Date & Time: Friday, 5th September, 1997, 18:00 CDT
Where: From SPX, local
Instruction: 1.0 hrs solo. Running logbook total: 54.9 hrs, 23.0 hrs solo
Aircraft: Cessna 172, number N1219F

More practise...
   I was originally going to do the last of my requirements with Lee today, but Lee wasn't feeling too great, so I did a solo session instead. Today's writeup will be short! I went out and practised slow flight and ground reference manoevers (but there wasn't really enough wind to make the ground reference work a real challenge!). I also did some steep turns.
   I tried one new thing, prompted by the "turn back/don't turn back" debate that keeps appearing in the newsgroups. This is the debate on whether you should try to turn back to the runway if your engine quits after takeoff or land straight ahead instead. I made the "deck" at 3,000 ft. - a good safe altitude in case I stalled it, then got the airplane in a takeoff attitude and applied full power, and climbed out at 75 knots (a hair over Vy). At 500 ft. above the deck (3,500 ft AGL), I pulled the carb heat out and pulled the power to idle, then waited 3 or 4 seconds to simulate the engine failure. At this point, I put the nose down and achieved best glide and trimmed the airplane to hold 65 KIAS. I then did a teardrop turnback as if going back for the runway, trying to keep the airspeed as close to 65 KIAS as possible. Once back on track, I had lost almost exactly 500 ft, and that was without the stress of the ground being close by, and never exceeding 70 KIAS or slowing below 65 KIAS. I think it would be a good idea to add another 200 ft. to this figure (especially since this was a controlled exercise, with the aircraft being nowhere close to gross weight).

Conclusion.
   Just a little more practise... I've got some time scheduled with Lee to make sure that all the requirements are met.

What was learned.
   It's surprising how much altitude you can lose in a teardrop turn using best glide and no more than 40 degrees of bank. No wonder you keep hearing about stall/spin crashes when people try to turn back - the look of the ground coming up can easily get a pilot hauling back and stalling. My plan is to land straight ahead or use small deviations unless I have at least 700 feet.

Date & Time: Sunday, 7th September, 1997, 18:00 CDT
Where: From SPX, local
Instruction: 0.3 hrs solo. Running logbook total: 55.2 hrs, 23.3 hrs solo
Aircraft: Beechcraft BE23 Musketeer, number N5977S

Taking a ride with Murphy in the left seat.
   You've heard of Murphy's law - if anything can go wrong, it will? Well, Murphy was here today. In the morning, I went out to fly, but the weather report wasn't that great, but at least it was reasonable VFR. However, the weather report of 7 miles visibility didn't match what I could see as I drove to the airport. I called it off - it was clear that the haze was too bad (more like fog) and when that started to clear, murky grey floated at around 500 ft. I rescheduled for the afternoon in the Musketeer since the 172 was booked up solid, and revised the C172's operating manual.
   The day continued to be gray and murky. However, it did clear up nicely when it was my time to fly. I preflighted and got fuelled up. Lee was at the airport lounge - he had family in town and he'd taken them out in his C182, and they were having a pizza when I came in, so I got something to eat into the bargain!
   The preflight went fine, except I couldn't find either the pitot cover or the laminated checklist, so I had to use the aircraft's POH and use the checklist in it (pretty much the same as the plastic one, but the wind kept trying to blow the pages over on the book!) I got to the run-up pad, and did the run up. Power to 2,000 rpm, right mag - uh oh, 300 rpm drop and lots of roughness! The left mag was smooth. It sounded like it was running on 3 cylinders on the right mag. So it was time to ground the airplane... So the nearest I got to flying today was the runup pad at the end of runway 13.

Conclusion.
   These things happen. Just reminds you why you do mag checks - although mags fail very rarely (I was unlucky to suffer a mag problem today) - the runup check is extremely important. Always do it!

What was learned.
   Once again exercising good judgement. Firstly, excercising judgement about the weather - although it was MVFR and legal...it turned IFR so the correct choice was not to fly, despite DUATS briefing before I went - my eyes were a better weather reporting device this morning! (I always get a DUATS briefing for a local flight, and both DUATS and call WX-BRIEF for a cross country).
   Then the sick mag...there was only one choice, taxi in, shut down and call the owner (who said he'd come out and look at it this evening).