12/6 - First flight with friends

I recently took out the airplane for the first flight after getting the engine all checked out.  I invited my girlfriend Stacey, My roommate Tim and my friend Christine for a joy flight in the new airplane.  I went out early to the airplane and went through my usual preflight inspection.  I started up the plane and let it warm up.  Shortly thereafter I saw my friends approaching.  I shut down the engine and opened the door.  I got out to greet everyone and give them a preflight brief.  We all got in the airplane and taxied to the fuel pump.  I got out of the plane and fueled it up and we were off. 

We flew out over lake Vancouver and over to Scappoose.  It was a nice day, which is very rare in the winter up here, so everyone with an airplane seemed to be out flying.  We made a touch and go at Scappoose and I failed to tell Christine that we were doing that and I think it was a little uncomfortable for her.  I will remember to alert those aboard who are not accustomed to flying of strange procedures in the future.  On climb out we passed two helicopters to the left and there were three airplanes in the pattern that I noticed.  I decided to go back to Pearson Field.  On the way I asked Christine if she liked roller coasters.  She said she did so I pulled up at about 2 Gs and pushed the nose over at about .1G.  This is usually a lot of fun for those of us that like roller coasters but again I caught her off guard and I probably should not have done that.

Approach to landing was typical and uneventful.  I parked the plane and we all went out to lunch.  It was really nice to get to take friends flying.  I hope to do it more in the future.

11/24 - Flight to Troutdale for repitch

Check out for insurance

My insurance company required that I have a check ride in my new airplane with a CFI before my insurance could take effect.  This was because all of my flight time was in Cessna 152 and 172 aircraft.  So I called around and found a flight instructor that I could do this with.  The weather however did not cooperate and it took some work to get a CFI to the aircraft, and have good enough weather to fly it.  Finally everything worked out and we flew around for about 45 min.  I made a few landings and taxied back to the ramp.  I got an endorsement in my logbook and I was officially insured!.  Now the real flying adventures can begin..........

The Adventure Begins

                This is being written some time after the actual events leading up to the creation of the blog.  This post will be a quick catch up to the current status of N4404J, my flying, and education etc.

                It was a long process to get here.  I had wanted to be a pilot all my life.  In fact I actually wanted to be an astronaut.  When I graduated High School, I tried to enlist in the army as a helicopter pilot but when I mentioned that I was colorblind, I was told my only option was infantry.  Clearly not why I wanted to join,  I respectfully declined.  I put aviation on the back burner as I was unaware of how to proceed.

                 I had originally started  flight school in 1996 when I was in college.  I was working at Blockbuster video at the time and we had just hired a new employee.  We quickly became friends and the subject of aviation came up one day.  He told me that he had some flight training and that you could go to any small airport and get training.  I was so excited.  We went to Ashland Municipal (S03) airport and spoke with a flight instructor.  We schedules an intro flight and I was hooked.  I began taking lessons immediately.  Mostly with birthday money etc as I had no spare money at that time.  I soloed for the first time in 1997 and stopped flying as my life got complicated.

                I returned to flying in 2002 and earned my pilot certificate in Oct of 2002 after a lot of work and money. I flew off and on, basically enough to keep current and take friends up.  Then in early 2008 I tried to renew my medical and was denied due to a second episode of kidney stones.  After a brief battle with FAA paperwork I managed to get my medical approved.  After this ordeal I decided to cease ignoring my desire to fly and enjoy it as much as possible while I could.  So when I found N4404J I was extremely excited and began the paper work for an aircraft loan.  After weeks of sending information to the banks regarding owning two homes and an airplane on my salary, I finally got approval and I was finally an aircraft owner.

On November 11th 2008 I purchased N4404J from a gentleman in Portland.  She is pictured here.  There was no paint on her as she had been stripped for painting.  There was no comm or nav radio in the aircraft.  The artificial horizon was non functional and the turn coordinator did not work either.   I was still very excited to have an airplane of my own though.  

                On November 15th I flew her home to Pearson field (VUO) where she is based.  I took her to the mechanic for an engine inspection.  I did not get a prebuy inspection and really regretted that.  I highly recommend to anyone reading this to make sure they get one!  The engine is in excellent condition so that was not a problem but over time i would find out that the transponder was nonfunctional due to a missing antenna.