I AM a Student Pilot!

John Hurlbut3rd Class Medical, FlyingLeave a Comment

Well finally after four months, my 3rd class medical certificate and my student pilot certificate showed up in the mail!  Some of you might be wondering what all the fuss is about.  Well I’ll tell you. First of all your 3rd class medical serves as your official student pilot certificate.  Kind of like your learners permit when you’re learning to drive a car.  “But John, you’ve BEEN flying, so why do you need that?”  That’s true, I have been flying.  According to Part 61.109 of the FAR/AIM I need to have a minimum of 40 hours of flight training, of which 20 hours must be dual instruction and 10 hours must be solo flight.  So I’ve been doing my dual instruction flights in the absence of my Student Pilot Certificate, so technically I haven’t been a student pilot until now.  I must have my Student Pilot Certificate to Solo.  So … Read More

Bravo…Class Bravo…

John HurlbutFlying2 Comments

OK today I’m simply giddy with excitement!  I got to do my third cross country flight, my longest time in the plane yet, 2.3 hours.  I haven’t spent the time to total up my log book yet, but I’ve got to be closing in on 20ish hours of flight time.  Today, our route was from KPLU (Thun Field) to 0S9 (Jefferson County Airport) up on the Peninsula.  The way I planned it was like this: Take off out of KPLU and head pretty much due west, crossing over McChord AFB (KTCM).  Which means I’d have to contact their tower and ask permission to cross over.  Once we were past McChord, and over Harstine Island, I’d turn us just a little west of North and follow one of the designated Airways (Think Highway in the sky) using the Olympia VOR pretty much all the way up to Jefferson County Airport.  Passing … Read More

Great Flight Lesson Today!

John Hurlbut3rd Class Medical, FlyingLeave a Comment

Today, as I posted about earlier, I found out on the FAA’s database, my 3rd class medical is in the mail.  With any luck it will be here Thursday or Friday.  I had a flight lesson scheduled for today and when I arrived, Meg, my instructor, had a present for me. My presolo written exam.  Fortunately it’s a take home test, and there is no time limit.  So I’ll be hitting the books over the next week or so making sure I get this done.  Can’t solo until it’s done and I’ve passed it.  That “S” word is coming up more and more lately.  I’ve really got to work on my landings before I’m going to feel comfortable soloing.  I don’t know if ANYONE feels comfortable soloing??  But it’s an incredibly special thing and I’m super excited that Meg is even HINTING at it!! I mean what percentage of the … Read More

Time To Start Wearing Shirts I Hate to The Airport!

John Hurlbut3rd Class Medical, FlyingLeave a Comment

Last week I called the FAA office of aerospace medicine here in WA State and inquired about the status of my 3rd class medical certificate.  The guy I spoke to, Shawn, was really helpful and told me that he could see all my medical records were received, they were scanned in, and a letter had been written with a special issuance 3rd class medical attached.  It was just waiting for a signature.  So I put a note on my front door telling the letter carrier I was waiting for a VERY IMPORTANT letter from the FAA and if she could, pleas call me when it arrives.  (All of their communication thus far has been sent registered mail). Nothing all week.  So yesterday I called again.  The nice lady that picked up the phone gave me the same story that it was there (In Oklahoma City) just waiting to be signed. … Read More

2nd Cross Country Flight and A Lot of Firsts…

John HurlbutFlyingLeave a Comment

So today, I had a flight lesson scheduled and we decided yesterday to make it a cross country flight.  So last night I planned a flight from Thun Field (KPLU) to Arlington (KAWO).  A distance of about 66 nautical miles.  I was up until about 11PM making sure I got everything filled out on the flight planning form that I could do without a weather briefing.  I had a hard time sleeping last night in anticipation of the flight.  I think I finally went to bed at 12:30 and I swear I woke up every 1/2 hour and looked at the clock.  When the alarm went off at 6:00AM, I was already awake for a good 15-20 minutes. I got up and retrieved the latest weather from Foreflight and Aviationweather.gov and then I called Lockheed Martin Flight Services to double check the information I got was accurate.  Finished filling out … Read More

