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I had a couple of hours in between classes yesterday, and I hadn't been flying in a couple of weeks, so I went up for 45 min in the bitter cold.


After take-off, cruising level @2000 ft MSL, 1000 ft AGL to the west to get clear of Madison Class C airspace...


Looking to the south at all the new subdivisions that seem to be sprouting up all around town...


Clear of the Madison airspace, I climbed up to 4000 ft, here I am part way there, and, yeah, it's not the best climb I've ever done, but I was busy taking pictures, not flying the airplane or watching for traffic ...



Finally on the ground again after doing a couple of good cross-wind landings, the last one with this Maule right behind me...


Parked and shutdown, reflecting on the flight, and thankful I still haven't crashed yet ...


Thanks for looking.  Feel free to question, comment, or rip apart my sweet flying skillz ...

and thankful I still haven't crashed yet

That's not something I'd like to hear out of a pilot.

Looks like you had a great day... very nice photos, specially the one of the cockpit.

awesome shots but AAAH CHEMTRAILS

and thankful I still haven't crashed yet

That's not something I'd like to hear out of a pilot.

Would you rather hear that I've crashed a lot?  

awesome shots but AAAH CHEMTRAILS

Yeah, I really felt those chemicals surging through my veins yesterday after this.  I loves me my chemicals...

http://www.ericisgreat.com/tinfoilhats/

and thankful I still haven't crashed yet

That's not something I'd like to hear out of a pilot.

lol, that's hilarious!

I was busy taking pictures, not flying the airplane or watching for traffic ...

No comment there..... :-/

and thankful I still haven't crashed yet

That's not something I'd like to hear out of a pilot.

That, and "I was busy taking pictures, not flying the airplane or looking for traffic".
Funny, but not ha-ha funny.

We all have our moments, but for what it's worth: don't make a habit of that sort of thing. I'd hate to have to say "yeah; I knew that guy..."
I never look throught the viewfinder or even at the LCD when I'm taking pics on solo flights. With a little practice, you can get some OK snaps shooting "blind", even if you have to delete 90% of them. My feeling is that you should be looking outside or at the panel, or at least at the chart, at all times. you never know, and it's amazing how easily traffic or birds can surprise you even when you are scanning properly...

Awesome pics, though, and good for you for going up in the cold. It's worth the hassle, isn't it?

I'm still stuck in Chicago- missed some bitter cold but fair flying wx today, but there's a very slim chance I'll get to go up before my flight home tomorrow...

Alright, I'm sorry, I thought the ":D", ";D", and ";)" smilies would tell you I was being sarcastic.  I did actually take all these shots blind (a quick glance to see if the camera was straight and level maybe), but I just didn't post the bad ones.  I realize that by mentioning things like being thankful I haven't crashed yet, or saying that I wasn't watching for traffic probably don't do much to improve the general public's perception of GA, but on the flip side, if people who are afraid of GA and flying are looking for information about flying, they probably aren't coming to my little thread here to find what they were looking for.  I figured you guys would appreciate a little joke here and there, and I don't think all talking about aviation should be doom and gloom, monotone, "by-the-book" conversations, you have to have a little fun here and there.  I'm the kind of person who would rather see someone make a perfect, "by-the-book" landing, then get out of their airplane joking about nearly biting it, instead of having them come over, salute, and ask me if I saw their perfect landing, and if I learned anything from it.  I'm not saying anyone here is like that, not by any means, but I have definitely met people like that, and it seems they took all the fun out of flying, so I do what I can to avoid being like that.  Don't get me wrong though safety is the most important thing in flying, that's what makes flying the second safest mode of transportation (right behind escalators and elevators), and it is the resposibility of the pilot, from hang gliders, to astronauts to maintain that safety record.  I think everyone who wants to fly should remember the saying, "There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots", because it is the truth, if you screw around, it will eventually catch up with you, and if you mess up, there's a good chance you won't be going home at the end of the day, and I've still got a lot to do, so I'm not ready for it to be over yet.

So, here are a couple more pictures for the heck of it (thumb-nailed to avoid the 500Kb limit):

See, I really can fly straight and level...


A blind one out the front, but I missed ...


A blind one out the right side, and this time I got it...



@Rotty:  It's always worth the hassle on days like yesterday.  And good luck flying tomorrow if you go, it's supposed to be even colder.  I'm always afraid I'm going to get stuck to the stall horn when I suck on it, so be careful.

Your vociferous defense has convinced me you are not being careless up there... not that I was assuming anything... no offense meant.

Sucking on the stall warning vent? Is that how they taught you to check it? Blecchh!
That's weird... I think you can actually stick your finger or a pencil or something in there to get the same results (by deflecting the vane in there a particular way)... but honestly, I can't remember the last time I checked it, so I'm not sure. Maybe I was initially given the same instruction, but I seem to recall a different technique.
 I once noticed during preflight of a school rental that the horn wasn't working, and the CFI said "So what? Don't stall, then you won't have to worry about that."

I haven't seen that item on a checklist in a long time... and I've never inadvertently stalled in flight... I've gottenthe horn to whine a little during flight, but never unexpectedly... the other cues, not including the ASI (duh) are very reliable also in warning of impending stall.

But do what you want- it certainly doesn't hurt to have the warning horn working, except for people who get scared when they hear it...

[quote]I had a couple of hours in between classes yesterday, and I hadn't been flying in a couple of weeks, so I went up for 45 min in the bitter cold.


After take-off, cruising level @2000 ft MSL, 1000 ft AGL to the west to get clear of Madison Class C airspace...


Looking to the south at all the new subdivisions that seem to be sprouting up all around town...


Clear of the Madison airspace, I climbed up to 4000 ft, here I am part way there, and, yeah, it's not the best climb I've ever done, but I was busy taking pictures, not flying the airplane or watching for traffic ...



Finally on the ground again after doing a couple of good cross-wind landings, the last one with this Maule right behind me...


Parked and shutdown, reflecting on the flight, and thankful I still haven't crashed yet ...


Thanks for looking.

Great shots!!

 Looks real cold out that way!! BRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

No offense taken Rotty.  I figured I had it coming, in fact, I pretty much asked for it.

Back to the stall horn, I was initally taught to suck on it, because it works by sensing lower pressure coming down the front of the wing, so it probably uses some sort of vane in there, but no one has ever told me another way to do it, until now.  I've seen a little "sucker" thing that look almost like a turkey baster so you don't have to suck on the airplane any more.  But I've pretty much gotten over the gross-factor of sucking on smashed bugs and who knows what, so I should be fine, as long as there's no bees in there.  Whenever I take someone new up for a flight, I always get to that portion of the pre-flight, and ask if they want to help, and they usually get really excited, so I tell them to suck on the wing and I get the look...:-?...and they're obviously not going to do it, so I end up having to do it.  I let them help later though, so it's not a total loss.

Also, thanks for all the comments guys.