat
is going to sit there with his thumb in his nose or if he's going to
move. (You'd think the big circles painted on the ramp and the 2
parked helicopters would have given him a clue)

Nope. He decides he's gonna sit there with his prop turning and watch
me so I go ahead and taxi to the pad and set down. I throttle down
and notice the guy staring at me so I motion for him to proceed and
still he sits there. Finally, after about two minutes of me pretty
much ignoring him, he throttles up and moves out of the area. Almost
as bad as the Skymaster pilot who parked between pads 2 and 4
yesterday.

I'm kind of annoyed I only got an hour in due to fueling delays, but
decide not to sweat it since I felt like I flew pretty good and
actually enjoyed myself. Maybe I should change my new name from
Hoover to a newer name; Captain Inconsistency.

Got a hop every day this week and my long X-country on Friday.
Thinking about postponing that one 'cuz I'm leaving for Thanksgiving
early next week and would like to do my solo X-country a day or two
after the dual so it's all still fresh in my mind. Tomorrow we do
autos and more autos, wind permitting. Gotta grab the FAR/AIM and
figure out what I still need to knock out before my check ride..

I'm think I'm over the 40 hour mark and have met all the SFAR 73 stuff
for Robbies so I think it's pretty much the night solo and the cross
country stuff and then polish it all up. Getting closer to my ticket
everyday!! (and the list of people who want rides is getting longer.
hehehe)