Just a Couple Random Notes…

John HurlbutFlying, Personal GrowthLeave a Comment

Personal – I weighed 275.7 pounds this morning.  That officially puts me lower than the lowest I got after lap band surgery.  It also means that when I walk into my office on Monday morning, no one there has ever seen me this “thin”.  The next milestone to fall will be when I hit 266 pounds.  That was the lowest my weight was in 2002 after a few months and losing 50+ pounds on Weight Watchers.  When I hit 265 and change, it’s a good bet that no one in the past 18ish years has sen me at that weight?  I think I was around 270 in 1997 when Teri & I started dating.  There was a lot of working out then, but I don’t think there was much weight lost at that time. I have 12 or so weeks to go on 3010 Weight Loss For Life.  If I … Read More

Density Altitude – Flight Lesson 07-02-14

John HurlbutFlyingLeave a Comment

After a week in California helping my dad recover from his Pacemaker surgery (read: laying in the 105° sun), I have been itching to get back in the air and continue my flight training.  I called the FAA on Monday to make sure they had received all my medical records and letters from doctors, etc.  I was told that everything was received and scanned in, a letter had been written and it was just waiting for a doctor’s signature.  It sounds like FINALLY, the wait for my 3rd class medical certificate might be over!  According to the person from our local office of aerospace medicine, I will be given a “special issuance” 3rd class medical.  Which means simply that in addition to my regular flight physical every couple of years, I’ll need to provide them with additional information.  Specifically about my sleep apnea and usage of my Cpap machine.  No … Read More

Livin’ La Vida Low Carb…

John HurlbutUncategorizedLeave a Comment

As I’ve mentioned before, Teri and I are doing 3010 Weight Loss For Life.  It’s basically a low carb diet designed to shed weight quickly.  Well, it’s working.  So far about 5 weeks in, I’m down 35 pounds and Teri is down about 20.  We’re really trying to look at this as a lifestyle change. I’ve calculated it out and it seems as though we’re getting less than 30 grams of Carbohydrates per day.  That’s crazy low.  Contrast that to my previously standard Jack in The Box breakfast that calculated out to well over 100 grams of carbs and you can see why it was tough for me to lose weight.  I used to have for breakfast, more carbs than I eat in a day now!! Now this diet is also low calorie, so the combo of low carb, low calorie, is certainly a powerful combination that is yielding great … Read More

My First Cross Country Flight

John Hurlbut3rd Class Medical, FlyingLeave a Comment

Today (Sunday) I hit another milestone in my flight training, my first cross country flight!  As I’ve mentioned before a cross country flight is a flight more than 50 nautical miles from your home airport.  The plan today was to fly from KPLU (Thun Field) to KHQM (Hoquiam).  My flight lesson started at 9:00 AM, and I booked 4 hours of time.   I got up at 7AM and started plotting my course on the Sectional Chart and filling out my flight plan.  I quickly realized I hadn’t allowed myself enough time to plan this flight!  It’s crazy that a 2 hour flight, takes that long to plan.  I’m sure as I get better at it I will be faster, but today there definitely was a steep learning curve. I called Lockheed Martin Flight Services for a standard weather briefing.  Told them we’d be cruising from KPLU to KHQM at … Read More

My First Learning to Fly Post Not About Flying

John HurlbutPersonal GrowthLeave a Comment

So the tagline of my site is something like “Just a guy trying to fly, both literally and figuratively”. This probably fits into the latter category. Anyone who has ever read any of my blogs before knows that probably the biggest thing I struggle with is my weight.  I’ve always been overweight, obese, or morbidly obese.  In 2009 I tipped (shattered) the scales at probably close to 360-370 pounds.  I stopped weighing myself after I hit 350 and had basically resigned myself to the fact that I was just fat.  At some point that year I investigated weight loss surgery and opted to go in for the Lap Band procedure.  My official starting weight was 358 lbs at my doctor’s office.  They required me to lose 10% of my body weight before my surgery, which I did.  I was in the 320’s when I had surgery in August of 2009. … Read More